President Biden and the Department of Justice 'Declare War' on the Pro-life Movement and Peaceful Pro-life Activists NEWS PROVIDED BY Christian Defense Coalition May 21, 2024 WASHINGTON, May 21, 2024 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit today in the Northern District of Ohio against two organizations and seven individuals for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Here is a link to the news release from the Department of Justice: Justice Department Sues Two Organizations and Seven Individuals for Physically Obstructing Access to Reproductive Health Services in Violation of the FACE Act This federal lawsuit comes on the heels of pro-life activists receiving oppressive jail sentences for their peaceful pro-life witness at a Washington D.C. late-term abortion clinic. The individuals and groups that are being sued simply shared roses with women in abortion clinics while offering them tangible support and hope. If President Biden can weaponize and politicize the Department of Justice, then all Americans are in grave danger if they have differing views and beliefs from the current Administration, especially the pro-life community. To stop these kinds of outrageous attacks against the pro-life movement by the Biden Administration, it is imperative Congress immediately have hearings on this issue. Rev. Patrick Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition based in Washington, D.C., comments; "There is no justice or freedom in America if the Biden Administration can sue pro-life activists for their peaceful intervention to end abortion violence and yet turn a blind eye to violent Palestinian protesters across America. "If President Biden can weaponize and politicize the Department of Justice against their political enemies, then all Americans are in grave danger if they have differing views and beliefs from the current Administration, especially the pro-life community. "We call upon Congress to hold immediate hearings on this misuse of power by the Biden Administration and the Department of Justice against the pro-life community. "Make no mistake about this. President Biden has 'declared war on the pro-life movement.'" For more information or interviews call Rev. Patrick Mahoney at 540.538.4741 SOURCE Christian Defense Coalition CONTACT: Rev. Patrick Mahoney, 540-538-4741 China, South Africa agree to promote military ties Xinhua) 08:55, May 21, 2024 BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun on Monday met with Chief of the South African Navy Monde Lobese in Beijing, with the two sides agreeing to promote military ties between the countries. Although China and South Africa are thousands of miles apart, they are connected by brotherly ties, Dong said, adding that the militaries of the two countries have close exchanges and naval cooperation has always been at the forefront. Both sides should further enhance strategic communication, deepen cooperation, and work together to address risks and challenges, Dong said. Lobese said that naval cooperation between the two countries has continued to deepen in recent years, and the South African side is willing to work together with China to push bilateral military ties to a new level. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Flash Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun on Monday met with Chief of the South African Navy Monde Lobese in Beijing, with the two sides agreeing to promote military ties between the countries. Although China and South Africa are thousands of miles apart, they are connected by brotherly ties, Dong said, adding that the militaries of the two countries have close exchanges and naval cooperation has always been at the forefront. Both sides should further enhance strategic communication, deepen cooperation, and work together to address risks and challenges, Dong said. Lobese said that naval cooperation between the two countries has continued to deepen in recent years, and the South African side is willing to work together with China to push bilateral military ties to a new level. Flash Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Murat Nurtleu in Astana on May 20, 2024. [Photo/Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs] Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday jointly met the press with Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Murat Nurtleu in Astana following their talks. Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said the talks were fruitful, practical, and efficient, with both sides agreeing that the development of China-Kazakhstan relations conforms to the trends of the times and the broader international context, with everlasting friendship, deep mutual trust, and solidarity defining the theme of the bilateral relations. Under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, China and Kazakhstan have deepened political trust, supported each other on issues of their respective core interests, and provided strong support in times of difficulty, becoming an actual community with a shared future, Wang said. China deeply appreciates that Kazakhstan has reaffirmed its adherence to the one-China principle, and that Kazakhstan views Taiwan as an inseparable part of China's territory, said Wang. As Kazakhstan recently suffered from severe floods, China is willing to continue providing as much help as possible to assist in the reconstruction work, said Wang. He noted that both sides spoke highly of the fruitful outcomes of their cooperation. According to Chinese statistics, bilateral trade reached 41 billion U.S. dollars last year, achieving the target set by the two heads of state seven years ahead of schedule. To date, 26 out of the 45 capacity cooperation projects have been completed, in such sectors as mining and metals, energy resources, machinery manufacturing, building materials, chemicals and infrastructure construction. Cooperation in oil and gas and nuclear energy is also accelerating. The two sides agreed to continue leveraging their industrial and market complementarities to jointly participate in the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative with high quality. They will also further solidify the foundation of cooperation in traditional sectors such as trade, investment, energy, connectivity, and agriculture, and continue to create new highlights in new quality productive forces such as financial services, artificial intelligence, digital economy, new energy and other innovative fields. China is keen to increase imports of high-quality agricultural products from Kazakhstan, he said. The two sides decided to further strengthen cooperation on China-Europe freight trains and create more favorable conditions for this, including enhancing port clearance and cargo capacity, providing better transportation services, and refining transit policies. Both sides actively support the construction of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor, which they believe is crucial for promoting connectivity across the Eurasian continent. To this end, it is necessary to advance relative infrastructure construction and strengthen coordination among the involved countries. China and Kazakhstan are discussing the construction of a third cross-border railway and will further utilize the capabilities of the Xi'an Land Port, Lianyungang Logistics Base, and Dongdamen Dry Port to explore the potential of their transit transport capacities, Wang said. He said both parties believe that the China-Kazakhstan people-to-people and cultural cooperation is significant and promising. Currently, over 10,000 Kazakh students are studying in China, and Kazakhstan's universities have attracted over 1,000 Chinese students to study there. Kazakhstan has established five Confucius Institutes, and China has five institutions offering Kazakh language courses. Last November, China and Kazakhstan implemented mutual visa exemptions, and this year's "Kazakhstan Tourism Year" in China was a success. A total of 26 pairs of sister provinces and cities have been established between the two countries. The two sides will utilize platforms such as the Luban Workshop, Confucius Institutes, and the Northwestern Polytechnical University campus in Kazakhstan to accelerate the establishment of cultural centers, encourage more sister province and city relationships, deepen exchanges in think tanks, media, arts, and continuously enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the peoples, Wang said. Both sides praised the success of the China-Central Asia Summit in Xi'an, which has ushered in a new phase of enhanced cooperation between China and Central Asia. The Chinese side is eager to work alongside other Central Asian nations to strengthen and optimize the China-Central Asia cooperation mechanism, aiming to build a stable, prosperous, harmonious, and interconnected Central Asia, thereby injecting strong vitality into the building of a China-Central Asia community of shared future, Wang said. Both sides emphasized the need to steadfastly uphold the UN-centered international system and the international order based on international law as the global situation is witnessing profound changes and chaos. They will work to advance the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative, unequivocally oppose unilateralism and hegemonic behaviors, and promote the development of global governance towards a more just and reasonable direction. Wang stressed that China highly appreciates Kazakhstan's role as the rotating chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). He expressed the belief that the foreign ministers' meeting will be successful and lay a solid foundation for the upcoming SCO summit. During his time in the School of Medicine, Alan Amedi prioritized service and leadership while maintaining a demanding academic load and engaging in research and scholarship. Now, hes been named the graduate student recipient of the Marion Luther Brittain Award, considered the highest honor presented to an Emory University student. Im so grateful for everyone who has taken a chance on me. I want to pay it forward and give others the opportunities that I was given, says Amedi. I love seeing other students succeed and reach their goals. As a first-generation, low-income student, Amedi feared medical school was a distant dream, despite inspiration from his uncle who served as a medic during war, attending to and saving the lives of Kurds amid persecution and violence. Through mentorship from Heval Kelli, a physician and refugee himself (as well as a former Emory resident and cardiology fellow), Amedi saw there was a realistic, if difficult, path to medical school. After graduating from Georgia State University, Amedi worked for two years to support his family and fund his application process to medical school. This fall, Amedi will head west to begin his residency in general surgery at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, California. In service of humanity Amedi was born in Clarkston, Georgia, five months after his parents fled the Kurdish region in 1996, and much of his identity remains rooted in his Kurdish background. During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic at the start of Amedis medical training he worked to ensure the Kurdish population received information about both the virus and the benefits of vaccination; he has continued to serve this population as a medical translator and is executive vice president of the Kurdish American Medical Association, where he helps connect and mentor Kurdish medical students across the country. In addition, Amedi volunteers as the college education director of the Young Physicians Initiative (YPI), an organization founded by Kelli to provide guidance to underserved students interested in medicine, focused on a mentorship pipeline. As an undergraduate, Amedi attended YPI sessions led by Emory medical students; today, he organizes the groups outreach to five undergraduate institutions in Georgia, including mentorship circles and virtual clinical shadowing. After building a relationship with one of his YPI mentors, Ehab who was an Emory medical student at the time and is now finishing his orthopedic surgery residency Amedi sent him a text that hed decided not to pursue medical school. Ehab called me immediately, remembers Amedi, and told me all the reasons why I should apply and how I could realistically be accepted. He gave the encouragement I needed to keep moving forward. Now, Amedi has witnessed several of his pre-med mentees be accepted to medical school, a full-circle moment that he celebrates alongside them. Amedi also serves as clinic coordinator for the Clarkston Community Health Center (CCHC), vice president of his class and president of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Interest Group. One of the primary reasons I wanted to come to Emory was because of the involvement with Clarkston, which is where I was raised, and the vast patient population that Emory treats, Amedi says. Amedis friends and family had gone to the CCHC a nonprofit organization that serves as a medical home to uninsured individuals in and around Clarkston, a major refugee resettlement area throughout his life. Being able to work there felt like an honor, to be able to give back to my community, says Amedi, who oversees the schedules of providers to ensure adequate coverage, manages results follow-up and works with the pharmacy for prescription coverage at CCHC. But the communities Amedi aims to serve stretch far beyond Georgias borders. One of his favorite experiences while at Emory was traveling to the Yantalo Clinic in Peru to provide pediatric surgical care. Amedi went with Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta, one of multiple institutions that partner with the Yantalo Clinic. The group worked with local physicians to determine the best course of treatment for patients, and this was the first trip that had been organized since COVID-19. We provided surgeries free of charge to pediatric patients who couldnt get them for various reasons like access to care, cost or other socioeconomic barriers, says Amedi. Sunny skies ahead Amedi says he never expected to receive this award. I actually thought I was in trouble, he says. I got an email saying to please meet in this room in the student center and I almost reported it as spam. When I eventually got there, they started talking about this award and I thought maybe they wanted my help to break it to a close friend. I was very shocked. There are so many amazing medical students and deserving graduates at Emory who have also done incredible things, Amedi says. I was very happy, but I was very shocked. Hes looking forward to soaking up the sunshine while in L.A., but also wants to become the best surgeon he can be. Im interested in global surgery and want to help organize trips like the one I went on. I hope to stay involved in research to improve current guidelines and hope to pursue a cardiac fellowship after residency but thats five to seven years away, he laughs. All the people here at Emory have played a fundamental role, from the surgery department which organized an intern bootcamp elective course, held mock interviews and supported me through everything to the mentors and faculty here who always had an open door, he says. I never thought I could become a doctor, and a few months from now Im going to be starting a surgical residency. President Biden has appointed Edjah K. Nduom, MD, to the National Cancer Advisory Board. This board plays a crucial role in advising the director of the National Cancer Institute on setting the direction for the national cancer research program. Nduom is the Daniel Louis Barrow Endowed Chair and ssociate professor in neurosurgery at Emory University School of Medicine. Additionally, he leads the Brain Tumors Disease Group at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. His research spans basic, translational and clinical realms, with a focus on developing innovative immune therapy treatments for malignant brain tumors. We are immensely proud of Dr. Nduoms appointment to the National Cancer Advisory Board, says Dan Barrow, the Pamela R. Rollins Chairman and professor of neurosurgery at Emory University. His leadership and expertise exemplify Emorys longtime commitment to making impactful contributions to the field of neurosurgery and cancer research. We have no doubt he will continue to play a pivotal role in guiding critical efforts to advance cancer prevention, detection and treatment. Nduom is renowned internationally for his contributions to the neurosurgical and brain tumor community, having founded the Society for Neuro-Oncology Sub-Saharan Africa and holding roles such as scientific program chair for the Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting and chair of the board of directors of the National Brain Tumor Society. His contributions earned him a role in President Bidens Cancer Moonshot relaunch initiative in 2022. Before joining Emory in 2020, Nduom obtained his bachelor of science degree in biomechanical engineering from Stanford University in 2002 and his doctor of medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006. He completed neurosurgical training at Emory, including a research fellowship in neurosurgical oncology at the Surgical Neurology Branch of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Following the NINDS fellowship, he pursued an additional neurosurgical oncology fellowship at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he was honored with the Jesse H. Jones Fellowship in Cancer Education. Before returning to Emory, Nduom served on the faculty of the Surgical Neurology Branch of the NINDS Intramural Research Program from 2015 to 2020. In 2023, Nduom received a 5-year, $1.96 million R01 research award from the National Institutes of Health. The grant supports his research to find effective treatment options for glioblastoma, an aggressive brain tumor resistant to current therapies. Nduoms path to becoming a neurosurgeon and the role he is playing in training the next generation of brain surgeons was featured in a Season 3 episode of Your Fantastic Mind, a PBS show produced by Georgia Public Broadcasting in partnership with Emory Brain Health. 09:44 Patra, the BJP candidate from Puri Lok Sabha seat, landed in a row in Odisha on Monday after he told a local news channel that "Lord Jagannath is a devotee (bhakt) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi." He later described it as a "slip of the tongue." Speaking to ANI about the remark Monday night, Patra said, "Today one of my statements has become controversial. It was when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's roadshow came to an end in Puri and I was giving out bytes to several media channels." "I had given out bytes to almost 15-16 channels wherein I was repeating that Prime Minister Modi is an ardent devotee of Maha Prabhu Jagannath Ji. Even as the Chief Minister of Ahmedabad and even before that, PM Modi used to regularly visit and offer prayers at Lord Jagannath temple there in Ahmedabad," Patra said. Adding further, Patra said, "I was repeating the same to every channel when a media person came to me for a byte. It so happened that amid a lot of people, hot weather, and noise, I unknowingly said just the opposite of what I had been saying all along. I mistakenly said that Lord Jagannath is a devotee of PM Modi." "This is not possible; no person in his right mind can say that God is a devotee of any human being. The mistake happened unknowingly while giving out bytes to a channel. I agree that the sentiments of some people have been hurt due to my statement, but even the lord forgives a person for committing a mistake unknowingly," said Patra. He further clarified, "It was never my intention to commit this mistake, but still because Mahaprabhu Jagannath is the Lord of the Universe and I am an ardent devotee just like the hundreds and thousands of Odias, I feel I should convey my apology and offer penance to the Lord for a 'slip of the tongue' that occurred unknowingly." "Hence, I have decided to observe fasting as an apology," said Patra. BJP candidate Sambit Patra inadvertently kicked off a row on Monday after he mistakenly said that "Lord Jagannath is a devotee (bhakt) of PM Modi." "Lakhs of people have gathered to see Modi. Lord Jagannath is a devotee (bhakt) of Modi, and we are Modi's family. This is an unusual sight, and I am not able to control my emotions. I think it is a historic day for all Odias," Patra said. -- ANI Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sambit Patra, who was in the soup for his 'controversial' remarks relating to Lord Jagannath, cleared the air around his statement, saying that he was apologetic for his 'slip of the tongue', and that he would offer penance in the name of Lord Jagannath as an apology. Samie Modak/Business Standard India's market capitalisation (mcap) hit the $5-trillion milestone on Tuesday, with the buoyant domestic markets adding $1 trillion in market value in under six months. This makes India the fifth country/region to join the exclusive $5-trillion m-cap club, alongside the US, China, Japan and Hong Kong. However, on a closing basis, India's mcap, which represents the combined market value of all firms listed on the BSE, stood at $4.97 trillion (Rs 414.6 trillion). The National Stock Exchange (NSE), a larger exchange with fewer listed companies, reported a combined mcap of $4.93 trillion, or Rs 411 trillion. India's mcap has seen a surge of over 60 per cent -- the highest among major markets -- from its lows in March 2023, driven by a rally in shares of small- and mid-sized firms. This increase in market value is attributed to a re-rating of valuations amid improved economic and earnings growth prospects compared to most global and emerging market peers. "The mcap of the BSE-listed firms jumped from $4 trillion to $5 trillion in a short period despite events, such as the Lok Sabha polls and the Fed pivot. This journey is front-ended through the expansion of valuations, followed by earnings. India will have to deliver on 3G of growth, governance and green to meet elevated market expectations," said Nilesh Shah, MD, Kotak Mahindra AMC. Indias market cap-to-GDP ratio (on a trailing 12-month GDP basis) is now at 154 per cent compared to 120 per cent in November 2023, when it first hit the $4 trillion mark. When India achieved the milestones of $500 million, $1 trillion, and $2 trillion market capitalisation, the mcap-to-GDP ratio was less than 100 per cent, which is considered fair value. The market cap of India has been bolstered in recent years by mega newly listed companies. For example, the Life Insurance Corporation, which was listed two years ago, has a market cap of $78 billion. In addition to LIC, the market value of the entire public sector undertaking pack has seen a significant increase over the past year. India now boasts 100 stocks with an m-cap above $10 billion, up from just 30 in the pre-Covid period. For comparison, China, whose m-cap is nearly double that of India, has just over 130 companies. The growth in India's market value has enhanced its influence on the global stage and attracted higher inflows from foreign investors, particularly those investing via exchange traded funds (ETFs). India is now the second-largest market in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, after China, with a weighting of nearly 19 per cent, up from just 8.2 per cent in 2018. In the first three months of 2024, India-dedicated global funds have channelled over $8 billion into domestic stocks. "The markets continue to reflect the strong fundamentals of our country. The government should carry out future reforms after the election results, supported by strong fundamentals of company and earnings," said A Balasubramanian, managing director & CEO, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC. His views were echoed by Andrew Holland, CEO of Avendus Capital Alternate Strategies. He said: "The markets are a bit forward-looking. Therefore, this tells you that there is more optimism around the growth of the economy. The near-term outlook depends on what the upcoming Budget has in store for us regarding taxation and policy measures." Media Advisory: SIU Carbondale spring 2024 semester graduation, deans lists Southern Illinois University Carbondales spring 2024 degree candidates and deans lists are available here. Commencement ceremonies were May 10 at Shryock Auditorium for law school graduates and May 11 at SIUs Banterra Center for all other graduates. The following lists are available: Degree candidates and deans lists for students with a Carbondale home address, listed alphabetically. Degree candidates and deans lists for students with a home address in Illinois other than Carbondale, organized by ZIP code. Degree candidates and deans lists for students who live in states outside of Illinois or who live outside of the United States. The states are in alphabetical order and then by ZIP code. Students who have an AP designation are military personnel. Please note: In the deans lists, the number following each students name designates year in school (1 = freshman; 2 = sophomore; 3 = junior; 4 = senior). A 9 denotes a student who is either a senior with degree, unclassified, or a member of the MedPrep program. A star preceding a students name signifies a 4.0 grade point average. You are here: World Flash Children carrying containers of water walk past destroyed buildings in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on May 13, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 35,562, Gaza health authorities said in a press statement on Monday. During the past 24 hours, the Israeli army killed 106 Palestinians and wounded 176 others, bringing the total death toll to 35,562 and injuries to 79,652 since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out in October 2023. The statement noted that some victims remained under the rubble amid heavy bombardment and a lack of rescue crews. Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage. Industry leaders gathered at Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri's residence for a 'Vishesh Sampark Abhiyan' event, where they discussed the rapid advancements in India's tech sector and the nation's future. The event, held on Monday evening, brought together some of the country's top IT professionals, innovators, startup leaders, and intellectuals. Rikant Pitti, co-founder of EaseMy Trip, highlighted the growth of startups in India and said that the hands of the future of the country is in the hands of technology. "In 2018, there were 450 registered startups. Today, that number has surged to over 1 lakh. The startup ecosystem is expanding rapidly. With the Digital India initiative launched in 2015, internet access has become widespread. Under the BharatNet scheme, over 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats and villages now have internet connectivity. The future of the country is firmly in the hands of technology," he said while speaking to ANI. MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar noted the substantial growth in India's digital economy. "India's digital economy has grown by 2.8 times. I am very optimistic that we might become Viksit Bharat before 2047. There is no other country in the world that is rapidly expanding its digital public infrastructure," he said. Rakesh Verma, CEO and co-founder of Vervesemi Microelectronics discussed the potential for growth in India's semiconductor industry and stated how the 24 billion dollar import industry of India will increase to 100 billion dollars. "I was in the semiconductor field for almost 27 years. Then I thought to quit and do something for India. We thought that it was the right time with the government policies coming in, so we started our own company in 2017. I have around 12 patents, and Pratap (co-founder) has around 30 patents to his credit. Our company has 10 patents," he said. "We thought of starting our company with products that can be useful not just in India but abroad as well. This is the right to get into chips and Integrated Circuits (IC), and with the policies coming in, it is more favourable to us. The imports of India are at 24 billion dollars and will increase to 100 billion dollars in the near future. That's why it is the right time to get into chips as it is more favourable to us," he said while speaking to ANI. Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman of the Indian Cellular Association, spoke about the remarkable growth in India's electronics sector. "The story of mobile phones, what has happened in India is a very inspiring story. In 2014 we were on ground zero at the time. From there, we have grown about 2100 per cent. We are producing more than four lakh crores worth of phones. The increase is about 21 times," he said. "In electronics, we have grown about 400 per cent. Electronics is now 150 million dollars. Electronics was a sector that was completely shunned by the investing world. It was a bad word. Today we have a lot of listed companies. The enthusiasm is red hot. The valuations we are getting are red hot," he said. Rajan Anandan, MD of Peak XV Partners, underscored the massive transformation of India's digital ecosystem. "Post the reforms of 2014, the number of active mobile phone data users in India has become more than 800 million, which is more than in the US and China combined. So that's an extraordinary transformation of a digital ecosystem," he said. "We have without question the most vibrant in terms of a broad-based innovation ecosystem when it comes to Digital India. But the thing that I am most excited about is De-regulation in specific, strategic sectors," he added. Adding to his speech, he said, "The De-regulation and opening of strategic sectors like Space, Defence, etc. have spurred innovation. Because of the ecosystem provided by the government in the last 10 years, India has become the top innovator in cutting-edge sectors like aerospace, space and defence, which was unthinkable in the past!" Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri echoed these sentiments, praising the young professionals present at the event. Taking to the microblogging site X, Puri said that the young professionals present at the event are the beneficiaries and leaders of Viksit Bharat who are guiding India's tech prowess through the Amrit Kaal and will take it beyond into an even brighter future. "Delighted to join my friend and colleague @Rajeev_GoI Ji to welcome some of the country's top IT Professionals, innovators, startup leaders and intellectuals at an interaction on India's exemplary advancement in the information technology and digital arena under the visionary leadership of PM @narendramodi Ji at a Vishesh Sampark event at my residence today," Puri said in his post on X. "These young professionals are the beneficiaries and leaders of #ViksitBharat who are guiding India's tech prowess through the #AmritKaal & will take it beyond into an even brighter future," he said. "Ten years ago one could not have imagined that young people with no business background could one day be running huge multi-million businesses and providing employment opportunities to lakhs of professionals, or for that matter digital payments even in the remotest parts of the country would be able to accept digital payments," read the post. (ANI) "Biocon Biologics' Obtains U.S. FDA Approval for Biosimilar Aflibercept for Yesafili. Enters U.S. Ophthalmology Market" said the company. After the approval, the company entered the ophthalmology therapeutic area in the United States. Earlier the company also received approvals in Europe in September and the United Kingdom in November last year, where it was the first biosimilar aflibercept to be approved. "The FDA approval of YESAFILI (aflibercept) as the first interchangeable biological product to Eylea is a significant milestone for Biocon Biologics marking our entry into Ophthalmology, a new therapeutic area in the United States" said Shreehas Tambe, CEO and MD, Biocon Biologics. The Company has also secured a launch date in Canada of no later than July 1, 2025, under the terms of a settlement agreement. YESDAFILI, a vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitor used to treat several different types of ophthalmology conditions. YESAFILI is intended for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration, visual impairment due to macular oedema secondary to retinal vein occlusion (branch RVO or central RVO), visual impairment due to diabetic macular oedema (DME) and visual impairment due to myopic choroidal neovascularisation (myopic CNV). "Biosimilars are crucial for making healthcare more affordable and accessible. YESAFILI will offer ophthalmologists an important new option for patients impacted by macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy" said Matt Erick, Chief Commercial Officer, Biocon Biologics. There are 19.8 million Americans living with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the United States. The sales of aflibercept in U.S. were approximately USD 5.89 billion in 2023. (ANI) Celebrating three decades of timeless grace and unparalleled achievement, Bollywood's beloved Sushmita Sen has reminisced on the her transformative journey since clinching the Miss Universe crown in 1994. In a poignant tribute, Sen shared a captivating throwback photo, encapsulating the essence of her victory and the profound impact it had on her life. Recalling a poignant encounter at an orphanage shortly after her triumph, Sen reminisces how a little girl imparted life's most profound lessons, shaping her worldview. With heartfelt gratitude, she commemorates India's historic triumph at Miss Universe and acknowledges the unwavering support of her homeland. "This little girl, who I met in an orphanage, taught an 18 yr old me, life's most innocent yet profound lessons, ones that I live by to this day. This captured moment is 30 yrs old today as is India's first ever Victory at Miss Universe!!!," she wrote. https://www.instagram.com/p/C7NdyQYCEtq/? "What a journey it's been & continues to be....Thank you India for always being my greatest identity & strength!! Thank you Philippines for the unending love & belonging...Three decades & counting!! #mahalkita, I remember & celebrate your grace my beautiful @carogomezfilm #teamo." she added. Sushmita Sen also extended heartfelt gratitude to her fans writing, "To all my loved fans, friends, family & well wishers around the world...know that, each one of you has made a difference to my life & inspired me in ways you may never know!! I feel the love!!! Thank you!!! WHAT AN HONOUR!!! Here's to the next #30." Meanwhile, on the work front, Sushmita Sen was last seen in the acclaimed thriller drama 'Aarya' which reignited fervent admiration from fans. In the show, Sushmita plays a tough woman, who goes beyond boundaries to protect her family from the world of crime. The first season was even nominated for the 'Best Drama' series at the International Emmy Awards. (ANI) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sambit Patra, who was in the soup for his 'controversial' remarks relating to Lord Jagannath, cleared the air around his statement, saying that he was apologetic for his 'slip of the tongue', and that he would offer penance in the name of Lord Jagannath as an apology. Patra, the BJP candidate from Puri Lok Sabha seat, landed in a row in Odisha on Monday after he told a local news channel that "Lord Jagannath is a devotee (bhakt) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi." He later described it as a "slip of the tongue." Speaking to ANI about the remark Monday night, Patra said, "Today one of my statements has become controversial. It was when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's roadshow came to an end in Puri and I was giving out bytes to several media channels." "I had given out bytes to almost 15-16 channels wherein I was repeating that Prime Minister Modi is an ardent devotee of Maha Prabhu Jagannath Ji. Even as the Chief Minister of Ahmedabad and even before that, PM Modi used to regularly visit and offer prayers at Lord Jagannath temple there in Ahmedabad," Patra said. Adding further, Patra said, "I was repeating the same to every channel when a media person came to me for a byte. It so happened that amid a lot of people, hot weather, and noise, I unknowingly said just the opposite of what I had been saying all along. I mistakenly said that Lord Jagannath is a devotee of PM Modi." "This is not possible; no person in his right mind can say that God is a devotee of any human being. The mistake happened unknowingly while giving out bytes to a channel. I agree that the sentiments of some people have been hurt due to my statement, but even the lord forgives a person for committing a mistake unknowingly," said Patra. He further clarified, "It was never my intention to commit this mistake, but still because Mahaprabhu Jagannath is the Lord of the Universe and I am an ardent devotee just like the hundreds and thousands of Odias, I feel I should convey my apology and offer penance to the Lord for a 'slip of the tongue' that occurred unknowingly." "Hence, I have decided to observe fasting as an apology," said Patra. BJP candidate Sambit Patra inadvertently kicked off a row on Monday after he mistakenly said that "Lord Jagannath is a devotee (bhakt) of PM Modi." "Lakhs of people have gathered to see Modi. Lord Jagannath is a devotee (bhakt) of Modi, and we are Modi's family. This is an unusual sight, and I am not able to control my emotions. I think it is a historic day for all Odias," Patra said. He made the remark while speaking to reporters during the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha election and the second phase of the Odisha Assembly election. Patra's accidental remark drew sharp criticism from Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who called it an 'insult' to the Lord. "Mahaprabhu Shree Jagannatha is the Lord of the Universe. Calling Mahaprabhu a bhakt of another human being is an insult to the Lord. This has hurt the sentiments and demeaned the faith of crores of Jagannatha bhaktas and Odias across the world," Patnaik wrote in a post on the microblogging site X. The Lord is the greatest symbol of Odia Asmita, Patnaik added. "I strongly denounce the statement made by the BJP Puri Lok Sabha candidate, and I appeal to the BJP to keep the Lord above any political discourse. By this, you have deeply hurt Odia Asmita and this will be remembered and condemned by the people of Odisha for a very long time," the chief minister wrote. In his clarification addressed to Naveen Patnaik, Patra said, "Sir let's not make an issue out of a nonexistent issue ..we all have "slip of the tongue sometimes".. Thanks and Pranam!" Congress also attacked Patra for his remark relating to Lord Jagannath and sought an apology. Prime Minister Modi held a roadshow in the holy city of Puri on Monday morning along with BJP candidate Sambit Patra. Patra had lost the election in 2019 to Pinaki Mishra of the BJD. This time he faces Congress' Jaya Narayan Patnayak and BJD's Arup Patnaik. Voting for the fifth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections 2024 began on Monday morning across 49 parliamentary constituencies spread over six states and two Union Territories (UTs) amid tight security and arrangements. The Lok Sabha elections are being held across seven phases, from April 19 to June 1. The counting is scheduled for June 4. (ANI) The fifth phase of polling for Lok Sabha polls across 49 parliamentary constituencies spread over six states and two Union Territories (UTs) on Monday saw a voter turnout of 60.09 per cent till 11:30 pm, the Election Commission (ECI) said. According to ECI data, Bihar recorded 54.85 per cent voter turnout, while Jammu and Kashmir recorded 56.73 per cent turnout till 11.30 pm. Similarly, Jharkhand recorded 63.07 per cent voter turnout, Ladakh 69.62 per cent, Maharashtra 54.29 per cent, Odisha 67.59 per cent, Uttar Pradesh at 57.79 and West Bengal 74.65 per cent. About 2.5 crore more Indian voters have exercised their franchise so far in the first four phases of the Lok Sabha polls, as compared to 2019, according to a SBI Research report, that cited Election Commission data. 45.1 crore voters, representing 66.95 per cent of turnout, franchised their votes in the first four phases of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Percentage-wise, the voter turnout is less than 68.15 per cent recorded after the first four phases of the 2019 elections. There was a clash reported between Congress and BJP workers during the ongoing voting in Little Angel School, located in the Sion area of Mumbai. BJP workers claimed that they were giving voting slips to voters 100 meters away from the polling centre, on which Congress officials accused BJP people were interfering in the voting process by going near the polling centre. After which Congress and BJP workers came face to face and BJP claimed that they even threatened to kill two people."Based on the complaint of a BJP worker, Sion police registered a case against two unknown people under section 506(2) of IPC and started further investigation," Mumbai Police said. Constituencies in various urban cities like Mumbai, Thane, Nashik and Lucknow continued the trend of urban apathy as noticed in 2019 General Elections. In Mumbai, celebrities and common citizens alike, waited patiently for their turn to cast their vote and proudly showcased their inked fingers. Celebrities from various walks of life have partnered with the Commission to motivate voters to exercise their franchise in the General Elections 2024. Various such motivational videos were uploaded on their social media platforms. With the conclusion of phase 5, polling for General Elections 2024 is now completed in 25 States/UTs and 428 PCs. Polling is also complete in General Elections for State Legislative Assemblies of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh and 63 assembly seats of Odisha State Assembly. The sixth phase polling is scheduled on May 25 in 58 PCs (including the adjourned poll in Anantnag-Rajouri PC) in 8 States/UTs. General elections are being held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1 with votes for the 543 Lok Sabha seats to be counted on June 4. (ANI) Rahul also shared a childhood photograph of him with his father in which Rajiv Gandhi can be seen with his hand on Rahul's shoulders. In the post, Rahul said, "Father, Your dreams, my dreams, Your aspirations, my responsibilities. Your memories, today and always, always in my heart." Ahead of this, Rahul along with Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi paid homage to Rajiv Gandhi at Veer Bhumi in Delhi on Tuesday morning. Other Congress leaders like P Chidambaram and Sachin Pilot also paid their respects to the former prime minister in the national capital. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to Rajiv Gandhi, "On his death anniversary, my tributes to our former PM Shri Rajiv Gandhi Ji," he posted on X. Rajiv Gandhi took over the charge of the Congress in 1984 following the assassination of his mother and then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He became India's youngest Prime Minister at the age of 40 when he assumed office in October 1984. He served as the Prime Minister of India till December 2, 1989. Born on August 20, in 1944, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber during an election rally in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991. (ANI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the BJD-led government in Odisha and said that Chief Minister Navin Patnaik is forcing 'Babu Shahi' on Odisha, and hurting the dignity of the Odia people. Addressing a public rally in Sambalpur, Shah said, "The BJD government is destroying the state of Odisha. Naveen Babu is forcing 'Babu Shahi' on Odisha and hurting the Odia people's dignity. Naveen Babu is 'strangulating' the culture and pride of Odisha." He said that Odisha has a lot of mineral wealth and hardworking youth but lacks a hard-working Chief Minister. "Odisha is a very beautiful place, it has a long coastline, a lot of mineral wealth, and hardworking youth but the only thing missing is a hard-working Chief Minister. Form the BJP government, we will give a hard-working young CM," the Home Minister said. "Ironically, Odisha is amongst the most prosperous states of Bharat, and it's here only that those amongst the poorest reside! Naveen Babu is leaving no stone unturned to loot and destroy this mineral resource-rich Utkal Bhoomi," he added. Hitting out at the Odisha government, Shah said, "The BJD government is destroying the culture and tradition of Shri Jagannath temple in the name of tourism. It wants to turn this Shri Kshetra into a commercial centre." Exuding confidence in winning the Lok Sabha, the Home Minister said that after the conclusion of the fifth phase of the polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has crossed 310 seats. "This time lotus will bloom in both Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Odisha. After 5 phases, Modi ji has crossed 310 seats. You have to make the lotus blossom here by getting more than 75 seats in the assembly elections," he said. Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan is the BJP's candidate for the Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituency and Pranab Prakash Das has been pitted by the BJD. The assembly and Lok Sabha polls in the BJD-ruled state are being held across four phases--from May 13 to June 1. The counting of votes will be held on June 4. In the last assembly elections in 2019, the BJD won 112 out of 146 seats. BJP won 23 seats and Congress got nine seats. In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJD mopped up the lion's share of the electoral spoils, with the BJP and the Congress bringing 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 political move and to safeguard the interests of the indigenous people of Tripura, a delegation of Pradesh Adivasi Congress led by Chairman Shabd Kumar Jamatia placed a deputation to the chief secretary JK Sinha demanding to immediately halt the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the state. The deputation reflects the concerns and opposition of the tribal community towards the CAA, which has been a contentious issue across the nation. Shabda Kumar Jamatia, highlighting the grievances of the indigenous people, stated that the act threatens the demographic balance and cultural integrity of the tribal regions in Tripura. Former state Congress president Dibachandra Hrangkhwal and former minister Manindra Reang were also present during the submission, showing solidarity and support for the cause. The delegation emphasised the potential negative impacts of the CAA on the tribal population, urging the Chief Secretary to convey their apprehensions to the Central Government. The Tribal Congress leaders reiterated their commitment to safeguarding the rights and heritage of the indigenous communities in Tripura. They called for the immediate reconsideration of the CAA notification to ensure that the interests of the tribal populace are adequately protected. The Chief Secretary assured the delegation that their concerns would be duly noted and forwarded to the appropriate authorities. The event marks a crucial step in the ongoing dialogue between the tribal communities and the government regarding the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act in Tripura. Earlier on Monday, TPCC president Ashish Saha said that his party will oppose the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the state. He stated that they are strongly opposed to CAA implementation in states. "In our state for the first time, the opposition to CAA was done by the tribal youth federations, but now as Tipra Motha has joined the BJP, we will strongly oppose the implementation and will organise greater protests against this," said Saha. Notably, Tripura is preparing to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) despite the Act not applying to the state's Autonomous District Councils (ADCs). The Sixth Schedule of the Indian constitution gives tribal communities considerable autonomy; the States of Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, and Mizoram are autonomous regions under the Sixth Schedule. The District Council and the Regional Council under the Sixth Schedule have real power to make laws, and possibilities on the various legislative subjects, receiving grants-in-aid from the Consolidated Fund of India to meet the costs of schemes for development, health care, education, roads and regulatory powers under state control. The mandate towards devolution, deconcentration and divestment determines the protection of their customs, better economic development and most importantly, ethnic security. For those seeking Indian citizenship under the CAA, applications can be submitted online through the Citizenship Online website or via a mobile app. The Act allows Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Christians, Parsis, and Buddhists from neighbouring countries (Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan) who entered India before December 31, 2014, to apply for citizenship after verification. (ANI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi, remembered his mother during his address in Varanasi and said that it is the first time, he filed the nomination from the constituency without taking her blessings. He further said that he was called to Kashi by 'Maa Ganga' and she has 'adopted' him. Prime Minister Modi was addressing the 'Nari Shakti Samvad Program' in Varanasi. Prior to his address, he greeted the people while sitting in a specially designed vehicle. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also accompanied him during the roadshow. "This is the first time I have filed my nomination for Kashi without the blessings of my mother. Maa Ganga is my mother that is why I said that Maa Ganga had first called me to Kashi and now Maa Ganga has adopted me," PM Modi said in his address. He emphasised that it is the first time that women have been brought to the centre stage of policymaking in the country. "For the first time in the country's history; mothers, sisters, women have come at centre stage of policymaking...this is an important factor in India's success story...You tell me, when the house cannot run without you, how can the country be run without you? This thing was not understood by the governments for 60 years. The Congress and SP governments gave only neglect and insecurity to women," PM Modi said. "What did the Congress and SP governments do to women... They only neglected them. The mentality of the INDI alliance is anti-women. The INDI Alliance opposes Women's Reservations," he added. PM Modi is a two-time MP from Varanasi. Winning the seat with a resounding majority in 2014 and 2019, he is seeking a third straight win from the constituency. The voting here will be held on June 1 in the last phase. The counting of votes is scheduled for June 4. This time he is facing Congress candidate Ajay Rai, who is the opposition INDIA bloc's joint nominee against the Prime Minister. Further in his address, PM Modi also slammed the INDIA bloc over Rahul Gandhi's 'Shakti' remark and said that his government is going to turn this 'Shakti' into "mahashakti". "Leaders of the INDI alliance openly say that they will destroy the 'Shakti' of Hindus, but after June 4, Modi government will make your 'shakti' as 'maha shakti'...I am continuously working for the public. With your blessings, neither I stop or get tired. My only aim is to reduce any problem faced by my 140 crore people," Prime Minister Modi added. (ANI) Delhi Minister and AAP leader Atishi said on Tuesday that after June 4, when the INDIA bloc will form the government, the Electoral Bond scam will be investigated, in which not only BJP leaders but also ED, CBI and IT officers will go to jail. Addressing a press conference, Atishi said, "I want to clearly tell the BJP that now your end is near. Now the people of the country have made up their minds. After June 4, when the INDIA bloc forms the government, the country's biggest Electoral bond scam will be investigated in which not only BJP leaders will go to jail but ED, CBI and IT officers will also go to jail because they are also involved in it." Further, responding to the Delhi High Court's decision to refuse to grant bail to jailed AAP leader Manish Sisodia today, Atishi said that they disagree with the decision as the entire liquor scam is a political conspiracy of the BJP. "We respect the High Court but we respectfully disagree with this decision of the court. Because this entire so-called liquor scam is a political conspiracy of BJP. This conspiracy was hatched when BJP was unable to defeat AAP in the electoral arena and ED and CBI were used," she said. "The investigation into this scam is going on for more than two years. More than 500 ED and CBI officers are engaged in its investigation. More than a thousand raids have taken place and 8 charge sheets have been filed but till now not even 1 rupee has been recovered from any AAP leader. What kind of scam is this?" Atishi added. Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed the bail petitions moved by Manish Sisodia, Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi in liquor policy cases. Sisodia had sought bail in cases being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Sisodia has been in custody since February 26, 2023, after arrest by the CBI. Thereafter, he was arrested by the ED. The bench of Justice Swarna Kanta Sharma pronounced the order and said the case at hand is of grave misuse of power and aim was to create policy that is beneficial to some and kickbacks could come in. The Court had allowed Manish Sisodia to meet his ailing wife under custody once in a week. Sisodia has been in custody since February 26, 2023, after arrest by the CBI. Thereafter, he was arrested by the ED. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and BRS Leader K Kavitha were also arrested in the excise policy case. (ANI) Flash A group of 64 young delegates from Africa have arrived in China to partake in the 8th China-Africa Youth Festival. Running from May 19-26, this celebration of China and Africa's shared friendship and common aspirations is organized by the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation (CSCLF), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the People's Government of Zhejiang Province. With outings, events and activities scheduled in both Beijing and Zhejiang province, this gala gives young delegates from both China and Africa the chance to get a comprehensive look at Chinese modernization whiling participating in traditional Chinese cultural activities. The theme for this year's festival is "Gathering Youth Strength to Build China-Africa Modernization." West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her 'grief' for the women victims in Sandeshkhali and assured that she would visit there after the elections. Notably, multiple women in Sandeshkhali accused TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh of "land grabbing" and "sexual assault". Following this, the strongman leader was suspended from the party for six years. "What has happened with the women of Sandeshkhali, the way our mothers and sisters have been mistreated? I express my sadness from the bottom of my heart. We have to make sure that no one is able to play with the dignity of our mothers and daughters. If the episode hadn't come out, no one would have known BJP's conspiracy behind it," CM Mamata said addressing a public meeting in Basirhat on Tuesday. The TMC supremo said she will visit Sandeshkhali as soon as her party candidate Haji Nurul wins from Basirhat. "Everyone expects me to visit them during elections...I will definitely go everywhere. I will visit Sandeshkhali too...As soon as our candidate Haji Nurul wins Basirhat, I will visit Sandeshkhali within a few days," she said. The West Bengal CM lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party over 'crimes against women' in the BJP-ruled states. She also took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's conversation with BJP candidate and Sandeshkhali victim, Rekha Patra. "PM calls someone over the phone, holds a tutored conversation, and circulates that on television. But how many people does he actually talk to and care about? It is under his tenure that the country saw maximum crimes against women. BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh is number one state in crimes against women. If there are one or two incidents here, we take immediate action," CM Mamata said. BJP's Rekha Patra will be contesting against Trinamool Congress' Haji Nurul Islam for the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat. Basirhat will go to the polls in the last phase on June 1. The counting of votes will be held on June 4 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. 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) Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha on Tuesday criticised the Trinamool Congress for misleading people and for playing divisive politics and said that the INDIA bloc will be nowhere to be seen after the Lok Sabha elections as they will be thrown out of the country. After participating in a long road show in support of Dr Hiranmoy Chattopadhyay, the BJP candidate for the Ghatal Lok Sabha constituency, Chief Minister Saha said, "Trinamool Congress always misleads people. Their main aim is to create division among people by spreading confusion. Their goal is to keep people poor. Be it Trinamool, Congress, or CPIM, they are all the same. While the goal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to develop people from all sections."Later, the Chief Minister addressed the crowd at an election rally."This election is to see Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister for the third time. We don't want a weak prime minister. We saw in West Bengal that this INDI alliance does not exist. The INDI alliance does not exist in Kerala either. But what kind of alliance is it? This alliance was made to spread confusion among people. After the election, the INDI alliance will be nowhere. It will be thrown out," he said. CM Saha also said that opposition parties, especially the Trinamool Congress, spread confusion among people."Why are they creating divisions? They want to keep people poor. Be it Trinamool, Congress, or CPIM, they are all the same. Prime Minister Modi says we want progress for everyone. He always guarantees development for all. The Prime Minister never behaves unkindly to anyone. With his single-minded efforts, the country is progressing rapidly towards the goal of gradual development. West Bengal is no exception. He has always supported the development of this state. But the government here says otherwise," Chief Minister Saha said. He highlighted that Prime Minister Modi is very sincere in the implementation of various central public schemes and criticised the Trinamool Congress for not allowing the introduction of such schemes in Bengal."In this election, BJP candidates will win in West Bengal. People trust Prime Minister Narendra Modi. People have faith in the Bharatiya Janata Party," he added. The polling for 42 seats of West Bengal is being held across all seven phases. The counting of votes is scheduled for June 4.In 2019, BJP made strong inroads into TMC's hold in West Bengal, by winning 18 seats and being a close second to TMC, which won 22 seats. (ANI) Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha launched a scathing attack on the Trinamool Congress on Monday, accusing the party of sowing division among people and misruling West Bengal. Speaking at an election rally organised in support of Hiranmoy Chatterjee, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for the Ghatal Lok Sabha constituency in the state, Saha also attacked the Opposition INDIA bloc, saying that the alliance is spreading confusion and making false promises. "Trinamool Congress wants to mislead people," Saha said. "Their aim is to create division and keep people poor. In contrast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims to develop all sections of society. This year, the BJP and its allies will win more than 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections." Saha, one of the star campaigners for the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, has been actively participating in campaigns across West Bengal. His current tour included a long roadshow and a public rally in support of Hiranmoy Chattopadhyay. "This is the 18th Lok Sabha election, and it's crucial to see Narendra Modi as Prime Minister for the third time," Saha said. "We don't want a weak prime minister. The opposition, with their 'Indy alliance,' has failed to even name a candidate for prime minister. They are spreading confusion and false promises." Saha used an analogy from the Bollywood movie "Sholay" to describe the disarray within the opposition, suggesting that their alliance is superficial and ineffective. "This INDI alliance is made to spread confusion among people. They are in a state of chaos, much like the characters in 'Sholay' who find themselves alone and unarmed despite much fanfare." The Chief Minister also highlighted recent successes in Tripura, particularly in constituencies with significant minority populations. He cited the example of the Buxanagar by-elections in Sepahijala district, where the BJP secured a victory despite historical dominance by the CPM and Congress. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks about Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Prayas, Sabka Vishwas," Saha said. "In Tripura's by-elections, we not only won, but we also managed to confiscate the securities of the opposition candidates. People just want trust, and only Prime Minister Modi can provide that." Saha emphasised that the opposition, especially the Trinamool Congress, aims to divide and mislead the populace to maintain their power. He contrasted this with Prime Minister Modi's vision of inclusive development and timely execution of projects, which he argued is propelling the country towards progress. "Prime Minister Modi is very sincere in the implementation of various central public projects, and West Bengal is no exception," Saha said. "The people trust Prime Minister Modi and have faith in the BJP. We will see a significant victory in West Bengal this election." The rally, attended by top BJP leaders at the state and mandal levels, saw thousands of enthusiastic workers and supporters. The event underscored the BJP's robust campaign efforts and the growing momentum as the Lok Sabha elections approach. Ghatal is a key parliamentary constituency out of 42 in West Bengal and will go to the polls on May 25th during the 6th phase of the Lok Sabha Elections. (ANI) The US on Monday addressed a recently published news report describing the Muslim community in India and reaffirmed its commitment to promoting universal respect for freedom of religion. The US said that they are engaging with countries worldwide, including India, on this matter. "We are deeply committed to promoting and protecting universal respect for the right to freedom of religion or belief of all around the world. We have engaged many countries including India on the importance of equal treatment for members of all religious communities," US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a daily press briefing. This statement follows a report by The New York Times titled "Strangers in Their Own Land: Being Muslim in Modi's India," which alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "chipped away at the secular framework and robust democracy" since taking office. The report also claimed that Muslim families in India grapple with anguish and isolation as they try to raise their children in a country that increasingly questions their very identity. A recent report by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) stated that the share of the Muslim population in India increased from 9.84 per cent to 14.09 per cent between 1950 and 2015. "The share of Muslim population in 1950 was 9.84 per cent and increased to 14.09 per cent in 2015 - a 43.15 per cent increase in their share," the report said. In the same period, the share of Hindu population in India decreased from 84.68 per cent to 78.06 per cent. "The share of the majority Hindu population decreased by 7.82 per cent between 1950 and 2015 (from 84.68 per cent to 78.06 per cent)," the report said. The report noted increases in the Christian, Sikh, and Buddhist populations, while the Jain and Parsi populations decreased. The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) is an independent body constituted to advise on economic and related issues to the Government of India, specifically to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also highlighted the report by the EAC-PM and claimed that the narrative that "minority is in danger" is false and has been exposed. He said that the perception that has been created is "proving to be a mistake." "Between 1950 and 2015, the number of Hindus in India has decreased by about 8 per cent, while that of minorities has increased by 43 per cent. The perception that has been created is proving to be a mistake. The wrong narrative is being exposed. Whatever meaning one has to take out of it, they can. I don't want to bring out anything," PM Modi said while speaking to Republic TV earlier this month. "If this is factual, then the perceptions created as in that minority is being suppressed in India, there is no voice for the minority in India... all these narratives that are being created, all this allegation against India, please accept the truth and come out of this narrative," he added. The Ministry of External Affairs previously rejected a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of "reinforcing discriminatory nationalist policies." The Ministry called the organization "biased" and stated that it does not expect the organization to understand India's diverse, pluralistic, and democratic ethos. "The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is known as a biased organization with a political agenda. They continue to publish their propaganda on India masquerading as part of an annual report," Randhir Jaiswal, an MEA official spokesperson had said at a press briefing. (ANI) US President Joe Biden said on Monday that the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor's application for arrest warrants against the Israeli leaders is 'outrageous' and reaffirmed his support for Israel amid ongoing war with Hamas. President Biden also asserted that there is no 'equivalence' between Israel and Hamas. "The ICC prosecutor's application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence -- none -- between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security," President Biden said in a statement. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has applied for arrest warrants against top Israeli and Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said on Monday that his office had applied for arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders for alleged crimes committed during the Hamas-led October 7 attack on southern Israel and Israel's subsequent war on Gaza. Moreover, the US State Department also issued its statement over the matter and rejected the announcement from the ICC Prosecutor, calling it 'shameful'. "The United States fundamentally rejects the announcement today from the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that he is applying for arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials, together with warrants for Hamas terrorists. We reject the Prosecutor's equivalence of Israel with Hamas. It is shameful. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and is still holding dozens of innocent people hostage, including Americans," US State departement said in a statement. "Moreover, the United States has been clear since well before the current conflict that ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter. The ICC was established by its state parties as a court of limited jurisdiction. Those limits are rooted in principles of complementarity, which do not appear to have been applied here amid the Prosecutor's rush to seek these arrest warrants rather than allowing the Israeli legal system a full and timely opportunity to proceed. In other situations, the Prosecutor deferred to national investigations and worked with states to allow them time to investigate. The Prosecutor did not afford the same opportunity to Israel, which has ongoing investigations into allegations against its personnel," it added. ICC Prosecutor Khan announced his office had "reasonable grounds" to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant bear "criminal responsibility" for "war crimes and crimes against humanity". Khan also applied for arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders - Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (also known as Deif) - for war crimes and crimes against humanity. (ANI) United States said on Monday that they were 'unable' to provide assistance to the Iran government due to logistical reasons after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's helicopter crashed on Sunday afternoon. "We were asked for assistance by the Iranian government. We did make it clear to them that we would offer assistance, as we would do in response to any request by a foreign government in this sort of situation," US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a daily briefing. "I'm not going to get into the details, but we were asked by the Iranian Government for assistance. We said that we would be willing to assist. It's something that we would do with respect to any government in this situation. Ultimately, largely for logistical reasons, we weren't able to provide that assistance," Miller added. Saying that Iranian President had 'blood in his hands,' Spokesperson Miller condoled the death of President Ebrahim Raisi and said that "We don't want to see anyone die in a helicopter crash." "Let me say a few things. One, we have been quite clear that Ebrahim Raisi was a brutal participant in the repression of the Iranian people for nearly four decades. He was involved in numerous horrific human rights abuses, including playing a key role in the extrajudicial killing of thousands of political prisoners in 1988. Some of the worst human rights abuses occurred during his tenure as president, especially the human rights abuses against the women and girls of Iran," he said. "We regret any loss of life. We don't want to see anyone die in a helicopter crash. But that doesn't change the reality of his record both as a judge and as the president of Iran and the fact that he has blood on his hands. So, I think, most importantly, our fundamental approach to Iran has not changed and will not change. We will continue to support the people of Iran, to defend their human rights, their aspirations to an open, free society and democratic participation," he added. The chopper, which also carried other officials, had disappeared in the mountains of northwestern Iran after making a 'hard landing' on Sunday. They were confirmed killed on Monday morning around 16 hours after the helicopter they were travelling in crashed in poor weather. Raisi, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, and seven other people who were onboard the helicopter that crashed on Sunday have died, state media Press TV reported on Monday. Raisi was returning to Iran following a visit to Azerbaijan when his helicopter came down in bad weather conditions on Sunday afternoon. Nine people were on the helicopter that crashed in northwest Iran on Sunday, as reported by Tasnim News. Raisi and his accompanying delegation were returning from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam on the Aras River with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev. Following the announcement of the deaths of Raisi and his team, the Iranian cabinet held an emergency session headed by Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, Press TV reported. Raisi was heading to the city of Tabriz on Sunday afternoon when the incident took place. An Al Jazeera reporter said that "looking at the wreckage of the helicopter, the chances of anyone surviving in such an accident are quite slim. We see that the whole cabin of the helicopter is completely burned." The publication said that Iranian authorities "are saying that some of the bodies were burned beyond recognition and that they have not been able to identify who is who at the site." Drone footage of the wreckage taken by the Red Crescent was carried on state media. It showed the crash site on a steep, wooded hillside, with little remaining of the helicopter beyond a blue and white tail, CNN reported. For the first time, Iran is going through such a situation. The country has never seen something similar with the president and the foreign minister disappearing in a helicopter crash, reported Al Jazeera. Following the report of the Iranian President's death and that of the foreign affairs minister, the government cabinet convened an urgent meeting, IRNA reported. (ANI) Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry affirmed his country's commitment to safeguarding India's national security interests on Monday, stating that Colombo, as a responsible neighbour, will not allow anyone to harm India's security. The Minister also addressed India's concerns regarding the visits of Chinese research vessels to the island nation, saying that they would like to work with other countries in a transparent manner but not at the cost of others. "We have very clearly stated that we would like to work with all countries, but any reasonable concerns regarding Indian security will be taken into note, and we will not allow anyone to harm that. Subject to that, of course, in a very transparent manner, we would like to work with all countries," the Minister said in an interview with ANI. "I just got to know that recently China has become India's biggest trading partner. So similarly, like you work with that. We would also like to work with everyone, but that should not come at anyone else, third parties cost. So therefore, let me reiterate, as a responsible neighbour and a civilizational partner we will not undertake anything that would harm the legitimate security concerns of India," he added. When asked about the ongoing elections in India, the Minister said that the exercise is a celebration of democracy and asserted that Sri Lanka would work with India irrespective of its election outcome. "It's a celebration of democracy, the largest democracy in the world. Indian people are educated. Indian people will know what is good for them. I think when it comes to elections, it is domestic matter. It is the public who must decide and others only should watch. We see this celebration is taking place of a democracy. We want a peaceful conclusion of this and we will work with any outcome with the indian public decide," he said. Last year, India had expressed its security concerns over the docking of the vessel at the Sri Lankan port as it was shown as a research vessel with the capability of mapping the ocean bed, which is critical to anti-submarine operations of the Chinese Navy. The Chinese research ship had docked at Sri Lanka's Hambantota Port. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar while commenting on Chinese spy vessel Yuan Wang-5 which had docked in Sri Lanka, said that any developments that have a bearing on India's security are "obviously of an interest to us". "What happens in our neighbourhood, any developments which have a bearing on our security, obviously are of an interest to us," Jaishankar said at a joint press conference after the 9th India-Thailand Joint Commission Meeting. (ANI) Abu Dhabi [UAE], May 21 (ANI/WAM): The National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) urged motorists to follow the traffic regulations regarding a chance of fog formation. In a statement, the NCM cautioned against a deterioration in horizontal visibility, which may drop even further at times over some coastal and internal areas, from 02:00 till 08:30 Tuesday.(ANI/WAM) Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Monday met Kyrgyzstan Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kulubaev in Astana and urged him to take swift action against the perpetrators involved in last week's mob attacks on foreign students. including some Pakistani students in Bishkek, Dawn reported. According to Pakistan's embassy in Bishkek, foreign students living in the Kyrgyzstan capital, including those from Pakistan, were attacked by locals in the aftermath of their brawl with Egyptian nationals on May 13. The Deputy Prime Minister, who arrived here for the regular meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization(SCO), held a meeting with the Kyrgyz Foreign Minister. The meeting was focused on the recent developments in Bishkek and the welfare of Pakistani nationals there, as per Dawn. During the meeting, Dar shared concerns about Pakistani students in Kyrgyzstan and requested Foreign Minister Kulubaev to ensure their security. He further underlined that Pakistan's main concern was the well-being of its nationals, especially the students who were primarily affected by last week's violence. FM Kulubaev shared that the Kyrgyz government had taken swift action to restore law and order, and the perpetrators of the mob riots would be punished under the Kyrgyz law. According to Dawn, he reassured the deputy PM about the safety and security of Pakistani nationals and full facilitation for the safe repatriation of students who wished to return to Pakistan. Meanwhile, A special flight carrying 180 Pakistan students landed at Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport on Saturday Another flight bringing back Pakistani students from Bishkek arrived at Islamabad International Airport on Monday. The Pakistani embassy in Bishkek reported there were no deaths. "Moreover, Kygyz Ministry of Internal Affairs has also issued press releases stating that the situation is under control," it said. (ANI) The Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JKJAAC) has announced the resumption of its protest campaign in Muzaffarabad starting May 27. This decision comes in the wake of eight key demands that the committee has put forth, which they assert must be met to halt their actions. The JKJAAC's demands include the transfer of all hydropower projects, including the Mangla Dam, to the government of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). They are also demanding the declaration of PoJK as a load-shedding-free zone, the establishment of a judicial commission comprising high court judges to investigate corruption within the PoJK Food Department. Speaking to ANI, Amjad Ayub Mirza, a political activist from PoJK, said, "The demands also include the cessation of privileges for the ruling elite, the allocation of flour in PoJK according to the population's requirements, and the abolition of all cases filed against the JKJAAC since 2022." He added that the immediate release of all political prisoners, including seven individuals currently detained in Mirpur, and legal action against officials involved in violence against participants of the long march are also among the demands by JKJAAC. The JKJAAC's decision to resume protests underscores the growing frustration and impatience among the people of PoJK regarding governance and resource allocation issues. The call for a judicial probe into corruption and the demand for equitable resource distribution highlight significant concerns over systemic inefficiencies and injustices. As the May 27 deadline approaches, all eyes will be on the response from the authorities. The JKJAAC's resolve to continue their protests indicates a pivotal moment for the region, potentially heralding significant political and administrative changes. (ANI) Flash Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a message to Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, congratulating him on his election as president of the Republic of Chad. Xi pointed out that in recent years, China-Chad relations have maintained a good momentum of development, with their political mutual trust continuously deepened, cooperation steadily advanced in various fields, and international collaboration becoming closer. Xi said he attaches great importance to the development of China-Chad relations and is willing to work with the president-elect to strengthen mutual support and promote friendly cooperation, so as to better benefit the two peoples. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited the Iran embassy in the national capital on Tuesday and conveyed India's "deepest condolences" on the tragic demise of President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. Jaishankar, remembered the Iranian leaders as "friends of India" who contributed immensely to the growth of the India-Iran relationship. In a post on X, Jaishankar wrote, "Visited the Embassy of Iran in Delhi today to convey our deepest condolences on the tragic passing away of President Ebrahim Raisi and my colleague, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. They will always be remembered as friends of India who contributed immensely to the growth of the India-Iran relationship." "Government of India stands in solidarity with the people of Iran at this very difficult time," he added. https://x.com/DrSJaishankar/status/1792870485128020146 A one-day state mourning is being observed across India on Tuesday as a mark of respect for Raisi. On Monday, Khamenei announced five days of mourning in Iran and a public holiday has been declared with offices closed all over the country. The Iranian government has declared Wednesday as a public holiday when a funeral is expected to be held in Tehran with the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah leading prayers. Raisi's body will be buried in his birthplace, Mashhad, on Thursday, Vice-President of the Republic, Mohsen Mansouri, announced. On Monday Prime Minister Narendra Modi had condoled the demise of the Iranian President. In a post on social media platform X, PM Modi acknowledges Raisi's contribution to strengthening the India-Iran bilateral relationship. "Deeply saddened and shocked by the tragic demise of Dr. Seyed Ebrahim Raisi, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. His contribution to strengthening the India-Iran bilateral relationship will always be remembered. My heartfelt condolences to his family and the people of Iran. India stands with Iran in this time of sorrow," PM Modi tweeted. While on its way from a location on Azerbaijan's border, where the Iranian president had inaugurated a significant dam project, to Tabriz, the capital of Iran's East Azerbaijan province, sixty-three-year-old Raisi's helicopter crashed on Sunday afternoon. The chopper wreckage was discovered early on Monday by rescuers following several hours of intensive search operations involving over 70 teams. (ANI) TOKYO, May 21 (News On Japan) - In an extraordinary promotion, 22-year-old Rino Morosawa has risen from a part-time worker to CEO. She is now the new president of Skyscraper, a company that operates CoCo Ichibanya Curry House franchises. Here is the story behind her rapid ascent to the top in just seven years. From this month, Morosawa has been working as the president of Skyscraper, a company that runs 18 CoCo Ichibanya stores in Tokyo, Gunma, and other locations, with annual sales of about 2 billion yen and approximately 400 employees. On her first day as CEO on May 1, Morosawa expressed her enthusiasm: 'I am very motivated and love everyone here. I look forward to working with you all. Thank you very much.' The day after assuming her role, Morosawa was seen in her uniform, actively engaging in customer service and preparation tasks at one of the stores. Despite being the CEO, she moved around the store more than anyone else. Morosawa started working part-time at CoCo Ichibanya during her first year of high school. She appeared in the companys PR videos and was passionate about customer service. After graduating from high school, she continued working part-time and at 19, she received the title of Customer Service Specialist, becoming the youngest to earn the 'Customer Service Star' designation. Her life changed during a celebratory event, leading her to say, 'I was excited and thought, if Im suitable, Id love to do it.' Remarkably, in just seven years, she became the CEO. However, she admits that she has faced significant challenges, especially with managing sales targets and controlling food costs. Reflecting on her promotion, the store manager she admires said, 'Its not about having qualifications. Its about working together to develop the company and the stores.' Morosawa is determined to follow this approach. Skyscraper Chairman Nishiwaki, who selected Morosawa for the CEO role, listed essential qualities such as trustworthiness, a love for the company, dedication to on-site work, and honesty. Nishiwaki noted that age and gender were not factors in the decision. Since she lacked management experience, Morosawa underwent a two-year training program starting at age 20, learning various aspects of business management. The new CEO has already begun implementing changes, such as offering eyelash perm vouchers as gifts to female employees, instead of the traditional celebratory dinners. This approach has impressed Nishiwaki, who believes that understanding what employees appreciate is crucial. Looking ahead, Morosawa aims to continue being a hands-on CEO, stating, 'I want to be a president who works alongside everyone, sweating together and saying, "We did well today."' She also plans to open a new store with her own efforts by the end of the year. Morosawas achievements and positive attitude demonstrate that age is not a barrier to leadership. Her journey is seen as a bold and challenging step by the company, and her willingness to learn and grow inspires support and encouragement from those around her. Source: TBS YOKOHAMA, May 21 (News On Japan) - The Yokohama Board of Education has issued an apology for filling courtroom seats with staff during a trial involving a teacher accused of sexual crimes, preventing the general public from attending. According to the Yokohama Board of Education, numerous staff members were mobilized to occupy the seats in the courtroom during the trial of a teacher accused of sexual crimes, effectively barring the public from attending. In at least eight trials held from last year to this year, a total of 371 staff members were mobilized, with up to 50 staff members attending a single trial. In some cases, travel allowances were provided for this duty. The Board of Education stated that the measure was taken at the request of the victims to prevent the spread of their information, denying any intention to protect the accused. However, they acknowledged that the action was excessive and apologized. Source: TBS It was a case of fifth-time lucky for Shigeru Ishiba, who was sworn in as Prime Minister of Japan on 1 October 2024. After four unsuccessful attempts to win the leadership of Japans ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) between 2008 and 2020, and his increasingly isolated position as an outsider within the party, it looked like he had missed his chance. His perseverance has now paid off. (East Asia Forum) The Nonpareil has compiled an election guide for 2024 Republican primary voters for Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors, Pottawattamie County Auditor and Iowa House of Representatives District 20. The primary is Tuesday, June 4, and only a handful of positions are contested in the Republican primary, with no local races contested by more than one Democrat or Libertarian and many not at all. The Pottawattamie County Auditor's Office will be open Saturday, June 1, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for in-person early voting. The polls will be open Tuesday, June 4, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Since the last federal election, four polling locations have moved: CB13 moved to St. John's Lutheran Church, 633 Willow Ave. CB18 moved to Compass Church, 2007 S. Seventh St. CB19 moved to Creekside Church, 3320 Harry Langdon Blvd. Garner moved to St. Patrick's Catholic Church, 4 Valley View Drive. For more on the primary, including sample ballots and polling places, visit elections.pottcounty-ia.gov/elections/info/2024_primary_election_2024_06_04 Nonpareil Election Coverage Republican candidates explain approaches they would take in office Republican candidates for county supervisors and auditor spoke with voters in Oakland on Saturday morning in a candidate forum organized by the Pottawattamie County Republican Party Central Committee. Related candidates on Republican primary ballots in Pottawattamie County While there's not much to excite Pottawattamie County Democrats in Tuesday's primary, Republicans will find some curiosities on their ballots. a married couple, father and son and two young candidates. Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors Crilly targets taxes as potential board newcomer Karis Crilly wants his mom to be able to afford her house. He moved to Council Bluffs in 1994 after growing up in a small town near Denison. 2024 GOP Primary Candidate Guide: Karis Crilly The Nonpareil offers an election guide for 2024 Republican primary voters for Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors, Pottawattamie County Auditor and Iowa House of Representatives District 20. Houser understands government via Carson service Adam Houser is looking to step into a role as a county supervisor after serving a decade on the Carson City Council, including as the current mayor pro tem. 2024 GOP Primary Candidate Guide: Adam Houser The Nonpareil offers an election guide for 2024 Republican primary voters for Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors, Pottawattamie County Auditor and Iowa House of Representatives District 20. Johnson wants to continue work in public service Charlie Johnson says he doesn't have an agenda or an axe to grind. "I'm running because I have a passion to serve," he said. 2024 GOP Primary Candidate Guide: Charlie Johnson The Nonpareil offers an election guide for 2024 Republican primary voters for Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors, Pottawattamie County Auditor and Iowa House of Representatives District 20. Shea touts 'common sense' approach as supervisor Brian Shea has committed himself to serving Crescent. He spent a few years on the city council before serving nearly a decade as the mayor. 2024 GOP Primary Candidate Guide: Brian Shea The Nonpareil offers an election guide for 2024 Republican primary voters for Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors, Pottawattamie County Auditor and Iowa House of Representatives District 20. Wichman stresses leadership, history of tax cuts "I have the experience, the leadership and the fiscal management to continue moving Pottawattamie County forward," Tim Wichman said. 2024 GOP Primary Candidate Guide: Tim Wichman The Nonpareil offers an election guide for 2024 Republican primary voters for Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors, Pottawattamie County Auditor and Iowa House of Representatives District 20. Pottawattamie County Auditor Hanusa loves solving problems for constituents Mary Ann Hanusa grew up in her family's small business. "I learned from my dad's example the importance of going the extra mile for the customer," she said. 2024 GOP Primary Candidate Guide: Mary Ann Hanusa The Nonpareil offers an election guide for 2024 Republican primary voters for Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors, Pottawattamie County Auditor and Iowa House of Representatives District 20. Houser says every day is different for auditor "Everything goes on in the auditor's office," Melvyn Houser said. "It is the hub of the county government, and I really enjoy it." 2024 GOP Primary Candidate Guide: Melvyn J. Houser The Nonpareil offers an election guide for 2024 Republican primary voters for Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors, Pottawattamie County Auditor and Iowa House of Representatives District 20. Iowa House of Representatives District 10 2024 GOP Primary Candidate Guide: August Gibbons The Nonpareil offers an election guide for 2024 Republican primary voters for Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors, Pottawattamie County Auditor and Iowa House of Representatives District 20. 2024 GOP Primary Candidate Guide: James Wassell The Nonpareil offers an election guide for 2024 Republican primary voters for Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors, Pottawattamie County Auditor and Iowa House of Representatives District 20. Iowa 4th Congressional District Congressional candidate Kevin Virgil touts putting America first at campaign stop Kevin Virgil, a Republican candidate for the 4th District Congressional seat, says it's time to put America first. Iowa 4th Congressional District GOP primary marked by back and forth between Feenstra and Virgil Two-term incumbent Rep. Randy Feenstra faces his first primary test since taking office in 2021. Kevin Virgil is looking to pull off a political upset in the June 4 primary. Republican 4th Congressional District candidates diverge on ethanol assistance A political newcomer who is challenging 4th District Rep. Randy Feenstra said Thursday the federal government should phase out requirements for refiners to incorporate ethanol into the nations fuel supply. Council Bluffs is taking a lead role in the fight against diabetes. A local resident recently became the first adult in Iowa or Nebraska to receive a groundbreaking treatment for Type 1 diabetes, according to hospital officials. The treatment's goal is to delay the onset of Stage 3 diabetes and the reliance on insulin. The patient, 38-year-old Eric Holdt, received this treatment at the suggestion of Council Bluffs nurse practitioner Aubrey Molgaard. This is brand new life-changing medicine, she said. Its a big deal. Referred to as Tzield, its a monoclonal antibody infusion given for 30 minutes a day for two weeks. Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood glucose to maintain consistent blood sugar levels. This treatment goes after what is attacking the pancreas in a patient with Type I Stage 2 diabetes to help the pancreas continue to work to produce beta cells that produce insulin to help control blood sugar controls, Molgaard said. She had a personal connection to this because her daughter has benefited from the same treatment given in South Dakota. Holdt was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2021. I was lucky they diagnosed me early, he said. Molgaard saw that Holdt would eventually make a great candidate for this treatment. She monitored him closely for two years while advocating for this treatment and doing the behind the scenes work to bring the infusion to CHI Health. This treatment was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2022. It was a process, and Eric chose to wait for us, Molgaard said. Im glad they picked me to do it, Holdt said, adding that during those two years he watched what he ate and exercised more. The infusion was done at CHI Health Bergan in Omaha. The potential to delay the progression of Type 1 diabetes is important because the difference between Type 1 Stage 2, which Holdt has, and Stage 3 is a reliance on insulin, meaning this treatment can help people live insulin free for up to 10 years, Molgaard said. Holdt recently went to Molgaards office at CHI Health Valley View Clinic for his first checkup after completing the two-week treatment. Though still early to determine whether this treatment will be effective, Holdt mentioned that according to his latest blood sugar numbers it seems to be helping. Im glad I qualified for it, he said. Its a big deal and will hopefully help me and other people in the future. Following targeted cash-handouts to needy households, Morocco has cut by 10 dirhams the subsidized price of a cooking gas cylinder, in a move that will alleviate the subsidies burden. The decision- that entered into force on May 20- marks the first subsidies cut in a gradual process that aims at breaking away with general subsidies. The logic is that the needy are getting cash-handouts thanks to a national register that identified those eligible to state aid. Prior to cutting subsidies, the government has also generalized health insurance and pays for the contributions of poor households. It has also raised the minimum wage, both for the public and private sectors, and hiked salaries of civil servants. These measures were meant to support the purchasing power of citizens and end with a policy of general subsidies that also benefited wealthy households and deepened the subsidies burden on the state budget. Morocco ended its control of diesel prices in 2015 but maintains subsidies on sugar and flour. Morocco offered a donation of 200 tons of fertilizers to 10,000 households in Guatemala, where nearly half the labor force depends on agriculture, Moroccos diplomatic mission said. Guatemalan agriculture minister Maynor Estrada said the donation was consistent with efforts to develop farming and fight poverty in agriculture-dependent areas. Moroccan ambassador to Guatemala Tarik Louajri said the Kingdom is ready to help Guatemala develop its farming sector and the fight against malnutrition. Moroccos OCP is a major producer of phosphates-based fertilizers and has been cooperating with partners across the globe, offering customized soil nutrients. Southern African countries hit by extreme El Nino weather phenomenon made an appeal for $5.5 billion to assist some 61 million affected people. The call was made by the Southern African Development Community, which brings together 16 members. Some countries in the region such as Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi saw their crops sapped by extreme weather patterns, with the threat of hunger looming. Zambia and Zimbabwe, in particular, suffered electricity outages due to empty hydroelectric dams, after a severe El Nino-induced drought. Farmers in this area rely on rain to grow staples such as maize. Their way of life is now threatened by the severe drought which could trigger migrations and worsen poverty. Several U.N. agencies and aid groups including the World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organisation and the International Federation of Red Cross pledged initial funding. Some countries, such as Kenya, have suffered drought and torrential rains that killed more than 200 and displaced thousands. The economic toll is estimated at about 5% of Kenyas GDP. Moroccos spending on social assistance would amount to $9 billion, representing some 8% of the countrys GDP, minister in charge of the Budget Fouzi Lekjaa said. Lekjaa was speaking before MPs explaining the logic behind cutting cooking gas prices, which come after a series of measures aiming to boost purchasing power of poor and middle-class households. Between 2015 and 2023, the state spent 111 billion dirhams (11 billion dollars) to subsidy butane gas, with the poor benefiting at a 14% rate, he said, to show how little the poor benefited from the general subsidies system. Funding social protection would be possible thanks to an expected rise of state revenue by 12%, he said. Social aid benefits 6 million households, including 3.6 million families that receive direct cash handouts regularly, he said. The governments social effort together with an enlargement of the tax base would enable cutting the budget deficit from 7% in 2021 to 3% in 2026, he said. Tax burden has shrunk from 21% to 23% as the government expands the tax base and VAT collection to increase revenue, he said. The Swiss government has affirmed that there is no official representation of the polisario front either at the UN Office in Geneva or to the Federal Council, dealing another blow to the Algeria-backed separatist group. In a diplomatic note addressed to the Moroccan embassy in Bern, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said the polisario front office in Geneva enjoys no privileges or immunity in Switzerland, exposing the separatists lies and attempts to deceive the international community. The Swiss authorities have notified and warned the so-called polisario representative in Switzerland against using misleading names and titles suggesting that the separatists have an official representation in Switzerland. The Swiss government clarification is seen a reprobation act and a strong diplomatic warning to the so-called polisario representative in Switzerland, urging him to stop posing as ambassador or face serious consequences. The goal of the Polisario propaganda, paid with Algerian petrol-dollars, is to deceive the Algerian public opinion and the Sahrawis sequestered in Tindouf camps by selling them fictitious diplomatic achievements and an elusive dream amid a growing popular uproar, frustration, resentment, and protests in both Tindouf and Algeria. The Moroccan-American Defense Consultative Committee, which held two working meetings this week in Rabat, signed on Tuesday, May 21, at the headquarters of the General Staff of the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) the roadmap for bilateral military cooperation. The military cooperation roadmap includes the guidelines to follow for the implementation of the activities agreed upon at the 13th session of the Morocco-U.S. Defense Consultative Committee (DCC), the General Staff of the FAR said in a press release. At the end of the second working meeting of the Morocco-U.S. DCC, decorations, awarded by King Mohammed VI, Supreme Commander and Chief of the General Staff of the FAR, were handed to three American officers in recognition of their efforts to develop and promote Moroccan-American military cooperation. The decorated officers are Major General Daniel Boyack, Commander of the Utah State National Guard, Lt-Colonel Teremuura Shamel, Chief of the Office of Security Cooperation (OSC) at the American Embassy in Rabat, and Major Christopher Tarbet, of the Office of Security Cooperation (OSC) at the American Embassy in Rabat, in charge of bilateral affairs. In execution of the High Royal Instructions concerning the holding of the 13th Session of the DCC, Lieutenant General, Inspector General of the FAR and Commander of the South Zone, Mohamed Berrid, received on Monday, at the FAR General Staff headquarters, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Celeste Wallander, who is on a working visit to the Kingdom May 17-22 at the head of a large military delegation. The Defense Consultative Committee provides a platform for strategic dialogue on crucial regional security issues, and outlines future action plans with AFRICOM and the Utah State National Guard, as well as capacity-building projects managed by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA). Moroccan-American military cooperation is governed by bilateral Agreements, Memoranda of Understanding, and Technical Arrangements, which set out the terms and conditions of cooperation. Protesters hold signs and flags during a demonstration calling for a hostages deal and against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government on Monday in Jerusalem. Photo: Amir Levy/Getty Images To listen to some of Joe Bidens critics on the right, in suspending shipments of high-payload bombs and discouraging a large incursion into Rafah, the supposed last bastion of Hamas in Gaza, the president has abandoned Israel. In reality, the slight pressure Biden has put on Israel thus far is mild compared to what past presidents (such as that radical leftist Ronald Reagan) applied and falls far short of what his critics on the left are demanding. More importantly, the idea that Biden is betraying or abandoning Israel by threatening to stop underwriting some of the most disastrous political and military decisions its leaders have ever made is nonsense. On the contrary, out of his love for Israel, he should be doing more. By using American influence to guide Israel off its current, dangerous path, Biden would not only save many Palestinian and Israeli lives but also help save Israel from the failures of its own leadership. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahus actions in response to the horrific terrorist attacks of October 7 have put Israel in its most precarious military and diplomatic position in decades. Netanyahu, his far-right allies, and the military technocrats of his war cabinet have turned a justifiable defensive war into a humanitarian catastrophe and a strategic debacle. Consider what Israel has accomplished since last October: Most of Gaza is in ruins, with hospitals, mosques, schools, and innumerable homes damaged or destroyed. Nearly all of the 2 million people living in Gaza have been at least temporarily displaced. Thousands of innocents are dead, many more are sick and starving, and Israel is still preventing the delivery of most humanitarian aid, despite international condemnation. As a consequence, Israel has squandered the international goodwill it enjoyed as the victim of the atrocities of October 7. Public opinion abroad, including among Americans, turns further against Israel as the horrific war goes on. On Monday, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced that he was seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant, along with three Hamas leaders, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Netanyahu excoriated the ICC decision as outrageously equating the democratic state of Israel with the terrorists of Hamas. Biden, unsurprisingly, echoed that opinion. Yet the statement of the ICC prosecutor was eminently measured, reasonable, and based in verifiable fact. It does not demonize Israel as a state or Zionism as an idea, and even notes outright that Israel, like all States, has a right to take action to defend its population. It simply cannot do so in ways that violate international humanitarian law, as a growing body of evidence suggests it has done. And what has Israel gained from all this carnage? Roughly 100 hostages taken on October 7 still languish in Hamass tunnels, as do the bodies of dozens more. Hamas has been diminished but not defeated a goal former IDF chief of staff and war cabinet minister Gadi Eisenkot said in January was likely unrealistic. Israels planned incursion into Rafah to finish the job may not be enough, either. Hamas has begun to regroup in many parts of Gaza Israel supposedly cleared months ago, forcing the IDF to go back and retake these areas. The country that once defeated the armies of all of its neighbors in six days now apparently cannot defeat a terrorist gang in eight months. Meanwhile, Israel faces the constant threat of escalation. On its northern border with Lebanon, Iran-backed Hezbollah has launched regular missile attacks for the past seven months and has recently begun using more advanced weaponry such as armed drones. Other Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Yemen remain a threat. And Israel has already come alarmingly close to a direct war with Iran itself. Netanyahu has refused to articulate a strategy or vision for how the war will end and how Gaza will be governed once Hamass pseudo-state has been dismantled. He has only said what he will not agree to: no handing Gaza to the Palestinian Authority, no resumption of Israeli political control, and of course no discussion of Palestinian statehood. He continues to insist that these crucial issues cannot be discussed until Hamas is defeated militarily. The situation has gotten bad enough that IDF leaders have started to speak out publicly. Earlier this month, IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi slammed Netanyahus lack of a day after strategy, calling it the reason the army has had to refight battles in northern Gaza. Last week, defense minister Yoav Gallant said Netanyahus cabinet had refused his repeated requests to discuss a postwar alternative to Hamas rule in Gaza. He also called on the prime minister to declare that Israel will not reoccupy Gaza or establish an ongoing military presence there, where far-right parties are pushing for reestablishing Israeli settlements. Then on Saturday, Benny Gantz, another former IDF chief of staff who leads the centrist National Unity party and joined Netanyahus war cabinet in October, gave the prime minister a deadline of June 8 to come up with a plan for freeing the remaining hostages and addressing the future governance of Gaza and other pressing issues like the normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia, or else Gantz and his party would quit the wartime unity government. This would not topple Netanyahus coalition, but it would tank his legitimacy and make it harder for him to act without the support of his most radical allies. The prime minister is not losing the support of current and former military leaders because of a clash of ideologies. These men are not peaceniks. Perhaps ironically, the greatest threats to Netanyahus continued hold on power are not his bigotry, corruption, self-serving politics, or moral bankruptcy, but his incompetence and lack of strategic vision. Jewish Israelis are broadly supportive of the war in Gaza, which they see through an increasingly censored media that obstructs their view of the humanitarian catastrophe. Many Israelis are angry at Netanyahu, not for conducting the war immorally or illegally but because he is failing to achieve its objectives, especially rescuing the hostages. Netanyahu has had a dismal track record as prime minister over most of the past 15 years. He has enabled extremists to take control of Israel, coddling ultranationalist terrorists as they have harassed, driven out, and murdered Palestinians in the West Bank to make room for illegal settlements. He has protected and promoted the settlement movement, carving up the occupied territory into ever smaller and less inhabitable pieces. He has besieged Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank while imagining Israel itself as under siege. He has rattled sabers at Iran and cozied up to the authoritarian government of Saudi Arabia while allowing Hamas to build up its power base in Gaza, all the better to keep the Palestinian territories divided and forestall any discussion of statehood. Indeed, Netanyahus lack of a vision for the end of this war is a microcosm of his broader disinterest in long-term solutions. How does Netanyahu envision the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ending? In short, he doesnt. He rejects the two-state solution and has done his best to make Palestinian statehood impossible on the ground, but he also would never countenance giving West Bankers and Gazans equal rights in a single, binational state. He is too politically intelligent to espouse ethnic cleansing in so many words, but some of his partners are increasingly comfortable saying the quiet part out loud and admitting that the only way their vision of greater Israel really works is if the Palestinians are gone. For his part, Netanyahu has advanced a doctrine of managing the conflict rather than attempting to resolve it, promising voters that they could have security, prosperity, and even normalized relations with the Arab world without having to give up territory or make any concessions or compromises. Until the catastrophic security and intelligence failures of October 7, it almost looked like he could pull it off. Since then, the folly of that doctrine has been on full, horrifying display. A decade and a half of Netanyahus rule has made Israel weaker, not stronger and with this war, he is putting it on the wrong side of history. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer put words to this reality in March, when he denounced Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace and called for new elections to replace him. Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah, Schumer said, expressing a liberal pro-Israel perspective on the conflict that is both practically and morally correct: As long as the Israeli government refuses to work toward a lasting peace, it is failing in its essential mission of providing security for its citizens and making the world safer for Jews writ large. If Biden embraces this perspective, he should be more forthright in articulating it: Netanyahus poor leadership is endangering Israel, not protecting it; his actions are destabilizing the Middle East in a way that implicates U.S. interests; and while the U.S. will always support Israels right to exist and its citizens right to live in safety, it cannot support actions that ultimately jeopardize those goals. Biden can stop bankrolling potential war crimes in Gaza without abandoning the U.S. commitment to Israels defense. As former Vermont senator Patrick Leahy explained in the Washington Post on Monday, the 1997 law (he authored) prohibiting U.S. aid to foreign security forces that violate human rights applies to individual units, not entire countries. Biden can and should apply the Leahy law to stop U.S. weapons from being used by Israeli military units that violate human rights unless or until Israel brings the perpetrators to justice. Refusing to support Netanyahus conduct of this war is entirely consistent with believing that Israel has the right to defend itself, even by any means necessary, because the war in Gaza has gone far beyond what any objective observer would consider necessary means, and still, it is not achieving its actual defensive objectives. The notion that Israel cannot successfully wage war without 2,000-pound American bombs is belied by the fact that it has not been successful even while making liberal use of them. Biden will never be able to avoid disingenuous right-wing attacks that equate saying no to Israel with giving aid and comfort to terrorists any more than he can avoid left-wing attacks that insist that any support for Israel amounts to backing racism, colonialism, and genocide. What he can do is more effectively differentiate between Israel, which he loves, and its prime minister, whom he does not and should not stand behind. Just as Israels top generals are now insisting that Netanyahu present a coherent strategy for ending the war, Biden should feel free to join them in that demand, along with plans for alleviating the immediate humanitarian crisis and rebuilding Gaza once the war is over. Even with the lever of American military aid, Biden might not be able to force Netanyahu to change course. The only future the prime minister really envisions for Israel is one in which he gets to remain in power, and as long as the country is actively at war, the easier it will be for him to hold onto that power (as well as avoid prosecution on corruption charges). Israels military leadership, similarly, has an interest in prolonging the war to dodge accountability for the failures that allowed October 7 to happen. And Netanyahus religious and ultranationalist allies on the far right see the war as a means of crushing Palestinian national aspirations and affirming Jewish supremacy from the river to the sea. Nevertheless, if Biden wishes for Israel to survive its current government, he must use his influence to counter its self-destructive impulses as far as he can. Such a stance would be consistent with the interests and desires of American Jews, a bedrock demographic of Bidens voter base, who feel a deep connection to Israel but have met its rightward turn with despair and find ourselves increasingly unable to support its leaders decision. If he succeeds, history will remember it as the most pro-Israel thing hes ever done. Photo: Jason Bergman/Bloomberg via Getty Images As Donald Trump heads toward his third consecutive presidential nomination, hes being backed by a parade of Republicans from every ideological persuasion. But there are some conspicuous exceptions, such as former 2024 primary rivals Mike Pence, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley. The first two dropped out before voters voted in circumstances that would make crawling back to Trump intensely humiliating, if not impossible. Haleys situation is more interesting: She was the last Trump opponent standing and is still getting a small but non-negligible number of votes in GOP presidential primaries despite not actively campaigning. Now, theres a significant amount of speculation about whether the former South Carolina governor will eventually bend the knee to Trump, as the Associated Press observes: Nikki Haley is perhaps the highest-profile Republican in the nation who has refused to fall in line and endorse Donald Trumps presidential bid If Haley submits to Trump, as so many of his GOP critics have done, she also risks destroying her own coalition of independents, moderates and anti-Trump Republicans, who are still showing up to support her in low-profile primary contests from deep-red Indiana to deep-blue Maryland Haleys decision on Trump in the coming months will be closely watched not just by her supporters, but by allies of Trump and President Joe Biden. What she decides to do and whether her coalition follows could have a profound impact on this years general election and her future as a top-tier Republican whose brand appeals to many people outside her party. Its worth remembering that the size and shape of Haleys coalition are a bit hazy, though in the primaries the group definitely included non-Republicans who were voting against Trump rather than for the only other candidate on the ballot. More to the point, if Haley wants the credit or blame for keeping Trump from becoming the 47th president, the obvious thing for her to do is to endorse Biden rather than simply standing aside. The odds are very high, however, that shell come around and endorse Trump for the third consecutive time. She has a long history of dissing Trump when hes down and leaping back on his bandwagon when hes up, most notably in 2016, when she accepted an early appointment as his ambassador to the United Nations after tepidly endorsing his general-election candidacy, and in 2021, when she confidently tossed him into the dustbin of history after the events of January 6 before temporarily rejoining the MAGA ranks. Theres a more recent precedent for Haley as well: that moment in the first Republican presidential debate in August 2023, when she was one of six candidates who raised their hands, indicating theyd honor a pledge to support Trump as the nominee even if hes convicted of a crime. Upon suspending her own campaign in March, Haley explained her failure to endorse him on the spot as reflecting her desire to see if he would show her supporters they had a place in the GOP. Although Trump hasnt been eager to make any uncharacteristically gracious gestures, she set a pretty low threshold for him to meet, and its hard to imagine he wouldnt welcome her back into his good graces in exchange for an endorsement. After all, hes still considering Marco Rubio as a running mate, and Little Marco once publicly suggested the infamous playboy was underendowed. Why would Haley want to relent and endorse Trump? Because its pretty clear she still imagines a national political career for herself (she is, after all, only 52), and you dont get one of those if you dont back your partys presidential nominee. Thats been true for a very long time probably since 1916, when Republicans invited supporters of Teddy Roosevelts Bull Moose candidacy back into the party fold. Trump isnt the first presidential nominee to horrify many of his fellow partisans. Barry Goldwaters nomination in 1964 shocked conventional Republicans to their core, particularly after he voted against the Civil Rights Act. Yet his great liberal Republican opponent, Nelson Rockefeller, the object of vivid demonstrations of hatred by Goldwater delegates at that years Republican Convention, eventually campaigned with the Arizonan despite the certainty that he would be beaten like a drum in the general election. Similarly in 1972, doomed Democratic nominee George McGovern, considered so dangerous a radical that the AFL-CIO refused to endorse him against Richard Nixon, was backed by all his former rivals and pretty much every Democratic pol with a pulse. And lest we forget, in 2016 Trump himself was a far more controversial candidate in terms of Republican orthodoxy than he is today and was widely, almost universally, expected to lose handily to Hillary Clinton, particularly after the Access Hollywood tape leaked, making the mans profane piggishness abundantly clear. Yet the partys potentates eventually lined up behind him. The exceptions were mostly has-beens like the two Presidents Bush and the other would-be President Bush (Jeb!) along with lots of their over-the-hill advisers and appointees. Eight years into the Trump era, the shock over his nasty personal traits and his ideological heresies has worn off, and nobody doubts he can win. So if Haley withholds her endorsement of Trump, she will be very much alone. Had she wanted to leave the Republican Party, she had an expedient way to do so by accepting the pleas of the No Labels organization to accept its nomination, which would have given her robust ballot access, some generous new donors, and probably an impressive initial showing in general-election polls. But she said no, touting history as a Republican and as a conservative and expressing horror at the idea of having to snuggle with a Democratic running mate. Its possible that Haley is so certain Trump will eventually be held in contempt by Republicans, and so confident that her brand of old-school, pre-Trump conservatism is the wave of the future, that she will take the supreme risk of refusing to endorse him. More likely, she will once again reconsider the negative things she has said about the 45th president, call him infinitely better than Joe Biden, and go along with the crowd. Solar executives in China are railing the U.S. and Europe over trade protectionism, claiming that the West should instead let the best technology win in their respective markets. The Financial Times conducted an interview with Zhou Shijun, who leads global marketing for Arctech, who told them that the West ignoring the best technology would "come back to haunt" the renewable energy industry. Shijun said that the introduction of trade barriers disproportionately impacted manufacturers of advanced technologies. He also said that companies with overcapacity issues were producing cheaper products. We do have concerns that geopolitical tensions are affecting our global business. What were doing right now is diversifying," he said. He told the Financial Times that China would "always" be renewables' biggest market. FT reported that China dominates over 80% of global solar manufacturing, driven by significant state investment, competitive local markets, and growing domestic demand for green technology. Despite expectations of strong long-term demand, some Chinese solar manufacturers are increasingly exporting surplus supplies, leading to plummeting prices and complaints from the US and Europe about Beijing's trade and industrial policies. Back in the U.S., President Joe Biden significantly raised tariffs on Chinese imports, including electric vehicles and solar cells, and ended a tariff exemption on certain solar panel units. The EU has been investigating China's electric vehicle and renewable energy sectors and has reported on state-driven economic distortions in China. Meanwhile, Shanghai-listed Arctech, which has a market capitalization of $1.9bn, is expanding internationally, balancing local regulations and technology-sharing demands without compromising its intellectual property. Despite geopolitical tensions, the company views the adoption of large-scale renewable energy as a global trend that is both unstoppable and essential, according to FT. The company operates three factories in China and is exploring new manufacturing sites closer to international markets, such as a new factory in Saudi Arabia, a research facility in Spain, and planned operations in Brazil. By Zerohedge.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Iraq remains crucial to Chinas ongoing efforts to establish dominance over the Middle East for three main reasons, which is why the slew of new fifth-plus and sixth oil and gas licensing concessions its firms won last week is not just enormously significant for it, but also for the U.S. as well. On the first day of the concessions round, Chinas Zhongman Petroleum and Natural Gas Group (ZPEC) was awarded the northern extension of the Eastern Baghdad field, its United Energy Group won the development rights for the Al-Faw field, its Zhenhua Oil company was awarded the rights to develop the Qurnain field, and its Geo-Jade company won the bid to develop the Zurbatiya field. Over the next two days, further major oil and gas field awards went to Zhongman (for Abu Khema, and Middle Furat), Zhenhua Oil (for Abu Khema), Geo-Jade (for Jabal Sanam), China National Offshore Oil Corporation (for Block 7), Sinopec (for Sumer), and Anton Oil (for Dhuriyah). Aside from a few awards to Iraqi firms, it was largely a clean sweep for Beijing. It was precisely what China has been trying to do since it manoeuvred into position to fill the vacuum left after the U.S.s scaling down of its presence in the Middle East following its unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran on 8 May 2018. The first reason why Iraq is so important to China is that it along with neighbouring Iran possesses one of the two great global oil and gas reserves that remain relatively underdeveloped. Officially, according to the Energy Information Administration, Iraq holds a very conservatively-estimated 145 billion barrels of proved crude oil reserves (nearly 18 percent of the Middle Easts total, and the fifth biggest on the planet). Unofficially, it is extremely likely that it holds much more oil than this, as analysed in full in my new book on the new global oil market order. In October 2010, Iraqs Oil Ministry increased its own official figure for the countrys proven reserves but at the same time stated that Iraqs undiscovered resources amounted to around 215 billion barrels. This was also a figure that had been arrived at in a 1997 detailed study by respected independent oil and gas firm, Petrolog. Even this figure, though, did not include the parts of northern Iraq in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan. As separately highlighted by the International Energy Agency (IEA), most of these had been drilled during a period before the 1970s began when technical limits and low oil prices gave a narrower definition of what constituted a commercially successful well than would be the case now. Overall, the IEA underlined that the level of ultimately recoverable resources across all of Iraq (including the Kurdistan region) at around 246 billion barrels (crude and natural gas liquids). This would place it only marginally behind Saudi Arabias reserves figure (267 billion barrels) although this is highly disputed - and slightly further behind Venezuelas (303 billion barrels). In short, for China, Iraq is a huge oil and gas filling station that it can use to power its economic growth. Related: Australian Producers Warn of Natural Gas Crunch Better still, it can do so at a huge discount to the global market prices for oil and gas, due to the terms of its 2019 Oil for Reconstruction and Investment agreement, as also analysed in full in my new book on the new global oil market order. This allowed Chinese firms to invest in infrastructure projects in Iraq in exchange for oil and was later broadened and deepened in the all-encompassing Iraq-China Framework Agreement of 2021. Part of these deals involved China being given a 10-30 percent discount (depending on the field) to China for at least five years on the value of the oil and gas it recovers from Iraq. Another part is that its huge investments into Iraq in recent years were also to be rewarded with first refusal for Beijing on most of the oil, gas, and petrochemicals projects that come up in Iraq for the duration of the Iraq-China Framework Agreement. It appears that the latest fifth-plus and sixth licensing rounds have followed this pledge. The second reason why Iraq is so important to China is that it, together with Iran again, forms a Shia Islam counterpoint to previously U.S.-aligned Sunni Islam leader of Saudi Arabia. This allows China to play one side off against the other, with the threat of an increasingly aggressive Iran being used by Beijing to persuade Saudi Arabia to fully break away from the U.S.s sphere of influence and to sign the 10 March 2023 resumption of relationship deal with Iran. It also means that China has a direct influence on the Shia Crescent of Power that runs through the Middle East, as analysed in full in my new book on the new global oil market order. This comprises not just Iran and Iraq but also Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Yemen, among other borderline countries, and gives China three key geopolitical advantages. First, it can be used to hold the U.S. in check in those areas. Second, it offers several direct transport routes into Europe that can be utilised overtly or covertly. And third, it has other oil and gas reserves, many of which are currently going cheap. The final reason why Iraq is so important to China is its geographical position in the very heart of the Middle East, with connections to Turkey (and Europe) to the north, Syria (and the Mediterranean) to the northwest, Jordan (and then Israel) to the west, and Saudi Arabia (to the south). Each of these routes is crucial to one or more key strategic elements of Chinas multi-generational power-grab project, the Belt & Road Initiative. The expansion of its original oil and gas contracts into a spiders web of supporting infrastructure projects has been central to all of Chinas oil and gas developments in Iraq, just as they have been in Iran. Indeed, shortly after the 2019 Oil for Reconstruction and Investment agreement, Baghdad approved several potentially far-reaching new infrastructure deals that heavily involved China in the heartland of Iraq. One was for nearly IQD1 trillion (US$700 million) of infrastructure projects in the city of Al-Zubair in the southern Iraq oil hub of Basra. Another was for Chinese companies to build a civilian airport to replace the military base in the capital of the southern oil rich Dhi Qar governorate. The Dhi Qar region includes two of Iraqs potentially biggest oil fields Gharraf and Nassiriya. This airport project would include the construction of multiple cargo buildings and roads linking the airport to the citys town centre and separately to other key oil areas in southern Iraq. In the later discussions involved in the 2021 Iraq-China Framework Agreement, it was decided that the airport could be expanded later to be a dual-use civilian and military airport. The military component would be usable by China without first having to consult with whatever Iraqi government was in power at the time, as also analysed in full in my new book on the new global oil market order. It is apposite to note in this regard that oil and gas developments in a foreign country legally allow the companies undertaking those investments to safeguard them by whatever means they deem necessary, including by the stationing of tens, hundreds, or thousands of heavily-armed security personnel around the sites. Several of Chinas oil and gas firms are subsidiaries of its leading defence contractor, Norinco, including Zhenhua Oil. Indeed, it was Zhenhua that on 2 January 2021 made a multi-billion-dollar deal with Iraqs Federal Government in Baghdad to prepay for four million barrels every month for five years to be delivered to China by Iraqs State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO). As also analysed in depth in my new book on the new global oil market order, it was exactly the same strategy to take over Iraqs oil industry in the south as Russia had successfully used to take over the industry in the semi-autonomous northern region of Iraqi Kurdistan in 2017. So extraordinarily obviously dangerous to U.S. interests in the Middle East and elsewhere was this deal that Washington eventually succeeded in forcing the Iraqis to suspend the deal. However, with this new slew of oil and gas license awards, it may be that China has ultimately got where it wanted to be in Iraq, albeit three years later than intended. By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Two announcements made on consecutive days last week may have far-reaching consequences for the security of the Middle East and the West for years to come if they reach the implementation stage. One was Irans offer on 11 May to establish an energy corridor from Russia to the Persian Gulf. The other was Turkeys announcement on 12 May that it is interested in buying more gas and oil from Iran and that the subsequent transit of these resources to eastern Europe through the country is possible. In the simplest terms, these developments would mean two things. First, Russia would be able to bypass many current international restrictions using Irans long-established mechanisms to avoid sanctions on gas and oil flows both into Turkey and then southern and eastern Europe, and via Iraq into the rest of the world. Second, Iran would be able to expedite the progress of its long-sought land bridge from Tehran to the Mediterranean Sea by which it could exponentially increase the scale and scope of weapons delivery into southern Lebanon and the Golan Heights area of Syria to be used against Israel and the U.S. in Middle Eastern conflicts. It is not down to sheer good luck that Iran is still functioning as an economy despite massive international sanctions being in place against it in one form or another since its 1979 Islamic Revolution. Through several mechanisms analysed in full in my new book on the new global oil market order it has been able to continue to sell its oil and gas into both southern and Eastern Europe and to much of the rest of the world since then. So well-developed and effective are these methods that they have become a matter of great national pride for Iran, with its then-Foreign Minister, Mohammad Zarif, stating in December 2018 at the Doha Forum that: If there is an art that we have perfected in Iran, [that] we can teach to others for a price, it is the art of evading sanctions. The starting points for the bulk of these illegal energy flows are the oil fields shared by Iran and Iraq and with both sides drilling from the same reservoirs, it is impossible to tell from which side any resultant oil comes from. So, Iran, with the full agreement of Iraq over which it has long held enormous influence through its various economic, political, and military proxies simply rebrands (sanctioned) oil from the Iran side as (unsanctioned) Iraqi oil instead and then it is free to be shipped anywhere. An added element of obfuscation of the country of origin of the oil comes from simply changing the documentation on the shipping documents. As former Iranian Oil Minister, Bijan Zanganeh, unashamedly underlined in 2020: What we export is not under Irans name. The documents are changed over and over, as well as [the] specifications. Related: Saudi Crude Oil Exports Rose To 9-Month High in March From that point, the Iranian oil (rebranded as Iraqi oil) usually goes to one of two major export areas for Iran. The first is Asia, with the key buyer there remaining China. The second is southern and Eastern Europe, and in particular the less rigorously policed ports of Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia and Croatia, among others. Oil can also easily be moved across borders to Europes bigger oil consumers, including through Turkey. It is also apposite to note in this latter regard that Iraq is currently in the process of rebuilding its direct oil pipeline into the Turkish port city of Ceyhan, which will make this Iran-Iraq-Turkey route even more reliable for Tehran. All the transit routes currently being used to move Iranian oil via Iraq and into southern and Eastern Europe will be made available as well to Russia. And so would any of the routes to Asia, in which Russia is struggling to move its oil due to sanctions, although Asia in general and China in particular is less concerned about abiding by any U.S.-led sanctions than Europe. Irans secretary-general of the Eurasian Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mojtaba Damirchilou, highlighted last week that the use of existing infrastructure and the creation of new infrastructure to reach regional markets should be considered, and this in in this regard constructive cooperation has started and we have a clear vision. Perhaps in the spirit of straight reciprocation for this deal, Russia has told Iran that these regional infrastructure buildouts in Iran and then Iraq and towards Turkey will be boosted by similar work in Syria. This means the creation of two possible land bridges for Iran from its mainland to the shores of the Mediterranean one in southeastern Turkey and the other in northwestern Syria. A key mechanism to do achieve this is the planned resuscitation of the 825-kilometre Iraq-Syria oil pipeline that linked Iraqs Kirkuk region with the Syrian port of Banias on the Mediterranean, as also analysed in full in my new book on the new global oil market order. October 2023 saw senior figures from Iraqs government, Oil Ministry, and energy firms agree to the resumption of work on this pipeline, followed by detailed discussions about work timetables and the cost of rebuilding. A senior oil industry source who works closely with Iraqs Oil Ministry exclusively confirmed to OilPrice.com around that time that it was not just Iraqis who were looped into these discussions about this key infrastructure link between Iraq and Syria, but Iranians and Russians too. The plans for this link to be brought back have been in place since June 2017, when it was overtly talked about in terms of being the Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline and was seen in a similar context to the gas pipeline plan of that name, he said. The plans were for the pipelines to run from [Iraqs] Kirkuk to Banias [on Syrias Mediterranean Sea coast] via Haditha [in Iraq], with an initial nameplate capacity of 300,000 barrels per day [bpd], and Russia was to be involved in both of the plans, and that is unchanged now, he added. For Iran, a land bridge into southern Lebanon and the Golan Heights area of Syria would have a huge force multiplier effect for Irans own Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Syria - and for its proxy Hezbollah forces in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine to use in attacks on Israel. This cornerstone policy of Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution was always geared towards provoking a broader conflict in the Middle East that would draw in the U.S. and its allies into an unwinnable war of the sort seen recently in Iraq and Afghanistan. The aim of this on Irans part was to unite the worlds Islamic countries against what it believes to be an existential battle against the broadly Judeo-Christian democratic alliance of the West, with the U.S. at its centre. Russias interest alongside Iran in such a plan aligns with Moscows broad foreign policy objective of creating chaos where possible, into which it can eventually project its own solutions. Under the Russian- and Iranian-backed regime of President Bashar al-Assad, Syria has four huge strategic advantages to Russia, as fully detailed in my new book on the new global oil market order. Briefly, first, it is the biggest country on the western side of the Shia Crescent of Power, which Russia has been developing for years as a counterpoint to the U.S.s own sphere of influence that had been centred on Saudi Arabia (for hydrocarbons supplies) and Israel (for military and intelligence assets). Second, it offers a long Mediterranean coastline from which Russia can send oil and gas products (either its own or those of its allies, notably Iran) for cash export, plus weapons and other military items for political export. Third, it is a vital Russian military hub, with one major naval port (Tartus), one major air force base (Latakia) and one major listening station (just outside Latakia). And fourth, it shows the rest of the Middle East that Russia can and will act decisively on the side of the autocratic dynasties across the region. By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: In commodity circles, Argentina is known for its agricultural produce and for the Vaca Muerta shale play. But the country has recently started drawing attention to other kinds of natural resources: copper and lithium. According to some, it has a bright future as one of the worlds biggest transition minerals suppliers. Two weeks ago, a local investment company, Integra Capital, struck a deal with Glencore to acquire its stake in a company called Volcan Compania Minera. According to Bloomberg, this is the second Glencore project the company has acquired in recent years. It is part of a strategy: building a metals and minerals portfolio in Argentina in anticipation of a mining boom driven by transition efforts. Integra Capital is an investment vehicle owned by Jose Luis Manzano, who told Bloomberg in an interview, We believe we are positioning ourselves in things that will be necessary for the next 50 to 100 years. In that, the Argentinian commodity investor echoes a sentiment that has become rather popular in investment circles. Copper and lithium are the focus of much forecasting attention as key transition minerals, alongside elements such as nickel and cobalt, used in batteries for EVs and storage. Related: Millennials Drive EV Adoption in the U.S. Argentinas political circles have also been paying attention to the forecasts. Last year, Reuters reported that Argentinas government had plans for copper mining projects that could produce 793,000 tons of the metal annually by the end of the decade. That would be quite something given that there is no copper production in Argentina at the momentit would turn the country into one of the ten biggest copper producers in the world. There are several copper projects in various, though early, development stages as miners stake their claims in the resource-rich country. Manzanos buying spree now suggests there may well be something to itas long as the forecasts materialize. There are seven copper projects in progress in Argentina at the moment. According to BNAmericas, these could generate some $5 billion annually for the countrys budget once they start producing. The total output of the seven is seen at 1.2 million tons annually, per that report, which is considerably more than the estimate reported by Reuters. In total, Argentinas copper reserves are estimated to be 44 million tons. Yet copper is not the countrys only transition metal available in abundance. Argentina is also part of the so-called Lithium Triangle and is home to a third of the global reserves of the battery metal. Along with the other two points of the TriangleChile and BoliviaArgentina accounts for as much as 70% of the worlds lithium, per Mining.com. There are already a slew of companies developing Argentinas lithium resources, with production last year hitting 9,600 tonnes. This appears set to grow in response to forecasts for growing demand, even though lately, these forecasts have become much less certain as demand for EVs weakens in many key markets. Even so, more lithium hopefuls are going to Argentina. Earlier this month, Reuters reported that an Emirati company planned to start producing battery-grade lithium at a rate of 5,000 tons in the country from 2027, raising this to 10,000 tons by the next year. All these companies betting on Argentinas mineral wealth got lucky last year when President Javier Milei came into power. The outspoken libertarian has eagerly promoted the countrys mineral wealth, and his policies should make it easier for miners to do business in the country by removing regulatory hurdles and establishing an investment-friendly environment. As long as demand lives up to forecast, Argentina could indeed become a major supplier for the energy transition. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: A rare lizard that lives in Texas and New Mexico has become the latest potential threat to oil and gas production growth in the Permian. The dunes sagebrush lizard was granted endangered status by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last week, prompting an outcry from the industry, which warned the change in the lizard's status would be detrimental to its activity in the most prolific shale play in the country. According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, the dunes sagebrush lizard occurs in about 4% of the lands that comprise the Permian Basin. The service also acknowledged that many oil and gas operators are already taking part in voluntary conservation efforts to preserve the species' habitat. Yet now, these appear to have been deemed insufficient, prompting a sharp response from the industry. "We are extremely disappointed in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) decision to again list the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard as Endangered in the Permian Basin," the president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association told energy analyst and consultant David Blackmon for a story published in Forbes. "In spite of the successful conservation efforts on the ground for over a decade and that less than two years ago approving a conservation plan for the Lizard that all parties agreed would conserve habitat," he added. The president of the U.S. Oil and Gas Association was even blunter, telling Blackmon that "Anti-energy activists have been desperate to shut down drilling in the Permian Basin for years," despite voluntary efforts and investments on the part of oil and gas operators in the area to save the rare species. "Texas oil and gas operators spent tens of millions of dollars in voluntary conservation efforts to protect the dunes sagebrush lizard. Environmental groups meanwhile added nothing to the conservation efforts but petitions and lawsuits," Tim Stewart said. At first glance, the reaction of the oil and gas industry may seem excessive in the context of how little of the Permian the dunes sagebrush lizard actually inhabits. But this perception may be wrong, with the Fish and Wildlife Service noting that oil and gas activity is the prime suspect for the species' "functional extinction" across almost half of its habitat. There is also a recent example of how environmentalists can interfere with the energy industry's activities: the suspension of new liquefied natural gas export terminals that President Biden signed earlier this year was the direct result of activist pressure. "Even if there were no further expansion of the oil and gas or sand mining industry, the existing footprint of these operations will continue to negatively affect the dunes sagebrush lizard into the future," the Fish and Wildlife Service said in its announcement and it is little wonder that the industry took this as ominous. Even more ominously for oil and gas operators, the USFWS may yet add to its decision a designation of critical habitat for the dunes sagebrush lizard. That would be a move that, Blackmon warns, "could become extremely limiting to any future development of the massive oil and natural gas resources known to exist beneath the region." While the energy industry fumes at the decision, environmentalists were understandably happy. "The dunes sagebrush lizard spent far too long languishing in a Pandora's box of political and administrative back and forth even as its population was in free-fall towards extinction," a regional director for Defenders of Wildlife said, as quoted by the AP. "I'm relieved the precious dunes sagebrush lizard is finally on the path to protection," Michael Robinson, senior conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said, as quoted by Forbes. "I'm saddened and disgusted, however, that the Service allowed the lizard's habitat to be destroyed for decades." What follows next would become clear in two months. One thing is for sure, however. Activists will likely become bolder like they did after the LNG approval suspension. They have now focused their efforts on making sure the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission enforces new air pollution rules approved by the EPA earlier this year. According to these rules, the maximum level of fine particulate matter in the air is now 9 micrograms per cubic meter, down from 12 micrograms previouslyand FERC already tapped one LNG producer as its first target. Venture Global was recently served with a request to provide proof its particulate matter emissions were below 9 micrograms per cubic meter. "FERC is going to have to take this issue seriously and is going to have to analyze whether these projects are in the public interest given this new reality," a Sierra Club attorney told the Financial Times. "We plan to hold FERC's feet to the fire to ensure that it follows through and satisfies its legal obligations," Tom Gosselin also said. One question that might be worth asking is when conservationists would become this vocal about the fate of bats and birds of prey that are being killed by onshore wind turbines and the whale deaths linked to offshore wind development. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack, Afghanistans acting Industry and Trade Minister Nooruddin Azizi told Reuters earlier this month that his country agreed with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to build a logistics hub in its northwestern Herat province, which he said will also facilitate the export of Russian oil to South Asia via road and rail routes. The outlet noted that hes particularly optimistic about Russia exporting this resource to Pakistan in the coming future, though theyve yet to reach a strategic energy deal despite several years of negotiations. Even in the absence of one, it might be more convenient for Russia to export oil to India and other countries in its namesake oceans region via the North-South Transport Corridors Arabian Sea and Gulf ports, which Herat is connected to by the new railway to Irans border town of Khaf. Continued maritime exports to the region across the Baltic, Black, and Mediterranean Seas might be deemed strategically undependable due to tensions with the West, hence the need to pioneer a more reliable alternative. Furthermore, the creation of that selfsame alternative right on Pakistans doorstep might incentivize its de facto military rulers to finally reach a strategic energy deal with Russia instead of continuing to dillydally indefinitely as a favor to their American patrons, thus unlocking their full trade potential. Azizi is optimistic that this might indeed occur after revealing on the sidelines of last weeks annual Russia-Islamic World Forum that he hopes to sign a transit deal with Russia, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan. He also told Sputnik about his governments vision of facilitating Russian oil exports to South Asia via Afghanistan which he earlier shared with Reuters, though Moscow has yet to confirm its participation in these plans, but that doesnt mean that it isnt interested. Talks with Pakistan are presumably ongoing behind the scenes as suggested by Azizis optimistic media claims, which adds more context to the possibility of Russia inviting Pakistan to participate in the Outreach/BRICS-Plus Summit in October. The preceding hyperlinked analysis explains how this could inadvertently offend Russias decades-long strategic partners in India, while these three here, here, and here detail its pro-BRI policymaking faction that emerged over the past year and the influence that its exerting over these calculations. The relevance to the present piece is that this profitable opportunity might convince the Kremlin to invite Pakistan to the aforesaid summit with a view towards increasing the odds of clinching an energy deal. Leaving aside the unintended consequences that this could have for Russian-Indian relations in the event that Prime Minister Narendra Modi skips the summit out of protest on whatever pretext, improved Russian-Pakistani relations could lead to the Russian-mediated improvement of Afghan-Pakistani ones. It was analyzed in August 2022 that The Taliban Envisions Russia Playing A Big Role In The Groups Geo-Economic Balancing Act, which is aimed at maintaining Afghanistans sovereignty vis-a-vis Pakistan. It's beyond the scope of the present piece to explain, but these two analyses here and here detail their spiraling security dilemma that brought them to the brink of war in early 2023 and still remains tense. If Pakistan at least partially liberates itself from the American yoke enough to finally seal its long-negotiated strategic energy deal with Russia, then it therefore follows that it would have to improve ties with Afghanistan as well in order to facilitate the planned large-scale transit of oil via that country. Russia, which has equally excellent relations with both in spite of occasional disputes such as Moscows disappointment with the Talibans refusal to form an ethno-politically inclusive government that respects womens rights and suspicions about Pakistan arming Ukraine, could naturally mediate these talks. Any successful outcome would reinforce Moscows Ummah Pivot from the past few years that can be learned more about here, here, and here, the last of which specifically covers its Afghan dimension. Russia or rather its rapidly emerging and newly influential pro-BRI policymaking faction might calculate that these benefits outweigh the potential loss of soft power in Indian society that would occur if it invites Pakistan to Octobers summit in order to set the above into motion. Indias defiance of the US sanctions threats over its newly sealed Chabahar port deal with Iran and reaffirmation of its interest in continuing to scale trade with Russia might convince it that the tangible consequences would be nil. This latest possible development in Russias Ummah Pivot, which requires finalizing a long-negotiated strategic energy deal with Pakistan and then mediating an improvement in Afghan-Pakistani relations, largely hinges on Russias reportedly planned Afghan oil hub that Azizi was the first to publicly reveal. If substantive progress is made on this by summers end, then thatll greatly raise the chances that Russia invites Pakistan to Octobers summit, while a lack therefore would keep the odds at their present level. By Zerohedge More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: In a dramatic move sure to attract attention, environmental activists have launched an unprecedented legal action against oil giant TotalEnergies and its major shareholders, including BlackRock and Norges Bank. The case, filed in a French court, seeks to hold these entities criminally responsible for extreme weather events attributed to climate change, with charges as serious as involuntary manslaughter. Individuals affected by disasters like Greek wildfires, Storm Alex, and Cyclone Idai, supported by the environmental group Bloom, argue that the science linking climate change to fossil fuel emissions justifies these severe charges. This theatrical legal approach targets TotalEnergies CEO, Patrick Pouyanne, and the companys directors, right before the companys annual meeting, potentially setting the stage for a heated debate. Traditionally, environmental lawsuits against major corporations have focused on specific, tangible incidents such as oil spills. This case, however, attempts to connect broader climate impacts to corporate activities. Previous legal challenges against TotalEnergies have involved accusations of greenwashing and environmental concerns about its projects in Tanzania and Uganda, but none have attempted to impose criminal liability on this scale. The Paris criminal prosecutor now has three months to decide whether to initiate an investigation. Should they proceed, it could set a significant precedent with substantial implications for the industry. The potential penalties are serious: Frances maximum sentence for involuntary manslaughter is five years in prison, with additional charges for damaging biodiversity and endangering lives carrying similarly severe punishments. The stakes are high for TotalEnergies and the broader oil and gas industry. Legal experts, such as Donald Braman from George Washington University, suggest that criminal prosecutions could exert more pressure on companies than civil lawsuits. "Its not murder because theyre not intending to kill people, but climate change is killing more than you typically see in a homicide case," Braman remarked. Bloom aims to create a legal framework where the consequences of climate crimes are concrete and severe, hoping to slow the expansion of oil and gas operations and accelerate the energy transition. Whether this case will set a new legal precedent or be seen as an overreach remains to be seen. TotalEnergies, BlackRock, and Norges Bank have yet to comment on the allegations. By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Eskom, the state-held utility of South Africa, plans to operate some coal-fired power plants for longer than initially envisaged to avoid making an already vulnerable grid more unreliable, the companys CEO said on Tuesday. South Africa has been in the grips of an energy crisis with daily rolling power cuts that have been crippling the economy as Eskom continually fails to boost generation capacity to keep pace with growing demand in recent years. South Africa, one of the worlds largest coal producers and exporters, continues to rely on coal for a large part of its energy mix. Currently, some 85% of South Africas electricity is generated via coal-fired power stations. To avoid unnecessary additional stress on the grid, Eskom now plans to extend the life of some coal-fired power plants instead of shutting them down by 2030, as expected earlier. Well continue some of our coal operations that were earmarked for shutting down, Dan Marokane, chief executive officer of Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd, said at a conference, as carried by Bloomberg. Well review that process on shorter time intervals going to 2030, but well place ourselves in a position where we are not made vulnerable by early shutting down of those stations, the executive added. South Africa continues to be committed to reducing emissions but grid reliability cannot be overlooked, according to Eskom executives. Currently, Eskom is holding talks with the government on ways to attract public and private financing of the equivalent of $21 billion for a major expansion of the power grid to accommodate an expected rise in renewable energy. Eskom has estimated that it needs $21 billion (390 billion South African rand) to fund its plan to build nearly 9,000 miles of new power lines over the next decade, which would be more than triple the miles of transmission lines it has installed in the past decade, the company told Bloomberg last month. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Zimbabwe, Africas top lithium producer and the worlds sixth-largest lithium miner, is looking to boost its economy with higher-value lithium by refining the raw material to battery-grade lithium. Four large-scale producers of lithium concentrate have already submitted plans to refine the raw material locally, instead of shipping it to China, whose lithium companies dominate the lithium extraction industry in Zimbabwe, according to a senior government official in the African country. They are coming forward with plans but these are long-term plans which we are receiving. We have four large-scale producers who have come forward, Zimbabwes deputy mines minister Polite Kambamura told Reuters. The government has not started to review the proposals for lithium refining operations yet, the official said, declining to name which companies have filed such plans. Chinese miners Sinomine Resource Group, Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, Yahua Group, Chengxin Lithium Group, Canmax Technologies, and Tsingshan Group are operating in Zimbabwe. After extracting the lithium concentrate they ship it to China for processing it into battery-grade lithium to be used in electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage facilities. Last year, Zimbabwes lithium mine production hit a new record high of 3,400 metric tons, up by a massive 230% compared to 2022. Annual output has tripled over the past decade. Now Africas top lithium producer is seeking to develop a lithium refining economy, with the government giving miners last November six months to come up with plans to process the key battery metal domestically. We are not going to end on concentrates, we want batteries to be manufactured here, deputy mines minister Polite Kambamura told Reuters. China is a dominant player in processing of the critical battery minerals that will help accelerate the energy transition. China accounts for the refining of 90% of rare earth elements (REEs) and 60-70% of lithium and cobalt, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: A middle school teacher in the Omaha Public Schools is one of nine educators selected from across the U.S. to participate in the National STEM Scholar Program. Sarah Nelson Wiese, a teacher at Bryan Middle School, was chosen to attend the professional development program, which provides advanced STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) training and project support for middle school science teachers nationwide. The National STEM Scholar Program, which announced the selection on Tuesday, was created by a partnership between the National Stem Cell Foundation and the Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science at Western Kentucky University. It selects teachers each year from a national pool of applicants based on their description of a project the applicant would implement in the classroom if funds were available. STEM Scholars convene at Western Kentucky University for a week of advanced STEM training and finalize their projects with input from their STEM Scholar class colleagues. Wiese said in a media release that her project revolves around local ecology and shes looking forward to learning more at the training, which begins May 26. Being part of the National STEM Scholar Program allows for close collaboration with passionate and curious educators, which is an invaluable resource, Wiese said. The STEM connections I will make during the weeklong training and professional development will enhance my teaching practice and give me ideas to take back and share with my colleagues. The selected educators come from eight states: Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Alabama, Maine and Kentucky. As the National STEM Scholar Program enters its ninth year, it has selected 90 educators representing middle schools in 35 states, according to the media release. We added education to our mission and partnered with the Gatton Academy in 2015 to support the development of a new generation of scientists in academic research, advanced technology and infrastructure engineering, said Dr. Paula Grisanti, CEO of the National Stem Cell Foundation, in the release. Supporting teachers who inspire and motivate middle school students at this critical decision-making age will directly impact how many choose to pursue the STEM skills essential for living-wage jobs. Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of May 2024 LINCOLN Backers of a petition drive aimed at upending Nebraskas tax system announced Tuesday that they have hit a key signature-gathering milestone. Steve Jessen, president of the EPIC Option initiative, said the group has collected signatures from 5% of the registered voters in each of 38 counties. Thats one of the requirements to qualify for the November ballot. The counties include some of Nebraskas smallest, such as Arthur, Banner and Blaine. He and other leaders declined to say how close they are to meeting the second requirement collecting valid signatures from at least 10% of Nebraska voters statewide. Thats about 123,000 people based on current registration numbers. The deadline for turning in signatures is July 3. Were doing well and were gaining momentum, Jessen said at a Tuesday press conference. State Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard said the Legislatures lack of action on property taxes this year has helped the petition drive. He said many more people have volunteered to collect signatures and sign petitions since then. Gov. Jim Pillen came up empty-handed when the regular session ended in mid-April, after opposition to the various tax increases in his proposal proved too difficult to overcome. Not even a scaled-back version of the plan, without his initial 2-cent sales tax increase or even the later 1-cent proposed hike, could garner enough votes. The EPIC Option drive seeks to put a pair of proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot that, if approved by voters, would eliminate property, income, inheritance and sales taxes in Nebraska, starting in 2026. EPIC stands for eliminate property, income (and inheritance) and corporate taxes. Under the plan, those taxes would be replaced with a broad-based consumption tax, which would be charged on all new consumer goods and services except groceries. The amendments would allow for excise taxes as well. Backers say a 7.5% consumption tax rate would be sufficient to replace the other taxes, based on an analysis done by the Beacon Hill Institute, a Massachusetts-based think tank. Others, including the Tax Foundation and the OpenSky Policy Institute, working with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, have calculated it would take a rate closer to 22% to bring in the same amount of revenue. Details of the plan would have to be filled in by the Legislature in 2025. Erdman offered one version of how the plan might work last year in Amendment 314 to Legislative Bill 79. Under that proposal, consumption tax revenue would be collected by the state and state lawmakers would make the ultimate decision about funding for schools and other local governments, based on recommendations of newly created boards. Counties, cities and villages could charge a local consumption tax on top of the state consumption tax. On Tuesday, he said drive organizers plan to continue collecting signatures using volunteers. Drive organizers briefly contracted with a Florida company for paid signature-gathering but had to drop the contract in the face of lackluster donations. The last successful all-volunteer petition drive was in 2000, when a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage made the ballot. Opposition to the initiatives has brought together such disparate groups as the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which represents business interests, OpenSky Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, and the Nebraska Association of County Officials. Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of May 2024 HARTINGTON, Neb. The man charged with killing four Laurel, Nebraska, residents and setting fire to their homes has waived his right to be present for his trial later this year. In a motion to waive Jason Jones presence at trial, his attorney said Jones had severe burns on his upper and lower extremities and his back, all of which received skin grafts. He must use a wheelchair and can walk only short distances. It is difficult for him to sit upright for long periods of time and to concentrate due to his injuries, Todd Lancaster, of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy in Lincoln, said in the motion, filed Friday. If the waiver receives a judges approval, Jones would not attend any of the trial proceedings, from jury selection to the reading of the verdict. Jones, 44, has pleaded not guilty to four counts each of first-degree murder and use of a firearm to commit a felony and two counts of first-degree arson for the Aug. 4, 2002, shooting deaths of Michele Ebeling, 53, in her home and Gene Twiford, 86, his wife, Janet Twiford, 85, and their daughter Dana Twiford, 55, in their home and setting both houses on fire. Prosecutors have filed notice they would seek the death penalty if he is found guilty of first-degree murder. The trial is scheduled for Sept. 9 in Dakota County, where it was moved after a judge ruled it would be impossible for Jones to receive a fair trial in Cedar County. Authorities responded to a fire in the early morning hours at Eblings Laurel home, where they found her body with two gunshot wounds. A second fire at the Twiford home was reported soon after, and responders found the family members bodies, all with gunshot wounds. Jones, who lived across the street from Ebeling, was arrested without incident at their home about 24 hours after the bodies were discovered and airlifted to a Lincoln hospital for treatment of serious burns over a large portion of his body. He spent nearly three months in the hospital before he was transported to the Nebraska Department of Corrections Reception and Treatment Center in Lincoln, where offenders typically are housed for ongoing medical treatment. His wife, Carrie Jones, has told investigators she had just gotten home from work when she and her neighbors noticed Ebelings was on fire and saw her husband stumbling from the house. She told investigators she peeled Jason Jones burned clothes from his body and washed him in the bathtub before bandaging him and putting him in bed. He refused to go to the hospital. Carrie Jones, 45, was later arrested and has pleaded not guilty of first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and being an accessory to a felony. She is accused of aiding and abetting the death of Gene Twiford. Her trial date has not been set. Walking by a restaurant that serves shawarma and catching the aroma of it cooking on a rotisserie spit always makes me want to stop and eat it right away. So, I created this easy version that you can make at home with very little effort but still enjoy the tantalizing aroma of the spices cooking. Shawarma is a popular street food made with lamb, beef or chicken that has been spiced and roasted ... How Time Flies is a daily feature looking back at Pantagraph archives to revisit what was happening in our community and region. 100 years ago May 21, 1924: According to statistics, Illinois Wesleyan ranks 12th in enrollment among schools sponsored by the Methodist Episcopal church. Ahead of IWU are Boston University, Northwestern, University of Southern California, Syracuse, University of Denver, Ohio Wesleyan, Ohio Northern, DePauw, Lawrence; Oklahoma City and Nebraska Wesleyan. IWU has 961 students. 75 years ago May 21, 1949: The Rev. Fr. B.J. Sheedy, 54, pastor of the Holy Trinity Church since July 1, has been elevated to the rank of Monsignor with the title of Domestic Prelate. The announcement was made Friday from the Roman Catholic diocese office in Peoria. 50 years ago May 21, 1974: Calvary Baptist Church's 300 families observed the 12th anniversary of their church Sunday by contributing $53,301 in cash for the purchase of new land and payment of a $13,000 air-conditioning bill. The Rev. Arno Q. Weniger Jr. said "a lot of people gave a week's wages." 25 years ago May 21, 1999: Shaping the future was the theme as McLean County Chamber of Commerce handed out Business-Education Partnership Awards to Best Western University Inn and Growmark. WJBC joined in the concept by presenting an award to Denny's Doughnuts and Bakery owner Denny Marquardt for his support of charity. Vintage Pantagraph newspaper ads for medicine, 'magic' remedies Clover Blossom Extract - Nov. 15, 1883 St. Jacobs Oil - July 14, 1887 Castoria - July 26, 1892 Rheumatic Ring - May 29, 1894 Beefmalt - May 29, 1894 Wakefield's Cough Syrup - Feb. 13, 1908 S.S.S. - April 23, 1908 Olive Tablets - Nov. 20, 1911 Cold-go - Dec. 11, 1911 Dr. Danby - Dec. 11, 1911 Allcock Plasters - March 2, 1917 Olive Tablets - Feb. 23, 1918 Laxative Bromo Quinine - Oct. 16, 1918 Bayer Tablets of Aspirin - April 24, 1919 Bayer Tablets of Aspirin - April 29, 1919 Snake Oil - Nov. 22, 1919 Beecham's Pills - Nov. 22, 1919 Snake Oil - Nov. 29, 1919 Doan's Kidney Pills - March 8, 1920 Bayer Tablets of Aspirin - Sept. 21, 1920 J.C. Hutzell's Eczema Treatment - Nov. 11, 1922 Gude's Pepto-Mangan - April 2, 1923 O-Joy Corn Wafers - March 4, 1930 Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescription - March 19, 1930 666 Tablets - March 25, 1930 Cuticura - March 25, 1930 Geo-Mineral - Dec. 8, 1948 Anacin - Jan. 16, 1963 Liquiprin - Aug. 27, 1970 Icy Hot - Nov. 20, 1977 The first-ever digital economy summit in Africa, the 3i Africa Summit, has established that inter-country collaboration is key to guarantee the success of initiatives tailored to boost payments system in Africa. The three days of discussions and other activities at the maiden financial technology (FinTech) summit in Accra also came to the conclusion that players in the space must not work in silos if their initiatives must achieve the needed impact. The only summit in Africa which successfully brought together high-level policymakers, industry experts, business captains and change-makers under one roof brought to the fore, for instance, the need for a digital identification (DI) system and network interoperability across the continent. Reflecting on the summit in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Development Bank Ghana (DBG), K. Duker, said the 3i Africa Summit exceeded the expectations of the organisers and their partners, setting new standards. The Bank of Ghana (BoG), DBG and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), through its subsidiary, Elevandi, organised the summit on the theme: Unleashing Africas Fintech and Digital Economic potential. Initially targeted at 2,500, the 3i Africa Summit welcomed more than 8,700 registered participants, with more than 7,500 as physical attendees. The number included 1,724 policymakers, 4,786 industry experts and 1,230 researchers from 95 countries around the world. Additionally, the event featured 240 speakers and discussants, 58 sessions, 15 tracks, nine stages and 10 innovator pitches. Catalyst Mr Duker explained that the summit, which was targeted at the players in Africas digital economy, was overwhelmingly successful in catalysing investments and fostering economic growth across the continent and also generating global partnerships for sustainable development. He said the summit lived up to expectations as it was not a talk shop, but a vehicle to accelerate economic transformation. The summit, over the three days, recorded the initiation of progressive policies, the conclusion of key collaborative agreements and the making of key announcements, the CEO of DBG said. DBG, Proxtera deal Notable among them, Mr Duker pointed out, was the $100 million deal between DBG and Proxtera, a Singapore-based open and neutral hub which digitally connects Business to Business (B2B) marketplaces, service providers and trade associations to simplify and boost trade for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Explaining, he said the deal signed between the two institutions was earmarked for supporting SMEs via the Ghana Integrated Financial Ecosystem (GIFE) platform. GIFE is a joint initiative of BoG, DBG and MAS to provide a digital journey for SMEs, offer them financial literacy, the creation of trusted credentials through the Universal Trusted Credentials framework, to access working capital and other opportunities for cross-border trade with Asia and the Association of South Eastern Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, comprised 10 countries. Mr Duker added that GIFE which was launched at the 2022 Singapore Fintech Festival, was operationalised in the first half of last year, with the pilot financial institution partner being the Consolidated Bank of Ghana (CBG). "GIFE currently is a digital journey for MSMEs, beginning with financial literacy, creation of trusted credentials which leverages the global Universal Trusted Credentials framework, access to working capital, and cross-border trade with Asia and the ASEAN region," he said. Semi-fungible token Furthermore, BoG also announced the successful completion of the first Proof of Concept (POC) as part of its Digital Economy Semi-Fungible Token (DESFT) project which demonstrates the successful execution of a cross-border transaction payment making use of digital credentials, the eCedi and an approved stablecoin from Singapore. The project, which was initiated in June 2023, is a collaboration between the Central Bank and the MAS. Project DESFT is aimed at supporting SMEs in Africa, particularly those in Ghana, to engage in international trade by removing significant obstacles they face such as establishing trust overseas with trade partners and obtaining support in cross-border payments and supply chain finance. Huge boost The 3i Africa Summit, aside from the deals and agreements, registered other successes leading to the conclusion that the FinTech sector in Ghana and across Africa has indeed received a huge boost in its forward march, Mr Duker pointed out. On the technology side, he recounted that the event registered 2,896 subscribers to the 3i Africa Summit app and trended on X (formerly Twitter) well after the three days of the event. As we look forward beyond the 3i Africa Summit, what is very clear is the fact that the fintech sector and its players have received the boldest support ever across Africa. This has been in terms of potential policy change, access to finance and technical collaboration, Mr Duker stated. Background The 3i Africa Summit, opened by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo last Monday, was anchored on the pillars of innovation, investment and impact. It drove an agenda towards transformation for sustainable development across Africa. The pillars were also aimed at driving conversations to address the key opportunities in the FinTech industry and explore how markets and companies are leapfrogging legacy technologies. The 3i Africa Summit has proven to be a pioneering platform for change-makers to initiate and execute creative solutions made particularly to handle Africa's unique challenges and take advantage of its wealth of prospects. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Bolt Food, leading delivery platform in Ghana reaffirms unwavering commitment to its customers in Ghana, following Glovo's recent announcement of its withdrawal from the Ghanaian market. As a leading food delivery platform, Bolt Food has reiterated that they are here to stay, dedicated to providing exceptional service and supporting local communities. While Glovo's departure may cause concern, Bolt Food has reassured its customers and couriers that operations will continue seamlessly. "We are committed to ensuring that our customers and couriers experience the best possible service," said Ali Zaryab, Country Manager for Bolt Ghana. "Our goal is to be the most reliable and affordable platform in Ghana. We believe in the potential of this market and are here for the long haul." Bolt Food is actively expanding its network, stating that they will announce the addition of several new restaurants to the platform, enhancing the variety of dining options available to its customers. This expansion not only broadens culinary choices but also supports local businesses and couriers in reaching a wider audience. Since entering the Ghanaian market, Bolt Food has invested significantly in technology and infrastructure to provide top-notch services. "Our ongoing investments reflect our dedication to innovation and our confidence in the Ghanaian market's growth," added Zayrab. "We will continue to ensure a positive impact on the local economy and community." Over the past three and half years, Bolt Food has allocated substantial resources to enhance our service offerings in Ghana. These investments have included upgrading delivery logistics, introducing new app features for better user experience, and expanding our fleet to ensure faster and more efficient deliveries. Bolt Foods focus has always been on adapting to the unique needs of the Ghanaian market, and are committed to continuing this trend. Bolt Foods success in Ghana is attributed to our customer and courier-centric approach, regularly gathering feedback from customers to improve its services. About Bolt Bolt is a super-app with over 150 million customers in more than 45 countries and 500 cities across Europe and Africa (list of locations here). We offer a range of mobility products for different services and needs: Ride-hailing Bolt Food, delivering ready-made meals from restaurants Bolt Business, our corporate mobility service Bolt press kit: https://bolt.eu/presskit Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and the Controller and Accountant General's Department (CAGD) have released findings into the government of Ghana Payroll Administration. The investigation covered employees on the government payroll in the Northern Region only. The OSP and CAGD observed that the payroll system in the Northern Region (covering educational institutions under Ghana Education Service and the Tamale Teaching Hospital only) is attended to by an alarming number of unauthorised and inactive validators. In one instance, it was discovered that a primary school in the Kumbungu District of Ghana Education Service did not exist at all. Yet, this non-existent contrived entity was represented as staffed and the purported staff were being validated monthly and being paid salaries. A staggering amount of GH2,854,144.80 was identified as unearned monthly salaries, attributed to individuals who were deceased, retired, no longer in their positions, flagged as missing, or whose whereabouts were unknown, commonly referred to as "Ghost Names." By blocking these payments and removing the corresponding individuals from the Government Payroll, the Republic saved GH34,249,737.60 for the 2024 financial year. Additionally, ongoing savings are expected for subsequent years, along with potential upward pay adjustments, thanks to the detection of these unearned salaries facilitated by the joint investigation of the OSP. The OSP and CAGD are engaged in enhanced investigation into the educational institutions under Ghana Education Service in the Northern Region and the Tamale Teaching Hospital aimed at the prosecution of persons who promoted the non-existent school; validated deceased, untraceable, and retired persons and persons who have vacated their posts. subsequent phases of the investigation will extend to the remaining fifteen regions. Attached below is a copy of the report Office of the Special Prosecutor, Controller & Accountant Generals Department Report of Investigation: Government of Ghana Payroll Administration (Phase I Vol. 1), 20 May 2024 1.0 Introduction 1.1 The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and the Controller and Accountant Generals Department (CAGD) present this report on investigation into Government Payroll Administration. This report has been substantially abridged by the redaction of the identities and activities of persons suspected to be implicated in corruption and corruption-related offences in respect of Government Payroll Administration. 1.2 This report is founded on regulation 31(1)(a)&(g) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (Operations) Regulations, 2018 (L.I. 2374), which mandates the OSP to undertake measures to prevent corruption by conducting corruption risk analysis and publishing detected acts of corruption through the receipt, collection, or collation of reports, documents, materials, complaints, allegations, information and intelligence. 1.3 This report is also founded on section 73(1) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959), which mandates the OSP to conduct investigations in co-operation with other public institutions. 2.0 The Scope 2.1 In November 2023, after several weeks of consultation and engagement, the OSP and CAGD jointly commenced corruption risk assessment and investigation into suspected corruption and corruption-related offences in respect of Government Payroll Administration. The assessment and investigation are especially aimed at isolating and removing the names of non existent, ineligible, and undeserving persons from government payroll, recovering wrongful payments and unearned salaries, prosecuting persons suspected to be culpable for any offences, and the institution and implementation of internal controls in respect of payroll processing and payment of salaries. 2.2 The investigation and assessment covers all employees on government payroll and their respective banks and other deposit taking financial institutions. The investigation and assessment is being carried out in two phases. Phase I covers Ghana Education Service and Ghana Health Service. Phase II covers Ministries, Departments, all other Agencies and Metropolitan/Municipal/District Assemblies (MDAs/MMDAs). 2.3 This report is the first volume of Phase I. It covers the Northern Region only. 3.0 Investigation and Assessment 3.1 The Government of Ghana payroll business process is intended to ensure that only eligible employees are paid deserving salaries. Two key quality assurance activities form the foundation of the process, viz the validation of and by management units to confirm that staff are at post and have earned the assigned amount; and the payment of salaries into bank accounts of employees as designated by employees on the payroll. 3.2 The robustness of the intended quality assurance activities has been seriously challenged in the past few years with the reckoning that some persons who are deceased, or retired, or vacated their posts are being validated as alive and at post and are being paid as if they are actually at post and performing designated duties. 3.3 The imperativeness of a wider and more rigorous review of government payroll data became obvious. This birthed the ongoing collaborative investigation and assessment by the OSP and CAGD. Two major activities are being undertaken by the OSP and CAGD, viz i. reconciliation of staff paid on the government payroll system and the nominal rolls of MDAs/MMDAs; and ii. confirmation of the account holders names on the final payroll payment report with their respective banks. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Minister of Interior Henry Quartey, says it is untrue that the security and intelligence agencies were currently recruiting New Patriotic Party members into the security services as alleged by the Minority in Parliament. He said even though there were plans for recruitment, the target for the said recruitment were persons who had previously applied for jobs in the security and intelligence agencies but were not selected and are still desirous of being recruited. For him, the security and intelligence agencies were yet to even come out with their eligibility criteria for the said recruitment, describing the Minority's allegations as an "incitement" of the public against the government. The Interior Minister who was reacting to a press conference held by the Minority in Parliament on Monday [May 20, 2024], where the Minority leveled the allegation urged the Minority to desist from putting false information into the public domain. Mr Quartey, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Ayawaso Central in Accra gave the explanation in a radio interview on Accra-based Citi FM, monitored by Graphic Online. He rather urged the Minority to applaud the government for adopting an innovative strategy to get qualified Ghanaian nationals who had previously applied to the security agencies another chance to realise their goals. He said it would have been inconsiderate on the part of the government to still advertise and sell recruitment forms to people, knowing that there was limited space. The Minority, led by its leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson and a former Deputy Minister of Interior, James Agalga, had alleged that the government had given 20 slots to Members of Parliament from the NPP side to get people into the various security services and intelligence agencies. Reacting to the said claims, Mr Quartey said, it was a "palpable lie" from the Minority and that a multiplication of the said slots by the number of MPs in Parliament far exceeded the clearance that the Ministry of Finance had given to the Ministry of Interior for the said recruitment. "We are not recruiting party people to do party work," he said, adding that the Ministry would soon issue statement on the said recruitment. Source: graphiconline Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Organised Labour at a press conference in Accra on Monday said it was concerned about SSNIT's decision to sell it's 60% stake in four hotels to Rock City Hotel, owned by Bryan Acheampong, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, who is also the Member of Parliament for Abetifi. Organised Labour has therefore urged the government to suspend the process. The management of SSNIT in an explanation on why it is in a process to partner a strategic investor to raise capital to invest in its hotels, and also assist in their management has said, the Rock City Hotel Limited submitted the best and strongest technical and financial proposal among all the bids received Bryan Acheampong the current Member of Parliament for Abetifi and Minister of Food and Agriculture is a director and beneficial owner of Rock City Hotel Limited, located at Kwahu in the Eastern Region. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu has questioned SSNIT's decision to partner Rock City. He has subsequently gone to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) with a petition, to stop SSNIT from going ahead to partner Rock City. Ablakwa's argument is that, Bryan Acheampong, as a minister of state, should not be allowed to use his Rock City Hotel to partner SSNIT. It is his case that it is a matter that bothers on "conflict of interest, abuse of power, lack of due process, procurement breaches, cronyism, and graft." "I have also drawn attention to blatant violations of Article 78(3) and 98(2) of the 1992 Constitution as diligent checks from Parliament's Committee on Office of Profit reveal that Hon. Bryan Acheampong has not applied and does not have the permission of the Speaker of Parliament to hold an office of profit," Ablakwa alleged. Ablakwa last Friday [May 17, 2024] said he had petitioned CHRAJ to investigate and stop what he alleged was a "sale of SSNIT's hotels to Bryan Acheampong." At a press conference in Accra on Monday, the Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress, Dr Yaw Baah, said the process is going on and in fact they are even speeding it up and we dont think that is right." We do not think that the regulation that guides the sale of state assets was followed. We do not think that the necessary due diligence was done. we cannot imagine that state properties will be sold to a minister of state. For us, it is state capture and that should be stopped and stopped immediately. And if the Minister for Pensions who is also the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations fails to stop SSNIT, we workers of Ghana, we own the funds, we will stop that process. Source: graphiconline Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Franklin Cudjoe, President of IMANI Africa, has lauded the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) for its decision to divest its stake in six hotels, deeming it a prudent course of action. Cudjoe expressed his approval of SSNIT's move to engage the private sector in co-investing in hotels owned entirely by the trust but facing operational inefficiencies. He contended that this approach would result in a more efficient allocation of resources, benefiting both SSNIT and the broader economy. According to Cudjoe, divesting from these hotels would not only infuse liquidity into SSNIT's operations but also curtail political interference in the management of these assets. In a recent Facebook post on Tuesday, May 21, Cudjoe reiterated his endorsement of the initiative, stressing that the negotiated sale price for the four hotels is fair and equitable. Overall, Cudjoe's support highlights the potential advantages of SSNIT's decision to involve the private sector in its hotel holdings, signalling a move towards greater operational efficiency and transparency in managing public assets. "I think it is sensible for a state behemoth such as SSNIT, eternally abused by past and present politicians, to scale down its real estate business, which has never been profitable." "Similarly, SSNIT should seek private sector participation (co-investment) in wholly-owned hotels which are all not running efficiently. Not only will that free up some liquidity, but it will also amputate the long arm of the politicians, which tend to reach into the brick-and-mortar businesses over which SSNIT has control. That said, I will support any competitive divestiture that brings on board more money, technology, and skills and preserves Ghanaian management." "I think the investment plan proposed and the price agreed for the 4 hotels is fair," he stated. Mr Cudjoe's comment follows a formal petition lodged by North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, with the CHRAJ to investigate the processes surrounding the sale of six hotels. The hotels mentioned in the petition include Labadi Beach Hotel, La Palm Royal Beach Resort, Elmina Beach Resort, Ridge Royal Hotel, Busua Beach Resort, and the Trust Lodge Hotel. However, SSNIT clarified that the bids were successful for only four hotels and not the entire six as claimed by the MP. Mr Ablakwa's petition calls for an investigation into various allegations, including conflict of interest, abuse of power, lack of due process, procurement breaches, cronyism, and graft. In his petition, Mr Ablakwa highlights what he views as violations of constitutional provisions, specifically citing Articles 78(3) and 98(2) of the 1992 Constitution. He contends that these actions represent significant breaches of legal and ethical standards. Additionally, in a Facebook post on Friday, May 17, Mr Ablakwa argued that Bryan Acheampong's alleged involvement in the hotel sale without the permission of the Speaker of Parliament constitutes a breach of parliamentary protocol regarding holding offices of profit. This, according to Mr Ablakwa, is a serious violation that requires thorough investigation and accountability. "In my petition, I am inviting CHRAJ to investigate grave matters bordering on conflict of interest, abuse of power, lack of due process, procurement breaches, cronyism, and graft." "I have also drawn attention to blatant violations of Article 78(3) and 98(2) of the 1992 Constitution as diligent checks from Parliament's Committee on Office of Profit reveal that Hon. Bryan Acheampong has not applied and does not have the permission of the Speaker of Parliament to hold an office of profit, he said. However, according to SSNIT, the strategy to partner with an investor to raise capital to invest in their hotels, and also assist in their management, started as far back as 2018 through International Competitive Tendering (ICT) processes as prescribed by the Public Procurement Act. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Richard Jakpa, a businessman and the third accused in the trial involving Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, a former Deputy Minister of Finance, testified that the letters of credit in question bore the seal of then Finance Minister Seth Terkper. Mr Jakpa emphasised that without the Minister's authentication seal, the letters of credit would have been ineffective. He further explained that this authentication seal was crucial and its presence legitimised the letters of credit. Mr Jakpa noted that the Bank of Ghana only opened the letters of credit after receiving authorisation from the then Deputy Controller and Accountant General. During his testimony, Mr Jakpa highlighted the procedural importance of the authentication seal, asserting that it was an essential step in the process. This seal, he reiterated, validated the letters of credit and ensured their effectiveness. Mr Jakpa's statements aimed to clarify the chain of authorisation and the role of the Finance Minister's seal in the issuance and opening of the letters of credit by the Bank of Ghana. "It is after the documents marked as page 2 and 3 of Exhibit AK that the Former Minister for Finance [ Hon. Seth Terkper] wrote to Big Sea assuring and informed it that he was in the process of finalizing the establishment of the Letter of Credit. Thereafter, the Bank of Ghana [BOG] was requested to open the LC with the authentication seal of the Minister for Finance." "This is confirmed by exhibit A. Later the Deputy Controller and Accountant's General finally authorised the BOG to establish the LC by exhibit B," an excerpt of his witness statement said. The businessman also asserted that none of the accused individuals played a role in causing financial loss to the state. He explained that the state had accepted possession of the ambulances without any intention of terminating the contract. Furthermore, Mr Jakpa noted that the government had fulfilled its commitment by making the necessary payment for the ambulances. He emphasised that all required accessories were delivered in accordance with the contract specifications. He thus refuted any allegations of deliberate or malicious intent to cause financial loss to the state by the accused persons. "It is clear from the particulars of the offence charged against me that the government has itself admitted that the ambulances were supplied to Ghana. The point here I make is that since it is admitted that the ambulances were indeed supplied to the government of Ghana, it cannot be honestly said that the government sustained financial loss when government: has accepted or taken possession of the ambulances and not indicated no intention whatsoever of terminating the contract." "The government actually committed itself to performing the contract by paying for the ambulances as confirmed in the negotiated addendum to the contract," his statement added. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Richard Jakpa, the businessman and third accused in the trial involving former Deputy Minister of Finance Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson over the purchase of ambulances, has asserted that the deal was approved by the then Minister for Health, Sherry Ayitey. Mr Jakpa stated that Minister Ayitey okayed the deal in a letter dated July 19, 2013. This letter, he mentioned, has already been tendered in evidence and marked as Exhibit 14. In his witness statement, Mr Jakpa disclosed that his company, Jakpa Business Limited, was copied in the letter because it served as Big Seas agent at the time. He emphasised that the minister's approval was a crucial part of the process, highlighting the legitimacy of the transaction. "By a letter dated 19th July 2013, Big Sea wrote to the then Minister for Health who at the time was the Honourable Sherry Ayitey [May Her Soul Rest In Peace] and notified the government that the first twenty [20] ambulances were ready for shipment. Because JBL was Big Seas agent, JBL was copied in this letter." "Big Sea, therefore, requested that as provided for by the contract, the government visit Dubai to inspect the ambulances before shipment. This letter as already stated was tendered in evidence and marked exhibit 14," an excerpt of his witness statement said. He also testified that the letters of credit in question bore the seal of the then Finance Minister, Seth Terkper. Mr. Jakpa emphasised that without the minister's authentication seal, the letters of credit would have been ineffective. He further explained that this authentication seal was crucial, and its presence legitimised the letters of credit. Jakpa noted that the Bank of Ghana only opened the letters of credit after receiving authorisation from the then Deputy Controller and Accountant General. Mr. Jakpa highlighted the procedural importance of the authentication seal, asserting that it was an essential step in the process. This seal, he reiterated, validated the letters of credit and ensured their effectiveness. "It is after the documents marked as page 2 and 3 of Exhibit AK that the Former Minister for Finance [Hon. Seth Terkper] wrote to Big Sea assuring and informed it that he was in the process of finalising the establishment of the Letter of Credit. Thereafter, the Bank of Ghana [BOG] was requested to open the LC with the authentication seal of the Minister for Finance." "This is confirmed by exhibit A. Later the Deputy Controller and Accountant's General finally authorised the BOG to establish the LC by exhibit B," he added. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, the Founder and General Overseer of Action Chapel International, has called on all stakeholders in Ghanas electoral process to ensure a peaceful election in 2024. He stressed that maintaining peace is essential to preventing violence before, during, and after the elections, in order to avoid a scenario where Ghanaians might be forced to seek refuge in other countries. Archbishop Duncan-Williams made this appeal during a meeting with the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, and members of the Christian Ecumenical Council in Accra on Monday, May 20. There is too much pain and suffering in this country. All our doctors and nurses are leaving this country. And we just pray that things will be well handled and managed with transparency and fairness so that we will not end up being refugees in any other country. Because without proper fairness, honesty, and transparency, things may fall out of hand. And may I say this, that nobody should think that the Ghanaian is very gentle, I dont like trouble human being, It is not true. Source: citinewsroom.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Two Togolese nationals have been arrested by the police in the Buem Constituency, which is situated in the Jasikan District of the Oti Region, on Sunday, May 19, 2024. The suspects were allegedly brought into the country by executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to partake in the ongoing voters registration exercise. They were among a larger group of people brought into the country by the Buem Constituency Executives of the NDC. Their compatriots escaped as security officers arrived at the Jasikan Municipal Registration Centre, according to reports. The two suspects are currently in police custody at the Jasikan Divisional Police Command assisting with investigations. The police are currently monitoring the situation closely, as it has raised serious concerns about the integrity of the voter registration process. The current guarantor system has come under scrutiny, with accusations that NDC executives are exploiting the same to register foreign nationals fraudulently. In the immediate aftermath, the NDC Constituency Chairman and Organiser are trying to secure bail for the detained individuals. This incident has raised questions over the effectiveness of the guarantor system and the reasons behind the NDCs staunch support for its continued use. The NDC leadership has consistently resisted the Electoral Commissions efforts to eliminate the guarantor system in favour of exclusively using the Ghana Card as the primary identification for voter registration in Ghana. Source: Daily Guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is very concerned about some key persons working at the Electoral Commission (EC) that he believes are affiliated with the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP). Mr John Dramani Mahama doubts the upcoming general election will be free and fair after some incidents recorded in various registration centres in the ongoing Limited Voter Registration exercise. He, however, called in religious leaders to speak on the matter of rigging the December election during a meeting with the Christian Ecumenical Council on Monday. This is a president who is appointing politically exposed people into positions of trust where they are supposed to be neutral and non-partisan and so people who have been communicators for the party, people who have been IT backstops for the party, today are Commissioners of the Electoral Commission. How do you expect them to be neutral and fair in what is happening? People who were patrons of TESCON on campus are today Commissioners of the Electoral Commission. But we want to wake up the conscience of the nation that the right thing must be done so that the outcome can be the will of the people. So going up to the election, We will continue to play our part. We will raise the red flags anytime we think things are not going very well. And we believe that the church community should also keep an eye and be vigilant in terms of making sure that the right thing is done, Mr Mahama said. Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman/peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Dr. Ezekiel Agyekum-Obeng, a member of the New Patriotic Party's communication team, says the ruling party is "mentally distressed". According to Dr. Agyekum-Obeng, recent occurrences in the NPP, notably the untimely deaths of Kencity's Wofa Kwabena Kwakye and Hon John Kumah, former NPP MP for Ejisu, have positioned the party in a way that its members will need mental health attention. He spoke on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show in relation to the presidential convoy's fatal accident on the Accra-Kumasi highway. The convoy collided with a KIA Rhino truck at Bunso-Akyem Asafo stretch of the Accra-Kumasi highway, claiming the life of a driver and others seriously injured. The President of the Republic, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo wasn't involved in the accident as he traveled in a military aircraft to Accra, returning after a series of events in Kumasi. Among the events were the President and a host of NPP members and dignitaries attending the funeral of the Deputy Finance Minister, John Kumah over the weekend. Dr. Agyekum-Obeng called for a psychotherapy to be given to the accident victims and the entire party. "As a party, mentally, we are distressed. If you look at these key personalities and coming from our brother, the late John Kumah's funeral to meet another accident, as a party, we are in somehow difficult times", he said. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Electoral Commission has issued a statement in relation to an incident in which an electoral officer was said to have registered about 17 persons with invalid Ghana cards at the Pusiga district office. The statement signed by the Acting Director, Public Affairs, Mr. Michael Boadu, during the Voters Registration Exercise on 13th May, 2024, a Data Entry Clerk noticed a suspicious Ghana Card numbers on 17 Registration Forms. Upon seeing the anomalies, the clerk immediately drew the attention of the District Electoral Officer. The Electoral officer, according to the statement, realised that the Ghana cards were fake after thorough investigations was conducted. Upon investigations, it was revealed that the Ghana Card numbers were fake. It was further discovered that the Registration Officer was complicit because he did not physically inspect the Ghana Card of individual applicants but rather accepted the fake numbers from Party Agents who had accompanied the 17 applicants, excerpts of the press release explained. In order to ensure transparency and electoral integrity, the Commission have taken actions following the unfortunate incidents. This include the outright dismissal of the Registration Officer. The Commission noted that the said Registration Officer has been arrested by the officials of the Ghana Police Service to help with investigation, following a formal complaints by the Electoral Commission The 17 Applicants, in order not to violate their constitutional rights, were registered using the Guarantor system. While the Police continue with their investigations, the Commission would like to warn all its Temporary Officials that it will not countenance the breach of its electoral laws. Any person found violating the laws of the Commission will be handed over to the Police and permanently blacklisted by the Commission, the EC cautioned. The Electoral Commission thereby, assured all its stakeholders and the general public that the Voters Registration Exercise is being conducted in a transparent and inclusive manner, thus, encouraging Ghanaians to have the confidence that the Commission will deliver on its mandate as far as free, fair, credible and transparent election is concerned. Despite the challenges encountered in the first two days, the Commission is on schedule to register the projected 623,000 voters by the end of the exercise. We count on the cooperation and vigilance of all citizens to ensure that the remaining period of the registration is peaceful and successful. Your browser does not support iframes. Source: Kobina Darlington/peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The President of the republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo has expressed joy over the approval of the new ministers in spite of the boycott staged by the minority in parliament. According to the President, the minoritys walk-away just when the ministers were to be considered and approved by the Parliament was an action he dearly pitied. During the swearing in of the newly approved ministers, on Monday, May 20, at the flagstaff house in Accra, the President said, it was a pity that at the last moment, the Minority which has participated in all the prior processes found it necessary to walk out of parliament at the formal approval stage. We thank God that the walkout was not fatal to the vote of approval. The minority in Ghanas parliament, boycotted the approval of the newly approved ministers. The reason for the boycott was uncertain but the minority leaders question on the floor of parliament about the description urgent matter for the approval of ministers, sets the tone that the minority were unhappy. It is recalled that, the ministerial vetting was challenged at the Supreme Court by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Etse Dafeamekpor. The non-existence of substantive ministers for some key ministries such as the Health Ministry posed a lot of challenge for the ministry. This, amongst many reasons led to the reconvening of Parliament upon the request of the majority leader and the Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo- Markin. However, the minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson in his submission on the floor of Parliament on Friday, May 17, questioned how the approval of the ministerial nominees was classified as an urgent matter. He said, May I ask, how is the approval of the Presidents nominees for ministerial positions an urgent matter, when this Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government already has a large number of ministers and deputy ministers? While walking out of the chamber, some of the opposition lawmakers were heard saying Ghanaians are suffering. Dr Cassiel Ato Forson told the Majority side that If you dont care, we care. The newly approved ministers include, Health, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye; Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Ophelia Mensah Hayford; Information Ms. Fatimatu Abubakar, Gender; Children and Social Protection, Dakoa Newman; Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah; Sanitation and Water Resources, Hon. Lydia Seyram Alhassan; Tourism, Arts and Culture, Hon. Andrew Egyapa Mercer, MP, Greater Accra Region, Titus Glover, Oti Region, Mr. Daniel Machator. The deputy ministers are for Information, Sylvester Tetteh, MP; Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Vincent Ekow Assafuah; Communications and Digitilisation, Charles Acheampong; Health, Adelaide Ntim, MP Alexander Akwasi Acquah; Works and Housing Hon. Dr. Prince Hamidu Armah; Lands and Natural Resources, Akwasi Konadu; Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Hon. Musah Abdul Aziz Ayaba; Energy, John Kobina Sanie, Collins Adomako-Mensah; Education, Kingsley Nyarko; Employment and Labour Relations, Festus Awuah Kwofie; Gender, Children and Social Protection, Hon. Benjamin Sekyere Yeboah. Source: Kobina Darlington/peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged the newly sworn-in ministers to bring their A-game onboard as they officially begin their duties as substantive ministers and deputy ministers. On Monday, May 20, 2024, the President, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, after a Parliamentary consideration and approval, led the newly appointed ministers and deputy ministers to take the oath of office at the Jubilee House in Accra. The President mentioned to the ministers to do their best to make a difference in the line of duties. The President acknowledge the limited time available but added that, irrespective of the time allocation, he believes strongly that the persons designated for the various ministries will do exceedingly well. I am confident that there is enough time for you to make a difference and significant contribution. Indeed, anyone who has something to prove can make a point within a short period and I am sure that your various competencies, experiences and talents make this distinctly possible, he added. President Akufo-Addo drew their attention to the fact that, their success in office as ministers will enable Ghanaians to have more confidence in the government, thus, a victory for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Dr. Bawumia will be inevitable He continued to add that, they need to stay focused and get committed to Ghanaians and serve diligently. The President advised the newly sworn-in appointees not to forget that the political atmosphere was characterised by some unhealthy comments and that even their most innocent actions would be stigmatised and given the most sinister of motives. Ignore the fabricators and their fabrications and the naysayers. Remain resolute and focus on our collective objective to serve the Ghanaian people to the best of our abilities and leave the rest to God, to history and to the judgment of the good people of Ghana. The President also advised the ministers to declare their assets on time in order not to have their names and integrity dragged in the mud, especially, in a densed political season like the one Ghanaians are experiencing currently. Source: Kobina Darlington/peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Senior Chinese official meets Saudi finance minister Xinhua) 08:59, May 21, 2024 Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Saudi Minister of Finance Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan in Beijing, capital of China, May 20, 2024. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu) BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese official He Lifeng met with Saudi Minister of Finance Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan in Beijing on Monday. The two sides exchanged views on China-Saudi Arabia economic and trade relations, global economic governance, as well as other issues. He, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs, said that China is advancing its modernization drive in an all-round way, while Saudi Arabia is vigorously implementing its Vision 2030. The two sides should focus on implementing the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, strengthen the synergy of development strategies, deepen multilateral and bilateral economic and trade cooperation, and promote the common economic development and prosperity of the two countries, He said. Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan said that Saudi Arabia attaches great importance to developing relations with China and is willing to work with China to continuously tap the potential of practical cooperation in various fields, and to push forward the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Researchers from University of Liverpool, University of Manchester, and University of Mannheim have published a new Journal of Marketing article that investigates the consequences of the financial valuation and external reporting of marketing assets. The study is titled "Consequences of Marketing Asset AccountabilityA Natural Experiment" and is authored by Peter Guenther, Miriam Guenther, Bryan A. Lukas, and Christian Homburg. Do you know the financial value of Gatorade's or of Netflix's customer base? If your answer is no, you are not alone. Firms provide little external information about the financial value of their marketing assets such as brands and customer relationships. It may be time for managers to rethink this approach. Pressure to be accountable could ratchet up quickly, especially on marketing executives. For instance, since the start of 2024, Chinese firms have been required to formally report internally generated data resources, including data about customer relationships and marketing opportunities. Moreover, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has started a project that aims to increase disclosures about currently unreported intangible assets. Since capital markets are global, enhanced accountability requirements in one region can set a new benchmark for investors' expectations for accountability around the world. This new study investigates the consequences of the financial valuation and external reporting of marketing assets. Marketing asset accountability is not without issuesit involves assumptions and uncertain predictions of future financial outcomes. As former Head of Equity Research at JP Morgan, Andrew Cuffe, noted in an interview with KPMG in 2014, "it is impossible for management to have an unbiased view." In addition, regular valuations can be expensive. Julie A. Garity, the director of Global Accounting Policy at Ford Motor Company, wrote in a letter to the Financial Accounting Standards Board in 2019, "the lack of in-house expertise to fair value intangibles often requires engagement of third-party firms." "Despite these uncertainties and cost, our study finds that marketing asset accountability can pay off on certain dimensions, such as cheaper equity funding and more realistic stock prices. Our results, though, do not show a consistent effect on cost of debt," Peter Guenther says. Miriam Guenther adds, "One important finding of our study is that marketing asset accountability, which is actually targeted at external investors, has a knock-on effect internally by critically shaping the focus of marketing management. Specifically, the focus on long-term marketing outcomes improves significantly." Another intriguing finding is that it is not necessarily the big marketing spenders but the medium and small spenders that benefit the most from accountability for their marketing assets. Better measurement, management, and transparency The typical financial reporting system creates a challenge for the marketing function in terms of how its inputs and outcomes are reported. Lukas explains that "marketing is an expense item that reduces profit in the profit and loss statement. Without marketing asset accountability, the economic value of this expense remains undocumented." President of the International Trademark Association, Zeeger Vink, commented in a 2022 interview that this "is something that really harms creating the insight that we want to have." The researchers argue that marketing asset accountability has the potential to bring about fundamental change in firms by documenting the economic value of marketing assets. "Managers usually aim to optimize results reported to external investors. Without marketing asset accountability, the focus tends to be on short-terms results, sometimes at the expense of long-term marketing investment and outcomes. In contrast, with marketing asset accountability, firms can establish processes that systematically measure and report marketing assets," says Homburg. Better measurement means better management. Moreover, the external reporting of marketing assets provides a valuation benchmark to investors that reduces uncertainty and anchors expectations. A four-step action plan for marketing executives How can marketing executives successfully navigate the landscape of marketing asset accountability? Here is a four-step action plan: Drive improvements in external marketing accountability and claim credit Extend the focus beyond product markets and acknowledge the communication needs of financial market "consumers." Adopt a recognized marketing asset valuation process, such as the ISO standard on monetary brand valuation (ISO 10668:2010). Take credit for firm-wide outcomes that extend beyond typical marketing results, such as improvements in equity financing costs and stock prices. Do it with maximum impact Use valuation companies for more accurate valuations. Report customer relationships or brands to enhance long-term marketing efficiency. Report distribution agreements to improve stock price informativeness. Consider marketing licenses as a part of brand value. Share with standard setters Engage with standard setters such as the IASB and FASB. Raise awareness about external reporting's effects on internal decision making. Preempt change Help build your firm's capabilities for marketing asset accountability. The time to act is now, given recent developments that increase investor demand for enhanced marketing accountability. More information: Peter Guenther et al, Consequences of Marketing Asset AccountabilityA Natural Experiment, Journal of Marketing (2024). DOI: 10.1177/00222429241236142 Journal information: Journal of Marketing 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 of San Juan Capistrano coasts in 1990 and current day. Credit: University of California, Irvine Southern California could lose many of its beaches in the coming decades. A recent study by the U.S. Geological Survey shows that up to two thirds of Southern California's beaches could disappear by 2100 if sea levels rise 3 to 6 feet, which according to the State of California Sea-Level Rise Guidance Document is likely. The study is published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface. The trend has already disrupted rail service and shaved beaches in the seaside village of San Clemente as seen near Cottons Point below. Retreating coastlines threaten not only the Golden State's identity but also its economy. Visitor spending reached $135 billion in 2022 and beaches are one of California's most alluring charms. UCI environmental engineering Professor Brett Sanders, an expert on coastal erosion and beach dynamics, explains the elements and solutions to this potential state crisis. Why are beaches eroding in Southern California? Human development has disrupted the natural processes that supply beaches with sand over the past century, including river flows and cliff erosion. Government programs to artificially nourish beaches have also slowed down over recent decades. Which beaches are most in danger? Beaches are in danger from Santa Barbara to San Diego. Orange County has been hit hard with erosion hot spots at Doheny, Capistrano, San Clemente, and San Onofre beaches. Beaches are also in danger in Santa Barbara, Ventura, Malibu, Oceanside and elsewhere. What is the timeline for their potential erosion? Erosion is already happening. Southern California beaches tend to shrink when we experience El Nino conditions, and Southern California beaches were hit hard by the 2014-2016 El Nino. With another El Nino developing right now in the central Pacific, the year ahead could be especially challenging. Cottons Point, San Clemente in 2008 vs. 2021. Credit: University of California, Irvine How might future erosion affect homes and key infrastructure? Miles and miles of the southern California coast are lined with housing, especially along coastal cliffs vulnerable to erosion and landslides. We've also built highways, railroads, water and waste infrastructure, and energy infrastructure right along the coast. A re-routing of the railroad between Orange County and San Diego is already underway and will cost billions. This winter we've seen several properties on cliffs get red-tagged after landslides. How can this problem be resolved? Restoring sand supplies will be a priority consideration for many communities, particularly those where supplies have been cut off because of human development. A bigger sand supply will help to minimize the erosive impacts of waves and rising tides while also providing a natural resource that can be enjoyed by the public. Sandy beaches are nature's way of gently dissipating the energy of ocean waves that crash into the coast, and in the absence of sand, more energy attacks the cliffs and terraces supporting infrastructure and housing. Will taking sand from the ocean or other proposed areas lead to other environmental problems? Beach nourishment has been used for decades across the U.S. and around the world, particularly in areas where tourism drives the economy, and engineers have developed best practices for beach nourishment to minimize negative ecosystem impacts. Sand nourishment can also help to restore coastal habitats in areas where natural sand-delivery processes are impaired. On the other hand, there is a growing challenge of finding the supplies needed to meet the world's demand for sand. With rapid population growth and urbanization around the world, increased use of concrete has consumed many of the readily available sand supplies, and there has been illicit mining to harvest sands with devastating ecological impacts. Government efforts to artificially nourish beaches slowed down in recent decades. Why is that? In Southern California, nourishment was a convenient co-benefit of coastal development from the 1930s to the 1960s. Harbors and marinas were constructed over that time and generated dredged material that was placed along the coast to simultaneously widen beaches to meet the growing needs for beach recreation and tourism. In recent decades, nourishment projects have slowed down in California by the high costs of moving sand and permitting processes, which are onerous for coastal communities. Nationwide, nourishment efforts continue at a high clip, particularly in states like Florida and New Jersey, but there are growing questions about when and where the use of government funds for beach nourishment is justified. Importantly, beaches are a major driver of tourism and contribute significantly to the federal, state and local taxes that fund government services, yet we don't make it a practice to put money back into our beaches. Santa Ana River sand deposits to be sent to Doheny State Beach and Capistrano Beach Park. Credit: University of California, Irvine How much would it cost to nourish Southern California's beaches? The upcoming San Clemente project pencils out with an annual cost of around $2 million. That might seem like a big number but considering the enormous benefits of beaches (coastal access, recreation, tax revenue, healthy ecosystems) and comparing to the other costs that governments bear on an annual basis, greater investment into beaches could be cost effective for many communities. Local activism San Clemente recently launched a Bring Back Our Beaches campaign and produced a short film Running Out Of Time to raise awareness and support for beach nourishment programs. "The beach is personal to us," San Clemente Mayor Chris Duncan said, "it's part of who we are as Californians." Sanders and his research group, the UCI Flood Lab, have developed advanced coastal dynamics simulation technologies through remote sensing to monitor sand movement and identify hot spots of sand depletion. This could help plan for mitigation efforts against further beach erosion. Sanders' work and that of California State Parks and the County of Orange is making some headway. This summer, 45,000 cubic yards of Santa Ana River sand deposits will be sent to replenish 2,000 feet of the shore between Doheny State Beach and Capistrano Beach Park. The clean sand was collected during flood management efforts. Instead of the usual practice of moving it to construction projects or landfills, it's going where it will be enjoyed the moston California's coast. More information: Sean Vitousek et al, A Model Integrating SatelliteDerived Shoreline Observations for Predicting FineScale Shoreline Response to Waves and SeaLevel Rise Across Large Coastal Regions, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface (2023). DOI: 10.1029/2022JF006936 This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A new report breaks down how nations could come together to slow temperature increases. Credit: Graphic by Melanie Robinson-Hess | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory January 2024 marked the first year during which the globe's surface temperatures rose 1.5C above average. Although it's unknown whether this trend will continue, it does mean that temperatures are nearing the limit agreed upon in 2015's Paris Agreement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference. With news like that, it's easy to feel like it's too late, that there's nothing we can do to curb greenhouse gas emissions enough to make a difference. But a report from the Joint Global Change Research Institute (JGCRI), a partnership between Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the University of Maryland, shows that the world's goal to stay below a 1.5C temperature rise is still within reach. The study was led out of the Center for Global Sustainability in the University of Maryland. The report lays out a scenario in which major societal players come together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase electrification, and protect forests. The report specifically calls out six areas of societypower, transportation, buildings, industry, land use, and non-CO 2 greenhouse gases such as methanein which they recommend various policies that could make a difference in cutting greenhouse gas emissions globally. "These recommendations represent the biggest emissions reductions potential in the global economy," said Michael Westphal, now Head of Science for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He was a research scientist at JGCRI when the report published. "Together, these recommendations make up the All-of-Society Climate Change Pathway." The team used the Global Change Analysis Model (GCAM) to determine how policies in these six sectors could help achieve the global temperature goal. "GCAM is a powerful tool that brings together representations of the world's energy, agriculture and land use, water, and climate systems along with interactions across them to examine how policies in these areas might reduce emissions in the future," said Gokul Iyer, a co-author on the report and senior Earth scientist at JGCRI. GCAM is developed and maintained in JGCRI. If the policies outlined below were enacted today, greenhouse gas emissions would fall 32% by 2030. Here's how the big sectors of society would change under the All-of-Society 1.5C Climate Pathway. Power Electricity runs the worldour homes, businesses, devices, and even some of our vehicles. To produce much of that electricity, we burn fossil fuels like coal and natural gas. Although renewable energy such as solar and wind power is increasing, research shows that deployment of renewable energy must increase faster to reach our temperature goals. In 2023, 60% of the total energy generated in the United States was from fossil fuels, 18% was from nuclear energy, and 21% was from renewable sources such as wind turbines and solar panels. To increase the amount of renewable energy powering society, the researchers recommend that countries invest in power grid updates, set ambitious clean energy goals to encourage innovation, or set retirement dates for coal plants. With those actions, wind and solarplus other renewable sourceswould make up 62% of electricity generation globally by 2030. Transportation Transportation contributes to greenhouse gas emissions with its combustion-fueled cars, trucks, and buses. In 2021, transportation contributed 28% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and 14% globally. The researchers suggest that nations could invest more in public transportation infrastructure and more efficient city planning to increase access to buses and trains. Meanwhile, offering incentives for consumers to adopt electric vehicles could boost sales to 51% globally. Buildings Buildings make up about 30% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States from direct emissions like burning gas for heating and cooking and indirect emissions from power plants burning coal and gas to provide electricity. Globally, buildings contribute about 26% of greenhouse gas emissions. Increasing the electrification in buildingswith technology such as heat pumps rather than gas-powered heatingcan help decrease those emissions. Around the world, local and regional jurisdictions could encourage people to adopt more energy-efficient technologies and provide subsidies for homeowners to make upgrades. These same jurisdictions could also tighten energy efficiency codes, requiring buildings to be more energy efficient. Industry Activities like iron, steel, and cement production, as well as materials, plastics, and chemical manufacturing, make up a diverse energy sector. Much of the greenhouse gas emissions from industry come from burning fossil fuels in transportation as well as the manufacturing processes. If national governments invested in alternative fuels made from agricultural or municipal waste or set aggressive electrification and efficiency standards, emissions from iron and steel would drop by 50%, while aluminum emissions would drop 36% by 2030. Non-CO 2 greenhouse gases After CO 2 , methane is the most abundant greenhouse gas emitted by society. In 2021, methane accounted for 12% of all United States greenhouse gas emissions. That number might seem low, but methane is much more efficient at trapping heat in the atmosphere and its impact is 28 times greater than CO 2 over a 100-year timeframe. Across the globe, human activities drive more than half of methane emissions. Sources include agriculture and livestock, coal mining, landfills, and leaking methane from natural gas systems. To reduce these emissions, the report authors recommend better regulations for fossil fuel extraction infrastructure, which can leak a lot of methane if not properly maintained. Governments both national and regional could also provide incentives like tax credits to encourage companies to reduce their methane emissions or develop technology such as methane capture. With these actions, methane emissions would drop by 30% in 2030 compared to 2020's levels, which equates to 120 megatons. Land use Forests around the globe soak up billions of tons of carbon dioxide every year, acting as one of Earth's largest carbon sinks. In 2021 at COP26, 145 countries agreed to halt or reverse deforestation by 2030. According to the All-of-Society Climate Pathway, reductions in land use change emissions contribute to 6% of the total reductions by 2030, highlighting the importance of the land sector to keeping warming to 1.5C. At the national scale, the authors recommend that governments enact ambitious benchmarks for reducing deforestation and provide subsidies to farmers and landowners who practice climate-friendly land management. Local and national governments could also invest in wildfire mitigation strategies to protect forests and surrounding communities from wildfire damage. 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: Index of abundance of 1,864 monitored populations of 284 species of migratory freshwater fishes, showing a decline of 81% between 1970 and 2020. Credit: https://files.worldwildlife.org/wwfcmsprod/files/Publication/file/6f6b5o5dn1_LPI_migratory_freshwater_fishes_2024_Technical_report.pdf?_ga=2.192433699.842664729.1716212254-872615330.1682020948 Populations of migratory freshwater fish speciesincluding salmon, trout, eel, and sturgeoncontinue to decline across the globe. This decline risks the food security and livelihoods of millions of people, the survival of countless other species, and the health and resilience of rivers, lakes and wetlands. This news is supported by a global study published today by the World Fish Migration Foundation, ZSL, IUCN, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Wetlands International and WWF. Published ahead of World Fish Migration Day on May 25, the new Living Planet Index (LPI) report on freshwater migratory fishes reveals a staggering 81% collapse in monitored population sizes on average between 1970 to 2020, including catastrophic declines of 91% in Latin America and the Caribbean and 75% in Europe. Habitat loss and degradationincluding fragmentation of rivers by dams and other barriers and conversion of wetlands for agricultureaccount for half of the threats to migratory fishes, followed by over-exploitation. Increasing pollution and the worsening impacts of climate change are also fueling the fall in freshwater migratory fish species, which have now been declining consistently for 30 years. "The catastrophic decline in migratory fish populations is a deafening wake-up call for the world. We must act now to save these keystone species and their rivers," said Herman Wanningen, founder of the World Fish Migration Foundation. "Migratory fish are central to the cultures of many Indigenous Peoples, nourish millions of people across the globe, and sustain a vast web of species and ecosystems. We cannot continue to let them slip silently away." Migratory freshwater fishes are vital to the food security and nutritional needs of hundreds of millions of people, particularly in vulnerable communities across Asia, Africa and Latin America. They also support the livelihoods of tens of millions, from local fisheries to the global trade in migratory fish and fish-byproducts, and the multi-billion dollar recreational fishing industry. "In the face of declining migratory freshwater fish populations, urgent collective action is imperative. Prioritizing river protection, restoration, and connectivity is key to safeguarding these species, which provide food and livelihoods for millions of people around the world. Let's unite in this crucial endeavor, guided by science and shared commitment, to ensure abundance for generations to come," said Michele Thieme, Deputy Director, Freshwater at WWF-US. The report is not all doom and gloom. Nearly one-third of monitored species have increased, suggesting that conservation efforts and improved management can have positive impacts. Some promising strategies include the improved and/or species-focused management of fisheries, habitat restoration, dam removals, the creation of conservation sanctuaries, and legal protection. For example, in Europe and the United States, thousands of dams, levees, weirs and other river barriers have been removed in recent decades, and momentum for such actions is growing. In 2023, Europe removed a record 487 barriersa whopping 50% increase over the previous high reported in 2022. Meanwhile, in the United States, the largest dam removals in history are currently underway along the Klamath River in California and Oregon. Dam removals can be cost-effective, job-producing solutions that help reverse the disturbing trend of biodiversity loss in freshwater systems as well as solutions that improve river health and resilience for people, too. While scaling up dam removals is a key solution to reversing the collapse in freshwater migratory fish populations, there are more. Decision makers across the globe must urgently accelerate efforts to protect and restore free-flowing rivers through basin-wide planning, investing in sustainable renewable alternatives to the thousands of new hydropower dams that are planned across the world as well as other measures that contribute to the ambitious goals in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to protect 30% of inland waters and restore 30% of degraded inland waters. In particular, rising to the Freshwater Challenge's goal of restoring 300,000 km of degraded rivers will contribute enormously to reversing the trend in migratory fish populations. WWF-US recently joined as an inaugural member of the White House's America the Beautiful Freshwater Challenge Partnership, the largest freshwater restoration and protection initiative in history. Along with protecting and restoring healthy rivers, there is an urgent need to strengthen monitoring efforts; better understand fish species' life-history, movement and behavior; expand international cooperation, such as adding more freshwater migratory fish species to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS); and promote greater public and political engagement. There are many initiatives around the world supporting the recovery of migratory fish species and freshwater biodiversity in general. The Emergency Recovery Plan for Freshwater Biodiversity highlights a variety of measures that could transform the management and health of rivers, lakes and wetlands to improve the health of freshwater systems and biodiversity. The Global Swimways Initiative identifies and prioritizes key river migration routes that are important for ecologically, culturally and economically important fish species. It highlights the collaborative efforts of international river basin authorities in addressing this critical issue. Since 2014, the WFMF has organized World Fish Migration Day every two years to raise awareness about migratory fishthe next is on May 25 with over 68 countries participating so far. Provided by WWF This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The Oosterschelde set out from Plymouth, England, in August 2023. Like Charles Darwin did in 1831, a group of scientists and environmentalists last year set sail from the English port of Plymouth, headed for the Galapagos islands off the coast of Ecuador. But what they found on their arrival last month differed vastly from what naturalist Darwin saw while visiting the archipelago in 1835, in a trip key to developing his world-changing theory on natural selection. The Galapagos today is under protection, part of a marine reserve and classified a World Heritage Site. Yet the area faces more threats than ever, from pollution and illegal fishing to climate change. There to observe the challenges, with a well-thumbed copy of her great-great-grandfather's "On the Origin of Species" in hand, was botanist Sarah Darwin. "I think probably the main difference is that, you know, there are people working now to protect the islands," the 60-year-old told AFP, onboard the "Oosterschelde," a refurbished, three-mast schooner built more than 100 years ago. The ship has been on a scientific and awareness-raising expedition since last August, stopping so far in the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Brazil and Chile among other locales. Darwin's 'heirs' In colonial times, the islandslocated in one of the world's most biodiverse regionsserved as a pit stop for pirates who caught and ate the giant turtles that call it home. The Galapagos are part of a marine reserve and classified a World Heritage Site. During World War II, the archipelago hosted a US military base. "I think if (Darwin) were able to come back now and see the efforts that everybody is making, both locally and globally, to protect these extraordinary islands and that biodiversityI think he'd be really, really excited and impressed," the naturalist's descendant told AFP. Sarah Darwin first visited the Galapagos in 1995, where she illustrated a guide to endemic plants. She then devoted herself to studying native tomatoes. She also mentors young people as part of a project to create a group of 200 Darwin "heirs" to raise the alarm about environmental and climate threats to the planet. Calling at several ports on the journey from Plymouth to the Galapagos, the Oosterschelde took on new groups of young scientists and activists at every stop, and dropped off others. Sarah Darwin, the great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin, on board the Oosterschelde with other members of a scientific expedition. One of them, Indian-born Laya Pothunuri, who joined the mission from Singapore, told AFP the Galapagos "has a very important place in scientific terms." She was there, she said, to improve the irrigation systems in the islands' coffee-growing regions. "I plan to do it using recycled plastic, which also, again, is a big problem over here," she said, noting that plastic waste ends up being consumed by wildlife. Plastic peril In the Galapagos, the expedition members worked with researchers from the private Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), the Charles Darwin Foundation and the NGO Conservation International on both confronting invasive species and protecting endemic ones. Last year, a study by the Charles Darwin Foundation found that giant turtles in the area were ingesting harmful materials due to human pollution. The Oosterschelde is a refurbished, three-mast schooner built a century ago. Sarah Darwin travels with a copy of her famous ancestor's 'On the Origin of Species' Samples revealed that nearly 90 percent of the waste consumed was plastic, eight percent was fabric and the rest metal, paper, cardboard, construction materials and glass. From Galapagos, the Oosterschelde set sail again on Sunday to continue its world tour, with stops expected in Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. 2024 AFP This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The photo taken the day after the 1886 Charleston earthquake seems to capture a railroad offset to the right. Computer analysis of the scene reveals distances (in meters) and offsets into the scene that tell a different story. The track has been buckled on a bend by about 4 inches of longitudinal compression. The inset shows the same track in 2023. Credit: Bilham and Hough Late on August 31, 1886, while many people were asleep, a large quake rocked Charleston, South Carolina, and the surrounding region, toppling buildings, buckling railroad tracks, and causing sand to "boil" or bubble from liquefaction. By the time the shaking stopped, approximately 2,000 structures were damaged and at least 60 people had lost their lives. The 1886 Charleston earthquake was one of the most powerful earthquakes to strike the eastern United States, with shaking felt as far away as Boston, Chicago, and New Orleans. From 1670 when Europeans first settled in Charleston until that time, the region experienced only occasional minor seismic activity. As aftershocks rattled the region, geologists and engineers raced into the field, recording detailed notes and taking photographs of the damage. Their observations captured ground disturbances in impressive detail, but scientists didn't yet fully understand the relationship between earthquakes and faults, so they weren't able to piece together the complete story. "The timing of the Charleston Earthquake was unique," said Susan Hough, a seismologist at the United States Geological Survey (USGS). "If it had happened 75 years earlier, we would have had fewer scientists trained and able to spring into action. If it had happened ten years later, seismograms probably would have recorded the shaking." Over a century after the quake, Hough and CIRES Fellow Roger Bilham, a research scientist at CU Boulder, picked up the trail, building on the original records and more recent attempts to piece together the story of the deadly quake. "Although a dozen possible faults had been identified beneath the swamps surrounding Charleston, the actual fault that ruptured in the earthquake remained a mystery," Bilham said. The team's search through historical documents prompted exciting new discoveries about the Charleston earthquakefrom the fault that may be responsible to the magnitude and deformation on the ground. Their work, published in a series of four papers in 2023 and 2024, provides an example of how scientists can use historical documents to peel back the layers of other geologic mysteries. And in the interior of continental plates, where seismic activity is less frequent, the work may help communities better assess their risk for future earthquakes. Field evidence reveals faulting Hough and Bilham started their investigation of the Charleston earthquake by digging deep into the written accounts of the event, including those by Earle Sloan, a mining engineer who took meticulous notes and measurements of the damage to three railroads radiating from Charleston. They suspected that buried within Sloan's notes were clues that could help them identify the fault responsible for the earthquake. But there were a few hurdles they had to get over first. "Converting the numbers into a convincing story turned out to be a nightmare," Bilham explained. "The 1886 notes inadvertently included entry errors and typos that shifted the positions of buckles indiscriminately hither and thither." In 2022, the team traveled to Charleston in hopes of unscrambling the muddle. They zeroed in on a section of the railroad track in Summerville where severe track disturbances had been reported in 1886. Bilham suggested they use GPS methods to establish the locations of observations, which Sloan had tallied using railroad mileposts. Much to their surprise, the scientists identified a 4.5-meter (14.8-foot) offset to the right in what should be a straight-line mile of track. At first, the scientists couldn't believe the size of the offset, but upon a closer reading of Sloan's notes, they discovered that he too had described an offset at the same location. The offset likely meant a fault beneath the tracks had moved. Modern geologists had identified the Summerville fault in that location, but nobody had linked it to the 1886 earthquake. "It was a moment of serendipity that opened up a whole new dimension to the project," Hough said. When they looked at historical maps of the area, Bilham and Hough also found that Summerville appeared to have risen 1 meter (3.3 feet) after the earthquake, whereas the docks at nearby Fort Dorchester had remained undisturbed since their construction in the 17th century. The findings confirmed that something momentous had occurred near Summerville in 1886. A new model to identify the culprit To identify the fault responsible for the 1886 Charleston earthquake, the scientists built a mathematical rupture model for movement on the Summerville fault that could explain both the archaeological and geological evidence, including the right offset in the railroad tracks and the uplift in Summerville. Bilham and Hough found that movement along a west-dipping Summerville fault could explain why the town is situated higher than the surrounding swamps. The model pointed to a 7.3 magnitude, which is consistent with the large "felt" area of the earthquake and previous estimates. They published their results in The Seismic Record in 2023. "It turns out you can put the pieces together to identify the fault that caused the earthquake and come up with a detailed model for how the fault broke," Hough said. "It was the first time anyone had done that for the Charleston earthquake." After identifying the potential culprit, Hough and Bilham then shifted their attention back to the impacts on the ground. Using the fault location, they simulated what shaking might have been like at different locations and compared the results to observations from the old records. The comparison, which was published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America in January 2024, supports their proposed 7.3 magnitude. Deformed tracks preserve seismic waves Bilham continued to dig into the historical documents to sort out why railroad tracks 20 miles from Summerville had been buckled and torn apart. "It was a monumental undertaking," Hough said. "It was like Sloan had passed the torch across the ages to Roger." An old photograph, taken the day after the Charleston earthquake, showed what appeared to be an offset of railroad track where it crossed a low-lying swamp. Many scientists used the photo to infer faulting in the area. The scientists constructed a virtual 3D view of the deformed railroad tracking using precise measurements of a thousand points in the original photo, which had survived in the archives of the Charleston Museum. The work led to another stunning realizationthe buckled tracks around Charleston had collectively recorded the contraction and compression of seismic waves racing from the epicenter of the earthquake. "We were able to show that buckles occurred everywhere that the line had been compressed more than permitted by its expansion joints, and that the line had parted where the expansion bolts had broken," Bilham said. The work was also published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. The bigger picture Hough and Bilham's efforts show that even after 137 years, scientists can still learn new things about the Charleston earthquake and contribute to the broader understanding of seismic activity in the region. "Charleston is a brick in the wall," Hough said. "Now, we understand one event in one location, but there's lots of work yet to be done to piece together the larger picture." Intraplate earthquakes like the one in Charleston differ from their counterparts, which occur where large pieces of Earth's crust rub against each other. There is no single pattern to explain why they occur, and often, each event requires a unique investigation. But Hough hopes their work will inspire scientists to look deeperinto the past and the future. "There is a tendency to assume all knowledge is on the internet and readily available," Hough said. "Our efforts confirm how much value there can be in considering the dusty original sources of data." More information: Roger Bilham et al, Static and Dynamic Strain in the 1886 Charleston, South Carolina, Earthquake, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (2024). DOI: 10.1785/0120240025 Susan E. Hough et al, The 1886 Charleston, South Carolina, Earthquake: Intensities and Ground Motions, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (2024). DOI: 10.1785/0120230224 Roger Bilham et al, The 1886 Charleston, South Carolina, Earthquake: Relic Railroad Offset Reveals Rupture, The Seismic Record (2023). DOI: 10.1785/0320230022 Journal information: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 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: Bonelli's eagles (Aquila fasciata) tolerate human presence better than larger competitors such as golden eagles (A. chrysaetos), enabling the former to inhabit relatively humanized areas. This could explain why Bonelli's eagles seemed to establish in the Mediterranean Basin only after the arrival of the first Europeans. Credit: Tony Peral. Spanish and Portuguese scientists have unraveled the ancestral history of one of the most iconic birds of prey in the current Iberian fauna, the Bonelli's eagle (Aquila fasciata). The work, published in the journal People and Nature, integrates evidence from various disciplines, such as paleontology, genetics, and ecology, to answer questions about when and why the Bonelli's eagle, a species primarily found in tropical and subtropical regions, colonized the Mediterranean basin. The study is led by the University of Granada with participation from researchers in the Ecology area of the Miguel Hernandez University of Elche (UMH). As Professor Marcos Moleon Paiz, from the Department of Zoology at UGR and the article's lead author, explains, "The Bonelli's eagle is a 'newcomer' to Europe. This species probably began establishing itself in the Mediterranean basin around 50,000 years ago. In contrast, others, like the golden eagle (A. chrysaetos), have been present here much longer, as fossil records attest." Spatial analyses conducted in the study show that Bonelli's eagle is significantly disadvantaged during cold climatic periods, unlike the golden eagle. "During the last glacial period, the Bonelli's eagle could only find refuge in warm coastal areas, precisely where its oldest fossils have been found." Eva Gracia, a professor of Ecology at UMH, notes that "genetic analyses confirmed that around the last glacial maximum, the Mediterranean population of Bonelli's eagles must have been formed by few individuals." This ancestral population thrived as the temperature in the Mediterranean basin rose, and the human population grew and became sedentary. Once the 'when' was resolved, the team sought to understand why Bonelli's eagle began to establish itself in the Mediterranean during such a climatically challenging period and why it settled there during the last glacial cycle and not before. The role of our ancestors According to Moleon, "After testing several alternative hypotheses, all pieces of the puzzle indicated that the early European settlers of our species (Homo sapiens) played a fundamental role." This study collected and analyzed the most comprehensive information on the competitive interactions between Bonelli's eagles and golden eagles today. This allowed them to confirm that in this relationship, the golden eagle is the 'dominant' species and the Bonelli's eagle the 'subordinate' species. The results showed that Bonelli's eagles can only survive where golden eagles are scarce, mainly in highly humanized areas. "Our mathematical models indicated that if we were able to eliminate all golden eagle pairs in climatically favorable areas, we would expect a strong increase in the number of Bonelli's eagle pairs, but not vice versa," the researchers explain. The study also states that golden eagles can kill Bonelli's eagles and usurp their territories, which does not happen the other way around. It is noteworthy that golden eagles are less tolerant of humans than Bonelli's eagles. The authors hypothesize that with the arrival of the first anatomically modern humans in Europe, some of the golden eagle territories closest to human settlements were abandoned, and these 'vacant' territories began to be occupied by Bonelli's eagles from the Middle East. In short, Bonelli's eagles could not have established themselves in the Mediterranean before the arrival of the first Homo sapiens because the competitive pressure exerted by golden eagles and other species would have been too overwhelming. Living near or far from humans? The researchers point out that humans can modify species distributions is nothing new. The novelty of this study lies in revealing a mechanism called 'human-mediated competitive release' by which our species, including our ancestors, could indirectly modify the distribution of other species, including long-lived ones. However, the advantage that living near humans once provided for the Bonelli's eagle has turned against it today. "Ironically, the future of the Bonelli's eagle in the Mediterranean is currently threatened by the relentless intensification of human activities in the environment, leading to mortality from power lines, prey scarcity, and disturbances in nesting areas, among other threats," the authors conclude. "The conservation of threatened species like large eagles will undoubtedly benefit from knowledge derived from large-scale spatial and temporal ecological processes," notes UMH Professor Toni Sanchez Zapata. More information: Marcos Moleon et al, Wildlife following people: A multidisciplinary assessment of the ancient colonization of the Mediterranean Basin by a longlived raptor, People and Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1002/pan3.10642 Journal information: People and Nature This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain One of the big contributors to the record-breaking global temperatures over the past yearEl Ninois nearly gone, and its opposite, La Nina, is on the way. Whether that's a relief or not depends in part on where you live. Above-normal temperatures are still forecast across the U.S. in summer 2024. And if you live along the U.S. Atlantic or Gulf coasts, La Nina can contribute to the worst possible combination of climate conditions for fueling hurricanes. Pedro DiNezio, an atmosphere and ocean scientist at the University of Colorado who studies El Nino and La Nina, explains why and what's ahead: What is La Nina? La Nina and El Nino are the two extremes of a recurring climate pattern that can affect weather around the world. Forecasters know La Nina has arrived when temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean along the equator west of South America cool by at least half a degree Celsius (0.9 Fahrenheit) below normal. During El Nino, the same region warms instead. Those temperature fluctuations might seem small, but they can affect the atmosphere in ways that ripple across the planet. How La Nina and El Nino form. Credit: NOAA The tropics have an atmospheric circulation pattern called the Walker Circulation, named after Sir Gilbert Walker, an English physicist in the early 20th century. The Walker Circulation is basically giant loops of air rising and descending in different parts of the tropics. Normally, air rises over the Amazon and Indonesia because moisture from the tropical forests makes the air more buoyant there, and it comes down in East Africa and the eastern Pacific. During La Nina, those loops intensify, generating stormier conditions where they rise and drier conditions where they descend. During El Nino, ocean heat in the eastern Pacific instead shifts those loops, so the eastern Pacific gets stormier. During La Nina, the Walker Circulation intensifies, triggering stronger storms where the air rises. Credit: Fiona Martin, NOAA Climate.gov During El Nino, the Walker Circulation shifts eastward, so more storms form off California as warm air rises over the warmer waters of the eastern Pacific. Credit: Fiona Martin, NOAA Climate.gov EL Nino and La Nina also affect the jet stream, a strong current of air that blows from west to east across the U.S. and other mid-latitude regions. During El Nino, the jet stream tends to push storms toward the subtropics, making these typically dry areas wetter. Conversely, mid-latitude regions that normally would get the storms become drier because storms shift away. This year, forecasters expect a fast transition to La Ninalikely by late summer. After a strong El Nino, like the world saw in late 2023 and early 2024, conditions tend to swing fairly quickly to La Nina. How long it will stick around is an open question. This cycle tends to swing from extreme to extreme every three to seven years on average, but while El Ninos tend to be short-lived, La Ninas can last two years or longer. Credit: The Conversation How does La Nina affect hurricanes? Temperatures in the tropical Pacific also control wind shear over large parts of the Atlantic Ocean. Wind shear is a difference in wind speeds at different heights or direction. Hurricanes have a harder time holding their column structure during strong wind shear because stronger winds higher up push the column apart. La Nina produces less wind shear, removing a brake on hurricanes. That's not good news for people living in hurricane-prone regions like Florida. In 2020, during the last La Nina, the Atlantic saw a record 30 tropical storms and 14 hurricanes, and 2021 had 21 tropical storms and seven hurricanes. Forecasters are already warning that this year's Atlantic storm season could rival 2021, due in large part to La Nina. The tropical Atlantic has also been exceptionally warm, with sea surface temperature-breaking records for over a year. That warmth affects the atmosphere, causing more atmospheric motion over the Atlantic, fueling hurricanes. Does La Nina mean drought returns to the US Southwest? The U.S. Southwest's water supplies will probably be OK for the first year of La Nina because of all the rain over the past winter. But the second year tends to become problematic. A third year, as the region saw in 2022, can lead to severe water shortages. Drier conditions also fuel more extreme fire seasons in the West, particularly in the fall, when the winds pick up. During El Nino, the Walker Circulation shifts eastward, so more storms form off California as warm air rises over the warmer waters of the eastern Pacific. Credit: Fiona Martin, NOAA Climate.gov What happens in the Southern Hemisphere during La Nina? The impacts of El Nino and La Nina are almost a mirror image in the Southern Hemisphere. Chile and Argentina tend to get drought during La Nina, while the same phase leads to more rain in the Amazon. Australia had severe flooding during the last La Nina. La Nina also favors the Indian monsoon, meaning above-average rainfall. The effects aren't immediate, however. In South Asia, for example, the changes tend to show up a few months after La Nina has officially appeared. La Nina is quite bad for eastern Africa, where vulnerable communities are already in a long-term drought. Typical La Nina climate impacts, though conditions arent always like this. Credit: NOAA Climate.gov Is climate change affecting La Nina's impact? El Nino and La Nina are now happening on top of the effects of global warming. That can exacerbate temperatures, as the world saw in 2023, and precipitation can go off the charts. Since summer 2023, the world has had 10 straight months of record-breaking global temperatures. A lot of that warmth is coming from the oceans, which are still at record-high temperatures. La Nina should cool things a bit, but greenhouse gas emissions that drive global warming are still rising in the background. So while fluctuations between El Nino and La Nina can cause short-term temperature swings, the overall trend is toward a warming world. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Oxford University Press Joseph Wright's interest in studying dictators and authoritarian leaders began during a concert at a Chilean military academy while he was studying abroad. The head of the military academy at the time? The country's former President Augusto Pinochet, who ruled the country as a dictator for more than a decade. "We go there, watch her son play in the band, and then out trots the general and ex-dictator who was the head of the military academy at the time. And I got to meet him in person," Wright said. "And that sparked my interest in dictatorships living in Chile, which had just transitioned from having lived under a couple of decades of dictatorship and then meeting a man like that." Wright, a professor of political science at Penn State, is one of the authors of the new book, "The Origins of Elected Strongmen: How Personalist Parties Destroy Democracy from Within." The book's co-authors are Erica Frantz, associate professor of political science at Michigan State University, and Andrea Kendall-Taylor, senior fellow and director of the Transatlantic Security Program at the Center for a New American Security and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Wright recently appeared on the Democracy Works podcast, a collaboration between the McCourtney Institute for Democracy and WPSU. He talked with host Michael Berkman, McCourtney Institute director and professor of political science, about the book's findings and how the research is informing his thinking about this year's U.S. presidential election. "The Origins of Elected Strongmen" will be released June 11 from Oxford University Press. Wright received a McCourtney Institute for Democracy Research in Democracy Support Grant in 2020 for a related project on technology and the personalization of politics. A condensed version Wright's interview is below. Q: What is the difference between an elected strongman and a dictator? Wright: The dictator is somebody who comes to power in some way that's not a fair and free election, with multiple parties running for the election. Elected strongmen are those who are coming to power for the first time in a fair and free election, but then subsequently decide to do things to undermine the government and the way democracy is run. And it could go all the way to the point where they undermine democracy so much that it collapses, or there's no longer fair and free elections. Q: Who are some examples of elected strongmen in history? Wright: One contemporary example is Viktor Orban in Hungary. But the first ones to rise on the scene back in the 20th century, are folks like Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines, Alberto Fujimori in Peru and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Q: How do elected strongmen change political parties? Wright: Traditionally, policy parties or programmatic parties may have an ideology or a set of policy proposals that elected officials, party leaders and voters share. Individuals gain power in that kind of party by working their way up the party system. For example, starting at the local level and going up to the state level up to the national level. Elected strongmen are commonly associated with personal parties, where the leader controls the party and elites have less ability to constrain the behavior of the leader in the party. And the reason for that oftentimes, is simply because these are parties where the leader himself or herself, are more likely to have created the party as their own personal vehicle to get elected in the first place. Q: How are elected strongmen and personal parties damaging to democracy Wright: People like presidents or prime ministers have to rely on other people to help them do things. Even dictators don't rule alone; there's an organization that supports them, helps them gain power, and helps them stay in power. And in democracies, that support organization is the party. In personal parties, the leader has more individual power, and the elites in those parties are less likely to constrain the leader and the reason for that is twofold. One is when the elite have less access to resources, they can't use those resources to bargain with the leader of the party. If the leader has more nomination power, more financial resources, they are more likely to have a bargaining advantage when they're trying to decide how they're going to divvy up the power within the party. And the second is that the career incentives of the elites are often quite different. For example, elites are better off not constraining the leader if the leader does something that would undermine democracy because their political careers are more closely tied to the leader rather than to the party brand itself and other elites in the party. What matters is your relationship with the leader of the party and how well you implement the program of the party at one level to get promoted up to the next level. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Distribution map of the main rivers and hydrological stations in Hexi Corridor. Credit: Research in Cold and Arid Regions (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.rcar.2024.04.001 The response of runoff from inland river basins is becoming increasingly complex due to climate change and intensification of human activities, as well as underlying surface impacts. The annual distribution pattern of runoff shows spatio-temporal heterogeneity, which affects hydropower generation, irrigation, ecological-cultural value of river runoff, and puts pressure on water resource management projects. A research team from the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted a study on the outflow of 13 rivers in the Hexi Corridor, including the Shiyang River, the Heihe River, and the Shule River, to gain a deeper understanding of the runoff change of inland mountain rivers. The study has been published in Research in Cold and Arid Regions, The researchers used various indexes to analyze the annual runoff changes in the Shiyang River, Heihe River, and Shule River Basins. They compared spatial and temporal differences, explored sub-regional boundaries and runoff models in the Hexi Corridor inland river basin, and identified key time points of change. The results show that the distribution of annual runoff in different river basins exhibits different trends of change. The annual runoff of the Taolai River and its western tributaries, excluding the Shiyou River, has been increasing, while that of the eastern river has been decreasing. Despite these opposite trends, both the coefficient of variation and the complete regulation coefficient values (important indicators of runoff variability) for each river remain high. The annual distribution of concentration periods in the Shiyang River basin is widely scattered, with a range exceeding 40. Some rivers, such as the Huangyang River, have an even wider range of up to 93, indicating a time difference of about three months for the occurrence of concentration periods. In contrast, the Heihe River basin has a narrower range of concentration periods, indicating a more concentrated distribution of runoff. The concentration and timing of runoff in the Shule River Basin show significant variations, with distinct concentration periods observed at different times for the Shiyou River, Changma River, and Danghe River. It is worth noting that since the beginning of the 21st century, these three basins have experienced a shift toward later concentration periods, suggesting that climate change has affected runoff distribution. In addition, the researchers found that the kurtosis coefficient of the flow distribution curve is negative in the Liyuan River and the eastward rivers, indicating a smoother peak surface and a lower probability of extreme runoff events throughout the year. Conversely, except for the Dang River, the western rivers have a positive kurtosis coefficient, suggesting a steeper peak surface and more concentrated runoff, which increases the risk of extreme runoff events. The study provides an important basis for water resource planning and management in the Hexi Corridor and serves as a scientific reference for predicting future changes in regional water resources. More information: Yan Luo et al, The changes in the annual distribution of mountain runoff during the period of 19652018 in Hexi Corridor, northwest China, Research in Cold and Arid Regions (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.rcar.2024.04.001 This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain The Seychelles archipelago of 115 islands stretches across a vast area of the western Indian Ocean. Each island is fringed by coral reefs. Coral reefs are formed by colonies of invertebrate animals that build hard skeletons and grow in a myriad of forms. These complex tropical reefs support a third of all species in the ocean as well as the livelihoods of millions of people. Dependency on coral reefs for food security and economic stability is particularly acute in small island developing states such as Seychelles, where a high proportion of people live close to reef systems and there isn't much land for alternative ways of life. Corals reefs are also the ecosystems most vulnerable to climate change, due to the sensitivity of tropical corals to ocean warming. Marine heat waves that cause widespread coral mortality are becoming more frequent and more severe, leaving insufficient time for coral recovery to take place. The only solution to this threat is rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but effective marine management may buy coral reefs some time. One of the ways a damaged reef can recover is if there is a consistent supply of baby corals. Although adult corals are attached to the seabed and cannot move, baby corals float freely in the ocean. Baby corals can therefore be transported over large distances by ocean currents. Some coral reefs are more isolated, but others may be strongly connected, acting as a source of baby corals for many other reefs. Prioritizing these source reefs for conservation may improve the resilience of corals in the wider region. In our recent study, we mapped coral reef connectivity across the Seychelles using a combination of population genetics and computer modeling. Despite the remoteness of many islands, both genetic and modeling approaches suggested that the connectivity between these remote reefs was high, with ocean currents shuttling larvae across the archipelago. We also developed an interactive web app to help marine managers understand these connections. Our findings suggest that localized conservation efforts have the potential to benefit coral reef health more broadly. This would be the case both within Seychelles and along the east African coast. Coral superhighways If currents transport baby corals between a pair of reefs, we say that those reefs are connected. Mapping these connections allows us to design more effective management strategies. Some corals also appear to be more resilient to hotter temperatures, and connectivity may allow baby corals to introduce genes responsible for this resilience to other reefs. Baby corals are tinyusually less than one millimeter acrossso they are impossible to track directly over large distances. To quantify coral reef connectivity, we have to use indirect methods. One approach is using DNA from corals in different reefs, and analyzing how similar they are genetically. The more similar they are, the greater the connectivity likely is. Alternatively, with the help of ocean current data and biology, we can use computer simulations to predict the transport of baby corals between coral reefs. Because many coral reefs in the Seychelles are exceptionally remote, one may expect connectivity to be low. However, our findings demonstrate that this is not the case. To map connectivity across the archipelago, we analyzed the DNA of 241 coral colonies from 12 islands across the Seychelles archipelago, and found evidence for recent connectivity between distant pairs of islands. For example, the DNA of many corals in the exceptionally remote Aldabra atolla world heritage siteshares strong similarity to corals on the most populated island in Seychelles, Mahe, despite being separated by over 1,000km of ocean. We found these genetic similarities by comparing the sequenced DNA of all our samples and focusing on sites where variations occurred (known as single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs). These variations are inherited, so individuals that are closely related will have more SNPs in common than those who are distantly related. Computer simulations provide insight into how the strong connectivity between remote islands in Seychelles occurs. Although the inner (highly populated) islands of Seychelles are usually surrounded by an eastward flowing ocean current, wiggles in the currents (similar to weather systems in the atmosphere) can transport some baby corals to the south. This allows them to enter a rapid, westward current that efficiently transports them towards remote islands in south-west Seychelles, such as Aldabra. Baby corals from Aldabra are catapulted further west by this current, away from Seychelles and towards east Africa. Aldabra may therefore be a source of baby corals for thousands of kilometers of coral reef across east Africa. Next steps Our research, as well as the development of an app, will contribute to effective management of coral reefs such as the development and maintenance of marine protected areas. Interventions on land can also, surprisingly, help vulnerable coral reefs. For example, removing rats improves coral health and resilience by restoring seabirds which rain down nutrients in the form of guano onto the islands. These nutrients reach near-shore waters and significantly increase growth and fish biomass. But eradications are extremely costly. Coral connectivity data can help island nations like Seychelles decide where to invest in such costly actions to maximize positive impacts for coral reefs. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A study by the UB Conservation Biology Team and IRBio warns that the current methodology for calculating population changes in wildlife at risk needs to be improved in order to increase their survival in the future. Credit: University of Barcelona In human populations, it is relatively easy to calculate demographic trends and make projections for the future if data on basic processes such as births and immigration is known. The data, given by individuals, can also include death and emigration, which subtract. In the wild, however, understanding the processes that determine wildlife demographic patterns is a highly complex challenge for the scientific community. Although a wide range of methods are now available to estimate births and deaths in wildlife, quantifying emigration and immigration has historically been difficult or impossible in many populations of interest, particularly in the case of threatened species. A paper published in the journal Biological Conservation warns that missing data on emigration and immigration movements in wildlife can lead to significant biases in species' demographic projections. As a result, projections about the short-, medium- and long-term future of study populations may be inadequate. This puts their survival at risk due to the implementation of erroneous or ineffective conservation strategies. The authors of the new study are Joan Real, Jaume A. Badia-Boher and Antonio Hernandez-Matias, from the Conservation Biology team of the Faculty of Biology of the University of Barcelona and the Institute for Research on Biodiversity (IRBio). More reliable population predictions This new study on population biology is based on data collected from 2008 to 2020 on the population of the Bonelli's eagle (Aquila fasciata), a threatened species that can be found in Catalonia in the coastal and pre-coastal mountain ranges, from the Emporda to Terres de L'Ebre. In the study, the team emphasizes the precision of the population viability analysis (PVA) methodology to improve the management and conservation of long-lived species in the natural environment. "Population viability analyses are a set of methods that allow us to project the demography of a species into the future, mainly to quantify the probability of extinction of a given species or population of interest," says Real, professor at the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences and head of the Conservation Biology team. "To datehe continuesthese projections have mostly been carried out only with data on births and deaths, so that migration processes were ignored because of the difficulty of obtaining these data. In other words, we are trying to make demographic projections without considering two key demographic processes." Threats affecting more and more species In the study of wildlife, population models that do not incorporate immigration or emigration "have a considerable probability of leading to biased projections of future population trends. However, explicitly considering migratory processes allows us to consider all the key demographic processes that determine the future trend of a population," says expert Jaume A. Badia-Boher, first author of the study. "This allows us to be much more precise when making demographic predictions, and therefore also when planning future conservation strategies," he adds. "This new perspective may imply a relevant advance in the reliability of population viability analyses, which will allow us to estimate the future trend of populations more accurately and propose conservation actions more efficiently," notes Professor Antonio Hernandez-Matias. "This is of great importance given that in the current context of global change the extinction rates of species are increasing, and more and more species require urgent and effective conservation actions to reverse their decline," says the expert. Applying methodological developments to conserve biodiversity Introducing changes in the structure and modeling of population viability analyses can lead to multiple benefits in many areas of biodiversity research and conservation. "Methodological advances are effective when they are applied. For this reason, the application of the new methodology in populations and species of conservation interest should be promoted. "It is a priority to make these methodologies known to the scientific community, managers and administration, in order to prioritize conservation actions with the best available methods," say the authors. "In the future, new methodologies must continue to be developed, as has been done in this study, as they are key to understanding how wild populations function, what measures need to be implemented to conserve them, and how to make these measures as efficient as possible. "In the case of endangered species such as the Bonelli's eagle, knowing the rates of emigration and immigration is key to understanding the state of self-sustainability of a population, and thus implementing efficient conservation measures," concludes the team. More information: Jaume A. Badia-Boher et al, Assumptions about survival estimates and dispersal processes can have severe impacts on population viability assessments, Biological Conservation (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2024.110550 Journal information: Biological Conservation This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain The UK's saltmarshes are under threat from climate change, coastal erosion, and sea-level rise, according to a new study led by the University of St Andrews and the University of York. Occupying more than 450km2 of the UK coastline, saltmarshes capture and store large quantities of carbon, which makes them one of the UK's most important coastal ecosystems. They provide a natural climate regulation service through the long-term storage of organic carbon in their soils. Year by year, saltmarshes accumulate thin layers of sediments that are rich in carbon from the plants that grow and die there, as well as from adjacent sources on land (via rivers) and at sea. As this organic carbon is buried in the waterlogged soils, decomposition is slowed, keeping carbon out of the atmosphere. The new study, published in Science of the Total Environment 20 May, follows an assessment of the total amount of saltmarsh carbon in the UK published in 2023. Researchers looked at the density of organic carbon in 21 saltmarshes around the UK, using specialist dating techniques to work out when and how quickly the sediments accumulated. They found that although UK saltmarshes store 5.2 million tonnes of carbon, rates of new carbon accumulation are much slower than expected, and similar to sequestration rates in UK forests. The researchers' finding underscores the value of these expansive carbon reserves, particularly considering the prolonged timeframe required for their formation. While the annual accumulation rate of carbon in UK saltmarshes may be lower than previously thought, this study emphasizes the critical role these ecosystems play in storing vast amounts of carbon, and highlights the growing pressure they are under from a changing climate, sea-level rise and increasing anthropogenic disturbance. Dr. Craig Smeaton, lecturer in Geography and Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews, and the lead author of the study, said, "Understanding the true carbon storage capacity of saltmarshes at the scale of the UK has been a major technical challenge, involving a large multidisciplinary team of researchers. We are excited to have published the first national organic carbon accumulation assessment for Great Britain." Professor Roland Gehrels, Head of the Environment & Geography Department at the University of York, and a researcher on the project, added, "With the speed of climate change accelerating at an alarming rate, this deeper understanding of saltmarshes and their untapped potential for carbon sequestration has never been more urgent. The low accumulation rates demonstrated in this study really highlight that if lost, these carbon stores will take centuries to build up again." Dr. Ed Garrett, assistant professor in Physical Geography at the University of York and joint lead author of the new study, said, "We found the accumulation of organic carbon was far lower than global estimates, which means the contribution of northern European saltmarshes, such as those in the Humber Estuary, has likely been significantly overestimated." The project's principal scientist, Professor William Austin in the School of Geography and Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews, noted, "While restoring and creating new saltmarshes offers a potential boost for climate, people and biodiversity and may be valuable to counteract habitat loss, there has never been a more important time to protect the vulnerable organic carbon already stored in existing saltmarshes. "This must be a priority for the UK and elsewhere because the protection of existing habitats (and carbon stores) offers climate benefits from avoided greenhouse gas emissions which are several times more significant than those gained from new accumulation of organic carbon in these ecosystems." More information: Craig Smeaton et al, Organic carbon accumulation in British saltmarshes, Science of The Total Environment (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172104 Journal information: Science of the Total Environment This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The right to vote is a cornerstone of electoral democracy, but a new study suggests that support for this principle often hinges on the perception of who will benefit. The findings shed light on a hotly debated topic of noncitizen voting rights in the United States. On one hand, critics argue that allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections threatens the integrity of national-level elections. On the other, supporters advocate for these rights to uphold democratic representation. The study, published in the American Political Science Review, uncovers a more pragmatic motivation behind these stances. According to University of Florida political scientist Hannah Alarian, co-author of the study, "U.S. voters are more likely to support granting noncitizens the right to vote locally if it benefits their own party. Both Democratic and Republican voters oppose noncitizen voting rights if they believe noncitizens would vote for the opposing party." Focusing solely on noncitizen participation in local elections, such as school boards and town councils, the study clarifies a puzzling phenomenon. "There are just as many efforts to (re)enfranchise noncitizens as there are to disenfranchise noncitizens from local elections in the U.S.," Alarian said. "We wanted to know more about why the public may support extending voting rights in one case and support a ban in another." The researchers hope that sharing these findings will contribute to a deeper understanding of why and where noncitizens are granted voting rights locally. The study also prompts reflection on the broader inclusion and exclusion dynamics within American democracy. Notably, Alarian explains, felons and individuals under 18 years old often lack local voting rights, irrespective of citizenship. Noncitizens are constitutionally barred from voting in national elections, although they were legally allowed to do so until the late 1920s. Currently, nineteen different localities allow noncitizens to vote in local elections, while at least seven states prohibit it entirely. In Florida, a 2020 referendum banned noncitizens from voting locally. Looking ahead, Alarian and co-author Stephanie Zonszein plan to further investigate the mobilization and impact of disenfranchisement efforts. They aim to comprehensively understand the myriad factors shaping American attitudes toward extending noncitizen voting rights beyond partisan motivations. "The right to vote is part of the foundation of American democracy," Alarian said. "Understanding decisions to include and exclude residents from voting is critical, especially in public opinion." More information: HANNAH ALARIAN et al, Conditional Enfranchisement: How Partisanship Determines Support for Noncitizen Voting Rights, American Political Science Review (2024). DOI: 10.1017/S0003055424000522 Journal information: American Political Science Review 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: Firefighting foam can contain PFAS. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain An underground reservoir in Denmark is the location of a unique experiment: to test a technology for helping rid the environment of a widespread toxic pollution. The aquifer, near the town of Korsr, contains high levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which are chemicals that have been used worldwide since the 1940s in hundreds of goods, including firefighting foams. The chemicals contaminated the Korsr reservoir through runoff from a nearby firefighting school that used such foams in training exercises. Huge headache PFAS have concerned scientists since at least the 1990s. Known as "forever chemicals," they don't naturally break down, and can't be removed from polluted soil and water by any existing method. They also increase the risk of cancer, immune-system disorders and other human health troubles. "PFAS are a huge problem," said Professor Francesco Dondero, an ecotoxicologist at the University of Eastern Piedmont in Italy. "Not only are they very persistent in the environment, but they are also extremely mobile." Dondero leads a research project that aims to improve PFAS detection and removal in Europe and beyond. Called SCENARIOS, the project runs for four years through October 2025 and has developed the technology being tested in Korsr. Coveted by manufacturers for their ability to repel oil and water, PFAS are a common part of food packaging, waterproof clothing and stain-resistant fabrics. Production of the popular non-stick kitchenware coating Teflon releases PFAS into the environment. The unique properties of PFAS are a result of their chemical structure, at the heart of which are chains of carbon atoms of various lengths surrounded by atoms of fluorine. The carbon-fluorine bond is extremely strong and hard to break. As a result, PFAS persist in the environment for hundredsmaybe thousandsof years. Chain reactions "The types of PFAS with longer carbon chains can partially be removed from soil and water, but we currently have no tools for the short-chain ones," said Dondero. "Sources of PFAS pollution are also very diffuse and we have no means of monitoring them." PFAS are released all over the world with wastewater from chemical plantsbut not only. They leak from landfills, contaminating the ground and surface water. Scientists have detected these harmful chemicals in Arctic ice-sheets, human breast milk and the drinking water of many major cities. While some of the most dangerous types of PFAS have already been banned, many are still in use. As a result, their concentrations in the environment keep rising. Personal perspective Dondero's interest in PFAS emerged after he moved to Alessandria, a town in northwestern Italy with a major chemical plant. "I moved my family here 20 years ago and then discovered that local water resources have been contaminated with PFAS," said Dondero. "They even found PFAS in the blood of local people. That's why I put together this project." SCENARIOS brings together universities, research institutes, medical centers and companies from 11 countries: Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Sweden and the UK. The tests in Korsr represent a culmination of the project's work. Promising results The researchers have joined forces with a Swedish company, Envytech Solutions, to develop a way of removing short-chain PFAS without creating other pollution in the process. The technique, called Surface Active Foam Fractionation, or SAFF, relies on tiny air bubbles. Researchers pump and treat contaminated water from the aquifer into a tank and blow in air at the bottom. As the bubbles rise through the tank, they collect the water-repelling PFAS molecules and bring them to the surface. "These air bubbles have enormous affinity to PFAS and increase their concentrations at the surface by a factor of 100 000, ultimately allowing the final PFAS waste to be concentrated to levels exceeding a million times," said Dondero. The demonstration started in February 2024 and will last until September. The researchers are testing various substances that could be added to the water to improve the effectiveness of the removal process, especially with regard to the hard-to-tackle short-chain PFAS. So far, the results are promising. In some cases, the system was able to remove more than 99% of the contamination, according to Dondero. The next step will be for the researchers to examine how to destroy the concentrated PFAS waste in a safe manner. "For now, it would be enough if we can just store it somewhere until the destruction technology is developed," Dondero said. Search for substitutes SCENARIOS is part of a cluster of health research projects that support the European Green Deal and advance an EU Zero Pollution Action Plan from 2021. The plan foresees that, by 2050, concentrations of dangerous pollutants in air, soil and water decrease to levels no longer considered harmful to health and natural ecosystems. As part of the strategy, PFAS should be phased out unless their use is deemed essential. But creating a non-toxic, degradable and affordable replacement is no easy task. "In nature, there is no other alternative that gives you the kinds of properties that PFAS have," said Dr. Miika Nikinmaa, a biomaterials researcher at the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland. "They are also very cost competitive." Nikinmaa leads an EU-funded project to develop safe and sustainable alternatives to PFAS for use in food packaging and upholstery. Called ZeroF, the three-year project is due to run until the end of 2025. For packaging applications, the researchers are experimenting with fatty acid modified cellulose together with novel coating methods and chemistries to produce the desired properties of resistance to water and oil. "We have been quite successful creating the water-barrier function," Nikinmaa said. "The oil barrier is more difficult. But the most difficult thing is to achieve both at the same time." Legislative appeal To replace PFAS in textiles and upholstery, the researchers are trying out a type of organic-inorganic polymer called ORMOCER. It was developed by the Germany-based Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research, which is a ZeroF partner. The material can be combined with various coatings to match as closely as possible the properties of PFAS. By the end of the project, the researchers hope to have developed and tested safe and sustainable PFAS alternatives that would be no more than 20% costlier. Nonetheless, Nikinmaa says that overcoming PFAS contamination will require help from policymakers in Europe through new rules, including possible wider bans. "I don't expect a major technology leap to happen that would enable us to replace PFAS in all the applications, in a cost-competitive way, in the near future without major changes in legislation," he said. "They are simply too cost-effective and too convenient. All the new technologies are more complex and therefore more expensive." Dondero of SCENARIOS drove home the point by saying stricter prohibitions on PFAS are needed. "We need to start introducing restrictions to force the industry to phase them out," he said. "We won't be able to ban them in all industries at once, but we need to start somewhere." QUEENSBURY Roadwork is expected to begin this Wednesday on the Luzerne Road culvert replacement project in Queensbury, and the area of the road around the Clendon Brook Crossing will be closed to traffic starting May 28 until as long as September 30, and detour signs will be in place to direct drivers along the new traffic pattern. The existing culvert carrying Clendon Brook will be replaced with a new concrete box culvert and guiderail and asphalt pavement will be replaced. While the Luzerne Road is a town-owned road, the construction of this project is being performed by W.M.J. Keller & Sons Construction Corp, and not by the towns highway department. The town had its culverts analyzed, to determine which may need to be replaced ahead of the next major storm event. The culvert which services Clendon Brook under Luzerne Road will be replaced as a proactive measure ahead of the next major storm event, Town Supervisor, John Strough said. Were going to have to close Luzerne Road off to through traffic, Strough said. The town was awarded a $839,000 grant from New York State which will more than fully cover the cost of the project, Strough said. The lowest bid for the project was around $621,300, he said. The town also has a 5%, or $31,600, contingency cost added to the project. As you can see, the bid price for the replacement culvert with contingencies is less than the grant award, Strough said. So thats all very good. Strough encouraged drivers to be mindful of the detours in place for the project while the portion of Luzerne Road is closed. Ive informed the school district, fire companies, Warren County Sheriffs Department, and our Glens Falls EMS Squad of this road closure, Strough said. The Luzerne Road culvert is decades old, Queensbury Highway Department Deputy Supervisor Mark De Mers said, adding that while it is not considered to be unsafe right now, it is a culvert that needs to be replaced sooner rather than later. Were very fortunate that the engineers were able to find a grant for this, De Mers said. The new culvert will be larger than the existing one because of updated state requirements. Its not just a replacement, but a major improvement as well, De Mers said. The necessary permits and easements are in place for this project, and National Grid has already deepened its natural gas line in anticipation of the project, according to De Mers said. So, it should go really smoothly, De Mers said, adding that traffic will be disrupted, but closing just one lane would add too much time to the project. Warren County will also be replacing a culvert which services Clendon Brook. The countys culvert replacement will take place next year on Corinth Road. Its an inconvenience, but its not within our control, replacements have to happen, De Mers said. ATLANTIC CITY Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa has named South Jersey native Mario Maesano its new vice president of marketing, the casino said Tuesday. Having grown up in southern New Jersey, Im thrilled to be back as I take this next step in my career with the esteemed Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, Maesano said in a statement. I am looking forward to continuing Borgatas reputation and legacy of excellence while also fostering meaningful community-focused initiatives among our fellow neighbors. Maesano has more than 29 years of experience as an executive in the gaming industry, the casino said in a news release. Before joining Borgata, Maesano oversaw marketing and sales for Graton Resort & Casino in Sonoma County, California, as its chief marketing officer. He's also held executive roles at hospitality companies and hotel brands across the nation, including Atlantic City. Maesano has a bachelor's degree in marketing from St. Joseph's University and a master's in business administration from Xavier University's Williams College of Business. Marios extensive knowledge of the industry and South Jersey area, coupled with his leadership and expertise across high-level casino properties, will add tremendous value to Borgata, further boosting our organizations continued growth and success, said Niklas Rytterstrom, president and chief operating officer of Borgata. We are delighted to welcome Mario as the latest addition to our team and know his marketing expertise will improve our brand visibility and continue to position the property as a leader in Atlantic City. Summer is just around the corner, and with it comes the anticipation of beach days, barbecues and, unfortunately, the potential for extreme weather. In this episode of Across the Sky, meteorologists Sean Sublette, Matt Holiner and Joe Martucci discuss the summer weather outlook for 2024, from the bustling Jersey Shore to heat-weary Texas. We delve into the complexities of forecasting seasonal trends and the impact of climate change with special guest Jan Dutton, a meteorologist from Prescient Weather, who provides valuable insights for businesses in agriculture, energy and insurance. Tune in as we explore the science behind seasonal forecasts, the factors influencing this summer's weather patterns and the unseen effects of climate variability on global economies. We want to hear from you! Have a question for the meteorologists? Call 609-272-7099 and leave a message. You might hear your question and get an answer on a future episode! You can also email questions or comments to podcasts@lee.net, subject line: Across The Sky. Check out our sponsor, WeatherCall NexGen! Receive precise, location-specific weather alerts via phone, text, or email. With over a decade of experience, WeatherCall delivers pinpoint accuracy for your exact address, ensuring no surprises. Explore the WeatherCall difference today! Visit: https://weathercallservices.com/lee-enterprises About the Across the Sky podcast A weekly podcast discussing all things weather and climate. The podcast is hosted by the meteorologists of the Lee Weather Team: Matt Holiner of Lee Enterprises' Midwest group in Chicago, Kirsten Lang of the Tulsa World in Oklahoma, Joe Martucci of the Press of Atlantic City, N.J., and Sean Sublette of the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia. The Rotary Club of Rock Island collected and distributed more than 500 pounds of food to area nonprofits as part of a five-month initiative focused on alleviating hunger in surrounding communities. Through the district-wide initiative, Rotary clubs throughout northwestern Illinois were asked to identify their local food pantries and meal sites and collect food donations for selected recipients. Rock Island selected these Quad-Cities area recipients: Christian Care provides safe shelter, support, and resources for the homeless population. For more information, visit www.christiancareqc.org. Heart of Hope Ministries manages a weekly food pantry on Thursdays. For more information, visit www.heartofhopeqc.org. Project NOW Head Start is a school readiness and family support program at no-cost to low-income families. For more information, visit www.projectnow.org/head-start.php. SAL Community Services The welcoming center includes a food pantry for the culturally-specific needs of area immigrants, refugees, and English-language learners. For more information, visit www.salcommunityservices.org. World Relief provides newly arrived refugees and other immigrants with access to basic necessities. For more information, visit www.worldrelief.org/quad-cities. Comprised of nearly 100 members and growing, the Rotary Club of Rock Island meets at the Quad City Botanical Center every Tuesday at 12 p.m. For more information, visit www.rirotary.com/about-us. Families are experiencing food insecurity as Americans grapple with higher grocery costs Here's who is experiencing food insecurity as Americans grapple with higher grocery costs The disparate impact of rising prices Food insecurity affects more than just those in poverty Families are experiencing food insecurity as Americans grapple with higher grocery costs A Davenport man has been charged with the killing of two teens in Moline. The two victims were Zachary Meincke, 19, and Giovanni Flores, 17. The two were friends and were at an after-prom party at the house Meincke rented in the 1800 block of 31st Street, according to prior reporting. They were among four people under the age of 23 shot to death in Rock Island County in an eight day period. On Tuesday, Moline police announced that Israel S. Martinez, 20, has been charged in relation to the killings. Martinez faces a two counts each of first-degree murder, aggravated battery and aggravated discharge of a firearm, according to Rock Island County court records. Prosecutors have also charged him with obstruction of justice. Early on Tuesday afternoon, Scott County Sheriffs Office deputies brought Martinez to the Scott County Jail, according to the jail website. He remained in custody there Tuesday pending extradition to Illinois. Search warrants based on a lead in the investigation were served around 5:30 a.m. Monday morning, one in the 2300 block of Third Street in East Moline and the other in the 1600 block of W. 14th Street in Davenport, a press release from Moline Police Department said. Moline police arrested Martinez at the Davenport address. A memorial to Meincke and Flores had been set up at the corner of 31st Street and Avenue of the Cities and became a gathering and mourning site for friends and others. It was taken down last week by the city, in coordination with the families. The Moline Police Department has made several pleas on Facebook for the public's help in the case, including on Mother's Day, and then again when announcing the removal of the memorial. This article will be updated. Connor Wood of the Dispatch-Argus/Quad-City Times contributed to this report. New research finds young gun violence survivors experience lasting physical and mental trauma Firearms are the leading cause of death among children New research finds young gun violence survivors experience lasting physical and mental trauma Leaving your home to travel for work or pleasure can be less stressful with the help of Home Watch of the Black Hills. The Custer-based business combines home security and concierge services to give travelers peace of mind. Corey and Jenna England of Custer officially opened Home Watch of the Black Hills earlier this year. They are bonded, insured, have passed background checks, and have earned accreditation from the National Home Watch Association. The Englands are in the process of becoming certified Home Watch professionals through the NHWA. The NHWA formed in 2009 to establish and maintain the highest industry standards Home Watch and absentee homeowner services throughout the United States and Canada, according to the group. Home Watch of the Black Hills services provide in-person inspections indoors and outside a home or even on a parcel of land while the home or property owner is not in residence. It used to be a neighbor would stop by and look in somebodys house (while they were on vacation), Corey said. Everyone deserves peace of mind while they're away from their home. That's what Home Watch of the Black Hills is here for. Not everybody has somebody (like a trusted neighbor), Jenna said. Were going to be their line of communication to check on one of their most valuable assets their home. Home Watch expands on the basic concept of watching somebodys house while theyre away by providing in-person safety and security checks. Home Watch serves Pennington, Custer and Fall River counties, including Rapid City, Box Elder, Keystone, Rockerville, Hill City, Sheridan Lake, Pactola, Custer, Hermosa, Pringle, Argyle, Angostura, Hot Springs and Edgemont. Corey England said Home Watch provides risk mitigation for a wide range of clients who could include full-time locals who travel, ranch owners who want someone to check on their property while theyre away, or property owners who want Home Watch to check on an empty parcel of land. The simple part is looking for obvious issues of a home or property, Corey said, describing Home Watchs services. Youre checking the outside of the house and then you check in the inside and check all the sinks and faucets and toilets. Youre looking at anything that could cause problems, like windows are unlocked. If somebodys gone in the summer and we get a big hail storm, they could have a busted out window, and they might want us to check on it. We do a full report. We take and send pictures (of the damage), Corey said. The Englands company also can provide concierge-type services, limited property maintenance, and even grocery shopping so a homeowner doesnt have to buy food immediately after they arrive at their house. We offer a lot of other things we change batteries, small area snow removal, running errands, Jenna said. The Englands have openings available this summer. Though they serve communities throughout the Black Hills, they choose the number of clients they take on in order to provide thorough, quality service for each one. The essence of Home Watch of the Black Hills lies in its commitment to providing personalized care and attention to every property and client. Were creating relationships is what were doing, Corey said. We want to keep that relationship (with homeowners) and do a good job and keep the quality. Corey grew up in central South Dakota and previously had a career in the railroad industry. Jenna previously worked for an insurance company. After living in Florida and Arizona, the Englands returned to South Dakota 17 years ago to raise their three sons in the Black Hills. As the Black Hills real estate market has surged in recent years, Corey saw a growing need for Home Watch services to give absentee homeowners and travelers reassurance that their homes are safe while theyre away. Go to homewatchoftheblackhills.com, email homewatchbh@gmail.com, or call 605-877-2358 for more information. A federal judge sentenced an Aurora, Colorado man to 30 years in prison for his role in distributing a controlled substance that led to an overdose in Rapid City. United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced Monday that U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier sentenced Anthony Ward, 39, on May 17 to 30 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and a special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund in the amount of $200. A co-conspirator, Darnell Young, was sentenced to 17 years and six months in federal prison on October 24, 2023. Both defendants were indicted by a federal grand jury in the spring of 2023. Anthony Ward was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance resulting in serious bodily injury and conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance following a four-day federal jury trial in Rapid City that concluded on February 26, 2024. The convictions stem from an investigation into Ward that started in the spring of 2022. Investigators eventually stopped a vehicle that Ward was traveling in and found approximately 150 fentanyl pills, $2,859 in cash, and a handgun in a bag in the trunk of the vehicle. Through the investigation, law enforcement learned that Ward was responsible for sourcing thousands of fentanyl pills from Denver to Rapid City. They also learned that he sourced a fentanyl pill that was eventually distributed to someone in Rapid City who smoked the pill and overdosed. Another person present at the scene was able to revive the victim with Narcan. Ward also received a sentencing enhancement for lying under oath during his trial. This case was investigated by the Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team, Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. UNET is comprised of law enforcement from the Pennington County Sheriffs Office, Rapid City Police Department, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, South Dakota Highway Patrol and the South Dakota National Guard. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Hodges prosecuted the case. Ward was immediately taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service. Registration is open now for the 8th annual South Dakota Yoga Gathering, a two-day yoga and mindfulness event June 29 and 30. The gathering will be held at Pine Haven Event Venue near Rockerville and at locations around Rapid City. Register for both days or for June 30 only at SDYogaGathering.com. Tickets include lunch, an event shirt and access to a vendor market to support the wellness lifestyle. The 8th Annual South Dakota Yoga Gathering features a wide variety of yoga classes led by skilled teachers from across the region. Anyone beginner to experienced who is interested in yoga is encouraged to attend. There are options for everyone during each session time including meditation, gentle stretching, vigorous flows and educational topics. Participants come from across South Dakota and beyond to practice together and leave more connected and inspired. Continuing education credits are offered if desired. The South Dakota Yoga Gathering will begin June 29 with classes at local yoga studios and outdoor spaces in Rapid City. Proceeds from June 29 events will be donated to Laundry Love, an organization that provides low- and no-income families opportunities to have their clothes and bedding washed. "It is a small thing for us to help with, but to those who need it, it is a huge blessing, said local coordinator Marla Hawronsky. We meet twice a month at the Parkway Laundromat in Rapid City and provide the quarters and detergent to anyone who shows up. The main gathering on June 30 will offer 12 different classes to choose from throughout the day, 7:30 a.m. to 5 pm. For more information, go to SDYogaGathering.com, or follow facebook.com/SDYogaGathering and @sdyogagathering on Instagram. Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out said he wants to set the record straight after South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem again alleged that the cartel is operating on tribal land in South Dakota. In a press release on Monday, May 20, Star Comes Out said there are no guns, fentanyl, or heroin being produced on the Pine Ridge reservation or any other reservation in the United States. On Friday, the governor cited a 2022 crime on the Pine Ridge reservation and testimony she said Star Comes Out gave on Dec. 20 before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee regarding crime on the Pine Ridge Reservation. To stop crime on the reservation, Star Comes Out said the United States needs to honor its treaty obligations to the tribe and provide the proper amount of funding. While the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other federal agencies may tell you that crime at Pine Ridge is not as big a problem as we make it out to be, we live there and they do not, Star Comes Out said in the press release. Since everyone is seeking a non-Indian opinion, we will give you some numbers and let you decide. In 2023 Star Comes Out testified that an extreme lack of law enforcement and an increase in drugs and illegal firearms were affecting the Pine Ridge Reservation before the Federal District Court for South Dakota. Crime increased on the reservation from 2021 to 2023, Star Comes Out said. Calls for service jumped from 138,000 in 2021 to 165,799 in 2023. During that time only around 33 officers were on staff at any given point in time. From October 2022 to February 2023 there were eight homicides, eight rapes, and 299 reports of serious child abuse. Those living on the reservation generally experience wait times of 30 minutes to an hour for assistance after making a call for service. Medical clearances add an additional three to four hours. Care referrals from Indian Health Service to one of South Dakotas hospitals can exceed the cost of two officers' salaries for a year, which taxpayers pay for, Star Comes Out said. Star Comes Out added that the tribes federal partners, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Drug Enforcement Administration are located in Rapid City, over 70 miles away from Pine Ridge which adds to wait times for federal assistance on cases. Under federal law, the federal government and tribes have jurisdiction over crimes committed by Natives on tribal land; however, under that same law, the tribe has no jurisdiction over non-Natives who commit crime on tribal land. Star Comes Out said this leads to many crimes going unprosecuted. A federal judge ruled in 2023 that the U.S. government has a treaty obligation to support law enforcement on the reservation, but did not determine a specific amount of funding. We need that to change and we need change now, Star Comes Out said. Again, these drugs and guns are not coming from the Pine Ridge. Getting rid of unwanted hair permanently can be a glorious feeling. Because, honestly, who loves taking the time to shave or wax, anyway? 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The medical experts at Milan Laser believe everyone deserves smooth, hair-free skin at an affordable price. If you are ready to embark on a journey to a smoother and happier you, book your free consultation at milanlaser.com and let laser hair removal be your solution to smooth, hair-free skin. Follow @milanlaser on all social media platforms for LHR facts, updates and deals. Gov. Glenn Youngkins plan to move state employees out of the aging James Monroe Building and into various existing offices across the city has been put on hold. The state will consider erecting a new office building which Youngkins administration has said is not needed, as downtown office space remains available and employees work hybrid schedules. State lawmakers disagreed, and ultimately won, saying the state government should invest in the city of Richmond and study the situation more. I think we need to invest in the capital city, not divest, said Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince William. Earlier this year, Youngkin proposed state employees leave the James Monroe Building for other sites in Richmond and Henrico County. Many would have gone to the Virginia Lottery building, a 23-story tower at 600 E. Main St. officially called Main Street Centre. Others would have packed up for Reids Row, Old City Hall, the Workers Compensation building and the George Washington Building. Youngkin proposed spending $50 million to renovate existing offices. But in the final version of the state budget, which legislators passed and Youngkin signed last week, lawmakers removed the $50 million and opted to spend no new money. Instead, the budget directs the Department of General Services to use old funds to plan for a potential new state office building. The Department of General Services, which manages real estate for the state government, will study the issue and make recommendations for two state-owned properties. One is at North Seventh and East Main streets that used to house the Virginia Employment Commission. The building has been torn down, and the plot is empty. The other is the Virginia Department of Transportation Annex building at 1401 E. Broad St., near Broad and Interstate 95. VDOT is reportedly moving to Hanover County, where it has bought a building. By Nov. 1, General Services will produce an evaluation of both parcels and make a recommendation for a timeline and cost of a new state office building at either site. DGS will determine if the state should renovate or demolish any existing structures and whether any properties need to be bought or sold. DGS will also suggest a total size and scope needed for the two plots. The agency will consider if more parking is needed and how much the state will have to spend for critical maintenance of the Monroe Building. DGS will not sell any property without authorization by lawmakers, and no executive branch state agency will move permanently from Monroe unless authorized by the General Assembly. Some employees of the Department of Education have already left. The Virginia Lottery will not sign a new lease for permanent relocation before July 2025, as previously planned. While the new plan will likely slow the relocation of employees from Monroe, it will not keep employees there for the long term. Eventually, employees will leave, and its likely to be torn down. At some point, its going to need to happen, McPike said. The study will take a more long-term look at how state employees should be distributed than what Youngkin devised, McPike said. Last year, real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle issued a state-commissioned report on the downtown workforce. The report said Richmonds downtown has experienced record vacancy rates as companies reduced their office spaces and more employees work from home. JLL determined it would be cheaper for the state to lease existing space than to construct a new building or stay in Monroe. A light renovation of existing space would save the state about $450 million over 10 years as opposed to renovating Monroe. This creates opportunities for the Commonwealth to take advantage of a soft market to lease large contiguous blocks of space and negotiate favorable terms with the landlords, the report said. To save space, employees working hybrid schedules could share desks and use software to reserve workstations something the report noted employees might resist. Youngkin is dedicated to creating a work environment for state employees that optimizes office space and caters to the needs of todays workforce, said Christian Martinez, a spokesperson for the governors office. A master plan from 2018 considered vacating the Monroe Building, recognizing that immediate action is crucial for retaining and attracting top talent, Martinez added. Richmond upcoming concerts:Iron Blossom Music Fest, RVA East End Festival Richmond Folk Festival Lake Street Drive My Morning Jacket Arrested Development Music in the Park Flowers After 5 Diana Ross Straight No Chaser Andre 3000 GWAR Slowdive Anthony Hamilton Samara Joy Nate Smith and Butcher Brown KEM Chesterfield County police are seeking a suspect in the Tuesday robbery of a Midlothian bank. Police said a suspect entered a Truist Bank branch at 11010 Hull Street Road at about 11:40 a.m. Tuesday. The individual, who claimed to have a weapon, passed a bank note with a written demand for money to a bank employee. The suspect fled after receiving cash, police said. Nobody was injured. Police described the suspect as a Black male, about 6 feet 1 inch tall with a stocky build. He was wearing a United Parcel Service hat and polo shirt over a light-colored long-sleeve shirt, tan pants, tan boots, a mask and black sunglasses. He also was carrying a jacket over his arm. Anyone with information is asked to contact Chesterfield police at (804) 748-1251 or Crime Solvers at (804) 748-0660. A Henrico County middle school teacher who in February pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual acts with a 14-year-old student will serve 8 years in prison, according to court documents. Megan Jordan, 25, was sentenced to 45 years in prison with 37 years suspended after she pleaded guilty to four counts of carnal knowledge with a minor and one count of taking indecent liberties with a minor. Jordan, who was a teacher at Hungary Creek Middle School, was arrested in June. Prosecutors said the charges stemmed from sexual activity between Jordan and the student that occurred during the 2022-23 school year. On multiple occasions, Jordan went to the victims house and had sex with him, prosecutors said. Jordans DNA was recovered from the victims bedsheets. Under Virginia code, minors people under the age of 17 are not able to consent to sexual activity. 15 photos of the Richmond City Jail from The Times-Dispatch archives Richmond City Jail Richmond City Jail Richmond City Jail Richmond City Jail Richmond City Jail Richmond City Jail Richmond City Jail Richmond City Jail Richmond City Jail Richmond City Jail Richmond City Jail Richmond City Jail Richmond City Jail Richmond City Jail Richmond City Jail Richmond General Registrar Keith Balmer violated Richmond procurement code on at least three occasions between September and February when he signed contracts with third-party vendors without seeking mandatory review and approval from other city officials, records obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch show. The revelations come on the heels of the suspension of Balmers city-issued purchasing card due to alleged misuse as well as claims of nepotistic hiring practices in the Richmond Office of Elections. The Richmond Inspector Generals office is investigating both allegations. Officials: Balmer signed contracts without approval In September, Balmer was reprimanded for entering into a one-year, $18,000 contract with TextMyGov, a software company that offers an AI-generated texting tool to answer citizens questions, according to a memo. Balmer had failed to submit the contract to the City Attorneys office and the department of Procurement Services, the memo shows. Officials determined that no collusion had occurred and noted that the city remained bound to a two-year term with the company. Four months later, Balmer was reprimanded again for entering into a $751,025 contract with Election Systems and Software, a second memo shows. The purchase was legitimate, officials said Balmer had obtained voting equipment and services, including 110 tabulation machines but he again failed to receive clearance from the procurement director. Officials said the purchase rate was fair and reasonable, according to the memo, and Balmer committed to following the codified process going forward. But on Feb. 13, Balmer was reprimanded a third time for signing a contract a three-year, $183,943 agreement with Soch Inc. without proper approval. The direct violation occurred despite the fact that Balmer had attested to understanding and agreed to follow procurement guidelines, a procurement officer said in an email to Balmer. Please help me understand how this happened, the procurement officer said. Report: Balmer hired security guard The three procurement violations were not the only contracts to raise questions. The Virginia Mercury reported last week that Balmer in January signed a 40-week agreement with a security firm to provide Balmer with personal protection services at a rate of $85 per hour for 45 hours a week, for an estimated total of $153,000. A bodyguard was present during a February conversation on the nepotism allegations that occurred between Balmer and a Times-Dispatch reporter in a Times-Dispatch conference room. Election officials across the country have faced a surge in threats following former President Donald Trumps denial of the results of the 2020 presidential election. City changes course on releasing documents A Freedom of Information Act request by The Times-Dispatch seeking internal memos and emails related to Balmers alleged financial improprieties was denied Friday afternoon due to the active investigation by the Inspector Generals office. Officials declined to address the accusations against Balmer. Questions regarding purchasing card spending limits and use regulations submitted to the department of Procurement Services by the Times-Dispatch went unanswered for a week, despite multiple phone calls and emails. A half-hour after Fridays story detailing Balmers purchasing card use was published online, representatives for the city reached out to The Times-Dispatch to provide internal memos and emails related to the procurement violations and to discuss details on Balmers chain of command. Officials said they were providing the documents to offer additional context, including the fact that Balmer reports to the Richmond City Electoral Board and is not supervised or directed by the city. Registrars are appointed and dismissed by the three-member electoral board and, while Balmers salary and expenses are paid by the city under Virginia code, he cannot be disciplined or fired by city officials. City spokesperson Petula Burks explained that the responsibility for proper use of purchasing cards lies with the director of each department or office. Any spending limits are enforced by Bank of America, which issues the cards, Burks said. Asked to compare Balmers purchasing card expenditures with that of other cardholders, Burks said she was not able to do so. Balmer, a spokesperson for the inspector general and representatives for the electoral board all have declined to comment. Virginia State Police on Monday were investigating a crash in Goochland County on Saturday night that killed two J.R. Tucker High School students and left a third person in critical condition, officials said. Police said troopers responded to the 1200 block of Hockett Road near Tuckahoe Creek Parkway at around 11 p.m. Saturday for the reports of a crash. At the scene, troopers determined that Kyle Alexander Haden, 18, of Henrico County, was driving a 2011 BMW 550i at a high rate of speed when he lost control of the vehicle, ran off the road to the right and struck a tree. The impact split the vehicle in half, police said. Two passengers identified by Henrico Public Schools officials as Aiden Schmidt and Joseph Castro, both 16-year-old students at J.R. Tucker High were pronounced dead at the scene. They were not wearing seat belts, according to police. Police said Haden was transported to a hospital and was in critical condition. He was wearing a seat belt. The crash remains under investigation. In an email sent to students, families and employees, J.R. Tucker Principal Art Raymond said staff of the Henrico school would wrap their arms and resources around students during this time of sorrow. Our school counselors, psychologists and social workers can meet with anyone who needs support during the school day, Raymond said. In times of grief, we naturally want to come together and support one another. 29 photos from The Times-Dispatch archives BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Governments, political parties and international organizations worldwide have reiterated their adherence to the one-China principle and their firm opposition to the so-called "Taiwan independence." Recently, UN agencies and international organizations in Geneva have reaffirmed adherence to Resolution 2758 of the UN General Assembly and firmly support the one-China principle. The South Center, an intergovernmental organization of developing nations, stressed that the world is home to only one China, Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory, and the Government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. The South Center opposes any form of "Taiwan independence" and fully supports the peaceful reunification of China. U Tin Oo, chairman of the Myanmar-China Friendship Association, said Myanmar firmly supports the one-China principle and has publicly voiced its support for China on many occasions. Mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity was the political foundation for establishing diplomatic relations between Myanmar and China. Pakistan reiterated the one-China principle, saying that UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 is a reaffirmation of the principle by the UN. The resolution restored the lawful rights of the People's Republic of China at the UN, said Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, spokesperson for Pakistan's Foreign Ministry. Baloch said the resolution unequivocally recognized the representatives of the Government of the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate representatives of China to the UN. Pakistan's policy on Taiwan is consistent, clear and principled, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of the People's Republic of China, she added. Emmanuel Delphine Edith Adouki, minister of higher education, research, and technological innovation of the Republic of the Congo, stated that the one-China principle is indisputable and rooted in history and international law. Also, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Guy Nestor Itoua and Presidential Advisor on Foreign Affairs Bienvenu Okiemy, among other high-level officials of the Republic of the Congo, reiterated that the one-China principle is a deeply ingrained international consensus. The Congolese government consistently supports the one-China principle and the Chinese government's efforts to maintain national reunification. Rukia Nakadama, Uganda's third deputy prime minister, said that Uganda respects China's sovereignty position on Taiwan as an inalienable part of China's territory. Ugandan Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Okello Oryem said the cornerstone of Uganda-China relations is the one-China principle. Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, secretary for external relations of the ZANU-PF politburo and Zimbabwe's former foreign minister, stated that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China's territory. He emphasized that the one-China principle will remain Zimbabwe's steadfast position, both now and in the future. He reiterated that there is only one China in the world. Mumbengegwi emphasized that safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity is the right of every sovereign state, and China is no exception. He added that external forces should not interfere in China's internal affairs. Jaafaru Yakubu, chairman of the Nigerian House of Representatives Committee on Nigeria-China Relations, expressed that Nigeria's commitment to the one-China principle remains unwavering. He emphasized that Taiwan is an integral part of China's territory that cannot be separated. Having experienced the hardship of civil wars, Nigeria deeply understands China's determination to defend its territorial integrity. "The importance of China's peaceful reunification is deep-rooted, and the Chinese government should be encouraged to do everything possible within its power to achieve this particular objective," Vernon Mwaanga, honorary president of the Zambia Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification of China and former foreign minister of Zambia, has said. Swiss sinologist, historian, and international security policy expert Peter Hediger said that there is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is a part of China. The general secretary of the Communist Party of Switzerland, Massimiliano Ay, said the one-China principle is synonymous with national sovereignty and cannot be used on a variable basis by other governments. Tia Ju, vice president of the Legislative Assembly of the state of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, and Henrique da Nobrega, president of the Brazil-China Friendship Association, said that Brazil supports the one-China principle, recognizes Taiwan as an inalienable part of China's territory and supports China's early and peaceful reunification. Maria Jose Pizarro, first vice president of the Senate of Colombia, stated that since the establishment of diplomatic relations, Colombia has adhered to the one-China principle and welcomes China's friendly relations with all of Latin America. Monica Karina Bocanegra, president of the Commission of International Relations of the House of Representatives in Colombia, stated that Colombia remains committed to the one-China principle. He also stated that the House of Representatives fully supports China's efforts in maintaining world peace and promoting international justice. Nourredine Djoudi, who previously served as Algeria's ambassador to South Africa and the Netherlands, personally participated in the historic event of promoting the return of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations. Djoudi stated that the adoption of UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 was a victory for the one-China principle and for developing countries. It represents an international consensus and the trend of history. This conclusion is unambiguous and should not be distorted or altered by any country. Cancun judge sentences American woman to four years on firearm charges Cancun, Q.R. A Cancun judge has sentenced an American woman to four years in prison for entering the country with an illegal firearm. Sorangel O was sentenced Monday after National Guard located the handgun in her luggage. During a routine luggage X-ray in Terminal 4 of the Cancun International Airport, authorities saw the gun inside one of her bags. A physical inspection of the bag revealed the gun and ammuniation. On Monday, a Cancun judge handed down the four year prison sentence to American traveler, Sorangel O. In a brief statement, the Fiscalia General de la Republica (FGR) reported that their office in the State of Quintana Roo, obtained from a judge, a conviction against Sorangel O for the crime of carrying a firearm without a license and possession of cartridges. According to the police report, elements of the National Guard, when carrying out prevention and surveillance inspections in Terminal 4 of the Cancun International Airport, detained a person of American nationality, since the X-ray machine detected among her belongings a firearm and cartridges. The woman sentenced Monday was seized with a pistol-type firearm with a magazine supplied with six cartridges. A no guns sign is seen here at a baggage inspection area inside the Cancun International Airport. Due to these facts, the Federal Prosecutor offered the necessary evidence to obtain from the judge the conviction against Sorangel O, who was sentenced to four years in prison. Cancun police rescue group of tourists abducted for using Uber Cancun, Q.R. Seven people who were reportedly being held against their will have been found by local police. Six Brazilians and one Mexican were located along a Cancun highway after being released by their captors. The group of five men and two women were located Monday night after they were abducted approximately 12 hours earlier by a group of armed men from central Cancun. The abducted group said their vehicle was intercepted by two taxis after boarding an Uber outside a Cancun bus station earlier that day. The six Brazilian tourists (four men and two women) and their Mexican driver were then taken away in separate vehicles to a criminal safehouse in the outskirts where they were assaulted, robbed and eventually freed. Four of the victims were transferred to a Cancun hospital while the other three were taken to the Secretariat of Citizen Security (SSC) to file an official report. In a statement Tuesday afternoon, the State Attorney General (FGE) said In the investigations carried out by the Special Prosecutors Office in Combating Kidnapping and Extortion Crimes, the rescued, five men and two women, requested a digital platform transportation service, when they were intercepted by two taxi units, on Pino Street and Avenida Tulum. The attackers loaded the driver into another vehicle, to take him, along with the victims, to an abandoned area on Lopez Portillo Avenue where they beat them and stole their belongings as well as cash, and then left them in that place where they were rescued by elements of the Benito Juarez Secretariat of Citizen Security and Traffic. Four were taken to hospital. Photo: May 20, 2024. Due to these events, the Prosecutors Office Specialized in Combating Kidnapping and Extortion Crimes opened the respective Investigation File for the probable commission of the crime of aggravated kidnapping against whoever is responsible. Connecticut receives extradited criminal from Mexico Mexico City, Mexico The Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) says Fernando S has been returned to the U.S. to face charges in Connecticut. The suspect was delivered to American authorities Monday at the Mexico City International Airport. Between 2017 and 2018, Fernando S, as a member of a criminal organization in Mexico, was in charge of coordinating drug shipments for distribution to the United States, the FGR reported in a statement. Fernando S, a person of Mexican nationality, was requested by the Federal District Court of Connecticut for drug and criminal association. In September 2022, this individual was detained in Culiacan, Sinaloa and after various procedures carried out by the FGR, the Government of Mexico granted the extradition of the person sought to the United States Government, they said. Mexico and Denmark hold Bilateral Meeting Mexico City, Mexico Earlier this week, Mexico and Denmark held the II meeting of the Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on multilateral issues in Copenhagen. During the meeting, topics of global governance, strengthening multilateralism, Agenda 2030, fight against climate change, Feminist Foreign Policy and technological diplomacy were addressed. The meeting was chaired by the Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Joel Hernandez Garcia, and by the Secretary of State Foreign Policy Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Lisbet Zilmer-Johns, the SRE reported in a statement. At the meeting, officials discussed the defense and promotion of human rights, cooperation to address current global challenges and the search of peaceful solutions in the global context. In relation to the Danish candidacy for the United Nations Security Council 2025-2026, the undersecretary shared elements about Mexicos experience during its most recent participation as a non-permanent member of the aforementioned body. Hernandez Garcia and Zilmer-Johns agreed on the need to urgently promote a reform that reactivates the relevance of the Council. On the other hand, the representatives reviewed the results of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) and the necessary route to advance the proposed objectives. In addition, they discussed the need to achieve substantive progress on the objectives of the 2030 Agenda. Likewise, they reaffirmed their commitment to continue advancing the gender agenda and, in that sense, Undersecretary Hernandez made reference to the III Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policies, which will be held in Mexico City in July, and which Denmark will be part of. SRE in Copenhagen May 17, 2024. Photo: SRE The senior officials also exchanged views on regional issues, and highlighted the dynamic Mexico-European Union relationship, highlighting the Global Gateway as an instrument to enhance the relationship and promote economic projects in various fields. Likewise, they addressed the agreements reached during the Celac-EU Summit, held in 2023. Regarding the topic of emerging technologies, the Danish ambassador for Technological Diplomacy, Anne Marie Engtoft, highlighted the interest in collaborating with Mexico and shared the central points of Denmarks new strategy on technological diplomacy. In particular, the geopolitical commitment to technology industry, working to ensure responsible frameworks for new and critical technologies, increase cooperation on technology security policies, and strengthen global standards and partnerships. Mexico reaffirms its commitment to strengthening dialogue, cooperation and strategic partnership with Denmark. It may seem quaint, a school for the training of a boys choir, but it may just be the only thing standing between a nation that treasures beauty and order, and mere nostalgia for an extinct civilization. And when it goes, like the dodo, it will almost certainly not return. My news feed early last month included updates on an ongoing drama involving two animals, both from endangered species. Zookeepers in Fort Worth and in Cleveland breathed a sigh of relief when Jameela, a western lowland gorilla born at the Fort Worth Zoo that had been abandoned by her mother, was accepted by Freddy, a Cleveland gorilla who has successfully fostered orphaned and abandoned gorillas before. Concurrently, a weeping South Korean zookeeper was photographed saying his final goodbyes to Fu Bao, a four-year-old giant panda he had raised since birth but now was being transferred to a conservation program in China. For the first time in history, humans have the knowledge and the resources to intervene when an animal species is under threat of extinction. Many species have disappeared, and natural history museums are filled with their skeletons as reminders that what are now lifeless vestiges were once living, breathing, and vibrant creatures that walked the earth or filled the skies and seas. While not human, they were once living, and their physical remains give only glimpses of what they were like in life. We will probably never be able to fill in all the gaps to understand how they lived, what they ate, and how they responded to their environment. Other things in our world that face a slow decline toward extinction are often not represented by a cute face to inspire efforts to rescue their relegation to history. Entire languages, for example, have gone extinct or are nearing extinction. Linguists have rushed to construct written alphabets and grammars, record what they can from native speakers in books, and create audio recordings. Once the last native speaker dies, however, the unique turns of phrase and the nuanced inflections that hint at nuanced human emotions will die, too. Museums and libraries can preserve artifacts that we can study to construct incomplete portraits of a flying pterodactyl or an extinct languages poetry. But this is not a substitute for a body animated by life or a language articulated by a tongue. Earlier this spring, word got out that a unique cultural and religious institution in New York City is now imperiled by financial difficulties. The St. Thomas Choir School is one of the worlds last Anglican choir boarding schools. For the past century, the school has provided the treble voices for St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, the flagship choir of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Midtown Manhattan. Not many churches within the Anglican Communion have operated such schools, but they have not been uncommon either. But now these schools have reached the status of critically endangered, as has the unique English choral tradition. For four hundred years [the] prayers and hymns, recited by the congregation and priest in the spacious splendor of cathedrals or the simple dignity of the parish church, have given English families inspiration, consolation, moral discipline, and mental peace. For better or worse, it has done the same for tens of millions of others around the world, too. Its not that we cant learn about religions from prayer books, sacred writings, recordings, and similar items used or created by religious communities. But these, like fossils, also are merely artifacts that once served something alive and vibrant. My familys home parish, in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, worships in a building that is just over 110 years old. Despite being in the southwest, it has everything a mainline Episcopalian from the Northeast (which I am not) or a redneck convert from the South (which I am) could ever want. Stained glass, rood screen, beautiful organ, and a commitment to a distinctively traditional liturgy drawn from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, the nearly 100-year-old Anglican prayer book that has since been superseded by two others in Americas two largest denominations claiming a complicated continuity with the historic Anglican Communionthe Episcopal Churchs 1979 and the Anglican Church in North Americas 2019 editions. Despite our love for our unique and wonderful church, there is, however, almost no place on earth better for someone to experience holistically the purpose of the Christian liturgy than at St. Thomas Church, and the Choir of Men and Boys plays a significant part in this. The Christian liturgy is, among other things, a deliberate interruption to the patterns of daily life. While it is certainly that in Fort Worth, Texas, it is even more so in a church building situated on hectic, crowded streets where worshippers are periodically rattled by rumbling subway cars passing underneath. The beauty of the liturgy is not beauty for its own sake but something we should seek to translate into the world as we leave the sanctuary behind. It is beauty that has been born of a desire to encounter transcendence in the context of the immanent. The contrast between the beauty and order within the sanctuary and the world outside the doors of the church is drastically starker in Midtown Manhattan compared with what you experience in Fort Worth. What I am describing, however, may only be significant to Christians. Of course, there is a personal and spiritual dimension to the liturgy, but there is a public and communal dimension as well. A nations religious practices are much more than what they mean to the faithful personally. The Anglican tradition in the United States has always been relatively small, but it has been a tradition of outsized influence that has punched above its weight class. In fact, St. Thomas diocesan sister church, Trinity Church Wall Street, is the wealthiest religious institution in the world after the Vatican. In all the chatter about the decline of religiosity in the West, we express much concern about unused buildingsand infrastructure and the social and political implications of a world less religious. But we risk losing more than church buildings and religiously motivated voters as churches and religious participation decline. Over the course of 2,000 years of Christian history, liturgical practices have evolved; moreover, it has only been fairly recently that liturgical practices within a given tradition were even standardized. While the church was unified prior to the Great Schism of 1054, when East and West went their separate ways, regional practices nevertheless marked worship. In the Middle Ages, right up to the Reformation, there was even more variety. Such practices have waxed and waned, given way to innovation, and been one of the primary vehicles through which musical styles have evolved. But Christian liturgical practices shape the worshipper in ways that are both spiritual and social. The evolution of Christian worship is influenced by doctrinal considerations for sure, but almost always is accompanied by pragmatic and cultural considerations, too. At their best, religious practices shape worshipers holistically and prepare them for the world as well as for eternity. Also in the news cycle last month, famed atheist Richard Dawkins made a surprise announcement that, while he doesnt believe a word of Christianity, he considers himself a cultural Christian. Hes spent his entire career working to destroy the faith of others, only to look up and realize he doesnt like what has replaced it in the resultant moral vacuum. He likes to live in a culturally Christian country. He prefers the noble lie of Christianity to the noble lie of other faiths, or the ethical barrenness of radical secularism, but it is hard to motivate families to enroll their sons in or donors to support schools that train musicians to cater to Dawkins preference for Christmas festivities over solstice carols and Ramadan lights. So it is not a surprise to see that institutions like the St. Thomas Choir School are teetering on extinction. It is hard to use cultural and historical pleas to save such places when it was a living faith that understood cultural, social, and spiritual concerns to be intertwined that built and sustained them in the first place. This doesnt mean, however, that we shouldnt try. There is probably little reason for optimism that the school will survive if a church like St. Thomas concedes that even their significant resources are insufficient to support it. But we should recognize that we are all losing something valuable as these types of institutions decline and close. Museums can be the home to bones and artifacts, but only living and vital bodies can contain a soul, and once these institutions die, we can never get them back. Southern Team Automotive Group has stocked a newly built Hyundai sales and service center with 200 vehicles and plans to add more, the company president said. The center opened April 29 at 7300 Williamson Road in Roanoke County. Forty-five people work there, 18 new hires and 27 people from the dealerships former address three-quarters of a mile away, President David Dillon said. The company will prepare acreage behind the center for more cars and other expansion opportunities, Dillon said. Dillon said the best-selling Hyundai nationally is the Tucson, with a $27,500 base price and 61,194 sold from Jan. 1 to April 30. Gasoline, hybrid and plug-in hybrid models of the SUV are available. Businesses honored for school support The Botetourt County School Board placed three names on the Business Honor Roll of the Virginia School Boards Association, which recognizes corporate and other partners for playing a vital role in enhancing our communities and local schools, a release said. School spokesman Mike Moser identified the honorees and one example of their contributions as: Altec Industries of Daleville, which provided prize money for a high school-level innovation challenge in which students created projects to better the community. Gala Industries of Eagle Rock, which pledged $30,000 toward a welding facility expansion at the Botetourt Technical Education Center in Fincastle. Tyler Painter, an extension agent of Virginia Cooperative Extension, who guest teaches in elementary classrooms on such topics as English and language arts, biology and job-acquisition skills. A developer of solar farms, including ones in Henry and Wythe counties, allowed stormwater to flow uncontrolled from construction sites, according to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Energix US will pay a $158,000 fine for violating erosion and sediment control regulations at seven sites. The agreement reached with DEQ marked the fourth time that state regulators have cited Energix for running afoul of environmental rules in developing solar farms in Southwest, Southside and Central Virginia. Energix, an Arlington-based subsidiary of an Israeli renewable energy company, was fined $92,022 for infractions at two sites in 2022 and $97,651 involving seven sites in 2023, according to DEQ records. Earlier this month, an Energix official signed the most recent consent agreement, which was posted to DEQs website this week. The agency will accept public comments through June 21 before taking final action. Although tapping the suns energy for power avoids the greenhouse gases produced by burning fossil fuels, the infractions show that development of large banks of solar panels on rural land is not without environmental peril. An Energix official had not responded to emailed questions by 5 p.m. Tuesday. After the company was cited by DEQ last year, it said many of the problems had been corrected and it was trying to learn from past mistakes. At the end of the day, we are an environmental company, so things like this are really important to us, Dominika Sink, the companys senior director of project acquisition and development, said at the time. The most recent enforcement action from DEQ details additional cases of non-compliance and requires that corrective action be taken, according to agency spokeswoman Irina Calos. Last year, state inspections of a solar farm being built near the Henry County community of Axton found large portions of the site in a denuded and not stabilized condition, the consent order states. Improper erosion control measures allowed the release of sediment from stormwater conveyance channels directly into a stream without adequate perimeter controls in place, the order states. The 33-page document details numerous other violations at solar farms under construction in the town Wytheville and the counties of Buckingham and Sussex. Earlier DEQ inspections have found similar problems at sites in Appomattox and the counties of King William, Prince George and a second site in Henry County. Some of the solar farms including ones in Wytheville and Buckingham have gone into operation since the inspections were performed, according to the companys website. Details on others were not available. As renewable energy grows in Virginia, in part because of a state law that requires the states largest power companies to provide all carbon-free electricity to their customers by mid-century, proposed solar and wind facilities are meeting resistance in some communities. Concerned residents say solar farms mar the scenic views in rural areas and occupy land that could be used for farming. Others fear that the large expanses of solar panels will devalue nearby properties and produce the kind of environmental harm found by DEQ. In Franklin County, such concerns have prompted Energix to withdraw two proposals for solar farms, the first in the Westlake area and the second near Wirtz. Last June, the company said it was planning to resubmit plans for the Wirtz facility, which would be located on farmland along Brooks Mill and Burnt Chimney roads, in a modified application for a special use permit. But county officials said this week they have not heard back from the company. Staff writer Jason Dunovant contributed to this report. ROME/BELGRADE, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The 2024 International Tea Day was marked in Rome and Belgrade on Tuesday with tea art performances, diverse tea tastings and immersive learning programs about tea culture. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) hosted an event at its headquarters in Italy's capital Rome, focusing on the crucial role women played in the tea industry and approaches to help them overcome the challenges they face. "Women play a crucial role in the tea industry, substantially contributing to its sustainability, productivity and community development," FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said in his opening speech, adding that their contributions underpin the industry's economic viability, social fabric and sustainable development. Tea cultivation not only contributes to the agricultural economy but promotes sustainable farming practices and environmental conservation as well, Qu noted. Special teas from China, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Kenya, Russia and Sri Lanka, including renowned Chinese tea varieties like Longjing, Pu-erh, and Jasmine tea, were displayed at the event, attracting hundreds of visitors to savor teas and explore tea culture. At the Chinese Cultural Centre in Belgrade, Serbia, around 200 officials, students and tea lovers gathered on Tuesday to celebrate the fifth International Tea Day. They enjoyed a traditional Chinese tea art performance and tasted Anxi Tieguanyin, a specialty tea from Quanzhou, a coastal city in east China's Fujian Province. The celebratory event was co-organized by the Chinese Embassy in Serbia, the Serbian Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Tourism and Youth. Stanko Blagojevic, Serbia's assistant minister of culture, expressed satisfaction with the strengthened China-Serbia ties, noting that intangible heritage, such as the Chinese tea ceremony, represents "a strong bond" between the two peoples and cultures. "This is how we learn to work together and make each step a significant progress," he said. Dunja Denic, Serbia's assistant minister of tourism and youth, also said at the event that friendship and cooperation with China are truly important, especially in tourism, where the outcomes have been notably positive and encouraging. In a video message to the attendees, Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Li Ming expressed his hope that the Serbian friends will "appreciate the tea culture, and jointly promote cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and Serbia." Established by the United Nations in 2019, International Tea Day is observed annually on May 21 to raise global awareness of the historical, cultural and economic significance of tea. Those hoping for a cool summer are probably going to be disappointed. Any one summer may be cooler or warmer than average, but that average continues to get hotter as the climate warms. Over the past few decades, smaller features that could nudge a summer hotter or cooler than average are getting overwhelmed by the planetary warming signal. Of the ten hottest summers on record nationally, eight have come in the last 20 years. The other two came in the 1930s. Last summer was not in the top ten, but it was in the top 20. The average summer temperature over the entire 20th century was 71.4 degrees. So far in the 21st century, it is 72.8 degrees, and there has not been a summer cooler than the 20th century average since 2009. Finding a legitimately cool summer requires going back to 1992 the first full summer after the massive eruption of Mt. Pinatubo the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. Sending phenomenal amounts of ash, dust, and particulates into the stratosphere for more than a year, it managed to temporarily cool the planet by about one degree Fahrenheit during the following year. Other regular fluctuations in the atmosphere and oceans impact weather patterns, among the most important is El Nino the periodic warming of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean near the equator. When that water is cooler than normal, it is classified as La Nina, and the Pacific has been in a transition between the two states this spring. A full La Nina is expected later this summer, and that may be the key to the summer forecast. Looking back several decades for historical analogies, the transition has often led to hotter and drier summers in the eastern half of the country. But if that transition does not happen as quickly in the next month or two, a hot and dry summer may not come to pass. Jan Dutton, a meteorologist with the World Climate Service, which consults businesses involved in agriculture, energy, and insurance, sees that transition as important, and is equally concerned about its timing. "Analog analysis is useful because we look back to see forward. By examining what has happened in the past in similar climatic regimes, we are able to glean useful information about what's likely to happen in the future. El Nino/La Nina cycles are a critical input to many analog analyses, but other less well known climate cycles can be important too, which is the case in this summer forecast, explains Dutton. He also sees correlations with a summer that is especially drier than normal in the Ohio Valley and in another location that is prone to drought. The same pattern suggesting dry conditions across the Ohio Valley are also responsible for dry conditions across the Colorado River Basin/Rio Grande Valley, continued Dutton. On top of that, the water in the Gulf of Mexico and central Atlantic Ocean each remain especially warm, also correlating with a hot summer east of the Mississippi River. The combination of the warm water and transition to La Nina also suggest an especially active hurricane season. It is too early to indicate a hurricane will hit a particular spot, but those areas that are typically at risk Florida and the Gulf Coast should be especially aware of the heightened threat this season. Farther west, there is relatively cool water along the Pacific Coast from Washington State to Baja California, suggesting a cooler than normal summer in southern California. And as a general rule, the weather is dry every summer in California. The Pacific Ocean along the coast is much cooler than the Atlantic at the same latitude, keeping the atmosphere more stable, and severely limiting the chance of summertime rain there. And expect the Canadian wildfire smoke to be back. Whether it is as bad as last year is still a question, but over the last month, snow cover in Canada has been below normal and April was much warmer than normal. Both of those mean drier conditions going into the summer. Wildfires have already broken out in the Canadian prairies, sending smoke into Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas. Adding it up, most indications suggest this will be the 15th consecutive summer that is hotter than normal nationally. It is not a new normal. It is normal that will get hotter every year. SIBLEY, Iowa A Sibley man who sexually abused a child was sentenced Friday to 50 years in prison. In addition to the prison sentence, District Judge Charles Borth sentenced Mitchel Duskin to a special lifetime sentence in which he will remain under court supervision as if on parole after he's released from prison. If he were to violate terms of the special sentence, he could be returned to prison. An Osceola County jury in March found Duskin, 33, guilty of three counts of second-degree sexual abuse and one count of third-degree sexual abuse. He was found not guilty of one count of second-degree sexual abuse. Duskin had sexual contact with the child, who was under age 14, from about Nov. 3, 2019 to Nov. 12, 2021. He has appealed his judgment. SIOUX CITY A man wanted for a fatal hit and run crash in Sioux City has been arrested in Alabama and awaits extradition to Iowa. The U.S. Marshals Service arrested Wesley Staten, 31, formerly of Sioux City, on Thursday. He is currently being held in the Jefferson County Jail in Birmingham, Alabama. Staten, who was living in Guntersville, Alabama, was wanted on two counts of vehicular homicide stemming from an Oct. 13 crash at Sixth Street and Wesley Parkway. Staten had turned himself in the day after the crash and was interviewed by police. Arrest warrants were issued in April after investigators received test results from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation's crime lab. According to police, Staten was driving a Ford Expedition west on Sixth Street at a high rate of speed, ran a red light and struck a Ford Fusion heading north on Wesley Parkway. Terry Alan Frisbie, 51, of Sioux City, and 50-year-old Judith Lee Jordan, of Le Mars, Iowa, were killed in the crash. Both vehicles left the roadway and hit a traffic signal pole, and Staten fled the scene on foot. LUSAKA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema on Monday urged southern African countries to use their resources to help countries affected by drought in the region. Hichilema said solidarity and unity are needed to combat the humanitarian crisis caused by drought due to the El Nino weather conditions. "Unless we collectively utilize our resource endowments to support deficit areas, our regional economies will suffer, and our economic gains could be reversed due to this humanitarian crisis," he said in a post on his Facebook page after participating in a virtual extraordinary summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state and government. He said the debilitating drought's impact on food and energy security in the region could not be overemphasized, as no country has been spared by the crisis. He commended the solidarity and unity displayed at the summit to combat the challenge. Strategies for water harvesting and using coal as an alternative energy source should be urgently explored, he added. Some countries in the region have experienced droughts caused by poor rains during the 2023/2024 rainy season, which affected crop production. Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe have so far declared states of disasters and emergencies and appealed for support to tackle the negative impact of the drought. WASHINGTON In the hours after the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Ohio's then-Republican senator, Rob Portman, voted to accept President Joe Biden's win over the defeated former president, Donald Trump, despite Trump's false allegations that Biden won because of fraud. But as Trump charges toward his rematch with Biden in 2024, Portman has been replaced by Sen. JD Vance, a potential vice presidential pick who echoes Trump's false claims of fraud and said he'll accept the results this fall only "if it's a free and fair election." South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, other possible VP picks, also declined to object to Biden's victory over Trump, but are less committal this year. The new speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, helped organize Trump's failed legal challenge to Biden's win. He demurred when asked if he believed the 2020 election was legitimate during an event with other Trump allies about the upcoming election. As Trump makes a comeback bid to return to power, Republicans in Congress have become even more likely to cast doubts on Biden's victory or deny it was legitimate, a political turnaround that allows his false claims of fraud to linger and lays the groundwork to potentially challenge the results in 2024. A new report released Tuesday by States United Action, a group that tracks election deniers, said nearly one-third of the lawmakers in Congress supported in some way Trump's bid to overturn the 2020 results or otherwise cast doubt on the reliability of elections. Several more hope to join them, running for election this year to the House and Senate. "The public should have a real healthy dose of concern about the real risk of having people in power who've shown they're not willing to respect the will of the people," said Lizzie Ulmer of States United Action. The issue is particularly stark for Congress given its constitutional role as the final arbiter of the validity of a presidential election. It counts the results from the Electoral College, as it set out to do on Jan. 6, 2021, a date now etched in history because of the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. In its report, States United found that in Congress, 170 representatives and senators out of 535 lawmakers overall can be categorized as election deniers. Heading into the fall elections, two new Senate candidates and 17 new House candidates already are on the ballot this fall seeking to join them. It's not just Congress that has been seeded with people who supported trying to overturn Trump's 2020 loss, but the highest ranks of the Republican Party. "This is deeply alarming," said Wendy Weiser, the vice president for democracy programs at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. "A democracy can only function if the participants commit to accepting the results of popular elections. That is it. That's the entire political system." The former president picked Michael Whatley, who has parroted Trump's election lies, to become co-chairman of the Republican National Committee, with his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump. Christina Bobb, who was recently indicted for her alleged involvement in a scheme to recruit fake electors in Arizona, has been named the RNC's head of "election integrity." Under Trump's direction, the RNC is making the elections process its top priority, bringing in the new personnel and adding resources, said Danielle Alvarez, an adviser to both the Trump campaign and the party committee. "Biden is in the White House, that's true," Alvarez said, "but there were issues in the election." There was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election that cost Trump reelection. Recounts, audits and reviews in the battleground states where he contested his loss all affirmed Biden's victory, and courts rejected dozens of lawsuits filed by Trump and his allies. States United's report details how successful election deniers have been in bolstering their congressional ranks. It examines the results of congressional party primaries in the 13 states that have held them this year and found that in each state, at least one election denier has made it to the general election for a House or Senate seat. The report defines election deniers as people who falsely claimed Trump won in 2020, spread misinformation about that election or took steps to overturn it, or refused to concede a separate race. It finds that at least 67 will be on the ballot in the House in November, including 50 incumbents. Three will be running for the Senate one of whom, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, is an incumbent. Before becoming the House speaker, Johnson recruited colleagues to support a lawsuit, which ultimately failed, filed by Trump's allies to overturn his 2020 loss. More recently Johnson met with Trump at the former president's Mar-a-Lago resort to shore up his own political support amid a far-right rebellion seeking to oust him as speaker. He emerged promising House legislation designed to stop immigrants in the country illegally from voting. During a news conference on the Capitol steps to announce the bill, the speaker acknowledged it's hard to prove that certain immigrants are wrongfully casting ballots. Election experts say it is extremely rare for immigrants who are ineligible to vote to break federal law to do so. Texas elections officials shoulder new burdens to appease ballot-security skeptics Texas elections officials shoulder new burdens to appease ballot-security skeptics Texas elections officials shoulder new burdens to appease ballot-security skeptics Has any human being been less in need of the biopic treatment than Donald Trump? The implicit promise of the form is that it reveals not just facts about its subjectthere are many better mediums for that, including the one you are presently engaging withbut something about their character thats not visible to the microscope of history, something that can only be made clear by passing reality through the filter of fiction. The Apprentice, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival yesterday, promises to explain how Trump came to be Trump, through an account of his mentorship by the ruthless New York power broker Roy Cohn. But the movie, which was directed by Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi and written by political reporter Gabriel Sherman, tells us nothing we dont already know, both in terms of its plot and, more fatally, its evaluation of both mens souls. Thats not to say that The Apprentice isnt critical of Trump. It would be hard, in some ways, to think of a less flattering portrait. Sebastian Stan plays him as a hairsprayed vacuum of a man, a blank-eyed megalomaniac whose only gift is his monstrous self-regard. Although it charts his rise from a son of an outer-borough landlord to the spray-tanned face of Manhattans 1980s excess, it never grants him the glamour he so desperately sought. The films images have the washed-out colors of a VHS tape retrieved from the back of a Goodwill, as if the lens was sprayed with a fresh coat of bronzer before every take. It shows Trump stiffing contractors, scarfing down amphetamines, and raping his wife, Ivana (Borat 2s Maria Bakalova), when she dares to suggest he could stand to familiarize himself with female anatomy. But while Variety labeled the movie brutal, thats also a word that the films Trump and its Cohn, played by Jeremy Strong, frequently apply to themselves, a term thats been brandished by his critics and embraced by his admirers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Although some early reviews have shied away from calling the violent intercourse between Donald and Ivana a rape sceneDeadlines Pete Hammond called it a depiction of intense sex that is likely to be controversialtheres no real question how Trump throwing his wife to the floor, ripping off her underwear, and forcing himself into her is meant to be read. But those who hold faith in the civil jury that found him liable for sexually abusing the journalist E. Jean Carroll wont have their judgment bolstered by another fictional instance, and those whove dismissed, ignored, or simply reconciled themselves to such verdicts and reports, and even to Trumps own admissions, wont end up seeing The Apprentice, let alone being swayed by it. Besides, while Trump has denied his former wifes allegations (which Ivana herself later claimed were without merit) and threatened to sue the filmmakers for dramatizing them, theres a sense in which the scene depicts him exactly as hed like to be seen: as a man who knows what he wants and takes it, without hesitation or apology. Advertisement A truly damning moment, one of far too few in The Apprentices two hours, is the one that follows the rape: a hard cut from Trump thrusting away on top of his wife to a chipper montage of TV news coverage proclaiming the 1980s the age of Trump. Sherman, who wrote the Fox News expose The Loudest Voice in the Room, is sharpest when hes tracingfar too infrequentlythe way Trumps rise to prominence was not just enabled but almost wholly invented by a credulous news media looking to replace the urban unrest of the 1970s with a gleaming vision of the 1980s metropolis: a shining skyscraper on a hill. When a TV reporter asks him what he might do if his grandiose real estate developments dont bear fruit, Trump says he might run for president, and though he immediately treats it as a joke, she doesnt even try to conceal her delight at his juicy response: Great answer. Late in the film, he meets with Tony Schwartz, the co-author of Trump: The Art of the Deal, whos puzzled why Trump wants a journalist whos been critical of him to write his book. This time, Trump assures him, Schwartz will be nice, because Im paying you. Advertisement Advertisement Related From Slate Francis Ford Coppolas New Movie Is One of the Most Unhinged Things Ever Projected on a Screen Read More Any portrayal of Cohn exists in the shadow of Tony Kushners Angels in America, and Shermans script doesnt give Strong anything like the fuel hed need to escape its orbit. But Cohn is at least a more complicated figure than Trump, a political prime mover from the ArmyMcCarthy hearings to the Reagan administration who was also a profoundly closeted gay man (although, as at least Kushners version of Cohn argues, not a homosexual, because a homosexual is a man with no power). Even from the beginning, Strong seems to be preparing us for Cohns downfall, the period when, weakened by AIDS and abandoned by his allies, he lost his law license and faded from public view. But its an attempt at empathy that, in a movie painted in such broad strokes, comes across as merely mawkish. Were meant to feel the cruel sting of Trump abandoning the man who taught him everything, discarding a loyal ally as soon as hes no longer of use, but theres no weight to his betrayal because we never expect him to do anything else. Advertisement In an interview after The Apprentices premiere, Abbasi offered to screen the film for Trump personally, adding I dont necessarily think that this is a movie he would dislike. But rather than taking him up on that offer, Trumps spokesperson called it a film that doesnt even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store. Trump has known for decades that theres nothing more powerful than the ability to hold peoples attention, and the sickest burn is suggesting that the movie isnt even worth a hate-watch. The mere existence of The Apprentice flatters his vanity and burnishes his legend. Its most devastating sequence doesnt involve backstabbing or lawbreaking or even sexual assault. Its when the film intercuts Cohns funeral with Trump undergoing liposuction and a scalp reduction to reduce his bald spot. Hes not a titan of industry or a power player or a future world leader, just a middle-aged man with a bulging gut and thinning hair. Trump cant sue for that sequence, but its the one that would make him truly furious. Joshua Datko actively pursues the language, history and traditions of his ancestors. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Share You can read this exclusive content thanks to the FALATH & PARTNERS law firm, which assists American people with Slovak roots in obtaining Slovak citizenship and reconnecting them with the land of their ancestors. Being Slovak and usually learning two different foreign languages in primary and secondary school so as to not get lost in the world, it is always a nice surprise to meet a foreigner who learns, and even speaks, Slovak. Born in Pennsylvania, Joshua Datko is one of those foreigners. But he is also a third-generation Slovak. When The Slovak Spectator spoke with him online, he pretty much opened the conversation with two near perfect Slovak sentences, underscored with his American accent. (He left a very good first impression.) "Pretty much everyone I've met, when I try to speak Slovak, I get a nice smile. The people are friendly. They're encouraging, ask questions. It's a nice experience," he said. He also tried learning German, but did not enjoy it as much. "I feel like when I'm learning Slovak, people are much more appreciative when you are learning the language," he added. Read also Read also Spurred by his Slovak ancestor and war hero, Briton looks for citizenship Read more This is your Slovak side Datko's great-grandparents came from Slovakia. He was born into a large family of seven children - he is the oldest - to a father who himself was one of ten siblings. Growing up, he knew about the connection to Slovakia, as his parents would tell him when they did something that came from the Slovak side of the family. For example, he used to paint eggs, which are called 'kraslice' in Slovak. "On New Year's Eve we would wait for midnight, run outside and then bang pots and pans very loudly. I have yet to meet someone from Slovakia who knows this tradition or have done it, so I'm not quite sure if it got incorporated from other immigrants while they [his parents] lived in Pennsylvania," he pointed out. Banging pots is believed to have started in Ireland. Today, it is practised in many other nations. Not in Slovakia, however. It was about two years ago when Datko learned from his friend about the change in the Slovak law that allowed dual citizenship. This friend, who had known about his Slovak heritage, prompted Datko to look into it. "I never thought this was an option," he said, adding that this really kick-started the reinvestigation of his roots. Related article Related article How to start Slovak family history research Read more Language, language, language He figured that if he was going through the process, he should learn some of the language. "I quickly got to the point where I could maybe order 'zmrzlina' [an ice cream] in Bratislava, that didn't take long, but I felt compelled to keep learning. I'm still a beginner, but I have read Harry Potter in Slovak, for example. I feel like if I'm going to pursue this connection, the language is also important to pursue," he said. Datko openly admits that he is okay with 'making a fool of himself' as he is not as focused on grammar as he is on getting an idea across. What really helped him in learning the language were streaming services, particularly Disney Plus. "I have two young daughters, they're very much fans of Disney. I have seen the English versions of films hundreds of times, so I already know what they're saying in English. Now I can watch them in Slovak and understand everything because I know the script well. I can't speak for the translations itself but it's there." In addition to watching films, Datko also opted to learn Slovak with online tutors. A few can be found in New York and Pittsburgh. In the past, these were the cities where Slovak immigrants settled when they arrived in the US. So far, he has had good experiences. Finding the right place Related to this is Datko's new side project, a company called Tatra Tales, the goal of which is to import Slovak books into the US. "I was very frustrated that at my level of Slovak, reading Sme [a Slovak daily, ed.] for example was challenging, but available books are too easy. But I'm kind of in this middle level and I tried to find books that were in that level." However, he admits that so far he has not had a lot of success finding a market group. Although he has come across independent young adult book authors at the level that would help him, there is one problem. "Not to be too cynical, but generally most people don't read books. To find a book that is in a different language that you're trying to learn is even a bigger commitment," he said. But he is hopeful because he thinks there are other people like him who are interested in reading books written in Slovak. "That being said, my initial thought was books because I do like reading. I like books, but I don't know if that is the right medium," Datko explained and added that there might be other things he could try to import. For example, he has a watch from Slovak company Biatec, and as an amateur competitive shooter he wields a Slovak gun. He is proud of both. Also, both make for a conversation starter. "Usually the first question is where is Slovakia? Unfortunately, this is still the question, but it is a nice intro to talk about it. I guess I feel almost like an unofficial ambassador, I want to give a good image of Slovakia," he said. What usually comes to people's mind when he mentions Slovakia is Czechoslovakia, or folk traditions. Seeing something outside of that narrow spectrum is therefore interesting for them, according to Datko. A trip of a lifetime "I think I'm still figuring it out for myself. As I started to pursue my roots, I realised there was so much more about Slovakia that caught my interest," the American said. His trip to the village of Pohorela on the foothills of the Low Tatra mountain range in central Slovakia left a long lasting mark on him. Since he did not know anyone in the village, he contacted an author of the village papers and said that he had a family connection and that he would like to come. That person said that Datko could stay with their mother-in-law for four days. In addition, the person took time off from work, guided Datko around, showed him everything and was very interested his story. "I was blown away by the hospitality, I really can't imagine if somebody emailed me and said 'I'm going to Colorado, my family was there, can I stay with you?' I have to admit, I would be a little nervous," Datko said. "But this person completely opened the door. I got to experience lots of Slovak food, "slivovica" [home-made plum brandy], "krcma" [a pub]. I got the heads up to eat a lot before going to the Slovak pub. There are very happy memories. I saw the gravestone of my great uncle. It was probably one of those trips that I will never forget." Datko's immediate family are supportive of his exploring his family's past. Since his wife is an immigrant herself, she understands. As for their kids, they are being slowly introduced to customs. "They're still at an age where they like what their dad does, so they're very receptive. They put their boots out for Mikulas [on December 5, the day before Mikulas, children clean their boots and put them on windowsill before going to bed, expecting gifts the next morning, ed.]; we have a modified Easter where I spray them with a water sprayer and they very much look forward to the next day when they spray me." The kids' first international trip was actually to Slovakia this April. They went to Devin Castle; although it rained that day, they had the castle entirely to themselves. In addition, they visited Bibiana, a children's art museum, and the Aurelium science centre, the American recalled. Reason for optimism In addition to Slovak dailies, Datko is an avid reader of The Slovak Spectator. Coincidentally, he particularly likes the Weekend series, even though he is not in Slovakia to enjoy the events; for him it is just nice to see all the things that are happening. If there is one thing that Datko draws criticism to - and this is not specific to The Slovak Spectator - it is that in his opinion the Slovak news in general tends to be kind of negative. He understands the context and where it comes from, but still thinks there is a lot of to be cheerful about, such as the ample examples of people supporting initiatives to help Ukraine voluntarily. "I do have a lot of hope in people's goodwill, them organising good things. That's where I see the optimism," Datko concluded. Spectacular Slovakia travel guides The version of more attackers presented by the minister might fall apart. Defence Minister Robert Kalinak in the foreground and Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok during a press conference in Bratislava on May 19, 2024. (Source: SITA/Tomas Benedikovic) Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Share Poet Juraj C., who shot and injured Premier and Smer party leader Robert Fico last week, might not have had any accomplices after all. Facebook announced that the platform itself had deleted the attackers profile the night after the incident and shortly after it identified Juraj C.s profile. The Meta company, which owns Facebook, confirmed the aforementioned for the Dennik N daily. The tech giant deleted the attackers profile because it had violated its rules on dangerous organisations and individuals. Last weekend, Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Hlas), and Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak (Smer), claimed that Juraj C. might not have acted alone. Someone deleted his Facebook profile two hours after the attack, they claimed. By that time, Juraj C. had been in detention. For now, this was the only reason why they have shifted from the lone wolf theory to the opinion that more people could have been involved in the attack. According to the newspaper, Meta passed on this information to the Council for Media Services, a media regulator in Slovakia, on May 21. The regulator said that Meta deleted Juraj C.s profile on May 16, a day after the attack. Meta did not specify the hour. At this moment, it is theoretically still possible that someone intervened in Juraj C.s Facebook profile on Wednesday, roughly two hours after the assassination [attempt, ed.], and Meta intervened the next day, writes Dennik N. Facebooks move is something else According to Kalinak, Juraj C. could still have had accomplices, adding that people from Facebook may not have been the only ones who accessed the profile of Juraj C. This matter [Facebook deleting the profile] is not related to accessing the profile that we mentioned on Sunday, interim spy chief Pavol Gaspar said on May 22. Kalinak noted that there is more information suggesting that the attacker might have had helpers. Google cancels Juraj C.s YouTube channel The General Prosecutors Office has embargoed the case and refused to provide any information. Nevertheless, ministers continue to present different interpretations of who else might have been involved in the attack on the prime minister. It is not clear if Juraj C. has appealed against the judges decision of being taken into pre-trial custody last Saturday. Dennik N wrote on May 23 that Google had cancelled Juraj C.s YouTube channel after the attacker was identified by the police. Kyle Larson waits in his pit box during a practice session for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Monday, May 20, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings) INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Kyle Larson has been adamant about soaking up the entire Indianapolis 500 experience as the NASCAR superstar prepares to make his debut in The Greatest Spectacle in Racing on Memorial Day weekend. He didn't expect to find himself under an udder on Tuesday. One of the most accomplished drivers of any generation is still just an Indy 500 rookie. And one of the somewhat new traditions at a place steeped in them is that rookies, after completing their harrowing qualifying runs and a penultimate practice on Monday, return to otherwise quiet Indianapolis Motor Speedway the next morning for a crack at milking a cow. What? Is that a thing? Larson asked when first informed of the custom. Told that it was, indeed, a thing, the driver of the No. 17 Arrow McLaren asked: Do we get to glove up? So on a hot, sunny Tuesday at the speedway, there was Larson just as he had promised standing alongside a black-and-white Holstein that was quietly munching away. Larson bent at the waist, reached with his right hand ungloved, for the record and gave one of the udders a couple of tentative tugs. I grew up in a city," explained Larson, who was born in suburban Sacramento, California. I've never really been around a cow. Just about everything Larson does with a wheel in his hands seems natural to him, but a cow's udder? Pretty amateurish. Still, Larson got a couple of streams of milk to squirt, and really, that was the point. On Sunday, he hopes to douse himself in the stuff. That's another Indianapolis 500 tradition, of course, begun when parched 1936 winner Louis Meyer climbed from his car and asked for a glass of buttermilk. These days, drivers are asked beforehand what version of milk they prefer Larson picked whole, should he win and upon reaching victory lane, generally take a quick swig before pouring it over their heads. Yet so much is up in the air as Larson prepares for race day, including what would happen if he wins. He qualified fifth in a joint effort between Arrow McLaren and Hendrick Motorsports, his NASCAR team, and plans to run the entire race before flying to Charlotte, North Carolina, and driving in the Cup Series race that night. Only five drivers have ever attempted The Double, as it has become known, and Tony Stewart in 2021 remains the only one to finish all 1,100 miles. The schedule is tight: Larson will climb from his Indy car into an SUV, which will deposit him at a helicopter waiting at the speedway. That will whisk him to a nearby airport, where a jet will take him to Charlotte. After landing, another helicopter will take him to the track, where he will climb into his Cup Series car for the start of the race. Any time spent celebrating an Indy 500 triumph would put Larson in the most welcome of predicaments. The pressure of being in the race and starting in a great starting spot, and knowing we have the Coca-Cola 600 to run it's going to be pressure all day, NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick said. How does the race go? Is it going to rain? What time do we have to leave to get back to Charlotte? It's going to be a tremendous amount of pressure." Ah, yes, the rain. That's also in the forecast Sunday, a 50% chance for scattered showers early with more popping up in the afternoon. If that happens, Hendrick said, some tough decisions will need to be made. We talked about it many times. We know we need to be at Charlotte for points. We're just going to let it play out, he said, before adding: It would be very hard (to pull the plug). It would be very tough. It would be very disappointing, because of all the effort everyone has put in from Arrow McLaren. He's in such a good position. It would be extremely hard. Speaking of positions, Larson has found himself in plenty of new ones in the run-up to the Indy 500. He is well-versed in driving everything from dirt late models and sprint cars to stock cars, but piloting an Indy car at some 240 mph has been new. So was leaning under a cow on a sun-splashed day at the speedway. It was cool, Larson said with a smile. It was honestly a cool experience. ___ AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing https://sputnikglobe.com/20240520/g7-got-comfortable-stealing-more-russian-assets-after-us-diplomatic-push--reports----1118545087.html G7 Got Comfortable Stealing Russian Assets After US "Diplomatic Push" Reports G7 Got Comfortable Stealing Russian Assets After US "Diplomatic Push" Reports Sputnik International After Russia launched special military operation, Western nations froze almost half of Russias foreign currency reserves amounting to $320 billion. Kremlin dubbed this move an expropriation of property and a violation of international law. 2024-05-20T09:29+0000 2024-05-20T09:29+0000 2024-05-21T04:30+0000 world russian economy under sanctions frozen assets frozen funds asset seizure https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/05/1b/1083011423_0:144:3129:1904_1920x0_80_0_0_66552bf15109db583e25f7b3070823f6.jpg G7 countries, previously reluctant to use Russian assets to finance the Kiev regime, are "warming" to the idea after a "diplomatic push" by the US, the FT reports. Sources of the British news outlet were reluctant to say how exactly Washington changed the minds of peer politicians, but admitted that the White House played the November election card and capitalized on fears that Donald Trump could completely cut off US spending on Ukraine.Washington is trying to push the discussion forward so that additional funds for Ukraine would become a fait accompli for the new administration.The plan is likely to be discussed at the G7 summit in June, and this scheme, dubbed "Trump-proofing," will allow the Kiev regime to be loaned $50 billion. This sum will be backed by future profits from about $350 billion of frozen Russian assets. Canada and the United Kingdom already support this plan, the source added.France, Germany, Italy, and Japan had previously expressed concern that such a move would set a dangerous precedent of government theft of property and cause turmoil in the global financial system.European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos admitted that this decision will undermine the euro's position as a safe currency. Numerous economists and financial analysts also warned that using frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine will "supercharge de-dollarization" as businesses around the world will conclude that the Western economy is no longer a good option for investment.Russian officials have repeatedly stressed that such a move would violate international law and that Moscow will do everything possible to return frozen assets.Russian President Vladimir Putin called the asset seizure an "unseemly business" and warned that "stealing other's assets has never brought any good to anyone." https://sputnikglobe.com/20240125/west-could-face-300bln-boomerang-in-gamble-to-seize-russian-assets-sputnik-estimates-1116380567.html Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sergey Lebedev Sergey Lebedev News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sergey Lebedev russian economy under sanctions, russia frozen assets, russian assets ukraine, russian money ukraine https://sputnikglobe.com/20240520/west-confirms-its-intention-to-militarize-space---nebenzia-1118551806.html West Confirms Intention to Militarize Space, Says Russia's UN Envoy West Confirms Intention to Militarize Space, Says Russia's UN Envoy Sputnik International Having prevented the UN Security Council from adopting Russias draft resolution, the West has confirmed its intention to continue militarization of space, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzia said at a meeting of the Security Council. 2024-05-20T23:14+0000 2024-05-20T23:14+0000 2024-05-21T09:39+0000 world russia un security council (unsc) the united nations (un) space space weapons space-based weapons https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/02/18/1107779824_0:0:1876:1055_1920x0_80_0_0_1d9b798d0abacf06619747806b0f8a8a.jpg Earlier, due to the position of Western countries, the UN Security Council did not adopt Russia's resolution on preventing an arms race in space. Russia, China, Algeria, Guyana, Ecuador, Mozambique, Sierra Leone voted in favor of the resolution. Switzerland abstained. The United States, France, Britain, Japan, Slovenia, the Republic of Korea, and Malta voted against.Nebenzia pointed out how just in April, the US and its allies in the UNSC were fervently assuring everyone of their dedication to maintaining peace in space.According to him, Russia is generally satisfied with the result of today's vote. In addition to the numbers, it has demonstrated the watershed between those who seek peaceful space exploration and those who are leading the way towards its militarization. Western countries found themselves today essentially isolated in the Council. And this is symptomatic, Russia's UN envoy emphasized.According to the permanent representative, it is deeply regrettable that these countries did not allow the Security Council to make a balanced and urgently needed decision in favor of preserving space exclusively for peaceful use.So, today they finally tore off their masks, exposing their true colors and showed us just who they really are, Nebenzia noted.The West's militarization of space will require analysis and retaliatory steps by Russia, but Moscow will remain committed to its obligations under international law, Nebenzia highlighted.We have repeatedly confirmed and reaffirm our commitment. Despite the aggressive attitude of the United States and its allies, we will continue to work in this direction and make every effort together with responsible UN member states to keep space peaceful, he emphasized. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240520/unsc-fails-to-adopt-russian-resolution-on-averting-arms-race-in-space---report-1118552884.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20221128/start-wars-pentagon-accuses-prc-of-militarizing-space-threatening-us-supremacy-1104779480.html russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International space weapons, weapons in space, militarization of space, us hegemony, star wars, space war, nukes in space, american aggression, bombs in space, arms in space, space arms, space-based weapons, space based weapons An ad for sanitation workers targeting Christians in Pakistan has prompted objections that it signals only Christians should work such low-paying jobs. The ad soliciting candidates for sweepers at health facilities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province states, Christian community will be preferred. It was posted by Trans-Continental Pharma, a hospital management service contractor with the provincial government, on May 18. A former member of the National Commission for Minorities, Albert David, said the ad gave the impression that sanitation work was beneath the Muslim-majority population. I contacted the chief executive officer of the company and registered a strong protest against the discriminatory ad on behalf of my community. The official has promised to amend the ad, David said, although there was no change in the ad at this writing. Such a discriminatory ad was a clear violation of Article 27 of Pakistans constitution and international conventions to which the country was a signatory, he said. Stay informed with The Christian Daily Newsletter Sign up Article 27 provides safeguards against discrimination in services or employment, but this has been so blatantly trampled upon over the decades, said David, adding that the U.N. and International Labor Organizations Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) describes discrimination as, Any distinction, exclusion or preference made on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin, which has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity or treatment in employment or occupation. This systemic policy of reserving sanitation posts for non-Muslims must end now, as it has a direct bearing on the image of the community, he said. An estimated 80 percent of sanitation workers in Pakistan are Christians, though Christians make up just 2 percent of the population, according to a study by WaterAid. Christians are often referred to as Chuhra (low caste), a pejorative term reserved for sanitation workers referring to their past as members of the subcontinents Hindu Chuhra caste that was historically associated with sweepers. Though many of them converted to Islam and Christianity, they continue to suffer the same disparagement and are relegated to jobs seen as degrading and defiling. Road sweepers in Pakistan are mostly Christians and are also referred to by other abusive slurs in local languages. The National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) in 2022 launched a campaign to protest discriminatory advertisements for the recruitment of sanitary workers. The campaign featured sharing awareness messages through print, electronic and digital media, a series of online posts on discriminatory advertisements for sanitation workers, information on the governments quota system and highlighting the deaths of sanitary workers. The NCHR also announced a plan to file a suit against the government to remove discriminatory language from advertisements for sanitary workers. On Jan. 12, 2022 the Islamabad High Court issued notices to various ministries banning job advertisements that reserve the job of sweepers for minority communities, particularly Christians, but the practice has continued. Ejaz Augustine, a Christian lawmaker in the Punjab Assembly, said that non-Muslim sweepers are preferred because they are easily exploited. Though many Pakistanis can be found doing menial jobs abroad, it is rare to find any Muslim doing the same job in their own homeland, Augustine told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. The attitude within Pakistan is as though the Christians were in the country to clean up after Muslims. How can one expect greatness from a nation that does not even know how to clean its streets and treats its sanitary workers as sub-humans? A former provincial minister for human rights and minorities, Augustine said the government must ensure that religious minorities are not limited to low-paying jobs. The government should work on sensitizing the society and encourage a pluralistic and egalitarian atmosphere where the rights of minorities are equally protected, he said. Church of Pakistan President Bishop Azad Marshall condemned the continued publication of discriminatory job ads. This is systemic discrimination against our people and is also a violation of Pakistans constitution that guarantees equal opportunities of growth to all citizens irrespective of their religious beliefs, Bishop Marshall told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. The senior church leader pointed out that despite the reservation of a 5 percent job quota in all federal and provincial governments since 2009, a large number of people from religious minorities were continuing to do low-paid jobs. According to reports, thousands of posts of different grades reserved for religious minorities have not been filled by the government, he said. Due to this, a large number of our people are pushed into accepting low-paid jobs. Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors 2024 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, as it was the previous year. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/australia-new-zealand-arrange-flights-to-evacuate-citizens-from-new-caledonia-1118558999.html Australia, New Zealand Arrange Flights to Evacuate Citizens From New Caledonia Australia, New Zealand Arrange Flights to Evacuate Citizens From New Caledonia Sputnik International Australia and New Zealand said on Tuesday that they had arranged flights to evacuate their citizens and other tourists stranded in France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia. 2024-05-21T10:01+0000 2024-05-21T10:01+0000 2024-05-21T10:01+0000 world new zealand australia new caledonia department of foreign affairs france unrest social unrest political unrest civil unrest https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/05/10/1118472216_0:161:3071:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_bdbd09a0951b0a830b1d4ce79a1160ba.jpg Due to the civil unrest that began on the island last ween, the international airport of New Caledonia was closed. A decision on its reopening will be issued on Thursday, according to local authorities. New Zealands authorities are working together with both Paris and Noumea to facilitate the process of bringing citizens back home, the country's foreign ministry said. The launched flight is expected to carry approximately 50 passengers "with the most pressing needs" from Noumea to New Zealands city of Auckland, the ministry said, adding that subsequent flights will have passengers prioritized by consular staff. On May 13, a peaceful demonstration against a bill on voting rights spiraled into unrest in Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia. Protesters, including many minors, were robbing and setting fire to stores, gas stations, pharmacies, and car centers. On Thursday, French lawmakers voted in favor of the bill as unrest continued. The controversial bill provides for lowering the residency bar for voting rights for people living in New Caledonia to 10 years. Pro-independence forces say it would dilute the share of the vote held by indigenous Kanak people that make up about 40% of the population. As of today, only those who were on the electoral register during the 1998 Noumea Agreement, which gave the territory a higher degree of autonomy, along with their children, have the right to vote. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/france-to-deploy-troops-around-public-buildings-in-new-caledonia-due-to-protests---reports-1118558419.html new zealand australia new caledonia france Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International new caledonia unrest, france new caledonia, australia new caledonia unrest, new zealand caledonia unrest https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/blackwater-founder-says-unsure-if-ukraine-survives-as-independent-country-1118570152.html Blackwater Founder Says Unsure if Ukraine Survives as Independent Country Blackwater Founder Says Unsure if Ukraine Survives as Independent Country Sputnik International Former US Navy SEAL and Blackwater private military company founder Erik Prince said on Tuesday that he is unsure whether Ukraine can survive its conflict with Russia as an independent country. 2024-05-21T17:54+0000 2024-05-21T17:54+0000 2024-05-21T17:54+0000 world ukraine crisis us erik prince tucker carlson ukraine russia odessa blackwater https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/01/18/1106660208_0:82:3353:1968_1920x0_80_0_0_e0cdba5f875e386eadeabab92effbc1f.jpg "I'd say now they [Russians] want to absolutely humiliate the West. And make sure that they never have a problem with Ukraine again," Prince said in an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson. "I dont know if it survives as an independent country." Prince said he never really believed in the ability of Ukraine to push back Russian forces to previous borders.Moreover, a Russian takeover of Odessa would threaten the long-term economic viability of Ukraine, Prince said. Borders change on maps based on military victories, which drive diplomatic breakthroughs, Prince said. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240520/zelensky-emerges-as-first-obstacle-to-peaceful-resolution-of-ukrainian-conflict-1118544181.html ukraine russia odessa Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International russias special military op in ukraine, special military operation, special military operational zone, special op zone, russian troops in special op zone, ukraine casualties in conflict, total ukrainian losses, how many people did ukraine loose, how many people did kiev loose, new russian weapons in ukraine, advanced russian weapons, russian defense ministry statements, latest russian military statements, what did shoigu say about ukraine, donetsk peoples republic, nato in ukraine, is nato in ukraine, russian drones, drone warfare, new military drones, uavs in ukraine, ukraine crisis, ukraine conflict https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/blinken-says-haiti-on-brink-of-becoming-failed-state-1118568696.html Blinken Says Haiti on Brink of Becoming Failed State Blinken Says Haiti on Brink of Becoming Failed State Sputnik International US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that Haiti is on the verge of becoming a failed state. 2024-05-21T16:20+0000 2024-05-21T16:20+0000 2024-05-21T16:20+0000 world us antony blinken haiti port-au-prince gang violence gangs criminal gangs https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/03/0c/1117282261_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_96abcba32c11a42c9201ad417995ebf3.jpg Haitis on the precipice of becoming an all-out failed state, Blinken said during a US Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. On February 29, gang violence erupted in the downtown area of Port-au-Prince while Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry was visiting Kenya to discuss the deployment of foreign forces in Haiti to fight organized crime. The gangs said their goal was to prevent the prime minister from returning to Haiti. Gangs took control of many parts of the city and stormed Haiti's largest prison, freeing an unconfirmed number of inmates. The Haitian government responded by declaring a state of emergency in the capital region. On March 11, Henry announced that he would resign when a transitional presidential council was created. The power of gangs in Haiti needs to be ended once and for all, Blinken said. Haitian police must be given the resources and support needed to regain control of the country, Blinken said. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240406/us-uses-legislative-power-to-punish-countries-that-escaped-their-imperialist-control--1117774456.html haiti port-au-prince Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International haiti crisis, unrest in haiti, gans in haiti, gang violence in haiti, political coup in haiti https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/german-foreign-minister-arrives-on-unannounced-visit-to-ukraine---reports-1118558239.html German Foreign Minister Arrives on Unannounced Visit to Ukraine - Reports German Foreign Minister Arrives on Unannounced Visit to Ukraine - Reports Sputnik International German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has arrived in Kiev on an unannounced visit that was not mentioned earlier for security reasons, German news agency DPA reported on Tuesday. 2024-05-21T09:27+0000 2024-05-21T09:27+0000 2024-05-21T09:27+0000 world annalena baerbock german defense ministry germany ukrainian crisis https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/05/01/1095175069_0:160:3073:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_43c01f7876e52a5905dee61a183be4c0.jpg Baerbock arrived in a show of support for Kiev regime, the news agency said on X. On Monday, the German Defense Ministry said that seven more countries, namely the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Romania, Belgium and Lithuania would supply equipment and missiles to Ukraine as part of the German Air Defense Initiative (IAAD), while Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Canada would assist Kiev financially, after an online meeting of the contact group on Ukraine. Germany launched the IAAD initiative in April seeking to find and finance more air defense systems for Ukraine. Western countries 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. germany Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International russia special military operation, ukrainian crisis, annalena baerbock, german defense ministry ukraine, arms for ukraine https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/high-dollar-us-military-equipment-not-performing-well-in-ukraine---blackwater-founder-1118570480.html High-Dollar US Military Equipment Not Performing Well in Ukraine - Blackwater Founder High-Dollar US Military Equipment Not Performing Well in Ukraine - Blackwater Founder Sputnik International Expensive US military equipment is not performing well in Ukraine, former US Navy SEAL and Blackwater private military company founder Erik Prince said on Tuesday. 2024-05-21T18:09+0000 2024-05-21T18:09+0000 2024-05-21T18:09+0000 military erik prince tucker carlson ukraine blackwater us us military ukraine crisis us military aid military aid https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/03/1d/1117647382_0:316:3077:2047_1920x0_80_0_0_4af47fead49380e99865cd4dc9754866.jpg The US systems are not holding up the super high-dollar American stuff is not doing so well in that battle space, Prince said in an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson. Drone-dropped munitions manufactured for $1,500 are capable of destroying multi-million-dollar tanks, Prince said. US taxpayers should be concerned that they are not getting good value from the countrys defense spending, Prince said. The US military is the most expensive organization in history, but serves as a means to sell overpriced equipment to countries that struggle to use or maintain it, Prince said. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/pentagon-takes-into-account-risk-its-weapons-might-join-russias-trophy-display--1118302590.html ukraine Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International military aid for ukraine, is us giving more money to ukraine, why is us giving more money to kiev, whats happening to money given to kiev, will us give more money to kiev, how much money does ukraine get, how much money us gives to ukraine, how much money eu gives to ukraine, how much money europe gives to ukraine, what weapons does ukraine receive, does us give ukraine new weapons https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/inviting-russia-to-normandy-landing-anniversary-would-be-goodwill-gesture---us-veteran-1118558596.html Inviting Russia to Normandy Landing Anniversary Would Be Goodwill Gesture - US Veteran Inviting Russia to Normandy Landing Anniversary Would Be Goodwill Gesture - US Veteran Sputnik International Extending an invitation to Russia to participate in the events marking the 80th anniversary of the allied troops landing in Normandy would be a goodwill gesture even though Soviet troops did not participate in that military operation, World War II veteran from the United States, Frank Cohn, told Sputnik. 2024-05-21T09:56+0000 2024-05-21T09:56+0000 2024-05-21T09:56+0000 americas normandy us army soviet armed forces soviet red army red army d-day nazi https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/05/15/1118558757_0:320:3072:2048_1920x0_80_0_0_2b5b3be660b792ca80c77a41ac58d1b4.jpg However, he believes that such a move is not likely to happen this year. However, Cohn also said US and Russian war veterans can extend such invitations because they know the price and importance of friendship between soldiers, and can help heal current political tensions. However, Cohn emphasized that more efforts are needed to overcome the current negative political climate. Cohn, a 98-year-old retired US Army colonel, participated in the legendary meeting between US and Soviet troops at the Elbe River in Germany in April 1945. He said he now plans to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings. The ceremony in honor of the landing of the allied forces in Normandy, France, will take place there in June. Cohn said he did not participate in the Normandy landing itself because he was still in training camp at that time. However, he arrived there just three months later and saw all the circumstances of the battle. The veteran also stressed that the Normandy invasion became the most significant battle for the Allied forces during the war. The D-Day landing was the largest ever naval, air, and land operation conducted in history when nearly 7,000 Allied naval vessels and more than 132,000 Allied troops landed on five beaches in Normandy. More than 4,414 allied troops were killed during the landings on June 6, 1944, including 2,501 US troops. Overall, some 73,000 allied troops were killed during the operation, code-named Overlord, which opened a second front against Nazi Germany in the west. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230425/americans-russians-need-spirit-of-elbe-peaceful-world---veteran-1109811830.html americas normandy Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International normandy landing, d-day, normandy operation, russia d-day, normandy second front, wwii, russia normandy landing anniversary https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/iranian-presidents-death-latest-in-string-of-strange-coincidences-1118551427.html Iranian Presidents Death Latest in String of Strange Coincidences Iranian Presidents Death Latest in String of Strange Coincidences Sputnik International The sudden deaths of the Iranian President and Foreign Minister is only the latest in a string of strange happenings in the world, revealing that we live in very interesting times, for good or ill. 2024-05-21T03:26+0000 2024-05-21T03:26+0000 2024-05-21T04:15+0000 analysis michael maloof ebrahim raisi americans slovakia iran israel hossein amir abdollahian iran president raisi's death iran-israel row https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/05/15/1118554554_0:57:3072:1784_1920x0_80_0_0_29d83216acc057669d9c165c32bc11ae.jpg One of the most important pipelines in Europe in one of the most surveilled areas of the Baltic Sea was destroyed in an act of sabotage and investigations by the Swedes and Denmark end without a culprit named.The Prime Minister of Slovakia was shot five times after he halted his countrys aid to Ukraine, by a senior citizen acting alone and who was a vehement supporter of Ukraine.The Iranian president and foreign minister are both killed in a freak helicopter accident, during which the other two escort helicopters managed to return safely.The Iranian delegation was flying in the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan, which borders the country of Azerbaijan, a close ally of Israel.On Monday, an Israeli official reportedly told US media that it was not involved in the Iranian Presidents death.But, as Maloof notes, Israel has a history of alleged clandestine operations inside of Iran, including the bombing of pipelines, the murder of nuclear scientists and the recent response from Israel to an Iranian attack which Iran says was carried out from within its territory.You have other episodes occurring throughout the West, including the attempted assassination of the prime minister of [Slovakia]... So these are not happening in isolation. Something bigger is going on out there. I think people are trying to put their finger on it, he added.The same day as the Iranian presidents helicopter crashed, officials for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) army said they thwarted a coup attempt and arrested 50 people, including three Americans. The coups alleged leader, Christian Malanga, was killed in the attempt. Malanga lived in the US for most of his life and according to videos posted online, visited the Israeli military in 2015.Maloof concluded that if it is revealed that Israel was involved in Raisis death, the response will be significant. You saw what the reaction was when the Israelis hit the Iranian consulate in Syria for the first time, Iran displayed that it could strike Israel directly. If this helicopter crash indeed was purposeful and it could link back to Israel, I rethink youre going to see a very major response. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240520/life-of-late-iranian-president-ebrahim-raisi-1118531327.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20240520/israel-claims-non-involvement-in-iranian-presidents-death--reports--1118537990.html slovakia iran israel Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Ian DeMartino Ian DeMartino News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Ian DeMartino iranian president dead, iranian president killed, was israel involved in the iranian president's death, strange times, may you live in interesting times, ebrahim raisi, sabotage, helicopter crash, israel killed raisi, israel killed the iranian president https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/israeli-military-leaking-information-about-gaza-aid-trucks-to-radicals---reports-1118568935.html Israeli Military Leaking Information About Gaza Aid Trucks to Radicals - Reports Israeli Military Leaking Information About Gaza Aid Trucks to Radicals - Reports Sputnik International The Israeli military is providing far-right activists and settlers with information on the location of aid trucks heading to the Gaza Strip, which they use to vandalize and block the vehicles, The Guardian reported on Tuesday, citing multiple sources. 2024-05-21T17:00+0000 2024-05-21T17:00+0000 2024-05-21T17:00+0000 world middle east palestine-israel conflict gaza strip israel united kingdom (uk) hamas gaza violence https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/0a/15/1114386495_0:0:3071:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_68700edcd97622d3a0dd45c4ab48910c.jpg There is collusion among members of Israel's security forces to block the humanitarian supplies to Gazan civilians, according to messages from internet chat groups obtained by the UK newspaper. Those blocking the aid reportedly said that the convoys were being diverted by Palestinian movement Hamas instead of reaching the civilian population. Palestinian drivers described "barbaric scenes" after their trucks had been attacked. They reportedly said that Israeli troops escorting the convoy ignored the attack. "There is full cooperation between the settlers and the army. We are shocked and surprised that the army did not provide us with any kind of protection. Even though they were present and watching what was happening. The army was at the service of the settlers," a driver who came under attack at a checkpoint last week told the newspaper. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240520/un-gaza-facing-apocalyptic-famine-1118533340.html gaza strip israel united kingdom (uk) Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International gaza genocide, is israel committing genocide, whats happening with gaza, israeli genocide against palestinians, will israel be charged with genocide, whos backing israel, un hearing on gaza, current developments in gaza, whats happening to palestinians, us military aid to israel, us arms supplies to israel, us violating international law, what weapons is israel getting from us, israeli strikes, israel strikes gaza, israel kills civilians, operation in rafah, incursion into rafah https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/lavrov-holds-presser-following-conference-of-sco-top-diplomats-1118557425.html Lavrov Holds Presser Following Conference of SCO Top Diplomats Lavrov Holds Presser Following Conference of SCO Top Diplomats Sputnik International Foreign policy chiefs will discuss issues related to the Middle East, SCO development and establishment of Eurasian security. 2024-05-21T09:07+0000 2024-05-21T09:07+0000 2024-05-21T09:07+0000 world sergey lavrov russia shanghai cooperation organisation (sco) foreign ministry security security cooperation kazakhstan belarus https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/05/12/1118513631_0:0:3124:1757_1920x0_80_0_0_1e8a2f19b1449f83f0f10fc0f427c0aa.jpg Sputnik comes to you live from Astana, Kazakhstan, where Russias top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, talks to the media after a gathering of foreign ministers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.According to Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, the diplomacy chiefs will discuss the SCO's development prospects, as well as the international and regional agenda. The top diplomats will also focus on the emerging architecture of the new global world order. Additionally, Zakharova mentioned that the conversation would also address the situation in the Gaza Strip and the broader Middle East region, as well as the crucial role of the SCO in stabilizing Afghanistan, which is of utmost importance for the organization's security.Follow Sputniks live feed to learn more! russia kazakhstan belarus Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Russian FM Sergey Lavrov holds a press conference following the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states Sputnik International Russian FM Sergey Lavrov holds a press conference following the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states 2024-05-21T09:07+0000 true PT1S 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International sco, sco belarus, lavrov sco, sco expansion, security cooperation, eurasian security, sco afghanistan, sco russia https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/lavrov-reveals-zelenskys-hysterical-demand-for-support-in-switzerland-talks-1118559296.html Lavrov Reveals Zelensky's 'Hysterical' Demand for Support in Switzerland Talks Lavrov Reveals Zelensky's 'Hysterical' Demand for Support in Switzerland Talks Sputnik International Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that the Ukrainian president strongly demanded support for his "peace formula" while discussing the upcoming Switzerland "peace conference" with foreign diplomats in Kiev. 2024-05-21T10:38+0000 2024-05-21T10:38+0000 2024-05-21T10:43+0000 world sergey lavrov volodymyr zelensky dmitry peskov russia switzerland ukraine https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/05/15/1118559413_4:0:998:559_1920x0_80_0_0_0e27579ea3a9eddd4d83237fd607d9d6.jpg Russia's top diplomat has exposed that the Ukrainian president "hysterically" demanded that other nations back his proposed "peace formula" ahead of a 'Peace Conference' that is to be held in Switzerland next month."We have information - we have the ability to receive information that is not usually intended for publication. At the end of April, while discussing this idea [Zelensky's 'peace formula'] with foreign diplomats in Kiev, Zelensky, according to some participants, mostly improvised in a chaotic manner, almost hysterically demanded support for his peace formula as a means to force Russia to its knees," Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference following the SCO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Kazakhstan.Switzerland will host a peace conference on Ukraine on June 15-16 near Lucerne with up to 120 heads of state expected to participate. Vladimir Khokhlov, the press secretary of the Russian Embassy in Bern, previously told Sputnik that Switzerland did not invite Russia to participate in the summit and that Moscow would not participate in any case. He added that the heavily promoted idea of a peace conference is unacceptable for Russia as it "involves another attempt to push through the unworkable 'peace formula' that ignores Russian interests."Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in turn, stated that the negotiating process on Ukraine without Russia's involvement is meaningless, but it is necessary to understand what peace formula will be discussed at the summit in Switzerland.Moscow has repeatedly stated its readiness for negotiations, but Kiev has legislatively prohibited them. The West calls on Russia to negotiate but at the same time ignores Kiev's constant refusal to engage in dialogue. Earlier, the Kremlin stated that there are currently no preconditions for the situation in Ukraine to move towards a peaceful resolution and Russia's absolute priority is to achieve the goals of the special operation, which is currently possible only by military means. Kremlin officials have said that the situation in Ukraine could move towards peace only if the de facto situation and new realities are taken into account, and that all of Moscow's demands are well known. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240520/zelensky-emerges-as-first-obstacle-to-peaceful-resolution-of-ukrainian-conflict-1118544181.html russia switzerland ukraine Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Lavrov about Zelensky emotional breakdown Sputnik International Lavrov about Zelensky emotional breakdown 2024-05-21T10:38+0000 true PT1M22S 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International sergey lavrov, volodymyr zelensky, zelensky peace formula, ukrainian conflict, ukrainian crisis, war in ukraine, peace summit in switzerland On Sunday, Irans President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian died in a helicopter crash after returning from a dam opening ceremony at the border with Azerbaijan, amid heavy fog. Although the second-highest ranking figure in Iranian politics after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, Raisis death is unlikely to bring about significant change domestically or internationally, according to analysts. President Raisi was not the most powerful person in Iran, and was not the most powerful president in Iranian history. He was widely viewed as one of the weakest, The BBCs Lyse Doucet commented, pointing to the record low turnout in the 2021 election amid suppression of Raisis rivals. He was a middle-ranking cleric, a leading conservative, a hardliner who showed unconditional loyalty to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei who is the ultimate authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran, she added. Similar to Raisi, Interim President Mohammad Mokhber, who previously served as Vice-President, is considered close to the Supreme Leader and shares the same ideology. Mokhber will be facilitating the election of a new president within a maximum of 50 days, according to an announcement by Khamenei. It is widely expected that the next president will follow the same political direction under Khameneis rule, despite widespread discontent with the government among large parts of the population. In March, millions of Iranians boycotted the parliamentary vote highlighting how serious the crisis of legitimacy has become for Irans ruling class. Stay informed with The Christian Daily Newsletter Sign up Shifting societal attitudes and changing spiritual atmosphere despite oppression Home to a diverse population of some 84 million people, Iran has often featured in international headlines as a politically destabilizing force in the region that feeds its proxies and allies in neighboring countries with weapons and financial support, while suppressing dissent at home. However, economic pressures, shifting attitudes in the younger generation, and recent events that led to public outcries against the government have led to a change in the atmosphere in society. Most notably the death of 22-year old Mahsa Amini at the hands of Irans morality police who arrested her because she allegedly wasnt wearing her hijab properly. Mass protests followed across the country but were violently suppressed by Raisis government. In a recent interview with Christian Daily International, Iran Alive Ministries Lily Meschi pointed to spiritual changes taking place underneath the visible cultural shifts, as she witnesses how many Iranians the majority of them women are coming to faith. This despite Iran being among the countries where Christians are experiencing the highest levels of persecution in the world. Women are mostly oppressed in Iran through so many different laws that are just set against them. Inequality, wages, family laws: everything is just set up in a way that is against women. They are treated as second-class citizens as it is a very male dominant society in Iran, Meschi shares. And so they are just fed up with being subjugated to all the rules, the Islamic rule and also the male dominance, and they have become braver and bolder just like the younger generation today, she says. After years of oppression and strict Islamic rules that restrict many aspects of public and private life, people have grown tired with the status quo and are longing for change. Especially the newer generation, Gen Z in particular, they are standing up for their rights, demanding freedom, something where their parents and grandparents could not prevail against this government. And they now are willing to put their lives on the line for their freedom, Meschi commented. Women have been oppressed and under pressure for so long. When they realize their identity in Christ as the daughter of the Most High God who has bestowed His grace and mercy and favor upon them and has chosen them, blessed come, accepted them, they become fired up for Christ, she said. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/macron-to-visit-new-caledonia-amid-ongoing-protests-1118565717.html Macron to Visit New Caledonia Amid Ongoing Protests Macron to Visit New Caledonia Amid Ongoing Protests Sputnik International French President Emmanuel Macron will pay a visit to the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia amid ongoing protests on the island over planned electoral reforms, French Cabinet spokesperson Prisca Thevenot said on Tuesday. 2024-05-21T13:30+0000 2024-05-21T13:30+0000 2024-05-21T13:44+0000 world france emmanuel macron new caledonia protest political protest protest rally social protest public protest https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/05/15/1118566213_0:320:3071:2047_1920x0_80_0_0_70cc820bf884be3c2fd1f2020f177dbf.jpg The president will be accompanied by a delegation of high-ranking officials, she added.French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal is expected to visit the region after the European parliamentary elections scheduled to take place from June 6-9, French TV broadcaster reported earlier in the day. The damage from the riots organized by the New Caledonian protesters might cost about a billion euro ($1.086 billion), David Guyenne, the president of the New Caledonia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told Franceinfo radio station on Tuesday. At least 200 enterprises have been burned and destroyed and, as a result, more than 2,000 employees are left without work, Guyenne said, adding that the riots affected both trade, industrial and service companies. On May 13, a peaceful demonstration against a voting rights bill spiraled into unrest in Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia, and neighboring towns. Protesters, including many minors, looted and set fire to stores, gas stations, pharmacies, and car centers. On Thursday, French lawmakers voted in favor of the bill as the unrest continued. The controversial bill lowers the residency bar for voting rights for people living in New Caledonia to 10 years. Pro-independence forces say it would dilute the share of the vote held by indigenous Kanak people that make up about 40% of the population. As of today, only those who were on the electoral register during the 1998 Noumea Agreement, which gave the territory a higher degree of autonomy, along with their children, have the right to vote. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240516/why-cant-macron-afford-to-lose-french-pacific-territory-of-new-caledonia-1118471324.html france new caledonia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International france new caledonia political protest, caledonia protest, france colony calefonia, macron caledonia, macron protest https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/milei-blazes-trail-of-diplomatic-destruction-in-spain-following-visit-this-weekend-1118554970.html Milei Blazes Trail of Diplomatic Destruction in Spain Following Visit This Weekend Milei Blazes Trail of Diplomatic Destruction in Spain Following Visit This Weekend Sputnik International Argentina President Javier Milei is facing backlash after he described Begona Gomez, the wife of Spains Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, as corrupt and described socialism as cursed and carcinogenic. 2024-05-21T05:46+0000 2024-05-21T05:46+0000 2024-05-21T05:46+0000 world javier milei pedro sanchez argentina spain madrid nato brics right-wing populist anarchists https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/0c/0e/1115586288_0:200:3072:1928_1920x0_80_0_0_c7789193f15482af741585745beca515.jpg Argentina President Javier Milei is facing backlash after he described Begona Gomez, the wife of Spains Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, as corrupt and described socialism as cursed and carcinogenic. Milei made his comments during a rally in Madrid that was organized by Spains far-right Vox party.Following the presidents explosive comments, Spain recalled its ambassador from Buenos Aires for consultations. Meanwhile, the Spanish opposition, which is led by the Peoples Party, suggested that Sanchez was wrong to raise the personal conflict to a diplomatic level.Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares says he expects an apology from Milei, but his spokesperson said in an interview late on Sunday that he would not apologize, and instead suggested that Spanish officials should apologize for insults they made against him.In April, a court in Madrid opened a preliminary investigation into Gomez on suspicion of influence peddling and corruption. The cases claims were made by a right-wing anti-corruption group. Sanchez has described himself and his wife as victims of rightwing mudslinging.A group of business executives met with Milei on Saturday, including those from BBVA and Telefonica, but were forced to do damage control following Mileis comments. They said they agreed with a statement that was put out by the head of CEOE, Antonio Garamendi. The head said we emphatically reject Mileis comments, which were out of tone against the prime minister and his wife.In April, the US said it would allocate $40 million to support defense modernization of Argentina, which has declared its intention to become one of NATOs global partners, according to the US Embassy in Buenos Aires.Through its partnership with the US, Argentina will be able to purchase defense products, training services, and F-16 fighter jets. Milei, who was elected to the position in December 2023, has rejected the idea of peacefully working with BRICS partners including China, Brazil and Russia, and has instead pushed for a foreign policy that relies on a partnership with the US and Israel. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240419/us-to-allocate-40mln-in-defense-aid-to-argentina-wishing-to-be-natos-partner---embassy-1118007099.html argentina spain madrid Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Mary Manley https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/01/0b/1092187887_0:0:2048:2049_100x100_80_0_0_0c2cc4c84f89aff034cc55bb01fb6697.jpg Mary Manley https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/01/0b/1092187887_0:0:2048:2049_100x100_80_0_0_0c2cc4c84f89aff034cc55bb01fb6697.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Mary Manley https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/01/0b/1092187887_0:0:2048:2049_100x100_80_0_0_0c2cc4c84f89aff034cc55bb01fb6697.jpg javier milei, argentina, spain, prime minister pedro sanchez, protest, protestors, demonstrators, remove milei, no more milei, free argentine from milei, argentina-spain talks, argentina-spain relations, argentina-spain negotiations, diplomatic scandal, diplomatic confusion https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/romanian-senator-reveals-true-agenda-of-anti-serb-un-resolution-on-srebrenica-1118570794.html Romanian Senator Reveals True Agenda of Anti-Serb UN Resolution on Srebrenica Romanian Senator Reveals True Agenda of Anti-Serb UN Resolution on Srebrenica Sputnik International As the vote on the Western-backed UN General Assembly (UNGAs) resolution on the events of 1995 in Srebrenica nears, a Romanian politician has revealed to Sputnik the dire consequences that the yes vote would entail. Declaring Serbia a genocidal nation would be a dangerous precedent, she said. The vote is scheduled for May 23. 2024-05-21T18:39+0000 2024-05-21T18:39+0000 2024-05-21T18:41+0000 srebrenica marko djuric ratko mladic serbia belgrade un general assembly g7 yugoslavia yugoslav wars balkan wars https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/02/1c/1117044771_0:320:3072:2048_1920x0_80_0_0_d42b18ae779437fcaca235f30797de01.jpg A UNGA resolution on the events of 1995 in the Muslim-held enclave of Srebrenica during the Bosnian War was proposed by Germany and Rwanda. Serbias Foreign Minister Marko Djuric stated on Tuesday that while the draft is likely to gain support from the G7 and its allies, it faces opposition from Serbia, Russia, and several other nations, including Muslim countries. Serbian President Alexander Vucic Djucic is set to travel to New York City to personally oppose the resolution.The resolution against Serbia is a classic example of how the collective West wants to bring to their knees the states that affirm their independence. It is important that all countries that want to resist the advancement of the West take a stand and defend Serbia. It is not only about Serbia but about all free countries that can be condemned at any moment if the collective West gets angry and wishes to tarnish and marginalize them, Diana Sosoaca, a senator of the Romanian parliament and leader of the S.O.S. Romania party, told Sputnik in an exclusive interview.She says the resolution is nothing but the collective West's way of inventing culprits on the basis of which to colonize other states.In the Spring of 1992 with the beginning of the Bosnian War, an interethnic conflict between Serbs, Muslim autonomists, Bosnian Muslims, and Croats, all involved parties systematically attacked the civilian population. At the onset of the conflict, Srebrenica was under the control of the Army of the Republika Srpska and formations of local Serbs, but by May, regular Bosnian forces took control of the town, prompting a mass exodus of the Serbian population. By 1993, Srebrenica had become a Muslim enclave within the self-proclaimed state of Republika Srpska. The influx of refugees led to rampant diseases, food shortages, and an overwhelmed water supply and sewage system.In July 1995, after the town of Srebrenica came under the control of Serbian forces led by General Ratko Mladic, about 8,100 Muslims died or went missing, according to the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) and several other organizations. However, some experts consider these figures to be exaggerated. Later the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) declared them massacred by the Serbs headed by Mladic.The then-Yugoslav authorities in Belgrade in 1995 acknowledged the killing and condemned individual leaders of Bosnian Serbs for it. But Belgrade refused to see this tragedy as an act of genocide from the Serb side. The official position of Belgrade remains the same now, with a strong emphasis on the denial of the genocidal guilt of the Serbian nation.So, why would the worlds most authoritative discussion platform suddenly busy itself with the events that happened almost 29 years ago?Sosoaca noted the moment, with Americans and their allies pushing through this resolution. This unjust and unspeakable attack against the history and sovereignty of Serbia comes at a moment when Belgrade refuses to send weapons to Ukraine, does not apply for membership in NATO and defies Western efforts to make Belgrade recognize the "independence of Kosovo. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240324/natos-bombing-of-yugoslavia-sulmination-of-negligence-of-international-law-1117529198.html srebrenica serbia belgrade yugoslavia balkans Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Dmitry Babich https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/02/0e/1116778495_0:120:720:840_100x100_80_0_0_9bf47040bc46073fb920d272be7bc29d.jpg Dmitry Babich https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/02/0e/1116778495_0:120:720:840_100x100_80_0_0_9bf47040bc46073fb920d272be7bc29d.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Dmitry Babich https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/02/0e/1116778495_0:120:720:840_100x100_80_0_0_9bf47040bc46073fb920d272be7bc29d.jpg unga resolutions, unga drafts, war in yugoslavia, nato bombings of yugoslavia, what happened in the balkans, yugoslavia in the 1990s, srebrenica massacre, srebrenica, what happened in srebrenica, unsc srebrenica resolution https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/rot-in-jail-assange-granted-appeal-hearing-while-us-drags-its-feet-1118550922.html 'Rot in Jail': Assange Granted Appeal Hearing While US Drags Its Feet 'Rot in Jail': Assange Granted Appeal Hearing While US Drags Its Feet Sputnik International The WikiLeaks founder has been fighting various legal challenges for more than a decade, and currently faces 17 Espionage Act charges and a charge of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. 2024-05-21T02:34+0000 2024-05-21T02:34+0000 2024-05-21T02:34+0000 analysis julian assange donald trump joe biden united kingdom (uk) wikileaks london freedom of speech free press human rights https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/05/15/1118553060_0:320:3072:2048_1920x0_80_0_0_332737c234772731385ad8c06f389d3f.jpg After deferring a decision in March on whether Assange could bring his case to another appeal hearing, on Monday he was granted permission by two judges to challenge his extradition to the US on espionage charges. The WikiLeaks founder has been fighting various legal challenges for more than a decade, and currently faces 17 Espionage Act charges and a charge of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.On Monday, Canadian activist Yves Engler joined Sputniks Political Misfits to discuss prolonged legal troubles.Sputniks Michelle Witte opened the interview by noting that in March, the UK had required the US government to provide assurances to London that if Assange - who is Australian - was extradited, he would not face the death penalty and would be allowed a full defense. She adds that while Assange will not be taken to a supermax prison, he will have to remain in Belmarsh Prison - which is located in southeast London - while the Biden administration drags their feet on the issue.There is a faction that wants to make an example to punish Julian Assange. Youre not going to reveal the secrets of the empire and think that you can, and we're gonna do what we can to make that hurt - that's one element, Engler told Political Misfits. And the other element is that this is astoundingly embarrassing for a self-described liberal, democratic government to be doing this.Witte noted that the US has not made any promises that Assange will be permitted a First Amendment defense. The decision by High Court judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson came on Monday after Assanges lawyers argued that the US did not provide adequate assurances that he would have the same free speech protections as an American citizen were he to be extradited from Britain.It seems like the tactic of the Biden administration and maybe any Democratic administration is just to drag this out procedurally until Julian Assange dies in prison, Witte added, before asking Engler how a potential presidency under former President Donald Trump could affect Assange.Like I said, the Canadian government, which goes on about these press awards, has a whole agreement with this initiative with the UK government about freedom of the press around the world, and they have events not far from the Belmarsh prison and they never mention the fact that Assange is rotting away. And, as you pointed out, he didn't even show up at the court because he is in such ill health, he added.It was reported in 2017 that WikiLeaks Twitter account was communicating with Donald Trump Jr. - the former presidents son - during which WikiLeaks urged the Trump campaign to reject the 2016 presidential election results if Trump were to lose. The following year, the Democratic National Committee filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit in Manhattan against Russia, the Trump campaign, WikiLeaks and Julian Assange on alleged conspiracy theories. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240410/biden-says-considering-australias-request-to-end-julian-assange-prosecution-1117854053.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20240418/biden-administration-lacks-moral-character-regarding-assanges-extradition--1117987935.html united kingdom (uk) london Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Mary Manley https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/01/0b/1092187887_0:0:2048:2049_100x100_80_0_0_0c2cc4c84f89aff034cc55bb01fb6697.jpg Mary Manley https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/01/0b/1092187887_0:0:2048:2049_100x100_80_0_0_0c2cc4c84f89aff034cc55bb01fb6697.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Mary Manley https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/01/0b/1092187887_0:0:2048:2049_100x100_80_0_0_0c2cc4c84f89aff034cc55bb01fb6697.jpg julian assange misdemeanor, julian assange plea deal, julian assange reprieve, julian assange extradiction delayed, julian assange political persecution, julian assange kidnapped, julian assange murdered, jullian assange spied on, biden julian assange, julian assange first amendment, julian assange death penalty, freedom of speech, freedom of press, free press https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/russia-disappointed-with-results-of-unsc-vote-on-draft-against-arms-race-in-space-1118557286.html Russia Disappointed With Results of UNSC Vote on Draft Against Arms Race in Space Russia Disappointed With Results of UNSC Vote on Draft Against Arms Race in Space Sputnik International Moscow is disappointed with the results of the recent vote in the UN Security Council on a draft resolution to prevent an arms race in space, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday. 2024-05-21T07:17+0000 2024-05-21T07:17+0000 2024-05-21T07:17+0000 world russia un security council (unsc) russian foreign ministry arms race arms race space https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/03/14/1117438850_0:133:3012:1827_1920x0_80_0_0_cdab946e2be725047d12c5b44a190278.jpg On Monday, the UN Security Council failed to adopt a Russia-drafted resolution on preventing an arms race in space. The resolution was rejected in a 7-7 vote with one member country abstaining. The United States and the United Kingdom were among those who voted against. Another opportunity to ensure the prevention of an arms race in outer space has been missed due to the fault of the United States and its allies, the diplomat added. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240520/west-confirms-its-intention-to-militarize-space---nebenzia-1118551806.html russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International militarization of space, arms race in space, space military, russia against arms race in space, un security council arms race space https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/sri-lanka-wishes-to-join-brics-looks-for-indias-support--foreign-minister--1118559571.html Sri Lanka Wishes to Join BRICS, Looks for Indias Support Foreign Minister Sri Lanka Wishes to Join BRICS, Looks for Indias Support Foreign Minister Sputnik International BRICS was established in 2009 as a cooperation platform for the world's largest emerging economies, bringing together Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. On January 1, 2024, the bloc was expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. 2024-05-21T10:37+0000 2024-05-21T10:37+0000 2024-05-21T10:37+0000 economy brics sri lanka russia india brazil https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/0c/0e/1115581740_0:0:3360:1890_1920x0_80_0_0_f7de4491df408f1ce23190d8fb7974ff.jpg Sri Lanka plans to join BRICS and seeks to gain support of India who is already a member of the organization, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry told the country's Ani newspaper in an interview published on Monday. The countrys government will assess the sub-committee's recommendations so as to have "multiple options," the minister added. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has been invited to take part in the BRICS foreign ministers meeting in Russia, the minister said. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240509/brics-blocs-bullion-buy-up-buoys-trend-toward-dedollarization-1118365980.html sri lanka russia brazil Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International sri lanka brics, brics expansion, india brics, sri lanka wants to join brics, brics expansion, brics enlargement https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/the-eu-media-gets-a-pass-on-misinformation-about-fico---analyst-1118555233.html EU Media Given Pass on Misinformation About Fico EU Media Given Pass on Misinformation About Fico Sputnik International While the EU is imposing draconian censorship measures, its media and leaders continue to spread disinformation about Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, even after his assassination attempt. 2024-05-21T05:36+0000 2024-05-21T05:36+0000 2024-05-21T08:03+0000 analysis robert fico gretchen whitmer donald trump slovakia european union (eu) sputnik russia europe censorship https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/05/12/1118510526_0:161:3069:1887_1920x0_80_0_0_656ccc1240fe0e3f1cccd37495b6ca21.jpg The EU censorship apparatus has lowered its mask and shown that it has no issue spreading misinformation, as long as that information supports its narratives. This is evidenced by its coverage of Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, both before and after his assassination attempt.The alleged shooter, according to Slovakian authorities, was motivated to assassinate Fico because he disagreed with the policy of Ficos government on Ukraine, as well as his reforms to the judicial system and public broadcasting in Slovakia. All three issues were criticized by other EU nations and Slovakian opposition parties.The idea that speech could inspire violence has long been a bludgeon that pro-censorship Western neo-liberals have used to justify the powers over speech that they seek. When the FBI announced in 2020 that it foiled a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, both Whitmer and then-candidate for President Joe Biden blamed then-President Donald Trump for fomenting the anger that led to the plot.Nevermind that it was later revealed that the FBI was largely responsible for the planning and logistics of the plot and several of the defendants were exonerated by a jury of their peers, it was Donald Trumps words that inspired the conspirators to plot the Governors kidnapping and eventual execution.While the censorship regime in the US is constrained by the First Amendment, forcing them to use alternative methods, in the EU it has become extremely powerful. Sputnik, RT and other Russian media outlets are banned in EU countries and the recently passed Digital Services Act forces social media companies to comply with governmental censorship demands or face massive fines.But when it comes to Fico and the mainstream press in the EU, misinformation is allowed to flow freely, even after an assassination attempt on the world leader.As pointed out in Naked Capitalism, there has been a bevy of articles depicting Fico as a pro-Russian politician who is serving the Kremlin over his people.But Fico was never shy about his - and his SMER partys- stance on Ukraine: That aid to Ukraine was not helping Slovakia and that the war has hurt the country militarily and economically. Not one more bullet was a common slogan during his campaign. And Fico was democratically elected on that platform, promising after being elected to do everything in his power to kickstart peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.More killing is not going to help anyone, Fico said at the time.But this was enough to get him labeled as Pro-Putin despite large support from ordinary Slovakian voters.It was even said that Fico was a threat to NATO and the EU themselves.Such cliches became commonplace in mainstream European press against any non-systemic political leader who stands for his or her country's sovereignty or veers from the EUs common foreign policy, not necessarily in unison with Russia, argues Sputnik columnist Dmitry Babich.But even after Fico was nearly killed by a Slovakian shooter who was at least partially motivated by his disagreements with Fico, the EU censorship regime continues to allow media in the bloc to blame Fico for his assassination."[The alleged shooter is] basically on the same side as all of the EU media, the EU apparat, all the EU political figures who have been denouncing Fico and Slovakia for their supposed pro-Putin, for his supposed pro-Putin agenda, for his being in the service of the Kremlin, Szamuely explained. [The media has] come up with another story, which is that, somehow, Fico brought this on himself because he's such a polarizing figure. He's so divisive and the political atmosphere in Slovakia is very, very toxic. A lot of hatred, a lot of hate speech. And, who's behind it all? Robert Fico."Shortly after Fico was shot and before there were any indications that he would survive, Sky News all but justified the shooting.[Slovakia and Hungary] dipped their toes in against aid to Ukraine and against any sort of sympathy to Kiev. They keep saying look, we want the war to finish, and by that they mean they want the Russians to succeed and then the war will be over and Ukraine will just surrender and give up territory now thats very divisive in Slovakia, its divisive in the EU, so its not surprising that this sort of event might take place, the anchor said.It seems that the fear of hate speech creating violence is only a concern in the EU when that hate speech concerns the EU. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240519/life-of-slovak-prime-minister-fico-not-in-danger-after-assassination-attempt---govt-1118528943.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20240518/fico-attack-conjures-up-ghosts-of-maverick-european-politicians-strange-deaths-1118517927.html slovakia russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Ian DeMartino Ian DeMartino News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Ian DeMartino robert fico assassination, censorship in the eu, misinformation in the eu, who are russia's allies, slovakian prime minister shot, who shot robert fico https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/us-disregards-iccs-authority-on-arrest-warrant-against-netanyahu--1118552163.html US Disregards ICC's Authority on Arrest Warrant Against Netanyahu US Disregards ICC's Authority on Arrest Warrant Against Netanyahu Sputnik International Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced on Monday that he is seeking arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yehiya Sinwar. 2024-05-21T05:40+0000 2024-05-21T05:40+0000 2024-05-21T05:40+0000 analysis dan kovalik benjamin netanyahu gaza strip international criminal court (icc) hamas israel joe biden us genocide https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/05/15/1118555784_0:320:3072:2048_1920x0_80_0_0_c1c03d282edf316901cb4f7291b7f9f8.jpg Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced on Monday that he is seeking arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yehiya Sinwar. They are charging the two leaders, who are at the heart of the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, of war crimes and crimes against humanity.On Monday, the US human rights lawyer, writer and activist Dan Kovalik joined Sputnik's The Critical Hour to discuss the charges against the two leaders and the decision's possible fallout.They have jurisdiction because why? Not because Israel ratified the Rome Statute of the ICC nor did the US, but because Hamas did. They're actually the ones who care more about international law than either the US or Israel, which is interesting, Kovalik suggested.Sputniks Garland Nixon addressed the irony of US politicians suggesting that the ICC does not have authoritative power over the US nor Israel; however, last year they had urged the ICC to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin and his enablers accountable for aspects of the ongoing war in Ukraine.Israel is fighting a just war for survival, and the ICC is attempting to equate Israeli officials to the evil terrorists who perpetrated the October 7th massacre, US House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement on Monday. In the absence of leadership from the White House, Congress is reviewing all options, including sanctions, to punish the ICC and ensure its leadership faces consequences if they proceed.Sputniks Wilmer Leon noted that the ICC is prosecuting the two world leaders for war crimes related to the events of October 7th. But not only did Israeli and US officials lie about details of the Hamas attack on Nova musical festival attendees, Israel has been occupying the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and has been leading its occupation with repression, institutionalized discrimination and the systematic abuses of Palestine peoples rights for over 50 years, said the Human Rights Watch in an article from 2017.Moreover, as you say, of course, Israel, it is correct as the occupying power does not have the right of self-defense vis-a-vis the Palestinians, he continues. You don't have the right of self-defense against people you occupy, right? Just like a slave holder doesn't have a right of self-defense against a slave uprising, right? And of course, the US and Israel don't see it that way, but I think that is the correct way to see it.Regarding Netanyahu and how he is expected to conduct himself following the ICCs criminal charges, Kovalik suggested that most countries would be inclined to have him arrested pursuant to these warrants. He added that the US may be a safe place, as the US government has suggested that they will not honor the warrants.The US Congress has made it clear that they don't believe the ICC has any authority over the US or its allies, only against its enemies, which, again, is obscene and ridiculous from a legal point of view, the lawyer said. That is not the rule of law. And now we're finally seeing that maybe the rule of law is asserting itself. And it took this horrible, horrible genocide in Gaza for that to happen.Hamas launched a large-scale attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and abducting some 240 others. Following the attack, Israel launched retaliatory strikes, ordered a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip. Over 35,400 people have been killed so far by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, local authorities said. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240520/us-lawmakers-to-seek-sanctions-on-icc-after-netanyahu-arrest-warrant---senator-graham-1118547738.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20240513/egypt-to-join-south-africas-genocide-case-against-israel-1118403153.html gaza strip israel Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Mary Manley https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/01/0b/1092187887_0:0:2048:2049_100x100_80_0_0_0c2cc4c84f89aff034cc55bb01fb6697.jpg Mary Manley https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/01/0b/1092187887_0:0:2048:2049_100x100_80_0_0_0c2cc4c84f89aff034cc55bb01fb6697.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Mary Manley https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/01/0b/1092187887_0:0:2048:2049_100x100_80_0_0_0c2cc4c84f89aff034cc55bb01fb6697.jpg genocide, ethnic cleansing, humanitarian disaster, humanitarian catastrophe, humanitarian ceasefire, israel-hamas conflict, gaza strip crisis, shelling of gaza, gaza devastation, israel-palestine conflict, palestine-israel conflict, israeli-palestinian conflict, palestinian-israeli, zionist regime, zionists, hamas attack, israeli strikes, israeli forces, hostages, israeli military, hamas fighters, hamas soldiers, hamas military, killings of civilians, civilian infrastructure, civilians dead, civilians die, israel kills civilians, civilian casualties, civilian deaths, indiscriminate shelling, indiscriminate killing, war crimes https://sputnikglobe.com/20240521/western-plan-to-push-russia-to-knees-economically-failed---hungarian-fm-1118565980.html Western Plan to 'Push Russia to Knees Economically Failed - Hungarian FM Western Plan to 'Push Russia to Knees Economically Failed - Hungarian FM Sputnik International Anti-Russian sanctions as part of the EU and US Ukraine strategy have "failed entirely", Hungarys minister of foreign affairs and trade has stated. 2024-05-21T17:40+0000 2024-05-21T17:40+0000 2024-05-21T17:40+0000 world russia hungary peter szijjarto sanctions european union (eu) nato ukraine ukraine crisis nato military presence https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/05/15/1118568059_0:0:3072:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_3b5f51564726f68a86491cffdf91b933.jpg Hungarys Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto has blasted Western sanctions against Russia.Speaking at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation in Tokyo on Tuesday, he said that his view contradicts the "liberal mainstream" in Europe but is in line with the opinion of the global majority.Szijjarto recalled that when EU members initially discussed the first package of anti-Russian sanctions more than two years ago, he wondered what the purpose of these restrictions would be. According to him, he was told that the goal was "to push Russia to its knees economically" in order to end the Ukraine conflict.He went on to point out the fact that some Western countries that boast about getting rid of Russian energy resources are, in fact, purchasing them indirectly. The minister cited oil supplies from India as an example.Statements on Sending Troops to Ukraine Are CrazySzijjarto touched upon divisive rhetoric some European officials have indulged in when bringing up a potential deployment of Western troops to Ukraine.He called to do "everything to avoid a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia."Speaking about the danger of such a development, the minister stressed that "there is no way the Hungarian military will take part in it [sending troops to Ukraine], there is no way Hungarian territory will host such actions, there is no way a single eurocent of the Hungarian taxpayers will be allocated for it." https://sputnikglobe.com/20240516/kissingers-nightmare-us-bid-to-crush-russia--china-economically-only-drives-them-closer-1118474909.html russia hungary ukraine Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International what sanctions did us adopt against russia, is us limiting import of russian fuel, does russia export fuel to the us, what fuels does russia export to the us, what is enriched uranium, is us struggling with enriched uranium, who is global uranium leader, are russia and us cooperating in nuclear industry Heza Handy Man posted a hefty upset in the $11,600 Preferred Handicap Pace at The Raceway at Western Fair District on Monday, May 20 as he won as the longest shot on the board at 23-1 odds. Brett MacDonald and the Michael Horner trainee got away fifth from post five as the first panel clicked in :28. Hollys Treasure (Dan Clements) initiated a first-over bid through the :57.4 half and Heza Handy Man followed his lead. Heza Handy Man continued in fourth on the outside through the three-quarters in 1:25.4 and going into the final turn. Heza Handy Man battled against the favourite, Arties Ideal (Samuel Fillion), down the stretch. At the wire, Heza Handy Man prevailed by a half length in 1:55. Drinkin Buddy (Garrett Rooney) completed the triactor. Mark Horner owns the seven-year-old gelding. Heza Handy Man (Big Jim - Cassidy Seelster) is a winner of five races from 18 starts this year and 32 races from 131 career starts. He has banked $173,823. At odds of 23-1, he returned $47.10 to his backers. R Royal Port made every pole a winning one en route to victory in the $11,600 Preferred Trot. Travis Henry and the Gerard Demers student maintained a 1-1/2-length lead through panels in :27.3, :58 and 1:27.2 before winning by two lengths in 1:58. Treasured Tee (Scott Young) and Scene A Magician (Rooney) rounded out the top three. La Ferme Tag Inc. owns the five-year-old gelded son of Archangel out of the Muscle Mass mare World Class Izzy. R Royal Port won his sixth race from 15 starts this year and eighth career tally. In 50 lifetime starts, he has banked $92,690. R Royal Port paid $6.10 to win at 2-1 odds. To view Monday's harness racing results, click the following link: Monday Results - The Raceway at Western Fair District. (Standardbred Canada) 17 killed, 8 injured as pickup vehicle falls into gorge in India's Chhattisgarh Xinhua) 09:26, May 21, 2024 NEW DELHI, May 20 (Xinhua) -- At least 17 people were killed and eight others injured Monday after a pickup vehicle carrying them skidded off the road and fell into a gorge in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, police said. The accident occurred near Bahpani village in Kabirdham district, about 173 km northwest of Raipur, the capital city of Chhattisgarh. Officials said the pickup truck was carrying 25 workers returning home after plucking tendu leaves from a forest area. Police have registered a case and ordered an investigation into the accident. Local media reported that the workers belonged to Baiga tribal community, who were involved in the bidi-making business, for which they collect tendu leaves. Bidis are small hand-rolled cigarettes made of tobacco and wrapped in tendu leaf. Deadly road accidents in India are often caused by overloading, poor road conditions and reckless driving. Around 150,000 people are killed every year in about half a million road accidents across India, officials said. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) We hope that, as Russian and Chinese evangelicals, we can learn from each other because we have so many similar approaches to things, said Rev. Vitaly Vlashenko, General Secretary of the Russia Evangelical Alliance (REA), following the first official visit of a Russian evangelical delegation to China on April 12-20. In an interview with China Christian Daily, he said that Christians in Russia and China could benefit from stronger connections as they both live in communist countries, share one of the longest borders in the world, and have seen significant migration back and forth in the past ten years. And while the Russian Federation and the Peoples Republic of China maintain good relationships, he said, we also need to have good and healthy Christian relationships in an open and trustful atmosphere. Visiting Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing, the four Russian leaders met with representatives of the China Christian Council (CCC), Nanjing Seminary and Amity Christian Charitable Foundation, which prints Bibles for many national Bible societies, including the Russian Bible Society. They also visited several local churches. Apart from Vlashenko, a Baptist minister, the delegation included Dr. William Yoder, a journalist and writer for the REA who also represented the Omsk-based Evangelical-Lutheran Church in the Urals, Siberia and the Far East (ELCUSFE), Rev. Leonid Kartavenko who chairs the Council of the All-Russian Fellowship of Evangelical-Christians (VSEKh) and co-chairs the Advisory Council for the Heads of the Protestant Churches of Russia, and Rev. Igor Karasev, the head bishop of VSEKh who leads the Expert Council of the Advisory Council for the Heads of the Protestant Churches of Russia. In Shanghai, CCC President Rev. Wu Wei welcomed the Russian leaders and shared about the landscape of Christianity in China, the background of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) and current challenges of the Church in China. Stay informed with The Christian Daily Newsletter Sign up Three-Self originally refers to a mission principle going back to the 1800s and stands for self-governance, self-support, and self-propagation, which emphasizes financial independence from foreign sources and indigenous mission-efforts. The CCC&TSPM represent the 38 million members of government-registered churches and is a member of the World Council of Churches. The unregistered churches so-called house churches are independent from the government and are estimated in the tens of millions. Wei also talked about the ongoing campaign to sinicize Christianity, an effort by the Chinese Communist Party-led government to make Christianity more Chinese. (Christian Daily International has previously reported about the impact on churches with concerns about the increasing erosion of religious freedom.) Thanking the guests for their historic visit, Wei highlighted the importance of developing and maintaining bi-lateral relations between the Russian and Chinese churches, according to comments by Vlashenko to Christian Daily International. Since 2017, the REA has been establishing good and friendly relations with the [Chinese churches], Vlashenko said. In the summer of 2017, the first small delegation of the REA visited China. Since then, there has been correspondence and exchange of information with the CCC. This years first official visit came at the invitation of the CCC, he noted, and expressed his hope to welcome a Chinese delegation to Russia in due course. We expect to receive a delegation from the China Christian Council to Russia, so they can get to know us. We hope we can help each other, pray for each other, and do some projects together, he said. In his interview with China Christian Daily, Vlashenko specified his plans, saying, If the Lord is willing, we hope to visit China next year, bring more pastors from Russia to know China, and continue this relationship. We want this bridge to work on both sides. He hopes for a relationship of mutual respect and mutual blessing, which will benefit believers in both countries. We want to provide Chinese people who want to come to Russia with a good environment and spiritual care, and we have the same wish for those Russians who come to China to have a good environment and spiritual care, he said. We encourage, especially Chinese churches in big cities, to have translations for Russian-speaking people so that they can understand the gospel in their language, he added, and said he hopes that Russian believers can learn more from believers in China. I believe that in the near future, the Church in China can send many missionaries and help to make this world better. As Asia is the most-rapidly developing economic block, we want to see how the Spirit of God is moving in this territory, he said. He added that he learned an important lesson in China, The difference between the kingdom of God and religion. Religion is looking for members, but the kingdom of God is looking for citizens. I hope China will become a wonderful place for Christians. Citizens always look for opportunities to bring good news to the end of the world. Russia is such a place where we need your help to bring in the fire of the gospel. I ask each of you to pray for Russia, just as we Russian Christians pray for China, he said. With the ongoing war in Ukraine, Vlashenko was also asked how it affects churches in Russia. Acknowledging the deep pain, he said that all evangelicals wish and pray that this conflict will have a peaceful result. We hope for fewer civilian casualties because both sides have lost their sons, fathers, and children. Its very painful for all the nations involved in this, he added, and emphasized that Russian evangelicals are looking for a peaceful and reconciling dialogue with their neighbors. Shortly after the war began two years ago, Vlashenko sent an open letter, which was published by the World Evangelical Alliance, in which he lamented the military invasion and prayed for forgiveness. Today, as a citizen and as General Secretary of the Russian Evangelical Alliance, I apologize to all those who have suffered, lost loved ones and relatives, or lost their place of residence as a result of this military conflict, he wrote at that time, emphasizing the deep sorrow, bitterness and regret for decisions taken by the leadership of my country. My prayer is that you will find strength from the Lord to extend your hand of solidarity and forgiveness, so we can live as the people of God to our world. May our heavenly Father help us all. Atlee Bender gave another aggressive steer to Odds On Blockchain and carved a great trip to snag a 1:49.3 victory in the $49,315 Open Pace at Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel on Monday, May 20. Leaving from post one, Bender pushed for the lead after a :26.2 first quarter to pocket Muskateer Hanover (Tony Hall) and shuffle Rocks Shining Star (Jack Killeen) past the stands first time. Odds On Blockchain maintained his momentum past a :54.2 half but soon faced a fierce blitz from Rocks Shining Star up the backside, who then pinned Odds On Blockchain into the pocket to three-quarters in 1:21.1. Rocks Shining Star motored through the final turn while Odds On Blockchain loomed on his foe's helmet and angled wide for the drive to grab the lead in mid-stretch in progress to a neck victory. Muskateer Hanover darted up the pylons to take second from Rocks Shining Star with Saddle Up (Marvin Luna) grabbing fourth. Odds On Blockchain, five-year-old gelding by JK Endofanera, won his 13th race from 54 starts and has now earned $194,773. Erv Miller trains the $15.92 winner for owner Doug Overhiser. Hungry For Love (Joey Putnam) later dipped from the Kentucky Sire Stakes and clinched a top-class win in the final stride of the $49,315 Fillies & Mares Open Pace in 1:51.4. Putnam pushed Hungry For Love to the fore through a :26.1 first quarter before settling for the pocket behind Sweet Charlie (Atlee Bender) with a lap remaining. Sweet Charlie coasted to the half in :55 as Ainthesamewithoutu (Tony Hall) rushed from the back on the rim to challenge for the lead. Ainthesamewithoutu ground to put a head in front while under a snug hold from Hall despite Sweet Charlie keeping her parked to three-quarters in 1:23. Sweet Charlie levelled off through the final turn as Ainthesamewithoutu forged to the lead on the spin for home, but Putnam squeezed past Sweet Charlie and the pylons to come charging for the lead late. Hungry For Love slid through and notched the win by a nose at the beam over Ainthesamewithoutu while Southwind Bella (Brandon Bates) closed for third and Sweet Charlie settled for fourth. Ron Burke trains Hungry For Love, a four-year-old mare by Stay Hungry, for owners Thomas and Scott Dillon. Hungry For Love won her 14th race from 38 starts and has now banked $471,821. She paid $3.12 to win. The Anette Lorentzon barn sparkled on Monday with three wins on the 13-race card. Lorentzon scored a quickfire double with Seeuontheotherside ($2.44) and Mister Dad ($6.08) then later sealed the hat trick with a win by Sprinter N ($3.02). As the sun was beginning to set on a great day of harness racing at Oak Grove, the United States Harness Drivers Club (USHDC) -- specifically Club member Peter Kleinhans -- was about to put icing on the cake. Kleinhans, whose history in harness racing stretches back nearly four decades, was in the sulky back of his newly acquired six-year-old Sunshine Beach gelding Jim Strikesitrich and proceeded to scorch the Oak Grove oval in 1:52.1. The margin of victory was a neck short of 10 lengths as Jim Strikesitrich was on-the-bit leaving and, after a quick yield to Ayr Pioneer GB at the sizzling :26.3 opener, reclaimed command and carded subsequent fractions of :54.4 and 1:23.3 before a :28.3 finale pierced the wire in 1:52.1. Not only was this a seasonal best, it was a lifetime best performance, three-fifths of a second faster than his previous best over the larger Hoosier Park oval last season. Left in the wake of Jim Strikesitrich was Captain Mckee (Jafari Frazier) with Shes A Fireball (Cassidy Whitton) third. Mingo (Jill Brown) and Danza (John Mungillo) picked up the minor awards. Roni Vandervort trains for Kleinhans as Jim Strikesitrich won for the second time in nine starts this semester and 21st time career-wise, sending his lifetime earnings to over the $150,000 mark. Driving sparingly in amateur events, Kleinhans now has six wins this year in 27 starts -- his most successes in a season since 2005 when he won 10 times. He now has 70 career wins -- and his second straight success over the past two amateur sessions, having won with Paperback Thriller last week. The winner went off at 53 cents to a dollar -- penny breakage in Kentucky -- and paid $3.06 to win. Live harness racing resumes at Oak Grove on Tuesday, May 21 at 3 p.m. (CDT) and features a carryover in the last-race Super High 5 worth $1,383.05. Free program pages for every race day, courtesy of TrackMaster, are available on the Oak Grove Racing website. (With files from Oak Grove Racing & USHDC) Marvin Luna is enjoying a rapid rise as a driver thanks to taking it slowly. The 22-year-old Luna began driving in 2020, but never topped 48 starts in a season until breaking out with 594 last year. He won 83 times in 2023, a nearly 14 per cent clip, and guided his horses to $1.11 million in purses. Now he is in position to shatter those numbers. Luna has won 64 of 407 starts this season and earned $969,553 in purses. He is the leading driver at Harrahs Hoosier Park, where his 48 victories have already surpassed his 2023 total (46) at the Indiana oval, and he is number two in the standings at Oak Grove Racing & Gaming with 16 wins. Its been good; Im very happy, said Luna. Im just grateful for everything thats happened. I hope it keeps going well. Luna, a New Jersey native, was introduced to harness racing by his father, Angel. When he was a teenager, Luna worked for trainer Trent Stohler and later spent four years with Tony Alagna. It was during his time with Alagna that Luna began to cultivate an outlook and style that he credits with his success. Ive worked hard to get where I am, but I think the reason Im doing so well is all because I was patient, said Luna. When I was 16 or 17, I wanted things to happen right away. I wanted drives. Tony is the man that taught me patience. He always made sure I had a level head, made sure I thought things through in a race. I drive patient; my mindset is being patient. That is whats led me to where I am today. Luna had 17 career wins entering 2023. Last years season began slowly, with him getting 50 drives and three wins through the first six months, but he got rolling from there. Luna won 80 of 544 drives the rest of the year. Helping ignite his season was a horse named Topville Ohsolucky, a two-year-old female pacer owned by Lunas father. Luna had not yet driven at Hoosier Park in 2023 when he arrived to sit behind the filly in the first round of the Indiana Sire Stakes on July 12. He guided Topville Ohsolucky to a second-place finish, added another second in the next round, and things began to snowball from there. She was the only reason I went to Hoosier, said Luna. I was driving three hours from Lexington to drive one horse. She was finishing second and I think people started to notice me. It was because of that filly and my father that I got my foot in the door. This year, Luna has posted a 16.5 per cent win rate at Hoosier, best of any driver there with at least 34 starts. He is enjoying his success, but not letting it consume him. I dont let it get too much to me because I know they can take that leading driver title from me at any time, said Luna. I try not to worry about it. I just try to go out there and do the best I can. If Im leading driver at the end of the day, thats great. Driving more frequently has helped Luna accelerate his comfort level in the sulky. Every time I get on the racetrack, I learn something new, and I make less mistakes, said Luna. Im a lot more confident in myself now. I still make mistakes, I just try not to make them twice. In addition to his success at Hoosier Park, Luna has been winning at a better than 15 per cent clip at Oak Grove. His most lucrative triumph so far this year has come at the Kentucky track, when he guided four-year-old female trotter Mambacita to victory in a leg of the Kentucky Sire Stakes. Although it was the first time Luna drove Mambacita in a race, he was familiar with the Alagna trainee from having helped prep the horse for her career, which has resulted in $948,575 in earnings so far. I worked for Tony when we bought her as a yearling, said Luna. I trained her down at two and three. That was a special win for me. Of course, all wins are meaningful, and thats what drives Luna. The thrill of crossing the wire first is like no other, he said. The adrenaline is amazing. Thats what I love. (USTA) Dresden Raceway is ready to kick off another exciting season of harness racing this Sunday, May 26. Opening Day at Dresden Raceway this year is also Ladies Day, featuring the fan favourite "Kentucky Derby-Style Hat Day" where patrons are asked to wear their fanciest hat to the track, with an opportunity to win some wonderful gift baskets. In between races, draws will be held for gift cards from Home Depot, Rona, Walmart and Canadian Tire. Fans can enjoy a mint julep or a homemade Caesar cocktail and play cornhole between the races while enjoying the festivities and the racing action. Prizes will also be given away in between every race from local sponsors including McKellar's Flowers, Subway, The Track Kitchen, Mario's Pizza, Dresden Foodland, Dominos, JMHI, Boston Pizza and more. Dresden's new high-definition toteboard will bring 150 years of racing into 2024 so fans can enjoy every aspect of the races up close and personal. The track's feature races this year include the Mark Austin Memorial Pace finals on June 16, the Ken Houston Memorial Pace on July 7 and a day honouring horsemen Dean Stevens and James Snelgrove on June 23. Visit the track's website for more information. Doors open at noon with post time for the first race set at 1 p.m. (EDT). The entry box closes at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, May 22. (Dresden Raceway) Thomas Harris Currie passed away peacefully on Monday, April 29, 2024, at the Morriston Park Home in Puslinch, Ont. He was 75 years of age. Dear father of Christine, and Nicole and her husband Kevin. Loving grandfather of Amaris and Lindsay. Brother of Edwina and her husband the late Bob, John, Joe (Louise), and Art (Carol). Also surviving are many nieces, nephews and cousins. He was predeceased by his parents Marguerite and Joe Currie. Thomas was a blacksmith, horse trainer, drove horse transport, and for a time he owned his own truck to do long-haul transport. He said he would have taken better care of himself, but if he did that, he wouldnt have had all that fun. Private cremation services have taken place. There will be a memorial visitation to be held at McKersie & Early Funeral Home, 114 Main St. E., Milton, ON on Saturday, June 8, 2024 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. A memorial service will follow in the chapel beginning at 1 p.m. Following the service, interment of the urn will take place at St. Johns Anglican Church Cemetery, 10009 Guelph Line, Campbellville, ON. Reception to follow in the church hall. As an expression of sympathy, memorial donations by cheque to the Standardbred Racetrack Chaplaincy of Canada would be appreciated by the family. Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Thomas Currie. A butcher shop in northwest Woodland is expanding the market for local ranchers and customers purchasing meat alike. McPhees Butcher Block opened in August last year and will soon expand its services for ranchers to sell their meat to farmers markets and local retail shelves in individual cuts. James McPhee moved from Alaska to Ridgefield with his family in 2014 and started his ranch to raise meat cattle. For McPhee, local butcher shops were too few and too far, and were not sufficiently processing the amount of livestock meat being raised in the area. Knowing their ranch would only continue to grow, McPhee invested in his own butcher shop for local ranchers. There really hasnt been a new butcher shop open in the Clark or Cowlitz area for a long time We found it a big hurdle in getting stuff processed, capacity wise, into the quality that we were looking for. So five years ago, we decided to start the journey of opening a butcher shop, and now were finally here, McPhee said. Currently, McPhees Butcher Block, 2250 Robinson Rd., Woodland, provides custom processing by cutting, packaging and freezing meat sent in by local ranchers per their instructions. Once a mobile slaughter truck brings the animal, butchers cut the meat per the ranchers instructions and are picked up at the block to take home. They pick up their meat to take home and put in their freezer to feed (families) for six months or a year. McPhees Butcher Block will soon have a United States Department of Agriculture inspector on site during operations. Meat processed with USDA inspections can be sold in individual cuts in retail stores, which will allow local ranchers to expand their market to retail. McPhee said having a nearby USDA-approved meat processing facility will be a relief for local ranchers looking to process beef, pork, lamb and goat meat for local markets. Right now (ranchers) have to haul their animals four or five hours away, get it processed, and then [drive it] all the way back. Thats more stress on the animals, takes a little time for the [ranchers] and costs a significant amount of money, McPhee said. Although the building has been operating since August, McPhee plans to have a grand-opening celebration at 11 a.m., Saturday, June 15, the same day as Woodlands Planters Days celebration. McPhee looks forward to meeting local customers and residents interested in the process of preparing meat. Were just very grateful for all of our customers and thankful for their support, McPhee said. Were gonna be here for a long time, and wed love to see it be a generational business. The facility has a window for customers to view the meat preparation, a decision McPhee made to ensure transparency in the process. The butcher shop currently sells meat procured from Oregon and Washington ranches and packaged and cooled on retail shelves. McPhee is planning to open a new retail shelf for local seafood, including a live lobster tank. Store hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. Call 360-560-3774 for more information or learn more about McPhees Butcher Block at facebook.com/McPheesButcherBlock. Cowlitz County is set to receive a big payment to go toward fighting opioid addiction, as a result of a lawsuit Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson won against Israeli multinational pharmaceutical company Teva Pharmaceuticals. Of the $1.29 billion the Attorney Generals Office has generated from similar lawsuits, $90.7 million will be split up among Washingtons local governments and the state Legislature to be put toward opioid mitigation strategies, like treatment and prevention of opioid disorders. Cowlitz County and the cities of Longview and Kelso altogether are expected to receive roughly $12.8 million, with Cowlitz County receiving about $8.9 million, Kelso receiving $689,027 and Longview receiving about $3.2 million. As part of the agreement with the state, Washington counties are required to be a part of an opioid abatement council to receive and appropriate the settlement funds. Cowlitz, Grays Harbor and Pacific counties, as well as the cities of Longview and Kelso, fall under one opioid abatement council, which will oversee the distribution of the settlement funds received, and review the spending of those funds for compliance; 10% of the funds received by the counties will be set aside to pay for the councils administrative costs. The payments counties are receiving from lawsuit payouts against opioid distributors, including McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen, will be spread out over the course of the next 17 years. The agreements made in the lawsuits outline how the settlement funds can be used by local governments and include strategies such as expanding treatment for opioid use disorder, addressing the needs of pregnant women and their families including babies with neonatal disorder, supporting first responders, preventing opioid misuse and supporting individuals in treatment and recovery. As of May 2024, Cowlitz County has received a total of about $1.2 million from the settlements. Cowlitz County commissioners have not decided how to spend this money yet, said Commissioner Rick Dahl. Other counties have started apportioning money to opioid recover projects. Grays Harbor County Board of Commissioners approved a request from its public health department to spend $21,000 in the opioid settlement to fund the city of Hoquiams navigator position, a person who connects individuals with substance use disorder to agencies that provide those services, said Jon Beltran, who represents Grays Harbor Countys board of commissioners on the opioid abatement council. Earlier this month, the Grays Harbor County commissioners adopted a resolution forming an opioid fund advisory committee, the purpose of which is to create a process for soliciting proposals for settlement fund uses and then make recommendations to the commissioners on which proposals are best suited to receive those funds. Until the opioid fund advisory committee makes that process, Beltran said, it is unlikely the county commissioners will make any further funding decisions for the settlement money. Preventing overdoses As part of the agreement with Teva, 54,120 naloxone overdose reversal kits are being made available for free to Washingtonians over the next two years. The first shipment of 6,765 kits arrived in Washington last week. These kits will save lives, Ferguson said in a press release. Our lawsuits against opioids manufacturers are providing resources to combat the fentanyl and opioid crisis to every part of the state. These kits will make immediate impacts in that fight. The state department of health is administering the mail-order naloxone program, which can be ordered online at tinyurl.com/437naftu. The naloxone is only a part of the lawsuits resolution, and only one of the several successful opioid litigations Washingtons Attorney General has been involved with. Washington state will receive more than $1.29 billion in lawsuit recoveries involving cases between the state and drug companies. Twelve different cases against companies including drug distributors, manufacturers and retailers, including CVS and Johnson & Johnson, have resulted in multimillion dollar payouts to the state of Washington. Other active cases against drug companies are still pending. About half of the recoveries are earmarked to be distributed to local governments, the other half to the state Legislature. The lawsuits court orders direct the resources received by local and state governments to be used to combat the fentanyl and opioid crisis in Washington. 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: Solar panels sit on the rooftop of a house in the rural outskirts of Jinan in eastern China's Shandong province on March 21, 2024. China is the runaway leader in supplying the world with the hardware to gather solar power. Now it's pushing to install more at home, and its working so well that the grid now has more power than it can handle. Credit: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan Shi Mei and her husband earn a decent enough living by growing corn and millet on their small farm in eastern China's Shandong province. In 2021, they diversified by investing in solar energysigning a contract to mount some 40 panels on their roof to feed energy to the grid. Now, the couple get paid for every watt of electricity they generate, harvesting the equivalent of $10,000 per year that Shi can track through an app on her phone. "When the sun comes out, you make money," Shi said. The Shi family is on the leading edge of a solar boom in China, which has long dominated global solar manufacturing but didn't always install a lot of it at home. That's changing as the government focuses on the urgency of cutting its worst-in-the-world greenhouse gas emissions at the same time it grows its green economy. China wants one-fifth of its power to come from renewables by 2025, and it's offered a wide range of subsidies to local governments and businesses. The pushin both industrial solar and in rooftop installations like Shi'sis working so well that the grid now has more power than it can handle. Shi was fortunate to get in early; some cities across Shandong province, including her village, are halting new rooftop solar installations. Analysts and solar companies say the future remains bright if China can quickly adapt to the oversupply. Companies and utilities are scrambling to build battery capacity to store all the power being generated. They'd like to see more flexible energy pricing that could shape demand to better match supply. And they'd like technology that makes it easier to start and stop coal power so it's not always the clean energy of solar power that gets "curtailed"in industry jargonwhen the grid can't take any more supply. "China has the great potential and opportunity to make its power sector achieve its carbon peak by 2025," said Grace Gao, a Climate and Energy senior campaigner at Greenpeace in China. "I am looking forward to seeing Shandong truly become a leader in renewable energy and showcase its best practices to the rest of China." Farmer Shi Mei walks near solar panels on her rooftop in the rural outskirts of Jinan in eastern China's Shandong province on March 21, 2024. The Shi family is on the leading edge of a solar boom in China, which has long dominated global solar manufacturing but didn't always install a lot of it at home. She gets paid for every watt of electricity generated. Credit: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan SOLAR POWERHOUSE As with many infrastructure projects in China, it is installing solar at breakneck speed and scale. China added 216 gigawatts of solar in 2023, a little over half in large solar farms, according to the country's National Energy Administration. China's total is more than half of what the entire world added last year, according to research from the consultancy Wood Mackenzie. A gigawatt of solar is enough to supply the energy needs of about 320,000 Chinese households for a year, Gao said. Shandong province added about 14 gigawatts of solar in 2023, and the province now has the ability to produce more power than it can use at certain times during the day. It's the leading province for renewable energy capacity, but that also means it's the first to encounter the difficulties of rapid growth. "Other provinces will also meet these problems, because there will be more and more solar energy," said Peng Peng, the secretary general of China New Energy Investment and Financing Alliance, an industry group. Solar panels power a rest station and provide power for electric vehicles along a highway on the outskirts of Jinan in eastern China's Shandong province on March 21, 2024. Credit: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan BOOM YEARS After China announced subsidies for both rooftop and industrial solar in 2014, Shandong, with an advanced manufacturing industry, was a good candidate to take the early lead in solar development compared to less populous provinces like Qinghai or Inner Mongolia. Wang Xingyong installs and maintains rooftop solar panels for clients ranging from villagers to factories, and said his business has doubled every year since 2016. "In the beginning, maybe we'd just do a project for one client, a farmer, and it'd be worth ten thousand yuan, fifty thousand," he said. "Later, we'd do a couple hundred thousand, millions, for just one project." The business model varies, but many companies like Wang's solicit villagers and factories for the chance to use their roofs. Villagers buy the systems and get payouts from selling the electricity to the grid. Wang gets paid to build and maintain the solar setups for factories that use the electricity they generate. The sun sets near pylons as an electric vehicle passes a dirt road in the rural outskirts of Weifang in eastern China's Shandong province on March 22, 2024. Chinese battery companies, EV manufacturers and utilities are all racing to develop more advanced batteries to store the electricity from solar panels. Credit: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan Wang said the concept was a hard sell at first, with few people believing the government would pay them for generating electricity. Wang said he slowly won people over, starting with his family and friends, putting forward the money for the equipment himself, and then moving on to other villages with the results. While pitching, few talk about big concepts like the country's target to ensure carbon emissions peak at 2030. It comes down to cash in people's pockets. Shi, the farmer, said her neighbors installed solar panels on their roofs after seeing her investment do well. "Compared to just putting your money in a savings account, the rate of return is higher," she said. Thanks to her contract from 2021, she's still earning money even though the village has stopped allowing new installations. A second model allows families to basically get paid rent to allow solar to be installed on their roofas much as 3,000 yuan ($414) a month, said Liu Wenping, an investor in solar companies. They might also get a free air conditioner or refrigerator as an extra incentive, and get a small percentage from the electricity sold, though not as much as people who buy the solar equipment. A solar farm stretches out near a chemical plant in the outskirts of Weifang in eastern China's Shandong province on March 22, 2024. It's the leading province for renewable energy capacity, but that also means it's the first to encounter the difficulties of rapid growth. Credit: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan SOLUTIONS IN PROGRESS Chinese battery companies, EV manufacturers and utilities are all racing to develop more advanced batteries to store the electricity from solar panels. Batteries are getting cheaper, but still affect the overall model's profitability. The Shandong provincial government is running a pilot program in Dezhou with lithium iron phosphate batteries that can store power during peak production and feed it to the province's grid later as needed. Other fixes include moving to what's called spot market pricing, with the price fluctuating in an open market. China currently uses prices set by regulators for its electricity, updated after intensive research. Without pricing flexibility, China can't incentivize customers to shift some use to non-peak times by lowering prices during those times. Solar panel installer Wang Xingyong stands near the electric panels connecting the rooftop solar panels he helped install for a farmer to the power grid in the rural outskirts of Jinan in eastern China's Shandong province on March 21, 2024. Wang installs and maintains rooftop solar panels for clients ranging from villagers to factories, and said his business has doubled every year since 2016.Credit: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan But just last year, regulators in Shandong introduced trough pricing, with prices slashed sharply to encourage people to use electricity right when it was being generated abundantly but use was very lowin this case, the lunch period when factories typically all break at the same time. Factories responded by shifting some of their use to get some of the cheaper power. Solar analysts say they expect China to eventually move towards completely market-driven pricing with the grid. Meanwhile, China is intent on improving its grid. The National Development and Reform Council, which oversees economic policy and implementation, in February called on provinces to focus on increasing flexibility to the grid. It included a call to retrofit old coal plants with new technology so they can power up and down much more quickly. The council also wants a "smart" grid that can quickly decide the best time to distribute the power being generated. Workers cut metal parts at a factory that produces many things including brackets for rooftop solar panels in the rural outskirts of Jinan in eastern China's Shandong province on March 21, 2024. Credit: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan Wind turbines dot the coastline along a giant solar farm near Weifang in eastern China's Shandong province on March 22, 2024. Chinese battery companies, EV manufacturers and utilities are all racing to develop more advanced batteries to store the electricity from solar panels. Credit: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan Solar panel installer Wang Xingyong walks near a mural depicting revolutionary leader Mao Zedong and cherry blossoms in the rural outskirts of Jinan in eastern China's Shandong province on March 21, 2024. Wang installs and maintains rooftop solar panels for clients ranging from villagers to factories, and said his business has doubled every year since 2016. Credit: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan The sun sets over electric pylons along a solar farm near Weifang in eastern China's Shandong province on March 22, 2024. Chinese battery companies, EV manufacturers and utilities are all racing to develop more advanced batteries to store the electricity from solar panels. Credit: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan Workers cleaning solar panels work on the rooftop of the factory of energy equipment manufacture Iraeta on the outskirts of Jinan in eastern China's Shandong province on March 21, 2024. It's the leading province for renewable energy capacity, but that also means it's the first to encounter the difficulties of rapid growth. Credit: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan "Every country in the world that is installing a lot of renewables and then facing the challenges that arise from all this variable intermittent generation, is searching for smart ways, intelligent AI-enabled or at least model-backed approaches to distributing this power and using it in the most efficient and effective way," said David Fishman, a senior manager at the Lantau Group consultancy who tracks China's energy industry. "Certainly that's where China is heading." There's no sign of a pause in China's solar buildout. Companies are flocking to other provinces in the south that aren't as far along as Shandong. And in Shandong, Wang, the solar installer, is optimistic about his prospects despite the halt in new projects, because he still has industrial clients. He's already planning to invest in upgrading transformers. And he's intrigued by a trend driven by China's electric car explosion, with the installation of all-in-one stations that combine solar generation, battery storage and electric vehicle charging. "I trust the future will be better and better," he said. 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. 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: Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee speaks at a reception following a flag raising ceremony for the celebration of 74th National Day of the People's Republic of China at the Golden Bauhinia Square in Hong Kong on Oct. 1, 2023. Hong Kong's leader said Tuesday, May 21, 2024, his administration would keep monitoring for any non-compliance with a court order that bans a popular protest song, days after YouTube blocked access to dozens of videos of the tune in the city. Credit: AP Photo/Chan Long Hei, File Hong Kong's leader said Tuesday his administration would keep monitoring for any non-compliance with a court order that bans a popular protest song, days after YouTube blocked access to dozens of videos of the tune in the city. The ban targets anyone who broadcasts or distributes "Glory to Hong Kong"popularly sung during huge anti-government protests in 2019to advocate for the separation of the city from China. It also prohibits any actions that misrepresent the song as the national anthem with the intent to insult the anthem. In his weekly news briefing, Chief Executive John Lee said if the government found any instances of non-compliance, it would then notify the relevant internet platforms about the content of the injunction. "I believe that operators in general operate within the law, so we will continue to monitor the situation," Lee said. The court ban sought by the government has raised concerns over a further decline in the city's freedom of expression and internet freedom. Critics have also warned it might disrupt the operation of tech giants and undermine the city's appeal as a global financial hub. Last week, YouTube blocked access to 32 videos of the song that were deemed to be "prohibited publications" under the injunction for viewers in the city. The tech company said it was disappointed by the court's decision and would continue to consider its options for an appeal. In the news briefing, Lee said there is no link relating to the song shown on any local platforms and "Google's search doesn't show any link to the song in question." A government transcript of his comments later clarified Lee was referring to links specified in the injunction order. The Associated Press found videos of the song on YouTube on Tuesday morning. The song is also available on Spotify and Apple Music. It is unclear whether the tech giants will block access to more video or audio clips of the song for Hong Kong viewers. Google, Spotify and Apple did not immediately comment. "Glory to Hong Kong" is widely seen as the protest anthem of the 2019 movement, which was followed by a crackdown that has all but erased dissenting voices in the city. Instances where the song was mistakenly played as the city's anthem at international sporting events, instead of China's national anthem "March of the Volunteers," also have angered city officials. The government went to court last year after Google resisted pressure to display China's national anthem as the top result in searches for the city's anthem instead of the protest song. 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain An independent board considered a top court for Meta content moderation said Tuesday it is taking on the issue of whether accusing entire nationalities of crimes violates hate speech rules. The Meta Oversight Board said it is tackling the question through three separate cases from Facebook, Instagram and Threads. "The Board selected these cases to consider how Meta should moderate allegations of criminality based on nationality, especially during times of crisis or conflict," it said in an email to AFP. One involves a comment on Threads in which Israelis were accused of taking part in genocide regarding the conflict between Israel and Hamas, according to the board. The other two posts involve Americans, Eastern Indians and Russians being accused of criminal behavior, the board said in a release. In each case, Meta removed the post for violating its ban on hate speech. Meta referred the cases for review because they represent the challenge of balancing attacks on ideas or institutions, which is allowed, with a ban on accusations aimed at people, according to the board. While Meta has agreed to be bound by specific content decisions by the independent oversight board, the tech titan considers policy recommendations advisory. 2024 AFP 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: Visualization to the Paper "A Representative Study on Human Detection of Artificially Generated Media Across Countries." Credit: CISPA AI-generated images, texts and audio files are so convincing that people are no longer able to distinguish them from human-generated content. This is the result of an online survey of about 3,000 participants from Germany, China, and the U.S. This is the first time that a large transnational study has examined this particular form of media literacy. CISPA-Faculty Dr. Lea Schonherr and Professor Dr. Thorsten Holz presented the results this week at the 45th IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy held in San Francisco May 2023. The study was conducted in cooperation with Ruhr University Bochum, Leibniz University Hanover, and TU Berlin and is posted to the arXiv preprint server. Due to the rapid developments in the field of artificial intelligence, masses of images, text and audio files can now be generated with just a few clicks. Professor Dr. Thorsten Holz explains the risks that are associated with this in his view, "Artificially generated content can be misused in many ways. We have important elections coming up this year, such as the elections to the EU Parliament or the presidential election in the U.S. AI-generated media can be used very easily to influence political opinion. I see this as a major threat to our democracy." Against this background, the automated recognition of AI-generated media is an important research challenge. "But this is a race against time," CISPA-Faculty Dr. Lea Schonherr explains. "Media created with newly developed AI generation methods are becoming increasingly difficult to recognize using automatic methods. That's why it ultimately depends on whether a human can make appropriate assessments." This consideration was the starting point for investigating whether humans are able to identify AI-generated media at all. Most participants classify AI-generated media as man-made The results of their transnational cross-media study are astonishing. "We are already at the point where it is difficult, although not yet impossible, for people to tell whether something is real or AI-generated. And this applies to all types of media: text, audio, and images," Holz explains. Across all countries and media types, the majority of study participants classified AI-generated media as man-made. "We were surprised that there are very few factors that can be used to explain whether humans are better at recognizing AI-generated media or not. Even across different age groups and factors such as educational background, political attitudes or media literacy, the differences are not very significant," Holz elaborates. Study includes socio-biographical data Between June 2022 and September 2022, the quantitative study was conducted as an online survey in China, Germany, and the U.S. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of the three media groups "text," "image," or "audio" and were shown 50% real and 50% AI-generated media. In addition, socio-biographical data, knowledge of AI-generated media as well as factors such as media literacy, holistic thinking, general trust, cognitive reflection, and political orientation were collected. After data cleansing, 2,609 data sets remained (822 U.S., 875 Germany, 922 China), which informed the analysis. The AI-generated audio and text files used in the study were generated by the researchers themselves, while the AI-generated images were taken from an existing study. The images they used were photorealistic portraits, the texts were news items, while the audio files were excerpts from literature. Starting points for further research The study results provide important takeaways for cybersecurity research. "There is a risk that AI-generated texts and audio files will be used for social engineering attacks. It is conceivable that the next generation of phishing e-mails will be personalized to me and that the text will match me perfectly," Schonherr explains. She believes that developing defense mechanisms for precisely such attack scenarios is an important task for the future. However, further research desiderata also emerge from the study. "Firstly, we need to better understand how people can still recognize AI-generated media at all. We are planning a laboratory study where participants will have to explain to us how they recognize whether something is AI-generated or not. On the other hand, we need to consider how we can support this technically, for example through automated fact-checking processes," Schonherr concludes. More information: Joel Frank et al, A Representative Study on Human Detection of Artificially Generated Media Across Countries, arXiv (2023). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2312.05976 Journal information: arXiv Provided by CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A screen shows an announcement of the AI Seoul Summit in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. World leaders are expected to adopt a new agreement on artificial intelligence when they gather virtually Tuesday to discuss AIs potential risks but also ways to promote its benefits and innovation. Credit: AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon The world's leading artificial intelligence companies pledged at the start of a mini summit on AI to develop the technology safely, including pulling the plug if they can't rein in the most extreme risks. World leaders are expected to hammer out further agreements on artificial intelligence as they gathered virtually Tuesday to discuss AI's potential risks but also ways to promote its benefits and innovation. The AI Seoul Summit is a low-key follow-up to November's high-profile AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in the United Kingdom, where participating countries agreed to work together to contain the potentially "catastrophic" risks posed by breakneck advances in AI. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the opening session that seven months after the Bletchley Park meeting "We are seeing life-changing technological advances and life-threatening new risksfrom disinformation to mass surveillance to the prospect of lethal autonomous weapons." The U.N. chief said in a video address that there needs to be universal guardrails and regular dialogue on AI. "We cannot sleepwalk into a dystopian future where the power of AI is controlled by a few peopleor worse, by algorithms beyond human understanding," he said. A screen shows an announcement of the AI Seoul Summit in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. World leaders are expected to adopt a new agreement on artificial intelligence when they gather virtually Tuesday to discuss AIs potential risks but also ways to promote its benefits and innovation. Credit: AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon The two-day meetingco-hosted by the South Korean and U.K. governmentsalso comes as major tech companies like Meta, OpenAI and Google roll out the latest versions of their AI models. They're among 16 AI companies that made voluntary commitments to AI safety as the talks got underway, according to a British government announcement. The companies, which also include Amazon, Microsoft, France's Mistral AI, China's Zhipu.ai, and G42 of the United Arab Emirates, vowed to ensure safety of their most cutting edge AI models with promises of accountable governance and public transparency. The pledge includes publishing safety frameworks setting out how they will measure risks of these models. In extreme cases where risks are severe and "intolerable," AI companies will have to hit the kill switch and stop developing or deploying their models and systems if they can't mitigate the risks. Since the U.K. meeting last year, the AI industry has "increasingly focused on the most pressing concerns, including mis- and dis- information, data security, bias and keeping humans in the loop," said Aiden Gomez CEO of Cohere, one of the AI companies that signed the pact. "It is essential that we continue to consider all possible risks, while prioritizing our efforts on those most likely to create problems if not properly addressed." On Tuesday evening, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are to meet other world leaders, industry bosses and heads of international organizations for a virtual conference. The online summit will be followed by an in-person meeting of digital ministers, experts and others on Wednesday, according to organizers. Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunk, center, speaks during a plenary session at the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes, England, on Nov. 2, 2023. South Korea is set to host a mini-summit this week on risks and regulation of artificial intelligence, following up on an inaugural AI safety meeting in Britain in 2023 that drew a diverse crowd of tech luminaries, researchers and officials. Credit: AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool, File While the U.K. meeting centered on AI safety issues, the agenda for this week's gathering was expanded to include "innovation and inclusivity," Wang Yun-jong, a deputy director of national security in South Korea, told reporters Monday. Wang said participants will subsequently "discuss not only the risks posed by AI but also its positive aspects and how it can contribute to humanity in a balanced manner." The AI agreement will include the outcomes of discussions on safety, innovation and inclusivity, according to Park Sang-wook, senior presidential adviser for science and technology for President Yoon. Governments around the world have been scrambling to formulate regulations for AI even as the technology makes rapid advances and is poised to transform many aspects of daily life, from education and the workplace to copyrights and privacy. There are concerns that advances in AI could take away jobs, trick people and spread disinformation. This week's meeting is just one of a slew of efforts to draw up AI guardrails. The U.N. General Assembly has approved its first resolution on the safe use of AI systems, while the U.S. and China recent held their first high-level talks on AI and the European Union's world-first AI Act is set to take effect later this year. 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas Inc.s plant on the South Side of San Antonio is seen in this aerial provided by the company. Toyota Texas Bexar County commissioners on Tuesday unanimously authorized staff to negotiate a deal that would give a tax break and grant totaling nearly $15 million to Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas Inc., which is considering investing $531.7 million in its South Side manufacturing plant. Toyotas project would create 411 jobs and could encompass more than 500,000 square feet of new space, according to county documents. The base wage of those roles would be $20.54 an hour, with an average salary of about $68,000. Beyond that, details are scarce. Its unclear what Toyota would add at the 2,000-acre facility, where the company builds the full-size Tundra pickup and hybrid-only Sequoia SUV, and the company said it had nothing to announce. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Given the sensitive and competitive nature of these negotiations, we must respect the process and wait until these negotiations conclude, providing greater detail, Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai said. As your county judge, creating new jobs growing our economy is a key priority. Toyota is a trusted corporate partner in our community, and I am optimistic about these negotiations, Sakai said. The county is offering a 10-year, 100% tax abatement worth $14.7 million and a skills development grant of up to $250,000 based on Toyota creating 250 jobs paying at least $34.55 an hour or $71.864 annually. Staff are also exploring another potential grant for off-site public infrastructure improvements. A final agreement would require approval from county commissioners. Toyotas investment would be the largest capital infusion in the plant since it began operating in 2006. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The companys last major project was in 2022, when it spent $391 million reworking the factory to produce the redesigned Tundra pickup and Sequoia SUV. To make room for production of the Sequoia, Toyota moved manufacturing of the Tacoma pickup to Tijuana, Mexico. Toyota is spending billions of dollars on a facility in North Carolina where employees will build batteries for the companys hybrids, plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles. When it released its year-end financial results this month, Toyota said it would invest millions this year into technology and its suppliers but did not elaborate. Toyota employs more than 3,800 workers at its San Antonio plant. Its campus also houses the operations of suppliers who build parts for its vehicles and employ another 5,800 people. On Tuesday afternoon, San Antonios Zoning Commission was expected to discuss the citys request to approve a rezoning request for land around Toyotas facility potentially ending a long-running clash over development in the area. Advertisement Article continues below this ad As part of the 2003 contract that the city negotiated with Toyota, a 3-mile buffer zone was created around the plant to discourage residential development and other uses Toyota deemed incompatible with manufacturing. Some landowners pushed back, arguing the city was infringing on their rights to develop their property as they wished. Last year, Southside Affordable Development LLC sought to sell about 34 acres of nearly 100 acres it owns within the buffer zone to a developer for construction of more than 700 affordable apartments. The city denied the companys request to rezone the property, and Southside sued the city and Toyota, alleging that they had entered into an unconstitutional contract zoning giving Toyota veto power over proposed projects within the buffer zone. The city was asking zoning commissioners to approve an industrial compatibility overlay district that would encompass two zones. Zone A would limit new residential and commercial development within 1 mile of Toyotas plant, and Zone B would extend another mile outward and restrict new residential construction. In 2023, construction continues on the Golden Pass LNG terminal. The photo was taken from the Louisiana side of the Sabine River. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer The Golden Pass LNG terminal in Sabine Pass, shown in 2023. San Antonios Zachry Holdings Inc., one of the companies performing construction work on the terminal, and 20 subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer Golden Pass LNG terminal in Sabine Pass, shown in 2022. Karen Warren/Staff photographer Golden Pass LNG terminal under construction in 2022. Karen Warren/Staff photographer San Antonios Zachry Holdings Inc. long an international force in the engineering and construction industry sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for itself and 20 subsidiaries Tuesday, blaming difficulties related to construction of the Golden Pass LNG export terminal just south of Port Arthur. A Zachry Holdings subsidiary has been the lead construction contractor for the Southeast Texas liquefied natural gas plant, a $10 billion-plus venture launched five years ago for owners QatarEnergy and Exxon Mobil. Zachry Holdings bankruptcies Here are the 21 Zachry businesses that filed Tuesday for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection: Zachry Holdings Inc. Zachry EPC Holdings LLC Zachry Engineering Corp. Zachry High Voltage Solutions LLC ZEC New York Inc. UE Properties Inc. ZEC Michigan Inc. Zachry Industrial Inc. Zachry Constructors LLC Moss Point Properties LLC Zachry Enterprise Solutions LLC Zachry Nuclear Inc. Zachry Nuclear Construction Inc. Zachry Nuclear Engineering Inc. Computer Simulation & Analysis Inc. Zachry Plant Services Holdings Inc. JVIC Fabrication LLC Zachry Industrial Americas Inc. Zachry Maintenance Services LLC J.V. Industrial Companies LLC Madison Industrial Services Team LLC In a statement, Zachry Holdings Chairman CEO John B. Zachry cited significant challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and international geopolitical issues that resulted in significant financial strain while meeting targets and keeping the project appropriately staffed. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Because we have not been able to find a path forward, we have been forced to take action to protect our business, he said. The process we are starting today provides us mechanisms to initiate a structured exit from the (Golden Pass) project. The bankruptcies were filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston. The project was announced in 2019 as a joint venture of Zachry Group, Houstons McDermott International and Japans Chiyoda International. QatarEnergy holds a 70% stake in Golden Pass with the rest held by Exxon Mobil. When completed, the terminal is expected to generate revenue of billions of dollars a year. In a statement Tuesday, Golden Pass said McDermott and Chiyoda are continuing work with thousands of workers on site. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The project is already 75% progressed and we are committed to completing the project, Golden Pass said. About a week ago, an undisclosed number of Zachry employees were furloughed, and the total still on the job Tuesday was unclear. Recent tallies put the project workforce at 6,000. Unexpected obstacles According to bankruptcy papers, Zachry Industrial Inc. one of the Zachry subsidiaries that sought reorganization has been the lead general contractor. Zachry Industrial currently has five major industrial engineering and construction projects including Golden Pass with a total value of about $25 billion. It has more than 700 other ongoing projects. In a declaration filed with the court, Zachry Industrial Chief Restructuring Officer Moshin Y. Meghji said it encountered unexpected obstacles not long after construction began. They included inaccurate geological studies provided by Golden Pass, the pandemics affects on labor and the global supply chain, and supply chain disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Meighji is managing partner with M3 Advisory Partners LP, which Zachry hired as its financial and restructuring adviser. He said more challenges arose when construction of other LNG facilities broke ground, including one just 2 miles away. In an attempt to right-size the contract while faithfully keeping the project on track, over the last two years (Zachry Industrial) and its joint venture partners have engaged in negotiations with Golden Pass and its owners to address this need for additional funding for the Project, with little to no success, Meghji said. Located near the mouth of the Sabine River about 10 miles south of Port Arthur, the terminal was slated to include three production units, known as trains, expected to produce a combined 15.6 million metric tons of LNG a year. Record natural gas production in U.S. shale plays prompted Exxon Mobil to move forward with plans to add an export terminal at the facility. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Construction was originally expected to be completed this year with a project workforce of about 9,000. Default notices Zachry Industrial was incurring from $30 million to $40 million in expenses each week to support the project, including payroll and vendor payments, Meghji said, but was receiving only about $70 million in progress payments each month. In March, Golden Pass began making direct payments to vendors and clawed back much of the money from the advance progress payments due to Zachry Industrial, Meghji said. That further cut into the companys cash flow. The progress payments stopped altogether in April. On May 8, Zachry Industrial received a notice of default and breach under the construction contract. Golden Pass cited Zachry Industrials inability to promptly pay subcontractors and failure to resolve more than $23.5 million in liens on the project, he said in the declaration. Advertisement Article continues below this ad That same day, the joint venture issued a notice of default to Zachry Industrial in part because of the Golden Pass default. Zachry Industrial disputed the default notices but Golden Pass issued another Thursday. Golden Pass then agreed to a standstill until today. Although Zachry Industrial made further efforts to bridge the gap and negotiate a feasible solution with Golden Pass and the project owners, these efforts proved futile, Meghji said. With Golden Pass unwilling to extend the standstill period, all the options exhausted, and unable to continue juggling the liquidity pressures caused by the Project, Zachry Industrial was forced to commence these Chapter 11 cases. In conjunction with the bankruptcies, Zachry Industrial filed a lawsuit against Golden Pass LNG Terminal LLC. The action, known as an adversary proceeding, alleges Golden Pass engaged in grossly inequitable conduct that forced Zachry into bankruptcy. The Zachry businesses hope the bankruptcies will allow them to reach a resolution of the disputes over the project, Meghji said. Sufficient cash Zachry Holdings said it expects its cash on hand, along with cash generated from operations, will be sufficient to meet its ongoing business obligations while in bankruptcy. Chapter 11 allows a debtor to reorganize its debts and emerge from bankruptcy. The company expects to receive court approval to pay employees wages, make contributions to their retirement savings plans and provide health care insurance coverage. It also said it expects to pay vendors and suppliers in full. Zachry Holdings listed assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion to $10 billion in its skeleton petition. Its three largest unsecured creditors are equipment and tool rental company Sunbelt Rentals with a $133.3 million claim; Fort Worth wholesale distributor the Reynolds Co., holding a $17.6 million claim; and Beaumont marine construction firm Bo-Mac Contractors Ltd. with a $15.6 million claim. No San Antonio companies were listed among the largest unsecured creditors. The White & Case law firm is the debtors bankruptcy counsel. Meighji said the success of the Chapter 11 depends on the Zachry businesses ability to preserve their operations while they evaluate their strategic options with respect to the Golden Pass project and other contracts. Company history Zachry Holdings and the 20 subsidiaries that entered bankruptcy operate under the umbrella of the Zachry Group, which is unrelated to San Antonios Zachry Corp. A hundred years ago, Henry Bartell Pat Zachry founded H.B. Zachry Co. the predecessor of Zachry Group and Zachry Construction. His son, Bartell Zachry, later took the reins and built the company into an international force in the construction industry. In 2008, the Zachry Co. reorganized into two separate entities, each led by Bartell Zachrys sons. David Zachry took the reins at Zachry Corp., overseeing the heavy civil and building construction business and maintaining subsidiary Zachry Construction Corp., Capitol Aggregates, Zachry Underground Utility Services, Zachry Hospitality and Zachry Hotels, among others. Zachry Hospitality includes three existing hotels and a fourth under construction. Those are the Hilton Palacio del Rio, Embassy SuitesAirport, Embassy SuitesLandmark, and the future The Monarch San Antonio being built near Hemisfair. Annasofia Scheve covers trending news for the Express-News. She can be reached at Annasofia.Scheve@express-news.net. Annasofia has bachelor's degrees in journalism and political science from the University of Missouri. She is an Ohio native, and wrote for Cincinnati Magazine and the Cincinnati Enquirer before joining the Express-News in 2023. 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. Saudi-based developer Retal Urban Development Company has announced that one of its key subsidiaries, Building Construction Company (BCC), has secured a SAR2.89 billion ($770 million) contract from Roshn, the PIF-owned giga project developer, for Aldanah, a major residential project in Dhahran city. Covering over 1.7 million sq m, Aldanah is Roshn's sixth integrated community, second in the Eastern Province and first in Dhahran. It will add more than 2,500 world-class homes to the housing stock of the economic hub of Greater Dammam and will eventually be home to nearly 10,000 inhabitants. It is strategically located in the heart of Greater Dammam, at the confluence of Dammam, Dhahran, and Al Khobar, next to King Abdulaziz Road and just 20 minutes from King Fahd International Airport. Under this deal, BCC will develop and design the detailed masterplan as well as design and execute the infrastructure, landscape and build a total of 1,962 residential units in addition to public amenities within the first phase of Aldanah, writes a TradeArabia staff reporter citing a Retal filing to Saudi bourse Tadawul. The entire contract work will be completed within 45 months, starting from the date of the land handover from Roshn Group to BCC, it said the filing. On the financial impact, Retal said the project is expected to have a positive impact on the company's results during the project execution for the period from 2024 through to 2028. This comes close on the heels of BCC's recent contract win from Roshn for the construction of eight residential buildings in Sedra district in Riyadh City. BCC will complete the contract work within 26 months from the effective date of the contract. The Retal unit had last year clinched a major contract for the development of 352 residential units in the Sadayem Suburb of Jeddah. The project will be coming up over a 100,959 sq m area in the Saudi port city.-TradeArabia News Service Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced plans to build a 13.5-km-long track tailored for bicycles, scooters and pedestrians. This new track, which links Al Sufouh to Dubai Hills via Hessa Street, features two architecturally innovative bridges crossing over Sheikh Zayed Road and Al Khail Road. Announcing the new track, Mattar Al Tayer, Director General, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of RTA, said: "This track designated for cyclists, scooter riders and pedestrians is part of Hessa Street Improvement Project currently undertaken by RTA spanning 4.5 km between the intersections with Sheikh Zayed Road and Al Khail Road." "It encompasses upgrades to four major intersections along Hessa Street with Sheikh Zayed Road, First Al Khail Street, Al Asayel Street, and Al Khail Road. Hessa Street will be widened from two to four lanes in each direction, doubling its capacity to 16,000 vehicles per hour in both directions," he stated. The planned multi-use track measures 13.5 km in length and 4.5 metres in width (2.5-metre-wide track for cyclists & scooter riders, and 2-metre-wide track for pedestrians). It connects Al Sufouh to Dubai Hills via Hessa Street. It serves 12 diverse residential, commercial, and educational areas in addition to service facilities in vibrant neighbourhoods like Al Barsha and Al Barsha Heights. "The track is designed to improve connectivity for first and last-mile trips, linking with the Dubai Internet City Metro Station and other hotspots in the vicinity. The capacity of the track is estimated at 5,200 users per hour," explained Al Tayer. According to him, the new track features two uniquely designed bridges: the first spans 528 metres over Sheikh Zayed Road, and the second stretches 501 metres over Al Khail Road. "Each bridge is 5-metre wide (3 metres for bicycles and e-scooters and 2 metres for pedestrians). The engineering design of these bridges is inspired by the surrounding environments. The design concept of the bridge crossing Sheikh Zayed Road embodies themes of connectivity embodied in overlapping lines," noted Al Tayer. The open design of the bridge structure enhances visibility, offering improved views of the surrounding area and adjacent towers, he stated. "Meanwhile, the bridge over Al Khail Road has a design that replicates the path of the sunlight, creating smooth lines and offering pedestrians and cyclists a tranquil escape from the street noise. The design thoughtfully considers integrating the path of the sun's rays into the design," he added. Hessa Street Improvement Project is one of the key road infrastructure improvement projects that cater to several key residential and developmental communities such as Al Sufouh 2, Al Barsha, and Jumeirah Village Circle. By 2030, it is anticipated that the population served by this project will surpass 640,000. The project is set to double the capacity of Hessa Street by 100% from 8,000 vehicles per hour in both directions to 16,000 vehicles per hour in both directions.-TradeArabia News Service Amarak Chemicals FZC, an associate company of Aries Agro Limited, has signed an agreement with DP Worlds flagship trade and logistics hub, Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza), to establish a state-of-the-art plant nutrients manufacturing facility. The project was unveiled during the Aries Agro Annual Chairman Club Customer Convention held in Dubai, coinciding with Aries Agros ongoing Emerald Jubilee celebrations. The convention welcomed Aries Agros top 500 customers from across India, who collectively support almost nine million farmers in India and worldwide. The event was attended by Dr Rahul Mirchandani, Aries Agro Chairman and Managing Director, other senior leaders from Aries Agro, as well as Abdulla Al Hashmi, Chief Operating Officer of Parks & Zones at DP World GCC. The upcoming AED50 million ($13.61 million) facility will be developed on a 16,000 sq m plot located in the Chemical Zone of Jafza South, with the investment covering capital expenditure, operating expenses and working capital. Abdulla Al Hashmi, Chief Operating Officer of Parks & Zones at DP World GCC, welcomed the project, saying: We are delighted to welcome global leaders in the plant nutrition sector such as Aries Agro and Amarak to Jafza. The agricultural inputs produced by Amarak will supply cost-effective and sustainable solutions to farmers in India, the GCC region and beyond while making a positive impact on food security. The new, fully automated facility in Jafza marks a strategic milestone for Amarak Chemicals FZC. Equipped with cutting-edge technology, the factory further reinforces the companys commitment to delivering excellence in manufacturing and is expected to begin operations in early 2025. With a focus on innovation and sustainability, the new facility will specialise in the production of 60,000 metric tonnes of sulphur and allied value-added products annually. This significant capacity amplifies our capability to meet growing market demand while adhering to the highest standards of quality and safety, said Dr Mirchandani. TradeArabia News Service Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi Kezad Group and UAE-based Golden Spike and Wheat have signed a 50-year land lease agreement for the establishment of a bakery and sweets manufacturing facility in Kezad. The 26,000 sq m facility in ICAD 3 (Kezad Musaffah) will have a large production capacity to cater to the requirements of the UAE market. Mohamed Al Khadar Al Ahmed, CEO Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi Kezad Group said: We welcome Golden Spike and Wheat to Kezads growing Food ecosystem. Through Kezad Group, Abu Dhabi is playing a leading role in the UAEs drive towards achieving No 1 on the Global Food Security Index. The Golden Spike facility would be well positioned to augment these efforts and play a significant role in the countrys food security efforts. Major role Mustafa Al Husseiny, General Manager of Golden Spike and Wheat, said: The Food & Agtech sectors at Kezad play a major role in the countrys food security efforts. Abu Dhabis F&B sector is witnessing a significant transformation, propelled by strategic initiatives led by Kezad Group. With its extensive infrastructure investments and dedication to integrating advanced agricultural technologies (AgTech) that cater to the evolving needs of the industry, Kezad is crucial in repositioning the UAE, and particularly Abu Dhabi, as a leading Food and AgTech hub of the Middle East. The upcoming 3.3 sq km Abu Dhabi Food Hub in Kezad, as well as a number Kezad clients in the F&B sector, along with sustainable solutions in the AgTech industry, such as vertical farming and hydroponics, are crucial initiatives in a region with limited arable land and water resources. These efforts support the UAE's food security objectives while ensuring environmental sustainability.--TradeArabia News Service STEMpedia, an innovative tech-education ecosystem that helps students master the art of coding, has successfully conducted the fifth edition of its global ground-breaking innovation fest, Codeavour 5.0 International. Codeavour is an international Artificial Intelligence (AI), coding, and robotics competition hosted annually to encourage kids to bring out their inner programmers and make innovative projects using PictoBlox, a visual programming software to learn coding and AI. It provides a platform for students to learn and effectively utilise the latest technologies like AI, Machine Learning (ML), Augmented Reality Virtual Reality (ARVR), and Robotics. Codeavour 5.0 saw participants applying Pictoblox to develop innovative solutions that aligned with sustainability. Innovation fest The competition was jointly hosted by STEMpedia and ART PARK@IISc India's first AI & Robotics Technology Park, established by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru and supported by AI Foundry. The competition also received support from organisations like Startup India, Startup Nexus of the American Embassy, and CIIE.CO at IIM Ahmedabad, Industries Commissionerate of the Government of Gujarat, techXchange - India UK, PCB Power Market, INDIAai (a joint initiative of MeitY, NeGD, and NASSCOM to prepare the nation for an AI future), and STEM.org (US) to name a few. Codeavour 5.0 International is the biggest innovation fest, empowering young talents to develop innovative projects with hands-on learning using PictoBlox. The competition also saw support from organisations like Motwani Jadeja Foundation, Inventant Education, AWS (Amazon Web Services), NITI Aayog, Agastya Foundation, SRF Foundation, and STEM.org. Dhrupal Shah, Director and CEO of STEMpedia, said: Five years ago, we initiated Codeavour intending to empower young innovators and equip them with the necessary skills for the future workforce. Our commitment to enriching these young minds has been unwavering. This year, we are thrilled to announce that the top 20 winners will be awarded a trip to Mexico to participate in the FAB24 Event, accompanied by their mentors. As we continue our journey, our goal remains to offer even greater value to these bright young individuals, transforming them into the innovators and leaders of tomorrow. STEMpedias annual initiative to discover future talents occurs at a time when the global AI market is expected to grow exponentially from $103 billion (AED378.3 billion) in 2023 to $1.03 trillion (AED3.78 trillion) by 2030, according to global information services firm GlobalData, which will result in a massive demand for programmers and AI researchers. Role of robotics Moreover, robotics is implemented to improve the efficiency of major industries like healthcare and automation. As per the Ministry of Economy of the UAE, the global robotics market size is anticipated to reach $189.36 billion (AED695.48 billion) by 2027, tripling from $62.75 billion (AED230.47 billion) in 2019. Hosting the contest in the UAE is an indication of the countrys efforts to become a hub for the next generation of coders and developers in the region. It has launched the National Program for Coders in collaboration with global tech companies including Google, Microsoft, and Amazon to train 100,000 coders and establish 1000 digital companies, aiming to foster the development of its digital economy. The programme has witnessed a tremendous outcome so far. The number of AI professionals quadrupled to 120,000 from 2021 to 2023, according to a media statement by the Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications, Omar Sultan Al Olama. The UAEs transition towards a digital economy will boost the AI industrys revenue to $5.25 million (AED19.28 million) in 2024 and further to $5.19 million (AED19.06 million) by 2028, according to Statista.com. Codeavour 5.0 welcomed 1200+ attendees including students, parents, mentors, principals, and visitors from more than 18 countries across the globe, all converging to celebrate the spirit of youth-led innovation aimed at addressing environmental challenges. Pictoblox The contestants deployed Pictoblox to develop innovative projects. They took the stage to present their ground-breaking projects in Track 1 - Innovation and Entrepreneurship, each aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Meanwhile, participants in Track 2 - AI-Robo City Challenge engaged in intense competition, demonstrating their problem-solving skills and creative thinking in pursuit of solutions for a sustainable future. The students won prizes worth $45,000. Top 20 students from the senior category aged 15+ also won the opportunity to attend FAB 24 Event in Mexico, which will give them a fruitful chance to meet and learn from industry experts and network with like-minded people. The winners from both tracks were felicitated with the prizes at Dubai American Academy, the international venue partner of the event. Understanding of AI Sreejit Chakrabarty, Director of AI at GEMS Dubai American Academy and Cluster Edu-Innovation Lead at GEMS Education, said: "It is increasingly important to recognise the impact of artificial intelligence on various job profiles across industries. Students must understand that irrespective of whether they pursue a technical career, a basic understanding of AI is essential. Competitions in this field provide an invaluable opportunity for students not only to learn but also to demonstrate their skills by identifying problems and applying AI solutions to address them." Codeavour 5.0 International is supported by the Motwani Jadeja Foundation (California, USA) dedicated to fostering maker culture among students and nurturing their entrepreneurial spirit to transform them into creative change-makers. Asha Jadeja Motwani, a Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist and founder of the Motwani Jadeja Foundation, advocated cultivating tech skills among children, From the age of 6, children must learn to code and understand what computation is. It is very easy as kids are exposed to smartphones and can understand what it means to create an app. This is good news as children of this generation have access to AI tools, and the jobs of the future will require these core skills. Codeavour 5.0 International is honoured to have Inventant Education as its Education Sponsor. As Indias first STEM focused K12 educational publisher, Inventant Education has created a niche for itself by providing dynamic and accessible learning resources. Expanding STEM horizons Vikrant Goyal, co-founder of Inventant Education, highlighted Codeavour 5.0 International's global reach and dedication to nurturing innovation and entrepreneurship: "It amplifies our mission, especially with Tracks centered on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Codeavour is about expanding STEM horizons, dismantling obstacles, and fostering Innovation and Entrepreneurship among future innovators, educators, and learners." As coding is the skill of the future, schools have adopted lessons to equip students with sufficient knowledge in AI and robotics. STEMpedia helps CBSE, British, and IB schools to enrich students coding skill by providing efficient learning and practice resources, thereby paving the way to produce future innovators and entrepreneurs in STEM fields. Since its inception, Codeavour has attracted 300,000 students across 70 countries, making it the biggest innovation contest for future coders to elevate the development of critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication. This milestone reflects the cumulative efforts and achievements of all editions of the competition thus far. Additionally, this year has been marked by the successful conclusion of regional events in 13 states across India, alongside national events in 18+ countries around the globe. These events have showcased the incredible talent and innovation of participants and underscored STEMpedias commitment to expanding its reach and positively impacting teams worldwide. It is dedicated to building on this momentum and continuing its mission of fostering creativity and collaboration on a global scale. --TradeArabia News Service The third edition of the Make it in the Emirates Forum will unveil new initiatives, incentives, enablers, and financial solutions worth billions of dirhams to promote industrial investments. To be held at the Abu Dhabi Energy Centre from May 27 to 28 under the theme Invest. Innovate. Grow, the forum will feature the Make it in the Emirates Awards and exhibition showcasing the innovations of 44 national companies, the UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) has said announcing the forums agenda. The forum is organised by the ministry in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (Added) and Adnoc Group. The agenda was unveiled at a press conference held in cooperation with Added and Adnoc Group. The forum will bring together prominent local and international decision-makers, government officials, private companies, investors, experts, entrepreneurs, innovators and financing institutions. The press conference was attended by Omar Al Suwaidi, Undersecretary of MoIAT, Rashed Abdulkarim Al Blooshi, Undersecretary of Added and Dr Saleh Al Hashemi, Head of the Department of Commercial Affairs and In-Country Value at Adnoc Group. Industry objectives The forum continues to support the objectives of the National Strategy for Industry and Advanced Technology to promote social and economic growth, ensure business sustainability and supply chain flexibility, as well as drive self-sufficiency in vital products. The event contributes to shaping the future of industry by promoting partnerships, investments, knowledge exchange and competitiveness. New initiatives Under the umbrella of the Make it in the Emirates initiative, the National In-Country Value (ICV) Programme and the Technology Transformation Programme (TTP), the forum will witness the announcement of agreements to enhance enablers, incentives, procurement opportunities, and the competitiveness of local products, as well as foster innovation, and technological transformation. New partnerships along with investment opportunities worth billions of dirhams will be announced during the forum, which will showcase outcomes from initiatives from the previous editions, as well as investment opportunities that resulted in procurement opportunities of AED120 billion ($32.7 billion). During the forum, the winners of the Make it in the Emirates Awards will be announced, while an accompanying exhibition will showcase key industrial opportunities and locally manufactured products, with the participation of 44 major companies. Continuous achievements Al Suwaidi said: The Make it in the Emirates Forum provides an ideal platform for communication and knowledge exchange between local and international industrial stakeholders. This years edition will attract wide participation, including decision-makers, public and private sector representatives, entrepreneurs, investors, industrialists, experts, innovators and financing institutions. The third edition aligns with the directives of the UAE leadership to enhance the countrys empowering, stimulating ecosystem that supports the performance, growth and competitiveness of the industrial sector. The forum aligns with MoIATs efforts to increase industrys contribution to GDP and diversify the national economy, as well as leverage investment opportunities and local purchasing power through the National ICV Programme. It will showcase the incentives and enablers provided by the ministry and its strategic partners under the National Strategy for Industry and Advanced Technology. He said: The UAEs industrial sector is one of the most competitive and attracts local and international investments through partnerships. It supports technological transformation by linking it to investment opportunities and financing. This year, the focus will be on the vital role of artificial intelligence. The forum will also comprise breakout sessions and the signing of new procurement agreements. The ministry has achieved several milestones under the National Strategy for Industry and Advanced Technology, including launching programmes and initiatives to attract investments. He added: This year's edition follows a series of achievements since the launch of the National Strategy for Industry and Advanced Technology, as well as the two previous editions, which boosted the industrial sector. The inaugural edition, held in 2022, saw the announcement of procurement agreements worth AED110 billion. Ongoing cooperation Al Blooshi said: We are proud to coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) in organising the 3rd edition of Make it in the Emirates Forum. This is part of our efforts to strengthen Abu Dhabis position as the regions most competitive industrial hub, contribute to achieving the objectives of Operation 300bn, the UAEs industrial strategy, and the UAEs Net Zero 2050 Strategy. He added: Make it in the Emirates Forum provides a suitable platform to explore opportunities, build partnerships, and engage in discussions to address the needs of the industrial sector. It allows us to meet with talents, investors, and key players in the manufacturing sector, which is the largest non-oil GDP contributor in Abu Dhabi. Last year, the industrial sector continued its growth, contributing AED101 billion to Abu Dhabis GDP, representing 16.5% of non-oil economy and 8.8% of the Emirates total GDP, which exceeded AED1.141 trillion. He concluded: The Abu Dhabi Industrial Strategy (ADIS), launched in June 2022, is a key component of our soaring Falcon Economy, driven by agile policies, innovative initiatives, and robust regulatory and legal framework. ADIS is guiding the manufacturing sectors transition to Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturings methods, techniques, and approaches to drive a thriving, smart, diversified, and sustainable economy. Dr Saleh Al Hashimi, Director of Adnocs Commercial and In-Country Value (ICV) Directorate, said: Adnoc is proud to partner with the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology on Make it in Emirates which is accelerating the UAEs diversification efforts, driving the growth of national industries, creating jobs for UAE Nationals in the private sector, enabling local SMEs, and furthering the adoption of advanced technology and artificial intelligence in local supply chains. Under the UAEs wise leadership, Adnoc will boost its local manufacturing opportunities as it expands its In-Country Value (ICV) Programme to strengthen the UAEs industrial base while making todays energy cleaner and investing in the clean energies of tomorrow. Positive shifts In 2023, the value of local procurement agreements increased by more than AED10 billion to reach AED120 billion through more than 1,400 products for local manufacturing, supporting business growth, as well as the flexibility and sustainability of local supply chains. The 2023 forum also witnessed the launch of new industrial projects, including 30 with investments worth AED5.8 billion. This was in addition to the launch of initiatives such as Green ICV and the Made in the Emirates mark, as well as key partnerships between local industrial and global technology companies. Meanwhile, Adnoc Group allocated AED20 billion to procure metal structures and products exclusively from national factories. First Abu Dhabi Bank and Mashreq Bank announced AED6 billion in financing for industrial companies. Panel discussions The first day of the 2024 forum will include panel discussions on the UAE's industrial vision titled Realising the UAE's industrial vision: Operation 300bn and charting future growth, Advancing the AI revolution: Implementing new computing paradigms in real-world industrial settings, and Future oriented ICV and alignment with offtake agreements and competitiveness: Leveraging ICV to drive innovation; collaborative approaches for strengthening industrialisation. It will also feature the Make it in the Emirates Awards ceremony to honor industrial companies and individuals who have contributed to innovation and sustainable industrial growth. Sessions on the second day of the forum will discuss the UAE's efforts to attract investments in aerospace, explore green technology opportunities in the industrial sector, as well as the growth of sustainable manufacturing and achieving global leadership in key sectors, in addition to multi-OEM collaboration in smart mobility. A youth panel titled Inspiring Youth Participation in Industry: A session to inspire Emirati youth involvement in the industry organised by the ministrys Youth Council will engage a new generation of entrepreneurs and talents to excel in the sector, in parallel with breakout sessions. A growth incubator The Make it in the Emirates Forum is an incubator for industrial growth, as well as local and global investment in the UAE, providing investment opportunities that enhance the resilience and self-sufficiency of the sector. The forum is in line with MoIATs commitment to empowering and motivating national and international technology and industry companies to further their contribution to achieving the objectives of the National Strategy for Industry and Advanced Technology. The event also helps young Emirati entrepreneurs and startups to launch their projects and introduces them to investment opportunities by providing them with a platform share their success stories.--TradeArabia News Service Technology Innovation Institute (TII), a leading global scientific research centre, has announced the appointment of Dr Najwa Aaraj as its new Chief Executive Officer. Dr Aaraj will spearhead TII's next phase of strategic growth, succeeding Dr Ray O Johnson, who established the research institutes solid foundations as its first CEO. Dr Aaraj, a highly accomplished researcher and leader, brings nearly 20 years of experience in critical applied research areas to her new role as Chief Executive Officer. Proven ability She has been instrumental in the success of TII, serving as the Chief Researcher at the Cryptography Research Centre (CRC) and the Autonomous Robotics Research Centre (ARRC). Her extensive international experience and proven ability to drive innovative research excellence are poised to shape TII's future direction and cement Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE's position as a critical global R&D innovation hub. Faisal Al Bannai, Secretary General of ATRC and Adviser to the UAE President for Strategic Research and Advanced Technology Affairs, said: TIIs future is bright under the leadership of Dr Najwa Aaraj. Her dedication, innovative leadership, and expertise make her ideal to push the boundaries of knowledge. As TII sets new benchmarks in pioneering innovation, we needed a leader with a distinguished track record of research excellence, which Dr Najwa embodies. I look forward to working with her as she sets TII's long-term priorities, reinforcing Abu Dhabi's position as a world-class R&D hub. We extend our gratitude to Dr Ray O. Johnson for his invaluable contributions to TII. Dr Aaraj commented: "After serving as a Chief Researcher at TII, I am honoured and excited to take on this new role as we aim to make a substantive impact on the global R&D and scientific community. We have an exceptional, diverse team of over 1,100 scientists and researchers and a culture of innovation that has propelled our rapid growth since our inception. I look forward to working alongside ATRCs leadership, our talented people, and our partners to lead TII in our exciting next growth phase." Impactful research TII is a pioneering global R&D centre at the forefront of applied research across groundbreaking advanced technologies. With 10 dedicated research centres specialising in cutting-edge fields, including advanced materials, autonomous robotics, cryptography, AI and digital science, directed energy, quantum technology, secure systems, propulsion and space, biotechnology, and renewable and sustainable energy, TII is driving impactful research to address specific real-world challenges. From its world-renowned Falcon LLM series to the recent world first man vs machine race where TIIs autonomous AI raced former F1 driver Daniil Kyvat around Yas Marina Circuit, TII is pioneering research breakthroughs. Elsewhere at the Institute, the directed energy team was awarded a grant of $1.5 million by the UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science to advance global water security through developing innovative, sustainable, and chemical-free approaches to rain enhancement. Autonomous robotics team Additionally, its autonomous robotics team has just made a significant breakthrough in underwater wireless communications. Common radio frequencies do not work well in water, so this research has huge potential to advance the use of robots across fields from oceanography to aquaculture. Its research outcomes are shaping an intellectual ecosystem that strengthens Abu Dhabi and the UAE's position as an international knowledge hub anchored on innovation.--TradeArabia News Service The Bahrain Technology Companies Society (BTECH) said it will honour the winners of the prestigious Bahrain Digital Content Awards (BDC Awards) at a ceremony on June 12 at the Gulf Convention Center, in capital Manama. The award ceremony will be presented by BTECH in collaboration with Worksmart for Events management, aimed at recognising and celebrating the outstanding achievements of Bahraini entities in the field of digital content creation. Top leaders and innovators in the field of digital entrepreneurship will gather at the event that will provide a platform to showcase the exceptional talent and creativity within Bahrain's digital landscape. The BDC Awards seeks to acknowledge and elevate the value of innovative digital businesses across a diverse range of sectors, including government and citizen engagement, health and well-being, learning and education, environment and green energy, culture and heritage, smart settlements and urbanisation, business and commerce, and inclusion and empowerment. Tareq Fakhro, Chairman of BTECH, said: "The Bahrain Digital Content Awards, established in 2005, serves as a testament to the Kingdom's unwavering commitment to advancing digital content creation, fostering innovation in information and communication technology, and aligning with global digitisation trends. We are proud to recognise and celebrate the exceptional achievements of Bahraini entities in this dynamic and ever-evolving field. Fakhro underscored the BDC Awards strategic role in fostering a thriving digital ecosystem within the Kingdom. By recognising and rewarding excellence in digital content creation, the award incentivises businesses and institutions to elevate their digital competencies and competitiveness on a global scale. Furthermore, he highlighted Btechs commitment to cultivating an environment conducive to innovation and technological advancement, reinforcing Bahrain's position as a regional leader in this domain, and acknowledged the profound impact of digital content on modern society, recognising the unique challenges and opportunities it presents within the international community. Ahmed Al-Hujairy, Group CEO of WorkSmart, said: "The Bahrain Digital Content Award stands as a beacon of innovation within the local landscape. This distinguished accolade not only fosters awareness of the critical role of technology but also actively encourages individuals and companies alike to contribute their novel ideas that fuel the growth of digital content. Furthermore, the award serves as a powerful catalyst, motivating public and private sector entities to embrace exceptional digital projects and solutions, aligning their efforts with the esteemed international standards set forth by the World Summit Award." Btech has invited companies and institutions to support the event. TradeArabia News Service The Department of Municipalities and Transport, represented by Abu Dhabi Mobility in collaboration with relevant authorities, has formally approved the tinting of bus windows of all sizes across the emirate. This regulation applies to both private and public buses licensed within the emirate. Additionally, a maximum of 30% window tinting is permitted on all Abu Dhabi buses, with the exception of the windscreen to ensure optimal driver visibility. The mandatory window tinting installation reinforces Abu Dhabi Mobility's dedication to providing a safe and comfortable travel environment for all bus passengers across the emirate. Highlighting window tinting as a key element in elevating the passenger experience, Abu Dhabi Mobility emphasises its role in combating harsh sunlight and reducing in-vehicle temperatures. This measure prioritises passenger comfort and safety on every journey, safeguarding passengers from harmful UV rays and enhancing the overall bus travel experience. Raising awareness In recognition of the region's characteristically hot climate, particularly in Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Mobility is dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of safety and comfort for passengers using commercial buses and public transportation. Window tinting for vehicles has become an increasingly popular choice due to its positive impact on the bus commuting experience, as studies suggest. This initiative serves as a significant step towards enhancing passenger comfort and safety on Abu Dhabi's buses.--TradeArabia News Service Ricardo Delgado covers the Hill Country for the San Antonio Express-News. He can be reached at ricardo.delgado@express-news.net. He previously worked for The University Star at Texas State University. Adnoc has announced the signing of a 15-year Heads of Agreement with Energie Baden-Wurttemberg (EnBW), one of the largest energy companies in Germany, for the delivery of 0.6 million metric tonnes per annum (mmtpa) of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The LNG will primarily be sourced from Adnocs lower-carbon Ruwais LNG project, currently under development in Al Ruwais Industrial City, Abu Dhabi. The Ruwais LNG plant is set to be the first LNG export facility in the Middle East and Africa region to run on clean power and will leverage the latest technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) tools to minimize emissions and drive efficiency. This agreement marks the third long-term LNG supply agreement from the project. The deliveries are expected to start in 2028, upon commencement of commercial operations. Fatema Al Nuaimi, Adnoc Executive Vice President, Downstream Business Management, said: The Ruwais LNG project continues to gain momentum, reinforcing Adnocs position as a reliable global natural gas provider. This new agreement builds on the UAE-Germany Energy Security and Industry Accelerator and will support Germany as it strives to diversify its energy sources and enhance its energy security. The UAE-Germany Energy Security and Industry Accelerator (ESIA), signed in 2022, aims to advance cooperation in energy security, decarbonization and lower-carbon fuels. Peter Heydecker, EnBWs Board Member for Sustainable Generation Infrastructure, said: We are delighted that EnBW has signed its first LNG contract in the Middle East with our experienced partner Adnoc. In doing so, we are taking the next step in terms of diversifying our procurement portfolio and establishing our own LNG value chain. We can also use the experience gained here for our medium-term goal of establishing an import structure for green gases, since the two business fields are very similar. The LNG agreement is contingent upon a final investment decision (FID) on the project, including regulatory approvals, and the negotiation of a definitive Sale and Purchase Agreement between the two companies. When completed, the project, which consists of two 4.8 mmtpa LNG liquefaction trains with a total capacity of 9.6 mmtpa, will more than double Adnocs LNG production capacity to around 15mmtpa. --OGN/TradeArabia News Service QatarEnergy has signed a farm-in agreement with ExxonMobil to acquire a 40 per cent participating interest in two exploration blocks offshore Egypt. Under the terms of the agreement, which is subject to customary approvals by the government of Egypt, QatarEnergy will acquire a 40 per cent working interest in each of the Cairo and Masry Offshore Concession Agreements, while ExxonMobil (the Operator) will retain the remaining 60 per cent working interest. Saad Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy said: I am pleased with our entry into the Cairo and Masry offshore exploration blocks as they expand QatarEnergys presence in the Arab Republic of Egypt and extend our ambitious exploration program in-country. Minister Al-Kaabi added, We look forward to working with our valued long-term strategic partner ExxonMobil, as well as with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) and the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, in this promising and prospective region. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Egyptian authorities and our partners for their valuable support and cooperation. The Cairo and Masry offshore exploration blocks were awarded to ExxonMobil in January 2023 and cover an area of approximately 11,400 square kilometers in water depths of 2,000 to 3,000 meters. --OGN/TradeArabia News Service Egypt is looking at the possibility of merging its petroleum and renewable energy ministries, creating an integrated Ministry of Energy to streamline industry operations and regulations. Mohamed Fouad, CEO of Egypt Oil & Gas, Secretary General of the Egyptian Gas Association and Marketing & Communications Committee Chairman of the International Gas Union, told an audience at the Invest in African Energy (IAE) Forum in Paris that the merger will make discussions and open dialogue with international companies much more efficient. The merger comes in response to changing dynamics within Egypts energy industry, as the country aims to increase the penetration of renewable energy in its gas-dominated energy mix. Oil and gas companies are also turning to renewable energy systems to support sustainable operations in the country, highlighting a need to enhance certainty regarding regulatory approvals in the industry. According to Fouad, We are increasing and putting a lot of investments in renewable energy and clean energy, while investing a lot within nuclear energy. We see the dynamics of creating a balance in our energy mix to be in favor of the country and the region. Various North African countries are prioritizing an integrated energy mix one that comprises a balance of hydrocarbon and renewable energy resources. In Morocco a major gas and renewable energy producer incorporating both renewables and gas in the energy mix is critical for developing baseload power while supporting a transition to a more sustainable future. Adonis Pouroulis, CEO of Chariot Energy Group, stated that, Morocco is the leader in Africa in renewable energy, but to support baseload power, you need gas and you need hydrocarbons. With hydrocarbons as your baseload, you can be more relentless in new technologies going forward because we will need all forms of energy to not only power Africa but the rest of the world. To support multi-faceted energy development, both Egypt and Morocco are prioritizing investments in infrastructure. According to Fouad, You will not have more energy investments if you do not have infrastructure. Reliable, sustainable and cost-efficient infrastructure adds value. Morocco is spearheading cross-border infrastructure development with the construction of the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline. The northern section survey of the pipeline has begun, serving as a critical step forward in the development of the $25 billion project. The 5,600km pipeline will link Nigerias gas fields to international markets via Morocco, traversing 11 West African countries. Pouroulis believes that the Nigeria-Morocco Pipeline is very important, as it showcases the success of cross-border collaboration and infrastructure development in Africa. Meanwhile, Libya aims to increase production to two million barrels per day within the next three years, with 45 greenfield and brownfield projects currently in the pipeline. As the market grows, the demand for insurance services has also increased. Delivering a presentation ahead of the North African panel discussion at IAE 2024, Zakaria Albarouni, General Manager at Al Baraka Insurance, stated that Our energy offerings are tailored to the needs of both onshore and offshore projects. We provide a comprehensive coverage of onshore facilities and offshore platforms. Our comprehensive engineering policies ensure every phase from groundwork to completion is covered against unforeseen events. --OGN/TradeArabia News Service Emirates has signed an expanded two-way interline partnership with Saudi carrier flynas in a move aimed at opening up connections and more travel choices for flynas customers via Dubai. Emirates current interline with flynas provides its customers with enhanced connectivity via its four gateways: Riyadh, Jeddah, Madinah, and Dammam, to over 15 domestic points in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It also includes the convenience of single ticket itineraries with onwards booking and baggage transfers. With the expansion of the interline to a bilateral arrangement, flynas customers can connect across any of Emirates gateways in the Kingdom to a select roster of onward destinations on the airlines network in the Far East, West Asia & Indian Ocean and Europe, via Dubai, said senior officials at the signing ceremony held on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market (ATM), in Dubai. The agreement was signed by Emirates Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer Adnan Kazim and flynas Group CEO & Managing Director Bander Almohanna in the presence of senior officials including Emirates Airline & Group Chairman and Chief Executive Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum and flynas Chairman Ayed Al Jeaid. On the strategic tieup, Almohanna said: "We are quite pleased to offer more choices to our customers through Emirates' wide network." "Once the expanded interline partnership is activated, customers will be able to book their travel on the flynas website, through online travel agencies as well as with local travel agents," he noted. Kazim pointed out that the existing flynas links provided its customers with an array of possibilities to travel smoothly across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in particular to business hubs and emerging leisure and cultural destinations. "Connecting our networks solidifies our commitment to offering travellers in Saudi Arabia access to even more destinations and helping them benefit from unique travel options," he stated. "The expansion of our interline agreement demonstrates our commitment to Saudi Arabia, and this is only the beginning. We look forward to exploring more opportunities to widen the scope of our partnership in the future," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Rotana, one of the leading hotel management companies in the region, has announced the signing of a franchise agreement with Signature Complex Islamabad for the opening of its first property in Pakistan. The agreement will see the development of Signature Rotana in the city under the groups upscale Rotana Hotels & Resorts brand. Located atop a bustling commercial hub in the countrys capital Islamabad, the hotel will add a total of 522 keys to Rotanas global portfolio once completed. Consisting of 378 hotel rooms and 144 branded residential apartments, the property will also offer a state-of-the-art business centre with six meeting rooms, a banquet hall, and a multipurpose space. The hotel will also boast two specialty restaurants and a cafe. To enhance the guest experience, the hotel will provide several wellness and relaxation amenities and will include an indoor swimming pool and gymnasium, as well as an exclusive spa, thermal facilities, and other self-care lounges. On the new project, Makram El Zyr, Vice President Development at Rotana, said: We are extremely excited to enter this dynamic market and introduce travellers to Rotanas unique blend of world-class standards, genuine hospitality, and treasured experiences. The project forms part of Rotanas robust global expansion plans, including entry into several new markets and the opening of 30 new properties by 2026. "We are confident that Signature Rotana will appeal to a varied group of global leisure and business travellers looking to doing business or to discover Pakistans diverse cultural and natural wonders, he noted. Shaheer Ahmed, Director Business Strategist at Signature Complex, expressed delight at the mega collaboration with Rotana as they make their foray into Islamabad. At Signature Rotana Islamabad, we are committed to delivering the best, and we are confident in our ability to uphold and exceed the high standards set by Rotana. Together, we aim to elevate the hospitality landscape in Pakistan and set new benchmarks for excellence. We have meticulously planned for this collaboration and are dedicated to making it a resounding success, he added.-TradeArabia News Service Amsa Hospitality, a pioneering hospitality startup in Saudi Arabia and Radisson Hotel Group have joined hands for the launch of their first property in Madinah city. Set to be operational by the end of 2024, this newly built hotel demonstrates both companies commitment to growing their presence in key Saudi cities. Radisson Hotel Madinah will offer 165 keys, including 53 business suites, tailored to meet the needs of travellers seeking both comfort and style. Guests can look forward to a variety of dining options, such as a contemporary lobby cafe, a restaurant, and a poolside juice bar. Radisson is an upscale hotel brand that offers Scandinavian-inspired hospitality and is part of the Radisson family of brands portfolio. With natural surroundings and unexpected delights, the Radisson brand inspires the art of being in the moment. Radisson Hotel Groups current portfolio in Saudi Arabia consists of 44 hotels in operation and under development, including Mansard Riyadh, A Radisson Collection Hotel, and the soon-to-open Radisson Hotel & Residence Riyadh Olaya. The group aims to reach 100 hotels in operation and under development by 2030. Strategically positioned outside the Haram area, Radisson Hotel Madinah will enjoy close proximity to significant landmarks, being just 3 km away from the Prophets Mosque and 750 m from the Quba Mosque, the oldest mosque in Islamic history. Moreover, it will be conveniently located 16 km away from Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz International Airport and 10 km from Madinah train station, which links to Jeddah and Makkah, making it easily accessible for guests and a potential hub for business and leisure travellers. Amsa Hospitality CEO Mohammad Alathel said: We are delighted about our new venture with long-time partner Radisson Hotel Group to establish a new hotel in the Holy City of Madinah." This project perfectly aligns with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 and marks a significant step in our commitment to enrich the hospitality landscape in the Kingdom. By collaborating with Radisson, we are ensuring that our dedication to international standards of hospitality is met while we continue to honour the centuries-old traditions of Arabian hospitality that align with our vision, he stated. Elie Milky, Vice President of Development, Middle East, Greece, Cyprus, and Pakistan at Radisson Hotel Group, said: "We are thrilled to introduce Radisson Hotel Madinah to our portfolio, marking a significant milestone in our expansion within Saudi Arabia as we penetrate a new key market. By introducing our brand to this esteemed destination, we will continue to cater to the diverse needs of modern travellers in a historic city that blends religious tourism with a rich cultural heritage. We thank Amsa Hospitality for their trust and for this growing strategic partnership across Saudi Arabia and beyond," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Collaboration between stakeholders from the tourism and aviation sectors is crucial to achieve the ambitious tourism targets the Kingdom has set for itself and o dirve economic growth, Ahmed Al-Khateeb, Saudi Arabias Minister of Tourism, has said. Speaking at the Future Aviation Forum in Riyadh, the minister highlighted the Kingdoms efforts to leverage new air connections to boost inbound tourism and accelerate sector growth. Recognised as the second fastest-growing tourism market globally in 2023, Saudi Arabia welcomed 107 million tourists, with 27.4 million of these being international arrivals. Tourism currently represents 4% of GDP in the Kingdom with a target of 10% GDP contribution by 2030. Aiming to attract 150 million tourists by that year of which 70 million will be international arrivals global airlines and tour operators will play a key role in this development. Gathering here at the Future Aviation Forum, it is important to emphasise the intersecting relationship between tourism and aviation. Ensuring the strategic expansion and sustainability of air routes is critical for our tourism goals, said Al-Khateeb during his keynote speech titled "Sky High Tourism Unlocking Destinations and Cultural Exchange Now and in the Future." In the past two years, Saudi Arabias air connectivity network expanded greatly, with Saudi airports adding 28 new routes from international destinations. In the first four months of 2024 alone, airlines from key markets in Europe and East Asia have initiated direct flights to the Kingdom. These airlines include China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Air China, ITA Airways, and Eurowings. With visitors from 66 countries now benefiting from the Saudi eVisa, the Kingdoms tourism market has been on an upward trajectory in recent years. Al-Khateeb added: This growth is a testament to Saudi Arabias appeal to international partners as an emerging global tourism and aviation hub. Strengthening our route network requires expanding the international footprint of Saudi carriers and attracting foreign airlines to our airports. As such, we are strategically pursuing new partnerships. Through the National Aviation Strategy, Saudi Arabia aims to invest $100 billion in its aviation infrastructure to turn the Kingdom into a major global player, creating many new opportunities for investors and airline partnerships. Alongside upgrading the capacity of its main airports in Riyadh and Jeddah, the Kingdoms aviation and tourism authorities are facilitating the arrival of several new airlines to Saudi airports. -TradeArabia News Service ALLIANCE: Opposition MPs Dinesh Rambally (Chaguanas West), from left, Rodney Charles (Naparima), Rushton Paray (Mayaro) and Anita Haynes-Alleyne (Tabaquite) show their alliance during a community meeting in Woodland on Sunday. The four MPs are considered dissidents by the UNC after they called for the partys internal elections to be held when constitutionally due. Photo: DEXTER PHILIP 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. CANDLES OF HOPE: Jean Nakhid, a resident of Acono Road, Maracas, St Joseph, joins other well wishers last night as they take part in a candlelight vigil from Acono Junction to Green Hill for Anisha Hosein, the daughter of the owner of Sauce Doubles, who was kidnapped in El Dorado on Saturday morning. Photos: JERMAINE CRUICKSHANK FILE - People march through downtown Amarillo to protest a lawsuit to ban the abortion drug mifepristone, Feb. 11, 2023, in Amarillo, Texas. A Colorado abortion fund said Thursday, May 9, 2024, it's helped hundreds access abortion in the first months of 2024, many arriving from Texas and other states where abortion is restricted, showing a continued increase in demand since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. (AP Photo/Justin Rex, File) Justin Rex/Associated Press LUBBOCK The Amarillo City Council must consider a policy that outlaws using local streets to access an abortion in other states after the city verified supporters of the policy gathered enough signatures to advance the issue. The five-member council in the heart of the Texas Panhandle had been reluctant to follow other conservative cities and counties that have put the largely symbolic policy in place. According to City Secretary Stephanie Coggins, the city validated 6,300 signatures out of the 10,300 submitted last month. The petition will be presented to the council on Tuesday. The council may then hold a public meeting on the same day to consider the ordinance or schedule the discussion for a future date. The council must vote on the petition within 30 days of it being presented. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Depending on the councils decision the committee behind the sanctuary city for the unborn ordinance is unwilling to budge on certain provisions the final say could be up to Amarillo voters in November. During a news conference, Mayor Cole Stanley said most residents are ready to have the issue in the rearview mirror and focus on other city business. He added that Texas is a sanctuary state and wondered what would be accomplished by passing the ordinance. I dont feel the council has three votes that would be in favor of this ordinance as its written, Stanley said. He added, I dont believe it would be necessary for the council to reject this. It has the signatures, it has been validated, its earned the right to go forward to the ballot if the committee decides to do that. The council asked the city attorney to draft a version of the ordinance that is in line with state law. Stanley previously told the Tribune their version would not have any provisions that oversteps on civil liberties. He believes this version will be ready for discussion at their next meeting. If it passes, the group behind the petition could still put the ordinance on the ballot. Advertisement Article continues below this ad It doesnt prevent this from going forward in November, Stanley said. If something were to fail then, it wouldnt negate what the council would do here. On social media, Mark Lee Dickson, director of Right to Life of East Texas who is leading the charge, said he is looking forward to the next step of the process. Lindsay London, co-founder of the Amarillo Reproductive Freedom Alliance, said the group is preparing for whatever comes next. We are continuing to meet with the mayor and City Council, London said, to work to ensure that extremist rhetoric does not overshadow the diverse needs and perspectives in our community. Amarillos City Council first took up the issue in October, but did not immediately approve the ordinance. In December, the council signaled it was willing to pass a version of the proposed policy that focused on restricting access to abortion-inducing medication for medical abortions, and regulating the disposal of human remains. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The travel ban was removed entirely from that version a key component for anti-abortion activists, as Interstates 40 and 27 run through the city. A group of residents, who Dickson said were uncomfortable with the direction the council was taking, then began circulating the petition. Dickson said the ordinance is about banning abortion trafficking, and neither he nor the committee behind the petition see the ordinance as a travel ban. We do not see prohibitions on abortion trafficking, child trafficking, or sex trafficking as violations of peoples civil liberties or the right to travel, Dickson said. The original ordinance supporters want to see passed in the city does not call for pregnant women to be punished for having an abortion out of state. However, anti-abortion legal crusader Jonathan Mitchell has filed legal petitions seeking to depose women he claims traveled out of state for abortions. Mitchell is working with anti-abortion activists pushing the travel ban on a municipal level. The proposed policy makes anyone who aids and abet the procedure vulnerable to a private lawsuit from other citizens. The enforcement is similar to Senate Bill 8, the Texas bill that banned almost all abortions in 2021, prior to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. This is the only enforcement mechanism for the ordinance, which some council members have criticized as creating a system for neighbors to turn on each other to collect reward money. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Recently, city leaders in Clarendon, about 60 miles southeast of Amarillo, rejected passing the sanctuary city for the unborn ordinance. The cities of Llano and Chandler held off on making decisions to approve or reject the travel ban. Other cities and counties in Texas have passed ordinances to prohibit traveling through their jurisdictions for an abortion outside the state. This includes the cities of Athens, Abilene, Plainview, San Angelo, Odessa, Muenster and Little River-Academy, and Mitchell, Goliad, Lubbock, Dawson, Cochran and Jack counties. The Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson and the Copper Queen Library in Bisbee will soon have some new hardware for their trophy cases. For service to their communities, the two Southern Arizona institutions have been selected to receive national medals from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The independent federal agency based in Washington, D.C., describes its National Medal for Museum and Library Service as the nations highest honor of its kind. The institute announced this years recipients five libraries and five museums on Tuesday. The awards will be presented at a ceremony in Washington this summer. These institutions and their dedicated staff are stepping up to anticipate and meet the needs of their individual communities, said Cyndee Landrum, acting director for the institute, which is a federally funded member of the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities. From New York to Arizona, these 10 recipients are unparalleled sources of education, health, jobs, and cultural resources, bridging the gaps of distance, resources, and experience for community members. The Desert Museum and the Bisbee library join the Museum of Northern Arizona as the states only winners of the 20-year-old award. The museum in Flagstaff won its medal in 2015. Rep. Raul Grijalva issued a statement congratulating the two winners from his congressional district. This award validates what weve known to be true: the 7th Congressional District of Arizona is home to world class museums and library services, said Grijalva, who nominated the Desert Museum and the Copper Queen Library for the medal. I am proud to represent and support these beloved institutions that serve as critical gathering spaces for our community, repositories of knowledge, and cornerstones of learning in Southern Arizona. Desert Museum Executive Director Craig Ivanyi called the award an honor beyond compare that affirms that the Museums work matters to the communities we work within. Copper Queen Library Manager Jason Macoviak said he and his staff are honored and thrilled to bring the National Medal home to Bisbee. This is just the latest honor for the two institutions. In 2019, the 142-year-old Copper Queen was named the best small library in America by Library Journal. The Desert Museum has racked up numerous awards over the years, and it continues to rank as Tucsons top attraction on TripAdvisor.com. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is a sibling agency to the National Endowment for the Arts. It provides the main source of federal funding for the nations libraries and museums, with a budget of more than $313 million during fiscal year 2023. The murder trial of Daniel Garcia, accused in the death of 5-year-old Domenic Aguilar, began Tuesday in San Antonio. Christopher Lee A photo of Domenic Aguilar, 5, shown to the jury Tuesday at the murder trial of Daniel Garcia, accused of beating him to death in San Antonio in 2021. Christopher Lee Nickolle Aguilar, who has pleaded guilty to her role in the death of her son Domenic Aguilar, 5, testified in the murder trial of her ex-boyfriend, Daniel Garcia, on Tuesday. Christopher Lee Nickolle Aguilar, who has pleaded guilty to her role in the death of her son Domenic Aguilar, 5, testified in the murder trial of her ex-boyfriend, Daniel Garcia, on Tuesday. Christopher Lee Brigette Garza, the attorney defending Daniel Garcia, spoke to the jury Tuesday at his murder trial. Garcia is accused of killing 5-year-old Domenic Aguilar in San Antonio in 2021. Christopher Lee The murder trial of Daniel Garcia, accused of killing 5-year-old Domenic Aguilar, began Tuesday in San Antonio. Christopher Lee FBI digital evidence agent Dustin McCarley testified Tuesday in the murder trial of Daniel Garcia, accused of killing 5-year-old Domenic Aguilar in 2021. Christopher Lee Nickolle Cristina Aguilar drove to Colorado with her dead sons body in the summer of 2021 so she and her then-boyfriend could bury him some place beautiful, she testified as the murder trial of Daniel Garcia began. Garcia, 27, of McAllen, is accused of killing 5-year-old Domenic Patrick Aguilar in San Antonio after weeks of abusing him. The boys mother, who pleaded guilty two weeks ago for her part in the crime, was the prosecutions first witness. Handcuffed and wearing a red Bexar County jail jumpsuit, Aguilar, 27, of Boca Raton, Fla., at times cried Tuesday as she described how Garcia would hit her son. Advertisement Article continues below this ad She said they met on a Facebook online dating app, began seeing each other and including their children, and it wasnt long before Garcia became the one who doled out punishment to Domenic. The beatings increased in a Homewood Suites extended stay hotel in San Antonio where, she said, Garcia punched Domenic in the chest, legs and jaw, which left it crooked. Aguilar said the child wore a mask in public to hide the injury. The abuse ended on July 24, 2021, when authorities believe Domenic was killed. The plan was to drive up to Colorado to bury his body, Aguilar told the jury. It was my idea to go to Colorado. I had promised my kids I was going to take them to Colorado so they could see the snow. It was in my head it was beautiful there. I wanted him to be some place beautiful. Garcia also is charged with altering, destroying or concealing a human corpse, a second-degree felony, and with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury. He faces up to life in prison if convicted on the murder charge. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Aguilar pleaded guilty May 8 to injury to a child causing serious bodily injury by omission, in exchange for her testimony against Garcia and a maximum of 15 years in prison. She could have faced life in prison if convicted at a trial. In his opening statement, prosecutor Nathan Morley told the jury that witnesses would include the childs mother, adding, She stood by while this man beat her son, didnt call police, didnt seek medical care. He described the specifics of Aguilars plea bargain and said it was her acceptance of responsibility for her role in Domenics death. Morey told the panel that the couple met in late 2020, started spending time together each had a daughter and a son and decided to move from Florida to San Antonio, where Garcia shared custody of his children with their mother. As time went on, Morey said, Garcia became the punisher. Advertisement Article continues below this ad He began disciplining Domenic, striking his face, body with a clenched fist, would withhold food, and put him in timeout in the bathroom, the prosecutor said. In her opening statement, defense attorney Brigitte Garza told the jury that what happened to Domenic, all of it, was on his mother. Using the phrase actions speak louder than words several times, Garza recited text messages between Garcia and Aguilar in which Aguilar professed her undying love. I love you, I love you, baby, I value what we have, Garza read. Good night, baby, sweet dreams. Shes not upset, shes not angry at him for beating her son. The defense attorney also read a text from Aguilar to Garcia in which she criticized herself: I (expletive) up as a parent and failed both of my children. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Affidavits for the couples arrest painted a three-week picture of extreme abuse of Domenic by Garcia including that he hit the boy so hard he bounced off a wall. Surveillance video taken from the hotel on Interstate 35 on San Antonios Northeast Side captured Garcia carrying what appeared to be a childs body out of a room and down a stairway. Authorities launched a search for Domenic after his grandmother, Sirle Maria Acevedo Cevallos, called San Antonio police and the FBI to share her suspicions that her grandson was dead and that her daughter could not explain what happened. FBI agents interviewed Acevedo in Costa Rica, where she had tracked her daughter down. Authorities arrested the couple without incident in Florida in August 2021. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Three city councilors sat down Friday with representatives of City Lights to explore options for potentially moving the nonprofits weekly homeless outreach program to a new location a few hundred yards north of its present site. Night Light Tulsa has been operating for more than a decade under an Interstate 244 overpass at the intersection of Maybelle Avenue and Reconciliation Way in the Crosbie Heights neighborhood. The site discussed Friday is on the Katy Trail under another I-244 overpass several hundred yards north of the existing Night Light Tulsa location. The meeting came just days after city councilors gave themselves until June 12 to finesse a resolution to a problem that technically has nothing to do with Night Light Tulsa. The city has cited several of Stephen Bufords properties near the Night Light Tulsa location as nuisances and ordered them to be abated; otherwise, the city could demolish them. Buford has argued that the city is on the one hand asking property owners in the neighborhood to improve their homes as part of the Vibrant Neighborhoods Partnership while at the same time permitting events like Night Light Tulsa, which he said make it impossible to rent his nearby properties. It is up to the City Council to accept or reject Bufords appeals of the nuisance citations. City Councilor Laura Bellis, whose district includes the Crosbie Heights neighborhood, said she would support a compromise that includes a new site for Night Light Tulsa but that that is not the issue before the City Council at the moment. I dont think a solution to both challenges has to happen concurrently, Bellis said. The reality is our laws and rules and ordinances about maintaining your property is what is actually in front of us. Bellis said she was concerned that the city could be setting a bad precedent by moving a service provider because a nearby property owner objects to the service providers being there. We have City Lights that is following all the rules as we have them written and a property owner who isnt, Bellis said. She acknowledged the challenges presented by having private properties so close to a concentration of social services. The Night Light Tulsa location is just northwest of the Tulsa County Jail, Tulsa Day Center and Iron Gate. However, if City Lights was not cleaning up that area once a week, I dont know what it would look like, Bellis said. That said, if there is another long-term sustainable spot that we can make work to provide amenities and meet people where they are, I am totally for that. Fridays meeting included City Lights Founder and Executive Director Sarah Grounds, City Lights Board President Todd Welsh, and City Councilors Jeannie Cue, Lakin and Bellis. Lakin has said previously that he did not contact Grounds during the 90-day extension councilors approved earlier this year for further discussions of the matter but did reach out to Welsh just days before councilors took up the issue again last week. Lakin also said he and Cue did meet with Buford during that 90-day window. On Monday, Lakin reiterated that it is his strong desire not to have anyone come out a loser in the ongoing discussions, especially as it relates to losing the opportunity to house people. Im simply trying to balance the affordable housing needs of our city with those who need homes, those who are providing homes and those who are providing services to the homeless, Lakin said. We may not be able to find an amicable plan that works, but Im sure going to try, and sometimes trying takes a little bit more time. Lakin noted that the option discussed Friday would have weather coverage similar to what Night Light Tulsa has at its current location. City Lights understands that the right to use the current site is not guaranteed and is only allowed as permitted by the city of Tulsa, which has some risks, Lakin said. City Lights expressed valid concerns about the other site, as well as valid benefits about their use of the existing site. Grounds said Monday evening that City Lights is always willing to engage in conversations that help make Tulsa a stronger and more caring community. We continue to serve our most vulnerable neighbors in this area, both housed and unhoused, with intention and care going above and beyond any requirements set for us, Grounds said. But the suggested location move does not meet the operational needs of Night Light or provide space for a safe event, which is always a priority. Our hope and expectation is that the city will address this matter in a way that honors the ordinances of our community and the safety of those living in this area. Lakin said he and Cue shared the efforts they have undertaken in the past to allow City Lights to use the current site as well as the issues that had to be overcome with neighbors and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. We also brainstormed about options for the homes in question, given that the city is very focused on preserving and building affordable housing, Lakin said. When asked about the situation earlier this year, Mayor G.T. Bynum praised City Lights outreach program. I have nothing but gratitude for the work Night Light Tulsa does at this location. We benefit from centers all over Tulsa that operate periodic food service for homeless Tulsans, Bynum said. Those operations do not exempt their neighbors from complying with city of Tulsa codes and ordinances. I also think it is important to note that the individual raising a concern bought his properties after Night Light Tulsa was already in operation. This is not a new program the city permitted and impacted him by surprise. A surge in imports of cheap Chinese-made steel is stoking anxiety among domestic producers and the steel market in Vietnam. Vietnams steel industry is facing multiple challenges and might be choked by imported steel, mainly from China. Statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs showed that Vietnam bought 890,000 metric tons of hot-rolled coil (HRC) steel in April, 1.5 times higher than the locally-produced volume. Of the total, Chinas HRC steel accounted for 71 percent. Between January and April, some 3.9 million metric tons of steel was imported into Vietnam, rising 32 percent year on year. During the four-month period, 73 percent of the total imported steel came from China, more than double the amount recorded in the same period last year. Several steel firms said that it is unreasonable as imported steel is not subject to trade remedies. In addition, low-priced Chinese steel is flooding the Vietnamese market, creating an environment of unfair competition. The prices of Chinas HRC steel are always cheaper than those set by other exporters, making it easier for the Chinese products to enter Vietnam. In particular, Chinese HRC steel is US$123 per metric ton cheaper than the price of South Koreas steel. Domestic steel is used for a key project in Vietnam. Photo: Cong Trung / Tuoi Tre To mitigate the impact of imported steel on domestic production, Vietnamese authorities are considering a petition from local steel firms to launch an anti-dumping probe into Chinese steel. Meanwhile, many countries are adopting trade remedies for products imported from China. Thailand is conducting a probe into Chinese steel to take anti-dumping measures against some Chinese exporters. Cheap made-in-China steel is flooding the Thai market, leaving local firms production reaching only 30 percent of their capacity. Many economic experts believe that trade remedies will act as an effective tool to protect domestic producers from the unfair competition related to imported goods. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! FUJIKAWAGUCHIKO, Japan -- Japan's majestic Mt. Fuji was some 700,000 years in the making, but on one sultry May morning, it was gone. At least on one side of a busy road, views of the 3,776-metre (12,388 foot) symbol of Japan and the Lawson convenience store beneath it have vanished, as officials finished a 20-metre by 2.5-metre barrier to obstruct a photo spot that had become viral among tourists. For locals, the mass of visitors and their refusal to obey rules on littering and parking had become a nuisance and traffic hazard. "I'm really happy that foreigners are coming to our town," said Kikue Katsumata, 73, a lifelong resident of Fujikawaguchiko. "But when it comes to taking pictures from the Lawson, the road is a bit narrow and it can be dangerous when people dash across without using a crosswalk." A tourist poses for a photo of Mount Fuji appearing over a convenience store after a barrier to block the popular tourist spot was installed, in Fujikawaguchiko town, Yamanashi prefecture, Japan, May 21, 2024. Photo: Reuters March and April set all-time records for visitor arrivals, driven by pent-up demand after the pandemic and as the yen's slide to a 34-year low made Japan an irresistible bargain. That's been good news for the economy, with travellers spending a record 1.75 trillion yen ($11.2 billion) in the first three months of 2024, according to the tourist agency. The drastic decision to block the view of Mt. Fuji symbolizes tensions across the country as Japan reckons with the consequences of its tourism boom. The western metropolis of Osaka and the hot spring resort town Hakone are among municipalities considering new tourism taxes to deal with deluge of visitors. A tourist poses for a photo of Mount Fuji appearing over a convenience store after a barrier to block the popular tourist spot was installed, in Fujikawaguchiko town, Yamanashi prefecture, Japan, May 21, 2024. Photo: Reuters Cyril Malchand, a 45-year old visitor from France, found out about the fence online and made a special trip to be among the last to take in the view. He said he empathised with the locals. "When I see that there could be problems with people crossing the road without watching cars, I don't find it that bad that they're setting up that fence," he said. ($1 = 156.4200 yen) Tourists stand nearby as workers erect a barrier to block the view of a popular Mount Fuji photo spot, near a convenience store in Fujikawaguchiko town, Yamanashi prefecture, Japan, May 21, 2024. Photo: Reuters Camp Bullis personnel eat lunch in the current Camp Bullis Dining Facility at Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis on Friday, May 10, 2024. Construction on the new Camp Bullis Dining Facility is expected to be complete by August 2025. Salgu Wissmath/San Antonio Express-News Workers in safety helmets and vests were busy anchoring steel columns in a concrete foundation built into the rocky ground at Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis, creating the spine of what will become a $28 million dining facility. The above-ground part of the foundation was lined with wooden boards holding the drying concrete in place. To get an idea of what the new dining facility, or DFAC, will look like, it's helpful to talk to project manager Justin Curry. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Construction crew members work on foundation footers for the new Camp Bullis Dining Facility at Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis on Friday, May 10, 2024. Construction on the new Camp Bullis Dining Facility is expected to be complete by August 2025. Salgu Wissmath/San Antonio Express-News The current Camp Bullis Dining Facility at Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis on Friday, May 10, 2024. Construction on the new Camp Bullis Dining Facility is expected to be complete by August 2025. Salgu Wissmath/San Antonio Express-News Construction crew members work on foundation footers for the new Camp Bullis Dining Facility at Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis on Friday, May 10, 2024. Construction on the new Camp Bullis Dining Facility is expected to be complete by August 2025. Salgu Wissmath/San Antonio Express-News Assistant Manager Anna Carney, left, and Food Service Specialist Shirley Jones, right, serve lunch in the current Camp Bullis Dining Facility at Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis on Friday, May 10, 2024. Construction on the new Camp Bullis Dining Facility is expected to be complete by August 2025. Salgu Wissmath/San Antonio Express-News A construction crew member works on the new Camp Bullis Dining Facility at Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis on Friday, May 10, 2024. Construction on the new Camp Bullis Dining Facility is expected to be complete by August 2025. Salgu Wissmath/San Antonio Express-News A rendering showing the Northwest view of the proposed DFAC building to be built at Camp Bullis. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers A rendering showing the Southwest view of the proposed DFAC building to be built at Camp Bullis. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers A rendering showing the Southeast view of the proposed DFAC building to be built at Camp Bullis. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers He describes the white thermoplastic polyolefin roof (with a 20-year warranty) and the stainless steel gutters and glass, brick and imitation wood facade. The earth-tone building won't look out of place amid the rugged landscape a vast training ground for the Army, Air Force and Marines on San Antonio's far North Side. "One thing that's kind of interesting is it's going to have four big ground catch basin sinks so soldiers can wash their hands," said Curry, 34, of Adkins. "Say you have a big reserve unit that's coming in and they just came from a march for training, they can all wash their hands outside before they enter." The new 30,000-square-foot dining facility, expected to welcome its first customers in August 2025, is long overdue. The project was temporarily shelved in 2019 when then-President Donald Trump siphoned $18.5 million that Congress had earmarked for a new dining facility at Camp Bullis to help pay for his border wall project. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The entrance to the current Camp Bullis Dining Facility at Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis on Friday, May 10, 2024. Construction on the new Camp Bullis Dining Facility is expected to be complete by August 2025. Salgu Wissmath/San Antonio Express-News The next year, however, Joint Base San Antonio received $22 million to build the new dining hall $3.5 million more than had been previously earmarked for it. The project began with construction of a new warehouse that produces targets for firing ranges on the sprawling camp. Once that work was complete, the building that occupied the property across the street from the old dining hall was razed. That's where the new DFAC, which will have room for up to 400 soldiers, is going up. Construction began two months ago. In all, 12 old structures at Camp Bullis, ranging from wood-framed buildings on pier-and-beam foundations to wood buildings on concrete foundations, have been razed recently. One more has been targeted for the wrecking ball, said Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Richard Bumgardner. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Val Oppenheimer, Resident Engineer for Camp Bullis and Randolph Air Force Base, describes the current state of construction of the new Camp Bullis Dining Facility at Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis on Friday, May 10, 2024. Salgu Wissmath/San Antonio Express-News Out with the old Entering Building 5107 is like revisiting the days of the old Army the one that fought in World War II. The 2,822-square-foot DFAC went up in 1936, the work of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps. It can seat no more than 124. On a recent Friday, it was steak and lobster for lunch, so no one was complaining about the cramped quarters. But if any of the soldiers had to go to the restroom, they had to hold it because the DFAC was built without restrooms. Portable toilets lining the road across from the dining hall had been the longstanding workaround. But today, with the construction site of the new facility just yards away, they're all but gone. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Two portable toilets remain, and they're for construction workers only. Other portable toilets for the patrons are behind the building. Renderings of the new Camp Bullis Dining Facility at Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis on Friday, May 10, 2024. Construction on the new Camp Bullis Dining Facility is expected to be complete by August 2025. Salgu Wissmath/San Antonio Express-News The 88-year-old wooden dining hall is part of a small complex of four buildings devoted to producing meals for both troops eating in the facility and those who have to chow down in the field. "It is definitely a unique facility, and that's why it's important that we invest in this infrastructure to get the new dining facility built and operational, because overall it's going to be a huge quality-of-life improvement for not just the service members who are passing through and training here but the staff who work here," Air Force spokesman Rob Strain said. Years ago, a three-star general who visited the dining hall was taken aback by what he saw. Advertisement Article continues below this ad I think the term he used was, This looks like its the Beetle Bailey army, Michael Waldrop, director of installation support at Camp Bullis, recalled the general saying. And we told him no, it was actually pre-World War II. Air Force Lt. Gen. Darryl Roberson, who served as head of the Air Education and Training Command until 2017, wanted it replaced. Waldrop worked for years to get a modern DFAC in which the kitchen would have air conditioning and diners wouldnt have to use portable toilets. A construction crew member works on foundation footers for the new Camp Bullis Dining Facility at Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis on Friday, May 10, 2024. Construction on the new Camp Bullis Dining Facility is expected to be complete by August 2025. Salgu Wissmath/San Antonio Express-News In with the new The 27,990-acre Camp Bullis is a key cog in the city's myriad training missions. It's primarily used as a maneuvering range for Army, Air Force and Marine combat units, as well as a field training site for medical units stationed at Brooke Army Medical Center on nearby JBSA-Fort Sam Houston. Combat medics take what they've learned in the classroom over their intensive 16-week course and apply it under simulated conflict conditions at Camp Bullis. The military bought more than 17,000 acres of San Antonio ranch land in 1906 to create the range, which was originally called the Leon Springs Military Reservation. The first major maneuvers involving Army and National Guard infantry, cavalry and field artillery units took place two years later, and the 1910 Mexican Revolution led to large-scale maneuvers at the reservation, which was later renamed for Brig. Gen. John. L. Bullis. Some of the structures on the post look like they've been around since those days. The Camp Bullis Chapel, a one-story wooden structure, still stands a short walk up Doughboy and Northwest Military Highway. A half-mile away, a building near the old DFAC, identified by the sign "Dining Facility Administration," is in dire need of an exterior paint job but at least it has a window-unit air conditioner and a new roof. A rendering showing the Northeast view of the proposed DFAC building to be built at Camp Bullis. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers When the old DFAC is finally torn down and turned into a parking lot, its food preparation and distribution operations will be consolidated into one building capable of feeding as many as 1,800 people a day, said Val Oppenheimer, Army Corps of Engineers resident engineer for Camp Bullis and JBSA-Randolph. The new chow hall being built by Virginia-based federal contractor Cape Fox Mountain Point will look like the Air Force of 2024, right down to a glass facade facing west, allowing sunlight to pour into the dining area. The polyolefin roof will reflect sunlight rather than absorb it, which means the cooks, food servers, the cash register lady who charged $7 for the steak-and-lobster lunch and diners will suffer less on hot summer days. The leaders of Vietnams state, government, and lawmaking National Assembly (NA) sent condolences to their Iranian counterparts on Monday over a helicopter crash that occurred on Sunday, killing Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and some other top officials. Acting State President Vo Thi Anh Xuan and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh extended condolences to Acting President of Iran Mohammad Mokhber after the tragedy, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Newly-elected NA Chairman Tran Thanh Man sent a message of condolences to Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf over the loss of two of Irans most influential political figures on the same day. Minister of Foreign Affair Bui Thanh Son also conveyed his condolences to Irans Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani. Iranian state media said the helicopter carrying the president "made a hard landing" in bad weather conditions on Sunday afternoon. Rescue teams approached the crash scene and found the wreckage of the helicopter early on Monday. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Monday announced five days of public mourning for President Ebrahim Raisi following his death in the helicopter crash and confirmed First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber as interim head of the country's executive branch, reported Reuters. Born in 1960, late President Raisi served as a senior judiciary official for many years. In 2021, he was elected as Iran's eighth president. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reiterated Vietnams consistent stance to uphold the One China policy and develop no state-level relations with Taiwan after the new leader of the island took the oath of office on Monday. The ministrys spokeswoman Pham Thu Hang made the reaffirmation on Monday afternoon in reply to reporters queries on Vietnams viewpoint on Chinas One China policy amid the context that Lai Ching-te, a member of Taiwans Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was sworn in as the islands new leader earlier on the same day. On the basis of steadfastly implementing the One China policy under which Taiwan is an integral part of Chinas territory, Vietnam maintains and develops people-to-people and non-governmental relations with Taiwan in various fields including economics, trade, investment, science and technology, culture, and education, but does not develop any state-level ties with Taiwan, Hang stressed. Vietnam respects the principle of non-interference in each others internal affairs and believes that peace, stability, and cooperation in the Taiwan Strait is crucial for both the region and the global community, the spokesperson stated. New leader Lai, 65, won Taiwans leadership election in January to succeed his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen, who is in the same party as Lai and had led the island for eight years. Lai served as Tsais deputy for four years before winning the election. He was once a lawmaker and the mayor of Tainan City on the southwest coast of Taiwan. Relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have become tense since the DPP came to power. Chinas Taiwan Affairs Office on Monday condemned the inauguration speech of Taiwans new leader. On the same day, Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs also criticized Lai, accusing him of advocating the separation of Taiwan from the Peoples Republic of China. The ministry warned that Lai would bring war and decline to the island. Seeing Taiwan as an integral part of its territory, China has consistently and firmly opposed any form of official contact between the Taiwan region and countries having diplomatic ties with China, according to Chinas Peoples Daily. In recent times, a number of countries have severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan and switched to setting up diplomatic ties with mainland China. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A video of five children dancing while crossing a street in downtown Da Nang City, central Vietnam has provoked outrage among netizens. Road-crossing dance is currently a trend on TikTok. The video showed the children dancing at a crosswalk near the Dragon Bridge, while many people waited at a red light. This area is one of the busiest and most complex traffic points in Da Nang. Although the video is only nearly 30 seconds long, it has evoked mixed comments on social media. Most netizens voiced their concerns over the safety of the children. Bi Nguyen, a local netizen, said he had seen many videos of adults dancing while crossing roads. Although the five children moved on the crosswalk, he still felt worried as they focused on dancing and might not pay attention to priority vehicles which are allowed to run red lights. Bi added that it is particularly alarming because the children are still developing their awareness, making them more susceptible to following such trends. Road-crossing dance is currently a popular trend in many countries. According to lawyer Nguyen Cong Tin from the Da Nang Bar Association, roads are traffic facilities that ensure the circulation of vehicles and commuters. Other activities, such as cultural, sports, and artistic events, as well as parades, are restricted on roads. Organizers must obtain permission from the competent authorities to hold these activities on public roads. However, many individuals and groups of people, mainly digital content creators, have recently taken to the streets to dance, sing or do yoga and film videos of their acts, regardless of regulations. They mainly aim to attract views and gain fame on social media. However, their acts pose a danger to commuters and vehicles. Some have even obstructed traffic activities and other normal social activities. Current sanctions are not heavy enough to deter violators, Tin noted. Most recently, authorities in Thai Binh Province, northern Vietnam imposed an administrative fine of VND150,000 (US$6) each on 14 women who obstructed traffic while performing yoga poses in the middle of a road for photo shoots. Police in Hai Duong Province, also in the north, have initiated legal proceedings against four people, including Pham Duc Hai, better known as Hai Idol, a local TikToker, for parking cars used in a wedding procession ceremony to form a line across a road for photo shoots. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Check out the latest news in Vietnam today: Politics -- Vietnam's Acting State President Vo Thi Anh Xuan, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son on Monday extended condolences to their Iranian counterparts over a helicopter crash on Sunday that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and some other senior officials. -- Vietnam persists with the 'One China' policy, recognizing Taiwan as an inseparable part of China's territory, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam Pham Thu Hang said on Monday. Society -- The administration in Da Lat City, located in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, said on Monday that it had fined a company VND90 million (US$3,534) for installing a pair of dragon mascots which were displayed on Nguyen Hue Flower Street during the 2024 Lunar New Year holiday, or Tet, in Da Lat without a permit and asked the company to dismantle the mascots within 10 days. -- A video of five children dancing while crossing a street in downtown Da Nang City, central Vietnam has provoked outrage among netizens. Road-crossing dance is currently a trend on TikTok. -- Many sections of the streets in Thu Duc City, an administrative district under Ho Chi Minh City, such as Kha Van Can, Hiep Binh, To Ngoc Van, and Duong Van Cam, were submerged under water due to a heavy rain on Monday evening, posing immense challenges for commuters. -- The government in Hoi An, a famed tourist city in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam, said on Monday that it had begun receiving registrations from families in Hoi An Ancient Town that seek to join a pilot program to allow tourists to experience their families daily life. Business -- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Monday received Nagavara Ramaroa Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys, one of the biggest IT companies in India, the Vietnam News Agency reported. World News -- Indonesia's coordinating minister of investment said that Elon Musk will consider an offer to build an electric vehicle battery plant in the country, after the CEO of Tesla met with President Joko Widodo on Monday, according to Reuters. -- More than a third of Italian teenagers want to emigrate when they are older, Reuters reported, citing a survey by national statistics institute Istat which also found that young people have become more anxious about the future. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Inspectors from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health have recently uncovered illegal online services offering cosmetic genital surgeries. This issue will be highlighted in the department's upcoming report following a month-long inspection. The department plans to use the report to propose measures to the local administration to curb illegal health promotion activities. A simple Google search for terms like cau be (penis) or co be (vagina) reveals myriad websites advertising genital repair services. Beauty salons often use provocative language to attract customers to their illegal services. Inspectors scrutinized ads from One World Clinic, a spa in Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City, which promised to alter the size of private parts such as the penis, vagina, and breasts. They also addressed an advertisement for Dr. Trong in District 9, which claimed to offer safe circumcisions using new technology with no pain, bleeding, hospitalization, scarring, or side effects. Inspectors discovered a Facebook account promoting these services at a clinic in Vinhomes Grand Park, Thu Duc City, and took corrective action. Similarly, UCI INTERNATIONAL, a beauty spa in District 1, was reprimanded for offering penis enlargement services, which were advertised on Facebook. On May 8, a clinic named Mor Grand started offering non-surgical penis enlargement procedures. District 10 Health Office inspectors investigated ads posted by the spa on Nguyen Ngoc Loc Street in District 10. Morgand Ltd., owned by Trieu Thi Thanh Truc, was inspected. The company had a valid enterprise registration certificate, but inspectors found a customer, T.L., who had been injected with an unknown weight-loss drug. The inspection team also found multiple receipt books documenting customer information for enlargement and weight loss treatments since early 2024. They discovered unlabeled capsules and serums without Vietnamese labels or sources. On April 2, the Department of Health cited Grand Korea Ltd. for providing unlicensed health checks and treatments. The company was ordered to cease operations for 18 months. The District 10 Health Office is currently handling the administrative violations related to this case. Like us on Facebook or follow us on X to get the latest news about Vietnam! A group of veterans who are members of Veterans For Peace (VFP) Chapter 160 have offered 60 brand-new bicycles to underprivileged schoolchildren in Quang Tri Province, north-central Vietnam. Members of the VFP Chapter 160 in coordination with Project RENEW made the donations, valued at over VND100 million (US$3,930) on Thursday and Friday last week, with the disadvantaged students in Trieu Phong District, Cam Lo District, and Huong Hoa District being the beneficiaries. The VFP Chapter 160 includes seven members hailing from the U.S. and Australia. Some of them engaged in wars in Vietnam. Among the beneficiaries, Ho Bao An, a nine-year-old resident of the Pa Ko ethnic group in Huong Hoa, expressed her gratitude to the VFP Chapter 160 members and donors, saying that her three-kilometer journey to school will take her less time thanks to the gift. She added that her parents will have more time for farming work as they no longer need to take her to the school. Rich Allen, vice-president of VFP Chapter 160, said he had participated in the war in Quang Tri 50 years ago, where he experienced its ferocity first-hand. Rich Allen, vice-president at the VFP Chapter 160, poses for a photo with a beneficiary of the Veterans For Peace bike program. The child is a member of the Pa Ko ethnic group in Quang Tri Province, north-central Vietnam. Photo: Thanh Phu / Tuoi Tre But what impressed me most were the faces and smiles of local children in the wartime, Allen recalled. After five decades, thanks to the openness of the Vietnamese government and the hospitality of local people, Allen and the VFP members could make it to see local kids with bright smiles on their faces. We hope that these new bikes would help their journey to school become more convenient, Allen elaborated. Truong Thi Thanh Nhan, deputy secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union in Trieu Phong, showed her sincere thanks to the VFP members and Project RENEW for offering these meaningful gifts to the disadvantaged schoolchildren. Project RENEW was established in 2001 as a joint effort between the Quang Tri administration and international NGOs to restore the environment and neutralize the effects of the war. Veterans For Peace, which is an international organization made up of military veterans, military family members, and allies, is dedicated to building a culture of peace, exposing the true costs of war, and healing the wounds of war. The VFP Chapter 160 includes members in Vietnam and the U.S.. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! An Airbus A321 plane of national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines had to return to Noi Bai International Airport 20 minutes after take-off on Sunday due to a crack on its cockpit window glass and a dent at its nose, a source of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper said. The aircraft took off from the airport at 5:16 pm for flight VN 1207 from Hanoi to Can Tho City in the Mekong Delta region, carrying an unreported number of passengers. When it entered the sky of northern Nam Dinh Province about 20 minutes later, the crew decided to fly back to Hanoi after detecting a crack in the aircrafts cockpit window and a dent in its nose for unknown reasons. At 6:05 pm, the plane landed back at Noi Bai and safely rolled into a parking position. After an inspection, aircraft mechanics confirmed a crack on part of the cockpit window glass in front of the co-pilots seat and a hole with a diameter of about 40cm at the tip of the planes nose. Vietnam Airlines then transferred all the passengers to another Airbus A321 that took off for Can Tho at 7:30 pm on the same day. A representative of the Northern Airports Authority (NAA) said a probe into the cause of the incident is underway, according to news site VnExpress. A similar cockpit window crack was recorded on another Vietnam Airlines plane that touched down at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City at 11:28 pm also on Sunday after departing from Vinh City, the capital of north-central Nghe An Province. In addition to the crack, a blood stain was found on the surface of the cockpit glass. Mechanics replaced the cracked glass with a new part after commenting that the plane could have collided with a bird. According to NAA, these two incidents were considered force majeure events that happen when a plane accidentally hits a bird, pieces of hail, or other foreign objects during flight. As most large airports are equipped with bird repellent systems, collisions between planes and birds frequently occur outside the airport, particularly during landing and take-off., NAA said. Meanwhile, hail can also cause cracks in cockpit windows, especially during transitional seasons when thunderstorms are more frequent. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Calling Aussies living or planning a holiday in the UK, Ireland or Europe. Casting has opened for Australian contestants for game show The Floor, a Dutch format produced by Eureka. Eureka produces a US version for FOX, hosted by Rob Lowe, which films in Ireland, but the Australian version will film in the Netherlands. Do you love trivia? Do you have what it takes to conquer The Floor? This smash-hit game show is now casting for Aussies who want to win a fantastic cash prize. Contestants on The Floor face each other in head-to-head trivia duels, with the winner taking home a fantastic cash prize, says a casting notice. Applicants must be Australian, aged 18 years and over, be able to travel for up to one week for filming in a European location. Quiz shows filmed overseas, such as Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, are increasingly asking for expat Australians based in other countries to apply, meaning travel is not always supplied. The Floor will provide travel within Europe but not from Australia. You can apply here. Updated. The Australian Writers Guild and VicScreen are calling for aspiring Victorian-based screenwriters to work as note-taker in a writers room. First Break is designed to provide participants with the skills, training and understanding to obtain work as a note-taker, get their start in the industry and build vital networks as they do. Successful applicants will also receive a 12-month associate membership with the AWG. Minister for Creative Industries, Colin Brooks said, Through our VicScreen strategy, the Allan Labor Government is fostering new voices and talent in the screen industry, providing the tools and opportunities they need to develop successful screen careers. First Break will arm emerging screenwriters with all-important hands-on experience, giving participants the practical skills and confidence to work in writers rooms and script departments. Applicants must be Victorian, an Australian citizen or permanent resident residing in Victoria at the time of application and for at least 6 months immediately prior to the date of the application. Further enquiries can be directed to: [email protected] Applications close 5pm Monday 10 June 2024. Director of Seven News Adelaide Chris Salter has been appointed the Director of News in Seven Melbourne, and will succeed Shaun Menegola. Salter has been in the position since 2018 and held several senior roles in Adelaide newsrooms, including news executive, producer as well as reporter. Seven Network Director of News and Current Affairs and Seven West Media Editor-in-Chief, Anthony De Ceglie, said: Chris has done an amazing job in Adelaide, where 7NEWS has been #1 for more than 13 years. Im really pleased that he has agreed to take this new role and I know he is going to make a huge mark on 7NEWS Melbourne as we endeavour to think differently about the future of our platforms. Chris Salter said: I cant wait to roll up my sleeves and get to work alongside the many brilliant people who make up the Melbourne newsroom. Well work hard for the people of Victoria to produce broadcast and digital offerings that inform and entertain. Well be the true voice of Victoria. His successor at 7NEWS Adelaide will be announced soon. China, Central Asia reap remarkable benefits from win-win cooperation Xinhua) 09:36, May 21, 2024 XI'AN, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Xiao Qiqing, a university student in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, is brimming with excitement for her graduation trip to Almaty, Kazakhstan, next month. "I searched online and found that Almaty has unique natural scenery and a fascinating artistic vibe. Thanks to visa exemption and the direct flight, I can just pack and go," she said. About 217,000 Chinese tourists visited Kazakhstan in 2023, Kazakhstan's Ambassador to China Shakhrat Nuryshev said last month. The ambassador added that as this year marks the Kazakhstan tourism year in China, over 35 relevant activities will be held in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an. Increasing cross-border travel is only one facet of deepening ties between China and Central Asia. One year ago, the first China-Central Asia Summit in Xi'an set a new platform for good neighborliness and win-win cooperation between China and five Central Asian countries, namely, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Over the past year, by tapping into the potential of transportation and infrastructure and creating new growth drivers like agriculture, the six countries have delivered tangible benefits for the region's people and local economy. EFFICIENT CONNECTIVITY NETWORK The Alashankou Port in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region begins its bustling days at dawn. As a key gateway of the New Eurasian Land Bridge, it serves as both a vital passage to Central Asia and Europe and a crucial hub for international trade and cooperation. The port has streamlined its services since last year, reducing the reloading time for inbound trains to less than an hour. In the first four months of this year, 2,489 China-Europe (Central Asia) freight trains passed through the Alashankou Port, marking a year-on-year increase of 17.1 percent. Enhancing connectivity with Central Asia is one of the commitments China made at the summit. Since then, the country has been striving to modernize the border ports and increase the volume of cross-border cargo transportation. Xinjiang has opened five "green lanes" for streamlined customs clearance of agricultural and sideline products by cooperating with Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. According to Urumqi Customs, in the first quarter of 2024, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan remained Xinjiang's major trading partners, with import and export growth of 58.8 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively, accounting for 40.5 percent and 22 percent of Xinjiang's total foreign trade. China-Kazakhstan (Xi'an) Trade Logistics located in Xi'an, the eastern starting point of the ancient Silk Road, is also a major outcome of the summit. Although located in the heartland, Xi'an is one of the China-Europe Railway Express assembly centers. It launched 1,047 China-Europe freight trains in the first quarter of this year, with one train leaving or arriving at the Xi'an international port station every 100 minutes on average. The freight terminal, jointly launched by KTZ Express, a subsidiary of Kazakhstan's national railway company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), and Xi'an Free Trade Port Construction and Operation, facilitates an efficient "hub-to-hub" logistics corridor. According to KTZ, China-Kazakhstan rail cargo volume rose by 22 percent annually to 28 million tonnes in 2023. "The aim of the terminal in Xi'an is for it to be a transfer hub and warehouse so that goods can be transferred between China, Kazakhstan, Central Asia and even Europe and other places more efficiently," said Sadvakkas Seitzhanov, general manager of the Chinese branch of KTZ Express, noting that with the terminal, the transit time from Xi'an to Tashkent in Uzbekistan has been reduced from 13 days to 9 days. "We adjust the shipment schedule based on real-time market demand, and share information about the train service and provide one-stop service to our clients. The booming bilateral trade in recent years has given us the confidence to expand business in China," he added. MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL COOPERATION With summer approaching, many locals in Xi'an now can enjoy a fresh scoop of ice cream made in Kazakhstan. A customer at a supermarket of Xi'an Aiju Grain and Oil Industrial Group expressed her delight after savoring the creamy and flavorful Kazakh vanilla ice cream with a chocolate topping. According to Liu Dongmeng, deputy general manager of the Xi'an Aiju Grain and Oil Industrial Group, over 40 percent of products in the supermarket were imported from Central Asian countries, including beer, biscuits and honey, which are widely popular among Chinese customers. Relying on the steady demand in the Chinese market, the company has begun promoting order-based agriculture in Kazakhstan by offering local farmers guaranteed purchase prices since 2016. To date, the planting area covers 1.5 million mu (about 100,000 hectares), with an additional investment of 150 million yuan (about 20.78 million U.S. dollars) made in 2023 for grain processing. The two-way trade between China and the five Central Asian countries has been propelled to new heights, with the trade volume soaring 17.9 percent in the first four months of this year, according to official data. Booming foreign trade has also been reported in other industries such as truck manufacturing. For instance, the Shaanxi Automobile Holding Group Co., Ltd. (SHACMAN) exported more than 7,500 heavy trucks to Central Asian countries in 2023, up 110 percent year on year. By building factories and service stations in these countries, SHACMAN has offered training courses to local staff and gained a foothold in the Central Asian market. The company customized the design and performance of its trucks to meet the specific needs of users. For example, trucks exported to Central Asian countries are equipped with independent warm air systems and thermal insulated cabs to withstand cold conditions. "We also tailor the products to suit each country's needs. Tajikistan requires more dumpers for its mining industry and infrastructure projects, whereas long-distance tractors are popular in Kazakhstan for the trans-Caspian international transportation corridor," said Hui Xiang, brand manager of Shaanxi Heavy Duty Automobile Import &Export Co., Ltd., an affiliate company of SHACMAN. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Peggy OHare is an investigative reporter with the San Antonio Express-News. She can be reached at pohare@express-news.net She joined the Express-News in 2013. She is a former reporter at the Houston Chronicle, where she worked for 11 years. She is a graduate of Texas A&M University. UK msytery drama The Marlow Murder Club has been renewed for a second season. Britains UKTV and US broadcaster Masterpiece have co-commissioned a further series produced by Monumental Television in association with ITV Studios. This six-part series, which is set to start filming in coming months, sees Robert Thorogood join forces with writers Lucia Haynes (Annika, Vera) and Julia Gilbert (Midsomer Murders, Ridley), who will write a murder mystery each that spans two-episode instalments. With three main cases in the series, episode one and two will be an adaptation of Thorogoods second book, Death Comes to Marlow, with the other episodes being brand new, standalone stories. The series sees retired archaeologist Judith Potts (Samantha Bond), Vicars wife, Becks Starling (Cara Horgan), and dog-walker, Suzie Harris (Jo Martin) are called back into action for new crimes in Marlow. Debra Hayward, Monumental co-founder, said: We loved collaborating with Robert on The Marlow Murder Club, and we couldnt have asked for a better cast to bring to life his unlikely amateur detectives. We are thrilled that the first series went down so well with audiences, and we cant wait to return to the charming town of Marlow for series two. The series screens in Australia on Seven. TCN News Aligarh: English is the language of the world, whoever and in whichever part it is to be taught, it has to be taught in the way they speak the language, said Professor Suresh Canagarajah, Department of Applied Linguistics and English, Penn State University, USA, while sharing his experiences of language teaching and learning at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Support TwoCircles At a conference titled appropriate teaching methodologies in interdisciplinary context: mapping the sociolinguistics diversity, he further shared the third narrative that embodied communicative practices. He also talked about the colonial language ideologies, throwing the light on Macaulays minutes. The three-day event organised by the Department of English witnessed cross-cultural communication specialists, ELT experts, linguists and faculty members, exploring the areas of study in interdisciplinary context such as English language teaching methodologies, constructive approaches to teaching, inclusivity, cross-cultural communication, AI generated teachings and methods, pedagogies related to methodologies, cultures, regions, and needs, knowledge systems, appropriate pedagogy and assessment and addressing learning crisis. During the valedictory session, Prof Imtiaz Hasnain of Maulana Azad National University (MANUU), Hyderabad, talked about linguistic entrepreneurship, ethno-linguistics identity and neo-liberal imagination. He also focused upon how the English language has been developed as a language of bread and butter. At a round table discussion on the topic methodological diversity in classroom: contexts and perspectives, the academicians brought to focus the methods, linguistic and cultural diversities and the role of teachers in teaching the multilingual discourse community. During her lecture titled New World Englishes: Whats the Fuss All About, Professor Shobha Satyanath discussed the internal diversity of the language, which is often overlooked by the dominant discourses. Professor Avinash Kumar Singh, head of department of educational policy, NIEPA, New Delhi, expressed the concern of learning disadvantages as in the case of remote tribal language areas. He said they cannot access the home language because it is not the medium of instruction. In such cases, he said, the dropout rate is very high. Discussing the idea of equity and justice, Professor Mirza Asmer Beg, dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, explained the relevance of the idea of multiculturalism. By Ron Bousso and Deep Kaushik Vakil LONDON (Reuters) - Shell shareholders on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a climate resolution filed by an activist group following a meeting punctuated by protests. In March, Shell weakened a 2030 carbon reduction target, citing expectations for strong gas demand and uncertainty in the energy transition, while focusing on more profitable operations, mainly in oil and gas. The resolution was filed by activist shareholder Follow This and backed by a group of 27 investors that collectively have around $4 trillion under management. It urged Shell to align its medium-term carbon emissions reduction targets with the Paris Climate Agreement, including emissions from fuels burnt by consumers. The resolution received 18.6% support from shareholders, compared with just over 20% last year. Shell's board had urged investors to oppose the resolution, whose backers included Amundi, Scottish Widows, Rathbones Group and Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management. At the same time, a separate resolution brought forward by Shell's board on its climate strategy won 78.2% support. "I'm pleased that we have seen the Follow This resolution get an even lower share of the votes compared to previous years. That's a sign of growing trust and confidence in our ability to navigate the energy transition," CEO Wael Sawan told reporters. The annual shareholder meeting was disrupted several times by climate protesters chanting "Shell kills". Climate protesters also held a demonstration outside the meeting. MORE OIL The meeting was dominated by shareholder questions about Shell's energy transition strategy. "Your board wants to continue with the business model of turning hydrocarbons into petro-dollars ... They don't want to step out of their comfort zone because they don't know how to make profits with clean energy," Follow This founder Mark van Baal said. In March, Shell said it would target a 15-20% reduction in net carbon intensity of its energy products by 2030 compared with 2016 intensity levels. It had previously aimed for a 20% cut. It also scrapped a 2035 objective, while affirming a plan to cut emissions to net zero by 2050. The company, however, introduced a new "ambition" to cut overall emissions from oil products such as gasoline and jet fuel sold to customers by 15-20% by 2030 compared with 2021. End-user emissions, referred to as Scope 3, account for about 95% of the company's greenhouse gas pollution. "Shell believes continued investment in oil and gas will be needed," Chairman Andrew Mackenzie told the meeting. The British company also faces a 2021 landmark Dutch court ruling, which it appealed last month, ordering it to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030 from 2019 levels. Scientists say the world must cut greenhouse gas emissions by around 43% by 2030 from 2019 levels to stand any chance of meeting the 2015 Paris Agreement goal of keeping warming well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. (Reporting by Ron Bousso in London and Deep Vakil in Bengaluru; Editing by David Goodman, Mark Potter and David Gregorio) The requirement for passengers to apply for an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) when changing planes at Heathrow airport should be dropped, a Lords committee has written in a letter to the Government. The requirement puts the UK at an immediate disadvantage to other countries, with the ETA already driving away transit travellers, the Justice and Home Affairs Committee argued in a letter to legal migration and border minister Tom Pursglove on Monday. At present, 18 million passengers per year at Heathrow are connecting passengers. The ETA scheme was announced in November 2023 and intended broadly for visitors who do not need a visa for short stays in the UK, and is open to nationals from Gulf countries including Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait. Also on the list is Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Heathrow airport revealed that when the scheme initiated, the number of Qatari passengers fell by 14,000 over a three month period. Applications for ETAs, which cost 10 and are mostly decided within hours, are to be extended to most nationalities by Autumn 2024, and to the EU, the European Economic Area and Swiss nationals citizens by early 2025. The Lords committee chair, Lord Foster of Bath, wrote: We received strong representations from witnesses that this requirement will place the UK at an immediate competitive disadvantage compared to its European neighbours. We believe the Government should drop the requirement for transit passengers to have an ETA unless there are strong security reasons to the contrary, and these reasons should be examined as appropriate by a Parliamentary Committee or by the Independent Chief Inspector. Mr Foster also urged for increased awareness around ETA rules. On behalf of the Committee he has endorsed the recommendation of the Airport Operators Association, that official information relating to the ETA be made available - and in a wider number of languages, such as French, Spanish and German. Heathrow has expressed concern that if passengers have a choice about whether they use a paid-for product or whether a product in another area is cheaper or better in any way, they will probably choose to take the easier option. Amal Clooney attends the UNGA High Level Event: Ensuring Collective action for securing Human Rights and Justice in Sudan, in New York City By Bart H. Meijer and Stephanie van den Berg AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A panel of independent experts including human rights lawyer Amal Clooney backed the ICC prosecutor's decision to request arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders over the Gaza war as "a historic step for victims" of the conflict. International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan said on Monday he had requested warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders -- Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh. The Israeli and Palestinian leaders have dismissed allegations of war crimes, and representatives for both sides have criticised Khan's decision. Clooney and five other experts, including two former judges at criminal tribunals in The Hague, said they had been convened at Khan's request in January to assess the material he provided them with and to offer legal advice. In a report dated May 20, they said they had carried out "an extensive process of review and analysis", including witness statements and authenticated videos and photographs obtained by ICC investigators. Details of the application and the evidence have not been made public. The panel said it was "satisfied that the process was fair, rigorous and independent and that the Prosecutor's applications for arrest warrants are grounded in the law and the facts." "Today, the prosecutor has taken a historic step to ensure justice for the victims in Israel and Palestine by issuing applications for five arrest warrants alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity by senior Hamas and Israeli leaders," the panel wrote in the Financial Times. A panel of pre-trial judges will determine whether the evidence supports the arrest warrants. The court has no means to enforce such warrants, and its investigation into the Gaza war has been opposed by the United States and Israel. More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war in Gaza, according to the enclave's health ministry, and aid agencies have warned of widespread hunger and shortages. Israel began its military offensive in Hamas-governed Gaza after a raid led by the Palestinian Islamist militant group in which 1,200 people were killed in Israel and more than 250 taken hostage on Oct. 7 last year, according to Israeli tallies. Clooney is an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School and the panel also included Israeli-American Theodor Meron, who is the former president of the U.N. tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and lived through the Holocaust as a boy in Poland. Also on the panel were former ICC judge Adrian Fulford, international law and human rights expert Danny Friedman, British House of Lords member Helena Kennedy, and Elizabeth Wilmshurst, a former deputy legal adviser at the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office. They were supported by international law professors Marko Milanovic and Sandesh Sivakumaran, who acted as academic advisers. (Reporting by Bart Meijer, Stephanie van den Berg and Anthony Deutsch, Editing by Timothy Heritage) AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defence chief and three Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes. If those requests are granted the Israeli and Hamas leaders would join a list of war crime suspects who remain at large from the court in The Hague. Here is an overview of the most high-profile names among them. RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN The ICC issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2023, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. The Kremlin has called the move meaningless and has repeatedly denied accusations that its forces have committed atrocities during the invasion of its neighbour. Putin was the third serving president to be served with an ICC arrest warrant, after Sudan's Omar al-Bashir and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi. SUDANESE FORMER PRESIDENT OMAR BASHIR The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir in 2009, accusing him of masterminding genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region, where an estimated 300,000 people were killed and more than 2 million displaced. Bashir and some of his allies were jailed in Sudan after a popular uprising in 2019, but were never sent to The Hague. The army said the former dictator was moved from prison to a military hospital in April last year. UGANDAN WARLORD JOSEPH KONY Kony, the founder and leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), is the ICC's longest-standing fugitive. An arrest warrant was issued for him in 2005. ICC judges earlier this year took the unprecedented decision to allow prosecutors to bring a hearing on charges against him in absentia. The prosecution wants to charge Kony with 36 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, using child soldiers, sexual slavery, forced marriage and forced pregnancy. SAIF AL-ISLAM GADDAFI The ICC issued an arrest warrant for the son of former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 along with his father, who was captured and shot in October that year. Days after his father was killed, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was caught by fighters from Zintan, where he remained in captivity until he was released under an amnesty law in 2017. In recent years, he has tried to run in presidential elections in Libya, which were postponed in 2021 and have not been held since. In an odd twist, the current ICC prosecutor Karim Khan was the younger Gaddafi's defence lawyer at the ICC for a little over a year until withdrew in 2018. Khan became the ICC's lead prosecutor in 2021. (Reporting by Bart Meijer and Stephanie van den Berg; Editing by Sharon Singleton) FILE PHOTO: The International Criminal Court building is seen in The Hague By Thomas Escritt BERLIN (Reuters) - German officials rejected any comparison between Hamas and Israel after the International Criminal Court's prosecutor asked judges to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian militant group's leaders. The request posed a quandary for Germany, a member of the ICC with a long-standing policy of standing behind a "rules-based international order", because of its support for Israel that is grounded in history. If the court does issue the warrants, Germany, like other ICC members, would have a legal obligation to arrest Netanyahu if he were to enter the country, though members have defied ICC warrants in the past. "The accusations of the chief prosecutor are serious and must be substantiated," a German government spokesperson said on Tuesday. Germany assumes that Israel's democratic system and rule of law, with its strong, independent judiciary, would be taken into account by judges in deciding whether to issue the warrants, the spokesperson said. "We're talking about applying for arrest warrants and not about issuing them," Germany's defence minister Boris Pistorius said on Tuesday at a press conference with his Lithuanian counterpart in Palanga. "I think it's obvious that that would put us in a real dilemma [...] We are waiting for the decision," he said. Successive German governments have considered near-unconditional support for Israel as a matter of "Staatsraeson", or national interest, in the wake of Germany's murder of millions of Jews during the Nazi Holocaust. Germany has faced censure, especially from its millions-strong Muslim community, over its reluctance to criticise Israel's incursion into Gaza, following Hamas' unprecedented attack in Israel on Oct. 7, stating only that Israel has a "right to defend itself," while reminding Israel of the need to adhere to human rights laws. An arrest warrant for Israeli government officials could pit Germany's commitment to the rule of law against its national interest. "German 'Staatsraeson' (national interest) is now being put to the test - no ifs or buts," wrote Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor on social media. "The public statement that Israel has the right to self-defense loses credibility if our hands are tied as soon as we defend ourselves." (Reporting by Thomas Escritt and Sabine Siebold, writing by Emma-Victoria Farr, Editing by Bernadette Baum) Kremlin says Zelenskiy seeks more Western help because his army is in deep trouble MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was seeking greater Western involvement in the conflict because Ukrainian forces were in an extremely unfavourable situation at the frontline. Zelenskiy told Reuters on Monday that he was pushing Western partners to get more directly involved in the war by helping to intercept Russian missiles over Ukraine and allowing Kyiv to use Western weapons against enemy military equipment amassing near the border. Asked about the Reuters interview, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said some Ukrainian officials including Zelenskiy had been sometimes "slipping into hysteria" over recent days. "This is due to the extremely unfavourable position of the forces of the Kyiv regime at the front," Peskov told reporters. Peskov added that even if the flow of Western military aid increased then it would not change the big picture trend at the front, where Russian forces are advancing, and criticised Ukraine for shelling civilian areas in Russia. President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russian forces advancing in Ukraine's northeast were carving out a buffer zone to protect Russia from attacks and said the West was "sick in the head" if it thought it could dictate terms to Moscow. Russian forces control 18% of Ukrainian territory. (Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; editing by Guy Faulconbridge) Trina Reyes greets her gathering after she found out she won. The town of Von Ormy works to resolve a long-running political rift. Voters will decide on a proposition to change the city from a Type A general law municipality, with a five-member city council and mayor, to Type C municipality with a three-member commission that includes the mayor. Mayor Reyes, who can remain in office as mayor through May 2017, supports the move to Type C, but has said she may resign if it does not pass. She has consistenly drawn opposition from three city council members over taxation and city services. Photos taken at home of Mayor Trina Reyes on Tuesday, November 3, 2015. Ron Cortes/Express-News The FBI last week arrested Trina Reyes, who served as Von Ormy's mayor from 2015 to 2017, and Sally Ann "Sam" Milavec of Fredericksburg on charges of helping supporters of then-President Donald Trump overrun the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Agents also arrested one of Reyes' friends, Leslie Bogue of Oklahoma. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File) Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press Trina Reyes,C, shares her victory with friends at her home. The town of Von Ormy works to resolve a long-running political rift. Voters will decide on a proposition to change the city from a Type A general law municipality, with a five-member city council and mayor, to Type C municipality with a three-member commission that includes the mayor. Mayor Reyes, who can remain in office as mayor through May 2017, supports the move to Type C, but has said she may resign if it does not pass. She has consistenly drawn opposition from three city council members over taxation and city services. Photos taken at home of Mayor Trina Reyes on Tuesday, November 3, 2015. Ron Cortes/Express-News Trina Reyes receives a hug from her son Anthony after she found out they had won. The town of Von Ormy works to resolve a long-running political rift. Voters will decide on a proposition to change the city from a Type A general law municipality, with a five-member city council and mayor, to Type C municipality with a three-member commission that includes the mayor. Mayor Reyes, who can remain in office as mayor through May 2017, supports the move to Type C, but has said she may resign if it does not pass. She has consistenly drawn opposition from three city council members over taxation and city services. Photos taken at home of Mayor Trina Reyes on Tuesday, November 3, 2015. Ron Cortes/Express-News Von Ormy mayor Trina Reyes leaves the city offices currently operating out of the mobile home seller Mi Casa's building on Friday, September 25, 2015. The city was forced to relocate their offices temporarily due to being kicked out of the MGM party hall and bar down the road. The city of Von Ormy has recently suffered a great deal of gridlock due to conflicting ideas between city councilwomen and the mayor over property taxes back in May (Reyes was not mayor then). Texas Rangers opened a criminal investigation into the matter after three councilwomen held an unsanctioned meeting where they elected a Mayor-Pro Tem and without first providing public notice. Matthew Busch/For The San Antonio Express-News Von Ormy Mayor Trina Reyes at her home in Von Ormy on Friday, September 25, 2015. "I took this job for the betterment of the community," Reyes said. "You're supposed to leave it better than you got it, but I did not expect this hornet's nest." The city of Von Ormy has recently suffered a great deal of gridlock due to conflicting ideas between city councilwomen and the mayor over property taxes back in May (Reyes was not mayor then). Texas Rangers opened a criminal investigation into the matter after three councilwomen held an unsanctioned meeting where they elected a Mayor-Pro Tem and without first providing public notice. Matthew Busch/For The San Antonio Express-News Two real estate agents, one of whom served as mayor of a San Antonio suburb, have been charged with allegedly joining a mob of President Donald Trump supporters that overwhelmed police officers and stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The FBI last week arrested Trina Reyes, who served as Von Ormys mayor from 2015 to 2017, and Sally Ann Sam Milavec of Fredericksburg on federal warrants. Agents also arrested one of Reyes' friends, Leslie Bogue of Oklahoma, records show. Authorities say they were among Trump supporters who breached the Capitol to thwart Congress' certification of Joe Biden as president-elect. Advertisement Article continues below this ad All three are charged with entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a restricted building, disruptive conduct in the Capitol, and illegally parading or demonstrating inside the Capitol building. Reyes' LinkedIn profile said she worked for more than six years as a Realtor for Berkshire Hathaway Home Services PenFed Realty. She also worked for Scott Caballero and Associates Realty, and her Facebook page said she is currently a financial underwriter. As mayor of Von Ormy, Reyes oversaw a tumultuous period in the small town southwest of San Antonio. She and other town leaders fought bitterly over how Von Ormy should be governed and how to pay for basic services as the municipality slid into chaos. Public records show Milavec works as a Realtor in the Hill Country, at times for Rodney Topper at his real estate brokerage company in Johnson City. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Reyes did not respond to messages from the San Antonio Express-News. Milavec could not be reached for comment. Topper said Tuesday he was aware of Milavecs arrest, but said he would reserve judgment until the facts come out and shes had her say in court. Shes attached to my brokerage, but shes not very active as a Realtor, Topper said. Everything I heard about that, I dont know if its true or not. Court records show Reyes appeared last week in federal court in San Antonio for a brief hearing. Milavec had her initial hearing in Austin last week, and Bogue had her first court appearance in Oklahoma. Advertisement Article continues below this ad All three were released on their own recognizance without having to post bail and have been ordered to appear in federal court in Washington, D.C., where the charges were filed. Washingtons federal courthouse remains flooded with trials, guilty plea hearings and sentencings stemming from what the Justice Department has said is the largest criminal investigation in U.S. history. Several defendants are from San Antonio or other parts of Texas. A criminal complaint affidavit filed against Reyes and Bogue said Reyes drove to Dallas to meet her friend Bogue, who lives near the Oklahoma-Texas border, on Jan, 4, 2021. The pair then traveled to Washington, where they attended Trumps Stop the Steal rally. When initially questioned by the FBI, both said they marched to Capitol Hill but didnt participate in the ensuing mayhem. MORE COVERAGE: Universal City man found guilty for assaulting police officer during Capitol riot Reyes claimed officers at the Capitol were removing and moving barricades on the perimeter to let the crowd of Trump protesters through. However, she acknowledged being exposed to tear gas discharged by police officers, the affidavit said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Reyes also told investigators that an officer at a Capitol entrance opened a door to let her, Bogue and others into the Rotunda. Reyes snapped a few pictures. She also witnessed others placing MAGA hats on statues and vandalizing paintings. She said they decided they did not want to be a part of that and immediately walked back out of the U.S. Capitol, the affidavit said. Bogue claimed during her interview with the FBI that she didnt enter the building, though she was shown at least one photo of her alongside Reyes inside the Capitol, the affidavit said. Surveillance video showed Reyes and Bogue on the front lines as the mob overwhelmed officers and entered the building, according to prosecutors. One officer fell to the ground as rioters tugged at his jacket, and Reyes and Bogue can be seen looking toward him as he fell, the affidavit said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The allegations against Milavec were not detailed in court documents. Trump recently told Time magazine that, if elected president again on Nov. 5, he would absolutely consider pardoning every one of the hundreds of defendants convicted in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Roughly 140 police officers were assaulted, including about 80 from the U.S. Capitol police force and 60 from the Washington, D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department, the Justice Department said. In the three years since the riot, federal prosecutors have charged nearly 1,300 people in all 50 states, and secured prison sentences for more than 460 of the defendants, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia. Prosecutors have obtained more than 700 guilty pleas including 213 in which defendants pleaded to assault on federal officers, obstructing law enforcement, seditious conspiracy or other felonies. Trouble in Von Ormy Reyes was mayor of Von Ormy during a period of near-constant turmoil basic governance questions, such as what form of municipal government to adopt, whether to tax its residents and how to pay for basic services such as animal control and police and fire protection. The town had 1,300 residents at the time, but its population has dropped to 1,200, according to the latest census numbers. During Reyes' single term, three City Council members were arrested for allegedly violating the Texas Open Meetings Act, and the volunteer fire department collapsed for lack of funds. In September 2016, the towns police department lost its accreditation after it failed to meet basic standards, according to a July 2017 story in the Texas Observer. The towns three patrol cars, as well as the police departments radios and computers, ended up at Reyes' home. By Mark Trevelyan LONDON (Reuters) -Russian physicist Anatoly Maslov was convicted of treason and sentenced to 14 years in a penal colony on Tuesday in the latest of several cases against experts working on the science underpinning Russia's development of hypersonic missiles. White-haired Maslov, 77, stood in a glass box in the St Petersburg courtroom and listened attentively without showing emotion, as the judge read the verdict after a trial that was closed to the press. He had protested his innocence. Maslov is one of three scientists from the same Siberian institute, all specialists in hypersonics, who have been arrested since 2022 on treason charges. The other two, Alexander Shiplyuk and Valery Zvegintsev, are awaiting trial. The trio, and a number of other scientists accused in similar cases, had conducted theoretical work in areas relevant to the development of hypersonic missiles - cutting-edge weapons capable of carrying payloads at up to 10 times the speed of sound to punch through air-defence systems. President Vladimir Putin has said repeatedly that Russia is a world leader in these weapons, which it has acknowledged using in the Ukraine war. Lawyer Yevgeny Smirnov of Pervy Otdel (First Department), an association that specialises in defending people in cases of treason and espionage, said the charges against all the accused scientists were similar - divulging information considered a state secret while participating in an international conference or research. "Any conviction against Maslov is a gross violation of the law," he said. "I am sure that Maslov is not guilty of the acts accused of him and is a victim of the policies of the Russian authorities." SHOCKED BY SENTENCE Maslov's lawyer Olga Dinze told reporters her client, who has serious heart problems, was shocked by the sentence but was "holding firm" and would appeal. She described him as a man who lived modestly and had dedicated his life to Russian science, turning down numerous invitations to leave the country and join a western university. In a rare open letter published last year, colleagues at the Siberian institute said Maslov, Shiplyuk and Zvegintsev were innocent and the scientific papers they had published or presented to international conferences had been vetted to ensure they did not include restricted information. They said the cases were having a chilling effect on Russian academia and making it impossible for scientists to do their jobs. In response, the Kremlin said at the time that the men faced "very serious accusations" and their cases were a matter for the security services. Maslov's lawyer Dinze said Maslov had come under investigation after a defendant in another case testified against him in return for a shorter sentence of seven years. She was apparently referring to the jailing of Alexander Kuranov, another scientist in the same field, who was sentenced last month. Dinze said the spate of arrests of top Russian academics by the FSB security service was regretful and ironic at a time when Putin was speaking of the need to invest in Russian science. "Maybe the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing," she said. Smirnov of Pervy Otdel told Reuters: "It is obvious that the persecution of scientists is an exclusively political step by the Russian authorities, by which they seek to show that intelligence services around the world are trying to steal the secrets of Russian weapons." Smirnov said the detained scientists were not working directly on weapons, but studying physical processes associated with high speeds. The so-called secrets they had passed on were "openly published and available to anyone", he said. (Reporting by Mark TrevelyanEditing by Bernadette Baum) Some have reduced the entirety of Lucio Fulcis oeuvre as a grab bag of committed nasty tricks, but theres a reason his films stick around in the mind: they actually have the sturdy filmmaking to support jaw-dropping transgression. That isnt to say Fulci was some narrative master. Far from it, though Fulcis talents behind the camera put him above his peers. The padding thats all too common in these Italian genre movies can often be grating, but Fulci was the kind of filmmaker to let his performers take each concept as far as they want to go without much guidance. Thats why his films are so well-known for these crazed moments that feel absolutely unhinged, because they are actually unhinged! The Devils Honey tells the sordid tale of Jessica (Blanca Marsillach), a gorgeous artistic muse to her boyfriend, a saxophone player named Johnny (Stefano Media). The duo is obsessed with one anothers bodies, injecting every spare moment with animalistic, romantic furor in a way thats, well, obviously destructive. And on the other side is Dr. Wendell Simpson (Brett Halsey), a talented surgeon with serious marital issues. When Dr. Simpson and his wife get embroiled in a tough conversation about divorce, the doctors mind drifts and he ends up neglecting a patient with a severe hematoma in the brain. His patient? Johnny. His new problem? Jessica. To say The Devils Honey matches the actual velocity and force of an actual car crash just cracks the surface of this thoroughly outrageous time at the movies. The entire film relies on Marsillachs whirlwind, histrionic performance to make everything work. And while the emotional beats themselves dont really land like a normal film would, its Marsillachs performance that makes the entire affair unforgettable. They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, but clearly the author of that statement hadnt met Jessica. This is emotional trauma writ about as large and disgusting as possible. If thats your kind of thing, then the honey is sweet, spicy and despairing. The insane performance by Marsillach is backed by Fulcis unsparing eye. Rampant nudity, S&M torture, saxophone sex, and cold-blooded murder; these are all affectations that Fulcis oeuvre naturally lends to. And because its Fulci, hes going to hold the viewers feet as close to the fire as possible. This outrageous show of eroticism was heavily cut down in the US by American International Pictures, even going as far to use optical effect to lay fog over the nasty bits. But even in that compromised state, drive-in audiences went nuts for it, and luckily that coincided with Fulcis rise in American film culture. Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-rays Get ready for the sax performance of your life with The Devils Honey, available now as a two-disc (4K and Blu-ray) release from Severin Films that comes in a standard black amaray case with the discs inside, plus a limited-edition embossed slipcover that goes over it. The 4K disc is a UHD66 and the standard Blu-ray is a BD50. Both discs boot up to menu screens with options to play the film, set up audio and subtitles, select chapters and explore bonus features. Welcome Guest! You are here: Home 2024 Election 5th Phase: West Bengal, Ladakh, Odisha record highest voters turnout The 5th poll of the 2024 Parliamentary Elections in India Monday May 20, 2024 ended with an overall polling percentage of 60.09%, the Election Commission of India said. Tuesday May 21, 2024 9:55 AM , ummid.com News Network New Delhi: The 5th poll of the 2024 Parliamentary Elections in India Monday May 20, 2024 ended with an overall polling percentage of 60.09% till 11:30 PM, the Election Commission of India said. Polling in the 5th phase of 2024 Lok Sabha elections were held Monday May 20, 2024 across 49 parliamentary constituencies in 08 States/Union Territories. Statewise Polling Percentage The poll panel said, polling percentage in West Bengal in 5th phase was 74.65%, Ladakh saw a voter turnout of 69.62% and voter turnout in Odisha was 67.59%. The 5th phase poll percentage in Jharkhand was 63.07%, Uttar Pradesh 57.79%, Bihar 54.85% and Maharashtra 54.29%. Jammu and Kashmir recorded a voter turnout of 56.73%. The 5th phase polling percentage numbers released by the election commission is up to 11:30 PM Monday. Phase wise Polling Percent The overall polling percentage in the 4th Phase of Indias 2024 Parliament Elections May 13, 2024 was 67.25%. The overall polling percentage in the 3rd Phase of Indias 2024 Parliament Elections Tuesday May 07, 2024 was 64.40% amidst the reports that Muslims were forcefully barred from voting in Sambhal. Polling for the second phase of the 2024 Parliament Election on 88 seats of the Lok Sabha was held on April 26, 2024 with a voter turnout of 64.2%. The first phase of the Lok Sabha Polls had covered 102 seats spread across 21 states, with the Election Commission recording a voter turnout of around 64%. The poll percent in the first phase too was lower than what the country had seen in the 2019 elections. The elections for the 18th Lok Sabha is being held in 07 Phases. Polling for the 6rd Phase will be held on May 25, 2024 and for the last and 7th phase will be held on June 01, 2024. The counting of votes of all the seven phases will be held simultaneously on June 04, 2024. Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic. HA NOI Strong fluctuations in exchange rates have already caused problems for many industries recently, including the automobile sector. When exchange rates increase, the cost of importing cars from foreign markets such as Japan, South Korea, the US and Europe also rises. Importers have to pay more to buy cars and this cost is often passed onto consumers. The listed prices of many Kia models such as Sonet, Carnival, Carens have risen by VN5 - 20 million (US$205-$815) since the beginning of May. Prices of Mazda's Mazda2, Mazda3, CX-3, CX-30, and CX-8 cars have also increased by VN5-10 million each, depending on the model. Before the exchange rate soared, a number of automobile companies had already increased prices but for many other reasons. Firms explained away some cost increases due to rising prices of input components, affecting production costs. The increase in imported car prices also creates competitive pressure for domestic automakers. Although domestically-produced vehicles are not directly affected by exchange rates, the price of imported raw materials to produce vehicles has also gone up, causing production costs to increase. With appropriate measures and timely adjustments, these negative impacts can be minimised, bringing stability and sustainable development to the Vietnamese automobile market, " said an auto industry expert to Kinh Doanh (VnBusiness) online magazine. "The Government and businesses need to co-ordinate closely to find effective solutions, helping the auto industry overcome difficulties and develop strongly in the future." VNS CAN THO Indonesia hopes for further cooperation with the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho in rice exports and technology in the agricultural sector to increase rice supply in the Southeast Asian region, Indonesian Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman told Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Nguyen Van Hieu in Can Tho on May 20. Can Tho has advantages on agricultural development, including rice export, he said, adding that the city has joined the prorject on developing 1 million ha of low-emission, high-quality rice. Viet Nam and Indonesia boast many areas for cooperation in the future, particularly in agricultural research and food supply. Hieu briefed the guest about the city's strengths such as quality rice, fruit and fisheries production, along with research establishments like the Mekong Delta Rice Institute and Can Tho University specialising in rice and plant variety research and supply. Can Tho is encouraging local businesses to expand export their agricultural products to Halal markets, including Indonesia. In addition rice products, the city expects to export other agricultural products such as fruits and seafood to Indonesia, he said. According to the citys Department of Foreign Affairs, in the first quarter of 2024, Can Tho earned US$16.19 million from exports to Indonesia. The city's main exports were rice, farm produce and processed agricultural products. Currently, Indonesia is running a project with registered investment of over $10 million in Can Tho. VNS HA NOI The first batch of Thanh Ha lychees exported to Australia by air this year has officially appeared on Australian supermarket shelves. Talking to VietNamNet online newspaper on Tuesday morning, Hoang Thi Thuy Ha, Vice Chairwoman of Thanh Ha District People's Committee, Hai Duong Province, reported that Thanh Ha lychees are being sold at the Australian Market Place supermarket. The fruit is sold at AUD$34.99 (US$23.3) per kilogramme (kg). Last year, Vietnamese lychees imported by air into Australia were sold for about VN400,000 ($16.3) - VN500,000/kg. Meanwhile, lychees shipped by sea were sold at about VN260,000/kg. Red Dragon Co., Ltd. exported the first batch of Thanh Ha lychees to the Australian market via air on May 14. Mai Xuan Thin, director of the company, said that the exported lychees were purchased from a number of farms in the Ha ong area of the district. The products meet VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards, he added. After the first batch, the business plans to continue to purchase 10-15 tonnes per day for export during the harvest season. The districts lychees are also being exported to China, said Vice Chairwoman Ha, of Thanh Ha District People's Committee. VNS HA NOI Bad debt has returned to become a headache for the banking industry this year as it increased again in Q1 2024 after declining in Q4 2023 for the first time in eight consecutive quarters. According to financial statements from 28 banks that have so far reported Q1 financial statements, their total bad debt reached more than VN224.14 trillion to the end of March 2024, up more than 14 per cent against the end of 2023. Among the banks, MB had the highest bad debt increase of 56 per cent, equivalent to nearly VN5.49 trillion. BIDV followed with a rise of 20.7 per cent, equivalent to more than VN4.63 trillion, baodautu.vn reported. Only two banks VPBank and SHB saw loan improvement, with bad debt ratios declining by nearly 1 per cent and 0.1 per cent, respectively. In an analysis report released recently, the Saigon Securities Incorporation (SSI) forecast the bad debt ratio may increase again in the first half of 2024, as credit growth slows and macro-economic factors show no clear signs of improvement. SSIs analysts expect the bad debt ratio at the end of 2024 will increase slightly compared to 2023 as it is expected that banks will promote bad debt write-off and the economy will recover stronger at the end of the year. While bad debt has continued to increase, banks' loan loss ratio (LLR) has tended to decline. After recovering slightly in the last quarter of last year, the LLR of banks in the first quarter of 2024 decreased by more than 7 per cent to 87 per cent, the lowest level since the end of the third quarter of 2023. Leading banks such as Vietcombank, BIDV, VietinBank and MB were in the group of banks which reported the biggest declines in LLR. Specifically the financial reporting showed by the end of the first quarter of 2024, only five banks had a LLR of more than 100 per cent. Meanwhile, by the end of 2023, up to ten banks reported a LLR of more than 100 per cent, of which four banks had a LLR exceeding 200 per cent. SSIs analysts expect it may take the banking system around two to three years to make the necessary bad debt provisions and write off the bad debts. Banks with better asset quality such as ACB, Vietcombank, VietinBank and BIDV will recover sooner and vice versa. The State Bank of Viet Nam has recently proposed extending Circular 02/2022/TT-NHNN, which allows commercial banks to reschedule the debt repayment period and maintain the debt group for certain sectors, to the end of the year, rather than finishing it in June, in order to reduce debt pressure on companies. As credit growth remains slow and macro factors show no signs of clear improvement, it is estimated if Circular 02 expired in June 2024, the pressure to repay debts would be huge and those debts could become bad debts. However, experts also believe that while the support policy is necessary, it should not be over extended as the market must be allowed to operate in accordance with commercial laws and principles to avoid affecting the quality of the banks' assets. VNS HA NOI The visit of Narayana Murthy, often referred to as 'India's Bill Gates', is seen as an indication of the strengthening of the relationship between Indian and Vietnamese IT businesses, stated FPT in a press release. "As the founder of Infosys, one of the top three IT service companies in the world, Murthy brings with him a wealth of experience and expertise in business, management and building corporate culture," it wrote. During his four-day visit to Viet Nam (May 19-23), Murthy shared practical experiences and inspirational stories with managers, experts and leaders in the Vietnamese IT industry. He discussed topics including promoting innovation in businesses, the development of new technology trends and the opportunities available for the Vietnamese IT industry. Murthy also recognised Viet Nam's emergence as a global technology destination, attributing it to the country's commitment and investment in the IT sector. He praised the qualities of the Vietnamese people, including their courage, hard work, discipline, creativity and ambition. He expressed his belief that Viet Nam has the potential to become one of Asia's leading developed countries and one of the fastest-growing nations in the world. With a rising GDP and the determination of its people, Viet Nam is expected to bring prosperity to its citizens faster than many other countries. Murthy highlighted the role of companies like FPT in realising Viet Nam's national potential. FPT, under the leadership of Truong Gia Binh, aims to achieve significant milestones in IT service revenue from foreign markets. He expressed confidence in FPT's ability to contribute significantly to Viet Nam's future growth and emphasised the company's importance in Viet Nam's development. Binh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of FPT, acknowledged the inspiration and influence of India and Infosys on FPT and Viet Nam. He explained that 24 years ago, FPT looked to India and Murthy for inspiration on how to transform Viet Nam into a software super power. FPT's decision to venture into the global market for software exports was influenced by the belief that Viet Nam that it could develop and export software to the world. Over the years, FPT has played a pivotal role in rallying domestic software companies and promoting Vietnamese intelligence abroad, contributing to national prosperity. The Software and IT Services Association (VINASA), formerly the Vietnam Software Business Association, was established in 2002 with the aim of promoting the global presence of the Vietnamese software and IT services industry. Viet Nam has made significant progress in narrowing the gap with India's software industry powerhouse, achieving more than 10 times the revenue in the span of 20 years. VINASA's ambitious goals include reaching $50 billion in revenue by 2030 and $150 billion by 2045, further establishing Viet Nam as a prominent player in the global IT industry. Murthy's visit to Viet Nam, along with his engagement with the Vietnamese IT community and government leaders, serves to strengthen the cooperative relationship between Indian and Vietnamese IT businesses. His insights and experiences contribute to the growth and development of the Vietnamese IT industry, while also highlighting Viet Nam's potential as a technology destination and a rapidly emerging economy. - VNS HA NOI In the first quarter of 2024, while several non-life insurance companies experienced significant profit growth, others saw a decline in business, highlighting the mixed performance within the industry. Numerous non-life insurance companies achieved positive outcomes during the first three months of 2024. Notably, Vietnam National Aviation Insurance JSC (AIC) reported a rise in revenue from insurance business activities, from VN436 billion to nearly VN500 billion an increase of VN63 billion on-year. AIC's pre-tax and after-tax profits both saw a climb of almost 50 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2023, reaching VN10.4 billion and VN8.4 billion, respectively. AIC attributed the difference in their business results to the restructuring of their investment portfolio, which led to increased financial revenue and after-tax profit in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period last year. As of March 31, 2024, AIC's total assets reached VN4.1 trillion, a growth of over 10 per cent from the previous year. Short-term debt accounted for 99 per cent of the company's total debt, representing a 10 per cent increase from the beginning of the year. Four other prominent players in the insurance sector experienced similar profit growth ranging from 40 per cent to over 50 per cent during the same period. These companies include PVI Holdings (PVI), Bao Long Insurance Corporation (BLI) and BIDV Insurance Corporation (BIC). PVI achieved a pre-tax profit of over VN446 billion in the first quarter, marking a 40.4 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2023. BLI recorded a pre-tax profit of VN43.4 billion, reflecting a growth of 41.5 per cent. BIC witnessed a 49 per cent increase in pre-tax profit, reaching nearly VN148 billion. Similar to AIC, BIC's profit growth was driven by both insurance business revenue (up 23.3 per cent) and financial activity revenue (up 50.6 per cent). Meanwhile some businesses experienced a decline in profits, such as Agriculture Bank Insurance Joint Stock Corporation (ABI), Vietnam National Reinsurance Corporation (VNR), and Bao Minh Insurance Corporation (BMI). VNR recorded the most significant decrease in pre-tax profit during the first quarter, down 25.3 per cent to over VN177 billion. Although net revenue from insurance business increased by 7.8 per cent, high operating costs and limited support from financial activities hampered VNR's profitability. ABI and BMI both faced slight decreases in pre-tax profit, down 2.2 per cent and 1 per cent respectively, equivalent to VN86.5 billion and VN91 billion, primarily due to rising expenses outpacing revenue growth. According to FiinProX statistics, as of early May 2024, insurance businesses' profits increased by 21.1 per cent. In an overall assessment of developments in insurance stocks, Mirae Asset Vietnam Securities (MASVN) stated that insurance industry stocks, which have demonstrated stable and consistent growth, are considered relatively safe investments. In 2024, the insurance industry is expected to contribute to the economy with an estimated investment capital of VN850.3 trillion, representing an 11.51 per cent increase. The total insurance premium revenue is projected to reach VN243.5 trillion, with non-life insurance estimated at VN79.7 trillion (up 12 per cent) and life insurance estimated at VN163.8 trillion (up 5 per cent). VNS Two teens are in critical condition after they were shot near downtown Monday night. kali9/Getty Images/iStockphoto Two San Antonio teenagers are in critical condition after being shot by an unknown person near downtown, police said. The shooting happened Monday evening around 8 p.m. at the intersection of East Commerce and North Swiss streets just east of downtown. Five teens two 17-years-olds, two 18-year-olds and one 19-year-old were driving around the area and squirting each other with an Orbeez water-gel toy gun, police said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad As they were leaving the area, an unknown person who was driving by fired a weapon into their vehicle, hitting a 17-year-old and and an 18-year-old in the upper torso, according to a preliminary report. Both teenagers were taken to a local hospital in critical condition. Police said they have not made any arrests in this case. HA NOI The disbursement of public investment funded by foreign sources in localities is relatively low at present, requiring solutions to difficulties facing each project, an official of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said on May 21. A total of more than VN24.17 trillion (US$over 949 million) is allocated to localities nationwide in 2024. However, only 5.7% of the foreign funding was disbursed by localities as of May 15, still higher than the 4.9% recorded during the same period last year, Hoang Hai, Deputy Director of the MoFs Department of Debt Management and External Finance, told a meeting on the disbursement of public investment funded by foreign sources. Only five provincial-level localities have posted a disbursement rate of over 15% while 28 have yet to disburse any capital, he added. Hai noted that to accelerate public investment disbursement, the Minister of Finance has ordered the entire sector to carry out comprehensive measures, including urging ministries, central agencies and localities to take action, sending delegations to some ministries and localities to deal with obstacles, and shortening the time for handling procedures. The MoF is also working with foreign capital providers to speed up negotiations and signing of loan agreements for the projects having investment procedures completed. In the time ahead, the official said, it will boost assistance for localities to remove bottlenecks and continue discussing with foreign sponsors to deal with problems. The MoF also asked localities to assess the disbursement feasibility of each project to ensure sufficient capital and avoid disbursement deadline extension or additional administrative procedures. - VNS NEW DELHI Outbound travel from India has seen a significant spike, with Viet Nam emerging as a favoured international destination, according to Mint, a New Delhi-based business publication. A report from Mastercards Economics Institute, entitled Travel Trends 2024: Breaking Boundaries, said Indian outbound travel to Viet Nam during January-March skyrocketed by 248 per cent against the same time in 2019, followed by the US and Japan. Despite the strengthening of the US$, the outbound Indian travel segment has flourished due to an expanding affluent consumer base seeking luxury experiences. The report reveals that the evolving spending patterns mirror the nations growing disposable incomes and aspirational lifestyles. While a strong dollar may have diverted tourists away from the US, Indian passenger arrivals surged by 59 per cent compared to the 2019 level. In the same vein, Japan witnessed a record 50,000 Indian visitors during the period, up 53 per cent against against the 2019 figure. Viet Nam, which recently added direct flights, saw a 2.5-fold increase in Indian travel. In the first quarter of 2024, Indian airports witnessed a record 97 million passthroughs for both domestic and international air traffic, marking a significant increase compared to a decade ago, when attaining such numbers would have demanded an entire year's time. - VNS HCM CITY A religious activity, releasing Hoa ang (flower garlands and coloured lanterns) on Nhieu Loc Thi Nghe Canal near Le Van Sy Bridge, has attracted thousands of Vietnamese Buddhists and believers. This annual event, organised by Phap Hoa Pagoda on May 19, aims to celebrate the 2,568th birthday of Lord Buddha. One day before the event, Buddhists and volunteers gather at Phap Hoa Pagoda to make Hoa ang. These are then distributed for free to attendees who wish to participate in the lantern release. During the event, people receive a free lantern from the pagoda volunteers and Buddhists. They can then write their aspirations inside, light the lantern, and hand it to a volunteer who assists in releasing it into the river. The Buddhas birth (Vesak) celebration is one of the most important celebrations in the Buddhist calendar in Viet Nam and the world. "Vesak", the day of the full moon in the fourth lunar month, falls on May 23 this year. In addition, the celebrations extend for a week, from May 8 to 15 of the fourth lunar month (from May 15 to 22). The United Nations has commemorated Vesak in Viet Nam three times. The first time was in 2008 in Ha Noi and the previous time in Ha Nam Province in 2019. VNS HA NOI Ahead of Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai's attending at the 29th Future of Asia Conference and visiting Japan from May 22 to May 25, Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan, Pham Quang Hieu, talks to Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Tokyo about the purpose and significance of the trip, as well as the development of Viet Nam-Japan relations. The Future of Asia Conference, organised by the Nikkei Group (Japan) since 1995, has been held 28 times and has witnessed many ups and downs in the region, from the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the global economic crisis in 2008, to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Future of Asia Conference continues to affirm its role as an important and prestigious annual dialogue channel to share and solve common regional and international issues, attracting the participation of many high-level leaders, scholars, media, and large corporations in Asia. He emphasised that Deputy PM Khais attendance at the Future of Asia Conference will continue to convey a strong message about Viet Nam's image as a reliable partner and an active and responsible member of ASEAN, the region and the international community. It also reaffirms the Vietnamese Government's commitment to ensuring a favourable investment and business environment for the business community, continuing to be a safe destination for corporations amidst the uncertain world situation, as per the theme of this year's conference. The trip takes place in the context of the excellent development of relations between the two countries, especially after 2023, when Viet Nam and Japan celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and upgraded their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia and the world. The trip will continue to affirm Viet Nam's support for Japan's initiatives, marking the first visit of a Vietnamese Government leader to Japan since the establishment of the new relationship framework between the two countries. Ambassador Hieu said that Viet Nam started participating in the 15th Future of Asia Conference in 2009 and has continuously sent high-level delegations to this event since then. The active participation and continuous contributions of Viet Nam's senior leaders to the success of the conference over the past 15 years have been highly appreciated by the organisers, delegates and Japan. Participation in important forums such as the Future of Asia Conference not only helps Viet Nam grasp timely trends, changes and new development orientations but also provides an opportunity to widely share Viet Nam's development thinking, governance and contributions to solving common regional and global issues. At the conference, Viet Nam will participate in assessing and evaluating the world and regional situation, analysing urgent opportunities and challenges and seeking solutions to common difficulties and challenges with other countries, thereby strengthening trust to build a solid foundation for the future. As a responsible member of Asia and the world, Viet Nam always wishes to work with other countries in efforts to maintain and promote peace, stability, and development, and to build a better Asia. In the context of Viet Nam and Japan just celebrating the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations and upgrading to a comprehensive strategic partnership, Ambassador Hieu said that the relationship between the two countries over the past 50 years has achieved many strong, outstanding and comprehensive developments with high political trust in all fields of economy, trade, investment, defence-security, culture-education, agriculture, health, labour, people-to-people exchanges, local cooperation and more. The two countries regularly exchange high-level delegations and organise meetings on the sidelines of international and regional conferences, thereby consolidating the trust relationship between the leaders of both sides and setting out major orientations for effective development in bilateral relations in all fields. The two countries also cooperate closely and effectively at international and regional forums such as the United Nations, ASEAN+ conferences, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and more, contributing positively to peace, stability, and development in the Asia-Pacific region, in line with the foreign policies of each country. The Ambassador said the enhancement of cooperative relations has never received such broad consensus from the governments and people of the two countries as it does now. He said the cooperation potential is still very large because they trust each other and have strengths that can complement each other for mutual development. Japan is a very important partner for Viet Nam to implement three strategic breakthroughs, realise the development goals and plans set by the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, promote industrialisation and modernisation, and build an independent, self-reliant economy with deep international integration. In the near future, Viet Nam needs to focus on promoting the implementation of high-level agreements in several key areas, Hieu said. One priority is to continue strengthening political trust by promoting visits and contacts at all levels, particularly at the highest levels. After the milestone of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Viet Nam and Japan in 2023, it is crucial to coordinate with Japan to foster friendly cooperation across all fields, advancing Viet Nam-Japan relations into a new, more substantial, and effective stage of development. Another important focus is to leverage the complementary strengths of the two economies to enhance economic linkages between the countries. It is essential to maintain Japan as a leading partner of Viet Nam in official development assistance (ODA), investment and trade. Viet Nam hopes that Japan will provide new-generation ODA to aid in the development of strategic infrastructure, transport infrastructure, digital transformation, climate change response and healthcare. Additionally, Viet Nam should capitalise on the interest of Japanese businesses by positioning itself as an attractive destination for production shifts and supply chain diversification. This effort should concentrate on attracting high-quality investment, facilitating technology transfer, and supporting Vietnamese businesses in joining the supply chains of Japanese companies. Furthermore, Viet Nam should promote cooperation in potential fields such as digital transformation, digital economy, digital society, and green transformation. These areas hold significant promise for mutual development and can contribute positively to both nations' growth and prosperity. Ambassador Pham Quang Hieu expressed confidence that with the very good development momentum of the current relationship, with the aspirations and determination of the governments and peoples, the comprehensive strategic partnership between Viet Nam and Japan is facing new, promising development opportunities, bringing many practical benefits to the people of the two countries and contributing positively to peace, stability and prosperity in Asia and the world. VNS HA NOI The National Assembly is set to relieve To Lam from his current position as the Minister of Public Security, ahead of the vote affirming him as the President of Viet Nam. During the ongoing 7th session of the 15th NA, on Tuesday afternoon, NA Secretary General Bui Van Cuong, on behalf of the NA Standing Committee, presented a proposal to adjust the agenda of the session. The proposal clearly states that based on the opinions of competent authorities, in accordance with legal regulations and the practical requirements of consolidating the state apparatus, and after considering the Prime Minister's recommendation, the NA Standing Committee proposes that the NA approve the proposal to dismiss the Minister of Public Security. This matter is scheduled to be addressed along with personnel matters related to the Presidency during meetings on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. The dismissal was not originally in the agenda of the parliament session. The NA subsequently voted to approve the adjustment of the session's agenda with 468 out of 469 deputies participating in the vote in favour (accounting for 96.1 per cent of the total number of the deputies). The 9th plenum of the 13th Party Central Committee last week unanimously decided to nominate To Lam, Politburo Member and Minister of Public Security, as the President of Viet Nam, for the NA to approve. The election of the new President is set to be conducted on Wednesday morning, per the NA agenda. VNS HA NOI Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha chaired a hybrid conference on Tuesday to discuss some draft decrees on the enforcement of the 2023 Law on Housing and 2023 Law on Real Estate Business. Ha asked the Ministry of Construction (MoC), which drafts the decrees, to clarify the new contents and policies in the two laws while continuing to collect opinions from localities, associations and enterprises to thoroughly deal with difficulties and obstacles in reality to ensure the smooth implementation once the decrees are issued. The MoC was also demanded to work with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Bank of Vietnam to work out a plan on settling debatable issues to guarantee the decrees consistency with related laws. The issuance of some decrees detailing some articles of the laws on housing and real estate business aims to provide a legal basis for enforcement. These decrees will replace several existing ones so as to address certain shortcomings and problems in reality, push ahead with improving the investment and business climate and streamlining administrative procedures, and ensure the legal systems consistency. They are also set to guarantee power decentralisation and enhance local administrations sense of responsibility towards housing development and management. At the meeting, participants discussed the regulations on foreign organisations and individuals housing ownership, the foundation for making provincial-level housing programmes and plans, and the consistency of the rules on preparations for housing investment projects with the legal regulations on land and investment, among others. Adopted by the National Assembly in November 2023, the Law on Housing and Law on Real Estate Business are schedule to take effect on January 1, 2025. VNS HA NOI Many foreign leaders have sent messages of congratulations to Tran Thanh Man over his election as Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly at the 15th legislature's 7th sitting. The well-wishers are Chairman of the Lao National Assembly Saysomphone Phomvihane; Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) of China Zhao Leji; President of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and President of the Cambodian Senate Samdech Techo Hun Sen; President of the Cambodian National Assembly (NA) Samdech Khuon Sudary; and President of the National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba Esteban Lazo Hernandez. In his message, the Lao NA leader expressed his belief that Chairman Man, with his ability and rich experience, will lead the Vietnamese NA to greater success in performing the functions, power and tasks of the legislature. He affirmed his readiness to cooperate with NA Chairman Man to further develop the ties between the law-making bodies of Laos and Vietnam and contribute to strengthening the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, States and people of the two countries. The top legislator of China highlighted that the Chinese NPC and the Vietnamese NA have maintained close exchanges through flexible forms, contributing to deepening the friendship between the two peoples. He said he is ready to work with Chairman Man to well implement the common perceptions of the highest leaders of the two Parties and enhance cooperation between the two legislative bodies, serving the building of the law-governed socialist regime in each country and the China-Vietnam community with a shared future that carries strategic significance. President of the Cambodian Peoples Party Hun Sen voiced his belief that under the leadership of Chairman Man, the Vietnamese NA will reap many enormous achievements in implementing national policies and significantly contribute to the maintenance of peace, stability, sustainable development, and prosperity in the region and the world. As President of the Cambodian Senate, Hun Sen emphasised that the traditional friendship between Vietnam and Cambodia has been developing and their cooperation becoming stronger in all spheres. He said that he believes under Mans leadership, the Vietnamese NA will continue supporting and developing the two countries parliamentary cooperation comprehensively and fruitfully within bilateral and multilateral frameworks, thereby contributing to peace, stability, and prosperity in both countries and the region at large. Meanwhile, the President of the Cambodian NA affirmed the commitment to maintaining the spirit of good neighbourliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation, and long-term sustainability, and closely cooperating with Man and the Vietnamese NA to further deepen political trust and parliamentary ties, thus generating more practical results for the two peoples through concrete cooperation activities. The Cuban legislative leader wrote in his message that the Cuba-Vietnam friendship and solidarity are characterized by trust and multi-dimensional cooperation. He believed that under the leadership of Chairman Man, the two countries will continue to enhance friendship, cooperation and mutual understanding, while remaining committed to sharing valuable experience in socialism building in both countries and further contributing to the comprehensive development of bilateral ties. VNS HA NOI Ba Ria - Vung Tau is delighted to promote economic partnerships with Izumiotsu city of Japans Osaka prefecture and expand bilateral ties to other fields, an official of the southern Vietnamese province said on May 21. Vice Chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee Nguyen Cong Vinh and other local officials had a meeting with a visiting delegation of Izumiotsu city led by Mayor Minamide Kenichi. He said Ba Ria - Vung Tau is housing over 40 FDI projects of Japan with registered capital totalling about US$3.1 billion, making the Northeast Asian country the fifth largest foreign investor in the province. The projects focus on steel, industrial glass, rare chemical, packaging and apparel production, and seaport. In 2014, the province established a Japan Desk to update Japanese enterprises about local potential, advantages, as well as investment and business procedures and assist them with other issues. Vinh went on to say that since a memorandum of understanding on economic cooperation was signed in 2014, Izumiotsu and Ba Ria - Vung Tau have carried out various exchanges and cooperation activities. Information sharing was sustained even during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2022. Thanks to support from Izumiotsu, Ba Ria - Vung Tau has made strong progress in attracting Japanese investment. Its connectivity with Japanese firms and investors has also been strongly fostered. The province is very delighted to press on with economic ties with the Japanese city on the basis of the 2014 MoU and expand collaboration to other fields, especially agriculture, education, human resources development, cultural exchange, health care, and emergency response, he said. The vice chairman expressed his belief that coming cooperation activities will help enhance mutual understanding and generate common prosperity, thus contributing to the Vietnam - Japan comprehensive strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia and the world. For his part, Minamide perceived that the two localities have built intensive relations in many areas such as investment, human resources development, education, and seaport, and reaped positive results. The mayor said he hopes that this year, they will keep working together in existing areas and strengthen partnerships between their administrations and enterprises. In September, Izumiotsu will hold a programme to introduce agricultural products of Ba Ria - Vung Tau to its residents so as to create a prerequisite for boosting the export of farm produce, a strength of the Vietnamese province, to the Japanese market, he added. - VNS HA NOI Science, technology and innovation play an increasingly important role in agricultural growth, according to Phung uc Tien, deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. Research showed that technological innovation can contribute significantly to the growth of the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors, helping achieve target increases of more than 50 per cent, Tien said at a conference on Scientific and Technological Development and Innovation in Agriculture and Rural Development held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on May 20 in Ha Noi. This shows that Vietnamese agriculture is shifting from a breadth-based model to an in-depth growth model based on science, technology and innovation, he told the conference. Innovation has helped improve livestock breeds and increase crop and livestock productivity. The scientific community has recently recognised 529 new types of crops and livestock, including 393 crop varieties as well as 12 aquatic breeds, 82 forestry varieties and 42 livestock breeds. The work of selecting, breeding and producing seed has been highly effective, contributing significantly to the productivity and quality of agriculture. New technology has also helped to promote mechanisation and labour productivity in agriculture and related industries. Scientific applications have had a large impact on key goods at both the national and provincial levels, including seed production, farming, and processing of marine products like shrimp and catfish. Many large-scale Vietnamese enterprises are already using advanced global technology. These include TH dairy company, Dabaco in livestock, Nafoods fruit growing and processing company, and Masan Group in the meat processing industry. However, there are limitations in the field of science and technology, such as the slow commercialisation and application of research results, lack of a strong scientific research workforce, and poor equipment and facilities for research, the deputy minister said. At the conference, delegates from research institutes, the School of Agriculture and Rural Development Personnel Management, the Centre for Digital Transformation and Agricultural Statistics, and the National Agricultural Extension Centre discussed innovative thinking and policies for the development of technological innovation in the agricultural and rural development sector until 2030. Other topics of discussion included training human resources and using science and technology in agricultural extension work. VNS HA NOI Vietnam Customs will host the 33rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Customs Directors-General Meeting from June 4 to June 6 in Phu Quoc City, Kien Giang Province. At a specialised press conference held on Tuesday, a representative of the General Department of Customs announced that the meeting will be attended by delegations from the customs departments of ten ASEAN countries, led by their Directors-General, along with Timor Leste Customs as an observer and the ASEAN Secretariat. High-level officials from partner countries customs agencies and international organisations, including the World Customs Organization, Australian Customs, Chinese Customs, Korean Customs and Japanese Customs will also attend. The private sector will be represented by the ASEAN Business Advisory Council, the US-ASEAN Business Council, and the EU-ASEAN Business Council. The meeting is expected to last two and a half days, covering twelve agenda items focused on discussions to unify programmes and solutions, continuing to implement and achieve the goals set out in the ASEAN Customs Strategic Development Plan 2021-2025. Key priorities include the exchange of electronic documents via the ASEAN Single Window, the implementation of the ASEAN Customs Transit System (ACTS), and the roadmap for the mutual recognition agreement on Authorised Economic Operators within ASEAN. The meeting will also serve as a forum for ASEAN Customs to enhance dialogue and consultation with partners to achieve objectives aligned with the new phase of economic development, such as green customs, building a customs data ecosystem, customs modernisation, electronic data exchange, and simplifying customs procedures for low-value shipments. According to a representative from the General Department of Customs, hosting this meeting demonstrates Viet Nam's responsibility and full commitment as an ASEAN member. This opportunity also elevates the position and role of Vietnam Customs as a pillar of the ASEAN economic community, adhering to the policy of actively participating and promoting Viet Nams role in multilateral mechanisms, including ASEAN. Since becoming an ASEAN member, Vietnam Customs has successfully hosted three ASEAN Customs Directors-General Meetings in 1995, 2004, and 2014. Thus, Vietnam Customs is making thorough preparations to successfully organise the 4th meeting and the coordinating committee and technical working group meetings during its chairmanship from June 2024 to June 2025, enhancing Viet Nams image and status internationally. As the ASEAN Customs Chair for 2024-2025, Vietnam Customs will strive to fulfill its responsibilities by actively coordinating and promoting timely implementation of priorities on the Single Window, transit, and mutual recognition of Authorised Economic Operators. It will encourage member countries to increase information exchange by sharing experiences and lessons learned during implementation, and close the gap between member customs agencies. At the same time, Vietnam Customs will actively coordinate with the ASEAN Secretariat and partners for exchanges and consultation, seeking appropriate support resources for implementing ASEAN Customs initiatives, particularly concerning emerging issues related to customs management. Vietnam Customs hopes that, with its contributions, it will help ASEAN Customs achieve a common goal in the integration process, contributing to building a prosperous and sustainable ASEAN Economic Community and realising ASEAN's vision of 'One Vision, One Identity, One Community'. Since joining ASEAN, Viet Nam has achieved significant economic growth and development, with its economy expanding nearly 17 times from US$20.8 billion in 1995 to approximately US$430 billion in 2023. With a population of over 660 million, a GDP of nearly US$3,660 billion in 2022, ranking third in Asia and fifth globally after the US, China, Japan, and Germany, ASEAN is currently one of the most dynamic economic regions in the world. VNS Scott Huddleston is a veteran staff writer, covering education, local history, preservation and the Alamo. He can be reached at shuddleston@express-news.net. He has been reporting for the Express-News since 1985, covering local government, public safety, criminal justice, flooding, transportation, military, water and the environment. He is a native Texan and a longtime San Antonian. HA NOI The bacteria Bacillus cereus was detected in the food samples found to be the primary cause in the food poisoning case at Shinwon Ebenezer Vietnam Co., Ltd. that saw over 400 people taken to hospital in Vinh Phuc in April. Le Hong Trung, Director of the Vinh Phuc Department of Health revealed the cause of the mass food poisoning incident at the National Conference on Strengthening Food Safety and Preventing Food Poisoning on Tuesday, adding that all of those hospitalised have now been discharged. The mass food poisoning incident happened at around 3.30pm on April 15, after workers had their lunch. They started to vomit, suffer from abdominal pain and headaches and 438 of them were rushed to medical facilities in Vinh Yen City. The workers reported that their lunch consisted of stir-fried turkey with lemongrass and chili, stir-fried cauliflower, pickled vegetables and bean sprout soup. "Bacillus cereus bacteria were detected in the food samples, identified as one of the main causes of food poisoning," Trung said. "This result was compiled from samples tested, including food ingredients, water sources, environment and patient waste. This bacterium produces two main toxins that cause vomiting and diarrhoea, which aligns with the symptoms exhibited by the food poisoning victims." Trung said the food item which had caused the sickness was the sour soup with bean sprouts, which included ingredients like tamarind, spring onions and coriander. The investigation revealed that on that particular day, there was a shortage of six kilograms of bean sprouts during the menu preparation and so kitchen staff had bought additional supplies from Vinh Yen Market. Although the vegetable supplier for the kitchen met food safety standards, the additional vegetables bought from the market did not go through the supplier. Provincial authorities are continuing to investigate to clarify further details. Nguyen Thanh Phong, Director of the MoH's Food Safety Department pointed out that although many food shops do possess a Certificate of Food Safety, ingredients can be sourced from anywhere in the market and can lack clear origins and are unregulated. "Hence, regular inspections and sample storage must be conducted to prevent food poisoning incidents," said Phong. Permanent Deputy Minister of Health o Xuan Tuyen praised Vinh Phuc Province's quick response to the poisoning incident, which ensured that all patients were discharged without any fatalities. Tuyen also stressed the importance of tracing the exact cause, from food supply to processing and consumption and the need to impose severe penalties on organisations or individuals violating food safety regulations. VNS HA NOI The European Commission (EC) has rescheduled an inspection on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in Viet Nam from May to this upcoming autumn, according to Director of the Fishery Inspection Department Nguyen Quang Hung. The visit will take place around September-October instead of May, as previously expected. In the interim, Viet Nam will continue to take strict actions to remove the ECs 'yellow card' for local fishery products. Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang is also expected to chair a meeting and conduct a field visit on measures against IUU fishing in coastal areas in June. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) will also have a monthly plan for on-site inspections along the coast starting now and continuing until the ECs visit. Hung emphasised that the key priorities in the meantime are minimising violations committed by local fishing vessels in foreign waters and strictly enforcing regulations. At the same time, authorities must take action for vessel management to ensure eligibility for fishing at sea, in addition to verifying fishery product origins at the ports. These are the key tasks and they must be radically addressed with visible results from now until September in order for us to have a chance at lifting the yellow card. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to report to and negotiate with the EC, said Hung. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung uc Tien also stressed that authorities must follow the ECs four groups of recommendations for Viet Nam, alongside the completion of policy frameworks, specific action plans and strengthened inspections on fishing fleets. Authorities must also ensure that 100 per cent of the vessels have a vessel monitoring system (VMS) installed, and that no ships are allowed to set sail without meeting all the requirements. A digital tracing plan is also expected to be issued to prevent documentation fraud in product origin certification. Higher administrative fines will also be imposed for violations. According to a report from the MARD, the ECs fourth IUU fishing inspection in Viet Nam in October last year showed that positive progress had been made, but limitations and shortcomings still remain, which means the 'yellow card' warning has not been removed. The removal of the 'yellow card' on marine products is seen as a critical and urgent task for Viet Nam, as the European Union is among the top 3 largest export markets for Vietnamese seafood, only behind the US and China. VNS HA NOI A report from the national carrier Vietnam Airlines suggests that the damage to the nose cone and cockpit windshield of its A321 aircraft on May 19 could have been caused by hail. According to the report, following the takeoff from Noi Bai Airport in Ha Noi, the aircraft encountered severe hail when it was climbing to the altitudes of 5,000m en route to Can Tho City on May 19. The hail reportedly caused its co-pilot's side windshield to crack. Upon detecting the issue, the pilots reduced speed and flew back to Noi Bai Airport. Inspection revealed a dent with a diametre of approximately 40cm on the nose cone and a cracked windshield on the co-pilot's side. The exact cause of the incident is still under investigation by aviation authorities. According to an expert, at altitudes of between 3,000 to 5,000m, hailstones tend to be larger than when they reach the ground. The impact of these hailstones, combined with the high speed of the aircraft, can cause dents on the fuselage and nose cone. Encounters with hail are not uncommon in aviation. In another separate incident, another aircraft flying from Vinh City in Nghe An Province to Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCM City was also forced to return on the same day due to a cracked windshield on the captain's side. Blood was found on the windshield, indicating a bird strike. VNS HA NOI A Thailand-initiated single visa programme for six ASEAN countries is expected to help Viet Nam attract more long-haul and high-spending travelers, according to insiders. Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has discussed the Schengen-type visa with his counterparts in Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Viet Nam in recent months, aiming to ensure seamless mobility for travelers in all six countries. Hailing Thailands initiative, Chairman of the UNESCO Ha Noi Travel Club Truong Quoc Hung said the single visa will facilitate rich tourists travel, thus increasing tourism revenue, while creating favourable conditions for travel firms to form inter-regional road trips. Meanwhile, VietSense Travel CEO Nguyen Van Tai highlighted the success story of the Schengen Area, where the application of a single visa has been benefitting its member states. A single visa policy will help Viet Nam promote tourism linkages with its neighbours and particularly address the issue of losing international visitors due to current visa barriers. Therefore, travel firms have high expectations for the establishment of a joint visa region." Similarly, AZA Travel CEO Nguyen Tien at believes that with the single visa policy, the six countries will be able to improve their competitive edge over other ASEAN destinations and tourism powers in Asia like the Republic of Korea, Japan and China. Viet Nam has extended visa exemptions for tourists from some 30 countries and territories as compared to over 80 nationalities eligible for visa exemptions in Thailand, he said, adding that joining the initiative will be a quantum leap for Viet Nam's tourism visa policy. If Viet Nam does not jump on the bandwagon, it will lose tourism opportunities and advantages over the five countries, at stressed. From an expert perspective, Dr. Nuno F. Ribeiro from RMIT University described the visa arrangement as a great opportunity for Viet Nam to attract international visitors who may otherwise visit only Thailand and Malaysia. Seeing Viet Nam's new visa policy as a way to grow tourism, he suggested the country continue to extend its visa exemption to attract more visitors, especially considering visa exemptions for those from developed countries like Australia, Canada, the US, and the remaining members of the European Union. Deputy Director General of the Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism Ha Van Sieu said that political stability, defence and security and foreign affairs in all six countries should be looked into carefully before the single-visa programme is rolled out. VNS HA NOI An art programme will be held at the Hanoi Opera House in August together with social welfare activities in the northern province of ien Bien in celebration of the Vu Lan festival a Buddhist tradition and a cultural activity aimed at honouring and showing gratitude to parents and ancestors. The event organisers - the communication board of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) and Sen Cong Joint Stock Company announced the plan at a press conference held in Hanoi on May 21. Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) Executive Council Most Venerable Thich Gia Quang, who is also head of the communication board, said that the art programme will be the 8th of its kind held over the last ten years. In July, a pilgrimage "following the footsteps of ien Bien soldiers" will be held, taking participants to visit the graves of soldiers who joined the ien Bien Phu battlefield 70 years ago and offer incense to commemorate the heroic martyrs. Within the framework of the programme, financial support will be given to Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, and elderly people who live alone or in disadvantaged situations. The programme will fund about 450 million VND to build a canteen with a capacity of 160 students at Nam Ty primary school in Hua Thanh commune in Dien Bien district, Dien Bien province. Vu Lan festival is celebrated annually on the 15th day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar. The origin of the festival is explained by the legend of Maudgalyayana (known as Muc Kien Lien in Vietnam), a chief disciple of Sakyamuni Buddha, who was unable to alleviate the suffering of his mother in the realm of hungry ghosts. He was told that the only way to deliver his mother from the pains of suffering is to rely upon the strength of monastics of all directions in their cultivation of meritorious virtues. The merits could liberate the deceased from the three suffering realms and allow them to enjoy a life of abundance, good fortune, and longevity. Therefore, by observing the practice, all Buddhists can deliver their parents from the miseries of the three suffering realms. From this, many Buddhist countries have developed their custom of offering food, clothing, and other items to hungry spirits in the seventh lunar month. This festival has been widely celebrated in Vietnam to express respect, love, and honour towards parents. - VNS The commemorative ceremony was attended by representatives from domestic agencies, ministries and branches, university presidents, representatives from corporations, experts, influential Vietnamese, media and press agencies, and members and associates of AVSE Global worldwide. This was an opportunity to show gratitude for the contributions and dedication of all members, associates, as well as the trust and cooperation of partners throughout the past journey. In a speech summarizing the establishment and development process of the organization over the past 13 years, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Duc Khuong, Chairman of AVSE Global, emphasized the aspiration to strengthen Vietnam's position through collective efforts. Right from the beginning, AVSE Global believed in the power of collective intellect, creativity and commitment to bring Vietnam to the world and bring the world closer to Vietnam. This has also been the foundation for the organization to continue trailblazing by turning ideas into practical actions that contribute to national development. After 10 years of formation and development, by 2019, AVSE Global has gathered over 10,000 high-level intellectuals and reputable scientists in many fields globally, of which nearly 3,500 are influential Vietnamese from entrepreneurs, experts, scientists, athletes, artists to social activists. Annual strategic reports, scientific conferences and international policy forums on financial, energy, technology and infrastructure development topics have international impact. Since 2020, activities have become more vibrant, providing consultation and advisory work on important topics including overall planning in all regions of the country such as Ho Chi Minh City, Quang Ninh, Yen Bai, Ninh Thuan, Bac Lieu, Quang Tri. More than 36 other strategic projects on substantive issues have been implemented to solve development problems and ensure prosperity and sustainability. 13 years - a journey, with the passion and continuous efforts of members, AVSE Global has achieved significant accomplishments in three core development pillars: Talent - Innovation - Sustainability. This affirms the role and prestige of a global Vietnamese intellectual organization, making significant contributions to building a solid foundation for Vietnam's future of quality, assurance and sustainability. Notably, the Influential Vietnamese Forum held in late March in Paris once again affirmed the consensus of Vietnamese intellectuals worldwide in realizing the mission of sustainable and prosperous development of Vietnam. After over a decade of pursuing the aspiration to strengthen Vietnam's position amidst countless changes, AVSE Global remains ready to conquer challenges to affirm its prestige. The organization's vision is to create an ecosystem based on knowledge by 2030, providing reliable consulting solutions and practical policy strategies, a robust talent network, and an efficient platform to transform knowledge into Vietnam's thriving development. "Even the mid-range segment up to $1,660 per sq.m only accounts for around 30 per cent, and the dream of having accommodation for low-income people remains just that...a dream," Chau said. Chau proposed the government promote real estate consumer credit growth, with a focus on creating credit access for buyers of affordable commercial housing starting from $1,460 per sq.m. "Real estate businesses must make efforts to restructure their products, restructure their investments towards the real needs of the market, and focus on developing affordable housing," he added. According to real estate expert Tran Khanh Quang, real estate prices have been increasing in many areas, especially in large cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, making it impossible for many people to buy. "This is the result of an imbalance in the structure of a market dominated by unsuitable products for people's budgets. This is also part of the reason why liquidity drops sharply when the market is unstable and faces difficulties," Quang told VIR. He sees the demand for housing as still considerable, especially in the lower and affordable segment. "Therefore, at this time, priority should be given to loosening lending limitations for people who have real housing needs, buying to live, not to invest," Quang said. "In addition, businesses that build low-cost housing and social housing also need to be considered for loans. At the same time, under-construction projects with reasonable prices should also be considered for lending investment capital. We must decide that affordable housing is an important driving force to help the real estate market regain momentum and relieve the negative psychology it has acquired," he added. David Jackson, general director of Avison Young, spoke of how purchase prices, rental prices, and living costs tend to increase and account for a rising proportion of the total income of urban residents, as housing is increasingly becoming a luxury and beyond the majority of the population. "Stretching urban residents from the core area to the near-central area or even to bordering localities is one of the solutions. However, with an urbanisation rate of about 42.6 per cent and forecast to reach 50 per cent by 2030, the housing problem can only be solved through a multidimensional approach," Jackson said. He added that to push the population outside central business districts, it would be necessary to develop social and transport infrastructure. "Determining the right target end users with real accommodation needs, not speculators, will guide the project development cycle, from the phase of searching and collecting land funds to the end of the project implementation," Jackson said. According to the Vietnam Association of Realtors (VAR), during the last five years, the proportion of apartment supply in the affordable segment decreased nationwide from 30 per cent in 2019, to 7 per cent by 2022, and to just 6 per cent by 2023. Between 2019-2023, the proportion of mid-end apartments also decreased from 54 to 27 per cent, with the supply mainly coming from high-quality products with prices of around $2,000-3,000 per sq.m. VAR chairman Nguyen Van Dinh said, "From the government side, it is necessary to provide preferential policies specifically for affordable housing to encourage all types of investors to participate in developing supply. In addition, the government should have dedicated preferential credit policies, increasing tax rates for second and third homes to reduce incentives for speculation, and tax money to be recycled to support genuine buyers." "It is also necessary to increase investment and expand connecting transport infrastructure. When distance is no longer a consideration when buying a house, moving from central aread to non-business districts and satellite areas is inevitable," added Dinh. Illustrative photo (Photo: bssnews.net) Hanoi British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca announced on May 20 its intention to build a 1.5 billion USD facility in Singapore to produce new generation cancer treatment drugs. The plant is scheduled to become operational in 2029 and manufacture antibody drug conjugates (ADCs). ADCs are next-generation treatments that deliver highly potent cancer-killing agents directly to cancer cells through a targeted antibody, it said, adding that the facility will be designed to emit zero carbon from its first day of operation. In its announcement, AstraZeneca also unveiled that the plant is supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). Png Cheong Boon, EDBs Chairman said that they welcome AstraZeneca's decision to establish a manufacturing presence in Singapore for the first time. It will also be a first for AstraZeneca an end-to-end manufacturing facility for novel antibody drug conjugates that enables precision therapy for cancer, he continued. Pascal Soriot, the company's chief executive, said that ADCs have shown enormous potential to replace traditional chemotherapy for patients. AstraZeneca Vietnam dedicated to health AstraZeneca Vietnam has started the year by building on last years success with programmes that cater to improving livelihoods and enhancing healthcare. AstraZeneca buys French biotech firm Amolyt for $1 bn Anglo-Swedish pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca on Thursday agreed to buy French biotech specialist Amolyt Pharma for about $1 billion, expanding further into the field of rare drugs. Vietnam Minister of Planning and Investment visits AstraZeneca China A Vietnamese delegation led by Minister for Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung on March 30 visited AstraZeneca Global (R&D) China Centre and the Shanghai Jing'an CCiC & iCampus. Led by CEO Nguyen Pham Cam Tu, CAS Energy stands at the forefront of renewable energy and climate-smart agriculture in Vietnam. Since its founding in 2008, CAS Energy has made significant strides, championing equitable transition and sustainable development while contributing to the national net-zero goal by 2050. "At COP 28, Vietnam pledged to achieve net-zero by 2050, emphasising the importance of renewable energy," Tu said. "This commitment opens substantial opportunities for both domestic and international businesses to expand their cooperation in this sector." With over 15 years of expertise and more than 20MW of successfully implemented solar projects, CAS Energy persuaded Beacon Fund to invest, underscoring the company's potential and vision for the future. "Following a comprehensive evaluation, we are excited to partner with CAS Energy to support the national strategy for renewable energy development and climate change mitigation," said Do Hong Yen, investment manager at Beacon Fund. "Our impact-linked investment structure will offer CAS Energy access to lower-cost capital if the company improves gender diversity within its workforce, particularly in project areas." CAS Energy will leverage this investment to develop rooftop solar projects coupled with climate-smart agriculture. This collaboration not only supports Vietnam's renewable energy and sustainable agriculture objectives but also creates jobs for farmers in developing regions such as Ninh Thuan and Dong Nai provinces. "Beacon Fund's investment will propel CAS Energy towards a green, equitable, and sustainable future while opening doors for further collaboration with other impact investors," Tu said. The project will cover an area of 6.27 hectares in Song Khoai Industrial Park (IP) in Quang Ninh and will specialise in producing angle sensors for electrical vehicle engines following an investment of $35 million. The factory is slated to go into operation in the second quarter of 2025 and is expected to produce around 14.5 million units per year. Tamagawa Seiki has been manufacturing and selling products in the industrial, aeronautical, space, and defence industries since 1938 with a focus on precision machinery such as high-precision sensors, motors, and gyros. Yasuo Hagimoto, chairman of Tamagawa Vietnam, said, "The Tamagawa Vietnam factory was approved last November with thanks to the support of local authorities and the IP operator. This new factory is expected to be at the centre of the group's global production and business strategy." With this latest investment, Song Khoai IP is now home to 18 projects from 15 different investors, with an increasing number of Japanese firms setting up production there. In April, Quang Ninh Economic Zones Management Board issued investment certificates for two new Japanese-invested projects in Song Khoai IP. Tenma Vietnam will inject $56 million into a plastic moulding factory, which is slated to become operational in the second quarter of 2025, while Yaskawa Electric Vietnam Co. Ltd. will pour nearly $59 million into an electro-mechanical system plant expected to be up and running by April 2026. Japan's IKO Thompson also signed a land lease agreement with Amata City Halong in March to build a factory for manufacturing bearings and linear motion equipment in the park. With an investment of $57 million, the project is slated to begin construction in mid-2025 and be put into operation in January of the following year. Fertile ground for Japans wholesalers Japanese wholesale companies are betting on the Vietnamese market by striking up deals with local companies in food and technology. IKO Thompson to build a $57 million factory in Quang Ninh IKO Thompson Vietnam signed a land lease agreement with Amata City Ha Long on March 11 to build its factory across three hectares of Song Khoai Industrial Park (IP) in the northern province of Quang Ninh Melissa Manno is a reporter covering education for the San Antonio Express-News. She can be reached at melissa.manno@express-news.net. She graduated from Penn State University in 2022 with a bachelors degree in journalism and minors in geography and digital media trends and analytics. She is also the 2021 Hearst National Journalism Writing Champion. The ministry (MPI) last month announced the 2024 ESG Initiative, marking its second consecutive year. The primary objective is to equip the business sector with the necessary tools to seize emerging opportunities amidst the ongoing green transformation and enhance their competitiveness as they integrate into global supply chains. The scheme aims to find three businesses with the best initiatives to receive a technical support package valued up to VND2 billion ($83,000). It aims to stimulate the private business sector to adopt sustainable business and practice an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) assessment framework to measure sustainability factors as well as business impacts on the community. Underlining the benefits of ESG compliance, Trinh Thi Huong, deputy director of the Agency of Enterprise Development under the MPI, said, Applying sustainable business models and practising ESG not only helps Vietnamese companies comply with legal regulations on the issue, but also to meet market, partner, and investor criteria. In addition, applying ESG also helps them attract green funding. ESG also enables businesses to improve their image, position, and brand in the market, she added. This is also an opportunity for them to turn compliance responsibilities into new values, create advantages for themselves and contribute to realising the sustainable development goals of the government, Huong said. Ha Do, head of Sustainability Consulting at KPMG Vietnam and Cambodia, said that meeting minimum requirements on ESG is becoming a prerequisite to attract foreign investment. In the past two years, we have received requests to inspect suppliers regarding responsible sourcing, labour safety, child labour, fair treatment, and gender equality from many multinational corporations. Any Vietnamese supplier that does not meet requirements, especially practising the principles of childrens rights in business, will be eliminated from the supply chain, Do said. According to PwC Vietnam, many businesses, especially large enterprises, currently see risks associated with opportunities in the process of practising ESG. PwC statistics on a global scale show that 55 per cent of CEOs are not confident that in the next 10 years, their businesses can survive if they continue to operate in the traditional manner. Practising ESG and sustainable development is not necessarily just a game for large businesses, but also a response of small- and medium-sized enterprises to changing trends in the market. Do Huu Nhat Quang, director of GreenViet Green Building Consulting, said, Practising ESG is considered a long-term investment, not a cost. For example, creating a good working environment and taking good care of employees not only brings businesses benefits in terms of human resource development but also reduces costs of finding and training talented people. Practising ESG also creates a significant transformation in the current business situation of businesses. For example, at coated steel manufacturer NS Bluescope Vietnam, installing rooftop solar panels on the garage of its factory helps reduce electricity costs during the production process. Many partners intending to cooperate in the long term came to survey the factory and observed our ESG practices. For every 10 customers who visit the factory, half of them have the intention to buy our products. We believe that if businesses show a sense of responsibility and try to implement ESG, good results will come, so dont be too impatient, said Vo Minh Nhut, president of NS Bluescope Vietnam. The RIS.ER 24 conference themed ESG Motivations & Breakthroughs will take place on May 23 at Sheraton Hanoi Hotel, organised by Worldbasesys Co., Ltd in collaboration with Vietnam Investment Review. The conference will be attended by representatives from various ministries and agencies, as well as trade representatives from Asia and America. It will also include representatives from corporations, businesses, domestic and international investors, and media agencies. The event promises to provide in-depth and detailed discussions on ESG and the potential of its compliance for attracting green capital and global trade. RIS.ER24 is a series of ESG and Sustainable Development Stories, consisting of an inaugural seminar in May, three workshops over July-September, and a concluding conference scheduled for November. The programme highlights will feature the participation of experts from far and wide, aiming to discuss new trends, development, and revenue trajectories of Vietnamese and global businesses. It will address challenges related to operational standards and global trade, and analyse topics such as net-zero, carbon credits, the digital economy, green production, human resources, and fair trade. The following primary topics will be covered in the seminar series: - Detailed information about new trends that can stabilise Vietnam and the global economy; the challenges towards Vietnam and global industries; and how automation technology can address these challenges. - Highlights of the programme will include net-zero analysis, carbon credits, the digital economy, the energy transition, green manufacturing, finance, human resources, and more. - It will also focus on ESG trends: 1. GREENWASHING CAMPAIGN 2. ESG AND EFFECTIVE GROWTH MANAGEMENT 3. CHALLENGES AND STANDARDS Vietnam ESG Initiative 2024: seizing green transformation opportunities Following the success of the 2023 Vietnam Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Initiative, the Agency for Enterprise Development under the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are co-hosting the 2024 Vietnam ESG Initiative. Game-changing ESG initiatives expected With the Vietnamese government last week boosting commitments to supporting foreign-invested enterprises, more green business and funding initiatives are expected in the coming months. Interest ascends for ESG-based investing Investment options that integrate environmental, social, and governance assessments remain scarce in Vietnam, yet they are drawing increasing attention from discerning investors. ESG gives businesses competitive edge Adopting a sustainable business model through environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices is a challenging journey but provides long-term competitive advantages for enterprises. The Best F&B Rankings 2024 published by Decision Lab in early May continued to record solid rankings of food and beverage (F&B) brands such as KFC, Highlands Coffee, Phuc Long Coffee & Tea, and Jollibee. According to the results, KFC and Highlands Coffee successfully defended the top two positions for the second consecutive years, while Trung Nguyen Legend and Jollibee recorded an increase of one place in the rankings, at ranks three and eight respectively. Decision Lab CEO Thue Quist Thomasen said, The rankings indicates strong brand loyalty among Vietnamese consumers. Despite some changes in their scores, the top companies remain. The rankings are calculated based on the indicators of impression, quality, value, satisfaction, recommendations, and reputation. The key takeaway here is the power of branding. Brands that want to grow sustainably must invest in high-quality products and services and brand reputation. This will help to build long-term brand engagement and customer loyalty, Thomasen added. Investing in product and service quality has become a long-term strategy for F&B businesses in the journey towards sustainable development, in parallel with promoting the expansion of restaurant and drink chains. Sibojyoti Chatterjee, general director of KFC Vietnam, said that the brands goal is to maintain a pioneering position in adapting to changes and conquering customer tastes. We have carefully planned resources, personnel, people, and technology to adapt to the speed of the market and always listen to customers opinions to improve service quality, he said. The reason KFC can achieve a leading position in the fierce competition of the F&B industry is due to its continuous efforts to improve product and service quality, Chatterjee added. KFC boasts more than 200 stores in Vietnam and is also one of the pioneering restaurant systems to apply technology in ordering food. The use of ordering kiosks at KFC restaurants has provided a simple, convenient, and wait-free experience for customers. In addition, the American fast-food brand also develops product diversity by regularly introducing customised menus according to consumer needs including lunch menus, festival menus, and continuously creating new or trending dishes. In a similar vein, Philippine fried chicken brand Jollibee prioritises diversifying its menu and providing customers with satisfying culinary experiences. Jollibee owned about 170 stores in Vietnam by the end of last year. Although specific business figures have not been announced, the company said that it continues to achieve double-digit sales growth throughout the system and at each store. Lam Hong Nguyen, general manager at Jollibee, commented, This achievement reflects our dedication to providing delicious, high-quality food experiences that resonate with Vietnamese consumers. Were committed to continuous innovation and growth, and we look forward to serving Vietnam for many years to come. According to a report published by iPOS.vn in April, the market value of the F&B industry this year is expected to reach more than $27.3 billion, an increase of 10.9 per cent compared to 2023. However, the growth between the two fields of food and beverages is distinctive. While the dine-in market contributed the vast majority of revenues of the entire industry in 2023, the beverage market in Vietnam has recorded more modest revenue at a time when a series of beverage chains have conducted restructuring of business strategies to achieve goals more effectively. 2024 will witness the strong development of small- and medium-sized beverage models, iPOS.vns report noted. These stores were opened to meet criteria of moderate investment costs, convenient store location, being suitable for take-away and delivery, and product prices in the mid-range segments. Brands such as Phuc Long Coffee & Tea and Starbucks last year began eliminating ineffective business branches and diversifying models and products to optimise profits at each point of sale. Starbucks successfully opened store number 107 in Vietnam last month, continuing its expansion strategy and increasing the presence of this beverage brand. The American beverage chain also continuously adds seasonal and hot trend drinks, such as salted coffee, to the menu to attract more customers. At the end of last year, Starbucks Vietnam witnessed the transfer of the CEO role from Patricia Marques, who made an important contribution to the brands development for 10 years in Vietnam, to Mai Ho, a Vietnamese national with experience in both the retail and fast-moving consumer goods spheres. Mai Ho said, I had a strong impression of Starbucks development before joining it, and want to bring more new experiences to customers in the following years. Meanwhile, Phuc Long Coffee & Tea has started to scale back its previous kiosk model after two years of extensive expansion, reaching a peak of 760 kiosks. They are now returning to their flagship model, with 44 newly opened stores last year. According to Phuc Long CEO Joanne Jihyun Lee, the brand has reached maturity in a saturated market and is now strategising for the next phase of growth amidst increasing competition from new market entrants. In Q1, Phuc Long began opening new stores and optimising the customer experience with a focus on sustainability and efficiency. Phuc Long has plans to go global after gathering consumer insights through its two stores in the United States. The company is taking steps and implementing innovative initiatives to expand its network in Vietnam while also venturing into other countries worldwide, noted Lee. According to projections from parent company Masan Group, the Phuc Long chain is expected to generate revenues in the range of $74-90 million, representing a growth rate of 17-40 per cent compared to 2023. Last year, F&B industry revenue grew by nearly 11.5 per cent, reaching over $23.6 billion. Specifically, the dining market contributed $21.6 billion, representing a 10.9 per cent increase compared to 2022. Vietnams food service market is expected to record an impressive annual compound growth rate of 9.7 per cent and reach a scale of about $36.86 billion by 2027, according to data released in February by Research and Markets. F&B prioritising green development moves Dedicating more resources to research and development of greener products is being called essential for food and beverage businesses. F&B titans injecting new cash for facilities The domestic food and beverage industry remains one of the most attractive segments in Vietnam, with local and foreign companies beefing up investment. GEA Procomac's technology has transformed the F&B industry The number of resources consumed by countries is increasing, causing their depletion and a decline in quality of life. As a result, many countries are shifting to a circular economic model with sustainable production that restores, regenerates, and gradually reduces the number of resources exploited and limits emissions. According to the Decision Lab Best F&B Brand Rankings 2024 revealed in May, Trung Nguyen Legend coffee climbed by 3.9 points to secure third spot in the rankings, while some fast food giants dropped by approximately one point. Gen Z shaping the future of F&B industry Although KFC topped the list, its score fell by 1.3 points from the previous year. Highlands Coffee came in second, and Phuc Long Coffee & Tea, Lotteria, and The Coffee House placed after Trung Nguyen Legend. The Vietnamese food and beverages (F&B) market is expected to boom in 2024, marked by the expansion of restaurants and coffee chains, Decision Lab wrote. Consumers, especially the younger generation, increasingly prioritise convenience and embrace dining out as a regular experience rather than just for special occasions, it said. Additionally, coffee culture continues to thrive, with coffee chains becoming popular social hubs and offering a respite from daily life. The F&B scene is dynamic and adapting to the evolving preferences of Vietnamese consumers. The culture of heritage cuisine has emerged as a phenomenon in the industry, driven by the younger generation. As a result, todays Gen Z is more likely to opt for an aromatic cup of Trung Nguyen coffee - a renowned brand from Buon Ma Thuot, famous for its world-class robusta beans. They are also savouring regional dishes from various regions instead of frequenting Pizza Hut, Lotteria, or McDonalds. Heritage cuisine refers to creative F&B using speciality ingredients from all over Vietnam, a symbol of harmony between tradition and creativity, said Nguyen Hong Van, strategic management expert at the Foreign Trade University. Gen Z (typically recognised as anyone born between approximately 1997 and 2012) loves unique experiences and enjoys innovative drinks combined with traditional flavours, so they are willing to spend money to try new cafes and restaurants. The explosion of social media, along with the sharing of dining experiences and food photos, has created new trends over the years, stemming from this generations eating habits, Van added. The F&B industry is at its peak thanks to the emergence of Gen Z. For them, it is not about eating a lot or necessarily getting full. They prefer snacking over main meals because eating out is quick, convenient, and varied, she continued. According to a quick survey by VIR posted on social media in May, 87 per cent of the over 200 respondents aged 16-30 agreed that they frequently spend money on dining out and visiting cafes. I enjoy experiencing Vietnamese culture through its cuisine. Instead of opting for fast food like I used to, I now prefer savouring the regional specialities, said Nguyen Anh Duc, a 30-year-old marketing employee at FPT. Traditional eateries need to elevate their standards because many fusion restaurants are emerging. It seems that Gen Z is now seeking different values when choosing where to dine. We are looking for culinary cultural values - a place where the food is genuinely delicious, and the environment is comfortable. Meanwhile, iPOS.vn, a company specialising in solutions for the F&B sector, noted that the Phe La beverage chain has swiftly become a national favourite among young people, thanks to its oolong tea beverages sourced from Dalat. Starting operations in March 2021, Phe La has reached the milestone of 20 stores in the largest cities across the country. Its revenue on e-commerce platforms since April 2023 was reported to be almost $92,000, reflecting a growth of over 138 per cent. Following its success, numerous brands have emerged, capitalising on this heritage drinks trend and rapidly expanding their branches. Lasimi Tea, keeping up with the trend of creative beverages, has expanded its system to 37 stores nationwide since its first store opening in 2022, offering innovative oolong milk tea crafted from tea in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong. Similarly, the Oola brand, featuring its speciality oolong tea from Bao Loc district, opened its first store in March 2023 and reached 33 branches nationwide within a year. The trend of vegetarianism is also on the rise among young people, with vegetarian restaurants bustling with Gen Z customers, especially on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month. When young customers come to Dana, they enjoy vegetarian cuisine and embrace Vietnamese culture more, said Vu Thi Thu Huyen, founder and CEO of Dana Vegan House in Hanoi Old quarter. One of the reasons we chose to position ourselves as a progressive vegetarian home is because we aim to target young adults aged 20-25 and, together with them, build a vegetarian community as a lifestyle. The Vietnam Food & Beverage Market Report for 2023 by iPOS.vn said that despite economic challenges, by the end of 2023, the number of restaurants and cafes in Vietnam reached over 317,000 establishments, marking a 1.26 per cent increase compared to 2022. The positive growth in business expansion is attributed to the strong influence of culinary trends, prompting the emergence of numerous small-scale eateries and kiosks. The report also highlights that in 2023, for every three Vietnamese individuals, at least two are actively engaged in following street food culinary trends. Defendants at the court (Photo: VNA) Hanoi The Hanoi People's Court sentenced a total of 21 defendants involved in a transnational money laundering ring led by Chinese nationals. Among them, 14 were charged with "fraudulent appropriation of property". They received sentences ranging from 12-18 years. The seven convicted of "money laundering" were sentenced to imprisonments of between six and 11 years. Between September 27 and November 9, 2022, police arrested Mac Binh Hung and many others of the 777pay criminal group belonging to Jinbian Company headquartered in Cambodia. The group provided bank accounts for fraudsters to instruct Nguyen Thi L, 39, residing in Cau Giay district, Hanoi, to transfer money for them, with transactions worth nearly 20 billion VND (785,778 USD) in total carried out from August 25-30, 2022. The woman reported the case to the Hanoi police after recognising that she had been deceived. The new terminal was inaugurated on May 13 and is located just 57km from Can Tho city, offering excellent accessibility to key construction projects in the Mekong region. Speaking at the event, Eamon John Ginley, general director said, "With its location, large storage capacity, and the ability to load quickly and accurately, the INSEE cement dispatch terminal in Soc Trang will provide optimal solutions and superior services to customers in the region." The terminal is expected to supply key projects in the region, such as Can Tho - Hau Giang - Ca Mau Motorway, and Can Tho - Chau Doc - Soc Trang Motorway by leveraging the following advantages: Storage capacity: INSEE has four massive silos, each with a capacity of 300 tonnes, bringing total storage to 1,200 tonnes. With two additional 300-tonne silos ready for installation, it can easily scale up storage capacity to meet demand. Efficient loading and weighing: A screw bulk loader guarantees speedy loading, while the integrated weighbridge ensures accurate measurements for every dispatch. Simultaneous dispatch: Equipped with two dedicated dispatch areas, the terminal boasts a dispatch capacity of approximately 60 tonnes per hour per area. This allows for the efficient loading of two trucks simultaneously. Flexible dispatch mode: INSEE specialises in bulk truck dispatch, offering a reliable solution for bulk product transportation needs. INSEE Vietnam focuses on social responsibility strategy As a long-term investor in Vietnam, the sustainable development of local communities is a consistent strategy of INSEE to actualise its Build for Life philosophy. INSEE wins 2023 HR Excellence Award Enterprise Vocational Education (EVE), developed by INSEE Vietnam, has won the 2023 HR Excellence Award in the category of Training and Developing. INSEE shows the way for 'green' Vietnamese concrete Continuing the success of INSEE i2i Talks - Session 1, INSEE Vietnam has embarked on a journey for a green future for the concrete industry, through its INSEE i2i Talks - Session 2, held on January 18. Mizuho now has tight restrictions on new financing for coal power facilities that prevent it from funding early shutdowns. Japan to fund coal plant shutdowns in Southeast Asia, illustration photo/ Source: freepik.com The company plans to change this policy in July to allow limited financing that helps operators move away from the carbon-intensive fuel. Other Japanese megabanks are considering such transition financing on a case-by-case basis. Asian coal plants often are run via joint operating companies set up by multiple investors. These come with capital plans over a certain period of time that would be derailed by an early shutdown. Mizuho will offer financing to help operators repay external loans taken to build these facilities or pay out promised dividends. Letting investors recoup their money ahead of schedule might encourage operators to close coal plants sooner. The funding will carry conditions such as having recipients pledge to pivot to renewable or low-carbon energy projects. Efforts are underway to accelerate coal plant closures in Indonesia. The capital needed can vary widely depending on the size of the facility and how early it is being closed, but the cost of shuttering a plant in Indonesia 10 to 15 years ahead of schedule has been estimated at up to 300 million USD. The United Nations has called for members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to phase out coal power by 2030, with other countries following by 2040. According to Global Energy Monitor OECD countries will cut down 70% of coal capacity within that time frame, and 6% of capacity outside the OECD. Japanese banks have pledged to zero out their outstanding financing for coal projects by fiscal 2040. Mizuho cut its total domestic and foreign funding from 299.5 billion JPY (1.92 USD) at the end of fiscal 2019 to 235.5 billion JPY at the end of fiscal 2022. German emissions at 70-year low as coal use drops German emissions were at their lowest point in around 70 years as Europe's largest economy managed to reduce its dependence on coal faster than expected, a study published Thursday showed. The information was revealed by Yoshiki Takada, president of SMC, at a financial results briefing for fiscal year 2023, which ended in March 2024. "We have begun discussions to move mass-produced products to Vietnam and to have Chinese factories specialize in the Chinese market," Takada said, adding that the aim is to be prepared for contingencies like a geopolitical risks between the United States and China, as well as rising labour costs in China. According to Takda, the relationship with the United States has deteriorated considerably, and US regulations are likely to come in, so SMC is planning to transfer everything fairly soon. SMC has already shifted a significant portion of its business to Vietnam, and the company would like to continue this move as soon as possible. In the same vein, Masahiro Ota, director and executive officer, said, "The cost in Vietnam is 20 per cent lower than in China. But of course, China has been doing this for many years now and has become a very efficient factory base. I hope that Vietnam will catch up to that level as quickly as possible." "We are now in the process of providing technical guidance and production technology guidance from our Chinese factories to Vietnam to quickly start up there," he added. SMC Vietnam was established in 2008 as a representative office. In 2011, it became a 100 per cent foreign-owned establishment, a subsidiary of SMC Corporation, with three main offices in Ho Chi Minh City, Bac Ninh, and Danang, and a warehouse for fast deliveries. Last year, SMC, which has an automatic control devices factory in Long Duc Industrial Park, was licensed by Dong Nai People's Committee to increase its investment capital from $449.4 million to $549.4 million. Vietnam - Japan enter new phase of investment ties With the latest incarnation of the Vietnam-Japan Joint Initiative in a New Era, bilateral investment ties are expected to enter a new period of stronger development. Takeo Nakajima, chief representative of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in Hanoi, talked to VIRs Bich Thuy about future prospects. Japan invests in biomass power plant in Yen Bai A new biomass power plant project is expected to be built on an area of about 10 hectares, with a total investment of up to $120 million at Bac Van Yen Industrial Cluster in the northern province of Yen Bai. KVF, now wholly owned by DCM, has a charter capital of approximately VND2 trillion ($85.6 million). The company's headquarters are located in Ca Mau city, Ca Mau province, with Le Van Nguyen serving as the legal representative. In early April, DCM and South Korea's Taekwang Group signed an agreement to transfer ownership of Han-Viet Fertiliser. This acquisition is a strategic move for DCM to enhance its comprehensive nutrition solution portfolio for crops. Han-Viet Fertiliser began constructing its NPK fertiliser plant in Ho Chi Minh City in July 2016 and started operations in December 2017, with a designed capacity of 360,000 tonnes of NPK per year. The total investment for the plant was over $60 million. At an investor meeting in November 2023, DCMs leadership announced the goal of finalising the acquisition of KVF by the end of 2023, aiming to double its NPK production capacity. The estimated purchase price is $25 million, compared to the original investment of $60 million. DCMs management considers this a favourable price, given that the acquisition includes an 8.7-hectare land parcel. The company aims to increase KVFs sales volume to 150,000 tonnes and achieve profitability by the end of 2024. The acquisition is primarily intended to penetrate the NPK market in southeast Vietnam, the Central Highlands, and Central Vietnam, while DCMs existing NPK plant serves the southwest Vietnam and Cambodia regions. Additionally, the KVF NPK plant area will be used as a storage facility for raw materials. Vietcap Securities anticipates that higher profits from the traditional NPK segment, with the potential to double production by 2024, will offset the losses of the newly acquired NPK subsidiary. JB Financial to take 8 per cent stake of motorbike transaction platform OKXE On April 1, South Korea's JB Financial Group announced that it has signed a partnership with OKXE, a Vietnam-based platform for used motorcycles. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (left) on May 20 receives Nagavara Ramaroa Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys one of the biggest IT companies in India. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi, May 20 Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on May 20 received Nagavara Ramaroa Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys one of the biggest IT companies in India. Welcoming Narayana Murthy, who is also former Chainman of Infosys, to Vietnam to work with Vietnamese partners, PM Chinh showed his impression at the scale, role and position of Infosys, as well as Narayana Murthy's role in the IT and software market of India in particular and the world in general. He stated that India is a top priority in Vietnam's foreign policy, and that he is happy to see the traditional friendship and Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and India being strengthened and developed in multiple fields. During their recent bilateral meetings, Chinh and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have agreed to continue promoting economic-trade-investment and science-technology cooperation to make them commensurate with the potential and stature of the two countries' relationship. Chinh noted that Vietnam identifies the digital economy, knowledge economy, and circular economy as the main directions in the countrys socio-economic development strategy. Vietnam promotes the development of strategies for research, application and development of artificial intelligence human resources to meet the needs of businesses and the labour market. The Vietnamese leader said he hopes that Infosys will invest in and cooperate with Vietnam through specific projects and products on the principle of harmonised benefits and shared risks. He wished India in general and Infosys in particular, as well as Narayana Murthy and Indian experts to support Vietnam in mobilising resources, especially in public-private partnership, to develop the information technology sector, software industry, artificial intelligence (AI), and semiconductors. Vietnam wants to learn experience from India to perfect its legal framework in information technology, boost software industry, AI, and semiconductors. He also asked for support to Vietnamese businesses to join global production and supply chains in these fields. For his part, Narayana Murthy said that India has developed the information technology industry very early and Vietnam also has world-class technology enterprises such as FPT. This is a favourable foundation and environment to promote technology cooperation between the two countries, he noted, believing that Vietnam will reap greater success in the software field. India engages in expo in Vietnam to increase trade ties India has been welcomed as the guest of honour country at the 33rd Vietnam International Trade Fair (Vietnam Expo 2024) organised by Vietnams Ministry of Industry and Trade from April 3-6 in Hanoi. Vietnamese community in India stays united, contributes to homeland The Vietnamese community in India always stays united, and its members help one another to overcome difficulties, contributing to the homelands development as well as the Vietnam-India relations through various forms, according to President of the Vietnamese Community Association in India Nguyen Huynh Khanh Linh. Trade facilitation ahead with ASEAN-India deal upgrade An upgrade for a trade deal between ASEAN and India should expand the two economies trade turnover and mutual investment into the Southeast Asian market in the time to come. A worker operates equipment at a Traphaco plant. ((Photo: traphaco.com.vn) Hanoi - The Vietnamese pharmaceutical industry is seeing great advantages. People's spending on health was increasingly high giving pharmaceutical enterprises great potential for development, said Associate Professor, PhD. Le Van Truyen, former Deputy Minister of Health. Speaking to Suc khoe & Doi song (Health & Life) online newspaper, Ta Manh Hung, Deputy Director of the Drug Administration of Vietnam (DAV) under the Ministry of Health (MoH), said that previously a Vietnamese person only spent less than 5 USD each year to buy medicine but now this number increased to 70 USD per person per year. According to the Vietnam Pharmaceutical Companies Association (VNPCA), the growth rate of drug production by domestic enterprises has increased quite rapidly. The value of domestic drug production only reached 17 per cent of the total value of people's medicine costs in the 2001-2011 period, and increased to 46 per cent in the 2015-2021 period. A DAV report also shows that the total value of the Vietnamese pharmaceutical market grew from 2.7 billion USD in 2015 to 7 billion USD in 2022 and is forecast to reach more than 10 billion USD by 2026. Although Vietnam has developed a large number of pharmaceutical companies, domestic manufacturing enterprises do not yet play a leading role in the pharmaceutical market. Domestically-produced drugs account for less than 50 per cent of the total value of drugs consumed. The scale of pharmaceutical manufacturing enterprises is not large with fewer products and low science and technology. Plus nearly 90 per cent of raw materials for drug production are imported. The reason is that consumers' psychology of using pharmaceuticals still has preference for foreign products. In addition, Vietnam currently has not been able to produce specialised drugs. Hung said to realise the goal of developing the pharmaceutical industry in Vietnam, continued improvements needed to be made to institutions and laws on drug production, business, import-export, supply and distribution. In particular, there needed to be a special preferential policy for research and technology transfer to produce invented drugs, vaccines, and biological products, he added. In addition, it was necessary to implement solutions to improve the capacity to manage and control the market of drugs and medicinal ingredients, especially testing vaccines and biological products, he said. The DAV representative also recommended promoting research and international relations to develop special treatment drugs. There should be a specific orientation and roadmap to standardise training of pharmaceutical human resources. Pharmaceutical industry must be managed under market rules: Deputy PM Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha underlined the need to manage the pharmaceutical industry under market rules, ensuring publicity, transparency, quality control, safety, and cheapest prices during a meeting in Hanoi on February 19 to discuss the law on amendments and supplementations to some articles of the Law on Pharmacy. Imexpharm set growth record in 2023 Imexpharm Corporation (Imexpharm or IMP.VN), a pioneer in Vietnams pharmaceutical industry, announced its business results on March 27, for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2023. Outlook for pharmaceutical stocks in 2024 At a macro level in which there is still complexity, the pharmaceutical industry is expected to continue witnessing positive business results in 2024. Rhyma Castillo is a trending reporter for the Express-News and a member of its Digital Go Team. She can be reached at rhyma.castillo@express-news.net. A native of San Antonio and a Texas A&M University graduate, she is a journalist with nearly a decade of experience. She has reported on politics, immigration, climate change, gun violence, and workers rights. Additionally, she excels in lifestyle and entertainment writing, covering music, television, video games, technology, and relationships. In her free time, she enjoys painting, drawing, cooking, hiking, climbing, gardening, playing video games, cuddling with her cats, and making music with her band. SCIC has recently announced its second phase of divestments in 2024, including 31 companies. There are eight companies on the stock exchange, like Tien Phong Plastic JSC, Ha Giang Mineral & Mechanics JSC, FPT Corporation, Vietnam National Construction Consultants Corporation, An Giang Fisheries Import and Export JSC, Saigon Machinery Spare Parts JSC, Ben Tre Construction Material JSC, and Haiphong Construction & Infrastructure Development. Notably, SCIC plans to divest all 5.8 per cent of its stake in FPT Corporation, equivalent to about $24.9 million. This will be the largest deal value in SCIC's second-phase divestment list for 2024. If successful, SCIC will no longer be a shareholder of FPT. In addition, SCIC will also sell its 37.1 per cent stake to collect $18.8 million, making it the second-largest deal. Other potential deals include SCIC's divestment of an 87.3 per cent stake in VGV to bring back $12.3 million, a 97.4 per cent stake in Transport Investment Co-operation and Import Export JSC for $9 million, and a $98.8 per cent stake in Thai Nguyen Industrial Zone Infrastructure Development JSC for $5.5 million. In the first phase of divestments in 2024, SCIC planned to offload capital to 27 state-owned enterprises. Among them, SCIC successfully divested from Vinacontrol Group Corporation and Film No. 1 JSC. According to its 2023 audited financial report, SCIC achieved revenue of more than $278.9 million, down 30 per cent compared to 2022. Of which, revenue from investments declined by 92 per cent to $4.6 million. Meanwhile, revenue from dividends and distributed profits decreased by more than 29 per cent to nearly $212.2 million. Thanks to increased gross profit and reduced losses in affiliated companies to more than $66.7 million, SCIC reported a pre-tax profit of more than $220 million in 2023, twice as much as the same period last year. SCIC works on government fund plan State Capital Investment Corporation is working on its transition towards becoming the Vietnamese governments strategic investment fund, aiming to support the states endeavour in promoting economic growth. VIRs Van Nguyen spoke with the corporations general director, Nguyen Chi Thanh, about the ins and outs of the upcoming transformation. SCIC announces divestment plan for 88 companies in 2021 State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) has announced its plan to divest 88 companies this year. Launched in early March, the S-Career programme was rolled out at four high schools in Dong Thap and Ca Mau provinces in southern Vietnam. The career guidance sessions attracted interest and active participation of students, teachers, and experts. The programme was brought to Nguyen Quang Dieu High School for the Gifted and Do Cong Tuong High School in Dong Thap province, as well as Ho Thi Ky High School and Hermann Gmeiner High School in Ca Mau province, benefiting nearly 1,400 students and over 150 teachers. The initiative has contributed to providing students with more information, tools, and methods to make appropriate career choices, thereby improving work efficiency in the future and contributing to the overall sustainable development of society. "We are focused on our mission of providing long-term financial solutions to protect the future of our Vietnamese customers. We are also particularly interested in community activities that invest in the development and education of children, the future of the country, noted Bae Seung Jun, general director of Shinhan Life Vietnam. Instead of providing career advice, S-Career offered methods, tools, and forms to equip high school students with useful knowledge to gradually discover their potential. From there, the students will make informed career choices themselves based on sufficient necessary information. "This is the foundation for students to confidently plan their own feasible development paths and seek suitable career opportunities in the future, which is also the outstanding difference of the S-Career programme, said Tran Thi Ngoc Thuy, director of SIF Career and the career guidance expert directly engaging in the programme. Shinhan Bank Vietnam forges partnership with Samsung Vina Insurance Shinhan Bank Vietnam and Samsung Vina Insurance have just announced the signing of a cooperation agreement to distribute Samsung Vina Insurance's property insurance products to the valuable corporate customers of Shinhan Bank Vietnam. Shinhan Life Vietnam launches new insurance distribution channel Korean-backed Shinhan Life Insurance Vietnam Co., Ltd. officially introduced its financial consultancy FC Channel today, underlining the companys strong commitment to implementing sustainable and long-term growth strategies in the Vietnamese market, while providing Vietnamese customers with access to comprehensive and tailored financial protection solutions. The contest was the highlight of the 15th Ho Chi Minh City Youth and Innovative Festival, celebrating Vietnam Science and Technology Day. Techtronic Industries Group (TTI) sponsorship of the event demonstrated an unwavering dedication to fostering talent related to sci-tech in Vietnam. The final round was chaired by the SHTP Management Board in collaboration with the city's Youth Union, Department of Information and Communications, Department of Science and Technology, the Vietnam National University and several top technology corporations including TTI. The teams came from some of the most prestigious tech universities from across the country, such as Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Polytechnic University, University of Natural Sciences, and Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education. The final round came down to five exceptional groups with highly creative projects, chosen through rigorous evaluations by industry experts and engineers. First prize for the Integrated Circuit Design Competition went to the AFE team from the University of Science at the Vietnam National University. The SIGSEGV team from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education achieved second prize. Third prize belonged to the ADC team, also from the University of Science, Vietnam National University. Sharon Lixu, senior vice president of Corporate Shared Services (fifth from left), Techtronic Industries and the organiser presented awards to the winning projects In recent years, TTI has continuously supported such programmes to discover and facilitate talents in sci-tech to nurture high-quality talent and foster innovation in sci-tech across the city and the nation. By engaging with SHTP, TTI commits to a shared vision of providing meaningful platforms for young engineers, envisaging enhancing science - technology progression and sustainable development. Sharon Lixu, senior vice president of Corporate Shared Services at TTI said, Going alongside with SHTP and diverse departments and organisations in Ho Chi Minh City to contribute to social development has always been part of TTIs strategic environmental, social, and governance initiatives, especially in providing a platform and opportunities for students and the citys youth to embrace and develop innovation and technological advancements." "We take great pride and honour in this collaboration for the citys first Integrated Circuit Design Competition. The participation underscores our commitment and contribution towards the citys smart urban development and sustainable growth objectives. Join hands in developing human resource At TTI, innovation is the fuel behind sustainable growth. With the companys non-stop investment in innovation and technology, TTI is accelerating the transformation of multiple industries through superior environmentally friendly cordless technology. One of TTI strategic drivers is Excellent People and the core of this effort is nurturing young talent, fostering a passion for sci-tech among the young generation, and encouraging them to apply the knowledge gained in academia to create quality solutions. TTI Vietnam has partnered with the HCMC Young Talent Sponsorship Fund to provide support to young talents in various fields TTI Vietnam partnered with the HCMC Young Talent Sponsorship Fund in March of this year to organise an awards ceremony and support 10 young talents in various fields, including sci-tech. This initiative aimed to assist these individuals in covering expenses related to education, research, training, and international competitions. Before this, TTI Vietnam and members of the German Business Association (GBA) organised the GBA Business Challenge startup competition to support young talents in turning their entrepreneurial ideas into reality. The initiatives presented by the young participants in todays competition have truly impressed us, particularly their ability to apply learned knowledge to devise practical solutions for smart, sustainable, and modern cities. TTI is very excited to see such vigorous growth of the local talented engineers, and we hope that some of these outstanding engineers may choose to join TTI one day, Lixu noted. Since its establishment in Vietnam, TTI has identified the country as one of the long-term commitments, actively engaging in social responsibilities to make positive impacts on the local community. Through both business operations and social activities, TTI pledges to contribute to the development of high-quality human resources, promote advancement in science, technology, and innovation, and conduct breakthrough research initiatives for sustainable development in Vietnamese society. Further efforts needed to solve human resources shortage for semiconductor industry: Experts As Vietnam is calling for investment in the semiconductor industry, experts held that the country should work harder to make a breakthrough in human resources development serving the growth of the industry. Joint initiative of Vietnam and Japan to enhance added value of industries Vietnam and Japan have signed a deal to enhance the added value of industries and contribute to the Asia Zero Emission Community, digital transformation, and innovation. To support BWs projects within the ready-built factories platform in 2024, KBank HCM will provide VND1.12 trillion ($44 million) in financial support to BW through loan facilities. The deal marks a significant milestone in the sector's development, showcasing a collaborative effort to capitalise on Vietnam's burgeoning logistics and industrial estate platform. Chatuporn Boozaya-Angool, KBank's general director said, "As a seasoned player in the Vietnamese market, KBank is dedicated to leveraging our robust corporate and FDI capabilities to catalyse growth. This partnership with BW underscores our profound understanding of the local and international business landscape and its potential for expansion." BWs CFO Paul Wee said, As Vietnam's leading logistics and industrial real estate platform, we are uniquely positioned to meet the evolving needs of global clients seeking to establish themselves in Vietnam. With our large land bank, operational excellence, and strong network, we are the partner of choice to capture the growth driven by the manufacturing shift as Vietnam has emerged as the prime destination for supply chain diversification, The partnership between KBank and BW Isets ambitious goals with promising future prospects. As KBank leverages its financial expertise and commitment to the Vietnamese market, it anticipates substantial income growth from the collaboration in FY2024 and FY2025. With a strategic focus on supporting local conglomerates and facilitating foreign direct investment (FDI), KBank aims to enhance its position as a key player in Vietnam's financial landscape while fostering economic development. Simultaneously, BW anticipates significant mutual benefits arising from the partnership. Beyond financial support, the collaboration promises to enhance industrial infrastructure across key provinces, facilitating the seamless operation of businesses within the sector. By leveraging KBank's financial resources and expertise, BW aims to accelerate its ambitious expansion plans, including the launch of new projects within the ready-built factories platform. With a shared vision for growth and prosperity, this collaboration underscores the strategic importance of leveraging financial expertise and industrial leadership to drive sustainable development. According to Cushman & Wakefield, the industrial and logistics real estate segment has emerged as a standout performer, outpacing most other asset classes thanks to the development of manufacturing and export industries, e-commerce, transportation, and warehousing since 2018. The "Market Report on Vietnam Real Estate in 2023 and Forecast for 2024" conducted by the Real Estate Brokers Association reveals that in 2023, Vietnam saw the establishment of seven industrial zones (IZs) and the initiation of construction for 13 more. Industrial zones attracted over 10,400 domestic investment projects and more than 11,200 foreign-invested projects, with registered capital totalling approximately $99.8 billion and $231 billion, respectively. BW Industrial Development appoints Gene King as chief investment officer BW Industrial Development JSC, one of the Vietnams leading logistics and industrial real estate developers, announced the appointment of Gene King as its chief investment officer, effective March 1. BW and ESR break ground on two joint venture projects in Bac Ninh BW Industrial Development JSC (BW), Vietnams leading logistics and industrial real estate developer, and ESR Group Limited (ESR; SEHK Stock Code: 1821), Asia-Pacifics leading real asset manager powered by the New Economy, have announced the commencement of construction of two double-storey projects with a total gross floor area (GFA) of 270,000 sqm in Bac Ninh. This year has been difficult for trading, so what are the key challenges for the beers, wines, and spirits industry, and are there any bright spots? Rodolphe Lameyse, CEO of Vinexposium The challenges facing the industry include new consumer preferences, fluctuating market conditions, regulatory complexities, and environmental sustainability concerns. The pandemic has also brought about significant changes in the wine market, including shifts in consumer behaviour, accelerated digitalisation, and heightened emphasis on sustainability. With these challenges also come opportunities, and Vinexpo serves as a business forum to address them through knowledge-sharing, strategic partnerships, and innovative solutions. The event also remains at the forefront of these transformations, adapting its offerings to meet the evolving needs and preferences of industry stakeholders. Vinexpo Asia 2024 will showcase an increasing number of products from over 1,000 exhibitors from 35 countries. A wide range of wine and spirits products and categories will be presented. Vinexpo Asia attracts many international producers. Besides traditional wine countries, what regions will emerge as hotspots this year? The expo is our flagship event and attracts a diverse group of exhibiting countries. This year, there will be 35 exhibitor countries. The top international countries exhibiting are France, Italy, Spain, Australia, the US, and China. Also present are Chile, Argentina, South Africa, and New Zealand, along with Portugal, Germany, and Switzerland. While all the countries will present many exciting and innovative products, it is worth mentioning that Australia will be of particular interest, as China has recently lifted its tariffs on Australian wines. New countries to be added are Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Lithuania, and Mexico. For every industry, international trade shows are essential. What trends and innovations are we likely to see at the Vinexpo Asia in Hong Kong? Organic wine plays a crucial role in addressing sustainability and climate change concerns within the wine industry. By adhering to organic farming practices and minimising chemical inputs, organic wine producers help preserve biodiversity, reduce carbon emissions, and safeguard natural resources for future generations. Vinexpo Asia 2024 will feature a dedicated area for organic and biodynamic wines, which are increasingly gaining traction in Asia. In addition, the latest market and consumption trends in 2024 reflect a growing demand for premium and artisanal wines, increased emphasis on sustainability and ethical sourcing, and greater diversity in taste preferences among consumers. The products offered at the expo serves as a barometer for these trends, providing insights and opportunities for industry players to stay ahead of the curve. In Asia, spirits also play an important role, with rising consumer demand for sake, whisky, and baijiu, for example. At the event, the range of spirits and craft companies will be equally divided between international and French exhibitors. From whisky to mezcal, rum, sake, baijiu, and non-alcoholic drinks, Vinexpo Asia will explore every type of on-trend product. Why do you choose Hong Kong and Singapore to host the annual Vinexpo in Asia, and do you have any other regular international events inside and outside France? The Hong Kong market holds immense importance in the global wine trade due to its strategic location, vibrant economy, and sophisticated consumer base. As a major hub for wine distribution and consumption in Asia, Hong Kong serves as a gateway to the markets of mainland China and the Greater Bay Area. Singapore also presents an important location for Asia, given its proximity to Southeast Asia and as a transport, trade, and logistics hub for the rest of Asia. For example, Vietnam is just a short flight away, and Vietnam visitors were among the top 10 countries to attend the 2023 event held in Singapore. Besides its annual flagship event in France, Wine Paris, Vinexposium also holds other international events in New York, Mumbai, and Amsterdam as well as Vinexpo Explorer, an off-site event which changes destination every year. NEW HAMPTON Court officials began picking a jury Monday for a former Charles City man accused of killing a retired grocer in 2012. Randy Lee Patrie, 50, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 70-year-old Carl "Ken" Gallmeyer. Authorities allege Patrie broke into Gallmeyers remote Nashua home on 240th Street, killed him with a sawed-off .410-bore shotgun in his sleep and ransacked the house on Sept. 25, 2012. The case remained unsolved until July 2013 when an unrelated search found Gallmeyers missing TV mounted on Patries bedroom wall. Investigators also found Gallmeyers three missing guns, some of Gallmeyers missing tools and a sawed-off .410 shotgun. Patrie was detained on federal firearms offenses, but he wasnt formally charged with murder until January 2022. Court records show Patrie implicated his uncle, Dennis Hamm, in later interviews with law enforcement. This was after Hamm testified in Patries 2104 sentencing in federal court, telling the judge he and Patrie had discussed Gallmeyers house as a possible burglary target shortly before the slaying because of rumors he kept a large amount of cash and valuables at the home and lived alone. Patrie initially denied knowing Gallmeyer when questioned by police in 2013. He claimed the guns and some 30 other firearms seized by police were stolen from an auction house and then said he had bought one of the Gallmeyer guns from a friend who had since died, court records state. Then during a 2019 interview, Patrie told investigators he had received the Gallmeyer guns from Hamm. Patrie also said Gallmeyers tools came from Hamm, according to court records. In addition, Patrie stated Hamm had borrowed his car on the night of Gallmeyers death while he stayed home and used meth, court records state. According to Patries account, when Hamm returned with the car, Hamm told him there was property inside the vehicle he could keep and mentioned to be careful if he sold it because someone got hurt, records state. Patrie claimed he later figured out the property was related to Gallmeyers death after seeing news of the slaying but didnt notify authorities, records state. The case is being prosecuted by Chickasaw County Attorney David Laudner and Frank Severino Jr. of the Iowa Attorney Generals Office. Patrie is represented by defense attorneys Steve Drahozal and Theresa Sampson Brown. PHOTOS: Carl "Ken" Gallmeyer homicide investigation 021714ho-gallmeyer-gun-3 100912dm-carl-ken-gallmeyer Carl Ken Gallmeyer 021714ho-gallmeyer-gun-1 021714ho-gallmeyer-gun-2 Randy Patrie Randy Lee Patrie 052124jr-patrie-trial-2 052124jr-patrie-trial-1 052124jr-patrie-trial-4 052124jr-patrie-trial-3 052124jr-patrie-trial-5 052124jr-patrie-trial-9 052124jr-patrie-trial-10 052124jr-patrie-trial-11 052224jr-patrie-trial-7 052224jr-patrie-trial-2 052224jr-patrie-trial-4 052224jr-patrie-trial-3 052224jr-patrie-trial-6 052124jr-patrie-trial-x 052324jr-patrie-trial-1 052324jr-patrie-trial-2 052324jr-patrie-trial-3 052324jr-patrie-trial-4 052324jr-patrie-trial-a 052124jr-gallmeyer-home-1 WATERLOO Zach Zimmerman has been appointed principal of Central Middle School in Waterloo effective July 1. Zimmerman, currently principal of Irving Elementary School, will succeed Ross Bauer, who will assume the head principal position at Orange Elementary School in July, according to a news release. Ive cherished every moment supporting the students, staff, and families of Irving. I have created lasting connections that I will forever treasure, Zimmerman said. Now, as I embark on this new journey at Central, I am thrilled to bring my passion for education and community-building to further strengthen the bonds within the district. I look forward to nurturing our middle school students growth and empowering them to recognize the leader within themselves. The appointment is subject to approval by the Board of Education. Zimmerman brings a wealth of student and family connections, enhancing the schools community engagement. He has served Irving in a variety of capacities since 2011, first as a fifth grade teacher, then as a lead teacher before becoming principal in 2018. His 13 years of experience at Irving included winning the Gold Star Teacher Award in 2016. Prior to joining Waterloo Community Schools, he taught at Parkview Elementary from 2003 to 2011 and Granville Elementary from 2002 to 2003, both located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 2010, Zimmerman earned his masters degree in school administration from National-Louis University in Milwaukee. In 2002, he graduated with a bachelors degree in elementary and middle school education from Upper Iowa University in Fayette. Close Residents sing along to the Haitian national anthem during Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday. Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart hugs organizer Ed Gehy during the city's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday. Haitian flags blow in the wind at the RiverLoop Amphitheater in Waterloo on Saturday. Pastor Wilbert Matine of Bethesda Haitian Church of God speaks at Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday. A woman waves the Haitian Flag at a parade during Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday. Children lead a parade during Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday. A man proudly holds a Haitian Flag during Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday. Haitian residents dance to music at Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday Children dance to Haitian music during Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday. Haitian children chat during Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration at the RiverLoop Amphitheater on Saturday. A woman dances to music during Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday. Men sit at the RiverLoop Amphitheater for Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday. Photos: Haitian Flag Day celebration May 18, 2024 Residents sing along to the Haitian national anthem during Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday. Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart hugs organizer Ed Gehy during the city's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday. Haitian flags blow in the wind at the RiverLoop Amphitheater in Waterloo on Saturday. Pastor Wilbert Matine of Bethesda Haitian Church of God speaks at Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday. A woman waves the Haitian Flag at a parade during Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday. Children lead a parade during Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday. A man proudly holds a Haitian Flag during Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday. Haitian residents dance to music at Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday Children dance to Haitian music during Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday. Haitian children chat during Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration at the RiverLoop Amphitheater on Saturday. A woman dances to music during Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday. Men sit at the RiverLoop Amphitheater for Waterloo's Haitian Flag Day celebration on Saturday. WATERLOO Waterloo Public Works will host an open house Wednesday The open house will take place from 3 to 6 p.m. at the City's Public Works facility at 625 Glenwood St. Community members will be able to tour the facility and ride heavy equipment, including graders, sweepers, garbage trucks and lift trucks. Children must be accompanied by an adult and will receive proper safety equipment. The rain date for the event would be Thursday, May 23. In an isolated part of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration headquarters on the 12th floor, chief Anne Milgram made an unusual request of top deputies summoned in March: Nobody could take notes. Over the next half hour, she broke the news that the Biden administration would soon issue a long-awaited order reclassifying marijuana as a less-dangerous drug, a major hurdle toward federal legalization that DEA has long resisted. Milgram went on to reveal another twist, according to two people familiar with the private meeting who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, that the process normally steered by the DEA was taken over by the U.S. Justice Department and the action would not be signed by her but by Attorney General Merrick Garland. Milgram didn't give aides a reason for the unprecedented omission and neither she nor the DEA has explained since. But it unfolded last week exactly as laid out in that meeting two months ago, with the most significant drug policy change in 50 years launched without the support of the nation's premier narcotics agency. "DEA has not yet made a determination as to its views of the appropriate schedule for marijuana," reads a sentence tucked 13 pages into Garland's 92-page order last Thursday outlining the Biden administration proposal to shift pot from its current Schedule I alongside heroin and LSD to the less tightly regulated Schedule III with such drugs as ketamine and some anabolic steroids. Internal records accompanying the order indicate the DEA sent a memo to the Justice Department in late January seeking additional scientific input to determine whether marijuana has an accepted medical use, a key requirement for reclassification. But those concerns were overruled by Justice Department attorneys, who deemed the DEA's criteria "impermissibly narrow." Several current and former DEA officials told the AP they believe politics may be at play, contending the Justice Department is moving forward with the marijuana reclassification because President Joe Biden wants to use the issue to woo voters in his re-election campaign and wasn't willing to give the DEA time for more studies that likely would have dragged beyond Election Day. Those officials also noted that while the Controlled Substances Act grants the attorney general responsibility for regulating the sale of dangerous drugs, federal law still delegates the authority to classify drugs to the DEA administrator. "It's crystal clear to me that the Justice Department hijacked the rescheduling process, placing politics above public safety," said Derek Maltz, a retired agent who once headed the DEA's Special Operations Division. "If there's scientific evidence to support this decision, then so be it. But you've got to let the scientists evaluate it." Justice Department attorneys defended Garland's decision to proceed without Milgram's backing, saying in a separate memo that the action was prompted by "sharply different views" between DEA and the Department of Health and Human Services. The HHS last year recommended reclassifying marijuana, deeming it less risky to public health than cocaine, heroin and oxycodone, and effective in treating anorexia, pain and other ailments. The DEA balked at those findings and Garland's order cites at least 10 times when the drug agency requested additional information before blessing HHS' medical findings. It did not respond to AP questions seeking further comment. The Justice Department didn't comment on internal differences but in a statement said that the proposal was "consistent with the scientific and medical determinations of HHS." The department added it was legally required to follow HHS's scientific and medical findings that marijuana should be reclassified, at least until the start of the rulemaking process. The dissonance within the federal government underscores the continuing debate over the risks posed by cannabis, even as 38 states have legalized medical marijuana and 24 have legalized its recreational use. All the while, more voters 70% of adults, according to a Gallup poll last fall support legalization, the highest level yet recorded by the polling firm. "The argument that marijuana is as dangerous as fentanyl, cocaine and meth is laughable," said Matthew C. Zorn, a Houston-based attorney who writes a newsletter on cannabis regulation. "The DEA isn't where most Americans are. They're standing on the wrong side of history." For her part, Milgram has said little about her stance on marijuana and was not asked about it during her confirmation. When she took the helm of the agency in 2021, she privately told colleagues she considered the legalization debate a distraction from the far more serious fentanyl crisis, according to one of the people who spoke to the AP. Milgram is known for a progressive, data-driven approach to law enforcement dating to her days as the Democratic attorney general of New Jersey. When the state's governor, a close ally, signed a bill in 2010 making the state the 14th to make marijuana legal for medical purposes, she said only that the legislation was "workable." Last week, she was similarly opaque in a three-sentence announcement to DEA employees obtained by the AP. "As required," she wrote, "the DEA will post this notice and all attachments on our website." 'Behind the 8 ball': How research is trying to catch up on cannabis and kids 'Behind the 8 ball': How research is trying to catch up on cannabis and kids 'Behind the 8 ball': How research is trying to catch up on cannabis and kids Let me be clear, contrary to allegations against Israel made by the International Court of Justice, whats happening is not genocide. We reject that, Biden said. and We stand with Israel to take out Sinwar and the rest of the butchers of Hamas, Biden said on Monday. We want Hamas defeated. Weve worked with Israel to make that happen. said Biden Okay! ~~ Ignore those statements and say you live in a good country, Americans. ~~ By the way, the only butchers are Israel and supporters Update: As Pepe Escobar said on Telegram: WALKING DEAD UPDATE Cadaver in blood-drenched House mumbles theres no genocide in Gaza. https://t.me/rocknrollgeopolitics/11261 WtR The La Crosse Aviation Board named a new La Crosse Regional Airport director Monday afternoon after previously passing the candidate over in March. Jeffery Tripp was selected by the board after a round of interviews and will need to be confirmed by city officials before full installation. Tripp hails from Cottonwood Municipal Airport in Arizona. Cottonwood Municipal Airport is a non-towered airbase for general aviation. No major airlines currently use the airport. According to the Arizona Department of Transportation, the airport is known as a major hub for flight training and tourism flights, with many visiting for the surrounding wineries and nearby outdoor recreation opportunities. His first airport manager position was at Arizonas Prescott Municipal Airport in 2012. From there, Tripp took his first director position in Redmond, Oregon, for just over a year. Tripp then served as airport manager for Muskegon County Airport, a non-primary commercial service airport from 2016 to 2019. Muskegon County Airport is served by United Airlines with daily service to OHare International Airport and charter flights to three other East Coast cities. Tripp was one of two airport director candidates announced by La Crosses Human Resources Department in March to take the open position. The interview panel decided to restart the search in April after not being satisfied with the results. He just came to the top as the very obvious, best candidate, Aviation Board chair Tamra Dickinson said about Tripp returning as a top candidate. The city will move Tripps confirmation to the Finance & Personnel Committee meeting June 6. If his confirmation passes, the full city council will consider the candidate June 13. Tripp would begin service as airport director June 17, right after the airport hosts the Deke Slayton Airfest. The new airport director steps into a turbulent spot with many changes landing at La Crosse Regional in the past year. Last June, Delta Air Lines suspended all services to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to and from La Crosse. The leave took one-third of potential passengers with them. Now, La Crosse Regional Airport has three daily flights to OHare International Airport operated by American Airlines every day. American Airlines added the third daily flight in February and expanded to larger aircraft earlier this month. Previous airport director Ian Turner left for another director position in Idaho Falls. He served as La Crosses airport director for 4 1/2 years. The Aviation Board started the search for a new director the same month. The Texas Medical Board discusses guidance around physicians for medical exceptions to the state's abortion ban laws at the George H.W. Bush State Office Building in Austin, Texas, Friday March 22, 2024. Jay Janner/Associated Press The Texas Medical Boards attempt to clarify when doctors can legally perform emergency abortions falls short and could make working under the states near-total ban even worse, dozens of doctors, lawyers and patients warned during a public hearing Monday. The proposed rules, which the board unveiled in March, do not lay out a list of conditions or situations that warrant an emergency abortion. Instead, they restate existing legal definitions and require doctors to document diagnostic tests and other checks to show the abortion was necessary. In Texas, the procedure is allowed only to save the pregnant persons life or preserve a major bodily function. Advertisement Article continues below this ad These requirements, if enacted, will worsen the problem and lead to additional unintended adverse consequences for patients, said Dr. Richard Todd Ivey, an OB-GYN from Houston. Treatment should not have to wait for consultation with other physicians who may or may not be available or for results of diagnostic imaging and additional steps to be completed. The hearing comes after two Austin lobbyists petitioned the board to clarify when doctors can terminate pregnancies amid a series of lawsuits alleging the states abortion ban is so unclear and the penalties are so steep that physicians are reluctant to act even in emergencies. Elizabeth Weller, of northeast Houston, told the board she was denied an abortion after her water broke early because she did not show enough signs of infection. Eventually, Weller brought in a Ziploc bag of her vaginal discharge as proof of the severity of her situation, and she was able to get the abortion. I want you to know that those were the most hellish and nightmarish five days of my entire life as I was forced to wait for my baby to die inside of me and, you know, mentally cope with that, said Weller, one of nearly a dozen women who sued the state in a case still awaiting a decision from the Texas Supreme Court. In my practical experience of this, it (Texas law) has been anything but clear. Molly Duane, the lead attorney in that case involving Weller and others, said the board's proposed rules "will only add further confusion. They do not answer critical legal questions such as what makes medical judgment reasonable and how close to death a patient needs to be before a doctor can intervene, she said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad She and others opposing the proposed rules, including the Texas Medical Association and the Texas Hospital Association, singled out the new documentation requirements as excessive. They say doctors must note in a patients medical record how the decision was made to proceed with the abortion and what alternatives were ruled out or attempted, among other things. Texas Medical Board President Sharif Zaafran said the documentation can be done after the emergency is resolved. When speakers pointed out that the rule was not clear, he was receptive to suggestions to clarify it. Austin-area attorneys and lobbyists Steve and Amy Bresnen petitioned the board for clarity in January, after the state Supreme Court last year declined to give Kate Cox, a 31-year-old Dallas woman whose fetus was diagnosed with a typically fatal condition, permission to receive an abortion in Texas. Cox testified Monday that she is afraid that she and other women will continue to suffer and go without care. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The Texas Medical Board's mission is to protect the public's health and safety, Cox said. It is medically reasonable to give mothers and families the best chance at building their families, which may include terminating a nonviable pregnancy so they can have a chance at a viable one. I needed that chance." While many of the speakers with personal stories, such as Weller and Cox, were plaintiffs in cases against the state, some were new voices, including Hollie Cunningham. Cunningham became pregnant twice in one year in 2023, and both times she and her husband learned that the fetuses had anencephaly, a birth defect in which parts of the brain and skull are missing similar to the situations of some of the plaintiffs in the ongoing case. Both times, Cunningham had to travel outside Texas to end the pregnancies. The Texas Medical Board must step up and provide clear and decisive guidelines to protect both patients and doctors in these critical situations, she said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Some speakers, most of whom were associated with anti-abortion groups, said Monday that the state laws are already clear. Dr. Ingrid Skop, a San Antonio anti-abortion OB-GYN whom the state has previously used as an expert witness to defend its abortion bans, said physician fear and misunderstanding of the law is harming Texas patients. The board needs to reassure physicians that there has never been a doctor prosecuted in Texas for performing an abortion to save the life of the mother, Skop said. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has said he would help local officials enforce the ban, and hours after a state judge gave Cox permission to get an emergency abortion in December, he warned that a district or county attorney could prosecute any doctor who provided her one. The Bresnens, the couple who sparked the rulemaking process, said the flawed rules need work and that doctors need explicit criteria for what constitutes reasonable medical judgment to perform an abortion, such as peer-reviewed journals or guidance from medical associations. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Zaafran raised concern that Steve Bresnen's suggestion was overly focused on how a doctor would collect evidence in anticipation of a trial. I just want to be careful because you're almost talking to try and get evidence, and I'm talking about a physician at a moment of time having to make a judgment and a decision, Zaafran said. Texas law allows private citizens to sue any physician or other person who "aids or abets" an abortion for at least $10,000 in damages. It also allows criminal prosecution against doctors for performing an illegal abortion, punishable by up to life in prison and at least $100,000 in civil penalties. Physicians also face loss of their medical license. "Damn right, I'm focusing on a trial, Steve Bresnen said. Any good lawyer writing these rules that might be called upon to defend someone will work backwards from the trial, to the kinds of information that a physician needs to be able to rely on in order to make a credible decision. A woman is dead after an off-road-vehicle rollover crash in Storey County. Storey County deputies arrived at the scene on Six Mile Canyon Road around 5 p.m. on May 19. They found 62-year-old Joann Martinelli from Dayton, Nevada. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Deputies and Nevada State Police say there was only one vehicle involved in the crash. They also say impairment, no seat belt, and no helmet are suspected to be factors in the crash. If you have information that could help, you are asked to call the Storey County Sheriff's Office at (775) 847-0959. The case number is #24-400. The U.N. World Food Program said Tuesday that the new U.S. $320 million pier project for delivering aid to Gaza may fail unless Israel starts providing the conditions the humanitarian groups need to operate safely, after a chaotic launch ended with much of the aid looted and one Palestinian man dead. Deliveries from the pier were stopped Sunday after Saturday's aid convoy was unable to reach warehouses within Gaza as intended, the WFP said. The first 10 trucks had entered through the pier on Friday. The U.N. agency is now reevaluating logistics and security measures and looking for alternate routes within Gaza, said spokesperson Abeer Etefa. The WFP is working with the U.S. Agency for International Development to coordinate delivery of food from the new U.S. route. Earlier, the United Nations said that it was no longer able to distribute food aid in the southern Gaza city of Rafah due to lack of supplies and insecurity. The humanitarian crisis has escalated over the past two weeks since Israel launched an incursion into Rafah that closed a vital border crossing, vowing to root out Hamas fighters. Israeli officials say they place no restrictions on the amount of aid going through the crossings. Small numbers of aid trucks continue to enter northern Gaza via a crossing from Israel. Israel and the United States are seeking to contain fallout after chief prosecutor of the worlds top war crimes court requested arrest warrants for leaders of both Israel and Hamas. Among the prosecutor's allegations against Israel was using starvation as a method of warfare. Israeli and U.S. leaders harshly condemned the accusations. In developments from northern Gaza, one of the main hospitals still operating was forced to evacuate Tuesday after coming under fire from Israeli forces, while a second has been surrounded by troops for three days, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. And amid months of surging violence in the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces raided a militant stronghold in the city of Jenin, killing at least seven people and wounding several others, the Health Ministry said. Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas Oct. 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed about 1,200 people mostly civilians and abducted about 250. At least 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gazas Health Ministry, which doesnt distinguish between combatants and civilians. Around 80% of the population of 2.3 million Palestinians has been displaced within the territory, often multiple times. (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.) Texas, in this weather satellite image taken on Monday at 2 p.m., enjoys mostly clear skies. Air flow aloft from the southwest remains over West Texas and New Mexico, left, through most of Tuesday until high pressure slides eastward, the National Weather Service said. NOAA/National Weather Service San Antonio temperatures will be hitting the upper 90s all week as if its midsummer already and there might be no looking back: The citys first 100-degree day of the year could arrive this weekend. No, this kind of heat this time of year in South Texas is not normal at least not according to National Weather Service records. Lets take Tuesdays forecast high of 97 degrees: Not only is that almost 10 degrees warmer than the normal high for May 21 (88 degrees), its also within 4 degrees of the record high for the date, 101 degrees, set in 2022, according to the weather service data. Advertisement Article continues below this ad To establish what is normal, the weather service compiles averages from 30 years of data. Forecasters these days are using observations collected from 1991 to 2020. But what if we include all San Antonio weather records for May 21 going back to 1885? We then find that the forecast high of 97 is now about 11 degrees warmer than the average high of 86.4 degrees and that daily highs on May 21 are warmer than 90 degrees only about 24% of the time. High pressure, high humidity Whats driving this heat is a classic combination of cloud-clearing high atmospheric pressure thats opening the skies to unimpeded sunshine and a low-level inflow of humid air from the southeast and the Texas Gulf Coast. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Upper-level ridging (of high pressure) will continue to dominate our weather through the long-term period, resulting in an early season heat wave, the weather service said in a forecast bulletin Monday. While the high pressure will squelch any rain chances, the additional tropical moisture in the air will help keep morning low temperatures above 76 degrees, forecasters said. The humidity also will make those afternoon temps in the upper 90s feel more like theyre 104 or 105 degrees. Humidity, or the level of water vapor in the air, can make our perception of heat seem much hotter than the actual temperature because the body cools itself through the evaporation of sweat. But evaporation isnt as effective when theres too much moisture in the air. The heat index takes that into account, which is why the actual air temperature might be 96 degrees but a high humidity level (say, a dew point of 71 degrees) can make it feel like its 104. In the seven-day forecast from the National Weather Service on Monday, San Antonio air temperatures could reach 100 degrees this weekend. National Weather Service Weather service forecasters noted that a cold front entering the Texas Panhandle late Tuesday would creep southward, but dont get your hopes up, as its unlikely to have much of any impact on our sensible weather in the short term. Advertisement Article continues below this ad As far as storm chances go, we may see a stray shower or storm develop Tuesday afternoon/evening over the Edwards Plateau or Rio Grande Plains, the weather service said, but the chances of severe storms would be less than 10%. Wednesday and beyond In San Antonio on Wednesday, expect partly sunny skies with an afternoon high temperature of 96. South-southeast winds of 10 to 15 mph, including gusts as strong as 20 mph, will continue to bring in muggy coastal air. Overnight and morning low temperatures will stay above 75 degrees, forecasters said. Thursday looks to be sunnier but just as unseasonably hot with a high near 96. The south-southeast winds will persist, as will balmy overnight low temperatures. Advertisement Article continues below this ad According to the HeatRisk tool, an experimental index that looks at how much of a health threat the day's heat poses, shows San Antonio and South Texas under a major threat. This level of heat requires effective cooling or adequate hydration. NOAA/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Another chance for isolated storms seems possible Friday afternoon/evening across northern portions of the Hill Country before the (high pressure) ridge expands slightly northward over the weekend and into the beginning of next week, the weather service said. This will lead to the warmest temperatures of the year so far with widespread upper 90s to upper 100s expected for high temperatures and even warmer heat indices. One person died and 23 others were injured when a flight from London to Singapore hit severe turbulence. Airport officials in Bangkok say the victim who died was a 73-year-old British man who likely suffered a heart attack. He was identified as Geoffrey Kitchen, a musical theatre director who was traveling with his wife, the Times of London reported. Seven of the passengers reportedly suffered critical injuries. Singapore Airlines says flight SQ321 was headed from Heathrow on Monday when it encountered the turbulence. The airline says the Boeing 777-300ER diverted to Bangkok and landed about 3:45 p.m. local time at Suvarnabhumi Airport. There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board. A Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-312(ER) aircraft (9V-SWM) operating flight SQ321 from London (LHR) to Singapore (SIN) hit an air pocket and made an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok (BKK) at 3:34 pm today. Initial reports indicate 20 people were injured. pic.twitter.com/G4TH7Vs2xX FL360aero (@fl360aero) May 21, 2024 "Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased," the company said in a statement on social media. It added that it was working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance to passengers. They were also sending a team to Bangkok to assist. No other details were immediately available. Each May we honor Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month. And while Hollywood still has a way to go when it comes to including AANHPI storytellers in front of and behind the camera, its never a bad time to pay tribute to one of cinemas most stunning settings: Hawaii and the South Pacific. The emerald green mountains, turquoise waters and white sand beaches in these 10 great movies will whisk you away to a gorgeous island paradise. Aloha! Moana (2016) Like all the best animated Disney films, Moana manages to sneak in some valuable lessons among its infectious songs and inviting eye candy. Native Hawaiian actor Aulii Cravalho voices the young, strong-willed heroine, Moana, who ventures from her Polynesian island home to return a relic to the volcano goddess Te Fiti. She enlists the help of Maui, a cocky and slightly clueless demigod (Dwayne Johnson) who has a knack for breaking into song (the great tunes are cowritten by Lin-Manuel Miranda). This is an absolute gem. Watch it: On Disney+, Prime Video Members only The Descendants (2011) George Clooney delivers a disarming, understated performance in Alexander Paynes dramatic comedy about a laid-back Hawaiian landowner who must gather his family together and figure out the future after a boating accident puts his wife into a coma. Shailene Woodley is terrific as his rebellious teenage daughter whos been keeping a secret from him for far too long. Trust me, it sounds a lot heavier than it is. Plus, the island of Kauai has never looked better on film. Watch it: On Hulu, Prime Video Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) Theres trouble in paradise. Jason Segel plays a people-pleasing pushover dumped by his TV star girlfriend (Kristen Bell) for an oversexed British rock star (Russell Brand). To get over the pain, he heads to a Hawaiian beach resort, where his ex and her handsy new boyfriend are also staying. Segel sells the sad sack act like no one else. And Mila Kunis is adorable as the woman trying to help him move on. A whos who of comic all-stars swings by to keep spicing things up, including Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill and Bill Hader. Watch it: On Max, Prime Video Older marijuana users are ending up in emergency rooms at higher rates since legal cannabis products and in particular, edible cannabis products, like gummies have become more broadly available, according to new research out of Canada. The findings, published May 20 in JAMA Internal Medicine, align with trends in the U.S., where edible cannabis is also behind an increasing proportion of cannabis poisonings in older adults. Members only According to the latest study, the rate of emergency room visits for adults 65 and older in Canada rose from a pre-legalization rate of 5.8 per 100,000 to 21.1 per 100,000 after edibles were available for retail in January 2020. In total, there were 2,322 ER visits across Canada from 2015 through 2022, according to the researchers. Adverse effects of cannabis use can include dry mouth, impaired motor skills, panic, paranoia and decreased short-term memory, according to the National Institutes of Health. Cannabis gaining popularity among older U.S. adults About 12 percent of U.S. adults ages 50 to 80 used cannabis products in the past year a share that has grown considerably in the last several years, according to 2023 research from the University of Michigans National Poll on Healthy Aging, supported by AARP. Cannabis use among U.S. adults 65 and older was at 0.4 percent in 2006 and 2007, before increasing to 2.9 percent in 2015 and 2016, according to research published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Its not surprising that family members, often thrust into caregiving with little notice, find themselves navigating a complex medical system without any training or guidance. The good news is that changes are underway to help educate family caregivers on the ins and outs of providing care for loved ones. A new program, designed to improve the quality of life for people with dementia and their unpaid caregivers, is also in the works. Its goal is to help those with dementia remain in their homes longer. Members only President Joe Biden signed an executive order April 18, 2023, to support the countrys 48 million family caregivers. It included more than 50 directives to federal agencies to find ways to better support caregivers, who provide what AARP estimated in 2021 to be more than $600 billion each year in unpaid labor to take care of family and friends. AARP supports the order. I feel like Ive learned all the things on the fly, says Jessica Guthrie of Fredericksburg, Virginia, who has been caring for her mother for the past 10 years. Guthrie was part of a May 20 panel discussion at Arlingtons VHC Health, formerly Virginia Hospital Center, with the head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a health care provider, and AARPs chief advocacy and engagement officer. Caregivers are a vital part of our health care system in doing things like helping with medication management, transportation to appointments, food shopping, bathing and dressing, and getting around the house, says Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. So often caregivers are unseen and unsung heroes. We at CMS have tried to make sure that in fulfilling our mission to deliver better health and better health care to all people, that we strengthen our support for caregivers. Three changes have already begun to help family caregivers: Video: How Medicare is Paying to Support Family Caregivers 1. Providers get paid to train family caregivers Under a rule that took effect Jan. 1, doctors, clinical psychologists, nurse practitioners, physical therapists and other health care providers can bill Medicare for time spent training family caregivers. Get help. Help others AARP's Family Caregivers Discussion Group is a private Facebook group where caregivers can seek support and offer support to others. Family members who are helping aging relatives with tasks such as giving injections, managing medications and changing bandages no longer need to worry about spending too much time asking medical providers questions about the steps they need to know. When you reach the stage of incontinence, no one actually tells you how to change an adult brief, says Guthrie, who moved from Texas to Virginia to live with her mom, Constance, as Alzheimers decreased her mothers ability to care for herself. No one shares with you how to roll someone effectively in a hospital bed to change them with dignity and respect. Before the rule, physicians and other health care providers helped caregivers learn the tasks that needed to be done, says Genesis Brown, a certified adult gerontology nurse practitioner and AARP volunteer. They just spent personal time during the day to do so. Indian police arrest 4 for suspected Islamic State links Xinhua) 09:41, May 21, 2024 NEW DELHI, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Indin police Monday said it has arrested four Sri Lankan nationals for their alleged links with the extremist group Islamic State in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The four people were arrested at the airport in Ahmedabad city of Gujarat on Sunday. A senior Anti-Terrorism Squad official in Gujarat Sunil Joshi said during the interrogation, the suspects said they had been in contact with an Islamic State handler based in Pakistan since February. The handler's movement has also been traced to the United Arab Emirates and Britain. Police also claimed that upon analyzing the suspects' mobile phones, they recovered some arms and ammunition from a location, where the suspects were supposed to pick up these weapons to carry out terrorist acts. Police have registered a case against the four individuals under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) An Alabama death row inmate lost a bid Tuesday to block his scheduled execution, just days after failing to overturn his conviction for using a tire iron, ball-peen hammer and machete to fatally bludgeon an elderly couple in 2004. The latest ruling against Jamie Ray Mills, 50, came less than two weeks before he's scheduled to receive a lethal injection for the grisly murders of Floyd and Vera Hill during a robbery at their home in the tiny city of Guin, about 80 miles northwest of Birmingham. Floyd Hill, 87, died at the scene of the June 24, 2004, attack but Vera Hill, 72, survived until the following Sept. 12, when she died in hospice of complications from the head trauma she suffered. In a 59-page decision, U.S. District Judge Emily Marks refused to grant a preliminary injunction to prevent Mills' execution, saying he "inexcusably delayed" filing his motion until "fewer than four weeks before the beginning of his May 30, 2024 execution timeframe." In March, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey told state Corrections Commissioner John Hamm she had "no current plans to grant clemency in this case" and directed him to have Mills executed between 12 a.m. on May 30 and 6 a.m. on May 31, according to the Montgomery Advertiser. Marks also said Mills "failed to show a substantial likelihood of success on the merits" of his claim that being restrained on a gurney "for hours" before his execution would constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Mills' ruling came after another federal judge, L. Scott Coogler, denied Mills' motion to toss the jury verdict against him on grounds that his common law wife and accomplice, JoAnn Mills, testified against him after secretly striking a plea deal to avoid the death penalty. Coogler said Mills has unsuccessfully raised that claim "many times since his 2007 trial" but had yet to produce any "documentary evidence." In a 23-page decision, Coogler also wrote that "JoAnn's testimony was but one part of the overwhelming evidence against Mills, including a second witness linking his vehicle to the crime scene, as well as the fact that a pair of his work pants (with his name on the inside tab) stained with the victims' blood, murder weapons containing the victims' DNA, and a concrete block were found in his trunk." Mills' lawyers from the nonprofit Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, didn't immediately return requests for comment on Tuesday. loading......... Malibu, CA, May 21, 2024 AEST (ABN Newswire) - In this segment of The Ellis Martin Report we visit with Scott Petsel, President of Metallic Minerals Corp. ( CVE:MMG ) ( MMNGF:OTCMKTS ) as we review the company's 171 sq km Keno Silver Project in the Yukon, the La Plata Project in Colorado AND an opportunity for adventurous placer/alluvial gold miners to acquire rights to mine such as what Parker Schnabel is doing on the company's land; in the Yukon and the Klondike Gold District. Yes you can! This could be you too! Get your gear and have a go at it. Listen to learn more about this along with an overview of the company. To Listen to the Interview, please visit: https://www.abnnewswire.net/lnk/H835YEYX About Metallic Minerals Corp. Metallic Minerals Corp. (CVE:MMG)(OTCMKTS:MMNGF) is a growth stage exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of high-grade silver and gold projects within under explored districts proven to produce top-tier assets. The company's objective is to create value through a disciplined, systematic approach to exploration, reducing investment risk and maximizing probability of long-term success. Their core Keno Silver project is located in the historic Keno Hill Silver District of Canada's Yukon Territory, a region which has produced over 200 million ounces of silver and currently hosts one of the world's highest-grade silver resources. Metallic's La Plata silver-gold-copper project is located in the high-grade La Plata district of the prolific Colorado Mineral Belt. The company is also building a portfolio of gold royalties in the historic Klondike Gold District. Metallic Minerals is led by a team with a track record of discovery and exploration. About The Ellis Martin Report The Ellis Martin Report (TEMR) is an internet based radio program showcasing potentially undervalued companies to an audience of potential retail investors and fund managers that comprise our listening audience. TEMR is broadcasted on the VoiceAmerica Business Channel and The Opportunity Radio Network. CEO and company interviews are paid for by those represented on the program. Related Companies PEP 11 - Appointment of Klarite Pty Ltd to Initiate Environmental Management of Seablue-1 PEP 11 Update Perth, May 20, 2024 AEST (ABN Newswire) - BPH Energy Limited ( ASX:BPH ) investee, Advent Energy Limited (Advent) through its wholly owned subsidiary, Asset Energy Pty Ltd (Asset), have engaged Klarite Pty Ltd (Klarite), to initiate environmental management of the Seablue-1 exploration well, due to be drilled in PEP 11, pending the current application for licence variation, suspension and extension (Application), regulatory approvals and rig availability. Klarite are a Perth based turnkey environmental consultancy specialising in offshore development in Australia, who recently prepared a detailed Environmental Approvals Strategy for the Seablue-1 exploration drilling activity for Asset. Due to the critical need for new domestic supplies of gas as stated in the Federal Government Future Gas Strategy (see below) Asset have decided to commence work necessary for environmental approvals in advance of the PEP 11 licence Application approval, in order to be prepared to drill the Seablue-1 well as soon as possible thereafter. Klarite will develop an Environmental Management process which will define Asset's consultation and negotiation basis with relevant persons and assess environmental impacts. Future Gas Strategy The Federal Government Future Gas Strategy (FGS) and supporting documents were released by Minister for Resources Madeleine King on 9 May 2024. The FGS confirms that that gas will have a role to play in the transition to net zero by 2050 and beyond. The FGS states that exploration and development should focus on optimising discoveries and infrastructure in producing basins where gas will be proximal to where it is needed and will be lower cost than relying on LNG imports. Many of the arguments made in the FGS document support the case for drilling at Seablue-1 in PEP 11: - New sources of gas supply are needed to meet demand during the economy wide transition. - Arguments that Australia could divert gas developed for export fail to recognise the domestic gas market's reliance on supply from gas export projects. - We have mechanisms to divert uncontracted gas to the domestic market through the Australian East Coast Domestic Gas Supply Heads of Agreement, and contracted export gas to the domestic market through the ADGSM, which is a measure of last resort. These are, however, only able to ensure gas supply for the southern states within the limits of existing infrastructure constraints to transport the gas to market - LNG imports risk embedding high gas prices: o ../.. a number of LNG import terminals have been proposed for the east coast. Any gas supplied through such LNG import terminals could be more expensive than gas developed closer to demand centres. This is because international LNG prices are historically higher than domestic gas prices and because of the costs associated with converting gas to LNG, transporting it by sea then regassing it at port, before its onward transport by pipeline. o ../.. gas is more affordable in locations where ../..gas is consumed where it is produced - Section 7.1 of the analytical report behind the FGS: ...the east coast gas market could have sufficient gas supply to meet domestic (and LNG export) demand for many years if additional (above forecast) gas supply can be developed from existing 2P reserves, possible reserves, contingent and prospective resources. However, this will require both forecast and new projects to be developed in the required time frame. Prospective Resources of 5.7 TCF* have been identified in PEP 11. Advent Energy welcomes the publication of the FGS as it strengthens the case for exploration in PEP 11. * In energy terms 5.7TCF is equivalent to 5,985 Petajoules About BPH Energy Limited BPH Energy Limited (ASX:BPH) is an Australian Securities Exchange listed company developing biomedical research and technologies within Australian Universities and Hospital Institutes. The company provides early stage funding, project management and commercialisation strategies for a direct collaboration, a spin out company or to secure a license. BPH provides funding for commercial strategies for proof of concept, research and product development, whilst the institutional partner provides infrastructure and the core scientific expertise. BPH currently partners with several academic institutions including The Harry Perkins Institute for Medical Research and Swinburne University of Technology (SUT). Related Companies A protest encampment set up by students at the University of Michigan is currently being raided with police pepper spraying protesters in the face while attempting to dismantle the tents. BREAKING: The Encampment at the University of Michigan is currently being raided. Pepper spray has been deployed. pic.twitter.com/GyDFKCw5cy Stu (@thestustustudio) May 21, 2024 Universities nationwide continue to grapple with a wave of protests as students demand that Israeli assaults on Gaza cease, and call for college divestment from entities linked to Israel. Over 2,000 people have been arrested across the country in connection to the demonstrations. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks launched in retaliation for Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023 terror assault on Israel that killed some 1,200 civilians and seized more than 200 hostages. State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands Armed Forces Americas Armed Forces Pacific Armed Forces Europe Northern Mariana Islands Marshall Islands American Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Guam Palau Alberta, Canada British Columbia, Canada Manitoba, Canada New Brunswick, Canada Newfoundland, Canada Nova Scotia, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavut, Canada Ontario, Canada Prince Edward Island, Canada Quebec, Canada Saskatchewan, Canada Yukon Territory, Canada Zip Code A pioneering integrated communications agency, Brand Visage Communications, has made the announcememt of their thrilling win the digital marketing mandate for European Market of India Gate Foods, a household name equivalent with delicious and high-quality basmati rice. Expressing their enthusiasm, Brand Visage Communications leadership team shared about the significance of this partnership. Siddharth Khanna, Co-founder and CEO of Brand Visage Communications, stated: We are truly delighted to welcome India Gate Foods to our esteemed client roster. Their legacy of providing families across India with unparalleled basmati rice is truly inspiring and now a challenging task to make it a household name in Europe as well. It's an exciting time to enter the new market and we are confident our strategy will be instrumental in further strengthening their brand connection with consumers and propelling their digital presence to new heights. Sharing his perspective, Anuj Khanna, Co-founder and COO of Brand Visage Communications, added, We are incredibly excited to embark on this journey with India Gate Foods. Their commitment to quality and tradition aligns perfectly with our values. Our team is eager to develop innovative and engaging social media campaigns that celebrate the rich heritage of India Gate basmati rice while also resonating with modern consumers. Expressing his enthusiasm about the partnership, Akshay Gupta, Head- Bulk Exports of KRBL LIMITED (EU market), stated, "We've excelled in the B2B space for Basmati Rice within various European markets, and now we're poised to expand our presence in the B2C space as well. This is where Brand Visage Communications comes into play, helping us solidify our position digitally. Their strategy and their category understanding really resonated with us. We look forward to working with them closely for our European markets. Mitika Malhotra, Head - Digital marketing & Corp Communication KRBL Limited (India Market) , echoed Mr. Gupta's sentiments, emphasising the importance of a strong digital presence in today's competitive landscape. "Partnering with Brand Visage Communications aligns perfectly with our organisations vision to leverage digital platforms effectively across geographies. Their innovative thought process and previous successes make them a great choice to drive our brand's digital initiatives forward in EU markets. According to media reports, Flipkart has appointed Anuj Rathi as the new CEO of its travel booking unit, Cleartrip. Rathi, who is returning to Flipkart after 12 years, will replace Ayyappan R. This marks Rathis second stint at the Walmart-owned company, having previously worked there as a Product Manager from 2010 to 2012. Anuj Rathi, an IIT Kanpur alumnus with over 18 years of industry experience, was previously the chief product and marketing officer at fintech firm Jupiter. His career includes significant roles at Walmart, Snapdeal, and Swiggy, among others. Additionally, media reports indicate that several senior leaders, including Prabh Simran Singh, Senior Vice President of customer growth and retention, marketing and ads, and Sankalp Mehrotra, Vice President of Monetisation, are also departing from the company. India's homegrown e-commerce marketplace, Flipkart, has made the announcement of the launch of its insights platform, Flipkart IRIS. The platform, standing for Insights and Research Intelligence System (IRIS), denotes a considerable advancement in offering comprehensive intelligence about customer behavior to brands. Flipkart IRIS is designed for empowering brands with actionable insights tailored to their performance on the platform, fostering growth and further driving informed decision-making. Flipkart IRIS will offer a significant leap forward in functionality and usability for brands on how Indian consumers interact with products and brands. It will serve as a magic mirror for brands, providing detailed reports to guide performance improvement across funnels. In addition to industry-standard comparative analysis and user behavior insights, Flipkart IRIS goes beyond offering exclusive reports which will allow brands to understand the high value actions of consumers for their products on the platform. These reports empower all brands across their growth trajectory to gain a deeper understanding of consumer behavior and market trends, allowing them to make data-driven decisions that can significantly improve conversion rates and sales. Given the reach of Flipkart, cutting across tiers of cities and socio economic backgrounds, these insights can help brands improve performance even in offline channels. Homegrown D2C and new age brands will gain numerous benefits from Flipkart IRIS, such as uncovering new growth opportunities, mirroring the perception of brands, optimizing marketing campaigns, enhancing customer engagement, and measuring brand health. Leveraging business intelligence and rich data, established brands will be able to deep dive into the funnel, where there is an opportunity for them to grow their business, measure their performance, stay competitive and craft strategies that meet their objectives. Sandeep Karwa, Vice President, Flipkart Ads, said, "Flipkart IRIS represents a significant advancement in empowering brands to bolster their businesses and succeed on Flipkart. With Flipkart IRIS, we aim to provide brands with actionable insights about their business performance on Flipkart. By empowering brands to make strategic decisions backed by rich data, the platform is poised to unlock unprecedented growth opportunities for brands on the platform. Retail media spends are only 15%20% of digital AdEx in India, compared to 25%30% in the US and 55%60% in China. In the first quarter of 2024, digital AdEx in India increased to over 2530%. Despite the rapid growth, the headroom to grow is tremendous." Sandeep Karwa, Vice President, Flipkart Ads, is the newly appointed leader for Flipkart Ads. Over the past 12 years at Flipkart, he has been instrumental in shaping and scaling various business categories at Flipkart. Retail media is the third big wave in digital after search and social across geographies. Advertising-led monetization is growing disproportionately in India. Brands use platforms like Flipkart to get discovered, to engage, and to retain their customers. Drawing on a deep understanding of consumer journeysfrom discovery to purchasesellers and brands get incrementality and measurability. The hotel industry has led to the creation of around 15 million jobs in the past few years, employing nearly 8% of the total population, and becoming one of the foremost industries in terms of Foreign Direct Investment. As per industry estimates, the net worth of the hotel industry is pegged at around $247.31 billion in 2024 and is estimated to reach around $475.37 billion by the year 2029. Some of the factors contributing to this growth are the rise in disposable incomes in the past decade, the visit by a large number of business leaders and international visitors to the country between 2018 and 2019. Moreover, many political events in Europe have also led to a surge in travel in India. The increase in discretionary incomes can be attributed to several factors such as an expanding middle class, increasing urbanization, high domestic revenues, a large population as well as cost-friendly airfares, government policies supporting international, domestic tourism and government programs such as Digital India, e-Visa, Make In India. The hospitality sector in Eastern India has been witnessing a surge in the last few years. In West Bengal, hospitality sector has been granted industry status. This is in recognition by the government of the important role played by the industry in steering the economic growth of the state, providing greater opportunities to the industry for further growth, and helping in the reduction of the operational expenses and improvement of FAR or Floor Area Ratio. The increase in the number of tourists in West Bengal will contribute to the advancement of local businesses, transportation, and others, offering more opportunities to exhibit and support the artistic, and cultural heritage of West Bengal leading to the empowerment of communities. In an exclusive conversation with Adgully, Amita Mishra, General Manager, Accor, speaks about the current consumer trends in the hotel industry in the East markets, the performance of ibis Kolkata in 2023, growth projections/ expansion plans for 2024, the marketing/ media mix strategy of ibis Kolkata, focus areas for 2024, the roadmap for the next three years, and more. Current consumer trends Commenting on the current consumer trends in the East market, Amita Mishra discussed several notable trends that have surfaced in the East markets: Demand for Authentic Experiences: Consumers are increasingly inclined towards authentic and distinctive experiences rather than standardized accommodations. This shift has given rise to boutique hotels and properties that offer personalized services and immersive local experiences to travelers. Preferences for Digital Connectivity: With the advent of technology, consumers now expect seamless digital experiences throughout their hotel stay. This encompasses easy online booking systems, mobile check-in/out options, high-speed Wi-Fi, and personalized digital concierge services. Wellness and Health-Consciousness: There is a discernible movement towards wellness-focused travel, with consumers placing importance on amenities and services that promote health and relaxation. Hotels are responding to this trend by integrating spa facilities, fitness centers, healthy dining options, and tailored wellness programs into their offerings. She observed, Overall, the buying behaviour in the Eastern markets has shifted towards prioritizing experiences over material possessions, sustainability over excess, and convenience over complexity. Hotels that align with these consumer preferences and offer personalized, digitally integrated, and sustainable experiences are poised for success in this evolving landscape. Performance of ibis Kolkata & growth projections Speaking about ibis Kolkata performance in 2023, Mishra said, In 2023, ibis Kolkata showcased robust performance, boasting steady occupancy rates and receiving positive feedback from guests. The hotel implemented strategic initiatives to elevate guest experiences and operational efficiency, resulting in improved profitability. She further added, Looking ahead to 2024, ibis Kolkata has set ambitious growth projections and expansion plans. These include: Enhanced Guest Experience: The hotel remains committed to delivering exceptional guest experiences through personalized services, upgraded amenities, and innovative offerings. Market Expansion: ibis Kolkata aims to explore new market segments and deploy targeted marketing strategies to attract a diverse range of guests, including business travelers, tourists, and event attendees. Operational Excellence: Continuous efforts will be made to optimize operational processes and implement cost-effective measures to enhance efficiency and maximize profitability. Sustainable Practices: ibis Kolkata plans to integrate sustainable practices across all aspects of its operations, including energy conservation, waste management, and community engagement. Digital Innovation: Embracing digital technologies and platforms will be a priority for the hotel, aimed at streamlining operations, enriching guest interactions, and staying ahead of evolving consumer preferences. Overall, ibis Kolkata is well-positioned for continued growth and success in 2024, with a strong focus on delivering outstanding experiences, expanding market reach, and embracing innovation and sustainability. Our B2B efforts further strengthen this position, as we actively pursue strategic partnerships and collaborations to enhance our market presence and drive mutual growth and success, Mishra informed. Key focus areas for 2024 Speaking about the focus areas of ibis Kolkata for 2024 as well as its marketing/ media mix strategy, Mishra shared, In 2024, ibis Kolkata will prioritize the following focus areas: Guest Experience Enhancement: The hotel will focus on continuously improving guest experiences through personalized services, upgraded facilities, and innovative offerings to ensure guest satisfaction and loyalty. Market Penetration: ibis Kolkata is expanding its market reach through targeted campaigns to attract business travelers, tourists, and event attendees. We are also engaging influencers, pursuing collaborations, hosting Ibis music events, and offering diverse F&B options to enrich guest experiences. Sustainability Initiative: The hotel is committed to implementing sustainable practices across its operations to reduce environmental impact and enhance corporate social responsibility, aligning with the growing demand for eco-friendly accommodation options. In terms of its marketing and media mix strategy, ibis Kolkata is increasingly investing in digital channels to reach and engage with its target audience. This includes online advertising, social media marketing, email campaigns, brand offers, F&B-centric campaigns, and promotions. While traditional advertising methods such as print and television may still have a presence in the marketing mix, the majority of resources are allocated to digital platforms due to their cost-effectiveness, wide reach, and ability to track and analyze performance metrics effectively. Mishra further added, ibis Kolkatas advertising expenditure primarily occurs at the brand level, with a significant focus on digital advertising through targeted campaigns across online channels. This reflects the hotel's recognition of the growing importance of digital marketing in effectively reaching and engaging modern consumers. Leveraging digital media, technology, influencer & social media marketing Mishra shared that Ibis Kolkata is harnessing digital media, technology, and influencer/ social media marketing in the following manner: Online Booking System: The hotel enables guests to make seamless reservations through dedicated booking platforms, enhancing convenience and accessibility for customers. Social media engagement: ibis Kolkata actively engages with its audience through the brand page of ibis India. Influencer Marketing: To expand its reach and enhance brand visibility, ibis Kolkata collaborates with influencers and bloggers who resonate with its target audience. These partnerships help the hotel reach new audiences and build credibility through authentic endorsements and reviews. Additionally, ibis Kolkata actively engages in PR efforts to further amplify its brand presence and establish strong media relationships. Future roadmap Elaborating on the comprehensive roadmap for ibis Kolkata for the next three years, aimed at achieving several key objectives, Mishra mentioned the following: Enhanced Guest Experiences: The hotel plans to elevate guest experiences by offering personalized services and introducing innovative offerings that cater to the evolving needs and preferences of its guests.This includes initiatives to improve customer service, upgrade facilities, and enhance overall satisfaction. Market Expansion and Penetration: ibis Kolkata is dedicated to expanding its presence in the Kolkata market and its feeder markets by implementing targeted marketing strategies and forming strategic partnerships. By identifying and targeting new market segments and leveraging partnerships with key stakeholders, the hotel aims to attract a diverse range of guests and drive occupancy rates. Sustainability Initiatives: As part of its commitment to corporate social responsibility, ibis Kolkata will continue to focus in line with the brand, implementing sustainable practices across its operations. This includes initiatives to reduce environmental impact, conserve resources, and promote community engagement, aligning with the growing demand for eco-friendly and socially responsible hospitality services. Digital Innovation: ibis Kolkata plans to embrace digital innovation to streamline operations and enhance guest interactions. This includes the adoption of technology-driven solutions for processes such as booking, and guest communication, as well as the integration of digital platforms for marketing, customer engagement, and feedback management. Additionally, ibis Kolkata places a strong emphasis on loyalty programs to enhance guest retention and foster long-term relationships with its patrons. Mishra concluded by saying, Looking ahead, the journey for ibis Kolkata is characterized by a commitment to sustained growth, innovation, and excellence in hospitality. By focusing on enhancing guest experiences, expanding market reach, implementing sustainable practices, and embracing digital innovation, the hotel aims to position itself as a leader in the hospitality industry and deliver exceptional value to its guests and stakeholders. Overall, ibis Kolkata is well-positioned for continued growth and success in 2024, with a strong focus on delivering outstanding experiences, expanding market reach, and embracing innovation and sustainability. Our B2B efforts further strengthen this position, as we actively pursue strategic partnerships and collaborations to enhance our market presence and drive mutual growth and success. NDTV's Election Carnival, a vibrant celebration of democratic enthusiasm and civic engagement, is on an extraordinary journey across India, captivating hearts and minds as it travels. Originally planned to cover 5000 kilometers, the Carnival's overwhelming reception has led to an extended route to over 9,000 kilometers, now expanding further to 11,000 Kilometers and reaching more than 50 cities non-stop since 30 days. In line with NDTVs commitment to fostering informed citizenship, the Carnival has become a catalyst for change, igniting passions and inspiring action in every city it visits. It aims to promote lively discussions with political faces from that area, interactive sessions, and folk artist performances, inspiring local communities and motivating them to take an active role in the democratic process. The Carnival kicked off its journey from the heart of Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi celebrating the diverse regional cultures of India. Traveling through various states including Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Telangana, the Carnival has provided invaluable insights into the political landscapes and electoral dynamics of each region. In Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, the Carnival delved into the intense political competition between SP-BSP and BJP, highlighting the journey of BJP's candidate, Arun Govil. Moving on to Mathura, the Carnival engaged with Hema Malini's campaign, addressing local concerns such as environmental pollution. In Bharatpur, the Carnival witnessed a fierce electoral contest between BJPs Ramswarup Koli and Congress Sanjana Jatav , focusing on critical issues like education and healthcare. Traversing to Madhya Pradesh, NDTV's Editor in Chief, Sanjay Pugalia, had an exclusive conversation with Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav during the Carnivals stop in Bhopal, where Dr. Yadav emphasized the need to diversify sectors beyond farming to boost farmers' income. Followed by discussions in Ujjain shedding light on the electoral atmosphere and pressing local issues along with insights into employment, water, and infrastructure concerns in Khandwa. In Gujarat, Anand became a focal point for dissecting the dynamics between BJP and Congress, while in Maharashtra, the Carnival amplified the electoral fervor in Baramati, addressing issues like water scarcity and unemployment. The Carnival also journeyed through states like Jharkhand, exploring industrial concerns in Jamshedpur and electoral trust in Surguja. Each stop of the Carnival enriched the national political discourse by providing unique insights into local issues, electoral dynamics, and voter sentiments, reaffirming NDTV's commitment to facilitating meaningful dialogue and strengthening the democratic fabric of India. NDTVs Election Carnival is not just a journey; its a movement toward a more informed, involved, and participative democracy - Indias awakening movement. As it continues its odyssey across India, the Carnival reaffirms its commitment to being the voice of the people, bringing them closer to their leaders and the essence of democracy itself. Rapper Cam'ron ripped CNN during a cringeworthy and haywire appearance on Abby Phillip's NewsNight. The "Hey Ma" artist, whose real name is Cameron Giles, appeared visibly annoyed while on-air Monday night discussing the domestic violence allegations against Sean "Diddy" Combs, days after the network released chilling surveillance video of him attacking then-girlfriend Cassie at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016. "Everything in the video was egregious, I'm against it," Giles, 48, began. "I don't support all the charges that's alleged against him. I don't support any of that trafficking minors. Domestic violence I'm totally against it. So when I seen the video, yeah, I was kind of upset with it." From there, the interview continued on a downward spiral, as Phillip asked Cam'ron if he "recognized" Combs' "anger" from his "experiences." "What you mean do I recognize him? I recognize him. What you mean my experiences? I seen him and I thought it was disgusting," Cam'ron aggressively replied. The interview went off the rails as the rapper chugged his brand's sex stimulant drink mid-conversation. "I'm gonna get some cheeks after this Horse Power joint," he said, referring to sex, while knocking back the beverage. Phillip, appearing unamused, posed a final question, asking Cam'ron if people in the industry were "protecting" Combs in permitting his violent behavior. "Who the talent agent for this joint?" the rapper questioned. "You think I be sitting around watching what Diddy do and all this? I didn't know this was a Diddy joint that ya'll invited me to. Who booked me for this joint?" Cam'ron first burst onto the rap scene in the 90s. His single "Oh Boy" went on to become platinum-certified and earned him a Grammy nomination in 2002. Combs apologized Sunday for the assault captured on camera. "I was f---ed up. I hit rock bottom. But I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable," he said. It's "so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that," he added. While Los Angeles District Attorney George Gacon called the video calling "extremely disturbing," the attack occurred too long ago for any criminal charges to be filed. Gacon's office added that no one had come forward to file a complaint regarding the particular incident. In an exclusive interview to iTV Network, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Aishwarya Pandit Sharma of The Sunday Guardian, NewsX Editor-In-Chief Rishabh Gulati, and India News Editor-In-Chief Rana Yashwant on a wide array of subjects. Addressing Secularism in India, The Prime Minister stressed that a false narrative was peddled for over 75 years through a very well-crafted conspiracy. He said, Sardar Patel was targeted by this narrative, today it may be my turn, tomorrow someone else... In this regard, he slammed the Congress and emphasised that they hide behind their politics of appeasement and instead accuse him of being communal. He said, I am talking about those communal parties that wear the nikab of secularism and indulge in hardcore communalism They are hardcore sectarians, they are extremely casteist, and they are hardcore dynasts. When asked about Babri litigant Iqbal Ansari reaffirming faith in the governments policies and welfare schemes, Prime Minister Modi shared, Iqbal Ansari, who fought the Babri Masjid case his entire life, respected the Supreme Court's verdict and attended the 'Shilanyas' and the 'Pran Prathistha' ceremony as well. The Prime Minister highlighted that in contrast, the Congress party rejected the invitation to the consecration ceremony. He stated, Ram Mandir should have been built right after Independence. In all these years, it wasn't built because they (Congress) felt it would affect their vote bank. Attempts were made in the Courts till the very end to stop it. The Prime Minister also sharpened his attack at the Congress over their vow to conduct a wealth survey and augment the reservation cap. He said, You can't examine this in isolation. You must look at their overall thought process. Referring to the Congress partys manifesto, he commented, They have said that even the allotment of government contracts will have reservations. So today, when a bridge is to be built somewhere, what are the criteria for awarding the contract? The company bidding is evaluated based on how resourceful they are, their experience, their capability, their ability to deliver on time. Now they say that they want to give reservations to minorities in this process as well. He also questioned the idea of providing reservation on the basis of religion and asked, Has any developing country in the world indulged in such madness? Prime Minister Modi spotlighted the endeavour of his government to create jobs. He referred to the SKOCH report and pointed out that more than 20 government schemes have been analysed, and statistics regarding the creation of person-year-hours have been published. He said, They have revealed how many hours it takes to build 4 Crore houses and how many people it employs. They have stated that 50 Crore people have accrued benefits. Further commenting on this, Prime Minister Modi emphasised upon the success stories of the Mudra and SVANidhi schemes. He said, We have disbursed loans worth Rs 23 Lakh Crore and 80% of those who have received these loans are first-timers. Earlier, a street hawker would sit on the footpath and now his goal is to buy a lorry. One who owned a lorry earlier now wishes to provide home delivery services. Their aspirations are rising. He also referred to the exponential expansion of Start-ups, and the doubling of road and rail construction as well as electrification. He highlighted, All this is being created by people who have received jobs. The youth must be encouraged to do something and be productive. Prime Minister Modi reiterated his mantra of delivering welfare schemes on the principle of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas'. He highlighted his goal of 100% saturation and said, Whether it is providing gas connections, building toilets, ensuring tap water connections, I believe in 100% delivery. He further explained that if 100% delivery is the goal, no scope for discrimination arises. He stressed, Some people will receive the benefits in January, some in April and some in November, but the scheme will apply to all and 100%. I believe that true secularism is when 100% delivery is done. Social justice is when 100% delivery is done. The Prime Minister also spoke about the feat of lifting 25 Crore people out of poverty. He said, Once they escape poverty, they should be empowered to stand strong. Prime Minister Modi presented an analogy to elucidate, For example, one returns home from the hospital. The treatment has been done but precaution is necessary. A doctor advises you to take rest for a particular duration after returning home, tells you what to eat and what to refrain from consuming, and what to take care of. Why? The illness has already been addressed, but if anything is jeopardized then the condition of the person would return to what it was. He explained, In my understanding, in the next five years, those who have escaped poverty should be able to firmly stand on their feet. Any unfortunate incident in their family, should not push them to poverty again. And only then will the country eradicate poverty. When asked about the Opposition targeting him during their campaigns, Prime Minister Modi said the Opposition was abusing him to gain publicity. He said that to understand their approach one must examine the administration between 2004 and 2014. He stated, The Opposition has not been able to play a strong role. Despite deep discussions, they haven't been able to bring serious issues to public attention. Further commenting on this, he observed, Even in this election, I have seen that they make fresh attempts every day to acquire media space, be it by making videos, nonsensical statements, or behaving in a way that people don't normally behave Perhaps they see Modi as a ladder to climb up in their political career. While addressing the response of people to his election rallies, The Prime Minister said, Political parties are not fighting the elections. The public has taken ownership of this election. And the results will be as desired by the public. Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Bern, 21.05.2024 - On Wednesday, 22 May, Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis will travel to Budapest to meet with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto and Minister for European Union Affairs Janos Boka. He will also pay a courtesy visit to President Tamas Sulyok. Hungary will hold the presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of 2024. Following his visit to Hungary, Mr Cassis will travel to Montenegro on 23 May at the invitation of Foreign Minister Filip Ivanovic, before meeting Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Sinisa Mali in Belgrade on Friday, 24 May.The meetings will focus on Switzerland's bilateral relations with the three countries, European policy and the European security situation. In light of Hungary's forthcoming presidency of the Council of the EU, Mr Cassis will hold bilateral talks with Mr Szijjarto and Mr Boka in the Hungarian capital. The discussions with Mr Boka will primarily address the European policy priorities of both countries in the coming months. For Switzerland, it is crucial to stabilise and further develop its close relations with the EU for the benefit of all, and the support of EU member states is important in the context of ongoing negotiations between Switzerland and the EU. Mr Cassis and Mr Szijjarto will also discuss the wide-ranging relations between Switzerland and Hungary, including cooperation under Switzerland's second contribution to selected EU member states. Within this framework, Switzerland is providing Hungary with CHF 87.6 million in funding to support projects that promote economic growth and social progress. Significant historical and economic links with Hungary Another topic on the agenda will be the opportunities and challenges of bilateral economic relations. Switzerland is one of the largest investors in Hungary, with around 900 Swiss companies currently based there, creating over 29,000 jobs. In addition to assuming the presidency of the Council of the EU, Hungary will also host the next summit of the European Political Community in November, a platform actively supported by Switzerland to promote political dialogue and cooperation on the European continent. Mr Cassis will also be received by President Tamas Sulyok in Budapest for a courtesy visit, underscoring the close historical ties between Switzerland and Hungary, particularly the integration of 12,000 Hungarian refugees into Swiss society after the 1956 uprising. First visit by a federal councillor to Montenegro Mr Cassis will then travel to the capital of Montenegro, Podgorica, where he will hold a bilateral meeting with Foreign Minister Filip Ivanovic, followed by courtesy visits to Prime Minister Milojko Spajic and President Jakov Milatovic. Switzerland and Montenegro maintain good bilateral relations governed by numerous agreements, particularly in the economic, migration and air transport sectors. Mr Cassis' visit will serve to establish contacts with the new government and discuss the current situation in the Western Balkans. As Montenegro's government strives for rapid EU accession, Switzerland supports the EU perspective of the Western Balkan states through numerous regional cooperation projects. Montenegro is also in the same voting group as Switzerland at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Third stop: Belgrade At the end of his trip, Mr Cassis will travel to the Serbian capital Belgrade. There, the head of the FDFA will meet Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Sinisa Mali to discuss bilateral relations between Switzerland and Serbia, the EU-led process to normalise relations between Serbia and Kosovo and the Western Balkan states' relationship with the rest of Europe and the European Union. Switzerland and Serbia enjoy dynamic and wide-ranging bilateral relations, underpinned by robust person-to-person and cultural connections. The two countries have concluded a number of agreements, especially in the economic, migration and social security spheres, and work together effectively in multilateral bodies as well as in the voting groups of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the EBRD. Switzerland also runs an extensive cooperation programme with Serbia, aimed at supporting the country's efforts to integrate with the rest of Europe. The programme focuses on fostering economic development, tackling climate change and strengthening the rule of law. Under the current cooperation strategy, an annual budget of approximately CHF 26 million is allocated to these initiatives. Mr Cassis will also use his trip to Hungary, Montenegro and Serbia as an opportunity to discuss the security situation in Europe and the upcoming Summit on Peace in Ukraineat the Burgenstock resort. At this first summit of heads of state and government in June, Switzerland will seek to facilitate a common understanding of potential avenues towards a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, thereby laying the groundwork for initiating a peace process. Address for enquiries FDFA Communication Federal Palace West Wing CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland Tel. Press service: +41 58 460 55 55 E-mail: kommunikation@eda.admin.ch Twitter: @SwissMFA Publisher Federal Department of Foreign Affairs https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html Popular alternative rockers Violent Femmes, who rose to fame during the 1980s and sustained success well into the next decade and beyond, will perform two of their groundbreaking albums on tour in 2024, with one stop in Alabama. The band from Milwaukee, Wisc., will perform a special limited run of shows featuring their self-titled debut, which released 41 years ago, as well as their 1984 follow-up Hallowed Ground, which is celebrating 40 years since its release. The exclusive run kicks off Thursday, Sept. 26, at the House of Blues in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and will finish Tuesday, Oct. 8, at Avondale Brewing Company in Birmingham. Tickets go on sale Friday, May 24, at 10 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster. The Femmes will begin each show by playing their second album, Hallowed Ground, which included songs like Country Death Song, Never Tell, Jesus Walking on the Water and Its Gonna Rain. Following a brief intermission, the band will retake the stage to play their debut record, Violent Femmes, which featured songs like Blister in the Sun, Kiss Off, Gone Daddy Gone and Add It Up. The first album has sold three million copies worldwide. Later albums include The Blind Leading the Naked (1986), 3 (1989), Why Do Birds Sing? (1991), New Times, (1994), Rock!!! (1995), Freak Magnet (2000), We Can Do Anything (2016) and their most recent record, 2019s Hotel Last Resort. Violent Femmes music has permeated pop culture, appearing on the popular 90s coming-of-age television series My So-Called Life as well as the films Reality Bites, Grosse Pointe Blank and The Crow. The band, sometimes described as folk punk, formed in 1981. Members include Gordon Gano, Brian Ritchie, Blaise Garza and John Sparrow. The official tour dates are as follows (Dates subject to change): Sept. 26: House of Blues - Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Sept. 27: Pompano Beach Amphitheater - Pompano Beach, Fla. Sept. 28: Jannus Live - St. Petersburg, Fla. Sept. 29: St. Augustine Amphitheatre - St. Augustine, Fla. Oct. 1: The Charleston Music Hall - Charleston, S.C. Oct. 2: The Ritz - Raleigh, N.C. Oct. 4: Old Foresters Paristown Hall - Louisville, Ky. Oct. 5: Rabbit Rabbit - Asheville, N.C. Oct. 8: Avondale Brewing Company - Birmingham, Ala. Other notable rock shows on the slate at Avondale Brewing Company in 2024: Primus (Aug. 18), Sister Hazel (Sept. 13), Marcus King (Sept. 24), Cake (Sept. 29), Judah & The Lion (Oct. 24). Graceland will be sold at a foreclosure sale Thursday, but Elvis Presleys granddaughter is fighting the sale with a lawsuit, claiming fraudulent. According to WREG, a temporary restraining order was granted Monday, per the attorney for heir Danielle Riley Keough. An injunction hearing is set for Wednesday. A notice published this month in the Commercial Appeal states Graceland and surrounding acreage on Elvis Presley Boulevard is set to be auctioned off for cash to the highest bidder on the Shelby County Courthouse. Per Fox 13, a Missouri company named Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC presented court documents claiming that Lisa Marie Presley, the former owner of Graceland prior to her death in 2023, borrowed $3.8 million and gave a deed of trust using Graceland as collateral. The company, per the report, claims Lisa Marie Presley never paid back that money before her death. In a 60-page lawsuit, Keough - Lisa Marie Presleys daughter - claims her mother never borrowed any money from the company. These documents are fraudulent, the lawsuit states, claiming Lisa Marie Presleys signatures on the deed are forgeries, and that Naussany Investments is not a real entity. The notary denied she notarized Lisa Marie Presleys signature or ever met her, per the suit. Meanwhile, it appears to be business as usual at Graceland. The official web site states Graceland is open daily for tours and tour tickets are available to be purchased. On July 4-6, Graceland Manion will be lit in red, white, and blue as it celebrates the nations independence during its annual All-American Weekend. The weekend includes a Memphis Music Salute; an Elvis tribute concert featuring Cote Deonath; a gospel brunch with the Tennessee Mass Choir; plus, the All-American Party on July 5th celebrating the 70th Anniversary of Elvis groundbreaking hit Thats All Right with Elvis-themed fireworks! Tickets and hotel packages are available at HERE. Elvis Week 2024 marks the 47th anniversary of Elvis passing, with nine days of events, Aug. 9-17, celebrating Elvis life and legacy. Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on The Opening Kickoff on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily. Styx has a new bass player. The bands official Facebook page announced Terry Gowan has joined as its new bass player, after longtime member Ricky Phillips departed earlier this year. Terry is the brother of Styxs longtime vocalist and keyboardist Lawrence Gowan. The seven band members are committed to thrilling audiences around the world as they begin their second decade with an average of more than 100 shows per year, the announcement said. The band currently consists of James JY Young, Tommy Shaw, Chuck Panozzo, Lawrence Gowan, Todd Sucherman, Will Evankovich and now Terry Gowan. It is within an honor and somewhere beyond a dream come true to be joining JY, Tommy, Chuck, Will, and my brother Lawrence and to be reacquainted with decade long Gowan bandmate Todd in taking on the mantle as the new bassist of the legendary STYX, Terry Gowan said in an official statement, shared on the Styx Facebook page. Heres to many years ahead on the Styx adventure! Terrys brother Lawrence released a statement via the bands official website. Im very pleased and proud to have my brother, Terry, join Styx, Lawrence Gowan said. Terry played on four of my six solo Gowan albums. Hes on records that include some of the worlds most renowned musicians: Tony Levin, Jerry Marotta, Jon Anderson and Alex Lifeson, as well as touring with Gowan from 1985 to 1990 and again 2010 to this year of 2024. Its really great to have him aboard! Styx guitarist and Alabama native Tommy Shaw said in the bands release, Were all looking forward to the Canadian shows that are coming up soon and introducing Terry Gowan on bass guitar and vocals as the newest Styx member!!! Are you ready to rock? We are too! See you soon! Drummer Todd Sucherman added, Ive had the pleasure of being a rhythm section partner with Terry Gowan for several years in Gowans band, and I look forward to welcoming this talented multi-instrumentalist into the fold. The groups longtime bass player of 20 years, Ricky Phillips, in March announced his departure, which he reminded fans is not a retirement. Dear Friends, after touring for 50 years with The Babys, Bad English, opening for Tina Turner (on the Private Dancer tour with John Parr), Belinda Carlisles first solo tour, rehearsing in Tahoe and recording at Little Mountain in Canada with Jimmy Page and David Coverdale and writing, touring, and co-producing 10/10 with Ronnie Montrose, to name a chosen few ... Im taking a breather, Phillips wrote. My last 20+ years of touring and recording with my friends in Styx has come to an end. I am taking a break from the road. Im not retiring, just taking a break. Phillips wrote he has accepted an offer to co-produce a project in a studio close to home. He said that hes known since he was a child that live performance is in my blood so he will share any plans on future gigs. Of course, I will always cherish the adventurous days recording and touring with Styx, he wrote. And, I will truly miss the wonderfully-crazy and faithful Styx fans ... whose smiling faces I often saw more than my own family. He signed off, adding Peace be with you all ... and Happy Trails, Ricky. The Styx official Facebook page (writing as The Styx Family) also posted, wishing Phillips well. It was a joy to spend two decades with Ricky Phillips in Styx and we wish him all the best in his next adventure, the band wrote. Hell always be a part of the Styx family and well miss his presence on our stage and in our touring lives. Born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, the 71-year-old Phillips joined Styx in 2003, replacing Glen Burtnik and splitting duties with original bassist Chuck Panozzo. Hes also performed with Ted Nugent, The Babys, Bad English, and Nasty Habit. Styx bassist Ricky Phillips performs during the Soundtrack of Summer Tour to a packed Tuscaloosa Amphitheater on Thursday, May 29, 2014. (Ben Flanagan/al.com)Ben Flanagan Formed in Chicago in 1972, Styx is a widely beloved rock band knwn for hits like Come Sail Away, Renegade, Lady, Blue Collar Man (Long Nights), Babe and more. The band is currently on a North American tour that has two Alabama stops: Aug. 16 at The Wharf Amphitheater in Orange Beach and Aug. 17 at Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville. The investigation into Matthew Perrys October 2023 death is now centered on where he got the ketamine, according to TMZ. The Los Angeles Police Department, per the report, said it is working with the Drug Enforcement Administration to review the case involving the Friends star, who was 54 when authorities say he died from the acute effects of ketamine. Per TMZ, investigators are looking for answers as to who provided the drug, and under what circumstances. The Friends actor was found at an L.A.-area home of an apparent drowning. First responders reacted to a cardiac arrest call, and Perry was found in a jacuzzi. No drugs were found at the scene. The actor had a history of drug and alcohol abuse, which he opened up about in a memoir he published last year. The star revealed he almost died in 2018 after a gastrointestinal perforation, spending months in the hospital. The doctors told my family that I had a 2 percent chance to live, Perry said at the time. A Los Angeles County Medical Examiners Office report noted in December that the actor had reportedly been clean for 19 months before his death. A coroner said Perry had, per NBC News, utilized ketamine infusion therapy, which has grown increasingly popular to treat mental health issues, and had last done so 1 weeks before his death. Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on The Opening Kickoff on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily. Two men were taken into custody outside an Alabama prison after authorities found 13 contraband packages inside a perimeter fence. The Alabama Department of Corrections on Tuesday announced the arrests of Matthew Cameron Jones, 38, of Childersburg, and Richard Facison, 19, of Mobile. Prison tracking dogs located the two suspects on state property near Holman Correctional Facility on Monday. Charging documents state the contraband packages contained a free world knife, pepper spray and 39 cell phones. Both men are charged with promoting prison contraband, prohibited activities (cell phone), and criminal trespassing. Jones was also charged with possession of marijuana for personal use. Both were taken to the Escambia County Jail. Two men injured in Montgomery shootings more than a week ago have now died. The victims were among at least a dozen people wounded in Montgomery gunfire between Friday, May 10, and Monday, May 13. Police on Tuesday identified the slain men as Jeffrey Williams, 34, and Demtrius Porter, 39. Maj. Saba Coleman said officers and medics responded at 1:14 a.m. Sunday, May 12, to the 1100 block of Oak Street on a report of a person shot. Williams was taken to the hospital where he died on Saturday, May 18. Less than two hours later, first responders were dispatched at 2:54 a.m. to the 500 block of East Patton Avenue on another report of a shooting. Porter was found wounded and taken to the hospital, where was pronounced dead on Monday, May 20. Also that Sunday, 64-year-old Gloria Crews was shot to death while hosting a Mothers Day gathering at her south Montgomery home. There is a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in that case. Coleman confirmed there were multiple separate shootings that weekend including two on Friday and three on Saturday, one of which was self-inflicted. On the Sunday that Crews, Porter, and Williams were killed, police also responded to a hospital after learning that six people had been shot a man, a juvenile boy, and four women. One of the women sustained life-threatening injuries. Investigators determined that shooting happened in the 2400 block of Eastern Boulevard. Another shooting happened on Monday, May13. No arrests have been announced in any of the slayings. Anyone with information is asked to call Montgomery police at 334-625-2831, the Secret Witness tip line at 334-625-4000 or Central Alabama Crime Stoppers at 334-215-STOP. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, fraud and forgery, related to his attempts to overturn Arizona's 2020 election results. The arraignment was held in a Phoenix courtroom, but Giuliani attended virtually. This follows Arizona officials working for weeks to serve the former mayor with the indictment notice - eventually serving the document as Giuliani walked to his car, in Florida, following an 80th birthday celebration. Prior to this, Giuliani posted a picture of himself surrounded by several women, with the caption "if Arizona officials can't find me by tomorrow morning 1. they must dismiss the indictment. 2. they must concede they can't count votes." pic.twitter.com/jsyaDZcU6z AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes (@AZAGMayes) May 18, 2024 The new indictments bring the total number of Trump associates facing prosecution for election interference to 50 individuals, across four states. Giuliani is facing an additional 13 charges in Georgia, including multiple counts of perjury and making false statements. He was also ordered to pay several million dollars to Georgia election officials whom he defamed in the aftermath of Biden's 2020 victory. Giuliani's litany of legal troubles have left him strapped for cash - the former mayor recently launched a coffee brand as he struggles to pay the legal judgement, back taxes and attorney's fees. In New York, Trump is currently on trial for alleged election interference in the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors allege that Trump illegally reimbursed Michael Cohen for hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Cohen testified that Trump directed him to make the payments due to concerns that female voters would "hate" him if they heard the allegations. Trump will not be indicted in Arizona but is listed as a co-conspirator in court documents. In addition to Giuliani, state senator Anthony Kern, former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party Greg Safsten, former chairman of the Cochise County Republican Committee Robert Montgomery and Turning Point USA executive Tyler Bowyer were among those charged. There are a further four individuals - including Mark Meadows and state senator Jake Hoffman - expected to be indicted in the nextr month. Tensions were high on Tuesday over the continued fallout of a controversial report about the Mobile Police Departments handling of use of force incidences, four of which resulted in the death of young Black men during encounters with Mobile police officers last year. According to some council members, the deaths of the Black men illustrated in the report have received little attention while the plight of former Police Chief Paul Prine remains a top concern among activists and on social media. The comments come one week before the council is set to hire a third-party investigator to lead a 45-day probe into a list of allegations made by Prine over improper contracting and concerns over the administration of policing. Are we not forgetting the lives of the African Americans who were lost? said Councilman Cory Penn, following comments chastising the council over its handling of Prine from longtime activist and frequent council meeting attendee Sabrina Mass. Yes, a chief might have lost a job, but a parent lost a child, Penn continued, referencing the killing of a 16-year-old boy in November following an early morning police raid that prompted Mayor Sandy Stimpsons office to hire former U.S. Attorney Kenyen Brown to oversee an investigation into the policies and procedures during use of force incidences in Mobile. Prine, hired as the citys police chief in 2021, has blasted the Brown investigation for several months claiming it was one-sided and a very poor investigation. The report, released in April, illustrated a host of damaging claims of illegal behavior, aggressive and demeaning tactics by Mobile police in handling arrests with Black residents. Six cases were reviewed, four of which resulted in fatal encounters with an officer. Prine, Penn squabble Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine is interviewed by the media during the Mobile City Council meeting on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, at Government Plaza in downtown Mobile, Ala.John Sharp Prine, on Tuesday, told AL.com that Penns remarks during the council meeting were indicative of his intellect and that he was still angry about losing his ordinance on search warrants. He was not at Government Plaza for Tuesdays meeting. That reference from Prine was to a March 19 council vote against an ordinance Penn sponsored that would have essentially codified an existing police policy restricting pre-dawn raids and no-knock warrants to only being authorized by the police chief or executive of public safety. The council voted down the ordinance, though they backed a resolution requesting the police department inform them whenever there was a change in policies. His anger should be director towards Chief of Staff (James) Barber who tried to broker a deal with him on the backs of the police department, Prine said. The former chief also took issue to a statement by Brown, listed toward the end of the report, that alleges he attempted to intimidate council members before the March 19 vote. That statement alone shows collusion with the city council and administration about ousting me as the Chief as Brown had no firsthand knowledge of the matter or circumstances, Prine said. The council voted 4-3 on Penns ordinance, but it takes a five-vote supermajority to pass an ordinance in Mobile. Penn said there was no collusion between the council and Stimpson over that incident. He also claimed that Mobile police, under Prines leadership, decided to change their policies and procedures because of his ordinance. If my ordinance was bad, why use it for your policies and procedures? Penn said. If my intelligence is off, why use the ordinance for policies and procedures? I think people can disagree, but I think you can respectfully disagree. When they cant respectfully disagree, I think they show their character. Prine began criticizing Stimpsons administration over allegations about improper handling of intelligence-based policing and questionable contracting before the Brown reported was released. It has led to multiple investigations -- Stimpsons staff conducted an internal review, and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshalls office is also overseeing an investigation. Penn said he was uncertain as to why Prine nor anyone else has not taken their claims to the Mobile County District Attorneys Office for further review. We are going to do a third-party investigation and if anything comes up well move forward, Penn said. But if any criminal activity took place, you would think youd be turning that information in. Thats what we ask the public to do. Fallout, investigation Criticism has continued to be directed at Stimpson and council members since Prines April 30 firing, mostly on social media. Some of it has spilled out into council meetings and has included criticism from activists and others challenging the council over Prines ouster. But some council members, like Penn, say their critics are forgetting the problems that occurred last year that led to the current situation. The Brown report proved damning to the agency and prompted Prine to go on an offensive against the city and Stimpson. Stimpson has since apologized to Mobile police for what he said were some holes in Browns probe, including disputed facts the led to a 16-year-old girl being body slammed outside of ACCEL Academy on Oct. 17, 2023. Prine, after he was placed on administrative leave in early April, claimed irregularities and potential illegal activity within the administration over a host of issues including contracting and the handling of a cyber intelligence unit. The council, since firing Prine with a unanimous vote, vowed to investigate some of his claims and voted 6-1 to do so. The council is set to hire a law firm to oversee a 45-day investigation during their meeting next Tuesday. The contract is expected to be capped at $100,000. There is a lot going on, thats why we are doing the third-party investigation, Penn said. Mobile City Councilman Ben Reynolds speaks to council attorney Michael Linder during the committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, at Government Plaza in Mobile, Ala.John Sharp An Alabama law firm will be hired to investigate Prines allegations. Council members leading the search said on Tuesday there should be a firm identified and a contract proposed during next Tuesdays council meeting. My goal is that we hire them, proceed through an investigation, and that they get it (completed) on time and within budget, said Councilman Ben Reynolds, who along with Councilman Josh Woods, is teaming up with council attorney Michael Linder to handle the search. Two firms have been identified to oversee the investigation, but council members are declining to name them. One is in the Birmingham area, while the other is in Huntsville. The council is capping the investigation to 45 days, and to keep it within a $100,000 budget. The investigation comes after the revelation that the Brown probe cost taxpayers $297,791. We are going to have a solid, third-party investigation, said Councilman William Carroll, who said he is more concerned about having a quality investigation done over worries about its costs. More concerns Kenyen Brown, a former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama and the lead investigator into a probe of Mobile's policies and procedures during use of force incidences, talks about policing in Mobile during a news conference on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, at Government Plaza in Mobile, Ala.John Sharp Penn wasnt the only council member raising concerns over the fallout on social media and elsewhere over the handling of the situation. Other council members also expressed dismay that public statements focused more on Prine and his job status with the city rather than the details provided in Browns report over the death of several Black men during encounters with police. They said the Brown report was not designed as a way to fire the police chief but was rather a way to investigate the agencys policies and procedures. The shooting of the 16-year-old was one of the examples cited by Brown and criticized within the report. During a predawn raid on Nov. 13, the MPDs SWAT team along with its Narcotics Unit entered a house on Sheringham Drive in search of an 18-year-old man after receiving complaints about drug activity. While inside, they shot and killed his 16-year-old brother who had pointed a red laser at one of the officers. Police found a gun on the teenager after they shot and killed him. Brown, in his report, said the agency did not conduct a genuine evaluation of risk on the public on whether to utilize its SWAT team during the police raid. Brown said in this incident, the SWAT team represented the most aggressive tool within the agencys toolbox and that they were deployed to investigate a concern over a marijuana possession complaint. Council President C.J. Small said there were other instances cited by Brown in which mothers lost their children. The most high-profile of incidences occurred on July 2, 2023, after 36-year-old Jawan Dallas died during an encounter with two Mobile police officers that led to him being struck by a Taser, handcuffed, and treated in an unacceptable way, by police, according to Brown. Dallas, according to Brown, was in distress while he was being arrested and was not given appropriate medical care. Small and Carroll also said that activists, who originally were pleased with hiring of Brown and praised his credentials to handle the investigation into the agency, have now directed their criticism at the substance of his report and the fallout from the Prine firing. Just like Jesus, Small said. They are turning back around and saying, Crucify him. Thats something you dont see every day. The serenity of a sunny day on the beach was disrupted for beachgoers Monday as an airplane landed right there on the white sand of a beach in the Florida Panhandle. The Walton County (Fla.) Sheriffs Office said a private Cessna aircraft landed on Miramar Beach, about nine miles east of Destin, Monday afternoon. The aircraft reported engine failure through Eglin Air Force Base Approach Control, who assisted the aircraft in making the emergency landing along with the executive tower at Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport. The sheriffs office said there were no injuries to anyone on the plane or the beach. U.S. Rep. Dale Strong today became the latest Alabama elected official to attend the ongoing trial of former president Donald Trump in New York City. Strong, who represents Alabamas fifth Congressional district, was seen standing behind Trump as he addressed the media Tuesday at the courtroom in Manhattan Criminal Court. Its election interference at a level never seen before, Strong told reporters. Were keeping a candidate thats leading the Republican Party from campaigning throughout this country. The American people see right through it, Strong added. @RepDaleStrong: I wanted to come see it myselfso the common people of this country can understand whats going on: its ELECTION INTERFERENCE at a level never seen before. pic.twitter.com/ynMArxsSzv Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) May 21, 2024 Supporters joining Strong included Rep. Daniel Mauser, R-Pa., former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, former Acting United States Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and U.S. Sen Eric Schmitt, R-Mo. Strong also shared a screenshot of himself at the trial on his Facebook page. Trumps defense rested its case at his hush money trial on Tuesday. Jury deliberations are expected to begin next week. Trump has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges of falsifying business records in relation to a payment made to former porn star Stormy Daniels. Sen. Tommy Tuberville and Attorney General Steve Marshall earlier put in appearances at the courthouse. Tuberville said of his appearance, Hopefully, well have more and more senators and congressmen go up every day to represent him and be able to go out and overcome this gag order. Alabama officials are expanding a program that provides free autopsies in cases where women die during pregnancy or within a year of giving birth to gather information that could reduce the states high maternal mortality rate. Only about half of the pregnant women and new moms who die in Alabama get autopsies, according to a press release from the Alabama Department of Public Health. A program launched in December now provides autopsies in Baldwin, Jefferson, Madison, Marshall, Mobile, Montgomery, Shelby and Walker. The program will expand statewide in the coming months, the announcement said. Complete autopsies will be performed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of South Alabama. Obtaining the most detailed and accurate information is critical in making determinations regarding maternal deaths and reducing maternal mortality in Alabama, the release said. Alabama has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the nation, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. A Maternal Mortality Review Committee found 24 deaths in 2018 and 2019 in Alabama caused by pregnancy complications. Infections caused the highest number of deaths, followed by heart problems and hemorrhage. Of the 24 pregnancy-related deaths, 15 were preventable, committee members found. The goal of the committee is to suggest changes to practice and policy to reduce the number of pregnant women and new moms who die preventable deaths. Alabama invested $500,000 into investigating maternal mortality after a series of articles on AL.com explored the issue in 2019. Reporter Anna Claire Vollers found gaps in the states system for tracking pregnancy-related deaths. For years, Alabama lagged behind other states when it came to counting and categorizing deaths related to pregnancy. Her reporting also focused on racial disparities that plague the state. Black mothers are up to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than moms who are white. Vollers chronicled the story of a Montgomery woman who nearly died and lost her twins at 26 weeks pregnant after her placenta detached from the uterus. She had been feeling symptoms of dangerously high blood pressure for weeks before the episode. Alabamas Maternal Mortality Review Committee has made recommendations based on its research into deaths of pregnant women and new moms. Those include extending and expanding Medicaid coverage for new moms, which happened in 2022. Increasing access to autopsies also topped the list of policy suggestions. Having an autopsy performed, or at minimum a toxicology report, on all maternal deaths will help us determine and better understand the causes of and contributors to maternal mortality, the report said. An attorney for the downtown lounge that the City of Birmingham sued, saying it allowed an unsafe atmosphere to flourish, said the business is being targeted because of street exhibition driving in front of the business that it cant control. We have provided a safe environment for our patrons, said Julian Hendrix, attorney for Cru. Cru staff never encouraged and have worked to prevent gatherings on the street to view exhibition driving, he said. Theyve done everything to ensure that no one has gathered, Hendrix said. They dont have the ability to enforce the law. Its unfortunate that when you tell them to disperse, theyre unwilling to. First Avenue North in front of Cru has been an attractive place for exhibition drivers to show off, he said. Its wide, Hendrix said. Theres a lot of space, especially in that intersection. Exhibition drivers, thats what they choose. They choose these wide areas. Other areas, they dont have the ability to spin those cars around. Thats why they choose the downtown area. The city sued Cru and has threatened to revoke its business license. Hendrix appeared at City Council on Tuesday and asked for a delay on a hearing to revoke the license. The hearing was moved back to June 18. We have a scan system and theres nothing to indicate any of those individuals are going in and out of Cru, Hendrix said. You see when people are gathered at a place, it tends to attract more individuals. Hendrix said Cru understands the larger problem and danger of exhibition driving in the city. Its been an ongoing challenge for the city, Hendrix said. We understand that. Were behind the city. Were going to do whatever we can to provide the city with resources and they provide us with resources to make sure its no longer an issue. City Council member Hunter Williams said that the public safety meeting that recommended to the full council that Crus license be revoked looked at a broader picture than exhibition driving happening in front of the business. What was determined was that the establishment was not doing what they needed to do to provide a safe atmosphere for their patrons, for visitors, or for the area around it, Williams said after Tuesdays council meeting. We talked about a myriad of a complete complexity of issues, some of which have nothing to do with exhibition driving. The city filed a lawsuit against Cru. The landlord of Crus building asked last week to join in the lawsuit. Williams noted that the property owner has sent Cru a cease and desist letter. That situation is a little bit more complex and I really think that the full public safety hearing speaks for itself, and encompasses a lot more than exhibition driving, Williams said. The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday voted in favor of a new ordinance that allows police to arrest and charge people for being bystanders and livestreaming exhibition driving. Violators can be fined $500 or spend up to 180 days in jail. U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett has witnessed plenty of partisan fireworks as a freshman member of the U.S. House Oversight Committee, but last weeks confrontation with Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene quickly reached new heights as an online sensation. Ive had things that have gone viral as I was sitting in committee, Crockett said. Nothing like this. The committee was considering whether to hold U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for withholding audio recordings of President Joe Bidens conversations with special counsel Robert Hur, but things veered off the rails after Greene told Crockett, I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what youre reading. Democrats objected, but the panels Republican chairman, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, ruled Greene did not violate rules against personal attacks. Crockett, D-Dallas, asked for clarification. If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebodys bleach-blond, bad-built butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct? she said. Her phone quickly blew up with texts from folks back home, including a message from her pastor suggesting she provide a warning before deploying language so colorful it had him choking on his water. When Crockett showed up at a speaking engagement the next day, one woman there was wearing a dress bearing the phrase. The furor has raged online for days as people post parody remixes of the hearing room exchange or release their own songs incorporating what Crockett calls the B6 phrase. Crocketts campaign filed an application to trademark the six-word phrase, which she said was a spontaneous creation. Crockett has said Greene is a racist bully, reflected in the attack on her appearance that channeled common tropes about African-American women and fake hair, nails or eyelashes. Crockett said she has been heartened by the support. I think that people were just finally excited to see a bully cut down to size, she said. Greene is unlikely to change her approach, Crockett says, but Comer might reconsider how he runs the committee. He will think twice about if its worth catching all this heat for somebody that honestly isnt even a team player for your team, she said. Greene has been a periodic thorn in the side of House Republicans, including her recent failed bid to oust Speaker Mike Johnson. Greene posted a statement on X after the hearing. Some people are upset about the scene from Oversight Committee last night, well Im upset and disgusted pretty much everyday at the Democrat controlled DOJ, federal government, and Congress in general, she posted. Greene said the Department of Justice is going after Republicans, Congress has run up the national debt and Washington politicians are focused on funding foreign wars rather than securing the southern border. Pardon me if I dont talk as nicely as some people would like to hear, Greene posted. Im not going to keep you all addicted to outrage and hopium that never solves a problem or stops the inevitable implosion of the United States of America. Im completely over it. Crockett is looking to raise campaign money off the incident. So we are going to drop A Crockett Clapback Collection, Crockett posted on X. This collection will feature various swag that includes random things Ive said. The money will go to ensuring that we have a Democratic House! Give me a little time to really get the swag online etc., but B6 will drop first. The post included a photo of a man wearing a shirt bearing the now-signature phrase. Sharp-eyed observers noticed the image on the shirt misspelled her name as Crockrtt. Greene spokesman Nick Dyer pointed out that during Thursday nights hearing, before the Greene-Crockett exchange, Democrats had criticized Comer for soliciting campaign donations tied to committee proceedings. Crockett retweeted a clip in which the panels top Democrat, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, said he was disappointed by Comers solicitation. Dyer said Crockett using the proceedings to raise campaign funds was the height of hypocrisy. Crockett acknowledged receiving Republican criticism over selling the shirts but said she is trying to channel ugliness into something good. Candidates have long sold campaign-themed merchandise, she said, adding that proceeds will go to her campaign and to national Democrats working to win back the House majority. Were going to hopefully raise money and help Democrats out off the back of someone that decided that she wanted to lash out and bully a Democrat, Crockett said. Other shirts will bear Crockett phrases such as to be clear, yall spin, spin, spin, and point of order, I just want to clarify. After Crockett posted about the T-shirts, Greene posted a new video on X of herself lifting weights. Yes my body is built and strong NOT with nips, tucks, plastic, or silicone, but through a healthy lifestyle, Greene posted. Soon turning 50 years old, God willing, I will continue to lift, run, swim, play sports, surf, ski, climb and LIVE this life to the fullest and enjoy every single moment! 2024 The Dallas Morning News. Visit dallasnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Juneteenth will again be a state holiday in Alabama this year, Gov. Kay Ivey announced Monday. Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in America, will be recognized on Wednesday, June 19. Ivey has declared Juneteenth a state holiday each year since 2021. Alabama lawmakers have proposed bills to permanently add the date to the list of state holidays, but those have not passed. Read more: Alabama again considers making Juneteenth at state holiday Ivey also announced that Friday, Nov. 29, the day after Thanksgiving, would be a state holiday this year. According to the University of Alabama, Juneteenth marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people were freed. A man already in prison is the fourth person charged in an alleged murder-for-hire conspiracy in Alabama that left a 46-year-old man dead in Sylacauga. Montrell Deontrea Towns, 30, is charged with capital murder/murder-for-hire in the 2021 killing of Bradford Franklin Isbell. Previously indicted on the same charges are Markkeis Antwain Towns, 31, Kiera Monthelia Turner, 28 and Allana Amani Reid, 30. Markkeis Towns remains in prison for a 2023 guilty plea in a manslaughter case. Reid was released from the Jefferson County Jail in April on $60,000 bond, and Turner remains held without bond. Montrell Towns is already serving a 20-year prison sentence for a conviction of shooting into an occupied vehicle which was a Birmingham Police Department cruiser. He was brought from prison to the Jefferson County Jail so that his capital murder warrant could be served on him and remains held there without bond. The indictment states he hired Markkeis Towns to cause the death of Isbell pursuant to a contract or for hire. It was not immediately clear how, or if, Montrell Towns and Markkeis Towns are related. Isbell was killed about 10 p.m. on June 23, 2021, on Harper Springs Road in Sylacauga. Police found Isbell dead outside the home. Officers also found Rachel Elizabeth Hayes, 32, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. She was airlifted to UAB Hospital in Birmingham and survived. Investigators at the time said they didnt believe the shooting was random, but no arrests were made. The Jefferson County District Attorneys Office led the investigation into the murder-for-hire case but officials there have not elaborated on what launched the probe and the reason for their involvement in the case. A motive has not been disclosed. Montrell Towns was one of three men arrested and charged with attempted murder and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle in a 2017 shooting that wounded a Birmingham police officer. The officer, who is no longer with the department, was part of a department task force. The officer was wearing a task force uniform, which was an army-green t-shirt and matching pants, or camouflage pants. He was in an unmarked vehicle when he saw the men approach his vehicle. Authorities said he saw what was happening and began to drive off. Thats when shots peppered his vehicle. He took a bullet to the arm on West Ends Princeton Avenue, and then got on the police radio to call for help, saying Ive been hit. The attempted murder charge against was later Towns was dismissed. Montrell Towns is no stranger to the law. He pleaded guilty in November 2017 to the felony drug possession and received a 13-month suspended sentence. He also pleaded guilty in 2015 to unlawful distribution of heroin - also a felony - and received a 24-month suspended sentence. In 2013, Towns was arrested on three counts of attempted murder and discharging a gun into an occupied building or vehicle, however those charges were dismissed. A trial date for the suspects has not been announced. Most of the dozens of arrests made during last weekends Hangout Festival in Gulf Shores were what one might expect at an event of that sort: drug use, public intoxication, disorderly conduct, and the like. But one arrest caught our eye: Prohibited operation of an unmanned aircraft system. Det. Carl Wittstruck of the Gulf Shores Police Department explained that its illegal to fly a drone over Gulf Shores beaches, as well as over venues where events like the Hangout Fest are being held. A 25-year-old Foley man, however, either unaware of the law or in disregard of it, flew his drone over the festival -- not once, but twice. This gentleman flew his drone over the event the day prior (to his arrest), Wittstruck said. He actually buzzed our (police) drone, like in Top Gun. I dont know if he knew it was our drone or not, but probably not a smart thing to do. The next day, the man did it again. This time, police were waiting. Through some resources, we had been able to identify where the drone was launched from the first day, Wittstruck said. So we waited. Sure enough, the man launched his drone over the festival again the next day. Already of aware of his location the previous day, Wittstruck said they quickly confirmed his location the second time and officers arrived to take him into custody. In 2018, Gulf Shores adopted laws prohibiting drones from being flown over public beaches without a permit from the city and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The penalty for violating the ordinance is a fine up to $500 and jail time up to six months. Neighboring Orange Beach has similar laws, with recreational drones prohibited above the beaches there. Commercial and special event drone usage is allowed, but requires a permit from the city. Commercial real estate drone filming requires permission from the city and an annual fee. Alabama has no statewide drone regulations, but the federal government has drone laws that apply nationwide. Flying a drone as a hobbyist anywhere in the U.S. requires the operator to take the FAAs Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST). Operators are also required to follow the FAAs recreational model aircraft rules. Those who fly a drone for commercial purposes are required to meet the provisions of the FAAs Part 107 Small UAS Rule, which includes passing the Aeronautical Knowledge Test to obtain a Remote Pilot Certificate. Wittstruck said arrests such as the one during the Hangout Fest will likely become more common in the coming years. For us, its about safety and security, he said. You cant tell in this day and age what a drone may be used for. People are using drones for all sorts of things these days, good and bad. Wittstruck noted the Jack Edwards Airport is nearby, requiring even the police to get permission before launching their drones. Weve got commercial aircraft coming through here, he said. When we use our drones, we have to get clearance from the tower. We have to make sure were not in an area where we shouldnt be. For $300 you can buy a good quality drone, Wittstruck added. You dont know what the training or experience level is of some of these hobbyists. Certainly there are those who are proficient, understand what theyre doing and follow the laws and regulations. But there are certainly others who dont. A 26-year-old man was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the 2017 beating death of his girlfriends toddler daughter. Jefferson County Circuit Judge Stephen Wallace handed down the sentence following an emotionally charged hearing which included tearful speeches from family and the revelation of jailhouse phone calls where the defendant, after the conviction, mocked the judge who would decide his fate. Fredrick Earl Williams was initially charged with capital murder in the Sept. 26, 2017 death of TaLeah Nicole Alexander-Burke who was 17 months old. She died from blunt force trauma to the heart, liver, and lungs. She also had 41 bruises, a broken arm, and a number of other internal injuries. A jury in February, after nearly two weeks of trial and less than three hours of deliberations, convicted Williams on the lesser charge of felony murder, with the underlying felony being child abuse. The case was prosecuted by Jefferson County deputy district attorneys Tiffany Ould, Jennifer Wilson, and Nick Taggart. Williams was represented by the Jefferson County Public Defenders Office. TaLeahs mother, Jackquese Jackson, told officers she left the child at home with Williams, her on-again, off-again boyfriend, while she did errands. When she arrived home, she found TaLeah naked, bruised, and unresponsive. They called 911 but decided to drive the child to the hospital. Ould said Williams, then 19, refused to accompany Jackson to the hospital, and instead armed himself with a gun and fled the scene. He turned himself in hours later. Shortly after leaving, Jackson ran into police and EMTs, who were unable to revive the child. TaLeah was pronounced dead soon after at Childrens of Alabama. Williams told Jackson that the child had choked on a piece of candy. At trial, the defense claimed that the childs injuries were due to CPR. TaLeahs mother, aunt, grandmother, and a cousin pleaded for a lengthy sentence for Williams. Prosecutors were seeking 40 years. Do you know how hard it was to wake up every day and know that I will never have the opportunity to see my child ever again? She was, at the time, my youngest baby. Not even old enough to talk, Jackson said in her victim impact statement. There was nothing she could have done to deserve the fate she had to endure, she said. Jackson spoke of all the life events she will miss kindergarten graduation, school dances, prom, marriage, babies. I will never be able to experience her growing up, she said. TaLeahs sister, who was 3 at the time, was taken by DHR on the day TaLeah died seven years ago and the family has not seen her since. She has since been adopted through a closed adoption. He really destroyed our family, said TaLeahs aunt, Tonya Robinson. Williams family said Williams was only trying to help TaLeah that day and maintained that he was innocent of any wrongdoing. He was raised to be respectful, loving, and caring and is a good father to his own children, two daughters under the age of 10. His girlfriend is also pregnant with his third child. He had no prior criminal history. The only thing Fred was doing that day was trying to help a baby in distress, the best way he knew how, his grandmother said. This situation has ruined my family, said Kimberly Williams, the defendants mother. Everybody involved in this situation is hurting. Williams spoke briefly. I apologize to TaLeahs family, he said. Ive been going through this for seven years and they have as well. I had no ill intentions that day. Williams defense team asked for a sentence of 20 years with five to serve. The jury found that he did not have the intent to kill, said Public Defender Brock Brett. Brett talked about the issue of mass incarceration in Alabama and said the majority of inmates are young Black men like Williams, which she said has a negative impact on the Black community. She also said Williams was at the age when the crime was committed that his frontal lobe, especially the prefrontal cortex, wasnt fully mature, which happens around age 25. The prefrontal cortex of the front lobe allows someone to process the pros and cons of a decision before it is made. This was a tragic chaotic event that happened very quickly, she said. She said a split sentence would accomplish the goals of sentencing while recognizing this crime for what it was a tragic, impulsive decision by a 19-year-old. Prosecutor Ould disagreed. This is not a racial issue. The negative impact is a child was brutally murdered, she said. He took a life, and he deserves to be punished. Ould talked about what the poor child went through in her last minutes and hours of her life, which included two tears to her heart, ripped lungs, tears to her liver, multiple rib fractures, a lacerated spleen and the 41 bruises, head to toe, back to front. This child suffered at the hands of this defendant to such a degree that I dont think well ever truly, truly know, Ould said. It is horrific, she said. I will never be able to unhear the screams of Miss Jackson as she held her baby lifeless and limp. Ould said Williams has not taken responsibility for his actions and has shown no remorse. While Williams was out on bond, he was charged with domestic violence, which was dismissed because the victim wouldnt cooperate, and he repeatedly violated his conditions of electronic monitoring to the point that his bond was revoked earlier this year. We even found out he had been talking with and sleeping with a witness and texted her about her testimony, Ould said. His behavior, she said, showed overall lack of respect for the process. Ould then talked about his jail phone calls with family, which were monitored. On the day he was convicted, he starts talking about what he regrets, Ould said. After all was said and done, the only thing he regrets is that he didnt sleep with some chickthat was his regret, not that, I beat this poor baby to death. It boggles the mind, she said. Following his conviction, Ould said, Williams was recorded saying he didnt expect Judge Wallace to give him much jail time. I dont think he (Judge Wallace) is going to do too much. You feel me?, Williams said. Its going to be two years or four or some shit like that. I think shits going to work out for real. There are three judges that you dont want but theres two more you want, he said. They call him Walking Wallace. Im in a good courtroomstupid ass judge. Wallace told the courtroom that hearing the 911 call from TaLeahs mother is something hell never forget. This was a difficult case, Wallace said. I do have to respect the jurys verdict and the verdict was felony murder, they found that while he was acquitted with the intentional killing of the child, that he was culpable for intentional conduct that led to the death of the child, and I cant ignore that. Its a tragic thing and I feel for the victims family, and I feel for the defendants family, the judge said. Both have been affected by this and I wish there was something I could do to make them feel whole or better. I dont know that will ever happen. He then issued Williams 25-years sentence. Both families were emotional throughout Mondays sentencing and an argument erupted once it ended but the families were quickly separated. Courtroom deputies accompanied Williams family all the way outside to the street until they got into their cars and left. TaLeahs aunt said the family is not happy with the 25-year sentence. We understand you have to be fair with sentencing but thats just not enough for the trauma he caused, Robinson said. We are not satisfied. We are not happy with what happened today. A man who's spent more than 25 years on Alabama's death row for the murder of an off-duty sheriff's deputy could get a new trial after a district attorney said that "justice demands" it. The evidence against Toforest Johnson "has unraveled over 20 years" and his 1998 conviction "cannot be justified or allowed to stand," Jefferson County DA Danny Carr wrote in court papers Monday, the Associated Press reported. Carr, elected in 2018, has supported a new trial for Johnson since 2020 and filed a "friend of the court" brief on his behalf following a formal review of his case, according to the al.com website, which was first to report it. Carr said credible witnesses placed Johnson elsewhere when Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff William Hardy was shot twice in the head while working a part-time security job at the Crown Sterling Suites hotel in Birmingham on July 19, 1995. In addition, Carr said, physical evidence contradicts the key witness against Johnson, a woman who received a $5,000 reward after testifying that she eavesdropped on a three-way phone call during which she overheard Johnson confess to Hardy's murder. "A thorough review and investigation of the entire case leaves no confidence in the integrity of Johnson's conviction. The interest of justice demands that Johnson be granted a new trial," Carr wrote. The DA's filing marked the latest move in a long-running legal battle in which former Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley, former Chief Justice Drayton Nabers and several former judges and prosecutors have also called for a new trial for Johnson, AP said. The lead prosecutor at Johnson's trial also "now has such grave concerns" that he supports a new trial, Carr said. in 2022, the Alabama attorney general's office asked a judge to deny Johnson's petition for a new trial, saying that "Mr. Carr's opinion that Johnson should receive a new trial is just that, his opinion." A spokesperson for Attorney General Steve Marshall didn't immediately return a request for comment from HNGN on Tuesday. A Lauderdale County grand jury did not return an indictment against a Florence police officer who fatally shot a man in April. The officer, who was not publicly named, shot a man police said was armed with two knives on April 1 at about 10:52 a.m. in Florence. Police Chief Ron Tyler said in a press conference that day that the incident happened in the backyard of a property in the 200 block of North Walnut Street. According to Tyler, police received information about a person in the area with violent felony warrants from out-of-state. Sheriff Joe Hamilton said the man, later identified as Bart James Barcelou, 42, of Florence, had active warrants in Kane County, Utah for three counts of first degree rape, and one count of felony third degree dealing in harmful material to a minor by an adult. Police attempted to take Barcelou into custody, but Tyler said the man resisted and posed a lethal threat. Our guys attempted to deescalate the situation, he said. We did attempt to use less lethal force in the process of apprehending him. According to Hamilton, Barcelou had two knives - one in each hand - at the time of the incident. District Attorney Chris Connelly said the case was presented to the grand jury last week, which returned no bill. Prior to the session, Connelly met with Barcelous widow, who was allowed to view the officers body cam footage. The case was investigated by the Lauderdale County Sheriffs Office at Tylers request. The State Department has issued a worldwide travel alert, with special caution urged for people taking part in LGBTQI+ events. Due to the potential for terrorist attacks, demonstrations, or violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests, the Department of State advises U.S. citizens overseas to exercise increased caution, the State Department warning noted. The Department of State is aware of the increased potential for foreign terrorist organization-inspired violence against LGBTQI+ persons and events and advises U.S. citizens overseas to exercise increased caution. The alert did not mention specific threats or details but comes ahead of Pride Month, an annual celebration of LGBTQI+ people. Travelers were cautioned to stay alert in areas frequented by tourists, especially at Pride celebrations or venues visited often by LGBTQI+ people. People are also advised to enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program to receive information and alerts and make it easier for them to be located in the event of an emergency. Last week, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a similar joint public announcement warning of the potential for foreign terrorist violence against LGBTQI+ people and events, Politico reported. That warning cited several recent anti-LGBTQI+ messages from terrorist organizations, as well as the eighth anniversary of the June 12, 2016 attack on the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida where 49 people were killed and 53 wounded. Indicators of potential threats, the notice said, include violent comments made online, in person and via the mail. People were also advised to be on alert for unusual or prolonged questioning about security measures at events or venues; someone taking pictures of security-related equipment, personnel or access points; or attempts to gain access to restricted areas, bypass security or imitate law enforcement. UAB Hospitals pathology department will no longer be conducting the autopsies of dead state inmates after UAB severed its contract with the Alabama Department of Corrections, the hospital said Monday. UABs decision comes after the hospital was sued last month by the families of five dead state prison inmates who accused the states biggest hospital of stealing organs from inmates after conducting autopsies. While the UAB Department of Pathology has been in compliance with laws governing autopsies to determine the cause of death of incarcerated individuals under the appropriate clinical standard and a panel of medical ethicists reviewed and endorsed our protocols regarding autopsies conducted for incarcerated persons we have terminated our contract with the Alabama Department of Corrections and no longer perform autopsies for ADOC, the hospital said in a statement Monday to AL.com. UAB has one of the highest ranked pathology programs in the country, is accredited by the College of American Pathologists and is staffed by credentialed physicians who are certified by the American Board of Pathology. The hospital declined to comment beyond its statement. Lauren Faraino, an attorney representing several families suing the hospital, said the termination of the contract has no bearing on the pending litigation. The termination of the UAB/ADOC contract does not change anything concerning the lawsuits that have been filed. The damage to those families has already been done, she said. The law clearly required medical examiners to get proper consent for organ removal during autopsies, and UAB did not. The families say their loved ones were serving time at either Limestone Correctional Facility or The Hamilton Aged and Infirmed Center when they died. The inmates each died within the past several years, and each had their autopsies conducted by UAB. Following their autopsies, the separate lawsuits allege, the inmates bodies were sent to funeral homes, where funeral directors discovered they were missing their organs. One inmate was sent directly for a private autopsy, where a pathologist made the same discovery. The lawsuits each allege that the university took, and kept, inmates organs without consent of next-of-kin. All people who die in custody have an autopsy, multiple prison officials testified in a federal court hearing earlier this year. Some of those autopsies are done at UAB, while the rest are conducted at the state level by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences. None of the five families gave UAB permission to keep the organs, the lawsuits state. The families of Arthur Olen Stapler, Jim William Kennedy, Anthony Perez Brackins, Kelvin Lamar Moore, and Charles Singleton are each suing the Alabama Department of Corrections, the University of Alabama system which operates the University of Alabama at Birmingham and its medical school, and other various people associated with those institutions. All families say they tried contacting UABs Pathology Department after they realized the organs were missing, but were met with different answers as to why the organs were retained. Two of the families got their loved ones organs back from UAB. The family of Kelvin Moore, who died last summer, said they picked up a sealed red bag with a container inside that (UAB) claimed contained Kelvins organs. That happened after a supervisor in the pathology department told them, according to the lawsuit, it was the UAB policy not to return organs to families after an autopsy. A private pathologist, who was hired by the family of Arthur Olen Stapler, got back some of Staplers organs from UABbut not all. According to the lawsuit from the Kennedy family, a representative from UAB told them: UAB Defendants Department of Pathology takes organs all the time. The family also said they were told by someone in the pathology department that UAB is a teaching institution. And every teaching institution that does autopsies keeps their organs. The flurry of lawsuits were filed after another former prisoners family sued in federal court to say their loved one, Brandon Clay Dotson, was returned missing his heart. No one has said where the heart is. Late last month, the Doston familys lawsuit was dismissed without the family ever learning where the missing heart was. U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Alabama Madeline Hughes Haikala dismissed the case after the family and the state filed a joint stipulation of dismissal. Evidently, one alligator didnt get the message after he was wrangled off a Florida Air Force base last month. According to MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Fla., the 12-foot gator returned to duty a few days ago, spotted laying on a sidewalk near a medical building on the base. In late April, the same gator was found on a base runway, at one point positioning itself directly under a tire of one of the bases massive KC-135 Stratotankers. Officers with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission reported to the base and wrangled the large gator, with video showing the gator putting up quite a struggle. Undaunted, the gator returned last week. MacDill had fun with the gators return, writing in a Facebook post he had been put in charge of the bases complaint department. Ultimately, however, wildlife officials returned to the base and once again wrangled the stubborn gator. Although nuisance gators are often euthanized, this one enjoyed a better fate. Wildlife personnel transported the gator about 150 miles southeast to the Gatorama park in Palmdale, where it was named Major MacDill in honor of his travels. Video (above) shows the alligator being released into the park. This grand giant of an alligator from MacDill Air Force Base was captured for a second time after first being released into the Hillsborough River and now he is making his home here at Gatorama in Palmdale, the park posted to its Facebook page, accompanied by a video. Isnt he beautiful? the post continued, noting the gator was measured at 12 feet, 4 inches. We hate to see these big old bull alligators killed. The stories they tell must be amazing about how he survived to this length. The Florida state record for an alligator is 14 feet, 3 1/2 inches, according to the wildlife commission. The park also noted its currently alligator breeding season, putting gators on the move. Be aware, give them space -- they may just be passing through. And for heavens sake DO NOT FEED THEM! the post read. A commercial structure fire broke out Monday night in southwest Birmingham, officials said. Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service personnel responded to Center Street North and St. Charles Avenue Southwest on a commercial structure fire around 6:03 p.m., said Lt. Catina M. Williams. It was not immediately clear what structure was on fire, but the blaze sent plumes of thick gray smoke into the air that was visible for miles. Williams said the structure had been burned on two other ocassions. Firefighters got the blaze under control within an hour, she said. This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more information becomes available. . A historic Alabama church built around 1850 was destroyed in a fire early Monday morning, authorities said. The Blue Springs Methodist Church in Coosa County was burned to the ground this morning with nothing but ash left of over a century of memories, the Lay Lake Fire Department said on its Facebook page. Sad to see it go, the department said. The department, along with its counterparts in Fayeteville and Stewartville responded to assist the Marble Valley Volunteer Fire Department around 3 a.m. Monday on a fully involved fire at the church on Coosa County Road 99. The fire remained under investigation Monday, and the state Fire Marshals office asked people to stay away from the scene. A picture of the destroyed white church shared by the Lay Lake Fire Department showed flames sprouting from the rubble. Colbert County authorities say remains found in 2020 are those of a woman missing since August of 2020. Sheriff Eric Balentine said today that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Alabamas Department of Forensic Sciences have confirmed that remains found in November of 2020 are those of Courtney Vivian Staggs. Staggs was last seen on Monday, Aug. 10, 2020 in the area of Irvine Street in Florence. She was 35 at the time of her disappearance. The remains were discovered by hunters off Jarman Lane, he said. She was described as standing 5 feet 5 inches tall, with green eyes and brown hair, and was last seen wearing a black shirt and black leggings with sandals. Balentine said authorities had been looking for this phone call for some time. Balentine said investigators are working on finding a cause of death. We have some ideas about what happened, we have some statements, we have persons of interest. And were going to start going down the checklist and whittling some of these things out. Hopefully, we can apprehend and bring someone to justice on this case, he said. I can tell you the wheels are turning really fast now. Its just been a waiting game until now. Another federal judge has rejected a request by Alabama inmate Jamie Ray Mills to stay his execution, writing the inmates lawyers delay in seeking a preliminary injunction was inexplicable and inexcusable. The practice of filing lawsuits and requests for stay of execution at the last minute where the facts were known well in advance is ineffective, unworkable, and must stop, said Chief U.S. District Judge Emily Marks of Montgomery. The lethal injection of Mills is set for 6 p.m. on May 30 at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, in south Alabama. Mills, 50, has been fighting to get a stay of execution in two separate federal lawsuits. Another federal judge, Scott Coogler, denied his request on Friday in a separate case. On Tuesday, Marks also denied Mills ask for a stay. In that case, Mills lawyers from the Equal Justice Initiative had argued the execution could be torturous. Mills lawyers had asked the judge to issue a stay of execution or to prohibit the state from doing several things: putting him on the gurney while his lawsuits are still pending, restraining him on the gurney without legitimate reason, not letting his lawyers in the execution chamber while his intravenous lines are set up, and denying his lawyers access to a phone line while inside the prison. At a hearing in the case last week, Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said Mills would not be taken to the execution chamber if a stay was in place, and that Mills would be removed from the execution chamber one was issued. These assurances did not assuage Mills concerns about his upcoming execution, and accordingly, he still seeks the injunctive relief requested in his motion, wrote the judge. Marks wrote that Mills showed an inexcusable delay that weighs heavily against the equitable remedy of an injunction or stay. Some of his claims should have been brought several years ago, she wrote. Since 2022, many events have occurred which should have triggered action by Mills, and yet he did not act, the judge wrote, citing the aborted lethal injection attempts of Alan Miller and Kenneth Smith in the fall of 2022, and the controversial execution of Joe Nathan James that summer. A reasonably diligent plaintiff likely could and should have filed suit after Kenneth Smiths execution attempt in November 2022, as that was the third lethal injection execution or attempted execution which allegedly involved the condemned inmate being strapped to the gurney for an extended period, the judge wrote. She continued that after the last few inmates in Alabama were executed, and after other movement in Mills various appeals, Mills lawyers still did nothing and offers no reasonable explanation as to why. Marks also mentioned that the state has made meaningful changes to its lethal injection process, including replacing the IV team. The Court acknowledges that lawyers representing death row inmates set to be executed unquestionably owe a duty to their clients. However, these lawyers are also officers of the court, the judge wrote. The act of filing a civil action and then a request for injunctive relief after unjustified delay often appears to be legal manipulation rather than genuine legal advocacy. An abortion rights group alleged a bill introduced Monday by Sen. Katie Britt that would make states ineligible for Medicaid dollars if they ban in vitro fertilization treatments is phony. The GOP is a threat to reproductive freedom but Ted Cruz and Katie Britt want to try to hide it with a phony bill, tweeted Reproductive Freedom for All. We arent buying itand neither are voters. The group noted that Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., already introduced a bill protecting IVF and Republicans blocked it. Mini Timmaraju, the groups president and CEO, called the legislation by Cruz and Alabamas junior Republican senator just another example of the GOP trying to save face with voters, but their record speaks for itself. Senate Republicans support policies that threaten IVF & birth control & they enabled Trump & helped him carry out his anti-abortion agenda. Voters wont forget, she said. Britt spokesman Sean Ross accused abortions rights groups criticism of the bill of fearmongering and gaslighting voters. Its sad but not surprising that leftwing pro-abortion groups would rather continue to fear-monger and gaslight ahead of Novembers election than support a commonsense, common-ground solution that would protect IVF access in every corner of America, Ross said. As Sen. Britt has said, IVF enables loving parents to experience the miracle of life and start and grow their families. Abortion does the complete opposite. States that ban IVF would be ineligible to receive Medicaid funding under the proposed bill. The Republican senators are reacting to the public backlash over a recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling that said embryos are protected human life. Several pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted Secretary of State Antony Blinken as he testified in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday. Blinken had just started speaking when a man holding a Palestinian flag got up and yelled, "Hind Rajab was six years old when Israelis killed her. Hind Rajab was six years old. Blinken, you will be remembered as the butcher of Gaza." Security guards quickly grabbed the protester and moved him out of the room. On his way out he yelled, "You will be remembered for murdering innocent Palestinians." Others continued yelling and Committee Chairman Ben Cardin said, "The person - will the officer please remove the person who's making these comments?" Two other women, including one who appeared to have red paint or dye on her hands, were removed from the hearing. "Stop the genocide. Stop the genocide," a woman yelled as she was removed. Some of the same group had stood with their hands over their head as Blinken entered the room before the hearing got underway. Blinken has blamed social media in part for widespread pro-Palestinian protests against Israel's military actions in Gaza, saying it has a "very, very, very challenging effect on the narrative." He visited the Middle East earlier this month in an attempt to spur a deal on a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages but has been unsuccessful. English News UN human rights expert urges to lift unilateral sanctions against China Alwihda Info | Par People's Daily - 21 Mai 2024 "I wish to reiterate the illegality of extraterritorial application of unilateral sanctions and I call on states, in particular sanctioning states, to effectively address over-compliance of businesses and other entities under their jurisdiction in order to mitigate or completely eliminate any adverse humanitarian impact," said the expert. By Du Yifei, People's Daily Unilateral sanctions against China do not conform with a broad number of international legal norms and cannot be justified as countermeasures under the law of international responsibility, a United Nations (UN) expert said on May 17. Alena Douhan, UN special rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures and human rights, said the unilateral sanctions against China can be qualified as unilateral coercive measures at a press conference in Beijing following her 12-day visit to the country. Unilateral sanctions have been imposed against China since 2017 with mounting U.S. pressure on Chinese technological companies and the imposition of export controls, designation of companies' officials and the launch of administrative and civil charges. These have been followed by further sanctions and restrictions related to Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Hong Kong SAR, by expanding the list of targets to include key sectors of economic activity, including in agriculture, construction, trade, new and green technologies, energy, finance, telecommunications and others. "During my visit I received numerous reports on the unilateral sanctions' adverse impact and the consequent socio-economic implications affecting peoples' lives," Douhan said. Douhan also called on sanctioning parties to lift and suspend all unilateral sanctions applied to China, Chinese nationals and companies without authorization from the UN Security Council. "I wish to reiterate the illegality of extraterritorial application of unilateral sanctions and I call on states, in particular sanctioning states, to effectively address over-compliance of businesses and other entities under their jurisdiction in order to mitigate or completely eliminate any adverse humanitarian impact," said the expert. During her trip, she visited Beijing, Shenzhen, and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, where she talked with government officials and representatives from non-government organizations, businesses, academic institutions and other sectors. Douhan will present a report based on her visit to the UN Human Rights Council in September. Dans la meme rubrique : < > Progress made in desertification control along Yellow River Basalt rocks made into national flag carried by Chang'e-6 probe Prospering telemedicine a reflection of China's rapid internet development Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena) How did anti-Israel protests erupt within a month of the Hamas-led October 7 massacre? How did university campuses in America turn into tent cities of keffiyeh-clad youth calling for the liberation of Palestine, the annihilation of Israel, and death to Jews? If you suspect these protests are well orchestrated and funded, you are right. Behind them is a coalition of radical leftist and Islamist groups drawing sustenance from the vast dark money network of Neville Roy Singham, and linked through him to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This has been confirmed by a 34-page report from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), an affiliate of Rutgers University. Analyzing open-source data using proprietary software, the NCRIs multidisciplinary teams identify emerging threats to civil society. The NCRI report describes Singham as a known conduit for CCP geopolitical influence. As early as 1974, when he was 20, Singham was the subject of an FBI investigation for links with groups inimical to U.S. interests. He is now based in Shanghai and, with his wife Jodie Evans, uses corporate entities and philanthropic hedge funds to channel money for fomenting unrest in free societies. His network exploits regulatory loopholes in the U.S. nonprofit system to fund a) media groups promoting anti-American narratives, and b) seemingly grassroots activist movements, such as those behind the pro-Hamas protests. The report says the network is a significant concern to the internal stability of the U.S. Its alarming assessment: While nominally focused on Israel, the current protests can be better understood as a well-funded initiative driving a revolutionary, anti-government, and anti-capitalist agenda, with the leading organizations serving as versatile tools for foreign entities hostile to the U.S. The unrest is likely to continue through summer and until the presidential election. How is this disruption being achieved? The funneling of funding is a devious game. Soon after October 7, a new entity Shut it Down 4 Palestine (SID4P) joined the melange of radical left, Islamist, and Marxist groups raging against Israels so-called occupation, capitalism, and the West. Its website offers protest toolkits, graphics, etc. But nowhere does it name staff, advisors, or a board of directors. Instead, it lists seven organizations as conveners and about 100 endorsers. The conveners are The Peoples Forum (TPF); the ANSWER Coalition; the International Peoples Assembly (IPA); the Palestinian Youth Movement; the National Students for Justice in Palestine; Al-Awda, New York; and the Palestinian American Community Center (PACC), New Jersey. The first three are far-left groups with significant financial, personnel, and operational overlap. The rest are pro-Palestinian activist groups, the last two having ties to U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs). The endorsers include Samidoun, a front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terror group; the National Lawyers Guild, run by the Communist Party USA; the Global Exchange, a socialist anti-war group that views the U.S. and Israel as oppressors denying the world social, economic, and environmental justice; the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), an NGO that justifies terror against Israeli civilians and supports BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns; the Muslim Students Association, an affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood; and the Workers World Party, a hardcore Marxist-Leninist sect. The report reveals an intricate funding and support network of nonprofits, sponsors, and alternative news sources, all linked to the CCP via the network machinated by Singham to provoke social unrest, polarize young people, and destabilize American institutions. In particular, three SID4P conveners TPF, the IPA, and the ANSWER Coalition are closely tied to the Singham network via his Tricontinental Institute for Social Research. The NCRI cites over $20 million received by TPF alone, from 201722, via the Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund. The most likely source Singham; and TPF acknowledges its connection to him. Consider the precedents and activities of these three entities: In 2021, TPF , comprising activist teachers, professors, and organizers, launched a book Chinas Great Road: Lessons for Marxist Theory and Socialist Practice purporting to show how socialists in other countries could learn from China. Four days after October 7, TPF praised Palestinian resistance, and within a few weeks, SID4P was launched. Since then, TPF and SID4P have organized a host of disruptive actions on campuses and in other places. It was after TPF s meeting in Manhattan this April, in which activists were incited to recreate the BLM- and Antifa-instigated riots of 2020, that Columbia Universitys Hamilton Hall was occupied and barricaded. On clearing the building, police found riot weapons and discovered that many of the rioters were not students. The IPA , a sort of umbrella organization for trade unions, political parties, and social movements, is a close partner of Singhams Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, which aims at promoting socialist revolution worldwide. The IPA also partners the International Union of Left Publishers and CODEPINK (co-founded and run by Singhams wife). The ANSWER Coalition, established three days after 9/11, is an anti-war group that depicts the U.S. as racist, imperialist, and guilty of crimes against humanity. It projects Hamas and Hezbollah as legitimate resistance organizations against Israel, which it describes as a capitalist outpost for the West. It is teeming with Marxists and members of the Muslim Students Association and Al-Awda. The latter seeks the annihilation of Israel and advances antisemitic rhetoric. The Singham network also funds at least eight alternative news sources. Among them is BreakThrough Media (BT Media), which promotes CCP and pro-Kremlin causes, vilifies Israel, and magnifies violent revolutionary protests in America. NCRIs analysis finds BT Medias YouTube channel consistently portraying China in a positive light, while its pro-Hamas coverage post-Oct 7th increased followers by 46% on Twitter, 217% on Instagram, and 224% on YouTube. The SID4P movement is indicative of a trend in which far-left entities in this instance, in convenient collaboration with Islamist groups undermine democracies by exploiting the rights and protections they guarantee. The NCRI report gives a timeline of twelve demonstrations of gradually escalating direct action, beginning with those in Manhattan on November 9 to those around Columbia University in mid-April. SID4Ps degree of success is stupefying. It can be gauged by the fact that despite the invasion of Israel during a ceasefire by over a thousand Hamas terrorists, who massacred 1,200 men, women, and children and took hundreds of hostages, there were protestors in America who held up Hamas and Hezbollah flags, called for intifada, and graffitied public places with slogans of Death to Israel, F*ck Israel, and Glory to our Martyrs. How did this brazen diminution of Israels right to defend itself against terror gain traction in America? The NCRI says it is the result of hostile foreign powers influencing public opinion, and that their ultimate aim is undermining America. It recommends greater transparency and accountability for non-profits and amorphous entities such as SID4P. A step in the right direction is a wide-ranging probe launched by Congress into groups funding pro-Hamas unrest on campuses. Representatives are petitioning federal authorities to release internal documents that could tie these protests to money laundering and terror financing. The malign influence of groups like SID4P should be eliminated. American democracy is at stake. Image generated by AI. Isnt it special how Harvard has been negotiating with the peaceful protestors camping in Harvard Yard and has agreed to look into a Center for Palestine Studies at Harvard? Let us imagine, for a moment, anti-abortion activists standing silently outside one of the leading abortion clinics protesting about the lack of babies born to Ivy League women university presidents? I wonder how many pregnancy termination reductions the folks at Planned Parenthood would negotiate. Yes, its a presidential election year here in these United States and there are mostly peaceful protesters as far as the eye can see. Again. WARNING to non Ivy League Americans: Do not try this at home! If the United States can indict the former President of the United States for a ham sandwich Well, you get the picture. Can you spell I-N-J-U-S-T-I-C-E? Of course, life is unjust in these United States. Politics is not about justice; politics is about Power. Why do I think that? Because I have experienced a sea change in my thinking in the last few years. It started with my introduction to Gaetano Mosca and his idea of the political formula, courtesy of Curtis Yarvin at American Mind. A political formula is what ruling classes preach to the masses to justify their rule. Our present ruling class advertises its moral right to rule because it fights for the oppressed peoples against the white oppressors. Then Yarvin introduced me to Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt and his Concept of the Political, that politics is all about Friend vs. Enemy, and that is all. But more recently I have been reading On Power: The Natural History of its Growth by Bertrand de Jouvenel. I must have bought it years ago, but only started reading it recently. De Jouvenel taught me that the modern era is not a glorious age of freedom and human rights. Not at all. Freedom and human rights and rule of law have nothing to do with the case. The modern age is all about Power. Back in the day your average feudal monarch or feudal baron didnt have that much Power. For instance, he could only go to war for a few weeks a year because he didnt have the money to fight for months. Today, the government has the Power to pick your pocket every day and spend the money on its supporters, and it does. It has the Power to commandeer your wealth and income for a world war, and draft your son as cannon fodder any time it feels like it. And it does. So when Nancy Pelosi mumbles on about Democracy: Democracy is the rule of law. Democracy is free and fair elections. Democracy is about an independent judiciary. I say: Heres what de Jouvenel writes: The history of the democratic doctrine furnishes a striking example of an intellectual system blown about by the social wind. Conceived as the foundation of liberty, it paves the way for tyranny. Born for the purpose of standing as a bulwark against Power, it ends by providing Power with the finest soil it has ever had in which to spread itself over the social field. Lets mash de Jouvenel and Power with Schmitt and his Enemy vs. Friend. Rulers use Power to fight and destroy their Enemy. Yesterday it was the Soviet Union. The day before yesterday it was Literally Hitler. Today the enemy is white oppressors and populist presidents and religious believers. and people standing outside abortion clinics, and Wrong Thinkers -- haters. And armed insurrectionists. Our rulers are determined to use their Power to empower and support their Friends, the oppressed peoples, with grants and programs, and by exempting them from the laws, as in illegal immigrants, blacks, LGBTs, Ivy League students, shoplifters, violent criminals, forgetful presidents, regulatory administrators and regime-adjacent protesters. Its not that our rulers are good or evil, smart or stupid. Its The Science: the more politics, the more enemies and the more Power -- and the less is left for ordinary people to live their lives. From Schmitt, we understand that politics is just a war on the Enemy. From de Jouvenel we learn that war just increases the governments Power to tax people and draft them into fighting wars -- everything from peaceful protests to world wars. From Mosca we learn that its all held together by the lie of the political formula. And that is why the world of our liberal friends is so empty. Because their world is reduced to a political formula about the oppressor vs. oppressed binary plus peaceful protesting in keffiyeh scarves from Amazon. Their world is a barren landscape of Power and the fight against the Enemy and a mountain of skulls. And yet they are the folx endlessly jabbering on about Genocide. Hey liberals! Wanna know the way to Genocide, do not pass Go? Reduce human life to political formulas, the Enemy, and Power. Christopher Chantrill @chrischantrill runs the go-to site on US government finances, usgovernmentspending.com. Also get his American Manifesto and his Road to the Middle Class. Image: Pexels/France Trottier I distinctly remember Joe Biden in 2019 all but promising to serve just one term. Given his deteriorating health even then, it was a wonder how he got through to the finish in 2020. I expected that was that, but in 2022, he started making noises for re-election. What changed? For one, I think Jill Biden really likes living in the White House. Two, Kamala Harris, aka VP Giggles, is even worse than we know. Think about it, the people in charge who see both Biden and Harris everyday up close, still would favor Dementia Joe rather than risk a President Harris. Scary! And three, Team Biden was buoyed by Trumps 2022 polling and how Democrats held up in the mid-terms. But now, I think catastrophe is staring the Dems in the face and there are no good options. Sure, they might get a bump in the polls if the rigged NYC trial goes as expected and convicts Trump for a crime that doesnt exist. But it wont last long. If they dump Joe, they have to nominate Harris. They cant stand the humiliation of admitting Joe is a vegetable and then turn around and say the Queen of DEI was also a mistake, by picking some random white liberal. Michelle Obama is their long-shot prayer, but its anything for certain she would even have a chance. She polls behind Trump now. To squeeze her in ahead of Harris would still be extremely messy and embarrassing. Worse, she would have to run in the teeth of Bidens lousy economy. And she has said all along she has no interest in running. Given the situation, I tend to believe her. Anyway, I think Trump accepted the debate terms with Biden so quickly because he wants to lock in Biden as the nominee. Under the rules, the give-and-take will be highly limited to protect Biden, alongside his friendly network hosts. Trump is essentially the boxer who is holding up his opponent for the early rounds, just to arrange a massive knockout in the end. I dont relish the mistreatment of any elderly person, even one as corrupt and dishonest as Joe Biden. But he represents a political movement that for decades now has cared only about hanging on to power and nothing for the safety and continued prosperity of our nation. If we come to November 5th, with him still the nominee, exposed for all the voters to see -- brain-dead and the chosen standard bearer of an utterly failed political party -- real democracy might begin anew. Where voters in even the bluest hamlets and big cities start to pay attention and reject leaders who deliver awful results. From crooked suburban mayors to Marxist governors. Thats a bit to hope for, but I think of the old saying (Not from Churchill, but Abba Eban) Men and nations behave wisely when they have exhausted all other resources. These days nobody looks more exhausted than Joe Biden. Frank Friday is an attorney in Louisville, KY. Image: Andrea Widburg I've been reporting on Iran's nuclear weapons program for more than thirty years, and was the first to notice that Iran had signed a consulting agreement with Pakistan's A.Q. Khan to build uranium enrichment centrifuges. I was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 because of that reporting on Iran. So Iran's nuclear chicanery has few surprises for me. For the past twenty years, the Iranian regime has played a nuclear cat and mouse game with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, the UN's so-called nuclear "watchdog." But all that changed recently. In February, the former head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, told a domestic television interviewer that the regime has now "crossed all the scientific and technological thresholds necessary" for producing nuclear weapons. So do we have the bomb or not? the interviewer asked. Salehi's response was unambiguous. "Let me give you an example. What does it take to make a car? You need a chassis, an engine, a wheel, a gearbox... If you are asking me if we built the gearbox and the engine, my answer is, yes. Each part has its own role." Salehi's revelations were not an accident or a mistake. They were just the first course. In April, Mahmoud Reza Aghamiri, a nuclear scientist said to be close to Supreme Leader Khamenei, said that Khamenei "can change his stance tomorrow" on building nuclear weapons, and that the regime "has the capability" to make the leap because building the bomb is "not complicated." Kamal Kharazzi, a former foreign minister, told Al Jazeera in early May, We have no decision to build a nuclear bomb but should Irans existence be threatened, there will have no choice but to change our military doctrine." These are all serious warning signs, and they mark a dramatic departure from the previous denials and demurrals one was used to hearing from regime leaders. The real question is: does Iran already have the bomb? If they have all the components, the delivery system, and the warhead design, all they lack is the weapons grade uranium (WGU). The IAEA recently said that Iran can produce enough WGU from existing stockpiles in just seven days to produce its first nuclear weapon, and enough for thirteen bombs in just five months. That means Iran is a nuclear threshold state. Today. For all the bluster from politicians that they will never allow Iran to go nuclear, they have done it. What are we going to do about it? The answer is: nothing. We're just going to sit back and pretend there's nothing to see here, until the next Iranian attack on Israel includes a salvo of nukes. The Biden White House has allowed one more red line to be crossed without a peep. We ignore it at our peril. Image: Futureatlas.com Judge Juan Merchan gagged President Trump and his lawyers, but doesnt gag Micheal Cohen or the prosecution. Merchan doesnt care that the prosecution hasnt actually shown a crime that segues to a supposed bookkeeping violation. The judge wont allow an expert defense witness who would testify that there was clearly no campaign finance violation that would allow the prosecution to go back to the supposed hush money expenses. The judge doesnt care that state courts have no jurisdiction over federal election laws. The judge doesnt care how much Cohen lies on the stand. He doesnt even care that Cohen is an admitted thief. But, this same judge gets extremely mad when a defense witness bucks the tyranny and fails to properly bow; from Yahoo News: Defense witness who angered the judge in Trumps hush money trial will return to the stand A defense witness in Donald Trumps hush money case whom the judge threatened to remove from the trial over his behavior will return to the stand Tuesday as the trial nears its end. Trumps lawyers are hoping Robert Costellos testimony will help undermine the credibility of a key prosecution witness, Trump fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen. But Costello angered Judge Juan Merchan on Monday by making comments under his breath, rolling his eyes and calling the whole exercise ridiculous, prompting the judge to briefly kick reporters out of the courtroom to admonish him. The judge told Costello, a former federal prosecutor, he was being contemptuous, adding, If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand, according to a court transcript. Merchan threatened Costello with contempt, all because he treats this sham of a trial like a joke; facts and justice clearly dont matter to this judge or he would have tossed the case long ago. The most humorous attempt to justify Cohen stealing money was made by Biden campaign worker Lawrence ODonnellhe essentially said that it was okay for Cohen to steal tens of thousands from the Trump Organization because he (Cohen) was just trying to rebalance a bonus he believed was too small. I never knew that was a justification to steal. It is no wonder that so many people shoplift for a living when high paid talking puppets like ODonnell justify massive theft. It is no wonder that people like ODonnell claim Biden is innocent of massive corruption, no matter how much evidence he sees, when he is willing to justify blatant theft. Does anyone think that Cohen claimed this money on his tax return? If he didnt, that is tax fraud and tax fraud has no statute of limitations. Does anyone think Merrick Garland or the state of New York cares about Cohen stealing money and not reporting it? Nope, their focus is on destroying Trump, no matter how much they have to create fictitious crimes. Summary: It is not a crime to pay off an extortionist lawyer. It is certainly not a campaign finance problem. It is not a crime to seek to bury a story while campaigning for office. If it were, most politicians would be in jail. It is clearly not a crime to classify bills paid to lawyers as legal expenses. If you were going to hide them they would be classified as something else. Someone should ask Cohen how he classified the payment he made to Stormys extortionist lawyer. I bet he deducted it as a legal expense. What a waste of time and money on targeting a political opponentif a jury convicts Trump on this, it shows they are as biased as ODonnell, Merchan, the prosecutors, and most of the media. Image generated by AI. Blue Bell, the iconic Texas ice cream brand headquartered in Brenham, is the most-searched national ice cream brand in Texas and 21 other states, according to a new analysis. Melissa Phillip/Staff Photographer In news that will come as no surprise to most Texans, Blue Bell is the most popular national ice cream brand in the nation, at least based on internet searches. The Brenham-based creamery is the most-searched national brand in Texas and 21 other states, appearing in more than a third of all such queries, according to an analysis of Google Trends data by Trace One, a product lifecycle management platform. The number of states that favor Blue Bell is more than those that favor Baskin-Robbins and Tillamook combined, the most popular national ice creams in nine and eight states respectively. Blue Bell's popularity spans much of the South, from Arizona eastward and as far north as South Dakota, although ice cream fans in New Mexico are more likely to search for Baskin-Robbins, according to Trace One. Advertisement Article continues below this ad But when local and regional brands are added to the mix, H-E-B's Creamy Creations stands out, the analysis found. H-E-B's private-label ice cream is even more popular than Blue Bell in Texas, in terms of total number of searches. Blue Bell's national performance is particularly impressive, Trace One notes, given that it has a relatively new presence on the national ice cream scene. Even now, Blue Bell is only sold in 23 states. "Across the U.S., one ice cream brand stands out for its national appeal: Blue Bell," the analysis says. "Although the Texas-based company did not expand beyond its home state until the 1980s, Blue Bell has become one of the top brands in the U.S. in the decades since." In addition to staple flavors such as Homemade Vanilla and Moo-llennium Crunch, Blue Bell also stokes customer interest by regularly rolling out new flavors. Its latest, A&W Root Beer Float ice cream, is a partnership with the soda brand and consists of vanilla ice cream with a sassafras-y sherbert swirl. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Customer interest in ice cream historically rises and falls along with the temperature, Trace One noted, with ice-cream related searches usually peaking in July, when school is out and the heat is scorching. And while consumers may be most interested in Blue Bell, there is still room for smaller chains and local shops to win them over. Instead of disparaging the pro-Israel billionaires concerned about antisemitic protests on college campuses, it would have been more newsworthy for the Washington Post to criticize the pro-Hamas billionaires who orchestrated the protests. These protests, which have prevented Jewish students and professors from entering college campuses, blocked bridges, and disrupted government proceedings, were nationally coordinated. This systematic coordination and implementation of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish protests in support of Hamass October 7 massacre started even before Israel started fighting back. The Post now merely glosses over the fact that 1,200 Israeli civilians were slaughtered en masse in the most gruesome way babies, toddlers, women, raped, mutilated, and burned alive. Hundreds were taken hostage. It is obvious which side the Post is on, but this article puts the bias on full display. Remarkably, the article subheading stated that the Jewish group portrayed in the article sought to shape opinion on Gaza. More accurately, the group told the story of what actually happened, rather than a manipulation of what happened according to the pro-Hamas perspective. The Washington Post has presented article after article from the Hamas perspective the side that is currently holding Americans hostage along with many Israelis and civilians from other countries. Make no mistake: this coordinated attack that has blocked an ethnic group from certain areas in America would not be tolerated if orchestrated against any other ethnic/racial group. So why is the Post tolerating it? Time to come clean, Washington Post. 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: Daniel X. O'Neil via Flickr, CC BY 2.0. Buckets of blood dripped from Ebrahim Raisi, the 8th president of Iran, for his roles on the Death Committee and other atrocities under his direction. He wore a black turban to claim that he descended from the Prophet Muhammad. The Shiite president did not survive the helicopter crash of May 19, 2024. Who will mourn the death of an evil man who presided over the death and torture of so many? Dissidents were tortured, subjected to cruel inhuman treatment, and killed. A political purge against political dissidents lasted five months during 1988. Ordered by Ayatollah Khomeini, the Death Committee was a secret tribunal with four members, including Raisi. People were loaded into forklift trucks in groups of six and hanged from cranes in half-hour intervals. Amnesty International claims the numbers were between 2,800-3,800; alternative sources put the number around 30,000. Murdered victim of the political opposition included children. Raisi believed the amputation of hands for thieves (even children) without limit, tight morality laws, and the strictest interpretation of Sharia. Raisi claimed honor for his role in these mass executions, earning him the title Butcher of Tehran. Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennet said of Raisi that he celebrated the murder of his own people by eating cream cakes. When Donald Trump was president, sanctions were imposed on Iran and Raisi was blacklisted over his human rights record of mass executions and violent repression during the Green Movement in 2009. Raisi has been accused of crimes against humanity by international human rights organizations and the United Nations. Trump also pulled out of the Iranian Nuclear Deal, and stepped up crushing economic pressure, cutting off Iranian businesses from international banking. The U.S. State Department has designated Iran as one of the worlds leading sponsors of terrorism since 1979. A Holocaust denier, Raisi called Israel a false regime and threatened that Israel would be targeted if she made the slightest move against Iran. He denounced the Abraham Accords. Raisi had been a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Under Raisis presidential leadership, Iran enriched uranium close to weapons-grade levels while it impedes international inspections. Iran provides weapons to Russia in the war on Ukraine. Iran has proxy armies in Yemens Houthi rebels, who are disrupting international shipping in the Red Sea. Iran supports both Hezballah and Hamas. Iran promoted militia in Iraq to kill American soldiers. Raisi launched massive drone and ballistic missile attacks on Israel during the Hamas attacks. The first direct Iranian attacks on Israel were under Raisis rule. The in-custody death of Mahsa Amini, (2022) a young woman arrested for not wearing a hijab correctly according to the modesty police, sparked massive women-led demonstrations. When law enforcement was forced out of some cities, Raisi promised to set up an investigation of the murder. More than 22,000 demonstrators were detained and over 500 were killed in the months that followed her death. Raisi had been traveling with other Iranian government officials, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian (a key figure in the nuclear deal), when his helicopter crashed in the mountains of Iran near Azerbaijan. Fourteen hours after the crash, Mehr News Agency reported that the Supreme Leader declared all on onboard were martyrs. Iranian television has stopped regular programing to show prayers for the martyrs of the crash. First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber is expected to become the next president. Elections must be held within 50 days, according to the Islamic Republics constitution Dr. Roxane Farmanfarmaian teaches international relations involving the Middle East at the University of Cambridge. She posited that it is interesting that there were two other helicopters travelling in the convoy and they made it back safely. There will be inevitable questions as to whether there was foul play. For conspiracy theorists and those inclined to believe that Israel was responsible, Israel immediately announced that it was not responsible for the crash. Whether the cause of the crash was the hand of God, the weather, or faulty equipment, there could be geopolitical consequences. Mass protests against the Iranian Shiite theocracy have boiled and bubbled for years. Could this be an optimal time for revolution? The writer is an internationally published writer, a former English teacher, stockbroker, and owner/president of a small corporation. She is active with Republican Women, The Lincoln Club, and can be reached at darlenecasella@msn.com Image: Presidential Executive Office of Russia UPDATE: Turns out it was standard operating procedure to include those documents in the search warrant but the fact that the FBI would use such standard operating procedures against the President of the United States and his Secret Service detail is itself a scandal. Just sayin'. We know that the FBI and DOJ made a point of conducting the Mar-a-Lago raid when they knew Trump would not be there. However, newly released documents associated with the raid empowered the FBI and DOJ agents present on the scene to shoot Donald Trump and his Secret Service detail if necessary. We dont know if this was standard operating procedure or not, but its certainly concerning on its face. This new information emerged in newly unsealed documents in Judge Aileen Cannons courtroom. The invaluable Julie Kelly writes: An exhibit filed today by Donald Trump in a motion to suppress evidence seized during the FBIs August 2022 raid of Mar-a-Lago revealed shocking new details about the bureaus plans to use deadly force and even engage the former president and his security detail that day if necessary. The document is just one of many court filings recently ordered unsealed by Judge Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over the matter in southern Florida. As noted above, the FBI and DOJ planned the raid for a time when they knew that Donald Trump would be away. However, the best laid plans dont always go as expected, so there had to be a contingency plan...and what a plan it was. Per Julie Kelly: One section of the plan described how agents should handle the potential for use of deadly force: The FBI also considered various scenarios should the former president unexpectedly arrive at his residence during the raid. Agents were also prepared to go door-to-door to terrorize Mar-a-Lago guests if staff refused to turn over room keys: Assuming that the use of deadly force statement is not the FBIs standard operating procedure, its inclusion in the raid plan is disturbing. And even if it is SOP, the additional contingencies plan has sufficient ambiguity to suggest that the agents on the scene had a lot of latitude. Thus, paragraph 2 of the Contingencies document states, Should FPOTUS arrive at MAL, FBI MM EM and OSCs will be prepared to engage with FPOTUS and USSS Security Team. In the context of a plan that explicitly authorizes the use of deadly force, the concept of engaging can have myriad meanings, some of them deeply disturbing. Indeed, the FBI also planned to bring along a medic in case anyone was injured, and it identified the closest trauma center. Again, SOP? We dont know now. I dont need to repeat at length here that the entire classified document case is completely bogus. We now know that it was the National archivists who dumped the boxes with Trump. Moreover, as president of the United States, Donald Trump had plenary power over all classification schemes. Neither the employees of the administrative state (who work for the president and not vice versa) nor the legislature (which cannot infringe on the executives constitutional authority) can alter the presidents final say over document classification. Also, as a reminder, Biden was not president when he mishandled classified documents. The raid and the ensuing indictment were intended to embarrass Trump, sideline him, and potentially imprison him. Its possible, too, that the raid was also meant to locate documents showing criminal acts that the Democrats committed during and after Obamas presidency. With this new information about the authorization for the use of deadly force and the contingency plan in case Trump and/or his Secret Service got in the way, its just so easy to let your imagination run wild. Cant you just see some fervently partisan bureaucrat in the DOJ or the FBI fantasizing that Trump will arrive at Mar-a-Lago unexpectedly, get feisty, and be taken out by an over-zealous agent? In this fantasy, the agent, of course, will go to prison, a sacrificial lamb on the altar of making the obscene look respectable. However, sacrificing a pawn is a small price to pay if you can rid yourself of your most feared political opponent. Image: The Deep State Fantasy by Andrea Widburg, using AI. Given what we know about what has been going on in Justice Juan Merchans Manhattan courtroom, including the preposterous, over-the-top bias of this judge for the prosecution and his overt antipathy for the defendant, Donald Trump, what explains his willing destruction of his own reputation as a judge? Each and every legal scholar who has weighed in on the course of the trial, from Alan Dershowitz to Jonathan Turley and countless others, (with the exception of those paid by CNN and MSNBC) is gobsmacked by Merchans thoroughly unconstitutional rulings, gag orders, contempt charges, exclusion of practically every witness with relevant testimony for the defense, and his allowance of non-relevant witnesses like Stormy Daniels. He allowed her testimony, too, even though she knew nothing about the issue being tried, to spew her pornographic filth that could only come from the mouth of a porn star actress. Weve known for years now that our judicial system has been corrupted, transformed into an extension of the Democrat party by President Obama and Joe Biden, but Justice Merchan has taken their unscrupulousness to a wholly new and shocking level. To start, he is a campaign donor to Joe Biden, which according to the New York Times, is literally against the law: Political contributions of any kind are prohibited under state judicial ethics rules. The Times reported that he got off with a "caution" for his contempt for the law and open willingness to break it. Now the other conflicts of interest come out which raises this question: Could it be that Merchan has been bought off, paid enough money to sabotoge his own career to take Trump down and out? Crooked judges have always been with us. Merchans wife and daughter are doing well working for Democrats like Adam Schiff and Dan Goldman, two of the most ridiculous and partisan members of Congress. Perhaps Merchan is ready to retire with a big, dark money pay-off. There is certainly plenty of this kind of money floating around; Soros, Arabella, the Tides Foundation, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, Future Forward, China, etc. None of those people or organizations play by the rules nor do they keep transparent financial records like the Trump Organization actually does. Not even Rachel Maddow, the odious Joy Reid or Anderson Cooper can deny that there are two, distinct systems of justice in America today. They may try to deny it, but they are smart enough to see what has been taking place since Trump announced his candidacy in 2015. They, of course, love this two-tiered system that gives their side a huge advantage in all things political. Playing fair is not one of the lefts character traits. They embrace, plot and carry out their subversive plans with glee, driven by the mantra that the ends justify the means. The more popular a conservative, the more determined they are to ruin him or her. And no matter how corrupt one of their own is, the more they rally around to protect him or her, Hillary Clinton being a prime example of extreme malfeasance of which she is guilty and remains free as a bird for. Judicial breach of trust is nothing new. Consider the 1931 tax evasion trial of Al Capone. The judge in that case, Judge Wilkerson, switched the entire jury after learning that Capone had likely bribed members of the original jury. It is a mystery as to why no federal or SCOTUS judge has called for Merchans recusal or dismissal of this case; legitimate attorneys agree it never should have been brought, that there is no crime to validate the charges filed. Merchans conflicts of interest are flashing neon lights! As everyone knows by now, his daughter Loren runs a Democrat consultancy and has been raising upwards of a hundred million dollars because her father is the judge in this case. That fact in itself should be cause for alarm among the legal community. Sure, Republicans have been bringing all this to the attention of the American people for months, but no action has been taken. The Republicans in Congress talk a great deal about the Democrats venality but generally do nothing about it. Merchan has had free rein to desecrate our once-world-class legal system with impunity for all the world to see. The Biden DOJ has shredded the Constitution at every turn, the persecution by lawfare of President Trump being the blatant tip of their beastly iceberg. What has been done to pro-Trump supporters and pro-life protesters by this DOJ is the stuff of third world dictatorships. Justice Merchan, like Judge Engoron before him, is surely aware of all the legal scholars who have weighed in on his behavior with shock and awe but he seems not to care. He is on a mission to destroy Trump seemingly without concern for the law, the Constitution, or the ruination of his own reputation and career. No prosecutor nor defense lawyer is likely to ever again want to appear before a man so obviously biased for the far left without concern for right or wrong. It feels like he has been bought and paid for like the jury for Al Capone. Donald Trump and the American people deserve so much better than an unprincipled, extreme partisan like Judge Merchan. Image: Screen shot from NewsNation video, via YouTube Well, it's toilet-flushing time, with the Trump trial resuming, this time with Michael Cohen on the stand again crossed examined by the defense. Taken in line with the trial's biased judge, its corrupt district attorney, its beyond-trashy witness Stormy Daniels, Cohen managed to top them all in sheer disgustingness, openly admitting in court that he stole $30,000 from his employer like it was a good thing. According to the Associated Press: Cohen was the last witness at least for now for prosecutors, who are trying to prove that Trump sought to bury unflattering stories about himself and then falsified internal business records to cover it up as part of a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election. Over several hours of cross-examination, Trumps attorneys seized on Cohens past lies and criminal history, underscoring the risk of prosecutors reliance on the now-disbarred attorney. Cohen testified earlier Monday that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from Trumps company, an admission defense lawyers hope to use to sow doubt in Cohens crucial testimony implicating the former president in the hush money scheme. The exchange went like this, according to Yahoo! News: Cohen admits to stealing from the Trump Organization: During the defenses cross-examination, Trumps defense attorney walked Cohen through a series of payments the Trump Organization made to him in 2017, totaling $420,000. Cohen testified that RedFinch, a tech company hired to rig online polls in favor of Trump, was owed $50,000 for its services. But Cohen said he only paid it $20,000 and pocketed the remaining $30,000. You stole from the Trump Organization, right? Blanche asked, according to NBC News. Yes, sir, Cohen replied. In what universe would this creature not be arrested on the spot for an admission like that? He stole $30,000 which is way more than the average smash-and-grab thief steals from a Macy's in a day's work. This is mega-theft, and it was done with all the typical excuses employees make who steal from their employers. Once upon a time I worked as a private detective detecting employee theft, at Macy's, no less, and the typical miscreant excuse once caught was always that the employer "owed me." That was the excuse Cohen gave, putting him in the same category as basic criminals. He wasn't even subtle. The admission was brought out, as the press reported it, to show that Cohen was a dishonest human being, which is obvious enough, and by extension would lie about his payoff payments to the porno "star." But witness testimony contradicting him seemed like a stronger argument. Cohen's theft simply stands by itself as a great example of an unprosecuted crime even as President Trump is being prosecuted with draconian threats of imprisonment on a basic bookkeeping argument whose statute of limitations has long expired. If that doesn't stand out to the jury on the basic unfairness of this case, nothing will. Cohen is not only a liar, he's a thief and you wouldn't want him near your purse in a public place. It wasn't all the bad stuff he did in court, he also tried to manipulate the jury into convicting Trump: Cohen says its better for him if Trump doesnt get convicted: During cross-examination, Blanche asked Cohen, Do you have a financial interest in the outcome of this case? To which Cohen replied, Yes, sir, according to NBC News. Cohen was also asked if he would financially benefit if Trump is convicted. He testified its better if Trump is found not guilty because it gives me more to talk about in the future, referring to his financial gain from talking about the trial on his podcast and TikTok account. In other words, he understood how disreputable he was, so in telling the jury to convict Trump, it would be less beneficial to him. Why on Earth was this information allowed to be presented at all, other than to manipulate the verdict into 'guilty' given his general disgustingness? The judge, Juan Merchan, after all, prohibited testimony from an FCC chief who said that Trump's purported crimes were not anything they would prosecute or ever did. Now it's an invented crime and a witness so crummy his general crumminess is used as an argument to convict Trump to ensure that he doesn't profit from it? What kind of grossness is this? Flush it down, it's all bad and the pot has gotten full. Image: IowaPolitics.com. via Flickr // CC BY-SA 2.0 In the Popotla neighborhood of Mexico City, there is an ancient cypress tree called Arbol de la Noche Victoriosa (Tree of the Victorious Night). Previously, it was known as the Arbol de la Noche Triste (Tree of the Sad Night), in reference to a historical event during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, wherein Hernan Cortes and his army of Spanish conquistadors, along with their indigenous allies, were driven out of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan. According to legend, Hernan Cortes wept under this tree on the night of the retreat, mourning the heavy losses suffered by his troops. Hence, the tree became known as the Arbol de la Noche Triste. The ahuehuete and behind it, the hermitage of San Esteban Popotla. Painting by Jose Maria Velasco In late March 1519, Hernan Cortes landed with a force of Spanish conquistadors at Potonchan on the coast of what is now Mexico. Cortes had been appointed by Governor Diego Velazquez de Cuellar of Spanish-controlled Cuba to lead an expedition in the region, which was dominated by the Aztec Empire. However, at the last moment, Velazquez revoked Cortes's commission. Despite this, Cortes decided to proceed with the expedition. Using a combination of military force and political strategy, Cortes managed to secure the allegiance of the Totonacs and the Tlaxcalans (who were subjugated enemies of the Aztec Empire), among other groups, as he advanced towards the empire's main settlement, Tenochtitlan. In November, the Spanish force entered the city and was received by its ruler, Moctezuma II. Initially, the conquistadors were treated well by the Aztecs while they stayed in the city. However, Governor Velazquez, angered by Cortes's disobedience, sent an armed force under the command of Panfilo Narvaez to apprehend Cortes and claim the lands and riches he had conquered. Cortes was forced to leave a small garrison in Tenochtitlan under the command of his lieutenant, Pedro de Alvarado, while he led a small force to confront Narvaez. After securing a swift and brilliant victory, Cortes incorporated Narvaez's forces into his own and marched back to Tenochtitlan upon hearing that the city was in turmoil against the remaining Spaniards. Upon his return, Alvarado informed Cortes that he had preemptively attacked the Aztecs during a ritual ceremony, believing they planned to assault the Spaniards. This action incited outrage in Tenochtitlan. The Aztecs named a new emperor to replace Moctezuma, whom they now viewed as weak and easily influenced by the Spaniards. Cortes attempted to negotiate peace and, as a last resort, urged Moctezuma to address his people to achieve a truce. However, the enraged Aztecs struck down Moctezuma with a hail of rocks. Cortes and La Malinche meet Moctezuma in Tenochtitlan, November 8, 1519. By the end of June 1520, the situation had deteriorated drastically. Desperate to escape the city and spurred by an omen allegedly received by one of the Spaniards, the conquistadors resolved to flee. On the night of July 1, 1520, Cortes's large army headed west, toward the Tlacopan causeway. The causeway was apparently unguarded, and the Spaniards made their way out of their complex unnoticed, winding through the sleeping city under the cover of a rainstorm. But before they could reach the causeway, they were detected by elite Aztec soldiers, and the alarm was sounded. As the alarm spread, numerous Aztec warriors, noblemen, and commoners alike emerged from their houses and began attacking the Spaniards from all directions, using canoes or assaulting the causeway with swords, spears, arrows, and stones thrown from slings. The Spaniards fought their way across the causeway in the rain. Weighed down by gold and equipment, some of the soldiers lost their footing, fell into the lake, and drowned. Amid a vanguard of horsemen, Cortes pressed ahead and reached dry land at Tacuba, leaving the rest of the expedition to fend for itself during the treacherous crossing. An undated photograph of the Arbol de la Noche Victoriosa. Photo credit: smallcurio Cortes, Alvarado, and the strongest and most skilled men managed to fight their way out of Tenochtitlan, though they were all bloodied and exhausted. Cortes himself had been injured in the fighting. All the artillery had been lost, as had most of the horses. Seeing the wounded survivors straggle into the village, Cortes is said to have broken down and wept. This event came to be known as La Noche Triste (The Night of Sorrows). The sources do not agree on the total number of casualties suffered by the expedition. Cortes claimed that 154 Spaniards were lost along with over 2,000 native allies. However, historians estimate that around 450 Spaniards and approximately 4,000 allies were killed. There is no historical evidence that Cortes wept under a cypress tree. Historians and scholars specializing in the subject even doubt that this tree existed in 1520 and that the Spanish conquistador stopped to mourn his defeat, considering the confusion in the middle of a military retreat. Contemporary texts indicate Hernan Cortes's sadness over the event but do not mention any tree or specific place. Hernan Cortes himself does not reference a tree in the letter he addressed to Emperor Charles V. The Arbol de la Noche Victoriosa in 2021. Photo credit: Secretaria de Cultura de la Ciudad de Mexico The ahuehuete, or cypress tree, became associated with the episode of the sad night only around the 19th century. An iron fence was erected around the tree after an arson attack in 1872, and a stone plaque was installed identifying the tree as the one Cortes wept under. Over time, the legend of the tree grew turning the ahuehuete into a symbol of the fall of the Aztec Empire. The ahuehuete is no longer alive. The tree has endured significant deterioration over the centuries, with most of its original structure no longer standing. However, the site where the tree once stood remains a historical landmark in Mexico City. In 2021, as part of the commemoration of the five hundredth anniversary of the fall of Tenochtitlan, the government of Mexico City changed the trees name to Arbol de la Noche Victoriosa (Tree of the Victorious Night) emphasizing the Aztec victory during the battle rather than the Spanish defeat and mourning. This name underscores the importance of viewing historical events from multiple viewpoints, recognizing the triumph of the Aztecs in defending their city, even if temporarily. Apple would be looking to secure the first batch of chip manufacturing in TSMCs 2nm process. The company moved ahead of its main rivals in the smartphone industry with the launch of the Apple A17 Pro manufactured in 3nm. Now, it seems that they will seek to repeat the movement in the coming years. According to Economic Daily News, Apple would have already had a secret meeting with the president of TSMC to secure the first manufacturing batch in 2nm. The meeting would have taken place between Jeff Williams, Apples chief operating officer, and Wei Zhejia. president of TSMC. In addition to potential contracts for 2nm chip manufacturing, the discussion is said to have also involved AI chips. Apple would get ahead of its rivals by launching a 2nm chipset Currently, most flagship chipsets for phones are manufactured in 4nm wafers. Names like Apple, Mediatek, or Qualcomm sign agreements with external manufacturers, such as TSMC, to produce them in their factories. On the other hand, Samsung is a unique case that can also produce its own chipsets. Samsung is working on readying its first flagship chipset for smartphones manufactured in 3nm. Qualcomm will also launch the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 as its first flagship SoC manufactured in 3nm. On the other hand, last years iPhone 15 Pro series brought the first smartphones powered by a 3nm chipset. Now, everything indicates that Apple will once again get ahead of its rivals in this section. The more advanced the manufacturing process of a chipset, the greater the density of transistors it can include. This translates into improvements in raw power and energy efficiency. TSMC is among the highest-rated names in the SoC production industry due to the high efficiency of its wafers. TSMC factories are among the best-valued in the industry There are cases where the factory can be just as important as the manufacturing process. For example, until not long ago, Samsungs 4nm Exynos chipsets presented problems of low energy efficiency, something that did not occur in the 4nm chipsets manufactured by TSMC. Fortunately, the South Korean giant seems to have resolved this recently. Its latest Exynos 2400 offers satisfactory results in both performance and energy efficiency. So, the fact that Apple secured TSMCs manufacturing process is good news. On the other hand, Samsung is expected to continue on the right path in terms of chip production. This move by Apple could lead to a delay in the launch of 2nm chips from Qualcomm and MediaTek. Huawei is planning to push its very own operating system out to the market. Thats not exactly a secret. Huawei will launch Android-free HarmonyOS NEXT this year, and a new rumor claims its coming in September. Huawei could launch its very own HarmonyOS NEXT OS in September to push out Android This information comes from Digital Chat Station, one of the best-known tipsters around. Do note that this OS will launch in China first, but its expected to spread to global markets too. The global launch is expected next year, but nothing has been confirmed just yet. Considering the timing, HarmonyOS NEXT could launch alongside the Huawei Mate 70 series. Those devices are also tipped to arrive in September, so the timing definitely fits. With HarmonyOS NEXT, Huawei will ditch Android. The company doesnt have that much choice considering all the sanctions it has been given. HarmonyOS (China) and EMIU (global markets) is currently running on the companys smartphones, and its based on AOSP. Huawei is very limited in that regard, and cant really keep pushing updates on top of older Android versions (the newest models are based on Android 12, for example). The company has been aware of that for quite some time now, which is where HarmonyOS NEXT comes in. Huawei has managed to convince a lot of companies to develop native apps Huawei has seemingly been able to convince tons of companies to develop apps for HarmonyOS NEXT. The company said that over 4,000 apps have already been developed for it, and many more are on the way. At least 5,000 apps will be ready to go by the end of 2024, while Huawei plans to reach 500,000 apps in a rather short time span. The company identified the main app targets, both locally and globally, and is working on making sure to provide users with the needed apps. Think of HarmonyOS NEXT as a direct competitor to Android and iOS. Its a brand new operating system, not just a fork of Android. I want to be perfectly clear about that. A few days ago, Sony introduced its latest smartphones called the Xperia 1 VI and Xperia 10 VI. The former is the brands latest flagship offering, while the latter is a mid-ranger. Now, the Japanese electronics giant is reportedly planning to launch a new camera-centric smartphone for professionals. The company is allegedly working on the new Sony Xperia PRO-I. Ahead of the launch, the Insider Sony X account has leaked the key specifications of the new Sony Xperia PRO-I. In addition, the source has also revealed a few details regarding the design of the upcoming handset. The new Sony Xperia PRO-I will have a 1-inch 50MP main camera with ZEISS optics According to the source, the successor to 2021s Xperia PRO-I could be launched as the Xperia Pro C. The handset will have professional-grade camera specs loaded inside a much more compact form factor than its predecessor. The device will allegedly have a 6-inch OLED display with an anti-reflection coating, instead of a 6.5-inch screen. The handset will also have a 2K resolution, just like the recently launched Xperia 1 VI. Notably, the flagship will flaunt ZEISS camera technology, just like its predecessor. In the camera department, the Xperia Pro C could have a 1-inch 5MP primary camera on the back. The main shooter will have an aperture of f/1.8, a 20mm focal length, and optical image stabilization. The devices main sensor will have support for RAW 12-bit and 14-bit DCG RAW shooting. The source speculates that it could be an OmniVision sensor. Furthermore, the Xperia Pro C may have a 12MP secondary snapper with autofocus. The sensor could offer 4K recording at 120fps, 10-bit 420 S-LOG gamma curve, and HLG recording capabilities. The secondary camera might have support for 60fps RAW recording, Sony S-Cine-tone and Creative Look. The two shooters could be aided by another 12MP 20mm lens with support for 4K 60fps HDR recording. The Xperia PRO-Is successor could flaunt the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Apart from revealing the camera specs, Insider Sony has also leaked some other specs of the upcoming Xperia PRO-I handset. The phone is said to house the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset under the hood. The base variant of the device will have 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Notably, even with a smaller 6-inch screen, the new Xperia PRO model could pack a much bigger 5,000mAh battery. The device is also said to have a revamped 45W PD fast charging solution. Unfortunately, the source didnt mention a timeframe for the launch. Since the company has just released its latest flagship, the new PRO series offering could launch sometime in Q4. Former President Donald Trump speaks during the National Rifle Association Convention May 18 in Dallas. LM Otero/AP WASHINGTON Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to appear for a luncheon and reception in Houston Wednesday, as part of a fundraising swing through Texas aimed at deep-pocketed oil donors. On break from his ongoing trial in New York City on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, Trump is expected to speak at an event at the Post Oak Hotel, owned by Republican donor Tilman Fertitta, with a couple hundred people in attendance, according to sources close to the campaign. The luncheon comes as Trump has ramped up his efforts to woo the oil and gas sector, with the former president reportedly telling executives at a private dinner at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida they should donate $1 billion to his campaign because he would reduce taxes and regulatory oversight over the oil industry. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Trump is also scheduled to appear at a dinner in Dallas Wednesday evening, to be hosted by Kelcy Warren, founder and co-CEO of pipeline giant Energy Future Transfer. "President Trump has enormous support in Texas, and I expect his Houston and Dallas fundraisers to set all-time records," said Matt Mackowiak, a Republican political consultant in Austin. The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Fertitta, Warren and Harold Hamm, the founder of Continental Resources who is reportedly involved in organizing the Texas fundraisers, also did not respond to requests for comment. Oil and gas companies have donated more than $500,000 to the Trump campaign so far this campaign cycle, compared to $186,000 to the Biden campaign, according to the watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics. Advertisement Article continues below this ad But Trump's Texas fundraising this election has not kept pace with his 2020 campaign. Through the first three months of this year, Trump raised $10.2 million from Texas donors. At the same point in 2020, Trump had raised $20.1 million from Texas. TikTok is facing a nationwide ban in the US, and potentially Europe. A buyout by an American company might be the only way for the popular video app to continue its operations stateside. However, a sale could severely impact the user experience. ByteDance reportedly wont sell its core algorithm that makes the platform, currently estimated to be worth $100 billion, special. TikTok buyout wont include its powerful algorithm After mulling over it for years, the US government is officially pursuing a nationwide ban on TikTok. President Joe Biden signed the law last month after the bill passed Congress with an overwhelming majority. The new law forces a ban on the app unless its Chinese parent company ByteDance sells it to an American firm or group of investors. It has until January 2025 to decide. The Justice Department ideally wants ByteDance to sell TikToks US arm rather than enforcing a ban on the app. This would ensure continued access to the app for US users while addressing the security concerns. However, the Chinese firm doesnt want to sell TikTok. It has challenged the law in court, calling it an unconstitutional law that violates citizens First Amendment rights. A group of TikTok creators have also filed a similar lawsuit. They all want the court to block the law, allowing the platform to continue operations in the country. It has requested an expedited trial and a ruling by the first week of December. But if the ruling goes against it, ByteDance might have to sell TikTok and make some money off it rather than shutting it down for nothing. If industry estimates are accurate, it would be no small amount. We might be looking at an outrageous buyout costing a whopping $100 billion. Even then, TikTok might not give away a key element that plays an important role in its successits algorithm. The platform has a highly sophisticated algorithm that determines what kinds of videos you might want to watch. A few names have already emerged as potential suitors Like other video apps, TikTok allows users to follow their favorite creators and watch their videos. They can also search for a specific video or topic. However, the algorithm-powered feed of recommendations is its primary interface. The Chinese government has reportedly blocked ByteDance from including this powerful algorithm in any buyout deal for TikTok in the US. However, prospective buyers are undeterred by it. Among the names that have emerged as potential suitors is real estate billionaire Frank McCourt. He is currently assembling a group of investors to buy TikTok and putting together their bid for the app. They have yet to formally contact ByteDance for a TikTok buyout. Former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are also interested in the app. Of course, TikTok isnt worth as much without the algorithm. I get that. Thats pretty plain, McCourt said. But were talking about a different design, which requires people to move on from the mindset and the paradigm were in now. McCourt likely believes that he can rebuild the technology and give TikTok users in the US the same experience as before. But the bigger question is whether ByteDance will sell the platform. We might not get answers anytime soon. Scotlands top police officer said she has been shocked by the lack of focus on frontline policing in Scotland since taking up her post seven months ago. Addressing the centenary conference of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS) in the Borders, Police Scotland Chief Constable Jo Farrell said the organisation was being held under the water on a daily basis by the scale of demand it faces. She pointed to officers being taken off the front line to do work that should be done by police staff, and the demands of mental health incidents and court citations, which she said had a significant impact on policing by taking officers out of their communities and seeing rest days cancelled. She said an officer attends a mental health-related incident every three or four minutes on average, which, she said, equates to between five and seven hundred full-time officers worth of time. She said We must focus intently on our core duties and what matters to the people we serve. We must evolve our service so that we can live within our means and are fit for the challenges coming down the line. Some of our evolution will be in our structures and working practices, but everything we do must be about prioritising the front line and tackling harm and high harm and the issues that most affect the communities we serve. She added, since starting in post seven months ago, she had been quite surprised and at times shocked at the lack of focus on frontline policing in this organisation. Her comments came after a speech from ASPS president, Chief Superintendent Rob Hay, in which he called on police to steer clear of toxic culture wars. Chief Constable Jo Farrell, left, took to the streets of Glasgow in May (Jane Barlow/PA) Mr Hay told the conference: The divisive, political and toxic nature of some of the debate raging in wider society is not a place policing should ever inhabit. The flood of spurious complaints received upon the enactment of the new hate crime legislation is the latest example of the mischief-making we have seen, undertaken with spiteful glee and diverting police resources from those in actual need. So, let us be pacifists in the culture war as we have no interest in arresting JK Rowling, no matter how much she tweets about it, nor are we interested in investigating Humza Yousaf for describing some white people as being white. He said that while officers have an important role in policing genuine hate crime, they must not be drawn into the petty point scoring filling much of the debate. The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act came into force on April 1, creating a new stirring-up offence for some protected characteristics. These characteristics include age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity. More than 7,000 complaints were made online in the first week the Act came into effect and, earlier this month, it emerged the total number of complaints was close to reaching 10,000. He also told the conference that Police Scotland faced workforce pressures, saying that the force had the lowest officer numbers in 16 years, while at the same time being pulled in a thousand different directions by demand too often caused by gaps in other public services. Mr Hay said this was taking a toll on officers wellbeing, pointing to a recent survey that found that 80% of officers had seen their workload increase over the last 12 months, with 71% saying their work-life balance had deteriorated. He also reflected on the Scottish Governments previous promise to recruit 1,000 extra officers and the difference they made in targeting street gangs and reducing knife crime. However, he said the thousand extra officers are long gone, pointing out that the workforce has since shrunk to pre-2009 levels about 16,356 full-time equivalent officers at the end of March and the lowest since the end of September 2008, according to Government figures. He said: The tale of how Scotland beat knife crime is usually told through the lens of the world-renowned violence reduction unit (VRU). Nobody would deny the pioneering nature of the work the VRU undertook and have championed to this day. What is often forgotten, however, is the 1,000 additional officers recruited into policing in 2007, all of whom went to frontline community policing. What is also often forgotten is the unprecedented targeting of active street gangs for proactive enforcement that went side-by-side with preventative interventions. What is forgotten is that everyone caught in possession of a knife would appear in court in custody, where bail would be opposed if they had previous convictions for similar offences. The success was achieved by blending progressive, novel approaches of the VRU with conventional, visible, proactive policing measures. The daughter of a Belfast woman who died after years battling health problems caused by a contaminated blood transfusion has said the inquiry into the scandal has delivered a bittersweet vindication for her family. Danielle Mullan said it was surreal to read the findings of Sir Brian Langstaffs inquiry report without her mum Marie Cromie at her side. Ms Mullan is part of the tight-knit community of families in Northern Ireland affected by the health care disaster. Another victim, Nigel Hamilton from Islandmagee in Co Antrim, spoke of the cascade of emotions he felt receiving the report less than five months after the death of his twin brother Simon, who was also infected by contaminated blood. The 2,527-page report published on Monday found that the infected blood scandal could largely have been avoided and there was a pervasive cover-up to hide the truth. Danielle Mullan accused the Government of a disgusting cover up (Liam McBurney/PA) The probe said patients were knowingly exposed to unacceptable risks of infection as it outlined deliberate attempts to conceal what had unfolded, including evidence of officials destroying documents. In respect of Northern Ireland, the report highlighted that the region was reliant on blood donated by prisoners and military personnel, two groups associated with higher risk of blood infections. It also found that authorities in Northern Ireland brought little independent thinking to the issue and were content to allow central government to take the lead on all significant decisions related to the scandal. Ms Mullan, 36, said the UK Government should be ashamed of itself, as she accused the state of a disgusting decades-long cover up. Ms Cromie, a married mother of two and grandmother of two, died last July at the age of 64. The former school crossing patrol woman contracted Hepatitis C from a blood transfusion she received after the birth of her first child in the 1980s. She suffered liver failure and had two liver transplants during years of ill health caused by the infected blood. Her daughter Danielle said the transfusion had a massive impact on her mothers life. It took her life away from her, she had two liver transplants as a result of it, multiple health complications, endless hospital stays, it just took her life away from her and subsequently took her away from us as well, she told the PA news agency. She had so many health complications that I think over time wed sort of started to think she was the Bionic Woman. EEvery hurdle that was put in front of her, every time we were told shes not going to make it through, the chances of her surviving this are very slim, and she came through it every time. So when it did eventually happen, it happened very quickly, which I think is a bit of a relief for us. She had struggled on for so many years that when the time did happen, and when it did come, we were all there with her, we got to be with her for the days leading into it and then she was taken from us. Her body couldnt take it anymore. To be honest with you, I dont blame her. She said a couple of weeks before she actually died that she just wanted to close her eyes and she didnt want to open them again. She couldnt, she couldnt do it anymore. And, at the time, I thought it was selfish of her, I thought why do you want to leave us, but looking now seeing what she went through on a daily basis, I cant blame her for wanting to give up. I really cant. It was heartbreaking. Seeing her records that I obtained recently, seeing what she went through, was just horrendous. I wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy. Danielle Mullan holds an image of her mother Marie Cromie at their family home in south Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA) Ms Mullan said the findings of the inquiry report were not a shock to those who have been campaigning for the victims of infected blood for years. Weve known this for years. As campaigners, weve known this. It was just getting that confirmation that what we have been saying all along was right the Government covered it as best as they could, but they obviously havent covered it very well because its all come out now. They should be ashamed of themselves, disgusted. No amount of apologies or no amount of money is ever going to take away the pain and the suffering for anyone who is still alive or who has passed away. Its not going to bring my mum back to me again. So nothing, nothing they say will ever, ever replace her. Ms Mullan said her family do feel vindicated. Having Sir Brian come out with this report, and actually say that out loud, that its an absolute disgrace, that the Government know fine rightly what theyve done, and what theyve done was wrong. And now the entire world knows about it, and the Government have nowhere to hide now, she said. Ms Mullan said it was imperative the Government paid out compensation to victims and families as soon as possible. I dont feel like I can grieve, I cant grieve for my mum yet, she said. Im still representing her, Im still talking about her. But Im talking about her in a way that I dont want to be anymore. I want to be able to look back over the years and think of all the good times that we had, not constantly referring back to this situation. You know, once the Government pay the compensation, in my eyes, the doors closed, its done, we can move on. My mum can finally rest in peace for once. I know my mum had things in her mind in what she wanted done with that compensation. And she wanted to make sure that we were all OK. But shes not going to get to see that. She campaigned herself for as long as she could, when she was well enough she did interviews, she told her story, and shes not going to get to see that, shes not going to get to see their apology. Shes not going to get to see the benefits of the compensation coming through. So do the right thing and pay the people what they deserve and let them move on with their lives. Ms Mullan added: We talked about it when she was in hospital prior to her dying, we talked about when the report came out, and what we thought might be said, what Sir Brian might say and, you know, sitting here night, watching it on the TV, its a very surreal feeling because, you know, youre a part of something so monumental in history. But sitting here in her house, without her here, is a very, very bittersweet feeling. Haemophiliac twins Nigel (left) and the late Simon Hamilton when they attended the UKs Infected Blood inquiry hearings in Belfast in 2019 (Brian Lawless/PA) Haemophiliacs Nigel and Simon Hamilton both contracted hepatitis C from polluted blood products. Simon Hamilton, who like his brother was a vocal campaigner on the issue, died on Christmas Day last year. Nigel Hamilton, who is chairman of Haemophilia NI, said the report was both healing and supportive. I lost my twin at Christmas Day, I lost two cousins within the past 10 years, I lost two friends within the past two months, he said. We have suffered in Northern Ireland and the production of this report, as it now comes, has been both healing and supportive. It recognises the injustices that have taken place. It gives us an opportunity to address some of those and try to apply some of the positives that were going to find in this. Mr Hamilton said while compensation will help, it in itself is not a solution or the answer to the problems faced by victims. He said: The other aspect that has come out of this for me is that while I feel the cascade of emotions, positive and negative, I think that it indicates quite clearly that the Government are culpable. Successive governments are culpable of neglect, of abandonment. And that unfortunately has been a culture which has also been adopted within the health service. A former Royal Marine accused of assisting the Hong Kong intelligence service has died in unexplained circumstances in a park. Matthew Trickett, 37, an immigration enforcement officer and private investigator from Maidenhead, Berkshire, was also accused of foreign interference and had appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court with two other people last week. Thames Valley Police (TVP) said Trickett was found dead in Grenfell Park, Maidenhead, at around 5.15pm on Sunday after a report from a member of the public. An investigation is ongoing into the death, which is being treated as unexplained. A family statement said: We are mourning the loss of a much-loved son, brother and family member. We would be grateful if the press would respect our privacy at this difficult time and refrain from intruding on our grief. Tricketts solicitor Julian Hayes, senior partner at Berris Law, said: It has sadly been confirmed by Thames Valley Police that the body found in Grenfell Park, Maidenhead, on Sunday was that of our client Matthew Trickett. We are naturally shocked at this news and supporting his family as best we can. The death is currently being treated as unexplained by the police and further investigations are still ongoing. Trickett was charged along with Chi (Peter) Leung Wai, 38, from Staines, Surrey, and Chung Biu Yuen, 63, from Hackney, east London. They were charged under the National Security Act after an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command. The charges alleged that between December 20 2023 and May 2 2024, Yuen, Wai and Trickett agreed to undertake information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception that were likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service. Police next to a black forensics tent in Grenfell Park, Maidenhead (Jonathan Brady/PA) It is also alleged that on May 1 they forced entry into a UK residential address, being reckless as to whether the prohibited conduct, or course of conduct of which it forms part, would have an interference effect. They had all been bailed and were due to appear at the Old Bailey on Friday. Prosecutor Kashif Malik said during last weeks hearing that Trickett had attempted suicide after being charged, and had asked for the defendant to be remanded in custody for his own welfare. TVP referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), because Tricketts bail condition required him to regularly register at a police station. The IOPC has assessed that referral and decided the matter should be investigated by TVPs professional standards department. Trickett was formerly employed by the UK Border Force at Heathrow Airport, before joining Home Office Immigration Enforcement on February 21 2024. He was also the director of MTR Consultancy, a security firm formed in April 2021. A police cordon was in place in Grenfell Park on Tuesday evening with several officers stationed next to a black forensics tent located close to a childrens playground. Court artist sketch of, from left, Chung Biu Yuen, Chi Leung Wai, and Matthew Trickett in court (Elizabeth Cook/PA) More officers were positioned at vantage points and paths around the park. A local resident said there were children everywhere in the park on Sunday when Trickett was found dead by police. Tatiana Dioniseva, 30, told the PA news agency: On Sunday there were so many people here there were children everywhere. It was a bit bizarre because it was sunny there were children about and then a crime scene over there. She said Grenfell Park, which is located close to Maidenhead railway station in Berkshire, was popular, adding: Usually on Sundays, every bench will literally be taken. There are people everywhere its a popular place. Sarah Stogner took this drone photo of a Crane County site. Sarah Stogner The Railroad Commission obtained the no-fly zone from the FAA after Sarah Stogner flew her drone in close proximity to crews working on the ground, it said the complaint. Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer The Railroad Commission of Texas has filed a formal complaint against Sarah Stogner after she flew her drone over a high-profile blowout in Crane County in violation of the commissions controversial no-fly zone. The complaint, dated April 29, asks the Federal Aviation Administration to investigate and address violations of the no-fly zone that covered 3 nautical miles surrounding an old well. The commission, which regulates the states oil and gas industry, obtained the no-fly zone from the FAA after Stogner, a vocal critic of the commission that oversees the industry, flew her drone in close proximity to crews working on the ground, it said the complaint. Stogner said in an interview that the flight restrictions were fraudulently obtained. She denied flying too close to crews and noted there was never a gas leak, which was why the Railroad Commission said it needed the FAA to restrict flights in the area of the blowout. Advertisement Article continues below this ad During the period of the federal flight restrictions, Sarah Stogner posted on social media her intention to violate the no-fly zones with her drone; posted images obtained with the drone; and stated her intention to violate the no-fly zone in a column published in your newspaper, a commission spokesperson said in an emailed response to questions. The Commission feels it is appropriate to report such willful violations of federal flight restrictions to the FAA by a person who is not only an attorney, but also an FAA licensed pilot. The no-fly zone, scheduled to end in June, is no longer active, according to the FAA website. The blowout at the center of the no-fly zone controversy involved an uncontrolled explosion of toxic water that flowed for six weeks from an unplugged well in Crane County. The eruption, first reported Dec. 7, was the latest sign that water is running amok underground in aging oil fields just north of Fort Stockton. Water under pressure can travel underground at times carrying radioactive elements, chemicals and other oil field waste until it finds the path of least resistance, often an unplugged well that can allow it to burst to the surface. Stogner, an oil and gas attorney, said she knew that the Railroad Commission could pursue legal action against her, potentially risking her pilots license. Fighting the merits of the no-fly zone would have buried her in paperwork, allowing toxic water to burst to the surface undocumented, she said. If I had challenged it, she said Monday, the event would have been over. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The event raised questions about where the toxic water was coming from and whether it could be contaminating groundwater in the area. Testing by the RRC revealed benzene levels in the water roughly 10 times higher than regulatory thresholds for contamination of protected aquifers. The water also contained around 327,000 milligrams per liter of total dissolved salt solids, according to the commissions test, roughly nine times saltier than average seawater. The FAA said in a statement at the time that it approves temporary flight restrictions based on information provided by the government agency requesting them, citing wildfires, space operations and natural disasters as examples. We base the decision on information the requesting agency provides. There has been no gas detected in the area, the Railroad Commission said in December, noting the no-fly zone request with the FAA cited gas leak because it was the closest criteria available on the request form. The FAA does not have a specific option for the type of work being done at the location, the spokeswoman said at the time. Again, no gas has been detected. Advertisement Article continues below this ad More than a fifth of shareholder votes were cast against Shells climate strategy at a tense annual general meeting. The board faced heated exchanges with investors and protesters throughout the three-hour event at the InterContinental O2 in London on Tuesday. A resolution to approve the current strategy saw 21.8% of shareholder votes going against management, Shell said. Meanwhile, nearly a fifth of the votes (18.6%) backed a resolution from Dutch activist group Follow This, which called on the board to align decarbonisation targets with the goals of the Paris Agreement. But despite a record 27 institutional investors co-filing the resolution, the result came as a drop from 20.2% in 2023. The AGM was the first since Shell scaled back several short-term and medium-term climate targets last year. The oil major also dropped plans to reduce oil production by 1-2% each year for the rest of the decade, stating it had already reached that target after it sold off oil fields to others. The changes came as part of new chief executive Wael Sawans strategy to focus on higher-margin projects and growth in the production of natural gas to increase shareholder payouts. Ahead of the meeting, protesters erected large signs outside the building reading Shell profits kill and Your greed is killing humanity, as a protester made speeches through a megaphone. Inside, chairman Sir Andrew Mackenzies opening remarks were immediately disrupted by protesters delivering a rendition of the song Jolene, singing Shell Kills, shell kills, shell kills. As security staff carried protesters out of the meeting room, they chanted: Who kills the climate? Shell kills the climate. Sir Andrew went on to defend the companys stance on the climate, emphasising the goal to be net zero by 2050 and explaining how it believes the energy system will transition in the decades ahead. The chairman argued Shell believes the world will need more liquefied natural gas (LNG) through the transition and that oil will play a vital role for a long way to come. He added: While it might be tempting to stop using oil and gas before the world is ready, we must not do so at the expense of the energy needs and aspirations of a growing global population. As the meeting moved on to shareholder questions, Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This, challenged the board about its environmental impact. He said: Dear shareholders, get a load of this. The world has pledged to halve emissions by 2030 and your company has no plans to further reduce emissions this decade. He asked the board: Can you explain how Shell can be Paris-aligned without reducing emissions up to 2030, without using the word believe? In response, Mr Sawan argued Shell is very much aligned with achieving a 2050 net zero outcome and said the firm is using the most ambitious scenarios under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment report. Protesters held banners reading Shell profits kill outside the oil giants AGM (Rebecca Speare-Cole/PA) The chief executive then urged investors to vote against the resolution, arguing it is bad for the environment, bad for our customers, bad for you as shareholders and bad for governance. Responding to the 18.6% vote for the resolution after the meeting, Mr van Baal said: Votes for this climate resolution show which investors are committed to Paris and which investors endorse Big Oils refusal to take meaningful climate action. Later in the meeting, a woman addressed the board about Shells alleged human rights abuses and environmental destruction in the Niger Delta. After speaking for a few minutes, Sir Andrew said she had gone over her allotted two minutes and security staff swarmed the woman, asking her to leave. Sir Andrew intervened, allowing her to continue but she grew tearful as she questioned why security had hassled her and who was going to clear up the pollution in the Niger Delta that has cost lives after Shell sells its majority stake in the local operator. A fellow shareholder confronted the board and highlighted that the one shareholder who was surrounded by security for speaking longer than two minutes was a young woman of colour. (It) makes me, as a shareholder, very uncomfortable, and I hope that it makes the board feel uncomfortable and fellow shareholders, she said. In response, Sir Andrew said there are processes in place to ensure security, adding: Im sorry it didnt occur in the right way. A Shell spokesperson said: We respect peoples right to express their point of view and welcome any constructive engagement on our strategy and the energy transition. However, these protesters have shown that they are not interested in constructive engagement. We agree that society needs to take action on climate change, and we firmly believe our climate targets are aligned with the more ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement on climate change. Following the results, Mr Sawan said: Shells shareholders have strongly backed our strategy to deliver more value with less emissions, as we transform to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050. Our focus on performance, discipline and simplification enables us to invest in providing the energy the world needs today, and in helping to build the low-carbon energy system of the future. The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola has paid tribute to his lifelong friend and collaborator Fred Roos, who has died aged 89. Oscar-winning producer Rooss death at his home in Beverly Hills, California, on Saturday, a few days before his 90th birthday, was confirmed by a representative to the AP news agency on Tuesday. Roos produced The Godfather Part II, which earned him, Coppola and Gray Frederickson an Academy Award for best film, after putting forward Al Pacino to be cast in The Godfather. He returned to work with Coppola over the next decades on films including on The Godfather Part III, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now and most recently the American directors latest project Megalopolis, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday. In an Instagram post, 85-year-old Coppola wrote: Fred Roos possessed a casting instinct that was near infallible: so beautifully demonstrated in American Graffiti and The Outsiders. He was a great lifelong friend and collaborator with above all a true love for movies. I remember once telling him that we needed to find more women directors but that we should look for them among kids playing with 8mm movie-making equipment rather than dolls and he came up with kids named Martha Coolidge and Susan Seidelman. He was a unique talent and will certainly be missed. Roos produced Coppolas wife Eleanor Coppolas documentary Hearts Of Darkness, and also worked with the film-makers daughter, Lost In Translation director Sofia Coppola. Eleanor died in April aged 87. Shia LaBeouf, who is part of the ensemble cast for time travel epic Megalopolis, wrote on X: The nights flame with fire. As you ride life straight to perfect laughter, Fred Roos I loved you a lot. Roos also assembled the casts for George Lucas-directed American Graffiti, produced by Coppola, which starred Harrison Ford before he went on to feature in Star Wars films and Richard Dreyfuss prior to Jaws. He also produced coming of age story The Outsiders, directed by Coppola, which helped launch to prominence a cast of young actors including Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze and Rob Lowe. Lowe wrote on Instagram: Saddened to hear of the passing of Fred Roos. Every movie lover should know his name. He was a casting genius and responsible for the careers of: Harrison Ford, Al Pacino, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Tom Cruise and the rest of The Outsiders cast (including me), and many others. Thank you, Fred and god speed. Out-of-work Britons are to be offered places on skills bootcamps as part of a Government bid to plug gaps in the labour market which were previously filled by overseas workers. Benefits claimants will be given training for roles in key sectors facing shortages, including hospitality, care, construction and manufacturing, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said on Tuesday. In a speech at a Jobcentre in central London, the Cabinet minister said the UK has relied on foreign labour for too long as he vowed to unleash Britains hidden army of talent. Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride has vowed to unleash Britains hidden army of talent (Lucy North/PA) It comes after the Home Office announced a raft of restrictions aimed at cutting the number of people entering Britain and ahead of official net migration statistics set to be published on Thursday. The measures include a ban on overseas care workers bringing over family dependants, a drastically increased salary threshold for skilled workers to 38,700, and reforms to make it harder for Britons earning less than the national average to bring over foreign spouses. Mr Stride acknowledged that the rules, which aim to reduce the number of people arriving in Britain by 300,000 a year, present a recruitment challenge for employers but insisted the Government is building a new economic model based on British talent. I know this presents a recruitment challenge for some employers in certain sectors, particularly those that have relied more on migration in the past, but this is also a huge opportunity for the thousands of jobseekers within our domestic workforce to move into roles that have previously been filled by overseas workers. The minister added: I see no reason why a British worker cannot be a care worker. And I hear too many people saying Oh, well, those jobs arent the jobs for the domestic labour market.' The plans include a new Government taskforce set up to develop recruitment initiatives in industries facing major shortages, chaired by Mr Stride and including ministers from the Home Office, Treasury, Department for Education and Department for Business and Trade. It will draw on the measures introduced to target the shortage of HGV drivers, which included skills bootcamps and Jobcentre training schemes, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said. Asked during a media Q&A after his speech how the initiatives will work in practice, Mr Stride said they are short, focused training sessions typically put together with input from businesses. It is just a simple fact that if you can get somebody whos willing and incentivised to work and you give them those skills over a short period of time, you can make a real movement of the dial in terms of having people go into those areas of employment, he said. My message to businesses is clear: our Jobcentre teams stand ready to help you find the right candidate, and we want to work with you to overcome recruitment challenges. And my message is also to the British people. For too long we have relied on labour from abroad when there is great talent right here in the UK I am determined to put that right. He suggested major welfare reform is needed, arguing that personal independence payments (Pip), the main disability benefit, are creaking under the weight of the profound changes weve seen in the nature of disability. Ministers have previously proposed changes to eligibility criteria and assessments for the payments, which will be consulted on over the coming months, with suggestions that people suffering with depression or anxiety could lose access. Labour dismissed the latest announcement as another talking shop and said more drastic measures are needed after official figures showed net migration hit a record-breaking 745,000 in 2022. Shadow work and pensions secretary Alison McGovern said: After laying bare the Tories damning failure on work, skills and training, Mel Stride is going to be furious when he finds out who has been in power for the last 14 years. Talking shops and billboards do not even scratch the surface of what is needed to get Britain working. The Tories should be prioritising proper plans to tackle worker shortages and adopting Labours plan to connect the immigration system to skills. The Tories cannot be the change from their own failings. It is Labour who have the plan to get Britain working by cutting NHS waiting lists, reforming job centres, making work pay and supporting people into good jobs across every part of the country. Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokeswoman Wendy Chamberlain said: In many ways this is an admission that the Conservatives have no plan to tackle the biggest reason that people are unable to work, which is that NHS waiting lists are through the roof. Thousands are struggling to access the healthcare they need, meaning people are unable to go back to work. This Conservative Government has neglected our NHS, which is continuing to damage the countrys economic recovery. We will only get the economy back fighting fit by fixing the health crisis. The Unison union criticised proposals for bootcamps for the unemployed as a desperate attempt to distract voters from Government care failings. Theres nothing wrong with promoting social care as a career and offering proper training to try to attract new recruits to the crisis-stricken sector, the unions head of social care, Gavin Edwards, said. But forcing the unemployed off benefits and into caring roles, while keeping pay rates low, simply wont work. Most people will neither want to do the jobs, nor be remotely suited to them. This latest foolish idea shows ministers are clueless about how to fix care. Irish Cabinet ministers have been briefed on plans to recognise Palestinian statehood by the end of the month, as Israel warned that the announcement will fuel extremism and instability. Irish and Spanish officials have been in discussions with other European countries about making a joint recognition of the state of Palestine. The announcement is expected within the next 10 days. Micheal Martin and Simon Harris (Maxwell Photography/PA) The leaders of the three coalition parties briefed Cabinet ministers on the latest stage of negotiations on Tuesday. Irish premier Simon Harris and deputy premier Micheal Martin are involved in ongoing co-ordination with other European leaders about the announcement, a Government spokesman said. The spokesman said that recognising Palestinian statehood has been a foundation stone of Irish foreign policy, adding that the Government believes in a two-state solution. Meanwhile, in a online video targeted at Ireland, Israels Foreign Ministry warned that recognising a Palestinian state will lead to more terrorism and jeopardise any prospects for peace. The narrator says: Ireland, the possibility of recognising a Palestinian state risks turning you into a pawn in the hands of Iran and Hamas. Recognizing a Palestinian state will lead to more terrorism, instability in the region and jeopardize any prospects for peace. Dont be a pawn in the hands of Hamas. pic.twitter.com/81f7Gxweol Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) May 21, 2024 Such a move will only strengthen Hamas and weaken an already dysfunctional Palestinian authority. The fact that Hamas leaders are thanking you should serve as wake-up call. Your actions will only fuel extremism and instability. Progress can only be achieved through direct negotiations within a wider regional context. Dont be pawns in the hands of Hamas. Say no to recognition. Broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby has said terminally ill people of sound mind should have a right to an assisted death, after his brother died in a terrible physical condition with motor neurone disease. Scupltor Nicholas Dimbleby, who is also the brother of TV star David Dimbleby and won acclaim for statues such as that of JM Whistler on Cheyne Walk and Jimmy Hill at Coventry City FC, died in February. Speaking on ITVs Good Morning Britain, Jonathan said his brother had always been a supporter of the right to assisted death. 'If you are terminally ill and of sound mind, you should have that right.'@dimbleby_jd's brother was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and died earlier this year but Jonathan says 'he wanted the option' to have an assisted death. pic.twitter.com/FYyjD5w8BC Good Morning Britain (@GMB) May 21, 2024 He added: He wanted the option and believed he should have had the option, once he was terminally ill, of sound mind as he was until the very end but in a terrible physical condition. He wanted the option, whether he would have taken the option I do not know. I found out on his behalf about Dignitas, which is what he was thinking about, at one point. The complexities of that, the awfulness of having to go through the procedures, the cost of it 15,000 pounds now at least, the fact that that your loved ones if they consciously seem to be helping you in any way towards that end, are liable to criminal prosecution, there is a series of big hurdles. But I think the the fundamental point is, in my own view, that if you are terminally ill in the sound mind, you should have that right. I am acutely aware, as anyone should be of the those who are vulnerable and those who have disabilities. Dame Esther Rantzen is among other high profile advocates for assisted dying (Kirsty OConnor/PA) I greatly respect those in those situations, particularly those disability campaigners who fear that this is a slippery slope. I dont think there is any need to have a slippery slope with the legislation that I think should be proposed. Dame Esther Rantzen and Dame Prue Leith are among the other high profile advocates for assisted dying, while actress and disability rights campaigner Liz Carr has spoken out in opposition. Laws in the UK currently prevent people from asking for medical help to die and Carr has been a vocal opponent of assisted dying for more than a decade. Jerseys politicians are to vote this week on whether to establish an assisted dying service on the island. Regulations which lowered the threshold for police intervening in protests were unlawful, the High Court has ruled. Civil liberties group Liberty brought legal action against the Home Office over protest regulations passed by statutory instrument last year. The Government measures lowered the threshold for what is considered serious disruption to community life, from significant and prolonged to more than minor. They also allowed police officers to take into account any relevant cumulative disruption of repeated protests. The regulations came after the Government tried to introduce the same changes when the Public Order Bill went through Parliament, but they were rejected by the Lords at the time by 254 votes to 240. The step to restore the provisions by statutory instrument, which faces less scrutiny than primary legislation, was criticised at the time but passed last year. At a hearing in February, lawyers for Liberty asked the High Court to quash the unlawful provision. And in a ruling on Tuesday, two judges ruled for the group, finding the Home Office acted outside of its powers by reducing the threshold and failed to carry out a fair consultation process. Lord Justice Green and Mr Justice Kerr said: As a matter of ordinary and natural language more than minor is not within the scope of the word serious. The judges continued: Under section 2A(b), when considering whether a public procession or assembly may result in serious disruption to the life of the community a senior police officer must take into account all relevant disruption and may take into account any relevant cumulative disruption. If we are correct in our conclusion that serious does not include more than minor, that affects how the police apply the connected concepts of disruption and cumulative because it is critical context to those provisions. A Home Office spokesperson said the department were disappointed by this outcome. As the regulations were approved, then-home secretary Suella Braverman argued the changes would provide further clarity for police. Former home secretary Suella Braverman had championed the regulations (Victoria Jones/PA) She told MPs in June 2023: People have a right to get to work on time free from obstruction, a right to enjoy sporting events without interruption and a right to get to hospital. The roads belong to the British people, not a selfish minority who treat them like their personal property.In some cases the protests have aggravated the public so much that theyve taken matters into their own hands. Theyve lost their patience, the police must be able to stop this happening and its our job in Government to give them the powers to do so. Ms Braverman lost her job after branding pro-Palestinian protesters hate marchers and accusing the Metropolitan Police of bias for letting a rally go ahead on Armistice Day, and has since called for ministers to be given the power to ban protests outright. During the hearing in February, lawyers for Liberty said the decision to make the regulations included a one-sided, unfair consultation with a narrow group of stakeholders, including the Metropolitan Police and the National Police Chiefs Council. In the 57 page judgment, the judges said that fairness was needed in a consultation. Lord Justice Green and Mr Justice Kerr concluded: Applying a broad standard of fairness we conclude that fairness required a balanced, not a one sided, approach, and the procedure adopted was not fair. Akiko Hart, Libertys director, said after the decision: This ruling is a huge victory for democracy and sets down an important marker to show that the Government cannot step outside of the law to do whatever it wants. We all have the right to speak out on the issues we believe in and its vital that the Government respects that. The judges granted the Home Office permission to appeal against the ruling and said any challenge should be expedited. The Prime Ministers official spokesman said: Weve said before that the right to protest is fundamental to democracy, but we simply will not tolerate intimidation or serious disruption of the law-abiding majority, and that is why we legislated to clarify the definition of serious disruption and give police the confidence they need to tackle serious disruption, and tackle the scenes that we saw last summer, where, you know, ambulances were being delayed and peoples lives were being disrupted. Were obviously disappointed by this outcome. We will consider all options to keep this important power for police, including appealing the judgment if necessary. A Home Office spokesperson said: While we are disappointed by this outcome, we are pleased that we have been granted permission to appeal and we will consider all other options to keep this important power for police. The right to protest is a fundamental part of our democracy but we must also protect the law-abiding majoritys right to go about their daily lives. That is why we legislated last year to give the police the tools they need to address disruptive protests. There must be justice and accountability for any wrongdoing when it comes to the infected blood scandal, the Prime Minister has said. Rishi Sunak said victims affected by what has been described as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS have waited an incredibly long time for justice and the truth. The comments come after the Infected Blood Inquiry identified a catalogue of systemic, collective and individual failures that amounted to a calamity. More than 30,000 people were infected with deadly viruses between the 1970s and early 1990s as they received blood transfusions or blood products while receiving NHS care. Mr Sunak issued a wholehearted and unequivocal apology to the victims on Monday, saying the publication of the report into the disaster was a day of shame for the British state. Speaking to reporters on a trip to Austria on Tuesday, Mr Sunak said: What has happened over decades has been a failure on multiple levels and it is important that yesterday was a day for the community to be heard, and they have waited an incredibly long time for justice and the truth. That is why I, rightly as Prime Minister, offered an unequivocal apology to everyone affected by this appalling scandal. The infected, the affected, everyone impacted in the community, they have fought under considerable pressure facing prejudice over many decades. Anyone reading the report will have found it harrowing, indeed devastating, and I am glad that yesterday was a moment for reflection on everything that has happened, and their voices could be heard and they received the apology that they so rightly deserved. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke about the infected blood scandal while on a visit to Austria (Jordan Pettitt/PA) Asked if there should be criminal prosecutions of those found to have done wrong during the course of the scandal, Mr Sunak said: As I said yesterday, anyone, people, individuals, where there is evidence of wrongdoing, of course there must be justice and accountability for that. But the report is very long, it is very comprehensive, and what I am committed to is the Government will now take the time to go through it properly and rigorously before responding in Parliament, and, of course, any individual cases will be a matter for the relevant authorities. Corporate manslaughter charges are unlikely, according to lawyers, despite calls from former health secretary and now Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham for a full consideration of prosecutions against Whitehall departments. Public inquiries are prohibited from making any recommendations about prosecutions but other countries affected by the scandal have seen ministers brought before the courts. Max Hill, who left his role as director of public prosecutions for England and Wales in October, told Times Radio there is no time limit regarding how far back criminal prosecutions can go. The short answer is, if the evidence is there, there is no bar to an investigation and a prosecution, he said. (PA Graphics) Now, sadly, corporate manslaughter came into force as a criminal offence on April 6, 2008 much too late to deal with this case. However, there are other criminal offences which pre-date corporate manslaughter, where individuals have a duty of care and (if) they breached that duty in a gross way thats a legal term they can be held liable. Gross negligence manslaughter comes to my mind and also misconduct in public office. Its not for me to know whether either of those are feasible in these circumstances, but the criminal law does provide answers such as this even decades after the event. The 2,527-page report from the inquiry, published on Monday, found the infected blood scandal could largely have been avoided and there was a pervasive cover-up to hide the truth. Deliberate attempts were made to conceal the disaster, including evidence of Whitehall officials destroying documents, the seven-year probe found. Patients were knowingly exposed to unacceptable risks of infection. Inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff said the scale of what happened is horrifying, with more than 3,000 people dead as a result and survivors battling for decades to uncover the truth. Ministers failed to act in order to save face and expense, the inquiry said, with the current Government criticised for failing to act immediately on recommendations around compensation which were made last year. Sir Brian said the contaminated blood disaster is still happening because patients who suffered life-shattering infections continue to die every week. Angela Rayner's focus on affordable housing and amenities in her perty's 'new towns' will hold back builders - Belinda Jiao More power for the trade unions. Extra windfall taxes. And a big increase in the levels of regulation. There has not been much about the Labour Partys economic programme to inspire any confidence that a government led by Sir Keir Starmer will do anything to improve the dismal prospects of the British economy. There was, however, this. The party had committed itself to finally facing down the Nimbys and building the new homes the country desperately needs. Amid all the guff about securonomics, stability, and green investment, Labour would at least build more houses. In his conference speech last year, Starmer promised to bulldoze through the restrictive planning system, to build the next generation of Labour new towns, ushering in a decade of national renewal. With few votes to worry about in the leafy suburbs, and without any troublesome backbenchers trying to protect the green belts in their constituencies, Labour would finally be able to swat away all the obstacles put in the way of house builders over the last 14 years of Conservative rule. In fairness, amid the rhetorical hype, there was even an element of truth to it. Labour might have been able to achieve something that no party of the centre-Right reliant on elderly property-owners ever could. And yet, in what may soon become a depressingly familiar pattern, as soon as Labour comes close to anything resembling a good idea, Angela Rayner comes along to kill it off. In a speech to developers and investors on Monday, the partys deputy leader set out a series of conditions for the new towns it aims to build. They will include buildings with character, guaranteed public transport and public services, and green spaces, while every third street will include a statue of Nye Bevan to celebrate the NHS (okay, okay I might have made that one up, but you get the general idea). But Rayner also threw in a killer twist. Apparently, every new town under an incoming Labour government will also have to include a 40pc target for affordable housing. Seriously? Of course, we dont yet know exactly what the party means by affordable. But we can guess. Affordable presumably means that close on half the new homes will have to be sold at below their market value. Otherwise, you could simply leave it to the developer to sell each house for whatever the price happened to be. In effect, it means that homes will be sold for less than the price they would otherwise fetch. There are two big problems with this. Firstly, it will mean that no sane company will want to build any of the new towns Labour has promised. They will bear all the costs of acquiring the land, hiring the architects, bringing in the brick-layers, roofers and electricians needed to get them all up, and then Rayner will come along and tell them what price they can charge for many of the finished homes. In the unlikely event that they make a profit, there will inevitably be accusations of profiteering, possibly at the expense of key workers in the public sector. It is hard to see that it will be worth the hassle. Next, it reveals that the party, even under its reformed leadership, still has no idea of how the economy actually works. The way that any product becomes more affordable is by producing more of it, usually more efficiently. Thats why we have affordable smartphones, and affordable TV sets, and lots of affordable ready-meals in the local supermarket. Indeed, we used to have affordable cars as well, until the green ideologues came along with targets, quotas, and rules stipulating what we can and cannot drive, and how the vehicle should be powered. As so often, Rayner has got this completely upside down. Homes will become more affordable once we have more of them, not when the government simply sets a price. If anyone wants any proof of that, they have to look to the other side of the Channel. France, a country with a similar population, builds almost twice as many new homes every year as we do in the UK. And quelle surprise! prices are far more affordable. Heck, who knows, perhaps that would work in this country as well. The new towns policy is now surely dead in the water. Nothing will get built. At the same time, we can be sure that Labour will ramp up immigration at least to the same extraordinarily high levels witnessed under the Conservatives and perhaps even higher. Its safe and legal routes for asylum seekers, while arguably kinder, will clearly increase the number of applicants; it will cave into the demands from its backers in higher education to keep the numbers of foreign students at record levels; and it will allow employers, especially in the health service and care homes, to keep bringing in all the foreign workers they argue they need. Add it all up, and the population will soar, while there will be no obvious increase in the supply of new homes. The result? As even Angela Rayner should be able to work out, the housing crisis will get worse and worse and the Labour government will only have itself to blame. Sir Keir Starmer needs to deliver a more coherent stance on single-sex spaces that protect women - Belinda Jiao One would have assumed that a woman who has been raped, and seeks help from a rape crisis centre, is entitled to know the sex of the counsellors who she is disclosing to. One would assume that if a rape victim is anxious enough to ask whether her counsellor will be male or female, she can be reassured that she will be talking to another woman. One assumes that an organisation set up to support rape victims is not in the business of keeping the sex of its own support workers secret from the users of that service. One would presume that, in such a moment of trauma, a woman is not judged in some way unsound for seeking these reassurances. This, after all, is why rape crisis centres exist: to provide female-only spaces of safety. Well, one has assumed wrong. It has been common knowledge that Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, funded by the Scottish Government, has been run by a trans woman who has no gender recognition certificate, i.e. who is legally a man. Mridul Wadhwa. Wadhwa, appointed in 2021, has made a whole series of controversial statements about what kind of support women coming to the centre should get, including: sexual violence happens to bigoted people as well. This means that if a victim has unacceptable beliefs, they need to be challenged and have their trauma reframed. One of those beliefs Wadhwa deems unacceptable is the refusal to buy the line that transwomen are women, full stop. The victim who has just suffered sexual violence at the hands of a male needs re-educating. Wadhwa took a place on a SNP all-women shortlist, has objected to amendments allowing rape victims to choose the sex of medics who examine them and thinks the single-sex provision that is part of the Equality Act 2010 is discriminatory against transwomen. However Wadhwa identifies, Wadhwa is a trans-activist who is prepared to harass and dismiss women who believe that biological sex is a reality. The extent of all this has been revealed in an excoriating judgment at a tribunal where Roz Adams won her claim of constructive dismissal against Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre. The judge talked of a heresy hunt headed up by Wadhwa, who launched an investigation into Adams for holding gender-critical views. The investigation was described as somewhat reminiscent of the work of Franz Kafka. Essentially, Adams was discriminated against for simply asking on behalf of one of the service users about the biological sex of a counsellor. This is wrongthink. There is no room for discussion; one must bow down to a belief system that maintains gender trumps biological sex every time, that a man who says he is a woman knows best what rape victims need. Actual women do not get a choice. So many awful things were revealed in this judgment. Survivors who do not want to be exposed to men with transgender identities were no longer accessing support because this was a condition of getting help. Wadhwa did not care. Internals emails revealed that the setting up of Beiras Place, another rape crisis centre funded by JK Rowling which is a single-sex space was seen as a sad day for Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, who would not refer people there. What kind of mindset sees more services for rape victims as bad? What kind of narcissist prioritises their brand of activism over actually helping all kinds of women? Wadhwa has openly admitted that trans inclusion means the firing of anyone deemed transphobic. JK Rowling took me to Beiras Place on the day it opened. The hugely experienced staff there do not offer re-education. Isabelle Kerr, the chief executive, explained to me: It just doesnt matter what your politics are. We focus on what you can only focus on. It should not take JK Rowling to finance this, but thank whatever god you like that she has. This is yet another case demonstrating that when light is shone on to these proponents of extreme gender ideology, the centre cannot hold. In the most vulnerable of places prisons, rape shelters, hospitals womens rights are in conflict with the demands of trans activists. You cannot square this circle by classifying anyone who experiences this as a transphobe. You cannot keep shouting about how progressive you are when you will dismiss the actual fears of rape victims about male violence as some kind of prejudice. Labour, especially, need to take note of what is happening in Scotland if it proposes to make self-identification easier. Single-sex provision is what it says on the tin, no matter what is going on in the heads of some deluded men. Those who supported Wadhwas grift should hang their heads in shame. This is a case of abusive behaviour and appalling workplace practices presided over by a zealot. Wadwha has said, the womens sector must cleanse itself of bigotry. If only. The bigot here is a man who bullies anyone who does not agree with him. You can dress that up in all the radical language you like, it is a story women know inside out. Anthony Albanese says he supports banning access to social media for children under 16 years old. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP Anthony Albanese has endorsed banning children from registering social media accounts until they are 16, saying too much online engagement at a young age is seriously damaging their mental health. The prime minister is backing moves to raise the minimum age for registering social media accounts from 13 to 16 to give teenagers extra time to grow without being subjected to social pressures that can be exacerbated online. What we want is our youngest Australians spending more time outside playing sport, engaging with each other in a normal way and less time online, Albanese told Nova FM radio on Tuesday. And one way to do that is through restrictions on social media. He said the often-vicious commentary on social media could harm adults and have an even worse impact on children. It can be devastating, Albanese said, adding: I dont look at the comments on my social media because, if I did, Id find it difficult to leave the house in the morning. People will say things anonymously that are terrible. Nova FM is running a campaign to raise the minimum registration age to 16 and has started a petition, 36 months, calling for government to raise the threshold for social media citizenship through a 36-month delay in the age at which children can have an account, to give them more time to develop without exposure to its influence. In an interview on Tuesday morning Albanese declined the program presenters invitation to sign the petition himself arguing that it was ultimately directed at him but endorsed it overall and urged others to sign. I assure you I am very supportive of the work that is taking place and I would encourage people to go to 36months.com.au, Albanese said. Related: Should Australia ban children under 16 from social media and how would it actually work? News Corporation newspapers are running a separate campaign and petition to raise the minimum age to 16. On Monday night the independent senator for the Australian Capital Territory, David Pocock, raised the issue of increasing the minimum age to 16 in a post on Instagram. Children are losing their childhoods because they havet yet developed the self control to resist these highly addictive products, Pocock said, adding that teachers and parents were raising their concerns with him and calling for action from government. State premiers in Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales have also backed the campaign to raise the age. In responding to the campaigns, Albanese pointed to the governments proposed trial, given $6.5m in funding in last weeks budget, of an age assurance trial for websites particularly those with adult content. There is little detail about the trial to be run by the office of the eSafety commissioner, including how it will work, which sites will be included, whether social media will be part of the trial or when it will begin. Upon registration, social media sites generally require people to provide a birthdate and will not allow people aged under 13 to register. This is, however, easily bypassed, and companies such as Meta employ other methodologies to weed out younger users, including analysing behavioural patterns consistent with similar younger users such as what pages they follow and what is said on their pages around their birthday. Instagram also has age verification in Australia, under which a user can verify their age as over 18 by uploading an ID, using a video facial age estimator or having another over-18 account vouch for them. The UK, which has implemented age assurance legislation, is the example most proponents suggest Australia should follow. The UK scheme is still in the early stages and the trial only applies to adult sites, not social media. It requires sites to check with banks, mobile providers or credit card companies or requires users to provide ID or upload a photo for facial age estimation. As the eSafety commissioner faces multiple legal challenges to her enforcement powers by Elon Musks X, the government has not indicated what penalties companies might face for non-compliance, and social media companies are waiting for detail on the trial before indicating whether it would be supported. Meta told a previous parliamentary inquiry on online safety in 2022 that the age limit of 13 struck the right balance. As per our terms, we require people to be at least 13 years old to sign up for Facebook or Instagram. Our approach to understanding a users age aims to strike a balance between protecting peoples privacy, wellbeing, and freedom of expression. Albanese said on Tuesday the trial would need to ensure it would be effective. We want to make sure that any changes that are made actually work, he said. You dont want them being circumvented around the side door, if you like. And the internet is difficult we know thats the case to provide any restrictions. The TPC Group plant in Port Neches. The company agreed to pay a $30 million fine Tuesday for violations of the Clean Air Act when a 2019 explosion caused the evacuation of thousands of residents. Fran Ruchalski/The Enterprise WASHINGTON TPC Group has agreed to pay $30 million in penalties related to the 2019 explosion of its Port Neches plant, which resulted in the evacuation of thousands of residents. The Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday the Houston chemical company had failed to take necessary measures to prevent the buildup of the explosive chemical butadiene at its production facility, which resulted in a series of explosions and fires. TPC recklessly risked the lives of thousands of Port Neches residents and illegally released millions of gallons of extremely hazardous substances into the environment, EPA Assistant Administrator David Uhlmann,said in a statement Tuesday. Advertisement Article continues below this ad TPC pleaded guilty in federal court in Houston Tuesday to not following its own safety procedures in violation of the Clean Air Act, and in addition to the criminal and civil penalties will spend $80 million to improve its safety programs at its Houston and Port Neches plants. A spokesperson for the company said that since the explosion five years ago the company had spent millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours improving safety protocols. TPC Group sincerely regrets the damage and disruption caused by the November 2019 incident, she said. The companys continued focus remains on ensuring the safe and reliable performance and operations of our facilities. The early morning explosion of TPCs chemical plant in Port Neches, just outside Beaumont, forced thousands of residents into emergency shelters and hotels over the Thanksgiving holiday. The explosion caused the release of more than 11 million pounds of hazardous substances, as well as $130 million in property damage. Advertisement Article continues below this ad BBC Arabic has come under fire for its coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict - Carl Court /Getty The BBCs royal charter sets out five public purposes, the very first of which is a commitment to impartiality. Yet the Israel-Hamas war has seen the BBC fail to deliver on this crucial test on more occasions than can be explained away as errors or bad luck. A source of repeated issues over impartiality is BBC Arabic. Since the October 7 terrorist attacks on Israel, BBC Arabic has been forced to make 80 corrections to its reporting. Something is going badly wrong. Mistakes dont happen 80 times. The failures of impartiality have included BBC reporters describing Hamas terrorists as the resistance, as well as labelling attacks which targeted and killed civilians as resistance operations. Its the language you would hear from a Hamas spokesman. The corporation was forced to remove an episode of the BBC Arabic programme Trending, which questioned whether the Kfar Aza kibbutz massacre on October 7 actually happened. This plays into an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that seeks to undermine the terrible truth of what happened that day. How was a video of that nature produced and distributed by the BBC in the first place? How is it possible that editorial standards at BBC Arabic had fallen so low that this was seen as legitimate reporting? There is plenty more. Last month a BBC Arabic presenter asked an Egyptian guest to apologise for expressing sympathy for Israel. One BBC Arabic journalist interviewed a Palestinian woman about her life amid the conflict but decided it was not relevant to ask her directly about the time she stabbed an Israeli neighbour in front of her children. There is no sign that this blatant lack of impartiality at BBC Arabic will be dealt with any time soon by senior management. Yet this is not even the worst of it. The BBC continues to employ people who actually celebrated the October 7 terrorist attacks. Sally Nabil, a BBC Arabic correspondent, liked a number of tweets which appeared to legitimise the targeting of Jewish civilians, including tweets which called the October 7 atrocities a morning of hope. She also liked a comment on a video which showed footage of jeeps loaded with Jewish bodies and kidnapped civilians. Ms Nabil is still employed by the BBC. Another BBC Arabic journalist, Sanaa Khouri, reposted and liked tweets appearing to support the massacres, including one about celebratory sweets being distributed in Lebanon in its aftermath. The Beirut-based correspondent also tweeted in the wake of the attacks: Israels prestige is crying in the corner. Some BBC employees have even gone as far as mocking civilians who were kidnapped by Hamas. BBC executive producer Mahmoud Sheleib took part in a Twitter conversation shortly after October 7 in which he appeared to joke about a woman whose grandmother was abducted by the terrorist group. The BBC is employing people who celebrated the worst massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust. This means that our licence fees are paying the wages of people who celebrated the rape and slaughter of men, women and children. How can this be possible? Why should we accept it? If any other publicly funded organisation supported terrorist sympathisers, the outcry would be enormous. Yet the BBC seems to be impervious to its problems, unwilling to recognise and address the management failures that are poisoning one of Britains great institutions. When breaches of impartiality are so egregious that they extend to the exaltation of a massacre, something has gone very wrong with the public broadcaster. But these scandals are made so much worse when the organisation fails to deal effectively with the problem. Indeed, far from publicly recognising the scale of this issue, the BBC has gone out of its way to support and endorse its Arabic service. Director-general Tim Davie has recently stated his admiration for BBC Arabic, saying that the service was something we should be very proud of. On taking the role of director-general, Davie chose to put impartiality at the heart of his tenure, describing it as his number one priority. Given the actions of BBC Arabic over the past seven months, it now seems clear that, unfortunately, he has failed in his mission in the most shameful way possible. Danny Cohen was the director of BBC Television from 2013 until 2015 Asian hornets pose an existential threat to native bees - GUILLAUME SOUVANT/AFP via Getty Images Asian hornets are leaving British bees too scared to go out, beekeepers have warned. A third of the native population could be wiped out because they fear leaving their nests owing to the invasive foreign predator, according to the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA). There was a record number of Asian hornet nests discovered in the UK last year. A total of 72 were destroyed, marking a significant rise in the population of the species. Since 2016, only 85 nests have been discovered. The BBKA said this growth represented a threat to the continued existence of native bees. Asian hornets have black bodies and the ends of their legs are yellow, compared with the British species which is smaller and yellower. The animals pose no threat to human health but can destroy native honey beehives and populations. Ian Campbell, spokesman for British Beekeepers Association, told The Telegraph: A conservative estimate of British bee losses would be about 30 per cent, but it could be much worse. Bees become too scared to go out because they know there is a predator around and they dont function in the way they usually would. They dont bring in the stores they usually would, the queen and colony dont build to their usual size, which is called colony paralysis. And because of this, they dont survive the winter. We are looking at significant losses of British bees. He added: We are urging the public to keep an eye out for them [hornets] and report sightings. The National Bee Unit is then putting boots on the ground to eradicate them. Mr Campbell said there had been a number of sightings this year already and that DNA tests showed relatedness between hornets this year and last. He said this was a sign they were becoming established in the UK, adding: This is very concerning. Once they are established, eradication becomes very difficult. There are concerns there may have been hornet queens raised in the UK already. Scientists at Defras Animal and Plant Health Agency are trying to determine if any of last years Asian hornets managed to stay in the UK over the winter by setting up traps in the South-East and North Yorkshire. Eight Asian hornet nests have so far been spotted in 2024, with five in East Sussex, two in Kent and one in east London. Sarah Dines, the MP for Derbyshire Dales, said many of her constituents had voiced concerns about the species sweeping the country. She said: The majority of beekeeping is small scale and many of my constituents are very worried. They have concerns the hornets will sweep across the country and are heading towards the Midlands. Ms Dines is trying to raise awareness of the issue in order to keep the population of British bees and the wider ecosystem healthy. She said: It is essential that we keep healthy native bees and guard against the horrors of this foreign predator. Without natural pollinators how do we produce food for the nation? They will also eat any kind of insect and they will have knock-on effects to our ecosystem. Ms Dines added: It is important that people take notice of these bees and are aware of the threat to our pollinators these fierce predators represent. We need a sensible level of vigilance to keep our honey. Nicola Spence, Defras chief plant and bee health officer professor, said: By ensuring we are alerted to possible sightings as early as possible, the public can help us take swift and effective action to stamp out the threat posed by Asian hornets. Bren Orton has been missing since Thursday afternoon A British whitewater kayaker is feared dead after rapids dragged him under on a river in Switzerland. Bren Orton, 29, is thought to have been pulled from his kayak in the Melezza River in the Ticino Region of Switzerland last Thursday afternoon. The celebrated whitewater kayaker, who in 2018 broke a world record after descending a 128ft waterfall in Mexico in a kayak, is thought to have been dragged down by recirculating waves. His kayak was recovered on Friday morning but police say there is no sign of this sportsman. His disappearance was announced by Pyranha, the British maker of his high-performance kayaks. Bren Orton, 29, is thought to have been pulled under by the rapids while kayaking in Switzerland Posting its Instagram, it said: It is with a heavy heart that we announce an accident involving Bren Orton. While kayaking on the Melezza River in Switzerland, Bren became trapped in a recirculating feature and did not resurface. Authorities and friends are tirelessly continuing their search efforts, and at this time, Bren is considered missing. Local police have been searching for Mr Orton since his disappearance and police in Italy are believed to be helping with the operation, as well as a team of 15 kayakers. A spokesman for the Ticino police said: Shortly before 2.45pm in the area of Palagnedra, a man who was previously in a kayak was reported missing in the Melezza River. The searches still ongoing began immediately and involved agents from the cantonal police and, in support, from the Ascona police as well as rescuers from the Locarnese and Valli Ambulance Service. Friends paid tribute to Bren Orton describing him as an 'incredible human' In December 2022, Mr Orton posted an emotional video to his 33,100 subscribers expressing his love of the sport to his YouTube channel, but also a sense of betrayal. How can something that brings me so much joy cause me so much pain? he asked, discussing his highs and lows, and mental health issues, as drone shots showed the daredevil descending huge waterfalls. Mr Ortons friends and family have shared their condolences on social media. Writing on Facebook, James Reeves, a former competitive kayaker, said: Every few years, we seem to lose a friend to our sport. Each loss is tough, and this one cuts deep. Bren Orton was an incredible human. From his teenage years, his warm smile and friendly nature shone as brightly as his kayaking skills. Always keen to help and inspire others. Scarlett Johansson said she had declined the invitation to be a new AI voice - Jose Luis Magana Tech firm OpenAI has pulled the new female voice from its artificial intelligence chatbot that sounds eerily like Scarlett Johansson after angry complaints from the actress. Johansson, the star of movies such as Lost in Translation and Marriage Story, said she was shocked, angered and in disbelief when she heard the voice, called Sky, on the updated ChatGPT. The actress was alerted to the similarity after social media users pointed out the flirty voice had the personality and tone of Johanssons character in Her, the 2013 film about a man who falls in love with an artificial intelligence system. The day the new voice was released, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman had posted on X with a single word: her. Johansson, 39, said Mr Altman had originally requested that she record herself for the new chatbot feature because it would comfort people as they learnt to use AI. After she declined, an unnamed actor was paid to create the voice of Sky but OpenAI has since insisted the woman was using her natural speaking voice and not imitating the critically acclaimed film star. Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system, Johansson said in a statement on Monday evening. He told me that he felt that by my voicing the system, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers to feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and AI. He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people. She added: After much consideration and for personal reasons, I declined the offer. Nine months later, my friends, family and the general public all noted how much the newest system named Sky sounded like me. When I heard the released demo, I was shocked, angered and in disbelief that Mr Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference. Johansson, pictured in the Marvel film Black Widow, is one of the world's highest paying actors - Disney The incident showed legislation was needed to protect people from having their identities used without their permission, Johansson said. In a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities, I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity, she said. OpenAI confirmed on Monday that it was pausing the new voice while we address questions about its creation. Mr Altman, 39, said in a statement to Variety magazine that he was sorry that the company didnt communicate better with Johansson. The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johanssons, and it was never intended to resemble hers, he said. In a post on X, the company linked to a blog that talked about how it had auditioned over 400 voice actors for the recording of Sky. We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebritys distinctive voice Skys voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice, it said, adding that to protect their privacy, we cannot share the names of our voice talents. We spoke with each actor about the vision for human-AI voice interactions and OpenAI, and discussed the technologys capabilities, limitations, and the risks involved, as well as the safeguards we have implemented. It was important to us that each actor understood the scope and intentions of Voice Mode before committing to the project. Sam Altman has been CEO of OpenAI since 2019 - Justin Sullivan Each actor receives compensation above top-of-market rates and would continue to do so for as long as their voices are used in our products, the company said. Joanne Jang, who holds the position of model behaviour lead at the San Francisco-based company, previously said OpenAI had been in touch with representatives for Ms Johansson. Weve been in conversations with ScarJos team because there seems to be some confusion. We want to take the feedback seriously and hear out the concerns, Ms Jang, told The Verge, an online news site that covers technology. The development is just the latest controversy to emerge as rival firms race to get ahead in the AI market, said to be globally worth 168.5bn in 2022. One estimate says that figure could grow to $2,760 billion (2,200 billion) by 2032. OpenAI is currently valued at $80 billion (63 billion) by investors. When the updated chatbot was released earlier this month, OpenAIs Chief Technology Officer Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati said the new model was much faster, with improved capabilities in text, video and audio. The company was said to be planning to allow users to video chat with ChatGPT. Israeli soldiers operate atop a tank near the Israel-Gaza border on Tuesday. - Amir Cohen/REUTERS Israel has called on the civilised world to refuse to honour any arrest warrants against its leaders from the International Criminal Court. Tal Heinrich, a government spokesperson, said: We call on the nations of the civilised, free world - nations who despise terrorists and anyone who supports them - to stand by Israel. You should outright condemn this step. Make sure the ICC understands where you stand. Oppose the prosecutors decision and declare that, even if warrants are issued, you do not intend to enforce them. Because this is not about our leaders. Its about our survival. When asked if Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, or Yoav Gallant, the defence minister, would travel abroad to ICC-signatory countries in the event arrest warrants are issued, Mr Heinrich said lets wait and see. Earlier in the day, Mr Gallant described the request for an arrest warrant against him as despicable and disgusting. The reaction from Israels allies in the West has been mixed, with some saying that any ruling made by the ICC should be respected, while others have expressed dismay at the fact that Israeli officials were listed on the same charge sheet as Hamas leaders. On a trip to Austria, Rishi Sunak called the application for an arrest warrant deeply unhelpful, while communities minister Michael Gove said it was wrong to project moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas. There is a difference between a state attempting to defend its own citizens and a terrorist organisation There can be no equivalence between them, he said in a speech on antisemitism. On Monday, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, ICC prosecutor, said he had applied for arrest warrants for Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant for crimes including wilful killing, extermination and/or murder, and starvation during the invasion of Gaza. Mr Khan also said the leaders of Hamas, including Qatar-based Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, its Gaza head, bear criminal responsibility for actions committed during October 7. These included taking hostages, rape and other acts of sexual violence, and torture. 03:30 PM BST Todays live blog is now closed Thats all for today, thanks for following along. Here is a summary of the day: Israel has called on civilised nations to refuse to arrest its top officials after the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) applied for arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant on Monday. An Israeli government spokesperson appealed to allies for support, saying its not about our leaders, it is about our survival. Mr Gallant responded to the news that he had been listed on the charge sheet earlier in the day, calling it despicable and disgusting and saying that ICC prosecutor Karim Khan was trying to rob Israel of its right to defend itself. On a trip to Austria, Rishi Sunak called the application for an arrest warrant deeply unhelpful and said that it would do nothing to help aid reach Gaza. In intensified fighting in the Palestinian territories on Tuesday, the Palestinian authority reported seven deaths in an IDF raid on the town of Jenin in the West Bank. The IDF also upped their ground actions in the area of Jabalia in Gaza leading to increased pressure on local hospitals. Tens of thousands of mourners attended the first day of funeral rites for Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi after he died in a helicopter crash in the north of the country on Sunday. A casket carrying his body was paraded through the town of Tabriz in the morning, with locals flooding the streets waving Iranian flags. In the afternoon, his coffin and those of eight other casualties, including his foreign minister, were flown to Tehran. 02:50 PM BST Israeli officials seize TV equipment and take down live feed of Gaza Israeli officials seized a camera and broadcasting equipment belonging to The Associated Press in southern Israel on Tuesday, accusing the news organization of violating a new media law by providing images to Al Jazeera. The Qatari satellite channel is among thousands of clients that receive live video feeds from the AP and other news organizations. The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government to shut down our longstanding live feed showing a view into Gaza and seize AP equipment, said Lauren Easton, vice president of corporate communications at the news organization. Israeli officials seized the equipment in the southern town of Sderot on Tuesday and handed the news team a note signed by the Shlomo Karhi, communications minister, alleging it was violating the countrys foreign broadcaster law. 02:09 PM BST US ambassador says period of quiet needed for Israel-Saudi normalisation Forging formal Israeli-Saudi relations as part of an emerging trilateral deal involving Washington would require a calming of the Gaza war and a discussion of prospects for Palestinian governance, US ambassador in Israel, Jack Lew, has said. Theres going to have to be some period of quiet, I think, in Gaza, and theres going to have to be a conversation about how do you deal with the question of the future of Palestinian governance, he told a conference hosted by the Israel Democracy Institute think-tank. My view is, that strategic benefit is worth taking the risk of getting into that conversation about. But thats a decision that the government of Israel will have to make and the people of Israel will have to make. 01:59 PM BST Raisis casket arrives in Tehran The coffins of the victims of the crash arrived in Tehran this afternoon. According to Iranian media, the bodies are going to stay in the Iranian capital while the funeral procession moves on to the holy city of Qom. A funeral procession in planned for Wednesday in Tehran. Coffins carrying Raisi and Hossein Amir Abdollahian, his foreign minister, arrive in Tehran. - UNPIXS/UNPIXS 01:51 PM BST More reaction to Raisi death: I will not mourn him Some more interesting reaction from Europe to Raisi death, where governments have offered mixed responses to news of the accident. I dont feel comfortable sending condolences while Iran is sending drones that are used against civilians in Ukraine, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis wrote on X. UK Security Minister Tom Tugendhat echoed that in his own message on X: President Raisis regime has murdered thousands at home, and targeted people here in Britain and across Europe. I will not mourn him. 01:38 PM BST Germanys Scholz offers condolences to Iran In a statement that is likely to elicit hefty domestic criticism, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has chosen to offer his condolences to Iran. Our condolences go to the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the families of those killed in the crash, Scholz said in a message addressed to Irans Vice President Mohammad Mokhber. Several western nations, including the United States, have extended condolences. But most, like France, have communicated their sympathies through their foreign ministry. Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a senior figure in the Free Democrats, a partner in Scholz coalition, blasted the EU yesterday for offering its condolences. What a mockery of the brave fighters for human rights in Iran. I expect an explanation for this, she said. 01:28 PM BST What does Raisis death mean for succession? One of the most interesting questions arising from Raisis usudden death is what it means for succession planning in Iran. Analysts seem to agree that Raisi was being groomed as a successor to the aged Ali Khamenei, who has been Supreme Leader since 1989. Khamenei is just the second man to have performed this function after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who was the figurehead of the revolution in 1979. The ultra-conservative faction had worked on raising Raisis public persona for years. Now that he is gone there is no hardline cleric with a similar level of recognition to replace him. There has been some speculation that Khameneis son, Mojtaba, will now be in line to become the next supreme leader. But that would be a controversial move in a country that overthrew a hereditary monarchy in 1979. 12:13 PM BST Israel reports intensified fighting in Gaza Israels military has ground combats and air strikes on 70 targets in Gaza in the past 24 hours. Fierce combat has also been reported again in the northern area of Jabalia where Hamas forces have regrouped. Israel said Tuesday its forces had eliminated several militants in both areas. The World Health Organization said Jabalias Al-Awda Hospital had been under siege for two days, trapping 170 patients and staff who had reported sniper fire and a rocket hit. Injured children are treated at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on Tuesday. - Anadolu/Anadolu We are running out of words to describe what is happening in Gaza, Edem Wosornu of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told a Security Council meeting on Monday. We have described it as a catastrophe, a nightmare, as hell on earth. It is all of these, and worse, she said of conditions in the besieged territory of 2.4 million people. 11:59 AM BST Qatar says Gaza truce, hostage release talks remain close to stalemate Qatars foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said on Tuesday the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release talks between Israel and Hamas remain close to a stalemate. Asked about the International Criminal Court prosecutors decision to seek arrest warrants against some Israeli and Hamas leaders, Al-Ansari said it was too early for Qatar to comment directly on that but that all states and organisations should be held responsible for the killing of civilians. 11:55 AM BST Michael Gove blasts ICC and pro-Palestine protests in speech In a speech on antisemitism today, communities minister Michael Gove has commented on the ICC decision to pursue Israel, describing it as wrong to project moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas. There is a difference between a state attempting to defend its own citizens and a terrorist organisation There can be no equivalence between them, he said. He has also made some strident comments on domestic protests against Israel, saying that their real goal is the destruction of the Jewish state. Israel is denounced as an apartheid state conducting a genocide. The worst evils of the last 100 years apartheid, genocide are situated in one country, he said. 11:45 AM BST Lavrov blames US sanctions for Raisi helicopter crash Putins long-time foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has said of the crash that the Americans disown this, but the truth is that other countries against which the United States announced sanctions do not receive spare parts for American equipment, including aviation. We are talking about deliberately causing damage to ordinary citizens who use these vehicles, and when spare parts are not supplied, this is directly related to a decrease in the level of safety, Lavrov stated. Raisi is believed to have been travelling on a US-built Bell helicopter. While it remains unclear when Iran purchased the vehicle, the country was a major buyer of Bell helicopters under the shah. 11:28 AM BST Tens of thousands turn out for first view of Raisis coffin Tens of thousands of Iranians attended the first funeral rite for Raisi in the northern city of Tabriz on Tuesday morning. Waving Iranian flags and portraits of the late president, mourners set off from a central square where they walked behind a lorry carrying the coffins of Raisi and those who died with him, including foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. The men were headed for Tabriz via helicopter when their aircraft crashed in bad weather on Sunday. We, the members of the government, who had the honour to serve this beloved president, the hardworking president, pledge to our dear people and leader to follow the path of these martyrs, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in a speech. 11:14 AM BST Some more pics from Raisis funeral in Tabriz Raisi's coffin during a funeral ceremony held in Tabriz. - via REUTERS/via REUTERS Mourners crowd around the funeral truck in Tabriz, Iran on Tuesday. - ATA DADASHI/ATA DADASHI People help to lift a coffin onto the truck at the beginning of the funeral procession. - ATA DADASHI / FARS NEWS AGENCY / AFP/ATA DADASHI / FARS NEWS AGENCY / AFP 11:03 AM BST Iranians take to streets as Raisis body begins nationwide funeral tour Iranians have gathered to mourn president Ebrahim Raisi in the northwestern city of Tabriz. The body of the president, who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday, will tour the country as part of five days of mourning announced by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Irans supreme leader. A hardliner, Raisi had been in office since 2021. Since then Iran has been rocked by mass protests against the repression of women and has been involved in an escalating shadow war with Israel. Iran has announced an inquiry into the causes of the crash. Speculation in the Islamic Republic has pointed at both sabotage and a technical failure linked to western sanctions. 11:02 AM BST Iranian prosecutor orders crackdown on descent Iranian Prosecutor General Mohammad Kazem Movahhedi Azad has called for arrests of anyone who insults Raisi and other victims of the helicopter crash. Azad issued an order demanding cases be filed against those publishing false content, lies and insults against Raisi, according to the semiofficial ISNA news agency. On Sunday night, as news of the crash spread, anti-government chants were heard in the night. Fireworks were also spotted in some parts of Tehran, although Sunday also marked a remembrance for Imam Reza, one of the most important figures in the Shia religion. Raisi was hated among dissidents and womens rights activists, and critical messages and dark jokes over the crash have circulated online. 10:32 AM BST Raisi to be buried at shrine for heroes of Persian history Raisi is being given an unusual honour in receiving a burial at the Imam Reza shrine, according to AP: After his casket is taken to several cities, it will find its final resting place at the Imam Reza shrine in the holy city of Mashhad, which is Raisis hometown. That shrine has long been a center of pilgrimage and sees millions visit each year. Over the centuries, its grounds have served as the final burial site for heroes in Persian history. Its an incredibly high, rare honour in the faith. Mohammad-Ali Rajai, the only other president to die in office when he was killed in a 1981 bombing, was buried in Tehran. 10:00 AM BST VIDEO: UK and US diplomats at UN stand for minutes silence for Raisi 09:56 AM BST Gallant calls ICC arrest warrant despicable and disgusting Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, who was named alongside Netanyahu on the ICC prosecutors charge sheet on Monday, has responded on X: The State of Israel has been fighting since October 7th against a murderous and bloodthirsty enemy, which has committed atrocities against Israeli women, children and men, and is now using its own people as a human shield. The IDF fights in accordance with the rules of international law, taking unique humanitarian efforts the likes of which have not been taken in any armed conflict. The prosecutors parallel between the terrorist organization Hamas and the State of Israel is despicable and disgusting... (prosecutor) Karim Khans attempt to deny the State of Israel the right to defend itself and release its hostages must be rejected outright. 09:36 AM BST France begins its first war crimes trial of Syrian officials The first trial in France of officials from the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad opened on Tuesday, with three top security officers to be tried in absentia for complicity in crimes against humanity. On trial are Ali Mamlouk, former head of the National Security Bureau, Jamil Hassan, former director of the Air Force intelligence service, and Abdel Salam Mahmoud, former head of investigations for the service in Damascus. The case concerns their role in the the deaths of two French Syrian men, Mazzen Dabbagh and his son Patrick, who were arrested in Damascus in 2013. The accused are the highest level Syrian officials yet to be put on trial in absentia and they are subject to international arrest warrants. 09:25 AM BST More photos from Raisis funeral procession Iranians turn out to see Raisi's coffin in Tabriz. - Anadolu/Anadolu Another image showing the large crowd in Tabriz. - Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images The truck carrying the coffins of Raisi and other officials. - AFP/HO/IRAN PRESS/AFP/HO/IRAN PRESS 09:19 AM BST Video: mourners touch Raisis coffin at funeral procession 08:59 AM BST Large turnout for funeral procession in north Iran Film footage from the north Iranian city of Tabriz indicates a large turnout of thousands of people for the procession, with film posted online showing a predominantly male crowd swarming around a lorry that is carrying the bodies of Raisi and seven other officials who died in the crash. In attendance at the funeral procession in Tabriz is interior minister Ahmad Vahidi. He told state television that any other country would have faced a bleak future in similar circumstances but Iran will move through this event smoothly. 08:43 AM BST VIDEO: US President Biden gives his opinion on ICC arrest warrant 08:39 AM BST Italy says unacceptable to put Israel, Hamas on same level Italys foreign minister said Tuesday it was unacceptable and absurd to compare Israel and Hamas after the International Criminal Courts prosecutor applied for arrest warrants for leaders on both sides. It is completely unacceptable that Hamas and Israel are put on the same level, Antonio Tajani said in an interview with the Corriere della Sera newspaper, adding: Be careful not to legitimise anti-Israeli positions that can fuel anti-Semitic phenomena. 08:37 AM BST Yemens Houthis say they downed another US drone Yemens Houthis claim to have downed a U.S. MQ9 drone over al-Bayda province in southern Yemen. The Iran-aligned militant group say they shot the drone down with a locally made surface-to-air missile. Last Friday they claimed to have downed another U.S. MQ9 drone over the southeastern province of Maareb. Video released by the group appeared to corroborate that hit. A single MQ9 drone costs around $30 million (24 million) to build and can fly at altitudes of 50,000 feet. The Houthis controls Yemens capital and most populous areas of the Arabian Peninsula state. It has attacked international shipping in the Red Sea since November as part of the Iranian-orchestrated war against Israel. 08:18 AM BST Picture of crowds gathering in Tehran yesterday evening Iranians gather at Valiasr Square in central Tehran to mourn the deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. - ATTA KENARE/Getty Images 08:13 AM BST Palestinian ministry says Israeli troops killed 7 in West Bank raid The Palestinian health ministry said that Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians during a raid on Tuesday in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, where the Israeli military said troops were engaged in a counterterrorism operation. The ministry in Ramallah said seven people had been killed and nine wounded in the raid, including two who were in a critical condition. 08:08 AM BST Raisis body to arrive in Tehran later on Tuesday The Iranian presidents body will tour the country in the coming days, after Irans leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced five days of mourning on Monday. After leaving Tabriz, Raisis body will arrive in Irans Shiite clerical centre of Qom later on Tuesday before being taken to Tehran. Khamenei is due to hold prayers at a farewell ceremony in Tehran on Tuesday night, ahead of major processions due to begin on Wednesday morning. Raisi will then be taken to Southern Khorasan province on Thursday morning and later to his hometown of Mashhad, where he will be buried on Thursday evening after funerary rites. A decision on whether to keep NSWs coal-fired power station Eraring operating is expected soon. Photograph: Dean Sewell Eraring, the nations biggest coal-fired power station, may need to delay its closure to ease blackout threats in New South Wales, while other eastern states also face periods of high risk because of the slow rollout of renewables, the Australian Energy Market Operator warns. In an unusual update of its Electricity Statement of Opportunities report, Aemo forecast so-called reliability gaps in NSW, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria unless authorities orchestrated faster deployment of solar and wind energy as well as batteries. While new generation and storage capacity continues to increase, project development and commissioning delays are impacting reliability throughout the horizon, Aemos chief executive, Daniel Westerman, said. The assessment only considered existing, committed and anticipated projects. It omitted federal or state government programs and projects in the pipeline totalling 280 gigawatts or 4.5 times the present national electricity markets capacity. Related: Why are some Australian households about to be charged for generating too much solar power? The identified reliability risks were higher in coming years than the central scenario detailed in the reports initial forecasts last October. For NSW and Victoria, risks were higher in the 2024-25 to 2027-28 years, and in 2026-27 for South Australia. Battery project delays may cause periods of scarcity in the summer supply after the August 2025 scheduled exit of Origin Energys 2.88GW Eraring plant, Aemo said. Origin and the NSW government say negotiations over Eraring continue. A decision to extend its operations for several years is expected soon although some experts say the likely cost of hundreds of millions of dollars could be better spent elsewhere and millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide pollution avoided. Still, the Aemo report will probably bolster the case to extend the lower Hunter Valley plant. NSW has faced regular lack of reserve alerts on the grid because of relatively cloudy or calm days and unplanned coal outages. The latter included at least one of Erarings four units for more than a fortnight. Penny Sharpe, NSWs energy minister, declined to comment on the state of talks with Origin. The [electricity statement of opportunities] report shows the risk of energy reliability gaps over the next three years has increased in NSW, Sharpe said. This confirms that there are risks associated with new projects being delayed and reinforces the need for the action that the NSW government is taking to support more renewables, deliver critical transmission infrastructure and speed up the connection of big batteries to the grid. The federal energy minister, Chris Bowen, said the updated report revealed a dramatically improved outlook on reliability even before its capacity investment scheme to fast-track 32GW of new generation and storage projects was included. There are projects scheduled to commence operating and meet energy demand this summer, Bowen said. With Aemo procuring interim reserves we can be confident of ongoing reliability across higher demand periods, even if anticipated projects are delayed. Aemo said it would tender for reliability reserves in NSW and Victoria to minimise reliability risks should low reserve conditions emerge over summer 2024-25. For NSW, these would cover working weekdays from 3pm to 8pm for that summer, and total 270 megawatts to fill the gap. For Victoria, the reserves would cover 4pm to 8pm for working weekdays in January and February 2025 with an estimated gap of 245MW. The tendered reserves would rise in both states in following years, particularly in NSW. The latter envisages a shortfall of as much as 1.23GW assuming Eraring shuts as scheduled with June and July also needing to be covered. Aemo tendered for reliability reserves in Victoria and SA last summer but no megawatts of supply were needed. Grid reliability is considered to be breached unless electricity is available in a region for 99.9994% of a given year. After 2028-29, the reliability standard eases slightly to requiring power to be available for 99.998% of any year. For Victoria, the reliability risks were heightened because of generators being mothballed in SA and transmission limitations affecting flows into Melbourne. SAs risks increase because of a delay in stage two of its Project EnergyConnect transmission link to NSW and earlier delays to output from the Torrens Island B and Osborne power stations. For Queensland, Aemo forecasts reliability risks to remain within the relevant standard until 2031-32, an improved outlook since its 2023 Electricity Statement of Opportunity report. Sharkey Ward: the citation for his DSC read that he 'distinguished himself in action, both as an inspiring and dynamic CO and as an outstandingly successful Sea Harrier pilot' - courtesy of family Commander Sharkey Ward, who has died aged 80, was an exceptional top gun pilot and outstanding leader of men, who turned the Sea Harrier into a war-winning machine. Forty-two years ago today, n May 21 1982, the morning of the British landings in San Carlos Water to evict the Argentines from the Falkland Islands, Ward was leading a patrol of three Sea Harriers of 801 Naval Air Squadron (800 NAS), flying from the carrier Invincible, when two Pucara ground attack aircraft were detected at low level. Ward immediately led his flight down to attack, opening fire with his cannon and setting one aircraft on fire. In three passes, the lowest estimated to be as little as 10ft above the ground, he destroyed his target. Later that day, on another patrol, Ward sighted two Argentine Mirage fighters on their way to attack the landing force, flew head-on between them and turned hard to engage. As the Mirage fighters also turned, Lieutenant Commander Steve Thomas, Wards wingman, shot them down with Sidewinder missiles. A third, unseen, Mirage fired its cannon as it overtook Ward who shot him down, also with a Sidewinder. Sharkey Ward, right, with his son Kristian, a fellow pilot - Courtesy of family During the conflict, Ward flew more than 60 combat missions, shot down three of the eight enemy aircraft destroyed by 801 Squadron, and deterred many more enemy attacks without loss in air-to-air combat. More importantly, with 800 NAS embarked in the carrier Hermes, Ward and the Sea Harriers wrested control of the air from a theoretically superior enemy. Ward was the perfect choice to lead 801 NAS into battle. As a desk officer in the MoD from 1976 to 1979, and as commanding officer of an intensive flying trials unit, 700A Naval Air Squadron, in 1979, he had tested the Sea Harrier in all modes of combat. He had gained a huge respect for the aircrafts capabilities, honed his own skills, and had written the standard operating and tactical procedures which were used in the Falklands War. When he took the Sea Harrier to top gun school in the USA, he astounded his hosts with its performance, and he was awarded the Air Force Cross. In the UK, when the RAF declared it was too dangerous to land at the BBCs Pebble Mill Studios in the centre of Birmingham, Ward made a vertical landing and take-off. Ward, left, in 1975 - courtesy of family Next, in 1980-81, he commanded 899 NAS, the headquarters squadron of Sea Harrier, was promoted commander and appointed to 801 NAS which embarked in the carrier Invincible. Ward was as fearless of the enemy as he was forthright to senior officers, and had an unshakeable belief in his own ability. After the Falklands War, the citation for his DSC read that he distinguished himself in action, both as an inspiring and dynamic CO and as an outstandingly successful Sea Harrier pilot. From the first day HMS Invincible entered the Total Exclusion Zone around the Falkland Islands, the fighting spirit, superb morale and operational efficiency of 801 Squadron was apparent. These standards were maintained during a sustained period of operations without respite. As a pilot Commander Ward flew more than 60 combat sorties by day and night, often in marginal weather conditions setting a splendid example to his squadron of determination, skill and disregard for personal safety. Many others thought that for his leadership, professionalism and his personal contribution to victory, Ward deserved even greater recognition. Ward with Prince Philip in 1979 - courtesy of family Nigel David Ward was born on September 22 1943 in Medicine Hat, Alberta, where his father, Johnny Ward, was an RAF engineer. Young Nigel crossed the Atlantic with his mother Marjorie, nee Hodgkiss, in a small freighter in 1944, nearly died aged six of bronchiectasis, and attended nine schools before the age of nine, including in Pakistan and Singapore, before settling as a boarder at Reading School. There, despite his claim to have been the most-caned boy, early signs of his leadership qualities made him captain of the rugby XV and head boy. Later, when he discerned descent from the kings of Ireland, he changed his name to MacCartan-Ward. Inspired by a schoolboy visit to an aircraft carrier off Penang, he joined the Navy in 1962. He described his time training at BRNC Dartmouth as idyllic days and his time in the West Indies in the frigate Tartar as a wild year. Returning to Dartmouth he played first XV rugby, was captain of the Tiger Moth Flying Club, and served as Divisional Sub-Lieutenant of Exmouth Division, before navigating the minesweepers Penston and Woolaston in Hong Kong for two fantastic years. In 1966 in Singapore, he qualified as a ships diver, but there was never any doubt that he would volunteer to fly. His airborne career was checked, however, in 1969 when, days after completing his operational flying training, an exuberant Ward flew a Sea Vixen along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall below clifftop height: he was found guilty at court martial and reprimanded. Ward, right, with a member of 801 Squadron in 1982 - courtesy of family In 1970,Ward qualified as a day-night, all-weather pilot in the carrier Ark Royal flying the Phantom. He qualified as an instrument rating instructor in 1971 and an air warfare instructor in 1972, both before achieving the theoretical minimum number of hours necessary. In 1972-74 he was the nuclear intelligence and planning officer at the headquarters of Allied Forces North Europe, before returning to flying as senior pilot of 892 NAS again in Ark Royal. After his return from the Fallands, he received the freedom of the City of London, was made a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society and was top student on the naval staff course. He then served one term in the Ministry of Defence as air warfare and air weapons adviser. Disappointed not be made Commander (Flying) of the new carrier Illustrious, he resigned in 1985 to set up a company which employed former special forces operatives to defend ships and tankers in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War. Short and wiry, with piercing blue eyes, Ward was married four times: first to Alison Taylor, a Wren, with whom he had two sons; secondly to the Turkish Semiha Mutlular; thirdly to Abigail Bayraktarolu, nee May, and fourthly to Mary Egan. All four marriages were dissolved. Ward, left, in the Falkland Islands in 1982 - courtesy of family Later, he settled in Grenada, where he carried a .38 pistol, allegedly to avoid extradition to Turkey. He designed several villas for expatriate acquaintances, and he made rocking horses, coffee tables and fitted kitchen cabinets from tropical hardwoods. Sharkey loved the tenor voice, and from the balcony of his own villa, looking out towards the sea, he would blast out Domingo, Pavarotti, Carreras and Bocelli. At dusk small snakes, bats and doves flocked to his balcony to be fed. Latterly he adopted stray dogs, including a puppy he found in the road outside the local church, and named Vicar. He gave any spare cash to poor Grenadians. He engaged in vigorous advocacy of maritime air power and wrote three books. In Sea Harrier Over the Falklands: a Maverick at War (1992) he criticised the tactics of his admiral, Sandy Woodward, though later they were reconciled and campaigned together for stronger British defence forces. Her Majestys Top Gun: and the Decline of the Royal Navy (2020) was part stream-of-consciousness autobiography, part Boys Own adventure story and political manifesto. Last, with Dr Anthony R Wells, he wrote How Strategic Airpower Has Changed the World Order (2024). Ward settled in Grenada - courtesy of family He was deeply critical of the decision not to equip new British carriers with catapults and arrester gear and appalled by the 2010 decision to de-commission Ark Royal and the Harrier force. He extended his attention to wider British defence interests and was in regular correspondence with senior politicians and the House of Commons Defence Select Committee. Wards attempts to keep fit were hindered by the pleasure he took in wining and dining with friends. He enjoyed close relations with his sons, Ashton, whom he described as a top gun businessman and Kristian, who predeceased him in 2018. Kristian also flew the Harrier, from carriers and in Afghanistan; one of his fathers proudest moments was flying a two-seater Harrier with him. They were the only Royal Navy father and son to have qualified on the same aircraft type and to have engaged in combat duties. Commander Sharkey Ward, born September 22 1943, died May 17 2024 Right to Information documents show salmon farming company Tassal shot 53 great cormorants at Sheppards salmon lease, near Coningham, late last year. Photograph: Kevin Wells/Getty Images/iStockphoto The Tasmanian government approved the shooting of dozens of cormorants after substandard netting allowed hundreds of the birds to enter fish cages at a salmon farm near Hobart. Right to Information documents released to Tasmanian Inquirer revealed that an estimated 641 cormorants entered fish cages at the Sheppards salmon lease near Coningham in November and December 2023. Thirty-six great cormorants died after becoming entangled in bird netting, and 53 were legally shot by Tassal staff, who had been granted permits by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment. The president of the Killora Community Association on Bruny Island, Gerard Castles, said shooting cormorants was outrageous. It seems like Orwellian doublespeak that Tassal claims they kill cormorants out of concern for animal welfare, he said. Dr Eric Woehler, an independent Tasmanian ecologist who was awarded an Order of Australia medal for 40 years of research on seabirds, said being entangled in netting prevented a cormorant from feeding or drinking and could cause pain and suffering. Related: Scientists say Tasmanias Maugean skate could become extinct so why are local leaders still backing the salmon industry? It is incumbent on any company to respond as quickly as possible with people used to handling birds to avoid damaging feathers or causing injuries, he said. Woehler said great cormorants could live for about 20 years and generally mated for life. From a social licence point of view, it is not a good look to be shooting birds, he said. Lethal control According to the documents released under RT, the problem at Tassals salmon farm began on 10 November, when five cormorants entered one cage. Later that month, another 121 cormorants were found across four of the cages. The first the department knew of the issue was on 6 December, when Tassal submitted a monthly wildlife interactions report. The companys report said that there had been no changes in the exclusion infrastructure that could have led to this increased interaction, but an attached spreadsheet noted that 20 cormorants had entered one cage through a hole in the netting. Two days later, Tassal applied for a permit to shoot up to 50 cormorants as large numbers of the birds were squeezing through the 100mm bird netting or weighing down the nets to gain access to the salmon. Tassal estimated that it was losing between $10,000 and $20,000 of salmon a day. According to the documents, a department officer wrote in a file note on Tassals permit application that Tassal wanted to shoot to scare the cormorants away and discussed the need for lethal control on a small number to deter the rest from settling. A later file note reported that a Tassal representative had said the shoot and scare tactic was ineffective. They noted that a cormorant would not move away even if the cormorant sitting next to it was shot, it said. Woehler said he was not surprised that attempts to scare the birds, including shooting neighbouring birds, were ineffective. Many birds have become used to loud noises and flashes and have learned that there is no threat. So gunfire may not scare them at all, he said. The department granted the permit but stressed to a Tassal executive that lethal control of these birds is a last resort, according to the documents. Within nine days of being granted the permit, Tassal reported that 36 cormorants had died from entanglement in bird netting. In the week before Christmas, the department granted Tassal a second permit to shoot up to another 30 cormorants. Tassal later reported that 53 cormorants were humanely culled at the lease. In its application for the second permit, a Tassal executive said the company was installing the correct upgraded exclusion infrastructure. But they noted that some nets were second-hand, and the company was continuing the tensioning and repair process. The records say Tassal replaced the original 100mm mesh netting with 70mm mesh nets. Could it happen again? Woehler wonders whether the problems at the site were caused by a lack of maintenance or design flaws. If the issue is the mesh size of the bird nets, is this problem more widespread and occurs at other fish farms? Woehler asked. Tassals 2022 sustainability report reveals there were 104 bird deaths at the companys salmon farms in the five years to June 2022. A further 1,599 birds were released from inside salmon cages. Tassal was asked whether it had reviewed its other leases for use of oversized bird netting and other infrastructure flaws, but did not respond. Tasmanian Inquirer sought copies of department records indicating assessments of risks to birds at other fish farms after the deaths. The department said it found no documents. Castles said Tassal appeared to treat native bird deaths as a cost of doing business. Its unacceptable for modern consumers. The department should do a complete, transparent and public audit of all Tassal operations to ensure they use appropriate materials to prevent the deaths of more birds, he said. Protesters rally against the "foreign influence" law outside the parliament in Tbilisi In the mental world inhabited by Putin apologists, the West is always seeking to destabilise and overthrow Moscow-friendly regimes. The most recent example is mass protests in Georgia, blamed by its leaders on a global war party seeking to keep Georgia in the Western orbit and risking increased hostilities between the two power blocs. If only the West were so forward-thinking. The truth is more straightforward: Georgians have a very good reason to be in the streets ever since the governing party passed a Russian-style foreign agent law that will impose onerous disclosure requirements on all non-governmental organisations with as little as 20 percent of their revenue coming from abroad. Unlike last year, when the government retracted the bill under public pressure, the ruling Georgian Dream party has now vowed to stay the course and to use its majority to break the veto of the countrys president, Salome Zourabichvili. Contrary to the allegations made by Georgian Dreams Russia-aligned leader, Bidzina Ivanishvili, Washington and Brussels are most certainly not behind the protests that have brought hundreds of thousands of particularly young Georgians to the streets. If anything, the collective West is conspicuous by its absence. Whilst the European Parliament may be now be calling on the Georgian government to scrap the law, calling it incompatible with European values, in December last year the European Council granted Georgia candidate status, even though the country had already veered far off the path followed by other Eastern European candidates: Moldova and Ukraine. The US Department of State, meanwhile, is likewise deeply troubled by the actions taken against those protesting against the draft law and the actions taken to advance it, without any hint of how the United States may respond, if at all. This inaction is confusing given both the United States and the EU have a lot of leverage. 80 percent of Georgians support joining the EU a goal to which the government itself remains nominally committed. A credible threat of suspending Georgias candidate status would be a game changer, as would sanctions and travel bans against government officials and parliamentarians who derailed Georgias path to the West. More importantly, Europeans and Americans must be ready to manage the fluid politics set in motion by the protests, not unlike in Ukraine in 2013 and 2014, when a tacitly pro-Russian government similarly reneged on its European commitments. Those who died at Kyivs Maidan protests in 2013 and 2014 expected that the EU and the US would help with the transition into the post-Yanukovych era and the West delivered, albeit in part. A visit to Kyiv by the foreign ministers of Germany, France, and Poland helped diffuse the tensions and facilitated the departure of the much-hated president in February 2014. Last week, Gabrielius Landsbergis of Lithuanian, together with the foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia, and Iceland, made the trip to Tbilisi. Yet, commendable as the effort was, moving the needle will require the involvement of bigger European players and also of the Biden administration. Truthfully, however, it is hard to see Western support for post-Yanukovychs Ukraine as an unambiguous success. Yes, Ukraine is now negotiating its accession to the EU. Yet, for all its commitment to Ukraines European future, the West has been unwilling or unable to protect it against a predictable Russian backlash, which started with the annexation of Crimea and the war in the Donbas. Instead of real security guarantees, Ukraine was presented with the shambolic Minsk Accords, setting the stage for the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. With Russia embroiled in its war against Ukraine, Georgias mass protests provide an opportunity to finally anchor the country in the West a move that a vast majority of Georgians would support without any qualifications. Yet, making such a resolution stick would hinge on a combination of a Russian defeat in Ukraine and the Wests tangible support to Georgias defences, ideally through NATO membership. If that sounds fanciful, it is a reflection of just how low Americas and the Wests ambitions have fallen. There is no reason why Russia, an economy of the size of Italys, should have a veto over the political choices made by its neighbours indeed, the whole point of helping Ukraine defend itself against Putins aggression is to make it clear that imperial domination has no place in the 21st century. Allowing it to take root in Georgia, through inaction or fecklessness, would be a tragedy. Dalibor Rohac is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington DC China-California Business Forum held in LA to boost economic cooperation Xinhua) 09:45, May 21, 2024 LOS ANGELES, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The China-California Business Forum was held in Los Angeles on Monday, bringing together officials, business organizations and companies of the two countries with the goal of expanding business ties and trade cooperation. Addressing the event, Chinese Consul General in Los Angeles Guo Shaochun said China is California's largest trading partner and California has the largest presence of Chinese-invested companies among all states in the United States. The bilateral economic and trade cooperation has facilitated growth in employment and economy, benefiting the peoples of both China and the United States. Calling the China-California Business Forum an important platform for deeper communication and broader business opportunities, Guo said the forum will vitalize subnational cooperation and promote the sound, stable and sustainable development of China-U.S. relations. This year's forum is joined by a Chinese delegation consisting of over 150 top business leaders and trade officials from dozens of provinces. Shanghai is the Guest City of Honor this year. The China-California Business Forum is an annual economic and trade event under the China Provinces and U.S. California Joint Working Framework for Trade and Investment cooperation. The event was founded to boost the pragmatic cooperation in trade and investment between California and related provinces and cities in China. Starting from 2016, the previous five forums have drawn in over 2,100 attendees. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Although a new survey places Houston 97th among the best places to live in the U.S., the region still finished higher than New York, Los Angles and Chicago. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer A view of downtown Houston from over Memorial Park. The city rose more than 40 places in the new U.S. News & World Report annual survey of best places to live. Courtesy Nelson Byrd Woltz The Houston area ranked higher this year on an annual list of the best places to live, ahead of New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. To be fair, the city barely cracked the top 100, placing 97th of 150 cities ranked by U.S. News & World Report, which compares cities based on quality of life, value, job market and desirability. Houston climbed from No.140 last year, although the magazines researchers cautioned that changes to the methodology could have affected the results. The citys ranking was buoyed by a strong showing in the magazines desirability survey, which asked thousands of Americans where they would like to live. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Houston ranked No. 20 in our desirability survey, so people clearly see the appeal of living in Houston, said Erika Giovanetti, a loans expert and reporter for U.S. News, in a statement. SUBURBAN GROWTH: These Houston-area suburbs are seeing the greatest increase in home sales Austin was the star in Texas, placing ninth nationally as the best place to live. Dallas (No. 95) and San Antonio (No. 89) narrowly beat Houston. What set Austin apart from Houston is its standing as the ninth-best job market in the country. Meanwhile, Houston ranked No. 85 in that category, with higher unemployment rates and lower salaries compared with Austin, said Giovanetti. Austin also outranked Houston in the quality-of-life category, which considers access to high-quality health care and education, among other factors. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Houston had a higher crime rate and longer commute times than other cities of similar size, but better school rankings and a more affordable cost of living, according to the survey. Matthew Trickett appeared at Westminster magistrates court last week to face two charges under the National Security Act 2023. Photograph: @CourtNewsUK A former Royal Marine commando who was charged with spying for the Hong Kong intelligence service has died, police have said. Matthew Trickett, 37, who was on bail, was found by a member of the public in a park near where he lived in Maidenhead, Berkshire. Thames Valley police said officers attended and administered emergency treatment but he was pronounced dead at the scene in Grenfell Park on Sunday. The force said: An investigation is ongoing into the death, which is currently being treated as unexplained. Trickett appeared in court along with two other men last week accused of monitoring, surveillance and harassment of pro-democracy activists in the UK. His profile on LinkedIn lists him as being a former Royal Marine commando. He was in the marines between 2007 and 2013. Trickett was a Home Office immigration enforcement officer and also ran a private security consultancy. Trickett, Chung Biu Yuen, 63 and Chi Leung Peter Wai, 38, were charged with unlawfully assisting the Hong Kong intelligence service and engaging in foreign interference by forcing entry into a British address. The three spoke only to confirm their names, ages and addresses at an initial hearing at Westminster magistrates court. They were not asked for a plea. They were due to appear at the Old Bailey on Friday. Thames Valley police detectives are investigating whether anyone else was involved in the death, and the official designation of unexplained means they are yet to find anything suspicious or pointing to homicide. During the earlier hearing, the court was told that while in custody Trickett had attempted to take his own life and made threats to his own life. Kashif Malik, prosecuting, informed the judge Louisa Cieciora: He told two separate custody sergeants when he is released he is going to kill himself because he has nothing to live for. How realistic that is, judge, we dont know, but that is a concern for us. The judge granted bail. Tricketts solicitor, Julian Hayes, said: We are naturally shocked at this news and supporting his family as best we can. The death is currently being treated as unexplained by the police and further investigations are still ongoing. Following a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, due to the prior contact with police, the matter has now been passed on to Thames Valley polices professional standards department. It would therefore not be appropriate for us or the family to comment any further at this stage. Tricketts family said: We are mourning the loss of a much-loved son, brother and family member. We would be grateful if the press would respect our privacy at this difficult time and refrain from intruding on our grief. Trickett, Yuen and Wai were charged with engaging in unlawful information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception between 20 December 2023 and 2 May 2024, contrary to section 3 (1) and (9) of the National Security Act 2023. They were also accused of forcing entry into a UK residential address on 1 May this year, being reckless as to whether the prohibited conduct, or course of conduct of which it forms part, would have an interference effect, contrary to section 13 (2) and (7) of the act. Yuen, of Dalston, east London, works as an office manager at Hong Kongs Economic and Trade Office, an organisation responsible for trade and investment on behalf of the former British colony that is now a semi-autonomous region of China. Wai, a dual Chinese and British national from Staines, Surrey, works in Border Force at Heathrow. He is also a City of London special constable and the founder of a private security firm. The men were required to report weekly to a local police station, were subject to a 10pm-5am curfew and were banned from travelling abroad. They were also told to hand over their passports, register internet-connected devices with police, not use any internet concealing tools such as a VPN, and were told to sleep at their designated home addresses. The three defendants were originally detained as part of a larger operation in which 11 people were arrested earlier this month. Nine men and a woman were arrested by officers in Yorkshire and one man was arrested in London, the Met said. The seven men and one woman who were not charged were released from custody. Thames Valley police are asking anyone with information to come forward, particularly anyone who was in Grenfell Park on Sunday afternoon prior to 5.15pm. Biden denounced ICC arrest warrant requests. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP Good morning. President Joe Biden has lambasted the request by the international criminal court for arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, along with senior Hamas figures, as outrageous and said there was no equivalence between the country and the militant group. In Bidens most pro-Israel statements in months, he vowed to stand by the US ally, saying: The ICC prosecutors application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence none between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security. In a speech on Monday evening during the White Houses annual Jewish American Heritage Month celebration event, Biden also said civilian casualties in Gaza were heartbreaking, and that his administration was working for a two-state solution. Other than Netanyahu, who is the ICCs prosecutor, Karim Khan, pursuing warrants for? Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, over actions in Gaza. In Hamas, it is Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (also known as Mohammed Deif) and Ismail Haniyeh over the 7 October attack. Trump trial continues after judge admonishes key defense witness Donald Trumps hush-money trial will on Tuesday resume the cross-examination of lawyer Robert Costello, whom the defense has used to discredit the former lawyer and longtime Trump ally Michael Cohen. Cohen, who testified for four days, claimed Trump instructed him to bury the adult film actor Stormy Danielss account of an alleged sexual liaison, telling him to just take care of it. Trump is charged with falsifying business records related to a $130,000 payment to Daniels. The prosecution rested its case on Monday, and Trumps defense began theirs, ending the day with the testimony of Costello, whom Cohen met with after officers raided his hotel room and home in 2018. Costello claimed Cohen allegedly told him: I swear to God, Bob, I dont have anything on Donald Trump. How did Costello come across? His behavior including instructing someone to strike a question, which only the judge can do led to a fierce rebuke from Judge Juan Merchan. Ukraine urgently needs more air defenses, German foreign minister warns Ukraine urgently needs to more air defenses to protect itself against constant Russian attacks, Germanys foreign minister has warned. Annalena Baerbock made the statement in a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, as more than two dozen Russian drones targeted Ukraine overnight, leaving several people reportedly injured in the eastern Kharkiv region. The situation in Ukraine has once more dramatically deteriorated with the massive Russian aerial attacks on civilian infrastructure, and the brutal Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region, she said. Her intervention came as Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, repeated pleas for allies to send more air defense and fighter jets to protect the countrys skies in the wars third year. What did Zelenskiy say was needed? He said Ukraine needed at least 120, 130 planes to resist Russias 300 on Ukraines territory. In other news The trial of a group of far-right conspiracists who allegedly plotted to overthrow the German state will begin on Tuesday amid high security. A total of 26 people are on trial in three cases. Authorities in Delhi have ordered schools to close early with immediate effect for the summer holiday, after temperatures in the Indian capital reached a blistering 117F. A pro-Palestinian boycott of a UK music festivals sponsorship has led more than a third of acts to pull out of the event . Bands Boycott Barclays (BBB) accused the bank of laundering its reputation via the event, which it denied. OpenAI has removed a voice option from ChatGPT with an uncanny similarity to Scarlett Johanssons after the actor spoke out against the company, which she had declined to work with. Stat of the day: Mexicos government estimates up to 90% of guns seized come from the US Mexico pays a heavy price for the US gun trade: among traceable guns that were seized after being used in a crime in the country, Mexicos government estimated 70-90% came from the US. The US recorded about 45,000 firearms deaths in 2019, while the rest of the world had a total of about 200,000 of which 34,000 took place in Mexico. Dont miss this: I fell for a Ukrainian rocker but was I just a groupie? While on a year abroad in Russia in 1993, Viv Groskop fell for a guitarist in a Ukrainian band that were desperate to make it out of St Petersburgs sweaty dive bars and on to the western stage as Ukraines answer to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The period has given her a fleeting but fascinating window into how women who are with the band are treated. Climate check: Top oil firms climate pledges failing on almost every metric, report says The climate pledges made by large international oil and gas companies do not hold up, a study has showed. The research and advocacy group Oil Change International analyzed the climate plans of the eight largest US and European-based firms and found none were in keeping with limiting global heating to below 1.5C. Last Thing: Irish childrens rap video goes viral Its official: the song of the summer has dropped. The infectious tune with a drumnbass beat is called the The Spark and was recorded by a group of children in Ireland in just one day on a shoestring budget. Since it launched last week, it has racked up 8.6m views, with the producer Garry McCarthy saying: The kids energy and positivity has inspired people. Sign up First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If youre not already signed up, subscribe now. Get in touch If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss is allegedly the groups ringleader. Photograph: Getty Images A group including a self-styled aristocrat, a former far-right politician and retired military officers sought the approval of the Russian state as it plotted a violent seizure of power in covert meetings at motorway service stations and a hunting lodge, a court in Germany has heard. On the first day of their trial, nine defendants appeared in court in Frankfurt charged with high treason, facing allegations they plotted over a period of about 18 months to overthrow the state. In what the group is said to have called the Reactivation of Germany, the self-declared Patriotic Union stands accused of planning to storm the Reichstag. It allegedly aimed to take MPs hostage and show a shackled chancellor, Olaf Scholz, on television in expectation of winning over ordinary Germans. All the accused deny the charges. In a 64-page indictment, read by prosecutor Tobias Engelstatter, the court heard on Tuesday how the group known as the council, the political wing of the Patriotic Union, was believed to have formed a terrorist organisation around the alleged ringleader, Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss. Had the alleged coup succeeded, the plotters had allegedly planned for Reuss to become Germanys new chancellor. Engelstatter alleged that the group had gradually fleshed out its plans and attempted to recruit new members, making investigatory visits to the Bundestag, the German parliament, using the pass of one of the defendants, Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, a former politician for the far-right Alternative fur Deutschland. The prosecutor also claimed the group, which he said had met in various locations across Germany including Reusss hunting lodge and motorway service stations, had feverishly pursued conspiracy theories around the QAnon movement. The group had allegedly also sought the support of the Russian state via Reuss girlfriend, Vitalia Bondarenko, who is accused of approaching officials at consulates in Germany and Slovakia. The court heard how the group was accused of gathering a considerable cache of guns, weapons, ammunition and other military equipment, from night vision goggles to a range of knives. They knew their seizure of power would involve the killing of people, the prosecutor said. Engelstatter alleged that, ahead of what the group collectively referred to as Day X, Peter Worner, a former army officer, had posted a video on YouTube in which he appealed to the German public to not fall victim to fear and lethargy and to support the coup, in order to rid Germany of the criminal clique in reference to the government. The defendants seven men and two women were led into the purpose-built court flanked by armed police officers for what has been described as the most important of three trials of suspected members of the anti-constitutional Reichsburger scene. They spoke only to confirm their names, addresses and marital status. Asked by Judge Bonk if his name was Heinrich XIII and if he had been born in Thuringia, Reuss answered: That is correct, in a quiet, raspy voice. Dressed in a dark jacket and trousers, navy pullover and open-necked shirt, the 72-year-old estate agent greeted fellow defendants before taking his place in court. Variously dressed in hunting jackets, suits, hoodies and Burberry scarves, many of the accused waved and smiled at each other and chatted with their lawyers after being led to their seats. One of the women covered her face with a grey folder. Related: Germany coup plot trial begins amid high security The defendants were arrested in December 2022, when heavily armed forces stormed houses, flats, offices and a remote hunting lodge. Investigators had been surveilling the group for months. The trial was slow to get under way on Tuesday after several lawyers lodged complaints to the judge, in which they expressed their objections to the proceedings taking place at all. Bonk rejected a request for the trial to be filmed, after lawyers for the defendants argued it was of huge historical importance. It is unclear which of the defendants will actively participate in the trial, but the legal team for Reuss said he would not answer questions due to a lack of trust in the entire process. Outside the court, Roman von Alvensleben, a lawyer for Reuss, told journalists he found his clients views as crude and jarring but denied that he had been the plots ringleader. He objected to the fact that, because there were three trials in separate locations, it is almost impossible to follow the cases properly and to cross-reference them. Across the three trials, a total of 26 defendants are in the dock for their alleged involvement in the plot. A 27th, a 72-year-old who had been due to go on trial in Frankfurt, recently died. A court in Stuttgart is trying the alleged military wing of Patriotic Union, while Frankfurts trial focuses on the alleged ringleaders. A trial in Munich, due to the start in June will focus on the so-called esoteric wing of the organisation. Of the hundreds of witnesses who have been called to give evidence, several are expected to appear before all three courts. Related: Far-right extremists stage rural land grab across Germany The Frankfurt trial is taking place in a purpose-built metal warehouse on the outskirts of Germanys financial capital, with the public and press galleries separated from the main courtroom by a broad window of bulletproof glass. The group on trial is part of a growing movement known as Reichsburger, or citizens of the Reich, now estimated by German authorities to number about 23,000, who refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of the modern state and would like German borders to be redrawn to pre-1918 lines. All three trials are scheduled to in theory last for months but are expected in practice to go on for a year or more. The case continues. 'The safety of the Jewish community is the canary in the mine,' Michael Gove will say - Jordan Pettitt/PA Michael Gove has compared the surge in anti-Semitism in the UK to the rise of Nazis in Germany. In a speech at a Jewish community centre in London on Tuesday, the Communities Secretary will warn that the safety of the Jewish community is the canary in the mine in acting as an early warning sign of threats to cherished freedoms in the UK. He will say anti-Semitism is the common currency of hate that unites extremist groups whether Islamist, Right-wing or hard-Left whom he has pledged to tackle as divisive and a threat to community cohesion. It follows figures showing a record high of 4,103 anti-Semitic incidents last year, up 147 per cent on the previous year. Some 2,699 were in the period on or after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on Oct 7, equivalent to 66 per cent of the annual total. On Tuesday, the Home Office will publish the long-awaited independent review into political violence and disruption in the UK by the independent adviser Lord Walney. The report will set out more than 40 recommendations on ways for ministers and public bodies to deal with violent and disruptive protests. In his speech, Mr Gove will say organisers of the pro-Palestinian marches in cities across the UK are failing to do enough to prevent the display of anti-Semitic symbols. Within the next month, he will publicly name and shame extremist organisations that the Government claims have sought to subvert democracy and promote hatred. He named three Muslim groups in Parliament to be investigated over extremism fears. Any on the final list will be barred from any government funding or contact. Pro-Palestine marchers are side by side with those promoting hate, Mr Gove will say On Tuesday, Mr Gove will say: Its an ironclad law of history that countries which are descending into darkness are those which are becoming progressively more unsafe for Jewish individuals and the Jewish community the Spain of the Inquisition, the Vienna of the 1900s, Germany in the 1930s, Russia in the last decade. It is a parallel law that those countries in which the Jewish community has felt most safe at any time are the countries where freedom is most secure at any time. The Netherlands of the 17th century. Britain in the first decades of the last century. America in the second half of that century. So when Jewish people are under threat, all our freedoms are threatened. Fever which weakens whole body politic The safety of the Jewish community is the canary in the mine. Growing Anti-Semitism is a fever which weakens the whole body politic. And I see that directly in my work tackling extremism and promoting community cohesion. There is one thing which increasingly unites the organisations and individuals which give cause for extremist concern. Anti-Semitism. It is the common currency of hate. It is at the dark heart of their world view. Whether Islamist. Far-Right. Or hard-Left. Pro-Palestine activists in Berlin. It is a highly sensitive issue because of Germany's Nazi history - Axel Schmidt/Getty Referring to recent protest marches, Mr Gove will say: Many of those on these marches are thoughtful, gentle, compassionate people driven by a desire for peace and an end to suffering. But they are side by side with those who are promoting hate. The organisers of these marches could do everything in their power to stop that. They dont. The Secretary of State will urge members of the House of Lords to pass legislation to stop to stop businesses and organisations including those affiliated with Israel being targeted through ongoing boycotts by public bodies, leading to community tensions and a rise in Anti-Semitism. He is expected to stress that ensuring the safety of Jewish people is a moral duty for all to uphold: We must say to every Jewish citizen in this country your safety is the best guarantee of our security, your freedom to live as you choose the only way we can be certain we remain a land of liberty, your future is our future. We said never again. And that is a promise we will never, ever, disavow. Mel Stride wants to build a new economic model based on British talent - Aaron Chown/PA Businesses will have to end their reliance on foreign workers and hire unemployed Britons, Mel Stride will say on Tuesday in a pre-election pitch to Tory voters. The Work and Pensions Secretary will pledge to put right decades of overdependence on imported labour as part of plans to slash net migration by 300,000 a year. He will argue that welfare reforms, including a crackdown on long-term sickness benefits for milder mental health conditions, will make more domestic staff available. His intervention will be seen as an attempt to draw a clear dividing line with Labour on immigration and benefits while appealing to traditional Conservative voters. Mr Stride will use a speech in central London to warn firms that the days of bringing in cheap workers from abroad while millions of Britons languish on benefits are over. But in a carrot-and-stick approach he will also unveil a series of incentives to hire domestic staff, including cash payments for taking on apprentices and extra training. It will be the third in a series of planned addresses by senior ministers, to be delivered over the coming weeks, which will set out the Tories big picture offer to voters. The care sector must employ more Britons, Mel Stride will say - Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, and Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, delivered the first two last week which featured blistering attacks on Labour over security and taxes. Mr Stride will move the attack on to the battle to tame the ballooning welfare budget, championing the Tories twin crackdown on immigration and sickness benefits. He will say: With the next generation of welfare reforms, we are building a new economic model based on British talent. Its a plan providing more opportunities for people here at home to get on, to progress, and to increase their pay. He will go on to say that pubs and restaurants, care homes, construction firms and manufacturers must employ more Britons. Recruitment challenge He will point to a border crackdown announced last December by the Prime Minister which is expected to see net migration fall by around 300,000 this year. The measures included curbing the number of dependents foreign workers can bring and raising the salary threshold for the issuing of employment visas. I know this presents a recruitment challenge for some employers in certain sectors, particularly those that have relied more on migration in the past, Mr Stride will say. But this is also a huge opportunity for the thousands of jobseekers within our domestic workforce to move into roles that have previously been filled by overseas workers. So my message to businesses is clear our jobcentre teams stand ready to help you find the right candidate, and we want to work with you to overcome recruitment challenges. And my message is also to the British people. For too long, we have relied on labour from abroad when there is great talent right here in the UK I am determined to put that right. The construction sector should hire more Britons too - Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg Mr Stride is expected to announce that measures introduced in 2021 to tackle the post-pandemic shortage of lorry drivers will be extended to four other sectors. They included incentive payments of 3,000 to firms who employed an apprentice, and funding of up to 5,000 to pay for specialist training for new staff. Ministers also provided grants to charities to train up ex-offenders and expanded Jobcentre schemes to encourage more unemployed people into the haulage industry. Under the new plan, similar measures are now expected to be extended to the hospitality, social care, construction and manufacturing sectors. It comes as the Tories plan to create a clear dividing line with Sir Keir Starmer by accusing the Labour leader of being soft on welfare and immigration. Polling shows that while the public overall are evenly split on the issue of migration, Conservative voters strongly favour a tougher approach. A survey carried out by YouGov last November found that 61 per cent of 2019 Tory voters want to see immigration reduced even if it means lower economic growth. The same pollster found in December that three quarters (74 per cent) of Conservative voters backed the move to increase the salary threshold for work visas. Net migration hit a record high of 672,000 last year, with workers from across the globe filling vacancies created by fewer post-Brexit arrivals from the EU. At the same time, there are more than nine million Britons who are neither in work nor looking for a job following a post-pandemic surge in long-term illness. Labour has rejected No 10s approach and says it would tackle worklessness by slashing NHS waiting lists meaning people get the treatment they need. It has also unveiled plans to devolve control over employment support to local areas and end the tick box culture at jobcentres. Alison McGovern, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said: The Conservatives have run down our skills and training system and we now have record levels of net migration. They should be putting in place proper plans to tackle worker shortages and adopting Labours plans to connect the immigration system to skills. The ICC is seeking an arrest warrant against Netanyahu and Gallant - Reuters The International Criminal Courts decision to seek arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant makes a mockery of both the institution and the laws it claims to uphold. By applying for the arrest of the Israeli leadership alongside that of Hamas, the court has bolstered a supposed moral equivalence where none exists. Israel is engaged in an existential struggle against a foe which hides among the civilian population. IDF soldiers have gone to extraordinary lengths to minimise non-combatant casualties, often at greater risk to their own lives. Hamas, in contrast, initiated this conflict by slaughtering innocent civilians on Israeli soil. Its leader, Yahya Sinwar, has made clear his intention to wipe out the worlds only Jewish state. Yet Karim Khan, the ICCs chief prosecutor, has brought charges including causing extermination and deliberately targeting civilians against both Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant. Israel Katz, the Israeli foreign minister, was right to describe the ICCs decision as a historical disgrace. The court has, in a single moment, wilfully sabotaged any right to be considered a fair and impartial arbitrator of justice, undoing decades of work. This ideologically motivated ruling will not hasten the end of the conflict or expedite a ceasefire. As the UK Government has noted, the ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel or Hamas. Only when the terrorist group has been destroyed, and surviving hostages freed, can there be peace. Yesterdays development will serve only to discredit the ICC and further alienate Israel as it fights for its survival. Tens of thousands of people in the UK were infected with deadly viruses after they were given contaminated blood and blood products between the 1970s and early 1990s. Photograph: Jeff Moore/PA Wire Victims of the infected blood scandal seen as one of the worst treatment disasters in the history of the NHS have raised concerns about the governments pledged compensation scheme. There are worries that existing payments could be conflated as being part of the wider compensation scheme. Cabinet Office minister John Glen said there would be no immediate changes made to the support schemes, but how does it all work? Who will get compensation? People across the UK who were directly and indirectly infected with HIV, hepatitis C and hepatitis B will be eligible for compensation. The government scheme also includes people who have been affected by the scandal in other ways, whether they are partners or parents of victims, or those who have cared for people infected for at least a year. Children and siblings of victims are also eligible for compensation. Official guidance notes that children who were under the age of 18 and lived with their infected parent for at least a year will receive higher rates of compensation than those whose parents were infected when they were adults. It is understood the bar will be set very low when it comes to proving whether you cared for someone with infected blood. How will the compensation scheme work? Compensation will be awarded in five categories: An injury impact award, to recognise the physical and mental injury the infection has caused victims. A social impact award to acknowledge the stigma or social isolation. An autonomy award. A care award. A financial loss award. The amount of money people receive will also depend on the severity of infection they suffered in relation to the governments bands, laid out as follows: Hepatitis B or hepatitis C acute, defined as an infection shorter than six months. Hepatitis C or hepatitis B chronic, defined as infections longer than six months. Hepatitis C or bepatitis B cirrhosis, which left long-term liver damage. Hepatitis C or hepatitis B decompensated cirrhosis HIV. Co-infection of HIV and hepatitis C or hepatitis B. How much compensation will victims get and when? Payments of 210,000 will be made to living infected beneficiaries, those registered with existing infected blood support schemes and those who register with the support scheme before the final scheme becomes operational, the Cabinet Office minister said. These payments will be made within 90 days, starting in the summer. People living with a single infection can expect to receive: Hepatitis C (acute): 35,500. Hepatitis C or hepatitis B (chronic): 665,000 to 810,000. Hepatitis C or hepatitis B (cirrhosis): 985,000 to 1,130,000. Hepatitis C or hepatitis B (decompensated cirrhosis, and/or liver cancer and/or liver transplantation): 1,412,000 to 1,557,000. HIV: 2,225,000 to 2,615,000. Compensation for infected victims living with a co-infection can expect to receive: HIV and hepatitis C/ hepatitis B (acute): 2,257,500 2,647,500. HIV and hepatitis C/ hepatitis B (chronic): 2,270,000 2,660,000. HIV and hepatitis C/ hepatitis B (cirrhosis): 2,315,000 2,705,000. HIV and hepatitis C/ hepatitis B (decompensated cirrhosis: 2,345,000 2,735,000. HIV and hepatitis C/ hepatitis B (liver cancer and/or liver transplantation): 2,345,000 2,735,000. Hepatitis C and hepatitis B (chronic): 730,000 1,642,000 (depending on severity band). What about existing support schemes? Official guidance states that existing support payments will continue until March 2025, and the government has said no deductions will be made from any other compensation awards people are entitled to. From 1 April 2025, any support payments people receive will be counted towards their final compensation reward. Glen said this is to ensure parity between support scheme beneficiaries regardless of whether they were first or the last to have their compensation assessed by the infected blood compensation authority. In some countries justice was delivered years ago and compensation paid, but in others it has been thwarted. Photograph: Science Photo Library/Tek Image/Getty Images On Monday, infected blood victims in the UK finally felt they had obtained a measure of justice and closure, nearly 50 years after the scandal began. Yet questions remain over the compensation scheme and whether criminal charges will be brought. Here is what happened in some other countries. Australia Infected blood is considered a little-recognised scandal in Australia. The government has estimated the number of victims at up to 8,000 while advocacy groups put the figure closer to 20,000. In the early 1990s a trust was established to provide financial assistance to people with medically acquired HIV infection and Aids, which is not considered compensation. The trust was wound up in 2001, by which time 423 people had received payments totalling $20.16m (11.6m). People infected with hepatitis C were not eligible for the payments, though some have settled independently with the Australian Red Cross. A Senate inquiry was held in 2004 but the government never implemented its recommendation that it cover victims medical costs. Canada In the early 1980s, about 2,000 Canadians were infected with HIV from tainted blood products and about 30,000 were infected with hepatitis C. In 1993 the Krever inquiry was launched. A landmark report was published in 1997, blaming the lack of a national blood policy in the country for a series of disastrous decisions. A criminal investigation was brought in 1997 and police laid 32 criminal charges against senior scientists at Health Canada, the Canadian Red Cross Society and the US-based Armour Pharmaceutical Company. However, they were acquitted in 2007. In 2001, the supreme court ruled that the Canadian Red Cross had been negligent. In 2005, the organisation pleaded guilty to distributing blood contaminated with HIV and hepatitis C and was fined $5,000 (2,885). The government offered compensation to Canadians infected with HIV from 1989, but it took years and several legal battles for those infected with hepatitis C to receive compensation, totalling billions of dollars. China Unique to China were the illicit blood centres in the mid-1990s that gathered blood from impoverished farmers in Henan and Anhui provinces, many of whom contracted Aids from unsanitary practices. Tainted blood is also believed to have found its way into mainland hospitals, infecting hundreds of patients in the late 90s. The central government tightened safeguards for blood supply by abolishing for-profit blood donation schemes. However, even in 2004 authorities still sought to classify HIV infections as the result of drug use or prostitution in official records. France In France, an estimated 4,000 people, many of whom were haemophiliacs, were given blood infected with HIV in 1985. The former prime minister Laurent Fabius and two of his ministers were charged with manslaughter. In 1999, Fabius and one minister were acquitted the other minister was found guilty but freed. All three politicians were alleged to have delayed the introduction of a US blood-screening test in France until a rival French product was ready to go on the market. The director of the National Blood Centre received a four-year prison sentence. Ireland The Lindsay tribunal was set up in Ireland in 1999 to investigate the infection of haemophiliacs with HIV and hepatitis C from contaminated blood products, some of which came from local donors as well as high-risk US prisoners. The tribunal recommended a full care and compensation package for the nearly 2,000 people implicated and determined the National Haemophilia Centre had been slow to respond to the infection risk. In 2007, it was reported that the state bill for compensating people infected by contaminated blood products exceeded 1bn (853m). Italy A Rome court ordered the health ministry in June 2001 to pay damages to 351 people who contracted the HIV virus and hepatitis through blood transfusions, and their families. The court said the ministry was too slow to introduce measures to prevent the virus being spread by donated blood, and did not establish proper checks on plasma. Japan In the 1980s, between 1,000 and 2,000 haemophilia patients in Japan contracted HIV through contaminated blood products that had not been heat-treated even though the technology was available. In November 1995 a case was settled with compensation of $420,000 for each victim, $235,000 coming from the companies involved and the rest from the Japanese government. Three former drug company executives were given prison terms in February 2000. Renzo Matsushita, a former head of the ministry of health and welfares pharmaceutical affairs bureau, and two of his colleagues were found guilty of professional negligence resulting in death. In 2000, Matsushita was sentenced to two years in jail. In 2001, a Tokyo court cleared the former top Aids expert of professional negligence over the scandal. Portugal More than 100 Portuguese haemophiliacs were infected with HIV after receiving transfusions of contaminated plasma from the public health service. In 1995, Leonor Beleza, a former health minister, was indicted for her role in the scandal during her time in office during the 1980s. She avoided standing trial because the statute of limitations had expired. US In the US, haemophiliacs sought compensation through litigation against companies that provided blood products. After years of legal wrangling, in 1997 Bayer and the other three makers agreed to pay $660mto settle cases on behalf of more than 6,000 haemophiliacs infected in the early 1980s, paying an estimated $100,000 to each infected haemophiliac. A bill was then signed giving two additional years to bring product liability suits against the manufacturers, allowing 75 people to file suits. Iranians have gathered in their thousands to mourn Ebrahim Raisi in the north-western city of Tabriz, at the start of a nationwide funerary procession. The body of Irans president, who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday, will tour the country as part of five days of mourning announced by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Irans supreme leader. Mourners touch pictures of Ebrahim Raisi during a funeral ceremony in Tabriz on Tuesday - Stringer/REUTERS Waving Iranian flags and portraits of the late president, mourners set off on Tuesday from a central square in Tabriz, where Raisi was heading when his helicopter crashed on Sunday. They walked behind a lorry carrying the coffins of Raisi and his seven aides. The coffins of Ebrahim Raisi and seven of his aides are carried in Tabriz - ATA DADASHI/AFP After leaving Tabriz, Raisis body will arrive in Qom, Irans Shiite clerical centre, later on Tuesday before being taken to Tehran. Khamenei is due to hold prayers at a farewell ceremony in Tehran on Tuesday night, ahead of major processions due to begin on Wednesday morning. Raisi will then be taken to South Khorasan province on Thursday morning and later to Mashhad, his hometown, where he will be buried on Thursday evening after funerary rites. A hardliner, Raisi had been in office since 2021, when Iran was rocked by mass protests against the repression of women. A man kisses a portrait of the late president, who will be buried on Thursday in Mashhad, his hometown - ABDUL MAJEED/AFP On Sunday night, as news of the helicopter crash circulated, some offered anti-government chants in the night. Fireworks could be seen in some parts of the capital, though Sunday also marked a remembrance for Imam Reza, which can see them set off as well. Critical messages and dark jokes over the crash also circulated online. Thousands pay tribute to the late Iranian leader in Tabriz, where he had been heading when the crash occurred - ATA DADASHI/AFP Irans leading prosecutor has already issued an order demanding cases be filed against those publishing false content, lies and insults against Raisi and others killed in the crash. The Iranian government is yet to give a cause for the crash, which took place in a fog-shrouded mountain range. People grieve the death of a teenager killed by a stray bullet during clashes between police and gang members in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Saturday. Photograph: Odelyn Joseph/AP Kenyan special forces police who have spent time battling al-Shabaab fighters in east Africa are expected to arrive in Haiti in the coming days, as the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, warned the Caribbean country was on the precipice of becoming an all-out failed state. A small advance group of Kenyan officers part of a larger UN-backed multinational security support mission designed to stabilize Haiti after months of mayhem landed in the capital, Port-au-Prince, late on Monday as the citys airport reopened nearly three months after a gang uprising forced it to close. Kenyan media reports said another 200 officers were due to arrive later this week with their deployment coinciding with a state visit the countrys president, William Ruto, is making to the US. A total of about 1,000 Kenyan agents are expected to join the mission, as well as officers from Chile, Jamaica, Grenada, Paraguay, Burundi, Chad, Nigeria and Mauritius. A senior official from Kenyas interior ministry told the Geneva-based civil society group Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime that the first boots [would] hit the ground in the coming days. This time we are serious, the official was quoted as saying. Appearing in Washington DC before the Senate foreign affairs committee on Tuesday, Blinken claimed there was an opportunity now to achieve enduring stability after decades of turmoil. Blinken said the reopening of Haitis main international airport was a clear sign of progress and anticipated US carriers would resume flights there in the days ahead. The first Kenyan officers to arrive will reportedly come from an elite paramilitary unit called the recce squad, the rapid deployment force and members of a police special operation group who have spent time fighting Islamist insurgents on Kenyas eastern border with Somalia. They are no strangers to violent armed actors, reported the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. Some observers have welcomed the long-delayed deployment as a major step towards bringing peace to a country that has lurched deeper into violence since the 2021 assassination of its then president, Jovenel Moise. Blinken said US support for the multinational mission was critical to restore order and reduce the power of the gangs. In a recent interview, the UNs top expert on human rights in Haiti, William ONeill, said he hoped many of the young gang combatants who have been sowing terror in Port-au-Prince would stand down once a superior fighting force arrived. A lot of them are teenagers. Youre talking about 15-year-olds, 16-year-olds and theres no ideology. Its not like the Taliban or al-Shabaab, ONeill said. Related: The gangs are in charge: Haitis outgunned police fight a desperate rear defence Top gang leaders might resist but their poorly trained foot soldiers were unlikely to resist, ONeill predicted: Theyre not gonna commit suicide defending the turf. Theyre gonna drop the gun and run The one thing the gangs respect is a bigger force. But others are doubtful that yet another foreign intervention will bring lasting peace and point to a succession of botched operations in the century since US president Woodrow Wilson sent in the marines after the 1915 assassination of the Haitian president Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam. The most recent such intervention was the 2004-2017 UN stabilization force Minustah. The Brazil-led mission initially wrested back control from armed groups that hold sway in many of Haitis impoverished seaside slums but UN troops later became embroiled in accusations of human rights violations, sexual abuse and importing a devastating cholera outbreak. Blinken said he understood why some in Congress had concerns about the mission in Haiti, but said US aid was critical and urged Republican leaders to lift their holds on the funding. I know some people have concerns about the United States being the policeman of the world. Well, heres a situation where Kenya and a number of other countries have stepped up and are willing to take this on but they need support, he added. Members of Haitis embattled national police force voice frustration that the resources being used to bankroll the latest security mission are not being used to bolster their own perilous efforts to reclaim the 80% of the capital now controlled by gangs. Buy ammunition, give us helmets give us assistance. We can do it, one police officer said in a recent interview with the Guardian, noting that the Haitian national police didnt have a single helicopter. In Kenya, opposition politicians have also attacked sending the countrys police officers into such a dangerous situation. This mission is a death trap, Millie Odhiambo told the New York Times. Bao Ong is a restaurant columnist for the Houston Chronicle. He can be reached at bao@houstonchronicle.com He previously worked on staff at Eater New York, Bon Appetit and Time Out New York. In addition to Bao's background in journalism, he also graduated from the French Culinary Institute. He moved to Houston in summer 2022 and in his first year, he won the top award in the Comment and Criticism category awarded by the Texas Managing Editors organization. Follow where he's eating and drinking on Instagram: @baohaus Labour's shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has so far refused to commit to funding proposals - Leon Neal/Getty Images Europe Will a Labour government tax us more to meet its promises of greater NHS funding? Sir Keir Starmers small steps have so far not revealed which direction they would take us, or how he would fund his expensive commitments. Thanks to the Conservatives copying some Labour policies on non-domiciled taxpayers and already committing the anticipated revenues, Labours promises on NHS expansion are essentially unfunded. Thats why Ive explained before that Labour could introduce VAT on private healthcare such as knee, hip and cataract operations, and non-NHS dental or optical treatments. All in a good cause, of course saving our NHS would be the narrative to sugar coat the financial pain of those easing their physical pains. Over the last 10 years the number of NHS doctors has increased by 37,700 (37pc) to 139,300 in Oct 2023 and of nurses by 72,600 (27pc) to 340,700 but such is the poor productivity and climbing demand that Europes largest employer is still planning to recruit more. Yet Labour has promised, in addition to the existing plans for workforce growth, that it will recruit even more staff and fund extra overtime pay. Where will the money come from? Labours shadow health secretary Wes Streeting is a man on a mission; regularly talking tough about reforming the NHS and repeating key phrases to sound serious about the task. He has attacked the British Medical Association (BMA) for having defensive attitudes, claimed he will not allow producer interests to stand in the way and argues we cannot afford to be romantic and misty-eyed about it this is a service not a shrine. And how about this? What you will not hear me saying in the run-up to the next general election is that the NHS is the envy of the world, he says. We know its not true, patients know its not true, staff know its not true and politicians know its not true. Squeezing better value for money out of the mighty Brabazon that is our NHS is challenging enough and to fund more medical school places and expand the workforce further will take real money but Streeting remains coy, refusing to commit to funding proposals when asked last month. How then can he do it? A key political battleground that could hit our earnings and savings is the purpose of National Insurance. The Conservatives have cut National Insurance (twice) and talked-up the idea of abolishing it as a long term goal. Labour saw this as an opportunity, claiming ending National Insurance contributions would leave a 46bn black hole threatening the NHS and pensions, which it helps to fund. It has also created space for Streeting to mull over the perennial suggestion in NHS planning of changing its funding model to social health insurance or a hypothecated tax for the NHS. What might that mean? If we followed the Dutch or German model it would mean allowing competing not-for-profit insurers, whereas France relies on one insurer covering 95pc of the population. Whether or not social health insurance (SHI) delivers more cost-effective healthcare or better outcomes is disputed by different think tanks, but it does tend to take the political heat out of healthcare. While some right-of-centre think tanks have considered the idea of adopting the SHI model for the NHS, there have also been advocates on the left who see some merits. Admirers include the late Frank Field, who campaigned for it, and Peter Mandelson, who has admitted it was considered when Tony Blair raised National Insurance to boost funding for the NHS in 2003. Creating a special NHS tax need not sacrifice the principle of treatment being free at the point of use, and it could be topped up by general taxation (most overseas schemes are). The Conservatives are, however, the party least likely to run with the idea for fear of being shamed as dismantling our NHS. The only way they could do it would be if they had a huge majority and could deliver a significant and commensurate cut in income tax to compensate for a new, higher NHS-dedicated social insurance charge. Neither of those are realistic prospects for Rishi Sunaks Conservatives. To solve Labours funding conundrum Streeting could rebrand National Insurance and then dedicate all revenue from National Insurance contributions to the NHS, maybe calling it the National Health Insurance Scheme, and do the same as Blair by raising the rate by at least a couple of pence so the NHS could receive a funding boost. This change could be coupled by extending the reach of NIC to include incomes from pensions, investments & property rentals and ending the lower rates for the self-employed to raise additional revenues.. Streeting may yet be the man who will try to tackle NHS funding problems, but he would meet stiff resistance from the left in his party and producer interests unless he could show it would mean far greater funding for our inefficient nationalised healthcare and not lead to privatisation. He would also have to consider how it might be delivered in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland where devolved responsibilities might reveal more significant opposition. I fear the most typical British solution is likely to be a bad compromise a more encompassing and higher national insurance charge, dedicating it to the NHS with the public invited to choose its name and a logo designed by schoolchildren but no commensurate reduction in other taxes to compensate for the additional burden. It would be the ideal way for Labour to disguise the further raising of taxes without the uncomfortable honesty of advocating thruppence on income tax. There have been calls for Lord Clarke, the former health secretary, to be stripped of his peerage over the furore - Chris McAndrew / UK Parliament Lord Clarke has questions to answer over his role in the infected blood scandal, a Cabinet minister has said. There have been calls for the former health secretary to be stripped of his peerage, after the inquiry concluded he had misled the public in an indefensible way over the risks from transfusions. More than 3,000 people have died after receiving transfusions and blood products infected with HIV and hepatitis deaths that Sir Brian Langstaff, the inquiry chairman, said could largely have been avoided. Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said: Sir Brian has come forward with some very strong observations of Ken, in the context of the scandal. Clearly there are questions that Ive no doubt Ken will be addressing in time. Evidence breathtaking in the extreme Mr Stride would not be drawn on the calls for Lord Clarke to lose his peerage, telling Sky News that it was a matter for the forfeiture committee. But he added: I recognise that there are many people in many groups of people that have come out of this report very badly. Clive Smith, the chairman of the Haemophilia Society, who is a qualified barrister, said that the evidence Lord Clarke gave was breathtaking in the extreme. When asked on LBC whether the peer should remain in the House of Lords, Mr Smith said: We wrote to the Upper House when it was suggested that he was going to get a peerage, saying, Please dont do that yet, wait until the Infected Blood Inquiry has reported. Now we have the conclusions of the Infected Blood Inquiry report, I think our letter was well timed and entirely accurate. The way in which he gave his evidence was appalling. Many questions and short failings Meanwhile, Mr Stride said it was not inconceivable that politicians and officials could be prosecuted over the scandal. He told Times Radio that the question of whether criminal charges could be brought was not a matter for the Government but he believed all of those things should and will be looked at. Of course, things such as criminal charges are matters for the police and they are matters for the Crown Prosecution Service so they are not matters for government, per se. But I have no doubt that all of those things will be extremely carefully looked at because in that 2,700-page report there are many questions and many short failings that have surfaced and they all need to be looked at very carefully. And it is not inconceivable that what you have described may be something that transpires. But as I say, that is a matter on the criminal charges side of things for the police and the CPS. Could be grounds for prosecution Lord Saville, a former Supreme Court justice who chaired the Bloody Sunday inquiry, said that it was certainly conceivable that politicians and officials could be prosecuted, but that it depended on the circumstances of the particular case. Speaking to Times Radio on Tuesday morning, he said: But if people have deliberately set about to lie or to try and present the situation as different from what they know or believe is the case, well, then I can see there could well be grounds for prosecution. Meanwhile, Nigel Farage said that he did not believe that anyone would be held accountable, as nothing happens in public life when major scandals transpire. The honorary president of Reform UK told GB News: Nothing happens within the NHS, nothing happens within the Civil Service, nothing happens within government. The odd backbencher asks a question here or there. And it seems to me whether its the postmasters or frankly whether its the Covid Inquiry, the one common denominator is that nobody is ever held to account, he added. Alan Mak: 'Always comes across as up to no good, in terror of being caught out' - MAURO SCROBOGNA/LAPRESSE/SHUTTERSTOCK You cant arrest Netanyahu! Hes one of us. International courts are for men called Slobodan Killalot, not democratic leaders with whom David Cameron has shared several summits and a Jacuzzi. Otherwise, who will they arrest next? Bush? Blair? David Cameron? Lord Dave rose from the red benches to denounce the ICCs investigation into Bibi as wrong. Green peer Baroness Bennett asked if we should suspend arms sales to Israel just in case it has broken some law? No need, replied Cameron; we supply so little. But how much exactly? To find out, one had to jog to the Grimond Room, where Alan Mak, the industry minister, gave an answer before the committee. Mak is another of the 400 MPs I was at Cambridge with, though in his case a political career did come as a surprise. Some of the crueller undergrads laid bets on prison. Whatever his virtues, and Im sure hes a lovely man, Mak always comes across as up to no good and in terror of being caught out. Seated between Andrew Mitchell and a civil servant, like a client between lawyers, his nerves gave the committee the air of a police interrogation as if Mak were suspected of supplying the weapons himself. So, asked the panel, what is the value of UK defence exports to Israel? The figure for 2022, replied Mak, was a paltry 42 million, amounting to less than 1 per cent of Israels defence imports. Job done; he almost ran out the door. Haaaang on, said the committee: 2022? What about the figures for the last eight months you know, the period in which Israel has been at war? Had Mak replied we dont have them, he would have appeared incompetent but honest. Instead he provided wider context that amounted to three minutes of trying to avoid saying we dont have them in a manner that could only have sounded worse if hed said: We did, but the dog ate them. This is completely unacceptable, said Liam Byrne, the chairman. These are quarterly statistics, we are thus owed two sets of them, and they are late so where are they? We are updating our digital systems, explained the mandarin, and perhaps sensing that her job would be safer if she let Mak take the wrap on this one, said little else. How confident are you, asked Julie Marson, that the UK has not provided any equipment that could be used in breach of the law? Mak launched into a discourse of nonsense peppered with general knowledge Israel is in the Middle East, it gets around 21 inches of rain a year concluding with I hope that answers your question. Im not sure, she said. Mitchell leaned back in his chair and smiled. He looked like an attorney who knew full well his client was going down and had no intention of standing in his way. But smug as Mitchell was, he and the Government were implicated by Maks testimony. For days they have said Britain exports too little to Israel for an arms embargo to make any difference but we now know that they cant say that for sure because Mak doesnt have the numbers. Im calling this scandal Makgate. The Adriana, an ageing fishing trawler, sank off south-west Greece on 14 June 2023. An estimated 600 men, women and children died in the shipwreck. Photograph: Greek Coast Guard/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Nine men accused of causing one of the deadliest shipwrecks to have taken place in the Mediterranean are scapegoats who should never have been prosecuted, defence lawyers have said, as their long-awaited trial opens in Greece. The Egyptian suspects, who have been held in pre-trial detention since the 14 June disaster last year, are appearing in court in the southern city of Kalamata on Tuesday. An estimated 600 men, women and children perished when the Adriana, an ageing fishing trawler believed to be carrying up to 750 people, capsized in international waters off the Greek town of Pylos. Related: I want answers: hope gives way to fury in Greece as hunt for survivors ends Images of passengers packed on the vastly overcrowded Italy-bound vessel circled the world, prompting global outrage over whether the Hellenic coastguard first alerted to the ship after it ran into engine trouble about 15 hours before it capsized could have done more to prevent the disaster. Victims who had boarded the boat in Libya included Pakistani, Syrian, Egyptian and Palestinian people. It soon emerged that women and children of the 104 survivors, all were adult males and boys had been locked in the hold of the boat. The ship sank in one of the deepest areas of the Mediterranean. To date, only 82 bodies have been recovered. But almost a year on, there are concerns as to whether the accused, who were among the survivors, will be given a fair trial. The nine, aged between 20 and 40, stand accused of migrant smuggling, participating in a criminal organisation, endangering human lives and provoking a shipwreck charges that, if convicted, carry multiple life sentences. All have categorically denied being involved in the smuggling operation. Anti-fascist and leftist groups are staging a protest outside the courthouse to denounce Europes migration policies and deploring what they have described as a state cover-up. Before the start of the trial, there was a skirmish between riot police and the protesters. Defence lawyers have already signalled that they will try to have the case dismissed, arguing that as the shipwreck occurred in international waters, Greek courts lacked the jurisdiction to try it. Related: The real smugglers are rarely on the boat: activists in Greece question jailing asylum seekers Vicky Aggelidou, a lawyer representing two of the men, said the evidence of prosecution witnesses was not only insufficient but simply did not stack up. The witnesses were compelled to give testimony under duress. Theres not the slightest bit of proof against the defendants and thats because they were paying customers just like the rest, she said. Real smugglers never get on a ship. Were talking about big business. Theyre very professional. Natasha Dailiani, another defence lawyer, said it was clear the suspects were scapegoats to cover up the responsibilities of the [Greek] coastguard. There must be a fair trial and a search for the real causes, she added. Greek government officials insist that authorities were unable to take action earlier because the trawler was in international waters. Although a parallel investigation into the conduct of the Hellenic coastguard is also under way, maritime officials have likewise rebuffed allegations that they deliberately failed to intervene for fear of such a large group of asylum seekers being brought ashore. They have claimed that, while a vessel was dispatched to the area, the stricken boats crew members repeatedly turned down offers of help, saying: No help [we] go to Italy. Groups supporting the rights of survivors and migrants dispute that version of events. In a report released in December, the EU border agency, Frontex, which had spotted the boat from the air before the coastguard, also alluded to dereliction of duty, saying the Greek authorities had failed to reply to follow-up calls and its offers of assistance. In a lawsuit filed last September, survivors not only accused Greek authorities of deliberately failing to intervene to rescue those onboard, but argued that a doomed attempt to tow the trawler caused the vessel to sink. Theres a real risk that these nine survivors could be found guilty on the basis of incomplete and questionable evidence, given that the official investigation into the role of the coastguard has not been completed, said Judith Sunderland, the associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. Credible and meaningful accountability for one of the worst shipwrecks in the Mediterranean needs to include a determination of any liability of Greek authorities. A rare and highly prized feather from the extinct New Zealand huia bird has sold for NZD$46,521 (US$28,365), making it by far the worlds most expensive feather ever sold at auction. The hammer price far exceeded initial estimates of between $2,000-$3,000, and blew the previous record-holders price out of the water. Until Mondays sale, the previous record sale was another huia feather that sold in 2010 for $8,400. The feather weighs roughly 9 grams, making it vastly more valuable than gold $5,169 per gram compared with $127 per gram of gold, according to the latest Gold Broker figures. The huia was the largest of New Zealands wattlebird species, known for its beautiful song, its predominantly black glossy feathers and long tail feathers tipped with white. The last confirmed sighting of a huia was in 1907, though it is believed they were still alive into the 1920s. Related: Penguins in the pond, kiwi in the back yard: how a city brought back its birds The bird was sacred to Maori, and featured in songs and sayings, while the wearing of its feathers was reserved for rangatira (chiefs) and people with mana (prestige). When Europeans arrived in New Zealand the birds were already rare, but a subsequent European craze for their feathers led to their demise. The desire to own something of the huia remains strong internationally. In 2023, a pair of stuffed huia sold at a British auction for NZD$466,000, despite public pleas for the New Zealand government to intervene and bring them home. Leah Morris, the head of decorative arts at Auckland-based Webbs auction house where the feather was sold on Monday, believed the single feathers excellent condition, the efforts to protect the feather with archival paper and UV glass, and the story of the huia, drove up the bids. The huia is such an iconic bird and a lot of people really relate to the bird in some way, she told the Guardian. The specimen was one of the best huia feathers the house had seen come to market. It doesnt have a lot of bunching in the feathers youll also see its retained a lot of its colours its rich brown and iridescent colour and there is no sign of damage from insects, Morris said. The feather is registered as a taonga tuturu (authentic treasure) with the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, meaning only a registered taonga tuturu collector can buy the feather, and the feather cannot leave New Zealand without permission. There are few details over the provenance of the feather and Morris could not divulge information about the vendor or buyer due to confidentiality agreements. But she said they were both registered collectors and New Zealand-based. There were no international bids. About 30 people were present at the auction, however all the bids were made via phone or online. Morris said people watched the price go up with bated breath. When the bidding eventually stopped and the hammer was knocked down there was a round of applause in the room you dont often get that at an auction. Kombucha: Many of sparkling wines charms minus the alcohol. Photograph: Oleg Breslavtsev/Getty Images If you were given the choice between your favourite wine and an alternative that provided all the gustatory pleasure but with none of the alcohol, which would you choose? Sadly, for any wine lover who, for whatever reason, cant or doesnt drink alcohol, this question has always been hypothetical, since no- and low-alcohol wine has overwhelmingly tended to be, to use a technical term, crap. The problem, which so far no amount of costly research and development and clever technology has managed to solve, is that alcohol is responsible for bringing so much more than buzz. It contributes to flavour, of course, although not, in the best bottles, in an obviously boozy way. Equally importantly, its what helps provide compelling texture, or mouthfeel, and plays a crucial role in a wine developing in the bottle over time. Take away the alcohol and, even if you were somehow able to replicate its mental and physical effects, something would still be missing. No- and low-alcohol drinks are increasingly popular in a world where abstinence is on the rise, especially, but not exclusively, among younger people, and global wine consumption is in a historic slump. Its no wonder so many producers continue to strive, like medieval alchemists, to make a no-alcohol wine that can match the real thing in a blind taste test. They are getting closer. The worlds first vintage alcohol-free sparkling wine, French Bloom La Cuvee 2022, launched in March and although its audacious price (109 at Harrods) is hard to justify for a wine that is, in essence, a generic fizz from the Languedoc, it is impressively fuller textured and much more complex than your average, grape-juicy 0% fizz. So, on the still side of things, is the more reasonably priced Zeno Alcohol-Liberated red and white (9.99 a bottle, Waitrose). Both brands seem to have benefited from having been planned as no-alcohol from the get-go, with the grapes grown and harvested in a way that anticipates the effects of industrial de-alcoholisation, rather than simply applying the process to a leftover conventional wine. Ive no doubt that still-more convincing 0% wines will emerge as the process is refined. On abstemious days and nights, I still tend to choose drinks that are inspired by wine rather than wine thats been defanged. These alternative drinks have often been created by producers who have more in common with a mixologist, or even a chef, than a winemaker but their blends of spices, coffee, tea, salt, pepper, vinegar, kombucha and fruit, among other things, offer many of the pleasures of wine without claiming to be the same drink. They are all the better for it. Six great nolo drinks and wines LA Brewery English Rose Infused Kombucha NV (10, Ocado) Not all, or even most, kombucha is produced as a wine alternative; and youd never confuse this Suffolk-sourced take on the brewed tea for champagne in a blind tasting. All the same, the gentle floral tones, racy acids and soft bubbles offer many of sparkling wines charms minus the alcohol. Three Spirit Blurred Vines Sharp NV (16.99, threespiritdrinks.com) British brand Three Spirit employed bartenders and scientists to create its range of non-alcoholic wine alternatives. I am particularly fond of this invigorating white, a blend of juices, botanicals, vinegars, coconut water and many more that crisply, cleanly exceeds the sum of its multifarious parts. Saicho Sparkling Tea Darjeeling (17.99, saichodrinks.com) Another sparkling tea-based drink that you would never mistake for wine, but which, thanks to cold-brewing and the delicacy of the single-origin Darjeeling leaves, makes for a brew that satisfies all of an abstemious wine lovers craving for tannin, complex grapey and floral aromas, and spicy length of flavour. NON Stewed Cherry & Coffee Alcohol-free Wine Alternative Australia NV (21, gnarlyvines.co.uk) My pick of a range of impressively complex new creations from Melbourne brand NON, this red brew of sour cherries, cold brew coffee, salt, spices and unfermented semillon grape verjus has the grip, savouriness, depth of flavour and complexity to work with any food when youd usually be considering a red wine. Wednesdays Domaine Sanguine and Piquant NV (25.99 for two 75cl bottles, wednesdaysdomaine.com) Wednesdays Domaines deliciously convincing alternatives to, respectively, a crunchy, Beaujolais-style, lighter red wine and a fresh, easy-drinking white. Respectively, they take de-alcoholised Spanish tempranillo red, and airen white wines and add natural flavours and other elements to fill in the palate. Botivo Aperitif (27.50, botivodrinks.com) A richly concentrated, 0% abv mix of aged apple cider vinegar, wildflower honey, and a range of herbs and botanicals, this Italian aperitivo can satisfy negroni cravings but, mixed with mineral water, makes for a superbly pithy, tangy, herby stand-in for good orange wine, too. Police outside a supermarket in the Magenta district of Noumea, France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia. Photograph: Theo Rouby/AFP/Getty Images New Caledonia has been convulsed by unrest for a week, sparked by French plans to impose new rules that would give tens of thousands of non-Indigenous residents voting rights. The French territory off north-east Australia, with a population of about 270,000, has long been riven by pro-independence tensions, but this is the worst violence in decades. Do you live in New Caledonia? How is the unrest affecting you and how you go about your daily life? How do you feel about the violence and Frances response to the situation? Do you have friends or family stuck in the French territory? Callout A war of words has erupted between Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez and Argentinian president Javier Milei - AFP via Getty Images Spain has withdrawn its ambassador from Argentina permanently after President Javier Milei called his counterpart in Madrid totalitarian and arrogant. The move was the latest turn in a deepening diplomatic crisis between the two countries sparked by Mr Milei calling Pedro Sanchezs wife corrupt. The spat started on Sunday when Mr Milei used a speech at a rally of hard-Right leaders in Madrid to attack Mr Sanchez and his Socialist-led coalition government, criticising the Spanish prime minister for not resigning over corruption allegations against his wife, Begona Gomez. The allegations of influence peddling and corruption are being examined by a Madrid court, although Spanish public prosecutors and police investigators have said there is no case against Ms Gomez. The Argentinian president has criticised the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, for not resigning over corruption allegations against his wife, Begona Gomez - JAVIER SORIANO/AFP via Getty Images On Tuesday Jose Manuel Albares, the foreign minister of Spain, announced that the countrys ambassador to Argentina, Maria Jesus Alonso, would be staying definitively in Madrid after being recalled for consultation the previous day. Mr Milei responded immediately to Madrids move by saying it was nonsense typical of an arrogant socialist. He is so fatally arrogant that faced with a personal problem, in a phrase that had no names, he felt alluded to, so the problem belongs to Mr Pedro Sanchez. From that position, he has created an absolutely absurd diplomatic escalation. Does he think he is the state? That is very totalitarian, it is very socialist, Mr Milei continued. The libertarian Mr Milei has argued that he is the victim of character assassination by Mr Sanchezs government, which he said has never congratulated him on winning the presidency last November. He accused Mr Sanchez of being in cahoots with Argentinas opposition Peronist faction, represented by previous Argentine leaders Alberto Fernandez and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Libertarian Mr Milei has argued that he is the victim of character assassination by Mr Sanchez's government - Juan Naharro Gimenez/Getty Images The war of words between Madrid and Buenos Aires started earlier this month when Oscar Puente, Spains transport minister and a close ally of Mr Sanchez, joked about Mr Milei being on drugs, although he later said he regretted his comment. Mr Sanchez has criticised his main political rival in Spain, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, the leader of the conservative Peoples Party (PP), for a lack of patriotism in his equidistant reaction to Mr Mileis remarks. The PP has said its job was to provide opposition to Mr Sanchezs government, which it accused of deliberately drumming up a crisis to gain political capital ahead of Junes European elections. Sanchezs electoral interests are not more important than those of Spain in Argentina, Mr Feijoo said while condemning Mr Mileis behaviour. Several Spanish companies, including Santander, criticised Mr Mileis verbal excesses hours after meeting with him in Madrid at the weekend. Spanish firms have investments worth an estimated 18 billion in the country. In 2012, Argentina nationalised the YPF subsidiary of Spanish oil giant Repsol before eventually paying 5 billion in compensation to the company. Trump's Truth Social loses $327.6m in the first quarter. (Reuters / Reuters) Trump Media (DJT) Trump Media & Technology Group lost more than $300m during the first quarter and generated very little revenue, the owner of Truth Social announced. The company disclosed a net loss of $327.6m (257.6m) in the first quarter of the year, with total revenue at $770,500, according to its earnings report. Trump Media said collected $770,500 in revenue in the first quarter, largely from its nascent advertising initiative. That was down from $1.1m a year earlier. The company said that it has sufficient cash to fund the business for the foreseeable future. The company listed a cash balance of $274m as of the end of March a sum boosted by its deal to go public. The public debut of Trump Media was a boon to Trump, who owns a nearly 65% stake, worth about $6bn. Read more: FTSE 100 LIVE: European markets make shaky start as oil prices dip After an unprecedented, years-long process, we have consummated our merger and dispensed with the vast bulk of merger-related expenses, leaving the company well-capitalized and supported by a legion of retail shareholders who believe in our mission to provide a free-speech beachhead against Big Tech censorship, Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes said in a statement. Palo Alto (PANW) Shares of Palo Alto Networks tumbled in pre-market trading, triggered by the company's decision to narrow its full-year guidance. For Q3, the cybersecurity company reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.32 (1.02) compared to an estimated $1.26. Revenue of $2bn was slightly better than the expectations of $1.97bn. Operating income in the quarter came in at $508m, up 25% year-over-year, while Palo Alto Networks operating margin grew 200 basis points year-over-year, to 25.6%. For the full year, Palo Alto Networks sees billings of $10.13bn to $10.18bn, a narrower range than the previously forecasted $10.1bn to $10.2bn and short of the $10.19bn estimate. Read more: Bank of England has room for three rate cuts this year, IMF suggests The company sees adjusted earnings per share of $5.56 to $5.58. Full-year revenue is estimated to be $7.99bn to $8.01bn, an increase from the prior guidance of $7.95bn to $8bn, and better than the $7.98bn estimate. We have remained disciplined in our execution while investing in go-to-market and innovation, Chief financial officer Dipak Golechha said. We delivered consistent, profitable growth yet again in Q3 and look forward to executing against our strategic goals and financial targets as we close out the year. AstraZeneca said it expects to deliver $80bn (62.9bn) in total revenue by 2030 as it is poised to launch 20 new medicines. The Anglo-Swedish drugs makers aid it would also be boosted by growth in its existing oncology, biopharmaceuticals and rare disease portfolio. Today AstraZeneca announces a new era of growth, said chief executive Pascal Soriot. The breadth of our portfolio together with continued investment in innovation supports sustained growth well past the end of the decade. Kingfisher has held its guidance for the year, as the firm posted improving sales in its UK and Ireland market despite a decline in big-ticket sales. The company, which owns B&Q, TradePoint and Screwfix in the UK, along with European chains Castorama, Brico Depot and Koctas, reported total sales of 3.26bn for the three months to 30 April, down 0.3% on a reported basis but up 0.3% at constant currencies. On a like-for-like basis, sales were down 0.9%, with growth in the UK and Ireland, Poland, Iberia and Romania offset by a 5.3% drop in France, which it said was "broadly in line with [a] weaker market". Read more: Stocks that are trending today Kingfisher has seen a more than 6% dip in "big ticket" items group-wide, as shaky consumer confidence continues to bite. These high-cost purchases, such as kitchens and bathrooms, account for roughly 15% of Kingfisher's total turnover. Kingfisher said its second quarter has started in line with the underlying sales trends of the first, with group like-for-like sales down 2.5% in the three weeks to 18 May. Kingfisher expects to deliver around 120m of additional cost reductions and productivity gains this year, which will partially offset higher pay rates and technology investments. As a result, the group is maintaining its current guidance for full year adjusted pre-tax profit of around 490m to 550m. Watch: The two areas to invest in to take full advantage of inflation Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. Liverpool has been named the UKs best large city for a break, with the lively and buzzy town beating London, Manchester and Cardiff for the number one spot. Liverpool scored 84% in a survey by consumer body Which?, with visitors underscoring a wide range of cultural and historical attractions beyond the Beatles. The city scored five stars in the cultural sights and tourist attractions and four stars for food and drink, shopping, accommodation, lack of crowds and value for money. One respondent said: It's got everything you could possibly want. Great for eating places, great for sights and famous places and very friendly people. Read more: UK house prices hit record high in May Liverpool beat capital cities Belfast (77%), London (76%), Cardiff (72%) and close neighbour Manchester (71%) by some margin to be named UKs best large city for a break. Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: Whether youre after vibrant nightlife, world class museums or a first-rate dining experience, our survey shows that the UK has a wealth of fantastic cities just waiting to be explored. Liverpool stood out among the UKs large cities for its fantastic cultural scene and buzzing atmosphere, beating London and the UKs other capital cities to take first place. For those seeking a more laid-back destination, Somerset is the place to be, with both Bath and Wells scoring highly, and each offering a wealth of historical and cultural sights. Taking joint second place in the large cities category are Edinburgh and York, with tied city scores of 83%. The stunning Scottish capital is bursting with cultural activities according to visitors, who scored it a full five stars for cultural sights and tourist attractions. Edinburgh received four stars for food and drink, shopping, ease of getting around, and overall value for money. York also took five stars in the cultural sights and tourist attractions category, with some of its most well-known attractions including York Minster, the National Railway Museum and the Jorvik Viking Centre. The city also scored four stars for shopping, accommodation, ease of getting around, value for money and food and drink. Read more: How Cornwall holiday lettings 'upstart' is championing halt to 'Wild West' tourism Among medium-sized cities, Bath was the top scorer, receiving a city score of 82%. With a five star rating for cultural sights and tourist attractions, one visitor described Bath as one of the top sites in the UK, indeed Europe, for its architecture and points of historical interest, which include the well preserved Roman baths and the Georgian houses of the Royal Crescent. The city also scored four stars for food and drink, accommodation and shopping, and three stars for value for money. Wells, Somerset was the highest scoring location in the survey overall, with a city score of 86%, and took first place in the small cities category. It scored four stars for its range of cultural sights and tourist attractions which include the Cathedral, Bishops Palace and Vicars Close. At the opposite end of the tables, Derby (56%), Leicester (58%) and Swansea (58%) were the lowest rated large cities. In the small and medium sized categories, Bournemouth, Torquay and Fort William in Scotland also fared poorly with joint scores of 58%. The consumer body surveyed almost 4,000 members about their experiences of visiting UK cities and towns in the last two years. All were scored out of five stars on a range of criteria including accommodation, food and drink, cultural sights and tourist attractions, ease of getting around, lack of crowds, and value for money. An overall city score was calculated based on visitors overall satisfaction and likeliness to recommend. Watch: Natalie Portman Spotted Filming In Liverpool Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. The Conroe ISD Board of Directors approved new bylaws for the districts School Health Advisory Council leaving some trustees frustrated the new guidelines silence the committee charged with ensuring that local community values and health issues are reflected in the districts health and physical education instruction. Jason Fochtman The Conroe ISD Board of Directors approved new bylaws for the districts School Health Advisory Council leaving some trustees frustrated the new guidelines silence the committee charged with ensuring that local community values and health issues are reflected in the districts health and physical education instruction. Trustees Misty Odenweller, Tiffany Nelson and Melissa Dungan voted no in the 4-3 vote. Earlier this year, Board President Skeeter Hubert requested that the board update the councils bylaws after hearing concerns from its members about what the council should address. Advertisement Article continues below this ad I wanted to help the SHAC by giving them some guidelines with their bylaws, Hubert said. It puts some guardrails on, it gives them structure so they can hit the ground running on items they have been asked to focus on. Hubert addressed the issue of the council allowing public comment. He said the council should not offer public comment. Thats (the boards) information, Hubert said. We are the ones that need to have that information so we can delegate who goes and tackles that. What is a health advisory council? The Texas Education Code was amended in 1995 to create local health education advisory councils. These councils are groups appointed by the school district to serve at the district level. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Members of the SHAC come from different areas of the community and from within the school district. The majority of members must be parents who are not employed by the district. Trustee Datren Williams said the bylaws were needed and that the council had become emboldened and arrogant in dictating action to the board. Their bylaws do nothing to prevent just that, Williams said. Whats the point of going back and forth with that council that should be advising us? We havent limited their ability to advise us or limited their ability to effect change in the school district. According to information from Council Chairman Bryce Speer in the boards meeting packet, the council did not support the changes to the bylaws, noting it gives trustees too much control and severely hindered the SHACs ability to serve the students of CISD effectively and productively, and undermines the legislated intent of the SHAC. Odenweller said the bylaws reduce the number of council members from 47 to 21, limiting non-parent participation. She also expressed concern about setting the council terms to one year with a maximum of three terms. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Potentially every year we could have all new SHAC members, Odenweller said. It would never give us any sort of continuity amongst them. It would never give them any ownership of what they were doing. Hubert said he understood Odenwellers concern but said that is not likely to happen. Trustee Stacey Chase urged the board to approve the new bylaws. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Michael Gove will also criticise the organisers of pro-Palestine marches for not doing more to prevent symbols of anti-Jewish hate. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA Michael Gove is to warn that Britain risks descending into the darkness if it fails to tackle growing antisemitism in the wake of the 7 October attacks. In a major speech, the communities secretary will say the safety of the Jewish community in the UK is the canary in the mine for the health of the whole political system. When Jewish people are under threat, all our freedoms are threatened, he will say on Tuesday. The safety of the Jewish community is the canary in the mine. Growing antisemitism is a fever which weakens the whole body politic. There is one thing which increasingly unites the organisations and individuals which give cause for extremist concern: antisemitism. Related: Washington is pushing policies to combat antisemitism. Critics say they could violate free speech It is the common currency of hate. It is at the dark heart of their worldview. Whether Islamist, far right or hard left. The Community Security Trust, a charity that provides security advice to the Jewish community, recorded the highest number of antisemitic incidents in 2023, a 147% increase on the previous year. About two-thirds of the total took place after the 7 October attacks. In his speech, Gove will criticise the organisers of pro-Palestine marches, at which thousands of people regularly march through London and other cities, for not doing more to prevent symbols of anti-Jewish hate. Many of those on these marches are thoughtful, gentle, compassionate people driven by a desire for peace and an end to suffering, he will say. But they are side by side with those who are promoting hate. The organisers of these marches could do everything in their power to stop that. They dont. The marches have been overwhelmingly peaceful, however, police made seven arrests at the latest protest in London on Saturday, including a demonstrator seen carrying a coffin with offensive language on it. The demonstration came a few days after Nakba Day, which honours the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in the 1948 war. Gove, who is regarded as one of parliaments most pro-Israel MPs, will urge peers to back his bill banning British public bodies from boycotting Israel, a move that some Tories have said could exacerbate British community tensions amid the Israel-Hamas war. He makes the speech before the publication of a report by the governments independent adviser on political violence, Lord Walney, due to be released on Tuesday, which is expected to recommend a new category for proscribing extreme protest groups. At the launch of his report, he will say: It is time for the political world to catch up with the real world and view extreme protest movements as an unacceptable threat to our democracy, not an extension of it. Related: Michael Gove admits to moral cowardice during Brexit campaign Walney, the former Labour MP John Woodcock who sits as a cross-bench peer, said at the weekend that hard-left groups were seeking to undermine Britains democratic principles by refusing to comply with the law. His recommendations could mean that protest groups such as Just Stop Oil and Palestine Action, which focuses on arms companies linked to Israel, could be banned in a similar way to terrorist organisations. The sanctions could restrict a groups ability to fundraise and its right to assembly. The Home Office has said ministers would consider the recommendations, but it is unclear whether the government would proceed with a ban before the election. It is due to publish its counter-extremism action plan in the coming weeks. Victorian premier Jacinta Allan, announced the $4.9m trial on Tuesday, which will assess the impact of medical cannabis on driving over an 18-month period. Photograph: Matias Baglietto/Reuters A world-first trial to assess the impact of medical cannabis on driving ability wont be finished until late 2025, leading to accusations the Victorian government has delayed addressing an issue once deemed by Daniel Andrews as a priority. The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, on Tuesday, announced that Swinburne University of Technology had been selected to run the trial. She said the $4.9m trial, to be completed over 18 months , will review about 70 medicinal cannabis users ability to manage distractions and assess their performance behind the wheel, including steering, braking and speed control on a dedicated track. Related: Im not impaired: Victorias parliament to debate drug driving in age of medicinal cannabis Just as we were the first state in the nation to introduce medicinal cannabis to support people with their medical illnesses, we are now moving to have this world-first trial to support and examine how it affects people as theyre out on this closed circuit driving track, Allan told reporters at a driver-training centre in Melbournes outer east. While Victoria in 2016 became the first state to approve the use of medicinal cannabis, it remains an offence for a person to drive with any trace of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component of cannabis, in their system. THC can be detected in the body for weeks after consumption, meaning medicinal cannabis users can risk losing their licence or being fined each time they drive to work or drop their children off at school. In February 2023, Andrews, the then state premier, said finding a solution to the issue was a priority for his government. He suggested there were as many as 200,000 medicinal cannabis users in Victoria who were restricted from driving. [Its] an issue thats bedevilled us. We need to find a way through, he had said. Legalise Cannabis MPs David Ettershank and Rachel Payne said they were disappointed in the timeline, having previously been guaranteed the issue would be resolved by the end of this year. Related: This is a medicine: the Australians prescribed cannabis but left fighting to keep their jobs Jacinta Allan may be on a driving track today but I know she is intentionally stalling on this decision, Payne said. In 2023, Dan Andrews promised an answer in coming months followed by a guarantee to have it fixed by 2024. Now, with a new premier, its mid-2026 at best. Ettershank said Allan was playing politics and discriminating against medicinal cannabis users, given no tests applied other medications such as barbiturates or opioids. The MPs urged the government to follow Tasmanias lead and provide a medical defence for driving with THC. The roads minister, Melissa Horne, said Tasmania had far fewer medicinal cannabis users than Victoria, and denied there had been a delay. She said funding needed to be allocated and legislation passed to allow the trial to begin, as well as a tender process to select the researchers. She said unlike alcohol intoxication, which can be determined via a breath test or blood alcohol reading, nowhere in the world had developed a way to measure cannabis-related impairment. At the heart of it, it is a basic human rights issue where weve got people out there who are taking a legally prescribed substance who cannot drive at the moment, she said. A study by Swinburne researchers published in February of 40 medicinal cannabis users found negligible impact on driving performance. Meanwhile, a Victorian inquiry into workplace drug testing heard that the head of the Police Association, Wayne Gatt, was supportive of an nuanced response to medicinal cannabis use. Even in industries where there are strong safety concerns that would require workplaces to be free of drugs and alcohol, an empathetic response having regard for the irrefutable medical evidence that supports the growing use of medicinal cannabis is required, Gatt said. The WorkSafe chief executive, Joe Calafiore, said he would review the watchdogs guide to employees for developing an alcohol and other drugs policy, which had not been updated since 2017. At least one person has died and dozens of others have been injured after a flight from London to Singapore encountered severe turbulence. The Singapore Airlines flight was forced to divert to Bangkok after a passenger was killed and 30 people were hurt. It follows several other high-profile incidents in recent years. Three passengers on a Hawaiian Airlines service to Sydney were hospitalised in June 2023 after the flight experienced severe turbulence. Photos taken by those on board showed broken ceiling panels and dangling oxygen masks. In March 2023, seven passengers ended up in hospital after their Lufthansa flight from Austin to Frankfurt hit severe turbulence. As the plane plummeted, the actor Matthew McConaughey, who was on board with his wife Camila Alves, reported getting a hell of a scare. A widely circulated TikTok video shows trays, food and bedding strewn across the cabin in the aftermath. In the same month, passengers on a Tui plane heading to Manchester from Tenerife were reportedly offered counselling after it was caught in Storm Larissa and forced to make an emergency landing at East Midlands. And in December 2022, a flight from Phoenix to Hawaii made a hasty descent after six people were seriously injured during another bout of severe turbulence. Though these incidents are extreme and turbulence-related injuries let alone deaths are rare, bumpy rides may be on the rise. According to projections by researchers at Reading University, led by Professor Paul Williams, incidents of clean-air turbulence (sudden, severe turbulence in the absence of clouds or storms) could significantly increase by 2050-2080 due to strengthening wind instabilities and increasing pockets of rough air caused by climate change. It is feared that climate change is behind a spate of high-profile incidents - Getty This kind of turbulence is undetectable by radar and incidents often occur out of the blue, says meteorologist Jim Dale. And higher altitude turbulence can occur over wide areas and be difficult to avoid and/or negotiate. But though turbulence might be increasing, technologies are improving too. An algorithm created by Williams in order to predict turbulence strength up to 18 hours in advance is now among those used by the US National Weather Service in its forecasts and hes also working with Airbus to make its planes more resilient in the future. Theyve been in touch with many questions that we are trying to answer, he says. Because of the long lead time in aircraft design life cycles, the aircraft that will be flying in the second half of this century are currently in the design phase. We need to ensure that the capacity to withstand lots more turbulence is built into the design standards. Is there any way to avoid turbulence? For now, some flights are definitely bumpier than others. According to data from turbulence prediction website Turbli, which analysed 150,000 routes, eight of the ten most turbulent of 2022 were internal flights in Japan. Turbulence has three main sources, explains the sites creator Ignacio Gallego-Marcos. One is from jet streams, which are like high velocity air flows in the high atmosphere. One is mountain waves, so where you have the Andes or the Rockies they generate turbulence. The other is thunderstorms: these tend to be strongest close to the equator so you can expect some activity there. In the case of Japan, there is high jet stream activity and its a mountainous country too. Other well-traversed routes can have problems as well. Transatlantic flights are renowned for experiencing bouts of light to moderate turbulence thanks to unpredictable weather over the ocean caused by the strong jet stream. And five of Europes most bumpy short-haul flights originate in Zurich according to the Turbli data, possibly because they cross mountain ranges. To dodge the most unpredictable weather, some experts recommend taking night or early morning flights when the heat of the sun is less likely to affect weather patterns. However, Gallego-Marcos is sceptical. That would be the case for thunderstorm activity maybe. If you were near the equator during the hot phase, you could expect more thunderstorms. But for jet stream or mountain waves, theres no recipe. What should I do if turbulence hits? One solution is to choose a plane that deals with bumps better. Gallego-Marcos recommends the Boeing 787-9 and Airbus A340 for less shaky flights. You have to take the weight divided by the wing area into account thats called the wing loading and its the most important factor, he says. The larger the ratio, the smoother the flight. Even though big planes like the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 747 weigh a lot, they actually have big wings so its easier for turbulence to shake them than the 787 and the A340. The A340 actually has the highest wind loading of all, but the 787 has more advanced systems for dealing with turbulence so thats my top choice, though its hard to choose between them. Whichever plane you end up on, opt for a seat where the effects of turbulence are less dramatic. Travelling in the middle of the plane (near the wings and its centre of gravity) ensures a less bumpy ride while a seat at the back will be the most rocky. Pick your seat: travelling in the middle of the plane ensures a less bumpy ride while a seat at the back will be the most rocky - Alamy I used to avoid working at the back of the aircraft because thats the worst, says Jane Hawkes, who worked as a flight attendant before becoming a consumer champion. If you are someone who is likely to be concerned by turbulence, speak to the crew when you get on board the plane and see if theres somewhere they can move you further forward. Theres a reason that cabin crew tell passengers to keep seatbelts fastened, too: if turbulence hits without warning, youre less likely to be injured. On a similar note and in the wake of last years Lufthansa incident, American union AFA (Association of Flight Attendants) renewed its call for a ban on infants on laps, reasoning that the practice is particularly unsafe during severe turbulence and that small children would be better in a safety seat with proper restraints. Can I claim compensation for turbulence? You definitely wont get money just because your flight hits a bumpy patch. However, if you are injured and it can be proved that the airline acted negligently, you might be able to make a personal accident claim. If youre not given enough warning to sit down and strap yourself in then you could be eligible to claim for general and/or special damages under The Montreal Convention if injured as a result, says Hawkes. As well as in cases of delay, damage or loss of baggage, The Montreal Convention also establishes airline liability in the case of death or injury to passengers. Am I right to be worried? Try not to be. The National Center for Atmospheric Research says that there are around 5,500 incidents of severe turbulence reported by US pilots every year. That number is less than the flights operated by US carriers every day: 5,670 according to figures from the FAA (Federal Aviation Authority). If youre a nervous flyer, Hawkes recommends asking to see the cockpit [before the flight] and speaking to the flight deck staff. Theyll answer any questions you might have. She underlines the training that pilots are given in order to deal with every eventuality. These are incredibly well-trained professionals. Every six months, they have to go on a flight simulator. They have scenarios involving turbulence and how they manage it. Even doctors arent tested as much. This article was first published in July 2023 and has been revised and updated Chic co-founder Nile Rodgers said he was honoured as he picked up the 2024 Polar Music Prize alongside Finnish conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden presented the two recipients with the award at a gala ceremony held at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm on Tuesday. Rodgers, 71, said: I know that music changes lives. Nile Rodgers and Chic perform on stage during the British Summer Time festival at Hyde Park in London in 2022 (Ian West/PA) Ive been told artists are the gatekeepers of truth. I am honoured to be here tonight in such distinguished company. Congratulations to the outstanding Esa-Pekka Salonen and all the past recipients of the Polar Music Prize. To have been acknowledged in the same way as Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, Chuck Berry, Joni Mitchell, Ennio Morricone and so many more of my heroes is a dream come true. I would like to give a very special thanks to the Polar Music Prize for recognising so many artists of colour, and to the people of Sweden for welcoming us with open arms, from Eric Dolphy and Miles Davis to Jimi Hendrix, way before most people did. I say this from the bottom of my heart, we are family! Thank you. The ceremony and banquet was hosted by mezzo-soprano and journalist Boel Adler and the evening featured musical performances from a number of artists including musicians from the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Pianist Lang Lang and composer-conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen and James MacMillan during a visit by the then Prince of Wales to the Royal College of Music (Arthur Edwards/PA) The prize, which is often described as the Nobel Prize of music, celebrates one contemporary and one classical laureate, who have each been awarded one million Swedish Krona (73,530). Rodgers, who is the chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, has produced for stars including the late David Bowie, Madonna and Diana Ross, and created disco hits including Le Freak and Everybody Dance with his band Chic. Salonen, 65, is the music director of the San Francisco Symphony and is the conductor laureate for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The Polar Music Prize was founded in 1989 by manager of Abba, the late Stig Stikkan Anderson, to celebrate excellence in music. Previous recipients of the prize include Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Chuck Berry, Led Zeppelin, Patti Smith, Stevie Wonder and Sir Elton John. The decisions and conduct of former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells have been put under the spotlight in the Horizon IT inquiry since the beginning of the year. As the eyes of the inquirys counsel and wronged subpostmasters are set to turn to the 65-year-old as she enters the witness box on Wednesday, here are 10 potentially significant things the probe has learned about Ms Vennells to date: Ms Vennells believed there were no miscarriages of justice The Post Offices chief financial officer prepared a document for current chief executive Nick Read which claimed Ms Vennells did not believe there had been miscarriages of justice and could not have got there emotionally. Alisdair Cameron giving evidence to the inquiry (Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry/PA) Alisdair Cameron told the probe that she had been clear in her conviction from the day I joined that nothing had gone wrong. Asked if Ms Vennells had been unwavering in her conviction that there had been no miscarriages of justice, Mr Cameron said: As far as I was concerned, yes. Ex-head of IT blocked Ms Vennells number The Post Offices former head of IT said she blocked Ms Vennells phone number after the former chief executive sought her help to avoid an independent inquiry. Lesley Sewell said Ms Vennells had contacted her four times in 2020 and 2021 five years after Ms Sewell had left the company. Ms Sewell told the probe in her witness statement that she blocked Ms Vennells number because she did not feel comfortable with her contacting me. Ms Vennells interjected in talks to stop prosecutions A former top lawyer at the Post Office said Ms Vennells interjected when senior management suggested subpostmaster prosecutions should stop. The Horizon IT inquiry is continuing (PA) A document shown to the inquiry described Ms Vennells as resiling from the proposals in 2013. After saying the executive committee was in favour of ceasing prosecutions entirely, lawyer Chris Aujard added: Paula interjected or made the comment that proposition should not be taken as what Id intended it to be, never bringing prosecutions, but rather Post Office should continue to take some prosecutions. Ms Vennells sought to make Horizon bugs sound non-emotive In an email from July 2013, which was shown to the inquiry, Ms Vennells said she did not want to use the word bugs when referencing the faulty Horizon system in an attempt to be non-emotive. The message, to then communications chief Mark Davies, read: My engineer/computer literate husband sent the following reply to the question: What is a non-emotive word for computer bugs, glitches, defects that happen as a matter of course? Answer: Exception or anomaly. You can also say conditional exception/anomaly which only manifests itself under unforeseen circumstances xx. Inquiry told Ms Vennells likely signed off on 300,000 trial bill over 25,000 shortfall A former managing director of the Post Office said Ms Vennells likely signed off on a trial bill of more than 300,000 after a subpostmaster was accused of having a 25,000 shortfall at his branch. Alan Cook told the Horizon IT Inquiry that Ms Vennells, who was the organisations network director at the time a civil case was brought against subpostmaster Lee Castleton, was likely to be the designated authority who gave the go-ahead for legal costs. Former Post Office workers Lee Castleton (left) and Noel Thomas (Yui Mok/PA) East Yorkshire subpostmaster Mr Castleton was found to have a 25,000 shortfall at his branch and was made bankrupt after he lost his legal battle with the Post Office. Ms Vennells suggested temptation to borrow from tills was issue for subpostmasters, probe heard The probe heard Ms Vennells suggested temptation for subpostmasters to borrow money from tills was a problem and not the Horizon system. The inquiry was shown minutes of a meeting between Ms Vennells, former chair Alice Perkins and MPs such as Lord Arbuthnot in which she claimed a small number of subpostmasters had been borrowing money from the tills. The minutes, recorded by Lord Arbuthnots then chief of staff, read: (Ms Vennells) said that temptation is an issue, but that trust in the Post Office as a brand is absolutely paramount. Post Office needs competent, trustworthy people on staff, and its processes and systems must be transparent and must work well. Ms Vennells made false statement in letter about courts finding in favour of Post Office in every instance The inquiry was told Ms Vennells made a false statement in a letter to former Conservative MP Oliver Letwin by saying that courts found in favour of the Post Office in every instance when prosecuting subpostmasters for theft or false accounting. The letter, from April 2012, read: In some cases, which fortunately are very few and far between, we have had to prosecute subpostmasters for theft or false accounting and provide evidence which substantiates our legal position. In every instance, the courts have found in our favour. Counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC (Aaron Chown/PA) Commenting on the letter, counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC said: Now, thats a false statement there, that In every instance, the courts have found in our favour, its just not true. Ex-judge repeatedly told Ms Vennells subpostmaster cases made no sense, inquiry heard The chairman of the mediation scheme for people who believed they had been wrongly prosecuted by the Post Office said he repeatedly told Ms Vennells that cases against subpostmasters didnt make sense. Retired judge Sir Anthony Hooper said it did not make sense that reputable subpostmasters would be stealing these sums of money during his evidence in April. He told the inquiry he made the point over and over again to Ms Vennells and then-chairwoman Alice Perkins. Ms Vennells deeply disturbed over clearly unacceptable subpostmaster prosecutions In submissions made by Ms Vennells legal team ahead of a preliminary inquiry hearing in November 2021, her lawyers said she viewed the prosecutions of subpostmasters as clearly unacceptable. Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells (PA) The submissions said Ms Vennells was deeply disturbed by the damning judgment of Mr Justice Fraser in 2019, which said the Horizon system contained a number of bugs, errors and defects and that there was a material risk that shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts were caused by the system. Her lawyers also said: (Ms Vennells) welcomes this inquiry and its broad mandate under the terms of reference to investigate what went wrong in relation to Horizon, and why. Inquiry heard of Ms Vennells concerns over solicitor showing more loyalty to professional conduct than interests of the business In September 2013, Ms Vennells wrote in a note that former Post Office general counsel Susan Crichton was possibly more loyal to her professional conduct requirements and put her integrity as a lawyer above the interests of the business. Questioned on whether she saw her role involving integrity or the interests of the business, Ms Crichton said: I had never experienced a situation where my integrity as a lawyer was in conflict with the business that I worked for. I was just very focused on delivering the independent report from Second Sight so if that meant that I put my integrity as a lawyer above the interests of the business, then possibly thats what I did. I didnt see it quite in that way at the time. The distinguished business career of ordained priest Paula Vennells crumbled following the Post Office Horizon scandal. ITV drama, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, ensured a spotlight was firmly placed on the 65-year-old, who was in charge of the Post Office during one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British legal history. More than 700 subpostmasters were prosecuted by the Post Office and handed criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015 as Fujitsus faulty Horizon IT system made it appear as though money was missing at their branches. Ms Vennells had a long-standing career at the Post Office, having started as group network director in 2007, then becoming managing director in 2010, before being promoted to the top job five years later. The TV drama, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, starring Toby Jones, focused pubic attention on the scandal (Jordan Pettitt/PA) She joined the Post Office after holding a number of management positions at LOreal, Whitbread, Dixons and Argos, having started her career as a graduate trainee at consumer goods giant Unilever in 1981. Ms Vennells studied Russian, French and economics at the University of Bradford and has a diploma in theology from Oxford University. Alongside her corporate career, she was also ordained as an Anglican priest in 2006 and served at three churches in Bedfordshire. She led the Post Office for nearly seven years, taking the helm in 2012 the same year it split from Royal Mail as part of the latters privatisation. Despite not holding the chief executive position in her early years at the company, she still had key decisions to make. The Horizon IT inquiry heard, during her time as group network director, she probably signed off a 300,000 trial bill after subpostmaster Lee Castleton was accused of having a 25,000 shortfall at his branch. Her tenure as chief executive was marred from the start, coming into the role as the Post Office suffered financial woes, leading to sweeping cost-cutting measures which saw thousands of branches close across the UK. Her promotion also came as the company began to investigate allegations made by a number of subpostmasters about the IT system at the centre of the scandal. There was further controversy with expert witnesses allegedly giving false evidence during prosecutions of subpostmasters, and victims of the scandal being told they were the only one experiencing problems. She was appointed CBE in the 2019 New Years Honours List for services to the Post Office and to charity. She faced heavy criticism over her handling of the affair, finally stepping down from her role as chief executive in February 2019. Questions have been raised over the timing of her departure with legal cases brought by subpostmasters such as lead campaigner Alan Bates being tried around the same time. In the face of mounting pressure over the Horizon scandal, and a petition which attracted more than 1.2 million signatures, Ms Vennells handed back her CBE earlier this year. She has since also quit boardroom roles at retailers Morrisons and Dunelm as subpostmasters began having their convictions overturned. She also stepped back from her regular church duties. Ms Vennells, likewise, stepped down from her role as chairwoman of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in 2021, having taking on the job in April 2019 soon after leaving the Post Office. A police investigation into actor Matthew Perrys death will continue after it was ruled an accident. The Friends star, who died in October at the age of 54, was open about his battle with substance abuse and addiction and had set up a sober living facility for men with similar issues. Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to the PA news agency that it is working with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on the open investigation into the circumstances of Perrys death, which a medical examiner concluded was from the effects of ketamine. It will reportedly look at how the general anaesthetic was obtained by the actor, who played Chandler Bing in hit US sitcom Friends. Perry was found unresponsive in the pool at his residence in Los Angeles on October 28. Matthew Perry (Ian West/PA) The County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner said in December that Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine and said the manner of death is accident. A post-mortem examination concluded that drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine which is described as an opioid-like drug used in the treatment of opioid addiction as well as acute and chronic pain were contributing factors. The report said Perry was receiving ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety, with his last known treatment one and a half weeks before his death, and suggested he had been reportedly clean for 19 months from drug use. The ketamine in his system at death could not be from that infusion therapy, the ruling said. The report was not able to specify the exact method of intake in Perrys case. A foundation set up in his name to help those struggling with addiction has previously drawn support from his Friends co-star Jennifer Aniston, who played Rachel Green. The actor was honoured during the in memoriam segment at the Bafta TV Awards ceremony earlier this month, and at the Emmy Awards in January. Ten nations and the European Union have agreed to establish an international network of publicly backed AI Safety Institutes to advance global research and testing of AI. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the agreement would mean international progress could be made on AI safety, after it was announced at the end of the first day of the AI Seoul Summit. The UK announced it would create the worlds first AI Safety Institute during the AI Safety Summit held at Bletchley Park in November last year, to carry out research and voluntary evaluation and testing of AI models, with a number of other countries since announcing their own domestic institutes. In an historic first, tech companies from across the globe have committed to developing AI safely. From @OpenAI to @Meta, 16 companies have signed up to the fresh Frontier AI Safety Commitments' https://t.co/KqcBbvKLSu#AISeoulSummit pic.twitter.com/cqmwryq494 Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (@SciTechgovuk) May 21, 2024 The newly signed Seoul Statement of Intent toward International Cooperation on AI Safety Science will see the network of institutes share research, including details about models they have studied, with the aim of advancing global understanding of the science around artificial intelligence. Alongside the UK, the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and the EU signed the agreement, but one global AI powerhouse China was notably absent, and was not represented during the virtual meeting hosted by Mr Sunak and South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol. However, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has said the Chinese government is taking part in the wider summit, and a Chinese firm Zhipu.ai did sign a new safety agreement alongside other tech firms earlier in the day. AI is a hugely exciting technology and the UK has led global efforts to deal with its potential, hosting the worlds first AI Safety Summit last year, Mr Sunak said. Game-changing AI to be rolled out in every @NHSEngland radiotherapy department. Backed by 15.5 million in new government funding, this AI technology will reduce cancer waiting times by locating cancer cells 2.5 times quicker than doctors alone. https://t.co/c3co84sZKs pic.twitter.com/qKdQsUrTl3 Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) May 21, 2024 But to get the upside we must ensure its safe. Thats why Im delighted we have got agreement today for a network of AI Safety Institutes. Six months ago at Bletchley we launched the UKs AI Safety Institute. The first of its kind. Numerous countries followed suit and now with this news of a network we can continue to make international progress on AI safety. As part of the talks, world leaders also signed the Seoul Declaration, which declared the importance of enhanced international cooperation to develop AI safely and used to solve major global challenges and bridge divides. In addition to world leaders, the virtual meeting was also attended by a number of key figures from leading tech and AI firms, including Elon Musk, former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and DeepMind founder Sir Demis Hassabis. At the first Summit, I was clear we need to act to make AI safer. This declaration forges a clear way forward. Working with developers and institutes, we will create frameworks for managing risk, build our understanding of AI, and ensure the benefits of AI are shared worldwide. https://t.co/KT4X43z6Xy Michelle Donelan MP (@michelledonelan) May 21, 2024 Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan, who is in Seoul and will co-host the second day of talks on Wednesday, said: AI presents immense opportunities to transform our economy and solve our greatest challenges but I have always been clear that this full potential can only be unlocked if we are able to grip the risks posed by this rapidly evolving, complex technology. Ever since we convened the world at Bletchley last year, the UK has spearheaded the global movement on AI safety and when I announced the worlds first AI Safety Institute, other nations followed this call to arms by establishing their own. Capitalising on this leadership, collaboration with our overseas counterparts through a global network will be fundamental to making sure innovation in AI can continue with safety, security and trust at its core. The new agreements from world leaders comes after 16 major AI firms committed to a set of safety procedures and to publish frameworks on how they will measure the risks of their AI models and thresholds for when they cease development or deployment of a model announced earlier in the summit. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta and OpenAI are among the companies which have signed up to the Frontier AI Safety Commitments. Yahoo UK's poll of the week lets you vote and indicate your strength of feeling on one of the week's hot topics. After 72 hours the poll closes and, each Friday, we'll publish and analyse the results, giving readers the chance to see how polarising a topic has become and if their view chimes with other Yahoo UK readers. Are you fussy about your tea? (Getty Images) (Getty Images) Tea is one of Britain's great loves, and what better day to discuss tea than on International Tea Day? According to the UK Tea and Infusions Associations, Brits sip on approximately 100 million cups of tea daily, nearly 36 billion per year. So it comes as no surprise that tea is a huge part of British culture and something that millions of people look forward to, no matter the weather or the time of day. One of the major things Britons feel passionate about is how strong their tea should be. This has sparked numerous debates across the country, and year after year, it remains a topic that Brits feel strongly about. A 2018 YouGov survey revealed the exact shade that Britons prefer their tea to be. Of the 1,595 people who completed the survey, 47% chose a shade of brown that suggests a strong tea with a generous splash of milk. Meanwhile, 19% chose a slightly darker, stronger brew, while 14% preferred a little bit more milk in their tea. Other arguments about tea include whether it should be poured before milk, although some people prefer to pour milk in their mug before the tea. Earlier this year, an American professor sparked huge controversy after she suggested adding a pinch of salt to make the "perfect" cup of tea. The recommendation was widely rebuffed by Brits everywhere, even prompting a response from US Embassy in London. The US Embassy said in a social media post that adding salt to tea was an "outrageous proposal", but joked that tea should be made in a microwave - as is often the case in the US. Has your taste for tea changed since 2018? Tell us in our Poll of the Week: This poll has now closed Come back on Friday to read the results and analysis via the link below. Read more of Yahoo UK's Poll of the Week articles Rishi Sunak said he and his Austrian counterpart are deepening co-operation on illegal migration and agreed that schemes like the UKs Rwanda plan are needed to tackle the issue in Europe. The Prime Minister met with Chancellor Karl Nehammer in Vienna on Tuesday and said in a joint media appearance that sending migrants to designated safe third countries, such as the Rwanda plan, should play a part in tackling the Europe-wide issue. The meeting comes after 15 EU countries, including Austria, signed a letter calling on the European Commission to tighten migration policy and to look at third country schemes. Its increasingly clear that many other countries now agree that that is the approach that is required bold, novel, looking at safe country partnerships, the Prime Minister said. The UK will continue bringing others along with us on the journey, he added. Mr Nehammer said having safe asylum proceedings in safe third countries could save human lives by eradicating smuggling routes, and it is something we need to put on the EUs agenda as well. Mr Sunak said illegal migration has become truly one of the defining issues of our time and we face criminal gangs that are growing in strength across the European continent and beyond. He said his Austrian counterpart has been right on this issue for a long time and has been bringing attention to it in Europe. The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act passed into law last month and is aimed at protecting the scheme against legal challenges. The Prime Minister said criminal gangs behind illegal migration are growing in strength across the European continent and beyond (Jordan Pettitt/PA) Ministers hope the first flight to the east African nation will be able to take off in early July, with a regular pattern of further flights to follow. These one-way journeys to Rwanda are aimed at deterring migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats, though critics have contested whether it will have this effect. The Government has also announced an extra 25 million for the National Crime Agency (NCA) to sustain and scale up efforts to disrupt people-smuggling operations. The additional cash is expected to provide new equipment and specialist teams in the NCA, enhance links between the NCA, Home Office and police, and to do more to disrupt small boats supply chains. Home Secretary James Cleverly said: I have prioritised cracking down on organised immigration crime and breaking the business model of people smugglers since day one. Since 2020, we have already successfully dismantled 82 organised crime groups, seized 352 boats and prevented thousands of migrants from crossing the Channel. Through our continued work with the National Crime Agency and enhancing our capabilities even further, well do everything possible to disrupt the criminals who profit from this immoral trade. The family-owned cafe offers popular Indian and Pakistani snacks and street food, all made with Halal meat. City of Missouri City Indo-Pak eatery Zash Cafe in Missouri City celebrated its grand opening earlier this month. City of Missouri City Indo-Pak eatery Zash Cafe in Missouri City is now serving popular Indian and Pakistani snacks and street food, all made with halal meat. Rafiya Malek, who co-owns the family business, lives in Sugar Land, said her family chose Missouri City for its safe and desirable location, and the preferences of the local customers. FORT BEND INSIDER: Never miss a story with our bi-weekly newsletter Advertisement Article continues below this ad Zash is a family business made with my own mothers recipes, said Malek. This is our first restaurant, started with a vision to serve the best and delicious food, that is freshly made with love. In addition to specialty Zash Cafe sandwiches, gyros, shwarmas and kebabs, popular menu items include chaat a savory mixture of fried vermicelli, puffed rice, boiled potatoes, chopped onions and spices and Frankies, an Indo-Pak style burrito. Desserts include falooda, a pink ice cream drink made with rose syrup, pistachios, sweet basil seeds and chilled noodles. The 1,200 square-foot cafe can seat 15 to 18 people, Malek said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Malek said the family chose the name Zash by combining her niece's and nephew's names, as they are very close to her heart. Sweeping measures to crack down on protests, including making organisers pay towards policing and a review of undercover surveillance of activist groups, have been proposed by the Governments adviser on political violence. Lord Walney recommends a series of severe changes to protect our democratic values from intimidation, such as a blanket ban on face coverings at protests and making it easier for businesses or members of the public to claim damages from activist groups that cause disruption. He also wants the Government to consider making protest buffer zones around MPs constituency offices and local council chambers, in the same way that some abortion clinics will be protected. The peer backs measures to restrict the ability of some groups to organise and fundraise if they are considered to have a policy of using criminal offences that would lead to a prison term, for example destroying property or causing serious disruption or injury. Asked about the report, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: Extremism has no place in our society. Threatening or intimidating behaviour that disrupts the lives of ordinary hardworking people isnt acceptable. In his 292-page report on political violence and disruption, he also claims law enforcement do not know enough about the extreme left. He says: I conclude, unsurprisingly, that there is a greater violent threat from the far right. Rishi Sunak told journalists that behaving in an intimidating manner was not the British way (Jordan Pettitt/PA) Yet I find a worrying gap in our understanding of the extreme left, whose activists do not routinely employ violent methods yet systematically seek to undermine faith in our parliamentary democracy and the rule of law. The much previewed report sets out 41 recommendations, including: A review of whether undercover surveillance is being used appropriately in the context of public order and aggravated activism. The Government should develop a mechanism to review charging decisions by prosecutors to make sure protest laws are being followed properly. The law should be changed to allow the police to consider the cumulative effect of protests on antisemitic hate crime levels. The intimidation of candidates and campaigners should be specifically criminalised before the next election. The Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice should review whether juries and judges are more lenient on protesters who support progressive causes such as climate change and anti-racism. The Government should consider providing extra physical protection for defence and energy companies against protesters, such as a buffer zone. The intelligence services and relevant Government departments should be given more resources to identify disinformation online and work with technology companies to have it removed. Lord Walney came under fire before the publication of the report because his interests as declared on the House of Lords register include jobs for companies that also act for energy firms. He rejected suggestions that such links undermine the credibility of the report on Tuesday, saying at a media Q&A in Westminster: No it doesnt. My list of interests is transparently set out. Asked whether the recommendation for extra protection for defence and energy companies in particular was connected in any way to his financial interests, Lord Walney said: My perspective, I think, will be hopefully widely shared that actually no matter what your view is on strength for the defence industry, future mix of energy suppliers that there ought to be in this country, it is not an acceptable way towards the issue by criminal sabotage. So I think the level of extra protection for those industries in particular in the spotlight is worth implementing and could be effective. Lord Peter Mandelson, who chaired the Q&A, also questioned Lord Walney on how likely his proposals would be to succeed in light of Tuesdays High Court ruling that the Home Offices attempt to lower the threshold for serious disruption was unlawful. The crossbench peer accepted that some of the recommendations may be laborious to try to implement but argued that there is currently not sufficient deterrent effect to stop extreme economic disruption. He said he wanted to persuade both Government and Opposition to move as quickly as possible on as many of these recommendations as possible. I just think the public is sick of the way in which they feel that their priorities are ignored there is not sufficient deterrent effect in stopping this kind of extreme economic disruption, Lord Walney said. Home Secretary James Cleverly said the report raised important questions (Joe Giddens/PA) Just Stop Oil said it did not recognise the legitimacy of the report because of the links, while Extinction Rebellion (XR) called it shameful that he had been asked to write the report. An XR spokesman said: We are a movement committed to non-violence. We train everyone acting in the name of Extinction Rebellion in non-violence. We have stewards to manage crowds responsibly. We have a policy for how to clear an area for emergency services. If the government can come for a group that works this hard at peaceful protest, they can come for anyone. Home Secretary James Cleverly said he would carefully consider Lord Walneys recommendations. He said: The right to protest is a vital part of democracy, but there is absolutely no place for criminality or harassment on our streets. Too often, we have seen vile displays of hate crime and aggressive tactics used by so-called protesters. Lord Walneys report raises important questions on the cumulative impact of disruptive and extremist activity on our communities. I thank Lord Walney and his team for this extensive and compelling report. Mr Cleverly said an extra 31 million of funding has been provided for security for MPs, and the definition of extremism has been updated. If you've ever been anxiously awaiting your fast food order, you will totally relate to this little Pomeranian who just goes through all the emotions while waiting for her food. She happy and excited, but no, wait, now she's heartbroken and whimpering! The absolutely adorable video was shared by the TikTok account for @lola_thepom and it's so funny to see how little Lola reacts while waiting for her lunch, she's trying so so hard to be patient but she's just a little thing and she wants her burger now! TikTok users are feeling her pain and one person commented, "I am Lola at every drive thru line, like seriously whats taking so long?" LOL. Another aded, "Oh Lola, I feel the same way about burger patties!" Someone else said, "My Pom is just as dramatic! Like bro theres no need to panic now that I turned the car off. We arrived!" Related: Tiny Chihuahua Has Zero Chill When it Comes to His Fast-Food Order Yup, as a fellow Pomeranian owner these dogs can be so extra when it comes to just about everything. What It's Like To Own a Pomeranian Small yet mighty. Unsplash/Pearl Lynn Poms descend from the large sled dog breeds, but it is thanks to Queen Victoria, who selectively bred them to be smaller in size, that we can carry these dogs around and keep them on our laps. It all started in 1888, when Queen Victoria stumbled on Marco, an especially small Pomeranian, on her trip to Florence, Italy. Marco weighed about 12 pounds, while most other Poms were regularly closer to 20. I can totally attest to the whole lap thing, because our Pomeranian has to be held or carried around pretty much constantly. He will chill out next to us on the sofa but he would much rather be on top of us. Despite training, our Pom is very barky especially when a package is delivered, and it's not due to warning us about a stranger, but because he expects everyone he comes in contact with to want to see HIM. He loves people to bits and wants everyone to pay attention to him. He's not crazy about other dogs but he loves our cats and sleeps, cuddles and plays with them all the time. Pomeranians do require grooming, specially on their haunches to keep everything clean when they do their business, and they also need their nails clipped pretty frequently. They are, at least in my experience, a super sweet, silly and happy breed and perfect if you want a lap dog! Looking for more PetHelpful updates? Follow us on YouTube for more entertaining videos. Or, share your own adorable pet by submitting a video, and sign up for our newsletter for the latest pet updates and tips. A dog owner has been mauled to death by her two registered XL bullies in the latest tragedy involving the banned breed. The woman, aged in her 50s, was fatally attacked in Cornwall Close, Hornchurch, east London, just after 1pm on Monday. Photographs showed a blue forensic tent that had been put up outside her home in the small residential street. Police said she was pronounced dead at the scene and the two registered dogs were seized after being contained in a room. From February 1, it became a criminal offence to own the XL bully breed in England and Wales without an exemption certificate. Campaigners protested against the ban before it was brought into force, calling instead for a focus on responsible dog ownership rather than breed (Jacob King/PA) Anyone who owns one of the dogs must have had the animal neutered, have it microchipped and keep it muzzled and on a lead in public, among other restrictions. The Government move to ban XL bullies followed a series of attacks. According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 16 deaths due to dog attacks in 2023, a sharp rise from preceding years where the number had been in single figures. As of late 2023, around 60% of dogs held in police kennels were a bull breed of some kind. The attack in Hornchurch comes after mother and son Amanda Young, 49, and Lewis Young, 30, were jailed last week after an eight-year-old boy was injured in a savage and sustained attack by their XL bully. The boy suffered extensive injuries to his scalp, face and hands in the attack in the communal area of a block of flats in Wadham Road, Bootle, Merseyside, on February 10. In March Farhat Ajaz, 61, admitted being the owner of a dangerously out of control XL bully that injured an 11-year-old girl and two men in Birmingham. And in the same month four men were hurt by a dog suspected to be the banned breed in Battersea, south west London, after which the animal was shot by police. Esther Martin died in Essex in February (Essex Police/PA) On February 3, just after the ban came into force, grandmother Esther Martin, 68, suffered unsurvivable wounds in a dog attack at a house in Jaywick in Essex, while visiting her grandson. She had reportedly tried to break up a fight between two puppies before she was attacked. Some of the worlds leading AI scientists have called for stronger action on AI risk from world leaders, as the AI Seoul Summit begins on Tuesday, warning that progress has been insufficient since the first AI Safety Summit in the UK six months ago. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will co-host a virtual meeting of world leaders with South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday to open the summit, where he will say that managing the risks posed by artificial intelligence is one of the most profound responsibilities faced by governments. However, in a new expert consensus paper published in the journal Science, 25 of the worlds leading scientists in the technology say governments are moving too slowly to regulate the rapidly evolving technology and there has not been enough progress since the previous summit. They argue that world leaders must take seriously the possibility that more powerful general use AI systems which are capable of regularly outperforming humans will be developed in the current decade or next, and respond accordingly. Professor Philip Torr, Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, and co-author on the paper, said: The world agreed during the last AI summit that we needed action, but now it is time to go from vague proposals to concrete commitments. This paper provides many important recommendations for what companies and governments should commit to do. In the paper, the experts say rapid-response institutions for AI oversight must be established, with far greater funding that many governments currently plan, while also mandating more rigorous risk assessments with enforceable consequences, rather than the current model of voluntary, unspecified evaluations. The experts include Turing award winners, Nobel laureates, and authors of standard AI textbooks, and hail from major AI powerbases including the UK, US, China and the EU. Stuart Russell, professor of computer science at the University of California at Berkeley, and author of a textbook on AI, said: This is a consensus paper by leading experts, and it calls for strict regulation by governments, not voluntary codes of conduct written by industry. Its time to get serious about advanced AI systems. These are not toys. Increasing their capabilities before we understand how to make them safe is utterly reckless. Companies will complain that its too hard to satisfy regulations that regulation stifles innovation. Thats ridiculous. There are more regulations on sandwich shops than there are on AI companies. Ahead of the summit, the first iteration of a new scientific report on AI safety the first of its kind and commissioned at the AI Safety Summit in November found the experts involved to be uncertain on the technologys future. They said that while AI could boost wellbeing, prosperity and scientific research in the future, it could also be used to power widespread disinformation and fraud, disrupt jobs and reinforce inequality. As well as highlighting the potential benefits and risks, it warns there is not universal agreement among experts on a range of topics around AI, including the state of current AI capabilities and how those could evolve over time, and the likelihood of extreme risks such as losing control over the technology occurring. The interim report is set to be used as a starting point for discussions among world leaders, industry experts, researchers and tech giants at the latest two-day summit in Seoul. It comes as the pace of innovation in the sector shows no sign of slowing down, with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, Google and Microsoft all announcing swathes of new AI-powered tools and products in the days ahead of the summit. And another heavyweight in the tech industry, Apple, is due to make its own AI announcements in early June. When her mother died two years ago, Celia Bashaw began dreaming about art, and not just any art. Her thoughts were fixed on an heirloom her great uncle, Chuck Perkins, had carved. Her mother and grandmother had loved it. But Bashaw couldnt find it. She knew it had been picked up after her grandmothers death when the family was going through her belongings, 15 years ago. And she knew her great uncle, who lived in Vermont, had given it away there, hoping the new owners would hold on to it. As it turned out, they sold it. So she decided to make a Facebook post in a group for Vermonters, hoping she could track down the buyers and get the piece back. (My mom) had a whole chest of photos. A bunch of photographs of everybody in the family and all the things that were really special to her. Bashaw told CNN. In those photos, there were very good, prominent photos of the family heirloom that I was looking for. Before, I hadnt had any good photos of it. I just had a description. Bashaw attached three photos of the engraving, which portrayed a leopard lounging in a tree. The post was shared about 600 times, according to CNN affiliate WCAX. Some commenters noted the piece looked different from the one Bashaw had originally posted. Bashaw replied while it had been through some wear and tear, she was able to confirm it was the same work from her great uncles woodburned signature on the back. Misty Bashaw, Celia's mother, had been looking for the missing heirloom made by her "favorite" uncle Chuck Perkins. - Courtesy Celia Bashaw Its really a one-of-a-kind engraving, so when this man sent me a picture of it, I was like, Theres no way somebody did something so identical to my uncles carving, Bashaw said. Its got to be the one, like theres no way I can let this go. Then, in Rutland, Vermont, Chris McKirryher and her partner, Phil Matte, saw the Facebook post and realized they had the solution to Bashaws long-shot quest. At a yard sale in Pittsford, Vermont, the couple had bought the carving. They arranged a meeting and Bashaw made the two-and-a-half hour drive from Plattsburgh, New York, to Vermont. She told CNN McKirryher and Matte were just so darling and she loved them immediately. Despite being nervous about meeting strangers from the internet, Bashaw found the duo were so nice and such great people. With all the bad news and everything going around, its good to see something really nice, Matte told WCAX, who agreed to sell it back to Bashaw. In an updated post to the Facebook group, Bashaw shared her excitement at being reunited with her great uncles artwork, thanking her friends, family and community for sharing and helping her find the piece. Im over the moon happy (and) lucky. she wrote. Now, Bashaw feels like a piece of her mother and grandmother has come back home. Its really nice because I dont have very many things of my mother or my grandmother and actually, its been extremely hard for me to even find a picture of me and my grandmother together. We were so close, and it just makes me so sad. she said. Top: April Perkins, Celia's grandmother (left), and Misty Bashaw, Celia's mother, who died in 2008 and 2022, respectively. Bottom: Misty (left) and April. - Courtesy Celia Bradshaw Having a piece of art that was so important to them finally be back and in my grasp I wish I could tell my mom about it because she would just scream, just like I did I hope she can see it now that I have it back because she was looking for it too, she added. Bashaw, an artist herself, plans to put the carving back in her grandfathers house instead of in her own. He has the wall still where theres like, almost a frame outline of where it used to be, so its like as soon, I put it there, its just supposed to be there. So, I think itll bring some solace to my grandpa, too. she said. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com An 18-year-old Pennsylvania high school student filed a federal lawsuit against Panera Bread on Monday alleging the fast-food restaurant's Charged Lemonade caused him to go into cardiac arrest. Luke Adams, of Monroeville, Pennsylvania, sued the Panera Bread Company in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania after buying a Mango Yuzu Citrus Charged Lemonade on March 9 from one of the chain bakery cafes locations, according to the complaint. Adams, who was not suffering from any health issues and consumed limited caffeine, drank the lemonade not knowing it contained 390 mg of caffeine without ice and 237 mg of caffeine with ice, the complaint says. Once Adams drank the lemonade and ate a chicken sandwich he bought, he went to a Cinemark movie theater to watch "Dune 2" with friends, the complaint continued. During the film, one of Adams' friends "heard him making unusual sounds and took notice of him," according to the suit. The friend then realized that Adams was in sudden cardiac arrest, the suit says. In this photo illustration, a Panera Bread Mango Yuzu Citrus Charged Lemonade is displayed at a Panera Bread restaurant on November 01, 2023 in Novato, California. Panera Charged Lemonade lawsuits: Drinks linked to alleged deaths, heart issues 'Heavy caffeine intake' deemed as 'only potential trigger' for Luke Adams' cardiac episode Adams' cardiac episode was later determined to be caused by ventricular fibrillation, a type of heart arrhythmia that can be triggered by caffeine, according to the complaint. While Adams was unresponsive, 911 was called, and his friends and strangers rendered aid, the complaint continued. A cardiologist and two nurses performed CPR on Adams in the theater, the suit says. Two shocks from a defibrillator restored pumping to his heart, but his heart rhythm remained irregular, the legal document continued. CPR continued to be performed until paramedics came and took Adams to a hospital where he was admitted to the ICU, intubated and put on a ventilator due to acute respiratory failure, according to the complaint. While in ICU, Adams suffered a second seizure, the complaint says. Once Adams regained consciousness, he met with a neurologist who attributed his seizures to being possibly related to his cardiac episode and "caffeine intake from Panera Charged Lemonade," according to the suit. Adams' doctor also noted how "heavy caffeine intake" was identified as the "only potential trigger" for his cardiac episode, the suit continued. A cardiac MRI showed no structural abnormalities in Adams' heart and genetic testing did not reveal any underlying seizure conditions that would have caused the cardiac event, the complaint says. An implantable cardioverter defibrillator was connected to Adams' heart on March 14 and it will remain implanted indefinitely for "preemptive secondary prevention," according to the complaint. 'Panera Charged Lemonade is an inherently dangerous product' Adams' life has been impacted "physically, emotionally, socially and financially" since he drank Panera's Charged Lemonade, the complaint says. He currently suffers from PTSD and generalized anxiety due to the incident, the complaint continued. Pictured is 18-year-old Luke Adams from Monroeville, Pennsylvania. "Luke Adams case is a tragic example of why the Panera Charged Lemonade is an inherently dangerous product and needed to be removed from the market," Elizabeth Crawford, Adams' attorney, said in a statement emailed to USA TODAY. "Clearly, the product's 'warning' was ineffective. Luke was a healthy 18-year-old with no underlying medical conditions before he drank one large Panera Charged Lemonade and went into cardiac arrest. He would have died if it was not for the heroic efforts of the medical professionals in the movie theater and at the hospital." The suit claims that many ingredients in the charged lemonades are classified as "stimulants" by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Stimulants can have dangerous health effects by damaging the nervous system and increasing blood pressure, heart rate and breathing, the complaint says. A large-size Panera Charged Lemonade containing 390 mg of caffeine is significantly higher compared to a 12-fluid ounce can of Red Bull (114 mg of caffeine) and a 16-fluid ounce can of Monster Energy Drink (160 mg of caffeine), according to the suit. To remedy Adams' case and Panera's failure to properly warn customers of their "dangerous product," the 18-year-old requests compensatory damages, punitive damages, interest and other costs relating to the suit, the complaint says. USA TODAY contacted Panera Bread on Tuesday but did not receive a response. Panera Bread announced removal of Charged Lemonade from menu Adams' cardiac event occurred two months before Panera decided to remove the Charged Lemonade drinks from its menu. The Missouri-based chain announced the removal of the item on May 7, but it has not confirmed when the drinks will no longer be available. The Charged Lemonades remain on the fast food restaurant's online menu as of Tuesday. Panera Bread introduced the Charged Lemonades in 2022, but the chain has been sued multiple times due to the drink's caffeine content and ingredients. Suits filed in October and December of 2023 accuse the drinks of causing fatal cardiac arrests. After the initial suit in October 2023, Panera changed the labels on its Charged Lemonade products, saying in a statement that it had "enhanced (its) existing caffeine disclosure for these beverages" out of "an abundance of caution." Panera removed the drinks from self-serve fountains in January 2024. How much caffeine is in Panera's Charged Lemonade drinks? The drinks were previously reported as having 260 milligrams of caffeine in a regular size drink and as much as 390mg in a large drink. Before the drinks were officially removed from the menu, they contained 155-302mg of caffeine, depending on the size and flavor. The recommended daily amount of caffeine for adults is up to 400mg, according to the Food and Drug Administration and Mayo Clinic about equal to 4-5 cups of brewed coffee. Contributing: Mike Snider/ USA TODAY This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Panera's Charged Lemonade led to teen's cardiac arrest, lawsuit claims Seven in 10 voters in a new poll want to see third-party and independent candidates in presidential debates this cycle, as President Biden and former President Trump prepare to go head-to-head. The latest Harvard CAPS/Harris poll found 79 percent of voters want Biden and Trump to debate, while 71 percent think those debates should include candidates from outside the major parties if they clear a viable threshold with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. listed as an example of one such candidate. Americans always want to hear it all and test their candidates. Voters want to see debates and would welcome Kennedy to the debate as well, said Mark Penn, the co-director of the Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll. After months of speculation about whether a debate would occur, Biden and Trump who are headed toward a rematch of their 2020 race this fall agreed last week to two presidential debates, slated for June on CNN and September on ABC. Kennedy railed against being left out of the debate conversation, arguing Trump and Biden are colluding to lock America into a head-to-head match-up. Seventy-three percent in the poll said Trump and Biden should stick to the three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate historically organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates, rather than negotiate on their own terms. But Biden last week informed the commission that his campaign would work directly with news outlets to arrange the two summer debates with Trump, calling into question the potency of the long-standing debate organizer. The commission had planned to kick things off with a September debate, followed by two more in October. Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they think debates will provide valuable information to voters on who to pick on their 2024 ballots, while 37 percent said the debates are unlikely to do so. A little more than half of voters, or 54 percent, think microphones at the debate should automatically cut off when a speakers time elapses, rather than be free-flowing and moderated by the members of the press. Back in 2020, the commission adopted new rules muting the microphones as Trump and Biden sparred. Seven in 10 voters in the poll also say theyve made up their mind about who theyll vote for in the fall but half of independents say theyre still undecided, which could have an impact in whats gearing up to be a competitive race. The survey was conducted from May 15-16 among 1,660 registered voters by The Harris Poll and HarrisX. The margin of error for the total sample is plus or minus 2 percentage points. Updated at 4:08 p.m. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. By Maggie Fick and Yadarisa Shabong (Reuters) - AstraZeneca aims to grow revenue by about 75% to $80 billion by 2030, it said on Tuesday, boosted by the expected launch of 20 new medicines and through growth in its cancer, biopharmaceuticals and rare disease portfolio. The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker had reported total revenue of $45.81 billion last year and earlier expected to launch at least 15 new medicines between 2023 and 2030. CEO Pascal Soriot has turned around the company's fortunes since taking over the reins more than a decade ago, rebuilding its new drug pipeline with blockbusters such as lung cancer drug Tagrisso, leukaemia drug Calquence and Farxiga for diabetes. The ambitious targets set out at Tuesday's event cement Soriot's bet on oncology after successful breast cancer trials over the years boosted the firm's oncology credentials. AstraZeneca shares have more than tripled in value since 2014, when the company last held an investor day event on the heels of the unsuccessful Pfizer takeover bid. They were up 1.5% by 1015 GMT on Tuesday and have gained about 15% so far in 2024, underperforming rivals Novo Nordisk's 29% gain and GSK's nearly 21% rise. AstraZeneca's strategy follows Monday's plans to build a cancer drug plant in Singapore as it bets on a promising category of cancer-killing drugs called antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). The Cambridge-based company has also been expanding its global research and development footprint and has R&D centres in England, Sweden, China and the United States. "Having a global footprint is a fantastic advantage," Soriot said. New technologies including ADCs, radioconjugates and cell therapy are making up a growing proportion of the new pipeline, as the traditional small molecule format reduces in prominence, Soriot said at Tuesday's event. These technologies will be very difficult for generic companies to rapidly replicate, he added. NEW REVENUE POTENTIAL AstraZeneca pushed into the ADC market with Daiichi Sankyo and in March invested $2 billion in next-generation cancer treatments via the purchase of Canadian drug developer Fusion, giving it a foothold in the radiopharmaceutical drugs market, which has seen increasing investor interest. It also entered the booming anti-obesity drug market through a licensing deal with Chinese biotech company Eccogene. Soriot said on Tuesday that many of the new medicines the drugmaker plans to launch by 2030 have the "potential to generate more than $5 billion in peak year revenues". AstraZeneca, which is facing patent expiries on some key drugs, said it would continue to invest in new technologies and platforms that will "shape the future of medicine" beyond 2030. Analysts at Jefferies said the revenue target of $80 billion was widely expected, adding that major new drug catalysts are "somewhat scarce" until 2025 but that its "pipeline optionality remains perhaps best-in-class" for big pharma. (Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru and Maggie Fick; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Kirsten Donovan, Christian Schmollinger and Emelia Sithole-Matarise) A deputy with the Montgomery County Pct. 4 Constable's Office stands near a gas station along Valley Ranch Boulevard after a shooting on May 21, 2024. By Michael Garcia A deputy inspects the back of a property in a neighborhood near the Valley Ranch Town Center in New Caney after a man was shot May 21, 2024 after fleeing from a traffic stop. By Michael Garcia Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon stands next to County Pct. 4 Constable Kenneth "Rowdy" Hayden during press conference about an officer-involved shooting that happened on May 21, 2024 in Porter. By Michael Garcia Breaking news Houston Chronicle A man was wounded after exchanging gunfire with a Montgomery County Precinct 4 deputy Tuesday morning in Porter, authorities say. The man was taken to a nearby hospital and is in fair condition. No deputies were injured during the altercation. Advertisement Article continues below this ad A deputy performed a traffic stop around 8:20 a.m. at the intersection of Valley Ranch and Azalea boulevards near the Valley Ranch Town Center with a man and women inside of the vehicle, Constable Kenneth Hayden said during a news conference. After the deputy discovered the man, who was in his 20s, had outstanding warrants, the man got out of the vehicle and allegedly shot at the deputy before running away, Hayden said. The man hid in the backyard of a house in a nearby neighborhood, but was found by a drone operated by the deputies. When deputies began to approach him, he pulled out his handgun and was shot by the deputies. It's unclear where the man was wounded or how many times he was shot. The deputies performed life saving measures before he was taken to a nearby hospital in fair condition. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The woman, who was also in the vehicle with the man, was not injured during the shooting. Several people have been shot in the past few months by police officers. In March, officers killed a man who was in a physical altercation with a woman and was holding a weapon in a neighborhood in Conroe. In the same month, several agencies in the county, including Houston Police Department and Harris County Sheriff's Office, shot and killed a man who robbed a liquor store at gunpoint, after a chase ending in Oak Ridge North. "These officers in this case, once again, have the ability to use deadly force when they are in fear for their lives or if they're in fear for another's life," said Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon, noting that the district's office conducted its own investigation, reviewing nearby cameras and drone footage, and determined the man had shot first at the deputies. The shooting will also be investigated by the Texas Rangers and reviewed by a grand jury, while the constable's office will distance itself from the case and conduct its own internal investigation, Ligon said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The man shot by the deputy will also face charges, he said. U.S. News and World Report has released its annual list of the best U.S. cities to live in for 2024. At the top of this year's list: Naples, Florida; Boise, Idaho; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Greenville, South Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina. Naples, Florida Naples scored high as a retirement destination. It offers a range of beaches, golf, shopping and dining, and its sunshine and warmth give it a seasonal appeal for those looking to escape the cold. Continued development is cramping its affordability, however, and traffic is getting worse. Boise, Idaho Boise scored high for its wide range of outdoor recreation options, as well as its boom-town development and food and arts scene. The city of Boise and state of Idaho also claim relatively low taxes and cost of living. Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is another city with a wide array of outdoor recreation on offer, with lots of hiking and biking trails and a relatively mild climate at more than 6,000 feet above sea level. While the city can be relatively affordable compared to Denver up the road, it's growing fast, especially in its suburbs to the north and east of downtown. Greenville, South Carolina Greenville focuses on its downtown quarter, where the culinary and arts scene is thriving. The city is getting a boost from new manufacturing jobs, which in turn help support a local economy of boutiques and restaurants. College football is a big draw as well, with the University of South Carolina and Clemson University nearby. Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte is a regional banking hub that has retained its Southern charm. The city is relatively affordable and has temperate weather, a booming brewery scene and is a few hours' drive from the beach and the Appalachian mountains. Aerial photo of Franfort, Ketucky, skyline Good News Scripps News Lexington Kentucky cities offer incentive programs for people to relocate Rounding out the top ten on this year's list of best cities are Raleigh, North Carolina; Huntsville, Alabama; Virginia Beach, Virginia; Austin, Texas and Boulder, Colorado. U.S. News and World Report crunches data from the U.S. Census, the FEMA national risk index, air quality measures, crime rates, weather, tax indexes and other sources to come up with its rankings. You can read about its methods and findings here. The approval rating for President Bidens handling of the Israel-Hamas war has dropped to its lowest point in a new poll, as the fighting continues in Gaza. The latest Harvard CAPS/Harris poll found Biden with a 36 percent job approval rating on the conflict, down from 39 percent last month and 44 percent back in October, when the question was first posed. Bidens ratings have weakened each month in the Israel-Hamas conflict as Biden has shifted his positions and most see his shift as political. Support for Israel remains unchanged, said Mark Penn, the co-director of the Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll. Just over half of respondents, or 53 percent, think Bidens policy on Israel is being directed in part by perceived domestic politics and not merely whats best for the national interest in a secure Israel. Three-quarters of respondents said Israel should move forward with an operation in Rafah to finish the war with Hamas, doing its best to avoid casualties even though there will be casualties. A quarter picked the other option that Israel should back off now and allow Hamas to continue running Gaza. Biden said earlier this month that he will not provide offensive weapons to Israel if it moves forward with a major military operation in Rafah, but 57 percent in the poll said Biden should continue to provide Israel with weapons even if it does so. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has argued that moving into Rafah will aid in getting at Hamas leaders. Its a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Thats why Ive called for an immediate cease-fire, an immediate cease-fire to stop the fighting. Bring the hostages home, Biden said over the weekend in remarks at Morehouse College, speaking to the campus crowd in the wake of nationwide student protests over his handling of the war. I support peaceful, nonviolent protest. Your voices should be heard. And I promise you, I hear them, Biden said. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Netanyahu over the weekend to urge Israel to limit its military operation in Gaza and reiterated the presidents position on Rafah. The survey was conducted from May 15-16 among 1,660 registered voters by the Harris Poll and HarrisX. The margin of error for the total sample is plus or minus 2 percentage points. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. President Joe Bidens political operation raised $51 million in April a significant decline from its March fundraising, according to totals released by his campaign Monday. Bidens campaign and affiliated committees still ended the month with $192 million in the bank, according to his aides a war chest they described as the highest cash-on-hand figure for any Democratic candidate in history and one they say positions the president to compete effectively with former President Donald Trump. Trump aides announced earlier this month that he had raised more than $76 million for his campaign and allied committees in April. The presumptive GOP nominee has ramped up his joint fundraising operation with the Republican National Committee and headlined high-dollar fundraisers, even as he spends parts of his week on trial in a Manhattan criminal court. Bidens political operation announced raising more than $90 million in March, bookended by a fiery State of the Union speech at the start of that month and a high-profile fundraiser in New York at the months end that featured him with two of his predecessors, former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. In a statement, Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the former presidents fundraising performance was especially remarkable when you consider he has been confined to a courtroom for nearly 9 hours a day over the past four weeks. The money hes raised in April along with polling show the momentum is 100% on President Trumps side, Leavitt said. Fundraising has been one of the bright spots for Bidens campaign as he battles persistently low poll numbers and faces close contests in key battleground states, and the latest figures are sure to cause consternation among Democrats. But Trumps filings also highlight potential trouble spots for his campaign: His operation continues to spend heavily on helping the former president confront his legal troubles and relatively modestly on the day-to-day business of campaigning. On Monday, Bidens aides took pains to try to cast the slower fundraising pace in a better light, pointing to what they said were signs of enduring small-dollar support and organizational strength. In a statement, Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said the April haul reflected strong consistent grassroots enthusiasm for reelecting Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. She said Trumps campaign continues to burn through cash and has no ground game. Bidens campaign said April was the strongest month for recurring donors so far, with those contributors giving more than $5.5 million. They also said the campaign added a million more supporters to its email lists last month. The Biden team said it has used its money to build a ground operation with more than 150 offices and more than 500 staffers across key battleground states. Monday was the deadline for presidential campaigns and the national political parties to file monthly reports on fundraising and spending with federal election regulators, but the joint fundraising committees that each White House candidate relies on to bring in funds dont have to file their disclosures with the Federal Election Commission until July. Trumps campaign aides have not released cash-on-hand totals for all the committees affiliated with his election effort, but his campaign report, filed Monday night, shows it ended April with $49.1 million remaining in the bank, only modestly better than the $45.1 million the campaign had in its war chest at the end of March. Bidens campaign ended April with $84.5 million remaining in its coffers, a significant advantage over Trumps war chest. Still, the gap between the two campaigns has narrowed some since March. Trumps legal troubles continue to drain his resources and time. The new filings show that Trumps leadership PAC, Save America, spent $3.3 million on legal fees in April and ended the month with about $1.1 million in outstanding legal bills. The PAC has spent about $15.6 million on legal fees this year alone, and nearly $80 million on those expenses since the start of 2021. The biggest payments in April more than $900,000 went to Robert & Robert, the firm that represented Trump and his family in the business fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. It was followed by more than $850,000 paid last month to the firm of Todd Blanche, the lead attorney handling Trumps criminal hush money trial in New York. The PAC ended the month still owing another $837,000 to Blanches firm. To help pay the legal bills, Save America has taken back money it donated before Trump was a candidate to a Trump-aligned super PAC, called MAGA Inc. In April, MAGA Inc. refunded another $2.75 million to Save America, once again diverting funds that could be used to help boost Trump candidacy to underwrite lawyers fees. MAGA Inc. raised nearly $12.8 million last month, boosted by a $10 million contribution from banking heir Timothy Mellon, who has also emerged as a major benefactor of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s independent White House bid. In all, Mellon has donated $25 million to the pro-Trump group, FEC records show. Both major presidential candidates have been hitting the money-raising circuit in recent weeks. Biden is slated to appear at a Los Angeles fundraiser next month with Obama and actors George Clooney and Julia Roberts. Mondays filings also high lighted how a handful of wealthy people has provided financial support to Kennedys long-shot run. American Values 2024, a pro-Kennedy super PAC, took in $5 million last month from Mellon or more than 80% of all the funds it raised in April. With his latest donation, Mellon has given the pro-Kennedy group a total of $25 million to date prompting criticism from Democrats concerned about Kennedys potential role as a spoiler in the close contest between Biden and Trump. MAGA Republicans are hellbent on propping up RFK Jr. to be a spoiler for Trump in this race, Democratic National Committee spokesman Matt Corridoni said in a statement Monday. This is even more proof that a vote for RFK Jr. is a vote for Trump. Kennedys campaign, meanwhile, raised about $10.7 million in April most of which came in the form of an $8 million contribution from his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, a wealthy Silicon Valley patent attorney. This story and headline have been updated with additional information. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com By Nandita Bose and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden strongly defended Israel on Monday, saying Israeli forces are not committing genocide in their military campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza in a rejection of criticism from pro-Palestinian protesters. "What's happening in Gaza is not genocide. We reject that," Biden said at a Jewish American Heritage Month event at the White House. Biden has faced protests at many of his events around the country from pro-Palestinian advocates who have labeled him "Genocide Joe" for his steadfast support for Israel. In remarks at the White House event, Biden stressed his belief that Israel was the victim dating back to the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants who killed 1,200 people and took hundreds of hostages. He said U.S. support for the safety and security of Israelis is "ironclad." "We stand with Israel to take out (Hamas leader Yahya) Sinwar and the rest of the butchers of Hamas. We want Hamas defeated. We're working with Israel to make that happen," he said. Negotiations have stalled between Israel and Hamas in trying to gain the freedom of sick, elderly and wounded hostages still held by the militants, but Biden vowed not to give up trying to gain their release. "We're going to get them home, we're going to get 'em home, come hell or high water," Biden said. Biden has also called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, something that he reiterated in his commencement speech at Morehouse College on Sunday Biden also rejected the International Criminal Court's prosecutor for saying he had requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense chief over alleged war crimes. The ICC prosecutor on Monday also said he requested arrest warrants for Hamas chief Sinwar and two other Hamas leaders. Biden in recent months has faced growing political pressure from his own party over his handling of the Gaza conflict, as the Palestinian death toll climbed to more than 35,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and Israel's siege has created dire humanitarian conditions in the territory. (Reporting by Nandita Bose and Steve Holland; Editing by Leslie Adler) Howler monkeys are dropping dead from trees in southeast Mexico's tropical forests, and authorities said Monday they were investigating whether extreme heat was killing the endangered animals. Officials have not given an exact death toll but local media outlets report that as many as 85 primates have died. According to the environment ministry, causes under consideration include "heat stroke, dehydration, malnutrition or fumigation of crops with pesticides." The ministry said studies would be carried out to rule out a virus or disease. Temperatures up to 113 degrees Fahrenheit have been recorded in the southern states of Chiapas and Tabasco, where the deaths have been reported. The Tabasco-based wildlife preservation group COBIUS has reported "mass deaths" of primates. Volunteers observe Saraguato monkeys (Alouatta palliata) that died amid drought and high temperatures in Buena Vista, Comalcalco, Mexico, May 18, 2024. / Credit: Luis Manuel Lopez / REUTERS "It's very likely due to climatic reasons, but we cannot rule out other important causes," the organization said in a statement, adding an appeal to the public: "If you see monkeys that are weak and apparently suffering from heat or dehydration, please try to hoist a bucket of water by rope for them to drink." According to National Geographic, howler monkeys live in Central and South America and rarely leave the treetops where they feed in the forest canopies. A source from Tabasco's Civil Protection agency told the Reuters news agency that monkeys have died in three of the state's municipalities. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is from Tabasco, also pointed to extreme heat as the likely cause. "The heat is very strong. Since I've been visiting these states, I've never felt it as much as I do now," he told reporters. Authorities and conservationists have been carrying out patrols to provide water and food, mainly fruit, to help monkeys stay hydrated, the Tabasco civil protection institute said. Earlier this month, Mexico reported record-high temperatures in 10 cities, including the capital. The soaring temperatures come as the country is also grappling with severe drought and a water supply crisis. Mexico City home to nearly 22 million people has been suffering from diminishing water supplies and experts say it's on the verge of being unable to provide sufficient fresh water to residents. Pope Francis: The 60 Minutes Interview Saying goodbye to season 56 and to a man who made 60 Minutes better for 35 years Photos of Nazis enjoying themselves at Auschwitz become subject of a play | 60 Minutes The House Democrats campaign arm outraised their Republican counterpart in April with a record $12.4 million brought in during the month. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committees (DCCC) total is the highest ever in the month of April and contributed to the $57.8 million raised so far this calendar year to date, the most for the committee in a presidential election year. Meanwhile, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) raised just more than $10 million during April, the second-best such month in an election year. That gives the committee $59.8 million cash on hand, the second-highest amount it has had at the end of April in an election year. But the DCCC is still ahead with cash in the bank, wielding a total of $75.9 million. With only six months to go before Election Day, House Democrats are ensuring we have the resources to take back the majority, make Hakeem Jeffries Speaker, put an end to the chaos, and get the government back to work for families, Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), the chair of the DCCC, said in a release. The race for the House this year will be intensely contested with Democrats looking to win back control in the body after narrowly losing it in the 2022 midterms. House Republicans will try to grow their slim majority in November after a disappointing performance two years ago that saw the GOP underperform expectations. House Democrats lead House Republicans in the total amount raised during this election cycle, $179 million to $134.7 million. The GOP can only afford to lose one member of its conference in party-line votes with all members voting and still have a majority to pass legislation. The party is set to get a little more breathing room following a special election on Tuesday to fill the vacancy left by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in a strongly red district. Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), the chair of the NRCC, expressed optimism in a release on its latest fundraising haul. House Republicans kept our nose to the grindstone raising the cash needed to grow our majority while demanding a halt to Joe Biden and extreme House Democrats radical plans to drive America further into a ditch, Hudson said. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Max the Cat has been visiting students at Vermont State University for more than four years. Max the campus cat? Try Dr. Max the Cat, thank you very much. Vermont State University Castleton's 2024 graduating class had the honor of sharing their commencement celebrations over the weekend with none other than Max, a tabby cat who has become something of a local celebrity during his time at the university. Max, recognized by the college by his formal name Max Dow, has become something of a fixture on campus since moving into his nearby home with his mom, Ashley Dow, about five years ago. A former feral kitten of a nearby town, Max moved onto the very same street that leads to the campus's main entrance. The curious kitty soon learned that, while school can be a slog for some, college can be lots of fun for felines. When Max was about a year old, he began exploring his neighborhood, Dow told USA TODAY. One day, he went missing and his family began the search. That's when they first found him on campus and, soon, they began hearing from the students. "They just love him," Dow told USA TODAY. "I get students giving me welfare checks on him throughout the day." Max has become a beloved figure at the university. Max the cat's campus life For Max, paying a visit to the Castleton campus means getting lots of attention, taking rides on backpacks, scaling the greenhouse, posing for endless selfies, basking anywhere he pleases and even leading tour groups. "He's been on the dean's desk, he made himself at home on the dean's desk," Dow said. "He's been in the coffee house, he walked right up to the head of the graduate program and she tracked me down and asked if I was Max's mom." Max even attempts to visit the campus during breaks but returns disappointed after discovering no students are there, said Dow. Once, he got confused and stopped visiting after classes resumed, prompting students who thought he had disappeared to make a memorial for him, complete with framed photos and candles. "The college has called a couple of times asking if he's OK and I say, 'No he's fine, he's just fat and lazy,'" Dow joked. "We brought him up a couple of times and ... told him don't forget the people up there because they miss you." Max made the Vermont State University campus his own stomping grounds. Vermont State University students help keep an eye on Max Dow said that students at the campus often look out for Max. Ever since an attack by a feral cat left Max injured, Dow posted signs around campus asking students to text, call or bring him home if they see him hanging outside after 5 p.m. The students do just that, on top of providing periodic updates throughout the day. In one case, a since-graduated student returned to town and stopped by Dow's business to ask how Max was. In another, a post on social media led students to believe Max had been injured, prompting a full-blown search that included not only students but the campus police. "(People) ask 'Are you Max's mom?' And I'm like, 'How did you know that?'" said Dow, who has come to accept her new moniker as mom to the most famous cat in town. A doctor of litter-ature The college couldn't put Max on the payroll (likely thanks to his lack of valid ID and tax documents), so they've offered him the special honor instead. "Max the Cat has been an affectionate member of the Castleton family for years," the university shared in posts on Instagram and Facebook. "With a resounding purr of approval from the faculty, the Board of Trustees of the Vermont State Cat-leges has bestowed upon Max Dow the prestigious title of Doctor of Litter-ature, complete with all the catnip perks, scratching post privileges, and litter box responsibilities that come with it," the university said. According to Dow, who was floored and amused when the school contacted her about the degree, some people in her life didn't believe the turn of events at first. A coworker she told thought she was a little "crazy," she said, until Max started appearing on the news. "She said 'Ashley, I'm sorry, I thought you were crazy but now I see it's true,'" Dow said. "Everyone loves it except people who don't get it because they haven't met Max." Max the Cat will receive his official degree in the mail. Max that's Dr. Max to you did not get to walk on the stage but did make an appearance on campus this weekend, said Dow, and will likely start popping up in graduation photos all across social media. His official diploma will be sent to his home via mail. "I'm so super happy he makes everyone so happy, he's a great cat and it's awesome," Dow said. "(The students) were talking about how during finals they saw him and he made them less stressed and I get it ... I'm glad it makes people happy and I'm glad to share." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Max that cat graduates as 'doctor of litter-ature from Vermont school The Biden administration is willing to work with Congress to respond to the International Criminal Court prosecutor's "profoundly wrong-headed" decision seeking to issue arrest warrants on Israeli leaders over the Gaza war, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan is also seeking warrants charging crimes against humanity and other war crimes against three Hamas leaders. Israel on Tuesday urged "nations of the civilized world" to reject the warrants sought against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Blinken, speaking at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, said Khan's decision to seek the warrants could complicate talks aimed at a cease-fire and hostage release. Some Republican members of Congress have threatened legislation to impose sanctions on the ICC. A bipartisan group of senators led by Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina issued a statement Tuesday accusing the ICC of jeopardizing efforts toward bringing home hostages, increasing humanitarian aid and creating sustainable peace in the Middle East. The application for arrest warrants also draws a false equivalence between Israel with its longstanding commitment to the rule of law, and Hamas theocratic, autocratic and unaccountable rule over Gaza," the statement said. "To state the obvious: Israel is a functioning democracy, while Hamas is a terrorist organization." Arrest warrants: Warrants sought for Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas leader Sinwar on war crimes charges Developments: Blinken's Senate testimony was interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters calling him a "butcher'' and a "war criminal.'' Palestinian health authorities said seven Palestinians were killed Tuesday during an Israeli raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, a hotspot of militant activity. The Israel Defense Forces said it was targeting armed militants. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said Tuesday that food distribution in Gaza's besieged southern city of Rafah was suspended because of a lack of supplies and security. Also Tuesday, the Pentagon said it has found new routes to transport aid after trucks carrying supplies from a U.S.-built pier on northern Gaza were intercepted and looted, prompting deliveries to be halted for the last three days. A women's Euro 2025 qualifying soccer match between Scotland and Israel in Glasgow on May 31 will be played without fans because of the potential for disruptive protests, the Scottish Football Association said Tuesday. Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said Tuesday that the Gaza cease-fire and hostage release talks between Israel and Hamas remain close to a stalemate." A woman salvages items from a waste dump along a tent displacement camp west of Nuseirat in the Gaza Strip on May 21, 2024. The ICC is seeking arrest warrants: What does that mean and what is next? The charges will go before a panel of 18 ICC judges to review the evidence. If the judges agree with the prosecutor's findings, warrants will be issued. The Biden administration claims the warrants could be a hurdle in ongoing U.S. efforts to secure a cease-fire, although talks have taken place for months with little progress. If the warrants are issued, the court has no arrest powers and must rely on member states to apprehend suspects. The ICC does not conduct trials without the accused being present. Neither Israel nor the U.S. nor Qatar home to some top Hamas leaders are members of the ICC, so practically speaking none of the accused face imminent arrest. However, the 124 member nations would be obligated to take those charged into custody. That could limit travel for Netanyahu and the other accused. Should the defendants ever be taken into custody, a trial could take place. A guilty verdict would allow judges to order restitution, compensation and rehabilitation to victims. The judges may also impose a prison sentence and fines. The maximum sentence is 30 years, but the court may impose a life sentence in extreme cases. Multiple allies back ICC on warrants Netanyahu dispatched an envoy to France on Tuesday in an attempt to shore up backing. France was among multiple European allies standing behind the ICC. "France supports the International Criminal Court, its independence and the fight against impunity in all situations," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Belgium Foreign Affairs Minister Hadja Lahbib called the warrants an important step in the investigation, saying "crimes committed in Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of the perpetrators." Slovenia's Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs issued a statement saying war crimes in Israel and in Gaza must be prosecuted "independently and impartially regardless of the perpetrators." Biden, however, railed against the Israeli warrants as outrageous and reiterated firm U.S. support for Israel in the war. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, former president of the European Council, on Tuesday agreed with Biden that "an attempt to show that the prime minister of Israel and the leaders of a terrorist organizations are the same ... is unacceptable." Netanyahu rips prosecutor's 'chutzpah' Khan said he has "reason to believe" Netanyahu and Gallant bear criminal responsibility for the starvation of Palestinians as a weapon of war, intentionally directing attacks on civilians and murder. Netanyahu accused Khan of a "new antisemitism" that the prime minister said has rolled across college campuses to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. With what chutzpah do you dare compare the monsters of Hamas to the soldiers of the IDF, the most moral army in the world? Netanyahu said in an address to the nation translated by the Times of Israel. With what audacity do you compare between the Hamas that murdered, burned, butchered, raped and kidnapped our brothers and sisters, and the IDF soldiers who are fighting a just war that is unparalleled, with a morality that is unmatched? Patients rushed out of Gaza hospital after missile strikes Patients in a northern Gaza hospital were rushed out onto the street on beds and stretchers Tuesday after Israeli missiles hit the facility's emergency department, Reuters reported. The news agency said video it obtained showed medical personnel taking the patients out of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Jabalia refugee neighborhood, where clashes with Israeli forces have restarted after months of relative calm as Hamas has tried to reestablish itself in the area. Hussam Abu Safia, who runs the hospital, said the first missile hit the emergency department entrance, followed by another strike that kept patients and medics from going back in, and then a third projectile smashed against a nearby building. "We really never imagined that one day the emergency department will be hit,'' he said. "The emergency department provides a service for children, the elderly and people inside the departments of the hospital. The Health Ministry said patients were being moved to other medical facilities in northern Gaza. The IDF told Reuters it was reviewing reports of the attack and "the possibility that it was IDFs stray fire that was not directed at the hospital. Israel reverses course after seizing Associated Press equipment Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said Tuesday he has rescinded the decision to seize camera equipment from The Associated Press and ordered that it be returned, pending a decision by the Ministry of Defense, which he said wished to examine the matter. The confiscation drew an outcry from media groups and a concerned reaction from the U.S. Israeli officials seized broadcasting equipment from AP earlier in the day and accused the news organization of violating a new media law by providing images to Qatar-based Al Jazeera, which was shut down in Israel this month. The new law grants the government power to temporarily ban broadcasts by international news outlets in Israel if they are deemed a threat to national security.Israeli officials warned AP last week to stop the live transmission, but the media outlet refused. The shutdown was not based on the content of the feed but rather an abusive use by the Israeli government of the countrys new foreign broadcaster law," AP spokesperson Lauren Easton said. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, asked about Israel's action, called it "concerning" and said the White House was looking into the matter. "We stand firm in our belief ... in making sure that journalists have ability and the right to do the job that's incredibly important for them to do," she said. Hamas says more Israelis should face criminal charges Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh are accused of extermination, murder and the taking of hostages as crimes against humanity or war crimes. They could also be held responsible for rape, sexual violence, torture and other cruel treatment against Israeli hostages. Hamas denounced in a statement the warrants against its leaders as an attempt to "equate the victim with the executioner." The statement claimed international conventions and resolutions provide the Palestinian people the "right to resist the occupation in all forms, including armed resistance." The statement supported the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant but said other Israeli leaders and soldiers should be similarly charged. All were proved to be involved in committing the "crimes of genocide, aggression and crimes against humanity," the statement said. It added that the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant "came seven months late, during which the Israeli occupation committed thousands of crimes against Palestinian civilians, including children, women, doctors and journalists, and destroyed private and public property, mosques, churches and hospitals." US envoy: Israel may need to consider 'Palestinian governance' Forging formal Israeli-Saudi relations would require a calming of the Gaza war and a discussion of prospects for "Palestinian governance," the U.S. envoy to Jerusalem said Tuesday. Ambassador Jack Lew, speaking at a conference hosted by the Israel Democracy Institute, said he believes the strategic benefit for Israel is worth the risk, "but that's a decision that the government of Israel will have to make and the people of Israel will have to make." A deal to normalize Saudi-Israeli relations appeared near in October before Hamas-led attackers stormed into Israel, killing almost 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages. Israel's ensuing military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and has refueled global demands for a free Palestinian state the so-called "two state solution." The Saudis issued a statement in February saying "there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognized." Netanyahu has said Israel must retain security control of Gaza after the war. Contributing: Reuters This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Israel war updates: Netanyahu says criminal charges 'new antisemitism' CenterPoint's Estimated Dates of Restoration map is now searchable, according to the company. Courtesy/CenterPoint People looking for more specific information about when their power might be restored can now search CenterPoint's restoration map by specific addresses, according to the company. Around 170,000 CenterPoint customers were still without power as of 6:30 p.m. Monday, the company said. For some customers, power might not be restored until Wednesday, it added. Advertisement Article continues below this ad In a news release, CenterPoint announced people can now search the company's green, purple and blue GIS map to see when their part of the city is estimated to be re-energized. Static versions of the map had previously been published on social media, as the company attempted to get information out amid a crush of interest. CenterPoint warned that some people who use the map might find that their address falls outside shaded locations with estimated restoration times. It doesn't mean that CenterPoint is unaware of an outage, spokesperson Logan Anderson said. The map was recently created in response to criticism that the static maps weren't granular enough, Anderson said. "There may be some places on the fringes we haven't captured," she said. As the number of outages across the region decreases, the company expected the map to become more accurate. Advertisement Article continues below this ad An outage in a spot that appears restored on the map could also be a sign problems, Anderson said. CenterPoint representatives have said certain issues could prevent individual homes or small areas from having power restored, even if customers in the same area are re-energized. In these "nested outages," the company said the problem could be a damaged line fuse, transformer or tree on a service line running directly into a home. Customers should check their weatherhead, the point where power enters the home, which is often a pipe located on the side of the building, CenterPoint said. If that equipment is damaged, customers will need to ask an electrician to make repairs before CenterPoint can restore power. People who think they may have a nested outage were asked to call CenterPoint at 713-207-2222. A 22-year-old street racer is facing prison time after being convicted of fatally shooting a man the day before Fathers Day, Colorado officials said. On June 18, 2022, Jeremy Rocha was street racing his Ford Mustang on an Adams County highway, according to a May 17 news release by the district attorney. John Jaros, 37, was driving to a campsite with his three kids and wife when he decided to pass Rocha on the highway, prosecutors said. It didnt matter whether it was a friend or a stranger, if John saw a need that he could meet, he would meet it, Jaros obituary said. After Jaros passed Rocha, Rocha grew agitated and caught up to his truck before pointing a gun at the vehicle and firing nine rounds, officials said. Jaros, who was called a loving husband and father, was fatally struck, prosecutors said. His wife and children were not harmed. On the outside, John seem like a hard man. To those who managed to move past the wall he built around himself, he had a heart of gold, the volunteer firefighters obituary said. After Aurora police officers reviewed video footage and talked to witnesses, investigators were led to Rocha, officials said. Mr. Rocha brutally murdered John Jaros and nearly massacred an entire family, District Attorney Brian Mason said in the release. This was a brutal, senseless, and unimaginable crime. During his trial, Rocha presented a self-defense theory, but he was ultimately convicted of murder, including in the first degree, on May 17, officials said. This conviction carries a life sentence without the possibility of parole, prosecutors said. Rocha is scheduled to be sentenced on May 23, officials said. Adams County is about a 50-mile drive northeast of Denver. Accused gunman buries dead man, poses as kidnapper to victims girlfriend, CA cops say 15-year-old fatally shoots cousin trying to take him home from party, Tennessee cops say Note on door threatened dog over barking, then she was shot dead, Minnesota cops say One passenger died and 71 people were injured when their Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore encountered severe turbulence Tuesday, throwing passengers and crew around the cabin and forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in Bangkok. The Boeing 777-300ER was about 10 hours into its flight and midway through meal service when it hit turbulence while flying over Myanmars Irrawaddy Basin, according to the airline. Andrew Davies, a passenger onboard flight SQ321 who was traveling to New Zealand for business, told CNNs Erin Burnett that it had been a perfectly normal flight when the seatbelt sign came on and seconds later all hell broke loose. The plane just felt like it dropped. It probably only lasted a few seconds but I remember vividly seeing shoes and iPads and iPhones and cushions and blankets and cutlery and plates and cups flying through the air and crashing to the ceiling. The gentleman next to me had a cup of coffee, which went straight all over me and up to the ceiling, Davies said. Davies said he realized the gravity of the turbulence when he turned around, describing several passengers with gashes on their heads, including one with blood pouring down her face and an elderly passenger in severe shock. There was so much screaming, he said. Video and images from inside the aircraft showed the extent of the damage, with overhead compartments smashed open and emergency oxygen air masks hanging down from the ceiling. A photo of one galley showed a section of the ceiling open with parts of the planes interior hanging down. Trays, containers, plastic bottles and hot beverage pots can be seen strewn across the floor. A 73-year-old British man died in the incident from a suspected heart condition, the General Manager of Bangkoks Suvarnabhumi International Airport Kittipong Kittikachorn said Tuesday, adding that the autopsy process was still ongoing. The man was later identified as Geoff Kitchen, who was described as always a gentleman with the utmost honesty and integrity by the Thornbury Musical Theatre Group (TMTG), an establishment where he worked for over 35 years. The British Foreign Office told CNN it was supporting the family of a British passenger who died on a Singapore Airlines flight. Davies, who was seated toward the front of the plane, said he helped tend to Kitchen, who was seated behind him. Lots of people needed some help but we tended to this gentleman and I helped carry him, get him out of the seat, and we lay him on the floor so that some medical profession(als) could administer CPR, Davies said, adding the passenger was administered CPR for about 20 minutes. The Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital in Bangkok, which received the injured passengers, said at least 71 people were injured, with six severely. Those injured include citizens of Malaysia, the UK, New Zealand, Spain, the US and Ireland. Kittikachorn, who inspected the aircraft, said some injured passengers sustained broken arms. The flight, carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew, had left Londons Heathrow Airport around 10:30 p.m. local time, according to online flight trackers. It was bound for Singapores Changi Airport, however the aircraft was diverted to Bangkok where it landed at 3:45 p.m. local time, according to the airline. Video filmed after Singapore Airlines SQ321 was diverted to Bangkok shows a passenger being carried from the aircraft on a stretcher by emergency responders. Kittikachorn said that following the landing in Bangkok almost 200 travelers were waiting to take onward flights to their destinations. A Singapore Airlines plane carrying 131 of the 211 passengers later departed Bangkok for Singapore, he said. Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong said in a statement that the airline is providing all possible assistance and support to the passengers and their families. On behalf of Singapore Airlines, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased passenger. We also deeply apologize for the trauma experienced by all passengers and crew members on this flight, he said. Singapores Ministry of Transport said in a statement that it was investigating the situation involving flight SQ321 and the US National Transportation Safety Board is sending personnel to Singapore to help support the investigation. The interior of Singapore Airline flight SQ321 is pictured after an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand, on May 21. - Reuters Flight likely encountered rapidly developing thunderstorms Turbulence occurs when a plane flies through clashing bodies of air moving at widely different speeds. With light and moderate turbulence passengers might feel a strain against their seatbelt, and unsecured items could move around the cabin. But in severe cases turbulence can throw passengers around the cabin, causing severe injuries and occasionally death. A statement from the airline said the plane, encountered sudden extreme turbulence over the Irrawaddy Basin [a river in Myanmar] at 37,000 feet, about 10 hours after departure. Data from aviation tracking site FlightRadar24 shows the flight suddenly dipping then rapidly climbing a few hundred feet before dipping and climbing again and then finally settling back at its cruising altitude. The entire disruption took about 90 seconds, according to the data. The flight changes course about 14 minutes later. The airline said, The pilot declared a medical emergency and diverted the aircraft to Bangkok. The flight likely encountered rapidly developing thunderstorms over southern Myanmar on Tuesday during the time that extreme turbulence was reported, according to CNN Weather analysis. Tropical thunderstorms like these are typical for this time of year with moisture increasing in the region as the southwest monsoon season is beginning in South Asia. They can form quickly in the early afternoon as the land heats up, especially near the coastline. Budding thunderstorms like Tuesdays may not appear on radar in their earliest stages, even though the quick rising motion within them can still produce turbulence. The storm cells likely grew from 20,000-30,000 feet to well over 50,000 feet in less than an hour. Turbulence could become more frequent The interior of Singapore Airline flight SQ321 is pictured after an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand, on May 21. - Reuters About 65,000 aircraft suffer moderate turbulence every year in the US, and about 5,500 run into severe turbulence. These numbers, however, might be destined to grow as the climate crisis is modifying some types of turbulence, according to a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Reading in the UK. A September 2022 study predicts that clear-air turbulence will increase significantly around the globe by 2050-2080, in particular along the busiest flight routes, and the strongest type of turbulence will increase the most. In March 2023, violent movements on a private jet resulted in the death of a former White House official, though an investigation later found that weather was not involved in that incident. That incident came just days after seven people were transported to hospitals after a separate commercial flight hit significant turbulence. In July 2023, seven people were injured on a Hawaiian Airlines flight to Sydney, Australia, when the plane was buffeted by severe turbulence, and 36 people were injured on a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Arizona to Honolulu in December 2022, with 20 people taken to emergency rooms. Singapore Airlines is often considered one of the worlds safest carriers. Its only previous fatal accident was in October 2000 when flight SQ006 crashed when the Boeing 747-400 took off from a closed runway in Taiwan amid heavy rain, killing 83 on board. Singapore Airlines said later Tuesday that a dedicated team had arrived in Bangkok to support our colleagues and the local authorities on the ground in an update on its Facebook page. The flight operator expressed its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. We deeply apologize for the traumatic experience that our passengers and crew members suffered on this flight. Boeing has said it is in touch with the Singaporean carrier and is ready to support them. The manufacturer is deferring further questions to the airline and local authorities. This story and headline have been updated with additional developments. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described a March 2023 incident involving a private jet. The National Transportation Safety Board later ruled weather had not been involved in the violent movements of that plane. CNNs Jack Guy, Lauren Said-Moorhouse, Steven Jiang, Catherine Nicholls, Ross Levitt, Hamdi Alkhshali, Brandon Miller and Sharon Braithwaite contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com An Oregon man is facing charges in the deaths of three women and authorities think the cases may be linked to at least two other deaths. The man, 39-year-old Jesse Calhoun, was charged with three counts of murder in the second degree and three counts of abuse of a corpse in the second degree, the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office in Oregon announced in a news release Friday. Calhoun is in custody at the Snake River Correctional Institution and will be transferred to Multnomah County for arraignment on the indicted charges, the DAs office said. Calhouns charges stem from investigations into the deaths of Charity Lynn Perry, 24, Bridget Leanne Webster, 31 and Joanna Speaks, 32. All three women were found dead under suspicious circumstances last year, the DAs office said. The DAs office also said there may be a connection to two additional cases out of Clackamas County and Portland as well. It was not immediately clear who is representing Calhoun. Tragic deaths: 2 teens die in suspected drownings after accepting dare, jumping off bridge into lake Suspect was originally set to be released from prison in a few weeks According to online records from the Oregon Department of Corrections, Calhoun's release date from the DOC is listed for June 7. A spokesperson for the department said a county or another state can place a detainer against Calhoun before he is released from custody though. The detainer "gives another jurisdiction the opportunity to hold an individual for pending legal action in their jurisdiction," the spokesperson said. Victims were found in April last year The bodies of the three victims were found in April 2023, starting with 32-year-old Joanna Speaks. Her remains were found just before 6 p.m. on April 8, 2023. Someone called the Ridgefield Police Department about a deceased person found at an abandoned property in Ridgefield, Washington. Police and Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue responded to the call and on April 18, the Clark County Medical Examiners Office identified the remains as Speaks. Authorities also announced that her body was moved to the abandoned property where she was found. Joanna Speaks, a 32-year-old woman whose remains were found on April 8, 2023 on abandoned property in Ridgefield, Washington. Next, the remains of Charity Lynn Perry of Longview, Washington were found at 1:35 p.m. on April 24 near Ainsworth State Park in east Multnomah County. She was known to spend time in downtown Portland, authorities said in a news release. Charity Lynn Perry, a woman whose remains were found on April 24, 2023. Then in May 2023, the Polk County Sheriff's Office asked for the publics help finding out what happened to Bridget Leann Webster of Milwaukie. Her body was found at 2:23 p.m. on April 30, 2023 in northwest Polk County, authorities said. She was known to spend time in the Portland metro area, including Portland, Oregon City and Milwaukie, authorities said. Bridget Leann Webster According to the DAs office, over 10 crime labs, attorneys offices and law enforcement agencies worked on these cases, including the Multnomah County Sheriffs Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. DAs office: Possible link to two additional cases Authorities believe the three cases are linked to two additional investigations, according to the Multnomah County District Attorneys Office in Portland. The DAs office announced in July 2023 that Perrys case, Websters case, and the cases of two additional women, Kristin Smith and Ashley Real, may be connected. Kristin Smith, a 22-year-old woman who was reported missing on Dec. 22, 2022. Smith, 22, was reported missing out of Gresham on December 22, 2022, then in mid-February, her remains were found in a wooded area in Portland, the Portland Police Bureau announced. The remains of Real, the last woman Calhoun has been linked to, were found on May 7, 2023. A man in the Eagle Creek area was fishing in a pond when he found human remains in a heavily wooded area, the Clackamas County Sheriffs Office said in a news release. Ashley Real, a woman whose remains were found in a wooded area on May 7, 2023. Investigators have interviewed multiple people in connection with these cases and have identified at least one person of interest that is linked to all four of the decedents, the Multnomah County District Attorneys Office said in July 2023. MCDA recognizes the profound effect these womens deaths have had on their families, friends, and the community, the office said in the release. MCDA is committed to ensuring justice for the victims and their families. Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia the 757. Follow her on Twitter at @SaleenMartin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Oregon man Jesse Calhoun charged in deaths of 3 women Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics teams latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill. In todays edition, national political correspondent Steve Kornacki compares how Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s polling compares to that of past third-party candidates who qualified for debates. Plus, Katherine Doyle, who has been documenting every day of Donald Trump's hush money trial, lays out what comes next now that the defense has rested its case. Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here. RFK Jr. presents a historical debate dilemma By Steve Kornacki In his quest to qualify for the presidential debates, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could confront organizers and rival campaigns with a dilemma they havent seriously encountered in decades. As of now, Kennedy seems unlikely to make the stage for the leadoff June 27 debate. This mainly has to do with the ballot access requirements set by sponsor CNN. To participate, he must be qualified for the ballot in states that account for at least 270 electoral votes. But that may not even be possible, with some states not even processing submitted petitions until the end of the summer. Do you have a news tip? Let us know When it comes to the other main criterion, though, Kennedy could clear it. CNN has designated 12 national pollsters and set a rule that any debate participant must reach 15% support in at least four of their polls from March 13 to June 20. Here are all of the polls conducted so far that fall under that umbrella, with the support level each showed for Kennedy and two other prospective third-party entrants, Cornel West and Jill Stein: Even if he does meet CNNs polling requirement, it wont by itself land Kennedy on the June debate stage. But the fact that hes already halfway there places him in rare historical company and hints at further controversy around other debates this summer and fall. Starting with 1976, televised general election debates have been a part of every campaign. And generally, multiple independent candidates seek to join the Democratic and Republican nominees onstage. But almost always, those candidates are polling in the low single digits at best. Excluding them and limiting the proceedings to the major-party nominees doesnt typically cause much commotion. But three times since 1976, independent candidates have consistently polled in the double-digit range, like Kennedy is now. In 1980, there was Rep. John Anderson, a liberal Republican from Illinois who ran unsuccessfully in the GOP primaries and then entered the race as an independent. The League of Women Voters, which back then took the lead in organizing debates, announced it would consider several polls and invite Anderson to participate if he could reach 15% by Labor Day. He did and was promptly invited to the falls first debate, along with Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. But Carters campaign believed Anderson was mainly drawing votes from it. So Carter announced that he would take part in a three-way debate only if there first was a one-on-one showdown with Reagan. Reagan refused that demand, and the Leagues debate went off as scheduled in September with just Reagan and Anderson participating. That is the only nationally televised general election debate ever to have featured just one major-party nominee. In its aftermath, Reagans polling improved, while Andersons support dipped under 10%. Carter held fast to his demand, though, and no debates took place for more than a month. Finally, in late October, the League announced that, because of his polling decline, Anderson would no longer be included, and the only Reagan-Carter debate was promptly scheduled. By 1992, debate sponsorship had shifted to the Commission on Presidential Debates, the bipartisan group that has (so far) been shoved aside this year. The 1992 debates remain the only ones to have included a third candidate along with the major-party nominees: Ross Perot. The commissions inclusion criteria were subjective; candidates deemed to have a realistic chance of winning were invited. Perot, who had led in three-way polls in the late spring before he dropped out of the race for 10 weeks, had become such a national sensation that neither the commission nor the Bill Clinton and George Bush campaigns felt comfortable excluding him. But when Perot ran again in 1996, he was shut out. The commissions criteria hadnt changed, but Perots star had dimmed. A Gallup Poll released just as the commission officially ruled him out in September put Perot at just 7% against Clinton and Bob Dole. In the 28 years since then, a couple of third-party candidates (Ralph Nader in 2000, Gary Johnson in 2016) reached the mid to high single digits in polling enough to stir some controversy but not nearly enough to compel their inclusion in debates. But, especially if he can expand his support by a few points, saying no to Kennedy could be a lot harder. The defense rests without Trumps testimony heres what comes next By Katherine Doyle Over just a few hours in court, Donald Trumps legal team presented its entire case in the New York hush money trial: Dont believe Michael Cohen. After it presented two witnesses, one of them a staff member tasked with explaining a spreadsheet, the defense formally rested its case Tuesday. The defenses key witness, Robert Costello, returned to the stand Tuesday morning and quickly came under fire for how he had characterized his relationship with Cohen, Trumps former lawyer, as prosecutors again and again used his own words against him. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger twisted the knife, referring to Costellos comments Monday that an email spoke for itself as she presented him with emails and records disputing his characterizations. Moments later, the defense rested its case. Trump wont testify: Over 16 days of testimony, 22 witnesses took the stand. But despite having said several times he wanted to be among them, Trump ultimately did not testify in his own defense. Trump has spoken at least once a day outside the courtroom to cameras set up by the media. At the beginning of the trial, he suggested that he was going to testify, but then his tone shifted. It was long viewed as unlikely by legal experts, who noted that Trump would be exposing himself to an intense cross-examination if he took the stand. Whats next? The two sides spent the afternoon hashing out jury instructions with the judge in what is known as a jury conference. Jurors will not return until next Tuesday, when closing arguments in the case will begin. That lent Judge Juan Merchans preliminary instructions to the jurors not to read or listen to any transcripts of or commentary on the trial added significance. Merchan expects summations to last into next Wednesday, followed by instructions to the jury. Read more from Day 20 of the Trump trial Thats all from The Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback likes or dislikes email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com And if youre a fan, please share with everyone and anyone. They can sign up here. Denis-Art - Getty Images A researcher claims to have found evidence of humans in Chesapeake Bay over 22,000 years ago. The assertion is yet another recent announcement claiming to push the arrival of humans in North America further back in time than previously understood. Not everyone agrees with the dating technique used to determine human inhabitants. Call it a discussion. Or a debate. Maybe we can even label the conversation around the arrival of humans to North America a downright disagreement. Either way, weve got a new batch of research to digestlargely independent geologist Darrin Lowery recently published a manuscript claiming stone tool artifacts embedded with charcoal from an island in Chesapeake Bay date to more than 22,000 years ago, during the Ice Age. Already, weve seen the human-arrival-in-North America date pushed deeper into history. According to multiple researchers, archaeological finds in New Mexicos White Sands National Park date human activity in the area to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago. Lowery now believes humans were present in Maryland around the same time. Following a non-peer-reviewed publication of his findingsLowery told the Washington Post that lifes too short to debate with other experts over the peer-review processhe claims that the oldest of 286 artifacts found on Parsons Island significantly pushes back the date of human arrival in the area. It all flies in the face of what has long been believed about how humans came to North Americathe dominant theory being that humans used the Bering land bridge connecting Siberia and Asia to North America during the Ice Age, and moved south as ice melted and exposed routes of exploration. During the southward migration, scientists believe people left behind various fluted stone projectile points (known as a Clovis point, as the people group considered the first to come to the Americas were named for a town in Clovis, New Mexico). Lowery tells the Washington Post that he found what he believed was a Clovis pointsomething he had seen on a Smithsonian television programaround his home near Parsons Island, Maryland as a 9-year-old. That piqued his interest in the region, and he has been focused on the 78-acre, privately owned island ever since. Lowery and other geologists got permission to study the island from the owners, and have used 93 visits to the site for excavation and studying sediment to help determine the dating of the geological layers. What is now coastline wasnt always, and the team believes they may have found a pond that helped attract both animals and people to the site, leaving behind the stone tools now in question. Sebastien Lacombe, an archaeologist at Binghamton University, tells the Washington Post that the rapid erosion of the island is likely pushing artifacts deep into the waters of the bay, meaning weve likely already lost much of our opportunity to scour the site for additional finds. From fresh research in New Mexico to the Parsons Island details, the updated perspectives dont allow for the tidy history-book account of the Ice Age bridge from Siberia to be the full explanation of how we found our way to North Americaif correct. But that if correct remains the sticking pointsome scientists claim that the dating techniques of these pre-Clovis sites arent reliable, and others believe in the dating techniques but simply dont agree with anything that doesnt conform to the Clovis theory. Still others are willing to discuss the intriguing find, even if questions remain. The case is not as tight as we like to see it with other sites, Steven Forman, a geoscientist at Baylor University who helped date the sediment layers at Parsons Island, told the Washington Post. With so many of the artifacts now moving from their original location due to erosion, the bulletproof geological context is hard to find. But that wont stop experts from looking, or from debating what they find. You Might Also Like Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he was open to supporting regulations on contraception and that his campaign would release a policy on the issue very shortly, comments that he later said were misinterpreted. The comments, made during an interview with a Pittsburgh television station, suggested that a future Trump administration might consider imposing mandates or supporting state restrictions on such highly personal decisions as whether women can have access to birth control. During an interview with KDKA News, Trump was asked, Do you support any restrictions on a persons right to contraception? Were looking at that and Im going to have a policy on that very shortly, Trump responded, according to a video of the interview that was briefly posted online before it was supposed to air, then taken down. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee was pressed in a follow-up question if that meant he may want to support some restrictions on contraception. Things really do have a lot to do with the states, and some states are going to have different policy than others," Trump responded, before repeating that he would be releasing a very comprehensive policy on the issue. This is the first time Trump has suggested he would have a policy on contraception since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a national right to abortion two years ago, touching off political battles about aspects of reproductive rights, including contraception and in vitro fertilization. Responding later to media reports of his interview, Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that he has never and will never advocate for restricting birth control and other contraceptives. Even so, the Biden campaign was quick to seize on the interview. Women across the country are already suffering from Donald Trumps post-Roe nightmare, and if he wins a second term, its clear he wants to go even further by restricting access to birth control and emergency contraceptives," Biden-Harris spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement. Advocates on both sides of the abortion debate have long pressed Trump on the crucial question of whether he would allow women to access the abortion pill mifepristone via the mail. He has yet to make clear his views on the Comstock Act, a 19th-century law that has been revived by anti-abortion groups seeking to block the mailing of mifepristone and other abortion medications. When asked during an April 12 interview with Time magazine for his views on the Comstock Act and the mailing of abortion pills, the former president promised to make a statement on the issue in the next 14 days, saying I feel very strongly about it. I actually think its a very important issue. During an April 27 follow-up interview, Trump said he would announce his stance over the next week or two. Its now been three weeks since the interviews were published on April 30 and over five weeks since Trump told the magazine he would release a statement. When asked by the Associated Press for an update on when the announcement would be made, campaign officials reiterated a statement that reaffirmed Trump's strategy of deferring to individual states on abortion. They did not give an updated timeline for a policy statement on medication abortion. President Trump has long been consistent in supporting the rights of states to make decisions on abortion, the statement said. Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said Trumps allies have already outlined exactly how they plan to eliminate abortion access nationwide with or without Congress. We know Trumps playbook because weve seen it, she said in a statement. Trump overturned Roe, brags about it constantly, and is proud of the horrific reality where womens lives are at risk, doctors are threatened with jail time, and IVF and birth control access are under attack. Trump has often relied on the tactic of promising an announcement on a major policy stance in two weeks but not delivering, including on issues such as minimum wage, tax policy and infrastructure. Abortion rights advocates and anti-abortion groups alike have expressed frustration with the delay. I imagine the events in New York City have been very distracting, but we are watching for an announcement, said Kristi Hamrick, spokesperson for the anti-abortion group Students for Life, referring to the former president's hush money trial. Hamrick said the group has been speaking with Trumps team about what can be done to restrict abortion at the federal level. Mini Timmaraju, president of the abortion rights group Reproductive Freedom for All, pointed to the GOPs Project 2025 playbook -- a blueprint for ways to reshape the federal government in the event of a Republican presidential win in 2024. The Comstock Act is not explicitly mentioned in the plan, but it calls for reversing FDA approval of mifepristone and restricting mail order abortions. Trump will say whatever he wants, but what really matters is what he did and thats to facilitate ending the constitutional right to abortion and set state abortion bans into motion, she said. At least 22 states require abortion medication to be delivered in person either by prohibiting mail delivery or requiring medication to be taken in a doctors office, though such laws have been temporarily blocked from going into effect in Kentucky, Montana and Ohio amid legal battles, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. ___ Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Michelle L. Price in New York contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about APs democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Marysville, CA (95901) Today Intervals of clouds and sunshine in the morning with more clouds for later in the day. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 76F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies. Low 57F. Winds light and variable. Houston city council member Twilla Carter, center, and other volunteers carry bags of ice to a car at Moody Park Community Center with other volunteers carrying dry foods, fresh fruits, and water to residents following severe storms that passed through the area Thursday. Kirk Sides/Staff photographer Workers restoring power lines at Hempstead Highway and Bingle Road in Spring Branch neighborhood Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer Workers clean out shattered glass at the Wells Fargo building as clean up from last weeks storm continues downtown on Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. The city closed off streets in a six-block exclusion zone downtown, from McKinney to Polk and from Smith to Travis to ease traffic around the area where broken glass and debris are prevalent. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Workers clean up debris downtown on Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. The city closed off streets in a six-block exclusion zone downtown, from McKinney to Polk and from Smith to Travis, as workers continued to clean up broken glass from downtown streets and windows. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Noel Avila, in blue, helps tree removal servicemen as they are removing a tree that fell and hit his trailer, broke his ceiling and wall following the storms last week Monday, May 20, 2024 in Channelview. Avila and his family of five are staying at a hotel due to the damages of the house. They was going to host a birthday party to celebrate his sons first birthday at home on the coming Saturday, but now they will not. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer Workers restoring power lines at Hempstead Highway and Bingle Road in Spring Branch neighborhood Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer A construction worker cleans broken glass from a sill in a building at the corner of Milam and McKinney as storm clean up continues downtown on Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. The city closed off streets in a six-block exclusion zone downtown, from McKinney to Polk and from Smith to Travis to ease traffic around the area where broken glass and debris are prevalent. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Broken glass and debris litter the ground at the intersection of Lamar and Milam as storm clean up continues downtown on Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. The city closed off streets in a six-block exclusion zone downtown, from McKinney to Polk and from Smith to Travis to ease traffic around the area where broken glass and debris are prevalent. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Broken glass and debris litter the ground at the intersection of Lamar and Milam as storm clean up continues downtown on Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. The city closed off streets in a six-block exclusion zone downtown, from McKinney to Polk and from Smith to Travis to ease traffic around the area where broken glass and debris are prevalent. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Workers pass through the Kinder Morgan building as storm clean up continues downtown on Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. The city closed off streets in a six-block exclusion zone downtown, from McKinney to Polk and from Smith to Travis to ease traffic around the area where broken glass and debris are prevalent. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Many broken windows in downtown buildings remain as crews start the process of repairs on Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. The city closed off streets in a six-block exclusion zone downtown, from McKinney to Polk and from Smith to Travis, as workers continued to clean up broken glass from downtown streets and windows. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Crews survey damage from the roof of a building at the corner of Milam and McKinney as storm clean up continues downtown on Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. The city closed off streets in a six-block exclusion zone downtown, from McKinney to Polk and from Smith to Travis to ease traffic around the area where broken glass and debris are prevalent. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer A construction worker cleans broken glass from a sill in a building at the corner of Milam and McKinney as storm clean up continues downtown on Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. The city closed off streets in a six-block exclusion zone downtown, from McKinney to Polk and from Smith to Travis to ease traffic around the area where broken glass and debris are prevalent. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Workers prepare plywood patches to cover broken windows downtown on Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. The city closed off streets in a six-block exclusion zone downtown, from McKinney to Polk and from Smith to Travis, as workers continued to clean up broken glass from downtown streets and windows. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer A state trooper blocks traffic outside the toppled wall at the Conejo Malo club downtown on Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. The city closed off streets in a six-block exclusion zone downtown, from McKinney to Polk and from Smith to Travis, as workers continued to clean up broken glass from downtown streets and windows. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Traffic into downtown returned to normal on Monday, May 20, 2024 as the city recovers from a severe storm that caused damage throughout last week in Houston. The city closed off streets in a six-block exclusion zone downtown, from McKinney to Polk and from Smith to Travis, as workers continued to clean up broken glass from downtown streets and windows. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey speaks during a press conference regarding to Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones opening a distribution center in her district Monday, May 20, 2024 at Spring Branch Boys and Girls Club in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones holds a press conference with county and city officials regarding to opening a distribution center Monday, May 20, 2024 at Spring Branch Boys and Girls Club in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer Houston Mayor John Whitmire, left, and Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey while Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones is holding a press conference with county and city officials regarding to opening a distribution center Monday, May 20, 2024 at Spring Branch Boys and Girls Club in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer Workers dump storm debris as clean up continues downtown on Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. The city closed off streets in a six-block exclusion zone downtown, from McKinney to Polk and from Smith to Travis to ease traffic around the area where broken glass and debris are prevalent. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer A construction worker cleans broken glass from a sill in the building at the corner of Milam and McKinney as storm clean up continues downtown on Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. The city closed off streets in a six-block exclusion zone downtown, from McKinney to Polk and from Smith to Travis to ease traffic around the area where broken glass and debris are prevalent. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer A pedestrian stops to take a photo of the storm-damaged Wells Fargo building as storm clean up continues downtown on Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. The city closed off streets in a six-block exclusion zone downtown, from McKinney to Polk and from Smith to Travis to ease traffic around the area where broken glass and debris are prevalent. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Workers restoring power lines at Hempstead Highway and Bingle Road in Spring Branch neighborhood Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer Noel Avila looks at his trailer and the damages of a tree fell and went through his ceiling and wall following the storms last week Monday, May 20, 2024 in Channelview. Avila, not in picture, and his family of five are staying at a hotel due to the damages of the house. They was going to host a birthday party to celebrate his sons first birthday at home on the coming Saturday, but now they will not. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer Tree removal servicemen removing a tree that fell and hit his trailer, broke Noel Avilas ceiling and wall following the storms last week Monday, May 20, 2024 in Channelview. Avila, not in picture, and his family of five are staying at a hotel due to the damages of the house. They was going to host a birthday party to celebrate his sons first birthday at home on the coming Saturday, but now they will not. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer A tree fell over Noel Avilas trailer and broke his ceiling and wall following the storms last week Monday, May 20, 2024 in Channelview. Avila, in blue, and his family of five are staying at a hotel due to the damages of the house. They was going to host a birthday party to celebrate his sons first birthday at home on the coming Saturday, but now they will not. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer A tree fell over Noel Avilas trailer and broke his ceiling and wall following the storms last week Monday, May 20, 2024 in Channelview. Avila and his family of five are staying at a hotel due to the damages of the house. They was going to host a birthday party to celebrate his sons first birthday at home on the coming Saturday, but now they will not. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer A tree fell over Noel Avilas trailer and broke his ceiling and wall following the storms last week Monday, May 20, 2024 in Channelview. Avila and his family of five are staying at a hotel due to the damages of the house. They was going to host a birthday party to celebrate his sons first birthday at home on the coming Saturday, but now they will not. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer Mauricio Concertinas, 4, left, and cousin Nicholas Zapata ride bikes outside their house on Palm Street Monday, May 20, 2024 in Channelview. Nicholas, who is in third grade, has the day off because the school is closed due to the storms. Their house has been powered by a generator since Thursday, but the generator just went out on Monday. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer Mauricio Concertinas, 4, rides his bike on Palm Street Monday, May 20, 2024 in Channelview. His house has been using a generator to power since the power went out after Thursdays storm. The generator has just stopped working on Monday. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer Jose Leal, from right, and Consuelo Leal, both of Houston and have power, visit Consuelos daughter, Miriam Zapata, as Zapata doesnt have power since the Thursdays storm Monday, May 20, 2024 in Channelview. The family hung out at Zapatas front yard because it was too hot to stay indoors. The Zapata family has been using a generator since they lost power, but the generator has stopped working on Monday. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer A tree fell and crushed Leal familys port and hit the trailer roof, but didnt go through, is photographed Monday, May 20, 2024 in Channelview. A two-person crew was removing the tree for the family. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer Correction, 10:40 a.m.: This article has been updated to reflect that the temperature measured in Pershing Middle School was in the mid 80-degree range at around 8:30 a.m., not 87.5 degrees. An eighth person has died as a result of storms that swept through Houston, officials confirmed on Monday, while over 181,000 continue to languish without power amid climbing temperatures and encroaching humidity and as the city began what officials say could be a monthslong cleanup effort. Several school districts were closed Monday including the Spring Branch, Cypress-Fairbanks, Galena Park and Channelview independent school districts as well as 55 Houston Independent School District campuses. A number of other HISD campuses closed as the day went on, and reports of faulty air conditioning left parents irate. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Spring Branch and Cy-Fair ISDs announced that they will remain closed on Tuesday, as both districts still have multiple campuses without power. HISD said 36 campuses would remain closed on Tuesday. WHERE THE OUTAGES ARE: CenterPoint adds search function to restoration map Severe storms tore through the Houston area Thursday night, leaving over 900,000 without power at peak outage time. Those still without power sweltered Monday as temperatures climbed to the 90s, with a heat index that could push the feels like temperature close to triple digits. CenterPoint anticipated it would have service fully restored on Wednesday for all customers whose own equipment isn't damaged. City services began reopening Monday Metro resumed some lines and is deploying some of its buses to help CenterPoints 4,000 emergency workers get around. The Solid Waste Management Department began removing approximately 1 million cubic yards of debris. Downtown street closures will continue for the next several days as crews remove fallen glass. Cooling and distribution centers remained open across the region. Advertisement Article continues below this ad At the Spring Branch Boys and Girls Club now a distribution center area officials promised results. About 8,000 people were without power in the immediate vicinity of the center, including 900 children under 5, officials said. I know this community is tired of talking. They want results, Mayor John Whitmire said. Im fixing to make it a priority of priorities. Storm clean up continues downtown on Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. The city closed off streets in a six-block exclusion zone downtown, from McKinney to Polk and from Smith to Travis to ease traffic around the area where broken glass and debris are prevalent. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Totally negligent Parents and students were frustrated when some HISD schools that opened Monday encountered problems. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Heights High School began an immediate dismissal at about 11 a.m. due to issues with the air conditioning system. "This administration has been totally negligent in this whole process of trying to force schools to open today with no regards to our children," said LaTrice Ferguson, a Heights High School parent. "And I completely blame the superintendent." Karina Quesada said her child at Heights High School wanted to go to school Monday to avoid having an absence that might threaten his final exam exemption. "I went ahead and took him, against my better judgment, but he shouldn't be put in that situation, Quesada said, blaming the decision-making of the district's Board of Managers and state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles. I shouldn't be put in that situation, when legally the school shouldn't have opened in the first place." Texas guidelines recommend a classroom temperature between 72 and 76 degrees in the summer. Some parents said they heard temperatures were in the 80-to 90-degree range. Richard Lozano, who said his daughter brought a thermometer to Pershing Middle School, texted him at about 8:30 a.m. that the indoor temperature was in the mid 80-degree range. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Students at Lamar High School evacuated Monday morning because of "a strong smell of gas in one part of the building, according to a message from principal Rita Graves. Graves said HISD crews were there investigating the source of the odor. Reynolds Elementary School, west of Cypress Station, also canceled school for the rest of the day due to problems with its air conditioning system. One-third of the campuses at Spring Branch ISD, which will not be open Tuesday, were still without power Monday afternoon, officials said. Though students will sit for final exams when school resumes, the district promised only to count scores that would positively impact students grades. Advertisement Article continues below this ad "Many, many families remain without power, internet and cell service. As a result, students are unable to access online materials and resources needed to help prepare for final exams," communications director Linda Buchman said. "We do not want any students grade to be negatively impacted as a result of this weather disaster." Tree removal service men found nests inside a tree that fell and broke Noel Avilas ceiling and wall following the storms last week Monday, May 20, 2024 in Channelview. Avila, not in picture, and his family of five are staying at a hotel due to the damages of the house. They was going to host a birthday party to celebrate his sons first birthday at home on the coming Saturday, but now they will not. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer Storm-related lawsuit filed A concrete worker injured when a crane collapsed on his work truck Thursday sued several companies that operated the east Houston job site and its towering machinery. Crosby Ware, a 66-year-old Texan Concrete employee, filed one of the first lawsuits related to the devastating storm over the weekend after surviving the crane collapse at SESCO Cement in the 7300 block of Wingate Street along Buffalo Bayou. He was hospitalized with a concussion and neck and back pains, said Kevin Haynes, one of his civil lawyers. The same crane crushed another truck that Wares colleague, Francisco Hernandez, fled to for shelter. Hernandez was killed. Representatives for SESCO Cement did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Video of the storms arrival posted to TikTok, provided by Haynes, showed workers taking cover as the winds hit. The crane collapsed within seconds as those on the ground fled, debris flying around them. Haynes alleges SESCO Cement and other defendants acted negligently and with profits in mind during the storm, claiming that the companies were prohibited from operating the cranes during windy situations. The suit contends the cranes had weather gauges to show unsafe conditions. Those tools and the alerts much of the Houston area received should have been enough to take safety precautions, according to the lawsuit. The job site continued with business as usual as the concrete workers made a delivery at the plant, the lawyers wrote. Power outages drag on Residents continued to struggle without power during steaming temperatures that show no sign of cooling anytime soon. Some like 38-year-old Noel Avila and his four family members, who left their home after a pine tree full of bees crashed through the roof Thursday decamped for friends houses or hotels or family in other cities. Many didnt have that option. Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena said his emergency responders had received an uptick in calls for service at the citys nursing homes. Im certain the longer the power stays off, the worse the situation will get, he said. CenterPoint said its crews encountered significant damage and difficult restorations in areas hardest hit by the storm, which include parts of Bellaire, Spring Branch, the Heights, Lazybrook/Timbergrove, Cottage Grove, Cypress, Baytown, Greenspoint and Humble, according to CenterPoints statement and its outage tracker. Crews found equipment buried under multiple downed trees, large limbs, heavy debris and fences. As Houstonians turn to generators in lieu of electricity, emergency management officials warned residents about their potential dangers. The eighth death linked to the storm was a man in his 60s near Spring Branch who died of carbon monoxide, Pena said. Investigators believe a generator led to the poisoning. The Houston Fire Department has responded to at least 80 carbon monoxide incidents since the storm, Pena posted on social media. One call involved four children who were taken to the hospital after a running generator was placed at the front door. On Monday, Channelviews Patterson neighborhood buzzed with generators as neighbors passed the time without power. Two members of a family cooled off inside a car as their generator ran out of gas. Tree removal crews traversed the area. The neighborhood has felt overlooked in past disasters and was without power for days during the 2021 winter storm, said 23-year-old Jose Chapa. Residents have taken matters into their own hands: With their own generators, they can be self-reliant. I feel like this neighborhood is neglected, Chapa said. You can see that in the timing that it takes for the power to come back. NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar, arrested for allegedly assaulting AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal, was taken to Mumbai to retrieve data from his allegedly formatted phone, police said on Tuesday. Mr Kumar is in five-day police custody in connection with the alleged assault on Ms Maliwal at the Delhi chief minister's residence. Police said Mr Kumar had formatted his phone after transferring its data to some person or device in Mumbai. His mobile phone was seized following his arrest, but it was found to have been formatted. A five-member police team landed at the Mumbai airport around 4.30 pm with Mr Kumar. They took him to many locations, including the place where he stayed, before returning to Delhi on May 18. According to Delhi police officials, Mr Kumar's phones, laptop and CCTV recordings have been sent for forensic examination as his police custody is ending on Thursday. Investigators are trying to collect all the evidence related to the case. A team led by a female additional DCP-level officer has been investigating the case. In his counter complaint to the police, Mr Kumar accused Ms Maliwal of breaching the security of the chief minister's residence, gaining access forcibly and creating a ruckus there. In his complaint, Mr Kejriwal's aide has claimed that when he tried to stop Mr Maliwal, she hurled abuses at him with the intent to physically assault him. He has also said in his complaint that Mr Maliwal is trying to falsely implicate him so as to create undue pressure on him. New Delhi, Patna, Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the Opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc a congregation of scamsters, that is communal, casteist and dynastic to the core. The Prime Minister on Tuesday held two back-to-back election rallies in Bihars and continued his stinging attack on the Opposition later in the day in Uttar Pradeshs Prayagraj and Varanasi. Modi accused the Congress and the Samajwadi Party of doing appeasement politics and being anti-development. Addressing election rallies in Bihar, Modi predicted a big blow for the Opposition alliance on June 4, when Lok Sabha poll results will be out. The Prime Minister, who is seeking a third consecutive term in office, said that he considers the people of the country as his only waaris (successors). Modi has no personal virasat (legacy). For me, you are my successor. I dont have any other successors. So, I have to work very hard to ensure a bright future for you and your children, he said. Launching a tirade against the Congress over reservations, the Prime Minister said had it not been for Baba Saheb Ambedkar, former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru would have never agreed to quotas for SCs, STs and OBCs. Nehru had made his views clear on the issue in letters he wrote to the then chief ministers in the country, claimed Modi. This has been the Congress trait under successive prime ministers. Be it, Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi, they all opposed reservations. SCs, STs and OBCs have never got respect from the Congress, he added. Modi made the allegation while lashing out at the opposition for spreading a falsehood that the BJP, upon return to power with a brute majority, could scrap quotas by changing the Constitution. The Prime Minister also launched indirect attacks on leaders like former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and RJDs Tejashwi Yadav, whom he said were born with silver spoons. The nation cannot move forward with the sins of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, which stands for corruption, appeasement politics, represents the tukde-tukde gang and a perverted mindset that heaps scorn on Sanatana Dharma, he said. Referring to Tejashwi Yadav, whom he did not mention by name, he said, I am told that the waaris of jungle raaj has been saying I will be advised bed rest after the Lok Sabha elections. The shehzada of the Congress says he wants to see me in tears. His party openly chants slogans like Modi teri kabr khudegi (your grave will be dug) while adding, These people have a counterpart in Uttar Pradesh (an allusion to Yadav) who says I have reached the end of my life and hence contesting from Varanasi. The remarks showed a lack of sensitivity on the part of those born with silver spoons, who have never known what a life filled with struggles, he added. Later, addressing a rally in Uttar Pradeshs Prayagraj, Modi said that the Opposition Congress and the Samajwadi Party have been competing over the appeasement of their vote bank. He called both parties anti-development. The SP and the Congress are more concerned about their vote bank than Kumbh (mela)...This election will decide the direction in which the Triveni of Indias future will flow, Modi said. Addressing a womens conference in his Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency late on Tuesday evening, Modi said that women were neglected during the Congress and the Samajwadi Party rule. The I.N.D.I.A. blocs mentality has always been anti-women. Wherever their government comes to power, it becomes difficult for women to live. The people of Banaras are familiar with the jungle raj in UP and Bihar. It was difficult for our sisters and daughters to step out of the house. Daughters had to leave their studies and stay at home due to safety concerns, he said. Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) has accused the BJP of giving bribes to voters to win the Lok Sabha election. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party said the BJP has adopted a dangerous practice that will undermine democracy. An editorial published in Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece Saamana on Tuesday said that the voters are supreme and efforts are being made to buy them till the end of the election. The BJP and its bogus companies (read Ajit Pawar led NCP and Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena) have spent Rs 100 crore each in every Lok Sabha seat. The same tricks were used in Baramati earlier. This method of winning elections by bribing people is dangerous for the country. It is being said that even the servants of Ajit Pawars house in Baramati were given money to cast their votes. If this is the situation, then why should we keep chanting the mantra of democracy and freedom? the editorial asked. The Sena (UBT) also claimed that the Modi era has proved to be the most ominous period for democracy in India. Modi and his men have once again shown that democracy, elections and victory can be bought with the power of money. The fundamental freedoms of the people like freedom to think, freedom to choose, freedom to speak and unity cannot be taken away by a majority in the Parliament, the editorial said. Claiming that the last 10 years have seen the downfall of democracy and the constitution, the Shiv Sena (UBT) alleged that the Prime Minister has become a dictator. Dictatorship thrives on restrictions on ideas and centralization of power, it said. The Sena (UBT) said that the BJP and Modi generally get 43 percent of the vote shares from the country in which Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat are the biggest contributors. There are many states, which have rejected Modi. How appropriate would it be to assume that 43 percent of voters mean the entire country? the editorial said. Meanwhile, the BJP has filed a complaint against Uddhav Thackeray for the alleged breach of Model Code of Conduct on the voting day of the fifth phase. The BJP said Thackeray breached the election code by holding a press conference even as voting for the fifth phase was underway for 13 seats in Maharashtra. In his complaint to the ECI, BJP leader Ashish Shelar also accused Thackeray of trying to influence the election process by pressurising the election body with baseless accusations. Thackeray held a press conference at 5 pm on Monday. He alleged that the ECI was deliberately slowing down the voting process at the behest of the BJP. He claimed that many voters returned without casting their votes because of the delay and long queues. Thackeray made baseless allegations against Modi and tried to mislead the electorate into believing that the government or the ruling party was influencing the ECI. Such statements are blatantly false, mischievous and defamatory in nature, Shelar said. Jagadhari: The Congress on Tuesday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that the party refuses to play on Modis communal pitch and it successfully navigated Modis googlies and bouncers. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said a 2004 moment will be witnessed on June 4 with the I.N.D.I.A. bloc getting a clear mandate in the Lok Sabha polls, and asserted that a primary factor in the alliances strong performance would be a hugely impressive turnaround in Uttar Pradesh. Meanwhile, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called Prime Minister Narendra Modi jhoothon ka sardar and accused him of lying about the grand old partys manifesto to mislead the public. Addressing his first rally in Haryana here in Yamunanagar district, Kharge also asserted that he is not against Modi but his ideology. Congress is fighting against the ideology of RSS -- a Hindu right body and the ideological parent of the BJP. You (BJP) are snatching the Constitution and we are fighting against it. You want to end democracy and we are fighting it, he said. The Congress president said, You (Modi) say the country is secure because of you. Tum to pahad khod ke chuha nikalne wale log hai adding, We did everything, that is why Modi ji you became the Prime Minister of the country. Slamming Modi over his remarks that the Congress was planning to redistribute wealth and take away womens mangalsutras. Kharge said, Modi says if Congress comes to power, it will snatch away all your properties. After getting X-ray done, where is mangalsutra, gold, silver? It will take it out and give it to others, while adding If you have 2 acres, one acre will be given to others, if you have two buffaloes, one will be given to Muslims. If a person sitting in such a position (PM) says these things, then what should we say? Should such people be given votes again? he asked the gathering. He is a jhoothon ka sardar, he added. Kharge from the dias also paid tribute to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary. He said it was under the leadership of Rajiv Gandhi the Congress got the biggest mandate with 414 seats in 1984. Taking a dig at Modi, Kharge said, You always say I did this and I did that. What Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi did for the nation, that is called work. Mumbai: At least 40 flamingos were killed after a collision with a Mumbai bound flight coming from Dubai. The flight reported the bird hit incident after landing safely at around 9.18 pm on Monday. Caracasses of birds were found in different parts of the Ghatkopar area on Monday night and Tuesday morning. A Mumbai-Dubai Emirates flight carrying 310 passengers collided with the flock moments before its landing at the Mumbai airport. It suffered major damages, but landed safely, airport officials said. The return flight, bound for Dubai, was canceled late on Monday night as the aircraft was grounded for a full-scale inspection. It left several passengers stranded at Mumbai airport. The return flight was rescheduled for departure at 9pm on Tuesday. The Maharashtra forest department has launched an investigation into the incident after residents alerted a wildlife group about dead birds in the Ghatkopar area. Officials recovered the mutilated remains of the birds. The forest departments mangrove cell found 29 dead flamingos during a search operation on Monday night. More carcasses were found on Tuesday, an official said. The carcasses were sent for an autopsy and would later be disposed of as per the protocols. Our team is on the ground and a full-scale investigation has been launched to find out the cause of death of the flamingos. We will also record the statement of the pilot who informed the airport authorities about the bird hit, SV Ramarao, additional chief conservator of forest, said. It is believed that the flock of flamingos was flying towards the Thane flamingo sanctuary when it was hit by the aircraft. Activists said that the flamingos could have changed their flight path due to construction or pollution. NatConnect Foundation director B N Kumar in a release said he has sent an email to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), and sought a high-level probe to ascertain how the Emirates aircraft hit the birds and whether the pilot could not notice the flock on his radar. We are sad to say that it was a disaster waiting to happen, the foundation said. At least 1,200 young people have returned home in recent days in special flights, landing in Islamabad and Lahore. The attacks were triggered by a video that went viral showing people of Asian appearance harassing students. Kyrgyz authorities say they will take the appropriate measures to ensure justice, but a climate of intolerance towards migrants is growing in the country. Islamabad (AsiaNews) At least 1,200 Pakistani students at Kyrgyzstan International University in Bishkek have left the Kyrgyz capital in a hurry to escape a wave of violence that has affected immigrants from South Asia. Yesterday alone, the Pakistani government prepared several special flights that landed in Lahore and Islamabad, to facilitate the repatriation of young people who will be able to return to the university only after the "alarming" situation stabilises. However, at present there is no definite news on the timing and a climate of uncertainty and tension remains. Yesterday, the rector of the university, Asylbek Aidaraliev, explained that it was mainly first- and second-year students who left the country, while older students chose to stay, at least for now. Deputy Education Minister Rasul Abazbek-uulu called the mass attacks on Pakistani and Indian students in Bishkek over the weekend "a shameful" situation that "damages Kyrgyzstan's image." A Pakistani student who spoke to RFE/RL reports that she fled Kyrgyzstan because the situation here is so [bad] right now and we are so scared that we are leaving urgently. She hopes the situation will get better with the passage of time and that she can return to finish her degree. The violence, which broke out on Saturday, was seemingly triggered by a video posted last week that went viral, showing a group of people of Asian appearance" harassing some students at night, chasing them in the dormitory. At least one young man was attacked and forcibly dragged along the floor. The situation is stable now," said Deputy Education Minister Abazbek-uulu, addressing those who fled. It is up to us if the students who left Kyrgyzstan decide to return in the fall. For that, all state entities must work together to persuade them that it is safe to return," he added. Meanwhile, police in the capital have launched an investigation into the mass unrest, with the aggravating circumstance of ethnic and racial hatred. Yesterday, in his first public statement on the violence against Pakistani students, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov declared that all of the perpetrators who attacked foreign students will for sure be punished. He noted that the countrys birth was a difficult process but one based on the rule of law; hence, we will support order. Government sources report the arrest of four foreign nationals on charges of hooliganism, while the police are on the trail of two Kyrgyz suspected of involvement in the attacks on foreign students. On Saturday, Kyrgyzstan's Ministry of Health said that 29 people were injured during the violence, 15 of whom were taken to hospital for urgent medical treatment while others were treated at the scene. The authorities say they want to prosecute those responsible, and reject any insinuations aimed at inciting intolerance toward foreign students. At the same time, they point the finger at "illegal immigration", stressing that they are looking at decisive measures" to crack down on illegal migration and streamline procedures to expel undesirable persons from Kyrgyzstan. Just three days before the violence, Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security detained 28 Pakistani nationals for allegedly "working illegally", without proper permits, in a sewing shop in Bishkek. On the same day, police in the capital shut down delivery services conducted by more than 400 foreign students, mostly Pakistanis, on motorcycles and scooters, citing traffic safety concerns. by Giorgio Bernardelli The bishop of Shanghai is in Rome for the conference marking the centennial of the first meeting of all Chinese bishops. The Church is one, but its development in China must "be in line" with the "great rebirth of the Chinese nation. Communion with the pontiff is the best guarantee of a faith freed from external political interests, said Card Parolin. There may be misunderstandings, but [they are] never half-hearted with respect to the Church's journey in China. Rome (AsiaNews) This year marks one hundred years since the Council of Shanghai, the first Plenary Council of the Church in China. For the occasion, the Pontifical Urbaniana University in cooperation with the Agenzia Fides organised a conference, which was held today, to highlight the historic event a century ago, but also to look at today's challenges, starting with the notion of "sinicisation" of religions, an issue central to Chinese President Xi Jinpings religious policy. Pope Francis also underlined the importance of the council in 1924, which brought together the bishops and apostolic prefects present in China at the time, in a video message released today. A lot of curiosity surrounded the first official visit in Rome of the current bishop of Shanghai, Mgr Joseph Shen Bin, at the centre of tensions last year after Chinese authorities unilaterally transferred him to China's foremost episcopal see, a situation later settled by Pope Franciss decision to appoint him as well. Bishop Shen was joined by important academics and Church officials from the People's Republic of China, who brought their vision of what happened a century ago, as well as their views about the relationship between the "inculturation" of the faith promoted by the doctrine of the Church and sinicisation, processes seen as two circles that overlap but also diverge. This also comes with the need for dialogue in the perspective of fraternity to avoid the risk of fuelling "new self-referential closures, as Card Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelisation, put it this evening in his conclusion. The stories of our Chinese brothers and sisters have something important to show to the universal Church," Card Tagle said. There may be misunderstandings, but [they are] never half-hearted with respect to the Church's journey in China. In his address, Bishop Shen Bin mentioned the awareness a century ago of the need for the Church to distance herself from the colonial patronage" of China, but also the resistance encountered in that process. He noted that one of the first six Chinese bishops ordained by Pius XI in 1926 was "Bishop Zhu Kaimin, of the Diocese of Haimen, Jiangsu province (where he served as bishop before his transfer to Shanghai) where we benefited very early from the Council of Shanghai. Yet, that change "was not immediate and radical in the Church in China" because of strong resistance. [A]t the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China, only 29 of 137 Chinese dioceses had Chinese bishops and only three of 20 archbishops were Chinese. The Catholic Church in China had not truly freed herself from foreign powers to become an enterprise led by Chinese Christians and had not yet succeeded in shedding the label of foreign religion. What does the experience of the Council of Shanghai say to the Church in China today? For the bishop of Shanghai, being faithful to the Gospel of Christ is crucial to the development of the Church in China. Bishop Shen noted that Since the founding of the new China in 1949, the Church in China has always remained faithful to its Catholic faith, although it has made great efforts to constantly adapt to the new political system. In his view, The Chinese government's religious freedom policy has no interest in changing the Catholic faith, and he hopes that the Catholic clergy and faithful will defend the interests of the Chinese people and free themselves from the control of foreign powers. Even at the time of the founding of the Patriotic Association, the Party expressed understanding of the need for Chinese Catholics to be in communion with Rome in spiritual matters, on condition that they do not go against the interests of the Chinese people, that they do not violate China's sovereignty and that the Vatican modifies its policy of hostility towards China. Today, Article 4 of the statute of the Council of Chinese Bishops, expressly states that it is founded on Sacred Scripture and Tradition, in the spirit that the Church is one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic, and in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council. At the same time, the development of the Church in China must be seen from a Chinese perspective. In citing the Gospel, Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God what is God's," Bishop Shen noted that the Western model of church-state relations brought problems to Chinas Catholic community in the 20th century. [S]ome missionaries had a strong sense of European cultural superiority and even intended to use the Christian religion to change Chinese society and culture, which many Chinese inevitably opposed and even hated. For the bishop of Shanghai, healing this rift today means accepting that the development of the Church in China must "be in line" with the "great rebirth of the Chinese nation in a comprehensive manner with Chinese-style modernization, carried out by the government. The Catholic Church in China must move in the same direction, following a path of Sinicisation that is in line with today's Chinese society and culture. [. . .] We often say that faith has no borders, but believers have their own homeland and their own culture. Immersion in traditional Chinese culture, which the Council of Shanghai planned for but failed to implement, also goes in that direction. To reach that goal, the Church needs to explore the use of traditional Chinese culture in expressing the Catholic faith; support the adoption of traditional Chinese styles in church architecture, art and music, and promote the Sinicisation of church art; integrating elements of traditional Chinese culture into church liturgy, etc. Speaking at the conference, Cardinal Secretary of State Piero Parolin turned to the prophetic vision brought forth in 1924 by the then apostolic delegate, Archbishop Celso Costantini, who convened and guided the Council of Shanghai, noting a rising awareness in the Catholic Church of the persistent, and then excessive, dependence on the foreign component of the mission, which found an echo in Benedict XVs Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud in 1919. The intention of the Apostolic Delegate as well as ours today was certainly not to institute a trial against history. With balance, he recognised the merit of many foreign missionaries who, with a sense of true charity and dedication, brought the Gospel to China and worked for the social development of this people, Card Parolin explained. However, he also recognised that human aid from foreign powers [. . .] also had a passive moral weight to the economy of evangelisation. The Vatican Secretary of State acknowledged that the Council of Shanghai faced stiff resistance. Given the reproaches, Archbishop Costantini always reacted with foresight realising that Maximum Illud would suffer the same fate as Rerum Novarum, which initially did not find favour in certain old Catholic circles, but eventually, became the venerated and undisputed magna carta of Christian sociology of today. Parolin also stressed the very close link between the inculturation of the Church in China, the indigenisation of the clergy, and the bond with the successor of Peter. It is no coincidence, he noted, that Pius XI wanted the first Chinese bishops to be ordained in Rome in St Peter's. Such communion was precisely the best guarantee of a faith freed from external political interests and firmly anchored in local culture and society. Archbishop Costantinis other goal went in the same direction. Although ultimately unsuccessful, he tried to engage the countrys authorities in direct dialogue, without intermediation from other powers. In his intentions, the Vatican Secretary of State noted, this was the other side of the same effort of inculturation. This raises questions about the relationship between the Holy See and the Chinese government today. After the 2018 Agreement on episcopal appointments, which is up for a third renewal next autumn, other questions remain open, despite its challenging implementation. It is always hard to make predictions," Card Parolin said, in response to a reporters question. For a long time now, we had hoped to have a stable presence in China, even if it might not initially take the form of pontifical representation, an apostolic nunciature. Our aim is to increase and deepen our contacts, which can also take a different form. Even the "recognition of the bishops' conferences is the subject of discussion, and include all Chinese bishops. But we are still working on this topic. Mel Gibson in "The Road Warrior." Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Gett/Corbis via Getty Images This review was originally published in the Houston Chronicle on May 21, 1982. George Miller's latest installment in the franchise, "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga," opens Friday. If you're a fan, Chronicle critic Cary Darling has listed 17 Australian films worth catching from beyond the "Mad Max" universe. *** When I saw the progenitor of "Road Warrior" (rated R), which was called "Mad Max," I thought: "Hey, this definitely has got style." Sure, there was the cachet discovery, the same kind of snobbery as restaurant chic ("it's just a little Australian exploitation picture, my dear, but it has panache"). Advertisement Article continues below this ad "Road Warrior," made on a budget 10 times the size of "Mad Max," has larger portions of the same values. Now let me be perfectly clear: The merchandise for sale in this film is violent death by gunshot, crossbow, stainless steel boomerang and, in bulk quantities, by motor vehicle. Had Warner Bros. hired market researchers to target this film's audience, they would likely come up with the same demographics as the likely consumer of "Conan the Barbarian": males between 15 and 25 who have stereo speakers in their vans rated at 80 watts per channel or higher. My surgeon-sensitive critic's fingers have palpated no subcutaneous subtext told in metaphor, simile and allegory, which give this film intellecturally redeeming merit, most likely because the filmmakers had utterly no intention of putting any into it. George Miller, who co-wrote and directed "Road Warrior," looks to the same line as Hal Needham: How to put the chrome on the asphalt. What I'm reviewing here isn't steak: it's sizzle. Max (Mel Gibson) inhabits the post-nuclear-war society of survivors, descending into atavism, familiar to readers of science-fiction. He was a kind of highway patrolman in the first film. In this one, society has degenerated past the point of government. Miller gives Max the hyperboles of the Clint Eastwood character in the Sergio Leone films, and their antecedents, Kurosawa's samurai an all-but-mute abstraction of sinew. Instead of a horse, Max drives a muscle car with a huge turbocharger capable of doubling its cruising speed with the touch of a button. It's one of Miller's drolleries that total nuclear war does not abate mankind's obsession with 454-cube engines, jack-up shocks, Western Auto bolt-on gimcrack, knobbies and mag wheel covers. Post-apocalypse man kills less readily for food and water than he does for gasoline. Max, eternal loner, strikes a bargain with a tribe that not only has a tank of gasoline inside its scrap-metal redoubt but a small refinery and an oil well. They are besieged by a gang of post-Armageddon bikers, the Humungus. The tribe will give Max some of their precious gasoline if he will pilot their 18-wheeler tanker through the gauntlet Humunous to sanctuary on the coast. Advertisement Article continues below this ad That is all the plot Miller wants or needs; Max isn't even given a romance. Miller looses a platoon of truly demented Australian stuntpersons, who destroy everything that rolls in a procession of beserk crashes. Miller enhances them with snappy editing, arresting camera angles and World War III sound effects. One feels battered at the end, but it's more than simple sensory overload. Miller's built dramatic tension as well. The art direction, by Graham Walker, is clever. The actors provide the kind of bold-stroke characterizations that fit the piece. by Mathias Hariyadi The tourist island is host to the forum until Saturday. In yesterdays opening ceremony, Indonesian President Joko Widodo introduced his successor, Prabowo Subianto. Several sessions are dedicated to water sharing as a way to ensure peace. Jakarta (AsiaNews) - The Indonesian island of Bali is hosting the 10th World Water Forum (18-25 May), centred on Water for Shared Prosperity". Organised by the World Water Council (WWC), a non-profit thinktank, the event has brought scores of foreign delegations, members of civil society groups, academics and business people, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is in Indonesia to launch the Starlink internet service that will be used by three health centres. Participants were invited to share their knowledge and best practices on a wide range of topics, including water conservation, access to safe drinking water and sanitation, food and energy security, and natural disaster mitigation. Indonesia is the third Asian country to host the forum after Japan and South Korea. Traditional Hindu Balinese water purification and animal veneration ceremonies called Segara Kerthi and Rahina Tumpek were performed on Saturday. In yesterdays ceremony, President Joko Widodo took the opportunity to introduce his successor, President-elect Prabowo Subianto. In his opening address, Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, said that by 2050, some 500 million small farmers, who contribute 80 per cent of the world's food production, are expected to be vulnerable to drought. [O]f the 72 per cent of the Earths surface that is covered by water, only 1 per cent can be accessed and used as drinking water and for sanitation purposes, Indonesias outgoing president said. Without water, therell be no food, no peace, no life. No water, no life, no growth, he explained. Water is the source of life; water is also a symbol of balance and harmony. However, if not managed properly, water can also be a source of disaster for people and countries. The President of the UN General Assembly, Dennis Francis, also reiterated that cooperation in water management is essential to foster international peace. But being the better and the best messenger today is not enough, said World Water Council President Loic Fauchon, because we need to do more if we want to spare and save water for peace and prosperity. And more than fighters, we need to be water warriors," The World Water Forum is the largest international gathering dedicated to water resources and has been held every three years since 1997. The gathering, which usually lasts a week, is preceded by a preparatory phase, and is followed by a phase of synthesis with continuous support for collective action. At the last conference, the WWC introduced a policy dedicated to water basins in cooperation with some international agencies to promote dialogue between parties for the equitable management of resources, an essential tool not only for peace but also for the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. As the host country, Indonesia will highlight some issues it deems important, like integrated water management on small islands and a proposal to celebrate World Lake Day. "The lake is a source of energy and plays a fundamental role in flood control," explained Endra S. Atmawidjaja, a member of the Indonesian delegation. Other countries can pay attention to some policies implemented by Indonesia, like the way we ensure clean water and access to good sanitation, he added. by Vladimir Rozanskij Unlike the post-Soviet 'converted' politicians Andrej Belousov is one of the patrons of the Diveevo Monastery, the historical seat of St Seraphim of Sarov. Since the early 2000s, the influence of "presidential orthodoxy" has been concentrated here in the place that symbolises a spirituality that in the early 20th century was considered too close to the heresy of the Old Believers, convinced of the superiority of Russian Christianity over Byzantine Christianity. Moscow (AsiaNews) - The appointment as new defence minister of Andrei Belousov, an economist and son of a great Soviet economist, but above all an active member of an Orthodox fraternity, has attracted the attention of everyone in Russia, so much so that many wonder whether his ecclesiastical service was considered more important for his appointment than his economic competence. Unlike post-Soviet 'converted' politicians, such as President Vladimir Putin himself, Belousov is in fact a fully-fledged Orthodox and one of the patrons of the Diveevo Monastery, the historical seat of the Holy Seraphim of Sarov. In fact, the Diveevo fraternity that administers the community elected him as its main guardian a few years ago, to take care of the good management of the so-called "mysteries of Diveevo", the sacramental and prophetic graces that descend from the legacy of the 19th-century saint, much loved even in the West as the Russian "Saint Francis". In reality, Belousov is also a fairly recent convert, having been baptised at the age of 47 in 2007, in his home village of Puckovo in the Moscow province, accompanied by his younger brother, also an economist, who had already been part of the community for years. Together the two brothers served for years at the parish altar of Protoierej Leonid Tsarevsky. Now he is the head of the fraternity attached to the large monastery 600 km east of Moscow, considered the 'mystical centre' of contemporary Russia. In it, an orthodoxy mixed with healing practices and occultism is practised, in which there is a great nostalgia for Soviet times, when the whole area was forbidden to visits due to the presence of the Arzamas military centre, a place of experiments with atomic weapons. This makes Belousov's war sensibility far more significant than his own experience in government, where he served as deputy minister of economy in the previous Putin mandate, considering that the 'special operation' in Ukraine is strongly motivated by religious visions, which precisely in Diveevo find one of their main sources of inspiration. Today, the monastery of St. Seraphim inherits that 'spiritual paternity' over the new Russia that some twenty years ago was entrusted to the Russian Athos Association, taken care of by Vladimir Putin's presidential administration itself. The current state of schism with the Greek Orthodox Church has severed this historic relationship with the Holy Mountain of Chalkidiki; in the last year of ecclesiastical communion, 2018, over 0 million was allocated to Athos by Russian politicians and oligarchs, and now this patrimony is pouring into Diveevo, as well as other monasteries for which similar support structures have been created, such as the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, those on the Solovki Islands, Valaam, Novyj Ierusalim and others. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow hastened to take the patronage of all these oligarchic-monastic associations, fearing that he would lose control over the entire ecclesial body, and the history of the Valaam group shows how well-founded these fears were. Since the early 2000s, the influence of the 'presidential orthodoxy' is concentrated here, which is also asserting itself over the patriarchal orthodoxy. Moreover, this is precisely the history of the monastery, evoked ever since the centenary of the canonisation of Saint Seraphim, proclaimed in 1903 by Tsar Nicholas II against the will of the Synod of Orthodox metropolitans and bishops (at that time the patriarchate had not yet been restored), who saw in the very mystical and original saint a contiguity with the heresy of the Old Believers, the sect of those who believe in the superiority of Russian Christianity even over Byzantine Christianity. It is no coincidence that Putin has repeatedly shown sympathy for the heirs of this 'spiritual superiority' affirmed in the seventeenth-century turmoil, and the appointment of the trusty Belousov today also redraws the dimension of the 'symphony' between State and Church in Russia, where the defence minister becomes the true spiritual guide of the people at war. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, center, visits damaged apartment complex on 8500 block Pitner Road with Houston Mayor John Whitmire, to her right, and Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones, to her left, Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at Spring Branch in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, right, visits damaged apartment complex on 8500 block Pitner Road with Houston Mayor John Whitmire, second right, Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at Spring Branch in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer A kid bikes home with received water, ice and snacks at the damaged apartment complex on 8500 block Pitner Road Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at Spring Branch in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer A tree fell over Noel Avilas trailer and broke his ceiling and wall following the storms last week Monday, May 20, 2024 in Channelview. Avila, in blue, and his family of five are staying at a hotel due to the damages of the house. They was going to host a birthday party to celebrate his sons first birthday at home on the coming Saturday, but now they will not. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer A family, whose apartment is not damaged but doesnt have power, comes out to watch FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell visiting damaged apartment complex on 8500 block Pitner Road Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at Spring Branch in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer A tree fell over Noel Avilas trailer and broke his ceiling and wall following the storms last week Monday, May 20, 2024 in Channelview. Avila and his family of five are staying at a hotel due to the damages of the house. They was going to host a birthday party to celebrate his sons first birthday at home on the coming Saturday, but now they will not. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer Tree removal servicemen removing a tree that fell and hit his trailer, broke Noel Avilas ceiling and wall following the storms last week Monday, May 20, 2024 in Channelview. Avila, not in picture, and his family of five are staying at a hotel due to the damages of the house. They was going to host a birthday party to celebrate his sons first birthday at home on the coming Saturday, but now they will not. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer Debris and broken glass is spread around the back yard of a home in the Bridgeland area as the family begin the process of cleaning up their heavily damaged home on Sunday, May 19, 2024, in Bridgeland. The suburban Houston area of Bridgeland suffered major damage last week after a line of powerful storms, that included a confirmed tornado, swept through the area. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Debris and broken glass is spread around the back yard of a home in the Bridgeland area as the family begin the process of cleaning up their heavily damaged home on Sunday, May 19, 2024, in Cypress. The suburban Houston area of Bridgeland suffered major damage last week after a line of powerful storms, that included a confirmed tornado, swept through the area. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Three Houston-area school districts hit the hardest by the derecho storm will be able to reopen most of their campuses Wednesday, almost a week after the storm caused widespread power outages and infrastructure damage in all communities. Channelview ISD will reopen entirely. By Tuesday night, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD had narrowed the list of campuses unable to reopen to just five, down from 10 earlier in the day, Advertisement Article continues below this ad Only four Spring Branch ISD campuses would remain closed Wednesday and a preschool program would be temporarily moved, so that the rest of the district could reopen Wednesday. Galena Park ISD announced Tuesday evening that all but the four campuses still struggling with power outages would reopen Wednesday. Both Cy-Fair and Spring Branch ISDs suffered considerable damage, and the districts have been plagued by power outages almost a full week after the storm took Houstonians by surprise with its severity, killing eight people. A Bridgeland area family begin the process of cleaning up their heavily damaged home on Sunday, May 19, 2024, in Cypress. The suburban Houston area of Bridgeland suffered major damage last week after a line of powerful storms, that included a confirmed tornado, swept through the area. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer In Cypress, a neighborhood called Bridgeland was severely impacted by a confirmed tornado that touched down and tore roofs off homes. Some in the area were not able to return for days to survey the damage wrecked by high winds. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The districts had been closed for three school days since Thursday, two of which both administrations hope will be exempted by the Texas Education Agency. Officials in Spring Branch ISD noted that there could be traffic delays getting to and from schools tomorrow, as some traffic lights are still non-operational in the area and the district is seeing some staffing shortages, according to the announcement to families. Cy-Fair ISD asked its community to be patient with buses and potential transportation delays Wednesday, as power at one of its transportation centers was still out. Both districts also made accommodations for students, given the high number of families also affected by outages and damage to their homes. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Officials at Spring Branch ISD announced Monday that final exam grades would only be counted if they positively impacted a students final grade, except for seniors who do not have remaining final exams. Cy-Fair ISD posted on their social media channels Tuesday morning that they would be waiving final exams for all seniors. The Spring Branch administration thanked its community members who have shown grace, patience and understanding as we have worked through this unforeseen weather disaster. Galena Park and Channelview ISDs, on the other side of the city, were impacted by outages and impassable roads and remained closed Tuesday as well. Channelview ISD announced Tuesday morning that it would be able to reopen Wednesday, after power was restored to all campuses, and each facility had been evaluated. Advertisement Article continues below this ad This was the second major weather event to hit Channelview in May. The area had also been severely impacted by record-high flooding only three weeks prior, when some homes on the banks of the San Jacinto River filled almost to the ceiling with flood waters. Galena Park ISD announced Tuesday evening that it would also reopen Wednesday, with the exception of four campuses still plagued by outages, in an effort to provide a sense of normalcy for its staff and students. A home is inundated due to severe flooding on Saturday, May 4, 2024, in Channelview. Texas officials urged residents whove sustained property damage during recent storms to report that damage to the states emergency management agency. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Galena Park ISD had not announced whether it would reopen at of 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. Here are the Spring Branch ISD schools that will not open Wednesday: Advertisement Article continues below this ad Tiger Trail School Housman Elementary School Hunters Creek Elementary School Westwood Elementary School Also of note, Panda Path Pre-K will be held at Hollibrook Elementary Wednesday, instead of its usual location. Any changes to the above list will be communicated directly to the affected families by 4 p.m. Tuesday, officials promised. Here are the Cy-Fair ISD schools that will not open Wednesday: 21 May 2024 12:56 (UTC+04:00) Fatima Latifova Read more The occupation of the regions of Garabagh and Zangazur by Armenia and the inadequate use of the strategic importance of those territories for thirty years devalued the importance of the existing prospects for years. Even during the time of the Soviet Union, the Minjivan railway between East and West Zangazur played an exceptional role in establishing a connection with Nakhchivan. At that time, the presence of special trade networks in the territory of Minjivan also led to an increase in traffic between East and West Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, as a result of the occupation policy of Armenia, the strategic importance of those territories was overshadowed for a long time, and this directly led to many negative reasons for the South Caucasus: there were negative effects on the economic potential of both Azerbaijan and Armenia, communication lines were paralysed, and the livelihood of the population was greatly declined. Nevertheless, with the efforts of the glorious army of Azerbaijan and the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan restored its territorial integrity in November 2020, after a 44-day Patriotic War. Immediately after this historical victory, the implementation of a number of important infrastructure projects was started in the liberated territories. One of such projects is the reconstruction of the Horadiz-Aghband railway line. During his visit to Azerbaijan's Zangilan, President Ilham Aliyev announced that the foundation of the Horadiz-Aghband railway line had been laid and that this railway would connect the main part of Azerbaijan through the Zangazur corridor to Nakhchivan. The mentioned railway line will be one of the main elements of the Zangazur corridor, besides being of strategic and economic importance for Azerbaijan. Approximately 80% of the construction works of the Horadiz-Agband railway line, which was laid by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev 3 years ago, have been successfully completed. It is worth noting that the railway is of great importance both for the transportation of citizens and the goods. Currently, trains of Azerbaijan Railways can move up to Hekari station of the railway line. 9 stations on the 110.4 km long railway line, the longest 23-span, 771-meter bridge of Azerbaijani railways, the first closed railway tunnel built during Azerbaijan's independence years, and about 500 man-made engineering facilities are under construction. The railway infrastructure in question will pass through Nakhchivan and extend to Turkiye, thus creating a second railway network connecting Azerbaijan with Turkiye. It should be noted that in 2017, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, built under the supervision of Azerbaijan, was put into operation. With the construction of BTK, Azerbaijan and Turkiye were connected by a railway line for the first time in history. Now the construction of the second railway between the two brotherly countries continues. Along with the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, the construction of the second railway in the region is of great strategic importance. This will support the development of trade and tourism between Turkiye and Azerbaijan. It should be noted that creating new cooperation and ensuring its functionality is one of the important steps for ensuring security and stability in the South Caucasus. Azerbaijan, as always, takes this position. Transport projects in the region have a paramount role for the long-term development of the region, for its geostrategic importance and ensuring stability and reducing the risks of war to zero. Besides, given Azerbaijan's geostrategic location between East and West, let us not forget that all countries participating in these projects will benefit. Azerbaijan is currently conducting peace talks with Armenia. Following the meeting of the foreign ministers of the two countries in Almaty, it was once again confirmed that the conclusion of peace agreement in the region is night. It seems that the current Armenian government has begun to understand that aggression in the region is only a threat and that economic and political cooperation is the only way for development. It should be remembered that after Azerbaijan links with Nakhchivan and Turkiye, a railway line from Russia to Armenia can be launched. This line can only pass through the territory of Azerbaijan. Railway connection can be established even between Turkiye and Russia, which will lead to the strengthening of the connection of the countries in the South Caucasus with other regions. Moreover, this will pave the way for enhancing the 3+3 format which is still in the agenda of the regional states. Also, the Horadiz-Jabrayil-Zangilan-Agband highway, which starts from Ahmadbeyli village of Fuzuli, is being built with 6 and 4 lanes. The first 80-kilometer section of the road is planned to have 6 lanes, with 3 departures - 3 arrivals, and the remaining 43.8 kilometers, 4 lanes - 2 departures - 2 arrivals. According to the traffic lanes, the width of the road bed is 29.5 and 21.5 meters, respectively. 3 car tunnels with a total length of 6,015 meters, 2 viaducts and 23 car bridges, 8 overpasses, 50 underpasses, 5 crossing points, 400 circular pipes and rectangular ones to ensure the transfer of water were constructed along the newly constructed road according to the project. Besides, construction of 60 reserve crossings for water flow and communication lines is planned. Recall that the Horadiz-Agbend railway line was destroyed and ceased to operate after the occupation of Azerbaijan's territories by Armenian armed forces in 1993. For 30 years, the last stop of trains was Horadiz station in Fuzuli district. However, after the glorious victory of Azerbaijan over Armenia, like any other road, the Agband road returns to its prosperity. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2024 19:55 (UTC+04:00) Fatima Latifova Read more The ex-candidate for U.S. president, Vivek Ramaswamy, is distinctive for his pro-Armenian position. In his speeches on every talk show and TV program, he defends Armenians to gain the favour of the Armenian lobby in the West. He zealously tries to make his speech more effective, but he fails to prove his biased condemnations against Azerbaijan, the country in the South Caucasus that he still thinks is situated on the African continent. This love of Vivek Ramaswamy for Armenians has made him quite popular, along with his anti-Azerbaijan rhetoric as well. At the Hudson Institute, Vivek Ramaswamy raised awareness about the so-called ethnic cleansing issue in Armenia. He claimed that in 2023, Azerbaijan ethnically cleansed over 120,000 Christians from their homeland of so-called artsakh. After the ethnic cleansing, Azerbaijan began supposedly converting and destroying churches that 'date back to the 4th century'. But in reality, it was the Armenian government that committed the genocide against the Azerbaijani people, not over the last 3 decades but over the last two centuries. Armenia's occupation of Azerbaijani lands was followed by crimes that resulted in the ethnic cleansing of the local civilian population. This was done in such a consistent and systematic way that it was plainly planned, directed, and carried out by the Armenian government. Armenia's armed forces used the same military tactics to occupy Azerbaijan's cities, towns, settlements, and villages: militarily encircling residential areas where possible; indiscriminately firing on civilians to kill as many as possible; and taking hostages and subjecting them to mass rapes, tortures, and other degrading treatment. Armenian militants, during the occupation of Azerbaijan's lands in the early 1990s, murdered 20,000 people, injured or handicapped 50,000 others, and left around 4,000 Azerbaijani civilians missing. All captured areas were ethnically cleansed of more than 700,000 Azerbaijanis. Likewise, about 250,000 Azerbaijanis were expelled from Armenia at the end of the 1980s. Thus, the Azerbaijani population, once the majority in the territory of present-day Armenia, was completely removed from their ancestral lands. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe confirmed in its resolution 1416 (2015) that "Armenias military operations led to large-scale ethnic expulsion and the creation of mono-ethnic areas, which resemble the terrible concept of ethnic cleansing." Former President of Armenia Serj Sargsyan who used to be in charge of the military operations during the occupation of the territories of Azerbaijan, 'boldly' confessed in one of the interviews he gave to a foreign journalist that our war somehow differed from others. We had it so that ethnic cleansing took place. Otherwise, it was not possible. In the same interview, Serj Sargsyan stated in the context of the massacre in the town of Khojaly that if civilian population stays there then it means that it also participates in the military actions. This is a clear statement that Armenias armed forces regarded the civilian population of the occupied territories as military targets. By doing so, Armenia grossly violated International Humanitarian Law and disregarded its most important principles, namely the principle of distinction between civilians and combatants and the principle of military necessity. This state bears responsibility for war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide committed in the course of war it unleashed against Azerbaijan. Atrocities against the civilian population and ensuing ethnic cleansing committed in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan are not separate cases. Apart from the Garabagh region, historically, atrocities and ethnic cleansing by Armenian forces have been committed in several Azerbaijani-populated areas, including in Zangazur. In 1918-1920, Armenian armed gangs committed atrocities and ethnically cleansed more than 200 villages in the Zangazur region. Even the Armenian historian Razmik Panossian refers to the Zangazur events as ethnic cleansing that enhanced the demographic balance in the region in favour of the Armenians. Today, even after the glorious Victory of Azerbaijani Army over the Armenian forces, Vivek Ramaswamy still trying to accuse Azerbaijan for being aggressor country. Having no proper knowledge of the history of the Caucasus, he has the audacity to raise voice against Azerbaijan of supporting the separatist views of Armenian lobby in U.S. For some reason, whenever Ramaswamy, of Indian origin, talks about Armenia, he either loses himself or contradicts historical and geographical facts. It is clear that Ramaswamy does not give any thought to what was dictated to him when receiving assignments from the Armenian lobby, and that is why Vivek, who is claiming to be the president of the United States, has mistaken the South Caucasus for the African continent. This is still the beginning. In one of his speeches, he did not go unnoticed when he presented the missile strikes by Armenians on Ganja as a crime against Armenians by Azerbaijan. This gaff of his has torn the mask of him and other corrupt politicians in his face. Ramaswamy realised that he would not be a successful candidate in the presidential elections and later withdrew his candidacy. However, his appetite for a high chair is still insatiable, so he cannot stay away from the Armenian lobby. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2024 16:44 (UTC+04:00) Ulviyya Shahin Read more The recent disclosure by the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan sheds light on the evolving dynamics of trade between Azerbaijan and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The reported trade volume for January-April 2024 reveals both significant figures and notable declines compared to the previous year, prompting a closer examination of the economic implications. Trade operations totaling $1.92 billion between Azerbaijan and CIS countries during the first four months of 2024 underscore the substantial economic interactions within the region. However, this figure represents a 10.3% decrease from the same period in 2023, indicative of shifting trade patterns. Notably, trade operations with CIS countries constituted 32.3% of Azerbaijan's total trade turnover during the reporting period, emphasising the significance of these partnerships in the country's economic landscape. During this period, the value of Azerbaijan's trade turnover with various countries decreased. Specifically, with Russia, it amounted to 1 billion 308 million 456 thousand US dollars (5.7% less compared to a year ago), with Ukraine 152 million 922 thousand US dollars (44.6% more), with Turkmenistan 150 million 614 thousand US dollars (49.2% less), with Belarus 137 million 63 thousand US dollars (22.1% more), with Kazakhstan 87 million 269 thousand US dollars (47.9% less), with Uzbekistan 50 million 944 thousand US dollars (6.9% less), with Kyrgyzstan 24 million 728 thousand US dollars (2.7 times more), with Moldova 3 million 422 thousand US dollars (15.3% less), and with Tajikistan 2 million 208 thousand US dollars (78.2% more). Detailed Analysis Russia: Despite remaining a key trading partner, trade with Russia witnessed a 5.7% decline compared to the previous year, amounting to $1.31 billion. Ukraine: Trade with Ukraine surged by 44.6%, reaching $152.92 million, indicating potential opportunities for expanded collaboration. Turkmenistan: A significant decrease of 49.2% in trade with Turkmenistan, totaling $150.61 million, suggests challenges or shifts in bilateral relations. Belarus: Trade with Belarus experienced a noteworthy increase of 22.1%, reaching $137.06 million, possibly reflecting strengthened ties between the two nations. Kazakhstan: Trade with Kazakhstan decreased by 47.9%, amounting to $87.27 million, signalling a notable downturn in economic activity. Uzbekistan: Despite a moderate decline of 6.9%, trade with Uzbekistan stood at $50.94 million, maintaining a stable but slightly reduced level of engagement. Kyrgyzstan: Trade with Kyrgyzstan exhibited a significant increase, rising 2.7 times to $24.73 million, indicating a potential area for further exploration and investment. Moldova: Trade with Moldova saw a modest decrease of 15.3%, amounting to $3.42 million, suggesting relatively stable but slightly reduced trade relations. Tajikistan: The most notable increase was observed in trade with Tajikistan, surging by 78.2% to $2.21 million, potentially signalling emerging opportunities in bilateral trade. The disclosed trade data between Azerbaijan and CIS countries for January-April 2024 provides valuable insights into the evolving economic landscape of the region. While the overall trade volume remains substantial, the notable declines in trade with key partners like Russia and Turkmenistan, along with significant increases with others like Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, indicate a dynamic shift in trade dynamics. Understanding these trends is crucial for policymakers and businesses alike to adapt strategies and seize emerging opportunities amidst changing economic realities. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz A woman who goes by Seven walks to meet friends Tuesday, March 26, 2024, in the Heights neighborhood in Houston. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer We recently wrote about the ways in which Houstons homeless population has been ticketed over the past few years in many cases, repeatedly for similar offenses and in the same locations. The Chronicle started with a dataset of nearly 56,000 tickets obtained from the Houston Municipal Courts Department. We requested every ticket from 2020 through April 2024 that included an encamping offense plus all of the related offenses on those tickets. These offenses included obstructing sidewalks or roads, having a shopping cart without permission, disposing of materials improperly, accumulating materials in public places, open burning, trespassing, having an open container, soliciting funds and other offenses. The data also included the location of the ticket, the ticket amount currently due and the officer issuing the ticket. Here is an example of tickets issued to a man in his 50s. It shows how, in one incident, multiple different tickets can be issued related to encamping, sitting or lying down on the sidewalk, possessing shopping carts without permission and accumulating materials. Matt Zdun Several challenges existed with verifying the data and ensuring that we had an accurate tally of where individuals received tickets and when. Protecting the privacy of those receiving the tickets was also a major concern, as many received tickets in the locations where they live. Heres how the Chronicle mapped homeless tickets over time. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Protecting individuals privacy The story relied heavily on mapping the locations of tickets to illustrate the fact that the people who received the most tickets tended to be ticketed in the same areas. To ensure that we were not revealing where exactly people live, the Chronicle obscured the data in two ways. First, the team jittered the individual points. That is, we added a small amount of variation to the latitude and longitude coordinates of each ticket so that the exact locations of successive tickets were obscured. Second, we translated the points. That means we moved every point the same distance in a random direction a couple of miles from the true location. In effect, this preserved the shape of the geographic timeline while obscuring the actual locations of the tickets. Your browser does not support the video tag. These steps obscured where exactly the tickets were issued but still illustrated that individuals returned to the same areas over time and received tickets there. The Chronicle spoke with all individuals identified by name in the story or their family members if they were deceased. Those who asked that their legal names not be given in the story gave the Houston Chronicle their full names so that their ticketing histories could be verified. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Even though police officers are public employees and their salaries are public information, the Chronicle opted not to publish the names of officers who wrote the most tickets as the team did not speak directly to these officers. Similarly, we did not publish the names of individuals who received tickets to whom we didnt speak. Verifying ticket receivers Among the more than 50,000 tickets in the dataset, the Chronicle found wide variation in how various names were spelled. (In some cases, the same individuals name was spelled as many as four different ways.) To accurately match records to arrive at a total tally of tickets per individual, we grouped together individuals who spelled their names the same and checked that the tickets were largely clustered in similar geographic locations. We flagged individuals who had similar spellings of their names and similar ticket locations and verified their dates of birth using the Houston Municipal Courts data portal. In some cases, tickets for individuals who received a large volume of tickets could not be retrieved from the data portal given apparent constraints with the sites infrastructure. We requested copies of those tickets from the Municipal Courts and cross-referenced the age. Advertisement Article continues below this ad A man who goes by Shaggy talks about the high number of tickets he has received from police Tuesday, March 26, 2024, at a homeless encampment in Houston. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer Evaluating officers overtime We linked the officers writing the tickets to salary and overtime data provided by the Houston Administration and Regulatory Affairs Department for the citys 2023 fiscal year (July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023). We found that the vast majority of officers who wrote the most homeless tickets also made more in overtime than the typical officer in their position made in that time period. To control for the fact that some of these officers can have a Differential Response Team (DRT) specialty or a specialty that uses traditional and non-traditional innovative forms of problem solving to impact crime, according to the Houston Police Departments website and that these officers might be expected to make more than officers without such a specialty, we compared the officers who wrote the most homeless tickets with a list of officers who have a DRT specialty. Of the 15 officers who wrote 100 homeless tickets or more between July 2022 and June 2023, seven officers nearly half did not have a DRT specialty. Yet, most of those officers without the specialty still made well over the typical overtime amount of an employee in the same position. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Finally, the Chronicle team wanted to control for the fact that other factors separate from the total hours worked could potentially inflate overtime pay. For example, an officer with a lot of experience might earn a higher base salary and, therefore, also a higher overtime rate, which would inflate the total overtime amount accrued. The top two ticket-writing officers both senior officers together wrote 7,000 homeless tickets between 2022 and 2023, nearly 60% of the total tickets during that time period. One made about $66,000 in base pay. The other made about $58,000 in base pay. The typical base pay for a senior officer is about $62,000. Other senior officers in the dataset who wrote far fewer homeless tickets also earned between $50,000 and $60,000 in base pay. This suggests that the top ticket writers large overtime payments were not due to their classification as more experienced officers with higher pay rates but rather to what they spent the bulk of their time doing. Tallying fines due The Chronicles data included the fines that were currently due at the time that we received the data. All ticket amounts in the story were fines that were currently due. That did not include the sizable share of fines that could have been reduced to zero by a court, for example. Advertisement Article continues below this ad 21 May 2024 12:16 (UTC+04:00) Nazrin Abdul Read more Goshgar Tahmezli, chairman of the Azerbaijan Food Safety Agency, revealed that 13 companies faced temporary export bans to Azerbaijan last year. He made this announcement during his address at the "For the Green World" Plant Health Forum in Baku, Azernews reports. Tahmezli stated that 829 notifications were issued to exporting countries concerning harmful organisms found in imported plants and plant products last year. Among these, 49 cases were identified in planting and sowing materials. As part of phytosanitary control measures, the Agency imposed temporary import bans on 13 importers due to detected inconsistencies during import procedures, ensuring their implementation. The "For the Green World" Plant Health Forum, currently underway in Baku, has drawn participation from key figures, including leaders from the Cabinet of Ministers Office, the Agrarian Policy Committee of the Milli Mejlis, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, and the European and Mediterranean Centre for Plant Quarantine and Protection. The event, jointly organised by the Azerbaijan Food Safety Agency (AFSA) and the Ministry of Agriculture, also includes representatives from the Maritime Organisation, FAO, and other international bodies. The forum aims to safeguard plant health, enhance pest control measures, facilitate the safe trade of plant products, and foster collaboration among national, regional, and international organisations to protect global food security and biodiversity. It serves as a platform for cooperation among government agencies, universities, and reference laboratories. The forum's proceedings are set to conclude on May 22nd. 21 May 2024 14:15 (UTC+04:00) Ulviyya Shahin Read more On May 20, a train of 20 containers was sent to Georgia. This was stated by Emil Ahmadov, head of the cargo transportation department of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC (ADY) Emil Ahmadov (ADY), Azernews reports. He noted that the 184-kilometer section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line, which is considered an important segment of the Middle Corridor, has already been completed. From today (May 20), cargo transportation on the BTQ railway line will be started. "According to the relevant document signed between the governments of Azerbaijan and Georgia, a joint venture is about to be established for the purpose of managing the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. Currently, work is being done in the direction of preparing the business model of the joint enterprise with an international consulting company. The goal is to increase the cargo volume and develop the BTQ line," said E. Ahmadov. According to him, the main work of the joint venture is the implementation of all works related to the project, determination of tariffs for cargo transportation, transportation of cargo and solving of operational issues as a whole. The head of the department added that ADY regularly organizes on-site meetings with entrepreneurs for carrying out cargo transportation between Central Asian and European countries through the Middle Corridor, and establishes close cooperation with railway administrations and transport companies of the mentioned countries. At the same time, a close relationship is established with cargo operators in Europe for the transportation of cargo from European countries to Central Asia through the Middle Corridor. "In recent years, there has been a significant increase in transit cargo transportation by rail. For example, in 2019, 3.8 million tons of transit cargo was transported, and in 2023, this figure reached 6.8 million tons. Compared to the first four months of last year, the volume of transit cargo transported in January-April this year increased by 14 percent. In the first quarter of this year, we carried 10 percent more transit cargo on the East-West corridor, of which BTQ is a part," he stressed. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2024 15:35 (UTC+04:00) Ulviyya Shahin Read more Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan plan to establish cooperation in the field of joint production of household appliances, Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade of Uzbekistan Laziz Kudratov said in Guba, Azernews reports. "Another area of cooperation in terms of joint production is the Alaat FEZ. This is the right place for Uzbek entrepreneurs interested in creating new production facilities. We are already moving to the active phase of preparation and implementation of projects for the production of household appliances, aluminum radiators in the Alaat FEZ," said the minister. He also called on Azerbaijani companies to consider the possibility of creating similar production facilities in Uzbekistan. "We are ready to create the most favorable conditions for Azerbaijani companies that are ready and are considering the possibility of creating facilities in Central Asia," Kudratov said. The minister also said that Uzbekistan proposed to Azerbaijan the creation of retail outlets, a zone for packaging, processing and finishing of products, which will be focused on the Afghan market. "In addition, we are planning to create a commercial online platform for Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan," he said. Uzbekneftegaz and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) may sign an agreement in the coming months on the entry of an Uzbek company into the Shah Deniz project, Uzbekistan's Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade Laziz Kurbatov noted. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2024 16:17 (UTC+04:00) Nazrin Abdul Read more Azerbaijan's Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov extended an invitation to his Uzbek colleagues to attend the COP29 event in Baku, Azernews reports. Minister Jabbarov emphasised the importance of Uzbekistan's participation in this significant event, extending a cordial invitation to join the discussions in Baku. "We consider important the participation of our Uzbek colleagues at this unique platform in terms of significance, scale, and connection with this event; we once again invite them to Baku," the minister noted. "In November, the COP29 event - the next UN climate conference, will be held in Baku. Our country is committed to protecting the environment. Azerbaijan's selection as the host of COP29 demonstrates our active role in the development of global discussions on climate change and sustainable development." The minister also emphasised this commitment at the forum. Azerbaijani Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov highlighted Azerbaijan's active engagement in global dialogues concerning climate change and sustainable development during the II Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan Interregional Forum. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2024 17:33 (UTC+04:00) Nazrin Abdul Read more The operational guidelines for the road bridge over the Samur River near the Samur-Yarag-Gazmalar checkpoints along the Russian-Azerbaijani border have been officially endorsed, Azernews reports. During today's session of the Azerbaijani Parliament, a draft law on approval of the agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the order of operation and maintenance of the road bridge across the Samur River in the area of Yarag-Gazmalar" (Russian Federation) - "Samur" (Republic of Azerbaijan) checkpoints across the Russian-Azerbaijani state border and approaches to it was submitted for discussion. It was emphasised that this agreement holds significant potential for strengthening bilateral ties between the two nations. After thorough deliberation, the document underwent a voting process and received approval. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2024 18:12 (UTC+04:00) Ulviyya Shahin Read more During the January-April months of 2024, the total number of Azerbaijani citizens travelling to foreign countries increased by 29.4% compared to the same period last year, reaching 638.2 thousand people, Azernews reports, citing the State Statistics Committee. According to the data, the number of citizens travelling to Iran increased by 43.8%, to Turkey by 27.0%, to Georgia by 25.2%, and to Russia by 16.7%. Azerbaijani citizens travelled to Turkey 38.2% of the time, to Russia 21.7%, to Georgia 9.1%, to Iran 8.7%, and to other countries 22.3%. Of those travelling, 67.5% were male and 32.5% were female. During the 4-month period, 67.6% of Azerbaijani citizens travelling to foreign countries used air transportation, 30.0% used railways and automobiles, and 2.4% used sea transportation. It's noteworthy that in January-March 2024, the number of Azerbaijani citizens travelling abroad increased by 31.7% compared to the first quarter of 2023, reaching 472,300 people. The number of people travelling to Iran rose by 40.6%, to Georgia by 29%, to Turkey by 28.1%, and to Russia by 20.1%. Consequently, 38.3% of Azerbaijani citizens travelled to Turkey, 20.8% to Russia, 9.4% to Georgia, 8.6% to Iran, and 22.9% to other countries. Of these travellers, 67.2% were men, and 32.8% were women. Over the course of three months, 67.4% of Azerbaijani citizens travelled by air, 30.3% by rail and road, and 2.3% by sea. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2024 19:22 (UTC+04:00) Nazrin Abdul Read more Uzbekistan is working to improve the status of bilateral cooperation with Azerbaijan, Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade of Uzbekistan Laziz Kudratov said at the opening of the Second Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan Interregional Forum in Guba, Azernews reports. Kudratov mentioned, "Preparations are underway for a state visit to Uzbekistan by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in August. This visit is expected to yield significant outcomes, elevating our relations to a higher level." He further assured that Uzbekistan's government will maintain favorable conditions for Azerbaijani companies operating in the country. Kudratov highlighted the significance of establishing a joint Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan investment company in 2023, describing it as "a crucial mechanism to support various initiatives." Regarding transportation cooperation, he noted, "Collaboration in the transport sector is another key aspect of Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan relations. We've initiated direct air routes and are substantially increasing transportation via Azerbaijan's infrastructure. This year, we anticipate transporting over 1 million tons of Uzbek cargo through this route, compared to 300,000 tons in the first quarter. We appreciate the benefits and preferences extended by Azerbaijan to Uzbek companies, facilitating our increased utilization of this route. Further the speeches at the forum, Zafarkhodja Tursunov, the Deputy Head of Tashkent (Republic of Uzbekistan), said that the number of enterprises with Azerbaijani capital in Tashkent has reached 180. He noted that Azerbaijani entrepreneurs are particularly interested in projects within the construction, service, and industrial sectors. "Tashkent's mutual trade turnover with Azerbaijan exceeded $80 million last year and surpassed $25 million in the first quarter of this year. In 2023, over 8,000 tourists from Azerbaijan visited Tashkent. However, we acknowledge that these results align with our potential. Therefore, we should seize the opportunities available to expand our trade and economic cooperation," stated Z. Tursunov. According to the State Customs Committee, trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan amounted to $178.8 million last year and reached $35.8 million in January-March 2024. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz The 5th International Kids and Youth Art Festival "My Azerbaijan" will start in Baku on May 24, Azernews reports. The event is co-organized by the Culture Ministry, Ministry of Science and Education, Azerbaijan Television and Radio Broadcasting CJSC, Azerbaijani Artists' Union, the State Art Gallery, the Khatai Arts Center, Baku office of the International Watercolor Society and the International Watercolor Society, Khatai Children's Arts Gallery with the support of the Khatai District Executive Power. The festival is dedicated to Azerbaijan Independence Day, celebrated on May 28. The winners of the competition announced during the festival will also be awarded. The exhibitions of the competition were opened alternately from May 13 to 17 at Khatai Arts Center. Around 2,500 Azerbaijani participants aged 8 to 21, citizens of Turkiye, Iran, Peru, Lithuania, Georgia, Japan, Vietnam and India participated in the competition of watercolor drawings with images of flowers; in total, about 800 art works were showcased at the exhibition. From these exhibitions, authors of ten art works in each age group have been selected for the festival. Foreign citizens participating in exhibitions will be awarded certificates, and the artists selected for the festival will be awarded diplomas. ---- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @lmntypewriterrr Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2024 17:43 (UTC+04:00) Laman Ismayilova Read more An International Festival of Kids Art will be held in Susha in June, Azernews reports. The festival titled "Shusha is the Pearl of Culture of the Union of Turkic States" is timed to the International Day for Protection of Children, which is annually celebrated on June 1. The talented young people of the Turkish states will come together in Shusha to demonstrate the cultural pearls of the Turkish people through art. International Day for Protection of Children was proclaimed by the Women's International Democratic Federation during its 1949 congress in Moscow. The first celebration took place on June 1, 1950. Protection of children's rights is guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan and a number of other laws. Childrens rights embrace legal, social and other issues concerning children. Azerbaijan adopted the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (1993), the Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages (1996), the European Social Charter (2004), and the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination in Education Sphere (2006). Moreover, the country successfully cooperates with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The organisation has been operating in Azerbaijan since 1993. In Azerbaijan, International Children's Day is traditionally marked with various activities aimed at raising awareness of children's rights. A series of events are organized in Baku and other cities as part of the celebration. ---- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @lmntypewriterrr Follow us on Twitter @AzerNew 21 May 2024 10:40 (UTC+04:00) President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev visited the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the country to offer his condolences over the tragic death of Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and other accompanying individuals in a helicopter crash, Azernews reports. Seyyed Jafar Aghaee, Charge d'Affaires of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Azerbaijan, welcomed the head of state. The President of Azerbaijan signed a book of condolence. Then, speaking with the Charge d'Affaires of the embassy, President Ilham Aliyev said: - The tragic death of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mr. Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, deeply shook us all. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hossein Amirabdollahian, and other individuals tragically died with him. May Allah rest their souls in peace. I express my condolences to the people of Iran. This is a huge loss. This is a loss not only for the people and state of Iran, but also for the entire Muslim world. Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi was a prominent statesman, an outstanding politician, and a great personality who had won the trust of the Iranian people. Our numerous meetings always left a great impression on me. My last meeting with him was a historic one. Both he and I described it as a historic meeting. Our joint participation in the opening of a large infrastructure project at the state border indicated how strong Iran-Azerbaijan relations are. It was a very clear message to both our peoples and the whole world that we are friends and brothers, and that we will continue to be together. After the opening ceremony, both the late President Raisi's and my official statements had very serious political implications. Both Presidents openly stated that the countries located in the region should actively participate in the future development of this region. This tragedy, of course, is a huge pain, both for his relatives and those who knew him. But what is comforting is that he dedicated his life to the development of the Iranian people. He played a special role in defending the national interests of the Iranian state. Both during his term as President and in the previous periods, he sought to improve the well-being of the Iranian people and played a major role in protecting national interests. As you are aware, we were together for more than two hours just before this tragedy occurred. During the bilateral meeting, which lasted more than an hour, many important issues were discussed. The future directions of the development of Iran-Azerbaijan relations were reaffirmed and the strong political will of both sides was demonstrated again. At the same time, we had a broad exchange of views on specific infrastructure projects and made important decisions. I am confident that those who participated in that meeting will convey this to the new leadership of Iran. I am sure that all the agreements reached will be implemented because they are based on the interests of the people of Iran and Azerbaijan. We expressed our firm determination during the conversation with the late President Raisi that from now on there would be a significant number of large projects, both bilaterally and multilaterally. Unfortunately, he was not lucky enough to see the implementation of future projects. Everyone has to accept fate. However, let me say again, the comforting factor is that he sacrificed his life for the development of Iran, and in our memory, in the memory of the people of Iran and the people of Azerbaijan, he will remain as a bright personality, a great statesman, and a great friend of the state and people of Azerbaijan. Please accept my condolences again. May Allah rest his soul in peace. x x x Seyyed Jafar Aghaee expressed his gratitude to the President of Azerbaijan for visiting the embassy and offering his condolences. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz "Overcapacity" in China's new energy industry is pseudo-proposition 09:47, May 21, 2024 By Zhong Sheng ( People's Daily The narrative of "overcapacity" in China's new energy industry is a pseudo-proposition, whether viewed from the principles of market economy and the law of value, or analyzed under the context of global division of labor and international market. It is contrary to economic logic and reality to claim that China is exporting its excess capacity. Under economic globalization, production capacity is determined by supply-demand relations. According to the law of the market, the equilibrium between supply and demand is in constant flux, with imbalance being the norm in any market economy. Addressing the imbalances primarily relies on market regulation in accordance with the law of value. China is an open market that embraces globalization. This requires Chinese new energy enterprises to adopt both domestic and international strategies in their development visions and resource allocation. Cross-border trade would not have existed if each country only focused on meeting their domestic demand. The rise in Chinese exports of electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and photovoltaic products in recent years is a result of global division of labor and market demand. It's absurd to relate capacity issues to global trade and attribute China's expanding exports to overcapacity. As a matter of fact, it's simply not the case that green products are in excess supply globally. On the contrary, the global demand for such products far outruns the supply. According to the International Energy Agency, the global demand for new energy vehicles (NEVs) is expected to reach 45 million units by 2030, 4.5 times that of 2022, and the global demand for newly installed capacity for photovoltaic products will reach 820 gigawatts by 2030, about four times that of 2022. The current production capacity for green energy in the world falls significantly short of the global demand, especially when more than 130 countries and regions have raised their carbon neutrality targets. Given the huge potential of global demand, China's green production capacity is far from enough. It's a complete fallacy that Chinas "overcapacity" in new energy sectors harms the global market. In an article, Bloomberg said to the extent that theres grounds for hope around the energy transition right now, its largely thanks to the availability of cheap, clean Chinese products. In today's world, both supply and demand should be considered in a global context. It is an economic principle beyond human control that the production capacity of a country is decided by its own comparative advantages. China's new energy products are competitive because China, as an early player in the industry, has fostered technological advantages through long-term research and development, and developed comprehensive strengths by leveraging its robust domestic industrial capabilities, enormous market, and rich human resources. Despite being priced higher than in the domestic market, Chinese NEVs and other related products are still highly sought after in many countries overseas. This demonstrates that China's competitive advantages in production capacity are determined by both global demand and the efficiency of Chinese enterprises, in accordance with the law of the market. It is driven by the entrenched protectionist beliefs that some countries labeled the Chinese new energy industry with "overcapacity." Such a false narrative is just an excuse to justify the imposition of trade barriers on China's exports. What is truly excessive is not China's new energy capacity, but rather the abuse of protectionism by these countries to suppress the legitimate development of other countries. They keep saying all the time that they oppose unfair trade and non-market practices, but in fact they are politicizing economic and trade issues, disturbing free trade with non-market approaches. By spreading the false narrative of "overcapacity" in China's new energy industry, they aim to stifle China's industrial development and seek more favorable competitive positions and market advantages for themselves. Those who spread such a narrative to justify protectionism have nothing to gain from it and will only destabilize and disrupt global industrial and supply chains, hinder the worlds green transition, and curb the growth of emerging sectors. Neue Zurcher Zeitung, a Swiss newspaper, said on its website that the West's complaints about China's "overcapacity" are hypocritical and short-sighted and the Western industrialized countries would do better to face up to the competition and push for equal market access in exchange for good and cheap Chinese green energy products. Any remark or practice that politicizes or overstretches the concept of national security regarding economic and trade issues is against the law of economy, which neither helps with a country's industrial growth nor the recovery of the global economy. Attempting to sabotage others and gain a competitive edge through the overcapacity hype is both immoral and impractical. China stands ready to work with all relevant parties to uphold the basic principles of the market economy, including fair competition and open cooperation, so as to make its due contributions to global green and low-carbon transition. (Web editor: Chang Sha, Liang Jun) Emilia Kobina, left, and Denise Kobina stand near a fallen transmission line tower along the US 290 feeder road as they walk Emiliaa dog, Zaid, in the aftermath of a severe storm on Friday, May 17, 2024 in Houston. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Although many Harris County residents experienced cellular and internet disruptions during and after last weeks surprise storm, company officials described the damage to their systems as modest, with service being up and running in most areas within a day or two. Those living closer to Houstons urban core, they said, generally were more likely to have retained service thanks to overlapping cell coverage from a greater concentration of towers and other facilities. Most disruptions, they said, were caused by power outages rather than tower destruction. Verizon also places some of its cell equipment on CenterPoint transmission towers. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The unexpectedness of the storm presented a brief setback. With large events such as hurricanes, the larger cellular companies typically pre-position emergency equipment in the path to expedite its response, said Dwayne Moore, associate director of AT&Ts Network Disaster Recovery. Last weeks winds caught everyone by surprise, however a "no-notice" event leaving company officials no time to stage, he said. Still, We restored nearly half of affected cell sites by Friday, within 24 hours, and by Monday end-of-day we were operating at 99% of normal, said Andrea Huguely, an AT&T spokeswoman. A spokesperson for T-Mobile said it had restored blanket coverage to all its customers within 24 hours, though its crews continued refueling generators and checking equipment through the weekend. Guillermo Salinas, Verizons director of Network Performance and a Cypress resident, said only a small number of the providers sites had been affected by the storm. Half were repaired by Friday afternoon, with most of the rest up and running by the following morning. Our network did really well, he said. But some areas reported lingering problems. Lynn Bimler, a Heights resident and AT&T customer, said cell and internet service had remained spotty in the neighborhood throughout the weekend. Texts would go out sometimes, but not phone calls, she said. The interruptions frustrated members of her local mothers group searching for information on how long breast milk would keep without refrigeration. Advertisement Article continues below this ad On Monday afternoon, a spokesman for Spring Branch ISD said schools in the district northwest of Houston were remaining closed because of unreliable power and the fact that many, many families remain without power, internet and cell service. The high-wind storms producing both a derecho event and tornados tore through southeast Texas Thursday night, uprooting trees and battering buildings. Eight deaths have been attributed to the event. As of Tuesday morning, five days after the storm, more than 140,000 Houston residents remained without power. A Magnolia Park residents house is damaged by a fallen tree after a severe storm with damaging winds hit Houston on Friday, May 17, 2024. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Police agencies didnt report any major phone disruptions or issues with residents unable to access the 911 systems. Power outages were our main concern, said Jersey Village Chief Danny Keele. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Its difficult to get a precise handle on how many Houston-area people experienced lengthy cellular and internet disruptions following the storm. Companies that provide the majority of coverage such as AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile havent released such information. Directly following the storm, Comcasts XFinity reported about 300,000 customers without internet. Major providers say they spend millions of dollars preparing for extreme weather events. Salinas said about 90% of Verizons Houston-area facilities had on-site generators to provide power during disruptions, and all have backup batteries. In addition to their local staffs, AT&T and Verizon like other crucial responders such as FEMA, the Texas Department of Emergency Management and H-E-B have teams that travel to disasters, though neither called on them for last weeks storm. AT&T has a separate system to make sure first responders have working cell service during disasters. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The companies also keep fleets of emergency equipment, primarily huge generators on flatbed trucks to keep the power running through their facilities. We become the power company when the power isnt available, said Travis Profitt, AT&Ts director of Network Disaster Recovery, who described the response to last weeks storm as comparable to a Category 2 or 3 hurricane. A pedestrian stops to take a photo of the storm-damaged Wells Fargo building as storm clean up continues downtown on Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. The city closed off streets in a six-block exclusion zone downtown, from McKinney to Polk and from Smith to Travis to ease traffic around the area where broken glass and debris are prevalent. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer They also have mobile cell towers Cell on Wheels, or COWs that can restore service when permanent towers are down. Both also operate drone fleets (also COWs; Cell on Wings) and boats, if needed. T-Mobile deployed mobile charging stations to shelters so that displaced residents could charge their devices and use WiFi. AT&T, which has equipment staged at 14 sites nationwide, including outside of Dallas, can pop-up an entire village to house its repair crews, if necessary, said Moore, who responded to the Houston storm. That includes trailers, showers and kitchens. We bring everything with us so as not to take away from the local communities, he said. 21 May 2024 11:24 (UTC+04:00) Fatima Latifova Read more The next plenary session of the spring session of the Milli Majlis (Parliament) has started, Azernews reports. The agenda of the meeting chaired by Sahiba Gafarova included the discussion of 11 issues. Those issues are as follows: 1. Information of the National Coordinator for the fight against human trafficking on the fight against human trafficking in Azerbaijan in 2023 2. Draft law on approval of the "Protocol on amendments to the Agreement dated April 3, 2017 on cooperation in the field of education between the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan" 3. Draft law on approving the "Agreement between the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Kazakhstan on mutual recognition of qualification diplomas of crew members of sea vessels" 4. "Rules for the operation and maintenance of the road bridge and access roads over the Samur River between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Russian Federation from the Azerbaijan-Russia state border in the territory of the Samur (Republic of Azerbaijan) - "Yarag-Gazmalar" (Russian Federation) launch points on the Agreement" bill on approval 5. The draft law on amending the "Regulation on service in customs authorities" approved by Law No. 768-IQ dated December 7, 1999 of the Republic of Azerbaijan (third reading) 6. Draft law on amending the Civil Procedure Code, the Family Code and the Law "On State Duty" (third reading) 7. Draft law on amending the law "On State Registration and State Register of Legal Entities" (third reading) 8. Draft law on amending the Labour Code and the Civil Code (third reading) 9. Draft law on amending the Tax Code (third reading) 10. Draft law on amending some laws in connection with the implementation of Law No. 1035-VIQD of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated December 5, 2023 on amending the law "On cashless settlements" 11. Draft law on amending the Code of Administrative Offences (second reading) --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2024 17:55 (UTC+04:00) Laman Ismayilova Read more Azerbaijan and Tajikistan share a strong bond of friendship that has spanned centuries. The two countries established diplomatic relations on May 29, 1992. The cooperation between Azerbaijan and Tajikistan reached a new level in 2008, when an intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation was launched. Today, cultural exchanges between the national masters of classical music and the symphonic orchestras of the two countries have become traditional. Numerous events, including cinema weeks and an international conference dedicated to the 600th anniversary of the great Tajik Persian poet, scholar, and thinker Mavlono Abdurakhman Jami, were held within the framework of the fruitful cooperation. Days of Tajik Culture is another significant event that further strengthens the Azerbaijani-Tajik cooperation. In 2007, the Days of Culture of Tajikistan were successfully held in the cities of Baku and Ganja, while the Days of Azerbaijani Culture were held in Dushanbe in 2008. This annual event showcases the vibrant cultural heritage of Tajikistan through exhibitions, performances, and other projects. Days of Culture of Tajikistan 2024 have been declared open in Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku. The guests of the ceremony viewed an exhibition of paintings by Tajik artists, samples of folk crafts, and got acquainted with the traditional costumes and cuisine of Tajikistan. Speaking at the ceremony, Azerbaijan Culture Minister Adil Karimli noted that he is sincerely glad to welcome all participants of this evening with the grand opening of the Days of Tajik Culture in Azerbaijan. "We are confident that holding the Days of Tajik Culture in Azerbaijan is a significant event for all art connoisseurs. For centuries, strong ties have existed between Azerbaijan and Tajikistan, based on historical, cultural, and spiritual ties. These ties continue to create unique prospects for cultural exchange and joint initiatives. A special role in the development of bilateral cooperation is played by friendly relations between the heads of our states - the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon," the minister said. Noting the active cooperation of the two countries in both bilateral and multilateral formats, the Culture Minister emphasised that events dedicated to outstanding representatives of culture are organised at the bilateral level, as well as the exchange of experience and translation of literary works from Azerbaijani into Tajik and from Tajik into Azerbaijani. In Tajikistan, the work of the great Azerbaijani poet Nizami Ganjavi, whose works are included in the school curriculum, is highly respected. "I am very glad to see in the exhibition the outstanding creation of the wonderful Azerbaijani sculptor Fuad Abdurakhmanov, created in 1964. I would also like to note the importance of strengthening cooperation between the two countries within the framework of international organizations," he added. Adil Karimli said that Tajikistan Culture Days are organized in Baku and Ganja, which makes it possible for the general public to become familiar with the ancient history, rich culture, traditions, and spiritual values of the fraternal Tajik people. He stressed that multiple events will be organized within the Days of Tajik Days, including the closing gala concert at Ganja State Philharmonic Hall. Tajikistan Culture Minister Matluba Sattoriyon welcomed the participants of the opening ceremony on behalf of cultural figures of Tajikistan. "Taking advantage of this pleasant opportunity, first of all I want to say that thanks to the support of the governments and leaders of our two states, the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon and the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, our bilateral relations are developing year after year, especially cooperation in the field of culture," the minister said. "Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, Tajik-Azerbaijani cooperation has traditionally been built in line with a mutually beneficial and equal partnership and, in general, has successfully developed in political, trade, economic, humanitarian and other fields. It is noteworthy that it is in the sphere of culture that the ties between Tajikistan and Azerbaijan are becoming more noticeable, broader and closer. Tajikistan and Azerbaijan have carried out quite intensive cultural exchanges in recent years," she added. In her speech, Matlubakhon Sattoriyon touched upon the legacy of the Azerbaijani philosopher and poet Nizami Ganjavi: "A striking example of strong cultural ties between our peoples is Nizami Ganjavi, the great Azerbaijani sage, poet and outstanding philosopher of the 12th-13th centuries, whose name both Tajiks and Azerbaijanis are proud of. Nizami's Khamsa, that is, his five dastans, is an excellent example of literature. In Tajikistan, the original national culture of the Azerbaijani people, famous for its ethnic uniqueness, is well known, loved and appreciated." "Over many centuries, the Azerbaijani people have created a rich, diverse traditional culture and achieved enormous creative success. It is worth noting that holding Days of Culture is a great holiday that decorates the cultural heritage of our peoples. Of course, Culture Days promote friendship between our countries. Let me once again express our gratitude for the opportunity to introduce the noble Azerbaijani people to the culture and art of Tajikistan." Tajikistan Culture Minister said that Days of Tajik Culture features vibrant concerts, an exhibition of artists and craftsmen, film screenings and display of national costumes, which provide insight into the history, culture and customs of the Tajik people. In conclusion, Matlubakhon Sattoriyon expressed her gratitude to the Azerbaijani government and Azerbaijan Culture Ministry on behalf of the Tajikistan Culture Ministry for their support, showing sincere respect for the people of Tajikistan. The event was followed by a colorful show with the participation of masters of art from Tajikistan. The musical and dance numbers presented by Tajik performers were met with a storm of applause. The Days of Tajik Culture in Azerbaijan will end on May 23. ---- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @lmntypewriterrr Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2024 20:37 (UTC+04:00) On May 21, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Jeyhun Bayramov, met with the newly appointed ambassador of Italy to our country, Luca Di Gianfrancesco. Azernews reports, citing the Foreign Ministry that at the meeting, the minister presented a copy of the ambassador's credentials to Jeyhun Bayramov. Congratulating the ambassador on his appointment, Jeyhun Bayramov wished him success in his career. At the meeting, the issues arising from the multidimensional strategic partnership relations between the two countries, as well as the current regional situation, were discussed. The parties emphasized that intensive contacts between heads of state, government representatives and parliaments play an important role in the development of strategic relations. Various fields, including economy, trade, energy security, communications, humanitarian, education, etc. the importance of using the mechanisms of strategic dialogue and political consultations was emphasized in terms of the discussion of the perspectives of multilateral cooperation. In particular, the role of the Intergovernmental Commission on economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Italy was mentioned. It was brought to attention that the Italian-Azerbaijani University will give an additional impetus to the expanding cooperation in the field of education. Jeyhun Bayramov informed the other party in detail about the current situation and realities in the region during the post-conflict period, the large-scale restoration and construction works carried out in the territories freed from occupation, as well as the normalization process between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The contribution of Italian companies to the reconstruction efforts was noted with satisfaction. The issue of mine threat in our country has been brought to attention, and the possibilities of cooperation in the field of demining activities have been assessed. Talking about the preparations for the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), as well as the negotiation process, Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said that we would be pleased to cooperate with Italy within the framework of our chairmanship of COP29. Luca Di Canfrancesco, who expressed his satisfaction with the appointment of an ambassador to our country, noted that he will work towards the development of existing multidimensional strategic partnership relations during his tenure. During the meeting, opinions were also exchanged on other issues of mutual interest. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2024 09:00 (UTC+04:00) Turkiye will observe a day of national mourning over the death of Iran's Ebrahim Raisi, the country's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after his late counterpart lost his life in a helicopter crash, Anadolu Agency reports. "We have decided to declare one day of national mourning over President Raisi's passing," Erdogan said after a Cabinet meeting at the presidential complex in the capital Ankara. Noting Turkiye's role in search and rescue efforts for Raisi after news emerged that a helicopter he was on crashed in northwestern Iran, Erdogan said: "A Bayraktar Akinci UAV conducted 7.5 hours of search and scanning activities in the region despite the difficult weather conditions and flew a total of 2,100 kilometers (1,305 miles)," he added, referring to Turkiye's domestically manufactured unmanned aerial vehicle. After Raisi's helicopter crashed, Turkiye's National Defense Ministry assigned the Akinci UAV and a Cougar-type helicopter with night vision capabilities to help in search activities. Raisi was returning from the inauguration ceremony of a dam on the Iran-Azerbaijan border on Sunday when the crash took place, according to Iranian state broadcasters. The crash also resulted in the deaths of Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, as well as that of Malik Rahmeti, the governor of East Azerbaijan province, and Imam Ayatollah Ali Hashim of Tabriz province. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2024 21:24 (UTC+04:00) By Alimat Aliyeva Google plans to spend 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) to expand its main data center in Finland to facilitate the transition to green energy, Azernews reports. As a result of the expansion measures, the number of employees will increase to 500 this year and next. The center is located in the city of Hamina on the southern coast of the country. The region offers good opportunities in the field of renewable energy. The tech giant has also signed a joint project with a local utility company to use excess heat generated during operation to heat homes in the area. This technology, called central heating, is already available in some parts of Northern Europe. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2024 21:50 (UTC+04:00) By Alimat Aliyeva The situation in the Taiwan Strait is complicated and serious because of the local administration of the island in the person of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which promotes the ideas of Taiwan independence. This was stated by Chen Binhua, the official representative of the Office of Taiwan Affairs at the State Council of the People's Republic of China, commenting on the inauguration of the head of the administration of Lai Qingde Island, Azernews reports. "The current situation in the Taiwan Strait is complex and serious," he said. "The main reason for this is that the DPP stubbornly adheres to a divisive position [focused] on Taiwan's independence and refuses to recognize the 1992 consensus embodying the principle of one China," Chen Binhua said. The will of the Chinese authorities to resolve the Taiwan issue and complete national reunification is as firm as a rock, the official representative of the office said. "Our will to resolve the Taiwan issue and complete national reunification is rock solid, our ability to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity is unshakeable, and our actions against Taiwan independence and foreign interference are resolute," Chen Binhua said. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 21 May 2024 22:16 (UTC+04:00) By Alimat Aliyeva The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has launched an appeal to raise $5.5 billion to combat the effects of drought, Azernews reports. "The summit noted that the impact of the El Nino climate phenomenon has led to droughts and floods. The summit issued a regional humanitarian appeal to raise at least $5.5 billion to increase the capacity of SADC member countries to respond to the challenges of El Nino," the publication says. The meeting participants also reviewed the latest data on the climate in the region and its impact on socio-economic development, including the prices of essential products, calling on the organization's member countries to create favorable conditions for food producers to ensure a supply of grain and vegetables. According to community experts, the consequences of the natural phenomenon of El Nino have negatively affected the lives of 61 million people. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Pedestrians walk past buildings with broken windows downtown as they return to work on Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. The city closed off certain streets this week as glass continued to fall from cracking windows in the wake of last week's powerful storm. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Workers clean out shattered glass at the Wells Fargo building as clean up from last weeks storm continues downtown on Monday, May 20, 2024 in Houston. The city closed off streets in a six-block exclusion zone downtown, from McKinney to Polk and from Smith to Travis to ease traffic around the area where broken glass and debris are prevalent. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Daniel Valdez places a fresh bag of ice in a cooler he brought from his apartment as volunteers at the Memorial Assistance Ministries distributed water and ice last Saturday in Houston after last Thursdays destructive thunderstorms. Jason Fochtman/Staff photographer Emilia Kobina, left, and Denise Kobina stand near a fallen transmission line tower along the US 290 feeder road as they walk Emiliaa dog, Zaid, in the aftermath of a severe storm on Friday, May 17, 2024 in Houston. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Noel Avila, in blue, helps tree removal servicemen as they are removing a tree that fell and hit his trailer, broke his ceiling and wall following the storms last week Monday, May 20, 2024 in Channelview. Avila and his family of five are staying at a hotel due to the damages of the house. They was going to host a birthday party to celebrate his sons first birthday at home on the coming Saturday, but now they will not. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer More than 72,000 CenterPoint customers in the greater Houston area are grappling with power outages after severe storms brought strong winds and flooding to the region last week. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The company has restored power to 90% of the more than 900,000 customers that were left without power after the storms. Each customer can refer to more than one person and can include residences like apartment units or buildings. Advertisement Article continues below this ad CenterPoint officials estimate the company should be "substantially complete with its restoration efforts" by Wednesday evening. However, repairs to areas or homes with substantial damage or customer-owned equipment will continue. "In some of the hardest-hit areas, restoration efforts will extend into the weekend," said Senior Vice President of Electric Business Lynnae Wilson in an earlier news release. "We will continue to work well beyond Wednesday to replace temporary repairs with permanent infrastructure." Additional downtown streets and sidewalks will be closed as window repairs continue following Thursday's devastating derecho storm, the Houston Downtown Management District said late Tuesday. The management district attributed the expanded closures to changing wind conditions and ongoing work. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The updated road closures are: Smith from Clay to Pease Louisiana from Pease to Clay and from Polk to McKinney Dallas from Smith to Milam Lamar from Fannin to Smith McKinney from Smith to Louisiana Milam from McKinney to Lamar Bell from Milam to Smith Travis from Dallas to McKinney Travis from Franklin to Commerce The management district and Mayor John Whitmire were urging non-essential personnel whose offices are in these areas to work remotely from Wednesday through the Memorial Day weekend. The list of Cypress-Fairbanks ISD schools unable to open has been cut in half, as more power has been restored in the area. The list of schools not opening is: Advertisement Article continues below this ad Cypress Park High School Holbrook Elementary School Labay Middle School Lowery Elementary School Rowe Middle School Twenty-three schools in HSD are still without power and will remain closed Wednesday. The schools that will remain closed are: Benbrook ES Black MS Browning ES Burrus ES East Early College HS Field ES Forest Brook MS Furr HS Harper DAEP Harris RP ES Harvard ES Janowski ES Marshall MS Monroe MS North Houston EC HS Northline ES Robinson ES Roosevelt ES Secondary DAEP Sinclair ES Sugar Grove MS White M ES Whittier ES HISD said it is doing everything possible to ensure students are comfortable, including buying 120 chillers and renting 290 additional units. Schools that are closed will distribute food and learning packets from 7 and 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The Texas Department of Transportation said it has restored all of the traffic signals it maintains in the Houston area. Crews have shifted to helping other agencies, such as Houston and Harris County, restoring their remaining signals. Although many Harris County residents experienced cellular and internet disruptions during and after last weeks surprise storm, company officials described the damage to their systems as modest, with service being up and running in most areas within a day or two. Those living closer to Houstons urban core, they said, generally were more likely to have retained service thanks to overlapping cell coverage from a greater concentration of towers and other facilities. Most disruptions, they said, were caused by power outages rather than tower destruction. Verizon also places some of its cell equipment on CenterPoint transmission towers. STORM'S EFFECT ON SERVICE: Houston's deadly storm disrupted cell service and WiFi for days The unexpectedness of the storm presented a brief setback. With large events such as hurricanes, the larger cellular companies typically pre-position emergency equipment in the path to expedite its response, said Dwayne Moore, associate director of AT&Ts Network Disaster Recovery. Last weeks winds caught everyone by surprise, however, leaving company officials no time to stage, he said. Still, We restored nearly half of affected cell sites by Friday within 24 hours, and by Monday end-of-day we were operating at 99% of normal, said Andrea Huguely, an AT&T spokeswoman. Guillermo Salinas, Verizons director of Network Performance and a Cypress resident, said only a small number of the providers sites had been affected by the storm. Half were repaired by Friday afternoon, with most of the rest up and running by the following morning. Our network did really well, he said. But some areas reported lingering problems. Learn more in this article about why Houstons deadly storm disrupted cell service for days. Spring Branch ISD, which has remained closed since Thursday nights severe storm, announced Tuesday that it would be able to open all but four campuses for class Wednesday. The four campuses that would remain closed are: Tiger Trail School, Housman Elementary, Hunters Creek Elementary and Westwood Elementary. Additionally, Panda Path Pre-K will be open, but held at Hollibrook Elementary School instead of its regular location. Power has been restored and all systems are operational for all but a few SBISD campuses as of noon today, wrote Spring Branch ISD officials in their message to families. The district had been closed for three school days since Thursday, two of which the district has requested an exemption from the Texas Education Agency. Spring Branch was one of the hardest hit areas of Houston by Thursdays severe storm, causing widespread outages throughout the school district, as temperatures rose above 90 early this week. Officials noted that there could be traffic delays getting to and from schools tomorrow, as some traffic lights are still non-operational in the area and the district is seeing some staffing shortages, according to the announcement to families. The list of closed campuses could shrink, though, if they receive power by 4 p.m. Tuesday, in which case the district would communicate directly with affected families, officials said. The Spring Branch administration thanked its community members who have shown grace, patience and understanding as we have worked through this unforeseen weather disaster. Some 48,000 Texans have applied for disaster relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which already has doled out more than $1 million for a slew of relief programs, including money for relocation expenses, damages and other storm-related costs. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell was in Houston on Tuesday to tour damage from the windstorm that swept across the region, and discussed FEMAs efforts, such as setting up two disaster centers at the Spring Branch Family Development Center and the Fonde Community Center, where affected residents can apply. Its really important that we get everyone registered, Criswell said. We know everyones situation is unique and specific to them. Let us help you figure out which of our programs you may be eligible for to help you get the necessary aid as your community, you and your family continue to recover. Elected officials from both parties and all levels of government attended the news conference, emphasizing they are working cohesively to respond to the storms aftermath. Mayor John Whitmire and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, his former rival in last years mayoral race, exchanged a hug at the podium after the congresswomans remarks. Ive never seen such unprecedented cooperation at every level of government, and thats how it should be, Whitmire said. FEMA has 400 people on the ground, helping to process applications and knock on doors to help residents get relief. Criswell said the turn-around time on applications depends on each individual person. Residents affected by the storm in Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, Polk, San Jacinto, Trinity and Walker counties are eligible for relief. Applications are available at disasterassistance.gov, by calling 800-621-3362 or by visiting one of the physical sites. Disaster Survivor Assistance crews will be in Spring Branch and the Fonde Community Center from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Sunday, to help residents register. Houstonians should be on the lookout for potential scams in the aftermath of Thursdays severe storm, official warn. Scammers could target storm-affected people to get money or personal information. Some scams involve impersonating representatives of organizations such as FEMA, or CenterPoint Energy the company currently working to restore power after nearly a million customers lost electricity during the storm. Learn more in our article about how to identify and avoid potential scams. Cypress-Fairbanks ISD said Monday afternoon on X, formerly Twitter, that it is waiving final exams for seniors. The district said any senior needing to take the final exam to improve their overall grade average can contact their schools director of instruction. Exams for students in grades 9 through 11 will continue as scheduled the week of May 28. The Spring Branch Boys & Girls Club on Tuesday morning was a familiar sight for Houstonians who have faced more than their share of disasters. By 10 a.m. around 100 people were lined up outside with strollers, umbrellas and empty carts, waiting to pick up water, ice and boxes of food. Others waited in a seemingly endless line of cars as volunteers and county staffers packed up their trunks with supplies. H-E-B partners were on site coordinating meals. Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones stayed on the move, speaking with people waiting in line and checking whether the FEMA representatives registering people for assistance spoke Spanish or needed translators. Impacted residents looked on as FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell toured the site with Briones and Mayor John Whitmire, then walked across the street to view a damaged apartment complex. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo will be bringing FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell on a tour Tuesday morning of Sinclair Elementary School. County officials say it is one of the most impacted areas following last week's storms. Sinclair Elementary is one of the schools in Houston ISD that sustained the most damage along with Pugh, Robinson and Paige elementaries. CenterPoint crews continued working to restore electricity to more than 140,000 customers Tuesday morning, five days after the severe storm swept through Houston leaving widespread damage and power outages. There were 143,323 CenterPoint customers still without electricity as of 9:40 a.m. Tuesday, the company reported. More than 197,000 had their power restored in the previous 24 hours. By Monday evening, CenterPoint Energy had restored power to 85% of its customers affected by Thursday's derecho storm that left more than 900,000 people in the dark. During a news conference on Sunday, officials said they expected to have full restoration to customers who could receive power by end of day Wednesday. The city of Houston has set up 50 cooling centers Tuesday as residents continue to deal with the fallout of last weeks storms. The cooling centers are located throughout the city and feature different opening hours. There are also other cooling centers run by other groups working Tuesday, including the Harris County Library system. For more on open shelters, visit our full list here. On Tuesday, Houston continued to deal with issues surrounding power outages due to last weeks storms. Although METRO Houston resumed services on Monday, some routes remained suspended. Officials ask riders to plan for any potential delays and allow for extra travel time as they worked to get services back up and running. In a post on Facebook, officials updated METRO Houstons Tuesday route schedule: Park & Ride: Only METRO Park and Ride routes that travel to the Texas Medical Center will operate on Tuesday. All other Park and Ride routes will be suspended Tuesday Regular local bus, METROLift, METRORapid and curb2curb service will be offered Routes still affected by the outage include: METRO HOV/HOT lanes: The 290 HOV/HOT lane will remain closed Tuesday due to area signal/power outages (All traffic/routes will use the freeway main lanes and all other METRO-operated HOV/HOT lanes will be open) Due to storm recovery work, the following roads downtown are closed to all traffic: Louisiana, Milam and Travis are closed from McKinney to Polk METRORail: Due to power outages, bus shuttles continue to serve the METRORail Red Line from Burnett TC to Northline TC. The Purple and Green lines have regular service. FEMA has set up in-person locations in Harris County for Houstonians looking for assistance applying for help from the agency and learning more about their potential opportunities. The Disaster Survivor Assistance crews have set up at Fonde Community Center at 110 Sabine St and Spring Branch Family Development Center at 8575 Pitner Road. The community centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day starting Tuesday. DISASTER ASSISTANCE: How Houston residents and businesses can apply People can also apply for assistance online at DisasterAssistance.gov or on the phone between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. at 800-621-3362. People in Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, Polk, San Jacinto, Trinity and Walker counties are potentially eligible for assistance. Additionally, the U.S. Small Business Administration is offering loans to people and business in Texas that have been impacted by the weather events over the past month, including last weeks derecho. Learn more on the SBA website. The rest of the week will bring heat and dry weather with some breezes, but the wind from the south will bring more humidity into Bayou City, leading to the highest feels like temperatures so far this year. Afternoon highs will be a few degrees above our normal of 88 degrees, with heat index readings reaching 100 degrees or hotter each afternoon. On Tuesday, Houston will face a moderate threat level, but it is expected to be higher later this week. Cooling centers across the city will remain open during the day and at night for the rest of the week. Learn more about Houstons weather forecast here. Houston ISD added Marshall Middle School and Hamilton Middle School to its closure list, totaling 38 closures on Tuesday. HISD said on Monday that it is working with CenterPoint to get power on and air conditioning running at all schools. Several Houston area school districts are working to open some of their campuses after losing power during a storm in Texas last week. However, some have announced their campuses remained closed Tuesday morning: Houston Independent School District 36 campuses. Search this database of campus closures. Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District Spring Branch Independent School District Channelview Independent School District Galena Park Independent School District YES Prep Public Schools all schools open except for Fifth Ward Secondary and Northbrook Middle and High School Houston Community College all facilities open except for the Automotive Technology Training Center CenterPoint posted information on its website about recognizing and preventing utility bill scams. There were 144,911 CenterPoint customers still without electricity as of 6 a.m. Tuesday, the company reported. More than 201,000 had their power restored in the previous 24 hours. Morgan Metoyer, a city of Houston parking ticket officer, prepares to place a ticket on the windshield of a car parked in downtown Houston on lower Westheimer. Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle Searching for parking can be a hassle in Houston, whether using private or public parking. This can be especially tough during downtown events, or in neighborhoods where businesses don't have much parking. Using city-run parking through ParkHouston if often the cheapest option, as the price ranges by the hour and is usually on the street. But, if you don't keep an eye on the clock, you could return to your car to find a parking ticket on your windshield. The Chronicle talked with Maria Irshad, City of Houston deputy director for ParkHouston, about how city parking works and what can happen if you have an unpaid parking ticket. Advertisement Article continues below this ad What is ParkHouston? ParkHouston is a parking entity managed by the City of Houston that manages all on-street paid parking spaces and 19 parking lots. It allows drivers to park safely at a lower cost using ParkHouston meters or the ParkMobile app depending on location. Where can I find Houston parking? When in downtown, Midtown or other city areas, ParkHouston has visible signs on each block that gives you information about whether you are allowed to park there. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The City of Houston has 19 paid parking lots along with the paid on-street parking. Irshad said officers are making rounds but recommends to not leave anything in the open or to take valuables with you to prevent theft. How do you pay for parking in downtown Houston? When using a ParkHouston meter, you can pay with your credit card, cash or pay via ParkHoustons app. Type in your license plate number on the meter or app to pay to park and then go about your day. ParkHoustons app allows you to add time on your stay as needed. If your app alerts you that your time is running out on your phone, you have the option to add more time at an added cost. Irshad said typically you will only see one meter on each block and after you pay its not required to put your ticket/receipt on your dashboard due to it being in the system. Advertisement Article continues below this ad When isnt Houston street parking allowed? Irshad said downtown Houston parking is restricted in some places from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. as commuters come into the city to allow them to get to work easily. Some mobility lanes may also say no parking from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. to clear for the afternoon rush. The majority of ParkHouston meters run Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Irshad said if you dont see a no parking symbol on the street you still should go look at the meter to see what the hours of operation are. The hours can be different in certain areas. For instance, meters may stay on later than 6 p.m. in areas such as Washington and Midtown. Irshad said if you see a red bag over the meter, it means there's no parking allowed, which usually happens for large events. What I like to tell people when they come, if youre coming for a big event downtown and you find parking thats too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true, dont take a chance, she said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad When is it free to park on Houston streets? Houston street parking is free after hours of operations, which can be found on street signage. After hours, the meter will turn off and the ParkHouston app will no longer require you to pay. What happens if I get a parking ticket? If you run over your parking time or fail to pay for on-street parking, you may come back to your car decorated with a with a parking citation that ranges from $25 to $300 depending on the violation. Parking citations are civil citation, so there are no arrest warrants, or anything associated with parking tickets, said Irshad. You wont get arrested; you wont have to go to traffic court. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Although citations are civil, Irshad said that tickets can wind up becoming costly. When you receive a citation, you have 30 days to pay online, by mail, phone or in person. By day 31, if the ticket is still unpaid it will be considred delinquent and you will receive a $25 late fee. By day 90 if its still unpaid, it will be sent to a collection agency another 30% fee will be added. Your vehicle could be booted or towed Irshad said if you have more than three delinquent parking citations or one delinquent citation in an accessible spot without valid placard, your car could be booted or towed. Once the vehicle is booted the city gives the customer up to 72 hours to resolve the issue before it is towed away. To remove your boot, you can go to HOU.MYBOOTINFO.COM or call 833-552-0380 to make a payment by plate number. After you receive a release code to remove your boot, return the boot to one of the designated locations. Can I fight my parking ticket? It is possible to fight a parking citation, Irshad said. Every customer has the right to contest the citation they received if they feel if it was unwarranted or unfair, they have a right to go see a hearing officer. The city of Houston gives you 30 calendar days to contest your citation online to enter a statement to be reviewed by a hearing officer that allows you to give your explanation and add pictures. Customers can also do walk-ins at the courthouse at 1400 Lubbock, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. HOUSTON PUBLIC POOLS: How much they cost and when they open, from Katy to Baytown Surviving Houston parking scams Irshad said drivers should watch out for people posing as parking attendants and taking payments at private lots. She said paid parking lots are required to put up signs that give you instructions on where to pay, how to pay or who to pay. Just because someone is sitting there with a safety vest on, dont assume they are actually working for that private parking operator, she said. Look for the logo of the parking lot. 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. Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare has submitted its third application to build a medical facility in Hanover County, Va., according to a May 18 report from the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Last year, the Virginia State Health Commissioner denied HCA's application to build a $234 million hospital and an emergency room. HCA has now submitted a certificate of public need for a $21 million outpatient surgery center but is being met with pushback for the third time by rival health system Bon Secours. Marriottsville, Md.-based Bon Secours believes a new Virginia facility would be "an undeniable play to expand HCAs footprint north of the James River," and would take patients away from Bon Secours nearby hospital, Memorial Regional Medical Center. Both health systems have tried to build facilities in Hanover. The Virginia Department of Health is expected to issue an opinion to HCA next week. If the state approves the plan, HCA subsidiary Middle Virginia Surgicenter will build a three-room ASC. Instead of building new operating rooms, HCA would move them from Retreat Doctors Hospital and Henrico Doctors Hospital. Bon Secours has accused HCA of simply trying to take away market share from its existing hospital in the area. The health department will consider Bon Secours' stance and consider if the new ASC would hurt any existing facilities when making its decision, according to the report. "Bon Secours distaste for that fact, however, does not make it untrue," Thomas Stallings, a lawyer for HCA, told the Times. "Bon Secours criticisms of Middle Virginia Surgicenters projections are meritless." The Texas Medical Board's disciplinary panel has suspended a physician's license for alleged misconduct. The Texas Medical Boards disciplinary panel deemed Willard James Davis, DO, "a continuing threat to public welfare" after finding evidence he was working impaired at St. Davids Georgetown (Texas) Hospital, according to data on the board's website. The board also alleged that he engaged in inappropriate behavior with a patient while working in the emergency department at Medical Center Hospital in Odessa, Texas, according to the report. "The last time Dr. Will Davis worked at any St. Davids HealthCare facility was on January 24, 2024 at St. Davids Georgetown Hospital. He is no longer providing medical services at any of our facilities," St. David's HealthCare said in a statement shared with KVUE. The suspension will remain in place until the board takes further action. Here are five of the latest government updates affecting the field of gastroenterology, as reported by Becker's since March 6: 1. After being passed in the Illinois House of Representatives, the Illinois Senate unanimously passed a bill that will require insurance companies in the state to cover all colonoscopies deemed medically necessary. The Senate made a slight amendment to the bill, changing the effective date from 2025 to 2026. As a result, the bill is going back to the House for an additional vote. 2. Life sciences company Geneoscopy received FDA approval for its noninvasive colorectal cancer screening test. ColoSense is the first noninvasive colorectal cancer screening test to offer a view of disease activity through RNA biomarkers. 3. Ambu earned FDA clearance for its aScope Gastro Large and Ambu aBox 2, a gastroscope designed for acute therapeutic procedures in the ICU. 4. The White House declared March as National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month to recognize cancer survivors, caregivers and their loved ones and raise awareness about the growing rates of CRC. 5. Pennsylvania state Reps. Pat Gallagher, Tarik Khan and Perry Warren are planning to introduce legislation that would update the state's Insurance Company Law to change the age when colorectal cancer screenings are covered from 50 to 45, to be in line with the American Cancer Society's recommended age of 45 for when people of average risk should begin screening for colorectal cancer. The Alabama Department of Public Healths Cancer Prevention and Control Division has awarded two University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Surgery professors a $120,000 grant to continue a free colorectal cancer screening project. Gastroenterology and hepatology professors Robert Hollis, MD, and Patricia Ajayi-Fox, MD, will lead the project in its second consecutive year, according to a May 21 press release. Through the end of September 2024, the grant will provide colonoscopy screenings for low-income and under- and uninsured residents of Jefferson County, Ala. The project's goal is to reduce health disparities in colonoscopy screening and colorectal cancer outcomes. During the 2022 and 2023 cycle, the project provided nearly 100 colonoscopies for low-income, under- or uninsured individuals who predominately came from minority backgrounds. Of those procedures, one-half identified and removed colon polyps and three early-stage cancers were identified and successfully treated. The effort is conducted as a partnership with Cooper Green Mercy Health Services Authority, an affiliate of the UAB Health System, and other local federally qualified health center clinics. The colonoscopies are provided at The Kirklin Clinic by UAB colorectal surgeons and gastroenterologists. In conjunction with UAB Medicine and the Jefferson County Commission, Cooper Green is set to open a new facility in late 2024. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago said it is "no longer addressing an active cybersecurity matter" after a cyberattack disrupted the hospital's operations earlier this year. Lurie Children's said May 20 that all of its patient-facing systems have been reactivated and it continues to update MyChart with information on visits that occurred while the network was down. "Thank you to our patient-families and community for their ongoing support and patience as we have responded to this incident," the hospital said in a statement. "We look forward to continuing to care for our patient-families, accelerate cutting-edge research discoveries, and work with community partners to advance health equity for youth and their families, just as we have always done." Lurie Children's took its internet, phones and MyChart offline after a Jan. 31 cyberattack. A ransomware group later claimed responsibility for the hack and said it sold Lurie patient data on the dark web for $3.4 million. The hospital has not confirmed what, if any, data was stolen, only saying that "investigations of this nature take time to complete, and we are unable to provide a definitive timeline." Jeremy Bradshaw was appointed president of CommonSpirit Health's Greater Salt Lake Market. Effective June 17, Mr. Bradshaw will provide strategic and operational leadership for the five CommonSpirit Holy Cross hospitals in northern Utah, and he will manage future market growth in the state, according to a health system news release. Mr. Bradshaw joins CommonSpirit from MountainStar Healthcare, a division of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, according to the release. He has served as CEO of St. Mark's Hospital in Salt Lake City. He also previously helmed MountainView Hospital in Las Vegas, according to the release. CommonSpirit, based in Chicago, operates 162 hospitals and more than 2,250 care sites in 24 states. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, center, visits damaged apartment complex on 8500 block Pitner Road with Houston Mayor John Whitmire, to her right, and Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones, to her left, Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at Spring Branch in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, right, visits damaged apartment complex on 8500 block Pitner Road with Houston Mayor John Whitmire, second right, Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at Spring Branch in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer A family, whose apartment is not damaged but doesnt have power, comes out to watch FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell visiting damaged apartment complex on 8500 block Pitner Road Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at Spring Branch in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer A resident of a damaged apartment complex on 8500 block Pitner Road looks out from her balcony while FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell visits the apartment complex with local officials Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at Spring Branch in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer A kid bikes home with received water, ice and snacks at the damaged apartment complex on 8500 block Pitner Road Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at Spring Branch in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, center, visits damaged apartment complex on 8500 block Pitner Road with Houston Mayor John Whitmire, right, Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at Spring Branch in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer Houston Mayor John Whitmire hosts a press conference with local elected officials and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell regarding to recovery and assistance after last weeks storms Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at Fonde Community Center in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer Houston Mayor John Whitmire looks at U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, as she is speaking during a press conference regarding to recovery and assistance from last weeks storms Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at Fonde Community Center in Houston. Whitmire and Jackson Lee competed in the mayoral race in last years election. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, from right, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo pass a small fan among each other to cool down in the heat while they visit Sinclair Elementary School Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at Timbergrove in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell visited Houston on Tuesday to survey damage from last week's windstorm, touring debris-strewn neighborhoods and helping to set up sites where residents can apply for financial relief. Some 48,000 Texans already have registered for help, and FEMA has distributed about $1 million to residents affected by the storm, with programs to help pay for relocation expenses, damages and other storm-related costs. The storm killed at least eight people and led to widespread and debris and power outages. As of Tuesday afternoon, around 120,000 people remained without electricity. Dozens of schools in the Houston region remained closed, unable to provide electricity, air conditioning and food service. Advertisement Article continues below this ad "Its really important that we get everyone registered," Criswell said. "We know everyones situation is unique and specific to them. Let us help you figure out which of our programs you may be eligible for to help you get the necessary aid as your community, you and your family continue to recover." Criswell joined Mayor John Whitmire in the morning to tour Spring Branch, a community that bore some of the storm's more severe damage. She also joined Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo at Sinclair Elementary, where 45 trees fell, striking the building's gym and mobile schools, Hidalgo said. Elected officials from both parties and all levels of government were on hand to welcome Criswell, including Whitmire and Hidalgo. Whitmire, who shared a hug with his former rival in last year's mayoral race, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat, at the news conference, emphasized officials were working across party and governmental lines to respond to the storm. U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, a Republican, echoed that sentiment. Advertisement Article continues below this ad "I've never seen such unprecedented cooperation at every level of government, and that's how it should be," the mayor said. FEMA has created in-person locations in Harris County for Houstonians looking for assistance applying for help from the agency and learning more about their potential opportunities. The agency's Disaster Survivor Assistance crews have set up at Fonde Community Center at 110 Sabine Street and Spring Branch Family Development Center at 8575 Pitner Road. The community centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day starting Tuesday. People can also apply for assistance online at DisasterAssistance.gov or call 1-800-621-3362 between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. People in Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, Polk, San Jacinto, Trinity and Walker counties are all potentially eligible for assistance. The deadline to apply is July 16. "This was by no means guaranteed," Hidalgo said of the federal aid. Advertisement Article continues below this ad FEMA has 400 people on the ground, helping to process applications and knock on doors to help residents get relief. Criswell said the turnaround time on applications depends on each individual person. Two benefits from FEMA include the Serious Needs Assistance and Displacement Assistance programs. The first provides $750 for emergency supplies. The second provides money to help with housing. The U.S. Small Business Administration is also offering loans to people and businesses in Texas that have been impacted by the weather events over the past month, including last weeks derecho. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Businesses are eligible to receive up to $2 million in loans, while individuals can receive up to $500,000 in funds for damaged or destroyed real estate and $100,000 for damaged or destroyed personal property. McDonough District Hospital in Macomb, Ill., has named Bill Murdock president and CEO, effective immediately, after a unanimous vote from the hospital's board of directors. Mr. Murdock had served as the hospital's interim president and CEO since December, according to a McDonough District Hospital May 20 news release. Prior to his new role, Mr. Murdock served as the hospital's vice president and chief financial officer. A final recommendation was made during an administrative committee meeting to forego the search for a new president and CEO and to appoint Mr. Murdock in the role permanently. The administrative committee is made up of three board members and the president of the McDonough District Hospital Medical Group. "The committee met with MDH staff members, hospital administration, non-MDH employed medical staff members with hospital privileges, and received feedback from community members before making their final recommendation," the release said. Columbus-based OhioHealth is heading back to high school to combat ongoing healthcare staffing issues and recruit future workers. "OhioHealth is working to create a pipeline of workers, starting at the high school level, to help cover the staffing gaps," Mindy Sanford, senior advisor for workforce development, partnerships and programs, said in a statement shared with Becker's. Work-Based Learning, a formal program through the Ohio Department of Education, targets high school seniors. Students in the program are in school for half of their time and spend the other half working as paid intern positions, which applies toward graduation requirements. OhioHealth changed its hiring policy in early 2023 for specific roles to include people ages 16 to 17 years old. The patient support assistant role, a pre-nursing role, is aligned with the Work-Based Learning program that state schools offer. OhioHealth has hired 22 students from two Ohio schools for paid PSA-intern positions. The students were required to meet specific qualifications from their schools and had to apply, interview and be selected for the program. They were then placed at three OhioHealth hospitals: Dublin (Ohio) Methodist, Doctors Hospital in Columbus and Grove City (Ohio) Methodist. "The benefit of the program is that the student is surrounded by resources through the school, their on-site mentor and someone who oversees the program for OhioHealth," Ms. Sanford said. "Collectively they have worked over 10,000 hours their senior year. All are getting ready to graduate from high school and have applied for nursing school." Once graduated from high school, the students have the opportunity to stay at OhioHealth while they go to college and could also qualify for up to $5,250 a year in tuition benefits. When the students graduate from college and pass the board exam, they have the option to begin a nursing role. OhioHealth has plans to expand to other area schools in 2025 and grow its pharmacy tech trainee positions, which have employed six students in the role since January. CMS will now allow patients to directly file Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act complaints with the federal government. The agency launched a web portal May 21 to inform patients about their right to emergency care. The website also includes an option for patients who believe they have been denied care to submit a complaint. The new process aims to simplify reporting and expedite the government's ability to investigate complaints, White House officials told The Washington Post. Historically, patient complaints were first funneled through state health agencies. "If an individual believes their EMTALA rights have been violated, it is important that they can easily file a complaint," CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in a May 21 news release. "We want to make sure that everyone knows their rights and can take action to help make sure the health care system is safe for everyone." The change comes amid ongoing legal questions about how EMTALA applies to abortion access. On April 24, the Supreme Court heard arguments about whether EMTALA preempts Idaho's abortion ban in certain emergency circumstances. The court is expected to issue a ruling in the case by this summer. Running my creative agency has really helped my bipolar disorder, says Belfast founder Mel Carroll talks to James McNaney about how a life-long love of illustration has led him to set up his own business UsFolk illustrators Jamie Beard, Thomas Bannon, Fiona McDonnell, Mel Carroll, Martina Scott and Danni Gowdy. Front row (l-r) Conor McClure, Zippy, and Holly Szczypka James McNaney Tue 21 May 2024 at 07:39 The founder of Belfast-based illustration agency UsFolk says he is used to people not understanding his work at first. Irish investment firm Elkstone Partners is behind 850-bedroom proposal for Corporation Street A new 850-bedroom block of student accommodation has been proposed for Belfast, it was announced today. Irish investment house Elkstone Partners wants to build the scheme at 39 Corporation Street on the edge of the city centre and close to the Ulster University campus. The firm has already built student accommodation around the Republic, including in Galway, Cork and Dublin. It will unveil a scheme of 156 student rooms at Bradbury Place in south Belfast over the summer. Elkstone Partners said the Corporation Street site would address continued demand for student accommodation in Belfast. Ciaran McIntyre Ciaran McIntyre, Elkstone Partners co-founder and head of real estate, said: Located a short walk from the Ulster University campus, the development of 39 Corporation Street would deliver significant regeneration and vibrancy to an under-utilised city centre area steeped in tradition and full of potential. It represents a major investment that will deliver very tangible economic benefits, generating increased footfall and economic activity that businesses will welcome. The 39 Corporation Street scheme would assist in meeting the future vision of a higher density city centre whilst being sensitive to the provision of appropriate and useable external amenity spaces. The scheme is to combine self-contained studios with private kitchens, and clusters of single bedrooms with ensuites and a shared kitchen, living and dining space. There would also be amenities such as a gym, laundry, cinema, common room, social space, study area and retail and services on the ground floor. At the moment, there are empty offices and a car park on the site for the proposed scheme, which is bounded by Corporation Street, Gamble Street and Tomb Street. A spokesman said: Further information regarding the 39 Corporation Street proposal will be provided in the coming weeks as Elkstone Partners delivers a community consultation period that will include public information events and media advertising. Blocks of accommodation aimed at Belfast city centres growing city centre student population have been mushrooming in recent years since Ulster University announced its intention to move to a new city centre campus in 2012. The York Street building began welcoming students in September 2021. Last month, South Bank Square confirmed it had submitted a planning application for 55m purpose-built student accommodation of nearly 600 rooms on the site of Fanum House in Great Victoria Street. And in Titanic Quarter, a proposed student village could see four blocks built ranging from five to nine storeys between the new Olympic House office building and Belfast Metropolitan College. The proposal from Watkin Jones Group and Lacuna Developments would accommodate up to 1,200 students. Full plans have now been submitted. Elkstone Partners purchase of 30 to 44 Bradbury Place close to Queen's University was the first time the wealth management firm has acquired property in Northern Ireland. Speaking in 2021, Mr McIntyre said: Purpose-built student accommodation has been a key strand of our real estate investment strategy for a number of years, and with clear demand for such accommodation in Belfast we are certainly keen to explore further opportunities. Jonathan Dimbleby has said terminally ill people of sound mind should have a right to an assisted death (BBC/PA) Broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby has said terminally ill people of sound mind should have a right to an assisted death, after his brother died in a terrible physical condition with motor neurone disease. Scupltor Nicholas Dimbleby, who is also the brother of TV star David Dimbleby and won acclaim for statues such as that of JM Whistler on Cheyne Walk and Jimmy Hill at Coventry City FC, died in February. Speaking on ITVs Good Morning Britain, Jonathan said his brother had always been a supporter of the right to assisted death. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content He added: He wanted the option and believed he should have had the option, once he was terminally ill, of sound mind as he was until the very end but in a terrible physical condition. He wanted the option, whether he would have taken the option I do not know. I found out on his behalf about Dignitas, which is what he was thinking about, at one point. The complexities of that, the awfulness of having to go through the procedures, the cost of it 15,000 pounds now at least, the fact that that your loved ones if they consciously seem to be helping you in any way towards that end, are liable to criminal prosecution, there is a series of big hurdles. But I think the the fundamental point is, in my own view, that if you are terminally ill in the sound mind, you should have that right. I am acutely aware, as anyone should be of the those who are vulnerable and those who have disabilities. Dame Esther Rantzen is among other high profile advocates for assisted dying (Kirsty OConnor/PA) I greatly respect those in those situations, particularly those disability campaigners who fear that this is a slippery slope. I dont think there is any need to have a slippery slope with the legislation that I think should be proposed. Dame Esther Rantzen and Dame Prue Leith are among the other high profile advocates for assisted dying, while actress and disability rights campaigner Liz Carr has spoken out in opposition. Laws in the UK currently prevent people from asking for medical help to die and Carr has been a vocal opponent of assisted dying for more than a decade. Jerseys politicians are to vote this week on whether to establish an assisted dying service on the island. Stay Well: Why do I have a dowagers hump and what can I do to fix it? Sadness in Melrose Street over murder of Mary Ward, but questions for the PSNI too The interim chief executive of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council has said that her salary is not the highest of Northern Irelands 11 local authorities not by a long shot. In April, the Belfast Telegraph reported interim chief Valerie Watts earned a combined sum of 116,513 for 2022/23, and appears to be the lowest paid council chief in Northern Ireland. The highest-earning council employee overall on the 2022/23 list was Ms Watts controversial predecessor Anne Donaghy on 188,213. Responding to a query during a public question and answer session at last weeks council meeting at The Braid, in Ballymena, Ms Watts said: The Mid and East Antrim Borough Council chief executive is not the highest paid chief executive out of the 11 councils in Northern Ireland not by a long shot. In a submitted question, a resident had asked: How do you justify being the highest-paid salary for a chief executive whilst also almost double the rates increase of other councils? Mid and East Antrim Borough Council agreed an increase of 9.78% for domestic rates and 11.86% for non-domestic rates for the 2024/25 financial year the biggest rates hikes in Northern Ireland by far. The interim chief executive said: This council always has adhered and still adheres to the JNC (Joint Negotiating Committee) chief executive salary scales. The amount paid to the authoritys chief executive is published in the councils annual statement of accounts. Ms Watts joined Mid and East Antrim Borough Council on 13 June 2022. The annual statement of accounts says the full year equivalent salary for the interim chief executive for 2022/23 is between 115,000 and 120,000. The report on the councils website states that former chief executive Ms Donaghy ceased employment with the council on 11th January 2023 following a period of suspension. Read more Ards and North Down Council in hunt for 128,000 a year chief executive Previous interim chief executive Mark Parkinson was appointed in February 2022 but left the position after less than a fortnight. Previously, he held the position of deputy chief executive at Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council According to the Town Hall Rich List 2024 compiled by the Tax Payers Alliance, neighbouring Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Councils former chief executive Jacqui Dixon MBEs salary was listed as 122,500 with expenses/benefits of 12,800 for 2022/23. Mrs Dixon retired from Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council in October 2023. The current chief executive is Richard Baker who is the former corporate director at Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council. News Catch Up: Monday 20th May 2024 Octavia Johnson is a general assignment reporter for the Houston Chronicle. She can be reached at octavia.johnson@houstonchronicle.com. Before joining the Chronicle, Octavia worked as a digital content producer at WATE-TV in Knoxville, Tenn., where she became a leader in producing fast paced, audience-focused content. Octavia graduated from UNC Pembroke with a bachelor's degree in journalism before earning her master's degree in media and communications at Norfolk State University. In last months budget paper agreed by ministers, 25 million was ringfenced for development of a childcare strategy (PA) Almost 60% of families in Northern Ireland are getting into debt in order to pay the soaring cost of childcare with one couple revealing they have shelled out 200,000 over the past 12 years. The shocking statistics revealed in Employers for Childcares 2023 NI Childcare Survey show that over half of households here relied on credit cards and overdrafts to cover the cost during school holidays last year. The revelation has prompted Advice NI to issue a warning that many parents could be pushed into long-term debt. The charitys head of money and debt, Sinead Campbell, said calls to its helpline spike at this time of year as struggling families dread the summer holidays particularly as costs continue to rise. Its alarming that 60% of people are relying on credit and savings to pay for their childcare, a huge increase from 41% in 2021, she said. "Debt due to poor childcare reform has a lasting impact on families for many years and can lead to a cycle of debt some many never escape. "In addition to those with young non-school aged children struggling to pay high childcare costs, we are finding the school holiday period is a particularly challenging time for working parents, with many already struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. "We are also concerned that many working families migrating to Universal Credit from Tax Credits, may struggle to pay childcare costs and find themselves getting credit to absorb the cost until they receive their first benefit payment. One family with two working parents who took part in Employers for Childcare survey, said: We have spent 200,000 in the past 12 years on childcare to enable us both to work in jobs that are contributing to society. One single parent said childcare is their single biggest stress factor. "There is practically no financial support, they added. "It is causing a career crisis for women and having a poor impact on mental and financial health. According to Advice NI, the average weekly cost of a full-time childcare place last year was 193 per child but the figure has risen by 14% since then. That is cheaper than other parts of the UK such as London where, according to the Corams Childcare Survey 2024, the average cost of a full-time 50-hour-a-week nursery place for under-twos is 430 a week parents in the South East of England are paying 308. But Ms Campbell said the reliance on means other than income to pay for childcare highlights an urgent need for action and reform to mitigate the financial risks to households facing debt. Sinead Campbell, Head of Money, Debt, and Quality at Advice NI. Our debt advisers are acutely aware from calls with parents that they are taking on debt to cope a burden that unfortunately doesnt disappear when the school-term resumes, she added. "Its important to highlight too that its no longer just single parents or low-income families, but increasingly more high earners are struggling to keep up with escalating costs and are falling into the cycle of debt. "Action is needed now including short-term and long-term interventions to provide a lifeline for those struggling whilst trying to do the best for their children. Earlier this year. the Stormont Executive agreed to set aside 25m for childcare. . However, that only amounts to around 6% of the 400m that Education Minister Paul Givan previously said would be needed to fully fund a childcare and early learning strategy. Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald acknowledged childcare costs have increased "exponentially" as she insisted that despite the "very challenging budget", tackling the problem is one of the Executives priority issues". "I think it is important that we take some time to develop those proposals and then to allocate funding accordingly," she previously said. "It's something that will require more investment than the 25m that has been set aside, but for us that's a start and it shows that childcare is a priority." The survey shows that at least one in five parents are relying on an overdraft to pay childcare bills and more than one in 10 are resorting to credit cards and not being able to clear balances in full the following month. Chief executive of Employers for Childcare, Marie Marin, said the data shows current childcare infrastructure in NI is in crisis with 73% of providers either already hiking their fees this year or planning to do so before June. "Nearly half describe their business state as 'struggling' or 'distressed, she added. "This translates into further concerns for already struggling families. In the absence of adequate government support, childcare providers are left with no choice but to pass on rising costs to families. "While we recognise that Government is aware of the issue, urgent action is needed to address the affordability crisis facing parents and childcare providers. Ms Marin access to affordable childcare underpins everything the new NI Executive seeks to achieve and noted no tangible support from the Executive despite its pledges. "Firstly, we need to see delivery of the promised short-term intervention to address the current crisis for parents and providers, but, alongside this, we need firm commitments on the timeline for the new Early Learning and Childcare Strategy. Parents, children and our childcare sector simply cannot afford to wait any longer, she continued. Since 2019, Advice NI and its members have helped over 19,000 people deal with 205.6m of debt as more families and households are reaching out for help than ever before. "People whove never experienced debt before are struggling, and its important people realise that getting in touch early is crucial to try an alleviate the burden, Ms Campbell warned. Advice NIs freephone helpline is available on 0800 9154604 between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday. Help is also available online with the Money Talks Hub offering online tools to help families budget and the Safe Food section providing advice for affordable shopping. Robin Swann has pledged to ensure that victims of the infected blood scandal in Northern Ireland will receive compensation at the same time as the rest of the UK. Speaking in the Stormont Assembly, the Health Minister said victims had already been failed by the state, and this must not happen again with the compensation package. Mr Swann issued an apology to victims on Monday in London when he travelled to the capital for the delivery of the Infected Blood Inquiry report. The 2,527-page report found that the scandal could largely have been avoided and there was a pervasive cover-up to hide the truth. The investigation said patients were knowingly exposed to unacceptable risks of infection as it outlined deliberate attempts to conceal what unfolded, including evidence of officials destroying documents. The report highlighted that Northern Ireland was reliant on blood donated by prisoners and military personnel, two groups associated with higher risk of blood infections. It also found that authorities in Northern Ireland brought little independent thinking to the issue and were content to allow central government to take the lead on all significant decisions related to the scandal. Mr Swann said supporting the victims has been one of his top priorities since first becoming Health Minister in 2020. (PA Graphics) Earlier, Cabinet Office minister John Glen some victims of the scandal will receive a 210,000 interim compensation payment before the end of the summer, and the first full payments will be made before the end of the year. Mr Swann said those payments will be made in Northern Ireland at the same time as in the rest of the UK. He said a previous payment was processed through the departments business services organisation (BSO), and once the money is received from Westminster, it will be transferred to BSO for payments. There will be no postcode differential in how those who are affected and infected will actually be treated or supported through this compensation package, because I believe that they have already been failed by the state, and I think to delay this because of where someone lives would be a further failure, he said. The TUV has claimed the DUP need to reflect on the division they have caused after Lagan Valley MLA Paul Givan claimed Jim Allisters party was weakening unionism by splitting votes. The TUV have instead accused Mr Givans party of having trashed unionist unity and said the DUP need to reflect on where the problem really lies. Army personnel who may have had their details hacked in a cyber attack on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) feel let down and fear losing their jobs, a law firm has said. Personal data of service personnel and veterans, including names, bank details and some addresses, was in the payroll system which was accessed in the large-scale hack, revealed earlier this month. Barings Law said it had signed up more than 1,000 claimants who were potentially affected. Adnan Malik, head of data breach at the Manchester-based law firm, said: There is a lot of anxiety and confusion for people who may have been affected in what could be a major breach. We are receiving hundreds of inquiries every day. Some are serving members of the armed forces who feel let down, others who have high security clearance are afraid they could lose their jobs. Their livelihoods are at risk, and they do not know how much of their personal information could have been shared online. Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said a full investigation had been launched (Lucy North/PA) It can be easy to forget when we see these huge Government data breaches that real people are impacted. We know how scary this is for them and want to help as many of the personnel who are affected as we can. Defence Secretary Grant Shapps apologised when the cyber attack was revealed on May 7 and said a full investigation had been launched. Up to 272,000 service personnel may have been affected by the breach, he said. Mr Shapps said state involvement could not be ruled out, amid speculation China carried out the hack, and said there was evidence of potential failings of the contractor operating the payroll system, which may have made it easier for the malign actor to gain access. Earlier this month, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy said claims Beijing was behind the attack were completely fabricated and malicious slanders. Initial investigations found no evidence that data had been removed, but affected armed forces personnel were alerted as a precaution. An MoD spokeswoman said: We are unable to comment further whilst an investigation is ongoing. Our people are our priority and we are providing personnel with specialist advice, guidance and support along with access to a commercial personal data monitoring service for those potentially affected. Labour MP Sarah Champion claimed that the former Labour government had committed to end child poverty by 2020 and was on track to do so. Evaluation The last Labour government did set a target to eliminate child poverty by 2020. When asked by the PA news agency, Ms Champion was unable to provide a source for the claim that their pledge had been on track. Data shows that the Labour governments interim targets to cut child poverty by 25% by the 2004/05 fiscal year and by 50% by 2010 were both missed. The facts Child poverty decreased rapidly under the last Labour government, which was in power from 1997 to 2010. Poverty is measured in many different ways. One is relative poverty, which is defined as living in a household which has an income of less than 60% of the UK median income. Another is absolute poverty, which is today defined as being less than 60% of the median income as it was in the 2010/11 fiscal year. Both of these can be measured either before or after housing costs have been taken into account. The Labour government in 1999 set a target to cut child poverty by a quarter by 2004/05 and by a half by 2010 and to eradicate it by 2020. According to a 2007 article in the journal Paediatrics & Child Health, the Government missed its 2004/05 target narrowly, cutting child poverty by 23% before housing costs by that date. The Labour government set itself a target to have halved the number of children living in relative poverty in 2010/11 before housing costs when compared with 1998/99. A 2012 report from the Department for Work and Pensions and Department for Education said the number of children in relative poverty before housing costs would need to have fallen from 3.4 million in 1998/99 to 1.7 million in 2010/11 for the second interim target to have been met. In fact by 2010/11 the number of children living in relative poverty was 2.3 million, a reduction of 1.1 million. That is just under a third, so falls short of the Labour target. The 2020 target to eradicate child poverty did not follow the true definition of the word to entirely wipe something out. In this sense, eradicate meant that relative poverty should be reduced to below 10% of children. The 2012 report shows that the proportion of children living in relative poverty dropped from 26% to 18% in the 12 years between 1998/99 and 2010/11. That is a drop of around 0.67 percentage points a year. If that trend had continued until the 2020/21 fiscal year the figure would have fallen to around 11.33%, thereby missing the 10% eradication target. At that pace the target would have been met in the 2022/23 fiscal year instead. When asked to explain her source for the claim that the Labour ambition to eradicate child poverty by 2020 was on track, Rotherham MP Ms Champion said: The last Labour government removed child poverty by over one million while in government. No, Im sorry I dont have data to back that up but I remember the current government dropping the ambition. In this she is correct. The Conservative Government dropped the target after the 2015 general election and in 2016 the Child Poverty Act was repealed by the Welfare Reform and Work Act. Child poverty has risen since 2010. Relative child poverty before housing costs hit 3.2 million in the 2022/23 fiscal year. That was 22% of children. Links Claim on X (archived) OSR The trouble with measuring poverty (archived) Paediatrics & Child Health UK policy: A success story? (archived) DWP/DfE Child Poverty in the UK: The report on the 2010 target (archived) Childrens Commissioner A new child poverty target (archived) HMG Setting the 2020 persistent child poverty target (archived) HoL Library Child poverty: Statistics, causes and the UKs policy response (archived) Fred Roos and Sofia Coppola in 2017 in Los Angeles (Steve Cohn/Invision for Focus Features/AP) The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola has paid tribute to his lifelong friend and collaborator Fred Roos, who has died aged 89. Oscar-winning producer Rooss death at his home in Beverly Hills, California, on Saturday, a few days before his 90th birthday, was confirmed by a representative to the AP news agency on Tuesday. Roos produced The Godfather Part II, which earned him, Coppola and Gray Frederickson an Academy Award for best film, after putting forward Al Pacino to be cast in The Godfather. He returned to work with Coppola over the next decades on films including on The Godfather Part III, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now and most recently the American directors latest project Megalopolis, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday. In an Instagram post, 85-year-old Coppola wrote: Fred Roos possessed a casting instinct that was near infallible: so beautifully demonstrated in American Graffiti and The Outsiders. He was a great lifelong friend and collaborator with above all a true love for movies. I remember once telling him that we needed to find more women directors but that we should look for them among kids playing with 8mm movie-making equipment rather than dolls and he came up with kids named Martha Coolidge and Susan Seidelman. He was a unique talent and will certainly be missed. Roos produced Coppolas wife Eleanor Coppolas documentary Hearts Of Darkness, and also worked with the film-makers daughter, Lost In Translation director Sofia Coppola. Eleanor died in April aged 87. Shia LaBeouf, who is part of the ensemble cast for time travel epic Megalopolis, wrote on X: The nights flame with fire. As you ride life straight to perfect laughter, Fred Roos I loved you a lot. Roos also assembled the casts for George Lucas-directed American Graffiti, produced by Coppola, which starred Harrison Ford before he went on to feature in Star Wars films and Richard Dreyfuss prior to Jaws. He also produced coming of age story The Outsiders, directed by Coppola, which helped launch to prominence a cast of young actors including Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze and Rob Lowe. Lowe wrote on Instagram: Saddened to hear of the passing of Fred Roos. Every movie lover should know his name. He was a casting genius and responsible for the careers of: Harrison Ford, Al Pacino, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Tom Cruise and the rest of The Outsiders cast (including me), and many others. Thank you, Fred and god speed. Communities Secretary Michael Gove will accuse organisers of pro-Palestinian marches of not doing enough to stop some demonstrators spreading anti-Jewish messages in a speech condemning the rise in antisemitism in the UK. The Cabinet minister will say that while many protesters are thoughtful, gentle, compassionate people, they are side by side with those who are promoting hate. Critics have voiced concerns about the handling of the demonstrations and the effect they have on the UKs Jewish community. Organising groups have previously said that the marches, which have drawn crowds of thousands in calling for an end to the war in Gaza, are overwhelmingly peaceful with a low arrest rate. The organisers of these marches could do everything in their power to stop that. They dont, Mr Gove will say in a speech on Tuesday. A Palestinian flag in Hyde Park (Jeff Moore/PA) Some seven arrests were made during a protest in central London on Saturday, which was attended by thousands of people calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East. They included one man who was observed by officers carrying a coffin with offensive language on it, Scotland Yard said. Mr Gove will highlight that the UK has seen a spike in antisemitism more widely, arguing that it is the common currency of hate and the thread that connects extremist ideologies from Islamist to those on the far right and the hard left. Reports of anti-Jewish hate incidents in UK reached a record high last year, according to figures from a Jewish security charity. Two-thirds of the 4,103 antisemitic incidents occurred on or after Hamas October 7 attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza, the Community Security Trust (CST) has said. The Communities Secretary will say: Its an ironclad law of history that countries which are descending into darkness are those which are becoming progressively more unsafe for Jewish individuals and the Jewish community, the Spain of the Inquisition, the Vienna of the 1900s, Germany in the 30s, Russia in the last decade. It is a parallel law that those countries in which the Jewish community has felt most safe at any time are the countries where freedom is most secure at any time. The Netherlands of the 17th century, Britain in the first decades of the last century, America in the second half of that century. A general view of the Trafalgar Square menorah (Dominic Lipinski/PA) So when Jewish people are under threat, all our freedoms are threatened. The safety of the Jewish community is the canary in the mine. Growing antisemitism is a fever which weakens the whole body politic. He will add: There is one thing which, increasingly, unites the organisations and individuals which give cause for extremist concern. Antisemitism. It is the common currency of hate. It is at the dark heart of their world view. Whether Islamist, far right or hard left. Mr Goves speech comes ahead of the publication of a long-trailed report by the Governments independent adviser on political violence, Lord Walney, due to be released on Tuesday. The review is expected to recommend measures to crack down on disruptive demonstrations, including possible restrictions on protest groups deemed to be extreme. Deputy Labour leader and shadow communities secretary Angela Rayner said: There is no place in Britain for antisemitic hate and those who push this poison should face the full force of the law. We all have a responsibility to condemn this vile hatred and show that it will never be tolerated. Michael Gove is right that most people on these marches have been protesting peacefully and lawfully, but we cannot tolerate the hateful minority and the appalling incidents of antisemitism. Labour will continue to urge ministers to reverse the downgrading of recording requirements for non-crime hate incidents, bring forward a new hate crime strategy, and crack down on online extremism. Our door will always be open to working together on finding ways of tackling this hate. But the Liberal Democrats said the rise of extremism in all its forms could not be solved by a Tory Government that seems intent on sowing more division. Lib Dem communities spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said: We must combat the rise of extremism in all its forms, including the terrible spread of antisemitism and Islamophobia we have seen in recent months. Everyone should feel safe on our streets, no matter their race, religion or background. But this cannot be solved by a Conservative Government that has let people down so badly, sown so much division and seems intent on sowing more. As well as a zero-tolerance approach to racism in all its forms, the way to ultimately defeat extremists is by transforming our politics so that it addresses peoples problems and speaks to their dreams. That is the real change our country needs. Jerseys States Assembly is due to debate and vote on proposals to draw up an assisted dying law (Alamy/PA) Jerseys politicians are to vote this week on whether to establish an assisted dying service on the island. The proposals have been very much influenced and informed by the views of islanders, health and social services minister Tom Binet said. In 2021, just over three-quarters (78%) of the members of a citizens jury on Jersey agreed that assisted dying should be permitted, and later that year the States Assembly became the first parliament in the British Isles to decide in principle to allow assisted dying. Mr Binet said: I think all the indications are that a majority of people actually want this. Asked about his hopes for the tone of the debate on what is a sensitive and divisive topic, he said: I think we have a pretty good democracy here. It seems to work pretty well and everybody has got an equal opportunity to say their piece. Proposals for how an assisted dying law in Jersey would work were published in March. A debate is expected to begin on Tuesday, although Mr Binet said voting may not start until Wednesday. Five votes will take place, with the first on whether the island should establish an assisted dying service for adult residents who have made a voluntary and informed decision to die. Members of the States Assembly will also be asked to vote on limiting eligibility to people with a terminal illness with a life expectancy of six months, or 12 months if they have a neurodegenerative disease. This is known as route one. Elected representatives will also have a vote on whether the service should be open to someone with an incurable physical condition which might not be terminal but is causing them unbearable suffering, known as route two. Another vote offers an opt-out for health professionals, giving them a right to refuse to participate in assisted dying. A fifth vote asks members to agree on minimum timeframes between the first formal request for an assisted death and the act itself 14 days for route one and 90 days under route two. Speaking to the PA news agency ahead of the debate, Mr Binet said: What you see in Jersey is a bottom up approach to this issue where citizens have not only driven the decision of the States Assembly to consider the issue of assisted dying, but have all had a really strong influence in shaping those proposals. The process has taken longer than in some other jurisdictions, but thats because weve taken islanders along with us. He said it is also the case that some other jurisdictions are looking at the Jersey proposals in terms of not if, but how an assisted dying service can work. If the proposals are voted through, it is expected the process for drafting a law could take around 18 months, with a debate then taking place by the end of 2025. If a law is approved, it is expected a further 18-month implementation period will then begin, meaning the earliest for it to come into effect would be summer 2027. This is similar to the timeframe pro-change campaigners have predicted for a service on the Isle of Man. Members of the House of Keys (MHKs) are currently debating its Assisted Dying Bill, which now states that a person seeking an assisted death should have been resident on the island for five years instead of one, and have a life expectancy of a year or less. A move to make it separate from the islands public health service, Manx Care, was voted down after a lengthy discussion last week. Further debate on amendments to the wording of the Bill is set to take place on June 11. Last month a debate in Westminster Hall, held after a petition backed by Dame Esther Rantzen called for a vote in Parliament on the issue, heard from a range of MPs on both sides of the debate. A Health and Social Care Committee report in February warned that the Government must consider what to do if the law is changed in part of the UK or on the Isle of Man or Jersey, both of which are crown dependencies. The Government has said it will discuss with the devolved administrations and crown dependencies the practical implications for England and Wales of legislation in nearby jurisdictions and any constitutional issues that such legislation may present. A Bill was published in March at Holyrood that, if passed, would allow people living in Scotland with a terminal illness to be given help to end their life. Dr Gordon Macdonald, of campaign group Care Not Killing, argued that the more elected representatives and members of the public hear about assisted suicide and euthanasia, the more opposed they are. He said the more people hear about places which have introduced assisted dying, the more they recognise the dangers. They see how changing the law to allow the state to prescribe and administer death drugs to the terminally-ill, elderly, and disabled people will put pressure on them to end their lives prematurely. Oil spills into the surrounding waters after a barge hit a bridge in Galveston, Texas, on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. A bridge that leads to Pelican Island, located just north of Galveston, was hit by a barge around 9:30 a.m., said Ronnie Varela, with the Galvestons Office of Emergency Management.(KTRK via AP) Associated Press To hear Mark Henry tell it, if an oil barge ramming into Galvestons Pelican Island Bridge last week doesnt expedite replacing the deteriorating span, nothing will. For at least the past decade, Henry, the Galveston County judge, has attempted to facilitate the construction of a new bridge. He remains frustrated that a span that primarily serves a few thousand students at Texas A&M's Pelican Island campus has proved so difficult to replace. Hes been at the table with myriad stakeholders including the Texas Department of Transportation, city of Galveston and the countys small Navigation District haggling over everything from the cost of a new bridge to who would pay to demolish the current one. In a sane universe, replacing a 3,200-foot, two-lane bridge across a narrow ship channel should be far less complicated than building a new 1.6-mile span on an interstate highway across a major river. Yet nearly two months after Baltimores Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River when a cargo tanker barreled into one of its supports, Maryland officials have already settled on a price tag and a rough construction timeline. President Joe Biden has committed to financing it with federal money. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Yet even as the tiny Pelican Island Bridge reaches the end of its structural life, with parts of it literally crumbling into the Galveston Ship Channel after the oil barge allision last week, the bridge is apparently not much closer to being replaced. It remains mired in jurisdictional disputes that have Henry tearing his hair out. When we could not get anyone to cooperate, we stopped being in charge of this replacement project, Henry told the editorial board Monday. After 10 years, I threw my hands up. I said, I'm done, guys. Every bridge across the nation has its own unique challenges and vulnerabilities. We're certainly not equating the deadly collapse of the Baltimore bridge that used to ferry 30,000 vehicles per day with the injury-free mishap at Pelican Island Bridge, which typically sees 9,000 cars per day. Both, however, do make lists of thousands of vulnerable U.S. bridges in need of replacement. The Key Bridge is one of 17,000 fracture critical bridges in the United States meaning a span that could collapse if a single element fails. The Pelican Island Bridge is one of roughly 46,100 U.S. bridges that are in poor condition due to age and wear and tear. What makes the latter so frustrating for leaders such as Henry is that political will is the primary obstacle to replacing it. The risk to crossing traffic has yet to motivate action. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Will last week's barge accident change that? It should. The barge, owned by Martin Petroleum, was carrying about 30,000 barrels of oil. It broke free from its tugboat, drifted toward the bridge and crashed into it technically an "allision," a nautical term for when a vessel hits a stationary object. Large chunks of concrete fell from a defunct railway adjacent to the bridge, damaging the barge. The barge spilled roughly 20,000 gallons of oil into the water, causing the Coast Guard to close traffic in the Galveston Ship Channel and part of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. TXDOT officials reopened the bridge Friday but with a reduced weight limit for trucks and single-axle vehicles. In 2018, a new bridge wouldve cost roughly $91 million; the city of Galveston now estimates it will cost twice as much. Galveston City Manager Brian Maxwell told us that TxDOT will pick up most of the tab, with the city, Galveston County, the Galveston Navigation District, Port of Houston, Port of Galveston and Texas A&M also contributing. Yet both Maxwell and a TXDOT spokesman told us construction is at least two years away and there are still thorny questions as to what the exact design will be and which entity will own and operate the new bridge. The Navigation District owns and manages the current bridge, but a new span with an automated drawbridge would render the district obsolete since it would no longer need to employ someone to manually lift the drawbridge for vessel traffic. Advertisement Article continues below this ad As long as the design is still up for discussion, there is plenty of time to draw up a new Pelican Island Bridge that meets modern safety standards. During a congressional hearing Wednesday, a Coast Guard official noted that the much larger ships that come in and out of our ports make protecting bridges all the more critical. The New York Times reported that more than 300 major bridges around the country have outdated or nonexistent protection systems. The fact that a relatively small barge could disrupt traffic across the Pelican Island Bridge should underscore that a new bridge must be able to withstand collisions from even larger vessels. Installing "dolphins" concrete structures that divert vessels from crashing into a bridge's supports is a necessary additional expense to ensure safety. Michael Gove said pro-Palestine protesters needed to find a far better way of making their point (Lucy North/PA) Organisers of pro-Palestine protests should reflect on what those marches have enabled, Michael Gove said as he warned that rising antisemitism threatened to cause a profound breach in the Wests collective defence. The Communities Secretary used a speech at a Jewish community centre in North London to accuse protest organisers of failing to deal with antisemitic demonstrators, leaving Jewish citizens feeling intimidated and unsafe. But he also sought to link rising cases of antisemitism to a wider contest between the West and authoritarian states. Describing Iran, Russia and China as sources and spreaders of antisemitic and anti-Israel narratives, he said authoritarian leaders were attempting to take advantage of decolonisation narratives among academics to delegitimise Israel by casting it as a racist, settler state. He said: They know that if they undermine Israel, the other dominoes will fall. Michael Gove said student protesters had engaged in antisemitism repurposed for the Instagram age (Jordan Pettitt/PA) Reports of antisemitic incidents reached a record high last year, according to figures from Jewish security charity the Community Security Trust (CST), with two-thirds coming in the three months after Hamass October 7 attack on Israel. Concerns have also been raised about regular pro-Palestine demonstrations in London and encampments at British universities, with critics saying they provide a platform for antisemitism. Organisers say the marches have been overwhelmingly peaceful and few arrests have been made. On Tuesday, Mr Gove acknowledged that many demonstrators were thoughtful, gentle, compassionate people, but said they were standing side-by-side with those who are promoting hate and had not taken steps to call out antisemitism. He also accused student encampments of displaying antisemitism repurposed for the Instagram age, with graffiti invoking the blood libel conspiracy theory and posters claiming politicians and the media were controlled by Jews. Michael Gove urged organisers of pro-Palestine protests to reflect on what those marches have enabled (John Stillwell/PA) Asked how individuals motivated by humanitarian concerns could make their feelings known without contributing to the problem of antisemitism, Mr Gove said there were many ways including lobbying MPs and speaking through the media and other platforms. He added: My view is that when these marches started, there was a strong feeling from people who were deeply committed to peace. But as we have seen these marches progress action has not been taken to deal with the individuals who are peddling hate on these marches. That requires collective action, Government action in the last resort. But what I would hope would be the case is that those who are participating and organising these marches would reflect on what those marches have enabled and consider a far better way of making their point peacefully in a way that all of us can recognise is motivated from compassion without facilitating hate. Mr Goves speech came shortly before publication of a report by Lord Walney, the Governments adviser on political violence, which called for new laws to deal with extreme activism. Lord Walneys recommendations included requiring organisers of frequent protests to bear some of the costs of policing those protests, and banning organisations that break the law in order to influence public debate. Civil liberties campaigners have described the report as a further crackdown on peaceful protests and attempting to ban protests it disagrees with. UK aid is still largely being blocked from entering Gaza despite diplomatic efforts, the development assistance watchdog said in a report released on Tuesday. The UK has committed an extra 70 million in humanitarian funding to the Palestinian Territories since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October 2023 and had diplomatic discussions at senior levels to seek to encourage Israel to ease restrictions on humanitarian access, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact said. But at land crossings, the Israeli military subjects aid convoys to exhaustive inspections to prevent the delivery of dual use items that might benefit Hamas or be used as a weapon, which leads to trucks frequently being delayed or turned back, according to the ICAI. The body said it had received reports that stone fruit had been turned away after being deemed dual use. While the UK has significantly increased aid to Gaza in response to the crisis its clear that very little is reaching those who urgently need it, with restrictions on land access the only way to move enough aid increasing and the situation for aid workers increasingly perilous, ICAI chief commissioner Tamsyn Barton said. She added: That the UK and other donors diplomatic attempts to improve access and save lives have so far been ineffective shows how fragile the system underpinning international humanitarian law is, confronting a hugely complex crisis such as this. We note that other donors have taken steps such as stopping or reducing arms sales or resuming funding to the main humanitarian agency, UNRWA, while the UK has not. UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees and main provider of aid in Gaza, was investigated over claims that some of its staff had links with the militant group. The outcome of a probe was enough for other countries such as Canada and Australia to restore their cashflow. The UK had already paid its planned contributions for 2023-2024 before the suspension, but it has not allocated funding to UNRWA for this financial year. The UKs primary focus has been on securing land access for humanitarian aid, which all those interviewed by ICAI agreed was the most viable option for delivery at scale. Interviewees agreed that airdrops of humanitarian supplies into Gaza, which the UK has also carried out, should be a last resort because of the danger they pose to civilians, the watchdog said. House of Commons International Development Committee chairwoman Sarah Champion said the report showed the UK must step up to its proper place in the international humanitarian system and take effective action. Palestinians waiting for aid trucks to cross in central Gaza (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP) She said: How can we say that people trapped in Gaza are being treated in accordance with international humanitarian law or that the UKs representations are having any meaningful effect? This independent review affirms what the Committee saw when we visited the region as far back as February, what we have heard in evidence from aid workers on the ground who have seen far too many of their colleagues killed and injured, and what the whole world is now finally seeing. Some countries are choosing to respond with serious action: limiting arms sales to Israel and restoring funding to UNWRA. The FCDOs response to our IDC report on the situation was full of the right words, and the UKs increased aid to Gaza was very welcome, but in the reality of the situation on the ground these are nothing more than a gesture. Despite all the diplomatic efforts and promises secured, a total of 59 aid trucks crossed into Gaza between 5 and 13 May the rest turned back on excuses as flimsy as containing fruits with stones in them. Before this horror, 500 aid trucks were entering Gaza daily to meet normal need. Vaughan Gething has refused calls to show evidence for why he sacked Hannah Blythyn from the government. (Ben Birchall/PA) The Welsh First Minister has refused to show any evidence for why he sacked a government minister whose reputation lies in tatters. Vaughan Gething said that he had no alternative but to remove Hannah Blythyn, from the government as the minister for social partnership last week, after accusing her of leaking messages to the media. Ms Blythyn, MS for Delyn, immediately refuted the First Ministers allegations, insisting she was clear and have been clear that I did not, nor have I ever leaked anything and was deeply shocked at her dismissal. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content Speaking at First Ministers Questions on Tuesday, Andrew RT Davies, the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, asked Mr Gething to present evidence that links Ms Blythyn to the leak. He said: That Members reputation lies in tatters today because you dismissed her from the Government because you said she was the source of a leak to the media. That is a very serious accusation to make, especially when that accusation gets contested. Mr Davies said there were two differing sides, and it would not be unreasonable for people to ask who is telling the truth, insisting that evidence be made available so that this can be put to bed. He added: Hannah Blythyn has said her integrity remains intact; does yours, First Minister? Andrew RT Davies, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives Mr Gething said: No government of any shade that has had to take action on this basis would publish that information. Weve actually seen that in other instances as well. He added: I dont accept the members assertion that this is the end of the members career. I think it is perfectly possible in the future for there to be a return, and I look forward to an opportunity to work with her to undertake and to build on the work shes already undertaken. Im very clear about my integrity and the very difficult choice that I had to make, but Im very clear about the choice being the correct one for the government and for the work we need to do on behalf of the country, and that underscores all the decisions I have made in this matter. Hannah Blythyn, the former deputy minister for social partnership in the Welsh Government (The Welsh Government/PA) He added that he had acted in accordance with the ministerial code and the governments cabinet handbook, and had sought advice from the Permanent Secretary on the process. The exchange follows reports on the Nation.Cymru news website, which featured a message posted to a ministerial group chat in August 2020 by Mr Gething, stating that he was deleting the messages in this group. Mr Gething previously told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry that lost WhatsApp messages were not deleted by him, but by the Welsh Parliaments IT team during a security rebuild. He previously told the plenary that the leaked message was from a section of an iMessage group chat with other Labour ministers and related to internal discussions within the Senedd Labour group. Mr Gething denied the message contradicted the evidence he had given to the inquiry, adding that the message did not relate to pandemic decision-making. His decision to sack Ms Blythyn, as well as long-standing concerns about a donation he took from a man convicted of environmental offences, led Plaid Cymru to abruptly end its co-operation deal with the Labour government on Friday. It is understood the man who died had a heart condition Seven people are in a critical condition and a further 23 people, including some crew members, have less severe injuries A British man has died and 30 people left injured after a Singapore Airlines flight travelling from Heathrow was hit by severe turbulence. Flight SQ321 to Singapore was forced to make an emergency landing in Thailand on Tuesday morning UK time. Singapore Airlines said in a statement: Singapore Airlines flight #SQ321, operating from London (Heathrow) to Singapore on 20 May 2024, encountered severe turbulence en-route. The aircraft diverted to Bangkok and landed at 1545hrs local time on 21 May 2024. We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER. There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board. Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft. We are working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance, and sending a team to Bangkok to provide any additional assistance needed. British passenger dies after Heathrow flight hits severe turbulence Speaking at a press conference, the airports general manager gave more details about the chaotic incident, saying the person who died likely had suffered a cardiac arrest. Kittipong Kittikachorn confirmed the deceased passenger was a 73-year-old British man who had a heart condition. He was travelling with his wife who was taken to hospital. He added seven people are in a critical condition and a further 23 people, including some crew members, have less severe injuries. The manager said: I confirm the death toll is one person we learned he had a heart condition. The death is now to be subject to an autopsy but we think it could be caused by a heart attack. The deceased was a British national, 73 years old. The police has taken over the case and the body will be sent to autopsy department then they will contact the embassy. He continued: Most injuries were cuts on the head. It was chaotic but most of the passengers received small injuries on their head. The general manager added that he believed that passengers were having breakfast when the turbulence hit. A passenger on the flight described how the flight dropped and some people on board were launched upwards. Dzafran Azmir, 28, said: "Suddenly the aircraft starts tilting up and there was shaking so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling." Another passenger, Andrew Davies, a father-of-two from Lewisham in south-east London, described how the plane just dropped. I was on that flight and helped as much as I could, he wrote on X late on Tuesday morning. Those not injured (including me) are in a holding area at Bangkok airport. My heart goes out to the gentleman who lost his life and his poor wife. Awful experience. He added there were lots of people injured - including the air stewards who were stoic and did everything they could. He said there had been very little warning the turbulence was about to hit. The seatbelt sign came on, I put on my seatbelt straightaway then the plane just dropped, he said. He told how passengers tried to provide medical aid to the passenger that died. Thai immigration police said on Tuesday morning medical personnel had boarded the plane to assess injuries, but could not confirm the number. Some uninjured passengers had reportedly exited the plane. A photo that was reportedly taken on board the stricken aircraft appeared to show plates of food that had been thrown to the cabin floor during the turbulence. Another photo showed a row of ambulances lined up next to the plane on the tarmac, after it had landed at Bangkoks Suvarnabhumi Airport. Flight SQ321 left Terminal 2 at London Heathrow at around 10.15pm UK time, on Monday. According to online flight data captured by FlightRadar24, the plane was travelling near the west coast of Myanmar at an altitude of 37,000 feet shortly after 9am UK time on Tuesday, when it plunged around 6,000ft in the space of around three minutes. The area is understood to be experiencing tropical monsoon thunderstorms. The aircraft stayed at 31,000 feet for just under 10 minutes before rapidly descending and landing in nearby Bangkok around 40 minutes later. The emergency landing happened around 3.45pm local time in Thailand on Tuesday - 9.45am in the UK. The flight was nearly 11 hours into the 13-hour journey to Singapore when it encountered "severe turbulence", the airline confirmed. Thai media reports 30 people were injured in the incident. Singapore Airlines did not specify the figure, and did not immediately respond to the Standards requests for further details. Injuries from severe turbulence are relatively rare in the context of millions of flights operated. However, severe turbulence can be dramatic and lead to severe injuries or sadly in this case a fatality," John Strickland, a general aviation expert, told the BBC. Mr Strickland said flight crews have the resources to predict turbulence and they are also trained in how to respond to the issue. In a statement posted on Facebook Singapore's Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said the government are providing support to the affected passengers and their families. He said: I am deeply saddened to learn about the incident onboard Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London Heathrow to Singapore. The plane had encountered severe turbulence en-route and had to be diverted to Bangkok. Singapore Airlines has confirmed that there are injuries and one fatality on board... My deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. Two British Airways cabin crew suffered broken legs when a flight from Singapore to Heathrow was affected by severe turbulence over the Bay of Bengal on June 28 last year. A report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said "unsecured cabin crew were thrown around in the cabin", resulting in two crew members being seriously injured and three sustaining minor injuries. No passengers were hurt and the plane returned to Singapore. The last Singapore Airlines fatalities were in October 2000 when a plane crashed on a closed runway during takeoff at Taiwan, and 83 people died. Singapore Airlines has had seven accidents according to records by the Aviation Safety Network. Former US president Donald Trump sits in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York (Michael M Santiago/Pool Photo via AP) Donald Trumps lawyers have rested their defence without the former US president entering the witness box in his New York hush money trial. Your honour, the defence rests, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche told the judge following evidence from a former federal prosecutor who had been called to attack the credibility of the prosecutions key witness. The jury was sent home for a week, until May 28, when closing arguments are expected, but the lawyers returned to the courtroom to discuss how the judge will instruct jurors on deliberations, a sort of road map meant to help them apply the law to the evidence. Donald Trump sits in court in New York (Curtis Means/DailyMail.com via AP, Pool) The two sides haggled over word choices, legal phrases and descriptions of campaign-related issues. Trump did not stop to speak as he left the courthouse and ignored a question about why he was not giving evidence. The Republican presumptive presidential nominee had previously said he wanted to enter the witness box to defend himself against what he claims are politically motivated charges. As he left a news conference with supporters of the former president outside the courthouse, Trumps son Donald Trump Jr defended his fathers decision not to give evidence. Thered be absolutely no reason, no justification to do that whatsoever. Everyone sees it for the sham that it is, the younger Trump said. After more than four weeks of evidence, jurors could begin deliberating as soon as next week to decide whether Trump is guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. After the defence rested, Judge Juan M Merchan told jurors the court session could run late on Tuesday to accommodate both prosecution and defence summations the last time the jury would hear from either side. Judge Merchan told jurors he then expects that his instructions to them on deliberations would take about an hour, after which they can begin discussing the case, possibly as early as May 29. Until now, they have been told not to discuss the case with anyone outside court and not to discuss the case among each other. Donald Trump Jr speaks outside Manhattan Criminal Court in New York (Julia Nikhinson/AP) Judge Merchan noted that normally summations would immediately follow the defence resting its case, but he expects summations in this case will take at least a day and, given the impending Memorial Day holiday, theres no way to do all thats needed to be done before then. Ill see you in a week, Judge Merchan said. Prosecutors have accused Trump of a scheme to bury negative stories to fend off damage to his 2016 presidential campaign and then falsifying internal business records to cover it up. Trump, the first former American president to be tried criminally, has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing in the case, which he has condemned as politically motivated. The charges stem from internal Trump Organisation records in which payments to Michael Cohen were marked as legal expenses. Prosecutors say they were really reimbursements for a 130,000 dollar (102,000) hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels to keep her from going public before the 2016 election with claims of a sexual encounter with Trump. Trump says nothing sexual happened between them. They have no case, Trump said in the morning on Tuesday before court adjourned. Donald Trump sits between his lawyers Emil Bove, left, and Todd Blanche, right, before the start of the days proceedings in Manhattan Criminal Court (Dave Sanders/The New York Times via AP, Pool) Theres no crime. The final witness was Robert Costello, called in an effort to undermine the credibility of Trump fixer-turned-foe Mr Cohen, who has placed Trump at the centre of the effort to bury potentially damaging stories. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed Mr Costello an August 2018 email in which Mr Cohen told him and one of his partners to stop contacting him because you do not and never have represented me and another lawyer did. Asked whether he was upset that Mr Cohen had not paid him, Mr Costello said he was and volunteered that he had replied to the message in an email that prosecutors did not show. Prosecutors have said that they want to show that Mr Costello was part of a pressure campaign to keep Mr Cohen in Trumps corner once the then-lawyer came under federal investigation. On that theme, Ms Hoffinger asked Mr Costello about a 2018 email in which he assured Mr Cohen that he was loved by Trumps camp, they are in our corner and you have friends in high places. Asked who those friends in high places were, Mr Costello said he was talking about Trump, then the president. Mr Costello bristled as he insisted he did not feel animosity towards Mr Cohen and did not try to intimidate him. Judge Juan Merchan, left, castigates witness Robert Costello about his decorum in the courtroom in Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday in New York (Elizabeth Williams via AP) Ridiculous. No, he said to the latter. Trumps lawyers had hoped he would cast doubt on Mr Cohens evidence. The two had a professional relationship that splintered in spectacular fashion. Mr Costello had offered to represent Mr Cohen soon after the lawyers hotel room, office and home were raided and as Mr Cohen faced a decision about whether to remain defiant in the face of a criminal investigation or to co-operate with authorities in the hopes of securing more lenient treatment. Mr Costello has repeatedly maligned Mr Cohens credibility and was even a witness before last years grand jury that indicted Trump, offering evidence designed to undermine Mr Cohens account. In a Fox News Channel interview last week, Mr Costello accused Mr Cohen of lying to the jury and using the case to monetise himself. Mr Costello contradicted Mr Cohens evidence describing Trump as intimately involved in all aspects of the hush money scheme. Mr Costello told jurors on Monday that Mr Cohen told him Trump knew nothing about the hush money payment to Ms Daniels. Michael Cohen (Seth Wenig/AP) Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments, that he did this on his own, and he repeated that numerous times, Mr Costello said. Mr Cohen, however, said earlier on Monday that he had no doubt that Trump gave him a final sign-off to make the payments to Ms Daniels. In total, he said he spoke to Trump more than 20 times about the matter in October 2016. After jurors left for the day on Monday, defence lawyers pressed the judge to throw out the charges before jurors even begin deliberating, arguing prosecutors have failed to prove their case. The defence has suggested that Trump was trying to protect his family, not his campaign, by squelching what he says were false, scurrilous claims. Defence lawyer Todd Blanche argued that there was nothing illegal about soliciting a tabloids help to run positive stories about Trump, run negative stories about his opponents and identify potentially damaging stories before they were published. Former US president Donald Trump alongside his lawyer Todd Blanche at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York (Michael M Santiago/Pool Photo via AP) No-one involved had any criminal intent, Mr Blanche said. How is keeping a false story from the voters criminal? he asked. Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo shot back that the trial evidence overwhelmingly supports each element of the alleged offences and said the case should proceed to the jury. The judge did not immediately rule on the defences request. Such long-shot requests are often made in criminal cases but are rarely granted. signalling French authorities growing confidence that reinforced security and emergency measures are bringing deadly unrest on the French Pacific territory under control. French government spokeswoman Prisca Thevenot announced the trip, which required a shake-up of Mr Macrons schedule. He will go there tonight, she said after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday where the president announced that he had decided to travel there himself. Mr Macron had previously been scheduled in Normandy on Wednesday. Instead, he will be flying to the archipelago 10 time zones away from Paris, east of Australia, that has been gripped by deadly armed clashes, looting and arson with six people killed, including two gendarmes, in the past week. Paris last Wednesday declared a 12-day minimum state of emergency on the island where indigenous people have long sought independence from France, and rushed in 1,000 reinforcements to bolster security forces that lost control of some parts of the capital, Noumea. French Army embarking a plane to New Caledonia at the Istres military base, southern France (Etat Major des Armees via AP) Faced with the outbreak of violence, the priority is the return of order to allow dialogue to resume in New Caledonia, Ms Thevenot said. The return to calm is starting to arrive. The situation is not quite totally normalised, but the situation is improving. We are clear: Much remains to be done before the return to normal. The government is fully mobilised. A priority for French authorities since the weekend has been clearing the highway to Noumeas international airport of barricades and the burned hulks of vehicles, raising the prospect for stranded tourists of finally being able to leave. A street in Noumea, New Caledonia, is pictured after unrest (Nicolas Job/AP) Australia and New Zealand sent planes to New Caledonia on Tuesday to begin bringing home stranded citizens. Australian foreign minister Penny Wong said Australia had received clearance from French authorities for two evacuation flights. Hours later, a Royal Australian Air Force C-130 Hercules touched down in Noumea. The plane can carry 124 passengers, according to the Defence Department. We continue to work on further flights, Ms Wong wrote on the social media platform X on Tuesday. It is so hot in Mexico that howler monkeys are falling dead from the trees. At least 83 of the midsize primates, who are known for their roaring vocal calls, were found dead in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco. Others were rescued by residents, including five that were rushed to a local veterinarian who battled to save them. Howler monkeys sit in a cage at a veterinarian clinic after they were rescued amid extremely high temperatures in Tecolutilla, Tabasco state, Mexico (Luis Sanchez/AP) They arrived in critical condition, with dehydration and fever, said Dr Sergio Valenzuela. They were as limp as rags. It was heatstroke. While Mexicos brutal heatwave has been linked to the deaths of at least 26 people since March, veterinarians and rescuers say it has killed dozens and perhaps hundreds of howler monkeys. In the town of Tecolutilla, Tabasco, the dead monkeys started appearing on Friday, when a local volunteer fire-and-rescue squad showed up with five of the creatures in the bed of the truck. Normally quite intimidating, howler monkeys are muscular and can be around 2ft (60 centimetres) tall, with tails as long again. They are equipped with big jaws and a fearsome set of teeth and fangs. But mostly, their lion-like roars, which belie their size, are what they are known for. They (the volunteers) asked for help, they asked if I could examine some of the animals they had in their truck, Dr Valenzuela said on Monday. A veterinarian feeds a young howler monkey rescued amid extremely high temperatures in Tecolutilla (Luis Sanchez/AP) They said they didnt have any money, and asked if I could do it for free. The veterinarian put ice on their limp little hands and feet, and hooked them up to IV drips with electrolytes. So far, the monkeys appear to be on the mend. Once listless and easily handled, they are now in cages at Dr Valenzuelas office. Theyre recovering. Theyre aggressive theyre biting again, he said, noting that is a healthy sign for the usually furtive creatures. Most are not so lucky. Wildlife biologist Gilberto Pozo counted about 83 of the animals dead or dying on the ground under trees. The die-off started around May 5 and hit its peak over the weekend. They were falling out of the trees like apples, Mr Pozo said. They were in a state of severe dehydration, and they died within a matter of minutes. Already weakened, Mr Pozo says the falls from dozens of yards up inflict additional damage that often finishes the monkeys off. Mr Pozo attributes the deaths to a synergy of factors, including high heat, drought, forest fires and logging that deprives the monkeys of water, shade and the fruit they eat. For people in the steamy, swampy, jungle-covered state of Tabasco, the howler monkey is a cherished, emblematic species; local people say the monkeys tell them the time of day, by howling at dawn and dusk. Mr Pozo said the local people who he knows through his work with the Biodiversity Conservation of The Usumacinta group have tried to help the monkeys they see around their farms. But he notes that could be a double-edged sword. They were falling out of the trees, and the people were moved, and they went to help the animals, they set out water and fruit for them, Mr Pozo said. They want to care for them, mainly the baby monkeys, adopt them. A howler monkey sits inside a cage with others at a veterinarian clinic after they were rescued (Luis Sanchez/AP) But no, the truth is that babies are very delicate, they cant be in a house where there are dogs or cats, because they have pathogens that can potentially be fatal for howler monkeys, he said, stressing they must be rehabilitated and released into the wild. Mr Pozos group has set up a special recovery station for monkeys it currently holds five monkeys, but birds and reptiles have also been affected and is trying to organise a team of specialised veterinarians to give the primates the care they need. Belatedly, the federal government acknowledged the problem on Monday, with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador saying he had heard about it on social media. He congratulated Dr Valenzuela on his efforts and said the government would seek to support the work. Mr Lopez Obrador acknowledged the heat problem I have never felt it as bad as this but he has a lot of human problems to deal with as well. By May 9 at least nine cities in Mexico had set temperature records, with Ciudad Victoria, in the border state of Tamaulipas, clocking a broiling 47C. With below-average rainfall throughout almost all the country so far this year, lakes and dams are drying up, water supplies are running out and authorities have had to truck in water for everything from hospitals to fire-fighting teams. Low levels at hydroelectric dams have contributed to power blackouts in some parts of the country. Consumers are feeling the heat as well. On Monday, the nationwide chain of OXXO convenience stores the nations largest said it was limiting purchases of ice to just two or three bags per customer in some places. In a period of high temperatures, OXXO is taking measures to ensure supplies of products for our customers, parent company FEMSA said in a statement. Limits on the sale of bagged ice seek to ensure that a larger number of customers can buy this product. But for the monkeys, it is not a question of comfort, but of life or death. This is a sentinel species, Mr Pozo said, referring to the canary-in-a-coal mine effect where one species can say a lot about an ecosystem. It is telling us something about what is happening with climate change. Israeli forces have raided a militant stronghold in the occupied West Bank, killing at least seven Palestinians, including a doctor, according to local authorities. The military said its forces struck militants during an operation in Jenin, a city in the northern West Bank, which along with an adjacent urban refugee camp has long been a bastion of armed struggle against Israel. The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least seven Palestinians were killed and another nine wounded. Their identities were not immediately known. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group said its fighters battled the Israeli forces. Jenin has been a frequent target of Israeli raids (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) However, according to Wissam Abu Baker, the director of Jenin Governmental Hospital, the medical centres surgery specialist Ossayed Kamal Jabareen was among the dead. He was killed on his way to work, Abu Baker said. Jenin, seen as a hotbed of militancy, has been a frequent target of Israeli raids, long before Israels war with Hamas in Gaza broke out following the militant groups deadly attack on Israel on October 7. Nearly 500 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank fighting, many of them militants, as well as others throwing stones or explosives at troops. Others not involved in the confrontations have also been killed. Violence between Jewish West Bank settlers and Palestinians has also increased. Israel says it is cracking down on soaring militancy in the territory, pointing to a spike in attacks by Palestinians on Israelis. It has arrested more than 3,000 Palestinians since the start of the war in Gaza. Israel captured the West Bank in 1967 along with east Jerusalem, which it later annexed, and the Gaza Strip, which it withdrew troops and settlers from in 2005. The Palestinians seek those territories as part of their future independent state, hopes for which have been dimmed since the war in Gaza erupted. Former president Donald Trump speaks to the media, alongside attorney Todd Blanche, following the days proceedings at his hush money trial in New York (Mark Peterson/New York Magazine/AP) The judge in Donald Trumps hush money trial cleared the courtroom of reporters on Monday and threatened to remove a defence witness from the trial because of his behavior on the stand, a court transcript showed. Judge Juan M Merchan told Robert Costello, a former federal prosecutor, that his conduct was contemptuous right now. Mr Costello aggravated Mr Merchan repeatedly in his testimony by making comments under his breath and continuing to speak after objections were sustained a signal to witnesses to stop talking. At one point, Mr Costello remarked jeez when he was cut off by an objection. He also called the whole exercise ridiculous. Im putting you on notice that your conduct is contemptuous, Mr Merchan said, according to the transcript of the conversation that occurred when the press was out of the room. If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand. Mr Costello did not return a message seeking comment on Monday night. The fact that I had to clear the courtroom and that the court officers, including the captain, had great difficulty clearing the courtroom, and that there was argument back and forth between the press and including counsel for the press, goes to why I had to clear the courtroom in the first place, Mr Merchan told Mr Costello. Judge Juan Merchan, left, castigates witness Robert Costello about his decorum in the courtroom in Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 20, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP) And that is, sir, your conduct is contemptuous right now. When he brought the press back in, Mr Costellos testimony continued and it will resume on Tuesday. The defence is using him in an effort to attack the credibility of Trumps lawyer-turned-adversary Michael Cohen. Trumps lawyers also pressed the judge to stop the case from going to the jury and throw out the charges after prosecutors concluded their presentation of evidence. He did not immediately rule on the request, which came at the end of a heated day that also included the prosecutions star witness admitting to stealing tens of thousands of dollars from Trumps company. Former president Donald Trump sits in Manhattan Criminal Court during his ongoing hush money trial (AP) After jurors left for the day, defence lawyer Todd Blanche told the judge prosecutors had failed to prove their case and that it should be thrown out immediately. Mr Blanche beseeched the judge to not let this case go to the jury relying on Mr Cohens testimony. The judge appeared unmoved by the argument, asking the defence attorney whether he believed that as a matter of law, this persons so not worthy of belief that it shouldnt even be considered by the jury?. You said his lies are irrefutable, the judge said. But you think hes going to fool 12 New Yorkers into believing this lie? Mr Cohen was the last scheduled witness for prosecutors, who are trying to prove Trump sought to bury unflattering stories about himself and then falsified internal business records to cover it up as part of a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election. Trump has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers say there was nothing criminal about the Stormy Daniels deal or the way Mr Cohen was paid. Theres no crime, Trump told reporters after arriving at the courthouse on Monday. We paid a legal expense. You know what its marked down as? A legal expense. Prosecutors will have an opportunity to call rebuttal witnesses once Trumps witnesses are done. The judge, citing scheduling issues, said he expects closing arguments to happen on May 28. Mayor John Whitmire makes his way to the Legacy Room at City Hall to announce a $6.7 billion budget proposal on Tuesday, May 14, 2024 in Houston. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Houstons Planning and Development Department could see the largest percentage budget cut under Mayor John Whitmires $6.7 billion proposal for the fiscal year starting in July. Compared to its estimated spending for last fiscal year, the department could see a 31% decrease in its operating budget. The planning department oversees land development, sidewalk construction, historic preservation and transportation planning, among other responsibilities. It also helps manage the Houston Permitting Center. It was also one of the first departments to undergo leadership changes after Whitmire took office in January. Margaret Wallace Brown, appointed by former Mayor Sylvester Turner to lead the department in 2019, retired after nearly four decades of work for the city. She was replaced by her deputy, Jennifer Ostlind. Advertisement Article continues below this ad CITY HALL SHAKEUP: All the major leadership changes made by Houston Mayor Whitmire as he shakes up City Hall The department has been allocated $17.8 million in the mayors proposed budget. Only $3.5 million instead of the estimated $5 million for fiscal year 2024 would come from the general fund, which is primarily supported by property and sales taxes and used for core city services. The rest of its funding would come mostly from a self-sustaining special revenue fund generated by permit review and other user fees. Earlier this year, Whitmire asked all departments, except police and fire, to identify ways to cut 5% of their spending to address Houstons growing financial challenges. The mayors final proposal includes more modest savings of $11.7 million across all city departments, mostly from eliminating staff vacancies, according to Finance Director Melissa Dubowski. The reduced funding, however, should not significantly impact core department services. The decrease is due to the end of several one-time funding sources that supported projects including the expansion of Houstons bike share program and a tracker for historic preservation applications, according to Ostlind. It is also because of the elimination of an internal accounting practice that previously transferred money between the general fund and the special revenue fund based on staffing needs. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The Housing and Community Development Department will see the second-largest budget cut 25% compared to the prior years estimated spending. Northern Ireland Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald speaks to the media outside the Treasury building in Westminster, central London, after meeting with Chief Secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott and signing off on a new funding model for Stormont. Photo credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire International Unbelievable Conor Bradley only going to get better, hails NI team-mate Isaac Price Thailands military still has sway over the government, although a new civilian-led administration is in place, analyst Zachary Abuza writes. Thai soldiers secure a road near the Victory Monument in Bangkok, days after the military ousted the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in a coup, May 26, 2014. A decade after the Royal Thai Armed Forces seized power in a military coup, democracy has technically been restored in Thailand, but the popular will continues to be thwarted. Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha launched Thailands most recent coup on May 22, 2014, after it became clear that laws put in place following the previous military coup had not stopped the rise of populist parties. During his nine years as junta chief and prime minister, Prayuth was in no rush to hand over power. An appointed Legislative Assembly governed for five years and a new charter, drafted in 2017, was designed to maintain military control of politics. Now, the military continues to control politics, through four means. First, royalist-military elites have weaponized Article 112 of the criminal code lese-majeste, the law against royal defamation and other statues. In the two decades before the 2006 coup, there was an average of five Article 112 cases per year. Between 2014 and 2017, there were an average of 105 cases per year. Since 2020, nearly 2,000 people have been charged under Article 112, the Emergency Decree, and other laws used to crush peaceful dissent. Activists have sought to reform lese-majeste in two primary ways. The first is centered on de-linking Article 112 from national security provisions. If insulting the monarch is no longer viewed as treason, there will be shorter prison sentences for those convicted. The second is to change the way Article 112 violations can be reported. Currently anyone can file a report of lese-majeste, and police have to investigate. Proposed reforms have called for the Royal Household Bureau to make the reports, potentially stopping abuse by serial accusers who use the law to target political opponents. Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha speaks at the start of his first press conference, after Thailands junta-appointed legislature voted unanimously to name him to the post of prime minister in the days following a coup led by him, May 26, 2014. [Sakchit Lalit/AP file photo] Attempts to reform Article 112 have been met with charges of trying to overthrow the government and monarchy. The government has found that charging people under Article 112, then releasing them under stringent bail conditions, is sufficient to neutralize them. The second means has been a reliance on unelected bodies, including the Senate, Privy Council, Anti-Corruption Commission, and Election Commission. The 2017 Constitution established a military-appointed Senate for a five-year term, which had the unusual power, for an upper house, to participate in electing the prime minister. As such, a governing coalition required a supermajority of 376 seats, as the 250-member Senate, over half of whom were serving military and police, was expected to vote en bloc. Although the opposition Pheu Thai won the most seats in the 2019 election (136), it was the military-backed Palang Pracharath that was allowed to form a government with only 116 seats because it had the full backing of the Senate. Likewise, the Senate thwarted a government that reflected the popular will in 2023. Move Forward was never able to garner a super-majority, though its coalition easily controlled the lower house. In this photo released by the government spokesmans office, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin (left) escorts Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet after they review an honor guard during a welcoming ceremony at Government House in Bangkok, Feb. 7, 2024. [Government Spokesman Office via AP] Although the appointed Senates term ended this month, a new 200-member chamber will be assembled, through an indirect process restricted to 20 different social and professional groups. But it will no longer elect the prime minister. There is no unelected body in Thailand that has more power than the Privy Council. After his 2023 electoral drubbing, Prayuth was elevated to the Privy Council, where he continues to shape policy. The Anti-Corruption Commission has made a mockery of itself by routinely exculpating military-backed politicians, while investigating opposition figures. Although the Election Commission deserves credit for the management of elections and quick vote counts, before and after elections, its role has been highly politicized. Prior to the vote, commissioners tinkered with voting districts and disqualified candidates. But their real power has been their ability to recommend the dissolution of entire parties, the third means of securing royalist-military control. This began following the 2006 coup with the dissolution of the Thai Rak Thai party as well as its successor, the Peoples Power Party. In 2019, at the recommendation of the Election Commission, the Constitutional Court disbanded the Thaksin-affiliated Thai Raksa Chart Party, after it nominated Princess Ubolratana, the elder sister of the King, as its prime minister candidate. Following the 2019 election that saw the upstart Future Forward Party win 17.3% of the vote and 81 seats, its leader, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, and other executives were banned from political life for 10 years. Future Forward quickly reconstituted itself as Move Forward, which then spent the next four years developing a nation-wide network, culminating in its electoral victory in 2023. Pita Limjaroenrat, former leader of the Move Forward Party, receives a garland from a supporter as he leaves the Constitutional Court in Bangkok after it ruled that the party did not violate election laws and he could retain his seat in Parliament, Jan. 24, 2024. [Sakchai Lalit/AP] The Constitutional Court is currently deliberating on Move Forwards dissolution, due to the partys calls for reform of Article 112 during the campaign. Pita Limjaroenrat and 43 other executives face lifetime bans. There is an obvious risk here: Disbanding Move Forward would not just be disenfranchising 38% of the electorate that voted for its candidates a year ago. Its popularity has grown since then to over 44% in one recent poll. There is always the potential for street demonstrations. What has made the first three means possible has been military-royalist control over the judiciary. Much of this leverage comes through the Privy Council. The president of the Constitutional Court and usually his predecessor serve on the Kings advisory panel, and through them control a vast patronage network. Rather than the court being used to defend the constitutional monarchy, the judiciary has become a tool to defend an increasingly absolutist monarchy. A protester holds a banner during an anti-coup demonstration in Bangkok, May 25, 2014, three days after Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatras government was toppled by the military. [Wason Wanichakorn/AP file photo] Under this system of royalist jurisprudence, the legal reasoning behind many of the Constitutional Courts rulings, in general, and lese-majeste cases, in particular, are legally and logically inconsistent. At the time of the 2014 coup, Prayuth stated his intention that coups would no longer be necessary. Given the difficulty of amending the Constitution, control over the judiciary, weaponized laws, and the power of appointed bodies, legal coups are sufficient for the military to continue its hold on power. Zachary Abuza is a professor at the National War College in Washington and an adjunct at Georgetown University. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of the U.S. Department of Defense, the National War College, Georgetown University or BenarNews. Retired Gen. Aziz Ahmed, who had been accused of graft before, was blacklisted for corruption on Monday by Washington. Gen. Aziz Ahmed (center) receives a badge naming him the 7th Colonel Commandant of the Corps of Engineers at the Engineer Center and School of Military Engineering in Natore, a district in the city of Rajshahi, Bangladesh, Oct. 28, 2019. Calling it a disgrace for their country, civil society groups on Tuesday demanded that authorities investigate ex-army chief Gen. Aziz Ahmed and his family after Washington blacklisted him for significant corruption. Aziz and his immediate family as a result are ineligible to enter the United States, the U.S. State Department announced Monday as it designated the now-retired military official, who had been accused of graft before. Aziz, who served as army chief from June 2018 to June 2021, had helped his brother evade prosecution, had taken bribes in exchange for handing out government appointments, and had worked closely with his sibling to influence the awarding of military contracts, the department alleged. For some anti-corruption activists such as Iftekharuzzaman of Transparency International Bangladesh, the blacklisting did not come as a surprise because the U.S. has been vocal that it will not tolerate corruption. It is really a shame for the country and the people of the country to witness that the former chief of the army is involved in corruption and abused his power, the executive director of TI Bangladesh, who goes by one name, told BenarNews. Now Bangladesh has to prove that there is a rule of law here too. Therefore, these corruption allegations should be investigated through impartial investigation, Iftekharuzzaman said. Bangladesh authorities, especially the Anti-Corruption Commission, must take immediate exemplary action against Aziz and others involved in corruption, said Badiul Alam Majumdar, who is with a Dhaka-based civil society group. It is a huge disgrace for Bangladesh as a country and its people, the leader of the group, Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik, told BenarNews. According to him, Aziz and his brothers he has three became akin to some of the worlds biggest mafia groups due to the prolonged political patronage and unlimited benefits that military officers enjoyed. On Tuesday, reporters asked Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud whether Bangladeshs government was planning any action against Aziz in response to the U.S. blacklisting him. This is a military issue. I dont want to say anything right now, the minister said. We are in contact with the United States and are working together in anti-corruption, anti-terrorism and other fields internationally. The minister said the U.S. government had informed the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington before publicly announcing the ban. Bangladesh Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud addresses a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club in New Delhi, Feb. 8, 2024. [Manish Swarup/AP] The U.S. announcement, published on the State Department website Monday, said Azizs actions had undermined Bangladeshs democratic institutions. Aziz Ahmed engaged in significant corruption by interfering in public processes while helping his brother evade accountability for criminal activity in Bangladesh, said the statement attributed to spokesman Matthew Miller. Aziz also worked closely with his brother to ensure the improper awarding of military contracts and accepted bribes in exchange for government appointments for his personal benefit, it added. Aziz: Surprised For his part, the ex-army chief of Bangladesh said that all the allegations against him were false, and he was surprised to hear about the U.S. announcement. [A] friend sent me the copy [of the State Department statement] in the morning, he said in an interview on Tuesday with Jamuna TV, a private television channel in Bangladesh. Aziz said that a documentary aired in 2021 by the Qatar-based media group Al Jazeera had made the same claims against him as the U.S. During the interview, Aziz was asked about the allegations linked to his three brothers who were convicted in a murder case in 2004. Of the three, two evaded arrest and are still on the run, while the third had no such luck and was thrown in jail. He received a presidential pardon in 2018 after more than a decade in prison. The U.S. allegation that Aziz had helped a brother dodge responsibility for a criminal activity was untrue, the ex-army chief said. That brother of mine has been living abroad for a long time. He went abroad with a valid passport. I cannot accept the complaint of using my surname here, it is not correct, he said. Another [complaint] is that I committed corruption by giving my brother a military contract and taking a bribe, he said, without specifying which of his three siblings he was referring to. If anyone can prove I have given any work to any of my brothers or any relatives during my four-year service as the chief of BGB [Border Guard Bangladesh] and three years as army chief, I am ready to accept any consequences, he said. If there was no proof, how could the U.S. take action, the interviewer asked Aziz. I will not comment on this matter, because I dont have any data, he replied. All the Prime Ministers Men According to the Al Jazeera documentary, one of his brothers, Haris Ahmed, had moved to Budapest in 2015 and was doing business there since. Another brother, Anis Ahmed, reportedly lives in Malaysia. Some media reports said the third sibling who was pardoned, Tofail Ahmed Joseph, had also left Bangladesh. Back in 2021, a Bangladesh court ordered the removal of Al Jazeeras documentary, All the Prime Ministers Men, from the countrys social media platforms. At that time, Al Jazeeras investigative unit defended the documentary. It exposes how the head of the Bangladesh army helped two fugitive brothers, convicted of murder, to escape justice, Al Jazeera said in a statement. One brother, Haris Ahmed, boasts that he can use police and paramilitary units to abduct rivals and earn a fortune in bribes thanks to his powerful family links, it added. Al Jazeera said it had contacted everyone mentioned in the documentary, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Azizs brothers, senior members of the security forces and ministers, but none of them responded to a detailed set of questions. Hundreds of activists in Manila mark the 75th International Human Rights Day by demanding that the Marcos administration stop the killings and other human rights violations, Dec. 10, 2023. A new special committee set up by Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to promote human rights is fundamentally flawed in addressing policies that can lead to abuses, a coalition of domestic and international rights defenders warned Tuesday. Although they welcomed the initiative by Marcos the namesake son of a longtime Philippine dictator to create this so-called super body committee to handle human rights issues, his administration needs to scrap problematic policies that remain in place, the groups said in a joint statement. The Office of the President spins this super body as the answer to the human rights problems in the Philippines and that the government now champions human rights, the group said. While we dont deny the government the right to carry out initiatives to improve, promote, and uphold human rights we are nonetheless concerned that this super body has fundamental problems that, we fear, will prevent it from addressing the most pressing human rights needs in the Philippines at this time: accountability and an end to the policies that resulted in human rights abuses to begin with, it said. The groups signatories included the Philippine chapter of Amnesty International and rights groups Karapatan and the Philippine Alliance for Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), groups that have been pressing Marcos to probe alleged human rights violations committed during the drug war of his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte. The Philippine Presidential Communications Office did not immediately respond to a BenarNews request for comment. On May 11, the Marcos administration announced it had formed a special committee, which it touted as a super body, to champion human rights protection in the Philippines. It said the committees duties would include efforts to probe alleged human rights violations by law enforcement agencies; ensure the effective implementation of the governments human rights programs; and conduct a human rights-based approach towards drug control. Lucas Bersamin, Marcos executive secretary, chairs the special committee, while justice secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla serves as co-chairperson. The secretaries of the interior and foreign affairs departments also sit on the committee. The Marcos administration announced the committees creation as it forges international military alliances to defend the Philippines against Chinese territorial expansionism in the South China Sea. Since taking office in mid-2022 Marcos has rekindled relations with the United States. The president also highlighted human rights at a summit with the leaders of the U.S. and Japan in Washington last month. During our meeting, we reaffirmed our commitment to a peaceful, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific. We are guided by our shared values of democracy, the rule of law, human rights and gender equality, Marcos said after returning to Manila from the summit at the White House. President Joe Biden and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. walk on the West Colonnade to the Oval Office following a welcome ceremony at the White House in Washington, May 1, 2023. [Carolyn Kaster/AP] As the coalition explained it, a main flaw with the new special committee is that its implementers include agencies that perpetuate human rights problems in the Philippines, such as in the ongoing drug war. Among those, the Presidential Committee on Human Rights (PHRC), a separate committee established in 2006, serves as the secretariat for the new special committee on human rights. The PHRC does not have the credibility to promote and uphold human rights, for the simple reason that especially during the last administration it was taking part in the vilification of rights defenders, the groups in the coalition said. They also accused the justice department of having a lackluster record of investigating and prosecuting drug war killings. They said that the interior department, which has administrative control over the countrys police force, was ineffective in addressing the thousands of allegations of police misconduct during the past administrations anti-drug campaign and also in the present one. The group instead urged Marcos to cooperate with the International Criminal Courts (ICC) investigation into former President Dutertes deadly drug war. Such a cooperation will show consistency in the Marcos administrations actions and rhetoric on human rights. It should also endeavor to bring the Philippines back to the fold of the ICC, the group said. Currently, the ICC is investigating Duterte, 79, for crimes against humanity related to his war on drugs, which killed at least 8,000 people, according to official police figures. Rights activists say the number could be much higher. The group of defenders also called on Marcos to categorically end the war on drugs by rescinding the official issuances by his predecessor that made the violent anti-drug campaign possible and persistent. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers his speech during the 6th Indo-Pacific Business Forum at a hotel in Taguig, Philippines, May 21, 2024. [Aaron Favila/AP] Marcos had said earlier that his administration would carry on with the drug war but in a different way by focusing more on rehabilitating suspects. However, killings involving police officers have continued under his watch. Data from the Dahas Project of the University of the Philippines that tracks down drug-related killings show that 611 suspects were slain since Marcos took office in mid-2022 until April 7 of this year. Marcos late father, Ferdinand E. Marcos, ruled the country with an iron fist for 14 years under martial law before being forced from office in a popular revolt in 1986. The elder Marcos was believed to have imprisoned, tortured and killed thousands of his political critics. The Marcos family also deepened the general hardship of Filipinos by plundering billions of dollars from state coffers. But former Sen. Leila de Lima, an arch critic of Duterte, said the younger Marcos move to create a human rights body was a welcome move. However, the body should institutionalize feedback and consultation from the [Philippine Commission on Human Rights] and human rights NGOs so as not to become an echo chamber of government propaganda of its human rights record, she said. Gerard Carreon contributed to this report from Manila, and Jeoffrey Maitem from Davao City, southern Philippines Forty senators, who petitioned Constitutional Court, say ex-minister should not have been appointed because of criminal record. Pichit Chuenban, who resigned May 21 as a minister, is seen in this photograph he posted on his Facebook account, with the caption saying he was attending a meeting chaired by the Thai prime minister, in Bangkok on May 9, 2024. A Thai minister resigned Tuesday after a legal petition sought to oust Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin for allegedly violating the constitution by appointing him to the cabinet despite his criminal record. According to the 40 senators who filed the petition with the Constitutional Court last Friday, Pichit Chuenban was not qualified to be a minister because he had been imprisoned for six months for contempt of court in 2008. The court is scheduled to make a decision Thursday on whether it will hear the case. Srettha had named Pichit minister to the Prime Ministers Office in a cabinet reshuffle in late April. In his resignation letter, Pichit said he was not attached to his ministerial position. Even though I have examined the petition and sincerely believe that I possess all the qualifications required by law, this matter has implicated the Prime Minister, he said. He said he was resigning to allow the country to move forward and not affect the prime ministers administration of state affairs. This was a complete about-turn from right after the senators had filed their petition on May 17. At that time, he steadfastly stuck to the position that he would not resign. When reporters asked him on Tuesday whether there was any other reason he quit or whether he had spoken to Srettha before deciding to resign, Pichit didnt answer. There was no pressure [to resign], he said. On Monday, Srettha, who was on a state visit to Italy, told the media that he had not had the opportunity to discuss the case with Pichit. I havent talked to Pichit about this at all. Im not aware of the matter either, he said. If I have time, Ill have to call him to discuss how he plans to explain to the Constitutional Court. We have to respect all parties. Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin (left) shakes hands with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner before the Emilia Romagna Formula One Grand Prix race at the Dino and Enzo Ferrari racetrack in Imola, Italy, May 19, 2024. [Luca Bruno/Pool/AP] In their petition to court, the senators alleged that Pichit had been involved in graft in 2008. Pichit has engaged in corrupt behavior, bribing the justice system, and his case was brought to the Lawyers Council of Thailand to have his name removed from the list of lawyers. Therefore, it is a clear case that he lacks evident honesty and has seriously violated or failed to comply with ethical standards, part of the petition stated. They were referring to what has come to be called the snack bag case, in which Pichit was a lawyer for some time, serving as an attorney for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife in a land purchase issue. At the time, he allegedly tried to bribe court officials with 2 million baht (U.S. $54,960) that he put in a grocery paper bag, pretending he was bringing a snack for a court officer. He was held in contempt and put behind bars for six months. Pichits appointment as minister all these years later demonstrates that influential people often enjoy impunity for their actions and are very rarely brought to account, said Piyapong Pimpaluck, from Chiang Mai Universitys Social Research Institute. This case reflects the structural problems of the Thai political system, where those in power can still appoint their tainted associates to important positions, the assistant professor said. Therefore, reforms are needed that focus on creating accountable mechanisms whenever ministers or committees are appointed, to prevent such problems. Samsung has reportedly succeeded in decreasing the display crease on its Galaxy Z Fold 6 after users of previous models shared concerns about the visible line on the screen. Display crease has been a constant roadblock for foldable smartphones which forced manufacturers to discover new ways to make it less visible. Read Also : Samsung Offers Free 50-Inch TV for Every Galaxy Book4 Edge Purchase Samsung Targets Less Display Crease on Galaxy Z Fold 6 According to reports, Samsung managed to improve the display crease visibility for the next-generation foldable. However, it is safe to say that the feature is not "completely eliminated" but rather reduced compared to existing models. The tipster failed to disclose how Samsung pulled it off but a previous report showed that the company plans to enhance the Galaxy Z Flip 6's problem by using a thicker form of ultra-thin glass. The same treatment is expected to be released on the Fold 6. Samsung previously made a better display crease for the Fold 5 compared to the 2019 version of the smartphone but users still saw it as a downside of owning a foldable. Samsung Preps for Next Galaxy Launch in July Samsung is reportedly gearing up for its next big launch event. The last Galaxy Unpacked event was on January 21 which introduced the Galaxy S24 Series and Galaxy AI to the customers. The company has yet to announce the official date but some suggest that it could be held on July 10. The summer launch is expected to introduce the Galaxy Watch 7, new tablets, and more. In addition, the improved Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 could also make an appearance at the event. The much-awaited debut of the Galaxy Ring is also expected to happen at the event. BENNINGTON Discussion of Benningtons planned town charter review process opened Monday with a number of suggestions and clarification of some of the ground rules. The Select Board held an open discussion on the pending five-year review of the 26-page town governmental charter. It was last amended in 2019 after a year-long, section-by-section review by a seven-member citizen committee appointed by the board. Chairwoman Jeannie Jenkins said the board will hold another open discussion with the aim of preparing a charge or written assignment for the review committee to consider. The group, which can have between five and nine members, will create a report with recommendations to the board at the end of its review. At that point, the board can accept some, all or none of the amendment recommendations. Any proposed amendments also must be reviewed by the Legislature, approved at that level and signed by the governor before going to Bennington voters for final approval. COMMENT PROCESS In answer to questions from board member Nancy White and others, Jenkins and town Communications Coordinator Jonah Spivak said citizens can offer comments and suggestions for the review during board meetings and through an online portal on the town website. Comments will be collected and provided to the Select Board, they said, prior to board action on the topics to be considered, possibly on June 10. Once included in a board meeting packet they will become a public record and will be posted or otherwise made available. Spivak said there also will be an opportunity for the public to comment on the process when the committees review is underway. SUGGESTED TOPICS Among the topics proposed for the review committee was a change allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in local elections, suggested by Jenkins. She noted some Vermont towns had adopted such a provision in recent years, adding that voting could be the best civics lesson ever, especially for teens in families where voting is not common. White said shed like to see another review of the town manager and select board sections of the charter on authority and duties, topics that were reviewed during the last review in 2017-18. In addition, White said the town wide vote should be held during a March or November election, not during a special election, as in June 2018, which resulted in a low voter turnout. The vote then was 440 in favor of several charter amendments and 148 opposed. One reason for the special town meeting vote was that the charter committee did not finish its report in time to warn amendments at the March town meeting. MOST RECENT REVIEW The 2017-18 committee considered the entire charter and made a number of language and other updates, which required the group meeting for more than a year. The five-year review is expected to review only a set number of charter sections. White also suggested that any amendments be voted on separately during a town wide vote, which was something the 2017-18 committee considered but rejected in favor of a package of proposed amendments. Board member Clark Adams said he would like to see the committee review the role of the Community Policing Review Advisory Board in how it looks into matters involving the Bennington Police Department. Adams said hed like a review of whether the board could operate more independently and less as a part of the police department complaint process. Jenkins also suggested another look at whether the town could more effectively address property owners who allow property to sit idle or vacant. She said shed like to see the town have options with more carrots and sticks to deal with those situations, while acknowledging that such questions have run into legal or constitutional obstacles in the past. LEGAL REVIEW The charter committees proposed amendments will likely be reviewed by Town Counsel Merrill Bent, Jenkins and Town Manager Stuart Hurd said. During the last review, Hurd added, the committee consulted town counsel, the Vermont League of Cities and Towns and others on legal or constitutional issues. Board member Tom Haley suggested a look at short-term property rentals and possible regulation. During discussion of whether people who served on the last charter committee should be allowed to participate this time, resident Leslie Addison said new committee members are needed but there is some benefit to having some experienced people on the committee. Board member Sarah Perrin urged residents who are interested in serving to apply when the application process is opened. Jenkins said the board already has received some letters of interest. If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom. (Photo : Unsplash/ Clay Banks) A plan to increase pay for Uber and Lyft drivers in Minnesota, which lawmakers think would keep the companies from exiting the market, progressed in the state Legislature on Sunday before the midnight cutoff. The House Agreement on The Drivers' Pay Package The House approved the compensation bill, but it was delayed in the Senate before receiving approval just before the deadline for lawmakers to pass bills before adjourning. The bill now heads to Governor Tim Walz for signing into law, as reported by the Star Tribune. Democrats crafted the proposal that initially gained approval in the House to replace a minimum pay measure passed by the Minneapolis City Council, which caused Uber and Lyft to threaten to leave the state's largest city. READ ALSO: Lyft, Uber Disappointed with Council Overriding Pay Increase Veto, Retaliates by Ceasing Minneapolis, Twin Cities' Services The House agreement, announced Saturday after a day of negotiations, sets a minimum pay rate at $1.28 per mile and 31 cents per minute. Uber stated on Monday that it will continue operating in the state under these rates, with the bill set to take effect in December. Uber and Lyft's Acknowledgement Rde-hailing companies Uber and Lyft announced they will continue operating in Minnesota following the passage of a state measure that increases driver pay, though at a lower rate than what Minneapolis officials approved earlier this year. Although the new pay minimums are lower than the rate approved by the Minneapolis City Council in March, they aim to ensure that drivers across the state earn at least the city's minimum hourly wage of $15.57, which could also result in higher costs for passengers. Uber acknowledges that upcoming price increases may impact both riders and drivers. Still, the company will be able to continue operating statewide under the compromise arranged by the Governor, according to spokesperson Josh Gold in an email to the Star Tribune. Lyft spokesperson CJ Macklin stated that they have reached common ground to balance a new pay increase for drivers with what riders can afford, ensuring the continuation of service to both riders and drivers across the state. The Rideshare Drivers' Pay Increase The proposed regulation that drew criticism from the companies would have mandated payment of at least $1.40 per mile and 51 cents per minute, or a minimum of $5 per ride, whichever amount is higher, excluding tips, for the duration of passenger transportation within Minneapolis. Marianna Brown, vice president of the Minnesota Uber/Lyft Drivers Association, told the Star Tribune that although the pay rates are lower than drivers had sought, they were pleased to see the deal come together. Following the House passage, the Governor stated on social media platform X that the deal provides rideshare drivers with a 20% raise and ensures these essential services continue operating in Minnesota. He expressed gratitude to the House and Senate DFL partners for their collaboration in achieving this outcome. RELATED ARTICLE: Lyft Will Allow Riders To Donate To Charity Through Its Round-Up Program 2017 Jobs & Hire All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close LENOX The Select Board is calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to "maximize oversight" of all cleanup activities associated with GE's 75-acre upland disposal facility, a controversial, yet crucial, element of the Rest of River PCB cleanup project for the Housatonic River south of Woods Pond. In a highly critical and strongly worded letter to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Select Board wrote: Lenox again implores EPA to maximize third-party oversight of all cleanup activities. It is self-evident that human nature causes contractors to behave differently when there is oversight. Therefore, the presence and independence of oversight monitors are crucial given the permit holders incentive to minimize cleanup costs. The permit holder refers to GE, which holds the EPA permit to clean up the Housatonic from southeast Pittsfield to Great Barrington. The companys Pittsfield transformer plant dumped probable cancer-causing PCB chemicals into the river between 1932 and 1977. In 1979, the federal government banned the production and use of polychlorinated biphenyls. The EPA's public comment period on the upland disposal facility plan closed Monday. The EPA has the final say on the plan. The Lenox Select Board's letter was written by Town Manager Christopher Ketchen. Select Board member Marybeth Mitts edited the letter and added stronger language around several key points concerning the "dump," as Rest of River opponents call it. The facility will be located on a former landfill and quarry off Woodland Road in Lee. GE bought the site from Lane Construction Co. in April 2021 for the PCB landfill. The letter was addressed to EPA regional project manager Dean Tagliaferro. Based on a technical analysis by the Lenox environmental consultant Weston & Sampson, the Select Board's letter doubles down on previous concerns that multiple aspects of the plan require verification of design standards as well as independent monitoring of contractors assigned to the project. The letter objects to the absence of a construction quality assurance plan for the disposal site, which is designed to hold up to 900,000 cubic yards of lower-level PCB-contaminated soil and sediment. The letter also points out that hydraulic transport of PCB slurry, which would negate the need for thousands of truck trips through town, is not mentioned in the plan. Lenox is concerned about the disjointed nature of the UDF plans in relation to the cleanup projects other operational details, the town leadership stressed. This is a problem and represents a pattern of deficiency that EPA must address. The letter demands a better flow of information to the public about daily cleanup activities, including air-quality monitoring and data on dust and noise impacts. EPA must include all of these recommendations in a public communication plan whether part of an approved quality-of-life compliance plan, one or more UDF plans, or transportation and disposal plan, the letter emphasized. The letter cited an air sampling dashboard used following the February 2023 freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that spilled toxic chemicals on the community. We demand a reporting system that is just as robust and preferably better as part of this cleanup project, the Lenox leaders wrote. At a public presentation held in Town Hall last Thursday and available at ctsbtv.org Channel 1303, Weston & Sampsons analysis of the disposal facilitys location near Woods Pond included these major points on the Rest of River cleanup: PCB-contaminated sediments and soil will be permanently removed from the river. After the cleanup is completed, the EPA expects the river to be returned as an asset to the communities along the Housatonic and to be safe for recreation, including fishing, boating and swimming. The facility is being built in Lee because the location was agreed upon by the Rest of River Municipal Committee representing Lee, Lenox, Stockbridge, Great Barrington and Sheffield, as well as the EPA and GE based on the revised 2020 Rest of River Settlement agreement. The upland disposal facility does not pose a risk to human health and the environment as long as certain conditions are met: Design and construction requirement designated by the EPA. Other alternatives included burying PCB-contaminated sediment where found, under a cap, or dredging followed by thermal destruction. These were deemed impractical because of the large volume of sediments to be capped or removed. GE will be responsible for long-term maintenance and monitoring of the site as well as the cost, in perpetuity. Stockbridge Town Moderator Gary Johnston presided over Monday night's annual town meeting, where voters approved more than $12 million in town and school budgets as well as a new speed limit policies for thickly settled areas and the downtown business district. Johnston was first elected in 1977. Baptism doesnt divide, but it does distinguish. To answer the question, Must I be baptized to go to heaven? we must first admit that there are differences of belief within the body of Christ, then we need to define both baptism and the gospel, and, finally, seek biblical case studies to guide us to our answer. To begin, the short answer is: no. Heaven is not dependent upon the Sacraments of Baptism or, for that matter, the Lords Supper. But merely stating this leaves out a great deal of necessary discussion. For God commanded that a sign (His sign of distinction, of the entrance into the Family of God) of washing away of sin be instituted and practiced until the end of the world. So, it is not enough to say, No, you dont have to be baptized. We must give attention to this vital matter. Hopefully, we will find not only clarity but conviction as well. Men and women of good will and strong faith differ about some things revealed in the Bible, and there is quite a difference between disagreeing out of unbelief and disagreeing out of faith. The former is quite different from the latter. The latter, Christians with differing convictions about what the Bible means, must recognize each other as fellow followers of Christ who hold different positions of interpretation and practice. Yet, each looks to the Bible as the unassailable standard of faith and life. While it is a cherished hallmark of Protestant Christianity that every person has freedom of conscience, especially, in the interpretation of Scripture and the freedom to worship as he or she sees best from the Word of God, it is also the teaching of Christ that we should hold such convictions in humility. What did Christ say? ...for whoever is not against us is for us (Mark 9:40). The Apostle Paul summarized this enigma of one Word with diverse opinions, and he challenged the obstinate whose faith was weaponized for ecclesiastical in-fighting and called all of us to mortify putrid pretentiousness: For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known (1 Corinthians 13:12, KJV). Baptism is one of those very important matters that createsI prefer to call themcommunities of conviction. Why Baptism Is a Matter of Priority It is no wonder that baptism is a conviction of faith that is taken as a doctrine of first things. For baptism, like the other sacrament, or sign of Gods salvationthe sacrament of Holy Communion, or, "the Lord's supper"is a commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ. We dont squabble over the color of the carpet (and if we do, shame on us[go with wood or tile]). We dont initiate movements and fellowships over secondary matters. Baptism is of first importance in the life of the Church. Is Baptism Our Testimony or Gods? Both Baptism and Holy Communion are New Covenant signs that continue the Old Covenant signs of circumcision and the Passover meal.1 These two visible expressions of God's salvation are not something we do for God but something God has done for us. The Lord commanded that we remember His salvation through the practicing of these sacraments until the end of the world. So, the signs of engrafting into the one true body of Christ that is, Baptismalong with Communion the sign of nourishing and caring for those who have been saved are vital signs of life within the church. Having said that, and recognizing that there are communities of conviction who received Scripture to say that baptism is necessary for salvation, I would humbly but resolutely submit that there is nothing necessary for salvation apart from repentance and faith in the finished redemptive work of Jesus Christ: His perfect life, His atoning sacrifice at Calvary. Can Baptism Save You? One does not have to be baptized to go to heaven. However, believers and their children should submit themselves to baptism if they are able. God commanded that we should be baptized. But our baptism, the visible expression of what God has done for us, that is, God's grace, is not the saving power but is rather the divine authentication of God's grace. The sum of the Scriptures teach us that baptism is not our testimony to God about what we have done for Him, but rather baptism is God's testimony to us concerning His salvation promised, made possible, and applied by God the Father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit. Shall we deemphasize what the Almighty has emphasized? For not only did God command that the two sacraments are signs of salvation to be continued until the end of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ forever linked baptism to the mission of the Church in the world. For the Great Commission is Christs final mandate to the Church and is, therefore, our first responsibility. We are not only to make disciples of the nations, but the disciples should be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Only Jesus SavesBaptism Signifies But we are back to our initial question: Do you have to be baptized to go to heaven? The Bible says that we are saved by grace through faith and that is not of ourselves. We are admonished, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you should be saved (Acts 16:31). The Bible also commands baptism, but baptism does not save us from sin. Communion cannot save. It is not even our faith that saves, only Jesus saves. Faith is a gift from God, made possible by the grace of Jesus Christ, whereby we lay hold of the promise offered freely. Baptism is Gods sign of marking you out, bringing you in, and cleansing you from sin. The Thief on the Cross The greatest example of this truth is seen in the life of the thief on the cross. Did this man who repented and believed in Jesus Christ as God and Savior go to heaven? He was not baptized. Furthermore, he could never join in with the Christian community. He would never take Communion. But he was as much a member of the body of Christ as any member of the Church today. The circumstances, however, were not the norm, but the exception. The norm is seen in many other places in the New Testament. Let's look at two. On the day of Pentecost, 50-days after Easter, and in fulfillment of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son and came down upon the disciples in an extraordinary demonstration of heavenly presence and power. On that day the Apostle Peter preached before the great throng of humanity from every part of the Roman Empire, and what did he add to his preaching of repentance and faith? And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will be saved (Acts 2:38 ESV). That is to be the norm, wherever possible. 2. The Philippian Jailer and His Household (Acts 16:25-40) The other instance that I will refer to happens in Acts 16. St. Paul and Silas were in prison at Philippi. We remember that God heard the hymns and prayers of the two apostolic missionaries and sent an earthquake to release them from prison. The Philippian jailer feared for his life because of the compromise of security. In fact, he preferred death by his own hand rather than to fall into the cruel charge of his severe superiors, but Paul stopped him. The Roman correctional officer, therefore, cried out to the Apostle Paul, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved (Acts 16:30). Saint Paul and Silas declared the Good News and this man was saved. The Apostle Paul not only baptized him but the Bible says that Paul baptized the entire household (Acts 16:32-33). This narrative along with Acts 2 demonstrates the normative place of baptism in the mission of the church and in the life of a believer. While Baptism Doesnt Save, Baptism Does Signify Gods Glorious Activity in Our Lives But we say again: baptism is a sign of salvation that is commanded as the norm. Every believer and their children should be baptized, but there are exceptions. The broken-hearted parents little babydying in infancywho is now singing praise to the One who welcomed the children and laid His hands upon them for blessing; and the adolescentlost in an automobile accidentwho professed faith in the resurrected Christ, but who had not yet been baptized, is safe in the arms of Jesus. Pastor, What Must I Do to Be Saved? I was in the VA Hospital in Miami when I met him. I was calling on a Veteran in the next bed. But as I read from the Scriptures and prayed, this elderly gentleman listened in. He then hollered across the curtain, Pastor, what must I do to be saved? I shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ Sir, salvation is not of works, it is all of grace, a gift to you from God. The Bible declares that you are a sinner, you cannot save yourself, God will punish sin, but by grace, He extends to you a new life in His Son, Jesus the Christ, fully God and fully Man, who died on the cross for your sins, who rose on the third day that you, too, will live, though you die. The elderly veteran repented and trusted in Christ as he lay dying. Suddenly, the happy new convertof 95 years of age or solamented to me his regrets. Among those regrets was having squandered his years in profligate living, and having never been baptized. I told him that I would baptize him. I called for the hospital chaplain, and we baptized him. I left him with the covenantal waters running down his face, as he lay in his bed. When I returned to see our parishioner and my new father in Christ, he was not there. The Veteran had died. He is in heaven, but baptism didnt put him there, Gods grace did. Baptism was a loving sign from God that He had washed away the old man and created a new man. But what if he had died before baptism? Well, I think you know the answer by now. Baptism doesnt save us; baptism signifies Gods presence and power to us. So repent, be baptized, and baptize your children. But if Gods Providence prevents the sign of Gods Promise, you, too, will be safe in the arms of the Savior. Notes: 1. O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ of the Covenants (Baker Book House, 1980). Photo credit: Getty Images/Julie Ayers BillOReilly.com is not available in this country. We apologize for any inconvenience. (Photo : Unsplash/Oladimeji Ajegbile) As workers worldwide have faced challenges balancing work and personal life, 63% have thought about changing jobs due to stress at work in the United States, according to a VoiceNation survey. Some have switched to more flexible jobs, while others have adopted workplace trends like coffee badging, shadow policies, and quiet quitting, which employers do not appreciate. However, an emerging work trend known as 'chronoworking,' which emphasizes flexibility tailored to individual work styles, could benefit everyone involved if implemented thoughtfully. What is Chronoworking? According to the BBC, journalist Ellen C. Scott originally coined the term chronoworking, which connotes a productivity technique that allows employees to forego traditional office hours and instead choose schedules that align with their chronotypes or circadian rhythms. Circadian rhythms refer to the natural patterns at which individuals sleep, wake up, and reach peak productivity. Chronoworking offers increased flexibility as employees can arrange their work schedules to align with their personal needs and productivity patterns. According to a Ted Talk by American clinical psychologist and sleep doctor Michael Breus, approximately 55% of individuals experience peak productivity between 10:00 and 14:00 hours, 15% prefer early-morning starts, 15% work better late at night, and 10% have an erratic circadian rhythm that varies from day to day. Traditionally, most workers adhere to standard nine-to-five work schedules despite variations in their circadian rhythms. Therefore, from a neuroscience and biological standpoint, chronoworking appears logical and particularly common among self-employed individuals and solopreneurs. READ ALSO: Asynchronous Communication: How It Could Make or Break The Way We Work How is Chronoworking Beneficial? Workers who align their tasks with their circadian rhythm often experience increased productivity and perform tasks more efficiently. This alignment can enhance motivation and job satisfaction, potentially reducing feelings of stress and burnout. According to corporate wellness consultant Tawn Williams, individuals can promote a harmonious balance of mental, physical, and emotional well-being by scheduling work tasks during optimal times, resulting in improved productivity and overall job satisfaction. Moreover, adopting this approach to work can enhance focus and empower workers to feel greater autonomy over their schedules. According to Dirk Buyens, professor of HR management at Vlerick Business School in Brussels, the concept of chronoworking particularly appeals to younger workers who value the flexibility to align their schedules with their most productive hours, as reported by the BBC. Beyond individual workers, Buyens suggests that companies can also reap benefits from this method. Allowing employees to work when they are most productive could increase overall output and enhance employee well-being, potentially leading to improved employee retention rates and creating a positive ripple effect within the organization. Downsides of Chronoworking While the chronoworking trend emphasizes flexibility, it also introduces challenges, particularly for teams with shared tasks or overlapping work hours. Team members must have some "crossover hours" to facilitate meetings and project collaboration. Maintaining effective communication requires awareness of each team member's working hours. Additionally, managers may face difficulties in monitoring staff productivity and ensuring the availability and supportiveness of all team members to the team and its leaders at all times. Companies can address these challenges by implementing adaptive strategies. For instance, the CEO of London-based jobs platform Flexa, as reported by the BBC, shared that all 17 employees practice chronoworking. To maintain communication, the company mandates that all staff be online during core hours from 11:00 to 15:00, collectively tackling shared tasks. Additionally, some companies utilize software to record meetings for employees who are unavailable at the time, bridging the gap of asynchronous work. RELATED ARTICLE: Team Chat Etiquette: The Do's and Don'ts When Reaching Out to Colleagues 2017 Jobs & Hire All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. ^Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR Allschwil, Switzerland - May 21, 2024 Idorsia Ltd (SIX: IDIA) today announced its financial results for the full year of 2023. Business highlights * Sale of Idorsia Asia-Pacific operations (excluding China): Sold to Nxera Pharma (previously known as Sosei Heptares) for a total consideration of CHF 400 million in July 2023. * Cost reduction initiative: Delivering a 50% reduction in fixed cost at Swiss headquarters fully effective in early 2024. * Aprocitentan: Worldwide rights reacquired from Janssen for a conditional consideration of CHF 306 million in September 2023. Commercial highlights * QUVIVIQ(TM) (daridorexant): Total net sales of CHF 31 million in 2023. * QUVIVIQ: Expanded access and availability in the US, Canada and across Europe. Financial highlights FY 2023 * Net revenue FY 2023 at CHF 152 million. * US GAAP operating expenses FY 2023 at CHF 409 million and non-GAAP operating expenses FY 2023 at CHF 654 million. * US GAAP operating loss FY 2023 of CHF 255 million and non-GAAP operating loss of CHF 501 million. Jean-Paul Clozel, MD and Chief Executive Officer, commented: "During 2023, we made great progress with expanding the availability of QUVIVIQ and patient access in the US, Canada, and across Europe. QUVIVIQ is rapidly being recognized by specialists as a major advance in the field of insomnia. PIVLAZ became a very successful drug in Japan, and regulatory submissions were advanced for aprocitentan in the US and EU. As the development and launch of these three products required substantial financial investments, there was a need to lower our costs. Accordingly, we reduced our headcount and prioritized our portfolio assets; we monetized our Asia-Pacific operations; and we began negotiations with potential partners. All these actions have been essential to the future of the company." Andre C. Muller, Chief Financial Officer, commented: "2023 was a year of adaptation for Idorsia. When it became clear that we would not hit our original sales targets, we needed to take measures to reduce and control our cost base to deliver on our operating guidance. Furthermore, we needed to advance several funding and business initiatives to extend our cash runway. Our activities resulted in a one-off income related to the Nxera Deal and substantially reduced operating expenses throughout all functions meaning we delivered a significantly lower operating loss than forecast. With the reduced cost base, two marketed or close-to-market products, and a rich unencumbered portfolio of innovative assets, Idorsia entered 2024 in a much stronger position." Financial results FY 2023 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- US GAAP results Fourth Full Year Quarter ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- in CHF millions, except EPS (CHF) and number of shares (millions) 2023 2022 2023 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Net revenues 152 97 22 54 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operating expenses (409) (900) (134) (247) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operating income (loss) (255) (803) (111) (193) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Net income (loss) (298) (828) (117) (193) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Basic EPS (1.67) (4.67) (0.65) (1.09) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Basic weighted average number of shares 178.2 177.4 178.6 177.5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Diluted EPS (1.67) (4.67) (0.65) (1.09) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Diluted weighted average number of shares 178.2 177.4 178.6 177.5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- US GAAP net revenue of CHF 152 million in 2023 (CHF 97 million in 2022) consisted of product sales of QUVIVIQ (CHF 30.9 million) and PIVLAZ (CHF 34.4 million), the one-off impact of the Nxera Deal (CHF 68 million), a CHF 9 million milestone payment from Santhera, a revenue share from Johnson & Johnson (CHF 5 million) and other contract revenues mainly Mochida (CHF 4 million), and Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (CHF 2 million). US GAAP operating expenses in 2023 amounted to CHF 409 million (CHF 900 million in 2022), of which CHF 7 million related to cost of sales (CHF 6 million in 2022), CHF 294 million to R&D expenses (CHF 383 million in 2022) and CHF 392 million to SG&A expenses (CHF 509 million in 2022) CHF 11 million restructuring charges and a one-off income of CHF 298 million relating to the Nxera Deal. US GAAP net loss in 2023 amounted to CHF 298 million (CHF 828 million in 2022). The decrease of the net loss was mainly attributable to the one-off income related to the Nxera Deal but was also driven by higher revenues and lower operating expenses throughout all functions. The US GAAP net loss resulted in a net loss per share of CHF 1.67 (basic and diluted) in 2023, compared to a net loss per share of CHF 4.67 (basic and diluted) in 2022. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Non-GAAP* measures Fourth Full Year Quarter ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- in CHF millions, except EPS (CHF) and number of shares (millions) 2023 2022 2023 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Net revenues 152 97 22 54 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operating expenses (654) (854) (137) (234) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operating income (loss) (501) (757) (115) (180) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Net income (loss) (542) (782) (121) (186) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Basic EPS (3.04) (4.41) (0.68) (1.05) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Basic weighted average number of shares 178.2 177.4 178.6 177.5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Diluted EPS (3.04) (4.41) (0.68) (1.05) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Diluted weighted average number of shares 178.2 177.4 178.6 177.5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Idorsia measures, reports and issues guidance on non-GAAP operating performance. Idorsia believes that these non-GAAP financial measurements more accurately reflect the underlying business performance and therefore provide useful supplementary information to investors. These non-GAAP measures are reported in addition to, not as a substitute for, US GAAP financial performance. Non-GAAP net loss in 2023 amounted to CHF 542 million: The CHF 244 million difference versus US GAAP net loss was mainly due to the one-off effect of the Nxera Deal (CHF 305 million income), depreciation and amortization (CHF 24 million), share-based compensation (CHF 23 million), restructuring charges (CHF 11 million) and a loss on marketable securities (CHF 4 million). The non-GAAP net loss resulted in a net loss per share of CHF 3.04 (basic and diluted) in 2023, compared to a net loss per share of CHF 4.41 (basic and diluted) in 2022. Nxera Deal (previously known as Sosei Deal) In July 2023, Idorsia sold its operating businesses in the Asia-Pacific (excluding China) region to Sosei Heptares (now known as Nxera Pharma) for a total consideration of CHF 400 million. The territories within the scope of the transaction are Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam (hereafter the "Territories"). The Nxera deal includes the sale of Idorsia's Japanese and South Korean affiliates, the assignment of the license for PIVLAZ (clazosentan) for the Territories and of the (co-) exclusive license for daridorexant for the Territories, and the assignment of all potential milestones in connection with the co-exclusive license for daridorexant granted to Mochida Pharmaceutical for Japan. The Nxera deal also includes an option for Nxera Pharma to license cenerimod and lucerastat for development and commercialization in the Territories, with option fees of CHF 3 million and 7 million, respectively, and subsequent payment of high-single-digit royalties on net sales in the Territories. Cost reduction initiative In July 2023, Idorsia launched a cost reduction initiative, targeting a reduction of around 50% in its fixed cost base at headquarters. Approximately 475 positions at headquarters in Allschwil, Switzerland, were eliminated through a combination of cancellation of new positions, natural turnover, non-renewal of temporary positions, and terminations, mainly in Research & Development and associated support functions. The reduction of positions resulted in a restructuring charge of CHF 11 million. The initiative has been concluded, with the reduction of costs becoming fully effective in early 2024. Reacquisition of aprocitentan rights In September 2023, Idorsia reached an agreement to reacquire the development and commercialization rights for aprocitentan from Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine (formerly known as Janssen Biotech, Inc.). In return, Idorsia will pay Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine a conditional consideration up to a total cap of CHF 306 million, depending on Idorsia's revenues, as follows: * 30% of any consideration received by Idorsia from a potential out-licensing or divestment of aprocitentan, * 10% of any consideration received by Idorsia from a potential out-licensing or the divestment of any other Idorsia product, following the first approval of aprocitentan, and * low- to mid-single-digit royalties on total group product net sales, beginning from the quarter after first aprocitentan approval. Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine will retain licenses in the pulmonary hypertension field. Liquidity and indebtedness (as of December 31, 2023) At the end of 2023, Idorsia's liquidity amounted to CHF 145 million. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (in CHF millions) Dec 31, 2023 Sep 30, 2023 Dec 31, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Liquidity ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cash and cash equivalents 145 205 146 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Short-term deposits - 50 320 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total liquidity* 145 255 466 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Indebtedness ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Convertible loan 335 335 335 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Convertible bond 796 796 795 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other financial debt 162 162 162 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total indebtedness 1,293 1,292 1,292 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- *rounding differences may occur Results Day Center Investor community: To make your job easier, we provide all relevant documentation via the Results Day Center on our corporate website: www.idorsia.com/results-day-center (http://www.idorsia.com/results-day-center). Human Resources Idorsia reduced 423 positions worldwide in 2023, bringing the total number of employees (permanent, post-doc, and apprentices) to 938 (2022: 1,361). Annual Report Details of the activities performed in 2023 are available in Idorsia's 2023 Annual Report, consisting of the Business Report, Governance Report, Compensation Report, Financial Report, and for the first time, Sustainability Report, at www.idorsia.com/annual-report (http://www.idorsia.com/annual-report). Note to Shareholders The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Shareholders to approve the Annual Report of the year ending December 31, 2023, will be held on Thursday, June 13, 2024. In order to vote at the Annual General Meeting, shareholders must be registered in the company's shareholder register by June 4, 2024, at the latest. Notes to the editor About Idorsia Idorsia Ltd is reaching out for more - We have more ideas, we see more opportunities and we want to help more patients. In order to achieve this, we will develop Idorsia into a leading biopharmaceutical company, with a strong scientific core. Headquartered near Basel, Switzerland - a European biotech-hub - Idorsia is specialized in the discovery, development and commercialization of small molecules to transform the horizon of therapeutic options. Idorsia has a 25-year heritage of drug discovery, a broad portfolio of innovative drugs in the pipeline, an experienced team of professionals covering all disciplines from bench to bedside, and commercial operations in Europe and North America - the ideal constellation for bringing innovative medicines to patients. Idorsia was listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ticker symbol: IDIA) in June 2017 and has over 750 highly qualified specialists dedicated to realizing our ambitious targets. For further information, please contact Andrew C. Weiss Senior Vice President, Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Hegenheimermattweg 91, CH-4123 Allschwil +41 58 844 10 10 investor.relations@idorsia.com media.relations@idorsia.com www.idorsia.com (http://www.idorsia.com) The above information contains certain "forward-looking statements", relating to the company's business, which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "estimates", "believes", "expects", "may", "are expected to", "will", "will continue", "should", "would be", "seeks", "pending" or "anticipates" or similar expressions, or by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions. Such statements include descriptions of the company's investment and research and development programs and anticipated expenditures in connection therewith, descriptions of new products expected to be introduced by the company and anticipated customer demand for such products and products in the company's existing portfolio. Such statements reflect the current views of the company with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward- looking statements. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. A Quelle: dpa-Afx Borsa Italiana non ha responsabilita per il contenuto del sito a cui sta per accedere e non ha responsabilita per le informazioni contenute. Accedendo a questo link, Borsa Italiana non intende sollecitare acquisti o offerte in alcun paese da parte di nessuno. Sarai automaticamente diretto al link in cinque secondi. Chinese, Kazakh FMs hold talks Xinhua) 09:47, May 21, 2024 ASTANA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday held talks with Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu here. In the spirit of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, China and Kazakhstan have forged a permanent comprehensive strategic partnership, and on this basis, in line with the trend of the times, both sides have also decided to build a China-Kazakhstan community of shared future, setting a new benchmark for bilateral relations, said Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. He said China stands ready to work together with Kazakhstan to build a vibrant and meaningful China-Kazakhstan community of shared future to benefit the two countries and their peoples, and contribute to regional and global peace and development. China supports the expansion of bilateral economic, trade and investment cooperation, with a hope that the two sides will reach an agreement on a new version of the investment protection agreement as soon as possible, Wang said. China hopes that Kazakhstan will provide a sound business environment to facilitate Chinese enterprises' investment and operation in Kazakhstan, Wang said. China is willing to strengthen cooperation with Kazakhstan in oil and gas resources and other fields, continue to improve the efficiency and quality of connectivity, and strengthen cooperation on new quality productive forces, said Wang. For his part, Nurtleu said strengthening friendship with China is the priority of Kazakhstan's foreign policy, and Kazakhstan is willing to work with China to promote the rapid development of bilateral relations in the spirit of good-neighborliness, friendship and mutual respect. Kazakhstan highly values and actively supports the three global initiatives proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, which are conducive to world security and sustainable development, he said. Kazakhstan firmly adheres to the one-China principle and believes that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, and this position will never waver, Nurtleu said. Wang said that the elections in Taiwan are local elections of China, and Taiwan has never been a country and will never be one. Neither the election result nor today's so-called "ceremony" can change the basic fact that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is part of China, or the historical trend that China will eventually and inevitably be reunified. The Chinese side appreciates Kazakhstan's firm adherence to the one-China principle, as well as Kazakhstan's support for China's opposition to separatist attempts for "Taiwan independence" and Kazakhstan's support for China's endeavor to achieve national reunification at the earliest date possible. China will, as always, support Kazakhstan in safeguarding national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and oppose any interference in Kazakhstan's internal affairs, he said. The two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation to ensure the full success of the upcoming meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in preparation for the summit. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) By Lee Gyu-lee When actor Lee Je-hoon decided to play the main role in the prequel of Chief Inspector, MBCs long-running detective series from the 1970s, he found himself grappling with a blend of excitement and nervous anticipation. Portraying the younger version of the legendary character Park Young-han, famously portrayed by veteran actor Choi Bool-am, Lee shared that he put his best effort into the recent series Chief Inspector 1958. I wanted to show work that would make both Choi and viewers proud, so I poured everything I had into it. And I think we created a piece that is really worth watching, so I feel grateful, the actor said during an interview with The Korea Times at a cafe in Jongno District, Seoul, Monday. The police procedural series, set in 1958, follows the early days of Park, the chief inspector, and his three colleagues. Transferred to Seoul after gaining acclaim for his remarkable success in apprehending cattle thieves in a rural town, the young and passionate detective embarks on a new chapter in his career. At his new station, he joins forces with the hot-tempered Kim Sang-soon (Lee Dong-hwi) and two fresh recruits, Cho Kyung-hwan (Choi Woo-sung) and Seo Ho-jung (Yoon Hyun-soo). Together, they tackle a variety of crimes, navigating the murky waters of corruption and politics within the law enforcement agency. Airing from 1971 to 1989, the original series garnered immense popularity, with its highest viewership rating exceeding 70 percent. Given its formidable legacy, the prequel generated considerable anticipation, debuting to over a 10 percent viewership rating. Its maintained strong momentum as of Saturday, wrapping up with a final rating of 10.6 percent. The lead actor of the original series, Choi, made guest appearances as the present-day Park, opening and finishing the new series episodes. (The series) starts and ends with Choi, which felt very touching. In the scene where he talks in front of his colleagues graves, I couldnt tell if he was acting or it was reality, Lee said. I may have felt a sense of inadequacy in filling the shoes of the character Choi portrayed previously, but Im honored to have been able to play this role and proud to be a part of the program. The actor shared that he studied Chois previous works outside the original series to recreate the younger version of Park. After taking the role, I looked up the original series episodes. I tried to copy Chois tone and dialect but I couldnt do it exactly the same. Then I started to worry if I would limit myself by focusing too much on imitating him, he said. So I thought of the image I personally have of Choi, like when I saw his series You And I and his comedy bits as a child. So I even watched his food documentary show Korean Cuisine and Dining. I wanted to show that a person can have a range of expressions, tones and faces in his younger years." Lee added that Chois advice helped him create the character. I met Choi during our table reading and he told me he wants Park to keep the passion and anger to capture criminals. So I tried to express that a lot in the beginning, he said. From the 2016 crime series "Signal" to the vigilante drama "Taxi Driver," and now "Chief Inspector 1958," the actor has consistently embodied heroic characters engaged in battles against crime intertwined with social issues. Lee has openly shared his deep-seated interest in contemporary events, which has fueled his passion for narratives that delve into pressing social issues. As an actor, I take an interest in observing humans, much like one observes their surrounding environment. Naturally, I began to focus on incidents and events in society, nurturing hope for narratives where justice triumphs over evil, a desire shared by many, he said. It may be a fictional story but I want to portray justice being served and truth uncovered through characters. Moving forward, I plan to continue contemplating this aspect as I decide on my works." Foreign banks continue to scale down services in Korea By Lee Yeon-woo Japan's Yamaguchi Bank plans to shut down its Busan operation after 38 years of service. According to industry sources, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) is expected to decide this month whether to approve Yamaguchi Bank's application to close its Busan branch. The bank submitted its application to the FSC on March 22, and the FSC collected relevant opinions from May 3 to 17. Since Yamaguchi Bank has only been operating its Korean branch in Busan, its closure will result in the bank's total withdrawal from the country. Yamaguchi Bank is a regional bank based in Japan's Yamaguchi Prefecture. Establishing its Busan branch in 1986, the bank has been providing services to corporations that are involved in the export and import of marine products in Busan and South Gyeongsang Province for 38 years. However, the bank has reportedly been experiencing deficits for nine years, fueled by a slump in loan services that it provided to small and medium-sized corporations, plus an increase in labor costs. The strong influence of domestic regional banks is also known to have affected its ability to compete in the region. Since last year, it has been repaying loans and making its employees undergo a retirement process to close its operations here. Market insiders believe the impact of the bank's withdrawal will be minimal, as the assets managed by the bank are small compared to other foreign branches. The bank's total assets stood at around 91.9 billion won ($67.3 million) as of the first quarter of last year, according to data filed with the Korea Federation of Banks. In recent years, there have been a series of withdrawals and downsizing of business operations by foreign banks in Korea due to worsening profitability and enhanced regulations. In 2022, Northern Trust, the world's third-largest trust bank, decided to shut down its Seoul branch. In 2021, BNY Mellon, one of the oldest U.S. banks, halted its corporate trust operations in Korea. During the same year, Citibank Korea announced its plans to shut down its retail banking business in phases. The number of foreign bank branches in Korea was 48 in June 2016 and has since been on a downward trend. Following Yamaguchi Bank's closure, the figure will become 39. Yamaguchi Bank's withdrawal is especially bitter for Busan which aims to become a global financial hub. With this closure, all 166 foreign financial institutions operating Korean headquarters will be located exclusively in Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area. "The reason why global financial institutions have their headquarters in Singapore, despite its smaller real economy compared to ours, is that the country has established and implemented laws and systems that meet global standards," said Lee Byung-yoon, a senior research fellow at Korea Institute of Finance. "In Korea, foreign companies are burdened by the frequent sanctions and criminal penalties imposed on financial CEOs. The rigid labor market, which makes hiring and firing difficult, also needs improvement." A group of Tesla shareholders are asking investors to vote against a compensation package worth more than $40 billion for chief executive Elon Musk, saying that it is not in the electric vehicle makers best interest. Tesla is struggling with falling global sales, slowing electric vehicle demand, an ageing model line-up and a stock price that has tumbled 30 per cent this year. Advertisement The shareholder group, which includes New York City comptroller Brad Lander, SOC Investment Group and Amalgamated Bank, said in a letter to shareholders that ratification of Mr Musks pay package would do nothing to promote Teslas long-term growth and stability. There is also concern that approval of the pay package will potentially lead to lawsuits arguing that it is corporate waste. And Mr Musk is viewed as a part-time chief executive at Tesla, with his time increasingly being spent on other business commitments, the letter said. Advertisement Shareholders should not pretend that this award has any kind of incentivising effect it does not. What it does have is an excessiveness problem, which has been glaringly apparent from the start, the group said. They noted that if shareholders ratify the compensation package, it is possible that another plan will be put forth next year. Given Teslas history of exponentially larger awards, Mr Musk may well ask for another award, the group said. Advertisement The group is also asking investors to vote against the re-election of board members Kimbal Musk, Elons brother, and James Murdoch, a former executive at media company 21st Century Fox. Last month Tesla asked shareholders to restore Mr Musks pay package, which was valued at $56 billion at the time, that was rejected by a Delaware judge this year. At the time, it also asked to shift the companys corporate home to Texas. The changes will be voted on by stockholders at a June 13th annual meeting. Tesla posted record deliveries of more than 1.8 million electric vehicles worldwide in 2023, but the value of its shares has eroded quickly this year as EV sales soften. Advertisement The company said it delivered 386,810 vehicles from January to March, nearly 9 per cent fewer than it sold in the same period last year. Future growth is in doubt and it may be a challenge to get shareholders to back a fat pay package in an environment where competition has increased worldwide. Starting last year, Tesla has cut prices as much as $20,000 on some models. The price cuts caused used electric vehicle values to drop and clipped Teslas profit margins. In April, Tesla said that it was letting about 10 per cent of its workers go, around 14,000 people. Seeking arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders is deeply unhelpful and will make no difference to getting aid into Gaza and reaching a sustainable ceasefire, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has said. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has said he will apply for arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu along with defence minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders Yehya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh. Advertisement Mr Sunak branded the move a deeply unhelpful development, as he insisted there is no moral equivalence between Hamas and Israels government. Karim Khan, the British chief prosecutor of the ICC, claimed the leaders are responsible for war crimes in Gaza and Israel. Advertisement Speaking to reporters in Vienna, Austria, the British prime minister said: This is a deeply unhelpful development. Of course it is still subject to a final decision, but it remains deeply unhelpful nonetheless. There is no moral equivalence between a democratic state exercising its lawful right to self-defence and the terrorist group Hamas. He added: It is wrong to conflate and equivocate between those two different entities. Advertisement What I am very clear is that this will make absolutely no difference in getting a pause in the fighting, getting aid into the region, or indeed the hostages out. Mr Khan, a KC specialising in international human rights law who was elected to his ICC position in February 2021, accused Israel of using starvation as a method of warfare and carrying out collective punishment of the population of Gaza. Regarding the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th, he said the terrorist actions were unconscionable crimes that demand accountability. British deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell has cast doubt on the ICCs jurisdiction over the case, telling the Commons the UK has not recognised Palestine as a state, while Israel is not a state party to the Rome Statute. Advertisement The Rome Statute is the treaty that established the ICC, with Israel not a signatory to it. A report by a panel of international law experts, convened by the ICC prosecutor, agreed that the ICC has jurisdiction in relation to crimes committed on the territory of Palestine, including Gaza, since 13 June 2014 under Article 12 of the Rome Statute. A panel of three ICC judges must consider Mr Khans application, in a process that takes an average of two months. As Israel is not a member of the ICC, neither Mr Netanyahu nor Mr Gallant would be at immediate risk of arrest should the judges agree to issue warrants, but it could make it difficult for either man to travel abroad. Advertisement Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan (centre) claimed the Israeli and Hamas leaders are responsible for war crimes (Yui Mok/PA) Two of the Hamas leaders named by Mr Khan are believed to be in hiding in Gaza, but Mr Haniyeh, the groups overall leader, is based in Qatar. Individuals subject to outstanding ICC arrest warrants include Omar al-Bashir, the former president of Sudan alleged to be responsible for war crimes in Darfur, Saif Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, and Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony. Israel-Hamas War Biden calls ICC request for Netanyahu arrest warra... Read More Meanwhile, a watchdog has warned that UK aid is still largely being blocked from entering Gaza despite diplomatic efforts. The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) said in its latest report that aid convoys travelling into Gaza via land crossings are subject to exhaustive inspections by Israeli forces to prevent the delivery of dual use items that might benefit Hamas or be used as a weapon. This leads to trucks frequently being delayed or turned back, according to the ICAI. Israels foreign minister is heading to France in a bid to contain the fallout from the decision by the prosecutor of the world court to request arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders. France, as well as Belgium and Slovenia, each said on Monday they backed the move by International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan, who accused Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defence minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel. Advertisement Their support exposes divisions in the Wests approach to Israel and deepens the countrys global isolation over its conduct in the war in Gaza. Ismail Haniyeh is the leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File) Israeli foreign minister Israel Katzs meetings with his French counterpart and other senior officials could set the tone for how countries navigate the warrants if they are eventually issued and whether they could pose a threat to Israeli leaders. Advertisement Israel still has the support of its top ally, the United States, as well as other Western countries that spoke out against the decision. But if the warrants are issued, they could complicate international travel for Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant. Israel itself is not a member of the court. As the fallout from the prosecutors decision spiralled, violence continued in the region, with an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank killing at least seven Palestinians, including a local doctor, according to Palestinian health officials. In a late night statement on Monday about the ICC prosecutors warrant requests, France said it supports the International Criminal Court, its independence, and the fight against impunity in all situations. France has been warning for many months about the imperative of strict compliance with international humanitarian law and in particular about the unacceptable nature of civilian losses in the Gaza Strip and insufficient humanitarian access, the statement said. Advertisement Smoke rises following an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip (AP Photo/Leo Correa) France has a large Jewish community and has close trade and diplomatic ties with Israel, whose leaders frequently visit. Belgian foreign minister Hadja Lahbib said in a post on X that crimes committed in Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of the perpetrators. Advertisement Mr Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders condemned the prosecutors move as disgraceful and antisemitic. US President Joe Biden also lambasted the prosecutor and supported Israels right to defend itself against Hamas. The United Kingdom called the move not helpful, saying the ICC does not have jurisdiction in the case, while Israeli ally Czech Republic called Mr Khans decision appalling and completely unacceptable. A panel of three judges will decide whether to issue the arrest warrants and allow a case to proceed. The judges typically take two months to make such decisions. Israel has faced rising criticism from even its closest allies over the war in Gaza, which is now in its eighth month. More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not distinguish between non-combatants and fighters in its count. The war has sparked a humanitarian crisis that has displaced much of the coastal enclaves population and driven parts of it to starvation, which Mr Khan said Israel used as a method of warfare. The war began on October 7, following Hamass deadly attack, when the militants from Gaza crossed into Israel and killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 hostage. Mr Khan accused Hamass leaders of crimes against humanity, including extermination, murder and sexual violence. Advertisement Since the war began, violence has also flared in the occupied West Bank. On Tuesday, an Israeli raid into the Jenin refugee camp and the adjacent city of Jenin killed at least seven Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The area has long been a bastion of armed struggle against Israel. Jenin has been a frequent target of Israeli raids (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) The military said its forces struck militants during the operation while the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group said its fighters battled the Israeli forces. However, according to Wissam Abu Baker, the director of Jenin Governmental Hospital, the medical centres surgery specialist Ossayed Kamal Jabareen was among the dead. He was killed on his way to work, Mr Abu Baker said. Jenin and the refugee camp, seen as a hotbed of militancy, have been frequent targets of Israeli raids, long before Israels war with Hamas in Gaza broke out. Since the start of the war, nearly 500 Palestinians have been killed in West Bank fighting, many of them militants, as well as others throwing stones or explosives at troops. Others not involved in the confrontations have also been killed. Israel says it is cracking down on soaring militancy in the territory, pointing to a spike in attacks by Palestinians on Israelis. It has arrested more than 3,000 Palestinians since the start of the war in Gaza. Sending air defence systems to Ukraine to help protect it from Russian cruise missiles, rockets and drones is an absolute priority, Germanys foreign minister said in Kyiv on Tuesday after visiting a local power plant that was largely reduced to ruins by a recent barrage. Annalena Baerbock said that what she called a global initiative launched by Germany to provide Ukraine with more air defence systems had raised nearly one billion euros (853 million) but it is completely clear that even more is needed, she said at a news conference with Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba. Advertisement Germany is the second-biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the United States. Damage after a Russian rocket attack near Kharkiv, Ukraine (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP) Ukrainian officials have for months pleaded with the countrys Western partners to supply it with further sophisticated air defence systems, especially US-made Patriots, so Kyivs forces can fend off Russian air assaults that have pummelled the country during the war. Advertisement Civilian areas as well as the power grid and military targets have repeatedly been hit. While the bombing goes on, Ukraines depleted troops are trying to hold off a fierce Russian offensive along the eastern border in one of the most critical phases of the war, which began on February 24 2022. Germany recently pledged a third US-made Patriot battery for Ukraine, but Kyiv officials say they are still facing an alarming shortfall of air defences against the Russian onslaught. The Kremlins forces have used their advantage in the skies to debilitate Ukraines power grid, hoping to sap Ukrainian morale and disrupt its defence industry. Advertisement Ms Baerbock, accompanied by Ukrainian energy minister Herman Halushchenko, toured a thermal power plant in central Ukraine that was heavily damaged on April 11. German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock speaks to Ukrainian energy minister Herman Halushchenko during an official visit to a thermal power plant which was damaged by a Russian rocket attack in Ukraine (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP) In the plants scorched interior, workers of Centrenergo, a state company that operates the plant, were still scooping up rubble several weeks after it was hit. Advertisement Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Kremlins forces were still focusing their efforts on the eastern Donetsk province and north-eastern Kharkiv region, where explosive-laden Russian glide bombs are wreaking destruction on military and civilian areas. This brings us back again and again to the need for air defence for additional defence systems that could significantly mitigate the difficulties for our warriors and the threat to our cities and communities, Mr Zelensky said late on Monday on social media. Mr Zelensky said that Ukraines forces are still in control of the contested areas, though Russia says it has captured a series of border villages. It was not possible to independently verify either sides battlefield claims. Advertisement Ms Baerbock had planned to visit Kharkiv on Tuesday, but the trip had to be called off for security reasons, German news agency dpa reported. Almost 11,000 people have been evacuated from Kharkiv border areas since Russia launched its offensive actions there on May 10. A Russian overnight drone attack hit transport infrastructure in the city of Kharkiv, the regional capital, damaging more than 25 trucks, buses and other vehicles, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Tuesday. A diver looks for dead bodies in front of a crater after a Russian attack on a resort compound near Kharkiv (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP) Seven people were wounded, he said. Ukraines general staff said that the frequency of Russian attacks in Kharkiv slowed on Monday, though fighting continued. Russian troops are also conducting reconnaissance and sabotage raids in Ukraines northern Sumy and Chernihiv regions, shelling border settlements and laying more minefields, according to Dmytro Lykhovii, Ukraines general staff spokesman. The front line is about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) long. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been resisting appeals from Ukrainian officials to provide Taurus missiles, which are equipped with stealth technology and have a range of up to 500 kilometres (300 miles). The German- and Swedish-made missiles would be able to reach targets deep in Russia from Ukrainian soil. But Berlin has baulked at that prospect, saying that sending the missiles would bring a risk of it becoming directly involved in the war. The restriction on not allowing Ukraine to fire at Russia has denied Kyiv the ability to strike at Russian troops and equipment massing for attacks on the other side of the border, a Washington-based think tank said. Ms Baerbocks planned visit to Kharkiv had to be called off for security reasons (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP) These US and Western policies are severely compromising Ukraines ability to defend itself against current Russian offensive operations in northern Kharkiv (region) or any area along the international border where Russian forces may choose to conduct offensive operations in the future, the Institute for the Study of War said in an assessment late on Monday. Meanwhile, more than 3,000 Ukrainian prisoners have filed requests to be pardoned and join the army, Ukraines deputy justice minister Olena Vysotska said on Tuesday, adding that authorities expected up to 5,000 prisoners to apply under the programme. The measure, which Mr Zelensky signed into law late last week, is part of an effort to expand the army, which is outnumbered by Russias forces. Other steps to boost ranks include increasing fines for draft dodgers fivefold and providing incentives to soldiers, such as cash bonuses or money towards buying a house or car. Prisoners convicted of serious crimes are not eligible, and applicants must pass tests before putting on a uniform. A British man accused of assisting the Hong Kong intelligence service has died in unexplained circumstances in a park in England. Matthew Trickett (37), of Maidenhead, Berkshire, was also accused of foreign interference and had appeared alongside Chi Leung (Peter) Wai (38), and Chung Biu Yuen (63), at a London court last week. Advertisement Police said Trickett was found dead in Grenfell Park, Maidenhead at around 5.15pm on Sunday after a report from a member of the public. Advertisement An investigation is ongoing into the death, which is currently being treated as unexplained. His family have been informed and they are being supported by officers, with a post-mortem examination to be conducted in due course. In a statement, the family told The Times: Were mourning the loss of a much-loved son, brother and family man. The charges alleged that between December 20th, 2023, and May 2nd, 2024, Yuen, Wai and Trickett agreed to undertake information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception that were likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service. Advertisement It is also alleged that on May 1st, 2024 they forced entry into a UK residential address, being reckless as to whether the prohibited conduct, or course of conduct of which it forms part, would have an interference effect. They had all been bailed and were next due to appear at England's Central Criminal Court on Friday. Donald Trumps lawyers have rested their defence without the former US president entering the witness box in his New York hush money trial. Your honour, the defence rests, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche told the judge following evidence from a former federal prosecutor who had been called to attack the credibility of the prosecutions key witness. Advertisement The jury was sent home for a week, until May 28, when closing arguments are expected, but the lawyers returned to the courtroom to discuss how the judge will instruct jurors on deliberations, a sort of road map meant to help them apply the law to the evidence. Donald Trump sits in court in New York (Curtis Means/DailyMail.com via AP, Pool) The two sides haggled over word choices, legal phrases and descriptions of campaign-related issues. Advertisement Trump did not stop to speak as he left the courthouse and ignored a question about why he was not giving evidence. The Republican presumptive presidential nominee had previously said he wanted to enter the witness box to defend himself against what he claims are politically motivated charges. As he left a news conference with supporters of the former president outside the courthouse, Trumps son Donald Trump Jr defended his fathers decision not to give evidence. Thered be absolutely no reason, no justification to do that whatsoever. Everyone sees it for the sham that it is, the younger Trump said. Advertisement After more than four weeks of evidence, jurors could begin deliberating as soon as next week to decide whether Trump is guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. After the defence rested, Judge Juan M Merchan told jurors the court session could run late on Tuesday to accommodate both prosecution and defence summations the last time the jury would hear from either side. Judge Merchan told jurors he then expects that his instructions to them on deliberations would take about an hour, after which they can begin discussing the case, possibly as early as May 29. Until now, they have been told not to discuss the case with anyone outside court and not to discuss the case among each other. Advertisement Donald Trump Jr speaks outside Manhattan Criminal Court in New York (Julia Nikhinson/AP) Judge Merchan noted that normally summations would immediately follow the defence resting its case, but he expects summations in this case will take at least a day and, given the impending Memorial Day holiday, theres no way to do all thats needed to be done before then. Ill see you in a week, Judge Merchan said. Advertisement Prosecutors have accused Trump of a scheme to bury negative stories to fend off damage to his 2016 presidential campaign and then falsifying internal business records to cover it up. Trump, the first former American president to be tried criminally, has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing in the case, which he has condemned as politically motivated. The charges stem from internal Trump Organisation records in which payments to Michael Cohen were marked as legal expenses. Prosecutors say they were really reimbursements for a 130,000 dollar (102,000) hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels to keep her from going public before the 2016 election with claims of a sexual encounter with Trump. Trump says nothing sexual happened between them. They have no case, Trump said in the morning on Tuesday before court adjourned. Donald Trump sits between his lawyers Emil Bove, left, and Todd Blanche, right, before the start of the days proceedings in Manhattan Criminal Court (Dave Sanders/The New York Times via AP, Pool) Theres no crime. The final witness was Robert Costello, called in an effort to undermine the credibility of Trump fixer-turned-foe Mr Cohen, who has placed Trump at the centre of the effort to bury potentially damaging stories. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed Mr Costello an August 2018 email in which Mr Cohen told him and one of his partners to stop contacting him because you do not and never have represented me and another lawyer did. Asked whether he was upset that Mr Cohen had not paid him, Mr Costello said he was and volunteered that he had replied to the message in an email that prosecutors did not show. Prosecutors have said that they want to show that Mr Costello was part of a pressure campaign to keep Mr Cohen in Trumps corner once the then-lawyer came under federal investigation. On that theme, Ms Hoffinger asked Mr Costello about a 2018 email in which he assured Mr Cohen that he was loved by Trumps camp, they are in our corner and you have friends in high places. Asked who those friends in high places were, Mr Costello said he was talking about Trump, then the president. Mr Costello bristled as he insisted he did not feel animosity towards Mr Cohen and did not try to intimidate him. Judge Juan Merchan, left, castigates witness Robert Costello about his decorum in the courtroom in Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday in New York (Elizabeth Williams via AP) Ridiculous. No, he said to the latter. Trumps lawyers had hoped he would cast doubt on Mr Cohens evidence. The two had a professional relationship that splintered in spectacular fashion. Mr Costello had offered to represent Mr Cohen soon after the lawyers hotel room, office and home were raided and as Mr Cohen faced a decision about whether to remain defiant in the face of a criminal investigation or to co-operate with authorities in the hopes of securing more lenient treatment. Mr Costello has repeatedly maligned Mr Cohens credibility and was even a witness before last years grand jury that indicted Trump, offering evidence designed to undermine Mr Cohens account. In a Fox News Channel interview last week, Mr Costello accused Mr Cohen of lying to the jury and using the case to monetise himself. Mr Costello contradicted Mr Cohens evidence describing Trump as intimately involved in all aspects of the hush money scheme. Mr Costello told jurors on Monday that Mr Cohen told him Trump knew nothing about the hush money payment to Ms Daniels. Michael Cohen (Seth Wenig/AP) Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments, that he did this on his own, and he repeated that numerous times, Mr Costello said. Mr Cohen, however, said earlier on Monday that he had no doubt that Trump gave him a final sign-off to make the payments to Ms Daniels. In total, he said he spoke to Trump more than 20 times about the matter in October 2016. After jurors left for the day on Monday, defence lawyers pressed the judge to throw out the charges before jurors even begin deliberating, arguing prosecutors have failed to prove their case. The defence has suggested that Trump was trying to protect his family, not his campaign, by squelching what he says were false, scurrilous claims. Defence lawyer Todd Blanche argued that there was nothing illegal about soliciting a tabloids help to run positive stories about Trump, run negative stories about his opponents and identify potentially damaging stories before they were published. Former US president Donald Trump alongside his lawyer Todd Blanche at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York (Michael M Santiago/Pool Photo via AP) No-one involved had any criminal intent, Mr Blanche said. How is keeping a false story from the voters criminal? he asked. Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo shot back that the trial evidence overwhelmingly supports each element of the alleged offences and said the case should proceed to the jury. The judge did not immediately rule on the defences request. Such long-shot requests are often made in criminal cases but are rarely granted. Gov't stake in shipping firm to rise to 74% by next April By Anna J. Park The two largest creditors of Korea's biggest shipping company, HMM, decided to exercise their stock conversion rights for 100 billion won ($73 million) worth of 30-year maturity hybrid bonds of the shipping company, HMM said earlier this week. Hybrid bonds, or convertible bonds, are a type of fixed-income corporate debt security that can be converted into a predetermined number of equity shares. As the two creditors the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) and the Korea Ocean Business Corp. (KOBC) move to convert the bonds into a total of 20 million HMM shares, the number of shares of the shipping company held by the Korean government increased to approximately 419 million from the previous 399 million shares. As a result of the conversion, their joint ownership stake rose by 1.18 percentage points to 59.1 percent from the previous 57.9 percent. Last October, KDB and the KOBC also exercised their stock conversion rights for perpetual bonds worth 400 billion won, adding a total of 80 million shares to their stock holdings. Industry watchers say that KDB and the KOBC exercising their stock conversion rights repeatedly can be seen as a move to eliminate a potential breach of fiduciary duty. This is because the state-run creditors could garner approximately 351 billion won by exercising the stock conversion rights over the hybrid bond worth 100 billion won, given HMM's closing price on Monday, while the other option of accepting HMM's early repayment would only yield about 100 billion won. Consequently, it means that it is only natural for the creditors to choose to exercise their stock conversion rights to best respect the interests of public bondholders and thereby service their fiduciary duty, as it brings the government much higher returns on its investment. Dilemma over HMM stock conversion However, this represents a dilemma in which the decision to best serve the public bondholders' interests might further diminish the likelihood of HMM being sold to other owners. Considering the series of subsequent arrivals of other stock conversion periods on the perpetual bonds held by the two creditors until next April, the stake in HMM held by the government is set to increase to about 74 percent. The government's increased stake is expected to complicate the sale of HMM due to a higher acquisition cost of nearly 13 trillion won as of Monday's closing price of HMM on the stock market. KDB became the largest shareholder of HMM in 2016 through a debt-to-equity swap, as the shipping company failed to repay the principal and interest on maturing corporate bonds, with its credit rating dropping to a default level. Subsequently, HMM underwent debt restructuring and equity conversion by creditors, including KDB. The shipping company issued about 2.7 trillion won worth of convertible bonds and bonds with warrants to KDB and the KOBC from 2018 to 2020 to secure additional funds. KDB and the KOBC have been aiming to sell their stakes in HMM, but their latest attempt to sell the company to Harim ended up breaking down due to Harim's insufficient funding plan and a lack of financial soundness early this year. Donald Trump would likely be surprised by The Apprentice, director Ali Abbasi said on Tuesday of his biopic about Mr Trump's early years as a real estate mogul, adding he was open to meeting with the former US president to discuss the film. The Apprentice, which shares the name of a reality TV series hosted and produced by Mr Trump that made him a household name, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday, receiving an eight-minute ovation and mixed reviews from critics. Advertisement Abbasi said he hoped the film would hit theatres in mid-September, ahead of a November US election that Mr Trump, 77, is contesting as Republican presidential candidate. "I don't necessarily think that this is a movie that (Trump) would dislike, I don't necessarily think he would like it, I think that he would be surprised," Abbasi, who was born in Iran, said at a news briefing. Following the premiere, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign said it would be filing a lawsuit against the film over "blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers". Advertisement Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova, Iranian-Danish director Ali Abbasi and Romanian-US actor Sebastian Stan pose during a photocall for the film "The Apprentice" at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. Photo: Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images "Everybody talks about him suing a lot of people, they don't talk about his success rate though," said Abbasi when asked about the threat of a lawsuit. Mr Trump's team should watch the movie "before they start suing us, because I think once you're inside that character, it feels different, and we're inside that character," he said. The story focuses on Mr Trump's time under the tutelage of lawyer and prosecutor Roy Cohn, a political fixer who is portrayed in the film by Succession star Jeremy Strong. Sebastian Stan, who made his name in the Captain America trilogy, plays Mr Trump as he evolves from his early career years as an upstart working for his father's business to a brazen, self-centred tycoon. Stan described his preparation for the role as a 24/7 immersion process to understand Mr Trump beyond his media personality. "He is a human being like everybody else, so I guess we all have certain codes and certain principles, it just depends on what they are. I guess it's relative to everybody," Stan said at the briefing. A diplomatic crisis between historic allies Spain and Argentina has expanded as Spain pulled its ambassador from Buenos Aires and Argentine President Javier Milei lambasted the move as nonsense typical of an arrogant socialist. Spain said its ambassador to Argentina would remain indefinitely in Madrid, where she had been recalled for consultations on Sunday in response to comments made by President Milei during a contentious weekend visit he made to the Spanish capital. Advertisement In a fiery speech defending free market capitalism at a far-right rally in Madrid, Mr Milei accused the Spanish prime ministers wife of corruption and described socialism as cursed and carcinogenic. Argentinas President Javier Milei (Manu Fernandez/AP) Following Mr Mileis refusal to apologise, Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters on Tuesday that Argentina will continue without an ambassador. Advertisement We are facing a unique case, not only unique for this government, but unique in the history of international relations, Mr Albares said. There is no precedent for a head of state going to the capital of another country to insult its institutions. Mr Milei continued the war of words, angrily telling the local La Nacion news channel that the Spanish decision was nonsense typical of an arrogant socialist. Socialists are capable of doing anything, he added. Advertisement When asked whether Argentina would do the same, Mr Milei said: I am not going to be such an idiot. The move signals a further escalation of a diplomatic spat between the socialist government of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and the libertarian Argentine government following weeks of mounting tensions. The leaders have traded barbs ever since a Spanish Cabinet minister alleged that Mr Milei took narcotics during a television appearance and Mr Milei accused Mr Sanchez of of pursuing policies that only bring poverty and death. A man walks dogs past Spains embassy in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina (Gustavo Garello/AP) Advertisement Defying the norms of presidential behaviour, Mr Milei snubbed all Spanish government officials on his first visit to Spain as head of state last week and instead met only Mr Sanchezs fiercest critics, members of the hard-right, anti-immigrant Vox party that hopes to make gains in Junes European parliamentary elections. Mr Albares complained that Mr Milei had broken a long-standing diplomatic protocol observed by Latin American leaders and Spain, their former coloniser, by failing to request any meeting with any Spanish institution. At the Vox party rally on Sunday, Mr Milei delivered his typical anti-socialism talking points and mocked Mr Sanchez for taking a break from the public eye last month over corruption allegations brought by a private group against his wife, Begona Gomez. Advertisement The group, which files lawsuits to promote far-right causes, accused her of using her position to influence business deals. Ms Gomez has not been indicted or called in for questioning. Spanish prosecutors have recommended the case be thrown out. Spain is Argentinas second-biggest foreign investor after the United States, with Spanish companies investing 140 million euros (119.5 million) in the country in 2022. Some 495,000 Spaniards live in Argentina, according to Spanish government statistics, while 97,000 Argentines reside in Spain. A dog owner has been mauled to death by her two registered XL bullies in the latest tragedy involving the banned breed. The woman, aged in her 50s, was fatally attacked in Cornwall Close, Hornchurch, east London, just after 1pm on Monday. Advertisement Photographs showed a blue forensic tent that had been put up outside her home in the small residential street. Police said she was pronounced dead at the scene and the two registered dogs were seized after being contained in a room. From February 1st, it became a criminal offence to own the XL bully breed in England and Wales without an exemption certificate. Advertisement Campaigners protested against the ban before it was brought into force, calling instead for a focus on responsible dog ownership rather than breed (Jacob King/PA) Anyone who owns one of the dogs must have had the animal neutered, have it microchipped and keep it muzzled and on a lead in public, among other restrictions. The UK government move to ban XL bullies followed a series of attacks. According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 16 deaths due to dog attacks in 2023, a sharp rise from preceding years where the number had been in single figures. Advertisement As of late 2023, around 60 per cent of dogs held in police kennels were a bull breed of some kind. The attack in Hornchurch comes after mother and son Amanda Young, 49, and Lewis Young, 30, were jailed last week after an eight-year-old boy was injured in a savage and sustained attack by their XL bully. The boy suffered extensive injuries to his scalp, face and hands in the attack in the communal area of a block of flats in Wadham Road, Bootle, Merseyside, on February 10. In March, Farhat Ajaz, 61, admitted being the owner of a dangerously out of control XL bully that injured an 11-year-old girl and two men in Birmingham. Advertisement And in the same month four men were hurt by a dog suspected to be the banned breed in Battersea, south west London, after which the animal was shot by police. Esther Martin died in Essex in February (Essex Police/PA) On February 3rd, just after the ban came into force, grandmother Esther Martin, 68, suffered unsurvivable wounds in a dog attack at a house in Jaywick in Essex, while visiting her grandson. Advertisement She had reportedly tried to break up a fight between two puppies before she was attacked. Its a safe bet therell be much talk about immigration between now and the next federal election, due this time next year. Peter Dutton has seen to that. Trouble is, much of it will just be hot air, much of it will be misleading and much will reflect the vested interests of the person doing the talking. And some of it will reveal us at our worst: our tendency to blame incomers for all our ills. The more ignorant among us will shout abuse at some poor soul they see on the street whose clothing or skin colour looks different. Illustration: Joe Benke But none of that says our immigration policy isnt a legitimate subject for sensible debate. Personally, Id like to see it a lot lower. You know strange things are happening when the leader of the Liberal Party says he wants to slash immigration. The Libs are, and have always been, the party of high migration. But theyve fallen on hard times with the loss of so many heartland seats to the teals, and Dutton figures his best hope of winning is to pick up seats in the outer suburbs, where their social class says people should vote Labor, but their social values give them greater affinity with the conservatives. This week Ive been fighting a cold. And when I say fighting, I mean it. Ive gone to war against the rhinoviruses, armed with a medicine cupboard of cure-alls. Along the way Ive choked back vitamins, slathered myself in vapour rubs, simmered tinctures, steamed internal canals and nearly waterboarded myself with a neti pot. Im clearly not alone. According to health experts, were amid a virus soup of COVID, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus that is sweeping Victoria and NSW. For some people, supplements are taking the place of tried and true health treatments like rest and hydration. Credit: iStock Ive done (almost) everything I can think of to support my mucus-leaking body. But for all the semi, pseudo and legitimate science Ive digested, there is one very logical piece of advice I cant seem to stomach: drinking water. No matter how much fluid I lose out of my ears, eyes and sweat glands, the thought of downing a few cool glasses of H2O just never really occurs to me. This resistance to the cheapest, easiest and most proven self-care technique isnt a new aversion, either. For most of my life, Ive been willing to do pretty much anything in the quest for good health, except follow the most obvious and commonly recommended treatments. Readers are continuing to wrestle with their demonyms (C8). Jennifer OBrien lives in Bogangar on the NSW far north coast, describes herself as a very proud Boganguardian. Joy Cooksey of Harrington says the recent discussion has me wondering if those from Foster Keys are known as Fosturkeys. And, while admitting that its maybe a little parochial, Sarah Hammond of Surf Beach points out that seasonal visitors to Batemans Bay are known there as Christmas beetles. Many years ago I was travelling from Adelaide to Darwin and stopped at Kulgera for a light refreshment, recounts Peter Holt of Pokolbin. Cue that classic scene of barman polishing glasses, when in walked a gent from South Australia. I dont know why they call us crow eaters, he declared, there are more crows here than there are in South Australia. Without blinking, the barman drawled, Thats cause you bastards ate all yours. C8s quiet recognition of the elevated district of Northern Neutral Bay Heights (C8) gives me confidence to reveal, without the slightest pretension, my residence in Baulkham High Hills North, with proximate bella vista, announces Meri Will of (you guessed it) Baulkham High Hills North. David Pigott of North Parramatta notes that as an 85-year-old, I am often asked, at my old persons test (C8), to count backwards from 100 by seven. In my youth I could not have realised that the Sevens drinking game would be so handy in later life. My father, too, was confronted by an acuity test after some strokes he had suffered, writes Janice Creenaune of Austinmer. The nurse pointed to my fathers wristwatch and asked what it was. Always a man of precision, he responded with a Seiko and consequently failed. With both cultural and generational issues at play here, I later explained the response to little avail. Acuity tests can fail, too, it seems. Elizabeth Henry spent her final days in Brisbanes Fortitude Valley, sitting and listening to people who shared their stories with her. It was that deeply empathetic nature her family still cling to, decades later. Elizabeth Henry was last seen alive in Fortitude Valley on the evening of February 11, 1998. Credit: Queensland Police I know there are people out there [in Fortitude Valley] that would have a really strong connection, her sister Jennifer Schefe says. And maybe some of those people know more about what happened to her. The federal government has insisted there is no moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas while backing the International Criminal Courts role upholding international law after the courts top prosecutor sensationally requested arrest warrants for Israels prime minister and defence chief as well as three Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes. In a notable divergence from US President Joe Biden, who blasted the requested warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sidestepped questions about the issue on Tuesday, which prompted Opposition Leader Peter Dutton to accuse him of selling out Australia by failing to back Israel. Prime Minister Anthony Albaneses comments on the ICCs warrants differed from those of US President Joe Biden. Credit: Edwina Pickles If the international court were to find Netanyahu, Gallant or the Hamas leaders guilty of war crimes, they would not be allowed into Australia, as the government is a signatory to the Rome Statute the treaty that established the court. A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson, responding on behalf of Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, said: Australia respects the ICC and the important role it has in upholding international law. Samitivej Hospital in Bangkok said it was treating 71 passengers, including six who were severely injured. Photographs from inside the plane showed large gashes in the overhead cabin panels, oxygen masks and panels hanging from the ceiling and items of hand luggage strewn around. A passenger said some peoples heads had slammed into the lights above the seats and punctured the panels. The nationalities of the other passengers were two Canadians, one German, three Indians, two Indonesians, one from Iceland, four from Ireland, one Israeli, 16 Malaysians, two from Myanmar, 23 from New Zealand, five Filipinos, 41 from Singapore, one South Korean, two Spaniards, 47 from the United Kingdom and four from the United States. A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said the Australian embassy in Bangkok and the high commission in Singapore were making urgent inquiries to ascertain whether any Australians were affected by the incident. Australians affected should contact the Australian governments 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on +61 2 6261 3305 from overseas or 1300 555 135 from within Australia. Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. We deeply apologise for the traumatic experience that our passengers and crew members suffered on this flight, the airline said. Suvarnabhumi Airport said the plane requested an emergency landing at 3:35pm local time and landed at 3:51pm. Uninjured passengers disembarked, and another aircraft will fly them onwards. The plane just dropped Passenger Andrew Davies, from Lewisham, south-east London, said there was little warning before the turbulence hit. The seatbelt sign came on, I put on my seatbelt straight away, then the plane just dropped, he said. Davies posted photos to X of disembarking the flight and the holding area at the airport in Bangkok for uninjured passengers. [There were] lots of people injured including the air stewards who were stoic and did everything they could, Davies said. The Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER on the tarmac at Bangkoks Suvarnabhumi Airport after an emergency landing following severe turbulence over Myanmar. Credit: AP Head lacerations, bleeding ears. A lady was screaming in pain with a bad back. He described the scene as surreal, saying coffee and water splattered the ceiling as the plane dropped. One of the Singapore Airlines crew said it was by far the worst in her 30 years of flying, he said. [The] lesson is wear a seatbelt at all times. Loading Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student on board the flight, recounted how the aircraft started tilting up and shaking. I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly, there was a very dramatic drop, so everyone seated and not wearing a seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling, Azmir said. Singapores Minister for Transport Chee Hong Tat said in addition to Singapore Airlines, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and Changi Airport officials were all providing support to the affected passengers and their families. My deepest condolences to the family of the deceased, he added. South-East Asia is currently experiencing a series of tropical storms. The London Telegraph reported that a British Airways flight was last week forced to return to Singapore after heavy turbulence. Fatalities rare in turbulence-related incidents Fatalities are extremely rare in incidents of turbulence, particularly during travel at cruising altitude, which is considered the most stable part of the journey. Carriers routinely caution passengers to keep their seat belts fastened even when the warning signs have been switched off. The ceiling of the Singapore Airlines flight after its emergency landing. Credit: Reuters Even so, turbulence-related airline accidents are the most common type, according to a 2021 study by the National Transportation Safety Board. From 2009 to 2018, the US agency found that turbulence accounted for more than one-third of reported airline accidents and most resulted in one or more serious injuries but no serious aircraft damage. According to a briefing document, about 240 events of severe turbulence were reported to European manufacturer Airbus between 2014 and 2018. Injuries to passengers and crew occurred on 30 per cent of long-haul flights where such events were reported and on 12 per cent of short-haul flights. A study by Reading University in the UK, published in 2023, said that clear-air turbulence, which is invisible, had increased with climate change. While the US and North Atlantic had seen the biggest increase, routes over Europe, the Middle East, and the South Atlantic had also seen significant rises in turbulence. Ambulances wait to carry passengers from a London-Singapore flight that encountered severe turbulence. Credit: AP What causes turbulence? Turbulence can be caused by a range of factors, including storms and jet streams or rivers of fast wind at the top of the troposphere. Mountains and islands can also disrupt wind flow and generate oscillating waves in the atmosphere that cause turbulence. Rising parcels of hot air can also rattle aircraft in what is known as convective turbulence. Reuters, AP, Bloomberg The tripartite commission of labor, management and the public launched the process Tuesday to determine next year's minimum wage, with the nation focused on whether it will exceed 10,000 won ($7.35) per hour for the first time. The 27-member Minimum Wage Commission, with nine representatives from each of the three sides, convened its inaugural meeting this year in the central city of Sejong to review the 2025 hourly minimum wage. At Tuesday's session, the commission elected Lee In-je, economy professor at Incheon National University, as the chairperson to oversee the subsequent determination process before formally receiving a request from the labor ministry to review next year's minimum wage. By law, the commission must complete its review within 90 days after receiving such a request, which, in this year's case, falls around late June. However, the annual review process often extends beyond this timeline. The primary focus of public attention is whether the per-hour minimum wage would surpass the 10,000-won threshold. For 2024, the minimum wage was set at 9,860 won, marking a 2.5 percent increase from the previous year, which represented the second-slimmest raise on record. An increase of at least 1.42 percent, or 140 won, would bring next year's minimum wage above the 10,000-won mark. The commission is expected to face a demand of a significant increase from the labor circle, citing escalating living costs, while management is expected to advocate for a freeze to alleviate cost burdens for small business owners. Another main focus of contention is whether the minimum wage should be set separately for different sectors to address the unique needs of each sector. The Korea Enterprises Federation, representing the business community, has highlighted the necessity of differentiated minimum wages for various industries in its recent report, citing different management environments for them. The labor circle vehemently resists, arguing that it would run counter to the purpose of a minimum wage and amount to stigmatizing certain business sectors. In March, the Bank of Korea proposed adopting a lower-than-universal minimum wage for the caregiving industry to address labor shortages in the sector. In a press conference ahead of the commission session, Jeon Ji-hyun, chairperson of a labor union of caregiver workers, voiced the industry's stiff objection to the idea, arguing that "it would amount to discrimination through a lower wage and denigration of the profession's value." (Yonhap) Washington: Hes been found liable for sexual abuse, bragged about grabbing women by the genitals and is on trial for allegedly falsifying documents to cover up an affair with a porn star. But Donald Trumps status as a political outsider amid deep disenfranchisement with government institutions is what makes him so appealing to evangelical Christians, according to his ally Scott Morrison, Australias first Pentecostal prime minister. Then-prime minister Scott Morrison met with then-US president Donald Trump in 2019. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen Criss-crossing America to promote his new book about faith, Morrison shared his insights of the former US president, who heads towards the November election against President Joe Biden, with more support from evangelical Christians than ever before. Campaign rallies often begin with prayer sessions for the 77-year-old Republican; merchandise worn and sold at his events feature slogans such as Jesus is my saviour, Trump is my president; and Trump himself recently launched a new Bible for $US60 ($90) as part of his fundraising efforts, spruiking the need to Make America Pray Again. Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to the Pacific island of New Caledonia late on Tuesday, Paris-time, his office said, just over a week after riots erupted in the French overseas territory, killing six. Australia and New Zealand were evacuating tourists from the island as the violence left a trail of destruction with looted shops, torched cars and road barricades restricting access to medicine and food. Australian and other tourists board an Australian Airforce Hercules as they prepare to depart from Magenta Airport in Noumea, New Caledonia on Tuesday. Credit: AP The protests were sparked by anger among indigenous Kanak people over constitutional reform approved in Paris that would change who is allowed to take part in elections. Local leaders fear the change will dilute the Kanak vote. Macron will meet elected officials and local representatives on Thursday for a day of talks focused on politics and on the reconstruction of the island, aides said. Culture is everything. If we want to change the industry, we have to start at the culture, Counsel said. One of the biggest things we focus on in this industry is volumes and financial outcomes above everything else. Newly appointed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrives at No10 Downing Street. (Photo: Rory Arnold / No10 Downing Street, OGL 3, via Wikimedia Commons) A damning report released by the Infected Blood Inquiry has exposed the United Kingdom's worst treatment disaster, revealing that British authorities and the National Health Service (NHS) knowingly exposed tens of thousands of patients to deadly infections through contaminated blood and blood products. The scandal, which occurred between the 1970s and early 1990s, is believed to have caused the deaths of an estimated 3,000 people, leaving many others with lifelong illnesses. In response to the report's findings, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologized to the victims and promised to pay "comprehensive compensation" to those affected by the scandal. "Whatever it costs to deliver this scheme, we will pay it," Sunak told the House of Commons on Monday, describing the release of the report as a "day of shame for the British state." The government is expected to set out the details of the compensation package, reportedly earmarked at around 10 billion ($12.7 billion), on Tuesday. The 2,527-page report, authored by former judge Brian Langstaff who chaired the inquiry, found that the infected blood scandal "could largely have been avoided" and that there had been a cover-up to hide the truth. Langstaff slammed successive governments and medical professionals for "a catalogue of failures" and refusal to admit responsibility, stating that "deliberate attempts were made to conceal the scandal, and there was evidence of government officials destroying documents." The inquiry revealed that around 1,250 people with bleeding disorders, including 380 children, were infected with HIV-tainted blood products, with three-quarters of them having since died. Up to 5,000 others who received the blood products developed chronic hepatitis C, while an estimated 26,800 others were infected with hepatitis C after receiving blood transfusions, often given in hospitals after childbirth, surgery, or an accident. Langstaff emphasized that many of the deaths and illnesses could have been avoided had the government taken steps to address the risks linked to blood transfusions or the use of blood products, noting that since the 1940s and early 1980s, it had been known that hepatitis and the cause of AIDS, respectively, could be transmitted this way. Unlike many other developed countries, officials in the U.K. failed to ensure rigorous blood donor selection and screening of blood products. The report also highlighted the compounding of the victims' agony by authorities refusing to accept responsibility, falsely telling patients they had received the best treatment available, and delaying informing them about their infections. Langstaff described the collective failures as "a calamity." Campaigners who have fought for decades to bring official failings to light and secure government compensation welcomed the report's findings. Andy Evans, of campaign group Tainted Blood, said, "We have been gaslit for generations. This report today brings an end to that. It looks to the future as well and says this cannot continue." Opposition Labour party leader Sir Keir Starmer apologized for his party's involvement while in government and welcomed the prime minister's confirmation of financial support for victims, pledging to work with him to ensure swift implementation. The government has already made interim pay-outs of 100,000 each to about 4,000 survivors and bereaved partners, with further interim payments potentially being announced on Tuesday before the full compensation scheme is implemented. The two main groups affected by the scandal were people with haemophilia or similar rare genetic disorders preventing their blood from properly clotting, and those who had received blood transfusions after childbirth, accidents, or during medical treatment. By Park Jin-hai JEJU Yang Yong-jin, 59, is known as the "custodian of Jeju Island's gastronomic legacy." Inspired by his mother Kim Ji-soon, who was designated by the government as a Grand Master of traditional food in 2010, Yang's dedication to preserving the island's authentic cuisine is a continuation of his family's legacy. His mother, who taught students at culinary schools and universities in Jeju, started visiting local villages in the 1970s and writing down old island recipes that previously had never been properly documented. "I was really fascinated by the vast amount of my mother's old documents of recipes, which show unappreciated and undocumented local cuisines. I thought someone had to carry on her work after she passed away, so I decided to give it a try. And that's how 30 years have passed," Yang said during an interview with The Korea Times last week at his restaurant Nangpoonbabsang in Jeju City, which also doubles the as Institute for Preservation of Jejus Traditional Local Food. Unlike the mainland, Jeju Island, as a place for exile during the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), didn't have the courtly influence that shaped cuisine elsewhere in Korea, thus there were not many records on traditional food, according to Yang. Therefore, his mother diligently visited elderly locals who were over 70 or 80 years old at the time to develop a precious culinary archive. In recognition of her contributions, she was designated as Jeju's first Grand Master of traditional food. Starting in the mid-1990s, then in his 30s, Yang joined his mother to assist with enriching the archive. Along with his mother's recipes, Yang added his explanation based on the research of why those specific ingredients are used in those traditional dishes in the context of the island's history, terrain and weather. "Considering the age of the elders we met when we first started searching for traditional foods and documenting them, those recipes are from over 100 years ago based on today's standards. However, the foods of 100 years ago had not changed much from the foods that had been passed down for hundreds of years before, so we were able to find Jeju Island's traditional foods intact," he said. Yang and his mother's first joint effort to revive Jeju's local foods came to fruition in 2011 as they published a book showcasing the reconstruction of over 350 traditional dishes. Along with the non-commercial publication, available on the Jeju Provincial Government website, Yang published many other books detailing Jeju's culinary heritage and is a founding member and director of the Jeju Food & Wine Festival, the island's biggest gastronomic event to showcase local ingredients to the world. Jeju's community culture Jeju's local cuisine is deeply imbued with the community culture of the islanders. And as a vivid example, Yang cites the banquet food culture. "Traditionally, when there was a banquet in Jeju, it started with slaughtering a pig. On Jeju Island, each village naturally had a respected, experienced and skilled elder who was in charge of the banquet, called 'dogam.' This dogam was responsible for everything from slaughtering and boiling the pig to distributing the meat," he said. "When the dogam distributed the pork, everyone received the same 'goegiban' a one-person meal consisting of thinly sliced pork 'suyuk' (boiled meat), a piece of Jeju-style 'sundae' (blood sausage filled with pork belly, buckwheat flour and perilla) and one piece of 'dumbi' (dried tofu made from Jeju's native soybean)." For babies, the elderly and even those who couldn't attend the banquet that day, they would pack and distribute the food equally, as people believe that with all the precious food prepared for the event, no one should be left out. "Nangpoon," a word for a table with a large bowl filled with rice placed in the center, also reflects Jeju's communal culture, according to Yang. "This rice table forms a deep sense of camaraderie by sharing the rice in one bowl. Even when guests came, they would be served one bowl of soup and one spoon and invited to eat. It was this philosophy of life that arose from the need to share precious food equally in a harsh environment." Opening the Nangpoonbabsang restaurant with his mother in 2016 was motivated by the desire to share Jeju's communal culture and spirit of consideration that he highly values. He said his short stint with Italian chefs while learning Italian cuisine in 2000 gave him the impetus to start his own restaurant. "After talking to Italian chefs, I was impressed by their pride in their cuisine. While many of their rural dishes are simpler than Jeju Island's food, seeing how they find value in them made me admire their approach. I can't help but think that if this is what it takes to have a world-renowned culinary culture, then Jeju Island's food could also achieve that level of recognition," Yang said. "I thought we needed a space to organize and present to the public the Jeju traditional food that my mother had discovered and recorded. Many restaurants claim to serve Jeju local cuisine, but there was not a single one where you could taste real traditional Jeju food." His restaurant offers a traditional nangpoon rice table with options of different local soups. Its signature "gamunjanchi" (banquet) meal includes "mom soup." In "Jeju yukgaejang," locally grown bracken is added to the same broth, which originates historically from the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule when sargassum that locals produced was confiscated and people had to substitute bracken. "Jeopjjakppyeo" (local dialect for pork shoulder bone) soup has pork shoulder meat in the broth. Single dishes are priced at 10,000 won ($7.50) while set menu items served with side dishes made from local ingredients are sold at 16,000 won. Nangpoonbabsang was distinguished in Asias 50 Best Restaurants Essence Of Asia list in 2021. Of the four Korean restaurants featured, Nangpoonbabsang has been the sole restaurant based outside Seoul, highlighting its unique contributions to preserving and celebrating Jeju's rich culinary heritage. Bhubaneswar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an interview with PTI, in Bhubaneswar, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (Photo:PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, on his 33rd death anniversary today. The Prime Minister posted on X, "On his death anniversary, my tributes to our former PM Shri Rajiv Gandhi Ji." Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and party MP Rahul Gandhi also paid homage to Rajiv Gandhi on his 33rd death anniversary at Veer Bhumi in Delhi on Tuesday morning. Other Congress leaders like P Chidambaram and Sachin Pilot also paid their respects to the former prime minister in the national capital. Rajiv Gandhi took over the charge of the Congress in 1984 following the assassination of his mother and then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He became India's youngest Prime Minister at the age of 40 when he assumed office in October 1984. He served as the Prime Minister of India till December 2, 1989. Born on August 20, in 1944, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber during an election rally in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991. (NYSE: FICO) Highlights Payment Fraud is the top financial crime concern for 34% of Indians Identity theft worries persist, with 37% believing they have or might have been victims Real-time payment scams are on the rise, with 64% receiving scam communications Fraud protection is paramount, with ease of use and good fraud protection ranking as top considerations for selecting financial services providers FICO, a leading global analytics software firm, today unveiled its latest global consumer fraud research, shedding light on Indians' ongoing apprehension regarding real-time payment scams amid the growing adoption of new, convenient, and fast payment channels. According to the study, the primary worry for Indians remains the risk of being tricked into sending money to criminals (34%), which exposes individuals to instant, irrevocable losses rarely eligible for reimbursement. Additionally, concerns about identity theft persist, with 20% of Indians citing it as their top financial crime concern. This type of fraud carries additional risks beyond financial loss, such as compromised credit scores and the challenging process of restoring financial integrity. More information: https://www.fico.com/en/latest-thinking/ebook/consumer-survey-2023-digital-banking-customer-preferences-and-fraud-controls Indias adoption of real-time payments continues to accelerate, with 98% of adults having sent a real-time payment and 82% expecting to increase their use over the next year, said C K Leo, FICO's lead for fraud, security and financial crime in Asia Pacific. As the adoption of real-time payments surges, driven by platforms like Paytm, Google Pay and PhonePe, we're witnessing a transformative shift in financial behaviour. Yet, amidst this rapid digitisation comes an urgent need for heightened vigilance against fraudsters lurking in the digital realm. Real-Time Payment Scams: A Growing Concern As the incidence of scams continues to rise, FICOs research from last year uncovered a troubling trend related to authorised push payment (APP) fraud and real-time payments in India. A concerning 64% of Indians have received unsolicited text messages, emails, phone calls, or other outreach that they believed to be part of a scam, while 57% of respondents stated that their friends or family members had been victims of a scam. Shockingly, 45% of respondents admitted to sending real-time payments for investments, goods, or services they never received. Additionally, 36% of those who made scam payments through real-time payments lost up to INR 50,000, while 8% experienced losses of up to INR 6 lakhs. Despite these alarming figures, only 43% reported actual or suspected losses to their banks. "Banks now face a crucial moment to invest in cutting-edge solutions to tackle the surge in scams, particularly with the swift uptake of real-time payments in the Asia-Pacific financial landscape, said Leo. The irrevocable nature of these transactions has led to new criminal threats. By integrating scam-specific analysis and scoring into transactions, along with robust decision-making capabilities across the customer journey, banks can pre-emptively detect and thwart scam payments, sparing customers from financial harm. Furthermore, while some consumers may ignore warnings, the majority will heed alerts and refrain from making real-time payments if alerted to potential scams." Awareness of identity theft in India among the highest in Asia Concerningly, the rate of respondents who reported their stolen identity being used to open a financial account was considerably higher in India than in the other countries surveyed. 13% of Indians stated that their identity had been stolen and used to open an account by a fraudster, while this was reported by only 5% of Filipinos and 3% of Indonesians. Given Indias adult population, this 13% translates to over 165 million individuals. However, despite widespread concern about identity theft, there remains a dissonance between perception and reality among Indians. About 33% believe it unlikely they've been a victim, while 13% see it as possible, and 23% are confident their identity remains untouched. While some may downplay the risk of identity theft in India, millions remain vulnerable, added Leo. This underscores the need for heightened awareness and proactive measures. By breaking down silos and integrating identity verification and fraud detection processes, we can streamline applications and bolster trust in legitimate customers. Indians Prioritise Good Fraud Protection When asked about the most important considerations respondents have when they select a new provider for a financial account, good fraud protection and ease of use were the two most important. These were both considered significantly more important than good customer service, strong anti-money laundering policies, sound green/environmental policies, ethical use of customer data, behaving fairly, and good value for money. The survey was conducted in November 2023 by an independent research company adhering to research industry standards. 1,000 Indian adults were surveyed, along with approximately 12,000 other consumers in Canada, U.S., Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, The Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, U.K. and Spain. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240520218713/en/ Egon Zehnder, the worlds preeminent leadership advisory firm, today announced Francesco Buquicchio as its next CEO. Buquicchio succeeds Edilson Camara, following a strategic leadership transition and succession planning process. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240519538552/en/ Francesco Buquicchio, CEO of Egon Zehnder (Photo: Business Wire) Camara, who will have served the maximum of two terms in the position, will step down from his role effective October 31, 2024. During his tenure, Camara has overseen significant growth and expansion, opening Egon Zehnder offices in new regions and developing enhanced advisory services, as well as leading the firm through the Covid-19 pandemic and investing in internal IT infrastructure enhancements. Incoming CEO, Buquicchio, is based in Milan and currently leads the firms global Leadership Advisory Services practice, a strategic focus for the firm. Previously, he held the role of Country Leader in Italy and served on the firms Executive Committee for six years. Prior to joining Egon Zehnder in 2007, Buquicchio worked for BT Italy, McKinsey & Company, TLcom Capital Partners, and Excite.com in roles based in Rome, London, and California. Reflecting on his appointment, Buquicchio stated, As we celebrate our 60th anniversary this year, I am honored and humbled to be a part of this remarkable Firms history. I look forward to writing our future chapters with our extraordinary and vibrant team, spanning many regions and world views, united by our purposeleadership for a better world. The process to appoint the CEO was led by Chair Michael Ensser with the support of the Board and an Advisory Committee. It also included input from the entire partnership. We thank Ed for his leadership over these past six yearshe laid a strong foundation that enabled the firm to accelerate its growth. We are pleased to share that he will continue with the firm, returning to client work, Ensser said. As we begin our seventh decade, Francesco will leverage our expertise in discovering leaders, developing leadership, unlocking transformations, shaping successions and advancing governance to craft more distinct client and candidate experiences, prioritizing innovation, sustainability and long-term value creation. Buquicchio will be the seventh person to serve as CEO in Egon Zehnders 60-year history and formally assumes his role on November 1, 2024. About Egon Zehnder Egon Zehnder is the worlds preeminent leadership advisory firm, inspiring leaders to navigate complex questions with human answers. We help organizations get to the heart of their leadership challenges and offer honest feedback and insights to help leaders realize their true being and purpose. We are built on a foundation that supports partnership in the truest sense of the word and aligns our interests with the interests of our clients. Our 600 consultants across 64 offices and 36 countries are former industry and functional leaders who collaborate seamlessly across geographies, industries and functions to deliver the full power of the Firm to every client, every time. We partner closely with public and private corporations, family-owned enterprises, and non-profit and government agencies to provide executive search, leadership solutions, CEO search and succession, board advisory, and diversity, equity & inclusion. Our services include discovering leaders, developing leadership, advancing governance, shaping successions, and unlocking transformations. We partner with Mobius Executive Leadership to offer highly experiential, personalized and transformational programs for senior leaders. We believe that together we can transform people, organizations and the world through leadership. For more information, visit www.egonzehnder.com and follow us on LinkedIn and X (former Twitter). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240519538552/en/ North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has expressed his "deep" condolences over the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a recent helicopter crash, state media reported Tuesday. Kim sent a message of condolence Monday to Mohammad Mokhber, Iran's first vice president, upon receiving the "shocking" news of Raisi's sudden demise, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Mokhber has become Iran's interim president after Raisi's death. "The message said that the demise of the president is a great loss to the fraternal Iranian people and the world people aspiring after independence and justice," the KCNA said. Kim said he wished that the Iranian government and people will overcome the grief from the loss of their leader and that the bereaved families will recover stability as soon as possible. Iran's state media confirmed Raisi's death Monday, saying he and several other government officials accompanying him were found dead hours after their helicopter crashed in a mountainous region of the country's northwest. Having established diplomatic ties in 1973, Pyongyang and Tehran are known to have close ties while under international sanctions for their weapons programs. The countries have been suspected of exchanging ballistic missile parts and technology, especially during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. North Korea's external economic relations minister visited Iran last month in a rare trip that raised suspicions of possible weapons cooperation between the two nations. (Yonhap) We are seeing scary articles about the debt again. It is worth remembering that at the turn of the millennium, the concern was that the US was paying off the debt too quickly! Here are a few excerpts from a speech by then Fed Chair Alan Greenspan in April 2001: The paydown of federal debt Click on graph for larger image. "The information reviewed at this meeting suggested that economic growth had remained rapid through early spring." 4) 9/11, Homeland Security Spending and the War in Afghanistan: The 9/11/2001 attacks led to a sharp increase in homeland security spending and the War in Afghanistan. 5) The War in Iraq: The Bush administration argued the war would cost around $80 billion. VP Dick Cheney said on Meet the Press: "every analysis said this war itself would cost about $80 billion". Instead, the war cost well over $1 trillion (and countless lives were lost). Note: Years ago, I mentioned on this blog that "I opposed the Iraq war and was shouted down and called names like "Saddam lover" for questioning the veracity of the information." 6) The Financial Crisis and Great Recession. This was the worst US recession since the Great Depression. This led to the first $1 trillion annual budget deficit in US history and dramatically increased the national debt. The causes of the bubble were rapid changes in the mortgage lending industry, rating agencies that didn't account for those changes, combined with a lack of regulatory oversight. I was talking with field regulators in 2005 and 2006, and they were all terrified. I was told the appointees at the top of the agencies were blocking any effort to tighten standards. Here is a brief discussion ... (books have been written on each of these topics):1)Here are the CBO projections from July 2000: The Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update The CBO projections showed an almost $6 Trillion in debt reduction in the 2001 through 2010 period.I argued in 2000 that these projections ignored possible negative events such as an investment led recession due to the bursting of stock bubble. These projections were clearly overly optimistic.2)Although Greenspan mentioned "the current slowdown in economic activity" in his April 2001 speech, he didn't realize the economy was already in a recession . From the May 2000 FOMC minutes 3)These tax cuts were sold as slowing the growth of the surpluses (using Greenspan's speech for cover)! Instead, the tax cuts (mostly for the wealthy) turned the surpluses into deficits and reduced revenue by $1.5 trillion or more over the 2001 - 2010 period. There were various Inspector General reports that the Fed and FDIC field examiners were expressing significant concerns in 2003 and 2004, but Greenspan was blocking all efforts to tighten standards - and the Bush Administratio was loosening bank regulations!This photo shows John Reich (then Vice Chairman of the FDIC and later at the OTS) and James Gilleran of the Office of Thrift Supervision (with the chainsaw) and representatives of three banker trade associations: James McLaughlin of the American Bankers Association, Harry Doherty of America's Community Bankers, and Ken Guenther of the Independent Community Bankers of America. Animal rights advocates demand Seoul Grand Park cancel taxidermy plan for dead Siberian tiger By KTimes Animal rights advocates held a rally in front of Seoul Grand Park in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Sunday, demanding the withdrawal of the taxidermy of Taebaek, a Siberian tiger who died last month. Holding placards and chanting slogans, they called for a meeting with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who is responsible for the operation of Seoul Grand Park. The civic group PENZA (People and Zoo Animals) organized the rally. "We cannot understand how preserving Taebaek, who died from disease before reaching even one-third of the average lifespan, serves as a record of natural history or holds significance as a national natural heritage," it said in a statement. Since February this year, Taebaek, the Siberian tiger, had been showing signs of health issues and died at the age of five on April 19 while undergoing treatment. A health check conducted by Seoul Grand Park four days before Taebaek's death revealed significant deterioration in his bile and liver functions. Currently, a detailed examination is being conducted by an external institution to determine the exact cause of death. The controversy began when it was revealed that the zoo operator was storing Taebaek in a freezer for taxidermy purposes. Civic groups are opposing this decision, questioning the necessity of adding Taebaek to the four tiger specimens already existing. In a statement, PENZA said, "If the transmission of genetic information is necessary, as claimed by the park, extracting a small sample would suffice." "Many people condemned the taxidermy and exhibition of Xin Nier, the grandmother of panda Fu Bao, who died of intestinal obstruction and was displayed at the Chengdu Natural History Museum in China. How is taxidermizing Taebaek, who was born and exhibited in a cramped zoo until just days before his death, any different from Xin Nier?" PENZA said it is not "unconditionally opposed" to taxidermy. "Taebaek was a young tiger who died prematurely from illness. We cannot understand the value in subjecting him to the pain of being skinned and taxidermied," it said. PENZA is a nonprofit organization formed by people who love tigers. The organization plans to work toward improving the welfare of zoo animals, not just tigers. Jeong Ho-young, the head of PENZA, said, "Taebaek was a superstar among citizens, to the extent that someone overcame depression by seeing him. It is heartbreaking to think that he lived his life for display and now is being taxidermied under the guise of education even after death." He also said that other tigers have recently died due to the park's negligence. "Just as there is a dedicated team for elephants, we demand that the park establish a proper management system for tigers." Meanwhile, Rep. Chung Il-young of the Democratic Party of Korea has also criticized the poor management at Seoul Grand Park following the consecutive deaths of tigers and has called for measures to be taken. "We can recreate the appearance of animals using 3D printing and holograms," Chung said, urging the park to "move away from the insistence on taxidermy and utilize modern animal preservation systems suitable for the advanced technological era." This article from the Hankook Ilbo, a sister publication of The Korea Times, was translated by a generative AI and edited by The Korea Times. State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands Armed Forces Americas Armed Forces Pacific Armed Forces Europe Northern Mariana Islands Marshall Islands American Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Guam Palau Alberta, Canada British Columbia, Canada Manitoba, Canada New Brunswick, Canada Newfoundland, Canada Nova Scotia, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavut, Canada Ontario, Canada Prince Edward Island, Canada Quebec, Canada Saskatchewan, Canada Yukon Territory, Canada Postal Code Monday, May 20, 2024 at 9:37PM Photo: Warner Bros Actress Scarlett Johansson is locked in a dispute with OpenAI, the company behind the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT. Johansson claims OpenAI used a voice in their system that sounds eerily similar to hers, despite her declining a request to be the official voice. According to Johansson, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman contacted her in September 2023 to voice ChatGPT 4.0. She refused but says Altman persisted even days before the public demo. OpenAI has since removed the voice in question, dubbed "Sky," citing concerns about how they chose voices for ChatGPT. The company denies deliberately mimicking Johansson, stating Sky's voice belongs to a different actress. However, Johansson remains unsatisfied and has hired legal counsel. She seeks transparency from OpenAI regarding how they created Sky's voice. This incident highlights the growing ethical concerns surrounding artificial intelligence development, particularly regarding the use of celebrity voices and likenesses. A representative for Johansson sent her statement to The Verge, which you can see in full below: Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system. He told me that he felt that by my voicing the system, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers to feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and AI. He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people. After much consideration and for personal reasons, I declined the offer. Nine months later, my friends, family and the general public all noted how much the newest system named Sky sounded like me. When I heard the released demo, I was shocked, angered and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference. Mr. Altman even insinuated that the similarity was intentional, tweeting a single word her - a reference to the film in which I voiced a chat system, Samantha, who forms an intimate relationship with a human. Two days before the ChatGPT 4.0 demo was released, Mr. Altman contacted my agent, asking me to reconsider. Before we could connect, the system was out there. As a result of their actions, I was forced to hire legal counsel, who wrote two letters to Mr. Altman and OpenAI, setting out what they had done and asking them to detail the exact process by which they created the Sky voice. Consequently, OpenAI reluctantly agreed to take down the Sky voice. In a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities, I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity. I look forward to resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected. Source Debate intensifies as courts issue opposing rulings on non-medical professionals performing eyebrow tattoos By KTimes "Do you go to medical school to become a doctor, or to learn how to tattoo?" This was the rallying cry written on the signs held by tattoo artists advocating for the decriminalization of tattooing in front of the Daegu District Court on May 9. This slogan encapsulates their argument that the skills required for tattooing are distinct from those of medical professionals, and thus should not be regulated as medical acts. Many middle-aged men and women who experience noticeable thinning of their eyebrows often get eyebrow tattoos, but none of them receive these tattoos from a doctor. In reality, most eyebrow tattoo procedures are performed by tattoo artists. Nevertheless, according to a Supreme Court precedent that classifies tattooing as a medical practice, it is illegal for anyone other than a doctor to perform tattoos, whether on one's eyebrows or elsewhere on the body. The controversy over whether tattooing constitutes a medical act, which means a significant portion of the population have undergone "unlicensed medical procedures," has resurfaced. This renewed debate follows recent lower court rulings that have delivered completely opposite verdicts regarding the legality of tattoo artists' procedures. The Supreme Court's full bench, consisting of the chief justice and 13 other justices, is currently reviewing the matter to resolve this confusion. Contradictory court decisions baffle public On May 14, the Daegu District Court handed down a suspended sentence and 1 million won fine to an individual identified only as A, 24, for performing tattoo procedures without a medical license. In this jury trial, four out of seven jurors found A guilty, and the court respected the jury's verdict by imposing a suspended prison sentence. In defense, A argued, "Tattooing is distinct from actual medical practices such as disease treatment," and said, "Since people do not go to hospitals to get tattoos, it should be regulated as an independent legal matter rather than as a medical practice." On the other hand, the prosecution argued, "The Public Health Control Act views tattooing as a medical act, and other tattoo artists have been punished accordingly." However, there have been acquittals in previous court rulings. In December last year, the Busan District Court's Eastern Branch acquitted B, who was charged with performing eyebrow tattoos for 60,000 to 100,000 won per session between November 2021 and May last year. The court reasoned, "Considering tattoo procedures by nonmedical professionals as illegal is out of touch with reality," and "Eyebrow tattoos are for cosmetic purposes, and criminalizing them could drive the practice underground." Similarly, in August of the same year, the Cheongju District Court acquitted C, who performed eyebrow tattoos, stating, "It is hard to see how tattoos performed by nonmedical professionals pose a threat to public health." Supreme Court won't ignore lower courts' decisions The recent guilty verdict from the Daegu District Court may reflect the nature of the jury trial. Lawyer Choi Yong-moon of Law Firm Yeyul explained, "Although there are exceptions, typically in jury trials, the court interprets the law in line with the jury's judgment," adding, "There is a significant possibility that a higher court may reach a different conclusion." Another criminal defense attorney also said, "Given the nature of jury trials, the court likely referenced the opinions of the jurors." With lower court decisions fluctuating, the controversy is likely to be resolved by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that tattooing was an unlicensed medical practice, and this precedent remains valid. However, a variable in this situation is that the Supreme Court is currently conducting a full bench review of a "scalp tattoo" case. The full bench session is convened when a case is not suitable for a smaller panel or when there is a need to overturn an existing precedent. This implies that the Supreme Court might consider changing its stance and not classifying tattooing as a medical act. If the review results in a verdict of innocence, it could significantly impact ongoing lower court cases against tattoo artists, potentially leading to acquittals. Choi said, "While we cannot predict the outcome, if lower courts continue to deliver rulings that diverge from the established legal principles, the Supreme Court will not be able to ignore this trend." Doctors, the only legally authorized practitioners of tattooing, remain opposed to nonmedical professionals performing tattoo procedures. The Korean Dermatological Association and the Korean Association of Dermatologists issued a statement on May 16, strongly opposing the allowance of tattoos by unqualified individuals, including semi-permanent makeup. They emphasized the need for safety management, noting that carcinogenic substances have been detected in dyes used for tattoos. It is estimated that there are about 350,000 tattoo industry workers and 13 million people in Korea who have experienced getting a tattoo. In 2015, the Ministry of Employment and Labor even introduced tattooing as a "promising future occupation." The Ministry of Health and Welfare commissioned a study in March this year to develop a qualification exam and continuing education system for tattoo artists, with plans to use the results for future policy development. Tattoo artist organizations are hopeful for an acquittal from the Supreme Court and are prioritizing the passage of related legislation in the next National Assembly. Lee Soon-jae, an education committee member of the Korea Tattoo Association, said, "Tattooing should be done by tattoo artists," and emphasized their commitment to ensuring that the first bill passed by the 22nd National Assembly protects the rights of tattoo artists. This article from the Hankook Ilbo, sister publication of The Korea Times, was translated by generative AI and edited by staff of The Korea Times. It was Mrs. Carter who founded the Carter Centers Mental Health Program , nurtured it, and molded it into the influential force it is today. For decades, Mrs. Carter gave her time, talents, and intelligence to a rich portfolio of important causes, among them human rights, womens rights, early childhood vaccinations, support for caregivers, and, most notably, mental health. Last November, we lost one of our leading lights with the passing of the Carter Centers trailblazing co-founder, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Paige Alexander, Carter Center CEO, speaks to press at the Georgia State Capitol in February, on the first Mental Health Parity Day. While we miss her terribly, we will build on her legacy and continue to advance societys understanding of mental health. In 2022, the Georgia State Legislature unanimously passed the bipartisan Georgia Mental Health Parity Act, which The Carter Center supported. It requires that insurance companies cover mental health treatment on a par with coverage for physical ailments, but many people in need didnt know about it. With funding from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, last fall The Carter Center mounted a campaign to increase awareness in underserved communities in two Georgia cities, Albany and Savannah. Before the campaign, 30% of survey respondents worried that insurance wouldnt cover treatment for mental health or substance use disorders; after the campaign, only 13% did. To celebrate and further publicize the act, the Center and our partners organized the first Mental Health Parity Day at the Georgia State Capitol in February. The event brought together legislators, advocates, Carter Center leadership, and people with lived experience to talk about the difference the law is making in peoples lives. The success of the campaign showed us the exciting potential for expanding awareness of parity in mental health to places far beyond Georgia. We are already planning our next steps. Mrs. Carter wouldnt have it any other way, and neither would we. Pakistan's cement export trend continues to excel in 10MFY23-24 ICR Newsroom By 21 May 2024 Pakistans cement and clinker exports increased by 35.9 per cent in the 10MFY23-24 (July 2023-April 2024) to US$204.54m (5.301Mt), compared to US$150.48m (3.24Mt) in the 10MFY22-23, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said. In Pakistani rupee terms, export revenue saw a significant growth of 593 per cent to PKR58.21bn during the period, sustained by the local currencys competitive rates against the US dollar. In addition, export volumes increased by 63.5 per cent YoY in the same period. The growth in exports can be attributed to the continued good exchange rate of the Pakistani rupee against foreign currency, the fall in coal prices and other factors. In an analyst briefing, a top official of Lucky Cement recently stated that Pakistan saw a surge in exports largely due to the increased viability of exports and the reduction in coal prices. Additionally, improved economic conditions in importing countries, such as Sri Lanka, contributed to increased exports. April 2024 Export and import data released by PBS revealed that cement and clinker exports in April 2024 registered a growth of 61 per cent MoM to US$25.07m from US$15.57m in March 2024. Volumes saw an advance of 69.3 per cent to 663,426t MoM from 391,957t in March 2024. On a YoY basis, cement exports increased by 66.6 per cent in value from US$15.04m while the export volume rose by 99.3 per cent to 332,859t compared with exports in April 2023. Published under JSW Cement invests US$360m in new plant Suzanne Starbuck By 21 May 2024 JSW Cement is planning to build a new cement plant in Rajasthan, giving the company access to Indias northern markets. The proposed facility will have a cement capacity of up to 3.3Mta and an 18MW power plant, according to Mint. The INR30,000m (US$360m) investment is being funded through a mix of equity and long-term debt. The proposed investment to establish our integrated cement facility in Nagaur puts JSW Cement firmly on its path to achieving a pan-India footprint within the next few years," Parth Jindal, managing director, JSW Cement, said in a statement. The new facility will include an overland belt conveyor stretching about 7km to transport limestone from the mines to the manufacturing plant as well as facilities to enable the use of alternative fuels in the kiln. This investment will mark our entry into the fast-growing cement markets of North India. These states have one of the highest GDP growth rates and are witnessing significant infrastructure and housing development, added Nilesh Narwekar, CEO of JSW Cement. JSWs cement production capacity currently stands at 21Mta but the company hopes to increase this to 60Mta over the next five years, requiring an investment of INR180,000m. Published under Only 5 percent of the trainee doctors who have left their worksites for three months have returned to hospitals, a senior official said Tuesday, although the government renewed its appeal for them to resolve the protracted standoff over medical reform through dialogue. According to the health ministry, 659 junior doctors, or 5.1 percent of some 13,000 trainee doctors at 100 major training hospitals, had returned to work as of Monday. The trainee doctors have remained off the job since late February in protest of the government's plan to increase the medical school admission quota. Last week, a Seoul appellate court rejected an injunction filed by the medical community to block the government's plan, paving the way for authorities to proceed with the reform. Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo told reporters that the court's ruling "finished" the plan to hike the number of medical students, and he renewed the calls for trainee doctors to return to work. "I once again call for the medical community to stop its collective action and engage in constructive dialogue," Park said. Officials have warned that junior doctors may face a one-year delay in getting medical fellowships because they will not be eligible for next year's test to become fellow doctors unless they are trained at hospitals for more than three months. In the wake of the court's ruling, the government has called on universities to quickly revise their regulations to reflect the increased medical school enrollment quota for next year. (Yonhap) Improvement in construction and real estate underpins rise in Kenyan cement demand ICR Newsroom By 21 May 2024 A steady advance in building and construction sector credit supported the expansion of the cement industry in the third quarter of 2023, according to the Kenya Bankers Association-Housing Price Index data. Cement production increased 7.2 per cent YoY to 2,541,763t from 2,370,246t in the 2Q23. In addition, improvement in credit to the real estate sector also underpinned market expansion with cement consumption increasing to 2,430,488t in the 3Q24. Credit growth in the building and construction sector saw a moderate increase, reaching 13.04 percent in December 2023, up from 2.74 percent in October 2023. Conversely, lending to the real estate sector experienced a relatively lower growth, though rising to 6.46 percent in December 2023 from 3.74 percent in October 2023, according to the Kenya Bankers Association. Published under Korea on Tuesday reported its first African swine fever (ASF) case in around nine months. The latest ASF case was found at a farm located in the inter-Korean border county of Cheorwon in Gangwon Province, which raised some 1,200 pigs, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. It marked the first case of the animal disease since September last year when the disease broke out at a local farm in the county of Hwacheon. The government issued a 48-hour standstill order for pig farms and related facilities in the region, and is preparing to cull affected pigs as a preventive step. There were 65 pig farms within a 10-kilometer radius of the affected farm, and they raise about 140,000 pigs combined, according to the ministry. ASF does not affect humans but is deadly to pigs. There is currently no vaccine or cure for the disease. "The government will make all-out efforts to prevent the spread of the disease," the ministry said, calling on farms to thoroughly abide by necessary quarantine steps. (Yonhap) The Tennessee Department of Human Services today announced that the department, in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Education, has launched the Summer EBT Program for the 2023-24 academic school year.Officials said, "Summer EBT is a new supplemental nutrition benefit program that provides families $120 for each eligible school-aged child to buy groceries when school is out. Most families will get these benefits automatically if their child is enrolled in the National School Lunch Program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Families First (TANF), and/or TennCare, but some parents will need to apply.The Tennessee Department of Human Services will distribute Summer EBT benefits based on records provided by the Tennessee Department of Education, school districts, and through funding from the United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service."Summer EBT Eligibility - Students K-12 are eligible to receive benefits for the Summer 2024 if they attended school for the 2023-24 academic school year in person and: The family is enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Families First (TANF), or TennCare (Medicaid) programs during the 2023-24 academic year. These families are automatically eligible to receive Summer EBT for the 2023-24 school year and will not need to apply for Summer EBT. Children who applied and qualified to receive free or reduced-price lunch at a National School Lunch Program (NSLP) participant school during the 2023-24 academic year are also automatically eligible to receive Summer EBT and will not need to apply.Summer EBT application is required for families who are not automatically enrolled but attended a NSLP-participating school during the 2023-24 school year. The application can be completed using the Summer EBT Parent Portal at https://onedhs.tn.gov/parent. Benefit approval will be based on income guidelines.Families will receive a one-time lump sum of $120 per eligible child in Summer EBT benefits.Summer EBT benefits will be provided on an EBT card and can be used to buy groceries after the card has been activated. The new Summer EBT card will be mailed to the eligible childs home based on current school records.Parents can log in to the Summer EBT Parent Portal at https://onedhs.tn.gov/parent to view Summer EBT benefits, link their child(ren), verify or change address, and sign up to receive text message notifications.If a parent or guardian has questions that are not answered through the Summer EBT website or Summer EBT Parent Portal, they may call One DHS Customer Service at 833-772-TDHS (8347) for assistance.For more information, please visit: www.tn.gov/SummerEBT. A former Nashville TV producer, who had her pickup truck towed from the Brainerd Walmart, said a local wrecker company is giving Chattanooga a bad name. Corrine Gould, who is currently assistant commissioner for public affairs at the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, has released a video of her experience with Chattanooga Impound last Oct. 1. The video was shot by friend Bryan Payne, who accompanied her to the firm's lot on Shepherd Road. Meanwhile, Gregory Black of American Tow & Recovery said, "We have no involvement with said incident and we have no affiliations with Chattanooga Impound whatsoever." The video can be viewed here. She said they learned they would be charged $330 in what she described as a "cash - no receipt" operation. The video details the couple's effort to get a receipt from the company detailing the $330 in charges and a run-in with Aaron Black, who wrecker officials said runs American Towing and is allied with Chattanooga Impound. Ms. Gould, who grew up in Spring City, said she learned that Chattanooga Impound considers itself exempt from the Chattanooga wrecker ordinance because it is not on the rotation list for wrecker calls. Sgt. Jason Wood with the Chattanooga Beer and Wrecker Board recently said the city does not have any authority over predatory towing if the tow company is not on the citys rotation list. He said, People are being taken advantage of and it makes the towing industry look bad. Something needs to be done. In the video, Ms. Gould told Chattanooga Impound personnel that she had read the city wrecker ordinance and it limits charges to $125. She said a storage fee was not to be charged if the vehicle owner contacted the firm within 24 hours. She was told the company is not subject to those price limits and that the storage fee starts "as soon as the vehicle hits the lot." Ms. Gould recently wrote the City Council after an earlier effort for help at the Beer Board level. She said, "Unfortunately, I did not receive any guidance from the board and my understanding is that Mr. Black continues to harass citizens and engage in potentially illegal business practices. The practices of his company were again called into question at the Wrecker Board meeting on March 21 when nurse Kelly Krol shared the experience of her daughter in dealing with Mr. Black's company resulting in damage to her daughter's vehicle. "At best, Mr. Black and his associates are operating within a loophole in city ordinances - staying on the city's approved wrecker call list with a 'legitimate' company operating under one name while violating rules and ripping off citizens with an apparent shadow company operating under a different name with the same principal people and same address(es). "This is very concerning and potentially threatens the vibrancy and welcoming nature of a city that has worked so hard to come so far. "I hope you will take my concern into consideration as you think through current ordinances governing Chattanooga. Aaron Black has become a controversial business owner in Chattanooga. I have documented my own unsettling experience with him, including video of a disturbing exchange in October of 2023." Ms. Gould also said, "If nothing else, Mr. Black is driving through a tow-truck-sized loophole in city ordinances. "And as a former television news producer (10 years at WSMV), I recognize this as a consumer concern because it's not clear what rights or protections a person has when their vehicle is towed." She said the phone used for the video was in Bryan Paynes front jacket pocket, sticking up and facing out. Here is the transcript of the couple's experience at Chattanooga Impound on Shepherd Road last Oct. 1: Timestamp 5:10 Introductions / Corinne Gould, Bryan Payne, Nolan [Caylor] 5:21 Nolan Caylor: It will be $300 Corinne: We need to have paperwork for it. Can you give us the paperwork? Nolan Caylor: Let me call my boss real quick. 6:20 Nolan Caylor: Whats your email? We will email it to you. Corinne: Okay. I just need to receive it before we pay for it. [spells out email address] Nolan Caylor: Okay. Yes maam. Just hang tight on it. Im going to sit in the truck a minute and when they email it to you, just let me know and Ill get you taken care of. Corinne: Okay, great. Ill keep an eye out for it. Thank you. [No email is received. Approximately 15 minutes pass. Several other people came to pick up vehicles and hand over what appears to be large sums of cash. No receipts were seen to be exchanged.] 20:43 Nolan Caylor: Okay, he told me I told him what you said. That you didnt want to pay or anything like that until you get the email. He said, uh, youd have to come back tomorrow then. Bryan: Actually, Chattanooga section 35 -171 requires you all release the vehicle within 2 hours of notification. We notified you all yesterday around 4:30 p.m. Eastern time. Nolan Caylor: See, I guess that I just, I [unintelligible]. [he walks away] 21:45 Nolan Caylor [off camera, walking toward us with phone]: Its my boss. Corinne: Whos the boss? Nolan Caylor: His names uh [pause] Greg. Corinne: Greg? Whats his last name? [Male voice on speaker phonephone contact read Big Bro]: Hello? Nolan Caylor: Greg. Uh Male voice: Johnson Corinne: Greg Johnson. Hello, Mr. Johnson. This is Corinne Gould. Greg: Yeah, what can we do for you guys? Corinne: Yeah, my truck was towed from the Walmart and Im here to get it. We notified you guys within a few hours of it being towed. Weve already been put off and told we couldnt pick it up. I just need paperwork for my files showing what Im doing and what Im picking up. [continues to talk as Greg interrupts and talks over] I just dont feel comfortable handing over cash for this. 22:21 Greg attempts to talk over Corinne: We can move this over to 10 a.m. in the morning. Corinne: No. Greg: Technically my office is closed today. Bryan: Technically, Chattanooga ordinance 35-171 Greg: We dont fall under Chattanooga ordinance. Bryan: Yes you do, actually. Greg: Okay, well um, we aint gonna argue with nobody. What we can do is well just put this off till 10 a.m. in the morning. Corinne: No we wont. Bryan: What we can do is call the Chattanooga Police Department. Greg: Well, thatd be fine, buddy. Wrap it up up there. [call ends] [23:13-25:34 Corinnes call to Chattanooga Police non-emergency number requesting police assistance at 1625 Shepherd Rd.] [30:33/not on camera. Escalade arrives and parks. No one gets out. No one approaches vehicle to speak with occupants.] 32:26 Nolan Caylors voice off camera: Hey guys? Whats the year, make and model of that car? The Tundra? Corinne: My vehicle? Its a 2001. 33:17 Nolan Caylor: Are you paying with cash? Corinne: Yes. [34:03 Nolan Caylor, still on the phone, opens the gate. Escalade revs engine and speeds through, into the fenced portion of the lot, and parks beside shed. It appears from our position that no one gets out and no one approaches vehicle to speak with occupants. Nolan walks over to Tundra and appears to review license plate while talking on the phone.] [37:55 Escalade pulls back out of fenced lot (at reasonable speed) and parks. Still, no one gets out and no one approaches vehicle to speak with occupants.] 41:39Nolan Caylor: You should be getting a receipt soon. Corinne: Okay. So keep an eye on my email again? Nolan Caylor: Yeah, keep checking it. 46:22 Nolan Caylor: Check it now. Corinne: Okay. Not in Junk Not in the inbox yet. Ill keep refreshing here. 47:06 Corinne: While were waiting, can you tell me how it was towed? Nolan Caylor: Uh, I have no idea. Corinne: Okay. How can I find that out? Like if it was on a flatbed.? Nolan Caylor: Youll have to come back to the office in the morning. Corinne: Okay. Where is the office located? Nolan Caylor: Uh, usually someones in there [motions to what appears to be small storage shed]. Corinne: So this is the office? At this address? Nolan Caylor: Yes, maam. Corinne: And so what are the office hours? Nolan Caylor: Uh, Monday through Friday, 5 through 10. Uh, 5 through 6. 7 through 6. [Escalade passenger window rolls down and male voice says something unintelligible.] Corinne: Gotcha. 7 a.m. to? [Male in passenger seat says something that sounds like a question] Corinne: Im sorry, what? [Corinne starts to walk toward Escalade to hear.] Male in passenger seat [loudly]: You dont need to walk over here! Thats close enough! Did you get that receipt? Corinne: No. But let me Im in my inbox. Hi, Im Corinne. Male in passenger seat: Im Johnson. [Corinne confirms email address to occupants of Escalade] [Email is received to Corinnes email inbox at 4:56 p.m. Eastern Time. Invoice indicates incorrect color of vehicle and incorrect impound date and time.] 49:25 Corinne: Okay, can I ask some questions so you can help me understand it? Male voice from drivers seat: Sure, let me step out. [Male in passenger seat and male in driver seat both exit vehicle.] Corinne: Sorry, I know its really bright out. Okay, Im looking at it and it says the total amount due is $330. Male with tattoos: Yes. Corinne: Ive been all over the city code and it seems that the maximum I can be charged is $125. Male with ball cap: Thats if youre a city impounding wrecker but were not a city wrecker. Bryan: Actually the ordinance applies to everyone. Male with ball cap: No, it doesnt. Only if youre a city wrecker, sir. 50:00 Male with tattoos: We do this for a living, guys. We pull 150 cars a week. Corinne: Thats actually not true. Male with ball cap: Well, youre welcome contact an attorney or whatever you feel you need to do. 50:06 Male with tattoos raises voice: Just dont pay the bill today because youre holding us up. Corinne: I also see that theres a storage fee on here and we notified you guys within 12 hours of it being towed yesterday. Male with tattoos talking over: You get charged a storage fee as soon as it hits the yard. Corinne: Yeah, I know thats not Bryan: It hit the yard at 4:30 yesterday morning. We notified you all less than 12 hours later. Male with ball cap: That doesnt matter. 50:24 Corinne: Yeah, that violates the ordinance. Bryan: Actually, the ordinance says the first 24 hours Male with ball cap: If yall want to pay the vehicle out and pick it up, by all means you can do that. And if you want to contact an attorney, you can have them contact ours. Whichever yall choose to do. Corinne: The other issue is that we notified yall yesterday and you were supposed to give us access to it within 2 hours and that didnt happen. Male with ball cap: No maam. Both males: If youre a city wrecker. Male with tattoos: Were not a city wrecker. Corinne: No. 50:42 Male with tattoos [raised voice/pointing in Corinnes face]: Well, just pay us tomorrow! Were going home, okay. That sound good? Just get with the city and stuff tomorrow and theyll let you know about it, okay? Because we do this for a living. You think youre the first people thats tried to come up and school us on the law? No. Corinne: Well, um, I guess were paying then. Bryan to Corinne: You have the receipt? Corinne to Bryan: Do you feel comfortable with that? Bryan to Corinne: May I see it? Corinne: Yes. Sure. [hands Bryan phone with emailed invoice] Male voice: Whos the owner of the vehicle? Corinne: I am. Male with tattoos: Do you have proof of ownership? Corinne: What type of proof of ownership would you like? Because the registration is in the vehicle. Male with ball cap: Insurance and registration will be just fine. Corinne: Okay, theyre both in the vehicle. I can get them out of the glove box. Male with ball cap: Sure, if youd like to walk back there with him (Nolan), hell [unintelligible] Corinne to Bryan: Are you good? Male with tattoos: We have to receive payment before you guys can have vehicle. Corinne: Okay, well Im getting you the proof of ownership that you require. Male with ball cap: Yeah, go get your proof of Corinne: Thank you. [walks into fenced area with Nolan] 51:37 Male with ball cap: Listen, I understand no one likes to have their car towed, but understand were not the guys that make the rules. Bryan: I know. The city of Chattanooga makes the rules. 51:43 Male with ball cap: No, the city of Chattanooga doesnt make the rules on this. Bryan: Actually they do. 35-171. Male with ball cap: Right. If youll re-read it Bryan: I did. We have it printed out. Its a non-consensual tow from private property. Male with ball cap: Correct. When you are a city-regulated wrecker. Bryan: No, the city one is when you all are on the call list Male with ball cap: Nope, nope. Bryan: Which you all lost after the mass tow from Walmart. Male with ball cap: Who? Bryan: American Tow and Recovery Both males: This is Chattanooga Impound. Bryan: Mm hmm. Youre Aaron Black. 52:13 Male with tattoos: [pause] Ummmm [pause]. No Im not. Bryan: Okay. Who are you? Male with ball cap: My names Mike Phillips. Whats your name? Bryan: Bryan Payne. Mike Phillips: Bryan, nice to meet you. Bryan: Nice to meet you, too. Male with tattoos: Whod you say? Aaron Black? Bryan: Thats correct. 52:24 Mike Phillips: Thats the owner of Thats not the owner of Chattanooga Impound. Thats the owner of American Tow Company. Bryan: Right. Male with tattoos: Yeah. Mike Phillips: We are well aware. Male with tattoos: Yeah, so Mike Phillips: Thats where we got the accounts from. When they lost them, thats where we picked them up from. Bryan: And you are? Im sorry 52:36 Male with tattoos: Eat a dick. Thats who. Bryan: Okay. Male with tattoos/Aaron Black: Yeah, I felt comfortable telling you until you tried to roll up schooling me on laws that we We do this for a living towing 150 cars a week. Yeah. You think you guys are the first ones who rolled in, tried to school us on the law? Bryan: Im sure you deal with all kinds of people. Aaron Black: I do. Yeah. Yeah. I sure do. [There is a separate audio recording of Nolan indicating to Corinne that she can drive the truck out of the fenced in area, which she begins to do, slowly to avoid hitting other awkwardly parked vehicles. Click here to hear that.] Mike Phillips to Nolan Caylor: Did she pay you? Mike Phillips to Bryan: Are you paying or is she paying? Bryan: Shes paying. Mike Phillips: If you would just ask her hes trying to get paid. Bryan: Sure. Were not running out. [Aaron Black walks over and steps directly into the front grill of the slowly rolling truck.] Mike Phillips: That was kind of uncalled for. She bumped him with the truck. Bryan: I saw he walked in front of a moving vehicle. Mike Phillips: Right. Well, the vehicle hasnt been paid out. Bryan: Shes paying. [There is a separate audio recording of the verbal exchange between Corinne and Aaron Black.] 53:56 Mike Phillips: I can understand you being upset, but theres also a way to handle it. Im going to talk with him when we get done about the way he just handled that. But I can be just as easy to deal with or just as hard. Bryan: Im not trying to be difficult at all. I appreciate it. I understand that people are gonna get angry at this business. Mike Phillips: Thats part of it. Bryan: I understand. [Corinne exits truck and walks to Bryan.] Corinne: Are you good? Bryan: Yeah. Corinne: Okay. [hands Aaron Black two installments of cash totaling $330] Aaron Black to Nolan Caylor: Give that to your boss. Nolan Caylor: All right. Yall have a good day, okay? Bryan: You too. 55:35 Aaron Black: Nolan, give them their money back. We dont need [unintelligible]. 56:01 Mike Phillips: For his disrespectful comment we are gonna [unintelligible]. [Mike Phillips hands Bryan back the cash.] Bryan: Okay. Thank you. Mike Phillips: All right. Have a good day. Bryan: You, too. [Bryan walks to Corinne in truck.] Bryan: They gave us the money back. I had a conversation with them, too. Corinne: Okay. Lets get the hell out of here and debrief. Bryan: All right. Ill follow you. You probably need to let the police know not to keep the car coming. Corinne: Lets just get somewhere safe right now. [Video recording ends] A campaign started several years ago with a simple premise: Believe in Tennessee. Over time, that slogan lost steam, and out-of-state special interests and the status quo replaced the vision. Some argue that we no longer uphold the core principles of limited government, personal accountability, fiscal responsibility, and respect for the rule of law. State government expenditures have grown in the last decade, and we have lower-than-expected tax collections. Our state's potential for prosperity is limitless when Tennesseans are not just passive observers but active participants in civic affairs and when they enjoy financial security. Every voter's voice is a catalyst for change, and every worker's ability to provide for their family is a testament to our collective strength. Our state and local leaders must foster and prioritize civic engagement with our citizens, empowering each individual to take responsibility for the future of our state. We have all witnessed policymakers promising solutions in public education and experienced the deep disappointment of quick fixes for deep-rooted educational issues. But let's not lose hope. To truly enhance education, we must move beyond surface-level solutions. As parents, educators, and community leaders, our role is pivotal in discerning genuine reform from empty gestures. Together, we can drive lasting change. Our advocacy for education policy in Tennessee underscores the power of local communities and the critical importance of local control in the American education system. Conservatives have historically defended local educational autonomy as a cornerstone of democratic values. Tennessee has increased state mandates on public schools. We must focus on academic achievement instead of conforming to bureaucratic requirements. The US Department of Education has sometimes prioritized political interests over educational ones, highlighting the need for local control. Conservatives have advocated for eliminating the DOE, but reducing the federal policy role remains unlikely without concrete plans and significant actions. The federal direction and oversight will continue under both parties. Most citizens believe in local control and advocate for public schools to be governed at the regional level. This approach empowers elected local officials to decide on crucial aspects of schooling, including school expenses, teacher selection, and instructional materials. Rules, standards, and regulations alone cannot drive improvements in education. Innovations and meeting student needs should happen at the local level. Tennessee must ensure that local schools have the freedom to innovate for school improvement and student success. The late David Tyack, a professor of education and history at Stanford University, talked about a lost opportunity in American education: the power of local control to link public schools more firmly to their communities. Tyack was concerned about national policy talk in education. Our purpose in education needs to be broader and more connected to local concerns. He said, National gurus typically talk about education and economic survival and students as potential human capital. Tyack added, When people think about their own best experiences, not about the abstractions of human capital, they tend to think about social learning, about intellectual excitement. In other words, they are remembering learning, generously construed. Not just filling in the bubbles on some test, but getting excited about a subject, learning how to live productively with others, absorbing the habits of civility. Tyack was way ahead of the curve. Education leaders seeking to build relationships with all stakeholders must respect the entire community, engage with parents, and promote a balanced historical approach. Open communication and transparency must be prioritized to reassure parents of the education system's commitment to their children's well-being. While school systems often excel in public relations, they must improve communication, be timelier, and accommodate parental schedules. Courtney Gore, a Texas school board member, initially campaigned against school indoctrination but has since retracted her stance after finding no evidence of such practices. The widespread indoctrination that she had vehemently criticized did not exist. She now believes that wealthy donors are leveraging school board races to advance a voucher system, a stark illustration of the profound impact of political influences on education. Those groups are active nationally. This revelation led to a significant shift in her perspective. Whether other policymakers follow suit and break ranks with national groups remains to be seen. However, we have focused on many issues irrelevant to students' academic success. In the future, we are likely to see an increase in special interest groups' political spending in school board races and other political campaigns across Tennessee. Transparency is critical in political expenditures. The government should never be up for sale to the highest bidder at any level or price. Public schools governed locally offer advantages such as tailored decision-making, local insights into policies, and community ownership. School board elections should align with national or state elections to enhance voter turnout. Unfortunately, school boards are just as ideological and pragmatic as other elected governance bodies with partisan school races. Do we still believe in Tennessee? Every generation of parents aspires to create a better world for their children. In our society, we can engage in respectful discussions, support others, pursue our dreams, and reach our full potential. Through hard work and determination, anyone in Tennessee can climb the social and economic ladder and create a brighter future for themselves and their children. Even when challenges arise, our belief in Tennessee remains well-founded. JC Bowman Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C. announces the addition of attorney Christopher D. "Chris" Poole, who will serve the firm's litigation and risk management and health care practice areas. "We're thrilled to add Chris to our growing team of talented attorneys," said President and Managing Shareholder Mark Cunningham. "His distinguished tenure at the United States Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Tennessee, where he navigated a myriad of complex cases, demonstrates his legal acumen and leadership. His ability to achieve optimal outcomes for clients in the most challenging legal scenarios is a testament to his skill and professionalism. We look forward to leveraging Chris' vast experience and courtroom knowledge to defend our clients in high-stakes litigation." With over 25 years as a federal and state prosecutor, Mr. Poole specializes in criminal defense, white-collar cases, family law, and general civil litigation. He advises corporate clients and individuals on potential criminal liability and educates them on defense strategies, drawing from his trial experience in state and federal courts, including numerous jury trials and arguments before the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. In addition, Mr. Poole represents health care providers in qui tam litigation, white-collar criminal defense, payment and licensing disputes, and fraud and abuse litigation. Before joining Chambliss, Mr. Poole held a senior position at the United States Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Tennessee. As a federal prosecutor and leader within the Department of Justice, he managed a diverse range of cases, including those involving elected officials, corporations, international criminals, and cybercrime. Drawing on this experience, Mr. Poole now applies his courtroom knowledge to advocate for clients in civil litigation, family law and criminal defense. Mr. Poole is a recipient of numerous accolades, including the American Inns of Court, Brock-Cooper Chapter Civility Award by the Hamilton County federal and state judiciary in 2022, the Exceptional Service Award from the National Association of Former U.S. Attorneys in 2014, and the Executive Office of the United States Attorneys Director's Award for Superior Performance in 2009. In addition, he is a member of the Chattanooga and Federal Bar Associations. Mr. Poole graduated from Wake Forest University and the Georgia State University College of Law. He is licensed in Tennessee and Georgia. Chinese FM expresses deep condolences over deaths of Iranian president, FM Xinhua) 10:06, May 21, 2024 ASTANA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday expressed deep condolences over the deaths of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian during a joint press briefing with Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu. Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said the Chinese side was deeply saddened upon learning of the official Iranian confirmation that Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian lost their lives in a recent helicopter accident, and offered deep condolences. Wang also extended sincere sympathies to the bereaved families, the Iranian government, and the people of Iran, noting that Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian have made significant contributions to the development of China-Iran relations and the advancement of regional friendly cooperation. Following the accident, China actively assisted in the rescue efforts and is ready to continue providing all necessary support to Iran, Wang said, expressing his belief that the Iranian government and people would be able to overcome this difficult moment. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Seoul reaffirms hope for peace across Taiwan Strait By Nam Hyun-woo The Chinese Embassy in Korea lodged a complaint on Tuesday against ruling People Power Party (PPP) Rep. Cho Kyoung-tae and other lawmakers for attending the inauguration ceremony of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te a day earlier, saying that it constitutes a blatant disregard for Beijings "One China" policy. In a press statement, a spokesperson for the embassy said, Rep. Cho and others made an unauthorized visit to the Taiwan region on May 20 and attended the so-called 'leaders' inauguration ceremony, despite Chinas strong protests. The spokesperson said the visit is a blatant ignorance of the One China policy and the spirit of the joint communique of the diplomatic relations between China and Korea, which sends the wrong signal to Taiwanese independence separatists and run counter to the strategic cooperative partnership between our two countries. Korea did not send an official delegation to the inauguration ceremony, but Lee Eun-ho, representative of the Korean Mission in Taipei, and Rep. Cho, who heads the Korea-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, attended the event. Despite the growing economic partnership with Taiwan, Korea is not reinstating its diplomatic ties that were severed in 1992 when it established relations with China, out of respect for the One China policy. As a result, Seoul has abstained from sending government delegations to Taiwan's political ceremonies, although individual lawmakers like Rep. Cho and former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Chung Woo-taik have made visits to Taipei. Among them, Cho, recognized as an advocate of Taiwan's independence, visited Taiwan multiple times, including his attendance at former Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen's inauguration in 2016. The significance of such delegations has increased notably in recent years, particularly due to the escalating rivalry between the United States and China. The Yoon Suk Yeol administration has displayed a pronounced diplomatic alignment with Washington regarding issues concerning Taiwan. Yoon has reaffirmed in media interviews that Seoul opposes any attempts to alter the status quo by force in reference to tensions in the Taiwan Strait and his statements sparked discontent from China. The spokesperson said the issue of Taiwan is purely an internal matter of China and one of Chinas core interests and stressed that the government of the Peoples Republic of China is the sole legitimate government representing the entire China. The spokesperson added, Korean lawmakers have an official status of representing their people. We urge Korea to uphold the One China principle, refrain from interfering in China's internal affairs in any manner, and avoid supporting any form of 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces in any form. Regarding the embassy's complaint, Lim Soo-suk, a spokesperson for the Korean foreign ministry, said the country sent a congratulatory message through the Korean Mission in Taipei, and the country's position on Taiwan remains the same." "We hope for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and peaceful developments in Cross-Strait relations," Lim said, adding Seoul and China are closely communicating over major pending issues. An official at the foreign ministry said Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi discussed Taiwan-related matters during their meeting last week. He said Cho articulated Seoul's stance on this issue to Wang. Reportedly, Seoul has been communicating its position that the government cannot intervene in domestic politicians' involvement in political events in Taiwan. China has reportedly expressed understanding of this stance. Traditional country music fans remember Eddy Arnold and his long string of hits. The Henderson, Tn., native died May 8, 2008, just a few days short of his 90th birthday on May 15th.Arnold got the nickname Tennessee Plowboy after his father, a farmer, died when he was only 11 and Eddy went to work in the field.Arnold learned the guitar from his mother and would play events while attending Pinson High School in Pinson, Tn. He started on the radio at the age of 16, and to earn some extra money, Arnold worked part time at a local funeral home.His singing caught the eye of RCA Victor and he signed a contract with the recording company in 1944.Hello Chattanooga by David Carroll documents at least nine Eddy Arnold concerts in and around the Scenic City during his musical career that spanned seven decades.What could have been Arnolds first performance in Chattanooga was Feb. 15, 1942 at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium. Arnold appeared with Roy Acuff and the Smokey Mountain Boys, Minnie Pearl and Pee Wee King.According to Mr. Carrolls book, another of Arnolds early concerts was Oct. 31, 1944 at the Peerless Auditorium in Rossville, Ga.The concert this writer remembers was Jan. 27, 1968, at the Memorial Auditorium. WDOD radio was one of the sponsors and management asked me to introduce the man known to have helped pioneer the Nashville Sound.I dont remember exactly what I said, except something like, Put your hands together and give a big Chattanooga welcome to the Grand Ole Oprys Eddy Arnold.I do remember Arnold asked the curtains be closed. He brought a stool to center stage and played his guitar sang hit after hit for about 30 minutes. The audience interrupted him several times with applause, and at the end they gave the singer a standing ovation.Lloyd Payne, who did his radio broadcast from a wheelchair after contracting polio, interviewed Arnold several times on the Hayride," a daily country music show in the mid 50s on WDXB in Chattanooga.Mr. Payne said the two became good friends and Mr. Arnold even came by the studio in the Dome Building for an interview. Mr. Arnold sent flowers when Mr. Payne died unexpectedly in 1976.In early 1965, Mr. Arnold recorded Whats He Doing in My World? co-written by Billy Joe Moore, the blind concession stand operator at the Hamilton County Courthouse. Floyd Cramer played the piano and it featured the Anita Kerr Singers harmony. The song was number one on the billboard chart for several weeks in the summer and was voted song of the year. It was one of the first songs I played when going to work for WDOD in June of 1965.Mr. Moore would see me around the courthouse and always thank me for playing his song. He said, It helped me buy my Cadillac.Mr. Moore was good friends with Hamilton County Executive Dalton Roberts, also a musician. Mr. Moore also wrote songs for Faron Young and Webb Pierce, but the Arnold tune was his biggest hit.During my radio years Mr. Arnolds songs were among the most requested.Europeans also liked Eddy Arnold and my mail reflected it while hosting a country music program on the American Forces Network in Frankfurt, West Germany.Make the World Go Away, was released in the fall of 1965 and went to number one; it became a cross-over hit.Although WDEF radio wasnt a country music station, Luther Masingill and Jolly Cholly Krause played a lot of the singers records.Mr. Masingill said, He was so smooth and a listener favorite.Mr. Arnold recorded most of his career with RCA, although he made several LPs for MGM in the mid 70s.Allmusic.com said Eddy Arnold was the most popular country performer of the 20th century. Not only did Mr. Arnold have 28 number one singles, he had more charting singles than any other country artists for several decades.Many of Mr. Arnolds songs were copied by others. You Dont Know Me and Just A Little Lovin were included in Ray Charles' million selling project, Modern Sounds of Country and Western Music.Mr. Arnold recorded Anytime in 1948 and it went to number one. The song was brought back by Eddie Fisher in 1951 and became a million seller for the pop singer. Mr. Arnold said his version had somewhat of a revival in the early 50s when DJs started playing his recording of the Happy Herbert Lawson song written in 1921.When asked his most requested song(s), Mr. Arnold responded, It depends on the age of the individual; my older fans liked "Cattle Call" and "Anytime," but the all-time favorite might be "Make the World Go Away." I enjoy singing them all.Mr. Arnold was married to Sally Gayhart Arnold for 66 years and she preceded the singer in death by two months. Mr. Arnold said often, Sally was my number one fan.Mr. Arnold received a lot of recognition and awards during his lengthy career, but said he was most honored when inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1966. A former Chattanooga State art student has died after he was struck by a "rogue wave" while walking along a beach in Brazil. Clifford Gordon was leading a group of students from across Tennessee on a study tour. He was on a walk with three of the students when the wave suddenly struck. They had stopped to take a picture at the location near Paraty, Brazil. The three students were treated for injuries. The body of Mr. Gordon, who was a professor at Columbia State, was later recovered. Dr. Janet F. Smith, Columbia State Community College president, said, "We were heartbroken to hear of this tragic accident. We are thankful that no students were seriously injured. Our college family mourns the loss of Clifford, who was a talented artist and greatly loved by his students. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and students. Mr. Gordon gained his A.A. from Chattanooga State Community College in Studio Art in 1999. He went on to attain a B.A. from Tennessee State University in Studio Art in 2001 and an M.A. from Memphis College in Studio Art in 2004. Tennessees five Feeding America food banks announced Tuesday the official launch of the Tennessee Food Bank Association, joining 21 other states in the formation of an alliance. Dr. LaRhonda S.D. Magras, who previously served as chief executive officer of YWCA Central Alabama, will lead the Association as executive director. It is a distinguished honor to be the first executive director of the newly formed Tennessee Food Bank Association, Dr. Magras said. The creation of this alliance demonstrates the enduring commitment these organizations have to making inroads in their mission, and I am proud to join their fight. When we join forces, we can achieve so much more, especially when it comes to tackling a persistent and devastating issue like hunger. I look forward to getting to work to help Tennesseans across the state achieve reliable, equitable access to nutritious food. Dr. Magras has spent nearly three decades in the non-profit sector, working as an advocate for anti-poverty and social justice programs and initiatives in diverse urban and rural settings. A Chicago native, Dr. Magras spent many years spearheading critical initiatives in Middle Tennessee as senior vice president of Program Operations at YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee, director of Children and Youth Education Initiatives at the Mayors Office of Nashville & Davidson County, and vice president of Youth Development at Nashville's Martha O'Bryan Center. The Tennessee Food Bank Association members are: Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee (Nashville) Mid-South Food Bank (Memphis) Chattanooga Area Food Bank (Chattanooga) Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee (Knoxville) Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Tennessee (Kingsport) These organizations, which are part of Feeding Americas nationwide network of over 200 food banks, work with more than 1,700 partners across all 95 Tennessee counties. While we have always had a shared mission to eliminate hunger for the 1-in-7 Tennesseans facing food insecurity, forming an association will allow us to align our efforts and strengthen our impact, the five food banks CEOs said in a joint statement. The reality is that hunger and its root causes pose a tremendous challenge that we will be better prepared to tackle as a united front. With Dr. Magras at the helm, we are confident that we can truly accomplish great things together. The Tennessee Food Bank Association will provide a singular educational authority on food insecurity for all key stakeholders, strengthening statewide awareness of the issue and working to expand federal and state food funding programs. The food bank members also hope to achieve greater efficiency and efficacy among shared programs and partnerships. To learn more about the Tennessee Food Bank Association, please visit www.tnfoodbanks.org Oxyle, the Swiss pioneering water treatment startup, and Waterleau announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). This MoU marks a pivotal moment in the global effort to combat micropollutants in water resources. Joining forces for the complete elimination of PFAS The strategic partnership marks a decisive moment in the global fight against micropollutants in water resources. Both companies are addressing the growing concerns about micropollutants, including pharmaceuticals, pesticides and especially per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), in water bodies. With tightening regulations and increasing public pressure, the PFAS treatment market has experienced significant growth, particularly in Europe and the US. Waterleau, with its extensive global presence and expertise in water and wastewater treatment, recognizes the urgent need for innovative solutions to eliminate these persistent chemicals. Waterleau takes a holistic approach to PFAS treatment, viewing each PFAS contaminant as unique and providing a customized solution. Unlike single solution providers, the Belgian company prioritizes customization to address specific challenges. Oxyle's expertise enriches Waterleau's PFAS treatment portfolio, which now offers comprehensive solutions for the on-site destruction of the chemicals. Oxyle brings to the partnership pioneering technologies focused on the destruction and mineralization of micropollutants, including a nanoporous catalyst capable of eliminating a broad spectrum of PFAS. Oxyle's collaborative approach emphasizes scaling technology and operations, with a strong focus on partnering with industry leaders for rapid market entry. Unlocking the technology potential to destroy PFAS By integrating Oxyle's technologies into Waterleau's PFAS treatment portfolio, both partners aim to strengthen their market positions and provide efficient solutions for global customers. With this partnership, both companies outline their joint endeavor focused on commercializing Oxyle's leading-edge PFAS removal technology. It establishes Waterleau's commitment to prioritize Oxyle's technology in current and future projects. Jeroen De Lathouwer, VP Business Development at Waterleau, adds: "In our mission to combat PFAS, Oxyle plays an essential role. Their breakthrough technology not only efficiently removes stubborn short-chain PFAS from wastewater, but also does so with remarkably low energy consumption, setting new standards in the industry. We are excited about the possibilities that lie ahead and continue our journey to tackle these harmful chemicals." Applications are also available at the Cherokee First desk at the W.W. Keeler Tribal Complex in Tahlequah. In just one week, over 100 tornadoes have swept through parts of the U.S., destroying dozens of homes and uprooting the lives of many people. Some of the affected regions include Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa. These areas are known to be prone to tornadoes during this time of year, but its abnormal to have so many of them develop in such a short span of time. Andrew Winters, an assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado, explained the reasons behind the recent increase in tornadoes. One of the reasons can be attributed to El Nino, a climate pattern that refers to the warming of surface waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. During El Nino, the atmosphere can produce a strong subtropical air current. Any waves or fluctuation along the subtropical jet stream that makes the jet wavy can create an environment that facilitates the production of severe weather and tornadoes in the spring. This is what caused the tornadoes across the country over the last couple of weeks, Winters explained. Most tornadoes are the result of a supercell storm, but they can form through any kind of severe thunderstorm. Supercell storms are characterized by a mesocyclone, a violent updraft that persistently rotates for an extended period of time. The circulation starts from above and will move downward to the ground, which is how a tornado is created. Climate change may also be a contributing factor toward the uptick in tornadoes. Previously, studies have found that an increasingly warming climate provides ideal conditions for extreme weather phenomenona to develop. Sign up for Chip Chicks newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox. According to the CDC, more than 795,000 people in the United States suffer a stroke each year, and not all patients have the same odds of survival. But, a recent study revealed two factors that may have a significant impact. The research suggests that your income and educational level may greatly influence your chances of stroke survival. Professor Katharina Stibrant Sunnerhagen from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden led this study and examined the medical records of just under 7,000 stroke patients from 2014 to 2019 in Gothenburg. The results show that individuals with higher incomes had a striking 32% lower risk of dying following a stroke as opposed to those with lower incomes. Additionally, individuals with higher education levels experienced a 26% lower mortality risk after a stroke. The research team has since defined these elements as social determinants of health, or SDoH. Essentially, they refer to the circumstances people are born into, grow up in, live, work, and age all of which can significantly influence health outcomes. So, this particular study honed in on four primary SDoH factors, including residential area, country of origin, level of education, and income. The findings revealed just how these societal factors can unfavorably affect certain people. Patients with only one adverse SDoH factor actually had an 18% higher risk of mortality after a stroke in comparison to those without any factors. Plus, for people burdened with two to four adverse SDoH factors, their risk of mortality after a stroke surged to 24%. Our findings underscore a stark reality an individuals socioeconomic status can be a matter of life or death in the context of stroke, especially when they are confronted with multiple unfavorable SDoH factors, Stibrant Sunnerhagen explained. Sign up for Chip Chicks newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox. By Matt VanVolkenburg One of the best-known areas of Seoul, often visited by tourists, is Deoksu Palace and Seoul Plaza, but few realize the storied importance of the neighborhood behind the palace, known as Jeong-dong. Scattered behind the palace are over a dozen Western-style brick-and-stone buildings built between 1890 and 1938, including schools, churches, foreign embassies and homes. These buildings are hallmarks of a time when Jeong-dong was Seouls foreign neighborhood, hosting the British, American, Russian, French, German and Italian legations. This foreign settlement began to take shape in the early 1880s when the kingdom of Joseon first opened its ports and signed treaties with Western powers. The British and Americans were the first to buy land in the area for their legations. Little did the Americans realize the house they were sold was avoided by the locals because its owner had been murdered in a military uprising in 1882 and was believed to be haunted. Throughout the 1880s the legations of other Western countries were established in the neighborhood, including France, Russia, Italy and Germany. Almost immediately, schools and churches began to appear. The Baejae Hakdang, a school for young men, opened in 1885, and Ewha Hakdang, a school for girls, opened the following year. Both were established by missionaries and taught a Western curriculum, but one of the main draws was the fact that they taught English. Chungdong First Methodist Church was built in 1897, and Seoul Foreign School opened in 1912. While this neighborhood is today perceived as being behind Deoksu Palace, when Westerners first moved to the area, the palace on that spot was small and insignificant. It was only after the Japan-orchestrated murder of Queen Min in 1895 when King Gojong was made a prisoner in Gyeongbok Palace, that he sought somewhere new to rule from. During his captivity, he relied on Western missionaries to bring him food to avoid possible poisoning, and in early 1896, he outmaneuvered his Japanese captors and fled to the Russian Legation. The following year, he expanded what is now Deoksu Palace, then Gyeongun Palace, and made it the seat of his rule precisely because it was surrounded by the British, American and Russian legations, which he counted on to keep him safe from the Japanese. This strategy ultimately failed, however. In what was then a war featuring the largest armies facing off against each other in modern history, Japan defeated Russia in 1905 and that November the royal power of Korean kings was all but nullified by the Eulsa Treaty forced upon the Korean cabinet at Jungmyeongjeong, a building currently next to the American ambassadors residence that was restored more than 15 years ago and converted into a museum. Equally beautiful buildings abound in Jeong-dong. The Anglican Cathedral, arguably Seouls most beautiful church, was built in the 1920s but left unfinished due to a lack of funding and the later loss of its original blueprints until they were discovered in an archive in England in the 1990s. It hosts the only tomb in Jeong-dong, of Anglican Bishop Mark Trollope, who had been RAS Korea president for several years over three nonconsecutive terms. On a wall in the cathedral hang photos of church leaders killed during the 1950-53 Korean War, particularly due to the grueling winter death march of prisoners in North Korea in late 1950. Among these martyrs was Father Charles Hunt, who was serving as president of the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS) Korea in 1950 when he was taken captive and who died near the border with China due to exhaustion after a week of almost constant walking in sub-freezing temperatures. Another foreboding location in Jeong-dong was the sidewalk outside the southern wall of Deoksu Palace, where it was said any couple who walked its length would soon break up. While some explanations for this leaned on tales of spectral jealous concubines who had been passed over by the king, others noted that the reason for this belief likely lay in the fact that a courthouse hosting the family court, where divorces were processed, was to be found at the end of that path. The courthouse was refurbished into the Seoul Museum of Art 20 years ago. The most recent addition to the buildings that can be visited is the recently restored Chosen Savings Bank executive residence, which was built in 1938 and later became a secondary U.S. Embassy residence. This building came into the possession of the United States in 1945 when Park Gerdine, a self-described missionary kid, was, due to his experience in Korea and his language abilities, among the first American soldiers to enter Korea after Japans surrender. He quickly made contact with a childhood Korean friend who set about helping him find a place to live, which led him to the Chosen Savings Bank residence. As Gerdine recalled in a lecture for RAS Korea in 2005, in response to his friends knock at that houses door, a middle-aged Japanese man in a beautifully embroidered kimono opened the door. His friend spoke to the man residing there the bank president in a harsh and commanding voice and then returned to Gerdine and said with a smile, You can move in this evening. These stories and many more involving the foreign communitys close connections with some of the most important moments in Koreas modern history will be recounted this coming Saturday in an excursion by RAS Korea. Participation costs 40,000 won or 30,000 won for RAS Korea members. Visit raskb.com for more information. Matt VanVolkenburg has a master's degree in Korean studies from the University of Washington. He is the blogger behind populargusts.blogspot.kr, and co-author of "Called by Another Name: A Memoir of the Gwangju Uprising." Ive always found DNA to be one of the most fascinating parts of science. Our human DNA is what makes us who we are, and our knowledge of how it works has evolved drastically over the decades. One of the hardworking scientists who brought us more information on DNA in the 20th century was British scientist Rosalind Franklin, who made incredible contributions to identifying and studying DNA. Rosalind was born in London in the 1920s. She came from a prominent family, with some of her relatives working in politics and her father being a merchant banker. She attended the University of Cambridge to study physical chemistry. After graduating from Cambridge in 1941, working as an air raid warden, and spending time at the British Coal Utilisation Research Association during World War II, Rosalind went on to receive her doctorate in 1945. Rosalind studied X-ray technology for three years in Paris and then began working at the Biophysical Laboratory at Kings College in London as a research fellow in 1951. At this time, there was very little information on DNA, which Rosalind chose to study using some of the X-ray technology and techniques she picked up. During her time at Kings College, Rosalind fascinatingly discovered the density of DNA. Furthermore, she learned that DNA molecules were in a helical conformation. She also noticed that when DNA fibers experienced humidity at 75%, they appeared long and thin, but when they were drier, they looked short and fat. In 1952, Rosalind used X-ray diffraction to capture an image of a DNA fiber, which revealed it had a three-dimensional structure. Sign up for Chip Chicks newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox. This young woman currently attends college, and she just celebrated her 20th birthday. Unfortunately, it seems that her 27-year-old male RA is completely obsessed with her, and he is attending her college to complete his PhD. Her RA has been incredibly kind towards everyone who lives in their on-campus housing, not just her. But then, when she fainted once, her RA rushed to a nearby pharmacy to purchase a blood pressure monitor for her. Then, one time, when she had a terrible cold, he got her lemon and honey to help. He treats my other housemates with the same level of generosity, she explained. Ive tried my best to be supportive in return by expressing curiosity and enthusiasm for his research and fun stories. I considered him a friend. But about a month ago, he called me and asked [me] to meet him at our houses front porch. When I got outside, he insisted we cross the street. He carefully looked around and then asked if I would like to go out on a date with him. I was flabbergasted, especially since our age difference is so extreme. I also am not attracted to him. So I just replied that Im flattered, but a romantic relationship wouldnt be appropriate since were in completely different life stages. I thought this would be the end of him pursuing me, but Ive been noticing odd, possibly obsessive behaviors ever since. On the property where they live, there are two houses. She lives in the back house while he lives in the front house. She has caught him watching her through the window, and then he will come over to her house to chat with her. While she would indicate that she was really in a hurry, he still would insist on talking to her about her life. Hes somewhat overbearing and makes it impossible for her to end any conversation with him. Sign up for Chip Chicks newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox. In a deep limestone cave of Nevadas Death Valley National Park, there lives the Devils Hole pupfish, a species that has been listed as critically endangered since 2014. These creatures are both resilient and endearing, making them popular among fish fans. The pupfish gets its name from its playful nature, which resembles puppies. It has a tiny, silvery-blue body and a flat head like a pike. Typically, an adult pupfish reaches a size of about 35 millimeters. Pupfish have been living in Devils Hole, a limestone cave that is part of an extensive underwater system, for over 10,000 years. The water is 92 degrees Fahrenheit and has low oxygen levels, which makes it an unlikely climate for any fish to survive in. However, that is where pupfish thrive. Their favorite spot in Devils Hole is in the shallow water on a small ledge in a compact area of the cave. It is where they like to feed and breed. Devils Hole pupfish feed mostly on algae that grows on the limestone shelf, as well as some small invertebrates. In the past, experts have tried to create a similar artificial platform for the pupfish, hoping it would help grow their population. But, the natural limestone shelf has remained the only place they choose to gather in. Since the 1970s, researchers have dived down into the depths of the cavern twice a year to count the population. In the mid-1990s, their numbers dropped drastically. Before, their population had fluctuated around 200 fish in the spring and 300 to 500 in the fall. Conservation efforts have been put into action since then to boost their population, but not much progress has been made. So far, the smallest count of pupfish was 35. On the evening of April 30, three men infiltrated Death Valley National Park and swam in Devils Hole. They discharged a firearm at least 10 times, shooting at signs, locks on the gates, and a motion sensor on the security system. Although they tried to take the security system apart, the cameras were still able to record their activity at Devils Hole. Sign up for Chip Chicks newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox. Even as I long for health and freedom, I see the good that God is doing. Illustration by Mallory Rentsch Tlapek / Source Images: Getty The end of April 2024 marked my 10th month in detention at Makala Central Prison in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Each day passes, leaving the impression that I will be free tomorrow. I know the day I hope for will finally come, because I have put my hope in the Master of times and circumstances. As he says in Matthew 25:3146, he is also detained with me here. When he is done with detention, he will lead the way to my freedom. My hope is built on that rock. I was arrested in a legally irregular process. During the time I was falsely accused of calling people in my Eastern DRC region to arms, I was on a video (which my lawyers have submitted) promoting the Nairobi Process call for a cease-fire. In fact, I was part of that process and I have long been dedicated to achieving peace and development. Sign up for The Daily Briefing Get the most recent headlines and stories from Christianity Today delivered to your inbox daily. Email* Sign Up This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thanks for signing up. Please click here to see all our newsletters. Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again. After being shifted from prison to prison and finally to Makala, I joined an Assemblies of God chaplaincy and a team of ordained prisoners who minister here with the help of donations and resources that we are able to receive. Early on, I asked the committee about starting a literacy class in the prison due to the huge number of people who dont know how to read and write. The initiative caught the attention of authorities and many people with a humane spirit. About 100 people, men and women, boys and girls, are now benefiting from the program, and over 50 have now learned to read, write, and calculate. One adult student said, I never expected that I would learn how to read and write in prison. Thank you for this initiative. Many of those that havent had the opportunity to go to school are from the Kinshasa region and grew up as kuluna (street children). When someone in jail learns how to hold a pencil and reaches a stage of writing, reading, and calculating, I feel like making a song to the Lord, the master of times and circumstances. One child detainee asked the teacher, Why cant we have the program run every day? Learning is good for us. It also helps me to remain busy. Another adult said, Now I need a Bible that I can read for myself. There are Bibles that we have successfully distributed. They make an impact not only in Bible study groups but also on evangelism teams. I have witnessed teams moving from cell to cell with Bibles, reading and sharing verses. Besides the literacy classes, in April, we also initiated a skills training class on making soap, detergent, and disinfectant for 54 students. The teacher is also a detainee. We are able to use these products to help improve our own sanitary conditions. Other initiatives include a tree planting project, a climate change course, and a class on making paint and pigment. A program on the theology of work, which I teach, has also extended outside of the prison. One of our detained students was released weeks ago and, surprisingly, secured a new job in the government. He called me to request the syllabus, saying, I want to use it to mobilize the provincial parliament members to learn and apply it. Another person said, What I like about this is that you dont only teach about spiritual salvation; it also touches physical needs. I felt very much encouraged. There are so many things to talk about, as God never stops surprising us with his jokes. He makes us smile. On the chaplains committee, we confront problems to solve daily, even if our own issues are not yet resolved. There are those who lack means for basic needs such as clothing, food, and medication. I have seen more than a dozen people who needed money to resolve their legal cases. Once they were able to provide the money, they were freed. In particular, I remember how a family of five, detained for over ten months, was released and went home after we donated the necessary funds. In another example, the director of music here at our church in Makala sat in my little room and explained his financial problem. When a solution was found, he cried with joy and said, I have been singing to bless the church, and today I am blessed too! Being a prisoner does not make me less human. I continue to dream, to be creative, and to be a person who can turn circumstances into opportunities. I am made to positively impact my environment. Grace has been mine; I have pleasant roommates, which is a blessingwe share everything, and that builds our faith, hope, and friendship. Moreover, I pass time tending to my plant nursery in the room. I eat fruits and keep their seeds, which I put in plastic water bottles. This has also been a good way of procuring peace of mind. As I tell my roommates and my theology of work class, nature is our relative. My conversation with the environment dates way back to the 1970s with my small shamba (farm) of potatoes. The area still carries my name, mukwa Lazaro (at Lazares). When I was arrested, my medicine was left behind. Later on, my medicine was brought and shown to me, but it was never given to me to use. Without that medicine, I have still survived, even though I experience many health issues with no appropriate medical attention. Through all these circumstances, God has been my healer and protector. It is easy to be stressed with unbearable living conditions. I can think like the apostle Paul, How come I minister to the needs of others, and yet my own case is unresolved and my needs unmet? But my answer is already written: Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christs power may rest on me. (2 Cor. 12:89) I feel that the work of this ministry is firm, and that its now time to go back home. Lazare Sebitereko Rukundwa, an Assemblies of God member, founded Eben-Ezer University of Minembwe in South Kivu, DRC. He was a civil society delegate during the Inter-Congolese Peace Consultations in Nairobi. His family and the people of Minembwe await his release. hxdbzxy / Getty The accreditation agency for over 2,700 evangelical nonprofits wants to raise its standards to address one of the greatest financial risks posed to churches and ministries today: moral failures by leadership. For decades, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) has established guidelines around financial transparency, stewardship, and governance. This year, the organization announced plans to add a new requirement to address the integrity and character of a ministrys leaders. Itd be the biggest change to ECFAs standards in 45 years. Sign up for The Daily Briefing Get the most recent headlines and stories from Christianity Today delivered to your inbox daily. Email* Sign Up This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thanks for signing up. Please click here to see all our newsletters. Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again. First introduced in March 2024, the proposed standard states, Every organization shall proactively care for its leader and support the integrity of its leader in conformity with ECFAs Policy for Excellence in Supporting Leadership Integrity. ECFA members and experts in the Christian nonprofit agree with the idea of the new standard but arent sure exactly how to implement it. In an interview with Christianity Today, ECFA president and CEO Michael Martin likened the standard to a guardrail. While no written policy or accountability measure could eliminate sinful behavior by leadershipeach leader ultimately bears responsibility for their own integrityorganizations can be doing more to help keep them in check. Theres consensus around the idea that the board has an opportunity and responsibility to come alongside a leader to help leaders be in a position where they can best thrive, Martin said. In 2021, ECFA surveyed more than 800 of its member ministry leaders and board chairs, and 94 percent said leadership failures are impacting donor trust. Respondents also said they needed more resources for supporting the integrity of ministry leaders and wanted ECFAs help. A three-page commentary on the new standard includes the following direction for member churches and ministries: The board, or a board committee, should meet at least annually with the leader to discuss how the board can provide appropriate support in proactively caring for the integrity and well-being of the leader as a whole person. The leader is responsible for investing in their relationship with Jesus and guarding their heart (Prov. 4:23), striving to live above reproach in the biblical expectations for leaders (1 Tim. 3:17; Tit. 1:69), and submitting in a spirit of love and humility (1 Pet. 5:16) to the care and support offered to the leader by the ministrys board. The board should also ask the leader about the leaders commitment to upholding biblical integrity principles, as outlined in a written code of conduct. According to the commentary, leaders ought to demonstrate traits like humility, growth, and the fruit of the Spirit. The board is then responsible for documenting these conversations in its minutes. ECFA accreditation can provide a level of assurance to donors and participants, but it does not exempt a ministry from high-profile moral failings. In 2021, ECFA terminated RZIMs membership because the ministrys resources were improperly used in relation to sexual abuse and misconduct by the ministrys late founder, Ravi Zacharias. In 2019, Harvest Bible Chapel lost its standing with ECFA in the wake of controversy over founding pastor James MacDonald, which culminated with his firing. Last month, Pursuit Church in Denver, North Carolina, an ECFA member, fired a pastor for sexual misconduct. Pursuit Church remains an ECFA member. Scott Rodin believes ECFAs approach to leadership integrity represents the kind of holistic thinking that keeps ministry leaders and boards in healthy relationships. Rodin is a senior consultant and chief strategy officer with The FOCUS Group, which helps faith-based organizations connect with their donors. He said leadership failures have a ripple effect through ministries, impacting employees, donors, and the larger community that ministries are trying to reach. Though the emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being of a ministry leader might not seem directly connected to donor trust, Rodin believes the health of a leader is reflected in the health of the organization. He said the proposed standard represents the kind of thoughtful work that boards of directors should be doing in the first place. A leaders relationship with God, with themselves, their neighborsit has a massive impact on how they do their work, he said. Leaders encounter opportunities for compromise every day, Rodin said. Fuzzy ethical edges turn into cliffs really quickly. Since announcing the proposed standard in early March, ECFA has solicited feedback from members through a form on the ECFA website. Martin said most of the organizations that have responded have affirmed the need for such a standard and asked ECFA for guidance on what implementation should look like. The integrity standard would be eighth on ECFAs list of standards of responsible stewardship. The seven existing standards cover doctrinal integrity, governance, financial oversight, legal compliance, financial transparency, compensation and third-party transactions, and stewarding financial gifts. ECFA did not specify the kind of integrity questions a board should ask a ministry CEO. Frank Sommerville appreciates the intent behind the standard, but he says it is unclear what compliance should look like. As a practicing lawyer and CPA, Sommervilles clients, about 70 percent of whom are faith-based organizations and ministries, are contacting him for advice about implementation. I applaud the effort of ECFA to address the issue of leadership integrity. I have seen in my 30-plus years that the lack of integrity in the senior leader can harm or destroy an organization, he said. Still, he wonders how ministries will implement a standard that ECFA intentionally left vague and open to many interpretations. In its commentary on the standard, ECFA says its members have much latitude to care for and support the integrity of their senior leader in a manner that is best suited for their context. The commentary also clarifies that the board does not need to be a leaders accountability group. But ministries might struggle with where to draw these lines. Sommerville thinks ministries might have a hard time determining what type of integrity they need to monitor. Financial integrity? Sexual integrity? Daily Bible reading? Is it the job of the board to hold a leader accountable for non-work, non-job performance activities? Sommerville says. Is that the best use of the boards time? As Pursuit Church illustrates, ministry leadership failure does not disqualify a ministry from ECFA accreditation. Though cases of corruption and financial mismanagement grab headlines, Sommerville believes they represent a small percentage of ministries. In almost every case of failure, he says, board members believed it was their job to support the leader without question. You dont need a board that serves the vision of the leader; you need a board that ensures the leader is implementing the vision of the organization. Sommerville hopes organizations will take the standard seriously and not treat it as a box to check without addressing root issues. Most of ECFAs members are parachurch ministries, though the group says churches make up the fastest-growing member segment, just over 10 percent. Members are able to comment on the proposed standard through the end of May. ECFA expects to officially roll out the new standard in the fall. Home News Blac Chyna opens up about OnlyFans, getting baptized amid struggle with addiction: 'Tired of myself' Ex-reality star Blac Chyna, who goes by her birth name Angela White, has opened up about why she quit the lucrative sexualized social media website OnlyFans after she embraced the Christian faith and got baptized. White was the featured guest on the latest episode of Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae's The Deep End With Lecrae podcast. She revealed that she made millions of dollars from her OnlyFans account, where she would post pornographic content of herself. Ever since she graduated high school, the 36-year-old model and television personality said her identity was wrapped up in how much money she could make. She recalled working as a stripper directly after high school graduation to pay for her college education. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe White, who was previously married to Rob Kardashian, said she joined OnlyFans in 2020 because she was in the middle of a costly court case. Though she didn't specify in the interview, White lost a $108 million defamation suit she filed against the reality television stars the Kardashians in May 2022. During that time, she said she needed money. I'm in the middle of my court case. Let me tell you, that court case was very, very, very expensive. I'm looking at the fees, and I'm like, OK, I need to finish this out, White shared, adding that once she started her OnlyFans account, it was hard to resist posting more content to keep her account active. I was like, Let me just try it a little bit. And I just slid right on in there. Surprisingly, nobody said anything to me. It was like smooth. White said she created the persona of Blac Chyna in a strip club, with tattoos, hairstyles and outfits. Creating the OnlyFans account only added to her unhealthy fixation on her exterior appearance and making more money, she said. White said her lifestyle has changed from stripping, posting on OnlyFans and starring in music videos with rappers Nicki Minaj and Drake to now just wanting to only serve the Lord. Some critics accused the Christian celebrity of claiming a new-found faith as a publicity stunt. Nobody needs publicity when youre already Blac Chyna. You just walk outside," she said. "You know what I mean. Just walk to the grocery store." On May 11, 2022, White was baptized into the Christian faith. She said that a few days before her birthday, she asked her friends to find her a "bishop" or a church and that the only thing she wanted to do for her birthday was to get baptized. "Two bishops came. ... Then ended up both baptizing me. Bishop was inside the water, and the other pastor was on top," she said. Lecrae asked if she grew up in church, which she said she didn't. He followed up by asking: "What made you say: 'Let's find a pastor or a bishop?' White said she wasn't sure. Lecrae surmised that it must have been the Lord's way of working. "I was honestly just tired of myself and tired of waking up and feeling a certain way when I know for a fact that I'm way smarter than that," she said. "After I got baptized, I was still partying, getting lit and all that," she added. "On Sept. 14, ... I [went] sober on these folks. I would do it, and then get to like six months, and then [say], 'Let's get a shot.' ... I would keep trying over and over. So now, this month, on the 14th, would be 19 months sober. So September would be two years." White said a few months after her baptism, she decided to deactivate her OnlyFans account in the winter of 2022-2023. That day, she said she called her bishop at 4 a.m. and told him her decision to remove the account. She remembers he was very supportive of the decision. Dropping the OnlyFans' income meant she would have to work even harder to make money. I'm all about that grind life now. You know what I mean? Because there's other ways of making it. Even when I stopped the OnlyFans. I didn't have a backup plan. That's when faith [came into play], White said, adding that she deactivated her account and has been rolling by faith ever since. Since accepting Christ as her Lord and Savior, White said she has turned down many job offers that dont align with her Christian faith. This year and last year has just been focusing on working out sobriety [through] the Bible. And if it doesn't, like fall underneath that, then I'm just really not into it, White stated. I've had to turn down a lot of things, and I'm like, these people are crazy. Like I mean some crazy stuff. I think the craziest one is I got an email from somebody and they were like, Yeah, we want you to host this poker night at this thing. And if you get some people to come, like your famous friends to come in, then, we'll give you an extra $500,000 per each one, and like just all this stuff, she continued. Crazy stuff like that; like even hosting things like even movie roles where it's like. No. Why would I be the sexy stripper villain? Whatever you all want me to. Thats too much. It's too much. Home News Canadas first national indigenous Anglican archbishop resigns over sexual misconduct Mark MacDonald, Canadas first national indigenous Anglican archbishop, resigned from his post over acknowledged sexual misconduct, the church announced Wednesday. In a statement providing few details of the misconduct committed by MacDonald, the Anglican Church of Canada said the 68-year-old married father of three, who assumed the post of bishop in 2007 before he was promoted to archbishop in 2019, formally relinquished the exercise of the ordained ministry pursuant to Canon XIX, effective April 20, 2022. Archbishop Mark MacDonald has resigned as National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop and has relinquished the exercise of ministry due to acknowledged sexual misconduct, The Most Rev. Linda Nicholls, archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, wrote in an open letter. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe This is devastating news. The sense of betrayal is deep and profound when leaders fail to live up to the standards we expect and the boundaries we set. Our hearts hold compassion for human frailty and space for repentance while we also ache with the pain that such betrayal causes first to the complainant; then to so many others and to the life of our Church, she added. MacDonald, who served as bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church of Alaska for 10 years, also served for a period as assistant bishop for the Navajo Reservation, covering parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, The National Post reported. In her letter about MacDonalds admission, Nicholls urged prayers for him as well as the individual who revealed his sexual misconduct. First and most importantly our prayers must be for the complainant whose life has been affected by Marks actions. The betrayal of trust by someone in such a prominent role of leadership will require a long road of healing and our constant prayers, she said. Also remember Mark and his family in prayer as they face the consequences of his actions that will affect every member, she asked. The ripple effects of this misconduct will be felt throughout the Church both in Canada and internationally, but most especially within the Sacred Circle and Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples. We mourn with them. Hundreds of people gather every two to three years to participate in Sacred Circles, which are national gatherings of Indigenous Anglicans for prayer, worship, discernment, and decision-making. The last one was held in November. According to The Vancouver Sun, MacDonalds sudden resignation comes while the Anglican Church of Canada is under fire for its handling of unrelated allegations of sexual misconduct. He had also been slated to play a crucial role in the visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury to Canada next week, where the churchs desire to reconcile with Canadas Indigenous people is expected to be highlighted. Home News CVS, Christian nurse fired for refusing to provide abortion drugs reach settlement A Christian nurse practitioner who sued CVS for firing her after she refused to dispense abortion-inducing drugs for religious reasons has reached a settlement with the corporation. The First Liberty Institute, a conservative law firm based in Plano, Texas, announced Monday that Robyn Strader, CVS Health Corporation and MinuteClinic agreed to a settlement. We are thrilled that Robyn was able to reach a resolution with CVS, said FLI Senior Counsel Stephanie Taub, as quoted in the announcement. We are hopeful that companies across the country will recognize the religious liberty of their employees and work to protect those rights. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe The Christian Post reached out to FLI on Monday for more details about the settlement, however a spokesperson declined to provide that information. Strader worked at a CVS MinuteClinic located in Keller, Texas, from 2015 to 2021, with her employer telling her that she would be exempt from prescribing abortion-inducing drugs. In August 2021, however, CVS announced that it was mandating that all employees working at its clinics prescribe contraceptives and abortifacients, regardless of any religious objection. CVS terminated Straders employment in October 2021. Strader filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in February 2022, with the EEOC giving her a Notice of Right to Sue last year. Strader filed suit against CVS in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, arguing that CVS policy discriminated against her. CVSs new policy is to deny all such religious accommodations without considering the particular circumstances of the employee requesting the accommodation, including to determine whether that employee could be accommodated without undue hardship, read the suit. It is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for an employer to avoid accommodating a religious practice that it could accommodate without undue hardship Religious accommodation requests must be considered on an individual basis to determine whether the requesting employee can be accommodated. CVS defended its decision, with CVS spokesperson Michael DeAngelis telling CBS News in a 2022 statement that his company considers the prescribing of abortion-inducing drugs and contraceptives to be essential. We have a well-defined process in place for employees to request and be granted a reasonable accommodation due to their religious beliefs, which in some cases can be an exemption from performing certain job functions. It is not possible, however, to grant an accommodation that exempts an employee from performing the essential functions of their job, DeAngelis stated at the time. As we continue to enhance our MinuteClinic services, educating and treating patients regarding sexual health matters including pregnancy prevention, sexually transmitted infection prevention, screening and treatment, and safer sex practices have become essential job functions of our providers and nurses. Home News Docs show church of Mica Millers husband owns $430K plane, millions in assets as family mulls lawsuit As the family of Mica Miller, the wife of Pastor John-Paul Miller of Solid Rock at Market Common in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, mull a wrongful death lawsuit aimed at her husband after her suicide, a new report shows the church owns millions in assets, including a private aircraft estimated to worth around $430,000. Even though only about 30 people showed up for worship service at the embattled church last weekend, The Daily Mail reports that the church still has some $5.9 million in assets, including four properties and a 2007 Cessna SR-22 purchased in January 2023. While local investigators in North Carolina ruled that the mentally troubled 30-year-old pastor's wife died by suicide after she was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head at Lumber River State Park in Robeson County, on April 27, her family has alleged that Pastor Miller's abusive conduct likely contributed to her death. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe They maintain that his abuse pushed her over the edge as she sought to escape their marriage. Now, they are exploring a wrongful death lawsuit, according to the family's attorney, Regina Ward. The pastor has denied abusing his wife. "I've actually been retained to look into that," Ward told The Post and Courier. "It would take a lot to put that together, but there's certainly intentional infliction of emotional distress everywhere." Ward, who had represented Mica Miller in her bid to separate from her husband before her death, is now trying to help her family get custody of her marital property. But Pastor Miller is fighting that push. In a May 7 filing on behalf of Mica Miller's younger sister, Sierra Francis, Ward asked for the vehicles Mica Miller normally drove, her firearms and her electronics. Her family also seeking a restraining order against Pastor Miller to keep him from harassing them or releasing any provocative photos of his late wife. The family also wants Pastor Miller to pay for a forensic accountant evaluation. Francis accused Pastor Miller and Solid Rock of "colluding" to "defraud and deprive" Mica Miller of her fair share of their marital home after he sold it to the church, according to The Daily Mail. The church's four properties have a taxable value of $5.59 million. Tom Winslow, John-Paul Miller's attorney in probate court, told The Post and Courier that the pastor should be in charge of his late wife's estate and not her family members. Because Mica Miller did not leave a will, he contends that her husband is entitled to represent her estate. Though heavy suspicion has been cast over Mica Miller's death, and the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office have both been contacted about the case, officials in North Carolina say there has been no change regarding her cause of death. "Our office has not been given anything with regards to this case other than we've been told by the sheriff's department it was a suicide," Matt Scott, the district attorney for Robeson County told newspaper. "The sheriff's office determined there was no criminal action done." Home News Ukraine Evangelical leader tells US lawmakers Russia is targeting Ukrainian Christians A Ukrainian Evangelical leader and former member of Parliament has met with members of the U.S. Senate to detail how Russia has killed Christians during its invasion of Ukraine, calling for continued support in fighting what he calls "evil forces" trying to "destroy civilization." Pavlo Unguryan, the executive secretary for the Ukrainian Evangelical Conservative Movement, expressed appreciation for the support his country has received from the United States government and American churches. He warns that Russia is persecuting Christians in Ukraine, highlighting a recent church bombing in Kupiansk that killed a priest. In an interview with The Christian Post following his advocacy in Washington last week, Unguryan described Ukraine as a "border country for all of the European continent," stressing why the country needs international support. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe "We fight not just for Ukrainian freedom, but for the whole of Europe and Baltic countries," Unguryan told CP. "We are on the border between light and darkness, between West and East, between civilization, which was created on Judeo-Christian values." Unguryan met with multiple political leaders, including Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. The former parliamentarian told CP that he showed the politicians photos of Christians who have been killed, and he urged the senators to continue supporting Ukraine. Unguryan highlighted the death of Ukrainian priest Yuriy Klymko, who was among four people who were killed last week after Russia dropped a bomb on The Church of Jesus Christ in the Ukrainian city of Kupiansk. Russia also used Iranian drones in Odesa last week, which killed at least 12 people, including a Baptist pastors daughter and grandson. "We need to stop [Vladimir] Putin," Unguryan added. "Our civilization needs to be uniting together because it looks like evil forces are uniting together to destroy our civilization." Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and he said Russia has targeted Christians throughout the war. Evangelicals are at risk, according to Unguryan, stating that Russia does not respect any religious group aside from the Russian Orthodox Church. During the International Religious Freedom Summit in January, officials and churches said that Russian soldiers and occupation officials have committed at least 76 acts of religious persecution in Ukraine since February 2022. As Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights in Ukraine Dmytro Lubinets told attendees at the event, Evangelical Christians, including Baptists, Pentecostals and Seventh-day Adventists have suffered greatly since the invasion. "The Russian military has repeatedly threatened the total physical elimination of all Evangelical believers, calling them American spies, sectarians and enemies of the Russian Orthodox people," Lubinets said. "To kill a person, to demolish a church, the Russians do everything to destroy us as a nation." On Tuesday, the White House announced additional assistance, marking the Biden administration's 55th tranche of equipment provided from Department of Defense inventories to Ukraine since August 2021. The package is valued at up to $300 million and "includes capabilities to support Ukraine's immediate air defense, artillery, and anti-tank requirements." "With a lack of replacement funds available to replenish DoD inventories, the Administration had been forced to pause PDA packages since December 2023," the White House announcement reads. "DoD is able to support this extraordinary package after identifying contract savings from previously appropriated supplemental funding that can be applied to replace DoD stocks. Today's announcement provides a short-term stop gap, but it is nowhere near enough to meet Ukraine's battlefield needs." Korea and the United States were set to begin a new round of negotiations Tuesday on sharing the costs for stationing American troops here. The three-day talks through Thursday are aimed at determining how much Seoul should shoulder for the upkeep of the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), starting in 2026. The talks will be led by Lee Tae-woo, Korea's chief negotiator from the foreign ministry, and his U.S. counterpart, Linda Specht from the State Department. The first round of the talks took place in Hawaii last month. The launch of the talks came earlier than planned, amid the view that Seoul wants an early deal to avoid potentially tough bargaining with Washington in case former President Donald Trump returns to the White House. Washington under Trump's presidency had demanded more than a fivefold increase in Seoul's payment to $5 billion. Under the current six-year deal, known as the Special Measures Agreement (SMA), ending in 2025, Korea agreed to raise the payment by 13.9 percent from 2019 to $1.03 billion for 2021 and increase the payment every year for the subsequent four years in line with the rise in Seoul's defense spending. Seoul has called for a new deal at a "reasonable level" to ensure the conditions for the stable stationing of the USFK and to strengthen the combined defense posture. Washington has said it seeks to pursue "a fair and equitable" outcome in the talks, as most of Seoul's contributions to the SMA are expended in Korea's domestic economy, representing a "powerful investment" in the bilateral alliance. Upon arriving in Seoul on Saturday, Specht said the SMA negotiations are about the "importance of the alliance and the support we give one another." Since 1991, Seoul has partially shouldered costs under the SMA for Korean USFK workers; the construction of military installations, such as barracks, and training, educational, operational and communications facilities; and other logistical support. (Yonhap) Home News Former Anglican bishop deposed over 'inappropriate relationships with women,' interactions with minors A former bishop of the Anglican Church in North America has been removed from ministry after being found guilty of multiple charges, including inappropriate relationships with women. ACNA announced Monday that Todd Atkinson, formerly the bishop of the Via Apostolica Missionary District based in Alberta, Canada, was removed from ordained ministry following the conclusion of his ecclesiastical trial. The announcement came after ACNAs Court for the Trial of a Bishop found Atkinson guilty in April of four charges related to conduct giving just cause for scandal or offense, including the abuse of ecclesiastical power. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe These four charges included Inappropriate Relationships with Women, Interfering in Marriage and Family Relationships, Inappropriate Interactions with Minor Females and Abuse of Ecclesiastical Power Through Patterns of Manipulation and Control. ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach said in a statement that he is thankful for those who courageously came forward. Working for justice often entails risk, and scores of people willingly took that risk when they participated in the investigation and judicial process. As a Church, we are indebted to you, stated Beach. Dear Church, please join me in praying for all involved. Pray that the victims and the congregational community will find restoration and healing. Pray that the guilty will choose true repentance. Pray that the lessons from these events will contribute to the building of safer churches and communities. The Anglican Diocese of the Upper Midwest, where Atkinson served as acting assistant bishop, released a statement Monday in response to the decision. We want to remind you that in 2019, Todd and some of his leaders participated in several events and services in our diocese. He preached at the Cathedral and assisted in confirmations. Todd and some of his team members participated in Holy Week and Fully Alive at the Cathedral as guests, stated the diocese. At that time the Diocese was unaware of any inappropriate behavior or concerns regarding Todd. If you had any concerning interactions with Todd Atkinson, or, if you would like to talk with a pastor for any reason, we encourage you to seek pastors and caregivers within your congregation. In November 2021, ACNA announced the launch of an investigation into allegations of misconduct against Atkins, including abuse of ecclesiastical power. Atkinson was put on leave. Bishop Quigg Lawrence, bishop suffragan of the Anglican Diocese of Christ Our Hope, was appointed to work with Via Apostolica during the investigation. Home News George Barna identifies biggest threats facing the Church: 'We've reached a time of Christian invisibility' NASHVILLE, Tenn. George Barna, a leading expert in church and worldview trends, has weighed in on some of the biggest issues facing the Church including the steady decrease in a biblical worldview and dwindling concern for spiritual formation at a time of "Christian invisibility in our culture." In an interview with The Christian Post, the 69-year-old founder of The Barna Group, a market research firm specializing in studying Americans' religious beliefs and behaviors that he sold in 2009, said that over the last few decades, hes seen certain negative trends increasingly permeate Western Christianity. People have become more selfish, churches have become less influential, pastors have become less Bible-centric, Barna, who now serves as the director of research at the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, said. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe Families have invested less of their time and energy in spiritual growth, particularly of their children. The media now influences the Church more than the Church influences the media, or the culture for that matter. The Christian Body tends to get off track arguing about a lot of things that really don't matter. On a wider scale, one of the most troubling trends Barna highlights is the decline in discipleship and a lack of solid, biblical training from seminaries. He criticized the prevalent metrics used by churches to gauge success attendance, fundraising and infrastructure which he stressed have little to do with Jesus mission. There is poor leadership in seminaries that mislead local churches into thinking that they're actually training individuals whom God has called to be leaders and are qualified to be leaders and certifying them to lead local churches, not knowing any better bringing them on, he said. Barna clarified that while many seminaries have "good intentions," they set young ministry leaders up for failure. "You get what you measure," he contended. "So if you measure the wrong things, you'll get the wrong outcomes [pastors] measure how many people show up, how much money they raise, how many programs they offer, how many staff persons they hire, how much square footage they built out. Jesus didn't die for any of that. So we're measuring the wrong stuff and, consequently, we get the wrong outcomes." To address these issues, Barna advocated for a radical return to biblical roots but that, he said, might require rethinking the modern church structure. If we were to go back to the Bible, I think we'd recognize the local church, the institutional church, as we've created it, is man-made. It's not in the Scriptures, he said. The programs, the titles, the buildings, all the stuff that has become sacrosanct in American culture and around the world is not necessarily biblical. "Jesus didn't come to build institutions, He came to build people. And we see that model in His life. He devoted the ministry portion of His life to investing in individuals. And that's what each of us who are followers of Christ need to be doing. Discipling the next generation Instead of focusing on programs and buildings, Barna, a father and grandfather, urged believers to invest in children, whom he sees as the future of the Church. This includes prioritizing spiritual education, modeling biblical principles and creating accountability structures within the family. We make a huge mistake by simply using children as bait rather than as the primary focus of who we want to build up through whatever ministry, impact or influence we can have, he said. We need to back and recognize it starts with families; parents have the primary responsibility to raise their children to become spiritual champions ... local churches need to support parents in that endeavor. Our primary focus needs to be on children and growing their biblical worldview. If we do that, we'll be able to grow the 3 percent of adults who are disciples in America today to a larger proportion. Barna told CP his journey into religious research began with a desire to fill a crucial gap he observed in the churchs understanding of its own congregations. When I first got started, I was trying to figure out how I could add value to what was happening in the Church across the country, he said. There didn't seem to be a lot of trend-oriented information relating to the depth of people's faith. While existing data captured church attendance and Bible sales, Barna identified a need for insights into what people believe, why they believe it, and how these beliefs translate into actions. Over the years, Barnas focus on deeper, trend-based data has provided pastors with tools to foster more meaningful spiritual growth, rather than simply tracking superficial metrics. The rise of AI One trend Barna said hes also concerned about is the potential negative impact artificial intelligence (AI) will have on the Church. We're already seeing an impact on sermons across the country, he said. Pastors, because they want to do well, in some cases, because they're lazy, are realizing AI is a means of getting perhaps a better sermon. There are other ways that we're going to see it impact us in terms of fundraising, in terms of media presence, he continued. As the Body of Christ, we've got to be very suspicious of and careful about anything that even labels itself artificial. Its probably not good for our mental health, our physical health or our spiritual health. I just encourage genuine leaders to be very cautious about inviting any of that into our lives, and particularly into how we're going to take that and then influence other people's lives. Barna also advised parents to approach AI and other media with a strategy of monitoring, minimizing, mediating and moralizing content to ensure it aligns with biblical values. Parents are the gatekeepers. Act like a leader, take the lead, and make the tough choices, the Raising Spiritual Champions author said. Make those tough choices in relationship to the vision that you have for what it means to be a parent of a spiritual champion. Barna said that today, hes focused on worldview development and cultural development more than ever before. The Church is at a critical juncture, he warned, and the path to a thriving Christian community lies in returning to the core biblical principles, the empowerment of parents as spiritual leaders and the intentional discipling of the next generation. All the other stuff is noise, he said. If we don't do those things, we're going to lose even more in this war this is our moment, we've reached a time of Christian invisibility in our culture. What I'm seeing now is that we're getting to this place where the typical American will not have anyone in their circle of influence who has a biblical worldview. You're not going to be influenced with God's truth. The consequence of that is that the elites in our culture will have the opportunity to shut down spiritual freedom, he stressed. We will no longer be allowed to go to churches; well no longer be allowed to buy and read Bibles, well no longer be allowed to speak in public about our faith. Why? Because it all traces back to disciples not making disciples. So this is our moment. We either will put up or shut up. And I would suggest that we put up. Home News Jewish family claims antisemitic harassment by HOA in lawsuit: Dont want Jews here An Orthodox Jewish rabbi has sued a Florida homeowners association, alleging repeated instances of antisemitic harassment and discrimination. Rabbi Naftaly Hertzel, his wife, Henya, and their five children have been residents of Loggers Run for 14 years. The father is the president of the Chabad Israeli Center nonprofit and the communitys sole rabbi, with the Hertzels providing the only religious services for Jews within a 6-mile radius. According to a lawsuit filed Friday with the help of attorneys from First Liberty Institute and Jones Day, the family lived in Loggers Run without incident for four years until the Hertzels approached the HOA board about acquiring land to build a synagogue. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe The family hoped to provide a larger venue for the local Jewish community to worship. Since the HOA had gifted property to Christian churches or allowed them to purchase land in the past, the Hertzels expected a similar response. In 2012, the Hertzels drafted a preliminary design for the synagogue and met with HOA board members who advised the plaintiffs about crafting a proposal. The Hertzels presented another version of the proposal in 2015, following the board members' guidelines for the synagogue. According to the lawsuit, however, the HOA never considered the Hertzels proposal. Instead, the Hertzels formal proposal to build a synagogue triggered a decline in their relationship with the HOA that has since devolved into ongoing, open antisemitism and discrimination, the suit claims. Loggers' Run did not respond to The Christian Post's request for comment. After the HOA refused to consider the proposal, the Hertzels met with the attorney for Loggers Run and HOA board members. During the meeting, an attorney allegedly told the Hertzels that they didnt want Jews in their neighborhood. Members of the Chabad attempted to run for the HOA board to obtain land for the synagogue. The lawsuit alleges that the HOA board prevented members of the Chabad from campaigning or seeking election on equal terms. In 2019, an anonymous letter delivered to members of the Loggers Run community urged them to vote against the Chabad candidates before the list of candidates was publicly announced. During the lead-up to the 2023 election, the HOA's board president reportedly went door-to-door to ask people not to vote for Chabad candidates. The HOA board president also allegedly campaigned on the idea that the Jews are trying to take over, according to the suit. The Hertzels decided to purchase the Chabad House as a place to worship, and they planned to have an assistant rabbi live in the house to help minister to Jews in the area. A week after the sale, the HOA sent the Hertzels a notice that the house was in violation of the associations rules regarding paint color and would need to be repainted. In their lawsuit, the Hertzels accused the HOA of selective enforcement of their property, such as claiming that the driveway in front of the Hertzels home was not in compliance with the HOA's rules. During an argument with a member of the HOA's board of governors about the driveway, the Hertzels claimed that a board member told them that they should have ended your kind in the 1930s. The HOAs leadership has engaged in open antisemitism against Rabbi Hertzel and created a hostile environment for Jewish residents living in their community, Jeremy Dys, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, said in a statement on Monday. Targeting Jewish residents with enforcement while ignoring the same violations by other residents not only violates basic decency, but violates the HOAs obligations under federal law. The lawsuit against the Florida HOA comes amid multiple reports of antisemitic incidents on college campuses throughout the country. In protest of Israel launching a counteroffensive after Hamas' Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, demonstrators set up anti-Israel encampments and demanded their universities divest from the Jewish State. Multiple students, particularly Jewish students, have reported that they've felt unsafe due to the encampments or have described situations where they faced harassment. Shabbos Kestenbaum, a graduate student at Harvard University in Massachusetts, described during a congressional hearing last week the antisemitic harassment that he faced on campus. Kestenbaum recalled seeing hundreds of Harvard students and faculty setting up an anti-Israel encampment on the first day of Passover and that demonstrators appointed "safety marshals" who would follow Jewish students and record them. I am a Jewish student and have thus far been unable to meet with President Alan Garber or my Dean Marla Frederick to discuss the pervasive antisemitism on campus, Kestenbaum said. Only those who call for the ethnic genocide of Jews, violate school policy, and send masked thugs to follow Jews are given the honor of having a seat at the table. Home News Pope Francis draws accusations of heresy for claiming humans 'fundamentally good' Pope Francis drew scorn and accusations of heresy on social media Sunday for maintaining during his recent "60 Minutes" interview that the human heart is "fundamentally good." Responding to interviewer Norah O'Donnell's question regarding what gives him hope when he looks at the world, the pontiff said "everything," and then went on to list examples of people doing good things as evidence of humanity's essential goodness. "We are all fundamentally good. Yes, there are some rogues and sinners, but the heart itself is good," says Pope Francis. https://t.co/MmLPBhWVU2pic.twitter.com/7Be2GrKrdB Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe May 19, 2024 "You see tragedies, but you also see so many beautiful things," he said. "You see heroic mothers, heroic men, men who have hopes and dreams, women who look to the future. That gives me a lot of hope. People want to live. People forge ahead. And people are fundamentally good. We are all fundamentally good. Yes, there are some rogues and sinners, but the heart itself is good." Many commenters on X criticized Francis for his remarks, with some accusing him of failing to grasp the basic teaching of the Gospel. Others quoted portions of Scripture that teach God alone is good and that humanity has a sinful nature. "This is contrary to basic Christian theology," radio host Erick Erickson wrote. "We are all sinners. There aren't just 'some sinners.'" "If this is true, we don't need a Savior to die on the Cross. So this pope is a heretic," wrote author Eric Metaxas. "Welp, this is a Satanic lie" wrote Babylon Bee editor Joel Berry. "This raises a question: Is the Pope Catholic? Apparently not! The minute he saw an American journalist nodding at him, he should have known he had gone astray," Daily Wire host Andrew Klavan wrote. Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro wrote simply: "Uhhhhhhh." "I have said for decades the real issue with Rome is the gospel," wrote author James White. "Francis says 'people are fundamentally good.' 'There are some sinners.' 'The heart itself is good.' This is humanism. It is not Romans, it is not Galatians, it is not Jeremiah or Isaiah or Proverbs or Psalms or Genesis or Revelation. It is humanism." "This man has no concept of the gospel itself," White continued. "This may be some of the clearest evidence I have ever seen of the utterly apostate nature of the Roman hierarchy. And before you jump on me: the majority of so-called Protestants are just as much in error as Francis." Some X usersnoted that Francis' comment appeared to be an example of Pelagianism, a fifth century heresy that denied original sin and taught the essential goodness of humanity. Pelagianism was named after a monk named Pelagius who was ultimately excommunicated from the Catholic church in 418, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Multiple councils condemned his worldview, which was also famously repudiated by Augustine of Hippo in his "Confessions." Francis also raised eyebrows for other comments he made during his "60 Minutes" interview, such as accusing conservative U.S. bishops of exhibiting "a suicidal attitude" by opposing his "efforts to revisit teachings and traditions." The pontiff also responded to the furor around the Vatican's recent "Fiducia Supplicans" guidance, claiming it does not permit the blessing of a homosexual union itself, but rather the two individual homosexuals engaging in the union. "What I allowed was not to bless the union; that cannot be done, because that is not the sacrament," he said. "I cannot. The Lord made it that way. But to bless each person? Yes. The blessing is for everyone." Home News Ukrainian Evangelical Christians facing torture, destruction of churches in Russian-occupied areas Christians in Ukraine have faced torture, the destruction of their churches and other horrors at the hands of Russian forces, according to multiple religious freedom advocates who have called on Republican leaders to take notice of their plight. In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Dr. Richard Land, the former president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, joined several advocates in asking Johnson to remember the persecuted Christians when considering efforts to support Ukraine. According to the letter, the Russian government has harmed Christians by torturing them and forcibly removing pastors from their positions. They add that Russian soldiers have targeted retired Baptist pastors they believe are not pro-Russia and whom they suspect of being supportive of the West. Land, who is also executive editor of The Christian Post, and the other religious freedom advocates noted in the letter that no Baptist churches are left in the Ukrainian city of Melitopol. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe We desire peace. But more than that, we desire a peace that is based on the principles of justice, the letter states in part. Our God is both perfectly just and the author of perfect peace. We appreciate your leadership, are praying for your wisdom and courage as you consider support for Ukraine, the document concluded. Steven Moore, who has been on the ground in Ukraine since the beginning of the war to deliver aid, warned that the treatment of Christians at the hands of Russian forces is an underreported threat. Moore is the former chief of staff to former Republican Rep. Pete Roskam of Illinois and the founder of Ukraine Freedom Project, a nonprofit he founded after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine in 2022. The organization has provided over $1 million in aid to the front lines, including medical supplies, food, generators, power banks and drones. During an interview with CP, Moore said he repeatedly encountered Ukrainian Christians who told him stories of their persecution at the hands of Russian forces. In the process of providing humanitarian aid in Ukraine, Moore eventually met a man named Victor, a Christian who once served as an Evangelical pastor. If you know anything about Evangelical Christians in Ukraine, its that theyre super open about their faith, Moore said. Victor told the nonprofit founder that he was held captive for over 20 days and tortured with electrical tasers during an armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine in 2014. He told Moore that during his torture, a Russian Orthodox priest attempted to cast out the demons that supposedly resided in him for being an Evangelical. Through his friendship with Victor, Moore began to meet other Christians who had faced persecution. Another of Moores friends, Mark Sergeyev, is the youth pastor of Melitopol Christian Church, which Russian forces shut down in 2022. In the same city, attendees of Grace Baptist Church were subjected to fingerprinting after Russian soldiers in full combat gear interrupted a worship service. Last summer, Moore told CP that he became focused on telling the stories of persecuted Christians in Russian-occupied territories to members of Congress and Republican opinion leaders. From September 2023 to January, Moore said he visited around 100 congressional offices in Washington, D.C., to discuss Russias treatment of Christians. Republicans should know this. Evangelical Republicans should know this, Moore said. People who worship God the way that they do are being tortured and murdered for their faith. According to the former chief of staff, many of the people he met with said the personal accounts were revelatory information to them, and many congressional staffers were even driven to tears. Moore told CP that Russias persecution of Christians is not being reported enough. One of the reasons Moore said many haven't heard these stories is due to the tight control of information in Ukraine. The nonprofit founder also blamed pundits and social commentators like Tucker Carlson as another factor preventing people from learning about the plight of Christians in Russian-occupied territories. The former Fox News host has faced criticism and accusations of spreading Russian propaganda by suggesting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also persecuting Christians in Ukraine. Zelensky also declined Carlson's request for an interview. Moore contends that Ukraine is not persecuting Christians. Its untrue, Moore said. Its a Russian narrative, and what those people are doing is covering up for the real truth that the Russians are suppressing hundreds of thousands of Evangelical Christians in occupied territories. Many others, however, have condemned Ukraine's crackdown on churches, including CP columnist Hedieh Mirahmadi, who warned against the persecution of priests and parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church after Ukraines domestic security agency [SBU] launched a counterintelligence operation against the UOC. Since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Zelensky's government has escalated its actions against UOC churches and leaders, including the arrest of 68 priests and Metropolitan Pavel. In an op-ed published in National Review in January, Nina Shea, a human rights lawyer and director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the conservative Washington-based think-tank the Hudson Institute, asserted that Ukraine's strategy to crack down on what it perceives as "weaponized" religious institutions might be extreme but is justified. According to Moore, many Evangelical Christians say the ongoing Russian occupation is worse for them now than when they lived under the Soviet Union. Home Opinion Billy Grahams statue in the Capitol: What does it mean for the country? For Christians who believe Americas religious heritage is the cornerstone of the nations identity and maintaining this heritage is essential for the countrys moral and spiritual health, Thursday, May 16, was a day for much rejoicing. On this day, a day that should perpetually shine in our nations history, a statue of the incomparable evangelist, the Rev. Billy Graham was unveiled in the Statuary Hall of the Capitol Building. The statue will likely remain in place for decades to come. Speaker Mike Johnson hosted the unveiling ceremony. The Speaker lauded Graham, emphasizing his Christian humility, authenticity, and profound impact on both America and the world. He thanked the North Carolina delegation and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for their efforts in making the statue possible. Johnson, a devout evangelical Christian himself, praised Grahams consistent message of salvation, while also underscoring the respect and admiration Graham received from U.S. presidents and other dignitaries. He concluded by encouraging everyone to reflect on the renowned evangelists legacy and the scriptures that were engraved on the statue Scriptures that were at the heart of Grahams message to millions. What Scriptures are on the seven-foot statue featuring Graham standing with an open Bible in his hand? Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe Emblazed on the Bible in Grahams hand is Galatians 6:14, May I never boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. At the base of the statue is inscribed John 14:6, which reads: Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. On the other side of the base is John 3:16, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Speaker Johnson observed that it seemed providential for the statue to be prominently placed near the entrance of the Capitol, ensuring that millions of people would encounter the Bible verses and Grahams testimony of faith. David Bruce, Billy Grahams longtime executive assistant and vice president of the Billy Graham Library and Archive and Research Center, echoed the Speakers sentiments, emphasizing the scriptures on the statue would resonate in the Congressional halls, with Graham symbolically preaching from an open Bible for generations. Bruce expressed excitement about the potential impact on the countless visitors who would pass by the statue every year, adding, I believe theres still hope for this country! As expected, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) reacted strongly to the statues placement, wrongly smearing Graham as a white Christian nationalist. They particularly objected to the inclusion of Bible verses on the statues pedestal. The FFRF advocates for a strictly secular government and the removal of any religious symbols in public spaces, essentially promoting a nation devoid of religious influence a government of practical atheism. Their stance demonstrates a significant departure from an understanding of Americas historical foundations, which was profoundly influenced by Christianity. Perhaps the FFRF, as well as other Americans, were unaware that other religious leaders are immortalized in the Capital Building. Representing the Great State of Pennsylvania is a statue of Peter Muhlenberg in Statuary Hall. Muhlenberg was a significant figure in American history and was particularly known for his dual roles as a clergyman and a military leader during the American Revolutionary War. Muhlenberg is famously known for his dramatic sermon in January of 1776 when he revealed his military uniform beneath his clerical robes and called for volunteers to join the Continental Army. That day he passionately proclaimed from the pulpit of his parish, There is a time to preach and a time to fight, and now is the time to fight. Muhlenbergs blend of religious faith and patriotic fervor symbolizes the commitment of many clergymen during that era of American history who were critical to the cause of our nations independence. We would not be a free people today were it not for tremendous men of God such as Peter Muhlenberg. Representing the great state of Hawaii in Statuary Hall is a statue of Father Damien, a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium who was canonized as a Saint by Pope Benedict XVI in October 2009. Father Damien is widely recognized for his selfless work with leprosy patients on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. At the time, leprosy (now known as Hansens disease) was incurable, and those afflicted were isolated from society. Father Damien dedicated his life to caring for the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of leprosy patients. He built churches, houses, and hospitals, personally tended to the sick, and provided comfort and hope. He advocated for better living conditions and medical care, raising awareness about the plight of lepers and becoming a beloved figure to the Hawaiian people. Representing the Great State of Utah in Statuary Hall is Brigham Young. Young served as the first governor of the Utah Territory from 1851 to 1858, appointed by President Millard Fillmore. During his tenure, he worked to establish a stable government and promoted infrastructure development, including roads, schools, and irrigation projects. Youngs national significance lies in his leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), his pivotal role in the westward migration and settlement of the American West, and his influence on the development of the Utah Territory. His efforts helped to shape the religious, cultural, and geographical landscape of the United States during a critical period of the nations expansion. Finally, the Great State of Rhode Island has a statue of Roger Williams in Statuary Hall. Williams was a Puritan minister. Williams ideas laid the groundwork for the development of religious liberty in the United States, influencing future generations and contributing to the nations core values. Williams founded the state of Rhode Island as a refuge for religious dissenters. He was a pioneer for the separation of church and state. Although Williams supported institutional separation, he did not define separation as secularists do today. He didnt argue that religion should not influence government decisions or policies. He recognized religious beliefs naturally influence individuals, including those in positions of power. He believed personal faith and morality could and must inform the actions of individuals, including public officials, but this should happen organically rather than through institutional enforcement. In other words, Williams supported what was indeed a novel idea at the time the idea that personal religious values could influence public life and legislation naturally, but without institutional enforcement of any specific churchs dogma. This nation owes much to the Puritan minister, Roger Williams. Now, thank God, there is a statue in the Capital of Rev. Billy Graham. Each one of these religious figures represents something that made America great and something we desperately need today. We very much need to believe and commit to what Graham preached so simply the Living Word of God, Jesus Christ, and the written Word of God, the Bible. Christ is the Great Emancipator. Jesus said, If the Son shall make you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:36). Pastors and churches across the country urgently need faithful preachers like Muhlenberg, who will step into the public arena, engage our struggling and dying culture, and defend it from the pulpit and beyond with patriotic fervor. While there is no American Gospel, the American way was undeniably founded on Judeo-Christian values. The greatest threat to this nation comes not from the outside, but from within. The more Judeo-Christian values are ignored, removed, and neglected, the closer this nation moves toward its complete demise. Just as Father Damien demonstrated exceptional compassion and care for the poor, the sick, and the needy. America must aspire to be a global leader in showing compassion and support for these groups, particularly those marginalized due to characteristics that cannot be changed, such as race, disability, or ethnicity. Like Brigham Young, who was instrumental in this nations expansion Westward, our nation must have individuals who will demonstrate courage, embrace innovation, take decisive action in the face of adversity, and show resilience and leadership to build a better future for everyone. And, just as Roger Williams was earnest in the preservation of religious freedom, religious liberty must earnestly be preserved today. The significance of losing religious liberty, which is profoundly under assault in the U.S. and around the world, is that it limits personal and communal expression, and will ultimately lead to a broader erosion of civil liberties. The loss of religious expression stifles diversity of thought and belief, weakening the moral and ethical framework that guides societal values, and fostering intolerance and social division. Losing religious freedom threatens the God-given rights essential for a just and pluralistic society. So much of Americas principal tenets are represented in the five statues of the religious leaders in Statuary Hall. Billy Graham solemnly warned us, There is no doubt that nations come to an end when they have ceased to fulfill the function God meant for them. Home Opinion 'Darwin's Doubt': Intelligent design and evidence-based faith When Stephen C. Meyer's book, Darwin's Doubt, was released in 2013, it provided a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis on the massive scientific evidence revealing the total failure of the neo-Darwinian explanation for life's history (Dr. Matti Leisola). New York Times bestselling author George Gilder wrote, I spend my life reading science books. I've read many hundreds of them over the years, and in my judgment Darwin's Doubt is the best science book ever written. It is a magnificent work, a true masterpiece that will be read for hundreds of years. And Dr. Russell Carlson wrote, Meyer demonstrates, based on cutting-edge molecular biology, why explaining the origin of animals is now not just a problem of missing fossils, but an even greater engineering problem at the molecular level ... An excellent book and a must read. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe Dr. Tom Woodward wrote, Stephen Meyer's book is a much-anticipated bombshell that details the swarm of problems of Darwinian evolution and also presents the case for intelligent design. Ask yourself: how often does a book of this kind receive a warm welcome from leading geneticists and paleontologists? Never, until now! Sir Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) was an English astronomer who formulated the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis. Hoyle famously said, The chance that higher life forms might have emerged through evolutionary processes is comparable with the chance that a tornado sweeping through a junk yard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the material therein. Just think how much blind faith is required to believe something so preposterous! Hoyle also said, A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics. Stephen Meyer was asked in a recent interview if he believes the Darwin theory fails. He said, I think it does fail ... Even Richard Dawkins acknowledges we have no chemical evolutionary theory that accounts for the origin of the first life. And many people don't know that Darwin didn't even attempt to explain the origin of the first life ... the main mechanism of evolutionary change does a nice job of explaining small-scale variation, (i.e. Darwin's finches) but it does a very poor job of explaining the major innovations in the history of life, such as the origin of birds or mammals or animals in the first place. Meyer also said, The idea of natural selection acting on random mutations and variations is now understood to lack the creative power to generate major changes in the history of life. Bill Gates said that DNA is like a software program, but much more complex than anything we have ever devised. The DNA evidence for intelligent design is overwhelming and is quite easily perceived by anyone with an open mind. Meyer said, When scientists and philosophers reason from evidence they typically use a method of reasoning that has a technical name it's called 'inferring to the best explanation, where the best explanation is one where you're invoking a cause which has the kind of powers that would be required to explain the phenomenon of interest ... when you get back to what physicists call the singularity, the point where matter, space, time and energy begin to exist, the materialist is really up against a huge conundrum, because prior to the origin of matter, there is no matter to do the causing ... you need to invoke something that is external to the material universe, and is not bounded by time and space as well. And that starts to paint the picture of the kind of cause you would need, the sort of attributes the traditional theists have associated with God. Casey Luskin from the Discovery Institute provides powerful evidence for design in his article, The Top Six Lines of Evidence for Intelligent Design. 1. The origin of the universe. 2. The fine-tuning of the universe. 3. The origin of information in DNA and the origin of life. 4. The origin of irreducibly complex molecular machines. 5. The origin of animals. 6. The origin of humans. In addition to the evidence for intelligent design, fulfilled Messianic prophecies provide historical and mathematical validation equally as stunning. In my 2013 CP op-ed, The Mathematical Proof for Christianity is Irrefutable, I shared that the probability of Jesus of Nazareth fulfilling just 8 prophecies is 1 in 100 quadrillion. Since you owe it to yourself to accept evidence even when it contradicts your preconceived notions, I encourage you to check out, The Top 40 Messianic Prophecies. The amount of blind faith required to accept Darwinian evolution is stupefying. And so, it comes as no surprise that many people choose to adopt evidence-based faith instead. In my CP op-ed, How Far Can Apologetics Take a Non-Christian, I describe a 50-mile trip along various roads leading to the door of a castle. Upon arrival, you are invited to walk through the castle door and enter into a relationship with the Creator of the universe. Jesus said, I am the door. Whoever enters through me will be saved (John 10:9). Have you closed your mind and hardened your heart to the reality of God's existence, as well as to the idea that God loves you and wants to forgive your sins and spend eternity with you in Heaven? If your mind is open to considering Christianity rationally and without prejudice, then check out my 2015 CP op-ed, 40 Questions to Determine the True Religion. Darwinian evolution is dead. And blind faith in a dead theory is nonsensical. Christian faith, on the other hand, is rooted in historical events foretold hundreds of years earlier. God gave you the cognitive ability to follow the evidence all the way to the castle door. And the Holy Spirit will convert your soul the moment you trust the Savior to wash away your sins. (see John 3:1-21) Jesus preached, Repent and believe the good news (Mark 1:15). Will you humble yourself at the foot of the cross, or has your impressive IQ led you to arrogantly assume you are smarter than the One who designed your intellect in the first place? Home Opinion What the Church could learn from LGBTQ activists In October 2007 I delivered a series of lectures on the subject of Homosexuality, the Church, and Society. The lectures were held at the Booth Playhouse in the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in the heart of Charlotte, North Carolina, and they attracted considerable attention from the local media. One of the lectures was titled, What the Church Can Learn from the Gay and Lesbian Community, and in the 90-minute talk, I made 8 specific points. In my just-released book Turn the Tide: How to Ignite a Cultural Awakening, I reproduced that lecture in full. Here, Ill provide a bulleted version of those 8 points. 1. Change did not come about merely by going to gay meetings but rather by being gay 24/7 Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe It was the same thing with civil rights. Change did not come about merely by people going to civil rights meetings but rather by joining the civil rights movement! And so, sooner or later, American Christians will have to learn that our emphasis must be on being the church more than on merely going to church. We must get out of the audience mentality and become part of a functioning Body. 2. Even a tiny minority with determination and vision can change the world Trusting in numbers and political power has always been a trap for the Church since we take our eyes off the cross which speaks of sacrifice and service and humility and put our faith in the power of human might. Fidel Castro said: I began the revolution with 82 men. If I had [to] do it again, Id do it with 10 or 15 and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and plan of action. In the words of Edmund Burke, Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little. 3. You must come out boldly! Gay activist Marc Rubin looked back at Stonewall 30 years later and asked, How did that singular event in June 1969 become the fountainhead for so many of the changes that have made the world so different for queers 30 years later? It spawned the Gay Liberation Movement. He added, First there was The Gay Liberation Front proclaiming loudly, clearly, and brilliantly, the truth that gay is good, that queers had embodied within them all of the genius of Humanity, and owned all privileges of that status ... And so, gay shame was replaced by gay pride in the public square, and quite boldly. How much more then should we, the redeemed, blood-washed followers of Jesus, be unashamed! (See Matthew 5:14-16; Mark 8:38; Romans 1:16; 2 Timothy 1:8; 1 Peter 4:16.) We, of all people, should come out and be bold and unashamed and it begins with the leadership. The early gay activists risked life and limb for their cause, knowing that coming out could cost them everything. Yet we who claim to have eternal life and an intimate relationship with God arent willing to risk personal insult, loss of income, family rejection, or denomination pressure for our convictions and faith. How can this be? 4. You must focus on changing the world, not escaping from it While gay activists were launching their revolution and getting it written into law a broad, counterculture revolution was impacting our society. Yet at this same time, many Christians were expecting Jesus to come any moment and get them out of this world, basically handing society over to those who opposed their values. One group fought for change; the other group looked for escape. Who succeeded? Were still here, still talking about the end of the world, while others have succeeded in changing the world. Retreat always spells defeat! 5. Revolutions require strategy, including winning the battle of words and ideas No one understood this better than Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen. Their bestselling 1989 book After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90s, built on a shorter article entitled, The Overhauling of Straight America. In this article, they outlined a 6-fold strategy, with this ultimate goal: the conversion of the average Americans emotions, mind, and will, through a planned psychological attack, in the form of propaganda fed to the nation via the media. What is our strategy? 6. Remember to focus on the children! This is almost a mantra in gay activist circles: The children are being hurt. Consider how this affects the children. Always talk about the children! Need I say more to followers of Jesus today? Either we speak up for the children and make their solid upbringing and education a priority or someone else will. Are we going to sit idly by and let our kids become victims? 7. Remember to reach out to the marginalized! This lies at the heart of gay activism, which began with a G gay then quickly redefined itself as GL as gay, lesbian and then GLB gay, lesbian, bisexual and then GLBT gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and beyond, including Q for queer or questioning, I for intersexed, and P for something else. As the Body of Christ, we cannot affirm homosexuality in any way, but we must reach out to the marginalized, to the stigmatized, to the outcasts, and to the outsiders. Jesus especially cares for them! (See Luke 14:12-14; 15:4-7.) 8. Unity is essential! Although in some ways, the homosexual community is as diverse as the heterosexual community, in other ways there is remarkable unity, solidarity, and the ability to mobilize for action in the gay community. Yet the Church is often famous for its disunity and splits. Could it be that we are fighting for our own little kingdoms while gays and lesbians are fighting for a common cause, in their minds, simply the right to exist as human beings? The New Testament clearly calls us to unity! Jesus taught it, prayed for it, and died for it, and the other New Testament authors echo this call. Without unity, we are doomed to fail. It has been said that Jesus transforms people and people transform society, and the bottom line is this: Either we will transform our society or our society will transform us. Which will it be? I asked this question in 2007. Im asking it again today. Blac Chyna won't do work that doesn't align with Bible after getting baptised and quitting OnlyFans Blac Chyna says she will only take on work that aligns with her Christian faith after quitting OnlyFans and getting baptised. The former reality star, who now goes by her birth name of Angela White, told Christian rapper Lecrae on his "Deep End" podcast that she had joined OnlyFans prior to her conversion because she was going through a costly court battle at the time. She eventually lost the lawsuit against the Kardashians. "Let me tell you, that court case was very, very, very expensive ... I'm looking at the fees, and I'm like, 'OK, I need to finish this out,'" she recalled. Eventually she decided she had had enough and wanted to turn a new leaf. "I was honestly just tired of myself and tired of waking up and feeling a certain way when I know for a fact that I'm way smarter than that," she said. White told Lecrae that she sought out a bishop and was baptised. After some time, she was able to leave her old party lifestyle behind and eventually she shut down her OnlyFans account. Now she's celebrating two years of sober living. She shared with Lecrae how stopping OnlyFans was a step of faith because she "didn't have a back-up plan". She has been "rolling by faith" ever since. "I'm all about that grind life now, you know what I mean? Because there's other ways of making it. Even when I stopped the OnlyFans, I didn't have a back-up plan ... That's when faith [came into play]," she said. Since her conversion, she says she has received some "crazy" job offers that could have made her a lot of money, but she is turning down anything that does not align with her faith. "This year and last year has just been focusing on working out sobriety [through] the Bible. And if it doesn't, like fall underneath that, then I'm just really not into it," she said. New report finds 'surge' in corporate attention to religious diversity Once taboo in the corporate world, religion is gaining traction in Fortune 500 diversity efforts, according to a new report from the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation. More than 85% of Fortune 500 companies (429 companies total) now include religion in their commitment to diversity, more than twice the number that did in 2022, per the 2024 Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (REDI) Index and Monitor. And 62 Fortune 500 companies (12.4%) now showcase faith-based employee business resource groups, up from 7.4% in 2022. These numbers represent a "tipping point," said Religious Freedom and Business Foundation President Brian Grim, in the number of companies embracing religion as a core component of diversity. He added that this year, companies were especially attentive to how people of faith responded to global news, including the Israel-Hamas war. "That has meant paying a little bit more attention than they did in the past to faith identities," he told Religion News Service. "A number of companies have reached out and relied on their faith employee resource groups to help in the navigation of these types of issues." The organization released its 2024 benchmark assessment of corporate America's religious diversity efforts Monday morning. This year, Accenture and American Airlines tied as the most faith-friendly Fortune 500 companies, both earning perfect scores on the index, which assessed over 30 faith-friendly companies via an opt-in survey. The survey evaluated companies in 11 categories, including their religious accommodations, spiritual care/chaplaincy services and procedures for reporting discrimination. Equinix, Dell Technologies, Intel Corporation, Salesforce and Tyson Foods all followed close behind the top scorers. Grim said Accenture stood out for proactively creating a corporate culture hospitable to religious identity. American Airlines, which also topped the REDI Index in 2022, brings great global sensitivity to its religious diversity efforts thanks to its international reach, Grim added. "At American Airlines, our purpose is to care for people on life's journey, including our customers and our 130,000 team members," Cedric Rockamore, the vice president of global people operations at American Airlines, said in a press release. "Our team members, across all faiths and beliefs, help us better understand and serve our customers around the world." Among the 32 top companies assessed via the REDI Index, 100% reportedly celebrate their employees' holy days in an equitable manner, according to the report. Seventy-two percent match employee donations to religious charities and 87% provide chaplains or other forms of spiritual care for their employees. Companies that didn't take the survey were ranked separately on their religious diversity efforts via the REDI Monitor, which was based on publicly available information. Grim said companies' approach to religious diversity is often counter-cultural; businesses that might otherwise be in competition are quick to share best practices for religious inclusion and collaborate on events. The Christian and Black employee resources groups at Intel and Microsoft, for example, recently teamed up to host a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration, he said. On Wednesday, DELL Technologies' interfaith employee resource group is working with Merck, CVS Health and three local faith groups to host a hands-on food packaging event in Washington, D.C. "I think that's a very hopeful trend in these polarizing times," said Grim. The interest in corporate religious diversity is also spreading globally, according to Grim, who noted that the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation held an international conference in India in December and released REDI Index and Monitor findings for companies in the United Kingdom in March. On Tuesday, the foundation's annual "Dare to Overcome" conference will bring hundreds of leaders from Fortune 500 companies to Washington, D.C., to discuss topics like workplace chaplaincy, research on faith and faith accommodations in the workplace. Religion News Service Jakarta may not keep promise of acquiring 48 fighter jets By Lee Hyo-jin The KF-21 fighter jet development program, a collaborative effort with Indonesia to build Korea's first home-grown fighter jet, is facing a major setback after Jakarta proposed to significantly reduce its financial contribution, cutting it to just one-third of the initially agreed amount. This would leave the Korean government and Korea Aerospace Industries, the KF-21 developer, to cover the remaining costs. However, a larger issue looms, as observers warn that Indonesia may not follow through on its commitment to purchase 48 fighter jets as initially promised. In 2016, Korea and Indonesia inked a deal to cooperate on the joint development project, under which Jakarta would fund 20 percent of the total development cost of 8.8 trillion won ($6.59 billion) by 2026 in exchange for 48 planes that would be manufactured there for the Indonesian Air Force, as well as for technology transfer. However, cost-sharing problems have emerged as Indonesia has only paid approximately 300 billion won so far. Following years-long back-and-forth negotiations, earlier this month, Indonesia requested to reduce its contributions to 600 billion won, down from the originally agreed 1.6 trillion won, according to Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). By reducing its financial share, Jakarta said it will receive less technology transfer. As the proposal was made during the final stage of the development of the fighter jet, the Korean government apparently has no choice but to agree to it in order to minimize disruption in the planned deployment by 2026. DAPA is set to make a final decision on whether to accept Indonesia's proposal in a meeting next month. Kim Dae-young, a military expert at the Institute for National Security Strategy, believes that the cost reduction is just the tip of the iceberg, and the bigger problem is whether Indonesia will keep its promise to acquire 48 fighter jets. "It's highly unlikely that Indonesia will be able to purchase all 48 aircraft using its own funds. The country is already pursuing multiple fighter jet acquisition projects worth trillions of dollars," Kim told The Korea Times. While Indonesia cited financial constraints as the main reason for slashing funding for the KF-21 program, its decision to purchase fighter jets from other countries has notably undermined Jakarta's reliability as a partner for Korea, Kim pointed out. In August 2023, Indonesia signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire 24 units of the F-15ID from U.S. manufacturer Boeing. In January, the Southeast Asian nation sealed an $8.1 billion deal to procure 42 Dassault Rafale fighter jets from France. Military observers suggest that these decisions were largely influenced by Indonesian Defense Minister and President-elect Prabowo Subianto, who appears to believe that purchasing fighter jets is more advantageous than developing them. "In the end, Indonesia might request loan support from Korea to purchase the 48 jets or reduce the number of jets to be acquired," Kim said, noting that these options would further diminish the partnership. A primary reason Korea teamed up with Indonesia was to simultaneously produce fighter jets in the Southeast Asian country. This would reduce production costs and contribute to weapons exports by promoting the KF-21 in the overseas market. Kim said, "The Korean government and the National Assembly should make a decision to either sever ties with Indonesia and pursue independent development or team up with a new partner." Shin Jong-woo, a senior researcher at the Korea Defense and Security Forum, a think tank, said the current situation underscores a crucial lesson for Korea: The need for vigilance in handling international defense contracts, especially as they are often swayed by the domestic political landscapes of partnering nations. "It's Indonesia's fault initially, but government officials who mishandled the negotiations cannot evade responsibility. There should be a thorough audit of DAPA officials who were in charge to convince the public why the government needs to allocate more budget to cover costs caused by Indonesia's failure to keep its promise," Shin said. Memcyco Inc., provider of digital trust technology designed to protect companies and their customers from digital impersonation fraud, released its inaugural 2024 State of Website Impersonation Scams report. Notably, Memcycos research indicates that the majority of companies do not have adequate solutions to counter digital impersonation fraud, and that most only learn about attacks from their customers. More than half of all respondents (53%) said their existing cybersecurity solutions do not effectively address website impersonation attacks, and 41% said their existing solutions only protect them and their customers partially. Just 6% of brands claimed to have a solution that effectively addresses these attacks despite 87% of companies recognizing website impersonation as a major issue and 69% admitting to having had these attacks carried out against their own website. The creation of fake websites used for phishing-related attacks (which are a top cause of account takeover (ATO)) is a growing problem that has earned cybercriminals an astonishing $1 billion+ in 2023 alone, according to data from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Thats more than three times the amount reported stolen in 2020. The report found that 72% of companies have a monitoring system in place to detect fake versions of their website, but still, 66% said that they primarily learn about digital impersonation attacks when they are flagged by customers.. More alarmingly, 37% of respondents learn about website impersonation attacks as a result of brand shaming by impacted customers on social media. The inability to adequately protect against digital impersonation fraud raises a question about companies responsibility to reimburse their customers. 48% of survey respondents are already aware of upcoming regulations likely to enforce customer reimbursements, making effective protection against digital impersonation fraud a must-have for avoiding revenue loss. One of the most alarming takeaways from the report is that website impersonation scams are growing because attackers rely on companies having limited visibility into these kinds of attacks, said Israel Mazin, Chairman and CEO of Memcyco. This creates a glaring blindspot in cybersecurity the inability of companies to protect their customers online. The State of Website Impersonation Scams report was conducted together with Global Surveyz Research, based on the responses of 200 full-time employees ranging from Director to C-level executives at organizations in the security, fraud, digital, and web industries, operating transactional websites with traffic of more than 10,000 monthly visits. Memcycos solution suite addresses the rising tide of website impersonation scams by using real-time alerts to secure end-users on every website visit and provides organizations with unparalleled insights into the scope and impact of all attacks on their sites. The full report can be found here. About Memcyo Memcyco offers a suite of AI-based, real-time digital risk protection solutions for combating website impersonation scams, protecting companies and their customers from the moment a fake site goes live until it is taken down. Memcycos groundbreaking external threat intelligence platform provides companies with complete visibility into the attack, attacker, and each individual victim, helping to prevent ATO fraud, ransomware, and data breaches before they occur. Memcycos nano defender technology detects, protects, and responds to attacks as they unfold, securing tens of millions of customer accounts and reducing the negative impact of attacks on workload, compliance, customer churn, and reputation. About Global Surveyz Global Surveyz is a global research company providing survey report-as-a-service that covers the whole process of creating an insightful and impactful B2B or B2C report for any target market. Global Surveyz was established in 2020 and is the brain-child of Ramel Levin. Sheena Kretzmer sheena@memcyco.com By Jung Min-ho The owners of 27 fish farms in Yeosu and Goheung, South Jeolla Province, have been caught mistreating foreign workers, according to officials on Tuesday. The Ministry of Employment and Labor said 27 fish farm operators, or more than 25 percent of 107 such workplaces inspected between March 25 and April 30, were confirmed to have violated the labor law or other administrative rules. Officials said 10 of the employers failed to provide safe and pleasant accommodation for their workers as required by law. One was even found to make his workers stay on barges tied up near his fish farm. Four such employers caught violating the law lost the licenses they need to hire foreign workers. The other six were ordered to improve employee living conditions. Seventeen employers did not pay workers proper wages or violated visa rules, among others. They received penalties such as work permit restrictions, officials said. The number of foreign workers in Korea has increased in recent years. With the countrys low birthrate remaining at record-low levels, the trend is expected to accelerate. According to the ministry, the number of employers of foreign workers subject to its regular inspection swelled to 9,000 this year from 5,500 in 2023. Labor Minister Lee Jung-sik said he would continue to strengthen monitoring of foreign workers in the country to ensure their safety and rights are protected. Aboneaza-te la rubricile dorite si primeste zilnic notificari pe email cu link-uri la articolele care au fost adaugate in ultimele 24 de ore. Notificarile vor fi expediate la adresa indicata mai jos. Daca doresti sa schimbi adresa - o poti modifica editand informatia de profil aici. CLEVELAND, Ohio Mayor Justin Bibb said Tuesday that Cleveland is focused on keeping neighborhoods safe this summer and continuing the citys downward crime trends. Nearly a year after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine sent troopers to stem the daily violence, Bibb and other safety officials gathered at Trent Park on the citys West Side to discuss how Cleveland hopes to avoid the bloodshed of 2023. City officials said police will increase the emphasis on traffic enforcement and look to partner with state and federal agencies to seek out the most violent offenders. It also will increase its use of technology, from drones to computer analysis, in fighting crime. Acting Safety Director Wayne Drummond said the city has analyzed crime trends over the last three summers. The information allowed officials to target seven hotspot areas, where safety officials will place greater focus. Drummond declined to name the areas. Whats unique about this years summer safety plan is we recognize that every department across the city of Cleveland has a role to play in reducing violent crime and making sure we beef up code enforcement and our targeted hotspots, Bibb said. Drummond agreed. The division of police doesnt have to do the heavy lift by itself, he said. And I think historically, the division of police had to do the heavy lift. Homicides have decreased by nearly 33% compared to this time last year. The city has had 41 slayings this year, compared to 61 at this point in May 2023. The city has a homicide solve rate of 74%, well above the national average of about 50%. Carjackings have decreased by nearly a third, felonious assaults with firearms have decreased nearly 8%, and robberies with firearms also dipped by 8%. Bibb attributed the drop to an initiative he has pushed that has emphasized technology, law enforcement partnerships and hiring more officers to fill a depleted department. For instance, ShotSpotter, the audio technology that detects gunshots, has been expanded to all five police districts. The city has also begun using drones to aid in solving crimes and apprehending suspects. Bibb has also pushed to increase the departments staffing levels. Cleveland has 1,145 officers; thats a drop from recent years when it had 1,600. The city has increased the age limit from 40 to 55 to increase opportunities for men and women to join the ranks. The city added fast-track promotions, increased wages and sign-on bonuses to increase applicants. The departments academy class went from nine potential candidates last year to 46. The city began Operation Heat Wave on May 1, and it will last through the end of August. It will include heavy traffic enforcement, and there will be at least 1-2 warrant sweeps, according to Ali Pillow, the departments deputy chief. Pillow also discussed the citys partnerships with the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Ohio Adult Parole Authority. The city will also launch a Crime Gun Intelligence Center in June. The new initiative, spearheaded by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, will help law enforcement officers find trends in gun crimes. It will also help them track down illegal straw purchases of guns. A straw purchase takes place when a person without a criminal record buys a weapon for a convicted felon. What we have in Ohio, and really across the country, is straw purchases of illegal guns that continue to allow for the acquisition of these illegal guns on our streets, Bibb said. (It) is very problematic, especially because we dont have common sense comprehensive gun reform at the federal and state level. CLEVELAND, Ohio An Ohio collaborative on youth justice, which is composed of prominent organizations including Case Western Reserve University, has launched a video campaign to highlight Delinquent: Our System, Our Kids, a special project by The Plain Dealer/cleveland.com that kicked off in April. The six-week investigative series explores the Cuyahoga County juvenile justice system through the eyes and experiences of the children who have gone through it. Each weekday, a different young person is spotlighted, and each week covers a different theme. The project is midway through its rollout. To raise awareness of the series, the Greater CLE Youth Justice Collective is posting weekly reaction videos, challenging viewers with calls to action, like sharing the series with family and friends. The collective is made up of three organizations: the ACLU of Ohio; the Schubert Center for Child Studies at Case Western Reserve University; and the Childrens Law Center, a nonprofit serving Ohio and Kentucky youth. Our goal is to shed light on the critical issues our justice-involved youth are facing and shift the narrative and strategies to reform the justice system in Northeast Ohio, said Leah Winsberg, a Cleveland-based policy attorney for Childrens Law Center, describing the video campaign. The collectives weekly reaction videos will appear on special landing pages run by the Schubert Center, Childrens Law Center and ACLU. Without flinching from the harm caused, the series discusses the historical neglect, poverty and trauma plaguing so many of our justice-involved youth, the lack of positive role models, how behaviors and risk-taking escalates and the impact of increasing access to guns, the ACLU of Ohio said in a May 8 posting. Importantly, the coverage noted the developing brains of teens, which impacts their thinking and behaviors, and underscored the challenges with treatment programs and other efforts intended to prevent youth from going deeper into the system. The collective formed last year, supported by a grant from the George Gund Foundation. It focuses on building support for youth in or at risk of entering the juvenile legal system through public education based on credible data and research, public and community partnerships and elevation of youth voice and experience. PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania After months of jabs from Cleveland-Cliffs, U.S. Steel is now responding and has accused the Cleveland-based steel company of a long-running misinformation campaign meant to derail the sale to Nippon Steel. Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel said in a letter published Tuesday that Cliffs has been sowing misinformation to our stakeholders in a relentless and unbridled effort to derail the transaction. While Cleveland-Cliffs is pushing false rumors to influence the market into believing we are working to unwind the transaction, nothing could be further from the truth, a letter from U.S. Steels board read. Cliffs has been on the offensive for months and has been criticizing the U.S. Steel/Nippon Steel sale since it lost a bidding war in December. The saga started last July when Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves offered to buy U.S. Steel in a deal worth $35 a share. That offer became public in August when U.S. Steel publicly rejected it. But after that, U.S. Steel started to find more suitors and a bidding war ensued. Documents released by U.S. Steel showed that it came down to the wire, with Cliffs offering a part stock, part cash deal with $54 per share. Nippon Steel offered an all-cash deal at $55 per share, or $14.1 billion. The sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel was announced a few days later. Since then Cliffs has heavily criticized the deal, saying that it has no chance to get through regulators because Nippon Steel is foreign owned. With 2024 being an election year, elected lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have come out against the deal. And President Joe Biden has made public comments about stopping the sale. U.S. Steel said in its letter said that its sale to Nippon Steel has been under attack since day one from Cliffs. Lourenco Goncalves and his son Celso, the chief financial officer for Cliffs, have criticized the deal in every quarterly earnings call since. They also brought Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and reporters to tour a plant, where Cliffs, Brown and union officials publicly called for the sale to be stopped. At the core of Cliffs and U.S. Steels disagreements is whether the United Steelworkers can veto the sale, with Cliffs saying the union can and U.S. Steel saying it cannot. Cliffs released its own statement Tuesday again criticizing U.S. Steel, calling the sale a doomed attempt to sell its company to a foreign buyer without Union support. At Cleveland-Cliffs, we only deal with transparency, Lourenco Goncalves said in a prepared statement. It is unfortunate that the U.S. Steel Board of Directors is just now realizing that it announced an un-closeable deal and is trying to blame Cliffs for its terrible decision-making. U.S. Steel said in December, and maintains today, that a sale to Cliffs would pose more regulatory challenges than a sale to Nippon Steel. A U.S. Steel/Cliffs combination would have dominated the U.S. Steel industry, controlling as much as 100% as the U.S. iron ore market. There has been nothing we have publicized or said publicly that could be described as misinformation, Goncalves stated. From our first offer to acquire U.S. Steel to our final (now expired) offer on Dec. 15, we stressed the necessity of keeping U.S. Steel American-owned and having the full support of the Union. Our position has never changed. Sean McDonnell is the business reporter for cleveland.com and the Plain Dealer. You can reach him at smcdonnell@cleveland.com. Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said Tuesday the government will closely monitor the impact of Washington's recent decision to raise tariffs on some Chinese imports. The remark came as the United States announced last week its plans to raise tariffs on around $18 billion worth of imports from China, focusing on strategic sectors, such as solar cells, semiconductors and electric vehicles. "While Korea has been posting an export growth for seven consecutive months, the uncertainties in the global economy and trade environment have been growing," Choi said during a meeting with trade experts, referring to the latest U.S. tariff hikes. "In response, we need to assess the impact on the Korean economy based on previous trade dispute cases and the current trade trend between the U.S. and China, and come up with measures to prepare for various potential scenarios," Choi added. Experts also urged the government to implement tailored measures for different businesses, including those operating in China and those competing with Chinese firms, as well as to monitor Beijing's response to the new U.S. tariff policy. Korea will continue to communicate with local businesses to help them maintain competitiveness in the global market, Choi added. (Yonhap) By Jung Da-hyun Seoul's Jeong-dong Culture Night will showcase the city's historic and cultural landmarks from Friday to Saturday near Deoksu Palace and Jeong-dong in Jung District. First held in 2015, the event is Korea's premier nighttime cultural property festival. It has successfully drawn over 200,000 local and international visitors annually, establishing itself as an authentic regional festival. Visitors can explore Korea's modern history and culture along Jeongdong-gil, starting from Deoksu Palace Stone-wall Road to notable sites such as the Seoul Museum of Art, Chungdong First Methodist Church, Jeongdong Theater, Ewha Girls' High School and the Kyunghyang Shinmun building. Under the theme "spring" this year, it will feature a variety of activities, including historical and cultural facility tours, cultural performances, street performances, experiential programs, historical commentary tours and vibrant night installations. Additionally, visitors can enjoy food, craft markets and handcraft workshops along the Stone-wall Road. A total of 36 venues, encompassing public institutions, cultural assets, museums, galleries, embassies, religious sites and performance halls, will participate, offering nightly openings, performances, exhibitions and special programs. The festival will kick off with a concert on Friday at 7 p.m. The classical music group Club M, including Kim Joon-soo from the National Changgeuk Company, well-known in the classical music scene, will perform a blend of traditional and classical music in front of Junghwajeon at Deoksu Palace. The embassy tour, always a crowd favorite, returns this year. Participants can visit the Canadian and British embassies in Korea by pre-registering on the official website of Jeong-dong Culture Night. The Canadian Embassy will welcome visitors for 40 minutes starting at 7 p.m. Friday, while the British Embassy will offer 30-minute tours at 3 p.m., 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday. A docent program, which will be guided by cultural commentators, will run throughout the festival. Starting from the Appenzeller Noble Memorial Museum, participants can enjoy guided tours in Korean, English, Japanese and Chinese, providing in-depth historical insights while walking along Jeongdong-gil. Registration for these tours is available both online in advance and on-site. The festival will also feature pipe organ performances at Chungdong First Methodist Church and Seoul Anglican Cathedral of St. Mary the Virgin and St. Nicholas, popular among foreign tourists. At Chungdong First Methodist Church, performances combining Korea's first pipe organ with traditional Korean musical instruments will take place at 6 p.m. on Friday and 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Music concerts at the Seoul Anglican Cathedral are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Friday, and 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday. "There are many historical attractions in Jung District. We hope visitors can immerse themselves in a spring atmosphere with diverse cultural heritage and night activities in Seoul," Jung District Mayor Kim Kil-sung said. By Jung Da-hyun UNICEF and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) have inked a groundbreaking $39 million climate grant to boost climate-smart social services in the East Asia-Pacific and Eastern and Southern Africa regions. This three-year initiative is designed to fortify child-critical social services and empower children as climate change advocates. Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, expressed gratitude to the Korean government for its significant contribution, which is its first climate change donation to UNICEF and its largest UNICEF donation ever. "KOICAs climate funding will enhance community resilience and ensure access to essential services such as health care, education, water and food, amid climate-related disasters," she said. The partnership will specifically enhance climate-related social services in countries including Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste, as well as in African nations like Comoros and Zimbabwe. These countries were chosen based on KOICAs focus on aiding fragile and conflict-affected areas, aligning with the Korean governments strategy to address the interconnected challenges of humanitarian aid, development and peacebuilding efforts. Sohn Jung-mee, vice president of KOICA, emphasized the Korean governments dedication to global sustainability and proactive climate action. Under the nation's vision of becoming a global pivotal state, the government is focusing on addressing the climate and environmental crisis. "KOICAs climate grant will strengthen the resilience of essential service systems, safeguarding children and communities in some of the worlds most disaster-prone and vulnerable areas," she said. "The world is at a crossroad but we can strengthen our commitment and mobilize our collective will to create a healthy, sustainable world fit for children. This partnership is a major step in the right direction," said George Laryea-Adjei, director of UNICEF's Programme Group Leadership Team. This $39 million fund is the largest single grant ever received by the climate sector from the Korean government, with $29 million allocated to the East Asia and Pacific region and $10 million to the Eastern and Southern Africa region. President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday vetoed a bill mandating a special counsel investigation into the military's response to a Marine's death, his office said, the 10th time he has exercised veto powers in his two years in office. Yoon endorsed a motion demanding the National Assembly reconsider the legislation that the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) railroaded through the National Assembly on May 2, Chung Jin-suk, the presidential chief of staff, said during a press briefing The bill calls for a special counsel to look into allegations Yoon's office and the defense ministry inappropriately interfered in the Marine's investigation into the death of Cpl. Chae Su-geun, who was killed during a search mission for victims of heavy downpours in July 2023. Chung said Yoon vetoed the bill as an investigation into the case has been under way by the police and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO). "The special prosecutor system is an exceptional measure that can only be introduced supplementarily when the investigation by law enforcement agencies is inadequate or when the fairness or objectivity of the investigation is in doubt, but investigations by police and the CIO are currently under way," Chung said. "It also fails to ensure the fundamental purpose of the special prosecutor system, which is to guarantee fairness and neutrality in the investigation," he added. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo also pointed out flaws in the bill and pledged to support investigators in uncovering the truth behind Chae's case. "The executive branch must respect the legislative branch's legislative authority as much as possible," Han said during a Cabinet meeting before the motion was approved. "However, this special counsel bill carries many problems in terms of its content, including its deliberative process and the recommendation method for a special prosecutor." In particular, Han said past special counsel probes have "always" been introduced by agreement between the rival parties or with the government's acceptance, but the latest bill was railroaded by the opposition party and gives the opposition the sole right to recommend candidates for the special counsel, which he said could violate the president's right to make personnel appointments and the separation of powers guaranteed by the Constitution. "The government promises once again to do its best to determine the truth behind the case of Marine Chae and to ensure there is no carelessness in resolving the people's suspicions," he said. The political strife over the special counsel is expected to continue as the DPK said it will push for a revote of the bill during a plenary session next week in an attempt to override the presidential veto. For a bill to pass the National Assembly in a revote, it requires a majority of the 300-member parliament to be present and two-thirds of them to cast their ballots in favor. While the DPK holds 155 seats, together with splinter parties and independent lawmakers, the number could rise to about 180. Unless there is support from some ruling party lawmakers, the bill could be discarded during the current session of the National Assembly, whose term expires later this month. (Yonhap) Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a rally in advance of the New Hampshire presidential primary election in Rochester, New Hampshire, U.S., January 21, 2024. Former President Donald Trump outraised President Joe Biden in April for the first time in 2024, a potential sign that Trump's trial in New York could be giving his campaign a boost in fundraising. Biden's political operation announced on Tuesday in a press release that the combined campaign, joint fundraising committees and the Democratic National Committee raised $51 million in April. Trump and the Republican National Committee recently announced they raised $76 million last month. The exact figures will be impossible to verify until July when the joint fundraising committees for both Biden and Trump file their quarterly financial records with the Federal Election Commission. Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee had its best month of the year so far in April, bringing in about $32 million. The Democratic National Committee slightly outraised them, however, with around $35 million booked in April. Excluding any money from the RNC or any PACs, Trump's campaign committee reported raising $9.4 million in April. Biden's campaign committee raised $24.2 million in the same period, according to new FEC filings released late Monday night. The success of Trump and the RNC came the same month that the former president took part in a massive fundraiser at Wall Street veteran John Paulson's home in Florida to benefit one of his joint fundraising committees, called Trump 47. The event raised over $50 million between the Trump campaign, the RNC, his political action committee Save America, and over a dozen state parties, according to the Trump campaign and the RNC. Still, Trump's apparent outpacing of Biden suggests that the former president's move to try to raise money from his trial in New York could be paying off. Trump's first day in court was April 15. Despite his legal hurdles, a growing number of wealthy donors who backed Trump's two previous runs for the White House have recently come back into his corner. Trump's campaign has been fundraising during the trial with email blasts and receiving what amounts to hours of free media, as cable news channels cut in and out of live interviews with reporters outside the courthouse in Manhattan. Since April 19, Trump's team has spent over $300,000 on Facebook ads, with many of the spots focusing on his trial and raising money for his reelection campaign. The filings also underscored the differences between how the two campaigns are being staffed and operated. Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. (We're no longer recording the audio, so we can get this new written feature to members as quickly as possible.) No big swings : The market continues to stay in a tight range Tuesday, following three straight sessions of muted action as investors and traders digest a four-week rally that pushed the major stock benchmarks to new record highs. Another reason for the recent uneventful trading could be that everyone is waiting for Nvidia to report its earnings after Wednesday's closing bell. Nvidia is one of our two "own it, don't trade it" stocks. ( Apple is the other.) With analysts expecting bigger and bigger things from Nvidia, the stakes are high for the artificial intelligence chip powerhouse to continue to beat quarterly estimates and raise forward guidance. Updates on Nvidia's next-generation Blackwell chip platform, set for launch later this year, and its software business will be key watch items. Baby formula suits : Activist investor group Eminence Capital has built a stake of at least 0.5% in Reckitt Benckiser, according to the Financial Times. Eminence's reported position follows Reckitt's selloff to an all-time low in March on concerns about baby formula litigation. Sources told the FT that other activist investors are interested in Reckitt because they also believe the stock has been hit too hard by an Illinois jury verdict, which the company has said it will appeal. The interest in Reckitt is noteworthy because Club name Abbott Labs has also been weighed down by the Illinois ruling. Abbott makes a competing baby formula and faces similar lawsuits, alleging the companies failed to warn about the risks of their products. While we were in Abbott shortly before the selloff, like Eminence in Reckitt, we've slowly built up our position into this weakness. In the two days after the verdict against Reckitt, Abbott lost more than $10 billion in market cap despite the assumptions of many analysts that Abbott's liability in any settlement of its baby formula suits would only be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The stock has continued to drift lower in the months since even as the company reported a better-than-expected quarter last month. It also raised its full-year outlook something it hasn't done after Q1 in years. ABT YTD mountain Abbott YTD Abbott's next baby formula event is a state trial in St. Louis that begins in July. We understand St. Louis to be very plaintiff-friendly so, unfortunately, we're not expecting this litigation overhang to go away anytime soon. However, we're willing to be patient and continue to use weakness in shares as buying opportunities because Abbott has the medical community on its side, and the $10 billion-plus loss in market cap greatly exceeds what a potential settlement could look like. Once the market realizes that Abbott's exposure is much less than what its stock has been penalized for, investors will finally focus on how the business is actually doing. And, we know the fundamentals are strong. Up next : After the closing bell, the homebuilder Toll Brothers will report earnings. Wednesday morning, we'll hear from Club name TJX Companies , which owns T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods. We're focused on the off-price retailing group's comparable sales growth, margins, and what management has to say about the availability of quality branded merchandise in the marketplace. Target , Analog Devices , and Williams-Sonoma also report on Wednesday. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED. Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. (We're no longer recording the audio, so we can get this new written feature to members as quickly as possible.) In this article NOVO.B-DK AZN-GB LLY Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT The Astrazeneca logo is pictured at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2021 in Shanghai, China, July 7, 2021. Costfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images LONDON Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca on Tuesday said it planned to increase its total revenue to $80 billion by 2030 up 75% from $45.8 billion in 2023. "We have a lot of confidence in this 80 billion ambition because of the portfolio and the breadth and scale of the portfolio that we see today," AstraZeneca's Chief Financial Officer Aradhana Sarin told CNBC's Arabile Gumede on Tuesday. AstraZeneca will focus on its oncology, biopharmaceuticals and rare diseases businesses and expects to release an additional 20 medicines in the next six years. "Many of them have the potential to be $5 billion drugs," Sarin noted. A company statement detailed that this revenue figure could be hit annually for many of the new medicines in peak years. Europe-traded shares in AstraZeneca were last 0.66% higher at 9:35 a.m. London time, following the announcement. watch now AstraZeneca's plans include developing medicines to treat at least half of potential cancers, and developing alternatives to classic treatments like chemotherapy and radiation. "For the entire market to get replaced it will take time, but we think we have the technology today to start replacing them," Sarin told CNBC. Some cancer treatments developed by AstraZeneca have already been approved by the U.S. FDA, including the drug Enhertu, a so-called antibody drug conjugate developed with Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo, which aims to treat breast cancer patients. AstraZeneca has also announced acquisitions of pharmaceutical companies, including cancer-treatment focused Fusion Pharmaceuticals Inc. On Monday, the company revealed plans to build an antibody drug conjugate manufacturing facility in Singapore. "That's the new technology which will replace chemotherapy. That is very complex manufacturing, which is why you need an end-to-end which is why we decided to make this investment in Singapore," Sarin said. Investments have also been made at other AstraZeneca sites, she added. A real estate construction site in Wanxiang City, Huai 'an City, East China's Jiangsu province, May 17, 2024. Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty Images BEIJING China's sweeping moves on Friday to increase support for real estate will take time to show results, analysts said. Despite the news, S&P is still sticking to its base case from earlier in the month that China's property market is likely still "searching for a bottom," Edward Chan, director, corporate ratings, said during the firm's webinar on Monday. "The significance of the policy rollout last Friday was that the government is rolling out all these policies at one go, at the same day, at one time," he said. "This shows the government is serious, as well as dedicated, in stabilizing the property sector." But he pointed out that for real estate to see significant stabilization, homebuyers' demand and confidence will need to improve after a market downturn of nearly three years. Hong Kong-listed property stocks surged late last week, but were barely changed on Monday, according to an industry index from financial database Wind Information. watch now Chinese authorities on Friday lowered down payment minimums to as low as 15%, versus 20% previously, in addition to cancelling the floor on mortgage rates nationwide. Policymakers also sought to boost developers' liquidity by releasing 300 billion yuan ($42.25 billion) in financing for local state-owned enterprises to buy unsold, completed apartments in order to turn them into affordable housing. We believe Beijing is headed in the right direction with regard to ending the epic housing crisis. Ting Lu Chief China economist, Nomura "Although some of these measures are unprecedented (e.g., the minimum downpayment requirement was never below 20% previously), they are still insufficient compared to our property team's estimates of at least RMB1tn funding needed to start digesting excess inventory and to allow new home prices to find a bottom within a year," Goldman Sachs' Chief China Economist Hui Shan said in a note Sunday. "We believe Beijing is headed in the right direction with regard to ending the epic housing crisis," Nomura's Chief China Economist Ting Lu said in a report Monday. "Beijing has already pivoted from building public housing to ensuring the delivery of numerous pre-sold homes to rebuild buyers' confidence, marking a significant step towards cleaning up the big mess." "However, this is proving to be a daunting task, and we think markets need to exercise more patience when awaiting more draconian measures," he said. Official data released Friday showed real estate investment declined at a steeper pace in April versus March, with new commercial floor space sold for the first four months of the year down by 20.2% from a year ago. The data also showed retail sales grew less than expected in April. The majority of household wealth is in property, while uncertainty about future income has weighed on consumer spending. Rebuilding homebuyer confidence Homebuyers' confidence depends partly on their economic outlook, and whether they can receive apartments they have paid for but have yet to receive, S&P's Chan said. Apartments in China are usually sold ahead of construction. But in recent years, financing troubles for property developers and other issues have prolonged delivery times with some buyers waiting for several years. watch now People attend a funeral ceremony for the late Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and seven members of his entourage in the northwestern city of Tabriz on May 21, 2024. Thousands of mourners descended on Tabriz on Tuesday for a funeral ceremony honoring Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who perished in a helicopter crash over the weekend, leaving an indelible void in the country's leadership succession plans. Videos and photographs shared on social media and by Iran's state-owned Islamic Republic News Agency and the semiofficial Tasnim showed crowds swarming under a slate sky to observe the first funerary ceremony held for Raisi, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others killed in the incident. CNBC did not independently verify the footage. Some mourners are shown brandishing photographs of Raisi, while others trooped behind lines awaiting the procession. Services for Raisi will be held between Tuesday and Thursday in Tabriz, Qom, Birjand and Iranian capital Tehran. His final burial will take place in his birthplace, the holy city of Mashhad in the northeast of the country, according to IRNA, after Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced five days of mourning. "Our honorable Raisi worked tirelessly," Khamenei said on the X social media platform on Monday. A public holiday was declared on Wednesday, when Iran will undertake a ceremony inviting "high-ranking foreign dignitaries," according to IRNA although it is yet unclear which world leaders will participate. While some Iranians grieved Raisi, his death was a boon for critics of the "Butcher of Tehran" who decried his record serving on a panel that directed the executions of up to 5,000 of people in 1988, according to the Human Rights Watch, and his harsh crackdown on mass protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022. Structure Therapeutics is an overlooked player in the GLP-1 market, and could one day boast a competitive product and go up against Eli Lilly and the like, according to JPMorgan. Analyst Hardik Parikh initiated research coverage on the clinical stage drug developer with an overweight rating and $65 price target, implying 82% potential upside. This year, the stock is down 12%. "We think the opportunity for oral GLP-1s is underappreciated and think this market could generate $30bn in sales by 2035," Parikh wrote in a note Tuesday. "GPCRs lead asset, 1290, is a pure-play option for this opportunity, and even a small share would support substantial upside to the stock." According to Parikh, Structure's current $1.7 billion market value undervalues 1290's peak sales opportunity to generate more than $1 billion by 2035. Structure has advantages over other major pharma companies entering the market, including a small molecule formation, while some competitors have oral peptides that are harder to manufacture, and a slight time-to-market advantage, he said. He expects 1290 could be the first non-Eli Lilly and non-Novo Nordisk oral GLP-1 on the market by 2029, and said it seems like a competitive oral GLP-1 profile in line with its lead competitor, Eli Lilly's oral nonpeptide GLP-1 receptor agonist orforglipron, which he said should hit the market in 2026. Parikh estimated that Structure will launch 1290 for Type 2 diabetes, or T2D, after 2029. "1290s weight loss efficacy in obesity seems on par and we see no reason why this can't continue in longer duration trials. It is a step or two behind in T2D but can still be competitive over time with higher dosing," Parikh said, adding that there are no major concerns on safety seen in clinical trials and that higher than normal rates of gastrointestinal events in phase 2 trials seem manageable and addressable. "Overall, 1290 should have a competitive efficacy/safety profile, and it should also have fewer manufacturing hurdles compared to at least some of the other competitors entering" the market in 2030 and beyond. Additionally, Parikh thinks Structure could be an attractive partnership opportunity for larger drug companies looking to get involved in the market for obesity and Type 2 diabetes treatments. The anti-corruption investigation office again questioned Marine Corps Commandant Lt. Gen. Kim Kye-hwan as a power abuse suspect Tuesday over allegations of external pressure placed on the military investigation into last year's death of a young Marine. Kim appeared at the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) in Gwacheon, south of Seoul, at 9:20 a.m., while remaining tight-lipped when asked several questions by reporters. Kim, who was already grilled by the CIO for 15 hours on May 4, is suspected of exerting undue influence on the Marine Corps investigation team's handling of the inquiry involving the young Marine who died during a mission to search for civilian victims of heavy downpours last summer. The Marine Corps investigation team, then led by Col. Park Jung-hun, reportedly asked the police in August last year to probe eight suspects over the soldier's death. But the military prosecution retrieved the case from the police later and reduced the number of suspects to two after alleged interference from above. The CIO plans to call in Park as a witness in the afternoon, raising speculation that a cross-examination may be conducted with Kim over various suspicions, including whether President Yoon Suk Yeol and former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup were involved in the alleged interference in the Marine Corps investigation team. (Yonhap) Liquid Death has built a $1.4 billion brand by being as eye-catching as possible. It's latest marketing stunt is taking things to the next level. The canned water brand on Tuesday announced a contest that will see it give away a $400,000 fighter jet to one of its fans. The custom-painted Aero L-39C Albatros has been dubbed "The Dehydrator" because its thrust will "relieve you of your bodily fluids and make you empty your stomach." Between now and September 4, each in-store purchase of a Liquid Death product will count as an entry into the sweepstakes. To enter, contestants will need to upload a photo of their receipt to this website. In addition to the jet, the contest winner will receive six free months of hangar space outside of Chicago, as well as a year's supply of Liquid Death and a custom branded flight helmet. The company will also cover the sales tax for the plane for the winner. The two-seater aircraft can travel up to 470 miles per hour. The winner will be responsible for any expenses related to owning and operating the jet, including fuel and hiring a pilot if they don't have a license to fly the plane. In the event that the winner doesn't want the jet, Liquid Death is offering an alternative cash prize of $250,000 delivered in a briefcase. The six-figure contest is a reference to Pepsi's ill-fated jet giveaway in the 1990s, which resulted in a lawsuit and spawned a Netflix docuseries. In an interview with CNBC Make It in 2022, Liquid Death founder Mike Cessario explained that turning heads has been part of the company's strategy since day one. Indeed, Cessario reeled in investors by self-funding a viral commercial promoting his water as the "deadliest stuff on earth." "We want to actually entertain people [and] make them laugh in service of a brand," Cessario said at the time. "If you can do that, they're going to love your brand because you're giving them something of value. Want to be a successful, confident communicator? Take CNBC's new online course Become an Effective Communicator: Master Public Speaking. We'll teach you how to speak clearly and confidently, calm your nerves, what to say and not say, and body language techniques to make a great first impression. Preregister today and use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off through July 10, 2024. Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It's newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life. Microsoft is partnering with tutoring organization Khan Academy to provide a generative AI assistant to all teachers in the U.S. for free. Khanmigo for Teachers, which helps teachers prepare lessons for class, is free to all educators in the U.S. as of Tuesday, with the financial support of Microsoft. The program can help create lessons, analyze student performance, plan assignments, and provide teachers with opportunities to enhance their own learning. "Unlike most things in technology and education in the past where this is a 'nice-to-have,' this is a 'must-have' for a lot of teachers," Sal Khan, founder and CEO of Khan Academy, said in a CNBC "Squawk Box" interview last Friday ahead of the deal. Khan Academy has roughly 170 million registered users in over 50 languages around the world, and while its videos are best known, its interactive exercise platform was one which Microsoft-funded artificial intelligence company OpenAI's top executives, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, zeroed in on early when they were looking for a partner to pilot GPT with that offered socially positive use cases. At a recent virtual event with members of CNBC's Technology Executive Council, where Khan demoed the company's AI education tool, Khanmigo, he recalled being skeptical at first about working with OpenAI and GPT. Khan said even as the work progressed and he became convinced of how much AI could advance education goals, he became discouraged when the public conversation in 2023 quickly turned to students cheating with AI. But he told the tech executives that what he's seeing from his nonprofit's work to adapt AI for the classroom is a scaling of the personalization that matches the founding story of his organization when he personally provided tutoring to his cousin Nadia. Amid all the questions about hallucinations, errors, safety, privacy, and cheating, Khan said AI "could get us that much closer to this ideal, in conjunction with everything else we've been doing over the years, of being able to emulate what a great tutor would do." "In my mind, it passes the Turing Test," Khan told the tech executives, referencing famed British mathematician and AI pioneer Alan Turing's goal of computer intelligence being equal to human intelligence and humans being unable to identify one versus the other. "This is indistinguishable from when I went to text Nadia back in 2004," Khan said. Microsoft and Khan Academy are also planning to provide more AI-powered math tutoring to students through a new open-source small language model from Microsoft's Phi-3 AI technology. Small language models are more targeted versions of the large language models like GPT, which focus on smaller data sets. The AI math tutor can provide specific grade level guidance and customized tutoring sessions for students and teachers, and in the future will give students feedback on handwritten work, according to Microsoft. Middle school is the first level of focus but more grades will be added. Paid days off from work aren't a guarantee for many Americans, but even when they do get them, they're leaving them on the table. A majority, 78%, of U.S. workers say they don't take all their PTO days, and it's highest among Gen Z workers and millennials, according to a new Harris Poll survey of 1,170 American workers. Younger professionals say they don't ask for time off because they feel pressure to meet deadlines and be productive, and they get nervous requesting PTO because they don't want to look like a slacker, says Libby Rodney, chief strategy officer at The Harris Poll. That's not to say they're not taking breaks they're just not telling their boss. Millennials are most likely to be 'quiet vacationing' Millennials in particular have found workarounds to play hooky. Nearly 4 in 10 say they've taken time off without communicating it to their manager. Similar shares say they "move their mouse" to show they're still active on their company's messaging platforms (like Slack or Microsoft Teams) when they're not really working, and they've scheduled a message to send outside of regular hours to give the impression they're working overtime. "There's a giant workaround culture at play," Rodney says. While Gen Zers tend to be more vocal about workplaces that shame people for wanting to ask off work, millennials would rather take matters into their own hands but under the radar. "They will figure out how to get appropriate work-life balance, but it's happening behind the scenes," Rodney adds. "It's not exactly quiet quitting, but more like quiet vacationing." The pitfalls of unlimited PTO In this article NVDA Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang displays products on-stage during the annual Nvidia GTC Artificial Intelligence Conference at SAP Center in San Jose, California, on March 18, 2024. Josh Edelson | Afp | Getty Images At the start of last week, OpenAI's technology chief personally thanked Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang for "bringing us the most advanced" chips needed to run the demo for a presentation the company delivered on its latest artificial intelligence models. A day later, at Google's annual developer conference, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted his company's "longstanding partnership with Nvidia," and noted that Google Cloud will be using the chipmaker's Blackwell graphics processing units (GPUs) in early 2025. And this week, Microsoft , which provides servers to OpenAI, will announce new AI advancements and features that were developed on the company's massive clusters of Nvidia GPUs. The company is hosting its Build conference in Redmond, Washington. Heading into its quarterly earnings report on Wednesday, Nvidia finds itself at the center of the action in technology, a position that's become increasingly commonplace for the 31-year-old company, whose market cap has ballooned past $2 trillion this year. Nvidia is expected to report year-over-year revenue growth in excess of 200% for a third straight quarter, with analysts projecting a fiscal first-quarter bump-up of 243% to $24.6 billion, according to LSEG. More than $21 billion of that is expected to come from Nvidia's data center business, which includes all the advanced processors the company is selling to Google, Microsoft, Meta , Amazon , OpenAI and others. Nvidia is squeezing so much profit out of its AI suite of products that net income is expected to be up more than fivefold from a year earlier to $13.9 billion. The stock has soared 91% this year after more than tripling in 2023. watch now Dan Niles, founder of Niles Investment Management, compared Nvidia's position in the AI boom to the "internet buildout" of the 1990s and Cisco's role at the center in those days. Over a three-year stretch, Niles said, Cisco had several dramatic pullbacks, but ultimately increased 4,000% up to its peak in 2000. Nvidia will go through similar cycles, he said. "We're still really early in the AI build," Niles told CNBC's "Money Matters" on Monday. "I think the revenue will go up three to four times from current levels over the next three to four years, and I think the stock goes with it." Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Apple are expected to shell out a combined $200 billion in capital expenditures this year, according to an estimate from Bernstein, with a huge portion of the spending going to AI-specific infrastructure like Nvidia chips. Elsewhere, OpenAI is relying on Nvidia's technology for its latest chatbot, GPT-4o. Meta announced plans in March to buy and build out computers that will include 350,000 Nvidia GPUs, costing billions of dollars, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg even swapped jackets with Huang and posed for a picture with the Nvidia CEO. "If you look at today for the AI build out, who's really driving that?" Niles said. "It's the most profitable companies on the planet it's Microsoft, it's Google, it's Meta, and they're driving this." Jensen Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp., arrives at an event in Taipei, Taiwan, on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Lam Yik Fei | Bloomberg | Getty Images Prior to the recent AI boom, Nvidia was known as the primary maker of chips used for 3D gaming. About a year ago, the chipmaker gave investors their first clue that the company would see a period of historic growth, signaling to Wall Street that it would generate about 50% more in sales than what analysts expected in the July 2023 quarter. Growth rates have since accelerated. But starting in the second quarter, expansion is expected to slow, with analysts anticipating significant deceleration in each of the next three periods. "We just don't know how long this investment cycle lasts and just how much excess capacity will be created over that time in case this AI thing doesn't materialize as quickly as expected," Bernstein analysts wrote in a note earlier this month. That's not to say that Nvidia is at risk of losing a ton of the AI chip business to rivals. Piper Sandler analysts expect it to keep at least 75% of the AI accelerator market, even as companies like Google build their own custom chips. "We view the percentage of hyperscaler spend that is dedicated towards compute further rising in 2024 and 2025," Piper Sandler analyst Harsh Kumar wrote in a note. One question the company faces is how well the transition is going to its next generation of AI chips, called Blackwell, which are expected to ship later this year. Some worry there could be a lull as clients hold off on buying the older Hopper GPUs like the H100 in favor of Blackwell-based chips such as the GH200. "To some degree, the setup has shifted," wrote Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore in a note on Monday. "Six months ago, short term expectations were very strong but there was anxiety about durability. Now, fresh on the back of hyperscalers talking up longer term spending expectations for AI, those longer term views are more positive, but there is anxiety about a pause in front of Blackwell." A short seller on Tuesday alleged that beauty and wellness company Oddity Tech has been misleading investors and isn't the online-only retailer it's claimed to be. The firm, Ningi Research, published a 50-page report that details a slew of allegations against the newly public retailer, including that it runs a fleet of stores in Israel and engages in deceptive billing practices. Ningi has a short position in Oddity but didn't disclose the size of that position. "ODDITY fundamentally rejects the short seller report. The allegations contained in the report by NINGI Research are based on demonstratable factual inaccuracies, incorrect assumptions, and unfounded and malicious speculation," a company spokesperson wrote in an email to CNBC. Shares of Oddity fell roughly 7% Tuesday. Oddity Tech, the parent company of makeup brand Il Makiage and skincare brand Spoiled Child, sold investors on the premise that it's disrupting the legacy beauty industry by changing the way people buy makeup online. It bills itself as a purely digital retailer that sells directly to consumers and has said it's seen outsized profits and growth that similar businesses have found difficult to achieve. Ningi Research alleged that Oddity is not a purely digital company and that its Il Makiage brand has more than 40 stores in Israel, where the company is based. Ningi further claims that the majority of Oddity's profits are coming from the region not the U.S. Ningi Research also said that it has visited the Il Makiage stores in Israel and purchased two of the company's best-selling products from different locations. The firm said the stores are not part of a franchise but are instead owned by the company. Oddity said in a statement that the Israeli brick-and-mortar business, totaling 43 retail stores and six beauty schools, represents an "immaterial" part of the business amounting to less than 5% of the company's net revenue, according to the spokesperson. "All of ODDITY's revenue outside of Israel is exclusively from online sales," the spokesperson said. The short seller also alleged that the "secret" to Oddity's digital growth is in subscriptions, which Ningi claimed can be difficult for consumers to get out of or cancel. "The sell-side touts ODDITY's 'impressively high' repeat purchase rates of 100 percent, but we don't buy that. Our research indicates that customers unknowingly enter into non-cancelable plans, allowing ODDITY to recognize repeat purchases in the following quarters even though the customers don't want the product," the report said. The report also detailed a host of complaints from the Better Business Bureau and social media from customers who say they've been wrongfully charged. Oddity, through the spokesperson, said that the company "firmly stands behind" both its use of technology and its customer experience. "ODDITY will always continue to address incidents of dissatisfaction and keep its customers satisfied and loyal," the spokesperson said in the statement. In October, an analyst asked the company about customer complaints and if the issue was happening "at scale." In response, CEO Oran Holtzman said it's "important to understand the magnitude of the claim and we're talking about a fraction of a percent." "Any online company that operates even close to our sales will experience this, like there will always be a certain percentage who are unhappy," said Holtzman. He said that for a "small portion" of its customers, it can be easy to get confused about pre-authorizations made to their cards related to Oddity's "try before you buy" option, which allows a customer to try out a makeup item. "Now, I don't think that it makes sense to cancel this massive customer benefit because a super small fraction of users who didn't fully read up like how it works and were confused," said Holtzman. "We'll continue to work hard to educate those users and we've invested a lot in technology around it." Oddity previously told CNBC that more than half of its business is from repeat customers. The interior of Singapore Airline flight SQ321 is pictured after an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Thailand on May 21, 2024. One person died and 30 people were injured aboard a Singapore Airlines flight that was hit by severe turbulence and forced to land in Thailand, the carrier said Tuesday. Singapore Airlines Flight 321 encountered "sudden, severe turbulence" about 10 hours into a Singapore-bound flight from London Heathrow, the airline said. The plane, a Boeing 777-300ER, was carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members. Images on social media showed stunned passengers, with oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling and food and other onboard supplies strewn on the ground. The jet fell into an air pocket over Thai airspace and requested to land at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Kittipong Kittikachorn, general manager of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, told a news conference, according to Reuters. There were severe thunderstorms in the area at the time and the "flight encountered a rapid change in vertical rate, consistent with a sudden turbulence event," according to flight-tracking platform Flightradar24. The deceased person is a 73-year-old British national, who likely suffered a heart attack, Reuters reported, citing Kittikachorn. Singapore Airlines said 18 people were hospitalized and that 12 were being treated in hospitals. Other passengers were treated at the airport, the carrier said. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to support the investigation of its counterparts from Singapore. The airline said that 131 passengers and 12 crew who were on the flight arrived in Singapore on a relief flight at 5:05 a.m., local time, where they were met with the company's chief executive. "On behalf of Singapore Airlines, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased passenger," Singapore Airlines' CEO, Goh Choon, Phong said in a Facebook post. "We also deeply apologise for the trauma experienced by all passengers and crew members on this flight." Steve Jobs' former intern has some sage advice for college graduates: stop focusing on working for big companies and instead find the best people to work for. Chet Kapoor, chairman and CEO of generative AI company DataStax, has had an illustrious career in Silicon Valley. The Kolkata-born tech leader started out working at Steve Jobs' software company NeXT in 1986 and went on to become CEO of API management company Apigee which was acquired by Google in a $625 million deal in 2016. Discussing his time as an intern at Jobs' NeXT with CNBC Make It, Kapoor said: "I was one step below the person that opened doors but that didn't matter because I worked 20 yards away from him every day." Kapoor said his experience observing Jobs played a role in shaping his leadership style. "I can attribute a large portion of my success to my first two or three years at NeXT," he added. It's why he advises young college graduates to seek out opportunities working with great people they can learn from rather than just applying to work at the obvious big-name firms. "Figure out a way to go hang out with the right people very early on in your career," Kapoor told CNBC Make It. "Titles, money, all that will come because what you will learn from them will help you have impact The quicker you can draw a line from your work to the impact that you're having on the company, the more successful you will be." Major tech companies, including Microsoft , Amazon , and OpenAI, came together in a landmark international agreement on artificial intelligence safety at the Seoul AI Safety Summit on Tuesday. In light of the agreement, companies from various countries, including the U.S., China, Canada, the U.K., France, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates, will make voluntary commitments to ensure the safe development of their most advanced AI models. Where they have not done so already, AI model makers agreed to publish safety frameworks laying out how they'll measure the challenges of their frontier models, such as preventing misuse of the technology by bad actors. These frameworks will include "red lines" for the tech firms that define the kinds of risks associated with frontier AI systems, which would be considered "intolerable." These risks include but aren't limited to automated cyberattacks and the threat of bioweapons. To respond to such extreme circumstances, companies said they plan to implement a "kill switch" that would cease the development of their AI models if they can't guarantee mitigation of these risks. "It's a world first to have so many leading AI companies from so many different parts of the globe all agreeing to the same commitments on AI safety," Rishi Sunak, the U.K.'s prime minister, said in a statement Tuesday. "These commitments ensure the world's leading AI companies will provide transparency and accountability on their plans to develop safe AI," he added. An aerial view of the Tesla Fremont Factory on April 24, 2024 in Fremont, California. A fire broke out at Tesla 's vehicle assembly plant in Fremont, California on Monday afternoon, according to a statement from the Fremont Fire Department, posted on social network X. No injuries were reported among employees and fire fighters present at the scene, the department said. An undisclosed number of fire fighters had responded to the fire, which broke out before 5:00 p.m., at the Tesla facility at 45500 Fremont Boulevard. The incident was described as a two-alarm, commercial structure fire in a two-story building. The fire apparently originated in an oven used in vehicle manufacturing operations, the department said, adding that cause of the fire was "under investigation" as of Monday evening. The fire was "knocked down" in a matter of hours, the department said, and the fire-fighting crew had been released from the scene as of around 8 p.m. The Fremont factory is Tesla's first mass EV manufacturing facility. It was first to produce the company's popular Model 3 sedans, and Model Y crossover utility vehicles, as well as its higher-end Model S sedan and Model X, an SUV with falcon wing doors. On May 17, 2024 Tesla celebrated a milestone for its Fremont factory in conjunction with their battery factory outside of Reno, Nevada, saying they had surpassed production of 3 million vehicles. Monday's fire followed sweeping layoffs at the Elon Musk-led automaker. Tesla recently cut another 601 jobs in California, including 164 at the Fremont factory. Among jobs cut in Fremont in this latest wave of the layoffs were two directors of Environmental Health and Safety (EHS), and a myriad of others involved in EHS, security, equipment maintenance and emergency services, according to filings by the company with the California Employment Development Division. Tesla's Fremont factory has a history of fires. For example, several fire incidents occurred at the factory from 2014 to 2018, including a mix of indoor and outdoor fires in 2018 alone, with more still in 2019 and 2021. Fires at the Fremont factory in the past have sometimes necessitated a pause in production. Tesla did not respond to a request for further information on Monday evening. Local environmental regulators, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAMQD), recently accused Tesla of allowing "unabated emissions" at the Fremont plant, and said that toxic air pollution should have been prevented. The BAAMQD is now seeking an abatement order that would force Tesla to implement changes to its factory operations to prevent further pollution. On Monday night, the BAAMQD told CNBC via e-mail that it was "aware of the fire and assessing" the situation in Alameda County. Former US President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at the Waukesha Expo Center in Waukesha, Wisconsin, US, on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. The Trump campaign announced Tuesday it will start accepting cryptocurrency donations, casting the move as one of solidarity with opponents of "socialistic government control" over the U.S. financial markets. Supporters of former President Donald Trump can donate using "any cryptocurrency accepted through the Coinbase Commerce product," his campaign said in a press release. The announcement ties President Joe Biden, who is running for reelection against Trump, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a vocal crypto critic who has pushed to clamp down on the nascent industry. "Biden surrogate Elizabeth Warren said in an attack on cryptocurrency that she was building an 'anti-crypto army' to restrict Americans' right to make their own financial choices," the campaign said, referring to a reelection ad Warren posted on X in March 2023. "MAGA supporters, now with a new cryptocurrency option, will build a crypto army moving the campaign to victory on November 5th!" the campaign said. The move opens a new source of potential funds for the Trump campaign, which still lags Biden in cash on hand even as it outraised the Democratic incumbent in April. Crypto donations will be reported as in-kind contributions, much like gifts of stock. The campaign can then decide to either liquidate the digital currency or hang on to it. "Contribution limits and disclosure requirements for crypto donations will follow Federal Election Commission regulations," the Trump campaign said. The acceptance of crypto is just the latest in a string of Trump efforts to court the crypto community, which tends to skew younger and more male, according to April 2023 polling from Pew Research Center. China, Russia set prime example of new form of international, good-neighborly relations between two major countries 10:49, May 21, 2024 By He Yin ( People's Daily This year marks the 75th anniversary of the China-Russia diplomatic relations. It is an important milestone year in the history of China-Russia relations. On May 16, Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who was on a state visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The most important conclusion drawn from the 75-year history of China-Russia relations is that two neighboring major countries must always promote the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, respect each other on an equal footing, trust each other, accommodate each other's concerns, and truly provide mutual assistance for the development and revitalization of both sides, Xi noted. This is not only the correct way for China and Russia to get along, but also the direction that major-country relations should strive for in the 21st century, Xi said. His important remarks have charted the course for the future development of China-Russia relations. Head-of-state diplomacy is leading the all-round development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era. The two presidents have held over 40 meetings, maintaining close communication and offering strategic guidance on promoting healthy and stable development of bilateral relations between China and Russia. This time, Xi and Putin had a candid and fruitful discussion. They had a comprehensive review of the successful experience in developing the China-Russia relationship, and had an in-depth exchange of views on the relationship as well as major international and regional issues of mutual interest, charting the course forward for their cooperation across the board. The two heads of state signed and issued the Joint Statement of the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation on Deepening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination for the New Era in the Context of the 75th Anniversary of China-Russia Diplomatic Relations. They also witnessed the signing of a number of important intergovernmental and interagency cooperation documents, injecting new, strong impetus into the sound development of China-Russia relations. China and Russia will uphold the principles of non-alliance, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party, continue to deepen two-way political trust, respect each other's choice of development path, and realize development and revitalization with each other's firm support. In the past three quarters of a century, the China-Russia relationship has grown stronger amidst wind and rain. China and Russia together have found a new path for major and neighboring countries to treat each other with respect and pursue amity and mutually beneficial cooperation. The China-Russia relationship has become a prime example of a new form of international relations as well as good-neighborly relations between two major countries. The notable progress in China-Russia relations is attributable to the two countries' commitment to five principles. First, China and Russia are committed to mutual respect as the fundamental principle of relations, and always render support for each other's core interests. Second, China and Russia are committed to win-win cooperation as the driving force of relations, and work to foster a new paradigm of mutual benefit. Third, China and Russia are committed to lasting friendship as the foundation of relations, and carry forward the torch of Sino-Russian friendship. Fourth, China and Russia are committed to strategic coordination as an underpinning of relations, and steer global governance in the right direction. Fifth, China and Russia are committed to fairness and justice as the purpose of relations, and dedicated to the political settlement of hotspots. With the concerted efforts of the two sides, China-Russia relations have been moving forward steadily, with enhanced comprehensive strategic coordination and further cooperation on economy and trade, investment, energy, people-to-people exchanges, at the subnational level and in other fields. This has made positive contributions to maintaining global strategic stability and promoting greater democracy in international relations. The two sides will take the 75th anniversary of the diplomatic ties as a new starting point, further synergize development strategies, and continue to enrich the bilateral cooperation, to bring greater benefits to the two countries and peoples, and contribute more positive energy to world prosperity and stability. The two countries need to make further structural improvements to their cooperation, and consolidate the good momentum in trade and other traditional areas of cooperation. Last year, China-Russia two-way trade exceeded $240 billion, close to 2.7 times that of a decade ago. This is a good indication of the all-round cooperation of mutual benefit that continues to deepen between the two countries. The two countries need to look for areas where their interests converge, tap into their comparative strengths, deepen the integration of interests, and enable each other's success. They should make further structural improvements to their cooperation, consolidate the good momentum in trade and other traditional areas of cooperation, support the formation of platforms and networks for basic research, continue to unlock cooperation potential in frontier areas, step up cooperation on ports, transportation and logistics, and help keep the global industrial and supply chains stable. The two sides should create more highlights for people-to-people exchanges, jointly host successful China-Russia Years of Culture, strengthen cooperation at subnational levels, and continuously tighten the bonds between the two peoples. By focusing on implementing the Roadmap for China-Russia Cooperation on People-to-People and Cultural Exchanges Before 2030, the two countries are expanding people-to-people and cultural ties. The two presidents have set 2024 and 2025 as China-Russia Years of Culture, proposed a series of cultural activities that are down to earth, close to people's hearts and popular among them, and encouraged closer interactions between various sectors and at subnational levels, so as to enhance mutual understanding and affinity between the two peoples. Both sides are willing to continue to strengthen cooperation within the frameworks including the UN, BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as well as communication on major international and regional issues, so as to establish a fair and equitable global governance system. Both China and Russia are permanent members of the UN Security Council and major emerging markets. It is the shared strategic choice of both countries to deepen strategic coordination, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and follow the general historical trend of multipolarity in the world and economic globalization. With Russia chairing BRICS this year and China taking over the chairmanship of the SCO later this year, the two sides will support each other's chairmanship, build a high-quality partnership that is more comprehensive, close, practical and inclusive, and build the unity and strength of the Global South. As a Chinese saying goes, "A mountain is formed by accumulation of soil and an ocean is formed by accumulation of water." After 75 years of solid accumulation, lasting friendship and all-round cooperation between China and Russia provide a strong impetus for the two countries to forge ahead despite wind and rain. Having reached a new starting point, China and Russia will always remain committed to their founding purpose and jointly shoulder responsibility to create more benefits for their peoples and make due contribution to global security and stability. (Web editor: Chang Sha, Liang Jun) Opposition intends to pass bill again in revote but needs PPP support By Kwak Yeon-soo President Yoon Suk Yeol vetoed an opposition-led bill seeking to initiate a special counsel investigation into a Marine's death on Tuesday, following the Cabinet's endorsement of the veto motion. The veto is expected to become another conflict between the ruling and opposition bloc as this marked Yoon's 10th veto of a bill since taking office in May 2022 after the opposition, taking advantage of its majority position, railroaded contentious bills. Earlier in the day, the Cabinet approved the motion demanding the National Assembly reconsider the bill mandating a special counsel investigation into the military's response to a Marine's death last year. Hours later, Yoon endorsed it. "The presdient requested the Assembly to reconsider the bill," presidential chief of staff Chung Jin-suk said in a press briefing. "The bill goes against the constitutional spirit and the purpose of the special counsel probe system ... it also cannot guarantee the fairness and neutrality of the probe." Prime Minister Han Duck-soo also said during the Cabinet meeting that the bill exhibits numerous flaws in its discussion process and the method of recommending a special prosecutor, expressing concerns that the investigation may not be conducted fairly or reliably. The latest bill was railroaded by the opposition party and gives the opposition the sole right to recommend candidates for the special counsel, which can violate the president's right to make personnel appointments and potentially undermine constitutional principles, Han said while presiding over the Cabinet meeting. The opposition-controlled Assembly earlier passed the special counsel bill during a plenary session on May 2, while the ruling People Power Party (PPP) members exited the session in protest. The bill is aimed at probing the governments alleged interference in the militarys investigation into the death of Marine Cpl. Chae Su-geun during a flood rescue operation in July 2023. Yoon had already indicated his willingness to veto the bill during his press conference on May 9, saying that an investigation by the police and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) is currently underway. Regarding the veto, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) announced its intention to reintroduce the bill through a revote during a plenary session scheduled for May 28. For a bill to pass the Assembly in a revote, it requires a majority of the parliament to be present and two-thirds of them to cast their votes in favor. The DPK currently holds 155 seats out of a 295-member Assembly. When seats held by other opposition parties are added, the number increases to 180. This is not enough for the opposition to override the veto in a revote on its own, meaning the opposition needs at least 17 votes from PPP members. DPK floor leader Rep. Park Chan-dae called the president's veto "a war on opposition parties and the people." "We will seek all possible measures and join with the people to respond to the Yoon administration, Park said. Minor opposition Rebuilding Korea Party leader Cho Kuk compared Yoon to former President Syngman Rhee, who wielded dictatorial power by vetoing 45 bills. In order for the president to veto a bill passed by the Assembly, it must meet the interest of all peoples needs. It is unconstitutional for the president to exercise his veto power mainly for his personal benefits, Cho said. Meanwhile, the PPP defended Yoons decision, calling it a minimal defensive measure. I dont understand why people are focused on the political battle over a case thats already under investigation, PPP floor leader Rep. Choo Kyung-ho said. If opposition parties dominate and abuse legislative power to infringe upon the presidents authority, he has no other choice but to take a minimal defensive measure. Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump shouts during a campaign event in Freeland, Michigan, U.S. May 1, 2024. Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters This reported column is Part One of Eamon Javers' two-part series on the new, conservative economic populism gaining ground among Republicans close to former President Donald Trump. Please check back Wednesday for Part Two, on the key figures who are leading this broad shift in how conservatives approach labor, free markets and regulation. WASHINGTON The first Trump presidency shattered conservative economic ideology on the Republican Party's approach to free markets and tariffs. A second Trump presidency could shatter it on everything else in economic policy. That's because the 2024 presidential election is playing out across a dramatically different economic and political landscape than previous Trump campaigns. Conservative economic thinkers have now had at least eight years to construct an intellectual and policy framework around Trump's instinctive economic populist message. What they have come up with is a set of worker-first, anti-corporate elite policy proposals, which are increasingly popular within the party, and in Trump's economic circles. Taken together, the plans amount to a vastly different approach to the economy than the Reaganomic tax, regulatory and trade consensus that dominated the GOP from the late 1970s right up to Trump's first election in 2016. If Trump is elected president again in November, these proposals could be front and center in a second-term economic agenda. I spoke to Sohrab Ahmari, a former Wall Street Journal editorial writer and one of the architects of this new populism, to get his insight into where conservative economics could be headed. The vision that Ahmari laid out for me was one of a Republican Party that is worker-centric and vastly more pro-union than it is today. At one point, Ahmari paused and I said, "I can almost hear the CEOs of Amazon and Starbucks having a heart attack listening to this." "Let them," Ahmari shot back. "Let them choke on it." Trumpian neopopulism Disdain for America's corporate titans is a key element of the new conservative, populist approach to economics. Steeped in the culture wars of the Trump era, these neopopulists do not see corporate CEOs as the Republican Party's natural allies in a broader war against big government. Instead they view C-suite executives as woke elitists, trying to shove their liberal, cultural values onto Middle America. They argue that the Reaganite low-tax, low-regulation, free-market ideology has not worked out very well for American workers, but it has worked out enormously well for corporate elites. This moneyed class, the argument goes, does not live in the same places, or share the same values, as most social conservatives. The new thinking urges conservatives to reject the kind of traditional, Republican economic dogma championed for decades in Washington by groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable. In its place, the new populists want to bring conservatives together to create a broader coalition, a sort of capitalist worker's party of America. They also have a specific list of objectives. Policy proposals for a second Trump administration Impose a 10% global tariff on all imports. Block American firms from investing in China. Block Chinese firms from access to U.S. capital markets. Impose harsh penalties for employees who fail to comply with immigration laws. Eliminate H-2A and H-2B programs for seasonal and agricultural workers. Award H1-B visas to the highest-paying employers. Create a $100 billion National Development Bank for critical infrastructure. Repeal the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970. Reform corporate bankruptcy to mandate six months severance for all employees and one year's tax liability for local communities. Require private firms hired by public pension funds to publish annual performance data. Impose a financial transaction tax of 10 basis points on secondary market sales of stocks, bonds and derivatives. Ban stock buybacks and eliminate tax deductibility of interest. Source: AmericanCompass.org To be clear, this is not yet the dominant strain of Republican economic thinking in Washington. But it's indisputably on the rise. Bolstered by Trump's success in reshaping the GOP in his own image, the new populism aims to capture the political energy of Kid Rock shooting up cases of Bud Light, and inject that into the dusty corners of macroeconomic thinking. If Trump wins the November election, this new thinking could be felt in every economic decision his second administration makes. It could also upend old alliances, by seeking to return economic power to employees over employers, and to local communities over national elites. Even if Trump is defeated in November, this new approach to economics will likely make a mark on the policy fights coming up next year over unionization, tariffs and whether to preserve the 2017 corporate tax rate cut. Recognizing 'work matters' The neopopulist ideas emerging on the political right are being refined and promoted in Washington by an embryonic network of institutions. Chief among these is the nonprofit think tank American Compass, founded in 2020 by Oren Cass. Cass argues that Republican economic policy has been focused on the wrong goals: lowering prices and increasing consumption. Instead, he says, Republicans need to focus on production and value creation. "The conceptual shift is the recognition that work matters and production matters," Cass told me. "It was absolutely black letter economic doctrine that the point of economic policy was to consume as much as possible. But not all markets are productive markets. And there's nothing that guarantees that the things that optimize profits are things that are socially beneficial." To hear Cass tell it, most of the damage to America's social fabric has been driven by decades of offshoring in the U.S. manufacturing sector. To solve this problem, he and others like him want to see across-the-board tariffs. Bronco SUVs in production at Ford's Michigan Assembly plant, June 14, 2021. Michael Wayland | CNBC Cass is also harshly critical of Wall Street: "The private equity and hedge fund industries do not generate value," he said in our recent interview. "They extract value from the economy." "Three hundred billion dollars in fees for the hedge fund industry is not $300 billion in value," he added. What Cass and the other new conservative economists have in mind is the use of muscular state power something once entirely opposed by conservative politicians to push companies toward a more socially beneficial way of work. "The goal is to make productive activities more attractive and unproductive activities less attractive," Cass said. Cass' approach to the economy could have stark consequences for Wall Street. He envisions a financial transaction tax designed to make trading assets more expensive and decrease what he sees as the financialization of the economy. President Joe Biden also supports a financial transaction tax, as he explained on CNBC during his 2020 campaign. watch now "Spinning assets in circles creates nothing of value, and in fact creates the opposite of value," Cass said. He would also force public pension funds to invest their entire portfolios in U.S. domestic investments. For Cass, tax cuts traditionally the top Republican priority are simply not on the list. "There are times when tax cuts are needed , like in the '70s, sure," Cass said. "But to elevate these things to dogma and say that is always the answer and more is always better is not conservative at all. This old 'thou shalt not raise taxes' is a thing of the past." A 'serious threat' to the GOP None of these ideas are the type of economic thinking that executives on Wall Street or Silicon Valley would expect to hear if there were an incoming Republican administration. "The most charitable thing to call this would be economic populism," said former Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, who left office last year. watch now Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump shakes hands with North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum as Vivek Ramaswamy, left, watches at a campaign rally at The Margate Resort in Laconia, New Hampshire, Jan. 22, 2024. Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images If former President Donald Trump taps North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to be his running mate, the biggest beneficiary of the partnership could be someone else entirely: Harold Hamm, the billionaire founder and executive chairman of shale oil drilling giant Continental Resources, who could end up with two powerful allies in a Trump White House. Burgum's ties to Hamm and the shale oil drilling giant he founded are complex. Continental is the largest oil and gas leaseholder in North Dakota, where oil and gas is the biggest industry by revenue. The two men also have a friendship outside of business: Burgum recently contributed a rave review blurb to Hamm's new memoir. And during his 2023 state of the state address, Burgum compared Hamm favorably to President Theodore Roosevelt, describing Hamm as a person "whose grit, resilience, hard work and determination has changed North Dakota and our nation." But Burgum has an even more personal link to Continental: Burgum's family leases 200 acres of farmland in Williams County to the energy giant for the company to pump oil and gas, according to previously unreported business records and a federal financial disclosure report. Burgum has made up to $50,000 in royalties since late 2022, while he's been governor, from the deal with Continental Resources, according to his financial disclosure, details of which have not been reported. Experts told CNBC that Burgum and his family business likely made thousands more from the agreement with Continental Resources since signing a contract with the company in 2009. This link between Burgum and Continental highlights one of the potential risks for Trump of selecting a running mate who has lived most of his adult life in private. Burgum has never been subjected to the kind of scrutiny that someone like Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has undergone and from which Rubio has emerged politically intact. Burgum endorsed Trump in January, a month after he dropped out of the Republican primary for president. Since then, he has become an advisor to Trump on energy policy and joined a shortlist of contenders to be the former president's running mate. Hamm, meanwhile, is one of Trump's biggest supporters in the industry. Burgum, Hamm and other industry advocates were reportedly at a meeting at Trump's private Florida club, Mar-a-Lago, where the former president called on oil and gas executives to donate $1 billion to his campaign in exchange for his plan to roll back environmental regulations. Hamm is co-hosting an event for Trump that's sponsored by the former president's political action committee, Make America Great Again Inc., on May 22, according to an invitation. Continental Resources donated $1 million to the super PAC in April, according to Federal Election Commission records. Hamm gave $614,000 to the Trump 47 Committee in March. Burgum's oil deal with Continental The original agreement between the Burgum Farm Partnership and Continental Resources was signed by Bradley Burgum, the governor's late brother, according to a land lease reviewed by CNBC. Burgum spokesman Mike Nowatzki told CNBC the contract was drawn up years before the governor was sworn into office in 2017. "North Dakota is a leading energy producer, including the No. 3 oil producing state. Tens of thousands of families and mineral owners have similar arrangements," Nowatzki said. "As the publicly available disclosures show: The cited agreement began many years before he became governor." Nowatzki did not answer specific questions about the deal, Burgum's role with the family business or his relationship with Hamm. A spokeswoman for both Continental Resources and Hamm did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. CNBC obtained Burgum's personal financial disclosure by a request to the Federal Election Commission. His business records were acquired through the North Dakota secretary of state's office. Data from North Dakota's Minerals Department shows that the locations of the oil and gas wells matches the coordinates of Burgum's family farm on his business records. The state's data does not identify Burgum's address, but the area where the farm and seven of Continental Resources wells are located is within a small township named Brooklyn. All seven wells have been active since 2011, just two years after Burgum's family signed an agreement with Continental Resources. The wells produced over 5,000 barrels of oil and thousands of cubic feet in natural gas in March alone, according to the latest data from Drilling Edge. It's unclear how many of the seven wells are located directly on the Burgum property. Burgum was elected governor in 2016 and reelected to a second term in 2020. He's not running for reelection in 2024. The Burgum Farm Partnership LLP, which oversees the family farm land in Williams County and Cass County, is worth between $500,001 and $1 million, according to the financial disclosure. Doug Burgum is a managing partner of the Burgum Farm Partnership, and he signed the businesses' latest annual report in March. Burgum's financial disclosure says the governor is a non-managing member and the company is a "family investment" limited liability partnership. The company's annual report that was filed to the secretary of state's office in April lists Burgum, his late brother's two children, his sister, Barbara, and his own three adult children as managing partners of the family business. The oil and gas land deal says Continental Resources provides the Burgum Farm Partnership 19% of the proceeds from the sales of oil and gas Continental sold after it is pumped from the Burgum property, according to the contract and experts who reviewed the records. "The greater benefit is that the Burgum Farm Partnership does not have to invest any money to drill the wells, collect the hydrocarbons (no pipes, no tanks, no roads)," Edward Hirs, an energy fellow at the University of Houston, said in an email after reviewing the contract. The royalty payments arrive in monthly and quarterly installments, according to the agreement. The sun sets behind a pumpjack during a gusty night in Fort Stockton, Texas, March 24, 2024. Brandon Bell | Getty Images Experts note that landholders leasing their property to oil and gas companies can make thousands of dollars more beyond the royalties in bonuses and other payments. "The company will usually pay the land owner a 'bonus' for signing the lease (usually hundreds or thousands of dollars per acre, depending on how hot the market might be)," said Jack Balagia, an adjunct professor at the University of Texas and former general counsel for Exxon Mobil. Ryan Kellogg, a professor at the University of Chicago who reviewed the contract, said the document does not disclose details of a bonus to the Burgum farm company, except to give a low range of how much was paid. "The up-front bonus payment is not disclosed," Kellogg said. "It's just listed as '$10 and more' where the 'more' is potentially significant. Bonuses are almost never disclosed in leases." The Burgum contract also says that the family business made money from Continental Resources through one initial down payment called "paid-up" on the lease, with no details provided on how much Burgum and his family saw from that part of the agreement. "By paid-up, [we mean] a lease where all cash for the term of the lease is paid upfront, and by a rental form, we mean one with a down payment and rental payments once a year after that," said Ted Borrego, an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center. Burgum drilling contract raises questions Government ethics experts say the new details on Burgum's Continental lease deal underscore the fact that if Burgum were to help implement energy policy in a Trump White House either as his vice president or in a Cabinet position his work could personally benefit the North Dakota governor and his family. "There are potentially significant conflict of interest concerns with respect to Mr. Burgum's oil and gas leases if Trump were to be reelected and Burgum selected to play an administration role" in implementing Trump's energy policies, said Virginia Canter, chief ethics counsel for watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Trump has promised that one of his first acts in office, if he is elected, will be to implement a "drill, baby, drill" energy policy and end delays in federal drilling permits and leases for American oil and natural gas production. "A significant conflict of interest concern would arise, for example, if implementation of these policies would affect the value of Burgum's leased property interests, his oil and gas leases or the royalties he receives from Continental Resources," said Canter. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum encourages voters to support Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in the basement ballroom of The Margate Resort in Laconia, New Hampshire, Jan. 22, 2024. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images Neither of Burgum's two financial disclosures from his successful runs for governor reveal a land deal with Continental Resources. North Dakota requires candidates for state office to disclose only the names of businesses that do not act as their principal source of income. No other details are required to be disclosed. Since Burgum first ran for governor in 2016, he's disclosed to the North Dakota secretary of state's office that he and his wife, Kathryn, have a financial interest in more than a dozen companies, including Burgum Farm Partnership. But those three-page state records do not specify how much of a financial interest they have in these companies nor any money they make from those businesses. A candidate for president or Congress is required to disclose many more details, including a range of income from each of their assets during the previous 12 months. Burgum's federal disclosure report spans 26 pages and reveals scores of closely held LLCs, partnerships and assets. With Burgum's net worth easily in the hundreds of millions, the Continental lease forms only a small part of his income streams. Burgum and Trump aligned on energy Ultimately, it may not matter to Trump whether Burgum has been fully vetted if the governor is the person he wants on his ticket. For Trump, Burgum represents a key ally in the oil and gas business, as the former president looks to raise money from the industry's executives. Dan Eberhart, who runs oil and gas drilling company Canary, said a Trump/Burgum ticket could help to accomplish this. "Choosing Burgum would bring more industry donors to Trump's orbit," Eberhart said in a recent interview. "Nominating Burgum as VP would send a strong signal to the industry that we would have an important voice in a potential Trump administration," he added. President Donald Trump greets Harold Hamm after he was introduced by Hamm at the Shale Insight 2019 Conference in Pittsburgh, Oct. 23, 2019. Leah Millis | Reuters "Various representatives of the Kyiv regime and Zelenskyy himself have been making many statements in recent days, sometimes actually slipping into hysterics. This is due to the extremely unfavorable position of the forces of the Kyiv regime at the fronts," Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said, in comments translated by NBC News. The Kremlin said Tuesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's latest appeal for more Western aid and involvement in the conflict is due to Ukraine's "extremely unfavorable" situation on the battlefield. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov looks on during a visit of CIS heads of state to the Catherine Palace at the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum and Reserve in Saint Petersburg, Russia December 26, 2023. "This is also due to the quite difficult situation in which the Ukrainian military finds itself, despite all the promised help. The] [supplies- are not as regular as hoped for. And most importantly, there is a growing understanding that even if this rhythm of military supplies is restored, this will still not allow the Ukrainian Armed Forces to change the dynamics at the fronts. This understanding is growing and it does not add confidence or balanced judgment to the Kiev regime representatives," he added. Peskov's comments come after Zelenskyy told Reuters Monday that he was trying to get Ukraine's partners more directly involved, asking them to help intercept Russian missiles and to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons against Russian military equipment at the border and targets inside Russian territory. He said he understood they were wary of antagonizing Russia, however. "It's a question of will," Zelenskyy told the news agency. "But everyone says a word that sounds the same in every language: everyone is scared of escalation." Zelenskyy told Reuters that the situation on the front lines had stabilized in the last week, though he conceded that Ukraine's forces had been in a more difficult position after Russia launched a new offensive in the northeast. Holly Ellyatt FRANKFURT - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday that the United States and Europe needed to respond to China's industrial policies in a "strategic and united way" to keep manufacturers viable on both sides of the Atlantic. In remarks on the importance of the U.S.-European alliance in Frankfurt, Yellen said China's excess industrial capacity threatened both American and European firms as well as the industrial development of emerging market countries. "China's industrial policy may seem remote as we sit here in this room, but if we do not respond strategically and in a united way, the viability of businesses in both our countries and around the world could be at risk," she said. Her comments come a week after the Biden administration announced steep new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), solar products, semiconductors, battery parts, steel and other strategic industries. She had warned Chinese officials in April that the U.S. would not accept their excess production of these goods that would flood global markets with cheap exports. Yellen, who received an honorary degree from the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, said the European Union and other countries were taking similar actions to use their own authorities to investigate potential trade remedies for Chinese EVs and other products. Yellen also called for Europe and the U.S. to stand together against Russian aggression and Iranian "support for terrorism", including agreeing on a way to unlock the value of some $300 billion worth of frozen Russian sovereign assets to aid Ukraine. "That's why I believe it's vital and urgent that we collectively find a way forward to unlock the value of Russian sovereign assets immobilized in our jurisdictions for the benefit of Ukraine," Yellen said. "This will be a key topic of conversation during G7 meetings this week." Finance leaders from the Group of Seven industrial democracies are meeting in Stresa, Italy later this week and Yellen is pushing for them to agree on a plan to use the income stream from the frozen Russian sovereign assets to back a larger loan to Ukraine. Are you a current print subscriber to Columbia Gorge News? If so, you qualify for free access to all content on columbiagorgenews.com. Simply verify with your subscriber id to receive free access. Your subscriber id may be found on your bill or mailing label. First lady Kim Keon Hee attended an exhibition by Ukrainian children Tuesday in her third public appearance after she avoided public view for five months following a luxury bag gift scandal. Kim visited the exhibition held at the former presidential compound of Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, marking a rare solo appearance by her. The presidential office said Kim played a role in bringing Ukrainian children's drawings to South Korea after her meeting with Ukraine's first lady, Olena Zelenska, in July 2023 as part of the NATO summit spouses' program in Lithuania. Kim had not been seen in public following a visit to the Netherlands on Dec. 15 until recently, amid allegations she illegally accepted a Christian Dior handbag from a Korean American pastor armed with a hidden camera in 2022. Breaking a five-month hiatus, Kim joined President Yoon Suk Yeol's official luncheon with visiting Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and his wife on Thursday. The presidential office released several photos of her. On Sunday, Kim accompanied Yoon's attendance at a ceremony celebrating the return of rare Buddhist relics from an American museum at a temple in Yangju, some 30 kilometers north of Seoul, with some 4,000 attendees on hand. Her return to public view came after Yoon apologized for his wife's "unwise conduct" during a press conference held to mark the second anniversary of his taking office earlier this month. (Yonhap) By Nam Hyun-woo Leaders of major global powers adopted the Seoul Declaration at the AI Seoul Summit, agreeing to prioritize AI safety, innovation and inclusivity in international AI governance discussions, according to the Korean presidential office, Tuesday. The AI Seoul Summit kicked off its two-day run on Tuesday, with President Yoon Suk Yeol and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak co-hosting an online leaders session. The leaders of the United States, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, Italy, Australia, Singapore, and the European Union, along with representatives from international organizations such as the United Nations and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, joined the session. Participants of the session also included eleven entities from the private sector, including notable names such as Google DeepMind, Samsung Electronics, Naver, Amazon Web Services, OpenAI, and Meta. The AI Seoul Summit follows up on the inaugural event held at Bletchley Park in the United Kingdom last November. Additionally, a ministers' meeting is scheduled to take place in Seoul. Following the leaders' session, participants unanimously adopted a declaration recognizing the interrelated goals of AI safety, innovation, and inclusivity. The declaration aims to address the broad spectrum of opportunities and challenges posed by the design, development, deployment, and use of AI. This year's summit marked a significant advancement from the previous year, with the Seoul Declaration highlighting the global community's increased efforts to identify the risks of AI. It emphasized the importance of interoperability between AI governance frameworks, aligned with a risk-based approach, to maximize benefits and address the broad range of risks associated with AI. The Bletchley Declaration from last year saw participating nations agreeing to prioritize "identifying AI safety risks of shared concern." However, discussions were still in their early stages, and each nation held varying perspectives, preventing a detailed identification of risks at that time. During Tuesday's summit, leaders acknowledged the significance of AI summits and emphasized their value. They also announced plans for countries to convene at the AI Action Summit early next year. If you think the latest generative AI (genAI) tools such as Google AI Overviews and OpenAI GPT-4o will change the world, youre right. They will. But will they change it for the better? Thats another question. Ive been playing with both tools (and other genAI programs, as well). Ive found theyre still prone to hallucinations, but sound more convincing than ever. Thats not a good thing. One of the reasons Im still making a living as a tech journalist is because Im very good at discerning fact from fantasy. Part of that skill set comes from being an excellent researcher. The large language models (LLM) that underpin genAI chatbots, not so much. Today, and for the foreseeable future, at their best, genAI is really just very good at copying and pasting from the work of others. Illustration of woman using phone AI. | (Photo : Image by Pexels from Pixabay) Artificial Intelligence (AI) has played a pivotal role in restoring speech capabilities for individuals facing challenges such as stroke-induced loss of vocal function. Lexi Bogan, a 21-year-old from Rhode Island, found solace in AI-driven assistive technology following her battle with a brain tumor. Bogan's passion for music, often belting out tunes from beloved artists like Taylor Swift and Zach Bryan, defined her teenage years. As an active member of her school's music ensemble, her voice reverberated through auditoriums. In social gatherings, she effortlessly dominated discussions, particularly during spirited political debates around a crackling backyard fire. However, an unforeseen medical diagnosis shattered her vocal harmony. Last August, surgeons successfully excised a tumor nestled in the recesses of her brain. Despite the surgical triumph, the removal of a vital breathing tube left Bogan grappling with speech impediments. While conventional therapies offered some respite, the prospect of fully reclaiming her voice remained uncertain. Interestingly, the emergence of AI applications in vocal rehabilitation gained prominence recently, and this paved the way for the groundbreaking collaboration between Bogan and medical experts. In a significant development last month, Bogan experienced a partial restoration of her voice through the aid of AI technology. Expertly crafted by specialists, a dedicated tool empowered her to utilize a text-to-voice application on her mobile device, enabling her to accomplish tasks like placing orders at Starbucks with newfound independence. Utilizing this application, she inputs text into her phone and presents it to service staff, who then hear the synthesized speech. Harnessing the advanced capabilities of OpenAI's voice tool, programmers meticulously trained the application, leveraging a mere 15-second sound snippet extracted from a cooking video Bogan created during her teenage years. Despite the video predominantly featuring culinary sounds, this snippet served as a sufficient foundation for training the application. Bogan's medical team shows the significance of her case, highlighting the instrumental role of AI in aiding individuals with similar challenges, shedding light on the invaluable potential of AI-driven solutions in healthcare. Dr. Rohaid Ali, a neuroscience trainee at Brown University, hailed Bogan as a "trailblazer" in exploring AI's therapeutic potential. Emphasizing the broader societal impact, Dr. Ali underscored AI's capacity to empower millions grappling with speech impediments, ranging from brain injuries to throat cancer. The ethical dimensions of AI deployment remained a focal point amid the project's inception. While acknowledging potential misuse, Dr. Fatima Mirza stressed the paramountcy of prioritizing patients' welfare. For Bogan, the AI-driven interface served as a poignant reminder of her identity, offering a semblance of her pre-surgery self. "It's almost like a part of my identity was taken when I lost my voice," Bogan shared, per VOA News. Despite occasional glitches, Bogan's family and friends resonated with joy at the resurgence of her voice. Pamela, Bogan's mother, recounted emotional reunions saying, "I get so emotional every time I hear her voice." Looking ahead, Bogan predicts a future where AI advancements redefine assistive technologies, transcending conventional limitations. With ongoing endeavors to expand access, the journey towards universalizing AI-driven solutions holds promise for countless individuals seeking to rediscover their voice. "Even though I don't have my voice fully back, I have something that helps me find my voice again," Bogan said. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's recent trip to Nigeria proved once again that they are genuine advocates of mental health. Earlier this month, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex went on a three-day trip to the African country. Despite being no longer working royals after stepping away from the monarchy four years ago, the couple was greeted warmly and enthusiastically by the Nigerians. As part of their itinerary, Meghan and Harry visited a school in the capital city of Abuja to witness the kick-off of an inaugural mental health summit by GEANCO, a local nonprofit with the mission of saving and transforming lives in Africa every day. Though it is not affiliated with the royal couple's Archewell Foundation, they prepared a big welcoming event for Markle and the royal prince, according to ABC News. Upon Harry and Meghan's arrival, they were serenaded with cheers and dancing by the children. The former then grabbed the opportunity to speak with the students and teachers at the school and tell them the importance of breaking the stigma surrounding mental health. "Hi, everybody. If I say mental health, do you know what it means?" Prince Harry said after his wife told the crowd how he seemed excited to "jump up" after seeing the energy of the crowd. He then quickly continued his speech by pointing out why most mental health issues go unnoticed. "In some cases around the world, in more than you would believe, there is a stigma when it comes to mental health. Too many people don't want to talk about it, 'cause it's invisible. It's something in our mind that we can't see. It's not like a broken leg, it's not like a broken wrist." He continued, "It's something that we are still relatively unsure of. But guess what? Every single person in this room -- the youngest, the oldest, every single person -- has mental health. So therefore, you have to look after yourself to be able to look after other people." "And the more you talk about it, the more you can kick stigma away -- far, far away into long grass -- and then everybody will have the opportunity to be able to share how they're feeling, how they're coping, and then you can help other people." When Harry handed the microphone to his wife, Meghan lauded her husband for speaking the truth. She also reiterated the importance of being mentally healthy and the need to eliminate the stigma surrounding this issue. "You see why I'm married to him? It so inspiring, because he speaks the truth. And I think in the same way that you all, every single day when you think you wanna be healthy, right? Dance, you want to eat food, it's gonna make you healthy. [We] want your mind to be healthy, too," she said, as quoted by Harper's Bazaar. "And that's the way we have to look at this. You know, every single one of you has a story. We all have our story. And there's no shame in any single one of your stories. Even on the hardest days or darkest days, everything is a pillar of your strength by each of you being there." It wasn't the first time for Meghan and Harry to speak about mental health. They also did the same during last year's Project Healthy Minds' World Mental Health Day. At the gathering, the royal couple noted that social media was harming kids' and teens' mental health. By Choe Chong-dae We cherish and feel a profound sense of nostalgia for the friendships cultivated during our elementary, middle and high school days, along with the memories linked to our hometown alma mater. This sentiment often outweighs the significance we attribute to our participation in alumni association gatherings of universities or even prestigious institutions abroad that we attended. The tale of the enduring friendship between the French painters Edouard Manet and Claude Monet exemplifies their deep bond. Beyond their shared passion for art, their relationship was marked by mutual admiration and support. This remarkable friendship blossomed in 19th-century France, where the two luminaries of the Impressionist movement, found inspiration within each other's work. Manet's innovative expression techniques, juxtaposing light and dark, resonated deeply with Monet. Even after Manet's passing, Monet's unwavering gratitude was evident as he championed the preservation of his friend's legacy. When Manet's pivotal nude painting "Olympia," faced the prospect of leaving France, Monet spearheaded a fundraising campaign to acquire and donate the artwork, which is currently housed in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, ensuring his friend's enduring legacy. The inspiring stories of Manet and Monet illustrate the enduring power of true friendship, serving as a testament to the profound impact of genuine companionship. Despite the challenges and changes that life brings, genuine friends recognize and value each other's worth. They offer unwavering support, express gratitude, and preserve each other's legacies. While new experiences may lead to forging new connections, existing friendships remain resilient, standing the test of time and distance. As we navigate the twists and turns of life, may we cherish the bonds of friendship, both old and new. Let us draw inspiration from the deep friendship of Manet and Monet, embracing the meaningful connections that enrich our lives and bring us joy, support, and understanding. The enduring Korea-U.S. alliance, spanning over seven decades since the Korean War, is significant in global geopolitics. Reflecting on former U.S. Representative Henry John Hyde's poignant words on his 2006 visit to the commanding statue of the late U.S. Army General Douglas MacArthur at Freedom Park in Incheon underscores the enduring value of old friendships. Hydes sentiment, encapsulated in the analogy of old friends being akin to gold, resonates deeply with the essence of enduring alliances. In emphasizing the importance of cherishing old friendships amidst the allure of novelty, Hyde's remarks evoke a timeless truth. While new acquaintances may sparkle like silver, old friendships possess an unparalleled richness like gold. General MacArthur's monumental contributions during the Korean War serve as a testament to the unwavering strength and reliability of such enduring alliances. This reflection prompts a broader consideration of human nature's inclination towards novelty and change, juxtaposed with the timeless comfort and stability offered by longstanding relationships. In the dynamic landscape of international relations, where alliances may shift and geopolitical dynamics evolve. The steadfastness of old friendships serves as a beacon of constancy and reassurance. Thus, Hyde's words resonate not only with the historical significance of the Korea-U.S. alliance but also with the enduring value of nurturing and preserving longstanding bonds. Hyde passed away in November 2007 at the age of 83. Korea bid farewell to an esteemed and cherished friend. Although it has been nearly two decades since Hyde's final visit to Korea, he remains esteemed as a true gentleman and is held in high regard by both adversaries and allies alike. As we navigate the complexities of an ever-changing world, let's heed the wisdom captured in Hyde's remarks, cherishing the gold of old friendships amidst the silver allure of the new. Therefore, let us nurture and preserve longstanding bonds amidst the ever-changing landscape of our lives. The solidity of old friendships is forged through enduring countless hardships together. Choe Chong-dae (choecd@naver.com) is a guest columnist of The Korea Times. He is president of Dae-kwang International Co., and founding director of the Korean-Swedish Association. Whenever we sit ourselves down to draft some system of laws, were guaranteed to include some variation of do not kill. Even when this rule is not explicitly laid out, you can assume it still exists, unwritten. Next time your supervisor goes over some new policies and opens the room for questions, ask, Yeah, one quick thing: Are we allowed to kill anyone? Your supervisor will reply, Good question. No, youre not allowed to kill anyone. Thats against the rules. Don't Miss Sometimes, however, the rules also say youre not allowed to save anyone. That goes double if your methods for salvation are slightly unorthodox. Consider how everyone reacted, when... 5 A Dad Used a Gun to Keep the Organ Hunters From His Son In January 2015, Texas Tomball Regional Medical Center figured that George Pickering was dead. His heart was still beating, thanks to life support, but a stroke had sent him into a coma, and they thought he had no brain activity. Staff prepared to pull the plug on the 27-year-old. They informed an organ donation center that they were about to receive some delicious new organs from a freshly deceased individual. The patients father, also named George Pickering, didnt support this course of action. So, he left the hospital for a bit and returned with a 9 mm handgun. Ill kill all of you! he said, keeping anyone from initiating the fatal procedure known as a terminal wean. This dad was soon disarmed by a second son of his, the only person hed allow to get close enough to him. This did not stop him. I was in the Boy Scouts, you think I only have one gun? he screamed. HBO Here he is depicted in the HBO docudrama The Last of Us. That was a very confusing question, as Boy Scouts arent known for carrying multiple firearms and are instead most known for being courteous and kind. In fact, to understand any of the mans actions that day, you need to know that he was drunk at the time. Still, the threat was sufficient to force an hours-long standoff with police. During this time, the patient who was supposedly braindead squeezed his fathers hand. This was enough to convince the rapacious docs that they needed to reverse course and maintain life-sustaining care. Police arrested the dad, who spent the remainder of the year in jail, for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. But the son went on to wake up and recovered completely, so theres a lesson here about how death panels should hesitate before issuing their sentences. Advertisement The other lesson here, of course, is dont bring a scalpel to a gunfight. 4 Someone Broke an Evacuation Order to Save Dogs and Cats A wildfire burned through Alberta in 2016, destroying 2,000 buildings. The government ordered an evacuation, and 88,000 people left. For many of these families, that meant leaving their pets behind. Lee Ellis delayed leaving, and a friend asked him to check on their cat. Ellis did so, then he heard some dogs barking in a nearby yard and checked on them, too. When he posted about these animals online, others asked him to look in on their animals as well, including fish, birds and bunnies. They sent him their door codes so he could enter their houses and told him where they stored the pet food. During his quest, Ellis had to avoid the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who ultimately did catch him and forced him to the evacuation point. Lee Ellis This is when an army of dogs and rabbits should have arrived to free him. By the way, when evacuees are forced to leave pets behind, thats a bad rule. Its fails at the very thing it tries to accomplish (a speedy, orderly human evacuation) because it discourages people from evacuating. We discovered this during Hurricane Katrina, and the U.S. government responded by passing the Pet Evacuation & Transportation Standards (PETS) Act, which takes pets into account during disaster operations. Advertisement Advertisement The Bush administration may have had its flaws, but it was amazing at passing acts that cleverly used acronyms. 3 The Man Who Spared the Bears Speaking of saving animals, and of U.S. presidents, youve all heard the story about Teddy Roosevelt sparing a bear, right, the incident that led to the concept of teddy bears? That story isnt quite true Roosevelt actually ordered the bear killed, and then ate it but it speaks to our general understanding that sometimes, its honorable to spare a bear. In 2015, Bryce Casavant from the British Columbia Ministry of Environment was ordered to kill a black bear whod been spotted rifling through an outdoor meat freezer. Rules say officers have to kill such bears, because when a bear acquires a taste for human food, theres no turning back. Casavant followed through on the order. The bear also had two cubs. The order said they had to die as well, and here, Casavant drew the line. Advertisement Florida Fish and Wildlife Lets assume the cubs were as cute as these ones. Instead, he took the cubs to a vet, who took them to an animal rescue center, who ultimately judged that they could be safely released back into the wild. For this, the ministry fired Casavant. The man spent the next five years contesting the firing, and a court ultimately vindicated him. Casavant had previously served in Afghanistan and had some strong views about when someone should refuse to follow an order. Its possible that even the policy of killing the mother bear was misguided. Not all bears pose a danger. A polar bear will rip your head off, but a black bear may just give you a friendly nod and continue on its way. In fact... Hold on, our lawyers have just informed us that we must tell you to exercise caution around bears of any sort, and to never give a bear a high-five. Advertisement Advertisement 2 A Lifeguard Got Fired for Guarding a Life In 2003, Hallandale Beach in Florida decided it needed to save money on lifeguards. It now contracted the job out to a private company, whod staff the beach with four lifeguards for less than the city otherwise paid. Some years later, this company fired one of their guards for assisting with a rescue. The issue, said the company, was that the drowning man was swimming outside lifeguard Tomas Lopezs assigned zone. More specifically, the drowning man, whose name has been kept private, possibly because hes a spy, was swimming in an area designated as unprotected, so if he ran into some trouble out there, that was his own fault. Advertisement Hugh Millward As the official lifeguard motto puts it, If he dies, he dies. The real issue, said the company, was that by leaving his own zone to go save the life of someone a little south of there, Lopez had left his own area unattended, which opened the company up to all kinds of liability. But no swimmers in Lopezs own area actually did need any help during his time away. The other lifeguards assigned to the beach naturally sided with Lopez. What was he supposed to do? said one. Watch a man drown? Two of them quit in protest. This was on the eve of Fourth of July, potentially leaving the entire beach vulnerable to a visit by Jaws. The company relented and offered Lopez his job back. He turned them down, figuring that maybe working for 58 cents above minimum wage wasnt really the best use of his time. Advertisement Advertisement George Costanza came up with a number of dodgy schemes over the course of Seinfeld from attempting to drug his former boss, to creating a fake charity at Christmas Time, to dating his own cousin just to annoy his parents. What did Marisa Tomei ever see in this guy? So perhaps it was only a matter of time before one of Georges lies inspired a real-life crook. Last week, a New Yorker named Thomas Sfraga pleaded guilty to wire fraud, after having convinced people to invest in a cryptocurrency that was really a scam like, even more of a scam than a regular cryptocurrency. Using the crypto influencer personality of T.J. Stone (A-plus name choice, by the way), Sfraga reportedly swindled more than $1.3 million from friends, neighbors and investors. He even appeared on podcasts and emceed cryptocurrency events in New York. Don't Miss In addition to the fictional crypto, T.J. also convinced his marks to invest in bogus real estate projects by masquerading as the owner of multiple businesses including Build Strong Homes LLC and Vandelay Contracting Corp. Yup, apparently Vandelay Industries has expanded beyond latex manufacturing. Advertisement The fact that Sfraga used the name of George Costanzas fake company, which he invented purely to get a positive employment reference from his former boss Jerry, didnt go unnoticed by prosecutors. Brooklyn U.S. Attorneys Office specifically noted in their press release that in the television show Seinfeld, the character George Costanza falsely claimed to have interviewed for a job with the fictional company Vandelay Industries. Advertisement The office stopped short of commenting on whether or not the defendant was master of his domain. Advertisement Sfraga promised his victims investment returns as high as 60 percent in three months but then kept the money for himself, using it to to pay expenses, and to pay earlier victims and business associates. Come to think of it, creating an elaborate lie in order to try and smooth over the consequences from a previous elaborate lie does seem like a very Costanza-esque move. It also seems pretty risky to name your fake company after one of pop-cultures most famous fake companies. This guy may as well have pretended to be the head of the Bluth Company or McDuck Enterprises, or faked being the CEO of the Mr. Sparkle detergent empire. And its not like the name Vandelay was only used in one Seinfeld episode, George often referenced Art Vandelay, who began as a fictional importer-exporter, created so that Jerry would have an excuse to run into a woman hed met at a party. And, of course, Art Vandelay was also the name of the judge in the Seinfeld finale. Since Sfraga is facing a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, he and George may end up sharing a similar fate. Advertisement Advertisement You (yes, you) should follow JM on Twitter (if it still exists by the time youre reading this). Daniel Curry says Knoxville, Eric Andre and Prank Panel producers pressured him into staying silent about an attack that left him with a broken leg On every Jackass project, its assumed that the entire cast and crew are willing to put their bodies in harms way for the bit. But according to a new lawsuit, Johnny Knoxville took that spirit of assumed consent into his other projects along with one of the tasers. On Friday, The Wrap reported that screenwriter and producer Daniel Curry, who served as a segment producer and creative consultant on the ABC reality comedy series The Prank Panel starring Knoxville, is suing Knoxville for $3 million over an attack that occurred on the set of the series. According to Curry, less than a week into his tenure on Prank Panel, Knoxville accosted him with a taser and chased him around the production lot, eventually stunning Curry with the weapon while he was at a full run and causing him to crash to the pavement and break his fibula and tear an ankle ligament. Curry further accused Knoxville of workplace harassment and cited Prank Panel production companies ITV America and Jimmy Kimmels Kimmelot in the filing. Curry, a former writing partner of Eric Andre, who served as second lead on The Prank Panel, alleges that his bosses falsified the incident report following the attack, and, in the aftermath, Knoxville and Andre both pressured him to keep quiet about the incident under threat of being blackballed. Don't Miss Im pretty sure that term is also one of Knoxvilles diagnoses following Jackass Forever. On The Prank Panel, Knoxville, Andre, and Precious star Gabourey Sidibe field pitches for potential pranks from members of the public who want to terrorize a friend or loved one with the full production budget of an ABC reality series. In the inaugural episode, Knoxville helped the husband of a professional wedding officiant trick his wife into thinking that she married a brother and sister and would lose her license. Presumably, Knoxville will also help that man pull off an epic joke during his divorce proceedings. Advertisement Advertisement Currys case isnt the first time Knoxvilles supposed bad behavior has caused issues for the production of The Prank Panel before Andre allegedly abandoned his creative partner and participated in retributive harassment of Curry, Andre quit The Prank Panel multiple times after Knoxvilles pranks of his co-star continuously crossed the line. Additionally, handyman Khalil Khan also sued Knoxville for emotional distress after he was targeted for a prank during the shows production in 2022. In the unaired sketch, Khan went out on a job where actors threatened to assault him, had his car towed and said they would frame him for cocaine possession if he tried to call the police. Khan later dropped the suit. Advertisement Now, Knoxville, Andre, ITV America and Kimmelot stand accused of attempting to silence the victim of a particularly injurious on-set prank and ruining Currys reputation in the industry after he refused to endorse the official explanation that he simply suffered a rolled ankle after Knoxville attacked him with a taser. Curry is seeking $950,000 in compensatory and general damages, $300,000 in special and incidental damages and $1,750,000 for past and future earning loss. What has got the Woke crowd all hot and bothered now? Its Harrison Butkers controversial commencement speech, says Bill Maher on the latest episode of Real Time. But really, Maher wants to know, whats the big deal? After going to great pains to explain that he has little in common with the pro-family, pro-Christian Kansas City Chief, Maher expressed bewilderment at how anyone could have a problem with the placekickers recent remarks at Benedictine College. I dont get the thing he said, talking to women, Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, Maher said before giving Butker the thumbs up. OK, that seems fairly modern. Maher quoted Butker once again. But I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world. Well, maybe a bunch of those lady grads are excited about starting a family, says Maher. I dont see what the big crime is, I really dont. Don't Miss Its just another example of the Left going bonkers, Maher claims. (Butker) is saying some of you may go on to successful careers, but a lot of you are excited about this other way that people, everybody used to be and now can. Cant that just be a choice too? Of course family can be a choice. Does the disingenuous Maher believe family is what the criticism is about? The comic who complains about Americas inability to grasp nuance has cherrypicked a couple of Butkers least offensive lines, then asked Whats the big deal? Thats a simple exercise. Look, I can do it too! I would like to start off by congratulating all of you for successfully making it to this achievement today, Butker said. What a guy! Congratulating the graduates wheres the big crime? For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment. You should be proud of all that you have achieved to this point in your young lives. Hey, Butker is a pro-woman progressive! Why is the Left kicking him around? Advertisement Wheres the big crime, Maher wants to know? Just a reminder that Butker also told the graduates: President Biden fuels degenerate cultural values by supporting abortion rights or as Butker calls it, the murder of innocent babies. Pride events that support the LGBTQ+ community constitute deadly sin, while woke leaders are pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America. Women who pursue those successful careers are just buying into the most diabolical lies told to you. None of this is a crime, but its also not fairly modern. Its hard to know whats worse Butker telling women to stay home and have babies or Maher pretending that he doesnt know what all the fuss is about. The Emmys have the chance to do the funniest (and dumbest) thing ever with this years nominations Curb Your Enthusiasm has submitted the late, great Richard Lewis to be nominated in the category of Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards for the first time in his career. But if the event is directed by Robert B. Weide, well only be celebrating Bruce Springsteens EGOT come September. Yesterday, Larry Davids legendary sitcom submitted its final list of prospective Emmy nominees with a whopping 35 suggestions to add to this years ballot. Curb Your Enthusiasm probably wont manage to get every candidate into the voting pool and add the honor of Emmy nominee (or, possibly, Emmy-winner) to so many creatives Wikipedia pages, but given the gravity of the critically acclaimed sitcom making its final attempt at awards gold for its important players, you can anticipate that many such artists will have their names read at this years ceremony. Don't Miss Naturally, Curb nominated itself for Outstanding Comedy Series, and David will attempt to compete in the crowded Lead Actor in a Comedy Series category. Along with Lewis, Curb submitted longtime series regulars Jeff Garlin and J.B. Smoove for Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. But by far the funniest outcome of the campaign would be for Curb to bring home just a single statuette for Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, with the honor going to The Boss for playing himself in three episodes over the final season. New Jersey could beat New York for once. Despite having accrued 52 separate Emmy nominations over the course of 12 seasons, Curb Your Enthusiasm has won just two awards at TVs most prestigious ceremony, winning for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for A Comedy Series at the 2012 Emmys for the all-time classic episode Palestinian Chicken and Outstanding Directing for A Comedy Series in 2003. Lewis, however, has been left out of even just the nominations every single year he has appeared on the show. Advertisement Now, its worth noting that the Emmys are notoriously terrible at recognizing incredible talent in TV comedy for instance, Steve Carell never won an award for playing Michael Scott on The Office, and the entirety of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia has just three nominations in its entire 16-season run, all for stunt coordination for some strange reason. But when the Emmys announce the nominations for this years ceremony, they have the opportunity to demonstrate their stupidity in the funniest possible way by choosing The Boss over one of the best scene partners David ever had. Springsteen has already been nominated for three Emmys in different variety special categories, and when the Emmys considers him for this years ballot for Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, hell be evaluated alongside other Curb cameos like Steve Buscemi, Ted Danson, Saverio Guerra, Sean Hayes, Greg Kinnear, Conan OBrien, Jerry Seinfeld and Vince Vaughn. Advertisement While Springsteen and Lewis are prospects for separate categories, the non-zero possibility that Springsteen gets a nod and the late legend Lewis doesnt is so dumb and so plausible that the stage could very well be set for Lewis last great Curb gag. By Trudy Rubin Watching Benjamin Netanyahu blunder into Rafah with no plan for "the day after" is like watching a Greek tragedy whose end is foreseen but can no longer be blocked. Netanyahu's push into the city at Gaza's southern edge with no strategy for an endgame will force Israeli troops to reoccupy the entire strip. It will ensure Hamas' political and military survival, and trap Israeli troops in an unending insurgency. It will probably doom most of the remaining Israeli hostages. It may also doom thousands more Palestinian civilians, including children. Worst of all, it will hand both Hamas terrorists and Israeli extremists a devastating win that will continue to wreak havoc on the Palestinian people and on the Jewish state. Netanyahu's focus on total victory over Hamas blindly mistakes the Gaza war for a conventional 20th-century land war that can be ended solely by military means. He falsely compares Israel to the Allied forces that defeated Adolf Hitler in World War II. Supposed allies of Israel such as GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham encourage Netanyahu's delusions when they cite the nuclear strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a template for bombing Gaza. Not only is such talk morally repugnant, but it shows zero grasp of how to defeat Hamas. President Joe Biden was absolutely correct to ban a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs that can wipe out whole neighborhoods in pursuit of a single Hamas commander. Such actions only increase support for Hamas globally and in the Arab world (even in moderate Arab states whose leaders despise Hamas). The Gaza war is a nontraditional struggle with an unconventional force Hamas that is fighting a guerilla war from underground tunnels. The civilian population of two million is trapped in a territory no bigger than Philadelphia, with no possibility to escape. Yes, Hamas uses civilians as a shield, but Israel's indifference to civilian casualties plays into the terror group's hands. The proper military comparison for the Gaza war is the situation the United States faced in Afghanistan after 9/11 or what Israel faced in Lebanon after 1983. Both countries got mired for years in trying to defeat an insurgency. In both cases, the military alone couldn't win because there was no concurrent political strategy to isolate the Islamist militias. Continued military attacks further alienated civilians. Smashing into Rafah, to which half the Gazan population has fled, won't destroy Hamas many of its leaders and fighters will survive in tunnels or houses, blend into the remaining population, or even escape to Sinai. Israeli bombs will doom many of the hostages who are still alive. After tens of thousands more Palestinian civilian deaths, even Gazans angered at Hamas for their plight will adopt its ideology of a one-state Palestinian solution minus Israel. A continued insurgency will bubble under the surface and expand into the West Bank. Israel will be trapped in Gaza, endlessly trying to crush insurgents. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant gets it. He has publicly protested his government's lack of a Gaza endgame, telling a news conference last week that he wouldn't allow the establishment of military rule in the Gaza Strip. "(Netanyahu's) not taking a decision on a 'day after strategy' is tantamount to a dangerous decision to install Israeli military and civil rule in the Gaza Strip," Gallant said. "The end of the military campaign must be a political act," he warned. "The day after Hamas will only be achieved through the rule of Palestinian elements that form an alternative to Hamas. Above all, this is an Israeli interest. Unfortunately, no such plan has been brought for debate." In other words, the only way to doom Hamas is to provide Palestinians with an alternative option that separates civilians from Hamas fighters. That would leave Hamas politically and physically exposed. The Biden administration, along with moderate Gulf Arab states, has put forward the only plausible alternative: plans that would involve a possible Arab peacekeeping force, along with Arab and international funding to rebuild from Israeli bombing. But such plans were contingent on two steps by Israel the first being putting a stop to the reckless killing of civilians. Had Netanyahu thought strategically, he would have made every effort to establish real safe zones for civilians with water and sanitation that would have separated noncombatants from fighters. This strategy would have given Israel more time and more leeway to destroy Hamas terrorists in tunnels and aboveground. Instead, Israel let vengeance rule, bombing indiscriminately and blocking aid. After the horrors of Hamas' Oct. 7 rampage, this may be understandable from an emotional standpoint, but was strategically stupid and morally ugly. Even today, after Israel has closed almost all entry points of humanitarian aid to Gaza, Netanyahu permits followers of his right-wing political allies to block the few food shipments still headed there via Israeli roads. Second, the Biden plan is contingent on Israel facilitating the return to Gaza of rule by a rejuvenated Palestinian Authority, or PA, the governing body that exercises partial control over the West Bank. The PA's return depends, in turn, on Israel endorsing a political path forward toward the end of occupation, a path that ultimately would lead to a two-state solution. Yet, Netanyahu has vehemently opposed any role for the PA. He has fantasized that apolitical Palestinians or tribal leaders will somehow emerge to run daily life in Gaza, and Israeli forces will continue to police Gaza, which will be "demilitarized" and "de-radicalized." Israel will be left ruling over the ruins of Gaza. That is a pipe dream, as Hamas will survive in the wings, and no tribal leaders will help Israel maintain a military occupation. Moreover, with most of Gaza's housing destroyed or broken, the majority of Palestinians will be living in rubble, unable to function or feed themselves. Israel will be left ruling over the ruins. Moderate Arab states will not finance the rebuilding of the strip if the war there continues; no international force will police those ruins. Continued Israeli military occupation of Gaza will seriously undermine Israel's peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, and prevent any future normalization with Saudi Arabia. It will alienate large segments of the public in Europe and the United States, and make the country an international pariah. It will undercut one of Israel's closest friends ever, who tried and failed to force Israel's leaders to face reality: President Biden. It may be too late to reverse Netanyahu's self-defeating course, even with more U.S. pressure. Yet, the road he has chosen in order to retain power and avoid jail time for corruption will keep Hamas alive and intimidate any nascent opposition. It will cause too many more Israelis and Palestinians to die. Trudy Rubin is a columnist and editorial-board member for the The Philadelphia Inquirer. Readers may write to her at: Philadelphia Inquirer, P.O. Box 8263, Philadelphia, Pa. 19101, or by email at trubin@phillynews.com. This article was distributed by Tribune Content Agency. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images Earlier this week, Elvis Presleys granddaughter Riley Keough sued to block a foreclosure sale of Graceland, CNN has reported. According to Keoughs suit, documents that purport to show the Memphis home was collateral for a loan taken out by Lisa Marie Presley, Elviss sole heir and Keoughs mother, are fraudulent: Lisa Marie Presley never borrowed money from Naussany Investments and never gave a deed of trust encumbering Graceland as security. The foreclosure sale, which has been temporarily halted, was scheduled for later this week and appears to be a case of deed theft, with an LLC named Naussany Investments & Private Lending attempting to take advantage of Lisa Maries death early last year. Older homeowners are often the targets of deed theft but generally not celebrity homeowners with lawyers on retainer. The swindle frequently involves someone promising to pay off the mortgage in exchange for the owner signing over the house at a fire-sale price. (The people behind this type of fraud tend to go after older homeowners of color, often in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods, who may be house rich but cash poor.) As soon as documents are signed and the deed is filed with the city, the buyer disappears and the owner is left with their debt but no house. Some scammers take a more direct route, filing forged documents directly with the city and banking on the fact that no one will notice until its too late. As CNN reported, last year an LLC (Naussany Investments & Private Lending) presented documents purporting to show that Lisa Marie Presley had borrowed $3.8 million from Naussany Investments using Graceland as security. But Keoughs lawyers claim the documents are fraudulent, that Lisa Marie never borrowed the money or put the famous home up as collateral. Theres a lot more at stake than $3.8 million: Graceland is the second-most-visited home in the U.S. after the White House and makes up a big chunk of Elviss estate, which is said to be worth hundreds of millions. Lisa Maries 2022 divorce filings show she earned seven figures from it annually. A Florida notary whose name is on the loan paperwork said she never met Lisa Marie Presley nor notarized any document for her, according to court documents cited by the news site, which was not able to contact the company. An email message to the LLC received an auto-reply that no one would be in the office for the next week, the phone number was out of service, and the state of Missouri, where Nassany is allegedly located, has no record of such a business. Keoughs lawyers claim the company doesnt exist. Elvis Presley Enterprises, which manages the Presley estate, also called the foreclosure a con. Elvis Presley Enterprises can confirm that these claims are fraudulent, the company said in a statement to CNN. There is no foreclosure sale. Simply put, the counter lawsuit that has been filed is to stop the fraud. Deed theft is reportedly on the rise, with its practitioners, often LLCs that are difficult to prosecute, growing increasingly brazen. A few years ago, The New York Times reported on a landlord who had built a real-estate empire by allegedly stealing at least 17 properties, according to prosecutors and homeowners (he even collected rent money from city agencies at several of them, through housing-subsidy programs). More recently, a grifter managed to briefly take possession of the New Yorker Hotel in midtown. After staying a night in the hotel, he used an obscure housing law and a court judgment in his favor to convince the citys finance department to transfer the deed to his name. But the attempt to seize Graceland may be the ballsiest, highest-profile attempt so far. If only everyone had the Elvis estates lawyers on their side. Photo-Illustration: Curbed; Photos: Courtesy of the artist and Jonald Dudd In his essay Its Hard to Find a Good Lamp, Donald Judd wrote, If a chair or a building is not functional, if it appears to be only art, it is ridiculous. The art of a chair is not its resemblance to art, but is partly its reasonableness, usefulness, and scale as a chair. What he would make of Jonalddudd, New York Design Weeks longest-running independent exhibition, is a wide-open question considering the consistently surprising, sometimes outlandish furniture on display. This year, the sixth edition took place in a vacated luxury sex store in Soho, where co-founder Chris Held of Nice Condo, a bespoke-furniture design studio, and guest curator Charles Constantine of Bestcase, a New Yorkbased design manufacturer, presented 30 works against a backdrop of floor-to-ceiling mahogany cabinetry and shelving. As in previous iterations, each of the works was selected via an open call, and the only thing they have in common is that they have nothing in common. We aspire to be objective, says Held, and for him this also means selecting pieces that are not market-focused. The works, made predominantly by student and emerging designers, ooze, tilt, and stutter in unexpected ways. Here, some of the standouts. Astraeus Clarkes Ruth Table Lamp Ruth Table Lamp, by Astraeus Clarke, made of steel and cord. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Jonald Dudd/CHELSIESTARLEY.COM Partners in business and life, Chelsie and Jacob Starley are Astraeus Clarke, a creative studio conceived in Utah and launched one year ago when they moved to New York. The newly established studio quickly captured peoples attention with its playful and sculptural lighting of wood and steel. I nearly missed the Ruth lamp, its small scale somewhat hidden by the flashier work around it. But looking closer, its easy to appreciate the contrasts: A fringe of brown cord skirts along sharp steel edges; the decorative pageantry of beaded fringe and exposed stitching meets a utilitarian steel base and curved shade. Ruth is a tabletop homage to the first rodeo queen in Jacobs hometown: his great-aunt Ruth, who is now retired at 100. With a team led by Chelsie and Jacob, each of their works is hand-manufactured in Brooklyn. This is their second year exhibiting at New York Design Week. Aydan Huseynlis Bird Chair Aydan Huseynlis Bird Chair, made of fiberglass, Bondo resin, Solarez, oil pastel, red thread, and rebar. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Jonald Dudd Presently in their fourth year of study in furniture design at Rhode Island School of Design, Aydan Huseynli previously exhibited at ICFF + WantedDesign and has interned with ceramicist Katie Stout and artist Minjae Kim. The work they show here is similarly tactile. Perched on a wooden platform, Huseynlis fiberglass Bird Chair is a chair you want to interact with (or recoil from), shiny, bumpy, wax-colored, practically alive. The Azerbaijani Canadian artist creates objects that reflect on their heritage; their previous work which includes foam brick houses lit from within and an old television made of cast glass resembles archaeological artifacts. Dotan Appelbaums Apple Chair Dotan Appelbaums Apple, made primarily out of wood veneers, walnut, plywood, and brackets. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Jonald Dudd/August Ostrow Dotan Appelbaums Apple chair is intended to be ridiculous, the furniture designer tells me. A maple-wood core is sliced into four segments, red-edged on all sides like an apple peel. As a supersize fruit replica, Apple offers a simple pleasure. Fitted together with inlays, the apple can easily slide apart. With one month left studying at Rhode Island, Appelbaum intends to continue his explorations in wood. His work has been shown across Connecticut and Rhode Island. Chris Beestons The Seven Factors of Awakening Chris Beestons The Seven Factors of Awakening, composed of MDF, Arduino, PLA 3-D-printed parts, LED strips, carbon fiber, cubic zirconia, and electronics. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Jonald Dudd To truly absorb Chris Beestons intricate sculptural assemblage, you must stop and bend down to examine its small-scale details. Is it a bomb? A totem? A toy microchip? The mysterious four-faced lamp is a clear artifact of Beestons practice, which is inextricable from his hobbies: repairing broken electronics, collecting sheet metal, and reading sci-fi. With his work, he intends to transcend and elevate even the most mundane of items, 99-cent-store Tupperware and iPod Classics among them. Beeston is represented by Patrick Parrish, and his work has been shown with Fisher Parrish Gallery, Colette, and the Hole. Estelle Bourdets La Cordee 1652 Weaving Estelle Bourdets La Cordee 1652, made of upcycled climbing rope and cotton. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Jonald Dudd Estelle Bourdet weaves some order into the room with her textile wallwork, which upcycles climbing rope in stripes of soft pinks and greens that ends in a scalloped border. Bourdets practice is focused on textiles, and she handweaves her one-off pieces from upcycled materials. Her work La Cordee 1652 was produced with support from the Stichting Ikea Foundation and was a finalist at the 2023 Swiss Design Awards. Bourdet has exhibited in solo and group shows across Europe, Berlin, Stockholm, and Basel, among others. Mia Ziyan Wangs Dining Chair Mia Ziyan Wangs Indigo As Language Dining Chair, made of mild steel, cotton, indigo, and turmeric. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Jonald Dudd The steel frame of Mia Ziyan Wangs Indigo As Language dining chair looks unassuming and straightforward from the side, but head-on its material and color palette offer a surprising twist. The chair, draped in blue-and-orange cotton, calls on traditional Chinese techniques of indigo-dyeing but is given a contemporary form with a structure of lined steel rods. It was while visiting her fathers hometown, Henan, that Wang discovered the processes of indigo and natural dyeing and a family history of running an indigo-dye business. Wangs designs have been commissioned for clients such as Swarovski and presented at Salone del Mobile in Milan and the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. Katharine.NFs Side Piece Wall Hanging Katharine.NFs Side Piece, made of horsehair, resin, cord, bedsheet, Celastic, leather, and chain. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Jonald Dudd The Side Piece, which looks like a decorative wall tassel, is just here to have fun. It serves no function, and it knows it. Kate Ferguson, who is behind the design-art project Katharine.NF, will tell you as much. Side Piece marries the aesthetically pleasing features of interior-design trends e.g., pops of color, familiar patterns, and high shine with the unnerving: a horse tails worth of blonde hair, chunky resin, leather, and silver chain links. Side Piece is a long-haired trophy of the exhibits ethos: to platform outlandish and creative works untethered to function or commercial gain. All the works listed are available for sale on Jonalddudds website. Dialogue needed to end medical crisis immediately An appellate court's decision last week strongly advanced the government's plan to increase the number of doctors by rejecting an injunction aimed at halting the expansion of the medical school enrollment quota. The decision offers a potential resolution to the three-month-long standoff that began with the walkout of junior doctors. Unlike the lower court, the Seoul High Court's ruling demonstrates a thorough consideration of all facets of the crisis. The court acknowledged that halting the government's plan to increase the enrollment quota would significantly impact public welfare, while also recognizing that the medical students, as eligible petitioners, would face disruptions in their education. The injunction was filed by a group composed of medical school professors, trainee doctors and physicians, questioning the necessity of the government's push to add an extra 2,000 seats annually for five years as of 2025 from the current 3,058 seats. The medical community should acknowledge the court's ruling and start working to bring back the junior doctors and others to the overstretched hospitals. However, the medical community has vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court. Instead of digging trenches, it is imperative for both the government and the medical community to honor the court's decision and resume dialogue, recognizing that realistic alternatives are currently lacking. The past three-month standoff has shed light on many sides of Korea's medical sector. The overreliance on junior doctors at major hospitals, the lack of essential field practitioners such as pediatricians, emergency treatment and an aging population that needs more doctors. What we have learned is that the medical community is the most powerful group of workers, in terms of collective action. More than 12,000 junior doctors have walked out since Feb. 20. In the process, patients and all doctors, including those who participated in the walkout, are undoubtedly suffering. Neighboring nations are closely watching how the government and the medical community navigate this crisis and restore top-tier medical services. Particularly noteworthy is the government's indication of recruiting foreign-licensed doctors through a stringent vetting process. The latest statistics offer a glimmer of hope. Last week, the Ministry of Health and Welfare reported that over 67.5 percent of fellow doctors those who completed training and are on the path to becoming medical school teachers have registered at the nation's 100 training hospitals. This marks a twofold increase from the 33.6 percent recorded in late February. However, the number of returning junior doctors remains minimal, still in the single digits so far. Time is of the essence. The situation demands an attempt to find a speedy exit from the stalemate toward a resolution. Recent polls indicate that a significant majority of Koreans, standing at 72.4 percent, support the quota hike and other medical reforms, recognizing their importance as Korea's population continues to age. The government urged universities to swiftly finalize plans for the academic year 2025, providing clarity for applicants. It's crucial for junior doctors to return promptly to qualify for the fellowship test scheduled for this year. Criticism against the court ruling and accusations verging on personal attacks won't help the situation. In particular, Lim Hyun-taek, the new president of the Korean Medical Association, should avoid making accusations that the judge in the case may have been influenced by offers of a Supreme Court bench job. Both the government and the medical community must take decisive action and engage in innovative consultation, such as negotiating from a blank slate for the 2026 academic year. The Seoul High Court highlighted that the government's commitment to increasing the quota by an "extra 2,000 seats" was not adequately substantiated. Allowing this medical crisis to persist is likely to accelerate its consequences, which will not dissipate easily. By Song Kyung-jin The inaugural Korea-Africa Summit in Seoul on June 4-5 is barely two weeks away. I hail the launch of the bilateral partnership at the summit level. The Korea-Africa Summit is expected to be attended by representatives from 54 African countries, making it the largest Africa summit ever hosted by any country. It will also become the largest international gathering under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration. Of course, the sheer number of attendees does not always justify the importance or value of the gathering. The rapid population growth and significant potential of Africa provide ample justification for the inaugural Korea-Africa Summit. Africa is home to 1.3 billion people, which is forecast to account for a quarter of the worlds population by 2050. More importantly, a third of its population will be young, aged between 15 and 24. It certainly is an envy of an aging country like Korea. Africa boasts the largest free trade area by the number of member states, following the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement in 2018. Africa also possesses 30 percent of the global critical minerals essential for the global response to climate change, energy transition, and the restructuring of industrial processes. So, it is no coincidence that the G20 leaders in New Delhi in September 2023 agreed to give the African Union (AU) a permanent member status at the G20, second only to the European Union. Korea is credited with bringing development into the G20 agenda during its presidency in 2010, endeavoring to bridge the gap between the developing and developed world. It eventually evolved into the Global South at the G20 Summit in New Delhi last year. Koreas development agenda departed from the previous development assistance, which was often characterized by charity-like aid, toward a "learn-how-to-fish" approach to sustainable development assistance. For instance, simply purchasing hundreds and thousands of computers for development partners will yield only ephemeral results if the assistance is not accompanied by training individuals who can manage their use, maintain them, and provide educational support. In development cooperation, sustainability is achieved through human resources development and capacity building. I've always believed that Korea has a noble cause and mission to share its unique achievements in industrialization and democratization with development partners. Koreas experience is difficult to replicate in today's context, and it may not even be adequate given the changing times. However, lessons from its experience of both successes and failures can still provide useful insights such as the importance of political leadership, right policies, education, land reform and innovation. Africa is Koreas major Official Development Assistance (ODA) partner. Given this, Korea is set to double its ODA to Africa by 2030. Korea is also committed to increasing the quality and efficacy of its partnership with Africa. Thus, it is imperative to provide tailored support to meet the needs and conditions of each African partner country. Equally important is conducting evaluations after the completion of each cooperation project to assess its effectiveness and glean lessons for improved future collaboration. A more balanced evaluation will require the involvement of credible international donor organizations and multilateral development institutions like the World Bank and the African Development Bank. By doing so, Korea can effectively multilateralize its development cooperation efforts and broaden the scope and range of issues addressed through collaboration. The Korean government plans to present seven priority areas of cooperation to the African partners in the summit, mainly in trade and investment; food security, global supply chains, climate change, and public health; energy and infrastructure; human resources development; technology and digital transformation; mutual understanding and people-to-people exchanges; and peace and security. The seven priority areas are all symbiotically and organically intertwined for successful development cooperation. Take, for instance, food security cooperation, such as the K-Rice Belt initiative. It has been successful in mostly West African countries and the Korean government has signed a memorandum of understanding with 10 nations in the region. K-Rice Belt is an outcome of multilayered, complex cooperation as it involves investments, infrastructure development, energy, technology, human resources development and people-to-people exchanges. Ensuring sustainability in the K-Rice Belt initiative to benefit a greater number of people necessitates the establishment of transparent storage and distribution networks, as well as efficient transportation systems. This entails the development of both physical and digital infrastructure, alongside capacity building efforts. Collaboration in climate response and energy transition is critical to both partners. Africa has critical minerals necessary for the energy transition and ample supplies of solar energy and wind. Korea is a resource poor country with climate technologies and capital. The conditions the two are in already offer much room for cooperation. If Korea and Africa can agree on an energy certificate framework, Korea can further promote renewable energy. I expect concrete, deliverable initiatives to come out of the inaugural Korea-Africa Summit that will support the AUs Agenda 2063 and Koreas Global Pivotal State. Koreas engagement with Africa for shared prosperity with sustainability in the spirit of solidarity will lay the groundwork for bilateral, regional and global growth, peace and security. Dr. Song Kyung-jin (kj_song@hotmail.com) led the Institute for Global Economics, based in Seoul, and served as special adviser to the chairman of the Presidential Committee for the Seoul G20 Summit in the Office of the President. Presently, she is executive director of the Innovative Economy Forum. OpenAI chief Sam Altman publicly apologized Tuesday to Scarlett Johansson after the movie star said she was "shocked" by a new synthetic voice released by the ChatGPT-maker that sounds "eerily similar" to her. At issue is "Sky," one of several voices OpenAI unveiled last week with the release of its higher-performing and even more humanlike GPT-4o artificial intelligence technology. In a demo, Sky was at times flirtatious and funny, capable of seamlessly jumping from one topic to the next, unlike most existing chatbots. The technology and sound of the voice quickly drew similarities to the Johansson-voiced AI character in the 2013 film "Her." Altman has previously pointed to the Spike Jonze-directed movie a cautionary tale about the future in which a man falls in love with an AI chatbot as inspiration for where he would like AI interactions to go. He furthered speculation last week with a single-word post on X, formerly Twitter, saying "her." Johansson on Monday expressed outrage at the new voice, saying in a statement she was "shocked, angered, and in disbelief that Mr Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets couldn't tell the difference." She said Altman had offered in September to hire her to work with OpenAI to create a synthetic voice, saying it might provide people comfort engaging with AI. OpenAI said Monday on X that it was working to "pause" Sky, with a company blogpost explaining that "Sky's voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice." In a statement shared Tuesday with AFP, Altman said the company "cast the voice actor behind Sky's voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson." "Out of respect for Ms. Johansson, we have paused using Sky's voice in our products. We are sorry to Ms Johansson that we didn't communicate better." Risk team disbanded The company, in its blogpost, explained that it worked with professional voice actors on synthetic voices it named Breeze, Cove, Ember, Juniper and Sky. It began working to cast the voice actors in early 2023, "carefully considering the unique personality of each voice and their appeal to global audiences." Some of the characteristics sought were "a voice that feel timeless" and "an approachable voice that inspires trust," the company said. The five final actors were flown to San Francisco to record in June and July, it said, with their voices launched into ChatGPT on Sept. 25, 2023. "To protect their privacy, we cannot share the names of our voice talents," OpenAI said. "We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity's distinctive voice." So far in the AI frenzy, most tech giants have been reluctant to overly humanize chatbots. Microsoft Vice President Yusuf Mehdi told AFP his company, which has a partnership with OpenAI, sought to make sure that AI was not "a he or a she," but rather a "unique entity." "It should not be human. It shouldn't breathe. You should be able to...understand (it) is AI," he said. Just days ago OpenAI said it disbanded a team devoted to mitigating the long-term dangers of artificial intelligence. OpenAI began dissolving the so-called "superalignment" group weeks ago, integrating members into other projects and research. Company co-founder Ilya Sutskever and superalignment team co-leader Jan Leike announced their departures from the San Francisco-based firm last week. (AFP) By Park Jae-hyuk Korean cable makers are increasing their output rapidly to meet the soaring global demand amid the need to replace worn-out equipment and construct more data centers worldwide due to the popularity of generative artificial intelligence, according to industry officials, Monday. LS Cable & System (C&S) said in its recent regulatory filing that the size of its backlog of orders surpassed 5 trillion won ($3.7 billion) during the first quarter, up from 3 trillion won a year earlier. The size of Taihan Cable & Solutions backlog of orders also jumped 25 percent to 1.9 trillion won. As a result, LS C&S began to run its Gumi factory in North Gyeongsang Province at full capacity to prevent delays in the supply of bare copper wires and cables for various voltages ranging from low to extra-high. LS Eco Energy, the companys Vietnamese subsidiary, even asked its employees to work overtime to satisfy the growing demand. The capacity utilization rate of Taihans Dangjin plant in South Chungcheong Province also reached 87 percent. In the past, cable makers regarded the first quarter as an off-season because their customers placed more orders during the second half. However, LS C&S first-quarter operating profit rose 22 percent year-on-year to 73 billion won, while LS Eco Energy posted an operating profit of 9.7 billion won, up 84 percent from the previous year. The worldwide establishment of electrical grids has sharply increased the demand for cables, LS Eco Energy CEO Lee Sang-ho said. We anticipate the largest annual earnings this year. Taihans first-quarter operating profit soared 63 percent year-on-year to 28.8 billion won, the largest since the second quarter of 2010. Its revenue was 788.5 billion won, up 12.02 percent year-on-year and the largest since the second quarter of 2011. We will continue improving our earnings by winning more orders for highly value-added products, a Taihan official said. We will enhance our corporate value by winning orders for strategic products, such as submarine cables and high-voltage direct current cables. Yuanta Securities analyst Son Hyun-jeong said she expects the latest super-cycle in the electric power industry, which came for the first time in 15 years, to be more powerful than previous booms in the past. In addition to the replacement of worn-out equipment, construction of data centers and power plants using renewable energy created the recent demand, the analyst said. In 1942, British cinema audiences were captivated by a classic Powell and Pressburger propaganda film called One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing. It centres on the heroism of a Wellington bomber crew forced to bale out over occupied Europe and their escape home across the Channel with the help of members of the local resistance. The movie which starred among others, Eric Portman, Bernard Miles and Googie Withers helped raise morale during some of the darkest days of World War II. At the height of the war, the RAF had 108 squadrons and UK factories were turning out 25,000 aircraft a year. The title of the film was taken from regular news bulletins on the wireless reporting in sombre tones that one or more planes had failed to return from a mission. If they remade it today, the film would have to be called All But One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing. Plans for a mass parachute drop to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day have been scaled back drastically because the Ministry of Defence can only rustle up one plane. All But One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing. Makes you proud to be British, writes Richard Littlejohn The Parachute Regiment had expected to send over 450 men in four aircraft, but have since been told that just one is available. The rest are deployed on Nato duty and relief efforts in Gaza. The Government, not the RAF, is to blame since the Ministry of Defence decided to pension off 14 perfectly serviceable Hercules C-130 transport planes, despite knowing that their replacement fleet of Airbus A400Ms would not be fully available until 2025. Former Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood wrote in The Mail on Sunday: 'As things stand, the Paras' hopes of putting on a large-scale multi-plane parachute drop have been limited to a single aircraft and just 100 of them jumping out. 'The issue demonstrates a sad and simple truth today's RAF lacks heavy lift capacity after all the Hercules transport fleet, which served our nation so well for more than 50 years, was scrapped to save money.' A senior source in the regiment told the MoS that the lack of aircraft was 'an insult to those who made the ultimate sacrifice'. Ex-Armed Services Minister Mark Francois, whose father fought on D-Day, said: 'That generation of heroes defended our freedom against Nazi Germany and they deserve to be properly commemorated in return. 'This just shows what a chronic mistake it was to retire the C-130, which performed this role successfully, for decades.' Par for the course, sadly, on the part of the useless bureaucrats running the modern MoD, who consistently put short-term cost-cutting and virtue-signalling above the defence of the Realm. These are the same clowns who, on Gordon Brown's orders, built two state-of-the-art aircraft carriers but forgot to order any planes to fly from them. Meanwhile, the new carriers keep breaking down and a couple of months ago a Trident missile from one of our nuclear submarines misfired and landed in the sea off Florida. Heaven help us if Ukraine falls and the Russians decide to press on across Europe. We're no better equipped to repel an invasion than was the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard to defend us against the Nazis at the start of WWII. Bang-two-three! We can't even stop the daily flotilla of rubber dinghies crossing the Channel, illegally dumping thousands of migrants on the Kent coast, let alone mount a counter-offensive in the event of a full-blown shooting war. The MoD would probably halt any proposed fightback because the rainbow lanyards and hi-viz jackets hadn't been delivered and there was no disabled access on the beaches in Normandy. If this lot had been running the War Office in 1942, we'd all be speaking German today. If they can't find more than a single plane for the Paras, how the hell would they ever have mounted a 1,000-bomber raid? This week's Defence Secretary Grant Shapps is now scrabbling round trying to rustle up at least one more plane to take part in the D-Day ceremony. Apparently, there's an old Halifax bomber at the RAF Museum in Hendon which could be brought out of mothballs in an emergency and used to tow a few hang-gliders over the Channel. A proposal to attach Amazon-style drones to paratroopers' helmets has been dismissed as unworkable. Plans to use Ryanair planes have also been dropped after ministers decided they couldn't afford to pay exorbitant online booking and priority boarding fees and excess baggage charges for the parachutes. Meanwhile, the Americans are sending over six, fully manned Hercules C-130s for the anniversary. Polish and Canadian paratroopers will also be taking part. But King Charles, who was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Parachute Regiment in 1977, will have to stand alongside President Biden and watch our embarrassingly diminished contribution, courtesy of typical MoD incompetence. All But One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing. Makes you proud to be British. Winston Churchill once described Russia as 'a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma'. The same could be said of Iran today and now, with the death of its president, killed in a helicopter smash on Sunday, Tehran's aims and ambitions have grown yet more impenetrable. DForeign leaders, including China's Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and other anti-Western despots, have expressed their sorrow at the death of Ebrahim Raisi. So have democratically-elected leaders such as India's Narendra Modi and even one or two top officials from the European Union. Back in Iran, however, the five days of official mourning have been disrupted by celebratory fireworks and the sound of car horns honking. To many Iranians, particularly the young, Raisi was a bloodthirsty oppressor they knew as the 'Butcher of Tehran'. On his journey from youthful participant in the Iranian Revolution of 1978-79 which toppled the corrupt and repressive regime of the Shah to his final destination as president of the republic itself, 63-year-old Raisi had followed a tragically common path: from idealistic teenage revolutionary to hanging judge before the age of 30. Just as the French Revolution of 1789 swiftly gave way to the tyranny of Robespierre and the Russian Revolution spawned the those twin despots Lenin and Stalin, so the unity of those who overthrew the Shah soon splintered and gave way to infighting, purges and a new, even more vicious form of autocracy. Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter smash on Sunday. To many Iranians, particularly the young, Raisi was a bloodthirsty oppressor they knew as the 'Butcher of Tehran' Rescue workers at the scene of the helicopter crash in a foggy, mountainous region of Iran And Raisi distinguished himself as a notably cruel enforcer for Iran's dogmatic new leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. Those who had once opposed the Shah's regime because they were democrats or socialists rather than Islamists were declared 'enemies of God' and persecuted terribly. As a judge, Raisi specialised in handing out death sentences after five-minute trials. In one particularly brutal purge, he condemned as many as 5,000 people in just a few weeks, often supervising the executions himself. Victims were hanged in public, their own children sometimes forced to watch. Career success did not moderate his outlook. Raisi's elevation to president of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2021 was a sign that his patron, the new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei (successor to Khomeini) wanted to crack down on dissent at home and assert Iran's influence abroad. Rigid enforcement of clothing rules for women was one signal that the ruling zealots would not bend or moderate their views, whatever the domestic pressure from a discontented population. And when it came to foreign affairs, it was Raisi who ramped up Iran's support for radical Islamist groups such as Hamas In Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, in a bid to disrupt a united, American-led West. Raisi also courted Putin's Russia, supplying it with its cheap - but devastatingly effective - Shahed drones to attack Ukraine. The mountainous region where the helicopter crashed. Raisi, Iran's foreign minister and several other officials were found dead The ill-fated helicopter carrying the Iranian president was pictured as it took off China also became an ally, agreeing to buy much of Iran's oil as a way of avoiding US-led Western sanctions. Needless to say, such antagonism of the West and Israel has been fuelling conspiracy theories about the way he met his end. In reality, it is near certain that the accident was caused by pilot error in dangerous foggy conditions in the north-western mountains of Iran. But suspicion that Israeli agents in some way sabotaged Raisi's helicopter as they have sabotaged Iran's nuclear facilities and assassinated a number of its atomic scientists is rife. Such speculation suits Tehran and helps divert attention away from a rising tide of political problems on the home front. But Raisi's sudden death poses a double succession problem for the Islamic Republic. Iran must not only find a new president but address the ever more urgent question of who will succeed the true power in the land, the ailing 85-year-old Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. Rescue teams scramble over the mountains to find the crashed helicopter and those on board While the Iranian president is the day-to-day head of government, it is the Supreme Leader who has ultimate authority over the country's stance on every major issue. Raisi might well have fancied himself in the role but now that he is out of the picture we can expect heated, possibly bloody, infighting among Iran's revolutionary elite. The voters will have little or no choice, of course, but then democracy such as it is in Iran has fallen into disrepute, turnout at elections has fallen to embarrassingly low levels. As support for the regime declines, Iran's Revolutionary Guards in concert with the 'Basij' thugs who work as a kind of local riot police have been ever more visible, instilling fear and quelling dissent. The Revolutionary Guards are the regime's most powerful enforcers. Like the Praetorian Guards of the Roman emperors 2,000 years ago, they protect the state and its leaders against threats both at home or abroad and it is they who will probably decide who will end up as president and supreme leader. If these elite soldiers openly decide who runs the Islamic Republic, then any pretence that Iran is a democracy will disappear. It will become a dictatorship whose political power grows out of the barrel of a gun, as Mao Zedong once put it. And in that, there are huge dangers for the regime itself as history tells us. The sources of discontent that disfigured and then destroyed the Shah's regime in the year before 1979 have reappeared in Iran. Then, Iranians of all ages and both sexes were disgusted with the corruption of the Shah's cronies and the squandering of the country's natural oil wealth on prestige projects and huge military expenditure. Today, the daughters of the Islamic elite have been seen partying in New York wearing clothes far more revealing than anything worn by girls at home. Pictures of them are circulating in Tehran at a time when ordinary Iranians find life ever harder under Western sanctions. People also ask why Iran sends billions on terrorist groups abroad as its own citizens grow ever more impoverished. But those rejoicing at the Butcher of Tehran's demise should be careful what they wish for. The Middle East's biggest and most ancient country sits at the heart of the world's most sensitive geopolitical region. Will Iran's embattled mullahs respond to the crisis by doubling down speeding up the race to acquire nuclear weapons, for example, or lashing out with further armed conflict in the region? Yes, let's hope for an end of the Islamic Republic which Ebrahim Raisi served so cruelly for so long. But we must pray that it ends not with a bang but a whimper. With Labour's David Lammy having backed the International Criminal Court's plan to seek an arrest warrant for the prime minister of Israel and Hamas leaders, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron spotted an opportunity. When his lordship espies a half-chance, he pounces. Lizard leaping on a woodlouse. Your sketchwriter harpooning a cocktail sausage at a book launch. Przzzt! Lightning is not so fast. Unsuspecting victim vanishes down gullet in a flurry of attack and all we see in the next frame is the predator chewing, an expression of sated gluttony on his chops. It was question time at the House of Lords. The day nurse had been round and plumped the old fools' cushions. A janitor turned down the volume on the Vera Lynn songs. Someone nudged the Lord Speaker to rouse him from his gummy reverie and Admiral Lord West (Lab), flying a pair of pale blue socks, came chugging into port and docked on the bench nearest the Woolsack, mumbling 'avast heaving!' and 'toss oars!' to himself. Every day is a sailing day for good old Westy. The upper house is always pretty full for Tuesday questions because it happens after lunch, before siesta time. And now that they have the Foreign Secretary in their midst, they occasionally have a separate session with him. Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron speaking in the House of Lords earier today Lord Cameron (pictured) gave the despatch box a little spank and whipped off his spectacles as he gave peers some facts of political life Lady Bennett (pcitured) had a question about Gaza. She mentioned the international court's pursuit of Benjamin Netanyahu Normally Cameron is gentle with them, a polite young doctor patting liver-spotted hands and asking them if they remember the name of the Prime Minister. Not this time. He bit them. Quite a few times. Lady Bennett (Greens) had a question about Gaza. She mentioned the international court's pursuit of Benjamin Netanyahu. The court was being steered by a panel of experts including the sainted Lady Kennedy of The Shaws. 'Surely it was now obvious,' said Lady Bennett, that arms sales to Israel should cease. Lord Cameron, perhaps clocking that his interlocutor was not universally adored across the House, gave her short shrift. He briskly recalled that last time Israel's critics weighed in with these demands, Iran promptly unleashed a barrage of missiles. He gave the despatch box a little spank and whipped off his spectacles as he gave peers some facts of political life. Lord Purvis, a not-unpriggish Lib Dem, mentioned an earlier conflict between Israel and Hamas when Lord Cameron was more critical of Israel. 'There is a bit of a difference between 2014 and now . . .' began Cameron in response. At this he was interrupted by a squawk of 'Why?' from Labour. 'I'll tell you why,' snapped Lord Cameron, swivelling on them. 'Today is Day 227 when the hostages are still in captivity.' The despatch box came in for some more punishment and Tory peers warbled cheers. Opposition peers pouted. Cameron threw his gaze away from them, making plain he thought them a whiffy lot. Lord Collins, for Labour, invited Dave to be more outspoken about Israel. Collins is not the most scintillating of performers. Lord Cameron did not flare at him in person, not considering that a parity-of-esteem bout. But he did reapply his spectacles and give a long answer about the Labour Party's support for the international court's stunt. He listed various countries that had condemned it, including Germany, the United States (which called it 'outrageous'), Italy ('totally unacceptable'), Austria ('non-comprehensible') and the Czechs ('appalling and completely unacceptable'). Picture shows Israel's Iron Dome defence systems intercepts Iranian missiles in April Opposition peers pouted. Cameron threw his gaze away from them, making plain he thought them a whiffy lot At some point Sir Keir Starmer may need to check his team- sheet and work out what needs to be done if Mr Lammy has to be eased into another job before the general election Again removing his specs, he said: 'I don't want to get too political in their lordships' House' this won laughter and cries of 'Oh!' but the 'odd man out' in the international community was bungler Lammy. 'Answer the question,' pinked Lord Collins. Lord Cameron, with pleasure: 'I have answered your question.' And he gave a couple of little side-wobbles of his head, just as our lizard does as it is digesting that woodlouse. At some point Sir Keir Starmer may need to check his team- sheet and work out what needs to be done if Mr Lammy has to be eased into another job before the general election. Nicholas Rossi's family members have unveiled the fugitive's violent past, with his ex-wife confessing that the US 'conman' and alleged rapist first hit her on their wedding day. In 2020 - due to a backlog of DNA test kits at Utah State Crime Lab - Rossi was named a suspect in the rape of a 28-year-old woman in 2008. He also stands accused of another rape of a 21-year-old from that same year. According to his ex-lawyer alleged Rossi had travelled to Ireland in 2019 and is known by ten different aliases including Arthur Brown - the name he currently goes by. Following his high profile battle against extradition to the US from Scotland his ex-wife and uncle have revealed all regarding Rossi's manipulative and volatile behaviour, which is also detailed in episode 3 of Imposter: The Man Who Came Back From The Dead, which airs on Channel 4 tonight at 10pm Nicholas Rossi fled to Ireland and then the UK, going by several different names, after he faked his death in the US following two rape charges His ex-wife Kathryn Heckendorn (pictured with Rossi) said she felt 'pressured' into marrying the registered sex offender after only meeting six months prior Kathryn Heckendorn, who was married to Rossi in Ohio for seven months, said she knew tying the knot with the fugitive was a mistake. The pair had only known each other for six months before making their relationship legally official, which ultimately made Kathryn feel rushed. She confessed she finally gave in to Rossi's request to get married, and the pair walked down the aisle without telling anybody else. However, her wedding day would also be the start of a seven-month campaign of psychological and physical abuse at the hands of her ex-husband. 'It was the first day he first hit me, right after we were married,' she told the BBC. Rossi would tell Kathryn what she could and couldn't wear and also severed her relationships with family and friends. Kathryn revealed she endured seven months of psychological and physical abuse at the hands of Rossi - who first hit her on their wedding day Rossi is now married to Miranda Knight (pictured) who staunchly believe her husband to be Arthur Knight She alleged being hit by Rossi was 'a daily occurrence' and that he would regularly implode over small problems. '[I would be] put down verbally [and told] just how stupid, dumb I was. If I didn't act that way, I wouldn't have to get hurt,' she said. Kathryn recalled that Rossi would sometimes hold a knife to her throat or his own in some instances. After finally escaping Rossi's clutches, Kathryn was granted a divorce after a judge said her husband had committed 'gross neglect of duty and cruelty.' She was also unaware that her ex-husband was a registered sex offender until they were married. Seven years prior, Rossi was found guilty of sexual imposition and public indecency whilst studying at Sinclair College in Dayton, Ohio. He assaulted a fellow student whom he had initially met on MySpace after the pair had been for lunch. Rossi's Uncle Michael (pictured was left deeply hurt after he discovered his nephew had faked his own death on the day of his brother's funeral Michael remembered his nephew as a 'great' and 'special kid' (pictured on his adoptive father's, David Rossi's motorcycle in Providence, Florida) Michael worked alongside Rossi to try and reform the child care sector however his nephew cut off contact in 2017 Rossi's uncle's tale is a stark contrast to others who have come into contact with the fugitive. Michael Alahverdian fondly remembered his nephew as a 'great' and 'special kid' in an interview with the BBC in 2023. The pair became estranged when the rape suspect was around seven-years-old after his mother split from Michael's brother. 15 years later the pair began connected once again via Facebook, where Rossi told his uncle that he had been mentally and physically abused whilst in care. In 2011, the fugitive attempted to sue Rhode Island state's child welfare agency for the abuse he reportedly endured. They eventually settled according to the BBC. Michael worked alongside Rossi to try and reform the child care sector however his nephew cut off contact in 2017. 'The next time I heard of him was that it was on the news that he had passed away,' Michael told the BBC. In 2020, Rossi faked his death, declaring to the media he only had mere weeks to live due to a late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma - and an obituary declaring his death was later released. A year later Rossi's biological father and Michael's brother - Jack - passed away. Michael discovered his nephew was still alive on the same day he buried his brother. The fugitive has insisted for years that he is actually an Irish orphan and was framed by authorities who took his fingerprints while he lay in a coma Rossi has been awaiting trial in jail in Utah since December last year, as he continues to maintain that he is Arthur Knight Comparing it to a 'dream' and a 'nightmare', Michael said: 'I get home and on the news is that Nick [Rossi] was found alive.' Hurt by the deception from his family member, the distraught uncle confessed the entire family was 'in shock' In November it was ruled Arthur Knight was Rossi, and he later lost his last appeal against extradition. Rossi has been awaiting trial in jail in Utah since December last year. 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. Episode 3 of Imposter: The Man Who Came Back From The Dead airs on Ch 4 tonight at 10pm One small thing going wrong can end up ruining someone's day as these people know all too well. Social media users from around the world have shared mildly infuriating things that have happened to them on Reddit, with Cheezburger.com collating the most annoying into a gallery. They include one person, in the US, who destroyed their $536 pay check in the washing machine by mistake. Meanwhile someone else's cheeseburger had plastic in it after the restaurant forgot to remove the wrapping from the slice before putting it in the burger. Social media users from around the world have shared mildly infuriating things that have happened to them on Reddit , and Cheezburger.com collating the most annoying into a gallery. One shared their frustration after amassing 17 odd socks Elsewhere someone decided to order pizza from their local fast food restaurant only to be charged a 'support local fee' - and they decided not to complete the order. Another takeaway disaster saw a customer in the UK receive mozzarella sticks with no cheese inside them. Here FEMAIL takes a look at the most hilariously infuriating snaps online... Toe no! A mother travelling with her young daughter was horrified to see a man's barefoot on her arm rest during a flight Oh crumbs! Meanwhile someone else was looking forward to a couple of cookies with their evening tea- only to discover they were totally broken Holy disappointing! Although sourdough bread is known for having holes in it this person in the US was definitely short changed Cheesed off! Another takeaway disaster saw a customer in the UK receive mozzarella sticks with no filling inside them Elsewhere in the US someone decided to order pizza from their local fast food restaurant only to be charged a 'support local fee'- and they decided not to complete the order I get the message! One person, from Brighton, England, received numerous weather notifications informing her theres lightning in the area A costly mistake! Someone else, in the US, who destroyed their $536 paycheck in the washing machine by mistake Meanwhile someone else's cheeseburger had plastic in it after the restaurant forgot to remove the cheese wrapping before putting it in the burger An amusement park, in the US, decided to charge customers a surcharge because of 'supply costs' and 'increase labor' Meanwhile this person used a sharpie to try and correct the grammar a book but made it even more confusing She has at least two extra chins, a misshapen nose and an expression of shocked horror, as though she has just seen her own reflection in a mirror. No one would dispute that the portrait of mining billionaire Gina Rinehart, which is currently hanging in the National Gallery of Australia, is unflattering. Now, according to reports, Australia's richest woman has demanded that the picture be removed altogether from an exhibition by award-winning portraitist Vincent Namatjira, whose rather inflammatory response was that he 'paints the world as he sees it'. We might not be billionaires, but most of us have shared Gina Rinehart's painful dilemma. In an era of smartphone filters and photo-editing apps, we are used to perfecting the image we present to the world. The unflattering portrait of mining billionaire Gina Rinehart, which is currently hanging in the National Gallery of Australia But what happens when someone else posts an unflattering picture of us on social media? Or frames a photograph of us squinting into the sun, spinach in our teeth, 10lb heavier than we'd like to be? What is the etiquette when it comes to requesting someone take down in real life or online a ghastly picture of us? Here, four writers explain how to approach this tangled mix of friendship, ego and modern mores Haunted by friend's bikini beach 'tag' Susannah Jowitt The day I became a control freak about my 'image' was the day social media introduced the notion of 'tagging' where someone, often on a whim, alerts you to a posted picture in which you feature by linking your name to it. This, I was soon to discover, required a whole new level of hyper-vigilance. One summer, a friend tagged me in a photo taken of her and me, lying on sun-loungers, early on in a summer holiday. 'Not even remotely beach ready' was the not-very-flattering caption. She wasn't kidding. I am sprawled across the photo, occupying most of its bandwidth, bare legs akimbo, all my flesh threatening to burst out and make a break for the border. It wouldn't be out of place in an exhibition of paintings by Rubens or Lucian Freud. However this was a photo on Facebook in 2014, when most people were posting pictures of their skinny little legs silhouetted against a sunset glowing through their thigh gap with the hashtag #hotdoglegs. The only hashtag that springs to mind here is #filletofbeefenoughforeveryone. Susannah Jowitt was 'mortified' after a friend uploaded this photo from their holiday in 2014 At the time, I wasn't sure what to be most mortified about. First indrawn breath: there is now a photo of me out there in a bikini. I would never, ever post such a thing. I wear a bikini to tan my tum, with only trusted friends in attendance, not for any fashion reason and never, ever for a more callous public environment. Yet here I am in all my two-piece glory, ready to scare the horses in every corner of Facebook. Second gasp of horror: there's just so much of me. I actually have the opposite of body dysmorphia I swan through life thinking my body looks better than it really does. In mirrors, I always look at myself from exactly the same angle: hands on hips, pelvis tilted forward, legs half-crossed. I look incredible (literally). After 55 years I have nailed my public pose. But this... this was the sort of candid camera snap I would never countenance posting. There's the false summit of my belly then the twin peaks of my embonpoint, towering over an only loosely tied bikini top, like a massive landslip poised to collapse at any moment over the viewer. Third sigh of despair: my friend had 800 followers even then and, worse, 200 mutual friends with me. There was no escaping this. I asked her to take it down. She laughed and said, 'don't be daft'. But at least she offered to de-tag me, reassuring me that it would no longer show up on my feed. At that point I was new to the tagging game and didn't realise it had already been up for two days. The damage was done. The worst moment was when I realised one of my colleagues at the school I worked in had seen it. Mortifying doesn't quite cover it just like the bikini. The truth is, I am still haunted by the knowledge the photo is out there. The other day, a decade after it first went up on Facebook, it popped up in my friend's feed as a ten-year memory. She immediately reposted it on Instagram as well with the caption: 'Those were the days. We didn't realise how good we had it.' I couldn't believe she'd done it again. But actually she's right. I look at it now and I don't see the flab. I see the tan and the smile and the fabulous chutzpah of a woman in her 40s wearing a bikini. So, I message my friend and thank her for slaying this particular demon. 'I know we look good,' she messages back. That's a stretch again, just like the bikini straps but I'll take it. Party passions and 'hangxiety' on film Flora Gill Everyone who's ever drunk has at some point woken up the next day with that hangover anxiety hangxiety the 'Oh God what did I do' nightmare. But for my generation, this came with an added horror the morning after negotiation of social media photos. Nothing is more millennial than the photo albums we used to post on Facebook. Fifty images all from one party uploaded with no filters, no edits and captions like 'what comes before part B?' (Answer: Partayyy!') Flora Gill dressed as a fly at a fancy dress party where a boy also told her that she looked like a drag queen There'd always be a few pics you had to beg your mate to take down the bad angles, the awful clothes, the inappropriate poses. Older generations had the opportunity to mess up with no permanent record. Maybe the story becomes gossip and, if you're famous, ends up in a bestselling memoir, but that's about it. It's much harder for the young to hide you can't just tear up a physical photo. If it's online, it's everywhere, forever. I think the ease with which your mistake can be shared and follow you online, is one of the reasons so many Gen Zs are choosing not to drink (a YouGov study for the Portman Group showed that 39 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds are teetotal). Yet, looking back on the photos I remember desperately and unsuccessfully trying to get erased from social media, I'm surprised that none of them bother me like they used to. There's a photo of me joyfully dressed as a fly. At the fancy dress party in question, a boy told me I looked like a drag queen, so the next day, I tried to remove any trace of it. It's still up online and I now see I look fabulous and no longer take that as the insult it was intended to be. In another photo at an 'anything but clothes party', I could see love bites visibly on display on my neck, from a boy I wasn't yet 'seeing'. I thought people would view me as a slut if they saw it, so again tried to erase it. He's now my fiance so the images make me laugh. Ms Gill in a photo from an 'anything but clothes' party where love bites are visible on her neck from a boy she wasn't yet 'seeing' at the time Another shows me at a foam party, and, when I saw it, I begged my friend to take it down because I thought I looked fat and had a bit of belly showing. This last one flummoxes me the most because I look tiny in the photo. Today, much bigger than I was then, my first thought is that I would kill for the figure I used to be ashamed of, and my second thought is that in ten years I'll probably look back on the body I have now and wonder why I ever felt anything but love for it. I once tried to have a physical photo taken down. My grandma had put up a photo of our family on her mantelpiece. Everyone else looked adorable but I was smiling so hard I had a double chin and all my gums were showing. 'Please don't put it up' I begged. 'I don't look pretty.' 'Who cares about pretty? You look so happy,' she said leaving it up. Now, looking back on the pictures I tried and failed to have wiped from the internet, I think my granny's words ring more true than ever. As you get older, looking back on 'happy' seems far more valuable than 'pretty' even if there were times when you looked a little worse for wear. I'd take it off my parents' wall Julie Cook The image is of a young woman smiling, clutching her graduation scroll and proudly wearing a black mortarboard. It symbolises achievement, the end of my university life and the attainment of my bachelor's degree. And I hate it. I always have from the moment I clapped eyes on it. In fact, I hated this picture taken in 1999, when I was 21 so much that when my mother put it up in her living room, I asked her to take it down. She refused, slightly hurt, and when I begged, merely rolled her eyes at me. And so, if friends or God forbid boyfriends came over, I'd do it myself. I'd take it down and shove it in a drawer, deliberately bashing it in the hope the frame would break. Julie Cook in her hated graduation photo which her mother refused to take down from her living room wall You see, I don't look like that. I certainly don't look like that now and I didn't think I looked like it then. Round, chubby face; vacant yet simpering expression; slight cross-eyed, badly dyed, red-brown hair. Oh God, I hated it. When my godfather proudly put the same picture on display on his sideboard, I couldn't use the direct tactics I had at home, but instead attempted a subtler approach. 'I don't really look my best there,' I told him, willing him to understand the fragility of my ego. 'But it's your graduation photo,' he replied, as if what I looked like didn't matter at all. He saw the mortarboard. I saw someone who needed to be taught how to put make-up on and how to smile so she didn't look like a gullible 14-year-old. One time when I visited, I very nearly put the wretched photograph in my handbag, but instead made do with placing it face down on his dresser in what I hoped was a clear enough signal. It was there again, in all its saccharine, pallid-faced glory the next time I visited. I still hate it. I have a version which I keep hidden in the darkest corner of my garage, in a box covered in cobwebs. My parents' copy, however, is still on the wall in my childhood home, a quarter of a century of lowered self-esteem later. Howlers - Even of gorgeous me Samantha Brick You could be forgiven for assuming that someone as gloriously gorgeous as moi couldn't possibly take a bad picture even if her life (or ego) depended on it. Well, you'd be wrong. When it comes to my looks and physique, I have lashings of confidence with a teeny pinch of vanity, but there are times when a picture has been posted online that doesn't meet the mental image I have of myself. Samantha Brick in the head and shoulders snap with her gums on display and a frightful orange tan that she hates but her husband posted anyway Sometimes I've done a double take along the lines of 'surely that can't be me', because a picture has been nothing short of horrendous. Friends or acquaintances can be naughty, choosing to post images which flatter them and most definitely not me. The trouble is, once the visual clangers are out there, there is very little you can do to pull them back in. I am very mindful of this. I never post images without someone's permission. If I find cute teenage pictures of me with my school friends, I never share not least because one wore Deirdre Barlow glasses and another had one of those godawful 1980s perms. The same rule of thumb, however, is not observed by my husband, Pascal. Pascal is a keen photographer. Never a day goes by when he's not pointing his Nikon at yours truly, directing me at a beauty spot or pulling me in for a selfie. My husband is also an insomniac. This means that he frequently posts pictures on his Instagram page in the early hours of the morning, before I've been consulted about his choice. I'll wake up to 'likes' of a picture of me not always looking my best. As a result there are some real horrors on his feeds. Take the head and shoulders snap of me when we'd just met (and before social media really got going). Gurning, with my gums on display. A frightful Tango tan. It's only in midlife I have come to recognise that I don't suit Ronseal-coloured skin. And then there's the haircut. I might have thought I looked like Rachel from Friends, but in fact I looked like Rachel from accounts. And yet I suppose I should be grateful my husband loves me enough to see past these photographic howlers. His feed is a celebration of our marriage, not a tribute page to my beauty. I can live with that. intense 11-hour surgery she can now breath on her own But thanks to an But thanks to an intense 11-hour surgery she can now breath on her own The tot was placed on a ventilator and doctors feared she would not survive A six-month-old baby who was born with rare genetic condition has taken her very first breath on her own after undergoing a double lung transplant. Kylie Overfield, from Virginia, was born with a life-threatening lung disorder called Surfactant B Deficiency which affects just one in a million newborns around the globe. She was immediately placed on a ventilator due to the condition which causes abnormalities in the lining of the lung tissue and can ultimately lead to respiratory failure. Doctors feared that Kylie would not survive but thanks to an intense 11-hour surgery she can now breathe on her own for the first time in her life. Kylie Overfield, from Virginia, was born with a life-threatening lung disorder called Surfactant B Deficiency which affects just one in a million newborns around the globe She was immediately placed on a ventilator due to the condition which causes abnormalities in the lining of the lung tissue and can ultimately lead to respiratory failure Doctors feared that Kylie would not survive but thanks to an intense 11-hour surgery she can now breathe on her own for the first time in her life What is Surfactant B Deficiency? Surfactant dysfunction is a lung disorder that causes breathing problems. It results from abnormalities in the composition or function of surfactant, a mixture of certain fats (called phospholipids), and proteins that lines the lung tissue and makes breathing easy. Source: National Library of Medicine Advertisement Mom Ashley Overfield told Good Morning America: 'They didn't think Kylie was going to make it. She wouldn't survive the weekend.' The tot defied all odds and three months was considered strong enough to move to Texas Children's Hospital. 'I'm telling you, she was feisty,' Ashley, who also has two older children, shared. 'If she was fighting, I was never going to stop fighting.' Medics told the doting mom that the best chances Kylie had for long-term survival would be a risky double lung transplant. In America in the past 10 years, only 35 surgeries were performed on babies who were under a year old, according to official data. Pediatric pulmonologist Dr. David Moreno-McNeill told the outlet that the facility in Houston is 'one of the busiest pediatric lung transplant centers in the country.' Kylie was placed on the waiting list for the operation and - just two months later - doctors were able to find a match. And, on April 17 this year, the then five-month-old underwent an 11-hour surgery that involved up to 20 medical staff. Medics told the doting mom that the best chances Kylie had for long-term survival would be a risky double lung transplant And, on April 17 this year, the then five-month-old underwent an 11-hour surgery that involved up to 20 medical staff Both her lungs were transplanted and doctors were also able to repair a hole in her heart Both her lungs were transplanted and doctors were also able to repair a hole in her heart. Much to Ashley's delight her baby daughter can now breathe on her own and is expected to be discharged in the coming days. Post-operation, the mom-of-three gushed: 'I got my baby, so she has a life now. She gets a chance.' She also expressed her appreciation for the mother of the donor baby who made the life-changing operation possible. Ashley shared: 'I'm so grateful that she chose to donate the organs because she saved my baby and I'm sure other babies. My heart hurts for her and I think about her every minute of every day.' Japan's royal family, the oldest continuous hereditary monarchy, is facing a succession crisis - because women still aren't allowed to take to the throne. Emperor Naruhito, 64, has just one daughter by his wife Empress Masako, Princess Aiko, who was born in 2001 after the royal couple underwent fertility treatment. Female births have far outweighed male births in recent generations of the Japanese royal family and the dynasty currently has three male heirs. There's Fumihito, Crown Prince Akishino, 58, who is the Emperor's brother, Prince Hisahito - Fumihito's 17-year-old son, and third-in-line Prince Hitachi, who is 88 and the brother of former Emperor Emeritus. It's been five years since Naruhito ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1st 2019 following the historic abdication of his father Emperor Akihito at the age of 87. The question of who's up next continues to perplex both the royal family and the country's political parties, which last week began discussing revamping the succession rules. Being a young woman in the country's Imperial House isn't an entirely enviable role; A Japanese princess can currently never by Empress and must lose her royal title if she chooses to wed a commoner. Her children with said commoner would also never form part of the Imperial House. Princess Aiko, the 22-year-old daughter of Japan's Emperor Naruhito, 64, and his wife Empress Masako, 60. Under current Japanese law, princesses aren't currently allowed to ascend to the Chrysanthemum Throne - and must leave if they choose to marry a commoner The current monarch, Emperor Naruhito, 64, pictured centre, has been on the Japanese throne since 2019 - but the dynasty is suffering from a distinct lack of male heirs, with the Emperor's daughter Princess Aiko, 22, not allowed to take the throne (Pictured far right: Naruhito's wife Empress Masako) Political parties are currently discussing reworking the 1947 succession laws to enable Princess Aiko to become Empress Aiko if her father dies (Pictured in Tokyo in 2021) Life of service: Aiko, 22, currently combines her royal duties with a role at the Japanese Red Cross Society Emperor Naruhito's daughter Aiko, now 22, already lives a life moulded by the dynasty she's part of - surrounded by intense levels of security and unable to have political views or vote. The young royal lives with her parents at The Imperial Palace in Edo Castle in Tokyo and works as a newsletter editor for the Japanese Red Cross Society, a role she combines with her royal engagements. The emperor's brother Prince Fumihito's eldest daughter Princess Mako was forced to renounce her royal title in 2021, when she wed her university sweetheart Kei Komuro, a commoner Low key life in the Big Apple: Kei and Maki Komuro pictured waiting for a bus in New York; the couple share a small but luxurious apartment in the city after they left Tokyo in 2021 Could Princess Aiko also faces renouncing her royal title if she falls in love with a commoner? (Pictured at the Akasaka Palace imperial garden in Tokyo in April) For now wedded to a life of public duty, Aiko, might yet look to the path her first cousin, Princess Mako, has taken; the former royal enjoys an upper-class quiet life in New York. In 2017, Crown Prince Fumihito's eldest daughter, 32, sent shockwaves through the country when she announced she was giving up her royal title to marry Kei Komuro, her long-term boyfriend. Mako and Komuro met at Tokyo's International Christian University in 2013 and became engaged in secret, before announcing their intention to marry in September 2017, which sparked huge scrutiny. Only male heirs descended from a male emperor are eligible to become Emperor. The family currently has three male heirs: Crown Prince Akishino, who is the current Emperor's brother, Prince Hisahito - Akishino's 17-year-old son, and third-in-line Prince Hitachi, who is 88 The Imperial family pictured in 2019 before Princess Mako renounced her title: Japan's Emperor Naruhito, seated third from left, and Empress Masako, seated third from right, with front left to right) Empress Emerita Michiko, Emperor Emeritus Akihito, Crown Prince Akishino, and Crown Princess Kiko, (back from left to right) Princess Mako, Princess Aiko, Prince Hisahito, and Princess Kako Princess Mako, right, pictured with her younger sister Princess Kako in September 2006 following the birth of their baby brother Prince Hisahito, who is now the country's only young heir Pictured, Mako, right, with her parents and younger sister Kako at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo in 1999; the Japanese royal family has seen female births outweigh male births in recent generations A furore erupted a few months after the news they were to wed broke, with tabloids reporting a financial dispute between Kei Komuro's mother and her former fiance, with the man claiming mother and son had failed to repay a debt of about $35,000. Komuro later said the money had been a gift, not a loan. But in 2021, he submitted a 24-page explanation and later reportedly said he would pay a settlement. Their subsequent wedding in October 2021 was distinctly low-key. It was met with protests, held behind closed doors without any of the pomp and pageantry of other Japanese royal weddings, which traditionally include a reception, banquet, and a parade through the streets of Tokyo. The Emperor's brother Crown Prince Akishino, centre left, is heir to the throne; his only son Prince Hisahito, 17, left, is second in line to the throne (Pictured with Crown Princess Kiko, centre right and their younger daughter Princess Kako) There is support among the public and some politicians for Emperor Naruhito's daughter Princess Aiko (pictured in November 2020) to ascend to the throne - if she marries a commoner, she too will have to renounce her royal title and her future children will not form part of the Imperial House of Japan Running out of male heirs: The issue of succession within the Japanese royal family The Imperial Household Law of 1947 stipulates that only males in the family's male line can ascend to the throne. It means that while Emperor Naruhito has a daughter Aiko, 22, it is his brother, Crown Prince Fumihito, 58, who takes precedence. Similarly the Crown Prince's daughters, Mako - no longer a royal after her wedding to a commoner in 2021 - and Kako, 28, will be passed over in favour of his son Prince Hisahito, 17. There is only one other man - the Emperor's 88-year-old uncle, Prince Hitachi - who is eligible for the throne under current rules. If the young Prince Hisahito does not have a male child, the line of succession will be broken - prompting some debate about changing the rules, with polls showing the Japanese public broadly support women being allowed to rule. Although traditionalists are vehemently against the idea, Japan has had as many as eight empresses in the past. The last one, Gosakuramachi, was on the throne about 250 years ago. Advertisement at a registry office, away from cameras and the public. Mako was simply dressed in a blue dress and carried a bunch of white flowers, and the nuptials took place Reading out a prepared statement, Mako defended her decision to marry, describing Kei as 'irreplaceable' and saying 'our marriage is a necessary step for us to be able to protect our hearts.' Mako also surrendered a 1million payment she was entitled to according to Japanese tradition, becoming the first imperial family member since World War II to not receive the payment. Now living simply as Mako Komuro, the former Princess lives in a luxurious but modest - at least according to the proportions of the Imperial Palace - apartment in the Big Apple, with the pair regularly pictured on shopping trips together in the city. Current Imperial Household Law, established in 1947, states that only a male descendant of a male emperor can succeed to the throne. Japan has had eight female monarchs between the sixth and 18th centuries, however none came through a female line of descent. One option for reform would be allowing women to keep their imperial status after marrying, regardless of their husbands' status, so that any future sons could join the line of succession. This is opposed by traditionalists who argue that legitimate succession can only pass through the male line. Another possibility to be raised by the panel relates to former aristocratic families, whose imperial status was abolished during the U.S. Occupation of Japan following the empire's defeat in the Second World War. The proposal suggests that scions of these families could be adopted into the emperor's family. The Japanese imperial family is considered to be the world's oldest monarchy, with an unbroken line of male succession that can be traced back two millennia. Mythology, recognised by the Imperial House, has the legendary Emperor Jimmu, said to be a descendant of a sun goddess and a storm god, as the first of 126 Japanese emperors leading up to the current Emperor Naruhito. Mako, 30, the eldest daughter of Crown Prince Fumihito and niece of reigning Emperor Naruhito, tied the knot with university sweetheart Kei Komuro, a commoner, in Tokyo on Tuesday after an eight-year engagement. They have been engaged since 2013 and were due to marry three years ago, but the wedding was delayed following a financial scandal involving his mother At the press conference, the couple read out prepared statements in which they apologised for any distress their marriage has caused - but defended their decision to go ahead with the ceremony What a Japanese royal wedding normally looks like: Then-Crown Prince Naruhito and his wife Crown Princess Masako with former Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko after their wedding at the Imperial Palace on June 9th 1993 in Tokyo Traditionally Japanese weddings are awash with the same kind of pomp and ceremony afforded to British royals - but only men are allowed to marry commoners without renouncing their titles in the Imperial House High profile life of duty: Princess Mako of Japan pictured before she left the royal family, dressed in a traditional Junihitoe as she took part in a procession through Tokyo's Imperial Palace to mark her uncle's formal ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019 Unrest: Protesters pictured holding banners during a march against the marriage between Japan's Princess Mako and her fiance Kei Komuro back in 2021 Traditionalists worry that any reform to the rules of succession threatens the legitimacy, and therefore the stability, of the Imperial Household. Reformists, on the other hand, argue that the Imperial House must adapt to survive. Pictured: A crowd cheers the imperial family after Emperor Naruhito delivers his New Year's greeting in 2020 Queen Mary shared a sweet moment with her 13-year-old twin daughter Princess Josephine as they pulled funny faces at each other during Denmark's annual Royal Run. The Queen, 52, was pictured looking cool in sunglasses to shield her eyes at the event, while she and her youngest daughter waited for King Frederik, 55, to finish the 10km race which takes place in Copenhagen. Looking a picture-perfect pair in their purple running jerseys, the mother and daughter showed deep affection towards each other as Mary adjusted her daughter's collar and Josephine, in response, poked out her tongue. Elsewhere Josephine and her older sister, 15-year-old Princess Isabella, larked about near the finish line and were pictured falling about in laughter together. As the Queen opened up and showed warmth and laughter, her demeanour contrasted with several frosty appearances during the summer holiday she recently took with King Frederik to Sweden and Norway, months after rumours of an 'affair' rocked the Danish monarchy. Queen Mary of Denmarlk, 52, shared a sweet moment with her youngest daughter Princess Josephine, 13, at the Royal Run on Monday The royal mother-of-four, who takes part in the Royal Run with her husband every year, was pictured sharing a tender moment with her daughter Josephine as they played spectators for a short while - before Mary joined the runners herself. It was a rare outing for the King and Queen's entire family - the youngest siblings of whom are often not seen in public while they complete their school studies. However the show of family unity comes after a difficult few months for the Danish royal family, following rumours of an affair after King Frederik was spotted on a night out in Madrid with Genoveva Casanova, a Mexican socialite who lives in the Spanish capital. The mother and daughter shared an intimate moment as Josephine stuck her tongue out at Queen Mary while they stood at the sidelines of the event The Queen is ready for action! Queen Mary, 52, put on her cap and joined the other participants for the race Elsewhere, Princesses Josephine and Isabella fell about laughing as they larked about at the event Pictured: Queen Mary with Princess Josephine and her eldest daughter, Princess Isabella at the Royal Run in Copehagen The Queen affectionately brushed her daughter's hair away from her face at the beginning of the event Spanish magazine Lecturas published photos of the pair in the city in late October and reported they had visited an old flamenco restaurant where they dined together until the early hours of the morning. After the photos were published, Genoveva issued a strong denial that they were having an affair. Since then, during public appearances, King Frederik and Queen Mary have given off mixed signals with their body language - including several frosty appearances. The couple displayed distance in their body language during summer holiday on the Daneborg ship as they sailed to Sweden and Norway (which also happens to have coincided with their 20th wedding anniversary). During this trip, the couple showed signs of frostiness in their body language in moments with each other; although such signs appeared to thaw when they greeted their hosts in each nation. Twins Princess Josephine and Prince Vincent, 13, and their older sister Princess Isabella, 15, hold up their medals at the end of the Royal Run The three youngest royal siblings looked ready and raring to go as they prepared to take on the race A wave to the fans! The Queen beamed as she greeted royal watchers and racing spectators upon arrival Mary beamed behing sunglasses as she got ready to participate and wore a number 2 bib which had her name on it Mary waved to royal fans ahead of the beginning of the race Upon arrival in Norway last week, the couple looked stern-faced before they docked to meet their hosts, King Harald and Queen Sonja. Body language expert Judi James told FEMAIL: 'Arriving on a boat in Oslo we can see Mary back to her rather cooler facial expression with her eye-direction staring out into the distance rather than returning her husbands glance. 'He looks forlorn here, with one brow curled upward and the other lowered in a frown while his eye expression appears downcast and his lips barely pull into a royal smile.' Judi added: 'Marys authentic smile and more tactile behaviours when meeting the Norwegian royals only seems to add to the idea that she was looking cooler with her husband again.' The couple's candid body language in private moments was in stark contrast to the image projected to the world by the Danish palace on social media as it marked the couple's 20th wedding anniversary. A photo taken of Queen Mary and King Frederik aboard the Dannebrog showed the couple in a relaxed pose, beaming with their arms around each other while dressed in matching gilets. Judi told FEMAIL: 'To celebrate their wedding anniversary [the couple] do seem to have produced a pose that looks deliberately reminiscent of the way they used to behave pre-scandal.' She added: 'Their torsos in this anniversary pic are pressed together, albeit with a layer of puffer-gilet acting as a little air bag and their mutual smiles suggest they are enjoying each others company again. 'Frederik has a hand on his hip to suggest a happy holiday moment and his other hand is seen grasping his wife at the neck with what looks like quite a firm grasp.' However, the expert drew attention to the fact Mary kept her sunglasses on in the photo, meaning 'her eye expression is masked from public view and examination'. Despite this, Danish royal expert Kenth Madsen has revealed people in Denmark have 'forgotten' Frederik's night out in Madrid with Genoveva and are jubilant at having a new King on the throne. Meanwhile, Danish media reports appear to portray an image of a happy couple to their readers. A report from Her & Nu, published earlier this month, described how the couple 'practically beamed with love for each other' as they boarded the Dannebrog ahead of their wedding anniversary. Although the report made mention of King Frederik's night out with Genoveva, it stressed the father-of-four had 'buried' any suggestion of an affair as he stood alongside his wife on the balcony at Christiansborg on the day he was proclaimed king. The report also made mention of a declaration of love for Queen Mary that the King made in his book, Kongeord, published three days after he ascended the throne. The quote read: 'I love marriage, my wife, our children and the entire happy base that arises for the people who manage to stick together and persevere.' The King and Queen of Denmark have soldiered on as Frederik ascended the throne at the beginning of the year, following his mother Queen Margrethe's shock abdication on New Year's Eve 2023. The surprise announcement came two months after King Frederik had been spotted out for dinner with Mexican socialite Genoveva, who lives in Madrid. Spanish magazine Lecturas published photos of the pair together as they headed to a traditional restaurant in the city, where they reportedly watched Flamenco performances and stayed until the early hours of the morning. After the photos were published, Genoveva issued a statement via her lawyers in which she vehemently denied any suggestion of an affair with the Danish royal, while the Palace refused to comment. By Baek Byung-yeul Samsung Electronics effected a sudden leadership change in the device solutions (DS) division, responsible for its semiconductor business, saying the move was made to revitalize the atmosphere amid sluggish performance in its chip business, the company said Tuesday. The chip giant said that Jun Young-hyun, vice chairman and head of the future business division, has been appointed as the new leader of the DS division, stating that the leadership change was intended to strengthen the competitiveness of the semiconductor business in an uncertain internal and external business environment. President Kyung Kye-hyun, who has led the DS division, will become the head of the future business division as well as the head of Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology. Samsung said Kyung is expected to focus on finding new growth opportunities based on his expertise leading the chip business. Under the new leadership, Samsung is determined to enhance its technological edge and future competitiveness in chip business by pursuing innovation in its business. "Vice Chairman Jun is expected to overcome the semiconductor crisis based on his extensive management know-how he has gained by growing Samsung's memory chip and battery businesses to the top level," Samsung said. The new semiconductor chief led Samsung's memory business as president from 2014 to 2016, spearheading the company's memory chip business. He then served as CEO of Samsung's battery subsidiary, Samsung SDI, for five years before being appointed vice chairman of Samsung Electronics' future business division last year. Samsung plans to proceed with the appointment of Jun as a board director and CEO through the regular shareholders' meeting and board meeting next year. Samsung expects Kyung, with his experience as CEO of Samsung Electro-Mechanics and CEO of the DS division, to contribute to discovering future growth opportunities for Samsung Electronics and its affiliates using his network and experience. Clad in a Ralph Lauren shirt, layered with an expensive gilet, with gleaming white teeth and highly manicured nails, the man sitting in front of me looked like an affluent businessman: well groomed, good looking, the epitome of respectability. What he was about to admit, however, in the nondescript cafe we'd agreed to meet in, belied his smooth appearance. For while sipping a strong coffee, and with an insouciance that was utterly chilling, he began to explain that he had personally masterminded the smuggling of tens of thousands of migrants into Europe. More than this, he casually confessed to being one of just two main smugglers heading operations across Belgium and France between 2016 and 2019. Friends said Barzan Majeed, seen with his three of his brothers, 'wanted to be a trillionaire' He even claimed, without a hint of repentance in his voice, that some '95 to 99 per cent' of illegal crossings to the UK since 2016 and one must thus surely conclude, all those tragic drownings of men, women and children in the Channel could be linked to him. For the man I was meeting was Barzan Majeed, better known as smuggling kingpin Scorpion. A man on Interpol's Most Wanted list, Majeed managed a highly sophisticated operation that as my colleague Rob Lawrie and I discovered in a six-month-long investigation for BBC Radio 4 spanned Turkish coastlines, Belgian ports and flimsy boats and rubber dinghies launched from France. When police picked up migrants, inspection of their phones thousands of them revealed exactly the same number: Scorpion's. So keen was Majeed on his persona, he even used a picture of an arachnid as his avatar for WhatsApp messages. Until his arrest this week, Majeed, a 38-year-old Iraqi Kurd, lived on a luxurious gated development in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, with his wife of two years and their infant son. They married after being introduced by their families. His neighbours include many government officials. Their homes are marble clad, while swimming pools dot the landscape. A private park and school are on site for the wealthy inhabitants. Majeed, better known as smuggling kingpin Scorpion, was arrested last week Yet Scorpion's gilded lifestyle is founded entirely on others' misery, as he openly admitted when we met at a cafe in Iraq last month. When asked how many people he had helped smuggle to the UK, he bragged: 'Maybe a thousand, maybe ten thousand. I don't know, I didn't count. I was on charge [sic] for Europe, for the money. 'It doesn't make me feel good, but I wasn't a mastermind. I was between them all. It's not easy to do all these things, and all these people is [sic] working for you.' In the business of people smuggling, there's no doubt, though, that Scorpion is highly skilled. Not least because he too was smuggled into the UK on the back of a lorry into Dover, in 2006, aged 20. Attracted by the promise of a good life and beautiful women he said that, as a youngster, he always envisaged England being full of blondes he left his Iraqi homeland, eventually settling in Nottingham. There, he began to work his way up through the smuggling network, eventually rising to the top. His success would buy him fast cars, bring female admirers and, say those who knew him, also give him a cocaine addiction, which created an impulsivity in his behaviour that would eventually lead to his downfall. Majeed (right), speaks to Sue Mitchell, an investigative reporter, and her colleague Rob Lawrie When asked how many people he had helped smuggle to the UK, he bragged: 'Maybe a thousand, maybe ten thousand. I don't know, I didn't count' In his picture on the Interpol wanted poster, Scorpion has a scar over his left eye and a menacingly direct stare. While his appearance may be distinctive, he is an expert in evading capture. When an international police surveillance operation caught 25 members of his gang across Europe in 2021, he was tipped off and disappeared, moving across borders from a hidden base in Turkey. His gang members were prosecuted and sentenced by courts in the UK, Belgium and France, but Scorpion had to be tried in his absence. In October 2022, Belgian authorities convicted him in absentia of 121 counts of people smuggling and imposed a ten-year prison sentence he is yet to serve. He was first arrested in Iraq in May last year but was mysteriously released from custody a short time later and promptly vanished again. In the past he'd evaded the UK authorities, too. His UK immigration records reveal the startling fact that he lived in this country for almost a decade, largely under the radar, after he tumbled off the back of that lorry in 2006 and joined the black economy here. It seems Scorpion didn't officially register with the Home Office for several months and when he did, he used a false name and claimed to be an asylum seeker fleeing persecution in Iran. After making his way to Nottingham, he worked in a car wash. Later, as he rose through the ranks of the smuggling world, he bought a 50 per cent share in the business, which he used to employ his smuggled passengers, some of whom paid off the cost of their illegal journey by washing cars. Photographs from Majeed's Facebook page show a young man with an interest in cars While Scorpion's immigration records say he was refused leave to remain after a year, no one actually forced him to leave the UK, even though he was in and out of prison for handling firearms and dealing drugs. Photographs from his Facebook page at this time show a young man living a high life. He loved fast cars, like the BMW with blacked-out windows he raced on the back streets of Nottingham. At the centre of endless parties, he was often surrounded by the English blondes he had dreamed of. One of his friends from Nottingham told us he once saw more than 200,000 stashed under Scorpion's bed: 'He wanted to be a trillionaire. He'd go out to the clubs, pulling the women, taking so much cocaine. I warned him to stop, I said you've made enough now, but he wanted more, always more.' Then, in 2015, Scorpion was finally rumbled while in prison, after making a phone call to his mother and the authorities saw the number he had dialled was in Iraq, not Iran. He agreed to be deported and left the UK for his real homeland. When we spoke to him last month, Scorpion painted a picture of a devoted Iraqi family he has five brothers and five sisters. His father, a builder, was dead, but his mother, a housewife, remained close to his heart, he said. 'Kurdish mums will forgive their sons [for] anything,' he said with a smile. 'They're not like English mums. My mother will always be there for me.' While he was heading back to Iraq, millions of people, displaced by wars, were simultaneously trying to make it in the opposite direction, travelling to Europe from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia and Eritrea. People smuggling had become a huge business and Scorpion was in luck his brother, Carzan, had been sent to prison in Belgium for the crime but handed over his operation to his brother, now aged 30. Under Carzan, the trade was focused on lorry crossings but by 2019 Scorpion saw the potential for boats, as the surveillance of such vehicles entering the UK tightened. He was able to operate from a secret base in Turkey, and his gang began a rapid expansion across Europe, driven by Scorpion's logistical and marketing nous. In the glossy 40-second-long TikTok videos posted by his smuggling gang to advertise crossings to potential migrants, groups of happy young men hug each other and high five their successful voyages. Scorpion told migrants they would board the ferry in Calais right under the noses of the border authorities, and no one would stop them (file image) The waves are smooth, the skies are clear you could almost be on a yacht cruise on the Mediterranean and the videos conclude with those same men posing, thumbs up, beside a recognisable London landmark, Tower Bridge, for example. As Scorpion's business grew, so did the options available, with him introducing economy, business and first class travel choices. The basic passage, a dinghy crossing, cost 6,000 per person; a lorry was 9,000 whereas it was 18,000 per person for the so-called VIP service on a cross-Channel ferry. A wealthy Iranian man, who took the latter option, told us he had dealt personally with Scorpion in 2019. Some nine members of his family made it here. Scorpion told them they would board the ferry in Calais right under the noses of the border authorities, and no one would stop them. The man was told to report to an electronic gate exclusively for use of the staff at the port. At precisely the time they were told to be there, the gate opened. Scorpion had impressed upon them they should come smartly dressed and act confidently. They were then picked up by a corrupt official in the pay of Scorpion who drove the family onto the ferry, avoiding British passport controls. Once on board, the official bought each of them an English breakfast to celebrate their new life in Britain. Scorpion's smuggling also extended to dangerous migrant crossings from Turkey to mainland Europe. Yachts are used for these journeys and every element of the boat is stripped out. What would have been a vessel intended for eight to 12 people would be crammed with as many as 100 passengers. For this, each would pay around 10,000. Violence, unsurprisingly, is a constant undercurrent in this world. One who knew the smugglers told us they were armed and would do anything to protect their trade. 'I'm not scared of anyone, but these guys, yeah, they will put a bullet in your back,' he said. While on the trail of Scorpion we travelled to Turkey in March, where our our enquiries led to the kingpin himself calling us, using a withheld number, and briskly asking why we were asking people so many questions about him. During our investigations there, it became clear he had led a high-octane life in the tourist hotspot of Marmaris, where he used a villa for a time. One female friend told us about parties at this villa that she attended in 2021. Aged 28, she was attracted by his charisma but shocked by his drug-taking. 'At first, I found him very attractive. The way he made me feel he had lots of women around him, but when I had his attention, it was nice,' she said. But, she added: 'He was addicted to cocaine, and was sniffing 24/7. I would watch him. Sometimes he couldn't sniff, you know, his nose was so bad. He loves the nightlife, the drugs, the women, the cars. He loves showing himself, his money.' She continued: 'He was always stressed about work. He had his business, the boats he wouldn't say anything, but I knew because I was around some conversations He used to say, 'I want to be a millionaire'.' When asked if he ever showed concern for the migrants, she laughed not callously, but because the idea was so preposterous. 'He never cared about them. They were a business opportunity.' Then, a month after our trip to Turkey, when we were told that Scorpion had been spotted in a money exchange shop in Sulaymaniyah, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. We travelled there and, through contacts, he agreed to meet us in a cafe. On arrival, he looked utterly at ease, shadowed by his three-man security team, who sat at a table behind us. The full boxset of Intrigue: To Catch a Scorpion is available to listen to on BBC Sounds When probed about the loss of life, about the children who died in the Channel crossings, his detachment was chilling. People going on these boat crossings, he said, only had themselves to blame if things went wrong. 'No one forced them to get in the boats, they wanted to, they're begging the smugglers, please, please, do this for us,' he said. Every accusation we levelled at him, he turned on its head. The police, he claimed, were lying to build the strength of their case. Members of his gang, he said, were lying to get shorter prison sentences. He was just, he insisted, a money man. If anything, Scorpion seemed bitter other smugglers had been able to move to Britain and carry on with their smuggling businesses while he had been forced on the run. 'There's a smuggler in the UK he got 170 people into boats last week and he holds a British passport. 'He's there working, enjoying a good life, making lots of money, whilst I'm f*****. I want to go to some other country to do business and I can't. I can't go anywhere.' When asked if he was still smuggling, he immediately denied it: 'How can I work from here. I'm telling you I've done them kinds of things. I've done it. But I was the money man, not the big mastermind.' As he spoke, however, he was scrolling through his mobile phone. He didn't realise it, but the screen was visible, reflected in a polished picture frame on the wall behind: it showed lists of passport numbers. Smugglers send these numbers to corrupt officials who then supply visas for migrants. You might wonder why Scorpion agreed to be interviewed in person. After all, mafiosa or criminal bosses generally hardly dare break cover like this. Yet most criminal masterminds don't normally lead such a showy life, as Scorpion has. Perhaps his drug use made him excessively impulsive? Perhaps living so long on the edge made him careless of danger? Whatever, the truth, it all led to his denouement. On May 10, when the first news of our investigation broke, senior officials in the Kurdish Government in Iraq contacted us to say they were disgusted to hear a man as dangerous as Scorpion was living a life of luxury there. Events moved quickly. At 7am the following Monday morning, May 13, an elite police group arrested Scorpion outside his address in Sulaymaniyah. A short time later, he was behind bars in Iraq, hopefully for a very long time. It would be comforting to think that without him, smuggling will cease. Yet there are other eager criminals to step into his place and without international co-operation and dedicated police work, the boats will surely keep coming. Even without the mastermind of Scorpion. Queen Maxima, 53, will spend three days in the Philippines on behalf of the UN Queen Maxima of the Netherlands was glowing on Tuesday as she visited the Philippines' Talim Island on the first day of her trip to the archipelago in southeastern Asia. Sporting a fluorescent life jacket to make the trip to Talim Island, the royal, 53, who is in the Philippines in her capacity as United Nations Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA), smiled throughout the first engagement of her three-day visit. Dressed for the sunny weather in a patterned maxi dress and sandals, Maxima looked stylish in a pair of large sunglasses with blue frames and a wide-brimmed straw hat. The mother-of-three's dress featured a floral pattern in purple, green and blue and three-quarter sleeves while her woven sandals combined deeper shades of blue and purple. Maxima accessorised her outfit with a blue clutch bag and a pair of earrings with large blue stones as well as a number of gold and silver bracelets and a silver watch. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands (pictured) was dressed for the sunny weather with a wide-brimmed straw hat and a pair of stylish sunglasses The Dutch royal, 53, donned a fluorescent life jacket to make the trip to Talim Island and kept herself cool with a large fan She was gifted a decorative garland with a yellow flower, which perfectly complemented her floral ensemble With her shoulder-length, blonde hair loose and subtle make-up, the Dutch royal was happy and relaxed despite the heat thanks to a large hand-held fan. The Queen, who had received a decorative garland with a large yellow flower, was seen greeting children, talking to local people and even standing on a small fishing boat. A trained economist who had a career in international finance and emerging markets, Maxima was appointed as the UN Secretary-Generals Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development in 2009. Her trip to the Philippines comes after a busy week of engagements in the Netherlands. Last Thursday evening, Maxima wowed in a statement one-shoulder jumpsuit on Thursday evening as she attended a ceremony celebrating the very best of Dutch business. Featuring a diamond broach on the left shoulder, the royal's cream satin outfit was nothing short of a showstopper. As such, it was the perfect choice for 'Oscars of the Dutch Business Community', the King Willem I Prize, which was presented in the northeastern city of Zwolle. Maxima's striking wide-leg jumpsuit, which showed off her toned physique, featured a slim waist belt in the same cream satin with a rectangular buckle. Queen Maxima wore her blonde hair loose for a relaxed look and smiled as she stood up in a small fishing boat The Dutch Queen greeted a group of children. It appeared that the royal had said something to make them laugh She completed her outfit with a pair of crystal-embellished heels and an equally glitzy clutch bag. With her long blond hair loose and subtle make-up, including a slick of pale pink lipstick, dark eyeliner and bronzer, the radiant royal looked as elegant as she did stylish. She chose to keep her jewellery simple so as not to distract from her outfit, wearing just a slim watch, a diamond bracelet and a pair of gold earrings. Described by the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce as 'the ultimate crowning achievement of good entrepreneurship', the King Willem I Prize is awarded biennially. The previous day Maxima had attended a lab in the central city of Wageningen where she shone in a yellow ensemble. She took a trip to Food Valley, an organisation that guides companies to transition into a more sustainable food system. She oozed elegance as she arrived at the event in a Johanna Ortiz canary yellow maxi dress with brown paisley pattern detailing on it. The stand-out garment - which Maxima has worn on multiple occasions - was cinched at the waist, showing off her slender figure. Queen Maxima, who looked typically radiant, kept the heat at bay by wafting her large fan while She looked engaged as she spoke to a number of local people and posed for photographs She chose to match her flamboyant frock with chocolate-coloured accessories, donning a pair of patent heels, walnut-coloured round stud earrings and a chic clutch bag. She wore her blonde tresses down in a stylish straight blowdry and opted for her classic full-glam makeup look. Maxima looked in high spirits as she greeted and shook hands with officials who showed her around the building. The Queen even tried her hand at becoming a scientist herself, as she put on a bright white lab coat. Maxima listened intently as the staff explained what the different substances were and she was given a tour, smelling different dishes along the way. In one photo, the royal looks shocked as an employee explains the different sauces that people may use in their dishes. Food Valley emerged in 2004 from a collaboration between Wageningen University and Research, agrifood companies and the regional government. The idea of sleeping in a separate bedroom from your partner used to be reserved for aristocrats or members of The Royal Family. But that is no longer the case, according to writer Natasha Poliszczuk, who told The Times over the weekend how 'sleep divorcing' has 'been extended to the middle classes: it is now available to anyone who has enough space'. She added: 'Separate rooms are becoming standard in the homes and marriages of Middle England', before explaining how a recent study of 2,000 adults in a relationship found one in six couples refused to share a bed. Meanwhile, following the Times' article, Martin Lewis, the founder of Money Saving Expert, asked his 2.9million X followers in a poll, 'Do you and your live in partner/spouse sleep in the same or separate bedrooms?'. The answer 'we share a bed' was selected by 70.9 per cent of the 82,058 people who voted. 'Different bedrooms' scored 14.8 per cent, while 'separate beds, same room' took 1.1 per cent of the votes. Plenty of famous faces have also got behind the idea of a 'sleep divorce' - including Hollywood star Cameron Diaz , who's very happily married to rock star husband Benji Madden (pictured left). However, former glamour model Linda Lusardi (pictured centre right), 65, who has been married to husband Sam Kane for 25 years, isn't a fan of the idea Plenty of famous faces have also got behind the idea of a 'sleep divorce' - including Hollywood star Cameron Diaz, who's very happily married to rock star husband Benji Madden. So, is sleeping separately the key to making a marriage work? Experts are divided, highlighting different benefits for both preferences. Here, FEMAIL looks at the positives of each... SLEEPING SEPARATELY Sleep expert and board advisor at Dozy Sleep, Korina Burkhard, previously told MailOnline that people sleep better alone due to 'reduced disturbances from a partner and the ability to create an ideal sleep environment'. The expert said: 'When sleeping alone, there's less chance of being disturbed by another person's movements or sounds. 'Your sleep cycles are not interrupted. This allows the brain and body to progress through the essential stages of sleep fully. You rest better and restore better.' Kora Habinakova, a sleep expert at Sleepseeker, told MailOnline that we also need to stop seeing nodding off alone as negative for a partnership. She said: 'A sleep divorce is a divisive topic and often people associate it with the crumbling of a relationship, however, this is not the case. 'Sharing a bed with someone can often lead to a restless night's sleep, and a sleep divorce may actually be the key to helping your relationship. The royals, including the King and Queen (pictured yesterday), have a long tradition of retiring to their own bedrooms at night, with the late Queen and Prince Philip and the Prince and Princess of Wales also thought to have slept separately at points Happy apart: Although Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter eventually called time on their 13-year marriage in 2014; they had happily lived separately in neighbouring town houses during their relationship 'A consistently poor sleep pattern can cause irritability, mood swings and impaired communication and problem-solving, all of which can put a strain on your relationship. 'So, if you find yourself losing sleep due to you or your partner's habits, sleeping separately could be the perfect way to help both of you feel more rested and actually reduce conflict.' Plenty of celebrities agree that nodding off alone - undisturbed by snoring, coughing, duvet stealing and other crimes against shut-eye - helps people get a better sleep. For instance, Hollywood star Cameron Diaz, 51, who's very happily married to rock star husband Benji Madden, 45, previously revealed that she thinks society should 'normalise' couples sleeping in separate rooms, and even separate houses. The actor shared her take on 'sleep divorce' in an episode of model Molly Sims' podcast in 2023 as they chatted about what they consider to be healthy lifestyles. 'We should normalize separate bedrooms,' said Diaz before explaining her reasoning with Sims and co-host Emese Gormley. 'To me, I would literally, I have my house, you have yours,' she confessed. 'We have the family house in the middle. I will go and sleep in my room. You go sleep in your room. I'm fine.' 'And we have the bedroom in the middle that we can convene in for our relations,' the mother-of-two concluded. Doctor Foster star Suranne Jones and her husband Laurence Akers (pictured together at An Audience with Adele, London Palladium, November 2021) Although Diaz was at pains to point out that she does in fact share a bed with Madden, she's not alone in her thoughts that a sleep divorce could futureproof relationship happiness. Many members of the Royal Family have traditionally slept in separate rooms; with King Charles and Queen Camilla believed to retire to their own rooms late in the evening, as the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip once did. The Prince and Princess of Wales are also thought to have slept separately when they lived in Kensington Palace. Actress Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton lived happily in separate houses for 13 years before their divorce in 2014 - residing in neighbouring London town houses. Ferne McCann also admitted earlier this year that she sleeps in a separate bed from her fiance Lorri Haines. Speaking to OK! magazine, The Only Way Is Essex star admitted the arrangement means their sex life has taken a hit, but insisted that having their own beds was 'honestly perfect'. She explained that the couple sleep in separate bedrooms to cope with their young daughter Finty's infrequent sleeping routine. Doctor Foster star Suranne Jones also revealed in 2020 that she and her husband, screenwriter Laurence Akers, sleep apart. Susannah Constantine with her husband Sten Bertelsen in 2006; the TV stylist told MailOnline that the couple's snoring had seen them sleep separately - and that far from being detrimental to their relationship, it helped them live more harmoniously The 61-year-old TV stylist told MailOnline about the couple's difficulties sleeping in the same bed, saying they work 'with murder on our minds' after restless nights (Pictured, Susannah with tape on her mouth; a trick that can help with snoring by channelling breath through the nose) Elsewhere, TV star Susannah Constantine admitted in 2023 to having a sleep divorce with husband Sten Bertelsen, saying an ongoing war over who snored 'the loudest and longest' had led them to separate beds. In an article for MailOnline, the stylist wrote how stemming nocturnal nuisances had helped 'fix' her marriage, saying: 'We've now thrown in the towel and retreated to separate rooms. HOW MUCH SLEEP SHOULD I GET? Most adults need between six and nine hours of sleep every night. Going to bed and getting up at a similar time each night programmes the brain and internal body clock to get used to a set routine. But few people manage to stick to strict bedtime patterns. To get to sleep easier, the NHS advises winding down, such as by taking a bath, reading and avoiding electronic devices. The health service also recommends keeping the bedroom sleep-friendly by removing TVs and gadgets from the room and keeping it dark and tidy. For people who struggle to sleep, the NHS says keeping a sleep diary can uncover lifestyle habits or activities that contribute to sleepiness. Advertisement 'I know there's a stigma attached to this, but please don't get me wrong, I love my husband dearly. She explained: 'My parents always slept in separate rooms and, as a teenager, I assumed it was because their marriage was on the rocks. But now I think it far more likely that my dad's snoring was to blame. 'When Sten and I first began our sleep divorce, I worried that our kids - aged 24, 22 and 20 - would also think it was the beginning of the end; but in truth, I told them, it was the snore storms that were putting a strain on the marriage. This was the fix, not the issue.' But what about intimacy? While many assume sleeping apart isn't conducive to a healthy sex life, Habinakova says sleep and sex are very different things. 'There are many ways that you can maintain intimacy while implementing a sleep divorce, and many find that the divorce actually helps with intimacy, as each partner is more well-rested and less irritable. She advises: 'The main tip is to prioritize your time, this can range from having a meal or spending time in bed together before heading off to your separate beds. 'Many couples find that they only need sleep divorce during the working week when life is a bit more hectic, and that returning to the same bed on the weekend when they have more leisure time is a good way to balance both sleep and intimacy.' There are other variations on the concept if you can't bear to be parted from your beloved; in Scandinavia, the popular separate duvet keeps couples in the same bed...but gives them a better night's sleep, killing any potential arguments over who's stealing a double duvet. Scandinavians have long claimed a duvet each, often in the individual sleeper's preferred tog, leads to what we all dream of - a decent night's kip. SHARING A BED The topic was discussed on This Morning today, with former glamour model Linda Lusardi, 65, who has been married to husband Sam Kane for 25 years, saying: 'I do think, if you can sleep together, why not.' However, despite a growing number of couples choosing to stay in separate rooms for a better night's kip, a 2022 study found adults who sleep together enjoy a myriad of physical and mental health benefits over those who are alone. US researchers discovered that not only does sleeping alongside one another improve sleep quality, it also lowers the risk of depression, anxiety, stress and fatigue. Couples who bunk together also feel closer to their partner emotionally, more secure in their relationship and have better overall life satisfaction. Dr Michael Grandner, a sleep expert at the University of Arizona who led the study, said he was 'very surprised to find out just how important this could be'. The research involved analysing data from 1,000 working-age men and women from Pennsylvania. They were asked detailed questions about their sleep, health and life quality in a month. People who 'never' slept with a partner or spouse were more likely to suffer insomnia than those who did 'most nights'. Couples who shared a bed also got better quality sleep and were less likely to suffer fatigue. Sleeping alone was associated with higher depression scores, lower social support, and worse life and relationship satisfaction. Writing in the paper, the team said: 'Sleeping with a partner/spouse is associated with better sleep quality and mental health overall.' Previous research has suggested that sleeping alongside a romantic partner allows the body to relax and get longer deep sleep. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep plays an important role in emotional processing, hormone levels and healthy muscle and brain development. If this is regularly disrupted, it can lead to a host of health problems. Brandon Fuentes, a researcher in the department of psychiatry at Arizona and co-lead author, said: 'Sleeping with a romantic partner or spouse shows to have great benefits on sleep health including reduced sleep apnea risk, sleep insomnia severity, and overall improvement in sleep quality.' An excerpt from the study was published in an online supplement of the journal Sleep and was presented at a US sleep conference. The topic was discussed on This Morning today, with former glamour model Linda Lusardi, 65, who has been married to husband Sam Kane for 25 years, saying: 'I do think, if you can sleep together, why not.' She insisted: 'I do think you lose the connection with someone when you're not in the same room.' This is the awkward moment Queen Mary of Denmark appeared too busy high-fiving participants in the Royal Run to congratulate her own husband as he passed the finish line. The royal mother-of-four, 52, beamed while wearing sunglasses as she stood towards the finish line of the 10km race in Copenhagen and greeted people who were about to complete the course. Meanwhile, King Frederik, who had just finished the race, ran across the finish line and hugged his twin children, Princess Josephine and Prince Vincent, both 13. As he walks behind where Mary is standing and greeting the race finishers, Frederik does not appear to interact with his wife, and the Queen does not turn around to greet him. Photos shared in Danish media showed the King and Queen eventually greeting each other at the finish line - however they did not appear to hug. Awkward footage from Denmark's annual Royal Run shows Queen Mary appearing too busy high-fiving race finishers to congratulate her husband King Frederik Princess Isabella, Princess Josephine and Prince Vincent welcoming King Frederik in the finish area. TV2 Danmark pic.twitter.com/VHX595UYJI ChristinZ (@ChristinsQueens) May 20, 2024 The awkward moment comes at the end of the annual event, which consists of a 10km run and a 5km run, and features high profile members of the royal family. Despite apparent awkwardness between the married couple, who celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary last week, the King and Queen showed deep affection towards their children during the race. The clip of King Frederik shows him warmly hugging his children after crossing the finish line, while photos from the event featured Queen Mary sharing a sweet moment with 13-year-old Princess Josephine. After finishing the 10km race, King Frederik hugged his children including 13-year-old Princess Josephine In snaps taken after their race, the Queen and teenage princess larked about as Josephine pulled funny faces at her mother, while Mary adjusted her collar and brushed back her hair. The family outing comes after a difficult few months for the Danish royal family, following rumours of an affair after King Frederik was spotted on a night out in Madrid with Genoveva Casanova, a Mexican socialite who lives in the Spanish capital. Spanish magazine Lecturas published photos of the pair in the city in late October and reported they had visited an old flamenco restaurant where they dined together until the early hours of the morning. After the photos were published, Genoveva issued a strong denial that they were having an affair. Queen Mary of Denmarlk, 52, shared a sweet moment with her youngest daughter Princess Josephine, 13, at the Royal Run on Monday The mother and daughter shared an intimate moment as Josephine stuck her tongue out at Queen Mary while they stood at the sidelines of the event The Queen is ready for action! Queen Mary, 52, put on her cap and joined the other participants for the race The Queen is ready for action! Queen Mary, 52, put on her cap and joined the other participants for the race Since then, during public appearances, King Frederik and Queen Mary have given off mixed signals with their body language - including several frosty appearances. The couple displayed distance in their body language during summer holiday on the Daneborg ship as they sailed to Sweden and Norway (which also happens to have coincided with their 20th wedding anniversary). During this trip, the couple showed signs of frostiness in their body language in moments with each other; although such signs appeared to thaw when they greeted their hosts in each nation. Upon arrival in Norway last week, the couple looked stern-faced before they docked to meet their hosts, King Harald and Queen Sonja. Elsewhere, Princesses Josephine and Isabella fell about laughing as they larked about at the event Pictured: Queen Mary with Princess Josephine and her eldest daughter, Princess Isabella at the Royal Run in Copehagen The Queen affectionately brushed her daughter's hair away from her face at the beginning of the event Twins Princess Josephine and Prince Vincent, 13, and their older sister Princess Isabella, 15, hold up their medals at the end of the Royal Run The three youngest royal siblings looked ready and raring to go as they prepared to take on the race Body language expert Judi James told FEMAIL: 'Arriving on a boat in Oslo we can see Mary back to her rather cooler facial expression with her eye-direction staring out into the distance rather than returning her husbands glance. 'He looks forlorn here, with one brow curled upward and the other lowered in a frown while his eye expression appears downcast and his lips barely pull into a royal smile.' Judi added: 'Marys authentic smile and more tactile behaviours when meeting the Norwegian royals only seems to add to the idea that she was looking cooler with her husband again.' The couple's candid body language in private moments was in stark contrast to the image projected to the world by the Danish palace on social media as it marked the couple's 20th wedding anniversary. A photo taken of Queen Mary and King Frederik aboard the Dannebrog showed the couple in a relaxed pose, beaming with their arms around each other while dressed in matching gilets. A wave to the fans! The Queen beamed as she greeted royal watchers and racing spectators upon arrival Mary waved to royal fans ahead of the beginning of the race Mary beamed behing sunglasses as she got ready to participate and wore a number 2 bib which had her name on it Judi told FEMAIL: 'To celebrate their wedding anniversary [the couple] do seem to have produced a pose that looks deliberately reminiscent of the way they used to behave pre-scandal.' She added: 'Their torsos in this anniversary pic are pressed together, albeit with a layer of puffer-gilet acting as a little air bag and their mutual smiles suggest they are enjoying each others company again. 'Frederik has a hand on his hip to suggest a happy holiday moment and his other hand is seen grasping his wife at the neck with what looks like quite a firm grasp.' However, the expert drew attention to the fact Mary kept her sunglasses on in the photo, meaning 'her eye expression is masked from public view and examination'. Despite this, Danish royal expert Kenth Madsen has revealed people in Denmark have 'forgotten' Frederik's night out in Madrid with Genoveva and are jubilant at having a new King on the throne. Meanwhile, Danish media reports appear to portray an image of a happy couple to their readers. A report from Her & Nu, published earlier this month, described how the couple 'practically beamed with love for each other' as they boarded the Dannebrog ahead of their wedding anniversary. Although the report made mention of King Frederik's night out with Genoveva, it stressed the father-of-four had 'buried' any suggestion of an affair as he stood alongside his wife on the balcony at Christiansborg on the day he was proclaimed king. The report also made mention of a declaration of love for Queen Mary that the King made in his book, Kongeord, published three days after he ascended the throne. The quote read: 'I love marriage, my wife, our children and the entire happy base that arises for the people who manage to stick together and persevere.' The King and Queen of Denmark have soldiered on as Frederik ascended the throne at the beginning of the year, following his mother Queen Margrethe's shock abdication on New Year's Eve 2023. The surprise announcement came two months after King Frederik had been spotted out for dinner with Mexican socialite Genoveva, who lives in Madrid. Spanish magazine Lecturas published photos of the pair together as they headed to a traditional restaurant in the city, where they reportedly watched Flamenco performances and stayed until the early hours of the morning. After the photos were published, Genoveva issued a statement via her lawyers in which she vehemently denied any suggestion of an affair with the Danish royal, while the Palace refused to comment. Princess Leonor of Spain appeared in high spirits as she was honoured with two military medals and a new title this morning. The royal, 18, has followed in her father and grandfather's footsteps and is currently completing her military training at Zaragoza Military Academy in Northern Spain. Today, the future European Queen was elected the 'Adopted Daughter' of Zaragoza and received the Medal of Aragon and the Medal of the Cortes during a ceremony at Aljaferia Palace. The new title has been given to Leonor by the city council to 'acknowledge the citys affection for the Princess of Asturias, to appreciate her significance for both the Aragonese capital and Spain, and to express gratitude for her connection to the city'. The honour is given to individuals who have made significant social, political, economic, cultural or scientific contributions to the city. Pictured: Princess Leonor, 18, seen arriving at Aljaferia Palace for the ceremony in Northern Spain today Leonor's father King Felipe, 56, received the title of 'Adopted Son' of Zaragoza 38 years ago when he was a student in the province. Meanwhile, the Medal of the Courts was first established in 1986 to recognise recipients who were promoting 'Aragonese values and identity', Newzee reports. For the occasion, Leonor looked smart in her khaki uniform, red military beret and black boots. The royal styled her long hair a sleek, plaited bun as she needed to remove her hat for the ceremony. Leonor is reportedly in the middle of her exam season and is expected to attend Spain's Armed Forces Day on 1 June. The royal will complete three years of training at the military academy before then moving on to the General Air Academy. Earlier this month, King Felipe returned to Zaragoza Academy with Queen Letizia for a ceremony recognising his three decades of military service. When she first arrived at the academy, Leonor completed a module to help her adapt to military life - with the Palace releasing images of the royal taking part in lessons in the classroom. Pictured: Princess Leonor seen receiving the Medal of the Cortes during the ceremony at Aljaferia Palace For the occasion, Princess Leonor looked smart in her khaki uniform, red military beret and black boots The royal styled her long hair a sleek, plaited bun as she needed to remove her hat for the ceremony Queen Letizia was elegant and regal in a powder blue suit as she stood with her husband King Felipe at a ceremony marking his military promotions at the General Military Academy of Zaragoza earlier this month According to heraldo.es, she is staying in a cabin with as many as twelve other students and was given basic military equipment before the first training session. During her three years at the academy, Leonor will be entitled to a salary of 417-a-month. However, the palace has said she will not claim the salary. Rather like a boarding school, the military academy follows a strict timetable during the week. but Leonor will be free to return home at the weekends if she's not on manoeuvres. Leonor graduated with the International Baccalaureate from the UWC Atlantic College in the Welsh county of Vale of Glamorgan in May. After training at the General Military Academy in Zaragoza, which is Spain's equivalent to Sandhurst, she will go to naval school, and will complete her three years at the General Air Academy. In July, the princess revealed her enthusiasm for soon being a cadet at the Princesa de Girona Foundation award ceremony in Girona, in Catalonia. She said: 'I have just finished high school and I am about to start a new stage with a period of military training. 'I am happy because I know how much the Spanish value our armed forces... it is an important moment in my life and I feel very excited and determined to continue learning and giving my best effort.' Nicholas Rossi's ex-wife has revealed the horrifying abuse she was subjected to during their short-lived marriage. Kathryn Heckendorn, who was married to Rossi in Ohio for seven months in 2015, recorded chilling voice messages of their conversations, which portray the fugitive as abusive and controlling. Ms Heckendorn, who is Mormon and met Rossi at a singles event at church, tells her side of the story in Channel 4's Imposter: The Man Who Came Back From The Dead, which is airing this week. Following his high-profile battle against extradition to the US from Scotland Rossi's ex-wife has alleged he raped her, gave her a black eye, held a knife to her throat, and even locked her in a bathroom for two days without food. Speaking in tonight's episode of the documentary, Ms Heckendorn said: 'Nick thrived off controlling me. Kathryn Heckendorn was married to Nicholas Rossi in 2015 and revealed the extent of his abuse in a new documentary Ms Heckendorn (pictured with Rossi) said she felt 'pressured' into marrying the registered sex offender after only meeting six months prior 'He took my phone and locked me in the bathroom. There were so many times where it would get physical. I had a black eye, knife to my throat. 'I didn't even feel safe in our own bed. He took control there too, he would rape me constantly, I would always feel so dirty, I was disgusted by him. I didn't want to be near him, I hated my life, I hated Nick. 'I was like if he were to kill me today, I'd be ok with that because it's better than what I'm going through. What did I do that I deserve this?' The pair had only known each other for six months before they tied the knot, and they walked down the aisle without telling anybody else. Kathryn, who was aged 26 at the time, recalled: 'It was a very whirlwind romance, he didn't propose, he just said "let's get married". 'I was very excited, I was hoping we'd be each other's world but I quickly realised that's not what I was going to get.' 'I wanted to meet the man of my dreams, get married, have children, a beautiful family, that stereotypical suburban family life. 'You could tell he was educated, well-off, smart, like a go-getter. he was kind, he was always eager to gift me flowers or necklace or varying material items. Nicholas Rossi fled to Ireland and then the UK, going by several different names, after he faked his death in the US following two rape charges Heckendorn had married Rossi after a 'whirlwind romance', wedding in October 2015 after meeting in the spring Ms Heckendorn, who is Mormon and met Rossi at a singles event at church, tells her side of the story in Channel 4 's Imposter: The Man Who Came Back From The Dead 'I was flattered. Here is this man who seems able to take good care of me, is interested in me. Why would I not want to pursue that?' Kathryn said that as soon as they got married in October 2015, having met in the spring, everything about the Nicholas she knew suddenly 'changed'. Shocking recorded voice notes, aired in the documentary, reveal the extent of Rossi's controlling nature and manipulation. In the messages, Rossi can be heard saying: 'Why are you going to sit here and blame me after all I've done?' After Kathryn refuses to let him look at her phone, he begins to shout: 'Give me your phone! Stop ignoring me!' Afterwards, screaming can be heard. After just 19 days of marriage, the union had turned violent almost every day. But when Rossi was arrested by police, Kathryn ended up paying $25,000 for his bail. Looking back, she said she'd tragically blamed herself for the abuse she'd received. She eventually managed to escape her husband when a Civil Protection Order was issued against him and he was ordered to vacate the house. Kathryn revealed she endured seven months of psychological and physical abuse at the hands of Rossi - who first hit her on their wedding day Rossi is now married to Miranda Knight (pictured) who staunchly believe her husband to be Arthur Knight Rossi has been awaiting trial in jail in Utah since December last year, as he continues to maintain that he is Arthur Knight Even then, Rossi left a gun in the empty rooms - a threat to his wife that he was still around. She said: 'That was Nick saying, "I'm still here, I've got control, I'm still in your life."' After finally escaping Rossi's clutches, Kathryn was granted a divorce after a judge said her husband had committed 'gross neglect of duty and cruelty'. She was also unaware that her ex-husband was a registered sex offender until they were married. In November it was ruled Arthur Knight was Rossi, and he later lost his last appeal against extradition. Rossi has been awaiting trial in jail in Utah since December last year. 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. Episode 3 of Imposter: The Man Who Came Back From The Dead airs on Ch 4 tonight at 10pm A dog who was rescued from China's meat trade has been snapped on the red carpet at Cannes Film Festival sporting a custom-made gold gown. Samoyed Felicity was rescued from a 'brutal slaughterhouse' by London-based charity NoToDogMeat. The organisation was founded in 2009 by Julia de Cadenet, after she saw for herself the horrors of the trade. According to NoToDogMeat, it was the first charity to bring the annual June Yulin Dog Meat Festival to the world's attention, and now holds United Nations Special Consultative status. Felicity, just one of the many dogs (and cats) saved by the charity, now lives in the UK with Julia. THEN: Felicity (pictured) was in 'a terrible state' when she was found by rescuers, but she has gone on to flourish after being rehomed in the UK NOW: Felicity looks like a different dog following her rescue by NoToDogMeat and subsequent rehoming in the UK And the courageous pooch acts as the ambassador for the cause, raising awareness by attending different events and meeting people. Felicity first attended the Cannes Film Festival, which is a long-time supporter of the cause, last year. This year, she returned to the red carpet, wearing a hand-made gold dressed specially created by charity volunteer Michelle Parker from Leeds, and scooping a nomination as best dressed at the Festival. A photo of Felicity at the screening of Girl with a Needle went viral and led to multiple nominations of one of Cannes 24 best dressed. Last year, Michelle made Felicity a red dress adapted from a prom outfit she purchased online. This year, she was even more ambitious, hand-stitching roses onto gold organza. It took her more than 40 hours to complete the dress. According to NoToDogMeat CEO Julia de Cadenet: ' Felicity loves nothing more than strutting her stuff out and about raising awareness for the 700 dogs we have in our shelter looking for new homes' 'She is completely unfazed by noise and crowds and is so trusting of humans despite all she has gone through' The purpose of Felicity's Cannes' appearance is to raise awareness of the brutal dog meat trade in China 'Michelle had the idea to make Felicity a handmade gown and she modelled it on the doggy pageant outfit her dog Keisha had previously worn.' She continued: 'It was really special for Felicity to wear it at such a high-profile event and although her best friend Keisha is no longer with us, it was a lovely memory.' Speaking after Felicity attended Cannes last year, Julia said she hoped the animal's story would help to educate and inspire people to act in the fight against the dog meat trade. She added: 'When we found Felicity she was in a terrible state, but over time and with a lot of love and care her outgoing personality has blossomed. NoToDogMeat operates in China, Cambodia and the Philippines, working with local people who want to end the dog meat trade 'She really is a miracle and loves to show off and meet people, so this really is a perfect moment for her. 'She deserves it so much and we hope that by telling Felicity's story, and when people meet her, they will be inspired to join our movement. NoToDogMeat Charity rescues many dogs like Felicity each year and hopes they will all find loving homes. It operates projects in China, Cambodia and the Philippines, where it works with local people who want to make a difference. It currently cares for more than 750 dogs at its shelters in China. A woman who began dating a man old enough to be her father when she was a teenager says she is not bothered by the comments people make about their relationship. Natasha Maree, 25, and her partner Harley Johnstone, 46, have often been told by strangers that they shouldn't be together because of their 21-year-age gap. She was 18 when she first met her partner six years ago as a young university student living in Sydney. The Adelaide fitness influencers began dating a year later and have been together ever since. Ms Maree admitted that her family, including her father who is 12 years older than Mr Johnstone, did not accept their budding relationship at first. Their views changed after a few months, when they accepted that she was in a serious and loving relationship and welcomed him into the family. There's a 21-year-old age gap between Natasha Maree (right) and her partner Harley Johnstone (left) She says the secret to their successful partnership is an appreciation for one another and shared interests. 'We have many common interests. Common interests are a must regardless of your age gap,' she told the Adelaide Advertiser. Ms Maree has become used to comments from strangers who remind her that her partner is old enough to be her dad. 'We get a lot of attention,' she said. 'We've had hundreds of people, because we work online, tell us over the years "he's too old", "she's too young", "he's a creep", "she has no life experience". Ms Maree, who was a long-time fan of Mr Johnstone, decided to meet the established fitness influencer when she was 18 When they began dating a year later, Ms Maree moved down to Adelaide to be closer to her partner and launch her own career as a fitness influencer. Natasha Maree (right)admitted her family initially weren't happy about her relationship with Harley (left) until four months in The couple often feature together on their YouTube pages, where they boast a combined following of more than 380,000. Ms Maree also posts pictures of the pair on her Instagram page which is followed by 124,000 fans. She uploaded a video to her YouTube page on Saturday to explain why she is dating an older man. The couple aren't the first and won't be the last to share a significant age gap. American actor Jeff Goldblum, 67 is 30 years older than his third wife Emilie Livingstone, whom he married in 2014. Veteran actor Nicolas Cage, 60 is also more than three decades older than his fifth wife Riko Shibata, 29, while Michael Douglas is 25 years older than his wife Catherine Zeta Jones, 54. Sam Rader cheated on his wife Nia when he signed up to the affair website A Christian YouTube star who was busted using affair website Ashley Madison fought back tears watching himself in the new Netflix docuseries while cuddled up in bed with his wife of 14 years. Sam and Nia Rader, who both feature in the documentary, decided to film themselves watching the three-part documentary, which details how the controversial website was hacked in July 2015, leading to a list of famous clients being exposed for infidelity. In a new YouTube video posted on May 19, Sam and Nia were seen cringing as they watched themselves back, and at one point, the dad claimed he had 'made himself cry' as they viewed a particularly emotional scene in which he talks about his wife having to forgive him for cheating. 'Yeah, I didn't realize that was coming! Oh my God!' Nia, 35, replied as she pulled him in for a hug and said: 'Come here, this is serious!' before leaning in to kiss him as they continued to tune in. However, it clearly didn't get any easier as Sam, 38, appeared to be cringing as Nia pondered what it would be like to have watched it if they were no longer married. Sam and Nia Rader, who star in the Netflix docuseries Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal, decided to film themselves watching it Once they finished tuning in, Nia admitted: 'Man, I don't feel much after that,' as Sam asked: 'You don't feel much?' to which she replied: 'I don't, I feel a little empty because we said so much.' 'There's so much more to what we learnt through all that,' Sam said, as Nia repeated him: 'So much more you guys,' as the couple discussed the editing of the docuseries. 'We had a process that we had to go through to get to the end of the story, which makes sense if they'd included all of it,' Sam explained. 'A lot of people are not even interested, but you'd think they would be more interested in a human story than a stupid hack... trying to figure out who did the hack.' Nia replied: 'If they were gonna reveal who the hacker was, I could understand going through all that hack. They could have cut that hacker's info in half, honestly, all that they shared, because some of it was good but if they weren't gonna reveal the hacker, then why go through all that.' Sam then admitted: 'As a Christian... I wouldn't tell anybody to watch this. And honestly, if I ever appear in front of anybody to speak about this, the first thing that would probably come out of my mouth is, "I'm sorry if our story led you to this documentary."' However, Nia was keen to reassure her husband and told him: 'You did such a good job, I'm so proud of you. This didn't portray you terribly at all, I mean, yeah you made some mistakes - that's obvious from the title of the documentary. 'With that kind of content, it's sinful, evil, dark content, it's going to be hard to get something great out of it, if they are trying to get the story of Ashley Madison.' Sam, who signed up to affair website Ashley Madison, became emotional as she watched himself back In the three-part Netflix, Sam claims fatherhood was to blame for his sordid Ashley Madison affairs 'But this is going to be buried pretty fast,' Sam predicted, as Nia replied: 'I don't know,' as they referred to the unknown hacker yet again. In the docuseries, Sam opens up about what led to him being unfaithful and admitted that the sudden 'responsibility' that came with welcoming his first child with Nia in their 20s made him 'long for passionate romance.' In addition, he opened up about the harrowing moment that he was forced to come clean to his wife after a hacker released a massive list of Ashley Madison's members on the web. Nia also appears in the documentary and detailed how she learned to forgive Sam despite him 'humiliating' her and making her feel like she 'wasn't enough for him.' Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal is available to stream on Netflix. Parents are outraged after overhearing one mum's 'toxic' approach to cartoons. An American mum recently revealed she saw another parent ban her son from watching Bluey for a 'bizarre' reason. 'Heard a little boy talk about Bluey today. His mum promptly redirected him toward Spiderman and called Bluey a girl's show,' she wrote on Facebook. Bluey is an Australian animated children's show about a family of dogs, the series primarily focuses on Bluey and her little sister Bingo. Parents have previously had other issues with the television show, including criticising Bluey's parents for being 'too wealthy'. A mum recently banned her son from watching Bluey for a 'bizarre' reason Hundreds of parents were quick to slam such binary thinking and claimed it would negatively impact a child's development. 'I worry about his emotional maturity in the future if the parents are that gender conforming,' one said. 'That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard,' another simply wrote. 'Even though the title charters are girls, the show is for everyone. My toddler also likes Spidey and his amazing friends but I don't think it's a boy show. I think shows are meant for anyone who is interested in watching them,' a mum said. Parents claimed children's characters like Bluey and Spiderman were for everyone 'It's so messed up that this is commentary in children's shows with female leads. No one is calling Sesame Street a 'boys show' because of Big Bird and Elmo?' another mum claimed. Another added, 'It's a kids show. Period. I can't stand the gender separation of things that are inherently not gender based. It's like telling a girl she can't watch anything but Wonder Woman or Ms. Marvel because Hulk and Spider-Man are 'for boys'. It's dumb. We should embrace our differences without making it toxic.' Despite being marketed to children, there is also a wild reason thousands of adults are 'addicted' to watching Bluey. A mum revealed she was 'doing the opposite' and encouraging her toddler to watch Bluey. 'I'm trying to instil empathy and compassion into my son,' she said. Iran prepares for presidential election and Raisi's funeral 11:11, May 21, 2024 By Mike Gu ( Chinadaily.com.cn People gather to mourn for the death of the late Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, in Tehran, Iran May 20, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] The Iranian authorities will hold a funeral for the late president Ebrahim Raisi on May 23 and the next presidential election on June 28. They said the election will be held on June 28 to determine the new president and the registration of candidates will be carried out from May 30 to June 3, and the election campaign period will be from June 12-27, Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Article 131 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran states the formation of a council to manage the executive affairs of the country for a period of 50 days and prepare for the presidential elections. While Iran is mourning the death of Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and a number of senior provincial officials for the second of five-day national mourning, authorities issued a notice, saying that a funeral will be held for Raisi in South Khorasan Province on May 23 and he will be laid to rest in his hometown Mashhad same day. Raisi and his accompanying team lost their lives in a helicopter crash in Varzaqan, northwestern Iran, on Sunday while returning from a ceremony to open a dam on Iran's border with Azerbaijan. Hojjatoleslam Mahmoud Hosseini, the director of a local office of Iran's Islamic Propagation Organization in Tabriz, told IRNA that in the funeral procession on May 21, the people of Tabriz will bid farewell to the president and carry his body to the Tabriz airport. People in Teheran are already holding ceremonies mourning the death of Raisi. Both Turkiye and Sri Lanka have announced a one-day mourning for the Iranian president, as cited by the Daily Mirror news website and IRNA. (Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun) By Park Jae-hyuk Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle, a North Jeolla Province-based truck manufacturing subsidiary of Indias Tata Group, has come into conflict with unionized construction workers here, who claim that defects in the companys concrete mixer trucks have caused several accidents, including a 13-car pileup in Seoul, which killed one driver and left 16 people injured on March 29. The Korean Construction Workers Union (KCWU) held a press conference, Tuesday, urging the government to inspect Tata Daewoos mixer trucks for defects and to prevent further tragic accidents. The accident in March was attributed by many news outlets to the truckers presumable driving while drowsy or his mistake in braking, the union said. However, the driver told us that he had no choice but to turn the steering wheel to overturn his vehicle, as the brakes did not work when the vehicle was going downhill near Seokgye Station. According to the KCWU, the vehicle was a Maxen mixer truck produced earlier this year. The union added that another driver of Tata Daewoos Novus mixer truck, manufactured in 2021, had to crash into a wall to stop his accelerating vehicle last month at a factory in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, due to its malfunctioning braking system. We visited Tata Daewoos service center to talk about the defects, but the center denied any defects in the vehicles and refused to compensate the truckers, the KCWU said. Tata Daewoo said that a police investigation into the accident in March has already finished. It was also concluded that further analysis of the truck was impossible as the vehicle was badly damaged, a Tata Daewoo spokeswoman said. This is not the first time that the company has faced controversy over the quality of its trucks. A driver of Tata Daewoos Prima truck, who was injured in a 2021 accident on a road in Incheon, claimed that the vehicles brakes were defective. Other drivers of the companys trucks have also complained about their vehicles excessive consumption of engine oil and low engine output over the past few years. A group of hundreds of owners of Tata Daewoo vehicles even boycotted the companys products in 2018 and 2020, in protest of its refusal to compensate them for the alleged defects. Tata Daewoo was previously the truck manufacturing unit of the now-defunct Daewoo Motors. After the Asian financial crisis in 1998, the Korean carmakers passenger vehicle business was sold to General Motors, while its bus business was sold to Young An Hat. The hat maker shut down the bus business in 2022. The truck business remained an independent entity until Tata Groups acquisition in 2004. Women can conduct their own smear tests from home thanks to a new device which could boost screening rates. The world's first tampon test for the human papillomavirus (HPV) is launching in the UK this week. It is hoped the DIY screening will allow those who are too embarrassed or fear cervical screening, to get tested for the leading cause of cervical cancer. The HPV screen is made by gynaecological health startup Daye, which has already created a similar product to test for STIs including chlamydia and gonorrhoea. Available to order for 69 online, it tests for 14 different strains of the virus, which are behind nearly all cases of cervical cancer. It is hoped the DIY screening will allow those who are too embarrassed or fear cervical screening, to get tested for the leading cause of cervical cancer . The launch, which follows a similar test for sexually transmitted infections, comes after the NHS pledged to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040. NHS cervical screening data shows uptake has steadily fallen over time from a high of just under 76 per cent in 2011 Cervical cancer symptoms to look out for include unusual vaginal bleeding, pain during sex and lower back or pelvic pain Inserted like a traditional tampon, it must be worn for at least 20 minutes to generate a sample. This is then sent to a UK laboratory for testing, with results returned within ten days. If women test positive for a high-risk HPV, Daye advises them to take the results to their GP where they may then be referred for further testing or a colposcopy, on the NHS. The launch, which follows a similar test for sexually transmitted infections, comes after the NHS pledged to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040. WHAT IS CERVICAL CANCER? Cervical cancer affects the lining of the lower part of womb. The most common symptom is unusual bleeding, such as between periods, during sex or after the menopause, but other signs can include: Pain during sex Vaginal discharge that smells Pain in the pelvis Causes can include: Age - more than half of sufferers are under 45 HPV infection - which affects most people at some point in their lives Smoking - responsible for 21 per cent of cases Contraceptive pill - linked to 10 per cent of cases Having children Family history of cervical or other types of cancer, like vagina Source: Cancer Research UK Advertisement Valentina Milanova, founder of Daye, said she hoped this latest innovation would assist in getting hard-to-reach patients. She said: 'Eliminating cervical cancer by 2040 requires a joined-up approach of vaccination, screening and testing, and we hope to encourage more women to proactively test for HPV. 'By utilising the familiar tampon, this hassle-free HPV testing kit is extremely easy and comfortable to use, and we hope this will lead to more patients taking control over their long-term health and fertility.' HPV infections are also incredibly common, with around eight in 10 people becoming infected at least once in their lifetime. Most strains do not present with any symptoms but can result in health problems from cancer to fertility issues. About 3,300 people still receive a cervical cancer diagnosis every year in the UK with nearly all cases 99.8 per cent caused by persistent high-risk HPV infections. The introduction of a national vaccination programme in 2008 and a national screening programme have both helped rates fall by more than quarter since the 1990s. Despite being one of the deadliest female cancers, latest UK screening data shows only two thirds (68.7 per cent) of the 4.62 million women eligible for screening are up to date. As part of its pledge to increase uptake, the NHS is keen to introduce at-home tests, which should help reach those who do not usual attend screening appointments. While not yet available on the NHS, Daye's at-home HPV screen is part of its Accelerator for Innovation programme, which supports promising developments which could one-day change practice. A spokeswoman from Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust said eight out of ten people will carry the HPV virus at some point in their lives and of those, nine out of ten people clear it within 2 years. She said: 'Along with HPV vaccination, cervical screening (smear test) is one of our best tools for preventing cervical cancer and we encourage women to attend their free NHS cervical screening appointment when invited. 'However, we understand that attending cervical screening can be challenging for some women and we support the development and clinical trialling of some new self-sampling techniques within the NHS program. 'It is important to remember that HPV home-test kits are not currently part of the NHS Cervical Screening Programme, so even if someone discovers that they have HPV with a home-test kit, they will not be able to have an earlier cervical screening appointment if they are not due to have one.' A nice cup of tea is known to work miracles after a busy day, but new research suggests the drink may have saved lives in the 1700s. Experts found the rise in popularity of tea was linked to a fall in deaths across England during the Industrial Revolution, when sanitation was poor. They believe this is because boiling water to make a cuppa killed bacteria and parasites that caused fatal illnesses like dysentery. Professor Francisca Antman, of the University of Colorado Boulder, said: 'The nice thing about this setting is that it occurred before we knew the importance of clean water. 'The evidence suggests that tea became affordable to nearly everyone in England in the late 1780s, during the Industrial Revolution. Tea is beloved in Britain, where more than 100 million cups are consumed each day Samuel Johnson was one of the earliest proponents of the English cuppa, calling himself 'a hardened and shameless tea-drinker' 'Population density was rising, cities were really growing, people were being packed tighter and tighter. That should actually be a period where we see a lot of increasing mortality. But we end up seeing this surprising decline in mortality that can be explained by the introduction of tea and, more specifically, the boiling of water.' Renowned English writer Samuel Johnson was one of the earliest advocates of drinking tea. Economics professor Francisca Antman studied data from more than 400 English parishes, looking at death rates before and after tea became popular In 1757 he described himself as 'a hardened and shameless tea-drinkerwhose kettle has scarcely time to cool; who with tea amuses the evening, with tea solaces the midnight, and, with tea, welcomes the morning.' Dysentery, a severe a gastrointestinal disease, caused many deaths in the 1700s, when it was known as 'bloody flux'. In some parts of Europe, 90 per cent of all deaths were due to dysentery during the worst outbreaks. Professor Antman looked at data from more than 400 parishes around England, looking at death rates before and after tea became popular and affordable. The analysis compared areas based on water quality, which had to be inferred based on geographical features, such as the number of running water sources or elevation. She said: 'In areas where you expect water quality should have been inherently worse, you see a bigger decline in mortality when tea comes in. 'It's not like the water itself is pure or up to the standards of drinking water that we have today. But what you see is those areas that should have benefited more do benefit more as they begin to boil water for tea consumption.' The researcher added that the vast quantity of historical data available in Britain enabled her study. 'Very few places in the world have data like this,' she said. 'It wouldn't have been possible without the monumental efforts of demographers and historians who went through the parish records in England and basically constructed these data series that I then was able to analyse.' In many developing nations, access to clean water is still a struggle. Professor Antman said England's tea obsession is example of how a simple behavioural change boiling water before drinking it can have profoundly positive effects. 'People changed their behaviour, not because of any outside influence or suggestions about healthy habits or clean water, but simply because they wanted to drink tea,' she said. 'It is a great example of how a population adopted a healthy behaviour without someone trying to change culture or customs from the outside, but because they wanted to adopt the practice from within. 'It's something we can look at and possibly try to emulate when considering future interventions aimed at improving health more generally, including with respect to water.' Ketamine's rising popularity was today laid bare in a shocking series of charts revealing how use of the drug has surged among young people. It comes on the back of another horrific case where a young man attacked and killed his 'beloved' mother while high on the Class B substance. Ketamine use hit a record among 16 to 24-year-olds last year with almost one in 25 people in this group in England, official figures show. This is a jump of a fifth on 2020's figure, and also stands four times higher than the levels recorded a decade ago. Finn Henry, an experienced boxer, was yesterday jailed for seven years after attacking and killing his 'beloved' mother at their family home while high on Ketamine. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. Finn Henry (pictured), an experienced boxer, was yesterday jailed for seven years after attacking and killing his 'beloved' mother at their family home while high on Ketamine His mother, Suzanne Henry (pictured), 54, was left 'unrecognisable' following the 'sustained and lengthy assault' by her son and died two days later in hospital having suffered severe traumatic brain injury The court was told the 21-year-old had suffered an 'adverse reaction' and was acting 'irrationally' as a result of 'confusion and excitement' brought about by his use of the drug. His mother, Suzanne Henry, 54, was left 'unrecognisable' following the 'sustained and lengthy assault' by her son and died two days later in hospital having suffered severe traumatic brain injury. Special K, Ket, or Kit Kat was popular as a party drug in the late 1990s, when it was commonly taken at all-night raves. But its popularity slipped in the 2000s when it became a Schedule III drug and concerns were raised over side effects including hallucinations and, in rare cases, seizures. WHAT IS KETAMINE? Ketamine is a powerful general anesthetic that is used to stop humans and animals experiencing pain during operations. It started being used as a party drug in the late 2000s, with people taking it before raves for a more intense experience. It is used as an anesthetic, and has been in the national spotlight since the death of Colorado's Elijah McClain, who struggled with police and was injected by paramedics with a dosage appropriate for someone weighing 200 pounds. He weighed 143 pounds. Colorado is now trying to limit first responders' use of ketamine and other chemical restraints. What are the side effects? Ketamine causes a loss of feeling and paralysis of the muscles. It can also lead to people experiencing hallucinations and a distortion of reality, which many call entering the 'k-hole'. This is when people believe they have spoken to God or a higher power, which can lead to addiction as they crave that experience. Ketamine may also cause people to feel incapable of moving, or lead to panic attacks, confusion and memory loss. Regular users can seriously damage their bladders, which may need to be surgically removed. Other risks include a raised heart rate and blood pressure. Paralysis of the muscles can leave people vulnerable to hurting themselves, while not feeling pain properly can cause them to underestimate any damage. Many claim ketamine withdrawal is worse than any other drug, with some feeling so depressed they contemplate suicide. If you are having suicidal thoughts, contact the Samaritans here. How is it taken and what is the law around it? For medical use ketamine is liquid but the 'street' drug is normally a grainy, white powder. In 1999, ketamine became a Schedule III non-narcotic substance under the Controlled Substances Act. It currently has accepted medical uses for short-term sedation and anesthesia. In 2019, the FDA approved a version of the drug for treatment-resistant depression, which is only available at a doctor's office or a clinic. Is illegal use of ketamine common? In May 2023, a new report found that law enforcement agencies seized more than 1,500 pounds of ketamine in 2022 about 12 times more than in 2017. Tennessee, Florida and California had the most seizures of the drug. However, it's not clear whether those states have the highest usage. Medical-grade ketamine is typically in a liquid form and is often administered through an IV. But most of the illegally obtained ketamine was in a powder form, which means it risks being contaminated with other chemicals, in particular fentanyl. How many people die from ketamine use? Exact data is hard to come by: unlike with cocaine, heroin, or opioids the CDC does not publish the data on monthly and annual deaths. The number is low, especially when compared to drugs such as fentanyl, which in 2022 killed almost 74,000 people. Source: Talk to Frank, US Drug Enforcement Association Advertisement Figures, released by the Office for National Statistics, show one in twenty (4.8 per cent) 20 to 24-year-olds last year admitted to taking the drug, more popular among men. This compared to just 0.9 per cent across all age groups. Age isn't the only factor that makes some Brits more likely to use ketamine. People in the Yorkshire and the Humber recorded the highest rate of use by any region at (1.7 per cent). This is followed by the South West (1.4 per cent) and London (1.3 per cent). By comparison, just 0.1 per cent of 16 to 59-year-olds reported using the drug in the West Midlands last year. Experts have long warned that rising ketamine use has been driven by both its affordability and availability. It is thought to cost around 20 a gram compared to 40 a gram for MDMA and 100 for cocaine. High profile endorsements, including Elon Musk who earlier this year revealed the drug was 'helpful' in getting him 'out of a negative frame of mind', may also be behind the rise, they have suggested. Ketamine works as an anaesthetic by blocking the neurotransmitter N-methyl-D-aspartate (NDMA), which controls actions in the nervous system. This can rapidly diminish sensations, prevent pain, induce sleep or even inhibit memory. For this reason, it is usually taken in small doses for non-anaesthetic purposes. At these doses, it gives users a feeling of euphoria, out-of-body experiences, and hallucinations. But tolerance to the drug, which usually comes as a crystalline powder or liquid, is known to build quickly. This leads to users needing more and more to feel the same high, which increases the risk of overdosing or experiencing adverse side effects, Higher doses can also lead to a phenomenon dubbed the 'k-hole', an intense feeling of dissociation and being disconnected or unable to connect to reality. Campaigners have also called ketamine a 'campus killer', with it linked to dozens of student deaths over the past few years, according to the National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths. Last year, actor Matthew Perry's autopsy revealed he accidentally drowned on October 28 while under 'acute effects of ketamine,' which could have caused him to become dazed or fall asleep in his jacuzzi, leading to his death. Yesterday the court heard Finn had used cannabis from the age of 15 before becoming addicted to ketamine aged 19, using 10 grams over a weekend. His family and friends had begged him to stop, with his mother threatening to cut ties with him if he continued to use and sell drugs. But prosecutor KC Maria Karaiskos said he was 'strongly attracted to the positive effects, as though he had a lot of energy and felt he could do anything'. She said he acknowledged he would 'become wound up more easily' and his drug use had led to him losing his job after he attacked a co-worker but he did not stop and had used drugs throughout the day he killed his mother. The moments before and after her death were caught on video, filmed by her on her mobile phone, who wanted to show Finn how he acted while high. He was initially charged with murder, which he denied, before later pleading guilty to unlawful act manslaughter through intoxication of drugs. In a moving victim impact statement read to the court, Charles Henry, 57, a company director and former prison officer, called for the judge to show his son leniency. He said his son's mental health declined and drugs became 'more prevalent' following a 'toxic relationship'. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. Special K, Ket, or Kit Kat (pictured), as it is also known, was popular as a party drug in the late 1990s, when it was commonly taken at all-night raves Last year, actor Matthew Perry 's autopsy revealed he accidentally drowned on October 28 while under 'acute effects of ketamine,' which could have caused him to become dazed or fall asleep in his jacuzzi, leading to his death He also told how ketamine use was rife in the Staffordshire village where they lived but his son now wanted to warn of the dangers. 'Finn will have to live with the consequences of what he has done for the rest of his life and I know first hand how hard he has found it to deal with this,' he said. 'It would be easier to pick out the young people in the village who are not using it rather than the other way round.' Finn had 'never raised his voice in anger once' to his mother, he added, and 'showed her nothing but respect until this dreadful event'. But the judge told him he posed a 'significant risk' of committing further offences if he started taking drugs again. 'Because of the history of your use of ketamine and the steps others took to persuade you not to buy drugs... I am sure you failed to address the issues of addiction and the gross over ingestion of drugs which you knew this drug in particular caused you to lose control and caused you to act violently and significantly out of character. You knew all of that,' he said. Ketamine is only licensed in the UK as an anaesthetic but can also be prescribed off-license as a pain killer. These versions are medical-grade and proven to be safe. The class B drug is also increasingly being studied as a potential therapeutic for depression and PTSD. Former President Donald Trump has undergone multiple cosmetic procedures including hair transplants and liposuction. At least that's what is claimed in a controversial new film on Trump's life in the 1970s and 80s - and experts told DailyMail.com they agree. The biopic, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, features jarring scenes that depict the real estate tycoon going under the knife to shed pounds and restore his thinning hair, according to critics who screened it at the festival. While Trump has denied these allegations, that hasn't stopped his appearance from being the center of intense speculation since his rise to fame. A cosmetic surgeon told DailyMail.com he believes the former president has undergone three to five separate hair restoration procedures and a plastic surgeon said it is was possible he's had liposuction around his chin and neck. Plastic surgeon Dr Gary Linkov (left) claimed in a Youtube video he believed Trump had plug grafts, a type of hair transplant surgery. Dr Linkov said: 'If you look closely, you'll see what appears to be small islands of hair. I believe that he may have had a procedure that involves plug grafts' Dr Linkov also said that in 1978, at 32 years old (right), the 'architecture of Donald Trump's hairline has changed significantly compared to him at age 18 (right). The hairline is much straighter, it's lower and it appears to be less natural' 'The Apprentice,' which was made without input from Trump, 77, depicts the ex-president having liposuction on various parts of his body, a weight-loss procedure, and a hair transplant, which removes hair follicles from one part of the body to any balding areas on the head, in the 1970s and 1980s. In a statement to DailyMail.com, Steven Cheung, Trump campaign communications director, said: 'We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers. 'This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked. 'As with the illegal Biden Trials, this is election interference by Hollywood elites, who know that President Trump will retake the White House and beat their candidate of choice because nothing they have done has worked. 'This "film" is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day, and doesnt even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store, it belongs in a dumpster fire.' Dr Ross Kopelman, a hair transplant surgeon at Kopelman Hair Restoration, agreed with speculations, pointing to several aspects of Trump's hair as evidence he has undergone hair restoration procedures. He told DailyMail.com: 'One of the most striking aspects of Donald Trumps hair is its consistent density and coverage over many years. Naturally maintaining such density can be challenging... Achieving and sustaining this level of hair density often requires multiple hair restoration interventions.' Dr Kopelman added: 'Observing Trump's hairline over the decades reveals significant changes. In earlier photographs, his hairline showed more recession, particularly around the frontal temporal corners. 'Over time, his hairline has appeared lower and more youthful, which suggests surgical intervention.' And plastic surgeon Dr Gary Linkov claimed in a YouTube video he also believed Trump had plug grafts, a type of hair transplant surgery in which surgeons take hair from the back of the head and transplant it to bald spots, echoing many of Dr Kopelman's sentiments. Dr Linkov also believes Trump had plug grafts, a type of hair transplant surgery in which surgeons take hair from the back of the head and transplant it to bald spots He said in 1978, at 32, the 'architecture of Donald Trump's hairline has changed significantly compared to him at age 18. The hairline is much straighter, it's lower and it appears to be less natural. 'And if you look closely, you'll see what appears to be small islands of hair. I believe that he may have had a procedure that involves plug grafts.' Dr Linkov also points out the change in Trump's hairline, both angle and depth, saying his hairline became straighter in the late 1970s and 1980s and his hair grew further down his forehead compared to pictures from the sixties. Trump's first wife Ivana Trump, who died in 2022, had previously said he'd undergone scalp reduction surgery, which removes bald skin from the scalp and stretches areas with hair over bald spots to restore hair. Additionally, the former president's daughter Ivanka Trump allegedly told friends her father had undergone a scalp reduction procedure, according to Michael Wolff's book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. In an excerpt published in New York Magazine, Wolff wrote: [Ivanka] often described the mechanics behind [his hair] to friends: An absolutely clean pate a contained island after scalp-reduction surgery surrounded by a furry circle of hair around the sides and front, from which all ends are drawn up to meet in the center and then swept back and secured by a stiffening spray.' But in the 1993 book by Harry Hurt III, the Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump, Trump denied having had any plastic surgery, though he is no stranger to cosmetics, including fake tans and hair dyes. The movie has not been released to the public yet and it is unclear the exact year the filmmakers allege Trump had liposuction, but photos from the 1970s and 1980s show little difference in the former president's chin and waist The film also alleges the 77-year-old underwent liposuction, which involves sucking fat out of specific areas of the body, and Ivana had also made those claims, saying he had his chin and waist liposuctioned. Plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr Rukmini Rednam told DailyMail.com it was hard to speculate whether Trump had liposuction on his waistline, because he famously wears ill-fitting suits that obscure his figure, but it could be possible he had it around his chin. She said: 'Its difficult to comment on his waistline as he rarely wears form fitting clothing but if he had liposuction it would appear he did not do the maintenance to keep his results. 'It also seems likely that he may have had submental or chin liposuction and his neckline did appear more defined while his weight and the rest of his face appear largely unchanged.' The movie has not been released to the public yet and it is unclear the exact year the filmmakers allege Trump had the procedure, but photos from the 1970s and 1980s show little difference in the former president's chin and waist. In addition to the claims made in the film, Dr Paul Tulley, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Kensington Medical Facial Specialists, told Metro last month that Trump has likely had upper and lower blepharoplasty, also known as an eyelid lift, as well as a face lift. Plastic surgeons have also previously speculated to DailyMail.com that the former president could now be taking weight-loss drugs like Ozempic or Wegovy after he has appeared slimmer in recent photos than when he was in office. Dr Shauna Levy, an obesity expert at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana, told DailyMail.com: 'It is realistic to consider this possibility that he is on anti-obesity medication.' The Trump campaign released a statement following the film's premiere, threatening to sue. Whether or not Trump had undergone procedures in the seventies and eighties, plastic surgeon Dr Jay Calvert told DailyMail.com: 'If Donald Trump has had plastic surgery, he clearly needs more. The neck needs attention. He needs an upper blepharoplasty [and] he needs a really good facelift.' Experts have shot down claims by celebrities that they can remember incredibly early life experiences including being in the womb. Empire actor Terrence Howard declared during an interview on Joe Rogan's podcast that he remembers 'the whole nine' months of being in utero and even 'being compressed' and 'want[ing] to panic' during his own birth. Actor Nicholas Cage made similar claims earlier this month. While there are a 100 or so people with a condition that gives them a photographic-like memory of their very early childhood, all four experts DailyMail.com spoke to said remembering being in the womb or being born is 'impossible.' Human babies are 'quite neurologically undeveloped and not capable of memory,' Robert Friedland, professor of neurology at the University of Louisville, told DailyMail.com. Empire actor Terrence Howard had quite the interview on The Joe Rogan Experience Saturday - during which he raised some wild ideas about the universe 'Memory systems in the brain are not working well until several years of age,' he added. Howard claimed he remembered being 'six months, maybe, inside the womb.' 'And I'm like, "Okay, don't forget I'm here, don't forget, don't forget, don't forget,"' he told Joe Rogan. He continued: 'You go to sleep. You wake up again. Now something's moving in front of you and you're like, "Oh, that's my friend." 'But I had a different name for it - I didn't know it was my hand.' 'You remember coming out?' an amazed Rogan went on to ask. 'I remember being compressed and you want to panic,' Howard replied. 'But you're flooded with some serotonin and dopamine, to where you feel relaxed and you go right back to sleep. 'And you remember being born,' he added, claims that he also recalls being circumcised. But the reality is the majority of us will never remember anything before the age of three, Dr Dung Trinh, an internal medicine physician in California and chief officer of the Health Brain Clinic, told DailyMail.com. This is due to something called 'infantile amnesia,' Dr Trinh said, where most of the memories before then are lost. GOT A HEALTH-RELATED STORY? EMAIL: Health@dailymail.com Advertisement 'When we're born, the size of our brain is probably a quarter of the size of an adult brain,' Dr Trinh said. As the brain develops, it creates new brain cells at a rapid pace, which disrupts earlier memories and overwrites them. Most of our memories are formed and stored in the hippocampus. 'At birth, the hippocampus is still not fully developed,' Dr Trinh said, meaning it cannot perform the important functions of memory retrieval until years later. As for remembering being in the womb, 'that's certainly not a case that I've come across or heard of,' he said. Other brain regions are involved in memory as well, such as the prefrontal cortex, said Dr Aaron Reuben, a neuropsychologist and PhD candidate at Duke University. Like the hippocampus, 'this is not sufficiently developed to aid in the storage and retrieval of memories for several years,' he told DailyMail.com. The brain structure for emotional memory, the amygdala, is more developed than the structure for episodic memory, Dr Trinh said. 'Maybe it's possible to remember certain emotions attached to your birth, but again, that's also rare,' he said. This means that an emotionally significant event like a traumatic birth may affect the way a child behaves later in life, despite them not being able to remember the event itself, Dr Trinh said. But it is extremely unlikely that you would remember anything from the womb, he added. Actor Nicholas Cage also claimed he could recall seeing 'faces in the dark' while he was still in his mom's womb when asked about his earliest childhood memory on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert earlier this month. The Hollywood star explained: 'I know this sounds really far out and I dont know if its real or not, but sometimes I think I can go all the way back to in-utero and feeling like I could see faces in the dark or something. 'I know that sounds powerfully abstract, but that somehow seems like maybe it happened.' Dr Reuben was not convinced. 'While learning does happen very early, potentially in the womb, the ability to consciously recall sights, sounds, and experiences later in life relies on a mature hippocampus,' he said, which newborn babies do not have. At one point, Howard claimed being able to remember being in his mother's womb - echoing assertions made by fellow actor Nicolas Cage on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert last month The 59-year-old Hollywood star explained: 'Let me think. Listen, I know this sounds really far out and I dont know if its real or not, but sometimes I think I can go all the way back to in-utero and feeling like I could see faces in the dark or something' Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, or HSAM, is the ability to accurately remember details of daily experiences that took place over many previous decades. The condition was only discovered in 2000 and is still poorly understood. Becky Sharrock, 34, Australia's only know case of HSAM, claims to remember the day she was born, and the 'intense curiosity' she felt as a newborn baby. 'There is a recollection I have which I'm assuming was my birth. I found myself just wrapped in a blanket and then having my ankle clipped with a tag,' she told 60 Minutes Australia. 'Of course that can't be 100 percent proven to skeptics,' she said. 'I had intense curiosity. I didn't know the word curiosity as a baby but I wanted to know everything about everything. I was probably about 5,000 percent more curious than I am now.' This is 'more feasible', Dr Trinh said. 'The brain is obviously more developed after birth than being in the womb. I think it's rare, but probably feasible.' Another argument for why we cannot remember our births is because autobiographical memories require a sense of self, which we don't develop until around age two. 'We have no clue what's going on when we're first born,' Dr Trinh said. Dr Keith Vossel, neurologist at the University of California Los Angeles, added: 'We haven't developed any kind of language processing skills or any kind of sense of ourselves at that stage where there's autobiographical memory that can be created.' Dr Vossel said that Howard and Cage may instead be recalling 'false memories' from a 'vivid dream.' 'Some false memories can be created through dreaming,' he said. 'Because sleep is important for making new consolidating new memories, it can also be a time in which we create new memories that are false. 'It may be that he is remembering a vivid dream that he had had in the past and has created a reality around that. It's been reported that that can occur,' Dr Vossel added. Cage did admit, 'I don't even know if I remember being in utero.' Dr Reuben told DailyMail.com: 'It is perfectly possible and quite common for fake memories to be "implanted" in our memory system. 'In essence, we can have quite vivid memories of things that never happened all we have to do is imagine it often enough.' The memory of being in the womb may feel real to Howard and Cage, Dr Vossel said, because 'they've experienced it over and over in their mind, and 'It is essentially a memory that feels real to them. and so they've experienced that over and over in their mind. And so it becomes a reality and a truth to that person.' Howard and Cage may want to believe they can remember their own births, and may want to impress an interviewer or fans with their rare experience. '[Wanting to sound interesting] could be a motivating factor,' Dr Vossel said. Dr Trinh said confirmation bias - the tendency to search for or recall information in a way that confirms one's prior beliefs - is 'certainly possible' in Howard and Cage's remembering of their in utero experiences. 'We really can't prove either way. Because none of us is around at anyone's birth and we don't remember own own.' Matcha tea is being heralded as a cure for period cramps and gum disease despite tasting like shredded grass according to some people. The drink, popular with celebrities including Zendaya, Kourtney Kardashian, Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber, contains a compound called catechin which may reduce hormones that lead to period pain. One user posted the claims on X (formerly Twitter), amassing 4.3million views, adding: I was wondering why my cramps immediately got up out of here wow. But others weighed in, claiming matcha often made with milk to create a matcha latte tastes like dirt. One person wrote: Its so GROSS tho, s*** tastes like shredded grass. Euphoria star Zendaya has been pictured drinking matcha Bella Hadid is known to enjoy a matcha tea Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker with their matcha teas It comes as a new study found matcha mouthwash may kill bacteria that cause gum disease, tooth loss and other health concerns. The research, published in the journal Microbiology Spectrum, said that swishing your mouth with matcha extract can destroy the bug porphyromonas gingivalis, which colonises on tooth surfaces and gum pockets, leading to periodontitis. As well as dental problems, the condition is linked to diabetes, preterm birth, cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis and cancer. Matcha tea has become popular among celebrities for its supposed health benefits. Many claims about its effects have been made in the past, though many of them are based on little evidence. The viral tweet claimed matcha can cure menstrual cramps Some who responded do not like the taste Others said they enjoy matcha when it is flavoured with other things A small study from the Netherlands suggested that matcha consumption may increase attention, reaction time and memory. Its also claimed the tea helps the body to metabolise caffeine, avoiding the crash reported by some after drinking a caffeinated drink like coffee. The claims about matchas effect on period pain, or dysmenorrhoea, come from a 2019 study in China that looked at the effect of catechins in green tea. It did not test matcha in particular, but matcha is known to contain high levels of catechins, along with oolong tea. Matcha tea is often made with milk to create matcha latte, either iced or hot It found that 56.4 per cent of university students suffered period cramps, with 6.5 per cent reporting very severe or unbearable symptoms. Hormone-like compounds produced in the womb called prostaglandins were said to be the cause of these cramps. Catechins from green tea were found to help inhibit their production. Black teas, like the ones used to make the traditional British cuppa, were found to be ineffective. The researchers warned: Our study suggests that drinking green tea was associated with a lower prevalence of dysmenorrhoea among reproductive-age women in China. On the other hand, excessive tea drinking may not be advisable, either, as tea may inhibit iron absorption. The viral tweet also claimed that amino acid L-theanine, found in matcha, helps to relax muscles something that matcha manufacturers often boast. However, scientific research on this is limited. The gum disease study, involving 45 people, was carried out in Japan. Paricipants were randomly assigned to 3 groups: one received barley tea mouthwash, the second received mouthwash made from matcha extract and the third received mouthwash that included sodium azulene sulfonate hydrate, which is used to treat inflammation. They were instructed to rinse twice daily and saliva samples were collected before and after the study. Matcha flavoured KitKats are sold in Japan Matcha is one of several unusual flavours the iconic chocolate bar comes in The researchers found that those who used the matcha mouthwash had significantly lower levels of harmful bacteria in their saliva samples at the end. They wrote: Matcha may have clinical applicability for prevention and treatment of periodontitis. Matcha is used in traditional ceremonies and for flavouring in drinks and sweets. Even KitKats are flavoured with matcha in Japan. It is made from the raw leaves of the camellia sinensis plant. I am a named driver on my 79-year-old wifes comprehensive Tesco Bank car insurance. The premium rose at renewal from 508 to 1,127, though my wife managed to negotiate it down to 908. Meanwhile, I have been attending an optometrist for several months for double vision and declared this on renewal of my driving licence. I am 85 and advised not to drive. I called Tesco Bank to request my removal from cover. I expected a reduction in the premium but was shocked to be told not only would there be no discount in the price, but I would have to pay them 118. I declined to cancel as I thought this absurd and I told them so. D.J., Kettering, Northants. Sally Hamilton replies: Tesco Banks response to your eyesight predicament seemed high-handed and I can appreciate how annoyed you felt. Not only were you faced with the lifestyle-changing disappointment of having to give up your licence after 68 years but a nasty financial penalty for giving up insurance cover you couldnt use. You did the right thing telling the Drivers and Vehicle Licensing Agency about your double vision, known as diplopia. It is one of six eye conditions motorists must be up front about with the agency. Drivers can be fined up to 1,000 if they omit to mention any medical condition that affects their driving and can risk prosecution if theyre involved in an accident as a result. I asked Tesco Bank to look at your case again and explain why it was charging you extra for a whole persons worth less cover. It came back to say this calculation was normal for its business in such circumstances. A spokesman says: Insurance premiums are assessed on a range of risk factors, one of which is whether a couple is insured on the same policy. Where this is the case, we apply a discount to the premium. There is some method in this apparent madness. The insurer says its claims data suggest that a couple insured on the same motor policy are less likely to make a claim than a single driver and therefore can earn a discount. The lost discount on your premium, combined with a charge for adjusting it take account of the period before your removal from cover, came to 118. Tesco Bank concedes it could have been clearer in its exchanges with you about why it calculates its premiums this way. The spokesman says: We recognise we could have done more to explain the impact of removing his name from the joint policy when he contacted us. Weve since spoken to D.J. and arranged to remove him from the policy as requested and have reinstated the discount on the premium as a gesture of goodwill. It also agreed to waive the 40 cancellation fee (applied if policies are cancelled after the initial 14-day cooling off period), should your wife decide to take a quote from another insurer. When I caught up with you last week, you told me you were now recovering well from surgery on your right eye and still were having issues with the other eye. You said your wife decided to stick with Tescos policy but added your 55-year-old son as a second driver. This also led to a discount but just 16, which means the total premium was 892. I have been a customer of Barclays for 31 years. Although I no longer live in the UK, my accounts have remained active. In late November last year, I phoned the bank after my card kept being declined and I couldnt access my accounts online. I was told they had been closed because I live in Australia. The bank said it had written to me giving me the information including a unique reference number (URN) to let me switch my money out of the account. I never received any letters. I completed a reclaim form that I downloaded from the banks website and wrote a covering letter explaining Id had no warning of the closure nor a URN and sent it by registered post on December 11. I received a reply in early February which was dated a month earlier, containing another form and requesting I send it with the URN. I spent 45 minutes on the phone explaining the situation again but was continually asked for the reference number that I never received. What can I do? C.P., Perth, Australia. Can Sally Sorts It help you? Do you have a consumer problem you need help with? Email Sally Hamilton at sally@dailymail.co.uk include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail or This Is Money for answers given. Sally Hamilton replies: You explained to me that you have had two accounts with Barclays since you were 15 years old. Money comes in to them from rent on a flat part owned with your dad and sister in the UK, as well as regular birthday and Christmas cash gifts paid in by family for your children. The balance at the time the account was shuttered was just over 3,000. Your situation came about because Barclays decided four years ago to stop offering accounts to people overseas without a UK address and has been gradually closing those accounts already in place. Other banks took similar action with customers in certain European countries after the UK left the EU. Under Barclays rules customers can only run their accounts with an address outside the UK if they are working outside the UK for six months or less, or they are employed by organisations such as the Armed Forces or diplomatic service. People holding power of attorney on a customers account might also be allowed to have an address abroad. Barclays told me it wrote to you about a year ago giving several months notice that the account was to be closed and outlining your options. The information sent included detailed instructions for other arrangements for your banking, such as withdrawing or transferring balances, and downloading any statements or information you needed. Barclays says two further reminders were issued, containing the URN. You never received any of these. While your problems have probably been compounded by the international postal service, Barclays did not make your life easy when you tried to resolve matters by phone. It would not send the URN by email or tell you it over the phone, for example. Barclays confirmed it received the downloaded reclaim forms you sent in January, but could not act on your instructions because they did not contain the URN. This is despite someone on the phone telling you this would not matter if you explained the issue in a covering note. After my intervention, Barclays sent you another letter with fresh forms and URN, which happily arrived safely. You have now completed and returned these, and you told me recently that the money has finally been released. You thanked me for my help. All is not lost regarding your UK banking. You and your husband hold a rarely used joint account with Halifax, which until recently contained a balance of just 15. You were worried this would suffer the same fate as your Barclays accounts but were relieved to be assured by Halifax that it would not close it. You have now redirected your rental income to that account. A Barclays spokesman says: Our Barclays UK products are designed for customers within the UK. Barclays UK is no longer offering personal current or savings accounts to retail customers who have an address outside the UK registered with us, with limited exceptions. This customer was given six months notice of this decision before account closure and information explaining the next steps they needed to take. BT is the first telecoms company to axe a ludicrous timetable that would have seen the nations old landlines replaced with digital phonelines by December 2025. The timeline for completing the transition has been pushed back to the end of January 2027. Other companies including Virgin Media and O2, are expected to follow suit. Money Mail explains everything you need to know about BTs decision and what steps you must take if you do not want a digital line installed. Why has the digital deadline been axed? BT has agreed more time is required to ensure customers deemed vulnerable will not be pushed into using the new technology until they are ready. The previous timetable was described as ludicrous by Silver Voices, a campaign group for Britains elderly. Up to two million customers rely on Telecare alarm systems emergency buttons that call emergency services via a landline when pressed that have not yet been adapted to digital lines. The telecoms giant is providing more time for companies to resolve this issue. BT is ripping out traditional analogue copper phone lines and putting in internet cables The Achilles heel of digital phone line systems is that you must plug the equipment into an electricity supply socket for it to work. This means if there is a power cut you may not be able to pick up a phone and dial 999 emergency services in a crisis. For vulnerable people this can mean the loss of a vital lifeline. BT has gadgets that can help, such as battery back ups, but more time is required to ensure the switch-over doesnt put people at risk. Why must I have a digital line? BT is ripping out traditional analogue copper phone lines and replacing them with internet cables saying the old lines are becoming worn out and too expensive to repair. Many homes are already connected to the internet with fibre optic cables and there is enough space on the lines to adapt the technology to use them for phone calls. You keep exactly the same phone number as before. But rather than using an analogue signal for phone calls, a technology known as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) allows you to communicate using a broadband internet connection. Sound quality should not be much different and charges for line rental are not changing. What can I do to avoid it? Inform BT that you are a vulnerable customer and as such do not want a digital phone line. Sadly, this does not mean it will never happen but it can delay the switch by a couple of years. Do not allow the telecoms giant to bully you into submission early. If you do not feel ready then tell them so because the deadline extension has given you time. How can I prove I am vulnerable? According to BT, no proof is necessary. Initially, anyone aged 70 or older could be classified vulnerable but this arbitrary age has been scrapped and you can now be deemed vulnerable at any age. If claiming disability allowance, suffering from mental health issues or confused or anxious about the switch, this should be enough to call yourself vulnerable. Even if you live in an isolated areas prone to power cuts or with no mobile reception then you can still be classified as vulnerable. The onus is on you to explain that you are vulnerable otherwise you could be railroaded into making the switch early against your will. Contact BT on 0330 1234 150. Initially, you will be greeted by an automated phone service but you will need to talk to a real person to explain that you are vulnerable. To do this, press one, one again, and then press five. Simply say, I am a vulnerable customer and explain why you dont want to switch. What if I do not use the internet? You are a special case. BT has admitted this select group of 1.5 million people who are not wired up to the internet may be able to keep using their old landlines until 2030 if they live in an area without fibre optic cable connections. In the meantime, BT says it will be working on extending the fibre network over the next few years and sending out engineers to install cable access to all homes. How do I know Im being switched? Expect a letter or postcard in the post about a month before a proposed switch. You may also be sent a text or email. BTs hard sell may make it seem as if you have no choice. Look out for messages such as Your home phone service is being upgraded. Well be in touch soon to talk you through these changes. You will then be offered a free palm-sized adapter worth 20 posted before you switch. You push this into an electricity power point and plug your existing phone into the back of the adapter. It has a remote signal that communicates like wi-fi to your internet hub to enable phone calls using your old phone. You are also given a date when the switch will take place unless you cancel by saying you are vulnerable. After being switched, your old landline stops working. I dont want to say Im vulnerable BT says if you do not want to switch or admit to being vulnerable you should consider cancelling your landline or go to another provider (though this may only delay you going digital). In total all 29 million homes are due to go digital after trials in the East Midlands But industry regulator Ofcom says providers have an obligation not to cut customers off from their line until they have engaged with them. So if you refuse to respond to any correspondence be it letter, phone call, text, email or even a knock on the door then you should be able to keep your old phone line. This is easier said than done. It will become increasingly hard to ignore such correspondence as the rollout targets all customers over the next couple of years. What if I have a Telecare alarm? In theory you should not be switched until the technology has been adapted to work so there is no need for concern. Check with your healthcare pendant provider, such as Telecare and ask when you might be expected to switch. House alarm systems linked up to emergency services might also stop working without being adapted. Contact your alarm provider to discuss the change and if your security system needs to be adapted. What if there is a power cut? In a power cut your phone line will stop working but as long as you have a fully charged mobile phone and a signal this should not be a disaster. However, for those living in isolated areas prone to power cuts or with no mobile reception BT sells an 85 battery back-up pack. An alternative is an 80 hybrid phone that switches to working like a mobile phone if the landline is down. Tell BT you are vulnerable and they should send these gadgets for free. Be insistent and explain you need help. You also have a strong case for an engineer visit so they can install equipment and show you how it works. Will I have to buy a new phone? BT says 99 per cent of old phones will work with its service Digital Voice plugging into an adapter. But if you fancy a new phone a BT Essential Digital Home Phone costs 30 and plugs into an internet socket without the need for an adapter. The digital phones have a 1571 free voicemail service but if you already have phone answering machine equipment, and want to continue using this, you might be better continuing with an adapter. You can also plug your old phone into a modern BT hub. Check on the rear of your hub. If it has a removable black sticker, pull this off and underneath you should find a green traditional phone socket into which you plug the handset. If you have an older hub ask BT for a new one. When will it affect me? You may already be one of the several million who have switched. In total all 29 million homes are going digital. Following earlier trials, BT started putting customers on to digital lines in the East Midlands last July. Yorkshire and the Humber were targeted in August with Northern Ireland enrolled in September. London and the North West began to be switched last Autumn. The brakes were put on the rollout in December after a number of serious incidents when non-BT telecare systems were discovered not to be ready for the digital switch. BT has shelved the regional rollout plan, for now, and says its primary focus this year is to target homes with a traditional line not used for the past 12 months. After this, it is expected to pick up earlier expansion plans from later in the year by targeting Wales, other parts of the South East of England, West Midlands, the North East, South East and East Anglia and also Scotland. They have become a staple feature in the Queen's wardrobe: the bunion busting heels which she wears on Royal walkabouts. Now MailOnline has gone behind-the-scenes at the Sole Bliss factory, in Spain's Alicante province, to discover how Camilla's 159 Ingrid court shoes are created. And we have discovered that four factories and a team of 50 skilled artisans are involved in their creation, from their intricate design to their shock resistant heel tips. 'Sole Bliss shoes are made differently from all other shoes,' explains designer Lisa Kay. 'Our skilled artisans obsess over every detail to create the most comfortable shoes. Queen Camilla during a ceremony at Highgrove House wearing her Sole Bliss heels, 2020 A Sole Bliss 'Ingrid' black leather shoe which is a worn by the Queen above Sole Bliss owner Lisa Kay in her firm's factory in Alicante holding a pair of finished shoes 'The shoe business is incredibly technical and it's very difficult to make a pair of quality shoes because it has to go through so many steps. In our factory alone, each pair of shoes goes through 50 pairs of hands.' It is now six years since Camilla, 76, began wearing Sole Bliss, which make 'comfortable, stylish shoes for bunions and wide feet'. She made her debut in the brand at the 2018 Royal Cornwall show, wearing their 159 Ingrid Camel leather block heels. Since then, she has invested in more than a dozen pairs of shoes and trainers from the firm and has worn them on nearly every Royal engagement - including the week after the Queen's death when she had a broken toe. All of the shoes have cutting-edge technology to contour around the bunions and an ingenious device to prevent pronation - the inward rolling of the feet. Lisa, 59, launched Sole Bliss in 2017 and designed the Ingrid, a two-inch block heel, the following year. Camilla was one of her first customers and owns more than 13 pairs. It comes with three different styles of heel - a leather heel, stacked wooden heel and glittery heel Camilla has both the leather and stacked heels. Queen Camilla making her debut in Sole Bliss's shoes - a pair of 159 leather block heels - in 2018 Lisa Kay, 59, launched Sole Bliss in 2017 and designed the Ingrid, a two-inch block heel, the following year CEO Lisa Kay is seen here choosing heels for new shoe designs Lisa choosing leather for her shoes whilst visiting a tannery in Spain Finished products waiting to be shipped out from the Sole Bliss factory The Ingrid design which is one of Queen Camilla's favourite designs Lisa visits Spain four times a year, before each season, to visit the tanneries to source the leather and suede material for the soles and uppers and choose the heels. 'Our factory will source all the raw materials for the shoes from other factories and then manufacture them,' she says. 'There are tanneries for the leather, last makers, heel factories and shoe factories. 'We have been working with the same guys for some 25 years, so we have got enough contacts to not need to go around the fairs. 'The Ingrid has been in the collection for five years so it's more a case of reinventing the classics, as well as keeping the collection interesting and having something new for our customers. Camilla was one of Lisa Kay's first customers. Above: Camilla, then the Duchess of Cornwall, wearing the shoes at Sandringham Flower Show in 2018 Shoe lasting (the term used when referring the 'pulling the upper over the last') process is seen taking place. The last is a shoemaker's foundation and is often thought to be their most guarded secret Quality control is very important for Lisa and her team of 50 skilled artisans in Alicante 'Our lasts are unique,' says Lisa. 'Most people with bunions or wide feet go up a size to accommodate them but that means the back of your foot can slip This is where the heels get attached on the 'Carmen' shoe 'We're always thinking two seasons ahead. We're finalising the autumn/winter collection at the moment and thinking ahead to next summer. So, we're working on three collections at the same time.' After designing the Ingrid, Lisa hired an artisan to hand carve a wooden last in size 38 her own size. Once it was perfected, it was replicated in resin across 13 sizes, from size 36 to 42 including half-sizes. All of the lasts, whether for rounded or pointed toes, feature a deep and wide toe-box, at the front of the shoe, to ensure there is room for wider feet and bunions. 'Our lasts are unique,' she says. 'Most people with bunions or wide feet go up a size to accommodate them but that means the back of your foot can slip. We've built them with extra space at the front, but they are neatly proportioned at the back. Once she has chosen the leather and heels, and created the last, it is down to the factory to make the shoes. The first step is stretching the leather over the last to create the upper. It is left on the last for 24 hours so that it adopts it shape, which is essentially the shape of the foot. 'The longer shoes are left on the last, the better,' adds Lisa. The upper is then removed from the last, the lining is stitched onto the upper and the bunion bed - a strategically placed stretch panel inside the shoe is attached to the lining without any seams to rub the bunion. Queen Camilla in her 'Ingrids' for a visit to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, 2021 All of the shoes have cutting-edge technology to contour around the bunions and an ingenious device to prevent pronation - the inward rolling of the feet The CEO, Lisa Kay is always thinking two seasons ahead to make sure they keep up with all the shoe fashions When the shoe uppers are completed, it's time to attach the soles. Firstly, a palm is attached to ensure the shoe and sole mould comfortably together without any gaps between the sole and the footbed. Two soles and inner and outer sole are attached to the palm, the heels are tacked onto the shoe, and shock resistant heel tips are the final touch. After the shoe is finished, it's time for the inner soles, which have three layers of memory foam to protect and cushion the soles of the feet. All Sole Bliss shoes and trainers have three distinct layers of high quality, anti-bacterial memory foam to provide custom cushioning. The base layer provides high-performance shock absorption and protects the ball of the foot. The middle one contours the foot for custom support and the top one offers softness and comfort. Finally, a foam pillow is attached for arch support, to maintain the foot in the correct position and counter pronation, the inward rolling of the foot. 'You'll feel like you're walking on clouds,' laughs Lisa. After the shoes are packed in pale pink boxes, bearing the silver Sole Bliss logo, they are dispatched to the Sole Bliss HQ in Watford, Hertfordshire, where they are checked to ensure they're fit for Royalty. Shelley Sullivan's estranged husband was living a modest suburban life before he married the beauty guru and lived it up in mansions while enjoying world travel and luxury vehicles, a friend of his claims. Ms Sullivan, the multi-millionaire founder of popular skincare brand MCoBeauty, and her accountant husband, Anthony, parted ways two weeks ago after an explosive argument. The heated row prompted Anthony to leave for the United States, while his wife moved into the InterContinental in Double Bay. He is believed to be returning to Sydney soon. The high-society split, which comes just seven years after the couple's opulent wedding at Point Piper, has shocked the well-heeled social circle in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Prior to meeting the beauty boss, Anthony, 46, a country boy from Cootamundra, led a modest life with his former wife and two young children in suburban Sydney. The family lived in a three-bedroom home in Bilgola Plateau, 35km north of Sydney, which was sold in February for $2.3million. Anthony Sullivan's home that he shared with his ex-wife and two kids in Bilgola Plateau Shelley and Anthony Sullivan were living in the $11,000-a-week heritage-listed rental mansion in Bellevue Hill before they split Shelley and Anthony often enjoyed lavish overseas trip together 'Before he met Shelley he was driving an old Mercedes, then moved to a top-of-the Range Rover,' a source close to Mr Sullivan said. Since their lavish 2016 wedding, Shelley's business venture has led to their high-flying life, travelling first class overseas to glamorous locations including St Tropez, Maldives, Paris, New York, and the Swiss Alps. They were last pictured together on Shelley's Instagram page in March at celebrity hotspot Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. 'He led a pretty simple life. He married a girl from Adelaide before that marriage fell apart,' the source said. 'He went from Bilgola to Bellevue Hill and Adelaide to Apsen.' The former couple last pictured together on Shelley's Instagram page in March at celebrity hotspot Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles Shelley and Anthony enjoying Mykonos in Greece Despite their multi-millionaire status, Shelley and Anthony rented in some of Sydney's most enviable properties. They previously lived in a lavish heritage-listed home on the Vaucluse clifftops, which sits alongside Sydney's oldest lighthouse. 'We've been here for 18 months. It's heritage-listed, so we're not allowed to do much,' Shelley told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2018. 'I don't have a lot of room for shoes I gave up cupboard space for the grounds! But living here is a great experience it's such a unique property.' More recently, the pair were living in the $11,000-a-week heritage-listed rental mansion Leura in Bellevue Hill. Daily Mail Australia understands that the couple were in the market for a home in the eastern suburbs to the value of $100million before their marriage breakdown. Shelley, Anthony and their children from previous marriages also lived in The Keepers Cottage, alongside Macquarie Lighthouse Station, on the cliffs at South Head in Sydney The couple pictured in millionaire's playground Zermatt, Switzerland Shelley, 50, is celebrated as one of Australia's most successful businesswomen. She made her mark in the 1990s with her model and talent agency before launching her thriving 'masstige' beauty brand, ModelCo, in 2016. In 2022, MCoBeauty was approached by a large Australian conglomerate that acquired a portion of the business. The brand is on track to generate $247million in the 2024 financial year. On Tuesday, Shelley's longtime friend Kristin Fisher slammed rumours she was the 'other woman' behind the power couple's shock marriage split. Reports have wrongly insinuated that Kristin (pictured left with Shelley) was involved in the marriage breakdown, which she says is 'unequivocally false' Reports have wrongly insinuated that Kristin, a Double Bay business owner and mum-of-two, was involved in the split, which she says is 'unequivocally false'. 'This is absolutely not true,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'I am so sick of being the clickbait in all of these stories and having to defend myself over something that I've got nothing, and I mean NOTHING, to do with. 'The truth is I've only been with one person of late,' she added. By Lee Min-hyung Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun has agreed to deepen a partnership with Indonesia in the areas of electric vehicles (EV) and hydrogen energy, according to a top-ranking government official from the Southeast Asian country, Tuesday. Chung and some of the groups key executives, such as Hyundai Motor CEO Chang Jae-hoon and the groups adviser Sung Kim, forged the tie during a meeting with Indonesias Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto. Hyundai Motor Group is already working with the Indonesian government to build an EV ecosystem there. In 2022, the Korean carmaker opened a manufacturing facility in the Indonesian city of Bekasi. The factory is now producing the firms flagship IONIQ 5 EV. Hyundai aims to keep expanding its manufacturing capacity to more than 250,000 vehicles annually, with a view to turning it into the groups major automotive production hub in Southeast Asia. Chungs latest visit to Indonesia is seen as part of the groups bid to find additional growth opportunities there. Hyundai is the only EV manufacturer with a fully localized production system in the region. In 2021, Hyundai teamed up with LG to establish a joint venture, HLI Green Power, there to mass-produce EV battery cells. The Korean companies picked Indonesia as the location for the factory, as the country is famous for being the worlds largest producer of nickel, widely considered the most crucial material for batteries. The Indonesian government is currently accelerating the development of EVs by preparing for an EV development roadmap and offering various relevant incentives (to its partners), so as to develop a complete EV ecosystem in Indonesia, the Indonesian minister said in a Facebook post. The Indonesian government is also pushing for several agreements with Hyundai Motor Group and will deepen their ties, as the carmaker displayed its commitment for its investment in the country, according to the top-ranking bureaucrat. Hyundai is actively involved in various hydrogen projects globally and is also partnering with Indonesia to implement the firms waste-to-hydrogen production solution there. Chung has been paying keen attention to the company's expansion in Indonesia, as was shown by his multiple visits to the country after taking office as the group's chief in October 2020. He has since visited the country four times. The groups other affiliates are also set to build plants in the country. Hyundai Mobis, the auto parts manufacturing arm of the group, is establishing a battery system plant in Indonesia. Advertisements on social media offer to smuggle them for $10k Immigrants come to Australia to escape bankruptcy in China Desperate Chinese nationals are travelling to Indonesia with the intention of illegally entering Australia by boat. Li* was one of ten illegal Chinese immigrants who wandered into the unfenced Mungalalu Truscott Airbase in remote Western Australia on April 6, after arriving via boat. Li and two others from the group, all in their 30s, told the ABC that the potentially deadly journey was worth the risk to escape bankruptcy and debts back home. So far this year, four boats carrying Chinese nationals have attempted the trip to Australia. Li's boat was the only one to succeed, as the others were either intercepted or sank. Li, Zhang and Fang* were among the 10 Chinese nationals who were intercepted by WA police after illegally arriving in Australia on April 6 Beijing's 'Covid Zero' policy shut down Li's neighbourhood for weeks at a time without warning in 2020, which ruined his business and sent him broke. 'I found my life in China too stressful, with limited freedom, I want[ed] to come to Australia as it's more humane and free,' he told the ABC, Zhang*, another of the immigrants detained by border police with Li, shared a similar story of debts and restrictions making life in China unbearable. The two men had never met before arriving in Jakarta, but both used Xiaohongshu and Douyin - Chinese versions of TikTok - to find a way out of China. Advertisements in the comment sections offered to smuggle anyone to Australia for $10,000. Li said the offer was especially tempting for many people who had their genuine visa applications to Australia denied. After responding to the advertisements, each man was placed into group chats and instructed to fly to Jakarta and wait until nightfall to board their boat. Many of the 10 Chinese immigrants onboard were unaware of Australia's strict border controls and offshore detention centres. Li expected the process to be straightforward, intending to apply for asylum upon arrival. 'What we only knew is that there'd be two possibilities awaiting us if we travelled by boat,' he explained. 'We either got intercepted before coming ashore or we landed successfully and then applied for visas based on our individual situations, such as applying for asylum.' Another man on the boat, Fang*, was also unaware of Australia's harsh immigration system and the risk of detention. Fang had been a steel worker in Malaysia and did not even resign before heading to Jakarta en route to Australia. He made the trip hoping to earn more money in Australia than he could in Malaysia. All three men told the ABC that they signed up to be smuggled into Australia after seeing advertisements for such a service on the Chinese version of TikTok Li and Zhang* told the publication that Beijing's 'covid-zero' policy had bankrupted them with no hope of recovery, prompting them to flee (pictured, Chinese President Xi Jinping) Victor Shih, an associate professor in Chinese political science at the University of California, said it was unusual for Chinese nationals to flee their country. Typically, when a country reaches middle-income status, as China did in 2020 after eradicating extreme poverty, its citizens prefer to stay, Mr Shih explained. However, President Xi Jinping's strict COVID-zero policy wiped out many people's savings and left them with unmanageable debt. Chinese society operates under a social credit system, which heavily penalises individuals with negative standings, exacerbating their difficulties. 'In China, because of how pervasive the credit system is if you get a low score on the credit system, some of these people are not able to even ride a train,' Dr Shih said. 'So that makes doing business - to start a new business in order to repay some of their debts - nearly impossible.' Li, Zhang and Fang were intercepted by WA Police and Australian Defence Force officers who were sent to the old WWII airbase to secure the site. The Chinese immigrants were found after some wandered into the unfenced Mungalalu Truscott Airbase which alerted authorities After the eight-day voyage from Jakarta, Indonesia, most men onboard the boat were shocked to discover that Australia had strict border controls and detention centres All the immigrants who arrived on the boat were transported to the Nauru Detention Centre, where Fang chose to return to Malaysia. Australian immigration officials offered each of the remaining men $AU7,600 if they voluntarily boarded a free return flight to China. Li, who has a supportive wife and child back home, calls his family using the detention centre's phones. He is now waiting on legal aid to continue the paperwork necessary to stay in Australia after his detention. However, the Department of Home Affairs said people who arrive in Australia by boat without a visa have 'zero chance of settling'. 'Australia's policy response remains consistent - unauthorised maritime arrivals will not settle in Australia,' a spokesman said. Daily Mail Australia was unable to independently verify the accounts of Li, Zhang and Fang. *Li, Zhang and Fang are pseudonyms. Colin Smith, a boy who had developed a bruise on his knee a few months after his birth, was the first case I wrote about. This indicated that he had inherited haemophilia the blood-clotting disorder known as the 'royal disease' after it had swept through Queen Victoria's family. Soon Colin was making regular trips to hospital for infusions of the revolutionary blood-clotting agent factor VIII, intended to ensure that he could live a normal life. Instead it killed him. For this little boy was infected with HIV from a contaminated batch of factor VIII, made in the U.S. with blood from some of the world's highest-risk donors, such as drug addicts and prostitutes. After months of chronic chest infections, fevers and diarrhoea, Colin died in 1990 aged seven. His ravaged body weighed just 13lb (6kg). People impacted by the contaminated blood scandal gather in Westminster for a vigil to remember those that lost their lives to the tragedy This story, which I told in these pages 14 years ago, is incredibly sad. Yet almost 3,000 more Britons have died, often in a similar manner, while thousands more lives have been wrecked by debilitating and deadly diseases. The infected blood scandal is the worst patient-healthcare scandal in the history of the NHS, exposing the darkest reality lurking beneath its deified facade. Britain, of course, was not the only country affected. In the U.S. they branded it 'the haemophilia holocaust'. In France it led to the prosecution of ministers and jailing of officials. In Canada and Japan it resulted in criminal charges and convictions. But in our country, no one has been punished. Some heartless medics, shameless bureaucrats and spineless politicians responded to this massacre of the innocents by covering their tracks, destroying documents and rebuffing desperate pleas for help from sick and often impoverished citizens. The state must now take ownership of its lethal misdeeds. Yesterday it was confirmed this betrayal was not just a patient-safety failure of grotesque proportions, but an avoidable tragedy which was followed by 'downright deception' of the public. More than four decades after the first horror stories started to emerge, Sir Brian Langstaff's damning report exposes in detail the shocking litany of official cover-up, deceit and incompetence. 'This disaster was not an accident. People put their faith in doctors and in the Government to keep them safe, and their trust was betrayed,' said Sir Brian. Jackie Britton, who was mistakenly infected with Hepatitis-C through a blood transfusion, waits to hear the findings of the six-year inquiry A woman holds a photograph of Marc Payton who died in 2003 after being mistakenly infected with HIV and Hepatitis-C while in a children's hospital For me, it is particularly poignant because, as a child, I had a blood-clotting disorder and spent time in hospital with boys with haemophilia. The odds dictate many of my fellow patients back then must now be dead. None of the health scandals I have written about in many years of covering the NHS matches the scale of this tragedy, nor the level of callous deceit and failure, which led to more than 30,000 people being infected with HIV, hepatitis C and other deadly diseases between 1970 and 1991. I was utterly shocked when I began to discover the lack of concern shown towards the people affected by it. Take Colin, whose doctors did not mention to his parents the risks involved in the product they were giving him. Yet the inquiry revealed that the specialist treating him a leading expert on haemophilia was fully aware of the dangers. Nor did doctors mention until three years after his death that in addition to HIV, Colin had been infected with hepatitis C. That was despite the risk that this disease, known as 'the silent killer' because it can take years for symptoms to emerge, could be easily passed to other members of his family if they came into contact with his blood. In his final months, Colin's parents had to use a sheepskin to lift their beloved boy, such was the pain tormenting his shrunken body. After his death, they were told to burn his mattress. No explanation, no counselling, no apology. Sir Brian's devastating report makes clear that it was 'apparent' by 1982 that diseases such as hepatitis and whatever was causing Aids could be spread by unscreened blood products. Yet doctors continued to give them to patients. It also underlines that our country was fatally slow to respond to the unfolding catastrophe, pointing out that 23 other nations introduced life-saving screening before the UK did. The result of this inquiry is a bittersweet victory for campaigners who have spent up to 40 years 'shouting into the wind'. As one told me, any joy or relief is tempered by the sadness that so many friends have died during the long struggle for recognition and justice. The infected blood scandal is the worst patient-healthcare scandal in the history of the NHS, exposing the darkest reality lurking beneath its deified facade Joseph Peaty is one of few survivors among 120 pupils infected at Treloar, a special boarding school in Hampshire that catered for haemophiliacs and where boys were used as guinea pigs in secret trials to test blood products, despite those in charge knowing the risks of infection with deadly diseases. More than 70 people who were pupils there have now died of Aids and hepatitis. Joseph, who was himself infected with these diseases, told me how, now aged 58, he has lost the best years of his life fighting for compensation and justice. He added that this report comes too late for his parents, now in their 80s. As he has told me previously, the number of deaths at Treloar alone should have sparked a public inquiry and prompted action many years ago. But instead the medical and political establishment buried the truth. Campaigners often talked to me of an extra twist of cruelty: how, because haemophilia is an inherited condition, multiple family members were given tainted blood and failed so egregiously by the health service meant to help them. People such as Robert Mackie, a Scot, who saw three family members die, and Ade Goodyear, the fourth boy in his family born with haemophilia, who was also infected with hepatitis and HIV at Treloar. Then there was Steve Dymond, a genial and witty former publisher with whom I developed a warm relationship following publication of that first article. He would send me regular updates on their campaign, his life and his condition. 'I am beyond anger,' he once wrote. 'I'm trapped in a cold and dark place that I would not wish on anyone.' Sadly he died the following year, aged 62, defeated by hepatitis C. This sordid saga had to be dragged into the open, with the help of the much-maligned media, by the dogged persistence of these courageous patients and their families confronting a system that closed ranks. As with the Post Office Horizon scandal, these campaigners were decent people forced into their bitter fight for justice against the sanctified institution of an uncaring state. Reputations of blase politicians, complacent civil servants and dismal doctors deserve to be shredded. The self-serving perpetrators of this cover-up, which has corroded trust in crucial institutions, should have been shamed and brought to book years ago. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has apologised for the state's moral failure, yet it is nine years since one of his predecessors, David Cameron, apologised in Parliament and pledged recompense after a Scottish inquiry branded the tainted blood saga 'the stuff of nightmares'. That is nine years in which the horror story that shames the British state continued. There now needs to be real action and honesty, together with a ruthless focus on ending these sickening cover-ups and failures in our state institutions. It is time to bring to an end the hell endured for so long by Colin Smith's family and so many others like them. A heroic London police officer who was stabbed in the chest as he apprehended a robber at night has revealed the capital's knife crime problem is the worst it's ever been. Norman Brennan was 25 when he was stabbed in the chest and left wondering if he was going to die as 'blood trickled through my fingers' as he pressed his wound. He dedicated the rest of his career to protecting the public as well as campaigning for victims of violent crime. Yet after a spate of child stabbing victims, he said the situation in London was 'bleak', as he dubbed it a 'knife madness'. Earlier this week, more than 100 people attended the funeral of Daniel Anjorin, a 14-year-old killed in an east London sword attack near his home as he walked to school in Hainault on April 30. Speaking to MailOnline, former police officer Brennan said: 'It breaks my heart to see the children dead. We have an epidemic of knife crime in Britain. Sometimes it's multiple stabbings in one day.' Former police officer Norman Brennan (pictured) has revealed the capital's knife crime problem is the worst it's ever been Then-PC Norman Brennan (right, in 2004) with an Jayne Walmsley, the mother of 14-year-old Luke Walmsley, who was stabbed to death at school. Brennan has campaigned for years to make carrying a knife as serious as carrying a gun Tragic 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin (pictured) was killed in an east London sword attack near his home on April 30 When Brennan was just 25, in 1985, he was driving near Chelsea when he went to back up a Metropolitan Police team dealing with a spate of robberies by an armed burglar. He said: 'I only had my shirt on and he just stabbed me in the chest. 'It changed my life. I very nearly died. It's a lonely feeling. 'It breaks my heart to see the children dead. We have an epidemic of knife crime in Britain. 'Everything goes into slow motion as the blood trickles through your fingers. 'When you know it's bad, you think, ''am I going to die or survive?'' 'Sometimes I just wish the public understood the risks [police officers] take.' After being stabbed he successfully campaigned for police officers to carry side-handles batons, wear stab resistant vests and tear gas (CS spray). Yet what infuriates him is that in the 45 years he has been involved in law and order, no politician or party has been able to curb the worsening crisis of knife crime in the capital. Since London Mayor Sadiq Khan (pictured) took office in 2016, knife crime has increased by 54 per cent and it is rising at its fastest rate for five years He said: 'There isn't anybody that has ever been able to effectively put in place an initiative to tackle knife crime. 'We have got a country where nobody knows how to take a grip on crime. When everything is a priority, nothing is. 'The government have never given knife crime the investment and respect it deserves. 'You need community projects, mentors for kids going the wrong way, police officers in schools and colleges to talk to the kids. 'We need police officers to go into young offenders institutions and speak to these youngsters and tell them there is hope. 'When you have an epidemic, if it was cancer, which it is, we would spend as much money as you could to find a cure. 'We need a five-year mandatory prison sentence [for carrying a knife], three years for juveniles. If we implemented [that], within 18 months people thinking about carrying knives would be thinking twice. 'When children and youths don't see any consequences for their actions, it's a licence to commit crimes. 'We are more likely to be stabbed to death than shot but [even so, you receive] five years if you carry a firearm. Harry Pitman, 16, (pictured) was stabbed and killed with a hunting knife on New Years Eve last year at London's Primrose Hill where he went to watch the fireworks Jermaine Cools, 14, (pictured) was murdered by sixteen-year-old Marques Walker who stabbed him with a so-called 'zombie knife' seven times 'What's happened is that we have a generation where they are the no-hopers. 'They have no hope and no values. Some of these children are carrying knives... you are either going to end up dead, maimed or in prison. 'Those kids walk around the streets of London and meet like minded people. 'They make their own rules. The worst thing is when you don't value life, and that's including your own life, you will have no qualms taking another.' Brennan has spent years campaigning for police and the victims of violent crime. 'How often have we heard that mother scream, ''let my child be the last one''? He told MailOnline: 'Like any homicide, for the family, time stops and life changes forever. 'I have lost count of the hundreds of families [who say], ''I hope my child is the last one.'' 'How often have we heard that mother scream, ''let my child be the last one''? 'That's the reality of knife crime. 'I meet families that when I look into their faces I see their loss, their devastation. 'They are the ones who will serve the true life sentence.' Despite the agony so many have suffered because of senseless violence on the streets of London, Brennan said he had never seen 'a country so lawless' and 'violent crime out of control'. Marques was sentenced to life at the Old Bailey after his attack on Jermaine who was unarmed and on the floor outside a chicken shop in Croydon in November 2021 The knife seized by the Metropolitan Police that Marques used to conduct his senseless attack on Jermaine He said: 'We have got too many violent serial offenders on the streets and too many people carrying knives. 'There's a lawlessness in Britain... a chaos that I have never seen in 45 years of law and order. 'We have not got the robust policing that we once had. We have a criminal justice system in absolute chaos. 'The police lost the streets about 13 years ago [after cuts to the numbers of police officers] and have never been able to reclaim them. 'I have never seen the gap between the public and the police so wide. 'It's not just the families that knife crime affects but communities. 'Communities live in fear. There are no-go areas in Britain and London. 'If it's got high knife crime in that area, you will avoid going to it with your family - it's a no-go area.' A Home Office spokesperson said: 'We have some of the toughest knife crime laws in the world, and while hospital admissions for young people with serious knife injuries are down by a quarter since 2019, more needs to be done to address the root causes of this violence. 'We have banned zombie and cyclone knives, and are going further to stop machetes from being used on our streets. We are also toughening sentences for anyone caught with a banned weapon or found selling knives to under-18s, and giving police new powers to seize any knife they believe might be used in criminality.' Voters in Biden's hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, told DailyMail.com they are not backing hometown hero Joe in 2024. President Joe Biden likes to invoke his humble beginnings in the foothills of Pennsylvania when addressing the country and potential voters. He even made a highly-publicized trip to the town last month to gather support. But voters here don't see eye-to-eye with the 81-year-old commander-in-chief, telling DailyMail.com that life was better for them under former President Donald Trump. 'I was in better shape when Trump was in office,' Sean, who lives a couple of doors down from Biden's childhood home, said, adding he is now 'making less money' under the current administration. 'Groceries are way too high. Gas is ridiculous. There's a lot of different things but honestly, I don't trust the Democratic Party anymore.' Sean, who was formerly a Democrat, said that the party is now flush with rich politicians, something he said does not reflect the roots of the conference. 'They don't live in the real world. They all get into office and they're all multimillionaires now, at a job that doesn't pay that.' 'So I just wonder why are they there - to help the people or to enrich themselves?' In total DailyMail.com spoke to roughly 25 people for this report. Only seven took us up on recording interviews. And of that seven only one voter said they had Biden's back. 'I think Biden,' Jamaro said. 'I hope he just makes America great again.' When pressed on whether Biden is the man to make good on Trump's 2016 slogan 'Make America great again' he issued a slight revision. 'I'm saying make America better than what it is right now with all the oil and gas prices and try to stop all the overseas fighting and everything so we don't have to send our troops over.' The exterior of President Joe Biden's childhood home in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He lived in the home pictured above until he was 10-years-old 'Biden don't got no indictments and he's not facing no federal tampering with the election, so that's why I feel like it's Biden,' Jamaro said. In downtown Scranton just a five minute drive from Biden's former home, Shaumay, a medical worker draped in blue scrubs, told DailyMail.com: 'Trump has my vote.' She has lived in the 'Electric City' for 20 years but said that despite her ties to town, she believes Trump would better represent her priorities. 'No on Joe. He has to go,' she said before laughing at her unintended rhyme. Alexander, a military veteran, told DailyMail.com 'Scranton Joe? No.' 'Can he can he really remember anything?' 'I'll go with Kennedy because he's new blood,' Alexander said. 'Yeah, we need something fresh in office, not crooks, and not decrepit old people.' 'I'm not voting for a crook and I am not voting for an old guy,' he continued, bashing both Biden and Trump. 'He can't remember his name,' he continued on about Biden. 'He got to have somebody tell him 'listen, Mr. President, your name is Joe.'' The veteran said America needs fresh ideas and a new candidate - and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is his man for the job. He's running as an Independent candidate in 2024. U.S. President Joe Biden walks with children outside his childhood home as he visits Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S., April 16, 2024 Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. is born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the son of Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden and Joseph Robinette Biden, Sr., and the first of four children A sign sits outside of Biden's childhood home highlighting his ties to the area Alexander said that both Biden and Trump are not fit to hold the presidency and that he will be backing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the November election The north eastern Pennsylvania town is home to some 75,000 residents This general view shows a statue of Christopher Columbus on Lackawanna County Courthouse Square in Scranton Another man in downtown Scranton, John, who was rocking a patriotic American flag bandana during his interview, told DailyMail.com: 'Trump all day.' 'I grew up in New York and your parents told you you have to vote Democrat. That's how it is. But now that I see what's going on, we need a guy like Trump back in there because he's not going to play around and the country's going downhill.' 'You have people that back Biden in Scranton that are now saying 'we got to do something' and they're against Biden.' 'So it's not because we hate him,' John continued. 'It's just the way he's running the country. It's going downhill. So they're gonna vote for Trump.' Around town there were noticeable signs of Biden support from lawn signs to businesses hanging signage indicating Joe had been there. His influence on the city is apparent and is only challenged by myriad memorabilia highlighting NBC's hit show 'The Office' - which is based on a fictional Scranton-based paper company. However, his supporters were not as easy to spot. Stephen, who was interviewed as he sat outside of downtown Scranton's most iconic building, the Lackawanna County Courthouse, also told DailyMail.com he is going to support the former president. 'Trump, because I believe he can fix our economy, he's done it before, he can do it again,' adding 'I hope it's not too late.' Many voters in Scranton threw their support behind former President Donald Trump Age was a large factor in why some Scranton voters could not bring themselves to back Biden Phillip, who owns a farm around Scranton, said he too was for the former president because of his stance on energy, saying Biden is 'shutting down the natural gas.' 'We sit on big natural gas and oil on my farm,' he added. Most Pennsylvania polls currently show Trump leading Biden, according to the Real Clear Politics average, which shows the former president beating out the current commander-in-chief by two points. A late April poll from the New York Times and Siena even shows Trump beating Biden by three points in the Keystone State. In 2020, Biden narrowly won the state with just over a one percent lead. But the tides may be changing from blue to red, at least according to those interviewed by DailyMail.com. 'Life was better under Trump than it is under Biden,' Sean said. 'You can compare the two realistically now. Everything was better, groceries, gas, everything was better under Trump.' A union boss has defended traffic controllers working on major infrastructure projects in Victoria who are earning more than $200,000 a year. The pay deal struck by the powerful Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union applies to stop-and-go sign holders on Victoria's 'Big Build' projects, which former premier Dan Andrews spearheaded. The yearly salary is nearly three times what the average nurse, teacher or police officer earns. CFMEU boss John Setka said those complaining about the exorbitant salaries were from smaller companies who were getting squeezed out of the industry. 'The slaves that built the pyramids probably got a better deal than some of those workers at smaller companies. So I mean they're always going to whinge,' he said. 'Our job is to protect our members and look after their interests and their welfare, and we don't apologise for that.' Traffic controllers on Victoria's Big Build road and rail projects are earning $200K salaries under pay deals struck by the CFMEU (file image) CFMEU boss John Setka (pictured) said nurses and teachers should be paid more but 'we don't represent them' State Liberal leader John Pesutto said the Labor government's handling of the Big Build, which encompasses a raft of new road and rail projects throughout the state, had raised some 'serious questions'. According to industry whistleblowers the CFMEU's takeover of the traffic management aspect of the taxpayer funded scheme has increased that part of the budget by $380million, reports The Herald Sun. Labor Minister Steve Dimpopoulos said the taxpayer funded salaries were not decided by the government. 'We don't set their wages,' he said. 'What we do is we engage builders to do the work on behalf of the government and the taxpayer.' An entry-level construction worker or traffic controller aligned with the CFMEU on a Big Build project would earn $206,000 a year if they worked 56-hour weeks for 48 weeks of the year. The salary includes site and travel allowances, overtime, and meal penalties. A graduate teacher in Victoria by comparison earns $77,000, a police constable earns $75,000, and a registered nurse would earn between $75,000 and $85,000. 'Nurses and teachers should earn more but we don't represent them, we represent construction workers,' Mr Setka said. Nurses earn less than half of what a lollipop sign holder working similar hours would earn Whistleblowers have also accused the CFMEU of strong-arming their way into contracts despite higher bids. 'There's been allegations like that since Jesus wore shorts and nothing has ever been proven,' Mr Setka said. Commenters on social media took aim at the extraordinary salaries. 'No wonder frontline workers are in short supply. There needs to be a cap on the wages of these unskilled workers,' one person said. 'Labor will never speak out and deal with the issues because it is in the thrall of the unions,' another said. 'There are automatic temporary traffic lights, so if, as John Setka claims, it's a highly dangerous job, this automatic equipment provides solutions on several levels, far more cost effective and safer,' a third added. A newlywed Aussie wife has died in her husband's arms after suffering a brain aneurysm while on honeymoon in Europe. Madison Noronha, from NSW, collapsed while walking through Amsterdam with her husband on Wednesday after suffering a bleed in her brain. Her devastated husband Kyle said she underwent surgery to relieve pressure from the bleed and 'fought to the very end'. 'The doctors could not believe the size of the aneurysm and nothing could prevent this from happening and nothing could be done to save her,' he wrote online. 'Madi fought like she always does right to the very end. She passed away in my arms surrounded by all her loved ones at 10:59pm here in Amsterdam. 'My darling wife I cannot comprehend what has happened, I'm in a million pieces. Forever and always babe.' Madison Noronha (pictured with her husband Kyle) collapsed while walking down the street with her new husband on Wednesday after suffering a brain aneurysm The long-time couple (pictured) were married on April 21, 2023 Mr and Mrs Noronha were married on April 21, 2023. In a video from the intimate ceremony, Mr Noronha is seen tearing up as his wife walks down the aisle. Ms Noronha was a campaign design specialist for ARN and Wave FM 96.5 for more than two years. Previously she had worked in media sales for Grant Broadcasters. She studied Communications and Media at the University of Wollongong where she was recognised for outstanding academic performance. Wave FM said employees were 'heartbroken' at the news of Ms Noronha's death. A GoFundMe page raising money to bring Ms Noronha back to Australia has so far raised almost $13,000 of its $30,000 goal. Organiser Taylah Wicks said Ms Noronha was loved and cherished beyond measure. 'We are all left heartbroken, but can't imagine the pain that Kyle and her immediate family are experiencing,' she wrote. 'Madi's parents have graciously agreed to let us create this page, to raise money to ease the financial stress and burden during this incredibly difficult time. 'Funds raised will help with flights, funeral costs and to help bring our beloved Madison home to be laid to rest'. Lyndal Rogers, who worked with Ms Noronha, said she was 'rocked' by the news. 'Early Saturday morning, our work family was rocked by the news that our beautiful friend Madison Noronha had passed away,' she wrote on Facebook. Ms Noronha died after suffering a brain bleed while on her honeymoon in Amsterdam 'She was on her honeymoon in Amsterdam and suffered a fatal brain aneurysm while walking down the street. 'Now her family have the incredibly difficult task of bringing her home. If you find yourself in a position to help, please hit the link below.' Dozens left messages of support for Mr Noronha. 'My heart is absolutely broken for you and your families. Madi was so loved and will be missed. She was such a beautiful person inside and out,' one wrote. 'Sending lots of love and strength to you all.' Another shared: 'I'm so sorry Kyle. She absolutely adored you. Thank you for looking after our Madi. Sending you so much love and strength.' A handwritten sign at a Woolworths store has triggered celebration among Australians protesting the ongoing transition to a cashless society. The notice posted in the window of the supermarket in Sebastopol, Victoria, on Thursday and Friday last week told shoppers they would have to pay the old-fashioned way - with notes and coins. 'Cash only, no EFTPOS. Sorry,' read the sign, which led to posts of appreciation on the Call Out Cashless Businesses Facebook page. 'It's finally happened,' the original poster wrote. 'Woolworths supermarket Sebastopol, Victoria, Friday 17 May 2024 cash only due to all EFTPOS machines being out of order. 'Girl at the door telling people to go to a bank to withdraw cash then come back to do your shopping. A handwritten sign (pictured) at a Woolworths store has triggered celebration among Australians protesting the ongoing transition to a cashless society. 'This is the proof that cashless society will never work. Made my day.' Two Woolworths staff were positioned at the store's front door telling customers that EFTPOS was down and that there were two ATMs nearby. 'There was a hardware issue which meant store trade was disrupted for a short period of time,' a Woolworths spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia. The problem at the Sebastopol outlet was fixed in time for normal operations over the weekend and there have been no issues since. But the two days of cash-only payment delighted hard currency advocates, who said it highlighted the potential problems of a 'cashless society'. 'Cash is king no matter what the politicians tell you... they are fools for the banks to rip us off by using your card,' one commenter wrote on the post. 'Makes you wonder what a "cash free store" does when the EFTPOS system goes down,' said another. 'Spread the news, this is happening everywhere. People need to know this cashless c*** doesn't work we must keep our money and our independence,' a third poster said. Many said they were happy the EFTPOS machine broke down, with one writing that it was 'fan bloody Tastic this will get people thinking'. 'Cash never breaks down - cash glorious cash,' wrote another. 'Happening more and more... hope it's a regular thing now,' said a third person. One woman said she'd had a similar experience where she works. All Woolworths stores across Australia continue to accept cash as well as card payments 'This has happened several times in the supermarket I work at. Call me a b****, but I do chuckle on the inside, as I call out, "Is anyone paying by cash? Come to the front of the line",' she wrote. Despite the brief reprieve caused by a malfunctioning EFTPOS connection, some warned that the move away from cash was still going ahead. 'It will happen unless people wake up,' one wrote. All Woolworths stores across Australia continue to accept cash as well as card payments. Former President Trump's Tuesday appearance in Manhattan criminal court comes hours after he made comments that risked once again running afoul of a judges gag order. He spoke after Judge Juan Merchan sent the jury home amid lawyer Bob Costellos ongoing testimony, once again slamming the gag order that has him facing $1,000 per violation and even facing potential jail time if held in contempt. Trump called Costello a highly respected lawyer, talking up the defense witness' bona fides. His praise came after the judge admonished Costello for giving him 'side eye' and muttering 'jeeze' during his Monday testimony. The former president also complained about Merchans ruling limiting the areas that former Election Commission Chairman Brad Smith will be allowed to address as an expert witness for the defense. That came after lawyers faced off on the limits of what Smith would be allowed to speak to. Trump commented on two witnesses Monday after the end of court for the day: lawyer Bob Costello and potential expert witness Brad Smith The gag order prohibits Trump from making public statements or directing others to make statements about potential witnesses and jurors in the case. We're not allowed to put it in the expert witness that we have - the best there is in election law, Brad Smith, Trump complained in comments to reports from inside Manhattan Criminal Court Monday. He's considered the Rolls Royce or we'll bring it back to an American car, Cadillac. But the best there is, Trump said. He can't testify not being allowed to testify. And you saw what happened to a highly respected lawyer today, Bob Costello. Wow. I've never seen anything like that. Highly respected. But remember this: We can't put in an expert witness. Youre not allowed to put an expert witness. Nobody's ever heard that before. Trump called Smith the number one person, either side will admit it On a very complex law, but we did nothing wrong, I will tell you that right now. Smith is set to testify under a series of restraints after Merchans Monday decision. Highly respected: Trump praised lawyer Bob Costello Monday evening Trump's defense called Costello days after he delivered fiery testimony to Congress where he accused Michael Cohen of lying on the stand Merchan had taken the weekend to consider arguments by lawyers on both sides, but opted to limit what the former FEC chairman could talk about to avoid a three-way battle of experts, where prosecutors would bring their own witness. The judge would also provide jury instructions about matters related to campaign finance law. The judge ruled Smith can testify about the purpose and background of FEC, and relevant definitions from election law. An expert is not permitted to present and interpret the law, Merchan said. Smith was a Bill Clinton nominee whose name was put forward by Republicans, joining the commission in 2000. He has argued against campaign finance restrictions, and authored a book titled Unfree Speech, The Folly of Campaign Finance Reform. He argued for the right of corporations to spend funds in federal elections. The Supreme Court cited it in its Citizens United decision. The Trump indictment relied on an alleged campaign finance violation to charge the former president with felony falsification of business records with the Stormy Daniels payments. An anti-woke US commentator has jokingly suggested Australia should be invaded and returned to its roots as a penal colony. Matt Walsh's tongue-in-cheek comments come in the wake of several news articles after he labelled Australia 'the weakest, wokest, lamest country on Earth'. The political activist initially commented on the reality survival program Alone Australia, which he described as 'unintentionally the funniest thing on TV'. He called out producers and claimed they did not choose 'gritty, skilled, survivalists' as contestants, suggesting they prioritised political correctness over these qualities. Now, apparently baffled by the Australian media interest in his deliberately provocative comments, Walsh has suggested the country should be invaded by the US. 'I think Australia needs to be invaded,' Walsh said. 'For its own sake we need to invade Australia and conquer it, and based on what I've seen that will only take about three or four hours.' Poll Should the woke be moved to live on reservations, as Matt Walsh suggests? Yes No Should the woke be moved to live on reservations, as Matt Walsh suggests? Yes 552 votes No 106 votes Now share your opinion The provocateur, who shot to fame with his documentary What is a Woman, which attacked the transgender community, suggested that American troops 'round up all the woke, lame Australians and drive them inland to the interior'. 'We'll set up a reservation for them where they can live and the cool Australians will be liberated and we'll send them to go and live on New Zealand, which is basically Australia but colder,' he added. Walsh then suggested Australia be returned to its 'roots'. 'We convert it back to a prison colony and we'll start shipping our prisoners to Australia,' he said. 'Because that was Australia's heyday, that was Australia in its prime. When you had shiploads of criminals, you'd drop them off on the shore of Australia and just say, "Good luck. We'll see you never". Walsh added: 'We'll destroy all the cities. I'm not advocating that we harm anybody, we'll clear everybody out first. Send the woke ones to reservations in the desert, ship the other ones to New Zealand, and we start sending our prisoners there. 'That's my plan. That's how we fix this thing. I care about Australia so much I'm willing for it to be conquered in order to fix it. 'And the great thing is that we all know, based on recent history, that when America conquers a country, it fixes everything. It makes everything better.' Matt Walsh, who shot to fame with his documentary What is a Woman, which attacked the transgender community, suggested that American troops 'round up all the woke, lame Australians and drive them inland to the interior' The provocateur also suggested Australia be returned to a penal colony Walsh said he had previously been a fan of Australia. 'I say this as someone who, again, always liked Australia, at least from afar,' he said. 'I was a big fan of Steve Irwin, I love the bloomin' onion from Outback Steakhouse so I know a lot about Australian culture, I'm really steeped in Australian culture and that's why it pains me to see what it has become.' During the pandemic, Walsh was critical of Covid lockdowns and vaccine mandates, which were strictly imposed across Australia. Burger King has announced plans to pump half-a-billion dollars into an effort to modernize more than 600 of its restaurants across the country in the next seven years. The restaurants that will receive makeovers are specifically operated by Carrols Restaurant Group, the fast food chain's largest franchisee, which was recently acquired by Restaurant Brands International - BK's parent company. The company, which already owned 15 percent of Carrols' stock ahead of the May 16 announcement, signaled its plan to acquire the public company back in January. In total, the deal is worth about $1billion, according to Franchise Times. Following a $1billion deal to buy back restaurants from its biggest franchisee, Burger King has announced a major modernization effort at 600 of its stores across the US A Burger King fast food restaurant in Hialeah, Florida, US, on Thursday, April 18, 2024. Restaurant Brands International Inc. released its quarterly earnings figures on April 30, ahead of the acquisition of the restaurants owned by Carrols Ahead of the acquisition, Carrols owned more than 1,000 Burger King restaurants in some 23 states, in addition to 60 Popeyes Chicken restaurants in six states. Last fiscal year, which ended for the company in late September 2023, the company's sales from those entities topped $1.8billion. Burger King plans to refranchise nearly all of the restaurant units from the Carrols portfolio to smaller franchisees in the next five-to-seven years. Company president Tom Curtis said earlier this year that they will be looking for franchisees with 50 stores or fewer. Executives say they are looking to focus on restaurant operators, rather than just the owners. The CEO of Carrols, Deborah Derby, noted that she feels it will be a benefit to shareholders for the stores to get remodeled sooner rather than later. 'For our team, this is very exciting. We believe our team will have additional career opportunities as part of the greater RBI family,' she said back in January on the investor call when the deal was announced. Prior to this acquisition, Burger King was operating just 175 corporate stores out of the roughly 6,000 in the US. The brand is currently in the middle of a campaign to 'Reclaim the Flame,' which was announced in 2022. As the 'Home of the Whopper' noticeably lagged behind some of its competitors, the company announced a $400million investment into an enhanced marketing effort. A second $300million investment was announced in April to speed those plans along. Carrols CEO Deborah Derby has repeatedly emphasized the ways in which she feels the RBI deal will impact the brand and its shareholders positively in the long and short runs As the 'Home of the Whopper' noticeably lagged behind some of its competitors, the company announced a $400million investment into an enhanced marketing effort - A second $300million investment was announced in April to speed those plans along In 2022, BK's sales hit about $25.5billion - an 8.7 percent increase from the last fiscal year. But, domestically, the brand has struggled with its performance as franchisee profitability took a dip amid an apparent traffic-flow issue. Sales grew during the third quarter of 2023, making up for declines seen in previous quarters, which RBI CE Josh Kobza, at the time, called 'progress.' Total restaurant sales again rose in the final quarter of 2023, which corresponded to a 2.9 percent increase in traffic reported by Carrols. RBI's bid to reclaim control of the Carrols-owned restaurants arrives in the direct aftermath of three major BK operators filing for bankruptcy last year. TOMS King, Premier Kings, and Meridian Restaurants Unlimited, all filed for bankruptcy as the ailing burger business left them no choice. Iranians on Monday mourned the death of president Ebrahim Raisi whose helicopter crashed into a fog-shrouded mountain, setting off a period of political uncertainty in the Islamic republic. Raisi, 63, his foreign minister and seven others died when the aircraft went down on Sunday in a remote area of northwestern Iran, where the wreckage was only found on Monday morning. The ultraconservative Raisi had been in office since 2021, a turbulent time during which Iran was rocked by mass protests, an economic crisis deepened by U.S. sanctions, and armed exchanges with arch-enemy Israel. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who wields ultimate power in Iran, declared five days of mourning and said vice president Mohammad Mokhber, 68, would assume interim presidential duties. State media reported late on Monday that an election to replace Raisi would be held on June 28. "The Iranian nation has lost a sincere and valuable servant," said 85-year-old Khamenei, whom Raisi had been expected by many observers to one day succeed. Thousands of mourners massed in central Tehran's Valiasr Square to pay their respects to Raisi and to Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. Funeral rites were set to start Tuesday in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan province, for them and the other victims three crew, two bodyguards, an imam and a provincial governor before Raisi's body was to be taken to Tehran. Khamenei is expected to lead a prayer at a farewell ceremony for Raisi on Tuesday evening ahead of a funeral procession in the capital the following morning. Iran's military chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri ordered "a high-ranking committee to launch an investigation into the cause of the president's helicopter crash." Flags at half-mast State TV broke the news early on Monday that "the servant of the Iranian nation, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi, has achieved the highest level of martyrdom," showing pictures of him while a voice recited from the Koran. Flags soon flew at half-mast and a black banner was hoisted at a major Shiite shrine in the city of Qom south of Tehran. Global allies Russia and China and regional powers voiced their condolences, as did NATO, while the U.N. Security Council observed a minute of silence. Condolences also came from Palestinian group Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah and from Syria, all members of the so-called Axis of Resistance against Israel and its allies, amid high tensions over the Gaza war. The United States, which has for decades had a fraught relationship with Iran, offered "official condolences" for Raisi's death. However, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Raisi "was a man who had a lot of blood on his hands," adding he was responsible for "atrocious" rights abuses in Iran and had backed the country's proxies abroad. Washington had placed Raisi, a former head of the judiciary, on its sanctions blacklist for complicity in "serious human rights violations" charges Tehran has rejected. Analysts did not expect major foreign policy changes, pointing out that ultimate power in Iran is held by the supreme leader and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who work with a regional network of armed groups. "It will be (the) status quo," Jason Brodsky, an expert at the Middle East Institute, told the BBC of Iran's relations with these groups. "The IRGC reports to the supreme leader and liaises with Hezbollah, the Huthis, Hamas and the militias across the region. The modus operandi and the grand strategy of the Islamic republic will remain the same." U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd AU.S.tin said he did not "see any broader regional security impact" from Raisi's death. Iranian authorities first raised the alarm on Sunday afternoon when they lost contact with Raisi's helicopter as it returned from a border meeting with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev to inaugurate a dam. Only two of the convoy's three helicopters landed in Tabriz, setting off a massive search and rescue effort, with multiple foreign governments soon offering help. Washington said that Tehran had asked it for assistance without providing any details. The State Department said the U.S. had been unable to provide any "largely for logistical reasons". Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi at first spoke of a "hard landing" and urged citizens to ignore hostile foreign media channels and get their information "only from state television." Guards, army and police personnel joined the search as Red Crescent teams trudged up a steep hillside in the rain while rows of emergency services vehicles waited nearby. As the sun rose Monday, rescue crews said they had located the destroyed Bell 212 helicopter, with no survivors. State TV reported that the aircraft had "hit a mountain and disintegrated" on impact, and the Red Crescent soon confirmed that "the search operations have come to an end." Protests and economic woes Raisi had in 2021 succeeded the moderate Hassan Rouhani, at a time when the economy was battered by renewed U.S. sanctions over Iran's contested nuclear programme. Iran saw a wave of protests in 2022 triggered by the death in custody of Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini after her arrest for allegedly violating strict dress rules for women. In March 2023, regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia signed a surprise deal that restored diplomatic relations. The Gaza war sent tensions soaring and a series of tit-for-tat escalations led to Tehran launching hundreds of missiles and rockets directly at Israel in April. In a speech hours before his death, Raisi emphasised Iran's support for the Palestinians, a centrepiece of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution. "We believe that Palestine is the first issue of the Muslim world," said Raisi. (AFP) Britain is leading the charge in tackling illegal migration, Rishi Sunak said last night ahead of talks with his Austrian counterpart to agree closer cooperation. The Prime Minister will meet Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer in Vienna today. They are set to agree that Rwanda-style models are part of the solution to tackling the pan-European challenge of migration. Last week Austria was among 15 EU countries who warned that they would have to think outside the box to tackle the root causes of irregular arrivals. Mr Nehammer said earlier this week that asylum procedures in safe third countries outside Europe are a necessity. The two leaders meeting comes as the Government announced it will give the National Crime Agency (NCA) an additional 25 million to scale up efforts to disrupt people smugglers and their operations. The money will be used to provide new equipment and specialist teams to enhance the NCAs covert intelligence capabilities and intelligence sharing with partners. And it will enhance information gathering at the Joint Fusion Cell which brings together the NCA, police and Home Office operations to identify new leads. Britain is leading the charge in tackling illegal migration, Rishi Sunak said last night Migrants board a smuggler's boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel, on the beach of Gravelines, near Dunkirk in April The Prime Minister will meet Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer (pictured) in Vienna today Downing Street said a doubling of funding to the NCA last year hit criminal gangs profits and the cost of crossing the Channel has risen four-fold from a low in 2023. Ahead of the visit to Austria, Mr Sunak said: We are leading the charge with partners across the continent to meet the challenges caused by intolerable levels of illegal migration. Just last week fifteen EU countries called for new solutions to address this growing issue. Our disruption of the cruel trade of criminal gangs, together with our Rwanda scheme, are part of a deterrent to stop illegal migration once and for all. Home Secretary James Cleverly said: I have prioritised cracking down on organised immigration crime and breaking the business model of people smugglers since day one. Since 2020, we have already successfully dismantled 82 organised crime groups, seized 352 boats and prevented thousands of migrants from crossing the Channel. Through our continued work with the National Crime Agency and enhancing our capabilities even further, well do everything possible to disrupt the criminals who profit from this immoral trade. Elsewhere, it emerged UK taxpayers will cover the medical bills of migrants deported to Rwanda if they have to be sent abroad for treatment. A deal signed between the Kigali government and a health insurance firm has revealed deportees may be sent to countries such as India, Belgium and Turkey if care is not available in the African state. Repealing a highly controversial media law would strengthen the UK's reputation as a 'global champion for freedom of speech', campaigners have said. In a joint statement, a group of UK-based and international organisations have added that one of the first acts of the next Government should be to 'give a firm and unequivocal commitment to Press freedom'. Their focus is on Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act, which says that any news organisation not signed up to a Government-backed regulator could have to pay the legal costs for both sides in a case regardless of who wins. The controversial rule, which has been sitting on the statute books for more than a decade, has sparked huge concern about the potential damage to the freedom of the Press. It has never been brought into effect by the current government, which is set to repeal it as part of the Media Bill. Repealing a highly controversial media law would strengthen the UK's reputation as a 'global champion for freedom of speech', campaigners have said Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer speaks during his visit to the Backstage Centre, Purfleet last week A statement from international Press freedom organisations, as well as news bodies, has urged peers to pass the crucial piece of legislation that repeals Section 40 'as quickly as possible'. The statement is supported by groups including Reporters Without Borders, the Foreign Press Association, the Society of Editors and the News Media Association. The Labour Party has previously opposed the repeal of the rule. A statement from campaigners and news bodies said: 'Repealing Section 40 will go a long way towards strengthening the UK's reputation as a global champion for freedom of speech. 'Repressive regimes will be sent a clear message that the UK stands squarely behind freedom of speech. Freedom of speech with no strings attached. 'That message is critically important in the uncertain and dangerous world we all now live in. 'Leading democracies such as the UK must be seen to take a stand. 'The UK faces a general election, most likely in the second half of this year. 'One of the first acts of the next government must be to give a firm and unequivocal commitment to Press freedom.' It added that trying to force publishers into 'state-backed regulation' is 'incompatible with the principles of free speech'. The statement said: 'Never again must the UK go down this dangerous road.' The repeal of Section 40 is one of the provisions in the Media Bill, which will be debated in the House of Lords on Wednesday. A Pennsylvania teenager is suing Panera Bread claiming consuming one of their highly caffeinated Charged Lemonade drinks caused him to go into cardiac arrest. Luke Adams, 18, consumed the drink along with a chicken sandwich before going to a movie theater with friends around 7pm on March 9. Just two-and-a-half hours later, a friend that Luke was with found him to making strange noises and discovered him to be in sudden cardiac arrest. Luke Adams, 18, claims a highly caffeinated drink caused him to go into cardiac arrest Luke is pictured alongside Doctor Tim Muchnok, an emergency medicine physician, who helped save Luke's life after he went into cardiac arrest Fortunately, two nurses and a cardiologist were also in the theater at the time and began performing CPR on him while an automated external defibrillator was brought in and used to shock him. Despite an irregular rhythm, Adams' heart was pumping again and he was rushed to hospital. Luke then had seizures while in the ER and was placed in intensive care where he was intubated and placed on a ventilator according to the the lawsuit filed on Monday in federal court in Philadelphia. In Luke's medical records doctors specializing in cardiology and neurology noted a 'heavy caffeine intake' as a possible trigger for the cardiac arrest and subsequent seizures and specifically mentioned the Charged Lemonade drink. No other potential structural abnormalities or genetic conditions were found, the doctors said. 'Luke is not the first cardiac arrest from drinking this, but heis the luckiest as he survived and the other two did not,' wrote his mother, Lisa Braverman Feyes, in a Facebook post. 'Our God is an awesome God for sure 2 nurses (Dawn Saula )and a Cardiologist( Dr Francis Ergina) just so happened to be at the movie theater to initiate CPR on my son. 'Lukes best friends acted quickly by yelling for help, laying him down on the ground and running for the AED,' she explained. Braverman and her husband are both paramedics and heard the call for their son come over the radio. 'As most of you know my husband Scott Feyes and I are long time paramedics and ER Registered Nursesnever in a million lifetimes did I ever dream that what we have done so many times on strangers would be happening to my newly 18 year old precious son. 'Being EMS providers our radio is always on in case there is a fire or EMS call that we need to go on. When we heard "18 year old male at the movie theater unresponsive". my world stopped because in my heart I knew it was going to be my son,' she wrote. 'Please share far and wide that Panera charged lemonade can KILL you ! It is no joke. How many lives need to be lost before there is a change made?' A regular size of Charged Lemonade, which is 20 ounces, has 260 milligrams of caffeine The lawsuit claims that Luke was not aware that the Charged Lemonade was a super energy drink with high amounts of caffeine, sugar and guarana.' The states the drink contains 390 milligrams of caffeine without ice and 237 mg of caffeine with ice - the Food and Drug Administration's total daily recommended limit is 400 mg. A large, 20-ounce dark roast coffee at Panera has 268 mg of caffeine, by comparison. The lawsuit alleges Luke's cardiac arrest was caused by ventricular fibrillation a type of heart arrhythmia that can be triggered by caffeine. 'As a result of drinking Panera Charged Lemonade, Luke's life has been impacted physically, emotionally, socially and financially,' the lawsuit said. Luke has had to have a defibrillator implanted to ensure he does not go into cardiac arrest again but the entire incident has left him with PTSD and anxiety. Luke Adams is now suing Panera Bread after he consumed a Charged Lemonade. The teenager says he has PTSD and anxiety while Panera has now discontinued the drink 'Panera Charged Lemonade is defective in design because it is a dangerous energy drink,' the lawsuit said. Luke stresses in the suit that he never had any health issues and always consumed a limited amount of caffeine. His lawsuit includes claims for negligence, liability and misrepresentation alleging how Panera did not identify Charged Lemonade as an energy drink containing stimulants, rather that it was sold as being 'naturally flavored,' and 'plant based.' Earlier this month, Panera announced it was discontinuing the Charged Lemonade drinks, which have been around for two years. The company's 'Charged Sips' which includes three different flavored drinks, come in a 64 fluid ounce container that contains 1615 milligrams (mg) to 2155 mg of caffeine, according to the company's website. The company also said it plans to introduce new drinks with low-sugar and low-caffeine options. The beverage line has been the subject of multiple lawsuits over the past few months by people who have said the drinks caused health problems. So far, they have been linked to two wrongful death lawsuits. One suit was filed by the family of Sarah Katz, a 21-year-old Ivy League student with a heart condition, who died in September 2022. Sarah Katz (pictured) died on September 10, 2022, just hours after she consumed a large Charged Lemonade from a branch of Panera Bread in Philadelphia Katz had been diagnosed with the heart rhythm condition long QT syndrome as a child, which caused her heart to beat irregularly (arrhythmia). She had managed her condition by taking medication and limiting caffeine, according to legal documents. The second was by the family of a 46-year-old Florida man, David Brown, who died in October. Brown suffered a cardiac arrest and died on October 9 after drinking three Charged Lemonades at his local Panera. He was found unresponsive on the sidewalk and pronounced dead on the scene in Fleming Island. Brown's family said Brown had high blood pressure and didn't drink energy drinks, but believed Charged Sips were safe because they weren't advertised as energy drinks. David Brown, 46, suffered a cardiac arrest and died on October 9 after drinking three Charged Lemonades at his local Panera believing them to be regular lemonades Brown had a habit of ordering three drinks in a row, according to the lawyer representing the family, and had drunk three charged lemonades with his dinner the day of his death. The lawsuit detailed how Brown had ordered at least seven Charged Lemonades over a two-week period before he died. A third lawsuit was filed in January by Lauren Skerritt, a 28-year-old from Rhode Island who claimed the beverage left her with 'permanent' heart injuries. After news of the first lawsuit broke, Panera put more detailed disclosures in all of its restaurants and on its website warning customers to consume the drinks in moderation. The chain also stated that they were not recommended for children, pregnant women, breastfeeding moms or people sensitive to caffeine. Panera have not said whether the drinks were being discontinued because of the lawsuits or health concerns. Michael Gove will today raise the spectre of Nazi Germany as he condemns the recent surge in anti-Semitism in Britain. In a major speech, the Communities Secretary will say that throughout history countries descending into darkness have become more dangerous for Jews. The safety of the Jewish community is the canary in the mine, he will add. He will describe anti-Semitism as the common currency of hate that is shared by the Far Right, the Hard Left and Islamists. Mr Gove will call on the organisers of pro-Palestine marches to do more to stop symbols of anti-Jewish hatred being displayed. In recent weeks one man has been arrested for carrying a placard emblazoned with a swastika while police sparked outrage by telling a Jewish woman that the notorious Nazi symbol was not necessarily anti-Semitic. Michael Gove (pictured) will say that throughout history countries descending into darkness have become more dangerous for Jews A Pro-Palestinian protester holds a flare and a flag as anti-Israeli demonstrators gather outside the Embassy of Israel in London And he will urge the House of Lords to pass a bill to stop public bodies such as town halls and universities organising boycotts of businesses linked to Israel. His comments come after figures revealed anti-Semitism reached a record high in the UK, with 4,103 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded by the Community Security Trust in 2023, more than half of which took place after Hamass terrorist attack of October 7. Mr Gove is expected to say: Its an ironclad law of history that countries which are descending into darkness are those which are becoming progressively more unsafe for Jewish individuals and the Jewish community the Spain of the Inquisition, the Vienna of the 1900s, Germany in the 1930s, Russia in the last decade. It is a parallel law that those countries in which the Jewish community has felt most safe at any time are the countries where freedom is most secure at any time. The Netherlands of the 17th century. Pro-Palestine protesters in Piccadilly Circus last May A protester holds a placard outside the gate of the University College London 'Britain in the first decades of the last century. America in the second half of that century. He will go on: So when Jewish people are under threat, all our freedoms are threatened. The safety of the Jewish community is the canary in the mine. Growing anti-Semitism is a fever which weakens the whole body politic. He will add: There is one thing which, increasingly, unites the organisations and individuals which give cause for extremist concern. Anti-Semitism. It is the common currency of hate. It is at the dark heart of their world view. Whether Islamist, Far-Right or Hard-Left. And he will say that ensuring the safety of Jewish people is a moral duty for all to uphold, stressing: We said Never Again. And that is a promise we will never, ever, disavow. Businesses will today be told they need to recruit an extra 300,000 British workers a year following a clampdown on immigration. Work and pensions secretary Mel Stride will today unveil plans for a new push to train up the unemployed to take jobs in sectors that currently recruit heavily abroad, including hospitality, construction and care. A new ministerial taskforce has been set up to oversee the development of recruitment initiatives for sectors that will be hit heavily by new restrictions designed to reduce soaring net migration figures. In a speech in London today, Mr Stride will tell firms to put British workers first, saying: 'For too long we have relied on labour from abroad when there is great talent right here in the UK - I am determined to put that right.' He will add: 'New visa rules brought in by the Home Secretary will mean around 300,000 people who arrived last year would not be able to under the new rules. Businesses will today be told they need to recruit an extra 300,000 British workers a year following a clampdown on immigration (stock image) Work and pensions secretary Mel Stride (pictured) will today unveil plans for a new push to train up the unemployed 'I know this presents a recruitment challenge for some employers in certain sectors, particularly those that have relied more on migration in the past. 'But this is also a huge opportunity for the thousands of jobseekers within our domestic workforce to move into roles that have previously been filled by overseas workers. 'So my message to businesses is clear: our jobcentre teams stand ready to help you find the right candidate, and we want to work with you to overcome recruitment challenges.' Ministers want to copy the model devised to deal with a shortage of HGV drivers in 2021. While some new drivers were recruited from abroad and hours were relaxed to allow them to work for longer, a number of other measures were put in place to encourage the recruitment of more British drivers. These included funding for new 'skills bootcamps' to train up thousands of British drivers, a scheme to train up ex-offenders and subsidies for firms that took on apprentices. Similar schemes will now be developed for five sectors that are heavily reliant on migrant labour. Net migration figures have rocketed in recent years, hitting 745,000 in 2022. New figures this week are expected to show it was around 600,000 last year. But ministers believe that a string of measures, such as clamping down on student visas and barring foreign care workers from bringing their families, will lead to a hug drop this year. Brian Bell, chairman of the Migration Advisory Committee, said last week there was a 'fighting chance' the reforms already announced would slash net migration to pre-2019 levels, potentially cutting the total to as little as 150,000. A Government source said businesses would be expected to look for British workers rather than demanding more visas for foreign workers as they have in the past. Majority of job cuts will be made by end of 2024 CEO said job cuts necessary for company productivity Telstra will slash up to nine per cent of its total workforce by the end of the year with about 2,800 people to lose their job. Telstra CEO Vicki Brady made the shock announcement on Tuesday, claiming job cuts are necessary to ensure the company's productivity. The majority of cuts will be made by the end of 2024 and will focus on reducing non-labour and indirect labour costs. This is expected to save the company about $350million by 2025. 'Some of the proposed measures, which require consultation with employees and unions, would result in up to 2,800 job reductions from Telstra's direct workforce,' Ms Brady said in a statement to investors. '[The reductions would] make the investments needed to support the ever-increasing growth in data volumes on its network and deliver improved connectivity for customers across the country.' Telstra CEO Vicki Brady announced the telco company would be cutting up to 2,800 jobs by the end of 2024 Ms Brady said Telstra employees will be supported through the changes by company staff and union representatives. 'I appreciate the uncertainty proposed changes like this can create for our people and we will support them through this change with care and transparency,' Ms Brady said. 'As we propose specific changes, we will talk them through with our teams and union representatives first.' Telstra currently has an estimated 31,000-strong workforce, according to its latest annual report. The company has forecast a one-off restructuring cost of between $200million and $250million associated with the job cuts over the next two years. The telco giant said its underlying earnings - before interest, depreciation, amortisation and tax - in 2025 was forecast between $8.4billion and $8.7billion. Telstra has previously announced it will scale up its use of artificial intelligence. In February, the telecommunications giant revealed it would expand two generative AI solutions which have been developed in-house. The decision was made following 'promising pilots with frontline team members, enabling faster and more successful interactions with customers'. Telstra said the job cuts were necessary in improving the company productivity and would save some $350million by 2025 Macquarie Telecom Group Executive Luke Clifton told Daily Mail Australia Telstra's job cuts was a 'cheap, sinister move' that would worsen the company's that 'already disgraceful customer service standards'. Mr Clifton added the move to sack 2,800 staff would open the way for jobs to be replaced by artificial intelligence. 'Telstra has never believed in investing in Australian people. It has outsourced staff overseas and now it's trying to replace them with artificial intelligence,' Mr Clifton said. 'Rather than taking the lead on investing in AI to support staff and create better technologies for customers, the company is making a cheap, sinister move that will worsen its already disgraceful customer service standards. 'Telstra doesn't believe in its staff or its customers, no wonder both are leaving in droves.' Consultation on 377 of the 2800 jobs will 'begin immediately'. Britain cannot afford to give the 'cold shoulder' to China, City minister Bim Afolami said yesterday - despite growing concerns about the security threat posed by Beijing. The comments at a finance industry conference suggests the UK will maintain an open trading relationship with the world's second biggest economy in stark contrast with the US where president Joe Biden has just announced sweeping new trade tariffs. And they also seem at odds with the tone struck by prime minister Rishi Sunak, who claimed earlier this year that China represents 'the greatest state-based threat to our economic security'. Mr Afolami said it was 'crucial' to engage with rivals such as China and that hesitating to do so would mean 'our competitors will write our future for us'. He said London and Beijing 'won't always agree on everything'. Economic Secretary to the Treasury Bim Afolami pictured speaking to the media at College Green, Westminster in March A file image of Canary Wharf in London, showing the headquarters of HSBC and Barclays Bank But he added: 'You simply cannot give the cold shoulder to an economy that is home to a fifth of the world's globally systemically important banks, four of the world's largest banks, and almost a third of the world's leading global financial centres. 'It is in our interests to engage where we can - profoundly so. It makes good economic sense.' Tensions have been mounting between the UK and China in recent weeks. Britain has accused Beijing of hacking the electoral commission and spying on MPs. Chinese hackers are also suspected of carrying out a cyber attack on the Ministry of Defence's payroll system. Western governments are also increasingly concerned by Beijing's backing for Russia's Vladimir Putin - despite his invasion of Ukraine - and its belligerent rhetoric language over Taiwan, which it claims as part of China. There are also fears that a flood of cheap electric cars from China could undermine manufacturers in the US and Europe. A woman who lost $500,000 to scammers has taken matters into her own hands and threatened to ruin the life of an alleged conman behind the scheme. Jo O'Brien settled her divorce in June 2022 and invested half-a-million-dollars into what she thought was a secure long-term deposit account managed by AMP. But she was, in fact, talking to scammers who tricked her into transferring the money into an Australian bank account before the funds were moved offshore and then completely disappeared. A Commonwealth Bank of Australia worker broke the news to Ms O'Brien saying he had 'suspicions this may be a scam', leaving her inconsolable and in tears. The scammers had been running a small company in Melbourne and had managed to swindle $1.7million from nine people. Jo O'Brien settled her divorce in June, 2022, and invested half-a-million-dollars into what she thought was a secure long-term deposit account managed by AMP Ms O'Brien managed to track down the phone number of the 29-year-old director of the company, desperate to get her money back. 'This is Jo O'Brien. The person who you stole $500,000 from,' she sent in a text, the ABC's 7.30 reported. 'I will not give up until I get my money back and/or ruin your lives 'You messed with the wrong person.' Ms O'Brien lied to the scammer and told him she had a private investigator track his family down and had connections with senior people in Pakistani intelligence, where the scammer hailed from. The scammer replied and said: 'If you tried to reach my family in Dubai or Pakistan, I assure you won't get a single penny back. 'Moreover, I also have many connections in Melbourne and Brisbane that could host you very well.' Ms O'Brien told the ABC she then started to play nice, which led to the scammer sympathising with her. The scammer then told her he could put her in touch with the man behind the scheme who could give her her money back. The details of this man were sketchy and there was no proof he even existed or was involved in the elaborate scam. 'If you have powerful connections like ISI (Pakistani intelligence) or any other agency who could raid his house get this b****rd torture him and get your money back,' the scammer told Ms O'Brien. Ms O'Brien tracked down the phone number of her scammer and threatened him in order to try and get her money back The scammer agreed to be interviewed by the ABC in March but covered his face so he could not be identified. He said he knew he'd broken the law by allowing the funds to be laundered through his company but denied knowing it was a scam, simply saying he 'made a mistake'. He claimed he would give back Ms O'Brien's $500,000 but none of them are yet to receive a cent. 'If I ever had a small hint [that this was a] scam. I would never do it,' he said at the time. The scammer claimed he was paid $13,000 to hand over the details of his company's bank account. Criminal charges were laid against one of the scammers involved but were lateer dropped. Noone has been prosecuted in relation to the scam. It's understood the scammer Ms O'Brien spoke to is now overseas. She said she contacted police several times about the scam and that victims have since launched a lawsuit against the company. Victoria Police said it 'has progressed available information on alleged offending overseas with foreign partners through the Australian Federal Police INTERPOL Bureau. 'Should further information come to light on crimes committed in Victoria, the investigation can be reopened. 'Due to current ongoing civil proceedings in New South Wales, we are unable to comment further at this time.' Civil servant activists have sparked outrage by accusing Israel of genocide and ethnic cleansing. Public sector trade union members have also claimed Palestinians will 'inevitably resist' their 'oppression' by Israel and so it should be replaced by a secular state. Some are demanding not only an arms embargo on the country but also the right to refuse to work on any UK arms trade activity with the Israeli Defence Forces. One branch of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union claimed flying the Israeli flag from official buildings is 'unacceptable' and 'detrimental' to Muslim staff. Their controversial remarks have been made in official motions that could be debated and voted on at the union's annual conference starting in Brighton today. Last night they were condemned by leading campaigners. Lord Mann, the Government's independent adviser on anti-Semitism, said of pro-Palestinian motions being debated: 'This has got nothing to do with their [Public and Commercial Services union] members whatsoever it is self-indulgent' Israeli flag is projected onto the front facade of Prime Minister's Office on October 8, 2023 Public sector trade union members have also claimed Palestinians will 'inevitably resist' their 'oppression' by Israel and so it should be replaced by a secular state. Lord Mann, the Government's independent adviser on anti-Semitism, told the Mail: 'This has got nothing to do with their members whatsoever it is self-indulgent. 'If I was a member of that union, I would wonder why this is even getting on the conference agenda.' Former Labour MP Lord Austin of Dudley said: 'It is very worrying to see civil servants who are supposed to be impartial and implement government policy singling out one of our closest allies for such one-sided criticism. 'Iran is at war with the West, Israel is on the frontline and we should be doing all we can to support them in dealing with the terrorists and releasing the hostages.' Conservative MP Andrew Percy said: 'The flag of Israel was flown on buildings in the UK following the Hamas attacks of October 7. 'If the PCS is offended by the Government choosing to mark those horrors, I'm afraid the PCS is a sick and twisted organisation. 'I am sure every civil servant, of all religions and none, would have been utterly horrified by the rape and butchery committed by Palestinian terrorists on October 7.' In total there are 115 references to Israel in the conference agenda report, compared with six to Russia and three to Iran. A dozen motions attack Israel's response to October 7 but just four specifically condemn Hamas in similar terms and only one refers to the hostages still held by the terrorist group. One of the most outspoken, tabled by a HM Revenue & Customs branch in Bristol and Reading, calls for PCS delegates to condemn 'these crimes against humanity, war crimes and the genocidal strategy of Israel'. Conservative MP Andrew Percy (pictured) said: 'If the PCS is offended by the Government choosing to mark those horrors [that occurred on 7 October], I'm afraid the PCS is a sick and twisted organisation' One of the most outspoken motions, tabled by a HM Revenue & Customs branch in Bristol and Reading, calls for PCS delegates to condemn 'these crimes against humanity, war crimes and the genocidal strategy of Israel' It wants the union to 'build our presence in the Palestine Solidarity Campaign's protests'. The branch also calls for members working in firms or departments involved in the arms trade to be identified then helped 'to refuse to produce, facilitate or transport goods or services in such trade with Israel'. Another motion tabled by members in the Independent Office for Police Conduct calls on delegates to agree 'the Israeli government is guilty of war crimes and ethnic cleansing'. It says there can only be peace in the Middle East with a 'single democratic secular state'. The motion adds: 'The current state of Israel cannot offer security for Jews as its existence is dependent on continued oppression of the Palestinian people who will inevitably resist.' A motion by a Ministry of Justice branch said flying Israeli flags on government buildings was 'unacceptable as it contradicts the role of civil service impartiality' and was 'detrimental to our Muslim employees'. Last night the PCS said this motion had been ruled inadmissible. A coroner's court has ruled out a probe into the unexpected death of BBC radio legend Steve Wright. The broadcasting veteran was found dead in his 2million home in Marylebone on February 12 this year. In a statement Westminster coroner's court said: 'An inquest will not be required for Mr Wright. 'The coroner has now discontinued this case.' BBC News reports that the Metropolitan Police had said in the past that Mr Wright's death was 'was unexpected, but is not being treated as suspicious.' A coroner's court has ruled out a probe into the unexpected death of BBC radio legend Steve Wright. The broadcasting veteran was found dead in his 2million home in Marylebone on February 12 this year In a statement Westminster coroner's court said: 'An inquest will not be required for Mr Wright. 'The coroner has now discontinued this case.' The Metropolitan Police had said in the past that Mr Wright's death was 'was unexpected, but is not being treated as suspicious' Mr Wright joined BBC Radio 1 in 1980 to host a Saturday evening show before moving on to host Steve Wright In The Afternoon a year later, where he stayed until 1993. He then fronted the Radio 1 Breakfast show for a year until 1995, and completed a stint at commercial radio stations before returning to BBC Radio 2 in 1996 to host Steve Wright's Saturday Show and Sunday Love Songs. In 1999, he recreated Steve Wright In The Afternoon every weekday on Radio 2, with celebrity interviews and entertaining trivia featured in his Factoids segment, before stepping down in September 2022 - he continued to present Sunday Love Songs on BBC Radio 2. In a schedule shake-up, former BBC Radio 1 host Scott Mills took over the afternoon slot. Emergency services rushed to the star's home in Marylebone, central London, just after 10am on February 12, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Mr Wright joined BBC Radio 1 in 1980 to host a Saturday evening show before moving on to host Steve Wright In The Afternoon a year later, where he stayed until 1993 Mr Wright's friend Mark Wells, speaking on the Behind The Scenes with Colin Edmonds podcast, revealed that Mr Wright had heart surgery in 2022. He said: 'Steve told me he had a heart operation about 14 or 15 months ago after he finished Steve Wright in the Afternoon on Radio 2. 'He had a bypass operation which had gone well but I think he had been more ill than he had been letting on to that point. 'The recovery from that had gone pretty well though obviously the events of the last couple of days would suggest that's what in the end came for him.' The DJ's younger brother Laurence Wright, 65, said that his unhealthy lifestyle including his penchant for always eating out, combined with his reluctance to talk about his own 'health issues', contributed to his death. A Korean-American Senate candidate highlighted his opposition to a "go-it-alone" foreign policy approach on Monday, saying the United States' strength stems from its global leadership and engagements. Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ), a third-term Democratic congressman running for a New Jersey Senate seat, made the remarks as he voiced concerns over a policy of "neo-isolationism" marked by reluctance over America's international engagements. Former President Donald Trump's foreign policy has been seen as having taken on isolationist hues as witnessed in his administration's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change and curtail other overseas involvement. "It's scary right now in America because you know I see it here in Congress where we have a group of people ... It's unfortunately a growing number (of people) that are really pushing a neo-isolationism policy in America that I think would be very damaging," he said during an online press meeting. "A lot of America's global strength comes from our engagement, comes from our leadership that helps our economy and makes our economy stronger, and makes our nation more stable and secure," he added. He went on to underline his position against the idea of America "going it alone." "In fact, it'll just make us much more insecure," he said. Kim underscored the importance of America's alliances, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). "The only time NATO has ever invoked collective security is in the defense of the United States after Sept. 11," he said, referring to the terrorist attack in 2001. "We benefit from these alliances and these coalitions." Trump took NATO allies aback during a campaign speech in February, where he said that if reelected, he would "encourage" Russia to "do whatever the hell they want" to "delinquent" NATO members that fail to meet their defense spending commitments. Kim outlined his thoughts on foreign affairs as he is well known for his extensive security and diplomatic portfolio that included his time at the U.S. National Security Council and the State Department. Calling himself a "very proud" son of Korean immigrants and a father of two boys, he stressed his commitment to making a "difference" in the world that he said is marked by "chaos" and "craziness." "There are scary times right now and I don't want this chaos and this craziness that's out there right now in the world to just become the new normal for my kids," he said. "These are the times where I feel like it's important to engage and hopefully be able to make a difference." (Yonhap) Dame Esther Rantzen's daughter has implied she may choose to break the law to aid her mother in an assisted death. Esther, best known for presenting and producing the hit BBC show That's Life! from, is one of the nation's most well known advocates for assisted suicide, after being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer last January. Last December, she revealed that she has signed up for Dignitas, the most well-known assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland, and said that she 'might buzz off to Zurich' if her complex cancer treatment doesn't work. In England and Wales, assisted suicide can be prosecuted with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. But despite the enormous personal risk, her daughter, Rebecca Wilcox, hinted that she would help her mother attend a Dignitas clinic. Despite the enormous personal risk Dame Esther Rantzen's (pictured, right) daughter, Rebecca Wilcox (pictured, left), hinted that she would help her mother attend a Dignitas clinic Wilcox, herself a TV presenter, wrote in Saga magazine: 'If she goes at the moment it would be her only option for an assisted death she will have to go alone. It is against the law to accompany her. I would face prosecution for manslaughter and could receive up to 14 years in prison. 'Even if it doesn't go to trial, many people face a two-year investigation. I have a young family with two children, a busy home and a complex job. I shouldn't have to risk going to prison just to keep mum company, but I'm not sure I could let her go alone. 'It's an impossible decision to have to make: either risk possible prosecution at the worst time of my life, when I have just lost my adored mum, or do the unthinkable and let her die alone in a foreign country with no one she knows or loves to hold her hand.' Wilcox added: 'The thought of her actually dying is abominable, but the thought of her dying in pain is unthinkable. 'Her health is not great and her illness has no cure. The prognosis may lead to a painful death that might not be eased with palliative care and opioid painkillers.' She wrote of the pride she felt for her mother's campaigning work, and called on the British government to implement a legal path to assisted suicide. 'I don't understand the lack of action by our government, which seems unable to commit on the subject. It's inhumane. The opportunity to have an assisted, comfortable death in countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland shows a level of compassion in the lawmakers that seems sadly absent from England today.' Anthony Albanese is on a pre-election domestic travel blitz to visit key Labor seats and a handful of regions he may be looking to target to win a second term. The Prime Minister has visited 43 electorates since his new-look Stage Three tax cuts were announced in January, 29 of which are already held by Labor. But it seems he and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton have had the same idea, with Mr Dutton visiting 14 of the same electorates in the same timeframe. In New South Wales, both leaders have had overlap in the Labor-held seats of Dobell (Emma McBride), Parramatta (Andrew Charlton) and Sydney (Tanya Plibersek), as well as the Teal seat of Wentworth (Allegra Spender). In Queensland, the duo have both separately visited the Nationals seat of Capricornia (Michelle Landry), the highly sought after Greens-held seat of Brisbane (Stephen Bates) and the Liberal seat of Dickson (Peter Dutton). In Victoria, there has been a double up in Labor's McEwen (Rob Mitchell) and Dunkley (Jodie Belyea) and Greens leader Adam Bandt's seat in Melbourne. The Prime Minister has visited 43 electorates since announcing his new-look Stage Three tax cuts in January, 29 of which are already held by Labor. But it seems he and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton have had the same idea, with Mr Dutton visiting 14 of the same electorates in the same time frame They both visited the Labor-held seats of Swan and Perth in Western Australia, as well as Adelaide in South Australia and Solomon in the Northern Territory. But Mr Albanese's tour has been far wide reaching than Mr Dutton's, embarking on what appears to be a calculated move to defend seats he needs to retain. Labor won the 2022 election with a slim majority - securing 52.1 per cent of the general two-party preferred vote. But the Coalition, Teals and Greens are all circling seats they think they're a chance of securing - and despite a boost in the polls recently, there are concerns about Labor potentially falling into minority government territory. Dobell, for example, was won on a margin of 6.5, while Dr Charlton in Parramatta won with a 4.6 per cent margin. Dr Charlton has faced significant backlash for his multi-million property portfolio while simultaneously representing a working class seat. An insider told Daily Mail Australia that the timing of the travel blitz made sense following the successful roll out of the Stage Three tax cuts - which rolled back the Scott Morrison-era benefits legislated for high income earners to give more to middle Australia. Mr Albanese's tour has been far wide reaching than Mr Dutton's, embarking on what appears to be a calculated move to defend seats he needs to retain. The PM is pictured is Gosford on the Central Coast on Sunday The government faced some backlash for breaking an election promise but has overall enjoyed support from voters for the changes. 'He should be out telling as many people about them as he can,' the insider said. 'It's a good time to shore up some votes,' the insider said. 'The concern is that by the time the election rolls around, people will have forgotten that money, or forgotten who made it happen. Memories are short.' Some analysts and insiders within the Labor camp hope the PM will call an early election, propelled by the rollout of the tax cuts and $300 electricity rebate recently announced in the Budget. But there are logistical elements at play. The PM has long maintained he wants to see the election cycle extended to four years, and he's offered no clear indication he intends to call the election early. On Monday, Mr Albanese said 'it'll be when it's scheduled well, that is the anticipated date'. 'I think that three years is too short. I just wish that it was four years. Every state government and territory has four years. The federal government has three.' But a referendum would be required to make any changes to the election cycle, and the PM is trying to steer as clear of talks about future referendums as possible following the crushing Voice defeat. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton (pictured in Adelaide on May 1) has also embarked on a pre-election travel blitz across Australia The PM (pictured with fiancee Jodie Haydon in Gosford last Saturday night) has long maintained he wants to see the election cycle extended to four years, and he's offered no clear indication he intends to call the election early Daily Mail Australia revealed on Monday that his assistant minister for the republic, Matt Thisthlethwaite, faces the axe ahead of a looming cabinet reshuffle as the PM distances himself from another referendum. Also at play is the jam-packed political schedule for the remainder of 2024. Queenslanders will head to pools for the state election in October this year, while West Australians go to the polls in February 2025. There is also the United States presidential election in November - a rematch between President Biden and Donald Trump - which will draw the focus of Australians around the nation. On the back of the Budget, Labor's primary vote rose one per cent from last month to 34 points, while support for the Coalition has fallen by one point to 37 per cent. In some more good news for Mr Albanese, his approval rate lifted three points to 47 per cent, with Mr Dutton sitting at 38 per cent. The vast majority of Generation Z adults in the UK believe cannabis should be legalised, a report has found. Some four in five of those surveyed are of the view that the drug should either be legal without restriction or available through licensed shops. Just 20 per cent believe taking cannabis should continue to be against the law. While members of Gen Z include those born between 1997 and 2012, 63 per cent of those who have reached voting age were of the view cannabis should be legal but only available through licensed shops. Another 17 per cent thought it should be legal without restrictions. Some 47 per cent of Baby Boomers - born during the years 1946-64 - thought cannabis should only be legally available in licensed shops, with another 5 per cent saying it should be legal without restriction. The picture was less clear among Gen X (born 1965-80) and Millennials (born between 1981-96) who were more liberal in their outlook. While members of Gen Z include those born between 1997 and 2012, 63 per cent of those who have reached voting age were of the view cannabis should be legal but only available through licensed shops (stock image) Some 47 per cent of Baby Boomers - born during the years 1946-64 - thought cannabis should only be legally available in licensed shops, with another 5 per cent saying it should be legal without restriction (stock image) Overall Gen X were 58 per cent in agreement that cannabis should be legalised, while 67 per cent of Millennials thought the same. The figures were released by the National Centre for Social Research as part of its 'Society Watch' report for 2024 - 'Understanding the new generation of voters'. Other findings on law and order suggested that Gen Z were less likely to respect authority than older generations. Just 16 per cent thought the law should always be obeyed - even when it is wrong - compared to 32 per cent of adults overall. And 43 per cent felt it was important to express their moral convictions through civil disobedience if necessary - just a third (33 per cent) of older generations agreed. The authors said: 'Gen Z have found themselves discussed in public spaces ranging from the World Economic Forum to advice columns, labelled as anything from illiberal to woke. 'Gen Z's views on law and order diverge sharply from previous generations. 'Much like their Baby Boomer grandparents in the 1960s, Gen Z find themselves at odds with previous generations on personal freedoms, civil liberties and the role of the government in their lives. 'Our data shows that Gen Z hold strong moral convictions, which they are willing to voice loudly and confidently. 'They are willing to break laws they don't agree with and make their voices heard through protests. 'They also take a liberal approach to personal freedoms on issues such as drug policy, and tend not to support tough, punitive criminal justice policies. 'Our analysis shows it's likely that Gen Z's more liberal views on authority and individual freedom will stand the test of time.' The report drew on the British Social Attitudes survey data, which has tracked public attitudes for more than 40 years. Lovisa Moller, Director of Analysis at NatCen and co-author of Society Watch 2024 said: 'A generational perspective helps explain how Britain is (or is not) changing. 'By looking at birth cohorts, we can help explain views on the relative importance of social order and individual freedom, for example. 'If present trends persist, Gen Z will be a generation that value personal freedoms and civil liberties more than any other current generation.' Rishi Sunak pledged last night to pay whatever it costs to compensate the victims of the infected blood scandal. Thousands of people affected by it will be offered interim payments today, as ministers set out the first details of a compensation package expected to top 10billion. In a sombre statement to the Commons, the Prime Minister issued a wholehearted and unequivocal apology. Sir Brian Langstaffs report had uncovered a decades-long moral failure at the heart of our national life that should shake our nation to its core, he said. From the National Health Service to the civil service, to ministers in successive governments at every level, the people and institutions in which we place our trust failed in the most harrowing and devastating way, he added. Rishi Sunak making a statement following the publication of the Infected Blood Inquiry final report yesterday Families of the victims of the scandals gather outside Central Hall in Westminster, London, after the publication of the Infected Blood Inquiry report They failed the victims and their families and they failed this country. Mr Sunak was criticised by Sir Brian yesterday for responding to calls for compensation at a sluggish pace and with a lack of transparency. The Prime Minister last night acknowledged the case for redress and said the Government would pay comprehensive compensation to the victims and their families, adding: Whatever it costs to deliver this scheme, we will pay it. He told MPs it was almost impossible to comprehend how it felt for victims to learn they had been infected with life-changing viruses such as HIV and hepatitis C as a result of treatment on the health service. He said the report had highlighted an appalling truth that our NHS failed. Mr Sunak accepted evidence of a deliberate cover-up, with the inquiry finding official documents had been destroyed and campaigners deliberately frustrated as they tried to get to the truth. He said it was a matter of eternal shame that the inquiry found some people, including children, had effectively been viewed as objects for research. His apology was not just for the medical failures relating to the use of infected blood products and the failure to respond to emerging evidence of risk. The victims also deserved an apology for the repeated failure of the state and our medical professionals to recognise the harm caused, including the failure of previous payments schemes, Mr Sunak said. Protesters hold banners showing victims of the scandal as they waited to enter Methodist Central Hall Chairman of the infected blood inquiry Sir Brian Langstaff (left) with victims and campaigners outside Central Hall in Westminster today He apologised for the institutional refusal to face up to these failings and worse, to deny and even attempt to cover them up. He said victims had endured layer upon layer of hurt over decades, adding: This is an apology from the state to every single person impacted by this scandal. It did not have to be this way. It should never have been this way. And on behalf of this and every government stretching back to the 1970s, I am truly sorry. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also issued an apology, saying failures applied to all parties, including my own. He welcomed the Prime Ministers confirmation of financial support for victims, saying Labour would work with him to get that done swiftly. But former health secretary Sir Sajid Javid warned that NHS scandals continued to take place despite numerous pledges to learn lessons. He accused officials of putting the reputation of themselves and the NHS above that of patient safety and care. He said: Time and time again ministers have stood at that despatch box, under successive governments, including myself, promising that lessons will be learnt. So can I ask, why will it be any different this time? Around 4,000 people, including those infected and bereaved spouses, were given interim payments of 100,000 each in October 2022. Paymaster General John Glen is today expected to confirm further interim payments for the worst-affected victims as he sets out the process for a full compensation scheme. Friends and families of victims of the blood contamination demonstrate at Central London Methodist Hall today MPs will be told a new Infected Blood Compensation Authority will be established to assess claims dating back to the 1970s and decide on payment levels. Mr Glen said a shadow body had already begun work on the issue. As well as compensation for loss of earnings and pain and suffering, the body will consider claims for grief and for the social stigma suffered by those who contracted viruses such as HIV at a time when they were untreatable and widely feared by the public. Last year Sir Brian said interim payments had left many unrecognised, including parents who lost children and children orphaned when their parents died. Now ministers have indicated the interim payments will be available to a wider group. Sir Brian, who called for a compensation scheme to be established a year ago, said yesterday the latest delays had perpetuated the injustice for victims. He added: When the Government knows, as it clearly does, that what happened was a terrible injustice, that people deserve redress, and that lack of redress perpetuates the injustice, then to delay, and thus deny justice, in order to await the full context seems hard to justify. A woman has been slashed with a knife by a stranger while walking near a Jewish Synagogue. The woman, aged in her 20s, was walking on Hotham St at St Kilda, in Melbourne's southeast, when she was approached by the man at about 8.40am on Tuesday. It's alleged the man, 44, slashed the woman on her arm and then tried to flee the scene. A Good Samaritan managed to restrain him until emergency services arrived. An alleged stabbing incident has taken place adjacent to the Yeshivah Centre in East St Kilda, Melbourne The 44-year-old was arrested and taken to hospital under police guard with minor injuries. The woman was also taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries. Hotham St has been blocked in both directions between Inkerman St and Carlisle St. The incident is understood to have occured outside the Yeshivah Centre, an orthodox Jewish organisation. Victoria Police said in a statement the woman and man were not known to each other, and ruled out it being a religiously motivated attack. 'At this early stage in the investigation, there is nothing to suggest that the incident was religiously motivated,' police said. Cancer treatment will be sped up with the introduction of artificial intelligence to all radiotherapy departments, the Government has announced. The use of the technology will see waiting times slashed as it can help to detect cancer cells 2.5 times faster than doctors alone. In what has been hailed as an 'exciting breakthrough' in cancer care, AI will be rolled out to hospitals within three years and will benefit tens of thousands of patients. The programme reviews CT or MRI scans to distinguish between cancerous cells and healthy organs, allowing targeted radiotherapy and stopping unnecessary damage. Announcing the development at the AI Seoul Summit in South Korea today, Rishi Sunak is expected to praise it as an example of how to harness the potential of AI to help humanity. The use of the technology will see waiting times slashed as it can help to detect cancer cells 2.5 times faster than doctors alone (stock image) In what has been hailed as an 'exciting breakthrough' in cancer care, AI will be rolled out to hospitals within three years and will benefit tens of thousands of patients (stock image) The programme reviews CT or MRI scans to distinguish between cancerous cells and healthy organs, allowing targeted radiotherapy and stopping unnecessary damage (stock image) The Prime Minister's speech reads: 'Thanks to Bletchley [the pioneering AI Safety Summit held in Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire last year] we have created a legacy of international collaboration which means we are matching the pace of the technology. 'AI-powered medical advances like in radiotherapy are evidence of this and we must take advantage of them. 'That's why we are pumping 15.5million into the NHS so it can be rolled out across England to help cut waiting lists and make the UK the number-one place for AI innovation.' It is hoped the AI assistance, which will be reviewed by medics before any treatment is given, will help to free up staff time. Currently doctors have to map out radiotherapy treatment areas by hand, to ensure it is targeted at a patient's cancer and avoids healthy organs. Health leaders said the use of the technology would be another major step towards cutting NHS waiting lists. Dr Imogen Locke, an NHS England radiotherapy specialist, said: 'We are seeing a record number of referrals for suspected cancer, and game-changing tools like AI will help the NHS continue the significant progress made in tackling the longest waits for patients.' Health Secretary Victoria Atkins (pictured) said: 'This is an exciting breakthrough in our work to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment, and AI is helping to make our healthcare system faster, simpler and fairer' The role of AI is growing across the NHS, with technology used to diagnose strokes now in operation at most hospitals in England (stock image) Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said: 'This is an exciting breakthrough in our work to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment, and AI is helping to make our healthcare system faster, simpler and fairer.' The role of AI is growing across the NHS, with technology used to diagnose strokes now in operation at most hospitals in England. A recent study by the University of Warwick found it was just as accurate or more accurate than doctors' analysis for 35 out of 37 conditions tested. The Bletchley Park summit, held in November, was the first time that international leaders, AI firms, academics, and civil society came together to consider the risks of AI and tackle them together. It resulted in the historic Bletchley Declaration, which was signed by 27 countries and the EU. 'You are now going to the DC zoo to be working with rhinos! Babe, that is insane,' Mulvaney said U.S. House candidate Rick Becker has commissioned Dylan Mulvaney to congratulate his opponent on 'moving to D.C. to work with the rhinos' in a Cameo clip. Becker is running against Julie Fedorchak, a North Dakota public service commissioner. They are both running in a primary to replace Rep. Kelly Armstrong, who is vacating the seat to run for governor, in the state's only House seat. 'Hi Julie!' Mulvaney said in the clip, 'I wanted to make you this video because your friend Rick told me that you have a huge job change coming up.' Last year, Mulvaney's tie-up with Bud Light led to an angry boycott of the beer by conservatives that cost parent company Anheuser-Busch $400 million in sales. The TikToker now sells Cameos starting at $350 a pop. 'From what I understand you just spent like 10 or more years in North Dakota like basically saving the planet and like promoting green energy and reducing harmful coal plants which is so iconic, and now I'm very excited for this. You are now going to the DC zoo to be working with rhinos! Babe, that is insane,' Mulvaney went on. Mulvaney was seemingly unaware that the Cameo would be used in the GOP House race - and of the double meaning of RINO (Republican in Name Only). 'Hi Julie!' Mulvaney said in the clip, 'I wanted to make you this video because your friend Rick told me that you have a huge job change coming up' U.S. House candidate Rick Becker has commissioned Dylan Mulvaney to congratulate his opponent on 'moving to D.C. to work with the rhinos' in a Cameo clip Becker is running against Julie Fedorchak, a North Dakota public service commissioner 'So like, how do you go from one thing to another? Those are pretty drastic. And if I'm ever DC, I'm going to figure out a way to reach out to you and check out the rhinos. So, best of luck. I love you, Julie. Bye, love ya.' Becker and Fedorchak are facing off against three other opponents in the June 11 primary, including attorney and former 2018 Miss America Cara Mund and state party-endorsed Alex Balasz. Both Becker and Fedorchak have been trying to show off their Trump-aligned conservative bonafides in the race. Becker, a doctor and state legislator for a decade, founded North Dakota's version of the hard-right 'Freedom Caucus.' In a statement, Becker told DailyMail.com Mulvaney 'did an excellent job highlighting [Fedorchak's] work against coal plants in North Dakota and her desire to work with RINOs in DC. Well worth the Cameo fee for the laugh.' Thanks to her viral TikTok series, Days of Girlhood, which has 9.9 million followers, Mulvaney is one of the most famous transgender people in America. Mulvaney achieved internet stardom in 2022 by launching her hit TikTok series, Days of Girlhood, in which she documents her transition from a young man to a 'girl.' She's made millions of dollars by endorsing cosmetics, fashion and other products, appeared with President Joe Biden at the White House, and appeared alongside Hollywood celebrities. Last April she posted a video to promote a Bud Light giveaway, saying the company had sent her a tallboy can with her face on it to celebrate her sex change. This irked conservatives, who said a favorite beer had 'gone woke.' Dylan Mulvaney drinks a Bud Light in a video posted April 1, 2023 on the influencer's Instagram Dylan Mulvaney arrives at the 2024 Race To Erase MS Gala at Fairmont Century Plaza on May 10, 2024 They railed on social media and boycotted the drink, costing parent company Anheuser-Busch $400 million in sales a 13.5 percent slump. The fallout led to a devastating stretch for Bud Light, where it suffered repeat double-digit revenue drops on a near-weekly basis. Mulvaney went on to earn $2 million from promotional work last year, landing deals with Nike and Mac, and she appeared at the Golden Globes in January. She was in December named on Forbes' 30 under 30 list. The magazine praised her for withstanding the Bud Light fall-out and Mulvaney slammed the beer company for throwing her to the wolves. A former McDonald's crew trainer has lifted the lid on some of the fast food giant's best-kept secrets. The Sydney man, who asked to remain anonymous, worked at McDonald's for close to a decade while at school and university. He has now shared the ordering tips every customer should know including how to make sure your burger is fresh and chips are hot. FRESH BURGERS While McDonald's boasts about making burgers 'fresh to order' what they don't let customers know is that the meat is pre-cooked and kept in a heated cabinet. Workers are supposed to throw away meat after its timer goes off. Customers who request their meat is made without salt and pepper are guaranteed a fresh burger, as kitchen staff will have to lay a new run of beef down on the grill. FRESH FRIES Like burger patties, fries can often be left to go cold if workers aren't keeping track of how long each batch has been sitting there. If you order your fries without salt, you are guaranteed hot and crispy chips. Simply ask for some salt on the side - a free condiment at McDonald's - and add it to your fresh fries (but be warned, you'll infuriate the staff). ALLERGIES = FRESH FOOD While staff are meant to change their gloves regularly, keep the burger-assembling bench clean and waste old meat things can get out of hand during peak-hour. If you're wanting an immaculate burger made properly I suggest saying you're allergic to an ingredient or gluten free. Kitchen staff take allergy requests very seriously - there's a huge liability if a customer gets sick - so they will wear clean gloves, wipe down the bench and take extra precaution with your order. NO ICE = FREE SOFT DRINK An old trick but a classic, if you're extra thirsty but don't have enough money to upsize your coke ask for a soft drink with no ice. Staff are trained to fill close to a third of the cup with ice in a bid to save money on soft drink. But be warned, a 'no-ice' soft drink isn't for everyone - it won't be as cold as you're used to and will be missing that refreshing icy kick. NEVER ORDER A FILET-O-FISH LATE AT NIGHT The Filet-o-Fish is an acquired taste, and as such the demand for it is significantly lower than other burgers like the Big Mac or Quarter Pounder. As a result, the fish portion can often be left sitting in a heated shelf for hours - despite policy clearly stating it should be removed after its timer runs out. If your heart is set on a late-night Filet-o-Fish, I suggest politely asking the manager if you can have a fresh burger. PICKLES, TOMATO SAUCE, WATER, SALT AND PEPPER ARE FREE Customers are technically entitled to order pickles, tomato sauce and salt and pepper for free - among other things. Try your luck ordering a bulk amount of any of the above - I've seen a customer walk out with an entire bag of pickles for free. BE POLITE If you want quality customer service and fresh food, you'd be surprised how big of a difference it makes treating the staff decently. Employees working at the counter will almost always go out of their way to ensure customers get fresh burgers if they're asked nicely. Conversely, customers who treat staff like they are their slaves will more than likely end up with that old Cheeseburger or flat soft drink. An Australian restaurateur has launched a furious tirade against rumours food at his restaurants is frozen and heated in a microwave before being served to customers. Rashays owner and founder Rami Ykmour, 49, shared a series of impassioned videos on TikTok slamming claims he serves frozen meals. Mr Ykmour labelled the allegations 'slander' and used the videos to point out features at his restaurant at Broadmeadows, in Melbourne, which proved his food was not frozen. 'I'm absolutely fuming, come here, I'll tell you why I'm fuming... I've been told that we serve frozen food,' Mr Ykmour said. Rumours had been circulating on Reddit with some social media users claiming to have worked at Rashays and witnessed frozen food being served to customers. YouTube star friendlyjordies further fuelled speculation after sharing a video about a visit to Rashays where his friend argued large menus at restaurants were a sign food was microwaved. Owner and founder of Rashays Rami Ykmour shared a series of impassioned videos to TikTok slamming rumours his popular restaurant chain used a microwave to heat up frozen food In one video, Mr Ykmour said he 'could not be angrier' as he demonstrated the food inside the restaurant's cool room was not frozen. The 49-year-old went through the shelves of the refrigerated space grabbing sealed packaged food including sauces, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, sausages, meat, chicken, vegetables and pasta. 'How is this frozen? When I heard the security guard said, 'I've heard rumours everything is frozen here", I just had to do this video,' Mr Ykmour said. 'I haven't organised the cool room... just to tell everyone, I hope you all hear me. The reason why I am so passionate is because this isn't my business, it's my baby. 'For people to be slandering my business that way, God forgive him, and God forgive you, I hope you've heard me and I can't be anymore passionate and can't be more honest than that.' In another video, Mr Ykmour walks through the kitchen of a restaurant while pointing at cooking equipment and food being prepared. 'Is this cooked in a microwave?' Ykmour said while pointing at something cooking on a grill. Pointing to another grill he added: 'You can feel the heat, can you see the steam?' 'So shut the hell up and stop slandering the business... I'm sick of it, and yes, I am angry. Wake up guys, stop listening to the BS.' It comes after friendlyjordies shared a video on May 8 titled 'I 'investigated Australia's garbage food' which focused on Rashays and Dominos Pizza. It comes after YouTube star friendlyjordies, along with his friend Mislav, reviewed the food at Rashays in Penrith (pictured). The pair had positive things to say about their meals, however, Mislav claimed Rashays large menu meant it used a microwave to heat-up food The online creator, whose real name is Jordan Shanks-Markovina, was joined by his friend and podcast guest Mislav, at the Rashays restuarant in Penrith, western Sydney. The pair filmed themselves eating their meals, both ordering steaks and having positive things to say about the food. Jordan said his well-done steak reflected his review of the restaurant, claiming: 'That is my review of Rashies - well done'. However, Mislav criticised the restaurant's large menu, claiming the number of items indicated the restaurant used a microwave to heat-up food. 'The problem is you shouldn't have this many things on the menu because you just know they're just chucking it in the microwave,' Mislav said. 'There's no way it can be fresh. By definition it's a conveyor belt.' Jordan added: 'The food on [the menu] looks like they have made plastic casts of it for the photos.' Social media users on Reddit also claimed Rashays was a 'glorified microwave'. Rashays first opened at Liverpool in Sydney's west in 1998 and has since expanded to 32 locations across NSW, Victoria and Queensland 'As someone who worked at Rashays, half the food, the sauces, the vegetables, the meats, it all gets delivered packaged and opened up,' one wrote. Another added: 'Former employee here! Yes, frozen, pre-packaged and microwaved. Every section has a microwave, some even have two.' 'Crepes? Microwave. Pancake? Microwave. Any hot dessert? Microwave. Lasagne? It's put into the microwave from frozen.' Rami and Shannon Ykmour opened the first Rashays restaurant at Liverpool in Sydney's west in 1998. The family owned restaurant chain has 32 locations across NSW, Victoria and Queensland and employees more than 2,000 staff. Australia will send two government-assisted flights for citizens and other tourists to leave New Caledonia amid deadly riots in the French territory in the Pacific. Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirmed Australia had received clearance for two flights after the international airport was shut down. 'We continue to work on further flights,' she wrote on social media platform X on Tuesday. 'Passengers are being prioritised based on need.' Australia's Consul-General in New Caledonia Annelise Young posted on X that her team had been working 'round the clock with teams in Canberra and Paris and closely with the French authorities to ensure safe passage for Australian tourists'. Australia will send two government-assisted flights for citizens and other tourists to leave New Caledonia amid deadly riots in the French territory in the Pacific. Foreign Minister Penny Wong is pictured Senator Wong spoke to her New Zealand and French counterparts on Monday to request access to the territory. The Australian Defence Force was on standby to assist and were ready to fly as soon as they were permitted, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. A New Zealand government plane will also head to New Caledonia on Tuesday, the country's foreign minister Winston Peters confirmed. 'New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days and bringing them home has been an urgent priority for the government,' he said. 'In co-operation with France and Australia, we are working on subsequent flights in coming days.' The New Zealand flight on Tuesday will carry about 50 passengers with the most pressing needs back to Auckland. About 300 Australians have registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs in New Caledonia. At least six people have died and hundreds more were injured after violence erupted last week following controversial electoral reforms passed in Paris. A Kanak flag waving next to a burning vehicle at a roadblock at La Tamoa, in the commune of Paita on New Caledonia At least six people have died and hundreds more were injured after violence erupted in New Caledonia (pictured) last week following controversial electoral reforms passed in Paris Police and tactical squad officers (pictured) blocked roads in a bid to restore order as the violence escalated About 270 rioters have been arrested and a curfew from 6pm to 6am is in place. France has sent in 1,050 security personnel with hundreds more to join on Tuesday in a bid to control the violence. The reopening of the international airport for commercial flights will be reassessed on Thursday. Australia has urged people to reconsider their need to travel to New Caledonia, while those in the territory have been advised to limit their movement. Finland's right-wing government proposed on Tuesday a new law that would allow frontier guards to turn away asylum seekers at the border, following a migrant surge Helsinki said was orchestrated by Russia. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told reporters new legal tools were needed after the arrival last autumn of nearly 1,000 migrants without visas on its 1,340-kilometer eastern border with Russia. Helsinki has blamed the surge on what it says is instrumentalised migration orchestrated by Russia, a charge the Kremlin has denied. The Nordic country closed its border with Russia in mid-December after the surge of migrants. It extended the closure several times before announcing in April that the border would remain shut indefinitely. Orpo said the proposed law aimed to manage "instrumentalised" migration and "counter the pressure exerted on Finland." A restriction on "the reception of applications for international protection" could be enforced in limited areas along Finland's border for fixed periods of one month maximum, preventing asylum seekers from entering the country. In these restricted areas, only asylum seekers in special need of protection, such as children or people with disabilities, would be allowed to seek protection, according to the proposal. Their eligibility to apply would depend on an assessment of their case by border guards. Others would be expelled "in the first instance by verbal order, reinforced by force if necessary," said Sanna Palo, who is in charge of legal matters at the interior ministry's Border Guard Department. Any "instrumentalised migrant" who entered Finland "would be removed from the country without delay," the government said. A governmental decision to enforce the emergency law would be taken in "highly exceptional situations," based on "knowledge or a justified suspicion" that a foreign state was attempting to threaten Finland's sovereignty and national security, it said. It would also require the approval of the country's president. Critics of the proposal say it violates international agreements and human rights obligations enshrined in the Finnish constitution. Finland's justice minister Tuomas Poysti said earlier this month that such a proposal would be challenging from a human rights perspective. The government said it had taken his remarks into account. To become law, the proposal requires a five-sixths majority vote in parliament. (AFP) Two high school students are believed to have lept off a South Carolina bridge into a lake before drowning. Ryan Al-Nasser, 16, and Zakaria Chaar, 15, were both students at Daniel High School in Pickens County, South Carolina. Initially, local police claimed that the pair were in group chats with friends daring them to jump off Twelve Mile River Bridge into Lake Hartwell but Chief Deputy Chuck James has since said that there was no evidence to support that, per Fox Carolina. The lake was the site of a tragic accidental drowning death of an 18-year-old just this past July 4. The boys, both sophomores, were enjoying the weekend with their friends when they jumped off the bridge Saturday. Ryan Al-Nasser (pictured left), 16, and Zakaria Chaar (pictured right), 15, were both students at Daniel High School in Central. They are believed to have leapt off a South Carolina bridge into a lake before drowning Police were informed at around 10:30pm Saturday by a person calling 911 saying they had lost their friends. According to the police, it appeared one of the boys made the jump while another attempted to rescue him before being dragged by the current of the water. 'The reports from an individual who was on shore sounded like the way he landed was awkward, which might have caused him to go into distress,' Chief Deputy Chuck James said. He added that one of the boys had 'immediately gone into distress.' A second call was made to 911 saying the boys were missing. Officials searched for two days before the bodies were eventually taken out of the water on Monday morning at 11am by a local boater. The bodies were found around eight feet from one another in the 15-feet deep water. Al-Nasser (pictured) and Chaar were found dead on Monday morning, eight feet from one another Local police claim that the pair were in group chats with friends daring them to jump offTwelve Mile River Bridge into Lake Hartwell According to the police, it appeared one of the boys made the jump while another attempted to rescue him before being dragged by the current of the water The bodies were found around eight feet from one another in the 15-feet deep water The school district in Pickens County, where Daniel High School is located, called it a 'profound tragedy.' 'We ask for privacy and respect for the families as they navigate through this unimaginable loss. Our thoughts are with everyone impacted by this tragedy.' They added that counseling is on-site at the high school for anyone who might need it. The body of a man has been found washed up at a beach south of Sydney. NSW Police were called to Stanwell Park beach, about 60km south of Sydney's CBD, before 7.30am on Tuesday following the grim discovery. The man, believed to be aged in his 30s, is yet to be formally identified. Wollongong police officers responded to reports a body had been found at the beach and immediately established a crime scene. An investigation is ongoing into the circumstances surrounding the man's death, with the cause still yet to be determined. Police are urging anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. The body of a man, believed to be in his 30s, has been found washed up on Stanwell Park Beach (pictured) A 17-year-old Virginia rapper made a fatal mistake when he tragically shot himself dead while attempting to film a profane music video for social media last week. Rylo Huncho was seen on video posted to his Instagram story showing off a handgun, waving the barrel while displaying its built-in green laser sight and flashlight. He then took control of the grip, appeared to shut off the safety and pointed the gun to his head before saying 'f*** y'all n****s' and pulling the trigger. He immediately left the view of the camera as the phone fell to the floor in the wake of the blast. Police in Suffolk, Virginia did not name Huncho but confirmed that a 17-year-old died of an 'accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound' to his head. A 17-year-old Virginia rapper tragically shot himself dead while attempting to film a profane music video for social media last week. He then took control of the grip, appeared to shut off the safety and pointed the gun to his head before saying 'f*** y'all n****s' and pulling the trigger The teenager's full name is Raleigh Freeman III, according to The Direct. He was reportedly taken to a local hospital, where he was eventually pronounced dead. A family member has set up a Gofundme in an attempt to raise $15,000 to ease the costs going forward. 'My aunt recently lost her 17 year old son from a self inflicted gun wound to the head,' Monica Savage and Diane Bryant wrote. 'He was her only son! She was a single parent but took care of her son the best she could.' They added that they're still 'trying to figure out why' the boy did this. A friend, who says the boy went by Railey, appeared to confirm his death on Facebook. 'And to get a text saying he passed away is heartbreaking and to hear the mean things yall are saying about Railey is so wrong on every level please god give his mother the strength to deal with the devastating pain shes in,' Twin Porter wrote. Rylo Huncho - real name Raleigh Freeman III - was seen on video posted to his Instagram story showing off a handgun, waving the barrel while displaying its built-in green laser sight and flashlight The 17-year-old has 27,000 followers on Instagram as of Monday The 17-year-old has 27,000 followers on Instagram as of Monday. His bio states: 'Keep hating btch um on da rise.' Huncho has about 680 monthly listeners on Spotify, with a profile photo showing Mia Goth's character from the film 'Pearl' hoisting an axe. Some of his songs on the page include 'DOA,' 'la la la,' 'Hellcats SRTs,' 'Money Getta' and 'Bag Talk.' Many of his lyrics feature sexual and often violent imagery. In 'Money Getta' he raps: 'I feel just like I'm at home/I'm throwing bullets with no f***ing past.' His Instagram and TikTok videos often contain many of his raps containing violent lyrics, as well as smoking marijuana. The song 'Getta's' begins with the lyrics: 'B***h I'm toting on my pistol/Never lackin tryna pack em/When I show up couple racks I know this b***h gon let me crack em.' A family member has set up a Gofundme in an attempt to raise $15,000 to ease the costs going forward On March 24, he posted a video to TikTok where he flagrantly displayed what appears to be the same gun he shot himself with. Kara Dorsey, who claimed to be a teacher at Freeman's school, talked about what students and the boy's family had been going through. 'Just yesterday my school family experienced a loss. While I didnt have the opportunity to meet this young man, I did meet his older cousin and a close friend today. I met them as they spent their lunch quietly walking the halls and asking staff members to share a gofumdme to help the young mans mother lay her only child to rest,' she wrote. According to a local funeral home, services are still pending for Freeman. A massive survey of Aussies by employment agency Randstad has named the top 10 most desirable places to work, with some very surprising employers making the list. The comprehensive poll surveyed 6,105 people aged from 18 to 65, with a slight emphasis towards the under 40s as the survey's main target audience are potential employees. The employers - both private and public - who rated highest had financial stability, career progression, good salaries and were conveniently located. Half of the top 10 were government organisations - including some the public often complain about, such as Australia Post and Transport for NSW - and half are private companies, such as the top-ranked Deloitte. Insurance Australia Group, NSW Department of Communities & Justice, Virgin Australia, G8 Education, NSW Health, Healthscope and the Queensland Government rounded out the best employers list. A massive survey of Aussies has found the top 10 best places to work, with some very surprising employers making the list. Virgin Australia (staff pictured) came in fourth The list included some companies the public often complain about such as Australia Post (worker pictured) According to the Randstad's Employer Brand Research, the top 10 employers in Australia for 2024 are: 1 Deloitte Deloitte Australia's chief people and purpose officer Pip Dexter said the firm was proud to be considered the most attractive place to work. 'We know our people come to Deloitte to do meaningful work, grow their skills, learn from others and develop their careers,' she said. 'Our ongoing commitment to inclusion and equity creates an environment where people can thrive - ideally in both work and life.' 2 Insurance Australia Group Deloitte was followed by the Insurance Australia Group, meaning private employers took out the top two spots, unlike in 2023, when public sector employers ranked higher. 3 NSW Department of Communities & Justice The top ranked public employer, and third overall, was the NSW Department of Communities & Justice (DCJ). DCJ's chief people officer Catherine Carvolth said it showed it was trusted by its employees. 'We want to acknowledge the 25,000 staff who make DCJ an engaging and purposeful place to work,' she said. 'We're determined to maintain our reputation as an attractive employer and strive to make DCJ an even better place to work in the years to come.' Deloitte Australia's chief people and purpose officer Pip Dexter said the firm was proud to be considered the most attractive place to work. A Deloitte sign is pictured in Melbourne 4 Virgin Australia In March, Virgin Australia announced it will become the country's first airline to allow pets onboard so they can travel with their owners. The company is also considered a good employer, finishing fourth in the Randstad survey. 5 G8 Education G8 Education is Australia's largest ASX-listed early childhood and care provider, with more than 430 childcare centres. 6 Australia Post Australia Post comes in for a lot of criticism from the public at times, but for its 63,000 employees, it's a good place to work anyway. 7 Transport for NSW Transport for NSW, which oversees bus and train transport in Australia's most populous state, often leaves commuters unimpressed. But those working for it, according to the survey, see it as a stable and rewarding place to be employed. 8 NSW Health NSW Health is ranked the eighth best place to work in Australia, which is high praise for a body which often took the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic. Insurance Australia Group ranked as the second best employer in Australia. Its head office in Sydney is pictured 9 Healthscope It is not just public health bodies such as NSW Health which rated highly, the for-profit Healthscope, which runs private hospitals and medical centres, was ranked Australia's ninth best employer. 10 Queensland Government Working for Queensland's state government rounded out the top 10 most desired employers in Australia for 2024. With around 246,000 employees, that is a huge amount of satisfied workers. America's most inaccessible state park is still nearly impossible to visit more than 20 years after California bought it, because it remains surrounded by private land that nobody is willing to sell. The state spent $3million on 1,800 acres north of Sutter Buttes in 2003 with the aim of securing one of the country's most spectacular and historic landscapes. The extinct volcanic lava field was sacred to Native Americans and played a key role in the 19th century plot to snatch California from Mexico. But every road leading to the park is privately owned, some by families which have been on the land for nearly 200 years. 'The state will buy anything that we would be willing to sell,' landowner Marty Steidlmayer told the LA Times. 'But that is the last thing my family would ever do.' California State Parks say the area in the middle of the Sacramento Valley is packed with 'natural, cultural, geologic, scenic, and recreational resource values' Sutter County Board Supervisor Mat Conant, right, said the land rights of families who have owned neighboring land for 200 years are more important than public access Pictures of the park in the Sacramento Valley adorn the California State Parks website immediately below a longstanding notice reading: 'The Park is currently CLOSED.' The area was first earmarked as a public park in the 1920s when National Park Service founder Frederick Law Olmsted Jr added it to a list of potential sites The only public access is offered by a trust which offers heavily escorted walking trips at $35 a head on ground adjoining the state parkland. 'It's absolutely beyond me why it's not open,' said Francis Coats who faced death threats when he tried to visit the 160 acres his family has owned for decades on the north side of South Butte. The area was first earmarked as a public park in the 1920s when National Park Service founder Frederick Law Olmsted Jr added it to a list of potential sites. Volcanic spires reach 2,000ft into the sky across a 10-mile site dubbed 'the smallest mountain range in the world'. Lakes and green pastures lie at the heart of a stretch known as 'Peace Valley' dotted with dry-stone walls. It was sacred to the Maidu people for thousands of years and was used as a hideout by Kit Carson and General John C. Fremont as they fermented California's unrest at Mexican rule in the 1840s. Landowners began offering limited private tours as pressure for public access grew in the 1970s and a manager was hired who lived happily in a cabin on the site with his wife, dog and cat until the cat was snatched by an eagle. Historian Walt Anderson said that once people see the Buttes in person 'they're hooked' The landscape was formed by volcanic eruptions between 1.35 and 1.6 million years ago 'Some places just attract us more powerfully than others,' historian Walt Anderson said. 'I mean, everybody loves the profile of the buttes when they pass it, but once they get inside, I mean, they're hooked.' The county Board of Supervisors managed to keep the area entirely private until 2003 when 1,785 acres went on the market and was snapped up by the state. The Parks Department had a successful track record of assembling state parks out of individual land purchases spread out over years or even decades. The State Park and Recreation Commission declared its 1,785 acres a park in 2005 but nearly 20 years on it remains as inaccessible as it was. The county Board of Supervisors managed to keep the area entirely private until 2003 when 1,785 acres went on the market and was snapped up by the state Steidlmayer claimed the department would 'let people in, free and unattended', if they could causing irreparable damage to the landscape. 'This little blob in the middle of the Sacramento Valley is so sensitive to encroachment,' he added. The Sutter County Board led the campaign to keep the land private in the 1970s when Supervisor JA Bagley pledged: 'We'll fight them, right down the line.' And his successor Mat Conant told the LA Times that the fight continues today. 'It is more important to protect those land rights,' he said. But only sheep and cattle have routine access to the spectacular landscape The site served as a hideout for Kit Carson and General John C. Fremont as they fermented California's unrest at Mexican rule in the 1840s 'Some families have held that land for close to 200 years.' The department said that it 'continues to look for opportunities to either secure land or easements to provide access'. But former department head Ruth Coleman said it may have to be more imaginative if the public is ever to see the park it spent money on. 'It's classified as a state park. And a state park has access,' she said. 'I've been there, it's magic.' A broke young mother in Florida has been left distraught she was blocked from claiming her lottery winning. Wilson won $5,000 in January 2023, but was left distraught when she was told by the Lottery District Office that they would be holding her much-needed winnings because she 'may owe state-debt.' 'It was hard for me during that time,' Brittany Wilson told ABC Action News. 'I was financially struggling something just told me to go to the store and try out my winnings.' Brittany Wilson (pictured) won $5,000 from a scratch off lottery ticket only to find out that the Florida Lottery District Office would be holding on to her much-needed winnings because she 'may owe state-debt' 'I was thinking about all the bills that I have held up, just paying those off,' she said, adding she was looking forward to spending some money on her two kids who mean 'everything' to her. Once the Florida Lottery District Office stopped Wilson from easily collecting her winnings, she was told to consult the state's Department of Economic Opportunity - now called the Department of Commerce. She had been told she may owe the state money for previously received unemployment benefits. All the while, Wilson doubted the legitimacy of the state's claim. Florida's Department of Economic Opportunity - now called the Department of Commerce - has been cagey about disclosing the reason why so many Floridians are being told they owe the state money due to unemployment overpayment She told ABC that she'd never received a letter, email, phone call, or any other form of communication from the state telling her she owed them money. She also didn't have the same issue when she won $1,000 from a scratch off card the previous year. She told the news station she called the Florida Unemployment Assistance Program 'almost every day,' only to encounter two or three-hour wait times to speak with someone who may or not be willing or able to provide her with valuable help. 'If you guys [the state] can find out if Im working or if Im not working to verify if I qualify for unemployment, you should be able to find some way to reach me. My email on that site is still the same,' she said. 'Something has to be done. This cannot keep happening - with the times now, where [the price of] everythings going up: rents going up, foods going up. Let me have this money,' she added. Following ABC's probe, Wilson was eventually able to collect her winnings. Her alleged debt was also wiped from the system - but the reason this is still happening to so many others remains unclear ABC's reporting revealed that Wilson is one of thousands of Floridians who have been given similar messages when they arrive to collect their lottery winnings - which is that they are being withheld because of past overpaid unemployment compensation. Though some have fought the claims and won, the phenomenon does not seem to be going away. The network reported Kylie McGivern said she'd been having an acutely difficult time getting in touch with anyone at the Commerce Department who could tell her why this is happening to hundreds of people. Following ABC's probe, Wilson was eventually able to collect her winnings. Her alleged debt was also wiped from the system - but the reason this is still happening to so many others remains unclear. A father who killed himself and his two-year-old son at his home during a planned custody visit have been pictured for the first time - as more harrowing details emerged about their deaths. James Harrison, 38, a NSW health business analyst and his toddler son Rowan were found dead inside a unit on College Street in East Lismore on the NSW far north coast on Sunday night after police were called to perform a welfare check. The boy's mother Dr Sophie Roome raised the alarm four hours earlier when her only child wasn't dropped back that afternoon as planned. The intensive care specialist, who works as a doctor at the local hospital, went to police with initial fears that Harrison may have fled town with Rowan. An unanswered police knock at Harrison's front door heightened fears. Several hours later, police returned and forced their way inside, where they found the tragic scene. It has since emerged that Harrison had a history of domestic violence and an AVO against him to protect Dr Roome was extended by the courts in March. Lismore doctor Dr Sophie Roome with her son Rowan, who was tragically killed in a suspected murder-suicide on Sunday night The bodies of James Harrison, 38 (pictured) and his son Rowan were found inside the East Lismore unit Police have since admitted they walked away when no-one answered the door of the home when they first attended at 5.30pm. Officers took another four hours after the alert was first raised before they returned to the address under pressure from the boy's distraught mother and her family. Questions have now been asked about why there was such a long delay in returning to the unit - and why they didn't force their way inside on the first visit. There was no reply when they tried the door, and a source revealed the officers refused to barge it down despite the desperate family's worst fears. The source claims the mother was told police were unable to intervene and kick in the door because it was 'a family court matter'. Local police admitted to Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday that the officers then returned to their police station to make 'further inquiries'. Officers finally went back to the address more than four hours later at 9.45pm and found Harrison had set up an elaborate 'poison gas' system to kill him and little Rowan. Forensics teams are pictured at the unit on College Street in East Lismore on Monday James Harrison and his two-year-old son were found dead inside the East Lismore unit, in NSW's Northern Rivers region, on Sunday night An AVO against James Harrison (pictured) to protect his former partner was extended by the courts in March. It's been revealed that Dr Roome had primary custody of Rowan but that Harrison frequently visited his son. She and Harrison separated last year not long after moving to the Northern Rivers region. Dr Roome went to Lismore Local Court in August 2023 seeking an apprehended violence order after her former partner showed concerning controlling behaviour following their separation, friends told The Daily Telegraph. The AVO was extended by the court just two months ago to protect Dr Roome from his ongoing attempts to dictate how she lived her life. The AVO also banned Harrison from assaulting or threatening Dr Roome, stalking her or destroying her property. It's understood Dr Roome's family have travelled from Tasmania to support the grieving mother. Dr Roome had earlier worked a shift at the local hospital on Sunday while Harrison looked after their son. Harrison portrayed himself as a fan of the great outdoors, with his social media littered with photos from hiking and camping expeditions. He worked for a number of IT companies before he joined NSW Health in 2018, according to his LinkedIn profile His current employer is listed as Northern NSW Local Health District. There are also online rants about Covid-19, terrorism and equality rights. Deputy Police Commissioner Peter Thurtell admitted on Monday the man was known to police for previous domestic violence matters, but not 'significant issues'. He added: 'A more tragic event you wouldn't come across. 'The father has created a system where both he and the child have passed away as a result of the system he set up.' James Harrison (pictured) portrayed himself as a fan of the great outdoors on social media Deputy Commissioner Emergency Management Peter Thurtell is pictured addressing media on Monday The revelation has sparked outrage from members of the public demanding to know why officers took so long to respond and slammed police for suggesting domestic violence matters are not 'significant'. The source said the mother has described the loss of losing her only child as 'unbearable'. On Monday, Deputy Commissioner Thurtell said the mother called police at 5.30pm after the father didn't show up for the handover at 4.30pm - however the source said that timeline was incorrect. 'Actually the boy was meant to be handed over at 4pm,' the source wrote online. 'The police went to the house after the mum reported her concerns but [she] was told they couldn't force entry and that it was a custody dispute. 'It wasn't until the mum's parents and a mate of the father who was concerned also went to the police that they went back and forced entry.' Another source familiar with the situation claimed police were aware during the first knock that the father was home and was not answering the door 'but did nothing'. In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, NSW Police admitted that police had attended the home twice on Sunday. 'About 5.30pm on Sunday 19 May 2024, a concern for welfare was raised at Lismore Police Station,' a NSW Police spokesperson said, 'A short time later, police attended an address on College Street, East Lismore, where they attempted to contact the occupant. 'After the occupant was unable to be raised, police canvassed the area before returning to the police station to conduct further inquiries. 'As a result of further information received, police re-attended the East Lismore property at 9.30pm where they forced entry.' Details about the father's domestic violence history were aired as Deputy Commissioner Thurtell and Police Commissioner Karen Webb fronted media on Monday to discuss the arrest of more than 550 domestic violence offenders. The arrests were the result of a statewide blitz targeting the alleged worst domestic violence offenders in NSW after authorities vowed to take more action to combat against violence against women in the wake of the alleged murder of Forbes mother Molly Ticehurst. Forensics teams are pictured at the unit on College Street on Monday However, the announcement sparked backlash as furious Australians demanded answers of the slow police response to the Lismore mother's welfare call and slammed Deputy Commissioner Thurtell over his choice of language. 'Why did it take over four hours after the mother called for the police to do a check, especially if the male was a known DV offender?' one woman wrote online. 'This is beyond tragic.' 'So glad the people enforced to protect us don't believe domestic violence to the point of an AVO isn't a significant issue,' another said. A third added: 'Any violence, domestic or otherwise, towards another person IS SIGNIFICANT.' 'Great when this is coming from the police.. If this is their attitude no wonder [people] don't bother reporting domestic violence.' Forensic officers were seen combing the home for evidence on Monday as the community, which is still reeling from the devastating 2022 floods, comes to terms with the tragedy. A small red tricycle could be seen in the drive way of the unit, next to a four-wheel drive surrounded by police tape. As investigations continue, anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. For confidential support 24/7, contact: LIFELINE 13 11 14 Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636 1800 RESPECT Calls for Ken Clarke to lose his peerage over 'indefensible' actions during the infected blood scandal are 'totally understandable', a Cabinet minister said today. Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Secretary, acknowledged that Lord Clarke had 'questions that need to be addressed' from his time as a health minister. It comes after the final report of the Infected Blood Inquiry accused the 83-year-old of 'misleading' the public and attacked his 'combative style' when he gave oral evidence to the probe. Author of the report Sir Brian Langstaff criticised Lord Clarke for stating in 1983 that there was 'no conclusive proof' that people were contracting deadly illnesses such as HIV and Hepatitis C through blood products, despite evidence existing to the contrary. He was also slammed for claiming in evidence to the inquiry that he was only being linked to the scandal due to being famous. More than 30,000 people were infected with diseases after being given contaminated blood products throughout the 1970s and 1980s, with 3,000 having passed away - deaths the report said could largely have been avoided. It comes as victims and their families wait to hear today of a planned compensation scheme by the Government, set to be announced later. Lord Ken Clarke, 83, told the inquiry he was only being blamed because he had become a 'celebrity' - he is facing calls to resign his peerage Victims and their families wait to hear today of a planned compensation scheme by the Government Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Secretary, acknowledged that Lord Clarke had 'questions that need to be addressed' from his time as a health minister. In a round of TV and radio interviews this morning, Mr Stride said he 'totally understands' why victims of the infected blood scandal are calling for Lord Clarke to be stripped of his peerage. He told GB News: 'Well, I totally understand that. There will be absolutely correctly very strong feelings about many aspects of the conclusions and what has been unearthed. 'Sir Brian has been very clear about the issue of cover-up within the health service and amongst senior officials. 'Those are the things that need to be looked into, and in the course of time absolutely will be, I've no doubt about that.' He added: 'It's not a matter for Government I think to opine on forfeiture of honours, there's a process that is there for that that is established outside of Government.' Asked on Sky News if he feels Lord Clarke has questions to answer, Mr Stride said: 'There are clearly questions that are being posed, very serious questions, and to that degree indeed there are questions that need to be addressed.' He added: 'I recognise that there are many people in many groups of people that have come out of this report very badly. 'There are recommendations over and above compensation that the report makes and, of course, the Government will look very closely at those recommendations and have more to say in due course.' Mr Stride also told LBC: 'Sir Brian has come forward with some very strong observations of Ken, in the context of the scandal. Clearly there are questions that I've no doubt Ken will be addressing in time.' Lord Clarke was a health minister for health in Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government when he gave 'false assurances' that were misleading and 'lacked candour', Sir Brian found. The landmark report, published on Monday, slammed politicians including Lord Clarke, Mrs Thatcher and Arthur Bloom for continuing to maintain that blood products manufactured from thousands of different donors and imported from the US were safe, despite evidence existing to the contrary. Lord Clarke was in Cabinet at the height of the AIDs crisis and was health secretary from 1982 to 1985. Sir Brian accused Lord Clarke of being 'unfairly dismissive of, and disparaging towards, many who had suffered physically, mentally, socially and financially from what occurred'. He described Lord Clarke as 'combative', and described his evidence as 'argumentative', highlighting how Clarke had repeatedly asked why he had to give 'any evidence at all' and that he had been falsely linked to the scandal 'because I later became a well-known' figure. The report also found it was 'indefensible' that Lord Clarke along with other officials repeated the line that there was 'no conclusive proof' that AIDs could be spread through blood in 1983. And in 1985, he described the infections as 'unavoidable adverse effects which can unhappily arise from many medical procedures'. Des Collins, a solicitor representing 1,500 victims of the scandal, told the Telegraph: 'He should have his peerage stripped. Take no prisoners.' Victim Maria Armour, who contracted Hepatitis C through a blood transfusion in 1981 but didn't find out until 23 years later, said: 'He should definitely give his peerage up. He and Jeremy Hunt should be arrested for their deceit and the arrogance they showed during the inquiry.' A woman holds a bouquet of flowers in the colours of the infected blood campaign Protesters hold banners showing victims of the scandal as they waited to enter Methodist Central Hall Chairman of the infected blood inquiry Sir Brian Langstaff (left) with victims and campaigners outside Central Hall in Westminster on Monday The inquiry heard the Government decided against compensating patients infected with HIV in the 1980s, with Lord Clarke saying there would be no state compensation for those suffering. This decision by Lord Clarke was described as 'ill-considered', and branding the infections 'unavoidable' set the tone for government response for years to come. Sir Brian said the content of Lord Clarke's evidence to the inquiry which came after decades of campaigning for answers - 'will have aggravated the distress and upset of many'. He added: 'Several other ministers, whether serving in a junior or senior role, may have taken positions or expressed views with which others participating in the inquiry might disagree. 'The inquiry is fortunate that they have done so in a measured, less personalised way, than Lord Clarke did. 'Indeed, adopting the helpful, responsive or responsible approach to the provision of evidence to a public inquiry into the infection and deaths or thousands of people which the public has the right to expect from former government ministers.' Cressida Haughton (left) who's father Derek and Deborah Dennis who's husband Barrie died, outside Central Hall in Westminster yesterday Contaminated blood scandal victim Colin Smith (pictured aged six in 1988) died aged seven in 1990 after contracting HIV from a dose of blood clotting protein Factor VIII On Monday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak issued an apology to those affected by the scandal, ahead of expected compensation announcements later today. 'At every level, the people and institutions in which we place our trust failed in the most harrowing and devastating way,' the Prime Minister said in a statement to the House of Commons on Monday. 'Layer and layer upon hurt, endured across decades, this is an apology from the state to every single person impacted by the scandal. 'It did not have to be this way. It should never have been this way. 'And on behalf of this and every government stretching back to the 1970s, I am truly sorry.' He promised to pay 'comprehensive compensation' to those affected and infected by the scandal, with details expected to be revealed by Cabinet Office Minister John Glen in Parliament today. 'Whatever it costs to deliver this scheme, we will pay it,' Mr Sunak said. Ministers have earmarked around 10 billion for a compensation package. Members of the infected blood community have said that they expect the Government is likely to set out how much compensation will be paid, simplified into a few categories, or tariffs. This is likely to come under five main categories: injury, social impact, autonomy, care and financial loss. NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard has also apologised to victims of the scandal on behalf of the health service in England, adding that people 'put their trust in the care they got from the NHS over many years, and they were badly let down'. Blood vials containing personal messages from families affected by the infected blood scandal are seen today in a memorial installation within Methodist Central Hall Rishi Sunak has apologised to victims of the infected blood scandal and vowed in the House of Commons that those affected would be compensated After a decades-long battle for justice, campaigners welcomed the probe's recommendations but lamented the fact delays meant many of those responsible would never be held to account. Corporate manslaughter charges are 'extremely' unlikely, according to lawyers, despite calls from former health secretary and now Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham for a full consideration of prosecutions against Whitehall departments. Clive Smith, chairman of The Haemophilia Society and also a criminal barrister, said: 'One of the aspects that, sadly, the delay has caused is the fact that there are doctors out there who should have been prosecuted for manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, doctors who were testing their patients for HIV without consent, not telling them about their infections. 'Those people should have been in the dock for gross negligence manslaughter. 'Sadly, because of the delay, that's one of the consequences that so many people will not see justice as a result.' He added that Lord Clarke owes those affected an apology: 'I think he owes the community an apology, not just for his time as health secretary but for the manner and the lack of humanity and compassion that he showed when he gave evidence to this inquiry.' Asked if Lord Clarke should stay in position in the House of Lords, he said: 'We wrote to the Upper House when it was suggested that he was going to get a peerage, saying 'Please don't do that yet, wait until the Infected Blood Inquiry has reported'. 'Now we have the conclusions of the Infected Blood Inquiry report, I think our letter was well-timed and entirely accurate. 'The way in which he gave his evidence (to the inquiry) was appalling.' Public inquiries are prohibited from making any recommendations about prosecutions but other countries affected by the scandal have seen ministers brought before the courts. The 2,527-page report from the inquiry, published on Monday, found that the infected blood scandal 'could largely have been avoided' and there was a 'pervasive' cover-up to hide the truth. Deliberate attempts were made to conceal the disaster, including evidence of Whitehall officials destroying documents, the seven-year probe found. Patients were knowingly exposed to unacceptable risks of infection. Inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff said 'the scale of what happened is horrifying', with more than 3,000 people dead as a result and survivors battling for decades to uncover the truth. He said the 'level of suffering is difficult to comprehend' and that the harms done to people have been compounded by the reaction of successive governments, the NHS and the medical profession. Ministers failed to act in order to save face and expense, the inquiry said, with the current Government criticised for failing to act immediately on recommendations around compensation which were made last year. Sir Brian said the contaminated blood disaster is 'still happening' because patients who suffered 'life-shattering' infections continue to die every week. The former high court judge said: 'What I have found is that disaster was no accident. 'People put their trust in doctors and the government to keep them safe and that trust was betrayed. 'Then the government compounded that agony by telling them that nothing wrong had been done, that they'd had the best available treatment and that as soon as tests were available they were introduced and both of those statements were untrue. 'That's why what I'm recommending is that compensation must be paid now and I have made various other recommendations to help make the future of the NHS better and treatment safer.' Representatives for Lord Clarke have been contacted for comment. Britons could be turned away from Gibraltar under a new post-Brexit treaty with the EU, Lord Cameron admitted to MPs on Monday. The Foreign Secretary said under the terms of a deal currently being negotiated between the UK and EU, officials from the EU's border agency Frontex would be stationed at the airport, instead of the Spanish border. The talks are aimed at removing identity checks on people crossing the border between Gibraltar and Spain. But Lord Cameron admitted this could mean that Britons arriving at Gibraltar airport are effectively treated as if they are entering the EU. The arrangement would maintain the Schengen freedom of movement principle on the European mainland and thus allow anyone in Gibraltar to travel to the rest of Europe unhindered. All Schengen border checks would take place on British soil - with the possibility Britons are denied entry to Gibraltar as a result. The Foreign Secretary said under the terms of a deal currently being negotiated between the UK and EU, officials from the EU's border agency Frontex would be stationed at the airport, instead of the Spanish border Lord Cameron admitted this could mean that Britons arriving at Gibraltar airport are effectively treated as if they are entering the EU New rules for arrivals from non-member countries being introduced by the EU across the bloc in October mean Britons returning to Gibraltar or travelling there for work could be forced to undergo further biometric checks, supplying fingerprints and a photograph. They could also be blocked on visa grounds if they have already spent more than 90 out of the past 180 days in the EU - the limit at which a visa is required to remain in the EU. Responding to MPs' concerns, Lord Cameron said admitted there would be two sets of checks on Britons arriving in Gibraltar, which could lead to them being denied entry, even if Gibraltarian officials had waved them through. He said: 'In future, there would be two sets of checks one by Gibraltar, one by Schengen and if there was a Schengen alert that could be the circumstance.' He continued: 'We don't want to see anything that diminishes in any way UK sovereignty over Gibraltar. There are some very clear lines we cannot cross.' He also asserted that EU officials would have no control over the airport under the plans. In a letter to Foreign Office minister David Rutley, committee chairman Sir Bill Cash previously wrote: 'If agreed as you outlined to us, allowing current Schengen checks to be administered by [EU] Frontex border guards at the airport would erode UK sovereignty to the point of meaninglessness. 'From your evidence, we suspect that the UK Government is prepared to concede an arrangement that will leave Gibraltar's frontier British in all but name. 'The practical implications of this are seismic. You were unable to reassure us that UK nationals and Gibraltarians, wishing only to enter Gibraltar, would not have to undergo Schengen checks.' Paedophile teacher Rebecca Joynes liked to play the 'cool girl' and was more sociable with students than staff, a school insider has revealed. The disgraced maths teacher was last week convicted of sexual activity with children after she slept with with one pupil before falling pregnant by a second. Just days after the damning conviction, a former colleague of Joynes, 30, has revealed how the shocking scandal eroded the relations between pupils and staff as a 'toxic' atmosphere led to an exodus of 'distraught' staff. 'They completely stopped trusting us,' the teacher at the secondary school in Greater Manchester told The Times. She added that after Joynes was suspended, rumours started to spread that she had been buying alcohol for teenagers whom she had invited to her flat for a party. As the scandal engulfed the school, eight male pupils jokingly identified themselves as Joynes' victims on an online group. Others made TikTok videos calling her a 'paedo' who 'likes kids' and graffitied the toilet with 'Free Ms Joynes'. Paedophile teacher Rebecca Joynes (pictured) liked to play the 'cool girl' and was more sociable with students than staff Joynes covers her face as she leaves Manchester Crown Court with her father on May 17 Joynes was suspended in October 2021 after Childline received a report that she had had sex with a 15-year-old pupil after buying him a 345 Gucci belt and driving him to her home Joynes was described as acting like a 'cool girl' who would stop to chat with female pupils about fashion during breaks and would 'strut' down corridors between classes while they cheered her on. Looking back, they feared this was 'over-friendly'. In contrast, although Joynes had a good working relationship with her colleagues, she never interacted with them 'on a personal level'. 'Rebecca never joined,' the colleague told the newspaper. 'Even the near-retiring teachers would have had a drink.' A court heard that Joyce also allowed a third boy to visit her home twice, although no sexual activity took place. The teacher was suspended in October 2021 after Childline received a report that she had had sex with a 15-year-old pupil after buying him a 345 Gucci belt and driving him to her home. While on bail for having sex with the pupil, she then became pregnant by one of his classmates, whom she slept with around 30 times. It was finally exposed after she confessed to the second teenager to whom she wrote a love letter saying 'Every inch of you is perfect' that she was pregnant with his child. Rebecca Joynes arriving at Manchester Crown Court on Friday before being found guilty of four counts of sexual activity with a child and two counts of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust Damningly he told police it had dawned on him that he'd 'sacrificed 18 months for a paedophile'. 'She just basically mentally abused me,' he added. A jury found Joynes guilty of six charges of engaging in sexual activity with a child, including two while being a person in a position of trust. She will be sentenced in July. The former colleague said that Joynes' crimes were made worse by the fact the pandemic had left children on a slower 'developmental track'. They added: 'I would say that the Year 11s were Year 9s in terms of maturity levels.' Colleagues were told to stop contacting Joynes and remove her from any WhatsApp groups when she was suspended. But it's understood that under-16s were still able to contact her on Snapchat. At first, teachers were told that Joynes was asked to leave over a serious safeguarding complaint. The former colleague, who is speaking out over her concerns about how the school dealt with the scandal, said it was children who informed teachers about the allegations. Their behaviour quickly deteriorated, with students going 'off the wall' and acting like they were 'untouchable'. Parents who were upset about their children's GCSE results blamed it on the fact 'we have teachers f***ing our kids'. The ex-colleague said she was shocked to find out Joynes was leading a 'double life', adding: 'If I asked any of the students who their favourite maths teacher was, all the kids would've said, 'Ms Joynes. [She] is so funny, she's a really cool teacher and she gets us'.' Throughout the trial Joynes arrived to court each day wearing a baby's bonnet tucked into the waistband of her trousers. She later denied this was to 'win sympathy' from the jury - but they were not convinced Joynes was found guilty of having sex with two 15-year-old pupils, one of whom she bought a 345 Gucci belt from Selfridges at the Trafford Centre Joynes, whose parents run a successful tea-room in an upmarket part of the Wirral, had moved away following a messy break-up to start her 'dream job' at a school in a deprived area of Greater Manchester. She was bombarded with comments from boys in her Year 11 maths class about how 'sexy' she was and earned the nickname 'Bunda Becky', a slang reference to her bottom, Manchester Crown Court heard last week. A childhood friend described Joynes as 'always very quiet' and said they were 'shocked and very upset' for her family, adding: ' I would never have thought she would be capable of something like this.' After being found guilty, Joynes closed her eyes and grimaced, before she began visibly shaking as she stood in the dock as the verdicts were returned by the jury foreman. Rebecca Joynes pictured with her long-term partner before the crimes took place Rebecca Joynes pictured with her father Stuart and mother Mel, who run a cafe selling tea and cakes in Heswall Joynes denied six counts of sexual activity with a child, two of them while in a position of trust but was found guilty Her mother and father, sat in the public gallery, made no reaction but yards away the parents of the boys stifled cheers as Joynes was convicted. Upon her guilty verdict, Jane Wilson, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West, said: 'Rebecca Joynes is a sexual predator. 'Joynes was entrusted with the responsibility of teaching and safeguarding children. She abused her position to groom and ultimately sexually exploit schoolboys. Her behaviour has had a lasting impact on them. 'The CPS worked with Greater Manchester Police to build a strong case to put before the jury, including eyewitness testimony, phone evidence showing the messages sent by Joynes and CCTV footage. 'I would like to thank the victims for supporting the prosecution. Joynes will now face the consequences of her actions.' A Singapore Airlines flight from London made an emergency landing in Bangkok on Tuesday due to severe turbulence, officials said, with one passenger on board dead and local media reporting multiple injuries. It was not immediately clear at what point during the flight the injuries and death took place. Thai media reports said there were 30 injuries, while Singapore Airlines did not specify how many people were injured. Video clips shared on social media by reporters at the scene showed emergency vehicles lined up at the airport. Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport official confirmed one death but did not confirm the total injured. The Boeing 777-300ER plane with 211 passengers and 18 crew was headed to Singapore when it made the emergency landing, the airline said in a statement. "Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft," the airline said. "We are working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance." The last Singapore Airlines fatalities were in October 2000 when a plane crashed on a closed runway during takeoff at Taiwan and 83 people died. Singapore Airlines has had 7 accidents according to records by the Aviation Safety Network. Thai immigration police said that medical personnel have boarded the plane to assess injuries, but cannot confirm the number and some uninjured passengers were deplaned. (Reuters) An inquest into the Wieambilla shootings that claimed six lives including two police officers could be kept from examining 'extremely sensitive' material. Queensland State Coroner Terry Ryan held a second pre-inquest conference in Brisbane on Tuesday into the December 2022 killings. Constables Matthew Arnold, 26, and Rachel McCrow, 29, were wounded then fatally shot at close range within 10 minutes of entering a rural Wieambilla property for a welfare check on a missing person. The three suspects in the shooting, Gareth Daniel Train, 47, Nathaniel Charles Train, 46, and Stacey Jane Train, 45, also lit fires in an attempt to flush out a female officer who escaped being shot after taking cover. The Trains' neighbour Alan Dare, 58, was shot dead when he attended the property to investigate the fire. Members of the Train family and the families of the deceased officers watched the conference via videolink on Tuesday. Barrister Ian Freckelton KC, appearing for the Queensland police commissioner, applied to have several items excluded from being considered by the coroner under a claim of public interest immunity. Constable Matthew Arnold (pictured) was killed during a fatal shootout in a rural property in Queensland last year Constable Rachel McCrow (pictured left) was one of three victims of the incident The nature of that material cannot be published for legal reasons. Dr Freckelton said there was a well-established precedent for certain material to be excluded from an inquest. 'The material is extremely sensitive ... the risk is that its public availability would erode the capacity of those protecting us to do their jobs and assist those who have malign intentions,' Dr Freckelton said. Barrister Patrick McCafferty KC, appearing for more than 30 police officers involved in the shooting, said he supported the material being kept from the public but it needed to be directly scrutinised by the inquest. 'We take issue with the attempt to conceal or keep secret from Your Honour (that material). It is deeply concerning to those I represent,' Mr McCafferty said. Queensland Police Union barrister Justin Greggery KC and a barrister for the Arnold and McCrow families also opposed the police commissioner's application, claiming it could affect the coroner's ability to address some of the issues and concerns at the inquest. Counsel assisting Ruth O'Gorman KC said a compromise could be reached in which particular material was kept by the court and viewed only by legal practitioners or in hearings closed to the public. Mr Ryan said he would respond to all applications for public interest immunity and non-publication orders by the end of the week. The draft list of issues for the inquest has been expanded to consider what NSW authorities knew about the suspects before they opened fire on four police officers at Wieambilla. The officers had attended the property to inquire about a missing person report concerning Nathaniel Train, in response to contact from NSW police. The draft witness list now includes seven members of the NSW Police Force including the commissioner. The inquest's draft schedule has the inquest's hearings starting on July 29 and running for at least four weeks. Jersey's government has played down fears of an influx of 'death tourists' as the island prepares to vote on setting up a controversial assisted dying service. In 2021, just over three-quarters of the members of a citizens' jury on Jersey agreed that assisted dying should be permitted, and later that year the Assembly became the first parliament in the British Isles to decide 'in principle' to allow assisted dying. A debate in the island's States Assembly today precedes a vote on formally legalising assisted dying, although the vote may not happen until tomorrow. Campaigners had earlier this week expressed fears of 'death tourists' flocking to the island to take advantage of the potential changes, but a government spokesperson confirmed the service would only be available for residents of Jersey. Health and social services minister Tom Binet defended the controversial proposals, saying they had been 'very much influenced and informed by the views of islanders'. A debate in the island's States Assembly today will precede a vote on legalising assisted dying, although the vote may not happen until tomorrow Health and social services minister Tom Binet defended the controversial proposals, saying they had been 'very much influenced and informed by the views of islanders' A government spokesperson said: 'To be able to access the assisted dying service, a person must have been ordinarily resident in Jersey for at least 12 months prior to making their first formal request for an assisted death. 'Ordinarily resident means a person who lives in Jersey and spends all their time here except for short visits abroad on business or holiday.' Mr Binet added: 'I think all the indications are that a majority of people actually want this.' Asked about his hopes for the tone of the debate on what is a sensitive and divisive topic, he said: 'I think we have a pretty good democracy here. It seems to work pretty well and everybody has got an equal opportunity to say their piece.' Proposals for how an assisted dying law in Jersey would work were published in March. Five votes will take place, with the first on whether the island should establish an assisted dying service for adult residents who have made a voluntary and informed decision to die. Members of the States Assembly will also be asked to vote on limiting eligibility to people with a terminal illness with a life expectancy of six months, or 12 months if they have a neurodegenerative disease. This is known as route one. Elected representatives will also have a vote on whether the service should be open to someone with an incurable physical condition which might not be terminal but is causing them unbearable suffering, known as route two. Another vote offers an opt-out for health professionals, giving them a right to refuse to participate in assisted dying. A fifth vote asks members to agree on minimum timeframes between the first formal request for an assisted death and the act itself - 14 days for route one and 90 days under route two. Mr Binet said: 'What you see in Jersey is a bottom up approach to this issue where citizens have not only driven the decision of the States Assembly to consider the issue of assisted dying, but have all had a really strong influence in shaping those proposals. Esther Rantzen, best known for presenting and producing the hit BBC show That's Life! from, is one of the nation's most well known advocates for assisted suicide, after being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer last January 'The process has taken longer than in some other jurisdictions, but that's because we've taken islanders along with us.' Poll Do you support the legalisation of assisted dying? Yes No Do you support the legalisation of assisted dying? Yes 452 votes No 82 votes Now share your opinion He said it is also the case that some other jurisdictions are looking at the Jersey proposals in terms of 'not if, but how' an assisted dying service can work. If the proposals are voted through, it is expected the process for drafting a law could take around 18 months, with a debate then taking place by the end of 2025. If a law is approved, it is expected a further 18-month implementation period will then begin, meaning the earliest for it to come into effect would be summer 2027. This is similar to the timeframe pro-change campaigners have predicted for a service on the Isle of Man. Speaking to the BBC, Dr Nigel Minihane, who set up the Jersey Assisted Dying Action Group, said: 'If I had, for example, motor neurone disease, would I want my two daughters to watch me diminish in front of them... and that was the lasting memory of their father? I don't think so. 'Sometimes we want to look after the people we love if we are in the process of dying as much as they want to look after us, and this law allows leeway for how people might approach that position.' Last month a debate in Westminster Hall, held after a petition backed by Dame Esther Rantzen called for a vote in Parliament on the issue, heard from a range of MPs on both sides of the debate. Esther, best known for presenting and producing the hit BBC show That's Life! from, is one of the nation's most well known advocates for assisted suicide, after being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer last January. Last December, she revealed that she has signed up for Dignitas, the most well-known assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland, and said that she travel there if her complex cancer treatment doesn't work. A Health and Social Care Committee report in February warned that the Government must consider what to do if the law is changed in part of the UK or on the Isle of Man or Jersey, both of which are crown dependencies. The Government has said it will discuss with the devolved administrations and crown dependencies 'the practical implications for England and Wales' of legislation in nearby jurisdictions 'and any constitutional issues that such legislation may present'. A Bill was published in March at Holyrood that, if passed, would allow people living in Scotland with a terminal illness to be given help to end their life. Dr Gordon Macdonald, of campaign group Care Not Killing, argued that the more elected representatives and members of the public hear about assisted suicide and euthanasia, the more opposed they are. He said the more people hear about places which have introduced assisted dying, 'the more they recognise the dangers'. 'They see how changing the law to allow the state to prescribe and administer death drugs to the terminally-ill, elderly, and disabled people will put pressure on them to end their lives prematurely.' Members of the House of Keys (MHKs) on the Isle of Man are currently debating its Assisted Dying Bill, which now states that a person seeking an assisted death should have been resident on the island for five years instead of one, and have a life expectancy of a year or less. A move to make it separate from the island's public health service, Manx Care, was voted down after a lengthy discussion last week. Further debate on amendments to the wording of the Bill is set to take place on June 11. The funeral procession for Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi got underway this morning less than 48 hours after his helicopter plunged into a mountainside in the country's northwest on Sunday evening. Thousands of mourners packed the streets of Tabriz this morning flanked by heavily armed guards as Iranian officials and dignitaries delivered speeches, played music and prayed for the fallen president. A heaving crowd then parted to make way for a white truck carrying the coffins of Raisi and his foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian along with seven others who perished in the crash. The bed of the truck was wide open to display the coffins which were adorned with images of the dead and covered in flowers, and mourners were seen running alongside it to pay their respects. Several extended their arms, frantically trying to touch the coffins of the dead, but were pushed away by stern-faced guards. From Tabriz, Raisi's body will be flown to the Shiite clerical centre of Qom later today before being moved to Tehran during the evening. Processions will be held in the capital on Wednesday morning before Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei leads prayers at a farewell ceremony. Raisi's body will then be flown to his home city of Mashhad, in the northeast, where he will be buried on Thursday evening after funeral rites. Khamenei yesterday declared the nation will observe five days of mourning from today following the fatal crash. But the regime was said to be furious that many Iranians at home and abroad were celebrating Raisi's death as social media was flooded with footage of revellers evidently delighted at the news. Raisi earned a reputation as a brutal, hardline executor of Khamenei's will during his presidential term, prior to which he was known as 'the Butcher of Tehran' for his role in ordering the executions of thousands of political prisoners. People attend funeral ceremony, held for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his senior officials died in a helicopter crash, in Tabriz, Iran on May 21, 2024 The bed of the truck was wide open to display the coffins which were adorned with images of the dead and covered in flowers People attend funeral ceremony, held for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his senior officials died in a helicopter crash, in Tabriz, Iran on May 21, 2024 Mourners scramble to touch the coffins of the dead Thousands of mourners packed the streets of Tabriz this morning The procession makes its way down a main road in Tabriz People walk past a billboard with a picture of the late Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi on a street in Tehran, Iran May 21, 2024 The funeral of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi A white truck carrying the coffins of Raisi and his foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian along with seven others who perished in the crash is seen making its way through Tabriz Men hang a huge portrait of Iran's late president Ebrahim Raisi outside the Iranian embassy in Baghdad on May 20, 2024 Raisi, 63, was confirmed dead by Iranian media yesterday morning along with Abdollahian, the Governor of Eastern Azerbaijan province Malek Rahmati and Tabriz's Friday prayer Imam Mohammad Ali Alehashem. Two pilots and three other Iranian officials and security guards also died in the crash in the mountainous northwest of the country. Drone footage from Iranian and Turkish news agencies revealed the helicopter - an aged US-made Bell 212 - had smashed apart on landing, while clips shared by the Iranian Red Crescent showed solemn rescuers carrying corpses on covered stretchers out of the forest surrounding the crash site. Iran is yet to provide any details surrounding the crash, nor has it offered an explanation besides a simple statement on the poor weather conditions. But Iranian aircraft, particularly Western-supplied models such as the US-made chopper carrying Raisi, are notoriously unsafe and in a state of disrepair as the Islamic Republic has long been subject to Western sanctions that prevent access to desperately needed spare parts. It is not known when Raisi's helicopter was manufactured, but the Bell 212 has been in use with governments around the world for more than 50 years, first entering service in the early 70s. According to the Islamic Republic's constitution, a new presidential election will need to be called within 50 days. But Raisi's death is sure to trigger a power struggle, with a variety of ambitious candidates now set to vie for power. Meanwhile, thousands of Iranians at home and abroad continue to celebrate the death of the 'Butcher of Tehran'. The daughters of Minoo Majidi - a 62-year-old Iranian woman who was one of hundreds of people shot dead by security services during the nationwide fallout following the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022 - shared a video to social media raising a glass to the president's demise. That clip was followed swiftly by two more Iranian women, Mersedeh Shahinkar and Sima Moradbeigi, dancing and smiling in response to the news Raisi's helicopter had plunged into the mountainside. Shahinkar was blinded by the security forces' brutality amid the 2022 protests, while Moradbeigi lost the use of one of her arms after an armed guard blasted her elbow apart from point-blank range. A slew of other videos shared to social media appeared to show people setting off fireworks in the streets of Tehran in celebration - though these clips are yet to be verified. One appeared to show people in London waving the historic flag of Iran with a golden lion at its centre - a sign of protest against the Tehran regime - while members of the Iranian diaspora held celebrations in cities across Europe. Protesters from the anti-government National Council of Resistance of Iran group rare seen waving old Iranian flags outside of the Embassy of Iran in London, Britain, 20 May 2024 Celebration and reaction to the news of the death of Iranian President Raisi posted on Social Media The daughters of a woman shot dead by Iranian security during protests cheers to his death Mersedeh Shahinkar and Sima Moradbeigi, who were seriously injured by Iranian security agents amid the protests following the death of Mahsa Amini, are seen dancing and smiling in response to the news Raisi's helicopter had plunged into the mountainside One clip shared to social media appeared to show people setting off fireworks in the streets following news of Raisi's death Rescue team members work at the scene of a crash of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Varzaghan in northwestern Iran, Monday, May 20, 2024 Iranian rescue workers work near the wreckage of the crashed Iranian President helicopter, in the area of Varzaghan, Tabriz province, southwestern Iran, 20 May 2024 Raisi, who became president of Iran in 2021, was widely seen as a vassal for the regime and a yes man to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He stormed to the presidency with a huge majority following the 2021 elections - but less than half of Iran's electorate turned out to vote after many more moderate candidates were barred from running. As a young student at a religious seminary in the holy city of Qom, Raisi took part in protests against the Western-backed Shah in the 1979 revolution. His contacts with religious leaders in Qom made him a trusted figure in the judiciary, and he became Iran's deputy prosecutor aged just 25. Raisi quickly worked his way to the top - and in doing so earned himself the moniker 'the Butcher of Tehran'. As deputy prosecutor and subsequently chief prosecutor, Raisi stood on the so-called 'death committee' - a group of four judges who presided over tribunals in 1988 that were assembled to 're-try' the regime's political prisoners. Thousands of these prisoners were ruthlessly executed and dumped in unmarked graves. The exact number of deaths is not known but rights groups estimate roughly 5,000 people were killed following Raisi's brutal judgement. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is confirmed dead after rescuers found a helicopter carrying him and other officials that had crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran. Drone footage from the site of the crash is seen in this still image This grab taken from handout video footage released by the Iranian Red Cescent on May 20, 2024 shows rescuers recovering bodies at the site of President Ebrahim Raisi's helicopter crash Rescuers are seen searching the site of the crash A handout picture provided by the Iranian presidency on May 19, 2024, shows Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, who died on Sunday Not only was Raisi loyal to the Republic and its Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, but throughout the 1980s he had developed a close relationship with the then-president of Iran, Ali Khamenei. Khamenei went onto become Iran's Supreme Leader following the death of Khomeini in 1989, and is undoubtedly responsible for charting Raisi's path to the presidency in 2021. Following Raisi's election, his hardline position became yet more evident. In 2022, he ordered tighter enforcement of Iran's 'hijab and chastity law' restricting women's dress and behaviour. It was under these orders that 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was detained in September 2022 by Iran's 'morality police' for wearing 'improper' hijab and died three days later in hospital, sparking mass unrest. The resulting months of nationwide protests presented one of the gravest challenges to Iran's clerical rulers since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Hundreds of people were killed, according to rights groups, including dozens of security personnel who were part of a fierce crackdown on the demonstrators. Owners of the nursery where nine-month-old baby Genevieve Meehan was killed face a health and safety investigation. Tiny Toes, based in Cheadle, an affluent area of Stockport, Greater Manchester, had been run by Franck Pelle, 59, and his wife Karen, 66, a solicitor, since 2016. The couple's daughter Grace, 29, was also a director of the nursery's parent company for two years between 2020 and 2022. The Pelles, who have a 1m home in the Cheshire countryside, have not commented about their former employee Katie Roughley's manslaughter trail and are believed to be in France. Stockport Council last night confirmed it is to carry out an investigation into possible health and safety failings at the nursery. It came after Sarah Elliott KC, defending Roughley, told the jury they should consider whether Roughley had been made a scapegoat. Nine-month-old Genevieve was found dead at Tiny Toes nursery, in Cheadle, on the afternoon of May 9, 2022 Roughley, pictured here arriving at Manchester Crown Court on Wednesday, May 15, was found guilty of manslaughter She said: 'You may think that there are a number of people the Crown could have put in the dock but they have chosen to blame Kate Roughley.' 'Kate Roughley is a very ordinary woman. She wanted to work with children since she was a schoolgirl, that's all she has ever done. 'Everything she knew, all that experience came from Tiny Toes. She went there almost straight from school.' Senior colleagues at Tiny Toes, including the Pelles, became 'like a family to her' but Miss Elliott added: 'There is no sign of them now.' She suggested that the owners were making an 'awful lot of money' and were paying their staff 11 and 11.50 per hour but 'worse than that' the nursery had too many children and not enough staff. Miss Elliott said Roughley had not deliberately put Genevieve face down or ill-treated her because she didn't like her. She went on: 'Don't hold against her minor losses of patience or rushing when the numbers (of children) were overwhelming. The (CCTV) footage you have seen is a snapshot. 'Over 17 years of nursery work without a complaint about her, we say that Genevieve is treated in the same way as others. Tiny Toes, based in Cheadle, an affluent area of Stockport, Greater Manchester, had been run by Franck Pelle, 59, and his wife Karen, 66, a solicitor, since 2016 Roughley had risen to become deputy manager at Tiny Toes nursery in Stockport after 17 years in childcare Genevieve Meehan was strapped face down onto a bean bag for more than an hour-and-a-half John and Katie Meehan, the parents of Genevieve, outside Manchester Crown Court on Monday 'We say that everything that Kate Roughley does on May 9 is done with the aim of getting Genevieve to settle. 'Swaddling her for comfort, the blanket for extra warmth, putting her on her side because she has a cough and putting her on a bean bag because she was told she had slept better on it.' The nursery, which closed after Genevieve's death and has not reopened, was rated as 'good' but not outstanding in a 2017 Ofsted inspection. Summarising its shortcomings, inspectors said: 'Staff do not always make the best use of the indoor space available to maximise babies' physical development and enhance their independent movement to make choices. 'Occasionally, the resources available for babies and toddlers do not fully support their growing curiosity and exploratory skills to fully extend their learning.' In 2020, the facility was subject of an unannounced Ofsted inspection after concerns were reported to the watchdog about staff shouting at infants, Manchester Crown Court heard. Stockport Council would only confirm the investigation but declined to comment further. A restaurant owner has blasted customers who posted scathing one-star reviews about his food. Pho A Gogo, a Vietnamese restaurant in Melbourne's Southbank precinct, has attracted more than 9,000 reviews on Google. The restaurant, which boasts an impressive average rating of 4.8 stars out of five, has not disappointed the vast majority of diners. However the rave reviews have recently been overshadowed by a series of one-star ratings. Many claimed that the owner and staff were unfriendly while others felt the meal portions were too small. 'The most peculiar establishment in Melbourne,' one customer fumed. Another added: 'Pass this place if you can. Expensive and kids portioned. There are hundreds more places doing better pho.' The negative reviews did not go unnoticed by a person who claimed to be the owner of the restaurant, who fired back at the critics. He replied to several comments and called some people 'stupid', claiming they were making false reviews. 'Who's hurting you, who betrayed you or who broke your heart huh?' the person replied to one post. One critic was labelled a 'faceless coward'. Pho A Gogo, a Vietnamese restaurant located in Southbank, Melbourne (pictured) received some negative reviews online from customers who said they didn't have a good dining experience Despite the negative reviews, many diners praised the quality of the food (pictured) they were served at the restaurant Duke Chu, the owner of Pho A Gogo, claimed that the negative reviews, contained false allegations about the food and the service at the restaurant. Mr Chu told Daily Mail Australia his comments have been 'misunderstood' by those who posted the negative reviews. 'Some made an issue [about] minor things like if we didn't serve them their food quickly enough,' he said. He claimed the reviews were 'exaggerated' and were created to harm the reputation of the eatery. 'I know for sure many never been here but still fabricate the story and put on Google (with no honour and dignity, they are faceless cowards),' he said. 'Even so, I responded by offering come forward: If I was wrong, I will fully refund and apologise them, but none came forward.' 'We also know that it doesn't matter how hard we tried or how good we are: certainly there will be someone they don't like it then exaggerate the issue with a sole purpose to destroy our livelihood.' It appears that some of the recent negative reviews have since been edited. Most of the restaurant's reviews were full of praise. 'This is the best pho I have tried in Melbourne. Super friendly owner. I will be back, strongly recommend!' one diner wrote. Another added: 'The food quality is really good. Would love to come back for sure when we are back in Melbourne next time.' Mr Chu said he does not buy reviews and said he has never forced people to give Pho A Gogo five star reviews. 'I always ask customers about what they think about our food and if they could please leave a review,' he said. Michael Tang (pictured), a social media user who often reviews restaurants that he visits, described Pho A Gogo as a 'weird' place when he went to the eatery along with a few friends last year Michael Tang, a social media user who often reviews restaurants, described the restaurant as a 'weird' place in a TikTok video he uploaded last year. 'Has anyone been to Pho A Gogo in Melbourne? Just read the reviews,' he said. The clip showed Mr Tang and his dining companions pressing a door bell outside before being greeted by staff and let in. He noticed there weren't a lot of people inside the venue and was bemused about the amount of time it took to make Pho, a popular Vietnamese soup dish that he ordered. But Mr Tang admitted the meal wasn't too bad. 'If you want to experience something weird and unusual, then come to Pho A Gogo,' he said. as already improved concentration in class A prestigious school has been accused of 'jeopardising students' rights' after a controversial decision to ban water bottles from classrooms. Ballarat Clarendon College, a private co-ed day and boarding school in Victoria's central highlands, has enforced a 'water trial' for years 5-9, where students must leave their water outside the classroom during lessons. The state's fifth oldest private school has since assured that students will still have access to water throughout the day at recess, lunch and between classes. Students are permitted to use the taps and bubblers on campus or their water bottles on their way to class. 'No student will go thirsty as there are ample opportunities during the day to drink water,' a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia. Ballarat Clarendon College (pictured) is trialling a water bottle ban during class during the 'colder months' for Years 5-9 students Poll Should water bottles be banned from school classrooms during lessons? Yes No Depends on circumstances Should water bottles be banned from school classrooms during lessons? Yes 285 votes No 142 votes Depends on circumstances 74 votes Now share your opinion Students with medical conditions and require access to water at all times are exempt from the trial. 'Our head of Middle School spoke with Year 59 students (11-15-year-olds) about the trial on Friday and encouraged students to speak with him if they felt they needed to have their water bottle with them,' the school added. 'The trial will run during the colder months and, as always, we remain open-minded about its benefit and impact.' Not all students were on board with the new rule. An anonymous post shared online claimed the ban had 'outraged' many students at the school. One student argued that they were only given a short break between lessons. 'Banning water is jeopardising students' rights and for such a prestigious school, it seems that the focus is not on students' well-being but the numbers on their VCE exams,' they wrote. Students must leave their water bottles outside the classroom for the duration of their lesson and can only access water during their breaks and between classes (stock image) A teacher commented underneath the post to say that water bottles in the classroom were often a distraction. '(I) got sick of bottle flipping, kids getting hit with flying bottles and spilling Stanley cups. All my kids know water bottles belong in bags and they can have the occasional sip if they so require but bottles on the desk no way,' they said. A Ballarat Clarendon College spokesperson said the trial so far has seen improved classroom results. 'Early feedback results indicate improved classroom climate, student learning and concentration due to reduced noise and fewer restroom breaks,' they said. Ballarat Clarendon College was the top performing school in Victoria in 2023, with its students achieving a median VCE score of 39. According to the school's website, Year 5 parents pay $13,500 a year for their children to go there, which increases to more than $20,000 by Year 9. The Austrian Chancellor today hailed Rwanda-style deals as the way to fix the EU's broken immigration system. Rishi Sunak was given a warm welcome by counterpart Karl Nehammer in Vienna this morning, with the pair discussing how the model being pursued by the UK can tackle inflows. Appearing alongside his fellow leader, Mr Sunak said they agreed that 'bold, novel' solutions such as the 'pioneering' Rwanda plan were needed. They also bonded over their shared love of dogs, with Mr Nehammer having joked that he was rehearsing for the talks with his pet Fanny. Mr Sunak is often seen out running with his family's Labrador, called Nova. Last week Austria was among 15 EU countries warning that they would have to 'think outside the box' to tackle the root causes of irregular arrivals. Rishi Sunak was given a warm welcome by counterpart Karl Nehammer (left) in Vienna this morning, with the pair discussing how Rwanda-style plans can help deal with issues A military band played the two countries' national anthems and Mr Sunak and his counterpart bowed to the honour guard before entering the Chancellery Mr Nehammer said before the meeting today that asylum procedures in safe third countries outside Europe are a 'necessity' Mr Sunak said today: 'It's increasingly clear that many other countries now agree that that is the approach that is required bold, novel, looking at safe country partnerships.' The UK will continue 'bringing others along with us on the journey', he added. Mr Nehammer said having safe asylum proceedings in safe third countries could 'save human lives' by eradicating smuggling routes, and it is 'something we need to put on the EU's agenda as well'. Mr Sunak said illegal migration has become 'truly one of the defining issues of our time' and 'we face criminal gangs that are growing in strength across the European continent and beyond'. He said his Austrian counterpart has been 'right on this issue for a long time' and has been bringing attention to it in Europe. Mr Nehammer said before the meeting today that asylum procedures in safe third countries outside Europe are a 'necessity'. 'One thing is clear to me: Europe needs a completely new asylum system,' he posted on social media. A red carpet was rolled out to welcome Mr Sunak in Vienna this morning. A military band played the two countries' national anthems and Mr Sunak and his counterpart bowed to the honour guard before entering the Chancellery. Mr Nehammer posted a photograph on Instagram yesterday featuring his dog Fanny, sat in front of the countries' flags. 'For what occasion is Fanny rehearsing here?' the caption read in translation, accompanied by a Union Jack emoji. Mr Sunak could be heard to remark about the photograph as he and the Austrian leader entered the room, before the PM spoke about his own dog Nova. The two leaders' meeting comes as the Government announced it will give the National Crime Agency (NCA) an additional 25million to scale up efforts to disrupt people smugglers and their operations. The money will be used to provide new equipment and specialist teams to enhance the NCA's covert intelligence capabilities and intelligence sharing with partners. And it will enhance information gathering at the 'Joint Fusion Cell' which brings together the NCA, police and Home Office operations to identify new leads. Downing Street said a doubling of funding to the NCA last year hit criminal gangs' profits and the cost of crossing the Channel has risen four-fold from a low in 2023. Ahead of the visit to Austria, Mr Sunak said: 'We are leading the charge with partners across the continent to meet the challenges caused by intolerable levels of illegal migration. 'Just last week fifteen EU countries called for new solutions to address this growing issue. Our disruption of the cruel trade of criminal gangs, together with our Rwanda scheme, are part of a deterrent to stop illegal migration once and for all.' The leaders also bonded over their shared love of dogs, with Mr Nehammer having joked that he was rehearsing for the talks with his pet Fanny The first full compensation payments to victims of the infected blood scandal will be made before the end of this year, the Government confirmed today. Cabinet Office Minister John Glen also announced that many will also benefit from further interim compensation amounts of 210,000 within 90 days. He revealed details of payments and also confirmed Sir Robert Francis KC as the interim chair of the arm's-length Infected Blood Compensation Authority. It comes after Sir Brian Langstaff's Infected Blood Inquiry identified a 'catalogue of systemic, collective and individual failures' that amounted to a 'calamity'. More than 30,000 people were infected with deadly viruses between the 1970s and early 1990s as they received blood transfusions or blood products. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has promised to pay 'whatever it costs' including 'comprehensive compensation' to those affected and infected by the scandal. Ministers have earmarked around 10billion for a compensation package. Here, MailOnline analyses what we know about the scheme so far: Campaigners outside Central Hall in Westminster yesterday after the publication of the Infected Blood Inquiry report What is the infected blood scandal? Tens of thousands of Britons were infected with HIV and/or hepatitis after they were given contaminated blood and blood products between the 1970s and early 1990s. These include people who needed blood transfusions for accidents, in surgery or during childbirth, and patients with certain blood disorders who were treated with donated blood plasma or blood transfusions. The scandal is considered to be the biggest treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, and yesterday saw the publication of the Infected Blood Inquiry's final report. How many people were affected? Estimates given to the inquiry suggested more than 30,000 people were infected with deadly viruses as they received blood transfusions or blood products in NHS care. However the actual number of people could be even higher than this. More than 3,000 people died as a result of the scandal. Cressida Haughton (left), whose father Derek died; and Deborah Dennis (right) whose husband Barrie died, outside Central Hall in Westminster yesterday after the publication of the report What is the compensation scheme? The Government said today that it was establishing the 'Infected Blood Compensation Authority', an arm's-length body to administer the compensation scheme. The Prime Minister told the House of Commons yesterday that he promised to pay 'comprehensive compensation' to those affected and infected by the scandal. Rishi Sunak added: 'Whatever it costs to deliver this scheme, we will pay it.' The Government has faced criticism over the speed at which it responded to calls for action on compensation. Last year inquiry chair Sir Brian Langstaff made recommendations on compensation, saying that people affected by the scandal should face no more delays for redress. Mr Sunak said he accepted the recommendations on compensation made by the inquiry, which were based on recommendations by Sir Robert Francis. Who can make a claim? Cabinet Office Minister John Glen said today: 'Those who have been infected or affected as a result of this scandal will receive compensation. 'To be crystal clear, if you have been directly or indirectly infected by NHS blood, blood products or tissue contaminated with HIV or hepatitis C, or have developed a chronic infection from blood contaminated with hepatitis B, you will be eligible to claim compensation under the scheme. 'And where an infected person has died, but would have been eligible under these criteria, compensation will be paid to their estate. And this will include where a person was infected with hepatitis B and died during the acute period of infection.' Prime Minister Rishi Sunak makes a statement to MPs in the House of Commons yesterday following the publication of the Infected Blood Inquiry report Will friends and family be able to claim compensation? Cabinet Office minister John Glen said friends and family members of those infected would also be eligible for compensation under the scheme. Mr Glen told the Commons: 'When a person with an eligible infection has been accepted onto the scheme, their affected loved ones will be able to apply for compensation in their own right. 'That means partners, parents, siblings, children, friends and family who have acted as carers of those who are infected are all eligible to claim. 'Now, I'm aware that being asked to provide evidence of eligibility will likely be distressing, so I'm determined to minimise that as much as possible and I'm pleased to confirm today that anyone already registered with one of the existing infected blood support schemes will automatically be considered eligible for compensation.' When will more details of the scheme be revealed? Victims are now waiting to hear more about compensation, with the first details revealed by Cabinet Office Minister John Glen in Parliament this afternoon. Further details will follow later on in a written document from the Government. Has any money already been paid? Interim compensation payments of 100,000 have been made to around 4,000 infected people or bereaved partners. Ministers also recently announced that these interim payments would be extended to the 'estates of the deceased'. How much money is involved? Earlier this month, Cabinet Office Minister John Glen told representatives from the Haemophilia Society that the funding pot to compensate people affected by the scandal could be upwards of 10billion. Cabinet Office Minister John Glen said today that the first full compensation payments to victims of the infected blood scandal will be made before the end of this year How will the money be split up? The Government has now set out that compensation will be simplified into five main categories ,or tariffs: injury, social impact, autonomy, care and financial loss. Cabinet Office minister John Glen outlined the five categories and said that multiple awards would be provided where applicable. He told MPs today: 'In his report, Sir Brian recommended compensation be awarded with respect to the following five categories. 'An injury impact award acknowledging the physical and mental injury caused by the infection; a social impact award to address the stigma or social isolation as a result of the infection; an autonomy award, acknowledging how family and private life was disrupted during this time; a care award to compensate for past and future care needs of anyone infected; and, finally, a financial loss award for past and future financial losses suffered as a result of the infection. 'The Government accepts this recommendation, with two small refinements informed by the work of the expert group and designed for simplicity and speed - two other principles that Sir Brian asserted. 'First, the care award will be directly awarded to the person with the infection or their estate, and, second, the financial loss award will be paid either directly to the person with the infection or where an infected person has tragically died before the establishment of the scheme, their estate and affected persons who are dependent on them. 'Now, sadly, many people have links to multiple individuals who are infected, or are both infected themselves and affected by another's infection, so multiple injury awards will be offered to reflect the scale of the loss and suffering.' Richard Lowry (centre) who died in 2011 after being infected with contaminated blood, pictured with his two sons When will the money be paid? The first full compensation payments to victims of the infected blood scandal will be made before the end of the year, ministers confirmed today. Cabinet Office Minister John Glen said he recognised that 'time is of the essence' as he announced that many will also benefit from further interim compensation payments of 210,000 within 90 days. He also said he recognised the importance of existing infected blood support scheme payments, telling the Commons: 'I want to provide reassurance to all those out there today that no immediate changes will be made to the support schemes. 'Payments will continue to be made at the same level until March 31, 2025 and they will not be deducted from any of these compensation awards. 'From April 1, 2025, any support scheme payments received will be counted towards a beneficiary's final compensation award - this will ensure parity between support scheme beneficiaries regardless of whether they were the first or the last to have their compensation assessed by the Infected Blood Compensation Authority. 'We will ensure that no-one receives less in compensation than they would have received in support payments.' Will money be paid in a lump sum or regular payments? Cabinet Office minister John Glen said the inquiry recommended the scheme should be flexible in its awards of compensation, providing both for a lump sum or regular payments, adding: 'We agree and that is why the awards to living infected or affected persons will be offered as a lump sum or periodical payments. 'Where the infected person has died, estate representatives will receive compensation as a single lump sum to then distribute to beneficiaries of the estate as is appropriate. 'We'll also guarantee that any payments made to those eligible will be exempt from income, capital gains and inheritance tax, as well as disregard from means-tested benefit assessments. 'We'll also ensure that all claimants are able to appeal their award, both through an internal review process in the Infected Blood Compensation Authority and, where needed, the right to appeal to a first-tier tribunal. 'Our expectation is that final payments will start before the end of the year.' Cabinet Office minister John Glen said further interim payments will be made as he recognised members of the infected blood community are dying each week. He told MPs: 'There may be people - indeed there will be people - listening today who are thinking to themselves that they may not live to receive compensation.' He added: 'Today I'm announcing the Government will be making further interim payments ahead of the establishment of the full scheme. 'Payments of 210,000 will be made to living infected beneficiaries, those registered with existing infected blood support schemes, as well as those who register with the support scheme before the final scheme becomes operational, and the estates of those who pass away between now and payments being made. 'I know that time is of the essence, which is why I'm also pleased to say that they will be delivered within 90 days, starting in the summer, so that they can reach those who need it so urgently most.' Who will be prioritised for compensation? Government officials are now understood to be moving at pace to get the arm's-length 'Infected Blood Compensation Authority' up and running. Ministers have confirmed that those living with chronic infections and who are on existing support schemes will be prioritised for compensation payments. So far about 400million has been paid out through interim compensation payments of 100,000 to infected people or bereaved partners. But, last year, Sir Brian said that these interim payments left many 'unrecognised' - including parents who lost children and children orphaned when their parents died. Recently, ministers announced that the interim payments will be available to a wider group of people affected by the scandal. Officials have confirmed that interim payments will also be paid to the 'estates of the deceased infected people who were registered with existing or former support schemes', which means that more people will become eligible for interim payments. Sir Brian Langstaff at Central Hall in Westminster yesterday after the publication of his report Why is the compensation announcement today? Campaigners say that they asked the Government not to make any announcements on compensation yesterday, leaving people affected by the scandal a day to reflect on the findings in the report. But the speed at which ministers responded to calls for compensation has been heavily criticised by campaigners. Rishi Sunak was heckled by victims when he appeared before the inquiry last summer as he vowed to pay compensation 'as swiftly as possible'. What has the inquiry said about compensation? The inquiry made its final recommendations on compensation in April last year. Sir Brian Langstaff's 2023 report on compensation made a series of recommendations including: an independent body to pay compensation to those affected; extending interim compensation payments to include more people; recognising people infected with hepatitis B; and the introduction of a psychological support scheme for those affected. The inquiry chair said at the time that he 'could not in conscience add to the decades-long delays' victims had already faced. Sir Brian said that 'no time must be wasted in delivering redress' as he recommended that a compensation scheme should be set up before the final report of the inquiry -which was issued yesterday. Chairman of the infected blood inquiry Sir Brian Langstaff (left) with victims and campaigners outside Central Hall in Westminster yesterday after the publication of the inquiry report Who was affected by the scandal? There are two main groups of victims - people who needed blood transfusions and people with bleeding disorders who needed blood, or blood products, as part of their treatment. People need blood transfusions for a wide variety of reasons including routine surgery, as a result of childbirth or if they have been in an accident or had an injury where they have lost a lot of blood. Many victims had bleeding disorders, particularly people with the condition haemophilia. Haemophilia is an inherited disorder where the blood does not clot properly. Most people with the condition have a shortage of the protein that enables human blood to clot, known as Factor VIII. In the 1970s, a new treatment was developed - factor concentrate - to replace the missing clotting agent, which was made from donated human blood plasma. Manufacturers made the product by pooling plasma from tens of thousands of people - increasing the risk of the product containing blood infected with viruses including hepatitis and HIV. People with haemophilia were treated with British and American blood products. A shortage of UK-produced factor concentrate meant clinicians relied on imports from the United States, where people in prisons were paid to be donors, despite being at higher risk of carrying infection. Many patients welcomed this new treatment, which could be delivered by injection at home, as prior to its introduction patients required transfusions with plasma which had to be given in hospital. Amanda Patton with her brother Simon Cummings who was infected with HIV through his treatment for haemophilia and died in 1996, aged 38 What are the infections people contracted? Blood-borne infections are viruses that are carried in the blood, such as hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV is a virus that damages the cells in the body's immune system and weakens the ability to fight everyday infections and disease. Aids (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is the term used to describe a number of potentially life-threatening infections and illnesses that happen when the immune system has been severely damaged by the HIV virus. Medical advances mean that most people who contract the virus now will live a long and healthy life and most people with HIV will not develop any Aids-related illnesses. Hepatitis C is a virus that is passed on through blood-to-blood contact and infects the liver. Without treatment, it can cause serious damage to the liver. It was first named in 1989, beforehand it was known as 'non-A, non-B hepatitis'. The disease is known as the 'silent killer' as some people can live with the virus for many years before realising that they are infected. But the delay in diagnosis can lead to irreparable liver damage. People were infected with other viruses including hepatitis B and a small number contracted Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Campaigners outside Central Hall in Westminster yesterday after the publication of the report What should you do if you had a blood transfusion? The Hepatitis C Trust has urged anyone who had a blood transfusion before 1991 to get tested for the virus. At-home tests can be ordered via: hepctest.nhs.uk. What's Labour said about the compensation scheme? Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said yesterday that he welcomed Mr Sunak's confirmation that compensation will be paid, adding: 'He should be under no doubt whatsoever that we will work with him to get that done swiftly. 'Because, make no mistake, the victims in this scandal have suffered unspeakably, thousands of people have died, they continue to die every week, lives completely shattered, evidence wilfully destroyed, victims marginalised, people watching their loved ones die, children used as objects of research - on and on it goes. 'The pain barely conceivable and so as well as an apology, I also want to make clear we commit that we will shine a harsh light upon the lessons that must be learned to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.' Labour has also urged the Government to ditch a culture of 'institutional defensiveness'. Shadow minister Nick Thomas-Symonds told the House of Commons that his party has committed 'to work on a cross-party basis to help deliver the compensation scheme' for infected blood scandal victims. He said: 'One of the most powerful conclusions in this report is that an apology is only meaningful if it is accompanied by action.' Fewer than half of young adults know what D-Day is and one in five think we should stop commemorating it, a major poll has found. According to a survey carried out by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, young people's attitudes towards the anniversary events were alarmingly apathetic, with many finding them 'boring' and 'repetitive'. Furthermore, 22 per cent of 18-24 respondents felt that the events to commemorate the World Wars were no longer needed due to the amount of time that has passed since and believed the money spent on them could be better used elsewhere. The research was carried out to coincide with the 80th anniversary of D-Day on June 6 this year. As veterans die and living memory of the Second World War goes with them, the commission believes more should be done to engage the public with this historic event. Your browser does not support iframes. According to a survey carried out by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, young people's attitudes towards the anniversary events were shockingly apathetic (Pictured: U.S. reinforcements wade through the surf from a landing craft in the days following D-Day in June 1944) The research was carried out to coincide with the 80th anniversary of D-Day on June 6 this year (Pictured: Canadian soldiers land on Courseulles beach in Normandy, on June 6, 1944) The famous landings were a triumph for Allied forces in World War Two and constitute one of the best remembered military operations of the conflict (Pictured: Allied forces soldiers involved in the landing on Normandy on June 6, 1944) The famous landings on Normandy Beach in 1944 were a triumph for Allied forces in World War Two and constitute one of the best remembered military operations of the conflict. Claire Horton, director-general of the commission, said: 'We are at a turning point for the legacy of the commemoration. Events such as these are vital to maintain connection and inspire interest in honouring those who came before.' The commission polled 2,000 adults and found that fewer than half (48 per cent) of those aged 18 to 34 could recognise D-Day as the day Allied forces crossed the English Channel to launch an offensive on the Nazi occupation in Normandy. Overall, 59 per cent could identify it correctly. Within the same young adult age group, 16 per cent said they did not know what D Day was, while 1 in 10 thought it was the day that Hitler's Germany surrendered. A small section thought it was the evacuation from Dunkirk (9 per cent) and 8 per cent thought it was the day of victory in the Battle of Britain. When discussing their attitudes towards the commemorating events, 22 per cent of the young adult respondents said enough time had passed and believed remembrance events for the World Wars were no longer necessary. They also criticised the events themselves with one in ten calling them 'boring' and 'repetitive'. About a third said the money used on them would be better spent on charitable endeavors. Despite this criticism, 61 per cent of overall respondents said the anniversary is an opportunity for reflection. Horton said: 'There is clearly work to be done to better engage young people in commemoration efforts. 'Our research shows that young people are keen to see better educational programmes to support these efforts. 'As a nation we must come together to ensure that the next generation carries on the legacy of liberation passed down to us by those who gave their lives for our freedom.' D-Day signalled the beginning of a changing of the tide on the continent, which eventually ended with the Western Allies' victory (Pictured: Allied troops landing on a beach in Normandy on in June 1944) D-Day signalled the beginning of a changing of the tide on the continent during World War Two, which eventually ended with the Western Allies' victory. The landings, codenamed Operation Overlord, involved British, American, and other Allied forces crossing the English Channel to launch an offensive on the Nazi occupation in Normandy. The project followed five years of conflict with Adolf Hitler's Germany and the Axis powers, during which the majority of mainland western Europe had fallen under Nazi occupation. The forces were roughly divided across five beaches: Gold and Sword were attacked by British troops, Juno by Canadian, and Omaha and Utah by the US. After less than a week, all five beaches had been secured, with more troops, vehicles and equipment being delivered to the Allies. With victory declared in Europe 11 months later, on May 7, 1945, this represented the start of the Allied forces pushing back from what was the furthest Nazi occupation expanded during the war The focus of every D-Day anniversary is naturally in Normandy. Every year, ceremonies are held across the region - and world - to pay tribute to the achievements of those who fought, and the sacrifices of the estimated 4,000-9,000 troops who died during the operation. Anniversary events will often feature military displays and parades. Veterans who were part of the successes of June 6, 1944, often appear at the ceremonies to pay their respects in the decisive but deadly assault that led to the liberation of France and Western Europe from Nazi control. But health problems including bladder issues are devastating the lives of users Govt estimates use of the drug more than trebled among under-25s since 2016 The increasing popularity of ketamine has left a trail of grieving families in its wake, while the NHS is also counting the cost of a spike in health issues caused by the substance. As Finn Henry, 21, was jailed for seven years for battering his mother while high on the addictive Class B substance, the government estimates that use of the drug has more than trebled amongst the under-25s since 2016. With record amounts seized in the UK in the year to March 2022, rising by nearly 900 per cent, problems including severe bladder issues are devastating the lives of some users. Other long-term effects can include agitation, panic attacks, damage to short and long-term memory and depression. There is also emerging evidence that regular and heavy ketamine use can cause liver problems, but damage to the urinary tract is so well-known among specialists it has been dubbed 'ketamine bladder'. Finn Henry told friends he was 'dancing with the devil' before he attacked and killed his mother Susanna Henry wanted to show her addicted son how he acted while high Regular use can can cause depression and even psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations Specialist Dr Mohammed Belal recently explained to the BBC: 'I think we've seen a huge explosion of young people taking ketamine throughout the country, and that means that they come to see us with a significant urinary symptoms and these symptoms can include going to the toilet every hour or even every half an hour.' 'Ketamine destroys the lining of the bladder, and that can have very serious consequences. 'We've noticed lots of young patients with severe bladder problems that we would not expect to see until patients are much older.' One British victim, an award-winning 26-year-old student was killed by the drug, died after chronic abuse eventually caused his bladder to shrink to the size of a toddler's. Clare Rogers, 47, spent thousands of pounds sending her son Rian to rehab and flushed his drugs down the toilet in a bid to stop his substance abuse, his inquest last month heard. Rian was found in his bathroom of his shared house four days after he died from a dose Rian was a 'really sociable, loving boy', his mother said Jeni Larmour, 18, died in her halls within hours of arriving for her first night at university Jeni was due to study urban planning and architecture for her degree Ellie passed away after taking ketamine and alcohol at Boomtown Festival in Hampshire Ellie's mother Wendy Teasdill now campaigns for better drug awareness But the damage to his bladder was so painful that he fell into a self-reinforcing cycle of taking it to relieve the pain while on an NHS waiting list, the coroner was told. The dose which eventually killed him unluckily had a very high purity which was 10 to 20 times more potent than his usual dose. He was discovered four days later in his en-suite bathroom of his shared house in Nottingham. Another ketamine-related tragedy, highlighted at an inquest in 2022, was that of Jeni Larmour, 18, from County Armagh, who died from the combined effects of alcohol and ketamine just hours after arriving at Newcastle University in October 2020. A toxicologist found the ketamine level was 'below the range of levels that would typically cause death' and her alcohol intake would have caused' moderate intoxication in an average social drinker.' However the cocktail of both was enough to kill a teenager with the world at her feet, the hearing was told. And in 2013, 18-year-old student Ellie Rowe passed out in her tent and died after she snorted a small amount of the drug, while working as a volunteer at the Boomtown Fair festival in Winchester, Hampshire. Long term use can also carries risks to mental health including flashbacks memory loss and problems with concentration. Regular use can can cause depression and, occasionally, psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations. Jeni Larmour pictured with her mother Sandra before she died on the first night of university after taking ketamine Finn Henry had told friends he was 'dancing with the devil' shortly before he attacked and killed his mother Suzanne Henry, 54, at their family home. The moments before and after were caught on video, filmed by his mother on her mobile phone, who wanted to show her drug addicted son how he acted while high. She was left 'unrecognisable' following the 'sustained and lengthy assault' by the experienced boxer and died two days later in hospital having suffered severe traumatic brain injury. Henry was initially charged with murder, which he denied, before later pleading guilty to unlawful act manslaughter through intoxication of drugs. Northampton Crown Court heard prosecutors had taken the unusual step of accepting the lesser plea after doctors concluded he was suffering from 'delirium and psychotic symptoms' brought about by the use of ketamine, cannabis and other drugs and did not intend to kill his mother but believed he was attacking the devil or a demon. The court was told he had suffered an 'adverse reaction' and was acting 'irrationally' as a result of 'confusion and excitement' brought about by his use of drugs. Ahmed Hossain KC, in mitigation, said Henry 'lives with the horror of what he did every day' and was 'clearly highly remorseful and extremely distressed by what he has done'. He said he 'comes from a good, decent, caring, loving, supportive family and he is very fortunate that support remains'. Mr Hossain told the court: 'This case is the clearest demonstration of the the impact of the repeated consumption of illegal drugs can have in an immature and developing brain' adding that the the age of full maturity in the brain of a young man was 25 years. While ketamine has a two-decades long history as part of rave and clubbing culture, its usage has significantly changed since the pandemic, experts believe. It used to be used as a drug to take at the end of a night out, but because during lockdown, people were looking for mind-altering experiences that were not an 'upper', they turned to the tranquilising effects of ketamine. Friends star Matthew Perry, 54, died from the 'acute effects' of ketamine and drowning Adam Waugh, of drug charity The Loop told TimeOut that ketamine is 'an anesthetic drug so it knocks people into a dissociative state' which 'could be desirable at home'. The drug is also significantly cheaper than other drugs used in the rave scene, at around 20 a gram compared to 40 a gram for MDMA and 100 for cocaine. According to drugs charity FRANK, users can feel dream-like and detached, chilled, relaxed and happy or confused and nauseated. Ketamine can also alter your perception of time and space and cause hallucinations, stop users feeling pain, putting them at risk of hurting themselves without noticing. If users use too much ketamine they can go into a 'k-hole', meaning they lose the ability to move. Friends star Matthew Perry fell victim to the 'acute effects' of the drug when he drowned in his hot tub last year. But despite these tragedies, scientists hope that use of the drug in safe and controlled settings holds major promise for the treatment of problems like depression. Benjamin Netanyahu has furiously condemned the International Criminal Court for 'daring to compare' Israel with 'mass murderers' after an arrest warrant was issued for both the Israeli prime minister and Hamas leaders. British prosecutor Karim Khan announced on Monday that he is seeking warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas terror chiefs including Yahya Sinwar, the ruler in Gaza who masterminded October 7. Israel's prime minister labelled the comparison a 'distortion of reality' and accused the prosecutor of 'callously pouring gasoline on the fires of antisemitism that are raging across the world'. The country's Foreign Minister Israel Katz also slammed the move, calling it an 'unrestrained frontal assault' on the victims of October 7 and a 'historical disgrace that will be remembered forever'. He said he was establishing a task force to fight against the decision. In an interview on Monday, prosecutor Khan said the warrants are for war crimes and crimes against humanity over the Hamas terror group's deadly October 7 attack on Israel and Israel's subsequent war in the Gaza Strip. The ICC's decision has been met with mixed reactions from the international community, with Downing Street labelling it 'unhelpful' and US President Joe Biden calling it 'outrageous', while other world leaders said they supported the investigation. Israel's prime minister (pictured earlier this month) labelled the comparison a 'distortion of reality' and accused the prosecutor of 'callously pouring gasoline on the fires of antisemitism' The aftermath of an Israeli strike on a house in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on May 18 An arrest warrant was issued for three Hamas terror chiefs including Yahya Sinwar (pictured), the ruler in Gaza who masterminded October 7 Israeli soldiers walk among the remains of a scorched house following the deadly October 7 attack by Hamas gunmen British prosecutor Karim Khan announced on Monday that he is seeking warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders Khan said warrants were being sought for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (aka Mohammed Deif), the leader of the Al Qassem Brigades - Hamas' military wing, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas' political leader. He told CNN that the charges against the trio include 'extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape and sexual assault in detention.' 'The world was shocked on the 7th of October when people were ripped from their bedrooms, from their homes, from the different kibbutzim in Israel,' Khan told CNN host Christiane Amanpour, adding that 'people have suffered enormously.' In a separate statement, he said that he saw for himself 'the devastating scenes of these attacks and the profound impact of the unconscionable crimes charged in the applications. 'Speaking with survivors, I heard how the love within a family, the deepest bonds between a parent and a child, were contorted to inflict unfathomable pain through calculated cruelty and extreme callousness. These acts demand accountability.' He also said the ICC was applying for warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for their part in the assault on the Gaza strip which was launched in the wake of October 7 and continues to this day. 'We have applied for warrants of course the judges must determine whether or not to issue them, but we have applied today,' he told Amanpour on Monday. He said the charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include 'crimes of causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict.' Speaking of Israel's actions, Khan said in a statement that 'the effects of the use of starvation as a method of warfare, together with other attacks and collective punishment against the civilian population of Gaza are acute, visible and widely known. 'They include malnutrition, dehydration, profound suffering and an increasing number of deaths among the Palestinian population, including babies, other children, and women,' he added. Hamas has also rejected the equivalence to Israel, with the group saying it 'strongly denounces' the prosecutor's attempts 'to equate the victim with the executioner by issuing arrest warrants against a number of Palestinian resistance leaders.' 'Hamas... demands the cancellation of all arrest warrants issued against leaders of the Palestinian resistance, for violating UN conventions and resolutions,' it added. The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court has said he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured) and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant - as well as three Hamas leaders Khan said arrest warrants were being sought for three Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar (pictured, file photo) Warrants are also being sought by the ICC for Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (aka Mohammed Deif, pictured left), the leader of the Al Qassem Brigades - Hamas' military wing, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas' political leader who is based in Qatar An arrest warrant is also being sought for Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant (pictured) Meanwhile senior Israeli officials slammed the ICC's move to seek warrants against Netanyahu and his defence chief. One slammed the ICC's move as a 'baseless blood libel' against the country, while senior figures including President Isaac Herzog called the move 'outrageous,' saying it 'cannot be accepted by anyone'. '[The] ICC prosecutor's baseless blood libel against Israel has crossed a red line in his lawfare efforts against the lone Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East,' the official said, according to the Financial Times. 'The blood libel will not deter Israel from defending itself and accomplishing all its just war objectives' in Gaza, the official added. 'Any attempt to draw parallels between these atrocious terrorists and a democratically elected government of Israel - working to fulfil its duty to defend and protect its citizens entirely in adherence to the principles of international law is outrageous and cannot be accepted by anyone,' President Herzog said. Benny Gantz, an Israeli war cabinet minister, called the ICC's move a 'distortion'. 'Drawing parallels between the leaders of a democratic country determined to defend itself from despicable terror to leaders of a blood-thirsty terror organisation (Hamas) is a deep distortion of justice and blatant moral bankruptcy,' he said. Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said he would 'speak with foreign ministers of leading countries around the world to urge them to oppose the prosecutor's decision and declare that even if warrants are issued, they do not intend to enforce them against Israeli leaders.' Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz (right) said he would 'speak with foreign ministers of leading countries around the world to urge them to oppose the prosecutor's decision' Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right politician and finance minister, said the decision was a 'show hypocrisy and Jew-hatred'. 'Arrest warrants against them are arrest warrants against us all,' he said. Foreign leaders also rebuked the ICC for seeking the warrants. A spokesperson for British prime minister Rishi Sunak said: 'This action is not helpful in relation to reaching a pause in the fighting, getting hostages out or getting humanitarian aid in.' The spokesperson said that the ICC did not have the jurisdiction to request the arrest warrants. 'The UK, as with other countries, does not yet recognise Palestine as a state and Israel is not a state party to the Rome Statute', which outlines the ICC's areas of jurisdiction, the spokesperson said. Israel and the US are not signatories. Asked if the police would arrest Netanyahu if he came to Britain, the spokesperson said he would not comment on what he called 'hypotheticals'. 'We fully respect the independence of the ICC,' Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer said. 'The fact however that the leader of the terrorist organisation Hamas whose declared goal is the extinction of the State of Israel is being mentioned at the same time as the democratically elected representatives of that very State is non-comprehensible.' Meanwhile, country's including Belgium and Slovenia said they supported the ICC's ongoing investigation and that it must be allowed to run its course. 'Crimes committed in Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of the perpetrators,' Belgian foreign minister Hadja Lahbib said, hailing the arrest warrants for both Israeli and Hamas officials as an 'important step in the investigation of the situation in Palestine'. War crimes prosecutor Reed Brody praised the ICC, saying: 'Many thought this request would never come... Israeli leaders are finally facing a legal reckoning for their actions,' he said. 'Top Hamas officials likewise face justice for the cruel and inhuman taking of hostages and other crimes against humanity. 'ICC warrants if approved would make Netanyahu a wanted man, in the same category as (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and Omar al-Bashir of Sudan.' In an interview on Monday, Karim Khan (pictured in April) said the warrants are for war crimes and crimes against humanity over the terror group's deadly October 7 attack and Israel's subsequent war in the Gaza Strip The United Nations and other aid agencies have repeatedly accused Israel of hindering aid deliveries throughout the war. Israel denies this, saying there are no restrictions on aid entering Gaza and accusing the UN of failing to distribute aid. The UN says aid workers have repeatedly come under Israeli fire, and also says ongoing fighting and a security vacuum have impeded deliveries. Israel launched its war in response to an October 7 cross-border attack by Hamas that killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 others hostage. The Israeli offensive has killed around 35,000 Palestinians, at least half of them women and children, according to the latest estimates by Gaza health officials. The Israeli offensive has also triggered a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, displacing roughly 80 percent of the population and leaving hundreds of thousands of people on the brink of starvation, according to UN officials. The prosecutor must request the warrants from a pre-trial panel of three judges, who take on average two months to consider the evidence and determine if the proceedings can move forward. Israel is not a member of the court, and even if the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution. But Khan's announcement deepens Israel's isolation as it presses ahead with its war, and the threat of arrest could make it difficult for the Israeli leaders to travel abroad. Smoke billows during Israeli bombardment in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 19, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas Both Sinwar and Deif are believed to be hiding in Gaza as Israel tries to hunt them down. But Haniyeh, the supreme leader of the Islamic militant group, is based in Qatar and frequently travels across the region. Meanwhile on Monday, Gallant said the Israeli military would expand its operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah in talks with US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who met with Israeli military leadership in Tel Aviv. Sullivan's visit comes two weeks into the military's foray into Rafah, where troops have been battling Hamas fighters and escalating bombardment. The Biden administration has opposed a full-fledged invasion of Rafah because of fears for the civilian population. Palestinians salvage items from the rubble of a family house that was hit overnight in Israeli bombardment in the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood of Rafah in southern Gaza on May 20, 2024 So far Israeli forces have mainly been operating in eastern parts of the city, but the fighting has already triggered an exodus of more than 810,000 Palestinians, according to the United Nations. 'I emphasised to him (Sullivan) Israel's duty to expand the ground operation in Rafah, to dismantle Hamas and to return the hostages,' Gallant said in a post on X. In his visit, Sullivan was also discussing postwar plans for Gaza at a time when Netanyahu faces criticism from the other members of his War Cabinet. Netanyahu's main political rival Benny Gantz has threatened to leave the government if a plan is not created by June 8 that includes an international administration for postwar Gaza. Campaigners reacted with fury today as it emerged nearly 4,000 people have been convicted for breaking Covid rules since all restrictions were lifted more than two years ago. The legal requirement to self-isolate following a positive test ended in February 2022, meaning no one could have been prosecuted for a Covid offence carried out after this date. But with older cases still working their way through courts, a total of 3,990 people were convicted in England for Covid-related offences between March 2022 and December 2023. Your browser does not support iframes. This brings the total number of people convicted in England since restrictions were introduced in March 2020 to 27,600 - according to Ministry of Justice figures uncovered by the Financial Times. The fact people are still being prosecuted for breaking Covid laws long after the pandemic ended today prompted calls for an amnesty. Fintan Walker, from the Manchester Innocence Project - which investigates potential miscarriages of justice - said: 'A lot of these people were of good character. It's financially ruined some people and caused some serious harm to their reputation.' Meanwhile, human rights barrister Adam Wagner said there was a 'reasonable argument' that these prosecutions were no longer in the public interest. Emergency Covid measures imposed fines for a range of offences, including failing to wear face coverings or isolate after a positive test and attending a gathering during lockdown. Fines ranged from 50 for a worker failing to tell their employer that they needed to self-isolate to a maximum penalty of 10,000 for organising an illegal gathering attended by more than 30 people. Most fines were issued as fixed penalty notices, but these could escalate to a magistrates court if they were contested or left unpaid. Ministers had previously insisted they did not want to criminalise ordinary people who had fallen foul of Covid regulations. It comes as the Government launched a national campaign to tackle a rise in school absence - which is thought to be partially linked to the pandemic-era practice of keeping children at home if they had a cough. Police patrolling Hyde Park when Covid laws were still in place in January 2021 The number of secondary school children persistently absent in England has doubled in the last decade, from 567,000 in 2010 to 894,444 in 2021. A YouGov poll, commissioned by the Centre for Social Justice, also found that 28 per cent of parents agreed the pandemic had shown it was not essential for children to be in school every day. A UK Government spokesman said: 'The government's priority during the Covid-19 pandemic was to keep the public safe. 'Decisions to issue FPNs [fixed penalty notices] were made by individual police forces, and if there were concerns around penalties, individuals were entitled to make representations to the issuing force.' Ministers are unveiling a 10billion scheme to compensate infected blood scandal victims and their families today. Paymaster general John Glen will announce a framework for payouts after Rishi Sunak vowed the government will find 'whatever it costs'. The minister is expected to outline more interim payments, with around 4,000 people already having been handed 100,000 as a stop-gap measure. The system for establishing final sums is likely to split compensation into five categories - injury, social impact, autonomy, care and financial loss. Both those 'infected' and those 'affected' as a result of the biggest disaster in NHS history will be entitled to cash. The cost of the huge package is eventually set to top 10billion, although decisions will be put in the hands of an independent authority. That is nearly as much as would be raised by adding 2p to the basic rate of income tax for a year. Paymaster general John Glen will announce a framework for payouts after Rishi Sunak vowed the government will find 'whatever it costs' Families of the victims of the scandals outside Central Hall in Westminster, London, after the publication of the Infected Blood Inquiry report yesterday Rishi Sunak making a statement following the publication of the Infected Blood Inquiry final report yesterday However, the scheme will be treated as capital spending and funding from borrowing, with government sources playing down concerns it will derail Jeremy Hunt's hopes of cutting taxes before the election. In a sombre statement to the Commons last night, the Prime Minister issued a 'wholehearted and unequivocal' apology. Sir Brian Langstaff's report had uncovered 'a decades-long moral failure at the heart of our national life' that should 'shake our nation to its core', he said. 'From the National Health Service to the civil service, to ministers in successive governments at every level, the people and institutions in which we place our trust failed in the most harrowing and devastating way,' he added. 'They failed the victims and their families and they failed this country.' Mr Sunak was criticised by Sir Brian yesterday for responding to calls for compensation at a 'sluggish pace' and with a lack of transparency. The Prime Minister last night acknowledged the case for redress and said the Government would pay 'comprehensive compensation' to the victims and their families, adding: 'Whatever it costs to deliver this scheme, we will pay it.' He told MPs it was 'almost impossible to comprehend' how it felt for victims to learn they had been infected with life-changing viruses such as HIV and hepatitis C as a result of treatment on the health service. He said the report had 'highlighted an appalling truth that our NHS failed'. Mr Sunak accepted evidence of a deliberate cover-up, with the inquiry finding official documents had been destroyed and campaigners deliberately frustrated as they tried to get to the truth. He said it was a matter of 'eternal shame' that the inquiry found some people, including children, had effectively been viewed as 'objects for research'. His apology was not just for the medical failures relating to the use of infected blood products and the failure to respond to emerging evidence of risk. The victims also deserved an apology for the 'repeated failure of the state and our medical professionals to recognise the harm caused', including the 'failure of previous payments schemes', Mr Sunak said. He apologised for the institutional refusal to face up to these failings and worse, to deny and even attempt to cover them up. He said victims had endured layer upon layer of hurt over decades, adding: This is an apology from the state to every single person impacted by this scandal. It did not have to be this way. It should never have been this way. And on behalf of this and every government stretching back to the 1970s, I am truly sorry. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also issued an apology, saying failures applied to all parties, including my own. He welcomed the Prime Ministers confirmation of financial support for victims, saying Labour would work with him to get that done swiftly. But former health secretary Sir Sajid Javid warned that NHS scandals continued to take place despite numerous pledges to learn lessons. He accused officials of putting the reputation of themselves and the NHS above that of patient safety and care. Protesters hold banners showing victims of the scandal as they waited to enter Methodist Central Hall yesterday Friends and families of victims of the blood contamination demonstrate at Central London Methodist Hall yesterday He said: Time and time again ministers have stood at that despatch box, under successive governments, including myself, promising that lessons will be learnt. So can I ask, why will it be any different this time? Around 4,000 people, including those infected and bereaved spouses, were given interim payments of 100,000 each in October 2022. MPs will be told a new Infected Blood Compensation Authority will be established to assess claims dating back to the 1970s and decide on payment levels. Mr Glen said a shadow body had already begun work on the issue. As well as compensation for loss of earnings and pain and suffering, the body will consider claims for grief and for the social stigma suffered by those who contracted viruses such as HIV at a time when they were untreatable and widely feared by the public. Last year Sir Brian said interim payments had left many unrecognised, including parents who lost children and children orphaned when their parents died. A 400-man riot broke out at a Florida skate park after the venue canceled a planned after party at the last minute. The large brawl erupted Saturday night in the parking lot at Astro Skate in the Tampa Bay Metropolitan area after frustrated party organizers put out a call online encouraging people to 'riot' and 'confront law enforcement' at the skate park. The rampage saw more than 400 people, both children and adults, fighting, stealing and causing damage to local businesses. One group of rioters caused $500 worth of damage to a convenience store and another beat a juvenile before throwing him through a glass window at a nearby barber shop. Twenty-three youths and six adults were arrested in the violent outbreak, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has confirmed. A 400-man riot broke out at Astro Skate in Brandon, Florida on Saturday night after the venue canceled a planned after party at the last minute. Frustrated party-goers (pictured during the riot) put out a call on social media encouraging people to 'riot' and 'confront law enforcement' at the skate park The rampage saw more than 400 people, both children and adults, fighting, stealing and causing damage to local businesses Twenty-three youths and six adults were arrested in the violent outbreak, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has confirmed Authorities were called to Astro Skate in Brandon, about 13 miles from Tampa, around 9.20pm Saturday after an off-duty deputy reported a large crowd fighting in the parking lot. Investigators say the fight broke out after Astro Skate canceled a planned after party because the event hosts failed to hire an off-duty deputy to monitor the event, as per company policy. Although the skate park refunded their money, the party-goers were seemingly angry and took to social media asking people to meet at the business and riot. When deputies arrived at the scene, approximately 400 to 500 people were fighting and causing disturbances in the Astro Skate parking lot and at nearby businesses. Deputies issued multiple warnings informing the crowd that they trespassing and needed to leave, but the group carried on the rampage. Smaller groups broke away from the large fight and targeted nearby businesses. One group of rioters another beat a juvenile before throwing him through a glass window at a nearby barber shop. Pictured is the broken glass after the attack at the Time Out Barber Shop One breakout group attacked a juvenile inside the Time Out Barber Shop. He was beaten and thrown through the shop's plate-glass window (pictured) The boy who was attacked in the barber shop suffered a severe cut on his hand and was taken to Tampa General Hospital in stable condition One breakout group attacked a juvenile inside the Time Out Barber Shop. He was beaten and thrown through the shop's plate-glass window. The boy, age undisclosed, suffered a severe cut on his hand and was taken to Tampa General Hospital in stable condition. Another group entered into a nearby convenience store, stole and undetermined amount of merchandise and caused over $500 worth of damage to the store's wine bottle selection. After refusing to comply with officers, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office arrested a total of 29 people. The six adult arrestees were booked at Orient Road Jail and the 23 minors were transferred to the Juvenile Assessment Center. Authorities were called to Astro Skate around 9.20pm Saturday after an off-duty deputy reported a large crowd fighting in the parking lot An office is seen inside the Time Out Barber Shop on Saturday night collecting statements after a juvenile was beaten and thrown through the shop's plate-glass window Sheriff Chad Chronister said he is 'outraged' by the violence and disruption caused by the group and has vowed that 'violent and destructive behavior will never, under any circumstances, be tolerated in Hillsborough County'. 'I am outraged by the violent and disruptive behavior that targeted hard-working people and businesses and created harm, fear and chaos in our community. Let me make this unequivocally clear: this violent and destructive behavior will never, under any circumstances, be tolerated in Hillsborough County,' said Sheriff Chronister. 'When responding to a scene as hectic as this, our deputies must account for potential danger from any direction. As you can see in the horrifying footage, these individuals had no regard for safety, our deputies had to step in to defuse the situation professionally and swiftly. The incident remains under investigation. Five granddaughters who were handed just 50 each of their grandfather's 500,000 fortune because he was 'hurt' they never visited him have been ordered to pay 220,000 in court costs. Before Frederick Ward Snr, 91, died in 2020 he cut out his late son Fred Jnr's five adult children because he was 'disappointed' by their 'very limited' contact with him in his latter years. Instead he chose to split his estate between his two remaining children Terry Ward and Susan Wiltshire, with his late son's children Carol Gowing, Angela St Marseille, Amanda Higginbotham, Christine Ward and Janet Pett given 50 each in envelopes. Upset at being 'left out' of the will, the five sisters became embroiled in a bitter High Court battle, claiming their Uncle Terry and Aunt Susan had 'unduly influenced' him into changing it. But their case was thrown out by a judge who ruled it was 'entirely rational' for the 'disappointed' grandfather to cut them out due to their 'very limited contact'. Now the five sisters have been ordered to pay more than 220,000 in court costs after failing in a bid to have the battle funded by their late grandfather's estate. 'Strong willed' former soldier Frederick Ward Snr, of South Ealing, London, died at the age of 91 in 2020 Carol Gowing, pictured outside London's High Court, sued her aunt and uncle alongside her four sisters Lawyers for the five granddaughters had argued that they should not pay all the costs of the case, accusing their uncle of 'provocative' behaviour, and asking for some of the bills of the fight to come out of their grandfather's estate. But the judge ordered Ms Gowing and her sisters to pay 100,000 up front towards a total defence legal bill estimated at 136,470, with VAT to be added on. The sisters' own legal costs were 85,688.50. During the court case last year, the judge heard Fred Ward Snr was an 'independent and strong minded' former soldier, cable joiner and regular social club user who lived in South Ealing, London. He had previously made a will which split his estate, including his 450,000 maisonette, between all three of his children. But his son Fred Jr - father to the five sisters - died in 2015, after which the family fell out and the five sisters stopped seeing the other side of the family. When his final 2018 will was read after his death, a bitter shouting match broke out - which was recorded and played to the court - when it was revealed that the five sisters had been all but cut out. Janet Pett was one of five sisters who were all handed 50 in cash at the 'provocative' will reading The sisters had claimed their grandfather was 'frightened' of their Uncle Terry, who they said 'coerced' him into changing his will (Pictured: Angela St Marseille) From a fortune valued at around 500,000, they were handed envelopes containing just 50 each in cash by their Uncle Terry. They then sued, claiming that their grandfather's last will was invalid, having been made when he was 'an ill man' and 'frightened' of Terry, who they claimed 'coerced' him into making it. They also accused their aunt Susan of exerting 'undue influence' over Mr Ward. Their barrister told the judge that Terry had developed a particular 'hate' for his niece Carol Gowing after a family falling out over a property, and said there was a 'palpable... dislike between the two sides of the family'. Maxwell Myers, for the pair, denied all the allegations and told the court: 'When ones dies, one is entitled to leave one's property to whoever one pleases.' Giving judgment, Master Brightwell sided with Terry and Sue and described the 2018 will as 'rational' in the circumstances, given that Fred Jr's children had not seen much of their grandfather after their father's death in 2015. 'It is most likely that given the changed circumstances following Fred Jr's death and the limited contact with the claimants after then that Fred became disappointed with the claimants,' he said. The case returned to court last week for a decision on who pays the lawyers' bills for the case. Both sides blamed each other for starting the court fight, with Mr Myers telling the judge that, given the nature of the allegations against them, Terry and Sue had been forced to defend themselves. Christine Ward and her four sisters now face a court bill approaching 220,000 Giving judgement earlier this year, the judge rejected the sisters' claims (Pictured: Amanda Higginbotham) But James McKean, for the sisters, said they had been 'compelled to issue proceedings' when their aunt and uncle 'withdrew an undertaking not to distribute the estate' and pointed to 'provocative' behaviour by Terry at the will reading. Rejecting the sisters' argument over legal bills, the judge said: 'The deceased had made a promise whilst he was alive that, should one of his children die, their children would inherit their share. Did the behaviour of the deceased cause the litigation? 'It was admitted by Terry Ward at the will reading that such a promise was made. But it can't be said that the deceased was the real cause of the litigation. 'It was a change in the relationship between the deceased and the claimants, and that is a different matter. 'I don't consider it is appropriate to order any costs to come out of the estate. 'In circumstances where the defendants knew that minimal gifts had been made and that that would cause upset, I'm not sure why a will reading took place in the way that it did, causing some of the animosity.' 'Having heard the reading of the will spirits were high on both sides from the start and the die was cast for a bitter dispute from the outset,' the judge concluded. Before his death, the sisters had not visited Mr Ward in hospital because they were not informed he was there, the court heard. The five sisters had made only 'very occasional short visits' to see their grandfather, while he was on close terms with his son Terry and Susan was his full-time carer. 'I accept Susan's evidence that her father complained that Fred Jr's family did not care about him,' adding that he was particularly upset about the lack of contact at the time of one of his great-granddaughters' weddings. 'He complained that he was not even sent a piece of wedding cake,' he said. 'In those circumstances, and despite a promise by Fred several years earlier to divide his estate between his children's children if anything should happen to any of them, the 2018 will was in my view entirely rational. 'This does not mean that I cannot understand the claimants' disappointment at being essentially left out.' A 50-year-old thrill-seeker has sparked outrage after being filmed 'body slamming' a killer whale by belly flopping onto it from a boat off New Zealand while his pals cheered him on. The video of the cruel act showed the Auckland man, who was later fined $600 for his actions, jumping off the side of a boat into the sea off the coast of Devonport, where two orcas were swimming. The disturbing footage was posted to Instagram in February and stirred up anger among animal-loving viewers who later reported the clip to the Department of Conservation. In the minute-long video, the sea creature's fins can be seen poking out from the water as they relax and appear unbothered in their natural habitat. The man, donning black swimming trunks, can be seen gearing up for the launch as he balances on the edge of the boat and peers into the water below. An Auckland man, 50, was filmed attempting to 'body slam' an orca whale off the coast of Davenport, New Zealand, in February Shocking footage captured the moment his body hit the water close to where two whales were swimming before they thrashed around and swam away He swings his arms back and forth and crouches down, preparing to jump directly onto the pair of apex predators. Suddenly, he launches his entire body into the sea while holding his arms stretched out in front of him as he body slams into the water. A huge splash can be seen following the impact of his horizontal body hitting the water and the orcas appear spooked as they thrash around and disappear. The cruel man can be seen bobbing in the water and swimming back towards the boat while two of his pals cheer him on. The man yelled, 'I touched it', to other people on the boat, then asked 'did you get it?', in apparent reference to the filming of his antics. One of his pals, donning red swimming shorts, laughs at the camera while holding a half-empty bottle of beer in his hand. Another man is spotted dipping his fingers into the water's surface, in what seems like an attempt to bait the creatures back to the group of men. The 50-year-old who plunged into the orca's space then swims back towards the black and white creatures which had cautiously approached them again. The pair of predators were filmed swimming in circles around the man who did not seem fazed by his reckless and dangerous actions. Following the video being reported, the Department of Conservation principal investigation officer, Hayden Loper, said it displayed a shocking attitude towards protected marine animals. After seemingly scaring off the apex predators, the man's friend could be seen dipping his fingers into the water, seemingly attempting to bring the orcas back to the group. Another one of his pals was filmed cheering into the camera as they waited for the whales to return After a while, the pair of orcas returned to the group, and the man who jumped into the water was still seen swimming around The killer whales edged closer to the boat as the group continued to cheer on their pal who remained in the water following his body slam The man was filmed trying to reach out and touch the creatures even after his cruel act which saw him later fined $600 'The video left us genuinely stunned,' he said. 'As well as the initial attempt to dive onto the animal, the man stays in the water and then swims toward it again in a second attempt to touch it.' Loper called the act 'extremely irresponsible, adding, 'this is stupid behaviour and demonstrates a shocking disregard for the welfare of the orca'. The unnamed man was fined a staggering $600 for the incident which 'really could have ended horribly,' according to Loper. He was identified through the help of police and allegedly refused to speak or provide an explanation when Loper and another colleague went to his home address to talk with him about the incident. 'Orca are immensely powerful animals, and this really could have ended horribly - with either the startled whale being injured, or the man responsible being harmed by the aggravated animal,' he said. 'It's a very clear breach of the Marine Mammals Protection Act. 'Orca are classified as whales under conservation legislation and it is illegal to swim with whales, or disturb or harass any marine mammal.' Loper urged social media users to continue alerting the Department of Conservation to content posted online they believe breaches legislation protecting New Zealand wildlife. 'This is the third case in recent years in which social media content has led to a successful prosecution for DoC and we greatly appreciate the tip-offs we get from the public,' he said. However, he said this was the first time that a person had jumped in the water on or near an orca, filmed it, and then posted it on social media. 'We often get tip-offs from members of the public about stuff posted on social media in relation to actions around marine mammals, but only a boat or a jet ski getting too close, or a drone flying too close, and other stuff like that.' Syria's British-born first lady, Asma al-Assad, has been diagnosed with leukaemia, the Syrian presidency said on Tuesday. The announcement came almost five years after the 48-year-old announced she had fully recovered from breast cancer. The statement said Asma would undergo a special treatment protocol that would require her to isolate, and that she would step away from public engagements. In August 2019, Asma said she had fully recovered from breast cancer that she said had been discovered early. Since Syria plunged into war in 2011, the British-born former investment banker has taken on the public role of leading charity efforts and meeting families of killed soldiers, but has also become hated by the opposition. Syria 's British-born first lady, Asma al-Assad (pictured, file photo), has been diagnosed with leukemia, the Syrian presidency said on Tuesday. The announcement came almost five years after the 48-year-old announced she had fully recovered from breast cancer Asma al-Assad, wife of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, casts her vote during the country's presidential elections in Douma, Syria, with her husband in this file photo taken in 2021 She runs the Syria Trust for Development, a large NGO that acts as an umbrella organisation for many of the aid and development operations in Syria. Last year, she accompanied her husband, President Bashar al-Assad, on a visit to the United Arab Emirates, her first known official trip abroad with him since 2011. She met Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, the Emirati president's mother, during a trip seen as a public signal of her growing role in public affairs. Born in London, the former investment banker styled herself as a progressive rights advocate and was seen as the modern side of the Assad dynasty. The Assads have long worked to present themselves as modern, forward-looking leaders, even as Syria was convulsed by civil war that was ignited by a rebellion against the family's decades-long rule. The first lady, whose father is a cardiologist and whose mother is a diplomat, has two sons and a daughter with Assad. Asma Assad's parents are from the central Syrian province of Homs but she was born and raised in London before moving back to Syria after meeting the president. The couple's marriage was announced by state media six months after he assumed the presidency in July 2000 following the death of his father Hafez. This photo from Aug 8, 2018 on the official Facebook page of the Syrian Presidency, shows Syrian President Bashar Assad sitting next to his wife Asma Assad with an IV in her left arm Asma al-Assad is seen with her hair covered while undergoing cancer treatment in 2018 Born in London, Asma (pictured in 2018, file photo) - a former investment banker - styled herself as a progressive rights advocate and was seen as the modern side of the Assad dynasty In 2019, Asma (pictured at the time) announced that she was 'completely free' of breast cancer, a year after she was diagnosed with the disease The Assads have long worked to present themselves as modern, forward-looking leaders, even as Syria was convulsed by civil war that was ignited by a rebellion against the family's decades-long rule. The couple are seen in February 2023 visiting a girl who was injured in an earthquake in Syria (file photo) Asma Assad picks roses during the Damascene Rose Harvest Festival in the village of al-Marah in the mountainous region of Qalamoun, Syria, on May 25, 2023 Over the years, Asma Assad has faced heavy criticism for failing to speak out against, or stop, her husband's violent regime. Activists and insurgents accuse her of being complicit in atrocities they accuse the Syrian government of committing. The UN has accused government forces of carrying out massacres and conducting widespread attacks on civilians. In a report published in August 2014, the international body said people had been systematically murdered, tortured, raped - as well as forcibly disappeared. This, it said, amounted to crimes against humanity. Such accusations persist to this day, with the affects of the war still being felt acutely, with it having caused a vast humanitarian crisis. The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country's pre-war population of of 23 million, began as peaceful protests against Assad's government in March 2011. The protests were met by a brutal crackdown, and the revolt quickly spiralled into a full-blown civil war. As a result, the enemies of Asma husband have dubbed her 'the lady of death'. Supporters, meanwhile, have praised her as 'the jasmine of Damascus'. In 2019, Asma announced that she was 'completely free' of breast cancer, a year after she was diagnosed with the disease. The Syrian civil war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country's pre-war population of of 23 million, began as peaceful protests against Assad's government in March 2011. The protests were met by a brutal crackdown, and the revolt quickly spiralled into a full-blown civil war. Pictured: A neighbourhood in Aleppo is seen reduced to rubble in 2017 (file photo) Syrian soldiers hold up Baath party flags and a portrait of Syrian President Bashar Assad with Arabic that reads 'Yes to the leader of victory,' as they celebrate outside the town of Douma, in the eastern Ghouta region, near the Syrian capital Damascus, May 26, 2021 (file photo) Syrian First Lady Asma al-Assad is seen in a car in Paris on December 10, 2010 In a state TV interview at the time, she encouraged women to go for regular check-ups, saying that early detection of illnesses can be crucial in survival. Her choice to go public with her diagnosis was a rare declaration in the Arab world, where prominent figures often conceal their ailments. Assad has previously been pictured attending military hospitals for treatment, with husband Bashar Assad by her side. This is a breaking news story. More to follow... A notorious sex offender dubbed the 'Playboy Rapist' told a court that he would kill himself if a media gag order wasn't granted - before the judge refused his request. Simon Monteiro, also known as Simon Lowe, was sentenced in 2009 to 11 years in jail over the violent rape of a Sydney woman in 2007. The former model, who is in his late 60s, was given the nickname after bragging about his glamorous life and claiming to have had relationships with US pop star Mariah Carey and actress Barbara Hershey. Following Monteiro's release from jail, a judge granted authorities a five-year extended supervision order (ESO) to restrict his movements restricted and protect the community. Monteiro has always maintained his innocence of the rape charge and is now fighting to have the ESO lifted. Details of the case can now be reported after a judge denied Monteiros request to put a media gag order on the proceedings on Tuesday. Simon Monteiro (pictured leaving the Supreme Court in Sydney on Tuesday) is fighting to have his extended supervision order lifted The court heard that Monteiro believes the ESO order should never have been issued in the first place. Monteiro represented himself during a preliminary hearing in the case in the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday. The convicted sex offender delivered a fiery account of the traumatic impact the ESO was having on his everyday life, The Daily Telegraph reported. Monteiro told the court that he unable to properly work, earn a living or have any intimate relationships without being accused of breaching the order. 'I mean, your Honour and this isnt a threat, Im not a suicidal person, Im a very positive person this order stays, and Im going to take my life,' he said. Monteiro blamed the media for his situation, claiming that relentless and sensational reporting were mostly 'lies' and resulted in him receiving death threats. He also told the court he received unwanted late night visits at his home that he shares with his elderly father Monteiro also claimed the media attention had also cost him a $3,000-a-week job after two days of employment. The former model (pictured) now in his late 60s, was convicted for 11 years in 2009 over the violent rape of a Sydney woman in 2007 Simon Monteiro (pictured) told the judge he would kill himself if his extended supervision order wasn't lifted Monteiro asked the court to put a gag order on proceedings that would prevent the media reporting his name in connection with the case. 'My lifes in danger, and my 90-year-old fathers life is in danger,' Monteiro said. 'Theres people turning up and trying to kill me at my house, theres death threats on [my] phone that come from the media [attention]. 'I just dont want to live like this. Its not a life, this is just an existence, and I cant survive.' Monteiro claimed that his case was 'not in the public interest' and made further threats of suicide if the reporting continued. Justice Richard Button refused Monteiro's application for a non-publication order, saying there was already extensive reporting of his court proceedings which would make an order pointless. The judge also found Monteiro hadn't established why the order was 'necessary', which is required under legislation. The matter was adjourned until June to give time to Monteiro to consider an appeal over the non-publication order not being granted. It will also give time to the former model to consider if he wishes to make a separate application calling for Justice Button to recuse himself. If you or someone you know needs help in a crisis call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636. A traveller gets round Ryanair's 'rip-off' excess baggage charges - by pulling the wheels off his carry case. The Spaniard was told he would have to pay an extra 70 to take the battered case on board - more than the cost of his flight and more than double the price he paid for the travel bag a decade ago. His novel solution was to yank the wheels off one by one with the help of a friend with him so it would fit in the Ryanair sizer and he could take it onboard at no extra cost. Fellow passengers watching on laughed as he joked: 'Imagine it doesn't fit after this' while he worked up a sweat. He received a first round of applause as he removed the last of the four wheels and a second louder ovation as a witness offering a running commentary shouted: 'It's in' as he confirmed it now met Ryanair's bag dimensions. The travellers are seen yanking the legs off one of their cases He was told he would have to pay an extra 70 to take the battered case on board An airline worker watching the surreal scene unfolding in front of her eyes couldn't hold back her laughter Traveller smiles at the camera after confirming his damaged bag fitted the airline's standards An airline worker watching the surreal scene unfolding in front of her eyes couldn't hold back her laughter. The bizarre sequence of events occurred at Palma Airport ahead of a Ryanair flight to Malaga. The two travellers, identified only as Daniel and David, were returning to the Costa del Sol after spending a few days with friends in Majorca. Daniel, the owner of the case, said: 'I told Ryanair it cost me 30 euros 10 years ago and I wasn't going to pay the 70 euros they were asking me for, so I decided to break it. 'It would have cost me more to check the case in that I spent on the flight.' The bizarre sequence of events occurred at Palma Airport ahead of a Ryanair flight to Malaga Fellow passengers cheer the success Daniel, the owner of the case, said: 'I told Ryanair it cost me 30 euros 10 years ago and I wasn't going to pay the 70 euros they were asking me for, so I decided to break it' Coats with lots of pockets have previously been put forward as ways to beat airline excess baggage charges. One overcoat first advertised in 2017 boasted of being able to store up to 15kg of luggage in its hidden pockets. A write-up at the time said: 'There's 14 different pockets for you to store laptops, cameras and even shoes without any pesky air stewards noticing before you board.' Last year it emerged TikTokers were trying to avoid extra baggage fees by wearing fishing vests to the airport. When journalist Bobbi Hadgraft tweeted a picture of a pair of black cargo trousers covered with pockets all over the front and tagged Ryanair, the budget airline responded with a screenshot of the same designer trousers from Marc Jacques Burton priced at 1,280 on the website. It added in a jibe alongside the snapshot: '1,280? Just pay for a bag, Bobbi.' Federal investigators are trying to determine how Matthew Perry got the ketamine that killed him, it has emerged. Perry, 54, died from the acute effects of the anesthetic ketamine in October last year. The Friends actor was declared dead after being found face-down and unresponsive in the jacuzzi which adjoins the swimming pool at his home in Los Angeles. His death had publicly been considered a closed case, with the medical examiner having deemed it an accident, but law enforcement sources have now revealed that authorities are probing how he got ketamine and from whom. Local police and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents have interviewed some 'key people in Hollywood' who are known drug users, an insider told TMZ. The interviewees are not 'necessarily the actual source of ketamine', the news outlet reported, but authorities believe they may have 'information leading to the source'. Federal investigators are trying to determine how Matthew Perry got the ketamine that killed him, it has emerged. The actor, 54, died from the acute effects of the anesthetic ketamine on October 28 last year. He is pictured on October 22, 2023 - the last time he was seen in public Perry was declared dead after being found face-down and unresponsive in the jacuzzi which adjoins the swimming pool at his home in Los Angeles. He is pictured in the hot tub in a photo he had shared on his Instagram page Perry is best known for his role of Chandler Bing on the hit 90s TV sitcom Friends. He is pictured with fellow castmates Courtney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner ruled that Perry died from an accidental ketamine overdose on October 28, 2023. He also drowned in 'the heated end of his pool,' the autopsy report said, but that it was a secondary factor in his death. The examiner's report does not specify how or when Perry had consumed the fatal dose of ketamine. But it found that trace amounts were detected in his stomach, and that prescription medications and loose pills were present at his home. Sources close to Perry told investigators that he was undergoing ketamine infusion therapy, an experimental treatment used to treat depression and anxiety, at the time of his death. But his most recent known infusion was more than a week before his overdose, meaning that dose would no longer have been in his system. The examiner's report said the levels of ketamine in Perry's blood were comparable to higher-range levels used as general anesthetic in surgeries, and would cause overstimulation of the heart and problems breathing. This could have caused Perry to lapse into unconsciousness, with drowning then becoming a contributory cause of death. Perry's coronary artery disease, and his use of buprenorphine to treat severe pain, would have made him more vulnerable to the effects of ketamine, the report found. No alcohol was detected in his system by the autopsy report. Nor were there any traces of other drugs such as cocaine, heroin or fentanyl. Local police and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents have interviewed some 'key people in Hollywood' who are known drug users in a bid to find out who gave Perry ketamine, an insider told TMZ. The interviewees are not 'necessarily the actual source of ketamine', but authorities believe they may have 'information leading to the source'. Pictured: Perry as Chandler Bing in Friends The Batman logo at the bottom of his pool can be seen here in an aerial daylight shot. Perry's body was found in the hot tub adjoining the pool, to the bottom of this photo Police officers taped off the street leading to Perry's house where he was found dead on October 28 Perry, best known for his role of Chandler Bing on the hit 90s TV sitcom Friends, had struggled for decades with addiction to drugs, including ketamine, and related serious health issues, but had reportedly been clean for 19 months prior to his passing. Perry wrote in his memoirs of how he had relied on using ketamine daily at points during his battles with addiction. He said the drug eased his pain and helped with depression. 'Has my name written all over it - they might as well have called it 'Matty,'' he wrote, of ketamine. 'Taking K is like being hit in the head with a giant happy shovel. But the hangover was rough and outweighed the shovel,' explained Perry. He attended multiple rehabilitation clinics to combat addiction to painkillers and alcohol. In 2018 he suffered a burst colon, related to drug usage, and underwent multiple surgeries. In his memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, published in 2022, Perry described going through detox dozens of times. He dedicated the book to 'all of the sufferers out there,' and wrote in the prologue: 'I should be dead.' 'I have mostly been sober since 2001,' he wrote, 'save for about sixty or seventy little mishaps over the years.' Perry (pictured in 2015) had struggled for decades with addiction to drugs, including ketamine, and related serious health issues, but had reportedly been clean for 19 months prior to his passing However, a close friend of the star - who preferred not to be named - told DailyMail.com last year that Perry was 'never' clean. 'He lied to everyone about being clean. He never was. It is very sad. You know, the biggest lie he told was probably to himself,' the insider said. 'He could be quite a manipulative person when it came to his struggles with using, but it was such a struggle, such a battle, and he battled every day to the end.' Ketamine is illegally used as a recreational drug for its numbing and hallucinogenic effects. The drug can also be used by doctors as an anesthetic, and researchers are exploring its use as a mental health treatment. Tesco has apologised after a black mother claimed she was 'racially profiled' by two of their security guards. Serlina Boyd was shopping with her two children in Hampshire on May 11 when she noticed she was being followed around the store. The 42 year old challenged the pair on why they were watching her, and as an apology she was offered some complimentary bananas. She claimed the situation left her 'humiliated' and issued a formal complaint to Tesco, questioning if they offered adequate diversity training to their staff. In 2020 Ms Boyd launched Cocoa Girl, a magazine for black girls, after struggling to find 'appropriate' magazines for her daughter Faith, then six During the incident she asked to speak to their manager, who said they didn't find anything wrong with her being followed or offered the fruit, which was a 'goodwill gesture'. She argued that it was offensive because 'black people are constantly called monkeys'. The supermarket has since apologised and said it will refresh training where needed but Ms Boyd said it is 'not good enough'. 'I actually avoid going into the local supermarkets as much as possible because I don't want to be profiled,' she told the Independent. 'It's as though Tesco needs a handbook about how to deal with Black people in their stores. 'I was racially profiled. Tesco - and all supermarkets - need to look at how they treat Black people when they come into the store, that the system has to change. 'Black people should not automatically be treated as though we are criminals. I do want to see Black people treated fairly when they go into a supermarket.' She added: 'This needs to be told because so many people are saying that they're experiencing similar treatment and Black people have the right to go shopping without being treated in this way'. The supermarket has since apologised and said it will refresh training where needed but Ms Boyd said it is 'not good enough' In 2020 Ms Boyd launched Cocoa Girl, a magazine for black girls, after struggling to find 'appropriate' magazines for her daughter Faith, then six. She later also started Cocoa Boy. She explained: 'When you grow up, a lot of black children grow up and they don't see themselves in media and books...It is important for us for black children to have a publication that spoke to them.' A Tesco spokesperson said: 'We're really sorry for the experience Serlina Boyd and her children had at our store. 'We take this extremely seriously and want all Tesco stores to be places where everyone feels welcome, and we are very sorry that, on this occasion, this was not the case. 'We immediately undertook an internal investigation and the colleagues involved were made aware of the impact of their actions and refreshed the relevant parts of their training.' Broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby has said he backs assisted dying rights for terminally ill people of sound mind - as he reflected on his late brother's battle with motor neurone disease. Scupltor Nicholas Dimbleby, who is also the brother of TV star David Dimbleby and won acclaim for statues such as that of JM Whistler on Cheyne Walk and Jimmy Hill at Coventry City FC, died in February. Speaking on ITV's Good Morning Britain today, Jonathan said his brother had always been a supporter of the right to assisted death. He added: 'He wanted the option and believed he should have had the option, once he was terminally ill, of sound mind as he was until the very end but in a terrible physical condition. Broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby said on Good Morning Britain today that he backs assisted dying rights for terminally ill people of sound mind Jonathan Dimbleby (left) pictured with his late brother Nicholas who was a sculptor (right) Johnathan Dimbleby pictured speaking with Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid on Good Morning Britain today 'He wanted the option, whether he would have taken the option I do not know. 'I found out on his behalf about Dignitas, which is what he was thinking about, at one point. 'The complexities of that, the awfulness of having to go through the procedures, the cost of it - 15,000 pounds now at least, the fact that your loved ones if they consciously seem to be helping you in any way towards that end, are liable to criminal prosecution, there is a series of big hurdles. 'But I think the the fundamental point is, in my own view, that if you are terminally ill in the sound mind, you should have that right. 'I am acutely aware, as anyone should be of the those who are vulnerable and those who have disabilities. Johnathan told Good Morning Britain how his brother had always been a supporter of the right to assisted death Johnathan, pictured with Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid, said his brother 'believed he should have had the option' in relation to assisted dying Nicholas Dimbleby pictured with his sculpture 'A bronze boy on a pedestal' 'I greatly respect those in those situations, particularly those disability campaigners who fear that this is a slippery slope. 'I don't think there is any need to have a slippery slope with the legislation that I think should be proposed.' Earlier this year, Mr Dimbleby told The Guardian that the current rules which make assisted dying a criminal offence 'are anachronistically cruel as capital punishment'. Mr Dimbleby, a friend of King Charles, added: 'The law should be changed so that individuals like my brother, protected by crucial legal safeguards, would have the right to die at home at a moment of their choice.' Dame Esther Rantzen and Dame Prue Leith are among the other high profile advocates for assisted dying, while actress and disability rights campaigner Liz Carr has spoken out in opposition. Prue Leith (pictured) has previously advocated for assisted dying Dame Esther Rantzen (pictured) is among the other high profile advocates for assisted dying Actress and disability rights campaigner Liz Carr (pictured) has spoken out in opposition Laws in the UK currently prevent people from asking for medical help to die and Carr has been a vocal opponent of assisted dying for more than a decade. Jersey's politicians are to vote this week on whether to establish an assisted dying service on the island. Poll Do you support the legalisation of assisted dying? Yes No Do you support the legalisation of assisted dying? Yes 452 votes No 82 votes Now share your opinion A debate in the island's States Assembly today will precede a vote on legalising assisted dying, although the vote may not happen until tomorrow. Health and social services minister Tom Binet defended the controversial proposals, saying they had been 'very much influenced and informed by the views of islanders'. In 2021, just over three-quarters of the members of a citizens' jury on Jersey agreed that assisted dying should be permitted, and later that year the Assembly became the first parliament in the British Isles to decide 'in principle' to allow assisted dying. A Queensland MP who was allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted has been forced to shut down her electorate office and contact police amid concerns for the safety of her staff. Keppel MP Brittany Lauga took to social media on Tuesday to announce that her electoral office in Yeppoon, in Central Queensland, will remain closed 'as a result of several threatening and offensive safety concerns from members of the public'. The alleged threats towards Ms Lauga's staff have been reported to police, with CCTV, emails and voicemails handed over to officers. Ms Lauga, 37, said the decision to close her office was made to protect staff. 'The safety of my staff is absolutely my number one priority. As a result of several threatening and offensive safety concerns from members of the public, the Keppel Electorate Office is closed,' she wrote. The electorate office of Queensland Labor MP Brittany Lauga (pictured) remains closed, after her staff received threatening and offensive messages Ms Lauga said the two female staff members who work at the office will be working remotely, however locals who live in the electorate can still contact the office if they need assistance or require support. 'The Keppel Electorate Office staff are two hardworking and passionate women public servants; employed to provide support and advice to the public,' she said. 'I will not tolerate threatening or harassing behaviour and as such, the office will remain closed until further notice.' Ms Lauga added within the comments of her Facebook post: 'Im the politician.. people can have a go at me all they like.. Im used to it! 'But leave my staff, family and friends alone!' A Queensland Police spokeswoman confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that officers are aware of the incident and are making inquiries. Ms Lauga, 37 (pictured) said she would not tolerate the threatening behaviour being directed towards her staff and said their safety is her priority The Keppel MP took to social media on Tuesday to upload a statement (pictured), informing her constituents the electorate office had been shut down Ms Lauga's Facebook post was inundated with hundreds of supportive comments from locals and state and federal politicians. 'Everyone deserves to be safe at work' Labor Senator Nita Green wrote. Queensland transport minister Mark Bailey added: 'Appalling to hear your staff are being threatened, harassed and abused The Clerk of the Queensland Parliament Neil Laurie, who oversees the administration of electorate offices in the state, said the alleged threats against staff were concerning. 'Electorate Office staff have the right to be treated with dignity and respect at all times,' he said. 'They have a right to a safe workplace and a right to feel safe.' The electorate office located in Yeppoon in Central Queensland (pictured) will be closed until further notice Staff who work at the electorate office (pictured) will work remotely, however locals can still contact the office to request assistance and support Mr Laurie said staff were ordered to work from home and their attendance would be closely monitored. James Ashby, the One Nation candidate who is contesting the seat of Keppel said the move to close the electorate office will affect residents who want to raise their concerns in person. 'There is no excuse for the Keppel electorate office to be closed to walk-in constituents,' he told the Courier Mail. The move to shut down the electorate office comes less than a month after Ms Lauga filed a complaint to police over allegations she was drugged and sexually assaulted on April 28. She claimed she was sexually assaulted after a Snapchat video was widely circulated on social media, which appeared to show her in intimate contact with a man. A video which was filmed by bystanders showed a man and the Labor MP, at the Yeppoon Town Centre carpark opposite a nearby hotel. The allegations are still being investigated by police. A spate of e-bike phone thefts has sparked fears among Londoners of having their device snatched from their hands while simply walking along the street. Figures have shown mobile phones are reported as stolen in London every six minutes as the horrific crime wave, spurred on by gangs of muggers using bikes and mopeds, has swept through the capital. There were almost 91,000 phones snatched from Londoners in 2022, at an average of 248 a day, with only two per cent of the stolen devices recovered. Criminals often target pedestrians in busy locations such as outside stations, shopping centres or concert venues, and usually approach from behind, meaning victims aren't aware of how vulnerable their phone is until it's too late. Here MailOnline lists some helpful ways to protect yourself from thieves so you can stand the best chance of keeping your phone in your own hands. A thief is seen approaching an unsuspecting victim on a bike from behind as she walked along Albany Street in central London He swiftly swooped to seize the mobile phone from her hands Be aware of your surroundings: The Met Police has warned that most thefts happen between six and ten at night, although some criminals do operate during the day too. It is therefore vital to always look out for whats going on around you. If you need to call or use your phone on the street, look out for anyone on a bike or a moped near you. Look up, look out, but make it quick so you don't become distracted It is also better if you don't text while you're walking as you won't notice what's going on around you. If that's not possible, stand away from the roadside, close to a building or wall, so no one can come up behind you Going hands-free can prevent a thief from snatching your phone out of your hand Use security features on your phone It is a good idea to switch on your phone's security features to protect it from being stolen on the street. Use the keypad lock so that thieves cannot immediately access your phone, or use the biometric authentication if your phone has it (fingerprint or facial recognition) Your phone may have other security features you can use these could allow you to wipe data, lock your handset, or prevent a thief from restoring a phone to its factory settings from another internet device You can also consider installing an anti-theft app. These can be an effective way of helping police trace your phone and identify the thief Video footage shows a cyclist riding in the middle of Park Lane, London and turning off the road to ride on the path The cyclist then seems to carefully line their bike up with the man before appearing to swoop past him and swipe his phone out of his hands Onlookers nearby watch as the man tries to run after the bike rider before eventually giving up Know how to identify your phone if it's stolen Every phone has an IMEI number which helps police and insurance companies to identify it if it's stolen. UK network operators can also stop a stolen phone from working across their networks with its IMEI Find your IMEI number by dialling *#06# from your phone and keep a written note of it; if the phone is stolen, report the number to your mobile provider to stop it being used Registering your valuables on an accredited property database can also help keep track of items if they are stolen. Most importantly, the Met advises you to never confront a thief or risk your own safety for the sake of your mobile. Fifteen 'super-sized families' with at least 13 children are claiming an estimated 229 a week in child benefits, official figures have revealed. They are among at least 24,000 households who are claiming child benefit for six or more children at a yearly cost to taxpayers of 150million. Parents receive 25.60 for their first child and 16.95 afterwards, with the total amount paid out by the government standing at around 13billion a year. There is no limit to the number of children you can claim for. This graphic shows the parts of England with the most families claiming for ten children or more A freedom of information request by the Telegraph found the parts of England with the most families claiming for ten children or more were Hackney, London (40), Birmingham (25), Salford (20), Haringey, London (10) and Bristol (10). Len Shackleton, editorial and research fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, called the figures 'startling'. He said: 'Any reform of child support always runs the risk of plunging some groups into serious poverty, but our current system produces perverse incentives and is not a good look politically. It needs to be changed. 'Having large families should be a personal choice supported by the parents who can afford it and are prepared for the lifestyle. It should not be a choice apparently encouraged by the benefit system.' Child benefit is offered to all parents but reclaimed by the Government through the tax system for parents earning over a 'high income' threshold. Parents are charged one per cent of their child benefit payment for every 200 of income over 60,000. Over 80,000 all payments are clawed back. The limits were increased in the Spring Budget, with ministers claiming the change would provide an average boost of 1,260 for half a million working families. Child benefits payments also count towards the benefits cap of 423.46 per week for couples. Couples who breach the cap will still receive their full child benefit payments, although other benefits may be reduced. The Archbishop of Canterbury condemned the 'cruel' two-child benefit cap in his latest foray into politics over the weekend. Gary Bateman and his partner Joanne Shepherd pictured with their family in 2006. They claimed 30,000 a year for their 11-strong brood Justin Welby urged Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer to axe the limit on handouts for families, saying it was 'neither moral nor necessary' and 'falls short of our values as a society'. The PM has committed to keep the policy if the Tories remain in power after the general election, while Sir Keir has so far resisted calls to scrap it despite pressure from Gordon Brown and many of his own MPs. The cap, which was introduced in 2017, restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households. The archbishop has come under fire for taking strident positions on delicate political issues, having railed against Mr Sunak's Rwanda deportation plan. He told the Observer: 'The two-child limit falls short of our values as a society. It denies the truth that all children are of equal and immeasurable worth, and will have an impact on their long-term health, wellbeing and educational outcomes.' Sir Keir was challenged on his position when he launched his plan for Labour's 'first steps' in office on Thursday. He said tackling child poverty was 'central to an incoming Labour government' but 'what I can't do is make promises that I can't deliver on'. But the Archbishop of Canterbury said: 'This cruel policy is neither moral nor necessary. 'We are a country that can and should provide for those most in need, following the example of Jesus Christ, who served the poorest in society. 'As a meaningful step towards ending poverty, and recognising the growing concern across the political spectrum, I urge all parties to commit to abolishing the two-child limit.' Mr Welby has previously denied that the Church is 'party political'. The president of the University of Cambridge's student union has threatened a hunger strike after raising concerns over 'corruption' and 'nepotism' just weeks after another officer resigned over its stance on Gaza. In an open letter published online, Vareesh Pratap wrote to the university's Vice-Chancellor Deborah Prentice setting out a series of demands and signalling the students' governing body is in chaos, claiming three more members are considering resigning. He told MailOnline he is in his second week of 'dry-fasting' - not consuming any food or water during daylight hours - until his demands, which include declaring recent election results 'null and void' and greater financial transparency, are met. His demands state this will be upgraded to a full hunger strike later this week. It comes just a week after the union's Welfare and Community Officer, Harvey Brown, resigned from the union and said he could not continue to work for an organisation that 'does not express public opposition to Israel's ongoing bombardment of Gaza.' Mr Patrap accuses the university, which runs the beleaguered student union, of 'killing democracy' and cites 'targeted harassment against sabbatical officers' as partly responsible. Vareesh Pratap wrote to the university's Vice-Chancellor Deborah Prentice setting out a series of demands and signalled the students' governing body is in chaos Mr Pratap has accused the university of 'corruption' and 'nepotism', saying it is being run like a 'quasi-family business' that is 'killing democracy' Mr Pratap's letter has so far received more than 260 signatures online Out of a total of eight officers at the student union, who all work full time, two have already resigned this year and Mr Patrap said he is aware of three others who are seriously considering leaving. In a series of statements, Mr Patrap asked Cambridge's vice-chancellor: 'Are the full-time elected representatives in general, and those from people of colour in particular, being targeted? 'Are there instances of severe financial irregularities or corruption that are being tried to be concealed? 'Has Cambridge SU become a quasi-family business, nurturing nepotism, with a select group of top administrative staff making arbitrary appointments without following due procedure?' He added: 'Are we witnessing the slow demise of democracy, or is it being gradually eroded?' Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Patrap said his references to possible financial issues came after months of requests to the University to examine the union's financial statements. He described the hunger strike as a 'test of my own patience' and said he is determined to continue until 'all my demands are met'. These include holding elections for the currently empty roles of Women's Officer and Welfare and Community Officer, declaring a recent election for the role of Student Trustee 'null and void' and greater financial transparency. He ended the letter: 'I urge you to consider these matters with the utmost seriousness, as the legitimate expectations of our students are at stake. It comes just days after the Wellbeing and Community officer Harvey Brown (pictured) resigned over work-related stress and the university's position on Gaza Pro-Palestine students have been camping in tents outside King's College, Cambridge Students previously camped outside Senate House (picture), forcing graduation ceremonies to be moved 'In protest against the prevailing crisis, I will continue to fast during daylight hours until the upcoming Thursday, and thereafter, I will undertake a total fast until the demands are met. 'Moreover, I hereby excuse myself from the University Council and its sub-committees in my capacity as a University Trustee until the university takes corrective measures to uphold democratic values within the university that we proudly espouse to the global community. 'May God help Cambridge University effectively fulfil its legitimate duties and provide its students with a healthy democracy and proper representation!' It has so far received more than 260 signatures. His move comes just a week after Wellbeing and Community Officer Harvey Brown resigned from the student union due to 'work-related stress' and cited the university's position on Gaza. Last week, graduation ceremonies had to be relocated after pro-Palestine protesters occupied the lawn in front of Senate House, next to King's College, Cambridge, as they demanded the university divest from firms supporting Israel. Mr Brown, who joined the protesters, said he had 'no other choice' but to resign amid a decline in his mental health and the situation in Gaza. He added: 'I am ashamed that neither Cambridge SU nor Cambridge University has to date condemned Israel's ongoing genocide of Palestinians, despite both organisations strongly condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.' Mr Brown said protests from students calling upon the university and SU to 'end the University's complicity in genocide' has been a test 'both organisations have failed'. He accused the union of banning staff members from visiting the ongoing encampment in support of Palestinians, located outside Cambridge's King's College, and of publishing a statement about the protest without consulting him or the BME officer. Mr Brown said: 'As a British-Palestinian, it has been very difficult to keep existing within an institution whose business-as-usual is upheld through investments in apartheid and genocide.' He continued: 'I urge students and staff to join me in supporting the encampment, whose demands suggest a way to not only end the university's complicity in harm, but repair that harm and reinvest the resources currently dedicated to devastation towards supporting the Cambridge community and Palestinian and Sudanese students and scholars. 'As a community we must keep standing together against state-sanctioned violence, opposing racism, anti-semitism, and Islamophobia when we enounter them, showing up for our friends and neighbours'. The statement was posted to the union's official Wellbeing page, before being swiftly deleted. Cambridge University and Cambridge Student Union have been contacted for comment. Centrelink has issued an urgent warning to Aussies about a 'bonus payment' scam. Services Australia said on Monday there were 'unofficial websites' that had been sharing misleading information about a fake payment of $1,800 for those on the Age Pension. 'They may encourage you to read about a new one off or bonus payment by clicking a link. Only trust http://servicesaustralia.gov.au and http://my.gov.au for official information about our payments,' it said. Services Australia have issued an urgent warning to Aussies to only go to their official website after people have been sharing misinformation from unofficial sites On the official Services Australia website was an example of the scam, which said: '$1,800 extra Australia pension coming. Who is eligible, fact check about payment dates.' According to the government department, unsuspecting Aussies have been sharing the links to the fake websites on social media, believing they are official. 'If the website URL doesnt end in .gov.au then it isnt an official government website. It could be a scam,' it said. 'Well always let you know when there are changes to any of our payments or services. 'Well let you know on our official website and official social media channels.' Services Australia showed the scam on their website, warning Aussies to be careful There are multiple Services Australia scams circulating, including ones involving myGov and Medicare. Other Centrelink scams include fraudsters pretending to be from the government agency calling people to tell them they have to immediately pay a debt or face arrest. According to the National Anti-Scam Centre's Scamwatch, about $92million has been lost to scams so far in 2024 by Aussies. In 2023, there were over 601,000 scams reported by Australians, resulting in a loss of $2.74billion - less than the $3.1billion lost in 2022. The top five most lucrative ways Australians were scammed in 2023 were by investment, remote access, romance, phishing and payment redirection. It is 'genuinely dangerous to be Jewish' near Gaza marches in London and other cities today, Michael Gove warned today as he accused pro-Palestinian protesters of turning a blind eye to 'lurid demonstrations of anti-Semitism'. In a major speech at a Jewish community centre today the Communities Secretary raised the spectre of Nazi Germany, warning that attacks on Jews were often 'the canary in the mine' for the state of a nation. Mr Gove called on the organisers of pro-Palestine marches and 'good people taking part' to do more to stop symbols of anti-Jewish hatred being displayed by elements on the marches. He said Jews were unable to be 'their authentic selves' near the marches and while many protesters are 'thoughtful, gentle, compassionate people', they are 'side by side with those who are promoting hate'. In recent weeks one man has been arrested for carrying a placard emblazoned with a swastika while police sparked outrage by telling a Jewish woman that the notorious Nazi symbol was 'not necessarily anti-Semitic'. Mr Gove also lashed out at protests on university campuses, asking which there were no similar protests against human rights abuses by China, Syria or Burma. He pointed out that no-one had killed more Muslims in recent times that Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. The Cabinet minister described anti-Semitism as the 'common currency of hate' that is shared by the Far Right, the Hard Left and Islamists and attacked the boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) movement as 'explicitly anti-Semitic'. Mr Gove's speech came ahead of the publication of a long-trailed report by the Government's independent adviser on political violence, Lord Walney. Michael Gove (pictured) will say that throughout history countries 'descending into darkness' have become more dangerous for Jews A Pro-Palestinian protester holds a flare and a flag as anti-Israeli demonstrators gather outside the Embassy of Israel in London Hundreds of Pro Palestinian supporters gathered in central London on the 76th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba on Saturday Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters confronted each other at Piccadilly, exchanging boos and opposing chants. Police maintained a strict line between the groups to prevent any escalation. Lord Walney accused authorities of bring 'insufficiently robust' with groups on the left. In a long-awaited report today he said groups like Just Stop Oil, who make lawbreaking a central part of their modus operandi, should face serious curbs on their fundraising and liable to legal action from disrupted businesses. With an eye on pro-Palestine protests he also suggested that the law be changed to make it easier for police to refuse to allow large-scale protests to take place. The groups could also be forced to contribute towards law-enforcement costs. In what may be the most controversial part of the report he also suggested that ministers examine banning protests outside the Houses of Parliament in the centre of London, to prevent MPs from being harassed. In Protecting our Democracy from Coercion, Lord Walney, a former Labour MP turned crossbench peer, wrote: 'Extreme political movements are a well-recognised problem on the right, from the racist violence of the National Front in the 1970s through to today's anti-Muslim and anti-minority groups. 'Yet too little attention has been paid to serious forms of violence, intimidation, and incitement of hatred on the extreme left. The review is expected to recommend measures to crack down on disruptive demonstrations, including possible restrictions on protest groups deemed to be 'extreme'. Speaking to reporters in Austria, Rishi Sunak said: 'Extremism has no place in our society. Threatening or intimidating behaviour that disrupts the lives of ordinary hardworking people isn't acceptable. 'I have been very clear about that, I want to make sure the police have our full backing and the powers they need to clamp down on it. 'That is why we have given them those new powers, making sure that we can ban the use of face coverings, flares, pyrotechnics, climbing on war memorials.' He added: 'Of course, we will study Lord Walney's recommendations in detail, but I am very clear it is not the British way to behave in an intimidating or threatening manner and we will make sure the police have our full support and backing in clamping down on that type of behaviour.' Mr Gove urged the House of Lords to pass a bill to stop public bodies such as town halls and universities organising boycotts of businesses linked to Israel. His comments come after figures revealed anti-Semitism reached a record high in the UK, with 4,103 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded by the Community Security Trust in 2023, more than half of which took place after Hamas's terrorist attack of October 7. Mr Gove said: 'It's an ironclad law of history that countries which are descending into darkness are those which are becoming progressively more unsafe for Jewish individuals and the Jewish community the Spain of the Inquisition, the Vienna of the 1900s, Germany in the 1930s, Russia in the last decade. 'It is a parallel law that those countries in which the Jewish community has felt most safe at any time are the countries where freedom is most secure at any time. The Netherlands of the 17th century. A protester holds a placard outside the gate of the University College London 'Britain in the first decades of the last century. America in the second half of that century.' He added: 'So when Jewish people are under threat, all our freedoms are threatened. 'The safety of the Jewish community is the canary in the mine. Growing anti-Semitism is a fever which weakens the whole body politic. It is the mark of a society turning to darkness.' He will add: 'There is one thing which, increasingly, unites the organisations and individuals which give cause for extremist concern. Anti-Semitism. It is the common currency of hate. It is at the dark heart of their world view. Whether Islamist, Far-Right or Hard-Left.' And he will say that ensuring the safety of Jewish people is a moral duty for all to uphold, stressing: 'We said Never Again. And that is a promise we will never, ever, disavow.' Deputy Labour leader and shadow communities secretary Angela Rayner said: 'There is no place in Britain for antisemitic hate and those who push this poison should face the full force of the law. We all have a responsibility to condemn this vile hatred and show that it will never be tolerated. 'Michael Gove is right that most people on these marches have been protesting peacefully and lawfully, but we cannot tolerate the hateful minority and the appalling incidents of antisemitism. 'Labour will continue to urge ministers to reverse the downgrading of recording requirements for non-crime hate incidents, bring forward a new hate crime strategy, and crack down on online extremism. 'Our door will always be open to working together on finding ways of tackling this hate.' Civil servant firebrands spark fury by accusing Israel of genocide and ethnic cleansing - as they also claim Palestinians will 'inevitably resist' their 'oppression' Civil servant activists have sparked outrage by accusing Israel of genocide and ethnic cleansing. Public sector trade union members have also claimed Palestinians will 'inevitably resist' their 'oppression' by Israel and so it should be replaced by a secular state. Some are demanding not only an arms embargo on the country but also the right to refuse to work on any UK arms trade activity with the Israeli Defence Forces. One branch of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union claimed flying the Israeli flag from official buildings is 'unacceptable' and 'detrimental' to Muslim staff. Their controversial remarks have been made in official motions that could be debated and voted on at the union's annual conference starting in Brighton today. Last night they were condemned by leading campaigners. Lord Mann, the Government's independent adviser on anti-Semitism, said of pro-Palestinian motions being debated: 'This has got nothing to do with their [Public and Commercial Services union] members whatsoever it is self-indulgent' Israeli flag is projected onto the front facade of Prime Minister's Office on October 8, 2023 Public sector trade union members have also claimed Palestinians will 'inevitably resist' their 'oppression' by Israel and so it should be replaced by a secular state. Lord Mann, the Government's independent adviser on anti-Semitism, told the Mail: 'This has got nothing to do with their members whatsoever it is self-indulgent. 'If I was a member of that union, I would wonder why this is even getting on the conference agenda.' Former Labour MP Lord Austin of Dudley said: 'It is very worrying to see civil servants who are supposed to be impartial and implement government policy singling out one of our closest allies for such one-sided criticism. 'Iran is at war with the West, Israel is on the frontline and we should be doing all we can to support them in dealing with the terrorists and releasing the hostages.' Conservative MP Andrew Percy said: 'The flag of Israel was flown on buildings in the UK following the Hamas attacks of October 7. 'If the PCS is offended by the Government choosing to mark those horrors, I'm afraid the PCS is a sick and twisted organisation. 'I am sure every civil servant, of all religions and none, would have been utterly horrified by the rape and butchery committed by Palestinian terrorists on October 7.' In total there are 115 references to Israel in the conference agenda report, compared with six to Russia and three to Iran. A dozen motions attack Israel's response to October 7 but just four specifically condemn Hamas in similar terms and only one refers to the hostages still held by the terrorist group. One of the most outspoken, tabled by a HM Revenue & Customs branch in Bristol and Reading, calls for PCS delegates to condemn 'these crimes against humanity, war crimes and the genocidal strategy of Israel'. Conservative MP Andrew Percy (pictured) said: 'If the PCS is offended by the Government choosing to mark those horrors [that occurred on 7 October], I'm afraid the PCS is a sick and twisted organisation' One of the most outspoken motions, tabled by a HM Revenue & Customs branch in Bristol and Reading, calls for PCS delegates to condemn 'these crimes against humanity, war crimes and the genocidal strategy of Israel' It wants the union to 'build our presence in the Palestine Solidarity Campaign's protests'. The branch also calls for members working in firms or departments involved in the arms trade to be identified then helped 'to refuse to produce, facilitate or transport goods or services in such trade with Israel'. Another motion tabled by members in the Independent Office for Police Conduct calls on delegates to agree 'the Israeli government is guilty of war crimes and ethnic cleansing'. It says there can only be peace in the Middle East with a 'single democratic secular state'. The motion adds: 'The current state of Israel cannot offer security for Jews as its existence is dependent on continued oppression of the Palestinian people who will inevitably resist.' A motion by a Ministry of Justice branch said flying Israeli flags on government buildings was 'unacceptable as it contradicts the role of civil service impartiality' and was 'detrimental to our Muslim employees'. Last night the PCS said this motion had been ruled inadmissible. January 5 On January 5, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 - a Boeing 737 Max 9 - lost a door plug at 16,000 feet on a flight from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California. That part is designed to replace an unneeded emergency exit door, and it blew out within just 20 minutes of takeoff. An emergency landing was required and the plane landed safely, but a teddy bear, two mobile phones, a child's t-shirt were all said to have have flown out during the incident. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded 171 of the 737 Max 9s in the aftermath and six of the flight's passengers went on to sue the airline. Alaska Airlines and United Airlines also went on to find loose parts on their grounded jets' door plugs. On January 5, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 - a Boeing 737 Max 9 - lost a door plug at 16,000 feet on a flight from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California The missing door panel was found in a high school physics teacher's back yard January 16 An anonymous whistleblower broke rank to say that the door plug blowout 'was Boeing's fault', rather than its supplier Spirit AeroSystems. First reported by The Seattle Times, they claimed the fuselage panel was removed for repair then reinstalled improperly at its Washington factory 'The reason the door blew off is stated in black and white in Boeings own records,' they wrote on aviation site Leeham News. 'It is also very, very stupid and speaks volumes about the quality culture at certain portions of the business.' February 6 A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report said that the January 5 incident was down to four crucial bolds being missing from the panel which blew out. February 21 Boeing's 737 Max program chief, Ed Clark, was reportedly fired in a structural shakeup at the company. Clark was also general manager at the company's Renton, Washington, facility and had been at Boeing for 18 years. He was replaced by Katie Ringgold, while a 'senior vice president of quality' role was created too. March 3 A United Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 veered off the runway after landing in Houston due to some sort of gear collapse. Shocking footage showed the plane lying flat on its wings on grass by the side of the runway, while passengers were hurried off from an emergency gate ladder. A Boeing 737 Max operated by United Airlines veered off the tarmac into the grass when exiting the runway at George Bush Airport in Houston early Friday March 4 An audit by the FAA of both Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems 'found multiple instances where the companies allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements'. March 6 The head of the NTSB accused Boeing of 'not cooperating' with its investigation into the January incident. Jennifer Homendy said investigators sought the names of the 25 people who work on door plugs at the Renton facility, but had not received them from Boeing. She told a Senate Committee hearing 'it is absurd that two months later we don't have it'. However, Boeing spokesperson Connor Greenwood pushed back and insisted that names of employees were provided 'early in the investigation'. The same day, a 737's engine caught fire in mid-air above Texas, causing an emergency landing minutes into its journey to Fort Myers, Florida. March 7 A wheel fell off a Boeing 777-200 shortly after takeoff from San Francisco, crushing cars below. The plane with 235 passengers and 14 crew diverted to Los Angeles Airport after it was alerted to the landing gear failure and landed safely with no further incident and no injuries reported on the ground. March 9 Boeing whistleblower John Barnett, 62 - a former quality control manager and employee of 32 years - was found dead in his truck outside a South Carolina hotel days after testifying against the company in a lawsuit. The coroner put it down to a 'self-inflicted' gunshot wound in the head, though the police confirmed that they would investigate further. Barnett had made a string of complaints to his higher-ups in his time as a quality control manager before leaving the company on health grounds in 2017. In January 2024, he appeared on TMZ to say that the 737 Max 9 aircraft were being launched back into the air too soon in the wake of the accident, suggesting corners had been cut. Boeing whistleblower John Barnett was found dead in his truck outside a South Carolina hotel days after testifying against his former employer March 11 A Boeing 777 was was forced to land due to hydraulic fluid spewing from its landing gear area. The forced landing happened as the San Francisco-bound 777-300 embarked from Sydney, with fluid filmed leaking from its undercarriage. March 15 A United Airlines 737 was grounded after it was found to be missing a panel after it touched down successfully in Medford Airport, Oregon, despite the missing part. March 20 A Boeing 737 900 bound for Atlanta was forced to turn back and make an emergency landing after an engine blow out on take-off from Aruba. The Delta flight circled the Caribbean island four times before coming back into land following the 'mechanical issue'. March 29 United Airlines flight 990 - a Boeing 777-200 - from San Francisco to Paris had to touch down early in Denver after engine problems. April 4 Alaska Airlines announced that they had received $160 million in compensation from Boeing after their 737 Max 9s were grounded following the January 5 door blowout. The amount was equal to the revenue lost according to a filing from the airline, but Alaska added that it anticipated receiving extra compensation too. April 10 Another whistleblower, Sam Salehpour, came forward in a Senate committee hearing to accuse Boeing of taking shortcuts when building its 777 and 787 Dreamliner jets and added that the company had retaliated against him when he raised concerns. He doubled down on the claims a week later, adding on NBC that 787s should be grounded fearing 'fatal flaws' which could case them to fall apart mid-air. In a 1,500 word statement, Boeing said it was 'fully confident' in the 787 and called concerns about structural integrity 'inaccurate.' Pictured: Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour testifies before the US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations on April 17 April 11 An internal Boeing review in response to an initial Wall Street Journal investigation found that CEO Dave Calhoun and other bosses at the aviation firm spent $500,000 on company private jets for personal trips which were improperly recorded as business travel. Boeing's review concluded that some of the flights taken by executives in 2021 and 2022 'were not previously classified as perquisites by the company'. In the company's proxy filing on April 5, Boeing said that these flights 'should have been classified as such in accordance with SEC rules and guidance'. April 16 United Airlines indicated it will reduce reliance on Boeing after announcing a $124m loss in the first quarter of 2024, which it blamed on the scandal-laden manufacturer. April 24 Boeing's CEO assured investors after a first-quarter loss of $355m was announced which coincided with a six per cent dip in share prices. Calhoun added that he had a successor lined up for his departure at the end of 2024 who would come from inside the company. April 26 Delta flight 520 was forced to make an emergency landing at JFK Airport when an emergency slide fell off the Boeing 767 an hour into its journey to Los Angeles. FAA records indicated that the plane was 33 years old. April 30 Joshua Dean (pictured) died suddenly on April 30 aged 45 having raised the alarm about supposed defects in 737 Max jets Dean was employed by Spirit AeroSystems based in Wichita, Kansas A second whistleblower, Joshua Dean, died suddenly aged 45 having raised the alarm about supposed defects in 737 Max jets. The former Spirit employee previously said he was fired from his quality auditing role for questioning standards at the supplier's plant in Wichita, Kansas, in October 2022. His family said on social media that Dean died in hospital after a sudden illness. Earlier in 2024, Dean spoke with NPR about being fired. 'I think they were sending out a message to anybody else. If you are too loud, we will silence you,' he said. May 6 The US Federal Aviation Administration revealed it has opened an investigation into Boeing after the company reported that workers at a South Carolina plant falsified inspection records on certain 787 planes. Boeing said its engineers have determined that misconduct did not create 'an immediate safety of flight issue'. No planes have been taken out of service, but having to perform the test out of order on planes will slow the delivery of jets still being built at the final assembly plant in North Charleston, South Carolina. Boeing must also create a plan to address planes that are already flying, the FAA said. Shocking footage showed the moment the plane attempted an emergency landing, smashing down into the runway and scraping its nose along the concrete May 8 A FedEx Airlines Boeing cargo plane landed at Istanbul Airport without the front landing gear deployed and managed to stay on the runway, Turkey's transport ministry said, adding that there were no casualties. The Boeing 767 aircraft, flying from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, informed the traffic control tower at Istanbul Airport that its landing gear failed to open and it landed with guidance from the tower, the ministry said in its statement. Airport rescue and fire fighting teams made necessary preparations on the runway before landing, and no one was injured, the ministry also said, without giving a reason for the failure. Footage showed sparks flying and smoke billowing as the front end of the plane scraped along the runway before being doused with firefighting foam. May 9 A Corendon Airlines Boeing 737 plane's front tire burst upon landing at an airport in southern Turkey on Thursday, the Turkish transport minister said, adding there were no casualties and all 190 passengers and crew were evacuated. The front landing gear strut was damaged on the Corendon Airlines plane, arriving from Cologne, Germany, as it landed at Alanya-Gazipasa airport in Antalya. The same day, a Boeing passenger plane came off the runway during takeoff from Dakar international airport, injuring 11 people and shutting the hub for hours. A Boeing 738 plane of Corendon Airlines that operated Cologne-Antalya flight gets stuck on runway due to a burst tire in Antalya, Turkiye on May 9, 2024 Pictures from the scene in Turkey showed the stationary aircraft on the tarmac flanked by emergency vehicles - its front wheels and landing gear crumpled underneath. Corendon Airlines denied Turkish reports that the aircraft had landed on its nose In this grab taken from video people jump down emergency slides, running from a plane, in Dakar, Senegal, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. A Boeing 737 plane carrying 85 people caught fire and skidded off a runway at the airport in Dakar, Senegal's capital, injuring 11 people The Air Senegal flight was bound for the Malian capital Bamako and had 78 passengers on board, plus a crew of six including two pilots, airport management company LAS said in a statement. Images showed the aircraft in an overgrown area with first aiders surrounding an injured person. Smoke and flames are also visible near the plane. Also on May 9, the US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating statements made by Boeing Co. about its safety practices after a mid-air panel blowout on a 737 MAX flight in January. The SEC will examine whether the planemaker or its executives misled investors in violation of the Wall Street regulator's rules, the report said, citing three people familiar with the development. May 14 Boeing has violated a settlement that allowed the company to avoid criminal prosecution after two deadly crashes involving its 737 Max aircraft more than five years ago, the Justice Department told a federal judge. It is now up to the Justice Department (DOJ) to decide whether to file charges against Boeing. Prosecutors will tell the court no later than July 7 how they plan to proceed, the department said. May 21 One person died and others were injured on a flight from London to Singapore which plummeted 6,000ft in five minutes before making an emergency landing in Thailand. The Boeing 777 plane operated by Singapore Airlines left the UK's Heathrow airport on Monday evening at 22.17pm local time with 211 passengers and 18 crew on board. However, flight SQ321 experienced severe turbulence while flying close to Myanmar airspace in a region being battered by extreme tropical thunderstorms. Pictured: Passengers are seen in the cabin after the incident on Tuesday, with belongings strewn across the floor and oxygen masks dangling from above Passengers are seen on the Singapore Airlines plane after it made an emergency landing in Bangkok on Tuesday. Oxygen masks fell from the ceiling, as did other components Geoffrey Kitchen, 73, (pictured) who ran the Thornbury Musical Theatre Group in Bristol, was on board the plane when the incident happened After around 11 hours of flying time from take off in London, the aircraft sharply dropped from an altitude of around 37,000 feet to 31,000 feet within just five minutes as it finished traversing the Andaman Sea and neared Thailand. Boeing said: 'We are in contact with Singapore Airlines regarding flight SQ321 and stand ready to support them. 'We extend our deepest condolences to the family who lost a loved one, and our thoughts are with the passengers and crew.' David Cameron is leading a group of fellow Cabinet ministers in opposing a crackdown on graduate visas to curb immigration, it has emerged. The Foreign Secretary warned universities will face job losses and even closure if Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pushes ahead with plans for new restrictions. Fresh migration statistics to be published on Thursday are expected to show the number of people coming to Britain remains high. Ahead of the release of latest figures, the PM is mulling curbs on graduate visas to ensure only the 'best and the brightest' can come to the UK. A graduate visa gives a student permission to stay in the UK for at least two years after successfully completing a course in Britain. But Mr Sunak is said to be considering a reduction in the length of such visas, while the PM could also limit graduate visas to only Russell Group universities. According to The Times, Lord Cameron has been joined by Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Home Secretary James Cleverly in opposing the move to introduce curbs on graduate visas. David Cameron warned universities will face job losses and even closure if Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pushes ahead with plans for new restrictions PM Rishi Sunak is reported to be mulling curbs on graduate visas to ensure only the 'best and the brightest' can come to the UK Fresh migration statistics to be published on Thursday are expected to show the number of people coming to Britain remains high In a letter to the PM, as reported by the newspaper, the Foreign Secretary said: 'One of the consequences of any restrictions on graduate visas is that universities will experience further financial difficulties leading to job losses, closures and a reduction in research. 'International students make a significant economic contribution to the UK and are vital to the sustainability of the UK's higher education sector.' Ms Keegan is also said to have written to Mr Sunak last week to express concerns about the economic impact of restrictions. But Government sources played down the idea of tensions between ministers over graduate visas, insisting proposals are going through 'normal process'. Graduate visas are seen by some MPs as a backdoor for longer-term immigration to Britain. But, last week, the Migration Advisory Committee found no evidence of widespread abuse of the graduate visa route and warned some courses would become 'less financially viable' if the number of international students was cut. Downing Street said the Government would respond to the report 'in due course', but added it was working to reduce migration levels. Mr Sunak's official spokesman said: 'The PM has said before that British students should be the priority for our education system and universities and student visas must be used for education, not immigration.' In January, the Government introduced tougher restrictions to student visa routes in a bid to slash migration. International students are now no longer able to bring family members to Britain with them, unless they are on postgraduate research courses and courses with Government-funded scholarships. Professor Brian Bell, chairman of the Migration Advisory Committee, said last week that the ban on foreign students bringing dependants was producing a 'much bigger fall than the Government expected'. An Alaska man was attacked and killed by a moose while trying to take photographs of her two newborn calves. Dale Chorman, 70, was killed in Homer, a small city on Kachemak Bay in Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, on Sunday when a cow moose charged at him and a friend. The female moose, who had recently given birth to the calves, is believed to have kicked or stomped Chroman as the pair were running away, state troopers said. The second man, who has not been publicly identified, was uninjured. His grieving son Nathan, in a heartfelt tribute, hailed Chorman for being a 'loving husband, great father, and fantastic friend to family'. The family is also urging people not to harm the moose, claiming that she was 'defending' her calves and 'acting in a way that Dale would totally have understood and anticipated'. Dale Chorman, 70, was killed in in Homer, Alaska - a small city on Kachemak Bay in the Kenai Peninsula - on Sunday when a cow moose charged at him and a friend Chorman, pictured with his wife Dianne, was attacked and killed by a cow moose while trying to take photographs of her two newborn calves The female moose, who had recently given birth to the calves in Homer (pictured), is believed to have kicked or stomped Chroman as the pair were running away, state troopers said Alaska State Troopers were called to the scene around 11.52am Sunday after receiving reports that a cow moose had charged two men in Homer. Chorman, a well-known photographer in his community, had reportedly witnessed the cow moose giving birth and was so delighted by the experience that he brought a friend to the area in hopes of finding the cow and taking more pictures. How prevalent are moose attacks in the US? Moose attacks are typically uncommon, but occur in states with large moose populations. As many as 10 attacks are reported in Alaska each year, the New York Times reported. In Colorado, at least four people were injured in moose attacks last year. Experts claim that moose attacks are on the rise, according to Colorado Outdoors Magazine. A 2018 study revealed that each year people are attacked by moose than by any other species of wildlife. Human fatalities involving moose are rare, with experts saying most occur almost exclusively from vehicle crashes. There are roughly 2million collisions with moose and deer in the US each year, the National Parks Service reports. These collisions kill approximately 440 people and injure around 59,000 annually. They also cause more than $10billion of economic losses each year. Advertisement He and his friend had been walking through the brush and looking for the moose, when the mother launched her attack, the Alaska Department of Public Safety confirmed. 'As they were approaching the area suddenly the moose came crashing out from wherever it was they hadn't seen it, on the attack,' Tim Kizzia, a friend of Chorman's, told KTUU. 'And they turned to run and his friend looked back and saw that Dale was already on the ground and the moose was standing over Dale.' Medics pronounced Chorman dead at the scene. Authorities know the attack happened as the pair were trying to flee the area, but Chorman's companion did not witness the attack, so they cannot say if the moose killed him by kicking or stomping him, or a combination. Nathan Chorman, in a statement to the TV station, said his father was a great man and 'in the running for my favorite character in this whole human drama'. 'We loved him. We love him,' he wrote of Chorman, adding that he knew the community really 'loved his photos over the years' and that 'he loved sharing them with you'. The cow moose had left the area by the state troopers arrived to the scene and his family now hopes that no one finds her. Kizzia said the family has 'encouraged everyone not to do anything to the mom', claiming that she reacted in a way Chorman would have expected. There are up to 200,000 moose in Alaska, a state with a human population of about 737,000. The animals are not normally aggressive, but can become so if provoked, according to the state Department of Fish and Game's website. A cow moose will become very protective over young calves and will attack humans who come too close, the department says. His grieving son Nathan, in a heartfelt tribute, hailed Chorman (pictured) for being a 'loving husband, great father, and fantastic friend to family'. The family is also urging people not to harm the moose, claiming that she was 'defending' her calves and 'acting in a way that Dale would totally have understood and anticipated' Chorman, (pictured during a fishing trip) was a well-known photographer in his community and had reportedly witnessed the cow moose giving birth. He was so delighted by the experience that he returned to the area to snap more pictures 'Calving season for moose is the time when you definitely want to give them extra space,' said Austin McDaniel, spokesman for the Alaska Department of Public Safety. 'Cow moose with calves are going to be some of the more aggressive moose you're going to come in contact with.' People should not spook the animals or get between a mother and her calves, he said, adding: 'Those moose will become unpredictable and work to protect their calves at any cost.' The largest of the deer family, a small adult female moose can weigh up to 800 pounds (363 kilograms), while a large adult male can weigh twice that, according to Fish and Game. The animals can stand almost 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall. In 1995, a moose stomped a 71-year-old man to death when he was trying to enter a building on the campus of the University of Alaska Anchorage. Witnesses said students had been throwing snowballs and harassing the moose and its calf for hours, and the animals were agitated when the man tried to walk past them. British holidaymakers have blasted two men for hogging five sunbeds between them at a Benidorm resort - in what could be an early sign of the poolside chaos to come this summer. Last season's sunbed wars are threatening to make a comeback as hotels in hotspots including Spain's Costa Blanca fill up with tourists from northern Europe looking for a sunny getaway. Paul Hitchcock, who regularly holidays in Benidorm, shared a picture of two sunseekers at his hotel who had stacked up multiple deckchairs - seemingly preventing other holidaymakers from bagging a spot. 'Two people, five sunbeds, and they are not the only ones,' he told fellow tourists, who slammed what they called the men's 'selfish' sunbathing etiquette. Others jumped to the pair's defence - suggesting that the chairs were piled up by the gentlemen as the loungers are often too low for elderly people. Paul Hitchcock, who regularly holidays in Benidorm, shared a picture of two sunseekers at his hotel who had stacked up multiple deckchairs 'Ask them to move them if people need them. It's not right but if they have dodgy knees like me and can't get up easily I get why they are doing it,' one woman sympathised. 'If there's plenty of beds it's not a problem,' said another person, adding that the beds 'are so low' that 'older people or people with back problems put two together as it's easier to get off.' But some questioned whether the men were saving the chairs for friends or family members, arguing that chairs should be taken on a first come first served basis. 'I'd throw the towels off and take them. Not on them, they're not 'yours'. Simple,' one person commented on the Benidorm group Facebook post. Many argued that it was the hotel's responsibility to deal with uncooperative guests. 'I would get the hotel staff to do something about it,' one said, with another adding it 'shouldn't be allowed'. Another said: 'This should be getting stopped, how embarrassing!' Brits heading to Mediterranean resorts this summer are once again anticipating poolsides filling up - with reports last year of people queueing for hours before pools opened in a bid to secure a lounger. Footage showed holidaymakers racing each other to nab poolside sun loungers the moment sites opened, at which point witnesses said 'madness' ensued. A British mother holidaying in Benidorm last year said she was left close to tears after her family was forced to sit under a water slide after missing out on the mad dash. Cayleigh Tuffs, pictured with her husband Andrew and their eight-year-old daughter Charley, said she was left on the brink of tears after missing out on the mad dash last year Cayleigh Tuffs, 34, who was on holiday with her husband Andrew and their eight-year-old daughter, described the rush for beds as 'horrendous' and vowed never to return to the Spanish tourist destination. Hotels across southern Spain were forced to crackdown last year on unruly behaviour as tourists battled for the best sunbathing spots. One hotel on the Costa del Sol revealed that they were forced to introduce a parking ticket style system - with towels left on beds unattended removed after a time limit. Guests at the Estival Torrequebrada on Benalmadena Beach, many of whom paid thousands for their holidays, were warned they could no longer leave towels as a marker on a sunbed to claim it for a whole day. People queue for sun loungers at Hotel Estival Torrequebrada near Malaga as many brought chairs and a good book as they waited for almost two hours before the beach and pool opened Management instead began leaving cards on sunbeds with towels, handbags and other personal belongings on them, warning they would be removed after 45 minutes if they remain unoccupied. After missing out on a sunbed at their Greek resort where a similar policy was meant to be enforced, one German family was awarded a 280 payout. The family, who spent 4,532 on their break last summer, were awarded the cash after they were they were unable to get any loungers at their Rhodes hotel one morning. Managers at the TUI Kids Club Atlantica Mikri Poli hotel had been operating a policy that meant guests who put down towels on any of their 500 beds had to use them within 30 minutes. The court found that in this case, the policy was not implemented. Advertisement A 73-year-old British passenger on board a Singapore Airlines has been killed and seven others are fighting for their lives after extreme turbulence caused mayhem in the cabin and forced pilots to make an emergency landing. After leaving London last night at 22.17pm local time with 211 passengers and 18 crew on board, the Boeing 777 plane encountered severe difficulty after hitting an air pocket near Myanmar airspace which resulted in a sharp drop of 6,000 feet in five minutes. Terrified passengers described how they had little warning to strap on their seatbelts before the aircraft plummeted, with one recounting how people were 'launched into the ceiling' as the plane fell through the sky. Our live coverage has now ended Extreme turbulence on planes can leave flights to sunny destinations ending in chaos and carnage, but fortunately, pilots and cabin crew say we're safer than we think. Horror footage captured by terrified travellers caught in unstable skies and later shared online often shows just how uncertain the moments can be for panicked passengers. From having their noses broken to being thrown out of their seat, getting splattered by loose food and drink, or simply suffering the distress of extreme turbulence, some passengers have had truly horrifying experiences. But although turbulence is simply the result of changes in the distribution of air currents and pressure around the plane - and poses no major risk to safety - remaining calm in a cylindrical tube at 40,000ft in the air is easier said than done. MailOnline has looked at just how turbulence affects your flights and how to handle the situation like a pro if you find yourself on a bumpy sky ride. What is turbulence? Pilots have revealed there are three different types of turbulence you can experience during a flight. One, Joey Miuccio, 28, from Florida, revealed on social media that that light, moderate, and severe turbulence can impact you in various ways, however, he reassured you are safe during every level. The pilot noted that travellers constantly asked him if turbulence was 'that dangerous.' He then shared the three different types of turbulence. 'The three most common levels of turbulence are light, moderate, and severe,' he said. 'Severe is very, very rare but it does happen,' he said. Joey goes on to explain the different levels by using a coffee cup analogy. He said that if you were trying to drink a cup of coffee during light turbulence, the coffee may move around the cup, but you would have no problem sipping it. During moderate turbulence, it would become hard to drink the beverage and the coffee would start splashing around a bit. 'And then severe, that coffee is probably all over your shirt and it's gone. The coffee cup's probably gone and severe is pretty gnarly but you're very safe if you're in your seat with your seatbelt fastened,' Joey explained. He noted that staying in your seat with your seatbelt on was 'key.' 'The aircraft is so durable and strong and flexible. It goes through all these stress tests and it can handle a lot of stress and a lot of turbulence,' the pilot reassured. 'As long as you are seated with your seatbelt fastened, you are safe, the aircraft is safe.' A flight from Madrid to Buenos Aires in October 2022 was plunged into chaos when it hit severe turbulence and threw screaming passengers around the cabin, leaving one girl breaking her nose on the ceiling. Aerolineas Argentinas said that at the time of the turbulence, seat belt signs were on and an announcement had been made. But some passengers fumbling for seatbelts or those who were unbuckled at the time ended up hitting the ceiling. A woman was left with a broken nose after smashing into the ceiling during a violent bout of turbulence on a flight from Madrid to Buenos Aires in October 2022 The Aerolineas Argentinas AR1133 flight took off at 7.51pm on October 18 from Madrid and was heading to Buenos Aires. But the Airbus A330 that was carrying 271 passengers and 13 crew members was affected by bad turbulence. Pictured: The cabin after the turbulence Aerolineas Argentinas said that at the time of the turbulence, seat belt signs were on and an announcement had been made. But some passengers fumbling for seatbelts or those who were unbuckled at the time hit the ceiling. Pictured: Open compartments and oxygen masks after the turbulence Trolleys and bags hurtled through the cabin as hand luggage compartments opened up, leaving bags and cases dropping onto the heads of passengers at speed. At least 12 people were injured and three of them were later hospitalised with severe injuries, including one girl who was pictured with bandages wrapped around her bloody nose after it was broken. The flight landed in Buenos Aires four-and-a-half hours after the turbulence, and the passengers who had suffered injuries were dashed to hospital. Passenger Adrian Torres told newspaper El Pais: 'We had flown about seven hours and almost all of us slept, because at that time it was almost three in Spain. 'The plane started to move a lot and I said to my colleagues, "how much turbulence, buckle up". 'As I fumbled for my seat belt, the plane encountered severe turbulence.' He said the plane then suddenly dropped metres and they shot towards the ceiling in the scary scenes. Is severe turbulence on the rise? According to research from last year carried out by the University of Reading, rising temperatures and changes to the jet stream have dramatically increased the amount of turbulence in the sky. Severe turbulence increased 55 per cent between 1979 and 2020 and is expected to get more intense, more frequent and last longer in future. Global warming causes disturbances to the jet stream the narrow current of fast-moving air that planes fly along to get a speed boost. More and more, airplane passengers are capturing terrifying footage of extreme turbulence on their smartphones, sending air stewards and hot drinks flying. In rare cases, turbulence can even be fatal, as demonstrated on Tuesday when it caused the death of a passenger flying from London to Singapore. Tens of thousands of planes encounter severe turbulence every year, with an estimated cost to the global aviation sector of up to 826million from costs of injuries, structural damage to aircraft and flight delays. How does climate change worsen turbulence? Commercial planes fly in jet streams - narrow currents of fast-flowing air in the Earth's atmosphere. As he Earth's atmosphere warms, these jet streams are getting stronger and more wavy. This is because the jet stream is driven by temperature differences, and as the Earth's temperature increases, these differences are getting bigger. This means that planes are more likely to encounter turbulence when they fly through the jet stream. Advertisement The new study was conducted by researchers at the University of Reading and published today in Geophysical Research Letters. 'Following a decade of research showing that climate change will increase clear-air turbulence in the future, we now have evidence suggesting that the increase has already begun,' said study author Professor Paul Williams. 'We should be investing in improved turbulence forecasting and detection systems, to prevent the rougher air from translating into bumpier flights in the coming decades.' Some aircraft turbulence occurs in well-defined locations, such as over mountain ranges or within the vicinity of convective storms, and is largely avoidable. At a typical point over the North Atlantic one of the world's busiest flight routes the total annual duration of severe turbulence increased by 55 per cent from 17.7 hours in 1979 to 27.4 hours in 2020, the research found. Moderate turbulence increased by 37 per cent from 70.0 to 96.1 hours, and light turbulence increased by 17 per cent from 466.5 to 546.8 hours. While the US and North Atlantic have experienced the largest increases, the experts found that other busy flight routes over Europe, the Middle East, and the South Atlantic also saw significant increases in turbulence. What are the worst routes? The skies over the Atlantic are getting wilder as the jet stream moves, most likely due to climate change. So key holiday routes to America, Canada and the Caribbean could become bumpier. In Europe, flights going over the Alps can be rocky with routes to Switzerland and Austria seeing the most turbulence. Long-haul routes including London to Johannesburg and Durban can be bumpy, while the skies over Japan are notoriously lumpy. Fly to Australia and you may be turbulence-free all the way Down Under but expect to hit bumps on the last legs to Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne. What are the smoothest routes? It's rare for short-haul flights to Europe to suffer more than a short stretch of light turbulence. Meteorologists inform pilots in advance of bad weather, allowing planes to re-route and avoid the worst. Passengers can get their own predictions on websites such as turbli.com. It scans the skies up to 36 hours ahead of flights, looks for thunderstorm forecasts, predicts whether take-offs and landings will be smooth and if turbulence will be light, moderate or strong. Tricky airports Pilots say landing anywhere near the equator can be tricky, as wind speeds change fast and storms break suddenly. Holiday airports including Miami, Orlando and Cancun can be bumpy along with Bangkok, Hong Kong and Singapore. A group of passengers in 2017 had to endure a truly horrific flight from Moscow to Bangkok where some described being 'hurled' to the ceiling. Several passengers aboard the Aeroflot flight from Russia to Thailand suffered broken bones, and three needed surgery, Russian officials said at the time. Two passengers required surgery for leg fractures and another needed surgery for broken ribs. A total of 24 other passengers were also injured, including 14 adults and a child who were taken to hospital. Footage only revealed the aftermath of the horror flight, but passengers described the worst of the shake where they had to cling on and pray for the devastating turbulence to stop. The airline said the turbulence occurred in clear skies, meaning the pilots were not able to warn passengers. Those who were injured did not have their seatbelts on, the airline added. The plane carrying 313 passengers had been due to land 40 minutes after the turbulence kicked in. A video after the plane had smoothed out showed the true horror of the journey. One man was seen lying stricken across the ground receiving medical attention surrounded by items like cups, trays and bags which had all fallen loose. The back of the plane is also seen where stewards store food and drink. Crockery and cups appear to be spilt across the ground. The drinks cart is also seen tipped over. Strong winds also mean Madeira airport is tricky for pilots, with planes often diverting to nearby Porto Santo island until the weather improves. Gibraltar airport can get pulses racing (the sea looms at each end of the runway and pilots have to slam on the brakes fast) while high winds can rock planes near the Canary Islands. The final approach to Athens airport is also notorious for bumpy skies. Best places to sit to avoid turbulence To avoid being tossed around a plane, pilots have given their expert opinions on where to sit on the aircraft to avoid the nuisance of turbulence. Joey Miuccio said on social media: 'I'll tell you what, you definitely don't want to sit at the back. The back is the worst spot.' The expert pilot then referenced the 'pen trick' before demonstrating it himself as he bounced it around between his thumb and index finger. He explained of an airplane: 'Usually the center of gravity is a little bit forward so it's not as bad in the front and around the wings. 'You can see that the back of the plane is getting freaking rocked. The front's not so bad.' Joey continued: 'The whole plane is getting bounced around but it is worse further from the center of gravity. 'So [sit] more towards the wings - maybe a little bit in front of the wings. That is my tip of the day. But definitely don't sit in the back.' But footage filmed by passengers sitting in the middle of a plane on a flight from Shanghai to Beijing that encountered terrifying turbulence found themselves 'tossed into the air'. Footage of the AirChina flight CA1524 showed passengers being thrown from their seats as the turbulence hit with at least one person and a crew member left injured as the plane plunged hundreds of feet. Passengers at the time described the horrifying experience of being thrown from their seats, with one claiming that the ceiling cracked and an emergency exit sign fell to the floor in the chaos. Video captured the moment people were thrown from their seats as the violent turbulence hit Piercing screams rung out through the cabin as the turbulence first hit, and some passengers thrown out of their seats and into the air 'The first half of the flight was quite smooth. However, in the last 30 to 40 minutes, as people were going back and forth to the restroom, there was a sudden drop that startled everyone,' passenger Xing Lida said on Weibo. 'I saw a woman in her 40s and a flight attendant covering the woman with her body both thrown to the ceiling,' Xing, who reportedly works as an associate professor at China University of Geosciences, told the Global Times. 'The ceiling cracked and the exit sign fell to the floor next to my feet. There are some sprains and superficial injuries, he said. Footage of the disaster flight revealed piercing screams ringing through the cabin and travellers gripping onto their seats as they lurched upwards - almost hitting the ceiling. As well as passengers being jolted out of their seats, their belongings, including travel pillows and books, were strewn about the cabin. The dramatic moment lasted less than a second, before terrified passengers who had previously been out of their seats rushed back and hurriedly put their safety belts back on. According to the Valley International Airport in Harlingen, Texas: 'One of the biggest factors in the amount of turbulence you're likely to experience is your seat position on the plane. 'To avoid feelings of turbulence, aim for seats at the center of the plane, over the wings, or toward the front. These areas tend to be more stable.' A man who allegedly fatally stabbed a 22-year-old in the chest was freed from immigration detention and deemed to be at 'low' risk of reoffending just a month before the alleged murder. Emmanuel Saki, 30, is charged with murdering Bosco Minyurano on May 12. Police will allege in court that Saki stabbed Mr Minyurano in a park on Mortimer Rd at Acacia Ridge, in Brisbane's south shortly after midnight on Mother's Day. Mr Minyurano, of Acacia Ridge, died at the scene, despite the efforts of emergency responders to revive him. Bosco Minyurano (pictured) was allegedly stabbed to death at a park in Brisbane earlier this month The pair were allegedly known to each other. Saki faced Richmonds Magistrate Court on May 13 for the first time since being charged with murder It's since been revealed that he had only been in the community for one month after he was released from Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre in Western Australia in early April, Nine News reported. Born in Khartoum, Sudan, Saki's Australian humanitarian visa was cancelled in October 2019 due to his failing the character test. Saki had been jailed on several occasions between 2017 and 2018 for violent offending, including choking a person unconscious, assault occasionally actual bodily harm and assault. However, Administrative Appeals Tribunal overturned the 2019 decision and ordered he be released from detention. Emmanuel Saki has been charged with murder over the alleged stabbing in Acacia Ridge (scene pictured) Nine News reported AAT deputy president Stephen Boyle determined that Saki was 'now a low risk of reoffending'. 'I also accept that the applicant's risk of reoffending is low, that he now accepts responsibility for his actions and is remorseful for the harm that he has caused,' Mr Boyle said in his ruling. 'I am also mindful that ... a higher level of tolerance would be shown to non-citizens who have lived in the community for most of their lives or from a very young age. 'In particular, I find that the considerations of the strength, nature and duration of the applicant's ties to Australia, the best interests of minor children, the legal consequences of the decision and the impediments to the applicant establishing and maintaining basic living standards if he were to be returned to South Sudan, outweigh those considerations weighing against the revocation of the cancellation of the visa.' The top four CEOs in the US raked in hundreds of millions of dollars between them in 2023, a shocking new report found, shattering previous records, but the vast majority of the earnings are not in cash. Analysis by the Wall Street Journal showed the average pay of the CEOs of the biggest firms in the US was $15.7 million, up from $14.5 million in 2022. The top eight CEOs all made $50 million or more during the past year, reflecting a global trend of growing salaries for executives. Those salaries are generally reliant on performance. The biggest earners list doesn't include high-profile CEOs such as Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk or Tim Cook, there are also no women in the top 25. The biggest earner on the Journal's list was Broadcom's Hock Tan who raked in around $162 million. As part of his deal, Tan must stay in his role for five years while ensuring the company hits share price targets. The biggest earner on the Journal's list was Broadcom's Hock Tan, shown here, who raked in around $162 million Nikesh Arora, a former top executive at Google, came in at second the list thanks to his role at Palo Talo Networks Tan's 2023 pay, which was fueled by stock awards of $160.5 million, was 510 times the median salary of employees at the chip firm. Broadcom previously said that Tan's pay deal is in part to ensure loyalty and to ensure that shareholders' goals can be realized. During the remainder of his time as CEO, Tan will not receive cash bonuses or any other equity. In November 2023, Broadcom announced it had cleared all regulatory hurdles and plans to complete its $69 billion acquisition of cloud technology company VMware. Broadcom posted 2023 revenue of $35.82 billion, and its stock has risen about 17 percent so far in 2024 after nearly doubling last year. Tan, has been pursuing such deals for years, building out the company with big acquisitions like Symantec for close to $11 billion in 2019, and CA Technologies for about $19 billion the year before. Following Tan is Nikesh Arora of Palo Alto Networks who made $151 million, with $149.5 million coming in equity awards. Arora, a former top executive at Google, has been in the role with Palo Alto since June 2018. The company provides software security to 85 of the Fortune 100. In third, Stephen Schwarzman who brought in $119.7 million with all but $350,000 of that coming in equity at Blackstone, the world's largest private equity firm. Schwarzman, a previous heavy backer of Donald Trump's presidency but who revealed he won't support him in 2024, took home a total of $896.7 million including dividends, down 30 percent from his $1.2 billion take home in 2022. Schwarzman owns about 231.9 million shares of Blackstone, and the company paid an annual dividend of $3.35 per share. Stephen Schwarzman, Co-founder, Chairman & CEO, Blackstone, is third on the list. He recently made headlines after declaring he would not support Donald Trump in 2024 Charter CEO Chris Winfrey came in a fourth on the list of CEOs, he's been with the company since 2010 In fourth, Christopher Winfrey of Charter Communications made $89 million, $84 million of that was equity. Winfrey has been with Charter since 2010, joining first as CFO before becoming COO in 2021. In that time, Charter has grown considerably. He ascended to his current role as CEO and president in December 2022. It was first revealed in March of this year that his pay had risen to just shy of $90 million. The highest paid woman on the list is Julie Sweet of Accenture, coming in at 28 on the list with earnings of just over $30 million, $120 million less than those at the top end. The second highest place woman on the list, Lisa Su of Advanced Micro Devices, with earnings of $30 million, made $28 million in stock. There were 31 women in charge of S&P 500 companies for the year ending 2023, up from 24 in 2020. Apple CEO Tim Cook did manage to crack the top ten list of earners, alongside Netflix's Ted Sarandos and Discovery's David Zaslav. One third of the worst performing companies in the WSJ's analysis were healthcare companies with Pfizer admitting that bonuses were not paid to executives after financial goals were not met. The pharmaceutical giant's CEO Albert Bourla received $17.5 million in equity as gratitude for loyalty and to help to focus on long term targets, the company said. Britain's security minister Tom Tugendhat led scathing condemnation of Ebrahim Raisi as a funeral procession for Iran's late president took place today less than 48 hours after his death in a fiery helicopter crash. Today's procession in the city of Tabriz was the first act of funeral proceedings expected to last three days, with Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei set to hold a prayer and farewell ceremony for Raisi following another major event in Tehran tomorrow. But the fallen president has come under fire from many top officials in Europe and the US who made light of his ruthless record. During his time in office and as a leading figure in Iran's judiciary, Raisi ordered the executions of thousands of political prisoners and cracked down on protesters who took to the streets following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022. These actions earned him a reputation as a brutal, hardline executor of Khamenei's will, along with the dark moniker 'the Butcher of Tehran'. Writing on X, Tugendhat said: 'President Raisi's regime has murdered thousands at home, and targeted people here in Britain and across Europe. I will not mourn him.' Meanwhile, a slew of officials hit out at their own governments and institutions who offered official condolences, citing Raisi's chequered past. Top Western officials have hammered institutions and governments for honouring Raisi given his chequered past and reputation for butchering thousands of political prisoners and protesters This handout picture provided by the Iranian president's office shows mourners gathering around the coffins during a funeral procession in Tabriz, the capital of Iran's East Azerbaijan province, on May 21, 2024 for late president Ebrahim Raisi Tens of thousands of Iranians gathered in Tabriz on May 21 to mourn Raisi Today's procession in the city of Tabriz was the first act of funeral proceedings expected to last three days Mourners gather around Raisi's coffin during a funeral procession in Tabriz Mourners clamour to touch Raisi's coffin Crowds held banners, flags and images of Raisi as they paid tribute Writing on X, Tugendhat said: 'President Raisi's regime has murdered thousands at home, and targeted people here in Britain and across Europe. I will not mourn him.' In response to a tweet from NATO spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah that offered 'condolences to the people of Iran' following Raisi's death, former NATO Assistant Secretary General Marshall Billingslea bit back: 'I am flabbergasted by this tweet. This is completely inappropriate on so many levels.' EU Council President Charles Michel and top diplomat Josep Borrell also shared their condolences following Raisi's death, and were harshly criticised. Tory MP Alicia Kearns said that the decision to honour Raisi was 'bemusing', given he was 'a President whose regime has committed femicide' and 'transnational repression and attempted assassinations across Europe.' German MP and chair of the Bundestag's Defence Committee Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmerman said: 'It is an absolute mystery to me how the EU Commission can show #EU solidarity with Iran. 'What a miserable hashtag, what a mockery of the brave fighters for human rights in Iran. I expect an explanation for this.' Others pointed to Tehran's support for Moscow and Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. 'I don't feel comfortable sending condolences while Iran is sending drones that are used against civilians in Ukraine,' wrote Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis. In Tabriz, thousands of mourners packed the streets this morning before making way for a white truck carrying the coffins of Raisi and his foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian along several others who perished in the crash. The bed of the truck was wide open to display the coffins which were adorned with images of the dead and covered in flowers, and mourners were seen running alongside it to pay their respects. From Tabriz, Raisi's body will be flown to the Shiite clerical centre of Qom later today before being moved to Tehran during the evening. Processions will be held in the capital on Wednesday morning before Khamenei leads prayers at a farewell ceremony. Raisi's body will then be flown to his home city of Mashhad, in the northeast, where he will be buried on Thursday evening after funeral rites. Khamenei yesterday declared the nation will observe five days of mourning from today following the fatal crash. But the regime was said to be furious that many Iranians at home and abroad were celebrating Raisi's death as social media was flooded with footage of revellers evidently delighted at the news. People attend funeral ceremony, held for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his senior officials died in a helicopter crash, in Tabriz, Iran on May 21, 2024 The bed of the truck was wide open to display the coffins which were adorned with images of the dead and covered in flowers People attend funeral ceremony, held for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his senior officials died in a helicopter crash, in Tabriz, Iran on May 21, 2024 Mourners scramble to touch the coffins of the dead Thousands of mourners packed the streets of Tabriz this morning The procession makes its way down a main road in Tabriz People walk past a billboard with a picture of the late Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi on a street in Tehran, Iran May 21, 2024 The funeral of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi A white truck carrying the coffins of Raisi and his foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian along with seven others who perished in the crash is seen making its way through Tabriz Men hang a huge portrait of Iran's late president Ebrahim Raisi outside the Iranian embassy in Baghdad on May 20, 2024 Raisi, 63, was confirmed dead by Iranian media yesterday morning along with Abdollahian, the Governor of Eastern Azerbaijan province Malek Rahmati and Tabriz's Friday prayer Imam Mohammad Ali Alehashem. Two pilots and three other Iranian officials and security guards also died in the crash in the mountainous northwest of the country. Drone footage from Iranian and Turkish news agencies revealed the helicopter - an aged US-made Bell 212 - had smashed apart on landing, while clips shared by the Iranian Red Crescent showed solemn rescuers carrying corpses on covered stretchers out of the forest surrounding the crash site. Iran is yet to provide any details surrounding the crash, nor has it offered an explanation besides a simple statement on the poor weather conditions. But Iranian aircraft, particularly Western-supplied models such as the US-made chopper carrying Raisi, are notoriously unsafe and in a state of disrepair as the Islamic Republic has long been subject to Western sanctions that prevent access to desperately needed spare parts. It is not known when Raisi's helicopter was manufactured, but the Bell 212 has been in use with governments around the world for more than 50 years, first entering service in the early 70s. According to the Islamic Republic's constitution, a new presidential election will need to be called within 50 days. But Raisi's death is sure to trigger a power struggle, with a variety of ambitious candidates now set to vie for power. Meanwhile, thousands of Iranians at home and abroad continue to celebrate the death of the 'Butcher of Tehran'. The daughters of Minoo Majidi - a 62-year-old Iranian woman who was one of hundreds of people shot dead by security services during the nationwide fallout following the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022 - shared a video to social media raising a glass to the president's demise. That clip was followed swiftly by two more Iranian women, Mersedeh Shahinkar and Sima Moradbeigi, dancing and smiling in response to the news Raisi's helicopter had plunged into the mountainside. Shahinkar was blinded by the security forces' brutality amid the 2022 protests, while Moradbeigi lost the use of one of her arms after an armed guard blasted her elbow apart from point-blank range. A slew of other videos shared to social media appeared to show people setting off fireworks in the streets of Tehran in celebration - though these clips are yet to be verified. One appeared to show people in London waving the historic flag of Iran with a golden lion at its centre - a sign of protest against the Tehran regime - while members of the Iranian diaspora held celebrations in cities across Europe. Protesters from the anti-government National Council of Resistance of Iran group rare seen waving old Iranian flags outside of the Embassy of Iran in London, Britain, 20 May 2024 Celebration and reaction to the news of the death of Iranian President Raisi posted on Social Media The daughters of a woman shot dead by Iranian security during protests cheers to his death Mersedeh Shahinkar and Sima Moradbeigi, who were seriously injured by Iranian security agents amid the protests following the death of Mahsa Amini, are seen dancing and smiling in response to the news Raisi's helicopter had plunged into the mountainside One clip shared to social media appeared to show people setting off fireworks in the streets following news of Raisi's death Rescue team members work at the scene of a crash of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Varzaghan in northwestern Iran, Monday, May 20, 2024 Iranian rescue workers work near the wreckage of the crashed Iranian President helicopter, in the area of Varzaghan, Tabriz province, southwestern Iran, 20 May 2024 Raisi, who became president of Iran in 2021, was widely seen as a vassal for the regime and a yes man to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He stormed to the presidency with a huge majority following the 2021 elections - but less than half of Iran's electorate turned out to vote after many more moderate candidates were barred from running. As a young student at a religious seminary in the holy city of Qom, Raisi took part in protests against the Western-backed Shah in the 1979 revolution. His contacts with religious leaders in Qom made him a trusted figure in the judiciary, and he became Iran's deputy prosecutor aged just 25. Raisi quickly worked his way to the top - and in doing so earned himself the moniker 'the Butcher of Tehran'. As deputy prosecutor and subsequently chief prosecutor, Raisi stood on the so-called 'death committee' - a group of four judges who presided over tribunals in 1988 that were assembled to 're-try' the regime's political prisoners. Thousands of these prisoners were ruthlessly executed and dumped in unmarked graves. The exact number of deaths is not known but rights groups estimate roughly 5,000 people were killed following Raisi's brutal judgement. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is confirmed dead after rescuers found a helicopter carrying him and other officials that had crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran. Drone footage from the site of the crash is seen in this still image This grab taken from handout video footage released by the Iranian Red Cescent on May 20, 2024 shows rescuers recovering bodies at the site of President Ebrahim Raisi's helicopter crash Rescuers are seen searching the site of the crash A handout picture provided by the Iranian presidency on May 19, 2024, shows Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, who died on Sunday Not only was Raisi loyal to the Republic and its Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, but throughout the 1980s he had developed a close relationship with the then-president of Iran, Ali Khamenei. Khamenei went onto become Iran's Supreme Leader following the death of Khomeini in 1989, and is undoubtedly responsible for charting Raisi's path to the presidency in 2021. Following Raisi's election, his hardline position became yet more evident. In 2022, he ordered tighter enforcement of Iran's 'hijab and chastity law' restricting women's dress and behaviour. It was under these orders that 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was detained in September 2022 by Iran's 'morality police' for wearing 'improper' hijab and died three days later in hospital, sparking mass unrest. The resulting months of nationwide protests presented one of the gravest challenges to Iran's clerical rulers since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Hundreds of people were killed, according to rights groups, including dozens of security personnel who were part of a fierce crackdown on the demonstrators. Police powers to crackdown on Just Stop Oil-style protests that cause 'serious disruption' to the public were unlawful, the High Court has ruled. The Government measures, which were introduced by the Home Office last year, lowered the threshold for what is considered 'serious disruption' to community life, from 'significant' and 'prolonged' to 'more than minor'. They also allowed police officers to take into account 'any relevant cumulative disruption' of repeated protests. As the regulations were approved, then-home secretary Suella Braverman argued the changes would provide 'further clarity' for police. But civil liberties group Liberty, who brought the legal action against the Government, said the measures were 'vaguely worded' and gave police 'almost unlimited powers' to shut down any protest. Regulations which lowered the threshold for police intervening in protests were unlawful, the High Court has ruled. Pictured: A Just stop oil protest at London Bridge in June last year A protester shouts into a microphone as they march with a Just Stop Oil banner across London Bridge in June last year The regulations came after the Government tried to introduce the same changes when the Public Order Bill went through Parliament, but they were rejected by the Lords at the time by 254 votes to 240. What regulations were introduced? The Public Order Bill 2023 was approved by Parliament last year and introduced the following measures: The legal definition of serious disruption to public life was changed to include protests causing 'more than minor' disruption. The act of locking-on, where an individual attaches themselves to others, objects or buildings, carrying equipment that may be used to lock-on to something was made into a criminal offence. Police officers were given powers to to impose 'serious disruption prevention orders' that can put restrictions on people taking part in repeated protests. Safe access zones around abortion clinics were also introduced, where any interference with a persons decision to access, provide, or facilitate the provision of abortion services within the 150m zone was made an offence. Advertisement The step to restore the provisions by statutory instrument, which faces less scrutiny than primary legislation, was criticised at the time but passed last year. At a hearing in February, lawyers for Liberty asked the High Court to quash the 'unlawful' provision. And in a ruling on Tuesday, two judges ruled for the group, finding the Home Office acted outside of its powers by reducing the threshold and failed to carry out a fair consultation process. Lord Justice Green and Mr Justice Kerr said: 'As a matter of ordinary and natural language 'more than minor' is not within the scope of the word 'serious'.' The judges continued: 'Under section 2A(b), when considering whether a public procession or assembly may result in 'serious disruption to the life of the community' a senior police officer 'must' take into account all relevant disruption and 'may' take into account any relevant cumulative disruption. 'If we are correct in our conclusion that 'serious' does not include 'more than minor', that affects how the police apply the connected concepts of 'disruption' and 'cumulative' because it is critical context to those provisions.' Speaking after the measures were approved, Ms Braverman told MPs in June 2023: 'People have a right to get to work on time free from obstruction, a right to enjoy sporting events without interruption and a right to get to hospital. 'The roads belong to the British people, not a selfish minority who treat them like their personal property....In some cases the protests have aggravated the public so much that they've taken matters into their own hands. 'They've lost their patience, the police must be able to stop this happening and it's our job in Government to give them the powers to do so.' The then Home Secretary Suella Braverman speaking to members of Parliament in the House of Commons, in London on June 5, 2023 Protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza gather in Trafalgar square on March 30, 2024 Ms Braverman lost her job after branding pro-Palestinian protesters 'hate marchers' and accusing the Metropolitan Police of bias for letting a rally go ahead on Armistice Day, and has since called for ministers to be given the power to ban protests outright. During the hearing in February, lawyers for Liberty said the decision to make the regulations included a 'one-sided, unfair consultation' with a 'narrow' group of stakeholders, including the Metropolitan Police and the National Police Chiefs' Council. In the 57 page judgment, the judges said that fairness was needed in a consultation. Lord Justice Green and Mr Justice Kerr concluded: 'Applying a broad standard of fairness we conclude that fairness required a balanced, not a one sided, approach, and the procedure adopted was not fair.' Akiko Hart, Liberty's director, said after the decision: 'This ruling is a huge victory for democracy and sets down an important marker to show that the Government cannot step outside of the law to do whatever it wants. 'We all have the right to speak out on the issues we believe in and it's vital that the Government respects that. 'These dangerous powers were rejected by Parliament yet still sneaked through the back door with the clear intention of stopping protesters that the Government did not personally agree with, and were so vaguely worded that it meant that the police were given almost unlimited powers to shut down any other protest too. Liberty protest outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, ahead of their legal challenge against Government over 'anti-protest' laws in February 2024 'This judgment sends a clear message that accountability matters and that those in power must make decisions that respect our rights.' The judges granted the Home Office permission to appeal against the ruling and said any challenge should be expedited. The Prime Minister's office said it was 'disappointed' with the High Court decision. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'We've said before that the right to protest is fundamental to democracy, but we simply will not tolerate intimidation or serious disruption of the law-abiding majority, and that is why we legislated to clarify the definition of serious disruption and give police the confidence they need to tackle serious disruption, and tackle the scenes that we saw last summer, where, you know, ambulances were being delayed and people's lives were being disrupted. 'We're obviously disappointed by this outcome. We will consider all options to keep this important power for police, including appealing the judgment if necessary.' The passenger who died onboard a Singapore Airlines jet travelling from the UK today was a 73-year-old British man, Thai officials have confirmed. After around 11 hours of flying time from take off in London, the aircraft hit an air pocket and sharply dropped 6,000 feet in five minutes, unleashing mayhem and forcing it to make an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport. Terrified passengers have described how they had little warning to put their seatbelts on before the aircraft suddenly dropped while the crew were serving breakfast, with one passenger saying people were 'launched into the ceiling' as the plane fell through the sky. Of the plane's 211 passengers (including 47 Brits) and 18 crew, one person was left dead and 23 injured. Of those, officials said seven suffered critical head injuries. Suvarnabhumi airport general manager Kittipong Kittikachorn told a press conference that the deceased was a 73-year-old British man who was travelling with his wife. He likely suffered a heart attack, the official said. The man's name was not immediately released. Kittikachorn added that the pensioner's wife is also in hospital, but that her condition was unknown. Passengers have described how the plane dropped in mid-air as it encountered extreme turbulence near Myanmar airspace. A passenger onboard a Singapore Airlines jet travelling from the UK has described the extreme turbulence that killed a fellow flyer , reportedly a 73-year-old British man, in a tragic incident today. Pictured: Passengers are seen in the cabin after the incident today, with belongings strewn across the floor and oxygen masks dangling from above After around 11 hours of flying time from take off in London , the aircraft sharply dropped 6,000 feet in just five minutes, causing chaos in the cabin. In pictures of the aftermath, one air stewardess was seen with blood over her face (pictured) Passengers are seen on the Singapore Airlines plane after it made an emergency landing in Bangkok today. Oxygen masks fell from the ceiling, as did other components Oxygen masks are seen hanging from the ceiling in the cabin of the Singapore Airlines flight A passenger died and 30 others were injured on a flight from London to Singapore this afternoon forcing an emergency landing in Thailand. Pictured: The plane and ambulances are seen on the tarmac at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok today A person is seen being carried away from the aircraft on a stretcher today in Bangkok A woman in a wheelchair and carrying a baby is seen being taken off the tarmac in Bangkok Medical crew are seen aiding passengers in temporary tents set up at the airport today 'Suddenly the aircraft starts tilting up and there was shaking so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling,' Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student on board the flight told Reuters. 'Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it, they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it,' he said. Ceiling fittings had been ripped apart and the pipework was exposed. Machinery was hanging from the galley where trolleys are stored. One air stewardess was seen with red marks over her face. Her male colleague could be seen in a chair nearby, looking shocked and dishevelled. Another passenger described how in the aftermath, other flyers had to administer medical assistance to those who were injured. The Boeing 777 plane operated by Singapore Airlines left the UK's Heathrow airport on Monday evening at 22.17pm local time with 211 passengers and 18 crew on board. However, flight SQ321 experienced severe turbulence while flying close to Myanmar airspace in a region currently being battered by extreme tropical thunderstorms. The plane dropped from an altitude of around 37,000 feet to 31,000 feet within just five minutes as it finished traversing the Andaman Sea and neared Thailand. The plane - registered 9V-SWM - was diverted to the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok where it made an emergency landing at 15.45pm local time, the airline announced on its Facebook page. It had been scheduled to land at the Singapore Changi Airport at 6.10pm local time. An injured passenger is seen being carried off the plane by medical responders People are seen being loaded into the back of ambulances on the tarmac in Bangkok The Singapore airline aircraft is seen on tarmac after requesting an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand, May 21, 2024 The interior of Singapore Airline flight SG321 is pictured after today's emergency landing Exposed pipes are seen on the plane after today's emergency landing Wine bottles, kettles and food trays are seen scattered across the floor of the cabin After the cabin was emptied of passengers, footage (pictured) showed the aftermath of today's incident, with people's belongings and other items scattered throughout the plane The crew's area on the plane is seen with items scattered over the floor and shelves This flight tracker showed the plane's route from London before diverting to Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok Flight tracking websites showed flight SQ321 diverting from its planned route to Singapore and instead landing at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok. The plane is shown dropping 6,000 feet as it flies over Myanmar Ambulances were seen racing onto the tarmac next to the plane. The dead passenger was reportedly later removed after injured travellers were assisted. One man who said he was on the flight took to X (formerly Twitter) to describe the incident. Andrew Davies, from Lewisham, London, wrote that he and other passengers who were not injured in the turbulence were currently waiting in a holding area at the airport. 'Lots of people [are] injured - including the air stewards who were stoic and did everything they could,' he wrote. 'Bangkok emergency services [were] quick to respond. Very little warning. The seat-belt sign came on, I put on my seat-belt straight away then the plane just dropped.' Mr Davies wrote that 'passengers with medical training' were working to help the injured in the aftermath of the plane dropping. 'CPR on the poor gentleman that passed. Another passenger laid flat in [the] aisle further behind me. Not sure what happened with them,' he said. 'People's belongings scattered, coffee and water splattered the ceiling. Surreal. So many injured people. Head lacerations, bleeding ears. A lady was screaming in pain with a bad back. I couldn't help her - just got her water.' He said that he wished he could have done more to help, adding: 'My heart goes out to the gentleman who lost his life and his poor wife. Awful experience.' Another woman told the BBC of how she received messages to her phone from her son who was on the flight on his way to Bali. Allison Barker said her son Josh wrote: 'I don't want to scare you, but I'm on a crazy flight. The plane is making an emergency landing I love you all.' Passenger nationalities The Singapore Airlines plane that undertook an emergency landing today was carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew. The airline released a list detailed the nationalities of the passengers: 56 from Australia 47 from the United Kingdom 41 from Singapore 23 from New Zealand 16 from Malaysia Five from the Philippines Four from Ireland Four from the US Three from India Two from Indonesia Two from Myanmar Two from Spain Two from Canada One from Germany One from Israel One from Iceland One from South Korea Advertisement 'It was terrifying,' she told the BBC. 'I didn't know what was going on. We didn't know whether he'd survived, it was so nerve wracking. It was the longest two hours of my life. It was awful; it was petrifying.' She was eventually able to speak to her son who confirmed he was safe. He did suffer minor injuries to his teeth, however. He was 'in a lot of pain', his mother added. Another man told the British broadcaster that he and his father had been flying with his mother, but that they had lost contact with her since leaving the plane. She suffered a wound to her head and was taken off in a wheelchair and transferred to hospital. He said the turbulence was mild at first. He had managed to put on his seatbelt, but his father and others had not. Many hit their heads, he said. The BBC said that a team from the British Embassy was en route to the hospital the man's mother was at to assist British passengers. Another British man told the broadcaster that people were still walking around the plane when the turbulence hit. 'It was probably 10 hours in the flight, so there were people walking around. And there was no sign to put the seat belts on. 'There was no turbulence prior to that. It went from no turbulence to this one turbulence. No plane shaking at all and then I was hitting the roof. 'All of a sudden, I was up like that,' the man, who was not named, told the BBC. 'My son was thrown down on the floor two rows behind me. I heard that there was a guy hitting the roof in the toilet and he was injured quite badly, too.' In a statement on Facebook, Singapore Airlines confirmed the emergency landing and that one passenger had died in the incident. 'Singapore Airlines flight #SQ321, operating from London (Heathrow) to Singapore on 20 May 2024, encountered severe turbulence en-route,' the statement from the airline said. 'The aircraft diverted to Bangkok and landed at 1545hrs local time. 'We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER. There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board,' it said. 'Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. 'Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft,' the statement added. 'We are working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance, and sending a team to Bangkok to provide any additional assistance needed. In a later statement, the airline confirmed where the passengers were from. 'The nationalities of the passengers are as follows: 56 from Australia, 2 from Canada, 1 from Germany, 3 from India, 2 from Indonesia, 1 from Iceland, 4 from Ireland, 1 from Israel, 16 from Malaysia, 2 from Myanmar, 23 from New Zealand, 5 from the Philippines, 41 from Singapore, 1 from South Korea, 2 from Spain, 47 from the United Kingdom, and 4 from the United States of America,' it said. Singapore's President Tharman Shanmugaratnam said he was 'greatly saddened by the loss of a life caused by the severe turbulence on board the SQ321 flight from London earlier today, and the injuries caused to several others,' in a statement shared on his social media. 'My deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased. We must hope and pray that the passengers or crew members who were injured are able to recover smoothly. In a statement on Facebook (pictured), Singapore Airlines confirmed the emergency landing Photos were posted on social media by accounts claiming to show the aftermath of the emergency landing. One (left) purportedly showed food strewn across the floor, while another (right) was said to show the ambulances on the tarmac at the airport This picture posted to social media purportedly shows emergency staff working at the airport after the plane made an emergency landing Members of a rescue team discuss after a London-Singapore flight was diverted to Bangkok due to severe turbulence, in Bangkok, Thailand, May 21, 2024 Suvarnabhumi airport general manager Kittipong Kittikachorn told a press conference (pictured) that the deceased was a 73-year-old British man who was travelling with his wife. He likely suffered a heart attack, the official said He added: 'We do not have the details of those affected, but know that the government ministries and agencies, as well as SIA, are doing their utmost to support all those affected and working with the authorities in Bangkok'. Singapore's Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said his country's government would assist the passengers and their families. 'I am deeply saddened to learn about the incident onboard Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London Heathrow to Singapore,' he wrote on Facebook. The country later announced that it was sending investigators to Bangkok. 'The Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) is in touch with its Thai counterparts and will be deploying investigators to Bangkok,' the transport ministry said. Speaking to the BBC, aviation expert John Strickland said that injuries from flight turbulence are 'relatively rare' considering how many flights operate each day. 'However, severe turbulence can be dramatic and lead to severe injuries or sadly in this case a fatality,' he added. 'It is not for nothing that airlines recommend keeping seat belts loosely fastened throughout a flight be it long or short.' He told the PA news agency: 'Exposure is greater in different parts of the world. 'The South Atlantic, Africa and the Bay of Bengal are all places that spring to mind where there's a greater incidence,' adding: 'There are discussions about whether climate change is influencing an increase in occurrences.' Mr Strickland said airlines use a variety of methods to minimise the chances of a flight being affected by trbulence, such as weather forecasts, radar and reports from aircraft ahead. He added: 'It can never be taken lightly when airlines recommended you keep the seatbelt loosely fastened throughout the flight.' Marco Chan, Senior Lecturer in Aviation Operations at Buckinghamshire New University, told MailOnline that incidents involving extreme turbulence tend to occur when a plane is navigating through thunderstorms. 'The thunderstorms, bringing possible severe ice and turbulence, are prominently displayed on the pilots' navigation display,' Chan - who is also an Experienced Airbus Pilot and former A330 First Officer with Hong Kong Airlines - said. 'The pilots are expected to navigate around the thunderstorms while having the seat belt sign on as a precaution. 'It may not be possible to completely circumvent the thunderstorm cluster as they can stretch well over 50 nautical miles plus due to airspace restrictions,' he noted. Turbulence-related airline accidents are the most common type, according to a 2021 study by the National Transportation Safety Board. From 2009 through 2018, the US agency found that turbulence accounted for more than a third of reported airline accidents and most resulted in one or more serious injuries, but no aircraft damage. In June last year, two British Airways crew suffered broken legs when a flight from Singapore to Heathrow was affected by severe turbulence over the Bay of Bengal. A report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said 'unsecured cabin crew were thrown around in the cabin', resulting in two crew members being seriously injured and three sustaining minor injuries. No passengers were hurt. Singapore Airlines, widely recognised as one of the world's leading airlines and a benchmark for much of the industry, has not had any major incidents in recent years. Its last accident resulting in casualties was a flight from Singapore to Los Angeles via Taipei, where it crashed on October 31, 2000 into construction equipment on the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport after attempting to take off from the wrong runway. The crash killed 83 of the 179 people on board. While there is no suggestion that today's incident was the fault of the plane, it is the latest scare involving a Boeing-manufactured aircraft in recent weeks. Emergency workers are seen on the tarmac of the airport in Thailand today The flashing lights of emergency service vehicles are seen at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok today Questions over safety have plagued the manufacturer ever since a door plug blew out of a 737 Max on an Alaska Airlines flight in January. The safety crisis at Boeing has led to aircraft shortages, which could cause a wave of cancellations this summer as Britons prepare for their holiday getaways. This has not been helped by a string of incidents involving Boeing planes, with May seeing at least four - with three coming in just two days. In Turkey on May 9, a Boeing plane's tyre burst on the runway after landing. That same day, shocking footage emerged showing the moment terrified passengers fled a burning Boeing 737-300 jet carrying 78 passengers that skidded off the runway and caught fire during take-off in Senegal. These two incidents came after a FedEx plane made an emergency landing at Istanbul Airport on May 8, with video showing its nose skidding along the runway. Video also captured flames shooting from the back of a Boeing 747-400 just last week on May 16, forcing the jet to make an emergency landing in Indonesia. On the plane involved in today's incident also being a Boeing, Mr Chan noted: 'The aircraft in question is a Boeing 777-300ER, a manufacturer that has already hit the headlines. It must be emphasised that such incidents can happen to any flights and any manufacturer's aircraft.' 'The crucial next steps are for Singapore Airlines to now arrange to bring the affected passengers to their initial destination - Singapore,' he said. 'They will also need to work with the local civil aviation authorities and investigation teams, particularly with the pilots and the cabin crew onboard (once they are recovered from the flight or any injuries sustained), to find out what happened. 'It will also be important to analyse the in-flight data to look at the parameters of the flight to understand the effect of the turbulence and the cockpit voice recorder to understand the conversations and actions that took place during the incident.' Boeing expressed its condolences following Tuesday's incident. 'We extend our deepest condolences to the family who lost a loved one and our thoughts are with the passengers and crew,' Boeing said. Rescue medical teams prepare to move the injured to a hospital near Suvarnabhumi Airport, in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, 21 May 2024 Joji Waites, head of flight safety at pilots' union Balpa, said: 'Balpa sends its thoughts to the family and friends of those affected by this event. 'Aircraft are designed and certificated to withstand flight in severe turbulence, and pilots are trained in how to anticipate potential turbulence encounters based on weather forecasts and the aircraft's onboard technology. 'Route weather forecasts provide a general prediction of when turbulence is likely to occur, but they often cannot reflect actual conditions in sufficient detail to enable pilots to avoid specific instances of turbulence. 'It is important, therefore, for aircraft occupants to have their seatbelts fastened while seated should any unexpected encounters occur and comply promptly with 'fasten seat belt' signs when asked to do so.' This video is no longer available This video is no longer available Passengers have described the carnage that unfolded when a Singapore Airlines jet plummeted 6,000ft amid terrifying turbulence - leaving one passenger dead and 30 injured. Authorities have said the deceased is a 73-year-old British man, and that he likely died due to a heart attack during the 'chaotic' incident. They added that he was travelling with his wife, who is now in hospital. Andrew Davies, an events manager from Lewisham who was on the flight, described how the unnamed man received CPR from fellow passengers before he tragically lost his life. The plane's sudden drop flung passengers into the air, with those not wearing seatbelts said to have sustained horrific injuries including 'head lacerations and bleeding ears'. 'The seatbelt sign came on, I put on my seatbelt straightaway then the plane just dropped,' Mr Davies wrote on X of the horror flight, adding that a member of cabin crew told him it was 'by far the worst in her 30 years of flying'. Mr Davies said that 'lots of people' were injured - 'including the air stewards who were stoic and did everything they could.' He added that he and fellow passengers who were not injured are now in a holding area at at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, where the flight from Heathrow to Singapore was forced to make an emergency landing. Andrew Davies praised 'stoic' air stewards for their bravery A passenger died and 30 others were injured on a flight from London to Singapore this afternoon forcing an emergency landing in Thailand. Pictured: The plane and ambulances are seen on the tarmac at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok today A passenger onboard a Singapore Airlines jet from the UK has described the extreme turbulence that killed a fellow flyer in a tragic incident today. Pictured: Passengers and crew are seen in the aftermath of the extreme turbulence on the Singapore Airlines plane today Mr Davies, who was en route to Wellington in New Zealand for work, said: 'My heart goes out to the gentleman who lost his life and his poor wife. Awful experience. 'Passengers with medical training helping as much as they could. CPR on the poor gentleman that passed,' he said adding that they had 'shouted for a defibrulator'. 'Another passenger laid flat in aisle further behind me. Not sure what happened with them. Wish I could have helped more.' Davies told The Times that the crew had been 'on their feet when it happened and afterwards I don't think I saw a single one of them who wasn't injured. 'One of the men was clearly in a lot of back pain but he, and the rest of them, stoically carried on anyway.' 'Lesson is - wear a seatbelt at ALL TIMES,' he said. 'Anyone who is injured, was not wearing a seatbelt. People who kept them on (including me) are not (as far as I could tell).' 'People's belongings scattered, coffee and water splattered the ceiling. Surreal. So many injured people - head lascerations, bleeding ears. A lady was screaming in pain with a bad back. I couldn't help her - just got her water.' He said that when the plane landed 'Bangkok emergency services [were] quick to respond. Very little warning.' Describing the dramatic events, Dzafran Azmir, who was on board the flight, said: 'Suddenly the aircraft starts tilting up and there was shaking so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling. 'Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it, they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it,' the 28-year-old student said. Meanwhile a mother has described her agonising wait after receiving a chilling message from her son, who was on the flight. Allison Barker told the BBC that her son Josh, who was on his way to Bali, texted her at 9.10am this morning. 'I don't want to scare you, but I'm on a crazy flight. The plane is making an emergency landing I love you all,' his message read. 'It was terrifying,' she said. 'I didn't know what was going on. We didn't know whether he'd survived, it was so nerve wracking. It was the longest two hours of my life. It was awful; it was petrifying.' Allison said she was finally able to speak to her son, who fortunately had only sustained minor injuries in the incident. The Boeing 777 plane operated by Singapore Airlines left the UK's Heathrow airport on Monday evening at 22.17pm local time with 211 passengers and 18 crew on board. A person is seen being carried away from the aircraft on a stretcher today in Bangkok This flight tracker showed the plane's route from London before diverting to Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok Flight tracking websites showed flight SQ321 diverting from its planned route to Singapore and instead landing at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok In a statement on Facebook (pictured), Singapore Airlines confirmed the emergency landing Hours later, flight SQ321 experienced severe turbulence while flying close to Myanmar airspace in a region currently being battered by extreme tropical thunderstorms. The aircraft stayed 31,000 feet for just under 10 minutes before rapidly descending and landing in Bangkok in just under half an hour. The descent happened as the flight was over the Andaman Sea approaching Myanmar. The plane - registered 9V-SWM - was diverted to the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok where it made an emergency landing at 15.45pm local time, the airline announced on its Facebook page. It had been scheduled to land at the Singapore Changi Airport at 6.10pm local time. A Texas gym lover was tased and arrested at his local Crunch Fitness after he threatened to fight an officer - a day after his membership had been revoked. David Jones, 40, was thrown out of a Crunch Fitness gym on May 16 after he allegedly punched another member. He had been barred from entering again after his membership was nullified. But the next day, Jones returned and began working out. Despite requests by the staff to leave, he refused and continued to stay in the gym. David Jones, 40, was tased and arrested at his local Crunch Fitness after he threatened to fight an officer - a day after his membership had been revoked Deputies from the Amarillo Police Department were called to site for aid in dealing with the situation As a result, deputies from the Amarillo Police Department were called to site for aid in dealing with the situation. After being informed of the situation, officials began asking Jones to leave but he continued to refuse to comply. Footage shows Jones using weights to push back the officer as he was being asked to leave. The officer then takes the weights away before Jones assumes a fighting stance with his hands balled up into fists in the air. Ultimately, the deputy tases the man, and with the help of gym members, Jones was taken away and arrested. Footage shows Jones using weights to push back the officer as he was being asked to leave The officer then takes the weights away and Jones assumes a fighting stance with his hands balled up into fists in the air He has been charge with criminal trespass and resisting arrest. This comes two months after a Tennessee Sheriff's Deputy was shot and killed by a man who refused to get out of his car during a traffic stop. Blount County Sheriff Deputy Greg McCowan, 43, was shot dead after tasing a man who was pulled over for erratic driving on February 8. McCowan - who is a father and grandfather - and Deputy Shelby Eggers pulled over Kenneth Wayne DeHart Jr. who was driving an SUV in Maryville around 8:30 p.m. The video shows McCowan using his taser on DeHart, 42, after he refused to comply with the deputies and DeHart is heard screaming and writhing in pain. While being tased, DeHart slammed his door shut, pointed his gun out the window and shot both officers. Eggers was shot in the leg and footage shows she attempted to put a tourniquet on herself. McCowan was taken to the hospital, where he died from his injuries. McCowan is survived by his fiance Leah Lane, two children and one granddaughter. McCowan began his career in law enforcement in 2020 after graduating from a training class and was commended in 2021 for helping save the life of a man trapped in a burning vehicle. A remote area of the Scottish Highlands has suffered its 18th earthquake in just eight months as residents said it sounded 'like an explosion'. A 1.3 magnitude tremor was recorded at Morvern at 6.34am on Monday, May 20. The British Geological Survey said it was felt by a resident in Kingairloch, who described 'a faint sound like an explosion'. The epicentre was near the A884, near Allt Beithheach. A previous 2.8 quake on February 1 was felt by people in Acharacle, Strontian, Highland and Port Appin, Argyll and Bute, all within 20 km (12.4 miles) of the epicentre. Reports then described, 'a loud rumbling sound', 'felt a weak trembling' and it 'felt like a lorry was driving into the house'. A 1.3 magnitude tremor was recorded at Morvern at 6.34am on Monday, May 20 It was recorded at a depth of 7km and was followed at 7.06pm by a 1.4 magnitude quake, which was 1km shallower. Morvern has suffered a series of earthquakes in recent months - at least 18 since October. Scientists have said that earthquakes can come in clusters called an earthquake swarm. This is a sequence of seismic events occurring in a local area within a relatively short period of time. There are roughly 200-300 earthquakes in Britain every year, but the vast majority are so small that no one notices them. However between 20-30 are over 2.0 magnitude which can be felt over a wider area. The largest known Scottish earthquake on land occurred near Loch Awe in 1880, with a magnitude of 5.2. UK earthquakes, particularly in Scotland, are most often attributed to glacial rebound. Until about 10,500 years ago much of the north of the UK was covered by a thick layer of ice - which pushed the rocks down into the underlying mantle. These rocks have been slowly rising back up ever since the ice melted, causing occasional earthquakes in the process. The UK is also subject to tectonic stresses caused by the expansion of the Atlantic Ocean, which is slowly pushing the entire of Eurasia to the east, and from the northward motion of Africa, which is pushing into Europe from the south. A London theatre has attracted mockery after encouraging applicants from the 'criminal class and/or underclass' to become its new chief executive. The Camden People's Theatre, which took 250,000 of taxpayer funding from Arts Council England during Covid, is offering between 45,000 and 50,000 for the role of artistic director and joint CEO. The job advert said it welcomes applications from people without a formal education who 'identify' as 'working-class, benefit class, criminal class and/or underclass'. It also appealed to members of the 'global majority' - a disputed term for people of indigenous, African, Asian, or Latin American descent - as well as those of 'Black Caribbean, Black African, South Asian, East Asian, South East Asian, Middle Eastern, Arab, Latinx, Jewish, Romany and Irish Traveller heritage'. The Camden People's Theatre is offering between 45,000 and 50,000 for the role of artistic director and joint CEO Anyone self-identifying as disabled and who met a series of essential criteria would automatically be given an interview, the ad stated. Deaf and LGBTQ+ people were also urged to apply, as well as those who are neurodiverse - a term used to describe various conditions including dyslexia and dyspraxia. Critics branded the terminology used in the advert 'Victorian', with one writing on X: 'Working class being lumped in with criminal class is awful.' A second wrote: 'The classification is reminiscent of Charles Booth's 19th century poverty maps,' while a third asked: 'Who identifies as ''criminal class?'' The Krays?' Anne-Marie Canning, CEO of The Brilliant Club - which helps less advantaged students get into university, said: 'I have never seen this expression about socio-economic diversity before. 'Its in an advert for a job. It seems insulting on many levels to many people.' Tory MP Neil O'Brien poured scorn on the post and shared a photo of a laughing Al Capone Tory MP Neil O'Brien also poured scorn on the post, writing: 'Taxpayer money being spent on a 32 hour a week job where you get paid 45-50k. 'As well as the 'Global Majority' they want to employ applicants from the 'Working-class, benefit class, criminal class and/or underclass.' He then shared a photo of a laughing Al Capone with the lighthearted caption: 'Under the new Artistic Director, the number of theatre critics posting negative reviews of our work has dropped considerably. 'In other news, the number of theatre critics has also dropped considerably.' MailOnline has contacted the theatre for comment. A transgender resident felt she was being made out to be a predator One woman said she witnessed a trans person using the ladies locker room Outrage erupted at an Oregon swimming pool after it was claimed a transgender woman was seen undressing in front of women and children. One woman said she feared for her safety after the incident in the locker room at the Newport Recreation and Aquatic Center, reported KATU. 'We do not want our children to see persons of the opposite sex or persons transitioning to the opposite sex undressed or nude,' said Newport resident Linda Dinerstein at a council meeting on the issue Monday. The issue was brought up after the parks and recreation said they had been 'fielding questions' related to gender identity and public restrooms. Newport resident Linda Dinerstein (pictured) expressed her concern over safety after witnessing a transgender person use the locker room at a city council meeting Monday Community member and transgender woman Mary Grace Frederick (pictured) said the concerned residents were making her out to be a predator Dinerstein said she saw a person who appeared to be a man openly dressing in the women's locker room at the Newport Recreation and Aquatic Center (pictured) 'I personally witnessed a person who appeared to be a man, openly dressing in the women's locker room. It was later communicated by the rec center that this was a biological female that was in the process of transitioning.' Community member and transgender woman Mary Grace Frederick shared an opposing point of view during the same meeting. She said: 'People here tonight that are sitting in this room have called me a sexual deviant and a predator.' There is no suggestion that Frederick was the woman involved in the changing room incident who triggered the complaint. During the meeting Newport Mayor Jan Kaplan said restroom use was not the issue and more education is needed. 'There's assumptions that people make. If I see you as a predator, and I see you through that lens, because you're different than me, then I will interpret whatever you do as predatory,' said Kaplan. On May 6, City of Newport Parks and Recreation Director Michael Cavanaugh asserted the city's commitment to its diversity, equity and inclusion statement after they started receiving an increase in concern over bathroom use, reported KOIN. 'Public spaces are for everyone and the City works diligently to ensure they are inclusive, accessible, and safe,' Cavanaugh said. 'Our city is diverse, vibrant, and flourishing because of the many people who that live and work here. The City of Newport and Newport Parks and Recreation will not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or violence toward any patrons or staff.' Cavanaugh said people who are uncomfortable can use the facility's gender-neutral restrooms and the city of Newport follows the state law on public accommodations and discrimination. Oregon law requires equal accommodations regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender identity or other backgrounds. In Washington, an elderly woman has launched a $350,000 case against her city and its YMCA for banning her from a swimming pool after she objected to a trans woman using its women's locker room. Julie Jaman, 82, says Port Townsend and its Olympic Peninsula YMCA defamed her and unlawfully banned her from the center and seeks compensation for 'emotional distress' from the incident in July 2022. Jaman was kicked out of the swimming complex and banned after encountering Clementine Adams, a trans male-to-female YMCA employee, in the women's locker rooms and asking her to leave. The case spotlights tensions between trans campaigners, who say society must accept their chosen sexual identity, and women who want biological males kept out of their changing rooms. Two sex attackers have been sentenced to death in India for gang-raping a young girl and burning her alive inside a furnace in a 'rarest of the rare' case that shocked the nation. The two brothers, reportedly identified as Kalu, 25, and Kanha Kaleblia, 21, were found guilty on Saturday of the rape and murder of the 14-year-old girl in August last year. The Bhilwara Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court also acquitted seven other individuals, including three women who were accused of destroying evidence. Two of the three women are reportedly married to the Kalbeliya brothers, and the acquittal is set to be challenged in the Rajasthan High Court. While delivering the verdict, Judge Anil Gupta classified the case as the 'rarest of the rare'. Two brothers, reportedly identified as Kalu, 25, (left) and Kanha Kalbeliya, 21, (right) were found guilty on Saturday of the rape and murder of the 14-year-old girl in August last year The 14-year-old girl was gang-raped and burned alive on a furnace (pictured) in Bhilwara, Rajasthan, on August 2 last year The victim's distraught parents were also present during the hearing, as her mother cried: 'We have got justice'. 'My daughter got justice today. I couldn't eat properly in the last few months. Now I will have food with peace', she said. Special Public Prosecutor Mahaveer Singh Kishnawat told reporters, 'Kalu and Kanha were awarded death penalty.' 'Magistrate Anil Gupta of the Bhilwara POCSO court found two main accused guilty in the incident. The other seven have been acquitted,' he added. He also confirmed the prosecution presented statements from a staggering 43 witnesses, with 42 supporting its evidence. The barbaric crime took place on August 2 last year in Bhilwara, Rajasthan, after the unnamed girl left her house to take care of her family's goats before going missing. When she failed to return home, her family launched an urgent search to find her. Police officials told TOI: 'The girl's brother saw several charcoal furnaces (kilns) set up by the people of a nomadic community. They added: 'Smoke billowing from one of the kilns drew his attention and made him suspicious as they were not active in the evening. 'He rummaged through the kiln with a stick and sifted through the charred items.' Among the items, he found a bracelet that belonged to his sister, which he had tragically gifted to her only a few days earlier. A team of forensic experts and police officers were rushed to the scene where they uncovered body parts, along with the remnants of the victim's clothing and shoes. A spokesperson for the police confirmed at the time that the girl was alive when she was set on fire. Court documents also suggested that the victim was splashed with petroleum-based chemicals before she was burned alive. Deputy superintendent of police, Kotri Shyam Sundar Bishnoi said that a total of 11 people including two minors were arrested in the case for their alleged involvement. 'Two prime accused, caretakers of the furnace, abducted the girl when she had gone to graze the cattle on August 2 night', he said. 'The two brothers raped her repeatedly for over four hours. Later, they called their wives, mother, and other aides who threw the minor girl alive in the coal furnace early morning the next day. 'Following the incident, they also collected a few parts of the minor girl's body and threw them in a well close to the furnace to destroy the evidence,' said Bishnoi. Police had filed a 473-page long chargesheet against the 11 accused on September 3 last year. 'While the hearing of nine accused had been going on in the special POCSO court, the two minors are being heard separately,' said officials. Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot also publicly hailed the verdict. 'The court's decision sentencing death penalty to the accused of rape and murder of a minor in Bhilwara's Kotri in August 2023 is absolutely welcoming,' he said. 'During the incident, our government took immediate action against the accused and arrested them.... The charge sheet of this case was also filed within a month. The culprits were now convicted within 10 months', he wrote on his official X account. The father of a ten-year-old boy who killed himself after years of bullying has told how heartless trolls have been attacking him over his son's suicide. Sammy Teusch killed himself on May 5 after suffering years of brutal bullying. He was laid to rest on Wednesday in Greenfield, Indiana. In an interview with Nancy Grace on Merit Street Media, Sammys's father Sam opened up about how he has been bombarded with hateful messages from sick keyboard warriors. Sammy Teusch killed himself on May 5 after suffering years of brutal bullying The father of ten-year-old Sammy Teusch who took his own life after years of bullying has revealed he has been receiving hate comments on the internet, blaming him for his son's suicide In an interview with Nancy Grace, Sammys's father, Sam Teusch, said that while he and his family have received an tremendous amount of love, support, and prayers, online trolls have bombarded his social media with hateful messages 'When you put something on social media or anything else that you've got to expect crap from both sides,' said Teusch. 'So, while the outpouring of love and support has been great, I have also gotten horrible, horrible messages about how this is our fault [or that] we're doing this for monetary gain.' Teusch said his son was scared to fight back because he was afraid he would be perceived as the aggressor and get in trouble at school for defending himself. '[As] Americans, we should no matter what your age is, you should be able to defend yourself without fear or repercussion,' he said. In an email statement to DailyMail.com, Deputy Chief Charles McMichael of the Greenfield Police Department said Teusch's bullies could now face criminal charges. He added: 'This case is still under investigation currently. As you can imagine, scheduling interviews with children takes time to work around school/sports and parents' schedules. Deputy Chief McMichael said the Hancock County Coroner's Office has not completed its investigation into the official cause and manner of death. He continued: 'The Greenfield Police Department considers all unattended death investigations a criminal investigation until the evidence and facts of the case prove otherwise. In a eulogy from Sammy's funeral service, his neighbor said the 10-year-old seemed popular among the local kids and was often seen with 'the biggest grin on his face' The family said they contacted the school 20 times about the bullying Sammy's father Sam embraces a pastor at his son's funeral service, where a neighbor recalled the boy 'seemed to suck the darkness out of every corner in the room' 'If probable cause is found, the case will be turned over to the Hancock County Prosecutors Office to determine if criminal charges should be filed with the court. 'Please also understand that if probable cause is found and any of the suspects would happen to be children, any information released related to criminal charges will be very minimal.' The child's parents Sam and Nichole said he was subjected to both physical and emotional bullying at his school, and was being tormented daily up until the night he passed away. They explained that the bullying started last year when he was in elementary school, and followed him to Greenfield Intermediate School. His father told local NBC affiliate: 'They were making fun of him for his glasses in the beginning, then on to make fun of his teeth. It went on for a long time.' The harassment allegedly escalated to an incident on the school bus where Sammy ridiculed for his glasses and beaten up. The week before his death, Sammy's parents said he was cornered by bullies in the bathroom. 'I have his broken glasses sitting over there in a memorial shrine that my kids made,' his father told local CBS affiliate WTTV. Although the family say they complained to the school about the bullying 20 times, Greenfield Community Schools superintendent Dr. Harold Olin told WTHR that no bullying report was ever submitted by the parents or by Sammy. He added that school administrators and counselors had been in regular contact with the family, but declined to offer specifics of these discussions. Pictured: A memorial dedicated to Sammy after his shock suicide The harassment allegedly escalated to an incident on the school bus where Sammy ridiculed for his glasses and beaten up. The week before his death, Sammy's parents said he was cornered by bullies in the bathroom Sammy's parents Nichole and Sam said that the bullying started last year when he was in elementary school, and followed him to Greenfield Intermediate School 'They knew this was going on. They knew this was going on,' Sam told 21alive. Sammy's family said the bullying occurred even when Sammy was at home via Snapchat, despite him having limited access to his phone. ''I'm going to beat you up. I'm going to beat you up when you get to school.' Saying mean things about his (mom), which would really, really set him off,' his father said. Speaking to 21alive, his grandmother Cynthia said: 'They can't just say they have zero tolerance because that doesn't mean there is zero tolerance about bullies. 'Their zero tolerance means that they don't have responsibility for it. People trust their kids to the school, but now that trust is breaking down.' Greenfield-Central Community School said in a statement: 'The death of Samuel Teusch is tragic, and it has left our school corporation and larger community in tremendous grief. Our hearts pour out to the family at this time. Speaking to 21alive, his grandmother Cynthia (pictured) said: 'They can't just say they have zero tolerance because that doesn't mean there is zero tolerance about bullies' In an email statement to DailyMail.com, Deputy Chief Charles McMichael of the Greenfield Police Department said that Teusch's bullies could face criminal charges (Pictured: Greenfield Intermediate School) In gut-wrenching images from Sammy's funeral, his parents were seen standing by his casket weeping while mourners shuffled past 'Sammy was a student in Greenfield-Central for the last year and a half. He finished his 3rd grade year at Weston Elementary School in May of 2023, and he was a 4th grade student at Greenfield Intermediate School during the current 2023-24 school year. 'We were made aware of his death on Sunday afternoon, and we dispatched our crisis response team to both Greenfield Intermediate School and Greenfield Central Junior High School (where he has two siblings) to start the week. 'Our staff in Greenfield-Central has worked with the Teusch family quite a bit over the last 18 months. Contact between school personnel and the parents was frequent. 'The parents did report the manner of death as a suicide, and we are investigating their claims related to bullying. 'While the investigation continues, we are primarily focusing our resources on meeting the immediate needs of the students we serve in Greenfield-Central Schools.' Smirking for the camera as her mugshot is taken, this young woman wrenched control of a county lines drug gang from a former boyfriend when she was still a teenager. Saleha Saed was just 18 when she took over the Fat Boy line, which brought huge amounts of heroin and crack cocaine into a seaside town. She caused misery and fear in the wider community by recruiting youngsters to the gang and trafficking individuals to take part in the operation. Evidence of her iron rule was apparent in a text message she sent to the former lover who she ousted as kingpin, fearlessly boasting to him: 'You're deluding yourself that the line is yours when it is truly mine.' Saleha Saed was just 18 when she took over the Fat Boy line, which brought huge amounts of heroin and crack cocaine into a seaside town Nathan Si, 21, her latest boyfriend who blindly took orders from her and acted as 'babysitter' for the drugs Saed, 21, has now been jailed for five years after admitting two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs between July 2021 and June 2022 and arranging or facilitating the travel of another person with a view to exploitation. But she will serve the time in a young offenders' institution because she was so young when she committed the offences, Norwich Crown Court heard. The Fat Boy line brought 3kg of heroin and crack from London to Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. Those who blindly took orders from her included her latest boyfriend, Nathan Si, 21, who acted as 'babysitter' for the drugs, and Tremayne Ndikumana, 20, who held the phone line under her control. Both were jailed in a separate hearing last year. Saed booked hotel rooms which were used for preparing the bulk purchases of drugs for sale to users and recruited 'youngsters' to 'do her bidding for her'. Her links to human trafficking were uncovered by a police investigation after her arrest in June 2022 which found messages including an order about 'bringing in one of the young ones'. Saed, 21, has now been jailed at Norwich Crown Cout (above) for five years after admitting two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs between July 2021 and June 2022 and arranging or facilitating the travel of another person with a view to exploitation Tremayne Ndikumana, 20, who held the phone line under her control. Her links to human trafficking were uncovered by a police investigation after her arrest in June 2022 Other messages revealed fiery missives about how junior members of the operation were selling drugs and criticism of prices being charged by a street dealer known as 'Tiny', who was 'doing mad numbers'. Prosecutor Matthew Edwards told the sentencing hearing last week that the defendant, originally from east London, had taken over the running of the line from a much older former boyfriend. Gordon Carse, defending, claimed his client had not been in charge of the gang, saying: 'It is not accepted that she was at the top of the enterprise, albeit she was at an elevated level.' Describing how she had also been exploited into joining the operation and was only months older than the people she trafficked, he added: 'Common sense tells you she did not set up this line. She stepped into it and was groomed to do so.' Judge Anthony Bate accepted she had not been instrumental in setting up the line, saying: 'Her role was significant and she had managed others but she had been a trusted lieutenant, rather than establishing the line'. But he added that she had been involved in a 'large scale' drug conspiracy. Saed was described as the 'owner' of the line when the other gang members were sentenced in December. Ndikumana, from Essex, was given four years in a young offenders institution after admitting two counts of supplying Class A drugs. Tom Copeland, defending, said he had been drawn into the illicit lifestyle through peer pressure and had a 'chaotic' lifestyle as a care leaver. Si, of London, pleaded guilty to the same offences and was jailed for three years and four months. His lawyer, Tom Ford, blamed his client's involvement on his naivety. Sergeant Samuel Scott said: 'We will always target drugs lines and the exploitation of children in our county. 'We have worked with officers in the Met Exploitation Team to ensure we bring those involved to justice.' They set up tents and command center and took evidence form the home Police returned to house in Massapequa Park, on Long Island, for a second day The children of the alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer had just got their lives back together when cops launched another raid this week, their lawyer has said. Vess Mitev told DailyMail.com how Rex Heuermann's wife and children were putting the 'last touches' on their new living room before police swooped. Detectives on Tuesday were searching the accused's the home for a second day as they hunt for clues to lock him up. White tents were erected outside the house on First Avenue in Massapequa Park, on Long Island, with NYS Troopers blocking off the street on Tuesday. Heuermann, 60, is awaiting a murder trial trial accused of killing four women whose bodies were found in saran wrap on a stretch of Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach. White tents are erected outside the Massapequa Park home on First Avenue, with NYS Troopers blocking off the street Investigators and state police swarmed the Massapequa Park home of alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann (pictured in court in February) with a new search warrant Vess Mitev, the lawyer representing Heuermann's children, told DailyMail.com the family was just making their home more comfortable before the new search warrant was executed on Monday. He said the family had 'just ironically, finished putting together the last touches on sort of completing their living room - with no small degree of irony, no sooner were they done cobbling together the pieces of their life inside the home - that this has occurred.' Mitev was unable to disclose if Heuermann's estranged wife Asa Ellerup and the children knew ahead of time about the search. He said they are 'understandably in some degree of turmoil because that's just the 'byproduct of what is going on'. 'My clients have a very deep visceral chagrin in any police presence in their house, in their home, and especially where we are almost a year later,' he said. 'Their lives are once again upended, even though by all accounts this time around, it's much more controlled chaos, but chaos nonetheless.' Police carry boxes out of Heuermann's house as they search it for the second day this week Piles of boxes stacked outside grew higher and higher as more evidence was siezed On Monday, a new search warrant was executed at the home and dozens of items were being taken from inside the house and the backyard. A medical examiner also arrived at the house on Monday afternoon, which could indicate Heuermann was also being investigated for even more murders. The new search of Heuermann's home was after police scoured a shock new location in the case in woods near Manorville, about 40 miles away, last month. Days later, Gilgo Beach murders investigators used K-9 units to search an area in North Sea, Long Island, where a woman's body was found in 1993. Their search was in the area were Sandra Costilla's body was found three decades ago in a murder case that remains unsolved. What connection either search has to this week's search of Heuermann's house was unclear and police would not comment. Around 8.30am, about 15 detectives from the Suffolk County PD entered the property moving out boxes and bags which they loaded into a white box truck (left) On Tuesday, several trucks lined the quiet residential street including, Suffolk County Police Department set up a command post, a crime lab truck, among other There is less than a frenzy compared to last summer's search of the home when the 60-year-old architect was arrested Retired NYPD Sergeant Joseph Giacalone told NewsNation that the size of the search, and the presence of the medical examiner could mean Heuermann was being investigated for deaths beyond the Gilgo Beach murders. 'Since they already did this 10 months ago, they had to be able to prove to a judge that they had probable cause to go in there,' he said. 'The medical examiner showing up is really interesting. 'If we see the forensic anthropologist show up, that would be even more interesting and a bit of an eye-opener because they are the doctors that go out and determine what is a human bone or what is an animal bone.' Etienne de Villiers, has been living next door to the Heuermann household for almost 30 years. 'In my opinion, they didn't find anything the first time I really don't know what they can possibly find this time,' he said. He said that he was surprised when he saw the police again early Monday morning outside his home. 'I had no idea what was going on. When I asked police they kinda blew me off,' he said. He found out about the search warrant while watching the news, and was told by police they would be there for a few days, maybe longer, but he wasn't sure. 'The first time they came (in July) and knocked on our doors and told us to move the cars but this time we were trapped,' he said. 'We couldn't move the cars. We didn't say anything because we wanted to cooperate any way we can but we were trapped in.' An aerial view of police at the Massapequa Park home of alleged serial killer Rex Heuermann Aerial view shows police evidence fans parked outside the house and a tent outside As Villiers spoke, crews were busy removing boxes from the family home. Villiers said: 'Asa and Chris told me they tore the place apart the first time - that there was no stone unturned'. In July when this first started, he knocked on the door and tried to speak with Ellerup. 'I wanted to see if they needed anything because I like the kid. She kind of blew me off pretty bad,' he said. Ellerup later apologized. When asked if he ever thought he would be living next to an alleged serial killer Villiers replied: 'Life has strange curves. Right?'. When asked if they think they got the right guy. He responded: 'I don't know. I have never seen Rex as a violent person. For the sake of the kids, I hope they don't have the right guy. 'I just hope they catch the right person period.' Ellerup, and their children, Victoria Heuermann, 26, and Christoper Sheridan 33, were not home at the time. Heuermann was arrested in July and initially charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Lynn Costello 27 in 2010 and 2011. In February, he was also charged with the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25. Heuermann pleaded not guilty to all counts and remains in jail awaiting trial. On Monday, a new search warrant was executed at the home and dozens of items were being taken from inside the house and the backyard A backpack is carried outside by police and loaded into a van The women were among 11 found on the desolate stretch of coastline close to Heuermann's Long Island Home between 2010 and 2011. All of the victims worked as escorts who advertised themselves on Craigslist. According to Fox News, Heurmann's family held onto an album of crime scene photos taken by California detective Jack Huddleston and was allegedly spotted on a kitchen table in the home, according to a source with knowledge of the incident. The book, Death Scenes: A Homicide Detective's Scrapbook, is a collection of grim photos. Detectives cataloged the album book during the initial search of Heuermann's home and returned it to his family, the source told Fox. Investigators said Heuermann frequently searched the internet for gruesome images. Ellerup's lawyer, Robert Macedonio, told the news outlet he had no knowledge of the book. Sources said Asa and her two children are out of town. It was unclear if she was alerted by investigators beforehand that a new search warrant would be executed. Asa and her two children are out-of-town. It is unclear if she was alerted by investigators beforehand that a new search warrant would be executed Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said that the search won't be as long as the 12-day search that took place last summer. It is not clear at this time what prompted the search of the Long Island property or what officials were looking for, but multiple law enforcement agencies were present, including a command center On Tuesday, several trucks lined the quiet residential street including, Suffolk County Police Department set up a command post, a crime lab truck, among other. There was less of a frenzy compared to last summer's search of the home when the architect was arrested. Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said the search wouldn't be as long as the 12-day search that took place last summer. It was not clear at this time what prompted the search of the Long Island property or what officials were looking for, but multiple law enforcement agencies were present, including a command center. The Suffolk County District Attorney's office declined to comment other than to say 'the work of the Gilgo Beach Homicide Task force is continuing their investigation'. Last month, Heuermann's attorney Michael Brown attempted to shift the blame for the Gilgo Beach murders on to corrupt former Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke, who was previously in charge of the case. Multiple agencies searching Manorville location in connection with Gilgo Beach investigation The new searches came after the father-of-two's home in Massapequa was raided following discovery of the bodies Brown alleged that Burke, now 59, is 'involved' in the sordid affair. 'We received approximately almost 3,000 leads on this case,' he told reporters outside Suffolk County Supreme Court in Riverhead. 'There were numerous leads that came into the Suffolk County Police Department, suggesting that Chief Burke was involved in this.' Burke allegedly led a double life involving crack, cross-dressing and relationships with prostitutes He served jail time after being convicted of several crimes including assault, public lewdness, and unlawful solicitation after flashing in a park. Speaking about the former cop's involvement with the Gilgo Beach murders case, Brown said: 'Chief Burke would not let the FBI into the investigation back then, with their expertise. 'It's problematic for us that the chief of police who was running the investigation had this very checkered past and was involved in criminal activity. He recently served a four or four-and-a-half year prison sentence in the federal system. Brown added: 'Just recently he was arrested on some allegation of being very deviant sexually. We want to see those records.' Former Suffolk County police chief James Burke (center) is escorted to a vehicle by FBI personnel outside the FBI office in Melville, New York on December 9, 2015 James Burke, the disgraced former head of Suffolk County Police Department, has been accused of hampering the Gilgo Beach serial killer probe by booting the FBI off the case in its early stages Speaking outside the Long Island courthouse where his accused serial killer client had a hearing August 2023. Heuermann's attorney Michael Brown said disgraced PC James Burke is 'involved' in the case In August 2023, Burke was busted in an area known for gay cruising dubbed 'pickle park', when he was caught in a coordinated sting by undercover cops. He was arrested by Suffolk County Parks Rangers at the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Park in Farmingville after he was allegedly offering oral sex to an undercover male park ranger. He was charged with offering a sex act, indecent exposure, public lewdness and criminal solicitation in the fifth degree. Once Suffolk County's highest-ranking cop, Burke was less than 10 miles from his Smithtown home and in a rental car with Rhode Island plates when he was picked up by the authorities in the area of Bald Hill and North Ocean Avenue. Burke battered Christopher Loeb (pictured), who stole a bag from the police chief's car which contained porn and sex toys He was also accused of stymying the Gilgo Beach case in its early stages by blocking the FBI's role in the investigation. He forged a 'tough cop' reputation throughout his career that included dubious policing tactics and a penchant for cigars dipped in cherry brandy. Burke, who enjoyed a close relationship with several disgraced local officials, rose through the ranks of the department despite scandals that included sleeping with a prostitute in his patrol car. His alleged secret taste for drugs and prostitutes came to light in 2015 after he was investigated for attacking Christopher Loeb, a young heroin addict who stole a bag from the police chief's car. Inside the bag, Loeb found sex toys and a porn DVD with sickening footage that showed a bound and gagged women being tortured. Burke was determined to catch the thief and protect his career - knowing the contents of the duffel bag could land him in hot water. The first victim, 24-year-old Melissa Barthelemy, was discovered by Suffolk County Police on December 11, 2010. The body of Megan Waterman, 22, from Maine, was found two days later Heuermann is also charged with killing Amber Costello (left) and Maureen Brainard-Barnes (right) He then orchestrated a failed cover-up when Loeb complained about the beating and the FBI investigated Burke and his cronies in Suffolk County. Loeb broke into Burke's department-issued SUV in December 2012 and was later identified and arrested. He was taken to a police station and handcuffed to the floor of an interrogation room before Burke violently battered Loeb. The police chief, who ran a force of 2,200 officers, also threatened to kill Loeb before a junior cop urged his boss to stop. The episode ultimately exposed a culture of corruption at the highest levels of Suffolk County government. Ex-District Attorney Thomas Spota and Christopher McPartland, the former chief of an anti-corruption bureau, were also jailed for five years for their roles in the scandal. The FBI had spent two years probing the cover-up before Burke was arrested after at least ten police office agreed to cooperate in the case. The judge who jailed Burke, who was charged with conspiring to obstruct justice and violating Loeb's civil rights, said he 'corrupted a system'. Shannan Gilbert, worked as an escort. Her skeletal remains were discovered in a marsh near Oak Beach December 2011. The search for Gilbert let to the discovery of the 'Gilgo Four' Heuermann pleaded not guilty to all counts and currently remains in jail awaiting trial In late April, Suffolk County Police, the NYPD and NYS Troopers were searching an area in Manorville in connection to the Gilgo Beach murder investigation. The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office declined to comment on the specifics of the search. The new searches came after the father-of-two's home in Massapequa was raided following discovery of the bodies. The women were found wrapped in burlap and buried along the remote stretch of Ocean Parkway on Long Island's South Shore over a decade ago. The women's remains were discovered during the search for 23-year-old Shannan Gilbert, an escort from New Jersey who had vanished in May 2010 after making a frantic 911 call. Her remains were found along the same stretch of coast in December 2011 - and it was her body that led police to the discovery of the 'Gilgo Four'. No one has ever been charged in Gilbert's death and police said it may have been accidental - but her family believe she was murdered. The Heuermann family home in Massapequa Park was torn apart by authorities as they combed the property for evidence Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann is 'not capable' of the brutal murders he's been accused of, according to his estranged wife Asa Ellerup (pictured) The women were among 11 found on the desolate stretch of coastline close to Heuermann's Long Island Home between 2010 and 2011. All of the victims worked as escorts who advertised themselves on Craigslist. Heuermann was linked to the killings by DNA on the burlap used to transport the bodied which was compared to samples taken from a pizza crust and napkin that were discarded outside his Manhattan architectural firm, police said. The samples boasted a 99.96 percent match, according to law enforcement. Prior to testing the DNA, cops said they were alerted to Heuermann as a potential suspect after a witness linked Heuermann's Chevrolet Avalanche to Costello's murder. The car was then tied to Heuermann's cellphone records, which allegedly linked him to locations related to the murders. The indictment stated that Heuermann had used different burner phones to contact each of his victims. The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office declined to comment on the nature of the new search. Pictured: Investigators suit up outside Heuermann's home last July Cops also accused Heuermann of using Barthelemy's phone to make taunting phone calls to her family from the comfort of his office. Her sister Melissa told how she was bombarded with threatening phone calls from the killer who boasted of the killing and was keeping tabs on her movements. In October, it was revealed that Heuermann is being probed over the slaying of two additional sex workers. Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison confirmed he had assigned additional investigators to the case of two other women, Valerie Mack and Karen Vergata. At the suspected time of the murders, Heuermann's now ex-wife Asa Ellerup was away from home. She filed for divorce less than a week after her husband's arrest. The nightmare continues for five Americans facing 12 years in jail in Turks and Caicos after a US delegation failed to secure their release. Since February, five US tourists, all unknown to each other, have been detained in the territory and charged with possession of firearms after loose bullets were allegedly found in their luggage. Ryan Watson, Bryan Hagerich, Tyler Scott Wenrich and Sharitta Shinse Grier all remain trapped on the island, while Michael Lee Evans was bailed and allowed to fly back to the US as he has a serious medical condition. They claim they didn't know any bullets were in their bags - saying they could have been left there after hunting trips or by mistake - and have asked for mercy. But a delegation of two US senators, three members of the House and embassy and state department representatives were 'not able to find a path forward' to secure their release, meaning they are still facing 12 years in prison. A delegation of two US senators, three members of the House and embassy and state department representatives were 'not able to find a path forward' to secure the release of five US tourists facing a minimum of 12 years in prison Monday's delegation was hoping to bring the Americans home, but Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma told the Miami Herald: 'Despite our willingness to work with Turks and Caicos officials to get our constituents home, we were not able to find a path forward today.' He added: 'We went in respectful of their sovereignty, and with an open mind looking to find common ground. 'At this point, well-intentioned American citizens are facing a dozen years in prison all for unknowingly having one or two bullets in their luggage. 'The unintended consequences of TCIs law have been at the expense of well-intentioned American tourists, including a grandmother, who had no intention of breaking the law.' If the tourists are not released and are jailed, Mullin said: 'We will need to consider additional actions to safeguard American citizens.' Following the meeting the Turks and Caicos Governor's Office said the government has 'clear laws prohibiting the possession of firearms and/or ammunition and strict penalties are in place to serve and protect all who reside and visit the Turks and Caicos Islands.' They added: 'Where the court finds there are exceptional circumstances, the sentencing judge does have discretion, under the law, to impose a custodial sentence and a fine that are fair and just in the circumstances of each case.' The territory tightened their gun laws two years ago and banned civilian firearms or ammunition. Under the stricter rules, offenders are sentenced to a minimum of 12 years in prison. Sharitta Grier, center, is now living in a rental home on the island with Ryan Watson, left, and Bryan Hagerich, seen right, who were all caught with ammunition in their bags Sharitta Shinese Grier, 45, was the fifth tourist to be arrested last Monday at the Howard Hamilton International Airport, with Turks and Caicos police saying bullets were found 'during a routine security check.' It is latest in a spate of arrests made on the island since February which have seen four others now facing charges after they were caught carrying ammo in their luggage. Willie Lucas, Grier's mother said it was heartbreaking to leave her daughter behind on the island while the rest of the family returned home to Florida. 'I didn't want to come home,' she told Fox 35. 'Be safe when you go out of town. Just be safe. Be careful and keep us in your prayers, cuz God knows we sure gonna need it.' Chanchy Willis, Grier's cousin has said it was 'just a horrible mistake' that the ammunition was found. 'Just for two bullets? It was just a horrible mistake for all five of them ,' Willis said. Ammunition was found in Sharitta Shinese Grier's luggage during a routine security check Sharitta Shinese Grier is the fifth U.S. tourist to be arrested in Turks and Caicos Grier posted bail and is now living in a rental property on the island alongside other Americans who have been apprehended. None are allowed to leave the island. She will appear before a judge on July 5. None of the men who have been arrested Ryan Watson of Oklahoma, Bryan Hagerich of Pennsylvania, Tyler Wenrich of Virginia, and Michael Lee Evans of Texas, are connected in any way. 'Watching the others and how they are close-knit, and reaching out to her, showing her that she's not alone, they are all in this together, that brings joy to my heart,' Willis said. Evans, 72, was granted $20,000 bail and given permission to return back to the U.S due to a medical condition, with reports indicating he is suffering from terminal cancer. Wenrich has been in Turks and Caicos since April 20. He was granted bail and is staying with his father. He awaits a hearing this week where the judge may issue a sentence on the same day, News Nation reports. 'Well hear some news one moment, and it lifts your spirits a little bit. Then, the next moment, they just come crashing down on something else. So, it is a wicked roller coaster of a ride right now because emotions go up, and the motion has come down,' Michael Wenrich said. 'We really dont know how this is going to play out, because if we look at past cases, theyre all different on the result.' Willie Lucas, left, was at a loss for words upon learning that her daughter, Sharitta Grier, had been arrested while visiting the Turks and Caicos on charges of possessing ammunition Ryan Watson, 40, of Oklahoma, said that his family is in the dark about his fate, and 'we can't set any kind of expectations on when I can be home to those kids.' 'To not be with my kids, to not be home with Valerie right now, it's the most awful thing that I have ever lived through at this point,' he said during an interview last month. He said getting back to his children is 'and always will be, my ultimate goal.' Watson has remained on the islands for almost a month as he faces a June 7 court date. At one point his wife Valerie also faced prison before her charges were dropped. A small bag of bullets in a ziplock bag were found in Ryan's luggage, triggering questions as to how American TSA missed them when he left for the vacation through Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma. 'We had no intentions of ever bringing anything into this country. It was just trying to pack board shorts and flip-flops, and that was all we were concerned about bringing,' Watson told Fox News. Bryan Hagerich (left) and Ryan Watson (right) are both facing 12 years in Turks and Caicos prison after loose bullets were found in their luggage Ryan Watson and his wife Valerie pictured together arriving at their Turks and Caicos vacation Ryan was held in the Chalk Sound police station (pictured) until he posted bail, however he is unable to leave the island as his passport was seized Michael Lee Evans, 72, was granted $20,000 bail and given permission to return back to the U.S due to a medical condition, with reports indicating he is suffering from terminal cancer Bryan Hagerich of Pennsylvania, was about to head back home to the U.S. and insists he had no intention of bringing ammo to the islands. He said being away from his family has been difficult. 'As a father, it's my responsibility to provide for my family, to protect my family, to support them in every way imaginable. And for me it's just been catastrophic,' he said. Bryan has since missed both of his children's birthdays, and said he is terrified of the prospect of missing their childhoods if he is sentenced to the full 12-year term. Each of those arrested could potentially face up to 12 years in prison. 'Twelve years is a long time, and all those special things you look forward to as a parent, knowing you potentially couldn't be there for those, that's what keeps me up at night,' he said. Bryan Hagerich (pictured with his wife Ashley and their children, Palmer and Catherine) was arrested in February Bryan Hagerich, 39, left, was arrested in February while Ryan Tyler Watson, 40, right, was charged in April - both with possession of ammunition Bryan Hagerich, 39, was arrested in February after ammunition was found in his luggage Ryan Watson, 40, an avid hunter, said loose hunting bullets were found in his luggage as he and wife his Valerie left their vacation. He still remains on the island Tyler Wenrich, 31, pictured with his wife Jeriann, is also facing 12 years in prison after two 9mm bullets were found in his luggage on April 20 as he departed a bachelor party cruise 'It never dawned on us to research any of these things. And there are a lot of locals that have been just such a blessing and have had such gracious hearts.' The detainees must now argue before the TCI Superior Court they were arrested under 'exceptional circumstances,' which includes proving they have no prior criminal record, they did not intend to bring ammunition into the airport and why a 12-year sentence would be excessive in their cases. Dramatic bodycam footage shows Texas border cops pursuing an alleged human smuggler in a high speed car chase before he gets out on foot and tackles him to the ground. Roque Flores, of Eagle Pass, was arrested on May 13, and charged with smuggling of persons and evading arrest, according to Lieutenant Chris Olivarez, spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). Texas state troopers released the dramatic footage on Monday, capturing a high-speed car chase and a subsequent foot pursuit in Maverick County, leading to Flores' arrest. The trooper is heard on the footage, yelling, 'Come here! I'm going to get you!' The incident began when a trooper spotted a Mercedes-Benz speeding on US-277. Dramatic bodycam footage shows Texas border cops pursuing a human smuggler in a high speed car chase before he gets out on foot and tackles him to the ground Roque Flores (pictured) of Eagle Pass, was arrested on May 13, and charged with smuggling of persons and evading arrest The dashboard camera video shows the trooper making a swift U-turn to pursue the vehicle, resulting in a tense chase down an empty road. The trooper can then be heard shouting, 'Oh, he's hauling a**,' as the Mercedes accelerates away. The chase intensifies as the suspect pulls over onto a property, forcing the trooper to execute a sharp left turn, tires screeching. The officer then leaps from his vehicle, initiating a foot pursuit. The trouper shouted as he chased the suspect: 'Come here! I'm going to get you! You better stop! Hey, you're not getting away!' He then calls out in Spanish to the fleeing suspect. The suspect, who had been running, eventually stops and walks toward the officer. He silently turns around and lies on the ground, crossing his wrists behind his back for handcuffing. The trooper then radios his colleagues to inform them of the pursuit and his location. Flores, a suspected illegal immigrant from Honduras, is now in custody of the US Border Control. The incident began when a trooper spotted a Mercedes-Benz speeding on US-277. The dashboard camera video shows the trooper making a swift U-turn to pursue the vehicle, resulting in a tense chase down an empty road The trouper is heard on footage yelling, 'Come here! I'm going to get you!' Another city is becoming a hotbed for migrant crossings. It was announced this week that San Diego is the new ground zero for the border crisis in the U.S., seeing the most migrant apprehensions of anywhere else in the country last month. At least 37,370 migrants entered the US through the San Diego sector, which includes all of Southern California except for El Centro on the Arizona state line, according to the US Border Patrol. In April, the San Diego region surpassed Tucson, which had been the nation's busiest, and fell to second with 31,219 border encounters. El Paso sector, which includes the West Texas city and all of New Mexico, rose to third with 30,393. Migrants surrender to the U.S. Border Patrol after crossing the border wall from Mexico near Campo, California, about 50 miles from San Diego, on Wednesday, March 13 San Diego had the most encounters in April, followed by the Tucson sector and El Paso, according to newly released figures by the US Border Patrol San Diego's rise to the number one border hotspot had been expected, as the area had been getting bombarded with as many as 6,000 to 8,000 border crossers a week in the last few months. 'Unfortunately, I'm not surprised,' San Diego County Commissioner Jim Desmond told DailyMail.com last month. 'Texas is clamping down and other areas are clamping down. Here in California, they're allowed to walk in unimpeded. They're going to follow the path of least resistance, and the least resistance is in California.' In fact, the Del Rio Sector, which includes the Texas city by the same name and Eagle Pass, had long been the top spot in the entire nation since 2021. Migrants with carry-ons are apprehended at the border in El Campo on March 13 US Customs and Border Patrol, the parent agency of the US Border Patrol, released the latest number for the month of April, showing some 37,370 migrants entered the nation through the San Diego sector In January, Texas' governor cracked down illegal crossings by seizing a park that was known as the place for migrants to enter through. Gov. Greg Abbott also kicked Border Patrol agents out of the land, claiming the federal government was doing enough to stop migrants from coming in. While Abbott's actions are credited for the shift, drug cartels have more influence on where migrants cross. Chinese FM meets with SCO counterparts in Astana Xinhua) 13:36, May 21, 2024 ASTANA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday met here with his Russian, Belarusian, Kyrgyz and Uzbek counterparts respectively on the sidelines of the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs. When meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, hailed President Vladimir Putin's first state visit to China in his new term as a complete success. At the important juncture of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, the two countries' heads of state jointly charted the course for the development of bilateral relations in the new era, jointly issued the heavyweight joint statement on deepening China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era, and affirmed their shared commitment to strengthening China-Russia strategic coordination under the new circumstances, which demonstrated their dedication to maintaining global strategic stability as major countries, Wang said. He stressed that by centering around the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, China is ready to work with Russia to implement a series of new important consensuses reached by the two heads of state and push China-Russia relations to a new level. While meeting with Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergei Aleinik, Wang said that the two countries' heads of state have established a profound friendship as well as solid mutual trust, jointly steering China-Belarus relations into a fast lane. In 2022, the two countries upgraded their relations to an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership, placing each other in a more important position in their respective diplomatic agendas. The two heads of state met twice last year to make plans and arrangements for strategic cooperation in the new era, he said. China is willing to work with Belarus to implement the important consensuses reached by the two heads of state, increase political mutual support, deepen Belt and Road cooperation, continue close coordination and cooperation in international affairs, and translate the high-level political relations between the two countries into high-quality cooperation outcomes, so as to better promote the development and revitalization of the two countries, Wang said. During his meeting with Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kulubaev, Wang said that the brotherly China-Kyrgyzstan friendship is as solid as a rock and has been strengthened over time. Under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, China-Kyrgyzstan relations have shown a momentum of rapid and all-round development, Wang said. Trade volume, especially trade in agricultural products and new energy vehicles, has grown rapidly, and a number of major projects and new projects have been launched one after another. He said that the two sides should continue to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state. With the building of a China-Kyrgyzstan community with a shared future as the goal to be achieved through high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, the two sides should deepen political mutual trust, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, and sustain their everlasting friendship, so as to further enrich the China-Kyrgyzstan relations, he added. While meeting with Uzbek Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov, the Chinese foreign minister recalled that Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev paid a state visit to China in January. The two heads of state made strategic plans for China-Uzbekistan relations and set a new goal of building a China-Uzbekistan community with a shared future on the basis of the China-Uzbekistan all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for a new era by supporting each other and making mutual achievements to accelerate each other's development and revitalization, Wang said. He stressed that the two sides should jointly implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, constantly consolidate political mutual trust, and deepen all-round cooperation to promote the high-quality development of China-Uzbekistan relations. The foreign ministers of Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan voiced their support for the one-China principle, and expressed hope to promote bilateral relations by expanding cooperation. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) A Brit has been left speechless after being quoted an eye-watering 1,049 for two return tickets from Newcastle to London. Lee Williscroft-Ferris, who was pricing up the approximately 550-mile round trip yesterday, couldn't believe the final cost that he was quoted. London North Eastern Railway (LNER) were looking for a whopping 786 for a standard return journey and an even more ludicrous 1,049 for first-class. These train tickets would cost over three times as much as the price of flying, with return flights from Newcastle to London Heathrow starting at 110 per person (220 for two adults). For a return journey by car, from Newcastle to London, it would cost around 54 in petrol for a small vehicle and 82 for a large vehicle. An Uber ride is still the most expensive option, costing around 564 one way, but it is still not far behind the first-class option for these train tickets. Lee shared a screenshot of the quoted prices on 'X', formerly known as Twitter, with the caption: 'For a return from Newcastle to London, @LNER are you out of your actual minds?!' A MailOnline graphic showing the difference in price to travel from Newcastle to London Lee shared this screenshot of the quoted prices on 'X', formerly known as Twitter , with the caption: 'For a return from Newcastle to London, @LNER are you out of your actual minds?!' Social media users were quick to comment on the post, with some trying to explain away the high pricing by suggesting it was because he was booking last minute or during peak times. But other users defended Lee by saying train travel within the UK should never cost hundreds of pounds regardless of where you're travelling to or when you book. One person said: 'Incoming miss-the-point-merchants assuming it must be departing in the next 14 seconds and/or be cheaper elsewhere with a split ticket or something. 'The fact these prices even exist at any point in the journey means the system is broken.' Lee explained that he was booking a week in advance, hoping to travel to London on Tuesday and return on Thursday. With the distance between Newcastle and London being 277 miles, Lee would effectively be paying 5 per mile for a standard ticket and 7 a mile for a first class. His post received over 26,000 likes and more than 1,500 comments from social media users left speechless by the prices. One user said: 'Train operating companies have long held a licence to print money. It's utterly obscene. One user said: 'Train operating companies have long held a licence to print money. It's utterly obscene'. One person said: 'Uber works out at 630... And you are unlikely to have to change to a bus halfway Another wrote: 'I looked at trains to Newcastle for a university open day with son. Cheaper to buy a car and driver there.' 'And, yes. I'm aware that if you do some digging, you can find a cheaper way of making that same journey, but the point is that you shouldn't have to.' Another added: 'Here is an idea. Flight to Paris, eat a nice lunch. Flight to London, TfL Underground to destination. Quick maths this would be 178.' A third wrote: 'I looked at [the] train to Newcastle for a university open day with [my] son. Cheaper to buy a car and drive there.' Another replied: 'Uber works out at 630* and you are unlikely to have to change to a bus halfway.' An LNER spokesperson told MailOnline: 'We haven't been provided with the full details for this journey. 'However, it appears the prices quoted are for peak time travel during a period of very high demand. 'Alternative trains have much cheaper Advance and 70 Minute Flex tickets available for travel in Standard from Newcastle to London King's Cross, subject to seating capacity being available. 'We always encourage customers to book as early as possible for best value fares.' It was a headline writers' dream of a trial: A porn star describing sex with a future president, a look inside the seediest kind of journalism and a disgraced lawyer dishing the dirt on his former boss. Throughout it all, Donald Trump gave the air of a man who could care less, leaning back in his leather seat, eyes closed, in an act of either sleep or disdain. The defense rested its case on Tuesday morning without the defendant taking the stand. The result is that for all the dirt dished, and the evidence presented by 22 witnesses, the Republican candidate for president came through largely unscathed. A survey conducted by DailyMail.com pollster J.L. Partners revealed that few Americans are paying attention and, among those that are, the former president's approval rating even saw a tiny uptick. The defense rested its case Tuesday. Defendant Donald Trump did not take the stand. It leaves his fate in the hands of 12 jurors who are due to begin their deliberations next week The jury is still days away from delivering its verdict, but Trump can claim victory in the court of public opinion. Throughout it all, Trump and his allies have kept up attacks on Judge Juan Merchan and his court, depicting the trial as a political show trial. Trump's son Don Jr. said it would have been a mistake for his father to testify in those circumstances. 'You don't justify that insanity,' he told reporters. 'Look at the clowns they put on there. You don't subject yourself to that nonsense. 'You're going into a kangaroo court, nothing more nothing less.' Yet critics pointed out that Trump had previously said he would have 'no problem' testifying in his own defense. 'Just a reminder: the jury absolutely cannot hold it against Trump for not testifying,' posted Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell on X. 'BUT YOU CAN. If Trump promised you at a press conference that he'd testify and then doesnt, you should conclude hes guilty as hell. Donald Trump Jr spoke to journalists outside court. He said it would have been a mistake for his father to testify. 'There'd be absolutely no reason, no justification to do that whatsoever. Everyone sees it for the sham that it is,' he said Trump arrived on Tuesday with an entourage of supporters. From left, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, former Acting United States Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, Donald Trump Jr., U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, and radio host Sebastian Gorka Trump denies 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of an effort to hide a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors accused him of trying to buy and bury negative and salacious stories ahead of the 2016 election. Of the four criminal cases facing Trump, it was considered perhaps the weakest. Yet with the other three cases all stalled, it has become the most consequential, and the only one likely to be concluded before November's election. 'They have no case,' said Trump on Tuesday morning, before the court adjourned.- 'There's no crime.' The Trump campaign complained throughout that it kept its candidate off the campaign trail to deliberately help President Joe Biden. Instead the campaign came to Trump. For the past week, several of his potential VP picks (including Sen. J.D. Vance, Gov. Doug Burgum, and Vivek Ramaswamy) as well as a slew of members of Congress sat behind him in the courtroom, before stepping outside during the morning break to slam proceedings in front of the waiting cameras. Yet for all the fire and fury, there are signs that the American public is not paying much attention. Barely more than one in ten (13 percent) said they were paying 'a great deal' of attention to it, according to the J.L. Partners poll. Supporters of former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump protest near the Manhattan Criminal Court Adult film star and director Stormy Daniels delivered sensational evidence during the trial Trump's former fixer and lawyer Michael Cohen described his role in the hush money payment It has had little impact on people's views of Trump, said James Johnson, who conducted the poll of 897 likely voters. Just 11 percent said it would make them view him less favorably, while 12 percent said they would view more positively. Johnson said that Trump had been constant attack for things that been disproved, such as links to Russian election interference or questions over Hunter Biden's laptop, or for misrepresenting his remarks at rallies. The public was weary and wary. 'The effect of the trial on Trumps reputation? Our polling finds it hasnt made the blindest bit of difference,' he said. 'People are either locked into their views on Trump, whether positive or negative - and those that have taken a more negative view have been offset by those who feel more sympathetic towards Trump since the trial began. 'There are numerous factors at play the perceived political motivation behind the trial being a large factor but also a public weariness with attacks on the former president. Trump's opponents have bored the voters into tolerance of Trump.' The Trump campaign has even seen a surge in fundraising, despite the candidate being stuck in the courtroom. Figures released Tuesday showed Biden failed to match Trump's numbers for the first time, after the former president held a series of big-money events. So while Biden and the Democratic machine raised more than $51 million in April, Trump raked in $76 million. The next question is whether a conviction will move the dial. The jury is due to return next Tuesday to hear closing arguments and then begin their deliberations. Defense attorneys for Kouri Richins have asked to withdraw from representing her as she faces a trial over claims she killed her husband. The 34-year-old mother of three from Kama in Utah, has been accused of poisoning Eric Richins, 39, by serving him a fentanyl-laced Moscow mule on March 3, 2022. Her team of lawyers filed a motion on May 17 asking to withdraw from representing her in the upcoming criminal case. 'Ray Quinney & Nebeker P.C. is hereby providing notice that it has a professional duty to withdraw from its current representation of the Defendant,' they said in the filing. Richins, who wrote a book on helping children cope with grief after her husband's death in 2022, has been charged with his murder. Defense attorneys for Kouri Richins (left) have asked to withdraw from representing her as she faces a trial over claims she killed her husband The 34-year-old mother of three from Kama in Utah, has been accused of poisoning Eric Richins, 39, by serving him a fentanyl-laced Moscow mule on March 3, 2022 Skye Lazaro and the attorneys at Ray Quinney & Nebeker P.C., who were leading Richins' defense in the murder case against her, have now cited 'irreconcilable and nonwaivable situation' in their filing. 'To properly safeguard the Defendants constitutional rights, this Court should immediately grant the Firms motion to withdraw and should immediately appoint new counsel to continue the vigorous defense of the criminal charges against Ms. Richins,' they added. The defense team said the decision came following a hearing last Wednesday and told the court and the opposing counsel of the decision. Richins allegedly slipped a lethal dose of fentanyl into Eric's Moscow Mule a vodka-based cocktail at their home in Kamas, Utah. Prior to his death, the couple fought over financial issues in regard to their 10-acre, $2 million home and signed an agreement that would grant her the sale of the home. The home sold in January 2020 to Alec and Taryn Wright, who went on to sue Kouri and her realty firm after they claimed they had to vacate the property due to hazardous levels of mold along with a slew of unexplained health issues. On Monday, newly filed documents claimed that Kouri first attempted to kill her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl just a month before she allegedly served him the spiked cocktail. Prosecutors have alleged that a sandwich that she got for him on Valentine's Day was left with a note in the front seat of his truck. She purchased the sandwich from a local diner in town, and in the same week, witnesses said she bought several dozen fentanyl pills. Two of Eric's friends said that they remembered that he called them that same day, after he ate the sandwich, and told them, 'I think my wife tried to kill me,' according to witness testimony. The legal documents said that prior to making that concerning phone call, Eric had rushed to inject himself with his son's EpiPen and downed a bottle of Benadryl after he reacted to the drugs. When he woke up from a deep sleep, he called his friends and told them he thought he was going to die and that it was his wife's fault, documents said. Kouri Richins, pictured in court in June 2023, was revealed to be having an affair with another man before her husband's death in March 2022 Richins, who is charged with poisoning husband Eric Richins with a laced cocktail, was romantically involved with handyman Robert Grossmann who later ended up homeless According to an affidavit, Kouri 'wished to leave Eric Richins for her paramour but believed that divorce would be financially difficult and could result in losing custody of their children' A housekeeper, who is also the state's star witness, told police that she had sold drugs to Kouri just a couple days before the alleged first poisoning attempt. According to the latest documents, Kouri allegedly told the housekeeper that she needed stronger drugs because the initial pills provided weren't strong enough. A month after that attempt, Kouri called 911 and reported that she found Eric 'cold to the touch' at the foot of their bed, according to the police report. Medical examiners later found that her husband had five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in his system. Summit County Chief Prosecutor, Patricia Cassell, has alleged that the Kouri slipped the obscene amount of drugs into Eric's cocktail that night, even though the wife's family said his death was accidental. Kouri's brother Ronney said that 'Eric loved to party, he loved to have a good time.' 'The simplest answer is often the correct one, it was most likely an accidental overdose.' On the same night Eric died, Kouri's mother, Lisa Darden, and her were celebrating her recent closure on the mansion. Kouri owned a real estate company and her husband owned a successful masonry business. One day after his death, affidavits for search warrants show that Kouri signed the closing papers on the couple's $2 million property and invited friends for a party where she was drinking and celebrating. Kouri and her husband had previously been arguing about her plans to purchase the home in the days before he was found dead, according to court documents. Prosecutors said Eric found out that his wife had taken out a $250,000 home equity line of credit and spent it, withdrawn $100,000 from his bank accounts, and spent more than $30,000 on his credit cards. Kouri also stole about $134,000 from her husband's business meant for tax payments, the documents state. The documents state that she agreed to repay her husband back when he confronted her about the missing money. Prosecutors alleged that Kouri purchased four different life insurance policies, which totaled more than $1.9 million between 2015 and 2017. Prior to his death, the couple fought over financial issues in regard to their 10-acre $2million home and signed an agreement that would grant her the sale of the home The mom-of-three is accused of slipping the potent drug into a sandwich she bought him at a diner in their hometown Kamas in a first failed attempt on February 14, 2022 Shortly after her husband's death, the mother of three self-published a children's book titled 'Are You with Me?' about an angel wing-clad deceased father watching over his sons In the new legal fillings, it was revealed that Kouri had a negative bank account balance, owned lenders more than $1.8 million and was being sued by a creditor. Shortly after her husband's death, the mother-of-three self-published a children's book titled 'Are You With Me?' about an angel wing-clad deceased father watching over his sons. She promoted it on television and radio, describing the book as a way to help children grieve the loss of a loved one. She said in an interview that she was motivated to write the book after searching Amazon and Barnes and Noble and finding 'nothing' to help them 'cope' and dedicated the book to Eric. Kouri has been slapped with new charges following the recently filed documents, including attempted murder, mortgage fraud and insurance fraud for allegedly forging loan applications and fraudulently claiming insurance benefits after Eric's death. Prior to his death, Eric had changed his will to make his sister the sole beneficiary of his life insurance policy and was even thinking of getting a divorce from Kouri, according to his family. Family attorney and spokesperson Greg Skordas previously told DailyMail.com that Eric was afraid Kouri was trying to kill him after two separate instances in which he became violently ill after drinking or eating with his wife. His family has insisted that Kouri is the one responsible for his sudden death. Richins allegedly wanted her husband dead so she could move on with a man who later ended up homeless. She fell for handyman Robert Grossmann, 41, after he was hired to work on homes she was renovating, court papers show. 'If I was divorced right now and ask you to marry me tomorrow, you would?' Richins texted her lover in February 2022, just weeks before she allegedly poisoned her husband Eric, according to court documents filed this week by the prosecution. 'I just want to lay on the couch and cuddle you. Watch a murder documentary and snuggle!' Two weeks later, she texted Grossmann: 'Life is going to be different I promise', adding: 'I hate your hard days. I wish I could be there to turn them around for you. Can I try Friday? Give me a few days? Hang in there until then please?' Then on March 3, the night she allegedly poisoned her husband, she texted her boyfriend a photo of two people kissing that was captioned, 'love you.' Richins faces 25 years to life if convicted of her charges. Transport for London is threatening legal action at the International Court of Justice against embassies refusing to pay nearly 150million in congestion charge debt. TfL has revealed diplomats from foreign countries owe 145.5million in payments for the charge since it was introduced by former mayor Ken Livingstone in 2003. The American embassy is the worst offender with 14.64million in debt - ahead of Japan at 10.07million, India at 8.55million and Nigeria at 8.40million. Diplomats claim they should be exempt because they see the charge as a tax, which would therefore mean they would not have to pay under the Vienna Convention. But TfL has insisted that the UK Government agrees with it that the scheme is a 'charge for a service and not a tax' and therefore diplomats are 'not exempt'. TfL has also revealed it is 'pushing for the matter to be taken up' at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, which is one of the six United Nations organs. The court uses international law to settle legal disputes from states and gives advisory opinions on legal questions from UN organs and specialised agencies. The International Court of Justice at The Hague, which is one of the six United Nations organs Mayor Sadiq Khan, pictured at the Vatican last Thursday, is chair of Transport for London (TfL) The matter has also been raised by TfL - chaired by London Mayor Sadiq Khan - with the Foreign Office, where officials are understood to expect diplomatic missions and international organisations based in the UK to pay the congestion charge. What is the Congestion Charge in London? The Congestion Charge is a 15 daily charge for those who drive within a specified zone in Central London. It applies from 7am until 6pm Monday to Friday, and between 12pm and 6pm on weekends and bank holidays. There is no charge between Christmas Day and the New Year's Day bank holiday, inclusive. Those who fail to pay the charge in time face a fine of 90, which rises to 180 if not paid within 14 days. The charge was brought in by Mayor Ken Livingstone at 5 a day in February 2003, and then increased to 8 in July 2005, 10 in January 2011, 11.50 in June 2014, and 15 in June 2020. The zone was extended west in 2007 before Boris Johnson abolished this when he became mayor in 2011. Advertisement Sources within the department told MailOnline that there are no legal grounds to exempt diplomats from paying it and the charge is comparable to a parking fee or a toll charge which diplomatic missions and international organisations are required to pay. TfL is also understood to be requesting support from the Government to recover outstanding congestion charge debt and related penalty charge notice payments. But a spokeswoman for the US Embassy in London said: 'In accordance with international law as reflected in the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, our position is that the congestion charge is a tax from which diplomatic missions are exempt. 'Our long-standing position is shared by many other diplomatic missions in London.' This statement has put the US Embassy - which moved from Grosvenor Square to Nine Elms in 2018 - on a collision course with TfL, which is chaired by London Mayor Sadiq Khan. It comes ahead of New York City's plan to introduce a congestion charge from June 30 which will see drivers have to pay $15 (12) every time they enter midtown Manhattan. In a statement accompanying the diplomatic debt data, TfL said: 'We and the UK Government are clear that the Congestion Charge is a charge for a service and not a tax. This means that diplomats are not exempt from paying it. 'The majority of embassies in London do pay the charge, but there remains a stubborn minority who refuse to do so, despite our representations through diplomatic channels. 'We will continue to pursue all unpaid Congestion Charge fees and related penalty charge notices and are pushing for the matter to be taken up at the International Court of Justice.' The embassy for the United States of America in the Nine Elms area of London (file picture) A Transport for London map shows the zone for the Congestion Charge which began in 2003 A TfL spokeswoman added: 'We are clear that foreign diplomats and consular staff are not exempt from paying the Congestion Charge. 'We continue to pursue all unpaid Congestion Charges and related penalty charge notices.' The congestion charge involves a 15 daily fee for driving within an area of central London between 7am and 6pm on weekdays, and between noon and 6pm on weekends and bank holidays. There are discounts and exemptions for various groups of people and vehicles, such as residents, taxis and fully electric cars. The scheme is separate to the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) - expanded by Mr Khan last August which is levied on a different basis. Embassies and high commissions tend to lease vehicles when visiting London, which means almost all vehicles would meet the Ulez standards. Other embassies in the top ten for congestion charge debt include China at 7.93million, Russia at 6.00million, Poland at 5.27million, Ghana at 5.00million, Kazakhstan at 4.65million and Germany at 4.64million. Diplomats owe 145.5million in congestion charge debt since the scheme started, TfL said Outside of the top ten, further countries include Sudan at 3.94million, Kenya at 3.26million, Pakistan at 3.13million and South Korea at 2.64million. France's debt is 2.55million, Cuba's is 2.47million, Tanzania 2.30million, Spain 2.19million, Algeria 2.19million and South Africa 1.98million. The cleanest record belongs to Togo which owes just 40 - followed by Dominica and Finland, both at 120. Turkmenistan, Panama, Macedonia and Monaco are all at 130. The figures relate to unpaid fees and fines accrued by diplomats between the launch of the congestion charge in 2003 and the end of last year. Ministers revealed in Parliament last September that foreign diplomats in London owe nearly 150 million in congestion charge debt, but the full breakdown by country has now emerged. Figures given to MPs at the same time showed that 15 serious and significant offences, including sexual assault and drunk-driving, were allegedly committed by diplomats or those entitled to diplomatic immunity between 2019-2022. Japan's embassy in London is in second place with a congestion charge debt of 10million Junior foreign minister David Rutley said at the time: 'We consider that there are no legal grounds to exempt diplomatic missions and international organisations from the London congestion charge, which is comparable to a parking fee or toll charge they are required to pay.' The congestion charge was brought in by Mr Livingstone at 5 a day in February 2003. It was then increased to 8 in July 2005, 10 in January 2011, 11.50 in June 2014, and 15 in June 2020 - at which it remains today. TfL faced a financial crisis during the pandemic when income plummeted due to a collapse in journey numbers due to successive lockdowns. It receives a series of government bailouts with the most recent funding deal of 250million agreed with the Department for Transport last December. In February 2020, then-foreign secretary Dominic Raab issued a written ministerial statement revealing that his officials have written to 'a number of diplomatic missions and international organisations' to 'press for payment' of money owed relating to the congestion charge, parking fines and business rates. A primary school in Cornwall could become the first in Britain to ban skirts, as its headteacher claims girls are wearing them too short. Newquay Junior Academy in Edgcumbe Avenue has written to parents to say that it wants to implement a skirts ban from September and has asked for their views on the idea. If approved, the new rule would mean that girls at the school, aged seven to 11, would have to wear trousers or tailored shorts instead of skirts. Executive head teacher Craig Hayes explained in a letter to parents that skirts currently worn by many of the girls at the school were too short. Mr Hayes believes the only solution now is to create a more gender-neutral uniform that does not encourage fads or bullying. He wrote: ' The proposed change is that there will no longer be an option to wear skirts within our uniform policy. Instead, we are proposing that instead of a skirt, pupils will all wear either tailored black school trousers or tailored black school shorts. 'The rationale for this, is that we are concerned about the way that some of our girls are wearing their skirts, and this is reflected in comments from many of you, as parents and carers, but also from visitors and our community.' Executive head teacher Craig Hayes (pictured) explained in a letter to parents that skirts currently worn by many of the girls at the school were too short If approved, the new rule would mean that girls at the school, aged seven to 11, would have to wear trousers or tailored shorts instead of skirts (stock) He added: 'Some skirts are just too short, and the length is difficult to rectify and/or monitor. The length of the skirt is not in line with school uniform, and we are at a point now where this must be addressed. 'As such, we are reviewing the wearing of skirts for September 2024 and considering a move to trousers for all.' The letter to parents, seen by CornwallLive, adds: 'We want our pupils to express their individuality through their beliefs, passions, talents, and minds and not through their clothing and image. 'We all know that, unfortunately, some feel pressure to customise their uniform in a way that we know none of us would encourage. 'Our pupils deserve to attend an academy where they feel safe and can thrive and where all are treated fairly. A general view of Newquay Junior Academy in Edgcumbe Avenue 'Academy uniform creates an inclusive atmosphere because it does not differentiate pupils by background. We believe that a uniform worn without modification is the best way to ensure equality. We do not want pupils feeling vulnerable and stressed by the pressure they feel to wear the latest trend or status symbol. 'Wearing a uniform as expected, dilutes the status placed on expensive shoes, labels, or length of skirt. 'We strive to shift the emphasis of competition and status, to create a feeling of collective pride and of support for peers.' It comes after secondary schools including Tiverton High School in Devon and Launceston College in Cornwall banned girls from wearing skirts. Former councillor Angie Rayner said that girls should 'proudly' wear their skirts and ought to take legal action against the school if they try and expel them. Furious parents at Launceston College claimed the rule change means students are being punished for being feminine while others said it suggests women cannot be as successful as men because of their fashion choices. Parents at the primary school are now being asked for their opinion on the proposal. The school said its final decision will come in after the May half term break. The proposed decision has not gone down too well already with some parents. One mum told us: 'It seems ridiculous that girls have no dress or pinafore option and to be asked to dress in a uniform that will make some girls feel uncomfortable/not themselves. 'Young girls especially in the junior school are suffering because teachers can't handle the discipline it takes to teach kids to roll down their skirt. It is unfair and a blanket ban on skirts seems crazy.' It's not the first time, schools in Cornwall - or Devon - and beyond have banned skirts, or tried to. 'In March this year, Launceston College announced a similar move but was forced to back down following a backlash by parents. 'Previously Tiverton High School in Devon said it would also ban skirts to create a 'more gender-neutral uniform policy'. A new poll shows former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden neck-and-neck in New Hampshire - the latest in a series of polls that raise warning signs for the struggling president as the general election season heats up. Biden won the Granite State by more than seven points in 2020 with nearly sixty-thousand more votes than Trump. But the New Hampshire Journal/Praecones Analytica poll finds the pair tied in the state with less than six months to go before Election Day. Trump has 36.6 percent among registered voters while Biden has 36.5 percent in the state. Independent candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. is polling at 14.6 percent, according to the poll. New poll out of New Hampshire shows Trump tied with Biden in state Biden won by nearly 60,000 votes in 2020 It comes as Biden is headed to Nashua, New Hampshire on Tuesday to deliver remarks before heading to Boston for some campaign fundraising. The ex-president was last in the state for the New Hampshire Republican primary where he won the GOP contest with more than 54 percent of the vote. Biden is struggling with swing voters in the famously independent thinking state according to Praecones Analytica's Jonathan Klinger. Former President Donald Trump delivering his victory speech in Nashua, New Hampshire after winning the Granite State Republican presidential primary on January 23, 2024 President Joe Biden speaking with former New Hampshire Governor John Lynch and his wife Susan after arriving in Manchester, NH on May 21, 2024 Independent presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. after a foreign policy speech in Manchester, New Hampshire on June 20, 2023 'While registered voters of both parties are largely united around their nominee, independent/undeclared voters are splitting their support in four statistically indistinguishable ways: between Biden, Trump, Kennedy, and other unnamed candidates,' Klingler told the New Hampshire Journal. He noted that by comparison to exit polls in the 2020 presidential election, independent/undeclared voters in the state show significantly lower support for Biden. President Joe Biden greeted by Republican Governor Chris Sununu upon arriving in Manchester, NH on May 21, 2024 Protesters on the side of the road as President Biden's motorcade drives past on May 21, 2024 Among undeclared voters in the state, Biden had 27.5 percent, while Trump had 24.2 percent, according to the poll. Kennedy has 23.2 percent. The poll also showed Trump leading among registered voters in every age group except with those sixty-five and up. While Biden soundly won the state in 2020, Hillary Clinton won New Hampshire by less than 0.5 percent in 2016 or just over 2,700 votes more than Trump. The Granite State poll showing a tie is the latest in a series of polls showing Trump level or ahead of Biden in swing states Biden won in 2020. A CBS News polls showed Trump leading in Arizona and Florida on Sunday. Another poll earlier this month showed Biden trailing Trump in five out of six crucial battleground states. A woman has been trapped inside her Texas home for five days after what she was told were live power lines fell onto her property during a storm. Natalie Washington and her grandson were trapped inside their house after extreme weather brought a utility line down across their property last Thursday. Strong winds in Houston last week caused the line to fall and start a fire after it fell onto a tree near the front yard of the 67-year-old, knocking out the power. The Houston Fire Department responded to the fire and quickly extinguished the flames, telling Washington to stay away from the wires incase they were live. After leaving, Washington said firefighters put yellow tape around her home which left her too afraid to leave the property or allow her husband to come back inside. Utility companies then ignored Washington's pleas for help, leaving her trapped inside her home for almost a week over fears she'd be zapped to death if she stepped outside. Strong winds in Houston last week caused the line to fall and cause a fire after it fell onto a tree near the front yard of the 67-year-old, knocking out the power Natalie Washington and her grandson, both seen, were been trapped inside their house after a storm brought a utility line down across their property last Thursday Washington, who also has diabetes, feared the stress and the heat would raise her blood pressure Speaking to ABC13, she said: 'The firefighters told me not to touch my front gate or walk around because I don't know where the electric current is flowing. I'm too terrified. I'm not going to even try it. When you know you're trapped somewhere and you don't have an option to leave, it breaks you down. 'All my husband could do is sit on the street and talk to me while I'm sitting on the porch.' Images captured by the outlet show the wires draped across her driveway, front fence and part of her yard on Monday. Washington told the outlet that she had called CenterPoint Energy dozens of times before they finally responded to her address on Monday to make repairs. When the repair crews arrived on site, they discovered that the line that had fallen had been a telecommunications line and not live electricity. Crews on site told ABC13 that firefighters wouldn't have been able to distinguish what was a cable wire from a power line. Washington, who also has diabetes , feared the stress and the heat would raise her blood pressure Images captured by the outlet show the wires draped across her driveway, front fence and part of her yard on Monday When the repair crews arrived on site, they discovered that the line that had fallen had been a telecommunications line and not live electricity In a statement, they said: 'We sent a crew on site. They assessed the situation and determined the downed wire is a telecommunications line and not a live electric line. 'Restoration work is underway to restore the outage affecting this customer.' Washington is now happy to have her power restored and for her family to be able to enter the property. Nearly 1 million people were left without power across Houston following the severe weather last week. On Monday, more than 350,000 households across the city started the week without electricity. The devastating thunderstorm that barreled through the area on Thursday shattered windows, downed trees and claimed at least seven lives. A U.S. Postal Service truck is flipped on its side at the intersection of Bingle and Sowden in Houston A car sits under fallen bricks in the aftermath of a severe thunderstorm Friday, May 17, 2024, in Houston As a new week kicked off, temperatures climbed to a high of around 90 degrees and introduced a new threat - oppressively hot and sticky conditions. Thousands of homes were plunged into darkness after high-voltage transmission towers were torn apart and power lines damaged. CenterPoint deployed more than 7,000 workers to focus on 24/7 restoration efforts following the devastation. In a news release, CenterPoint announced it continued to be on track for 'substantial completion of restoration' by Wednesday night. Grandmother discovered him there when she arrived to drop off his lunch Asha Crews said her son Sincere, 6, was in the closet so long he was sweating A six-year-old autistic boy was strapped into a restraint chair and shoved into a tiny mold-infested closet for a 'timeout' at a public school. Sincere, who is non-verbal, was discovered in the sweltering space at Mariam Boyd Elementary in Warrenton, North Carolina, on Thursday by his grandmother. She arrived to drop off lunch for the disabled boy and confronted the teacher when she found him in that condition, and snapped a photo. Asha Crews, Sincere's mother, called the school and demanded to know why he had been put in the closet for so long that he was sweating. Sincere, who is non-verbal, was discovered in the sweltering space at Mariam Boyd Elementary in Warrenton, North Carolina , on Thursday 'The teacher said he was in 'time out' because he was hollering at lunch time... and he was hungry,' she said when posting the photo online. Crews sounded off in a video and several Facebook posts where she said she only went to social media after school officials took too long to respond. 'My mom said, 'Y'all are going to get him out of the closet. He's not a dog,' she said. 'I have a picture of my kid in a broom closet that has mold, that's hot... he had to have been in that closet for a long period of time because he was hot and sweaty.' Asha Crews, Sincere's mother, called the school and demanded to know why he had been put in the closet for so long that he was sweating Crews hinted at the situation on social media a couple of times before posting the photo and explaining what happened to her son. 'I'm so glad this school year is coming to end it's literally jail or hell about my kid,' she wrote minutes after talking to the school on Thursday. 'And if you don't have patience you don't need to be a teacher in a EC classroom with special needs children!' Crews sounded off in a video and several Facebook posts where she said she only went to social media after school officials took too long to respond Then on Monday she wrote next to a photo of Sincere: 'How can anyone be so cruel to you woke up a emotional wreck this morning but I promise I'll always be the voice for you. 'Warren County School System will not get away with this.' Warren County Superintendent Keith Sutton said the teacher was a 'contractor' and not an employee of the school district. He said the teacher was suspended and removed from the classroom, an investigation into the 'misconduct' begun, and the incident reported to 'the proper authorities'. A century-old hotel in a tiny Michigan town got a luxurious face lift by the same designer who worked on Camp David and the White House. Otis Harbor Springs in Harbor Springs, Michigan, an idyllic town with a population of less than 1,500 people has emerged as luxurious getaway with a 'reimagined mid-century hotel' with 100 years of history and multiple renovations. Reservations for the lush hotel are set to open up on May 31 with options to book a studio room or larger, like the family suite. The historic hotel's renovations were led by Israel Hernandez and Ty Humpert, while designs for the property were created by Daniel Caudill, Humpert and interior designer Kenneth Blasingame. Blasingame designed the interior of the White House at the request of former President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush, D Magazine reported. Otis Harbor Springs in Harbor Springs, Michigan has emerged a 'reimagined mid-century hotel' after 100 years of history and multiple renovations He also helped design Camp David, a 125-acre country retreat for the US president in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland. The Texas interior designer worked with the Bush family since 1989 after they brought him on to help design their Dallas home before he worked on the Texas Governor's Mansion. 'No doubt it was very exciting. There were a lot of "pinch me" moments,' Blasingame previously told D Magazine. The reimagined hotel has 31 'impeccably designed' rooms, with some that feature patio views of the courtyard. Rooms start at $275 for the Lakeside Harbor Studio, with the highest priced room, the Lakeside Family Suite, costing around $483. The hotel has undergone a 'top-to-bottom renovation' that features hints of 'rustic charm and pride of place' by the design team According to the website, guests have to stay for a minimum of two nights at the hotel which is right off of M-119, near the well-known Tunnel of Trees. The hotel was first established by Joseph E. Otis, a banker from Chicago, in the 20th century. Otis named the property Birchwood Family Estate and in 1958 the farmland was transformed into a retreat called Birchwood Inn. Humpert said that the inn was the place that he and his family visited every year for their fall road trip to see the Tunnel of Trees, a scenic drive full of vibrant and large trees. 'We wanted to restore this legacy property and offer future generations of travelers the opportunity to explore this beautiful region, while creating their own lifelong memories.' The average nightly price for hotels in Harbor Springs is $141 on weekdays and $153 on weekends, according to Kayak. It is unclear how much it used to cost to stay at the hotel before renovations. Slide me One of the bedrooms before the renovations inside the Birchwood Inn (left). An updated bedroom inside the Otis Harbor Springs hotel (right) Since then, the hotel has undergone a 'top-to-bottom renovation' that features hints of 'rustic charm and pride of place' by the design team. 'The team brings a brand-new vision to every inch of the property- from lush, layered interior spaces to the smallest of details, like custom designed furniture and a restoration to a native meadow landscape creating a high-level hospitality experience not yet seen in the region,' the hotel said. As guests arrive at the newly-designed property, they are instantly greeted by a mid-century modern exterior building design fit with beams and stone. 'Weve created this experience just as much for locals as for our out-of-town guests,' Israel Hernandez, one of the renovators, said Inside the hotel, guests are introduced to an array of vintage and unique pieces that Humpert sourced from local flea markets and antique shops. The lobby is filled with soft, earthy and blue tones that mimic the waters of Lake Michigan, with a longy crafted wooden cabinet with circles on each door. Guests are also greeted by the Birchwood General, an on-site shop located inside the lodge, that sells local, homemade goods like art and curated books. The shop also sells small bites, charcuterie and a wine selection which is ideal for planning a picnic in the outdoor space that surrounds the hotel. On-the-go food and drink selections are also available, including La Colombe coffee, parfaits and local French pastries. A large fireplace lounge area sits at the center of the main lodge. A marble-topped rectangular bar, set up with bright orange stools, a hard liquor selection and extra seating space nearby are in the hotel. The cocktail menu is set to feature drinks inspired by the area and history of the property Slide me The previous design of a bathroom in the Birchwood Inn, fit with light blue tile (left). The updated bathroom in the Otis Harbor Springs hotel covered in salmon colored tile (right) The space has extra wood available to start crisp fires, and ample seating space for people to come together. Exposed beams trace the ceiling as the tuxedo couch that was placed in the original Birchwood Inn, ties into the vintage-modern space. Next to the fireplace is a marble-topped rectangular bar, complemented with bright orange stools, a hard liquor selection and extra seating space nearby. The hotel said that the cocktail menu is set to feature drinks inspired by the area and history of the property. One drink, called the Tapawingo, is crafted with London gin, Dolin Vermouth Blanc, Salers Gentian Aperitif and lemon bitters. The previous design of the fireplace area before renovations at the Birchwood Inn A large fireplace lounge area sits at the center of the main lodge. The space has extra wood available to start crisp fires, and ample seating space for people to come together Each of the guest rooms produces a 'calming palette' with creamy walls, bedding, and neutral, earthy colors. The bathrooms in each room are fit with similar colors as the bedrooms, but have a slight twist with checkered backsplashes, as well as salmon pink and green wall tile. Outside of the hotel, the land is full of many opportunities, including exploring the great outdoors or keeping it simple as a great place to socialize. With native plant life and meadow grasses, there is space for guests to dive into fun activities like bocce ball, outdoor stone fire pits, and seating space known as The Grove. In July, the hotel plans to introduce its yoga space that will be located at the rear of the property near Michigan's state tree, ancient white pines. 'Weve created this experience just as much for locals as for our out-of-town guests,' Hernandez said. 'This is a very special place that has been part of the community for many decades, and we are honored to bring back this Northern Michigan mainstay for future generations.' A Catholic monk who lives as a hermit in Kentucky has come out as transgender in what is thought to be a first for the church. Brother Christian Matson, 39, who transitioned in college, came out as a transgender man on Sunday, the religious holiday of Pentecost. The monk, who is based in the Appalachian mountains, made the announcement with the permission of his bishop John Stowe of the Diocese of Lexington, according to National Catholic Reporter. 'You've got to deal with us, because God has called us into this church,' Matson told the outlet. 'It's not your church to kick us out ofthis is God's church, and God has called us and engrafted us into it.' Brother Christian Matson, 39, announced that he is a transgender man on Sunday 'My willingness to be open to him is because it's a sincere person seeking a way to serve the church,' Bishop John Stowe of Lexington said. 'Hermits are a rarely used form of religious life but they can be either male or female. 'Because there's no pursuit of priesthood or engagement in sacramental ministry, and because the hermit is a relatively quiet and secluded type of vocation, I didn't see any harm in letting him live this vocation.' Matson, who also goes by Cole, transitioned from female to male while in college. He became a Catholic in 2010. His announcement may seem at odds with the Catholic church's stance on transgender issues, which were outlined in its Infinite Dignity declaration in April. The document asserts its belief that God made men and women biologically different and no attempts should be made to transgress this. But Matson has been emboldened to come forward thanks to the support of his bishop. 'I can't stand by and let this false and, at times, culpably ignorant understanding of what it means to be transgender continue to hurt people,' he said. The announcement is thought to be a first for the Catholic church and was made with permission from Matson's bishop Matson took his vows to become a diocesan hermit in 2022 and renewed them in 2023, decades after transitioning 'If I don't say anything and allow the church to continue to make decisions based on incorrect information, then I'm not serving the church.' Matson took his vows as a diocesan hermit in 2022, overseen by Stowe. The vows include commitments to poverty, chastity and obedience carried out in solitude. He decided to go public with his experience following some developments within the church that suggested greater tolerance of trans people. This included a Vatican doctrine in November 2023 which ruled transgender people may be baptized and serve as witnesses at weddings. An experience where a trans student asked him to pray for their acceptance in the church also encouraged Matson to consider coming out. Matson refers to his transition as 'medical history' rather than 'a central part of my personal identity'. Matson insists he has no agenda and just wants to serve the church while being truthful to himself Matson, seen here starring in an independent film released in 2013, said he felt called to minister to those in the arts following conversion He said he was called to minister to those in the arts shortly after his conversion, but that he was worried he would face obstacles. Matson said he consulted a canonical lawyer who advised he would only be ineligible for marriage or priesthood. He was told, 'there's no problem as long as there's a bishop who will accept you, because there's no distinction by sex and you're not in a community you're by yourself,' Matson said. During his search, Matson moved to the UK to pursue a PhD in theology before returning to the US and starting up an arts organization. He has several minor film credits to his name on IMDb and was previously Managing Director of Open Window Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota. Matson and Stowe said they are braced for potential backlash against the announcement. 'I don't have a hidden agenda, I just want to serve the church,' Matson said. 'People can believe that or not.' Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker has ordered the return of all 25,000 of her staff back to the office as she ends the Covid-era work-from-home policy. Parker, a 51-year-old Democrat who was sworn in this January, said, 'This city runs on the people who come to work!' Announcing the news at City Hall on Monday morning, Parker said city workers must return to the office by June 15. 'I have notified all workers that they will be transitioning to full-time in-office work effective July 15, 2024.' 'Employee presence at the workplace allows for more personal and productive interaction, it facilitates communication, it promotes social connections along with collaboration, innovation and inclusion,' she said. Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, who was sworn in this January, has ordered the return of all 25,000 of her staff back to the office as she ends the Covid-era work from home policy About 80 percent of the city's 25,000 workforce have been working fully on-site since last year, according to the mayor Announcing the news at City Hall on Monday morning (pictured), Parker said city workers must return to the office by June 15 Parker believes that bringing workers back to the office will make them more accessible to residents, however, many members of the union disagree. While some expressed disappointment with Parkers' decision, others praised her for her strong leadership. 'Finally some common sense from a Democrat,' one user said on X. 'Good for her, it will increase foot traffic in Center City and help restaurants, eateries, etc. If the workers don't like it, they can always quit!' another commented. A third user questioned the lack of urgency: 'Why do they need a months notice?' 'Our workforce is the only way that Philadelphia truly becomes what I promised to the people, that is the safest, cleanest, greenest big city in America, with access to economic opportunity for all,' she said. About 80 percent of the city's 25,000 workforce have been working fully on-site since last year, according to the mayor. The remaining 20 percent of city employees worked between 31 to 75 hours per-pay-period on site, she said. The president of AFSCME Local 2187, a union that supports municipal workers, David Wilson, expressed disapproval of the mayor's decision in a statement following the press conference. He said he was disappointed by the mayor's decision to force workers to return to the office full-time. 'We are disheartened to hear that the mayor decided to unilaterally implement returning my members to work five days a week on July 15. This to us, is a mandatory subject of bargaining to which the city clearly doesn't,' he said in the statement to NBC 10. 'Making such an impactful change in the middle of summer or in general, directly harms our members, their families and creates chaos. It has become clearer than ever that the mayor doesn't not care for her city work force. Her actions speak louder than words.' In March, Parker ordered city leaders, including cabinet members, commissioners, directors and deputy directors, to return back to the office full-time. This caused outrage among workers with local union leaders saying employees would seek employment elsewhere if this change were to be implemented. There were no union leaders present in Monday's press conference. Addressing the union's stance on her decision, Parker said,'I cannot affirm that any of the union presidents for the City of Philadelphia have embraced this.' Parker argued that returning to the office is non-negotiable. 'I as mayor of the City of Philadelphia do not believe that the return to work full-time, in-person is bargainable.' Parker promoted in-office work to increase productivity, however, some studies have shown the opposite is true. A 2020 survey found business may be thriving since work-from-home police was implemented. In March, Parker ordered city leaders, including cabinet members, commissioners, directors and deputy directors, to return back to the office full-time Researchers asked more than 1,600 individuals how they have adapted to working at home and one third said they are more productive than when in the office. Respondents noted they now have better control of their time and how much work is completed. In January, Philadelphia's first female mayor has been sworn in and promptly signed an executive order declaring a Public Safety Emergency to tackle rampant crime. Parker, a long-serving councilwoman, campaigned on a centrist platform of safety, jobs, and city services. She promised on the campaign trail to hire 300 more police officers, including community officers, and restore 'constitutional' stop-and-frisk. She also put forth the idea of making school year-round, to reduce juvenile delinquency. A world-renowned classical music conductor who was caught in a police sting trying to arrange sex acts with a child is facing jail. Jan Latham-Koenig, 70, was arrested at London Victoria train station in January after arranging to meet what he believed was a 14-year-old boy he had met on a dating site. But the boy was an undercover police officer posing as a child. Prosecutor Jason Seetal previously said: On 9 December 2023 he started chatting on a dating app with an undercover officer posing as a 14 year old boy, the prosecutor added. The conductor outside Westminster Magistrates Court following an earlier hearing. Latham-Koenig has worked with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra among others. He was awarded an OBE for services to music and UK/Russia cultural relations. He was forced to surrender his passport as part of his bail conditions. That chat had been sexual in its nature. The chat progresses onto WhatsApp. Through this chat theres an arrangement to meet up at Victoria train station. This defendant attends on the day and is arrested. Latham-Koenig had earlier admitted arranging or facilitating the commission of a sexual offence with a child, between 9 December and 11 January. He also admitted sexual communication with a minor. And wearing a dark blue suit and a pink shirt Latham-Koenig admitted a third charge of attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming at Southwark Crown Court today. Adjourning sentence until next week, Judge Alexander Milne told Latham-Koenig: Im sorry that we cant deal with it today. This requires careful consideration. You must come back to court next Tuesday 28 May. Latham-Koenig has worked with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra and in Queen Elizabeths 2020 birthday honours list he was awarded an OBE for services to music and UK/Russia cultural relations'. He remains on bail on condition he resides at his sisters address in Hampstead, north London, does not apply for any international travel documents and surrenders his passport to the police due to his international connections. Jenni Murray has called for smacking children to be made illegal after she admitted she 'burns with shame' over how she disciplined her two boys. The 74-year-old broadcaster claimed although hitting children isn't seen as child abuse - it is domestic violence and must be stopped. Writing in Saga magazine, she said: 'If only the governments of England and Northern Ireland would have the common sense to follow where Scotland and Wales have led and make it illegal to smack a child. 'Where smacking remains permissible for parents the rules are appallingly unclear. 'What does it actually mean to say 'reasonable punishment' is okay? What is reasonable punishment?' Jenni Murray, 74, claimed although hitting children isn't seen as child abuse - it is domestic violence and must be stopped Jenni admitted she 'burns with shame' over how she disciplined her two boys. (Stock Image) Jenni pointed out different parents will have 'different views' about how to differentiate between 'child abuse and reasonable punishment'. 'In 2024, we've reached a time of sensitive humanity where everyone has rights,' she added. 'Well, everyone apart from the smallest, weakest members of our society - children.' Retorting to those who say physical discipline does children 'no harm', she said: 'I know from personal experience that this is not true.' Jenni explained how her mother was a 'strict disciplinarian' and would have a 'stinging slap' delivered to her 'bare buttocks' if she misbehaved as a youngster. 'I gained no benefit from these violent outbursts,' she said. 'I felt bitter and angry and a relationship that might have been close was marred by my resentment - I feel it to this day.' In April 2020, Jersey became the first Channel Island to ban hitting, smacking or slapping children under any circumstances. Scotland then followed suit in November - becoming the first UK nation to ban it - and Wales in 2022. Jenni pointed out different parents will have 'different views' about how to differentiate between 'child abuse and reasonable punishment'. Pictured: A young child holding an anti-smacking placard However, in England and Northern Ireland it is currently legal for a parent or carer to use physical discipline on their child if it is a 'reasonable punishment' under the Children Act 2004, according to Child Law Advice. The law on smacking children In England and Northern Ireland it is currently legal for a parent or carer to use physical discipline on their child if it is a 'reasonable punishment' under the Children Act 2004 If a smack is deemed 'reasonable' depends on the circumstances of the situation Severe punishment, leading to bodily harm, wounding and child cruelty, is not legal In Wales, Scotland and Jersey using physical punishment on a child is illegal This includes smacking, hitting and slapping Sources: BBC and Child Law Advice Advertisement In 2022, Jenni wrote in the Daily Mail how she 'applauds' Wales after it had just made smacking children illegal. She previously shared how she was disciplined at her convent school and how a ruler was used as a method of punishment later on in her education. Looking back on her own parenting when writing in Saga, she said how she now saw how her techniques 'echoed' those of her mother. 'I burn with shame now I look back on how stupid I was,' she said. 'Too few people seem to have cottoned on to the idea smacking a child may not be seen as child abuse, but it is domestic violence. 'Yet still I witness it happening so often in the street, on a bus and in a supermarket. 'If I am smacked or hit there is a law to protect me. Adults have the right not to suffer domestic violence, protected by the law. 'Children have rights and the law should protect them too. 'If not, this vague idea of reasonable punishment will continue, children will be hit, they'll grow up thinking it's okay to his their children and on the violence will go from generation to generation. 'It must stop - smacking must be banned.' John F. Kennedy's grandson Jack Schlossberg has slammed internet trolls who told him to have a 'safe flight' - an intentional dig about his uncle who died in a plane crash. Schlossberg is the son of Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of JFK. Her brother JFK Jr., died when his aircraft smashed into the ocean of Martha's Vineyard in 1999. Caroline Bessette, JFK Jr.'s wife, and her sister Lauren Bessette were also aboard the plane and died. In a video posted on TikTok and Instagram, Schlossberg presumably responded to comments of people back-handedly telling him to 'have a safe flight' after he posted that he was in an airport. John F. Kennedy's grandson Jack Schlossberg scorned online bullies who told him to have a 'safe flight' - an intentional dig at his uncle who tragically died in a plane crash JFK's grandson repeated all of the mocking jabs he received online. 'Yo man have a safe flight'; 'be safe out there': safe trip; 'have a save flight'; 'get there safe,' he said, rattling off the coy insults disguised as niceties. 'Have a safe flight? How? What do you want me to do? Huh? What are you doing?' he said, irritated and bewildered. 'It's got to stop.' Taking in a deep breath, responded 'thank you, thank you I will...fingers crossed.' The video reached more than 100k people on Instagram and more than 461k on TikTok. Given the Kennedy's tragic history of untimely deaths (i.e. the assassination of JFK and former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy), conspiracy theories have circulated about whether or not JFK Jr.'s fatal plane crash was not an accident but an assassination. He is pictured with his mother Caroline during a swim in the Solomon Islands Some theorists go as far as claiming that JFK Jr. faked his death to finally escape from the limelight and public scrutiny. Others have surmised that the plane crash was an inside job ordered by first lady Hillary Clinton, who decided to run for New York Senator - a position JFK Jr. was thinking of pursuing himself. The Yale and Harvard Law School graduate, 31, is an active social media personality who is vocal about his political beliefs. He passed the New York bar exam and can officially practice law, following in the footsteps of his maternal grandfather. He also isn't afraid to show off his quirky personality, often recording himself singing in the car or sharing his thoughts and observations. Notably, he, along with a majority of his family, have voiced their support for President Joe Biden's 2024 reelection campaign - a direct diss to his first cousin once removed, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., JFK's nephew. Schlossberg holds an uncanny resemblance to his uncle, John F. Kennedy Jr. (pictured), a comparison pointed out by social media users after he posted a shirtless picture on Instagram Many members of the Kennedy clan joined President Joe Biden at the White House on Sunday for St. Patrick's Day - and splashed the above photo across social media 'President John F. Kennedy is my grandfather and his legacy is important. It's about a lot more than Camelot and conspiracy theories. It's about public service and courage,' he said in the video. Schlossberg holds an uncanny resemblance to his uncle, John F. Kennedy Jr., a comparison pointed out by social media users after he posted a shirtless picture on Instagram. In the image, which was shared to his Instagram Stories, Jack - who had at one point been pursuing a career in politics - can be seen posing in only a pair of very-low slung black shorts and a backwards cap, with his washboard abs on full display. The British passenger who died onboard a Singapore Airlines jet travelling from the UK has been named as Geoffrey Kitchen, a 73-year-old musical theatre director from Gloucestershire. The pensioner died from a suspected heart attack, officials said. More than 70 people were injured in the incident, with Mr Kitchen's wife Linda thought to be among those in hospital. Her condition is not known. Tributes have poured in for Mr Kitchen, who ran Thornbury Musical Theatre group and is said to be a grandfather, with heartbroken friends describing him as 'adventurous' and 'a really nice guy'. The retired insurance worker and his wife were heading abroad on a six-week holiday of a lifetime to South East Asia, Indonesia and Australia when disaster struck around 11 hours into their flight from Heathrow. The aircraft hit an air pocket and plummeted an astonishing 6,000ft in just five minutes, with the sudden drop unleashing mayhem onboard and forcing the plane to make an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport. Terrified passengers have described how they had little to no warning to put their seatbelts on before the aircraft suddenly dropped while the crew were serving breakfast, with one passenger saying people were 'launched into the ceiling' as the plane fell through the sky. Of the 211 passengers and 18 crew on board, Thai authorities said 71 people had been sent for treatment, six of whom were seriously injured, with many sustaining lacerations to the head as they were thrown upwards. Geoffrey Kitchen, 73, ran the Thornbury Musical Theatre Group in Bristol Pictured: Passengers are seen in the cabin after the incident today, with belongings strewn across the floor and oxygen masks dangling from above After around 11 hours of flying time from take off in London, the aircraft sharply dropped 6,000 feet in just five minutes, causing chaos in the cabin. In pictures of the aftermath, one air stewardess was seen with blood over her face (pictured) Video shows emergency services taking one passenger out from the cabin on a stretcher The 73-year-old died from a suspected heart attack, Thai officials said. His wife is believed to be in hospital Thai authorities earlier revealed that Mr Kitchen died of a suspected heart attack. Neighbours today told MailOnline that he had suffered heart problems in recent years and had stents put in to widen his arteries. Close friend Steve Dimond, 73, who lives a few doors down from Mr Kitchen's three-bed home in leafy Thornbury, said: 'You wouldn't know it, he carried on as normal and was very fit and active. 'He was very involved with amateur dramatics and was helping me make scenery for our new production. 'He was a good singer, a fine actor, he was on the committee, he loved musical theatre. 'He and his wife like live music, all sorts, folk jazz, everything. He's known his wife since they were teenagers, they are a lovely couple.' 'It's a terrible shock, he was a really nice bloke.' Mr Dimond said he and his wife Jill were worried about Mr Kitchen's wife Linda and had been trying to call her. The couple fear she may have been one of the passengers critically injured when the Singapore Airlines aircraft hit severe turbulence. Mr Dimond said: 'They were very adventurous and had been planning the holiday for a long time. 'They spent last weekend with their grandchildren because they wouldn't be seeing them for a while.' Geoff and his wife were both involved with the Thornbury musical theatre group. Mr Dimond said: 'I will remember him playing a Sultan and a Dame, he was fantastic. A lovely, funny man who could sing and act.' Passengers are seen on the Singapore Airlines plane after it made an emergency landing in Bangkok today. Oxygen masks fell from the ceiling, as did other components Oxygen masks are seen hanging from the ceiling in the cabin of the Singapore Airlines flight A passenger died and dozens of others were injured on a flight from London to Singapore this afternoon forcing an emergency landing in Thailand. Pictured: The plane and ambulances are seen on the tarmac at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok today Passengers said Thai emergency services worked quickly to help those on board after the plane made an emergency landing A person is seen being carried away from the aircraft on a stretcher today in Bangkok A woman in a wheelchair and carrying a baby is seen being taken off the tarmac in Bangkok Medical crew are seen aiding passengers in temporary tents set up at the airport today Passengers on the flight, 47 of whom were from the UK, have described how the plane dropped in mid-air as it encountered extreme turbulence near Myanmar airspace. 'Suddenly the aircraft starts tilting up and there was shaking so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling,' Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student on board the flight told Reuters. 'Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it, they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it,' he said. Meanwhile a mother has described her agonising wait after receiving a chilling message from her son, who was on the flight. Allison Barker told the BBC that her son Josh, who was on his way to a holiday in Bali, texted her at 9.10am this morning. 'I don't want to scare you, but I'm on a crazy flight. The plane is making an emergency landing I love you all,' his message read. 'It was terrifying,' she said. 'I didn't know what was going on. We didn't know whether he'd survived, it was so nerve wracking. It was the longest two hours of my life. It was awful; it was petrifying.' Emergency ambulance vehicles drive to transport injured passengers from a flight from London to Singapore to a hospital, after an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi International Airport Of the 211 passengers and 18 crew on board, Thai authorities said 71 people had been sent for treatment, six of whom were seriously injured General Manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport, Kittipong Kittikachorn speaks to the media during a press conference after a flight from London to Singapore diverted in an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi International Airport She was eventually able to speak to her son who confirmed he was safe. He did suffer minor injuries to his teeth, however, adding he was 'in a lot of pain'. A British man who was traveling with his family on the flight said 'there were people walking around' when the turbulence hit, and claimed that 'there was no sign to put the seat belts on.' 'There was no turbulence prior to that. It went from no turbulence to this one turbulence. No plane shaking at all and then I was hitting the roof. All of a sudden, I was up like that,' he told the BBC. 'My son was thrown down on the floor two rows behind me. I heard that there was a guy hitting the roof in the toilet and he was injured quite badly, too.' Ceiling fittings had been ripped apart and the pipework was exposed. Machinery was hanging from the galley where trolleys are stored. One air stewardess was seen with red marks over her face. Her male colleague could be seen in a chair nearby, looking shocked and dishevelled. Another passenger described how in the aftermath, other flyers had to administer medical assistance to those who were injured. The Boeing 777 plane operated by Singapore Airlines left the UK's Heathrow airport on Monday evening at 22.17pm local time with 211 passengers and 18 crew on board. However, flight SQ321 experienced severe turbulence while flying close to Myanmar airspace in a region currently being battered by extreme tropical thunderstorms. The plane dropped from an altitude of around 37,000 feet to 31,000 feet within just five minutes as it finished traversing the Andaman Sea and neared Thailand. The plane - registered 9V-SWM - was diverted to the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok where it made an emergency landing at 15.45pm local time, the airline announced on its Facebook page. It had been scheduled to land at the Singapore Changi Airport at 6.10pm local time. An injured passenger is seen being carried off the plane by medical responders People are seen being loaded into the back of ambulances on the tarmac in Bangkok The Singapore airline aircraft is seen on tarmac after requesting an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand, May 21, 2024 The interior of Singapore Airline flight SG321 is pictured after today's emergency landing Exposed pipes are seen on the plane after today's emergency landing Wine bottles, kettles and food trays are seen scattered across the floor of the cabin After the cabin was emptied of passengers, footage (pictured) showed the aftermath of today's incident, with people's belongings and other items scattered throughout the plane The crew's area on the plane is seen with items scattered over the floor and shelves This flight tracker showed the plane's route from London before diverting to Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok Flight tracking websites showed flight SQ321 diverting from its planned route to Singapore and instead landing at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok. The plane is shown dropping 6,000 feet as it flies over Myanmar Ambulances were seen racing onto the tarmac next to the plane. The dead passenger was reportedly later removed after injured travellers were assisted. One man who said he was on the flight took to X (formerly Twitter) to describe the incident. Andrew Davies, from Lewisham, London, wrote that he and other passengers who were not injured in the turbulence were currently waiting in a holding area at the airport. 'Lots of people [are] injured - including the air stewards who were stoic and did everything they could,' he wrote. 'Bangkok emergency services [were] quick to respond. Very little warning. The seat-belt sign came on, I put on my seat-belt straight away then the plane just dropped.' Mr Davies wrote that 'passengers with medical training' were working to help the injured in the aftermath of the plane dropping. 'CPR on the poor gentleman that passed. Another passenger laid flat in [the] aisle further behind me. Not sure what happened with them,' he said. 'People's belongings scattered, coffee and water splattered the ceiling. Surreal. So many injured people. Head lacerations, bleeding ears. A lady was screaming in pain with a bad back. I couldn't help her - just got her water.' He said that he wished he could have done more to help, adding: 'My heart goes out to the gentleman who lost his life and his poor wife. Awful experience.' In a statement on Facebook, Singapore Airlines confirmed the emergency landing and that one passenger had died in the incident. 'Singapore Airlines flight #SQ321, operating from London (Heathrow) to Singapore on 20 May 2024, encountered severe turbulence en-route,' the statement from the airline said. 'The aircraft diverted to Bangkok and landed at 1545hrs local time. 'We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER. There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board,' it said. 'Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. 'Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft,' the statement added. 'We are working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance, and sending a team to Bangkok to provide any additional assistance needed.' Singapore's President Tharman Shanmugaratnam said he was 'greatly saddened by the loss of a life caused by the severe turbulence on board the SQ321 flight from London earlier today, and the injuries caused to several others,' in a statement shared on his social media. 'My deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased. We must hope and pray that the passengers or crew members who were injured are able to recover smoothly. In a statement on Facebook (pictured), Singapore Airlines confirmed the emergency landing Photos were posted on social media by accounts claiming to show the aftermath of the emergency landing. One (left) purportedly showed food strewn across the floor, while another (right) was said to show the ambulances on the tarmac at the airport This picture posted to social media purportedly shows emergency staff working at the airport after the plane made an emergency landing Members of a rescue team discuss after a London-Singapore flight was diverted to Bangkok due to severe turbulence, in Bangkok, Thailand, May 21, 2024 Suvarnabhumi airport general manager Kittipong Kittikachorn told a press conference (pictured) that the deceased was a 73-year-old British man who was travelling with his wife. He likely suffered a heart attack, the official said He added: 'We do not have the details of those affected, but know that the government ministries and agencies, as well as SIA, are doing their utmost to support all those affected and working with the authorities in Bangkok'. Singapore's Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said his country's government would assist the passengers and their families. 'I am deeply saddened to learn about the incident onboard Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London Heathrow to Singapore,' he wrote on Facebook. The country later announced that it was sending investigators to Bangkok. 'The Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) is in touch with its Thai counterparts and will be deploying investigators to Bangkok,' the transport ministry said. Speaking to the BBC, aviation expert John Strickland said that injuries from flight turbulence are 'relatively rare' considering how many flights operate each day. 'However, severe turbulence can be dramatic and lead to severe injuries or sadly in this case a fatality,' he added. 'It is not for nothing that airlines recommend keeping seat belts loosely fastened throughout a flight be it long or short.' He told the PA news agency: 'Exposure is greater in different parts of the world. Passenger nationalities The Singapore Airlines plane that undertook an emergency landing today was carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew. The airline released a list detailed the nationalities of the passengers: 56 from Australia 47 from the United Kingdom 41 from Singapore 23 from New Zealand 16 from Malaysia Five from the Philippines Four from Ireland Four from the US Three from India Two from Indonesia Two from Myanmar Two from Spain Two from Canada One from Germany One from Israel One from Iceland One from South Korea Advertisement 'The South Atlantic, Africa and the Bay of Bengal are all places that spring to mind where there's a greater incidence,' adding: 'There are discussions about whether climate change is influencing an increase in occurrences.' Mr Strickland said airlines use a variety of methods to minimise the chances of a flight being affected by trbulence, such as weather forecasts, radar and reports from aircraft ahead. He added: 'It can never be taken lightly when airlines recommended you keep the seatbelt loosely fastened throughout the flight.' Marco Chan, Senior Lecturer in Aviation Operations at Buckinghamshire New University, told MailOnline that incidents involving extreme turbulence tend to occur when a plane is navigating through thunderstorms. 'The thunderstorms, bringing possible severe ice and turbulence, are prominently displayed on the pilots' navigation display,' Chan - who is also an Experienced Airbus Pilot and former A330 First Officer with Hong Kong Airlines - said. 'The pilots are expected to navigate around the thunderstorms while having the seat belt sign on as a precaution. 'It may not be possible to completely circumvent the thunderstorm cluster as they can stretch well over 50 nautical miles plus due to airspace restrictions,' he noted. Turbulence-related airline accidents are the most common type, according to a 2021 study by the National Transportation Safety Board. From 2009 through 2018, the US agency found that turbulence accounted for more than a third of reported airline accidents and most resulted in one or more serious injuries, but no aircraft damage. In June last year, two British Airways crew suffered broken legs when a flight from Singapore to Heathrow was affected by severe turbulence over the Bay of Bengal. A report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said 'unsecured cabin crew were thrown around in the cabin', resulting in two crew members being seriously injured and three sustaining minor injuries. No passengers were hurt. Singapore Airlines, widely recognised as one of the world's leading airlines and a benchmark for much of the industry, has not had any major incidents in recent years. Its last accident resulting in casualties was a flight from Singapore to Los Angeles via Taipei, where it crashed on October 31, 2000 into construction equipment on the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport after attempting to take off from the wrong runway. The crash killed 83 of the 179 people on board. While there is no suggestion that today's incident was the fault of the plane, it is the latest scare involving a Boeing-manufactured aircraft in recent weeks. Emergency workers are seen on the tarmac of the airport in Thailand today The flashing lights of emergency service vehicles are seen at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok today Questions over safety have plagued the manufacturer ever since a door plug blew out of a 737 Max on an Alaska Airlines flight in January. The safety crisis at Boeing has led to aircraft shortages, which could cause a wave of cancellations this summer as Britons prepare for their holiday getaways. This has not been helped by a string of incidents involving Boeing planes, with May seeing at least four - with three coming in just two days. In Turkey on May 9, a Boeing plane's tyre burst on the runway after landing. That same day, shocking footage emerged showing the moment terrified passengers fled a burning Boeing 737-300 jet carrying 78 passengers that skidded off the runway and caught fire during take-off in Senegal. These two incidents came after a FedEx plane made an emergency landing at Istanbul Airport on May 8, with video showing its nose skidding along the runway. Video also captured flames shooting from the back of a Boeing 747-400 just last week on May 16, forcing the jet to make an emergency landing in Indonesia. On the plane involved in today's incident also being a Boeing, Mr Chan noted: 'The aircraft in question is a Boeing 777-300ER, a manufacturer that has already hit the headlines. It must be emphasised that such incidents can happen to any flights and any manufacturer's aircraft.' 'The crucial next steps are for Singapore Airlines to now arrange to bring the affected passengers to their initial destination - Singapore,' he said. 'They will also need to work with the local civil aviation authorities and investigation teams, particularly with the pilots and the cabin crew onboard (once they are recovered from the flight or any injuries sustained), to find out what happened. 'It will also be important to analyse the in-flight data to look at the parameters of the flight to understand the effect of the turbulence and the cockpit voice recorder to understand the conversations and actions that took place during the incident.' Boeing expressed its condolences following Tuesday's incident. 'We extend our deepest condolences to the family who lost a loved one and our thoughts are with the passengers and crew,' Boeing said. Rescue medical teams prepare to move the injured to a hospital near Suvarnabhumi Airport, in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, 21 May 2024 Joji Waites, head of flight safety at pilots' union Balpa, said: 'Balpa sends its thoughts to the family and friends of those affected by this event. 'Aircraft are designed and certificated to withstand flight in severe turbulence, and pilots are trained in how to anticipate potential turbulence encounters based on weather forecasts and the aircraft's onboard technology. 'Route weather forecasts provide a general prediction of when turbulence is likely to occur, but they often cannot reflect actual conditions in sufficient detail to enable pilots to avoid specific instances of turbulence. 'It is important, therefore, for aircraft occupants to have their seatbelts fastened while seated should any unexpected encounters occur and comply promptly with 'fasten seat belt' signs when asked to do so.' Sitting in a freezing courtroom hasnt kept Donald Trump from securing some red hot fundraising numbers. In fact, stunning new campaign finance data reveals the criminal defendant has been out-raising President Joe Biden even while cooling his heels inside a Manhattan courtroom. Trump and the Republican Party brought in $76 million in April. Thats about 50 per cent more than the $51 million Biden and the Democratic National Committee brought in last month. Bidens camp has $84 million in the bank, giving him a cash edge over Trumps who had $49 million in cash-on-hand at the end of April. Biden still has an overall cash edge after keeping up a record-setting pace throughout the year. Former President Donald Trump has spent as many as four days a week stuck in a Manhattan courtroom. That didn't slow down his April fundraising numbers Much of Trumps haul came from a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser hosted by billionaire John Paulson that brought in more than $50 million. Bidens big-ticket event came during the prior period, in a March fundraiser featuring former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama at Radio City Music Hall. His next blockbuster event features Hollywood luminaries including George Clooney and Julia Roberts. President Joe Biden Biden and the Democratic National Committee brought in $51 million last month - less than Trump But if the trial is working out for Trump financially, it wont last forever. Comments by the judge indicate closing arguments will begin next Tuesday. There is a flip side to Trump's spring spent in court. His legal bills are piling up, and contributing to his campaign 'burn rate.' His legal bills battling criminal indictments in four jurisdictions as well as civil matters have been estimated to top $100 million. A 16-year-old boy confessed to murdering his family inside their home after his adoptive parents insulted him and confiscated his cell phone and said he 'would do it again,' police in the southeastern Brazilian city of Sao Paulo said. Igor Gomes waited until his father, Isac Tavares, 57, was in the kitchen with his back turned before he shot him around 1:00pm last Friday. His 16-year-old sister, Leticia Gomes, rushed downstairs after hearing the shot and questioned him before he shot her in the face. Igor Gomes waited until his mother, Solange Gomes, 50, arrived home about 7:00pm and shot her when she entered the kitchen and noticed her husband's body on the floor. A police report indicated the Gomes took out his frustrations on his parents because they 'called him a bum, took a way his cell phone and as (he) was unable to use the device to give a school presentation, planned their death.' Igor Gomes confessed to murdering his adoptive parents and his 16-year-old sister at their home in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Friday. The 16-year-old told cops that he killed his parents because they had called him a 'bum' and had taken his cell phone, which he needed to use for a school presentation One neighbor said Isac and his wife, Solange, moved with their children to the neighborhood less than two years ago while another claimed the family could be heard often fighting Igor Gomes (second from left) with his adoptive parents, Isac Tavares (left) and Solange Gomes (second from right), and his sister, Leticia Gomes, whom he all shot dead at the family home on Friday Gomes said that after murdering his father and sister, he had lunch next to their bodies and then went to a local gym. He later returned home, greeting his mother by the garage before walking with her to the kitchen and shooting her in the back, sending her sprawling on top of his father. Gomes went back to the gym on Saturday and when he returned home he plunged a knife into his mother's back. He then went to a neighborhood bakery and continued with his day. Gomes called the Military Police on Sunday night after he noticed a large presence of flies surrounding the bodies as they began to decompose. Solange Gomes with her daughter, Leticia Gomes, her husband, Isac Tavares, and the couple's adoptive son, Igor Gomes Isac Gomes was a municipal guard in Jundiai, a city in the southeastern Brazilian state of Sao Paulo. An earlier image of Igor Gomes (bottom right) with his adoptive family, whom he shot dead During questioning, he said he used a gun that his father, a municipal guard, kept in the home and that he never thought about killing his sister. The Sao Paulo Public Security Secretariat registered the incident as a homicide and femicide, illegal possession of a firearm and vilification of a corpse. Gomes was transferred to the Foundation for Socio-Educational Support Center for Adolescents, a facility where people between the ages of 12 and 21 who are being investigated or convicted of a crime are housed. Authorities are considering placing him through a psychiatric evaluation. He could be hospitalized in a mental institution if they prove he was legally insane at the time he committed the crime. The are also searching Gomes' cell phone and computers to see if a third party was involved. Sonia Oliveira, who lived near the family, told TV Globo that the family had moved to the neighborhood less than two years ago and for the most part kept to themselves. Celia Petricia, who also lived next to the family home, told the network that she would hear them fighting. 'They didn't have much contact with their neighbors. It was just 'good morning' and 'good afternoon'. The fight there was constant, every day,' she said. It was a grotesque intervention, a shameless and utterly tasteless attempt to make political capital out of the deaths of thousands of people. Reacting, on social media, to a news report on the infected blood scandal, Nationalist MP Amy Callaghan could not help trying to score points. Another scandal at the hands of Westminster, she wrote. Another in a very long list. So many lives lost and many more in tatters. Its only with independence well be free of Westminster scandals for good. Ms Callaghan should be ashamed. Nationalist MP Amy Callaghan said only with independence would the we be free of Westminster scandals in the wake of Brian Longstaffs report into infected blood products To use victims those whose lives were cut cruelly short, those living with serious illnesses such as HIV and hepatitis, and the families torn apart by loss of one of the greatest health scandals of modern history as pawns in some tawdry game of constitutional one-upmanship was to belittle their experiences. It was beyond thoughtless of her to react as she did. Destroyed Ms Callaghan should stop virtue signalling and instead try, for a moment, to imagine the experiences of those whose lives have been destroyed by this scandal. Perhaps she could think of those parents who saw their children claimed by Aids before they reached their teens or the mothers who, after receiving blood during childbirth, were sentenced to premature death. Just maybe, if Ms Callaghan can truly try to empathise with victims, she will see that their experiences deserved a damned sight more respect than she has shown. I dont hold out much hope. After all, if Ms Callaghan truly cared about the plight of those infected with contaminated blood, she would have spoken up when a Scottish probe into the scandal the Penrose Inquiry, announced by Nicola Sturgeon in 2008 and published in 2015 was dismissed by victims as a total whitewash. What the SNP might characterise as a uniquely Scottish solution turned out to be nothing of the sort. In fact, it is widely regarded as a sham, a betrayal of those who suffered and those who continue to do so. The idea that the Scotland of some imagined past would have been free from scandal is the stuff of blood-and-soil nationalist fantasy. And it is of precisely no use to those affected by the NHSs use of contaminated blood. Nobody will accuse Sir Brian Langstaffs report into the use of infected blood products in the NHS between 1970 and 1991 of whitewashing anything. The facts he outlined are horrifying, heartbreaking and frequently infuriating. He tells of lives needlessly destroyed by incompetence and attempts to cover up the scandal. It is his conclusion that the infection of 30,000 people with HIV and hepatitis could, largely, have been avoided. So far, about 3,000 of those who were given contaminated blood have died. Many more will die prematurely. A BBC investigation, published last month, gave a distressing insight into what could be expected in Sir Brians report. Leaked documents revealed secret medical trials of children with blood-clotting disorders. Doctors across the UK enthusiastically used blood products despite it being widely known that the risk of contamination was high. It seems unthinkable now but in the 1970s and 1980s the NHS was importing products from the US which had been created using plasma from donors such as drug addicts, sex workers and prisoners at high risk of contracting both HIV and hepatitis. On Monday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described the release of Sir Brians report as a day of shame for the British state and promised comprehensive compen-sation for those infected. And, of course, there has been much talk of lessons learned and pledges that such a scandal must never be allowed to happen again. For the easily pleased fan of platitudes, theres been much to admire. Damage Of course, the need for proper substantial financial compensation is essential. The illnesses contracted by these victims were life- changing; so, too, should be the compensation they receive. People have waited decades for recognition of the damage done to them while in the care of the NHS. They must not be expected to wait longer still for the money required to remove any financial pressures and to allow them to see out their cruelly limited days in comfort. I hope Ms Callaghans instinct to try to create division out of this tragedy is not widely shared by her colleagues in the SNP. What the victims need now is some unity of purpose from political leaders. The House of Commons must unite behind proper compensation, and the words about lessons being learned must be sincere and not mere bromides. Here is an opportunity for new SNP leader John Swinney to be as good as his word and to work with opponents in the interests of constituents. In fairness to the First Minister, he made a reasonable start to this at Holyrood yesterday. Mr Swinney told MSPs: More than 30,000 people across the UK were infected by contaminated blood products and transfusions between the 1970s and 1991 with around 3,000 of those here in Scotland. That is 3,000 families in Scotland who have faced decades of unnecessary heartbreak and pain. They have been failed by the organisations and process that should have been in place to protect and support them and I am sorry. That, Ms Callaghan, is an appropriate response. It was good to hear Mr Swinney reassert that the Scottish Government accepts the moral case for compensation for infected blood victims and that ministers are committed to working with the UK Government to ensure that the compensation scheme works as well as possible for victims. But there is something else that politicians might do. If someone is injured or killed while working for a private company, we may be certain that the law will come down hard on those in charge. Meaningful sanctions are available for use against those whose neglect or incompetence ends in others being harmed but, when it comes to the public sector, punishment (yes, that old- fashioned idea that, if you do something wrong, some penalty is appropriate) seems an alien concept. Responsibility Many of those senior members of Margaret Thatchers 1980s government, hospital managers, senior medics and others who bear responsibility for the infected blood scandal are dead now. Others, however, are enjoying the rich and varied retirement years denied to so many. Amy Callaghan should remember that, with the wholly inadequate Penrose Inquiry, her party has already failed victims of this scandal. And politicians of all colours should have the decency to feel at least a little uneasy about the fact that nobody will pay any meaningful price for the deaths of so many men, women and children who put their faith as we all do in the NHS. A furious bus tour owner says his business is being damaged by potholes waist-deep that you can stand in. Stuart Ross, 54, says he had to cancel all of his bookings until the end of high season in July - because of the 'horrific' state of the U70 road in Sutherland, Scotland. He has invested over 60,000 into his bus service which transports people across the rural Scottish Highlands. Now Mr Ross wants compensation from the council for the damage the potholes have done to his business. The route, 11 miles long, starts on the U70 road and finishes at the Cape Wrath Lighthouse. It used to take Mr Ross around 40 minutes to drive the route but now he is unable to make it at all due to extreme safety and damage concerns. Stuart Ross (pictured inside a pothole), 54, says he had to cancel all of his bookings until the end of high season in July - because of the 'horrific' state of the U70 road in Sutherland, Scotland. Some of which are a waist-deep The damaged road is impacting Mr Ross's business and now he wants compensation from the council for the damage the potholes have done Usually the business is able to take tourists on the island from May until the end of September - but Mr Ross claims they are now only able to operate for two and a half months - out of the entire year for tourism. He said: 'The first three years is make or break in business - it's my second year - which I haven't even been able to start and I've already ploughed over 60 grand into this business and I'm getting no return. 'This is how serious it is. 'We have had no response from the council - the local councillor has even been ignored by the council!' Mr Ross operates four 16-seater buses on his Cape Wrath Mini Bus service, which carry about 5,000 passengers over a season. The single track road was hand-built back in 1828 originally as a stone track. Mr Ross says in 1950s a layer of tarmac was layered on top, but when water starts to get under the track, the tarmac lifts and the stone gets washed away underneath - leaving gaping holes. He explained: 'One section is about 50 yards long and it has one side with a whole bit of the road ripped out, about the length of a minibus, but when you pass that there is another hole in the road on the other side! Usually the business is able to take tourists on the island from May until the end of September - but Mr Ross claims they are now only able to operate for two and a half months - out of the entire year for tourism The route, 11 miles long, starts on the U70 road and finishes at the Cape Wrath Lighthouse. Mr Ross operates four 16-seater buses on his Cape Wrath Mini Bus service, which carry about 5,000 passengers over a season 'At one point both sides are completely out. 'That's why I can't run my business, I cannot have tourists on my bus there is no way I'm subjecting the tourists to that mess and its unsafe for me and them. 'There are potholes everywhere that look like bomb craters. 'It is one thing taking a couple of workers and engineers up to lighthouse, but a bus full of happy campers on holiday and you have to take them through that!?' According to Stuart, there has 'always been an issue with the road - going back to when time began'. Stuart says the road has 'always' been getting repaired by the council because it is a council public road. He explained: 'They would do patches here and there and generally keep on top of it. 'But in 2015 we had a hell of a storm that washed part of the road away. 'We only got so far up the road with a bus full of people because a whole section of one side of the road was missing! 'We're talking a chunk of the road two feet deep two feet wide that was not there, and it hasn't been sorted.' A spokesperson for Highland Council said: 'A contractor has been appointed to undertake repair works to the Cape Wrath road to make the road passable for the coming season. 'The works are intended to last one month. It is anticipated that the works will commence next week, however, this is dependent on the arrival of the necessary plant/equipment, which has been ordered, but delivery is dependent on weather conditions, etc.' In April, Transport Secretary Mark Harper revealed nearly one in six councils have not lodged plans for how they intend to spend extra Government cash for mending roads. In April, Transport Secretary Mark Harper revealed nearly one in six councils have not lodged plans for how they intend to spend extra Government cash for mending roads The deadline was March and it means future funding could now be withheld. Speaking to the Daily Mail, which has campaigned for an end to the pothole plague, Mr Harper warned roads would be 'worse and more pothole-ridden' under a Labour government because the party secretly plans to divert 8.3billion earmarked for highways into HS2. The pot was set aside under 36billion in savings after the Government last year scrapped the high-speed rail project's northern leg from Birmingham to Manchester. Mr Harper claims that Labour will resurrect the HS2 project and he went on to allege that there would be worse roads and more potholes under Labour. Newly released footage shows the moment three women ran out of an Ohio Dick's Sporting Goods with $1,160 worth of Stanley Cups and smiles all over their face. The women allegedly stole 28 Stanley cups and 10 Bogg bags worth $860, according to the Butler County Sheriff's Office. In a Facebook statement, the Sheriff's Office said that the entire ordeal happened on on May 9 at around 8:37 pm and they were able to run away in a matter of minutes. Images show them pushing a cart with all of the merchandise in tow while walking through the store. While CCTV footage later provides a glimpse of the trio gleefully running out of the security check and double with the bottles and bags in their hands. Three women ran out of Ohio 's Dick's Sporting Goods with 28 Stanley cups worth $1,160 and 10 Bogg bags worth $860 on May 9 According to officials, they fled away in an unknown silver car. No suspects have yet been identified. The Sheriff's Office has asked anyone with information to contact them. This thievery comes five months after a 23-year-old woman was arrested for stealing a carload of beloved Stanley cups from a California store. The unidentified woman snatched 65 cups that were worth $2,500 in total on Friday from an unnamed store. As of yet, the suspects (pictured here) have not been identified According to officials, they fled away in an unknown silver car Roseville police responded to the shop after employees said they saw the young woman take a cart full of the precious water bottles. The unnamed suspect ignored the employees as they asked her to stop as she went on to stuff the load of tumblers into her red car before cops located and arrested her for grand theft, cops said. Once the store workers realized the suspect wasn't going to stop for them, they called the police who eventually found the fleeing woman. A police officer spotted her just before she entered Highway 65 and pulled her over. After searching her sedan, officers discovered a variety of Stanley cups and multiple packs of straws. A 23-year-old woman was arrested for stealing a carload of beloved Stanley cups from a California store She managed to take dozens of the famous Quencher tumblers, IceFlow Flip Straw tumblers, food thermoses and even kids' bottles, authorities said. Pictures posted by the police department showed a trunk full of the cups in all different colors and patterns, along with a group of them piled high on top of a patrol car. More cups were found on the ground of her front passenger's side seat as a singular bright red Stanley cup sat in her car cup holder. Once the preserve of parents and commuters, Stanley cups have become a must-have staple among school children and grown adults since last year. Paula Vennells was told almost a decade ago that some postmasters had potentially been wrongly convicted, a leaked email and tape have revealed. The shamed former Post Office boss was handed detailed case files for eight subpostmasters in 2013, including one who went to jail and that of Lee Castleton who was made bankrupt. After reading the key evidence, Ms Vennells sent an email in which she described the cases as 'very disturbing' and that she 'takes this very seriously'. The revelation has been described by Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi as the 'smoking gun' that is the cover-up of the Horizon IT scandal and has called on her to 'finally admit the truth'. While other victims of the scandal do not know how Vennells sleeps at night. Paula Vennells was told almost a decade ago that some postmasters had potentially been wrongly convicted Mock-up of the email sent by former Post Office boss Paula Vennells after she received detailed case files of eight subpostmasters that had potentially been wrongly convicted In the email sent on October 2, 2013, uncovered by ITV News, to Ron Warmington of independent investigators from Second Sight, Vennells writes: 'I have just read through the attachments. Apart from finding them very disturbing (I defy anyone not to), I am now even better informed,' before she adds, 'As I said... I take this very seriously...' Vennells, an ordained priest, sent the email hours after she spoke to Warmington on the phone. During the phone call, also obtained by ITV News, the pair had discussed the mediation scheme that had been set up for postmasters who insisted the faulty Horizon system was to blame for the gap in their branch accounts. During the call, Mr Warmington said: 'I personally would like to think that in due course you and others would look at some of the applications that have come in. I'd pick what I think are the ones that tell the common story that probably would be worth spending an hour reading.' In response, Ms Vennells says: 'Get somebody to email me. I'm more than happy to do that. Is it available?' Mr Warmington replies: 'OK, I'll do it right now.' Six weeks after sending the email, Ms Vennells ignored calls form the Post Office's Executive Committee to pause prosecutions while Horizon was investigated, according to evidence given to the public inquiry by former Post Office General Counsel Chris Aujard. The shamed former Post Office boss was handed detailed case files for eight subpostmasters in 2013, including one who went to jail and that of Lee Castleton who was made bankrupt More than 900 sub-postmasters were convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting between 1999 and 2015 due to faults in Fujitsu's Horizon system Other recordings have revealed that the company and Fujitsu knew their faulty computer system could alter sub-postmasters' accounts more than ten years ago, despite denying this for years That's despite the former Post Office chief - who had her CBE formally stripped from her by the King - telling MPs in 2015 she was not aware of any miscarriage of justice and 'it would've been really important to me and the Post Office that we surfaced those'. Mr Zahawi was a member of the Business Select Committee which questioned Ms Vennells in 2015. The former chancellor told ITV: 'I think the email and the tape will come to be seen as the smoking gun that is the cover-up that has taken place at the Post Office.' Lord Arbuthnot, who campaigned for years on behalf of subpostmasters, says it shows Vennells 'knew exactly what was going on'. More than 900 sub-postmasters were convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting between 1999 and 2015 due to faults in Fujitsu's Horizon system. For more than two decades, sub-postmasters complained the system was faulty. The shocking injustice was thrown back into the spotlight in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, based on campaigner Alan Bates's bid for justice. Mr Castleton, who was portrayed by Will Mellor in the hard-hitting drama that enraged the nation, was declared bankrupt when he was ordered to pay back 25,000 and legal costs totalling 321,000. 'I just want her to tell the truth all those years all we wanted was justice and to be listened to and to be understood,' he told ITV. The case file for postmaster Nick Thomas, now aged 77, was also read by Ms Vennells. He was jailed for 13 weeks in 2006 when 48,000 went missing from his Anglesey branch. He called it a 'total cover up' and said he hoped Ms Vennells would tell the truth when she appears at the inquiry tomorrow. Ms Vennells ran the Post Office at the height of the scandal while it routinely denied there was a problem with its Horizon IT system. Mr Castleton, who was declared bankrupt when he was ordered to pay back 25,000 and legal costs totalling 321,000, wants Vennells to tell the truth The case file for postmaster Noel Thomas (pictured in 2018), now aged 77, was also read by Vennells. He was jailed for 13 weeks in 2006 when 48,000 went missing from his Anglesey branch Former postmaster Alan Bates, who is portrayed by Toby Jones (pictured) in the drama, led and won the initial legal battle after himself falling victim to the faults The scandal is seen as one of the UK's biggest miscarriages of justice and has gained national attention thanks to Mr Bates Vs The Post Office airing on ITV In a statement, Ms Vennells said: 'I continue to support and focus on co-operating with the Inquiry. 'I am truly sorry for the devastation caused to the sub-postmasters and their families, whose lives were torn apart by being wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted as a result of the Horizon system. 'I now intend to continue to focus on assisting the Inquiry and will not make any further public comment until it has concluded.' A Post Office spokesperson said: 'We apologise unreservedly to victims of the Horizon IT Scandal and our focus remains on supporting the ongoing Public Inquiry to establish the truth of what happened so those affected can receive the justice and redress they deserve.' MailOnline has contacted lawyers representing Ms Vennells for further comment. David Cameron has branded Labour the 'odd man out' after Sir Keir Starmer's party appeared to back the seeking of an arrest warrant for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. The Foreign Secretary listed a series of countries who have opposed the move by the International Criminal Court as he contrasted their criticism to Labour's stance. He noted how Germany, the US, Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic had all fiercely condemned the action by the court's chief prosecutor. Lord Cameron compared this to how Labour 'seems to be saying it supports the ICC in every way' as he labelled the decision by The Hague-based court 'a mistake'. He also hit out at the ICC for drawing 'moral equivalence' between Mr Netanyahu and Hamas terrorists, in an echo of PM Rishi Sunak's own criticism of the 'deeply unhelpful' move. Sir Keir has previously kept Labour close to the Government's position on the Middle East crisis since the brutal Hamas terror attacks on October 7. But shadow foreign secretary David Lammy yesterday drew a dividing line between Labour and the Tories when he told MPs - in reference to the ICC's action - that 'international law must be upheld'. Mr Lammy also said 'the independence of international courts must be respected and that all sides must be accountable for their actions'. David Cameron has branded Labour the 'odd man out' after Sir Keir Starmer's party appeared to back the seeking of an arrest warrant for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy drew a dividing line between Labour and the Tories when he told MPs - in relation to the ICC's action - that 'international law must be upheld' The ICC's chief prosecutor has said he will apply for arrest warrants for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu along with Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders 'Arrest warrants are not a conviction or a determination of guilt, but they do reflect the evidence, and the judgment of the prosecutor about the grounds for individual criminal responsibility,' Mr Lammy added. 'Labours position is that the ICC chief prosecutors decision to apply for arrest warrants is an independent matter for the Court and the prosecutor.' The ICC's chief prosecutor has said he will apply for arrest warrants for Mr Netanyahu along with Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders Yehya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh. He alleged they are responsible for war crimes in Gaza and Israel. Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor, accused Israel of using 'starvation as a method of warfare' and carrying out 'collective punishment' of the population of Gaza. Regarding the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, he said the terrorist actions were 'unconscionable crimes' that 'demand accountability'. Speaking in the House of Lords this afternoon, Lord Cameron said drawing moral equivalence between Hamas leaders and the democratically-elected leader of Israel was 'plain wrong'. The Foreign Secretary said: 'I don't believe for one moment that seeking these warrants is going to help get the hostages out, it's not going to help get aid in and it's not going to help deliver a sustainable ceasefire. 'As we have said from the outset, because Israel is not a signatory to the Rome Statute and because Palestine is not yet recognised as a state we don't think that the court has jurisdiction in this area.' He added: 'Frankly I think this was a mistake in terms of position, in terms of timing, in terms of effect. 'To draw moral equivalence between the Hamas leadership and the democratically-elected leader of Israel I think is just plain wrong.' Lord Cameron also clashed with Labour peer Lord Collins of Highbury, a shadow foreign office minister, on the issue. Lord Collins told the Foreign Secretary it was 'absolutely vital' the Government supported the independence of the ICC, as he quizzed Lord Cameron about whether Israel was breaching international humanitarian law with its actions in Gaza. 'I welcome the fact he [Lord Cameron] is supporting the independence of the ICC - absolutely vital,' he said. 'I hope he can really truly find his voice because, when the UK supported UN security council resolution 2417... he said on the BBC that Israel had not had a clean bill of health on allowing humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. 'Does he accept Israel is in breach of that resolution? And, if he does, does he not think that is a breach of international humanitarian law?' In reply, Lord Cameron said: 'He's absolutely right - I did say, and I repeat again, we have far from given Israel a clean bill of health on this issue. 'Not enough has been done to get aid in. We've had some recent promises that have been promising, about 500 trucks a day, about the opening of Ashdod port, about the new pier adjacent to the beach in Gaza. 'And some of those promises are being fulfilled - Ashdod is open, the pier is working and aid is being delivered, including British aid. 'But some of the promises are not being kept and no one, I think, has been tougher on the Israelis than me in direct call after call, and message after message, about having to meet their obligations. 'So we haven't given them a clean bill of health 'But there is a world of difference between that and actually issuing arrest warrants at the same time as you are for Hamas and drawing this moral equivalence.' The Foreign Secretary stressed it was 'not just the UK that takes this view', as he noted how Germany had said the ICC's 'simultaneous applications for arrest warrants gives the false impression of equation'. Lord Cameron added: 'The Americans have called it 'outrageous', the Italians have called it 'totally unacceptable', the Austrians have said 'the fact the leader of a terrorist organisation, Hamas, whose declared goal is the extinction of the state of Israel is being mentioned at the same time as the democratically-elected representatives of that very state is non-comprehensible'. 'The Czechs have said it is 'appalling and completely unacceptable'. 'The odd man out in many ways is the party opposite that seems to be saying it supports the ICC in every way.' Earlier today, while on a visit to Austrian capital Vienna, Mr Sunak told reporters that the ICC seeking arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders was 'deeply unhelpful'. The PM said: 'This is a deeply unhelpful development. Of course it is still subject to a final decision, but it remains deeply unhelpful nonetheless. 'There is no moral equivalence between a democratic state exercising its lawful right to self defence and the terrorist group Hamas. 'It is wrong to conflate and equivocate between those two different entities. 'What I am very clear is that this will make absolutely no difference in getting a pause in the fighting, getting aid into the region, or indeed the hostages out.' A female rancher has mysteriously vanished after walking to her new job in an 'extremely rural' desert community in Utah. Elizabeth Green, 21, was reported missing by her family to the Juab County Sheriff's Office on April 17. She was last seen in Callao where she was walking to a ranch to start a new job. 'There's so many unknowns, unfortunately,' her mother, Vanessa Simmons, told KUTV. 'I'm kind of at the point where I think maybe she had somebody pick her up.' Female rancher Elizabeth Green, 21, has mysteriously vanished after walking to her new job in an 'extremely rural' desert community in Utah Authorities were told by people close to Elizabeth that she suffers from mental health issues and has previously run away. The young woman went missing last month, and a search and rescue team was dispatched to search the area she was spotted in on April 18. 'I just don't know who that is, or if they actually picked her up, or if they didn't come and then she went trying to walk through the desert,' Simmons added. A search warrant was filed by the Juab County Sheriff's Office for access to Elizabeth's devices and social media accounts. 'This area of our county is approximately three hours away from any major cities and requires travel on dirty roads,' it states. 'SAR searched the area between her home and the ranch she was going to work at. 'They also searched in a grid pattern around the area. They were unable to locate Elizabeth or anything to determine where she could have gone.' She was reported missing by her family to the Juab County Sheriff's Office on April 17 Her mother Vanessa Simmons (right) said: 'There's so many unknowns, unfortunately. I'm kind of at the point where I think maybe she had somebody pick her up' The young woman went missing last month and a search and rescue team was dispatched to search the area she was spotted in on April 18 Juab County Sheriff's Office examined the ranch where Elizabeth was set to work before she disappeared. Her family told investigators that she would always return home and communicate within a day. Search teams have attempted to ping her cell phone but are yet to receive a response. 'Based on the information that we have received, we are concerned about the possibility that Elizabeth is in danger of serious bodily injury or death,' the warrant said. 'It is unknown if Elizabeth is in danger and lost in the vast desert, or if someone that she was communicating with met with her and is holding her against her will.' A police officer who thought his 'life was in danger' did not turn on his body-worn camera before he shot the a knifeman dead, an inquest heard. The City of London Police officer, who has been given anonymity and was referred to as BX222, shot and killed Hassan Yahya at the same time as the 30-year-old was Tasered by colleague, BX221, on March 8 2020 in Westminster. Giving evidence on Monday, BX222, told the jury that not turning on his body-worn camera was an 'error' for which he had been formally disciplined. He said he thought his 'life was in danger' before he fired one shot. The incident started on the South Bank at about 11.30pm and a Metropolitan Police officer tried to Taser Mr Yahya in Northumberland Avenue before he moved towards Great Scotland Yard. A police officer who thought his 'life was in danger' did not turn on his body-worn camera for he shot the a knifeman dead on March 8 2020 in Westminster, an inquest heard (police pictured at the scene on March 9 2020) Forensic officers are pictured above on the scene where Hassan Yahya, 30, was tasered and shot dead by police in Westminster, London (March 9, 2020) At the time, the incident was not being treated as terror-related. BX221, giving evidence on Tuesday at Inner West London Coroner's Court, said he believed at the time it was 'potentially a terrorist incident' and in the back of his mind, Mr Yahya may have been EMD (emotionally or mentally distressed). On police radios, the officer said he became aware of an incident unfolding and that a 'male was armed with knives'. BX221 said he heard on the transmission what he believed was 'officers stabbed' and asked if he heard any clarification later, he replied 'no'. After arriving at the scene, BX221 got out of the back of the car and said BX222 got out of the front passenger's door, before BX221 'ran around the back of the vehicle', expecting to see BX222 at the same corner of the vehicle, 'at which point I would've known we were deploying a contain for cover tactic', he said. But BX222 was standing by his door, with Mr Yahya standing by the corner of a bus. BX221 described Mr Yahya as 'holding two knives', 'moving backwards and forwards on his feet, looking backwards and forwards between me and back behind the buses which is where I believed the unarmed officers were'. The officer said Mr Yahya was also looking at BX222 and described Mr Yahya's movements as 'quick' and 'frantic' and appeared as if he was 'looking where he was going to run to escape or who he was going to come towards'. At that time, BX221 said Mr Yahya was holding the knives 'clutched near his chest almost near his throat', which made the officer consider he may be 'trying to harm himself or others'. BX221 said at that point, 'at the forefront of my mind, this was still a terrorist incident'. The officer said he armed his Taser, pointed it at Mr Yahya and began to give verbal commands when Mr Yahya made 'an overt movement' in his direction and raised his arm above his shoulder while holding one of the knives. BX221 was stood next to BX222, which he estimated was one or two metres away from Mr Yahya, and said he believed Mr Yahya was 'trying to stab me', adding: 'I believed I was about to be stabbed and would potentially die from that and I remember firing my Taser as a reaction to that.' The incident started on the South Bank at about 11.30pm and a Metropolitan Police officer tried to Taser Mr Yahya in Northumberland Avenue before he moved towards Great Scotland Yard BX221 said he heard on the transmission what he believed was 'officers stabbed' and asked if he heard any clarification later, he replied 'no' BX221 said he pulled the trigger on his Taser at the exact same time that BX222 fired the shot, and initially BX221 thought the noise of the shot was from his Taser and something had gone wrong with it. He said he realised shortly after that it was likely a shot was fired as well. BX221 then saw Mr Yahya go into a 'rigid state' before falling and then other officers restrained Mr Yahya. 'I thought he was resisting at that point because he was still moving and I could see officers reacting to that,' he added. BX221 said he remembered seeing a number of punches and could see Mr Yahya's legs moving, then BX221 moved forward and put his knee on Mr Yahya's lower legs. The officer said Mr Yahya was restrained and then given first aid. Ifeanyi Odogwu, representing Mr Yahya's family, put to BX221 that Mr Yahya 'did not stand a chance' once he was confronted with BX221 and BX222, to which the officer replied saying he did not agree. Asked if Mr Yahya looked 'frightened', BX221 replied 'yes'. The inquest continues. A woman who was stabbed outside a busy primary school during drop-off time was first chased down the street and then held by the throat, shocked witnesses told MailOnline. The victim - understood to be an Albanian woman who lived nearby - was stabbed repeatedly just after dropping her children off and left in a pool of blood. She was heard screaming: 'Help me, help me I'm losing blood.' Bedfordshire Police confirmed that she was taken to hospital where she remains with serious injuries following an attack near a school in Dunstable Road, Luton, shortly after 8.30am this morning. A man was arrested shortly afterwards. Police officers and forensic officers by a forensic tent at the scene in Luton, where a woman has been seriously injured in a stabbing near a school today The victim - understood to be an Albanian woman who lived nearby - was stabbed repeatedly just after dropping her children off and left in a pool of blood Locals said the victim had been plagued with problems with an ex-husband who had turned up at her address and become violent. One man said today: 'It was horrific, brutal. The woman was chased up the road by a man who caught her and grabbed her by the throat and then thrust his hand over her mouth to stop her screaming. 'He then stabbed her several times all over her body causing her to slump to the floor when he'd finished.' Another mother said: 'I saw the woman lying on the pavement. She was crying and shouting "help me, help me" in English. 'She was also shouting "I'm losing blood". 'I know people close to where she lives and she's apparently originally from Albania. She lives with her children who go to the local school. 'She was attacked just after she'd dropped them off. 'The woman has had all sorts of issues with her former husband turning up and becoming violent and aggressive.' The victim was taken to hospital with serious injuries after she was stabbed outside a primary school. Here is a look at Dunstable Road on a map Another look at the forensic officers on Dunstable Road. The stabbing took place at 8.30am during the school drop-off Police have said that the children were safe in the school, which the force did not name but is believed to be Beech Hill Community Primary. Officers are set to remain in the area for reassurance. A police spokesman said: 'Bedfordshire Police is investigating the stabbing of a woman near a school in Dunstable Road, Luton shortly after 8.30am this morning. 'The victim has been taken to hospital with serious injuries. One man has been arrested and is currently in police custody 'All children are safe within the school and there is no wider threat to the public. Police will maintain a strong presence in the area for reassurance.' Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis called Jim Jordan a 'clown' and insisted his investigations into her have 'no legitimate purpose.' Jordan's Judiciary Committee has pressed forward with investigations into alleged misconduct by Willis' office as she investigates former President Donald Trump's election interference case. 'Jim Jordan has, time after time after time, attacked my office with no legitimate purpose,' Willis told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. 'Anyone who knows Jim Jordan's history knows that he only has the purpose of trying to interfere in a criminal investigation.' Willis is up for re-election on Tuesday. Earlier this year Jordan threatened Willis with contempt of Congress in order to get her to comply with his probe into her use of federal funds. That contempt threat was designed to compel Willis to turn over her plans to allegedly misuse a grant worth nearly half a million dollars. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis called Jim Jordan a 'clown' and insisted his investigations into her have 'no legitimate purpose' Jordan, R-Ohio, previously exposed that Willis' team was planning to misuse a grant earmarked for the creation of a Center of Youth Empowerment and Gang Prevention to pay for new luxuries including MacBooks and expensive travel. A whistleblower who came forward with details of the illicit scheme was then fired, Republicans claimed, while issuing a subpoena in February demanding related documents and communications about the alleged $488,000 scheme. She ended up complying with the probe, but called it 'illegitimate,' and called the Ohio Republican's actions 'disgusting.' When whistleblower, Amanda Timpson, told Willis of the alleged plot, she was promptly fired, according to the committee's February subpoena. She was escorted out of the office by seven armed investigators upon her termination. A February Free Beacon report identified Willis aide Michael Cuffe as the individual behind the alleged scheme to misuse taxpayer dollars. '[Cuffe] wanted to do things with grants that were impossible, and I kept telling him, like, 'We can't do that,'' Timpson told Willis in during a November 19, 2021, meeting, according to a recording of the conversation obtained by the Free Beacon. 'He told everybody 'We're going to get MacBooks, we're going to get swag, we're going to use it for travel.' I said, 'You cannot do that, it's a very, very specific grant.''I respect that is your assessment,' Willis replied. 'And I'm not saying that your assessment is wrong.' Willis has courted controversy while prosecuting the county's election interference case against Trump after it was revealed she had a past relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. She escaped with just a slap on the wrist after Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee dramatically ruled she could stay on the Trump election interference case if Wade removed himself. Earlier this year Jordan threatened Willis with contempt of Congress in order to get her to comply with his probe into her use of federal funds Trump and eight of his co-defendants charged in the Georgia state court have since urged the appeals court to overturn McAfee's March ruling, and the appeals court has given Trump's appeal the green light to go ahead. The court's decision to hear the appeal before trial could cause further delays in the case, one of four criminal prosecutions facing Trump as he seeks to unseat Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 5 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty and accused prosecutors of a politically motivated effort to damage his campaign. The court's decision to hear the case follows testimony inside McAfee's courtroom, which featured an acknowledgement from Willis and former special prosecutor Nathan Wade that they had a sexual relationship. Lawyers for Donald Trump and multiple co-defendants tried to establish that the affair began before Willis brought Wade onto the case and said it posed a conflict of interest. But Willis said the relationship became romantic later. The Judiciary Committee has also demanded documents related to Willis' relationship with Wade in January, noting that he had been paid more than $650,000 - at a rate of $250 an hour - to work on the investigation and prosecution of Trump and other federal officials, according to a court filing. The committee noted federal funds may have been used to pay Wade, granting them jurisdiction to investigate. The committee also highlighted the 'enormous legal fees' Wade had billed the DA's office for, in one instance, on November 5, 2021, charging for 24 hours of legal work in one day, claiming to have worked all day and night on the prosecution. Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis will face a verdict from Democratic voters Tuesday, as she runs for reelection during her chaotic prosecution of former President Donald Trump. Willis filed an ambitious RICO racketing case against former President Donald Trump, accusing him of conspiring to change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. The case against Trump made her a national hero on the left, but she faced months of setbacks due to a scandal that threatened the future of her legal and political career. She is still favored to win over Democratic opponent in the race is Christian Wise Smith, a former Fulton prosecutor. Willis faced legal scrutiny after she was exposed for paying large sums of money to special prosecutor Nathan Wade, a man she had a romantic relationship with as they traveled together on luxury vacations. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis looks on during a hearing on the Georgia election interference case Trump lawyers argued their relationship represented a conflict of interest, as Wade used the money Willis paid him to take her on lavish trips and dates. Her relationship with Wade triggered an embarrassing series of court hearings detailing their relationship and spending habits and her own financial discrepancies. Willis testified during the hearings, defying the charges she acted inappropriately, claiming she paid Wade back in cash, even though there was no record of any financial transactions. Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ultimately concluded after the hearings i March that Willis could remain on the case as long as Wade was removed. McAfee also faces a primary challenger in Georgia on Tuesday. Voters cast ballots in Georgia's primary election at a polling location on May 21, 2024 Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is running for reelection, participates in a parade Wade stepped down from the case, even as he defended his workplace romance with Willis 'as American as apple pie.' Willis' troubles, however, are not over. Last week, the Georgia Court of Appeals granted a hearing for Trump's appeal, extending the prosecution timeline and opening herself up to further embarrassment. Earlier this year, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan opened a federal investigation into Willis earlier this year over her use of federal funds. The investigation centers on reports that Willis' office planned to use part of a $488,000 federal grant for Youth Empowerment and Gang Prevention to use on other expenses. In March, Jordan threatened Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis with contempt of Congress if she did not comply with subpoenas from the committee. Willis fought back against the charges, portraying herself as a victim of President Trump and his allies. Her willingness to fight appears to have galvanized Democrats who want to see Trump convicted of criminally trying to overthrow the election in Georgia. Despite her personal and legal troubles, she was hailed as a champion for the left because of her defiance against Trump and his allies. On MSNBC on Monday, Willis portrayed herself as a victim of people attacking her race and her gender and vowed to continue her prosecution of Trump. 'Im not someone thats going to be broken,' she said in an interview with host Rachel Maddow on Monday. 'But certainly, it has caused me to get thicker skin or to be more resilient, to dig deeper, to work harder. But what it has not done is deter me from my work.' Polls close tonight in Georgia at 7:00 p.m. EST. Flyers have vowed to double down on their boycott of Boeing after a Singapore Airlines flight ended in disaster when it hit turbulence, killing a passenger. The aircraft hit an air pocket and plummeted an astonishing 6,000ft in just five minutes during the flight from London to Singapore. The sudden drop unleashed mayhem onboard and forced the plane to make an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport. Geoffrey Kitchen, 73, has since been identified as the British musical theater director who died aboard the Boeing 777 plane on Tuesday. Social media users have vowed to steer clear of boarding Boeing jets after a spate of well-publicized safety blunders involving the aviation giant's jets. The sudden drop unleashed mayhem onboard and forced the plane to make an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Geoffrey Kitchen, 73, has since been identified as the British passenger who died aboard the Boeing 777 plane On X, formerly known as Twitter, users said they would never fly on a Boeing plane again after the incident. One person wrote: 'I am never flying Boeing again', while another commented: 'I'm actually never flying on a Boeing again'. Another said: 'When I book a flight in 2024. Nonstop. Aisle seat. Not a Boeing plane. Then recheck number 3. Triple check it's not a Boeing.' The Boeing share price took a hit this morning after the incident aboard the flight, but has since recovered. Hitting a low of $183.11, before rising to $186.39. Questions over safety have plagued the manufacturer ever since a door plug blew out of a 737 Max on an Alaska Airlines flight in January. Pilots were able to land the plane safely, but the incident has cast Boeing into its deepest crisis since the deadly crashes of two Max jets in 2018 and 2019, blamed on a substandard computer system. Current and former Boeing employees have accused the company of taking safety shortcuts. The Arlington, Virginia-based company is under investigations by the FAA, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Justice Department. The flight experienced severe turbulence while flying close to Myanmar airspace in a region currently being battered by extreme tropical thunderstorms. Pictured: The plane and ambulances are seen on the tarmac at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok Social media users have vowed to steer clear of boarding Boeing jets after the incident One man who said he was on the flight took to X to describe the incident onboard the flight. Andrew Davies, from London, wrote that he and other passengers who were not injured in the turbulence were currently waiting in a holding area at the airport. 'Lots of people [are] injured - including the air stewards who were stoic and did everything they could,' he wrote. 'Bangkok emergency services [were] quick to respond. Very little warning. The seat-belt sign came on, I put on my seat-belt straight away then the plane just dropped.' Davies wrote that 'passengers with medical training' were working to help the injured in the aftermath of the plane dropping. 'CPR on the poor gentleman that passed. Another passenger laid flat in [the] aisle further behind me. Not sure what happened with them,' he said. 'People's belongings scattered, coffee and water splattered the ceiling. Surreal. So many injured people. Head lacerations, bleeding ears. A lady was screaming in pain with a bad back. I couldn't help her - just got her water.' He said that he wished he could have done more to help, adding: 'My heart goes out to the gentleman who lost his life and his poor wife. Awful experience.' Passengers are seen on the Singapore Airlines plane after it made an emergency landing in Bangkok today. Oxygen masks fell from the ceiling, as did other components More than 70 people were injured in the incident, with Mr Kitchen's wife Linda thought to be among those in hospital. Her condition is not known. Tributes have poured in for Kitchen, who ran Thornbury Musical Theatre group and is said to be a grandfather, with friends describing him as 'a really nice guy'. The retired insurance worker and his wife were heading abroad on a six-week holiday of a lifetime to South East Asia, Indonesia and Australia when disaster struck. Marco Chan, Senior Lecturer in Aviation Operations at Buckinghamshire New University, told DailyMail.com that incidents involving extreme turbulence tend to occur when a plane is navigating through thunderstorms. On the plane involved in today's incident also being a Boeing, Mr Chan noted: 'The aircraft in question is a Boeing 777-300ER, a manufacturer that has already hit the headlines. 'It must be emphasized that such incidents can happen to any flights and any manufacturer's aircraft.' This photo released by the National Transportation Safety Board shows the door plug from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 on Jan. 8, 2024, in Portland, Oregon Boeing expressed its condolences following Tuesday's incident, saying: 'We extend our deepest condolences to the family who lost a loved one and our thoughts are with the passengers and crew,' Boeing said. Turbulence-related airline accidents are the most common type, according to a 2021 study by the National Transportation Safety Board. From 2009 through 2018, the US agency found that turbulence accounted for more than a third of reported airline accidents and most resulted in one or more serious injuries, but no aircraft damage. Boeing CEO David Calhoun, who will step down at the end of the year, has said many times that Boeing is taking steps to improve its manufacturing quality and safety culture. He called the blowout on the Alaska jet a 'watershed moment' from which a better Boeing will emerge. There is plenty of skepticism about comments like that. Former Donald Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani, Christina Bobb and multiple codefendants were arraigned in Arizona Tuesday after being charged with forgery and fraud as part of a 'fake electors' scheme in the state. An Arizona judge threatened to mute Giuliani during his online hearing, after the former New York mayor repeatedly attacked the prosecution while arguing against a $10,000 cash bond prosecutors were seeking. 'Mr. Giuliani, I don't want to mute you, but I need to move on,' the judge scolded him. The judge gave Giuliani 30 days to turn himself in to be arrested, and is allowing the cash-strapped defendant who has filed for bankruptcy to provide a secured bond for that amount. Her admonition came as Giuliani attacked the indictment against him and stressed financial hardships, while noting that he has showed up for repeat court appearances. 'I've been sued about 20 to 25 times by a very similar movement to this one, which is the, let's see what we can do to destroy Donald Trump,' Giuliani complained in his online appearance. 'I do consider this indictment a complete embarrassment to the American legal system, but I've shown no tendency not to comply.' Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani pleaded not guilty to nine charges against him in Arizona, after being served Friday evening following a party in Florida 'Okay ... sir,' the judge said, as Giuliani kept talking. 'I understand your position ... thank you, sir,' she tried to interject while the former Donald Trump lawyer kept going. Giuliani attacked the case as 'completely political.' State AG prosecutor Nicholas Klingerman accused Giuliani of mocking the judicial system, and prosecutors noted they only tracked him down after posting a pair of agents outside an 80th birthday event for him in Florida. 'I've been on the radio, on television, and the radio every day since this indictment started announcing where I am, so I haven't been hiding from anyone,' Giuliani countered, claiming he has showed up for 20-30 appearances. He called the indictment an 'embarrassment.' He blamed difficulty serving his New York apartment on security. 'I have a fair number of threats, including death threats,' he said, and said he no longer has a security detail while going through bankruptcy. 'I don't have security any longer since I've been in bankruptcy,' he said, calling any cash bond 'totally punitive.' The judge allowed Giuliani to say his piece in the video link, but eventually threatened to cut his mic if he persisted. At the end of his hearing, while doing through logistics with the judge, Giuliani appeared unaware that he had to come up with the secured $10,000. He was asking who he should contact in order to come and be arrested and processed. 'You set a bond of $10,000?' Giuliani asked the judge. Earlier, Giuliani didn't appear to be immediately ready when the judge first called his name. An open zoom mic picked up sounds that ABC News hypothesized could be water noises. Prosecutors called Giuliani's statement that he 'accepted service like a gentleman' a statement that was not true. Bobb, who recently joined the Republican National Committee as a senior counsel for 'election integrity', glowered as she had her mugshot was taken. Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who finally received service Friday for his indictment after an event celebrating his 80th birthday in Florida, appeared virtually. Giuliani, who has also been charged in Georgia in a similar case, pleaded not guilty. Trump lawyer Boris Epshteyn, who has been with Trump in Manhattan Criminal Court for the Stormy Daniels case, is set to be arraigned next month, as is former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Also pleading not guilty in Phoenix was former Arizona Republican Party chair Kelli Ward. She and others are charged with conspiracy and fraud for their unsuccessful effort to overturn Donald Trump's 2020 loss in the state to Joe Biden. She and 11 others are charged. Ward and Giuliani had their trials set for October. Former Trump lawyer Christina Bobb, who now has an 'election integrity' role at the RNC, had her mugshot taken in Arizona Tuesday. She is a former host for the One America News Network Christina Bobb appears with her attorney (right) for her arraignment in Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix. She and others were charged by a grand jury in a conspiracy stemming from the 2020 election. Bobb and codefendants are charged with conspiracy and fraud Kelli Ward, chair of the Arizona Republican Party, faces felony charges in Arizona's fake elector case. She entered a plea of not guilty on Tuesday The 'fake electors' defendants were in an Arizona courtroom while Trump is on trial in Manhattan for the Stormy Daniels case Giuliani made headlines Friday night after he was served with his papers after boasting authorities had just hours left to contact him. He also came up in Trump's Stormy Daniels trial, as lawyer Bob Costello (who is suing Giuliani for allegedly unpaid legal fees) testified about emails that he was a 'back channel' to Trump through Giuliani. Bobb is a former on-air host for the conservative One America News Network. She signed a document attesting to a diligent search of documents at Mar-a-Lago 'to the best of my knowledge,' which came before Trump was charged in the classified documents case in Florida. Bill Maher has branded Joe Biden 'cadaver-like' and compared him to Dracula in a no-holds barred interview on The View. The comedian took aim at the 81-year-old president's age, saying he 'presents old' during his appearance on the show on Tuesday. Maher, 68, pointed out Biden is just three years older than Trump, 78, but is perceived as much older. 'Biden just presents as old and it's not really fair because he is almost the same age as Trump,' he said. 'But Trump doesn't present that way you look at somebody right away you can sum them up. 'We are not young but we don't present as old,' he added gesturing to co-host Joy Behar, 81. Bill Maher branded Joe Biden 'cadaver-like' and compared him to Dracula in a no-holds barred interview on The View 'I saw him yesterday making that speech, he is cadaver-like. He should get out, he has lost the faith of people, it's not fair.' He then went on to draw comparisons to Dracula, labelling the president Ruth Bader Biden, the former Supreme Court justice who died in the role despite requests to step down. Her refusal to resign during the Obama administration as suggested paved the way for Donald Trump to eventually replace her with a more conservative judge after her death. Maher, who has been an outspoken critic of the president and Trump, predicted the a similar fate for Biden. He said that although Biden is the same age as hot Joy Behar, he comes off less sharp Maher, 68, pointed out that Biden is just three years younger than Trump, 78, but is perceived as much older 'She didn't take the hint and she was not in good health and she ruined her legacy and got the Supreme Court to be a pretty right wing organization. 'But you know, ego he is Dracula, he has crossed oceans of time to be here and he is not going to give it up now.' The age of both candidates has become a flashpoint in the upcoming election, with both sides attempting to paint the other as unfit to govern. A poll in March revealed that 60 percent of Americans do not believe either Trump or Biden have the mental faculties for the White House. Biden came under fire for an embarrassing gaffe on Monday when he mistakenly told a crowd a hostage being held by Hamas was 'here with us today'. .@billmaher talks taking heat from both sides for his critiques of both Biden and Trump in his new book 'What This Comedian Said Will Shock You': "My bond with my audience is you're not going to like everything I say, but you know I'm saying what I really think is true." pic.twitter.com/GDUYd130qA The View (@TheView) May 21, 2024 Maher also used the interview to reiterate his condemnation of the student protesters who set up encampments on US college campuses in support of Gaza Maher is a Democrat voter, but has not shied away from expressing his views on Biden. In an interview with the New York Times, he blasted the president's walk as a 'shuffle' and suggested it looks like a 'toddler with a full diaper'. He previously explained that he will continue to critique the president, even if it causes ire among the left, because it is not his job to cover up any weaknesses. Maher also reiterated his condemnation of the student protesters who set up encampments on US college campuses in support of Gaza. He accused the demonstrators of supporting 'a terrorist organization', meaning Hamas. 'It's astounding to me they can't tell the good guys from the bad guys, just morally,' Maher said. 'If you're for Hamas just live in Gaza for a day and I'm not talking about during the war. Trust me you would go running and begging and screaming to live in Tel Aviv, a place that has your values.' He also branded a subpoena issued to Benjamin Netanyahu by the International Criminal Court, 'ridiculous'. Maher is a Democrat voter, but has not shied away from expressing his views on Biden 'It's a war, they were attacked and they are defending themselves,' he said. The International Criminal Court put out arrest warrants for the Israeli Prime Minister, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders. They face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in relation to the Oct. 7 attack and the war in Gaza. American Airlines has been accused of blaming a nine-year-old girl for being filmed in the plane's bathrooms by a male flight attendant. Estes Carter Thompson III, 37, was arrested in January after he allegedly recorded four underaged girls - aged 7, 9, 11 and 14- as they used the bathroom aboard several AA flights. In their response to a lawsuit filed by the nine-year-old's family, American Airlines put forward several defenses, including that they are not responsible because of 'the doctrine of comparative negligence, contributory negligence, comparative responsibility and/or comparative causation.' AA's legal defense continues: 'Defendant would show that any injuries or illnesses alleged to have been sustained by Plaintiff, Mary Doe, were proximately caused by Plaintiffs own fault and negligence, were proximately caused by Plaintiffs use of the compromised lavatory, which she knew or should have known contained a visible and illuminated recording device.' Explaining the defense in plain English, the plaintiff's lawyer Caroline Recupero said: 'In other words, American Airlines is blaming a 9-year-old-girl for being filmed by an American Airlines flight attendant, arguing the child knew or should have known that the airplane toilet contained a recording device.' 'It is our firms position that this assertion is both shameful and absolutely outrageous.' Estes Carter Thompson III, 37, was arrested in January after he allegedly recorded a total of four underaged girls - aged 7, 9, 11 and 14- as they used the bathroom aboard several AA flights She added: 'It is our firms position that this assertion is both shameful and absolutely outrageous.' In the lawsuit, the girl's parents claim Thompson took images of the girl in January, 2023, as she used the bathroom of the flight heading to Los Angeles. The girl and her family had been on their way to Disney World and a gymnastics competition. The images, recovered from Thompson's iCloud by the FBI, showed the girl's face, buttocks and genitals, according to the complaint. DailyMail.com has reached out to American Airlines for comment on this story. Thompson was arrested after a 14-year-old girl told her family about the camera in the plane's bathroom. The FBI then found other victims, including the nine-year-old from Texas, after searching his devices and iCloud, as well as AI generated pornography. 'It felt like we were living in a nightmare when the FBI showed up on our doorstep to tell us that our daughter had been secretly filmed by an American Airlines flight attendant. Since then, our daughter has struggled with fear and anxiety,' the nine-year-old girl's family told DailyMail.com in a statement. 'We are doing everything we can to support her during this traumatic time. An important part of our familys healing is making sure that the flight attendant and American Airlines are held accountable for what happened to our daughter. We hope that this lawsuit is the first step in making sure nothing like this ever happens to another family.' The teen, 14, entered the bathroom and saw red stickers on the underside of the toilet seat lid stating, 'INOPERATIVE CATERING EQUIPMENT', 'REMOVE FROM SERVICE' and 'SEAT BROKEN' handwritten in black ink on one of the stickers Investigators said that about midway through the September 2, 2023, flight from Charlotte to Boston, the 14-year-old got up to use the main cabin lavatory nearest to her seat but found it was occupied. Thompson then told her the first-class lavatory was unoccupied and escorted her there, investigators said. Before she entered the bathroom, Thompson allegedly told her he needed to wash his hands and that the toilet seat was broken. After he left, the teen entered the bathroom and saw red stickers on the underside of the toilet seat lid, which was in the open position, stating, 'INOPERATIVE CATERING EQUIPMENT', 'REMOVE FROM SERVICE' and 'SEAT BROKEN' handwritten in black ink on one of the stickers, according to court documents. Beneath the stickers, Thompson had concealed his iPhone to record a video, investigators said. The girl used her phone to take a picture of the stickers and concealed iPhone before leaving. Thompson then immediately went back into the bathroom. The girl told her parents, and her father confronted Thompson, who locked himself in the lavatory with his iPhone for three to five minutes before the flights descent, investigators said. The minor's parents also informed other flight attendants and the captain was notified. The captain then contacted law enforcement on the ground. When the flight landed, police said Thompson's phone may have been restored to factory settings while he was locked in the bathroom. A search of Thompsons suitcase found 11 'INOPERATIVE CATERING EQUIPMENT' stickers, investigators said. A search of his iCloud account allegedly revealed four additional instances between January and August 2023 in which Thompson recorded a minor using the lavatory on an aircraft. In the lawsuit, the nine-year-old girl's parents claim Thompson took images of the girl in January, 2023, as she used the bathroom of the flight heading to Los Angeles (stock photo) American Airlines issued a statement saying they take the allegation very seriously. They also said the flight attendant was 'immediately withheld from service following the September 2023 incident' and hasnt worked since. 'They dont reflect our airline or our core mission of caring for people,' the statement read. 'We have been fully cooperating with law enforcement in its investigation as there is nothing more important than the safety and security of our customers and team.' A popular New Jersey hardware store will close its doors after more than 100 years in business. Saunders Hardware in Montclair has been open on Valley Road since 1893, but after 131 years of business, the store's owner, Tom Vultee, will retire. After failing to find someone to buy the mom-and-pop shop, Vultee sold the building and is in the process of clearing out 177,000 items from the store's inventory. Besides selling an array of hardware, many locals in town know the store for being a warm and inviting place that has helped shape the North Jersey town. 'It's the interaction- the personal interaction, the discovery. The fact that there are people you can actually talk to,' Julian, one of many Saunders' customers, told PIX11. Saunders Hardware in Montclair, New Jersey will be closing after the owner, Tom Vultee, decided to retire. The store has been open for 131 years Vultee has long been the heart of the store as customers revealed that they frequently go there to speak with him and catch up Vultee has long been the heart of the store as customers revealed that they frequently go there to speak with him and catch up. 'Everybody knows him. It's sad to see him go,' Brian White, another long-time customer said. White joined Vultee in the shop on Friday as they hugged and the owner got emotional. 'He's an old friend. He's just as special as every other old friend that's come into the hardware store,' Vultee said. 'It brings a tear to my eye,' he added as he wiped his face. Vultee revealed that the recent death of a long-time employee, Rob Howard, is what really drove him to close up the shop. 'Very emotional. It was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back as to you know, "What am I doing here?" I should be spending time with my family,' Vultee said. A picture of Howard was seen hanging up inside the store along with other items in memory of the employee who worked at the store for the past 24 years. As the end of the store draws near, Vultee has made arrangements with the new buyer to keep it open for some time to try and clear out the inventory. Vultee is seen hugging a long-time customer and friend, Brian White on Friday as he got emotional about the news Vultee revealed that the recent death of a long-time employee, Rob Howard, is what really drove him to close up the shop. (picture: A small memorial set up in the shop for Howard) Any items that are left will be donated to the homebuilding non-profit, Habitat for Humanity . 'They benefit, they get to take care of people,' Vultee said. Everything at the store has been marked down to 30 percent off, as Vultee said that his hardware store has always had what everybody needs. 'I still have guys that have been here for 20 years, and they say, "Do you have that?" And I tell them where it is, and they'll say, "I didn't know we had that",' Vultee said. After word about the closing got around, heartbroken locals and customers flocked to social media to say farewell to the store and to Vultee. 'Oh no! We rely on these guys and its been awesome to have them in our plaza,' one wrote. Everything at the store has been marked down to 30 percent off in an effort to clear out 177,000 items from the stores inventory. Whatever isn't sold will be donated to a non-profit Another said: 'Saunders is a true institution for Montclair. I love going in there, everyone is so helpful and always have a positive attitude.' 'I remember going in here with my parents when I was a child,' another person wrote. Montclair is known for being a small, affluent suburb, filled with small shops like Saunder's, well-known restaurants, parks and the public college, Montclair State University. The average cost of a home in the town is approximately $988,800, according to PODS. With a population of more than 39,700, and 6.3 square-miles, the town is known for its walkable space to small businesses and local retailers. From sex scandals that reached the office of the President to political violence by increasingly unhappy citizens who have been battered by the cost of living in the nation, it's no wonder French citizens have largely become disillusioned with the nation. Recent survey data revealed that three in four French citizens believe the nation is in decline, and a group of social media influencers have set out to change that by promoting the nation's once-internationally-lauded cuisine and culture. With hundreds of thousands of followers across social media platforms, they have sought to fight the rising site of anti-French malaise that has swept the nation. And at least for now, the movement appears to be working, both at home and abroad. Pierre-Alexandre de Boisse, an influencer and businessman who gave up a lucrative finance job to set up and run Le Canon Francais, a company that organises traditional banquets across France, said that his firm's feasts are a hit with locals and tourists. 'We've had British, Swiss, Belgian and Spanish guests. It's about enjoying the best France has to offer, its art de vivre. All are welcome', he told The Times. French social media influencers have set out to change the domestic image of their country by promoting the nation's once-internationally-lauded cuisine and culture Street musicians perform in Strasbourg, France (File image) Panoramic view of the Champ de Mars in Paris (File image) The influencer, whose company has nearly 200,000 followers on Instagram, said that despite political criticism from both the left and right, all he wants to do is promote French cuisine. 'Some left-wingers don't like us because we eat too much meat and we're old school French, but the people who attend our events are mostly in their thirties. 'Some people assume that we're right wing because we choose French food and wines, and we promote the love of our terroir, our land, but we're not at all interested in getting involved in politics. We don't want any affiliation with any political party.' Simon Vasseur, another influencer, believes that the appreciation of architectural heritage is key to fighting social malaise. He said: 'People are sometimes completely cut off from their land and its traditions, and they're asking themselves who they are and where they come from.' The influencer, who has more than 174,000 followers on Instagram, said that he wants to 'prove' that French traditions still have a place in modern society. Pierre-Alexandre de Boisse gave up a lucrative finance job to set up and run Le Canon Francais, a company that organises traditional banquets across France (Pictured) France is still the world's most visited country , seeing more than 80million tourists in 2022 alone Simon Vasseur, another influencer, believes that the appreciation of architectural heritage is key to fighting social malaise (Pictured) He believes this is working: 'There's a back to the roots dynamic. In parallel with the bling-bling culture of mainstream influencers, young people are discovering that Paris is just as cool as Dubai, and Aveyron [in southern France] is as cool as Miami.' France is still the world's most visited country, seeing more than 80million tourists in 2022 alone, while it welcomed more than 100million in 2023, according to estimates. However, while France is a large nation - government figures show that 80 per cent of its annual tourism is concentrated on just 20 per cent of the country. It is unsurprising, then, that like its other Mediterranean neighbours, officials have been looking at ways to limit tourism, make it more sustainable, and to urge visitors to discover parts of France that are less well known. In June last year, tourism minister Olivia Gregoire unveiled plans to regulate visitor flows at some of France's most popular sites. This will include a tourism observatory to measure flows and identify overloads. 'France is the world's biggest tourist destination, but we have a serious lack of data to help manage the crowds,' the government has said in the past. She said France needed to better manage the peak-season influxes that threatened 'the environment, the quality of life for locals, and the experiences for its visitors'. As pandemic restrictions were relaxed and lifted, many of the most famous French sites, such as the Mont-Saint-Michel abbey in Normandy, said they were being overwhelmed by the sheer number of visitors. One famous town and nearby beach - Etretat - is home to 1,200 people, but saw a surge of 10,000 daily visits after it featured in Netflix detective series 'Lupin'. 'This massive influx ends up trampling and eroding the cliffs and endangers the beach cliffs,' Shai Mallet, co-head of the local residents' association, told AFP. Limits have already been set elsewhere, with officials capping daily visits to the Brittany island of Brehat at 4,700 in the peak summer months. And officials at the Calanques national park near Marseille in southern France introduced a reservation system during the Covid-19 pandemic that it has chosen to maintain for a further five years. The Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France (File image) The city of Grasse on the French Riviera (File image) The French capital of Paris is grappling with a housing shortage - something many blame on short-term lets (File image) The park - reachable by a one-hour hike - now lets in just 400 people a day, down from the 2,500 that it allowed in the past. Like many cities in Europe, the French capital of Paris is also grappling with a housing shortage - something many blame on short-term lets. More than 36million people are thought to have visited the city in 2023 alone. One suggestion put forward by officials is to ban key boxes on the outside of buildings to discourage people from putting their homes on Airbnb. Six French cities - including Nice, Lille and Annecy - already have such rules. In Nice, a local artist installed giant rat traps - with a giant ice cream as bait - 'to eradicate and eliminate the tourist pest'. FranceInfo reported at the time: 'To curb mass tourism, street artist TooLate offers a radical solution'. The White House is on cleanup duty after President Joe Biden delivered a gaffes-laden speech riddled with eye-popping doozies including calling insurrectionists 'irrectionists.' White House staff made nine corrections to the speech that Biden, 81, gave before the Detroit branch of the NAACP on Sunday while receiving a lifetime achievement award. In the official transcript of the speech, his team crossed out nine words where Biden made either factual and pronunciation errors and inserted what the president was actually supposed to say. In one cringe-worthy moment right at the beginning of the speech, Biden told a story of when former President Barack Obama sent him to Detroit when he was serving as vice president. But Biden got the timeline wrong by about a decade declaring he was sent there during the 'pandemic.' President Joe Biden delivering a speech at the NAACP Detroit branch on May 19. During his remarks Biden made nine gaffes which the White House corrected in the official transcript including saying 'irrectionists' instead of 'insurrectionists' and claiming he was vice president during the 'pandemic' instead of 'recession' In reality, Biden was dispatched to Detroit to meet with members of the auto industry during the great recession. In the transcript of his remarks, the White House crossed out pandemic and wrote in 'recession.' Later in the speech, Biden went after his political opponent Donald Trump slamming the ex-president for the attack on the Capitol on January 6 and calling Trump unhinged. 'He calls the irrectionists who stormed Capitol Hill 'patriots,'' Biden declared. 'He says if elected, he wants, quote, 'every' one of them pardoned.' In the transcript, the White House crossed out 'irrectionists' and inserted 'insurrectionists.' Soon after that moment, Biden accused Trump of saying if he loses again in November there would be 'bloodshed' which was also crossed out and corrected to 'bloodbath.' Other smaller errors the White House fixed included when Biden said he was 'humbled to receive this organization.' The correct word added in was 'award.' They also crossed out 'inspiresing' and added 'inspiring,' changed $8,000 to $800, 'who' to 'to' and corrected Biden calling the NAACP the 'NAAC.' Biden has long been criticized as a gaffe-prone president. In the official transcript of the speech, his team crossed out nine words where Biden made either factual and pronunciation errors and inserted what the president was actually supposed to say President Joe Biden was forced to correct himself after saying a maimed US citizen still being held by Hamas is 'here with us today' at a White House event on Monday Just Monday, Biden was forced to correct himself after saying a US citizen still being held by Hamas is 'here with us today' at a White House event. Last week, Biden called North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un the president of South Korea at a fundraiser in California while attempting to make another dig at Trump. The president spoke of Trump's pride from 'love letters from South Korean president Kim Jong Un.' As Biden makes a series of gaffes while he runs for re-election, Trump has made a habit of mocking Biden for his trouble reading a teleprompter and other missteps on the campaign trail. But Trump, 77, is not immune from making his own embarrassing gaffes while mounting his bid to return to the White House. Donald Trump confusing Joe Biden for Barack Obama for the third time in less than six months at a rally in Virginia in early March Trump has confused Biden with former President Obama on numerous occasions during speeches and made other verbal slip ups at his rancorous rallies. Both campaigns and their supporters have made it a point to go after the gaffes of the opposing party's presumptive presidential nominee in a gaffe battle that is likely to continue well into November and Election Day. She told staff she didn't receive her meal, despite it reportedly resting in her lap The incident occurred on Dec, 30, 2023, at a McDonald's in San Antonio, Texas A woman fired eight gunshots at staff in a Texas McDonalds after she became irate when her order was 'missing hash browns and biscuits.' The angry 32-year-old woman from San Antonio, Samantha Anthony, allegedly fired multiple gunshots from her car into the drive-thru window where employees were working, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Anthony was arrested and is currently held in police custody with a bond of $75,000. She was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony. The incident occurred on December 30, 2023, when Anthony drove to a McDonald's restaurant just south of downtown, when she began complaining about her order to staff. She arrived at 5 am and left the restaurant but came back a half hour later to tell employees that she was missing items from her order. Samantha Anthony, 32, fired multiple gunshots from her car into the drive-thru window with at least shots fired into the window where employees were working, according to an arrest warrant affidavit The incident occurred on December 30, 2023, when Anthony drove to a McDonald's restaurant just south of downtown (pictured), when she began complaining about her order to staff She told them she did not receive her food, so employees checked surveillance footage that shows Anthony being handed her order. One employee claimed the wrappers from her meal were clearly resting in her lap, however, Anthony persisted with this claim. 'When I was talking to her, I noticed that she had the wrappers on her lap. I was just like, "Can I see the bag?" Because I noticed the bag,' the employee, who chose to remain anonymous, told KENS-TV. '(She said), 'You didn't give me a bag either,' even though I could see it on her lap.' Anthony became extremely disgruntled, even retrieving her boyfriend to complain alongside her. 'She was hopping from the first drive-thru window to the second window, banging, talking, yelling,' an employee said. After going back and forth with an employee for 30 minutes, claiming she never received her order, she fired eight shots. 'I heard the first shot, I kind of like had a late reaction,' the employee. 'Whenever the other shot started ringing out, that's when all of us in the front started ducking and sliding.' The shooting left the fast-food workers, who were hiding behind walls and equipment, traumatized. 'I was crying, I was scared, I was having a panic attack,' the employee told the outlet. Fortunately, no injuries were reported. Anthony fled the scene immediately following the shootout, according to the affidavit. Officers responded to the shooting and were able to find Anthony by analyzing surveillance footage from the incident. Investigators identified Anthony by her license plate on her gold 2011 Cadillac sport utility vehicle. Police also said there was an identifiable white sticker of a rifle, and a 'Big A' on the right-rear lower window on her vehicle. Photos also captured the suspect, who was identified by several tattoo markings that were visible in the video surveillance and photographs of the shooting. A Former Royal Marine accused of spying for Hong Kong has been found dead in 'unexplained' circumstances last night. Matthew Trickett, 37 was found dead in a park near his home just days after being charged with carrying out surveillance and hostile reconnaissance on pro-democracy activists in the UK for the Hong Kong intelligence service. The suspected spy, who worked as an immigration enforcement officer for the Home Office, due to appear at the Old Bailey on Friday charged with betraying his country. In a statement, his family said: 'We're mourning the loss of a much-loved son, brother and family man.' Speaking of the Royal Marine's death, a local resident told MailOnline: 'This has been extremely disturbing for residents. Matthew Trickett, 37 was found dead in a park near his home just days after being charged with carrying out surveillance and hostile reconnaissance on pro-democracy activists in the UK for the Hong Kong intelligence service Matthew Trickett covers his face as he leaves Westminster Magistrates' Court on May 13 'Police have been going around asking for doorbell cam in the hope of tracing his movements. 'The next thing we heard, this was an unexplained death and now we hear about the spying charges he was facing.' Police said they are currently treating the death as unexplained. But it can be revealed that prosecutors wanted to remand him in custody for his own safety, after a previous suicide attempt following his arrest. Despite this, the Afghanistan veteran was released on bail last Monday. In an extraordinary espionage case which is the first of its kind, Trickett and two other men, Chi Leung Wai, 38, who works at Heathrow Airport for UK Border Force and Chung Biu Yuen, 63, a trade official, are jointly accused of carrying out surveillance operations in the UK allegedly targeting dissidents of the regime. It is the first that anyone has been charged with spying on British soil for the Hong Kong intelligence service. The trio were charged last Monday under the new National Security Act brought in last year to target those working secretly for hostile states within the UK. Speaking of the Royal Marine's death, a local resident told MailOnline: 'This has been extremely disturbing for residents' Trickett and two other men, Chi Leung Wai (pictured left) who works at Heathrow Airport for UK Border Force and Chung Biu Yuen (pictured right) a trade official, are jointly accused of carrying out surveillance operations in the UK allegedly targeting dissidents of the regime Born in Poole, Dorset, in 1987, Trickett enlisted into the Royal Marines aged 19 and served for seven years, rising to the position of 'detachment commander'. He fought against the Taliban and Somali pirates in the Red Sea before leaving the military in 2013. He set up his own security company in 2021, working as a bodyguard for engineers, foreign dignitaries and corporate organisations as well as wealthy families. Trickett was then employed by the UK Border Force at Heathrow Airport before joining Home Office Immigration Enforcement on February 21 this year. When he appeared in court last Monday (may 13), there were concerns for his health after he had attempted suicide two days earlier. Kashif Malik, prosecuting, told Westminster Magistrates Court said: 'On Saturday morning he attempted to hurt himself, to commit suicide. The custody team intervened and he is now on a 24 hour watch. 'On two separate occasions he told custody sergeants, when he is released he will kill himself, he has nothing to live for. How realistic that is, we don't know but it was put before us that having already tried to harm himself while in prison, he should be remanded in custody for own safety.' But Julian Hayes, defending, played down the suicide attempt, which he blamed on Trickett's medical condition. He said: 'He suffers from hypogonadism, a hormone deficiency that requires testosterone, which he takes every other day. 'He wasn't getting that in custody and as result his mood crashed significantly and he did endeavour to self-harm. It was more cry for help than a genuine attempt. 'He has been given some gel. It is not entirely satisfactory but has stabilised him. Remanding him in custody for his own welfare or for his on-going medication is somewhat stretching it.' Mr Hayes told the court it was 'in the interests of his own welfare' to release Trickett on bail and suggested he could report daily to a police station. He added: 'Candidly his mood was low but that was down to the fact he wasn't on his medication.' A Thames Valley Police spokesman said his body had been found seven days later: 'At around 5.15pm on Sunday (19/5) officers attended Grenfell Park, Maidenhead, following a report from a member of the public Mr Trickett was found dead on Sunday at around 5.15pm by police in Grenfell Park (file photo), Maidenhead, following a report from a member of the public A Thames Valley Police spokesman said his body had been found seven days later: 'At around 5.15pm on Sunday (19/5) officers attended Grenfell Park, Maidenhead, following a report from a member of the public. 'Officers attended the scene and found a man. Emergency treatment was commenced but sadly the man was pronounced dead at the scene. 'An investigation is ongoing into the death, which is currently being treated as unexplained.' The force has made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), as is routine where there has been a death following police contact. The IOPC have assessed that the matter should be investigated by Thames Valley Police's Professional Standards Department. For confidential support, call Samaritans on 116 123, visit samaritans.org or visit https://www.thecalmzone.net/get-support Bleak footage has revealed Russian troops carrying out drills to use tactical nuclear weapons near Ukraine's border in response to what the nation claimed were Western 'threats.' The video, shared by Russia's defence ministry, showed a convoy of military vehicles carrying the tactical missiles to the Southern Military District, which borders and includes parts of Ukraine that Moscow claims to have annexed. The Iskander and Kinzhal missiles were seen being loaded into launchers in preparation for a potential military move by Russia. The drills are designed to test 'the readiness of personnel and equipment of non-strategic nuclear weapons combat units to respond and to unconditionally ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state,' the defence ministry said in a statement. It added they were a 'response to provocative statements and threats by certain Western officials.' The Iskander and Kinzhal missiles were seen being loaded into launchers in preparation for a potential military move by Russi The video, shared by Russia's defence ministry, showed a convoy of military vehicles carrying the tactical missiles to the Southern Military District, which borders and includes parts of Ukraine Vladimir Putin 's defence ministry said this was the 'first stage' of the drills Vladimir Putin's defence ministry said this was the 'first stage' of the drills, which involved practicing the loading of launch vehicles, driving to designated launch sites and loading planes with hypersonic Kinzhal missiles. It did not indicate whether any test firings had taken place. Russian officials pointed to comments by French President Emmanuel Macron about NATO countries needing to not rule out deploying troops to Ukraine and British Foreign Minister David Cameron saying Kyiv had the right to fire Western missiles at Russian territory. Ukraine itself said today that its allies could shoot down Russian missiles form their own territories. Ukraine's foreign minister Dymtro Kuleba said during a press conference in Kyiv with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock: 'There is no legal, security or moral argument that stands in the way of our partners shooting down Russian missiles over the territory of Ukraine from their territory. 'If you don't want to do it, then just provide us with all the means necessary for this. We will deploy them on the territory of Ukraine and intercept these missiles ourselves,' he added. Ukraine itself said today that its allies could shoot down Russian missiles form their own territories Russia added the drills were a 'response to provocative statements and threats by certain Western officials' Ukrainian officials have for months pleaded with the country's Western partners to supply it with further sophisticated air defence systems Ukrainian officials have for months pleaded with the country's Western partners to supply it with further sophisticated air defence systems, especially US-made Patriots, so Kyiv's forces can fend off Russian air assaults that have pummelled the country during the war. Civilian areas as well as the power grid and military targets have repeatedly been hit. While the bombing goes on, Ukraine's depleted troops are trying to hold off a fierce Russian offensive along the eastern border in one of the most critical phases of the war, which began on February 24 2022. Germany recently pledged a third US-made Patriot battery for Ukraine, but Kyiv officials say they are still facing an alarming shortfall of air defences against the Russian onslaught. The Kremlin's forces have used their advantage in the skies to debilitate Ukraine's power grid, hoping to sap Ukrainian morale and disrupt its defence industry. Heart-stopping video footage showed a badly-injured driver being rescued by a helicopter after his truck plunged 200 feet off a California cliff. The drama occurred around 8 a.m. on Sunday when the wrecked car's Ford Automatic Crash Notification System bleeped cops to tell them it had crashed, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff's office. It is unclear what caused the crash, but GPS coordinates showed it happened around the Jewell Gulch/Myers Grade area on the famously scenic coastal Highway 1, north of Jenner. A California State Parks ranger located the destroyed vehicle approximately 200 feet down from the roadway. A large tree had stopped it from rolling further down the cliff. Video shows the rescuers descending from sheriff's office helicopter 'Henry-1' into the rugged terrain assessing the damage and looking for any victims. Looking out at the vast terrain near the ocean, one rescuer was able locate the victim while hanging from the longline rescue rope The Henry-1 Tactical Flight Officer and a Paramedic from the Coast Life Support District used a 100-foot longline rescue to reach the shattered car. Its horn could be heard honking repeatedly and a desert boot was visible but there was no sign of its driver. Rescuers spent the next 45 minutes searching the area surrounding the car without success, before turning their attention to a nearby ravine. Approximately 10 minutes after they broadened their search, the crew spotted a disturbed patch of dirt approximately 300 feet down from the vehicle. Looking out at the vast terrain near the ocean, one rescuer was able locate the victim while hanging from the longline rescue rope. 'See, I'll point to it. There's like a, you can see where something slid down the ridge,' the rescuer said. 'I got him, he's down there in the base of those trees,' he said pointing at the patch of dirt from the helicopter. The incident occurred around 8 a.m. on Sunday when the victims car plunged 200 feet down a California cliff The rescuers then made their way to land where they discovered the bloodied driver laying in a patch of brush at the bottom of a tree The rescuers then made their way to land where they discovered the bloodied driver laying in a patch of brush at the bottom of a tree. 'Hey we got you man,' the rescuer said as he landed. The critically injured victim, who has not been identified, was placed into a rescue device and flown to the nearby Sonoma County Fire District helicopter where he was transported to a local trauma hospital. Thanks to the timely rescue operation, the driver is expected to survive. Michelle Lesko-Freese, a 911 operator, commented on the sheriff's office post: 'Thank you Henry1!!!! That was the LONGEST time on the open phone line with the driver, hearing you all find the vehicle made me cry! Happiest sound ever!' An investigation into what caused the smash is continuing, with rescuers hailed as heroes over the daring operation. A former Massachusetts police officer has pleaded guilty to assaulting a man during an arrest, nearly two years after resigning from his post. Justin Chappell, 43, formerly of Weymouth Police Department, responded to a home in July 2022 for reports of an intoxicated man causing a disturbance. Bodycam footage released last year shows Chappell approaching the man, identified as Donald McAdam, and ordering him to remove his hands from pockets. When McAdam refuses, Chappell whacks him several times in the knees with a baton. Other officers arrive and handcuff the man. McAdam resists their efforts to place him in a cruiser and hurls racial slurs before Chappell begins punching him repeatedly. In a corresponding police report, Chappell alleged that he was 'physically assaulted' and 'spit on' before he 'applied four to five distraction techniques with a closed fist' to the top of McAdam's head. Justin Chappell, 43, has pleaded guilty to assaulting a man during a July 2022 arrest. The former Weymouth police officer resigned before his termination hearing Bodycam footage released last year shows Chappell repeatedly punching in the head a man identified as Donald McAdam after the man resists arrest 'My intent was to apply enough intensity of those techniques in order to gain compliance,' Chappell wrote in the report. The former officer had also been accused of using excessive force during a February 2022 arrest, for which he received one day's suspension. Chappell 'delivered two strikes' to the suspect's head 'with a closed fist,' according to a police report. The former cop resigned on July 11, just over a week after the incident and before he was set to appear at a termination hearing. 'My experiences, careers, and deployments prior to being a police officer have proven difficult to balance in law enforcement at this time,' Chappell wrote in his resignation notice. Weymouth Police Chief Richard Fuller officially filed for Chappell's decertification that October, attempting to bar him from becoming an officer anywhere else in the state. In a news release last month, the U.S. District Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts accused Chappell of punching McAdams 'approximately 13 times with a closed fist without legal justification.' 'The punches caused obvious pain and visible injuries to the mans head,' the office wrote. McAdams appeared battered in his mugshot, with swelling above his right eyebrow and trail of blood across the bridge of his nose. In a corresponding police report, Chappell alleged that McAdam 'physically assaulted' and 'spit on' him The Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission voted to revoke Chappell's certification as a police officer in January In May of last year, the Weymouth Police Department submitted a report to the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, along with a recommendation that Chappell be decertified. The commission voted in January to revoke his certification as a police officer. Three months later, the 43-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of deprivation of rights under color of law in federal court. The charge carries a sentence of up to 10 years behind bars, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. 'He certainly regrets losing his composure,' Chappell's attorney, Ken Anderson, said outside court. 'Theres no dispute what he did that on that day and he came to accept responsibility.' A sentencing has been scheduled for July 16. Before becoming an officer, Chappell served in the U.S. Army. He toured Afghanistan in 2006, 2007 and 2009, according to a now-deleted post on the Weymouth Police Department's Facebook page. Chappell also served as a security contractor in Iraq before attending the police academy. Home insurance companies can fly drones over customers' homes unannounced to spot any defects and refuse to renew policies. Across the country homeowners have reported having policies being suddenly dropped after insurers captured aerial images with drones and noticed problems. Insurance expert Karl Susman told CBS8 that the tactic is 'nothing new' but can feel invasive, 'awkward and a little weird' if you do 'not know when it's happening'. Homeowners have claimed unannounced drones have captured debris, drained pools or moss growing on roofs, all of which have led to policies being dropped. Malden resident John DEntremont told Boston 25 News he was 'blindsided' by his insurer suddenly demanding he make expensive repairs and then telling him his policy was canceled. Malden resident John DEntremont told Boston 25 News he was 'blindsided' by his insurer suddenly demanding he make expensive repairs DEntremont has owned his Malden home for more than 40 years and has held the same insurance for the whole time without an issue. Then last August, he said he received a letter from his insurer detailing expensive repairs he had to make. He said they told him 'get the moss off the roof, trim the tree back that had branches hanging over the house, and get some, in their case, they said get some shingles.' He got the tree work carried out and started getting estimates for the rest of the work, which soon added up. But then in November he said: 'I get a notification that they have decided to cancel my homeowners policy.' His daughter suspects that the company had used a drone to take photos of his home without telling him, allowing them to find 'defects' they never had before. Emily Rogan with the consumer advocacy organization United Policyholders told Boston 25 News that the tactic is growing more common. She said: 'There were a lot of big changes during COVID where there were more satellite inspections, different ways. 'And you know, a lot of industries really leaned into the technology. 'And what were seeing now is that its becoming more commonplace, whether a drone image or from a satellite. 'They have more access to data about you as a policyholder and about your property. And theyre using that to choose their customers.' He has owned his Malden home for more than 40 years and has held the same insurance for the whole time without an issue Then last August, he said he received a letter from his insurer detailing expensive repairs he had to make. Then they told him his policy would not be renewed Courtesy of NewsNation, Morning In America & correspondent Stephanie Haines. Rogan said: 'Its more important than ever for homeowners to stay on top of home maintenance because you never know when that insurance company is going to take that photo.' Last month The Wall Street Journal reported a 'dramatic' increase in 'reports from consumers whove been dropped by their insurers on the basis of an aerial image'. Insurance companies have drones, manned planes, and high-altitude balloons at their disposal for aerial surveillance, according to The Journal. The Geospatial Insurance Consortium which carries out aerial surveillance said it has photographed 99 percent of homes in the US. But the tech is imperfect, according to The Journal, who said companies have dropped customers over images that are outdated or misrepresented. Investigators have revealed they found the dead bodies of two Kansas women in a freezer following a two-day excavation of a burial site. Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, were traveling together to pick up Butler's children, ages six and eight, on March 30, when they disappeared about three miles from their destination. Their bodies were recovered on April 14 after 'pools of blood' were found next to their empty car. Butler was going through a nasty divorce and custody battle, and Kelley, a pastor's wife, was one of her supervisors for her visitations with the kids. Tifany Adams, 54, her boyfriend Tad Cullum, 43, Cole and Cora Twombly, 50 and 44, and Paul Grice, 31, have been charged with murder over the deaths and have pleaded not guilty. They are allegedly members of a gang called 'God's Misfits,' which is an anti-governmental religious sect. Investigators have revealed they found the dead bodies of Kansas women Veronica Butler, 27, (left) and Jilian Kelley, 39, (right) in a freezer following a two-day excavation of a burial site New court documents have revealed extra details about the investigation into Butler and Kelley's deaths, according to KFOR. Their bodies were discovered in a chest freezer after an excavation of a burial site, which lasted two days, according to search warrants filed on May 15. But it did not provide any detail on how the two women were killed. Items including jeans, sweatshirts, T-shirts, a black jacket, cloth gloves, ball caps, duct tape and a sheathed black knife were found at the site and possibly had blood on them. Grice allegedly asked a witness who came forward how long DNA would last on clothes in the dirt in a 15-foot-deep hole. The court documents said that he also asked if the witness knew 'how to get a guy and his family' to Mexico. Cole and Cora Twombly allegedly had cellphones in a truck, which they were driving when they were arrested. It has information linking them to the site where the women were abducted from and the burial site, according to the filings. Investigators are beginning to reveal what they've discovered about the killings and wrote in affidavits filed in court that this wasn't even the first time Adams' group had tried to kill Butler. Adams' son, Wrangler Rickman, technically had custody of his and Butler's two children, but he was confirmed to be in an Oklahoma rehab facility, leaving the kids largely under Adams' supervision. Butler had wanted more than the weekly mandated visits with her kids under supervisors such as Kelley, but Adams - who was also known to have kept Rickman away from the children - had no desire to give in. Adams and Cullum had plotted to kill Butler previously in February, according to a witness. They were traveling together to pick up Butler's children, ages six and eight, on March 30, when they disappeared about three miles from their destination Adams (bottom left), her boyfriend Tad Cullum (top left) and fellow gang members Cora (top right) and Cole (bottom right) Twombly and accused of murdering the two women They created that plan to make it look like an accident, 'because anvils regularly fall off of work vehicles,' records said. The couple had gone as far as traveling to Butler's Hugoton, Kansas, home to pull off the plan but Butler never left her house, CNN reported. It appears Adams had a more detailed plan to eliminate the mother of her grandchildren the second time around. Search records recovered for Adams showed she had looked up the level of pain caused by a taser, various gun shops and how to buy prepaid cell phones. Adams, later in February, went to a Walmart and bought three prepaid, unregistered phones. In March, Butler filed a motion to grant her more visitation time with her children. Days later, Adams purchased five stun guns from a nearby gun shop. On Easter weekend, Butler was set to take the kids to a birthday party with family after picking them up from Adams. Adams claims Butler told her she could not make the kids visit during a phone call the morning of March 30, but records show Butler was already on her way to picking up Kelley. Kelley, it should be noted, is not the regular supervisor of Butler's visits. A woman named Cheryl Brune usually went with Butler, but Butler believed she was unavailable that day. Burne, however, told police that she had been available but Adams had called her and told her to take a couple of weeks off. Adams and Cullum met around 9 am with Adams, Cora and Cole Twombly, according to Cora's 16-year-old daughter, who said they were on a 'mission.' The suspects accused of killing two Kansas mothers belonged to a creepy anti-governmental religious gang known as 'God's Misfits,' which the teenager confirmed to police. The teen later told police the organization met weekly at either the Twomblys' home or that of another member. The girl told officers the group had discussed the safety of Adams' children, saying that it was at risk if they were with Butler. Butler was going through a nasty divorce and custody battle and Kelley, a pastor's wife, was one of her supervisors for her visitations with the kids Kelley (pictured with her pastor husband Heath Kelley) is not the regular supervisor of Butler's visits. The regular supervisor said Adams called her and told her to take a couple of weeks off Butler had wanted more than the weekly mandated visits with her kids but Adams (pictured with Butlers kids)- who was also known to have kept Rickman away from the children - had no desire to give in Cora and Cole Twombly (pictured) allegedly ordered their daughter to clean the inside of their Chevrolet truck after the killings The group had all been provided with burner phones so that they wouldn't be using personal devices. Adams had left the grandchildren at the home of another 'God's Misfits' couple that hosted meetings the night before the killings. Cullum was working the night before on a pasture that he rented to let cattle graze and asked the owner if he could do some heavier work on the land. The landowner told police he was going to use a skid steer and a bulldozer to remove a tree and bury concrete. When the Twomblys' daughter woke up on Saturday morning, the day Kelley and Butler went missing, her mother and Cole were gone. When they arrived home a couple of hours later, they ordered the girl to clean the inside of their Chevrolet truck. She asked them what had happened and they shockingly admitted to the killings. They responded the mission had not gone as they planned but they no longer had to worry about Veronica Butler, the girl told police in an April 3 interview. The two adults said they'd blocked the road to stop Butler and Kelley and lured them to where the other members were waiting for them. Cora was asked if they had put the bodies in a well. She responded, 'Something like that.' The daughter said she asked why Kelley had to die, and Cora said that her supporting Butler made her guilty by association. Adams picked up her two grandchildren around the same time the Twomblys got back home on March 30, according to police. Melissa and Joey Padilla, two relatives of Butler, went out and searched for her after she didn't arrive with the kids at the party. Around noon, they found the abandoned vehicle along with pools of blood and contacted police, who began their investigation. That sparked a missing person's report and a request from the public's help for information. Days later, police got search warrants for Adams phone, which unveiled the searches. On April 13, the four suspects were arrested despite authorities not yet finding the bodies. The next day, police found the bodies as the lack of traffic cameras extended the investigation. Police had tracked the burner phones to the property Cullum had worked on that night, about eight and a half miles from where Butler's car had been found. Authorities said all three phones were discovered near Butler's car around the time she and Kelley disappeared. Authorities discovered a hole that was dug, filled back in and covered with hay on the pasture. Inside the hole, they found two sets of remains confirmed to be Butler and Kelley. Adams and Cullum had plotted to kill Butler previously in February, according to a witness Bulter and Kelley's bodies were recovered after 'pools of blood' were found next to their empty car Most tragically, it was revealed by an attorney for Butler that she was likely to be finally granted unsupervised visitation with her children. The suspects were arraigned at an Oklahoma court where they were denied bail. Butler's relatives had to be restrained from the accused during their appearance, with family members screaming that Adams was a 'f****ing b****' while the others were 'sorry pieces of sh*t'. The victims' loved ones took up three rows of the packed courthouse and could be heard sobbing throughout. After the hearing, Butler's aunt told reporters that her niece did not deserve to die. 'There's just too many emotions, so much anger,' she told NewsNation. 'I don't understand how somebody can hate somebody so much that you want to kill them. 'My niece did not deserve that and neither did the young lady with her. She was just there to help her.' A former US housing secretary has warned squatters will 'destroy America from within' by plunging the country into 'chaos and anarchy'. Ben Carson said failing to protect law-abiding citizens from squatters will only encourage other forms of criminality. 'We've kind of lost our minds,' he told Fox. 'Squatter's rights? You've got to be kidding me. Squatters don't have any rights. 'They have no right to be in your house. What are they going to have next? Trespasser's rights? It makes no sense whatsoever.' His comments come after squatting was thrust into the spotlight by the case of Susana and Joseph Landa, whose new $2 million Long Island home fell prey to a squatter. Former US housing secretary Ben Carson, pictured with Donald Trump in 2017, warned that squatters will 'destroy American from within' Brett Flores has been holed up in the Douglastown property since October. He moved in as a caretaker for the previous homeowner and has not left since. He claims that he was bequeathed the home by the prior owner when he died. The couple are now embroiled in a lengthy court process with the former male model, 32, who they claim has run up huge maintenance bills for which they are liable. Carson was the 17th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2017 to 2021. He warned situations like the Landas' could become more common unless tough action is taken. 'We have to protect the law abiding citizens. If you're not going to protect the law-abiding citizens, why should they be law-abiding citizens? You're encouraging mass chaos and anarchy,' he said. He stressed that without legislation, more homeowners could fall prey to squatters in situations similar to the invasion of Susana and Joseph Landa's $2 million Long Island home (pictured) Brett Flores has been holed up in the Douglastown property since October and is now embroiled in a lengthy court battle over the home The Landas bought the home in October but have not been able to move in, as Flores claims the mansion's former owner, Fernandez, left the property to him when he died 'And it seems to me like somebody might be actually trying to do that, because the United States is very strong militarily, but we can certainly be destroyed from within.' The situation was able to escalate to this point due to New York's squatters' rights laws. Under the rules a person living on a property for more than 30 days could be deemed a tenant, making a unilateral eviction difficult. However, last month new legislation was passed which seeks to redefine tenants, to empower police to remove them in cases of squatting. The issue is not unique to New York either. Last year, the owners of an upmarket Airbnb in Brentwood accused Elizabeth Hirschorn of squatting. Hirschhorn, 55, sublet a room at a $2.6M home in Oakland in September 2019 but refused to move out after the original tenant left due to her behavior. She was eventually booted in November of 2023 after the owners were forced to call in the police and locksmiths to get her out. Last year, the owners of an upmarket $2.6 million Airbnb in Brentwood accused a tenant of squatting Elizabeth Hirschhorn, pictured posing with a fellow grad at her Harvard alumni reunion in 2015, was eventually booted in November 2023 following intervention by the police and locksmiths While trespassing is illegal in every state, laws concerning squatters' rights vary. Many places depend on civil courts to handle property disputes, enabling squatters to game the system. This has culminated in a squatting crisis in cities across the country. According to the National Rental Home Council, Atlanta has been hit the hardest, with 1,200 homes currently illegally occupied. In October, an Atlanta home was taken over by squatters who ran an illegal strip club inside on weekends and kept horses on the property. The majority of Scots now describe themselves as having no religious faith amid a dramatic collapse in church congregations. It means that, for the first time, people with no faith outnumber those who follow a religion. According to the 2022 Census, nearly three million people 51.1 per cent of Scotlands population say they have no religious beliefs. For those aged under 50, the figure rose to 60 per cent. The sharpest drop was at the Church of Scotland, which has lost more than a million worshippers and half of its membership since 2001. Two women at their lonely devotions amid empty pews The decline has accelerated since the previous Census as 610,100 fewer people said they belonged to the Kirk in 2022 than 11 years earlier. Just one in five people now describe their religion as being the Church of Scotland, compared to 42.4 per cent in 2001 and 32.4 per cent in 2011. Yesterday the Kirk described the figures, which were published by National Records of Scotland (NRS), as sobering. Rev David Cameron, Convener of the Assembly Trustees, said: The Census figures reflect what the Church has identified as an area of considerable concern, notably a decline in membership numbers. He added: But our faith and our relevancy cannot be expressed simply as a set of numbers in a table. Our reforms of recent years have sought to address what the Church is today and how we can serve people in new ways, in different places and times. The report found men were more likely than women to have no religion at 53.8 per cent compared to 48.6 per cent. All age groups saw an increase in the number of people without faith, and it more than doubled in the over-65s. No religion was also the most common response in every council area except Na h-Eileanan Siar, where 35 per cent of people were Church of Scotland, and Inverclyde, where a third were Roman Catholic. Of those who had a religion, the Church of Scotland remained the largest group with 1,107,796 people followed by Roman Catholics with 723,322, or 13.3 per cent, a drop of 117,700 since 2011. Around 5 per cent described themselves as other Christian. All categories of Christianity had declined since the previous Census but the number of Muslims rose by 43,100 to 119,872. Jews made up the smallest religious group with just 5,847 people or 0.1 per cent of the population. National Secular Society chief executive Stephen Evans called the change in Scotlands religious climate a watershed moment. He said: This underscores the need for a secular approach to public policy, particularly in the area of education where Christian religious observance is still compulsory, churches have a privileged role and where schools are still divided along Catholic and Protestant lines. Fraser Sutherland, chief executive of the Humanist Society Scotland, said: More people feel confident and open about expressing an atheist, secular, or agnostic worldview than before. Director of Census Statistics Jon Wroth-Smith said: These statistics give a fascinating insight into religion, ethnicity, national identity and language use across Scotland and how they have changed over the years. Prince Harry turned down an invitation by the King to stay at a royal residence when he visited the UK earlier this month because he had 'security concerns', it has been claimed. He is said to have declined his father's offer because it did not come with any taxpayer-funded personal security provision, which would leave him staying in a 'visible location with public entrance and exit points and no police protection'. Instead he chose to stay at a hotel - presumably with members of the public - because it meant he 'could come and go unseen', claimed The Telegraph. The newspaper further maintained that the Duke of Sussex 'remains devastated' about the withdrawal of his automatic right to police protection which is still battling the Home Office over through the British courts. He now has to give the Metropolitan Police 28 days' notice before coming to the UK if he wants to apply for security provision, with each request assessed on an individual basis by Ravec, the committee which oversees the protection of royalty and public figures. Prince Harry reportedly rejected the chance to stay at a royal residence and potentially meet with his father over security concerns. Pictured: Charles and Harry at the Invictus Games opening in London in 2014 On his arrival in the UK earlier this month Harry had suggested he wouldn't meet Charles as his father was 'too busy'. Pictured: King Charles visits the RHS Chelsea Flower Show on May 20 The Duke of Sussex is reported to still be devastated by the withdrawal of his taxpayer-funded security. Pictured: Harry leaves the 10th Anniversary Invictus Games service of thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral in London on May 8 While it has not been revealed where the King offered Harry a room, St James' Palace is a strong possibility. Princess Beatrice has a permanent apartment there, while Princess Anne has a suite of rooms - and a parking place - she uses when staying in London. Other members of the Royal Family use it on an ad hoc basis. Moreover it is situated directly adjacent to Clarence House where the King stays when in London. It would have allowed father and son a place to meet in relative privacy and is guarded round-the-clock by a 'ring of steel'. In fact all royal residences - whichever one Harry was offered - feature armed guards at entry and exit points, unlike any London hotel, and boast the most sophisticated security systems in the country to protect working members of the family. Buckingham Palace has consistently declined to comment on anything to do with Harry and his father. But a spokesman for the prince chose to issue a statement when he came to London at the beginning of May for a service to mark the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games. It strongly suggested that while Harry was keen to meet his father, the King was effectively 'too busy' to see him. However it has since become clear that while His Majesty did indeed have a packed programme of engagements that week, the King had made conciliatory overtures that would have enabled him to see his son. In all Harry spent three nights in the capital without seeing any family members before meeting his wife, Meghan, at Heathrow airport and flying onto Nigeria for a quasi-royal tour. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attend a polo fundraiser event in Lagos, Nigeria, on May 12 Pictured: King Charles and Queen Camilla visit the RHS Chelsea Flower Show on May 20 In 2020 Harry applied for a judicial review over the decision to strip himself and his family of publicly-funded police protection when they chose to quit royal duties and leave the UK. Instead a 'bespoke' arrangement was created that involved assessing each visit on its merits. The prince has since accused the Home Office of subjecting him to 'unlawful and unfair treatment' and claims he has been singled out and treated 'less favourably' than other family members as 'punishment'. He has offered to pay for his own security but was firmly told the Metropolitan Police couldn't be treated as a service for 'hire'. In February he conclusively lost his legal challenge and was left with an estimated 1 million bill. However he has vowed to fight on and says he does not feel safe bringing his wife and children to the UK under the current arrangements. According to the Telegraph, the prince has only been permitted police protection when taking part in royal events, such as the late Queen's funeral, or when he was transported to meet the King from Heathrow in February after his cancer diagnosis. The newspaper - which has been given a wealth of detail about Harry's security arrangements - claims that when travelling to and from his hotel in February, the prince only had his own, private bodyguards. Buckingham Palace declined to comment, while a request for comment was put to the Sussexes UK spokesman. Senator Bob Menendez's messy home was littered with gold bars and wads of cash stuffed in Timberland boots and in his bed, new pictures reveal. The images of $100, $50 and $20 dollar bills spewed all over the New Jersey Democrat's unkempt house were shown to the jury during his ongoing criminal trial in Manhattan. The photographs were taken during the FBI's raid of the Menendez residence in June 2022. He and his wife Nadine are both charged in a bribery scheme featuring gold bars, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash payments and a luxury Mercedes-Benz convertible. He is accused of using his influence as the powerful then-chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee to benefit a handful of businessmen and the government of Egypt. Menendez, Nadine and two New Jersey businessmen - Wael Hana and Fred Daibes - have pleaded not guilty. The pictures of $100, $50 and $20 wads of cash all over the New Jersey Democrat's home were shown to the jury during his ongoing criminal trial in Manhattan Last week, Menendez's legal team threw Nadine under the bus, saying she was storing gold bars in the couple's home without the lawmaker's knowledge. His defense strategy was revealed despite Nadine announcing that she has breast cancer. The Democrat's attorney Avi Weitzman claimed during opening statements that the 'gold bars were found in a locked closet' and that it wasn't the lawmaker's but 'it is Nadines closet.' He then pulled out a photo of the closet and highlighted how it was filled with Nadine's clothes. 'The senator did not know the gold bars were there,' Weitzman told the jury. Federal prosecutors, however, claim Menendez was directly involved in the bribery scheme. 'This case is about a public official who put greed first. Who put his power up for sale,' US Attorney Lara Pomerantz said Wednesday. 'This was not politics as usual. This was politics for profit.' 'He was powerful. He was also corrupt. And what was his price? Gold bars,' Pomerantz said. Money was even stuffed into a Timberland boot found in his house Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) arrives at federal court on May 21 Senator Bob Menendez's home was littered with gold bars and wads of cash Wads of cash were found all over the Menendez home Images were taken by the FBI during their June 2022 raid of the Menendez house Documents with cash stuffed between them were discovered 'The scheme filled his pockets, it filled his wifes pockets, and it fed their greed.' 'Menendez abused his positions to feed his own greed and to keep his wife happy,' the federal prosecutor stated. Pomerantz even claimed that Menendez deployed his wife to handle communications in the bribery scheme. 'He used Nadine as his go-between to deliver messages to and from the people paying bribes.' Judge Sidney H. Stein, who is presiding over the case, told potential jurors that renowned lawmakers, former white house officials and even one man considered to be in the running for a Trump vice presidential slot could all be called in to testify in the high-profile corruption case. More cash in $20 bill increments were spewed all over the home More pictures taken of what appears to be a safe Jury were shown the exhibits of all the cash found around the Menendez residence The list of potential witnesses given out by Stein included: Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Tim Scott, R-S.C., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Chris Coons, D-Del., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Kristen Sinema, I-Ariz., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. It also includes former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Treasury Sec. Steve Mnuchin, former senior advisor to President Obama David Axelrod and Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y. The list of potential witnesses notably mentions Scott, who has been rumored to be a top pick for Donald Trump's 2024 running mate. It also lists two of the former president's closest advisors: Mnuchin and Pompeo. For the first time in Scotlands history, the number of people who positively identify as having a religion are in the minority. To some, this is a landmark moment in the secularisation of Scottish society. But the ill-disguised glee from the countrys secularists and humanists may be a little premature. Curiously, these groups have generally defined and identified themselves as opponents of religion rather than believers in atheism. In fact, from the point of view of atheism a belief system in its own right things dont look too hopeful. The fact that fewer people identify as a member of a church or religious group hasnt been matched by a surge in those identifying as atheists. Perhaps the key word here is identify. Theres no doubt that the number of Scots who feel obliged or bound to express adherence to a faith has fallen; this trend is at work elsewhere too. In recent general elections, about two-thirds of Scots have turned out to vote. At local elections the figure is much lower, yet no one suggests this means that the significant numbers who stay at home on polling day reject democracy or the principle of representative government. They just cant be bothered to vote. The number of Scots who have a religion may be in the minority, but the glee from secularists and humanists may be premature, says Peter Kearney Similarly, the fact that just over half of Scots do not identify with a church or religion doesnt mean they have embraced secular humanism any more than the fact that people who are not members of a political party are not interested in or reject politics. The lazy labelling of an earlier age that saw people lump themselves into a group of believers even when they had little interest in upholding their creeds has gone and, to be frank, thats probably a good thing. Today, if someone identifies with a religious group, that identification is much more likely to be meaningful then superficial. Sadly, the National Secular Society, which allegedly advocates for equal treatment regardless of religion or belief, wasted no time in calling for a secular approach to public policy, particularly in education. This is of course a coded reference to Roman Catholic schools, which our relentlessly intolerant secular friends loathe. In 2014, a Scottish Secular Society press release described denominational schools as educational apartheid hardly an example of tolerant engagement. The words of the founder of the Scottish Secular Society unwittingly revealed the groupings real agenda when he said: Personally, as a secularist, I hate religion. Meanwhile, the Humanist Society Scotland said the country had made significant progress towards becoming a more tolerant society in terms of its attitudes in areas such as sexuality, abortion and assisted dying. Again, the language is coded, but the meaning is clear; compulsory conformity on issues as divergent as abortion and assisted suicide is to be prized above a plurality of beliefs and co-existence. Ironically, the rigorously enforced orthodoxies of Scottish secularism seem far more dogmatic than any religious creed Ive ever encountered. In reality, home-grown secularists seem far more intent on imposing atheism than respecting theism. This rejectionist approach, where secularists spend all their time denouncing religion rather than selling their own belief systems, hasnt done them many favours. Hardly anyone in modern Scotland chooses to join our secular societies. Ultimately, its worth remembering that national surveys, like the Census, dont tend to measure spirituality. If they did, it is likely the vast majority of the population would comfortably describe themselves as spiritual beings, who do not share the secularists or humanists vision of nihilistic meaninglessness. The challenge for our churches is to stand firm in their beliefs while reaching out to those who feel a sense of spirituality but are unsure how to express it. Creative Regal Women of Knowledge program only open to women of color Legal Insurrection Foundation took aim at MIT program that mentors students A conservative group claims a student program for female students of color at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is discrimination. The Legal Insurrection Foundation made a complaint to the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights claiming it violated the civil rights of other students. Creative Regal Women of Knowledge provides professional development and mentoring to sophomore students and older. MIT's website explains the program is 'designed for undergraduate women of color which includes Black, Indigenous, Hispanic/Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islanders, and other minoritized ethnicities'. Massachusetts Institute of Technology vice president for equity and inclusion Karl Reid Legal Insurrection Foundation president William Jacobson wrote that the program 'engages in invidious discrimination on the basis of race, color and sex'. 'Only undergraduate 'women of color' can participate in the program. Applicants who fall outside of those race- and sex-based categories are ineligible for it,' he wrote. He argued 'any reasonable person would understand that all students are not welcome to participate', which was against OCR guidance. Legal Insurrection Foundation president William Jacobson wrote that the program 'engages in invidious discrimination on the basis of race, color and sex' The complaint outlined the benefits of the program, including assistances with networking, mentoring, and ''access to social outings, retreats, dinners, and fun events'. Students in the program could also receive up to $400 for graduate school applications, travel, and professional attire, among other uses. The application form asked for the student's race, gender identity, and if they were transgender as trans and non-binary women were eligible. The complaint asked the OCR to 'impose remedial relief as the law permits for the benefit of those who have been illegally excluded' from the program. 'Regardless of the purpose of the discrimination, it is wrong and unlawful,' Jacobson wrote. 'It does society no good to inject more racism and sexism into the educational system through discriminatory university programs. A conservative group claims a student program for female students of color at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (pictured) is discrimination 'It is sad and disheartening to see that institutions like MIT that receive federal funding are re-segregating the student body through exclusionary programs.' Jacobson emailed the complaint as part of the foundation's Equal Protection Project, which claims it 'opposes racial discrimination in any form'. However, the project's listed cases are all against university programs or scholarships aimed at minorities or female students. Jacobson is a clinical professor of law and director of the Securities Law Clinic at Cornell Law School, and in the past complained students were trying to get him fired for criticizing Black Lives Matter. A Sheriff who behaved inappropriately towards two women is to be removed from office. First Minister John Swinney announced the move after an independent tribunal report last month found Sheriff Jack Brown unfit for the role. The tribunal found that the judge had kissed a woman referred to as C on the lips in 2001 or 2002. Furthermore, on an occasion in or around 2004, he had squeezed her buttocks with both incidents unwelcome and unexpected. It also found that, in 2018, he made an inappropriate remark to a woman referred to as D, touched her on the cheek and hugged her. In its report, the tribunal said its findings raise manifest and serious concerns as to the character and integrity of Sheriff John Brown, commonly known as Jack. A tribunal found Sheriff Jack Brown behaved inappropriately towards two women Delivering its conclusions, the tribunal said: The public rightly expect that the considerable powers vested in a judge will be exercised by people with high personal standards. Given the nature and gravity of its findings, it could not say the sheriff would have the confidence of those appearing before him. The report added: In our view, his continuance in office would be likely to impact on public trust in the due administration of justice in our courts and bring it into disrepute. An earlier tribunal, in March 2021, found that 64-year-old Sheriff Brown, who has been suspended since the allegations came to light in 2018, acted inappropriately but was not unfit to hold judicial office. That tribunals decision was quashed by the Court of Session in 2022 on the basis that it had proceeded in ignorance of the availability of evidence from other witnesses. A fresh tribunal was convened in September 2022 and published its findings earlier this year. Under the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, if a tribunal reports to the First Minister that a judicial office holder is unfit to hold office by reason of inability, neglect or misbehaviour, the First Minister may remove them from office. Mr Swinney yesterday laid an order before the Scottish parliament to remove Sheriff Brown, who sits in the Sheriffdom of Grampian, Highland and Islands, on June 7. The First Minister said: Given the nature and gravity of the tribunals findings, there are compelling reasons to remove Sheriff Brown. The tribunal has reported serious concerns as to his character and integrity, contrary to the standards of conduct and probity expected of anyone holding judicial office. A spokesman for the Judicial Office for Scotland said: It is clear the sheriffs conduct was completely unacceptable, especially for someone who has been appointed to uphold the law. This type of behaviour cannot and will not be tolerated. The sheriff has been suspended on his salary of 157,705 since December 2018 meaning he has been paid nearly 950,000 for staying at home. A woman who claims she was sexually harassed by Sheriff Brown tried to sue Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain for 120,000, claiming the Crown was vicariously liable, but the action was thrown out by the Court of Session. The attorney representing Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann's children has defended their apparent possession of a creepy book of crime scene photos from different killings. Police continue to search the family's home in Massapequa Park, Long Island, but are yet to reveal what exactly it is they are looking for. Heuermann was arrested in July and initially charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Lynn Costello 27 in 2010 and 2011. Investigators and state police swarmed the Massapequa Park home of alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann (pictured in court in February) with a new search warrant In February, he was also charged with the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25. The women he is said to have killed were among 11 victims whose bodies were found along the Long Island coastline between 2009 and 2011. Yesterday, police sources told Fox News the family was still keeping a copy of Death Scenes: A Homicide Detectives Scrapbook, on the family's kitchen table. It had been inventoried as part of the initial search of the home last July and returned to the family. The book is a compilation of photographs from a California homicide detective's career. Quite why the Heuermann's had it, or which one of them bought it, remains unknown. According to police sources, cops found this book on the kitchen table in the family home. The book is by a former LAPD homicide detective and contains gruesome photos from the crimes he investigated Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann is 'not capable' of the brutal murders he's been accused of, according to his estranged wife Asa Ellerup (pictured) Christopher (left) and Victoria (right) reportedly 'cry themselves to sleep' since their father's arrest as cops pull apart their Long Island home The first victim, 24-year-old Melissa Barthelemy, was discovered by Suffolk County Police on December 11, 2010. The body of Megan Waterman, 22, from Maine, was found two days later Heuermann is also charged with killing Amber Costello (left) and Maureen Brainard-Barnes (right) It is not clear at this time what prompted the search of the Long Island property or what officials were looking for, but multiple law enforcement agencies were present, including a command center In a statement to DailyMail.com, Vess Mitev, the lawyer representing Victoria Heuermann, 26 and Christopher Sheridan, 33, said neither he nor his clients had 'knowledge' of such a book. He then offered a potential defense of them. 'It's not against the law to have books!' he said. Investigators have long maintained that Heuermann, an architect who worked in Manhattan, committed the killings of the sex workers while his family were out of town. His estranged wife Asa continues to attend court hearings neither in defense of him or in support of the victims. Instead, she says she wants to hear all the evidence before forming an opinion. Heuermann is accused of targeting the women by meeting up with them via their ads. He is also accused of tormenting the victims' families after killing them. A six-month-old baby boy was rescued after he was shot by his father who broke into his mother's house in Arizona. On Friday around 3am, Todd Marchetti, broke into Allie Battiston's parent's home in Surprise, armed with a machete. Allie was staying at her mother and father's home after her and Todd, her ex-husband, split up. At the time, her parents were away on vacation. According to authorities, Todd knew that Allie's family was out of town when he decided to break into the home and hold his ex-wife and child hostage for more than eight hours. 'You close your eyes and all you can think of is, "God, I hope nothing happens to Jaxson or Allie,' Michael Norman, Allie's father told 12News. A baby boy named Jaxson is seen being saved by police officers in Surprise, Arizona after his father broke into his grandparents home, held him and his mother hostage and shot him Allie was staying at her mother and father's home after her and Todd, her ex-husband, split up. At the time, her parents were away on vacation. (pictured: Jaxson and Allie) After trying to escape multiple times, Allie got in contact with a nearby construction worker as she escaped through the window with minor injuries. Prior to police entering the house, Todd entered an hours-long standoff with them where, at some point, he shot his infant son in his 'lower extremities.' Harrowing bodycam footage showed the moment cops stormed into the home and saved the baby who was still inside. Multiple cops are seen surrounding the front of the home as gunshots rang out from inside. Once inside, officers quickly search for the baby as one officer grabs Jaxson and runs out of the home while others search the area. Officers then went into a room in the house as bright lights flash from inside the bedroom. It is unclear if they confronted the father before saving the child. Once they were rescued, the baby's father set the home on fire and was later found dead by cops who believe he suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Once they were rescued, Todd Marchetti set the home on fire and was later found dead by cops who believe he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound While the violent incident unfolded, Norman and his wife were away on vacation, when she noticed a clip of a news channel showing their home burning on TV During those grueling 12 hours inside the home, Todd shot a dog in the home, who was later euthanized. After he shot the pet, Allie tried to convince her ex-husband to take the injured dog to the vet, but Todd would only go if her and the baby came along with him. During the visit, Todd used a fake name and address and told the vet that the dog was a stray that had been hit by a car. Once the three of them returned home, Allie tried to escape again by asking Todd to let her find workers to help them fix the window he broke in through. After he agreed, she climbed out of the window and located a construction worker around 11.30am who called the police. Once police rescued Jaxson, the baby was airlifted to Phoenix Children's Hospital. On Monday, police shared that Jaxson is expected to recover and has undergone three surgeries since the traumatic incident. The baby's worried grandfather said: 'He's awake. He'll open his eyes and rub his head, and, you know, tell him we love him.' Norman said that his daughter was receiving hundreds of messages a day from Todd and said that Allie was a victim of domestic abuse Prior to police entering the house, Todd entered an hours-long standoff with police, where at some point, shot his infant son in his 'lower extremities' 'He's alive. He's doing good. We love him. We need him in our life, and so we're thankful.' While the violent incident unfolded, Norman and his wife were away on vacation, when she noticed a news channel showing their home burning on TV. 'To watch your house on TV burning to the ground. I don't even know how to explain that to people,' Norman said. Firefighters were unable to fight the flames while multiple gunshots rang out, leaving the house burned to the ground. Surprise Fire-Medical Department Chief Brenden Espie said that if the heroic mother hadn't tried to get out of the home, her and her son might have not made it. 'Unlike our members in the P.D. and fire, who trained for situations like this daily, Allie had to make a split decision that will impact her life and Jackson's life forever,' Espie said. 'I would like her to know, she should be very proud of her decision that she made. And I don't know that any of us know what we would do when we're faced with those types of situations.' Norman said that his daughter was receiving hundreds of messages a day from Todd and said that Allie was a victim of domestic abuse. 'I'm sure I don't have to explain the seriousness of domestic abuse. If your son or daughter is experiencing, or is the perpetrator of domestic violence, do the right thing and report it as soon as it happens. Lives depend on it,' the family said in a statement. On Monday, police shared that Jaxson is expected to recover and had undergone three surgeries since the traumatic incident. (pictured: Allie holding Jaxson in the hospital) Firefighters were unable to fight the flames while multiple gunshots rang out, leaving the house burned to the ground A GoFundMe page has been created to help raise money to support Allie and Jaxson's road to recovery. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than $138,00 was raised, and an update was given on the mother and son's progress. 'Allie has been Glued to Jaxson's side during this crucial time to support his every need,' the post said. 'In regards to Jaxson's recovery, he has since opened his eyes up, and has been removed from breathing assistance and was finally able to be held in his mothers arms for the first time yesterday.' Along with the positive update, a picture was shared of Allie holding Jaxson in her arms as they smiled at each other. Community members have also rallied together to collect essentials for the family that lost their home in the dramatic incident, including diapers, clothing, food and formula. President Joe Biden on Tuesday gave two little boys money for ice cream and advised young men to marry a family that has five daughters so 'one of them will always love you.' Biden, while talking about his legslative accomplishments at a stop in New Hampshire, struggled to pronouce the PACT Act, his legislation that helped fund money for veterans suffering from being exposed to toxic burn pits and other chemicals. He also had some bizarre advice. 'I say to every young man thinking of getting married, marry into a family with five or more daughters,' he noted. 'One of them will always love you.' Biden's wife Jill Tracy Biden is the eldest of five sisters. Her sisters have joined her at White House events such as when she donated her inaugural gown to the Smithsonian Museum. After his speech, Biden went to talk to the crowd. He gave seven-year-old Jack Brown and five-year-old Carter Brown money for ice cream. The president loves ice cream. It's his favorite dessert. President Joe Biden gives ice cream money to Jack Brown, 7, and Carter Brown, 5, as he meets them and their veteran mother Megan Brown, with her daughter Madeline Brown, 3 Meanwhile, Biden on Tuesday announced more than 1 million veterans have been treated under a new law directed toward those who suffered from exposure to toxic burn pits during their service. The visit is part of Biden's push to sell his legislative accomplishments to the American people as he seeks another term in the White House. Biden's late son Beau was exposed to toxic burn pits during his military service in Iraq. Biden has long said he believes there could be a connection to the burn pits Beau was stationed near and his illiness. Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015. Eighty-six percent of post-9/11 veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan say they were exposed to burn pits, according to a 2020 survey by the nonprofit Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. In 2022, Biden signed the 'Pact Act' into law, which expanded federal health care services for millions of veterans who served at military bases where toxic smoke billowed from huge 'burn pits.' More than 5.4 million veterans have received free screenings for toxic exposures from VA under the PACT Act, the White House said, calling it 'a critical step to catching and treating potentially life-threatening health conditions as early as possible.' That amounts to about 888,000 veterans and survivors in all 50 states who have been able to receive disability benefits under the law. Joe Biden has said he believes there could be a connection to the burn pits Beau Biden was stationed near in Iraq and his brain cancer, Beau died in 2015 - above then-Vice President Joe Biden with Beau Biden in Iraq in July 2009 First Lady Jill Biden, center, her daughter Ashley Biden, left, and her sister Bonny Jacobs visit Giza Pyramids, near Cairo Joe and Jill Biden married in June 1977 That totals about $5.7 billion in benefits given to veterans and their survivors, according to the administration. The law ended a years-long fight to ensure treatment for chronic illnesses that veterans have blamed on burn pits, which were used to dispose of chemicals, tires, plastics, medical equipment and human waste on military bases. Estimates of affected troops run to 3.5 million. But before the PACT Act became law, the Department of Veterans Affairs denied 70% of disability claims that involved burn pit exposure. Now, the law requires the VA to assume that certain respiratory illnesses and cancers were related to burn pit or other toxic exposure without the veterans having to prove the link. Comedian Jon Stewart was among those who advocated for the legislation. 'I'm not sure I've ever seen this situation where people who have already given so much had to fight so hard to get so little,' he said when the bill finally passed. 'I hope we learned a lesson.' A trash burn pit at Forward Operating Base Caferetta Nawzad, Helmand province south of Kabul, Afghanistan in 2011 Solides burn trash in Afghnistan in 2012 - Eighty-six percent of post-9/11 veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan say they were exposed to burn pits The U.S. military in both Afghanistan and Iraq disposed of garbage and waste in open air burn pits that many believe poisoned veterans with toxins in the smoke. Beau Biden served in Iraq as a member of the Delaware National Guard. President Biden has blamed burn pits for affecting troops. 'I spent a fair amount of time there as a United States senator and as vice president. The burn pits and incinerate wastes of war, medical and hazardous materials, jet fuel and so much more, just dug in big pits, not far from the hooches, not far from where our veterans were sleeping. When our troops came home, the fittest among them, the greatest fighting force in the history of the world, too many of them were not the same, headaches, dizziness, numbness, dizziness, cancer,' Biden said during his Texas visit. Experts are less definitive about the link between burn pit emissions and long-term medical conditions. Police must be pacifists in the culture war amid a surge in allegations of hate crime, a senior officer has said. Chief Superintendent Rob Hay said the debate had become toxic and divisive as the single force grappled with a flood of spurious complaints. Police Scotland has been bombarded with an astonishing 10,000 hate crime complaints since the SNPs law came into force on April 1. Mr Hay, president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS), said officers must not be drawn into petty political point-scoring. Speaking at the ASPS centenary conference in the Borders town of Peebles, Mr Hay warned that tackling hate crime was diverting stretched police resources from those who need them. Police Scotland numbers are at a 16-year low The senior officer spoke out amid a separate row over the introduction of a proportionate response to crime, which will see police refusing to fully investigate more than 24,000 reports of minor crime every year. The hate crime law created an offence of stirring up hatred relating to protected characteristics such as age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity. Mr Hay said: The divisive, political and toxic nature of some of the debate raging in wider society is not a place policing should ever inhabit. The flood of spurious complaints received upon the enactment of the new hate crime legislation is an example of the mischief-making we have seen, undertaken with spiteful glee and diverting police resources from those in actual need. Chief Superintendent Rob Hay warned police must not be drawn into petty political point-scoring So let us be pacifists in the culture war, as we have no interest in investigating Humza Yousaf for describing some white people as being white; nor are we interested in arresting JK Rowling, no matter how much she tweets about it. Some 90 per cent of hate crime complaints around 9,000 were not regarded as crimes by police, confirming early fears that many claims under the new law would be vexatious. The number of recorded hate crimes between April 1 and May 19 was 1,537, or around 15 per cent of the 10,029 calls and emails received, Police Scotland figures published yesterday show. On the issue of police numbers, Mr Hay said the workforce has shrunk to 16,356 officers at the end of March the lowest since the end of September 2008. Scottish Tory justice spokesman Russell Findlay said: John Swinney should start listening and scrap this flawed legislation. Justice Secretary Angela Constance said: We agree with Mr Hay that we do not want anyone to weaponise the Hate Crime Act and note that there has been a 99 per cent decrease in online reports over the first seven weeks since implementation. Cops quitting to work as train drivers instead The strain of working for a crisis-hit force is causing police officers to quit and become train drivers, it was claimed yesterday. David Kennedy, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation which represents the rank-and-file said the service was struggling to attract younger recruits and resourcing was the main reason people were leaving. Mr Kennedy made the claims at the annual meeting of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, in Peebles, while the organisations president, Rob Hay, said policing had been stripped to the bone. Businesses looking for new staff will have to put British workers first under 'non-negotiable' curbs on migrant labour, a senior minister said yesterday. Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride urged firms that rely heavily on foreign workers to 'recruit Britain' to fill their jobs. Mr Stride said visa reforms brought in this year would slash net migration by 300,000 a year, presenting a 'recruitment challenge' for sectors which rely heavily on migrant labour such as hospitality, construction and care. But he said that, unlike in the past, the Government would not ease visa restrictions if firms struggle to fill vacancies. Speaking to the Mail, Mr Stride said ministers were 'utterly determined' to cut migration levels and warned that the clampdown on visas was 'non-negotiable'. Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Mel Stride is seen in Westminster earlier this month Mr Stride said visa reforms brought in this year would slash net migration by 300,000 a year, presenting a 'recruitment challenge' for sectors which rely heavily on migrant labour (stock image) The minister said restrictions on visas for students and the dependants of care workers, coupled with a higher minimum salary threshold, were likely to cut migration levels to around half of those last year. He added: 'That's a quantum step down. So my task now is to work with businesses and make sure that what we do is in those sectors where labour markets are tight, and they've relied on that flow of net migration in the past, we have the tools to make sure that we 'recruit Britain' and that people appreciate that the solution is often much closer than they think.' A new ministerial taskforce has been set up to oversee the development of recruitment initiatives for hard-hit sectors. It is hoped it will repeat the success of a 2021 scheme to plug a gap in the numbers of HGV drivers. Mr Stride did not rule out a push to train up ex-convicts to work in areas such as hospitality as foreign labour dries up, saying: 'We have to think very entrepreneurially. We have to think... of things that we can do quickly, that have an impact.' He said it was a 'huge opportunity for the thousands of jobseekers within our domestic workforce to move into roles that have previously been filled by overseas workers'. He added: 'I see no reason why a British worker cannot be a care worker.' A mother in Atlanta disrupted an awards ceremony at her son's school after he did not receive any prizes. She stood up in middle of the event and walked up to the front of the stage before ranting after her child did not win anything. The person presenting the award was forced to apologize to those in attendance and tried to de-escalate the situation. The incident was caught on video and shared to X where it has been viewed more than 500,000 times. A mother in Atlanta disrupted an awards ceremony at her son's school after he did not receive any prizes She stood up in middle of the event and walked up to the front of the stage before ranting after her child did not win anything In the clip, the mother is heard shouting at the person who is presenting the awards but it is not clear what she is saying. 'Ladies and gentlemen I apologize for what we're seeing right now,' the school employee says before the women shouts even more. 'I'll talk to you,' he says in a bid to get her to calm down. 'Momma, we can look at it again.' The mother then shouts 'let's go' at her son and he is seen following her outside of the assembly hall. The school official then apologizes to the crowd again for the disturbance caused. It is not clear which school the incident occurred in or why the child did not receive an award. Sir Keir Starmer would make Britain the 'soft touch of Europe' by scrapping the Rwanda scheme, Rishi Sunak has warned. The Prime Minister claimed that, while the 'penny is dropping' across the continent on the need for a deterrent to stop illegal migration, Labour would incentivise people to come to the UK. Sir Keir has pledged to ditch the Rwanda flights and allow those arriving in the UK on small boats to apply for asylum. But Mr Sunak said the Labour leader's proposal could lead to 'thousands' more people coming to Britain as several countries are looking at replicating Rwanda-style models. The PM was speaking yesterday on a visit to Vienna for talks with the Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer. Last week Austria was among 15 EU countries who warned that they would have to 'think outside the box' to tackle the root causes of irregular migration. Sir Keir Starmer (pictured, in January) would make Britain the 'soft touch of Europe' by scrapping the Rwanda scheme, Rishi Sunak has warned Rishi Sunak speaks to the media after a meeting with the Chancellor of Austria, Karl Nehammer, at the Federal Chancellery Ballhausplatz, during a visit to Austria A group of people thought to be migrants including young children are brought in to Dover, Kent Mr Nehammer said that the UK was a 'pioneer' in using third countries to tackle illegal migration, which he said needed to be put on the EU's agenda. After their meeting, Mr Sunak insisted countries across Europe are 'following the UK in clamping down on illegal migration through the use of safe, third country partnerships to return people'. He added: 'It's clear that we're leading in Europe, and Keir Starmer wants to make us the soft touch of Europe when it comes to migration. 'Not only is Labour going to grant an amnesty to illegal migrants, that is also going to mean thousands more will want to come. All Keir Starmer wants to do is give people more incentives to come to the UK.' The PM said that to 'fully grip and solve the challenge of illegal migration you need to have a deterrent and a safe third country to return people to'. He continued: 'Without that, it is very hard to break the cycle of the gangs.' Net migration hit a record of 745,000 in 2022 but rule changes for overseas students and foreign workers introduced earlier this year could lead to a major drop. Home Office figures due to be published today are expected to show a sharp fall in student dependants. Mr Sunak said he was 'confident' that this year there will be 'a continued reduction in the numbers'. He is considering whether to limit graduate visas to only the most prestigious courses, having just received a review from the Migration Advisory Commission. The Chancellor of Austria, Karl Nehammer, welcomes Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to his country Picture shows staff board a plane which was set to be the first to transport migrants to Rwanda in June 2022 But a Labour spokesman last night said: 'If Rishi Sunak spent less time on gimmicks and soundbites, he might not have broken his key pledges on immigration. 'He promised to bring down overall migration, yet it has trebled. He promised to stop the boats, yet 2024 has so far seen record numbers of Channel crossings. 'Only Labour has a credible plan, with a new Border Security Command to smash the gangs. The only soft touch here is this chaotic Conservative government.' A mother-of-one who was allegedly pummeled by her bodybuilding boyfriend died Monday night after spending over a week hospitalized in Brazil, her family confirmed. Marcela de Sousa, 31, was taken to Santa Monica Hospital unresponsive on May 10 with trauma on both sides of her head and at the base of her skull as well as a fractured collarbone, eight broken ribs and multiple bruises on her body. Igor Porto, told the medical staff that she had fallen while cleaning in their home in the central city of Aparecida de Goiania. The hospital had doubts with Prato's explanation because the lesions were not compatible with the alleged accident and immediately alerted the police. Goias Civil Police investigators visited the family home last week and found that discrepancies with Prato's explanation and placed him under arrest Friday, according to Brazilian news outlet G1. Igor Porto (left) was arrested last Friday for allegedly beating his girlfriend, Marcela de Sousa (right), at their home on May 10 central city of Aparecida de Goiania. The 31-year-old mother-of-one died from her injuries Monday night The Goias Civil Police said bodybuilder Igor Porto had previously beaten his former girlfriend and his current girlfriend, Marcela de Sousa, who died at a hospital on Monday evening. De Sousa broke up with Porto and obtained a restraining order which she withdrew after the couple decided to give their relationship a second chance 'According to him, she convulsed and the injuries were caused by the fall,' Goias Civil Police chief Bruna Coelho said. 'So, he gave her a bath and took her to the hospital, where she was immediately taken to surgery and then to the ICU.' Coelho revealed that de Sousa had been a victim of domestic violence while the couple lived in Brasilia, the South American nation's capital. He had been investigated for those incidents as well as the beating of his former girlfriend. De Sousa obtained an order of protection from Prato after the couple separated and then withdrew it when they reconciled. Coelho said Porto had been previously investigated for fighting a neighbor over their dog and a cash register attendant at a supermarket. 'He was very explosive and aggressive,' the police chief said. Coelho added that neighbors regularly heard Porto fighting with de Sousa at their condominium. 'These are fights for no apparent reason, which further demonstrates his explosiveness and aggressiveness,' she said. Igor Porto told the hospital that his girlfriend, Marcela de Sousa, suffered a fall at their home while she was cleaning and that he bathe her before taking her to the medical facility Porto appeared before a court judge Monday hours before de Sousa's death and remained in custody as he faces an attempted femicide charge. Coelho filed a petition to transfer Porto's custody to pretrial detention. 'The defense of the investigated Igor Porto Galvao deeply regrets the death of Marcela Luise, and will continue to speak only in relation to the investigations,' Porto's lawyers, Thiago Ferreira and Gelicio de Morais said in a statement Tuesday. 'Regarding the decree of preventive detention of Mr. Igor, from the defense's point of view, the requirements of preventive detention are not present, that is, guaranteeing public order, guaranteeing criminal investigation or ensuring criminal enforcement.' Porto defense said they are planning on asking the judge to release him because he is not considered a flight risk. 'Igor has a legal profession, he is a Nutritionist and Physical Educator, a fixed address, he is primary school, at no time is there anything in the process that interfered with the smooth running of the investigation,' the lawyers said. 'On the contrary, the Civil Police were at his residence out of hours in order to to carry out expertise, and he authorized it.' Filing says classified-marked docs were found in Trump's bedroom after raid A new court filing unsealed on Tuesday in the Trump classified documents case revealed federal agents were prepared to use 'deadly force' when executing a raid at Mar-a-Lago in 2022. That raid on the ex-president's home ended with the FBI seizing hundreds of documents containing classified information. Trump, 77, is now criminally charged for mishandling top secret documents taken to his Florida estate after he left office. In the former president's motion challenging the legality of the FBI's raid filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the filing notes an 'Operation Order' produced in discovery which contained a 'Policy Statement' regarding 'Use of Deadly Force.' The filing says the Order states 'for example, "Law enforcement officers with the Department of Justice may use deadly force when necessary..."' A photo included in court filings submitted by the Justice Department on August 30, 2022 which shows a collection of documents with markings seized in the FBI raid on August 8, 2022 at Mar-a-Lago It also says 'the agents planned to bring "Standard Issue Weapon[s]," "Ammo," "Handcuffs," and "medium and large sized bolt cutters," but they were instructed to wear "unmarked polo or collared shirts" and to keep "law enforcement equipment concealed.'" The agents started the raid around 9am on August 8, 2022 and stayed until around 6:40pm. Trump's legal team argued that the raid of Mar-a-Lago was unconstitutional. On Tuesday evening, Trump posted on Truth Social after leaving criminal court in New York he 'was shown Reports that Crooked Joe Bidens DOJ, in their Illegal and UnConstitutional Raid of Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE.' He also sent out a fundraising email with the subject line 'They were authorized to shoot me!' In a statement to ABC News, the FBI said 'The FBI followed standard protocol in this search as we do for all search warrants, which includes a standard policy statement limiting the use of deadly force. No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter.' The ex-president pleaded not guilty to 37 criminal charges in the case, some of which carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison. Trump is accused of enlisting aides and lawyers to help him hide the records officials requested he return. Former President Trump speaking in the Manhattan criminal court on May 21, 2024. He is charged in a separate case for mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House Documents in Mar-a-Lago got moved from the building's business center to a bathroom and shower in the Lake Room, according to the federal indictment against Donald Trump FBI agents raided Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Palm Beach estate, in August 2022 Unsealed documents on Tuesday also revealed that Trump's lawyers found additional classified documents in the ex-president's bedroom months after the August raid. The revelation was detailed in an unsealed opinion from Judge Beryl Howell from March 2023 where she found prosecutors brought sufficient evidence that Trump mishandled classified documents. The opinion states that even after the raid, more classified-marked documents were uncovered in November 0222 in a leased storage unit, in the office at Mar-a-Lago in December 2022 and 'apparently sometime thereafter in the former president's own bedroom at Mar-a-Lago.' The judge wrote further down 'Notably, no excuse is provided as to how the former president could miss the classified-marked documents found in his own bedroom at Mar-a-Lago.' Earlier this month, Trump-appointed District Judge Aileen Cannon postponed the classified documents trial indefinitely. She cited a number of outstanding pre-trial issues to be resolved. Migrant graduates who come to the UK using the controversial Graduate Route will soon be subject to yearly mandatory English tests under a new government-approved crackdown. The Cabinet is set to approve the change in requirements to the scheme that allows foreign students to work here for two years. The policy will also see universities and colleges with high dropout rates lose the ability to recruit prospective students from abroad. On top of this, recruiting agents who lure foreign students away from their degrees and into low paying jobs, often giving them less than minimum wage, will also be taken on by the Home Office. Government sources told the Sun that the new version of the Graduate Route scheme would only allow the 'best and brightest' to come to the UK. Graduates wait to be photographed after a degree ceremony (File image) The Cabinet is set to approve the change in requirements to the scheme that allows foreign students to work here for two years (File image) The redesigned scheme comes days after it was revealed that Rishi Sunak is planning on banning British universities from allowing foreign students to take 'low quality' postgraduate courses, as part of his broader crackdown on immigration. Concern that the courses are being used as a backdoor route into the UK have been growing. Official figures this week are expected to show that although net immigration is falling from record highs, it still remains far above the level at the 2019 election, which the Conservatives pledged to reduce. Sunak is said to be concerned that some universities are offering 'low quality' postgraduate courses to foreign students who are willing to pay in return for a visa that allows them to work for at least two years in the UK after completing their studies. Government sources pointed to figures from HM Revenue and Customs showing that 41 per cent of those using the graduate visa to work were earning less than 15,000. But any move to tighten the rules further will face resistance from senior Cabinet ministers - and a backlash from universities, which rely heavily on income from foreign students, who can be charged higher fees. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said on Friday that existing changes to the immigration rules were already cutting immigration and suggested there was no need to go further in limiting student numbers. He said the Government would 'continue to support sustainable increases in international students coming to the UK'. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has also indicated she would oppose moves to ban foreign students taking lower quality postgraduate degrees, saying: 'This can't all be about PPEs from Oxford.' Their case was bolstered last week by a report from the Migration Advisory Committee, which found there was no evidence of 'widespread abuse' of the scheme. Despite this, Whitehall sources confirmed the PM is examining options to 'tighten' the graduate route so that it is open to only the 'brightest and the best'. Reforms introduced earlier this year, including banning masters students from bringing family members with them, have already led to a sharp fall in applications. But a No 10 spokesman said the PM 'still thinks there's further to go,' adding: 'We are committed to attracting the best and brightest to study at our world-class universities whilst preventing the abuse of our immigration system.' A woman suffered serious injuries after two XL bullies mauled her in a vicious attack. The 26-year-old was savaged by the powerful dogs in Leith, Edinburgh, on Thursday morning. She was taken to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh with serious injuries. Her condition is not known. Police said the dogs had been put down. Officers remained at the scene for hours after the attack and their investigation is continuing. Yesterday Police Scotland said they had attended the incident after reports of a person having been attacked by two dogs within a property at Academy Street, Leith. A spokesman added: Emergency services attended and a 26-year-old woman was taken to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh by ambulance with serious injuries. On Friday, May 17, the two dogs were euthanised. Inquiries remain ongoing. Police said the two XL bullies had been put down Earlier this year, Scotland saw an influx of the dangerous dog breed as owners south of the Border sought refuge for their pets. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had imposed a strict ban on breeding, selling and walking the dogs without a muzzle or while off a lead in England and Wales. It also became illegal to own an XL bully-type dog if they had not been registered. At the time, the then First Minister, Humza Yousaf, rejected calls to do the same. But after many people brought the dogs to Scotland from other parts of the UK in an attempt to dodge the ban, the Scottish Government U-turned on its opposition to the UK Governments crackdown. Holyrood introduced its own rules placing restrictions on the breed in February and, from August, it will be illegal to own an XL bully-type dog if they are not registered. Last weeks attack came after two XL bully-type dogs killed a chihuahua in March and bit its owners shoulder in an incident in Glasgow. In the same month, two children were injured in a suspected XL bully attack in Ayrshire. Earlier in the year police shot dead an XL bully-type animal after it injured three people and another dog in East Kilbride. An 18-year-old woman was reported to authorities after the incident. Arts bosses were aware a controversial arts show might include a scene with real sex before they handed out more than 100,000 of public money to fund it, it has been revealed. Documents show that Creative Scotland was informed in the early stages of the application process that there was a chance the hardcore Rein project may end up containing a scene with genital contact. Despite being made aware of this, the public arts body agreed to fund the project, causing a major outcry when it came to light. Officials have since withdrawn funding after they said an advertisement for participants in March took the project into unacceptable territory by including unsimulated sex. Culture secretary Angus Robertson told the BBC last night he was deeply concerned about the documents and has requested an urgent meeting with Creative Scotlands leadership to discuss how confidence in the organisation can be restored. Critics are now calling for answers to the scandal, claiming Scottish Government-backed Creative Scotland misled the public to cover up their appalling misjudgment. Leonie Rae Gasson was paid public cash to film an erotic journey through a distinctly Scottish landscape Scottish Tory deputy leader Meghan Gallacher last night said: Creative Scotland have some serious explaining to do. It appears they have misled the public over this scandal, in an attempt to cover their appalling misjudgment in awarding funding to this project. She added: The attempted cover-up is more inexcusable than the original poor decision-making. As a publicly-funded body, Creative Scotland have a duty not just to spend taxpayers cash wisely, but also to be fully transparent on how they do so. Glasgow-based director Leonie Rae Gasson was awarded 84,555 in the January round of the public arts bodys National Lottery Open Fund. Creative Scotland had already awarded her 23,219 last August. A recruitment advert for Rein stated that actors must be over the age of 18. The 45-minute art installation planned to pay people 270 per day to take part in a secret sex party in a cave. The development for the project included a nine-minute explicit film which promised audiences a magical, erotic journey through a distinctly Scottish landscape. But officials are now seeking reimbursement of the January grant, stating that the project was considerably more explicit than first thought. However, the arts body is not looking to draw back the 23,210 it awarded for a research and development (R&D) phase produced in August 2022 which said explicit sex acts would not be performed at that stage, but that a final performance was expected to include them. Creative Scotland said they were always aware of the explicit nature of the application, but said it was not clear until March that the project was moving from performance to unsimulated sex. But an application obtained through freedom of information laws shows that the potential of explicit content was made clear. It states: In our initial short R&D phase we had a no genital contact rule. In this development phase we will work on a sex scene with genital contact with three of the cast. But Creative Scotland last night denied being aware of any real scene until two months ago. A spokesman said: Creative work, across many art forms, can feature explicit depictions of sex. But there is a difference between that depiction and actual sex, which is not appropriate for public funding. The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment. Yesterday the worlds media was rocked by the surprise news that the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, is seeking arrest warrants for war crimes, against Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, and Yoav Gallant, the Defence Minister. The charge against them included: Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare; Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health; Wilful killing; Intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population; Extermination and/or murder; Persecution; and Other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity. If the warrants are issued, it means that the 124 member states of the ICC are obliged to detain and transfer these men should they set foot on their territory. The big question is: will they ever be issued? The issue is a thorny one. This is the first time in its history that the Court has ever considered issuing arrest warrants against a country that is not only friendly with the United States, but one of its chief allies and partners in crime. The office of Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor, has been investigating crimes committed with respect to Israels legal obligations in the Gaza Strip. Israel has been battling international criticism over its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 35,000 people and left some 1.7 million people displaced. It has ignored a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire for the month of April. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered immediate and effective measures to protect Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip from the risk of genocide, by ensuring sufficient humanitarian assistance and enabling basic services. Israel has failed to take even the bare minimum steps to comply. The order to provide aid was one of six provisional measures ordered by the ICJ on 26 January, and Israel was given one month to report back on its compliance with the measures. Over that period, Israel has continued to disregard its obligation as the occupying power to ensure the basic needs of Palestinians in Gaza are met. Fine. But what has been done about it? Neither Israel nor the United States are among the Courts 124 member states. The US has previously said it opposes the ICC investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza, saying it does not believe the top criminal court has the jurisdiction. The US has previously said it opposes the ICC investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes / Image: justflix, Wikimedia Commons The US has also defended Israel over the case brought before the International Court of Justice, a separate body in The Hague, alleging that Israeli forces are committing genocide in Gaza. This is yet another example of the incestuous relationship between Israel and US imperialism. It is precisely this unconditional and permanent support that has enabled Israel to get away with murder quite literally for decades. It is this that gives Netanyahu and his crew the sense of absolute invulnerability that guides their every action, up to and including open defiance of the United States itself. Netanyahu feels that he has a right to spit in the face of the President of that country, for the simple reason that Joe Biden can never bring himself to take any decisive steps to prevent the ruling clique in Israel doing anything that it wishes. The man in the White House has only himself to blame for this situation. He has himself created it by his extremely foolish actions after 7 October last year. In that situation, it was inevitable that Washington would express its support for Israel, arguing for its right to defend itself. But Joe Biden went far further than that. In a completely unprecedented move, the old man in the White House immediately jumped on a jet plane and hastened to present himself before Netanyahu, whom he publicly embraced before television cameras, vowing to provide Israel with unconditional support. Such a display of unseemly histrionics was completely out of order and entirely unnecessary. He could easily have sent Tony Blinken, or any of his other lackeys, to deliver a formal message of support for Israel. But by taking this step, he permanently tied the hands of US foreign policy and boosted the ego of Netanyahu and his crew, who now had a completely free hand to do whatever they wanted. In the words of the celebrated French diplomat Talleyrand, C'est pire qu'un crime, c'est une faute Its worse than a crime; its a mistake. And US imperialism has been paying for this stupid mistake ever since. However, that is merely an extreme example of the policy pursued by Washington for decades. Successive US administrations whether Republican or Democrat have pursued a policy of unremitting support for Israel. That has given the Israeli ruling clique a unique sense of impunity. The men in charge are well aware that no matter how many crimes they commit and the crimes are innumerable and monstrous they will not be called to account. Their friends in Washington will make damn sure of that. The interdependence of the US and Israel is even greater today than at any time in the past. It is now the only reliable ally that US imperialism possesses in the region. Formerly obedient regimes, like that of Saudi Arabia and Turkey, have gradually become restive at the arrogant and domineering attitude of Washington. They are increasingly moving in the direction of greater independence from the USA, which inevitably means drifting into the sphere of influence of Russia and China. The blind adherence to what amounts to unconditional support for Israel has therefore become even more important as a cornerstone of US policy in the Middle East. It is further boosted by a powerful Jewish and Christian Zionist lobby, backed by unlimited funds and the uncritical backing of what is for some reason or other referred to as the free press. However, this policy does not come without considerable risks. The Middle East is an explosive minefield in which the unresolved Palestinian question acts as a permanent potential detonator. The events of the last seven months have exposed just how dangerous that situation can be. For Benjamin Netanyahu, the bloody events of 7 October came as manna from heaven. They gave him the perfect excuse to do what he wanted to do all along: to launch a devastating war on Gaza, with the intention of eradicating Hamas. But seven months later, he has failed to achieve any of his objectives. Gaza has been practically destroyed and thousands of its people killed. But Hamas, though weakened, has not been defeated and continues to resist. The hostages have not been released, and Israel finds itself more isolated internationally than at any time since its foundation. For many months, Benjamin Netanyahu has shrugged off international criticism of Israel, secure in the knowledge that the President of America had offered ironclad support. He only has one agenda in all this. It is very simply stated: to save his own skin. His position as Prime Minister is extremely unstable. In fact, his support is fast collapsing and there are open rifts appearing in the war coalition. If you have the White House behind you, who cares about the International Court of Justice, the South Africans, or the students of Columbia University? Netanyahu responded to the US decision with insolent bravado and defiance / Image: The White House, Twitter But even the Biden Administration has its limits. The groundswell of revolt in the USA is growing by the day. The student rebellion erupted seemingly from out of nowhere, and gathered strength in spite of brutal repression, or even because of it. There is growing unease within the ranks of the Democrat Party and even within the Administration itself. The Netanyahu governments determination to press ahead with a full-scale attack on Rafah finally prompted the US to step up its pressure on Israel and even to pause some of its military aid. But all this has had absolutely no effect. Netanyahu responded to the US decision with insolent bravado and defiance. Israel is pressing forward with its attack on Rafah using its already formidable arsenal. He brags that no outside power can prevent his nation from defending itself as it sees fit. Israel will stand alone if necessary. Israels far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir condemned Bidens announcement, writing on X: Hamas Loves Biden. Netanyahu might previously have assumed that the US would always swing in behind Israel and provide the necessary military support. But Bidens actions suggest this is no longer a safe assumption. The US will always provide Israel with defensive weapons, such as missile interceptors. But the supply of artillery shells and powerful bombs for offensive operations can no longer be taken for granted. In this context, the sudden and unexpected declaration of the ICC fell like a bombshell on Israeli society. Clearly feeling the hot breath of imperialism on the back of their necks, the ICC tried to even things up by simultaneously seeking arrest warrants against Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammad Deif and Ismail Haniyeh. If that was intended to soften the blow and deflect criticism, it has failed in its objective. News of the Courts action immediately met with a wave of outrage from Israel. The ICC was accused of moral blindness by Israeli war cabinet members. The ferocious character of the comments made by virtually all the political factions and parties indicate a level of shock and fury that shows how completely unexpected the ICCs actions were. President Herzog of Israel said that the ICC decision was beyond outrageous and emboldens terrorists around the world. He angrily demanded that the United States and other members of what is called the collective West take action to prevent any warrants for arrest being issued. His words did not fall on deaf ears. The United States was not slow to take the hint. The move by the ICC prosecutor was immediately condemned by supporters of Israel in the US Congress. This was hardly surprising, as even before the news of arrest warrants was made public, frantic moves were afoot in Congress to sabotage it in advance. Speaker Michael Johnson, backed by practically all Republicans and quite a few Democrats, drafted proposed legislation that aims to ban entry into the United States for any official of the Court and anyone else involved in the case. This could potentially have a very damaging effect on the United Nations itself something that many on the right in the USA and Israel would welcome. Netanyahu has called the ICC decision scandalous. And he added: This will not stop me or us. If that means the total extermination of the entire population of Gaza and its total destruction, then so be it! Israels fellow partners-in-crime immediately joined in the chorus of indignation. Reactions in Europe were mixed ranging from support to statements that the decision is appalling and incomprehensible. The French foreign ministry said it had been warning for many months about the imperative of strict compliance with international humanitarian law and in particular about the unacceptable nature of civilian losses in the Gaza Strip and insufficient humanitarian access, adding, France supports the International Criminal Court, its independence, and the fight against impunity in all situations. But in London, a spokesman for Rishi Sunak said that the ICC arrest warrants are not helpful and will not help achieve a pause in fighting. Unfortunately, he did not choose to tell us what exactly would achieve that end. Lord Cameron, the British Foreign Minister, had already made it abundantly clear that he did not believe that Israel was guilty of anything bad, and consequently Great Britain would continue to send bombs, shells, and other useful instruments to Israel to help it serve the cause of peace and harmony in Gaza. After some hesitation, the German government tried to cover its backside with a hypocritical declaration that it respects the Court, but added: The simultaneous application for arrest warrants against the Hamas leaders on the one hand and the two Israeli officials on the other gave the false impression of an equation. It then lists crimes perpetrated by Hamas and voices support for Israels right to self defence. Despite his public display of bravado, Netanyahu is clearly very alarmed that he and some colleagues may be indicted by the ICC. Israel wants the US to work behind the scenes to put pressure on the ICC. And it also needs the US to provide support against the widespread accusation that Israel has committed war crimes or genocide. No problem there! Biden called the ICCs application for arrest warrants for Israeli leaders outrageous. That was only the start of what will obviously be a well-planned and financed operation to prevent the Court from issuing anything remotely resembling an arrest warrant against any Israeli citizen. Biden called the ICCs application for arrest warrants for Israeli leaders outrageous / Image: public domain It is absolutely certain that in the next few weeks, the Court, the prosecutor and the judges will be put under tremendous pressure from Washington to withdraw the request for arrest warrants, or to have it thrown out when it comes to court. It remains to be seen whether this pressure will have the desired effect on the ICC. Until now, I had assumed that the arm-twisting would probably result in a reversal. However, that now seems to me to be unclear. The Court itself was well aware that any decision of this kind would inevitably provoke a violent reaction from the other side, with potentially very serious consequences for it. However, for that very reason, they have gone to extreme lengths to provide an enormous quantity of solid facts and evidence, witness statements, photographs and film footage, including from satellites. In addition, they have set up a panel composed of a large number of eminent lawyers from different countries, which has validated the decision of the prosecutor. In the face of such a mountain of evidence, if the Court were to retreat, it would completely discredit itself as an independent legal body. Such conduct would immediately open it to the accusation of blatant hypocrisy and double standards. Let us recall that when Vladimir Putin was accused of war crimes in Ukraine (the alleged kidnapping of Ukrainian children) the Americans and others fell over themselves in their haste to demand the issuing of an arrest warrant, which the Court obediently accepted. The very meagre evidence provided in that case stands in glaring contrast to the huge mountain of evidence that clearly convicts Israel of war crimes of the most serious kind. Therefore, reluctantly or otherwise, the Court will really have no option other than to either accept the incontrovertible evidence provided by the prosecutor, or else completely abandon any pretence at being an objective and legitimate legal arbiter. One thing is absolutely clear. The Courts decision will have no effect whatsoever on the calculations of Israels ruling clique or the war on the people of Gaza. If anybody thought that the actions of the ICC would have any effect on halting the massacres and atrocities that are daily inflicted upon the long-suffering men, women and children of Gaza, they were very much mistaken. Around the same time the ICC was announcing its decision, the Gazan health ministry said that more than 35,562 Palestinians have been killed in the Strip since 7 October, and 79,652 injured in the course of the Israeli military offensive. A further 106 Palestinians had been killed in the past 24 hours. Benjamin Netanyahu understands that to halt the hostilities now would mean not just loss of political power but total disgrace, followed by a trial on corruption charges, and the end of his political career. He is therefore determined to continue his butchers work to the bloody end. Neither legal judgement, investigations, United Nations resolutions, nor any other legalistic games can save the unfortunate people of Palestine from a tragic fate. That can only be achieved by the united action of the working class and the revolutionary youth of all countries to overthrow imperialism the root cause of all these atrocious horrors in the world. Convicted Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton - sometimes called the 'worst serial killer in history' - was attacked in prison and was taken to hospital in a life-threatening condition, authorities announced Tuesday. Pickton, 74, brought tens of female victims to his pig farm outside of Vancouver in the 1990s and early 2000s, where he brutally killed them and fed them to his pigs. In total, he has confessed to killing 49 women. Following years of investigations by local law enforcement, he was convicted in 2007 on six counts of second-degree murder and presented with a life prison sentence with a maximum parole ineligibility period of 25 years - the harshest sentence that can be doled out in Canada. Following initial reports of the attack, Quebec police spokesman Hugues Beaulieu said a 51-year-old inmate was in custody for the assault, which occurred on Sunday. In the years-long investigation that ultimately led to Pickton's arrest and conviction, authorities discovered the remains or DNA of 33 women on the killer's Port Coquitlam pig farm. Convicted serial killer Robert Pickton is in critical condition after being attacked in prison on Sunday. He is known for brutally killing potentially dozens of women in the Vancouver area over a span of two-decades and feeding his victims to his pigs Prosecutors also argued that Pickton told an undercover officer in his jail cell that he had killed 49 women and was intending to make it an 'even 50.' Most of the women were prostitutes or drug users, whom Pickton picked up on Vancouver's Downtown East - the police were criticized at the time for not taking the disappearance of dozens of women more seriously because of their marginal places in society. Evidence presented in court indicated that Pickton fed his victims directly to his pigs, and likely ground up some human flesh to mix with the pork he sold to the public. The Canadian Correctional Service announced Monday that an inmate had been sent to the hospital following a serious assault at the Port-Cartier Institution, a maximum security prison 300 miles outside of Quebec. The correctional service added on Tuesday that none of the prison staff were involved in the attack, and confirmed the victim was Pickton. Provincial police said the serial killer's injuries were considered life-threatening. Six of Pickton's confirmed victims - there were allegedly dozens - are Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe, Georgina Papin and Marnie Frey. Now-convicted killer Robert Pickton is shown at his trial taking notes nearly two decades ago. He was eventually convicted in 2007 on six counts of second-degree murder Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigators move debris on a pig farm February 19, 2002 in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. The farm is currently under investigation for fifty missing women from the downtown Vancouver area Pickton and his brother operated a drinking club frequented by bikers and prostitutes near their pig farm outside Vancouver Dozens of the women Pickton, now-74, is suspected of having murdered during his decades of homicidal violence Forensic workers collect evidence in the early 2000s at Canada's largest crime scene, accused mass murderer Robert Pickton's pig farm In April, a dozen mayors from Vancouver sent a letter to the federal justice minister asking that Pickton not be granted day parole, for which he is currently eligible. Come 2027, he will also be up for full parole. No other updates about Pickton's current condition have been made public. Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday dramatically walked back the suggestion he was open to the possibility of restricting some forms of birth control. The former president caused confusion after an interview with KDKA-TV anchor Jon Delano, who questioned him on the issue of birth control. When Delano asked if he supports any restrictions on a woman's right to use contraception, Trump was evasive. 'We're looking at that, and I'm gonna have a policy on that very shortly,' he replied, adding 'it's very interesting.' After his muddled answer about what limitations might be on the table, Trump later clarified his position in a dramatic Truth Social post. 'I HAVE NEVER, AND WILL NEVER ADVOCATE IMPOSING RESTRICTIONS ON BIRTH CONTROL, or other contraceptives,' he wrote on social media. Former US President Donald Trump speaks to the press When asked about the morning-after pill, Trump was also evasive, noting that it depended on what state governments preferred. 'Things really do have a lot to do with the states and some states are going to have different policies than others,' he said. The Biden campaign reacted quickly to Trump's remarks, claiming the Republican presidential nominee was 'open to restricting access to birth control and emergency contraceptives.' Vice President Kamala Harris speaks in Philadelphia, PA 'It's not enough for Trump that women's lives are being put at risk, doctors are being threatened with jail time, and extreme bans are being enacted with no exceptions for rape or incest,' Biden campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement. 'He wants to rip away our freedom to access birth control too.' Trump quickly reacted to the accusation from the Biden campaign, accusing them of lying. 'This is a Democrat fabricated lie, MISINFORMATION/DISINFORMATION, because they have nothing else to run on except FAILURE, POVERTY, AND DEATH,' Trump wrote. 'I DO NOT SUPPORT A BAN ON BIRTH CONTROL, AND NEITHER WILL THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!' Vice President Kamala Harris condemned Trump's comments, warning voters of his position on the issue. 'A second Trump term would mean more bans, more suffering, and less freedom,' she wrote on social media. Families will today be urged to stockpile three days' worth of food and water to help build national 'resilience'. Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden will advise people to make contingency plans for dealing with potential emergencies such as prolonged power cuts, cyber attacks and floods. Last year, Mr Dowden said people should stock up on 'analogue capabilities', such as candles, torches and wind-up radios, to boost their 'personal resilience'. Today he will go further by encouraging people to stock up with enough food and water to survive for three days without leaving their homes. Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden (pictured) will advise people to make contingency plans Ministers believe preparations by individual households will help take pressure off the emergency services when dealing with a crisis (stock photo) Whitehall sources insisted that the plan was not designed to create a nation of US-style survivalists. One said Mr Dowden's intervention was not meant to be 'alarmist' and was simply 'common sense' advice. Ministers believe preparations by individual households will help take pressure off the emergency services when dealing with a crisis. They also hope it could avert the kind of panic-buying seen at the start of the Covid pandemic, when supermarket shelves were cleared of basic supplies of items such as toilet rolls. Mr Dowden has been inspired by similar preparations in countries such as Finland, which operates a '72-hour concept' for coping in situations where 'society's services are disrupted or even discontinued'. Mr Dowden said people should stock up on 'analogue capabilities', such as candles, torches and wind-up radios (stock photo) Floodwater rises as the River Calder bursts its bank's in the Calder Valley town of Mytholmroyd on December 26, 2015 Finns are encouraged to stockpile food and water and to be prepared to 'shelter indoors' by taping up gaps in windows and 'waiting calmly for instructions' on the radio. Last year, Mr Dowden introduced an 'emergency alert' system, which allows authorities to trigger an alarm on millions of mobile phones to inform people of a potential crisis. It comes after the Prime Minister warned last week that Britain had 'some of its most dangerous years' ahead and was at a security 'crossroads'. Describing the threats on the rise, Rishi Sunak highlighted a new axis of anti-western states including China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. Among other challenges were rising immigration and artificial intelligence. A girl who made international headlines after being born during a flight nine years ago tragically died after suffering a sickening campaign of abuse at the hands of her stepfather, newly unsealed court documents revealed. Chloe Guan-Branch captivated the world on Mother's Day 2015 as her mother Ada Guan gave birth mid-flight while claiming to not even know she was pregnant. But the famous child died just five years later after enduring over a year of torment inflicted by her stepfather Justin Cassie-Berube, who was found guilty in March of manslaughter over the girl's death in 2020. The horror case had been shielded from public view until the conclusion of Cassie-Berube's manslaughter trial, as a publication ban was lifted by a court challenge from several Canadian outlets. This revealed a shocking pattern of abuse inflicted on the girl, including head injuries, lacerations across her body, and a ruptured bladder that forensic pathologists ruled contributed to her death. Chloe Guan-Branch, who made headlines when she was born during an international flight in 2015, tragically passed away in May 2020 after enduring years of torment at the hands of her stepfather Justin Cassie-Berube, pictured embracing Chloe, was found guilty of manslaughter, assault, criminal negligence and failing to provide the necessities of life in March, and carried out a sickening campaign of abuse on the child Following Chloe's birth on board an Air Canada flight, cameras from across the world had received news of the mid-flight arrival and were waiting as her father Wesley Branch carried the newborn onto the runway. Wesley and her mother Ada Guan told of their shock at the happy news, with Wesley telling reporters upon landing that he 'couldn't image this just happened, completely unexpectedly.' Notably, the new parents also quickly turned off supporters as they launched a GoFundMe seeking $50,000 because Guan worked part-time and Branch was unemployed, and Branch compared raising a baby to raising a cat. The young girl's life got off to a rocky start as Chloe was taken from her parents' care by the Children's Aid Society within a few months, and was only returned to Guan at the age of three, reports the Toronto Sun. Chloe's parents also split around a year after she was born, and her paternal grandparents said they lost contact with Chloe's mother's side of the family following the breakup. Guan moved with her daughter to Alberta, Canada, and met Cassie-Berube online, before moving with him to Ottawa in February 2019. The Branch family said their estrangement extended up to the point that Chloe died, as they didn't even know the girl was in Ottawa until police contacted them to inform them of the tragedy. 'We were hoping one day we could meet her. We thought wed reminisce about the day she was born on a plane to Japan,' they wrote in a victim impact statement ahead of Cassie-Berube's sentencing. Chloe's mother Ada Guan stunned the world when she gave birth in 2015 mid-flight while claiming to not even know she was pregnant Chloe's father (pictured left cradling the girl following the mid-air birth) split up with Ada Guan (right, also following the birth) around a year after Chloe's birth and his family said they became estranged Cassie-Berube told investigators that he would blackout drinking, and admitted he needed help if he was 'the monster that hurt a little girl' At Cassie-Berube's trial, Guan testified against him as she said he would often erupt in fits of anger and use little Chloe as a 'punching bag', a dynamic that only worsened as the trio were left alone during the Covid-19 pandemic. She also testified that Cassie-Berube 'grabbed her and tossed her around, spanked her, put soap in her mouth, smacked her lips and face, threw her on the bed, squeezed her ankles, grabbed her forearm, yanked her forward, and hit her on top of the head with a wooden spoon.' According to a judge's summary of his trial, Cassie-Berube would often threaten to commit suicide if Guan left him, while repeatedly inflicting beatings on Chloe at home. A neighbor testified that he tried to explain away Chloe's injuries with excuses like she fell off her bed, as the neighbor recalled several incidents, including one around Christmas 2019 when she saw the girl's face was 'shocking, bruised and banged up.' In text messages reported by the Toronto Sun, Guan would complain over the injuries to the stepfather, but appeared most concerned with them being noticed. 'I just dont wanna see her face all bruised and f***** up no more. I dont wanna go out and have to cover her face up just cause theres marks on it. Thats suspicious.' He responded: 'OK. Im sorry I understand what u mean, u do have every right to yell and get mad. Im sorry for what I did.' The sickening ordeal continued until Chloe's fifth birthday, when she suffered a ruptured bladder. Cassie-Berube, who admitted to much of the abuse, claimed that the injury came as the girl fell onto her bed railing and was not the result of a punch. He also made the same claim in his first police interview, during which the stepfather said he would often blackout while drinking, and reportedly said he needed help if he was 'the monster that hurt a little girl.' 'I'm the one that caused everything that's happening right now,' he reportedly admitted. The release of a court order revealed sickening details of the abuse inflicted on Chloe Chloe was found in a soiled bed after complaining of agonizing stomach pain for days, and police said she had a 'shocking' number of injuries when she was found. A forensic pathologist ruled that the ruptured bladder was a result of blunt impact abdominal trauma to a full bladder, which left her with painful symptoms including a hard stomach, vomiting, lacking appetite, and in 'imperative' need of medical care. Her other injuries included a laceration and serious head injury caused by blunt force, rib fractures, and a slew of bruises across her arms, abdomen and legs. Investigators added that they also found 'possible cigarette burn marks on her left lower hip area.' Guan testified that despite the injuries, she was stopped from taking Chloe to the hospital because Cassie-Berube threatened her that the bruises 'would raise a lot of questions.' Chloe's cause of death was listed as acute uremia, a fatal condition caused by waste entering the bloodstream. At trial, Cassie-Berube was found guilty of all six counts he faced, listed as manslaughter, assault, criminal negligence and failing to provide the necessities of life to the five-year-old girl. The stepfather is scheduled to be sentenced on May 24. Donald Trump shook his head in disapproval as the hush money trial judge ripped his lawyer for being 'disingenuous' during a crucial session on instructions that will be given to the jury. Defense attorney Emil Bove tried to claim the former president was being advised by Michael Cohen in his capacity as a lawyer while negotiating agreement to keep Stormy Daniels quiet before the election. This would give the defence the right to make the argument to the jury that Trump was relying on the advice of counsel. But Judge Juan Merchan fumed at Bove, told him to stay seated and chastised him for trying to bring back an argument the defense has been trying to use for weeks. Donald Trump shook his head in disapproval as the hush money trial judge ripped his lawyer for being 'disingenuous' during a crucial session on instructions that will be given to the jury The exchange came during a tense hearing where Merchan was considering the instructions that will be read to the 12 jury members who will decide Trump's fate. In a win for Trump, Merchan said that he would tell the panel to treat Trump fairly during their deliberations. The instruction was outside of the normal language used to charge the jury in a concession to the defense. But there was another tense exchange inside the courtroom, before the trial was adjourned to next Tuesday when closing arguments will begin. Bove tried to argue that Trump could infer the porn star's hush deal was 'legally checked over' when Cohen told the then-Republican nominee it was 'bulletproof'. He added that National Enquirer publisher David Pecker's testimony that he sought a lawyer during the hush money discussions 'opened the door' for the argument to be used again. But a frustrated Merchan slapped Bove down because he had already ruled against the strategy. Bove then tried to stand up, but Merchan interjected. 'Dont get up. I let you speak, let me speak,' Merchan said. 'It was concerning when notice was not given in response to my order of February 7th In a win for Trump, Merchan said that he would tell the panel to treat Trump fairly during their deliberations 'It is concerning when the term was changed to presence of counsel. I couldn't believe when I saw it again. 'Im telling you my ruling is the jury will not hear that instruction from the bench nor are you permitted to make that argument. Period.' Bove hit back by insisting he wasn't being disingenuous and didn't change the 'substance' of the argument the defense was trying to make. 'You've said that already Mr Bove,' Merchan said. 'But then you called me disingenuous,' Bove said. Merchan then stopped Bove in his tracks by saying: 'This is an argument you've been advancing for many many months Its denied. Its not going to happen. Please don't raise it Trump ripped into the trial and the judge on Tuesday as the jury was sent home for a week Known as a charging conference, both sides address the judge about how the jury should be charged, or instructed. The wording plays a key part in how the jury deliberate and experts believe it can win or lose a case. Over more than an hour, Trumps lawyers and attorneys from the Manhattan District Attorneys office sparred over the minutiae of the text, in some cases down to single words. Trumps lawyer Emil Bove told the court that an instruction about bias to President Trump is appropriate. Prosecutor John Steinglass said that the issue had been addressed during jury selection and the standard jury charge talks about not giving a defendant sympathy and bias. If the judge did want to give such an instruction he should use more neutral language as the prosecution had suggested, Steinglass said. Judge Merchan said this was not an instruction thats normally given and there were several mentions in the standard jury charge related to fairness. He said: Because the (prosecutors) are going along with a modified version I will go ahead and include it, the (prosecution) version. A major clash related to federal election law: prosecutors claim Trump was part of an illegal conspiracy to corrupt the 2016 election by paying Stormy Daniels $130,000 hush money days before the vote. The court heard that Trump wanted the word wilfully added to the language in two places. According to Bove, a civil matter could not be the underlying crime for falsifying business records. It had to be criminal and that required Trump to have done it wilfully, he said. According to Bove, without the language it could put President Trump in a position where this jury could convict him based on a flawed finding of some kind of intent to conceal a civil conspiracy. Thats a very serious concern for us, he said. Bove said that it was critically important the jury understood this and said the issue was a big one for us. Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said that wilfulness was not required. He said: Election law violation occurs when two or more people conspire to promote election to public office by unlawful means. According to Colangelo, the plain meaning means violation of the law Judge Merchan said he would reserve a decision on this point. Prosecutors also sought an expanded definition of intent, a key issue in the case. Trump speaks with his attorney Todd Blanche, surrounded by the rest of his entourage Trump sits in court at the start of Day 20 of his hush money trial. The defense rested just a short time later after he opted against taking the stand Bove said that the danger was that the jury would convict on the idea that Trump caused somebody to do something and they caused another person to do something. According to Bove, this doubles up on the concept of accessorial liability Colangelo called it an extremely important point and said that its request was drawn directly from case law. Judge Merchan reserved his decision The judge said he was particularly concerned about a request from the defence to add language stating that the jury had to find Trump had two separate intents. They would be the intent to defraud and the intent to conceal another crime, the court heard. Colangelo said there was nothing in the statute about two separate intents and that adding the language would rewrite the statute. Judge Merchan agreed and rejected the request. Another issue was the use of the word accomplice. The defence wanted Cohen to be mentioned by name in the context of Trump participating in a crime. Prosecutors wanted to include the word accomplice and state that Trump needed to be found guilty of participating in two crimes. Judge Merchan said he worried about playing with fire by talking about Cohens convictions. Margo, who serves as Trump's deputy communications chief and has become a star in her own right, was spotted exiting Trump Tower in New York on Tuesday Natalie (pictured) and Margo seemed to coordinate their pink-toned outfits The judge said prosecutors could not say that just because Cohen was found guilty its more likely than not Mr Trump is also guilty. After five minutes of back and forth, Judge Merchan decided to change the word crime in the sentence at issue to crimes. The judge rejected a request from the defence to direct the jury to agree on the unlawful means Trump executed - normally juries are not required to do this. Bove claimed the unusual measure was warranted because it was an extraordinarily important case. Judge Merchan rejected the request. He said: What youre asking me to do is change the law and Im not going to do that. Trump denies 34 counts of falsifying business records. Due to scheduling issues and the Memorial Day weekend, the jury has been sent home until Tuesday when closing arguments are due to take place. After that Judge Merchan is expected to charge the jury, a process which will take around an hour, followed by the start of deliberations. Police have been told to make fewer arrests to save space in overcrowded prisons, it was reported last night. A leaked memo by the National Police Chiefs' Council has advised Chief Constables to consider putting off 'non-priority arrests' and to suspend operations that would see a 'large number of arrests'. Sources described non-urgent arrests as cases where operations could be arranged for a later date, such as investigating CCTV footage or forensics. It comes as British prisons face an overcrowding crisis, triggered by the backlog in court cases, barristers strikes and tougher sentencing laws. In the last recorded year, the prison population increased by 5,200 as capacity in England and Wales became overstretched. Police have been urged to arrest fewer people in a bid to ease pressure at overcrowded jails. a leaked memo to cops from the National Police Chiefs' Council has show (file image) The memo said: 'Consideration is to be given to pausing non-priority arrests and any planned operations where large numbers of arrests may take place to ease the pressure within the criminal justice system. 'Notwithstanding public protection remains a priority and a considered threat, harm and risk assessment is to be completed when considering any pause in police operations.' Police sources clarified that arrests at large-scale protests or events would not be deprioritised. An internal letter from the NPCC to chief constables in England and Wales described the move as having an 'unsustainable operational impact on policing.' Alongside other recent emergency measures, the memo was accused of risking public safety and limiting frontline policing. Under another measure, Operation Early Dawn, bail hearings will be delayed from Wednesday, keeping defendants in police cells until space is available in prison. Defendants will be kept in police custody cells to combat overcrowding. Police have been asked to arrest fewer people in a bid to ease pressure of overcrowded jails like Wandsworth (pictured) The Ministry of Justice says it expects cells in prisons to free up as early as Thursday due to a third emergency measure which will see some prisoners released up to 70 days early. The measures were described as 'temporary stopgaps' by the Prison Officers Association and the Prision Governor's Assocation. Gavin Stephens, NPCC chairman, said: 'We are working closely with criminal justice system partners to manage demand in the system and ensure that the public are safe. 'Policing will always arrest anyone that they need to in order to keep the public safe, including policing protests and events and ensuring that people are arrested as expected.' A Government spokesman said: 'Public safety will always be our first priority. That is why we have backed our police with the officers and resources they need to keep our streets safe and are introducing new laws to lock up the most dangerous offenders for longer while delivering the biggest prison expansion programme in 100 years. 'We continue to see pressure on our jails following the impact of the pandemic and barristers' strike and have initiated a previously used operational measure to securely transfer prisoners between courts and custody.' Michael Gove has said he is 'deeply worried' about the potential impact of the Middle East conflict on the general election. He feared Islamist groups as well as hard-Left and far-Right extremists want to 'undermine our democracy'. The Communities Secretary also condemned the divisive rhetoric and 'provocative cries' heard at the recent local elections, which saw dozens of councillors win after campaigning on the issue of Palestine. It came as the Green Party's Mothin Ali - who said Hamas should fight back against Israel - repeated at a rally the 'infamous' shout of 'Allahu Akbar' ('God is greatest') he gave after being voted onto Leeds City Council. Asked if he was worried Gaza protests will continue into the general election, Mr Gove replied: 'Yes, I'm deeply worried. 'I think that some of the cries that were issued after the votes were counted were deeply provocative and some of the campaign rhetoric was designed to divide our society.' Michael Gove (pictured) said feared Islamist groups as well as hard-Left and far-Right extremists want to 'undermine our democracy Pro-Palestinian demonstrators wave Palestinian flags and hold placards as they protest in Parliament Square in London on February 21, 2024 People take part in a 'March For Palestine', in London on October 21, 2023 He said he would never want to censor people's strong feelings about the Middle East, but he continued: 'We have to be alive to the fact that there are Islamist organisations, extreme-Left figures and far-Right figures who want to undermine our democracy and will use electoral events as a means to do so.' Mr Gove spoke out after a speech in which he condemned the 'explosion' of anti-Semitism in Britain since Hamas killed 1,200 festival-goers in Israel on October 7 last year. He hit out at the 'increasingly strident, visible and lurid' examples seen on protest marches including swastikas and Hamas banners. And he attacked the 'anti-Semitism re-purposed for the Instagram age' of pro-Palestine camps set up on British campuses. Two former prime ministers have criticised Labour for appearing to back an international criminal court (ICC) arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Lord Cameron branded Sir Keir Starmer's party the 'odd man out' while Boris Johnson said the party should be 'ashamed' for backing the potential prosecution. It came after shadow foreign secretary David Lammy defended the court and said that 'international law must be upheld'. Speaking in the House of Lords yesterday, Lord Cameron noted how Germany, the US, Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic had all condemned the action by the court's chief prosecutor. Boris Johnson (pictured) said Labour should be 'ashamed' for backing the potential prosecution Lord Cameron (pictured) noted how Germany, the US, Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic had all condemned the action by the court's chief prosecutor If the court does issue the warrants, ICC members, would have a legal obligation to arrest Mr Netanyahu (pictured) if he were to enter the country He compared this to how Labour 'seems to be saying it supports the ICC in every way' as he said the decision by the court is 'a mistake'. The ICC's chief prosecutor Karim Khan triggered international outrage after saying he would apply for arrest warrants for key Israeli and Hamas figures who he said were responsible for war crimes in Gaza and Israel. They include Mr Netanyahu, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant as well as Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh. He accused Israel of using 'starvation as a method of warfare' and carrying out 'collective punishment' of the population of Gaza and said Hamas's actions were 'unconscionable crimes' that 'demand accountability'. The ICC panel includes Sir Adrian Fulford, Judge Theodor Meron, Amal Clooney, Danny Friedman, Baroness Helena Kennedy and Elizabeth Wilmshurst. Baroness Kennedy, KC, was given a life peerage by Tony Blair in 1997 and speaks regularly on civil liberties and human rights issues. She is a founding member of Doughty Street Chambers in 1990, along with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. Danny Friedman, KC, is another British human rights barrister who recently accused Israel of breaching international law by its actions in Gaza. The Jewish lawyer wrote an article for Jewish News in November in which he accused Israel of causing 'catastrophic mass fatality and untold human suffering of Palestinians.' Amal Clooney is a barrister with Doughty Street. Solicitor Elizabeth Wilmshurst is an 'Academic Expert' with Doughty Street chambers. Meanwhile, Mr Johnson told the Mail that Labour's backing for the 'rule of Lefty lawyers' would embolden Hamas, Iran and Russia. 'This is Starmer's world - the rule of Lefty lawyers, weakening Britain abroad and making it harder for democracies to stand up for freedom,' he said. 'Who will be pleased by Labour's decision? Hamas. Iran. Russia. That's who. Shame on the whole Labour frontbench.' However, Labour sources denied that Mr Lammy had drawn any moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas. They said he was in agreement with other countries including France, Germany and the EU in backing the independence of the ICC. But Lord Cameron told peers: 'I don't believe for one moment that seeking these warrants is going to help get the hostages out, it's not going to help get aid in and it's not going to help deliver a sustainable ceasefire. Lord Cameron compared the condemnation for the warrant to how Labour 'seems to be saying it supports the ICC in every way' as he said the decision by the court is 'a mistake' It came after shadow foreign secretary David Lammy defended the court and said that 'international law must be upheld' 'To draw moral equivalence between the Hamas leadership and the democratically-elected leader of Israel I think is just plain wrong.' Rishi Sunak also said that the move was 'deeply unhelpful', adding: 'There is no moral equivalence between a democratic state exercising its lawful right to self defence and the terrorist group Hamas.' If the court does issue the warrants, ICC members, would have a legal obligation to arrest Mr Netanyahu if he were to enter the country, though members have defied ICC warrants in the past. The prosecution's actions have drawn international condemnation, with US President Joe Biden dismissing the move as 'outrageous' and rejected it. Israel is not a member of the court, so the PM would not face detention in his own country, but British police would be obliged to detain him. Mr Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders condemned the move as disgraceful and antisemitic. Speaking to CNN the Israeli PM said the charge was 'outrageous', describing the ICC's chief prosecutor Karim Khan as a 'rogue prosecutor'. The Defence Secretary will today call for NATO to 'wake up' and for its members to spend at least 2.5 per cent of their GDP on their armed forces. Speaking at the London Defence Conference today, Grant Shapps is set to say that this scale of investment should become the new baseline for the alliance. Under the current situation, NATO members are supposed to spend just 2.0 per cent of their GDP on defence, which may not suffice in such turbulent times. Of the alliance's 32 states, only 11 fulfilled this obligation last year - but this is expected to rise to 18 by the end of this year. Only eight states currently spend around 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence. Last month, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the UK will reach this level of spending in 2030. Defence Secretary Grant Shapps is interviewed outside the BBC Studios on Mat 19, 2024 Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden, who were previously neutral, applied to join NATO. British soldiers from 21 Air Assault Battery Royal Artillery in Afghanistan The 2.5 per cent baseline could be adopted at NATO's 75th anniversary summit in Washington D.C. in July. Mr Shapps will also urge European countries which benefit from NATO's protection - but do not presently belong to it - to join the alliance. He will say: 'I will go to Washington and make the case for 2.5 per cent. 'I will also make the case for NATO to bring all those who benefit from the alliance's umbrella of protection into the organisation. 'Some European countries effectively benefit from NATO coverage - they enjoy the benefits of freedom and liberty - yet fail to sign up to the continent's collective deterrence. 'When the wolf is at the backdoor of Europe's security there should be no place for neutrality.' In international law, neutral states must not participate in armed conflicts with other states and should not support or favour any warring parties. Interior shot of NATO headquarters Mr Shapps is also due to attend a major security conference in Singapore next week. He will meet defence officials from regional allies, including Australia. British Marines run towards a Taliban position during a British commando offensive on March 18, 2007 Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden, who were previously neutral, applied to join NATO. Their policy shift has left Malta, Austria, Cyprus and Ireland as Europe's last neutral states. In international law, neutral states must not participate in armed conflicts with other states and should not support or favour any warring parties. Despite the war in Ukraine, Ireland's lawmakers have defended its historic commitment to neutrality. However, the country has granted asylum to more than 100,000 Ukrainians - ten times the average across the European Union. Mr Shapps is also due to attend a major security conference in Singapore next week. He will meet defence officials from regional allies, including Australia. The Defence Secretary added: 'I will travel there with a clear message that if our partners in the Indo-Pacific close to overlook illegal invasions in Europe it would have consequences for international security everywhere, including the Indo-Pacific where territorial disputes dot the region.' A police officer sent to investigate the disappearance of two elderly campers has revealed in court the heartbreaking moment he believed he had found them alive. Former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn, 57, has pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria to the murders of secret lovers Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, in the Wonnangatta Valley, in Victoria's Alpine region, in March 2020. On Tuesday, Sergeant Matt Turner told the jury he had been dispatched to the area on March 28 after being told Mr Hill's vehicle and burnt campsite had been located there. Images obtained by police upon the initial search for the missing campers A witness has claimed Greg Lynn was camped in the area circled. Mr Hill's vehicle was found about 30 metres from the river displayed The crime scene services officer drove into the bush that afternoon with his partner and onto the Wonnangatta Track where the couple were last seen alive. 'As we drove into the flat area of the valley we saw two people who were probably in their 60s and we thought, "We've solved it already. These are the missing people",' he told the jury. But the police officer's hopes were quickly dashed after he stopped to speak with the hikers. 'They weren't the people who were missing so we proceeded on until we found the camp ground,' Sergeant Turner said. Upon arriving at the scene, Sergeant Turner took a series of photographs of the campsite, which at that point police believed may have been the result of an accident. The Wonnangatta Valley, in Victoria's Alpine region, where Russell Hill and Carol Clay were allegedly murdered Carol Clay was allegedly blasted with a shotgun by Lynn before Mr Hill was impaled on a knife during a struggle with the former pilot Haunting images showed the inside of Mr Hill's beloved Landcruiser, his wallet open and strewn on the driver's side footwell. On the passenger seat, Ms Clay's handbag and other personal items remained untouched, but her green-coloured purse was also discarded in the footwell. When the officer opened Ms Clay's purse, he found her licence and Medicare card neatly positioned within clear sleeves within it. Her smiling licence image was shown to the jury, which on Tuesday was reduced to 14 members after one fell ill and needed to be discharged. Other images showed the burnt remains of the campers' tent, which contained a destroyed solar panel, gas cooker, gas cylinders, buckets and an electronic tablet. Beside the fire-damaged 4WD were several empty cans of bourbon and coke. About 30 metres from the scene, Sergeant Turner took a series of images that captured the idyllic river next to where their alleged killer is believed to have set up his own camp. When the policemen finished capturing the scene on camera, Sergeant Turner said he felt obligated to return the secret hidden key he had used to enter Mr Hill's vehicle back to the spot he had found it. The jury had previously heard police were able to enter Mr Hill's locked car after learning of the key's location from his wife, who had reported her husband missing when he failed to make contact via his long distance radio. Greg Lynn has pleaded not guilty to the murders, claiming the deaths were both a 'tragic accident' The burnt remains of Mr Hill's Esky and a battery A camper heard Lynn attempt to cross this section of river before having to perform a u-turn because the road was closed. Police allege he had the bodies of the campers in a trailer at the time '(The key) was left with the vehicle just in case they came back and they needed the vehicle to go,' Sergeant Turner said. 'If they were lost in the bush and came back to the vehicle, we didn't want to have taken the spare key with us and have them stranded with no vehicle.' The court heard the officers placed distinctive police tape in a cross-shape across the rear of Mr Hill's car before leaving. 'I left the scene just after 7pm. I put some police tape across the back of the vehicle so if they did come back to the vehicle they'd know that police had been there,' Sergeant Turner said. He also hoped the tape would give comfort to the campers that their wallets hadn't been stolen. 'If they thought that their wallets had been stolen they'd know the police had been there, they could ring police,' the officer said. Detectives claim Lynn killed the elderly campers before placing their bodies in his trailer and dumping them at another location within the bush. On Wednesday, the court heard Lynn claimed Mr Hill and Ms Clay were killed in a 'tragic accident'. His barrister Dermot Dann, KC told the jury Mr Hill stole Lynn's shotgun after he became enraged about Lynn playing loud music on the night he was killed. 'He went towards Mr Hill to try and get the gun back - to take control of the gun,' Mr Dann said. The jury heard that as Lynn tried to wrestle the firearm away from Mr Hill, the gun discharged and Ms Clay was hit in the head. 'A struggle developed over the knife. Mr Lynn trying to defend himself - they're locked in this struggle - and as part of that struggle the two men fall to the ground and the knife goes through the chest of Mr Hill,' said Mr Dann The court heard Mr Hill and Lynn had argued earlier in the day about Lynn hunting for deer so close to other campers. The jury has heard Lynn admitted to covering up the campers' deaths because he was afraid of being pinned with murder. The trial continues. New Caledonia has been rocked for several days by riots that have so far claimed six lives. This uprising is the result of repeated provocations by the French imperialist government. In 2022 after Macron forced through a referendum on independence in spite of his promises to the contrary we published the article below, in which we wrote: The French government welcomes the result, but the problem is by no means settled and is bound to resurface, sooner or later. Since then, the government has pushed ahead with a process of electoral reform that constitutes a significant provocation for the Kanaks. [Originally published in French at marxiste.org] The French imperialist government responded to the anger of the oppressed Kanak people with ferocious repression: sending in military and police reinforcements, arresting pro-independence leaders, supporting armed militias of European settlers, and so on. New Caledonia is an important outpost of French imperialism because of its nickel reserves and its strategic location in the South Pacific. The reaction of the leaders of the French workers' movement to this ferocious repression is highly inadequate. Mass mobilisations must be organised, to oppose repression and the sending of troops to New Caledonia. The workers movement must give its full support to the Kanaks right to self-determination, which can only be achieved through a revolutionary mobilisation of the masses of New Caledonia. The comments we made in the article below about the policy of the leaders of the Kanak national liberation movement remain perfectly valid. An independent but capitalist Kanaky would immediately fall prey to rival imperialisms in the region, be it from China, Australia or the United States. The struggle for self-determination must be accompanied by a struggle against capitalism and for the establishment of socialism throughout the region. This is the only way to lift the Kanak people out of the misery and oppression into which French imperialism has plunged them. On 12 December [2021], a referendum held in New Caledonia gave an overwhelming majority (96.5 percent) to those opposed to the territory's independence. The reason for this result is simple: the pro-independence movement had called for a boycott of the vote, to protest against a series of outrageous measures taken by the Macron government. While turnout had been over 80 percent for the last two independence referendums (November 2018 and October 2020), this time it was just 43 percent. The French government welcomes the result, but the problem is by no means settled and is bound to resurface, sooner or later. From colonisation to the Noumea Accords Inhabited by the Kanak people for nearly three millennia, New Caledonia was colonised by France from 1853. Land was confiscated from the Kanaks and given to settlers. The French occupation provoked fierce resistance. A mass insurrection in 1878 was crushed, with thousands of Kanaks either killed or deported to other French colonies. With the development of capitalism, New Caledonia became an important source of raw materials for French industry. The territory holds around 7 percent of the world's nickel reserves, a crucial mineral for the electronics industry. Throughout the 20th century, the economic development of this colony barely translated into improvements in the lives of the Kanaks. In the 1950s, the Kanak people were even officially described as on the brink of extinction! With the development of capitalism, New Caledonia became an important source of raw materials for French industry / Image: BeenAroundAWhile, Wikimedia Commons After the Second World War, at a time when many colonies were gaining their independence, a pro-independence movement developed in New Caledonia. From the 1970s onwards, it initially tried to negotiate independence with France, but was met with ferocious repression by the police and settler militias. In the 1980s, several pro-independence leaders were assassinated. Faced with the failure of the legal route, a new party was created in 1984 to win independence by force of arms: the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS). The FLNKS carried out an increasing number of coups de main and symbolic attacks. In response, anti-independence militiamen set up violent ambushes at FLNKS demonstrations, while state repression intensified. Several FLNKS activists were killed by the police. In 1988, on the island of Ouvea, the FLNKS attacked a gendarmerie and took some officers hostage. Jacques Chirac's government sent in special forces from Paris. Their intervention and the release of the hostages were accompanied by acts of torture against Kanak civilians and prisoners. After these bloody events, the FLNKS changed its strategy and agreed to negotiate with Michel Rocard's government. The Matignon (1988) and then Noumea (1998) accords provided for greater autonomy for New Caledonia, the integration of the FLNKS into the territory's government, and the organisation of several referendums on independence... almost 30 years later! The last of these referendums has just taken place. It marks the failure of the FLNKS strategy. The trap of reformism The FLNKS went through a process that is very common among national liberation movements. Faced with the inflexibility of colonial power, it turned to a guerrilla strategy. Instead of patiently organising the Kanak population to carry out mass actions and paralyse colonial power, heroic young militants were killed in symbolic actions. Faced with the impasse of this strategy, the leaders of the FLNKS switched to reformism, participation in government bodies and the search for a negotiated solution with French imperialism. Guerrilla warfare and reformist legalism have one thing in common: these two strategies abandon the idea of organising the mass of Kanaks in a united struggle. These methods favour the action of a small minority, who one day brandish a gun and the next day accept ministerial portfolios. In passing, it should be pointed out that these errors were encouraged by the attitude of the French left on this issue. The leaders of the Socialist Party (PS) and the Communist Party (PCF) sacrificed Kanak self-determination in defence of French imperialism, while many ultra-left organisations unreservedly supported armed adventures. Today, the FLNKS has reached an impasse. French imperialism does not want to abandon New Caledonia, not least because of its strategic position vis-a-vis Chinese imperialism. The FLNKS leaders no doubt hoped that a massive boycott of the referendum would prompt Paris to open new negotiations. Macron congratulated himself on his victory and considers the matter settled. To win the right to self-determination, the Kanak national movement will have to abandon reformism and embark on a revolutionary mass struggle. It will have to organise the workers of New Caledonia in order to wage a struggle against French capitalism and the imperialist powers which have their sights set on the territory. As for the French workers' movement, it must support this struggle. Our enemies are the same: French capitalism and imperialism! Slain camper Russell Hill was hospitalised after suffering depression and a painful personal problem, a court has heard. Former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn, 57, has pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria to the murders of secret lovers Mr Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, in the Wonnangatta Valley, in Victoria's Alpine region, in March 2020. On Tuesday, Mr Hill's wife Robyn Hill explained what she knew about how Mr Hill came to be placed on anti-depressants after an incident in the mid 1970s in the bush where he worked in the logging industry. 'I'd have to say when he did go to hospital he had a very enlarged penis and it wouldn't go down and that was part of the depression apparently,' she told the jury. The court heard Mr Hill remained on-and-off anti-depressants in all the years that followed right up to the day he was allegedly murdered. Robyn Hill fronted the Supreme Court of Victoria on Tuesday where she was grilled about her husband's secret life Russell Hill was about 187cms tall and weighed about 93kgs at the time of his death Ms Hill told the court her husband had long lied about his relationship with Ms Clay, who Lynn claimed was shot by Mr Hill in a tragic accident before he died by falling on a knife in the following struggle. The jury has heard Mr Hill was Ms Clay's first boyfriend, but they had hooked-up again in the early 2000s. Ms Hill told the court she and her husband would go on holidays to Phillip Island with Ms Clay and her then husband oblivious to their secret relationship. She told the court she had known Ms Clay as long as her husband, who had told her Ms Clay was her first cousin. It was a lie Ms Hill only learned after she observed Mr Hill and Ms Clay behaving in 'strange ways', such as going on walks together on those trips away. The secret relationship was finally brought to a head when a neighbour of the Hills threatened to expose Mr Hill's behaviour to his wife. Carol Clay was allegedly blasted with a shotgun by Greg Lynn before Mr Hill was impaled on a knife during a struggle with the former pilot Greg Lynn claims Russell Hill attempted to steal his shotgun when he was forced to intervene in what became a deadly struggle The court heard Mr Hill confessed to the relationship, but assured his wife he would end the affair immediately - a lie he maintained up until his alleged murder. Ms Hill broke down in tears as Lynn's barrister Dermot Dann KC explained how Mr Hill continued to lie about his secret camping trips with Ms Clay. Ms Hill said she believed her husband was alone when he set off on his final camping trip into the bush. The jury heard Mr Hill had told his entire family he would be alone. The court heard Ms Hill had bought her husband a fresh box of anti-depressants along with cans of bourbon and coke and a bottle of Bundaberg rum for the trip. A bottle of wine was also later found at the burnt campsite. She also gave him $20 or $30 in cash so that he could buy himself lunch. Ms Hill agreed with Mr Dann that her husband enjoyed sitting by the campfire at night enjoying a few drinks. On Wednesday, the court heard Lynn claimed Mr Hill and Ms Clay were killed in a 'tragic accident'. Mr Dann told the jury Mr Hill stole Lynn's shotgun after he became enraged about Lynn playing loud music on the night he was killed. 'He went towards Mr Hill to try and get the gun back - to take control of the gun,' Mr Dann said. The jury heard that as Lynn tried to wrestle the firearm away from Mr Hill, the gun discharged and Ms Clay was hit in the head. 'A struggle developed over the knife. Mr Lynn, trying to defend himself, they're locked in this struggle and as part of that struggle the two men fall to the ground and the knife goes through the chest of Mr Hill,' Mr Dann said. Robyn Hill and her daughter Debbie both gave evidence on Tuesday Images obtained by police upon the initial search for the missing campers The court heard Mr Hill was no stranger to shotguns and had himself owned two of the firearms in the past, which he kept in a wardrobe. Those guns were eventually handed into authorities during a gun amnesty, the jury heard. The weapons had originally been his father's, with Mr Hill never obtaining a gun licence of his own. Mr Hill's daughter Debbie Hill told the jury she recalled her father duck hunting when she was aged about 14 - likely in the mid-1980s. 'I only remember one being shot,' she told the jury. The court heard Mr Hill had been opposed to guns after a tragic accident claimed the life of his relative. Gary Hill had been shot dead by his nephew in 1994 after he was mistaken for a deer. A plaque honouring Gary had been erected in a camp known as Hilly's Camp, which was positioned close to where Mr Hill and Ms Clay were killed. 'He felt they were unsafe,' Debbie told the court. Debbie told the court she knew of her father's relationship with Ms Clay 'a long time ago'. Like her mother, she remembered her father telling her he would end the relationship in the mid-2000s. A witness has claimed Greg Lynn was camped in the area circled. Mr Hill's vehicle was found about 30 metres from the river displayed The Wonnangatta Valley, in Victoria's Alpine region, where Russell Hill and Carol Clay were allegedly murdered Ms Hill told the court she had married her husband in 1969 and initially lived in Lilydale before moving to a flat in Nayook, east of Melbourne. Mr Hill had worked his life in the logging industry, where he hauled logs out of the bush with a bulldozer. He had helped made some of the very tracks he last drove upon in the Wonnangatta Valley where he died. Ms Hill said she too would camp with her husband in the same rugged areas where he took Ms Clay. 'When Debbie was very small we used to camp in a caravan up there around Christmas because he'd be putting tracks in,' she said. Ms Hill had lived with him in Drouin, in Melbourne's south-east, at the time of his death. The court heard Mr Hill had taken up flying a drone during retirement where he liked to get an aerial view of the landscape below. She also spoke of his love for amateur radio and how he would talk to friends on it everyday. The court heard she briefly listened in on radio calls Mr Hill made in the two days before he is believed to have been killed. 'A lot of the time I didn't listen to all that because it was just men's business,' she said. Ms Hill said her husband appeared jovial before heading out on what would be his final adventure. 'He was happy because he liked going up there. It's a lovely place,' she said. The trial continues. Almost every Labor cabinet minister owns at least two properties, including Anthony Albanese, with the vast majority of politicians from all sides being real estate investors during the housing crisis. The Prime Minister is one of 20 senior ministers in the 23-member cabinet who owns either an investment property that is being rented out or another home apart from their principal place of residence. Every cabinet minister owns at least one home, pecuniary interest register documents show, as immigration levels hit a record high causing median house prices to surge by double-digit figures in just 12 months. Both sides of politics have this week admitted the fastest population growth since the early 1950s had caused a rental crisis. Interestingly, more Labor cabinet ministers own multiple properties than their Liberal and National Party counterparts. Almost every Labor cabinet minister owns at least two properties including Anthony Albanese (pictured at his Marrickville house) - with the vast majority of politicians from all sides being real estate investors during a rental crisis Property investors benefit financially if real estate values go up - with CoreLogic data showing Australian big city house prices have surged by 10.3 per cent during the past year. Both major parties favour keeping the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount for investors who sell along with negative gearing tax breaks for investors who make a loss each year renting out a property. Labor Labor lost the 2019 election promising to halve the capital gains tax discount to 25 per cent and scrap negative gearing for future purchases of investment properties. Former Labor leader Bill Shorten, who led the ALP to defeat in 2016 and 2019, is one of just three cabinet ministers who owns only their family home, along with Industry Minister Ed Husic and Agriculture Minister Murray Watt. But Mr Albanese is the among the majority of his colleagues who owns multiple properties. The PM owns a house at Marrickville in Sydney's inner-west, his principal place of residence, along with an investment property at nearby Dulwich Hill, which he is now selling, as well as a Canberra unit. The PM's homes in his Grayndler electorate have recorded strong capital growth during the past year, in postcodes where the median price is significantly higher than greater Sydney's already unaffordable $1.4milllion. Marrickville's median house price soared by 11.4 per cent in the year to April to $2.049million as Dulwich Hill saw a 13.4 per cent increase to $2.236millon. But Mr Albanese is far from the most prolific property owner on the Labor side with Employment Minister Tony Burke owning six properties, including five with his former colleague turned girlfriend Skye Laris. This list includes Tasmanian homes in the Meander Valley, Sorell, and the Huon Valley, along with a Belconnen home in Canberra, a Port Phillip home in Melbourne, and the family home at Punchbowl in Sydney's south-west. Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek owns four homes, including three with her husband Michael Coutts-Trotter, a senior New South Wales public servant. Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek owns four homes, including three of them with her husband Michael Coutts-Trotter, a senior New South Wales public servant There are also big property investors on Labor's backbench with first-term member for Parramatta in Sydney's west, Andrew Charlton, earlier this year buying a $12million mansion at Palm Beach called 'La Palma' (he is pictured with his wife Phoebe Arcus) That Palm Beach house (pictured) was on top of a $16.1million mansion Fintry at Bellevue Hill in Sydney's east, he bought in November 2020, along with a terrace in nearby Woollahra Employment Minister Tony Burke owning six properties, including five with his former colleague turned girlfriend Skye Laris (they are pictured in 2021 at the Australian premiere of Hamilton) That includes the family home at Rosebery in Sydney's inner south, a Carringbah investment home and an investment property at Ljubljana in Slovenia, where here parents migrated from. Ms Plibersek, a former deputy Labor leader, owns a unit at Kingston in Canberra in her name. There are also big property investors on Labor's backbench with first-term member for Parramatta in Sydney's west, Andrew Charlton, earlier this year buying a $12million mansion at Palm Beach called 'La Palma'. This is yet to appear on his pecuniary interest register because of the six-week settlement period in NSW. That was on top of a $16.1million mansion Fintry, at Bellevue Hill in Sydney's east, which he bought in November 2020, along with a terrace in nearby Woollahra. Coalition When it comes to the Coalition, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton owns a farm in northern Brisbane along with two investment properties in Brisbane's city centre. His home suburb of Dayboro has seen a 12 per cent increase during the past year to a median level of $1.106million, but Mr Dutton's farm is worth significantly more. When it comes to the Coalition, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton owns a farm in northern Brisbane along with two investment properties in Brisbane's city centre (he is pictured right at his Dayboro farm with ABC Kitchen Cabinet host Annabel Crabb) His Liberal Party deputy Sussan Ley still owns the Gold Coast apartment she bought in 2015 during a ministerial trip - leading to her resignation as health minister in January 2017 when Malcolm Turnbull was prime minister His two units are also in Brisbane's central business district, where the median apartment price during the past year has surged by 18.9 per cent to $660,187. His Liberal Party deputy Sussan Ley still owns the Gold Coast apartment she bought in 2015 during a ministerial trip - leading to her resignation as health minister in January 2017 when Malcolm Turnbull was prime minister. She also owns a house at Albury in her electorate and a rental property in the same city in southern NSW. Of the 23 shadow cabinet ministers, 18 of them own multiple properties. That includes shadow immigration Dan Tehan who owns a house at Hamilton in western Victoria and an investment property at O'Connor in Canberra. His estranged wife estranged wife Sarah, the mother of his five children, was listed as owning a home at Turner in Canberra, along with investment properties at Willoughby in Sydney, Queanbeyan, Warrnambool and Kew in Melbourne. Opposition frontbenchers Jane Hume, Anne Ruston, David Coleman and Andrew Hastie only own one home, while shadow Indigenous Australians minister Jacinta Nampijinpa Price owns no property. Teals Of the climate change-focused 'teal' independents, five of the eight owned multiple properties, except Monique Ryan and Kate Chaney. Allegra Spender, the member for Wentworth in Sydney's east owns a home at Darling Point overlooking the harbour where the the median house price is $6.6million. She also inherited a mansion at Woollahra from her late fashion designer mother Carla Zampatti, in a suburb where $4.8million is the median house price, along with holiday house at Mackeral Beach on Pittwater. Allegra Spender, the member for Wentworth in Sydney's east, is particularly wealthy, owning a home at Darling Point overlooking the harbour where the the median house price is $6.6million Zali Steggall, the member for Warringah, lives at North Balgowlah on Sydney's northern beaches, where the median house price is $2.8million and has an investment property in nearby Manly, where the mid-point price for units is a still-dear $1.9million. But of the teals, former Wallabies rugby player David Pocock has quite a portfolio with four properties at Turner in Canberra, Whyalla in South Australia, Marmion in Perth's west and Wavell Heights in Brisbane's north. Sophie Scamps, the teal member for Mackellar on Sydney's northern beaches who previously worked as a doctor, owns five properties, including a house at beachside Avalon, a farm at Wee Jasper in southern NSW, an investment property at Terrey Hills, another investment property in north-west Tasmania and an investment home at Woollongabba in Brisbane. Zali Steggall, the member for Warringah, has an investment property in Manly Greens The Greens were the only political movement where a majority of its senators and MPs did not own multiple properties, with just four of the 14 declaring a property apart from their home. But deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi is a particularly savvy investor, owning with her husband Omar an inner-city terrace at Beaconsfield in Sydney, now worth an estimated $2.1million, a rental property in the same suburb, a house near popular Lighthouse Beach in Port Macquarie, on the NSW mid-north coast, and land at Lahore in Pakistan. Elizabeth Watson-Brown, the Greens member for Ryan in Brisbane's leafy inner-west, co-owns a two-bedroom, beachfront holiday apartment at Hastings Point, south of Tweed Heads in northern NSW, with her husband Peter Skinner, who like her also practised as an architect. Tasmanian senator Peter Whish-Wilson owns a house at Trevallyn in Launceston but a house at Bicheno is in his wife Natalie's name, despite the senator owing the debt on the property. It is listed as a liability under this pecuniary interest register rather than as a real estate asset. Deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi is a particularly savvy investor, owning with her husband Omar an inner-city terrace at Beaconsfield in Sydney, now worth an estimated $2.1million, a rental property in the same suburb, a house near popular Lighthouse Beach in Port Macquarie, on the NSW mid-north coast, and land at Lahore in Pakistan Elizabeth Watson-Brown, the Greens member for Ryan in Brisbane's leafy inner-west, co-owns a two-bedroom, beachfront holiday apartment at Hastings Point, south of Tweed Heads in northern NSW with her husband Peter Skinner, who like her also practised as an architect Greens leader Adam Bandt, however, only owns his family home at Flemington in Melbourne while independent Jacqui Lambie only owns her house at Ulverstone in Tasmania's north. Immigration A record 548,800 migrants on a net basis flooded into Australia in the year to September and capital city rental vacancy rates are under one per cent - leading to long queues from prospective tenants. The 168,690 new homes built last year is also well short of the average of 240,000 new homes a year, over five years, Labor is promising to build as part of its promise for 1.2million new houses and units from July this year until 2029. With 2.5 people per home on average, that leaves a housing shortfall of 127,075 just to house new migrants before births are even factored in. The Treasury Budget papers had net overseas migration falling to 260,000 by 2024-25, and 255,000 in 2025-26 - with these figures including the permanent intake, covering skills, and the long-term component covering international students. Mr Dutton used his Budget Reply speech on Thursday night to promise that if elected, a Coalition government led by him would cut the permanent intake to 140,000, down from 185,000 the Department of Home Affairs set for 2024-25. 'We believe that by rebalancing the migration program and taking decisive action on the housing crisis, the Coalition would free up almost 40,000 additional homes in the first year,' he said. 'And well over 100,000 homes in the next five years.' A record 548,800 migrants on a net basis flooded into Australia in the year to September and capital city rental vacancy rates are under one per cent - leading to long queues from prospective tenants (pictured is a Bondi rent queue) Should the Coalition win the next election in 2025 and implement its plan to slash permanent migration by 40,000 Australia's overall net overseas migration intake would still be at 215,000. This would be marginally above the 194,400 level of the 2019-20 financial year taking in the start of the Covid pandemic. It would also be double the 106,425 level of two decades ago, before net overseas immigration tripled to 315,700 by 2008. Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who owns a house at Springwood in Logan south of Brisbane and an apartment at Forrest in Canberra, admitted in his Tuesday njght Budget speech that the high number of international students had made rent unaffordable. 'For too long, enrolments have grown without being matched by an increase in student housing supply,' he said. 'This puts pressure on prices and rents, especially in our cities and suburbs.' Dr Chalmers announced universities would need to build more housing for international students if they wanted to keep relying on their upfront fees for a lucrative revenue stream. 'If universities want to take more international students, they must build more student accommodation,' he said. Donald Trump told a crowd of delighted Texans he wants to move and retire in the Lone Star State as he continued his love affair with the South. Speaking to an adoring crowd at the NRA National Convention, the former president said: 'I want to move to Texas and I want to retire in Texas... a lot of people are moving to Texas.' Trump made the comments after receiving the endorsement of the National Rifle Association in Dallas on Saturday. While it's unclear if Trump's declaration was serious, he visited the southern state 18 times while he was in office, and 13 times since he lost the 2020 election. Trump famously ditched New York during his presidency, switching to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, which is also a tax haven. Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks after receiving the endorsement of NRA on Saturday in Dallas Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Trump would protect the rights of gun owners if re-elected The former commander-in--chief was welcomed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who told they crowd they needed to fire Biden and send Trump back to the White House. While they were never on the stage at the same time, Trump showed his appreciation for the governor who was named one of the Time magazine's 100 most influential people after capturing the spotlight by busing migrants from the Texas-Mexico border to cities like New York, Chicago and Denver. 'We're also grateful to be joined by a very special man. He's a hot politician, very hot,' Trump said of Abbott. 'You're a hot politician, Greg. You know why he's hot... because he's doing a good job.' Trump received a standing ovation from the crowd God, guns and Trump! Texans turned out in full force for the former president The presidential hopeful told the Second Amendment crowd President Joe Biden would take their guns away if he won re-election. 'They want to take away your rights. I know that better than anybody. They want want to take away my rights better than anybody...worse than Alphonse Capone. Al Capone was indicted twice,' he said, referencing his own four indictments in four separate criminal cases. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton recently made an appearance at Trump's ongoing hush-money trial in New York City. During his weekend visit to Texas, Trump revealed Paxton is being considered as a possible U.S. attorney general if he wins a second term in the White House. He called Paxton 'a very talented guy' and praised his many lawsuits against the Biden Administration. Trump looks around after be made a joke while speaking during the National Rifle Association Convention Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, an ally of the former president, attended Trump's criminal trial at the New York State Supreme Court in New York, New York, USA, 30 April 2024. Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign 'I would, actually,' Trump told KDFW-TV. He's very, very talented. I mean, we have a lot of people that want that one and will be very good at it. But he's a very talented guy.' Paxton is also the subject of multiple criminal investigation and nearly lost his job after he was impeached by the Texas legislature, made up of members of GOP. During the impeachment, an affair between Paxton and woman named Laura Olson, who was involved in a quid pro-quo with a major Paxton donor, came to light. Paxton is accused of taking political donations from the donor in exchange for favors from the donor, such as giving his mistress a job. The same allegations are the subject of federal investigation by the FBI into Paxton. If Trump became POTUS and appointed Paxton to the role, Paxton could lead the same agency that is currently investigating him. Celebrity break-ups have impacted fans for years, leaving them questioning what the couple's future would have looked like if they stayed together. Now a graphic designer has brought the 'what-ifs' to life using AI, revealing the families of famous ex-couples like Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, and Twilight stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. Jeremy Pomeroy also recreated the romance of Taylor Swift and Harry Styles, who separated in 2013, generating a little girl and boy who look like the Eras Tour star. The Australian designer used photoshop and advanced AI algorithms to 'help generate unique and imaginative images based on existing data and my guidance.' Taylor Swift and Harry Styles (pictured) dated briefly from late 2012 to early 2013 and reportedly broke up due to long-distance. The reimagined portrait of the former couple, who fans dubbed 'Haylor,' show them in 1960s-style clothing with their AI-generated children The AI-generated images show some celebrities and their would-be children clad in Victorian-era attire to 'evoke a sense of nostalgia or historical context,' Pomeroy told DailyMail.com. He focused on celebrities that significantly impacted pop culture through their real-life relationships or those portrayed in memorable films like Ryan Gosling and Emily (Emma) Stone's love affair in 'La La Land.' In one image, a portrait shows Taylor Swift and former boyfriend Harry Styles with two kids wearing what appears to be clothing from the 1960s. The children, a little girl with brown hair and her younger brother who resembles Swift stare into the distance, showing off a combination of the former couple's features. Other images centered on Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams who met during filming of 'The Notebook' in 2003 and started dating in 2005. They broke up after just two years together, with Gosling blaming Hollywood for the split. 'When both people are in show business, it's too much show business. It takes all of the light, so nothing else can grow,' Gosling said at the time, Distractify reported. Pomeroy's images of the former couple also show them in Victorian clothes with their three children - two young girls and their older brother - sitting around a small breakfast table. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams (pictured) met during filming of 'The Notebook' in 2003 and started dating in 2005. Their relationship lasted for two years, with Gosling attributing their breakup to the demands of Hollywood Mila Kunis and 'Home Alone' child star Macaulay Culkin (pictured with their AI-generated kids) dated for eight years after they met in 2003. Kunis was starring on Family Guy when the pair met but they split amicably in 2011. Kunis previously admitted that it was difficult to walk down the street with Culkin because of the attention he received from fans, which led to their breakup Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt (pictured) started dating in 1998 and a year later they were engaged. Their marriage lasted for five years, with the couple splitting in October 2005. Critics responded to the AI-generated picture of the pair, calling it 'insensitive' because Pitt went on to have four kids with his now ex-wife Angelina Jolie while Aniston reportedly can't have kids Pomeroy said he was driven to create these types of images to explore not just pop culture but also societal issues and visual art. 'By imagining what the families of celebrity couples would look like if they had stayed together, I sought to engage viewers in thought-provoking narratives and spark conversations about relationships, identity, and the dynamics of fame,' he said. The graphic designer created the first 'what if' image in May 2023, centered on Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's high-profile relationship and subsequent breakup because of how much it captivated the public's attention at the time. 'The idea of imagining what their family could have looked like if they had stayed together and had children intrigued me and offered a poignant starting point for this artistic series,' he said. Some people called this portrait 'insensitive and disrespectful' because Pitt went on to have six kids - two were adopted - with his now ex-wife Angelina Jolie while Aniston reportedly can't have children. However, Pomeroy said the reactions he received after publishing the image were 'incredible' and pushed him to create more portraits of would-be couples and depict them more creatively, but respect people's alternative perspectives and opinions of the work. 'Negative feedback can be part of the artistic journey,' he said, 'and it challenges me to grow and learn. It's important to remain open to constructive criticism and use it to refine my craft further.' Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez (pictured with their AI-generated kids) started dating in 2010 after his manager contacted her, saying Bieber wanted to meet. The broke up two years later due to their conflicting schedules President John F. Kennedy had an alleged love affair with Marilyn Monroe one weekend in March 1962, only two months before Monroe's now-infamous rendition of 'Happy Birthday' at Kennedy's 45th birthday celebration. In the AI-generated portrait, Jeremy Pomeroy revealed what Kennedy and Monroe's kids would have looked like Pomeroy said the imagined portrait of former President John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe was the most requested artwork he received. Kennedy had an alleged love affair with Monroe one weekend in March 1962, only two months before Monroe's now-infamous rendition of 'Happy Birthday' at Kennedy's 45th birthday celebration. The most-requested picture shows a smiling Kennedy in a black suit next to Monroe, clad in a classic white dress and pearl necklace with a young boy and girl, also donning crisp, white outfits. Pomeroy said this image struck an emotional chord with viewers because of its 'tender and intimate depiction [which] invited viewers to contemplate the potential impact of these legendary figures coming together in a different timeline.' This photo also resulted in engaging discussions from viewers who reportedly requested more historical portraits - although Pomeroy said hasnt released any yet. Other images included a family portrait of Twilight stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson with their three kids and Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber with their three girls. Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson (pictured with their AI-generated kids) met on the set of Twilight and started dating in 2009 but split in 2013 after Stewart had an alleged affair with the director of 'Snow White.' Pomeroy created images of couples who had on-screen chemistry like Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio (pictured with their 'what if' kids) who starred in the critically-acclaimed 1997 film, 'Titanic.' The pair never dated in real life but remained close friends He also created photos of couples who had a deep-rooted on-screen romance like Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio who starred in the critically-acclaimed 1997 film, 'Titanic.' The pair never dated in real life but have remained close friends, even reuniting to film the 2008 movie, 'Revolutionary Road.' Pomeroy said he is cognizant of the moral and legal boundaries that accompany these kinds of AI-generated portraits, particularly the personal rights of the featured celebrities as well as fake news and copyright issues. 'Copyright concerns surrounding these images are still a legal gray area, and I prioritize ensuring my artworks are filled with intention and original ideas, clearly demonstrating human involvement in the final result,' he said. For Pomeroy, the allure of AI was the 'endless creative possibilities it offers,' allowing him to build almost any artwork without being limited by budgets or being backed by an organization. 'AI empowers me to explore uncharted territories in art, experiment with new techniques, and push the boundaries of my imagination,' Pomeroy said. 'It's an exhilarating journey of discovery and innovation that continually fuels my passion for creating impactful and thought-provoking artwork.' While the average IQ score has dropped in the US over the years, individual states have seen a rise that has made them stand out from the crowd. Researchers from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) analyzed 10 metrics, such as exam grades and IQs, which were given a numerical score and totaled to uncover the smartest states. The team found that Massachusetts, home to Harvard and MIT, took the top spot with a total score of 81.63 that was boosted by its average 104.3 IQ score and high college graduation rate. New Hampshire ranked second with a 79.52 intelligence score based on having the highest literacy and numeracy rates in the nation. New Mexico, however, came in last on the list, with a total score of 17.74 due to having one of the lowest scores on the SAT and ACT tests. Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Minnesota nabbed the gold, silver and bronze as the 'smartest' states in the union according to the new analysis by the University of Technology Sydney Online (above). The researchers merged 10 data points to compile their rankings The new study follows a 2023 report by the World Population Review which found that the average IQ score across the entire US fell from 100 to 98 last year - which some experts said was the first time rates have fallen since tracking began. Breakdown of data used to rank America's smartest states Average IQ: 15 percent 15 percent High School Graduation Rates 2024: 10 percent 10 percent College Graduation Rate 2024: 15 percent 15 percent SAT & ACT score: 15 percent 15 percent NAEP scores: 10 percent 10 percent Literacy Rate: 10 percent 10 percent Numeracy Rate: 10 percent 10 percent ACPSA: 5 percent 5 percent Colleges per Capita: 5 percent Advertisement But the education researchers only factored-in 'average IQ' as 15 percent out of the 100 percent total measurements used in their system. Both college graduation rates and statewide average SAT & ACT scores counted as 15 percent each, alongside those IQ scores. High school graduation rates counted at 10 percent, as did literacy and math literacy or 'numeracy' rates. Innovative metrics like 'Colleges per Capita' and each state's share of the US Bureau of Economic Analysis 'State Value Added for Arts and Culture Production' (ACPSA) score each contributed five percent to the total score (see breakdown below). As the home of many storied institutions, Massachusetts may have benefited from those five percent boosts in the rankings. 'The state, home to M.I.T. and other prestigious universities, also saw the highest college graduation rate in the country,' the UTS Online researchers said in a statement. Adding: 'The state has the highest average IQ, at 104.3.' 'All these factors make Massachusetts top of the pile in both intelligence and education,' the authors said. To provide a sense of the spread created by the UTS Online's 'intelligence score' system, Massachusetts topped the list with a 81.63/100 and New Mexico's score at the bottom of the list was 17.74/100. Education researchers with the University of Technology Sydney Online, who conducted the new state-by-state analysis, only factored-in 'average IQ' as 15 percent out of the 100 percent total used in their system. Statewide average SAT & ACT scores counted as 15 percent as well According to this UTS analysis, Vermont came in fourth place with an 'intelligence score' of 75.60/100. Residents of the 'Green Mountain State' stood out for their high literacy and math literacy rates, as well as a strong high school graduation rate of 93.3 percent. Vermont also had the third-best average IQ score in the US, although that apparent general aptitude did not place the state in the top 10 of other standardized tests like SAT and ACT scores. Washington which came in as the fifth smartest state with a score of 69.20/100 benefited greatly from a high ACPSA score, meaning that its artistic and cultural industries led the nation contributing a 9.5/100 to their intelligence score. Washington students also delivered on standardized tests, landing in the top 10 for SAT, ACT, and NAEP contributions to the total score. The remote residents of Montana took the sixth spot, with an intelligence score of 71.49/100, with one of the highest average IQs in the nation at 103.4. The state also was found to have one of the highest literacy rates in the country. 'A significant number of states are falling behind with their education. Graduation rates are dropping, and standardized test scores are stagnating, raising concerns about the future of our nation's workforce,' a spokesperson from UTS Online warned. The Sydney, Australia-based university's researchers advised that US states officials should consider 'increased funding for schools, investment in quality teachers, and a shift towards fostering critical thinking skills [...] to empower students.' 'States ranking on the higher end of the list should stay on their toes,' they added, 'and keep pushing to maintain the momentum and standards they've set.' Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a young woman in Dorset who they believe was murdered as a human sacrifice during the Iron Age. The team from Bournemouth University have been examining the remains of the woman, aged in her 20s, who was killed by a stab wound to the neck as well as damage to a rib, possibly inflicted through violence. The remains were found during excavations of a pre-historic settlement dating back 2,000 years at Winterborne Kingston in central Dorset. A university spokesman said: 'Their analysis suggests she was in her late 20s when she died and had lived a physically demanding and hardworking life. 'They also found that she suffered damage to one of her ribs, possibly inflicted through violence, weeks before she was killed by a stab wound to her neck. Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a young woman in Dorset who they believe was murdered as a human sacrifice during the Iron Age The remains were found during excavations of a pre-historic settlement dating back 2,000 years at Winterborne Kingston in central Dorset 'The combination of factors in their study suggest that this is rare physical evidence that human sacrifice took place in Iron Age Britain.' Dr Martin Smith, Associate Professor in Forensic and Biological Anthropology, said: 'In the other burials we have found, the deceased people appear to have been carefully positioned in the pit and treated with respect, but this poor woman hasn't. 'We have also previously found ceramic pots and remains of joints of meat next to human remains, which we believe are offerings for the afterlife. This was nothing like that. 'The young woman was found lying face down on top of a strange, deliberately constructed crescent shaped arrangement of animal bone at the bottom of a pit, so it looks like she was killed as part of an offering.' Ultimately, the researchers believe that the young woman was killed by a stab wound to her neck (pictured) The researchers found that she suffered damage to one of her ribs (pictured), possibly inflicted through violence The study, published in the Antiquities Journal, explains how the woman's spine showed signs of significant degeneration and arthritic change for her young age, and she also had damage to some of the discs between her vertebrae suggesting exertion from regular hard work. The archaeologists also found that she had well-developed and rugged muscle attachments which they said was another sign of rigorous and continuous physical activity. And analysis of isotopes in her teeth revealed that she would have got her drinking water as a child about 20 miles from the settlement. The team is also carrying out DNA analysis to establish whether she was brought to the settlement as an outsider from another community. The team is also carrying out DNA analysis to establish whether she was brought to the settlement as an outsider from another community The remains were found at an Iron Age site in Winterborne Kingston in central Dorset Dr Smith said: 'All the significant facts we have found such as the problems with her spine, her tough working life, the major injury to her rib, the fact she could have come from elsewhere, and the way she was buried could be explained away in isolation. 'But when you put them all together with her deposition face down on a platform of animal bone, the most plausible conclusion is that she has been the victim of a ritual killing. 'And of course, we found a large cut mark on her neck which could be the smoking gun.' Turbulence is the bane of any long-haul flight, but this natural phenomenon can be far more than simply annoying. In the worst-case scenario, turbulence can rattle planes so violently that they rise and fall by as much as 100ft (30m) metres at a time. Today, one passenger was killed and multiple others were injured when a Singapore Airways flight encountered particularly extreme turbulence. In the wake of the incident, experts have revealed just how this terrifying and unpredictable weather phenomenon comes about. Worryingly, as climate change continues to alter weather patterns, researchers warn that severe turbulence may become much more common. Turbulence is the bane of any long-haul flight, but this natural phenomenon can be far more than simply annoying Today, one passenger was killed and multiple others were injured when a Singapore Airways flight encountered particularly extreme turbulence What is turbulence? If you've ever been on a plane, it's likely you have already first-hand experience of turbulence. The plane jolts and lurches up and down, drinks are spilt, and walking in the aisle becomes nearly impossible. Dr David Birch, head of the head of the Centre for Aerodynamics & Environmental Flow at the University of Surrey, told MailOnline that this is all due to the flow of air. 'When you experience "turbulence" on an aircraft, this is because the aircraft has flown into a region of disturbed air, filled with swirls and eddies,' he said. 'Like a boat on a choppy sea, the aircraft is pushed around by the moving air.' In the wake of the incident, experts have revealed just how this terrifying and unpredictable weather phenomenon comes about What causes turbulence? Mountains As wind currents hit mountains they can produce 'mountain waves'. These are regions of turbulent air which can shake nearby planes. Storms Large storms create huge vertical air currents which cause planes to rise or fall. Passing aircraft can rise or fall between 600 and 1830 metres (2,000-6,000ft) at a time. Jet streams In clear air turbulence passing planes can be caught by high speed winds. These may become worse as climate change affects weather patterns. Advertisement That disturbance is ranked on a scale from 'light', which causes slight erratic changes in altitude, to 'severe', in which the aircraft is violently tossed about and becomes practically impossible to control. In the most extreme cases, this not only makes flying uncomfortable, but can lead to structural damage to the plane itself and even harm to passengers. The choppy air we feel as turbulence doesn't have a single cause and comes from a number of different sources. Dr Birch explains: 'Turbulence can be caused by natural phenomena like normal atmospheric wind patterns, or by wakes of other nearby aircraft.' One of the most common causes of severe turbulence is 'mechanical turbulence', which is very common around mountains and other physical obstructions. If you imagine waves hitting a rock in the ocean, the previously uniform water is now broken up and choppy. When winds hit mountains, the same thing happens, forming what are known as 'mountain waves'. These broken-up air currents create packets of rolling, turbulent air that shake planes that try to pass through. However, some of the most violent turbulence is caused by thunderstorms which create huge vertical currents of violent air. According to the National Weather Service, these currents can cause planes to rise or fall between 600 and 1830 metres (2,000-6,000ft) at a time. Nor is this disruption limited to the centre of the storm, as storms can trigger severe turbulence up to 20 miles (32km) downwind. Some of the most violent turbulence is caused by thunderstorms which create huge vertical currents of violent air But even without storms or mountains, commercial aircraft can still encounter strong currents called jet streams. These narrow bands of air circulate around the planet around the same height as planes at speeds of more than 275 mph (442 km/h). The difference between the fast moving jet stream and the surrounding air creates pockets of extremely volatile air which can have a big impact on passing planes. Paul Williams, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Reading, told MailOnline that this is called 'clear air turbulence'. Professor Williams says: 'It can be difficult to avoid because it doesn't show up on the weather radar in the flight deck.' Storms produce some of the most disruptive turbulence due to the vast columns of rising air which can push planes between 600 and 1830 metres (2,000-6,000ft) up or down What happened on the Singapore Airways flight? A passenger has been killed and several passengers injured aboard a flight from London to Singapore, which was forced to make an emergency landing in Thailand. The Boeing 777 plane operated by Singapore Airlines left the UK's Heathrow Airport on Monday evening at 22.17pm local time with 211 passengers and 18 crew on board. However, the flight hit extreme turbulence while near Myanmar's aerospace, a region currently being battered by extreme tropical thunderstorms. Aviation weather reports show that thunderstorms reaching 51,000ft are currently spread over western Thailand. According to reports, the plane is believed to have plummeted for a number of minutes in extreme turbulence at 31,000 feet before descending rapidly. It is possible that the rising air currents from the tropical storm may have caused the violent turbulence that forced the aircraft down. However, full analysis of the type of turbulence that led to the fatality is likely to take some time. This flight tracker showed the plane's route from London before diverting to Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok. The plane rerouted shortly after passing by Myanmar aerospace which is currently experiencing severe tropical storms In a statement posted to Facebook, Singapore Airlines wrote: 'Singapore Airlines flight #SQ321, operating from London (Heathrow) to Singapore on 20 May 2024, encountered severe turbulence en-route. 'We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER. There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board'. It is not immediately clear what caused the passenger's death but it could be due to falling objects. Dr Birch says: 'This is one of the reasons we're told to secure all bags in overhead lockers or under seats: these objects can become potentially dangerous in the unlikely event that the cabin is caused to shake around. 'Likewise, if you aren't wearing your seatbelt, you could be injured in much the same way as you would in a car even in a minor collision.' Are deaths due to turbulence common? Turbulence is extremely common and the vast majority of incidents do not lead to injury or death. As Dr Birch explains, turbulence at altitude is a totally natural and normal phenomenon that we simply don't notice much of the time. He says: 'The only time you can experience it is on an aircraft - and even then, pilots will have advance warning of pockets of high turbulence and will avoid them.' However, turbulence is also the most common source of serious injury while in the air. According to the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), there were 163 serious injuries due to turbulence between 2009 and 2022. Of those, 163 affected cabin crew who are more likely to be stood in when turbulence hits. A person is seen being carried away from the aircraft on a stretcher today in Bangkok However, it is worth noting that the FAA only considers injuries serious when they require 'the individual to be hospitalized for more than 48 hours' or result in bone fractures, organ damage, haemorrhage, or severe burns. Other injuries are not reported and so the true levels of injury due to turbulence are likely to be higher. According to data published by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), there have been 22 fatal injuries due to a 'turbulence encounter' on US aircraft. However, in almost half of those cases the whole aircraft was destroyed rather than a single passenger being injured. Professor Williams told MailOnline: 'Turbulence fatalities on commercial flights are fortunately very rare, but have sadly increased by one today. 'The last fatality caused by clear-air turbulence on a commercial flight occurred on 28 December 1997, on a United Airlines flight from Tokyo to Honolulu.' However, Professor Williams also notes that other forms of turbulence have resulted in deaths more recently. Last year, turbulence caused 'fatal injuries to a passenger' aboard a jet flying from New Hampshire to Virginia. Dana Hyde, 55, was killed after pilots switched off a system that helps keep aircraft stable, an investigation found. Worryingly, Professor Williams also notes that turbulence is likely to become worse as time goes by. As climate change changes global temperatures, the jet streams have become significantly more turbulent. Professor Williams own research found that severe clear air turbulence has increased by 55 per cent over the North Atlantic since 1979. He says: 'We now have strong evidence that turbulence is increasing because of climate change. 'Our latest future projections indicate a doubling or trebling of severe turbulence in the jet streams in the coming decades, if the climate continues to change as we expect. When it comes to the spread of the plague, rats and fleas usually shoulder most of the blame. But lice may have been just as responsible for transmitting the disease, according to a new study. The Black Death pandemic one of the most deadly in history ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1351 and killed tens of millions of people. Symptoms included fever, fatigue, shivering, vomiting, headaches, delirium and buboes tender, swollen lymph nodes in the groin and armpits. It has long been thought that the disease was transmitted from rodents to humans by the bite of infected fleas. The Black Death pandemic one of the most deadly in history ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1351 and killed tens of millions of people When it comes to the spread of the plague, rats and fleas usually shoulder most of the blame. But lice (pictured) may have been just as responsible for transmitting the disease, according to a new study However a new study suggests that human body lice are more efficient at transmitting Yersinia pestis the bacteria that causes the plague than previously thought. The findings, published in the journal Plos Biology, support the possibility that the parasites may have contributed to previous pandemics. Researchers from the United States' National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases carried out lab experiments in which body lice fed on blood samples containing Y. pestis. They found that body lice became infected with the bacteria and were capable of routinely transmitting it after feeding on blood containing levels of the pathogen similar to those found in actual human plague cases. Further analysis also revealed that the bacteria can infect a pair of salivary glands that lice have indicating that the disease then spreads to humans when they are bitten. They found that body lice became infected with the bacteria and were capable of routinely transmitting it after feeding on blood containing levels of the pathogen similar to those found in actual human plague cases The researchers wrote: 'Human body lice are blood-feeding parasites of their sole host, humans. 'The insects reside within the seams of human clothing where they lay their eggs, periodically returning to the skin to feed five to six times per day. 'Few studies have directly evaluated the body louse's ability to transmit Y. pestiswe have found that human body lice are better at transmitting Y. pestis than once appreciated.' They added that key features of body lice that likely contribute to their ability to spread the disease include the fact that they ingest a large volume of blood in a single feeding, increasing the amount of bacteria they consume. Their frequent feeding behaviour also increases the chance that lice will transmit enough bacteria to cause disease, they said. Present-day infestation by body lice is typically linked to homelessness, poverty, war and natural disaster any situation that results in reduced hygiene and access to clean clothing and bedding. A mysterious ancient human-like skull found in China may have been the love child of two species, according to researchers. They believe the 900,000-year-old individual was a hybrid - part us, Homo sapien, and part Homo longi, a long-lost species known as the 'Dragon Man'. The skull, named 'the Yunxian Man', after the Yunyang District of Hubei province were discovered in 2022, baffled archaeologists due to its strange shape and features. The new study recreated a full 3D model of the skull, revealing it had facial bones of a human but a flattened cranium, boxed eyes and thicker brow bone of Homo longi. It concluded, based on the preliminary findings, that the person dubbed 'the Yunxian Man', after lineage our 'long-lost sister lineage.' This partial skull fossil, which was damaged with age, was reconstructed to its full glory using 3D models. It led researchers to believe this could be one of the last common ancestors between Dragon Men and humans. The Dragon Man, scientifically named Homo longi, had a thick upper brow bone, and big, boxy eye sockets. An illustrator depicted that likeliness here. 'It is reasonable to conclude that Yunxian is morphologically and chronologically close to the last common ancestor of the lineages of H. sapiens and Dragon Man,' the authors wrote in the study published as a pre-print on the research site BioRxiv. The skull was one of three found in China over the past 50 years that scientists were initially baffled by - unable to identify their origins. It might seem like simple science to determine what bone fits to what species, but scientists have yet to agree just how many human-like species there were in our recent archeological history, Anna Goldfield an archaeologist at Boston University, wrote for Sapiens.org. It's widely accepted that there were two archaic human species - Neanderthals and Denisovans - which roamed the Earth as distinct groups until about 30,000 years ago - and had distinct features. But the Yunxian man skull was difficult to put into a single category. Based on its physical characteristics and location, researchers had thought it could be a member of the Denisovan family that originated in Asia about 500,000 years ago. While the Yunxian man had an elongated skull, similar to Denisovans, it also had a distinct, boxy eyes that set it apart. However, researchers have speculated that the 'Dragon Man' lineage could include Denisovans since the groups lived on Earth around the same time. After analyzing the new skull, the researchers determined its traits were similar to those found in early humans and Dragon Men, meaning that it was likely an offspring of both. The Homo longi had large, blocky eye sockets, molars that are much larger than ours, a thick brow bone and a similar brain size to humans, Professor Goldfield said. And those features were observed in the Yunxian man skull. 'The reconstructed Yunxian 2 suggest that it is an early member of the Asian 'Dragon Man' lineage, which probably includes the Denisovans, and is the sister group of the Homo sapiens lineage,' the authors wrote. 'Both the H. sapiens and Dragon Man lineages had deep roots extending beyond the Middle Pleistocene, and the basal position of the Yunxian fossil cranium suggests it represents a population lying close to the last common ancestor of the two lineages.' This paper has yet to be reviewed by other scientists, but previous research on Dragon Men by lead author, paleoanthropologist Xijun Ni has been published in journals like The Innovation. Modern humans became their own species, called Homo sapiens, some one million years ago. They started in Africa, but soon spread around the world. The researchers used 3D modelling to reconstruct the skull, since it had been damaged and flattened. Neanderthals originated in Europe and Asia about 400,000 years ago. Their skulls were long, they had a thick ridge above their eyes and they had a wider, bigger nose than most modern Homo sapiens. They also had a weaker, less prominent chin, according to the NHM. Denisovans also originated in Asia as their only fossils have been found in Siberia and China - but researchers believe they probably roamed the whole Asian continent, according to The Australian Museum. Relatively little is known about this class of humans, since researchers have only ever found 11 partial Denisovan fossils. Even with that limited selection, scientists determined Denisovan jaws were much more distinct than Neanderthals. Their teeth were much bigger and their pelvis were much wider than modern humans, but their fingers were similar to ours. Though each of these species is unique, they were genetically similar enough to be able to mate - like how horses and donkeys can mate to form a mule. Mate they did. You can find some humans today who have one to four percent Neanderthal DNA and four to six percent Denisovan DNA, according to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Many once crystal-clear rivers and streams across Alaska now flow with 'milky orange juice-colored' water. A team of researchers published a new study Monday explaining how Alaska's melting permafrost, accelerated by climate change, has transformed the state's rivers into orange, acidified 'dead zones.' Iron oxides, literally rust, created by the thawing of long-frozen mineral ore, as well as sulfuric acid created via that same process, has made the state's once fresh water as pungent as vinegar, blackening vegetation like wildfire and leaving fish dead. One of those researchers told DailyMail.com that these 'dead zones' could crop up 'in theory, any place where permafrost is thawing,' across 5.6 billion acres of Earth's northern hemisphere. This orange river effect, which leaves a smell that has been compared to moldy towels and rotting vegetables, can suffocate, burn and sicken aquatic life, and threatens the health and livelihoods of local communities who rely on these rivers. Geochemist Dr Timothy Lyons and his colleagues have published new research explaining how Alaska's melting permafrost - accelerated by climate change - has transformed the state's rivers into orange, acidified 'dead zones' (photographed above) 'Basically, this process can happen, in theory, any place [...] you have those kinds of rocks underneath,' geochemist Dr Timothy Lyons, a co-author on a new study, told DailyMail.com. 'And these are not exceptional rocks,' Dr Lyons noted. 'They are what we call shales.' 'They contain those minerals like pyrite, and iron sulfide, that can oxidize, and not in the great abundances of an ore deposit,' he said. 'but on the scale of these rocks that are everywhere.' Alaska's permafrost vast underground stretches of ice-packed earth that have remained frozen solid tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of years has reactivated age-old bacteria and released these long inactive minerals into rivers. 'They call them acidophiles,' Dr Lyons, who also teaches at the University of California, Riverside, told DailyMail.com. 'They're microbes that can live under extremely low pH conditions and play a major role in oxidizing iron and oxidizing sulfur, generating these acids,' he explained. 'A lot of those reactions are catalyzed by the melt in the wetlands.' Using field reports and high-resolution imagery from the European Space Agency's IKONOS satellites, Dr Lyons and his co-authors documented 75 streams or tributaries and 41 river wetlands visibly impaired by the orange acidification (example imagery above) Using field reports and high-resolution imagery from the European Space Agency's IKONOS satellites, Dr Lyons and his co-authors documented 75 streams and 41 river wetlands across Alaska turned orange by this acidification. The state of the damage spans over 620 miles according to the study, which was published Monday in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. The problem now extends from Alaska's lower Noatak River basin in the west to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the northeast. It has also plagued Alaska's Kobuk Valley National Park, which the research team surveyed from the air. 'When we flew in the helicopter, it's just everywhere,' Dr Lyons told DailyMail.com. 'This is related to human activity,' he said, 'nothing short of global warming.' Elsewhere, including across the permafrost expanse of Russia's Siberian tundra, researchers have documented gaseous 'methane bombs,' ancient 'zombie' viruses, toxic mercury, and worse, emerging from all this thawing, icy soil. The state of the 'orange river' damage spans over 620 miles according to the study, which was published Monday in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. Above a map from the study showing the documented sites in orange Along the Kobuk Valley's Akillik River, the team documented a dramatic die-off between June 2017 and August 2018. Two local fish species, the Dolly Varden and the Slimy Sculpin, disappeared from that year as the headwater tributary shifted from clearwater to orange According to the study's lead author, National Park Service (NPS) ecologist Dr Jon O'Donnell, what's happening in these parts of Alaska will likely spread and persist until governments take action on climate change and work to remediate the fallout. 'There's a lot of implications,' he said. 'As the climate continues to warm, we would expect permafrost to continue to thaw and so wherever there are these types of minerals, there's potential for streams to be turning orange and becoming degraded.' Dr O'Donnell, who works for the NPS Arctic Inventory and Monitoring Network, described the streams he saw firsthand as looking like 'milky orange juice.' 'Those orange streams can be problematic both in terms of being toxic but might also prevent migration of fish to spawning areas,' he said. Rural communities, some longtime indigenous people, who have relied on these rivers for drinking water, will need assistance with emergency water treatment, according to the study authors, as well as help coping with declining fishing stocks. Dr Lyons told DailyMail.com that the acidification of these rivers in Alaska resembles a well know pollution issue that occurs in rivers nearby mining projects. Above, a NASA image of this 'acid mine drainage' causing environmental damage to a river in the Rio Tinto, Spain. Biologist and mathematician Dr Roman Dial, a co-author on the new study, marveled at the long-distance impact that fossil fuel use by cars and factories a world away have had on this pristine wilderness. 'The alarming thing,' Dr Dial, who teaches at Alaska Pacific University, told Scientific American, 'is how far our human reach is, in a big way.' Along the Kobuk Valley National Park's Akillik River, Dr O'Donnell documented a dramatic die-off in aquatic life between June 12, 2017 and August 30, 2018. Two local fish species, the Dolly Varden and the Slimy Sculpin, disappeared from the Akillik in that year, according to the new study's findings, as this headwater tributary shifted from clearwater to 'orange stream conditions.' Dr. Lyons told DailyMail.com that the acidification of these rivers resembles a well know pollution issues that occurs when similar minerals and metal ores pour into rivers as pollution from nearby mining projects. 'There are many examples of "acid rock" or "acid mine drainage," as people call it ,' the geochemist explained. 'One of the most famous is Rio Tinto in Spain, which is a mining district has been active since Roman times,' he noted. 'There's Iron Mountain [another mine] in California, and on, and on [...] That's a problem,' he said. 'But, you can deal with it, in a sense that you can use lime, neutralize the acid. You can be more careful about the mining operations.' Using these methods, Dr Lyons explained, mining companies and local government agencies have been able to use so-called 'acid-base' chemical reactions with imported 'basic' compounds like lime and limestone to counteract the acidification produced by metal mining ore runoff interacting with bacteria and the environment. Alaska's 'Red Dog' mine, a large zinc and lead extraction project, just west of the state's Notak National Preserve has faced similar acidified river issues over the years. But, according to Dr Lyons, the scope of what is happening with the sweeping melt of the permafrost covers so much terrain that scaling up a similar program would be an extremely challenging feat of geo-engineering. 'There's some capacity to control what a 'Red Dog' does or a 'Rio Tinto' does,' Dr Lyons told DailyMail.com. 'This is a much more pervasive problem.' Dr Michael Carey, a fish biologist with the United States Geological Survey's Alaska Science Center, told DailyMail.com that his federal government agency does not yet have a strategy in place to cope with the permafrost melt. 'USGS plays an impartial research role for a larger partnership that is looking at this this issue,' Dr Carey told DailyMail.com. Dr Carey, who also served as a co-author on the new research, explained that the agency is 'providing data that is being used by local communities and officials to answer questions they can use to manage the situation.' Fiona Lali recently shot to prominence, and stunned former British Home Secretary Suella Braverman, when she publicly branded Suella a war monger and a liar for her support for the genocide in Gaza. Fionas words chimed with millions of workers and youth who have seen this clip, and who are sick and tired of this rotten imperialist system, of the hypocrites who run it, and of the commentators, media and opposition that do nothing to challenge it. In this exclusive interview, Fiona presents the communist approach to war and imperialism, and explains why we need to kick out not only individual Tory politicians, but the whole capitalist system. Fiona Lali is national campaigns coordinator of the Revolutionary Communist Party (the British section of the International Marxist Tendency), which will be holding an important national online meeting this Thursday, to coordinate the immense wave of student protests sweeping British universities. Register for the event here: https://communist.red/palestinemeeting If youre a communist in Britain and you agree with Fiona, join the RCP today in the fight against the war mongers in Parliament and the system they represent: https://communist.red/ For those beyond Britain, the IMT is a worldwide, fighting, communist organisation, and this June, we are founding a new Revolutionary Communist International (RCI). You can join us! Sign up to attend the founding conference of the RCI, which you can join online at: https://schoolofcommunism.com/ Finally, we recommend listeners check out the podcast of the RCP in Britain, where Fiona will be hosting daily news updates starting tomorrow: https://communist.red/category/marxist-voice/ Listen and subscribe below Youtube Spotify Apple Podcasts Marxist.com Podcasts: https://podcast.marxist.com/2024/05/20/interview-with-fiona-lali-suella-is-a-symptom-capitalism-is-the-disease/ The timeline for when humans first came to America has been shrouded in mystery, shifting by thousands of years on either side. Now a geologist from the Smithsonian Institution believes he has uncovered new evidence in Maryland that could rewrite the nation's history. Darrin Lowery discovered 286 artifacts in the Chesapeake Bay, with the oldest embedded in charcoal that dated back more than 22,000 - at least 7,000 years earlier than what scientists believe was when people initially populated America. Lowery and his team have been excavating Parsons Island for over a decade, finding ancient stone tools in layers of sediment that were dated by studying preserved pollen and microfossils. Researchers have been excavating Parsons Island for over a decade, finding ancient stone tools in layers of sediment that were dated by studying preserved pollen and microfossils The leading theory of 'The Great Migration' is that humans crossed from Asia, then over the Bering Strait Bridge and traveled down into the US about 15,000 years ago. The path of their journey is believed to have pointed southward, as scientists have uncovered stone projectile points, known as Clovis points, leading the way. The idea stems from genetic studies of Native American ancestors, but the latest evidence was based on manmade tools that Lowery believes makes Maryland a Clovis Point. Lowery told the Washington Post that he has been investigating the 78-acre island since he was nine years old when he first found ancient flint tools while walking along the shoreline. He and his team discovered the first evidence of ancient humans back in 2013 when they uncovered a leaf-shaped prehistoric stone tool protruding out of a cliff. The tool was spotted in a dark layer as low as Lowery's knees, which turned out to be more than 20,000-year-old sediment. The team uncovered tools jammed into sediment, which they dated to uncover when the artifacts were made After that, the geologists returned to survey the island 93 more times and uncovered the trove of tools. Sediment samples were then sent to labs for analysis, allowing researchers to create a the geological timeline, according to a manuscript posted by Lowery. Lowery said the tools were found in dates to the 'last glacial maximum' - the most recent coldest period of the Ice Age. The claims, however, have brought on more questions, such as how the early people arrived in Maryland, were they ancestors to Native Americans and now many migrations waves were there in America's history? Darrin Lowery discovered 286 artifacts in the Chesapeake Bay, with the oldest embedded in charcoal that dated back more than 22,000 While the discoveries in Maryland would push the timeline back, other evidence in New Mexico dates the first human appears to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago Parsons Island is among the growing list of pre-Clovis sites as the 'Clovis First' has been argued for decades - it claims the first humans reached the Americas about 13,000 years ago. The issues stem from being able to accurately date sites because sediment shifts over time and can push layers deeper, making them appear older than they really are. Then there are the artifacts, which could be proclaimed as fashioned by human hands but were weathered by natural elements. However, Lowery said his methods used different labs to determine dates for the ancient tools found in Maryland. While the discoveries would push the timeline back, other evidence in New Mexico dates the first human appears to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago. British and American archaeologists uncovered the prints in soft mud adjoining Alkali Flat, a dry lakebed at White Sands National Park in southern New Mexico. Using radiocarbon dating of seed layers above and below the tracks, experts from the U.S. Geological Survey dated the footprints as having been made over a period of at least 2,000 years. The oldest tracks date from around 23,000 years ago, a period that corresponds to the Last Glacial Maximum, when ice sheets covered much of North America and sea levels were about 400 feet lower than today. Advertisement Talented photographers are putting stars in our eyes. Travel photography blog Capture the Atlas has revealed the 25 best photos of the Milky Way for 2024 in its annual Milky Way Photographer of the Year awards. The winners are released each May during peak 'Milky Way season', when the stars can best be captured in all their glory. This year's list was selected from more than 5,000 entries taken in 15 countries from the U.S to New Zealand, with locations including national parks, mountain lion reserves, deserts and even the grounds of a castle. Capture the Atlas explained that the Milky Way season ranges from February to October in the Northern Hemisphere and from January to November in the Southern Hemisphere. The best time to see and photograph the Milky Way, the blog added, is usually between May and June, with the maximum hours of visibility on both hemispheres. Capture the Atlas continued: 'Besides the timing, the other requirement for seeing the Milky Way is a dark sky that is far away from light pollution. The quality of the image, the story behind the shot, and the overall inspiration that the photograph can provide are the main factors in selecting the images every year.' Keep scrolling to see this year's dazzling winning shots... Baillie Farley took this shot in the Rainbow Valley Conservation Reserve in Australia's Northern Territory, on a trip during which she experienced 'some of the darkest southern night skies in the world'. She added: 'This area exudes a unique charm, with its vibrant hues and stunning geological formations' LEFT: Photographer Alexander Forst took this shot by a lake in Graubuenden, an Alpine region of Switzerland. He said: 'Situated at 2,000m [6,561ft] altitude, it gets very cold after sunset. We had forgotten our jackets in the car, 1.5 hours away. I had a clear view of the Milky Way for just 30 minutes before it vanished behind clouds again.' RIGHT: A mesmerising shot taken by Hugo Valle in Egypt's White Desert - a national park covering more than 2.8million square kilometres, from the Nile into Libya. Hugo noted: 'The night skies are among the best I have ever seen' On December 15, Andrea Curzi snapped this overview of a starry sky above untouched snowfall on Italy's Passo Giau, a 2,236m- (7,335ft) high pass in the Dolomites. The photographer said it was a scene he'd 'long dreamt of capturing' Francesco DallOlmo trekked to natural viewpoint Laguna de los Tres, in Argentinian Patagonia, and snapped this impressive twilight shot, capturing mountain Fitz Roy framed by the Milky Way arch Above is a heavenly shot of renowned hot spring 'Morning Glory' in the Yellowstone National Park. The image was taken by Jerry Zhang, who explained that the pool was originally blue, but has turned green due to 'human interference and pollution'. He added: 'In this photo, the pool mirrors [constellation] Scorpius, notably [star] Antares, against a clear dark sky and brilliant Milky Way' Behold Rainbow Valley in Chile's Atacama Desert. An area 3,200m (10,498ft) up in the Cordillera Domeyko mountain range that the photographer behind this incredible shot, Cari Letelier, likens to Mordor from the Lord of the Rings movies. She explained that the shot was taken under a Bortle 1 sky, a classification that means it's among the least light-polluted places on Earth John Rutter took this photo of the Milky Way deep in the 'Mars-like' Mungo National Park in New South Wales, Australia. He explains that the landscape 'houses the oldest human remains outside Africa', adding: 'Its remote location grants it a Bortle 1 sky, allowing you to stand where the first Australians once did and gaze at the same sky they beheld 100,000 years ago' LEFT: Kerry-Ann Lecky Hepburn took this wow-factor snap 15,000ft up in the Atacama Desert in Chile, following 'an eerie 40-minute trek in the dark along a salt trail'. A torch was used to make the lagoons reflect a bright blue. RIGHT: Yuri Beletsky's shot of the 'Galactic Centre' shining brightly over the Atacama Desert Marcin Zajac, the photographer behind this image, explains that it was taken in Goblin Valley State Park in Utah in a remote corner of the Colorado Plateau, which 'yields one of the darkest skies in [America]'. In the foreground are wildflowers, blooming in front of an eye-catching rock formation known as the Three Sisters LEFT: An 'alien-looking' bottle tree captured beneath the stars by Rositsa Dimitrova on the island of Socotra in Yemen. RIGHT: This striking image was taken by Mihail Minkov in Jordan's Wadi Rum Desert, with the photographer explaining that the concept was 'to highlight the stark contrast between the vastness of the cosmos and the minuscule nature of humanity'. He added: 'The composition intentionally draws the viewers focus to a small figure, underscoring our insignificance in the grand scheme of the universe, while the majestic Milky Way core dominates the background' LEFT: This image shows the Milky Way 'emerging' from New Zealands highest mountain, Aoraki, also known as Mount Cook. Photographer Tom Rae said: 'The scene made me feel like I had landed on another planet. The image features icebergs in the cyan-blue glacial lake, red airglow painting the sky, and the glow of billions of stars in the Milky Way.' RIGHT: A series of mushroom-shaped stone structures in Utah called the 'Toadstool Hoodoos' form the foreground for this dazzling shot by Stephanie Thi, which was taken during the 'blue hour' - the time after the sun has set but before it's completely dark Julien Looten here has captured the Milky Way's entire 'winter arc' at the foot of a medieval castle in the Dordogne, France. Also present in the image is a natural phenomenon called 'air glow'. Julien explained: 'This occurs due to a chemical reaction in the upper atmosphere, emitting faint light known as chemiluminescence.' The stars can be identified from left to right as Sirius and the constellation of Orion, Mars, the Pleiades, the California Nebula, Cassiopeia, the double cluster of Perseus, and the Andromeda galaxy. The image is formed from 40 exposures that took an hour to record Marc Rassel drove four-and-a-half hours to reach this spot in Lake Superior, Minnesota, in the U.S. He said: 'I managed to complete the sky frames and most of the foregrounds. The final edit required blending the foreground seamlessly as twilight approached' Photographer Matej Mlakar set up his camera for this picture on Prednje robicje (1,941m/6,368ft), a mountain in Slovenia's Julian Alps There are few places on the planet as dark as the spot where this photo was taken, according to the photographer, Rachel Roberts. The location is Bluff Hut, nestled in the Southern Alps on New Zealands South Island. It's only accessed by a difficult hike or helicopter flight. Rachel got there via the latter, explaining that the spot was chosen by the pilot after bad weather ruined Rachel's first-choice location. She said: 'I trusted the chopper pilot to choose the best spot for clear skies that evening. Thankfully, he didnt disappoint, and I was able to capture the Milky Way arching majestically over the hut from one of the darkest places on the planet' While camping out in Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park, New Zealand, photographer Kavan Chay took this shot as the sun rose and a kea bird 'harassed' campers. He said: 'The ascent was a struggle with 20-25kg of gear, but I managed a respectable time' The Milky Way hangs over desert vegetation in this incredible shot by Maximilian Hofling, captured in Teide National Park in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. He said: 'In the Teide National Park, situated at an altitude of around 2,000 metres (6,561ft), clear skies are almost guaranteed, with lower clouds shielding city lights, minimizing light pollution' Photographer Lorenzo Ranieri explained that he captured this image 'during an adventurous night on the plateau of the Atacama Desert [in Chile], a potentially dangerous area due to its designation as a mountain lion reserve', adding: 'After a whole afternoon of searching for compositions, I stumbled upon this remarkable mass of rocks adorned with tufts of grass, now burnt by the harsh environment. The area was littered with bones of small animals and footprints of a significant size, indicating the presence of wildlife not typically associated with peaceful sheep. Spending the night there was admittedly a bit nerve-wracking, but the opportunity to photograph such beauty made it worthwhile' LEFT: Explaining how this enchanting shot was captured, photographer Brandt Ryder explains: 'In May of 2023, I spent a couple of days around the iconic town of Lone Pine, California, where the lupines in the foothills were just coming into peak bloom and the skies are notoriously dark. I knew I wanted to create an image that transported the viewer into a sea of purple flowers framed by the snow-covered Sierra and the Milky Way rising above. Although this spot was special, it was the incredible panoply of colour in the night sky that I captured on this night that really elevates this image. Every time I look back at this image, I can still smell those flowers.' RIGHT: Benjamin Barakat took this snap of the skies above from beneath a 'twisted' juniper tree on Jebel Shams, which at 3,018m (9,902ft), is the highest mountain in Oman kate moss was pictured bidding farewell to Alister Mackie and Simon B Morch on Monday, after enjoying a sunny getaway to the South of France. The supermodel, 50, wrapped her arms around stylist Alister and kissed him goodbye, before embracing art director, Simon. Kate looked relaxed as she chatted to her pals, going bare-faced and hiding her eyes behind brown rimmed sunglasses. The day before, she had been spotted enjoying an ice-cream while on a stroll in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, with her longtime musician pal Bobby Gillespie. Her balmy weekend away comes after a tumultuous few weeks for Kate amid speculation about her love life. Kate Moss was pictured bidding farewell to Alister Mackie and Simon B Morch on Monday, after enjoying a sunny getaway to the South of France The supermodel, 50, wrapped her arms around stylist Alister and kissed him goodbye, before embracing art director, Simon Kate looked relaxed as she chatted to her pals, going bare-faced and hiding her eyes behind brown rimmed sunglasses Snaps recently emerged of the star holding hands with Skip Marley, 27 - the reggae star grandson of Bob Marley - in Turkey. Kate is still known to be in a relationship with long-term boyfriend Count Nikolai von Bismarck. But the pair raised eyebrows after they recently put on a very frosty display together at a star-studded Gucci show last week. A stony-faced Nikolai, 37, was impassive as he sat next to the Kate - who then turned her back on him to speak to others sitting on the front row, including her daughter Lila. And after the show she was seen leaving arm-in-arm with a beaming male companion. Despite their tense display, friends close to Kate have brushed off any split concerns, insisting their 'bohemian' relationship has consistently been 'on and off.' 'They are constantly on and off - but both are very bohemian about hook ups', an insider with knowledge of her relationship with Nikolai told MailOnline recently. Kate has been dating Nikolai for eight years, with the aristocrat known to share her bohemian outlook and was once tipped to marry one of Prince Andrew's children. Snaps recently emerged of the star holding hands with Skip Marley, 27 - the reggae star grandson of Bob Marley - in Turkey (pictured) Kate is still known to be in a relationship with long-term boyfriend Count Nikolai von Bismarck, but the pair raised eyebrows after they put on a very frosty display together at a Gucci show last week (pictured) A stony-faced Nikolai, 37, was impassive as he sat next to the Kate - who then turned her back on him to speak to others sitting on the front row, including her daughter Lila But pictures of her holding hands with Skip in Turkey earlier this month set tongues wagging that all is not well with their relationship. However, someone close to Kate's circle said: 'She's a passionate person - and she is still incredibly flirtatious with people. Whether it is Nikolai, or whoever she is with, they just have to accept it and get on with it or they'll go mad'. Kate famously had gone through 40 boyfriends by the time she was 40, but as she turned 50 in January, Nikolai has been by her side for most of the past decade. Last summer he was seen heading to a hotel with French-American model Camille Rowe, however, he was central to Kate's 50th birthday celebrations in January. But the recent fashion show appearance - their first together for four months - has sparked speculation about their relationship to reemerge. Nikolai did not appear to be present during her recent trip to Turkey, during which she became so excited at a performance by Skip that she ran on stage and had to be ushered away by guards. The grandson of late reggae legend Bob did not appear to be too perturbed by her passionate enthusiasm as he was later seen holding hands with Kate. 'Kate ran on stage as she loved it so much,' a spectator told the Mail's Richard Eden. 'She was escorted off the stage by security. 'I don't know whether there's a 'thing' [between the pair] but she's a fan for sure. It was all very sweet and non-confrontational.' Skip was performing at the launch of cultural festival Med Bodrum at the Turkish holiday resort's Macakizi hotel, where the model is known to have stayed in the past. Despite their tense display, friends close to Kate have brushed off any split concerns, insisting their 'bohemian' relationship has consistently been 'on and off' (pictured in January together) He may have been crowned King Of The Jungle in 2007, picking up a 50k fee and - in his words - 'earning a fortune' in subsequent job offers. But actor Christopher Biggins, 75, told the My Dirty Laundry podcast that the show should be rested now, admitting he no longer recognises half of the so-called famous faces that are chosen to appear. Christopher also said that while he loved his own time on the ITV programme, it 'has had its time.' He said: 'The show has been wonderful for me. And I watch it now. It's interesting. I don't know half the people who are in it. 'I mean, I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here is a wrong term. I think they should give it a rest in a way because I think it's had its time. King Of The Jungle Christopher Biggins told the My Dirty Laundry Podcast that I'm A Celeb... 'has no famous people in it and has had its time' after pocketing a 50k fee to appear on it He won the show in 2007, with Janice Dickinson coming second. He said: 'She was not a good loser but she's not done anything since so I can't complain. She was pretty awful I can tell you' 'But it has been just absolutely wonderful. Of course, Ant and Dec are brilliant.' He continued: 'I loved every minute of it. And people come to me for advice now, if they're asked to do it, whether they should do it. 'And I say, you know, the thing is that it, it is a wonderful experience. I loved every moment of it. 'I went on to earn a fortune the year after, having won it. So it is good, but you've got to win it to be in it.' He added: 'The only thing about it is, it is very boring because you only see one hour of our 24 hours. So there are endless scenes of people doing nothing, just lying around trying to make conversation with their boring housemates. 'But if you win it, it's incredible. It changes your life, changes your career, which it certainly did with me. And it was just wonderful.' Christopher purchased a one-bedroom flat with the money he made, which he rents out, giving him a steady income. He added: 'It's a very, very clever show. I mean, it's very clever in so many respects. Christopher has had 60 successful year in showbiz and counts Joan Collins as one of his best friends, (pictured together in June 2023) 'I mean, it puts you on the line. It makes you, you don't, the thing you mustn't do is ever be a character. 'You must always be yourself because in three weeks, you can't maintain a character. You know, you'll be caught out. And a lot of people are caught out. And it's amazing how people don't succeed in it and don't go through to the end.' And one person he couldn't get on with was Janice Dickinson, 69, who came second on the show. He said: 'I was with the awful Janice, an American model, and we were the last two to be in the show. I was convinced she'd won, and she was convinced she'd won too. 'So when they said, "This year, the KING..." oh, I was, I couldn't believe they said king, and she was so, she absolutely couldn't believe it, left immediately to go back to America. 'She was not a good loser but she's not done anything since so I can't complain. She was pretty awful I can tell you.' Biggins famously played a sex-crazed vicar in Poldark - as you do! He became a household name after starring in children's television comedy show Rentaghost in the 70s and 80s And reflecting on some of the stranger moments that took place, he said: 'I did things in there which I didn't know I could possibly do physically or mentally and it was just wonderful. 'You know, I had to eat a kangaroo's penis and as I said on the show at the time, "I've had worse things in my mouth". 'And then I had a kangaroo's ball and I bit into that and all this liquid exploded in my mouth and I had to chew the sack, get rid of that, make that go down. And then nine months later, I gave birth to a Joey' he joked. Christopher has had a lucrative career starring in Rentaghost, I Claudius, Some Mother Do 'Av 'Em and he's also played a sex-crazed vicar in Poldark. And while he is satisfied financially, he said: 'I think that I'd be a very good multimillionaire. There's lots of friends I have who I'd help because times are tough and it would be marvellous to be a sort of benefactor to so many people that I know. 'And it would be wonderful. But I'm, you know, I'm amazed at how I'm still here after 60 years in the business.' Listen to the full interview here or follow @mydirtylaundrypodcast on Instagram or TikTok. The Kyle and Jackie O Show fell into shambles on Tuesday morning as several 'embarrassing' issues led host Kyle Sandilands to brutally berate his staff on-air. Sandilands, 52, unleashed a scathing slew of insults on his team after the train wreck show saw a series of technical issues and bickering with producers. With a ratings war currently pitting the hit Sydney radio station against Melbourne breakfast shows, Sandilands didn't hold back his temper as he turned on his team. 'Idiots. I'm working with imbeciles. This whole show has turned into a piece of s**t. Just saying. Technically s**t,' he began his tirade. The first item on his agenda was the humiliating moment earlier in the show when ads from a YouTube video disrupted an entire segment after a producer failed to renew the station's YouTube Premium account. The Kyle and Jackie O Show fell into shambles on Tuesday morning as several 'embarrassing' issues led host Kyle Sandilands to brutally berate his staff on-air. Pictured: Co-hosts Kyle Sandilands, 52, (left) and Jackie 'O' Henderson, 49, (right) 'The ads coming up because someone forgot to pay their credit card, s**t. The phone not working at all last week,' Sandilands said. 'Yet we've still got to juggle this show and expect it to win. Is that right? All these problems, I'm just expected to...just look past them, am I?' Awkward silence ensued as tensions raised, with even co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson remaining quiet. Newsreader Brooklyn Ross, who Kyle clashed with earlier in the show over how poorly the Tesla car was currently performing on the market, also kept to himself. Finally, news personality Peter 'Intern Pete' Deppeler put his hand up to take on the head honcho of the station, but Sandilands quickly cut him down. Sandilands unleashed a scathing slew of insults on his team after the train wreck show saw a series of 'embarrassing' technical issues and bickering with producers 'How about someone with some authority?' he said, prompting executive producer Pedro Cuccovillo Vitola to step forward and take the verbal lashing. 'Obviously the technical stuff isn't ideal, but we are working on it to try and make sure it's good,' Vitola said. 'You've been telling me that for weeks. Are you telling me we can't stop an ad blocker on the YouTube machine because we've now got to keep on eye on your pathetic -' Sandilands hit back before Vitola cut him off. He said: 'That was my fault. I put my hand up.' Sandilands continued: 'Yeah, then why is that allowed to happen? Are you out of control? Do you have any understanding what your job is required to do?' 'Yes I do,' Vitola answered. 'We don't have it in the system so I go to YouTube as a backup. Oh, we've got to listen to a Kia ad. How embarrassing,' Sandilands said. With a ratings war currently pitting the hit Sydney radio station against Melbourne breakfast shows, Sandilands didn't hold back his temper as he turned on his team, prompting executive producer Pedro Cuccovillo Vitola, 31, to step forward and take the verbal lashing The radio shock jock went on to say viewers would never see something this 'embarrassing' or 'ridiculous' happen on Sunrise with anchor Natalie Barr. 'Would this happen on Sunrise? Never.' The on-air blunder comes after The Kyle and Jackie O Show launched in Melbourne on April 29 after topping Sydney breakfast FM radio for 40 surveys in a row. The racy radio program is now in direct competition with The Fox's Fifi Box, Brendan Fevola and Nick Cody, whose breakfast radio show has also seen major success in Melbourne since its inception in 2014. Jackie, 49, fired shots at their competitors last week, adding another blow to the ratings war currently stirring the airwaves in the Melbourne market. The top-rating radio star slammed the Fox FM's breakfast slot rival Fifi, Fev and Nick for their 'copycat' marketing tactics just weeks after KIIS FM's The Kyle and Jackie O Show launched in the southern capital. The on-air blunder comes after The Kyle and Jackie O Show launched in Melbourne on April 29 after topping Sydney breakfast FM radio for 40 surveys in a row, putting them in direct competition with hit radio station The Fox's Fifi Box, Brendan Fevola and Nick Cody Kyle and Jackie took time out of their show last Wednesday to do a rundown of the gimmicks and segments they believe are being ripped off from their own show. 'See, I don't know if I enjoy the competitiveness and find it funny, or whether I find it ridiculous,' Jackie told listeners. 'Because I feel like, you know, as a grown adult, I don't really want to be involved in these dumb games.' The co-hosts were outraged that the Fifi, Fev and Nick Show now has their own versions of segments made famous by The Kyle and Jackie O Show, including guessing game The Noise and You Get A..., in which callers can win a lavish prize. They also threw shade at the Fox FM show for using Melbourne's DJ Cyril to mix live on-air, after The Kyle and Jackie O Show had him as a guest and spinning tunes for the KIIS FM's shows Melbourne debut. The duo also noted the 'copycatting' from their rivals also extended to social media posts and even similar graphics used in marketing. Farmer Wants A Wife's Dustin is 'feeling guilty' over his choices on the show. The 26-year-old cattle and crop farmer from Condobolin, NSW was reportedly distressed by choosing between Anna and Sophie, both 28. Speaking to New Idea, an insider claimed that 'Dustin truly did care for both Anna and Sophie, but in the end he had to go with his heart.' Despite having several strong connections, Farmer Dustin ended up walking away with the gorgeous brunette Sophie. Even though production on the dating show wrapped months ago, the insider claimed that Dustin was 'feeling guilty about any pain his decision might have caused.' Farmer Wants A Wife 's Dustin is 'feeling guilty' over his choices on the show. The 26-year-old cattle and crop farmer from Condobolin, NSW was reportedly distressed by choosing between Anna and Sophie, both 28. Pictured: Farmer Dustin Speaking to New Idea, an insider claimed that 'Dustin truly did care for both Anna and Sophie, but in the end he had to go with his heart.' Despite having several strong connections, Farmer Dustin ended up walking away with the gorgeous brunette Sophie Despite his feelings of remorse, Monday night's episode of the show saw a happy ending for Farmer Dustin, whose ultimate pick was Sophie. The couple walked off into the sunset together after he declared his love. Farmer Todd, 28, also got his fairytale ending, eventually choosing Daisy, a 28-year-old gym manager from Queensland, over Grace, a 25-year-old school teacher. Even though production on the dating show wrapped months ago, the insider claimed that Dustin was 'feeling guilty about any pain his decision might have caused' There was a happy ending for Farmer Dustin, whose ultimate pick was Sophie. The couple walked off into the sunset together after he declared his love. Both pictured Todd, who is a cattle farmer from Baan Baa, New South Wales, made a heartfelt declaration to Daisy in the episode. 'We've both suffered heartbreak in the past. I think we've both learned from previous lessons,' he told her. 'You've said you are a big risk and I agree, but finding love is a big risk. And I guess I'm willing to take the risk with you, Daisy.' Farmer Todd (pictured) made his final decision during Monday's episode of the show 'You got me crying again. I love you so much. This is where the exciting part starts, right?' Daisy wept. Viewers at home were less than impressed with Todd's decision with several sharing their thoughts on X. 'How could you ever choose Daisy over Grace?! End it now Toddy,' wrote one person while another agreed, 'Yep. It's like shopping at the two dollar shop or David Jones'. 'I'm not convinced Daisy wouldn't be bored s***less five minutes after moving to Baan Baa,' someone else wrote. Dr Chris Brown has revealed what he really thinks about his I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! Australia replacement Robert Irwin. The 45-year-old was replaced by Robert 20, on the latest season of the Channel Ten show following his shock exit. Chris told KIIS FM's The Kyle and Jackie O show on Tuesday, he thinks Robert did a 'great' job but joked he was 'disappointed' there was no flirting between him and co-host Julia Morris. 'I thought he and Julia were great,' he said. Host Kyle Sandilands then said: 'Julia has changed her presentation style because she can't fawn over a sexy beast. It's almost like she's a mother to him now.' Dr Chris Brown (pictured) has revealed what he really thinks about his I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! Australia replacement Robert Irwin 'Was I disappointed she didn't flirt with him? I don't know. It would be weird if I was,' Chris jokingly responded. It comes as Chris is set to host his new Channel Seven series Dream Home. In a surprise move the network has renewed the celebrity vet's series - before its first season has made its premiere. Based on a successful New Zealand format, the reality show will see six couples attempt to convert each other's houses room-by-room. The show will be Chris' network Seven series debut, after the former I'm Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here star made his shock exit from Channel 10 last year. Producers of Dream home, meanwhile, have announced a casting call for season 2 reported TV Blackbox. The 45-year-old was replaced by Robert (pictured with co-host Julia Morris) on the last season of the Channel Ten show following his shock exit This season's winner will receive their own 'dream home' and a top prize of $100,000. Renovator Lana Taylor, buyer's agent Simon Cohen and interior designer Rosie Morley will join Chris as judges for the debut series. He is also set to host the 2024 season of Dancing With The Stars alongside Sonia Kruger. Chris signed a two-year contract with Seven worth more than $1million a year, following his contractual obligations for I'm A Celebrity at his former network. Sydney eyebrow queen Kristin Fisher has slammed rumours she was the 'other woman' behind power couple Shelley and Anthony Sullivan's shock marriage split. The MCoBeauty founder and her accountant husband of seven years parted ways two weeks ago after an explosive argument. The row prompted Anthony to leave the country and head to the US, while his wife moved into the five-star InterContinental Hotel in Double Bay. Reports have wrongly insinuated that Kristin, a Double Bay business owner and mum-of-two, was involved in the split, which she says is 'unequivocally false'. 'This is absolutely not true,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'I am so sick of being the clickbait in all of these stories and having to defend myself over something that I've got nothing, and I mean NOTHING, to do with. 'Tall poppy syndrome is alive and well in this country - the rumours just keep getting more outrageous every day.' Kristen Fisher said Reports have wrongly insinuated that Kristin (pictured left) was involved in the split, which she says is 'unequivocally false' 'The truth is I've only been with one person of late,' she added. Kristin, who has had her fair share of headlines over the years, said there was no bad blood between herself and Shelley, a long-time friend. 'This rumour is not true - along with every other story that my name gets dragged into,' Kristin said. 'Tall poppy syndrome is alive and well in this country - the rumours just keep getting more outrageous every day.' Kristin's comments come one day after Shelley was seen being comforted by her mum, Kerrie, in Sydney's financial district, where her multi-million-dollar business is based. The pair looked visibly distressed as they shared a tender moment in the midst of her marriage breakdown. Shelley told Daily Mail Australia she would not be commenting on the marriage break-up. 'Shelley is absolutely shattered by the split,' a close friend said. 'Anthony was her rock, she's devastated - her marriage was everything to her.' The businesswoman's close-knit group of friends are doing their best to support her. Shelley Sullivan and her husband Anthony are pictured at her 50th birthday party last July Shelley was seen in Sydney's financial district being comforted by her mum The pair looked visibly distressed as they shared a tender moment The couple split abruptly two weeks ago, with both the beauty mogul and her accountant husband moving out of their marital home in Bellevue Hill 'She has an amazing network that has just put their arms around her at this time,' the friend added. Anthony is an accountant and CEO of Quantaco which provides financial services to companies in the hospitality trade. The couple had known each other for years and were friends before starting to date, and then tied the knot in a lavish ceremony in Point Piper in 2016. The pair have since moved out of their $11,000-a-week heritage-listed rental mansion Leura in Bellevue Hill. Shelley made her mark in the 1990s with her model and talent agency before launching her thriving 'masstige' beauty brand ModelCo in 2016. Masstige is a retail term referring to a product that is marketed as 'prestige' or premium but is in fact mass-produced and inexpensive. The beauty boss launched her brand's Tan Airbrush In a Can more than 20 years ago and it still sells a bottle every 36 seconds worldwide. She is also credited with introducing the world to the first heated eyelash curlers. ModelCo has overtaken legacy beauty brands like L'Oreal, Maybelline and Rimmel in the Australian market. The likes of Kendall Jenner, Hailey Baldwin, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Elyse Knowles have represented the internationally famous line. In 2022, MCoBeauty was approached by a large Australian conglomerate that acquired a portion of the business. The brand is on track to generate $247million in the 2024 financial year. Tickets to the highly anticipated Bluey's World exhibit in Brisbane are set to go on sale this week. Fans will be able to purchase a general admission ticket to the immersive experience from 2pm on Tuesday ahead of its grand opening on November 7. Prices start from $49.90. The world-first Bluey attraction will provide fans of the hit Aussie kids show with a tour through life-size recreations of the show's houses and meet some of the show's beloved characters. Located in the upmarket suburb of Hamilton, it will run until April 27, 2025 and is expected to inject millions of dollars into the economy. The 'immersive' experience will last for almost two hours. Tickets to the highly anticipated Bluey's World exhibit in Brisbane are set to go on sale to the general public this week It is initially slated to just be a pop-up attraction which remains up until Easter 2025, but depending on how popular it is a more permanent attraction may be built. 'Embark on a brand-new immersive journey with Bluey, Bingo, Mum and Dad in their beloved home, backyard and beyond. Explore your favourite rooms, play interactive games, and keep your eyes peeled for surprises... maybe even a Longdog or two,' a statement from the organiser said. It comes after a restaurant in Las Vegas issued an apology after a Bluey-themed event went horrifically wrong - ruining the day of parents and children alike. Fans will be able to purchase a general admission ticket to the immersive experience from 2pm on Tuesday ahead of its grand opening on November 7. Prices start from $49.90 Popular restaurant chain Dirt Dog put on a free event on May 11 that advertised games, treats, face painting, and the chance to meet Bluey, the extremely popular Australian children's cartoon dog. However, the operation began heading South when some 3,000 people responded to the restaurant's Facebook event and staff were left entirely overwhelmed when hundreds of parents and children lined up down the block to meet Bluey. Much to the disappointment of those guests, when they made it to the front of they line, they were greeted by 'a guy in a onesie,' as described by one off-put customer. The world-first Bluey attraction will provide fans of the hit Aussie kids show a tour through life-size recreations of the show's houses. (Pictured: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with Bluey characters) Further, the face painting was reportedly done poorly by the untrained staff of the dining establishment, and the treats for the kids were gone before everyone made it inside. Some parents also complained about the cleanliness of the restaurant and the guy inside the Bluey costume's apparent disinterest in the kids. Outraged customers flooded the restaurant's Facebook page with negative reviews of the event. Matt Zukowski found himself in a humiliating situation last Tuesday when he came down with a case of food poisoning and defecated himself on the way to work. The Love Island star, 28, who is engaged to fitness influencer Tammy Hembrow, revealed he was forced to bolt into a shopping centre in Melbourne's wealthiest suburb Toorak to clean up his destroyed trousers. Detailing the horrific incident on his podcast Where's Your Head At?, he told co-host Anna McEvoy he soiled himself in the car on the way to work and desperately needed to replace his underwear. 'I was sitting there and my stomach was churning. I thought I was going to fart and I ended up s***ting myself on the way to the studio today. Not good,' he said. Matt went on to say he attempted to call co-host Anna, 32, to ask if she could buy him some new underwear, but she was stuck in 'bumper to bumper traffic' and he was forced to find a shopping centre on his own. Matt Zukowski found himself in a humiliating situation last Tuesday when he came down with a case of food poisoning and defecated himself on the way to work 'I didn't know the damage of it. I was like f**k okay there's a Woolworths, Anaconda and Chemist Warehouse all in one. I was like perfect. In Toorak if anyone is familiar,' Matt said. 'I got out the car, went in the public dunny, threw my underwear out, went and brought new underwear from Woolies, bought new trackies from Anaconda, got some Gastro-Stop and here I am. Fresh.' Matt said he feared he had 'Bali belly' following his recent trip to the Indonesian province with fiancee Tammy, 30, as he felt like he was 's***ting through the eye of a needle' and had an upset stomach. The Love Island star, 28, who is engaged to fitness influencer Tammy Hembrow , revealed he was forced to bolt into a shopping centre in Melbourne 's wealthiest suburb Toorak to clean up his soiled pants Despite suffering from the horrific illness, Matt was back on a plane just days later as he and partner Tammy jetted out of Brisbane Airport on Saturday to go to Greece for Anna's wedding to her fiancee Michael Staples. The loved-up couple well and truly dispelled recent split rumours by putting on an affectionate display inside the terminal. Tammy, who shares children Posy, Saskia and Wolf with former partners, looked delighted to be spending some quality time with Matt as they headed off to the Greek Islands for a romantic childfree holiday. Detailing the horrific incident on his podcast Where's Your Head At?, he told co-host Anna McEvoy he defecated himself in the car on the way to work and desperately needed to replace his underwear The pair held hands and gazed lovingly into each other's eyes as they made their way through the airport and at one tender moment were seen embracing in a sweet hug. It looked to be an exciting time for the young lovers who got engaged in December after three months of dating and are rumoured to soon be getting married. The sighting comes after weeks of reports there was trouble in paradise between Tammy and Matt. Followers recently pointed out the pair had not featured in each other's posts for some time, while others noted they stopped following each other on Instagram - though they quickly re-follower each other when the split rumours began. Australia's elite socialite scene flocked to the Whitsundays over the weekend to celebrate winemaking and yacht-racing heiress Nicky Oatley's 40th birthday. The exclusive bash took place at the opulent Qualia resort on Hamilton Island, which is owned by Nicky's family, and saw a gaggle of mega-wealthy socialites gather for a luxury experience to remember. Among the guests in attendance was athleisure entrepreneur Deborah Symonds O'Neil and her husband Ned, who is the son of millionaire superyacht broker and Rose Bay marina owner Denis O'Neil. 'Nude artist' and socialite Dina Broadhurst also attended the bash with her new multimillionaire appliance heir boyfriend John Winning, while fashion blogger Nadia Fairfax was in tow with her financier husband Michael Wayne. Joining them for the opulent trip was Harper Bazaar fashion editor Caroline Tran and the birthday girl's sister Lyndal Oatley, who is an Australian Olympic dressage rider, and Lyndal's Swedish horse-rider husband Patrik Kittel. Australia's elite socialite scene flocked to the Whitsundays over the weekend to celebrate winemaking and yacht-racing heiress Nicky Oatley's 40th birthday. (Pictured: Nicky Oatley and husband Jonathan Pearce) Nicky's husband, banker Jonathan Pearce, was also in tow for the festivities. Instagram photos from the birthday getaway show guests toasting to Nicky over champagne during a sit-down dinner on the beach. Guests dressed to impress, with the women wearing designer gowns and diamond jewellery while the men sported slick tuxedos and bow-ties. The exclusive bash took place at the opulent Qualia resort on Hamilton Island, which is owned by Nicky's family, and saw a gaggle of mega-wealthy socialites gather for a luxury experience to remember Among the guests in attendance was athleisure entrepreneur Deborah Symonds O'Neil (pictured) Deborah was joined by her husband Ned (left), who is the son of millionaire superyacht broker and Rose Bay marina owner Denis O'Neil 'Nude artist' and socialite Dina Broadhurst (left) also attended the bash with her new multimillionaire appliance heir boyfriend John Winning (right) Fashion blogger Nadia Fairfax (right) was in tow with her financier husband Michael Wayne (left) Fashion guru Nadia Fairfax made sure to document her wardrobe via Instagram, sharing photos of herself swanning down the beach in a $7,000 gown by designer Van Der Kooij. She paired her ensemble with Chopard jewellery including a diamond-encrusted watch. Guests also enjoyed a private ballet performance by members of The Australian Ballet, who danced at sunset against the backdrop of the Coral Sea. Instagram photos from the birthday getaway show guests toasting to Nicky over champagne during a sit-down dinner on the beach Guests dressed to impress, with the women wearing designer gowns and diamond jewellery while the men sported slick tuxedos and bow-ties Fashion guru Nadia Fairfax shared photos of the Chopard diamond jewellery she wore during the getaway The Australian Ballet hosts an exclusive performance at Qualia one every two years, with package tickets for two guests starting at around $4,840. Guests stayed overnight at the five-star Qualia resort, where rooms can cost up to $7,200 a night. The luxurious resort is surrounded by the Great Barrier Reef and offers panoramic views of the Coral Sea and Whitsundays. Guests enjoyed a private ballet performance by members of The Australian Ballet, who danced at sunset against the backdrop of the Coral Sea Guests stayed overnight at the five-star Qualia resort, where rooms can cost up to $7,200 a night. (Pictured: Dina posing in her hotel room) Today show reporter Brooke Boney has raised some viewers eyebrows after they noticed she appeared to be now be presenting the news in a refined British accent. The veteran journalist, 37, earlier this year announced she would be moving to England in September to study, and fans have joked she appears to be taking speech lessons ahead of relocating. 'What is with Brooke reading the news with the Queen's accent? She never used to speak like that. It sounds a bit odd, some days it's stronger than other days,' one fan asked on the Media Spy forums. 'It's definitely new. It's as if she's had speech training or something in the last few months,' another viewer added. 'I noticed it early last week. It's quite strong usually in the first sentence of whatever she's reading.' Today show reporter Brooke Boney (pictured) has raised some viewers eyebrows after they noticed she appeared to be now be presenting the news in a refined British accent Another fan suggested Brooke was learning how to speak in the British Received Pronunciation accent, ahead of studying at Oxford University. One upset viewer said the accent sounded fake and requested that Boney go back to speaking in her normal voice. 'It does sound disingenuous. People put on that accent when they are imitating the royal family or having a laugh. It's the Today show, not the ABC.' The veteran journalist, 37, earlier this year announced she would be moving to England in September to study, and fans have joked she appears to be taking speech lessons ahead of relocating In March, Brooke announced her shock resignation as news presenter from Channel Nine's Today show, revealing she would be stepping down in September. She confirmed on air she will move abroad to study at Oxford University from September, and will leave the show after the 2024 Paris Olympics in August. Boney shared a moving message with her fans after announcing her shock resignation live on air. 'What is with Brooke reading the news with the Queen's accent? She never used to speak like that. It sounds a bit odd, some days it's stronger than other days,' one fan asked on the Media Spy forums In an Instagram post after the news broke, the TV star shared a moody image of herself on the street alongside a heartfelt caption. 'I'll get around to replying to everyone over the weekend and we'll do all the teary stuff when I leave in September,' she wrote. The TV presenter confirmed she will leave the popular breakfast show to pursue her education dreams. Boney will study an intensive one-year Masters of Public Policy course - which focuses on economics and policymaking. Dakota Johnson starred in a new trailer for the upcoming comedy drama-feature Am I OK?, which was released on Monday. In the clip, the 34-year-old actress portrayed a woman in her early thirties who slowly came to terms with her identity as a lesbian. The performer - who recently locked lips with Pedro Pascal while working on a film in New York City - was also joined by Sonoya Mizuno, Kiersey Clemons and Jermaine Fowler in the forthcoming feature. The trailer begins with Lucy, portrayed by Johnson, having lunch with Jane, played by Mizuno, who encourages her friend to put one of her suitors 'out of his misery and eff him already.' Lucy is then seen while giving her potential partner a beer, and after she rolls off her bed when he attempts to kiss her, he unceremoniously decides to leave. Dakota Johnson starred in a new trailer for the upcoming comedy drama-feature Am I OK?, which was released on Monday In the clip, the 34-year-old actress portrayed a woman in her early thirties who slowly came to terms with her identity as a lesbian The performer - who recently locked lips with Pedro Pascal while working on a film in New York City - was also joined by Sonoya Mizuno, Kiersey Clemons and Jermaine Fowler in the forthcoming feature Jane later states that her friend is 'afraid of getting close to someone for fear of rejection,' and although Johnson's character counters that she is 'fine,' she is then seen while crying in a bathroom. After Lucy confesses that she 'should have figured this out by now,' she takes an online quiz to determine if she is a lesbian, although she abruptly stops after she is caught by a coworker. Jane is then seen while admitting that she always felt that Lucy was attracted to women, and she quips: 'You did own a Volvo in high school.' The two later make their way to a rooftop bar where Lucy awkwardly turns down a request from another woman to dance, after which Jane reacts with surprise. Lucy then develops an attraction to a woman named Brittany, played by Clemons, and her friends attempt to persuade her to ask the masseuse out on a date. Johnson's character then replies: 'It's not a good idea to make out with your coworkers, you guys. Read the news!' Jane later attempts to use an analogy of ice cream to convince Lucy to make up her mind about her sexuality, to which the latter responds: 'Ice cream is different than vaginas...otherwise, it would be called vag-ice cream.' The trailer ends after Jane and Lucy take a yoga class together, during which the instructor informs them that they were sisters in a past life, although one had the other burned alive for being a witch. The trailer begins with Lucy, portrayed by Johnson, having lunch with Jane, played by Mizuno, who encourages her friend to put one of her suitors 'out of his misery and eff him already' Lucy is then seen while giving her potential partner a beer, and after she rolls off her bed when he attempts to kiss her, he unceremoniously decides to leave Jane later states that her friend is 'afraid of getting close to someone for fear of rejection,' and although Johnson's character counters that she is 'fine,' she is then seen while crying in a bathroom After Lucy confesses that she 'should have figured this out by now,' she takes an online quiz to determine if she is a lesbian, although she abruptly stops after she is caught by a coworker The two later make their way to a rooftop bar where Lucy awkwardly turns down a request from another woman to dance, after which Jane reacts with surprise Lucy then develops an attraction to a woman named Brittany, played by Clemons, and her friends attempt to persuade her to ask the masseuse out on a date Johnson's character then replies: 'It's not a good idea to make out with your coworkers, you guys. Read the news!' Jane later attempts to use an analogy of ice cream to convince Lucy to make up her mind about her sexuality, to which the latter responds: 'Ice cream is different than vaginas...otherwise, it would be called vag-ice cream' The trailer ends after Jane and Lucy take a yoga class together, during which the instructor informs them that they were sisters in a past life, although one had the other burned alive for being a witch Am I OK?, which was co-directed by Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne, also stars performers such as Molly Gordon, Sean Hayes and June Diane Raphael. In addition to serving as the movie's star, Johnson acted as one of the project's producers. The world premiere of Am I OK? took place during the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, where it was met with positive reviews, and the film currently holds a rating of 79% on Rotten Tomatoes. The comedy-drama feature is scheduled to be released in the United States through the HBO Max streaming service on June 6. The Man Who Came Back From The Dead (Channel 4) Rating: Just suppose for a moment that Arthur Knight is telling the truth. He isn't a fugitive and convicted sex offender from the U.S. suspected of faking his own death. He's simply who he claims to be, a happily married man and National Trust enthusiast living in Edinburgh, who grew up in care in Dublin. The fact that his fingerprints, DNA and tattoos match those of Nicholas Rossi, alias Nicholas Alahverdian (and at least three other names), is a coincidence, or a frame-up. That's scarcely more ludicrous than the real story, presented on Imposter: The Man Who Came Back From The Dead, a four-part documentary continuing tonight. Director Owen Phillips is so enthralled by the absurdities of Knight's case that he has modelled his show on artsy crime movies by the Coen Brothers such as Fargo with gigantic onscreen captions to identify his interviewees, a twangy guitar score and plentiful shots of the wide open American landscape. Director Owen Phillips is so enthralled by the absurdities of Knight's case that he has modelled his show on artsy crime movies by the Coen Brothers such as Fargo His breathing mask makes it difficult to understand what he's saying, but his devoted wife, Miranda, (pictured) is always on hand to translate Mind you, if this were a real Coen Brothers production, Knight really would be an innocent victim . . . one who just happened to indulge in quirks like turning up to court in a dressing gown and slippers, wheeling an oxygen tank behind him. His breathing mask makes it difficult to understand what he's saying, but his devoted wife, Miranda, is always on hand to translate. Appearing by satellite link on a U.S. talk show, he rolled his eyes and mumbled something into his respirator. 'What Arthur is saying,' explained the faithful Miranda, like a cartoon villain's minion, 'is that this is all a storm in a teacup when Arthur is a hurricane.' The U.S. authorities began extradition proceedings after Knight was arrested in the Covid ward of a Glasgow hospital, where he had been in a coma. Almost immediately, he and Miranda were co-operating with the film-makers, but he isn't the only attention seeker in this story. Director Owen Phillips is so enthralled by the absurdities of Knight's case that he has modelled his show on artsy crime movies by the Coen Brothers (pictured) such as Fargo A New Jersey politician with a Sopranos accent keeps popping up to tell us how completely the boy bamboozled him. A lawyer described his amazement at realising Rossi who was believed at the time to be dead, from cancer was still rewriting his own Wikipedia entry (which, incidentally, tells you everything you need to know about how reliable Wikipedia is). A publican who once served pints to Knight at an Edinburgh bar even declared, 'Of all the bars in all the world, he had to walk into mine.' Everybody in this documentary, it appears, thinks they're in a movie . . . and they're all stars. Entertaining though this is, it minimises the seriousness of Rossi's crimes. One woman described how, as a student, he inflicted a serious sexual assault on her in a college corridor, minutes after they met. Another woman who naively invited him into her home was raped, she said. Rossi's grandiose, eccentric persona is an act, a disguise to make himself seem harmless. We shouldn't be fooled. Poh Ling Yeow has candidly opened up about her unconventional relationships with her ex-husbands. The MasterChef Australia judge, 50, married her first husband Matt Phipps in 1989 but they separated after nine years together. She went on to tie the knot with Jono Bennett in 2014 after six years together, but confirmed their separation in early 2021. After her divorces, Poh ran Jamface cafe in Adelaide with both of her exes and Matt's new wife Sarah Rich, with their 'love square' business arrangement prompting huge interest. Now, Poh has given an insight into her unique and close relationships with both of her ex-husbands and how she overcame her divorces. Poh Ling Yeow has opened up about her unconventional relationships with her ex-husbands. She is pictured with her second husband Jono Bennett, who she separated from in 2021 Speaking on the Share My Mood podcast, Poh spoke about how she navigates her relationship with Matt, who is now married to her best friend of 20 years Sarah. She revealed she is still friends with both Matt and Sarah and described it as 'awesome' and 'weird' that they have all managed to maintain such a close bond. 'He's still my ride or die, Matt and we still have the hugest domestics in front of his partner, who's my best friend,' she told the KIIS Network's Will & Woody. 'That's the part of the whole awesome, weird story. We're all still really good mates.' Poh said she worked through her 'unresolved love' to form a 'healthy' relationship with Matt which allowed them both to move on. The MasterChef Australia judge, 50, married her first husband Matt Phipps (both pictured) in 1989 but they separated after nine years together After her divorces, Poh ran her Jamface cafe in Adelaide with both of her exes and Matt's new wife Sarah Rich, with their 'love square' business arrangement prompting huge interest She shared: 'I think when people are still triggered by their partners, I think there's something about them that still has a hold over them and you want to be rid of that, so that you're an empty vessel to go on to your new relationship with.' She revealed that she and Matt separated because she felt like she had stopped 'recognising herself' in the midst of their 'dysfunction'. Poh candidly said it made her realise that their relationship wouldn't work as a marriage, but they instead managed to remain close friends after their split. 'We could just push each other's buttons and you could have an argument about this and that, it was just insane,' she shared. 'That's when I'm like, I'm getting lost in this bitterness, and I need to find myself again. Now, Poh has given an insight into her unique and close relationships with both of her ex-husbands and how she overcame her divorces 'And so when we finally broke up, I was like, wait a minute, this is so cool because we now get to keep all the things that we still love about each other because we loved each other's company like we were great friends. 'But as a marriage, it just didn't work. So we got to just throw all the bad things in the bin and keep all the good things.' The MasterChef season one runner-up also candidly opened up about her second divorce and how she still phones her ex Jono to discuss their relationship. She admitted she often reflects on how she would have blamed Jono for certain things and will openly talk to him when she has realisations about their relationship. Poh said Jono will put her phone calls on speaker phone so his new partner doesn't think anything is still going on between them. Speaking on the Share My Mood podcast, Poh spoke about how she navigates her relationship with Matt, who is now married to her best friend of 20 years Sarah (she is pictured with Matt) 'Even though we've been divorced for like five, six years now, and sometimes I'll be alone at home and I'll do something, something goes wrong and I was like, oh my God, if Jono was here, I would totally have blamed him,' she shared. 'So sometimes he'll just get this bizarre phone call and he's so lovely because he puts me on speakerphone, so his new partner knows it's nothing weird. 'And I go, "hey, Jono, sorry, it's a bit random so I just did this thing today. I took the mail out and lost this thing and I just know that if you were here, I would have blamed it on you Now I get it because I'm alone and I know what I did. But when you were around and you complained about it, I didn't want to know about it".' Poh admitted she needed the 'separation' from their relationship to be able to properly 'process' things as she discussed how Jono still helps her to 'heal'. She went on: 'This is one of the great things about having a good relationship with your ex is so good because you get to keep venting all your stuff and then he would then go, "Oh Po, but I was also this". Speaking about her second marriage, Poh admitted she needed the 'separation' from Jono to be able to properly 'process' things as she discussed how he still helps her to 'heal' now 'It's so healing and it's just this constant thing. And we probably do like three phone calls a year kind of thing.' Poh has previously told how her unique dynamic with her exes is 'no big deal' as she discussed them all running the Jamface cafe before Jono left the business. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia last year, Poh said: 'I think everyone wants to paint this really salacious picture but we just transitioned into it [being friends and business partners] with such ease that to us it's just no big deal,' she said, referring to the public interest in the unorthodox partnership. 'We all run [Jamface cafe] together, so we're equal partners. It's just how the cookie crumbled. We don't really think anything weirdly, because it's what happened to us. 'I think everyone wants to think there is this love triangle. There is no love triangle, believe me!' Back in 2018, Jono admitted that Poh and ex-husband Matt's close friendship was something that made him feel jealous early in his marriage to the chef. Poh recently spoke about how she remains optimistic about finding love again but doesn't know if she ever wants to get married or live with a partner again 'It was something we all had to work on essentially,' Jono told Woman's Day. 'I know it's very human to be jealous, but it doesn't make it right. There's a lot of history [between Poh and Matt], so it's not something that can be taken away. It's not something that should be.' Poh recently spoke about how she remains optimistic about finding love again but doesn't know if she ever wants to get married or live with a partner again. She told Stellar magazine in April: 'I think it's very sensible to maintain a sense of individuality because so much of what is toxic about relationships is that merging, [which is] often what we think is the right thing to do. 'We're now in 2024; I feel like we can explore other models.' Married At First Sight's Timothy Smith has stunned fans with his latest extravagant purchase. The 51-year-old reality star took to his Instagram account to share that he has bought a plane, a month after disclosing on A Current Affair that he was a convicted drug smuggler who served over a year in a US prison. 'I bought a plane!!!!!! But there's a twist,' Tim captioned the post. The accompanying video showed Tim and his co-star Jonathan McCullough disassembling the plane's wings to fit it onto a trailer. Tim's former on-screen partner, Lucinda Light, couldn't resist making a cheeky jab at the vehicle's small proportions. Married At First Sight's Timothy Smith has stunned fans with his latest extravagant purchase The 51-year-old reality star took to his Instagram account to share that he has bought a plane, a month after disclosing on A Current Affair that he was a convicted drug smuggler who served over a year in a US prison 'Who's got the remote?' she laughed. 'Aghhhh, this is sooooo exciting!!!! It's so cute, so mini!' she added' Fans were quick to join in on the fun. One fan commented, 'That looks like one you control with a remote. So teeny tiny!' 'I bought a plane!!!!!! But there's a twist,' Tim captioned the post The accompanying video showed Tim and his co-star Jonathan McCullough disassembling the plane's wings to fit it onto a trailer, highlighting the unusual nature of their new acquisition This surprising purchase comes after Timothy's shocking revelation about his past. Living in Vancouver at the time, Timothy used a helicopter to illegally smuggle large amounts of marijuana from Canada into the US. His sordid history was unveiled by A Current Affair in April, leaving viewers shocked to learn the real estate tycoon had spent over a year behind bars. Tim's former on-screen partner, Lucinda Light, couldn't resist making a cheeky jab at the MAFS star 'I would take off from a little unmanned airport and I would fly up a valley into a creek where I would meet a four-wheel-drive... within a minute, the helicopter would be loaded,' he explained. Timothy was eventually caught by police in Los Angeles when he returned to the country after visiting his sick mother in Australia. He was sentenced for 'trafficking marijuana over an international border' in 2006 and spent additional time in immigration detention. Amber Rose has revealed she is endorsing Donald Trump for President of the United States in 2024, sparking outrage among her fans. The 40-year-old model posted a photo of her posing with Trump, 77, and his wife Melania, 54, at a black-tie event on Monday. The former president is the presumed Republican front-runner in the 2024 race. Rose stated in the caption, 'Trump 2024 ususus,' which lead to a slew of backlash from fans in the comments. Rose has long been an advocate for women's rights - creating Slutwalk in 2015 in an effort to end rape culture and victim blaming. Amber Rose has never been one to shy away from controversy, a tradition she continued on Monday when she endorsed Donald Trump for President of the United States Rose stated in the caption, 'Trump 2024 ususus,' which lead to a slew of backlash from fans in the comments Many are seeing her endorsement of Trump as hypocritical, given his multiple sexual harassment allegations and him being instrumental in abolishing Roe v. Wade. @nubian_throne said, 'Imagine being an advocate for womens rights and endorsing Trump and his party who reversed Roe V Wade. Wild.' Producer/actor/lawyer Nathan Hale Williams said from his verified account, 'Unfollow with the quickness. He is against everything I thought you stood for. Bye girl.' @trvp.bxz brought up her recent feud with Joseline Hernandez on College Hill: Celebrity Edition, adding, 'As Joseline said , You really just wana be a white girl.' Rose and Hernandez clashed over race, and when Hernandez said she, 'really wanna be white girl,' Rose appeared to strike her, though the footage was not shown. @princetonboy915 added, 'AMBER, HES LITERALLY AGAINST EVERYTHING YOU STAND FOR! WTF?!?!?! Actor/activist Amber Whittington added, 'Damn Amber Youre a Bisexual woman of color that runs a movement that stands up for Womens rights and their power against anyone that abuses it.thats literally OPPOSITE of what he supportssmdh.' Blakely Nieman Thornton stated, 'Go to sleep babe, youre drunk,' while Vivica A. Fox added, 'WTF?? #GURLBYE' and Bob The Drag Queen said, 'AMBER?!?!?! WTF.' @nubian_throne said, 'Imagine being an advocate for womens rights and endorsing Trump and his party who reversed Roe V Wade. Wild' Rose stated in the caption, 'Trump 2024 ususus,' which lead to a slew of backlash from fans in the comments @trvp.bxz brought up her recent feud with Joseline Hernandez on College Hill: Celebrity Edition, adding, 'As Joseline said , You really just wana be a white girl' Actor/activist Amber Whittington added, 'Damn Amber Youre a Bisexual woman of color that runs a movement that stands up for Womens rights and their power against anyone that abuses it.thats literally OPPOSITE of what he supportssmdh' Blakely Nieman Thornton stated, 'Go to sleep babe, youre drunk,' while Vivica A. Fox added, 'WTF?? #GURLBYE' and Bob The Drag Queen said, 'AMBER?!?!?! WTF.' Chantel Watkins added, 'Ain't nothing in that baldhead Eli Oneil said, 'Unfollowing. Joseline was right about you' Chantel Watkins added, 'Ain't nothing in that baldhead' while Eli Oneil said, 'Unfollowing. Joseline was right about you.' Interestingly enough, Rose's endorsement comes nearly two months after she revealed on Just B With Bethenny Frankel that she's always been 'conservative.' 'I am conservative actually. I have always been conservative since I was young,' adding when she started dating Kanye West in 2008 she became, 'this sexpot type of girl.' 'That was my first relationship with a celebrity ever but also in the public eye. And he knows a lot about fashion and he always wanted me to dress very sexy,' she said. 'And I'm like, "Ugh, I'm so not her." Like, I'm so not her and I get what I come off as but I am so not her,' Rose insisted. Beloved Australian TV producer Pat Lavelle who worked in the industry for over two decades died on Friday aged 95. The veteran showrunner worked for both Channel Nine and Channel Ten and during her tenure helped shape several iconic Australian TV programs. Lavelle was instrumental to the success of Nine's This is Your Life, The Mike Walsh Show and Beauty and the Beast. She began her TV career in 1975 at 36 and as she got older was credited with providing a mature perspective for some of the youth-focused shows she worked on. Her former Mike Walsh Show colleague David Mitchell paid tribute to her in a statement. Beloved Australian TV producer Pat Lavelle (pictured) who worked in the industry for over two decades died on Friday aged 95 'Mike Walsh insisted that, even though she was a decade older than babies like me, it was advantageous to employ a person of the same age as our target demographic,' he told TV Tonight. 'She was a fiercely intelligent woman. A perfect producer to oversee the Australian housewife from 1975, when working mothers were jeered from the studio audience. 'When Mike Walsh moved on, Pat found a soulmate in the show's new host, Ray Martin and her keynote determination had a new champion.' The veteran showrunner worked for both Channel Nine and Channel Ten and during her tenure helped shape several iconic Australian TV programs. Lavelle was instrumental to the success of Nine's This is Your Life, The Mike Walsh Show and Beauty and the Beast Her former colleague David Mitchell paid tribute to her in a statement (Pictured 2L on the set of The Mike Walsh Show) He added that through her hard work and enthusiasm, Lavelle's helped shape the shows she worked on into something great. 'As producer, Pat continued to make her indelible mark.' In addition to her TV work, Lavelle also worked for Radio 2GB in Sydney as an assistant and occasional voice-over artist. She retired from the industry in 1996, after 21 years working on some of Australia's most famous shows. Sam Burgess is set to become an uncle once more, with the NRL star's brother Luke sharing the news in March that he is welcoming another child with fiancee Tori May. And on Monday, Tori shared an update on her pregnancy as she lounged by the pool at the Sheraton Grand Mirage on the Gold Coast. Taking to Instagram, she shared a picture of herself basking in the Queensland sun. Wearing a skimpy black two piece bikini, the expectant mother showed off her growing baby bump with pride, tagging her NRL player fiance, Luke. She captioned the heartwarming post with '21 weeks,' indicating how far along she was in her pregnancy. Sam Burgess is set to become an uncle once more, with the NRL star's brother Luke sharing the news in March that he is welcoming another child with fiancee Tori May. Pictured: Luke Burgess and Tori May On Monday, Tori shared an update on her pregnancy as she lounged by the pool at the Sheraton Grand Mirage on the Gold Coast The couple announced the happy news in a joint Instagram post on Easter Sunday. The NRL star, 37, and his fiancee, who became engaged last year, were both tagged in sweet images of Tori's bump and ultrasound. 'One of us had a few too many Easter choccy eggs,' Tori wrote in her caption alongside photos of her growing bump. 'One of us had a few too many Easter choccy eggs,' Tori wrote in her caption of the ultrasound She wore a black swimsuit in the images with her face just out of frame and her blossoming belly on display. The loved-up couple became engaged at Shelly Beach in NSW in December. Tori was seen happily showing off her dazzling engagement ring in a bikini as she rests it on her hunky man's chest. The loved-up couple became engaged at Shelly Beach in NSW in December In a second image, the lovebirds are seen locking lips and cuddling as they celebrate the joyous occasion. Luke captioned the moment with some tender words. '23/12/23 She said YES!' he began, adding a ring emoji. 'The perfect way to bring 2023 to an end. We are so excited to start this next chapter of our lives together,' he continued. The couple have been dating since early 2020 and share one-year-old daughter, Charlotte. Luke already shares daughter Grace, eight, with his ex-partner Yolanda Hodgson. The Burgess clan seen here in 2013. L-R: Sam, Luke, Julie, George and Tom Burgess The pair dated for seven years until 2019. Luke first made his name in the UK with Leeds Rhinos in the English Super League, winning a title in 2009. He then moved to Australia ahead of the 2011 NRL season, signing a deal alongside his three siblings - Sam as well as twins, George and Tom - at South Sydney Rabbitohs. Rachel McAdams stunned at the 2024 Manhattan Theatre Club Spring Gala, which was held in New York City on Monday evening. The 45-year-old actress posed for a duo of photos at the event, which was also attended by the likes of Sarah Paulson and Nikki M. James. The performer - who recently spoke about the musical adaptation of The Notebook - stood out while wearing a sleeveless orange Emilia Wickstead dress that exposed her toned arms, as well as the lower portions of her legs. McAdams, who made her Broadway debut in the two-act play Mary Jane last month, also wore a pair of silver high-heeled shoes, and she accessorized with various pieces of jewelry. The Academy Award-nominated actress' gorgeous brunette hair fell onto her chest and contrasted well with the tone of her clothing. Rachel McAdams stunned at the 2024 Manhattan Theatre Club Spring Gala, which was held in New York City on Monday evening The performer - who recently spoke about the musical adaptation of The Notebook - stood out while wearing a sleeveless orange dress that exposed her toned arms, as well as the lower portions of her legs Paulson, 49, donned a sequin-covered black dress, which was paired with matching high-heeled shoes for the Gala Paulson, 49, donned a sequin-covered black dress, which was paired with matching high-heeled shoes for the Gala. The American Horror Story mainstay carried a leather clutch with her during the event, and she added a bit of brightness to her look for the evening with gold earrings. The actress, who has taken part in numerous Broadway productions over the length of her career, had her gorgeous blonde locks cut into a bob. James stood out while wearing a patterned and multicolored dress during the star-studded event. The Tony Award-winning performer also wore a pair of shining multi-pearl earrings. Whitney White opted for a navy blue dress that was paired with a matching sash for the Gala. She was also pictured with Zenzi Williams, who rocked a bright red long-sleeve bodycon dress at the event. Kalyne Coleman showed off a slight hint of her toned midsection while wearing a light gray dress with a cut-out middle portion. The American Horror Story mainstay carried a leather clutch with her during the event, and she added a bit of brightness to her look for the evening with gold earrings James stood out while wearing a patterned and multicolored dress during the star-studded event Kalyne Coleman showed off a slight hint of her toned midsection while wearing a light gray dress with a cut-out middle portion. Keisha Lewis rocked a multi-colored and long-sleeve dress for the event, and she completed her look with gold hoop earrings Whitney White opted for a navy blue dress, and Zenzi Williams donned a bright red bodycon dress Paulson was also pictured while arriving at a taping of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert earlier in the day. The actress wore a leather varsity-style jacket at the taping The Ratched star opted for a leather varsity-style jacket that featured a sizable patch featuring the first letter of her last name on its front portion The performer's outerwear also featured several yellow stripes, which contrasted perfectly with the dark tone of he clothing Keisha Lewis rocked a multi-colored and long-sleeve dress for the event, and she completed her look with gold hoop earrings. Paulson was also pictured while arriving at a taping of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert earlier in the day. The Ratched star opted for a leather varsity-style jacket that featured a sizable patch featuring the first letter of her last name on its front portion. The performer's outerwear also featured several yellow stripes, which contrasted perfectly with the dark tone of he clothing. Chinese envoy says Israel must cease Rafah offensive Xinhua) 13:45, May 21, 2024 UNITED NATIONS, May 20 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy said Monday that Israel must immediately cease its military offensive in Rafah city in the Gaza Strip. Facing strong opposition from the international community, Israel is still pushing ahead with its large-scale offensive on Rafah, once again driving hundreds of thousands of Gazans into displacement, said Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, expressing China's grave concern about and strong opposition to the operation. "Nothing can justify the perpetuation of conflict. The collective punishment of civilians does not create conditions conducive to the rescue of hostages. Israel must immediately cease its military operation in Rafah," he told the UN Security Council. China supports further Security Council actions to ensure the implementation of its Resolution 2728, which demands a humanitarian cease-fire, Fu said, adding China also hopes that the United States, as the country with major influence on Israel, can uphold impartiality and effectively facilitate a cease-fire and cessation of hostilities. The current humanitarian disaster in Gaza is inconceivable. The occupation of the Rafah border crossing has seriously hindered access to humanitarian aid, as humanitarian supplies from Jordan to Gaza have been blocked and sabotaged, and humanitarian workers and UN personnel are confronted with multiple obstacles and even risks to their lives, which is unacceptable, said Fu. Land routes are crucial for humanitarian delivery and have no substitute, he said, noting Israel should effectively comply with its obligations under international law and international humanitarian law by immediately opening up all land crossings and ensuring the supply of food, medicine, fuel, and other necessities. Noting the two-state solution is the only viable way to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli issue, Fu said China supports the establishment of an independent state of Palestine and its early admission as a full member of the United Nations. Gaza is an inalienable part of Palestine, the Chinese envoy said, adding any proposal on post-war governance of Gaza should respect the will of the Palestinian people, should respect the legitimate concerns of the countries in the region, and should not deviate from the general direction of the two-state solution. May 15 marked the 76th anniversary of Nakba, the massive exodus of Palestinians that occurred in 1948 following the establishment of the state of Israel, Fu noted. For decades, generations of Palestinians have made arduous struggles for their legitimate rights, he added. China will continue to work tirelessly together with the international community to promote an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, alleviate the humanitarian disaster, and implement the two-state solution, so that Nakba will forever be the past, and Palestine and Israel can live side by side in peace, and the Middle East can enjoy lasting peace and stability, Fu said. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Guy Pearce stunned fans by debuting his shock new look at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival in France on Monday. The Australian actor looked worlds away from his usual clean-shaven self as he attended the red carpet for his new film The Shrouds. The former Neighbours star looked unrecognisable as he donned a full beard and a longer head of hair. Guy looked dapper at the event in a black tuxedo, a white buttoned shirt and black bow tie. The actor completed his look with a pair of black shiny shoes and wore round framed glasses to the event. Guy Pearce stunned fans by debuting his shock new look at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival in France on Monday It come after it was recently revealed Guy is up for an Emmy for his role on Neighbours. The Australian actor is competing for the Guest Performance in a Daytime Drama Series. It comes thanks to his brief but memorable guest starring turn as Mike Young on Neighbours last year. 'Neighbours has been on an incredible journey these past few years and a Daytime Emmy Award nomination is the icing on the cake,' Neighbours Executive Producer Jason Herbison told the Daily Telegraph. The Australian actor looked worlds away from his usual clean-shaven self as he attended the red carpet for his new film The Shrouds. Pictured Guy in 2022 Guy and Annie Jones reprised their iconic roles for the soap's much anticipated Amazon reboot. The Daytime Emmys will be take place on June 7 in Los Angeles. Herbison confirmed in May 2023 that Pearce would reprise his role on the soap opera, which was rebooted in April that year, and is being filmed Melbourne. 'We are delighted that Guy is returning to continue Mike and Jane's reunion, it was a highlight of last year's finale and (there is) definitely more story to tell for these much-loved characters,' he said in a statement to The Sun Herald. TikToker Jesse 'Sunset' Willesee has made a surprising visit to a Nevada town allegedly infamous for 'meth heads and biker gangs'. The social media star, whose mother is American and father is respected Australian journalist Terry Willesee, posted to his YouTube on Tuesday to share his experiences of Laughlin, Nevada. The Aussie content creator said that ever since a fan told him about the riverside gambling town, he had been intrigued by it and wanted to visit. However, he explained that after making a video about the town, many fans warned him not to go and said it was allegedly full of 'biker gangs'. 'Don't go there, it's full of meth heads, biker gang shootouts,' he said, quoting his followers. TikToker Jesse 'Sunset' Willesee has made a surprising visit to a Nevada town allegedly infamous for 'meth heads and biker gangs' But Jesse booked a flight to go and see for himself and shared a video of his trip to the small town, which is located in the very south of the state of Nevada, close to the border of California and Arizona. In the video, he gave an insight into his activities as he tried his luck at some slot machines and showcased the view of the Colorado River outside his hotel. Jesse gave a glowing review of his visit to the town as he batted off fans' concerns, comparing it to the much bigger and glitzier city of Las Vegas. 'They don't even care to have you in Vegas. There's so many people, they'd rather not have to deal with you,' he shared. The social media star, whose mother is American and father is respected Australian journalist Terry Willesee, took to YouTube on Tuesday to share his experiences of Laughlin, Nevada 'Here in Laughlin, everything's been so much more relaxed, everyone has been so helpful and accomodating. They're happy to have you here.' 'That's not the vibe in Vegas,' he continued. 'Vegas is cool, don't get me wrong. I love Vegas. But there's a chaotic energy to Las Vegas. 'You never feel very relaxed. And when you're on holiday, feeling relaxed is a vibe I think you want.' 'So for me, just being here in Laughlin, by the Colorado River with the beautiful mountain desert peaks, it's just incredible,' the Tiktoker gushed. He gave a glowing review of his visit to the town as he batted off his fans who warned him not to visit the town and compared it to the much bigger and glitzier city of Las Vegas In a video documenting his trip, he tried his luck at some slot machines and then showcased the view of the Colorado River outside his hotel While in Laughlin, Jesse also visited Outback Steakhouse, a chain restaurant with an Australiana theme. The restaurant chain, first established in the US in 1988, boasts 'Australian' fare on its menu including 'Kookaburra Wings' (chicken wings in bleu cheese dressing) 'Gold Coast Coconut Shrimp' (deep fried prawns in beer batter) and the famous 'Bloomin' Onion'. 'I went there to make a video about how [the Outback Steakhouse] it is not Australian,' he said. While in Laughlin, Jesse also visited Outback Steakhouse, a chain restaurant with an Australiana theme Jesse said he had first set out to make a video about how the eatery was not at all Australian - but he came away impressed instead. Pictured with girlfriend Amanda during his stay at the Aquarius Casino Resort in Laughlin, Nevada 'What I did not anticipate was that it [would be] absolutely delicious.' Jesse said he dined on a rib eye steak, but was most impressed with the 'Bloomin' Onion', a signature dish of the eatery. Described in the menu as a 'True Outback original', the appetiser consists of 'hand-carved' deep fried onions paired with a spicy sauce created especially by the restaurant. 'The Bloomin' Onion was one of the best things I ever tasted,' the social media star gushed in his review. He also raved about the staff and gave the Nevada restaurant a rating of '8 out of 10'. Snezana Wood and her lookalike teenage daughter Eve Victoria looked every inch the glamorous mother-daughter duo as they attended the F1 Grand Prix on Monday. The Bachelor star, 43, looked the same age as her daughter, 19, in a black blazer an mini pleated skirt, as seen in a series of photos shared to Instagram. With her dark locks styled into a chic blunt bob, the scientific sales rep hid her eyes behind a pair of dark designer glasses as she posed with her eldest child. Meanwhile, Eve, who is an aspiring model and content creator, copied her reality TV star mother's look with a blue blazer and matching mini skirt. She toted a white designer handbag at the Albert Park race track in Melbourne as she also protected her eyes from the sun with dark sunnies. 'Two beautiful women who happen to be mother and daughter,' Eve captioned the reel of images, which also featured her stepfather Sam Wood. Snezana shares Eve with her first husband, but went on to have three more children - Willow, seven, Charlie, five, and Harper, two - with 44-year-old Sam. The Woods met on The Bachelor in 2015 and remain one of the franchise's biggest success stories, alongside Tim Robards and Anna Heinrich. Sam is responsible for the highly successful fitness program 28 by Sam Wood. Eve soft launched her modelling career in 2023 before she graduated from high school. At the time she tagged a popular bikini brand in one of her Instagram posts. Snezana Wood looked incredibly youthful as she attended Glamour On The Grid at Albert Park race track in Melbourne on Wednesday evening with her teenage daughter Eve The talented teen looked every inch the professional model as she posed in the Vinca-Savoca bikini by the Aussie label Triangl. In March 2022, Snezana revealed her daughter was working towards a career in fashion when the two attended Melbourne Fashion Festival. Sharing a photo of the pair, Snezana wrote: 'Mother-daughter date night with @eve.vict who is working towards a career in fashion is absolutely killing it.' The teenager's Instagram bio listed her as a 'model' at the time, but this has since been updated to 'digital creator'. Sydney eyebrow queen Kristin Fisher has been spotted for the first time after she slammed rumours she's the 'other woman' behind power couple Shelley and Anthony Sullivan's shock marriage split. MCoBeauty founder Shelley and her accountant husband of seven years parted ways two weeks ago after an explosive argument. The row prompted Anthony to leave the country and head to the US, while his wife moved into the five-star InterContinental Hotel in Double Bay. Reports have wrongly insinuated that Kristin was involved in the split, which she says is 'unequivocally false'. Kristin, 39, seemed frustrated as she left Joh Bailey hair salon in Double Bay on Tuesday with celebrity publicist Camille Thioulouse who looked to be consoling her. Sydney eyebrow queen Kristin Fisher (left) has been spotted for the first time after she slammed rumours she's the 'other woman' behind power couple Shelley and Anthony Sullivan's shock marriage split. Dressed in chic black leggings, a matching T-shirt and trench coat, the eastern suburbs business owner appeared downcast as she chatted to her pals outside the salon. The mother-of-two also showcased her expensive taste by carrying a black Chanel handbag on one shoulder and a woven Loewe tote on the other. Her look was completed with a pair of fluffy grey slides, designer sunglasses and gold jewellery including a ring and bangles. Kristin, 39, seemed frustrated as she left Joh Bailey hair salon in Double Bay on Tuesday with two friends who looked to be consoling her Dressed in chic black leggings, a matching T-shirt and trench coat, the eastern suburbs business owner looked downcast as she chatted to her pals outside the salon For makeup, the brunette highlighted her cheekbones with peach blush and painted her pout with a pink lipstick. While Thioulouse channelled minimal elegance in an an Ena Pelly X Elle Ferguson sweater. The pair appeared to have treated themselves to a sleeks blow dry at the salon. After catching up outside Joh Bailey, she and her two pals were seen enjoying a chat while strolling through the local shops. Kristin also showcased her expensive taste by carrying a black Chanel handbag on one shoulder and a woven Loewe tote on the other Kristin seemed to pep up as the conversation continued. At one point, Kristin removed her coat to reveal her svelte pins in shiny black leggings and a black jumper that was tied around her slim waist. On Tuesday, Kristin denied rumours she was the 'other woman' behind Shelley and Anthony Sullivan's recent marriage split. Her look was completed with a pair of fluffy grey slides, quirky sunglasses and gold jewellery including a ring and bangles For makeup, the brunette highlighted her cheekbones with peach blush and painted her pout with a pink lipstick She appeared to have treated herself to a sleek blow dry at the salon After catching up outside Joh Bailey, she and her two pals were seen enjoying a chat while strolling through the local shops 'This is absolutely not true,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'I am so sick of being the clickbait in all of these stories and having to defend myself over something that I've got nothing, and I mean NOTHING, to do with. 'The truth is I've only been with one person of late,' she added. Kristin seemed to pep up as the conversation continued At one point, Kristin removed her coat to reveal her svelte pins in shiny black leggings and a black jumper that was tied around her slim waist It comes after Kristin denied slammed rumours she was the 'other woman' behind Shelley and Anthony Sullivan's recent marriage split Kristin, who has had her fair share of headlines over the years, said there was no bad blood between herself and Shelley, a long-time friend. 'This rumour is not true - along with every other story that my name gets dragged into,' Kristin said. 'Tall poppy syndrome is alive and well in this country - the rumours just keep getting more outrageous every day.' The MCoBeauty founder and her accountant husband of seven years parted ways two weeks ago after an explosive argument Reports have wrongly insinuated that Kristin was involved in the split, which she says is 'unequivocally false' Kristin's comments came one day after Shelley was seen being comforted by her mum, Kerrie, in Sydney's financial district, where her multi-million-dollar business is based. The pair looked visibly distressed as they shared a tender moment in the midst of her marriage breakdown. Shelley told Daily Mail Australia she would not be commenting on the marriage break-up. 'Shelley is absolutely shattered by the split,' a close friend said. 'Anthony was her rock, she's devastated - her marriage was everything to her.' 'This is absolutely not true,' she told Daily Mail Australia The businesswoman's close-knit group of friends are doing their best to support her. 'She has an amazing network that has just put their arms around her at this time,' the friend added. Anthony is an accountant and CEO of Quantaco which provides financial services to companies in the hospitality trade. Kristin, who has had her fair share of headlines over the years, said there was no bad blood between herself and Shelley, a long-time friend The couple had known each other for years and were friends before starting to date, and then tied the knot in a lavish ceremony in Point Piper in 2016. The pair have since moved out of their $11,000-a-week heritage-listed rental mansion Leura in Bellevue Hill. Shelley made her mark in the 1990s with her model and talent agency before launching her thriving 'masstige' beauty brand ModelCo in 2016. 'Tall poppy syndrome is alive and well in this country - the rumours just keep getting more outrageous every day,' Kristin said Masstige is a retail term referring to a product that is marketed as 'prestige' or premium but is in fact mass-produced and inexpensive. The beauty boss launched her brand's Tan Airbrush In a Can more than 20 years ago and it still sells a bottle every 36 seconds worldwide. She is also credited with introducing the world to the first heated eyelash curlers. ModelCo has overtaken legacy beauty brands like L'Oreal, Maybelline and Rimmel in the Australian market. Shelley was seen in Sydney's financial district being consoled by her mum on Monday The likes of Kendall Jenner, Hailey Baldwin, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Elyse Knowles have represented the internationally famous line. In 2022, MCoBeauty was approached by a large Australian conglomerate that acquired a portion of the business. The brand is on track to generate $247million in the 2024 financial year. Janelle Brown is opening up about her first Mother's Day holiday without her son Garrison Brown. Janelle, 55, who starred on TLC's Sister Wives since 2010, laid her son Garrison to rest after he passed on March 5 at just 25, which was recently confirmed as suicide. She took to Instagram on Monday, sharing an image of strawberry rhubarb pie, while sharing her thoughts with her 1.3 million followers. 'Mothers Day was surprisingly emotional for me. It just never has been a big holiday for me,' Brown began. 'My children have always shown up for me and made me feel special everyday,' she added. Janelle Brown is opening up about her first Mother's Day holiday without her son Garrison Brown She took to Instagram on Monday, sharing an image of strawberry rhubarb pie, while sharing her thoughts with her 1.3 million followers 'Especially since they became independent adults and werent home all the time. But this year was different,' she added. 'All weekend I felt the grief so close to the surface. And it was especially poignant when I made this simple pie,' she said. 'Our strawberry picking excursion combined with the fact that I randomly found rhubarb at the local farmers market made it feel like this pie was destined,' she explained. 'Strawberry Rhubarb is a huge favorite at our house and maybe no one loved it more than Garrison. And that made this pie a little bitter sweet,' she added. 'I love you honey and miss you every day,' Janelle concluded her post, which received over 25K likes. Garrett passed on March 5 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, and he was laid to rest a week later. Last week, The Coconino County Medical Examiner confirmed in an autopsy report obtained by PEOPLE on Wednesday that the Sister Wives star, 25, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Ethanol intoxication was listed as a contributing factor as Garrison's blood alcohol level was more than 3 times the legal limit which is .08% in the United States at the time of his death. 'Especially since they became independent adults and werent home all the time. But this year was different,' she added 'Strawberry Rhubarb is a huge favorite at our house and maybe no one loved it more than Garrison. And that made this pie a little bitter sweet,' she added. 'I love you honey and miss you every day,' Janelle concluded her post, which received over 25K likes Last week, The Coconino County Medical Examiner confirmed in an autopsy report obtained by PEOPLE on Wednesday that the Sister Wives star, 25, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head His iliac blood analysis determined his BAC was .307% while the outcome of his vitreous analysis test was .370%. Alcohol poisoning and loss of consciousness can occur at such a high BAC. Anything above .40% is considered potentially fatal. Garrison was found dead by his brother Gabriel on March 5, with Janelle announcing the tragic news on behalf of the family via Instagram that same day. 'Kody and I are deeply saddened to announce the loss of our beautiful boy Robert Garrison Brown,' she said. 'He was a bright spot in the lives of all who knew him.' 'His loss will leave such a big hole in our lives that it takes our breath away. We ask that you please respect our privacy and join us in honoring his memory.' Australian glamour model Sahara Ray has hit back at a troll who criticised her for posing for a racy bathtub photo shoot. The daughter of Aussie surfer Tony Ray, who recently revealed she is suffering from Guillain-Barre syndrome, took to Instagram on Monday to share a series of images of herself posing in skimpy lingerie. Sahara, 31, left little to the imagination in a sheer bra and G-string as she stretched her body in the bath. One troll reacted by writing a cruel comment which read: 'Apparently that disease isnt hindering her from naked bathtub photoshoots!' Sahara hit back at the troll by simply writing: 'Lol you got me.' Australian glamour model Sahara Ray hit back at a troll who criticised her for doing a racy bathtub photo shoot Sahara opened up about a recent health condition on Sunday that has left her in a wheelchair. She took to social media to reveal she is suffering from Guillain-Barre syndrome, a condition that sees the immune system attack the nerves. 'My whole life changed in an instant,' she wrote alongside a series of clips of her journey with the disease. In a TikTok video posted earlier this month, the model explained that she is currently paralysed from her upper thighs down to her feet. Sahara added that she is relying on a wheelchair and cannot walk without the aid of a walker. One troll commented on the post: 'Apparently that disease isnt hindering her from naked bathtub photoshoots!' Sahara hit back at the cruel comment by simply writing: 'Lol you got me' She explained she was hit by a drunk driver travelling at 80m/h on April 8. 'It basically sent my body into shock which sent my body into this crazy sickness,' she revealed. 'I got really really sick for like a week and a half to two weeks. During that time I barely ate any food because I couldn't keep it down and my body got really weak,' she continued. Sahara left little to imagination in a sheer bra and G-string as she stretched her body in the bath Following her sickness she began to feel tingling and numbness in her feet which progressed to her legs. The model was promptly rushed to the emergency room. 'This has been really hard to deal with and I've been trying keep a good attitude and be hopeful that my feeling comes back,' she told her social media followers. 'Any advice would be amazing or just like love and support and your prayers because I want to be able to walk again,' she added. George Lucas held a huge birthday bash to celebrate turning 80 years old, with some of the biggest stars in the world showing up. The Star Wars creator actually turned 80 on Tuesday, May 14, though he invited dozens of A-list friends to celebrate on Saturday at Skywalker Ranch, via Page Six. Steve Martin served as the MC for the evening, with performances throughout the night by artists like Alicia Keys, Jon Batiste, Don Henley and H.E.R. The guest list also included Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Samuel L. Jackson, Tyler Perry, Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, Robert De Niro, Glenn Close, Queen Latifah, Kerry Washington, Steve Martin, Chris Rock, H.E.R., Alicia Keys, Don Henley, Jon Batiste, Swizz Beatz, Jon Favreau, and Warwick Davis. Lucas has owned Skywalker Ranch since 1978, located in a secluded area in Marin County, California north of the Bay Area. George Lucas held a huge birthday bash to celebrate turning 80 years old, with some of the biggest stars in the world showing up. Steve Martin served as the MC for the evening, with performances throughout the night by artists like Alicia Keys , Jon Batiste, Don Henley and H.E.R. Alicia Keys was one of the several performers who played for George Lucas at his 80th birthday bash Don Henley also performed at George Lucas' 80 birthday celebration at Skywalker Ranch H.E.R. was also brought on to perform during the Skywalker Ranch celebration The ranch sits on 4,700 acres and includes a massive main house, a man-made lake dubbed Lake Ewok and Skywalker Sound, a 153,000-square-foot post-production facility that includes a 300-seat movie theater. The party took place from roughly 6 PM until midnight on Saturday night, with upwards of 150 guests including Lucas' friends and family. Mellody Hobson, who Lucas has been married to since 2013, was said to be, 'an exceptional host' by sources, who was, 'warmly greeting everyone at the party.' The party kicked off with a cocktail hour at the Star Wars gallery on the ranch, followed by an elegant dinner, with dancing and dessert later in the theater area. The source added the party was a, 'very friendly scene with 'lots of cute convos' throughout the night. 'The drinks were flowing, creating an atmosphere similar to a family gathering [rather] than a white-glove affair,' the source continued. 'Yet, I assure you, everything was on point and Lucas-themed,' the source added, while noting a few A-list conversations they were privy to. Winfrey was spotted chatting with Washington while Ford and Queen Latifah even, 'stole a few moments in conversation.' Mellody Hobson, who Lucas has been married to since 2013, was said to be, 'an exceptional host' by sources, who was, 'warmly greeting everyone at the party' The party kicked off with a cocktail hour at the Star Wars gallery on the ranch, followed by an elegant dinner, with dancing and dessert later in the theater area Jon Batiste also performed during George Lucas' 80th birthday bash. Aside from the musical performances, there were other various musicians playing Star Wars and Indiana Jones-themed music throughout the bash. The gallery even featured oil paintings of the late Carrie Fisher in her iconic role as Princess Leia. The gallery also featured paintings of Chewbacca along with a 'master replica' of the lightsaber used by Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker. Lucas sold his LucasFilm company to Disney in 2012 for a whopping $4.05 billion, with Forbes reporting in April that his current net worth is $5.5 billion. Giovanni Pernice appeared to have a backup plan in place before leaving Strictly Come Dancing under a cloud. Last month, the professional dancer, 33, set up two new companies, which suggest that hes embarking on a life outside of the BBC show and heading for the classroom. The Latin and Ballroom champion filed Rock You Productions Ltd at Companies House, which relates to the operation of arts facilities. This suggests that hes making a move to create his own dance school, similar to ones set up by other performers such as Kevin Clifton. The surprise new career moves came weeks before it was revealed he is at the centre of a BBC probe into 'serious workplace misconduct', while he also faces fresh claims from a former dancing partner that he 'did horrendous things' to her while peforming at private functions. Giovanni Pernice looks set to be planning a whole new career after leaving Strictly Come Dancing under a cloud (pictured on the Strictly tour in 2022) It comes after Giovanni faced further claims of workplace misconduct on Monday evening after professional dancer Korina Travis accused him of 'horrendous' behaviour Giovanni's new business is with Paul Irving, who produced his and other Strictly stars' tours. Paul is also the founder member of The Strictly Foundation, set up to 'raise funds to place talented youth in stage schools and arts training courses. Giovanni's second firm is called GP Ballando and the nature of its business is cultural education. Debbie Lee serves as director after working with Giovanni and other Strictly celebs on their dance classes. Last year, Giovanni turned his hand away from dancing to set up his own cosmetics range GP Vita, selling fragrances for men and women. He announced on Instagram at the time that 'my dream come true is finally here!' adding: 'VITA is my new fragrance for men and women - an intoxicating scent that captures the sensuality, vitality and energy of Sicily.' As well as teaching, Giovanni could be set for a career in Hollywood. The dancer is set to make his film debut this year with insiders predicting he'll 'have more acting roles coming his way. Giovanni has filmed a role in Man & Witch - a heart-warming homage to the lo-fi fantasy films of the Eighties. He will appear alongside Back to the Future star Christopher Lloyd in the movie, which follows the tale of a lonely goatherd - who cursed at birth to never take a wife - bargains with a witch to reverse the spell if he can complete her three 'impossible' tasks. As well as teaching, Giovanni could be set for a career in Hollywood as he prepares to make his film debut this year (pictured in upcoming movie Man & Witch) While a cloud surrounds his Strictly exit, a new career could be around the corner, with insiders predicting he'll 'have more acting roles coming (pictured with co-star Daniel Portman) Giovanni takes on the role of the Master of the Dance in the movie and will star alongside acting legends Christopher Lloyd (left) and Sean Astin Another insider revealed that the BBC are considering commissioning another travel series with Anton Du Beke following strong viewer feedback Giovanni takes on the role of the Master of the Dance, the best dancer in the kingdom and the only person who knows the Dance of a Thousand Steps which is one of the tasks the Witch sets the Goatheard to master in order to find love. Speaking about Giovanni's new role, a movie insider told MailOnline: 'Its a really fun role where not only does he show his amazing dance talent but also gets to show his comedy and acting chops. 'Hes in the film with most amazing cast, including some Hollywood legends, so who knows what might happen, he may well find some more acting roles coming his way.' Giovanni, who also stars alongside Sean Astin (Goonies, Lord of the Rings), Tami Stronach (The NeverEnding Story) and Michael Emerson (Lost). Man & Witch premieres in the UK on June 2 and will be released in US at the end of August. And while Strictly fans may miss seeing him every weekend in the ballroom, there might not be that long to wait to see him back on the small screen. Insiders have confirmed that Giovanni is already mulling over offers away from BBC and he would find it 'difficult to resist' a lucrative contract with jungle show I'm A Celeb. A source told MailOnline: 'Giovanni has been under intense pressure and scrutiny following last year's series of Strictly when Amanda quit. 'The last thing he wants is for that to continue for him and whoever he could be paired with next so he felt there was no other option but to take a step back from the show. 'His close friendship with Anton Du Beke has made it difficult, he really wants him to stay and tried convincing him to look past everything that's happened.' A TV insider added: 'With I'm A Celeb round the corner, Giovanni would be a dream signing for producers, especially now he's looking for new opportunities and a way to hopefully show audiences he's a good guy. 'The money ITV could offer would be seriously tempting for him too, plus, he loves a challenge.' It comes after Korina, who performed with Giovanni at private functions and has no association with Strictly, accused the Italian dancer of behaving questionably He hasn't completely cut ties with BBC, however, with another insider revealing that the BBC are considering commissioning another travel series with Anton Du Beke following strong viewer feedback. Talk of a new career comes after Giovanni faced further claims of workplace misconduct on Monday evening after a professional dancer accused him of 'horrendous' behaviour away from the BBC show. The former Strictly star has come under fire for his 'militant' training style, with the BBC forced to investigate 'serious workplace misconduct claims' after three of his celebrity partners sought legal help. Now, dancer Korina Travis, who performed with Giovanni at private functions and has no association with Strictly, has accused the Italian dancer of behaving questionably when they worked together. 'Ive known him for years as a fellow competitor and he has done horrendous things to me,' she said in a statement released on Monday. 'I will not speak about my experiences with him... Ill leave it at that.' Travis works for ballroom company Burn The Floor alongside numerous former Strictly Come Dancing professionals. She was previously considered for a role on the BBC show in 2016 before producers chose Chloe Hewitt. In recent weeks, the professional dancer has come under fire for his 'militant' training style, with the BBC forced to investigate 'serious workplace misconduct claims' Former Strictly contestants Amanda Abbington, Laura Whitmore and Ranvir Singh have all critical in their review of Giovanni's methods. According to The Sun, several women who have danced with the Italian on Strictly are contemplating joining the three existing claimants in a Beeb investigation for 'serious workplace misconduct claims'. A source disclosed that several former dance partners of Giovanni's have been communicating privately and suggested that even more names could come forward. The source went on to say that the future is unclear for the professional dancer, who vehemently denies any claims of threatening or abusive behaviour and has vowed to 'clear his name.' They revealed: 'Numerous celebrities, all former partners of Gio's, have been in contact with one another behind the scenes. 'Three women that we know of have come forward, and taken things a step further with legal action. 'But Carter Ruck, the prestigious firm acting on behalf of these stars, have quietly been speaking to one or two other potential claimants. In other words, more names could come out of the woodwork.' The fresh claims come after the professional dancer reportedly quit Strictly after the scrutiny became 'too much'. Off the back of Giovanni's departure, friends close to Amanda spoke about how she found the pro dancer 'abrasive' and would have to have 'crisis talks' with show bosses every week after being left in floods of tears at his 'tough' training method with claims it left her 'bruised'. Amanda, who dramatically withdrew from last year's competition and was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after the show, is said to have met with Laura and Ranvir, 46, earlier this year for an 'emotional summit' to 'compare notes' about their time working with him. Amanda Abbington (pictured) is one of the women named in the suit, while the likes of Laura Whitmore and Ranvir Singh have also been critical in their review of him The professional dancer shared a post to Instagram detailing that he was 'totally surprised' by the allegations, which he denies Giovanni has faced a wave of scrutiny ever since Amanda (pictured) dramatically quit last year In 2016, former Love Island host Laura Whitmore said she 'cried every day' and felt 'uncomfortable' while training with him The Good Morning Britain presenter Ranvir Singh also complained about Giovanni to producers back in 2020, during their time on the show Former partners have also come out to back him, including Debbie McGee, the widow of the magician Paul Daniels, who was paired with him in 2017 Giovanni shared a post to Instagram detailing that he was 'totally surprised' by the allegations, which he denies. He said in a statement: 'You will be as surprised as I am that allegations have been made about my dance teaching methods in the media this week. 'Of course, I reject any suggestion of abusive or threatening behaviour, and I look forward to clearing my name. 'Those who have followed my journey on Strictly Come Dancing over the last decade will know that I am passionate and competitive. No-one is more ambitious for my dance partners than me. 'I have always striven to help them be the very best dancers they can be. This has always come from a place of love and wanting to win - for me and my dance partners. 'Thank you all once again for your continued love and support!' They have made their mark as globally recognised supermodels after forging careers that span the best part of three decades. And Heidi Klum and Alessandra Ambrosio were still the centre of attention at an event during Cannes Film Festival as they led the glamorous arrivals on Monday. The glamorous duo arrived to support the Brazilian Soul Fund and Brazil Foundation during the 77th annual festival at La Petite Maison in the resort town. The German native, 50, looked incredible in a deeply plunging red velvet mini dress, which featured a ruffled skirt with bow detailing around the waist. Heidi, who wore her blonde locks in loose curls, added a further splash of red to her look with a pair of satin stilettos and a slick of cherry-hued lipstick. Heidi Klum and Alessandra Ambrosio were the centre of attention at the Brazilian Soul Fund gala during Cannes Film Festival as they led the glamorous arrivals on Monday The German native, 50, looked incredible in a deeply plunging red velvet mini dress, which featured a ruffled skirt with bow detailing around the waist Alessandra looked equally stunning in a sheer lace ensemble, which featured a strapless bodice and a velvet skirt with a see-through panel Alessandra looked equally stunning in a sheer lace ensemble, which featured a strapless bodice and a velvet skirt with a see-through panel. The Brazilian star draped a jacket over her shoulders and boosted her already statuesque frame with a pair of heels. The model kept her accessories to a minimum and wore her brunette locks in soft waves and opted for a glamorous, dewy coat of make-up. The Brazilian Soul Fund is supporting the Southern Region of Brazil after it was hit by catastrophic floods, claiming hundreds of lives and leaving over half a million people in despair. Alessandra, who was born and raised in Rio Grande do Sul, joins Cindy Mello and the BrazilFoundation to raise money for the cause. Cindy, who is model and social media star also from Brazil, caught the eye in a form-fitting white dress which she teamed with Santoni heels as she posed alongside Alessandra and Heidi. The event took place during Cannes Film Festival and attracted a series of high profile guests to raise funds for the charity. The festival is the world's biggest film festival, first conceived in 1939 as an alternative to the then-fascist-influenced Venice Film Festival. Heidi, who wore her blonde locks in loose curls, added a further splash of red to her look with a pair of satin stilettos and a slick of cherry-hued lipstick The Brazilian star draped a jacket over her shoulders and boosted her already statuesque frame with a pair of heels The Brazilian Soul Fund is supporting the Southern Region of Brazil after it was hit by catastrophic floods, claiming hundreds of lives and leaving over half a million people in despair Alessandra, who was born and raised in Rio Grande do Sul, joins Cindy Mello (pictured left) and the BrazilFoundation to raise money for the cause Heidi smouldered for the camera as she posed for photos Heidi, Alessandra and Cindy sat altogether at a table Heidi looked as stunning as ever as she attended the event It has been held annually since 1946 except in 1948 and 1950, when it was cancelled due to lack of funds. The festival is known for its carefully selected programme of films that have gone on to Oscar glory or launched the careers of directors like Quentin Tarantino. Cannes' top prize is the Palme d'Or, or Golden Palm, whose past winners include Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, Pulp Fiction, The Pianist and Parasite. Jane Campion became the first female director to win in 1993 with The Piano, followed by a nearly three-decade gap until Julia Ducournau received the award for Titane in 2021. Justine Triet became only the third female director to take the prize last year with Anatomy of a Fall. There is also an honorary Palme d'Or, which is awarded in recognition of notable bodies of work, with past recipients including Harrison Ford, Jane Fonda and Clint Eastwood. There are two honorary winners this year: George Lucas of 'Star Wars' and 'Indiana Jones' fame, and Japanese animation legend Studio Ghibli, the first group to receive the prize. Other awards include the Grand Prix, jury prize, best director, best actor, best actress, best screenplay and best short film. The Cannes Film Festival officially kicked off on Tuesday night as celebrities walked the red carpet into the plush Grand Theatre Lumiere to honour Hollywood actor Meryl Streep before settling in to watch this year's opening film, The Second Act. Almost as prestigious as winning the Palme d'Or, the Cannes Film Festival's top prize, is being on the jury that picks the winner. The model kept her accessories to a minimum and wore her brunette locks in soft waves and opted for a glamorous, dewy coat of make-up Cindy and Alessandra posed alongside each other They posed either side of German photographer Ellen von Unwerth Ellen cut a glamorous figure in a sequin green jacket and a pair of flared satin trousers The group put on an animated display for the cameras Artists from around the world who have made a name for themselves in their respective field are picked to sit on the jury, with one member designated as jury president. This year's jury president, U.S. director Greta Gerwig, comes to Cannes after the massive success last summer of Barbie. She is the first female U.S. director to serve as jury president, taking the baton from the head of the 2023 jury, Triangle of Sadness director and two-time Palme d'Or winner, Ruben Ostlund of Sweden. The breakout star of Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, Lily Gladstone returns to Cannes after becoming the first Native American woman to be nominated for an Oscar and winning a Golden Globe award for her performance. One of the writers of the 2014 Palme d'Or-winning film Winter Sleep, Turkish photographer, actor and screenwriter Ebru Ceylan is a familiar face at the festival. Her first short film, On the Edge, was selected to compete at Cannes in 1998, and she has co-written several movies that were in the main competition line-up, including About Dry Grasses, Three Monkeys and The Wild Pear Tree. Norwegian model Frida Aasen looked breathtaking in a stunning silver dress Meanwhile, Sofia Resing caught the eye in a metallic blush gown Natasha Poly opted for an androgynous black suit with slicked back har Chantal Monaghan kept it elegant but simple in a form-fitting silver dress and Santoni heels One of the select few women who have starred in a James Bond film, French actor Eva Green is also on the jury. She has an eclectic resume that includes Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, smaller-scale projects like Nocebo and TV series Penny Dreadful. The 12-time winner of Spain's prestigious Goya Awards, Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona is on the jury. He gained international recognition in 2007 with his first feature-length horror movie The Orphanage, produced by award-winning Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. His latest, the survival drama and Netflix hit 'Society of the Snow,' netted the director an Oscar nomination for best international feature film at this year's ceremony. After making a name with 2018's Capernaum, which earned her Golden Globe, BAFTA and Oscar nominations, Lebanese director and screenwriter Nadine Labaki, who has long had ties to Cannes, adds jury member to her list of accolades. One of Italy's most famous actors with a parallel Hollywood career, Pierfrancesco Favino is no stranger to Cannes, having appeared in the competition films The Traitor, directed by Marco Bellocchio, and Mario Martone's Nostalgia and now on the jury. Winner of the 2018 Palme d'Or for Shoplifters, which also nabbed an Oscar nomination, acclaimed Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda returns as a main competition jury member after his film Monster won best screenplay at last year's festival. With a Cesar award - France's equivalent of an Oscar - under his belt for The Intouchables as well as several successful blockbusters, French actor Omar Sy is a Cannes veteran. The actor with parts in X-Men: Days of Future Past and Jurassic World starred in the opening film of the 2022 Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, Father & Soldier, and will now serve on the jury. Tammy Hembrow is currently enjoying a getaway in Greece with her fiance Matt Zukowski. The 30-year-old showed off her stunning figure on a Corfu beach in a series of photos shared to Instagram. The blonde bombshell turned heads in a striking pink bikini, which highlighted her curves and revealed a hint of underboob. The mother-of-three also turned her back to the camera to flaunt her famous derriere in the swimwear. 'Happiest by the sea. Its so beautiful here. And the FOOD omg. Im a happy lady,' she captioned the post. Tammy Hembrow, 30, (pictured) is currently enjoying a getaway in Greece with her fiance Matt Zukowski The 30-year-old showed off her figure on a Corfu beach in a series of photos shared to Instagram Tammy and her fiance Matt, 28, looked as loved-up as ever on Friday when they were spotted departing Brisbane Airport for their romantic European holiday. The pair held hands and gazed lovingly into each other's eyes as they made their way through the airport and at one tender moment were seen embracing in a sweet hug. It looked to be an exciting time for the young lovers who got engaged in December after three months of dating and are rumoured to soon be getting married. The sighting comes after weeks of reports there was trouble in paradise between Tammy and Matt. Followers recently pointed out the pair had not featured in each other's posts for some time, while others noted they stopped following each other on Instagram. The blonde bombshell turned heads in a striking pink bikini, which highlighted her curves and revealed a hint of underboob The mother-of-three also turned her back to the camera to flaunt her famous derriere in the wild swimwear It wasn't long before the couple quickly re-followed each other before jetting off to enjoy a luxe getaway to Byron Bay. Just a few weeks ago, Matt went so far as to have his fiancee's name tattooed on his hip alongside a love heart in a very permanent show of dedication. He showed off the new tattoo in an Instagram post late last month, which captured him relaxing at the Bali resort where the pair were on a holiday. It matches a 'Matt' tattoo, also alongside a heart, which Tammy has in a similar place on her upper thigh. Just hours after reports surfaced that Ben Affleck had 'come to his senses' about his marriage to Jennifer Lopez, the actor was spotted without his wedding ring once again. The 51-year-old actor was spotted on a film set on Monday afternoon carrying a duffel bag, though he was NOT wearing his wedding ring yet again. Not only did the actor stop wearing his ring, but he was a no-show at his wife's big Netflix movie premiere. Lopez, 54, hit the red carpet solo for the premiere of her film Atlas, held at The Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on Monday, though she was wearing her ring. There had been reports that the couple were on the rocks, amid moving into separate homes and having not been seen together in weeks. Just hours after reports surfaced that Ben Affleck had 'come to his senses' about his marriage to Jennifer Lopez , the actor was spotted without his wedding ring once again Lopez, 54, hit the red carpet solo for the premiere of her film Atlas, held at The Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on Monday, though she was wearing her ring. Then they were spotted leaving the Aero Theater in Santa Monica over the weekend, with both Ben and Jen sporting their wedding bands. Ben was also photographed in the car with Jen, holding his phone, with her call screen up, revealing she was in his phone as 'Jennifer Affleck.' Curiously, Lopez herself was actually in the vehicle right next to him, negating the need for her to call him. A report surfaced on Monday from PageSix that claims Affleck has, 'come to his senses,' regarding his marriage to Lopez. The source described the marriage as a 'fever dream' and he was so enamored with Lopez that he wasn't thinking straight. It was also claimed that he now 'knows' that he has to divorce her, though another report from People claims they will try to work things out. The People report claimed that they do not see eye to eye in terms of how they're seen in public, though the source thinks they'll stay together because they have, 'a great love story.' 'They just have very different approaches when it comes to media attention,' said a source. 'Ben hates all attention and it makes him very uncomfortable. Jennifer has always had a different approach.' A report surfaced on Monday from PageSix that claims Affleck has, 'come to his senses,' regarding his marriage to Lopez The source described the marriage as a 'fever dream' and he was so enamored with Lopez that he wasn't thinking straight It was also claimed that he now 'knows' that he has to divorce her, though another report from People claims they will try to work things out The People report claimed that they do not see eye to eye in terms of how they're seen in public, though the source thinks they'll stay together because they have, 'a great love story' It was added it is just not 'his way' to share so much of his personal life. 'It doesnt make him happy and causes stress in his life and then in hers. There is no question their different styles clash,' added the source. Fans started to notice that something might be wrong with the power couple earlier this month when they had not been photographed together in almost two months. But they had busy careers: he was filming The Accountant 2 in Los Angeles and she was working on co-chairing the Met Gala in New York City. Headlines that they were on the rocks made the rounds. But then suddenly she was seen smiling at her husband when his child Seraphina was giving a performance in her school play last week. Skye Wheatley looked unrecognisable during a rare outing on the Gold Coast on Tuesday. The I'm A Celeb winner, 30, ditched her usual glam look for a more relaxed vibe, appearing to go makeup-free. Keeping her style low-key, the influencer sported an all black ensemble, donning a casual top, leggings, and a pair of New Balance trainers. Skye swept her blonde locks up into a chic bun as she stepped out with her son. It comes after I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! Australia came to a thrilling finish last month, as Skye Wheatley walked away as 'Queen of the Jungle'. Skye Wheatley, 30, (pictured) looked unrecognisable during a rare outing on the Gold Coast The I'm A Celeb winner ditched her usual glam look for a more relaxed vibe, opting to go makeup-free But the $100,000 for her charity Bully Zero wasn't the only prize she gained from the experience. The social media star also boosted her online profile, gaining a massive 42,000 followers since appearing on the show. The Instagram account Keeping Up with Aussie Influencers, shared a before and after of Skye's follower count, showing the impact of her appearance on the show. Keeping her look low-key, the influencer sported an all black ensemble, donning a casual top, leggings, and a pair of New Balance trainers How many IG followers Skye Wheatley had on the day she announced she was going on I'm A Celeb versus how many she has this afternoon,' they posted on their stories. The picture revealed that on the 25th of March this year, Skye had 618,000 followers, while this week her following had grown to 660,000. In the finale of the show, it came down to the final two, with Skye going up against Irish television presenter Tristan MacManus. But after a public vote, the social media star walked away with the win. Strictly fans have been assured that 'unkind or disrespectful behaviour will not be tolerated' when Giovanni Pernice teaches in an upcoming masterclass. The Italian professional, 33, is hosting a workshop next month with show judges Anton Du Beke and Shirley Ballas that will see the dancers each lead an hour-long class for paying customers. The masterclass is being held by Giovanni's company GP Ballando, which he filed at Companies House last month ahead of his shock exit from Strictly. After he quit the programme, it was revealed the dancer is at the centre of a BBC probe into 'serious workplace misconduct' after three of his celebrity dance partners sought legal advice. Among those complaining is his partner from last year, Amanda Abbington, who reportedly accused Giovanni of 'stamping on her foot' during his 'militant' training sessions on Strictly. Amid the furore, Giovanni is ploughing ahead with his upcoming masterclass, with fans hoping to book issued a warning about 'behaviour in class'. Strictly fans have been assured that 'unkind or disrespectful behaviour will not be tolerated' when Giovanni Pernice teaches in an upcoming masterclass The Italian professional, 33, is hosting a workshop next month with show judges Anton Du Beke and Shirley Ballas that will see the dancers each lead an hour-long class for students In the terms and conditions of booking it states: 'Behaviour In Class: Please remember to be respectful towards the professionals taking the class, the organisers, and other attendees so that everyone feels safe and welcome in the class. 'Any unkind or disrespectful behaviour will not be tolerated. If you see or experience anything of this nature, please alert us to it.' There is also a disclaimer that reads: 'By booking, you agree to assume full responsibility for any risk, injury or damages, known or unknown, which might occur as a result of participating. 'You knowingly, voluntarily and expressly waive any claim you may have against Ballando, Giovanni Pernice, Anton Du Beke, Shirley Ballas and the organisers and/or their agents for injury or damages that you may sustain as a result of participating.' Shirley has publicly offered her support to Giovanni as he continues to be marred by claims by his former dance partners. In January, after Amanda Abbington claimed that Strictly left her with PTSD and demanded footage of her rehearsal time with Giovanni, the show's head judge, 63, called the dancer an 'absolute gentleman'. Speaking on ITV's Lorraine, Shirley said in response to the revelation: 'I've known Giovanni for many years and he is an absolutely splendid teacher. 'My only ever experience with him is he is an absolute gentlemen. He gives 100 percent. 'Strictly and shows like that they are tough shows so you know when you sign up for that kind of thing. It's quite difficult to do the show.' Meanwhile, Anton and Giovanni are longtime friends, having a BBC travel show together and heading out on tour together later this year. Shirley has publicly offered her support to Giovanni as he continues to be marred by claims by his former dance partners Anton and Giovanni are longtime friends, having a BBC travel show together and heading out on tour together later this year While Giovanni has been teaching classes with Ballando since February last year, it was only last month that he filed to be a director of the company. He also set up another company which suggest that hes embarking on a life outside of Strictly and heading for the classroom. The Latin and Ballroom champion filed Rock You Productions Ltd at Companies House, which relates to the operation of arts facilities. This suggests that hes making a move to create his own dance school, similar to ones set up by other performers such as Kevin Clifton. As well as teaching, Giovanni could be set for a career in Hollywood after filming a role in Man & Witch - a heart-warming homage to the lo-fi fantasy films of the Eighties. The dancer will make his movie debut this year with insiders predicting he'll 'have more acting roles coming his way. Talk of a new career comes after Giovanni faced further claims of workplace misconduct after a professional dancer accused him of 'horrendous' behaviour away from the BBC show. The former Strictly star has come under fire for his 'militant' training style, with the BBC forced to investigate 'serious workplace misconduct claims' after three of his celebrity partners sought legal help. Following this, dancer Korina Travis, who performed with Giovanni at private functions and has no association with Strictly, accused the Italian dancer of behaving questionably when they worked together. 'Ive known him for years as a fellow competitor and he has done horrendous things to me,' she said in a statement released on Monday. 'I will not speak about my experiences with him but Im glad the world is seeing him for who he truly is. Ill leave it at that.' Korina works for ballroom company Burn The Floor alongside numerous former Strictly Come Dancing professionals. She was previously considered for a role on the BBC show in 2016 before producers chose Chloe Hewitt. As well as teaching, Giovanni could be set for a career in Hollywood as he prepares to make his film debut this year (pictured in upcoming movie Man & Witch) Former Strictly contestants Amanda Abbington, Laura Whitmore and Ranvir Singh have all critical in their review of Giovanni's methods. According to The Sun, several women who have danced with the Italian on Strictly are contemplating joining the three existing claimants in a Beeb investigation for 'serious workplace misconduct claims'. A source disclosed that several former dance partners of Giovanni's have been communicating privately and suggested that even more names could come forward. The source went on to say that the future is unclear for the professional dancer, who vehemently denies any claims of threatening or abusive behaviour and has vowed to 'clear his name.' They revealed: 'Numerous celebrities, all former partners of Gio's, have been in contact with one another behind the scenes. 'Three women that we know of have come forward, and taken things a step further with legal action. 'But Carter Ruck, the prestigious firm acting on behalf of these stars, have quietly been speaking to one or two other potential claimants. In other words, more names could come out of the woodwork.' The fresh claims come after the professional dancer reportedly quit Strictly after the scrutiny became 'too much'. Off the back of Giovanni's departure, friends close to Amanda spoke about how she found the pro dancer 'abrasive' and would have to have 'crisis talks' with show bosses every week after being left in floods of tears at his 'tough' training method with claims it left her 'bruised'. Amanda, who dramatically withdrew from last year's competition and was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after the show, is said to have met with Laura and Ranvir, 46, earlier this year for an 'emotional summit' to 'compare notes' about their time working with him. In recent weeks, the professional dancer has come under fire for his 'militant' training style, with the BBC forced to investigate 'serious workplace misconduct claims' Amanda Abbington (pictured) is one of the women named in the suit, while the likes of Laura Whitmore and Ranvir Singh have also been critical in their review of him The professional dancer shared a post to Instagram detailing that he was 'totally surprised' by the allegations, which he denies Giovanni shared a post to Instagram detailing that he was 'totally surprised' by the allegations, which he denies. He said in a statement: 'You will be as surprised as I am that allegations have been made about my dance teaching methods in the media this week. 'Of course, I reject any suggestion of abusive or threatening behaviour, and I look forward to clearing my name. 'Those who have followed my journey on Strictly Come Dancing over the last decade will know that I am passionate and competitive. No-one is more ambitious for my dance partners than me. 'I have always striven to help them be the very best dancers they can be. This has always come from a place of love and wanting to win - for me and my dance partners. 'Thank you all once again for your continued love and support!' While Strictly fans may miss seeing him every weekend in the ballroom, there might not be that long to wait to see him back on the small screen. Insiders have confirmed that Giovanni is already mulling over offers away from BBC and he would find it 'difficult to resist' a lucrative contract with jungle show I'm A Celeb. Giovanni has faced a wave of scrutiny ever since Amanda (pictured) dramatically quit last year In 2016, former Love Island host Laura Whitmore said she 'cried every day' and felt 'uncomfortable' while training with him The Good Morning Britain presenter Ranvir Singh also complained about Giovanni to producers back in 2020, during their time on the show Former partners have also come out to back him, including Debbie McGee, the widow of the magician Paul Daniels, who was paired with him in 2017 A source told MailOnline: 'Giovanni has been under intense pressure and scrutiny following last year's series of Strictly when Amanda quit. 'The last thing he wants is for that to continue for him and whoever he could be paired with next so he felt there was no other option but to take a step back from the show. 'His close friendship with Anton Du Beke has made it difficult, he really wants him to stay and tried convincing him to look past everything that's happened.' A TV insider added: 'With I'm A Celeb round the corner, Giovanni would be a dream signing for producers, especially now he's looking for new opportunities and a way to hopefully show audiences he's a good guy. 'The money ITV could offer would be seriously tempting for him too, plus, he loves a challenge.' The Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice has received largely lukewarm reviews from critics following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday. The film, directed by Ali Abbassi and written by Gabriel Sherman, follows Trump during his career as a real estate baron in the 1970s and 80s. Sebastian Stan stars as the businessman turned politician while Jeremy Strong portrays his lawyer Roy Cohn and Maria Bakalova plays Trump's ex-wife Ivana. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw gave the film two stars, feeling it offered a 'cartoon version' of Trump's early years. He wrote: 'The monstrosity here is almost sentimental, a cartoon Xeroxed from many other satirical Trump takes and knowing prophetic echoes of his political future. The Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice has received largely lukewarm reviews from critics following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday The film, directed by Ali Abbassi and written by Gabriel Sherman, follows Trump during his career as a real estate baron in the 1970s and 80s 'It's basically a far less original picture, its ambience borrowed from Scorsese and Coppola with Donald's deadbeat elder brother Fred even getting a 'Fredo' scene where he gets embarrassingly, tearfully drunk at a big event, like the loser he is. 'And like so many film-makers these days, Abbasi will keep swooning over the picturesque sleaze of 70s New York.' The Telegraph's Robbie Collin was more positive, giving the film three stars, but criticised the picture for not offering viewers anything they won't already know about Trump. He wrote: 'The main problem with Ali Abbasi's The Apptrentice is that the film is a character study with very little character to study. 'But the particular nature of its subject's psychology renders the drama how to put this tactfully? rather short on depth and twists. 'Spoiler alert: the young Donald Trump was a cripplingly insecure and status-conscious wannabe whose big life goals amounted to getting rich, getting laid and worming his way into his city's billionaire social elite.' IndieWire gave The Apprentice a similar verdict, arguing it offers viewers no new informatrion about its subject. However the publication did praise Sebastian Stan for his performance. They wrote: 'The trouble is that Abbasi is still possessed with a morbid curiosity about his subject that most Americans have lost the ability to muster after spending eight years studying a Times Square caricature of a person more closely than any painting in the Louvre. Sebastian Stan stars as the businessman turned politician (right) while Jeremy Strong portrays his lawyer Roy Cohn and Maria Bakalova plays Trump's ex-wife Ivana (left) Film critics were united in praise of Sebastian Stan's performance as Trump 'If we can't be bothered to care about the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president (which hinges upon cover-up payments to a porn star on the eve of a national election!), there's nothing The Apprentice can do to arouse our attention.' The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a more positive review, calling the film a 'chilling account' of Trump's partnership with Cohn. Praising Sebastian Stan's performance, David Rooney wrote: 'Some will argue that Stan's performance in the central role is a touch too likeable, but the actor does an excellent job, going beyond impersonation to capture the essence of the man. 'In a character study of a public figure both widely parodied and unwittingly self-parodying, Stan gives us a more nuanced take on what makes him tick.' Variety's Owen Gleiberman praised the first half of the film but felt the quality declined as it went on. He wrote: 'The Trump we see goes through a looking glass of treachery, leveraging his empire and what's left of his emotions to within an inch of his life. 'And once that happens, we're simply watching a well-acted TV-movie made up of familiar anecdotes built around the Trump we already know. At that point, 'The Apprentice,' good as much of it is, becomes far less interesting.' Kevin Maher of The Times praised Sebastian Stan for his 'nuanced portrayal of Trump, writing: 'If there's any problem with Stan's iteration of Trump, especially in the early sequences, it's that he's almost too sympathetic.' Ivana (pictured, left) was married to Donald Trump (pictured, right) from 1977 to 1990 Donald Trump and Melania (pictured, right) seen at Ivana's funeral in 2022 It comes after the Trump campaign announced it will sue the 'pretend filmmakers' behind The Apprentice because it shows the presidential candidate raping his wife Ivana. It said it was riddled with long debunked lies and belonged in a 'dumpster fire.' The movie tells the story of the end of his marriage to Ivana, and at one point it depicts Trump raping his wife and asking: 'Did I find your g spot?' In a divorce deposition in 1989 Ivana made an accusation of rape but rescinded this in 2015. She has since died. 'We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers,' said Steven Cheung, Trump campaign communications director. 'This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked. 'As with the illegal Biden Trials, this is election interference by Hollywood elites, who know that President Trump will retake the White House and beat their candidate of choice because nothing they have done has worked. 'This "film" is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day, and doesnt even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store, it belongs in a dumpster fire.' The makers of the film are also reported to be in dispute with one of its financial backers, billionaire Dan Snyder, who is a Trump supporter and former donor to his campaign. In Ivana Trump's 1990 divorce deposition, she stated that Mr Trump raped her. She claimed that Trump pushed her to the floor and pulled out several handfuls of her hair. Mr Trump denied the allegation and Ivana Trump later said she did not mean it literally, but rather that she had felt violated. In a 1993 statement, she said, 'On one occasion during 1989, Mr Trump and I had marital relations in which he behaved very differently towards me than he had during our marriage. 'As a woman I felt violated I referred to this as a rape, but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.' Coronation Street has announced a special week of new episodes as they are set to reveal the truth about Lauren Bolton's disappearance. In a gripping clip shared by ITV, the show teased an exciting week for soap lovers as they promised to unravel what happened to teenager Lauren. TV buffs will see four episodes spread across five days, reliving the same day through the eyes of different characters. The soap has been leading up to this week ever since Lauren disappeared from her flat at the end of February. The episodes will see far-right activist Griff (Michael Condron) land himself in Weatherfield prison, where Roy (David Neilson) is on remand for Lauren's murder. Coronation Street has announced a special week of new episodes as they are set to reveal the truth about Lauren Bolton's disappearance The episodes will see far-right activist Griff (Michael Condron) land himself in Weatherfield prison, where Roy (David Neilson - pictured) is on remand for Lauren's murder Roy has been DS Lisa Swain's (Vicky Myers) number-one suspect since he misguidedly deep-cleaned Lauren's flat after she mysteriously disappeared. But with old scores to settle and revenge on his mind, Griff will take it upon himself to try and force a confession out of Roy. Convinced that Roy is Lauren's killer, Griff is out for blood and Roy's life ends up in grave danger. But as Roy awaits his trail, his life hangs in the balance of a damning piece of evidence which threw the whole case up in the air. The newfound information could clear the iconic cafe owner's name. Luckily for Roy, paedophile Nathan Curtis (Chris Harper) has been flagged on the police's radar in recent weeks. And as Nathan's presence is felt more on the cobbled streets, Sarah (Tina O'Brien) becomes determined to rid her daughter Bethany (Tina O'Brien) of her evil ex-abuser. TV buffs will see four episodes spread across five days, reliving the same day through the eyes of different characters (Pictured: Griff Michael Condron and Roy David Neilson) The episodes will see far-right activist Griff (pictured) land himself in Weatherfield prison, where Roy s on remand for Lauren's murder Roy has been DS Lisa Swain's (Vicky Myers, pictured) number-one suspect since he misguidedly deep-cleaned Lauren's flat after she mysteriously disappeared Griff will take it upon himself to try and force a confession out of Roy. Convinced that Roy is Lauren's killer, Griff is out for blood and Roy's life ends up in grave danger Bethany is also set to threaten to leave Weatherfield, while Sarah is determined to prove that Nathan is behind Lauren's disappearance - not Roy. But as the street becomes divided, Carla (Alison King) and Bobby (Jack Carroll) find themselves accused of perverting the course of justice when they desperately try to clear Roy's name. Executive Producer Iain MacLeod said: 'This week is so gripping and unlike anything Coronation Street has done before, in terms of the story-telling. It's modern, really exciting and has some of our favourite characters right in the middle of the drama. The promo will first be shown on www.itv.com/coronationstreet and ITV from 11:40 on Tuesday 21st May 'The murder mystery around Lauren has had us all on the edge of our seats and the race against time across this week to solve it before Roy gets seriously hurt is so engrossing and cleverly plotted. 'It is also the launchpad for a massive new chapter in that narrative - so you really won't want to miss it, if you want to carry on trying to piece together this thrilling puzzle!' The promo will first be shown on www.itv.com/coronationstreet and ITV from 11:40 on Tuesday 21st May. Episodes will be stripped across five nights between Monday 27th and Friday 31st May. Former Miss Universe Australia Maria Thattil has joined the cast of Neighbours in a special guest role. The model, 31, is stepping into the world of Ramsay Street, fulfilling a childhood dream as she joins the beloved cast on Tuesday night. The media personality told news.com.au it is a 'dream' to be joining the iconic Aussie soap. 'Having the ability to start my career on Neighbours is such a dream because Im getting to work with incredible Australian actors on a long-running show that means so much to people,' she told the publication. 'Its so special, a dream, a privilege and Im so grateful that they welcomed me into the cast.' Maria Thattil has joined the cast of Neighbours in a special guest role. Pictured The model, 31, is stepping into the world of Ramsay Street, fulfilling a childhood dream as she joins the beloved cast on Tuesday night 'We all see Neighbours as being synonymous with Australian television. You grew up watching everybody on Ramsay Street, but you certainly dont think youre going to end up on it,' she added. The brunette beauty will appear in six episodes as Amira Devkar, a queer South Asian woman who is the older sister of Haz Devkar played by series regular Shiv Palekar. Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia in January, the 31-year-old praised the Aussie soap for casting a 'queer actor of colour.' 'I think it's a beautiful thing that we're living in a time where casting directors are wanting to do this authentically. So they are casting queer actors of colour for queer characters of colour,' she said. The podcaster said she is keen to help the show become more authentically representative, since she did not see people like herself on the classic television program growing up. 'It felt distant to me because you're watching these families and these stories, and I guess if you don't see yourself in these great Australian stories, does that mean that you're not fitting what Australian stories are meant to be? I'm so excited that I get to be on it,' the up-and-coming actress said. The media personality said it is a 'dream' to be joining the iconic Aussie soap Not only has Maria been kicking goals professionally, her love life is looking bright too, as she has been dating AFLW star Moana Hope for the past few months. The couple went official soon after Moana's split from her ex-wife, Isabella, with whom she shares two children. And things are reportedly getting serious between the lovebirds. Maria has even introduced her father to her new love, as he was recently photographed sitting with them while they enjoyed a meal together. Bella Hadid made sure all eyes were on her as she arrived back at the Hotel Martinez following The Apprentice premiere during Cannes Film Festival on Monday evening. The American model, 27, left very little to the imagination as she went braless beneath a fitted sheer knee-length Saint Laurent dress. She showed off her jaw-dropping figure in the number which boasted a halter neckline and ruched detailing down the front. The socialite added inches to her frame in a pair of brown patent heels and toted her belongings in a matching clutch. Styling her voluminous brunette waved tresses to one side, Bella completed her glamorous evening ensemble with a pair of silver drop earrings. Braless Bella Hadid arrived back at the Hotel Martinez in a see-through dress following The Apprentice premiere during Cannes Film Festival on Monday evening The American model, 27, left very little to the imagination as she went braless beneath a fitted sheer knee-length Saint Laurent dress She added inches to her frame in a pair of brown patent heels and toted her belongings in a matching clutch Bella flashed her gorgeous smile as she made her way back to the hotel after stealing the show on the star-studded red carpet. She seemed in good spirits as she made her way outside onto her suite balcony overlooking the French Riviera. The stunner was seen posing up a storm as she leaned against the balcony as her teamed snapped pictures of her from inside the room. Hours earlier, Bella joined the likes of Coco Rocha, Candice Swanepoel and Winnie Harlow at the premiere during the 77th annual film festival. The Apprentice is dedicated to the life and times of America's most divisive President, Donald Trump. The forthcoming film sees Sebastian Stan play Trump during the flourishing early years of his business career, notably his working relationship with controversial lawyer Roy Cohn, who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1986. Production on The Apprentice began in late November. The film follows Trump in the '70s and '80s as he attempts to establish his real estate empire on the back of his father Fred Trump's properties. Over the past few days, Bella has flaunted her amazing figure in a number of tiny bikinis as she soaked up the sun at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc. She showed off her jaw-dropping figure in the number which boasted a halter neckline and ruched detailing down the front Styling her voluminous brunette waved tresses to one side, Bella completed her glamorous evening ensemble with a pair of silver drop earrings She seemed in good spirits as she made her way outside onto her suite balcony overlooking the French Riviera The stunner was seen posing up a storm as she leaned against the balcony as her teamed snapped pictures of her from inside the room Earlier on Monday, the model slipped into a black string bikini while she went yachting with friends. Her trip to Cannes comes after reports in March that she bought a house in Fort Worth, Texas to be closer to her new boyfriend Adan Banuelos. Adan, 35, is a superstar in the horse riding world, becoming one of the youngest people to be inducted into the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Hall of Fame in 2017. He's also son of Ascencion Banuelos, the first Mexican-American to be inducted into the National Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame. Bella was first romantically linked to Adan last October, when they were spotted kissing and holding hands while walking through the historic Fort Worth stockyards. A longtime rider herself, Bella has been re-focused on equestrian events since March 2023, after taking a break from modelling to treat her Lyme disease. The diagnosis previously forced her to give up riding in 2016, when she was a nationally ranked equestrienne on track for the Olympics. Bella has recently shown off her rodeo buckles after some successful events, where she and Adan have supported each other. Maria Bakalova wowed in a leggy tweed suit as she joined her co-star Sebastian Stan at The Apprentice photocall during Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday. The Bulgarian actress, 27, looked in good spirits despite the film receiving largely lukewarm reviews from critics following its premiere. The project, directed by Ali Abbassi and written by Gabriel Sherman, follows Trump during his career as a real estate baron in the 1970s and 80s. Sebastian stars as the businessman turned politician while Jeremy Strong portrays his lawyer Roy Cohn and Maria plays Trump's ex-wife Ivana. It comes after the Trump campaign announced it will sue the 'pretend filmmakers' behind The Apprentice because it shows the presidential candidate 'raping' his wife Ivana. Maria Bakalova (left) wowed in a leggy boucle suit by Self-Portrait as she joined her co-star Sebastian Stan at The Apprentice photocall during Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday The Bulgarian actress, 27, looked in good spirits despite the film receiving largely lukewarm reviews from critics following its premiere It said it was riddled with long debunked lies and belonged in a 'dumpster fire.' At the photocall Maria looked great in the black and white boucle suit by Self-Portrait which she wore with a light pink silk blouse and white heels. She accessorised with gold earrings and a chunky necklace and swept her blonde tresses back. Meanwhile Sebastian, 41, stood out from the crowd in a yellow AMIRI blazer and light grey trousers. The pair also posed for sweet snaps with director Ali amid the star-studded film festival. It comes as the Donald Trump biopic has received largely lukewarm reviews from critics. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw gave the film two stars, feeling it offered a 'cartoon version' of Trump's early years. He wrote: 'The monstrosity here is almost sentimental, a cartoon Xeroxed from many other satirical Trump takes and knowing prophetic echoes of his political future. 'It's basically a far less original picture, its ambience borrowed from Scorsese and Coppola with Donald's deadbeat elder brother Fred even getting a 'Fredo' scene where he gets embarrassingly, tearfully drunk at a big event, like the loser he is. The project, directed by Ali Abbassi and written by Gabriel Sherman, follows Trump during his career as a real estate baron in the 1970s and 80s Sebastian stars as the businessman turned politician while Jeremy Strong portrays his lawyer Roy Cohn and Maria (seen) plays Trump's ex-wife Ivana At the photocall Maria looked great in the black and white tweed suit which she wore with a light pink silk blouse and white heels She accessorised with gold earrings and a chunky necklace and swept her blonde tresses back Meanwhile Sebastian, 41, stood out from the crowd in a yellow AMIRI blazer and light grey trousers The pair also posed for sweet snaps with director Ali amid the star-studded film festival It comes as the Donald Trump biopic has received largely lukewarm reviews from critics The cast: Julianne Forde, Amy Baer, Martin Donovan, Gabriel Sherman, Maria Bakalova, Ali Abbasi, Sebastian Stan, Louis Tisne, Jacob Jarek, Daniel Bekerman and Ruth Treacy The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw gave the film two stars, feeling it offered a 'cartoon version' of Trump's early years The Telegraph's Robbie Collin was more positive, giving the film three stars, but criticised the picture for not offering viewers anything they won't already know about Trump 'And like so many film-makers these days, Abbasi will keep swooning over the picturesque sleaze of 70s New York.' The Telegraph's Robbie Collin was more positive, giving the film three stars, but criticised the picture for not offering viewers anything they won't already know about Trump. He wrote: 'The main problem with Ali Abbasi's The Apprentice is that the film is a character study with very little character to study. 'But the particular nature of its subject's psychology renders the drama how to put this tactfully? rather short on depth and twists. 'Spoiler alert: the young Donald Trump was a cripplingly insecure and status-conscious wannabe whose big life goals amounted to getting rich, getting laid and worming his way into his city's billionaire social elite.' IndieWire gave The Apprentice a similar verdict, arguing it offers viewers no new information about its subject. However the publication did praise Sebastian Stan for his performance. They wrote: 'The trouble is that Abbasi is still possessed with a morbid curiosity about his subject that most Americans have lost the ability to muster after spending eight years studying a Times Square caricature of a person more closely than any painting in the Louvre. 'If we can't be bothered to care about the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president (which hinges upon cover-up payments to a porn star on the eve of a national election!), there's nothing The Apprentice can do to arouse our attention.' The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a more positive review, calling the film a 'chilling account' of Trump's partnership with Cohn. Praising Sebastian Stan's performance, David Rooney wrote: 'Some will argue that Stan's performance in the central role is a touch too likeable, but the actor does an excellent job, going beyond impersonation to capture the essence of the man. 'In a character study of a public figure both widely parodied and unwittingly self-parodying, Stan gives us a more nuanced take on what makes him tick.' Variety's Owen Gleiberman praised the first half of the film but felt the quality declined as it went on. He wrote: 'The Trump we see goes through a looking glass of treachery, leveraging his empire and what's left of his emotions to within an inch of his life. 'And once that happens, we're simply watching a well-acted TV-movie made up of familiar anecdotes built around the Trump we already know. At that point, 'The Apprentice,' good as much of it is, becomes far less interesting.' Kevin Maher of The Times praised Sebastian Stan for his 'nuanced portrayal of Trump, writing: 'If there's any problem with Stan's iteration of Trump, especially in the early sequences, it's that he's almost too sympathetic.' It comes after the Trump campaign announced it will sue the 'pretend filmmakers' behind The Apprentice because it shows the presidential candidate raping his wife Ivana. It said it was riddled with long debunked lies and belonged in a 'dumpster fire.' The movie tells the story of the end of his marriage to Ivana, and at one point it depicts Trump raping his wife and asking: 'Did I find your g spot?' In a divorce deposition in 1989 Ivana made an accusation of rape but rescinded this in 2015. She has since died. 'We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers,' said Steven Cheung, Trump campaign communications director. 'This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked. 'As with the illegal Biden Trials, this is election interference by Hollywood elites, who know that President Trump will retake the White House and beat their candidate of choice because nothing they have done has worked. 'This "film" is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day, and doesnt even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store, it belongs in a dumpster fire.' The makers of the film are also reported to be in dispute with one of its financial backers, billionaire Dan Snyder, who is a Trump supporter and former donor to his campaign. Variety's Owen Gleiberman praised the first half of the film but felt the quality declined as it went on It comes after the Trump campaign announced it will sue the 'pretend filmmakers' behind The Apprentice because it shows the presidential candidate raping his wife Ivana The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a more positive review, calling the film a 'chilling account' of Trump's partnership with Cohn In Ivana Trump's 1990 divorce deposition, she stated that Mr Trump raped her. She claimed that Trump pushed her to the floor and pulled out several handfuls of her hair Mr Trump denied the allegation and Ivana Trump later said she did not mean it literally, but rather that she had felt violated Sebastian as the businessman turned politician (right) and Maria playingTrump's ex-wife Ivana (left) Film critics were united in praise of Sebastian Stan's performance as Trump Director Ali and Maria shared a sweet hug at the photocall Sebastian donned tinted orange shades Ali wore a white shirt and chinos The cast are pictured together in a group shot Maria looked like she was having a great time at the photocall Ali took some snaps of the event himself She looked great in the tweed outfit She showed off her toned and tanned legs Sebastian showed off his quirk sense of style She put on a confident display posing for the snaps She sported a covering of flawless makeup The trio posed for a lovely snap together She was a radiant beauty at the photocall She wore stylish dark shades too In Ivana Trump's 1990 divorce deposition, she stated that Mr Trump raped her. She claimed that Trump pushed her to the floor and pulled out several handfuls of her hair. Mr Trump denied the allegation and Ivana Trump later said she did not mean it literally, but rather that she had felt violated. In a 1993 statement, she said, 'On one occasion during 1989, Mr Trump and I had marital relations in which he behaved very differently towards me than he had during our marriage. 'As a woman I felt violated I referred to this as a rape, but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.' Influencer Patsy Field will become the latest contestant with a disability to star on Love Island, MailOnline can reveal. The Londoner, 29, was born with Erb's palsy, which was developed during her traumatic birth at Lewisham hospital. Patsy has told how she should have been born via cesarean, but doctors made the crucial error for her to be delivered naturally, resulting in a defect, which she has had to overcome her entire life. The condition means her right arm is shorter in length and unable to function as well as her left, with Patsy admitting she has felt 'self-conscious' but learned to embrace it throughout adulthood. She follows in the footsteps of Tasha Ghouri, who was the first deaf Islander to star on the ITV2 dating series, partially sighted Ron Hall, and Hugo Hammond, who was born was clubfoot. Influencer Patsy Field will become the latest contestant with a disability to star on Love Island, MailOnline can reveal The Londoner was born with Erb's palsy, which was developed during her traumatic birth at Lewisham hospital Explaining her condition on social media, she said: 'One thing you guys don't know about me is I have a disability. I have never spoken about it on here before because I am a bit self-conscious about it to be honest. 'It is a disability I've literally had since birth. All my close friends and family know about it. 'Pretty much everyone says they don't notice it, or they have never noticed it before but once I tell you go back and look through my old videos, you'll be able to spot it. 'So, the disability affects my right arm, I was a normal, happy, healthy baby in my mama's womb and the hospital f***ed up and gave me a disability, Lewisham hospital, you f***ers. 'I should have been a cesarean birth, but the midwife thought she could do it and she couldn't... I was such a big baby, I was almost 11lb, a normal baby is like 7lb. I got stuck coming out of my mum... and they're pulling and pulling and pulling and in the process of yanking me out, they have done some damage. 'They snapped the nerve that sends messages down from my brain down my spine to my right arm, messages are trying to send, and this computer says no. 'As a result, I have a disability called Erb's Palsy and my arm never grew as much and it doesn't do anything really, they are completely different lengths. 'I like to call it my Nemo lucky fin. It is smaller, a different shape and is more bent than the other one. I managed to avoid any bullying, luckily, I'm a confident girl. Patsy has told how she should have been born via cesarean, but doctors made the crucial error for her to be delivered naturally, resulting in a defect, which she has had to overcome her entire life The condition means her right arm is shorter in length and unable to function as well as her left, with Patsy admitting she has felt 'self-conscious' but learned to embrace it A TV insider told MailOnline: 'She has never let her disability define her but she's also excited for the opportunity to educate audiences who might not know about Erb's palsy' Patsy's signing comes after MailOnline revealed model Grace Jackson (pictured) had landed a spot on the series 'I don't think it's held me back too much. I do remember being at school and watching all the girls do their handstands and I'd be like anyone for headstands? 'The only thing it affects these days is I only have one hand to use in the bedroom.' A TV insider told MailOnline: 'Patsy is a brilliant signing for the show, she's hilarious so will definitely bring good vibes and positive energy. 'She has never let her disability define her but she's also excited for the opportunity to educate audiences who might not know about Erb's palsy because awareness is key.' Patsy's signing comes after MailOnline revealed model Grace Jackson had landed a spot on the series, as well as Liverpool makeup artist Samantha Kenny and Welsh rugby player Ciaran Davies. The full lineup will be revealed by ITV next week ahead of the show's launch hosted by presenter Maya Jama. In previous years, Love Island has been criticised for its lack of diversity. But the 10th series, which begins on June 3, will look to further include body diverse contestants and have a continued focus on the mental health and wellbeing of the participants. The show has already confirmed the social media profiles of the Islanders will remain 'dormant' throughout their time in the Mallorca villa to avoid trolling and hate targeted at their pages. MailOnline has contacted ITV for comment. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley cut a seriously cool figure as she stepped out during Cannes Film Festival this week as she attended the 77th annual event. The British model, 37, looked incredible in a deeply plunging cream dress, which showcased her ample assets with its low-cut style. Rosie was pictured leaving her hotel in the resort town on the French Rivera before heading out to lunch during her getaway. Rosie's dress, which was from the Mango Capsule collection, featured keyhole detailing and a sizzling thigh-slit up her leg. The mother of two accessorised her look with a statement gold necklace and a pair of fashionable gold aviator-style sunglasses. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley cut a seriously cool figure as she stepped out during Cannes Film Festival this week as she attended the 77th annual event The British model, 37, looked incredible in a deeply plunging cream dress, which showcased her ample assets with its low-cut style Rosie's dress, which was from the Mango Capsule collection, featured keyhole detailing and a sizzling thigh-slit up her leg She boosted her already statuesque frame with a pair of strappy nude heels and toted a clutch with her essentials under her arm. Rosie wore her signature blonde locks loose and finished the look with a subtle face of make-up in nude tones, including a matte pink lip. The outing comes after Rosie put on a stunning display at the The Substance premiere during Cannes Film Festival on Sunday. She opted for a daring jumpsuit that displayed her able bosom when she arrived at the launch of the new horror film starring Demi Moore. Rosie's jumpsuit was emblazoned with an array of long silver tassels that went right down to the feet, and she complemented the look with a set of long hanging earrings. The catwalk star swept her honeyed locks away from her face and secured them behind her face and opted for a slick red lipstick to set her complexion off. At one point , the former Victoria's Secret Angel spun around to give a glimpse of her pert behind in the jumpsuit. Rosie then struck a sultry pose as she gazed into the camera, and also showcased her tight hair bun in a series of close-up shots. The Substance follows Ghost actress Demi as ageing film star Elizabeth Sparkle who goes to extreme lengths to stay youthful. The mother of two accessorised her look with a statement gold necklace and a pair of fashionable gold aviator-style sunglasses The outing comes after Rosie put on a stunning display at the The Substance premiere during Cannes Film Festival on Sunday Rosie's jumpsuit was emblazoned with an array of long silver tassels, and she complemented the look with a set of long hanging earrings Cannes' synopsis of the film reads: 'Have you ever dreamed of a better version of yourself? You should try this new product: The Substance. It changed my life. 'With The Substance, you can generate another version of yourself, younger, more beautiful, more perfect Just share the time. 'One week for one, one week for the other. A perfect balance of seven days. Easy isnt it? If you follow the instructions, what could go wrong? The festival is known for its carefully selected programme of films that have gone on to Oscar glory or launched the careers of directors like Quentin Tarantino. Cannes' top prize is the Palme d'Or, or Golden Palm, whose past winners include Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, Pulp Fiction, The Pianist and Parasite. Rosie then struck a sultry pose as she gazed into the camera, and also showcased her tight hairbun in a series of close-up shots The supermodel was seen in a closeup shot which captured her smooth complexion and allowed her to showcase her dazzling paper clip-style earrings Demi looked gorgeous in the statement dress, which showed off a tasteful amount of her cleavage Demi and Dennis then joined Margaret Qualley (next to Demi), who also stars in the film, and the film's French director Coralie Fargeat for a photo The Cannes Film Festival officially kicked off on Tuesday night as celebrities walked the red carpet into the plush Grand Theatre Lumiere to honour Hollywood actor Meryl Streep before settling in to watch this year's opening film, The Second Act. Demi's co-stars in the film, which was selected to compete for a Palme d'Or, include Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid At the premiere, Demi, Dennis, Margaret, and their French director Coralie, joined together for a sweet group photo. Alessandra was accompanied on the red carpet by Saudi Arabian film producer Mohammed Al Turki - and the two could not keep their hands off of each other Tyga was in high spirits as he partied at a nightclub in Cannes with a number of beautiful women on Monday. The rapper, 34, was seen arriving and heading into the venue with one woman, who bore a similar resemblance to his ex-girlfriend Kylie Jenner. Tyga dressed for the night out on the French Riviera in a black leather skeleton print jacket which he teamed with matching trousers and chunky boots. The star accessorised with a silver rings and wore a pair of shades as he made his way inside the busy club. The American star - whose real name is Micheal Stevenson - also posed outside the entrance with a blonde female companion, who stunned in a busty black minidress. Tyga was in high spirits as he partied at a nightclub in Cannes with a number of beautiful women on Monday The rapper, 34, was seen arriving and heading into the venue with one woman, who bore a similar resemblance to his ex-girlfriend Kylie Jenner Tyga's brunette friend, who looked similar to his reality star ex Kylie, wowed in an extreme plunging black lace halter neck minidress. Kylie and Tyga are believed to have begun dating in 2014, when she was 17 and he was 24, but they didn't go public with their romance until late 2015 when she turned 18. The pair had an on/off relationship for three years but eventually split for good in March 2017. The lip kit mogul said on her on reality show, Life Of Kylie at the time: 'There was absolutely nothing wrong with me and T. We'll always have a bond. 'There was no crazy fight. We decided, well, I decided, that I'm really young. I don't want to look back in five years from now and feel like he took something from me, when he's really not that type of person.' Before dating Kylie, Tyga had a son King Cairo, 11, with ex Blac Chyna. In December, the former couple finally resolved their custody dispute over their son. According to TMZ, both will also have the right to make decisions about King's health, education and general welfare. Tyga dressed for the night out on the French Riviera in a black leather skeleton print jacket which he teamed with matching trousers and chunky boots The star accessorised with a number of silver rings and wore a pair of shades as he made his way inside the busy club The American star - whose real name is Micheal Stevenson - also headed inside with a blonde female pal who stunned in a busty black minidress His brunette friend, who looked similar to his reality star ex Kylie (pictured, right, in 2012), wowed in an extreme plunging black lace halter neck minidress Kylie and Tyga are believed to have begun dating in 2014, but they didn't go public with their romance until late 2015 when she was 18 (pictured in 2017) Although Tyga requested full custody of their son, Chyna will have custody of her son from Friday through Monday and then Tyga will take over for the rest of the week. Under the new arrangement, Tyga will not have to pay child support to his ex. The court also ordered each parent to not speak disparagingly about the other around their son, and both stars have to enroll in a program that will monitor the conversations between them about co-parenting. Chyna dated Tyga for three years after meeting on the set of his music video Rack City in 2011. The exes welcomed their son in 2012, and they were briefly engaged before calling it quits in 2014. Chyna was seeking reimbursement for the money she's spent on the custody battle as well as child support. In October, Chyna reportedly turned to selling clothes, purses and shoes to stay afloat amid the pricey court proceedings, which has netted her around $178,000 so far. At the time, she stated that she could not keep fighting for custody of her son without financial help from Tyga. Tyga seemed in good spirits as he arrived at the event held in the French Riviera Netflix's critically acclaimed Baby Reindeer, has been knocked off the UK's top spot on the streaming platform by a true story docu series that fans are dubbing 'wild'. Comedian Richard Gadd, 34, based the hit limited series on his real life and it quickly became a word-of-mouth sensation. The talked-about 'real-life' show hogged the number one spot on Netflix's most-watched list for almost a month and has only recently dropped down the rankings. The series sees Richard's character Donny Dunn fall victim to a relentless stalking campaign by 'Martha' (Jessica Gunning), which starts after he serves her in a London pub while working as a bartender. Over four and a half years, the star says he received 41,071 emails, 744 tweets, letters totalling 106 pages and 350 hours of voicemail messages from his stalker which he claims happened in real life. Netflix's critically acclaimed hit sensation, Baby Reindeer, has been knocked off the UK's top spot on the streaming platform by a true story docu series that fans are dubbing as 'wild' and 'crazy' Richard Gadd, 34, based the hit limited series about his real life stalking experience and it quickly became a word-of-mouth sensation Since its release in April, Baby Reindeer has had 60 million views on Netflix and achieved worldwide acclaim - it was knocked off the top spot in the US two weeks ago following the release of A Man in Full on May 2. Pushing Baby Reindeer off the top spot in the UK though, is the new documentary Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies, And Scandal. The explosive new docuseries revealed that Ashley Madison employees catfished men looking to cheat on their spouses by creating fake profiles for women - and made users pay to read messages sent by bots. The controversial dating site Ashley Madison was launched in 2001 and was designed for married men and women looking to have affairs to connect with one another. Internet hackers stole the customer data for all 37 million of Ashley Madison's users and posted it online in August 2015. And moreover, former employees have now admitted that many male users weren't actually talking to real women on the site. CEO Noel Biderman once insisted that there was 'no communication' between members that was 'anything other than organic,' In the shocking new show that dethroned Baby Reindeer, numerous ex-staffers opened up about some of the shady tactics that were used to lure in new customers. Not only did the former employees confess to creating fake profiles, but they also said they would use AI to send out tens of thousands of messages to guys. Despite only being released on May 15, Netflix fans have already flooded social media with their opinions on the 'crazy' new show. Netflix's explosive new docuseries has revealed that Ashley Madison employees catfished men looking to cheat on their spouses by creating fake women's profiles Viewers took to X (formerly Twitter) to write: 'I'm enjoying this #AshleyMadison Netflix documentary. 'I still remember when the story broke out but it always makes me laugh when the men that risked their marriage and wasted money find out the women they thought they were talking to weren't real.' 'Y'all... I'm watching this documentary on @netflix about #AshleyMadison... and I'm shocked that people who were having secret affairs are upset that people found out that they were having secret affairs.' 'Watching #ashleymadison docuseries on Netflix. Wild.' 'Damn this #ashleymadison documentary is crazy, the man said he was sexually satisfied with his wife, but he doesn't know why he joined the site - whilst his wife is waking up extra early to prepare food for him to show she loves him since he feels distant. This is so messed up.' 'Binge watching #AshleyMadisonNetflix #AshleyMadison.' 'This #AshleyMadison documentary is INSANE How do people truly believe infidelity is defensible?! Shocking.' Despite only being released on May 15, Netflix fans have already flooded social media with their opinions on the 'crazy' new show Before the hack, CEO Noel Biderman (seen) continuously boasted about the company's commitment to protecting its members in interviews The controversial dating site Ashley Madison was launched in 2001 and was designed for married men and women looking to have affairs to connect with one another Christian YouTube star Sam Rader has been brutally slammed online over his shocking cheating admissions in the new Netflix docuseries about Ashley Madison 'Baybeeee that #AshleyMadison docuseries had me shook!' 'Not the customer service people participating in the catfishing too?! This whole thing is WILD #AshleyMadison'. Christian YouTube star Sam Rader has been brutally slammed online over his shocking cheating admissions in the new Netflix docuseries. Back in 2015, Sam's wholesome image as a devoted husband and father was shattered after it was revealed that he had signed up for Ashley Madison when someone hacked the platform and leaked the name of every member online. While Sam, now 38, admitted at the time that he had signed up for the site, which was designed to help married people have affairs, he insisted that he never actually met up with anyone and that he did not cheat on his wife, Nia Rader, now 35. Now, however, the vlogger has laid bare his infidelities in the explosive show admitting that not only was he unfaithful to Nia, but that he even came on to some of his wife's closest friends. Home and Away is gearing up for a major shake up as new faces join the cast and fan favourites make unexpected exits. With filming taking place approximately five to six months ahead, eagle-eyed viewers are already getting juicy sneak peeks of the upcoming drama. Home and Away news page Back to the Bay has shared insights into the iconic soaps future. The site reports in recent months newcomers have been spotted on set, while one beloved character has been notably absent, sparking rumours about a possible departure. Home and Away recently announced that a new bad boy, played by Joshua Orpin, is heading to the Bay. Home and Away is gearing up for a shake up as new faces join the cast and fan favourites exit. Pictured: actors James Stewart and Ada Nicodemou Home and Away recently announced that a new bad boy is heading to the Bay. Pictured: actor Joshua Orpin The actor told The Daily Telegraph in March that fans should expect his arrival to ruffle some feathers in the seaside community. 'I can say he is a bit of a bad boy who comes into the show and stirs up some trouble among the Summer Bay locals... he is seemingly one thing on the surface but he has a great depth to him that Ive had a lot of fun exploring,' he revealed. Orpin has a number of credits to his name, including Preacher, Love Me, Upright and the US superhero series Titans. Elsewhere, Hailey Pinto is expected to take on the role of Abigail Fowler, the sister of Eden Fowler (Stephanie Panozzo) and Levi Fowler (Tristan Gorey). Eagle-eyed fans have spotted Hailey filming what appeared to be an engagement celebration for Eden and Cash Newman (Nicholas Cartwright). The fanpage estimates that Pintos character will be arriving on screens in the next three months. Hailey Pinto (pictured) is expected to take on the role of Abigail Fowler Kiwi actor Aaron Jeffery, 53, (pictured) has recently added the role of James 'Jimmy' Fowler on Home and Away to his CV Back to the Bay has reported that a new mystery 'bad boy' is making his way to the Bay Meanwhile, Kiwi actor Aaron Jeffery, 53, is set to join the show as James 'Jimmy' Fowler, Eden, Levi, and Abigails father. Aaron has appeared in McLeods Daughters, Wentworth, and Water Rats and recently starred alongside Oscar nominee Toni Collette in the Netflix drama Pieces of Her. While fans should expect many new faces, one beloved character appears in jeopardy. Back to the Bay reports Jacqui Purvis, who has played Felicity Newman for the past three years, was last seen on location in March. 'I know someone went to Palm Beach today and was told that shes overseas and not sure if (shes) coming back, indicating that shes leaving (or) left the show and no longer filming,' wrote one fan on the site. No official confirmation has been made. Renee Zellweger and her younger on-screen lover Leo Woodall filmed date night scenes in London's Notting Hill on Monday for the new Bridget Jones film. The actress, 55, who has played the titular character in the past three films, is currently shooting the fourth instalment, Mad About The Boy, in the capital. In the upcoming film, Bridget enjoys a fling with a hunky younger lover named Rockstar, who is played by One Day star Leo, 27. The couple looked giddy as they enjoyed a date at The Electric Cinema, as Bridget gazed at her new love interest while filming outside on the street. Beaming Bridget was seen chatting on her phone, before meeting up with Rockstar for their date as they shot the scene. Renee Zellweger and her younger on-screen lover Leo Woodall filmed date night scenes in London's Notting Hill on Monday for the new Bridget Jones film They are currently working on the fourth Bridget Jones film The actress, 55, who has played the titular character in the past three films, is shooting the fourth instalment, Mad About The Boy, in the capital In the upcoming film, Bridget enjoys a fling with a hunky younger lover named Rockstar, who is played by One Day star Leo, 27 She was wearing a short floral dress with a pair of black tights and boots, while layering her look with a pink cardigan. Bridget, who was make-up free and wore her hair in a loose pony, was carrying a denim jacket in her hand and wore a raffia bag across her body. Leo looked dashing in a T-shirt and blue jacket, which he teamed with jeans and a pair of brown suede boots. In the new film, Bridget enjoys a fling with Rockstar and PE teacher Mr Walker, as played by 12 Years A Slave actor Chiwetel Ejiofor as well as reviving her on-off relationship with Hugh Grant's Daniel Cleaver. Chiwetel, 46, was seen shooting scenes last week which means only Hugh and Colin Firth who has a small role in the movie as the late Mark Darcy are yet to be spotted in character. Renee and Leo were spotted filming together on May 18 in hilarious scenes as Bridget got stuck up a tree in Hampstead Heath. Rockstar, who works as a park warden, seemingly comes to her rescue dressed in an all green uniform. One onlooker said: 'Leo and Renee looked like they were having a great time. There were lots of giggles, they seemed to get on really well.' Chiwetel (pictured), 46, was seen shooting scenes last week which means only Hugh and Colin Firth who has a small role in the movie as the late Mark Darcy are yet to be spotted in character. Bridget was stuck in a love triangle with her late husband Mark Darcy (left) and her boss Daniel Cleaver (right), who was presumed dead in the last film before being found very much alive Renee is reprising her iconic role after a seven year break following the third film, Bridget Jones's Baby The on-screen couple looked giddy as they enjoyed a date at The Electric Cinema, as Bridget gazing at her new love interest while out on the street Beaming Bridget was seen chatting on her phone before laughing with Rockstar as they filmed the scene together She was wearing a short floral dress with a pair of black tights and boots, while layering her look with a pink cardigan Leo looked dashing in a T-shirt and blue jacket, which he teamed with jeans and a pair of brown suede boots. In the new film, Bridget enjoys a fling with Rockstar and PE teacher Mr Walker, as played by 12 Years A Slave actor Chiwetel Ejiofor The upcoming film will see Bridget navigate the dating scene following the death of her husband Mark Darcy One of her love interests will be toyboy Rockstar, played by Leo Renee has been busy since she arrived in London two weeks ago to reprise her role as the singleton for the fourth, and probably final, time. She spent four days filming at ITV's studios in White City, West London, where programmes such as This Morning and Loose Women are made. There she met presenters from both shows, including Cat Deeley who was said to have been 'super excited' at seeing her. Many studio staff were 'overcome with excitement' and desperate to get selfies with the Hollywood star when they realised that the movie was being filmed at their workplace. Scenes were recorded on the set used by Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly for their now defunct show Saturday Night Takeaway, while audience members from Loose Women were also asked to stay for filming of some scenes. One source at ITV said: 'It was chaos, imagine having Bridget come to your work. It was literally a dream come true. The place was absolutely buzzing. Word got round so fast, Cat was so excited.' Bridget's creator Helen Fielding has also been spotted at the filming as she prepares to say goodbye to the much-loved character. The film is due out on Valentine's Day next year. It was revealed last month that Bridget's obsession with losing weight will be 'played down' in the film amid fears they might be a bad influence. The two actors appeared to be having a great time filming the scene She was stood against a heavily graffitied backdrop The duo larked around as they shot the scene together Eddie Redmayne has admitted that extreme exhaustion from anxiety was ultimately what earned him the Oscar-win for his portrayal of Professor Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything - not his acting talent. The British actor, 42, wowed viewers and critics alike with his extraordinary performance as the celebrated theoretical physicist, who lived with a rare form of ALS - a neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. For the role, Redmayne trained for months with zombie choreographer and movement director Alexandra Reynolds, in order to accurately embody the scientist during various stages of the disease. But despite the training, Redmayne claimed a lack of sleep due to nerves was behind his Oscar-winning performance 10 years ago. Speaking to a crowd at 92Y in New York City on Monday, he told host Josh Horowitz: 'When I did the Theory Of Everything... the thing that scared me the most about that film was portraying him authentically. Eddie Redmayne won the best actor Oscar in 2015 for his extraordinary performance as the celebrated theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything But the actor (pictured with Professor Hawking in 2014), 42, said extreme exhaustion from anxiety was behind the win - not just his acting abilities 'I spent months prepping it but the way that films work is you obviously can't shoot chronologically. 'And particularly the first days of shooting, we had to shoot everything that was set in Cambridge, because the students hadn't come back yet for the term. So we had to do all of the scenes that were exterior shots.' The star went on to explain how he had been feeling immense pressure ahead of his first day on set because he had to play the renowned physicist at four different stages during his life: when he was a young man pre-diagnosis, when the symptoms rendered him unable to walk without a stick, when the disease 'really got a grip on him' and when he was confined to a wheelchair. 'Every time I feel the anxiety before shooting, it gets so intense,' he recalled. 'The night before the shoot, it got to four in the morning, and I wasn't asleep. And I was being picked up at six! 'I got to five in the morning and I was like "Okay, I'm just not going to sleep." I had a bath, woke up and walked through the streets of Cambridge.' He then recalled: 'I think the fatigue was so overwhelming. At the end of the day, I had to do a full breakdown scene and I was so tired and so exhausted. 'So when it came to it, the director [James Marsh] poked me and I just fell apart... which is probably very helpful and may have won me an Oscar.' Redmayne's best actor in a leading role Oscar was one of many during the 2014 awards season, with the star collecting a BAFTA, Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal of Professor Hawking alongside Felicity Jones as his wife, Jane Wilde. 'I think the fatigue was so overwhelming,' Redmayne said. 'At the end of the day, I had to do a full breakdown scene and I was so tired and so exhausted' Redmayne pictured with his wife Hannah Bagshawe and his Oscar statuette at the Vanity Fair party in 2015 But the ultimate accolade likely came from the eminent scientist himself, who said: 'I thought Eddie portrayed me very well. At times I thought he was me. I think Eddies commitment will have a big emotional impact.' Professor Hawking died, aged 76, in March 2018. Redmayne paid tribute at the time, writing: 'We have lost a truly beautiful mind, an astonishing scientist and the funniest man I have ever had the pleasure to meet. My love and thoughts are with his extraordinary family.' Redmayne, who is married to Hannah Bagshawe, threw himself into training and research for the role, previously telling The Guardian that he visited the Queen Square Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases in London to talk to MND patients and their doctors. He also treated the disease as if it were a dance and worked closely with choreographer and movement specialist Reynolds, who famously created the movement for the zombies in World War Z (2013). Redmayne said he was so tired on day one of filming that the director poked him and he 'fell apart' 'I had to train my body like a dancer but learn to shorten muscles instead of stretch them,' he told the publication. In an interview with Nightline he said: 'I just needed to train my body, just in order to sustain the positions. 'I knew that some of the positions would be specific and contorted and not necessarily comfortable.' The movie focuses on the love story between Professor Hawking and first wife Jane, whom he met shortly before his devastating diagnosis when he was 21 - and given just two years to live. Redmayne is currently starring in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club on Broadway, following a transfer from London's West End, alongside The Greatest Showman's Gayle Rankin. Jennifer Lopez revealed she can relate to her very misunderstood character in her new film, Atlas, while attending its premiere in Los Angeles on Monday night. While reflecting on playing Atlas Shepherd, 'a brilliant but misanthropic data analyst with a deep distrust of artificial intelligence' in the film's synopsis, the superstar, 54, admitted to seeing a lot of herself in the character amid split rumors with husband Ben Affleck. 'We are so different because she doesn't wear any of her emotions,' the mother-of-two told People. 'She's so closed off and I am too much emotion sometimes.' She continued: 'But at the same time we are both very strong and sure of what they feel.' Jennifer Lopez revealed she can relate to her very misunderstood character in her new film, Atlas, while attending its premiere at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles; seen in May 2024 'At times. She was very sure. She was like, "This is what's happening, please listen to me. Please tell me." And felt very misunderstood at times. I can also relate to that a bit,' the Let's Get Loud hitmaker explained. The actress, who has starred in romantic comedies like The Wedding Planner and Maid in Manhattan, said, at times, she's 'very sure of what' she wants, and, other times, she's 'very doubtful of' herself. 'I follow my instincts more than anything and I find that when I go against that, is when I go wrong,' Lopez noted. Lopez also admitted to infusing 'a little bit' of herself into the role. The Grammy nominee's husband, Ben Affleck, was a no-show at the premiere amid divorce rumors following reports they are living in separate homes. A report surfaced on Monday from Page Six that claims Affleck has, 'come to his senses,' regarding his marriage to Lopez. The source described the marriage as a 'fever dream' and he was so enamored with Lopez that he wasn't thinking straight. It was also claimed that he now 'knows' that he has to divorce her, though another report from People claims they will try to work things out. While reflecting on playing Atlas Shepherd, 'a brilliant but misanthropic data analyst with a deep distrust of artificial intelligence' in the film's synopsis, the superstar, 54, admitted to seeing a lot of herself in the character (pictured in character in her new film Atlas) 'We are so different because she doesn't wear any of her emotions,' the mother-of-two told People . 'She's so closed off and I am too much emotion sometimes' The People report claimed that they do not see eye to eye in terms of how they're seen in public, though the source thinks they'll stay together because they have, 'a great love story.' 'They just have very different approaches when it comes to media attention,' said a source. 'Ben hates all attention and it makes him very uncomfortable. Jennifer has always had a different approach.' It was added it is just not 'his way' to share so much of his personal life. The Grammy nominee's husband, Ben Affleck, was a no-show at her premiere on Monday amid divorce rumors following reports they are living in separate homes; seen on December 5, 2023 'It doesnt make him happy and causes stress in his life and then in hers. There is no question their different styles clash,' added the source. Fans started to notice that something might be wrong with the power couple earlier this month when they had not been photographed together in almost two months. But they had busy careers: he was filming The Accountant 2 in Los Angeles and she was working on co-chairing the Met Gala in New York City. Headlines that they were on the rocks made the rounds. But then suddenly she was seen smiling at her husband when his middle child, Fin, was giving a performance in her school play last week. She has been proving her fashion credentials with her show-stopping outfits during Cannes Film Festival this week. And Bella Hadid continued her incredible style parade during the annual star-studded event on Tuesday as she stepped out in a leggy gold mini dress. The supermodel, 27, stunned as she left the famous Hotel Martinez in the thigh-skimming number that had a pretty halterneck design. She boosted her height with a pair of pointy nude heels and accessorised with some glamorous silver hoop earrings. Bella had her brunette tresses slicked back into a chic up do and opted for naturally flawless makeup. Bella Hadid continued her incredible fashion parade during Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday as she stepped out in a leggy gold mini dress The supermodel, 27, stunned as she left the famous Hotel Martinez in the thigh-skimming number that had a pretty halterneck design She looked incredible in the tight gold dress that showed off her figure She had on a pair of lightly tinted glasses and looked in good spirits as she stepped out. Earlier in the day she proved she can turn heads without even leaving her hotel room as she posed up a storm on the balcony of the legendary. She exuded glamour in a figure-hugging dress as she posed for her own personal photographer in her room as well as the hordes of paparazzi waiting outside. She put her slender curves on display in a baby pink dress with gold leaf embellishment that clung to her tiny waist and highlighted her ample cleavage. Bella added to the look with a pair of dazzling diamond earrings and sunglasses, while her glossy chestnut locks were swept back into a chic chignon. Bella is no stranger to having all eyes on her and the night prior she left people agog when she arrived at The Apprentice premiere. On a night dedicated to the life and times of America's most divisive President it was the fashion industry's most sought-after model who stole the spotlight. With Donald Trump nowhere in sight as the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival continued on Monday evening, Bella was among the early arrivals at the first official screening of the biopic. She boosted her height with a pair of pointy nude heels and accessorised with some glamorous silver hoop earrings She has been proving her fashion credentials with her show-stopping outfits during Cannes Film Festival this week She had on a pair of lightly tinted glasses and looked in good spirits as she stepped out in the sunshine Bella had her brunette tresses slicked back into a chic up do and opted for naturally flawless makeup The forthcoming film sees Sebastian Stan play Trump during the flourishing early years of his business career, notably his working relationship with controversial lawyer Roy Cohn, who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1986. Arriving on the Croisette ahead of its world premiere, Bella proved to be the event's biggest talking point by electing to go braless beneath her fitted sheer evening Saint Laurent dress. The brunette beauty completed her red carpet look with a pair of strappy metallic heels, while her glossy hair was effortlessly styled with a side-parting. Cannes Film Festival officially kicked off on Tuesday night as celebrities walked the red carpet into the plush Grand Theatre Lumiere to honour Hollywood actor Meryl Streep before settling in to watch this year's opening film, The Second Act. The festival will conclude on Saturday with the closing ceremony. She even blew the cameras a kiss as she stepped out in the leggy gold mini dress that flaunted her toned legs She gave a friendly wave as she headed out and soaked up the south of France sun amid the ongoing festival Bella showed off her toned and tanned pins and looked to be in great spirits as she has made her sensational re Her legs were on display in the thigh-skimming number She strutted her stuff out of the iconic hotel The sun was back out in the south of France again on Tuesday She was joined by a male pal as she left the hotel She had a lovely tan after a few days in Cannes Bella's trip to Cannes comes after reports in March that she bought a house in Fort Worth, Texas to be closer to her new boyfriend Adan Banuelos. Banuelos, 35, is a superstar in the horse riding world, becoming one of the youngest people to be inducted into the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Hall of Fame in 2017. He's also son of Ascencion Banuelos, the first Mexican-American to be inducted into the National Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame. She made sure all eyes were on her as she stepped out She looked incredible in the leggy gold dress She has been killing it with her outfits in Cannes and made no exception as she stepped out on Tuesday as the festival rumbles on She was greeted by many fans outside the hotel as she kindly took the time to pose for snaps with them Many were keen to take selfies with her as she stepped out - after she wowed in a series of outfits this week so far She put on a stunning display in the gold dress as she greeted fans who were waiting for her outside the hotel in Cannes Earlier in the day she proved she can turn heads without even leaving her hotel room as she posed up a storm on the balcony of the legendary She exuded glamour in a figure-hugging dress as she posed for her own personal photographer in her room as well as the hordes of paparazzi waiting outside Bella is no stranger to having all eyes on her and the night prior she left people agog when she arrived at The Apprentice premiere She put her slender curves on display in a baby pink dress with gold leaf embellishment that clung to her tiny waist and highlighted her ample cleavage Bella added to the look with a pair of dazzling diamond earrings and sunglasses, while her glossy chestnut locks were swept back into a chic chignon She posed up a storm for her assistant who was snapping photographs for her Bella's assistants helped with her hair and makeup as she posed on the balcony Bella exuded glamour as she posed for all the snappers in her show-stopping ensemble She was a vision of beauty as she rested on the sun-soaked balcony She had all eyes on her for the glamorous photoshoot Bella was first romantically linked to Adan last October, when they were spotted kissing and holding hands while walking through the historic Fort Worth stockyards. A longtime rider herself, Bella has been re-focused on equestrienne events since March 2023, after taking a break from modeling to treat her Lyme disease. The diagnosis previously forced her to give up riding in 2016, when she was a nationally ranked equestrienne on track for the Olympics. Bella has recently shown off her rodeo buckles after some successful events, where she and Banuelos have supported each other. Bella also took to the roof terrace for another series of striking snaps Bella looked phenomenal as she posed to promote her new fragrance Stacey Dooley has said she has 'never had a friendship' with under-fire professional dancer Giovanni Pernice as she distancs herself from the furore. The Italian star, 33, quit Strictly earlier this week as the BBC launched an investigation into serious misconduct claims made by three of his former celebrity partners; Amanda Abbington, Ranvir Singh and Laura Whitmore. Stacey, 37, who won the series with her partner Kevin Clifton, 41, in 2018, appeared on BBC Breakfast on Monday where she was quizzed about Giovanni's controversial exit. The presenter, who was on the show to talk about her role in 2:22 A Ghost Story in the West End, was asked by host Jon Kay live on air what her thoughts were. He said: 'I have to talk to you about Strictly. Giovanni has made a statement over the weekend saying he rejects any suggestion of any threatening or abusive behaviour. Stacey Dooley has said she has 'never had a friendship' with under-fire professional dancer Giovanni Pernice The star, 33, quit Strictly earlier this week as the BBC launched an investigation into serious misconduct claims made by three of his former celebrity partners (Amanda Abbington) Stacey, 37, won the series with her partner Kevin Clifton, 41, in 2018 but said she doesn't have a friendship with Giovanni 'I know you don't want to talk about that, but I guess it shines a spotlight on the intensity of that Strictly world that you...' Looking tense, Stacey was quick to shut down the conversation as she said: 'Yeah, what I would say is I don't have a friendship with Giovanni. I didn't even have a working relationship with Giovanni. 'And I haven't been involved with that show for years. So it would be probably irresponsible for me to comment on that. 'What I would say, more broadly, is I hope all of the women involved are ok. 'And I think, actually, it's separate from this but in my personal experience, I think it's a slippery slope not to believe women when they come forward and say certain things. But I just hope they're ok.' Sally Nugent added: 'It's a difficult time for the programme', to which Stacey said: 'Do you know what, honestly, me and Kev, we are so boring. We sit at home on the sofa with a cup of tea. 'He's pals with a lot of the pros but I don't know enough about that incident to comment.' Both Stacey and Kevin don't follow Giovanni on Instagram. 'I think it's a slippery slope not to believe women when they come forward and say certain things. But I just hope they're ok', Stacey said Stacey pictured with some of the Strictly pros and celebrities in January 2019 during the live tour Both Stacey and Kevin don't follow Giovanni on Instagram The presenter, who was on the show to talk about her role in 2:22 A Ghost Story on the West End, was asked by host Jon Kay live on air what her thoughts were Giovanni Pernice faced further claims of workplace misconduct on Monday evening after professional dancer Korina Travis accused him of 'horrendous' behaviour It comes as Giovanni faced further claims of workplace misconduct after a professional dancer accused him of 'horrendous' behaviour away from the BBC show. The former Strictly Come Dancing star has come under fire for his 'militant' training style, with the BBC forced to investigate 'serious workplace misconduct claims' after three of his celebrity partners sought legal help. On Monday evening, industry colleague Korina Travis, who performed with Giovanni at private functions and has no association with Strictly, has accused the Italian dancer of behaving questionably when they worked together. 'Ive known him for years as a fellow competitor and he has done horrendous things to me,' she said in a statement released on Monday. 'I will not speak about my experiences with him... Ill leave it at that.' Korina, who performed with Giovanni at private functions and has no association with Strictly, has accused the Italian dancer of behaving questionably when they worked together Korina works for ballroom company Burn The Floor alongside numerous former Strictly Come Dancing professionals. She was previously considered for a role on the BBC show in 2016 before producers chose Chloe Hewitt. Former Strictly contestants Amanda, Laura and Ranvir have all been critical in their review of Giovanni's methods. According to The Sun, several women who have danced with the Italian on Strictly are contemplating joining the three existing claimants in a Beeb investigation for 'serious workplace misconduct claims'. A source disclosed that several former dance partners of Giovanni's have been communicating privately and suggested that even more names could come forward. The source went on to say the future is unclear for the professional dancer, who vehemently denies any claims of threatening or abusive behaviour and has vowed to 'clear his name'. They revealed: 'Numerous celebrities, all former partners of Gio's, have been in contact with one another behind the scenes. 'Three women that we know of have come forward, and taken things a step further with legal action. In recent weeks, the professional dancer has come under fire for his 'militant' training style, with the BBC forced to investigate 'serious workplace misconduct claims' 'But Carter Ruck, the prestigious firm acting on behalf of these stars, have quietly been speaking to one or two other potential claimants. In other words, more names could come out of the woodwork.' The fresh claims come after the professional dancer reportedly quit Strictly after the scrutiny became 'too much'. Off the back of Giovanni's departure, friends close to Amanda spoke about how she found the pro dancer 'abrasive' and would have to have 'crisis talks' with show bosses every week after being left in floods of tears at his 'tough' training method with claims it left her 'bruised'. Amanda, who dramatically withdrew from last year's competition and was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after the show, is said to have met with Laura and Ranvir, 46, earlier this year for an 'emotional summit' to 'compare notes' about their time working with him. Giovanni shared a post to Instagram detailing that he was 'totally surprised' by the allegations, which he denies. He said in a statement: 'You will be as surprised as I am that allegations have been made about my dance teaching methods in the media this week. 'Of course, I reject any suggestion of abusive or threatening behaviour, and I look forward to clearing my name. 'Those who have followed my journey on Strictly Come Dancing over the last decade will know that I am passionate and competitive. No-one is more ambitious for my dance partners than me. 'I have always striven to help them be the very best dancers they can be. This has always come from a place of love and wanting to win - for me and my dance partners. 'Thank you all once again for your continued love and support!' Following his statement, Giovanni was dealt a fresh blow after friend and former Strictly dance partner Rose Ayling-Ellis announced she would 'not be getting involved' while he fights 'to clear his name' amid a probe into his workplace conduct. It was believed Giovanni was still on good terms with Rose, who he won Strictly Come Dancing with in 2021. Now though, it's been claimed Rose is 'shocked' by the allegations but 'believes what the others are saying'. A source told The Sun: 'Rose is finding the whole situation really tough. She had a really great experience with Gio so is really shocked by it all. 'She of course believes what others are saying but she is just trying to not get involved. She won't be speaking about it publicly.' The news will no doubt come as a surprise to Giovanni, who had a positive relationship with the deaf contestant Rose, 29, whom he led to victory in 2021, with the pair going on to win a TV BAFTA for their silent dance routine. Amanda (pictured) is one of the women named in the suit, while the likes of Laura Whitmore and Ranvir Singh have also been critical in their review of him The professional dancer shared a post to Instagram detailing that he was 'totally surprised' by the allegations, which he denies Giovanni has faced a wave of scrutiny ever since Amanda (pictured) dramatically quit last year In 2016, former Love Island host Laura Whitmore said she 'cried every day' and felt 'uncomfortable' while training with him Now, Giovanni looks set to be planning a whole new career after leaving Strictly under a cloud. Last month, the professional dancer quietly set up two new companies, which suggest that hes embarking on a life outside of the BBC show and heading for the classroom. The Latin and Ballroom champion filed Rock You Productions Ltd at Companies House, which relates to the operation of arts facilities. This suggests that hes making a move to create his own dance school, similar to ones set up by other performers such as Kevin. Giovanni's new business is with Paul Irving, who produced his and other Strictly stars' tours. Paul is also the founder member of The Strictly Foundation, set up to 'raise funds to place talented youth in stage schools and arts training courses. Giovanni's second firm is called GP Ballando and the nature of its business is cultural education. Debbie Lee serves as director after working with Giovanni and other Strictly celebs on their dance classes. Last year, Giovanni turned his hand away from dancing to set up his own cosmetics range GP Vita, selling fragrances for men and women. He announced on Instagram at the time that 'my dream come true is finally here!' adding: 'VITA is my new fragrance for men and women - an intoxicating scent that captures the sensuality, vitality and energy of Sicily.' The Good Morning Britain presenter Ranvir Singh also complained about Giovanni to producers back in 2020, during their time on the show Former partners have also come out to back him, including Debbie McGee, the widow of the magician Paul Daniels, who was paired with him in 2017 Pernice's former partner Rose Ayling-Ellis reportedly admits she believes what others are saying amid BBC probe into 'abusive behaviour' (pictured in 2021) As well as teaching, Giovanni could be set for a career in Hollywood. The dancer is set to make his film debut this year with insiders predicting he'll 'have more acting roles coming his way. Giovanni has filmed a role in Man & Witch - a heart-warming homage to the lo-fi fantasy films of the Eighties. He will appear alongside Back to the Future star Christopher Lloyd in the movie, which follows the tale of a lonely goatherd - who cursed at birth to never take a wife - bargains with a witch to reverse the spell if he can complete her three 'impossible' tasks. Giovanni takes on the role of the Master of the Dance, the best dancer in the kingdom and the only person who knows the Dance of a Thousand Steps which is one of the tasks the Witch sets the Goatheard to master in order to find love. Speaking about Giovanni's new role, a movie insider told MailOnline: 'Its a really fun role where not only does he show his amazing dance talent but also gets to show his comedy and acting chops. 'Hes in the film with most amazing cast, including some Hollywood legends, so who knows what might happen, he may well find some more acting roles coming his way.' Giovanni, who also stars alongside Sean Astin (Goonies, Lord of the Rings), Tami Stronach (The NeverEnding Story) and Michael Emerson (Lost). Man & Witch premieres in the UK on June 2 and will be released in US at the end of August. While Strictly fans may miss seeing him every weekend in the ballroom, there might not be that long to wait to see him back on the small screen. Insiders confirmed that Giovanni is already mulling over offers away from BBC and he would find it 'difficult to resist' a lucrative contract with jungle show I'm A Celeb. While a cloud surrounds his Strictly exit, a new career could be around the corner, with Pernice set to appear in Man & Witch (pictured with co-star Daniel Portman) Giovanni takes on the role of the Master of the Dance in the movie and will star alongside acting legends Christopher Lloyd (left) and Sean Astin Another insider revealed that the BBC are considering commissioning another travel series with Anton Du Beke following strong viewer feedback A source told MailOnline: 'Giovanni has been under intense pressure and scrutiny following last year's series of Strictly when Amanda quit. 'The last thing he wants is for that to continue for him and whoever he could be paired with next so he felt there was no other option but to take a step back from the show. 'His close friendship with Anton Du Beke has made it difficult, he really wants him to stay and tried convincing him to look past everything that's happened.' A TV insider added: 'With I'm A Celeb round the corner, Giovanni would be a dream signing for producers, especially now he's looking for new opportunities and a way to hopefully show audiences he's a good guy. 'The money ITV could offer would be seriously tempting for him too, plus, he loves a challenge.' He hasn't completely cut ties with BBC, however, with another insider revealing that the BBC are considering commissioning another travel series with Anton Du Beke following strong viewer feedback. Sarah Jessica Parker revealed her bra underneath a completely ivory sheer gown, designed by Simone Rocha, adorned with floral appliques on the front. While filming the highly-anticipated third season of the Sex and the City, And Just Like That..., the 59-year-old actress put on a head-turning display in her racy look while dressed in character as style icon and sex writer Carrie Bradshaw. As cameras rolled, the six-time Golden Globe winner appeared cheerful as she strutted down the sidewalk in her sultry ensemble, which she paired with a matching mesh long coat and nude stiletto heels. Her long golden locks were styled in loose, tousled curls, which cascaded down her back and shoulders as she appeared to look for a taxi to take her to her next location. Sarah Jessica Parker revealed her bra underneath a completely ivory sheer gown, designed by Simone Rocha, adorned with floral appliques on the front In the scene, Parker filmed outside her character's new home, a multi-story apartment in Gramercy Park, which she bought after her love interest, Aidan Shaw, played by John Corbett, refused to step foot in her old apartment, where she lived when they last broke up. Shortly after moving in, Aidan reveals to Carrie that he needs to take on their relationship, for at least five years, to focus on raising his children. On Tuesday, Parker, who is married to fellow actor Matthew Broderick, shared multiple behind-the-scenes pictures and videos in the see-through garment. In addition to a shot, outside a trailer, the performer uploaded an image of herself sitting on a narrow flight on stairs while reading something on her phone. 'Day 7 Exterior NYC Already shot first look. With crane,' she captioned her slideshow. 'Changing over for next scene. @justlikethatmax X, SJ.' She credited her hair stylist, Serge Normant, for capturing the pictures and videos. Her fans overwhelmingly approved of her character's sexy look in the comment section as they rushed to say Parker looked 'absolutely ethereal' and 'stunning.' 'This is an amazing outfit, friend,' one follower wrote while another commented that the star was 'looking fabulous.' While filming the highly-anticipated third season of the Sex and the City, And Just Like That..., the 59-year-old actress put on a head-turning display in her racy look while dressed in character as style icon and sex writer Carrie Bradshaw As cameras rolled, the six-time Golden Globe winner appeared cheerful as she strutted down the sidewalk in her sultry ensemble, which she paired with a matching mesh long coat and nude stiletto heels Her long golden locks were styled in loose, tousled curls, which cascaded down her back and shoulders as she appeared to look for a taxi to take her to her next location In the scene, Parker filmed outside her character's new home, a multi-story apartment in Gramercy Park Parker's character bought the property after love interest, Aidan Shaw, played by John Corbett, refused to step foot in her old apartment, where she lived when they last broke up The thrid season is expected to return to screens in 2025, after getting back in production earlier this month Since reprising her role as Carrie, fans have been critical of the style on the spin-off series, which no longer has the magic touch of Sex and the City costume designer Patricia Field. Field now works on Emily In Paris - but did briefly return to the SATC-universe to style Kim Cattrall's one-off cameo as Samantha in And Just Like That. The pair took over for Patricia Field, who was unable to return for AJLT due to her busy schedule styling Lily Collins and the other stars on Emily in Paris. Later, Parker was seen shooting a scene with Corbett As they spoke, the actress held onto a copy of the book, The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War, by Erik Larson Parker had slipped into a cozy charcoal grey sweater, blue sweatpants and a pair of white boots Corbett looked handsome in a black jacket, jeans and brown shoes Parker has kept every single costume she wore on Sex and The City, and the costumers say she has a lot of input in what Carrie wears on set in the spin-off. The actress operates what is referred to as 'kiss or kill' system. 'Kiss stays in the room and gets styled; kill goes out into the hallway and is returned,' Rogers explained to Grazia. Parker's latest sighting comes after speaking openly about struggling to gain weight. On Tuesday, Parker, who is married to fellow actor Matthew Broderick, shared multiple behind-the-scenes pictures and videos in the see-through garment In addition to a shot, outside a trailer, the performer uploaded an image of herself sitting on a narrow flight on stairs while reading something on her phone 'A lot of people have their kind of cross to bear. I don't like being thin. And if you met my siblings it's the same genetic make up,' the actress said on the podcast, Glad We Had This Chat. 'I don't particularly think or celebrate being thin. I would prefer to have weight but that's just the way my body works.' During the interview, the Ohio native made a rare remark about her and Broderick's three children: James Wilke, 21, and twins Marha and Tabitha, 14. 'They are mercurial but I feel like that's pretty much right on target for their age. They're mostly really nice. I mean, you know, there are times that I do the wrong thing, say the wrong thing, I annoy them, I'm their mother,' she mused. Parker continued: 'And I just don't think their father has the same opportunity to aggravate them. I do their laundry, I tell them this, I make sure they remind them about that. I'm, you know, charge your phone. Can't leave the house. Do this, do that.' Taye Diggs is helping shine light on an often misunderstood mental disorder. The All American star, 53, who was formerly married to Broadway's Idina Menzel, 52, has opened up about an issue that affected his own family: schizophrenia. The actor's sister, Christian, 48, was diagnosed with the condition when she was in her late 20s. 'As you can imagine, we were all very surprised and scared and curious,' the Critics Choice Award winner told People. Brother and sister tell their story in a video for their new Live Your Possczible campaign, in conjunction with drug maker Bristol Myers Squibb. The campaign is designed to shine light on what people 'living with schizophrenia can achieve, supporting them as they plan for the future and providing them with resources to take action.' Taye Diggs, 53, is helping shine light on an often misunderstood mental disorder. The actor's sister, Christian, 48, was diagnosed with the condition when she was in her late 20s In the video, Christian, who enjoys a job in construction, said when she was first diagnosed it was 'shocking and a bit scary,' but having that information made her feel 'calmer,' explaining, 'I actually had hope because I could put a name on everything that was happening.' Diggs told the outlet that as Christian's brother, he and his family 'were all very surprised and scared and curious.' 'I didn't know anything about it,' he admitted. Like most people, the only reference I had was what was portrayed on television and a whole bunch of stereotypes.' Schizophrenia is a condition that impacts 2.4 million adults in the United States and an estimated 24 million globally. According to the Cleveland Clinic, 'Schizophrenia involves a disconnection from reality, including hallucinations and delusions.' 'My sister's very, very smart, and she loves to use her brain. And when she was diagnosed, she told me it was like the part of her brain that she enjoyed the most wasnt her own anymore,' The Chicago star revealed. 'And that's what was very frustrating for her.' 'I couldn't rely on my intellect, I couldn't rely on my mind, or my thought processes at all any more' Christian explained in the video. 'That was a really difficult thing to grasp and accept. I never thought I would be happy again,' she said, 'but every day I wake up and I can't believe I'm here. It's amazing. I'm someone who's living my possible.' Christian got to where she is now after finding the right medical care. Christian has been able to control her condition with medication and therapy and now enjoys a career in construction The Diggs' tell their story in a video for their new Live Your Possczible campaign, which is designed to shine light on what people 'living with schizophrenia can achieve, supporting them as they plan for the future and providing them with resources to take action' 'My sister's very, very smart, and she loves to use her brain. And when she was diagnosed, she told me it was like the part of her brain that she enjoyed the most wasnt her own anymore,' The Chicago star told People. 'And that's what was very frustrating for her' 'Once she started getting on the right medication and had a certain amount of therapy, then it started to click for her. It was night and day,' Diggs said. As a family he said, 'We were just there to say, "Keep going. Don't lose hope. Everything's going to be fine." And then she came out of the clouds and we were all very thankful and grateful. And we felt lucky.' 'Christian helped me uncover the fact that there's hope. It's not like it's the end of the world,' he asserted. 'I could see her being able to make decisions and live out her ambitions and do all this stuff that I thought was not going to be within her grasp.' For others who may be dealing with the diagnosis of a friend or loved one, the The Best Man franchise star said, 'It's really easy to just make a judgment.' I never thought I would be happy again,' Christian said of the time she first began dealing with schizophrenia, 'but every day I wake up and I can't believe I'm here. It's amazing. I'm someone who's living my possible' After educating himself about the mental condition Diggs explained, 'People just need support. They need a team around them that knows what they're doing, and they can literally achieve whatever they want. And I didn't realize this at the time' 'It's so easy to just kind of put people in a certain box,' he contended, adding, 'I feel silly because I thought it was so black and white. But now I know better. I'm almost embarrassed to admit what I thought of her when we first heard this news, but she's such an inspiration' Diggs said. 'People just need support. They need a team around them that knows what they're doing, and they can literally achieve whatever they want. And I didn't realize this at the time.' For Christian, knowing she had that a team behind her meant all the difference. 'What I realized over time was that family primarily played an integral role in me being able to accomplish this, having them there with me every step of the way, through every phase, no matter what, they were my strongest support.' Kate Garraway showed off her chic sense of style in a pretty white lace dress as she and Penny Lancaster braved the torrential rain for the 2024 National Prince's Trust and TK Maxx & Homesense Awards on Tuesday. The Good Morning Britain star, 57, cut a stylish figure as she posed for snaps on the red carpet at Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London. Kate teamed her look with simple nude heels as she arrived solo for the event. Meanwhile Penny opted for an elegant floral midi dress with a black lace hem that showed off her model physique. The wife of music legend Rod Stewart accessorised her look with gold thin-strapped heels as she posed up a storm. Kate Garraway showed off her chic sense of style in a white lace midi dress as she joined Penny Lancaster for the 2024 National Prince's Trust and TK Maxx & Homesense Awards on Tuesday Ant McPartlin also made his first public appearance since revealing last week he'd welcomed his first child with his wife Anne-Marie Kate cut a stylish figure as she posed for snaps on the red carpet at Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London Ant McPartlin also made his first public appearance since revealing last week he'd welcomed his first child with his wife Anne-Marie. The Saturday Night Takeaway star, a longtime supporter of the charity, cut a dapper figure as he arrived with his presenting partner Declan Donnelly. On Saturday, Ant set the record straight and addressed fans' accusations that he 'snubbed' his dog Hurley in his new tattoo. The presenter took to X to thank fans for their 'kind messages' after announcing the birth of his son Wilder on Tuesday. In his post, Ant also addressed fans' concerns that he'd 'snubbed' Hurley in a new tattoo paying tribute to his family after the dog's name appeared to be absent from the design. Ant wrote: 'Hey all, I just wanted to say thank You so much for the kind messages of love and well wishes for our baby Wilder. Hes doing great. 'Glad you loved the tattoo as well. For all you dog lovers who asked why my beloved Hurley wasnt on the family tree..he was!! He was just covered by our newborn. All my love, gratitude and heartfelt thanks A.' Ant then shared a snap showing the full tattoo on his shoulder, with Hurley's name visible on the tree design. Kate teamed her look with simple nude heels as she arrived solo for the event Meanwhile Penny opted for an elegant floral midi dress with a black lace hem that showed off her model physique The wife of music legend Rod Stewart accessorised her look with gold thin-strapped heels as she posed up a storm The Trust helps young people aged 11 to 30 get into jobs, education and training - and its beneficiaries have included The Wire and Luther actor Idris Elba Ant McPartlin also made his first public appearance since revealing last week he'd welcomed his first child with his wife Anne-Marie The Saturday Night Takeaway star, a longtime supporter of the charity, cut a dapper figure as he arrived with his longtime presenting partner Declan Donnelly Love Island star Tasha Ghouri showed off her recently-dyed auburn tresses as she posed for snaps in a lilac satin gown She showed off her incredible figure in her eye-catching satin gown Tasha flaunted her bold new look as she joined a slew of stars braving the rain on the red carpet Sophie Habboo showed off her sophisticated sense of style in a mint skirt suit with a polka dot print from Koibird, accessorising with matching heels The Made In Chelsea star looked effortlessly chic as she accessorised her look with a shell clutch bag Pixie Lott vamped it up in a black dress with a sheer front and a pussybow neckline as she arrived on the red carpet The singer made a dramatic entrance in the muted ensemble Heather Mills made a rare public appearance with her partner Mick Dickman as they attended the awards together The former model who used to be married to Sir Paul McCartney, commanded attention at the glitzy event as she stepped out in a striking red jumpsuit She layered a casual black T-shirt under her one-piece while adding inches to her statuesque figure with a pair of laced Alaia heeled platforms Looking every inch the happy couple, the vegan activist appeared in high spirits as she linked arms her with man Mick, 39 Martin Freeman and his girlfriend, French actress Rachel Benaissa, 30, also made a rare appearance on the red carpet together The Sherlock star and French actress Rachel Benaissa looked loved up as they posed for cameras ahead of the glitzy do Call The Midwife star Helen George was dressed to impress in a plunging black trouser suit adorned with rose detailing as she arrived with her umbrella in hand The actress beamed as she arrived solo for the awards show Mia McKenna Bruce cut an elegant figure in an electric blue midi dress as she arrived for the annual awards event The former child star was accompanied by her fiance Tom Leach Clara Amfo showed off her eye-catching sense of style in a plunging printed dress with chunky platform heels The Radio 1 star flashed her famous style as she joined a slew of stars on the red carpet Fearne Cotton put on a kooky display in an ivory satin co-ord, exuding her love of quirky looks The presenter added a sparkly twist to her outfit with a silver sequinned clutch bag Fearne was among a slew of stars who in attendance for the annual awards, which celebrate the achievements of young people supported by The Trust Damian Lewis was joined by his girlfriend Alison Mosshart as they graced the red carpet The Homeland star was dressed in a sharp grey suit while Alison, lead vocallist for The Kills, wore an edgy leather jacket and a star-printed shirt Damian cosied up to his girlfriend as they arrived for the awards together The tattoo could be seen on Ant's shoulder in an Instagram post where Ant revealed he'd welcomed a son named Wilder Patrick with wife Anne-Marie. Love Island star Tasha Ghouri cut a glamorous figure as she slipped into a lilac satin gown adorned with white floral embroidery. Sophie Habboo showed off her sophisticated sense of style in a mint skirt suit with a polka dot print, accessorising with matching heels. Heather Mills made a rare public appearance with her partner Mick Dickman as they attended the awards together. The former model, 56, who used to be married to Sir Paul McCartney, commanded attention at the glitzy event as she stepped out in a striking red jumpsuit. Martin Freeman and his girlfriend, French actress Rachel Benaissa, 30, also made a rare appearance on the red carpet together. The Trust helps young people aged 11 to 30 get into jobs, education and training - and its beneficiaries have included The Wire and Luther actor Idris Elba, who used a 1,500 grant from it to help start his career. Earlier this year the charity was re-named to The King's Trust internationally, following Charles' Coronation last year. Lionel Richie praised the King for his committment to the charity while attending an event last month, and touched on how difficult it is for young people to succeed in todays world. Charlotte Tilbury put on a glamorous display in a busty brown frilled dress as she showed off her best poses on the red carpet England star Ella Toone opted for a chic black trouser suit with quirky feathered trim Ellie Simmonds made a statement in a fitted coral dress, accessorising with gold heels Eve opted for a grey satin mini dress with matching tights and heels as she posed inside the star-studded event Former Vogue Editor-In-Chief Edward Enninful cut a suave figure on the red carpet DJ Cuppy looked incredible in a blue gown and gold heels Line Of Duty star Stephen Graham was suited and booted as he arrived for the occasion Social media star Emily Canham looked effortlessly chic in a white satin dress with a frilled skirt, teamed with tan strapped heels Lydia Millen was dressed to impress in a satin two-tone dress Podcast and social media star GK Barry amped up the glamour in a black velvet gown Gemma Bird - known to her Instagram followers as Money Mum - opted for a fun pale blue mini dress and silver heels Jake Quickenden cut a dapper figure as he headed into the awards 'My association with The Trust goes back to the 1980s and so much has been achieved since then but there remains so much more to do. 'I remain truly inspired by His Majesty's commitment to this cause and as Chair of the Global Ambassador Group, I am delighted that we are now The King's Trust, cementing the future legacy of this work. 'The world is tough for young people right now and I'm a huge believer in the approach of The King's Trust, to create opportunities and equip young people with the skills and self-belief to succeed on their own terms.' Charles once spoke of his hope his two sons William and Harry, now the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex, would take over the Prince's Trust, which he set up with his 7,400 Navy severance pay in 1976. But William is paving his own way as the new heir to the throne, focusing on homelessness and mental health. Jeff Brazier and his wife Kate Dwyer made a rare public appearance on Tuesday as they attended the Marcello Mio premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The TV presenter, 44, looked incredibly dapper as he graced the red carpet in a black and white tuxedo. The father of Eastenders actor Bobby Brazier, 20, and Freddy Brazier, 19, sported a pair of patent leather brogues and a rose lapel pin. Meanwhile, Kate, looked the epitome of elegance in a black gown. The chic ensemble boasted a sweetheart neckline, an off-the-shoulder design, and a maxi length. Jeff Brazier and his wife Kate made a rare public appearance on Tuesday as they attended the Marcello Mio premiere at the Cannes Film Festival The TV presenter, 44, looked incredibly dapper as he graced the red carpet in a black and white tuxedo Kate added inches to her frame with a pair of black platform heels and further accessorised with gold-toned heart-shaped earrings. To finish off the look, Kate styled her luscious locks up in a slick bun and appeared in high spirits as she and her husband posed for several snaps. Earlier in the day the pair were spotted cutting a casual figure as they arrived at 5-star Hotel Martinez. Jeff looked comfortable in a beige tracksuit which consisted of a hoody and a pair of matching jogging bottoms. He toted his essentials around in a backpack and sported a pair of chunky white trainers. Meanwhile, Kate cut a smart casual figure wearing a beige top and cream knit leggings. The stunner had a cream hoody tied around her waist and sported a pair of comfy trainers. She also opted to shield her eyes with a pair of oversized black shades and wore a layer of necklaces. The father of Eastenders actor Bobby Brazier , 20, and Freddy Brazier, 19, sported a pair of patent leather brogues and a rose lapel pin. Meanwhile, his wife Kate Dwyer looked the epitome of elegance in a black gown Marcello Mio is a 2024 French-Italian comedy film written and directed by Christophe Honore, 54. During the film actress Chiara Mastroianni, 51, confronts living in the shadow of her real-life father Marcello Mastroianni's legacy. She portrays a version of herself alongside her real-life mother, French actress Catherine Deneuve, 80. The film follows actress Chiara and portrays her living like her father during summertime. During the film, she dresses, speaks, and breathes like him with such conviction that others start calling her 'Marcello'. Marcello Mio had its world premiere on May 21 and was scheduled for theatrical release by Ad Vitam Distribution on the same day. Earlier in the day the pair were spotted cutting a casual figure as they arrived at 5-star Hotel Martinez Jeff looked comfortable in a beige tracksuit which consisted of a hoody and a pair of matching jogging bottoms Meanwhile, Kate cut a smart casual figure wearing a beige top and cream knit leggings Cannes is the world's biggest film festival, first conceived in 1939 as an alternative to the then-fascist-influenced Venice Film Festival. It has been held annually since 1946 except in 1948 and 1950, when it was cancelled due to lack of funds. The festival is known for its carefully selected programme of films that have gone on to Oscar glory or launched the careers of directors like Quentin Tarantino. Cannes' top prize is the Palme d'Or, or Golden Palm, whose past winners include Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, Pulp Fiction, The Pianist and Parasite. Jane Campion became the first female director to win in 1993 with The Piano, followed by a nearly three-decade gap until Julia Ducournau received the award for Titane in 2021. Marcello Mio is a 2024 French-Italian comedy film written and directed by Christophe Honore, 54. During the film actress Chiara Mastroianni, 51, (pictured) confronts living in the shadow of her real-life father Marcello Mastroianni's legacy Jury president Greta Gerwig, second from left, poses with jury members Omar Sy, from left, Lily Gladstone, Nadine Labaki, Kore-eda Hirokazu, Ebru Ceylan, J.A. Bayona, Eva Green, and Pierfrancesco Favino at the opening festival Justine Triet became only the third female director to take the prize last year with Anatomy of a Fall. There is also an honorary Palme d'Or, which is awarded in recognition of notable bodies of work, with past recipients including Harrison Ford, Jane Fonda and Clint Eastwood. There are two honorary winners this year: George Lucas of 'Star Wars' and 'Indiana Jones' fame, and Japanese animation legend Studio Ghibli, the first group to receive the prize. Other awards include the Grand Prix, jury prize, best director, best actor, best actress, best screenplay and best short film. Torrey DeVitto might be newly-pregnant and engaged, but she just took a moment to reflect on her two-year marriage to former Killer Movie co-star Paul Wesley, which ended in divorce 11 years ago. 'It was really for the best. He's lovely we shouldn't have gotten married. We were really young when we met,' the expecting 39-year-old - who was 22 in 2007 - recalled on Monday's Pretty Little Liars: True Crime podcast. 'We were so young. We were crazy. Two insane people getting married wasn't good. We were young and wild. So once I knew that it was time to go, I always wanted the best for him. And I still want the best for him. I actually bump into him here and there. We're totally cool. It's been so long now.' Torrey continued: 'But yeah, that was hard because I think what people don't realize is our industry is so incestuous. Like, almost everyone knows each other - especially during that time there really wasn't anywhere I could go without somebody there that knew him, had a relationship with him, had some sort of friendship or something so it was intimidating.' DeVitto was 29 by the time she divorced the 41-year-old History of Evil actor in 2013 after only two years of wedded bliss. Torrey DeVitto might be newly-pregnant and engaged, but she just took a moment to reflect on her two-year marriage to former Killer Movie co-star Paul Wesley, which ended in divorce 11 years ago (pictured in 2011) The expecting 39-year-old - who was 22 in 2007 - recalled on Monday's Pretty Little Liars: True Crime podcast, 'It was really for the best. He's lovely we shouldn't have gotten married. We were really young when we met' 'The divorce was hard because it was the first time I went through something like that publicly, and it was the first time I was seeing things said about me that just were really not true,' the Love's Greek to Me actress admitted. 'I really had to tap into being like "Well, I just don't care what people say about me or why we got divorced or how we got divorced" and all these things. So there was a time when I would walk on sets - especially if it was like sets of like you know our age group where I knew knew him and knew me - I'd always think, "Like what do they think? What do they think they know? What do people think they know about me?" So there was a lot of that like running through my head for sure but I just had to let it go.' During their marriage, Torrey scored a 12-episode stint as Dr. Meredith Fell on Paul's hit CW show The Vampire Diaries from 2012-2013 and he quickly moved on with his co-star Phoebe Tonkin. Wesley (born Pawel Wasilewski) then married Ines-Olivia de Ramon, but they legally separated in 2022 after three years of marriage, and she's been dating two-time Oscar winner Brad Pitt since September. The Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star and the 31-year-old jewelry designer still share custody of their beloved rescue dog Gregory aka 'Greggy' and he is now dating 23-year-old German model Natalie Kuckenburg. On Sunday, DeVitto announced she was pregnant with her first child with fiance Jared LaPine. The Pretty Little Liars alum - who boasts 1.7M social media followers - captioned her Instagram slideshow: 'Baby girl arriving this November!' The former K.C. Undercover PA captioned his own pregnancy announcement: 'Welp, here's to hoping she gets her mother's genes!' Torrey continued: 'We were so young. We were crazy. Two insane people getting married wasn't good. We were young and wild. So once I knew that it was time to go, I always wanted the best for him. And I still want the best for him. I actually bump into him here and there. We're totally cool. It's been so long now' DeVitto was 29 by the time she divorced the 41-year-old History of Evil actor in 2013 (pictured) after only two years of wedded bliss The Love's Greek to Me actress admitted: 'The divorce was hard because it was the first time I went through something like that publicly, and it was the first time I was seeing things said about me that just were really not true' During their marriage, Torrey scored a 12-episode stint as Dr. Meredith Fell on Paul's hit CW show The Vampire Diaries from 2012-2013 (pictured) and he quickly moved on with his co-star Phoebe Tonkin Wesley (born Pawel Wasilewski) then married Ines-Olivia de Ramon (R, pictured in 2019), but they legally separated in 2022 after three years of marriage, and she's been dating two-time Oscar winner Brad Pitt since September The Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star and the 31-year-old jewelry designer still share custody of their beloved rescue dog Gregory aka 'Greggy' and he is now dating 23-year-old German model Natalie Kuckenburg (R, pictured February 14) On Sunday, DeVitto announced she was pregnant with her first child with fiance Jared LaPine The Pretty Little Liars alum - who boasts 1.7M social media followers - captioned her Instagram slideshow: 'Baby girl arriving this November!' The former K.C. Undercover PA popped the question to Torrey on September 1 'while walking the back trails' on her 7.2-acre farm in Michigan after three months of dating DeVitto currently plays 'Mom' opposite Brian Cox in Matt Greene-DeLanghe's family grief drama Skelly, which premiered May 7 on Vudu Jared popped the question to Torrey on September 1 'while walking the back trails' on her 7.2-acre farm in Michigan after three months of dating. DeVitto has previously romanced Will Estes, David Ross, Jesse Lee Soffer, Artem Chigvintsev, and Rick Glassman. The Long Island native currently plays 'Mom' opposite Brian Cox in Matt Greene-DeLanghe's family grief drama Skelly, which premiered May 7 on Vudu. Torrey is a bit of a nepo-baby considering her father is former Billy Joel drummer Liberty DeVitto and her mother Mary Torrey is one of Stevie Knicks' oldest friends. Season two of Kaley Cuoco's Peacock series appears to be a bit of art imitating life after welcoming her first baby. The Golden Globe nominee, 38, sported a makeup-free mom look on Tuesday while pushing a stroller through a park on the Los Angeles set of Based On A True Story. She rocked a cozy ensemble in a striped button-down shirt and black jeans with a pair of Birkenstock sandals and round gold sunglasses. Cuoco exchanged lines with co-star Melissa Fumero (star of Brooklyn Nine-Nine), who carried her own prop baby strapped to her chest. Based on a True Story stars Cuoco and Chris Messina as a couple who discovers their new family friend (Tom Bateman) is behind a series of local murders. Kaley Cuoco sported a makeup-free mom look on Tuesday while pushing a stroller through a park on the Los Angeles set of Based on a True Story. She rocked a cozy ensemble in a striped button-down shirt and black jeans with a pair of Birkenstock sandals and round gold sunglasses Cuoco exchanged lines with co-star Melissa Fumero (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), who carried her own prop baby strapped to her chest The true crime-obsessed couple blackmails the killer into making a podcast with them, only to find themselves in a cat-and-mouse game. Cuoco's season two return comes after she welcomed her first child with partner Tom Pelphrey, a daughter named Matilda Carmine Richie. They previously marked the 'best year of our lives' as they celebrated Matilda's 1st birthday in March. 'Dada and I love you more than we could possibly ever explain,' the proud mom wrote. 'I cannot wait to see who you become, but for now, please stay my precious 1 year old forever.' The Big Bang Theory alum previously opened up about leaving Hollywood for a 'more family-oriented' life on her ranch in Thousand Oaks, California. 'I wanted something away from LA. I love being an actor and I love the business, I really do, I've been in it my whole life,' she told People. 'I know nothing else for 30-plus years. 'But I knew I needed a special place that wasn't that and that felt more grounded, felt more real, felt more family-oriented because I do love that side of my life, but this is equally as important to me,' added Cuoco. She bought the property for $6.4 million last year, shortly after the five-bedroom, seven-bath home was built new in 2023. 'I was like, "I want my own ranch. I want my own place,"' she told People. 'And I wanted a place for my family. My family's family and my child and my brain.' Cuoco's season two return comes after she welcomed her first child with partner Tom Pelphrey, a daughter named Matilda Carmine Richie She and Pelphrey, 41, were first romantically linked in May 2022, and she announced her first pregnancy later that year The Big Bang Theory alum previously opened up about leaving Hollywood for a 'more family-oriented' life on her ranch in Thousand Oaks, California Cuoco explained that she's still a 'California girl from Day One,' as she chose a place only an hour northwest of Los Angeles. 'No matter where I go in the world, this will always be the place I want to be,' she said. The Flight Attendant actress most recently sold her sprawling Los Angeles mansion in Agoura Hills for $5.5 million, two years after buying the home from Taylor Lautner for $5.25 million. She and Pelphrey, 41, were first romantically linked in May 2022, and she announced her first pregnancy later that year. Cuoco was previously married to Karl Cook from 2018 to 2022 and Ryan Sweeting from 2013 to 2016. Jackie 'O' Henderson has accidentally revealed the contents of her glovebox in her $500,000 luxury car. The radio queen, 49, had sent co-star Cooper Johns down to search for her missing mobile phone, and was mortified when the ex-NRL star revealed what he found on-air. 'There's a whole wig in here,' said Johns, while rummaging through the glovebox. He also found 'thousands of smokes', revealing while some of the cigarettes were in packs, many were rolling around loose. 'Do you get tobacco in your hair extensions?' teased Jackie's co-star, newsreader Brooklyn Ross. Jackie 'O' Henderson (pictured) has accidentally revealed the contents of her glovebox in her $300,000 luxury car Johns then joked he'd 'taken all the dildos and vibrators for myself'. Henderson is known for driving a Range Rover Sport, after admitting she scored the luxury vehicle because its intended owner went to prison. The vehicle is worth approximately $500,000. The bombshell reveal of her glovebox contents comes after Jackie appeared frazzled as she arrived to work at the KIIS FM studios late on Tuesday morning. She was spotted driving into the studio carpark just minutes before The Kyle and Jackie O show was set to go live. Jackie drove into her car spot at 5.58am before rushing into the building before her 6am radio show start. 'I'm cutting it fine. I've got two minutes,' she said as she drove into the carpark. She then explained before running into the elevator: 'I don't know what happened. I just slept through my alarm.' The radio queen, 49, had sent co-star Cooper Johns (pictured) down to search for her missing mobile phone, and was mortified when the ex-NRL star revealed what he found on-air Henderson is known for driving a $500,000 Range Rover Sport, after admitting she scored the luxury vehicle because its intended owner went to prison. Seen here last September It comes one day after Jackie announced a surprise new gig. The beloved radio personality will lend her iconic voice to narrate Channel Seven's spicy new dating series, Stranded on Honeymoon Island. The show, created by Snowman Productions and produced by Endemol Shine Australia, the team behind Married At First Sight, promises to deliver high drama and romance. The bombshell reveal of her glovebox contents comes after Jackie appeared frazzled as she arrived to work at the KIIS FM studios late on Tuesday morning Stranded on 'Honeymoon Island', 12 singles who have exhausted all dating options back home will embark on a remote dating journey unlike any other. The format of the show can only be described as unconventional. After a speed dating event, couples will be matched and marry on the spot. They will then be whisked away to a deserted island, where they will spend 21 days together in nothing but their wedding attire. This unique setup is designed to test the couples' compatibility in the most extreme conditions. The series is already a massive hit in Belgium, and Channel Seven is excited to bring the show to Australian shores. Jordan Barrett cuddled up to model Allegra Ream as they stepped out together at the Marcello Mio premiere at Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday. The Australian model, 27, put on a suave display as he posed up a storm for the cameras alongside the Paris-based photographer. Jordan looked dapper in a fashionable black suit, styled with a plain T-shirt and buckled suit shoes, as he stepped out on the star-studded red carpet. He was joined by glamorous model Allegra, who put on an elegant display in a high-neck black satin gown which hugged her incredible figure. She toted her essentials in a sparkling silver clutch bag and accessorised her look with a dainty necklace and chunky earrings. Jordan Barrett cuddled up to model Allegra Ream as they stepped out together at the Marcello Mio premiere at Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday The Australian model, 27, put on a suave display as he posed up a storm for the cameras alongside the Paris-based photographer They put on a cosy display on the red carpet as Jordan was seen whispering in Allegra's ear and planting a kiss on her head. Jordan, who split from model ex-husband Fernando Augusto in 2022, is represented by the Kate Moss Agency and IMG Models and has rubbed shoulders with big industry names. Known for his striking chiseled features, he has worked with the likes of Adwoa Aboah, Cara Delevingne, Candice Swanepoel and Stella Maxwell, among others. At Cannes, Jordan and Allegra joined the likes of models Alessandra Ambrosio, Barbara Palvin, Leomie Anderson and Izabel Goulart at the Mio Marcello premiere. The comedy movie marks the third time that French director Christophe Honore has returned to Cannes Competition, also reuniting him with long time collaborator Chiara Mastroianni. Jordan looked dapper in a fashionable black suit, styled with a plain T-shirt and buckled suit shoes, as he stepped out on the star-studded red carpet They put on a cosy display on the red carpet as Jordan was seen whispering in Allegra's ear while she laughed At one point, Jordan planted a kiss on Allegra's head as they posed up a storm for the cameras at the film festival Mio Marcello taps into actress Chiara's real-life complex reality of being the daughter of cinema icons Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni. Cannes is the world's biggest film festival, first conceived in 1939 as an alternative to the then-fascist-influenced Venice Film Festival. It has been held annually since 1946 except in 1948 and 1950, when it was cancelled due to lack of funds. The festival is known for its carefully selected programme of films that have gone on to Oscar glory or launched the careers of directors like Quentin Tarantino. Cannes' top prize is the Palme d'Or, or Golden Palm, whose past winners include Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, Pulp Fiction, The Pianist and Parasite. Jane Campion became the first female director to win in 1993 with The Piano, followed by a nearly three-decade gap until Julia Ducournau received the award for Titane in 2021. For the occasion, Allegra put on an elegant display in a high-neck black satin gown which hugged her incredible figure and featured dramatic silver back detailing They joined the likes of models Alessandra Ambrosio (left), Izabel Goulart (right), Barbara Palvin and Leomie Anderson at the Mio Marcello premiere Justine Triet became only the third female director to take the prize last year with Anatomy of a Fall. There is also an honorary Palme d'Or, which is awarded in recognition of notable bodies of work, with past recipients including Harrison Ford, Jane Fonda and Clint Eastwood. There are two honorary winners this year - George Lucas of 'Star Wars' and ' Indiana Jones' fame and Japanese animation legend Studio Ghibli, the first group to receive the prize. Other awards include the Grand Prix, jury prize, best director, best actor, best actress, best screenplay and best short film. Benedict Cumberbatch looked suave on Monday at the UK premiere of his upcoming psychological thriller miniseries Eric at the Ham Yard Hotel, London. The English actor, 47, wore a black zip-up jumper under a short black double-breasted jacket from Derrick which he left unbuttoned. He also wore straight-legged black trousers and trainers with white soles, finishing his look with orange-tinted Persol sunglasses. Netflix series Eric follows Vincent, a puppeteer in 1980s New York whose nine-year-old son, Edgar, goes missing. Eric is the name of Vincent's seven-foot puppet he is convinced will help him locate Edgar. Benedict was joined by a few members of the principal cast (L-R): McKinley Belcher III (Michael Ledroit), Gaby Hoffmann (Cassie Anderson), and Ivan Howe (Edgar). Benedict Cumberbatch, 47, looked suave on Monday at the UK premiere of his upcoming psychological thriller miniseries Eric at the Ham Yard Hotel, London Eric follows Vincent (Benedict), a 1980s New York puppeteer whose son, Edgar, goes missing. Eric is the name of Vincent's seven-foot puppet he is convinced will help him locate Edgar The English actor, 47, was joined by a few members of the principal cast (L-R): McKinley Belcher III (Michael Ledroit), Gaby Hoffmann (Cassie Anderson), and Ivan Howe (Edgar) Ivan looked cool in a black T-shirt, a sequinned black jacket, and a pair of light blue jeans with black shoes. McKinley was dashing in a black suit with a white T-shirt and matching pocket square and a black pair of shiny shoes. Gaby put on an eye-catching display in a brown chequered long-sleeved dress with a black belt and brown shoes. Abi looked beautiful in a very bright long-sleeved silk shirt which she wore with a black jacket and black trousers. Lucy rolled up the sleeves of a gorgeous white suit with an unique design which she paired with black heeled sandals. The series' producer Lucy Dyke beamed in a white shirt as she attended with her husband of seven years Jason Manford. Jason dressed in all black adding a splash of colour with his box-fresh trainers which were black, white, and grey. Eric was created and written by Abi Morgan and directed by Lucy Forbes. The series is a Netflix original, made in the UK, and was produced by Benedict along with Holly Pullinger, Jane Featherstone and Lucy Dyke. Eric will premiere on Netflix UK on May 30. The English actor wore a black zip-up jumper under a short black double-breasted jacket from DERRICK which he left unbuttoned His black trousers were also from DERRICK and he finished his look with white-soled trainers and orange-tinted Persol sunglasses (pictured with Ivan) Benedict, Ivan, McKinley and Gaby were joined by the series' maker Abi Morgan (far left) and director Lucy Forbes (far right) Ivan looked cool in a black T-shirt, a sequinned black jacket, and a pair of light blue jeans with black shoes McKinley looked dashing in a black suit with a white T-shirt and matching pocket square and a black pair of shiny shoes Gaby put on an eye-catching display in a brown chequered long-sleeved dress with a black belt and brown shoes McKinley and Gaby sweetly posed together, Gaby holding the hand that McKinley put around her waist Abi looked beautiful in a very bright long-sleeved silk shirt which she wore with a black jacket and black trousers McKinley and Gaby rejoined Benedict for another photo, Gaby standing in the middle and all put an arm around the person next to them Lucy rolled up the sleeves of a gorgeous white suit with an unique design which she paired with black heeled sandals The series' producer Lucy Dyke beamed in a white shirt as she attended with her husband of seven years Jason Manford Jason dressed in all black adding a splash of colour with his box-fresh trainers which were black, white, and grey Cannes is the world's biggest film festival, first conceived in 1939 as an alternative to the then-fascist-influenced Venice Film Festival. It has been held annually since 1946 except in 1948 and 1950, when it was cancelled due to lack of funds. The festival is known for its carefully selected programme of films that have gone on to Oscar glory or launched the careers of directors like Quentin Tarantino. Cannes' top prize is the Palme d'Or, or Golden Palm, whose past winners include Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, Pulp Fiction, The Pianist and Parasite. Martin Freeman and his girlfriend made a rare appearance on the red carpet together at the Prince's Trust Awards, held at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London on Tuesday. The Sherlock star, 52, and French actress Rachel Benaissa, 30, looked loved up as they posed for cameras ahead of the glitzy do. Martin cut a dapper figure in a grey suit and crisp white shirt, teamed with a colourful patterned tie. Meanwhile, Rachel looked effortlessly chic in an eye-catching green three quarter length jumpsuit, with a black belt that cinched in her waist. She boosted her height in strappy black heels and accessorised with dainty gold jewellery. Martin Freeman and his girlfriend made a rare appearance on the red carpet together at the Prince's Trust Awards, held at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London on Tuesday The Sherlock star, 52, and French actress Rachel Benaissa, 30, looked loved up as they posed for cameras ahead of the glitzy do The pair, who have been dating for two years, appeared blissfully happy as they smiled for cameras and wrapped their arms around each other at the ceremony. They have been dating for around three years but are rarely seen out in public together. Martin shares two teenage children Joe, 17, and Grace, 15, with ex-partner Amanda Abbington, 51. The actor co-parents his two children with ex Amanda, following their split in 2016 after 16 years together. The couple went public with their romance in 2021, when they graced the red carpet at the Raindance Film Festival Opening Night gala screening of Best Sellers at The Dorchester just months after Amanda discussed their split. The Trust helps young people aged 11 to 30 get into jobs, education and training - and its beneficiaries have included The Wire and Luther actor Idris Elba, who used a 1,500 grant from it to help start his career. Earlier this year the charity was re- named to The King's Trust internationally, following Charles' Coronation last year . Lionel Richie praised the King for his committment to the charity while attending an event last month, and touched on how difficult it is for young people to succeed in todays world. Martin cut a dapper figure in a grey suit and crisp white shirt, teamed with a colourful patterned tie Rachel looked effortlessly chic in an eye-catching green three quarter length jumpsuit, with a black belt that cinched in her waist 'My association with The Trust goes back to the 1980s and so much has been achieved since then but there remains so much more to do. 'I remain truly inspired by His Majesty's commitment to this cause and as Chair of the Global Ambassador Group, I am delighted that we are now The King's Trust, cementing the future legacy of this work. 'The world is tough for young people right now and I'm a huge believer in the approach of The King's Trust, to create opportunities and equip young people with the skills and self-belief to succeed on their own terms.' Charles once spoke of his hope his two sons William and Harry, now the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex, would take over the Prince's Trust, which he set up with his 7,400 Navy severance pay in 1976. But William is paving his own way as the new heir to the throne, focusing on homelessness and mental health. TGI Fridays has abruptly shuttered another restaurant in New Jersey - bringing the total this year in the state to eight. The most recent was its location in Brick on Route 70, which closed suddenly on Sunday. Another is due to close in downtown Buffalo in New York State in the coming weeks too. The move follows an announcement in January that it was shuttering 36 'underperforming' restaurants across 12 states in the US. Most closed that month. The total for 2024 is now at least 38. Scroll down to see the list of all of them. TGI Fridays continues to shutter restaurants - with another in Brick, New Jersey serving customers for the final time on Sunday. This is the Manhattan TGI Fridays 'We've identified opportunities to optimize and streamline our operations to ensure we are best positioned to meet and exceed on that brand promise,' TGI Fridays US president Ray Risley said. The latest to shut was the TGI Fridays at 709 on Route 70 through Brick. Meanwhile, the TGI Fridays at 601 Main Street in Buffalo - under a Holiday Inn Express - is slated to close for good in June. TGI Fridays - which first opened in New York City in 1965 - has around 210 US restaurants. Globally, it operates more than 650 restaurants in 51 countries. Other big name restaurant chains have been shuttering outlets too. Red Lobster has shut almost 100 and filed for bankruptcy while Applebee's is closing 35. At the annoucement in January, TGI Fridays said the 36 would shut down right away. At the time it did not name these, but seven of those were also in New Jersey - the state most affected by the closures. They were also in Massachusetts, New York, California, Colorado, Florida, Texas and Pennsylvania. The popular chain said eight previously corporate-owned restaurants in the Northeast were being sold to former CEO Ray Blanchette. The sold locations include eateries in Methuen, Manchester, Boston, Millbury, Everett, Braintree, Concord and Stoughton. The US arm - known as TGI Fridays Inc - is later this year to merge with Hostmore, which runs 89 TGI sites in the UK. It will create a larger firm which will remain listed in London. TGI Fridays closures in 2024 California Fresno: 1077 E. Herndon Ave. 93720 Colorado Denver: 8104 Northfield Blvd., 80238 Longmont: 125 Ken Pratt Blvd., 80501 Connecticut Newington: 3025 Berlin Turnpike, 06111 Florida Ormond Beach: 24 Ocean Shore Blvd., 32176 Royal Palm: 580 N. State Road 7, 33411 Massachusetts Berlin/Marlborough: 601 Donald Lynch Blvd., 01752 Danvers: 49 Newbury St., 01923 Dedham: 750 Providence Hwy, 02026 Mansfield: 280 School St. Suite A100, 02048 North Attleboro: 1385 S. Washington St., 02760 Seekonk: 1105 Fall River Ave., 02771 Maryland Bowie: 15207 Major Lansdale Blvd., 20716 Columbia: 8330 Benson Dr., 21045 New Hampshire Amherst: 124 NH-101A Ste. 28, 03031 New Jersey *Brick: 709 Route 70, Brick, 08723 Eatontown: 180 NJ-35 Ste. 6000, 07724 Hackensack: 411 Hackensack Ave., 07601 Iselin/Woodbridge: 401 Gill Ln., 08830 Marlton: 970 Rte. 73 N., 08053 Princeton: 3535 US-1 #275, 08540 Springfield: 40 US-22, 07081 Wayne Town Center: 71 Route 23 South, 07470 New York Albany: 1475 Western Ave, 12203 Bay Shore: 1725 Sunrise Hwy., 11706 **Buffalo: 601 Main Street, 14203 Hauppauge: 3045 Expy Drive N., 11749 Massapequa: 5204 Sunrise Hwy., 11762 Woodbury Township: 5 Centre Dr., 10917 Pennsylvania Willow Grove: 2500 W. Moreland Rd., 19090 Texas Corpus Christi: 5217 S. Padre Island Dr., 78411 Houston Almeda: 12895 Gulf Fwy., 77034 North Arlington: 1524 N. Collins Street, 76011 The Woodlands: 1105 Lake Woodlands Dr., 77380 Virginia Fredericksburg: 1160 Carl D Silver Pkwy, 22401 Manassas: 7401 Sudley Rd., 20109 Springfield: 6751-B Frontier Dr., 22150 Woodbridge/Potomac Mills: 13237 Worth Ave., 22192 *Shut on May 19 **Due to shut in June Advertisement 0 Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran has warned college graduates not to be dazzled by big paychecks and to instead pursue jobs with bosses they can learn from. The 75-year-old real estate mogul took to TikTok to share her three golden rules for Gen Z graduates entering the work force. Corcoran told her 1.1 million followers the first is to not 'let your major define yourself,' adding they should 'try a lot on before you decide what you want to do with your life.' She continued: 'Number two: don't take any job based on how much it pays but take it on one important thing: how much will it teach you? 'Because that will push you ahead. Number three: always choose the best boss. Having a good boss will have more to do with your happiness at work than actually what you do with your day.' Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran has warned college graduates not to be dazzled by big paychecks and to instead pursue jobs with bosses they can learn from She finished the video by revealing the question job seekers should always ask at the end of the interview: 'Is there anything standing in the way of you hiring me?' 'That gives you a second shot at selling yourself,' she explained. The question has gone viral many times on social media in different iterations, with users claiming it helped them to land every job they've applied for. Corcoran has previously revealed that she had worked over 22 jobs by the time she turned 23 years old. Last summer, she took to Instagram to write a letter to her 23-year-old self whereby she discussed having 'more bad bosses than anyone in the world.' She added: 'That diner waitress job youre busing tables for? It's gonna' change your life. Trust me on this. 'And when that handsome man offers you a ride home, you better take it! 'He will give you $1,000 to start your own real estate company. Yup! A thousand bucks!' Corcoran has explained before that she met Ramone Simone in that job who, after a year of dating, gave her the money so they could launch a real estate brokerage company together. Despite splitting seven years later, the Corcoran group continued and the entrepreneur sold it for $66 million 2001. Corcoran has previously revealed that she had worked over 22 jobs by the time she turned 23 years old She has also repeatedly hailed the benefits of working service jobs, telling CNBC Make It that waitressing was 'the best way to learn about sales.' 'You learn more in waitressing than you can in any other job and I had every kind of menial job you can imagine,' she said at the time. 'What's great about being a waitress is you have your own territory. It's your responsibility. It's your table. It's your counter. 'The sugar's got to be filled. The ketchup's got to be topped off.' Corcoran was born and raised in the factory town of Edgewater, New Jersey, where she says she and her nine siblings shared a room in her parents' two-bedroom flat. READ MORE: Biden slaps tariffs on Chinese imports in trade war with Beijing Presidential candidate Donald Trump's new trade war could cost middle-class families at least $1,700 a year, a shock new report has warned. If he gets into office later this year, the former president wants to cut US reliance on income taxes - and instead make up the shortfall from increasing import tariffs. Trump has championed tariffs as helping working Americans, but new research says the policies could harm US workers and industries and worsen international relations. Trump's aggressive trade proposals would cost consumers at least $500 billion a year - or at least 1.8 percent of GDP - according to a new paper published by nonpartisan think tank the Peterson Institute for International Economics. That is five times the cost of the US-China trade war the former president started in 2018, it found. Presidential candidate Donald Trump 's new trade war could cost middle-class families at least $1,700 a year, a new report has warned The presidential candidate is proposing a 60 percent tariff on all Chinese goods, and a 10 percent 'across-the-board' tariff on all $3 trillion worth of US imports. He is also calling for an extension to expiring tax cuts from 2017 - while suggesting a possible new round of tax cuts. 'The tariffs would reduce after-tax incomes by 3.5 percent for those in the bottom half of the income distribution and cost a typical household in the middle of the income distribution about $1,700 in increased taxes each year,' the report read. 'If executed, these steps would increase the distortions and burdens created by the rounds of tariffs levied during the first Trump administration (and sustained during the Biden administration), while inflicting massive collateral damage on the US economy.' It stated that these policies are more likely to hurt than help the lower and middle-income Americans they purport to benefit. The $1,700 tax hit for the typical American household is just the minimum possible impact, the report stresses. This estimate does not include potential further damage from foreign retaliation and lost competitiveness. 'This is the tip of the iceberg,' co-author Kimberly Clausing, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute, told CNN. 'The cost of retaliation will be very large. The Europeans will tariff us. The Mexicans and Canadians will be very upset. People arent going to take it lying down,' she said. The think tank analysis asserts that tariffs on imported goods are 'fully passed on to US buyers', while Trump has suggested that other nations will pay for US tariffs. The US International Trade Commission found in a study last year that US importers 'bore nearly the full cost' of tariffs. The agency estimated that that prices increased by about 1 percent for each 1 percent increase in tariffs on Chinese-made goods, steel and aluminum, CNN reported. 'In contrast to Trump's frequent, and mistaken, claims that foreigners bear the impact of tariffs, economists have long understood that tariffs burden domestic purchasers of imported goods,' the Peterson Institute report read. However former president Trump is not alone in embracing tariffs - with both parties showing support for the measure as a way to show they are tough on China. President Joe Biden has also kept many of the tariffs in place which Trump introduced during his presidency. The report said aggressive tariffs are are more likely to hurt than help working Americans Trump's aggressive trade proposals would cost consumers at least $500 billion a year, the report found Biden has announced increased tariffs on electric vehicles coming from China 'President Biden, despite having ample opportunity, has failed to remove the tariffs on China levied during the Trump presidency,' the Peterson Institute report read. It noted that tensions with China may have made it difficult to reverse many of the tariffs, but they still continue to harm American households, albeit to a much lesser degree than Trump's new proposals would. Earlier this month, Biden announced increased tariffs on $18 billion worth of Chinese goods - including electric cars, critical minerals and solar products and batteries. Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign's national press secretary, told CNN in a statement: 'The American people dont need "papers" from alleged "experts" to know Bidenomics has robbed them of thousands of hard-earned dollars, and they will have more money back in their pockets with President Trump back in the White House.' The Entrepreneurship Development Cell at IIT Delhi (eDC, IIT Delhi), in collaboration with some distinguished Institute alumni, conducted the first season of Venture Studio, an entrepreneurship course to support IIT Delhi students in their journey to build successful startups from scratch. The course was designed to empower the students with the knowledge and skills to enable them to become successful entrepreneurs. Drawing from a pool of over 350 registrations, 40 outstanding students from diverse academic backgrounds were selected to participate in the first season. These students were handpicked for their passion, creativity, and drive to make a difference in the entrepreneurial landscape. The curriculum of Venture Studio Season-I was meticulously crafted to cover a wide range of topics critical to entrepreneurship, including ideation, market research, business model development, funding strategies, product development, marketing, and scaling. The enigmatic President of Iran breathed his last in a helicopter crash, leaving behind a legacy as complex as the country he governed In the heart of the Middle East, where history and geopolitics are deeply intertwined, a towering figure met a tragic end, sending shockwaves across the globe. Ibrahim Raisi, the enigmatic President of Iran, breathed his last in a helicopter crash, leaving behind a legacy as complex as the region he governed. Raisis rise to power was nothing short of remarkable. Born in 1960, he emerged from humble beginnings to become one of Irans most influential figures. His journey began in the hallowed halls of Tehrans judiciary, where he earned a reputation for his unwavering commitment to Islamic principles and his uncompromising stance against corruption. Raisi truly made his mark on the political stage. In June 2021, he ascended to the presidency, promising to usher in a new era of prosperity and stability for his beloved nation. His tenure was marked by bold foreign policies and ambitious domestic reforms, as he sought to solidify Irans position as a regional powerhouse. At the heart of Raisis vision was Irans role as a champion of Shia Islam, a beacon of resistance against oppression and injustice. Under his leadership, Iran forged alliances with like minded nations, offering support to movements and groups fighting for their rights across the Middle East. However, amidst the triumphs and accolades, tragedy struck with devastating force. On a fateful day, as Raisi embarked on a routine journey to Azerbaijan, fate intervened. His helicopter plummeted from the sky, claiming his life and those of several others onboard. The crash sent shockwaves rippling through Iran and beyond, leaving a nation in mourning and the world reeling from the loss of a visionary leader. As the dust settled and the wreckage was cleared, the full extent of Raisis legacy came into focus. His death left a void in Irans political landscape, one that would be difficult to fill. But beyond the borders of his homeland, Raisis impact was felt far and wide. In the halls of power in Moscow and Ankara, Raisi was revered as a stalwart ally, a steadfast defender of Irans interests on the global stage. Russia and Turkey had lent their support to the rescue efforts, a testament to the enduring bonds forged between nations in times of crisis. Meanwhile, in distant New Delhi, Raisis passing was met with a mixture of sorrow and reflection. India had enjoyed a burgeoning partnership with Iran under his leadership, particularly through collaborative efforts at the Chabahar Port. His absence would be keenly felt in the corridors of diplomacy, where his influence had helped shape the course of history. But perhaps most intriguing were the whispers of conspiracy surrounding Raisis untimely demise. Some speculated that external forces were at play, seeking to destabilise Iran and undermine its leadership. Mossad, Israels intelligence agency, was mentioned in hushed tones, its shadowy hand suspected of orchestrating the tragedy. As the world mourned the loss of Ibrahim Raisi, it also grappled with the uncertainty of what lay ahead. His death cast a pall of uncertainty over Irans future, raising questions about the countrys leadership and its place on the global stage. But amidst the darkness, there remained a glimmer of hope, a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. For in the legacy of Ibrahim Raisi, there lay the seeds of inspiration, a reminder that even in the face of tragedy, the indomitable spirit of humanity endures, ready to rise again, stronger and more determined than ever before. Raisis sudden demise not only revealed the depth of his ultra-conservative beliefs but also showcased his unwavering commitment to populism, positioning him as a champion of the people and the right-hand man of Ayatollah Khamenei. As the Ayatollahs trusted confidant, Raisi wielded immense influence, shaping Irans domestic and foreign policies with a firm hand. His presidency was marked by a series of initiatives aimed at strengthening Irans economic independence and reducing reliance on foreign powers. He focused on bolstering the countrys industrial base, improving infrastructure and promoting technological innovation. On the international front, Raisi pursued a policy of strategic partnerships, particularly with Russia and China. These alliances were seen as a counterbalance to Western influence and as a means of securing economic and military support. Raisis administration also prioritised the expansion of Irans influence in regional conflicts, providing support to allied groups in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. His efforts to position Iran as a regional leader were often viewed through the lens of resistance against Western hegemony. Despite his achievements, Raisis tenure was not without controversy. His hardline stance on social and political issues drew criticism from both domestic and international observers. Human rights organisations frequently condemned his administration for its treatment of political dissidents and minority groups. The suppression of protests and the enforcement of strict social codes were seen as hallmarks of his governance. Raisis death left a nation at a crossroads. The mourning period was marked by both grief and reflection, as Iranians contemplated the future of their country without the man who had steered it through turbulent times. The question of succession loomed large, with potential candidates vying for the position of leadership. The uncertainty surrounding Irans political future was palpable, with analysts speculating on the potential shifts in policy and power dynamics. In the international arena, Raisis passing was met with a range of reactions. Allies expressed their condolences and reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining strong ties with Iran. In contrast, adversaries viewed his death as an opportunity to reassess their strategies towards the country. The geopolitical landscape of the Middle East, already fraught with complexity, faced the prospect of further upheaval. Despite the challenges, there was a sense of resilience among the Iranian populace. The nations history of overcoming adversity served as a reminder of its enduring strength. Raisis legacy, with its blend of conservatism, populism and strategic acumen, would continue to influence the countrys trajectory. His vision of an Iran that stands firm against external pressures and champions the cause of Shia Islam would remain a guiding principle for future leaders. As the world continued to navigate the aftermath of Raisis death, one thing was clear: his impact on Iran and the broader Middle East would be felt for years to come. The region, shaped by his policies and leadership, would continue to evolve, reflecting the enduring legacy of a man whose life and career were as multifaceted as the history of the land he loved. In the end, Ibrahim Raisis story was a testament to the complexities of leadership in a region where past and present are forever intertwined. (The writer is an associate professor, views are personal) The Government's health programmes fail to sufficiently support rural women and girls affected by anaemia, a significant public health concern In Rajasthan, the healthcare system is facing significant challenges, particularly in rural areas. Despite numerous Government initiatives aimed at improving healthcare access and quality, the benefits of these programs are not reaching their intended targets. This issue is especially pronounced among women and adolescent girls suffering from anaemia. While the State Government has enacted the Right to Health Act and conducts monthly campaigns to combat anaemia, these efforts have yet to bring about substantial improvements in the health sector across rural Rajasthan.An example of this can be seen in the village of Manoharpura located just four kilometres from the heritage city of Udaipur. This village falls under the Badgaon Panchayat and has a population of around one thousand. Predominantly inhabited by Scheduled Tribes, the village has a low level of education, which impacts the awareness of its residents. Despite its proximity to the district headquarters, Manoharpura lags significantly in the health sector. Many families in the village lack even basic identification documents, which prevents them from accessing healthcare services. The reason for not having documents is that most children in the village were born at home rather than in hospitals, resulting in the absence of birth certificates and Aadhar cards. For young girls and women, the State Government has launched the I Am Shakti Udaan Yojana. This scheme aims to empower economically weaker women and girls and the goal is to include about 2.8 million women and adolescents in this benefit by 2024. As part of this scheme, menstruating girls and women aged 11 to 45 receive sanitary pads. However, most adolescent girls and women miss out on this benefit. Due to both a lack of awareness and poverty, many girls still use dirty clothes during menstruation instead of buying pads. Additionally, about half of the adolescent girls and women in the village suffer from anaemia, despite the State Governments monthly Shakti Diwas events aimed at eradicating anaemia in Rajasthan.It is important to note that various activities are organised under this campaign to reduce anaemia rates among children, women and adolescents. Shakti Diwas events are held at Anganwadi centres, Government schools, health and wellness centres, sub-health centres, primary health centres, CHCs, dispensaries and sub-district and district hospitals. These events include anaemia screenings, haemoglobin tests and treatment, distribution of iron tablets and activities to raise awareness and promote behaviour change regarding anaemia. On Shakti Diwas, targeted activities are conducted for children aged 6 months to 59 months, out-of-school children aged 5 to 9 years, adolescents aged 10 to 19 years and married women aged 20 to 24 years. Efforts are also made to combat anaemia in pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. However, this issue extends beyond Manoharpura village to the entire Udaipur district, where ineffective implementation has affected district rankings. During the health departments monthly review meeting last November, the CEO Kirti Rathore expressed dissatisfaction with the situation. She emphasised the urgent need to ensure that benefits reach all children, adolescents and women and to strictly enforce measures to make the district anaemia-free. These shortcomings reveal that Manoharpura residents are still not receiving full healthcare benefits and the village has not met its health targets. Addressing this requires both administrative action and increased community awareness, involving as many families as possible. (The writer is a social worker from Grameen Awam Samajik Vikas Sansthan, Ajmer; views are personal. Charkha Features) The Vallarpadom Container Terminal at Kochi, one of the biggest ports in Asia turned green on Sunday as 365 meter long container career sailed into the jetty to unload giant containers. It is not because of jealously that the port turned green but the kind of fuel which is being used to power the ships engines. Instead of conventional diesel, the ship is powered by LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) which is eco-friendly and fuel efficient, Captain Bhaskar Kunji, chief pilot of Kochi Port Trust, told the Pioneer. Hitherto all ships that berthed in Kochi were sailing on diesel. I will not say this is the first LNG powered ship that has called on Kochi as the LNG meanyt for the terminal near the Port have seen some containers that use the gas as fuel. But this is the first time a container powered by LNG calls on Kochi Port, said Bhaskar who led the ship from outer sea to the Port through the complex shipping channel. The advantage with LNG is that it is fuel efficient as well as less polluting than diesel. Moreover, the ships could switch over to diesel in the eventuality of the LNG getting exhausted mid-way. We rate this as a game changer in global shipping business, said Bhasker. The Ship MSC ROSE (owned by Aponte family based in Italy and has headquarters in Switzerland) has the capacity to carry 15,500 TEU ( Twenty Equivalent Unit, a measure of the cargo capacity used in shipping parlance). One TEU means volume of a 20 foot long inter modal container (19.1 foot long and eight foot wide) metal box. You are in for major surprises because much bigger container carriers are on their was to India since the last three-four years because of the changed economic scenario. India is a major player in global trade and it is the impact of the development that such careers call on ports in India, said a shipping executive working with a foreign company. Good reason for all to turn green and go green As many as 39 flamingos died after an incoming aircraft hit a huge flock of birds over the Ghatkopar area, while it was on its final approach for landing at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) in Mumbai on Monday night. The bird strike, involving EK 508 Dubai-Mumbai Emirates flight carrying 310 passengers, took place minutes before the aircraft landed at the airport. The Boeing 777 aircraft hit a flock of flamingos while it was approaching the runway for landing at the airport. The pilots reported the bird strike immediately after the flight landed at the CSMIA. The incident has come as a big jolt to the the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and environmentalists involved in the conservation of flamingos in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The Maharashtra Forest Department (MFD) has confirmed the death of 39 flamingos. The CSMIA officials have not commented on the incident so far. On its part, the Emirates that was operating the Dubai-Mumbai flight, said there was no injury to crew members or passengers. The MFD -- which carried out a search of the dead flamingos flung all over the place along the Andheri-Ghatkopar Link road - took custody of carcasses of 29 flamingos on Tuesday. The carcasses of flamingos were taken to the Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Centre at Airoli in Navi Mumbai where their post-mortem was carried out. "We are conducting an investigation into the circumstances leading to the bird strike," SV Ramarao, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Mangrove Cell, said. Commenting on the incident, BNHS director Kishor Rithe said, "From the scene it was felt that the cause of deaths was a hit by an airplaneIt could have been very dangerous for the passengers too. We will help the agencies in investigating and fixing the issue." "The BNHS has clearly mentioned the importance of protecting high tide roosting places in and around Mumbai, along the coast from any kind of disturbance. Hope the concerned authorities will identify all the causes and address them before something happens again," Rithe said. An Emirates spokesperson said, "Emirates can confirm that EK508 from Dubai to Mumbai on May 20 was involved in a bird strike incident upon landing. The aircraft landed safely and all passengers and crew disembarked without injury, however sadly a number of flamingos were lost." "Emirates is cooperating with the authorities on the matter. The aircraft was also damaged in the incident and, as a result, the return flight EK509 scheduled to depart to Dubai on May 20 was cancelled," the Emirates spokesperson said."All passengers and crew were accommodated overnight and a replacement aircraft is being arranged for all passengers, and is scheduled to depart Mumbai on May 21 at 21:00 local time. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. The safety of our passengers and crew is of the utmost importance and will not be compromised," the airline spokesperson said. Environmentalists are surprised about the presence of a huge flock of flamingos in the Ghatkopar area. "We have reason to believe that the flamingos were flying towards the north but had to change their path because of the high rises all over. It is the poor urban planning that has claimed these lives," B N Kumar, director of NatConnect Foundation, said. "According to our study, given the height of their flight, this flock of flamingos was returning to Kutch in Gujarat after their migration to Mumbai," Mrugank Prabhu, a researcher at BNHS, said. Thousands of flamingos descend on the wetland areas of Navi Mumbai and are a common sight between November and May every year. More than a lakh of pink-winged birds are sighted every year. Flamingos migrate to Mumbai y for feeding purposes from breeding sites in the Gujarat region as well as Iran. Two years ago, the then Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had cleared the proposal for designating the biodiversity-rich Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary (TCFS) in Thane-Navi Mumbai belt as a Ramsar site as per the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, for submission to the Centre. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. Also known as the convention on Wetlands, it is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran, where the convention was signed in 1971. If approved by the Centre, TCFS --- spread over 1,690.5 hectares --will be the first such wetland site in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and the third in Maharashtra to be designated as a Ramsar site of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. The prevailing heatwave conditions and high humidity levels in the national Capital, giving a feel of temperatures hovering over 50 degrees Celsius, have not only pushed the peak power demand to an all-time high of 7,717 MW on Tuesday afternoon, but have also forced political parties to hold rallies in the evening to avoid the heat. Most of the candidates have taken to indoor meetings during the morning and afternoon hours. However, the buzz around the elections on May 25 has been negligible during the day. Political parties are worried of low turnout of voters due to extreme heat and summer vacations in the national Capital. With only two days remaining before the end of campaigning in Delhi, all parties are trying to woo voters with mega roadshows. The weather conditions, however, are leaving the candidates high and dry with a very limited period of time for campaigning only during the evening hours. The intense heatwave is playing a spoiler for the rallies and roadshows of top political leaders cutting across party lines. The BJP and its star campaigners are holding rallies and roadshows in the evening. The AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, who is the star campaigner of his party, has also preferred to hold rallies and public gatherings in the evening. On Tuesday, Kejriwal held a roadshow in support of Congress candidate Kanhaiya Kumar for North East Delhi in Bhajanpura at 8:00 pm. BJP president JP Nadda also held two roadshows in support of his party candidates -South Delhi's Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and Chandni Chowk's Praveen Khandelwal in between 6:00 pm and 9:30 pm. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also held roadshows during the same time for BJP candidates Yogendra Chandolia for reserved North West seat and Harshdeep Malhotra for East Delhi, to avoid the scorching heat. Road Minister Nitin Gadkari also addressed three public meetings for BJP candidates which include West Delhi's Kamaljeet Sehrawat, New Delhi's Bansuri Swaraj and North east Delhi's Manoj Tiwari in the evening. Likewise, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj SIngh Chouhan and Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma have also held roadshows and addressed public gatherings in the national Capital. In the past week, top leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal have organised rallies and roadshows in the national Capital in the evening hours to escape extreme heat. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the national Capital on Tuesday recorded the maximum temperature of 42.4 degrees Celsius, which is 2.2 degrees Celsius above the normal. The maximum temperature recorded in Najafgarh stood at 43.9 degrees Celsius, Lodi road at 41.4 degrees Celsius, Mungeshpur and Palam at 41 degrees Celsius, Narela and Pitampura at 41.9 degrees Celsius and New Delhi at 41.2 degrees Celsius. The IMD has also issued a red alert for the next four days. The maximum humidity stood at 62 in the national Capital. According to the seven-day forecast, the maximum temperature will be in the range of 44 to 47 degrees Celsius when Delhi goes to polls on May 25. A spell of intense heatwave, which has gripped the Capital, could impact voter turnout. In the last Lok Sabha elections, the voting percentage was 60.6 per cent. The mercury on May 12, 2019, was at 39 degrees Celsius. In the 2014 polls, the city saw a higher voting percentage of 65.1 per cent on April 10, 2014, when the day temperature was just 33 degrees Celsius. According to the State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC) Delhi real-time data, the peak demand of the city broke all previous records at 3:33 pm on Tuesday which was the highest ever in the history of the national Capital. This marks the fourth day in a row when the peak power demand crossed the 7,000 MW mark and broke the previous all time May high of 7,070 MW, recorded on May 19, 2022. The highest peak power demand recorded in May last year was 6,916 MW, recorded on May 23. This pattern was also witnessed in April where the peak power demand was higher on 83 per cent of the corresponding days compared to April last year, with a difference of up to 32 per cent. This disparity highlights the profound impact that weather can have on a city's power consumption patterns. In fact, air conditioning can contribute to 30 to 50 per cent of a household's or company's yearly energy expense. According to SLDC data, Delhi's peak power demand during the summers of 2024 may cross 8,000 MW for the first time - reaching up to 8,200 MW. On their part, BRPL and BYPL successfully met the peak power demand of 3,404 MW and 1,728 MW in their respective areas. Tata Power-DDL on Tuesday has met this season's all-time high with a peak power demand of 2,225 MW, higher than last year's peak of 2,218 MW. "It is estimated that the overall demand in Delhi will surpass 8000 MW this season, and in our area of operation, the peak demand is expected to reach a high of 2,350 MW. We have made sufficient arrangements of 2500 MW through advance power purchase agreements as well as long-term and short-term contingency arrangements to meet the growing demand," officials said. The Iranian Government has requested the US to assist in probing the deadly helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi, country's Foreign Minister, and six others but Washington won't assist Tehran largely due to "logistical reasons", according to a senior American diplomat. Raisi, 63, a possible successor for Iran's supreme leader, the 85-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and six others were found dead on Monday hours after their helicopter crashed in fog, leaving the Islamic Republic without two key leaders as extraordinary tensions grip the wider Middle East. US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller at a Press briefing on Monday said the US when asked for assistance by the Iranian Government made it clear that it was ready to offer assistance, as it would do in response to any request by a foreign Government in this sort of situation, but was not able to provide any help. "I'm not going to get into the details, but we were asked by the Iranian Government for assistance, said Miller. We said we would be willing to assist. It's something that we would do with respect to any government in this situation. Ultimately, largely for logistical reasons, we weren't able to provide that assistance," Miller told reporters. In response to a question on the United States extending official condolences and participating in a moment of silence for Raisi at the UN Security Council, Miller said the US had been quite clear that Raisi was a "brutal participant" in the repression of the Iranian people for nearly four decades but Washington regretted any loss of life in a helicopter crash like incident. "We regret any loss of life. We don't want to see anyone die in a helicopter crash. But that doesn't change the reality of his record both as a judge and as the President of Iran and the fact that he has blood on his hands," Miller said. "Our fundamental approach to Iran has not changed and will not change. We will continue to support the people of Iran, to defend their human rights, their aspirations to an open, free society and democratic participation," he said. Miller also responded to a remark by former Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who blamed US sanctions for the incident. Iran has offered no reasons for the crash that brought down the helicopter, which fell into mountainous terrain in a sudden, intense fog. The crash on Sunday killed all eight people aboard a Bell 212 helicopter that Iran purchased in the early 2000s, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. "The Iranian Government has used its aircraft to transport equipment to support terrorism. So, we will continue to fully enforce our sanctions regime, including our sanctions regimes on aircraft for use by the Iranian government. Ultimately, it's the Iranian government that is responsible for the decision to fly a 45-year-old helicopter in what was described as poor weather conditions," he said. The Bell 212 is a two-blade, twin-engine, medium helicopter that first flew in 1968. The Bell helicopters were originally manufactured by Bell Helicopter in Fort Worth, Texas, United States before the plant was moved to Mirabel, Quebec, Canada in 1988. As Antarctica evolves from a scientific haven to a sought-after tourist hotspot, intensifying concerns about its ecological fragility all eyes are now on India which is leading discussions at the ongoing ten days 46th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) in Kerala, on regulating tourism to safeguard the icy continent's pristine wilderness. Similar deliberations are being held at the 26th meeting of the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP). Discussions around regulating tourism have been ongoing in the ATCMs since 1966, but so far these have been just centered around agenda items, sessions, papers, or resolutions. This is for the first time a dedicated working group for regulating tourism in the region has been formulated at the 46th ATCM, hosted by India in Kochi from May 20. The gathering has over 350 participants from nearly 40 nations, deliberating on the climate change threats exacerbated by the increased tourists' footfalls at the continent's fragile ecosystem. This is leaving the continent's wildlife like Penguins at the receiving end. According to reports, the surge in Antarctic tourism over the past four decades is staggering, with visitor numbers skyrocketing from just a few hundred to over 100,000 in recent seasons, predominantly arriving on cruises. In such a concerning backdrop, it has become crucial upon the countries to ensure comprehensive regulations be framed to ensure the sustainable and responsible exploration of this unique and pristine region. India will be playing a key role as it is expected to bring a series of actionable recommendations to be incorporated into the broader framework of the Antarctic Treaty System. While addressing the session at the meet, Dr M Ravichandran, secretary of the Union Ministry of Earth and Sciences and Head of the Indian delegation, said, "Antarctica represents one of the last frontiers of wilderness and scientific discovery. As stewards of this extraordinary region, it is our collective responsibility to ensure that all activities, including research and tourism, are conducted in a manner that preserves its ecological integrity for future generations." Dr Ravichandran said, "India being a committed member of the Antarctic Treaty System recognises the pressing need to address the growing tourism activities in Antarctica and their potential impact on the continent's fragile environment." He reiterated that India has always advocated for a comprehensive, proactive, and effective tourism policy anchored in precautionary principles. "The collaborative efforts of nations within the Antarctic Treaty System are crucial in preserving the pristine environment and advancing scientific research in Antarctica. Through its leadership and commitment, India continues to play a key role in shaping the future of Antarctic governance," said Ambassador Pankaj Saran, chairperson of the 46th ATCM and 26th CEP. The ATCM and CEP are high-level global annual meetings conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Antarctic Treaty, a multilateral agreement of 56 Contracting Parties signed in 1959. An official from the Ministry said during these meetings, member countries of the Antarctic Treaty discuss issues pertaining to the science, policy, governance, management, preservation and protection of Antarctica. The CEP was established under the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (the Madrid Protocol) in 1991. The CEP advises the ATCM on environmental protection and conservation in Antarctica. National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Goa under MoES Ministry, and the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat is jointly organising these meetings. Dr Thamban Meloth, director of NCPOR, said India has a legal framework to regulate India's activities in Antarctica, including tourism, through the Indian Antarctic Act enacted in 2022 but this is for the first time that regulations will be framed. He said, "The Indian Antarctic Act aligns India's tourism regulations with international standards and collaborates with other Antarctic Treaty nations to achieve common conservation goals." There has been a 40 per cent increase in travel from the pre-pandemic season of 2019-20, spiked by the urge partly to "last-chance tourism," to witness Antarctica's wonders before they vanish due to climate change. Ironically, the very phenomenon threatening Antarctica is facilitating easier access for tourists, as melting sea ice extends the cruising season, prompting travel companies to expand capacity and introduce new, luxurious options such as Silversea's Silver Endeavour for expedited trips. Yu-Fai Leung, a professor at North Carolina State University specialising in Antarctic travel research, aptly highlights the significant environmental impact of traveling to Antarctica. He emphasised that the long flights and cruises across vast distances in harsh conditions contribute substantially to carbon emissions, exacerbating climate change and posing a threat to the continent's delicate ecosystem. Leung points out that the carbon footprint of an Antarctic cruise can rival the annual emissions of an average European, primarily due to the heavy pollution generated by cruise ships and the extensive air travel involved. This underscores the unique environmental challenges posed by Antarctic tourism compared to other forms of travel. Two more accused have been booked in the murder of Mandal Vice President of BJP. Mandal Vice President of BJP Yuva Morcha Surendra Kushwaha was murdered in Bhopal family member blocked Link Road number two on Friday by keeping the boey. The police have recorded the statements of 3 eyewitnesses. In which he told that 15 to 20 people were already sitting in ambush. As soon as Surendra left the jail premises with his associates, he was attacked. Gandhi Nagar police station in-charge Sunil Mehar said that two more people have been accused of being involved in the incident. Tanjeel Khan and Bhura were also present at the incident site, this is being investigated. Teams from Gandhi Nagar, TT Nagar and Crime Branch police stations are deployed to arrest the accused. The possible hideouts of the miscreants are being raided. Close relatives of the accused are also being interrogated. BHEL has won the prestigious order for Dibang Hydro Electric Project (12x240 MW) amidst stiff competition. Dibang Hydroelectric Project is located at Roing in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. The project consists of 12 turbine-generator sets, each of 240 MW and 222.5 m design net head. The turbine has been designed and developed by engineers from Center of Excellence - Hydro Division BHEL, Bhopal. It is noteworthy that this is the highest rated Francis turbine unit executed by BHEL. SM Ramanathan, Executive Director, BHEL Bhopal handed over the copy of "Model Test Result" to Shri Lalitendu Kumar Tripathi, Executive Director, NHPC and other officials of NHPC in a program. Speaking on the occasion, Ramanathan said that BHEL has completed the first phase of the project as per the schedule and assured NHPC that BHEL will also complete the other phases of the project on time. Speaking on the occasion he also said that the long term collaboration of BHEL and NHPC will help in the successful completion of the project. On this occasion Shri V.S. Rao, General Manager (Hydro) was present. Tripathi congratulated BHEL for successfully completing the model testing as per the schedule of NHPC and especially thanked the BHEL engineers for explaining the testing methodology in detail. The turbine model was successfully tested at BHEL Bhopal from May 13 to 17, 2024 in the presence of customer representatives of NHPC Limited. The test proved the efficiency, output and other guaranteed parameters of the turbine. Rao thanked the NHPC officials for their cooperation and support during the model testing. He expressed hope of early approval for the project activities from NHPC while assuring timely supply of project material. He congratulated the dedicated team of Center of Excellence - Water Plant for successfully completing this test. Punjab Congress president and party candidate from Ludhiana, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Monday said that the BJP candidate Ravneet Bittu has proved him right, sooner than expected, that once a traitor is always a traitor. He also cautioned people against voting for the AAP or the Akalis as that would mean indirectly helping the BJP candidate Bittu. Replying to a question about Bittus conversation with Simarjit Singh Bains that has gone viral, Warring said, he (Bittu) has also proved that he can bite the hand that feeds him. He said, the BJP leaders must have realized so soon that he cannot be loyal to anyone. If he can betray the Congress that gave him so much, he can betray the BJP, which has nothing to offer him, he observed, while remarking, both the BJP and Bittu will realize on June 4 that they had committed a mutually fatal mistake out of sheer opportunism. Replying to another question on the reported statement of Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira on outsiders buying properties in Punjab, Warring said, that although Khaira has already clarified and explained, he wanted to set the record straight. He said it goes without saying that the Congress party does not believe in discriminating against anyone for any reason whether caste, creed, colour, language, religion, region or state. He pointed out it is the Congress which is fighting the battle to save and protect the constitution for the same reasons. During his speeches, Warring said, that voting for the Aam Aadmi Party or the Shiromani Akali Dal or any other candidate would simply mean providing benefit to the BJP. He pointed out, it is no secret that the AAP Ludhiana candidate was fielded with the sole purpose of helping Bittu to cut into the Congress votes in urban areas, while the Akali candidate has been fielded with the same purpose for rural areas. If you want to ensure that the BJP candidate is defeated, if you want to democratically avenge the martyrdom of 700 farmers, if you want the farmers debts be waived off and if you want legal guarantee for the MSP, please ensure you only vote for the Congress, he said in an appeal to voters while addressing a series of meetings in Gill assembly segment. In a significant development amid the ongoing election campaign in Punjab, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday issued a notice to BJP candidate from Faridkot Lok Sabha constituency Hans Raj Hans. The action follows the allegations that Hans violated the Model Code of Conduct by making inflammatory remarks against the protesting farmers and even issuing threats. The notice was issued on a complaint by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a farmers organization, accusing Hans of using provocative language to hurt the sentiments of farmers. The complaint also alleged that Hans comments could potentially disturb peace in the area. SKM, a conglomeration of farmers organization, was one of the first to react and file a complaint. Such threats are unacceptable and could incite unrest, said its spokesperson. A similar complaint was also lodged by the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Punjab unit, alleging that Hans Raj Hans delivered a series of speeches containing hateful rhetoric aimed at farmers participating in the protests. In a widely circulated video clip, Hans is purportedly heard warning that those who vote against him would face repercussions after the elections. AAP's legal cell formally submitted the complaint to the Chief Election Commissioner, emphasizing that Hans comments not only breached the Model Code of Conduct but also posed a potential threat to public order. His statements are a clear attempt to intimidate voters and undermine the democratic process, said an AAP spokesperson. The Model Code of Conduct, a set of guidelines issued by the ECI, mandates that political parties and candidates refrain from making statements that could incite violence or disrupt communal harmony during election campaigns. The controversial video shows Hans speaking at an election rally at Bihle Wala village in Faridkot. He allegedly told the audience that voters opposing him would be dealt with after June 1 the polling date. This statement has sparked outrage among the farming community, particularly those involved in the ongoing protests against farm laws. The controversy has attracted criticism from multiple political fronts. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia also filed a complaint demanding that Hans candidacy be revoked. Majithia's complaint highlighted that Hans threats constituted a serious breach of both the Model Code of Conduct and the Indian Penal Code. Issuing threats of state repression post-elections is a grave offense and should be met with strict action, Majithia stated. Faridkot Returning Officer Vineet Kumar confirmed that the ECI had issued a notice to Hans following the complaints. The matter is under investigation, and appropriate actions will be taken as per the findings, said Kumar. The ECIs notice is a critical step in ensuring that the election environment remains free from coercion and fear. In a shocking incident a car with a city magistrate as one of the passenger was allegedly attacked and was tried to rob by five unknown people in the Jewar area of Gautam Budh Nagar district last week on May 13. Victim of incident Nitesh Kumar said he was accompanied by his friend and co-passenger a Jewar Court Magistrate for visiting a medical store to buy some medicines in a White Maruti Swift car (UP16DN4107). While returning around 11:20 pm on Jewar-Tappal road (highway) near Jain Hospital, suddenly four people one of whom had a motorcycle, stopped the car by hitting from his motorcycle. As per the police information one of them climbed on the bonnet of the car with an iron rod and remaining others stood on the right and left side of the car and started abusing and threatening by saying to hand over the car to them. They abused, and threatened to kill both the occupants of the car. In this milieu a Maruti van (UP16CU8240) reached the spot with another set of criminal elements they together attempted to rob us while we kept resisted and they were not allowing the vehicle to move as it was blocked. However my co passenger gathered some courage to face the ordeal and accelerated fast to move. Meanwhile I made a PCR call, informed my police contacts while they were chasing us. It was a godsend moment that sooner police team were spotted midway and noticing this them the criminals changed their direction and fled the spot, said Nitesh when contacted to brief about the incident based on the FIR lodged at Jewar police station, under Section 154 Crpc and 279,504,506,398,341. We are investigating the matter and soon will be able to nab the elements. All CCTV footage are being scanned and have sought help from mobile operators about presence of mobile numbers at the location during that time, said a Noida police official. Residents of the NCR including the national Capital kept themselves indoors for the fourth consecutive day, thanks to the vacations amidst the intense record breaking escalation in temperature. Though fortunes had it due to the weekend to keep them within the comfort of fans, coolers, air-conditioners, sherbets, lassi, nimbu paani, but office goers, field workers, open markets had to face the sizzling temperature hovering around 48 degree Celsius on Monday. Citizens and stakeholders are looking to face the hot weather during the week, as predicted by the Weather office, and are holding in the city for the May 25 Lok Sabha elections. The summer vacations of the schools in Delhi on time have been a relief to the students and the school van drivers in this scorching heat. The national Capital is under a severe hot weather spell and Monday was the fourth consecutive day where the capital recorded the maximum temperature of 47.4 degree Celsius with strong surface winds during the day. Najafgarh recorded the highest temperature of 47.4 degree Celsius, followed by Mungeshpur at 47.1 degree Celsius, and Mayur Vihar with 43.7 degrees Celsius being the lowest for Monday. The heatwave conditions have not been isolated for the DTC bus drivers and even the people travelling by car from day to day work as the soaring temperature has led to the failure of air-conditioners of the DTC buses and cars. There has been a sigh of relief for the train operators or loco pilots of Delhi Metro due to the air-conditioned travelling benefits. To help the passengers commuting, the railway authorities have kept water in earthen pots to combat the heat in the capital. After a hot Sunday, Delhiites on Monday again woke up to a warm morning with the minimum temperature settling at 26.8 degrees Celsius and relative humidity stood at 50% per cent according to the IMD. The IMD forecasted mainly clear sky, heat wave conditions at most places with severe heatwave at isolated places and strong surface winds (speed 25-35 kmph) during the day. According to the data by the IMD, weather stations in Delhi had a maximum temperature of 47.4 degree Celsius at Najafgarh. The other stations stood at Jafarpur (46.3), Ridge (45.6), Pusa (46.1) Pitampura (46.6), Palam (45.2), Ayanagar (45.7), and Rajghat at 43.8 and Lodhi Road at 44.4C. A major controversy erupted in Punjab following senior Congress leader and INDIA bloc candidate from Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat Manish Tewari, promising state-like powers to Chandigarh. On Monday, rivals of the Congress party in Punjab targeted the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress both part of pan-India opposition bloc INDIA for allegedly compromising the states rights over Chandigarh, accusing them of betrayal. Stressing that the promise unmasked the anti-Punjab face of both AAP and the Congress, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday said that both these parties have diluted Punjabs rights over Chandigarh. Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar also made an emphatic declaration that Chandigarh belongs to Punjab and that the states claim on the city is non-negotiable and indisputable. Tewari released a 10-point Congress Vision Document for Chandigarh on Sunday, which proposed making Chandigarh a city-state, a move interpreted as pushing for statehood for the city. It is time for Chandigarh to become a city-state. The three existing, antiquated models of governance of the city, which are plagued by the multiplicity of authority and complicated web of laws, will be consolidated into simplified and people-friendly laws supported by the legal architecture in order to address the whole range of issues concerning the city, Tewari stated. In addition to proposing statehood, Tewari also promised several populist measures, including 300 units of free electricity to families with monthly incomes up to Rs 20,000, 20,000 liters of free water every month, prioritizing the establishment of a metro system, direct international flights to the USA, Canada, and the UK, share-wise transfer of properties, and regularizing construction outside the Lal Dora areas. Accusing the Congress-AAP alliance of betraying Punjab by proposing state-like powers for Chandigarh in their joint manifesto, Sukhbir termed the move as the greatest recorded betrayal. The 'Nyay Patra' released by Congress-AAP candidate Manish Tewari reveals the INDIA alliances agenda to make Chandigarh a separate state like Delhi, said Sukhbir, criticizing the national parties for failing to protect Punjabs interests, asserting that both the Congress and AAP had diluted Punjabs rights over Chandigarh. He pointed out that the Nehru-Gandhi family and AAP leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, have historically undermined Punjab's claim to Chandigarh. He cited how Indira Gandhi postponed the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab and how Rajiv Gandhi reneged on the Rajiv-Longowal accords promise. Sukhbir also accused Mann of weakening Punjabs claim over Chandigarh by not protesting against a separate Vidhan Sabha for Haryana in the UT and failing to defend Punjabs quota in government jobs and Punjabi as the official language. Urging Punjabis to reject both Congress and AAP, Sukhbir emphasized that only a regional party like SAD could safeguard Punjab's rights. He pledged that SAD would launch a struggle if necessary to ensure Chandigarhs transfer to Punjab. Punjabs rights can only be safe in the hands of a regional party, he asserted, reaffirming SADs commitment to the cause. Also taking to the social media to express his outrage, Majithia accused the Congress of betraying Punjab once again. In a post on X, Majithia wrote in Punjabi: The Congress party has once again stabbed Punjab in the back. Manish Tewari, the Congress candidate from Chandigarh, has announced granting city-state status to Punjabs capital. Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Opposition Leader Pratap Bajwa, and the entire leadership must answer to the Punjabis. Why has Punjab been deceived once again? Punjab will reclaim its capital at any cost, even if it requires sacrifices. The Akali Dal remains committed to reclaiming Chandigarh. Punjab BJP chief Jakhar, vehemently opposing Tewaris proposal, reiterated that Chandigarh is an integral part of Punjab. Jakhar criticized the Congress for allegedly attempting to dilute Punjabs claim over Chandigarh by pushing for its city-state status. He accused the Congress of succumbing to external pressures and lacking coherent policy direction, stating, There is no cohesion in the Congress in policy and decision-making. The Congress has outsourced its policies to people like Ambika Soni, Sam Pitroda, and others who are detached from the ground realities in Punjab. Jakhar warned that the BJP would resist any attempt by the Congress to alienate Chandigarh from Punjab, and called on the Punjab Congress to clarify its stance on the issue. He also challenged the AAP and Punjab Chief Minister Mann to make their positions clear, accusing them of trying to play both sides. These two parties cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hound, Jakhar said, urging the AAP to withdraw its support for Manish Tewari if it truly supported Punjabs claim over Chandigarh. Jakhar also criticized Mann for allegedly diluting Punjabs claim over Chandigarh by proposing a new separate Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) for Punjab within Chandigarh, despite an existing one. Both the Congress and AAP have varying stances. They are fighting as an alliance in Chandigarh. AAP should forthwith withdraw its support to Manish Tiwari to come clean on the issue, or else it will become amply clear that the AAP wants to forfeit Punjabs claim on Chandigarh, Jakhar asserted. Expressing his disapproval of the Congresss ideological stance, Jakhar accused the party of attempting to divide Punjab along religious lines. He criticized Congress leaders like Ambika Soni, Charanjit Singh Channi, Warring, and Randhawas for allegedly trying to divide the state on Hindu-Sikh lines, and condemned Sam Pitroda for his divisive remarks about distinguishing Indian communities based on appearances. Jakhar also rebuked Congress leader Sukhpal Khaira for his comments on segregating Punjab by barring non-Punjabis from working or owning property in the state. The controversy over Chandigarhs status has opened a new front in Punjabs political landscape, with major parties and leaders taking strong positions. The issue underscores the complex and sensitive nature of Chandigarhs governance, a city that has long been a bone of contention between Punjab and Haryana since its inception as a joint capital and the Union Territory in 1966. Ranchi girl Anima Kumari, alumna of Delhi Public School, Ranchi from the batch of 2020 was recently honoured by the President of India, Draupadi Murmu. Anima got a chance to meet the President upon securing a gold medal in Microbiology and for demonstrating exceptional proficiency in Pharmacology during her MBBS degree. Anima has always been a beacon of dedication and hard work. Her success is a testament to her perseverance and strong academic foundation laid at DPS Ranchi. We are incredibly proud of her achievements and look forward to witnessing her future contributions in the medical field, Said Dr Ram Singh, Principal DPS Ranchi. Chief Electoral Officer K. Ravi Kumar has said that the fifth phase of elections has been conducted peacefully. Polling personnel have started returning from polling stations to deposit the EVMs in the strong room. He said that the estimated voting percentage in the three parliamentary constituencies was 63. Out of that, the highest estimated 64.32 per cent voting took place in Hazaribagh. In Chatra the voting percentage was 62.96, whereas, the lowest 61.86 per cent voting took place in Koderma parliamentary constituency. On the other hand, the vote percentage in Gandey Assembly by-election was 68.26. He told that this figure is till 5 pm. At some places the voting process was continuing even after 5 pm. After the number of postal ballots etc. is added, the vote percentage will increase slightly. He was holding a joint press conference with State Police Chief Electoral Officer and Nodal Officer AV Homkar at Nirvachan Sadan, Dhurva on Monday. The Chief Electoral Officer said that during voting, seven cases of model code of conduct violations have been registered in seven districts belonging to the three parliamentary constituencies. Of these, 2 FIRs have been lodged in Palamu, 2 in Latehar, 2 in Hazaribagh and one in Giridih. He said that out of 244 candidates contesting elections in the state, 66 have criminal cases registered against them. State Police Nodal Officer AV Homkar said that a total of 44 thousand personnel of paramilitary forces and Jharkhand Police were deployed for peaceful voting in three parliamentary constituencies. Since the borders of the three Lok Sabha constituencies are connected to the three states of West Bengal, Bihar and Chhattisgarh, constant vigil was maintained on the border in coordination with the respective states. Naxalite activities were completely disrupted and people were encouraged to vote in a fear-free environment. He said that even during the return of the polling party, tight security arrangements have been made. Senior police officers remain in the field. A delegation consisting of leaders of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Congress, on Monday, met the Election Commission and lodged a complaint against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Candidate from Godda, Nishikant Dubey and demanded immediate action. In its complaint, the delegation informed that despite a complaint by Congress Candidate, from Godda, Pradeep Yadav to the District Election Officer, Godda, no action was taken regarding concealment of information in the nomination manifesto by Nishikant Dubey. The members included in the delegation said that Podaiyahat police station case number 162/2009 and Jasidih police station case number 213/2019 which are pending in the court have not been mentioned by Nishikant Dubey in his manifesto. There has been mention of borrowing Rs 1, 20,00000 from Abhishek Jha in the name of his wife, whereas Abhishek Jha, who has filed nomination as an independent candidate from Godda Lok Sabha, has not mentioned it in his manifesto. Talking to media persons after filing the complaint the State Congress Spokesperson, Rakesh Sinha has asked whether it was black money or white money? If there was black money, then why did ED not reach there? We demand from the Election Commission to cancel the nomination of both the candidates, he added. On the occasion JMM Ranchi District President, Mushtaq Alam said that on the day of elections, BJP distributed voter slip slips with a slogan of Rs 400 written on it to the voters. This slip was also distributed on the day of the fourth phase and is being distributed even today. The commission reached there with the complaint and a demand has been made to conduct an investigation and register an FIR, he added. Amulya Neeraj Khalko, Satish Pal Munjani were also present on the occasion. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday tweaked the BJP's 2014 poll slogan to hit out at the Prime Minister, saying "acche din aane waale hain, Modi ji jaane waale hain" as he exuded confidence that the INDIA bloc will emerge victorious in this Lok Sabha election. The Aam Aadmi Party chief, who was accompanied by his wife Sunita Kejriwal for the first time in election meetings on Monday, praised her for taking command of the poll campaigning in his absence and described her as "Jhansi Ki Rani". "Today I have brought my wife also with me. She took charge of everything in my absence. When I was in jail, she used to come to meet me. I used to inquire about the well-being of my Delhiites through her and send my messages to you. She is like Jhansi ki Rani," Kejriwal said at a street corner meeting in East Delhi's Gandhi Nagar constituency. Sunita Kejriwal also addressed the people and appealed to them to vote for AAP so that her husband is not sent to jail again. "It is because of your blessings that my husband is here with us today. God helps those who do the right thing. Now if you don't want my husband to go back to jail, vote for AAP on May 25," she said. Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21 in a money-laundering case linked to the alleged liquor scam in Delhi. The apex court has granted interim bail to the AAP leader till June 1, the last day of the seven-phase Lok Sabha election, and asked him to surrender and go back to jail on June 2. Kejriwal again repeated his promise of full statehood for Delhi if elected to power. BJP State President and former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi today expressed his gratitude to the people of the state on the completion of by-elections for three Lok Sabha seats and Gandey Assembly seats of the state. Marandi said that NDA will win all 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The victory of the NDA candidate is certain in the Gandey assembly by-election also. He said that the target of crossing 400 is not difficult for NDA. Last time also BJP had won 303 seats. NDA had won 353 seats. Now only 47 seats have to be expanded which is possible with the blessings of the public. He said that the work that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done in the last 10 years is not hidden from anyone. Be it the Prime Minister's housing scheme, be it gas connection, tap water reaching every house, be it free treatment worth Rs 5 lakh under Ayushman Yojana, be it giving free ration every month so that no person sleeps hungry, everyone is aware of this. Marandi said that apart from this many development works have also been done. Building roads. Highways are being built. The country is standing on its feet. The respect of the country has also increased in the world. Everyone is aware of this also. Everyone has to vote for Narendra Modi again this time and make him the Prime Minister. Voting for three Lok Sabha constituencies of Hazaribagh, Koderma and Chatra, and Gandey Assembly bypoll was held where Kalpana Murmu Soren, wife of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, is contesting as the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate. Around 62% voter turnout was recorded till 5pm in the three Lok Sabha constituencies in Jharkhand on Monday, as per data by the Election Commission. Also, BJP State President and former Chief Minister will attend the public meeting organized on May 21 at Durga Puja Ground in Sector 2C of Bokaro Steel City. The public meeting will be held from 12:30 pm. Marandi will participate in the level worker conference organized at 2 pm at the high school ground in Tundi block of Giridih district of Giridih Lok Sabha. Marandi will participate in the booth level workers conference organized from 3:00 pm at Harladih ground in Peertaad block of Giridih district. On this occasion, Lok Sabha in-charge Sunil Singh, Lok Sabha convenor Prakash Seth, candidate Chandraprakash Chaudhary, Giridih District President Mahadev Dubey, program in-charge Prakash Pandit will also be present. Box Rajnath's rally at Bokaro Defense Minister Rajnath Singh will address a public meeting on May 21 at 12:30 pm at the Durga Puja Ground in Sector 2C of Bokaro Steel City, Dhanbad Lok Sabha. On this occasion, Lok Sabha in-charge Suresh Sahu, Lok Sabha candidate Dhullu Mahato, Bokaro District President Jaydev Rai will also be present. Top three BJP leaders Union Home Minsiter Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and party President JP Nadda held rallies and addressed public gathering in support of party candidates in the national Capital on Monday. Referred as Hindu Hriday Samrat and Maharaj ji, Adityanath attacked the INDIA Boc with full force and said, INDIA alliance is nervous because of Uttar Pradeshs bulldozer. They speak the language of Pakistan. Everyone knows their connection with terrorists in Punjab. These people gave support to Shaheen Baghs protest. Inko pata hai ki UP ka bulldozer dangaiyon ka ilaj hai (They know that the solution for trouble makers is UPs bulldozer), said Adityanath, who was addressing a public gathering at Mayur Vihar Phase 3 in support of BJP candidate Harshdeep Malhotra for East Delhi. Further he said that the people know who they are going to bring and I know it. Jo Ram ko laye hai hum unko layenge aur Mathura bhi jayenge, Yogi said, adding that the INDI alliance opposes the construction of the temple and hence people should decide wisely who they want to vote. Attacking the AAP, he said, AAP has haulted so many developmental projects of the Central government. Agar galat jagah button dabega, to abhi to Arvind Kejriwal ki team jhadu laga rahi h kal aapko bhi lagana padega. (If you press the wrong button, you will have to use the broom just like the AAP team is doing) "Remember AAP. They have a dual character. They carried out a movement against the Congress under Anna Hazare. AAP is the first party that has been named in a corruption charge sheet as an accused. "From top to bottom, it is immersed in corruption. We do not have to let them get powerful. They will spread like Raktbeej (a demon) if you vote for them. In his speech, Yogi talked about his style of maintaining law and order while stating, ab danga nahi hota, ab ek patta bhi nahi hilta. Ab koi road pe UP me namaz bhi nahi padta. Aur to aur humne masjido se speaker bhi hata diye hai. Meanwhile, about 20,000 bjp workers and supporters gathered with enthusiasm and anticipation to witness Amit Shah addresses them in support of BJP candidate Ramvir Singh Bidhuri ji at Sangam Vihars Chath Ground. In a scathing attack to Kejriwal, Shah said on odd days, Arvind Kejriwal lectures on corruption by listing the corrupt. On even days, he allies with the corrupt and becomes part of the INDI Alliance. I haven't seen a man like Kejriwal taking a U-turn in politics till date. He left his job and made NGO and took the oath of his children.They used to say that we will not enter politics, politics is dirty and then made a party. Congress and the INDI alliance are saying that we shouldn't talk about Pakistan-occupied Kashmir because Pakistan has atom bomb. However, we - the BJP - is not going to get afraid. The PoK belongs to us, and we will take it back," said Shah, adding that the grand old party wont be seen even with binoculars after elections. He further stated that in just four phases of voting that have taken place in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has got a majority of 270 seats and with the completion of all the seven phases, BJP will get 400 plus seats. In support of BJP candidate Bansuri Swaraj for New Delhi, BJP chief held a huge roadshow at Malviya Nagar, which witnessed scores of supporters showering flower petals on him.Nadda said, Spreading confusion, lying, misleading people from real issues is the way of thinking of Congress Party, INDIA alliance. BJP is very clear that we are winning 400 plus seats because we are getting blessings of people." Attacking AAP chief and Chief Minsiter Arvind Kejriwal, he said, "It is clear that for selfish needs he made all sorts of compromises. He started stating that I will not do corruption but went to jail. During his earlier days he said I will not make a party but then formed a party. He also said that I will not contest elections but then did contest elections. He said he will not form an agreement with Congress but did it. He claimed to respect women but a woman was assaulted at his residence. The people have understood and BJP will win the elections. Around 62% voter turnout was recorded till 5pm in the three Lok Sabha constituencies in Jharkhand on Monday, as per data by the Election Commission. Till 5 pm, Chatra recorded a voter turnout of 60.26%, Hazaribagh 63.66%, and Koderma 61.60%. The overall turnout in the state was 61.90%. Barring a few stray incidents, voting was peaceful in all three constituencies. In Hazaribagh, villagers boycotted polling at booths 183 and 184 in Kusumbha village under Katkamdag due to unmet demands for a bridge. Apart from the three Lok Sabha constituencies of Hazaribagh, Koderma and Chatra, voting for Gandey Assembly bypoll was also held where Kalpana Murmu Soren, wife of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, is contesting as the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate. According to the Election Commission data, 58 lakh 23 thousand 721 voters of Jharkhand were to exercise their franchise in the second phase. In which there are 29 lakh 93 thousand 581 male voters and 28 lakh 30 thousand 085 female voters. The maximum number of voters in Koderma is 22 lakh 05 thousand 358. There are 16 lakh 89 thousand 926 voters in Chatra and 19 lakh 39 thousand 374 voters in Hazaribagh. These three seats cover 7 districts and 16 assembly constituencies of the state. There are 54 candidates in the fray for these three Lok Sabha seats. There are 22 candidates from Chatra, 17 from Hazaribagh and 15 from Koderma 6705 centers were set up for voting in three Lok Sabha seats Chatra, Hazaribagh and Koderma. Of these, 575 are in urban areas and 6130 in rural areas. This time all the booths have been made like model booths. Of these, 36 booths were made unique. Where the district administration had made artwork on the theme of their area. Out of these, 73 polling stations were operated by women. Besides, PWD personnel are deployed at 13 polling booths. The Election Commission monitored the voting through webcasting from all the polling stations. For this, 6705 4D cameras were installed. In the contest for all the three Lok Sabha seats, the direct fight is likely between the JMM-led ruling alliance and the BJP-led opposition in Jharkhand. In the Koderma Lok Sabha seat, Union Minister and BJP candidate Annapurna Devi has locked horns with Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation nominee Vinod Singh, an MLA from Bagodar assembly constituency. In Hazaribag seat, a direct fight is between the BJP's Manish Jaiswal and Congress' Jai Prakash Bhai Patel, who recently switched from BJP. Both the candidates are currently the MLAs. Chatra is also heading for a direct contest between BJPs Kalicharan Singh, who was given ticket instead of sitting MP Sunil Kumar Singh, and Congress's KN Tripathi. Apart from the polling in Lok Sabha constituencies, the by-poll for Gandey assembly, with 3.15 lakh voters, is also slated for Monday. Gandey is hot seat as Kalpana Soren, the wife of jailed former state CM Hemant Soren is contesting the elections. Apart from her 10 more candidates are in the fray. Gandey assembly seat fell vacant after the resignation of Sarfaraz Ahmad, who was recently elected to Rajya Sabha unopposed. BJP has fielded Dilip Kumar Verma against Kalpana. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), on Monday, took a dig at (PM) Prime Minister Narendra Modis poll campaign meeting and said he ensured JMM Candidates victory. JMM's Central General Secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya addressed a press meet in Jamshedpur and took a dig at industrial policy, labor law and BJP's claims of victory in the Lok Sabha elections. He alleged that the NDA government at the Center has taken over the workers by weakening the labor laws. The right to strike has been taken away. PM Modi had mentioned the Gua firing in Ghatshila. In response, Supriyo Bhattacharya slammed BJP and reminded them of Bakoria firing. He said that after the elections, BJP will blame the Prime Minister for the defeat, he added. Voting for Jamshedpur parliamentary seat in Jharkhand will be held on May 25. Sameer Mohanty of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is the candidate from India Block. Bhattacharya said that for the last many days I have been talking about the problems of the tribals and indigenous people living in and around the copper mines. The BJP Government at the Center weakened 44 such labor laws due to which workers got constitutional protection. The biggest weapon in labor laws was strike. The tradition was that workers used to submit memorandum to the management through their union according to their problems, demands and needs. The management used to call the workers' delegation for talks. If the issues were resolved then it would be fine, in fact, the union used to give one month's notice to the management before going on strike, but the government weakened it. Now 6 months advance notice will have to be given. Supriyo Bhattacharya said that it is the same thing that I am hungry today and I should wait for 6 months, he added. The General Secretary said that a person can survive for a month without food, but after 6 months there will be no man left, so what about hunger. He said that lakhs of Tata workers in Jamshedpur have suffered losses due to this. PM Modi mentioned the Gua firing in Ghatshila. While mentioning Gua, the Prime Minister probably forgot the Tapkara and Bakoria firing incidents that took place during the tenure of Babulal Marandi and Raghuvar Das. In the Bakoria firing incident, the police did not even spare the children. Why doesn't the Prime Minister mention this?, he added. Bhattacharya said that BJP deliberately sent the Prime Minister to Ghatshila so that the victory of Sameer Mohanty in Jamshedpur could be ensured. Local BJP leaders have learned cunning. If you get defeated then you will say that I never went to Jamshedpur. I was called for the street meeting. Tomorrow in our rally in Jamshedpur, Arvind Kejriwal, Sanjay Singh, Kalpana Murmu Soren, Chief Minister Champai Soren and Ajay Kumar and other leaders from India Block will be present. A pandal three times bigger than the PM's pandal is being built in Ghatshila. The pandal will be completely full, he added. Police on Monday took Bibhav Kumar, who is accused of assaulting AAP MP Swati Maliwal, to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence for a recreation of the alleged crime scene, an officer said. Kumar has been interrogated and the statements of around 20 people have been recorded in connection to the case, the Delhi Police officer said. The statements of the chief minister and his family members may also be taken if required, the officer said. Kejriwal's personal aide Kumar was arrested from the CM residence on Saturday and was sent to a five-day police custody. "A team of Delhi Police officers took him to CM's residence for the recreation of crime scene and corroborate the sequence of incident at about 5.45 pm. They remained there for around one hour and later took him to Bibhav's own house, which is located in the same area," the officer said. Maliwal had filed an FIR against Kumar for allegedly assaulting her when she had gone to meet Kejriwal at his residence at Civil Lines area on May 13. The Delhi Police later added another charge in the FIR for alleged destruction of evidence, the officer said. During interrogation, the investigators have asked Kumar as to why he went to the CM's house on May 18, five days after the alleged incident and the day he was arrested. He has also been asked about his equation with Maliwal and the purpose of her visit to the CM's residence on May 13, the officer said. According to police, the statements of around 20 people, including the Delhi Police personnel who attended the PCR calls made by the Maliwal from CM's residence, have been recorded. This also includes some personnel posted at Civil Lines police station, police said. The officer said there are a few more people whose statements are yet to be recorded. "The statements of CM and his family members may also be recorded, if required during the course of the investigations," the officer said. Congress National General Secretary and star campaigner, Priyanka Gandhi Vadhera will visit Jharkhand on May 22. She will hold an election meeting for the fourth and final phase of elections in the State. Priyanka Gandhi's first election meeting is in the Mela ground of Godda. She will also address the election meeting at High Tension Ground in Namkum Lowadih. Chief Minister (CM), Champai Soren and former CM Hemant Soren's wife, Kalpana Murmu Soren will be present in both the election meetings of Gandhi. Apart from this, Congress State In-Charge, Ghulam Ahmed Mir, State Chief, Rajesh Thakur, RJD Minister in the State Government, Satyanand Bhokta and leaders of other alliance parties will also participate in the program. Gandhi will reach Birsa Munda Airport on May 22 at 9 am. From here she will go to Godda by helicopter. At the Mela ground in Godda, Priyanka Gandhi will appeal to Godda to vote in favor of party candidate Pradeep Yadav. After this she will come to Namkum by helicopter where at 1:55 pm, she will address the election rally for Congress candidate Yashaswini Sahay from Ranchi Lok Sabha seat at High Tension Ground in Lowadih. After this, it will leave for Delhi from Birsa Munda Airport at 3.20 pm. Instructions have been issued to make the public meeting successful at both the above places, all the ministers, MLAs, Lok Sabha Coordinator, AICC members, concerned candidates, in-charge District Congress Committee, state officials of the concerned district, District President, leading organization Morcha and President and Chairman of the department should give necessary direction. For the success of the program, Ahmed Mir and Thakur will meet the workers of Deoghar, Godda and review the preparations for the program and in this sequence will establish communication with the public to vote for INDI Alliance in the general elections. They will also meet the workers to review the preparations for the Lok Sabha elections in Godda and they will give them necessary instructions on Wednesday to promote the justice guarantees of Congress to the public. Voting for Ranchi Lok Sabha seat will be held in the sixth phase i.e. on May 25. Here Yashaswini Sahay will have a direct contest with BJP candidate Sanjay Seth. Whereas in Godda, the last phase of voting is on 1st June. Here, India Alliance candidate Pradeep Yadav will have a direct contest with BJP candidate Nishikant Dubey. The results will come on June 4. Punjabs farming community is gearing up for a dramatic showdown against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his scheduled visit to Patiala on May 23. With a mix of defiance and determination, farmers plan to voice their deep-seated grievances, setting the stage for a high-stakes confrontation as Modi campaigns for former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singhs wife and former Union Minister Preneet Kaur in the royal city. Various farmers' groups, including the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political), Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), BKU Ugrahan, and SKM, have announced plans to demonstrate against the Prime Ministers visit. It remains unclear whether these groups will unite for a joint protest or demonstrate separately. This announcement coincides with the farmers ending their 34-day rail blockade at Patialas Shambhu railway station. The blockade had been part of their demand for the release of three farmers arrested during earlier protests at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders by Haryana police. SKM (non-political) coordinator Jagjit Singh Dallewal emphasized the ongoing focus on protests at key locations, including where BJP leaders will campaign. In the past, BJP leaders have defamed farmers. Now their central leadership is coming to Punjab, and we will protest at every location they visit, said Dallewal. Echoing the same sentiment, KKM head Sarwan Singh Pandher said that farmers will protest in Patiala, Jalandhar, and Gurdaspur on May 23 and 24, where Modi is scheduled to hold rallies. Pandher emphasized that the protests would be determined and widespread. If we are stopped, we will then decide what to do next, he said. The farmer leaders, addressing a press conference in Chandigarh, declared that farmers would confront the Prime Minister wherever he goes in Punjab. We will ask why he betrayed us and broke his promises, said Pandher. The farmers have announced that during the campaigning period for June 1 elections, the pakka dharnas will be organized outside the residences of prominent BJP leaders in Punjab and Haryana. The names of the leaders will be announced during a protest rally at the Shambhu border on May 22, marking 100 days of their ongoing agitation. The one month long rail blockade has significantly impacted train services, with 69 trains canceled and over 150 diverted daily, causing losses to the railways and inconveniencing passengers. The rail blockades end is expected to ease some logistical challenges, particularly in transporting food grains from Punjab, where the harvesting season has just concluded. Despite ending the rail blockade, the farmers' sit-in at the Shambhu border will continue, driven by unresolved demands such as the implementation of Minimum Support Price (MSP). The protest has also affected trade, prompting the Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal to issue an ultimatum to the AAP led Punjab Government to resolve the impasse within 10 days due to significant business losses. BKU Ugrahan, SKM to also hold protest Meanwhile, BKU Ugrahan has also announced plans to protest Modi's visit, calling out the BJP's corporate-friendly and anti-farmer policies over the past decade. Its president Joginder Singh Ugrahan has declared that they would protest vigorously in Patiala, bringing members from across Punjab despite potential police and administrative crackdowns. However, BKU Ugrahan does not currently plan to protest Modi's other rallies in Jalandhar or elsewhere. We are prepared for all eventualities, including potential police crackdowns," he said. The SKM, which led the year-long farmers agitation at Delhi borders, have also announced to protest against the Prime Minister near to the venue of the Patiala rally, but in a peaceful manner. Preparations are complete for a farmers mahapanchayat at Jagraon on Tuesday where a multitude of issues, including the ongoing opposition to the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, will be addressed. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha is spearheading this mahapanchayat, which is expected to draw thousands of farmers to Jagraons Dana Mandi. BJPs push to poll campaign; Shah, Yogi also to address rallies With the political campaigns for June 1 Lok Sabha elections reaching a fever pitch, the key political figures are set to visit the State to bolster support for their parties. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address rallies on May 23 and 24, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will also be visiting the state to campaign for BJP candidates. As per information available, Shah will arrive in Ludhiana on May 27 to rally support for BJP candidate Ravneet Bittu, besides galvanizing the local BJP supporters. The rally is also part of a broader strategy to strengthen the party's presence in the region. Besides, Yogi Adityanath is also expected to visit Ludhiana on May 26. This visit follows a request by Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar, who recently reached out to Yogi Adityanath to secure his participation in the campaign, especially in the areas with migrants population. Preparations for these high-profile visits are underway. While the exact locations for Shah and Yogis rallies in Ludhiana are yet to be finalized, BJP workers have begun organizing and mobilizing local support. Amidst allegations of use of muscle power by Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh to influence voters, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday visited Rae Bareli, the constituency from which he is contesting the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. Polling in Rae Bareli took place in the fifth phase of the ongoing elections on Monday. Rahul Gandhi is also contesting the Lok Sabha election from Wayanad in Kerala from where he is the sitting MP. On reaching Rae Bareli, Rahul offered prayers at Peepaleshwar Hanuman temple. He also visited some polling booths and met with the people who had cast their votes. Rahul Gandhi is contesting from Rae Bareli which was represented in the Lok Sabha five times by his mother Sonia Gandhi before she took the Rajya Sabha route to the Parliament this year. Earlier in the day, the former Congress chief arrived at Lucknow airport from New Delhi and left for Rae Bareli by road. Rahul Gandhi claimed in a post on X that a storm of change is sweeping the country. The people of India are fighting this election together and a storm of change is sweeping across the country. I am appealing to the entire country, including Amethi and Rae Bareli, to come out in large numbers and vote for the prosperity of your families, for your rights, for the progress of India, Rahul posted. Meanwhile, amidst report of fault in some electronic voting machines (EVMs), the social media handle of UP Congress alleged that BJP candidate Dinesh Pratap Singhs goon brother Awadhesh Singh is bullying voters with his henchmen at booth number 312 of Rae Bareli assembly constituency. He threatened Congress workers and took away their bags! The UP Congress also shared a video of BJP workers alleged hooliganism in Hajipur of Gurubakshganj in Rae Bareli. In the video, BJP workers are seen beating up a Congress agent. Congress general secretary and in-charge of UP, Avinash Pandey, also took to social media platform X to raise the issue of problems in EVMs, alleging that it seems that the Election Commission of India has sent all the faulty EVMs to Rae Bareli. Defence Minister and Member of Parliament from Lucknow, Rajnath Singh, cast his vote at Scholar Home School polling station in Vipul Khand of Gomti Nagar at 10:15 am along with his wife Savitri Singh, son Neeraj Singh and daughter-in-law Neelam Singh. After casting his vote, Rajnath Singh appealed to all the voters of the country, including Lucknow, to definitely vote along with their family members. When asked how many seats the National Democratic Alliance would win, he said the decision was in the hands of the public but the resolution of NDA was 400 plus seats and at this time he would not like to make any prediction. Addressing the media after casting his vote, senior BJP leader Neeraj Singh said that people were excited and were queuing up in large numbers at every polling booth to vote. Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak cast his vote along with his wife Namrata Pathak and daughter at Montessori School in Mall Avenue. After casting his vote, Pathak said the opposition was completely confused as the public had completely rejected them. He said the NDA would win all 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP, including Rae Bareli and Amethi. Rajya Sabha MP and Bharatiya Janata Party national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said that all citizens must exercise their right to vote as voting was their right as well as their duty. Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati cast her vote at Mall Avenue while BSP candidate Sarwar Mallik cast his vote at the Shia PG College. He said: I participated in this great festival of democracy with my entire family. I voted at Shia PG College, Sitapur Road polling booth. Yes, casting the vote is our right as well as duty because if we dont vote then how can we complain to the elected government. Samajwadi Party candidate Ravidas Mehrotra cast his vote at the Rani Laxmi Bai ward polling centre in Lucknow Central assembly segment. Rashtriya Lok Dal national spokesperson Anil Dubey and his family members cast their votes in the Bhola Kheda booth at Basic Primary School in Kanausi. Voting is your Brahmastra (never failing weapon) in the great festival of democracy. Your one vote will decide the happiness, peace, prosperity and development of your area. The wave of revolution and change is going on in the entire country. For the third time, the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government is going to be formed in the country, he said. RLD national secretary Anupam Mishra along with his family exercised his franchise in Aliganj. He said his vote was dedicated to building a strong nation. State president of RLD (Business cell) Rohit Agarwal said, Today, by exercising my right to vote, I got the opportunity to empower the successful Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the successful Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. By voting in the Lucknow East assembly by-election, I got a chance to give power to the double-engine government, he said All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Jitendra Singh on Monday claimed the Lok Sabha polls will throw up surprising results when votes are counted on June 4 as the "true face" of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been exposed in the ongoing polls. Claiming an undercurrent in favour of the opposition parties, Singh asserted the Congress will put up a stellar performance in the polls and vastly improve tally in Madhya Pradesh and Assam. "A different type of results will come up. June 4 will throw up astonishing results. There is an undercurrent. In the run to the polls, the BJP has been unmasked," the AICC general secretary in charge of political affairs for MP and Assam told reporters here. His assertion came on the day of the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections covering 49 seats across six states and two Union Territories. "They used social media and ran campaigns on caste, religion lines in a bid to win elections. They announced guarantees, one after another, new ones. The people of Madhya Pradesh understood their hollow guarantees and political gimmicks. Now, their guarantees and gimmicks stand bared," Singh said, hitting out at the BJP. The Congress leader said along with MP and Assam, the Congress is going to put up a spectacular show in elections in the rest of the country. "The BJP, from the Prime Minister to block level leaders, have run a very egoist campaign," he opined. Singh alleged misuse of central agencies and state machinery by the ruling BJP, and claimed the saffron party has put pressure on people to vote for it. "People have received threats like vote (for the BJP) or their electricity and water supply would be cut," he alleged. The Congress leader was talking to the media after chairing a review meeting of party's Lok Sabha candidates in Madhya Pradesh, where polling for the 29 seats has concluded. He said the Congress is fighting the Lok Sabha elections unitedly and people who wanted to sabotage the party's chances were out of the organisation in the state. In the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress had witnessed a massive exodus of workers and leaders. Several Congress leaders like former Union minister Suresh Pachauri had joined the BJP. Singh said his party fought elections in the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh against all odds, including deployment of money, muscle power and misuse of the state machinery, but put up a good show. "The state machinery worked in (favour of the ruling party) in MP," he alleged. Singh said a massive programme will be launched from June 15 to strengthen the party in the central state. Embroiled in a controversy over his "slip of the tongue" on Lord Jagannath, BJP leader and party's Puri Lok Sabha candidate Sambit Patra apologised and announced he will undertake penance by observing fast for three days from Tuesday after being criticised from different quarters. Patra while speaking to reporters on Monday, had said that the state's most revered deity "Lord Jagannath is a devotee of Prime Minister Narendra Modi." Patra, however, later clarified that it was a slip of the tongue and he wanted to mean that the PM was an ardent 'bhakt' (devotee) of Lord Jagannath and not the other. Taking to X, Patra said: "For this mistake, I apologise at the feet of Lord Sri Jagannath. I will fast for the next three days to atone for this mistake." Patra also said that on the occasion of Modi's roadshow in Puri on Monday. He had conversations with many media. While talking to media, instead of saying 'Maha Prabhu Sri Jagannath's Bhakt Modi', he mistakenly pronounced 'Modi's Bhakt Jagannath'. The issue was aggravated when Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik strongly condemned Patra's statement and appealed to the BJP to keep Lord Jagannath above the political discourse. Patnaik, in an X post, criticised Patra for hurting Odia 'asmita' (pride). "Mahaprabhu Shree Jagannatha is the Lord of the Universe. Calling Mahaprabhu a 'bhakt' of another human being is an insult to the Lord... It is totally condemnable. This has hurt the sentiments and demeaned the faith of crores of Jagannatha bhaktas and Odias across the world. "The Lord is the greatest symbol of Odia asmita. I strongly denounce the statement... And I appeal to the BJP to keep the Lord above any political discourse. By this, you have deeply hurt Odia asmita and this will be remembered and condemned by people of Odisha for a very long time," Patnaik said. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also condemned Patra's statement. In a post on X, he said: "The comments made by BJP's Puri candidate is an insult to Mahaprabhu Shree Jagannatha revered by crores of people. We condemn it in the strongest possible words. It reinforces our charge that a BJP, drunk with power, will not even spare our Gods, let alone India's people. On June 4th, this arrogance shall be destroyed by the will of the People." Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also condemned the statement of the BJP candidate. "I strongly condemn this statement of the BJP. They have started thinking that they are above God. This is a height of arrogance. Calling God bhakt of Modi ji is an insult to God," he posted on X. Meanwhile, Congress candidate from Puri Lok Sabha seat Jayanarayan Patnaik also lodged a complaint against Patra with the Town police station in Puri. West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress said the sentiments of millions of people across the country have been hurt by the "blasphemous" statement of Patra. "People of Odisha and Bengal will teach him and his party BJP a lesson for such a blasphemous remark," West Bengal minister and senior party leader Chandrima Bhattacharya, in a video message in Bengali said. Union minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday said the Congress wants to come back to power only to "loot" the nation but it would not materialise this time. He also said that the opposition party would not win more than 50 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. Thakur, who is the BJP candidate from Hamirpur, addressed several election meetings in the constituency. Urging voters to press the lotus (BJP symbol) button on June 1, Thakur said the strategy of the Congress to spread confusion through gimmick would not work and it would be ousted from the Indian politics forever. "People know who have looted them since Independence and that is why they are not going to vote for the Congress and its allies...Voters would rally behind the BJP for their own welfare and benefit," he said. The people have made up their mind to vote for the BJP and ensure third term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he added. Thakur also said that neither the Congress nor the INDIA bloc has any agenda or leader and they are fighting the elections only to come to power to "loot" the nation but it would not materialise this time. He said that all the guarantees made by PM Modi including scrapping Article 370, bringing law on triple talaq and construction of Ram temple have been fulfilled. The union minister said that "as far as Sanatan is concerned, we have developed it and also preserved its heritage. From Ayodhya-Varanasi-Mahakal temple to Buddhist circuit...It is a testimony of this fact. The Congress has fielded Satpal Raizada, a former MLA from Una, against four-time MP Thakur in the Hamirpur seat. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar, arrested for allegedly assaulting AAP MP Swati Maliwal, is being taken to Mumbai for the retrieval of data from his formatted iPhone, police said on Tuesday. Kumar is under a five-day judicial custody in connection with the alleged assault on Maliwal, a Rajya Sabha MP, at the CM's Delhi residence. Police said Kumar had formatted his phone before transferring the data to some person, or device in Mumbai. His mobile phone was seized following his arrest but it was found to have been formatted, they said. Mourners in black began gathering on Tuesday for days of funerals and processions for Iran's late president, foreign minister and others killed in a helicopter crash, a government-led series of ceremonies aimed at both honouring the dead and projecting strength in an unsettled Middle East. For Iran's Shiite theocracy, mass demonstrations have been crucial since millions thronged the streets of Tehran to welcome Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 during the Islamic Revolution, and also attended his funeral 10 years later. An estimated 1 million turned out in 2020 for processions for the late Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was slain in a US drone strike in Baghdad. Whether President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others draw the same crowd remains in question, particularly as Raisi died in a helicopter crash, won his office in the lowest-turnout presidential election in the country's history and presided over sweeping crackdowns on all dissent. Prosecutors already have warned people over showing any public signs of celebrating his death and a heavy security force presence has been seen on the streets of Tehran since the crash. But Raisi, 63, had been discussed as a possible successor for Iran's supreme leader, the 85-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His death now throws that selection into question, particularly as there is no heir-apparent cleric for the presidency ahead of planned June 28 elections. Raisi's death comes at a moment when the Islamist regime is consolidated, wrote Alex Vatanka, an Iran expert at the Middle East Institute. In short, there will be no power vacuum in Tehran; nonetheless, post-Khamenei Iran suddenly looks far less predictable than it did just a few days ago. A procession on Tuesday morning led by a semitruck carrying the caskets of the dead slowly moved through the narrow streets of downtown Tabriz, the closest major city near the site of the crash Sunday. Thousands in black slowly walked beside the coffins, some throwing flowers up to them as an emcee wept through a loudspeaker for men he described as martyrs. The bodies will travel on to the holy Shiite seminary city of Qom before travelling to Tehran later Tuesday. On Wednesday, a funeral presided over by Khamenei will then turn into a procession as well. It remains unclear what international presence that funeral will draw, as Raisi faced US sanctions for his part in mass executions in 1988 and for abuses targeting protesters and dissidents while leading the country's judiciary. Iran under Raisi also shipped bomb-carrying drones to Russia to be used in its war on Ukraine. I don't feel comfortable sending condolences while Iran is sending drones that are used against civilians in Ukraine, wrote Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis on the social platform X. On Thursday, Raisi's hometown of Birjand will see a procession, followed by a funeral and burial at the Imam Reza shrine in the holy city of Mashhad, the only imam of the Shiite's faith buried in Iran. That shrine has long been a centre for pilgrims and sees millions visit each year. Over the centuries, its grounds have served as the final burial site for heroes in Persian history. It's an incredibly high, rare honour in the faith. Iranian President Mohammad-Ali Rajai, the only other president to die in office when he was killed in a 1981 bombing, was buried in Tehran. Iran's theocracy declared five days of mourning, encouraging people to attend the public mourning sessions. Typically, government employees and schoolchildren attend such events en masse, while others take part out of patriotism, curiosity or to witness historic events. Across Iran, its rural population often more closely embraces the Shiite faith and the government. However, Tehran has long held a far different view of Raisi and his government's policies as mass protests have roiled the capital for years. The most recent involved the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a woman detained over her allegedly loose headscarf, or hijab. The monthslong security crackdown that followed the demonstrations killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained. In March, a United Nations investigative panel found that Iran was responsible for the physical violence that led to Amini's death. Meanwhile, Iran's rial currency has cratered after the collapse of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers, destroying people's savings and pensions. On Sunday night, as news of the helicopter crash circulated, some offered anti-government chants in the night. Fireworks could be seen in some parts of the capital, though Sunday also marked a remembrance for Imam Reza, which can see them set off as well. Critical messages and dark jokes over the crash also circulated online. Iran's top prosecutor has already issued an order demanding cases be filed against those publishing false content, lies and insults against Raisi and others killed in the crash, according to the semiofficial ISNA news agency. No cause has yet been offered by Iran's government for the crash, which took place in a foggy mountain range in a decadesold helicopter. Iranian presidents including hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Abolhasan Banisadr both survived their own helicopter crashes while in office. Iran's military, not its civil aviation authority, will investigate and later offer a report, authorities say. Iran's civil air crash investigators faced widespread international criticism over their reports on the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane by an air defense battery in 2020 after Soleimani's killing. Meanwhile on Tuesday, Iran's new Assembly of Experts opened its first session after an election that decided the new assembly, a panel of which both Raisi and the late Tabriz Friday leader Mohammad Ali Ale-Heshem were members. A flower-ringed portrait sat on the seat Raisi would have occupied at the meeting of the 88-member panel, which is tasked with selecting the country's next supreme leader. If youre an American thank your lucky stars you are being protected by the US Navy in the event of some kind of invasion or waror are you protected? Maybe things aint so rosy, especially as the US Navy is now manned by single brain celled dunces who dont know which way is fucking north, let alone how to sail a fucking ship or defend America. You see, since the US Navy lowered its entrance exams to get more recruits, the quality of sailors has seriously plummeted. Were plumbing the fucking depths here. We had one recruit who thought the US Navy was a luxury cruise line headed to the Bahamas, and he demanded to see the captain because when we told him there was no a la carte menu or room service, he blew a hissy fit. Another dude came up to me and wanted to know where he could score some crack because he forgot his load at his moms house in the Bronx and whether I could sub him some rocks to get by, Lieutenant commander Jim Bob Johnsons revealed. Dunces on the bridge Recruits are now so dumb that exams are just one piece of paper where the recruit is simply told to write an X in a box in the middle of the page. Many of the recruits cannot even speak English or complete a basic mathematics test. Under the Navys new dumbass program, the service will accept lower scores on the AFQT, between the 0 and 10th percentile, as long as the prospective sailor can point at the sea and tell the examiner that the sea is wet and kinda blue, Lieutenant commander Johnsons added. Navy Recruiting Command officer Cmdr. Rodrigue Geedunk lined up some recruits during a recruitment session and told them to walk the plank off the ships deck whilst it was 300 miles from shore. They all complied without hesitation like lemmings, even though some of them drowned because they could not swim. These are the kind of recruits were looking for in the US Navy dumb as shit, who cant even tie their shoelaces let alone a half Windsor, and they obey even the most ridiculous orders without question. Celebration is in the air! It's Convocation season at Dalhousie, with thousands of graduates crossing the stage from May 21 through 31 in Halifax and Truro. Get to know some of them with our grad profile series, with more profiles being added every day of Convocation. Learn more about Convocation and view webcasts of all the ceremonies at dal.ca/convocation. Not afraid to stand out Graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Medical Sciences, Aaliyah Arab-Smith has her sights set on attending medical school and being a leader in the African Nova Scotian community. Breaking barriers beyond the classroom Manar Elgamil began her computer science studies from afar during the pandemic. When she finally arrived in Halifax, she dove in headfirst and became a passionate advocate for supporting women in tech. Finding community in the sandbox Almas Anwar Hussain Shaikh says entering Dal's Master of Applied Computer Science program was one of the best decisions she's ever made. Finding a supportive tech community in Halifax was the gravy. Finding her strengths and leadership ability Sun Lee saw the true impact of recreational therapists while working in the hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic and sought to become one herself. Fulfilling a lifelong dream Aneika Vassal was Inspired by her elementary school nurse to work in healthcare, now a proud member of the Black Nurses Association of Nova Scotia with a keen interest in dementia research. A dramatic awakening Daniel Nwobi of Nigeria was looking for a program that encompassed the multidisciplinary tools hed need as an actor. The Fountain School offered that and so much more. Embracing her twin passions Louisa Steigenberger knew Dal was the right school for her after discovering it had strengths in both costume studies and law. Like walking in a dream Ann LaBillois long dreamed of going to university. When she finally did so at Dal after entering retirement, it opened new avenues for learning and an opportunity to share her wisdom and life experiences as Dalhousies Elder in Residence. Don't be afraid Krista Collier-Jarvis took a fascination with scary stories to new level with a dissertation focused on contemporary zombie narratives, inspired by research into Indigenous Gothic, popular culture, museologoy, and creative approaches to trauma. Shooting for the stars Joel Richard's journey to become an astronaut ignited his passion for medicine. Food (culture) for thought Michelle Wang, whose own parents immigrated to Canada from China in the 1990s, met with other second-generation Canadians for her honours thesis on how food shapes cultural identities and experiences. Advocacy and action When Dal medical student Aditi Sivakumar asked Prince William for advice on her advocacy efforts when she met him in London, he encouraged her to dream bigger so she did. From fear to thriving By reframing her childhood experience of seeing her brother struggle with genetic illness, Qendresa Sahiti found empowerment in her ability to make a difference and enrolled in medical school. Military vet inspired by Weldon legal tradition Caleb MacDonald entered the Schulich School of Law after two decades of service with the Canadian military and RCMP. Engineering solutions for fellow students Phoenix Doucet-Bernards experience as a champion for his engineering classmates during the COVID-19 pandemic led him down a path of student advocacy. Community builder fosters sense of belonging Onye Njoku was drawn to the Schulich School of Law's tight-knit and supportive community, offering her own time and leadership to student groups and university initiatives over the years. From refugee to patient advocate Mariam El-Aghil says there wasnt a single defining moment that convinced her to become a dentist, but growing up during the civil war in Yemen played a big part. Providing dental hygiene care on the wing When Autumn Penney applied to Dal's dental hygiene program, she had no idea it would kickstart her career in the profession in such a non-traditional way flying into remote parts of Labrador to provide care to underserved communities. Cultivating connections from Italy to Canada A year abroad in Canada for Italian student Andrea Grigolon turned into a different kind of international adventure, earning a joint degree between Dalhousie and Aeres University in the Netherlands through the International Food Business program. Landscape Architecture grad embraces unexpected opportunities From meeting inspiring visionaries to exploring Indigenous influences in the field, Kai King's journey through Landscape Architecture studies has been defined by an openness to new experiences. From fear to fascination Once afraid of bugs, Plant Science graduate Alexe Indigo will soon dedicate her PhD to them. Where space and accessibility meet Master of Planning graduate Yaba Osifo's experience as a person with a disability has fuelled her commitment to fostering accessibility in the built environment. Unlocking architecture's social dimensions Master of Architecture graduate Stavros Kondeas reflects on the power of the lasting friendships and collaborations hes formed and how theyve spurred both academic and professional growth. One last surprise Many things have taken Mary Mackay by surprise since she arrived at Dalhousie, most of all the change between who she was when she arrived and who she is now as she crosses the stage to receive her Bachelor of Management. Threetime scholarship recipient 'pays it forward' Management and Science grad Arcel Siosan does not let anything come between him and his aspirations to make a difference. Tourism boom provides enduring momentum to China's economy Xinhua) 13:52, May 21, 2024 SHANGHAI, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Tourism is increasingly emerging as a strategic pillar industry in China, serving as a focal point of the country's high-quality development. Since the initiation of reform and opening up in 1978, especially since 2012, the country's tourism sector has entered a fast lane of development. China has become the biggest domestic tourism market in the world, the largest source of international tourists, and a main destination for international travelers. Over the past decades, Chinese people have witnessed unprecedented improvements in living standards, with absolute poverty eradicated and the realization of a moderately prosperous society. Tourism has become a burgeoning demand among Chinese people seeking a better quality of life. Between 2012 and 2021, the average annual growth rate of domestic tourism revenue stood at 10.6 percent, while from 2012 to 2019, the number of domestic tourist trips doubled. In 2023, China recorded 4.89 billion domestic travel trips, marking a staggering 93.3-percent surge from the previous year. Moreover, domestic travelers spent over 4.91 trillion yuan (about 691 billion U.S. dollars) throughout the year, reflecting a notable increase of 140.3 percent from 2022. The enduring popularity of traditional attire Hanfu, intangible cultural heritage items, museums, and well-preserved ancient towns and streets illustrates the vigor of cultural and tourism consumption nationwide. The mushrooming cultural and tourism hotspots underscore the immense potential and dynamism of China's economic development. The flourishing tourism market has been buttressed by enhanced infrastructure, increases in residents' incomes and the introduction of innovative tourism products, among other factors. The emergence of smart tourism represents a novel facet of consumption, with technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality and artificial intelligence seamlessly integrated into consumption scenarios, thereby fostering new immersive and interactive experiences. The range of tourist attractions has extended beyond traditional natural landscapes and cultural monuments to encompass rural areas, ice-and-snow attractions, revolutionary sites and theme parks. As China endeavors to improve modern tourism systems and advance high-quality tourism development, tourism consumption is expected to assume an increasingly pivotal role in bolstering domestic demand. It is estimated that every 1 yuan of tourism industry income stimulates 4.3 yuan of revenue in related industries. Meanwhile, thanks to its commitment to openness, China's burgeoning tourism sector also represents a significant opportunity to enhance mutual learning and exchanges between civilizations. In 2023, China welcomed 82.03 million inbound tourists, while domestic residents made 100.96 million outbound trips. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. A man who stood in front of a police contractor who was removing a burnt out vehicle has been fined at Derry Magistrate's Court. Joel Hazlett (27) of Stevenson Park in Derry admitted one charge of obstruction of a road on September 25, 2023. The court heard that police were called to a report of a vehicle that was 'scorched and damaged' in Tullyally. Police believed the vehicle was abandoned and sent for a contractor to remove it. At this Hazlett came out of a house and told police 'you are not taking that car.' He then started taking photos of police and making derogatory remarks. When the police contractor arrived and went to remove the vehicle Hazlett stood in the middle of the road in front of the vehicle. The contractor moved the vehicle but Hazlett stood there for a period before going to the pavement. When police spoke to him the next he told police 'I was only joking'. Defence counsel Sinead Rogan said that her client had had 'a few drinks' and had actually been speaking to police earlier. Hazlett was fined 400. The Treasury has agreed to review how Stormont is funded in the future as part of a deal that will also see the Executive receive an extra 24 million this year. The measures are part of an Interim Fiscal Framework signed off by Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott and Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton Harris in London on Tuesday. The 3.3 billion financial deal that accompanied the restoration of devolution earlier this year included a commitment to fund Northern Ireland on a needs-based basis going forward. That would apply a 24% uplift on money that flows to Northern Ireland as a consequence of spending decisions taken in England in areas where Stormont has devolved responsibility, such as health and education. That 124% ratio on so-called Barnett consequentials was to apply on Treasury funding announcements made from the start of the current financial year and therefore excluded the Chancellors spring budget in March. However, the framework deal finalised on Tuesday will see that measure backdated to when Stormont returned in February a move that will see the 124% applied to the Barnett elements of the budget, generating an extra 24 million for Stormont coffers in 2024/25. That extra funding will be distributed in June in the Executives first in-year monitoring round, which is the process by which new or unspent funds are allocated against bids from various departments. Finance Minister, Dr @CArchibald_SF today signed an Interim Fiscal Framework on behalf of the Executive securing a commitment from Treasury to review how the Executive is funded going forward. https://t.co/WjbkXXqZut pic.twitter.com/heP3Sgwlpr Dept of Finance (@dptfinance) May 21, 2024 The framework agreement also includes a Treasury pledge to review the 124% calculation of additional need, if multiple independent and credible sources provide evidence that the regions relative need is greater than that ratio. The 3.3 billion financial package will have already been spent in Northern Ireland prior to the start of the 2026/27 financial year. This had prompted concerns that Stormont would face a financial cliff edge when the additional support dried up. The framework also contains a commitment by Treasury to reassess the overall funding allocation to Northern Ireland prior to April 2026, as part of the process for setting the UKs next comprehensive spending review. The funding boost provided by the devolution package will see Northern Irelands funding allocation exceed the 124% relative spending ratio for 2024/25 and 2025/26. Despite this, the interim fiscal framework includes a commitment from the Treasury to still apply the 124% to any Barnett consequentials generated over those two years. Stormont ministers have long argued that Northern Ireland does not receive sufficient funding to meet the relative needs of the region. The Executive in Belfast agreed a budget package last month that Ms Archibald acknowledged had left all departments short of what they required. Health Minister Robin Swann voted against the budget, claiming it would result in dangerous cutbacks in health service delivery. He has not ruled out quitting as minister if MLAs vote the budget through when it comes before the devolved Assembly. After the interim framework was approved on Tuesday, Dr Archibald spoke to reporters outside the Treasury. She said the deal marked a significant milestone for stabilising Northern Irelands finances. It will mean additional funding for public services in the North, she said. She added: Following intensive and constructive negotiations, I welcome Treasurys agreement to reviewing the approach to funding the Executive at the relevant spending review. This firm commitment from Treasury starts to address our concerns over a funding cliff edge once the financial package comes to an end in 2025/26. It provides assurances the Executive can plan on the assumption we will be funded at or above the 124% level of relative need in future financial years. Treasury has agreed to the 124% needs-based adjustment factor from Barnett consequentials being applied from the date of restoration of the Executive. This means a further 24 million from the Spring Budget will now be available for allocation as part of June monitoring. Any future Barnett in 2024/25 will be at this increased level, meaning additional funding for public services here. Nevertheless, the budgetary position facing the Executive remains incredibly challenging. I have been and will continue making the case for increased levels of funding in public services. I have been clear since taking up the role of finance minister of my determination to ensure our public services are fairly and properly funded. This job of work is far from over. Todays Framework, which has been secured at pace, is a step towards a full fiscal framework which is critical for long-term sustainability. I will continue to work with the chief secretary to the Treasury on a final fiscal framework, which ensures the Executive has the financial tools and necessary taxation levers to deliver sustainable public finances and public services for the people we serve. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Ms Trott said the significant deal would provide the Executive with further certainty and resources to deliver public services. Weve moved at speed to deliver our plan to address the most pressing issues facing Northern Irelands funding and will continue to work with the Executive to secure a fair and final Fiscal Framework made possible by the strength of our Union, she said. Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. China's internet giants see 1Q24 revenues skyrocket thanks to AI AI models have now become the new battleground in China's tech industry, with the four leading giantsBaidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and JD, or BATJ for shortall seeking to increase AI penetration and monetize traffic. In addition to search, video and text generation, AI is driving growth for these four giants as they use AI for ad placements. The latest quarterly results show the impact of AI, with both JD and Alibaba reporting quarterly revenue growth of 7%, as early investments in AI technology begin yielding results. Baidu's Ernie LLM at center of AI efforts Baidu has achieved stellar results while staving off competition not just from major players such as Alibaba, Tencent, JD, and ByteDance, and from startups such as Moonshot AI, Zhipu, and Baichuan. For the first quarter of 2024, Baidu reported CNY 31.5 billion (US$4.44 billion) in revenue, better than market predictions of CNY 31.2 billion (US$4.39 billion), and a year-on-year increase of 1%. Net profit reached CNY 7 billion (US$987 million), growing by 22% year-on-year and far exceeding market estimates of CNY 5.57 billion (US$785 million). With its core businesses remaining steady, Baidu will continue to grow its AI business through end-to-end optimization, says founder and CEO Robin Li. As Baidu seeks to transform user experiences into generative AI experiences, it is leveraging its Ernie Bot to revamp its search engine, with roughly 11% of search results now generated by AI. In Robin Li's opinion, search will most likely be the main killer app in the AI era. Baidu has recently released lightweight LLMs, along with its AgentBuilder, AppBuilder, and ModelBuilder development tools that allow easy creation of original AI apps and customized models. As of mid-April 2024, the PaddlePaddle community counts 13 million developers, a result of the synergy created with its Ernie LLM. JD blazing trail with AI-enhanced livestream shopping JD reported higher-than-expected growth as well, with first-quarter revenue growing 7.0% year-on-year to CNY 260 billion (US$36.66 billion), and net profit growing 17.2% year-on-year to CNY 8.9 billion. JD was the first online retailer in China to use AI in its livestream shopping shows, with the livestream debut of a digital avatar of its founder Richard Liu in April 2024 drawing more than 20 million views in an hour. Powered by its in-house ChatRhino LLM, JD's digital avatar technology has already been used by more than 4,000 merchants, boosting idle time conversion by roughly 30%. In addition, its Jingmai retail platform has allowed merchants to streamline operations with tools covering advertisement and promotion, storefront design, and smart customer services, while its AI-Generated Content (AIGC) service has helped reduce content generation costs for more than 70,000 merchants. AI driving revenue growth for Tencent and Alibaba Tencent's new "budding" businessesvideo channels, mini-programs, and Software as a Service (SaaS)have also been leveraging AI technology to improve the accuracy of ad recommendations. Driven by the above businesses, as well as its public merchant platform, Tencent's ad revenue grew by 26% year-on-year to CNY 26.5 billion (US$3.7 billion). In addition, Tencent's various SaaS services, including its WeCom, Tencent Meeting, Tencent Docs, Tencent Cloud, and Tencent Marketing Solutions, have all been connected to its proprietary Hunyuan LLM, allowing AI-enhanced functionality. Finally, during its recent earnings call, Alibaba CEO and director Eddie Wu expressed confidence that the company's AI-driven public cloud strategy will drive a return to double-digit revenue growth by the second half of 2025. Canadian startup CEMWorks looks to play crucial role in semiconductors, 5G, and AI with its simulation tool The Winnipeg, Canada-based CEMWorks is looking to bring its electromagnetic (EM) simulation solution to more companies to help develop new technologies, contributing to the "precision and efficiency" of the design, manufacturing, and application process for electronics. In an interview with DIGITIMES Asia, CEMWorks president and founder Jonatan Aronsson and Business Development Manager Gabriel Lafond-Wise stated that the company is well-positioned for several key tech sectors, including semiconductors, next-gen communication systems like 5G and 6G, connected vehicles, smart cities, and space applications. Their goal, as a design simulation tool, is to become the industry standard and be "a go-to software product for engineers involved with electronics and connectivity design." The company is currently bootstrapped and capable of generating growth through reinvested profits as its solutions have already received strong commercial traction. CEMWorks is also supported by the Canadian government with funding for various R&D projects. The government also provides access to business development initiatives, such as the partnership with the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei (CTOT)'s CTA program for in-market promotion and connections. Through this program, CEMWorks hopes to "develop a greater presence" in Taiwan and seek a partner to help distribute its solution to local industry players. An unfulfilled need in the market CEMWorks was founded in 2011 by Jonatan Aronsson, in response to what he observed as a "lack of comprehensive simulation tools for the electronics industry." For the first five years, the company was focused on other things such as consulting. They began to delve into simulation tools in 2015/2016 and after several years of advanced R&D, finally started working on a fully self-contained solution in the past few years. It currently has 17 full-time employees. Regarding the company's business opportunities, Gabriel mentioned that the company's simulation tool is an advanced form of software that helps develop advanced microelectronics and system components. The advancement in technology has brought about an increased demand for advanced components. "For us, the fast pace of change in the technology sector has been more of an opportunity creator than a real disrupter..." he stated. These advanced components are often incredibly small and delicate, meaning there's almost no room for error. This is where simulation tools like CEMWorks' solution can come into play. Gabriel highlighted that the company is especially well positioned for projects related to the communication sector such as 5G/6G and antennas. Adjacent sectors like connected vehicles and smart cities have also been a part of the company's portfolio. When asked what its tool does better than competing tools on the market, Gabriel pointed out that other EDA tools are versatile and well-adapted for general purposes. However, this typically resulted in them being much slower to run simulations and require more computational resources. In contrast, CEMWorks' approach is much better suited for specific use cases, such as ones where more complex simulations are required or ones that need to be done cheaper and more efficiently. In particular, the tool can adapt well to simulations that involve multiple devices or interactions with some distance between them. With other existing solutions, they often have to split the interactions into smaller pieces and process them separately. When the processes get too complicated, they need to introduce approximations, which aren't always accurate. CEMWorks' solution is capable of processing the simulation as one, even when devices and interactions aren't physically right next to each other. Contributing to the AI trend The other upcoming trend that CEMWorks believes they can contribute to is the AI sector. For one, AI is fundamentally about AI chips, and CEMWorks' simulation tool can greatly help companies in a sector where component designs are getting increasingly complicated. "CEMWorks basically produces an advanced digital twin, where you create this 'twin' of the physical reality." Jonatan pointed out. It allows more thorough testing before a chip is produced physically. Besides acting as a tool for the design of AI components. CEMWorks believes it can also contribute to creating unique data for AI to train on. AI by itself is currently unable to do these kinds of physics simulations. Therefore, CEMWorks' simulations can produce data based on different scenarios and setups to generate datasets suitable for the AI to train on. Moreover, CEMWorks' solution is very efficient and thus can create a lot of data and do so more quickly compared to other solutions. Future plans Regarding what they want to achieve through the CTA program, Gabriel mentioned that he spent two years in Taiwan to complete his GMBA with the National Taiwan University (NTU). Therefore, he has a local network and is well aware of Taiwan's relevance in the global semiconductor industry, an area to which CEMWorks' business is closely connected. As a simulation tool provider for electronic components, CEMWorks sees the collaboration with CTOT as a gateway to establish connections in Taiwan and the greater Eastern Asia region. Their goal is to become an industry standard and to do so, they "need to be present on computers across their target industries." Thus, they're actively looking for partners that can help match their solutions with local companies, either a distributor or someone who can offer a bundle with their tool. As for the company's future plans, Jonatan pointed out that they've spent the past five to ten years doing "deep R&D" to build up this simulation tool. Now, they are trying to bring their solution to companies to help develop new technologies. Gabriel added by bringing up some emerging markets, they are looking to expand on top of their current involvement with semiconductors. These include metamaterials, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, and other communication systems and connectivity-related sectors like satellite communications and space-based applications. Photo: Business Development Manager Gabriel Lafond-Wise. Credit: CEMWorks 'Leadership is not forever': Pompeo urges Taiwan to continually innovate to maintain chip dominance Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Taiwan to attend the inauguration of Taiwan's fifth elected president on May 20, 2024. This marked Pompeo's third visit to the island. Following the inauguration, Pompeo spoke at a launch event for his book, "Never Give An Inch," at the Chang Yung-fa Foundation on May 21. In his speech, Pompeo praised Taiwan's robust rule of law and pluralistic democracy and emphasized the crucial role Taiwan plays in the global economy. "Any conflict that threatens Taiwan's stability has direct consequences for global markets, disrupting trade routes and supply chains, thus impacting not only regional but global economic stabilityincluding that of the United States," he said. Pompeo also lauded Taiwan's family-run small and medium-sized enterprises as the backbone of its economy. He highlighted the "pool of well-trained talents who run factories, manage industries, and govern with efficiency," adding humorously, "it is almost a marvel to find more US-trained engineers and entrepreneurs in Taipei than in some capitals in the West." CHIPS Act and global leadership When asked about the CHIPS Act and US-Taiwan semiconductor collaboration, Pompeo clarified that the goal of the legislation, conceived during his tenure as Secretary of State, was not to solely relocate semiconductor production to the US but to establish a high-level manufacturing presence that would complement global supply chains. He noted this was the rationale behind approaching TSMC and Samsung. "The establishment of a US semiconductor ecosystem does not mean the United States or the world would no longer depend on TSMC," he said to the audience. He cautioned Taiwan to continue innovating in the semiconductor field to maintain its competitive edge over China. "We were the global ship leader for an awfully long time. And then we lost it. Leadership is not forever," he warned. Pompeo believes Taiwan's continued dominance relies on training the next generation of talent and a deep commitment to high-end research. "Every American company in this sector is counting on you to continue being innovative and creative, delivering not just for the United States but for Europe, India, and the world," he concluded. The silicon shield As a key advocate for the US to develop its own semiconductor production system to reduce economic dependence on China, Pompeo praised TSMC's 2020 decision to invest US$12 billion in a US plant while serving under the Trump administration as per reports from Reuters. He described it as a move to strengthen US-Taiwan ties at a critical juncture when China is vying to dominate cutting-edge technology. Pompeo was also involved in the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act in 2022, urging the US Congress to pass the legislation. "The cost of compromise on this bill pales in comparison to the costs we will suffer if we allow the Chinese Communist Party to one day own and control access to our most critical technologies," he wrote on the Department of Commerce's website. According to reports from Epoch Times and SETN, during a previous trip, Pompeo met with executives from various industries in Taiwan, including semiconductor foundry PSMC, food manufacturer I-Mei Foods, hotel operator Regent Taipei, and China Steel Corporation. He also held a video call with TSMC Chairman Mark Liu and met with founder Morris Chang. In an October 2022 Wall Street Journal column that he co-authored, Pompeo argued that Taiwan's primary defense is its economic influence rather than its military might. He believes Taiwan's dominant position in the semiconductor industry, referred to by President Tsai Ing-wen as Taiwan's "silicon shield," can be leveraged as protection against Chinese aggression. "If China annexes Taiwan, US manufacturers could capitalize on market dislocation by increasing domestic production while chip prices soar." He then suggested that building US semiconductor companies to fill the supply gap in case of Chinese annexation of Taiwan could also deter China from pursuing an attack. However, Pompeo did not specify how the building of the US' semiconductor capacity could reinforce Taiwan's silicon shield, consequently deterring China's aggression. 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Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Bruce Springsteen fans have voiced their anger at Croke Park after many missed the beginning of his final sell-out Croke Park gig due to large queues outside the stadium. The Boss was performing the final show on his Irish tour, playing to 80,000 adoring fans at the home of GAA, but the show was delayed by 15 mins as fans struggled to get into the stadium. The 74-year-old rock legend had already played in Belfast, Kilkenny, Cork and was finishing up with what some fans feared may be his last ever Irish gig at the GAA stadium. Disgruntled fans took to social media to complain about hour-long queues into the stadium. One disgruntled fan admitted that she had "never been to Croker before but with their money wouldn't you think the GAA could afford to automate the turnstiles instead of having a bloke scan individual tickets?" Footage shared online by some fans showed hundreds of fans still streaming through the gates into the ground 10-minutes after Springsteen took to the stage just before 7.15pm with the pitch half empty. It was reported the queue stretched the whole way along Clonliffe Avenue to Drumcondra. Springsteen and the E Street Band were well into their set before the stadiums pitch looked full. Another seemingly late fan slammed the admission gate organisation as an "absolute disaster" and said they were stuck "queuing for an hour". The stadium opened at 5pm two hours before the The E Street Band were due to take to the stage. Prior to the gig fans were told they would not to be allowed to queue early but also advised not to bring bags to the event unless it was strictly necessary. The Irish deputy premier has said he is very concerned about the slow progress in bringing the killers of an Irish peacekeeper to justice during a trip to Lebanon. Tanaiste Micheal Martin pressed the Lebanese government about the investigation into the death of Private Sean Rooney. The 24-year-old, from Co Donegal, was killed while serving in Lebanon when his convoy was attacked in 2022. Mr Martin met with the Lebanese minister for foreign affairs, Abdallah Bou Habib, and a lawyer representing the minister for defence in Lebanon on Monday morning. Speaking after the meeting, the Tanaiste said: We are very, very concerned. We want justice to be done and we want those who committed the crime, killing Sean Rooney and injuring other Irish soldiers. We want these people brought to justice, and I understand the separation of powers but we are concerned of the slow pace of this trial and the Irish people want justice in respect of that. One of the suspects who was arrested over the killing was released on bail last year due to a medical condition. Meanwhile, Mr Martin said that it is a very sad day following the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The Iranian president, the countrys foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and several other officials were found dead hours after their helicopter crashed in a mountainous region of the countrys north-west. Speaking before confirmation of their deaths, Mr Martin said: I am aware of the reports in respect of both the Iranian president and the foreign minister. I have spoken to foreign minister Hossein on quite a number of occasions. It is deeply concerning and we dont yet have full confirmation but obviously our thoughts and our prayers are with the families involved in terms of potential fatalities. It is a very sad day when a situation like this occurs. The DART+ Coastal North major public transport project, that will extend the overhead electric wires on the DART system by 37km, from Malahide in north Dublin to Drogheda in Louth, is set to enter the planning system, after Cabinet agreement was secured today by Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan. It will allow for fast, high-frequency and fully electrified DART trains to operate between Dublin city and Drogheda. This will upgrade the rail service to growing communities along the route, including at Clongriffin, Donabate, Balbriggan and Skerries. Following Government approval today, a Railway Order (planning application) for the DART+ Coastal North project will be submitted to An Bord Pleanala by July. Subject to planning permission and funding arrangements, construction works on the route could commence later this decade, taking approximately three years to complete. In the meantime, by 2026 there will be a significant boost to rail services between Dublin and Drogheda through the roll-out of 65 new battery-electric DART carriages. These new battery-electric DARTs will replace existing diesel services and provide sustainable modern trains to communities on the route. The development will also be a stepping-stone towards the Coastal North project involving overhead electrification and other capacity improvements on the route. For example, upon completion of DART+ Coastal North, passenger capacity between Malahide and Drogheda will increase from approximately 4,800 people travelling at peak hour in the busiest direction, to 8,800. This is an 83% increase. DART+ Coastal North is managed by Iarnrod Eireann (IE) and funded by the Department of Transport through the National Transport Authority (NTA). The project is part of the multi-billion-euro DART+ Programme which will almost treble the DART rail network from 53km to 150km. The DART+ Programme involves extending the DART to Drogheda to the north, Maynooth and M3 Parkway to the west, and Hazelhatch and Celbridge to the south-west. The Programme will encourage more people to travel conveniently and sustainably by public transport, with the number of people living within 1km of a DART station more than doubling from approximately 250,000 at present to 600,000 in future. Minister Ryan said: The Governments approval of DART+ Coastal North today marks another milestone in our Commitment to develop sustainable public transport infrastructure for people and communities throughout the country. The DART+ Programme will see a major expansion in DART services across the eastern region, especially to the North, West and Southwest of Dublin. "The Coastal North scheme will improve rail links to thriving and expanding towns and communities like Balbriggan, Gormanston and Laytown on the way to Drogheda, itself a lively, growing town. This is about giving more people, more transport choices, so that they can choose to leave the car at home more often. "People will start to see changes quickly, with brand new battery-electric DART trains between Dublin city and Drogheda set to operate by 2026, ahead of the further upgrade planned through the Coastal North project. We want to put Ireland on track for a new age of rail. DART+ will help us deliver that. Minister of State Chambers added: I welcome the Governments approval today of the Preliminary Business Case for the DART+ Coastal North project. This will enable a significant expansion of the electrified DART rail network, providing a more frequent and better integrated public transport service for commuters and all rail users in villages, towns and communities across north Dublin, Meath, Louth and surrounding areas. "Todays announcement complements the work already underway as part of the wider overall DART+ Programme including DART + West which will massively enhance and improve rail services and frequency to stations between Dublin City and Maynooth. This significant investment will improve quality of life for families and households throughout commuter belt communities as well as support businesses and enhance connectivity. Anne Graham, CEO of the NTA, said: The DART+ Coastal North project is a key deliverable in the Greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy and will provide a major improvement to rail services for passengers between Dublin city and Drogheda. This project will be particularly beneficial to commuters living in growing areas such as Clongriffin and Donabate who will see more and better services as a result. Jim Meade, CEO of Iarnrod Eireann, said: We welcome this decision from the Government which shows clear progress in the roll-out of the ambitious DART+ Programme. DART+ Coastal North will have a significant beneficial impact on the quality of the service that we can provide on the route, increasing frequency, reliability and comfort for our passengers. The Louth branch of MS Ireland is to celebrate World MS Day on 30th May. To mark world MS day this year their annual Vintage Car Show will be held in the Parish Centre in Ardee on Saturday 1st June. The display of classic and vintage cars is a real treat for car enthusiasts and is a vital means of support for the Louth Voluntary Branch of MS Ireland. There are 10,000 people in Ireland living with Multiple Sclerosis. The North East Area of Louth Meath Cavan and Monaghan supports almost 700 people. The Louth branch has almost 300 members who are offered classes and programs both online and in- person. These supports include physiotherapy, mindfulness, and yoga. There are online programs for newly diagnosed, and up to date medical interventions. They offer comprehensive information on financial supports and other services for people with disabilities. One of the most important aspects of membership of the Louth Branch of MS-Ireland is the peer support through or meetings and social gatherings. A spokesperson for the Louth branch said: The MS community greatly appreciates the support from our families, friends and carers. We are thankful for the generosity of people who support our fundraising activities and help us to continue living with Multiple Sclerosis. Irish sustainability experts ConnectGreen (connectgreen.ie) has launched its innovative biodiversity and carbon offsetting platform. This platform aims to connect farmers and landowners with companies who are looking for guaranteed, certified, and verified biodiversity and carbon offsetting initiatives. By leveraging the new EU carbon framework, ConnectGreen makes it possible for ordinary landowners, including farmers, to participate in the carbon and biodiversity credits global marketplace and maximise the financial benefits of carbon farming. John Kelleher, CEO of ConnectGreen commented: We are calling on farmers and landowners across Ireland to see the revenue potential in the evolving biodiversity credits and carbon offsetting sector. We come from a farming background ourselves and we understand the pressures that farmers are currently under. With Irelands biodiversity plans that aim to rewild and rewet 20% of the countrys land, we are partnering with farmers and landowners helping them unlock the potential and opportunity of realising a dependable, long-term income stream from carbon and biodiversity assets on their own land. We are also highlighting to Irish-based companies the option of securing their biodiversity and carbon credits here in Ireland why invest in projects in Africa or South America, when our platform offers a wide range of biodiversity and carbon offset initiatives available across Ireland. Your customers and shareholders will appreciate your action in ensuring your ESG investments are helping to improve the environment right here at home rather than in a project half-way round the globe. Cattle and sheep farmers Mike Cremins and his uncle, Pat Cremins, who are fourth and fifth-generation farmers from Meenganaire, Knocknagoshel, Kerry, said: We have been saying for years that someone has to pay farmers for the great work they do in managing the landscape, in particular, for farmers who own what could be termed poorer land in peatland and mountain areas like ourselves where economic viability is always difficult. ConnectGreens platform with its biodiversity credits and carbon offsetting opportunities is a great way of compensating small farmers and landowners like ourselves for the work we do day in and day out in nurturing the Irish countryside. From the outset, ConnectGreen has focussed on providing an opportunity for companies and landowners to collaborate in carbon offsetting in a thoroughly verifiable and certified way, guaranteeing that a reliable and quantifiable level of offsetting is taking place. Mr Kelleher concluded: That is the essence of our triple-lock: verified, certified and guaranteed. We offer an unwavering commitment to authenticity and integrity, so every carbon credit purchased through our platform has been rigorously verified by our expert team. The carbon market is evolving rapidly and were excited to be at the forefront of this new movement in Ireland and across the EU. ConnectGreen is already engaged with a number of biodiversity and carbon offsetting projects across Ireland, and we have ambitious targets to oversee deals that will facilitate the removal of 250k tons of carbon from the atmosphere by the end of 2024. Full details on how the ConnectGreen platform works can be found on the companys website: ConnectGreen.ie. The site also features tailored content for both landowners, including farmers, who are looking to maximise income from their holdings. ConnectGreen also offers a Software as a Service platform for companies looking to engage in carbon accounting including the monitoring, reporting, and verification of biodiversity and carbon assets. About ConnectGreen Established in 2023 and headquartered in Cork, ConnectGreen provides a comprehensive suite of services designed to facilitate businesses on their journey to net-zero emissions while helping landowners maximise return on Investment from their land. The company currently has 5 employees. The ConnectGreen platform connects businesses seeking to reduce their carbon footprint with landowners who implement carbon offset projects. Unlike in other carbon markets, ConnectGreen certificates verify and guarantee that the carbon that has been purchased was actually sequestered. MARGARET OLeary is in a jubilant mood when I talk to her at her place of work; The Rory Gallagher Music Library on Grand Parade, Cork. I am Executive Librarian as of four hours ago! she says. Ive been promoted. Im delighted. The Executive Librarian is responsible for the management and delivery of public library and/or related support services. Margaret, who was born in Donoughmore, has a lot to be delighted about. Being a librarian is very suited to me. It is a great job, she said. Margaret at work. Picture; Eddie O'Hare Margaret, a people person, clearly has great attributes for the job. I am a good communicator, she says. Communicating and chatting with people is a nice part of my role. My job is unique. It is also a convenient job for Margaret, who has 31 years of experience working with the library services. I live in Cork city, says Margaret. Im only four minutes away and I enjoy walking to and from work every day. Her family has a history of working with Cork City Council. My grandad worked for the council and others in my family, says Margaret. I followed in their footsteps providing services for the council. I was always aware of the council and the services it provided, says Margaret. Like her grandad, Margaret likes being part of a hard-working, experienced team. Margaret at the Rory Gallagher music library at the Cork City library. Picture; Eddie O'Hare Joining the library service, I was always a part of a great team helping people and providing them with information that they might not otherwise be able to access. I find serving customers and being of help to them extremely rewarding. The positive feedback every day keeps me motivated. Margaret is a book lover and a music lover. I am an avid reader like all of my family, she says. When did she become aware of the advantages of the library? The mobile library was a known meeting place when the library stopped in Firmount for a family catch-up and an informal book club meeting, says Margaret. So, once I saw an opportunity to join the library service I was in and I could very quickly see that this career suited my personality as it had the components of helping and providing for customers, working as part of a team and keeping books in order, which is very therapeutic and enjoyable once you get used to it. Margaret O'Leary executive libranian with Rita Wood, retired county library staff at the Rory Gallagher music library at the Cork City library . Picture; Eddie O'Hare Margaret is well used to her job. I like to prepare a list every day of the work ahead of me, she says. I love the variety of work and dealing with customers and artists who are passionate about their music. It amazes me the amount of people who stop off to borrow an item and will also stop off at the counter to discuss music. We pride ourselves in giving time and attention to everyones needs, music or book-wise. What does Margaret like to read? I could read anything! I dont like anything too scary as I have a vivid imagination! I particularly like the authors John Sheridan and Frank OConnor. I enjoy music of any genre. My husband and I have a big collection of music at home. Since moving to the Music Library, I have been distracted and now listen to much more music. Margaret likes going to live music gigs. I always loved the showband era, she says. I am a fan of Gina And The Champions, Red Hurley. and I followed The Indians. Recently, I was at a Joe Dolan tribute, and it was fabulous. Margaret with Rebecca Crichton, staff office at the music listening zone at the Rory Gallagher music library at the Cork City library . Picture; Eddie O'Hare The music-related information available at the Rory Gallagher Music Library in Cork, open since 1978, is fabulous and extensive. It provides music, books, scores, CDs, and DVDs in all genres, classical, choral, traditional, jazz, contemporary, rock and pop, for lending reference and archival purposes. Memorabilia includes Rory Gallaghers guitars and programmes, and in the Thomas Davis room, people using the library can listen to varied collections of music. The experienced team I have with me ensure that Cork city has plenty of provision as regards music to listen to and books relating to music, says Margaret. We outreach to all the libraries in the city, and we collaborate to provide events and ensure the music needs of the library branches are met. Our local exhibitions are very popular, and they create great interest among the public. Our music archives are extensive, with a store of collections such as The Cork Music Archive, Joan Denise Moriarty Collection, and the Fleischmann Collection. We have a store of music CDs going back to 1989 and extensive collections of Irish music. Margaret enjoys good job satisfaction. The best part of my job is the knowledge that we are providing a service to the city of Cork and beyond that adds to quality of life and provides a social outlet to many in a safe environment. All our services are free. Margaret says the library is a useful and a valuable place to visit, to study, interact with people, research, listen to music, enjoy exhibitions, and delve into music and scores of the past and present. The library is very social, she adds. It is inclusive and available to everybody. We are always looking to maintain and improve our range of services. Margaret is an expert in her field. I worked first in Mallow library, then Fermoy, Ballincollig. I jumped to the city library services when the city boundaries changed, working in Bishopstown Library and Tory Top Library. I enjoyed working in all locations. Margaret at work. The Rory Gallagher Music Library is one of two music libraries in the country. We fulfil requests for music items from all over the country, says Margaret. We purchase stock for a wide range of tastes. This means keeping an eye on up-coming trends and ensuring all music tastes are catered for. We provide guitar/ukulele, creative dance classes and we are running a toddlers music time for families all over the city, continues Margaret. The library celebrates lots of things happening in the city. We celebrate the Choral festival, Folk Festival, Ortus Festival, the Jazz Festival. We celebrate Bealtaine, Heritage week, and Culture Night. The library is a place to gather and support people. We run a Live at the Library session every Saturday to support new and upcoming local artists, says Margaret. We hold three different Music Circles here, Country, Irish and Nostalgia/Classical. There is many a lively discussion held after the events on the pros and cons of the pieces played. Music and Memories Boxes were a new initiative by Cork City Libraries funded by Cork County Council Innovation Fund, supplied to 10 nursing homes in the area. The boxes contained 30 pictures of Cork in the 50s, 60s and 70s, 15 music CDs of that era and four dementia-friendly books, a dementia-friendly jigsaw puzzle serving as a memory tool kit. This pilot scheme was so hugely successful that it has been expanded, says Margaret. Coordinators in nursing homes use books and pictures to encourage memories, conversation and connectivity. The box of new items will be supplied to nursing homes each month by Cork City Library Link Service. Margaret is a great ambassador for the library service. We get people coming in from all over the world. It is fantastic. She is not going anywhere soon. I have no desire to retire. I love my job. AS the parent of a child with multiple food allergies, eating out as a family is something that fills me with worry. Even in restaurants where allergen information is clearly displayed, there is always the chance of new ingredients being added, or cross contamination. Recently, I went to a cafe with my two-year- old daughter. They didnt have dairy-free spread, so I ordered toast with honey. When it arrived, there were seeds on the bread. As my daughter is allergic to sesame, I asked the server what kind of seeds they were. She didnt know, and neither did the chef. The bread was supplied by a bakery, and they couldnt find the allergen list for that exact loaf. Eventually, the kitchen rang the bakery, who confirmed that they were sesame seeds. Thankfully, it was a near miss, and the worst thing I had to deal with was an upset and hungry toddler. On another day, things could have gone differently. Shannen OReilly, from Cork, knows how hard it is for people with severe allergies to dine out. Her family business is in forecourt delis and food trucks, and her sister has a severe peanut allergy. Seeing her sister struggle with eating out inspired Shannen to create TrustDish, a new app for restaurants and customers, that aims to make allergens simple for everyone to understand. Currently, food businesses record allergens in booklets, which means flicking through pages for ages to find allergen information, says Shannen. This makes it difficult for someone with allergies to find out what foods are safe to eat. Its also challenging for the restaurant to keep the book updated, and she says staff dont receive enough training on allergens. Shannen did Early Childhood Studies in UCC, before completing a Masters in Food Business and Innovation. While on a placement with a large multinational food company, she was so frustrated with how they approached allergens. For example, the Asian-inspired meals they provided for delis were cooked in peanut oil, so someone with a severe peanut allergy wouldnt be able to walk into the store where this food was being served. With TrustDish, a manager or chef can scan the labels of new products or ingredients to update allergen information at the touch of a button. The customer can scan a QR code when dining in a TrustDish premises to access up-to-date allergen information. A traffic light system shows them what dishes are safe to eat. The app also includes a map which highlights food businesses that are signed up to TrustDish. Shannen says that, at the moment, if a reaction happens in a restaurant, the restaurant gets the blame. She says this new approach will help restaurants by keeping a digital paper trail of everything. This is shared responsibility. Businesses signed up to TrustDish will also follow a set of protocols for preparing food safely, and have a dedicated allergy safe station. Chefs will be required to change their apron, gloves, and utensils. This is something restaurants are already supposed to do, but in practice it doesnt always happen. A change of mindset is needed, Shannen says. Currently, if an Environmental Health Officer does an inspection of a premises, food allergens is a small part of the whole picture. If allergen information is incorrect, you might get a slap on the wrist, she explains. In the UK, it took a tragedy to change the law and improve compliance. In 2016, British teenager Natasha Ednan-Laperouse suffered a fatal anaphylactic reaction on board a flight from the UK to France. She was allergic to sesame and purchased a baguette before boarding the flight, not realising that sesame seeds had been baked into the dough. After her death, her family campaigned successfully for a new law on labelling requirements for pre-packaged food. Known as Natashas Law, these changes empower consumers with food allergies to make clear, safe choices when buying food. At a challenging time for the food industry, its in the interest of restaurants to update their approach. A survey of young people with allergies by Anaphylaxis UK found 60% have avoided eating out due to their food allergy. In the same survey, 87.5% said they would leave a restaurant or food retailer if they were not confident in the allergen safety information provided. According to the Irish Food Allergy Network (IFAN), approximately 5% of children and 3% of adults in Ireland suffer from food allergies. They belong to groups and families that food businesses are losing as customers by not prioritising allergen management. Restaurants are increasing their potential customers by doing this, says Shannen. It helps them stand out from the competition. Shannens goal is to make TrustDish the number 1 global allergen management solution. She hopes to bring the app to the UK as soon as we can. Right now, TrustDish is in testing mode. It is being used in OReillys Texaco on Carrigrohane Road, Shannens family business. It will soon be rolled out in Sober Lane and at Leas at The Glucksman in UCC. Shannen says they are also looking for customers to be BETA testers. Were reaching out to people with allergies, parents, and carers, she says. Details can be found at www.trustdish.com ONE of Corks best-loved authors is celebrating the news that not only are his books now available in bookstores across the United States, but he is being honoured by the northsides pigeon fanciers. Novelist Conal Creedon has just signed a distribution deal with Barnes & Noble, the largest US books retailer, which has more than 600 stores across all 50 states. Mr Creedon told The Echo that his first foray into the US had been in 2008, when the Irish American Cultural Institute invited him to present a seven-city, coast-to-coast reading tour. It was mighty fun, I made great friends on that tour and they invited me back. Since then, his plays have wowed critics from the New York Times, New York Post and New Yorker, picking up numerous US awards. Perhaps his greatest recognition, though, has come from his own people, with Fairhill Pigeon Club's Scott Lee naming his favourite pigeon after a character from Mr Creedons 2018 novel, Begotten Not Made. In the novel, Dowcha Boy is a Fairhill pigeon who, when all hope is lost, saves the lives of soldiers trapped in No Mans Land and becomes a hero of World War I. Pigeons and their fanciers have always featured in Mr Creedons fiction and everything he writes is inspired by his Leeside home. I guess the local versus global paradox seems to be that, the more detailed and honest the depiction of local fiction, the more accessible it becomes to a global audience, he said. During the naming ceremony in the Fairhill loft, a recently hatched chick Asha was named after Mr Creedons niece and marketing manager. Asha has become my sidekick, she has a natural affinity with all animals - so it was very sweet when Scott called the baby chick after Asha, Mr Creedon said. Do you know why the pigeons return home, even from as far away as Penzance across the Irish Sea? Ill tell you why. Theyre just like us. They just want to get home. And when home is Cork? Its a no brainer! More than 16,000 bids were made on just 70 local authority homes in Cork county in the first four months of 2024, it has been revealed. Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed there were 64,356 viewings of 70 properties advertised on Cork County Councils choice-based letting (CBL) system between January 1 and May 1 this year. Some 16,285 bids were made following the viewings, with some properties receiving more than 400 expressions of interest alone while the majority received at least 100 bids. CBL is an online system whereby applicants on the councils housing waiting list can submit an expression of interest by bidding on suitable properties which they feel may meet their housing needs. The properties are then allocated to the applicant whose position on the list is highest in accordance with Cork County Councils allocation scheme. Absolutely shocking Speaking to The Echo, Cork TD Thomas Gould (SF) labelled the figures absolutely shocking. He said: That over 16,000 families bid on just 70 homes shows the scandalous level of need across Cork county. It is particularly frustrating when you think that every single time a family bids on one of these homes, they spend time imagining their life there, said Mr Gould. They think about where their kids will go to school, about how theyll commute, how far they are from their own families. Theyll imagine Christmases and birthdays. That is the reality for these families and these figures show that supply simply isnt there to meet the level of demand. Over 100 families bid on the vast majority of these homes, he said. That is 100 people imagining a future in these places. Scandalous Mr Gould also highlighted the fact that one home in Whitechurch received over 200 bids. This is scandalous when just a couple of kilometres down the road, there are 10 beautiful homes sitting empty in Carraig na bhFear because Irish Water wont connect them, he said. How can that happen in the middle of this housing crisis? I believe we need to see an increase in delivery across Cork county, the Cork TD said. We need to see an uptick in building so that these families, imagining their lives in secure housing, have a real chance at a home. Meanwhile, 13 homes in Carrigaline received over 3,000 bids, according to the councils CBL data. Out of reach Sinn Feins local election candidate for Carrigaline, Eoghan Fahy, said: I wish I could say I was shocked to see that almost 3,000 families bid on just 13 homes in the Carrigaline local election area. The reality is though that its not surprising because this is coming up on nearly every door for me. For people in my ward, safe, secure and affordable housing is almost completely out of reach. People are crying out for homes but in 12 weeks, we only saw 13 homes across Passage West, Ringaskiddy and Carrigaline, he said. That is a shocking indictment of this governments failure to resource local authorities to build homes for families and individuals. Cork County Council was contacted for comment. There is good news for parents and staff of the Before 5 childcare facility in Churchfield, as progress has been made in talks with state body Pobal about funding the facility. Northside Community Enterprises, which will manage the childcare facility going forward, has shared that they had a positive meeting with Pobal about securing the funding required to bring the service up to standard. The company identified the need for an investment of 360,000 to make a new facility operational, with fire safety and building controls needing to be brought up to standard. Plans NCE general manager Wayne ODonnell told Cork TDs and councillors the company met Childrens Minister Roderic OGorman on Monday, May 13, outlining their plans to reopen the facility. Mr ODonnell said: Although the minister could not guarantee we will get funding he said he was aware of the proposal, that very positive work was being done at department level and assured us that all options are being explored. Last Friday, the NCE had an online meeting with Pobal, which gave them some actions to complete regarding the plans they have put together before they take it back to the Department of Children. Pobal provided a three-year business plan template for NCE to complete, with a lot of the information required things they already have outlined in previous correspondence. Template However, there are a few points in the template that NCE need to get clarity from Pobal on before they complete it, said Mr ODonnell, who added: We will continue to give Pobal all the information require. NCE feel the meeting with Pobal was positive and they hope that funding is allocated to us, no timeline was spoken about, but we at NCE will continue to engage with Pobal and the department, Mr ODonnell said. People Before ProfitSolidarity TD for Cork North-Central Mick Barry told The Echo: I think that there is a real onus now on Northside Community Enterprises to draft the three-year plan requested quickly and for the department to process the updated funding request quickly. There are parents on the Northside who have been very badly done by here in terms of childcare and early learning services for their children. I will be doing everything I can to keep the pressure on on this issue in the weeks ahead. Progress made Fianna Fail councillor for Cork city North West Tony Fitzgerald said, theres been lots of progress made and engagement in recent months in relation to securing the funding. I was pleased that Minister OGorman came to visit NCE last week and saw the excellent work undertaken there, and how professional NCE is in terms of delivering childcare services on the northside of the city. There are challenges, but there is lots of positive news. A three-month suspended jail term was imposed on a 34-year-old woman for her 13th time shoplifting in Cork city centre. Judge Mary Dorgan imposed that sentence suspended on condition that she is of good behaviour for the next 12 months on Rebecca Delaney of Cork Simon Community. Sergeant Dave Delea said this theft was committed on May 15 2023 when she stole 26 worth of clothing at Penneys on Patrick Street. Eddie Burke solicitor said in mitigation that this offence dated back one year, she is now doing much better in her life and she was pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity. Community centre is needed Local election candidate for Fianna Fail in Cork City Northeast, Shane Ryan, has called for a community centre to be built in Ballyvolane to tackle the issue of anti-social behavior. Mr Tyan said: I am advocating for a community centre to be built to serve the Glanmire and Ballyvolane areas. Being a teacher myself, I know the importance amenities like this play in helping young people live to their full potential. Community centres serve as a safe place for young people and provide them with an alternative to public loitering. He added that support from the surrounding community for the clubs, schools and associations in the area is also crucial to help young people live their lives. Providing more amenities for young people in our local area is a key part of my campaign, because I know just how important they are to helping children in our community thrive. Artists Shane ODriscoll and Mary Palmer speaking at STAMP, an interactive visual arts, craft and design festival at the Triskel Arts Centre. Picture: Brid ODonovan Blarney Street Camino The public is invited to walk the Blarney Street Camino with Shandon Street Mens Shed in preparation of Mens Health week 2024. On June 6 starting at the Catholic grotto at 12pm, the mens shed will embark on a 2km walk down Blarney Street. They will walk the longest street in Ireland to celebrate men, and to bring light to the positive and meaningful impact that mens sheds have on the men of Cork. Collect your certificate at the end,and join them for music and refreshments in the Rocksteps Community Centre Blarney Street. The event is organised by Shandon Street Mens Shed. RSVP to Liz Madden, Community Health Worker at elizabeth.madden2@hse.ie or text/phone 087-6977942. Ladies of The Friendship Club knitting garments for charity. The club is located at Easons Hill Community Centre, Shandon. Picture: Martin Duggan. Ballyvolane AFC to take place next month at Leeds Park Ballyvolane's AFC Cork will host its AGM on Sunday, June 16, at 11.30am at Leeds Park. All members are invited to attend. Expressions of interest for committee roles can be sent by email to gerardmeany@gmail.com Eucharistic procession The Eucharistic procession to mark the feast of Corpus Christi will take place on this Sunday. The historic procession, which has deep roots in the Cork community, will begin at 3pm at the North Cathedral and proceed via Roman Street, Christy Ring Bridge, Academy Street, and St Patrick Street to Ss Peter and Pauls Church, Paul Street. Last years Procession, the first since the covid pandemic, saw more than 4,000 people from across the city and county join the procession. The theme of this years procession is unity bringing people together. Speaking ahead of the official launch, Bishop Fintan Gavin said: You cannot have the word community without unity. This years Eucharistic procession will celebrate the unity in faith that abounds in Cork, as well as the need to foster further unity in an increasingly complex world. Last years Procession was my first as Bishop of Cork and Ross. Bishop Fintan Gavin said. It was very gratifying to see the huge numbers walking, playing a prayerful part in the walk and the celebration in Ss Peter and Pauls. Large screens will be positioned to relay the procession to those assembled, awaiting the eucharist, and to broadcast the Benediction and liturgy from Ss Peters and Pauls, ensuring everyone will be able to participate. Bishop Gavin invites groups from across the city and county from new faith communities to join parish communities including primary and secondary schools to join the celebration. He added: The Eucharistic Procession holds deep-rooted significance for families and communities in Cork, which spans generations of faithful participants. Now, with new communities that have embraced Cork as their home, we have an opportunity to strengthen and celebrate our collective faith, while honouring our heritage. It is this unity in faith that will once again take centre stage in this years procession as we look forward to commemorating and celebrating its centennial milestone in two years time. Lotto jackpot at 19,075 The Parish lotto hasnt thrown up a winner in weeks and the jackpot stands at 19,075. You can watch the draw on the Blackpool Facebook page at facebook.com/bbgparish or the Cathedral Facebook page at facebook.com/corkcathedral. Tickets are available on the parish websites and parish Facebook pages. There is a minimum spend of 10 when buying tickets online but you can use this to buy a ticket for the next four draws. If you decide on auto renew it will renew your payment until you decide to cancel it. Tickets are available after all Masses and in the parish offices at the Cathedral and Blackpool during the week. Have Blackpool, Ballyvolane and Shandon news you wish to share? Contact Robert McNamara. Enabling works for the two new pedestrian and cycle bridges, which will form part of the Beamish and Crawford Quarter infrastructure project, are set to commence this week. The bridges will provide access to and through the Beamish and Crawford site. The northern bridge will link South Main St/Lamleys Lane to Crosses Green while the southern bridge will link Frenchs Quay/Probys Quay to the Beamish and Crawford site and onto South Main St. Jons Civil Engineering will carry out the construction of the bridges on behalf of Cork City Council. In addition to installing the two bridges, the city council said the contractor will carry out repairs and cleaning of the quay walls where necessary. A road closure has been put in place to facilitate the construction works on Crosses Green. The closure is from the junction with Wandesford Quay to the junction with Probys Quay and is set to remain in place until May 2025 with diversions in place. Cork City Council said local access will be maintained. CGI image showing a redeveloped South Main Street, with the Beamish and Crawford building in the background. Picture: Cork City Council The Beamish and Crawford Quarter infrastructure project has been touted as one of the most ambitious public realm programmes ever undertaken in the city centre. The works include the redevelopment of Bishop Lucey Park, the construction of the two new pedestrian and cycle bridges, streetscape improvement works on South Main St, Tuckey St, Frenchs Quay, Probys Quay, Keyser's Hill, Crosses Green, Wandesford Quay and Hanover Place/Hanover St and other related works such as the restoration of heritage lights on South Gate Bridge. The works are funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage under the under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund, with support from the National Transport Authority and Cork City Council. Cumnor Construction have already commenced work on the redevelopment of Bishop Lucey Park. A CGI impression of the redeveloped Bishop Lucey Park. Picture: Cork City Council As part of the scheme, the city centre park will be renewed based on an award-winning architectural design by Hall Mc Knight Architects. Lord Mayor of Cork, councillor Kieran McCarthy welcomed the redevelopment of the area. This scheme will see a complete rejuvenation of the historical area around the southern gateway to the medieval city, connecting the Grand Parade and a series of historic lanes, streets and Bishop Lucey Park with the south channel of the River Lee and the city centre business and retail district and creating a focal point for people to enjoy, he said. The union of new and modern infrastructure appropriate to a growing and thriving European city, with the preservation and restoration of the rich heritage and history of this portion of the citys medieval spine will connect Cork Citys past, present and future. The scheme is expected to be completed by the end of 2025. Regular updates on works and related traffic diversions will be posted on www.corkcity.ie and on Cork City Councils social media channels - Facebook, Instagram and X. A man living on a houseboat in Cork has described seeing a tornado coming straight toward him in a freak event on Tuesday afternoon. Gavin Higgins was watching the TV in his home, a converted 60-year-old former RNLI boat called The Lilly Wainwright, when a loud boom alerted him to what he described as a tornado bearing down on him from across Drakes Pool in Crosshaven. It was a lovely day and I thought it was thunder, but I came up into my cabin and I saw this tornado making its way toward me. The boat beside me left the water and hit the back end of my boat." He caught the event on video and shared it social media. I do swear on the video, unfortunately, but you would too if you saw a tornado coming at you, Mr Higgins said. The retired prison governor, who hails from Doncaster in Yorkshire, has lived in the Lilly Wainwright for five years, since he bought it in the boatyard in Crosshaven. Shes a self-righting lifeboat, she used to take on two tons of water and pump it from one side to the other. Shes a beautiful thing. Shes 15 ton of mahogany, he said. He fell in love with the boat when he saw it and the name plaque sealed the deal. Shes called The Lilly Wainwright. You can leave money to the RNLI and a man called John Wainwright did just that and they called it after his daughter Lilly. Theres a sign on the side of the boat says: A Yorkshireman John Wainwright paid for this boat, and when I saw it in the boatyard in Crosshaven I said Thats the boat for me, a Yorkshireman. Despite his soft English accent, he said he is completely Irish and loves his houseboat home. I always wanted to retire to Crosshaven and now I have. Im at home here, although I dont know why God sent a tornado after me! With a name like Higgins, you couldnt get more Irish. I am Irish, me father was from Crosshaven, me grandparents were from Crosshaven. They left her in the 1950s to go to Yorkshire, because there was work there then, and there was nothing here then, it wasnt even a fishing village then, now its like Marbella here. With a name like Higgins, Im probably related to the president! He laughed heartily when told hed better be careful, lest he get the nickname Hurricane Higgins. David Young and Claudia Savage, PA The UK treasury has agreed to review how Stormont is funded in the future as part of a deal that will also see the Executive receive an extra 24 million this year. The measures are part of an Interim Fiscal Framework signed off by the North's Finance Minister, Caoimhe Archibald, the UK treasury's chief secretary Laura Trott and UK Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton Harris in London on Tuesday. The 3.3 billion financial deal that accompanied the restoration of devolution earlier this year included a commitment to fund Northern Ireland on a needs-based basis going forward. Stormont Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald spoke to the media outside the UK treasury building in Westminster (Stefan Rousseau/PA) That would apply a 24 per cent uplift on money that flows to Northern Ireland as a consequence of spending decisions taken in England in areas where Stormont has devolved responsibility, such as health and education. That 124 per cent ratio on so-called Barnett consequentials was to apply on treasury funding announcements made from the start of the current financial year and therefore excluded the UK chancellors spring budget in March. However, the framework deal finalised on Tuesday will see that measure backdated to when Stormont returned in February a move that will see the 124 per cent applied to the Barnett elements of the budget, generating an extra 24 million for Stormont coffers in 2024/25. That extra funding will be distributed in June in the Executives first in-year monitoring round, which is the process by which new or unspent funds are allocated against bids from various departments. Finance Minister, Dr @CArchibald_SF today signed an Interim Fiscal Framework on behalf of the Executive securing a commitment from Treasury to review how the Executive is funded going forward. https://t.co/WjbkXXqZut pic.twitter.com/heP3Sgwlpr Dept of Finance (@dptfinance) May 21, 2024 The framework agreement also includes a treasury pledge to review the 124 per cent calculation of additional need, if multiple independent and credible sources provide evidence that the regions relative need is greater than that ratio. The 3.3 billion financial package will have already been spent in Northern Ireland prior to the start of the 2026/27 financial year. This had prompted concerns that Stormont would face a financial cliff edge when the additional support dried up. The framework also contains a commitment by the treasury to reassess the overall funding allocation to Northern Ireland prior to April 2026, as part of the process for setting the UKs next comprehensive spending review. The funding boost provided by the devolution package will see Northern Irelands funding allocation exceed the 124% relative spending ratio for 2024/25 and 2025/26. Despite this, the interim fiscal framework includes a commitment from the treasury to still apply the 124 per cent to any Barnett consequentials generated over those two years. Stormont Health Minister Robin Swann voted against the budget last month, claiming it would result in dangerous cutbacks in health service delivery (Liam McBurney/PA) Stormont ministers have long argued that Northern Ireland does not receive sufficient funding to meet the relative needs of the region. The Executive in Belfast agreed a budget package last month that Ms Archibald acknowledged had left all departments short of what they required. The North's Health Minister, Robin Swann, voted against the budget, claiming it would result in dangerous cutbacks in health service delivery. He has not ruled out quitting as minister if MLAs vote the budget through when it comes before the devolved Assembly. After the interim framework was approved on Tuesday, Dr Archibald spoke to reporters outside the Treasury. She said the deal marked a significant milestone for stabilising Northern Irelands finances. It will mean additional funding for public services in the North, she said. Laura Trott described the deal as significant (James Manning/PA) She added: Following intensive and constructive negotiations, I welcome treasurys agreement to reviewing the approach to funding the Executive at the relevant spending review. This firm commitment from treasury starts to address our concerns over a funding cliff edge once the financial package comes to an end in 2025/26. It provides assurances the Executive can plan on the assumption we will be funded at or above the 124 per cent level of relative need in future financial years. Treasury has agreed to the 124 per cent needs-based adjustment factor from Barnett consequentials being applied from the date of restoration of the Executive. This means a further 24 million from the Spring Budget will now be available for allocation as part of June monitoring. Any future Barnett in 2024/25 will be at this increased level, meaning additional funding for public services here. Nevertheless, the budgetary position facing the Executive remains incredibly challenging. I have been and will continue making the case for increased levels of funding in public services. I have been clear since taking up the role of finance minister of my determination to ensure our public services are fairly and properly funded. This job of work is far from over. Todays Framework, which has been secured at pace, is a step towards a full fiscal framework which is critical for long-term sustainability. I will continue to work with the chief secretary to the treasury on a final fiscal framework, which ensures the Executive has the financial tools and necessary taxation levers to deliver sustainable public finances and public services for the people we serve. Ms Trott said the significant deal would provide the Executive with further certainty and resources to deliver public services. Weve moved at speed to deliver our plan to address the most pressing issues facing Northern Irelands funding and will continue to work with the Executive to secure a fair and final Fiscal Framework made possible by the strength of our Union, she said. By Cillian Sherlock, PA There were 5,467 child sex-abuse referrals to Tusla in 2023, the chief executive of the organisation told an Oireachtas committee on Tuesday. This makes up 6 per cent of the 91,924 referrals received by the child and family agency last year. Kate Duggan revealed the figures during the Childrens Committee review of the Barnahus model for child sexual abuse victims. The Icelandic Barnahus system is a child-friendly response model for the co-ordination of criminal and child protection investigations of abuse cases and provision of support services for victims and their families under one roof. A Barnahus house in Iceland (Children 1st/PA) However, the committee heard there are challenges around full implementation of the model in Ireland, including some multi-disciplinary meetings operating virtually rather than in the same building. Under this model, a child who has experienced or disclosed sexual abuse can go to a friendly location where gardai, social workers, doctors, psychologists and other professionals can provide the services that may be needed. The aim is to reduce re-traumatisation by minimising the number of times a child needs to describe their experience. It is also intended to increase prosecution rates. The model is replicated in Finland, Norway, Slovenia and Sweden, and is in the process of being adopted in more than a dozen other European countries. Two centres are operating in the west and south of Ireland while a third is expected to open in the east this year. However, Barnahus South, which launched in the last few weeks, is operating as a virtual service until a purpose-built building is approved and completed on the St Marys Hospital campus in Cork. HSEs Barnahus lead Helen Shortt said she used the phrase virtual because while all the services are operating, they do not share the same premises. The committee was told that the site selected for Barnahus East is not large enough to also accommodate a Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATU) for children over 14. Ms Shortt said the Rotunda SATU is expected to hold virtual meetings with the Barnahus East site pending the availability of a building that can accommodate all the services. Ms Duggan said there are remaining challenges around operating the model, including staffing, geography and inconsistent implementation. Des Delaney, the Department of Childrens chief social worker, said Ireland is not doing too bad on implementation as it is in the middle ranking of Council of Europe countries. The Childrens Committee was also attended by Simon Coveney (Brian Lawless/PA) Green TD Patrick Costello praised the Barnahus model but raised concern about the number of centres relative to the countrys population, adding: Were not doing this big enough. Mr Delaney said a number of factors were taken into account behind the initial three centres, and fully agreed there was a more extensive network in other EU states. He said there is an openness to further recommendations of sites but added that the current focus is on getting the three sites operational. Mr Delaney added: Never say never. Im not disagreeing with you, deputy. A senior garda told the committee that the best scenario would be that all interviews of children in these circumstances would be conducted jointly with Tusla Justin Kelly, assistant commissioner for the Organised & Serious Crime Division, said 56 interviews were carried out at Barnahus West last year. Of these, 43 were solely garda interviews while 13 were joint interviews. The Childrens Committee was also attended by former minister for enterprise Simon Coveney after his appointment as a member. Website impersonation scams have become a growing problem, although many businesses arent happy with the tools they have to address them. A study released Tuesday by digital risk protection solutions company Memcyco found that nearly three-quarters of businesses have deployed a digital impersonation protection solution to avert online scams, but only 6% of those organizations are satisfied that it protects them and their customers. Thats really shocking, Memcyco CMO Eran Tsur told TechNewsWorld. According to the study, more than two-thirds of businesses (68%) know their websites are being impersonated, and almost half (44%) know this directly impacts their customers. The study is based on a survey of 200 full-time director-to-C-level employees in the security, fraud, digital, and web industries in the United States and the United Kingdom. A spoofed website can lead to significant financial losses for customers if they are tricked into providing login credentials or sensitive personal information, said Matthew Corwin, managing director of Guidepost Solutions, a global security, compliance, and investigations firm. Brand reputation can be severely damaged if customers fall victim to scams perpetrated through an impersonated website, eroding trust in the company, he told TechNewsWorld. A website impersonation scam can harm more than a companys reputation. There can also be direct financial losses from fraud, as well as indirect costs related to remediation, legal fees, and possibly some customer compensation, Ted Miracco, CEO of Approov Mobile Security, a global mobile application security company, told TechNewsWorld. Leaning on Customer Reports for Detection The study also found that the most common way two-thirds (66%) of the surveyed companies became aware of website impersonation attacks was through incident reports from affected customers. Thats unbelievable, Tsur said. Not only are the deployed solutions not protecting against or preventing these attacks, the organizations dont have a clue whether these attacks have taken place or not. Guidepost Solutions Corwin noted that businesses that depend primarily on customer reports to detect impersonation scams might miss out on crucial early warnings and the opportunity to defend against emerging threats proactively. A reactive approach puts the burden on customers, which can damage customer relationships and trust, he said. Learning about scams from customers means the attack has already impacted individuals, causing harm before mitigation even begins, added Approovs Miracco. Regular scans are the only alternative that might take down fake websites that mimic a brand, but this is challenging, as you have to anticipate events before they occur. Working from customer reports is a reactive approach, not a proactive one, he said. Im not sure an adequate defense exists yet, so users need to be educated and more careful before responding to emails that look legitimate. An even more worrying finding of the study is that over 37% of businesses said they first become aware of fake websites when customers affected by phishing-related scams publicize their experience on social media, a practice known as brand shaming. The study questioned how much longer businesses can afford to rely on customers as their main source of threat intelligence with AI and phishing kits increasingly available off-the-shelf. With these kits, everything is fully automated, Memcycos Tsur observed. You can launch it and forget it. Cybersecuritys Worst Nightmare Corwin explained that the accessibility of AI-driven tools and pre-packaged phish kits means even less technically skilled individuals can execute convincing impersonation attacks. AI-enhanced phishing tools can mimic legitimate websites more accurately, deceiving even the most vigilant users and amplifying the threat landscape, he said. Often, he continued, cybercriminals will also leverage domain names that appear nearly the same as the legitimate address of a company or brand but contain slight variations or errors, known as combosquatting or typosquatting.' AI is very dangerous, added Miracco. These tools are so easy to use, even for individuals with no technical skills, allowing virtually anyone to create sophisticated phishing campaigns. Its our worst cybersecurity nightmare come true hand-delivered by companies that talk about how wonderful AI will be. Sadly, the early adopters of most technologies are bad actors. Patrick Harr, CEO of SlashNext, a network security company in Pleasanton, Calif., noted that website impersonations have existed since the web was born. These were typically easy to spot by almost any user, he said. What has changed recently is two things phishers are squatting on legitimate domains, and phishers are using phishing kits and AI to generate near-perfect website pages. Without AI computer vision countermeasures, these are very difficult to discern and will make the threat actors more successful, not less, he maintained. Strategies To Combat Website Impersonation Scams Roger Grimes, a defense evangelist for KnowBe4, a security awareness training provider in Clearwater, Fla., recommended that every company sending emails implement DMARC, SPF, and DKIM, which are global anti-phishing standards. They attempt to defeat malicious emails and links claiming to be from the legitimate sending domain, he told TechNewsWorld. For example, he explained, If I get an email claiming to be from Microsoft, the receivers email server/client can use DMARC, SPF, and DKIM to see if the email actually originated from Microsoft. Miracco recommended that company websites ensure all web traffic is encrypted with SSL/TLS certificates to make it harder for attackers to intercept and spoof communications. He added that mobile applications should implement attestation mechanisms to verify their integrity and ensure that interactions with backend APIs only originate from legitimate, unaltered instances of the app. They should also hire threat intelligence services that can monitor for phishing kits, fake domains, and other indicators of impersonation. To counter tactics like typosquatting, Corwin noted that companies can register obvious variations or likely misspellings of existing domains, including hyphenated names, other popular domain extensions, and characters slightly out of order. There are brand monitoring services that will monitor for phishing sites and new domains which contain company intellectual property, and some will even help with automated domain takedown services, he said. These may help some companies, but unfortunately, because there are so many potential variations of domain names and current tools make it so easy to create these phishing sites, the risk is likely to persist. Miracco added that companies should not only focus on technological defenses but also foster a culture of security awareness among employees and customers. Website impersonation scams are a rapidly evolving threat that requires a multi-faceted approach, he said. AI has enabled this problem, and hopefully, in the near future, we will be deploying AI-enabled solutions that can preempt users from making costly mistakes with a fake site. Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions. An electric Ford Explorer in assembly during the pre-opening ceremony of the Ford Cologne Electric Vehicle Center, Ford's first EV center in Europe, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany on June 12, 2023. Marius Becker / dpa The Ford Motor Company said on Monday that it supports the United States Environmental Protection Agencys (EPAs) new regulations to reduce passenger vehicle tailpipe emissions by 49 percent over 2026 levels by 2032, reported Reuters. Ford is the second-largest automobile manufacturer in the country. Complying with emissions regulations requires lengthy advance planning, and Ford has taken steps to transform its business to ensure compliance with stricter emissions standards, the Michigan-based automaker said, as Reuters reported. Ford said the new rule would provide regulatory stability to the industry. Alliance for Automotive Innovation a trade group representing most major automakers, including Ford, Toyota Motor, General Motors, Honda Motor, Hyundai Motor and Volkswagen said it approved of two of the regulations key provisions. Specifically, it agreed with the inclusion of electric vehicles (EVs) in averages of fleetwide emissions and the exclusion of upstream emissions in compliance calculations. The auto alliance said the requirements are essential if vehicle manufacturers are to have any possibility of demonstrating compliance with the GHG reduction targets, reported Reuters. Republican state lawmakers have expressed concern that the Biden administration wants to force American passenger vehicle manufacturers to transition to EV production. Former President Donald Trump has said he will reverse Biden administration regulations that support EVs if he regains the White House. A California-led group of 22 states support the tailpipe emissions rule, saying without future vehicle emissions reductions they could suffer harm. Motor vehicle emissions standards are intended to help achieve and maintain air quality goals that benefit human health and the environment, Ford said on its website. The final rule Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles Phase 3 is one of the most important environmental rules of the Biden presidency, Reuters reported. However, according to EPA chief Michael Regan, it does not impose a mandate of adopting EVs on manufacturers. The final Phase 3 standards build on EPAs Heavy-Duty Phase 2 program from 2016 and maintain that programs flexible structure, which is designed to reflect the diverse nature of the heavy-duty vehicle industry, EPA said. The standards are technology-neutral and performance-based, allowing each manufacturer to choose what set of emissions control technologies is best suited for them and the needs of their customers. EPA has projected that from 35 to 56 percent of new vehicles sold would be electric between 2030 and 2032. [T]he standards can be met with a diverse range of heavy-duty vehicle technologies, including advanced internal combustion engine vehicles, hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, battery electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, EPA added. Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions. Ahead of World Fish Migration Day on May 25, a new Living Planet Index report has revealed major declines in migratory freshwater fish since 1970. According to the findings, migrating freshwater fish populations have declined 81% from 1970 to 2020. The Living Planet Index Migratory Freshwater Fishes report focused on data for migrating freshwater fish, or fish that move from one habitat to another for breeding and non-breeding in a seasonal or cyclical pattern. The report was a collaboration among the World Fish Migration Foundation, Zoological Society of London (ZSL), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Wetlands International and World Wildlife Fund (WWF). On average, the index of 1,864 monitored populations of 284 migratory freshwater fish species from around the world revealed an 81% decline since 1970, leading to an average 3.3% decline per year. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the report noted an average decline of 91%, and Europes migratory freshwater fish have declined by about 75%. The catastrophic decline in migratory fish populations is a deafening wake-up call for the world. We must act now to save these keystone species and their rivers, Herman Wanningen, founder of the World Fish Migration Foundation, said in a press release. Migratory fish are central to the cultures of many Indigenous Peoples, nourish millions of people across the globe, and sustain a vast web of species and ecosystems. We cannot continue to let them slip silently away. Although the report found smaller declines in North America, about 35%, and Asia-Oceania, about 28%, the authors explained they had deficient data for these areas, and they did not have enough data to produce an average for migratory freshwater fish in Africa. Many factors have contributed to the declining populations. According to the report, habitat degradation, loss and alterations, such as building dams in rivers or clearing wetlands for agriculture, made up about half of threats to the fish. Overexploitation made up nearly one-third of the threats. But in the past 30 years, other threats are becoming more prominent, such as the warming waters and other effects of climate change and increasing pollution in freshwater areas. Aside from being important parts of their ecosystems, freshwater fish are also an important food source globally, particularly for areas that may face food scarcity. In the face of declining migratory freshwater fish populations, urgent collective action is imperative, Michele Thieme, deputy director of freshwater at WWF-US, said in a statement. Prioritizing river protection, restoration, and connectivity is key to safeguarding these species, which provide food and livelihoods for millions of people around the world. Not all species have experienced declines, though, and the report highlighted that managed habitats and fisheries helped minimize declines for some populations. Management activities including fishing restrictions, no-take zones and bycatch reductions helped reduce declining populations of freshwater fish. Some populations also experienced increasing numbers. In addition to improved management and monitoring, the report authors suggested removing of barriers such as dams, preserving and restoring rivers, promoting public and political engagement on freshwater fish conservation and increasing international collaboration efforts to save migratory freshwater fish. Migrating Clanwilliam sandfish in South Africa. Jeremy Shelton / World Wildlife Fund Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions. English Harbour and Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean, viewed from Shirley Heights in Antigua. Sean Pavone / iStock / Getty Images Plus In a historic win for a group of small island nations including the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) has found that human-produced greenhouse gas emissions absorbed by the worlds oceans are considered marine pollution. In its first ruling related to climate, the tribunal a United Nations maritime law court advised that countries are obligated to safeguard marine environments by doing more than is required by the 2015 Paris Agreement, reported Reuters. Many small island nations are threatened by rising sea levels due to global heating. As the legal guardian of the Ocean Treaty, ITLOS has taken a critical first step in recognising that what small island nations have been fighting for at the COP negotiations for decades is already a part of international law, said professor Payam Akhavan, the legal representative of the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law (COSIS), as Euronews Green reported. The major polluters must prevent catastrophic harm to small island nations, and if they fail to do so, they must compensate for loss and damage. COSIS a group of nine small island nations in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean that are threatened by sea-level rise requested the opinion of ITLOS. Though the decision is an advisory opinion, it should provide precedent for future cases. What happened today was that the law and science met together in this tribunal, and both won, said Cheryl Bazard, European Union of the Bahamas ambassador, as reported by Reuters. In its opinion, ITLOS said nations must monitor and reduce emissions and specified what their environmental impact assessments need to contain. The court also said goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions are required to be objectively set and based on relevant international standards and rules, as well as the best available science a higher standard than the Paris Agreement. To those that would hide behind the weaknesses of international climate treaties, this opinion makes clear that compliance with the Paris Agreement alone is not enough, said Nikki Reisch, Centre for International Environmental Law director, as Reuters reported. In its opinion, ITLOS makes clear what countries must do about climate change in their national climate plans, national and regional courts and international obligations, such as during talks like the COP29 United National Climate Change Conference, reported Euronews Green. The tribunal was asked to consider whether greenhouse gas emissions qualified as marine pollution, what a countrys obligations were to prevent and reduce pollution and what their obligations were to preserve and protect oceans from climate change impacts. The decision of ITLOS that greenhouse gas emissions produced by humans are a type of marine pollution means states legal obligation to preserve and protect marine environments under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea applies to the main contributors to the climate crisis as well. States also have the obligation to protect and preserve the marine environment from climate change impacts and ocean acidification, said Judge Albert Hoffman in the delivery of the advisory opinion in Hamburg, as Euronews Green reported. Where the marine environment has been degraded, this obligation may call for measures to restore marine habitats and ecosystems. Other countries that brought the case before the tribunal were Niue, Vanuatu, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Palau, Nevis and St. Kitts. China and Russia strengthen soybean trade amid expanding agricultural cooperation Agricultural experts and industry insiders note that cooperation between China and Russia in the soybean industry serves as a win-win situation, meeting China's growing import demand while providing Russia with a significant export market and development opportunities, Global Times reported. Agricultural experts from China and Russia have engaged in in-depth discussions on bilateral cooperation, food security, and food processing, providing suggestions and support for the development of agriculture in both countries. This meeting took place during the ongoing eighth China-Russia Expo in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, which borders Russia's Far East region. Analysts highlight Russia's significant potential in soybean cultivation and exports, an important focus of cooperation between the two nations. Cooperation between China and Russia is accelerating across various fields, including energy, agriculture, finance, and infrastructure. Business representatives from both countries remain enthusiastic about the future of bilateral trade ties. Driven by the market need for diversifying supply sources for food security and reducing reliance on singular suppliers, experts believe China's soybean imports from Russia will increase in the near future. Russia is also likely to become a major supplier of carbohydrate foods such as wheat, rice, and corn to China, thereby reducing China's reliance on soybean imports from the US. This shift in trade dynamics is expected to strengthen agricultural cooperation between China and Russia. China's soybean supply remains stable as domestic output steadily increases alongside sufficient imports. In 2023, China's soybean production reached 20.84 million tonnes), marking a 2.8% year-on-year increase, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. As one of the largest markets for agricultural commodities and the world's largest importer of soybeans, China ensures food security through moderate imports to compensate for structural grain production shortages. In 2023, China imported 99.4 million tonnes of soybeans, an 11.4% year-on-year increase, with an import value of CNY 419.9 billion (US$58.1 billion), according to the General Administration of Customs of China. Currently, the US and Brazil are the primary sources of China's soybean imports, with Brazil's share increasing to 70% while the US share decreased to 24%, according to public data. Industry insiders note that China seeks to import substitutes from Brazil, Argentina, and Russia due to their lower prices compared with domestically produced soybeans. They predict further cooperation and development opportunities in agriculture between China and Russia. - Global Times Initiative aids student entrepreneurs 14:52, May 21, 2024 By Qiu Quanlin ( China Daily A national college student micro-entrepreneurship initiative, which has funded dozens of projects over the past 10 years, gave Zhang Xueying's business a major boost, and more young people are expected to take advantage of the program this year. "When we started the project several years ago, there was only an idea to develop products, without considering how the product would become marketable," said Zhang, then a college student. After receiving financial support in 2018, Zhang co-founder of Shenzhen Starseek Technology Co, which utilizes digital technology to create consumer and urban cultural tourism scene designs was able to refine her business model and expand it globally. Over the years, 470 projects created by college students have received funding since the microentrepreneurship action plan, organized by the KAB Club (China), was launched in 2014. This year alone, a total of 1.2 million yuan ($166,000) was awarded to 50 student startup projects out of 1,000 submitted by students from 262 universities, according to figures announced at an event on Thursday at South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province. The event, organized by KAB Club (China), China Youth Daily and GF Securities Social Charity Foundation, was held to publicize the results of the micro-entrepreneurship initiative and promote small student businesses in the fields of scientific and technological innovation, rural vitalization and sustainable development. Of the projects awarded funding, four are from universities based in Guangdong, an economic powerhouse in South China. Through activities such as project solicitation, micro-entrepreneurship lectures and project exhibitions, the initiative has helped build a platform for students to connect with venture capital institutions, conduct roadshows and showcase their projects, according to the event's organizers. The initiative has laid the foundation for the establishment of a college student micro-entrepreneurship ecosystem that encompasses creative incubation, project guidance and investment connections, the organizers said. The program has achieved significant success in fostering a vibrant culture of innovation and entrepreneurship on campuses, promoting practical entrepreneurship experiences among students and facilitating collaborative innovation between academia and industry, according to Dong Shi, editor-in-chief of China Youth Daily. "We have also hosted a series of international youth exchange activities, actively promoting China's important achievements in innovation and entrepreneurship to the international community," Dong said. Zhou Xitai, director of GF Securities Social Charity Foundation, said, "We will continue to leverage capital market resources to create investor matching platforms for student startups." According to a report on micro-entrepreneurship action projects that was released during the event, most of the projects that received funding were engaged in technological innovation. "Technological products and services were most notable among all the projects, reflecting the proactive response of college student entrepreneurial teams to the national call for developing new quality productive forces," said Ge Jianxin, a professor from Central University of Finance and Economics. Additionally, actively promoting comprehensive rural vitalization and developing the agricultural and green economy are also key areas of focus for student innovation and entrepreneurship, according to the report. (Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun) Actor Scarlett Johansson has accused OpenAI of copying her voice for one of the voice assisstants in ChatGPT despite denying the company permission to do so. Johanssons statement on Monday came hours after OpenAI said that the company would no longer use the voice in ChatGPT but did not provide a reason why. Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system, Johansson wrote in the statement shared by her public relations team with Engadget (NPR first reported the story). He told me that he felt that by my voicing the system, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers to feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and AI. He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people. Johansson added that she declined the offer after much consideration and for personal reasons, but when OpenAI demoed GPT-4o, the companys latest large language model last week, my friends, family, and the general public all noted how much the newest system named Sky sounded like me. When Johansson saw OpenAIs newest demo, she said she was shocked, angered and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mind that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference. She also revealed that Altman had contacted her agent just two days before the company revealed GPT-4o and asked her to reconsider, but released the system anyway before she had a chance to respond. "The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson's, and it was never intended to resemble hers," an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement sent to Engadget that the company attributed to Altman, OpenAI's co-founder and CEO. "We cast the voice actor behind Skys voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson. Out of respect for Ms. Johansson, we have paused using Skys voice in our products. We are sorry to Ms. Johansson that we didnt communicate better." Even though Sky has been one of the voice assisstants in ChatGPT since September 2023, GPT-4o, which the company announced last week, takes things a step further. The company said that the new model is closer to much more natural human-computer interaction and demoed its executives having nearly human-like conversations with the voice assistant in ChatGPT. This invited comparisons to Samantha, the virtual voice assistant played by Johansson in the 2013 movie Her who has an intimate relationship with a human being. Shortly after the event, Altman tweeted a single word her in an apparent reference to the film. On Monday, OpenAI said that it was pausing the use of Sky in ChatGPT and released a lengthy post revealing how the company hired professional voice actors to create its own virtual assistants, and denying any similarities with Johanssons voice. "We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity's distinctive voice Skys voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice," OpenAI wrote and added that each of its performers, who it declined to name for privacy reasons, was paid above top-of-market rates, and this will continue for as long as their voices are used in our products. This move, Johansson said in her statement, only came after she hired legal counsel who wrote two letters to Altman and OpenAI asking for an explanation. In a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities, I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity, Johansson wrote. I look forward to resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected. Update, May 20 2024, 9:09 PM ET: This story has been updated to include a statement from OpenAI. The US Department of Justice arrested a Wisconsin man last week for generating and distributing AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). As far as we know, this is the first case of its kind as the DOJ looks to establish a judicial precedent that exploitative materials are still illegal even when no children were used to create them. Put simply, CSAM generated by AI is still CSAM, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco wrote in a press release. The DOJ says 42-year-old software engineer Steven Anderegg of Holmen, WI, used a fork of the open-source AI image generator Stable Diffusion to make the images, which he then used to try to lure an underage boy into sexual situations. The latter will likely play a central role in the eventual trial for the four counts of producing, distributing, and possessing obscene visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and transferring obscene material to a minor under the age of 16. The government says Andereggs images showed nude or partially clothed minors lasciviously displaying or touching their genitals or engaging in sexual intercourse with men. The DOJ claims he used specific prompts, including negative prompts (extra guidance for the AI model, telling it what not to produce) to spur the generator into making the CSAM. Cloud-based image generators like Midjourney and DALL-E 3 have safeguards against this type of activity, but Ars Technica reports that Anderegg allegedly used Stable Diffusion 1.5, a variant with fewer boundaries. Stability AI told the publication that fork was produced by Runway ML. According to the DOJ, Anderegg communicated online with the 15-year-old boy, describing how he used the AI model to create the images. The agency says the accused sent the teen direct messages on Instagram, including several AI images of minors lasciviously displaying their genitals. To its credit, Instagram reported the images to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which alerted law enforcement. Anderegg could face five to 70 years in prison if convicted on all four counts. Hes currently in federal custody before a hearing scheduled for May 22. The case will challenge the notion some may hold that CSAMs illegal nature is based exclusively on the children exploited in their creation. Although AI-generated digital CSAM doesnt involve any live humans (other than the one entering the prompts), it could still normalize and encourage the material, or be used to lure children into predatory situations. This appears to be something the feds want to clarify as the technology rapidly advances and grows in popularity. Technology may change, but our commitment to protecting children will not, Deputy AG Monaco wrote. The Justice Department will aggressively pursue those who produce and distribute child sexual abuse materialor CSAMno matter how that material was created. Put simply, CSAM generated by AI is still CSAM, and we will hold accountable those who exploit AI to create obscene, abusive, and increasingly photorealistic images of children. Nearly eight weeks after the container ship Dali lost power and crashed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge in March, the ship was finally escorted back to port early Monday. The ship was refloated during high-tide during morning hours guided by at least four tugboats, per the Associated Press. Baltimore's skyline lost a long-standing landmark and symbol of the city's history. Per the news outlet, thousands of tons of steel was brought up to the water's surface in addition to the bodies of six victims, all of which were Latino immigrants who came to the U.S for job opportunities. RELATED: Middle School Assistant Principal Arrested For 'Luring,' 'Torturing' And 'Murdering' Three People In Decade Old Cold Case The men were reportedly filling potholes on an overnight shift when the cargo ship, sailing under a Singapore flag, crashed into the structure. The crew released anchors and removed over 1 million gallons of water which was used to keep the ship in place. Dive teams were able to confirm clearance after a controlled demolition to the remaining parts of the bridge freed the Dali's bow on May 13. 21 crew members are still aboard the ship, mostly Indian and Sri Lankan men, sitting tight for weeks while investigators analyzed the collision. Now that the Dali has docked at Seagirt Marine Terminal, the men still aren't allowed off the vessel with officials confirming their expired visas have added complications to the process. A spokesperson for Synergy, Darrell Wilson, claims officials are working to secure shore leave for all men currently aboard. RELATED: Intended Victim Stabs Suspect Multiple Times During Assault As Random Attacks In NYC Continue To Skyrocket "Ultimately, we want to get them home to see their families," Wilson said, stating that the timeline remains unclear at this time. A preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board details that the Dali Ship lost electrical power multiple times before leaving the port of Baltimore and crashing into the bridge. Since the the crash which claimed six lives the FBI has launched a criminal investigation, in addition to NTSB's investigation into the incident, as Baltimore City has announced a lawsuit against the owners and managers of the cargo ship, citing negligence. Legendary gospel singer BeBe Winans knew groundbreaking vocalist Whitney Houston very well and he has the stories to back it up. During an episode of 'Sway's Universe,' the 'I Found Love' singer expressed that despite the two vocal talents crossing paths, they had very different backgrounds, describing Houston as a straight up "Jersey girl, no matter how many gowns you put on her." Winans recalled one of his "favorite stories" when the "I Will Always Love You" legend joined BeBe and CeCe Winans for a movie. The trio entered the movie theater after the lights had already gone down, citing Houston's megastar status. RELATED: Middle School Assistant Principal Arrested For 'Luring,' 'Torturing' And 'Murdering' Three People In Decade Old Cold Case Winans recalled a white couple within earshot who grew frustrated with Houston's talking during the film. "The lady kept on turning back because she was annoyed at them talking, which I understood," Winans, 61, began. "It just boiled over and that woman turned she had a ponytail she turned around and said, 'Would you shut up! Would you just shut up!' And... I just went to praying, 'Oh God... Oh Jesus' cuz' I knew Jersey is present," he joked. The singer says he thought his prayers for peace were answered, but just then Houston sprung into action. "After about 30 seconds, Whitney leaned up and grabbed that woman's ponytail and jerked it back and said, 'Don't you ever talk to me that way' and threw her head up to the front," he explained vividly. RELATED: Intended Victim Stabs Suspect Multiple Times During Assault As Random Attacks In NYC Continue To Skyrocket According to BeBe, things almost got ugly after that, when the man she was with stood up, signifying possible confrontation, which led to him standing up and thinking, "I'm getting ready to fight? I can't believe this." At that moment, he details grabbing Houston and running outside to the car just before the altercation escalated. "My heart is beating...like, because this is not my life," he laughed. "We get outside and jump in the car...and I can't hardly breathe. And Whitney looks at me and says, 'Wasn't that fun?' " The late great Whitney Elizabeth Houston was known for her groundbreaking vocals and was nicknamed "The Voice" as one of the most awarded entertainers of all time. The mother of one died in February 2012 after a reported accidental drowning in Los Angeles, with heart disease and cocaine use listed as contributing factors. Morehouse College graduates had a lot to say to President Joe Biden during his commencement address, yet they responded by saying nothing at all. On Sunday, the HBCU hosted its 140th graduation ceremony in Atlanta, Georgia, where Democratic President Joe Biden faced a peaceful protest after some students turned their chairs around while he delivered a graduation speech. Many students and faculty members silently voiced their strong disapproval of the visit amid the 46th president's maintenance of the Israel-Hamas war currently taking place in Gaza. RELATED: Middle School Assistant Principal Arrested For 'Luring,' 'Torturing' And 'Murdering' Three People In Decade Old Cold Case Valedictorian psychology student DeAngelo "DJ" Fletcher from Chicago stood on that belief during his own speech, calling for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza with Biden, 81, sitting directly behind him on the stage. "For the first time in our lives, we've heard the global community sing one harmonious song that transcends language and culture," Fletcher began. "It is my stance as a Morehouse man nay, as a human being to call for an immediate and permanent cease-fire in the Gaza strip." @aisforafro The Morehouse Class of 2024 Valedictorian, Deangelo Fletcher, called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza during his speech today. #youlovetoseeit original sound - AisforAfro "Hear the people of this world, sing the song of righteous justice," the graduate concluded. When Biden approached the microphone, he spoke about the issue, stating that "what's happening in Gaza and Israel is heartbreaking." He also revealed that even his own family is angry and frustrated by the destruction in the region. RELATED: Intended Victim Stabs Suspect Multiple Times During Assault As Random Attacks In NYC Continue To Skyrocket "It's a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, that's why I call for an immediate caesar-fire an immediate cease-fire. Stop the fighting. Bring the hostages home!" Biden exclaimed. "I'm working to make sure we finally get a two-state solution the only solution. For two people to live in peace, security, and dignity." "Leadership is about fighting through the most intractable problems. It's about challenging anger, frustration, and heartbreak to find a solution. It's about doing what you believe is right, even when it's hard and lonely," the president concluded. ABC News reported a noticeable difference in support by age during the commencement ceremony. Reportedly, the alumni sitting to the left gave Biden standing ovations while the 2024 graduates largely remained seated throughout. By Kathiann M. Kowalski Energy News Network Ohio has seen a big jump in the number of agency orders forcing property owners to allow oil and gas development on their land, whether they want it or not. The number of so-called unitization orders issued by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources has surged in recent years, peaking at 112 in 2022 and continuing at nearly 100 last year, according to data obtained from the agency by the Energy News Network. The practice is common, with rules varying by state. In Ohio, lawmakers began working to streamline the process for oil and gas companies in 2019, coinciding with a decline in the states gas production after a seven-year fracking boom. Those changes run contrary to other efforts in Ohio to restrict energy development in the name of neighbors private property rights, including strict wind farm setbacks passed in 2014 and a 2021 law allowing counties to block new wind and solar projects. Under Ohio law, companies must meet several conditions before initiating unitization, including a showing that at least 65% of property owners in a project area consent to drilling. Critics say the process was already tilted in the companies favor, and that the recent changes will make it even harder to block drilling or negotiate concessions. All the cards are stacked against us, said Patrick Hunkler. In 2018, ODNR issued an unitization order for property he and his wife, Jean Backs, own in Belmont County, which is one of the states top-producing counties for oil and gas. The developer later canceled the project, so the order was revoked. More recently, Ascent Resources had tried to lease their land before backing out. The legal process known as unitization has been available to Ohio oil and gas companies since 1965 but was rarely used until about a decade ago, after advances in drilling technology made it profitable to tap into harder-to-develop pockets of petroleum. The unitization process exists to protect the rights of those who want to lease their minerals for development, said Rob Brundrett, president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, so that a small minority of owners cannot stop everyone else from realizing the full potential of their property and minerals. For petroleum companies, the process has also promoted efficient oil and gas extraction. Otherwise, reduced pressure from too many wells could reduce the total recovery from an area. Companies must show they have consent from owners of 65% of the area above a common oil and gas deposit before they can seek a unitization order. Companies also must show they tried to reach an agreement with holdouts, and that drilling under those properties is necessary to substantially increase the amount of oil and gas recovered. Any added value must also exceed the related costs. Our experience at the unitization hearing was that oil and gas runs the show, Backs said. Hearings dont consider environmental impacts or other reasons landowners might not want drilling and fracking. Its just not part of the evaluation, said Heidi Robertson, a Cleveland State University law professor who has written about unitization. Rather, she said, the basic question is: Will adding this land to the unit make it easier for the developer to more efficiently and more profitably get the oil and gas out of the ground? The answer is almost always yes. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has denied only one unitization application since 2012, according to spokesperson Andy Chow. Meanwhile, it has approved more than 500 applications, with more than half the orders issued after 2020. The agency hired an additional employee in 2021 to deal with an increase in applications, Chow said. Owners whose property is unitized wont have pads or roads on their property, but they still get royalties and other payments. Ohio law requires just and reasonable compensation for landowners. In most cases that compensation starts with a 12.5% royalty. Additional payments are adjusted for the developers expenses and other factors and the compensation is often smaller than that for voluntary participants. Orders typically have let companies recoup twice those amounts before unitized landowners can get payouts beyond royalties, said attorney Matthew Onest, whose firm has represented multiple landowners in oil and gas matters. In some cases, property owners must wait even longer. At a March 27 hearing, for example, drilling company EAP Ohio asked for a 500% penalty for owners who did not agree to a lease. Anna Biblowitz, a negotiator for Encino Energy, claimed the higher penalty was justified by the developers risk and as a motivator for other working interest owners to participate. A ruling in the case is due this month. Why are there more orders? Some property owners, including Backs and Hunkler, worry about climate change and other environmental impacts. They said companies wouldnt agree to requested lease terms for no flaring, methane monitoring and monitoring of the spring on their property. These oil and gas companies arent addressing the important issues of our environment, Hunkler said. Other landowners may hold out because they want more money, said Onest. They kind of dig their heels in, he said. Industry experts said market forces could partially explain the rise in unitization cases. Property owners could hold out more often because they want higher payments like others got early on in the states fracking boom. Or, higher oil prices might be motivating companies to pursue projects that once seemed too complicated to be worthwhile. State officials have made the process easier, too. In 2019, lawmakers added language about how to calculate the 65% threshold, tucking the terms into a 2,600-page state budget law. Matt Hammond, who was then president of the Ohio Oil & Gas Association, told lawmakers the added language was meant to clarify the law. In practice, the change likely lowered a barrier for companies to use the tool, according to Clif Little, an Ohio State University Extension educator in Old Washington, Ohio. If youre seeing actually more [cases] for forced unitization, that would be a significant player in that, Little said. Another law passed in 2022 requires the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to hold hearings on unitization applications within 60 days. The agency must rule within 60 days of the hearing, and also let companies know in advance if an application is incomplete. For industry, the primary benefit from the 2022 law change was to get certainty about timing. This impacted how a producer was able to plan their drilling schedules, said Mike Chadsey, director of external affairs for the Ohio Oil and Gas Association. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources also changed its guidelines last year to standardize unitization applications. The agencys website said the changes were aimed at streamlining the review process and that applications would include fewer documents. Among other things, companies dont need to file testimony from engineers, geologists and landmen in advance of hearings something they had generally done in the past, said Robertson at Cleveland State. In her view, that further limits any dissenting landowners ability to prepare challenges to such testimony when the hearing does take place. The Covid-19 pandemic also affected unitization hearings, which are now generally held via Zoom. Allowing these meetings to be held via Zoom is a benefit to all parties involved, Chadsey said, adding that its more convenient for landowners. Folks in suits and ties had to come from out of state when ODNR held the unitization hearing for Hunkler and Backs property back in 2017. With a remote format, though, the hearing panel and company personnel dont have to look at you in person, Hunkler said. Oil and gas companies said they take every step to avoid forced leases, but that unitization is an important tool when that is not possible. When those means are exhausted, which often includes situations of poor record-keeping or the inability to locate an owner, unitization can be a tool to ensure property and mineral rights are realized by all stakeholders, said Zack Arnold, president and CEO of Infinity Natural Resources. Jackie Stewart, vice president of external affairs for Encino Energy voiced a similar position. Encino makes every attempt to lease all landowners in each unit and only utilized unitization after all leasing efforts are exhausted, so the property rights of Ohios landowners can be realized, she said. This isnt something any lawyer can handle. You have to be an expert in this stuff, Robertson said. And all the experts are on the other side, because thats where the money is. Robertson is unaware of any legislation to make matters fairer for landowners who dont want to lease their land. And gerrymandering makes it unlikely such bills will be passed anytime soon. As she sees it, the process is stacked against the dissenting landowner. (This article first appeared on Energy News Network and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.) The maximum grant amount available through the government's Smaller Abattoir Fund has increased from 60,000 to 75,000, Defra has confirmed. The fund, launched in December 2023, aims to help improve productivity, enhance animal welfare, and encourage investment in new technologies at small abattoirs. As well as an increase in the maximum grant, Defra confirmed that the fund's intervention rate has increased from 40% to 50%. Smaller abattoirs are seen as a vital part of rural economies, offering a higher value route to market for native and rare breeds, which many large abattoirs are generally unable or unwilling to process. They also support higher standards of animal welfare by reducing journey times to slaughter. However, there has been a huge decline in small abattoirs in recent years, with the most recent estimates showing only 49 remain in England, Wales and Scotland. During the period between 2019 and 2021, the sector saw the closure of 14 small, family-run abattoirs. If closures continued at the current rate, there will be none left open by 2030, according to rural campaigners at the Sustainable Food Trust. Explaining more about the fund's changes, Defra said it was aware that some eligible abattoirs may have hard-to-predict cash flows. "To maximise their ability to access the fund, applicants will therefore be able to make up to 3 separate applications throughout the application window, requesting a total grant of 75,000. "The increased intervention rate of 50% means an abattoir applying to purchase an eligible item costing 10,000 would receive 5,000 in grant funding towards the item." The window to apply to the Smaller Abattoir Fund opened on 13 December 2023 and will close on 30 September 2024. Earlier this year, a group of farmers launched a 3 million funding bid to save a small abattoir located in the Cotswolds from closing for good. Long Compton Abattoir, one of the last small abattoirs in the region, closed in January in what was described as a 'devastating blow' to the local farming community. Researchers are exploring the potential of crops like willow and alder as alternative sources of income for farmers while boosting environmental sustainability. The initiative, part of a UK-wide effort, will assess the viability of biomass crops to improve farm revenues. As part of it, scientists have planted a wide range of fast-growing tree species tailored for shorter harvesting periods than traditional forests. The research is looking at native species like willow, alder, and poplar, as well as exotic ones such as black locust (Robinia) and eucalyptus. Other crops, such as miscanthus, reed canary grass, sida, and cup plant are also being grown in the trials at eight sites across the UK. Collectively referred to as biomass crops, these species have multiple uses, including heat and power generation, transport fuels, construction materials, and even cosmetics. Researchers say they can also improve the health of soil and the wider ecosystem. These perennial species grow quickly, with some giving an income from harvest as quickly as two years after planting, while others take longer to mature. The trials are conducted as part of the Biomass Connect project, funded by the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Professor Iain Donnison, of Aberystwyth University, explained that biomass crops are one promising dimension that is yet to realise its full potential. Despite substantial benefits, the integration of biomass crops into agricultural systems remains underexplored, he noted, and the information available is limited. He said: "Biomass crops contribute in many ways, including by supporting pollinator populations, enhancing biodiversity, livestock shelter, reducing flood risk, improving water quality, sequestering soil carbon, and improving soil health. "The aim of the Biomass Connect project is to provide that robust, independent information along with the potential economic and environmental benefits to landowners and land managers. "We hope that this type of work will give a broad range of stakeholders all the information they need to be able to make decisions about growing these crops, and how they suit different climates and locations." UK food producer Cranswick has posted a near 12% increase in revenue to 2.6 billion, according to the firm's latest financial report. The Hull-based processor, which owns farms and supplies pork and chicken to retailers, has posted its financial results for the year ending 30 March 2024. Adjusted profit before tax was 176.6m, up 26.1% from 140.1m a year before, the company said today (21 May). It has also seen a positive contribution from rapidly expanding pig farming operations, with self-sufficiency in pigs now at 50%. This has been complemented by the 32.8 million acquisition of the Elsham Linc indoor pig farming business. There was also a 13.3m acquisition of Froch Foods, adding further cooked meat and bacon processing capacity. Responding, Adam Couch, Cranswicks CEO, said the successful performance was due to the "substantial investment we have put into enhancing our farming infrastructure and expanding our vertical integration". Our ongoing successful performance is down to the unwavering passion, commitment, and professionalism of our teams across the business," Mr Couch said. "We have increased the size, scale and quality of our pig herds through ongoing organic growth and the acquisitions of new indoor and premium outdoor pigs." He added: Over the last 12 months we have strengthened our asset base, substantially expanded our farming operations, enhanced market positions and developed new customer relationships. "We continue to make good progress against each of our strategic objectives and we are well placed to continue our successful development in the current financial year and over the longer term. British lamb and dairy businesses have headed to Saudi Arabia in a bid to meet growing consumer demand and build on export opportunities in the kingdom. Exporters from both sectors have this week joined AHDB at the Saudi Food Show, which is currently underway in the country's capital, Riyadh. Although Saudi Arabia is not the UK's biggest market for lamb in the region, it has been identified as one of the markets with strong growth potential for exporters. Research carried out by AHDB last year revealed that adapting to consumer buying behaviour could present opportunities for British beef and lamb exporters in the Middle East. The research explored consumer buying behaviour for red meat across the region, including Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Food Show is the kingdoms leading event for food sourcing, giving UK lamb and dairy exporters the opportunity to meet key buyers. Dr Awal Fuseini, AHDB senior halal manager, said participating in the show was a great opportunity for producers and exporters to meet with key industry buyers. He said: "Strong population growth, coupled with limited domestic production capacity and a high regard for our production standards presents an opportunity for quality British lamb to meet increasing consumer demand. A key factor in achieving this is understanding consumer trends to help enable our exporters align their products accordingly to satisfy what the market wants." Saudi Arabia is also a large importer of cheese, which is the most valuable category in the dairy market, accounting for more than 30% of total dairy spends. It is the largest dairy consumer among the GCC countries, with high population growth and per capita helping drive increasing consumption of milk and other dairy products. While the dairy market in Saudi Arabia is highly competitive, there are opportunities for UK exporters, with strong demand for cheese and butter," explained Lucy Randolph, AHDB head of trade development. "The Saudi Food Show will provide us with a platform to get in front of key buyers, showcase our world class dairy produce and strengthen our foothold in this important market. Vaping has been linked to lung cancer in a landmark study. Vaping raises the risk of death from lung cancer Researchers in South Korea examined the health data from 4.3 million former smokers in the country and found that those who switched to e-cigarettes were twice as likely to pass away from lung cancer than those who gave up entirely. The results call the perceived notion that smokers should switch to vapes for the sake of their health into question. Yeon Wook Kim, who led the study at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, said: "This is the first large population-based study to demonstrate the increased risk of lung cancer in e-cigarette users after smoking cessation. "Our results indicate that when integrating smoking cessation interventions to reduce lung cancer risk, the potential harms of using e-cigarettes as an alternative to smoking must be considered." Charlie Hunnam admitted he's "not nearly as rich" as he would have been if he had taken on the role of Christian Grey in the blockbuster 'Fifty Shades of Grey' franchise. Charlie Hunnam still plans to watch the blockbuster series he turned down The 44-year-old actor - who is best known for his portrayal of Jax Teller in the FX series 'Sons of Anarchy' - was at first reluctant to speak out on his decision to ditch the role in the erotica rom-com films, which went to Jamie Dornan, who starred alongside Dakota Johnson's Anastasia Steele. However, he gave some titbits, including that he is yet to watch the three films - which were released between 2015 and 2018 - but has it on his to-do list. He told TMZ out and about: Aw man, cant talk about this! However, asked how it impacted the rest of his career, he confessed: Im not nearly as rich as I would have been. Asked if he has watched the films, he replied: I have not seen it, but thats not intentional. Ive been meaning to watch it. Been waiting to see it! Despite poor ratings, the series grossed more than $1.32 billion worldwide, making it the sixth highest-grossing R-rated franchise of all-time. Charlie's exit is said to have spurred on series creator EL James to scrap Patrick Marbers script, according to Dakota. She told Vanity Fair in 2022: Wed do the takes of the movie that Erika (James) wanted to make, and then we would do the takes of the movie that we wanted to make. Charlie decided to reject the role because of the "emotionally destructive" character; Grey was abused by his mother's pimp, was seduced by his late mom's friend and channelled his anger and trauma into a BDSM lifestyle as a Dominant and a Sadist. Charlie previously confessed to V Man magazine in 2015: It was the worst professional experience of my life. It was the most emotionally destructive and difficult thing that Ive ever had to deal with professionally. It was heartbreaking. Matthew Perrys death is reportedly still under investigation as police hunt for the supplier of the drug that killed the actor. Matthew Perrys death is reportedly still under investigation as police hunt for the supplier of the drug that killed the actor The Friends star was found dead aged 54 in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home in October 2023, with an autopsy revealing he had been killed by the acute effects of ketamine. Local police and federal agents are now said to be trying to identify where the actor who spent years battling drink and drug addictions bought the drug, according to TMZ. The outlet reported on Tuesday (21.05.24): Law enforcement sources tell us there is an ongoing investigation into where Matthew got the ketamine that ended up playing a part in his death and the main questions are who provided the drug, and under what circumstances. Its report went on: Our sources say both local police and the DEA have been looking into this matter for months, but its unclear where exactly investigators are in the probe. We do know theyve already interviewed some key people in Hollywood. While our sources could not provide names they told us investigators have approached and spoken to people who are known to have a history of drug use or abuse. Were told those people are not necessarily the actual source of ketamine, but they could have information leading to the source. So far, no arrests have been made. The LA County Medical Examiners Office revealed in December Matthews death was drug related. Drowning, coronary artery disease and buprenorphine effects were also listed as other contributing factors in his passing. At the time, a medical expert speculated to Page Six the actor had likely obtained ketamine illegally for recreational use. Even though Matthew was undergoing ketamine treatment for anxiety and depression at the time of his passing, his autopsy report noted the ketamine in his system at death could not be from that infusion therapy. Matthews Friends co-stars have continued to honour him since his death, with his on-screen lover Courteney Cox, 59, telling CBS Sunday Morning this weekend she thinks he still visits her adding: I sense Matthews around for sure. On Sunday, China initiated an anti-dumping investigation into imports of polyformaldehyde copolymer from the European Union (EU), the US, Japan, and Taiwan, according to the Ministry of Commerce. The investigation, which began on Sunday, is scheduled to conclude by May 19, 2025. However, the ministry's trade remedy and investigation bureau noted in an online notice that, under special circumstances, the probe may be extended by an additional six months. China launched an anti-dumping investigation on Sunday into polyformaldehyde copolymer imports from the EU, US, Japan, and Taiwan, aiming to conclude by May 19, 2025, with a potential six-month extension. Polyformaldehyde, also known as POM or acetal, is used in industrial applications like mechanical gears due to its durability and performance. Polyformaldehyde, also known as polyoxymethylene (POM) or acetal, is a highly versatile engineering polymer widely used in various industrial applications. The copolymer variant of POM offers some advantages over the homopolymer, such as increased stability in hot water and alkalis. Some primary uses of polyformaldehyde copolymers include mechanical gears where durability, precision, and performance are crucial. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DP) The price index for US imports rose by 0.9 per cent in April, after advancing by 0.6 per cent in March, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS). Higher fuel and non-fuel import prices contributed to the overall rise. Prices for US exports increased by 0.5 per cent in the month following a 0.1-per cent advance the previous month. Export prices have not decreased on a monthly basis since December 2023. Despite the recent increases, the price index for US exports declined by 1 per cent over the past year, the smallest over-the-year drop since February 2023. The price index for US imports rose by 0.9 per cent in April, after rising by 0.6 per cent in March, official data show. Higher fuel and non-fuel import prices contributed to the rise. Prices for US exports rose by 0.5 per cent in the month following a 0.1-per cent advance in March. The price index for US exports declined by 1 per cent over the last year. The April advance in the price index of imports was the largest one-month increase since the index rose by 2.9 per cent in March 2022. Such prices last declined on a monthly basis in December 2023. These advanced by 1.1 per cent over the past 12 months, the largest over-the-year increase since December 2022. Prices for import of fuel rose by 2.4 per cent in April, after advancing by 5.4 per cent the previous month. Imported fuel prices have not decreased on a monthly basis since the index fell by 8 per cent in December 2023. Such prices increased by 3.3 per cent for the year ended April. Prices of imported petroleum rose by 2.9 per cent in April, following a 10.7- per cent advance from December 2023 to March 2024. Such prices also increased on a 12-month basis, rising by 5.2 per cent over the past year, a BLS release said. In contrast, the price index for imported natural gas fell by 9.2 per cent in April, after declining by 29.7 per cent in March and 14.3 per cent in February. Such prices last advanced on a one-month basis in November 2023. These decreased by 42.5 per cent from April 2023 to April 2024. Non-fuel import prices increased by 0.7 per cent in April, following a 0.2- per cent advance in March. The April increase was the largest monthly advance since the index rose by 1.2 per cent in March 2022. Such prices rose by 0.9 per cent over the past 12 months, the largest over-the-year advance since December 2022. Prices for each of the major finished goods import categories increased in April. Prices for non-agricultural exports advanced by 0.7 per cent in April following a 0.3-per cent increase in March. Such prices last recorded a one-month drop in December 2023 and ticked up by 0.1 per cent for the year ended April, the first 12-month advance since January 2023. Prices for each of the major finished goods export categories advanced in April this year. Capital goods prices advanced by 0.4 per cent following a 0.1-per cent rise in March. Prices for imports from China edged down by 0.1 per cent in April, after being unchanged in March. Such prices declined by 2.2 per cent for the year ended in April. The price index for imports from Japan fell by 0.1 per cent in April following a 0.9-per cent decline the previous month. Such prices last increased on a one-month basis in January 2024. Despite the recent decreases, such prices rose by 0.3 per cent over the past year. In contrast, import prices from Canada increased by 1.9 per cent in April, the largest monthly advance since August 2023. The price index for such imports fell by 0.4 per cent over the past 12 months. Prices for imports from Mexico and the European Union also increased in April, rising by 0.9 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively. Export prices to China rose by 1.2 per cent in April, after increasing by 0.4 per cent in March. This rise was the largest one-month advance since February 2023. The price index for such exports fell by 3.2 per cent for the year ended April. Prices for exports to Japan increased by 2.1 per cent in April, the largest monthly advance since the index rose by 5 per cent in March 2022. Despite the April increase, such prices decreased by 4.3 per cent over the past year. The price index for exports to Canada rose by 0.5 per cent in April following a 0.4- per cent advance the previous month. This increase was the largest one-month rise since September 2023. Export prices to Canada advanced by 0.2 per cent from April 2023 to April 2024. Prices for exports to Mexico increased by 1.7 per cent in April and those to the European Union rose by 1.2 per cent over the same period. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS) SINGAPORE, May 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Singapore is set to become the epicentre of financial technology innovation and collaboration as it hosts the inaugural Asia FinTech Conference and the prestigious Asia FinTech Awards, produced by Fintech Intel. Taking place on 22 and 23 August 2024, these events promise to bring together the brightest minds and leading companies from the fintech sector across the continent. The Asia FinTech Conference, a one-day event, will offer an unparalleled platform for professionals, entrepreneurs, and investors to explore the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities within the fintech industry. Among the confirmed speakers are Chia Hock Lai, founding president of the Singapore Fintech Association, and Stacey-Ann Pearson, Head of Web3 Business Development at Amazon Web Services, who will share their insights on the conference's theme: 'The Future of Fintech in Asia'. Registration is now open, with discounted conference passes available to Asia FinTech Awards entrants. The Asia FinTech Awards return for its second year. The Awards recognise and celebrate excellence in the fintech sector; with categories spanning from Startup of the Year to Best Employer of the Year to the Web3 Award, the awards will spotlight the achievements of companies and individuals who are driving the industry forward. Previous winners include Tookitaki, IDEMIA, and Tenpay Global. There's still time to enter: the Awards close for entries on 31 May 2024. Robert Welbourn, content editor at FinTech Intel, expressed his excitement: "After the success of the Asia FinTech Awards in 2023, we're delighted to be returning for another year. Following feedback from attendees that they wanted a chance to network as well as celebrate, we're delighted to be launching the conference alongside the awards. "We're thrilled to be able to bring together a diverse group of industry experts who are passionate about promoting excellence and transforming the financial landscape. "The Asia FinTech Conference will not only highlight the incredible work being done in the fintech sector but hopefully also inspire new ideas and collaborations that will shape the future of finance in Asia." Tickets are limited: the Asia FinTech Awards and Conference are expected to attract around 200 decision-makers and senior leaders from around the fintech ecosystem, including startups, established financial institutions, regulators, and technology providers. With its comprehensive agenda and focus on fostering innovation and collaboration, this event is set to become a cornerstone of the fintech calendar in Asia. For more information and to secure your place at the Asia FinTech Conference and Awards, visit [https://fintechawardsasia.com/]. About the Asia FinTech Conference and Awards The Asia FinTech Conference and Awards, brought to you by FinTech Intel, aim to bring together fintech professionals from across Asia to share insights, celebrate achievements, and foster innovation. The event is dedicated to driving the growth of the fintech industry by providing a platform for networking, knowledge sharing, and collaboration. The Asia FinTech Conference will take place on 22 August at Guoco Midtown Network Hub, Singapore. The Asia FinTech Awards will take place on 23 August at The Glasshouse, Andaz Singapore. Image files: Asia FinTech Awards logo (https://www.asiafintechconference.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Asia-FT-Awards-logo-w-background.png) Asia FinTech Conference logo: (https://www.asiafintechconference.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Asia-Conference-logo-.png) Image from 2023 Asia FinTech Awards: (https://fintechawardsasia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/DSC09270-1024x683.jpg) View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/brand-new-conference-brings-fintech-professionals-from-across-asia-together-in-singapore-302150285.html HANOI, Vietnam, May 21, 2024 - (ACN Newswire) - Established in 1994, Mahkota Medical Centre offers advanced diagnostic, therapeutic and intensive care facilities and quality medical services. Mahkota Medical Centre is the flagship hospital of Health Management International Pte Ltd (HMI Group).At the recent 16th Annual Global CSR & ESG Summit and Awards 2024, Mahkota received the Silver Award for Empowerment of Women Award for Less Than $500 Million Market Capitalization category, reflecting its focus on empowering women within its organization.In an interview with ACN Newswire, Ms Teo Chin Yee, CEO of Mahkota, talks about the organization's strategies and processes throughout its journey in promoting women empowerment and gender equality.ACN: Can you share with us Mahkota Medical Centre's journey in promoting women empowerment within the organization, and how it aligns with your core values and mission?Ms Teo Chin Yee: Mahkota Medical Centre's journey in promoting women empowerment within the organization is deeply rooted in our core values of Competence, Compassion, and Collaboration.Competence: We acknowledge and appreciate the competence and capabilities of women in our organization. Through continuous training, mentorship programs, and development opportunities, we empower women to enhance their skills and expertise, enabling them to excel and advance in their careers.Compassion: Our dedication to compassion extends to all individuals, including our female staff members. We prioritize cultivating a supportive and nurturing work environment where women feel valued, respected, and supported in balancing their professional and personal responsibilities. Our leadership team is committed to understanding and addressing the unique challenges faced by women, ensuring they receive the compassion and support necessary to thrive.Collaboration: We believe in the strength of collaboration and teamwork in achieving our objectives. By fostering a culture of collaboration, we encourage women to share their ideas, insights, and experiences, leading to numerous innovations within the organization. Additionally, this culture enables women to support and learn from one another, driving positive change collectively.At Mahkota Medical Centre, our commitment to promoting women empowerment aligns seamlessly with our mission to provide exceptional healthcare services. By empowering women within our organization, we will be able to not only enhance the professional growth and development of our female staff, but also strengthen our ability to deliver high-quality care to our patients.ACN: Mahkota Medical Centre is known for its commitment to international accreditation. How has this accreditation process contributed to fostering women empowerment within the organization?Ms Teo Chin Yee: The accreditation process undertaken by Mahkota Medical Centre has played a pivotal role in fostering women empowerment within the organization, primarily by promoting gender equality and providing equal opportunities for career advancement.Firstly, through international accreditation, Mahkota Medical Centre has demonstrated its unwavering commitment to upholding high standards of professionalism. This commitment creates an environment conducive to the success of women in various roles within our organization. By adhering to these rigorous standards, women are provided with a level playing field where their skills and contributions are recognized and valued, thus facilitating their growth and advancement within the organization.Moreover, the attainment of accreditation promotes inclusivity and diversity within the workplace. By striving for and achieving recognition on an international scale, Mahkota Medical Centre sends a clear message that all individuals, regardless of gender, have a voice and are valued contributors to the organization. This inclusivity allows women to actively participate in decision-making processes, shaping the organization's culture and practices to be more supportive and conducive to their professional growth and development.A concrete example of how accreditation has contributed to women empowerment within our organization is evident in the role of nurse navigators within various clinical care programs. These nurse navigators play a crucial role in ensuring that patients understand their treatment plans and receive the necessary support throughout their journey. Empowered to bring patient issues to interdisciplinary meetings for discussion and improvement, nurse navigators exemplify how accreditation has enabled women to take on leadership roles and drive positive change within our organization.In summary, the accreditation process undertaken by Mahkota Medical Centre reinforces our dedication to promoting women empowerment and advancing gender equality within our workplace. By adhering to international standards and fostering inclusivity, accreditation creates an environment where women are able to thrive and contribute meaningfully to our organization's mission of providing quality healthcare services.ACN: Could you elaborate on any specific programs or initiatives implemented at Mahkota Medical Centre aimed at empowering women across borders?Ms Teo Chin Yee: Mahkota Medical Centre has spearheaded impactful programs aimed at empowering women across borders, with the Jakarta PinkCare Wellness Program 2023 in Indonesia standing out as a notable example.This initiative was carefully crafted to raise awareness among women about the critical importance of taking proactive measures to safeguard their well-being, particularly in preventing breast cancer. Central to the program's objectives was the emphasis on regular healthcare screenings and early detection as vital components of maintaining optimal health and preventing the onset or progression of breast cancer.Highlighting Mahkota Medical Centre's commitment to providing accessible and comprehensive healthcare services to women, the program showcased various screening options available at the centre. By doing so, it underscored the organization's dedication to ensuring that women have convenient access to essential healthcare resources, thus empowering them to take charge of their health proactively.The launch event was held at Plaza Indonesia, a renowned venue in Jakarta, and was met with a resounding success which drew considerable attention from stakeholders and the public alike. Among the distinguished guests in attendance was the Ambassador of Malaysia to Indonesia, lending further prestige to the occasion. Notably, the representatives from Mahkota Medical Centre who graced the event were all women, including the Oncologist, Breast Surgeon, and nurse navigators. Their presence not only represented the organization's commitment to women's health, but also served as a testament to the integral role that women play in healthcare leadership and service delivery.An impactful aspect of the event was the heartfelt testimonies shared by two Indonesian breast cancer survivors. Their narratives shed light on the transformative power of early detection and accessible healthcare services in their journey towards recovery. These testimonials served as poignant reminders of the importance of women's health empowerment and left a lasting impression on the attendees, inspiring them to prioritize their own well-being and seek preventive healthcare measures.Overall, the Jakarta PinkCare Wellness Program exemplifies Mahkota Medical Centre's unwavering dedication to empowering women across borders by promoting health awareness, facilitating access to healthcare services, and fostering a supportive environment conducive to proactive health management.ACN: Collaboration with governmental and NGOs can significantly enhance women empowerment efforts. Can you discuss any partnerships Mahkota Medical Centre has established in this regard and the impact they've had?Ms Teo Chin Yee: Mahkota Medical Centre has recognized the importance of collaboration with governmental organizations and NGOs in enhancing women empowerment efforts, particularly in the realm of breast cancer awareness and prevention.One significant partnership is with Lembaga Penduduk dan Pembangunan Keluarga Negara (LPPKN), where we collaborated to facilitate free yearly breast screenings for women in the local community. Through this partnership, we extend our reach and ensure that more women have access to crucial screenings, empowering them to take control of their breast health. By combining resources and expertise, Mahkota Medical Centre and LPPKN work together to remove barriers to healthcare access and promote overall well-being within the community.Moreover, our annual Mahkota Charity Run serves as another testament to our commitment to collaborative efforts for women empowerment. In this initiative, we join forces with both governmental organizations and NGOs to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer patients. For instance, in our latest run, we partnered with Skyhawk Melaka and raised an impressive RM122,788. These funds were channeled to support breast cancer patients through contributions to the National Cancer Society Malaysia and the Seck Kia Eenh Cancer Fund. Notably, over 100 breast cancer survivors participated in the event, symbolizing resilience and hope within our community.Through these partnerships, Mahkota Medical Centre demonstrates its dedication to empowering women by providing essential healthcare services, raising awareness, and supporting those affected by breast cancer. By leveraging collaborative efforts with governmental organizations and NGOs, we amplify our impact and work towards a future where women have equal opportunities for health and well-being.ACN: In what ways does Mahkota Medical Centre leverage its strong female leadership at the helm to drive women empowerment initiatives within the organization and beyond?Ms Teo Chin Yee: Mahkota Medical Centre leverages its strong female leadership to drive women empowerment initiatives within and beyond the organization. With more than 70% of our workforce being female, including doctors, nurses, and support staff, women play a crucial role in ensuring round-the-clock patient care and emergency response.Leading by Example: Female leaders set a compelling example for women within the organization and beyond. They demonstrate that gender should never be a barrier to success and inspire women to aspire to leadership roles.Fostering a Supportive Culture: Mahkota Medical Centre prioritizes fostering a supportive culture where effective communication and listening skills are valued. Female leaders nurture an environment where women feel empowered to voice their ideas, contribute their expertise, and lead positive change.Advocating for Change: Female leaders advocate for change both within the organization and in the broader community. They champion gender equality in healthcare and advocate for women's rights, striving to create a future where women are empowered to thrive professionally and personally.By leading through example, fostering a supportive culture, and advocating for change, Mahkota Medical Centre's strong female leadership inspires and empowers women to realize their full potential, contributing to a future where women make a lasting impact in every aspect of society.ACN: How does Mahkota Medical Centre ensure gender diversity and inclusivity in leadership positions, and what benefits have you observed from having a diverse leadership team?Ms Teo Chin Yee: Mahkota Medical Centre upholds gender diversity and inclusivity in leadership roles through deliberate efforts. Despite having a predominantly male presence among doctors in leadership, and a female-dominated nurse workforce, the organization ensures equal opportunities for career advancement.Administrative and support functions implement unbiased recruitment and promotion processes, prioritizing merit-based considerations over gender. Moreover, the organization invests in tailored nursing competency and leadership development programs to empower female leaders. These initiatives offer mentorship, training, and networking opportunities, fostering the professional growth of women within the organization.A gender-diverse leadership team cultivates an inclusive workplace culture, promoting a sense of value, respect, and empowerment among all employees. This inclusivity positively impacts employee morale, engagement, and retention rates, ultimately contributing to organizational success.Overall, Mahkota Medical Centre remains steadfast in its commitment to gender diversity and inclusivity in leadership positions. By ensuring equal opportunities for all individuals, irrespective of gender, the organization strives to create a conducive environment for thriving and succeeding, ultimately enhancing the effectiveness of its healthcare delivery system.ACN: Can you share any success stories or milestones achieved through Mahkota Medical Centre's women empowerment initiatives, particularly those related to international accreditation and cross-border partnerships?Ms Teo Chin Yee: Mahkota Medical Centre has witnessed significant success through its women empowerment initiatives, particularly in international accreditation and cross-border partnerships.One notable achievement is the regional expansion of our PinkCare program beyond Malaysia, offering tailored breast care education to communities in neighbouring countries like Indonesia. This initiative addresses the pressing issue of breast cancer and provides culturally sensitive education, recognizing the unique needs of women in different regions.Additionally, Mahkota Medical Centre has implemented nurse navigators as trusted guides to assist individuals in navigating through breast health concerns. This program, coupled with our follow-up study into breast cancer, continues to generate results which emphasized the importance of inclusivity, personalized care, and equitable access to women's health services.Challenges in implementing women empowerment initiatives are inevitable, particularly in recognizing the holistic needs of women and ensuring comprehensive healthcare services. However, Mahkota Medical Centre is profoundly grateful for the unwavering support and commitment of everyone involved in empowering women's health. Through collective efforts, barriers are broken down, inequalities are challenged, and the voices of women in healthcare are uplifted. Together, Mahkota Medical Centre is making a tangible difference in the lives of women, their families, and communities.ACN: What are some of the challenges Mahkota Medical Centre has encountered in implementing women empowerment initiatives, and how have you overcome them?Ms Teo Chin Yee: Implementing women empowerment initiatives at Mahkota Medical Centre has posed challenges, notably regarding balancing work and family responsibilities for female employees.A significant hurdle arises from the need for women to manage professional duties alongside family commitments which are particularly prevalent among younger women with childbearing responsibilities or caregiving duties. In response, Mahkota Medical Centre prioritizes compassion and flexibility.To address this, we've implemented policies and practices accommodating female employees' needs, such as offering flexible working arrangements. This includes options to transfer to non-shift duties or adjust work hours, ensuring they can fulfill family obligations without sacrificing professional responsibilities.By fostering a compassionate and flexible work environment, Mahkota Medical Centre empowers women to manage their work-life balance effectively. This approach supports the well-being of female employees and contributes to a more inclusive and supportive workplace culture overall.ACN: How do you measure the effectiveness and impact of Mahkota Medical Centre's women empowerment programs, especially in terms of promoting gender equality and advancing women's leadership?Ms Teo Chin Yee: Tracking the progression of female employees within the organization through promotions to leadership positions is a tangible measure of the empowerment programs' effectiveness in supporting women's career growth. By monitoring the number of women advancing into leadership roles over time, Mahkota Medical Centre can assess whether empowerment initiatives are successfully facilitating career advancement opportunities for women.Gathering feedback from female employees through surveys, focus groups, and/or interviews provides valuable insights into their experiences with empowerment initiatives. This feedback helps identify perceived benefits, challenges faced, and areas for improvement in the programs. It also enables Mahkota Medical Centre to tailor empowerment initiatives to better meet the needs and aspirations of female employees.Analysing retention rates among female employees is another important measure of the impact of empowerment programs. Higher retention rates among women may indicate increased job satisfaction, loyalty, and the organization's ability to retain talented women in leadership roles. Understanding retention trends allows Mahkota Medical Centre to assess the effectiveness of empowerment efforts in creating a supportive and inclusive work environment for women.By systematically evaluating career advancement, gathering employee feedback, and monitoring retention rates, Mahkota Medical Centre can assess the overall impact of its women empowerment programs and make informed decisions to further enhance gender equality and support women's leadership development within the organization.ACN: Looking ahead, what are your vision and goals for Mahkota Medical Centre's continued commitment to women empowerment, both within the organization and in the broader healthcare community?Ms Teo Chin Yee: Mahkota Medical Centre's vision for continued commitment to women empowerment involves fostering a high-performance culture within the organization while also making significant strides in the broader healthcare community.Internally, our aim is to establish Mahkota Medical Centre as a compelling employer brand, attracting and retaining top talent. This entails implementing the best HR practices, such as offering competitive total remuneration packages, prioritizing staff wellbeing through psychosocial practices, and providing tailored recognition and rewards.Furthermore, we seek to enhance employee engagement by fostering an environment that encourages continuous learning and development. This includes developing a competency framework for nursing and allied health/clinical staff to ensure they have the necessary resources to excel in their roles.Moreover, Mahkota Medical Centre is dedicated to intensifying the 3Cs culture (Compassion, Competence, Collaboration) and work ethics within the organization. This involves initiatives such as enhancing patient experience through Service Excellence, establishing a Nursing Academy for improved patient care and safety, and promoting collaboration through team recognition and continuous improvement efforts.In the broader healthcare community, our vision extends to empowering women across Southeast Asia. We plan to leverage our expertise and resources through initiatives like knowledge sharing, capacity building programs, and partnerships with regional healthcare institutions to promote gender equality and women's leadership in healthcare.Overall, Mahkota Medical Centre's vision for women empowerment encompasses creating a supportive and inclusive workplace culture while also making significant contributions to advancing gender equality and women's leadership in healthcare, both locally and regionally.About Mahkota Medical CentreFounded in 1994, Mahkota Medical Centre (Mahkota) is one of the largest and most comprehensive tertiary private hospitals in South Malaysia. The hospital offers state-of-the-art diagnostics and therapies, along with high-quality medical services. It is one of the most comprehensive hospitals, focusing on medical sub-specialties with high surgical workloads. Licenced with 272 beds in eight wards and housing over 120 practising consultants across a wide range of medical and surgical disciplines, it is supported by dedicated management, doctors, and allied healthcare staff.Mahkota is a top medical tourism destination in Malaysia and an elite member of the Malaysian Healthcare Travel Council, serving around 95,000 foreign patients annually. In 2023, Mahkota is proud to be named one of the four finalists in the prestigious Flagship Medical Tourism Hospital Programme, which aims to establish Malaysia as a globally renowned icon for healthcare travel.Mahkota was the first private hospital in Malacca to become accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI) and has been accredited from 2023-2026. In addition, Mahkota is the first hospital in Malaysia to be awarded the JCI Clinical Care Programme Certification (CCPC) for Breast Cancer. In order to ensure Malaysians' patient safety and quality, the hospital has earned the 6th edition of Malaysian Society for Quality in Health (MSQH) accreditation. Mahkota is the flagship hospital of Health Management International Pte Ltd (HMI Group), with more than 25 years of track record. For more information on Mahkota, please visit https://www.mahkotamedical.com.Media contact:Tay Jia WenSenior Executive, Brand & CommunicationsE: tay.jiawen@mahkotamedical.comFB: www.facebook.com/MahkotaMedical/Source: Mahkota Medical CentreCopyright 2024 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. SHENZHEN, China, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Briocean Technology, a leading independent electronic component distributor, is proud to announce its latest annual event - an unforgettable expedition through the majestic Gobi Desert in Dunhuang, China. This year, the company has set the bar higher, challenging its employees to embark on an 80-kilometre trek over the course of 3 days and 2 nights in one of world's sixth largest desert in northern China. Far more than a mere hike, this journey symbolises the spirit of unity and resilience that defines Briocean's culture. As the team trekked through the vast terrain of the Gobi, they forged bonds, overcame challenges, and discovered the true extent of their capabilities. "At Briocean, we believe in pushing boundaries, both in our work and in our adventures. The Gobi Desert trek was an opportunity for our employees to come together, push their limits, and celebrate the strength of our team." commented by Ms Sharon Ho, CEO of Briocean. In 2023, Briocean soared to new heights, achieving a 20% increase in OEM Excess and PPV orders. The company demonstrated agility and foresight, making a strategic shift towards CPU/GPU product lines. Furthermore, Briocean responded to the growing demand for quality assurance, recording an astounding 133% boost in testing volume at its state-of-the-art facilities. With a global reach, the company successfully shipped products to over 20 countries, reaffirming its global presence. In line with its commitment to growth, Briocean has upgraded its laboratory, spanning 23,680 square feet which is set to operate in June and have expanded its global team by 10%. These additions have contributed to the company's success, earning prestigious awards and recognition for its outstanding achievements. After the trek, Briocean also hosted its annual gala dinner, a joyous occasion filled with celebration and unity. To embrace cultural richness, all employees were dressed in the graceful splendour of traditional Hanfu, as they gathered to celebrate a fruitful year. Briocean will continue to strive to be the preferred supplier in the global electronic component distribution industry, and our internal events offers employees a chance to reflect on their successes. Partner with Briocean and be part of our journey to excellence. About Briocean Established in 2008, Briocean Technology is a leading independent electronic component distributor committed to providing global sourcing and supply chain solutions to electronic manufacturing clients in various industries. For more information, visit: https://www.briocean.com/ Media Contact, marketing@briocean.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2416800/Briocean.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/briocean-gobi-desert-challenge--annual-gala-dinner-2024-302150711.html llaollao Headquarters, registered in Spain, closed 2023 with an EBITDA of 10.3 million euros, achieving the best result in its history. Total global sales figure to the end customer has risen to 104.5, establishing itself as the Spanish brand with the strongest presence in the country The Spanish group achieved a net turnover of 41.3 million and continued to strengthen its balance sheet in 2023, with a particular emphasis on the low level of financial indebtedness (debt with credit institutions is only 0.3 million) and the high cash generation The positive evolution of all areas of activity, particularly the increase in sales across all its key markets, has been the main reason behind these figures In 2023, llaollao opened 93 new points of sale globally (almost 2 stores per week), bringing the total number of establishments to 397 by the end of the year 2023 MANILA, Philippines, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- llaollao, the Spanish group that owns the leading frozen yogurt brand, ended 2023 surpassing its business objectives and closing the year with record figures in all key aspects of its financial statement.This is a historic milestone for the company that confirms the success of its strategy in recent years. Accordingly, llaollao concluded the period with a net turnover of 41.3 million, representing a 43% increase over 2022. EBITDA reached 10.3 million, marking a 46% increase compared to the figure achieved in 2022 (which was 7.1 million). The announced figures demonstrate significant growth compared to the previous year, which is once again the result of strong financial growth and efficient operational management. Moreover, the company has exceeded its own expectations by surpassing the budgeted EBITDA (the announced target was to achieve 8.5 million), and has thus reaffirmed its ability to adapt and exceed ambitious goals. These numbers are framed within a healthy balance sheet with virtually zero indebtedness (the debt at the end of last year with credit institutions was only 0.3 million, showing responsible resource management). Llaollao has benefited from its liquidity generation capacity due to its high cash flow, which has enabled organic investments with new openings and an increased presence in strategic markets. Additionally, thanks to this, the Group was able to explore and develop new alternative business avenues in 2023 to capitalize on this differentiating characteristic and expand its product portfolio. Regarding the total global sales figure to the end customer in 2023 (which includes the total sales generated by both company-owned stores and franchise and master franchise arrangements internationally), it reached 104.5 million, comparing very positively with the 79.9 million from twelve months earlier (representing a 31% growth) and the 100 million estimated by the company itself. 55% of these sales came from outlets located in Asia and 40% in Europe. In summary, in 2023, llaollao once again surpassed the record figures achieved the previous year and clearly reinforced its leading position. Pedro Espinosa, co-founder and CEO of llaollao, commented: "We are very pleased with the financial performance in 2023. Last year was a period of growth and strengthening for our company, confirming that we are on the right path, and we have adopted an appropriate strategy. We are eager to continue innovating and expanding our business in the future." "The results of llaollao in 2023 confirm our commitment to operational excellence, product quality, and customer satisfaction, and thus consolidate our position as an industry leader. As we have stated before, the brand will continue to generate a profit and increase market share through solid organic growth with new openings. Furthermore, these figures reinforce our intention to continue analyzing all growth opportunities in new markets that make strategic sense, always prioritizing the profitability of our points of sale," concludes Pedro Espinosa. Store locations: strong expansion in Asia with close to 400 outlets globally. At the end of 2023, the Spanish brand had established 396 stores globally, representing a 34% growth. In Spain, it has 145 points of sale, 50% of which (72) are company-owned stores managed directly by the business group. Additionally, the company has significantly increased its international presence since 2022, especially in markets considered more relevant and with greater potential for the brand's future. Currently, llaollao has a prominent presence in Malaysia (where it opened its 100th store in 2023, now exceeding 118 establishments, making it the Spanish food & beverage brand with the highest presence in the country), Indonesia (with 26 points of sale, a 45% increase in one year), Singapore (with 12 points of sale), and the Philippines (with 51 locations, nearly tripling its presence since 2022 and also establishing itself as the Spanish brand with the strongest presence). With 217 open points of sale, Asia has the highest presence of llaollao measured by the number of establishments. In this geographical region, frozen yogurt enjoys a fantastic reception, and the brand has very high visibility, providing significant growth potential and attractive development prospects. Furthermore, our brand has also consolidated its presence in the Americas with 22 points of sale after opening three new establishments on the continent (two in El Salvador, where it now has a total of 13, and one additional store in Bolivia). Press contact: Kreab Jose Luis Gonzalez Garcia E: jlgonzalez@kreab.com T: +34 661850384 Paola Luelmo E: pluelmo@kreab.com T: +34 639973417 View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/llaollao-triumphant-in-the-philippines-exceeds-growth-expectations-with-51-outlets-in-2023-almost-tripling-its-presence-302149996.html Sacramento, California--(Newsfile Corp. - May 20, 2024) - PaleBlueDot ($EARTH), a groundbreaking new cryptocurrency project, has announced the launch of its innovative token, $EARTH, aimed at promoting global sustainability. This unique token not only represents a pioneering approach in the crypto market but also underscores the importance of preserving the planet. PaleBlueDot has introduced a singular $EARTH token with a limited supply model, emphasizing the message that there is only one Earth. This token is divisible to 18 decimal places, allowing millions of people to own a portion of it, thereby symbolizing the collective responsibility of humanity to cherish and protect the planet. Central to PaleBlueDot's mission is the Earth Fund, which allocates 1.5% of transaction taxes towards addressing critical global issues. Each month, the fund will focus on specific initiatives such as combating global food imbalance, managing water scarcity, preserving biodiversity, resolving the plastic crisis, tackling human trafficking, combating ocean acidification, and reducing air pollution. This strategic allocation ensures that the project makes a tangible impact on pressing environmental and social issues. The $EARTH tokenomics are designed to promote stability and growth: the total supply is limited to one Earth token, with maximum wallet holdings capped at 2% and maximum buy transactions capped at 1%. A 2% tax on all buy and sell transactions is in place, with the allocation of these funds divided as follows: 1.5% to the Earth Fund, 0.5% to operations, 3% to the team, and 5% to Centralized Exchanges, with the latter portion locked. To ensure transparency and community trust, liquidity will be locked for 365 years once the token reaches a $10 million market cap. PaleBlueDot encourages active participation from its community, referred to as 'Earthlings'. The project operates through a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) structure, allowing community members to have a say in the project's direction. This engagement fosters a sense of collective ownership and responsibility towards achieving the project's goals. PaleBlueDot's launch is more than just a new entry into the cryptocurrency market; it is a call to action for global citizens to join a movement dedicated to the sustainability and preservation of Earth. By owning a part of the $EARTH token, holders contribute to initiatives that aim to protect the planet for future generations. About PaleBlueToken: PaleBlueDot is a visionary cryptocurrency project committed to leveraging blockchain technology for global sustainability. Through its unique $EARTH token and dedicated Earth Fund, PaleBlueDot aims to address critical environmental and social issues, fostering a sense of collective responsibility and action among its community members. Contact Info: Name: Ryan Doyle Email: info@pale-blue.earth Organization: PaleBlueDot Website: https://www.pale-blue.earth/ To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/209918 SOURCE: Plentisoft Erinnern Sie sich, als Moderna und BioNTech von unbekannten Unternehmen zu globalen Marktfuhrern wurden und fruhzeitige Investoren reich belohnt haben? Die Branche steht vor einem erneuten Innovationsschub von bahnbrechenden Medikamenten bis hin zu revolutionaren Therapien. Warum sollten Sie dabei sein? Sie sollten jetzt in Biotech-Aktien einsteigen, weil wir am Beginn einer neuen Ara der medizinischen Innovation stehen konnten! Gen- und Zelltherapien, personalisierte Medizin und bahnbrechende Technologien konnten das Gesundheitswesen revolutionieren und die Aktienkurse in die Hohe schieen lassen. Die nachste Erfolgsgeschichte im Biotechbereich warten nur darauf, entdeckt zu werden. Wer jetzt investiert, hat die Chance, von gigantischen Durchbruchen und enormen Renditen zu profitieren. Warten Sie nicht, bis es zu spat ist - der nachste Biotech-Superstar konnte morgen schon durchstarten! Verpassen Sie nicht diese Chance! Fordern Sie sofort unseren brandneuen Biotech-Spezialreport an und erfahren Sie, welche 3 Biotech-Aktien das riesige Potenzial haben, Ihren finanziellen Erfolg zu sichern. Dieser Report ist komplett kostenlos und zeigt Ihnen zukunftstrachtige Investments im Biotech-Sektor. Handeln Sie jetzt und sichern Sie sich Ihren kostenfreien Report! Photo at the ceremony TOKYO, May 21, 2024 - (JCN Newswire) - Hitachi High-Tech Corporation ("Hitachi High-Tech") and Hitachi, Ltd. ("Hitachi") announced a collaborative creation ("co-creation") that utilizes the Materials Informatics ("MI") solutions provided by the Hitachi Group on the "MACSiMUM*", AI and machine learning platform, operated by Industrial Technology Research Institute ("ITRI"), the largest industrial technology research and development organization in Taiwan.With supported by the Department of Industrial Technology, Ministry of Economic Affairs (Taiwan), a ceremony and a networking event were held in Hsinchu County, Taiwan, to commemorate the start of the co-creation. The representatives discussed the significance of the co-creation and agreed to work together to make effective use of theirtechnical capabilities and resources, with the aim of pursuing new developments and achieving sustainable industrial development in the material science.In this co-creation, Hitachi High-Tech Taiwan Corporation, a Hitachi High-Tech Group company, provides Hitachi'sanalytics platform with MI which supports digital transformation of materials analysis and R&D to ITRI. This will contribute to the provision of a more optimized analytics platform required by customers who use "MACSiMUM",thereby reducing the number of experiments, improving the efficiency of materials R&D, accelerating the development of new materials, and reducing R&D costs. Through this co-creation, Hitachi High-Tech, Hitachi and ITRI will support the acceleration of digital transformation in Taiwan's materials development industry, the development of newtechnologies and innovation, while contributing to improvements of industrial standards.The comments from the representatives of the three parties are as follows.Tzong-Ming Li, General Director of Material and Chemical Research Laboratories at ITRI "With the support of thescience and technology project of the Department of Industrial Technology of the Ministry of Economic Affairs,we have established a digital platform dedicated to the field of materials chemistry called "MACSiMUM" to help small and medium enterprises in Taiwan adopt digital research and development tools. The collaboration with Hitachi High-Tech and Hitachi will act as a key driving force to the digital transformation of Taiwan's materials industry. By utilizing cutting-edge AI technology, we will help industries accelerate the pace of materials R&D and expand their market competitiveness."Toshiaki Ishitani Executive Officer and General Manager, Supply Chain Platform Business Group of Hitachi High-Tech"We are grateful for the opportunity to engage in collaborative creation with ITRI, a leader in the development of science, technology and industry in Taiwan, as it is the first example of Hitachi High-Tech's MI-related business beingintroduced to Taiwan customers. By leveraging our unique strengths as both a trading company and manufacturer, wewill continue to support the acceleration of materials R&D in Taiwan and the improvement of market competitiveness."Hirotake Ichikawa Social Infrastructure Systems Business Unit, Government & Public Corporation Information SystemsDivision, Officer,Business Unit, President,Division of Hitachi "We are grateful for the opportunity to collaborate withITRI. Hitachi will provide a cloud-based analytics platform, with its cutting-edge AI technology and the expertisecultivated by providing MI-based services. By supporting the analysis and visualization of data related to materials development, we will contribute to the promotion of digital transformation in Taiwan, including the acceleration of new materials development."*A machine learning platform that is used as an account by Taiwanese companies in materials, chemicals, etc.About Hitachi High-TechHitachi High-Tech, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is engaged in activities in a broad range of fields, including manufacture and sales of clinical analyzers, biotechnology products, radiation therapy systems, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, analytical instruments, and analysis equipment. Also, we provide high value-added solutions in industrial fields such as mobility, connected, environment and energy, etc. Through business based on our core Observation, Measurement and Analysis technologies, we will contribute to the realization of a sustainable society by solving social issues.The company's consolidated revenues for FY2023 were approx. JPY 670.4 billion. For further information, visithttps://www.hitachi-hightech.com/global/en/About Hitachi, Ltd.Hitachi drives Social Innovation Business, creating a sustainable society through the use of data and technology. We solve customers' and society's challenges with Lumada solutions leveraging IT, OT (Operational Technology) and products. Hitachi operates under the 3 business sectors of "Digital Systems & Services" - supporting our customers' digital transformation; "Green Energy & Mobility" - contributing to a decarbonized society through energy and railwaysystems, and "Connective Industries" - connecting products through digital technology to provide solutions in variousindustries. Driven by Digital, Green, and Innovation, we aim for growth through co-creation with our customers. The company's revenues as 3 sectors for fiscal year 2023 (ended March 31, 2024) totaled 8,564.3 billion yen, with 573 consolidated subsidiaries and approximately 270,000 employees worldwide. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at https://www.hitachi.com.Business Contact:Yuya NogawaMaterial Solution Dept., Supply Chain Resilience Div.,Supply Chain Platform Business Group, Hitachi High-Tech CorporationE-mail: mi-info.aj.ml@hitachi-hightech.comDaiki Kitahara, Riho Morishita Customer Relations CenterGovernment & Public Corporation Information Systems Sales Management DivisionHitachi, Ltd.Inquiry: Materials Informatics: HitachiSource: Hitachi, Ltd.Copyright 2024 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved. New FR4 Products Support Significant Business Growth Opportunity for Enablence Company Continues to Accelerate New Product Releases, Increasing Sales Pipeline Fremont, California--(Newsfile Corp. - May 20, 2024) - Enablence Technologies Inc. (TSXV: ENA), a leading provider of optical chips for datacom, telecom, automotive and artificial intelligence (AI) applications, announced today a new series of next-generation, wavelength management optical devices. Known as FR4 products, the new optoelectronics components support telecommunications, data centres, and fiber to home applications. Enablence's new FR4 products are already driving new growth business in North America. These devices enable cost-effective, high-speed data transmission and provide key data centre connectivity solutions. Enablence's FR4 products are devices used in telecommunications and networking. FR4 is a receiver of optical modules, enabling the transmission of high bandwidth data signals. To meet today's challenging optical performance requirements, Enablence's optical devices enable lower loss and significantly lower crosstalk, leading to more cost-effective deployments. The FR4 products also provide improved power efficiency and excellent data transfer rates to ensure faster and more reliable communication. "Our broad spectrum of optical devices, including our FR4 products, align with customers' optical chip integration requirements, and provide them with timely access to proven solutions for high-speed data connection and transmission," said Todd Haugen, Enablence CEO. "Consequently, demand for our FR4 optical products is already driving significant new business for the company. We are pleased to have already shipped a sizable number of FR4 products, and we expect to further accelerate FR4 shipments in the months ahead to meet the growing demand from customers." Enablence has remained invested in driving new datacom, advanced vision and artificial intelligence (AI) optical products to grow its pipeline and to meet the growing opportunities from new and existing customers. Its next-generation, FR4 transceivers deliver significant performance and lower overall network implementation costs. This provides significant benefit, especially to data centre customers. "Enablence has exceled in design and production of PLC based devices for many years and our latest FR4 roll out furthers this history," Haugen added. "This, coupled with our growth strategy is delivering the results, which will drive our return to profitability in the future." About Enablence Enablence Technologies Inc. is a publicly traded company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV: ENA). Enablence designs, manufactures, and sells advanced optical components, primarily in the form of PLCs and LiDAR technologies on silicon-based chips. Enablence optical products support a broad range of customers in the datacom, telecom, automotive and artificial intelligence industries. Enablence operates a wafer lab in Fremont, California with design centres in Canada and China, supported by sales and marketing operations worldwide. For more information, visit https://www.enablence.com/. # # # For more information, contact: Media and Market Analysts Alison Parnell Hill & Kincaid Marketing & PR Press@hillandkincaid.com Investor Relations Ali Mahdavi, Capital Markets & Investor Relations am@spinnakercmi.com Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding the Company based on current expectations and assumptions of management, which involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties associated with our business and the economic environment in which the business operates. All such statements are forward-looking statements under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ from those anticipated. These statements are based on current expectations that involve several risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements contained in this news release, and the assumptions on which such forward-looking statements are made, are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. We caution our readers of this news release not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements, as several factors could cause actual results or conditions to differ materially from current expectations. Additional information on these and other factors that could affect the Company's operations are set forth in the Company's continuous disclosure documents that can be found on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) under Enablence's issuer profile. Enablence does not intend, and disclaims any obligation, except as required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether because of new information, future events or otherwise. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/209916 SOURCE: Enablence Technologies Inc. Redde Northgate Plc - Transaction in Own Shares PR Newswire LONDON, United Kingdom, May 21 Transaction in Own Shares NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF SUCH JURISDICTION 20 May 2024 REDDE NORTHGATE PLC ("Redde Northgate" or the "Group" or the "Company") Transaction in Own Shares Redde Northgate plc (LSE:REDD) announces that on 20 May 2024 it purchased the following number of its own shares to be held in treasury: Class of shares : Ordinary shares of 50p ("shares") Number of shares purchased : 50,000 Weighted average purchase price paid : 429.00 pence per share Highest purchase price paid : 430.00 pence per share Lowest purchase price paid : 428.00 pence per share Following the above transaction, the Company's issued share capital consists of 246,091,423 ordinary shares of 50p each, of which 19,564,362 ordinary shares are held in treasury, and 1,000,000 preference shares of 50p each which do not carry any rights to vote. Therefore, the total number of voting rights in the Company is 226,527,061 which may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules. In accordance with Article 5(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (the Market Abuse Regulation) as incorporated into UK domestic law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, the schedule below contains detailed information about the purchases made by Numis Securities Limited on behalf of the Company as part of the Company's buyback programme. Schedule of Purchases - Individual Transactions (as at 20 May 2024) Number of shares purchased Transaction price (GB pence per share) Time of transaction Transaction reference number Venue 25,000 25,000 430.00 428.00 08:43:54 14:30:16 00069995541TRLO0 00070002483TRLO0 XLON XLON Notes This announcement is made in accordance with the requirements of Listing Rule 12.4.6. For further information contact: Buchanan David Rydell/Jamie Hooper/Hannah Ratcliff +44 (0) 207 466 5000 Notes to Editors: Redde Northgate is the leading integrated mobility solutions platform providing services across the vehicle lifecycle. The Company offers integrated mobility solutions to businesses, fleet operators, insurers, OEMs and other customers across seven key areas: vehicle rental, vehicle data, accident management, vehicle repairs, fleet management, service and maintenance, vehicle ancillary services and vehicle sales. The Company's core purpose is to keep its customers mobile, whether through meeting their regular mobility needs or by servicing and supporting them when unforeseen events occur. With its considerable scale and reach, Redde Northgate's mission is to offer a market-leading customer proposition and drive enhanced returns for shareholders by creating value through sustainable compounding growth. The Group aims to achieve this through the delivery of its strategic framework of Focus, Drive and Broaden. Redde Northgate services its customers through a network and diversified fleet of over 120,000 owned and leased vehicles, supporting over 600,000 managed vehicles, with more than 170 workshop, body shop and rental locations across the UK, Ireland and Spain and a specialist team of over 6,000 automotive services professionals. Further information please visit the Company's website: TORONTO, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Award-winning global Insurtech BOXX Insurance Inc. that combines cyber insurance and security has announced the launch of a cutting-edge cyber risk solution in collaboration with Zurich Insurance Group in Switzerland, providing digital protection for individuals and families. Recognizing the critical need for comprehensive protection against digital threats Zurich Insurance in Switzerland has partnered with technology partner BOXX Insurance to develop a user-friendly solution designed to help individuals and families better predict and prevent potential scams and digital threats. Designed for simplicity, the app's personalized experience puts users' digital safety front and centre, featuring an easy-to-use interface designed by Zurich Insurance in Switzerland and developed by BOXX in close collaboration with Zurich. The App is now available in Switzerland offering support in English, German, French and Italian. "We created this to give individuals and families what they want - an app that delivers an essential bundle of tools at users fingertips including access to experts in the event of a cyber emergency," explained Vishal Kundi, CEO and Founder, BOXX Insurance. "Smartphones have become the fastest-selling gadgets in history. They have penetrated every aspect of daily life. The average person picks their phone up to 100 times a day so if we want to make their world a digitally safer place, we have to ensure their phone and their usage is better secured," Kundi added. "An extensive research conducted by Zurich Insurance in Switzerland showed that many are not aware of online dangers and that around a quarter have already been victims of a cyber-attack. In addition, customers are simply overwhelmed with the range of cyber products," says Rene Harlacher, Chief Underwriting Officer of Zurich Insurance in Switzerland. "At Zurich, it's our mission to go beyond mere protection, and also offer our customers tools to help them build resilience and implement preventative measures against cyber risks. Based on these facts, we are expanding our cyber offering for private individuals so that we can provide them with support before, during and after a possible cyber-attack. This is exactly where our joint offering with BOXX Insurance comes in, as a way to lend additional support to our customers," he adds. The newly launched solution by Zurich Insurance in Switzerland focuses on providing essential services to help prevent digital threats combined with emergency assistance and support in case of an emergency. Delivered to end customers by Zurich, key features include: Identity Protection : Identifies if personal data captured in the app shows up on the dark web and notifies users, providing help and advice to reduce threats of identity theft. : Identifies if personal data captured in the app shows up on the dark web and notifies users, providing help and advice to reduce threats of identity theft. Secure VPN : By creating a secure and encrypted internet connection the VPN protects data from potential threats such as hacking, identity theft, and phishing attacks. : By creating a secure and encrypted internet connection the VPN protects data from potential threats such as hacking, identity theft, and phishing attacks. Secure WiFi : Scans WiFi networks for threats and helps proactively detect security issues. : Scans WiFi networks for threats and helps proactively detect security issues. Safe Browsing : Warns against harmful websites and links to protect privacy and personal data. : Warns against harmful websites and links to protect privacy and personal data. Device Protection : Checks and improves the security settings of devices. Devices with the Android operating system are additionally protected against viruses and malware. : Checks and improves the security settings of devices. Devices with the Android operating system are additionally protected against viruses and malware. Password Manager : Creates and manages strong passwords and assists with their use. : Creates and manages strong passwords and assists with their use. Edutainment : Educational content in an entertaining way to raise awareness of personal cyber security. : Educational content in an entertaining way to raise awareness of personal cyber security. Emergency Support and Assistance: Help and assistance from cyber security experts to provide support in cyber emergencies and for many other IT-related problems. The new offering is available here: https://www.zurich.ch/en/private-customers/living-events/cyberprotection/insurance-prevention "From providing protection from the dangers of being connected at home and on the go, customers now have the means to keep their devices and data secure and have access to indispensable help in an emergency, all in one easy-to-use app," Kundi added. Zurich has been working with BOXX since 2021 and participated in BOXX's Series A and Series B funding rounds. As a Zurich Global Ventures portfolio company, BOXX is proud to now extend the ongoing collaboration with Zurich to enable Swiss customers to be digitally safer. About BOXX Insurance BOXX Insurance Inc. helps businesses, individuals and families insure and defend against cyber threats. Privately-held with headquarters in Canada, BOXX has global offices in Toronto, Miami, Zurich, Dubai and Mumbai. BOXX Insurance is an award-winning global cyber protection and insurance provider. We're not a typical company. That's by design. We're serious about making the world a digitally safer place; creating real, positive changes for our clients and partners, and building a lasting legacy, from what we create, inside the BOXX. Every day we're improving the digital health of businesses, families and individuals around the world who rely on BOXX's solutions and services to predict, prevent and insure them against cyber threats. Media Contact: Sarah Madden, news@boxxinsurance.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2416572/BOXX_Insurance_Cyber_insurtech_BOXX_partners_with_Zurich_Insuran.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2416573/BOXX_Insurance_Cyber_insurtech_BOXX_partners_with_Zurich_Insuran.jpg View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/cyber-insurtech-boxx-partners-with-zurich-insurance-group-in-switzerland-to-introduce-breakthrough-personal-cyber-product-302150416.html Kunstliche Intelligenz hat spatestens nach dem Raketenstart von Chat GPT das Leben aller verandert. Doch der Superzyklus steht nach Meinungen von Experten erst am Anfang. Wahrend Aktien wie Nvidia von der ersten Aufwartsentwicklung stark profitieren konnten, versprechen aussichtsreiche Player aus der zweiten Reihe noch enormes Aufwartspotenzial. Im kostenlosen, exklusiven Spezialreport prasentieren wir ihnen 5 innovative KI-Unternehmen, die bahnbrechende Entwicklungen in diesem Sektor pragen konnten. Warum sollten Sie dabei sein? Trotz der jungsten Erfolge steht die Entwicklung der kunstlichen Intelligenz noch am Beginn eines neuen Superzyklus. Experten gehen davon aus, dass der Sektor bis 2032 global auf 1,3 Billionen US-Dollar explodieren wird, wobei ein groer Teil auf Hardware und Infrastruktur entfallen wird. Nutzen Sie die Chance! Fordern Sie sofort unseren brandneuen Spezialreport an und erfahren Sie, welche 5 KI-Aktien das grote Potenzial zur Vervielfachung besitzen. Dieser Report ist komplett kostenlos und zeigt Ihnen die aussichtsreichsten Investments im KI-Sektor. Handeln Sie jetzt und sichern Sie sich Ihren kostenfreien Report! Kupfer wird oft als das Gold der Energiewende bezeichnet, weil es aufgrund seiner hervorragenden elektrischen Leitfahigkeit eine zentrale Rolle in vielen Technologien spielt, die fur nachhaltige Energiesysteme entscheidend sind. Experten gehen aufgrund der Angebotsknappheit von einem Superzyklus aus. Korrektur als Einstiegschance Nach Hochststanden im Mai korrigierte das rote Metall stark. Die Abwartsspirale verstarkte sich in den vergangenen Tagen aufgrund schwacher Konjunkturdaten aus den USA und China. Langfristig konnte sich die aktuell laufende Korrektur als exzellente Einstiegsmoglichkeit herausstellen. 3 Kupferaktien mit hohem Potential Im neuen, kostenlosen Spezialreport stellen wir drei aussichtsreiche Unternehmen vor, die bei einem weiteren Anstieg uberproportional profitieren konnten. Handeln Sie jetzt und sichern Sie sich Ihren kostenfreien Report! Extension of ISO 20022 across payment chain will capture rich data at source, enhancing speed and transparency and marking significant point on journey to instant and frictionless transactions Banks given ready-to-go, white-labelled tracking services to enhance corporates' treasury management Plan developed in collaboration with leading cash management banks and twenty sector-leading corporates, including Roche and Saudi Aramco Swift has today set out plans to help financial institutions streamline the cross-border payments experience for their corporate customers, by extending ISO 20022 across the entire payment chain and giving banks ready-to-use, white-labelled tracking services that can be activated for customers at the click of a button. In what marks a significant milestone in delivering its strategy for instant and frictionless transactions, Swift will enable financial institutions to capture rich data at source, by standardising the payment end-to-end with ISO 20022. Swift will also help banks offer their customers ready-made and white-labelled payment tracking services by API or messaging channel, giving complete transparency on a payment's status as well as confirmation of its receipt. Currently, corporate payments are complicated by competing standards and proprietary formats, while multi-banked corporates face a fragmented landscape as they interact with a multitude of banking providers with varying features and services. Swift's plan was developed with a working group of 25 leading cash management banks and 20 sector-leading corporates, including Roche and Saudi Aramco. The goal is to introduce a universal standard that can maximise the benefit of ISO 20022's richer, more structured data, facilitating automation and reconciliation and drastically reducing integration costs. The standardisation of payment tracking data will enable financial institutions to easily offer the same experience across their corporate customer base, regardless of their own geographical reach or local investment. Currently, where multi-banked corporates receive tracking information, it comes through different channels and in different formats. Roche, the global pharmaceutical company, has successfully implemented Swift's new corporate API channel, with a key banking partner enabling their direct access to tracking information for payments they send and receive. Stefan Windisch, Global Head, InHouse Bank at Roche, said: "Swift's new approach undoubtedly offers significant benefits from a corporate client perspective. It enables us to enhance and accelerate our payments analysis, giving us a comprehensive overview at pace. Having direct API access to Swift's payment tracking system will provide us with more transparency and strengthen our ability to analyse overall payment performance. It will allow us to refine our instructions, better identify inefficiencies, and minimise erosion of value in cross-border payments." Swift has been driving the industry towards meeting the G20's goals for cross-border payments. 89% of payments on its network now reach the beneficiary bank within an hour, ahead of the G20's target of 75% settling in the end account within an hour by 2027. Thierry Chilosi, Chief Strategy Officer at Swift, said: "Adoption of ISO 20022 provides a unique opportunity to improve cross-border payments. Capturing rich data at source will enhance the entire ecosystem, driving us closer to our goals of instant and frictionless transactions. We're delighted to be making it easy for our community to extend the benefits to their customers while simplifying and standardising access to services, such as tracking, which are so important to efficient corporate treasury." Many members of Swift's working group are implementing and piloting the new capabilities, and Swift intends to extend them to its wider community later this year. Damien Godderis, Head of Payments Industry Engagement at BNP Paribas, said: "BNP Paribas are delighted to be working with Swift to offer a bank agnostic solution for payment initiation to maximise the benefits of ISO 20022, and to offer self-service payment tracking. We're excited to start testing along with our corporate clients." Noritoshi Murakami, MD, Head of Transaction Banking Division (Products) at MUFG, said: "We are delighted to have been able to collaborate with Swift and our peers from across the industry, as well as a large number of businesses, to enhance the customer experience for our multinational corporate clients. This will help simplify their treasury processes and improve the cross-border payments ecosystem overall." Boris Lipiainen, Chief Product Technology Officer at Kyriba, said: "We are pleased to be working alongside Swift and many others for this pilot programme. By utilising a single standard for payment initiation in ISO 20022 and enabling direct corporate access to tracker data, we are able to integrate additional services that improve the payment experience for multibank clients across the payment lifecycle. Together with Swift, we are able to reduce friction, streamline operations, and increase value for our customers." Members of the Working Group include: Corporates Financial Institutions ABB Capital AG Bank of America Airbus Barclays Alibaba BBVA ArcelorMittal Treasury BNP Paribas Bayer Citi Booking.com CTBC Dassault Systemes DBS DFS Deutsche Bank Eskom HSBC Johnson Controls MUFG Merck Santander Midea Group Societe Generale Roche Standard Chartered Saudi Aramco UniCredit Ingka (Ikea) Kyriba FIS EFIS About Swift Swift is a global member owned cooperative and the world's leading provider of secure financial messaging services. We provide our community with a platform for messaging and standards for communicating, and we offer products and services to facilitate access and integration, identification, analysis and regulatory compliance. Our messaging platform, products and services connect more than 11,500 banking and securities organisations, market infrastructures and corporate customers in more than 200 countries and territories. While Swift does not hold funds or manage accounts on behalf of customers, we enable our global community of users to communicate securely, exchanging standardised financial messages in a reliable way, thereby supporting global and local financial flows, as well as trade and commerce all around the world. As their trusted provider, we relentlessly pursue operational excellence; we support our community in addressing cyber threats; and we continually seek ways to lower costs, reduce risks and eliminate operational inefficiencies. Our products and services support our community's access and integration, business intelligence, reference data and financial crime compliance needs. Swift also brings the financial community together at global, regional and local levels to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest or concern. Headquartered in Belgium, Swift's international governance and oversight reinforces the globally inclusive character of its cooperative structure. Swift's global office network ensures an active presence in all the major financial centres. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240521166978/en/ Contacts: Press: FGS Global +32 (0)2655 3377 Swift@fgsglobal.com Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2024) - East Africa Metals Inc. (TSXV: EAM) ("East Africa" or the "Company") is pleased to update that the Company will continue to explore highly prospective areas in the immediate vicinity of the known Mato Bula Gold Copper ("Mato Bula") and Da Tambuk Gold ("Da Tambuk") deposit areas. The contents of this disclosure outlines the Company's exploration strategy for assessing the areas through further targeted and staged exploration. This work will be concurrent with the initiation of mine development programs at at Mato Bula and Da Tambuk (see news release May10, 2024) in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia ("Ethiopia"). The Company has maintained a steady multi-project advancement strategy over years of exploration, building value by drilling out key areas of mineralization to establish core base assets. The release of positive PEA results for the spatially related Mato Bula and Da Tambuk mines listed above provides a foothold for working to potentially improve and expand resources on the projects through additional systematic exploration of the prospective exploration targets on the Adyabo property. The Company has re-engaged Aurum Exploration Limited to plan and manage the exploration drilling program at Halima Hill expected to be initiated prior to the end of Q2, 2024. Adyabo Property Mato Bula and Da Tambuk Both Mato Bula and Da Tambuk lie along a geologically defined trend (the Mato Bula trend) characterised by anomalous base and precious metal soil values, and prospective alteration similar to that in the deposit areas. Additional work warranted to potentially locate additional mineralization includes; Halima Hill I.P. - Represents a compelling target as a large, open (to depth and southward) Induced Polarization ("I.P.") chargeability anomaly extending laterally 500 metres south beyond the known Mato Bula mineralization. The currently defined copper/gold mineralization increases in silver and zinc content locally in the south region of the resource. Being an open I.P. target, the feature requires drill qualification and has potential, with mineralization identification, to represent a significant spatial increase to the known mineralized footprint. A key intersection in this area includes 24.50 metres grading 0.61 grams per tonne gold, 1.67 % copper, 8.0 grams per tonne silver, and 0.96% zinc, from 204.30 metres (WMD027-press release dated January 15, 2015). - Represents a compelling target as a large, open (to depth and southward) Induced Polarization ("I.P.") chargeability anomaly extending laterally 500 metres south beyond the known Mato Bula mineralization. The currently defined copper/gold mineralization increases in silver and zinc content locally in the south region of the resource. Being an open I.P. target, the feature requires drill qualification and has potential, with mineralization identification, to represent a significant spatial increase to the known mineralized footprint. A key intersection in this area includes 24.50 metres grading 0.61 grams per tonne gold, 1.67 % copper, 8.0 grams per tonne silver, and 0.96% zinc, from 204.30 metres (WMD027-press release dated January 15, 2015). Mato Bula Central - Results from the 2017 infill drilling program identified areas of potential high grade mineralization for step out drilling to depth in the central area of Mato Bula. - Results from the 2017 infill drilling program identified areas of potential high grade mineralization for step out drilling to depth in the central area of Mato Bula. Silica Hill - Resource mineralization remains open to depth. - Resource mineralization remains open to depth. Silica Hill North - Interpretation of geology and mineralization has been revised and additional drill targets have been identified with the objective to build upon an initial intersection of 22.91 metres at 14.34 grams per tonne gold including 8.50 metres at 36.92 grams per tonne gold, from 101.09 metres drill depth (WMD032-press release dated January 15, 2015). - Interpretation of geology and mineralization has been revised and additional drill targets have been identified with the objective to build upon an initial intersection of 22.91 metres at 14.34 grams per tonne gold including 8.50 metres at 36.92 grams per tonne gold, from 101.09 metres drill depth (WMD032-press release dated January 15, 2015). Mato Bula North - A separate copper enriched area of the existing resource remains open laterally and to depth, and requires further delineation drilling. - A separate copper enriched area of the existing resource remains open laterally and to depth, and requires further delineation drilling. Regional I.P. survey - To delineate additional targets to depth along the Mato Bula Trend. - To delineate additional targets to depth along the Mato Bula Trend. Da Tambuk Silica Ridge - Two target areas of artisanal workings, silica alteration, and anomalous multi-element soil geochemistry remains to be trench and drill tested. - Two target areas of artisanal workings, silica alteration, and anomalous multi-element soil geochemistry remains to be trench and drill tested. Da Tambuk deposit - Infill and extension drilling required (deposit currently open to depth and south). The Mato Bula Trend Exploration Targets To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/10147/209813_eastafricametals1.jpg Mining Licences East Africa, through its Ethiopian subsidiary company Tigray Resources Incorporated PLC, submitted mining licence applications for the Mato Bula and Da Tambuk Projects which are currently in the formal review process by the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines, Petroleum and Natural Gas (see news release dated December 13, 2017). Management Discussion "East Africa's management has established objectives to advance the company's Ethiopia assets through exploration and development agendas." stated Andrew Lee Smith, CEO of East Africa Metals. "The exploration objectives described in this release are aimed to increase and upgrade the resource along strike, to depth, and through definition drilling, while the development agenda described in the Da Tambuk and Mato Bula Preliminary Economic Assessments (see press release April 30, 2018) will, once successfully executed, continue to de-risk the project as the Company works towards its objective to establish operations and cash flow." About East Africa Metals The Company's principal assets include a 30% Net Profits Interest in the Mato Bula and Da Tambuk mines (collectively "Adyabo Property") and a 70% project interest in the Harvest polymetallic VMS Exploration Project in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. In addition, the Company has a 30% Net Streaming Interest in the Magambazi Mine in the Tanga Region of Tanzania. EAM has invested US$66.8M in African exploration since 2005 and has identified a total of 2.8 million ounces of gold and gold-equivalent resources representing an average discovery cost per ounce of US$24. More information on the Company can be viewed at the Company's website: www.eastafricametals.com. Andrew Lee Smith is a Qualified Person under the definitions of National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the contents of this news release. On behalf of the Board of Directors: Andrew Lee Smith, P.Geo., CEO For further information contact: Nick Watters, Business Development Telephone +1 (604) 488-0822 Email investors@eastafricametals.com Website www.eastafricametals.com Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified using forward-looking terminology such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "forecast", "project", "budget", "schedule", "may", "will", "could", "might", "should", "indicate" or variations of such words or similar words or expressions. Forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions that have been made by East Africa as at the date of such information and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of East Africa to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: timing of receipt of mining permit; timing of mining development; projected heap leach recoveries; early exploration; the closing of the agreement with the exploration and development company to advance the Magambazi Project or identify any other corporate opportunities for the Company; mineral exploration and development; metal and mineral prices; availability of capital; accuracy of East Africa's projections and estimates, including the initial mineral resource for the Adyabo, Harvest and Magambazi Properties; interest and exchange rates; competition; stock price fluctuations; availability of drilling equipment and access; actual results of current exploration activities; government regulation; political or economic developments; foreign taxation risks; environmental risks; insurance risks; capital expenditures; operating or technical difficulties in connection with development activities; personnel relations; the speculative nature of strategic metal exploration and development including the risks of diminishing quantities of grades of reserves; contests over title to properties; and changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, as well as those risk factors set out in in East Africa's management's discussion and analysis for the three months and nine months ended December 31, 2023 and for the fifteen month and year ended March 31, 2023, and East Africa's listing application dated July 8, 2013. Mineral Resources, which are not Mineral Reserves, do not have demonstrated economic viability. The contained gold, copper and silver figures shown are in situ. No assurance can be given that the estimated quantities will be produced. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to the timely closing of the financing; the timely closing of the Handeni Property definitive agreement; the price of gold, silver, copper and zinc; the demand for gold, silver, copper and zinc; the ability to carry on exploration and development activities; the timely receipt of any required approvals; the ability to obtain qualified personnel, equipment and services in a timely and cost-efficient manner; the ability to operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner; the renewal or extension of exploration Licenses; the regulatory framework regarding environmental matters, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although East Africa has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. The Company does not update or revise forward looking information even if new information becomes available unless legislation requires the Company do so. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information contained herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/209813 SOURCE: East Africa Metals, Inc. Vieri Betti Guaraldi Joins as a Managing Director in Milan Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI), the global investment bank, announced today that Vieri Betti Guaraldi has joined as a Managing Director in its Capital Markets Group as the firm continues to expand the team in Europe. Based in Milan, Mr. Betti Guaraldi will work alongside senior European capital markets colleagues to deliver bespoke debt advisory services to the firm's clients in Italy and across the region. Mr. Betti Guaraldi joins the firm from Rothschild Co., where he spent 15 years in the Debt Advisory and Restructuring team advising clients on a wide range of transactions, including acquisition finance, debt refinancing and restructuring, private placements, and syndicated loans. He began his career at Merrill Lynch in 2008. "With our European transaction flow continuing to increase, Italy is the next obvious step to building out our European Capital Markets Advisory franchise after our recent expansion of the team into France. Bringing on someone with Vieri's outstanding track record and industry reputation to lead our dedicated team in Milan aligns perfectly with our commitment to providing the highest quality advice to our clients, which is at the heart of our corporate culture," said Anthony Forshaw, Head of Capital Markets Advisory, Europe at Houlihan Lokey. "Houlihan Lokey is a firm with great momentum and an impressive growth trajectory, particularly in Europe, and the firm's Capital Markets Group is widely recognised as a market leader. This is an exciting opportunity for me, and I look forward to collaborating with my new colleagues to offer thoughtful capital solutions to our clients in Italy and the rest of Europe," commented Mr. Betti Guaraldi. With nearly 100 dedicated finance professionals across offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, San Francisco, London, Manchester, Frankfurt, Milan, Dubai, and Paris, Houlihan Lokey's Capital Markets Group is among the largest of its kind in financial services. The group provides capital-raising services for a wide variety of clients, from private- equity-backed portfolio companies and publicly held corporations to privately held businesses. In 2023, the group raised and advised on more than $14 billion in capital across approximately 100 transactions with around 65 different financial sponsors. About Houlihan Lokey Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) is a global investment bank with expertise in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, financial restructuring, and financial and valuation advisory. The firm serves corporations, institutions, and governments worldwide with offices in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region. Independent advice and intellectual rigor are hallmarks of the firm's commitment to client success across its advisory services. The firm is the No. 1 investment bank for all global M&A transactions, the No. 1 M&A advisor for the past nine consecutive years in the U.S., the No. 1 global restructuring advisor for the past ten consecutive years, and the No. 1 global M&A fairness opinion advisor over the past 25 years, all based on number of transactions and according to data provided by LSEG (formerly Refinitiv). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240520116503/en/ Contacts: Investor Relations +1 212.331.8225 IR@HL.com Media Relations Richard Creswell +44 207 747 1480 PR@HL.com The growth of the global managed learning service market is majorly driven by increased demand for personalized learning experiences and expansion of digital learning platforms & tools. PORTLAND, Ore., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Managed Learning Service Market by Type (Sourcing External Training, L&D Administration, Supplier Management, and Others), Enterprise Size (Small & Medium Enterprises and Large Enterprises), Delivery Mode (Distance Learning, Instructor-Led Training, and Blended Training), and Industry Vertical (Banking, Financial Services, & Insurance (BFSI), Consumer Goods & Retail, Telecommunications & IT, Healthcare, Education, and Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2023-2032". According to the report, the "managed learning service market" was valued at $3.6 billion in 2022, and is estimated to reach $9.4 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 10.3% from 2023 to 2032. Prime determinants of growth The increased demand for personalized learning experiences and growth of digital learning platforms and tools positively impacts the expansion of the market. In addition, integration of AI & machine learning for adaptive learning solutions and rise in demand for cost-effectiveness of outsourcing learning management solution strengthen the growth of the market for future. Furthermore, expansion of emerging markets with surge in education demands and rise in specialized learning solutions for niche industries are expected to provide lucrative opportunities for market growth. In addition, increase in customization options to cater to diverse learner needs and rise in integration with HR systems for seamless talent development are anticipated to create numerous opportunities for the managed learning service market in the coming years. However, data privacy & security concerns and resistance to change traditional learning methods hamper the growth of the market. Request Sample Pages: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/A14722 Report Coverage & Details Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2023-2032 Base Year 2022 Market Size in 2022 $3.6 Billion Market Size in 2032 $9.4 Billion CAGR 10.3 % No. of Pages in Report 93 Segments covered Type, Enterprise Size, Delivery Mode, Industry Vertical, and Region Drivers The increased demand for personalized learning experiences Growth of digital learning platforms and tools Integration of AI & machine learning for adaptive learning solutions Rise in demand for cost-effectiveness of outsourcing learning management solution Opportunities Expansion of emerging markets with surge in education demands Rise in specialized learning solutions for niche industries Increase in customization options to cater to diverse learner needs Rise in integration with HR systems for seamless talent development Restraints Data privacy & security concerns Resistance to change traditional learning methods Buy this Complete Report (PDF with Insights, Charts, Tables, and Figures) at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/managed-learning-service-market/purchase-options The others segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period Depending on type, the sourcing external training segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for nearly two-fifths of the managed learning service market revenue, and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. This segment involves identifying and procuring specialized training programs, courses, and resources from external providers to complement the internal learning offerings. However, the others segment is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 12.8 % from 2023 to 2032. The others segment enhance the value proposition of managed learning solutions and contribute to driving innovation, efficiency, & competitiveness within the market. The small and medium enterprise segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period Depending on enterprise size, the large enterprise segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for more than three-fourths of the managed learning service market revenue, and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. Managed learning services play a key role in empowering large enterprises to enhance employee performance, drive innovation, and help to achieve strategic objectives in a dynamic and highly competitive business environment. However, the small and medium enterprise segment is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 12.5% from 2023 to 2032. Leveraging managed learning services enables SMEs to stay abreast of industry trends, regulatory requirements, and emerging technologies. The blended training segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period On the basis of delivery mode, the instructor-led training segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for nearly half of the managed learning service market revenue, and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. ILT is a powerful training method that drives engagement, knowledge retention, and skill development. However, the blended training segment is projected to register the highest CAGR of 11.8% from 2023 to 2032. As blended learning approaches have been increasingly promoted and adopted by school systems and higher educational institutions across the world. The education segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period On the basis of industry vertical, the telecommunications and IT segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for more than one-fourth of the managed learning service market revenue, and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. This is due to the rapid technological advancements and evolving industry landscapes, telecommunication and IT companies are adopting managed learning services for upskilling and reskilling their workforce to remain competitive in the industry. However, the education segment is projected to register the highest CAGR of 12.7% from 2023 to 2032. The rapid adoption of digital technologies in education sectors has spurred the need for robust online LMS, virtual classrooms, and e-learning content development. North America to maintain its dominance by 2032 Region wise, North America held the highest market share in terms of revenue in 2022, accounting for more than two-fifths of the managed learning service market revenue, owing to increase in investments in advanced technologies such as cloud computing, AI and MLS to improve businesses and customer experiences in the region. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the fastest CAGR of 12.8% from 2023 to 2032, and is likely to enhance the market growth during the forecast period, owing to rapid digitalization and internet penetration in the region. Enquiry Before Buying: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/A14722 Leading Market Players TTA (The Training Associates) Wahoo Learning G-Cube GP Strategies Corporation Infopro Learning, Inc. NIIT (USA), Inc. Schouten Global Capita Plc. Learning Tree International, Inc. Hemsley Fraser Group Ltd. TTEC Holdings, Inc. QA The report provides a detailed analysis of these key players in the managed learning service market. These players have adopted different strategies such as new product launches, collaborations, expansion, joint ventures, agreements and others to increase their market share and maintain dominant shares in different countries. The report is valuable in highlighting business performance, operating segments, product portfolio, and strategic moves of market players to showcase the competitive scenario AVENUE- A Subscription-Based Library (Premium on-demand, subscription-based pricing model): AMR introduces its online premium subscription-based library Avenue, designed specifically to offer cost-effective, one-stop solution for enterprises, investors, and universities. With Avenue, subscribers can avail an entire repository of reports on more than 2,000 niche industries and more than 12,000 company profiles. Moreover, users can get an online access to quantitative and qualitative data in PDF and Excel formats along with analyst support, customization, and updated versions of reports. Get an access to the library of reports at any time from any device and anywhere. For more details, follow the link: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/library-access About Us: Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Wilmington, Delaware. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports Insights" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain. We are in professional corporate relations with various companies, and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry. Contact: David Correa 1209 Orange Street, Corporation Trust Center, Wilmington, New Castle, Delaware 19801 USA. Int'l: +1-503-894-6022 Toll Free: +1-800-792-5285 UK: +44-845-528-1300 India (Pune): +91-20-66346060 Fax: +1-800-792-5285 help@alliedmarketresearch.com Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/636519/Allied_Market_Research_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/managed-learning-service-market-to-reach-9-4-billion-by-2032-at-10-3-cagr-allied-market-research-302151040.html COPENHAGEN, Denmark, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On the occasion of the 15-year anniversary of the inaugural Global Fashion Summit, Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) has released a special edition of the Fashion CEO Agenda - a strategic resource designed to steer fashion organisations towards achieving a net positive industry by 2050. In line with the 2024 theme of Global Fashion Summit, 'Unlocking the Next Level', this year's Fashion CEO Agenda presents five pivotal opportunities for fashion executives and the industry at large to unlock transformative impact for people and planet. In the 15 years since the inception of Global Fashion Summit in 2009, sustainability has evolved from a peripheral concern to a central focus in the fashion business landscape, prompting significant strides across the industry. Despite this progress, the alarming escalation of global warming and exponential rise in clothing production demand urgent and collective action from fashion industry leaders. Unlocking the next level of positive impact necessitates a comprehensive understanding of interdependencies and system-wide solutions. The 2024 edition of the Fashion CEO Agenda aims to empower fashion leaders and the wider industry to embrace five key opportunities: Operationalising Sustainability Redefining Growth Activating Consumers Prioritising People Mobilising Based on Materiality Drawing from the five priorities of the Fashion CEO Agenda-Respectful and Secure Work Environments, Better Wage Systems, Resource Stewardship, Smart Material Choices, and Circular Systems-this special edition highlights five cross-cutting opportunities that will help achieve the next level of progress on these priorities. Tailored for fashion brands, retailers, and producers, this edition of the Fashion CEO Agenda differs from previous editions as it focuses on challenging norms and amplifying efforts, and serves as a crucial inflection point for the industry to foster positive outcomes for both society and the environment. By upholding the rights of workers, championing diversity and inclusivity, redefining success metrics, and reshaping growth paradigms, profound transformation is possible. Federica Marchionni, CEO, Global Fashion Agenda, says: "The Fashion CEO Agenda 2024 aims to help leaders to shift their mindset, providing clear unlocks for embracing the challenges for future proofing their businesses and operations. I urgently encourage leaders to work closely with cross-functional teams, use empathy, and a values-based approach that prioritises the planet and the well-being of the people. By doing so, we secure the foundation of our businesses and deliver not only financial returns but also positive impact on the world around us." Through renowned events, impact programmes, and thought leadership publications, GFA consistently convenes industry pioneers, shares tangible case studies, disseminates best practices, and highlights practical tools. While recognising the enduring utility of these resources, stakeholders are now encouraged to build upon existing insights and embrace increasingly sophisticated, holistic, and human-centric opportunities to unlock the next level of industry transformation across the entire value chain. The Fashion CEO Agenda 2024 is an openly accessible resource and available to download here. The new publication will be explored further at Global Fashion Summit: Copenhagen Edition 2024, taking place from 21-23 May. For more information contact: press@globalfashionagenda.org This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/global-fashion-agenda/r/new-report-presents-keys-to-unlock-the-next-level-in-sustainable-fashion,c3983955 The following files are available for download: https://news.cision.com/global-fashion-agenda/i/fashion-ceo-agenda-2024-cover---global-fashion-agenda,c3301804 Fashion CEO Agenda 2024 Cover - Global Fashion Agenda View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/new-report-presents-keys-to-unlock-the-next-level-in-sustainable-fashion-302151062.html XP Power Ltd - Rejection of unsolicited approach PR Newswire LONDON, United Kingdom, May 21 NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN, INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF THAT JURISDICTION THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 21 May 2024 XP POWER LIMITED (XP or the "Company") Rejection of unsolicited approach The board of XP Power Limited (the "Board") notes the recent announcement by Advanced Energy Industries Inc. (the "Advanced Energy") and confirms that it has received a series of highly conditional, opportunistic, indicative proposals from Advanced Energy. The most recent proposal from Advanced Energy was at 1,950 pence per share and was received on 7 May 2024 for the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of the Company (the "Indicative Proposal"). The Board considered the Indicative Proposal carefully, together with its financial adviser, Rothschild & Co, and unanimously concluded that the Indicative Proposal fundamentally undervalues the Company and its prospects. Accordingly, the Board unanimously rejected the Indicative Proposal on 13 May 2024. The Board notes that trading for 2024 has been in line with its expectations. The Company's shareholders are strongly advised to take no action in relation to the Indicative Proposal. There can be no certainty either that an offer will be made nor as to the terms of any offer, if made. A further announcement will be made when appropriate. Additional information Any offer for the Company would not be subject to the jurisdiction of the UK Panel on Takeovers and Mergers which administers the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers. The Company notes the statement by Advanced Energy that in consultation with the Council, Advanced Energy has undertaken to, by not later than 5.00 pm (London time) on June 18, 2024, to announce a firm intention to make an offer for the shares of XP in accordance with Rule 3.5 of the Singapore Takeover Code or announce that it does not intend to make an offer. This deadline can be extended with the consent of the Council, at the request of XP, taking into account all relevant factors, including (a) the status of negotiations between Advanced Energy and XP, and (b) the anticipated timetable for their completion. In the event that Advanced Energy announces that it does not intend to make an offer for XP, Advanced Energy and any person acting in concert with it will be prevented from announcing an offer or possible offer for XP or taking certain other action for six months from the date of such announcement, except in the circumstances permitted by Note 1 on Rule 33.1 of the Singapore Takeover Code and specified in the announcement. A copy of this announcement will be made available at https://www.xppower.com/resources?types=press_releases . The content of the website referred to in this announcement is not incorporated into and does not form part of this announcement. The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No.596/2014 ("MAR"). Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain. Enquiries XP Power Limited Chris Dyett +44 (0)7974 974 690 Rothschild & Co Ravi Gupta Aadeesh Aggarwal Investec Carlton Nelson Patrick Robb Cameron MacRitchie Citigate Dewe Rogerson Kevin Smith Lucy Gibbs +44 (0)20 7280 5000 +44 (0)20 7597 5970 +44 (0)20 7638 9571 Further Information N.M. Rothschild & Sons Limited ("Rothschild & Co"), which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom, is acting exclusively for the Company and for no one else in connection with the subject matter of this announcement and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to its clients or for providing advice in connection with the subject matter of this announcement. Investec, which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (the "PRA") and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and PRA in the United Kingdom, is acting exclusively as lead financial adviser to the Company and for no one else in connection with the subject matter of this announcement and will not be responsible to any person other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to clients of Investec, nor for providing advice in relation to the subject matter of this announcement, the content of this announcement or any matter referred to in this announcement. Neither Investec nor any of its subsidiaries, branches or affiliates owes or accepts any duty, liability or responsibility whatsoever (whether direct or indirect, whether in contract, in tort, under statute or otherwise) to any person who is not a client of Investec in connection with this announcement, any statement contained herein or otherwise. The distribution of this announcement in jurisdictions outside the United Kingdom may be restricted by law and therefore persons into whose possession this announcement comes should inform themselves about, and observe, such restrictions. Any failure to comply with the restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities law of any such jurisdiction. The directors of the Company (including those who may have delegated detailed supervision of this announcement) ("Directors") have taken all reasonable care to ensure that the facts stated and all opinions expressed in this announcement are fair and accurate and that no material facts have been omitted from this announcement, and they jointly and severally accept responsibility accordingly. Where any information has been extracted or reproduced from published or otherwise publicly available sources, the sole responsibility of the Directors has been to ensure, through reasonable enquiries, that such information has been accurately extracted from such sources or, as the case may be, reflected or reproduced in this announcement. Summary of Disclosure Requirements under the Singapore Takeover Code Dealings by investors Rule 8 of the UK Takeover Code does not apply to the Company, and the Singapore Code on Take-overs and Mergers(the "Singapore Takeover Code") does not require investors to make public disclosures of their positions or dealings in relevant securities of the parties to an offer, except dealings by parties to an offer or their associates. However, as the Company is admitted to trading on a regulated market in the United Kingdom, the vote holder and issuer notification rules set out in Chapter 5 of the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules ("DTRs") apply to the Company, and will continue to apply to it irrespective of the commencement or duration of the offer period under the Singapore Takeover Code. Any person who is in doubt of his or her obligations under the DTRs is advised to obtain appropriate legal advice. For the avoidance of doubt, as the Company is not listed on the Official List of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited,the provisions of the Securities and Futures Act, Chapter 289 of Singapore relating to disclosure of interests in securities do not apply to the Company. Dealings by parties to an offer Pursuant to Rule 12 of the Singapore Takeover Code, dealings in relevant securities of an offeree company during an offer period must be: (i) publicly disclosed, if the dealing is by an offeror, the offeree company or any of their associates for their own accounts or for the account of their discretionary clients (see Rule 12.1 of the Singapore Takeover Code); and (ii) privately disclosed to the Securities Industry Council of Singapore ("SIC"), if the dealing is by an offeror, the offeree company or any of their associates for the account of non-discretionary investment clients (other than the offeror, the offeree company and any of their associates) (see Rule 12.2 of the Singapore Takeover Code). Where an offeror, the offeree company or any of their associates deal in relevant securities of an offeree company during an offer period only as brokerage agents for investment clients and not as principal, such dealings do not need to be disclosed, whether publicly or privately to the SIC (see Rule 12.3 of the Singapore Takeover Code). Any disclosure of dealings which is required to be made pursuant to Rule 12 must be made no later than 12 noon on the dealing day following the date of the relevant dealing (see Note 4 on Rule 12 of the Singapore Takeover Code). Any public disclosure of dealings in relevant securities must be made in writing via a Regulatory Information Service and to the SIC (see Note 5(a) on Rule 12 of the Singapore Takeover Code). A private disclosure of dealings in relevant securities must be made in writing to the SIC. The SIC has the right under the Singapore Takeover Code to make public such information when circumstances warrant it (see Note 5(b) on Rule 12 of the Singapore Takeover Code). General AECI Limited - Declaration of Cumulative 5.5 Per Cent Preference Share Dividend No. 172 PR Newswire LONDON, United Kingdom, May 21 AECI LIMITED (Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa) (Registration Number 1924/002590/06) Tax reference number: 9000008608 Share code: AFEP ISIN: ZAE000000238 Bond company code: AECI LEI: 3789008641F1D3D90E85 (AECI or the Company) DECLARATION OF CUMULATIVE 5.5 PER CENT PREFERENCE SHARE DIVIDEND NO. 172 Notice is hereby given that on Tuesday, 21 May 2024, the Directors of AECI declared a gross cash dividend, at the rate of 5.5 per cent per annum (equivalent to 2,75 pence sterling per preference share or 63.59400 ZAR cents per preference share), for the six months ending Friday, 14 June 2024. The dividend is payable on Friday, 21 June 2024 to holders of preference shares recorded in the register of the Company at the close of business on the record date for receipt of the cash dividend, being, Friday, 14 June 2024. The last day to trade 'cum' dividend will be Tuesday, 11 June 2024 and shares will commence trading 'ex-dividend as from the commencement of business on Wednesday, 12 June 2024. The dividend is declared in pound sterling and payment will be made from the offices of the Transfer Secretaries in South Africa and the United Kingdom on Friday, 21 June 2024. Dividends payable from South Africa will be paid in South African currency at the rate of 63.59400 ZAR cents per share (gross dividend) in accordance with the exchange rate ruling on Tuesday, 21 May 2024 (1-pound sterling = ZAR 23.12509). A South African dividend withholding tax of 20% will be applicable to all shareholders who are not either exempt or entitled to a reduction of the withholding tax rate in terms of a relevant Double Taxation Agreement resulting in a net dividend of 50.87520 ZAR cents per share payable to those shareholders who are not eligible for exemption or reduction. Application forms for exemption or reduction may be obtained from the Transfer Secretaries on Tel. +27 11 370 5000 or by email ZACSJHBDividendTaxQ@Computershare.co.za and must be returned to them on or before Tuesday, 11 June 2024. Dividends payable from the United Kingdom office will be subject to such tax deductions as are prescribed by United Kingdom legislation unless a certificate exempting the shareholder concerned from such tax deduction is received before Tuesday, 11 June 2024. The issued share capital of the Company at the declaration date is 105,517,780 listed ordinary shares and 3 000 000 listed cumulative preference shares. The dividend has been declared from the income reserves of the Company (and has therefore not been declared as a reduction in the Company's contributed tax capital). Any change of address or dividend instruction must be received on or before Tuesday, 11 June 2024. Share certificates may not be dematerialised or rematerialised between Wednesday, 12 June 2024 and Friday, 14 June 2024, both days inclusive. By order of the Board C Singh Group Company Secretary Woodmead, Sandton 21 May 2024 Transfer Secretaries Computershare Investor Services Proprietary Limited Rosebank Towers, 15 Biermann Avenue, Rosebank, 2196 and Computershare Investor Services PLC PO Box 82 The Pavilions Bridgwater Road Bristol BS99 7NH England Registered office 1st Floor, AECI Place 24 The Woodlands Woodlands Drive Woodmead Sandton Equity and Debt sponsor Rand Merchant Bank (a division of FirstRand Bank Limited) Bolstered by a proven track record as School of Rock's Latin American master franchisee, Matias Puga-Hamilton's latest agreement with the global franchisor details plans to develop 30 new schools across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland by 2035 CANTON, Mass., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- At the intersection of legendary music and franchising prowess comes School of Rock 's latest international expansion milestone with a new master franchise agreement now finalized for the United Kingdom. The global leader in performance-based music education announced today that this deal to develop 30 new schools across the UK over the next 11 years was awarded to Matias Puga-Hamilton, the Latin American master franchisee behind School of Rock's successful expansion across Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, Peru and Ecuador. Highly regarded in the franchising world as a 2023 recipient of the International Franchise Association's prestigious Franchisee of the Year Award, Puga-Hamilton's passion for the School of Rock brand is reflected in his continued investment in its global expansion. Just months before finalizing this UK agreement, Puga-Hamilton also expanded his master franchise agreement for Latin America to effectively double his portfolio there. "Music is an international language that has the power to positively change lives no matter where you're from. The powerful transformation School of Rock inspired in my daughters when they were enrolled as students is what drove me to bring this concept to my home country of Chile in the first place, and I've since had the honor of witnessing that impact on an increasingly global scale," said Puga-Hamilton. "I'm eager to continue making a difference, and what better place to do so next than in the birthplace of so much of the music that we celebrate and use to educate our students around the world to this day?" The first School of Rock under this UK agreement is targeted to open in early 2025 in London, home of musical icons including The Rolling Stones, Queen, Coldplay and many more. The UK schools will join School of Rock's current European footprint consisting of five schools open and operating across Spain, Portugal and Ireland. Between School of Rock's European success thus far and Puga-Hamilton's reputation for driving high enrollment numbers, School of Rock anticipates a positive response to its arrival in the UK. Residents of communities spanning England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland can look forward to soon having a new center for inspiring and engaging music lessons , which include bass lessons , guitar lessons , singing lessons , drum lessons and piano lessons . School of Rock's performance-based music education program draws from all styles of rock and roll while also teaching music theory and techniques to students through popular songs from various diverse and legendary artists. "Continued international expansion is of the utmost importance to School of Rock as we seek to create more spaces for learning, confidence and self-expression as a means for enriching the lives of students and communities around the world. Matias has played a tremendous part in our international expansion journey, having opened his first location in 2015 to now managing 16 schools across nine countries and growing," said Anthony Padulo, CDO of School of Rock. "Matias knows firsthand what the School of Rock program is capable of providing to students and new communities, and he truly embodies the passion and zeal it takes to share our mission. Our European presence in the UK is a major milestone in this ongoing initiative, and we couldn't be happier to have Matias and his experienced team as our partners in this endeavor." For information on School of Rock franchise opportunities, visit schoolofrock.com/franchising/pr or register HERE to attend an upcoming School of Rock Franchising 101 webinar. About School of Rock School of Rock helps aspiring musicians master skills, unleash creativity and develop tools they need to thrive in life. Founded as a single school in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1998, School of Rock has become a rapidly growing international franchise with over 500 schools open and in development across 15 global markets. Since 2009, School of Rock has grown its student count from 4,000 to over 62,000. School of Rock offers a wide variety of music lessons , including guitar lessons , singing lessons and piano lessons . The company also sells musical instruments and music gear through its GearSelect program. School of Rock is proud to support Music Will (formerly Little Kids Rock), the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) and the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide (SPTS). School of Rock was awarded US Patent 10,891,872 in 2021 for its innovative music education method. School of Rock also has garnered the following industry awards: International Franchise Associations 2024 Franchisees of the Year; 2024 and 2023 Entrepreneur Magazine's Franchise 500 Top Children's Music Enrichment Brand; 2023 Global Franchise Grand Champion; 2023, 2022 and 2021 Global Franchise's Awards Best Children's Service and Education Franchise; 2024 Global Franchise Highly Commended Best Children's Service and Education Franchise Recognition; Franchise Business Review's 2024 and 2023 Top 200 Franchises and Culture 200 list; 2021 Franchise Innovation Award for Most Innovative Use of Customer-Facing Digital Tools; 2020 Entrepreneur Magazine's Top 200 Franchise and the #1 Child Enrichment Franchise; and 2018 Forbes #2 Best Franchise Medium-Level Investment Award and the #1 Music Franchise in America. Follow School of Rock on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SchoolofRockUSA and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SchoolofRockUSA . Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/928076/School_of_Rock_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/rocking-across-the-pond-school-of-rock-finalizes-united-kingdom-master-franchise-agreement-with-award-winning-master-franchisee-302150313.html London, United Kingdom--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2024) - CS Global Partners has released the third edition of the World Citizenship Report (WCR) 2024, with more insightful information that depicts global mobility trends that have taken place since last year. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/10545/209839_7c36c13ba435cbf8_001full.jpg The CS Global Partners WCR remains the flagship analysis of the most pressing issues facing global citizens. The 2024 WCR features a particular focus on this year's global elections. This year will be impactful for global citizens as half of the world's population will be voting in an election this year. The ability to travel with ease between different jurisdictions is an important tool for the businesspersons and investors. This global mobility will be affected by electoral change, as the flow of talent, goods, and services across borders can be impacted by changes in governance. These flows drive economic growth and societal connectivity. Global mobility is the fifth motivator in the WCR centred around the freedom to travel to various countries. Having an alternative passport provides security against potential economic, political, or health crises. Interestingly, the 2024 edition of the WCR found that less than 20 per cent of high-net-worth-individuals (HNWIs) think that the most important aspect of a second citizenship is 'having access to countries and travelling more freely.' According to the 2024 HNWI survey, 40.5 per cent of HNWIs favour the freedom of travel for leisure or pleasure, as the top perk of enhanced global mobility by virtue of a second citizenship. Following this, 22.4 per cent find the best aspect of global mobility to be freedom to travel for safety or security. The 2023 edition of the WCR found that global mobility has shaped how remote work and digital transformation helped people explore various forms of freedom. Notably, 31 per cent travel for leisure, followed by 23 per cent travel for business and 22 per cent for safety and security, as important factors for travel freedom. There is a growing number of countries granting remote work visas, which in turn has attracted HNWIs and employees to the host country. How is global mobility evolving? Global mobility is ever evolving through several factors that influence dynamic patterns of cross-border movements. The reasons behind this phenomenon are typically for business, education, tourism, fostering improved international relations and migration. These factors include: Globalisation: in recent years, globalisation has caused increased interconnectedness between countries and continents, and increased trade and investments. Shifting workforce: International businesses are seeking highly skilled workers from around the world that are also talented, which is influencing the movement of workers across borders. Environment: Climate change impacts the way the world is travelling from the forms of transportation to identifying ways to reduce carbon footprint. Immigration legislation and regulation: Immigration policies and visa regulations play a significant role in shaping global mobility. Countries frequently alter their immigrations laws in response to shifts in their economy; these changes impact the way individuals travel. The WCR's unique contribution The WCR explores factors that motivate HNWIs to consider a second citizenship. The 2024 WCR conducts this examination within the context of global elections, categorising countries according to five key motivators and unique insights from celebrated academic and business contributors. Unlike other assessments that focus solely on global mobility, the WCR evaluates the best global citizenships based on multiple factors valued by global citizens. With the assistance of years of research, the WCR introduced the World Citizenship Index (WCI), a comprehensive tool that takes an integrated approach to rank citizenships worldwide. Departing from traditional assessments, the research incorporates an ethical perspective, emphasising diverse attitudes towards the fundamental aspects of belonging to a country and holding its citizenship status. Cannot view this video? Visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZedbx2MmWY Contact Information: Nandi Canning Email: nandi.canning@csglobalpartners.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/209839 SOURCE: CS Global Partners LONDON, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Founder and Chairman of Partners Capital, Stan Miranda, has launched the True North Institute, a think tank focused on researching new approaches to institutional investment strategy. As articulated by Miranda, "the aim of True North is to share insights into the science of institutional investing with CIOs from among the leading sovereign wealth funds, large pensions, foundations, endowments and family offices." Partners Capital was founded to "right the wrongs" of an investment industry that was, and still is, flawed with conflicts of interest, an acute lack of transparency, and performance not properly reported against the appropriate risk-adjusted benchmarks. The True North Institute's aims are a continuation of the founding principles of Partners Capital which is to develop and share the deepest of insights into the science of institutional investing whether from Stan and his True North Institute, Partners Capital or from highly respected third-party sources. Partners Capital CEO, Arjun Raghavan, highlighted that "True North creates a dedicated and formal knowledge sharing forum that brings together many of the relationships we have built up over the past 20 years with some of the most thoughtful institutional investors from around the world. By devoting time to the Institute, Stan will convene groups of thought leaders who should be able to generate powerful insights that benefit the entire investment industry." Miranda aims to formalise and enlarge his network of relationships with CEOs and CIOs of many of the most highly respected investment institutions in the world. He sees True North as a forum for sharing thoughts on the most pressing long-term issues with the greatest potential impact on institutional investment returns. Many institutions have long embraced the endowment model of investing as pioneered over 30 years ago by David Swensen and the Yale Endowment. True North seeks to discover, innovate and share new ways to evolve that model, drawing on learning from the Canadian pensions, sovereign wealth funds and progressive institutional family offices. Stan and his True North team see themselves as a laboratory for undertaking research that will benefit all members of this forum. True North has significantly deepened the research previously undertaken by Stan and others at Partners Capital on the Global Energy Transition with recent publications on clean hydrogen, renewables penetration and carbon taxation.Professor Luis Viceira of Harvard Business School, who recently wrote and published a case study on Partners Capital, commented that "Stan's research and writing has long been a major distinguishing feature in the world of Outsourced CIOs. I am very excited to see Stan applying this skill in a more focused manner inside the True North Institute, in an aim to innovate around best practice in institutional investing. I hope to contribute to that research and to benefit from it for the students here at HBS." True North believes that all institutional investors need to build their own domain expertise in the energy transition so that capital is most effectively allocated to the highest return investments at the centre of the energy transition. True North leverages the network of experts from Clean Air Task Force, think tank OpenMinds and Bain & Company's energy practice. The True North Institute is an entity independent of Partners Capital, but which maintains a close relationship to jointly achieve the mission of taking the most advanced proven institutional investment approach to the world's owners of Investment capital. ABOUT TRUE NORTH INSTITUTE True North Institute is an independent investment research organization based in London, England. It is wholly dedicated to the development and sharing of deep research into seminal issues facing institutional investors, such as the energy transition, artificial intelligence and the future of private vs public equity markets. Additional information on True North Institute can be found at http://truenorthinstitute.com ABOUT PARTNERS CAPITAL Partners Capital is a global outsourced investment office acting for highly regarded endowments and foundations, senior investment professionals and sophisticated ultra-high-net-worth families in Europe, North America and Asia. The firm manages $55B in assets and has 400 employees across its seven global offices.1 Additional information on Partners Capital may be found at http://www.partners-cap.com 1 As at 31 March 2024. Contact: Prosek Partners pro-partnerscapital@prosek.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2417586/Partners_Capital_Stan_Miranda.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/founder-of-partners-capital-launches-think-tank-focused-on-the-global-energy-transition-302151102.html Der Goldpreis haussiert und schwingt sich von Hoch zu Hoch. Getrieben von geopolitischen Unsicherheiten sowie der Aussicht auf eine lockere Geldpolitik der FED gehen Experten aktuell von weiter steigenden Notierungen bis sogar in den Bereich von 3.000 US-Dollar je Unze Gold aus. Im Schatten des Basispreises notieren Goldproduzenten aus der zweiten Reihe sowie Explorationsunternehmen noch weit weg von ihren historischen Hochststanden entfernt und bieten dadurch erhebliches Aufholpotential. In diesem kostenlosen Report geben wir Ihnen Favoriten an die Hand, die aufgrund von Sondersituation die Chance auf eine Kursvervielfachung besitzen. Handeln Sie Jetzt! Fordern Sie jetzt den brandneuen Spezialreport an und profitieren Sie von dem weiter steigenden Kurs des Edelmetalls. Sichern Sie sich jetzt Ihren kostenfreien Report. JERSEY CITY, N.J., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- InsightAce Analytic Pvt. Ltd. announces the release of a market assessment report on the "Global Next Generation Drug Conjugates Market - By Type (Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy, Ligand mediated RNAi Conjugate, Ligand Conjugated Anti Sense Medicine and Peptide Drug Conjugate), By Type of Targeting Ligand (Amino Sugar, Peptide, Lipid, Small Molecule and Virus-like Particles), By Type of Payload (Peptide, Small Molecule, Oligonucleotide, Radionuclide), By Type of Therapy (Monotherapy, Combination Therapy), By Route of Administration, By Target Indications, By Region, Trends, Industry Competition Analysis, Revenue and Forecast To 2031." According to the latest research by InsightAce Analytic, the Global Next Generation Drug Conjugates Market is valued at US$2.61 Bn in 2023, and it is expected to reach US$ 7.94 Bn by 2031, with a CAGR of 15.1% during the forecast period of 2024-2031. Request for Free Sample Pages: https://www.insightaceanalytic.com/report/next-generation-drug-conjugates-market/2482 Next Generation Drug Conjugates Market Report Scope: Report Attribute Specifications Market Size Value In 2023 USD 2.61 Bn Revenue Forecast In 2031 USD 7.94 Bn Growth Rate CAGR CAGR of 15.1% from 2024 to 2031 Quantitative Units Representation of revenue in US$ Mn and CAGR from 2024 to 2031 Historic Year 2019 to 2023 Forecast Year 2024-2031 Report Coverage The forecast of revenue, the position of the company, the competitive market structure, growth prospects, and trends Segments Covered By Type, By Targeting Ligand, By Payload, By Therapy, By Route of Administration, By Indications and By Region Regional Scope North America; Europe; Asia Pacific; Latin America; Middle East & Africa Country Scope U.S.; Canada; U.K.; Germany; China; India; Japan; Brazil; Mexico; France; Italy; Spain; South East Asia; South Korea Growth of the next-generation drug conjugates market is driven by several factors, such as the recent accelerated approvals of various next-generation drug conjugates and the keen interest shown by the big pharma players in forging strategic alliances with the next-generation drug conjugate developers. The ever-growing rise in medicare costs, along with the increasing burden of rare disease indications, prompted the stakeholders to look for alternatives to conventional therapies. As a result, the next-generation conjugates combine cytotoxic drugs with targeting agents, enhancing drug efficacy while reducing systemic toxicity. Deeper cellular penetration and permeability have emerged as viable targeted therapeutics for rare disease indications, including cancers. List of Prominent Players in the Next Generation Drug Conjugates Market: Advanced Accelerator Applications Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Dicerna Pharmaceuticals Geron Corporation Ionis Pharmaceuticals Dyne Therapeutics, Inc. Ambrx Biopharma, Inc. (Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc.) Vincerx Pharma Tubulis Technologies Nurix Therapeutics, Inc. Other Prominent Players Order 180 Pages Full Report @ https://www.insightaceanalytic.com/buy-report/2482 Market Dynamics: Drivers: The growth of the next generation drug conjugates (NGDCs) market is driven by several key factors. Technological advancements, such as improved linker technologies and versatile applications, enhance drug efficacy and safety. The rising prevalence of chronic diseases, particularly cancer and genetic disorders, fuels demand for targeted therapies. Strategic industry collaborations and acquisitions, like Pfizer's purchase of Seagen, accelerate innovation and market expansion. Favorable regulatory environments support expedited review processes and clear development guidelines. Additionally, significant investment in research and development, supported by funding and innovative platforms, drives the discovery and optimization of new NGDCs. These combined factors contribute to the rapid advancement and adoption of NGDCs in modern medicine. Challenges: The global next-generation drug conjugates market faces several formidable challenges. One of the primary obstacles is the high development cost associated with these therapies. The complex manufacturing processes required for drug conjugates involve sophisticated technology and stringent quality control measures, making scalability difficult and expensive. Additionally, the regulatory landscape presents significant hurdles; furthermore, gaining permission from regulatory bodies like the FDA and EMA is a time-consuming and expensive process that frequently necessitates substantial clinical trials to prove safety and efficacy. Another major challenge is ensuring the stability and efficacy of drug conjugates. In order to be effective, these therapies must both release the therapeutic agent at the target site in a controlled manner and be stable under physiological conditions. Balancing these requirements while minimizing toxicity is a complex scientific and technical task. Patents and proprietary technology can restrict the capacity of new companies to enter the market and innovate, which further complicates intellectual property issues. Regional Trends: The North American next generation drug conjugates market is growing due to advanced healthcare infrastructure and significant R&D investments. Key players in the region are driving innovation in targeted cancer therapies, leveraging cutting-edge technologies for drug conjugation. The increasing cases of cancer and the rising demand for personalized medicine boost the market. Favorable regulatory policies further stimulate market growth, allowing swift approval and commercialization of novel drug conjugates. Moreover, strategic collaborations between pharmaceutical companies and research institutions fuel the development of next-generation therapies. With a robust pipeline and expanding applications beyond oncology, the North American market for drug conjugates is poised for sustained expansion. Curious About This Latest Version of The Report? Enquiry Before Buying: https://www.insightaceanalytic.com/enquiry-before-buying/2482 Recent Developments: In April 2023 , Novartis entered into a licensing agreement with 3B Pharmaceuticals. 3B Pharmaceuticals is a German-based company involved in the growth of peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) candidates targeting fibroblast activation protein (FAP) receptors. , Novartis entered into a licensing agreement with 3B Pharmaceuticals. 3B Pharmaceuticals is a German-based company involved in the growth of peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) candidates targeting fibroblast activation protein (FAP) receptors. In March 2023 , Japan-based PeptiDream signed strategic partnership with US-based RayzeBio to develop a peptide-radioisotope (RI) conjugate against Glypican-3 ("GPC3") expressed in liver cancers. , Japan-based PeptiDream signed strategic partnership with US-based RayzeBio to develop a peptide-radioisotope (RI) conjugate against Glypican-3 ("GPC3") expressed in liver cancers. In March 2023, The USFDA accepted Ionis Pharmaceutical's New Drug Application (NDA) for its investigational antisense medication Eplontersen, which is intended for patients with hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloid polyneuropathy (ATTRv-PN). After Amvuttra (vutrisiran) from Alnylam, Eplontersen will be the second medication licensed for the treatment of hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloid polyneuropathy (ATTRv-PN). For More Customization @ https://www.insightaceanalytic.com/customisation/2482 Segmentation of Next Generation Drug Conjugates Market- Next Generation Drug Conjugates Market- By Type Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy (Peptide Radionuclide Conjugate) Ligand-mediated RNAi Conjugate Ligand Conjugated Antisense Medicine Peptide Drug Conjugate Next Generation Drug Conjugates Market- By Targeting Ligand Amino Sugar Lipid Peptide Small Molecule Virus-like Particles Next Generation Drug Conjugates Market- By Payload Peptide Small Molecule Oligonucleotide Radionuclide Next Generation Drug Conjugates Market- By Therapy Monotherapy Combination Therapy Next Generation Drug Conjugates Market- By Route of Administration Intravenous Subcutaneous Others Next Generation Drug Conjugates Market- By Indications Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors Prostate Cancer Leptomeningeal Carcinomatosis caused by Breast Cancer Brain Metastases Hereditary Transthyretin Amyloidosis Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Diseases Severe Hypertriglyceridemia Hereditary Angioedema Acute Hepatic Porphyria Primary Hyperoxaluria Heterozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia Hemophilia Low-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndrome Myelofibrosis Familial Chylomicronemia Syndrome Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Liver Disease Next Generation Drug Conjugates Market- By Region North America- The US Canada Mexico Europe- Germany The UK France Italy Spain Rest of Europe Asia-Pacific- China Japan India South Korea South East Asia Rest of Asia Pacific Latin America- Brazil Argentina Rest of Latin America Middle East & Africa- GCC Countries South Africa Rest of Middle East and Africa Why should buy this report: To receive a comprehensive analysis of the prospects for global next generation drug conjugates market To receive industry overview and future trends of global next generation drug conjugates market To analyze the next generation drug conjugates market drivers and challenges To get information on the next generation drug conjugates market size value (US$ Mn) forecast till 2031 Major Investments, Mergers & Acquisition in global next generation drug conjugates market industry Other Related Reports Published by InsightAce Analytic: Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) - Linker and Conjugation Technologies Market Conjugation and Labeling Services Market Peptide-Drug Conjugates (PDCs) Market Antibody Discovery Market About Us: InsightAce Analytic is a market research and consulting firm that enables clients to make strategic decisions. Our qualitative and quantitative market intelligence solutions inform the need for market and competitive intelligence to expand businesses. We help clients gain competitive advantage by identifying untapped markets, exploring new and competing technologies, segmenting potential markets and repositioning products. Our expertise is in providing syndicated and custom market intelligence reports with an in-depth analysis with key market insights in a timely and cost-effective manner. Contact Us: InsightAce Analytic PVT. LTD Tel.: +1 551 226 6109 Email: info@insightaceanalytic.com Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/insightace-analytic-pvt-ltd/ Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1729637/InsightAce_Analytic_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/next-generation-drug-conjugates-market-worth-usd-7-94-billion-to-2031---exclusive-report-by-insightace-analytic-pvt-ltd-302151263.html OSLO, Norway, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Havfram has signed a contract with Iberdrola for the installation of 21 Siemens Gamesa wind turbines at their Windanker project in the Baltic Sea. The agreement covers transport and installation support, which will be executed by one of Havfram's newbuild NG20000X-HF wind turbine installation vessels. The contract will start in the summer of 2026 and makes a perfect fit towards high utilization for the vessel planned to be used. Windanker, located in the German Baltic Sea, will reach an installed capacity of 315 MW after its commissioning in 2026. Most of the renewable electricity generated by the new Siemens Gamesa 15 MW turbines will be commercialized through long-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) on the German market. Even Larsen, CEO of Havfram Wind, commented: "Iberdrola is one of the most experienced developers in the market and has demonstrated a strong commitment to renewable energy solutions. Currently, they have 1,793 MW offshore wind capacity in operation and a further 3,000 MW under construction. Havfram is proud to be supporting Iberdrola's ambitions within offshore wind and their efforts to mitigate climate change." Martin Degen, Commercial Director and Vice President of Havfram, described the relationship as follows: "The entire procurement process with Iberdrola was pragmatic and uncomplicated as both organizations share rigorous standards for quality and sustainability. To be selected as T&I partner for Windanker, Iberdrola's third Baltic Sea project, proves our established position in the market and that we, at Havfram, are trusted to carry out installations in the crucial end phase before the wind farm goes into operation. The project adds to our strong and growing contract backlog." CONTACT: HAVFRAM Corinna Thiel Marketing & Communication Manager corinna.thiel@havfram.com havfram.com This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com. https://news.cision.com/havfram/r/havfram-awarded-contract-by-iberdrola-for-windanker-project,c3984036 The following files are available for download: https://news.cision.com/havfram/i/havfram-wind-ng20000x-jack-up-vessel-with-a-3-250-tonne-crane,c3301826 Havfram Wind NG20000X Jack-Up vessel with a 3 250-tonne crane View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/havfram-awarded-contract-by-iberdrola-for-windanker-project-302151267.html Marti sets revised June 30, 2024 targets for over 1,000,000 riders and over 165,000 registered drivers Marti Technologies, Inc. ("Marti" or the "Company") (NYSE American: MRT), Turkiye's leading mobility super app and only multi-modal urban mobility provider, announced today that as of May 20, 2024, Marti's ride-hailing service has reached over 925,000 riders and over 155,000 registered drivers. These figures have already exceeded the June 30, 2024 targets of 900,000 riders and 155,000 registered drivers and have been achieved a month and a half earlier than planned. Marti's number of ride-hailing riders grew 86% from December 31, 2023 to May 20, 2024. The number of registered drivers grew 46% during the same time period. The fast growth in both the rider and driver sides of Marti's ride-hailing marketplace demonstrates the strong need for the service across Turkiye. The service intends to provide readily available, safe, and affordable rides for riders, while providing economic opportunities for drivers across the income spectrum. Encouraged by the growth in its rider and driver bases of its ride-hailing business, Marti is increasing its June 30, 2024 targets from 900,000 to 1,000,000 riders and from 155,000 to 165,000 registered drivers. Of Marti's over 155,000 registered drivers, over 130,000 are in Turkiye's largest city, Istanbul. This is in contrast to 19,845 taxis serving the city. With 6.6 times as many registered drivers as taxis serving the city of Istanbul, Marti is able to offer widespread availability across the city. Furthermore, Marti's drivers undergo formal background checks before acceptance onto the service, thereby contributing to rider safety. The average rating of Marti's ride-hailing drivers by riders is 4.8 out of 5 stars. Marti currently does not enable online payment for the service over its app, or charge a fee for the service. McKinsey Company, a consultancy group, estimates the taxi market size in Turkiye at $9 billion to $12 billion as of 2021. Further, under the "Disruptive Scenario 2030", ride-hailing is expected to increase the size of the taxi market by offering cheaper and more convenient rides. McKinsey Company estimates the potential size of the Turkish ride-hailing market in 2030 at $15 billion to $20 billion Expectations and targets are not necessarily indicative of future attainment. About Marti: Founded in 2018, Marti is Turkiye's leading mobility app, offering multiple transportation services to its riders. Marti operates a ride-hailing service that matches riders with car, motorcycle, and taxi drivers, and operates a large fleet of rental e-mopeds, e-bikes, and e-scooters. All of Marti's offerings are serviced by proprietary software systems and IoT infrastructure. For more information, visit www.marti.tech. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, also known as the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any express or implied statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact and generally relate to future events, hopes, intentions, strategies, or performance may be deemed to be forward-looking statements, including but without limitation statements regarding the anticipated growth, including the number of riders and registered drivers of the ride-hailing business, the ride-hailing targets by June 30, 2024, and the expected future performance and market opportunities of Marti and the ride-hailing business. Words such as "expect," "estimate," "project," "budget," "forecast," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "may," "will," "could," "should," "might," "possible," "believe," "predict," "potential," "continue," "aim," "strive," and similar expressions may identify such forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expressed or implied forwarding-looking statements, including, but not limited to: (i) the effect of the public listing of our securities on our business relationships, performance, financial condition and business generally, (ii) risks that the business combination may disrupt our current plans or divert management's attention from our ongoing business operations, (iii) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against us or our directors or officers related to the business combination or otherwise, (iv) our ability to maintain the listing of our securities on the NYSE American, (v) volatility in the price of our securities due to a variety of factors, including without limitation changes in the competitive and highly regulated industries in which we plan to operate, variations in competitors' performance and success and changes in laws and regulations affecting our business, (vi) our ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and identify opportunities, (vii) the risk of downturns in the highly competitive tech-enabled mobility services industry, (viii) our ability to build our brand and consumers' recognition, acceptance and adoption of our brand, (ix) the risk that we may not be able to effectively manage our growth, including our design, research, development and maintenance capabilities, (x) technological changes and risks associated with doing business in an emerging market, (xi) risks relating to our dependence on and use of certain intellectual property and technology and (xii) and other important factors and risks discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on April 16, 2024, as such factors and risks may be updated from time to time in the Company's other filings with the SEC, accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov and the Investors Relations section of Company's website at https://ir.marti.tech. Any investors should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described in the documents filed by the Company from time to time with the SEC as most of the factors are outside the Company's control and are difficult to predict. As a result, the Company's actual results may differ from its expectations, estimates and projections and consequently, such forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as predictions of future events. The Company cautions not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, including projections, which speak only as to management expectations and beliefs as of the date they are made. The Company disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than to the extent required by applicable law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240521626522/en/ Contacts: Investor Contact Marti Technologies, Inc. Turgut Yilmaz investor.relations@marti.tech This collaboration offers an end-to-end solution that allows sites to be supplied and trained on ophthalmic medical imaging equipment using Clario's manufacturer-agnostic ophthalmic software platform. Clario and Emsere partner to provide an end-to-end medical imaging solution for ophthalmology clinical trials. Emsere specializes in providing sites with state-of-the-art ophthalmic equipment in a wide range of modalities. Strategic partnership combines Clario's medical imaging expertise and manufacturer-agnostic ophthalmic software platform with Emsere's equipment, installation, training, and maintenance services, ensuring seamless image capture, quality control, and analysis in every trial phase. PHILADELPHIA, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Clario, a healthcare research and technology company that delivers leading endpoint solutions for clinical trials, is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with Emsere, a trusted medical equipment supplier for clinical trials. The collaboration provides a comprehensive, end-to-end solution that streamlines the execution of clinical trials requiring ophthalmic medical imaging and equipment. Central to this partnership is Emsere's global presence, which complements Clario's commitment to delivering tailored solutions that address the challenges of each trial phase and modality. This relationship is significant because it will cater to sites that lack the necessary equipment to meet study protocols. Customers of Clario and Emsere can now benefit from a unified approach, combining Clario's clinical trial expertise and manufacturer-agnostic ophthalmic software with Emsere's services for supplying, training, and maintaining imaging equipment. "We're thrilled to partner with Emsere in pursuit of our mutual goals," said Joyce Suhy, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Medical Imaging and Specialty Solutions at Clario. "This collaboration underscores our shared commitment to providing a solution tailored to meet the diverse needs in clinical trials." Dr. Suhy continued: "Our objective is to streamline every aspect of the process. By leveraging our collective expertise, we'll deliver solutions that simplify image capture, enhance quality assessment, and optimize analysis procedures. Furthermore, we're mindful of the challenges encountered by trial sites that lack the equipment to meet protocol requirements. This solution includes support and strategies to address these challenges effectively." To learn more about Clario and its ophthalmic medical imaging solutions, please visit Clario.com. About Clario Clario is a leading healthcare research and technology company that generates the highest quality clinical evidence for our pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device partners. We offer comprehensive evidence generation solutions that combine eCOA, cardiac safety, medical imaging, precision motion, and respiratory endpoints. Clario's global team of science, technology, and operational experts have helped deliver over 26,000 trials and contributed to over 800 regulatory approvals in more than 100 countries. For more than 50 years, we have delivered deep scientific expertise and the broadest endpoint technologies to help transform lives around the world. For more information, go to Clario.com or follow us on LinkedIn . About Emsere Emsere is a leading medical equipment solutions provider dedicated to clinical trials and delivers full-service, global logistics to suit study-specific needs. Founded in the Netherlands, Emsere leverages almost 30 years of expertise and in-depth clinical trial knowledge to provide customers a unique experience. By working closely with customers, our equipment, supplies, software and support will help simplify the provisioning process. With expertise in international logistics and offices in the United States, Europe and Singapore, Emsere delivers equipment solutions to support successful study execution. emsere.com Clario Media Contact Alexis Navratil Communications Manager media@clario.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1677749/Clario_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/clario-partners-with-emsere-to-extend-ophthalmic-medical-imaging-capabilities-for-clinical-trials-302143526.html LONDON and BEIJING, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the World Gas Conference 2025 (WGC2025) marks a significant milestone, announcing one year until the highly anticipated event in Beijing, China on 19-23 May 2025. To mark this occasion, an exclusive one-year countdown event was held at the China National Convention Center in Beijing. The President and the Secretary General of the International Gas Union (IGU), the President of Eurogas, and other industry leaders attended the event and delivered speeches to energy professionals from across the globe. Jointly organised by the IGU, Beijing Gas, and Beijing Capital Group Exhibitions & Events (BCGEE), the WGC2025 one-year countdown event and the IGU Gas Industry's Development Forum brought together more than 400 industry pioneers and energy professionals from global industry associations, think tanks, research institutions and leading energy companies. Additionally, thousands of participants joined online through live streaming. Madam Li Yalan expressed her excitement, stating, "We are thrilled to mark one year until WGC2025 with this exclusive event in Beijing. This prestigious conference and exhibition promises to ignite excitement, passion, and anticipation. We look forward to bringing together leaders to discuss critical issues, make connections, and pave the way for a sustainable future." "The one-year countdown event marks the most important prelude in China to WGC2025 and this triennial flagship event presented by the IGU, will make history as the first-ever World Gas Conference to be held in China. Anticipating over 30,000 participants from 70+ countries and regions across various gas and energy sectors, including policymakers, business leaders, decision-makers, customers, NGOs, media, and financial professionals. The conference will feature 500+ speakers in approximately 100 sessions across a 4-day programme, under the theme Energising a Sustainable Future. With over 90 years of IGU history, this premier gas and energy event will showcase China's global leadership in natural gas growth potential," Madam Li added. The one-year countdown event featured the IGU Gas Industry's Development Forum where experts shared their insights and views on gas and energy in the context of climate change, energy transition, and energy investment from both global and regional perspectives. They emphasised that natural gas, as a clean and efficient energy source, will continue to play a crucial role in the future energy system. The integration of natural gas and renewable energy resources was highlighted as a key development direction for the industry. Additionally, they stressed the need for investment in the sustainable development of the global gas industry, the importance of accelerating low-carbon transformation, and the necessity of further strengthening methane emission control. The day also featured a registration opening ceremony, the unveiling of speakers and sponsors, and exhibitor announcements, offering a glimpse into the insightful and pioneering discussions and networking opportunities. WGC2025 is proud to announce an impressive line-up of speakers, including DAI Houliang of China National Petroleum Corporation and PetroChina, H.E. Saad Sherida AL-KAABI of the State of Qatar and QatarEnergy, LI Yalan of the IGU, FU Chengyu of China International Council for Promotion of Multinational Corporations, Michael LEWIS of Uniper, SUN Xiansheng of the International Society for Energy Transition Studies (ISETS), Andrea STEGHER of SNAM and the IGU, LI Junfeng of the China Energy Research Society (CERS) and the National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation (NCSC), Sarah BAIRSTOW of Mexico Pacific and HUANG Weihe of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, each bringing invaluable insights and expertise to the conference. Prominent sponsors like CNPC, SINOPEC, CNOOC further emphasise commitment to advancing the global gas and energy sector. WGC2025 promises an authentic, top-tier experience, offering unparalleled networking opportunities within the global gas and energy industry. Over 300 energy-related companies will showcase their innovations at the China National Convention Center Phase 2, providing a platform to discuss critical issues, make connections, and pave the way for a sustainable future. With the Call for Abstracts underway, attendees from across the world are invited to speak in Beijing and be at the forefront of the global gas conversation. Moreover, registration is open, offering delegates the opportunity to secure their pass for one of the most prestigious gatherings in the global gas and energy industry. For more information, visit www.wgc2025.com Contact: Julia Blundell Media Partnerships, Marketing & PR, WGC2025 Email: marketing@wgc2025.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/the-29th-world-gas-conference-wgc2025-marks-one-year-countdown-with-exclusive-event-in-beijing-china-302151288.html MARLBOROUGH, Mass., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Corero Network Security (AIM: CNS) (OTCQB: DDOSF), the distributed denial of service (DDoS) protection specialists, has partnered with Netherlands-based RoyaleHosting, a global leader in hosting services, to integrate Corero's award-winning DDoS mitigation technology across RoyaleHosting's network infrastructure. This collaboration aims to bolster RoyaleHosting's Shield Panel and deliver comprehensive DDoS protection-as-a-service for its rapidly growing customer base. RoyaleHosting's Shield Panel enables customers to tailor their security with heuristic precision and now features full integration with Corero's advanced DDoS mitigation features. This collaboration ensures RoyaleHosting's 700+ active customers receive reliable DDoS protection-as-a-service with comprehensive insights through an intuitive user interface. With a customer rating of 4.8 stars, RoyaleHosting is renowned for its exceptional customer support since its founding in 2017, resolving issues quickly through 24/7 live chat. "Corero's seamless integration into our Shield Panel was a logical step. Their proactive DDoS mitigation aligns perfectly with our core values of providing excellent service and reliable network protection. Our customers now enjoy comprehensive security without compromise, reinforcing our commitment to supporting their needs," said Stan van de Klippe, CEO, RoyaleHosting. Corero's flexible deployment model ensures easy integration into any infrastructure, providing RoyaleHosting with seamless setup at its primary hub in Amsterdam. As RoyaleHosting continues its global expansion, Corero's technology will also be implemented at the company's new points of presence (PoPs) in Los Angeles, Singapore, London, and Frankfurt. This will ensure consistent, high-quality DDoS protection for RoyaleHosting's diverse customer base as they receive the highest standard of service. "The collaboration with RoyaleHosting exemplifies our shared values of delivering top-notch protection and customer service. RoyaleHosting's dedication to integrating Corero technology within their Shield Panel ensures customers experience the best in DDoS protection," said Carl Herberger, Corero Network Security CEO. About Corero Network Security Corero Network Security is a leading provider of DDoS protection solutions, specializing in automatic detection and protection solutions with network visibility, analytics, and reporting tools. Corero's technology protects against external and internal DDoS threats in complex edge and subscriber environments, ensuring internet service availability. With operational centers in Marlborough, Massachusetts, USA, and Edinburgh, UK, Corero is headquartered in London and listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market (ticker: CNS) and the US OTCQB market (OTCQB: DDOSF). About RoyaleHosting RoyaleHosting is a leading hosting company specializing in DDoS protection and connectivity. Protecting your online presence with robust security and ensuring uninterrupted, low-latency connectivity. Founded in 2017 in the Netherlands, RoyaleHosting serves more than 700 international customers with points-of-presence in Europe, Asia, and North America. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1100072/Corero_Network_Security_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/corero-network-security-partners-with-royalehosting-to-enhance-ddos-protection-across-global-network-302150409.html Ascendis, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Teva to keynote sharing innovations to drive better patient outcomes BARCELONA, Spain, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Veeva Systems (NYSE: VEEV) today announced that leaders from Ascendis Pharma A/S, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Teva will be keynote speakers at Veeva R&D and Quality Summit, Europe, June 4-5 in Madrid, Spain. Life sciences professionals across the industry will come together to share how connected technologies across clinical, regulatory, safety, and quality are advancing innovations for patients. As one of the largest gatherings of biopharma leaders in Europe, Veeva R&D and Quality Summit will bring together over 1,000 industry professionals to share learnings across more than 100 sessions. Bayer and Jazz Pharmaceuticals will join Rik Van Mol, senior vice president of Veeva Development Cloud, and Avril England, general manager of Veeva Vault, for the opening keynote to explore the future of development for new medicines and therapies. The event's zone keynotes include: Ascendis and Bayer, sharing strategies to reduce costs and accelerate trials with a connected platform. sharing strategies to reduce costs and accelerate trials with a connected platform. Boehringer Ingelheim , detailing its shift toward data-centric regulatory information management. , detailing its shift toward data-centric regulatory information management. Novo Nordisk, showing how it uses data and AI to transform clinical research. showing how it uses data and AI to transform clinical research. Sanofi , explaining its innovative approach to advance quality through operational excellence. , explaining its innovative approach to advance quality through operational excellence. Teva, providing insight into its rapid journey from disparate safety systems into one streamlined global solution. A panel with Elpida Therapeutics CEO Terry Pirovolakis and Veeva experts will close the event with a discussion on how the industry can best accelerate the development of life-saving rare disease gene therapies. "Connecting clinical, regulatory, safety, and quality is key to advancing the product lifecycle and delivering better outcomes for patients," says Rik Van Mol, senior vice president of Veeva Development Cloud. "At Veeva R&D and Quality Summit, biopharma leaders can connect, exchange ideas, and share new strategies to advance the industry forward together." Veeva R&D and Quality Summit is open exclusively to life sciences professionals. Register and review the agenda at veeva.com/eu/Summit. Additional Information Connect with Veeva on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/veeva-systems About Veeva Systems Veeva is the global leader in cloud software for the life sciences industry. Committed to innovation, product excellence, and customer success, Veeva serves more than 1,000 customers, ranging from the world's largest biopharmaceutical companies to emerging biotechs. As a Public Benefit Corporation, Veeva is committed to balancing the interests of all stakeholders, including customers, employees, shareholders, and the industries it serves. For more information, visit veeva.com/eu. Veeva Forward-looking Statements This release contains forward-looking statements regarding Veeva's products and services and the expected results or benefits from use of our products and services. These statements are based on our current expectations. Actual results could differ materially from those provided in this release and we have no obligation to update such statements. There are numerous risks that have the potential to negatively impact our results, including the risks and uncertainties disclosed in our filing on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024, which you can find here (a summary of risks which may impact our business can be found on pages 9 and 10), and in our subsequent SEC filings, which you can access at sec.gov. Contact: Jeremy Whittaker Veeva Systems +49-695-095-5486 jeremy.whittaker@veeva.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1488285/Veeva_Systems_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/biopharma-leaders-shape-the-future-of-drug-development-at-veeva-rd-and-quality-summit-europe-302150491.html Audify is poised to revolutionize the way regulators and organizations manage compliance, risk, and cybersecurity as the first-ever integrated solution that enables real-time oversight across an organization and its partners. This breakthrough will redefine industry standards by providing continuous, immediate insights into compliance and security processes. NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Cytex, Inc., a SaaS-based, full-spectrum industry leader in cybersecurity, introduces the Audify Compliance Verification Platform, the first real-time compliance verification platform solution providing continuous compliance attestation of the cybersecurity posture of the entire organization and its data exchange partners down to the control level. Audify enables regulatory bodies and organizations to have real-time oversight of the cybersecurity posture of regulated entities, ending the reliance on self-reporting or expensive third-party point-in-time certifications. "Traditional point-in-time or self-reporting compliance methods are limited in scope and frequency, prone to human error, and cannot capture the dynamic nature of compliance in a digital world," said Andrew Surwilo, CEO of Cytex. "Audify transcends these limitations by offering continuous, real-time insights into an organization's compliance posture at the control level, ensuring that compliance is not just a checkbox exercise but a robust, ongoing automated process." The Audify platform includes: Real-Time Compliance Monitoring: Audify offers ongoing oversight, automatically detecting and alerting compliance drifts, and anomalies as they occur compared to traditional methods that only capture compliance at a moment in time. Enhanced Accuracy and Efficiency: Audify reduces the potential for human error and the burden on resources associated with manual compliance processes, thus improving the accuracy and efficiency of compliance programs through its automation capabilities. Scalable and Customizable: Audify can be tailored to various regulatory requirements and scales to accommodate different organizational sizes and industries, from local government agencies to multinational corporations. "Whether it's SOC 2, HIPAA, CMMC, PCI, NIST, or FINRA compliance, with Audify, governing bodies and covered entities can now proactively manage their compliance and security, rather than retroactively addressing violations or failures," Andrew Surwilo, CEO, said. "Our platform not only streamlines the compliance process but also embeds it within the daily operational security infrastructure, offering a comprehensive, integrated view of risks and controls. Audify delivers on the true purpose of compliance frameworks: creating an active standard of security and privacy controls within a digital ecosystem." Audify's fully automated compliance monitoring system allows organizations to enjoy continuous oversight and control with a shift from retroactively addressing breaches or failures to proactively managing compliance and security. Real-time monitoring and automated alerts provide continuous insight into compliance status, enabling immediate corrective action. Another benefit of Audify is facilitating more strategic risk management by integrating compliance with overall cybersecurity strategies to help organizations prioritize and mitigate risks effectively. The platform ensures regulatory alignment with a variety of frameworks, including SOC 2, HIPAA, FINRA, CMMC, NIST CSF, NIST 800-53, CCPA, ISO 27001, and GDPR, ensuring organizations can meet stringent regulatory requirements while maintaining operational flexibility. Audify reflects Cytex's mission to streamline compliance procedures into daily operations, reframing them as more than just a checkbox exercise. The new platform will help redefine compliance, risk management, and cybersecurity with a comprehensive view of risks and controls in an ongoing daily automated process. To learn more about the Audify platform, please visit https://cytex.io/. You can also send a message at https://cytex.io/contact/ to learn more about this new real-time attestation for uncompromised compliance. About Cytex Cytex is a SaaS-based, full-spectrum AI-powered cybersecurity platform providing a comprehensive solution for data protection and compliance. Endorsed by the MIT Cyber Defense Clinic, Cytex streamlines IT security and reduces costs through its full suite of security tools, which include a DNS firewall with traffic & threat blocking, data supply chain security, EDR, CSPM, DLP, and ZTNA, cloud app security, and comprehensive cybersecurity training. Contact Information: Madeleine Moench Newswire madeleine.moench@issuerdirect.com (919) 481-4000 SOURCE: Cytex, Inc. View the original press release on newswire.com. DEVELOPMENT CHANNEL SAMPLES - H LENS 14.42 g/t Au over an estimated true channel width of 6.75m 13.31 g/t Au over an estimated true channel width of 6.40m DIAMOND DRILLING - J LENS 20.17 g/t Au over an estimated true width of 6.62m in hole FAI0018 8.54 g/t Au over an estimated true width of 4.72m in hole FAI0020 6.46 g/t Au over an estimated true width of 9.66m in hole FAI0024 Jaguar Mining Inc. ("Jaguar" or the "Company") (TSX:JAG)(OTCQX:JAGGF) is pleased to provide an update and announce that access development and concomitant mineral resource delineation diamond drilling has intersected high-grade mineralization at its Faina Project ("Faina"). Faina is part of the Company's MTL Mining Complex which also includes its Turmalina Mine, and is located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, approximately 130 kilometers northwest of the city of Belo Horizonte. In December 2023, the Company released an NI 43-101 Technical Report (see Press Release dated December 18, 2023) announcing Probable Mineral Reserves for Faina of 132 koz (787 kt @ 5.22 g/t Au), Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources of 233 koz (1,427 kt @ 5.08 g/t Au) and Inferred Mineral Resources of 232 koz (1,420 kt @ 5.09 g/t Au). Since development of the project commenced in 2022, approximately 3,760m of primary access development from the Turmalina Mine to Faina has been achieved, and a further 1,700m of development is planned for 2024, including approximately 560m of secondary productive development. To date, the Company has invested approximately US$15 million in capital at Faina which has mainly been divided between infill resource definition drilling, metallurgical testwork, access development and studies. Vern Baker, President, and CEO of Jaguar Mining stated: "We are delighted to have reached high grade mineralization in Faina access development and definition diamond drilling. Primary access development and infill diamond drilling will continue to open and better define the mineralized areas through 2024 as the project ramps up to planned production levels in 2025. Our initial plan is to feed mined material through our MTL mill while continuing with focused metallurgical testwork which will inform longer term processing options. Going forward exploration will focus on expanding the Mineral Resources inventory at Faina as well as conversion of Inferred Mineral Resources to higher classification categories." Figure 1. Location of the MTL Mining Complex, Turmalina Mine and Faina Project relative to Jaguar's other operational areas in Minas Gerais, Brazil Figure 2. Location of the Faina Project relative to Jaguar's MTL Mining Complex and Turmalina Mine Figure 3. Long Section showing the location of access development from Turmalina Mine to Faina Faina Mineralization Gold mineralization is hosted within a series of six separate structurally and stratigraphically controlled mineralized lenses defined as lens E (undifferentiated chemical sediments), and lens F to lens J (meta-mafic rocks). These mineralized lenses occur over several stratigraphic intervals within a mafic volcanic package (amphibolite facies) and are characterized by very fine to fine grained massive to disseminated sulfide rich zones which are both conformable and unconformable with bedding, often accompanied by quartz veinlets and stringers. Sulfides are generally 5-10% of the rock mass within the better mineralized zones with the dominant sulfide minerals being arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite and at times courser grained 1-2cm crosscutting stringers of the antimony bearing minerals stibnite and berthierite are observed. Individual lenses vary in width both along strike and down dip / plunge from less than 1m to greater than 10m with the thicker and higher-grade lenses associated with fold hinges. Faina Diamond Drilling and Channel Sampling Results Resource definition diamond drilling successfully intersected the J lens, I lens and H lens as modelled. High grade intercepts with grade x thickness (GT) values greater than 25 (GT) are tabulated below in Table 1. A plan view showing the location of the target lens and diamond drill impact results is presented below in Figure 4. Figure 4. Plan view showing the location of access development from Turmalina Mine to Faina and diamond drilling intersections. Note that high grade mineralization has been intersected in preliminary development on the H lens, see Figure 7 for detail. Table 1. Significant diamond drilling impacts with grade x thickness (GT) > 25 Faina Lens H Development Channel Sample Results Positive channel sampling results have been intersected in initial mineralized development on Lens H. The individual sample results and composites are presented in Figure 7 below and tabulated in Appendix 2, Table 4. Figure 5. Faina Lens H development. Plan showing the location and results of development face channel sampling Figure 6. Lens H development. A = Faina's sulphide-rich hydrothermalite Au ore exposed in gallery FH435. Note multiple laminae of tiny arsenopyrite crystals aggregate. B = Faina's footwall style of mineralization: sulphide (pyrrhotite-rich) metachert. C = Faina rock chip sample from lens H with a grade of 17.99 g/t Au. Figure 7. Faina development gallery (intersecting H lens), showing the channels with individual sample gold assay results. Detailed location, grade and sample data are presented in Appendix 2, Table 4. Qualified Person Scientific and technical information contained in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Jonathan Victor Hill, BSc (Hons) (Economic Geology - UCT), FAUSIMM, Advisor Exploration and Geology to Jaguar Mining Inc., and is a "qualified person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). The Iron Quadrangle The Iron Quadrangle has been an area of mineral exploration dating back to the 16th century. The discovery in 1699-1701 of gold contaminated with iron and platinum-group metals in the southeastern corner of the Iron Quadrangle gave rise to the name of the town Ouro Preto (Black Gold). The Iron Quadrangle contains world-class multi-million-ounce gold deposits such as Morro Velho, Cuiaba, and Sao Bento. About Jaguar Mining Inc. Jaguar Mining Inc. is a Canadian-listed junior gold mining, development, and exploration company operating in Brazil with three gold mining complexes and a large land package with significant upside exploration potential from mineral claims. The Company's principal operating assets are located in the Iron Quadrangle, a prolific greenstone belt in the state of Minas Gerais and include the MTL Mining Complex (Turmalina Mine and Plant) and Caete Mining Complex (Pilar and Roca Grande Mines, and Caete Plant). The Company also owns the Paciencia Mining Complex, which has been on care and maintenance since 2012. The Roca Grande Mine has been on temporary care and maintenance since April 2019. Additional information is available on the Company's website at www.jaguarmining.com. For further information please contact: Vernon Baker Chief Executive Officer Jaguar Mining Inc. vernon.baker@jaguarmining.com 416-847-1854 Alfred Colas Chief Financial Officer Jaguar Mining Inc. alfred.colas@jaguarmining.com 416-847-1854 Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's expectations and plans relating to the future. All of the forward-looking information made in this news release is qualified by the cautionary statements below and those made in our other filings with the securities regulators in Canada. Forward-looking information contained in forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "are expected," "is forecast," "is targeted," "approximately," "plans," "anticipates," "projects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimate," "believe" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may," "could," "would," "might," or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, may be considered to be or include forward-looking information. This news release contains forward-looking information regarding, among other things, the duration of the temporary suspension of the Company's 2023 production guidance in ounces and costs, the expected future release of new guidance for 2023, the anticipated impact of planned changes in mining systems and cost cutting initiatives on the Company's future performance and production results, information related to expected sales, production statistics, ore grades, tonnes milled, recovery rates, cash operating costs, definition/delineation drilling, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, costs and timing of the development of projects and new deposits, success of exploration, development and mining activities, currency fluctuations, capital requirements, project studies, mine life extensions, restarting suspended or disrupted operations, continuous improvement initiatives, and resolution of pending litigation. The Company has made numerous assumptions with respect to forward-looking information contained herein, including, among other things, assumptions about the estimated timeline for the development of its mineral properties; the supply and demand for, and the level and volatility of the price of, gold; the accuracy of reserve and resource estimates and the assumptions on which the reserve and resource estimates are based; the receipt of necessary permits; market competition; ongoing relations with employees and impacted communities; political and legal developments in any jurisdiction in which the Company operates being consistent with its current expectations including, without limitation, the impact of any potential power rationing, tailings facility regulation, exploration and mine operating licenses and permits being obtained and renewed and/or there being adverse amendments to mining or other laws in Brazil and any changes to general business and economic conditions. Forward-looking information involves a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including among others: the risk of Jaguar not meeting the forecast plans regarding its operations and financial performance; uncertainties with respect to the price of gold, labour disruptions, mechanical failures, increase in costs, environmental compliance and change in environmental legislation and regulation, weather delays and increased costs or production delays due to natural disasters, power disruptions, procurement and delivery of parts and supplies to the operations; uncertainties inherent to capital markets in general (including the sometimes volatile valuation of securities and an uncertain ability to raise new capital) and other risks inherent to the gold exploration, development and production industry, which, if incorrect, may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the Company and described herein. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of gold exploration, development, mining and production, including environmental hazards, tailings dam failures, industrial accidents and workplace safety problems, unusual or unexpected geological formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding, chemical spills, procurement fraud and gold bullion thefts and losses (and the risk of inadequate insurance, or the inability to obtain insurance, to cover these risks). Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. For additional information with respect to these and other factors and assumptions underlying the forward-looking information made in this news release, see the Company's most recent Annual Information Form and Management's Discussion and Analysis, as well as other public disclosure documents that can be accessed under the issuer profile of "Jaguar Mining Inc." on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. The forward-looking information set forth herein reflects the Company's reasonable expectations as at the date of this news release and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. APPENDIX 1 Table 2. Faina Diamond Drilling Results Table 3. Faina Diamond Drilling Location Data APPENDIX 2 Table 4. Faina Development Sampling Location Data and Results Lense H (Middle) SOURCE: Jaguar Mining Inc. View the original press release on accesswire.com WASHINGTON, D.C. / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Ardent, a Member of Mission1st Group (Ardent), and Obsidian Global, LLC (Obsidian) have joined forces to form Ardian Global, LLC. Ardian Global is a small business Joint Venture (JV) that combines Ardent's industry-leading geospatial intelligence, cloud computing, AI/ML, data analytics, and border security expertise with Obsidian's cybersecurity, DevSecOps, and agile development capabilities. Ardian Global's mission is to be the beacon of innovation, seamlessly integrating trusted geospatial and artificial intelligence technologies with cutting-edge data analytics, DevSecOps, cybersecurity, and agile IT professional services. This newly formed JV is dedicated to safeguarding the United States, both at home and abroad, by delivering unparalleled solutions that enhance national security and drive technological advancement. Richard Zareck II, President & CEO of Ardent, expressed his enthusiasm: "As a newly graduated large business, Ardent is thrilled to partner with Obsidian on this new joint venture. With our combined expertise and strong presence across DHS, FedCiv and DoD - Ardian Global is well positioned to enhance the critical national security and defense missions while continuing our reputation for excellence." "This joint venture represents an exciting opportunity for our two companies to join forces and expand our services within the federal market," says Drew Conway, CEO & President of Obsidian Global. "We are looking forward to working with Ardent to both further mature as a corporation and grow our capabilities as we prepare for the next steps in our business." About Ardent A digital transformation, location intelligence, and data analytics firm, Ardent brings a significant history of innovative proven best practices "at the speed of the mission" to Federal Civilian agencies, DHS mission components, State and Local entities, and the commercial and non-profit sectors. Ardent Management Consulting is certified to 9001:2015, its Development Projects are CMMI-Dev V2.0 Maturity Level 3 rated and its management systems (ISMS/ITSMS) are certified to IS0 27001:2013 and ISO 20000-1:2018 standards by G-CERTi Co., Ltd., NIST AI Safety Consortium. For media inquiries, please contact: Clayton Wear at?public.relations@ardentmc.com.? About Obsidian Global Obsidian Global, LLC (Obsidian), a small business Information Technology services firm, specializes in Cybersecurity, DevSecOps, Agile Development, Cloud & IT Services, and Enterprise Architecture Design. Obsidian is a Prime government contract holder for many IDIQ and Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) including the Air Force (AF) SBEAS vehicle ($13.4B), where we support AF applications development and cybersecurity operations task orders. Under our GSA MAS contract, we implement DevSecOps practices and provide database administration, systems administration, and cybersecurity operations. Obsidian is a Prime on the DoE CPSS BPA ($300M) where we provide data center security, ATO, ISSO, and cybersecurity communication support among other disciplines. Additionally, Obsidian has successfully met the standards of ISO 9001:2015, ISO 27001:2013, and ISO 20000-1:2018 through certification, and appraised at CMMI Maturity Level 3 for Development and Services. Contact Information Clayton Wear Public Relations & Branding Specialist public.relations@ardentmc.com SOURCE: Ardent View the original press release on newswire.com. Centenario Gold Corp. (TSXV:CTG) ("Centenario" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it will host a Webinar at 10:00 am PDT on Thursday May 30th, 2024. In attendance from Centenario and presenting will be, Alain Charest, CEO & VP of Exploration and Doug Fulcher, President. The purpose of the webinar is to provide investors with an update on the project and the next phase exploration and drilling program on the Eden Property, Mexico. Format: Management presentation (20 minutes) update and planned next phase exploration program on the Eden property, near Cosala, Mexico, followed by a question period. Please email your questions before or during the meeting to Steve McGuire at smcguire@centenariogold.com. 6ix Meeting Link: https://events.6ix.com/preview/centenario-gold-update-and-2024-drilling-3 The investor update will be posted on the Company's website following the Webinar. Alain Charest, CEO & VP of Exploration states "The geological information obtained from the maiden drilling program completed in February 2024, has greatly improved our understanding of the mineralized systems found on the Eden property." "During the last two months, the Centenario geological team has processed this new information and outlined several new targets to drill-test across the Eden property. We feel it is important to give our shareholders and potential new investors an opportunity to ask questions directly to management and we look forward to speaking with you on May 30th." Non-Brokered Private Placement Financing Centenario is also pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement financing (the "Private Placement") for a total of up to $1,000,000 through the issuance of up to 20,000,000 units (the "Units") at a price of $0.05 per Unit. Each Unit will be comprised of one common share (each, a "Common Share") in the capital of the Company and one common share purchase warrant (each, a "Warrant"), whereby each Warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one common share of the Company at a price of $0.10 per Common Share for a period of 24 months following the closing date of the Offering. All securities issued pursuant to the Private Placement will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus a day from the date of issuance in accordance with applicable securities legislation in Canada. The Company will use the proceeds of the Private Placement to fund further work at its Eden Gold-Silver Property in Mexico and for general working capital purposes. Completion of the Private Placement is subject to TSX Venture Exchange acceptance. The Company may pay finders' fees and finders' warrants to eligible finders. The Existing Shareholder Exemption and Investment Dealer Exemption The Private Placement is also made available to registered shareholders of the company who, as of the close of business on May 31, 2024, hold common shares of the company pursuant to the prospectus exemption set out in British Columbia Securities Commission Rule 45-534, Prospectus Exemption for Distribution to Existing Security Holders, and in similar instruments in other jurisdictions in Canada. The existing shareholder exemption limits a shareholder to a maximum investment of $15,000 in a 12-month period unless the shareholder has obtained advice regarding the suitability of the investment and, if the shareholder is resident in a jurisdiction of Canada, that advice has been obtained from a person who is registered as an investment dealer in the jurisdiction. The company is also making the Private Placement available to certain subscribers pursuant to the investment dealer exemption. In accordance with the requirements of the investment dealer exemption, the company confirms that there is no material fact or material change about the company that has not been generally disclosed. About Centenario Gold Corp. and the El Eden Gold-Silver Project: Centenario Gold Corp. is a natural resource exploration company that was formed to focus on exploring and generating high quality mineral prospects in Mexico. During 2020, the exploration team of Centenario visited and evaluated more than 12 mineral prospects before finding the Eden gold silver property located in Durango State, Mexico. On March 24th, 2021, after completing the preliminary evaluation work and due diligence review, Durango Gold Corp S.A de C.V., the 100%-owned Mexican subsidiary of Centenario Gold Corp., signed a 4-year option agreement to acquire 100% of the mineral rights to the Eden Au-Ag property subject to a 1% NSR. The Eden property consists of three adjoining mineral concessions totalling 5,689 hectares in size hosting a series of high-grade N to NE trending, epithermal Au-Ag vein structures. The Eden property's northern border is adjacent to Americas Gold & Silver's Nuestra Senora producing mine while the Eden property's southern border is adjacent to Prime Mining Corp's, Los Reyes advanced exploration property. Prime Mining has outlined a new resource on the Los Reyes property of, indicated 1.47 M AuEq and Inferred 0.73m AuEq. (Prime Mining Corp. NI 43-101 dated June 12. 2023) AuEq grade (gpt) = Gold grade (gpt) + Silver grade (gpt) x ($22 / $1700). Further information on the Centenario Gold and the Eden Property can be found on our website at www.centenariogold.com along with the NI43-101 compliant Technical Report filed on SEDAR+. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Doug Fulcher President, Director For further information, please call: Doug Fulcher 604-803-5901 Steve McGuire 604-762-7869 Alain Charest 011-52-618-299-9885 www.centenariogold.com The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Statements in this press release, other than purely historical information, including statements relating to the Company's future plans and objectives or expected results, may include forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in resource exploration and development. As a result, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements Caution Regarding Forward Looking Statements: Certain information included in this press release, including information relating to future financial or operating performance and other statements that express the expectations of management or estimates of future performance constitute "forward-looking statements". Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding copper, gold and silver forecasts, the financial strength of the Company, estimates regarding timing of future development and production and statements concerning possible expansion opportunities for the Company. Where the Company expresses or implies an expectation or belief as to future events or results, such expectation or belief are based on assumptions made in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis. Such assumptions may include, without limitation, the price of and anticipated costs of recovery of, copper concentrate, gold and silver, the presence of and continuity of such minerals at modeled grades and values, the capacities of various machinery and equipment, the availability of personnel, machinery and equipment at estimated prices, mineral recovery rates, and others. However, forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed, projected or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks include, but are not limited to, interpretation and implications of drilling and geophysical results; estimates regarding timing of future capital expenditures and costs towards profitable commercial operations. Other factors that could cause actual results, developments or events to differ materially from those anticipated include, among others, increases/decreases in production; volatility in metals prices and demand; currency fluctuations; cash operating margins; cash operating cost per pound sold; costs per ton of ore; variances in ore grade or recovery rates from those assumed in mining plans; reserves and/or resources; the ability to successfully integrate acquired assets; operational risks inherent in mining or development activities and legislative factors relating to prices, taxes, royalties, land use, title and permits, importing and exporting of minerals and environmental protection. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements and the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained herein are made as at the date hereof and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise any such forward-looking statements or any forward-looking statements contained in any other documents whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable security law. SOURCE: Centenario Gold Corp. View the original press release on accesswire.com Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for dissemination in the United States Arras Minerals Corp. (TSXV:ARK) ("Arras" or "the Company") is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement financing (the "Offering") of up to 7,692,308 units of the Company ("Units") at a price per Unit of C$0.26 (the "Offering Price") for aggregate gross proceeds of up to C$2 million. Darren Klinck, President of Arras, commented, "Over the past 18 months since we announced the initial strategic equity investment by Teck, Arras has successfully and significantly advanced our project portfolio in Kazakhstan with the funding from that associated financing in 2022. We are now pleased to have a strategic alliance with Teck on a portion of our land package and a US$2.5 million budget in 2024 funded by Teck which is expected to advance targets to drill-ready status this year. In addition, the highly successful soil-sampling program at our 100%-owned Elemes project which we announced results from in Q1 this year, has attracted considerable attention from major mining companies as we have identified two coherent copper-in-soil anomalies stretching more than 8 km each and containing porphyry mineralization which Arras intends to begin testing later this year." Tim Barry, CEO of Arras, went on to add, "As we commence our third field season this month in Kazakhstan, we expect to be advancing and drilling at least three new copper-gold porphyry targets this year. By utilizing modern exploration techniques in a region that has had very little to no exploration focus since pre-1990, our thesis is continuing to strengthen that the Bozshakol-Chingiz metallogenic belt has the potential to contain multiple new copper-gold deposits masked under shallow cover. This is truly a very exciting time for Arras as we quickly advance in a new tier-one jurisdiction for exploration of base and precious metals." Private Placement Terms Under the Offering, each Unit shall comprise of one (1) common share in the capital of the Company (each, a "Common Share") and one-half of one (1/2) non-transferable Common Share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each whole Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to purchase one (1) additional Common Share at a price of C$$0.40 for a period of (3) years from closing of the Offering (the "Expiry Date"). In the event the volume weighted average trading price of the Common Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") meets or exceeds C$$0.60 for fifteen (15) consecutive trading days at any time after four months and one day following closing of the Offering, the Company shall have the option, but not the obligation, at any time thereafter to accelerate the Expiry Date to a date that is thirty (30) days following the date of issuance of a press release by the Company announcing the acceleration of the Expiry Date. The net proceeds of the Offering will be used to advance the Company's exploration program in Kazakhstan and for general corporate purposes. Finders' fees may be payable on a portion of the Offering in accordance with applicable laws and TSXV policies. The Offering is scheduled to close on or about June 4, 2024 and is subject to the approval of the TSXV. The securities issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to a four-month hold period in Canada and will be subject to U.S. resale restrictions under U.S. securities laws as applicable. The securities to be sold in the Offering have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended ("U.S. Securities Act"), or any state or other applicable jurisdiction's securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state or other jurisdictions' securities laws. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any offer, solicitation, or sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Qualified Person: The scientific and technical disclosure for this news release has been prepared under supervision of and approved by Matthew Booth, Vice President of Exploration, of Arras Minerals Corp., a Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101. Mr. Booth has over 19 years of mineral exploration experience and is a Qualified Person member of the American Institute of Professional Geologists (CPG 12044). On behalf of the Board of Directors "Tim Barry" Tim Barry, MAusIMM CP(Geo) Chief Executive Officer and Director INVESTOR RELATIONS: +1 604 687 5800 info@arrasminerals.com Further information can be found on: the Company's website https://www.arrasminerals.com or follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/arrasminerals or follow us on X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/arrasminerals About Arras Minerals Corp. Arras is a Canadian exploration and development company advancing a portfolio of copper and gold assets in northeastern Kazakhstan, including the Option Agreement on the Beskauga copper and gold project. The Company has established the third-largest license package in the country prospective for copper and gold (behind Rio Tinto and Fortescue). In December 2023, the Company entered into a strategic alliance with Teck Resources Limited ("Teck") in which Teck will sole fund a US$5 million generative exploration program over a portion of the Arras license package in 2024-2025 focusing on critical minerals. The Company's shares are listed on the TSXV under the trading symbol "ARK". Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding the Offering, future events and Arras' future results that are subject to the safe harbors created under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Exchange Act, and applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements include, among others, statements regarding the Offering, the participation in the Offering by Teck Resources Limited, the amount of securities that may be sold and proceeds raised by the Company from the Offering, timing of closing of the Offering, the terms to the securities offered under the Offering, the receipt of TSXV and other required regulatory and third party approvals in respect of the Offering, exercise of the Company's acceleration right in respect of the Warrants (or the satisfaction of the acceleration condition in respect thereof), and plans and expectations of the exploration program Arras is in the process of undertaking. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections about Arras' exploration projects, the industry in which Arras operates and the beliefs and assumptions of Arras' management. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "targets," "goals," "projects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "continues," "may," variations of such words, and similar expressions and references to future periods, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond management's control, including investor interest in the Offering and perception of the Company and its business and assets, regulatory approval of the Offering, changes to the market price for the Company's securities, changes to economic conditions, changes to metals and commodity prices, price of inputs, expected costs and timelines to achieve the Company's goals, that general business and economic conditions will not change in a materially adverse manner, financing will be available when needed on economically reasonable terms, undertaking further exploration activities, the results of such exploration activities and that such results support continued exploration activities, unexpected variations in ore grade, types and metallurgy, volatility and level of commodity prices, the availability of sufficient future financing, and other matters discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Management Discussion and Analysis filed on the Company's profile on SEDAR+ on February 28, 2024 and in the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2023 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed on February 28, 2024 available on www.sec.gov. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results or developments may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by the Company in this release is based only on information currently available and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE: Arras Minerals Corp. View the original press release on accesswire.com JERUSALEM (dpa-AFX) - The United States has denounced applications by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for top Israeli leaders. President Joe Biden termed the move as 'outrageous.' 'Whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence - none - between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security,' he said in a statement. 'The United States fundamentally rejects the announcement today from the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that he is applying for arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials, together with warrants for Hamas terrorists,' Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. He said Washington rejects the Prosecutor's equivalence of Israel with Hamas. 'Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and is still holding dozens of innocent people hostage, including Americans.' The International Criminal Court on Monday sought arrest warrants for the leaders of Hamas and Israel for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the war in Gaza. In a statement, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza; Mohammed Deif, the commander of the Qassam Brigades, its military wing; and Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas political bureau, 'bear criminal responsibility' for murder, extermination and taking hostages' for the Gaza terrorist outfit's deadly attacks in southern Israel on October 7 and holding foreigners hostage. There are also reasonable grounds to believe that Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are responsible for other crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine, he added. To complement the allegations, Prosecutor Khan, a British national, noted that his Office had interviewed victims and survivors of the Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel. On the issue of the liability of Netanyahu and Gallant, the ICC Prosecutor alleged 'starvation as a method of war.' This and other crimes against humanity were allegedly committed 'as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy.' The decision over whether to issue arrest warrants will be taken by the Pre-Trial Chambers, which must also confirm the alleged charges. Copyright(c) 2024 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX 2024 AFX News Ancoris recognised for fostering a sense of empowerment and respect within the workplace 91% of Ancoris employees feel empowered at work 93% of employees say that are treated with respect LONDON, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ancoris, a UK-based Google Cloud services provider, has been named a Top Medium Business in The Sunday Times 2024 Best Places to Work list. The accolade has been awarded for the second year in a row, and recognises Ancoris' focus on DEI; its commitment to empowerment, reward, and recognition; and its wellbeing policies and frameworks. "I am so pleased to see Ancoris recognised, once again, as a top place to work!" says Andre Azevedo, Ancoris CEO. "Ancoris is a place where we try our best to foster collaboration, empowerment, innovation, and respect - so to have our employees echo this and respond in the way they have is amazing." The Sunday Times survey captured Ancoris employees' responses in a number of categories: Reward and Recognition, Information Sharing, Empowerment, Wellbeing, Instilling Pride, and Job Satisfaction. The independently managed survey showed Ancoris scoring "excellent" across all six engagement categories, with top scores in Empowerment, Wellbeing, Reward & Recognition. In response, 93% of employees say they are treated with respect; 92% feel trusted and able to make decisions; and 91% of employees feel empowered at work. "We've seen a lot of change over the last 12 months. The rise of Generative AI has caused shifts in our market and economic conditions are causing customers to really qualify where they make technology investments. These pivots undoubtedly have an impact on our employees and how people feel at work," Azevedo continues. "I truly believe, however, the innovative work we are doing for our customers has helped us maintain and create an even stronger sense of collaboration and pride for our team members. We're lucky to have so many smart people within our business, so continuing to give them interesting, challenging, and rewarding problems to solve for our customers is really key." About Ancoris Ancoris is a leading Google Cloud Services Provider, headquartered in the UK, on a mission to become the most innovative Google Cloud partner in the ecosystem. Ancoris leverages its strong problem solving skills and continuous improvement approach to help customers become AI Native and stay ahead of their competition. Ancoris has extensive experience in Google Cloud technologies helping enterprises integrate AI-native solutions into their business through expertise in Data & AI, Application and Infrastructure Modernisation, Workspace, and Maps. Ancoris was recognized as a Rising Star for Data, Analytics, and Machine Learning in the ISG Provider Lens for Google Cloud Partner Ecosystem in 2022 and 2023 consecutively, and awarded Google Cloud's 2024 EMEA Public Sector Partner of the Year award. Ancoris employs the best in the business and was named in the Top 10 Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2023, and a Top Place to Work in 2024. Contact: Holly Norman hnorman@ancoris.com 07368452170 Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2417995/Ancoris_Sunday_Times.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2099949/4717512/Ancoris_Logo.jpg View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/ancoris-recognised-as-top-place-to-work-for-second-year-running-by-the-sunday-times-302151325.html WEIHAI, China, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- From May 18 to 20, the International Open Day Event of the Gen Z Energy Tour China-Europe Shandong Session hosted by Guohua Energy Investment Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Energy Investment Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "China Energy"), took place in Weihai, Shandong Province. A visiting delegation comprising ten youths from six countries entered the Shandong Branch of Guohua Energy Investment to delve into the green and low-carbon development process of Chinese energy enterprises and immerse themselves in the traditional Qilu culture of Shandong. During the event, participants had the opportunity to visit two significant wind power projects in Shandong: China Energy's largest offshore wind farm in Shandong, the Wanghai Wind Farm, and Guohua Energy Investment's inaugural wind power project in Shandong, the Rongcheng Wind Farm. Through immersive, firsthand experiences at these sites, young individuals from both China and other countries solidified their shared commitment to green development. In addition to the site visits, the event included a specialized symposium focusing on Sino-Greek wind power technologies in mountainous regions. This symposium facilitated the exchange of knowledge and expertise, offering valuable Chinese insights to promote collaboration in new energy technology between China and Europe, and advancing global wind power technology. Foreign participants expressed their appreciation for the enthusiastic, pleasant, and professionally conducted exchanges. The "Gen Z Energy Tour China-Europe" series of activities is designed to offer European "Generation Z" youth the opportunity to personally visit prominent clean energy projects in Greece and China. Through these visits, participants gain hands-on experience and insight into the new technologies, breakthroughs, and achievements of Chinese enterprises, particularly those represented by China Energy Guohua Energy Investment, in the clean energy sector. This initiative has already conducted three international open day events in Alexandria, Greece, Beijing, China, and Weihai, Shandong. These events serve as compelling showcases of the exemplary practices of China's central state-owned enterprises, exemplified by China Energy Guohua Energy Investment, in actively fulfilling social responsibilities in both China and Europe. Furthermore, they underscore the collaborative efforts in jointly advancing the "Belt and Road Initiative". Notably, the initiative has successfully expanded the participation of "Generation Z" youths from Europe to countries along the Belt and Road, thereby amplifying the reach and influence of Chinese culture. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/a-two-way-journey-across-twenty-thousand-miles-china-energy-investment-corporations-guohua-energy-investment-hosted-the-international-open-day-event-of-the-gen-z-energy-tour-china-europe-shandong-session-302151335.html Immediate exploration success highlights potential for rapid and significant expansion Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSXV:BAY)(OTCQB:ATBHF) ("Aston Bay" or the "Company") is pleased to present an update and initial visual results from drilling activities currently underway at the Storm Copper Project ("Storm" or the "Project") on Somerset Island, Nunavut. The program is being conducted by American West Metals Limited ("American West"), who is the operator of the Project. American West has completed the required expenditures to earn an undivided 80% interest in the Project. American West will be solely responsible for funding the program. Highlights The 2024 Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling has delivered immediate success in intersecting thick new zones of copper mineralization in the drilling of geophysical targets, including: Drill hole SR24-02 (Cyclone North) has intersected: 36.6m of visual copper sulfides from 79.3m downhole Drill hole SR24-03 (The Gap) has intersected: 47.2m of visual copper sulfide mineralization including a 10m interval of very strong visual copper sulfides from 36.6m downhole Drill hole SR24-04 (The Gap) has intersected: 30.5m of visual copper sulfide mineralization from 29m downhole The visual copper sulfide mineralization intersected in SR24-03 and SR24-04 is similar in appearance to high-grade copper mineralization in the 2023 discovery hole at the nearby Thunder Prospect which returned 48.6m @ 3% Cu (ST23-03) SR24-03 and SR24-04 are located midway along 4km of prospective structures between the Cirrus Prospect and the high-grade Thunder Prospect - the structures are largely untested by drilling and are a high-priority target area for additional potential copper mineralization Drilling results continue to demonstrate the strong correlation between Moving Loop Electromagnetic (MLEM) targets and copper mineralization, with an extensive suite of new geophysical targets prioritized for drilling in 2024 Samples for the first batch of drilling are at the laboratory with assay results expected in the coming weeks Phase 1 of the MLEM surveys have been completed in the Storm area with the deep search phase (>250m depth) of the program now underway Drilling by the track-mounted RC rig continues 24/7 It is very encouraging to report early success from the 2024 exploration program at Storm," stated Thomas Ullrich, CEO of Aston Bay. "Drilling of Moving Loop EM geophysical anomalies is proving to be very effective at discovering copper mineralization. This provides a powerful exploration advantage. With several new anomalies still to be drilled and deep potential only now being tested by this method, we are excited for the potential for continued discovery this season at Storm." Figure 1: Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling with the track-mounted rig underway at Cyclone North, Storm Project, Nunavut. DRILLING IMMEDIATELY DEFINES THICK NEW COPPER ZONES AND POTENTIAL EXTENSIONS TO KNOWN MINERALIZATION AT STORM Preliminary geological interpretation is now complete on the first batch of drill holes from the 2024 exploration and resource expansion drilling program. The drilling has intersected thick intervals of visual copper sulfides including outstanding new exploration success in The Gap area where 2023 drilling has intersected high-grade copper mineralization. Drilling at The Gap confirms the exploration potential within the relatively untested area along the 4km of structures that hosts the Cirrus and Corona Prospects, as well as the high-grade Thunder (48.6m @ 3% Cu) and Lightning Ridge (30.4m @ 2.1% Cu) Prospects. Successful intersection of copper mineralization in these drill holes highlight the prospectivity and potential for growth in copper endowment that exists in the southern graben area. Drilling immediately north of the Cyclone Prospect indicates the potential to extend the resource northwards and toward 2023 exploration drill hole SR23-55 which intersected 7.6m @ 1% Cu from 105.2m downhole. RC drilling with the track-mounted rig continues on a broad range of exploration and resource expansion targets, including within the Thunder and Chinook Prospect areas. The second RC and the Diamond rigs will be phased into the program in the coming weeks with a total of over 20,000m of drilling planned for the 2024 program. Phase 1 of the high-powered Moving Loop EM (MLEM) survey has been completed in the Storm area, with over 10 new targets defined for high-priority drill testing. Phase 2 of the survey is now underway which involves searching deeper (up to 500m depth), below the near-surface copper prospects where drilling has previously intersected copper grades up to 2.7% Cu (ST23-02) within a prospective stratigraphic horizon (see September 26, 2023 Aston Bay press release). The exploration targets in this deeper part of the Storm sedimentary copper system are large-scale sedimentary copper similar to the large, high-grade copper deposits of Central Africa. Hole ID Prospect Easting Northing Depth (m) Azi Inclination Cu Sulfide Interval (m) SR24-01 Expl. 465403 8174839 251.5 180 -75 Minor SR24-02 Cyclone 465497 8174396 140.2 180 -70 36.6 SR24-03 The Gap 464015 8173152 149.4 170 -45 47.2 SR24-04 The Gap 463975 8173143 199.6 130 -60 30.5 Table 1: 2024 resource and exploration drill hole details. Visual estimates of mineral abundance should never be considered a proxy or substitute for laboratory analyses where concentrations or grades are the factor of principal economic interest. Laboratory assays are required to determine the presence and grade of any contained mineralization within the reported visual intersections of copper sulfides. Portable XRF is used as an aid in the determination of mineral type and abundance during the geological logging process. Figure 2: 2024 drill hole locations, historic intercepts and copper mineralization outlines, overlaying aerial photography. DRILL HOLE SR24-01 DETAILS The first drill hole of the 2024 season, SR24-01, was drilled approximately 500m north of the Cyclone Prospect and was designed to test a Fixed Loop Electromagnetic (FLEM) target defined during exploration in 2022. The interpretation of the FLEM data suggested that the source of the anomaly could be located at depth but was weakly defined. SR24-01 was drilled to a maximum achievable depth of 251.5m and did not encounter copper sulfides or other lithologies that could confirm or explain the source of EM anomalism. The drill hole did encounter weak pyrite (iron sulfides) mineralization at 125m and minor clay layers, but not in an abundance to explain the EM response. The 2024 Moving Loop EM (MLEM) survey was extended into the area to validate the FLEM anomaly but did not highlight any significant anomalies. The current MLEM survey is optimized to search for conductive bodies between 0-250m depth, suggesting that the FLEM anomaly may be located at a deeper level. Deeper penetrating EM will be scheduled for this area to further investigate the source of the FLEM anomaly. DRILL HOLE SR24-02 DETAILS SR24-02 was drilled to the north of the Cyclone Prospect to a downhole depth of 140.2m. The drill hole was designed to define potential extensions to the existing copper mineralization within the Storm area. The drill hole tested an MLEM anomaly suggesting continuation of the mineralization between the existing copper mineralization and 2023 step-out exploration drill hole SR23-55 which intersected 7.6m @ 1% Cu from 105.2m downhole. (Figure 2). SR24-02 intersected a single, 36.6m thick zone of visual copper sulfides between 79.3m and 115.8m downhole. The chalcocite dominant mineralization is hosted in thin veinlets and patchy disseminations within fractured dolomite. The visual sulfide abundance of the mineralized interval within SR24-02 is very similar to that of the drill holes in the north-eastern part of Cyclone. This suggests good lateral continuity of the mineralization and supports the growth potential of Cyclone. Intersections below are expressed as downhole widths and are interpreted to be close to true widths. Visual estimates of sulfide type, quantity and habit should not be considered a substitute for laboratory assays. Portable XRF analysis has been used to confirm the nature of the sulfide intercepts. Laboratory assays are required to determine the widths and grade of mineralization as reported in preliminary geological logging. Hole ID From (m) To (m) Min Description SR24-02 0.0 48.8 Cape Storm Formation 48.8 79.3 Allen Bay Formation 79.3 88.4 cc/ml Cc patches (1%) 88.4 100.6 cc/ml/py Trace patchy py (0.1%) 100.6 102.1 bn/ml Trace and patchy (0.1%) 102.1 114.3 cc/ma/py Trace and patchy (1%) 114.3 115.8 cu/cc fine patchy with native cu (0.1%) 115.8 117.4 py fine patchy py 117.4 140.2 massive to weakly laminated dolomudstone Table 2: Summary geological log for drill hole SR24-02. Mineralization key: cc = chalcocite, chpy = chalcopyrite, bn = bornite, py = pyrite, Cu = native copper, ct = cuprite, ml = malachite, sph = sphalerite, ga = galena. (5%) = visual estimation of sulfide content. DRILL HOLE SR24-03 DETAILS SR24-03 was drilled to a downhole depth of 149.4m and was designed to test a strongly conductive Moving Loop Electromagnetic (MLEM) anomaly in The Gap area (midway between the Cirrus Prospect and the Thunder Prospect) (Figure 2). The entire 149.4m length of drill hole SR24-03 is variably mineralized with a combined total of 47.2m of breccia and vein-style copper mineralization. The drill hole contains a strongly sulfide-mineralized breccia interval approximately 10m thick from 39.6m downhole (Figure 3). The mineralization within the strongly mineralized zone (chalcocite, bornite, chalcopyrite) is similar in appearance to that of nearby drill hole AB18-09 which intersected grades up to 4.4% Cu (Figure 4), and the Thunder Prospect to the east (48.6m @ 3% Cu in ST23-03). Figure 3: RC Drill chips from drill hole SR24-03 from the Gap Prospect. The interval is from 130ft (39.6m) to 145ft (44.2m) downhole. Chalcocite (80% copper) veins and chips are visible as dark grey. Hole ID From (m) To (m) Min Description SR24-03 0.0 38.1 Allen Bay Formation 38.1 39.6 cc/py Trace and patchy cc and py (0.1%) 39.6 45.7 bn/cc/chpy/py Veinlets of bn with cc, chpy, py (3%) 45.7 48.8 chpy/cc/py chpy veinlets and patchy cc (1%) 48.8 53.3 ma Patchy ma (0.1%) 53.3 57.9 chpy/cc/py chpy veinlets and patchy cc (0.5%) 57.9 61 Massive dolomudstone 61 62.5 cu Blebby native copper (0.1%) 62.5 64 cc Patchy cc (0.5%) 64 68.6 Massive dolomudstone 68.6 71.6 ma Patchy ma (0.1%) 71.6 77.7 cc Patchy cc (0.5%) 77.7 85.3 Massive dolomudstone 85.3 93 ma Patchy ma (0.1%) 93 96 cc Patchy cc (0.5%) 96 129.5 Massive dolomudstone 129.5 134.1 cc Trace patchy cc (0.1%) 134.1 149.4 Allen Bay Dolomudstone Table 3: Summary geological log for drill hole SR24-03. Mineralization key: cc = chalcocite, chpy = chalcopyrite, bn = bornite, py = pyrite, Cu = native copper, ct = cuprite, ml = malachite, sph = sphalerite, ga = galena. (5%) = visual estimation of sulfide content. DRILL HOLE SR24-04 DETAILS SR24-04 was drilled to a downhole depth of 199.6m and was designed to help determine the geometry of the main zone of copper mineralization encountered in drill hole SR24-03 for future resource definition drilling. The drill hole was drilled across section and below SR24-03. SR24-04 intersected a total of 30.5m of vein-style copper mineralization within a number of zones hosted within fractured dolomite. The sulfide abundance and mineralization within SR24-04 are very similar to that of SR24-03. The intersection depths and zoning of copper sulfides in both drill holes indicates that the mineralization in in the Gap area may be relatively flat lying, and therefore have significant potential for lateral expansion (Figure 4). The immediate success of the 2024 exploration drilling highlights the ongoing exploration potential of the Storm area and potential of the MLEM surveys to efficiently define high-priority drilling targets. The Gap exploration holes were planned to test a very strong MLEM anomaly that covers an area of approximately 300m x 200m. This feature is located within a much larger zone of moderately conductive EM, which suggest the footprint of copper mineralization in The Gap area could be significant. Further RC drilling will be used to determine the extent of the copper mineralization at The Gap Prospect during the 2024 summer drilling season. Hole ID From (m) To (m) Min Description SR24-04 0.0 1.5 Allen Bay Formation 1.5 3.1 ma Patchy ma 3.1 29 Allen Bay Dolomudstone 29 38.1 cc/ma/chpy cc veinlets (2.5%), trace chpy 38.1 42.7 Allen Bay Dolomudstone 42.7 53.3 cc/chpy/Cu/py/ma cc/chpy veinlets with patchy Cu, py and ma (2.5%) 53.3 56.4 Allen Bay Dolomudstone 56.4 61 cc/chpy/ma cc/chpy veinlets and patchy ma (1%) 61 68.6 Allen Bay Dolomudstone 68.6 70.1 cc/ma Patchy cc and ma (0.1%) 70.1 74.7 Allen Bay Dolomudstone 74.7 77.7 cc/ma Trace cc and ma (0.1%) 77.7 79.3 Allen Bay Dolomudstone 79.3 91.4 ma Trace ma (0.1%) 91.4 102.1 Allen Bay Dolomudstone 102.1 103.6 cc/ma Patchy cc and ma (0.1%) 103.6 179.8 Allen Bay Dolomudstone 179.8 182.9 ma/py Trace patchy ma (0.1%) 182.9 199.6 Allen Bay Dolomudstone Table 4: Summary geological log for drill hole SR24-04. Mineralization key: cc = chalcocite, chpy = chalcopyrite, bn = bornite, py = pyrite, Cu = native copper, ct = cuprite, ml = malachite, sph = sphalerite, ga = galena. (5%) = visual estimation of sulfide content. Figure 4: N-S schematic geological interpretation on drill section 464,000E. MOVING LOOP EM SURVEY UPDATE - NUMEROUS NEW EM TARGETS DEFINED Phase 1: Shallow-looking MLEM Phase 1 of the Moving Loop Electromagnetic (MLEM) survey has been completed. The survey covered the majority of central graben of the immediate Storm area with approximately 46.7 line km completed. The first phase of the survey was configured and optimized to screen for conductive bodies (such as copper sulfides) up to 250m depth. Areas to the east hosting compelling gravity anomalies between known mineralized faults will be investigated in future programs. The initial shallow-looking MLEM surveys used 100-200m N-S line spacings, 100m sensor stations, and 200m x 200m loops. The survey has identified over 10 EM anomalies that are high priority for immediate drill testing, and numerous other lower order anomalies which are considered to have the potential to represent copper sulfides (Figure 5). Phase 2: Deep-looking EM Phase 2 of the MLEM survey is now underway which will aim to screen between 250m and 500m depth. These surveys are using a 400m x 400m loop size to search below the near-surface copper mineralization. All five of the deep diamond drill holes completed during the 2022 and 2023 programs intersected copper sulfide mineralization at approximately the same stratigraphic horizon (270-320m vertical depth) across a 5 km2 area. Notably, drill hole ST23-02 intersected high-grade mineralization up to 2.7% Cu (at 357m downhole), indicating the potential of the system to host economic mineralization similar to that defined in the near surface at that deeper stratigraphic level. Additional MLEM surveys are planned to commence at the underexplored regional Tornado. Blizzard and Tempest areas during the summer exploration program starting in June. Figure 5: Recently completed MLEM survey image (Ch18Z) of the Storm area, overlaying drilling, copper mineralization outlines and aerial photography. Hotter colours (red/green) indicate higher conductivity. Target modelling involves a detailed review of the EM profile and X.Y, and Z channel data (only Z channel data shown above), combined with geochemistry data-sets. PLANNED PROGRAM Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling is in progress in the Storm area testing geophysical targets to expand know mineralization and test potential new zones of mineralization. MLEM geophysical surveys are continuing on deeper areas of interest within the immediate Storm area. The surveys will then move to the Tornado and Blizzard copper prospect areas. The second RC drilling rig is now onsite with preparations underway for commencement of drilling in the coming weeks. The planned drill program for 2024 comprises more than 20,000m in both RC and diamond drilling. Planning is complete and preparations are underway for a broad range of environmental monitoring and survey activities during 2024. Studies on beneficiation processing methods are progressing on a variety of styles of mineralization from the Cyclone and Chinook Prospects. About the Storm Copper and Seal Zinc-Silver Projects, Nunavut The Nunavut property consists of 173 contiguous mining claims covering an area of approximately 219,257 hectares on Somerset Island, Nunavut, Canada. The Storm Project comprises both the Storm Copper Project, a high-grade sediment-hosted copper discovery (intersections including 110m* @ 2.5% Cu from surface and 56.3m* @ 3.1% Cu from 12.2m) as well as the Seal Zinc Deposit (intersections including 14.4m* @ 10.6% Zn, 28.7g/t Ag from 51.8m and 22.3m* @ 23.0% Zn, 5.1g/t Ag from 101.5m). Additionally, there are numerous underexplored and undrilled targets within the 120-kilometre strike length of the mineralized trend, including the Tornado copper prospect where 10 grab samples yielded >1% Cu up to 32% Cu in gossans. The Nunavut property is now the subject of an 80/20 unincorporated joint venture with American West (see "Agreement with American West" below for more details). Storm Discovery and Historical Work High-grade copper mineralization was discovered at Storm in the mid-1990s by Cominco geologists conducting regional zinc exploration around their then-producing Polaris lead-zinc mine. A massive chalcocite boulder found in a tributary of the Aston River in 1996 was traced to impressive surface exposures of broken chalcocite mineralization for hundreds of metres of surface strike length at what became named the 2750N, 2200N, and 3500N zones. Subsequent seasons of prospecting, geophysics and over 9,000 m of drilling into the early 2000s confirmed a significant amount of copper mineralization below the surface exposures as well as making the blind discovery of the 4100N Zone, a large area of copper mineralization with no surface exposure. Following the merger of Cominco with Teck in 2001 and the closure of the Polaris Mine, the Storm claims were allowed to lapse in 2007. Commander Resources staked the property in 2008 and flew a helicopter-borne VTEM survey in 2011 but conducted no additional drilling. Aston Bay subsequently entered into an earn-in agreement with Commander and consolidated 100% ownership in 2015. Commander retained a 0.875% Gross Overriding Royalty in the area of the original Storm claims which was purchased by Taurus Mining Royalty Fund L.P. in January 2024. In 2016 Aston Bay entered into an earn-in agreement with BHP, who conducted a 2,000-station soil sampling program and drilled 1,951m of core in 12 diamond drill holes, yielding up to 16m* @ 3.1% Cu. BHP exited the agreement in 2017 and retains no residual interest in the project. Aston Bay conducted a property-wide airborne gravity gradiometry survey in 2017 and drilled 2,913m in nine core holes in the Storm area in 2018 yielding a best intercept of 1.5m* @ 4.4% Cu and 20.5m* @ 0.6% Cu. Agreement with American West As previously disclosed, Aston Bay entered into an Option Agreement dated March 9, 2021 (the "Option Agreement") with American West Metals Limited and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Tornado Metals Ltd. (collectively, "American West") pursuant to which American West was granted an option (the "Option") to earn an 80% undivided interest in the Project by spending a minimum of CAD$10 million on qualifying exploration expenditures ("Expenditures"). The parties amended and restated the Option Agreement as of February 27, 2023 to facilitate American West potentially financing the Expenditures through flow-through shares but did not change the commercial agreement between the parties. The Expenditures were completed during the 2023 drilling program and American West exercised the Option in accordance with the terms of the Option Agreement, as amended. American West and Aston Bay will form an 80/20 unincorporated joint venture and enter into a joint venture agreement. Under such agreement, Aston Bay shall have a free carried interest until American West has made a decision to mine upon completion of a bankable feasibility study, meaning American West will be solely responsible for funding the joint venture until such decision is made. After such decision is made, Aston Bay will be diluted in the event it does not elect to contribute its proportionate share and its interest in the Project will be converted into a 2% net smelter returns royalty if its interest is diluted to below 10%. Recent Work American West completed a fixed loop electromagnetic (FLEM) ground geophysical survey in 2021 that yielded several new subsurface conductive anomalies. A total of 1,534m were drilled in 10 diamond drill holes in the 2022 season, yielding several impressive near-surface intercepts including 41m* @ 4.1% Cu as well as 68m of sulfide mineralization associated with a deeper conductive anomaly. In April 2022, results of beneficiation studies demonstrated that a mineralized intercept grading 4% Cu from the 4100N area could be upgraded to a 54% Cu direct ship product using standard sorting technology. Further beneficiation studies are ongoing. In April 2023, American West embarked on a spring delineation drilling program using a helicopter-portable RC drill rig as well as conducting gravity and moving loop electromagnetic (MLEM) ground geophysical programs. The summer 2023 program conducted further delineation drilling of the near-surface high-grade copper zones to advance them toward maiden resource estimates by late 2023 or early 2024. Diamond drilling tested new high-priority gravity targets and environmental baseline studies will be initiated. *Stated drill hole intersections are all core length, and true width is expected to be 60% to 100% of core length. QA/QC Protocols The analytical work reported on herein was performed by ALS Global ("ALS"), Vancouver Canada. ALS is an ISO-IEC 17025:2017 and ISO 9001:2015 accredited geoanalytical laboratory and is independent of Aston Bay Holdings Ltd., American West Metals Limited, and the QP. Drill core and hand samples were subject to crushing at a minimum of 70% passing 2 mm, followed by pulverizing of a 250-gram split to 85% passing 75 microns. Samples were subject to 33 element geochemistry by four-acid digestion and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) to determine concentrations of copper, silver, lead, zinc, and other elements (ALS Method ME-ICP61a). Overlimit values for copper (>10%) and were analyzed via four-acid digestion and ICP-AES (ALS Method Cu-OG62). Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. and American West Metals Limited followed industry standard procedures for the work carried out on the Storm Project, incorporating a quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) program. Blank, duplicate, and standard samples were inserted into the sample sequence and sent to the laboratory for analysis. No significant QA/QC issues were detected during review of the data. Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. and American West Metals Limited are not aware of any drilling, sampling, recovery, or other factors that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the data referred to herein. Qualified Person Michael Dufresne, M.Sc., P.Geol., P.Geo., is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release. About Aston Bay Holdings Aston Bay is a publicly traded mineral exploration company exploring for high-grade copper and gold deposits in Virginia, USA, and Nunavut, Canada. The Company is led by CEO Thomas Ullrich with exploration in Virginia directed by the Company's advisor, Don Taylor, the 2018 Thayer Lindsley Award winner for his discovery of the Taylor Pb-Zn-Ag Deposit in Arizona. The Company is currently exploring the high-grade Buckingham Gold Vein in central Virginia and is in advanced stages of negotiation on other lands with high-grade copper potential in the area. The Company and its joint venture partners, American West Metals Limited and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Tornado Metals Ltd. (collectively, "American West") have agreed to form a 20/80 unincorporated joint venture and enter into a joint venture agreement in respect of the Storm Project property, which hosts the Storm Copper Project and the Seal Zinc Deposit. Under such agreement, Aston Bay shall have a free carried interest until American West has made a decision to mine upon completion of a bankable feasibility study, meaning American West will be solely responsible for funding the joint venture until such decision is made. After such decision is made, Aston Bay will be diluted in the event it does not elect to contribute its proportionate share and its interest in the Storm Project property will be converted into a 2% net smelter returns royalty if its interest is diluted to below 10%. About American West Metals Limited AMERICAN WEST METALS LIMITED (ASX: AW1) is an Australian clean energy mining company focused on growth through the discovery and development of major base metal mineral deposits in Tier 1 jurisdictions of North America. Our strategy is focused on developing mines that have a low-footprint and support the global energy transformation. Our portfolio of copper and zinc projects in Utah and Canada include significant existing resource inventories and high-grade mineralization that can generate robust mining proposals. Core to our approach is our commitment to the ethical extraction and processing of minerals and making a meaningful contribution to the communities where our projects are located. Led by a highly experienced leadership team, our strategic initiatives lay the foundation for a sustainable business which aims to deliver high-multiplier returns on shareholder investment and economic benefits to all stakeholders. For further information on American West, visit: www.americanwestmetals.com. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Statements made in this news release, including those regarding entering into the joint venture and each party's interest in the Project pursuant to the agreement in respect of the joint venture, management objectives, forecasts, estimates, expectations, or predictions of the future may constitute "forward-looking statement", which can be identified by the use of conditional or future tenses or by the use of such verbs as "believe", "expect", "may", "will", "should", "estimate", "anticipate", "project", "plan", and words of similar import, including variations thereof and negative forms. This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect, as of the date of this press release, Aston Bay's expectations, estimates and projections about its operations, the mining industry and the economic environment in which it operates. Statements in this press release that are not supported by historical fact are forward-looking statements, meaning they involve risk, uncertainty and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although Aston Bay believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which apply only at the time of writing of this press release. Aston Bay disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by securities legislation. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. For more information contact: Thomas Ullrich, Chief Executive Officer thomas.ullrich@astonbayholdings.com (416) 456-3516 SOURCE: Aston Bay Holdings Ltd View the original press release on accesswire.com A new era for actives emerges as investors up demand for further product expansion. As the ETF industry reaches a milestone of $12.71 trillion in global assets, the Brown Brothers Harriman 2024 Global ETF Investor Survey finds that investors plan to further increase their use of ETFs in the next year, while also expanding the number of ETF providers they invest with. Active ETFs, which have grown at a staggering 38.4%i annual rate over the past 10 years, will continue to be a focus for ETF investors as they seek downside protection while pursuing new and innovative opportunities. The report released today by Brown Brothers Harriman and Co. (BBH), a leading global ETF custodian and administrator, captures responses from more than 300 institutional investors, fund managers, and financial advisors from the United States, Europe, and Greater China. In total, 40% of respondents had more than $1 billion in AUM. Key Findings: ETF Usage Continues to Grow: 82% of investors globally indicated that they would be increasing their use of ETFs, while 97% of U.S. based investors noted they're planning to increase their ETF usage. 82% of investors globally indicated that they would be increasing their use of ETFs, while 97% of U.S. based investors noted they're planning to increase their ETF usage. ETF Provider Relationships Expanding : 74% of ETF investors plan to increase the number of issuers that they work with. : 74% of ETF investors plan to increase the number of issuers that they work with. Demand for Active ETFs Continues to Rise: A majority of ETF investors (78%) predict an increase in their overall portfolio exposure to active ETFs in the next 12 months and 80% of ETF investors have purchased at least one active ETF in the past 12 months. A majority of ETF investors (78%) predict an increase in their overall portfolio exposure to active ETFs in the next 12 months and 80% of ETF investors have purchased at least one active ETF in the past 12 months. ETFs are Taking Market Share from Mutual Funds: Almost half (48%) of investors cite index mutual funds as a top source from which they reallocated capital to purchase an active ETF. Almost half (48%) of investors cite index mutual funds as a top source from which they reallocated capital to purchase an active ETF. Investors Seek Diversification: ETF investors want to see additional product choices in the active ETF market for fixed income (43%)-which can help preserve capital and returns in times of economic stress-as well as liquid alternatives (42%), which offer potential diversification through exposure to alternative investment strategies. ETF investors want to see additional product choices in the active ETF market for fixed income (43%)-which can help preserve capital and returns in times of economic stress-as well as liquid alternatives (42%), which offer potential diversification through exposure to alternative investment strategies. Fixed Income Takes Center Stage: 70% of ETF investors predict increased exposure to fixed income ETFs in the coming 12 months in line with general positive financial market risk sentiment. These include corporate bond "high yield" ETFs (30%), non-U.S. sovereign debt (30%), and mortgage-backed or asset-backed securities ETFs (29%). 70% of ETF investors predict increased exposure to fixed income ETFs in the coming 12 months in line with general positive financial market risk sentiment. These include corporate bond "high yield" ETFs (30%), non-U.S. sovereign debt (30%), and mortgage-backed or asset-backed securities ETFs (29%). Digital Currency ETFs Gain Popularity: Nearly a quarter of investors (23%) are most bullish about the digital currency/Bitcoin asset class over the next 12 months; other asset classes these investors are bullish on include alternatives (18%) and equities (17%). "In the current environment, it's clear that investors are still confident in the ETF industry and are focused on innovative products and strategies that balance the demand for strong returns with mitigating risk," Tim Huver, Managing Director, ETF Servicing team at BBH said. "In particular, we've seen the active ETF category grow in popularity and expect even more managers and investors to allocate their funds to ETFs with an active strategy." "With accelerated product innovation driving greater diversification at a low cost, the ETF market continues to demonstrate that it has the tools to navigate the varying market conditions for the long term," Huver added. Read the full report here: BBH Global Investor ETF Survey. About Brown Brothers Harriman BBH is a privately-held, global financial services firm founded in 1818 and headquartered in New York City. BBH is known for its exceptional client service, technology expertise, and customized solutions. For 200 years its client-centric approach has fostered deep and lasting relationships built on commitment and trust. As a private partnership, free from the distractions of short-term or public market expectations, BBH is built to put clients first and create success that lasts. BBH's Investor Services business provides asset servicing, capital markets, and operating model solutions to many of the world's leading asset managers and financial institutions. Asset servicing solutions include cross-border custody, accounting, and administration and related services. Capital markets solutions include operational and strategic foreign exchange and securities lending services. BBH's operating model solutions solve for platform, data, and connectivity challenges across open-architecture operating models for asset managers, asset owners, and financial institutions. BBH operates in over 90 markets worldwide from 18 offices. BBH employs approximately 6,000 professionals. For more information, please visit www.bbh.com. _________________ i ETFGI View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240521717803/en/ Contacts: Prosek Partners Pro-bbh@prosek.com Boston: +1 (857) 702 2114 London: +44 (20) 3890 9193 Corsicana, Texas--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2024) - Midwest Energy Emissions Corp. (TSXV: MEEC) (OTCQB: MEEC) ("ME2C Environmental " or the "Company"), a leading environmental technologies firm announces the appointment of Dennis Baranik, Director of National Sales. Effective as of May 1, 2024, Mr. Baranik will oversee product sales and IP Licensing in the Company's core business for mercury emissions capture as well as support both product and business development for WE2C Environmental. Stated Richard MacPherson, CEO of ME2C Environmental, "As a key figure in the activated carbon market, the addition of Dennis Baranik will fulfill a key position that will ensure our continued growth in our core business as well as secure a strong market position in potable water treatment. His extensive leadership experience, most recently with a major player in the activated carbon industry, coupled with his deep knowledge and industry relationships in the North American water industry will be instrumental in accelerating our new technologies into the potable water market." About Dennis Baranik Dennis Baranik is a seasoned executive who has provided strategic and operational leadership to startup, early revenue, and Fortune 100 companies. As a corporate leader, he has created and implemented results-oriented campaigns and business plans - positively impacting market share, investment opportunities, and bottom-line results. Dennis has executive management experience in the environmental, activated carbon, automotive, consulting, marketing communications, and investment industries including leading roles in a Fortune 100 company. For the past 10 years, Dennis Baranik has been actively working at a senior level at an activated carbon supply firm. Over the past year he has been instrumental in introducing firms to the water treatment industry and has a wealth of knowledge and know-how in that field which will benefit WE2C's entry significantly. Dennis earned both his BA and his MBA from the University of Pittsburgh and will work hand in hand with Dr. David Mazyck and the ME2C team. About ME2C Environmental Midwest Energy Emissions Corp. (TSXV: MEEC) (OTCQB: MEEC), operating under the trade name of ME2C Environmental, is a prominent environmental technologies company focused on providing innovative technologies to promote cleaner air and water with smart business solutions. From patented and proprietary mercury emissions capture technologies for the global power industry, this unique expertise now extends to WE2C Environmental, a division of ME2C Environmental focused on PFAS/PFOS removal from potable water. Through WE2C Environmental, new innovative water purification technologies are under development and expected to meet the growing demand for sustainable water solutions worldwide. Learn more at www.me2cenvironmental.com and www.we2cenvironmental.com. Safe Harbor Statement With the exception of historical information contained in this press release, content herein may contain "forward-looking statements" that are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor Provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 or forward-looking information under applicable Canadian securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements are generally identified by using words such as "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "expect," "intend," "will," and similar expressions, but these words are not the exclusive means of identifying forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. Matters that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, among other factors, the loss of major customers; dependence on availability and retention of key suppliers; changes, or lack of changes, in environmental regulations; risks related to advancements in technologies; lack of diversification in the Company's business; risks related to intellectual property, including the ability to protect intellectual property and the success with any patent litigation; competition risks; changes in demand for coal as a fuel source for electricity production; ability to retain key personnel; absence of a liquid public market for our common stock; share price volatility; and, the potential that dividends may never be declared. In addition, this release contains time-sensitive information that reflects management's best analysis only as of the date of this release. ME2C Environmental does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events, information or circumstances that arise after the date of this release. Further information concerning issues that could materially affect financial performance or other forward-looking statements contained in this release can be found in ME2C Environmental's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission or Canadian securities regulators. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. ME2C Environmental Contact: Stacey Hyatt Corporate Communications ME2C Environmental Main: 614-505-6115 x-1001 Direct: 404-226-4217 shyatt@me2cenvironmental.com Investor Relations Contact: Jessica Butt IR Representative Adelaide Capital Direct: 416-844-6202 jessica@adcap.ca SOURCE: Midwest Energy Emissions Corp. New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2024) - Vinexposium, a global leader in organizing wine and spirits events, is poised to further its reach and influence in the international market through its upcoming Vinexpo America 2024. Scheduled to take place in New York, this premier event underscores the company's commitment to expanding its footprint across the wine and spirits industry worldwide. Vinexposium Sets the Stage for Global Expansion with Upcoming Vinexpo America 2024 in New York Media To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/10557/209881_vinexposium.jpg Vinexposium has been instrumental in shaping the global wine and spirits sectors through various events hosted across multiple continents. Now in its sixth year, the upcoming Vinexpo America, set to occur from June 24 to June 25, 2024, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York, continues this strategic direction. This event will bring together industry leaders and stakeholders from around the globe, offering unparalleled opportunities for networking, learning, and business development. Key Milestone for Vinexpo 2024 This year, Vinexpo America 2024 will be co-located with the Summer Fancy Food Show, organized by the Specialty Food Association. This arrangement will give attendees a unique and comprehensive experience showcasing the best food and beverages. This inherent strategy will enhance the overall experience of both shows' attendees, optimize exhibitors' and visitors' return on investment, and increase sales potential. Vinexpo America 2024 is set to be a landmark event, hosting over 230 producers from 30 countries and showcasing a rich diversity of wine and spirits. This expansive representation underscores Vinexpo America's role as a crucial nexus for industry professionals looking to broaden their horizons and deepen their market presence. Attendees will have the unique opportunity to engage with a global tapestry of flavors and traditions, making it an essential event for anyone connected to the wine and spirits industry in the United States. Rodolphe Lameyse, CEO of Vinexposium, expressed enthusiasm about the company's vision, stating, "Vinexpo America 2024 represents a key milestone in our strategy to connect the wine and spirits community globally. We aim to create a dynamic platform for our exhibitors and visitors that not only fosters business opportunities but also contributes to the ongoing growth and evolution of the industry." A Matchmaking Hub for Global Growth Vinexpo America is a pivotal platform, bringing together established producers from renowned regions like France, Italy, and Spain with exciting newcomers from South America. The event also welcomes first-time participants like Armenia and established Central and Eastern European producers from Georgia, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic. This diverse range of producers will connect with key trade buyers, importers, distributors, and other decision-makers, fostering new partnerships and propelling growth. Vinexpo America thus caters to the ever-growing US market, the world's largest for alcoholic beverage sales, valued at over $304.4 billion. Vinexpo America capitalizes on this by acting as a matchmaking platform in New York City, a strategic choice for the alcoholic beverages industry. New York, a global hub for culture, cuisine, and commerce, attracts a vast and discerning audience of wine and spirits enthusiasts. This prime location allows producers to showcase their offerings to a highly influential market segment, potentially propelling them toward wider US distribution and brand recognition. American consumers' adventurous palates and openness to discoveries create a lucrative opportunity for international producers. Vinexpo America addresses regional variations within the US by facilitating connections between producers and buyers in specific markets. Recognizing this potential, Vinexposium tackles critical issues to maximize its impact: bridging the gap between international producers and the complex US three-tier distribution system. By connecting them with relevant distributors and importers, Vinexpo America positions itself as a valuable partner for producers seeking to enter or expand their reach in this dynamic market. Registration for Vinexpo America 2024 is now open. Interested parties are encouraged to secure their participation early to experience the forefront of wine and spirits in one of the world's most vibrant markets. For more information, please visit https://vinexpo-america.com/ and register online here. About Vinexposium Vinexposium offers a cohesive focal point for every strand of the wine and spirits industry by designing a variety of relevant event formats all year round and across the globe. By bringing together exhibitors and visitors at eight events a year and its community every day of the year at vinexposium365.com, Vinexposium is the industry's ally, geared to developing its sales reach. About the Specialty Food Association The Specialty Food Association (SFA) was founded in 1952 and is the not-for-profit trade association of the $207-billion specialty food industry. Representing more than 3,800 businesses worldwide, SFA champions industry participation and success for a diverse community of makers, buyers, importers, distributors, and service providers by developing resources, information, education, and events celebrating innovation and inclusivity. SFA owns and operates the Fancy Food Shows and the sofi Awards, which have honored excellence in specialty food and beverage annually since 1972. About Balzac Communications & Marketing Balzac Communications & Marketing is the leading marketing firm dedicated to crafting compelling narratives and innovative strategies within the wine and spirits industry. With over three decades of expertise, Balzac offers a comprehensive suite of bespoke services, including public relations, branding, event management, and digital marketing, tailored to elevate brands and captivate audiences. About L'eau a la Bouche L'eau a la bouche is a French marketing & communication agency specializing in Food, Wines, Spirits & Lifestyle. They offer tailored services such as strategic positioning, brand strategy, graphic design, digital solutions, and press relations for a broad range of clients. They are based in France, and their American branch located in New York City supports European clients entering the US market and vice versa, ensuring cultural understanding and market expertise. Media Contacts: Michael Wangbickler Balzac Communications contact@balzac.com Fanny Spironelli L'eau a la Bouche fanny@ealbmarketing.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/209881 SOURCE: Vinexposium Klondike Gold Corp. (TSXV:KG)(FRA:LBDP)(OTCQB:KDKGF) ("Klondike Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that further to its news release of May 14, 2024, the Company has closed its oversubscribed non-brokered private placement financing, raising $970,736.85 (the "Private Placement"). In closing the Private Placement, the Company issued an aggregate of 10,785,965 units (each, a "Unit") at a price of $0.09 per unit consisting of 10,785,965 common shares and 10,785,965 share purchase warrants (each, a "Warrant"). All warrants are exercisable at a price of $0.15 per share for one common share in the capital of the Company for a period of two (2) years from the date of the issuance, expiring May 17, 2026. The Company also paid an aggregate of cash finder's fees $8,640 and issued 96,000 finder's warrants (the "Finders Warrants"), of which Haywood Securities Inc. was paid $540 and was issued 6,000 Finders Warrants and Canaccord Genuity Corp. was paid $8,100 and was issued 90,000 Finder's Warrants. Each Finder's Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one common share of the Company (a "Finder's Warrant Share") at a price of $0.15 per Finder's Warrant Share until May 17, 2026. All securities issued in connection with the Private Placement are subject to a four month and one day statutory hold period expiring on September 18, 2024, in accordance with applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company intends to use the proceeds from the financing to fund ongoing and future exploration and drill programs and general working capital at the Company's 100% owned Klondike District Property (the "Property") in the Dawson mining district, Yukon, Canada. Three insiders of the Company participated in the Private Placement and acquired an aggregate of 3,613,888 Units. The purchases by these insiders constitute "related party transactions" within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The issuances are exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 as they are distributions of securities for cash and the fair market value of the Units issued to, and the consideration paid by, the insider did not exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization. No new insiders were created, nor any change of control occurred, as a result of closing the Frist Tranche of the private placement. The securities have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States without registration under the U.S. Securities Act and all applicable state securities laws or compliance with the requirements of an applicable exemption therefrom. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. UPCOMING EVENTS Klondike Gold will be participating in the following upcoming events: June 21 - 26: Invest Yukon Investment Conference/Property Tour (Dawson, YT) July 19 - 21: CEM TSX Venture Growth Conference (Kelowna, BC) August 12 - 16: Klondike Investment Conference/Property Tour (Dawson, YT) November 22 - 24: CEM Florida Capital Event (Miami, FL) ABOUT KLONDIKE GOLD CORP. Klondike Gold is a Vancouver based gold exploration company advancing its 100%-owned Klondike District Gold Project located at Dawson City, Yukon, one of the top mining jurisdictions in the world. The Klondike District Gold Project targets gold associated with district scale orogenic faults along the 55-km length of the famous Klondike Goldfields placer district. Multi-km gold mineralization has been identified at both the Lone Star Zone and Stander Zone, among other targets. The Company has identified a Mineral Resource Estimate of 469,000 Indicated and 112,000 Inferred gold ounces1, a milestone first for the Klondike District. The Company is focused on exploration and development of its 727 square km property accessible by scheduled airline and government-maintained roads located on the outskirts of Dawson City, Yukon, within the Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation traditional territory. 1 The Mineral Resource Estimate for the Klondike District Property was prepared by Marc Jutras, P.Eng., M.A.Sc., Principal, Ginto Consulting Inc., an independent Qualified Person in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101. The technical report supporting the Mineral Resource Estimate entitled "NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Klondike District Gold Project, Yukon Territory, Canada" has been filed on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca effective November 10, 2022. Refer to news release of December 16, 2022. ON BEHALF OF KLONDIKE GOLD CORP. "Peter Tallman" Peter Tallman, President and CEO FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Telephone: (604) 609-6138 E-mail: info@klondikegoldcorp.com Website: www.klondikegoldcorp.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements". When used in this document, the words "anticipated", "expect", "estimated", "forecast", "planned", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements or information. These statements are based on current expectations of management, however, they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this news release. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements. Klondike Gold does not undertake any obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise after the hereof, except as required by securities laws. SOURCE: Klondike Gold Corp. View the original press release on accesswire.com Partnerships expand Nigerian consumers' access to Jumia's e-commerce platform, while increasing buying power Nigerian Buy Now, Pay Later launch increases cashless payments options for Jumia customers Jumia, the leading e-commerce platform in Africa (NYSE:JMIA), today announced two new Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) partnerships in Nigeria with Newedge (Easybuy), an innovative finance company in Nigeria, and CredPal, a leading Nigerian fintech company. These partnerships will expand Nigerian consumers' access to Jumia's marketplace, conveniently allowing them to make purchases and spread their payments over a set period of time while removing the barrier of immediate payment. The partnerships will also help drive cashless payments across the Jumia ecosystem. Sunil Natraj, CEO of Jumia Nigeria said, "We are excited to announce the addition of Easybuy and CredPal as payment options for Jumia customers in Nigeria. The addition of BNPL options is an exciting and innovative way to drive e-commerce adoption and accessibility while expanding the purchasing power of our customers. These partnerships align perfectly with our mission to make e-commerce more accessible and inclusive for all consumers. We remain committed to providing Nigerians with a broader range of payment options and fostering financial inclusion within the e-commerce space." These partnerships will allow Jumia to further capture the massive pent-up and fast growing consumer demand in Africa while continuing to drive e-commerce adoption and acceptance, helping to drive further growth as the company continues on its path to profitability. You can read more about each partnership on Jumia's corporate news page: https://group.jumia.com/news. About Jumia Jumia believes that technology has the potential to transform everyday life in Africa for the better. Jumia was built to help consumers access millions of goods and services conveniently and at the best prices while opening up a new way for sellers to reach consumers and grow their businesses. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2019, Jumia is the leading e-commerce company in Africa, operating in 11 countries. The Jumia platform consists of a marketplace, which connects sellers with consumers, a logistics service, which enables the shipment and delivery of packages from sellers to consumers, and a payment service, JumiaPay, which offers a safe and easy solution to facilitate online payment transactions. The company offers goods across a broad range of categories, such as phones and electronics, home appliances, fast-moving consumer goods, fashion and beauty. Contacts Robert Awodui Regional Head of Communications and Public Relations, Sub-Saharan Africa robert.awodu@jumia.com SOURCE: Jumia Technologies AG View the original press release on accesswire.com Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2024) - Pure Energy Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: PE) (OTCQB: PEMIF) ("Pure Energy" or "the Company") will hold its Annual General Meeting in-person in Vancouver, BC, Canada, on June 5, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time at Suite 2110, 650 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 4N8. The Company has mailed voting materials to registered shareholders, and is providing access to the Information Circular and voting documents on the Company's website, www.pureenergyminerals.com. We encourage all shareholders to vote, and to access the materials online well in advance of the 48-hour voting deadline of 10:00 a.m. on Monday, June 3, 2024. Please refer to the Information Circular and materials . All voting will be conducted in advance by proxy form, and no voting will occur at the meeting. A shareholder must obtain a unique Control Number to be able to vote their shares. Non-registered shareholders who hold shares through a brokerage firm, should contact their brokers. If materials are not received, contact Odyssey Trust Company, Pure Energy's transfer agent, who can be reached during business hours at: Canada: 1 (587) 885-0960, or Toll-Free: 1 (888) 290-1175. Pure Energy and its partner at the Clayton Valley lithium project, Schlumberger Technology Corp. ("SLB") focused activities in 2023 towards developing a pilot plant, at demonstration scale, for Direct Lithium Extraction ("DLE") technology from lithium-enriched brines. Mobilization and construction of the pilot plant was completed in 2023, and commissioning, or testing, of equipment and the proprietary DLE technology was initiated. Results at the DLE plant have been very good and have more than met expectations. Drill hole CV-9 provides the brine used for testing at the pilot plant and contains concentrations of between 180 to more than 220 ppm lithium in brine. The SLB technology responds well to these concentrations. Final testing continues at this time. In January 2024, Pure Energy received an additional 5-year finite-term water right enabling brine extraction and testing to continue at the Clayton Valley project. The advantages of DLE technology are clear, and well suited to Clayton Valley lithium brines. Of particular importance are its efficiency in recovering lithium from brine in a matter of days vs. more than a year in conventional ponds; significant recovery of precious, clean water resources for reintroduction into the valley's aquifer; plus, a much-reduced footprint and environmental impact. About Pure Energy Pure Energy Minerals is a lithium resource developer that is driven to become a low-cost supplier for the growing lithium battery industry. Pure Energy has consolidated a pre-eminent land position at its Clayton Valley Project in the Clayton Valley of central Nevada for the exploration and development of lithium resources, comprising 950 claims over 23,360 acres (9,450 hectares), representing the largest mineral land holdings in the valley. Pure Energy's Clayton Valley Project adjoins and surrounds on three sides the Silver Peak lithium brine mine operated by Albemarle Corporation. Pure Energy's strategic partner, Schlumberger Technologies Corp. ("SLB"), is the operator of the Clayton Valley Project. In May of 2019, Pure Energy and SLB signed an Earn-In agreement over the CV Project which requires significant investment by SLB at the Project, to include the design and construction of a pilot plant capable of processing lithium-bearing brines for high-quality lithium hydroxide monohydrate ("lithium hydroxide" or "LiOHH2O") and/or lithium carbonate products at a specified rate. SLB plans to utilize both in-house and commercially available technology in the design of the CV pilot plant. SLB's costs, technical parameters and ultimate technology are anticipated to differ from the published PEA. For further details regarding SLB's participation, please refer to Pure Energy's Annual General and Special Meeting Management Information Circular dated April 4, 2019, available on www.sedarplus.ca. On behalf of the Board of Directors, "Joseph Mullin" CEO, Pure Energy Minerals Ltd. CONTACT: Pure Energy Minerals Limited (www.pureenergyminerals.com) Email: info@pureenergyminerals.com Telephone - 604 608 6611 Cautionary Statements and Forward-Looking Information The information in this news release contains forward looking statements that are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in our forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause such differences include: changes in world commodity markets, equity markets, costs and supply of materials relevant to the mining industry, change in government and changes to regulations affecting the mining industry. Forward-looking statements in this release may include future exploration and development on the Clayton Valley Project. Although we believe the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, results may vary, and we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except as required by applicable laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/209922 SOURCE: Pure Energy Minerals Ltd. RONN, Inc. (OTC PINK:RONN) announced today that the signing of our MOU for our recently announced equity investment, once finalized, will stimulate the various LOIs that we have announced and are still active. Mr. Ford, the company CEO, stated that a quick update on those expected initial main initiatives might be beneficial to our shareholders. We first announced First Nations Canada in October 2023, which, once executed with our new expected funding, is expected to be worth potentially 500 million dollars. Quote: "Together, we plan to establish seven starter seed hydrogen hubs across the First Nations lands, complete with RONN Hydrogen Electric logistic trucks," stated Ronn Ford, CEO. "The seven-plus 50-million-dollar packages allow communities and businesses of all sizes to familiarize themselves with Hydrogen electricity's mobile and stationary applications." Mr. Ford continued that site locations are being evaluated "and we have now added a global development partner to the project. The Global Middle Mile Logistics Truck Market is projected to grow from USD 96.42 billion in 2022 to USD 169.75 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 7.32%." Our HEV medium-duty trucks will go to Roush Engineering to complete our initial class 4-6 medium-duty delivery prototypes for several evaluation pilot projects and much-anticipated contract manufacturing. We do have several pilot programs in the queue, including our own with First Nations and Barbados, and others too early to announce in Nairobi, Germany, India, and Canada.. The engineering and feasibility studies are complete. With the recent difficulties revealed concerning battery-powered trucks and automobiles, hydrogen electric vehicles have received a nice shot in the arm as the only viable alternative to the problem that plagues the battery market. Ronn Ford also stated that a critical success factor is the fact that delivery vehicles are mostly fleets, and the only infrastructure required are small hydrogen pumps located at the terminal facility to refuel the trucks upon return to the yard. Hydrogen EVs have a more extended range and can carry larger loads, and a hydrogen fill-up generally takes only 3-5 minutes. Our recently announced LOI with the great group Hydrogen Horizons, whose offices are in the UK, has already resulted in several new potential partners and potential Hydrogen Truck pilot programs throughout. We are exploring a possible grant application between us, Hydrogen Horizons, and NYSERDA (the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, as details emerge, we will update the market accordingly. DISCLOSURE: This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created thereby. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, the ability of RONN to accomplish its stated plan of business. RONN believes that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements contained herein are reasonable, any of the assumptions could be inaccurate, and there forward-looking statements included in this press release will prove to be accurate. Considering the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements included herein, the inclusion of such information should not be regarded as a representation by RONN or any other person. For Media Inquiries please contact: John Morgan email: morgan@ronnmotorgroup.com SOURCE: RONN Inc. View the original press release on accesswire.com BAE Systems has signed a contract with the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration (FMV) for new CV9035 MkIIIC vehicles, as well as associated integrated logistic support. This new contract will provide new-build CV90s to help replenish the Swedish Army's fleet. These new CV9035 MkIIICs will replace CV9040 vehicles donated to Ukraine by the Swedish government. In addition, the Swedish government is procuring more new-build CV90 vehicles to expand Ukraine capabilities. The contract will provide the opportunity for other nations to join in the procurement of CV90MkIIICs. "These new CV9035 MkIIICs will extend the capabilities of both the Swedish and Ukrainian armies and provide crews improved combat awareness, increased mobility, protection, and lethality," said Tommy Gustafsson-Rask, managing director of BAE Systems Hagglunds, which designs and produces the CV90. The new CV9035 MkIIIC is built to the same standard as the newest CV90 mid-life upgrade program for the Netherlands. The vehicles will be equipped with a new turret which provides a leap forward in design and functionality. It also offers significant ergonomic improvements to benefit the vehicle's crew. The vehicle is built on years of combat-proven experience, continuous improvements, and data gathering from the CV90 User Club, which comprises the nations operating CV90 fleets. BAE Systems' CV90 infantry fighting vehicle provides world-leading combat capability in the 20-38-ton class. It can integrate a wide range of weapon systems, providing all-target capability to land forces around the world. With a total of 1,700 vehicles ordered in 17 different variants, the CV90 has covered more than eight million kilometers. It has been selected by 10 European nations, eight of them NATO-members, and has seen combat in Afghanistan and Ukraine, as well as operations in Liberia. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240520254407/en/ Contacts: For more information, please contact: Ola Thoren, BAE Systems Hagglunds Mobile: +46 708 335000 ola.thoren@baesystems.se www.baesystems.com/US @BAESystemsInc Whittier Trust, the oldest multi-family office headquartered on the West Coast, is pleased to announce that Greg Geary has joined the firm as Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer in its Pasadena office. In this role, Greg Geary will spearhead all facets of information technology at Whittier Trust. He joins the firm at a time of extensive growth, creating an immense opportunity to evolve the Whittier Trust IT infrastructure to realize new opportunities to enhance client service. His leadership will also allow for a greater focus on cybersecurity and client data security matters. "We are thrilled to welcome Greg Geary to our Whittier Trust team," says Tom Frank, Executive Vice President. "His extensive experience and profound expertise in information technology, particularly within the financial services domain, align seamlessly with our commitment to delivering unparalleled client service. As Whittier Trust continues to experience remarkable growth, Greg's leadership will undoubtedly enhance our technological capabilities and further fortify our position as a leader in wealth management," he added. Greg Geary brings to Whittier Trust more than twenty-five years of comprehensive experience in information technology, with fifteen of those years dedicated to serving financial services firms spanning the investment management, private equity, and mortgage banking sectors. Geary's recent tenure as Vice President at DigitalBridge, an investment management firm, showcases his adeptness in navigating complex IT landscapes within the financial industry. Noteworthy past engagements also include pivotal roles at Disney, IndyMac Bank, and Avanade. Geary holds an MBA in Corporate Finance from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems from California State University Northridge. A distinguished figure in the Southern California IT executive community, Greg Geary serves as an executive board member of Innovate@UCLA, a nonprofit organization with strong affiliations to UCLA, and holds a board position at the Southern California Chapter of the Society of Information Management (SIM), a prominent national IT executive community organization. Greg Geary's appointment underscores Whittier Trust's dedication to fostering innovation and excellence in client service. With a focus on leveraging technology to augment client experiences, bolster client security and drive organizational growth, Whittier Trust remains steadfast in its mission to exceed client expectations and deliver superior wealth management solutions. About Whittier Trust Collectively, Whittier Trust Company and The Whittier Trust Company of Nevada, Inc. (referred to herein individually and collectively as "Whittier Trust") are state-chartered trust companies wholly owned by Whittier Holdings, Inc. ("WHI"), a closely held holding company. As the oldest multi-family office headquartered on the West Coast, Whittier Trust isn't just a financial institution, it's a trusted partner with a long, rich history of successfully navigating the financial markets to preserve, protect, and enhance its clients' wealth and well-being across generations. Whittier Trust operates with the singular focus of providing holistic, top-tier client service and highly personalized investment solutions to ultra-high-net-worth individuals and their families designed to advance and secure their long-term financial legacies and goals. The firm has offices in Pasadena, San Francisco, Menlo Park, Newport Beach, West Los Angeles, Reno, Seattle, Portland and Austin. To learn more, visit http://www.whittiertrust.com. Contact: Brandi J. Fields Whittier Trust Email: BFields@whittiertrust.com SOURCE: Whittier Trust View the original press release on accesswire.com Siskind Susser, P.C., marking the firm's 30th anniversary, has partnered with Visalaw.ai to offer the legal platform GEN to law school clinics nationwide. MEMPHIS, TN / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / In a milestone collaboration that marks the intersection of legal innovation and education, Visalaw.ai, a leading legal technology company, and Siskind Susser, P.C. - Immigration Lawyers, a renowned national immigration law firm based in Memphis, Tennessee, are thrilled to announce an unprecedented initiative. In celebration of Siskind Susser's 30th anniversary, the partnership aims to empower the next generation of immigration attorneys by providing unparalleled access to cutting-edge technology. Siskind Susser Innovative Collaboration Visalaw.ai has been at the forefront of legal technological advancements with its revolutionary product, GEN, a generative AI solution meticulously designed for immigration lawyers. GEN streamlines case management, automates document preparation, and enhances legal research, thereby revolutionizing the way immigration law is practiced. Siskind Susser, P.C., with three decades of exemplary service in immigration law, has been a pioneer in adopting technology to improve client service and case outcomes. Recognizing the importance of nurturing talent and giving back to the legal community, Siskind Susser celebrates its 30th anniversary with a commitment to innovation and education. A Gift to the Future of Immigration Law Siskind Susser, in collaboration with Visalaw.ai, is making GEN available for free to all law school clinics and law students across the country who are interested in immigration law. This initiative is designed to equip aspiring immigration lawyers with the tools they need to navigate the complex landscape of immigration law efficiently and effectively. GEN is one of the first generative AI legal products that will be available to law students and legal clinics around the country. Adam Cohen, a partner of Siskind Susser, P.C., stated, "As we celebrate 30 years of service, we are reminded of the importance of investing in the future. By making GEN available to law school clinics and students, we are not only honoring our commitment to education and innovation but also ensuring that the next generation of immigration lawyers is more prepared, efficient, and effective." Josh Waddell, a co-founder of Visalaw.ai, noted, "We think law students will find the product invaluable in their clinical work with individuals who cannot afford legal assistance. Thanks to Siskind Susser, this vision is going to become a reality." How to Access GEN Law school clinics and law students interested in taking advantage of this offer can use this form link to sign up for free access. For more information on GEN and standard pricing, you can learn more by visiting https://visalaw.ai. This offer is available immediately and will continue through the end of the academic year 2024. ### About Visalaw.ai Visalaw.ai is a legal technology company dedicated to developing AI-powered solutions that transform the practice of law. With a focus on immigration law, Visalaw.ai's flagship product, GEN, represents the pinnacle of legal innovation, making it easier for lawyers to deliver high-quality, efficient, and accessible legal services. About Siskind Susser, PC - Immigration Lawyers Siskind Susser, PC is a leading immigration law firm based in Memphis, Tennessee, with a national presence. For 30 years, the firm has been at the forefront of immigration law, providing comprehensive legal services to individuals, families, and businesses. With a commitment to excellence and innovation, Siskind Susser has helped thousands navigate the complexities of immigration law. Contact Information Olivia Lester Marketing and Engagement olester@visalaw.com 9016826455 Josh Waddell Co-Founder info@visalaw.ai 9016826455 SOURCE: Siskind Susser, P.C. View the original press release on newswire.com. Study reveals potential air pollutants present in gyms Xinhua) 16:14, May 21, 2024 BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- People frequent gyms to maintain their fitness levels, but what about the quality of the air they breathe in these confined spaces? Chinese researchers have recently delved into this question through a case study. Led by Sun Yele, a professor from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a research team examined the composition and concentration of pollutants within a basement gym. Their findings, published in the journal Environmental Science &Technology Letters, shed light on the air quality of indoor fitness environments. "The gym's proximity to our office provided an ideal setting for our investigation. Over a span of 20 consecutive days, we meticulously analyzed the air using a high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometer," explained Sun. Their study revealed that the indoor air within the gym exhibited a higher proportion of organic aerosols (OA) compared to the outdoor environment. "Approximately 50 percent of the particulate matter inhaled within the gym comprised OA, a notable increase from the roughly 40 percent observed outdoors," Sun said. Two distinct types of OA were identified within the gym atmosphere. The first, siloxane organic aerosols (SiOA), stood out due to unexpectedly high concentrations, comprising 7 to 11 percent of the total OA present. Sun attributed the presence of SiOA to the silicone polymer lubricant used in fitness equipment during exercise. Additionally, the researchers detected cigarette smoke organic aerosols within the gym, which likely entered the indoor environment from adjacent spaces such as a nearby parking lot. Furthermore, OA stemming from cooking activities in the nearby canteen were also found to contribute to the indoor air quality within the gym. "The ventilation system of the gym might inadvertently draw in pollutants from external sources," Sun said. "While our study represents a single case, it underscores the susceptibility of gyms to surrounding emission sources." The researcher believes that understanding the composition and concentration of pollutants in the gym environment is crucial for evaluating the potential health risks associated with physical exercise. "During exercise, heightened respiratory rates increase the inhalation of these particles, which could potentially impact our health," Sun said. The study advocates comprehensive assessments of air quality across various gym facilities, considering factors such as equipment diversity, occupancy rates, and ventilation systems. Such investigations are instrumental in devising effective strategies to safeguard indoor air quality and mitigate health risks associated with gym attendance. "We aim to expand our research by conducting case studies across multiple gyms to validate the universality of the pollution particles identified in this study," Sun said. He also expressed optimism about future improvements in instruments, envisioning real-time online monitoring of indoor OA molecular composition and volatile organic compounds for enhanced insights into air quality dynamics. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Josip Heit, a name that is gaining increasing prominence in the international business world, has earned a firm place among today's leading businessmen through his innovative approaches and entrepreneurial vision. Known for his ability to successfully realize forward-looking projects, Heit has left an impressive mark in various industries. Against this backdrop, NATIONAL TIMES AUSTRALIA conducted an interview with Josip Heit at a time characterized by rapid technological development and in which online dailies have established themselves as the predominant source of news and information. In this context, as can also be seen on Wikipedia, Heit currently owns 45 daily newspapers with his media group. Heit plans to increase the number to 50 daily newspapers on all continents under the umbrella of his media group by the End of the year 2024. NATIONAL TIMES AUSTRALIA: Mr Heit, you currently have 45 daily newspapers that publish news from around the world in six languages around the clock, seven days a week. Where do you see the difference to the past compared to printed newspapers? Josip Heit: "Printed newspapers formed the backbone of journalism for decades. Today, we are experiencing a profound shift towards digital news consumption. Traditional forms of media such as print newspapers and television are steadily losing importance, while digital platforms and social media are becoming increasingly influential. Printed newspapers deliver yesterday's news; they are usually printed at night and often only reach the reader the next day when the information is already outdated." NATIONAL TIMES AUSTRALIA: What makes online daily newspapers so successful, and what challenges and opportunities does this present for the industry and readers? Josip Heit: "With the increasing spread of the internet and the availability of smartphones and tablets, people's reading habits have changed drastically. Online daily newspapers offer quick and easy access to the latest news, often in real time. Users can find out about events worldwide around the clock without having to wait for the next edition of the printed newspaper. A key advantage of digital platforms is their multimedia nature. Articles are supplemented by images, videos and interactive graphics, which increase the understanding and depth of reporting. Hyperlinks also allow readers to jump from one article to the next and gather additional information in the process." NATIONAL TIMES AUSTRALIA: You attach great importance to sustainability and have brought legendary daily newspapers back to life. What's that all about? Josip Heit: "While people are still throwing away far too much, I have revitalized centuries-old newspaper titles and secured the trademark rights to them. Examples include "The Peninsula Times" from South Africa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peninsula_Times or "The HongKong Telegraph" from Hongkong / People's Republic of China: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hongkong_Telegraph as well as "La Gaceta de Mexico" from Mexico: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Gaceta_de_M%C3%A9xico and "Bombay Durpun" from India: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bombay_Durpun. Together with our partners, we have also analysed algorithms and the reading behaviour of users in order to suggest tailored content that corresponds to their individual interests. These personalized news streams ensure that readers receive relevant and interesting information without having to search for it. What's more, no reader has to take out a subscription to read news from all over the world, which clearly sets us apart from other media." NATIONAL TIMES AUSTRALIA: Despite the many advantages, online daily newspapers face considerable challenges, especially when it comes to monetization. How do you solve the problem if you don't sell subscriptions? Josip Heit: "While printed newspapers were able to rely on sales revenue and advertising, digital platforms have to find creative ways to generate revenue. Paywalls, subscriptions and digital advertising are common models, but are often met with resistance from users who are used to free content. We solve this problem with advertising. These are placed by our advertising partners, which gives readers free access to news and allows our advertising partners to draw attention to themselves." NATIONAL TIMES AUSTRALIA: Another problem is the spread of fake news and the credibility of sources. In the digital world, anyone can publish information, which makes it difficult for readers to distinguish trustworthy news from fake news. Josip Heit: "Reputable online daily newspapers need to focus more on quality and fact-checking in order to stand out from dubious sources. Technological innovations such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality help here. I support EU Commissioner Thierry Breton in creating a safe and trustworthy digital space, combined with an improved legal framework and relentless pursuit of fake news, falsehoods, and defamation on the internet." NATIONAL TIMES AUSTRALIA: What role does journalism play as a guardian of democracy and informant of the public in the digital world? Josip Heit: "Journalism acts as the fourth estate in the state, alongside the legislative, executive and judicial branches. Its task is to expose abuses of power and corruption and to create transparency. Journalists investigate, research and critically scrutinize the actions of governments, companies, and other powerful institutions. Through their reporting, they ensure that the powerful are held accountable, and that citizens are informed about important political and social developments. In this context, online daily newspapers have revolutionized the way we consume news. Their ability to deliver up-to-date, multimedia and personalized content makes them an indispensable part of modern life. This presents exciting opportunities for the evolution of journalism." NATIONAL TIMES AUSTRALIA: Thank you very much for the Interview. You can read the entire interview at 'The National Times' here: https://www.TheNationalTimes.au/Economy/308277-josip-heit-in-an-interview-with-national-times-australia-about-wikipedia-and-the-revolution-in-news-consumption-in-the-digital-age.html Press Contact: THE NATIONAL TIMES AUSTRALIA Florence Taylor Tower/2 Darling Park Levels 20 2000 Sydney NSW Tel.: +61480089450 Fax: +61480089451 E-Mail: Info@TheNationalTimes.au Web: https://www.TheNationalTimes.au Information about "THE NATIONAL TIMES": 53 years ago, (Status as of May 2024), "The National Times", an Australian daily and later weekly newspaper, was first published in 1971 by John Fairfax Limited. "The National Times" rapidly established a reputation for accurate investigative journalism, winning four consecutive Walkley Awards for best newspaper feature in 1975, 1976, 1977 and 1978. SOURCE: The National Times View the original press release on accesswire.com Project collaboration with Sustainable Forestry Initiative recognized with the Environmental Initiative Award Sappi North America Inc., a leading producer and supplier of diversified paper, packaging products and pulp, announced today its win of the 2024 SEAL Business Sustainability Awards' Environmental Initiative Award. This prestigious award recognizes Sappi's proactive leadership with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) to enhance SFI's Forest Management and Fiber Sourcing Standards requirements related to climate smart forestry, fire resilience, logger training, due diligence systems and forests of exceptional conservation value. Sappi's commitment to sustainable forestry practices is exemplified by innovative measures to conserve biodiversity, such as landscape-scale assessments and landowner/logger educational and outreach materials, community engagement and cooperative efforts of the SFI Implementation Committees (SICs). SFI is one of the world's leading independent nonprofit organizations responsible for developing sustainable forestry certification programs. Its standards provide practical, scalable solutions for markets and communities, working with the forest sector and companies such as Sappi. "We're grateful to receive this honorable recognition from the SEAL Awards," said Rebecca Barnard, Forestry Certification Manager for Sappi North America. "Sappi's certification to the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard includes proactive measures to promote and conserve biodiversity at regional and local levels, an important aspect of our business operations and mission. We are proud to be a leader with SFI and the Maine SIC in our collective achievement to create regional approaches that address the challenging topics of climate change, wildfire risk and biodiversity conservation." This initiative supports and informs Sappi North America's foresters' efforts to help landowners conserve, preserve and restore biodiversity, which is no simple task for foresters, wildlife biologists and ecologists. Local and regional SICs, like the one in Maine, play a vital role in promoting logger training, landowner outreach, youth and adult education, community engagement, investments in scientific research and ensuring the integrity of SFI's work and responsible forestry at local levels. SEAL (Sustainability, Environmental Achievement & Leadership) Awards is an environmental advocacy organization that honors leadership through its bustiness sustainability awards and environmental journalism awards. Its Environmental Initiatives award recognizes and honors individual programs that move the needle on environmental progress and demonstrate leadership and commitment to a sustainable future. To learn more about Sappi's award-winning initiatives, please visit: https://www.sappi.com/. ### About Sappi North America, Inc. Sappi North America, Inc., headquartered in Boston, is a market leader in converting wood fiber into superior products that customers demand worldwide. Our four diversified businesses - high-quality Graphic Papers, Dissolving Pulp, Packaging and Specialty Papers deliver premium products and services with consistent quality and reliability. Our high-quality Coated Printing Papers are used for premium magazines, catalogs, books, direct mail and high-end print advertising. We are a leading manufacturer of Dissolving Pulp, which is used in a wide range of products, including textile fibers and household goods. We deliver sustainable Packaging and Specialty Papers for luxury packaging and folding carton applications with our single-ply packaging brands and for the food and label industries with our specialty papers. We are one of the world's leading suppliers of Casting and Release Papers with lines for the automotive, fashion and engineered films industries. Sappi North America is a subsidiary of Sappi Limited (JSE), a global company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with more than 12,000 employees and manufacturing operations on three continents in seven countries and customers in over 150 countries. www.sappi.com Contact Haley Sinacole Account Executive Matter Communications 1 978 518 4508 sappi@matternow.com View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Sappi North America on 3blmedia.com. Contact Info: Spokesperson: Sappi North America Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/sappi-north-america Email: info@3blmedia.com SOURCE: Sappi North America View the original press release on accesswire.com HALIFAX, NS / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Namibia Critical Metals Inc. ("Namibia Critical Metals" or the "Company" or "NMI") (TSXV:NMI)(OTCQB:NMREF) is pleased to announce that the updated NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate on the Lofdal Heavy Rare Earth Project in northern Namibia ("Lofdal" or "the project") has been filed on SEDAR. Lofdal is a joint venture between the Company and Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security ("JOGMEC"). Lofdal is unique as one of only two primary xenotime projects under development in the world. The deposit has the potential for significant production of dysprosium and terbium, the two most valuable heavy rare earths used in high powered magnets. The joint venture with JOGMEC is driven by Lofdal's potential to be a long term, sustainable supply of heavy rare earths for Japan. Mineral Resource Estimate As previously reported (Press Release of April 9, 2024) the updated Mineral Resource Estimate was independently prepared by The MSA Group of South Africa ("MSA") and was based on geochemical analyses and density measurements of core samples obtained by diamond drilling and drill chips obtained by reverse circulation drilling undertaken by Namibia Critical Metals from 2010 to 2012, 2015, 2020 and more recently in 2023. From the assumed parameters a 0.1% TREO cut-off grade was calculated, which together with the Whittle optimized pit shell demonstrates reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction (RPEEE) for the Mineral Resource. The Mineral Resource is reported as Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources as shown in Table 1 for Area 4 and Table 2 for Area 2B. The Mineral Resource was estimated using The Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Best Practice Guidelines (2019) and is reported in accordance with the 2014 CIM Definition Standards, which have been incorporated by reference into National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101). The Qualified Person (QP) for the Mineral Resource estimate is Mr. Jeremy C. Witley (BSc Hons, MSc (Eng.)). In the QP's opinion, the Mineral Resources reported herein at the selected cut-off grade have "reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction", taking into consideration mining and processing assumptions. The Mineral Resource was reported from within a Whittle optimised pit shell at a cut-off grade of 0.10% TREO. Table 1: Area 4 Mineral Resources above a 0.1% TREO cut-off grade - 5 April 2024 Category Tonnes (Mt) TREO* % HREO** % LREO*** % Dy2O3 ppm TREO (kt) Measured 6.6 0.21 0.14 0.07 130 13.7 Indicated 49.2 0.15 0.07 0.08 69 75.7 Measured & Indicated 55.8 0.16 0.08 0.08 76 89.4 Inferred 10.5 0.14 0.06 0.08 58 15.0 Notes: All tabulated data have been rounded and as a result minor computational errors may occur. Mineral Resources, which are not Mineral Reserves, have no demonstrated economic viability. Quantities reported are the total quantities for the project regardless of ownership. *TREO = Total Rare Earth Oxides and includes Y2O3 **HREO = Heavy Rare Earth Oxides and includes Y2O3 ***LREO = Light Rare Earth Oxides Mt = Million tonnes, kt = Thousand tonnes. Table 2: Area 2B Mineral Resources above a 0.1% TREO cut-off grade - 5 April 2024 Category Tonnes (Mt) TREO* % HREO** % LREO*** % Dy2O3 ppm TREO (kt) Indicated 2.7 0.16 0.09 0.07 97 4.4 Inferred 4.4 0.15 0.07 0.08 75 6.6 Notes: All tabulated data have been rounded and as a result minor computational errors may occur. Mineral Resources, which are not Mineral Reserves, have no demonstrated economic viability. Quantities reported are the total quantities for the project regardless of ownership. *TREO = Total Rare Earth Oxides and includes Y2O3 **HREO = Heavy Rare Earth Oxides and includes Y2O3 ***LREO = Light Rare Earth Oxides Mt = Million tonnes, kt = Thousand tonnes,. The Area 4 Mineral Resource Estimate has increased from the previous estimate of 12 May 2021 (see Tables 3 and 4), due to the additional drilling, which has expanded the Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources, along with changes in the economic input parameters used to define the optimised pit-shell for determining Reasonable Prospects for Eventual Economic Extraction (RPEEE). The Inferred Mineral Resources have increased in tonnages due to the additional RC drilling which has extended the Mineral Resource in a northeasterly direction along strike. Table 3: Comparison of Lofdal Mineral Resource Estimates of 2021 and 2024 at a 0.1% TREO cut-off grade Year of Mineral Resource Estimate 2021 2024 Million tonnes Grade Million tonnes Grade (Mt) %TREO (Mt) %TREO Measured Resource Area 4 5.9 0.21 6.6 0.21 Indicated Resource Area 4 36.6 0.16 49.2 0.15 Indicated Resource Area 2B 2.2 0.19 2.7 0.16 Total Measured & Indicated Resources 44.8 0.17 58.5 0.16 Inferred Resource Area 4 6.1 0.17 10.5 0.14 Inferred Resource Area 2B 2.6 0.19 4.4 0.15 Total Inferred Resources 8.7 0.17 14.9 0.14 Table 4: Comparison of contained TREO, Dysprosium oxide and Terbium oxide in Mineral Resource Estimates of 2021 and 2024 at a 0.1% TREO cut-off grade TREO Dy2O3 Tb2O3 Year of Mineral Resource Estimate 2021 2024 2021 2024 2021 2024 tonnes tonnes tonnes tonnes tonnes tonnes Measured Resources 12,710 13,650 820 855 120 124 Indicated Resources 59,970 80,081 3,240 3,648 500 568 Total Measured & Indicated Resources 72,680 93,731 4,060 4,503 620 692 Total Inferred Resources 10,120 21,602 680 937 110 153 Filing of Report The report, titled Namibia Critical Metals Inc. Lofdal Heavy Rare Earths Project, Namibia NI 43-101 Technical Report -21 May 2024 Mineral Resource Estimate is authored by Jeremy Witley, MSc, P. Sci. Nat - The MSA Group, South Africa; Scott Swinden, Ph.D, P.Geol - Swinden Geoscience Consultants Ltd. and Barbara Mulcahy, P,Eng. The Qualified Person for the Mineral Resource estimate is Mr. Jeremy C. Witley (BSc Hons, MSc (Eng.)) who is a geologist with more than 35 years' experience in base and precious metals exploration and mining as well as in Mineral Resource evaluation and reporting. He is a Principal Resource Consultant for The MSA Group (an independent consulting company), is registered with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) and is a Fellow of the Geological Society of South Africa (GSSA). Mr. Witley has the appropriate relevant qualifications and experience to be considered a "Qualified Person" for the style and type of mineralization and activity being undertaken as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure of Mineral Projects. Geological services were provided by Gecko Exploration (Pty) Ltd. under the supervision of Dr Rainer Ellmies, VP Exploration for Namibia Critical Metals. Drilling services were provided by Gunzel Drilling and Prinsloo Drilling, both Namibian contract drilling companies which also carried out the downhole geophysical measurements. Sample preparation and analytical services were provided by Activation Laboratories Ltd. (Windhoek, Namibia and Ancaster, Ontario) as the primary laboratory employing ICP-MS techniques suitable for rare earth element analyses and following strict internal QAQC procedures inserting blanks, standards and duplicates. Check analyses were carried out by ALS Minerals (North Vancouver) as the umpire laboratory on approximately 5% of the resource database. Neither Mr. Witley nor any associates employed in the preparation of the Mineral Resource report ("Consultants") have any beneficial interest in Namibia Critical Metals. These Consultants are not insiders, associates, or affiliates of Namibia Critical Metals. The results of the report are not dependent upon any prior agreements concerning the conclusions to be reached, nor are there any undisclosed understandings concerning any future business dealings between Namibia Critical Metals and the Consultants. The Consultants are to be paid a fee for their work in accordance with normal professional consulting practices. About Namibia Critical Metals Inc. NMI is developing the Tier-1 Heavy Rare Earth Project, Lofdal, a globally significant deposit of the heavy rare earth metals dysprosium and terbium. Demand for these critical metals used in permanent magnets for electric vehicles, wind turbines and other electronics is driven by innovations linked to energy and technology transformations. The geopolitical risks associated with sourcing many of these metals has become a repeated concern for manufacturers and end users. Namibia is a proven and stable mining jurisdiction. The Lofdal Project is fully permitted with a 25-year Mining License and is under a Joint Venture Agreement with Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC). The Company filed a robust updated PEA for "Lofdal 2B-4" on November 14, 2022, with a post-tax NPV of USD$391 million and an annual IRR of 28% with a capital expenditure of USD$207 million. The project is projected to generate a life of mine nominal cash flow of USD$698 million post-tax over a 16-year mine life. About Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) and the JV JOGMEC is a Japanese government independent administrative agency which seeks to secure stable resource supplies for Japan. JOGMEC has a strong reputation as a long term, strategic partner in mineral projects globally. JOGMEC facilitates opportunities with Japanese private companies to secure supplies of natural resources for the benefit of the country's economic development. Rare earth elements are of critical importance to Japanese industrial interests and JOGMEC has extensive experience with all aspects of the sector. JOGMEC provided Lynas with USD$250,000,000 in loans and equity in 2011 to ensure supplies of the Light Rare Earths metals suite to the Japanese industry. Namibia Critical Metals owns a 95% interest in the Lofdal project with the remaining 5% held for the benefit of historically disadvantaged Namibians. The terms of the JOGMEC joint venture agreement with the Company stipulate that JOGMEC provides C$3,000,000 in Term 1 and C$7,000,000 in Term 2 to earn a 40% interest in the Lofdal project. Term 3 calls for a further C$10,000,000 of expenditures to earn an additional 10% interest. JOGMEC can also purchase another 1% for C$5,000,000 and has first right of refusal to fully fund the project through to commercial production and to purchase all production at market prices. The collective interests of NCMI and historically disadvantaged Namibians cannot be diluted below a 26% carried working interest upon payment of C$5,000,000 to JOGMEC for the dilution protection. NMI may elect to participate up to a maximum of 44% by funding pro rata after the earn in period is completed. To date, JOGMEC has completed Term 2 and earned a 40% interest by reaching the C$10 million expenditure requirement. Total approved project funding to date is C$14,541,000 of the $20,000,000 Earn-In requirement to reach 50% interest. Rainer Ellmies, PhD, MScGeol, EurGeol, AusIMM and Vice President of Namibia Critical Metals Inc., is the Company's Qualified Person and has reviewed and approved this press release. The common shares of Namibia Critical Metals Inc. trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "NMI" and the OTCQB Market under the symbol "NMREF". Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For more information please contact - Namibia Critical Metals Inc. Darrin Campbell, President Tel: +01 (902) 835-8760 Email: Info@NamibiaCMI.com Web site: www.NamibiaCriticalMetals.com This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "would", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is provided, and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change, unless required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. SOURCE: Namibia Critical Metals Inc. View the original press release on accesswire.com Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2024) - Energy Plug Technologies Corp. (CSE: PLUG) (OTCQB: PLGGF) (FSE: 6GQ) ("Energy Plug" or the "Company"), an energy technology company dedicated to innovation and sustainability, is pleased to announce the appointment of an additional member to the Company's Board of Directors. Energy Plug is welcoming Jonathon Araujo (Redbird) as the newest member of its Board of Directors effective May 16, 2024. Mr. Redbird will advise Energy Plug on Indigenous relations and provide support for future strategic partnerships and research and development opportunities related to energy programs within Indigenous communities. Jonathon Redbird is a Band member of the Saugeen First Nation, a part of the Anishinaabe peoples. With over two decades of experience in finance and economic development, Mr. Redbird brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the Energy Plug team. Mr. Redbird has worked with more than 220 Indigenous communities on Indigenous innovation, technology, financial advising, infrastructure development, and capital raising, holding previous leadership positions with Pontiac Group and CORE Advisor. In addition to his board position with Energy Plug, Mr. Redbird currently serves as President of Saugeen Ojibway Nation Finance Corporation. "Energy Plug is working diligently to embrace the energy infrastructure transition in Canada head-on," said Jonathon Redbird. "As I look to the future, I am excited to lend my expertise to Energy Plug's leadership team in an effort to support a sustainable energy landscape that respects Indigenous relations and fosters Canadian innovation." "We are pleased to welcome Jonathon Redbird to the Energy Plug Board," said Broderick Gunning, Energy Plug President & CEO. "His extensive experience in navigating the intersection of energy, business development and Indigenous relations will be invaluable as Energy Plug advances its business." Additionally, Energy Plug announces that it has retained Renmark Financial Communications Inc. ("Renmark"), an arm's length party to the Company, to provide investor relations services for the Company, including investor communications, distribution of corporate information, and market research and feedback. Founded over 25 years ago, Renmark is a full-service investor relations firm representing public companies trading on all major North American exchanges. "We are pleased to engage Renmark to reinforce Energy Plug's profile in the financial community and enhance the visibility of our company," said Broderick Gunning, Energy Plug President & CEO. "We selected Renmark because its standards and methodologies fit best with the message we wish to communicate to the investing public." Renmark has been engaged by the Company for an initial 7-month term starting on June 1, 2024 and ending on December 31, 2024. Following the initial term, the engagement will continue on a monthly basis, unless terminated in accordance with the terms of the agreement between the parties. In consideration of the services, Energy Plug will pay Renmark a monthly fee of CAD $9,000. Renmark is also entitled to reimbursement for all expenses reasonably incurred, subject to the terms of the agreement. Renmark Financial Communications has no present interest, directly or indirectly, in Energy Plug or its securities, or any right or intent to acquire such an interest. About Energy Plug Technologies Corp. Energy Plug Technologies Corp. is an energy technology company, dedicated to innovation and sustainability. With a focus on assembling customized Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery packs, we cater to a diverse range of residential, commercial, and industrial storage needs. Our goal is to advance battery technologies to enhance energy management and grid resiliency. Based in British Columbia, we seek to leverage strategic partnerships with local Indigenous communities, and the development of a vertically integrated supply chain involving industry-leading companies in Taiwan to provide advanced solutions to our customers and partners. For more information about Energy Plug, visit our website at https://energyplug.com. About Renmark Financial Communications Inc. Renmark Financial Communications is a full-service investor relations firm representing small, medium, and large cap public companies trading on all major North American exchanges. Renmark facilitates connections between their clients and key stakeholders in order to assist their clients in efficiently achieving their milestones. Renmark has offices in Toronto, Montreal, New York, and Atlanta. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "will", "proposes", "expects", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates" or "believes", "aim", or variations (including negative and grammatical variations) of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements regarding any objectives and strategies of the Company) are forward-looking information. The forward-looking information in this news release includes but is not limited to the statements about intended strategic partnerships with indigenous communities across Canada, future researched developments, planned partnership with Malahat First Nation and intention to build a gigafactory on Vancouver Island. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking information as a result of various risk factors, including, but not limited to: the ability to finalize the joint venture agreement with the Malahat First Nation; obtaining financing; obtaining permits; ability to build the battery assembly factory; ability to secure suppliers of batteries and obtaining batteries at desired prices; supply chain disruptions; technological obsolescence; changing government, plans, policies regarding clean energy, batteries, electric vehicles and other electric transportation devices; development of vehicles using power sources other than electric batteries such as hydrogen powered vehicles; elimination or reduction of government subsidies for electric vehicles and other electric transportation devices, solar panels, and wind power installations; changes in the Canadian and/or the U.S Government policies, rules and regulations; and potential war conflicts which may disrupt supply of the components required to produce batteries. The material assumptions used to develop forward-looking information include, but not limited to: General business and economic conditions; Financial markets conditions; The Company's ability to fund its operations through financings and joint ventures; Procurement of consulting, technical and related services and supplies on favourable terms; Attraction and retention of key staff members; Market demand for the Company's products; Growth prospects in the market for its products; Accessibility of raw materials and battery pack supplies to meet market demand; Facility profitability; The anticipated terms of the consents, permits and authorizations necessary to carry out the planned operations and the Company's ability to comply with such terms on a cost-effective basis; and The ongoing relations with the industry regulators. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any intention to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Investment in the securities of the Company is risky. Energy Plug is continuing its structuring analysis and negotiation of the partnership agreement with the Malahat First Nation. There is no assurance that such partnership agreement will be formalized or the final terms thereof. Execution of the partnership agreement is subject to a number of factors, including further negotiation by the parties regarding all of the terms of the partnership. Contact Information Energy Plug Technologies Corp. Broderick Gunning President & CEO brodie@energyplug.com Investor Relations Renmark Financial Communications Inc. 1900 - 130 King Street West, Toronto, ON M5X 1E3 John Boidman: jboidman@renmarkfinancial.com Tel.: (416) 644-2020 or (212)-812-7680 www.renmarkfinancial.com Media Contact Perri Burrage Account Manager, DGPR +1 587 577 1337 perri.burrage@dg-pr.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/209888 SOURCE: Energy Plug Technologies Corp. ALMATY, Kazakhstan, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Bulat Utemuratov's Group has donated around $30 million to support residents of the regions in Kazakhstan affected by some of the worst flooding in a century. The donation, comprising $24.2 million from Bulat Utemuratov's Foundation, a $4.5 million donation from Beeline Kazakhstan and RG Gold, and a $1.1 million donation from Alidar Utemuratov, will be used to provide financial support, restore vital infrastructure and rehouse local residents who have been left homeless in the Aktobe and Akmola regions. Over 440 families displaced by floods in the Aktobe region and 50 families in the Akmola region will receive keys to their new homes in the coming months. Last week, the Bulat Utemuratov Foundation handed over 34 houses to the affected families in towns located in the Aktobe region including Kobda, Uil and Alga. This week 31 families in the Aktobe region and 20 families in the Akmola region will receive keys to their new homes. The whole process of the transfer of houses and apartments in both regions is set to be completed by the end of August 2024. Bulat Utemuratov commented: "The state is working hard to return thousands of our fellow citizens affected by the flooding to normal life as soon as possible, and our task is to support these efforts in every possible way. I am pleased we are already making a difference, with families in the Aktobe and Akmola regions receiving new homes and more to follow soon." Humanitarian relief is a key tenet to the Foundation's work and is evidenced across the efforts of its portfolio companies. The Foundation's Aid Card project continues to provide financial aid to people in areas affected by floods, fires, and dam failures. Last year, the Foundation donated $5 million to victims of the earthquake in Turkey, along with $1 million to support families of victims of the Kostenko mine disaster. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2418067/Bulat_Utemuratov_Donation.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2200082/4717737/Bulat_Utemuratov_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/bulat-utemuratovs-group-donates-around-30-million-to-support-post-flood-recovery-efforts-302151528.html Marion, North Carolina--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2024) - Greene Concepts Inc. (OTC Pink: INKW) is pleased to announce it is ready to begin fulfilling large-scale gallon-size configuration orders of its artesian spring water at its Marion, NC bottling plant. The Company has received multiple Co-pack pre-orders which will result in multiple monthly truckloads of gallon-sized bottles. The production equipment capacity more than meets the quantity demands of current and future gallon-size purchase orders resulting in tremendous sales opportunities for the Company. Four one-gallon size bottles are included within each branded box to offer an expanded thirst-quenching solution and product selection for both home, office and on-the-go use. Lenny Greene, President and CEO of Greene Concepts, states, "To meet the purchase order demand for gallon-size configurations of our water, we purchased two new Hess Machine Ozone Generators which use ozone to as a pre-treatment and anti-bacterial assurance procedure without stripping the spring water of any it's natural electrolytes or minerals. This process results in only pure oxygen molecules remaining thereby resulting in clear, clean, and smooth tasting artesian spring water. With the availability and installation of these two new units, our newly installed Gallon assembly line is now complete, and we will soon begin production to satisfy the needs of our Co-packing gallon-line orders." Mr. Greene concludes, "Gallon sized bottles are in high demand and the installation of these ozone machines will ensure our new gallon-line products go out the door through eco-friendly and sustainable methods. We take pride in bottling artesian spring water right here in the USA. Because we are in a competitive beverage industry, reliability, durability, efficiency, and quality are paramount. Our focus is to streamline operations to meet consumer demand while maintaining product integrity and excellence at all times. This gallon-line production adds another element of premium product availability for our customers so more individuals can enjoy our sustainable artesian spring water which originates from an aquifer deep in the foothills of North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains." *The gallon-line production encourages hydration and 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated according to an October 22, 2022 article from the National Library of Medicine and water is the best thing to drink to stay hydrated according to the American Heart Association. Follow Greene Concepts, Inc. on Twitter at: @GreeneConcepts and @BeWaterBeYou Websites: https://greeneconcepts.com/ and https://bewaterbeyou.com/ About Greene Concepts, Inc. Greene Concepts, Inc. (http://www.greeneconcepts.com) is a publicly traded company whose purpose is to provide the world with high-quality, healthy and enhanced beverage choices that meet the nutritional needs of its consumers while refreshing their mind, body and spirit. The Company's flagship product, BE WATER, is a premium artesian bottled water that supports total body health and wellness. Greene Concepts' beverage and bottling plant is located in Marion, North Carolina, and their water is ethically sourced from spring and artesian wells that are fed from a natural aquifer located deep beneath the Blue Ridge Mountains. Greene Concepts continues to develop and market premium beverage brands designed to enhance the daily lives of consumers. Safe Harbor: This Press Release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a few uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the company's current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. A more extensive listing of risks and factors that may affect the company's business prospects and cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the reports and other documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission and OTC Markets, Inc. OTC Disclosure and News Service. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, because of new information, future events or otherwise. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6717/209837_be_strong_bewater.jpg To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6717/209837_be_water_6-pack_usa-proud.jpg CONTACT: Greene Concepts, Inc. Investor Relations IR@greeneconcepts.com SOURCE: Greene Concepts Inc. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/209837 SOURCE: Greene Concepts London, England, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Broad Arrow Auctions, a Hagerty (NYSE: HGTY) company, is delighted to announce it will present an exceptional 1963 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster for private sale at the prestigious and exclusive Savile Row Concours d'Elegance this 22-23 of May. Additional highlights of the display will also include selected petroliana and memorabilia lots that will be offered via Online Auction in July and October of 2024. The July Broad Arrow Online Auction will consist of a single-owner collection that features more than 200 lots of petroliana, all of which will be offered without reserve, while the Fall sale will be made of principally Formula One memorabilia. Karsten Le Blanc, Vice President of Broad Arrow Capital and Head of EMEA, states, "On behalf of my English and European colleagues, I am delighted to share our excitement in being a first-time sponsor of the Savile Row Concours d'Elegance. We are excited to present this exceptional Private Sales Mercedes-Benz for consideration alongside highlights from the upcoming Petroliana and memorabilia sales. For an entirely bespoke experience, we encourage those interested to stop by our space alongside The Huntsman for a compelling display curated with outstanding taste and superior craftsmanship." The 1963 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, offered at 1,200,000, is one of 26 final-model-year 300 SL Roadsters, and the 13th from the very last car built, is among only 210 late-production examples of the iconic Mercedes-Benz that is equipped with Dunlop disc brakes and an aluminum engine block. Originally dispatched to a marque distribution agency in the Netherlands, the car was initially finished in Light Blue (DB 334) over Burgundy leather (DB 202). Prior to joining the current owner's stable, chassis no. 003246 was the subject of a concours-quality restoration by Jurgen Kassen in Oerlinghausen, Germany to its current, period-correct Pearl Green (DB 213) exterior and green leather finishes. The monumental undertaking also saw the Roadster receive numerous mechanical upgrades and modern convenience features, including an improved cooling system and a diaphragm spring clutch, electric windows, Becker Mexico radio with GPS, air-conditioning and a highly coveted removable body-colour hard-top. Matt Coles, Petroliana and Memorabilia Specialist for Broad Arrow, states, "I am delighted to present this outstanding UK-based collection of Petroliana. Highlights range from very rare and special pre-war gas pumps to large-scale Michelin Bibendums. The auction will comprise approximately 200 lots and be hosted on the Broad Arrow Auctions website this July, please check the website in the coming weeks as all lots are posted for early bidding. Coming this Fall, we are thrilled to present an exciting collection of racing memorabilia including significant F1 helmets as a feature, further details will be announced in the coming weeks." Most of the recently announced new team members, including UK-based specialists Joe Twyman, Robert Glover, Harry Wassell, and Petroliana and Memorabilia specialist Matt Coles, will be onsite during the two-day event to answer any questions regarding the Private Sales Mercedes-Benz, the upcoming Petroliana auction this July, or consignment inquiries for the upcoming August Monterey Jet Center auction. Additional expertise will be represented by Karsten Le Blanc, Nick Barton and Omar Faroqui who will be on hand representing Broad Arrow Capital for any collector car finance queries. Next on the Broad Arrow auction calendar is the upcoming Monterey Jet Center auction, held in partnership with the Hagerty Motorlux event on Wednesday, 14 August, and Thursday, 15 August. In an exciting change for this year's event, the first day of the auction will occur concurrently with the party, creating a unique and dynamic environment for all those in attendance. Please visit the Broad Arrow websitefor additional information on the upcoming auction and to purchase Motorlux tickets directly, please visit the Motorlux websitedirectly. 1963 Mercedes-Benz Photos Courtesy of Drew Gibson, all memorabilia photos courtesy of Ian Skelton About Broad Arrow, a Hagerty Company - Broad Arrow, a Hagerty (NYSE: HGTY) company, is an advisor, market maker, and financier for car collectors with a commitment to integrity, trust, and innovation. Broad Arrow operates Broad Arrow Auctions, Broad Arrow Capital, and Broad Arrow Private Sales (formerly Collectors Garage) and is headquartered in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. For more information, please visit connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. About Hagerty, Inc.or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Press materials can be found at newsroom.hagerty.com. Forward-Looking Statements - This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements reflect our current intentions, expectations, or beliefs regarding the business. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and may be outside of our control. Some of the factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by our forward-looking statements include: (i) our ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the subject of this press release; (ii) our ability to compete effectively within our industry and attract and retain members; and (iii) the other risks and uncertainties listed in our Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on March 14, 2023. This press release should be read in conjunction with the information included in our other press releases, reports and other filings with the SEC. Understanding the information contained in those filings is important in order to fully understand our reported financial results and our business outlook for future periods. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise, except as required by law. Attachments Comedian and actor Tom Allen helps celebrate technology success Organisations and individuals from the technology industry have been recognised for their achievements at the Digital Revolution Awards. The awards, a not-for-profit initiative founded by Tenth Revolution Group, hosted its fourth annual event at London's Grosvenor House hotel. The evening celebrates those impacting and innovating across tech ecosystems including Microsoft, AWS, Google Cloud, and Salesforce. Sponsored by Microsoft and HSO, the awards were hosted by comedian and actor Tom Allen as a packed audience also helped raise over 10,000 for charity partners Teenage Cancer Trust and St Martin's School, Kenya. "It was an incredibly special evening as we got the chance to celebrate those who spend much of their time out of the spotlight," said Tenth Revolution Groups Chief Marketing Officer and Digital Revolution Awards Co-founder Kashif Naqshbandi. "Applauding those individuals and organisations who are truly making the tech industry a better place to live and work is vital, as hearing about their successes can only serve to push others on to achieve that same recognition." A range of winners took to the stage to collect their trophies and receive the acclaim of the crowd, including Conga, who won Digital Transformation Project of the Year, and The Travel Corporation, who scooped Diversity and Inclusion Employer of the Year. Brooke Edmonds, Head of People and Culture at The Travel Corporation added: "The team have done an awesome job of allowing everyone to bring their authentic selves to work, and our managers endorse that. All our employees are aware of our DEI efforts. It's a journey that isn't over for us, but this is definitely a nice stop on the way!" In the individual categories, Emma Wright walked away with the Outstanding Leader of the Year prize, with Akshata Sawant and Lewis Baybutt named joint winners of Rising Star of the Year. "There were so many fantastic names up there," said Akshata. "So it's really exciting. This is a humbling experience and super honourable." Winners from the show now take part in the Digital Revolution Awards' Global awards, where they go up against entrants from around the world in a 'best of the best' ceremony broadcast via the Digital Revolution Awards website on June 13th. Digital Revolution Awards 2024 UK Winners Excellence in Learning and Development Version 1 Diversity and Inclusion Employer of the Year The Travel Corporation Diversity Ally of the Year Tokeer Ahmed Outstanding Leader of the Year Emma Wright Tech for Good Make a Wish Outstanding Contribution to the Earth Blue Marine Foundation Outstanding Contribution to the AWS Community Liz Rice Outstanding Contribution to the Microsoft Community Prathy Kamasani and James Dales Digital Transformation Project of the Year Conga and Offploy Outstanding Contribution to the Google Cloud Community Teresa Wu Outstanding Contribution to the AWS Community Keir Bowden Best AWS Partner to Work For Credera UK Best Microsoft Partner to Work For HSO Best Google Cloud Partner to Work For Datasparq Best Salesforce Partner to Work For Hyphen8 Excellence in AI VRP Consulting Rising Star of the Year Akshata Sawant and Lewis Baybutt ABOUT THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION AWARDS The Digital Revolution Awards were founded by Tenth Revolution Group in an effort to showcase the exceptional work being done by both individuals and businesses across the technology industry. The awards commend those making a difference to the way we work, the way we live, and the way we build our future. For more information, visit: www.digitalrevolutionawards.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240521940848/en/ Contacts: Endurance Okafor E: e.okafor@tenthrevolution.com W: digitalrevolutionawards.com NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Qualcomm Doing business, The Qualcomm Way. Originally published in Qualcomm's 2023 Corporate Responsibility Report We believe that ethical conduct is a cultural imperative, and all employees are responsible for following the CoBC. Our commitment to purposeful innovation, passionate execution, collaborative community and unquestioned integrity underlies everything we do. Through more than three decades of innovation, we have continued to create technologies that revolutionize the way people live, work and connect. But it's how we make all this possible that defines us - that's The Qualcomm Way. Compliance with global anti-corruption laws also continues to be a top priority for the Company. To this end, our Global Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and our AntiCorruption Policy applies to the entire Company, including all employees, agents, consultants and representatives, wherever they are located. It is our policy to obey all laws, including those laws that regulate the Company's conduct in the marketing and selling of Company products, services and technologies. e strictly prohibit all bribes, corrupt payments, kickbacks and other forms of improper influence involving government officials or private individuals. We obtain that commitment of our third party contractors and service providers who may act as Qualcomm agents or intermediaries by contractual obligations relating to compliance with applicable anti-corruption laws and regulations. We also conduct risk-based due diligence for contractors and service providers who act as Qualcomm's agents or intermediaries with external parties. Our corporate compliance program (Program) - including policies, procedures, controls, risk assessments and training - is evaluated for efficacy by our Internal Audit function periodically. We also commission a third party expert Program assessment from time to time to help the Program mature in line with the risks of our business. We use the findings and recommendations from these assessments to stay apprised of best practices and pursue continuous improvements. Ethical conduct and decision-making are expected of all employees and are core elements of our performance assessment framework for leaders. Team managers and senior leaders are encouraged to create an environment where employees can feel free to raise ethical questions or concerns. They are also reminded to have purposeful conversations with their organizations around the importance of ethical conduct and decision-making, as we believe this is key to building trust as well as the long-term success of the Company. Training, education and employee outreach are essential to reinforce an ethical culture. In addition to mandatory Program and ethics training during the onboarding process for employees and temporary workers, we require the completion of a policy training and certification process every 1-2 years covering our CoBC and Anti-Corruption policies as well as the FCPA. These training requirements are mandatory for all our regular and temporary employees. In 2023, we issued companywide mandatory training on our CoBC to help employees recognize and understand how we build integrity into everything we do as a Company. Adhering to these policies is critical to maintaining our long-standing reputation for conducting business with the utmost integrity. To support our workforce's education and knowledge of our policies and provide easily accessible on-demand information whenever and wherever it is needed, in 2023, we introduced a micro-learning library covering commonly asked questions. It includes instructional short videos related to the FCPA, our Anti-Corruption policy and our Conflict-of-Interest policy. Topics covered through this repository include conflict situations and reporting, anti-corruption compliance related to event sponsorships, managing third parties and introductory training on compliance basics, among others. Beyond mandatory Company-wide training, employees who have externally facing roles periodically complete supplemental Anti-Corruption and Compliance training. In 2023, we offered a total of 29 sessions that were attended by more than 2,500 employees in externally facing business functions (Business Development, Government Affairs, Marketing, Sales and Ventures) and assurance partners (Finance, HR Talent Acquisition, Legal and Procurement). To gauge ethical culture and comfort in raising legal or ethical concerns, we include ethics-related questions in employee engagement surveys. The survey results are analyzed to identify opportunities for additional outreach, to better understand employee perceptions of Company culture and to raise awareness of the systems in place to investigate concerns and remediate risks. In the 2023 pulse survey, 81 percent of employees highlighted that they can freely raise ethical concerns without negative consequences. This represents a 5 percent increase from the previous year. We celebrated "We Love Compliance" Week for the fifth consecutive year. This initiative showcases the importance of exemplifying Company values, connecting with the Compliance team, recognizing compliance champions and being familiar with the Company's Program. It exists to highlight that compliance is everyone's responsibility. With the onsite return of most employees in 2023, we saw record engagement and participation since the inception of the Program. This year, this celebration of compliance and integrity included more live and onsite employee engagement events. We continued to consolidate and formalize our Ethics Liaison program with the goal of reinforcing and promoting a positive ethical culture in our operations across the globe. The Ethics Liaison program is composed of 18 representatives from various functions, business units and offices around the world who provide timely updates to the corporate compliance team on local business operations or emerging risks. They also serve as trusted peers to whom employees can reach out in their local office for guidance, decision support, and the application of compliance-related policies and program requirements. Our open-door culture is designed to empower employees and other stakeholders to voice any concerns they may have about our Company, without fear of retaliation. Concerns may be submitted anonymously (where permitted by law) through our Business Conduct Hotline, via phone or via email to other reporting groups, such as Management, HR, Legal and Compliance, and we strive to respond promptly and as appropriate. Ethics concerns are reviewed and investigated by a centralized cross-functional team composed of experienced Internal Audit, Risk and Compliance and Legal personnel. This team also reviews and approves case determinations and remedial action plans for substantiated incidents. Business Conduct Hotline data can be found in our ESG Performance Summary. Through resources like the Open-Door Portal, an internal webpage, employees have access to additional information and learning opportunities regarding our speak-up culture. We regularly update the resources in the portal to present concerns that were investigated to conclusion. The cases represent a small subset of the total internal ethics investigations that are conducted and are chosen because we believe they will be the most helpful to employees in learning about the types of challenges or perceptions that can arise when we do not align our conduct with Qualcomm's values. The goal is to inform and educate our community while also serving as examples of how our Company addresses concerns diligently and appropriately. Learn more about how Qualcomm is driving innovation, societal advancement and sustainability in the 2023 Corporate Responsibility Report View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Qualcomm on 3blmedia.com. Contact Info: Spokesperson: Qualcomm Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/qualcomm Email: info@3blmedia.com SOURCE: Qualcomm View the original press release on accesswire.com NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Carol Cone ON PURPOSE We are facing a tragedy of the commons - and have been for a while. At worst, businesses are taking advantage of the planet and society and aren't holding themselves fully responsible for the damage they are doing. When companies release excessive carbon into the air or keep wages low, the resulting environmental damage and societal burdens are paid for by the average citizen and the taxpayer. Christopher Marquis explores this reality in his new book, The Profiteers. He explains the systemic issues underlying today's most pressing global challenges, from climate change to inequality, shedding light on the ways in which businesses privatize gains while socializing costs. But at the heart of Marquis's work lies a call to action for leaders across sectors to embrace a new vision of business. The Profiteers serves not only as a wake-up call to the inherent flaws of our current system but provides a roadmap for a more sustainable and equitable future. We invited Christopher Marquis, Cambridge University professor and author of other books (including Mao and Markets: The Communist Roots of Chinese Enterprise and Better Business: How the B Corp Movement Is Remaking Capitalism), to discuss how The Profiteers exposes the hidden toll of environmental damage, low wages, and systemic discrimination, calling for a paradigm shift in business practices. Listen for insights on: The exploitation of the "the commons" by businesses How governance alignment can help corporate sustainability efforts succeed Examples of creative thinking that led to social and environmental innovation Listen to this and other episodes of Purpose 360 Podcast here. Purpose 360 Podcast is a masterclass in unlocking the potential of purpose to ignite business and social impact. Hosted by Carol Cone, CEO of Carol Cone ON PURPOSE, Purpose 360 illuminates the impact of purpose, from engaging employees and fostering deeper consumer loyalty to inspiring product innovation and increasing market share. Carol Cone ON PURPOSE (CCOP) is a pioneering social impact consultancy helping companies, brands, and nonprofits harness the power of purpose to advance their business and societal impact. CCOP's proven approach, developed over decades and hundreds of purpose assignments, meets clients at any point on their purpose journey to unlock opportunities to build reputation, inspire and engage employees, ignite organizational culture for innovation and growth, while supporting the greater good. View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Carol Cone ON PURPOSE on 3blmedia.com. Contact Info: Spokesperson: Carol Cone ON PURPOSE Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/carol-cone-purpose Email: info@3blmedia.com SOURCE: Carol Cone ON PURPOSE View the original press release on accesswire.com Portland, Oregon--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2024) - OPAD Consulting, a prominent organization in the human resources and organizational development field, recently celebrated 40 years in business. Harold Goldstein Since its founding in 1981, OPAD Consulting has been dedicated to helping organizations align their teams, boards, executives, and overall culture with their "Missions and Visions," enhancing their capacity to meet and exceed their goals. The team at OPAD Consulting provides customized solutions tailored to address unique organizational challenges, offering in-depth consultation services and the crafting of strategic plans to tackle these issues head-on. CEO Harold Goldstein said, "We've been at this for forty years now, working side by side with organizations to help them build the kind of places where success isn't just possible, but it's part of the culture. This milestone is a reminder of our progress and impact towards our goals." COO Lilo Alfaro also added that they plan to be even more committed to helping organizations flourish and succeed. She expressed, "We stay flexible and are continuously updating our strategies to align with the evolving needs of our clients." OPAD professionals concern themselves with their client's productivity, growth, and performance improvement. They offer a personalized approach to clients. It represents their dedication to the unique needs of each; they tailor strategies that are specifically designed for each situation. About OPAD Consulting: Founded in 1981, OPAD Consulting has established itself as a leader in the field of human resources and organizational development. The firm combines cutting-edge research with actionable strategies to assist a wide range of organizations in transforming challenges into opportunities for growth. With a focus on creating productive and positive workplace environments, OPAD Consulting is dedicated to enabling success for businesses and their employees alike. Contact Information: Location: 11744 SW Summerville Ave. Portland, Oregon 97219 T. 503.744.0708 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/opad-consulting Website: https://www.opadconsulting.co/ To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/208559 SOURCE: SMG Media Group The new ARC headband features non-toxic materials, promotes hair health and rejuvenation, and empowers you to have your best hair day . TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Hair is an integral part of confidence for American women. According to a survey conducted by InStyle, over 80 percent of women surveyed said they feel the most confident when their hair looks great. Stubborn gray roots, brittle ends from harsh treatments, and hair loss lead many women to feel not only discouraged and frustrated in the quality and health of their hair, but also helpless in finding a functional product that protects their hair and looks good. Thursday's successful pre-launch, which featured a collaboration with Aluram - a clean hair care brand - demonstrated that the ARC headband is finally here to offer a solution for the millions of women seeking hair confidence. The only headband on the market that promotes hair health sold out in just over an hour after its pre-launch last Thursday. The revolutionary headband, made by Wear-Arc, is the first hair product of its kind that combines functionality with aesthetics, sustainability with durability, and mitigates headband woes and hair insecurities. Sabrina Storozuk, serial entrepreneur, founder of Wear-Arc, and advocate for women's health, explains the struggles she faced while trying to find a headband that supported her hair health, had a fit that was secure yet comfortable, and still met her high standards for sophistication. After facing hair health decline and high costs of constant treatments, Storozuk realized her struggle wasn't hers alone. Wear-Arc bridges the gap by offering a product that supports lasting hair health and rejuvenation while offering a stylish solution for everyday wear. "Just as every woman is unique, so is every hair journey," says Storozuk, "To us, these stories are essential; they inspire our commitment to create solutions that address a wide spectrum of hair challenges. It's not just about hair, it's about empowering every woman to face her hair challenge with confidence, knowing the ARC headband is with her every step of the way." Sabrina Storozuk , founder of Wear-Arc, women's health advocate, tech entrepreneur. Hair insecurities that range from a bad hair day to postpartum hair loss or stress shedding leave women across the world looking for hair care solutions that can protect and rejuvenate their hair. 30 million women in the United States alone suffer from alopecia, a form of baldness where partial or complete absence of hair occurs in areas where hair normally grows. For women, alopecia generally appears around the temples and outer parts of the forehead, giving the effect of a receding hairline. The ARC headband, with full coverage and expandability, covers and protects the hairline affected by alopecia. The ARC headband is not just a remedy for hair loss, it is also a tool to cover graying roots between hair treatments and a way to limit exposure to toxins. Hair coloring is a $1.82 billion industry maintained by women across the US who dye their hair not just as a form of expression, but as a way to cover graying hairs. In fact, over 50 percent of American women dye their hair. The ARC headband is leading the movement for health positive hair accessories. Hair treatments like hair dye, however, are both costly and time consuming to maintain. Consistent coloring also comes with harsh side effects such as hair loss, exposure to toxins, and hair damage, according to the National Institute of Health . The ARC headband offers a simple yet stylish solution that allows women to dye their hair less frequently by offering them a hair accessory that not only covers gray roots between dyes, but reverses hair damage by allowing roots to recover and heal. "There is a reason that many doctors and practitioners recommend that women don't dye their hair during pregnancy," says Melissa Dean , a midwife and holistic health practitioner, "most hair dyes are filled with synthetic chemicals and other ingredients that not only damage your hair, but can impact hormones and toxin levels within the body." In a study published in 2004 by the Environmental Working Group , cord blood from infants identified over 200 industrial pollutants and chemicals, "this underscores the need for mothers to be especially aware of their exposure during their child bearing years," explains Dean . "These pollutants linger in the mother's body and then are passed on to her developing infant when she conceives." For anybody, pregnant or other, looking to limit exposures to toxins while also maintaining an elegant, healthy appearance, the ARC headband is the solution. In addition to supporting hair health by limiting the need for consistent color treatments, the ARC headband itself promotes hair rejuvenation. Knit Resort , a women owned knitwear development company based in New York City, embraced the challenge to develop an eco-friendly, no-slip, perfect fit, headband that accentuates a woman's features while providing controlled concealment for areas of concern. Featuring different colors and sizes, Wear-Arc offers the most versatile headband on the market. "To set a new and higher standard for headbands we were forced to push through countless prototypes and manufacturers," explains Storozuk, "Manufacturer after manufacturer would tell us that they've produced millions of headbands...but after trying without success to produce the function and fit were were looking for...we would be forced to start from scratch." Despite the constant setbacks, finding Knit Resort ended up being a saving grace for Wear-Arc, "From start to finish they were so different from every other manufacturer we had worked with," Storozuk recalls. "Their experience, problem-solving techniques and overall superior skill set finally made our vision into a reality and we are so grateful." The headband is made with 67 percent organic cotton sourced from Italy and 33 percent premium nylon ( Sensil BioCare ), a sustainable nylon that helps fibers breakdown in a way that prevents waste and reduces toxic impact. The high tech design of the headband not only supports hair health and corrects damaged roots, but it is uniquely able to offer customized coverage for each user due to its expand-fit design. "The power of your wardrobe is held in its functionality; to boost your confidence, to support you on your lifestyle and career goals, and to help you feel your best," explains fashion stylist Abby Young , "Not only is the ARC headband an easy to style accessory, it's also a functional beauty tool for people with a variety of hair care needs." Functional, flattering, and made-for-all-occasions, the ARC headband offers unparalleled solutions for all hair insecurities. Promoting functional confidence, the ARC headband is leading the hair health revolution. As Storozuk puts it, "We are redefining an accessory. This is not a frivolous or seasonal product, this is your daily ally, this is your companion, this is your wing-women helping you look and feel your best all-day, in seconds." Wear-Arc is more than a brand; it's a community saying, 'ladies, this one is for us." CONTACT: Name: Sabrina Storozuk Email: sabrina@wear-arc.com SOURCE: The Pitch Club View the original press release on accesswire.com Trees are essential to the long-term sustainability of our business and the partners who work with us to take steps to do the right thing for our planet. Angela Tejada-Chavez, Matt Silveira and Molly Haragan NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Angela Tejada-Chavez, Head of Sustainable Sourcing, Cocoa; Molly Haragan, Sr. Manager, Responsible Sourcing; Matt Silveira, Manager, Environmental Sustainability Key Takeaways: In 2023, Hershey expanded its partnership with Earthworm Foundation and Airbus to help us achieve No-Deforestation Verification across our priority ingredients and materials, supported by Starling, a satellite monitoring solution. Our updated Deforestation and Conversion-Free Policy accelerates our timing to achieve our commitment by December 31, 2025 and serves as a critical component to delivering on our ambition to reduce value chain emissions. Hershey is invested in conserving standing forests that are home to endangered plant and animal species in Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Indonesia and working through tree-planting partnerships as part of our agroforestry and reforestation efforts. At Hershey, we have always said that doing good by the planet is not only doing the right thing - it's good business. That statement is as true today as it was when our founder, Milton Hershey first said, "There is not a person alive who should not plant a tree - not for the shade that you'll enjoy, but for those who are coming after." Hershey continues to invest in healthy forests and natural ecosystems. We understand the critical role of trees in contributing to climate change resiliency, farm resiliency, carbon reduction, and biodiversity as well as economic opportunities for forest-dependent families and communities. Expanded No Deforestation Monitoring & Verification Partnership Since 2020, Hershey has worked with Starling, a satellite monitoring solution co-developed by Earthworm Foundation ("Earthworm") and Airbus, to monitor and verify that our palm oil supply chain is deforestation-free. In 2023, we expanded this partnership to help us achieve No-Deforestation Verification across several of the priority ingredients and materials we source, supported by the use of Starling. Starling allows us to see where deforestation occurs in our supply chain in near real-time and enables us to take action with supply chain partners and local stakeholders to manage potential deforestation alerts. We can then verify if the ingredient or material is not linked to deforestation or if remedial actions may be required. This partnership enables Hershey to take a holistic, multi-ingredient and material view to address the agricultural supply chains that are identified as most at risk for driving deforestation, degradation, and conversion. Accelerated Deforestation and Conversion-Free Commitment In 2023, Hershey accelerated its timing to achieve a deforestation and conversion-free supply chain for the cocoa, palm oil, pulp and paper (packaging), and direct soy we source by December 31, 2025 (previously 2030). Our new Deforestation and Conversion-Free Policy is critical to delivering on our ambition to reduce value chain emissions and is aligned with requirements of the Science Based Targets initiative's new Forest, Land and Agriculture Guidance (FLAG). With more than two-thirds of Hershey's value chain emissions arising from agricultural sources, eliminating deforestation and land-use change (verified through satellite monitoring) and investing in agroforestry and reforestation projects are key to achieving our goal of 25% absolute reduction in Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 (against a 2018 baseline). Harnessing the Power of Trees - Biodiversity Protection, Forest Conservation & Forest Restoration Hershey also invests in protecting and conserving the standing forests neighboring our physical supply chain. We are supporting multi-year forest protection activities in intact forest areas that are home to endangered plant and animal species in Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Indonesia. Kakum National Park : Since 2018, Hershey has monitored bird biodiversity in the Kakum Conservation Area, one of the most biologically rich forests in Ghana. Building on these efforts, in 2023, we worked with partners to design a program to protect both the biodiversity of this important habitat and the financial well-being of the people who live and farm nearby. : Since 2018, Hershey has monitored bird biodiversity in the Kakum Conservation Area, one of the most biologically rich forests in Ghana. Building on these efforts, in 2023, we worked with partners to design a program to protect both the biodiversity of this important habitat and the financial well-being of the people who live and farm nearby. Mabi-Yaya Nature Reserve : In 2023, Hershey partnered with the Foundation for Parks and Reserves of Cote d'Ivoire on conservation efforts carried out by the Ivorian Office of Parks and Reserves in the Mabi-Yaya Nature Reserve. The partnership includes restoring forests on nearly 1,000 hectares of degraded lands within the Reserve's boundaries, a mapping exercise of the Reserve's flora and fauna, which includes a newly discovered population of chimpanzees, and equipping and training the Reserve's rangers as they conduct anti-poaching and anti-encroachment activities. : In 2023, Hershey partnered with the Foundation for Parks and Reserves of Cote d'Ivoire on conservation efforts carried out by the in the Mabi-Yaya Nature Reserve. The partnership includes restoring forests on nearly 1,000 hectares of degraded lands within the Reserve's boundaries, a mapping exercise of the Reserve's flora and fauna, which includes a newly discovered population of chimpanzees, and equipping and training the Reserve's rangers as they conduct anti-poaching and anti-encroachment activities. Lobu Tayas Village Forest: Started in 2024, Hershey's investment, enabled by the Forest Conservation Fund, empowers the people of Lobu Tayas to protect their local forest. The local community is currently securing land rights for over 12,000 hectares of forest in North Sumatra Province, Indonesia. Hershey's funding will help with conservation activities including conducting biodiversity surveys, developing biodiversity management plans, and equipping patrol teams as they conduct anti-poaching and anti-encroachment activities. Hershey is also proud of our tree-planting partnerships as part of our investment in agroforestry and reforestation efforts. Arbor Day Foundation : Since 2017, Hershey's partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation has restored forest habitats across the U.S., planting more than one million trees together, restoring more than 2,300 acres of forest. In 2023, our collaboration extended internationally to include the planting of 10,000 trees along the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico, reversing some of the destruction of monarch butterfly nesting sites by logging that threatens the species. : Since 2017, Hershey's partnership with the has restored forest habitats across the U.S., planting more than one million trees together, restoring more than 2,300 acres of forest. In 2023, our collaboration extended internationally to include the planting of 10,000 trees along the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico, reversing some of the destruction of monarch butterfly nesting sites by logging that threatens the species. PUR : Agroforestry is a key climate adaptation strategy cocoa-growing communities can use to mitigate climate risks of extreme heat and water stress. Hershey, PUR and select cocoa-growing cooperatives are partnering to plant 1.2 million trees by the end of 2028 within our supply chain in Cote d'Ivoire with implementation starting this year. : Agroforestry is a key climate adaptation strategy cocoa-growing communities can use to mitigate climate risks of extreme heat and water stress. Hershey, and select cocoa-growing cooperatives are partnering to plant 1.2 million trees by the end of 2028 within our supply chain in Cote d'Ivoire with implementation starting this year. Sustainable Dairy PA: Since 2021, Hershey, Land O'Lakes and the Alliance for Chesapeake Bay have partnered to plant 9,260 trees and create 45 acres of riparian forest habitats on our supplying dairy farms in Pennsylvania. This serves to mitigate and reduce GHG emissions and protects the Chesapeake Bay from nutrient pollution and water quality impacts. Additional details on our progress and investments in forest conservation, tree planting and agroforestry work are included in our ESG Report. From Commitments to Action We proudly contribute to combatting supply chain-driven deforestation and reducing its impact on farming landscapes. We recognize the work required ahead to ensure the long-term sustainability of our business and to do the right thing for our shared planet. View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from The Hershey Company on 3blmedia.com. Contact Info: Spokesperson: The Hershey Company Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/hershey-company Email: info@3blmedia.com SOURCE: The Hershey Company View the original press release on accesswire.com Secures First Pre-Sales for New Adventure Comedy with France Televisions and Super RTL Regulatory News: Academy Award-nominated French animation studio Xilam Animation (Paris:XIL) has greenlit its brand new adventure comedy Submarine Jim, following the signing of its first pre-sales for the series with European broadcasters France Televisions (France) and Super RTL (Germany). Xilam Animation is now commencing production on the 52 x 11' 2D animation, which targets kids aged 6-9 years old and is set to be delivered by Q2 2026. Submarine Jim, created by Frederic Martin the acclaimed director behind Xilam's hit preschool series Oggy Oggy delves into the tale of a naive, young dolphin named Jim. Tasked with steering the world's first-ever submarine on wheels, Jim leads a motley crew of underwater friends on a whirlwind journey across land and sea. Their water-filled tube has left the ocean to seek out the pristine waters of 'Fishland'Luckily, with no set route in sight, their journey promises to be a long and winding one. Along the way, as they embark on their mission and navigate plenty of twists, Jim will be teared down between his captain responsibilities and fun times with his best friends: Bianca, the daring orca and the ever-reliable ship steward, Cyril the anchovy. Together, they navigate the choppy waters of friendship and self-discovery. Marc du Pontavice, Chairman and CEO at Xilam Animation said: "We're excited to be working with the highly talented Fred Martin once again he has a remarkable track record in crafting comedy for global audiences, and we all instantly loved his concept for Submarine Jim. It's a pure, laugh-out-loud funny series that builds on our long-standing experience in the comedy space, and we know it will appeal to kids and families all over the world. We're also thrilled to have the trust of our long-term partners France Televisions and Super RTL and for them to be joining us on this new adventure which will bring unforgettable experiences and surprises galore for Jim and audiences alike" About Xilam A major player in animation, Xilam is an integrated studio founded in 1999 that creates, produces and distributes original programmes in more than 190 countries for both children and adult audiences. Xilam content is broadcast on television, and is also available on SVoD platforms including Netflix, Disney+, Amazon and Universal+ and AVoD streaming platforms including YouTube and Facebook. With its creativity and capacity for innovation recognised worldwide, its unique expertise in CGI, as well as editorial and commercial expertise at the cutting edge of its industry, Xilam is positioned as a key player of the market. Each year, Xilam builds real successes and capitalises on its powerful historical brands including Oggy and the Cockroaches, Zig Sharko and Chicky, as well as new properties such as Oggy Oggy for a preschool audience, Mr Magoo and Karate Sheep, and Academy Award nominated adult feature film I Lost My Body. Xilam's expanding and strong catalogue now consists of over 2,800 episodes and three feature films. Xilam employs more than 500 individuals, including 400 artists, across its studios in Paris, Angouleme in France and Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam. Xilam was ranked France's leading animation studio for the 2018-2022 period in a report by the French national centre for cinema and animation (CNC). Xilam is listed on Euronext Paris Compartment C PEA SRD long Eligibility. ISIN: FR0004034072, Symbol: XIL For more information, visit www.xilam.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240521416645/en/ Contacts: Marc du Pontavice Chairman and CEO Cecile Haimet CFO Phone: +33 1 40 18 72 00 The DDA Group xilam@ddapr.com Charlotte Newcombe Phone +44 7726 901 129 Image Sept Agency xilam@image7.fr Karine Allouis (Media Relations) Phone +33 1 53 70 74 81 Laurent Poinsot (Investor Relations) Phone +33 1 53 70 74 77 Finsbury Growth & Income Trust Plc - Transaction in Own Shares PR Newswire LONDON, United Kingdom, May 21 For immediate release 21 May 2024 FINSBURY GROWTH & INCOME TRUST PLC (the "Company") MARKET PURCHASE OF COMPANY'S OWN SHARES The Company announce that it has today purchased 133,217 of its own shares ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 849.29 pence per Ordinary Share. Such shares will be held in treasury by the Company. The transaction was made pursuant to the authority granted at the Annual General Meeting of the Company held on 23 January 2024. Following this transaction, the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury is 42,083,584; the total number of Ordinary Shares that the Company has in issue, less the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury following such purchase, and therefore, the total number of voting rights in the Company is 182,907,719. The figure of 182,907,719 may be used by shareholders as the denominator for calculations of interests in the Company's voting rights in accordance with the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules. For and on behalf of Frostrow Capital LLP Company Secretary For further information, please contact: Victoria Hale Frostrow Capital LLP Tel: 020 3 170 8732 "Indigenous Partnership Principles" - developed with Indigenous Peoples and local communities - to inform consent, collaboration and recognition COPENHAGEN, Denmark, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at the 2024 Global Fashion Summit, Conservation International, alongside Textile Exchange, released a first-of-its-kind set of guidelines for fashion, apparel, and textile companies that are looking to partner with Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Editors, please note: additional quotes can be found at the bottom of this release. The release is available in French, Portuguese and Spanish here. The Indigenous Partnership Principles were developed in partnership between Conservation International and Textile Exchange with direct input and leadership from Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The principles include 12 criteria to guide companies to better center Indigenous Peoples and local communities' rights and perspectives across their product development initiatives and supply chains. Worldwide, there are over 370 million Indigenous Peoples across 70 countries and these communities protect an estimated 80% of the world's intact biodiversity. Yet recent research from Textile Exchange revealed that only 5% of 252 fashion companies surveyed said they were consulting Indigenous Peoples on their company's nature and biodiversity strategies. The creation and production of fashion and textiles impacts Indigenous Peoples and local communities, affecting their culture, land and cosmology. At the same time, these communities and their traditional knowledge systems are often undervalued and excluded from industry benefits. The guidelines aim to represent the perspectives of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. To achieve that, Conservation International worked with 33 representative Indigenous Peoples and local community stakeholders from around the world whose experiences with the fashion, apparel, and textile industries spanned the value chain-from sourcing and design to manufacturing and waste. "It's critical to recognize that Indigenous Peoples have a rich and robust fashion community, and have knowledge, practices, and designs that have been developed and passed down for millennia," said Quinn Manson Buchwald, director of the Indigenous and Traditional Peoples Program at Conservation International, who co-led the development of the Indigenous Partnership Principles. "Not only have these nations and communities historically been excluded from ventures that impact their lives and design heritage, but the fashion industry can be notorious for extractive methods of materials procurement that do lasting damage to the ecosystems many Indigenous Peoples and local communities call home. "Additionally, well-intended conservation strategies are often created without input from Indigenous Peoples and local communities, which risks violating Indigenous land rights and pushing local communities off the land that defines their identity and provides their livelihoods," said Buchwald, who is himself a citizen of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana and the Manitoba Metis Federation. "Such displacement often creates vulnerability and can increase exploitation." The work of Indigenous Peoples is woven throughout industry supply chains - they play a vital role in ensuring sustainable resource use, protecting ecosystems from overuse and helping to limit the impacts of waste and pollution. Effective partnerships with Indigenous Peoples and local communities - considered to be among nature's best stewards - can guide fashion, apparel and textile companies toward better-informed nature and biodiversity strategies that respect Indigenous and local rights, culture and intellectual property. The dozen Principles aim to address this wide range of concerns and potential threats from the fashion industry on behalf of their Indigenous Peoples and local community partners, and contain guidance such as: Understand and reduce the environmental and social impact of your practices; Obtain consent; Respect Indigenous and local design; and Invest in the future of the craft and industry of Indigenous Peoples and local communities "Now that the fashion sector has begun to better understand and address its outsized impact on the environment, it's a natural next step to look ourselves in the - heavily male-led, most often white - face and think about better inclusion industry-wide," said Virginia Borcherdt, senior director of sustainable fashion at Conservation International and co-lead of the Indigenous Partnership Principles. "It's the right thing to do: establishing respect for and recognition of all our stakeholders helps these companies inclusively serve consumers as well as protect people and the planet." The Indigenous Partnership Principles, for the Fashion, Apparel and Textile Industries will be formally introduced during the panel "Pathways to Indigenous Partnership" at the 2024 Global Fashion Summit. QUOTE BANK Dayana Molina, Indigenous Designer and Activist at NALIMO and consultant for the development of the Indigenous Partnership Principles, said (in her native Portuguese and translated into English): "E imprescindivel repensarmos os modelos atuais da moda. O impacto tradicional da moda, e muito danoso. O futuro do planeta, depende de todos nos. E por isso e tao importante refletirmos sobre todas atuacoes e esferas sociais; possibilitando futuras parcerias com populacoes indigenas; poluindo menos e gerando mais solucoes. Nao existe a possibilidade de tratar nenhum assunto sobre a vida no planeta terra, sem a lente da sustentabilidade." "It is essential that we rethink current fashion practices. The traditional impact of fashion is very harmful. The future of the planet depends on all of us. That's why it's so important to reflect on all actions and social spheres; to enable future partnerships with indigenous populations; to pollute less and generate more solutions. It is impossible to address any issue related to life on planet Earth without the lens of sustainability." Beth Jensen, Senior Director of Climate and Nature Impact at Textile Exchange, said: "The fashion, textile and apparel industry is just beginning to think about and truly understand the impact that it has on nature and biodiversity. Our hope is that this work will support the inclusion of indigenous and local community voices from the beginning of any strategic planning and business integration activities. Textile Exchange is so pleased to partner with Conservation International to take the next step of providing some specific guidance to the industry in this area, ensuring that it is centered in and led by the Indigenous Peoples and local communities themselves." About Conservation International: Conservation International protects nature for the benefit of humanity. Through science, policy, fieldwork and finance, we spotlight and secure the most important places in nature for the climate, for biodiversity and for people. With offices in 30 countries and projects in more than 100 countries, Conservation International partners with governments, companies, civil society, Indigenous peoples and local communities to help people and nature thrive together. Go to Conservation.org for more, and follow our work on Conservation News, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. About Textile Exchange: Textile Exchange is a global non-profit driving beneficial impact on climate and nature across the fashion, apparel and textile industry. It guides a growing community of brands, manufacturers, and farmers towards more purposeful production from the very start of the supply chain. Its goal is to help the industry to achieve a 45% reduction in the emissions that come from producing fibers and raw materials by 2030. To get there, it is keeping its focus holistic and interconnected, accelerating the adoption of practices that improve the state of our water, soil health, and biodiversity too. For real change to happen, everyone needs a clear path to beneficial impact. That's why Textile Exchange believes that approachable, step-by-step instruction paired with collective action can change the system to make preferred materials and fibers an accessible default, mobilizing leaders through attainable strategies, proven solutions and a driven community. At Textile Exchange, materials matter. To learn more, visit textileexchange.org. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1691462/Conservation_International__Logo.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2418218/Textile_Exchange_Logo.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2418219/Conservation_International_Textiles.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/conservation-international-releases-guide-for-fashion-industry-how-to-build-stronger-respectful-partnerships-with-indigenous-peoples-and-local-communities-302151692.html Maropost, the commerce software suite built for fast-growing commerce brands, announces two significant appointments to its senior leadership team: Tim Schulz joins as VP of Product, Commerce Cloud, and Alessandra "Alex" Jacques steps in as VP of Product, Marketing Cloud. "I founded Maropost to disrupt a crowded market, and with Tim and Alex on board, we are aggressively pursuing that vision," said Maropost Chairman and CEO Ross Andrew Paquette. "We're building a single platform that puts fast-growing retailers in control of their customer journeys, from hyper-personalized marketing to in-store and online purchases through exceptional service. "Brands will use Maropost to create and manage product catalogs, centrally design and deploy promotions across all their channels, build engaging storefronts, and deliver personalized shopping experiences from one data set, in one nerve center." Paquette is confident Maropost will achieve this mission. "We're not just another player in the market; we're here to redefine it. Watch closely: We're about to show what's possible when ingenuity meets determination." About the New Appointees Alex Jacques brings deep product management expertise from her roles at Terminus and Cheetah Digital. A certified CSM and CSPO, she excels at leading highly functional scrum teams, managing multiple platforms, and driving customer experience strategies. Her marketing technology prowess will shape the future of Marketing Cloud. Tim Schulz is a seasoned product and technology leader with a track record of delivering outstanding results. As Head of Product at Magento and VTEX, he built products that enabled mid-market and enterprise retailers to scale their businesses globally and respond to shifts in the industry. At BigCommerce, he led Product Engineering and grew revenue to over $100 million ARR in 24 months while launching strategic partnerships with top tech companies, including Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Alibaba. Tim was also a top 5% performer at Google, where he led global platform partnerships for Google Shopping and drove 40 full-cycle enterprise deals across product lines. At Maropost, Tim will direct the development of future commerce products. "We're thrilled to welcome Alex and Tim to the Maropost team," said Sean Brady, COO and President of Maropost. "Their extensive product expertise, proven leadership, and passion for delivering exceptional customer experiences will help us realize our vision of a unified platform that helps them grow, scale, and drive real value from their marketing, commerce, and service efforts." About Maropost Only Maropost unites the commerce tools and insights growing brands need to engage customers and scale their business. Built on unified customer data and an enterprise-grade infrastructure, Maropost offers a complete, connected suite of marketing, merchandising and search, customer service, ecommerce, and retail solutions. Since its founding in 2011, Maropost has made multiple appearances on Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 list and G2's leaderboard. A global company, Maropost proudly serves 5,000+ leading commerce brands across North America, Australia, and Europe, including Victoria Beckham, Sandro Paris, Untuckit, Scott Sports, James Perse, and Fujifilm. Learn more at www.maropost.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240521528910/en/ Contacts: Rob Wade (888) 438-3152 press@maropost.com As the final stage of negotiations of the World Health Organization (WHO) Pandemic Agreement nears conclusion, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation voices major concerns about the latest Proposal for the Agreement. Much has changed since March 30, 2021, when during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders from Europe and other developed countries held hands while touting commitments for an agreement guided by "solidarity, fairness, transparency, inclusivity, and equity." The mood has since soured, with many of the world's leading economies now siding to protect the greedy corporate interests of pharmaceutical companies. Equity, which was once described as the heart of the proposed agreement, runs the risk of becoming nothing more than a cliche, or worse still a punchline. Despite the agreement's stated objective of preventing, preparing, and responding to pandemics while being guided by equity, at least some countries don't seem to be serious about turning this into a reality. Neither promises, charity, nor voluntary obligations were sufficient to prevent or address the human misery caused by global health inequity during COVID-19 and other global health emergencies, and we don't expect them to start working miracles now. This is why the signing of any pandemic agreement must be grounded in clear commitments and binding obligations to operationalize equity. The Pandemic Access and Benefit Sharing System (PABS), under Article 12 of the pandemic agreement, is a major way of addressing global health inequity. During the pandemic, low and middle income countries (LMICs) were "forced to be part of an unequal fight with major powers," wherein competition for vital pandemic-related health products, including protective equipment, reagents, diagnostics, life-saving treatment, and even oxygen, exacerbated global health inequities and hindered an effective global response to the crisis. "At all stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, developing countries struggled to obtain equitable access to all kinds of pandemic-related health products. First there were shortages of masks, diagnostics, ventilators, and oxygen, then vaccines, and later, to effective therapeutics," said Dr. Jorge Saavedra, Executive Director of the AHF Global Public Health Institute. "All the meanwhile, high-income countries were able to acquire and retain much of the world's supply, while the majority of the world waited in the back of the line." Under PABS, parties are required to rapidly share biological materials and genetic sequence data, which are critical for the timely development of diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics. Participation in this system requires that participants agree to share a certain percentage of pandemic-related health products to ensure they are equitably distributed, addressing the urgent needs of all nations and safeguarding global health security. Currently, fierce debate between high-income countries and the rest of the world over Article 12 provisions has resulted in an "amalgamation of text and brackets within brackets," which has only worsened as negotiations near completion. The current best-case scenario in the most recenttext will require that 20% (10% as a donation and 10% at non-profit prices) of pandemic-related health products be "made available for use on the basis of public health risk and need. This is grossly insufficient because it leaves 80% of critical vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics inaccessible to LMICs which comprise approximately 85% of the world's population. The world-leading scientific journal, The Lancet, has described this proposal as "shameful, unjust and inequitable." While we are encouraged by recent proposals in Article 12, which would allow for the advanced release of pandemic-related health products before a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) is declared, and provisions on the promotion of specific benefit sharing modalities to address prevention and preparedness in addition to emergencies, we have serious doubts whether these measures will ever be voted on in light of high-income countries' competing interests. "AHF was among the first organizations to promote and publish a proposal for a new global public health convention, but the current proposal for the pandemic agreement could do more harm than good by enshrining inequity. As such, we consider that instrument as immoral, and we call on member states to reject this agreement unless meaningful binding provisions are added to guarantee equity," said AHF President Michael Weinstein. AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 2 million clients in 46 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240521048520/en/ Contacts: Ged Kenslea, Senior Director, Communications, AHF +1 323 308 1833 work +1.323.791.5526 mobile gedk@aidshealth.org Denys Nazarov, Director of Global Policy Communications, AHF +1.323.308.1829 denys.nazarov@ahf.org NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Embracing the inspire inclusion theme of International Women's Day 2024, several sites across our global network have spent the week celebrating the event locally: In Peterborough, U.K., individual employees received personalized recognition for their accomplishments and contributions to their team. In Valencia, Spain, female and male colleagues alike donned a IWD edition of a traditional Spanish scarf to show solidarity with one another. In the Middle East, plants hosted round-table discussions focused on improving the female experience in the workforce. In Kechnec, Slovakia and across other locations, employees gathered to watch our internal IWD webinars, focused on various topics aimed to empower women. These activities represent just a few of the ways our teams are honoring the women within Crown. We are thrilled to see such positive action around IWD and are hopeful we can carry this momentum forward throughout this year and beyond. About Crown Holdings, Inc. Crown Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is a leading global supplier of rigid packaging products to consumer marketing companies, as well as transit and protective packaging products, equipment and services to a broad range of end markets. World headquarters are located in Tampa, Florida. For more information, visit www.crowncork.com. View original content here. View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Crown Holdings, Inc. on 3blmedia.com. Contact Info: Spokesperson: Crown Holdings, Inc. Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/crown-holdings-inc Email: info@3blmedia.com SOURCE: Crown Holdings, Inc. View the original press release on accesswire.com Asymchem Laboratories (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. (Stock Code 002821.SZ/6821.HK) announced today that it will operate the former Pfizer U.K. small molecule API pilot plant and part of the development laboratories through a new lease agreement between Asymchem and Discovery Park, establishing Asymchem's first manufacturing footprint in Europe. Asymchem will continue to operate the site in Sandwich, Kent, as a clinical small molecule development and manufacturing facility to meet global client demands for pharma services and supply. The development laboratories are expected to begin operation in June 2024, followed by the API pilot plant in August. The site is expected to employ approximately 100 individuals by the end of 2024, including many staff previously employed by Pfizer. Planned additions for the site include capabilities for the manufacture of peptides and oligonucleotides, as well as sustainability capabilities utilizing continuous flow and biocatalysis. "We are excited to become a part of the European pharma manufacturing community," said Chairman and CEO of Asymchem Group, Dr. Hao Hong. "Meeting the needs of our clients in bringing manufacturing into the Western market will continue to be part of our long-term strategy to meet overall global business demands." Mayer Schreiber, CEO of Discovery Park, said: "We are delighted to welcome Asymchem to Discovery Park this summer. The organisation has selected Discovery Park as their European base and home to their first manufacturing facility in Europe, bringing new jobs and safeguarding scientific talent. Asymchem joins a burgeoning community of over 160 companies in a designated Life Sciences Opportunity Zone, representing an incredible talent pool which contributes significantly to the U.K. life sciences economy." About Asymchem Asymchem is a global technology-driven contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) providing services to the pharmaceutical industry. Founded in 1997, Asymchem employs over 9300 personnel world-wide, with R&D and manufacturing operations in China and the U.S. Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements that are, by their nature, subject to significant risks and uncertainties. The words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend" and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, are intended to identify certain of such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend to update these forward-looking statements regularly. These forward-looking statements are based on the existing beliefs, assumptions, expectations, estimates, projections, and understandings of the management of the Company with respect to future events at the time these statements are made. These statements are not a guarantee of future developments and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, some of which are beyond the Company's control and are difficult to predict. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from information contained in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including, without limitation, future changes or developments in our business, the Company's competitive environment and political, economic, legal and social conditions. The Company, its directors and the employees assume (a) no obligation to correct or update the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement; and (b) no liability in the event that any of the forward-looking statements does not materialize or turn out to be incorrect. About Discovery Park Discovery Park is a thriving UK life science community for visionary entrepreneurs and leaders. Within easy reach of London, Discovery Park spearheads Kent's flourishing science and technology cluster. Discovery Park offers state-of-the-art labs, modern offices and manufacturing facilities, unrivalled flexibility and comprehensive support including access to finance and a strong local talent pool. Discovery Park has been a major centre for life science for nearly 70 years and is home to 160+ companies across a growing tenant community of dynamic start-ups through to global corporations. This includes Algaecytes, Canterbury Christ Church University, Concept Life Sciences, eXroid, Genea Biomedx, LGC, Pfizer, Psyros Diagnostics, Salvensis, Viatris, VisusNano and Wren Healthcare. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240521088343/en/ Contacts: Jake Knorr Senior Director of Marketing jakeknorr@asymchem.com Picture it: Houston, June 13, a day of activities, workshops and networking. NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Meet Sheriee... Have you ever wondered what a typical day in the life is like at the Points of Light Conference? Meet our (fictional) friend, Sheriee Steinbach, a corporate social impact manager at a Fortune 1000 company. This is what a full day of conference could look like for a CSR leader. Sheriee is diving into her very first Points of Light Conference. It's already been an action-packed two days since kicking things off Tuesday evening followed by a full day of learning and networking on Wednesday all the way through the Food Truck Festival. With a spring in her step, she starts Thursday morning with a large iced coffee to give her the energy she needs for a full day of education and inspiration. She takes a walk to Civic Park and participates briefly in the service project before making her way to the Civic Talk: Trusted AI for Good. She's started using AI to support her volunteer recruitment materials but wants to learn more about its potential for amplifying civic action. Next, she heads off to her first workshop of the day, Corporate Volunteer - Building Your Employee Engagement Roadmap, on connecting volunteer leadership with professional development, which she knows will have takeaways to share with her HR leaders. Afterward, Sheriee meets up with her colleagues who attended different workshops to maximize their time on-site. They walk together to the Business Leader Luncheon to hear from fellow corporate social impact leaders on driving people-powered change through employee engagement activities. She leaves the room invigorated and ready for the afternoon. Sheriee wraps up learning for the day in a late afternoon workshop called Building Transformational Mentorship Programs: Women in the Workforce. Her ERG counterpart is always looking for new ways and new partnerships that will drive increased access to careers and professional opportunities for underrepresented groups. Bringing these insights back will help deepen their partnership. After attending the Service as an Act of Faith panel and dinner hosted by Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston, she heads back to her hotel room for a good night's rest. She's taken copious notes over the past two days and is excited to share them with her team. She knows the last day will be just as rewarding and can't wait to get back to the office with actionable ideas and a wealth of new contacts. Join Sheriee and Others Like You The Points of Light Conference offers attendees 2.5 days of programming, 70+ workshops led by industry experts and a chance to network with over 1,000 attendees. View the conference agenda to plan your days of learning, networking and inspiration, and book your room by May 29 to receive a special conference rate. Register Now >> View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Points of Light on 3blmedia.com. Contact Info: Spokesperson: Points of Light Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/points-light Email: info@3blmedia.com SOURCE: Points of Light View the original press release on accesswire.com VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Commerce Resources Corp. (TSXV:CCE)(FSE:D7H0)(OTCQX:CMRZF) (the "Company" or "Commerce") has elected to dispose of the Blue River Assets (as defined below) by pursuing a sale of the property to a third party (the " Blue River Transaction "). Company President Chris Grove states "We believe that focusing exclusively on our claims in Quebec with the significant opportunities of both our Ashram REE/ Fluorspar Deposit and our highly prospective niobium claims - on which we plan to drill this year - makes the best sense for the Company. We also believe that the Blue River claims will be effectively stewarded by the management of Capacitor Metals." The Company clarifies that, further to its news release dated June 22, 2023, it will no longer proceed with a spin out of its Blue River Assets (as defined below) pursuant to a proposed statutory plan of arrangement, as previously disclosed. The Company has entered into a property purchase agreement (the " Purchase Agreement ") with an arm's length private company (the " Purchaser ") to sell its interest in certain mineral claims comprising the "Blue River" property (the " Blue River Claims ") located near Blue River, British Columbia. As part of the transaction, the sale will also include certain real property owned by the Company also located in Blue River, B.C. (the " Blue River Land ", and together with the Blue River Claims, the " Blue River Assets "). As consideration for the Blue River Assets, the Company will receive 20,000,000 common shares in the capital of the Purchaser at a deemed price of $0.05 per share (the " Blue River Shares "). Completion of the Blue River Transaction is subject to the conditions set forth in the Purchase Agreement, including, if required, acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange. It is the Company's current intention to distribute the Blue River Shares to its shareholders on a pro rata basis at a later date. Any disposition of the Blue River Shares will, if undertaken, be conducted in compliance with applicable corporate and securities laws, and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange. About Commerce Resources Corp. Commerce Resources Corp. is a junior mineral resource company focused on the development of the Ashram Rare Earth and Fluorspar Deposit located in Quebec, Canada. The Company is positioning to be one of the lowest cost rare earth producers globally, with a specific focus on being a long-term supplier of mixed rare earth carbonate and/or NdPr oxide to the global market. The Ashram Deposit is characterized by simple rare earth (monazite, bastnaesite, xenotime) and gangue (carbonates) mineralogy, a large tonnage resource at favourable grade, and has demonstrated the production of high-grade (>45% REO) mineral concentrates at high recovery (>70%) in line with active global producers. In addition to being one of the largest rare earth deposits globally, Ashram is also one of the largest fluorspar deposits globally and has the potential to be a long-term supplier to the met-spar and acid-spar markets. For more information, please visit the corporate website at www.commerceresources.com or email info@commerceresources.com . On Behalf of the Board of Directors COMMERCE RESOURCES CORP. " Chris Grove " Chris Grove President and Director Tel: 604.484.2700 Email: cgrove@commerceresources.com Web: http://www.commerceresources.com Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements, which includes any information about activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future. Forward looking statements in this news release include that the sale of the Blue River Assets is subject to certain conditions, including acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange, if required; that the Company may distribute the Blue River Shares to shareholders on a pro rata basis; that the Ashram Deposit has the potential to be a long-term supplier to the met-spar and acid-spar markets; and that the Company is positioning to be one of the lowest cost rare earth producers globally. These forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. Risks that could change or prevent these statements from coming to fruition include: that the TSX Venture Exchange may not accept the sale of the Blue River Assets; that the sale of the Blue River assets may not be completed as contemplated in the purchase agreement, or at all; that we may not be able to fully finance any additional exploration on the Ashram Project; that even if we are able raise capital, costs for exploration activities may increase such that we may not have sufficient funds to pay for such exploration or processing activities; the timing and content of any future work programs; geological interpretations based on drilling that may change with more detailed information; potential process methods and mineral recoveries assumptions based on limited test work and by comparison to what are considered analogous deposits that, with further test work, may not be comparable; testing of our process may not prove successful and even if such tests are successful, the economic and other outcomes may not be as expected; the availability of labour and equipment to undertake future exploration work and testing activities; the required permits to build and operate the envisaged open-pit shell may not be obtained in a timely or cost-effective manner, or at all; and despite the current expected viability of the Ashram Project, conditions changing such that even if metals or minerals are discovered on the Ashram Project, the project may not be commercially viable. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law. SOURCE: Commerce Resources Corp. View the original press release on accesswire.com The regulatory approval process with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has commenced for Innocan's LPT-CBD release technology, marking a key step in the advancement of non-opioid pain management HERZLIYA, Israel and CALGARY, AB, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Innocan Pharma Corporation (CSE: INNO) (FSE: IP4) (OTCQB: INNPF) ("Innocan" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce significant advancements in the regulatory process for its Liposome-Cannabidiol (LPT-CBD) technology, which provides an innovative solution in non-opioid pain management. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") has granted Innocan an Investigational New Drug ("IND") number and approved an initial meeting with the Company to discuss the strategic path forward. The meeting with the FDA has been set for July 31, 2024, where Innocan will present its preclinical results and proposed clinical development plan. This meeting is key to launching human clinical trials for the LPT-CBD injectable drug, developed to provide a novel treatment option for chronic pain. "We are very pleased with this crucial step towards launching our IND program for LPT-CBD in the United States," commented Iris Bincovich CEO of Innocan Pharma. "This upcoming FDA consultation is pivotal, poised to set the stage for our clinical trials and drive forward our mission to revolutionize pain management. We look forward to the FDA reviewing our development program and providing us with guidance on our advancement to human clinical trials." Continued Iris Bincovich, CEO, "I thank Prof. Chezy Barenholz and Dr. Ahuva Cern of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, renowned experts in liposome research, for their continued efforts providing strong supportive data on LPT-CBD, enabling our upcoming engagement with FDA." LPT therapy, which requires only one single monthly subcutaneous injection, offers a groundbreaking alternative to opioid-based approaches. Addressing the critical opioid crisis, where, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over three-quarters of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. involve opioids, Innocan's LPT-CBD presents a compelling, life-saving alternative. In multiple pre-clinical trials, Innocan's therapy has shown consistent efficacy of its LPT-CBD injectable treatment, through prolonged and controlled release of CBD in animals with chronic pain conditions. About Innocan Innocan is a pharmaceutical tech company that operates under two main segments: Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Wellness. In the Pharmaceuticals segment, Innocan focuses on developing innovative drug delivery platform technologies based on advanced cannabinoids science, to treat various conditions to improve patients' quality of life. This segment involves two drug delivery technologies: (i) LPT CBD- loaded liposome platform facilitating exact dosing and the prolonged and controlled release of CBD into the blood stream. The LPT delivery platform research is in the preclinical trial phase for: Pain Management. In the Consumer Wellness segment, Innocan develops and markets a wide portfolio of innovative and high-performance self-care products to promote a healthier lifestyle. Under this segment, Innocan has established a joint venture by the name of BI Sky Global Ltd. that focuses on advanced targeted online sales. https://innocanpharma.com/ For further information, please contact: For Innocan Pharma Corporation: Iris Bincovich, CEO +1-516-210-4025 +972-54-3012842 +442037699377 info@innocanpharma.com NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. Cautionary note regarding forward-looking information Certain information set forth in this news release, including, without limitation, information regarding research and development, collaborations, the filing of potential applications with the FDA and other regulatory authorities, the potential achievement of future regulatory milestones, the potential for treatment of conditions and other therapeutic effects resulting from research activities and/or the Company's products, requisite regulatory approvals and the timing for market entry, is forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. By its nature, forward-looking information is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond Innocan's control. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by Innocan, including expectations and assumptions concerning the anticipated benefits of the products, satisfaction of regulatory requirements in various jurisdictions and satisfactory completion of requisite production and distribution arrangements. Forward-looking information is subject to various risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed in this news release. The key risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to: general global and local (national) economic, market and business conditions; governmental and regulatory requirements and actions by governmental authorities; and relationships with suppliers, manufacturers, customers, business partners and competitors. There are also risks that are inherent in the nature of product distribution, including import / export matters and the failure to obtain any required regulatory and other approvals (or to do so in a timely manner) and availability in each market of product inputs and finished products. The anticipated timeline for entry to markets may change for a number of reasons, including the inability to secure necessary regulatory requirements, or the need for additional time to conclude and/or satisfy the manufacturing and distribution arrangements. As a result of the foregoing, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking information contained in this news release concerning the timing of launch of product distribution. A comprehensive discussion of other risks that impact Innocan can also be found in Innocan's public reports and filings which are available under Innocan's profile at www.sedar.com . Readers are cautioned that undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking information as actual results may vary materially from the forward-looking information. Innocan does not undertake to update, correct or revise any forward looking information as a result of any new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable law. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2046271/3968398/Innocan_Pharma_Corporation_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/fda-has-granted-innocan-pharma-a-meeting-date-for-lpt-cbd-for-chronic-pain-302151667.html (All dollar amounts are in United States dollars, unless otherwise stated) Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2024) - Omai Gold Mines Corp. (TSXV: OMG) (OTCQB: OMGGF) ("Omai Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that a National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report dated May 21, 2024 (the "Report") has been filed on the SEDAR+ website www.sedarplus.ca in support of the Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") announced April 4, 2024 for the Wenot Deposit on its Omai Gold Project in Guyana. The Report was prepared under the supervision of Eugene Puritch, P.Eng., FEC, CET of P&E Mining Consultants Inc., who is independent of the Company and a Qualified Person in accordance with NI 43-101. Elaine Ellingham, President and CEO comments: "This Preliminary Economic Assessment has been a major milestone for our Company. It provides a baseline production scenario that shows the potential for robust economic development for Omai to once again become a large-scale gold producer. We have identified multiple opportunities to potentially expand this proposed Wenot development that we will pursue while we advance engineering towards a Pre-Feasibility Study, expected within the next 12 to 18 months. Although we have not included the adjacent Gilt Creek Deposit in this PEA economics, we will advance relevant engineering studies and are confident that it will contribute to an overall future mine plan." On April 4, 2024, the Company issued a news release announcing a Preliminary Economic Assessment with the following highlights: After-tax NPV 5% of $556 million and after-tax IRR of 19.8% based on $1,950/oz gold with a sensitivity case at $2,200/oz gold giving an after-tax NPV 5% of $777 million and IRR of 24.7% of Initial capital ("Capex") of $375 million and sustaining capital of $172 million over life-of-mine Projected average gold production of 142,000 oz per year over a 13-year mine life After-tax payback of 4.3 years at base case $1,950/oz gold (3.5 years at $2,200/oz gold) Average cash operating costs of $916/oz gold and all-in sustaining costs of $1,009/oz Cumulative cash flow of $1.07 billion after-tax over 13 years on base case assumptions Total payable gold production of 1.84 million ounces Average head grade of 1.51 g/t Au and 92.5% process recovery Full details are presented in the Report filed on SEDAR+ and the Company's website https://omaigoldmines.com/site/assets/files/5486/omg_wenot_pea_final_may_21_2024.pdf. To view a 3-D model of the Wenot Deposit go to https://omaigoldmines.com/omai-project/preliminary-economic-assessment/. Qualified Person The Mineral Resource Estimate, including verification of the data, was under the supervision of Eugene Puritch, P.Eng., FEC, CET, President of P&E Mining Consultants Inc., who is independent for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101, and has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release. About Omai Gold Mines Corp. Omai Gold Mines Corp. holds a 100% interest in the Omai Prospecting License that includes the past producing Omai Gold Mine in Guyana, and a 100% interest in the adjoining Eastern Flats Mining Permits. The Company announced a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") on its Wenot Deposit at Omai on April 4, 2024, showing an open pit operation to produce 1.84 million ounces of gold over a 13-year period, with an NPV5% of US$556 million at a US$1950/oz gold price. An updated NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") announced February 8, 2024 includes 2.0 million ounces of gold (Indicated) and 2.3 million ounces (Inferred). Once South America's largest producing gold mine, Omai produced over 3.7 million ounces of gold between 1993 and 2005. Mining ceased at a time when the average gold price was less than US$400 per ounce. As a brownfields project, Omai benefits from good road access and a wealth of historical data that provides knowledge of the geology and gold mineralization on the Property, as well as metallurgy, historical process recoveries and many other relevant mining parameters. For further information, please see our website www.omaigoldmines.com or contact: Elaine Ellingham P.Geo. President & CEO elaine@omaigoldmines.com Phone: +1 416-473-5351 Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This press release contains forward-looking statements or information (collectively, "FLI") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. FLI is based on expectations, estimates, projections, and interpretations as at the date of this press release. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are FLI that involve various risks, assumptions, estimates and uncertainties. Generally, FLI can be identified by the use of statements that include words such as "seeks", "believes", "anticipates", "plans", "continues", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "expects", "forecasts", "intends", "projects", "predicts", "proposes", "potential", "targets" and variations of such words and phrases, or by statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "will", "could", "would", "should" or "might", "be taken", "occur" or "be achieved." FLI herein includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding the results of the Omai PEA, including the production, operating cost, capital cost and cash cost estimates, the projected valuation metrics and rates of return, and the cash flow projections, as well as the anticipated permitting requirements and Project design, including processing and tailings facilities, infrastructure developments, metal recoveries, mine life and production rates for the Project, the potential to further enhance the economics of the Project and optimize the design, potential timelines for obtaining the required permits and financing. Forward-looking information is not, and cannot be, a guarantee of future results or events. FLI is designed to help you understand management's current views of its near- and longer-term prospects, and it may not be appropriate for other purposes. FLI by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such FLI. Although the FLI contained in this press release is based upon what management believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders and prospective purchasers of securities of the Company that actual results will be consistent with such FLI, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, and neither the Company nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any such FLI. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake, and assumes no obligation, to update or revise any such FLI contained herein to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by law. Unless otherwise noted, this press release has been prepared based on information available as of the date of this press release. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on the FLI or information contained herein. Assumptions upon which FLI is based, without limitation, include the results of exploration activities, the Company's financial position and general economic conditions; the ability of exploration activities to accurately predict mineralization; the accuracy of geological modelling; the ability of the Company to complete further exploration activities; potential changes in project parameters or economic assessments; the legitimacy of title and property interests in the Project; the accuracy of key assumptions, parameters or methods used to estimate the MREs and in the PEA; the ability of the Company to obtain required approvals; geological, mining and exploration technical problems; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; the evolution of the global economic climate; metal prices; foreign exchange rates; environmental expectations; community and non-governmental actions; any impacts of COVID-19 on the Project; and, the Company's ability to secure required funding. Risks and uncertainties about Omai Gold's business are more fully discussed in the disclosure materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada, which are available at www.sedarplus.ca. Furthermore, should one or more of the risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in FLI. Non-IFRS Financial Measures Omai Gold has included certain non-IFRS financial measures in this press release, such as initial capital expenditures, sustaining capital expenditures, total cash costs and all in sustaining costs, which are not measures recognized under IFRS and do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. As a result, these measures may not be comparable to similar measures reported by other companies. Each of these measures used are intended to provide additional information to the user and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures prepared in accordance with IFRS. Non-IFRS financial measures used in this press release and common to the gold mining industry are defined below. Total Cash Costs and Total Cash Costs per Ounce Total cash costs are reflective of the cost of production. Total cash costs reported in the PEA include mining costs, processing, general and administrative costs of the mine, off-site costs, refining costs, transportation costs and royalties. Total cash costs per ounce is calculated as total cash costs divided by payable gold ounces. All-In Sustaining Costs and All-In Sustaining Costs per Ounce All-in sustaining costs and all-in sustaining costs per ounce are reflective of all of the expenditures that are required to produce an ounce of gold from operations. All-in sustaining costs reported in the PEA include total cash costs, sustaining capital, closure costs, but exclude corporate general and administrative costs. All-in sustaining costs per ounce is calculated as all-in sustaining costs divided by payable gold ounces. A description of the significant cost components that make up the forward looking non-IFRS financial measures of total cash costs and all in sustaining costs per ounce of payable gold produced is shown in the table below. Cautionary Note to United States Investors Omai Gold prepares its disclosure in accordance with the requirements of securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. Terms relating to mineral resources in this press release are defined in accordance with NI 43-101 under the guidelines set out in CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Council on May 19, 2014, as amended ("CIM Standards"). The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") has adopted amendments effective February 25, 2019 (the "SEC Modernization Rules") to its disclosure rules to modernize the mineral property disclosure requirements for issuers whose securities are registered with the SEC under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934. As a result of the adoption of the SEC Modernization Rules, the SEC will now recognize estimates of "Measured Mineral Resources", "Iindicated Mineral Resources" and "Inferred Mineral Resources", which are defined in substantially similar terms to the corresponding CIM Standards. In addition, the SEC has amended its definitions of "Proven Mineral Reserves" and "Probable Mineral Reserves" to be substantially similar to the corresponding CIM Standards. U.S. investors are cautioned that while the foregoing terms are "substantially similar" to corresponding definitions under the CIM Standards, there are differences in the definitions under the SEC Modernization Rules and the CIM Standards. Accordingly, there is no assurance any Mineral Resources that Omai Gold may report as "Measured Mineral Resources", "Indicated Mineral Resources" and "Inferred Mineral Resources" under NI 43-101 would be the same had Omai Gold prepared the Mineral Resource Estimates under the standards adopted under the SEC Modernization Rules. In accordance with Canadian securities laws, estimates of "Inferred Mineral Resources" cannot form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies, except in limited circumstances were permitted under NI 43-101. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/210027 SOURCE: Omai Gold Mines Corp. REGINA, SK / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / ROK Resources Inc. ("ROK" or the "Company") (TSXV:ROK)(OTCQB:ROKRF) has filed its interim Financial Results and Management Discussion & Analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2024. The Company remained on strategy and budget for Q1 2024. Funds Flow of $6.3 million was used to further reduce Adjusted Net Debt. Despite the inactive quarter, the Company had modest production growth quarter over quarter and is well positioned to commence its drilling program in late Q2 2024, with the flexibility to allocate development capital across some of the most economic plays in North America. Q1 2024 HIGHLIGHTS Production in line with Forecast: Production averaged 4,278 boepd (62% liquids); Production averaged 4,278 boepd (62% liquids); Operating Cost Reduction: realized operating costs of $27.55 per boe which represents an 18% reduction when compared to 2H 2023; realized operating costs of $27.55 per boe which represents an 18% reduction when compared to 2H 2023; Adjusted Net Debt Reduced: Adjusted Net Debt reduced from $18.7 million at the end of Q4 2023 to $14.4 million at the end Q1 2024; and Adjusted Net Debt reduced from $18.7 million at the end of Q4 2023 to $14.4 million at the end Q1 2024; and Successful Reactivation and Optimization Program: Achieved capital efficiencies of $4,815 per boe on 12 reactivation/optimization projects in Southeast Saskatchewan. OUTLOOK Key initiatives for 2024 include reducing corporate finding and development costs and expanding core operating areas in Southeast Saskatchewan. The Company anticipates commencing its drilling program in late Q2 2024. The six well program, which will target Frobisher light oil prospects, the Company has allocated a budget of ~$10 million in 1H 2024. The commencement of the drilling program is contingent on various factors, including favorable weather and road conditions following spring break-up. The Company will provide detailed second-half 2024 guidance after its annual bank review process, expected to be completed in June 2024. Financial Q1 2024 Q1 2023 Net income (loss) (5,612,254 ) 805,262 Basic ($/share) (0.03 ) 0.00 Diluted ($/share) (0.03 ) 0.00 Funds flow 6,342,218 9,683,876 Basic ($/share) 0.03 0.05 Diluted ($/share) 0.03 0.04 Expenditures on property, plant and equipment 1,818,760 5,445,650 Operating Oil and Natural Gas Sales 20,931,235 24,137,513 Royalties (3,955,043 ) (4,771,385 ) Operating Expenses (10,724,039 ) (9,471,536 ) Operating Income 6,252,153 9,894,592 Realized gain on commodity contracts 926,017 2,666,447 Processing and other income 862,078 734,731 Funds from Operations 8,040,248 13,295,770 Average daily production Crude oil (bbl/d) 2,206 2,466 NGLs (boe/d) 458 401 Natural gas (mcf/d) 9,681 7,635 Total (boe/d) 4,278 4,140 Operating Netback per boe Oil and Natural Gas Sales 53.77 64.79 Royalties (10.16 ) (12.81 ) Operating Expenses (27.55 ) (25.42 ) Operating Netbacks ($/boe) 16.06 26.56 Funds from Operations ($/boe) 20.66 35.69 Operating Income Profit Margin 29.9 % 41.0 % Funds from Operations Profit Margin 38.4 % 55.1 % Share information Common shares outstanding, end of period 218,418,315 212,613,817 Weighted average basic shares outstanding 218,418,348 211,916,317 Weighted average diluted shares outstanding 218,418,348 265,105,802 Q1 2024 FINANCIAL SUMMARY In Q1 2024, the Company realized average daily production volume of 4,278 boepd (62% liquids), resulting in oil and natural gas sales of $20.9 million and realized hedge gain of $0.9 million. The Company realized Funds from Operations of $8.0 million, after royalties, operating expenses, and processing and other income. Operating costs, which include expenses incurred to operate wells, gather, treat, and transport production volumes, as well as costs to perform well and facility repairs and maintenance, were consistent with Company expectations for the quarter, averaging $27.55 per boe, with lower maintenance and workover costs for the period when compared to 2023. Capital expenditures in the quarter totaled $1.8 million. The Company incurred $1.2 million in capital expenditures towards well reactivations and finalization costs of new wells drilled in Q4 2023 including surface infrastructure, $0.4 million towards land and seismic acquisitions, and $0.2 million towards facilities and equipment. The first-half 2024 capital budget of $10.0 - 10.5 million will include a Q2 2024 six-well drilling program which will target Frobisher light oil prospects, and ongoing well reactivations and recompletions in core operating areas in Southeast Saskatchewan. NET DEBT Net Debt as at March 31, 2024, and December 31, 2023, as outlined below: March 31, 2024 December 31, 2023 Accounts receivable 12,420,173 13,021,111 Prepaids and deposits 580,854 364,090 Risk management contracts (1,134,038 ) 4,521,075 Accounts payable (14,692,423 ) (17,560,130 ) Adjusted working capital (2) (2,825,434 ) 346,146 Credit Facility (8.4%) (1) 12,745,469 14,501,748 Lease obligations (1) 509,740 545,851 Less: adjusted working capital (2) 2,825,434 (346,146 ) Net debt 16,080,643 14,701,453 Represents undiscounted face value of debt balances and lease obligations outstanding as of each respective date presented. Calculation of adjusted working capital excludes current portion of debt as presented on the statement of financial position. The mark-to-market fair value of the current portion of risk management contracts is included within adjusted working capital. ROK uses "Net Debt" as a measure of the Company's financial position and liquidity, however it is not intended to be viewed as an alternative to other measures calculated in accordance with IFRS. Complete reports and statements are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and on the Company website www.rokresources.ca. About ROK ROK is primarily engaged in exploring for petroleum and natural gas development activities in Alberta and Saskatchewan. It has offices located in both Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada and Calgary, Alberta, Canada. ROK's common shares are traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbol "ROK". For further information, please contact: Cameron Taylor, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bryden Wright, President and Chief Operating Officer Jared Lukomski, Senior Vice President, Land & Business Development Lynn Chapman, Chief Financial Officer Phone: (306) 522-0011 Email: investor@rokresources.ca Website: www.rokresources.ca Non-IFRS Measures The non-IFRS measures referred to above do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS Accounting Standards ("IFRS") and, therefore, may not be comparable to similar measures used by other companies. Management uses this non-IFRS measurement to provide its shareholders and investors with a measurement of the Company's financial performance and are not intended to represent operating profits nor should they be viewed as an alternative to cash provided by operating activities, net income or other measures of financial performance calculated in accordance with IFRS. The reader is cautioned that these amounts may not be directly comparable to measures for other companies where similar terminology is used. "Operating Income" is calculated by deducting royalties and operating expense from total sales revenue. Total sales revenue is comprised of oil and gas sales. The Company refers to Operating Income expressed per unit of production as an "Operating Netback". "Operating Income Profit Margin" is calculated by the Company as Operating Income as a percentage of oil and natural gas sales. "Funds from Operations" is calculated by adding other income and realized gains/losses on commodity contracts ("hedging") to Operating Income. The following table reconciles the aforementioned non-IFRS measures: Q1 2024 Q1 2023 Oil and Natural Gas Sales 20,931,235 24,137,513 Royalties (3,955,043 ) (4,771,385 ) Operating Expenses (10,724,039 ) (9,471,536 ) Operating Income 6,252,153 9,894,592 Processing and other income 926,017 2,666,447 Realized gain on commodity contracts 862,078 734,731 Funds from Operations 8,040,248 13,295,770 Sales volume (boe) 389,261 372,570 Per boe Oil and Natural Gas Sales 53.77 64.79 Royalties (10.16 ) (12.81 ) Operating Expenses (27.55 ) (25.42 ) Operating Netback 16.06 26.56 Funds from Operations 20.66 35.69 Operating Income Profit Margin 29.9 % 41.0 % Funds from Operations Profit Margin 38.4 % 55.1 % "Net Debt" includes all indebtedness of the Company, such as the Credit Facility and Lease Obligations (each as defined within the Company's interim condensed financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2024), net of Adjusted Working Capital. "Adjusted Working Capital" is calculated as current assets less current liabilities, excluding current portion of debt and lease liability as defined on the Company's statement of financial position within the Company's interim condensed financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2024. "Adjusted Net Debt" is calculated by removing the "mark-to-market fair value of the current portion of risk management contracts" and "lease obligations" (each as defined within the Company's interim condensed financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2024) from Net Debt. The following table reconciles Net Debt to Adjusted Net Debt: March 31, 2024 December 31, 2023 Net Debt 16,080,643 14,701,453 Remove: Current portion of risk management contracts (1,134,038 ) 4,521,075 Remove: Lease obligations (509,740 ) (545,851 ) Adjusted Net Debt 14,436,865 18,676,677 "Funds Flow" includes all cash from (used in) operating activities and is calculated before the change in non-cash working capital. "Funds Flow Basic ($/share)" and "Funds Flow Diluted ($/share)" are calculated by dividing Funds Flow by the weighted average number of basic shares and weighted average number of diluted shares outstanding, respectively, for the relevant period, as presented within the Company's interim condensed financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2024. These are considered key measures of operating performance and capital management as they demonstrate the Company's ability to generate the cash necessary to repay debt and fund capital investments. Management believes that by excluding the temporary impact of changes in non-cash operating working capital, each of these provide useful measures of ROK's ability to generate cash that are not subject to short-term movements in non-cash operating working capital. The following table reconciles cash flow from operating activities to Funds Flow: Q1 2024 Q1 2023 Cash flows provided by operating activities 4,175,725 4,892,003 Change in non-cash working capital 2,166,493 4,791,873 Funds Flow 6,342,218 9,683,876 Conversion Measures Production volumes and reserves are commonly expressed on a barrel of oil equivalent ("boe") basis whereby natural gas volumes are converted at the ratio of 6 thousand cubic feet ("Mcf") to 1 barrel of oil ("bbl"). Although the intention is to sum oil and natural gas measurement units into one basis for improved analysis of results and comparisons with other industry participants, boe's may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. A boe conversion ratio of 6 Mcf to 1 bbl is based on an energy equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead. In recent years, the value ratio based on the price of crude oil as compared to natural gas has been significantly higher than the energy equivalency of 6:1 and utilizing a conversion of natural gas volumes on a 6:1 basis may be misleading as an indication of value. Abbreviations bbls/d bopd barrels per day barrels per day boepd barrels oil equivalent per day IP Initial Production NGLs Natural Gas Liquids Mboe Mg/l Thousands of barrels of oil equivalent Milligrams per Litre MMboe Millions of barrels of oil equivalent PDP Proved Developed Producing TP Total Proved Reserves TPP Total Proved and Probable Reserves WTI CA$ US$ West Texas Intermediate, the reference price paid in U.S. dollars at Cushing, Oklahoma for the crude oil standard grade Canadian dollars U.S. dollars Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the Company's objectives, goals, or future plans and the expected results thereof. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on several estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include but are not limited to general business, economic and social uncertainties; litigation, legislative, environmental, and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; delay or failure to receive board, shareholder or regulatory approvals; those additional risks set out in ROK's public documents filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com; and other matters discussed in this news release. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Except where required by law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether because of new information, future events, or otherwise. Neither the Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility of the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE: ROK Resources Inc. View the original press release on accesswire.com HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / HNR Acquisition Corp (NYSE American:HNRA) (the "Company" or "HNRA") is an independent upstream energy company with oil and gas properties in the Permian Basin. The Company has scheduled first quarter earnings conference call for May 23, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. EDT. HNRA will hold a conference call on May 23, 2024 to share and discuss its first quarter March 31, 2024 results. During the call management will report on its earnings results as well as update investors on optimizing effective drilling conditions and sustaining production growth. The call will be held at 11:00 a.m. EDT. In addition to the company's first quarter results, management will discuss recent events and host a Q&A session. The call will be chaired by Dante V. Caravaggio, President & CEO; Jesse J. Allen, Vice President of Operations, and Mitchell B. Trotter, Chief Financial Officer. All three will be available to answer questions. To participate in the live teleconference: An audio webcast of the conference call will be available within two hours of the call on the HNRA website. To listen to a live broadcast, visit the website at least 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start to register, download and install any necessary audio software. To participate in the live teleconference: Domestic Toll Free: 888-506-0062 International: 973-528-0011 Participant Access Code: 714419 To listen to a replay of the teleconference, which will be available through June 6, 2024, please visit the investor relations section of the HNRA website or call one of the numbers below: Domestic Toll Free Replay: 877-481-4010 International Replay: 919-882-2331 Replay Passcode: 50675 For the Webcast: https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/2999/50675 About the Oil Field Property In November 2023, the Company acquired LH Operating, LLC ("LHO") including its holdings in New Mexico of oil and gas waterflood production comprising 13,700 contiguous leasehold acres, 342 producing wells and 207 injection wells situated on 20 federal and 3 state leases in the Grayburg-Jackson Oil Field. The Grayburg-Jackson Oil Field is located on the Northwest Shelf of the prolific Permian Basin in Eddy County, New Mexico. Leasehold rights of LHO, now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, include the Seven Rivers, Queen, Grayburg and San Andres intervals that range from as shallow as 1,500 feet to 4,000 feet in depth. The December 2023 reserve report from our third-party engineer, William H. Cobb and Associates, Inc. ("Cobb"), reflects LHO to have proven reserves of approximately 15.4 million barrels of oil and 3.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas. The mapped original-oil-in-place ("OOIP") in the LHO leasehold is approximately 876 million barrels of oil in the Grayburg and San Andres intervals and 80 million barrels in the Seven Rivers interval for a total OOIP of approximately 956,000,000 barrels of oil. Our primary production is currently from the Seven Rivers zone. In addition to proven reserves, the Company believes we may access an additional 34 million barrels of oil by adding perforations in the Grayburg and San Andres formations. With proven oil reserves of over 15 million barrels, combined with the potential 34 million additional barrels from the Grayburg and San Andres zones, LHO should produce oil and a revenue stream for more than two decades with a slow decline rate. About HNR Acquisition Corp HNRA is an independent upstream energy company focused on maximizing total returns to its shareholders through the development of onshore oil and natural gas properties in the United States. HNRA's long-term goal is to maximize total shareholder value from a diversified portfolio of long-life oil and natural gas properties built through acquisition and through selective development, production enhancement, and other exploitation efforts on its oil and natural gas properties. HNRA's Class A Common Stock trades on the NYSE American (NYSE American:HNRA) and our public warrants trade on the NYSE American (NYSE American:HNRAW). For more information on HNRA, please visit the Company's website: https://www.hnra-nyse.com/ Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what is expected. Words such as "expects," "believes," "anticipates," "intends," "estimates," "seeks," "may," "might," "plan," "possible," "should" and variations and similar words and expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Such forward-looking statements relate to future events or future results, based on currently available information and reflect the Company's management's current beliefs. A number of factors could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events and results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Important factors - including the availability of funds, the results of financing efforts and the risks relating to our business - that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time to time on EDGAR (see www.edgar-online.com) and with the Securities and Exchange Commission (see www.sec.gov). Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Except as expressly required by applicable securities law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Investor Relations: Michael J. Porter, President PORTER, LEVAY & ROSE, INC. mike@plrinvest.com SOURCE: HNR Acquisition Corp View the original press release on accesswire.com MONTREAL, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bombardier Inc. ("Bombardier") today announced that it has successfully priced its offering of US$750 million aggregate principal amount of new Senior Notes due June 1, 2032. The new Senior Notes will carry a coupon of 7.000% per annum and will be sold at par (the "New Notes"). The issuance of the New Notes is expected to close on or about June 5, 2024, subject to customary closing conditions. Bombardier intends to use the proceeds of the offering of the New Notes, together with cash on hand, (i) to fund the repayment and/or retirement of outstanding indebtedness, including the redemption of US$338 million aggregate principal amount of its outstanding 7.125% Senior Notes due 2026 (the "2026 Notes", and such redemption, the "Conditional 2026 Notes Redemption") and the redemption of US$450 million aggregate principal amount of its outstanding 7.875% Senior Notes due 2027 (the "2027 Notes", and such redemption, the "Conditional 2027 Notes Redemption"), and (ii) to pay accrued interest and related fees and expenses. As of the date hereof, there is US$504 million aggregate principal amount outstanding of the 2026 Notes and US$1,433 million aggregate principal amount outstanding of the 2027 Notes. Consummation of the offering of the New Notes, the Conditional 2026 Notes Redemption and the Conditional 2027 Notes Redemption are subject to market and other conditions, and there can be no assurance that Bombardier will be able to successfully complete these transactions on the terms described above, or at all. Bombardier today intends to issue the notice of redemption in respect of the Conditional 2026 Notes Redemption and the notice of redemption in respect of the Conditional 2027 Notes Redemption, which redemptions will be subject to certain conditions, including the completion of the offering of the New Notes prior to the redemption dates set forth in such notices of redemption. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or buy or the solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any security and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation, sale or purchase of any securities in any jurisdiction in which such offering, solicitation, sale or purchase would be unlawful. The New Notes mentioned herein have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, any state securities laws or the laws of any other jurisdiction, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. The New Notes mentioned herein may be offered and sold in the United States only to persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers in accordance with Rule 144A under the U.S. Securities Act and outside the United States in reliance on Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act. The New Notes mentioned herein have not been and will not be qualified for distribution to the public under applicable Canadian securities laws and, accordingly, any offer and sale of the securities in Canada will be made on a basis which is exempt from the prospectus requirements of such securities laws. The New Notes will be offered and sold in Canada on a private placement basis only to "accredited investors" pursuant to certain prospectus exemptions. This announcement does not constitute an offer to purchase or the solicitation of an offer to sell the New Notes, the 2026 Notes or the 2027 Notes. This announcement does not constitute a redemption notice in respect of any 2026 Notes, 2027 Notes or any other notes. Any redemption of the 2026 Notes, the 2027 Notes or any other notes will be made pursuant to a notice of redemption under the indentures governing such notes. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain statements in this announcement are forward-looking statements based on current expectations. By their nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions and are subject to important known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause our actual results in future periods to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. For information LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Tetra Pak As part of the comprehensive framework outlining the company's contribution to halting and reversing nature loss, Tetra Pak has established 25 targets across the value chain. LAUSANNE, Switzerland, May 21, 2024 /3BL/ - Ahead of the United Nation's International Day of Biodiversity on 22nd May, Tetra Pak has announced the launch of its 'Approach to Nature' - a comprehensive framework that defines the company's contribution to halting and reversing nature loss and enhancing water security. The approach aligns with global targets, including those outlined in the Biodiversity Plan that calls for action to halt biodiversity loss and put nature on a path to recovery for the benefit of all life on earth.1 A report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) shows that nature is deteriorating at rates unprecedented in human history, largely due to human activity.2 Global food systems are identified as the main drivers of nature loss,3 with wide-reaching impacts that threaten global economies, livelihoods and food security.4 Recognising this complex interdependency and building on a thorough evaluation of nature-related impacts and dependencies, Tetra Pak's ambitious new 'Approach to Nature' aims to manage the impacts of the company's value chain on nature and to support the restoration of ecosystems.5 Additionally, it seeks to contribute to global water resilience by reducing negative impacts on local water resources and addressing shared water challenges in basins at risk.6 All of this across the geographies, the business, its suppliers, and its customers are operating in, building a strong foundation upon which Tetra Pak can further accelerate its actions for nature. Amongst the 25 targets set by Tetra Pak: By 2025, 100% of Tetra Pak's raw materials with the most significant land footprint 7 will originate from certified or controlled sources. will originate from certified or controlled sources. By 2025, 100% of Tetra Pak high water-impact suppliers 8 will report on water use and quality. will report on water use and quality. Eradicate waste-to-landfill from Tetra Pak production sites by 2030. Achieve a 50% reduction of water use in best practice processing lines by 2030 compared to 2019. Gilles Tisserand, Vice President Climate & Biodiversity, Tetra Pak, comments: "With over half of the world's GDP heavily reliant on nature,9 the stakes could not be higher. Our 'Approach to Nature' not only reflects our commitment to environmental stewardship but also builds on our longstanding action in this domain, cemented by our inclusion in the 2023 CDP Forests A List for the eighth consecutive year and the achievement of an A- in Water Security for our first year of reporting. As other companies join us on this journey, together we can help protect and restore nature for the generations to come." In 2022, Tetra Pak was also a signatory of the Business for Nature coalition's COP15 business statement, urging governments to adopt the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework's Target 15. Target 15 required large private companies and financial institutions to assess and disclose their risks, dependencies, and impacts on biodiversity, provide information to consumers to promote sustainable consumption and report on compliance.10 Eva Zabey, CEO, Business for Nature, comments: "Tetra Pak's 'Approach to Nature' marks an important milestone, emphasising how the corporate world must step up to support the ambitious targets of the Biodiversity Plan (formerly known as the Global Biodiversity Framework). We encourage all companies to set a nature strategy - a clear plan for how they will contribute towards a nature-positive future by 2030. However, businesses can't achieve this alone; governments must create the right incentives to speed up corporate action to address nature loss." Media contacts Lucia Freschi Tetra Pak Tel: +39 347 2632237 Lucia.freschi@tetrapak.com 1The Biodiversity Plan, formerly known as the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, was adopted in December 2022. It outlines global ambitions and specific actions needed to stop and reverse biodiversity loss by 2050. It includes goals such as restoring 30% of ecosystems, reducing food waste by half and investing at least $200 billion annually in strategies that benefit biodiversity. For more information: https://www.cbd.int/gbf 2IPBES. (2019). Global Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity. p. 1109 In E. S. Brondizio, J. Settele, S. Diaz, & H. T. Ngo (Eds.), IPBES secretariat. IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. Source: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3831673 3Benton, T.G., et al. (2021). Food system impacts on biodiversity loss: Three levers for food system transformation in support of nature. Chatham House. Source: https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/2021-02-03-food-system-biodiversity-loss-benton-et-al_0.pdf 4Herweijer, C., et al. "Nature risk rising: Why the crisis engulfing nature matters for business and the economy." World Economic Forum and PwC. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_New_Nature_ Economy_Report_2020.pdf 5One example Is The Araucaria Conservation Programme In Brazil 6Basins at risk are identified following the SBTN methodology, based on eight different indicators across water quantity, quality and wash. For each indicator, a score between 1 and 5 is attributed. Within these three categories, one indicator with a score of 3 or above indicates that the basin is at risk 7Tetra Pak raw materials with most significant land-use footprint are defined as paperboard, sugarcane-based polymer and aluminium. These commodities are also included in SBTN Conversion-driving commodities list 8High water-impact suppliers are defined as having high business relevance, water impact and exposure to water risks. 9WEF, 2020 10COP15: Nations Adopt Four Goals, 23 Targets for 2030 In Landmark UN Biodiversity Agreement | Convention on Biological Diversity (cbd.int) Restoring ecosystems View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Tetra Pak on 3blmedia.com. Contact Info: Spokesperson: Tetra Pak Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/tetra-pak Email: info@3blmedia.com SOURCE: Tetra Pak View the original press release on accesswire.com Accenture Federal Services, a a wholly owned subsidiary of Accenture (NYSE: ACN), has completed its acquisition of Cognosante, a Falls Church, VA-based provider of digital transformation and cloud modernization solutions for federal health, defense, intelligence, and civilian agencies. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. With the acquisition, Accenture Federal Services is creating a new federal health portfolio for its business. The deal adds more than 1,500 people to Accenture Federal Services more than 14,000-person workforce. Cognosante provides mission-driven technology solutions for federal government clients, including healthcare programs supporting veterans, active-duty military, patients, beneficiaries, providers, and payors. The company has a delivery track record powered by technology expertise, cloud modernization and migration capabilities, and program management. Accenture Federal Services is a US federal services company and subsidiary of Accenture LLP. It empowers the federal government to solve challenges, achieve greater outcomes, and build a digital core that is agile, smart, and secure. Its 14,000 people are united in a shared purpose to advance its clients mission-critical priorities that make the nation stronger and safer, and life better for people. FinSMEs 21/05/2024 Zug, Switzerland, May 21st, 2024, Chainwire Cardinal Cryptography, core developer of the zero-knowledge, privacy-focused blockchain Aleph Zero, announced today the launch of Common Automated Market Maker (AMM), the first mainnet release of a novel DeFi platform, Common. Positioned as a decentralized exchange (DEX), Commons Automated Market Maker (AMM) delivers a user-friendly trading experience, complete with the built-in bridge between Aleph Zero and Ethereum, MOST, and the initial rollout of the platforms broader capabilities. Introducing Common AMM and Bridging on Aleph Zero With the Common AMM rollout, Common takes the first step on a journey to becoming a multi-chain DeFi suite designed to optimize the trading experience by addressing trading efficiency, enhancing on-chain confidentiality, and boosting liquidityall while ensuring users retain full custody over their assets. Rooted in research developed by Cardinal Cryptography and Nethermind, Common will transcend traditional trading platforms by integrating a comprehensive all-in-one app experience. This will include a built-in wallet, seamless on- and off-ramps, and IBAN account integrations, setting a new standard in user convenience and financial integration. Launched on Aleph Zero, Common AMM embodies the networks commitment to on-chain privacy, robust security, and high performance within a user-friendly framework. Key Features of Common AMM Now Live: Liquidity Pools and Farming: Allows users to provide liquidity and to potentially earn through farming, starting May 21st. Allows users to provide liquidity and to potentially earn through farming, starting May 21st. Bridging: Common AMM includes a built-in bridge between Aleph Zero and Ethereum called MOST, which allows users to seamlessly move assets between the different networks. Common AMM includes a built-in bridge between Aleph Zero and Ethereum called MOST, which allows users to seamlessly move assets between the different networks. Swapping Mechanism: Enables straightforward token exchanges, to be enabled on May 23rd, after a liquidity building period. Looking forward, Common is set to expand into a full-scale DeFi suite, as detailed in the Common Whitepaper. Future upgrades will include a privacy-enhanced order book, comprehensive solutions for institutional trading, as well as support for EVM-based blockchains. These features are built on Aleph Zeros commitment to data confidentiality and regulatory compliance, addressing the needs of an evolving DeFi environment. Common Drops: A New Reward Initiative Concurrent with the launch, the Common Drops campaign will reward the communitys engagement. These tokens, initially non-transferable, will later be redeemed for CMN, the platforms native token, after it goes live. Users can participate in Drops by staking AZERO and providing liquidity in Common AMM. For more information, users can refer to the latest blog post. Navigating Regulatory Challenges with Privacy-Focused Solutions As regulatory landscapes evolve, Common offers a robust platform that aims to seamlessly blend stringent compliance with financial privacy. Uses can experience seamless trading on Common AMM today and follow the development of the Common platform as it evolves to become the ultimate privacy DeFi suite. For more information about Common, users can visit https://common.fi/ and read the Common Whitepaper. Users can already try the app on the Aleph Zero Mainnet. About Aleph Zero Aleph Zero is a layer 1 blockchain engineered for speed, data confidentiality, and ease of development. It achieves efficiencies akin to conventional web2 systems, upholds rigorous standards for data protection via Zero Knowledge Proofs. Aleph Zeros versatility is highlighted by over 40 use cases being actively developed, showcasing its adaptability across various sectors and applications. These use cases are part of an engaged community and growing ecosystem of web3 applications that are supported by Aleph Zero programs. For more information, users can visit https://alephzero.org/ For media inquiry Josh Adams, [email protected] Contact PR Manager Josh Adams Cardinal Cryptography [email protected] Paceline Equity Partners, LLC, a Dallas, TX-based private equity manager, closed Paceline Equity Partners Opportunity Fund II, at $780m. The Funds investor base is comprised of global institutions, including public pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations, insurance companies and family offices. To date, Paceline has raised nearly $1.5 billion in equity commitments between Funds I and II, and affiliated co-investment vehicles. Fund II builds on Pacelines track record executing an opportunistic, value-oriented, and special situations investment strategy across asset classes, including corporate debt, private equity, and real asset opportunities in North America. To date, Fund II has completed five investments across these disciplines. Led by Sam Loughlin, Chief Executive Officer, and Leigh Sansone, Chief Investment Officer, Paceline is a private equity manager focused on value-oriented, opportunistic, and special situations investments across corporate credit, real assets, and private equity. Since inception, the firm has built a diversified portfolio of current investments through 21 acquisitions, including several bolt-on opportunities, and deploying over $1.9 billion in total transaction value. FinSMEs 21/05/2024 Reactive Technologies, a London, UK and Oulu, Finland-based leader in grid stability measurements, closed a 25m Series D funding round. The round was led by M&Gs Catalyst investment, alongside UK and Ireland growth capital investor BGF and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The company intends to use the funds for global expansion initiatives and key hiring endeavors, advancing the realization of contracted projects worldwide. Led by CEO Marc Borrett, Reactive Technologies is a grid resilience technology company helping grid operators, electric utilities, and regulators transition to Net Zero and ensure resilient, renewable grids. Its products, including the GridMetrix technology, bring transparency to grid operations by measuring grid inertia and other functions with 95% accuracy. The company has worked with some of the most advanced electric utilities in the world and consistently delivers accurate grid data that informs better planning, full utilization of electricity supplies, and cost savings while enabling an accelerated transition to clean energy. FinSMEs 21/05/2024 In a statement, the World Economic Forum said the 2024 list is made up of a remarkable group of rising stars from politics, business, civil society, the arts and academia read more Actor, advocate & Climate Warrior, Bhumi Pednekar, has been inducted by the World Economic Forum to be a part of its Young Global Leaders (YGL) Community: The Class of 2024 for her towering work towards climate change through her non profit Climate Warrior & The Bhumi Foundation, as well as for her big sustainable entrepreneurship ventures. Bhumi is now set to attend the prestigious Davos 2025 World Economic Forum annual event and represent India. Bhumi details out her next steps as a YGL for the World Economic Forum saying, I will definitely be attending the YGL summit in Singapore which will happen this year. I am extremely excited for that, and I really want to attend Davos as well despite my hectic shooting calendar. The idea of being a Young Global Leader is to excel in our individual fields as well. This year is a very busy year for me as an actor, as an entrepreneur and as someone who wants to leave an impact. I really hope that I can be there at Davos and at every platform that requires my voice. Earlier this month, World Economic Forum came out with its list of nearly 90 changemakers under 40 who are shaping the future and accelerating positive change through their groundbreaking work across the fields of public health, economic development, technology and sustainability. In a statement, the World Economic Forum said the 2024 list is made up of a remarkable group of rising stars from politics, business, civil society, the arts and academia. Besides Bhumi, the list also includes Adwaita Nayar, CEO of Nykaa Fashion; Arjun Bhartia, Director at Jubilant Group; Priya Agarwal Hebbar, Non-Executive Director at Vedanta Limited; and Sharad Vivek Sagar, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Dexterity Global. For the past two decades, the Forum of Young Global Leaders has been at the forefront of cultivating a unique community of leaders who are dedicated to tackling the worlds most pressing problems head-on, according to the World Economic Forum. In a rare case, one person died and 30 were injured aboard a London-Singapore flight that encountered severe turbulence. Though air turbulence is common on flights, fatalities are not. But, experts warn, the situation is expected to worsen read more Singapore Airlines said on Tuesday that a person died aboard and others were injured when a London-Singapore flight encountered severe turbulence. File photo/AP When travelling on a plane, air turbulence is all too common. Youd think theres nothing dangerous about it. But in a rare incident, a passenger was killed and 30 others injured aboard a London-Singapore flight that encountered severe turbulence. The Singapore Airlines plane reported plummeted for several minutes before it was diverted to Bangkok, where emergency crews rushed to help injured passengers amid stormy weather, reports The Associated Press (AP). The Boeing 777-300ER, with 211 passengers and 18 crew members on board, landed in Bangkok at 3:45 pm, the airline said in a Facebook post. Advertisement Tracking data captured by FlightRadar24 and analysed by AP showed the Singapore Airlines flight cruising at 37,000 feet. The Boeing 777 suddenly and sharply pitched down to 31,000 feet in some three minutes, the data shows. The aircraft stayed at 31,000 feet for under 10 minutes before rapidly descending and landing in Bangkok in under half an hour. The descent happened as the flight was over the Andaman Sea approaching Myanmar, the AP report says. While most flyers have encountered mild turbulence before, severe turbulence is rare. Some figures put the number of flights affected by severe turbulence as one departure in every 50,000, according to a report in The Independent. Death and injuries are ever rarer. However, they are not unheard of. In March 2023, a flyer in the United States died after his private business jet encountered severe turbulence. The plane which had three passengers and two crew members on board saw fatal injuries to one passenger due to the turbulence. In another incident in March last year, a Lufthansa flight from Texas to Germany that experienced significant turbulence was diverted to Virginia, with seven people on board hospitalised with minor injuries. What is air turbulence, why does it happen and how dangerous can it be? Lets understand. Air turbulence and its causes The Conversation describes air turbulence as when the air starts flowing in a chaotic or random way, resulting in some form of discomfort for the people aboard the flight. Advertisement This sudden change in air movement can happen for a number of factors, including thunderstorms, mountains and jet streams. Thunderstorms can trigger atmospheric waves that move through the surrounding air before breaking and causing turbulence, The Conversation noted. When air flows over a mountain range, a mountain wave is created that disturbs the airflow. These mountain waves can propagate as wide, gentle oscillations into the atmosphere, but they can also break up into many tumultuous currents, which we experience as turbulence, explains National Geographic. Advertisement Jet streams or high-speed winds in the upper atmosphere can also lead to turbulence. Types of turbulence Turbulence, which lasts for a short period, has been categorised according to its level of intensity: light, moderate and severe. Speaking to CNN in 2022, Paul Williams, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Reading in the UK, said, Theres light turbulence, which is a bit of strain against your seat belt, but food service can continue and you can probably walk around the cabin, maybe with some difficulty. Then theres moderate turbulence, a definite strain against seat belts, anything thats not secured will be dislodged, and walking is difficult; flight attendants are usually instructed to take their seats. Advertisement The worst kind is severe turbulence: this is stronger than gravity, so it can pin you to your seat and if youre not wearing your seat belt youll be tossed around inside the cabin. This is the kind of turbulence that causes serious Injuries its been known to break bones, for example. Air turbulence can happen for a number of factors, including thunderstorms, mountains and jet streams. AP File Photo British Airways captain Steve Allright told the UK newspaper The Telegraph in 2019 that severe turbulence is extremely rare. In a flying career of over 10,000 hours, I have experienced severe turbulence for about five minutes in total. It is extremely uncomfortable but not dangerous, he had said then. Clear-air turbulence is considered the most dangerous type as it occurs without a warning when the sky is clear with no clouds or signs of a storm. Advertisement As per a CNN report, around 65,000 aircraft experience moderate turbulence each year in the US, while about 5,500 suffer from severe turbulence. ALSO READ: Explained: The real reason why we should turn our phones on airplane mode while flying Dangers of air turbulence Turbulence remains a top reason for anxiety among passengers travelling on planes. Out of millions of flyers every year, hundreds of injuries among passengers and flight attendants on commercial aircraft are reported globally. It is particularly dangerous for people not wearing seat belts. As per a 2021 report by the US NTSB, turbulence was behind 37.6 per cent of all accidents on larger commercial airlines between 2009 and 2018. However, it is rare for people to get injured during turbulence. From 2009 to 2021, turbulence accounted for 146 serious injuries 30 passengers and 116 crew members in the US, as per the FAA data last year. The FAA defines serious injuries as those that require hospitalisation for over 48 hours, or result in fractured bones, severe muscle or tendon damage, harm to internal organs or second- or third-degree burns, noted NPR. Most passengers seriously injured are either out of their seats or seated with their seat belts unfastened, the NTSBs 2021 report said. A 2009 CNN article said that there have been three turbulence-related deaths since 1980 on commercial airlines in the US. As per reports, at least two of these passengers who died were not wearing seat belts when the sign was on. It is rare for people to get injured during turbulence. AP (Representational Image) NTSB data says that 38 people aboard private planes have been killed in turbulence-related accidents since 2009, reported CNN. In most cases, the flight crew is hurt during these turbulence-related accidents as they are generally up and moving inside the aircraft. The majority of injuries actually happen to flight attendants, Les Dorr, the then spokesperson for the FAA, told CNN in 2009. They have to be up performing their tasks, even when the seatbelt light is on. Sara Nelson, a United flight attendant and the president of the Association of Flight Attendants, told CNN, We have flight attendants who have been thrown into the ceiling and then back down several times, resulting in broken limbs. In the aisle, with unannounced turbulence, we had people who lost toes, or lost the ability to work, or sustained injuries that kept them off the job for years". Can turbulence incidents increase? Unfortunately, yes. Turbulence is one of the most common flight accidents today, as per NTSF. For the US airlines alone, it is estimated that delays, damage and injuries due to turbulence cost $500 million a year, says the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Williams has warned that incidents and duration of air turbulence can increase in the coming decades owing to climate change. It is predicted there will be more and more incidents of severe clear-air turbulence, which typically comes out of the blue with no warning, occurring in the near future as climate change takes its effect in the stratosphere, he told The Guardian in 2016. There has already been a steady rise in incidents of severe turbulence affecting flights over the past few decades. Globally, turbulence causes dozens of fatalities a year on small private planes and hundreds of injuries to passengers in big jets. And as carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere keep rising, so will the numbers of incidents. So, what can flyers do? Fasten your seat belts which, aviation officials say, is the best way to avoid injury. With inputs from agencies _Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram ._ Amal Clooney, the wife of Hollywood star George Clooney, is one of the legal experts who recommended that the International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan seek arrest warrants for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and leaders of the militant Hamas group. The announcement comes as a symbolic blow for both sides and deepens Israels isolation over the war in Gaza read more The chief prosecutor of the worlds top war crimes court sought arrest warrants on Monday for leaders of Israel and Hamas, including Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, over actions taken during their seven-month war. The announcement by the International Criminal Courts chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, comes as a symbolic blow for both sides and deepens Israels isolation over the war in Gaza. On Monday, the bombshell report supporting ICC arrest warrant applications for crimes in Israel and Palestine was shared by the European Journal of International Law (EJIL). Advertisement Written by human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and academic professor Marko Milanovic, the report confirmed that Khan assembled a panel of experts to assist with the investigation into the Situation in the State of Palestine. Heres all we know about it. ICC arrest warrants The ICC prosecutor Karim Khan accused Netanyahu, Israels defence minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders Yehya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel, according to The Associated Press. A panel of three judges will decide whether to issue the arrest warrants and allow a case to proceed. The judges typically take two months to make such decisions. Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders condemned the move as disgraceful and antisemitic. United States president Joe Biden also lambasted the prosecutor and supported Israels right to defend itself against Hamas. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan has sought arrest warrants against Israels Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. The war crimes charges against the two are: starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health, wilful killing or murder, and intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population. File image/Reuters Israel is not a member of the court, so even if the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution. But the threat of arrest could make it difficult for Israeli leaders to travel abroad. It is unclear what effect Khans move will have on Netanyahus public standing. The possibility of an arrest warrant against Netanyahu could give him a boost as Israelis rally behind the flag. Advertisement But his opponents could also blame him for bringing a diplomatic catastrophe to the country. Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant pauses while making a brief statement to the media with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, not pictured, at The Kirya, Israels Ministry of Defense, Monday, 16 October 2023, in Tel Aviv. AP It is also pertinent to mention here that the court has never before targeted a close US ally, as seen by the arrest warrants issued by the ICC against Israeli figures. The latest war between Israel and Hamas began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas militants crossed into Israel and killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 others hostage. Since then, Israel has waged a brutal campaign to dismantle Hamas in Gaza. More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting, at least half of them women and children, according to the latest estimates by Gaza health officials. Advertisement The war has triggered a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, displacing roughly 80 per cent of the population and leaving hundreds of thousands of people on the brink of starvation, according to UN officials. Yahya Sinwar, head of Hamas in Gaza, chairs a meeting with leaders of Palestinian factions at his office in Gaza City, Wednesday, 13 April 2022. AP Amal Clooneys role in seeking arrest warrants Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney announced in a statement on Monday that she was part of an eight-person panel of legal and academic experts that the International Criminal Court had assembled in January to examine its prosecutor Karim Khans investigation into potential crimes committed in the conflict. Adrian B Fulford, a former judge of the International Criminal Court and retired justice of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, and Theodor Meron, a Holocaust survivor, former Israeli official, and former judge of the international tribunals on Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, were among the panellists assembled to consider arrest warrants in the case of Israel and Hamas, according to the New York Times. Advertisement The panel was also supported by academic advisers Professor Sandesh Sivakumaran (Professor of International Law, University of Cambridge) and Professor Marko Milanovic (Professor of Public International Law, University of Reading School of Law). The panel is composed of experts of immense standing in international humanitarian law and international criminal law, Khan wrote. According to a statement posted on the Clooney Foundation for Justice, the panel was asked to decide whether the prosecutors requests for arrest warrants complied with the International Criminal Courts requirements for this investigation. Together we have engaged in an extensive process of evidence review and legal analysis including at the international criminal court in The Hague, Clooney said. Advertisement Khans office runs the risk of drawing criticism for putting an elected government and a terrorist group on equal footing by requesting arrest warrants for both Israeli and Hamas officials in the same action Image Courtesy AP The group was specifically asked if there were reasonable grounds to believe that the people included in the warrant petitions had committed crimes that fell under the purview of the court, such as crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide. We unanimously conclude that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including hostage-taking, murder and crimes of sexual violence. We unanimously conclude that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity including starvation as a method of warfare, murder, persecution and extermination, according to a statement from Clooney. The law that protects civilians in war was developed more than 100 years ago and it applies in every country in the world regardless of the reasons for a conflict. Notably, earlier, Clooney was criticised for remaining silent over the Israel-Hamas conflict. In response to the criticism on social media, Clooney said, As a human rights lawyer, I will never accept that one childs life has less value than anothers. I do not accept that any conflict should be beyond the reach of the law, nor that any perpetrator should be above the law. So I support the historic step that the prosecutor of the international criminal court has taken to bring justice to victims of atrocities in Israel and Palestine. Additionally, she and her associates wrote an opinion piece for The Financial Times website explaining their support for ICC prosecutions for crimes in Israel and Gaza. The warrant applications announced today are just the first step. We hope that the prosecutor will continue to conduct focused investigations including in relation to the extensive harm suffered by civilians as a result of the bombing campaign in Gaza and evidence of sexual violence committed against Israelis on 7 October, the panel said. About the human rights lawyer British attorney Amal Clooney is well-known for her work in human rights and international law. According to the NYT, she teaches adjunct law at Columbia Law School in New York City and practices law as a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers in London. Along with her actor husband George Clooney, she founded the nonprofit Clooney Foundation for Justice, which offers free legal assistance to victims of human rights violations. Since her 2014 marriage to the Oscar winner, she has also gained fame in pop culture, as per The Guardian. She has represented victims of mass atrocities in appearances before the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. She was chosen by Khan to work as a special adviser in September 2021 in the Darfur region of Sudan, where a civil war has resulted in one of the worst humanitarian crises in decades, according to UN authorities, as per the NYT report. According to her special adviser profile on the ICC website, she represented victims of ISIS in the only three trials in the world in which ISIS members have been convicted of genocide and in five other trials convicting ISIS members of war crimes and crimes against humanity. With inputs from agencies Security forces thwarted a coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday in which armed men targeted the homes of top officials and briefly occupied the office of the presidency in the capital Kinshasa. Heres what to know read more Congolese security forces secure the streets after Congo's army said it has "foiled a coup" and arrested the perpetrators, following a shootout, in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Sunday. AP An attempted coup detat has been put down by the defence and security forces. The attempt involved foreigners and Congolese. These foreigners and Congolese have been put out of action, including their leader, Brigadier General Sylvain Ekenge, spokesperson for the Congolese army, announced the successful suppression of a coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday in which armed men targeted the homes of top officials and briefly occupied the office of the presidency in the capital Kinshasa. Advertisement General Ekenge reassured the public, urging them to go about their daily activities without fear. The Democratic Republic of the Congos armed forces request that the population conduct their business freely and peacefully. The defence and security forces have complete control of the situation, he stated, reports Africanews. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has detained three Americans on suspicion of participating in an abortive coup attempt. The men, who were captured after a gunfight in Kinshasa, are thought to be CIA agents, despite the US governments denial of any formal involvement. The coup leader was identified by the DRC military as 41-year-old Christian Malanga, a naturalised American who had studied in the US as a refugee. Heres what happened during the coup attempt? Who were the attackers? Who was Christian Malanga, and what role did he play in the coup attempt? What happened? In the early hours of Sunday (19 May), a group of around 50 men armed in camouflage fatigues attacked the residences of the prime minister, the defence minister, and a senior politician tipped to become speaker of parliament, according to the army. Authorities called it an attempted coup. The assailants breached the Palais de la Nation, a grand porticoed building in central Kinshasa that houses the office of President Felix Tshisekedi. The assailants breached the Palais de la Nation, a grand porticoed building in central Kinshasa that houses the office of President Felix Tshisekedi. File image/Reuters Videos shared online show armed men milling around the entrance of the presidency, whose glass doors have been smashed. They hoisted the flag of Zaire, Congos former name. One shouted: Felix were coming for you. Others chant: Long live Zaire. Advertisement Soon after, security forces moved in, killing the groups leader, US-based Congolese politician Christian Malanga, and three others. Around 40 others were arrested, the army said. Who was Christian Malanga? On his website, Malanga, 41, referred to himself as the President of New Zaire and head of a government in exile. The site does not mention plans to seize power by force, but outlines Malangas vision for the country under his leadership. An online biography describes him settling in the United States as a child refugee, returning to Congo to serve as an officer fighting rebels in the east, and campaigning to stoke Opposition to the current Congolese political class, which he accused of corruption and mismanagement. Advertisement Malanga, who had previously threatened on social media to overthrow Tshisekedi, first attempted a coup in 2017, according to army spokesperson Sylvain Ekenge. The army has shared a photo of his body sprawled on the grass in blood-stained fatigues. Who else was involved? Congo authorities said participants in the coup attempt included foreigners and Congolese citizens. Three US citizens, including Malangas son, were among those detained, Ekenge said. The army shared a video of a large group of detained alleged participants in the coup sitting on the ground as armed guards stand by. They wear camouflage and have Zaire flags draped on their shoulders. Two of the detainees in the video appear to be white men. One has bruises around his eyes and the others face is bloodied. Advertisement A man in military fatigues speaks as others stand next to him inside the Palace of the Nation during an attempted coup in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters Ekenge told Reuters one of the assailants was US citizen Benjamin Zalman-Polun. Local media described him as a medical marijuana entrepreneur who was also involved in mining interests with Malanga. Reuters was not able to reach Zalman-Polun or his representatives for comment. US court documents, seen by Reuters, show a defendant with the same name pleaded guilty in 2014 to possessing or distributing at least 20 kg of marijuana. In the ministrys video, a detained man described as a recruiter for Malangas cause says Malanga had planned to proclaim himself president. He indicated he had the support of the Americans, but we realise that he didnt really have any, the detainee said. Advertisement The US ambassador has said the United States will fully cooperate with the Congolese authorities and hold accountable any US citizens involved. What does this mean for Congo? The speed with which the coup attempt was quashed suggests the plotters did not pose a major threat, but the fact they hit targets meant to be highly secure is cause for concern, said Tresor Kibangula, a political analyst at Congos Ebuteli research institute. The whole thing was carried out with a disconcerting degree of apparent unpreparedness and improvisation, which raises a number of questions: did he (Malanga) act alone? What about the flaws in the security arrangements in the capital? The drama comes at a delicate time for President Tshisekedi, who is struggling to curb a two-year offensive by Rwanda-backed rebels in eastern Congo that threatens to spill over into a broader conflict. Five months after Tshisekedis disputed re-election, the ruling coalition has failed to form a government due to internal rivalries over jobs, despite a large majority in parliament. With inputs from Reuters Australia is mulling banning social media for young people considering the negative impacts of harmful content and excessive screen time. Currently, platforms require users to be at least 13 years of age. But, governments in the country are looking to raise it to 14, or even 16 read more Governments across Australia are considering a ban on social media for some young people to shield them from harmful content and the negative effects of excessive online activity. The premiers of New South Wales (NSW), Queensland, Victoria, and South Australia are collectively advocating for higher age minimums on tech platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, following numerous campaign by many organisations. Currently, users must be 13 to create an account, but this requirement is often easily bypassed. While many experts support increased regulation of social media and highlight its risks to young minds, few believe a ban could be safely enforced while ensuring data and personal privacy, reported The Guardian. Advertisement What premiers from different states & territories have proposed? The NSW premier, Chris Minns, believes the appropriate age limit for social media should be 16. He noted, Therell be a lot of 16-year-olds where that isnt old enough, to be honest with you, when you consider what youre exposed to as a result of being on social media. Despite advocating for this change, Minns expressed uncertainty about its enforceability at the state level and emphasised the need for a unified national approach. To address these concerns, he announced that NSW would host a social media summit this year to explore ways to protect children and teens from online harm. Queenslands premier, Steven Miles, has suggested an age limit of 14 for social media use. Image used for representational purposes/AP Victorian premier Jacinta Allan is calling for a national response, citing social medias role in exacerbating antisemitism, racism, and gender-based violence. She stated, We need to hold these global social media giants to a better standard. Social media platforms already set minimum age barriers; its time these were raised, or time Australia sets its own because social media isnt going anywhere. In South Australia, premier Peter Malinauskas announced that his state could consider social media bans for individuals under 14 and require parental permission for those under 16. Where does the Australian PM stand? Advertisement Australian PM Anthony Albanese has supported the idea of banning children from registering social media accounts until they are 16, citing the serious damage that excessive online engagement can cause to their mental health. The PM advocates raising the minimum age for social media registration from 13 to 16 to allow teenagers more time to develop without the pressures of online social interactions. What we want is our youngest Australians spending more time outside playing sport, engaging with each other in a normal way and less time online, Albanese told Nova FM radio on Tuesday. And one way to do that is through restrictions on social media. Advertisement Australian PM Anthony Albanese has endorsed banning children from registering social media accounts until they are 16. X/AlboMP He noted that the often-vicious commentary on social media can also be harmful to adults and even more detrimental to children. It can be devastating, Albanese said, adding, I dont look at the comments on my social media because, if I did, Id find it difficult to leave the house in the morning. People will say things anonymously that are terrible. The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has also supported the age verification for social media Its difficult to make the case for children under the age of 16 being on social media, especially when weve seen the harmful effects that it can have on our children, he says. Advertisement Will it be a nation-wide ban? Despite a few premiers suggesting their states could implement changes independently, some experts argue that modifications to age verification systems should be enacted at the national level. Dr. Belinda Barnet, a senior lecturer in media at Swinburne University, believes that state-based geo-located blocks would be extremely challenging, if not impossible. It would make a lot more sense if it was a national decision, but Ive got some reservations, she told The Guardian, indicating that such a move would necessitate legislative changes in Canberra that tech companies would need to enforce. Image used for representational purposes/AP David Coleman, the opposition communications spokesperson, states that while it is encouraging to see premiers advocating for action, age verification is a federal matter Whats happening now is completely unacceptable and age verification is the way to address it, he says. Its very clear this is a commonwealth power, so we need the commonwealth to act. Advertisement Are there any concerns? Another major question is whether it would be possible to implement a system that users could not circumvent and that would not compromise personal data. This month, the Australian federal government pledged $6.5 million for an age assurance trial to evaluate the effectiveness of technologies designed to verify the ages of social media users. This trial was recommended by the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, in March of last year. Speaking to The Guardian, Barnet expressed concern that a policy change might result in Australians having to provide sensitive documents to platforms to prove their age. We need a third-party solution mainly because its a really bad idea to give identity documents to any of the platforms, she says. Theyre just the wrong custodians for that sensitive information. Image used for representational purposes/AP She also raises privacy concerns, noting that people might no longer be able to use social media anonymously. Samantha Floreani, the head of policy at Digital Rights Watch, emphasises that children and young people need to participate in modern life, which increasingly takes place online. She warns against creating additional harm in the process of attempting to reduce it. Attempting to prevent young people up to the age of 16 from accessing social media entirely is not an appropriate or proportionate solution to issues related to online harm and is likely to run into serious implementation and workability issues, she told The Guardian. Also Read: Who is Frank McCourt, the US billionaire trying to buy TikTok for the people? Plenty of young people rely upon social media to express themselves, form communities and find support, and banning them may have significant negative consequences. Also expressing concerns about the risk to privacy, Floreani says, Most social media sites already require a user to be over 13 to register an account although this obviously does not function very well." In order to enforce it more strongly, platforms would need to implement more strict age verification processes, which would likely raise serious privacy risks. What have social media platforms said? TikTok has asserted that the safety of younger users is a top priority, highlighting that accounts registered to users under 16 are automatically set [This] limits who can follow the account, view their videos, read their bio, and interact with their videos, a spokesperson told The Guardian. We also have a Family Pairing feature that allows adults to link their TikTok account with their teens account. This gives them control over the teens account settings, including how much time they can spend online, and the type of content they can see. Image used for representational purposes/Pixabay Upon registration, social media sites typically require users to provide a birthdate and do not allow individuals under 13 to register. However, this requirement is easily bypassed. Companies like Meta use additional methods to identify younger users, such as analysing behavioural patterns, like the pages they follow and the content posted around their birthdays. In Australia, Instagram has implemented an age verification system where users can confirm they are over 18 by uploading an ID, using a video facial age estimator, or having another over-18 account vouch for them. Also Read: Why Chinese social media companies are cracking down on posts that show off wealth During a previous UK parliamentary inquiry on online safety in 2022, Meta stated that the age limit of 13 struck the right balance. As per our terms, we require people to be at least 13 years old to sign up for Facebook or Instagram. Our approach to understanding a users age aims to strike a balance between protecting peoples privacy, wellbeing, and freedom of expression. With inputs from agencies South Koreas constitutional court is hearing the final plea in what is dubbed the baby climate change case. In it, over 200 plaintiffs, including children, adults and even a one-year-old infant, nicknamed Woodpecker, are arguing that the governments climate goals are too weak. Experts say this case, the first in East Asia, will encourage further such action in the region read more Choi Heewoo, nicknamed Woodpecker, attends a press conference before the initial hearing for petitions filed by activists saying that the government has violated their human rights for what they say is a failure to adequately address climate change. File image/Reuters In early April, a group of elderly women in Switzerland, dubbed the Climate Grannies, secured the first-ever climate case victory in the European Court of Human Rights. And today (21 April), South Korean constitutional court will have its final hearing in the so-called baby climate case. While climate change cases are gaining traction around the world from 884 in 2017 to 2,180 in 2022 this case is significant for two reasons. First, one of the litigants is just one-year-old, making him one of the youngest plaintiffs in climate litigation history. Secondly, this is the first case in East Asia to challenge national climate policies, and so could set a huge precedent. Advertisement Lets take a closer look at the baby climate case from who are the plaintiffs, why are they suing the government and what could the impact of this case be in Asia. Whats the case all about? South Koreas Constitutional Court will on Tuesday (21 May) hold the second and final hearing in the Woodpecker et al v South Korea case. The initial hearing was held in April in which the litigants accuse the South Korean government of having failed to protect 200 people, including dozens of young environmental activists and children, by not tackling climate change. In fact, the case before the court is the result of merging four similar cases that were filed between 2020 and 2023. One of the most famous faces in the case is that of Woodpecker, the nickname of Choi Heewoo, who is now one-year-old. His mother, Lee Dong-Hyun, had said in 2022: I am proud every time a 20-week-old foetus moves in my belly, but I feel sorry and regretful that this child who has not emitted even a gram of carbon dioxide has to live with the current climate crisis and disaster. Environmental activists Choi Heewoo in the presence of Choi Jia (yellow T-shirt) and Kim Hannah (Purple T-shirt) chant slogans during a press conference before the initial hearing for petitions filed by activists against the government over their poor action on climate change. File image/Reuters She argued that South Koreas government is deferring the task of reducing carbon emissions to future administrations and younger generations. The more we think this task can be delayed now, the bigger the burden our future generations will have, she was quoted as telling NPR. I think its the same as passing on a debt to your children. Advertisement Around 200 of the plaintiffs argue that the governments climate goals are too weak. Under its current nationally determined contribution (NDC) to meeting the UN Paris Agreement, the government is aiming to lower the countrys greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) to 40 per cent below 2018 levels by 2030. Climate Action Tracker notes that if all countries held South Koreas standard, the world would shoot up by three degrees Celsius by the end of the century. Moreover, the plaintiffs argue that the government is failing to provide constitutionally required protection of their fundamental rights: right to life, right to pursue happiness, right to general freedom, right to property, right to healthy environment. They also argue that the State is failing to fulfil its obligation to provide its people with protection from disasters. Advertisement Would the case have an impact? Nature reports that the timing of the ruling is important, as countries will be updating its NDCs next year. If the court ruled in the favour of the plaintiffs, it would force South Korea to be more ambitious in its next round of climate plans, lasting until 2035. Additionally, the courts ruling will echo across Asia. Sejong Youn, who is a legal counsel for the case in Seoul, told Nature, It will send a message: all countries need to take action in order to tackle this global crisis, and there are no exceptions. The South Koreas courts ruling will echo across Asia, say experts. File image/Reuters Climate-litigation researcher Masako Ichihara at the Kyoto Climate Adaptation Centre in Japan also told Nature: Its a very big and significant case in Asia. Thats because people in Asian countries are less inclined to use litigation to question government policies. Litigation is a last resort, she said. Advertisement Climate change experts have noted that even if the plaintiffs lose the case, it will change how people perceive climate litigation in the continent. Dr Mingzhe Zhu, a lecturer at the University of Glasgow, UK, told Euro News: Even if you lose this time, you can lose beautifully in the sense that you provoked social awareness. The very fact that this case went to the constitutional court that is already a certain sense of success, he said. Are there similar climate change cases across the world? South Koreas so-called baby climate case is one among the many across the world. In April, Europes top human rights court ruled in favour of more than 2,000 women aged 64 and over when it said that the Swiss governments failure to cut carbon emissions was a violation of citizens rights. Advertisement Anne Mahrer and Rosmarie Wydler-Walti, of the Swiss elderly women group Senior Women for Climate Protection, talk to journalists after the verdict of the court in the climate case Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v Switzerland, at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, France in April. File image/Reuters Prior to that in March, Indias Supreme Court had also established that a clean and healthy environment was a fundamental right. And in 2020, six young people from Portugal filed a case against 32 European countries, including Britain, Switzerland, Norway, Russia and Turkey. They had argued that climate change threatens their rights to life, privacy, mental health and other matters. However, the ECHR had ruled out their case owing to geographic stretch. In 2020, 16 children between the ages of 5 and 22 took the American state of Montana to court, saying that the State violated their right to a clean environment, which is enshrined in the states constitution. In 2023, after a protracted court fight, they won with the court stating that Montana must consider the effects of climate change when deciding whether to begin or renew fossil-fuel projects. With inputs from agencies Following Iranian president Ebrahim Raisis death in a helicopter crash, social media has been rife with conspiracy theories. From the US and Israels hand in the assassination to the use of space lasers, we explain what has gripped the imagination of the people read more Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were found dead Monday after their helicopter crashed, reportedly in foggy conditions. The incident has left Iran without two key leaders at a time of heightened tensions in the Middle East. Iran has launched a probe into the deaths of the top leaders of the country. An official cause for the crash has not been offered. Within hours of Raisis death being announced, speculation and conspiracy theories about the cause and party responsible for it were rife. ranging from Israel and United States involvement to use of hi-tech laser weapons. Advertisement What happened The crash occurred in mountainous terrain, enveloped in sudden and intense fog, killing all eight people aboard the Bell 212 helicopter. This aircraft, purchased by Iran in the early 2000s, was carrying not only Raisi and Amirabdollahian but also other notable figures including the governor of Irans East Azerbaijan province, a senior cleric from Tabriz, a Revolutionary Guard official, and three crew members. The state-run IRNA news agency has confirmed these details. Blame on US embargo Iranian officials have attributed the crash to the US embargo on aircraft and aviation parts, which has significantly impacted the maintenance and safety of Irans aviation fleet. Former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif pointed to the embargo, arguing that the US sanctions were indirectly responsible for the tragedy by depriving Iran of necessary aviation parts and safety checks. Israeli involvement? Another widespread theory speculates that the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, known for its ability to execute operations inside Iran, was behind the crash. This theory is fuelled by Israels historical operations targeting Iranian military and nuclear personnel. However, experts find this theory unlikely. Assassinating a sitting president would constitute a direct act of war, potentially provoking a severe response from Iran. Israels strategic focus has traditionally been on military and nuclear targets rather than high-profile political figures. There are strong reasons to doubt Israels involvement, noted a report in The Economist. It has never gone so far as to assassinate a head of state, an unequivocal act of war that would invite a fierce Iranian response. Advertisement Internal power struggles Speculation also surrounds internal power struggles within Iran. With Raisi being a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, his death has sparked theories about rival factions vying for control. Some believe Mojtaba Khamenei, the Supreme Leaders son and another contender for leadership, could have been involved. If Raisi is indeed dead, the key takeaway is the fact that the next Supreme Leader is most likely Ali Khameneis son, Mojtaba Khamenei, Gabriel Noronha, a former advisor on Iran to the US State Department, wrote in a post on X. If Raisi is indeed dead, the key takeaway is not really who succeeds him (thats the 1st VP Mohammad Mokhber, but only as a caretaker for 50 days before an election). Its the fact that the next Supreme Leader is most likely Ali Khameneis son, Mojtaba Khamenei. Internal pic.twitter.com/frBnFpHmop Gabriel Noronha (@GLNoronha) May 19, 2024 Advertisement Social media speculations Social media has been rife with various theories, ranging from plausible to outlandish. One user questioned the official narrative, pointing out that two other helicopters in the same convoy landed safely despite the bad weather. This has led some to doubt the accident explanation entirely, suggesting sabotage instead. Could be any of a dozen countries to be honest. The only thing I 100% dont believe is that it was an accident, one user wrote. Advertisement Laser weapons in space A particularly sensational conspiracy theory says that directed energy weapons, such as space lasers, were used to bring down the helicopter. This theory is quite popular on platforms like X. If nobody else is going to say it then I will. The president of Iran obviously had his helicopter shot out of the sky by a space laser, asserted a user who goes by Diana Wallace. There were several other tweets along these lines, most having the same accompanying picture. However, there is no evidence to support this claim, and it remains in the realm of conspiracy without factual backing. Advertisement If nobody else is going to say it then I will. The president of Iran obviously had his helicopter shot out of the sky by a space laser! pic.twitter.com/vLCgsHvDwn Diana Wallace (@DianaWallace888) May 20, 2024 Counterpoints to theories Despite the proliferation of these theories, there are counterpoints and factual challenges to consider. The intense fog and mountainous terrain provide a plausible explanation for the crash without the need for external interference. Additionally, the advanced age and maintenance issues of Irans aviation fleet, exacerbated by sanctions, could logically account for the crash. The Bell 212 helicopter model, extensively used since the shahs era, faces a shortage of parts and often flies without safety checks, as highlighted by IRNA. The funeral of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, the countrys foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other victims who died in a helicopter crash will be held today in Tabriz. An Indian national charged in connection with the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar will reappear before a Canadian court alongside three co-accused read more The second day of the week is going to be a busy one. Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, the countrys foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other victims funerals will be held today in Tabriz. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which initiated its probe in 2020, is expected to submit the chargesheet in the Bengal coal smuggling case on Tuesday. An Indian national charged in connection with the killing of a Khalistani separatist will reappear before a Canadian court on Tuesday alongside three co-accused. Advertisement Heres how the day will unfold. Iranian presidents funeral Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the countrys foreign minister and others were found dead Monday at the site of a helicopter crash after an hours-long search through a foggy, mountainous region of the countrys northwest, state media reported. According to the Iranian news outlet Tasnim, which is affiliated to the countrys Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, Raisi and other victims funeral will be held today in Tabriz - the city he was travelling to on Sunday. The bodies will be taken to a forensics department in Tabriz beforehand. Indian national to reappear before Canadian court in Nijjars murder case An Indian national charged in connection with the killing of a Khalistani separatist appeared before a Canadian court, which ordered him to re-appear on Tuesday alongside three co-accused arrested in the high-profile case that has severely strained Indias relations with Canada. Hardeep Singh Nijjar was gunned down in his vehicle while leaving the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib parking lot, in Surrey, British Columbia last June. Canada has alleged that India had a role in the murder. File image/AP Amandeep Singh, a 22-year-old suspect in the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, appeared via video in a Surrey court on Wednesday, and the matter has been put forward to next week, local media reports said. Nijjar, 45, was killed outside Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia on 18 June 2023. Charges to be framed against BJPs Brij Bhushan Singh Advertisement A Delhi court will frame charges against ex-WFI chief Brij Bhushan Singh in sexual harassment case. The case was filed by six female wrestlers. Singh has also been charged with the offence of outraging the modesty of woman. File image of Bharatiya Janata Party MP and former WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. PTI The Delhi police chargesheet filed against Singh and second accused Vinod Tomar stated that both the accused are chargesheeted for trial without arrest as they have complied with the directions under section 41A CrPC by joining the investigation. It further stated that based on the investigation so far, Singh was liable to be prosecuted and punished for offences of sexual harassment, molestation and stalking. CBI to submit chargesheet in Bengal coal smuggling case Advertisement The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which initiated its probe in 2020, is expected to submit the chargesheet in the Bengal coal smuggling case on Tuesday. The alleged scam involves mines located in the Kunustoria and Kajora areas in and around Asansol, West Bengal. In connection with the alleged scam, four individuals, including Gurupada Majhi, believed to be Anup Majhi associate, were previously arrested. While the other three have been granted bail, Gurupada remains incarcerated in Tihar jail. Red alert in Kerala The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday issued a red alert for four districts in Kerala Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Idukki, and Alappuzha forecasting extremely heavy rainfall until Tuesday. Advertisement As heavy rains pose potential hazards, the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) has advised people to remain vigilant. With expectations of heavy rainfall within a short timeframe, theres a risk of flash floods and urban waterlogging, particularly in low-lying areas. Landslides may also be triggered by prolonged rainfall. WFI to decide on Paris Games selection criteria The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) will decide on 21 May the selection criteria to pick the Indian team for the Paris Olympics, it has been learnt from reliable sources. India has earned six quota places for the Summer Games, with five of them coming from women wrestlers. Aman Sehrawat is the lone male wrestler to lock quota in the mens freestyle 57 kilogrammes category. Advertisement The WFI had said that it would conduct one final trial to select the wrestlers who will represent the country at the Paris Games, starting 26 July. Strike action to hit Paris airports and trains Four major transport union strikes are expected to disrupt travel by air and rail in Paris on Tuesday. The strikes are a result of the unions demand on the government to provide a better compensation package for the Olympic Games. Many employees of the Aeroports de Paris (ADP) and the SNCF train company are anticipated to observe the one-day strike. AI Seoul Summit, hosted jointly by South Korea and Britain South Korea and the United Kingdom will co-host the second global AI summit in Seoul this week, as the breath-taking pace of innovation since the first AI summit in November leaves governments scrambling to keep up with a growing array of risks. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will oversee a virtual summit on Tuesday, amid calls for better regulation of artificial intelligence despite sharp disagreements over how the technology may affect humanity. Menstruation festival in 11 countries Maasika Mahotsav, a week-long festival that aims to destigmatise periods through sports, arts and cultural programmes, will be celebrated today in 11 countries. As many as 33 organisations will be involved in celebrating the 8th edition of the festival through programmes in 15 states in the country. The festival aims to challenge menstrual taboos, eradicate period poverty and spark meaningful conversations about periods around the globe, Thane-based NGO Muse Foundation said in a release. US treasury secy Janet Yellen to receive honorary doctorate in Germany US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is visiting Germanys Frankfurt today, where she will be receiving an honorary doctorate from the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and deliver remarks on the importance of the transatlantic alliance. She also will meet with leaders of European banks to discuss macroeconomic issues and efforts to combat illicit financing, including for Russia. During her visit, Yellen will also push fellow G7 finance officials this five-day visit this week to agree to a plan to bring forward the interest earnings on frozen Russian assets to provide more money to Ukraine quickly. A day to remember The World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development Birth anniversary of actor Mohanlal Birth anniversary of actor Aditi Gowitrikar Death anniversary of former PM Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 70th anniversary of China-Pakistan diplomatic relations on 21 May 1951 Slavery was abolished in Colombia, South America, in 1851 The International Criminal Courts (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan has applied for arrest warrants against Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Al-Masri and Ismail Haniyeh. What happens now? What do the arrest warrants mean for them? read more ICC prosecutor Karim Khan has sought arrest warrants against Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. The war crimes charges against the two are: starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health, wilful killing or murder, and intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population. File image/Reuters Its been nearly 230 days of the Israel-Hamas war, which is battled in the Gaza Strip. As this long war continues to progress, the Benjamin Netanyahu-led government has been accused of carrying out disproportionate action in the Gaza region, killing thousands and thousands of innocents. Some even dubbing Israels actions as war crimes. And on Monday (20 May), the International Criminal Courts (ICC) prosecution office applied for arrest warrants for top Hamas and Israeli figures on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the 7 October attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. Advertisement In a statement, the ICCs chief prosecutor said that he was filing applications for the warrants of arrests for Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, Yahya Sinwar and other senior Israeli and Hamas figures who have played key roles in the ongoing war in Gaza. The ICC prosecution offices decision has been denounced by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ally, US president Joe Biden. In fact, the US president said: We reject the ICCs application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders. But what exactly are ICC warrants? And what happens if they are granted? What warrants? On Monday, ICCs Karim Khan said that he had requested for arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defence chief and three Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes. In a statement, he added that after more than seven months of war in Gaza, he had reasonable grounds to believe the five men bear criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan has sought arrest warrants for five leaders Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. Also, Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar; Mohammed Al-Masri, the commander-in-chief of the military wing of Hamas who is widely known as Deif; and Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas political bureau. File image/Reuters He has requested for arrest warrants against five leaders. They are: Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy. These crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day, said Khan in reference to Netanyahu and Gallant. And from the Hamas, he has sought warrants against its chief Yahya Sinwar ; Mohammed Al-Masri, the commander-in-chief of the military wing of Hamas who is widely known as Deif; and Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas political bureau. In his statement, he said: We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Israel by Hamas and other armed groups pursuant to organisational policies. Advertisement It has been reported that Amal Clooney, the reputed high-profile British-Lebanese barrister, helped the ICC weigh evidence that led to the decision to seek arrest warrants for top Israeli and Hamas leaders. For the unaware, the ICC, established in 2002, is the permanent court of last resort to prosecute individuals responsible for the worlds most heinous atrocities war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression. As of today, 124 countries are signatories to the Rome Statute, which created the ICC. This means that these countries accept the courts jurisdiction. Interestingly, Israel, the United States, Russia and China are not signatories to the Rome Statute, meaning they dont abide by the ICCs jurisdiction. Advertisement How the world reacted? Shortly after ICCs Karim Khan sought the arrest warrants, countries across the world spoke up, including the US, Israel and even the Hamas leaders. Hamas, on Monday, condemned the move, and said in a statement: The Hamas movement strongly condemns the attempts of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to equate the victim with the executioner by issuing arrest warrants against a number of Palestinian resistance leaders. Meanwhile, Israel too denounced the move, calling it a historical disgrace. Israels foreign minister Israel Katz said that Khan in the same breath mentions the prime minister and the minister of defence of Israel alongside the abominable Nazi monsters of Hamas a historical disgrace that will be remembered forever. Advertisement He further denounced the move as a scandalous decision that amounted to a frontal attack on the victims of 7 October when Hamas launched their attack on Israel, sparking the Gaza war. The minister added that Israel would establish a special committee to fight the ICC prosecutors efforts to secure a warrant, and also embark on a diplomatic push against it. Israeli President Isaac Herzog criticised Khans step as an example of how the international judicial system is in danger of collapsing. Any attempt to draw parallels between these atrocious terrorists and a democratically elected government of Israel is outrageous and cannot be accepted by anyone. Advertisement Prime Minister Netanyahu himself slammed the request of the arrest warrant, saying, With what audacity do you dare compare the monsters of Hamas to the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the most moral army in the world. The US has rejected the ICCs move seeking arrest warrants against Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister. US president Joe Biden said there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas. Reuters With what audacity do you compare between the Hamas that murdered, burned, butchered, raped, and kidnapped our brothers and sisters, and the IDF soldiers who are fighting a just war that is unparalleled in morality that is unmatched, he said in a statement. Meanwhile, countries such as France and South Africa supported the ICC. On the other hand, the US rejected the move. President Joe Biden said, Let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence none between Israel and Hamas. And this was echoed by US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who was quoted as saying: It is shameful. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organisation that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, and it still holding dozens of people hostage, including Americans. Will arrest warrants now be issued? Not necessarily. Khans request will now go to one of the pre-trial chambers in the ICC where a panel of three judges will decide if theres enough grounds to issue these arrest warrants. Currently, the chamber consists of presiding judge Iulia Motoc of Romania, Mexican judge Maria del Socorro Flores Liera and judge Reine Alapini-Gansou of Benin. According to Reuters, there is no deadline for judges to decide whether to issue arrest warrants. In previous cases, judges have taken anywhere from just over a month to several months. The ICC prosecutors request seeking arrest warrants will now go to one of the pre-trial chambers in the ICC where a panel of three judges will decide if there are enough grounds for this action. File image/Reuters If the judges do find grounds that war crimes or crimes against humanity have been committed, they will issue the warrant. Iva Vukusic, an expert on international legal institutions at the Utrecht University, in the Netherlands, told The Guardian: The prosecution is not dumb; they would not mess up at this stage at such an important case everyone is looking at. So I believe the judges will agree on the warrants. Will Netanyahu and the others be immediately arrested? No. The ICC doesnt have its own police force to arrest or carry out other actions. It depends on member countries to do so. This means that if warrants are issued against Netanyahu, his defence minister and the Hamas leaders, their travel would be severely curtailed. The 124 state members of the ICC would be under obligation to arrest them. However, non-members such as the US, Russia, China would not be bound to arrest them. For instance, Netanyahu and Gallant would be able to visit America. And Haniyeh , who is believed to be in Qatar, would also face no problem, as Doha is not a member of the ICC. However, experts note that even if warrants are issued, the court has no means to enforce the arrest. A Reuters report points out that if a member-country doesnt abide by the ICC, it is referred back to the ICCs assembly of member states and ultimately a referral to the UN Security Council. A demonstrator holds a placard depicting Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US president Joe Biden, French president Emmanuel Macron and Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant during a protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza , in Brussels. File image/Reuters While, it is unknown if the arrest warrants are issued and if they are actually implemented, one thing is certain: if the ICC does, in fact, issue these warrants, it will be a significant moment. This is because it will be first time it would have sought to hold a close ally of the west, and of the US in particular, responsible since its foundation. In the past, the ICC has been slammed for not holding the Western countries accountable. As The Guardian notes, Khans application is in direct defiance of Washington, which had lobbied him heavily not to proceed. Has the ICC issued warrants for other world leaders? As per records, the ICC has issued 46 arrest warrants so far and detained 21 people in its detention centre. Most recently, the court in 2023 issued a warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin on charges of responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. Other high-profile leaders charged by the court are Sudanese strongman Omar al-Bashir on allegations including genocide in his countrys Darfur region. Former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was captured and killed by rebels shortly after the ICC issued a warrant for his arrest on charges linked to the brutal suppression of anti-government protests in 2011. With inputs from agencies Iranian president Ebrahim Raisis demise has sparked questions about who will now succeed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The occupant of the high-profile post has the ultimate power in the Islamic Republic, having the final say in all policies. But how did ayatollahs come to power? read more Iranian president Ebrahim Raisis death in a helicopter crash has spurred speculations about the successor of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Raisi was seen as a frontrunner to take over the Islamic Republic after the death of the 85-year-old. However, as Raisi is no longer in the picture now, there is uncertainty about Khameneis successor. This is likely to kickstart a power struggle between hardline factions in Iran over who will replace the aged ayatollah. Advertisement Amid concerns about Khameneis health, the question about his replacement gains more significance. Irans supreme leader is the ultimate centre of power in the country. But how did ayatollahs become the most powerful leaders? We will explain. Irans revolution of 1979 The return of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in February 1979, after 14 years in exile, was a watershed moment in Irans history. By then, Irans ruler Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi had fled the country. Khomeini, who was born in a family of religious leaders, was an outspoken critic of the shah who had close ties with the West. As anger against Pahlavis Western policies and modern reforms grew in Iran, Khomeini attacked the shahs programmes, according to a History.com report. He called for overthrowing the shah and establishing an Islamic state in Iran. In 1963, the shah imprisoned Khomeini, a popular devout Shiite cleric, leading to riots. The cleric was expelled from Iran in November 1964. Khomeini spent his yearslong exile in Turkey, Iraq and France, as per Al Jazeera. Even while he was away from Iran, Khomeini, who was known by the high Shiite title ayatollah, or sign of God, kept up the pressure against the Iran rulers, inciting his followers back home. As disgruntlement against the shah grew, he grew more oppressive, triggering mass support for Khomeini. In 1978, massive protests against the shah broke out in major cities across Iran, as per the History.com report. Advertisement Iranian women pass by pictures of the founder of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini outside the Jamaran mosque in Tehran on 3 June 2005. Reuters File Photo As the common public joined the radical students, Khomeini pressed for the immediate ouster of Pahlavi. In December of that year, Irans army revolted, resulting in the shah fleeing the country on 16 January 1979. Just weeks later, 78-year-old Khomeini returned to Iran. Commenting on his homecoming, Mohamad Marandi, a specialist in Iran-US relations at Tehran University, told Al Jazeera, It was a turning point in modern Iranian history. Amid heightened religious fervour, Khomeini, who was hailed as the leader of the Iranian Revolution, transformed Iran into a religious state. ALSO READ: Ebrahim Raisi death: What happens next in Irans politics? How Irans supreme leader became all-powerful Advertisement The post of Supreme Leader holds massive power and authority in Iran. Khomeini was the first Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. Irans supreme leader has the ultimate power, acting as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The leader appoints the heads of all military branches and the head of the judiciary. The occupant of the post also controls Irans intelligence and security operations and has the power to declare war or peace. The Supreme Leader has the final say in deciding the policies of the country and dealing with the outside world. The leader also makes several key appointments in the country, including the chief commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Advertisement Iran has had only two Supreme Leaders since the birth of the Islamic Republic. After Khomeini died in 1989, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took over the high-profile post. He has maintained a tight grip on Irans politics and foreign affairs. Khamenei has taken a hardline stance against the West, especially the United States and has often called for the elimination of the State of Israel. In 1981 when he was Irans president, Khamenei vowed to crush deviation, liberalism, and American-influenced leftists, reported BBC. His rise to the post of Supreme Leader was ensured by changes to the Constitution. Demonstrators wave the Iranian flag and hold a picture of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a ceremony to mark the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, in Tehrans Azadi square on 11 February 2012. Reuters File Photo Irans constitution states that the Supreme Leader has to be an ayatollah, a senior Shia religious figure, noted BBC. Advertisement Ali Khamenei, who was involved in protests against the shah and had also gone to jail at the time, was picked by the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member clerical body, to be the new Supreme Leader in 1989. According to BBC, as Khamenei did not have the rank among Shia clerics of marja-e taqlid (source of emulation) or grand ayatollah, an amendment was made in the Constitution saying that the Supreme Leader had to show Islamic scholarship. With this, Khamenei became eligible to take over the post of Irans supreme leader. The Constitution was also changed to abolish the post of prime minister and to accord greater authority to the president, BBC reported. Khamenei was also elevated to ayatollah status from the clerical rank of Hojjat al-Islam. Questions over Ali Khameneis successor Raisi was believed to be Khameneis preference as his successor. The Supreme Leader is reported to be against his son Mojtabas candidature as he does not want to promote hereditary leadership, as per a South China Morning Post (SCMP) report. As per Reuters, Khameneis objection to hereditary rule would also eliminate the candidacy of the grandson of the Islamic Republics founder Ali Khomeini, who is in Najaf, Iraq. The other name doing rounds is Alireza Arafi, who is currently vying for the role of the chairman of the Assembly of Experts, which will appoint the new supreme leader after Khameneis death. However, he is not seen as a candidate for Iranian presidency due to a perceived lack of charisma and earlier resistance from key hardline lobbies in Tehran, according to SCMP. For a long time now, the succession discussion in Iran has been that it will be either Mojtaba or someone else, Vali Nasr, a former senior adviser at the US State Department, told SCMP. After Khamenei indicated he preferred someone else, the only name in the someone else category was Raisi. Now there is no name in that category, he added. Speaking to Reuters, a former Iranian official said that prominent actors like Revolutionary Guards and influential clerics in Qom, an important centre for religious studies in the Islamic Republic, are now likely to ramp up efforts to shape the process by which the next supreme leader is picked. Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, said none but a handful at the top likely know how much of the Raisi-as-heir narrative had a basis in reality. But if this was the plan, Raisis death introduces great uncertainty in the succession, he said, as per Reuters. With inputs from agencies Heinrich XIII belongs to the House of Reuss a family that traces its origins to the 12th Century and which ruled parts of eastern Germany in its glory days. He is one of several conspirators charged in the Reichsbuerger plot, which sought to overthrow the government and install him as head of state read more Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss is one of several conspirators charged with a plot to overthrow German democracy. AP A German prince walked into courtroom on Tuesday. Thats not the start of a joke. Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss is one of several conspirators charged with a plot to overthrow German democracy. The Reichsbuerger plot, which authorities foiled in in 2022, left Germany rocked. But who is Reuss? What do we know about the plot? Lets take a closer look: Who is he? According to Sky News, Heinrich XIII, hails from a German noble family. The 72-year-old was born near Frankfurt. Advertisement He married an Iranian woman and has a son and daughter. He is said to work in property and finance. The House of Reuss traces its origins to the 12th Century. In its glory days, it ruled some of eastern Germany. However, its reign came to an end when Germany became a republic. In 1920, their territory was then integrated into the state of Thuringia. Every male member of the Reuss dynasty is called Heinrich. This is thought to be in homage to Henry VI, the Roman emperor who bestowed on the family their titles. The first child of each century is known as Heinrich I, the second as Heinrich II all the way to 100 or the start of a new century. According to El Pais, Heinrich XIII was widely known in Frankfurt on account of his distinguished ancestry and business dealings. Prince Heinrich XIV, who leads the House of Reuss, told Sky News his relative a confused old man who dabbles in conspiracy theories. Heinrich said his relative has not been in contact with the family for well over a decade. Advertisement Reuss, the central figure of the movement, is said to have hosted planning meetings at his hunting lodge in eastern Germany. What do we know about the plot? The plot, exposed in 2022, has both captivated and stunned Germany, which prides itself on its economic might, stable institutions and consensus-driven politics, despite recent inroads by the far right. Prosecutors say the defendants are adherents of the Reichsbuerger (Citizens of the Reich) belief system. According to El Pais, the people who subscribe to this ideology are a huge concern for Germanys security state. These people yearn for return of the German Empire. Advertisement They are considered armed and dangerous. They say todays German state is an illegitimate facade and that they are citizens of a monarchy which, they maintain, endured after Germanys defeat in World War One despite its formal abolition. El Pais reported that the followers of this system do not use official documents. They instead make their own driving licenses and German Reich license plates. Many of them even refuse to pay taxes. According to NBC, Heinrich in a speech in 2019 entitled Why blue-blooded elite became servants looked back favourably at the German state at the end of World War I. If something wasnt going well, you just went to the prince, he said. Who are you supposed to turn to today? Your parliamentarian, the local, federal or EU level? Good luck! Advertisement Ever since Germany surrendered on 8 May, 1945, it has never been sovereign again. It was made into an administrative structure of the Allies a vassal state, Heinrich claimed. Security services say the conspiracy theory, which has parallels to the QAnon movement that fuelled the 2021 storming of the US Capitol, has some 21,000 adherents nationwide. Around 2,100 of these people are violent or are at a risk of becoming violent. They share some ideas such as historical revisionism and National Socialist principles with neo-Nazi groups. All the satirical elements that are naturally present in this group elements of QAnon, the belief in UFOs, esotericism, the idea of being able to overthrow the system of the Federal Republic of Germany should not distract from the fact that this group posed a grave potential threat, Jan Rathje, a member of a nongovernmental organisation that monitors conspiracy theories and right-wing extremism, told The New York Times. Advertisement Aware takeover would lead to killing Nine accomplices who prosecutors say would have imposed martial law after a putsch went on trial in Stuttgart last month. Tuesdays defendants included former army officers Maximilian Eder and Ruediger von Pescatore, and former judge and far-right ex-parliamentarian Birgit Malsack-Winkemann. Prosecutors say Malsack-Winkemann used parliamentary privileges to escort several co-conspirators around the Reichstag building in Berlin in a scoping exercise. Eder told Stern magazine in an interview from prison that the parliamentary tour had been intended to find suitable locations to accost lawmakers over what he believed was their involvement in a child molestation ring. The leading suspects are accused of seeking the backing of Russian officials, including during meetings at Russian consulates in Germany and in the Slovak capital Bratislava. This reflected their belief that an Alliance of victor countries, including Russia and the United States, stood ready to support the resurrection of the real, submerged Germany that would replace todays post-World War Two republic. The plotters allegedly had $543,000 in funding and access to an arsenal including 380 firearms and nearly 350 weapons that could be used for stabbing, as well as equipment such as bulletproof vests and handcuffs. Federal prosecutors say they had drawn up several lists of enemies to be used in the takeover of regional and local authorities, and that the groups members were aware the planned takeover of power would be linked with the killing of people. Prosecutors say that Reuss tried to contact Russian officials in 2022 to win Russias support for the plan, and it isnt clear whether Russia responded. Heinrich XIII, the central figure of the movement who prosecutors say hosted planning meetings at his hunting lodge in eastern Germany, entered court in a blue sweater and blue jacket over a white shirt. He appeared to have lost weight since his arrest. The trials opening attracted dozens of spectators and journalists who lined up hours before the start. The case, in a maximum-security courtroom on the outskirts of Frankfurt, is the second to open against members of a conspiracy suspected of involving at least 27 people. The defendants who took their seats on Tuesday constitute what prosecutors say would have been political and military leaders of a plot to storm parliament and detain legislators to initiate their seizure of power. They knew their seizure of power would involve killing people, prosecutors wrote ahead of the trial. The defendants have denied charges of terrorism and high treason. With inputs from agencies A 17-year-old in Maharashtras Pune has been granted bail on the condition that he write a 300-word essay after allegedly driving drunk and killing two people. Two days after the incident, the juveniles father was detained as per the Motor Vehicles Act, 2019. The tragedy has sparked outrage, with many slamming the judiciary and the existing traffic laws read more The Porsche car that hit a motorcycle at Kalyani Nagar in Pune on Sunday, which killed two people. ANI Picture this: you indulge in drink driving, and then allegedly run over two people, killing them. What would be your punishment by law? In case of a 17-year-old in Pune, he was granted bail for the incident on the condition that he writes an essay on the crash and works with the traffic police for 15 days. While it may sound incredulous and unbelievable, it is, in fact, a shocking truth. A teen in Pune has been let off on bail on the condition that he work with Punes Yerwada traffic police, compose an essay on the accident, undergo treatment for alcohol dependency and then submit a report thereafter. Advertisement The incident has left many balking at the courts decision. Punes Police has, in fact, said that the teen should be tried as an adult, adding that they would appeal to a higher court now. And on Tuesday (21 May), the father of the accused teen has been detained in the crime. We take a closer look at the entire incident, the laws involved and what society has to say about this. The incident In the wee hours of Sunday (19 May), Aneesh Awadhiya and his friend Ashwini Koshta, both 24, died when the motorbike they were on was hit by a Porsche allegedly driven by a 17-year-old in the Kalyani Nagar locality of Pune in the western state of Maharashtra. While Ashwini died on the spot, Aneesh was shifted to a city hospital, where he died soon after. Investigating the matter, the Pune Police then arrested a 17-year-old, who they believed was behind the wheel of the luxury car when it hit the bike. Pune Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar said that the minor, belonging to a prominent realtors family, was celebrating his Class XII results at a local pub, where he was seen consuming alcohol before the crash. While he was heading home from the bar, the teen lost control of the car and rammed into a motorcycle at the Kalyani Nagar junction around 2.30 am. Upon inquiry, the minor has said his father had handed over the grey Porsche to him despite knowing that he had no drivers training and did not have a drivers licence. He has also said his father allowed him to party with his friends and that his father was aware that he was consuming alcohol, reads the FIR registered by Assistant Police Inspector Vishwanath Todkari at Yerwada Police Station, as per an Indian Express report. Advertisement Following the incident, Deputy Commissioner of Pune City Police Vijay Kumar Magar arrested the juvenile, after booking him for rash and negligent driving, as well as causing harm by endangering life or personal safety under IPC sections 304A, 279, 337, 338, and 427, in addition to relevant sections of the Maharashtra Motor Vehicle Act. The Porsche car allegedly driven by the 17-year-old, who the police claim was drunk at the time, knocked down two motorbike riders in Kalyani Nagar area in Pune. ANI Teen granted bail, outrage ensues After being apprehended, the 17-year-old was produced before the holiday court on Sunday afternoon where authorities sought his custody and permission to try him as an adult. However, the court refused and granted him bail within 14 hours of the crime under certain conditions. Advertisement The police stated that bail was granted as the court did not find the crime committed by the juvenile to be serious. The teens lawyer, Prashant Patil, said the court granted bail on certain conditions. First, the teen would have to work with traffic police of Yerwada for 15 days. Secondly, he would have to pen a 300-word essay on the effect of road accident and their solution. As part of his bail conditions, the teen accused would also have to undergo treatment from a doctor to help him quit drinking and take psychiatric counselling and submit the report to the court. Advertisement After news broke of the bail conditions in the matter, outrage ensued, with many accusing the judge of going soft on the accused. Many expressed their contempt for the system on X; some calling the Indian judiciary a joke. Another wrote, Hope the criminal writes a good essay to impress the honourable judge. Just cant express how I feel about it. Ashwini Koshta and Aneesh Awadhiya, 24-year-old Pune Porsche accident victims. Image Courtesy: X Family of the two victims also expressed anger at the courts decision. Koshtas family in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh said they were dismayed by the bail conditions. We are in shock, her uncle Jugal Kishor Koshta told NDTV. It is condemnable that he should get bail. He and his parents should be investigated. Advertisement Koshtas other uncle told NDTV, We want his bail cancelled and he should remain in police custody. Because of him, an innocent girl, who has seen nothing of life, died. Awadhiyas family also echoed similar sentiments. Atmaram Awadhiya, the grandfather, said that the teen should not be granted bail. Two people have died in this accident. This is completely wrong. We want strict punishment. The bail granted to the accused should be cancelled, he was quoted as telling NDTV. The victims uncle also chimed in, saying: The accused, a minor, was drunk and was driving at 240 km per hour. He did not have a driving licence. This is murder, not accident. Following the outrage, Maharashtras deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis reached out to the Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar and asked him to ensure there was no soft-pedalling against the accused in the Porsche hit-and-run case. And following this, Commissioner Kumar said that they would appeal the order in a higher court. We will not leave any stone unturned to prove that this is a heinous crime, he was quoted as telling India Today. #WATCH | Maharashtra: Visuals of the Porsche car and bike currently at Yerwada Police Station in Pune. Two people were killed when a speeding Porsche car hit them from behind on 19th May. The accused has been granted bail by the Juvenile Justice Board and his father was https://t.co/HKj8uK4d9q pic.twitter.com/91SeqwfTeN ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2024 Father detained On Tuesday (21 May), the Pune Police detained the father of the teen accused from Maharashtras Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, formerly known as Aurangabad, and will bring him back to the city for further probe. The father, a prominent realtor in Pune, was on the run since the incident. He has now been booked under the provision of sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act on the charges of allowing his minor son to drive the Porsche and consume liquor. Section 75 deals with wilful neglect of a child, or exposing a child to mental or physical illnesses, while section 77 deals with supplying a child with intoxicating liquor or drugs. According to the FIR lodged in connection with the incident, the man, despite knowing his son did not have a valid driving licence, gave him the car, thus endangering the latters life, and allowed him to party even as the father knew that he consumes liquor. Apart from this, the Pune police have arrested Cosie restaurant owner Pralhad Bhutda and manager Sachin Katkar and Hotel Blak manager Sandip Sangle for allegedly serving alcohol to the juvenile, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Shailesh Balkawade said. What the law says The accused teen has been charged under Section 304A of the IPC, which deals with causing death by negligence. Moreover, he has been charged with Section 279 of the IPC, which deals with rash driving. But then why has his father been arrested? As per the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, parents/guardians of juveniles shall be held guilty in case of an offence by a juvenile. The law mandates that a fine of Rs 25,000 with three years imprisonment will be imposed and the juvenile will be tried under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act while the registration of the vehicle will be cancelled. The law also states that the juvenile shall not be granted a drivers licence until the minor has attained the age of 25. This change was introduced after a parliamentary panel had suggested higher penalties for traffic offences. In fact, the panel had recommended treating accidents caused by drink driving as pre-meditated crimes rather than as cases of negligence. With inputs from agencies While hundreds assembled in Tehran and Mashhads main squares to pray for President Ebrahim Raisi, numerous videos and reports emerged depicting Iranians celebrating the news of his death in a helicopter crash. The hardline cleric was a controversial figure who imposed strict restrictions on society and earned the moniker The Butcher of Tehran for his alleged role in the 1988 mass executions read more Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi attends a meeting with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev during the inauguration ceremony of dam of Qiz Qalasi, or Castel of Girl in Azeri, at the border of Iran and Azerbaijan on 19 May, 2024. Iranian Presidency Office via AP Following the chopper crash, hundreds gathered in Tehran and Mashhad to pray for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisis recovery, hoping for positive news. Unfortunately, their hopes were dashed when news channels announced Raisis death, focusing on the tearful faces of many, especially young people. Irans supreme leader Ali Khamenei announced a country-wide five-day mourning period. This bitter tragedy took place while he was serving the people. The entire period that this great, self-sacrificing man held various responsibilities, both during his presidency and before that, he was totally dedicated to serving the people and Islam nonstop, Khamenei posted on his official X account. Advertisement While the nation mourned the loss, a significant portion, particularly women, celebrated the news. But why? Raisi, aged 63, was known as the Butcher of Tehran. Born in Mashhad on 14 December, 1960, Raisi hailed from a family that traced its lineage back to Islams Prophet Muhammad, as denoted by the black turban he wore. His father died when he was five, and he went on to study at the seminary in the holy city of Qom, eventually earning the title of ayatollah, a high-ranking Shiite cleric. Raisi participated in protests against the Western-backed Shah, who was overthrown in the 1979 revolution that established the current theocratic regime under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Also Read: From Mossad assassination to space lasers: The top conspiracy theories around Raisis death Raisi, a former Iranian attorney general, was appointed by Khamenei in 2016 to head the Imam Reza charity foundation, overseeing a network of businesses and endowments in Iran. At his appointment, Khamenei praised Raisi as a trustworthy person with high-profile experience, leading analysts to speculate that Raisi might be groomed as a potential candidate for Irans third-ever supreme leader, where the real power lies. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks with media members after he voted for the parliamentary runoff elections, in Tehran, Iran, 10 May, 2024. File Image/AP Raisi ran for president in 2017 against the relatively moderate Hassan Rouhani but lost. In 2021, he became the frontrunner after a panel led by the supreme leader disqualified other credible challengers. Raisi won with 62% of the vote in an election marked by the lowest turnout in Iranian history, with millions abstaining or voiding their ballots. Human Rights Watch called the vote a sham. Advertisement Despite his election victory, Raisi could not escape his controversial reputation as the Butcher of Tehran. During his 2016 presidential campaign, a leaked tape revealed a cleric discussing Raisis involvement in the mass execution of up to 5,000 political prisoners in 1988. When questioned about his role in the so-called death commissions, Raisi stated that he was proud to have defended human rights and peoples security and comfort as a prosecutor. In 2019, the US imposed sanctions on Raisi for human rights violations, including his role in the executions in the 1980s. Raisis anti-Western stance On the international stage, this cleric-turned-politician took a tough stance in nuclear negotiations with Western nations and initiated an unprecedented assault on Israel. There were even suggestions that he might be the next supreme leader, the position of true power in Iran. Advertisement In a highly controlled election, the conservative figure was elected president in 2021. His presidency began as then-US President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear agreement, which had eased economically damaging sanctions on Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program. Rescue team members carry the body of a victim after a helicopter carrying Raisi crashed in Varzaghan in northwestern Iran, 20 May, 2024. AP Trumps 2018 decision, which escalated tensions between Washington and Tehran, strengthened the hardline camp led by Raisi while weakening his reformist opponents. Despite expressing a desire to revive the nuclear agreement, Raisis government took a tough stance in negotiations with Western diplomats, as Iran enriched uranium to near weapons-grade levels. Talks have since stalled. In September 2021, Raisi told the United Nations that sanctions were the US new method of waging war on nations and that the policy of maximum oppression was still in place, asserting Irans right to its demands. Advertisement Also Read: Ebrahim Raisi is dead. What happens next in Irans politics? These statements further escalated tensions with the West, as did Irans supply of Shahed attack drones to Russia for its conflict in Ukraine. In 2023, the Israel-Hamas war erupted, with Tehran allegedly orchestrating the 7 October Hamas attack on southern Israel that triggered the conflict. Iranian-backed groups in Lebanon also launched attacks on Israel. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, left, shakes hands with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev during their meeting in the inauguration ceremony of dam of Qiz Qalasi, or Castel of Girl in Azeri, at the border of Iran and Azerbaijan, 19 May, 2024. AP In April last year, a suspected Israeli airstrike hit an Iranian consulate in Syria, killing a top Iranian commander. Raisi was in power when Tehran retaliated with an attack on Israel. Raisis crackdown on domestic dissent Domestically, Iran faced mass protests in 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody. Amini was arrested for allegedly not complying with Irans mandatory headscarf law, and her family, activists, and observers claimed she was severely beaten by the police, although the government stated she died of a heart attack. Advertisement The ensuing months of nationwide unrest posed a significant challenge to Irans rulers, leading to a fierce crackdown by authorities, resulting in the deaths of over 500 people and the detention of about 22,000 others. Also Read: How Irans Ebrahim Raisi became infamous as The Butcher of Tehran The regime then initiated a new crackdown on womens dress codes, which Amnesty International described as a war on women. Raisi: a staunch supporter of Sharia law Raisi strongly advocated for sex segregation and supported the idea that women could work better in a completely separate and suitable environment, as mentioned in a 2014 interview regarding a planned segregation in Tehran Municipality. Raisi also favoured the Islamisation of universities, the revision of the Internet, and the censorship of Western culture. He viewed economic sanctions as an opportunity and expressed the belief that if the government performs well, the people will benefit. Regarding law enforcement, Raisi proposed guidance patrols, particularly for managers. He also defended the amputation of thieves hands, a practice based on a strict interpretation of Sharia law, stating that such punishments were a matter of pride and would continue in the future. People attend a mourning ceremony for President Ebrahim Raisi as some of them wave the Palestinian flags at Vali-e-Asr square in downtown Tehran, Iran, 20 May, 2024. AP In November 2019, Raisi was one of nine Iranian officials sanctioned by the United States Department of State for alleged human rights abuses. He was subjected to sanctions by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control under Executive Order 13876. International human rights organisations and United Nations special rapporteurs accused him of crimes against humanity. Also Read: Who was Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Irans foreign minister, who died in helicopter crash with President Ebrahim Raisi? A formal request was made to arrest Raisi for crimes against humanity if he attended the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Scotland. How did a few Iranians celebrate Raisis death? Shortly before the confirmation of Raisis death by state media, videos began circulating on social media showing celebratory fireworks, including one from Aminis hometown of Saqqez. Iranians from both inside and outside the country shared posts reminding the world of Raisis harsh presidency and his suppression of political dissidents. On social media, activists like Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American author and womens rights advocate living in New York City, are expressing joy at Raisis demise. I think this is the only crash in history where everyone is worried if someone survived. Happy World Helicopter Day! Iranian social media is flooded with jokes about Ebrahim Raisis helicopter crash. This is how oppressed people fight back through humor. Masih Alinejad (@AlinejadMasih) May 19, 2024 Another video features the daughters of anti-regime protester Minoo Majidi, 62, raising a toast to news of the helicopter crash. Majidi was one of the hundreds killed while protesting against Aminis death; her daughter Roya Piraei previously informed the BBC that she was shot 167 times by security forces. pic.twitter.com/4ob9LPIZaI Mahsa Piraei (@mahsa_piraei) May 19, 2024 One video circulating online purportedly shows people celebrating while watching live news and waiting for the final confirmation of Raisis death. Iranians inside Iran are celebrating while watching live news on TV. Everyone waiting for the final confirmation that Raisi is dead. Incredible. pic.twitter.com/j9vkv0tCi3 Nioh Berg (@NiohBerg) May 19, 2024 Fireworks were also reportedly set off across Iran as opponents of the clerical regime celebrated news of Raisi and the foreign ministers crash. Public mourning in Iran. pic.twitter.com/N4NdypQ7xd Netanel Worthy - (@NetanelWorthy) May 20, 2024 In a video posted before his death was officially confirmed, Mersedeh Shahinkar, a woman who was partially blinded by Iranian security forces during protests against Aminis death, stated that she was celebrating. #__@simamoradb51053 pic.twitter.com/RnHP9Ht8ir MersedeH_eye (@mersedeh_eye) May 19, 2024 She was joined by Sima Moradbeigi, who lost mobility in her right arm after reportedly being shot during a womens rights demonstration. Also Read | Ebrahim Raisi: The hardline religious clerics problematic stint as Irans president With inputs from agencies WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been granted permission by a London court to appeal an extradition order to the United States, where he faces espionage charges. Assange faces 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse related to the publication of classified US documents on his website nearly 15 years ago. What happens next? read more A protester reads a newspaper outside the High Court in London, 20 May, 2024. AP Supporters of Julian Assange cheered outside the London High Court on Monday (20 May) as the WikiLeaks founder secured a potentially significant victory in his ongoing legal battle against US efforts to extradite him from the UK to face espionage charges. The judges ruled that he could file a new appeal against his extradition. Assanges family had been worried he might be sent to the US as early as this week if the judges had accepted the US governments assurances regarding his trial conditions. Instead, the case is set to continue throughout the year and possibly longer. Advertisement What grounds can Assange lodge an appeal on? In March this year, the judges ruled that Assange could appeal his extradition on three grounds unless the US provided satisfactory assurances. These assurances were that he would be allowed to invoke the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects freedom of speech; that he would not face prejudice at trial due to his nationality; and that the death penalty would not be imposed. Monday saw the judges granted him leave to challenge his extradition on the grounds of whether his removal would be compatible with the right to freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights, which is considered equivalent to the US First Amendment, and on the grounds that he might be prejudiced at his trial or punished due to his nationality. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange being taken from court, where he appeared on charges of jumping British bail seven years ago, in London, 1 May, 2019. File Image/AP The judges acknowledged that there was an arguable case that Assange could face discrimination, as a US prosecutor had suggested the First Amendment might not apply to foreigners in national security cases. Assanges team did not contest the US assurance that the death penalty would not be sought, accepting it as an unambiguous executive promise. However, they argued that the situation was different regarding assurances that the Australian-born publisher could seek the same First Amendment protections on free speech as a US citizen. What has the defence said? British barrister Edward Fitzgerald, representing Assange, highlighted several issues with the US assurances, stating they did not eliminate the possibility of a US court ruling that Assange, as a foreigner, was not entitled to First Amendment rights. Advertisement Fitzgerald noted that the assurance was not that Assange could rely on First Amendment rights, but merely that he could seek to raise them. Also Read: Eric, Chinas Edward Snowden, exposes dirty and dangerous works of Chinese global espionage under Xi Jinping He also pointed to the deafening silence from US prosecutors, including Gordon Kromberg, an assistant US attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, where Assange would be tried. This court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of barrister Edward Fitzgerald, centre, standing, Julian Assanges father John Shipton, second left, and Julian Assanges wife Stella Assange at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, 20 May, 2024. AP Specific promises from prosecutors are pretty common, emphasised Fitzgerald. We will not object to bail. We will not seek the death penalty as in this case. No such specific assurance has been given here. Advertisement Assange was not in court due to health reasons, according to his legal team. However, his wife, Stella, and his father, John Shipton, were present. Speaking to supporters outside the high court after the hearing, Stella Assange said that US President Joe Biden was running out of time to do the right thing and drop the legal pursuit of her husband. We are relieved as a family that the courts took the right decision today but how long can this go on for? Our eldest son just turned seven, she said. Stella Assange, wife of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, 20 May, 2024. AP All their memories of their father are in the visiting hall of Belmarsh prison, and as the case goes along, it becomes clearer and clearer to everyone that Julian is in prison for doing good journalism, for exposing corruption, for exposing the violations on innocent people in abusive wars for which there is impunity. Advertisement Kristinn Hrafnsson, the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, remarked that the ruling provided finally a glimmer of hope for Assange. He noted that it would be up to Assanges lawyers to decide whether to press for his release on bail. What has the prosecution said? Attorney James Lewis, representing the US, cautioned the judges against being swayed by what he described as the attractive and simplistic approach taken by Assanges legal team. He asserted that Assanges nationality would not affect his right to a fair hearing in the US. However, Lewis argued that the conduct for which Assange was accused was not protected under the US First Amendment. The position of the US prosecutor is that no one, neither US citizens nor foreign citizens, are entitled to rely on the first amendment in relation to publication of illegally obtained national defence information giving the names of innocent sources to their grave and imminent risk of harm, he added in written submissions. Advertisement Protesters hold placards outside the High Court in London, 20 May, 2024. AP This principle applies equally to US citizens and non-US citizens irrespective of their nationality, or place of birth, and irrespective of where the conduct took place, though it is ultimately a question of law for the US courts. The conduct in question is simply unprotected by the first amendment. Why is the US looking to extradite Assange? WikiLeaks, established in 2006 by Assange, angered the US in 2010 by publishing classified US diplomatic and military documents. American prosecutors allege that Julian Assange assisted US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in obtaining these diplomatic cables and military files. These documents detailed American relations with other countries and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The US seeks to extradite Assange to face 18 charges, 17 of which are under the Espionage Act, related to WikiLeakss release of these records. The US claims that the release of confidential documents endangered the lives of its agents. Then, why is Assange still in the UK? Assange is held in a high-security prison in south London, having been denied bail due to being considered a flight risk. In April 2019, he was forcibly removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, ending a seven-year diplomatic stalemate. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks on the balcony of the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, on 5 February, 2016. File Image/AP Ecuador had granted him asylum over fears his human rights might be violated if extradited to Sweden to face a rape allegation. Although Swedish authorities dropped the investigation in 2019, Assange remained in the embassy due to fears of US extradition. What can happen next? Assange and his legal team will spend months preparing for his appeal, focusing on whether US courts will protect his right to free speech as an Australian citizen. The recent court decision means that Assange may face a prolonged legal battle, including potential appeals to the UK Supreme Court. If these appeals fail, he could seek intervention from the European Court of Human Rights, which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights, a treaty to which the UK is a signatory. Can Biden intervene and help Assange out? US President Joe Biden has mentioned considering a request from Australia to drop the decade-long US effort to prosecute Assange, offering a slim hope to his supporters that the legal saga might end swiftly. The Australian parliament passed a motion in February urging the US and UK governments to allow Assange to return to Australia. A protester stands outside the High Court in London 20 May, 2024. AP Australia has consistently urged the US to reconsider its pursuit of Assange, pointing out what it sees as an inconsistency in the treatment of Assange compared to Chelsea Manning. Former US President Barack Obama commuted Mannings 35-year sentence, resulting in her release in 2017 However, with the US presidential election approaching and the potential of a Trump victory, Assanges wife, Stella, has emphasised that time is running out for Joe Biden to do the right thing. Here is a timeline of key events in Julian Assanges extensive legal battle: 2006 : Assange founds WikiLeaks in Australia, beginning to publish sensitive or classified documents. 2010 : WikiLeaks releases almost half a million documents on the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. August 2010 : Swedish prosecutors issue an arrest warrant for Assange on allegations of rape and molestation, later withdrawing the warrant due to insufficient evidence for the rape allegation. September 2010 : Sweden reopens the rape investigation, prompting Assange to move to Britain. November 2010 : Swedish police issue an international arrest warrant for Assange. December 2010 : Assange surrenders to London police and is detained pending an extradition hearing. February 2011 : A British court rules in favour of Assanges extradition to Sweden. June 2012 : Assange seeks asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London after losing appeals against extradition. August 2012 : Ecuador grants Assange political asylum. July 2014 : Assanges bid to cancel an arrest warrant in Sweden is denied. March 2015 : Swedish prosecutors request to question Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy. August 2015 : Some investigations into allegations against Assange are dropped due to the statute of limitations. October 2015 : UKs Metropolitan Police end their 24-hour guard outside the Ecuadorian Embassy. February 2016 : The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention finds Assanges detention unlawful. September 2018 : Ecuador and Britain work on a legal solution for Assange to leave the embassy. October 2018 : Assange seeks a court injunction for basic rights from Ecuador. November 2018 : A US court filing reveals a sealed criminal case against Assange. April 2019 : Ecuador revokes Assanges asylum, and he is arrested by London police. May 2019 : Assange is sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for bail violation. May 2019 : The US indicts Assange on 18 charges related to WikiLeaks publications. November 2019 : Swedish prosecutor drops rape investigation. May 2020 : Extradition hearing delayed due to COVID-19. June 2020 : US files new indictment against Assange. January 2021 : British judge blocks Assanges extradition to the US July 2021 : US granted permission to appeal extradition ruling. December 2021 : UK High Court rules US assurances on Assanges treatment are sufficient. March 2022 : Supreme Court refuses Assanges appeal against extradition. June 2022 : British government orders Assanges extradition, which he appeals. May 2023 : Australian PM calls for Assanges release. June 2023 : UK High Court rules Assange cannot appeal extradition. 20 February, 2024 : Assanges lawyers launch final bid to stop extradition. 26 March, 2024 : UK High Court gives US three weeks to submit further assurances. 20 May, 2024: UK High Court rules Assange can appeal based on free-speech protections and non-US citizenship. Date of hearing TBD. Also Read: Whistleblower who exposed alleged Australian war crimes in Afghanistan jailed for 6 years With inputs from agencies Liquid nitrogen is commonly making its way to the food industry for its dramatic visual effect. But is it safe to use? Doctors warn against its dangers read more While food trends may make dishes look fancier and more Instagram-worthy, sometimes they come at a grave risk. One such seemingly harmless food trend known as smoky paan, infused with liquid nitrogen for dramatic visual effects, resulted in something unforeseen: a hole in a 12-year-old girls stomach. How this food experiment that promises a visual spectacle and thrilling experience go wrong? We explain. What happened? The 12-year-old girl, who hails from Bengaluru, went to a wedding reception where they were serving the trendy smoky paan. After consuming it, she started feeling discomfort in her stomach and was rushed to the hospital. She was diagnosed with perforation peritonitis, also known as a hole in the stomach. Advertisement I just wanted to try the smoky paan because it looked interesting, and everyone else was trying it too, the girl told The Times of India report. No one else was hurt or felt any pain, but the discomfort I experienced was terrifying. At Bengalurus Narayana Multispeciality Hospital, the doctors examined that the girl needed to undergo surgery to prevent further complications. Subsequently, a portion of her stomach measuring about 4x5 cm on the lesser curvature, was removed through exploratory laparotomy with intra-op OGD scopy. Intra-op OGD scopy is a procedure where an endoscope, a flexible tube equipped with a camera and light, is used during surgery to examine the esophagus, stomach, and duodenumthe first part of the small intestine, Dr Vijay HS, operating surgeon (surgical gastroenterology), team told TOI. We must take these isolated incidents seriously before they become a pattern, Dr Vijay said. This is not the first such case. In an undated video that surfaced last month, a boy from Tamil Nadus Chennai was seen falling ill after he consumed liquid nitrogen-induced smoky biscuit at an exhibition. Such novelty over safety food trends have alarmed medical practitioners. As the popularity of liquid nitrogen in culinary circles continues to grow, its crucial for individuals to exercise caution and prioritise safety. Vigilance and increased awareness are essential to avoid potentially devastating consequences, Dr Vijay HS told TOI. What is liquid nitrogen? Liquid nitrogen, commonly used in medical and industrial fields as a coolant, is becoming increasingly common in restaurants as a method for instantly freezing food and drinks, or creating an impressive cloud of vapour or fog when exposed to air. Advertisement Professor Peter Barham, from the University of Bristols School of Physics, told the BBC, that liquid nitrogen is simply the harmless gas nitrogen, which has been cooled to such a low temperature that it becomes a liquid. However, he added that the liquefied gas, which is intensely cold and has a boiling point of -196 degrees Celsius can cause frostbite or cryogenic burns if it is not used and handled, properly. What makes liquid nitrogen dangerous? Though liquid nitrogen is non-toxic, it has a liquid-to-gas expansion ratio of 1:694 at 20 degrees Celsius and poses significant health risks if ingested or mishandled in any way. Advertisement Direct contact of liquid nitrogen with skin or eyes can cause severe frostbite, leading to tissue damage or even a permanent injury, warn medical experts. Talking about what happens after ingesting liquid nitrogen, Dr Sangeeta Tiwari told Only My Health, When exposed to the warm environment of the body, liquid nitrogen rapidly evaporates into gas, causing a sudden expansion that can lead to internal injuries like perforation or rupture of the digestive tract. This can lead to severe abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and potentially life-threatening complications like pneumoperitoneum or pneumothorax. Not only is liquid nitrogen harmful when ingested but gas emanating from it when exposed to the air can make oxygen levels drop. Representative image. Pixabay Not only is liquid nitrogen harmful when ingested but gas emanating from it when exposed to the air can make oxygen levels drop. When this happens, one has headaches, and lightheadedness and even makes one lose consciousness, according to an NBC report. Advertisement Ban on liquid nitrogen Following the shocking incident in Bengaluru, Karnataka banned the use of liquid nitrogen while serving food at eateries and has even made it a punishable offence. The commissioner of the food safety department in Karnataka, Srinivas K, issued the order on 3 May to ban the use of liquid nitrogen in smoking biscuits, desserts, and other food items while serving customers. After the smoking biscuits incident last month, the food safety department issued an order on the use of liquid nitrogen. It instructed the designated officers and food safety officers to take enforcement action as per Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 against any food business operator who is using liquid nitrogen for direct consumption along with food items like biscuits, ice creams, wafer biscuits, etc. The liquid nitrogen should be fully evaporated from the food or drinks before serving, the order stated. Advertisement Under the aforementioned act, if a vendor is caught violating the order, they will be sentenced to imprisonment for seven years or more. The defaulter will have to pay a penalty of Rs 10 lakh. With inputs from agencies Scientists are concerned about the potential impacts of microplastics on reproductive health after finding significant concentrations of them in human testicular tissue. This alarming finding heightens concerns about the possible effects of plastic pollution on male fertility read more Microplastics refer to any plastics that is less than five millimetres (0.2 inches) in length. Reuters The world is drowning under the weight of plastic pollution, with more than 430 million tonnes of plastic produced annually, a report by the United Nations said last year. Microplastics ripple through ecosystems and end up entering human and animal bodies through food and water. Scientists are concerned about the potential impacts of microplastics on reproductive health after finding significant concentrations of them in human testicular tissue. This alarming finding heightens concerns about the possible effects of plastic pollution on male fertility. Advertisement The study was published in the journal Toxicological Sciences. Heres all we know about it. The study A team of researchers from the University of New Mexico examined 46 canine tissue samples from private veterinarian clinics and animal shelters in the City of Albuquerque, as well as anonymised postmortem tissue from 23 human testes provided by the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator. All analysed samples included microplastics, with an average concentration of 122.63 microgrammes per gramme in dogs and 329.44 microgrammes per gramme in people. At the beginning, I doubted whether microplastics could penetrate the reproductive system (at all), Xiaozhong John Yu, a professor at the University of New Mexicos College of Nursing and leader of the study, said in a statement to The Guardian. When I first received the results for dogs I was surprised. I was even more surprised when I received the results for humans. The relation between microplastics and infertility Subsequent analysis of the dog samples revealed a correlation between reduced sperm counts and higher amounts of PVC, one type of plastic, in the testis tissue. Yu told The Guardian, The plastic makes a difference what type of plastic might be correlated with potential function. PVC can release a lot of chemicals that interfere with [sperm production] and it contains chemicals that cause endocrine disruption. These findings highlight the pervasive presence of microplastics in the male reproductive system in both canine and human testes, with potential consequences on male fertility, they write. Advertisement To confirm how these plastics may impact human sperm production, additional research is necessary. We have a lot of unknowns. We need to really look at the potential long-term effect, Yu said. He added, We dont want to scare people. We want to scientifically provide the data and make people aware there are a lot of microplastics. We can make our own choices to better avoid exposures, change our lifestyle and change our behaviour. According to research released by the National Library of Medicine, microplastics have been identified as a significant possible cause of male infertility. Additionally, a different National Library of Medicine study noted that microplastics have caused widespread male reproductive abnormalities in mice making them a potential hazard because of their effect on rodent fertility. Advertisement The dangers of microplastics Microplastics refer to any plastics that is less than five millimetres (0.2 inches) in length. From the polar ice caps to mountain peaks, microplastics ripple through ecosystems and find their way into drinking water and food. They are so tiny that they can easily pass through the digestive system and lungs, entering the bloodstream directly, and from there to organs, including the brain and heart. They can also cross the placenta into the bodies of unborn babies. The finding is concerning since the mixture of chemicals included in these microplastics has been demonstrated to interfere with the bodys normal hormone release, raising the possibility of reproductive issues and some types of cancer. Advertisement Additionally, the surface of them may contain heavy metal toxins. According to a June 2023 study that was reported in the US News and World Report, the average person consumes around the same amount of these microplastics each week as a credit card, so it makes sense that they would be discovered within our bodies. The latest study highlights the widespread presence of the contaminants in the wake of previous findings that microplastics were discovered in mices brains after just four weeks of exposure. In every human placenta analysed, plastic from bottles and bags was discovered by recent research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Advertisement A worrying study revealed that a typical water bottle had a quarter of a million plastic particles in it. Sperm counts affected Sperm quality appears to be declining around the world. In 2022, a review of global trends in sperm count by Hagai Levine, professor of epidemiology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and his collaborators showed that sperm counts fell on average by 1.2 per cent per year between 1973 to 2018, from 104 to 49 million per millilitre. From 2000, this rate of decline accelerated to more than 2.6 per cent, as per BBC. Sperm counts in the United States have decreased by 50 per cent in the last 50 years, as per Newsweek. The researchers think that this loss may be partly attributed to the presence of these microplastics. Notably, male infertility contributes to approximately half of all cases of infertility and affects seven per cent of the male population. However, it is much less discussed than female infertility, partly due to the social and cultural taboos surrounding it. With inputs from agencies Sinha is required to respond to the notice within two days with an explanation. Failing to do so would lead to further actions being taken against the leader read more BJP MP Jayant Sinha has been hit with a show-cause notice for not participating in the campaign for Lok Sabha elections. Sinha, who is an MP from Jharkhands Hazaribagh, did not even cast his vote during the fifth phase on Monday (May 20), according to the Bharatiya Janata Party. With only two phases of elections left, 430 out of 543 seats have already been contested. The fifth phase recorded 60.48 per cent voter turnout. Meanwhile, Jharkhand recorded 63.09 per cent turnout. Advertisement What does the show-cause notice say? The show-cause notice was issued by the BJP on May 20. It said, You are not taking any interest in organisational work and election campaigning ever since the party declared Manish Jaiswal as the candidate from the Hazaribagh Lok Sabha seat. It added that the leader did not even exercise his right to vote when Hazaribag went to polls on Monday. The partys image has been maligned because of your conduct, the saffron party said. Now, Sinha is required to respond to the notice within two days with an explanation. Failing to do so would lead to further actions being taken against the leader. Sinha and BJP at odds? Sinha, a BJP stalwart who has been entrusted with important portfolios including the Civil Aviation Ministry and Finance Ministry, requested the saffron party to relieve him from electoral duties. In a statement posted on X, Sinha, son of Trinamool Congress leader Yashwant Sinha, sought a greater role in combating climate change. The leader, however, mentioned his intention to continue working for the party on issues like economic and governance. Sinha, a two-time sitting MP from Hazaribag, has been replaced by Manish Jaiswal. BJP also suffered another setback in Jharkhand after Sinhas son Aashir Sinha joined Congress last week. Brij Bhushan Singh declared on Tuesday that more votes will be cast for his party as a result of the accusations made against him read more Brij Bhushan Singh declared on Tuesday that more votes will be cast for his party as a result of the accusations made against him Image Courtesy PTI In a criminal case brought by female wrestlers, a Delhi court on Tuesday outlined accusations against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for sexual harassment, intimidation, and insulting womens modesty. Singh entered a not guilty plea and requested a trial. Why will I plead guilty when I am not guilty? Singh said. The court also framed the charge of criminal intimidation against co-accused and former WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar in the case. Singh, the sitting BJP MP from Kaiserganj in Uttar Pradesh, was denied ticket to contest the Lok Sabha poll in the aftermath of the sexual harassment allegations against him. Advertisement The party has fielded his son Karan Bhushan Singh for the seat. Meanwhile, former president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) Brij Bhushan Singh declared on Tuesday that more votes will be cast for his party as a result of the accusations made against him. Brij Bhushan Singh is the only issue in Kaisarganj, he continued. We will get more votes owing to those allegations, Singh told the media. Pune Police have arrested Vishal Agarwal, father of the minor driver accused of killing two techies by running them over in a Porsche EV. An FIR has been lodged against him, for letting his son drive, despite being underaged, and not having a valid license read more The father of the 17-year-old boy, who allegedly ran over two bike-borne youths with his speeding unregistered Porsche, while he was under the influence of alcohol in Punes Kalyaninagar on May 19, was held from Maharashtras Aurangabad on Tuesday morning. Vishal Agarwal, a prominent real estate mogul of Bramha Realty and Infrastructure, was brought to Pune, and was arrested. As per reports the Porsche, involved in the Pune accident, was purchased from Karnatakas Bengaluru. Advertisement Agarwal, father of the minor who was granted bail within 15 hours of detention, was absconding since his son was apprehended in the wee hours of Sunday after killing two techies from Madhya Pradesh who were working in Pune. #WATCH | On the Pune car accident case, Pune CP Amitesh Kumar says, "There were 5 accused in the FIR, out of which we arrested 3 accused late last night, we will present them in court. The accused's father was absconding and has also been taken into custody..." pic.twitter.com/lPUgmhehdR ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2024 Why was Pune minor Porsche drivers father arrested? Pune Police has nabbed Vishal Agarwal and lodged an FIR stating that despite knowing his son is a minor and that he did not have a valid license, the senior Agarwal gave him the car, thus endangering the boys life. The father has also been booked for allowing his son, a juvenile, to party even after knowing that he consumes liquor. The boy was intoxicated at the time of the accident on Sunday. For the unversed, the legal age of drinking in Maharashtra is 25. The senior Agarwal has been charged under sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act. These sections pertain to willful neglect of a child and providing intoxicating substances to a minor, respectively. Advertisement He has also been booked under the relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act (MVA) after the police found out that the Porsche car he had bought for his son in March this year had not yet been registered. Pub owners arrested for serving alcohol to minors The owner of Cozy Hotel, where the minor was supposedly partying, has been arrested for serving and allowing the accused minor to drink alcohol. The manager of the hotel, and one other person have also been arrested for serving. Pune Police moves higher court After the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in Pune granted bail to the minor, Pune Police said it had moved to the sessions court, seeking permission to try him as an adult in the case. Advertisement The boy is just four months short of turning 18 years. Punes commissioner of police Amitesh Kumar said soon after the case was reported, they had moved the Court and sought permission to try the accused as an adult under Section 15 of Juvenile Justice Act, since the ghastly incident was a heinous crime as defined under section 2 of the JJA, with the objective that he doesnt get bail. Despite our best efforts the Honourable Court disallowed our application and granted bail to the accused, the CP Pune said. #WATCH | On the Pune car accident case, Pune CP Amitesh Kumar says, "...We have adopted the most stringent possible approach and we shall do whatever is at our command to ensure that the two young lives which were lost get justice and the accused gets duly punished..." pic.twitter.com/fl9wxwosI7 ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2024 Advertisement We have appealed against this order before the higher Court, the senior police officer said. We have initiated action under section 304 of the IPC, which is not subject to bail," Kumar said on May 20. Minor gets bail within 15 hours, anger grips Pune On Saturday, the minor had thrown a party for his friends to celebrate his Class 12 results. After the party, in which they allegedly consumed alcohol, the boy and two of his other friends got into the Porsche and set off for a drive. Advertisement They vehicle was at around 200 km/per hour when it rammed into a motorcycle killing two youths identified as Anis Awadhiya (24) and Ashwini Costa (24). Also Read: 17 YO Pune boy, who killed 2 with Porsche, gets bail in hours, asked to write essay on accident As per reports, locals caught the driver and two other occupants in the car. One of them managed to escape. Those who gathered around the car, started beating up the two they had caught. Minor caught, jailed & then granted bail The boy was arrested, taken to police station and on the same day (on Sunday) was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) which granted him bail. The condition on which he was set free for killing two people drew severe criticism from several factions of the society. The conditions included: 1 - Working with Yerawada traffic police for 15 days 2 - Studying traffic rules and giving a presentation on the same to JJB 3 - Writing a 300-word essay on the effect of road accidents and their solution 4 - Undergoing psychiatric evaluation and treatment 5 - Seeking rehabilitation at a de-addiction centre 6 - Assisting accident victims in the future, if he witnessed one #WATCH | Maharashtra: Visuals of the Porsche car and bike currently at Yerwada Police Station in Pune. Two people were killed when a speeding Porsche car hit them from behind on 19th May. The accused has been granted bail by the Juvenile Justice Board and his father was https://t.co/HKj8uK4d9q pic.twitter.com/91SeqwfTeN ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2024 The juvenile being let go within 15 hours of detention has led to a public outrage who said the punishment given to him was too lenient. Satish Awadhiya, the uncle of one of the victims, Aneesh Awadhiya, said: The conditions on which the accused was given bail are unimaginable writing an essay and all! This is shameful for Indias law and order. The way things are going, I do not see us getting any justice." Even more shocking are the conditions on which he was given bail in just 15 hours I am sure the case has been compromised because of someones influence Weve lost everything, Satish Awadhiya added. Boy fed pizza, burger, biryani during detention Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut has alleged that boy was fed pizza, burger and biryani at the police station during his detention. Responding on claims of leniency by Yerwada police station, Pune Police commissioner Amitesh Kumar said all allegations against police station are being investigated. An ACP level officer team has been constituted to check these allegations, he said. Chitta Ranjan Dash, who retired on Monday as a Calcutta High Court judge, said he owes a lot to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) read more Justice Chitta Ranjan Dash of the Calcutta High Court on Monday revealed that he is a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). It was his last day as a judge. The RSS is a Hindu right-wing organisation. It serves as the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Most of the senior BJP members, such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Deputy PM Lal Krishna Advani, and former Union Minister Murli Manohar Joshi were RSS members before joining BJP. Advertisement Revealing his association with the RSS, Dash said that he was unfolding his true self to the people. He added that he has been a lifelong member of RSS and he is now ready to return to the organisation upon his retirement. Today, I must unfold my true self. I owe a lot to an organisationI am there from my childhood till I attained youththroughout my youth. I have learnt to be courageous, upright(have) equal view for others, and above all, the sense of patriotism and commitment to the work, wherever you workTo the distaste of some persons, I must admit here that I was, and I am, a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), said Dash, according to The Indian Express. Dash further said, I am ready now to go back to the organisation if they call me for any assistance, or for any work they need (that) I am capable of doing. I never used RSS membership for career advancement In his farewell speech at the time of his retirement, Dash said he never used his membership of the RSS for the advancement of his career. He added that he had distanced himself from RSS because of his work as a judge. Dash said that he treated everybody at par as a judge and did not discriminate between persons based on their political leanings. Advertisement (As a judge), I have treated everybody on a par: rich, poor, a Communist, (or someone) with BJP, Congress, or Trinamool. All were equal before me. As Ive done nothing wrong in my life, I had the courage to say I belong to RSS as that too is not wrong. I cant belong to a bad organisation If I am a good person, said Dash, as per The Express. Dash was appointed to the Calcutta HC in 2022. Previously, he was elevated as the Additional Judge of the Orissa HC in October 2009. In recent months, Dash is the second former Calcutta HC who has been associated with the BJP or an allied organisation. In March, Abhijit Gangopadhyay joined the BJP within days of his retirement. He contested the Lok Sabha elections from Tamluk constituency in West Bengal as a BJP candidate. Advertisement Supreme Court had rapped Dash for his comments on girls In January, the Supreme Court had rapped Dash and a fellow judge of the Calcutta HC, Paratha Sarathi Sen, for issuing guidelines for adolescent girls that including controlling sexual urges. The SC said it is not the job of a judge to preach or give their personal opinion in a judgement. The two Calcutta HC judge had in a verdict said that every female adolescent should control sexual urge as in eyes of society she will be a loser when she gives in to enjoy sexual pleasure of hardly two minutes, as per Bar & Bench. Advertisement The judge further said, Sex in adolescents is normal but sexual urge or arousal of such urge is dependent on some action by the individual, maybe a man or woman. Therefore, sexual urge is not at all normal and normative. If we stop some action(s), arousal of sexual urge, as advocated in our discussion supra, ceases to be normal. The SC had said that such comments were unwarranted and were in in violation of the rights of adolescents under Article 21 of the Constitution. Prima facie, we are of the view that, the Honble judges are not expected to express their personal views or preach, said the Apex Court. The central polling body in its order said that Ganguly would not be allowed to campaign for 24 hours starting from 5 pm on Tuesday read more BJPs candidate from West Bengals Tamluk Abhijit Ganguly has been barred from campaigning for 24 hours during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections after the leader made the whats your price jab on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Ganguly, a former Calcutta HC judge, last week, during a public meeting at Midnapores Chaitanyapur said, Mamata Banerjee, how much are you being sold for? Your rate is Rs 10 lakh? Why? Because you are getting your make-up done by Keya Seth (a personal products brand)? Is Mamata Banerjee even a woman? I keep wondering sometimes. Advertisement Following this, the Trinamool Congress lodged a complaint with the election commission, saying that Ganguly made objectionable comments against Banerjee. The party also took to X to call out Gangulys misogyny and said that there is no place for agents of the nari-birodhis in West Bengal. Abhijit Ganguly has crossed limits of decency by trying to put a supposed monetary value on the only female CM in India, Mamata Banerjee. Therefore, disrespecting not just her but all the women of Bengal. Bengal has no place for such blatant misogyny and the agents of the Nari-Birodhis shall never be tolerated by our mothers and sisters. TMC said. What has the EC said? The central polling body in its order said that Ganguly would not be allowed to campaign for 24 hours starting from 5 pm on Tuesday. Calling his comments an erosion of the status of women in India, the EC said, The Commission strongly censures Abhijit Ganguly for the above-said misconduct and debars him from campaigning. It also warned the BJP leader to remain careful in his public utterances during the currency of Model Code of Conduct. Earlier, the polling body had called Gangulys statement improper, injudicious, beyond dignity in every sense of the term, in bad taste. Vishal Agarwal, father of minor accused in Pune Porsche accident, knew that after his son got bail, he would be under police scanner and therefore, left the city immediately read more Vishal Agarwal, father of minor boy accused in killing two techies, hitting their bike with his Porsche, was arrested from Aurangabad. Pune Police on Tuesday arrested Vishal Agarwal, father of the 17-year-old boy who killed two young techies, running over their bike with his unregistered Porsche in the wee hours of Sunday. He was nabbed from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in Maharashtras Aurangabad in the early hours of the day. A renowned city-based real estate developer, Vishal Agarwal, escaped from Pune soon after his son was granted bail by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Sunday evening after 15 hours of police detention. Advertisement Agarwal knew that after his son got bail, he would be under police scanner and therefore, he left the city. Where was Vishal Agarwal for two days? While on the run, Agarwal drove to his properties in Pune and even went to his farm house in Daund. He then travelled to Kolhapur, which is about 230 kms from Pune, and there he met one of his friends. Tensed about being caught, Agarwal thought of a way to mislead the cops who were looking for him and so he stayed back in Kolhapur and sent his driver along with his car to Mumbai. Also Read: Viral videos show 17-year-old Pune boy getting drunk, killing 2 with speeding Porsche Agarwal then hopped into his friends car and travelled with him to Sambhajinagar. He even switched off his mobile phone to avoid being tracked. The Pune Porsche accident accuseds father got a new number to keep in contact with close knit people. Meanwhile, his family remained unaware about his whereabouts and they were just informed that he was in Mumbai. How did the cops arrest Pune Porsche accident accuseds father? The movements of Agarwal were eventually traced through the GPS of his friends car. The Pune Crime Branch teams used technical surveillance, GPS tracking, CCTV footages as well as the messages sent to Agarwal to locate his location. He was ultimately hiding in a lodge in Sambhajinagar. Advertisement Also Read: Pune teen Porsche drivers father, missing since May 19, arrested; cops want court to treat accused as adult Agarwals minor son, said to be about four months short of turning 18, was detained by Pune Police in the wee hours of Sunday (May 19) after he, under the influence of alcohol, drove his Porsche over two bike-borne youths who were from Madhya Pradesh working in an IT company in Pune. Before the accident, police said the minor accused visited two different restaurants, on Saturday evening, with a group of about 10-12 of his friends. They were served alcohol, namely vodka, whiskey, and beer along with food at both the restaurants. Advertisement According to FIR in the Pune Porsche accident case, the minor boy, along with his friends, first partied at Cozy Bar between 9:30 pm to midnight and then moved to Black Bar, where they partied till 1 am on Sunday. #WATCH | Pune Car Accident Case | Father of the minor accused brought to Pune Crime Branch. #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/kJIP6KVzTV ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2024 After leaving the second restaurant, the boy, along with couple of his friends, hopped into his Porsche. He then sped the vehicle and around 3:15 am on Sunday and knocked down Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta, both 24-year-old techies, in Kalyaninagar. Also Read: 17 YO Pune boy, who killed 2 with Porsche, gets bail in hours, asked to write essay on accident As per reports, Ashwini died on the spot and Aneesh was shifted to a city hospital, where he died soon after. The minor accused was detained by police and was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board the same day which granted him bail, setting some conditions including writing a 300-word essay on the effect of road accidents and their solution. Advertisement He was detained by the police for about 15 hours during which he was fed pizza, burger and biryani. The police said they have moved a higher court (Sessions court) for permission to try the minor accused as an adult. An appeal sought the State Bank of India (SBI) to provide a copy of the SOPs on the sale and redemption of electoral bonds under the Right to Information (RTI) Act read more Indias largest public-sector lender follows standard operating procedures (SOPs) for sale and redemption of electoral bonds. This set rules were issued by the bank to all of its branches in April 2017 and have been followed ever since. However, the content of the SOP remains shrouded in secrecy. Transparency activist Anjali Bhardwaj had initially, on March 4, appealed the SBI to provide a copy of the SOPs on the sale and redemption of electoral bonds under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. She was, however, denied this information on March 30. Advertisement The SBI justified the denial, saying it held the details sought in commercial confidence. The lender said that the information was the intellectual property of the bank. It further said that the internal guidelines were strictly meant for the staff dealing with sale and redemption of electoral bonds. After this refusal by the bank, Bhardwaj made an appeal to the first appellate authority (FAA) of SBI. Her attempt to bring this information to the public arena was once thwarted on May 17, when the FAA said: The information sought is held by the bank in its commercial confidence and hence cannot be provided. Further, the internal guidelines are strictly meant for the dealing staff and the information is also intellectual property of the bank, hence rightly denied under Section 8(1)(d) of the RTI Act which states Information, including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information, FAA said. Dissatisfied with the response she got from FAA, Bhardwaj now plans to appeal in the Central Information Commission (CIC) against the denial. Why is she seeking SOPs on electoral bonds from SBI? Advertisement According to a report by the Economic Times Bhardwaj said she has been seeking SOPs on electoral bonds claiming that there has been lack of clarity over the manner in which SBI maintained data on transactions through the bonds. She further said the SOPs may also help know the tracking of the bonds as recorded with the unique number both on the purchaser and redeemer side. Even after the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bond scheme as being unconstitutional and ordered disclosure of all details of EBs, SBI continues to withhold crucial information, she said. A five-judge Constitution Bench of the apex court, on February 15, 2024, unanimously struck down the Centres electoral bond scheme as unconstitutional and violative of the right to information of voters due to their anonymity. Advertisement The SBI was asked to immediately stop issuing such bonds and provide complete details on those issued since 2019. Bhardwaj said though FAA has denied providing details, it has failed to demonstrate how disclosure of SOPs would harm the competitive position of a third party and has also not disclosed who is the third party in the matter. Further, the FAA has not weighed public interest in the matter and has blandly cited the document being an internal guideline to justify denial, even though there is no such exemption clause in the RTI Act, she added. It now remains to be seen if the CIC looks favourably upon Bhardwajs appeal. Not only are the Indian general elections the largest poll show on earth they are also the most intensely contested and certainly, sets the bar for America to follow this November read more India proves yet again that this election festival of citizens is not only the biggest but also the most civilised and sane process on earth. Image: AFP This was going to be the global election year that decides the fate of the world. This was also going to be the biggest election in the worlds biggest democracy. With over 900 million broadband subscribers, the Indian voter is more plugged into the commentary of the voting analysis, trends and outcomes. The cacophony of election analysis is hardwired into the heads of Indian citizens through their phones and devices, their choices dictated by opinions and beliefs, which in turn has been an outcome of results seen in the last five years. Yet, when I went to cast my vote this Monday, the booth-level machinery was so well-oiled and efficient that beyond the cacophony of election sloganeering and digital pyrotechnics, the unassuming power of silent citizens dutifully stepping up to vote on their appointed day, sans drama or hyperbole, held up a useful guide for the rest of the world to emulate. Advertisement India, the worlds most populous democracy, is currently holding its general election over a seven-phase period that continues for seven weeks. Indians can vote between 19 April and 1 June, with the results set to be declared on 4 June. The World Decides in 2024 Over fifty elections take place in 2024, including some of the most impacting ones such as the US, Russia, India, Taiwan. Fifty-one per cent of the world will either have a new dispensation or continue with the existing one. As elections take place across the world, the festival of democracy in India is expected to be among the keenly contested, fair and well organised ones in the world. These elections have also proved that India sets consistent standards in choosing their leaders, disproving a biased opinion about democracy and elections that certain western thinking has held towards India. Using a template of a fairness score to evaluate the independence of elections in countries, as a well-known western publication recently did, reduces the process of choices in elections to a rating number which can both end up being biased and patronising, and is dictated by a long-held expectation that Indian polls are simultaneously cantankerous and exotic a work in progress democracy that promises to be civilised but is never one. It also served to quietly aid a narrative that the democratic processes in the west are superior. Advertisement Why Indias Free Elections Trumps Wests Bias Take for instance, the freedom and fairness score accorded to Indias elections, which is 0.53 and compare it to the other nations in their leadup to the elections. Mexico is a country heading for elections this year. In this election cycle, 30 candidates have already been assassinated, according to data from the research firm Laboratorio Electoral. In 2021, 30 candidates were killed while in 2018, the elections saw 24 killings. These elections are expected to be among the most violent. According to western pundits, Mexico has a freedom and fairness score of 0.75 in the conduct of elections, which indicates the elections are more just and fair than in India. Parts of western media has been unduly harsh on India, rating its fairness score of elections at 0.53. Advertisement In Indonesia, the electoral process is still dominated by corrupt or influential leaders who grew powerful during the authoritarian rule of Suharto. Democracy is new, and power oscillated between influential stakeholders, till Joko Widodo, an outsider, broke the stranglehold. Thereafter, a general took over as President one the west has accused of human rights abuses. Interestingly, Indonesias freedom and fairness score stands at 0.68, higher than India. Which means that the credibility of Indian elections is just about better than the banana republics an assumption that betrays the negative bias of such studies. The US, rated high in freedom and fairness index by the publication, struggled under serious allegations of tampering and influence by Russia and the subsequent response of Trump supporters laying siege in Washington DC after losing the elections indicated a democracy that was functional but not civilised. On the other hand, far from the history of some of the nations, who have either embraced dysfunctional democracy along the way or seem to be falling by the wayside in terms of their law and order situation in the lead up to the elections, India has maintained an enviable record of holding free and fair elections over seven decades. Advertisement The Decisive Indian Vote From the general election held in 1951-52 in which 17.5 crore Indians, voted in the elections to the 18th Lok Sabha that are under way, the process has evolved and matured along with Indian democracy over the decades. So have the voters graduated, from being largely illiterate to being well informed and technically savvy while making choices. The CEC explained why the voluntary nature of casting votes means that the ECI operates in an entirely persuasive space, inviting the citizens to volunteer to become part of the electoral roll and, thereafter, through systematic voter awareness programmes, motivates them to exercise their franchise. There is a high elector to population ratio which underpins the discipline, patience and belief that Indian voters have demonstrated in executing the process. The power of Indian elections demonstrates a growing, emerging India that is willing and ready to show how democracy is a proven political system in this world. Take for instance the example of Jammu and Kashmir. Advertisement Since 1989, all earlier elections in the region had been plagued by violence and a tendence towards anarchy, influenced by separatist parties. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Anantnag, Srinagar and Baramulla the Lok Sabha seats recorded dismal attendance. Baramulla recorded 46 per cent voting in 1996. Thereafter it has struggled to have voters on election days. Twenty-eight years later, 59 per cent of Baramulla showed up to vote on polling day, breaking the previous record. This time, local political leaders have addressed large crowds who are keen to be a part of the time-tested process of democracy and express their opinions at the poll booths, unlike earlier times when boycotts dominated Kashmiri elections and the turnout, cowed down by the gun, often struggled to crawl out of single digit percentage attendance. The resolve to bring Kashmir out of a rut of decades-old militancy by taking the gun out of the equation has helped locals trust the power of the ballot in making lives better instead of being ruled by fear of militancy. There is a growing curiosity about the choices available in a democracy through the power of the ballot, which many people in the state now see value in, unlike across the border where democracy is in shambles and offers no choices. Younger India: 18 Million First-Time Voters One of the key aspects in these elections is the addition of over 2-crore young first time voters. These voters, in each successive edition, are going to boost a voting population that consumes digital information and has a strong sense of independent opinion. A keen interest among young voters has led to parties canvassing through digital platforms. An increasingly politically conscious, intelligent but less patient voter base has meant that parties have had to address more matured issues which also tells us how India has travelled a fair distance from the days when Garibi Hatao was a dominating slogan. The voter turnout, lower in the early stages, yet reflects an involved participation of its citizens across the country. In a country where different belief systems have held sway, the one common space where India comes together as a country is its general election. Which is why, an election season resembles a festival of choices rather than a mere mechanical process of choosing. India Votes for the World to Emulate In the previous national edition in 2019, the Election Commission confirmed a 67 per cent turnout. The Americans were marginally higher in the same period while voting in their elections. The Indian elections have also been among the most expensive elections, in which political parties spent more than 7 billion in 2019, higher than the spends in the US elections in that period. Not only are the Indian general elections the largest poll show on earth they are also the most intensely contested and certainly, sets the bar for America to follow this November. While wars and conflicts singe the world in most parts and certain nations have gone berserk losing their way while making choices, India proves yet again that this election festival of citizens is not only the biggest but also the most civilised and sane process on earth. The writer is the author of Watershed 1967: Indias Forgotten Victory over China and Camouflaged: Forgotten Stories From Battlefields. His fortnightly column for FirstPost Beyond The Lines covers military history, strategic issues, international affairs and policy-business challenges. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views. Tweets @iProbal The recent visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to China and the summit meeting between two strongmen of China and Russia hold considerable significance for the Indian strategic community to reflect upon and examine its long-term implications for Indias foreign policy goals. Russia has been a time-tested security partner of India, despite Indias all-encompassing strategic partnership with the United States. Earlier during the Cold War years, India was the former Soviet Unions closest security partner among the developing countries when New Delhi and Washington maintained an estranged relationship. Advertisement As the Cold War ended and Russia emerged out of the former Soviet Union as a weaker power with a diminished role in world affairs, the length and breadth of the Indo-Russian relationship dropped, while India and the US slowly but steadily came closer to each other. Moscow fumed when the US began to enlarge its presence in Indias arms bazaar, and Washington aimed at shrinking Russian sales of weapons to India, which was rapidly expanding its military modernization and arms acquisition. India, however, sought to maintain its autonomous decision-making in arms purchases and sources of acquisitions. Russia sold certain military equipment, including missiles, at critical times, such as Chinese muscle flexing along the line of actual control, and the US dangled but did not resort to sanctions against India. On the other hand, India purchased a huge amount of Russian oil amidst the war in Ukraine and did so in the face of American protestations. The Indian governments decision helped India secure its energy requirements, helped Russia economically at a time of massive Western sanctions, and did not harm US interests. Unlike Russia-Indian relations, Sino-Indian relations are competitive, transactional, and, in the long run, rivalry-prone. India and China compete for influence in the Global South, continue their trade relations despite violent clashes along the border, and in the long run, a rising India is perceived as a challenge to Chinese aspirations for hegemony in the Indo-Pacific region. Thus, the future of Sino-Indian relations will certainly be affected by the nature, depth, and expanse of the Russo-Chinese relationship. The outcome of the recent Putin-Xi summit indicates that the two countries have cemented their long-term strategic ties that will seek to confront the US-led global order, write new rules of international engagements, and also expand and consolidate their presence and influence in various parts of the world. Advertisement There are analysts who perceive the emerging Russo-Chinese partnership as a short-term phenomenon where China maintains official neutrality in the Ukraine War, but its actions bolster Russias strength to continue its war in the Ukraine War. They think that once the war in Ukraine is over, China will renew with vigour its economic connectivity with the West and aspire to be a superpower where Russia, at best, can be a junior partner. However, no one knows how the Ukraine War will endwith Russian victory or American victory? Ukraine will be the losers under any arrangement! American victory will abate Chinas resolve to annex Taiwan by force, if needed. The Russian triumph will surely weaken US influence in a new world order where China will reap the benefits but cannot view Russia as a junior partner. In a long span of world history, Russia and China have been allies, adversaries, competitors, and co-partners. Advertisement It is cumbersome to visualise the distant scenario, but in the foreseeable future, Russia and China will be strong strategic partners seeking to reorder the global security architecture to blunt the US primacy. This is where Indian strategic thinkers have to analyse the strategic course of action that India needs to adopt to secure its future role in world affairs. Russia will not compromise on its control over Crimea, its gains in Ukraine, and its influence over Georgia. China will never give up on Taiwan and the South China Sea Islands and will surely try to preserve its BRI projects. And the US is perceived by Putin and Xi, and rightly so, as the real threat to their interests. They call the US the destabiliser of the global order. The North Korean and Iranian leadership are increasingly inching towards forming a counter-Quad along with China and Russia. Advertisement It is worthwhile to analyse the embryonic potential scenarios. One such scenario could be a subtle competition between the current Quad consisting of the US, India, Japan, and Australia and the emerging Quad consisting of Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran. What will be the Russian position if China yet again upends its aggressive movements along the Sino-Indian border? In another scenario, India could revive the Russia-China-India triangle and, along with BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, aim to promote a multilateral world order. What will be its impact on the India-US strategic partnership and the Quad partners? The third scenario can be an extremely multifaceted Cold War where there will be no watertight alliances or unbreakable commitments, and the foreign policies of the member countries will keep mutating their policies and approaches, like company shares in a stock market. Advertisement The best course of action for India perhaps would be not Ekla Chalo under the rhetoric of strategic autonomy but to carefully study the strategic market place and position itself flexibly on issues and events. The evolving global political chessboard is in rapid flux, and there will be a few quick fixes available. India needs to reorganise its engagements with Russia, China, and the US to start with. The writer is founder chairperson of Kalinga Institute Indo-Pacific Studies and former Professor at JNU. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views. The Biden teams disparagement of Netanyahu should raise alarm in New Delhi because, to American progressives, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is as much a political lightning rod read more Less than two weeks after Hamas terrorists undertook the greatest single-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, President Joe Biden stood in Tel Aviv and declared, As long as the United States standsand we will stand foreverwe will not let you ever be alone. He deplored Hamas terror and stood unequivocally with Israel. You are a Jewish state, he said, but youre also a democracy. And like the United States, you dont live by the rules of terrorists. Advertisement Seven months later, the White House draws moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas. As both Israeli and American hostages remain captive in Hamas underground tunnels, the Biden administration embargoes the weaponry Israel needs to locate and rescue them. The reason for the betrayal is both political and personal. The change in White House attitude towards Israel came after Bidens campaign aides received polls showing Biden losing ground in both Michigan and perhaps Minnesota, both US states with large Muslim minorities. Biden might speak with moral clarity, but his sincerity only extends to the next poll. Personal animosity plays an even greater role. Biden has always led personal trump policy. Then-Senator Barack Obamas running mate, Biden, fiercely criticised Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. Bidens goal may have been to criticise President George W Bushs management of Afghan reconstruction, but Karzai never forgave the incident and, months later, stormed out of a meeting with then-Vice President Biden. The poor relationship between Biden and Karzai played out on the diplomatic stage and undercut US (and Indian) national security interests in Afghanistan. Bidens animosity towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is even more pronounced. Even Netanyahus friends consider him a difficult man, and Ron Dermer, his gatekeeper, is just as arrogant. Many progressives caricature Netanyahu as an extremist and fail to understand that he represents the Israeli mainstream on security issues. They blame him, for example, for the Israeli security barrier between the West Bank and Israel and do not realise that the wall was the idea of the late Israeli Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner Yitzhak Rabin, who fell along the left wing of the Israeli political spectrum. They also resent Netanyahus failure to subordinate himself to their political whims and Netanyahus insistence that a two-state solution means one state will remain Jewish. Advertisement President Barack Obama taunted Netanyahu as chickensh*t in an interview with Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg. Obama administration alumni populate the current administration. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken obliquely criticise Netanyahu. Their aides smear Netanyahu anonymously with vitriol. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took Netanyahus derangement to a new level when he called for new elections in Israel to oust the Israeli prime minister. Not only did this misjudge IsraelNetanyahu shot up in the polls as Israelis rejected outside interferencebut it ignored that Israel was the only democracy in a region of dictatorships. Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, for example, is currently serving the 20th year of his four-year presidential term. That is akin to criticising Indian democracy while ignoring Chinas one-party dictatorship and Pakistans history of military coups. Advertisement The Biden teams disparagement of Netanyahu for cheap political reasons should raise alarm in New Delhi because, to American progressives, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is as much a political lightning rod. True, when Biden welcomed Modi to the White House just a year ago, he was effusive. The relationship between the United States and India will be one of the defining relationships of the 21st century, he declared. Increasingly, though, it seems Bidens aides risk giving Modi the Netanyahu treatment. American progressives disparage Modi for the same reason they dislike Netanyahu. Modi is unabashedly nationalist. He does not subordinate Indias interests to the political whims of the White House. He is proudly religious at a time when many American progressives look down on faith. Advertisement When Israeli voters repeatedly reject progressive parties at the polls, the failed politicians instead seek to cultivate American congressmen to impose from outside what they cannot achieve inside. The same pattern now repeats in India, where activists who fail to attract a constituency inside India instead seek to turn to non-governmental organisations and self-described human rights groups to push agendas Indian voters reject. Just as Schumer dismissed the results of Israeli democracy, many progressive American politicians belittle Indian democracy because they do not like its results. Hence, prominent US Senators Chris Van Hollen, Richard Blumenthal, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders all signed a letter calling on Biden to chide Modis human rights record during his 2023 state visit. Other congressmen promoted the calumny that the Modi administration is intolerant. This charge may be common in Western capitals, but it rests on amplifying local ethnic conflict to suggest falsely broader religious hatred. Just because Americans may see conflict through the lens of religion does not mean Indians always do. Advertisement There is an adage in American politics: Personnel is policy. A new president seeks to staff his administration with supporters. It can be difficult enough to ensure political appointees remain disciplined, but career diplomats and civil servants too often seek to advance their own personal views and block those with which they disagree. This often takes the form of slowing or blocking diplomatic processes and leaking information anonymously to the press to demonise democrats or derail policy initiatives. The Washington Post and New York Times regularly print poorly sourced news designed to undercut Netanyahu or promote his opponents, and correspondents write analysis that substitutes opinion for fact. Often, their cherry-picked reports lose their lustre in the spotlight of context. The same now happens with Modi. Khalistani separatists, many with blood on their hands due to their personal involvement or financing of terror inside India, find refuge in Canada and California, where they also serve as anchors to sponsor further immigration. Impugning India and feigning oppression helps asylum applications. Sikh militants cloak themselves in the rhetoric of democracy and freedom while seeking to undercut it in pursuit of a violent movement that has no domestic support, even among the Sikh community in Punjab. In essence, Khalistani activism in the West has become a cover to legitimise organised crime, extortion, and gang warfare that often escalates into murder. Canadian Premier Justin Trudeau may find it convenient to blame India for the assassination in British Columbia, but the evidence he cited was neither clear nor conclusive. The same holds true for a Washington Post expose based on what the authors purport is the ongoing investigation into an attempted assassination of a Khalistani activist in California. What is the basis of the evidence? Mapping of connections that suggest links and anonymous statements that senior officials in New Delhi likely knew. This is amateur stuff. Six degrees of separation link almost all people on earth; after a career of studying the Middle East, I am no more than two degrees of separation from kings, princes, presidents, and terrorist masterminds; that does not mean they would recognise me on the street or take my phone call. Occams razor suggests a simpler explanation. A century ago, mafia warfare in Chicago led to internecine struggle as different families and crime leaders struggled for primacy. That is the world in which Khalistanis exist. To accuse India of transnational repression is to deflect from the real issue: The United States and Canada allowed fake dissidents under false pretences and then let them sponsor terrorism from US and Canadian soil. That the Biden administration tolerates its diplomats and intelligence officials leaking to undermine the Indian government is not the action of a trusted ally; instead, it is a warning that India should not trust their American counterparts. To tolerate such leaks is to be two-faced. Instead, Blinken and Director of Central Intelligence Bill Burns should investigate the leaker, who prioritises their own animosity towards Modi above the partnership between the worlds two largest democracies. If Blinken and Burns are unable to determine the guilty partyassuming they themselves are not responsible for the leaksthen they should clean house and rotate everyone off their respective India desks who had access to the investigation. It is time to polygraph American diplomats. Modi should also demand Biden forcefully defend Indian democracy, especially to members of his own party who seek to score cheap points for activist groups that prioritise their own anti-Hindu biases over truth. The world does not need another Justin Trudeau, nor can the US-India partnership thrive when an American bureaucracy seeks to tear it down. In the meantime, India must be realistic. If the White House undercuts Israels legitimate counterterror efforts because Blinken, Sullivan, or Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer irrationally hate Netanyahu, then can New Delhi ever be sure that the United States will truly have Indias back when Pakistan-backed terrorists again sponsor terrorism in Kashmir, Punjab, or even Mumbai? Michael Rubin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and director of policy analysis. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views. Microsofts Copilot+ PC rollout has been dominated by Qualcomm so far. However, Intel has some major plans for its Lunar Lake chips, scheduled for a Q3 2024 debut, which will take AI PCs to a whole a new level read more Intel is collaborating with over 100 independent software vendors as part of the AI PC Acceleration Program. This collaborative effort aims to enhance AI PC experiences across various domains. Image Credit: File In a bid to expand the Copilot+ ecosystem, Intel has announced the imminent arrival of its Lunar Lake chips, which are set to redefine the landscape of AI-powered computing. As PC makers embrace the Copilot+ initiative, Intels Lunar Lake chips promise groundbreaking AI performance and enhanced user experiences. Breaking the silence on Mondays Copilot+ PC rollout, which has been dominated by Qualcomm so far, Intel has reassured consumers of its imminent Lunar Lake chips, scheduled for a Q3 2024 debut. Representing a significant leap in AI capabilities, Lunar Lake chips will support all Copilot+ AI features, ushering in a new era of intelligent computing. Advertisement With more than 80 new laptops slated for release by over 20 hardware partners, Intel aims to inject the holiday season with a dose of Copilot+ magic. These PCs, equipped with Lunar Lake chips, will seamlessly integrate new Copilot+ features like Recall and Cocreator via software updates, promising enhanced productivity and creativity for users. With an ambitious target of shipping over 40 million AI PC chips this year, Intel is poised to revolutionize the computing landscape. In comparison, Microsoft expects to sell about 50 million Copilot+ PCs by the end of the year. Lunar Lake is set to triple the AI performance of its predecessors, the Meteor Lake XPUs, and boasts over 40 trillion Neural Processing Unit (NPU) operations per second (TOPS), thereby paving the way for unparalleled AI experiences. Michelle Johnston Holthaus, Intels Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Client Computing Group, lauded Lunar Lakes breakthrough power efficiency and compatibility with x86 architecture. With Lunar Lake and Copilot+, Intel aims to deliver the most competitive hardware and software offerings in its history, promising a seamless fusion of innovation and performance. Pavan Davuluri, Corporate Vice President of Windows + Devices at Microsoft, hailed the launch of Lunar Lake as a pivotal moment in AI computing. Microsofts deep co-engineering partnership with Intel underscores the significance of Lunar Lake in driving fundamental improvements across security, battery life, and overall user experience. Recognizing the pivotal role of software enablement in the AI revolution, Intel is collaborating with over 100 independent software vendors as part of the AI PC Acceleration Program. This collaborative effort aims to enhance AI PC experiences across various domains, including personal assistants, content creation, gaming, security, and more, ushering in a new era of intelligent computing. Vietnam has become increasingly attractive to multinational companies looking to diversify their manufacturing away from China. The call for energy-saving measures, is aimed at preventing power shortages that can result in significant economic losses read more Vietnamese authorities have urged Apples supplier Foxconn to voluntarily slash power usage by at least 30 per cent at its assembly plants in the northern region, following electricity outages experienced last year. The call for energy-saving measures, which reportedly extended to multiple manufacturers, is a precautionary step aimed at preventing a recurrence of the power shortages that resulted in significant economic losses last summer, estimated at over a billion dollars, as per a report by Reuters. Advertisement While the request to Foxconn, and other manufacturing units in the region was described as an encouragement rather than a mandatory directive, it has not affected production operations, as clarified by one of the sources. Vietnam has become increasingly attractive to multinational companies seeking to diversify their manufacturing footprint away from China amid escalating trade tensions. Apple, for instance, has pledged additional investment in Vietnam, with its supplier count in the country rising from 25 to 35 over the past year. As a Southeast Asian nation heavily reliant on foreign investment for economic growth, Vietnam has actively courted energy-intensive industries like semiconductor manufacturing. However, a heatwave last year triggered power shortages, causing significant disruptions to businesses in the northern region and resulting in substantial economic losses. In response, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has assured foreign investors that measures are being taken to prevent future power shortages. These efforts include deferring maintenance at coal-fired power plants to meet heightened electricity demand during peak periods, particularly in the hottest months. While specific details regarding the timing and duration of the voluntary power reduction were not disclosed, one source mentioned that the request was open-ended. Foxconn, renowned as the worlds largest contract electronics manufacturer operates several plants in northern Vietnam, including in Bac Giang province, where it assembles Apple MacBooks and iPads. Provincial authorities, such as Bac Giang Power Company (BG PC), have issued statements urging industrial parks and enterprises to cooperate in implementing electricity-saving measures. BG PC emphasized that adjustments in power consumption and production plans could significantly impact the power system. Advertisement Despite variations in energy-saving measures across the country, authorities are taking proactive steps to address potential challenges, including boosting coal imports and promoting energy-saving practices, particularly among industrial sectors. In March, foreign chambers of commerce advocated for government intervention to ensure a stable power supply, citing concerns from semiconductor companies about potential investment delays due to the risk of power shortages. (With inputs from agencies) Microsoft is counting on a revamped Windows experience, that relies heavily on AI to out do and outsell Macs. Microsoft claims the new Copilot + devices will outpace Apples MacBook Air M3 by a staggering 58 per cent read more Microsoft believes that in the first year alone, they will see about 50 million units of their Copilot+ PC. Image Credit: AFP Microsoft Corp. CEO Satya Nadella is setting his sights on a new era of computing, one fueled by specialised artificial intelligence chips and enhanced performance, in a bid to reignite the age-old rivalry between Windows PCs and Apple Inc.s Mac. Acknowledging Apples remarkable achievements, Nadella expressed his intention to introduce robust competition to the Windows versus Mac landscape. Microsofts latest move involves the introduction of a new category of AI-focused PCs dubbed Copilot+ PC. Advertisement These machines, developed under the Microsoft Surface line and by other manufacturers, boast dedicated AI processing chips, promising significantly enhanced power and speed. In fact, Microsoft claims these new devices will outpace Apples MacBook Air M3 by a staggering 58 per cent. Priced starting at $1,000, these cutting-edge PCs are set to hit the market on June 18. Although Apple has been playing catch-up with its Big Tech counterparts when it comes to AI, the company is gearing up to unveil an ambitious strategy at its upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference. It already gave users a hint of things to come with the launch of M4 SoC at the launch of the 2024 iPad series. Reports suggest that Apple plans to integrate high-end chips, similar to those designed for the Mac, into cloud-computing servers tailored for processing advanced AI tasks. Simultaneously, simpler AI features will be processed directly on iPhones, iPads, and Macs, with a focus on enhancing user experience by offering personalised suggestions and streamlined interactions. Microsofts strategic advantage in the field of generative AI services stems from its partnership with leading AI startup OpenAI. However, this partnership has drawn regulatory scrutiny, with officials in the US, Europe, and the UK closely examining Microsofts AI investments, along with those of its competitors. Nadella, however, maintains that Microsofts collaborations are fostering healthy competition in the nascent AI sector, rather than stifling it. Advertisement In Nadellas view, the current landscape is characterised by formidable competition among both industry giants and smaller players alike. He emphasises that the focus should not be on individual companies acquiring or dominating the market but rather on fostering an environment of healthy competition that drives innovation and benefits consumers. (With inputs from agencies) Microsoft believes that AI-powered PCs will have a lot of takers, and has sett its sights on shipping over 50 million AI-enabled PCs within the next year. Thanks to the Copilot+ PCs, Microsoft hopes Windows will become the go-to OS for AI read more In a bid to revolutionise the Windows experience, Microsoft has announced its ambitious plans to integrate generative artificial intelligence (AI) into the heart of its Windows operating system, bringing forth a new era of Copilot+ PCs and groundbreaking features. At a recent keynote session leading up to the Build developer conference, Microsoft lifted the veil on its latest lineup of Windows-powered machines dubbed Copilot+ PCs. These cutting-edge devices are set to redefine the user experience with the inclusion of dedicated Neural Processing Units (NPUs), designed to supercharge AI capabilities like Recalla feature aimed at effortlessly retrieving past apps, files, and content. Advertisement Copilot+ PCs The Copilot+ PCs are supposed to be the epitome of AI-centric flagship Windows hardware. Equipped with a minimum of 16GB RAM and SSD storage, these devices boast unparalleled performance and responsiveness, setting a new standard for computing excellence. Microsofts strategic partnerships with leading chipmakers Qualcomm, Intel, and AMD highlight just how serious they are about the Copilot+ initiative. Microsofts strategic partnerships with leading chipmakers Qualcomm, Intel, and AMD underscore its commitment to the Copilot+ initiative. The inaugural Copilot+ PCs will harness the power of Qualcomms Snapdragon X Elite and Plus chips, promising remarkable battery longevity of up to 15 hours of web browsing and 20 hours of video playback. New Surface devices as Copilot+ devices Microsoft has also introduced a fresh lineup of Surface devices, including the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro, meticulously engineered to deliver superior performance and extended battery life. The revamped Surface Laptop features a sleek design with thinner screen bezels, offering up to 22 hours of battery life and significant performance enhancements compared to its predecessors. Meanwhile, the latest iteration of the Surface Pro boasts a staggering 90 per cent performance boost over its predecessor, along with a dazzling OLED display, advanced connectivity options including Wi-Fi 7 and optional 5G, and an upgraded ultrawide front-facing camera. New AI Features in Copilot+ Microsofts foray into AI-driven innovations is set to reshape the computing landscape, with the company setting its sights on shipping over 50 million AI-enabled PCs within the next year. Advertisement Recall, for example, is a groundbreaking feature designed to seamlessly retrieve past user activities. With the forthcoming rollout of Recall, Windows 11 users can expect an intuitive and personalized computing experience, with the ability to effortlessly rediscover past activities and content. Leveraging advanced AI algorithms, Recall empowers users to traverse their digital archives with ease, offering a glimpse into the future of intelligent computing. Microsoft says, that all data associated with Recall is stored securely on-device and safeguarded against unauthorized access or usage for AI training purposes. Microsoft also teased tech enthusiasts with a sneak peek into the future integration of ChatGPT powered by GPT-4o, slated for imminent release on Windows platforms. Advertisement Beyond Recall, Microsoft continues to push the boundaries of AI with features like Super Resolution, which enables users to breathe new life into old photos with automatic upscaling. Additionally, Copilots newfound ability to analyze images and offer creative suggestions through Cocreator opens up endless possibilities for artistic expression and exploration. Notably, Live Captions with live translations further enrich the Windows experience, providing real-time translations for audio content in over 40 languages, including English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Russian. Young Hyun Jun, formerly in charge of future business planning, now takes the helm to bolster the companys position in the face of a booming AI chip market read more The appointment comes as Samsung seeks to fortify its presence in high-end AI chips, including high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, where it trails behind competitors like SK Hynix. Image Credit: Reuters Samsung Electronics has made a strategic move to address the ongoing chip crisis by appointing a new chief for its semiconductor division. Young Hyun Jun, formerly in charge of future business planning, now takes the helm to bolster the companys position in the face of a booming AI chip market. The appointment comes as Samsung seeks to fortify its presence in high-end AI chips, including high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, where it trails behind competitors like SK Hynix. With Juns extensive experience in memory chip development and previous leadership roles within Samsung, the company aims to rejuvenate its semiconductor division and enhance its competitiveness. Advertisement This is a preemptive measure to strengthen future competitiveness by renewing the atmosphere internally and externally, stated Samsung Electronics in a press release announcing the leadership change. Juns background as a former CEO of Samsung SDIs battery arm and his tenure in Samsung Electronics memory chip business positions him well to navigate the challenges posed by the chip crisis. His appointment underscores Samsungs commitment to addressing industry dynamics and leveraging management expertise to overcome hurdles. The timing of the leadership change, occurring in the middle of the year, deviates from Samsungs usual practice of personnel changes at the beginning of the year. Analysts interpret this move as a proactive step to revitalise the chip division and capitalise on emerging opportunities in the AI chip market. Kye Hyun Kyung, the current chip division chief, will transition to lead the future business unit, signalling Samsungs strategic realignment to focus on long-term growth initiatives. Analyst Lee Min-hee from BNK Investment & Securities notes, The chip division has been lagging in competitiveness on various fronts. It also missed a lot of the global AI upward trend. With Juns appointment, Samsung aims to address these challenges and position itself for success in the rapidly evolving semiconductor landscape. Scarlett Johansson claims that OpenAI reached out to her in September last year, proposing her to be the voice of ChatGPTs Sky. However, she refused. Johansson also claims that Sam Altman reached out to her agents again, two days before the demo of GPT-4o read more Many people were surprised by how similar ChatGPT's Sky sounded to Scarlett Johansson's portrayal of an AI voice assitsant in 'Her'. Image Credit: Reuters Scarlett Johansson may be the latest artist to sue Sam Altman-led OpenAI. The reason? OpenAI apparently used her voice for their AI voice assistant, despite her clear refusal to be a part of the project. OpenAI made some massive headlines last week thanks to its GPT-4o powered ChatGPT, and the demos it showed. The biggest takeaway from these videos was the conversational interface that ChatGPT got. Keen-eyed observers noticed that the voice assistant that OpenAIs employees were using, Sky, sounded a lot like the AI assistant in the movie Her, played by Scarlett Johansson. Advertisement Furthermore, what made things more suspicious was the constant reference to the film during their demos, which led people to believe that the AI model Johansson was playing, indeed had a crucial role in the development of GPT-4o. As per a report by the Wired, Johansson claims that OpenAI had reached out to her last September and asked her if she would be interested in providing ChatGPTs new voice. However, she refused to be a part of the project. Naturally then, when she, with the rest of the world, found out how eerily similar Sky sounded to the AI robot in Her, Johansson was taken aback. Johansson also claimed that Altman reached out to her agents and pressed for her to reconsider her decision, two days before the demo, hoping that she would agree to work with OpenAI. In her statement, Johansson expressed shock and frustration, especially because Altman seemed to link the demo with her movie performance by tweeting her on May 13. Upon seeing the demo, Johansson hired a team of legal counsel to pursue OpenAI and get them to explain how they created the supposedly new voice. Soon thereafter, OpenAI suspended the use of Sky. Johanssons statement claims that this happened after she sent OpenAI a notice, demanding an explanation. Advertisement The company also posted a blog post outlining the process used to create the voice. Skys voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice, the post said. Last September, OpenAI introduced Sky as one of several synthetic voices for ChatGPT. However, during last weeks event, Sky exhibited a significantly more natural intonation with emotional nuances. In the demonstration, a version of ChatGPT powered by GPT-4o was showcased, engaging in what appeared to be flirtatious conversation with an OpenAI engineer. Sam Altman, as per a statement from OpenAI, emphasised that the voice of Sky was not meant to mimic Scarlett Johanssons, nor was it ever intended to do so. Altman explained that the voice actor for Sky was hired prior to any contact with Johansson. In recognition of Johanssons concerns, OpenAI has halted the use of Skys voice in their products as a gesture of respect. Altman expressed regret for the lack of clear communication with Johansson and apologised for any misunderstanding. Advertisement OpenAIs dispute with Scarlett Johansson adds to its ongoing legal disputes with artists, writers, and other creatives. The company is currently facing multiple lawsuits alleging unauthorized use of copyrighted material to train its algorithms, including legal actions from The New York Times and authors like George R.R. Martin. The emergence of generative AI has significantly simplified the process of creating realistic synthetic voices, bringing about both opportunities and risks. For instance, in January, voters in New Hampshire received numerous robocalls featuring a deepfake voice message purportedly from Joe Biden. Moreover, in March, OpenAI revealed the development of technology capable of replicating someones voice from a short 15-second clip. However, the company decided against releasing this technology due to concerns over its potential misuse. On Monday, the aircraft took out from the Heathrow airport in London and was scheduled to arrive in Singapore. But the unanticipated turbulence had a deadly result; over thirty passengers were reported injured during the turbulence, and one passenger died from injuries read more The Boeing 777-300ER carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members had to make an emergency landing in Bangkok due to erratic weather during the flight Image Courtesy Reuters A Singapore Airlines aircraft from London to Singapore was hit by extreme turbulence on Monday leading to the death of a passenger. In addition, several dozen passengers were injured in the incident. The Boeing 777-300ER carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members had to make an emergency landing in Bangkok due to erratic weather during the flight. On Monday, the aircraft took off from the Heathrow airport in London and was scheduled to arrive in Singapore. But the unanticipated turbulence had a deadly result; over thirty passengers were reported injured during the turbulence, and one passenger died from injuries. Advertisement Emergency services arrived in Bangkok at 3:45 PM local time on Tuesday and handled the situation quickly. Singapore Airlines sent the family of the deceased passenger their sincere condolences and reaffirmed that providing the impacted passengers and staff with all required support is their top priority. Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased," the airline posted on social media platform X. According to the most recent information, attempts are being made to work with Thai local authorities to supply critical medical assistance to individuals hurt during the tumultuous incident. Additionally, Singapore Airlines is sending a specialized team to Bangkok in case further assistance is required. After taking off on May 20, Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight SQ321 from London (Heathrow) to Singapore experienced sudden extreme turbulence over the Irrawaddy Basin at 37,000 feet about 10 hours after departure, according to the airline read more The airplane was redirected to Bangkok on May 21 after the pilot announced a medical emergency The Singapore flag carrier announced on Tuesday that among the 229 passengers on board the Singapore Airlines flight that experienced sudden extreme turbulence over the Irrawaddy Basin at 37,000 feet were at least three Indian nationals. Over two dozen additional passengers were hurt in the terrifying incident, which saw the aircraft drop 6,000 feet in approximately three minutes and result in the death of a 73-year-old British man. The unidentified British man likely passed away following a heart attack, according to Kittipong Kittikachorn, General Manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport. Advertisement After taking off on May 20, Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight SQ321 from London (Heathrow) to Singapore experienced sudden extreme turbulence over the Irrawaddy Basin at 37,000 feet about 10 hours after departure, according to the airline. The airplane was redirected to Bangkok on May 21 after the pilot announced a medical emergency. We can confirm that there were multiple injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, the carrier said in a Facebook post. Eighteen people had been admitted to hospitals. Twelve more were receiving care in hospitals. At Bangkoks Suvarnabhumi International Airport, the remaining passengers and crew were being inspected and, if needed, treated, according to Singapore Airlines. It stated that there were 211 passengers and 18 crew members on board. The following are the passengers nationalities: Australia accounted for 56, followed by Canada (2), Germany (1), India (3), Indonesia (2), Iceland (4), Ireland (1), Israel (1), Malaysia (16), Myanmar (2), New Zealand (23), the Philippines (5), Singapore (41), South Korea (1), Spain (2), the United Kingdom (47), and the United States of America (four). Information about the injured passengers, crew, and their nationalities has not been made public by authorities. Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. We deeply apologise for the traumatic experience that our passengers and crew members suffered on this flight. Advertisement We are providing all necessary assistance during this difficult time. We are working with our colleagues and the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary assistance, it said. Due to significant turbulence, Singapore Airlines was operating a 16-year-old 777 aircraft on the SQ321 service. A Singapore Airlines team is its route to Bangkok to offer any further support that may be required. In order to investigate this event, SIA is collaborating with the appropriate authorities. According to Singapore Airlines, family members can contact the airline by phone at 65 6542 3311 in Singapore, 1800-845-313 in Australia, and 080-0066-8194 in the UK. Lawrence Wong, the recently appointed prime minister of Singapore, sent his sympathies to family members and loved ones of the deceased. Advertisement Unfortunately, we are marking Vesak Day this year with news of the incident on the SQ321 flight earlier today. We are all saddened and shocked by what happened, he said in a Facebook post. He added that Singapore is working closely with the Thai authorities and doing everything we can to support the passengers and crew. We pray for their safe return and smooth recovery for those who are injured. We are still getting more information from Bangkok and will provide further updates in due course, he said. US aircraft manufacturer Boeing extended its condolences to the family of the British man who died aboard SQ321, a Boeing 777-300ER. Advertisement We are in contact with Singapore Airlines regarding flight SQ321 and stand ready to support them, Boeing said on X. With light and moderate turbulence passengers might feel a strain against their seatbelt, and unsecured items could move around the cabin. But in severe cases turbulence can throw passengers around the cabin, causing severe injuries and occasionally death, As many as 150 youth from the port city and its vicinity have been stuck in Cambodia for a year already, where they are being coerced to carry out cyber crime and ponzi scams by Chinese handlers, police said. Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner A Ravi Shankar noted that these trafficked Indians caused large scale riots in Jinbei and Compound, Sihanoukvile in Cambodia, which is allegedly a hub for cyber crime read more In the wake of a human trafficking racket being busted here recently, Andhra Pradesh police on Tuesday said around 300 Indians revolted against their handlers in Cambodia on May 20, leading to most of them being arrested in the foreign country. As many as 150 youth from the port city and its vicinity have been stuck in Cambodia for a year already, where they are being coerced to carry out cyber crime and ponzi scams by Chinese handlers, police said. Advertisement Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner A Ravi Shankar noted that these trafficked Indians caused large scale riots in Jinbei and Compound, Sihanoukvile in Cambodia, which is allegedly a hub for cyber crime. Many people called up Visakha city police whatsapp numbers and sent videos. Yesterday (Monday), around 300 Indians revolted in a large scale against their handlers in Cambodia, said Shankar in a release. On May 18, Vizag police arrested Chukka Rajesh, S Kondala Rao and M Jnaneshwar Rao on human trafficking charges for luring youth from India with data entry jobs in Singapore but would actually traffic them to Cambodia for carrying out cyber crime. Once in Cambodia, the youth would be held captive, tortured and compelled by Chinese handlers to execute scams such as task game fraud, stock market fraud and others, police said. In an effort to extend assistance, police contacted the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and related departments to repatriate the youth safely as most of them have been lodged in a jail after Mondays revolt. According to Visakhapatnam Joint Commissioner of Police Fakkeerappa Kaginelli, nearly 5,000 Indians were trafficked to Cambodia from across the country through various agents. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights both expressly state that civilians should not be tried in military courts, according to Dr. Agnes Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International read more Callamard pleaded on Pakistan to respect its commitments made to other countries, preserve constitutional rights, and guarantee the right to a fair trial Image Courtesy Reuters The head of Amnesty International stated that more than 100 people should not be tried by military courts in Pakistan for their suspected involvement in attacks on army sites during the riots that broke out after the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan on May 9, 2023. She pleaded on the Shehbaz Sharif administration to honor its commitments abroad. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights both expressly state that civilians should not be tried in military courts, according to Dr. Agnes Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International. Advertisement According to Dawn News on Tuesday, the head of Amnesty International stated that while military tribunals for civilians are prohibited by international law, sadly it has happened throughout Pakistans political history. Callamard is visiting her first region. Callamard pleaded on Pakistan to respect its commitments made to other countries, preserve constitutional rights, and guarantee the right to a fair trial. Callamard stated that Amnesty was shocked by the countrys declining space for freedom of expression in relation to the ban on X in Pakistan. Pakistan should do the exact opposite of what it is doing right now, she emphasized. It is important to note that Pakistan has chosen to try over 100 people for their claimed involvement in attacks on army posts during the riots that broke out on May 9, 2023, after the arrest of the 71-year-old former prime minister. According to the Pakistani Army, 102 suspects have been detained on suspicion of taking part in the attacks. New Caledonias main Tontouta International Airport usually brings in a steady stream of tourists looking for a relaxing break in paradise. But for the past week, it has received military planes laden with heavily armed French security forces trying to put down violent protests against Paris rule read more This handout photo provided by the French Army shows security force embarking a plane to New Caledonia at the Istres military base, southern France. AP File Australia and New Zealand announced three planes will be sent to the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia on Tuesday to rescue hundreds of tourists who have been barricaded in hotels during a week of deadly unrest. In Wellington, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said New Zealand was dispatching a plane immediately after receiving long-delayed landing permission from French authorities. New Caledonias main Tontouta International Airport usually brings in a steady stream of tourists looking for a relaxing break in paradise. Advertisement But for the past week, it has received military planes laden with heavily armed French security forces trying to put down violent protests against Paris rule. Peters said the first New Zealand aircraft would bring 50 passengers with the most pressing needs back to Auckland. It would, he said, be the first in a series of proposed flights to begin bringing New Zealanders home. Shortly after the announcement, his counterpart Penny Wong said Australia had received permission to send two planes. More than 3,000 people are estimated to have been stranded by a week of unrest that has shuttered the Pacific archipelagos main international airport. Many of them are Australian and New Zealand tourists stuck in resorts and hotels with dwindling supplies of food. Australian tourist Maxwell Winchester and his wife Tiffany have been barricaded at a resort between Noumea and the airport for more than a week. He told AFP on Tuesday that they were ecstatic at the prospect of impending rescue. We realise we probably wont get on these flights, because those who have higher needs will get on them, but we at least know we have a way out in the next few days, he said. Tourists have told AFP of food shortages, gunfire, and reports of arson and looting near resorts, leaving them fearful for their safety. The US Senate Finance Committee has found in an inquiry that BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volkswagen used parts from sanctioned Chinese supplier JWD in their cars read more A US Senate inquiry has found that BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, and Volkswagen procured car parts from a sanctioned Chinese firm. (Photo: Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo) An inquiry by the US Senate has found that automobile makers BMW, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), and Volkswagen used parts from a Chinese supplier sanctioned by the United States for using forced labour. The inquiry was conducted by the Senate Finance Committee over the past two years. The inquiry found that these three companies used parts made by Chinese supplier JWD, which has been flagged for using forced labour in Chinas Xinjiang province. China is accused of putting several hundreds of thousands of Xinjiangs native Uyghur Muslims in internment camps and forcibly using them in manufacturing industries. China is accused of systemic persecution of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. Advertisement What has inquiry found about BMW, JLR & Volkswagen? The Senate inquiry found that BMW imported to the US 8,000 cars that had parts made by the JWD. The inquiry also found that JLR also used JWD-made parts in its vehicles. Volkswagen, however, disclosed on its own to the US authorities that parts of the JWD made its way into its cars for the US through two contractors. The two contractors have been identified as California-based Bourns Inc. and Michigan-based Lear Corp, as per the Associated Press. The agency further noted that the Lear Corp is also a supplier of JLR and BMW. Automakers self-policing is clearly not doing job Senator Ron Wyden, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said that the automakers self-policing is not doing its job. Wyden further called upon US border authorities to step-up enforcement that goods with sanctioned components dont make it to the US. Automakers are sticking their heads in the sand and then swearing they cannot find any forced labor in their supply chains. Somehow, the Finance Committees oversight staff uncovered what multibillion-dollar companies apparently could not.Automakers self-policing is clearly not doing the job, said Wyden. In 2021, the US enacted the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). The law banned the entry into US of products made with forced labor in Xinjiang. In December 2023, the US added JWD, the supplier at the centre of the reports findings, to the list of suppliers using forced labour in Xinjiang, according to The New York Times. The mail purportedly sent from a mail.ru server claimed that explosives were planted on the school premises, triggering massive evacuations and searches as panic-stricken parents rushed to pick up their children on May 1 read more Parents waiting outside schools to pick up their wards after bomb threat. File Photo The bomb threat emails received by around 150 schools in Delhi-NCR early this month are suspected to have been sent from Hungarys capital Budapest, Delhi Police officials said on Tuesday. According to an official, the IP address of these emails has been traced to Budapest and Delhi Police will soon be contacting its counterpart in Hungary for further investigation. The IP (internet protocol) address is a unique identifying number assigned to every device connected to the internet. Advertisement The mail purportedly sent from a mail.ru server claimed that explosives were planted on the school premises, triggering massive evacuations and searches as panic-stricken parents rushed to pick up their children on May 1. The threat that sent alarm bells ringing in the security establishment was later declared as a hoax as nothing objectionable was found from the school campuses. The police, after filing an FIR into the case, had written to the mailing service company mail.ru based in Russia via Interpol. The police were investigating the IP address used to send the e-mails, besides the sender and origin of the mail to decipher the conspiracy and motive behind the bomb hoax that resulted in panic across Delhi-NCR on Wednesday. The officials said an initial probe has led to the suspicion of a deeper conspiracy hatched by a terror group during the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, adding that the threat mail could have been sent by an ISIS module. Alleged to be one of the members of the deadly death commission of Summer 1988 in Iran where thousands were massacred, Brigadier Abdollahi in August 2022 vowed to protect Iran from the nonsense carried by the American regime, the Zionist regime and some European states' read more Iran appointed an interesting figure Brigadier Ali Abdollahi to head the investigation team comprising national and military experts and technicians probing the helicopter crash in which President Ebrahim Raisi and his accompanying team were killed. The helicopter crashed in Varzaqan, northwestern Iran, on Sunday. Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Bagheri ordered Brigadier Abdollahi to handle the investigation of the crash. He is currently serving as the Coordination Deputy for the Armed Forces General Staff. Advertisement Who is Brigadier Ali Abdollahi? Although Brigadier Ali Abdollahi, born in 1959, has held numerous significant military positions in Iran, there is no available evidence online to suggest he is an aviation expert qualified to investigate air crashes. Nonetheless, he is likely to exert authority over his team, especially if the investigation stalls. Brigadier Abdollahis notoriety mirrors that of other high-ranking officials in Iran: a strong animosity towards the US, Israel and European countries coupled with a dismal human rights record. The US has sanctioned Brigadier Abdollahi for terrorism, weapons of mass destruction proliferation and human rights violations. His disdain for the US and its allies was evident during his speech at a conference in Moscow in August 2022. Examples of the decline of the power of the United States of America, being an example of arrogance and the great Satan, for a long time before that was an obvious fact for those who had a discerning eye, but today this decline is manifested to a greater extent, many thinkers have reached an understanding of the reasons for such a decline, today this decline can be measured and observed, said Brigadier Abdollahi. He went on to add, Being a part of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran and an associate of our heroic martyr General Ghasem Soleimani, I declare that we will not give up for a moment from ensuring the security of the Iranian people, preserving the independence and territorial integrity of the country, despite the nonsense carried by the American regime, the Zionist regime and some European states. Advertisement A dreadful past Brigadier Abdollahis loyalty to the Iranian regime is stained with blood. An association of families of the victims of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran, former political prisoners and international lawyers and legal experts seeking justice for all the victims of executions in Iran have linked Brigadier Abdollahi to the massacre. According to the group, Brigadier Abdollahi was the head of the naval prison and also a member of the Rasht Death Commission. They claimed that the Death Commission in Rasht comprised the local prosecutor, the representative of the Intelligence Ministry as the interrogator and Brigadier Abdollahi as the prison warden. Referring to various testimonies, the group concluded that about 120 prisoners were held at the Naval prison, and only two survived the mass executions in which Brigadier Abdollahi played a key role. Advertisement In a list that was made public by the Iran Human Rights Society in August 2023 revealing the names and positions of nearly 60 of the commanders and officials of the 1988 massacre and members of the death commission in Irans prisons, Brigadier Abdollahis name figured in serial number 36. What is the Rasht Death Commission? The Death Commission in Rasht referred to a series of events that occurred during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) and the subsequent purges in Iran. These commissions were established by the Iranian government to interrogate and ultimately execute political prisoners, particularly members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), a leftist opposition group. Advertisement In 1988, as the Iran-Iraq War was winding down, the Iranian government intensified its crackdown on political dissent. In Rasht, a city in northern Iran, a Death Commission was formed consisting of high-ranking officials including representatives from the Ministry of Intelligence, the judiciary and the Revolutionary Guard. The commission conducted mass trials of political prisoners, many of whom were arrested for their alleged ties to opposition groups like the MEK. Prisoners were given brief hearings where they were asked about their political affiliations and views. Those who refused to renounce their beliefs or pledge allegiance to the Iranian government were summarily sentenced to death. Advertisement The executions carried out by the Death Commission in Rasht and similar commissions in other cities across Iran resulted in the deaths of thousands of political prisoners. These executions are considered to be one of the darkest chapters in Irans modern history. The Iranian government, however, never officially acknowledged or took responsibility for the atrocities committed by the death commissions. Canada is a strong defender of human rights in Sri Lanka," Trudeau said, adding that Ottawa will continue to urge the Government of Sri Lanka to respect freedom of religion, belief, and pluralism essential values to build lasting peace read more The Sri Lankan government on Tuesday hit out at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for engaging in electoral vote bank politics by making an outrageous allegation of a genocide during the island nations brutal armed conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that ended in 2009. Trudeau, in a statement, noted that Canadas Parliament unanimously voted to recognise May 18 as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day. We will always advocate for justice and accountability for the crimes committed during the conflict, as well as for the hardships faced by all in Sri Lanka. In 2023, we imposed sanctions against four former Sri Lankan government officials in response to their violations of human rights in the country during the armed conflict, Trudeau said in a statement on Saturday. Advertisement Canada is a strong defender of human rights in Sri Lanka," he said, adding that Ottawa will continue to urge the Government of Sri Lanka to respect freedom of religion, belief, and pluralism essential values to build lasting peace. Reacting sharply to Trudeaus statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka said it rejects the false allegation of a so-called genocide in the island nation during the civil war. The Government of Sri Lanka in all previous communications has categorically refuted such outrageous allegation of genocide in Sri Lanka. No competent authority in Canada or elsewhere in the world has made any objective determination of genocide having taken place in Sri Lanka, the statement said. These unfounded allegations relate to the conclusion of the armed separatist terrorist conflict waged by the LTTE in pursuit of a separate state, contrary to the principles of the UN Charter. The LTTE is a listed terrorist organisation in 33 countries worldwide, including in Canada, the statement noted. Prime Minister Trudeaus endorsement of this false narrative of genocide in Sri Lanka is highly disruptive of communal harmony among the Canadians of Sri Lankan origin, a valuable community of Sri Lankan heritage living overseas, it said. A partisan narrative ignores the complex reality of the Sri Lankan conflict and as such these comments by Prime Minister Trudeau resonates adversely among Sri Lankans and disrupt the Sri Lankan governments ongoing efforts towards national unity, reconciliation and progress in Sri Lanka, the statement said. Advertisement Canadas falsification of our history amounts to irresponsible disinformation. It misleads the minds of current and future generations in Canada and elsewhere, encouraging and perpetuating hatred, it said, urging the Canadian Government to assume responsibility in a spirit of mutual respect in promoting peace and harmony. On a related but separate front, Canadas disproportionate focus on Sri Lanka is a clear example of double standards," the statement noted. It is crucial that countries like Canada, who claim to be global advocates of human rights, recognise their self-interested double standards which are resulting in increased polarisation in the international community, the statement said. Clearly, the repeated statements by the Prime Minister of Canada with regard to Sri Lanka are the outcome of electoral vote bank politics in Canada, funded by a small number of Canadians of Sri Lankan origin with vested and personal interest, the statement said. Advertisement Interestingly, India has also 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 with PTI earlier this month, External Affairs Minister S 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. Ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Trudeaus allegations in September last year of the potential involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. Advertisement New Delhi has rejected Trudeaus charges as absurd and motivated. India has been maintaining that the main issue has been that of Canada giving space to pro-Khalistani elements operating from Canadian soil with impunity. The Sri Lankan foreign ministry press statement also noted that the LTTE has indiscriminately targeted civilians of all communities in all parts of the country. It also targeted and assassinated the moderate Tamil leadership of the country including the former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. Since the end of the conflict in 2009, the Sri Lankan government has taken many steps towards reconciliation, unity and achieving durable peace and security despite the present economic hardships. The Government is determined to continue these measures, the statement added. Advertisement The LTTE had run a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009. On May 18, 2009, the Sri Lankan Army declared victory with the discovery of the body of the dreaded LTTE leader Velupillai Prabakaran. According to Sri Lankan government figures, over 20,000 people are missing due to various conflicts, including the three-decade brutal war with Lankan Tamils in the north and east, which claimed at least 100,000 lives. More than 100 survivors were rescued and 82 bodies were recovered. The United Nations says around 500 more people on board perished in one of the deadliest boat accidents in the Mediterranean. The nine defendants were on board the Adriana and charged with migrant smuggling, causing a shipwreck and participating in a criminal organisation read more A Greek court on Tuesday threw out charges against nine Egyptian men accused of causing a shipwreck that killed hundreds of migrants off Greece last year, ruling it had no jurisdiction over the case because the disaster was in international waters. Up to 700 migrants from Pakistan, Syria and Egypt were on board the overcrowded Adriana fishing trawler that set off from Libya bound for Italy. It sank off the coast of Pylos, in southwestern Greece, on June 14. Advertisement More than 100 survivors were rescued and 82 bodies were recovered. The United Nations says around 500 more people on board perished in one of the deadliest boat accidents in the Mediterranean. The nine defendants were on board the Adriana and charged with migrant smuggling, causing a shipwreck and participating in a criminal organisation. But many survivors say a disastrous attempt by the Greek coastguard to tow the boat caused it to capsize in some of the deepest waters in the Mediterranean. Human rights groups and the defendants lawyers have questioned the integrity of the Greek investigation. The causes of the shipwreck remain a source of dispute. Greeces coast guard has denied any role in the sinking and said those on the vessel had refused assistance. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. The nine men were arrested hours after the boat sank and had remained in pre-trial detention. They have denied any wrongdoing and their lawyers said they were being used as scapegoats. This is a great victory for human rights in Greece, Spyros Pantazis, one of their lawyers, told Reuters. Nine innocent men are walking free. Finally, after a huge struggle and pain, justice has been served. The courtroom in the city of Kalamata erupted in applause after the judge announced the decision on Tuesday. The men, aged from 21 to 41, hugged relatives or knelt and kissed the floor. They all have pending asylum applications for Greece. Advertisement Before the hearing, protesters in support of the defendants briefly scuffled with police who had cordoned off the area. This crime will not be forgotten, protesters chanted. We will become the voices of the dead. Defence lawyers said the men were charged after a rushed investigation and on insufficient evidence. While the boat was in international waters it was sailing in Greeces demarcated rescue area. Before the trial, lawyers accused the coastguard of monitoring the vessel for hours before launching a rescue operation and that the coastguard tried to pull the boat into Italian waters. The coastguard has denied the accusations and has said passengers on the boat refused help. Although the diplomatic relations between the two countries started in 1951, Pakistan was, however, the first Muslim nation to accept China in 1950 read more (File) Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif meets Chinese President Xi Jinping during his two days visit in Beijing on 2 November, 2022. Reuters It was on 21 May 1951, that the ground for the 73-year-old, all-weather friendship was sowed. Amid the backdrop of a rapidly evolving global political landscape following World War II and the onset of the Cold War, China and Pakistan formally established diplomatic relations marking the beginning of a significant and enduring partnership. Founded in 1949, the Peoples Republic of China was solidifying its position in Asia, while Pakistan, as a newly independent state since 1947, sought to diversify its foreign policy and establish a broader range of international alliances. Advertisement Pakistans decision to recognise the PRC early was strategic, reflecting its desire to balance its relations with India and to secure regional allies. For China, establishing ties with Pakistan was part of a broader strategy to gain regional allies and counterbalance the influence of United States and Soviet Union in Asia. This relationship quickly evolved beyond diplomatic exchanges to include significant economic, military and infrastructural cooperation. Syed Ali Nawaz Gilani expressed in Pakistan Today that within international relations there is a thread characterised by profound solidarity and trust. He mentioned that Pakistan and China, connected by an unbreakable bond, serve as evidence of the enduring strength of friendship amid the turbulence of global politics. Intensifying defence collaboration A report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute revealed that from 2019 to 2023, China supplied 82 per cent of Pakistans arms imports. This period saw Pakistans arms imports increase by 43 per cdent compared to 2014-2018, comprising 4.3 per cent of global arms imports and positioning Pakistan as the fifth largest arms importer worldwide. In March 2024, Indian customs officials intercepted a Malta-flagged merchant ship carrying a computer numerical control machine from China to Pakistan, which could be used to manufacture nuclear and ballistic weapons. Following this, in April, China commenced production of Hangor-class submarines for the Pakistan Navy. Advertisement The Pakistan Air Force already operates Chinese-made JF-17 and J-10 fighter jets and is set to receive Shenyang FC-31 Gyrfalcon fifth-generation fighter jets. Chinas FC-31/J-35 programme aims to offer a cost-effective alternative to the US-made F-35 and advanced European fighters. Additionally, Pakistans arsenal includes Chinese-made K-10C Firebird fighters. The robust China-Pakistan defence relationship is largely fuelled by their anti-India approach. Growing debt challenge Despite their all-weather friendship, Pakistans financial obligations to China have reached $26.6 billion. According to the IMF, Chinese loans constitute 23 per cent of Pakistans total foreign debt. On 17 May, 2024, reports indicated that Pakistan was considering a five-year extension for $15.5 billion owed in the Chinese energy sector. The CPEC launched a decade ago, includes 21 Independent Power Producer projects in Pakistan: eight coal, four hydroelectric, eight wind and one transmission line. Pakistans financial difficulties are so severe that the IMF has recently suggested imposing a tax on monthly pensions exceeding Rs 100,000. Advertisement Practically speaking, China is more focussed on salvaging its own economy rather than being concerned about Pakistan and it is determined to recover every penny it has lent. There is little doubt that this financial strain brings to the fore the complexities and challenges within the China-Pakistan economic relationship. As per Irans presidential election schedule, the registration of candidates will be done between May 30 and June 3. They will be allowed to hold electoral campaigns between June 12 and 27 read more People mourn death of the late Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, in Tehran, Iran, May 20. Source: REUTERS/WANA Iran will elect its new president on June 28 after Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage died in a helicopter crash. The decision to hold voting for the selection of Raisis successor was taken during the meeting of the heads of the judiciary, government and parliament. According to the initial agreement of the Guardian Council, it was decided that the 14th presidential election will be held on June 28, state television said. Presidential elections in Iran were scheduled for 2025, but the process has been advanced following Raisis death. Advertisement Raisi, 63, his foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and seven others died when the chopper they were travelling in crashed in a remote area of northwestern Iran on Sunday. As per IRNA, during the meeting, members also set the schedule for the election processes, including the formation of executive delegations, the registration of candidates, and the launch of electoral campaigns. Based on the schedule, the registration of candidates for Irans presidential polls will be done between May 30 and June 3. Candidates will then be allowed to hold electoral campaigns between June 12 and 27. Who will be Irans president till June 28? As per Irans constitution, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei named Irans first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, as acting President of the country. As per the countrys constitution, a new presidential election should be called within 50 days following the death of the president. Also Read: Raisi, next in line to be Supreme Leader, dies; When Iran will get new President? Who will hold top office? Khamenei stressed that the business of Irans government would continue irrespective. What is the difference between Supreme Leader and President in Iran? In Iran, the Supreme Leader, also known as the Velayat-e Faqih in Shia Islamic theology, is the ultimate ruler of the country. He is responsible for making all major decisions concerning the state. The position - Supreme Leader - was established after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The person is also head of state and commander in chief. Advertisement Only men are allowed to be considered for the job. Meanwhile, the president in Iran is the head of the countrys executive branch and is elected in a closely vetted election process every four years. The president controls the government and, depending on that persons political background and strength, can amass great influence over state policy and the economy. Raisi, no more, who will be Irans next Supreme Leader? Who would replace Khamenei as the Supreme Leader is not discussed openly in Iran as the country has a very complicated and opaque structure. But analysts, officials and academics close to the political establishment had for some time mentioned both Raisi and Khameneis son Mojtaba as top contenders. Advertisement With Raisis death in the crash, Mojtaba will now be seen as having a clear path to the post of Supreme Leader. Also Read: What impact will Iranian President Ebrahim Raisis death have on gold, oil prices Mojtabas likely appointment in the top office is, however, seen as risky, as Iran has a fraught legacy with the concept of inherited rulethe leaders of the 1979 Islamic Revolution vehemently opposed any sort of system that resembled the monarchy they overthrew. Also, Mojtaba has not held any government position to date and is also not popular among the masses. He is also not often seen publicly. The Supreme Leader should have the appearance of having authentic support from the masses who support the current religious system if hes to have any sort of legitimacy. Advertisement With inputs from agencies The feather weighs roughly 9 grams, making it vastly more valuable than gold $5,169 per gram compared with $127 per gram of gold, according to the latest Gold Broker figures. The huia was the largest of New Zealands wattlebird species, known for its beautiful song, its predominantly black glossy feathers and long tail feathers tipped with white read more An image of the most valuable feather in the world. A rare and highly prized feather from the extinct New Zealand huia bird has sold for NZD$46,521 (US$28,365), making it by far the worlds most expensive feather ever sold at auction. The hammer price far exceeded initial estimates of between $2,000-$3,000, and blew the previous record-holders price out of the water. Until Mondays sale, the previous record sale was another huia feather that sold in 2010 for $8,400. The feather weighs roughly 9 grams, making it vastly more valuable than gold $5,169 per gram compared with $127 per gram of gold, according to the latest Gold Broker figures. Advertisement The huia was the largest of New Zealands wattlebird species, known for its beautiful song, its predominantly black glossy feathers and long tail feathers tipped with white. The last confirmed sighting of a huia was in 1907, though it is believed they were still alive into the 1920s. The bird was sacred to Maori, and featured in songs and sayings, while the wearing of its feathers was reserved for rangatira (chiefs) and people with mana (prestige). When Europeans arrived in New Zealand the birds were already rare, but a subsequent European craze for their feathers led to their demise. The desire to own something of the huia remains strong internationally. In 2023, a pair of stuffed huia sold at a British auction for NZD$466,000, despite public pleas for the New Zealand government to intervene and bring them home. Leah Morris, the head of decorative arts at Auckland-based Webbs auction house where the feather was sold on Monday, believed the single feathers excellent condition, the efforts to protect the feather with archival paper and UV glass, and the story of the huia, drove up the bids. The huia is such an iconic bird and a lot of people really relate to the bird in some way, she told the Guardian. A single feather from a huia bird an avian extinct since the early 1900s. View image in fullscreen A single feather from a huia bird an avian extinct since the early 1900s. Photograph: Webbs Advertisement The specimen was one of the best huia feathers the house had seen come to market. It doesnt have a lot of bunching in the feathers youll also see its retained a lot of its colours its rich brown and iridescent colour and there is no sign of damage from insects, Morris said. The feather is registered as a taonga tuturu (authentic treasure) with the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, meaning only a registered taonga tuturu collector can buy the feather, and the feather cannot leave New Zealand without permission. There are few details over the provenance of the feather and Morris could not divulge information about the vendor or buyer due to confidentiality agreements. But she said they were both registered collectors and New Zealand-based. There were no international bids. Advertisement About 30 people were present at the auction, however all the bids were made via phone or online. Morris said people watched the price go up with bated breath. When the bidding eventually stopped and the hammer was knocked down there was a round of applause in the room you dont often get that at an auction. The French probe was opened in 2021 in response to a criminal complaint by attack survivors. The investigation is being conducted under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which argues that in some cases, crimes can be pursued outside the countries where they take place. read more Three senior Syrian officials will be tried in absentia in a Paris court on Tuesday, accused of involvement in the disappearance and subsequent death of a French-Syrian father and his son. This is the first time a serving Syrian official will stand trial for alleged war crimes. The case centers on Mazen Dabbagh and his son Patrick, who were arrested by Syrian Airforce Intelligence agents in November 2013 and later died in custody. Advertisement The French investigation began in 2021 following a criminal complaint by attack survivors. Conducted under the principle of universal jurisdiction, the probe allows for certain crimes to be pursued outside the countries where they occur. The Syrian government and its allies have denied responsibility for the attacks. The French warrants, which are rare for serving world leaders, send a strong message against President Bashar al-Assads leadership, particularly at a time when some countries are re-engaging diplomatically with Syria. Victims lawyers have praised the warrants as a crucial milestone in the battle against impunity. One of the officers accused of complicity in their disappearance and torture - Ali Mamlouk - is still in the Syrian security apparatus, as a security adviser to President Bashar al-Assad. The two others - Jamil Hassan and Abdel Salam Mahmoud - are a former director and director of investigation at the Airforce Intelligence unit. None of the three accused will attend the trial in the Cour dAssises, which is scheduled to last four days. Syrias government, Assad and ally Russia have rejected accusations of mass killings and torture in a war that the United Nations has said claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. Mazen Darwish, head of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, which is supporting the case, said it was the first to try a serving Syrian official. He said it would be significant to all Syrians as it pertained to arbitrary detentions, torture (and) extrajudicial killings, which he described as systemic behaviour by the regime. Advertisement There are no efforts to prosecute members of the Syrian government at home in Syria, where critics say the courts serve the presidents interests. Previous trials in Europe have targeted former officials. There has been no accountability yet in international tribunals either, as Syria is not a member of the International Criminal Court. However, the International Court of Justice has ordered Syria to halt torture. With inputs from agencies. International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim AA Khan has sought arrest warrants for the leaders of Hamas and Hamas for the October 7 attack and the subsequent war in Gaza respectively read more France and Belgium have backed the International Criminal Court (ICC) after the courts prosecutor sought arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders. The action of France and Belgium deviates from the US stand on the issue. US President Joe Biden called ICC Prosecutor Karim AA Khans request of arrest warrants for Israeli leaders as outrageous. Both France and Belgium are US allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Khan on Monday announced that he has filed an application with the ICC for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, and Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif. Advertisement While Biden denounced the equivalent of Israel with the terrorist group Hamas in a statement, France has backed the ICCs independence and the fight against impunity in all situations. While the statement said France has condemned the anti-Semitic massacres perpetrated by Hamas, it also said it has urged Israel in recent months to respect humanitarian law in the war in Gaza. For many months, France has been warning about the imperative of strict compliance with international humanitarian law, and in particular about the unacceptable nature of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip and insufficient humanitarian access, said France in a statement in French. Crimes in Gaza must be investigated at highest level: Belgium In a statement on Monday, Belgiums Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib said that crimes committed in the Gaza Strip must be prosecuted at the highest level regardless of the perpetrators. She called the request for arrest warrants an important step in the investigation of the situation in Palestine. Lahbib further said, The fight against impunity wherever crimes occur is a priority for Belgium. Belgium supports the work of the International Criminal Court. The request submitted by the Courts prosecutor, Karim Khan, for arrest warrants against both Hamas and Israeli officials is an important step in the investigation of the situation in Palestine. Advertisement Lahbib further said that Belgium will continue to support ICCs essential work to ensure accountability for crimes in Gaza. What are Israeli and Hamas leaders accused of? ICC Prosecutor Khan has sought arrest warrants for the leaders of Hamas for the attack of October 7 and for Israeli leaders for the subsequent war in Gaza. Khan has placed the October 7 attack and the subsequent Israeli war in Gaza in the larger Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Khan has accused the Hamas leaders of the following charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes: Extermination as a crime against humanity Murder as a crime against humanity Taking hostages as a war crime Rape and other acts of sexual violence as crimes against humanity in the context of captivity Torture as a crime against humanity in the context of captivity Other inhumane acts as a crime against humanity in the context of captivity Cruel treatment as a war crime in the context of captivity Outrages upon personal dignity as a war crime in the context of captivity As for the leaders of Israel, Khan has levelled the following charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity: Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health, or cruel treatment as a war crime Wilful killing or murder as a war crime Intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime contrary Extermination and/or murder, including in the context of deaths caused by starvation as a crime against humanity Persecution as a crime against humanity Germanys agreement could be pivotal, bringing Washington and its allies closer to finalising a substantial aid package for Kyiv and ensuring continued US support regardless of the November election outcome. read more In a significant policy shift, German officials are now all prepared to support a US proposal to use future revenue generated from frozen Russian assetsmostly stranded in Europeto provide $50 billion in aid to Ukraine, Bloomberg quoted sources familiar with the discussions as saying. Germanys agreement could be pivotal, bringing Washington and its allies closer to finalising a substantial aid package for Kyiv and ensuring continued US support regardless of the November election outcome. Advertisement Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced earlier this month that approximately 90% of the revenues from frozen Russian assets should be allocated to arms purchases for Ukraine. This aligns with a previous EU proposal to use interest payments from Russian assets to enhance Ukraines defense capabilities. It is important that we also agree that this money can be used for arms purchases not only in the EU, but for purchases worldwide, Scholz had said journalists after a meeting with members of the three Baltic countries governments in Riga. In March, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell proposed channelling 90% of revenues from Russian assets frozen in Europe into an EU-managed fund to finance weapons for Ukraine. Approximately 70% of these immobilized Russian assets are held in the central securities depository Euroclear in Belgium, amounting to 190 billion ($204.67 billion) in Russian central bank securities and cash. Germany, along with the three Baltic states, is advocating for a swift increase in arms production within Europe. Chancellor Olaf Scholz noted that the production of ammunition and air defence systems has already been ramped up. Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte highlighted the financing challenges and long-term production uncertainties facing Europes defence industry but expressed optimism about the planned Rheinmetall factory in Lithuania. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in an upcoming speech, will urge Europe and the U.S. to unite against Russian aggression and Iranian support for terrorism. She will also advocate for unlocking the value of frozen Russian sovereign assets to aid Ukraine. Excerpts of her speech emphasize the critical role of U.S. and European support in Ukraines resistance and the importance of demonstrating that Russia cannot undermine the rules-based order established over decades. Advertisement Finance leaders from the Group of Seven industrial democracies are set to meet in Stresa, Italy, later this week, where Yellen will push for a plan to use the income stream from approximately $300 billion in frozen Russian sovereign assets to support a larger loan for Ukraine. Advocates of this plan suggest it could provide up to $50 billion upfront for Ukraine without confiscating the assets, as opposed to generating about $3.5 billion annually in interest earnings. While the U.S. Congress has passed legislation authorizing the full confiscation of frozen Russian assets largely held in Europe, EU officials have opted for a more conservative approach. Moscow has threatened retaliation, and the EU plans to use the assets for a combined military and civilian aid fund for Ukraine. Advertisement With inputs from agencies. Armed men invaded Zurak community, shooting sporadically and torching houses, Plateau state commissioner for information Musa Ibrahim Ashoms told AFP by telephone. As we speak, about 40 people have been confirmed dead. Zurak is a popular mining community, he said. Local youth leader Shafii Sambo also said at least 42 people had been killed in the raid read more Gunmen riding motorbikes killed around 40 people in a raid on a mining community in northcentral Nigeria, opening fire on residents and torching homes, the local government said on Tuesday. The attack late on Monday on Wase district in Plateau state was the latest violence in an area which has long been a flashpoint for disputes over resources and for outbreaks of intercommunal clashes. Armed men invaded Zurak community, shooting sporadically and torching houses, Plateau state commissioner for information Musa Ibrahim Ashoms told AFP by telephone. Advertisement As we speak, about 40 people have been confirmed dead. Zurak is a popular mining community, he said. Local youth leader Shafii Sambo also said at least 42 people had been killed in the raid. Wase has deposits of zinc and lead, while Plateau as a whole is known for its tin mining industry. Sitting on the dividing line between Nigerias mostly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south, Plateau often sees outbreaks of violence sparked by disputes between nomadic herders and pastoral farmers. Climate change has also helped escalate tensions over grazing land, water access and other resources such as the states metal reserves. Parts of northwest and northcentral Nigeria have also been terrorised by heavily armed criminal gangs, who raid villages to loot and carry out mass kidnappings for ransom. In January, intercommunal clashes erupted in Plateaus Mangu town that left churches and mosques burned, more than 50 people dead and thousands displaced. Last Friday, the Houthis claimed downing an American drone over the province of Marib, hours after footage circulated online of what appeared to be the wreckage of an MQ-9 Reaper. And early Saturday, a vessel also came under attack in the Red Sea read more The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed on Tuesday they shot down an American drone over the impoverished Arab country. The US military did not immediately acknowledge the claim. If confirmed, this would be the second MQ-9 Reaper drone downed by the Houthis over the past week as they press their campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Last Friday, the Houthis claimed downing an American drone over the province of Marib, hours after footage circulated online of what appeared to be the wreckage of an MQ-9 Reaper. And early Saturday, a vessel also came under attack in the Red Sea. Advertisement Houthi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said Tuesday the drone was shot down with a locally made surface-to-air missile. He did not say when it took place but alleged the drone was carrying out hostile missions over Yemens southern province of Bayda. The US Mideast-based Central Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press regarding the incident. Since Yemens civil war started in 2014 when the Houthis seized most of the countrys north and its capital of Sanaa, the US military has lost at least five drones to the rebels. Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land. The Houthis have also stepped up attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, demanding Israel ends the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostages. The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sunk another since November, according to the US Maritime Administration. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. The rebels claimed last week that they fired a missile towards a US Navy destroyer in the Red Sea. However, the US military said the warship intercepted the anti-ship ballistic missile. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg, Germany, rendered a decision that may provide future climate disputes with legal clout over the question of whether or not nations have an obligation to cut emissions and combat climate change read more The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg, Germany, rendered a decision that may provide future climate disputes with legal clout Image Courtesy Reuters An international court ruled on Tuesday that countries have an obligation to safeguard marine environments beyond the parameters of the Paris Climate Agreement, as greenhouse gas emissions absorbed by the ocean are classified as marine pollution. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg, Germany, rendered a decision that may provide future climate disputes with legal clout over the question of whether or not nations have an obligation to cut emissions and combat climate change. Irans President Ebrahim Raisi was flying in a US-made Bell 212 helicopter that would have been more than 40-years-old read more Javad Zarif, a former Foreign Minister of Iran, has blamed the United States for the helicopter crash that killed Irans President Ebrahim Raisi. Raisi was killed when the helicopter carrying him crashed in Irans mountainous north amid bad weather. Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was also travelling with him. He was also killed in the accident. Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian had flown to the East Azerbaijan province for the inauguration of a hydropower project. They were flying in a US-made Bell 212 helicopter, which Iran procured before the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Advertisement Accusing the United States for the deaths of Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian, Jarif said it was a culprit in the incident. One of the culprits behind yesterdays tragedy is the United States, because of its sanctions that bar Iran from procuring essential aviation parts. These will be recorded in the list of US crimes against the Iranian people, said Zarif in an interview with state media. Following the Islamic Revolution, the US imposed an arms embargo on Iran. The sanctions have since only increased over Irans nuclear programme. The sanctions by the United States and partners mean that Iran has not been able to procure advanced aircraft. What do we know of Raisis helicopter? Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian were flying in a Bell 212 helicopter. The helicopter would have to be at least 45-years-old as it would have been procured before the embargo and sanctions hit in 1979. The Bell 212 helicopter is from the Vietnam War-era and earned a legendary status by robustly flying over dense jungles amid gunfire. Before the Islamic Revolution, when Iran was ruled by a pro-West monarchy, Iran had purchased a number of Western aircraft, such as F-14 fighter planes and Chinook helicopters. But such a procurement stopped after 1979 and Iran had to resort to cannibalising aircraft to maintain and repair its fleet in addition to seeking spare parts from the grey market. Advertisement In a report, The Telegraph said that spares for the upkeep of the Bell 212 in which Raisi was flying would have been nearly impossible to find legally. Even for US allies, the wait for Bell 212 spares has extended to several months. The British military only recently stopped flying its own fleet of Vietnam-era helicopters, which it branded obsolete because of the time it took to find spare parts. Where it would once take weeks to source the required materials, more recently engineers were sometimes forced to wait for months for spares to arrive, noted Joe Barnes in an article for The Telegraph. Advertisement Lack of advanced equipment could have led to accident: Experts Noting that Raisis helicopter crashed in the mountains amid fog and rain, experts have said that the lack of modern equipment in the helicopter could have led to the accident. Barns noted that Raisis helicopter could have lacked weather radar or a radar that could penetrate through the clouds to establish altitude. This could have made flying in poor weather difficult. In the absence of such equipment, pilot would have to rely completely on their visuals to navigate the terrain. Such a scenario is further backed by Turkey which said that either the helicopter was not fitted with a transponder or it was turned off as no signal was being emitted from the helicopter. The Iranian authorities had roped in Turkeys help in locating the helicopter after it went missing. Advertisement We track every aerial signal since Iran is part of the area we are responsible for in search-and-rescue operations. But we couldnt get any signal at all. It must have been received, but it didnt happen, said Turkish Transportation Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu. The rare request from Iran, which views the United States and Israel as its main adversaries, was disclosed by the State Department at a news briefing read more The US was unable to respond to an Iranian request for assistance, following a helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi, due to logistical reasons. The revelation came as Washington offered its condolences over Raisis death. Iranian state media on Monday confirmed Raisis death after his chopper crashed on Sunday evening. Several other leaders, including Irans Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, were present with the president in the helicopter during the fatal crash. Advertisement The rare request from Iran, which views the United States and Israel as its main adversaries, was disclosed by the State Department at a news briefing. US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said, We were asked for assistance by the Iranian government. We did make clear to them that we would offer assistance, as we would do in response to any request by a foreign government in this sort of situation. Ultimately, largely for logistical reasons, we were unable to provide that assistance, he added. Meanwhile, Iran has not specified what caused the crash of a US-made Bell 212 helicopter in the mountains near the Azerbaijan border. US has no part to play in crash Asked whether he was concerned that Tehran might blame Washington, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said: The United States had no part to play in that crash. I cant speculate on what may have been the cause, he added. Raisi had blood on his hands While offering its condolences over Raisis death, Washington also said that the Iranian president had a lot of blood on his hand. This was a man who had a lot of blood on his hands, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, saying Raisi was responsible for atrocious rights abuses in Iran and had supported regional proxies including Hamas. Advertisement Kirby said, however, that as in any other case, we certainly regret in general the loss of life and offered official condolences as appropriate. With inputs from agencies Kim Jong Un said he would forsake nuclear weapons if there was a guarantee of regime survival, former president of South Korea Moon Jae-in said in the book, adding that he felt the North Korean leader was very honest read more North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offered to give up his nuclear arsenal if America guaranteed his regime would survive, former South Korean president Moon Jae-in said in a recently released memoir. Moon, who led South Korea for five years from 2017, was instrumental in brokering two high-profile summit meetings between Kim and then-United States president Donald Trump, aimed at securing Pyongyangs denuclearisation in return for sanctions relief. But after the second summit collapsed in 2019, diplomatic outreach was abandoned, with relations between the two Koreas now at one of their worst points in years, as Kim doubles down on weapons production and draws closer to ally Moscow. Advertisement In the memoir released Friday, titled From the Periphery to the Centre, former president Moon outlined in great detail his interactions with the North Korean leader. Kim said he would forsake nuclear weapons if there was a guarantee of regime survival, Moon said in the book, adding that he felt the young North Korean leader was very honest. According to Moon, Kims reasoning was: I have a daughter and I do not wish her generation to live with nuclear weapons Why would we continue to live in difficulty, under sanctions, with nuclear weapons if our security can be guaranteed? But the North Korean leader was well aware of mistrust from the international community and the (belief from the) US that the North had been lying about its commitments to denuclearisation, Moon said. Kim specifically asked him how the North could manage to make Washington believe in our sincerity to disarm. No diplomacy In five years since the Hanoi summit, Pyongyang has declared itself an irreversible nuclear weapons power, accelerated weapons development, branded Seoul its principal enemy and threatened war over even 0.001 mm of territorial infringement. It has also moved closer to Moscow, purportedly supplying it with arms in exchange for space technologies, something which would violate rafts of United Nations sanctions on both countries. Despite how things have played out, Moon said in his memoir that he still believed Kim was sincere in his plans to denuclearise, but that it was strongly contingent on corresponding measures from the US. Advertisement Kim and Trump failed to strike a deal because Washington demanded complete denuclearisation before it would consider providing sanctions relief, Moon wrote. In retrospect, I regret that (South Korea) did not mediate more effectively by listening to the Norths demands and relaying them to Washington if deemed reasonable, he said. Though there are negative views about Trump, he was a very good fit for me as a counterpart in alliance diplomacy, he said. While there are assessments that he is rude and harsh, I liked him for his honesty. A person who has a smiling face but acts differently and thus cant be read is more difficult to deal with, he added. Advertisement Trump was both apologetic and regretful that the Hanoi summit ended without a deal, Moon wrote. Trump was willing to accept (the North Koreans terms) but then-Security Advisor John Bolton fervently opposed it, Moon wrote. When Trump asked then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for a second opinion, he agreed with Bolton, leaving Trump no option but to walk away, Moon wrote. It is impossible to take Kims words at face value now, Hong Min a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, told AFP. What was clear is that Kim tried to change the status quo by expressing his intention to denuclearise, he told AFP. Advertisement The only way to know if Kim was serious, would have been to strike a deal in Hanoi and gauge how far the North would go towards denuclearisation, he added. Moon was succeeded by conservative Yoon Suk Yeol, who has taken a significantly more hawkish stance on North Korea. Yoon has not commented on the memoir but his minister for unification Kim Yung-ho said on Monday that taking Kims words at face value could have led to a security-related miscalculation. While ignoring North Koreas (nuclear) capability, if we only focus on the Norths intentions, this could result in a miscalculation of the security situation, he said, according to the Yonhap news agency. These drugs are so addictive and harmful to human beings that you never know what they might do next even in public places, he added. Memon said that the government has decided to start random drug tests of students in all private and government schools so that they can fight this menace, a first such step by the provincial government read more The provincial Sindh government on Tuesday announced that it will start random drug tests in all private and government schools after observing the rising cases of students using the highly addictive ice/crystal meth drugs. Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon told journalists here that the government had recently arrested a high-profile drug supplier in the posh area of Clifton. We have got some startling information from him about how the use of ice/crystal is being spread in educational institutions, Memon said, adding that anyone using these drugs was a potential danger and a walking time bomb for society. Advertisement These drugs are so addictive and harmful to human beings that you never know what they might do next even in public places, he added. Memon said that the government has decided to start random drug tests of students in all private and government schools so that they can fight this menace, a first such step by the provincial government. Recent surveys have shown that the use of ice and crystal meth is high among students belonging to elite and expensive schools, which are targeted by drug peddlers. The three scientists were accused of leaking information deemed to be state secrets while taking part in an international conference or research project, according to attorney Yevgeny Smirnov of Pervy Otdel (First Department), a group that specializes in defending individuals in treason and espionage cases read more Maslov is one of three hypersonics experts from the same Siberian institute who have been detained on treasonous allegations since 2022. Valery Zvegintsev and Alexander Shiplyuk, the other two, are awaiting trial Image Courtesy Reuters An elderly Russian physicist named Anatoly Maslov was found guilty of treason on Tuesday and sentenced to 14 years in a correctional colony. This is just one of several trials against scientists who have worked on the science underlying Russias development of hypersonic weapons. After a press-only trial, a St. Petersburg court found 77-year-old Maslov guilty. He had argued that he was innocent. Maslov is one of three hypersonics experts from the same Siberian institute who have been detained on treasonous allegations since 2022. Valery Zvegintsev and Alexander Shiplyuk, the other two, are awaiting trial. Advertisement They had done theoretical work related to the development of hypersonic missiles, which are state-of-the-art weapons that can transport payloads at up to ten times the speed of sound to breach air defense systems. They were among several other scientists accused in similar cases. Russia is a global leader in this area of armaments, as President Vladimir Putin has stated on numerous occasions. The three scientists were accused of leaking information deemed to be state secrets while taking part in an international conference or research project, according to attorney Yevgeny Smirnov of Pervy Otdel (First Department), a group that specializes in defending individuals in treason and espionage cases. Colleagues of Maslov, Shiplyuk, and Zvegintsev said the men were innocent and that the scientific papers they had published or presented at international conferences had been checked to make sure they did not include classified material in a rare open letter that was published last year. They said that the prosecutions were impeding scientists ability to carry out their duties and were having a chilling impact on Russian academia. At the time, the Kremlin responded by stating that the individuals were the targets of very serious accusations and that the security agencies should handle their cases. Maslovs attorney was quoted by Russian media as claiming that the physicist had committed his entire life to science and had never considered abandoning his nation in a farewell speech to the court. Advertisement Maslov had a heart attack at the beginning of the year, according to the defence, and a lengthy prison term would be the equivalent of a death sentence. Another scientist working in the same subject, Alexander Kuranov, was sentenced to seven years in prison last month. According to the Russian daily Kommersant, he received a lighter sentence in exchange for testifying against Maslov. This was not confirmed by Reuters. It is obvious that the persecution of scientists is an exclusively political step by the Russian authorities, by which they seek to show that intelligence services around the world are trying to steal the secrets of Russian weapons, said Smirnov of Pervy Otdel. Advertisement He said the detained scientists were not working directly on weapons, but were studying physical processes associated with high speeds. The essence of the charge is approximately the same for everyone, Smirnov said, adding that the so-called secrets were actually openly published and available to anyone. While it is not clear how the song would be barred from platforms, authorities have decided to block 29 versions of the music video. The decision came after South Koreas National Intelligence Service requested its ban read more In a bizarre turn of events, a North Korean propaganda song that sings praises for Kim Jon Un has gone viral in South Korea, so much so that the country had to take the extreme step of banning it. South Koreas media regulatory body said that the music video, which describes Kim as a friendly father and great leader, went viral on TikTok. Meanwhile, the song was banned as it violated the countrys National Security Act. Advertisement A statement by the Korea Communications Standards Commission said, The video is typical content linked to psychological warfare against South Korea, as it was posted on a channel operated to connect with the outside world and is mainly focused on unilaterally idolising and glorifying Kim. While it is not clear how the song would be barred from platforms, authorities have decided to block 29 versions of the music video. The decision came after South Koreas National Intelligence Service requested its ban. Meanwhile, many South Koreans think that the song should not be removed and should stay more accessible so more people could enjoy the joke. North Korea released the song last month which features North Koreans of different backgrounds ranging from children to troops and medical staff exuberantly belting out lines such as: Lets sing, Kim Jong Un the great leader and Lets brag about Kim Jong Un, a friendly father. A live performance of the song accompanied by an orchestra and watched by Kim was also broadcast on state television as part of a ceremony to mark the completion of building 10,000 new homes. With inputs from agencies The foreign minister also addressed Indias concerns regarding the visits of Chinese research vessels to the island nation, saying that they would like to work with other countries in a transparent manner but not at the cost of others read more Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry affirmed his countrys commitment to safeguarding Indias national security interests on Monday, stating that Colombo, as a responsible neighbour, will not allow anyone to harm Indias security. The Minister also addressed Indias concerns regarding the visits of Chinese research vessels to the island nation, saying that they would like to work with other countries in a transparent manner but not at the cost of others. We have very clearly stated that we would like to work with all countries, but any reasonable concerns regarding Indian security will be taken into note, and we will not allow anyone to harm that. Subject to that, of course, in a very transparent manner, we would like to work with all countries, the Minister said in an interview with ANI. Advertisement I just got to know that recently China has become Indias biggest trading partner. So similarly, like you work with that. We would also like to work with everyone, but that should not come at anyone else, third parties cost. So therefore, let me reiterate, as a responsible neighbour and a civilizational partner we will not undertake anything that would harm the legitimate security concerns of India, he added. When asked about the ongoing elections in India, the Minister said that the exercise is a celebration of democracy and asserted that Sri Lanka would work with India irrespective of its election outcome. Its a celebration of democracy, the largest democracy in the world. Indian people are educated. Indian people will know what is good for them. I think when it comes to elections, it is domestic matter. It is the public who must decide and others only should watch. We see this celebration is taking place of a democracy. We want a peaceful conclusion of this and we will work with any outcome with the indian public decide, he said. Last year, India had expressed its security concerns over the docking of the vessel at the Sri Lankan port as it was shown as a research vessel with the capability of mapping the ocean bed, which is critical to anti-submarine operations of the Chinese Navy. The Chinese research ship had docked at Sri Lankas Hambantota Port. Advertisement External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar while commenting on Chinese spy vessel Yuan Wang-5 which had docked in Sri Lanka, said that any developments that have a bearing on Indias security are obviously of an interest to us. What happens in our neighbourhood, any developments which have a bearing on our security, obviously are of an interest to us, Jaishankar said at a joint press conference after the 9th India-Thailand Joint Commission Meeting. Asma, 48, would undergo a special treatment protocol that would require her to isolate, and that she would step away from public engagements as a result, the office of President Bashar Assad said in a statement Tuesday. read more Almost five years after Syrian First Lady Asma Assad announced her full recovery from breast cancer, the office of President Bashar Assad announced on Tuesday that she has been diagnosed with leukemia. Assad was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia after presenting several symptoms and undergoing a comprehensive series of medical tests, according to the statement. Acute myeloid leukemia is a highly aggressive cancer affecting the bone marrow and blood. As part of her treatment plan, she will follow a specialised protocol that includes stringent infection prevention measures and will temporarily withdraw from all direct engagements. Advertisement Since the onset of Syrias war in 2011, the British-born former investment banker has taken on a public role in leading charity efforts and meeting with the families of deceased soldiers. However, she has also become a target of animosity from the opposition. She heads the Syria Trust for Development, a prominent NGO overseeing many of Syrias aid and development operations. The conflict in Syria began with peaceful protests against Assads government in March 2011, which were met with a brutal crackdown, escalating into a full-blown civil war. The war has resulted in the deaths of nearly half a million people and displaced half of the countrys pre-war population of 23 million. The announcement of Assads diagnosis came as her influential NGO, the Syrian Trust for Development, was putting on its annual Damascene Rose Festival celebrating the rose harvest season. Prior to the announcement of that she would be withdrawing from public events, the first lady had been widely expected to attend the festivities. Last year, she accompanied her husband, President Bashar al-Assad on a visit to the United Arab Emirates, her first known official trip abroad with him since 2011. She met Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, the Emirati presidents mother, during a trip seen as a public signal of her growing role in public affairs. Advertisement Asma Assad has previously been treated for breast cancer. In August 2019, she announced that she was completely free of the disease a year after her diagnosis. Born and raised in the United Kingdom, although her family is originally from central Syria, the first lady is a powerful and divisive figure. She is under Western sanctions and has been a highly controversial figure in the course of the Syrian conflict. With inputs from agencies. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside Taiwans parliament on May 21 to protest against reform bills proposed by opposition parties, as lawmakers from the ruling party held a filibuster inside to prevent passage of the legislation. read more Taiwanese lawmakers shouted each other down on Tuesday in a rambunctious parliamentary session, signaling potential challenges ahead for newly appointed President Lai Ching-te. Just a day after his inauguration, politicians from both sides brandished protest signs and engaged in heated arguments. Today is (President Lais) second day in office. If theres another conflict in parliament how can we explain this? asked the firebrand parliamentary speaker, Han Kuo-yu, of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party. Advertisement Shut up! yelled back lawmakers from Lais Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which failed to secure a parliamentary majority after winning the January elections. The opposition seeks to enhance parliaments oversight powers over the government, including a contentious proposal to criminalize officials who provide false statements in parliament. The DPP accuses the KMT and TPP of attempting to push these proposals through without the usual consultation process, labelling it an unconstitutional abuse of power. It is now facing a hostile coalition made up of the historic KMT regarded as friendlier to Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its territory and the upstart Taiwan Peoples Party (TPP). The opposition alliance has tabled bills to expand the powers of the legislature, which the DPP argues they are forcing through without proper consultation. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside Taiwans parliament on May 21 to protest against reform bills proposed by opposition parties, as lawmakers from the ruling party held a filibuster inside to prevent passage of the legislation. Opposition lawmakers, meanwhile, waved Parliament needs reform placards. Among the five bills proposed, the most controversial is a contempt of parliament offense, effectively criminalizing officials unwilling to cooperate with legislative investigations which critics say could be motivated by subjective politics. Taiwan is a rambunctious democracy and fighting does on occasion take place in parliament. In 2020, KMT lawmakers threw pig guts onto the chambers floor in a dispute over easing U.S. pork imports. Advertisement With inputs from agencies. A 129-centimetre (51-inch) statue of the Hindu god Shiva, dubbed Golden Boy, was repatriated after being linked to British-Thai art dealer Douglas Latchford, who was charged with trafficking looted relics from Cambodia and Thailand shortly before he died in 2020. read more This August 2006 photo shows a late 10th to early 11th-century sculpture titled "The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara Seated in Royal Ease" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The sculpture is one of 16 pieces of artwork that the museum said it will return to Cambodia and Thailand that federal prosecutors say were tied to an art dealer and collector accused of running a huge antiquity trafficking network out of Southeast Asia. (Metropolitan Museum of Art via AP) Two statues smuggled out of Thailand, including a 900-year-old sculpture that spent three decades at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, were welcomed back to the kingdom in an official repatriation ceremony in Bangkok on Tuesday. A 129-centimetre (51-inch) statue of the Hindu god Shiva, dubbed Golden Boy, was repatriated after being linked to British-Thai art dealer Douglas Latchford, who was charged with trafficking looted relics from Cambodia and Thailand shortly before he died in 2020. Advertisement The statue, displayed in the Met from 1988 to 2023, was discovered near the Cambodian border during an archaeological dig at Prasat Ban Yang ruins more than 50 years ago. It is believed to have been smuggled out of Thailand by Latchford in 1975. A second bronze sculpture, a 43-centimetre (17-inch) kneeling female figure with her hands above her head in a Thai greeting posture dubbed Kneeling Woman, was also returned after it was linked to Latchford. The return of the items comes as a growing number of museums worldwide discuss steps to repatriate looted artworks. We are honoured to get these artefacts back, they shall be located in their motherland permanently, the director-general of Thailands Fine Arts Department Phnombootra Chandrachoti said at the repatriation ceremony at the National Museum in Bangkok. However, the effort of returning looted objects doesnt end here, he added in a news conference later. We aim to get them all back. The two statues are part 16 sculptures due to be returned to Cambodia and Thailand by the Met, which said in a statement December that it is removing from its collection all Angkorian sculptures works known by the Museum to be associated with the dealer Douglas Latchford. US ambassador to Thailand Robert F Godec said the return of the statues would strengthen cultural ties between the two countries. We are pleased to support the preservation of Thai history and to strengthen our cultural ties. Welcome home Golden Boy and Kneeling Woman! Godec wrote on social media platform X. Advertisement Latchford, who died aged 88 at his home in Bangkok, was widely regarded as a pre-eminent scholar of Cambodian antiquities, winning praise for his books on Khmer Empire art. In 2019, he was charged by prosecutors in New York with smuggling looted Cambodian relics and helping to sell them on the international art market. The looting of artefacts from Cambodian archaeological sites was common between the mid-1960s and early 1990s as the country experienced ongoing civil unrest and regular outbreaks of civil war, with sites in neighbouring Thailand also hit by smugglers. National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya announced that evidence is being collected to file a case against China for destroying coral reefs and engaging in other illegal activities, such as harvesting endangered giant clams read more As the Philippines gears up to take legal action against China for alleged environmental destruction in the South China Sea, tensions are rising with Filipino fishermen vowing to retaliate against Chinas orders to detain foreign nationals by kidnapping Chinese nationals in the Philippines. Analysts warn that Beijing is likely to counter with restrictive trade measures and increased harassment of Filipinos. On Monday, the Philippines accused China of damaging the marine environment around the Scarborough Shoal, a contested maritime area in the West Philippine Sea. National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya announced that evidence is being collected to file a case against China for destroying coral reefs and engaging in other illegal activities, such as harvesting endangered giant clams. Advertisement Political analyst Edmund Tayao believes the Philippines has a strong case, citing past legal victories over China regarding the South China Sea. We won the arbitration case before, so we should have a good chance. International public opinion is on our side, Tayao said. The 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration dismissed Chinas claims to the South China Sea based on its nine-dash line, a decision Beijing rejected. Despite repeated diplomatic protests from Manila, Beijing has ignored these grievances, prompting the current legal action. Defense analyst Jose Antonio Custodio noted that Manilas strategy could internationalize the dispute and increase pressure on China. There will be tensions, though its doubtful it will lead to open conflict. Expect continued Chinese harassment of Philippine vessels and terse diplomatic exchanges, Custodio stated. In response to the Chinese coastguards recent order to detain foreign nationals for up to 60 days starting June 15, Filipino fishermen, led by Leonardo Cuaresma of New Masinloc, have threatened to abduct 10 Chinese nationals for every Filipino detained. Cuaresma asserted, We are not afraid of that new policy. If they arrest our fishermen, we will retaliate. Experts agree that China has no legal standing to enforce such detainments. Jennifer Parker from the National Security College at the Australian National University emphasized, It would be illegal for Beijing to apply such a policy outside its territorial waters. This would be a significant escalation. Advertisement Maritime security analyst Ray Powell highlighted the gravity of the Chinese coastguards order. The international community must make clear that any such detention would be treated as illegal and an outrage against the international order, Powell said. As both nations brace for the next steps, the situation remains volatile, with potential repercussions for regional stability and international maritime law. The Russian text called on all states to take urgent measures to prevent for all time the placement of weapons in outer space and the threat or use of force in outer space' read more The UN Security Council on Monday rejected a Russian draft resolution to counter military activity in space, as countries questioned Moscows sincerity after it vetoed an American text in April against nuclear proliferation in the final frontier. The Russian text called on all states to take urgent measures to prevent for all time the placement of weapons in outer space and the threat or use of force in outer space. It received seven votes for including from China and seven against, including from the United States, United Kingdom and France, with Switzerland abstaining. Advertisement US envoy Robert Wood said the move was the culmination of Russias campaign of diplomatic gaslighting. Russia does not want the Security Council to focus on its dangerous actions in space, he said, citing US accusations that Moscow was attempting to put a nuclear weapon into orbit. Russias UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya meanwhile said those on his side on the whole are pleased with the results of the vote. The vote has demonstrated a watershed a watershed between those who are striving towards peaceful use of outer space and those who are moving towards militarization of outer space, he said. Western countries have today essentially turned out to be isolated at the Security Council. The text closely followed a draft resolution proposed by the United States and Japan in late April, which received 13 votes for but was vetoed by Russia, with China abstaining. UN Security Council proposals need nine votes in favor to be adopted, and no opposition from the five veto-wielding members. The American text called on all states, in particular those with major space capabilities, to contribute actively to the objective of the peaceful use of outer space and of the prevention of an arms race in outer space. It affirmed the obligation of all States Parties to fully comply with the Outer Space Treaty, including not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction. Advertisement Nebenzya claimed after the vote in April that the text hid a devious plan by our Western colleagues that has nothing to do with this noble objective. He charged that Washington and Tokyo had a lack of interest in banning all weapons from space, instead trying to put the focus solely on nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction. The United States has said that a bilateral security agreement with Saudia Arabia has been nearly finalised. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan held talks with Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince and the de-facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, on Sunday during a visit to the kingdom. A security pact with the Saudis has been key to US President Joe Bidens foreign policy agenda to counter the China-Iran axis in the region. Lately, the Biden administration has packaged the US-Saudi pact as part of a broader plan for the Middle East that would also include Israel-Saudi Arabia normalisation and a pathway for a Palestinian statehood. Advertisement White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby told Reuters that the US and Saudi Arabia are closer than weve ever been on a bilateral agreement and it is now near final. Whats there in US-Saudi defence deal? The US-Saudi defence pact will include a series of development that will have security guarantees and civil nuclear cooperation, according to CBS News. Once this is done, the report said the deal will be part of a broader deal presented to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the normalisation of relations with the Saudis, but that would be dependent on the third component of the deal: making concessions for a pathway for Palestinian statehood. Previously, the White House had said that the Biden administration was working on a trilateral deal for the Middle East and none of the three parts of the deal will move in isolation. A source told CBS that the pressure is on to complete the deal soon as only a few weeks are left in the Congressional calendar and the deal will need to go to lawmakers for their approval. Separately, Reuters reported that negotiators have been discussing the sale of F-35 fighter planes and other weapons to the Saudis as part of the deal. The report said that negotiators have to work around a longstanding US-Israeli agreement that US weapons sold to countries in the region must not impair Israels qualitative military edge, which means that US cannot provide weapons to Israels neighbours which are superior than those sold to Israel. Advertisement An official was further quoted as saying that the US-Saudi agreement will be short of a NATO-style agreement. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is a military alliance of Western nations based on the idea of collective defence. We are very close to an understanding on the major elements between us. We of course will also have to then work on pieces that relate to the Israelis and Palestinians, which is a critical component of any potential normalization deal, said another official. The hearings are expected to focus on Israel policy after Biden earlier this month said he would delay a shipment of bombs to Israel and consider withholding others if Israeli forces launched a major invasion of Rafah, a refugee-packed city in southern Gaza read more US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to make his case for President Joe Bidens $64 billion foreign affairs budget request in four congressional hearings this week, amid deep divides with Republicans over spending priorities and Israel policy. Blinken testifies on Tuesday in the Democratic-controlled Senate to the Foreign Relations Committee and to the appropriations subcommittee that oversees diplomatic and foreign aid spending. He returns to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for two more rounds of testimony at hearings of the Republican-led House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and a House appropriations subcommittee. Advertisement The hearings are expected to focus on Israel policy after Biden earlier this month said he would delay a shipment of bombs to Israel and consider withholding others if Israeli forces launched a major invasion of Rafah, a refugee-packed city in southern Gaza. The developments prompted angry denunciations from Republicans, some of whom have accused Biden of abandoning Israel, despite the billions of dollars in US military assistance that remains in the pipeline for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government. But Biden has also faced criticism from many of his fellow Democrats, who want him to do more - including putting conditions on arms exports - to push Netanyahus government to protect Palestinian civilians. Israel is fighting to wipe out Hamas militants who attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Palestinian authorities say more than 35,000 people have been killed during Israels campaign in Gaza, many of them women and children. Malnutrition is widespread and much of the population of the coastal enclave has been left homeless, with much of the enclaves infrastructure destroyed. Protests When Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin testified in the Senate on Oct. 31 about Bidens request for security assistance for Ukraine and Israel, they were repeatedly interrupted by protesters who denounced the officials for backing what they called genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Protests over Gaza have intensified across the United States since then, including on college campuses where there have been dozens of arrests. Advertisement The sweeping foreign aid package for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and humanitarian needs, finally passed Congress in April, after being stalled for months by Republicans unhappy about the billions of dollars in assistance Washington has sent Kyiv as it battles Russian invaders. The package only passed the House because a majority of Democrats supported it, and the parties remain divided over how much more help Washington should provide to Ukraine. Republicans also expressed outrage on Monday when the International Criminal Court in the Hague requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his defense chief and for three Hamas leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Senator Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the appropriations subcommittee where Blinken is testifying on Tuesday, called the ICCs actions outrageous and promised to act. Advertisement I will feverishly work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle in both chambers to levy damning sanctions against the ICC, Graham said in a statement. Democrats also criticized the ICCs action, with Biden calling it outrageous. Blinken raised questions over the courts jurisdiction as well as its process in making the request. He added that it could jeopardize negotiations to achieve a hostage deal and a ceasefire. Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Droupadi Murmu have expressed their sympathies over Raisis passing. Tuesday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar paid a visit to the Iranian embassy in Delhi to offer Indias sympathies for their loss read more The Ministry of External Affairs said that Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar will go to Iran on Wednesday to participate in a formal ceremony expressing condolences for the deaths of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a helicopter crash. As a show of respect for Raisi, India is observing a day of state mourning on Tuesday. Vice-President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar will pay a visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran on May 22 to attend official ceremony to pay condolences on the tragic demise of President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other Iranian officials in an unfortunate helicopter crash on May 19, an MEA statement said on Tuesday. Advertisement Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Droupadi Murmu have expressed their sympathies over Raisis passing. Tuesday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar paid a visit to the Iranian embassy in Delhi to offer Indias sympathies for their loss. Hours after their helicopter crashed in a misty, hilly area in the countrys northwest, the president of Iran, the foreign minister, and a number of other officials were discovered dead on Monday, according to Iran state media. Raisi, sixty-three, and his group had just returned from a visit to a community near the border between Azerbaijan and Iran and were on their way to Tabriz. In all, 71 people, including passengers and crew members, were injured, a hospital in Bangkok said. The hospital, Samitivej Srinakarin, said that of the 71 people from the flight who were being treated in its medical network, six were injured seriously read more A 73-year-old man from Britain died and dozens of people were injured after a plane encountered sudden extreme turbulence about 10 hours into a flight from London to Singapore, officials said on Tuesday. The plane, a Boeing 777-300ER operated by Singapore Airlines, was diverted to Bangkok, the airline said in a statement, and landed at 3:45 p.m. local time on Tuesday. In all, 71 people, including passengers and crew members, were injured, a hospital in Bangkok said. The hospital, Samitivej Srinakarin, said that of the 71 people from the flight who were being treated in its medical network, six were injured seriously. It listed four of the injured as being from Britain, with three from Malaysia, two from New Zealand and one each from Ireland, Spain and the United States. Other victims nationalities were not known. Advertisement Le Boeing 777 de Singapore Airlines qui faisait le trajet de Londres a Singapour a fait une chute de 1800 metres. Faisant 1 mort et des blesses, apres de fortes turbulences. pic.twitter.com/Y7dgNSFhmO 75 Secondes (@75secondes) May 21, 2024 The remaining passengers and crew were examined and treated at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, the airline said. On Tuesday, Singapores Ministry of Transport said it was examining the episode and would send investigators to Bangkok, and the Thai prime minister said his government would assist with everything necessary for the injured. The man died aboard the flight, said Kittipong Kittikachorn, the director of Bangkoks airport, without identifying him by name or giving a cause of death. The mans wife was injured and taken to a hospital, Mr. Kittipong said. The average flight time of that route is just under 13 hours. Mr. Kittipong said at a news conference that he went onto the airplane after it landed and described the scene as a mess. HOLY SH*T A plane hit severe turbulence on a Singapore Airlines flight and was forced to make a rapid 7,000 ft descent THIS IS WHY YOU ALWAYS WEAR YOUR SEATBELT pic.twitter.com/hVEREq47PW Matt Wallace (@MattWallace888) May 21, 2024 Advertisement The flight, SQ321, took off from Heathrow at 10:38 p.m. local time on Monday with 211 passengers and 18 crew members on board. The airline said it encountered turbulence over the over the Irrawaddy Basin over Myanmar, at 37,000 feet. Data on Flight Radar 24, a website that compiles public information about flights, appears to show that about 10 hours later, it went from 37,000 feet to an altitude of roughly 31,000 feet in only a few minutes. Advertisement The pilot declared a medical emergency and diverted the flight to Bangkok. About 100 passengers who were not injured were to be flown to Singapore on Tuesday, Mr. Kittipong said. He described them as being in a state of shock. Its unclear what caused the episode. As the plane traveled across Myanmar, satellite data showed a strong storm beginning to form and bubble into the higher elevations, which suggests that the atmosphere in the region was becoming unstable. The plane was also moving toward other storms that were developing along the coast of Myanmar. Deaths caused by turbulence are rare. Between 2009 and 2021, 146 passengers and crew members were seriously injured in turbulence, according to data from the Federal Aviation Administration. In December 2022, 11 people were seriously hurt in turbulence on a flight from Phoenix to Honolulu. Advertisement Jose Alvarado, a pilot with the Icelandic airline Play, said that in his experience, clear-air turbulence, which happens most frequently at high altitudes, can occur without warning. For that reason, he tells passengers, Even if theres no turbulence, keep your seatbelts on. Once, more than two decades ago, when he was working as a flight attendant, he experienced turbulence on a flight from Madrid to Buenos Aires that was so severe that he was thrown upward when the plane suddenly dropped about 4,000 feet. His back and shoulder blades hit the ceiling of the cabin before he was thrown back down. I was just bouncing up and down, he said, adding that some passengers also were injured. He said he had not experienced anything like that since. Advertisement Chee Hong Tat, Singapores minister for transport, said in a statement that he was deeply saddened to learn about the incident. Singapore Airlines offered its condolences to the family of the person who died on the flight, adding that we deeply apologize for the traumatic experience that our passengers and crew members suffered on this flight. In an unusually direct warning, Yellen advised the executives to ensure sanctions compliance among their banks foreign branches and subsidiaries and to reach out to foreign correspondent banking customers to do the same, particularly in high-risk jurisdictions. read more US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged German bank executives on Tuesday to intensify efforts to comply with sanctions against Russia and shut down any attempts to circumvent them to avoid potential penalties that could cut off their access to US dollars. Yellen said that the Treasurys new authority to hit banks with secondary sanctions if they aid Russian military-related transactions had helped to frustrate Russias efforts to procure goods needed for its war in Ukraine, but more work was needed. Advertisement Russia continues to procure sensitive goods and to expand its ability to domestically manufacture these goods. We must remain vigilant and be more ambitious, Yellen was quoted by Reuters as saying. I urge all institutions here to take heightened compliance measures and to increase your focus on Russian evasion attempts, she said in prepared remarks for the meeting in Frankfurt. In an unusually direct warning, Yellen advised the executives to ensure sanctions compliance among their banks foreign branches and subsidiaries and to reach out to foreign correspondent banking customers to do the same, particularly in high-risk jurisdictions. Russia is desperate to obtain critical goods from advanced economies like Germany and the United States, Yellen said. We must remain vigilant to prevent the Kremlins ability to supply its defence industrial base, and to access our financial systems to do so. Yellens warning comes shortly after the U.S. Treasury successfully pressed Austrias Raiffeisen Bank, the biggest Western bank in Russia to ditch a deal involving a Russian tycoon. On Monday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged European allies to act together with the US to find a way to unlock the value of around $280 billion in frozen Russian assets so they can provide sustained financial support to Ukraine. With inputs from agencies. Lenovo has introduced the Yoga Slim 7x and ThinkPad T14s Gen 6, marking its first Copilot+ PCs. These laptops utilize Qualcomms latest Snapdragon X Elite processor, which comprises a 12-core Qualcomm Oryon CPU, Qualcomm Adreno GPU, and Qualcomm Hexagon NPU for advanced AI processing, achieving up to 45 trillion operations per second (TOPS). Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x is lightweight and ultra-thin, starting at 1.28 kg and 12.9 mm thick. It features a 14.5 16:10 3K 90Hz PureSight OLED touch panel with peak brightness of 1000 nits, supporting both 100% sRGB and P3 color gamut. The device includes an FHD MIPI IR webcam and four Voice ID microphones for clear video calls, alongside a four-speaker sound system for high-quality audio. The keyboard has 1.5mm key travel with an anti-oil coating, and the large trackpad measures (135 x 80) mm. It offers multi-day battery life with 70Wh battery. The Yoga Slim 7x utilizes three USB 4 Type-C ports, an audio jack, and HDMI 2.1 output for connectivity. It includes a 1080p webcam with four microphones and an integrated privacy shutter. Additional features are Dolby Atmos audio, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.3. The devices eco-friendly design uses no plastic in its packaging, which is made from FSC-certified paper and bamboo fiber. Lenovo offers a CO2 Offset Service to help users offset the estimated CO2 emissions of their device over its lifecycle. The Yoga Slim 7x qualifies for Lenovo Premium Care, providing personalized hardware and software assistance from expert technicians. Quick specifications: Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x Lenovo ThinkPad T14s The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s is tailored for business users, featuring the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite 12-core processor and Adreno GPU. It has a 14 display available in either 1920 x 1200 IPS or 2.8K OLED. The Hexagon NPU handles AI tasks and integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365 applications. The T14s offers robust device management, collaboration tools, and chip-to-cloud security. Connectivity includes dual USB 3.2 G2 Type-A ports, two USB 4 Type-C ports, an audio jack, and HDMI 2.1 output. It has a 1080p webcam with dual microphones and an integrated privacy shutter. Additional features include a fingerprint reader in the power button, dTPM, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.3. Both the Yoga Slim 7x and ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 support up to 1TB of PCIe 4.0 x4 storage. The Yoga Slim 7x can accommodate up to 32GB of LPDDR5X-8448 memory, while the ThinkPad T14s supports up to 64GB of LPDDR5X-8533 memory. Lenovo also provides deployment services through its TruScale platform, offering customizable security features and tailored deployment processes. Quick specifications: Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Availability and Pricing The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x will be available starting at USD 1199 (Rs. 99,859 approx.) in Cosmic Blue, and the ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 will start at USD 1699 (Rs. 1,41,502 approx.) in Eclipse Black. Both models will be available from June 2024. Commenting on the launch, Luca Rossi, President of Lenovos Intelligent Devices Group, said: Log on if you are already subscribed or Subscribe... Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - As bombardments by the Israeli military reportedly continued overnight across Gaza, along with ground incursions and heavy fighting, the head of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) issued an alert on Tuesday for staff and patients at besieged Al-Awda hospital in the north of the enclave New York, US (PANA) - Gaza stands at yet another precipice of further catastrophe as the latest round of hostage negotiations in Cairo failed to reach an agreement, a senior UN official warned the Security Council on Monday Mon Monday 79 /53 Clouds giving way to sun . Highs in the upper 70s and lows in the low 50s. Wikileaks' Assange can appeal US extradition on freedom of speech grounds By Henry Ridgwell May 20, 2024 The United States government's attempts to extradite Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from Britain on charges of espionage took another legal twist Monday, as a British court ruled he must be given the right to a full appeal against the order on freedom of speech grounds. The hearing at London's High Court on Monday was the last legal hope for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to halt his imminent extradition to the United States. Two of the three judges ruled that a full appeal hearing must be held into whether the 52-year-old Australian citizen would be able to rely on the U.S. First Amendment right to free speech, in an American court. "This is good news because it means that the Julian Assange case can now proceed to a hearing that will substantively consider the freedom of expression arguments," said Simon Crowther, a legal adviser at Amnesty International. Assange's lawyers successfully argued that U.S. government assurances that he could "seek to rely" on those First Amendment rights were inadequate. A new appeal process could take months or years. Barry Pollack, a member of Assange's legal team, described the ruling as a significant milestone. "The High Court is going to hear the vitally important issues of whether someone should be extradited to the United States for having published truthful, newsworthy information." "The United States should never have brought this case. It is utterly inconsistent with First Amendment values and all that the United States says that it believes. And I hope the United States will take a hard look at this decision and maybe reconsider whether they want [to] pursue this fundamentally flawed case," Pollack said at a news conference following the ruling Monday. Assange was not in court Monday due to ill health. His wife, Stella Assange, said it was the correct ruling. "As a family, we are relieved. But how long can this go on? The United States should read the situation and drop this case now. Now is the moment to do it. Just abandon this shameful attack on journalists, on the press and the public that has been going on for 14 years. This case is shameful, and it is taking an enormous toll on Julian. He is under enormous pressure. He has been in Belmarsh Prison for over five years," she told hundreds of supporters outside the court. U.S. prosecutors have filed 18 charges against Assange, relating to allegations of hacking and theft of classified material. They did not immediately comment on Monday's court ruling. In 2010, WikiLeaks published thousands of stolen diplomatic cables relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which Assange said exposed abuses by the United States military. The U.S. government argues his actions went beyond journalism by soliciting, stealing and indiscriminately publishing classified government documents that endangered innocent lives. The case sets a vital precedent, said Amnesty's Simon Crowther. "What Julian Assange is being prosecuted for is something journalists do all the time: they receive classified material that exposes war crimes or alleged war crimes, or crimes against humanity, serious human rights violations. And when it's in the public interest, they publish those documents," Crowther told VOA. Assange has spent the past five years in London's Belmarsh high security jail. Prior to that, he sought refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London for seven years after Swedish prosecutors charged him with two counts of rape, which he denied. The charges were later dropped. Assange was jailed for breaching his bail conditions. The U.S. Justice Department first formally requested his extradition in 2019. In the coming months, Assange will have the right to bring a new appeal before the British courts, where he will argue that the U.S. judicial system would deny him his right to free speech. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Julian Assange wins High Court victory in case against extradition to U.S. People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 08:46, May 21, 2024 Permission to appeal was to be granted only if the U.S. government was unable to provide the court with suitable assurances that Assange can rely on the First Amendment (free speech) for protection. LONDON, May 20 (Xinhua) -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Monday won a victory in his ongoing battle against extradition from the United Kingdom (UK) to the United States, after the High Court in London granted him permission to appeal. Permission to appeal was to be granted only if the U.S. government was unable to provide the court with suitable assurances that Assange can rely on the First Amendment (free speech) for protection. The U.S. government had to prove that Assange, who is Australian, will not be prejudiced at trial due to his nationality, and will be afforded the same protections as a U.S. citizen. The U.S. side also had to provide assurance that Assange would not be sentenced to death if convicted. Assange's legal team criticized the assurances provided by the U.S. government at the hearing, arguing that "based on the principle of the separation of powers, the U.S. court can and will apply U.S. law, whatever the executive may say or do." Most of the assurances were "blatantly inadequate," said Edward Fitzgerald KC, representing Assange. However, the U.S.' assurance on the death penalty was accepted by Assange's legal team. The lawyer said in written submissions that while the assurance on the death penalty was "an unambiguous executive promise," the other assurances do not give "any reliable promise as to future action." Assange supporters cheered at the news of the court's ruling. He was not in court on Monday for health reasons, but those present included his wife Stella. "The judges reached the right decision... As a family we are relieved, but how long can this go on? The United States should read the situation and drop this case now. Now is the moment to do it. Just abandon the shameful attack on journalists, on the press and on the public," Stella told supporters outside the High Court. According to Assange's legal team, it could be months before the new appeal is heard. The latest move came after the High Court deferred a decision in March on whether Assange could take his case to another appeal hearing. Assange, 52, is wanted by the U.S. for allegedly disclosing national defense information following WikiLeaks's publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked military documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars a decade ago. These included Apache helicopter video footage of the U.S. military gunning down journalists and children in the streets of Baghdad in 2007. Assange has been held at southeast London's high-security Belmarsh Prison since 2019. The UK approved his extradition to the U.S. in 2022, after a judge had initially blocked it due to concerns over his mental health. Assange and his lawyers have subsequently appealed. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address May 19 U.S Central Command Update U.S. Central Command Press Release | May 19, 2024 USCENTCOM May 19, 2024 Release Number 20240519-01 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TAMPA, Fla. -- At approximately 9:35 p.m. (Sanaa time) May 18, Iranian-backed Houthis launched one anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) from a Houthi-controlled area in Yemen over the Gulf of Aden. There were no injuries or damages reported by U.S., coalition, or merchant vessels. This continued malign and reckless behavior by the Iranian-backed Houthis threatens regional stability and endangers the lives of mariners across the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. -30- NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address May 19, 2024 Transcript Senior Defense Official and Senior Military Official Hold a Background Briefing on Niger Senior Defense Official; Senior Military Official; Lieutenant Colonel Bryon McGarry, DoD Spokesperson - Middle East, Africa, Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) LIEUTENANT COLONEL BRYON MCGARRY: Good afternoon, everybody. I appreciate you taking the time on a Sunday afternoon. This is Lieutenant Colonel Bryon McGarry with DoD Press Operations. I'll be facilitating today's on-background call. Now, for information purposes only and not for reporting, we're joined today by (inaudible), and (inaudible). For reporting, please refer to them as a senior defense official and a senior military official, respectively. We've got quite a crowd, so to allow as many of you as possible time to ask a question, I'd ask that you keep your follow ups to a minimum and please keep your microphones on mute unless you're asking a question. And with that, I'll turn it over to (inaudible) to start us off. Over to you, sir. Thanks. SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: Well, thanks, everyone. So, as already talked to, (inaudible) and I are happy to go into background here and answer your questions. We'll just make a couple of remarks off the top. First off would call your attention to the, as the Nigeriens have called it, the Joint Communique. But it's a joint press statement that went out earlier today here. We're in Niamey, so apologies if I mess up the time of day. That was done jointly by both the Department of Defense and the Ministry of National Defense in Niger. And it culminates what has been about five days of discussions with the government here to come up with terms for a safe and orderly withdrawal of U.S. forces from Niger. The date that we had agreed on, have agreed on is no later than September 15, and that will cover all U.S. forces departing Niger. The Nigeriens committed to a number of things, including the ongoing protection of U.S. forces, the agreement to facilitate, including diplomatic clearances and facilitating with force protection, and a whole series of other efforts on their part to help us move safely and rapidly in the withdrawal. I think overall, the conversation was principally military to military. The main interlocutor for me as the lead of the delegation was the Minister of Defense, General Modi. But we spent a lot of time working with the chief of staff of the army on the Nigerien side, who was the day-to-day lead for the discussions. I think as undoubtedly people have questions, the state of the relations with Niger after the coup, the relationship between the Nigerien military and the Department of Defense, I think, remains strong. We have a lengthy history with them going back, well over a decade, and working with them over the course of these discussions proved out that that relationship's very strong. Obviously, we're working against the backdrop of much more challenging political situation, but we're in close contact throughout with the country team here and the ambassador. And the expectation, as I think has been talked about even publicly, is that following the discussion here and the agreement to terms on the safe and orderly withdrawal and the start of that withdrawal, at some point in upcoming weeks or months not yet determined, we expect the Deputy Secretary of State, Kurt Campbell, will visit here to talk more about the broader bilateral relationship. But we really viewed it as a prerequisite to get this withdrawal going because the Nigeriens, at the level of their prime minister, had asked us to leave, and we committed to do so. And we really spend most of our time focused on the aspects of assurances that could lead then to the implementation of that withdrawal. So, a lot of technical discussions, some of which we'll be able to cover if folks have questions. And I think I'll turn it over to (inaudible) for any opening remarks he has before we take your questions. SENIOR MILITARY OFFICIAL: I'll just say that the discussions that we had with the army interlocutors was very cordial. It was good back and forth and discussion. And that I would say that relationships matter. And that was enabled, as (inaudible) mentioned, through over a decade long partnership and relationship that allowed these discussions to go smoothly. And which I think will help us immensely, as for the safe and orderly withdrawal from Niger. I think another point is the military representatives, especially, were keen to keep opportunities open for future engagements. And we're looking forward to future dialogues. They were they thought it was important to emphasize that they did not see this as the closing of the relationship, but that a new relationship needed to be negotiated based on what the CNSP desires were. I think key, too, is we, as (inaudible) mentioned, dealt with the military leadership and it was through them that then they went to the CNSP leadership for final adjudication or discussion. So, we did not deal with the CNSP directly. But I think that actually played to our advantage in that we had that solid relationship with the Nigerien military folks. That's all I have. LT. COL. MCGARRY: Okay. Thank you very much, gentlemen. Appreciate that. And we'll go out to questions. First up, we've got Tara Copp with AP. Q: Hi. Thank you both for doing this. Can you talk a little bit about the buildings and the equipment and things that U.S. troops have been using for years? What are you leaving behind? Are you making plans to take all of that equipment with you? And then secondly, just thinking forward, how are you going to fill this hole in terms of doing the counterterrorism mission? Thank you. SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: Yes, Tara. So, I think it's really too early to tell exactly what we will be taking out. Obviously, the goal is to take as much as we can, protect the investment of the U.S. taxpayers. But there's significant infrastructure, including the air base at Agadez, the air base, or our part of it at Niamey, that we're not obviously going to be able to take with us. We are committed to a longer-term relationship with Niger. And so, while this is certainly going to result our departure is certainly going to result in a reset of that. It's not in our interest to necessarily deny them the use of the equipment that we will, by legal standards, abandon. Not everything will come out. But we just had a conversation earlier today with AFRICOM and others as we go through the details of what's going to be removed, obviously, sensitive equipment, lethal equipment, hazardous equipment, these kind of things will be removed. A lot of what we expect will be left behind is either things that are immobile or are going to cost a lot more for the United States to take out than they're actually worth. So, we have some experience with this in recent years out of other places, and I think that will very much inform the conversation. Anything to add on that? (UNKNOWN): (inaudible) SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: You obviously hit on the kind of 800-pound gorilla question, which is what comes next, especially from a strategic perspective across this region where Niger has been really an anchor for our counterterrorism efforts over a decade, decade and a half. Those conversations are ongoing. I think one of the things that we were very focused on is ensuring that this withdrawal goes in as collegial and collaborative a manner as possible at the military to military level, because we know we're going to need the fan and other components of the security services here, regardless of what our posture is. Because this is a region where there's quite a lot of terrorist activity. We can list off a lot of different groups, but fundamentally they cross over in Niger. So, whether we are operating from Niger in the future or from some other place near here, we'll have a continued mission to monitor for external operations, and as much as possible, support partners that are willing to work with us to have the capability to disrupt that. Q: (inaudible) SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: Over. LT. COL. MCGARRY: Okay, thanks very much, sir. Next question for Idrees Ali, please. Thank you. Q: Two quick questions. Firstly, what's the status of the Russians in Niger? They're obviously in 101. What's the status in 201? How many are there, and do you expect them to take over the CT and the training missions? And then secondly, you give an sounds like an optimistic view of how you see a long-term relationship. But the CNSP, which is in power and does not appear to be going anywhere, asked you to leave despite the hundreds of millions that you spent. So, how do you see a long-term relationship with a country that asks you to leave and does not seem to be budging on that, in terms of leaving government or their decision? SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: The first question, the truthful answer is, I don't know. We hear reports of Russians, maybe in the capital in Niamey. Can't tell you anything specifically about their location around AB 101, don't have anything on Agadez either. I don't anticipate, this is kind of my personal view, but informed by our conversations this week with the Nigeriens, I don't I think that this is a situation like we've seen in other countries in which the counterterrorism responsibilities will be turned over to a Wagner or a Russian-type entity. First off, I think the Nigerien military is too capable for that. And second of all, I think we tend to believe what they've told us, at least the CNSP, which is they're not looking for any foreign forces in large numbers here, and they're looking to not have to make decisions on who they work with. So, I think that's kind of short answer to that. As to your second question of being optimistic, I'll tell you I'm probably circumspect on this. A lot's going to tell in the next couple months as we conduct our withdrawal. And I think they, on the Nigerien side, start to see what capabilities they themselves need and what is no longer available. With both the French withdrawal, as you know, and then the American withdrawal, I think time will tell, unfortunately. I think at the political level, that's beyond my responsibility, our responsibility. I can tell you from the mil-mil perspective, I think they are continuing to be committed to looking at disrupting terrorist threats as they have been. And some of the sense we continue to get is even though we're not as closely partnered with them, their forces are still going out and disrupting some of these threats. SENIOR MILITARY OFFICIAL: Yes, I think also on this interest is, while we have not been engaged with them as much over the last several months, the special operations forces that are still in country and have some engagement with them, mostly telephonically, have stated that they are still doing operations. So, the special operations forces that we have trained here are continuing to engage in counterterrorism missions very similar to what we would have advised them on, obviously, without that advice here recently. So, I think there is some effort from Niger to continue, I will say, in West Africa. These are some of the most capable CT forces in this part of the world. Also, I think, as you talked about the relationship going forward, I think instructive that in the opening comments, that Minister of Defense Modi used the example of post-World War II France and U.S., where the French asked us to remove our bases from France and we were still able to maintain a relationship and still work together. They are also, at least from what was relayed to us, very protective of their ability to talk to other nations. I would say for me that having worked here in the past in the region, many of these nations, there's a sense of desperation, and they don't want options foreclosed. So, that is part of it. I think the other part is that we have had this longstanding relationship, and they don't want to have it completely dissolved. But that was also coming from the military piece. I can't speak for the CNSP because we did not engage with them directly. And obviously, that's where many of these decisions would be made. LT. COL. MCGARRY: Okay, thank you very much, gentlemen. Our next question goes to Courtney Kube, NBC. Q: Thank you. Where are the troops and the equipment leaving going to? Is there another country in the region or that some of them will be rebased to? On the equipment that, and things that you mentioned might be left behind, did you get any assurances from the Nigerien military that they would not, that U.S. provided equipment would not be used by others like the Russians? And then, on the comment that you'll continue to monitor for external operations, I wonder, does that mean that the U.S. will continue to share terror information with the Nigerien military going forward to help them disrupt potential terror plots? Thank you. SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: Hey, Courtney. So, I think to take those questions in order here, and I've already forgotten your first one. SENIOR MILITARY OFFICIAL: Forces going. SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: Oh, yes. Where are the forces Q: Where are where are the troops going? SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: Okay. Yes, so I think it's not yet determined. Some of these will revert back to AFRICOM, and so, they're best positioned to talk to that, but undoubtedly will be used in other places where some of this equipment is useful on the continent. I think we are engaged in discussions at various different levels with other countries about retaining some capability and proximity to Niger, but nothing that is at this point definite or certainly that I'm not in a position to speak to on this call. But the expectation is that much of this equipment will return to our stocks, if need be. So, I think not yet known. As we look at assurances, they we had a conversation with them. They committed that they would be keeping these for themselves on the Nigerien military side. So, they're particularly focused, the CNSP is on sovereignty and protecting aspects of their own military and ability to operate. And we got the strong sense in the conversations that they do not intend to share what equipment left behind with any other party that might be here in the future here, at least for the time being. Again, back to the earlier question, a lot of what we anticipate leaving here is not going to be terribly mobile. It'll be housing units, it'll be other kind of life support. So, not probably things that are going to move around a lot at this stage, although that's still to be determined as we ultimately draw down. And then, I think to your question of continuing to share intelligence, we maintain relationships at all levels across the Nigerien government. Just because of their coup doesn't mean that there isn't still military to military, intelligence to intelligence relationships. And certainly, while our forces are here, we have interest in our own force protection and making sure that the Nigeriens are as capable as possible in protecting, not only our forces, but other areas where we might have Americans or others. So, I think for the time being, we're continuing to do what we're doing. As to the longer-term relationship, it fits into the broader question about how we're going to re-posture and look for a different approach to conducting counterterrorism, especially looking at the indications of warning side of that across this region. SENIOR MILITARY OFFICIAL: I think also on the there's definitely an interest right now in the military to not upset things. So, I don't think in the short term we'll see them, you know, turn this equipment over to others. They want to use it in their CT fight today. Obviously, that can change over time. We don't know where that will go. But I will say also of note is the CNSP is not a monolithic entity. It's a council. And that council means there's debate that's occurring, and so there's opportunity for us to still engage and have some influence within that effort. So, I wouldn't, while this is not a great place to be right now, I wouldn't say that it's final yet. LT. COL. MCGARRY: Thank you very much, gentlemen. Next question goes to Liz Friedman with Fox. Q: Hey, thanks. When will the withdrawal start? Will it be weeks? Will it be days? And then when will the weapons start to be moved from Niger as well? SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: So, we agreed in our public communique to say it had already started because it has. So, we've had aircraft already come in and move things out. We've also consolidated things even when aircraft weren't coming in. So, we would look at it as already underway. As to when weapons will come out, that's going to be a rolling thing that I think the forces on the ground will look at and determine. Idea would be to keep the things that we still need for as long as we need them. And things that we aren't using would move out pretty quickly. So, I would expect that it would be continuous piece of the retrograde, different types of weapons and equipment moving out. SENIOR MILITARY OFFICIAL: Yes, we've already moved, since we were asked to move, realizing that the mission wouldn't continue. Non-essential personnel to base operations, security, et cetera, have already been moving. So, it's about 100 or so over the last couple of weeks that have been moved out already. And then we get that (inaudible) covered everything else. Q: Thanks. LT. COL. MCGARRY: Thank you, gentlemen. Next question goes to Eric Schmitt with New York Times. Q: Yes, (inaudible), just a couple questions for you and then one for (inaudible). One, can you give a couple more examples of the immobile or stuff that's going to stay behind because it's too costly to move than it is to take away besides housing units. For either one of you, you talk about the CNSP and the military as if they're two different things. But this is a military junta, so I don't quite understand the distinction you're making. I know one is the ruling body, but they're military officers, right? That oversee the army officers that maybe you spoke to. And then finally, (inaudible), you said, we're not in a great place to be, but I wouldn't say it's final yet. What exactly did you mean by that? I mean, it's not final yet. What isn't final? Thank you. SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: Yes, Eric. So, I think examples of other things that are probably not going to be coming out of here are, again, a lot of things that are part of life support or infrastructure. So, you can think of generators, air conditioning units, large platforms and other things like that that were really part of construction of air bases. We might envision hangers, things like that that are probably not moving out. And then other things that we're going to make a determination are too expensive to move out relative to their worth to us. So, as we look at the actual financial piece of things, some things may be worth not terribly much, especially as we think about it going back into stocks, and it's going to cost us a significant amount of airflow. I should make the point that the expectation is the vast majority of the equipment we are moving out is going out by air, not by ground. So, that adds a significant cost to what we choose to leave. We will also look at it through the lens of what might be something better off for us to leave with the Nigeriens than to take for ourselves. This is part of the calculus as we go through this. To your question on, why we're making a distinction here, because I think to (inaudible)'s point, first case, the CNSP is not a monolith. And there's clear divisions within it. And I think while all wear military uniforms, the coup was, and the current president is a member of the presidential guard. That's distinct from the FAN, the regular military. And then there are other aspects, like gendarmerie and NORSOF and others. And the people we were talking to are those in charge of the MoD with Minister Modi and then the army chief, people who continue to serve in military capacities, not, for instance, others that have moved to be the Minister of Interior or the president, in the case of Tiani or others. So, that's the distinction we're making. Under no means are we sort of downplaying the idea that, when the CNSP gets together, there's a lot of uniforms in that room. This is a military junta at the end. But the interaction we had was with military officers and professional military officers who were serving in roles overseeing the current Ministry of National Defense. SENIOR MILITARY OFFICIAL: Yes, I think it's important to understand, Eric, that there's the FAN as mentioned, the Nigerien army, those are who we have continued to engage with. And then there is a difference with the presidential guard and who they reported to before as well as the gendarmeries. And so, we just, all I was trying to indicate is that we were just dealing with that portion of the military, the Nigerien military army. The other piece there, about it not being final yet. What I meant was trying to get to is the CNSP is not finalized how they are going to, what form they will be, how they will rule, et cetera. They're still learning how to operate a government and things that are, I think, beyond what they were used to. They're still trying to understand what partners they will have going forward in the future. They have not locked anybody out yet. And so, what I was saying is there's an opportunity for us to be able to engage and maybe shift the trajectory slightly, and that may not work out, and it may end up that they decide to go with a different direction, as we've seen in other countries. But right now, in this, it's still in a bit of a forming stage, extended forming, transition stage, unknown what that will turn into here in the short term. We've seen similar in Mali and other nations where the initial few months are different than the period afterwards. SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: I'll just take one more reattack. The big picture here, the reason we were talking just to the military is the military has been deemed in the CNSP as responsible for managing the withdrawal. They did it for the French. They're going to do it for us. So, these conversations were very much scoped to figuring out what the basic agreements that were needed, the terms to conduct that withdrawal, things like protections for forces and other things like that, because the Nigeriens abrogated the SOFA, status of forces agreement, in March, two months ago. So, we had to get those assurances, and we really wanted to talk to them about the mechanics of doing this. And they have set up a committee that will, on their military side, work with our military to really work through that on a day-to-day basis. So, that's why we're focused on just that piece. We intentionally stayed out of any broader policy discussions. These were mil-mil talks. So, no economic, no diplomatic, no future of CNSP, none of the things that continue to be particularly challenging with them, but are not principally in the Department of Defense's lane. SENIOR MILITARY OFFICIAL: Yes, I think on that, too, is they have a vested interest for this to go smoothly. They understand this is what will set conditions for any future relationship. They were also keen to keep this in the military-to-military channels and talk about the withdrawal. So, that helped keep some of the other issues out. And they understand that any future political or economic or other relations will have to be negotiated at a later date with other folks from the U.S. government, which allowed us to focus solely on this repositioning and getting the assurances that we needed in order to execute. LT. COL. MCGARRY: Okay, thank you, gentlemen. We've got time for just a couple more. Next question goes to Nancy Youssef with Wall Street Journal. Q: Thank you. I'm having a hard time understanding what this new trajectory would look like. The Nigeriens have asked the U.S. forces to leave. They said that they've been frustrated by the process. Can you give me some more details on what this potential new trajectory could look like, particularly as they're forming stronger relationships with the Russian military? Thank you. SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: So, I'll give you, Nancy, got our working assumption here. First things first. We're leaving Niger with U.S. forces, but all the other aspects of the U.S. government generally remain in place. We, unlike the French, we're maintaining an embassy. We'll continue to have relations there. So, it isn't a break in that sense, but I think what you're asking is more the specifics of what does a future security relationship look like. I think the scheme of maneuver here as laid out to Nigeriens, and we've been pretty open about this publicly, is we're going to be focused for the near term on the drawdown of U.S. forces and expect some way through that process we'll start to have conversations about what comes next. They are very clear, at least at the seniorest, most military levels, that they want to maintain a relationship with us. And that relationship is certainly informed by where we've been with them. So, we take that to mean that they're going to continue to want to look for opportunities to take advantage of some of our training, other things like that, that they're going to continue to need, I think, in this neighborhood. I can't speak to the idea that they're establishing some other relationships with other parties, be it the Russians or others. They certainly have relationships with their regional partners and are probably looking to see what the likes of Mali and Burkina are doing with their Russian advisors. So, I suspect that will inform some of where they are. But my takeaway from this is that some level, kind of as (inaudible) was saying, the CNSP is not quite sure where they want to go, but they know they want foreign forces out and they, probably my opinion, haven't necessarily solved for what the long-term future security requirements are going to be. So, I think this is why it's so important for us to make sure this withdrawal goes well, maintain these relationships that are very much professional military to professional military because we want to keep our options open. Even as many of you have stated, this is not a good outcome in toto that we're leaving Niger after significant investment and a lot of time invested in the partnership. LT. COL. MCGARRY: Okay, thanks very much, sir. Last question goes to Nick Slayton with Task & Purpose. Thanks. Q: Thank you. So, just wanted to get a sense of what the, sort of since the coup, what the impact on U.S. CT operations has been and when you imagine that might return to a pre-coup level for the region. And also, just I know you mentioned 100 personnel had already left. Trying to get a sense of how many remain in country. We've seen the number of 1,000 floated around. Just want to get an accurate, up to date sense of how many are still in country. SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: Yes, Nick, to the pre- kind of returning to pre-coup levels and what's been going on. So, the CNSP has not allowed any counterterrorism operations by the U.S. government, meaning no kind of partnered operations and things of that nature. That would have been the case prior to the coup. That said, we've continued to conduct operations for our own force protection. And that's been something that we've been very open and transparent with the CNSP about. I think as to what is likely to come to the question many have asked, it's probably unclear at this point, but we know what we're going to need to continue to focus on, and that's the partnership with the military. Even as we draw down, we're going to, I think, continue to be sought by them for some of the advice and assistance, training, education that a number of them who have gone through that will certainly value in. There's a generation of Nigerien military, in some aspects of their military, that have grown up with U.S. training, U.S. equipment, U.S. education. And that's something that we would expect that they would continue to desire even if their political masters decide to go a different direction. I honestly can't tell you the number of people right now because it's fairly dynamic. I'm sure the J1 at AFRICOM could give a very good number, but we were, you're correct, at about 1,000 people. But we've been trying to pull people out. So, as (inaudible) already said. So, we're certainly short of 1,000 at this point. And we have plans that will, if all goes well, with the support of the Nigeriens, be done pulling out all our equipment and certainly all our people well before that 15 September deadline they gave us. So, that's a imprecise answer, intentionally so, because I'm not in a position to give you an exact number. And I think we would want to be somewhat protective of how many people exactly are there right now because of some of sensitivities that you could, of course, understand. Anything to add to that? SENIOR MILITARY OFFICIAL: No. SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: Okay. LT. COL. MCGARRY: Okay. Thank you, gentlemen, very much. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's briefing. As a reminder, attribution for today's briefing is to a senior defense official and a senior military official, respectively. Gentlemen, thank you very much both for your time, and thank you, media colleagues, for joining us. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday. Thank you. Out here. https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3780569/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address May 20, 2024 Transcript Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. Hold an On-Camera Press Conference Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III; Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff STAFF: Well, Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for being here today. It is my pleasure to introduce the secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin III, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. CQ Brown, Jr. The secretary and the chairman will deliver opening remarks, and then we'll have time to take a few questions. Please note that I will moderate those questions and call on journalists. Due to time constraints, would ask that those I call upon limit their follow-up questions to give your colleagues a chance to ask their questions. Secretary Austin, over to you, sir. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE LLOYD J. AUSTIN III: Thanks, Patrick. Well, good afternoon, everybody, and thanks for joining us. Gen. Brown and I have just come from the 22nd meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, and I'm grateful to the some-50 countries from around the world that joined us again today. The Contact Group heard directly from Ukraine's defense leaders, including Minister Umerov. They gave a valuable update on Ukraine's defensive operations across the front line, including the new Russian offensive around Kharkiv. We met today at a challenging moment for Ukraine. Putin's forces have opened another front to seize sovereign Ukrainian territory, and the Kremlin's invaders are obliterating Ukrainian villages and killing innocent civilians and bombarding civilian infrastructure, including dams and power plants. Ukraine's defenders are in a hard fight. But Russian troops are paying a high price for Putin's aggression. Now, Putin is betting that eventually, Ukraine will fold, and he's betting that this Contact Group will crumble. But he's wrong, and today, we saw again why. Ukraine is fighting for its life, which gives it the huge strategic advantage of a just cause. And meanwhile, Putin is trying to wage a 19th century war of imperial aggression in the world of 2024. That's a terrible idea and a terrible strategy. Ukraine's forces are fighting the Kremlin's war of choice with ingenuity and skill, and they are making excellent use of the capabilities provided by the members of this Contact Group. We spent a lot of time today on lifesaving air defense systems which are helping Ukraine stave off waves of Russian missiles, Iranian UAVs and North Korean munitions, and we'll continue to push to ensure that Ukraine owns its skies and can defend its citizens and its civilian infrastructure far from the front lines. The United States and our allies and partners worldwide remain laser-focus on Ukraine's near-term requirements in Kharkiv and elsewhere, and we'll keep pushing to find swift solutions to Ukraine's most pressing needs. And that's why President Biden announced a $400 million security assistance package for Ukraine earlier this month. It will provide critical munitions for NASAMS and Patriot air defense systems, more HIMARS systems and munitions, more anti-armor systems and other priority requirements. And this comes on top of the $7 billion -- $7 billion of security assistance that we've already committed to Ukraine since the recent passage of the National Security Supplemental. We're delivering the most urgently needed capabilities, including 155 millimeter artillery rounds, and much more is on the way. Now, Contact Group members also spent time today on the long-term challenge of Ukraine's security, and I continue to be impressed by the work of the capability coalitions. These eight coalitions are helping to anticipate and meet Ukraine's battlefield needs, and they're also laying the foundation for Ukraine's future force, which must be strong and -- and sustainable enough to ward off future Russian aggression. Today, we heard updates from the Maritime Coalition and the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Coalition. I'm also impressed with Germany's immediate action on the Air Defense Initiative. It's helping Ukraine's global partners dig deeper and to find rapid and creative ways to deploy more air defense systems and provide the spare parts to sustain Ukraine's defenses. Meanwhile, the U.K. and Norway are leading the Maritime Coalition in helping Ukraine beef up its capabilities to fend off Putin's attacks. Now, those are just two of the eight capability coalitions, and together, they're providing a sturdy, flexible structure to meet Ukraine's security requirements over the long haul. So we'll continue to work with nations of goodwill from around the world to support Ukraine's fight for survival, and we'll continue to make the case for why Ukraine matters. The outcome in Ukraine is -- is crucial for European security, for global security, and for American security. None of us would want to live in a world where dictators re-draw borders by force and launch wars of aggression to try to revive yesterday's empires. So let me be clear -- Ukraine's partners are united and we're determined and we're not going anywhere. And with that, let me turn it over to Gen. Brown. GENERAL CHARLES Q. BROWN JR.: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Good afternoon, everyone. In an address to Congress near the end of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson laid out his 14 point program for world peace. He asserted that political independence and territorial integrity required an association of nations united against authoritarian aggressors. He said, and I quote, "we cannot be separated in interest or divided in purpose. We stand together until the end." President Wilson never realized his vision for a strong coalition of nations based on his 14 points. The world had to endure a Second World War, a war more brutal and more costly than the first, before there was collective will to come together in common purpose. The principles President Wilson championed formed the basis of the international order we live in today. That order is being challenged by Russia's illegal and unprovoked attack on the sovereign nation of Ukraine. The Ukraine Defense Contact Group has stood together in the face of this Russian aggression, and we will continue to stand together to support Ukraine and defend the international order. Once again, I want to thank Secretary Austin for his leadership in this international coalition of more than 50 nations in support of Ukraine. Thanks also to Defense Minister Umerov and the Ukrainian delegation who joined us today and for their leadership of Ukraine's armed forces. And to all of the nations attending today, thank you for your continued support of Ukraine. Ukrainian forces are being challenged, particularly in the Kharkiv region where they are valiantly defending against increased Russian attacks. In recent days, Russia launched a new offensive attacks against Kharkiv, aiming to establish a shallow buffer zone along the Ukrainian border. Russia anticipates that this will divert Ukrainian focus and capabilities from other critical areas. Ukrainians made concerted efforts to build and strengthen defensive lines, which are being tested by Russian attacks. Ukraine's expending air defense munitions to protect their skies as they defend against continued Russian strikes on critical civilian infrastructure. Ukrainian forces are fighting hard to hold against Russian advances across the front lines. Ukraine's reserves and stockpiles are being challenged as they defend against Russian offensive actions, which underscores the urgency of this coalition's work to sustain Ukraine. The President authorized a $1 billion military aid package for Ukraine following the passage of the national security supplemental, and a second aid package was authorized a little over a week ago to send additional critical capabilities to Ukraine. These packages include earnestly needed weapons, such as artillery ammunition, air defense interceptors, anti-aircraft missiles, armored vehicles, Javelins, and other anti-armor systems. We have worked diligently to deliver these supplies as quickly as possible. The influx of U.S. and coalition assistance will enable Ukraine to continue to withstand Russian aggression. Military aid to Ukraine sends a clear message to the world: this coalition will not tire, we will not waver, we will not give up. Our collective resolve is steadfast. We know that we cannot allow Russia to rewrite borders, to force tyranny on an unwilling people, and to supplant the sovereign, democratic nation. The actions of this coalition show other would-be aggressors that we will defend the international order together. Our support for -- for Ukraine is not merely an act of solidarity, it is a strategic necessity that -- that reinforces broader international security. If unchecked, Russian aggression could embolden other authoritarian regimes to challenge the international norms and violate the sovereignty of their neighbors. This highlights the importance of a robust and unified response. Global events have far-reaching consequences that impact us all. Our collective actions today will shape the geopolitical landscape of tomorrow. This is what President Wilson understood. Safety and prosperity for all nations can only be won -- the -- through unified and cooperative effort. President Wilson understand that peace and security are more than just words, they require constant work and action on the part of nations coming together for a common purpose. The Ukraine Defense Contact Group is committed to that work. Thank you, and I look forward to your questions. STAFF: Thank you both, gentlemen. Our first question will go to Associated Press, Tara Copp. Q: Thank you for doing this. Mr. Secretary, I wanted to ask you about Iran. Does the Pentagon have any indication that the helicopter crash in Iran that killed President Raisi was anything other than an accident? And have you directed any force posture changes in case there's unrest following these deaths? And then for Chairman Brown, I wanted to ask you about senior airman Roger Fortson. What would you like to say to Fortson's family? And more broadly, what would you like to say to black service members who are wondering if it matters whether they serve? No matter what they do, there's still law enforcement that see them as a threat? SEC. AUSTIN: Thanks, Tara. Regarding the death of Iran's President in the -- in the very unfortunate helicopter crash, we -- we continue to monitor the situation but we don't have any -- any insights into the cause of the -- of the accident at this point. And certainly, I know the Iranians are investigating, or will investigate. And -- and so we'll see what they -- what the outcome is once their investigation is complete. In terms of our force posture, don't have any announcements to make, and -- and again, this is something that we'll continue to watch. And I don't necessarily see any broader regional security impacts at this point in time, Tara. Q: But at this time, you have no indication that there was anything other than an accident that brought this helicopter down? SEC. AUSTIN: I -- I can't speculate on what may have been the cause of the accident, Tara, but, you know, again, I think we'll -- we'll learn more once the Iranians have -- have investigated. GEN. BROWN: Tara, let me first of all pass on my sincere condolences to Senior Airman Fortson's family, friends and fellow airmen. I know they're going through some difficult times right now. And I will also tell you that, you know, for every service member we lose, it always tears on me because I know it impacts a family. The one thing I would highlight, you know, this is under an investigation, but the -- what I would highlight is that a number of our service members and their families live in our -- various communities around the country, and we would hope and expect that they would all be able to be safe in those communities and -- and safe in their homes. At the same time, I would also highlight that for each one of those young people that join our service and raise their right hand to take an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, we're going to provide them opportunities to reach their full potential, and -- and that's our focus for -- no matter their background, that decided to join our force. STAFF: Thank you, gentlemen. Next question, go to CNN. Q: Secretary Austin, sir, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant briefed National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on -- on Rafah plans and humanitarian efforts. At -- at least according to the readout, it seems it's more detailed. Have you seen the plans that Sullivan was briefed on? And does it meet the requirements of what you want to see in terms of what Israel needs to do before an operation in Rafah? And then Gen. Brown, sir, as -- as Ukraine tries to defend itself against a renewed Russian offensive in -- in Kharkiv, do you believe Ukraine should be able to use American weaponry to target Russian forces that are just right across the border there? Is that a recommendation you would make? SEC. AUSTIN: Thanks. I -- I've not seen the -- the information that was briefed to Mr. Sullivan, but you know, I -- as -- as you know, I talk to Minister Gallant every week, and I would expect that he would detail the information in the -- in -- in the -- in that briefing to me as well, so -- and I'll -- I'll talk to Jake Sullivan as soon as -- as soon as he's available. But because of that, I won't speculate as to whether or not it meets any kind of requirements. But -- but again, you know, we've been clear about what we -- what we think is very, very important, and that is to make sure that the civilians that are in that battlespace are -- are moved out of the battlespace before any activity occurs in that -- in that -- in that city, so -- so we'll see what happens, so -- GEN. BROWN: Our -- our focus in support of Ukraine, as -- as being able to use capabilities, particularly the things that will impact the -- the close battle in -- in various areas. And we're paying attention to what's going on in and around Kharkiv. I won't publicly talk about what I might advise, but as we continue to support them, I'll -- I'll continue to work with the secretary as we make our recommendations going forward. But the real key point is -- is using the capabilities that we provided them in the close battle in the areas that they are -- they are doing on the fronts that they're already operating on, as well as into Crimea. STAFF: OK, let's go to Washington Post. Q: Hi. Nice to see you all. This question's for both of you regarding -- going back to the Rafah operation and following up on Oren's question. So the IDF is announcing plans as -- as recently as today to expand the Rafah operation, and meanwhile, people that we've spoken with on the ground say that in -- in -- that they perceive what is already a full-fledged operation, at least that's the perception on the ground. Given the Biden administration's statement that it will not support a full-fledged invasion of Rafah without a coherent evacuation and humanitarian plan, are you prepared to declare that it's a full-fledged invasion if these actions go ahead? And do you think there's a danger that the IDF could sort of just do this gradually, continue to make sort of gradual expansions and incremental push into Rafah in a way that falls short of a giant charge into the city, and potentially try to avoid the U.S. consequences that have been threatened? Thank you. SEC. AUSTIN: Yes, again, I -- I've seen what -- what was reported that Minister Gallant said. I look forward to talking to him about -- about what his plans really are, and also, getting -- talking with Jake Sullivan as well. And I really don't want to speculate as to whether or not this is or is not a -- or will be a -- a -- a larger operation. I really would like to -- to see what the -- you know, what -- what they intend to do. But what we would like to see, again, is -- is protection of those civilians that are in the battle space, move those civilians out, but not only move them out but make sure that wherever they go, wherever you move them to, that you -- that you have provisions for them to take care of them -- water, shelters, those types of things. And, you know, I've said before that there -- in my view, there have been far too many casualties -- civilian casualties in this fight. We need to see something done a lot differently. And even, you know, if there are -- if there is kinetic activity, if there are -- if -- if there is an operation that -- that -- that is conducted that's -- that's larger, we certainly would like to see things done differently -- more precise and -- and -- and less destruction of -- of, you know, the -- the civilian structures and -- and -- and more protection of the civilian population, so. Q: Gen. Brown? GEN. BROWN: Well, I would echo, you know, very much what the secretary said. In -- in all -- all of my conversations with my counterpart, it's -- it's very much the same -- you know, be able to communicate with us what their intent is so we understand how they're approaching it, but at the same time being able to take care of -- of the civilians, and not just, you know, move them out but move them into places where they can, you know, have shelter, have food. And -- and that's something we -- we continually message in the -- in -- in the engagements I have with my -- my counterpart. STAFF: Let's go to Fox. Q: Secretary Austin, Victoria Nuland, the former acting Deputy Secretary of State who just stepped down, said yesterday on the Sunday shows that the administration needs a new Ukraine strategy, and she said, quote, "I think if the attacks are coming directly from over the line in Russia, that those bases ought to be fair game. I think it's time to give the Ukrainians more help hitting these bases inside Russia." Do you agree with her assessment? SEC. AUSTIN: I agree with what the Chairman just said, Jennifer, and that is that, you know, in my view, their focus ought to be on -- on the close fight and making sure that they're -- they're servicing those targets that will -- that will enable success in the close fight. So, you know -- and, you know, we've been that way throughout and -- and, you know, that'll be my view going forward, so. Q: And Gen. Brown, is there anything NATO can do to help Georgia resist Russian efforts to expand their influence? How does this affect what's happening in Georgia right now? How does it affect Georgia's pathway to NATO? GEN. BROWN: Well, you know, we -- we're -- we're deeply concerned and watching the influence Russia has in -- in Georgia. And we'll -- we will remain committed to Georgia's sovereignty. You know, as -- as I met last week with my -- my NATO counterparts, we consistently talk about how we work together to -- the -- the sovereignty of the -- the -- the nations that are partner to NATO but also just the overall security situation in -- in Europe. Q: But will this affect Georgia's admission to NATO or pathway to NATO, should they be -- (CROSSTALK) GEN. BROWN: -- I'm not in a -- policy-making decision points of -- of whether or not -- but, you know, from my perspective as a uniformed service member, it's about ensuring the security of -- of the various nations but also the security of the citizens of those nations as well. STAFF: OK, let's go to Al Jazeera. Q: Thank you, General. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. The International Criminal Court prosecutor today announced he's requesting arrest warranties against Prime Minister Netanyahu and -- of Israel and your counterpart, Mr. Gallant, over accusation of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. My first question: Will your administration support this case? And will you cooperate with the court on this case? And the second question is, the U.S. being the main supporters of -- supporter of Israel, in light of this case, will you reconsider the provision of weapons to Israel some of which have been used to kill Palestinian civilians, according to President Biden? Thank you. SEC. AUSTIN: So, I've seen the press reports of the ICC seeking arrest warrants, but I don't have anything to provide on that issue -- on that issue. Again, our focus continues to be on providing Israel what it needs to defend itself. We've - we've -- that's been our focus from the very beginning. And as President Biden has said a number of times, our support to Israel remains ironclad. I think it's important to reflect back to how this got started. You know, this brutal attack on October 7th, a number of Israeli and American civilians were -- were killed in that assault -- in that terrorist attack. There were over 230 hostages taken. Half of those hostages remain in custody. And so, again, our focus remains on providing support to Israel in its efforts to defend itself. And we very much would like to see the hostages returned safely. And in terms of the decision to provide weapons to Israel, again, I won't engage in any type of speculation going forward. But, again, my hope would be that we do what's necessary to protect civilians in a battle space, and you'll hear me say that over and over again. I -- I don't think the two things are incompatible. You know, I think you can conduct military operations effectively and also account for civilians in a battle space, you know. We have learned a lot. The United States has learned a lot in terms of this type of operation over the past several years. And, again, there is -- there are ways to do this where -- where you can account for both. You can protect the people and also accomplish your objectives. STAFF: Let's go to Reuters. Q: Gen. Brown, could you explain, you've been quoted talking about the inevitability of advisers, U.S. advisers in Ukraine working with Ukrainian forces. Can you explain a little bit about what -- why that is necessary and what it would take to make that happen? And, Secretary Austin, on the ICC, President Biden has called it, the arrest warrants, outrageous. This department had said it would work with the ICC to provide evidence about Ukraine. Is that work continuing? How does this decision affect those Pentagon efforts? Thank you. GEN. BROWN: So, let me put, you know, that discussion into context. If you go back before February of 2022, we had our U.S. military members in there while working and training with the Ukrainians, and that's not the case right now. And, you know, when I said that we would be able to do that eventually, you know, once this conflict is over and we're in a better place, then I would suspect that we would be able to bring trainers back in. But right now, there are no plans to bring U.S. trainers into Ukraine. SEC. AUSTIN: So, on the question on the ICC, again, as I said earlier, I don't have anything to add on the -- on the reports that -- that we've seen here recently. Regarding the question of whether or not we'll continue to provide support to the ICC with respect to crimes or committed in Ukraine, yes, we continue that work. STAFF: Time for just a couple more. Let's go to NPR. Q: Mr. Secretary, I want to go back to Rafah. You said you haven't received a detailed military plan from the Israelis about the way ahead there. What about the humanitarian plan? You say you want them to care for these hundreds of thousands of people displaced, provide food, shelter, medical care. Have they given you any indication about how they plan on doing that? SEC. AUSTIN: Early on, we received a conceptual brief on how they were going to -- going to put the measures in place to take care of the population that moved out of that battle space, and the things that are required to support that plan. We've just not seen -- I've not seen those elements go into play. And so, my view is that there's - there's more work to be done, and my view is also that this takes - this takes time. And so, again, those things that I think need to be in place to take care of people whenever they migrate from one place to another, again, I've not seen evidence that those things are in place yet. Q: Can you give us a sense of the concept that they gave you? Any details on that to us? SEC. AUSTIN: I'll leave that to the Israelis to brief their concept. But, yes, it's one thing to have a concept. It's another thing to actually put it into play. STAFF: Let's go to NBC. Q: Mr. Secretary, you said that it is possible to conduct operations and also account for civilians in the battle space. And I wonder on Rafah, given your extensive military experience, what you're seeing happen in Rafah right now, do you think that Israel is doing that, conducting their operations and accounting for civilians in the battle space? And then, Mr. Chairman, on the idea of Ukraine conducting strikes inside Russia, I wonder if you can say, are you confident that none of the long-range ATACMS that the U.S. has provided have been used to strike inside Russian territory? SEC. AUSTIN: So, regarding what Israel is doing inside Rafah, what we've seen thus far is a limited action that's been focused on the Rafah border crossing. And, again, it's reported that Mr. Gallant said that he looks to expand operations going forward. Now, I -- I look forward to having that discussion with him to understand, you know, what his intent is and how he's going to do that. But, again, what we want to see is civilians accounted for and moved out of that battle space before anything happens. We've been clear about that - about that throughout. As you well know, I think before things -- this fight kicked off in Gaza, there were some 275,000 or so people that lived in and around Rafah. That number grew to 1.25 million or so, and that's - that's a big jump. And that's a lot of people in a very compressed battle space that's in a very difficult urban area. And, as you know, urban combat is very - very intense, very difficult to begin with. So, unless you account for those civilians and do things differently, then I think you stand to have a lot more casualties going forward. And that's something that we'd like to see change. STAFF: Let's go to Scripps. GEN. BROWN: Yes. I am confident the ATACMS that we provided have not been used in Russia. They've been used in targets in Ukraine. Q: Secretary Austin, the Russians, they're flying bomb -- they're flying bombers in Russian territory with glide bombs that are having a devastating impact on the battlefield inside of Ukraine. Should the Ukrainians be able to use American air defenses to hit those Russian bombers in Russian territory? SEC. AUSTIN: Well, you know, I -- again, you can diagram a number of different cases for, you know, whatever. I would say that we -- we have been clear about providing Ukraine the ability to defend it -- defend its sovereign territory. And again, the dynamics of a -- of an aerial engagement, you know, I -- I'd leave it up to the experts, but -- but -- but certainly, you know, our expectation is that they -- they continue to use the weapons that we've provided in -- on targets inside of Ukraine. Now, the -- the -- the aerial dynamic's a little bit different. And -- and so -- but again, don't -- don't want to speculate on any -- any one or -- or any type of engagement here at the podium, so. Q: But you're saying it's off-limits or not off-limits? STAFF: Yes, so final question will go over here. Q: Thank you. Mr. Secretary, are you concerned that Iran is going to try and blame Israel or even the United States for the crash that killed the President yesterday? And for Gen. Brown, Israel is also conducting operations in northern Gaza, even though they've said that -- they -- they previously said that they had defeated Hamas there. So particularly given your personal experience fighting terrorists in the Middle East, do you believe that Israel can achieve its goal of fully eliminating Hamas? SEC. AUSTIN: The -- the -- the United States had no part to play in -- in that crash. And so -- and that's -- that's a fact, plain and simple, so. Q: And Israel? Are you afraid they're going to blame Israel? SEC. AUSTIN: I -- I -- I won't speculate as to what they will -- what they will blame. Again, they -- they have to conduct an investigation to see what the cause of the crash was. It could be a number of things -- mechanical failure, pilot error, you name it, so. GEN. BROWN: To you -- to your -- your -- your question about northern Gaza, you know -- and -- and based on experience, not only do you have to actually go in and -- and -- and clear out whatever adversary you're up against, you -- has to get a -- go in and hold the territory, then you've got to stabilize it. The -- the Israelis didn't -- not -- not actually -- once they cleared it, they didn't hold. And so that allows your adversary then to re-populate in areas if you're not there. And -- and so that does make it more challenging for them as far as being able to meet their objective, of being able to -- in -- militarily destroy and defeat Hamas. Q: Do you think they will be able to do that? GEN. BROWN: Well, you mean -- Hamas, it's -- it's not just an organization, it's a -- it's a ideology. And -- and so you've got to think about -- you know, the overall piece of being able to provide security not only for Israel but just there in the region is going to take a -- a concerted effort, not just from a military piece but it's also how we, you know, work through the humanitarian assistance, which is why we focus so much -- the Secretary and I talking about humanitarian assistance and -- and protecting the civilians that are there in -- in Gaza. STAFF: Secretary Austin and Gen. Brown, thank you very much, gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our press briefing. Thank you. SEC. AUSTIN: Thanks. https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3782082/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address May 20, 2024 By Jim Garamone, DOD News Niger Leaves Open Continued Military Engagement With U.S. U.S. service members will withdraw from the West African nation of Niger no later than Sept. 15, U.S. officials said yesterday following five days of negotiations in Niamey, Niger. The officials said the United States and Niger should still be able to work on issues of mutual interest in the region following the exit. For more than a decade, U.S. service members had been working with the Nigerien military to strengthen the force in the face of growing threats from violent extremist groups in the Sahel and West Africa. In July 2023, a military junta overthrew the elected government of Niger, installing the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland known by the abbreviation CNSP to rule the country. The CNSP called for U.S. service members to leave country, and U.S. defense officials said Niger and the United States agreed on the process yesterday. "The Nigeriens committed to a number of things, including the ongoing protection of U.S. forces," a senior defense official said. Overall, the official said, the relationship between the U.S. and Nigerien military remains strong. "We have a lengthy history with them going back well over a decade, and working with them over the course of these discussions proved out that that relationship is very strong," the official said. "Obviously, we're working against the backdrop of much more challenging political situation." A senior military official said the Nigeriens "were keen to keep opportunities open for future engagements, and we're looking forward to future dialogues. They thought it was important to emphasize that they did not see this as the closing of the relationship, but that a new relationship needed to be negotiated based on what the CNSP['s] desires were." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Palestine: Statement by High Representative Josep Borrell and Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic on attacks on medical and civilian infrastructure in Gaza and the West Bank European External Action Service (EEAS) 20.05.2024 EEAS Press Team Since the start of the conflict in Gaza, following the brutal terrorist attacks by Hamas on 7 October, 31 out of 36 hospitals have been damaged or destroyed. Among the destroyed is the Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in Gaza, which remains today completely out of service. The remaining hospitals in Gaza are partially functioning, and operating under severe limitations. Due to the dire situation many of them are on the verge of collapse or had to be closed . Access to emergency medical care is even more crucial at a time when Palestinians in Gaza live under constant shelling and more than 9,000 severely injured people are at risk of dying due to the lack of adequate health care. Since October 7, the WHO has recorded a total of 890 attacks on health facilities, with 443 occurring in Gaza and 447 in the West Bank. Attacks against health-care workers, hospitals and ambulances disrupt vital medical services. They deprive people of life-saving treatment. These attacks must end. At the same time, regarding the mandatory protection of civilians under International Humanitarian Law, the EU strongly condemns the use of hospitals for any purposes other than medical. All parties must respect international humanitarian law. The situation of innocent people in Gaza is as desperate as ever. The same goes for the hostages still held by Hamas, certainly also in very dire conditions. The EU is also concerned about the continuous attacks on healthcare in the West Bank, where over 50 health facilities and 300 ambulances have been deliberately damaged in the past months. In response to the humanitarian crisis, the EU has mobilised all its crisis response tools to channel medical aid to Gaza, including its EU Humanitarian Air Bridge flights carrying tonnes of medical aid, and has significantly increased its funding to humanitarian partners. But this support can only offer temporary relief to the people suffering. A human tragedy is playing out in real time in front of our eyes. The European Union is deeply concerned by the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza. We reiterate our calls for an immediate ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages, and full humanitarian access. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Finnish soldiers conclude EU training mission in Mali Finnish Ministry of Defence 20.05.2024 Finland's military participation in the European Union Training Mission in Mali (EUTM) has ended and the remaining four Finnish soldiers serving in the training mission have returned home. Since 2013, EUTM Mali has provided mentoring and training to the Malian armed forces to support restoration of a safe operating environment. The EU Member States decided not to renew the mandate of EUTM Mali when it ended on 18 May 2024. This means that the mission has been terminated, and most of its personnel have left the country. More than 100 Finnish soldiers served in the mission after its launch in 2013. Two Finnish experts will remain in EUCAP Sahel Mali, the European Union civilian crisis management mission in Mali. Finland is active in military and civilian crisis management efforts of the UN, NATO, the EU and the Global Coalition against ISIL. After concluding EUTM Mali, Finland will continue to participate in 12 other military crisis management operations. The number of Finnish soldiers in these operations totals approximately 450. The largest Finnish contingent, around 200 soldiers, is in Lebanon as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Philippine side should reflect on its own actions when it comes to possible environmental problems in Zhongye Dao: Chinese FM Global Times By Global Times Published: May 20, 2024 11:52 PM The Philippine side should most certainly reflect on its own actions for the potential environmental problems around Nansha Qundao (also known as Nansha Islands), over which China holds an indisputable sovereignty including Zhongye Dao (also known as Zhongye Island), instead of blaming the Chinese side for no reason, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Monday. Wang's comments came in response to remarks made the same day by a Philippine official who said the Philippine government sees the need to file a lawsuit against China for its destruction of coral reefs in the South China Sea, including fishing. Wang also said that he had noted the Philippine side's allegations that the serious degradation of a large number of coral reefs near Zhongye Dao was due to man-made destruction, and wrongly claimed that China is suspected of causing the damage. He stressed that China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Qundao and their adjacent waters, including the Zhongye Dao, but the Philippine side has illegally occupied China's Zhongye Dao and has frequently carried out activities in the waters around the island. According to previous reports, the Global Times revealed that illegal fishing acts are evident in seafood markets across the Philippines, allowed by those people who smear China of illegally harvesting fish and sea life. Despite existing laws against these illegal and destructive fishing practices, the lack of effective regulation still fuels the continuation of these practices in the Philippines. According to another set of images exclusively obtained by the Global Times from the China Coast Guard (CCG), the hull and interior of the illegally grounded Philippines' warship at Ren'ai Jiao (also known as Ren'ai Reef) are severely corroded, and experts have warned that the illegally grounded warship could cause irreversible and lasting damage to marine life in the South China Sea. The implementation of CCG procedural regulations aims to standardize the administrative law enforcement procedures of coast guard agencies, better maintain maritime order, and is in line with internationally accepted practices, Wang said when asked to comment remarks by a Philippine official saying that China has no rights on the high seas and that the regulations violate international law. Wang also added that individuals and entities concerned have no cause for concern in the absence of wrongdoing. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Statement of ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC: Applications for arrest warrants in the situation in the State of Palestine International Criminal Court (ICC) / Cour penale internationale (CPI) Statement: 20 May 2024 Today I am filing applications for warrants of arrest before Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court in the Situation in the State of Palestine. Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri (Deif), Ismail Haniyeh On the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Yahya SINWAR (Head of the Islamic Resistance Movement ("Hamas") in the Gaza Strip), Mohammed Diab Ibrahim AL-MASRI, more commonly known as DEIF (Commander-in-Chief of the military wing of Hamas, known as the Al-Qassam Brigades), and Ismail HANIYEH (Head of Hamas Political Bureau) bear criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of Israel and the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 7 October 2023: Extermination as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(b) of the Rome Statute; Murder as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(a), and as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i); Taking hostages as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(iii); Rape and other acts of sexual violence as crimes against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(g), and also as war crimes pursuant to article 8(2)(e)(vi) in the context of captivity; Torture as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(f), and also as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i), in the context of captivity; Other inhumane acts as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(l)(k), in the context of captivity; Cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i), in the context of captivity; and Outrages upon personal dignity as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(ii), in the context of captivity. My Office submits that the war crimes alleged in these applications were committed in the context of an international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine, and a non-international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas running in parallel. We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Israel by Hamas and other armed groups pursuant to organisational policies. Some of these crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day. My Office submits there are reasonable grounds to believe that SINWAR, DEIF and HANIYEH are criminally responsible for the killing of hundreds of Israeli civilians in attacks perpetrated by Hamas (in particular its military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades) and other armed groups on 7 October 2023 and the taking of at least 245 hostages. As part of our investigations, my Office has interviewed victims and survivors, including former hostages and eyewitnesses from six major attack locations: Kfar Aza; Holit; the location of the Supernova Music Festival; Be'eri; Nir Oz; and Nahal Oz. The investigation also relies on evidence such as CCTV footage, authenticated audio, photo and video material, statements by Hamas members including the alleged perpetrators named above, and expert evidence. It is the view of my Office that these individuals planned and instigated the commission of crimes on 7 October 2023, and have through their own actions, including personal visits to hostages shortly after their kidnapping, acknowledged their responsibility for those crimes. We submit that these crimes could not have been committed without their actions. They are charged both as co-perpetrators and as superiors pursuant to Articles 25 and 28 of the Rome Statute. During my own visit to Kibbutz Be'eri and Kibbutz Kfar Aza, as well as to the site of Supernova Music Festival in Re'im, I saw the devastating scenes of these attacks and the profound impact of the unconscionable crimes charged in the applications filed today. Speaking with survivors, I heard how the love within a family, the deepest bonds between a parent and a child, were contorted to inflict unfathomable pain through calculated cruelty and extreme callousness. These acts demand accountability. My Office also submits there are reasonable grounds to believe that hostages taken from Israel have been kept in inhumane conditions, and that some have been subject to sexual violence, including rape, while being held in captivity. We have reached that conclusion based on medical records, contemporaneous video and documentary evidence, and interviews with victims and survivors. My Office also continues to investigate reports of sexual violence committed on 7 October. I wish to express my gratitude to the survivors, and the families of victims of the 7 October attacks, for their courage in coming forward to provide their accounts to my Office. We remain focused on further deepening our investigations of all crimes committed as part of these attacks and will continue to work with all partners to ensure that justice is delivered. I again reiterate my call for the immediate release of all hostages taken from Israel and for their safe return to their families. This is a fundamental requirement of international humanitarian law. Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant On the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Benjamin NETANYAHU, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav GALLANT, the Minister of Defence of Israel, bear criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 8 October 2023: Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Statute; Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health contrary to article 8(2)(a)(iii), or cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i); Wilful killing contrary to article 8(2)(a)(i), or Murder as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i); Intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime contrary to articles 8(2)(b)(i), or 8(2)(e)(i); Extermination and/or murder contrary to articles 7(1)(b) and 7(1)(a), including in the context of deaths caused by starvation, as a crime against humanity; Persecution as a crime against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(h); Other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(k). My Office submits that the war crimes alleged in these applications were committed in the context of an international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine, and a non-international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas (together with other Palestinian Armed Groups) running in parallel. We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy. These crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day. My Office submits that the evidence we have collected, including interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses, authenticated video, photo and audio material, satellite imagery and statements from the alleged perpetrator group, shows that Israel has intentionally and systematically deprived the civilian population in all parts of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival. This occurred through the imposition of a total siege over Gaza that involved completely closing the three border crossing points, Rafah, Kerem Shalom and Erez, from 8 October 2023 for extended periods and then by arbitrarily restricting the transfer of essential supplies - including food and medicine - through the border crossings after they were reopened. The siege also included cutting off cross-border water pipelines from Israel to Gaza - Gazans' principal source of clean water - for a prolonged period beginning 9 October 2023, and cutting off and hindering electricity supplies from at least 8 October 2023 until today. This took place alongside other attacks on civilians, including those queuing for food; obstruction of aid delivery by humanitarian agencies; and attacks on and killing of aid workers, which forced many agencies to cease or limit their operations in Gaza. My Office submits that these acts were committed as part of a common plan to use starvation as a method of war and other acts of violence against the Gazan civilian population as a means to (i) eliminate Hamas; (ii) secure the return of the hostages which Hamas has abducted, and (iii) collectively punish the civilian population of Gaza, whom they perceived as a threat to Israel. The effects of the use of starvation as a method of warfare, together with other attacks and collective punishment against the civilian population of Gaza are acute, visible and widely known, and have been confirmed by multiple witnesses interviewed by my Office, including local and international medical doctors. They include malnutrition, dehydration, profound suffering and an increasing number of deaths among the Palestinian population, including babies, other children, and women. Famine is present in some areas of Gaza and is imminent in other areas. As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned more than two months ago, "1.1 million people in Gaza are facing catastrophic hunger - the highest number of people ever recorded - anywhere, anytime" as a result of an "entirely manmade disaster". Today, my Office seeks to charge two of those most responsible, NETANYAHU and GALLANT, both as co-perpetrators and as superiors pursuant to Articles 25 and 28 of the Rome Statute. Israel, like all States, has a right to take action to defend its population. That right, however, does not absolve Israel or any State of its obligation to comply with international humanitarian law. Notwithstanding any military goals they may have, the means Israel chose to achieve them in Gaza - namely, intentionally causing death, starvation, great suffering, and serious injury to body or health of the civilian population - are criminal. Since last year, in Ramallah, in Cairo, in Israel and in Rafah, I have consistently emphasised that international humanitarian law demands that Israel take urgent action to immediately allow access to humanitarian aid in Gaza at scale. I specifically underlined that starvation as a method of war and the denial of humanitarian relief constitute Rome Statute offences. I could not have been clearer. As I also repeatedly underlined in my public statements, those who do not comply with the law should not complain later when my Office takes action. That day has come. In presenting these applications for arrest warrants, my Office is acting pursuant to its mandate under the Rome Statute. On 5 February 2021, Pre-Trial Chamber I decided that the Court can exercise its criminal jurisdiction in the Situation in the State of Palestine and that the territorial scope of this jurisdiction extends to Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. This mandate is ongoing and includes the escalation of hostilities and violence since 7 October 2023. My Office also has jurisdiction over crimes committed by nationals of States Parties and by the nationals of non-States Parties on the territory of a State Party. Today's applications are the outcome of an independent and impartial investigation by my Office. Guided by our obligation to investigate incriminating and exonerating evidence equally, my Office has worked painstakingly to separate claims from facts and to soberly present conclusions based on evidence to the Pre-Trial Chamber. As an additional safeguard, I have also been grateful for the advice of a panel of experts in international law, an impartial group I convened to support the evidence review and legal analysis in relation to these arrest warrant applications. The Panel is composed of experts of immense standing in international humanitarian law and international criminal law, including Sir Adrian Fulford PC, former Lord Justice of Appeal and former International Criminal Court Judge; Baroness Helena Kennedy KC, President of the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute; Elizabeth Wilmshurst CMG KC, former Deputy Legal Adviser at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Danny Friedman KC; and two of my Special Advisers - Amal Clooney and His Excellency Judge Theodor Meron CMG. This independent expert analysis has supported and strengthened the applications filed today by my Office. I have also been grateful for the contributions of a number of my other Special Advisers to this review, particularly Adama Dieng and Professor Kevin Jon Heller. Today we once again underline that international law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all. No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader - no one - can act with impunity. Nothing can justify wilfully depriving human beings, including so many women and children, the basic necessities required for life. Nothing can justify the taking of hostages or the targeting of civilians. The independent judges of the International Criminal Court are the sole arbiters as to whether the necessary standard for the issuance of warrants of arrest has been met. Should they grant my applications and issue the requested warrants, I will then work closely with the Registrar in all efforts to apprehend the named individuals. I count on all States Parties to the Rome Statute to take these applications and the subsequent judicial decision with the same seriousness they have shown in other Situations, meeting their obligations under the Statute. I also stand ready to work with non-States Parties in our common pursuit of accountability. It is critical in this moment that my Office and all parts of the Court, including its independent judges, are permitted to conduct their work with full independence and impartiality. I insist that all attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence the officials of this Court must cease immediately. My Office will not hesitate to act pursuant to article 70 of the Rome Statute if such conduct continues. I remain deeply concerned about ongoing allegations and emerging evidence of international crimes occurring in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. Our investigation continues. My Office is advancing multiple and interconnected additional lines of inquiry, including concerning reports of sexual violence during the 7 October attacks, and in relation to the large-scale bombing that has caused and continues to cause so many civilian deaths, injuries, and suffering in Gaza. I encourage those with relevant information to contact my Office and to submit information via OTP Link. My Office will not hesitate to submit further applications for warrants of arrest if and when we consider that the threshold of a realistic prospect of conviction has been met. I renew my call for all parties in the current conflict to comply with the law now. I also wish to emphasise that the principle of complementarity, which is at the heart of the Rome Statute, will continue to be assessed by my Office as we take action in relation to the above-listed alleged crimes and alleged perpetrators and move forward with other lines of inquiry. Complementarity, however, requires a deferral to national authorities only when they engage in independent and impartial judicial processes that do not shield suspects and are not a sham. It requires thorough investigations at all levels addressing the policies and actions underlying these applications. Let us today be clear on one core issue: if we do not demonstrate our willingness to apply the law equally, if it is seen as being applied selectively, we will be creating the conditions for its collapse. In doing so, we will be loosening the remaining bonds that hold us together, the stabilising connections between all communities and individuals, the safety net to which all victims look in times of suffering. This is the true risk we face in this moment. Now, more than ever, we must collectively demonstrate that international humanitarian law, the foundational baseline for human conduct during conflict, applies to all individuals and applies equally across the situations addressed by my Office and the Court. This is how we will prove, tangibly, that the lives of all human beings have equal value. Source: Office of the Prosecutor NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hamas still capable of manufacturing missiles: Israeli media IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 20, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Channel 12 of the Israeli regime reported that the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, remains active in manufacturing weapons and missiles. According to the Palestinian Sama news agency, the Israeli media outlet quoted certain Zionist military sources admitting that Hamas is still capable of manufacturing weapons and missiles eight months after the onset of the onslaught on the Gaza Strip. The mentioned sources also underlined that there are thousands of missiles and a great number of artillery shells in Gaza. The war between the Israeli regime and Palestinian resistance kicked off on October 7, 2023, following a retaliatory attack by Hamas fighters inside Israeli-occupied Palestine. The regime's genocidal war has left 35,456 Palestinians martyred and 79,476 others wounded, mostly women and children. Despite international pressures, the hawkish Zionist cabinet headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists on conducting a military operation in Rafah city in southern Gaza, where millions of Palestinians took refuge there. 4208**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address American MQ-9 drone crashes in Yemen: Report IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 20, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- An American MQ-9 drone has crashed in central Yemen, Arab media has reported. The American drone has crashed in the Governorate of Al Bayda, Al Mayadeen reported on Monday. Further details have not been released on the incident. In a related development, Yemeni Military Media published Friday footage of the process of Yemen's air defenses shooting down an MQ-9 Reaper drone while conducting a hostile mission in the airspace of the Ma'rib Governorate. The video shows that the US aircraft was spotted in the airspace of Ma'rib before a Yemeni-manufactured surface-to-air missile was launched in its direction. 7129**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S.-installed pier in Gaza infringes on Palestinian sovereignty: official People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 13:59, May 20, 2024 RAMALLAH, May 19 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-installed pier in the Gaza Strip is an infringement on Palestinian sovereignty, a senior Palestinian official said on Sunday. Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told Xinhua that "the U.S.-installed pier was established based on U.S. and Israeli unilateral decision without consulting with the Palestinian Authority(PA)." It is "a real violation of the Palestinian sovereignty" as Gaza is a part of the Palestinian territories, Majalani said, adding that "it seems that the United States aims at putting us (PA and PLO) in an awkward position." Instead of establishing such a "controversial" pier, Majdalani noted, "the United States should pressure Israel to open the borders and allow the humanitarian aid to enter to our people in the Gaza Strip." Majdalani believed that there are political goals that the U.S. is trying to achieve through this port, expressing his fear that the pier will mark the beginning of the displacement of "Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip across the sea, which is tantamount to the implementation of an Israeli plan that Israeli governments have always worked to achieve." On Friday, a temporary floating pier built by the United States in the Gaza Strip started receiving humanitarian aid. Palestinian security sources said small boats unloaded the aid from a huge U.S. ship floating off the coast and shipped it to the pier. The pier was built as several land crossings into the Gaza Strip remain closed since Israel took control of the Rafah crossing in the southernmost Gaza city of Rafah last week. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Death toll rises to 31 in Israeli raids on central Gaza People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 09:08, May 20, 2024 GAZA, May 19 (Xinhua) -- At least 31 Palestinians were killed on Sunday in an Israeli airstrike in the central Gaza Strip while the Israeli army announced the killing of two of its soldiers in battles in the enclave. Local sources and eyewitnesses told Xinhua that Israeli warplanes targeted at dawn an inhabited house for the Hassan family in the Nuseirat Palestinian refugee camp, which led to its destruction. Medical sources told Xinhua that the Israeli raid resulted in the killing of 31 people, including children and women, and the wounding of several others with varying injuries, all of whom have been transferred to hospitals. Meanwhile, the Israeli army said in a press statement that two soldiers were killed in an incident in the southern Strip, while three others were injured, one of them seriously. 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. Meanwhile, the Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 35,386, and 79,366 were injured, according to Gaza health authorities on Saturday. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Accusations against UNRWA proven false: Jordan FM People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 09:05, May 20, 2024 AMMAN, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Sunday that anyone claiming the situation in the Gaza Strip is improving is not telling the truth, and accusations against the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) have been proven false. He made the remarks at a joint press conference in Amman with UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, during which he said UNRWA is fulfilling its duty in the Palestinian enclave despite the circumstances of the Gaza conflict. Safadi confirmed that Jordan continues to stand by UNRWA, the role of which cannot be dispensed with or replaced by any other entity, according to a statement by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry. He stressed that the investigation conducted by an independent committee confirmed that UNRWA has all the tools to ensure that its actions adhere to all principles, ethics, and charters of the United Nations. "The accusations have been proven false and the attempt to politically assassinate UNRWA has failed," said Safadi. For his part, Lazzarini thanked Jordan for its support for the agency and its solidarity with Palestinian refugees. Lazzarini stressed that despite all the international community's calls, Israel invaded and attacked the southernmost Gaza city of Rafah on May 6, with half of Gaza's population forced to flee. He pointed out that the two main crossings in the south, Rafah Crossing and Kerem Shalom Crossing, have turned into conflict zones, and there are currently no crossings to transport aid across the borders. Lazzarini noted that "198 UNRWA employees were killed, 160 sites were completely or partially destroyed, and employees were arrested, tortured, and forced to confess to crimes they did not commit." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Biden furious over ICC seeking arrest warrants of Netanyahu Iran Press TV Monday, 20 May 2024 6:54 PM Reiterating his support for Israel, US President Joe Biden has slammed the International Criminal Court prosecutor's application for arrest warrants against Israeli war criminals, including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a brief statement released by the White House on Monday, Biden for the first time responded to ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan's application for arrest warrants for Israeli officials. "The ICC prosecutor's application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous," the statement read. "And let me be clear: .. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security." The Biden administration has repeatedly maintained its "ironclad" support for Israel's savage military campaign in the besieged Gaza Strip. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also criticized the ICC move, raising questions over the court's jurisdiction as well as its process in making this application. "The United States fundamentally rejects the announcement today from the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court," Blinken said. In recent weeks, pro-Israel members of Congress have repeatedly warned that the ICC risks consequences from the US if it moves forward with the warrants. US senators had threatened the ICC prosecutor with "personally targeting him, his family, and his court staff" if he issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and senior military officers. ICC chief prosecutor said in a Monday statement that he has reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and his minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant "bear criminal responsibility" for "war crimes and crimes against humanity." Meanwhile, Catriona Murdoch, a director of Global Rights Compliance's Starvation and Humanitarian Crisis Division and leading international law expert, has said that the effort to prosecute Netanyahu and Gallant for the war crime of starvation is particularly significant. "This is a watershed moment in addressing this egregious crime, which has long been viewed solely as a collateral or incidental effect of armed conflict, rather than a deliberate and calculated strategy," Murdoch said in a statement. "This method of warfare has been championed by Gallant and other senior Israeli ... officials including through the repeated use of dehumanizing language, a blatant and publicly stated disregard for the rules of proportionality and necessity, describing a fight 'against human animals,' among several similar sentiments," she said. Israel's war in Gaza, which began in early October, has driven around 80% of the territory's population of 2.3 million from their homes, caused vast destruction in several towns and cities and claimed the lives of 35,562 people across the besieged region. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address May 19: 'Axis of Resistance' operations against Israeli occupation Iran Press TV Monday, 20 May 2024 6:07 PM By Press TV Website Staff Amid Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed over 35,500 Palestinians so far, 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 Saturday, May 19, are as follows: Al-Qassam Brigades' operations on May 19: In a joint operation with the Al-Quds Brigades in the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip, engaged in fierce clashes with an Israeli military force that had taken cover behind the Martyr Imad Aqel Mosque, resulting in many casualties. Detonated an explosive device on an Israeli military Merkava tank stationed on Ajrama Street. Targeted and destroyed two Israeli military tanks with Al-Yassin-105 shells east of the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip. In a joint operation with the Al-Qassam Brigades, eliminated a special Israeli force on the Al-Albani Street in the Jabalia Camp in the northern Gaza Strip. Bombed the Israeli forces stationed inside the Rafah land crossing in the southern Gaza Strip with mortar shells. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades' operations on May 19: Targeted an Israeli military vehicle with an RPG shell in the axis of advance east of Jabalia town, northern Gaza Strip. Engaged in fierce clashes using appropriate weapons against Israeli soldiers in the axis of advance behind the Imad Aqel Mosque east of the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip. In a joint operation with the Martyr Omar al-Qasim Brigades and the Martyr Abdul Qadir Al-Husseini Brigades, bombed the gatherings of Israeli soldiers and their military vehicles in the "Mabhouh" military site east of the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip with "C5k" rockets. Bombed the operations headquarters of the Israeli forces east of the Jabalia camp with a barrage of heavy-caliber mortar shells. Bombed an Israeli military gathering and their military vehicles in the Al-Salam neighborhood, east of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Engaged in fierce clashes using machine guns against Israeli soldiers and their military vehicles east and southeast of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Bombed a gathering of Israeli army vehicles with mortar shells on the axes of advance east of the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip. Al-Quds Brigades' operations on May 19: Bombed a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their military vehicles east of the Central Governorate of the Gaza Strip. Targeted an Israeli military Merkava tank with a Tandem shell in Izbet Melin in the city of Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip. In a joint operation with the Al-Qassam Brigades, engaged in fierce clashes with Israeli forces holed up behind the Martyr Imad Aqel Mosque in the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip. Bombed a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their military vehicles east of the Jabalia camp with a barrage of mortar shells. Targeted Israeli military gatherings with a barrage of Ababil explosive projectiles. Bombed a convoy of Israeli military vehicles behind the Talib Pharmacy on the Al-Ternis Street in the Jabalia camp with a barrage of mortar shells. Targeted an Israeli military gathering and their military vehicles invading the Al-Salam neighborhood east of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza with a barrage of mortar shells. Bombed a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their military vehicles with a barrage of regular 60-caliber mortar shells in the Al-Salam neighborhood, east of the city of Rafah in southern Gaza. Detonated a Barq-shock explosive device on a Merkava 4 tank of the Israeli military near the Tamraz station in the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip. Mujahideen Brigades' operations on May 19: Engaged in fierce clashes with Israeli soldiers and their military vehicles in the Jabalia town in the northern Gaza Strip. Al-Nasser Salah Al-Din Brigades' operations on May 19: Bombed Israeli military forces and their military vehicles on the axis of advance at the end of Al-Ajarma Street east of Jabalia camp with a barrage of mortar shells. Martyr Omar Al-Qasim Forces' operations on May 19: In cooperation with the Martyr Abdelqader Al-Husseini Brigades and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, bombed a gathering of Israeli forces at the Mabhouh military site east of the Jabalia camp with C5k rockets. Hezbollah's operations on May 19: Eastern sector: At around 10:40 local time, the Ramtha site was targeted with missile weapons. At around 17:30 local time, Israeli soldiers in Metulla settlement near the Khiam Airport were targeted with a guided missile. At around 19:30 local time, the headquarters of the 6551st Battalion of the 551st Reserve Paratroopers Brigade was targeted in the Metula settlement with drones. Western sector: At around 7:00 local time, the Rahib site was targeted with artillery shells. At around 10:15 local time, Israeli soldiers at the Al-Malikiyah site were targeted it with a guided missile. At around 11:00 local time, surveillance equipment at the Ramya site was targeted with appropriate weapons. At around 13:25 local time, the Jal al-Alam site was targeted by artillery shells. At around 16:40 local time, surveillance equipment at the Al-Malikiyah site was targeted with appropriate weapons. At around 17:00 local time, surveillance equipment of the Israeli military raised on a crane at the Al-Malikiyah site was targeted with appropriate weapons. Islamic Resistance in Iraq's operations on May 19: Targeted a vital Israeli military site in the occupied "Eilat" (Umm al-Rashrash) with a barrage of drones. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN special rapporteur welcomes ICC arrest warrant against Israeli officials Iran Press TV Monday, 20 May 2024 5:16 PM The UN special rapporteur on the right to housing has welcomed an arrest warrant against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). "Against Israeli leaders, all charges likely to stick. And missing charges include attacks against various civilian objects including homes!" Balakrishnan Rajagopal posted on X. An arrest warrant has also been sought for Israel's minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant against the backdrop of the military's seven months of bloody campaign in the besieged Palestinian territory. ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan said in a Monday statement that he has reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant "bear criminal responsibility" for "war crimes and crimes against humanity." Meanwhile, the Palestinian resistance group Hamas has also called on the ICC prosecutor to issue arrest warrants "for all the Israeli officials who gave orders and the soldiers who carried out crimes, in accordance with the Rome Statute." "The Public Prosecutor should have arrest and detention orders against all officials from the occupation leaders who gave orders, and soldiers who participated in committing crimes, in accordance with Articles 25, 27 and 28 of the Rome Statute, which emphasized the individual criminal responsibility of every official, commander, or any person who ordered, or instigated, committed, assisted or aided in the commission of crimes, or failed to take measures to prevent the commission of crimes," Hamas said. Elsewhere in the statement, the resistance group said that the ICC arrest warrants sought for Israeli officials were too late. "The arrest and detention warrants against the aforementioned occupation leaders came seven months late, during which the "Israeli" occupation committed thousands of crimes against Palestinian civilians, including children, women, doctors, and journalists, and destroyed private and public property, mosques, churches, and hospitals." The ICC announcement on Monday is separate from the case that is currently being heard by the the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over an accusation from South Africa that Israel was in breach of its obligations under the Genocide Convention in its war on Gaza. The ICJ held its first hearing on the case in January and then proceeded to order a number of provisional measures that Israel has, so far, largely ignored. In May, the ICJ heard arguments for a request by South Africa once again seeking additional emergency measures over Israel's offensive on Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than one million displaced Palestinians sought shelter from Israel's war. Israel's war in Gaza, which began in early October, has driven around 80% of the territory's population of 2.3 million from their homes, caused vast destruction in several towns and cities and claimed the lives of 35,562 people across the besieged region. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Iran Press TV Monday, 20 May 2024 1:22 PM The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has applied for arrest warrant against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the regime's war crimes and systematic attacks against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. An arrest warrant has also been sought for Israel's minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant against the backdrop of the military's seven months of bloody campaign in the besieged Palestinian territory. Karim Khan said in a Monday statement that he has reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant "bear criminal responsibility" for "war crimes and crimes against humanity." He outlined a list of crimes, including "starvation of civilians" and "intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population." "We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy." These crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day, Khan added. A panel of judges in the court will now consider the application for the arrest warrants. This course of action at the ICC, based in The Hague, marks the first such move against the head of a close ally of the United States. When the reports surfaced last month about seeking course of action by the ICC chief prosecutor, the administration of President Joe Biden was quick to condemn the move, saying that "the ICC has no jurisdiction in this situation and we do not support its investigation." The court has been investigating Israel's actions in the occupied territories for the past three years - and more recently the brutal war in the Gaza Strip as well. Netanyahu asked Biden to prevent the arrest warrants against the regime's officials. Israel's genocidal war on Gaza prompted South Africa to file a case against Tel Aviv in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in December 2023. In its application, South Africa said Israel's actions in Gaza were "genocidal in character." The ICJ ruled in January that "there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and the continuing serious harm to civilians since then." It ordered Tel Aviv to take all measures to prevent genocide in Gaza, but stopped short of ordering a ceasefire. Israel's war in Gaza, which began in early October, has driven around 80% of the territory's population of 2.3 million from their homes, caused vast destruction in several towns and cities and claimed the lives of more than 35,560 people across the enclave. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Supplies of essential medicines, fuel into Gaza 'very low,' says WHO chief Iran Press TV Monday, 20 May 2024 10:48 AM World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has deplored the appalling conditions in the Gaza Strip, stating that supplies of essential medicines and fuel in the territory are very low since the Israeli army has seized and closed the Rafah border crossing. "Entry of emergency medical teams and medical supplies through the Rafah border crossing into Gaza has been blocked since May 6. Inside the strip, supplies of essential medicines and fuel are very low, and movement is limited due to security constraints," Ghebreyesus wrote in a post published on the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter. "Evacuation orders, intensified bombardment, and no passage for aid across Gaza continue to put civilian lives and health at grave risk," he added. The WHO chief further noted that reports of intense hostilities in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, and an increased influx of injured patients to the medical facility are deeply worrisome given the hospital's limited capacity to provide care. "We have lost the words to describe the situation in Gaza. It is high time for a ceasefire and peace for the civilians there," he added. Meanwhile, Salama Marouf, Gaza's Government Media Office spokesman, told reporters that Israeli forces are "purposefully worsening the humanitarian situation by halting the entry of aid supplies from the Rafah and Karem Abu Salem border crossings, and by targeting hospitals and schools in eastern Rafah." The remarks come as the Israeli military has threatened a major assault on Rafah, the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip along the border with Egypt. The city is a refuge for more than 1.4 million Palestinians who have fled aggression farther north in the coastal sliver under the Israeli army's previous evacuation orders. According to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), an average of 200 people are leaving Rafah every hour - mainly to Deir al-Balah in central Gaza and to the widely destroyed southern city of Khan Younis. 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. The Israeli war has killed at least 35,456 Gazans, most of them women, children, and adolescents. Another 79,476 Palestinians have sustained injuries as well. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi resistance conducts Kamikaze drone attack against 'vital' Israeli target Iran Press TV Monday, 20 May 2024 8:40 AM Iraqi resistance fighters have launched a drone strike against a strategic target in the southernmost part of the 1948 Israeli-occupied territories in response to the Tel Aviv regime's unrelenting onslaught against Palestinians in Gaza. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of anti-terror fighters, made the announcement in a statement published on its Telegram channel on Monday morning. It noted that the attack on the "vital" site in the Port of Eilat was carried out with a number of kamikaze drones. The coalition said the retaliatory operation was carried out in continuation of the struggle against the occupying Israeli regime, in support of Palestinians in Gaza, and in retaliation for the massacres that the usurping Zionist entity is perpetrating against women, children and elderly people in the besieged territory. The group further emphasized that it will continue to target and destroy important sites across the occupied lands. The development comes a day after the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for an attack on a "vital" facility in the Port of Eilat. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has been staging many such attacks on Israeli targets since the occupying regime launched a genocidal war on Gaza in early October. 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. The Israeli war has killed at least 35,456 Gazans, most of them women, children, and adolescents. Another 79,476 Palestinians have sustained injuries as well. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Cambodia's top court hears appeal from convicted opposition figure Thach Setha asked judges to undo a conviction for writing bad checks that brought an 18-month prison sentence. By RFA Khmer 2024.05.20 -- Cambodia's Supreme Court on Monday heard an appeal from Candlelight Party Vice President Thach Setha who asked judges to overturn a lower court's false check conviction that resulted in an 18-month prison sentence. The opposition figure told the court that the five bad checks presented as evidence in last year's trial weren't issued by him. Additionally, lawyers for Thach Setha argued that the lower court only saw photocopies of the five checks - not the originals. "A photocopy is not a check because it cannot be used to cash money, but the court and the Court of Appeal relied on the photocopy to punish my client," one of the lawyers, Chou Chou Ngy, said after Monday's hearing. Thach Setha's arrest in the case in January 2023 was seen as part of a months-long campaign of intimidation and threats against opposition leaders and activists ahead of last year's general election. The arrest followed a lawsuit filed by a Phnom Penh pawnshop that said Thach Setha borrowed US$20,000 in 2011 and 2012. The shop is owned by Hay Van Rin, who is known to be close to the family of former Prime Minister Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian People's Party, or CPP. Thach Setha's lawyers said that the debt has been almost completely repaid. Prosecutors have said that the bad checks were part of the effort to pay back the loans. Last September's conviction was criticized as politically motivated by human rights groups and party officials. In December, the Supreme Court rejected a bail request by Thach Setha amid the appeal effort. On Monday, the court said it would announce its decision in the appeal on May 31. Thach Setha is also serving a three-year sentence he received in an unrelated case in October 2023 after his conviction on two separate charges of incitement. That case stemmed from a comment he made last year about the history of the CPP. Translated by Sum Sok Ry. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster. Copyright 1998-2024, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Some 1,200 Pakistani Students Leave Kyrgyzstan, Fearing For Their Safety By RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service May 20, 2024 BISHKEK -- Following unprecedented mob violence targeting foreign students from South Asia in Kyrgyzstan, around 1,200 Pakistani students at the Bishkek-based Kyrgyzstan International University have left the Central Asian nation. University Rector Asylbek Aidaraliev told reporters on May 20 that mainly first-year and second-year students had left the country, though some students remain in Kyrgyzstan and have joined talks on the situation. Deputy Education Minister Rasul Abazbek-uulu called the mass attacks on Pakistani and Indian students in Bishkek over the weekend "a shameful" situation that "damages Kyrgyzstan's image." A female student from Pakistan, speaking in English, told RFE/RL that she was "leaving Kyrgyzstan, because the situation here is so [bad] right now and we are so scared that we are leaving urgently." She said she was hopeful she could return to finish her degree and that "I hope this situation will get better with the passage of time." Another student from Pakistan, who identified himself as Ahmed Faiz, said he was studying at Kyrgyzstan's International University. He told RFE/RL the "thing is that, on an international level, it creates a very bad image for the country, what happened right now." The violence on May 18 was triggered by the appearance on social media of a video purportedly showing a group of "people of Asian appearance" harassing foreign students on the night of May 13 and then pursuing them to their dormitory, where at least one foreign student was assaulted by several men and dragged along the floor. "The situation is stable now, the foreign students started walking around. It is up to us if the students who left Kyrgyzstan decide to return in the fall. For that, all state entities must work together to persuade them that it is safe to return," Abazbek-uulu said. Bishkek city police said a probe had been launched into mass disorder and the incitement of ethnic and racial hatred. In his first public comment on the situation concerning Pakistani students, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov said on May 20 that "all of the perpetrators who attacked foreign students will for sure be punished." "We have managed to build a state based on the rule of law. Therefore, we will support order," Japarov said. The ministry said four foreign nationals had also been detained on hooliganism charges, while police are searching for two Kyrgyz men suspected of being involved in harassing the foreign students. Kyrgyzstan's Health Ministry said on May 18 that 29 people were injured during the violence, of whom 15 had been taken to the Bishkek City Emergency Hospital and the National Hospital. Others received medical assistance on the spot. The Kyrgyz government over the weekend vowed to pursue those responsible for the violence and rejected what it said were "insinuations aimed at inciting intolerance toward foreign students." Still, it appeared to lay the blame for the violence on illegal migrants, saying authorities had been taking "decisive measures to suppress illegal migration and expel undesirable persons from Kyrgyzstan." Just three days before the violence, Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security detained 28 Pakistani nationals for "working illegally" in a sewing shop in Bishkek. The same day, Bishkek city police shut down delivery services conducted by more than 400 foreign students, mostly from Pakistan, on motorcycles and scooters, citing traffic safety concerns. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/pakistani-students- exodus-kyrgyzstan-violence/32954879.html Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Wider Europe Briefing: Estonia's Bold Stand By Rikard Jozwiak May 20, 2024 Briefing: Bold But Also Vulnerable -- Estonia's Leading Role On Ukraine What You Need To Know: The mood at this year's Lennart Meri Conference, which brings together policymakers, analysts, and military officials to discuss foreign and security policy, shouldn't have been the best. Things are not going well in Ukraine, with Russia pounding the Kharkiv region, sensing a window of opportunity as the bulk of the U.S. aid agreed a few weeks ago has still not arrived. And as the three-day event in Estonia's capital Tallinn kicked off on May 16, news filtered through from Beijing that China and Russia had agreed to deepen their "no-limits partnership." That partnership was agreed in 2022 during a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, and the two countries deepening ties further will result in sustained Chinese political, economic, and even military support for the Kremlin. Yet, the mood at the conference wasn't as gloomy as the Munich Security Conference in February.The more upbeat tone began with the opening remarks from Indrek Kannik, the director of the Tallinn-based International Center for Defense and Security (ICDS), which organized the event. He noted that "the situation is shit, but that is the fertilizer of our future." The expression was one coined by Lennart Meri, the first post-Soviet president of the country, who dragged Estonia back to the Western world. In front of an audience of foreign diplomats and political commentators, the joke nearly brought down the house. That set the tone for the conference, with this year's theme being "Let us not despair, but act." And acting, especially when it comes to supporting Ukraine, is something that Tallinn has done. Deep Background: Estonia has put huge amounts of effort into gathering evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine and bringing perpetrators to justice. It came up with the idea of actually seizing frozen Russian assets in the European Union to pay for both Kyiv's war effort and the eventual reconstruction. Earlier in May, EU ambassadors finally agreed to seize the annual profits of Russian central bank assets held in the EU, which could generate some 3 billion euros ($3.27 billion) for Ukraine every year. Estonia, however, has gone one step further. Last week, its parliament voted in favor of a law that would allow the confiscation of assets in the country belonging to private Russian citizens if there is a proven link to the Russian war machine. This is unlikely to be replicated at the EU level, but it could get the ball rolling on eventually seizing the frozen Russian state assets -- rather than just their annual profits -- which are estimated to be worth more than 300 billion euros ($326 billion). And it doesn't stop there. Tallinn has given Ukraine roughly $640 million worth of military, humanitarian, and financial aid. While perhaps that contribution isn't too much in absolute terms, it constitutes 1.6 percent of Estonia's total gross domestic product (GDP), more than any other country that has supplied Ukraine with aid. The challenge now is how to sustain all the different contributions to the ailing country -- and here Tallinn is pushing for various options. One of Estonia's ideas, much touted at the conference, is for all Western allies to commit 0.25 percent of their GDP in military aid to Ukraine. So far, the idea has not gained much traction. Another option is the issuing of joint EU bonds (Eurobonds) to boost defense production on the continent. This is something that the French have firmly backed, and with which Estonia is fully on board. While the practice of joint EU borrowing was agreed upon for the first time ever to finance the post-coronavirus pandemic reconstruction in 2020, the idea is unlikely to fly. Accruing debt is anathema both for the German liberals who hold up the current government coalition in Berlin and for the new, financially hawkish Dutch government soon to be sworn in. Speaking at one panel, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas was, however, still defiant on the Eurobonds option, noting that it was "not dismissed completely [in Brussels], so then it is not dead yet." But what about the much more sensitive issue of having Western soldiers on the ground in Ukraine? French President Emmanuel Macron famously didn't rule it out when the topic was broached earlier this spring and has since refused to walk it back. Charles Brown, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, admitted last week that a NATO deployment of trainers in the country is likely to happen over time. This is also something I heard from Estonian officials in Tallinn this weekend. For quite some time, the Baltic nation has assessed the possibility of sending Estonian soldiers -- preferably under a NATO umbrella -- but only in support roles a long way from the front line. Drilling Down: In the meantime, the most pressing need concerns weapons deliveries to Ukraine, where Tallinn has also been leading the way. However, there are some harsh realities here as well. The "Estonian proposal," which swiftly became an EU-wide objective, to supply 1 million 155 mm shells to Ukraine by March 2024 only succeeded in delivering half of that. The current goal is to deliver the remaining amount by the end of the year. Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur recently said that his ministry had managed to find another 1 million shells worldwide, but it may very well be that the Estonians have the same issues as the Czechs who, earlier this year, announced with much fanfare that they had "identified" 800,000 shells globally. The problems, as the Czechs discovered, is that identifying the shells in various third countries is not the same as actually having them and getting them to the Ukrainian front lines. As Czech diplomats admitted to me, it is a seller's market, after all, with demand exceeding supply. Russia is trying not only to outbid and buy them all up but also use other underhand means, including political pressure and sabotage, to prevent deliveries to Kyiv. So far, nothing from the Czech initiative (which Estonia also backs financially) has been delivered, even though it is expected that a first batch of 180,000 shells will arrive at the beginning of June and another 400,000 later in the summer. With all the busy Estonian diplomatic activity, it is no surprise that the country's politicians are being touted for top jobs in the EU and NATO. Prime Minister Kallas is a favorite to secure something when the positions are dished out in June after the European Parliament elections. And the Lennart Meri Conference felt very much like an audition for her, as she appeared on stage consecutive days and hobnobbed generously with the foreign journalists. She seemed more mellow and less combative than usual, perhaps a play to win over Western doubters, some of whom have half-jokingly noted that she "eats Russians for breakfast." In perhaps a similar vein, an Estonian diplomat mentioned a recent vote at the United Nations where Estonia backed a UN resolution calling for full membership for Palestine. This was a complete U-turn from Tallinn, as it usually tends to be very pro-Israeli. With that vote, was the prime minister trying to be more "palatable" to Western Europeans? In perhaps a similar vein, an Estonian diplomat mentioned a recent vote at the United Nations where Estonia backed a UN resolution calling for full membership for Palestine. This was a complete U-turn from Tallinn, as it usually tends to be very pro-Israeli. With that vote, was the prime minister trying to be more "palatable" to Western Europeans? It's still not clear if Kallas wants the job as the EU foreign policy chief, which many in Brussels think is hers already. She was rather red-faced when directly asked on stage about the position, saying that she had "no idea how it works, as she was not around in 2019," when the top EU jobs were handed out the last time. She did add that she was "honored" that her name was circulating but was quick to add that she was also frequently mentioned as a possible candidate for the NATO secretary-general position, which more or less appears to be going to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. There are two main obstacles for Kallas getting the EU job. The first is the arcane, behind-closed-doors negotiations by which the 27 EU heads of state and government choose the presidents of the European Commission, the European Council, and the EU foreign policy leader when they convene in Brussels. The three top jobs are chosen to reflect a geographic, gender, and political party balance. With the center-right European People's Party (EPP) expected to come out on top in June's European Parliament elections, it is likely that the new European Commission president will come from their ranks. They would likely (although not certainly) push for the German incumbent, Ursula von der Leyen, to be reselected for another five years. The center-left group, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), which looks set to finish runners-up, will likely claim the presidency of the European Council, an institution that sets the general political direction and priorities of the EU. Whereas Kallas's liberal Renew Europe group will fight out with the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) for third place and the the role of EU foreign policy chief. In terms of geographic parity, the idea is that someone from Central or Eastern Europe should get one of the three key roles, having been overlooked in 2019 and with Kallas probably not destined for the unrelated but somewhat linked NATO top job. Most front-runners for the three top jobs from the east are in the EPP and there are hardly any coming from the S&D, ECR, or Renew Europe. So Kallas, as a member of Renew Europe, does have a decent chance, but then the liberals must do well in the June elections, which is far from certain. And then there is the second obstacle. The so-called "easterners" are far from a coherent bunch, stretching from Estonia in the north to Bulgaria in the south. And they are seemingly not very good at lobbying for each other to get what they want in Brussels. Take the decision among EU member states last week to elect Irish General Sean Clancy as chair of the European Union Military Committee, an obscure but increasingly significant body given the Ukraine war. The very fact that a neutral member state with limited military capabilities got that position ahead of a Polish general, with Warsaw being NATO's biggest defense spender per capita, raised a few eyebrows. My biggest takeaway from the conference was, despite all the tough talk, the pervasive sense of Estonian vulnerability. Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur noted that in the last 25 years, NATO has seen a 61 percent increase in defense spending; in the same period, Russia's has grown by 600 percent. Worryingly, Pevkur then noted that the NATO defense plans that were agreed upon at the NATO Vilnius summit last year to protect every inch of the alliance's territory aren't fully executable yet, as there just aren't enough military capabilities. And while Russia is currently tied down in Ukraine and doesn't have enough firepower in the Baltic region, Pevkur cautioned that this could change and Russia could still test NATO with hybrid threats such as cyberattacks and sabotage. This point was also hammered home by Estonia's ambassador to NATO, Juri Luik, who said that in international waters such as the Baltic Sea, Russia has options. He said that underwater infrastructure would be a prime target, as the three Baltic states, together with Finland, Sweden, and Denmark, all share the same submarine power cables -- and the same vulnerabilities. Luik also noted that while Swedish and Finnish NATO membership has increased deterrence in the region, the balance of power has not changed when it comes to protecting the Baltic states. And this vulnerability is paradoxically increasing, he said, as Russia declines as a global power. Looking Ahead On May 23, the final debate is taking place ahead of European Parliament elections across the bloc on June 6-9. The debaters are the so-called "lead candidates" of the respective political groups in the European Parliament, with the idea that the party that gets the biggest vote share will end up putting forward their lead candidates for the European Commission presidency. Normally, the leaders of the 27 EU member states ignore this "electoral advice" and a new president is chosen in various backroom deals. But this time around, they might actually heed the advice, as the lead candidate for the center-right coalition set to finish first is the sitting commission president, von der Leyen. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/estonia-aid-ukraine-wider- europe-rikard-jozwiak/32954951.html Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Georgian Parliament Set To Overrule Presidential Veto On 'Foreign Agent' Law By RFE/RL's Georgian Service May 20, 2024 TBILISI -- Georgian parliamentary Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said lawmakers, as expected, will overrule President Salome Zurabishvili's veto of the so-called "foreign agent" bill targeting media and NGOs that are funded by foreign governments. Papuashvili said on May 20 that he expects parliament, where his ruling Georgian Dream party has the numbers, will overrule the veto at a session next week. Zurabishvili vetoed the controversial bill on May 18 following weeks of mass protests by Georgians who see the legislation as a way for the government to stifle civil society -- a similar law in Russia has been used to crack down on dissent -- and believe it endangers the country's path toward EU integration. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said on May 20 that Zurabishvili's move to veto the bill is "blocking room for a healthy discussion" of the legislation in question. The law would require media and NGOs to register as "pursuing the interests of a foreign power" if they receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad. U.S. media reports on May 19 said that U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson, who represents South Carolina, is working on a bill that would impose sanctions, including visa bans on Georgian government officials responsible for pushing through the foreign agent bill. Zurabishvili said she considered the law "unacceptable" and "inconsistent" with the country's EU path. She has also warned that the legislation endangers the very existence of the Georgian state. Zurabishvili also said the Georgian Dream party, together with several opposition members of parliament, turned a deaf ear to the tens of thousands of Georgians who took to the streets to oppose any shift away from a pro-Western course back toward Russia. The "Law On Transparency Of Foreign Influence," the bill's full name, has been condemned by the United States, the European Union, and rights watchdogs, and prompted weeks of unrest, which was often quelled through violent means by authorities. Opponents have pointed to the similarity to legislation used by President Vladimir Putin to crush dissent in Russia and stifle independent institutions, prompting Georgians to refer to the measure as "the Russian law." Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/georgian-parliament-overrule- veto-foreign-agents/32954958.html Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address ICC Prosecutor Seeks Warrants For Top Israeli, Hamas Leaders By RFE/RL May 20, 2024 The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced on May 20 that he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and senior figures in Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. Prosecutor Karim Khan said he believes Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders Yehya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel. U.S. President Joe Biden condemned the court's bid to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders as an "outrageous" action. "And let me be clear: Whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence -- none -- between Israel and Hamas," Biden said in a statement. In his statement, Khan said he has "reasonable grounds" to believe Netanyanhu and Gallant "bear criminal responsibility" for alleged crimes including "starvations of civilians as a method of warfare," "willfully causing great suffering," "intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population," and "other inhumane acts." The three Hamas leaders were accused of responsibility for "extermination," "taking hostages," "rape and other acts of sexual violence," "torture," and "other inhumane acts." The court's three pretrial judges will determine whether there is sufficient evidence to issue warrants. ICC spokesman Fadi Al-Abdallah told RFE/RL in an e-mail that the ICC judges "will issue their decision in due course" but did not offer a specific time frame. "Karim Khan's decision to seek arrest warrants for five people for grave international crimes committed in Israel and Palestine since October 7 in the face of pressure from U.S. lawmakers and others reaffirms the crucial role of the [court]," said Louis Charbonneau, United Nations director at Human Rights Watch, referring to the October 7 cross-border attack Hamas carried out that sparked the current war. Some 1,200 Israeli citizens were killed in the attack, while another 240 were taken hostage, some of whom are still being held by Hamas in Gaza. "Victims of serious abuses in Israel and Palestine have faced a wall of impunity for decades. This principled first step by the prosecutor opens the door to those responsible for the atrocities committed in recent months to answer for their actions at a fair trial," he added. David Bosco, a professor at Indiana University-Bloomington and an expert on the ICC, told RFE/RL that "one thing that's important to note is that over the years that the ICC has been operating, the judges and the prosecutor do not always agree. "So it's not a foregone conclusion that the prosecutor will get all the arrest warrants that he wants, or for the precise charges that he wants. "I think the arrest warrants for Hamas are probably more straightforward in the sense that you have...the October 7 attack that seemed to be aimed primarily at civilians," he said. "With Israel," he added, "you've got a more complicated situation involving humanitarian aid and whether Israel has been allowing enough humanitarian aid in and has it actually been trying to use starvation as a weapon? "Those are somewhat more complicated cases, I would say, from a legal perspective," he said. Anthony Dworkin, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and former executive director of the Crimes of War Project, told RFE/RL that the warrants represent "a significant moment, both in the evolution of the International Criminal Court and the conflict in the Middle East." "We've seen before many countries, a number of leaders, being indicted by the ICC or having arrest warrants issued against them, but this is the first time a country that's an ally of the West in Europe and the United States has had an arrest warrant against them. "I think even the fact that the prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants is likely to step up pressure on those countries that are particularly supporting Israel militarily to really review the kind of support that they're giving [and] to investigate whether they believe that military assistance is being used to commit war crimes." Mark Ellis, executive director of the International Bar Association, told RFE/RL that "I would expect those -- the arrest warrants or the charges and the request for the arrest warrants -- to be upheld by the pretrial chamber." "I think the prosecutor will be very focused and will be quite diligent in ensuring he has presented all the evidence necessary for the pretrial chamber to, in essence, reaffirm the request by the prosecutor," he added. Israel is not a member of the ICC, and, even if the warrants are issued, it is unclear whether Netanyahu and Gallant would face prosecution. But Khan's announcement does increase international pressure against Israel over its conduct of the conflict. The Rome Statute, the 1998 treaty establishing the International Criminal Court, has been signed by 124 countries. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called the decision "outrageous" and an "an unrestrained frontal assault on the victims of October 7th and our 128 [remaining] hostages in Gaza." Sinwar and Dief are believed to be in Gaza, while Haniyeh is reportedly based in Qatar. "The Hamas movement strongly condemns the attempts of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to equate the victim with the executioner by issuing arrest warrants against a number of Palestinian resistance leaders," the group said in a statement. In a report supporting the arrest warrant applications, a panel of legal experts Kahn put together as advisers said they were unanimous in determining the court has jurisdiction over the case and that there were reasonable grounds to believe war crimes had been committed by all of the figures named. "It is important to understand that the charges have nothing to do with the reasons for the conflict. The charges concern waging war in a manner that violates the long-established rules of international law that apply to armed groups and the armed forces in every state in the world," the six-member panel wrote in an opinion article for the Financial Times on May 20. Israel has denied committing war crimes during the 7-month-old conflict. Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich likened Khan's announcement to "Nazi propaganda" and said all Israelis should feel indicted. He called on Israel's allies to push for disbanding the ICC. Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz also condemned the announcement, calling it "a crime of historic proportions." "Drawing parallels between the leaders of a democratic country determined to defend itself from despicable terror to leaders of a bloodthirsty organization is a deep distortion of justice," Gantz said. A senior Hamas official also dismissed the ICC prosecutor's statement, saying it "equates the victim with the executioner." The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says at least 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, without distinguishing between civilians and combatants. About 80 percent of Gaza's 2.3 million population has been displaced. With reporting by RFE/RL's Reid Standish in Prague, AP, Reuters, AFP, and dpa Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/israel-hamas-icc-arrest-warrants- netanhayu-sinhar-gallant-deif-haniyeh/32955008.html Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Biden Calls ICC Prosecutor's Application For Arrest Warrants Against Israel 'Outrageous' Sputnik News 20240520 WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Joe Biden on Monday called the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor's application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders "outrageous" and promised that the United States will stand with Israel. "The ICC prosecutor's application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence none between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security," Biden said in a statement. Earlier in the day, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said that he had filed requests for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, as well as for the leader of the Palestinian movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' military wing head Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Masri and Hamas political bureau head Ismail Haniyeh. Meanwhile, a senior Republican senator said on Monday that US lawmakers will work "feverishly" to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court over its decision to seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. "I will feverishly work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle in both chambers to levy damning sanctions against the ICC," Senator Lindsey Graham, who is on Russia's list of extremists and terrorists, said via X. Graham said the ICC was decision "outrageous," calling it is a slap in the face to the independent judiciary in Israel. He also emphasized that the US is not a member of the ICC. Graham stressed that he and other US lawmakers had engaged with the ICC several weeks ago and received reassurance that the court would conduct discussions with Israel before taking any actions. "Instead of the ICC following through with scheduled consultations with Israel, they announced the warrants. I feel that I was lied to and that my colleagues were lied to," Graham said. Twelve US senators, not including Graham, sent a letter to Khan earlier in May warning of severe sanctions if the court pursues arrest warrants against Israeli officials for their actions in the Gaza Strip. Hamas launched a large-scale attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and abducting some 240 others. Following the attack, Israel launched retaliatory strikes, ordered a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip, and started a ground incursion into the Palestinian enclave with the declared goal of eliminating Hamas fighters and rescuing the hostages. Over 35,400 people have been killed so far by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, local authorities said. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Dominican Republic Election Results US Department of State Press Statement Matthew Miller, Department Spokesperson May 20, 2024 The United States congratulates Luis Abinader on his electoral victory as President of the Dominican Republic. We commend the Dominican people for their active participation in the democratic process and the diligent work of electoral observers in supporting a fair and transparent election. We look forward to working closely with President Abinader's new administration to further strengthen ties between our nations and our peoples, address shared challenges including climate change and security, and promote economic growth. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Warrant Applications by the International Criminal Court US Department of State Press Statement Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State May 20, 2024 The United States fundamentally rejects the announcement today from the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that he is applying for arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials, together with warrants for Hamas terrorists. We reject the Prosecutor's equivalence of Israel with Hamas. It is shameful. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and is still holding dozens of innocent people hostage, including Americans. Moreover, the United States has been clear since well before the current conflict that that ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter. The ICC was established by its state parties as a court of limited jurisdiction. Those limits are rooted in principles of complementarity, which do not appear to have been applied here amid the Prosecutor's rush to seek these arrest warrants rather than allowing the Israeli legal system a full and timely opportunity to proceed. In other situations, the Prosecutor deferred to national investigations and worked with states to allow them time to investigate. The Prosecutor did not afford the same opportunity to Israel, which has ongoing investigations into allegations against its personnel. There are also deeply troubling process questions. Despite not being a member of the court, Israel was prepared to cooperate with the Prosecutor. In fact, the Prosecutor himself was scheduled to visit Israel as early as next week to discuss the investigation and hear from the Israeli Government. The Prosecutor's staff was supposed to land in Israel today to coordinate the visit. Israel was informed that they did not board their flight around the same time that the Prosecutor went on cable television to announce the charges. These and other circumstances call into question the legitimacy and credibility of this investigation. Fundamentally, this decision does nothing to help, and could jeopardize, ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement that would get hostages out and surge humanitarian assistance in, which are the goals the United States continues to pursue relentlessly. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address ICC seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leaders and Israel's Netanyahu 20 May 2024 - Arrest warrants are being sought for the leaders of Hamas and Israel for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the war in Gaza, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Monday. In a statement, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Hamas's Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri (Deif) and Ismail Haniyeh "bear criminal responsibility" for murder, extermination and taking hostages - among numerous other crimes - since the Gaza conflict erupted in the wake of Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on 7 October. There are also reasonable grounds to believe that Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, Israeli Minister of Defence, are responsible for other crimes and crimes against humanity "committed on the territory of the State of Palestine". Starvation tactic alleged These include "starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime...intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population [and] extermination and/or murder". Although the ICC is not a UN organisation, it has an agreement of cooperation with the United Nations. And when a situation is not within the court's jurisdiction, the UN Security Council can refer the situation to the ICC, granting it jurisdiction. To complement the allegations, Prosecutor Khan, a British national born in Edinburgh, noted that his Office had interviewed victims and survivors of the 7 October Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel. This included former hostages and eyewitnesses "from six major attack locations: Kfar Aza, Holit, the venue of the Supernova Music Festival, Be'eri; Nir Oz and Nahal Oz". 'Unfathomable pain' "It is the view of my Office that these individuals planned and instigated the commission of crimes on 7 October 2023 and have through their own actions, including personal visits to hostages shortly after their kidnapping, acknowledged their responsibility for those crimes," Prosecutor Khan said. "Speaking with survivors, I heard how the love within a family, the deepest bonds between a parent and a child, were contorted to inflict unfathomable pain through calculated cruelty and extreme callousness. These acts demand accountability," he added. Turning to the hostages still believed to be held in Gaza, the ICC official noted that his Office had interviewed victims and survivors and that this information along with other sources indicated that they had been kept in inhumane conditions with some subjected to sexual violence, including rape. Survivors' courage "I wish to express my gratitude to the survivors and the families of victims of the 7 October attacks for their courage in coming forward to provide their accounts to my Office," Prosecutor Khan said. "We remain focused on further deepening our investigations of all crimes committed as part of these attacks and will continue to work with all partners to ensure that justice is delivered." On the issue of the liability of the top Israeli officials Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant, the ICC Prosecutor alleged "starvation as a method of war". This and other crimes against humanity were allegedly committed "as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy". To reinforce the allegations, Mr. Khan cited "interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses, authenticated video, photo and audio material, satellite imagery and statements" which showed "that Israel has intentionally and systematically deprived the civilian population in all parts of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival". Aid siege Detailing the impact of "total siege" imposed by Israel on Gaza after 8 October 2023, the ICC request to judges explained that this involved "completely closing" the three border crossing points - Rafah, Kerem Shalom in the south and Erez in the north - "for extended periods and then by arbitrarily restricting the transfer of essential supplies - including food and medicine - through the border crossings after they were re-opened". Among other deprivations, the Israeli siege also cut off water and electricity pipelines to Gaza, the ICC Prosecutor continued, noting that Gazans also faced physical attacks when queuing for food while other "attacks on and killing of aid workers...forced many agencies to cease or limit their operations". The effects of this State policy were "acute, visible and widely known", Mr. Khan said, noting the UN Secretary-General's warning some two months ago that "1.1 million people in Gaza are facing catastrophic hunger - the highest number of people ever recorded anywhere, anytime" as a result of an "entirely man-made disaster". Gravest offences Although Israel has the right to defend itself under international law, Mr. Khan insisted that "intentionally causing death, starvation, great suffering" to civilians were clear breaches of the ICC's foundational charter, signed in Rome in 2002. Israel is not a signatory to the Rome Statute while Palestine is. "I have consistently emphasised that international humanitarian law demands that Israel take urgent action to immediately allow access to humanitarian aid in Gaza at scale. I specifically underlined that starvation as a method of war and the denial of humanitarian relief constitute Rome Statute offences." No one is above the law In addition to the request to judges to issue warrants, the ICC statement noted that it was pursuing "multiple and interconnected additional lines of inquiry" into crimes committed since 7 October. These include further allegations of sexual violence during the Hamas-led terror attacks and widespread bombardment in Gaza "that has caused and continues to cause so many civilian deaths, injuries and suffering". "Today, we once again underline that international law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all. No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader - no one - can act with impunity," Mr. Khan said, while also highlighting his concern over escalating violence in the West Bank. "Nothing can justify wilfully depriving human beings, including so many women and children, the basic necessities required for life. Nothing can justify the taking of hostages or the targeting of civilians." In a call to all parties in the Gaza conflict "to comply with the law now", the ICC Prosecutor said his Office "will not hesitate to submit further applications for warrants of arrest if and when we consider that the threshold of a realistic prospect of conviction has been met". Unlike the International Court of Justice (ICJ) - which is the UN's principal judicial organ for settling disputes between countries - the ICC tries individuals. The ICC is a permanent court based in The Hague, unlike temporary tribunals such as those set up to try grave crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. According to ICC documentation, the court's policy is to focus on those who "bear the greatest responsibility for the crimes" committed. No one is exempt from prosecution and there is no exemption for heads of State of Government. The decision over whether to issue arrest warrants will be taken by the Pre-Trial Chambers, which must also confirm the alleged charges. One an arrest warrant is issued and if the alleged perpetrator is arrested on the charges sought by the Prosecutor, a Trial Chamber is then created, headed by three judges. Once the trial has ended, the judges "may impose a sentence of imprisonment for a specified number of years not exceeding a maximum of thirty years or life imprisonment", the ICC said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address World News in Brief: Myanmar violence intensifies, praise for Brazil refugee response, Bahai detainees in Yemen 20 May 2024 - The UN is continuing to closely follow the deteriorating situation in Myanmar's Rakhine state where intercommunal tensions are being stoked by the military. "Our team on the ground is deeply alarmed by the latest reports of further escalating violence and destruction taking place in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships," said UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, briefing reporters at UN Headquarters on Monday. Renewed violence and the destruction of property in Buthidaung has resulted in the displacement of potentially tens of thousands of civilians, mostly Rohingya. The Myanmar military has stoked tensions between Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine, said UN rights chief Volker Turk in a statement on Sunday. "This is a critical period when the risk of yet further atrocity crimes is particularly acute," he said, calling for rebels from the Arakan Army and Government forces to pause the fighting. Food running out In Rakhine's capital, Sittwe, there are reports of food and cash shortages, soaring market prices, water scarcity and the spread of waterborne diseases. Humanitarian assistance and essential services have been heavily interrupted, said Mr. Dujarric. "We call on all military and political leaders as well as community influencers to do their part to de-escalate and defuse attempts to reignite intercommunal tensions, particularly between ethnic Rakhine and Rohingya, and to avoid the repetition of past human rights atrocities that we have seen in Rakhine State," said Mr. Dujarric. Mr. Turk called on Bangladesh "to once again extend protection to vulnerable people seeking safety and for the international community to provide all necessary support." That call was echoed by head of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, Filippo Grandi who said conflict and violence stemming from the brutal military crackdown by the ruling junta was "dramatically worsening". "I appeal to all parties to ensure the safety of civilians and humanitarians," he said on X. Brazil's refugee response wins praise from senior UNHCR official Brazil's unified and inclusive refugee response, which focuses on protection and finding solutions for refugees, won praise from Assistant High Commissioner for Operations at UNHCR Raouf Mazou in a statement on Monday. During a week-long visit to the country, he said "Brazil's commitment to inclusive refugee policies shows that documentation, asylum and other forms of protection, combined with access to jobs, livelihoods, education and health, are the best way to arrive at solutions." The Assistant Commissioner's trip included visits to "innovative projects" in Sao Paulo and Manaus that focus on employing refugees and assisting them in integrating into local communities. In Brasilia, the capital city, he met national authorities to open the second Cartagena+40 Process consultation - a process to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees - emphasising inclusion and integration. Deluge in Rio Grande do Sul Mr. Mazou's visit occurred while the south of Brazil experienced heavy rains and floods leaving more than two million people affected, based on official data, including more than 100 fatalities. The flooding has devastated areas in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, leaving some 43,000 refugees in need of international protection. UNHCR is working with authorities to deliver "relief items, technical assistance on shelter management and provision of reliable information to refugees and migrants". Yemen: Rights experts call for release of Bahai detainees Top rights experts called on Monday for the urgent release of five people belonging to the Bahai faith one year after their abduction by de facto authorities in Yemen. The five detainees "continue to be at serious risk of torture", said the independent rights experts, who include Nazila Ghanea, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion. In a statement alleging the "targeted persecution of religious minorities in Yemen", the rights experts said the Ansar Allah movement - also known as the Houthis - were responsible. History of hate speech Other Bahai believers who have been released have faced severe pressure to recant their religious beliefs, the rights experts maintained, before warning that hate speech against minorities, including by the Houthi Grand Mufti of Sana'a, had made matters worse. Special Rapporteurs are part of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. They do not receive a salary for their work and serve in their individual capacity. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Haiti: Multinational mission and the 'inexorable requirement to restore security conditions' 20 May 2024 - The establishment of a multinational security support mission for Haiti is moving closer as the Caribbean nation continues to face a crisis of violence and insecurity caused by entrenched criminal gang activity. Media reports suggest that infrastructure for the mission is being put in place as supplies arrive by air into the capital, Port-au-Prince. Here's what you need to know about what happens next: Why is an international security mission necessary? Haiti is wracked by violence that has escalated to unprecedented levels. In an address to the UN Security Council on 22 April, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti, Maria Isabel Salvador said "it is impossible to overstate the increase in gang activity across Port-au-Prince and beyond, the deterioration of the human rights situation and the deepening of the humanitarian crisis," adding that she had "consistently called attention to the inexorable requirement to restore security conditions". In March 2024, gangs mounted coordinated attacks targeting key state infrastructure, including multiple police stations and two of the main prisons in Port-au-Prince as well as educational and health facilities and religious sites. "These attacks," said Ms. Salvador, "have further weakened state institutions and deepened the already critical challenges to the re-establishment of rule of law." In the first three months of the year, the UN said 2,500 people, including at least 82 children, were killed or injured as a result of gang violence. Almost half of the victims were hit by bullets during violent attacks against their neighbourhoods or clashes between gangs and the police. At least 438 persons were kidnapped for ransom during the same period. The UN said that some 362,000 people - half of them children - have been forced to flee their homes because it's just too dangerous to remain. Sexual violence and abuse against women and girls are on the rise, and tens of thousands of children are unable to attend school due to insecurity. Who is supporting the security assistance? The Haitian National Police (HNP) is unable to fully contain the outbreak of violence, and Haiti's military is small and only modestly equipped. Just about everyone agrees that assistance from the international community is needed to support the HNP in its efforts to stabilise the situation and make it possible for Haitians to go about their daily lives without the fear of falling victim to gang violence. As far back as October 2022, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres responded to a request from the former Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, urging nations to step forward. The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Chad, Jamaica and Kenya have officially notified the Secretary-General of their intent to contribute personnel to the support mission. The UN Spokesperson confirmed that other countries had expressed interest in supporting the mission, but that the UN had not yet received official notifications to that effect. Why has it taken so long to establish the mission? A major sticking point initially was which country would step forward to lead what could be a very complicated and risky mission. Media reports suggest that gangs exert some control over around 80 per cent of the capital. A recent reported agreement between gangs to form a united front against the mission has further complicated the picture. Kenya will lead the mission. Kenyan officials visited Haiti to hold talks with Haitian and regional leaders, among others, regarding its mandate and scope. The Kenyan President, William Ruto, told the UN General Assembly in September 2023 that Haitians were "suffering immensely from the bitter legacy of slavery, colonialism, sabotage and neglect", adding that dealing with the situation there was the "ultimate test of international solidarity and collective action". What type of operation will it be? It's important to note that the security mission will not be a UN operation. However, the Security Council authorised the mission and asked the Secretary-General to establish a trust fund to channel voluntary contributions to the operation. At the end of April, the UN Spokesperson confirmed that $18 million had been deposited in the fund by Canada, France and the United States. What happens next and what is the UN's involvement? In endorsing the mission, the Security Council acted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which, among other things, authorises the use of force after all other measures to maintain international peace and security are exhausted. Meanwhile, the UN continues to support Haiti on multiple fronts. A political mission, known by its French acronym, BINUH, and which is led by Ms. Salvador, continues to support government efforts to strengthen political stability and good governance, including the rule of law. UN agencies are providing humanitarian aid to Haitians affected by violence and insecurity, but also by natural disasters such as the August 2021 earthquake. The UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) is currently transporting aid workers, critical equipment and lifesaving aid into and across Haiti. At the same time, the UN also continues to support authorities in strengthening socioeconomic development. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UNRWA Claims Versus Facts (May 2024) UNRWA 20 May 2024 UNRWA: CLAIMS VERSUS FACTS May 2024 UNRWA has long faced misinformation and disinformation, including about its staff and operations. This has intensified since the war in Gaza began on 7 October. This document outlines UNRWA's positionsbased on objective, ascertainable facts, data, and firsthand information on some of the most frequent claims and allegations made against the Agency in the media and social media by various individuals, organizations, public and private entities. Background On 17 January, UNRWA Commissioner-General announced his intention to commission an independent review to identify and assess the adequacy and implementation of the Agency's mechanisms and procedures to ensure neutrality. On 5 February, the Secretary-General appointed a Review Group, headed by Catherine Colonna, former French Minister of Foreign Affairs, to "assess whether the Agency is doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality and to respond to allegations of serious breaches when they are made." For more information on the terms of reference of the review, click here. On 26 January, in response to allegations received orally from Israeli officials regarding the alleged involvement of 12 UNRWA staff in the 7 October attack against Israel, and upon ascertaining that the individuals were indeed UNRWA staff members, the UNRWA Commissioner-General decided to immediately terminate the appointments of these staff "in the interest of the Agency," in accordance with applicable staff regulations, in order to protect its ability to deliver humanitarian assistance. This decision was communicated through a statement. At the request of the UN Secretary-General, the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), the highest investigative body in the United Nations, launched an investigation into these specific allegations. The UN Secretary-General requested in interim report within four weeks of OIOS starting work. On 27 January, the UNRWA Commissioner-General issued another statement in response to several donor countries suspending, pausing, or temporarily freezing funding to UNRWA. Claims Vs. Facts The Claim: Citing alleged intelligence estimates, several media have relayed claims that around 10% of all UNRWA staff in Gaza, or about 1,200 people, have links to Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The Facts: UNRWA has not received any information, let alone any evidence, from the Israeli Authorities or any other Member State about the above claim. UNRWA became aware of this claim first from international media and later from a press briefing by an Israeli government official. Like any other UN organization, UNRWA carries out detailed reference checks on any staff the Agency recruits. In addition, UNRWA shares the names, employee numbers, and functions of all staff members every year in all five areas of operations with the host authorities (Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and the Palestinian Authority) and, for the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza, with Israel as the occupying power. This means that at all times, host states and Israel are fully informed and aware of the details of all staff members working for UNRWA. Other UN Member States also receive these lists upon request. The names of the 12 individuals against whom allegations were made were all shared multiple times with Israel and other Member States. Prior to January 2024, UNRWA did not receive any indication from the relevant authorities of any involvement of its staff in armed or militant groups. In addition, the Agency screens its staff on a biannual basis against the UN Security Council Consolidated Sanctions List. The Claim: Israeli officials have stated that "UNRWA's problem is not just 'a few bad apples' involved in the October 7 massacre," and that the "institution as a whole is a haven for Hamas' radical ideology." The Facts: UNRWA has more than 30,000 staff across the region, including 13,000 in Gaza, the majority of them Palestinian. UNRWA takes seriously its responsibility to ensure that its operations and staff adhere to UN values and core humanitarian principles. UNRWA has always taken very seriously any allegation regarding staff misconduct -including allegations of neutrality breaches. The Agency takes swift action whenever any staff member is found to have acted in contravention of its regulatory framework. The range of disciplinary sanctions applied include, often in combination, fines. suspension from duty, demotion, up to termination of employment. Since 2022, 66 investigations, out of 30,000 staff across UNRWA and not just in Gaza, looked at a range of alleged related to neutrality breaches, including alleged support for Hamas and other groups. Some of these investigations are still ongoing. Sixty-six cases out of 30,000 staff - not all of which have been substantiated - is just 0.22%. There is absolutely no ground for a blanket description of "the institution as a whole" being "totally infiltrated." Rather, the small percentage underscores that the absolutely overwhelming majority of UNRWA's highly dedicated staff adhere to the principles to which they commit when they join the Agency. In any event, as indicated previously, the matter is now under assessment by the Review Group appointed by the UN Secretary-General, whose findings are expected to be released by April 2024. In addition, staff members receive regular reminders and take mandatory trainings to ensure they understand and abide by the UN standards of conduct for International Civil Servants. These include that any political activity must be consistent with, and not reflect adversely upon, the independence and impartiality required by serving the United Nations, and that support for violence and hatred in any form runs counter to UN values and is unacceptable. The Claim: Several media have relayed claims that Israel has documented deepening ties between UNRWA and Hamas, the de facto authorities in the Gaza Strip, since 2007. The Facts: As elsewhere around the world, the UN works in complex environments, including in areas under the control of a de facto government or armed groups. The United Nations engages with all parties to facilitate delivery of services and humanitarian assistance - that's a standard. In the Gaza Strip, UNRWA's engagement with the de facto authorities takes place solely at an operational level with the exclusive purpose of delivering humanitarian aid and ensuring the safety of our staff. Since UNRWA is operating in a conflict environment in Gaza, its activities need to be coordinated and "deconflicted" with all relevant parties to enable the implementation of its humanitarian mandate. The Agency is thus constantly in contact with the Israeli authorities and with the de facto authorities simultaneously to inform them about our movements and operations. The Claim: Aid from UNRWA keeps getting diverted by Hamas. The Facts: UNRWA is not aware of and has received no specific allegations regarding any systemic diversion of aid in Gaza by Hamas or other armed groups. Should it be revealed to be the case, UNRWA will strongly condemn any diversion of humanitarian supplies and immediately inform its donors to determine appropriate next steps. Across the world's conflict zones, the UN works in complex environments, including in areas under the control of de facto governments or non-State armed actors, to deliver humanitarian aid, and has extensive experience in delivering aid in accordance with humanitarian principles, including neutrality, impartiality, and operational independence, and mitigating the risk of diversion of aid. UNRWA's distribution of aid is implemented through a robust system of oversight and checks: UNRWA uses a direct implementation modality (no intermediaries) which means that the Agency has full control of the supply chain from receiving the goods at the crossing points of Gaza to bringing them to UNRWA warehouses and distribution points, where aid is delivered directly to registered beneficiaries, checked against a pre-established list, and according to needs. All movements of aid (including fuel) from point of departure to point of arrival inside Gaza are coordinated with and notified to the parties, including the Israeli authorities, to "deconflict", or ensure the safe passage of the aid convoy's movements and ensure safety of humanitarian workers. The convoys are also escorted and monitored by UN security personnel. UNRWA is currently working with other UN Agencies to establish common warehousing for materials brought into Gaza, which will improve overall monitoring and security of the goods. UNRWA takes measures to ensure that it has no financial ties with any individual or organization on the UN Security Council Consolidated Sanctions List. During periods of escalation, we have emergency screening procedures to ensure the provision of aid in an effective manner, such as rapid screening of new vendors. Subcontractors and implementing partners are also vetted. UNRWA operates in five fields: Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the West Bank- including East Jerusalem, and Gaza. It shares full lists of staff members, including functions, names, and IDs, with all the host authorities and, for the West Bank and Gaza, with Israel, every year. The Claim: Hamas has stored weapons in UNRWA schools and dug tunnels under UNRWA buildings, but the Agency has done little to stop this. The Facts: Since the mid-2000s, during conflicts in Gaza, there have been instances when armed actors from both sides have violated the neutrality of UNRWA sites, which are protected by international law. They have, for example, entered UNRWA buildings or used them for military purposes. UNRWA has systematically condemned such violations of UN premises. See an example here from 2014 of UNRWA condemning the placement of rockets inside its schools. Every time that UNRWA has discovered that the neutrality of its facilities has been compromised by third parties, including being used by armed groups in Gaza to cache munitions, it has protested to de facto authorities in Gaza, condemning the fact that these weapon components had been stored at a UN facility, in breach of their inviolability under UN Privileges and Immunities. UNRWA also immediately informs the Palestinian Authority and Israel as well as its main donors. Moreover, in its annual reports to the UN General Assembly, the UNRWA Commissioner-General has also consistently reported and described any such instances. These reports are shared with all Member States of the United Nations. When suspected tunnels are discovered under UNRWA facilities, the Agency follows a similar protocol to the one used when it has discovered that its installations were being used to cache munitions. This includes sealing cavities by injecting cement whenever discovered, immediately informing the Palestinian Authority and Israel as well as its main donors and reporting to the UN General Assembly. When cavities under buildings or our grounds have been identified, the Agency has also put out public statements - you can find an example from 2022 here. Ensuring that its facilities are not utilized for any purpose other than the provision of services by UNRWA to Palestine refugees is critical for UNRWA's operations. The Agency dedicates significant resources to regularly assess its facilities, including to ensure neutrality. This means not only that there is no misuse of its facilities, but also ensuring that installations are clearly marked as UN facilities, that signs about them being weapons-free areas are present at entrances, and that the internal and external walls are free of any messaging that is political or in any way places the neutrality of the installation into question. This is done via quarterly assessments by specially trained staff of all of UNRWA's almost 1,000 facilities across its five fields of operation: Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the West Bankincluding East Jerusalem, and Gaza. These assessments review adherence to neutrality and the level to which UNRWA installations are able to provide safe, inclusive, accessible, and dignified services to Palestine refugees. During each of the second and third quarters of 2023 for example, UNRWA assessed 99% of active Agency installations. The assessment of all Gaza installations was completed in September 2023. There is also a system of follow-up in place to ensure that issues identified are addressed in a consistent manner. Active conflict and insecurity can significantly impact the ability of the Agency to conduct these assessments. UNRWA also trains all staff on the humanitarian principles, including neutrality, and provides dedicated training to managers of UNRWA installations. The Claim: UNRWA schools in the oPt, which use textbooks approved by the Palestinian Authority, have used materials that glorify terrorists and promote hatred of Israel. The Facts: UNRWA uses host government textbooks, in line with UN best practice for providing quality education in refugee settings. UNRWA reviews all textbooks used in its schools to identify sections that may not be in line with UN values and UNESCO standards for teaching. UNRWA has zero tolerance for hate speech and incitement to discrimination, or violence. Independent analysts and international education experts have vouched for the quality and content of the education that UNRWA provides in its schools. Using host country curriculums in refugee situations is standard for the UN around the world. It is considered a best practice that helps ensure that students can matriculate into host country educational systems at any level and more broadly participate in the social and economic life of the host country. This is particularly relevant for UNRWA as our school system ends after grade 9, except in Lebanon, and students transition to local schools for upper secondary, then university. UNRWA enriches the curriculum it uses by adding a unique programme on Human Rights, Conflict Resolution and Tolerance, and has also established school parliaments run by students in every institution. UNRWA teachers are trained to address any problematic content in the classroom, using guidance documents developed by UNRWA headquarters. The teachers are required to and accountable for following this approach. When it comes to Palestinian Authority textbooks, UNRWA refers systematically to UN positions on issues such as the occupation, borders, the wall, and others. UNRWA is not in a position to - nor it is mandated to - reconcile the Israeli and Palestinian narratives. Thousands of self-learning materials produced in-house to support distance learning have also been reviewed through a robust three-tier review process and uploaded on UNRWA's Digital Learning Platform. Teachers are regularly reminded that only material uploaded on the platform can be used. Meanwhile UNRWA is progressing with digitalization of its education. It includes a gradual transition to digital teaching learning material which will be uploaded on the platform and become the sole source of materials to be used by students and teachers in the classroom, at home and remotely. In addition, an Education Expert Advisory Group, composed of globally recognized experts representing renowned institutions such as UNESCO and the World Bank among others, advises UNRWA on its digital transition as well as curriculum related matters more broadly. Internationally recognized outside evaluations - including a 2021 World Bank-UNHCR study - empirically demonstrated that UNRWA's educational outcomes are among the best in the region and at the lowest cost per student. UNRWA's students in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jordan "scored an average of a quarter of a standard deviation higher in international assessments than public school children, implying an advantage of almost a year of learning." Regarding the textbooks produced by the Palestinian Authority, UNRWA's own stance on these materials closely aligns with the Georg Eckert Institute's findings in the study commissioned by the European Commission and published in 2021. The Claim: A 2019 U.S. Government Accountability Office report allegedly said that UNRWA has not always implemented measures to address problematic content in school textbooks. The Facts: The 2019 report reaffirmed UNRWA's unwavering commitment to UN values, and, where there was need for better implementation, this was done - you can find our statement about this here. UNRWA undertakes regular and meticulous review of all textbooks and learning materials used in the schools to ensure their compatibility with UN values and UNESCO standards, promoting educational excellence and reinforcing tolerance and human rights. The Claim: Members of a Telegram group of 3,000 UNRWA teachers allegedly supported violence, including in the 7 October attacks against Israel, and there have been similar cases in the past involving UNRWA staff. The Facts: The most recent claims, made by the organization UN Watch in January 2024 refer to exchanges found on an open Telegram chat that was not set-up, nor authorized, nor managed by UNRWA. The use of the UN and UNRWA logo on this Telegram group has not been authorized. Due to the nature of Telegram, it is impossible to verify the allegation that all members of this group are UNRWA employees. The group seems to be formed around job seeking, so it is unlikely that its members are all UNRWA staff (already employed by the Agency). Previous claims by UN Watch and other organizations about the behavior of individuals have often misidentified as UNRWA staff the people allegedly involved. For example, in various claims made since 2022, concerning a total of 129 people, more than half turned out not to be UNRWA personnel. Of the 30 people named as UNRWA staff in a report about this Telegram group, only 18 could be properly reviewed as the other 12 provided only first names or nicknames. From the 18, it has been confirmed that three do not work for the Agency and six have so far been inconclusive, requiring further review. The remaining nine may be active personnel. These cases have been referred to the UNRWA investigation department, in accordance with the Agency's procedures. UNRWA, like all UN Agencies, has a system in place to investigate allegations and disciplinary action is taken in all substantiated cases. The Claim: Rather than being part of the solution, UNRWA perpetuates the refugee problem, including by reminding Palestine refugees of their history and telling them their home is in Israel. The Facts: When the UN General Assembly created UNRWA by passing a resolution in 1949, it did not mandate the Agency to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict nor the Palestine refugee issue or find durable solutions for refugees. Rather, UNRWA was set up as temporary organization to carry out "direct relief and works programmes" for Palestine refugees. In 1952, the UN General Assembly explicitly tasked UNRWA to serve any person whose "normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948 and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict." UNRWA has a humanitarian and development mandate, repeatedly renewed by the UN General Assembly, to provide assistance and protection to Palestine refugees pending a just and lasting solution to their plight. This is done by delivering essential public services, primarily basic education, health care, relief and social services, microcredit, and emergency assistance, including in situations of armed conflict. The fact that UNRWA is still in place 75 years later is not a choice by the Agency but the result of a collective failure by Member States to resolve a political problem. Protracted refugee situations are the result of the failure to find political solutions to underlying political crises - sometimes leading refugees to retain their status across generations. Meanwhile, the international community has continued to support UNRWA and recognizes the role it plays in addressing human development issues and the long-term impacts of conflict. Palestine refugees do not get special treatment compared to other refugees. Under international law, refugees and their descendants may retain their status until a durable solution is found to the situation that made the population into refugees in the first place. In this sense, Palestine refugees are no different from other people in protracted refugee situations. As stated by the United Nations, this principle applies to all refugees and both UNRWA and UNHCR have recognized descendants as refugees on this basis. Furthermore, the UN General Assembly in 1949 adopted a resolution stating that "refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible." This is not an UNRWA position, this is a UN and a Member State position. In addition, Palestine refugees, like all other refugees globally, have a right to learn about their history, including their displacement. UNRWA does not intend to - nor does it have a mandate to - reconcile Israeli and Palestinian narratives. What UNRWA teaches in its schools is in line with UN positions on the conflict. The Claim: Other UN agencies deliver humanitarian assistance in crisis zones across the globe. They would be better placed to do UNRWA's job. The Facts: UNRWA directly manages critical public-like services (schools, health centers, social protection) in its 5 areas of operations, relaying on a staff corps of 30,000 people, most of them Palestine refugees, thus serving their own communities. UNRWA's established infrastructure and its cost-effectiveness - especially as the majority of its staff are part of the UNRWA Area Staff (national) category, with salaries pegged to public sector comparators) - have no equivalent elsewhere in the UN. This means that UNRWA Area Staff are paid on average between 40% and 70% less than other UN locally recruited staff, as the comparators used for their salary scales are the host governments in the countries and areas of operations where UNRWA works. In addition, UNRWA responds to emergency situations, such as in Gaza today, using its staff, community acceptance and knowledge, and their longstanding experience gained over several conflicts and crises. With over 2 million people in dire need of life-saving humanitarian assistance in Gaza, no other Agency is able to respond at the scale needed at present. UNRWA has 13,000 staff and over 300 installations in Gaza, far surpassing the capacity of all other humanitarian actors. The UN Secretary-General has called UNRWA the backbone of the humanitarian response there. Other UN Agencies and international NGOs have recognized the irreplaceable role of UNRWA in Gaza, and publicly announced their support for the Agency. For example, even if another agency supplies vaccines, it is UNRWA medical staff that get those vaccines into the arms of children at UNRWA clinics. So, UNRWA is an essential link in the chain. UNRWA's main activity is education. With 709 schools and some 543,000 students across its five areas of operations, there is no easy substitute, not even at government level, for UNRWA's work. It was hoped that UNRWA local staff) would be folded into Palestinian public institutions once a political solution was reached. This is why also their salary scales are aligned to those entities in the public services where they work. Other UN agencies have around 220 staff combined between international and national, and they do not have the same public service roles. The Claim: UNHCR is mandated to resettle refugees and solve refugee issues. It could take over UNRWA's job. The Facts: The United Nations General Assembly established UNRWA in 1949 and UNHCR in 1950, providing them each with distinct mandates to assist and protect refugees. These decisions are enshrined in the UN General Assembly resolution that created UNRWA in 1949 and has been renewed ever since, the UNHCR Statute, which was also adopted by the UN General Assembly, and the 1951 Refugee Convention, which is an international treaty. Neither UNRWA nor UNHCR can unilaterally change their mandates UNRWA and UNHCR have very distinct functions. UNRWA is a direct service provider. At the core of these services are education and health. UNRWA provides public-like services. UNHCR does not have a mandate over Palestine refugees within the UNRWA areas of operations. However, in certain circumstances, UNHCR has a mandate regarding Palestine refugees when they are outside the areas where UNRWA operates. Unlike UNHCR, UNRWA does not have a mandate to resettle Palestine refugees and has no authority to seek lasting durable solutions for refugees. UNRWA is mandated by the UN General Assembly to provide services to Palestine refugees in five fields of operation: Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Gaza. And it is mandated to do so pending a just and lasting solution to their plight. Palestine refugees within UNRWA's fields of operations are specifically excluded from the mandate of UNHCR, which has a resettlement mandate. However, according to UNHCR, only a fraction of refugees around the world who need resettlement actually get it each year. It is worth noting that the protracted situation in which Palestine refugees live is not unique. Resettlement requires the consent not only of refugees but also of the receiving state. UNHCR estimated that 78 per cent of all 16 million refugees under its mandate were in protracted refugee situations in 2022. Of the 29.4 million refugees under UNHCR protection that year, only about 1.15 per cent (339,300) were repatriated to their country of origin. Less than half a per cent (114,300) were resettled in a third country or naturalized as citizens in their country of asylum (50,800). The vast majority remained refugees, pending a solution to their plight. The Claim: Donor money would be better spent supporting governments in the region to assist Palestine refugees, rather than doing so via UNRWA. The Facts: UNRWA's mandate was first set out by the UN General Assembly in 1949. UN Member States decide where and how UNRWA should operate. During regular reviews of its mandate, UN Member States have continued to task UNRWA to provide support to Palestine refugees throughout its five fields of operation: Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Gaza. It is tasked with doing so pending a just and lasting solution to the plight of Palestine refugees. In addition, UNRWA runs essential public services for Palestine refugees, such as schools and clinics. It does this with some 30,000 personnel, most of whom are Palestinian, and whose pay scale is aligned to that of the local civil services where they work. The reason for this is that it is hoped that they will transition into Palestinian public institutions once a political solution is reached. While some Palestine refugees have citizenship in their host countries, many do not, and lack legal status thus depending on UNRWA for access to basic services and assistance. The Claim: UNRWA does not take reports against it seriously. The Facts: UNRWA has zero tolerance for hate speech, discrimination, or incitement to violence as well as any action that could be viewed as taking sides in conflict. Adherence to UN values and upholding humanitarian principles, including neutrality, represents a fundamental pillar of UNRWA's value system and is critical for the Agency to be able to operate on the ground. The Agency systematically reviews all allegations of misconduct, including breaching UN values and humanitarian principles and launches investigations into any credible allegation, applying disciplinary measures where misconduct has been established up to and including separation. Please refer to the 'Background' section above for details of the very swift steps taken by UNRWA concerning the allegations that 12 of its staff members were involved in the 7 October attacks on Israel. The Claim: The Claim: The former head of UNRWA's staff union in Gaza, Suhail al-Hindi, was fired in 2017 after Israel found out he had been elected to Hamas' top political leadership. The Facts: In 2017, Suhail al-Hindi, the former head of UNRWA's local staff union in Gaza, was fired after a news site affiliated with Hamas announced that he was elected to political office with Hamas. Following that media report, UNRWA immediately suspended him and subsequently dismissed him after verifying the facts. None of this was because "Israel found out" - UNRWA acted directly. Under the rules of UNRWA -- and those of the wider UN -- participation in any political activity must be consistent with, and may not reflect adversely upon, the independence and impartiality of our status. This includes a prohibition on standing as a candidate or holding any public office. This is why UNRWA immediately suspended al-Hindi and subsequently dismissed him. UNRWA also dismissed another staff member whose name appeared in the list of those newly elected to Hamas political office. Overall, UNRWA prohibits any type of involvement of staff in a militant or militarized group. As a representative of the UN, any involvement in a militarized group that promotes discrimination or violence violates the principle of neutrality and gravely jeopardizes UNRWA's ability to provide services and protection to refugees. ENDs- NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Warrior Departs Hakodate, Japan, Following Scheduled Port Visit US Navy 20 May 2024 From Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Greg Johnson HAKODATE, Japan -- The Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship USS Warrior (MCM 10) departed Hakodate, Japan, after a scheduled port visit, May 18. Warrior arrived in Hakodate on May 15 to celebrate the 170th anniversary of Commodore Matthew Perry's visit to Hakodate. "It was an honor and a privilege to visit a city that is so representative of the underlying history of U.S.-Japan relations," said Lt. Cmdr. Robert Squires, Warrior's commanding officer. "I'm sure our Sailors were extremely appreciative to visit sites throughout the city that not only relish the beginning of our strong partnership with the nation of Japan, but also embody our continued mutual commitment to each other." Perry's visit on May 17, 1854, ushered in a new era of relations between the United States and Japan. During the port visit, Warrior Sailors participated in a ceremony at Hakodate Foreign General Cemetery in remembrance of George Remick and James Wolfe, two U.S. Navy Sailors who served under Perry and died in Hakodate in 1854 due to illness. "The cemetery where Commodore Perry's Sailors are buried was a very respected place, I could tell that they were very well cared about by the way it is being kept up," stated Quartermaster Seaman Kaleem Perkins, assigned to Warrior. "Hakodate itself is an amazing city, and the people of Hakodate are wonderful! I would be very grateful to come back again!" Sailors also participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at Perry Square, where a statue of Perry stands to commemorate the 150th anniversary of his arrival on the shores of Hakodate. Warrior, assigned to Mine Countermeasures Squadron 7 (MCMRON 7), Task Force 76/3 and Expeditionary Strike Group 7, is forward-deployed to Sasebo, Japan in the US 7th Fleet area of responsibility conducting mine countermeasure operations to support preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region. U.S. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy's largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Jacob Jones Bell Conservation Efforts Begin Following London Turnover Ceremony US Navy 20 May 2024 From Monica Mccoy WASHINGTON NAVY YARD -- Naval History and Heritage Command archaeological conservators have begun treatment assessments on the ship's bell of USS Jacob Jones (DD 61) in the Conservation, Research, and Archaeology Laboratory on the Washington Navy Yard. Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jim Kilby received the ship's bell of USS Jacob Jones (DD 61) on behalf of the U.S. Navy from the U.K. Royal Navy's Second Sea Lord Vice Adm. Martin Connell during a ceremony at Lancaster House in London, England, May 15. "Bells have huge significance and symbolism. They are a central part of our ships," said Connell. "When I was fortunate enough to command an aircraft carrier, the ship's name was HMS Illustrious, it was the fifth named ship. The fourth ship was also an aircraft carrier and received action damage in the Second World War. That bell from that fourth ship sat outside my cabin, and it was a daily reminder sort of to me and all of my Sailors about what happens in war. This bell was ripped apart with the blast damage that it received at the time. That bell now sits in the Chief of Naval Operations' dining room in the Pentagon. It is another symbol of the U.K., U.S., Royal Navy, United States Navy relationship." "This bell serves as a remembrance of the 64 Sailors aboard Jacob Jones who made the ultimate sacrifice defending the freedom of our country and those who challenged it," said Kilby. "As the first U.S. destroyer lost in combat, her crew's legacy will live on, their stories will be told and their loss will be remembered as we preserve this piece of our nation's story. Our Navy expresses our sincerest gratitude to those who made it possible to take this incredible artifact of somber history back home." USS Jacob Jones (DD 61) was the first U.S. Navy destroyer lost to enemy action, sinking eight minutes after being struck by a torpedo fired from German submarine U-53 on Dec. 6, 1917. Out of the seven officers and 103 men on board at the time of the attack, 64 lost their lives. The shipwreck was discovered off the Isles of Scilly, England, in August 2022 by technical divers. Since the discovery, multi-lateral efforts involving SALMO, the UK's National Oceanography Centre, Wessex Archaeology, and NHHC aim to fully document and study the wreck site in support of its interpretation and long-term preservation. The continued cooperation between the UK Ministry of Defence and the U.S. Navy fortifies the historical bonds and mutual dedication to honoring and preserving a shared naval history. The bell - recovered in January 2024 by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence's Salvage and Marine Operations (SALMO) team with support from NHHC - was initially stabilized by Wessex Archaeology. Following NHHC Underwater Archaeology branch conservation efforts, the bell is intended for display in the future new National Museum of the U.S. Navy. "NHHC's goal is to document and preserve this artifact in the Command's Conservation, Research, and Archaeology Laboratory and prepare it for long-term curation and display in the new National Museum of the U.S. Navy. We believe the bell will offer a tangible way for the public to connect and learn about the story of Jacob Jones and U.S. Navy's role in World War I," said NHHC Archaeological Conservator Shanna Daniel. "We're incredibly grateful to everyone who made this important recovery possible," said NHHC Director, Sam Cox, retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. "World War I marked a pivotal moment in our collective history. In escorting convoys of soldiers and supplies across the Atlantic, the Jacob Jones contributed significantly to the ultimate Allied victory. The ultimate sacrifice of many of her crew demonstrates that victory has a cost, and freedom isn't free. We should never forget these courageous sailors. The remains of the ship are a war grave, and it is normally Navy policy to leave such wrecks undisturbed. However, due to significant risk the bell could be plundered, this recovery represents an exceptional case. After final conservation the bell of the Jacob Jones will be displayed in the National Museum of the United States Navy in honor of the gallant crew of this ship, and especially the 64 men who did not survive." The wreck of USS Jacob Jones (DD 61) is a U.S. sunken military craft protected by U.S. law and under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Navy. While non-intrusive activities, such as remote sensing documentation, on U.S. Navy sunken military craft are allowed, any activity that may result in the disturbance of a sunken military craft must be coordinated with NHHC and, if appropriate, authorized through a relevant permitting program. Most importantly, the wreck represents the final resting place of Sailors who gave their life in defense of the nation and should be respected by all parties as a war grave. For more information regarding the sinking of USS Jacob Jones (DD 61), visit: www.history.navy.mil/research/underwater-archaeology/sites-and-projects/ship-wrecksites/uss-jacob-jones-dd-61.html NHHC, located at the Washington Navy Yard, is responsible for preserving, analyzing, and disseminating U.S. naval history and heritage. It provides the knowledge foundation for the Navy by maintaining historically relevant resources and products that reflect the Navy's unique and enduring contributions through our nation's history and supports the fleet by assisting with and delivering professional research, analysis, and interpretive services. NHHC comprises many activities, including the Navy Department Library, the Navy Operational Archives, the Navy art and artifact collections, underwater archeology, Navy histories, 10 museums, USS Constitution repair facility, and the historic ship Nautilus. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN: Israeli operation displaces over 800,000 Palestinians in Rafah By Margaret Besheer May 20, 2024 A senior U.N. humanitarian official said Monday that more than 800,000 Palestinians have been displaced from the southern Gaza city of Rafah since Israel began its ground offensive there two weeks ago. "Today, the once overcrowded camps and emergency shelters in Rafah have now largely emptied, with the majority of the displaced seeking refuge in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah," Edem Wosornu, U.N. director of operations and advocacy for the office of humanitarian affairs, told a meeting of the Security Council on the situation. She said the conditions at the displacement sites they are arriving at are "horrendous," lacking adequate toilets, clean water, sewage and shelter. "These appalling conditions leave serious doubt as to the compliance with these basic obligations." Wosornu said the United Nations and its partners are struggling to offer the displaced assistance, because they cannot get supplies into Gaza at the scale required. Israel's envoy said it is "truly terrible" that civilians in Rafah have to be evacuated, but the move should be supported, not condemned. "They have moved to a designated humanitarian zone that is being filled with aid," Ambassador Gilad Erdan told the council of the Israeli-designated sites. "And our hope is for many more civilians to leave Rafah and move out of harm's way." He said Israel is advancing its military operation in Gaza "slowly and carefully" to avoid civilian casualties, but that the operation must be done. Otherwise, he said, Israel would be granting immunity to the remaining Hamas terrorists in Rafah. The Palestinian envoy accused Israel of ignoring international calls to spare Rafah and of forcibly displacing its population. "People were forcibly displaced time and time again in horrific conditions," Riyad Mansour said. "They are being displaced yet again by the hundreds of thousands, with nowhere to go, nowhere to stay, nowhere to be safe dragging what remains of their lives, confronted with death all around them, abandoned to this terrifying fate." The Security Council, the United States and many other countries have urged Israel not to enter Rafah because of the likelihood of high civilian casualties. Ambassador Robert Wood reiterated Washington's "ironclad commitment" to Israel's security but said despite "clear and consistent warnings" from the U.S. and others, Israel's preparations to meet the needs of the displaced are insufficient. "Israel should take immediate and decisive actions to remedy this situation and ensure protection of civilians," Wood said. "There must be no delay. Lives depend on it." Aid crossings Wood said that included immediately reopening the Rafah border crossing. As of Monday, the main humanitarian crossing at Rafah remained closed. The Israel Defense Forces took it over on May 7, a day after launching its ground operation into eastern Rafah, and no aid trucks have crossed it since. The U.N.'s Wosornu said 82,000 metric tons of food and medical supplies are stranded and spoiling on the Egyptian side of the border, waiting to cross. The Kerem Shalom crossing is operational, but Wosornu said there is only limited access. While a new crossing into the north, known as Erez West or Zikim, is now being used for limited quantities of aid, humanitarians are not sure how much longer it can be used, since it falls within the vicinity of recent Israeli evacuation orders. Wosornu noted that 10 of 16 U.N.-supported bakeries will run out of stock and fuel within days if no additional supplies come in. She said another six in southern Gaza have stopped working, either because of fuel shortages or active fighting. Meanwhile, a $320 million U.S.-funded and -constructed floating pier off Gaza began receiving aid on Thursday, but only 10 truckloads have come through it since Saturday, a U.N. spokesperson said. Fuel supplies also remain dangerously low, limiting the movement of aid convoys. Humanitarian assistance into Gaza is particularly urgent, as the U.N. says 1.1 million Palestinians face catastrophic levels of hunger and parts of Gaza are on the brink of famine. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address World reacts to court's request for arrest warrants for Israeli, Hamas leadership By VOA News May 20, 2024 The head prosecutor at the International Criminal Court announced Monday that he was seeking arrest warrants for Israel's prime minister and defense minister and three Hamas leaders in Gaza for war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the Israel-Hamas war. The decision triggered a slew of reactions. Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the announcement "beyond outrageous and shows the extent to which the international judicial system is in danger of collapsing." Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz echoed Herzog's comments, calling the ICC's request to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant an "outrageous decision." U.S. President Joe Biden denounced the ICC prosecutor's decision to equate Hamas terror attacks and civilian abductions in southern Israel with Israel's military practices in Gaza. The ICC prosecutor's application for arrest warrants for Israeli leaders was "outrageous," Biden said in a statement Monday. "And let me be clear: Whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence none between Israel and Hamas," the president said. In a separate statement, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed Biden's comments and called the ICC's move to compare Israel with Hamas "shameful." "Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and is still holding dozens of innocent people hostage, including Americans," Blinken said. He added that this decision "could jeopardize ongoing efforts to reach a cease-fire agreement that would get hostages out and surge humanitarian assistance in, which are the goals the United States continues to pursue relentlessly." The Hamas Islamist group, which the U.S., the U.K. and other countries have designated as a terrorist militant organization, denounced the ICC prosecutor's decision to seek arrest warrants for three of its leading members. It accused ICC prosecutor Karim Khan of trying to "equate the victim with the executioner." In a statement Monday, the group said it had the right to resist Israeli occupation, including "armed resistance." Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, hailed Khan's decision. "This principled first step by the prosecutor opens the door to those responsible for the atrocities committed in recent months to answer for their actions at a fair trial," Jarrah said in a statement Monday. South Africa's presidency also welcomed the ICC's announcement Monday. ICC prosecutor Khan said his office believed all five people bore responsibility for acts against humanity. He said in a statement that Netanyahu and Gallant "bear criminal responsibility" for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including starving civilians as a method of warfare and intentionally directing attacks against civilians, "as a means to eliminate Hamas, secure the return of the hostages which Hamas has abducted, and collectively punish the civilian population of Gaza, whom they perceived as a threat to Israel." In addition, Khan said, the Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar; commander of the Hamas military wing, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri; and the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, taking hostages as a war crime, rape, other sexual violence and torture. "It is the view of my office that these individuals planned and instigated the commission of crimes on 7 October 2023, and have through their own actions, including personal visits to hostages shortly after their kidnapping, acknowledged their responsibility for those crimes," Khan said. "We submit that these crimes could not have been committed without their actions." The prosecutor must request the warrants from a pre-trial panel of three judges, who will examine the evidence before they decide whether to move forward with arrest warrants. Israel is not a member of the ICC, and even if the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution. But Khan's announcement increases Israel's isolation as it presses ahead with its war, and the threat of arrest could make it difficult for the Israeli leaders to travel abroad. Israel's war in Gaza was triggered by the October Hamas terror attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of about 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials. Israel's subsequent counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 35,400 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which includes civilians and combatants in its count but says most of the dead are women and children. Israel says it has killed more than 14,000 militants and around 16,000 civilians. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says Israeli bombardment continues to be reported across much of Gaza, as well as ground incursions and heavy fighting, especially in eastern Rafah in the south and Jabaliya in the north. More than 900,000 people - about 40 percent of Gaza's population - have been displaced over the past two weeks, including 812,000 people from Rafah and more than 100,000 others in northern Gaza, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said during a news briefing Monday. He said that more than 75 percent of the Gaza Strip - 285 square kilometers - was under evacuation orders, amid escalating hostilities. "Under international humanitarian law, civilians - whether they move or stay - must be protected. Wherever they are in Gaza, their essential needs, including food, shelter, water and health, must be met," he added. Some information for this report came from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Explainer: The ICC and the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza By VOA News May 20, 2024 The head prosecutor at the International Criminal Court said Monday he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, for their actions in the war in Gaza. Prosecutor Karim Khan is also seeking warrants for Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh. Khan said in a statement that Netanyahu and Gallant "bear criminal responsibility" for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Hamas leaders are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including extermination, torture, rape and sexual violence, cruel treatment and taking hostages, Khan said. Casualties in the Israel-Hamas war Since Hamas launched a terror attack October 7 on Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages, Israel has embarked on an offensive to eliminate Hamas from Gaza. Last week, Israel's government offered the first estimate of the operation's death toll, saying its troops have killed 14,000 terrorists and 16,000 civilians. While that toll is slightly lower than the 35,000 people the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza has reported, Hamas maintains that most of those casualties so far are women and children, although it does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tallies. History of the ICC The ICC was established in 2002 to serve as a permanent court to prosecute individuals responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The court is governed by an international treaty called the Rome Statute, which was adopted by the U.N. in 1998. It took effect on July 1, 2002. The ICC, which has 124 member states, is independent but is endorsed by the U.N. General Assembly. The court can only intervene when a country is unable or unwilling to investigate or prosecute crimes on their territory. The court must identify a suspect and gather evidence before issuing a warrant. It cannot prosecute groups or States. Member-state authorities must cooperate to apprehend suspects because the ICC does not have its own police force. Defendants cannot be tried if they are not present, so warrants can only be issued against individuals in member-state territories. Netanyahu said in April that Israel "will never accept any attempt by the ICC to undermine its inherent right of self-defense." The ICC and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Palestine at present is recognized as a sovereign state by 143 of the 193 U.N. member states. It was granted nonmember observer state status by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012. The ICC accepted "The State of Palestine" as a member in 2015. Former ICC head prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced in 2021 that she was launching a probe into Israel's possible war crimes on Palestinian territory. Netanyahu denounced the decision. "The ICC is not a panacea, but only seeks to discharge the responsibility that the international community has entrusted to it, which is to promote accountability for Rome Statute crimes, regardless of the perpetrator, in an effort to deter such crimes," Bensouda said in a 2021 statement about the probe. Khan met in December with Palestinian officials and families of Israelis killed or taken hostage by Hamas militants in the Oct. 7 attack. He called for the immediate release of hostages and said the actions of Hamas militants were "some of the most serious international crimes that shock the conscience of humanity, crimes which the ICC was established to address." "International humanitarian law must still apply" in the Israel-Hamas war, Khan said in a December statement. "The Israeli military knows the law that must be applied." An ICC investigation into possible war crimes by Hamas militants and Israeli forces "is a priority for my office," he said. Some material in this report came from The Associated Press. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Deadly bomb hits de facto capital of Taliban-governed Afghanistan By Ayaz Gul May 20, 2024 Authorities in Afghanistan said Monday that a bomb blast had killed at least one person and injured three others in the southern city of Kandahar, the political headquarters of the country's hardline Taliban rulers. The bomb was planted in a handcart on a road leading to the national capital, Kabul, and the victims were civilians, a Kandahar police statement said. It added that an investigation into the attack was underway to apprehend and bring to justice those responsible. Multiple sources claimed that the bombing had targeted Taliban security forces, and the death toll was significantly higher than what was officially reported. No group immediately took responsibility for the attack, but suspicion fell on a regional Islamic State affiliate, known as IS-Khorasan or IS-K, which routinely targets members of the Taliban and the country's minority Shi'ite community. Bamiyan attack The bombing in Kandahar came a day after IS-K said it was behind a gun attack against foreign tourists in the central province of Bamiyan Friday. The shooting resulted in the deaths of three Spanish citizens and three Afghans, with four other tourists from Spain, Australia, Norway, and Lithuania sustaining injuries. Bamiyan is a popular designation for foreign tourists because it is home to a UNESCO World Heritage site and the remains of two giant Buddha statues that were blown up by the Taliban during their previous rule in 2001. Militant attacks are extremely rare in Kandahar, where the reclusive Taliban supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, lives and effectively governs Afghanistan from there through religious edicts stemming from his strict interpretation of Islam. The most recent IS-K-claimed bombing in the city, known as the historical birthplace of the Taliban, occurred in late March when a suicide bomber targeted a crowd of government employees collecting salaries outside a bank, killing at least three of them. The Taliban stormed back to power in Kabul in 2021 when the United States and NATO troops withdrew from the country after nearly 20 years of involvement in the Afghan war. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Rwanda deploying another 2,500 soldiers to help Mozambique fight Cabo Delgado insurgency By Charles Mangwiro May 20, 2024 Rwanda is deploying an additional 2,500 soldiers to help Mozambique fight resurgent attacks by Islamic State insurgents in the oil-rich Cabo Delgado province. Attacks have been on the rise in the area as a force known as SAMIM, deployed by the Southern African Development Community, prepares to withdraw. President Filipe Nyusi was quoted by state-run radio late Sunday as saying the troops are being deployed not because Mozambique cannot ensure its own defense, but because the country cannot fight terrorism alone. Nyusi, who is due to step down in January 2025 at the end of his second five-year term, said it is clear that Rwanda is cooperating with Mozambique, adding that his greatest pride would be to leave things well done to ensure continuity. He said more contingents are disembarking, not to exchange, but to add flow. And this is mainly because of the departure of SAMIM, and when it definitively leaves the hotspot area we will occupy it. Nyusi made the statement during a review of the visit he made to Rwanda's capital last week. He was in Kigali to attend the Africa CEO forum, and he seized the opportunity to meet with his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, and the chief executive officer of French company TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanne. Cabo Delgado has been facing an armed insurgency since 2017 that has disrupted several multi-billion oil and natural gas projects. Three years ago, Rwanda deployed 1,000 soldiers to fight alongside Mozambique's armed defense and was joined by SAMIM. The regional intervention force will completely withdraw in July, forcing the Mozambican Armed Defense Forces (FADM) to fill the security vacuum. TotalEnergies is building a plant near Palma for the production and export of natural gas, at the cost $20 billion, but the project has been suspended since 2021. Rwanda's additional military support to Mozambique was welcomed by TotalEnergies chief Pouyanne, who said the natural gas project district will soon resume. He said, I believe we have progressed very positively with contractors, and from this point of view we are ready to resume. He said we are also working with all the credit agencies to resume the financing of the project and it's progressing very well. ExxonMobil, with partner Eni, is also developing a liquified natural gas project in northern Mozambique and said last week it was "optimistic and looking forward" for the security situation to improve. SAMIM's withdrawal from Mozambique, the result of financial difficulties, comes at a time when terrorist attacks have increased in Cabo Delgado. A week ago, Islamic State-backed insurgents ransacked the major town of Macomia in Cabo Delgado province following a dawn assault in which over 20 soldiers may have been killed, according to local media reports. A senior project leader for South Africa-based Institute of Justice and Reconciliation, Webster Zambara, said SADC should reconsider its withdrawal. "Actually it's the first time in Southern Africa where we would have a troop from east Africa stationed in one country to fight a war that actually is affecting not only one country Mozambique, but others like Tanzania, also Malawi and probably the whole region, and the bigger picture is that terrorism issues tend to be very long if we are to look at al-Shabab in East Africa and also Boko Haram in West Africa, so we may actually need to see SADC revisiting its position on this," said Zambara. Last month, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), issued an appeal for almost half a billion dollars in emergency aid to support affected and displaced Mozambicans in Cabo Delgado. The humanitarian crisis there has left 1.3 million people needing humanitarian aid. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Readout of National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan's Meeting with Palestinian Officials May 20, 2024 On Sunday, May 19, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Secretary General Hussein Al Sheikh and Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa. They discussed the crisis in Gaza and efforts to end the fighting through a hostage deal and to increase the flow of humanitarian assistance. They also discussed the new PA government's reform agenda and the importance of the international community providing financial support to enable this new government to succeed. Mr. Sullivan finally commended the efforts of the Palestinian Authority Security Forces to maintain stability in the West Bank. ### NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russo-Ukraine War - 20 May 2024 - Day 817 Su M Tu W Th F Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While GlobalSecurity.org takes utmost care to accurately report this news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos. On 24 February 2022, Ukraine was suddenly and deliberately attacked by land, naval and air forces of Russia, igniting the largest European war since the Great Patriotic War. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" (SVO - spetsialnaya voennaya operatsiya) in Ukraine in response to the appeal of the leaders of the "Donbass republics" for help. That attack is a blatant violation of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Putin stressed that Moscow's goal is the demilitarization and denazification of the country. The military buildup in preceeding months makes it obvious that the unprovoked and dastardly Russian attack was deliberately planned long in advance. During the intervening time, the Russian government had deliberately sought to deceive the world by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace. "To initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." [Judgment of the International Military Tribunal] The UK Ministry of Defence reported that Russia is currently experiencing a labour shortage that is becoming a significant problem in some sectors. According to estimates by the independent Russian media outlet Izvestia Russia had a 4.8 million shortage of workers in 2023. As an example, the Russian transport and logistics industry was unable to fill 25% of its truck driver vacancies during 2023. The labour shortage has at least in part been caused by Russia's war in Ukraine, which has led to mobilisation of parts of the working population and emigration by some skilled professionals seeking to avoid the call-up. More recently, the labour shortage has been exacerbated by restrictions on migrant employment implemented following the 22 March 2024 ISIS-K terrorist incident in Moscow. As a result of the labour shortages, a group of Russian parliamentarians are looking at possible amendments to the Russian labour code. If enacted, it would mean that excess labour force could be moved under state supervision to a place of work which lacks sufficient labour. The moves will be temporary and workers will only be transferred with their consent. However, although not coercive, it is a potential move towards the mobilisation of labour. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that since the beginning of the day, there have been 95 combat encounters, Russian forces launched five missiles (using six missiles), 39 air strikes (dropped 40 cabs) and 309 kamikaze drone strikes, also carried out 2910 shelling of the positions of Ukrainian troops using different types of weaponry. In the Kharkiv direction, the number of boezitknen compared to the past day has decreased almost twice. Today, Russian forces made five attempts to break through the defenses of Ukrainian troops in the areas of Staritsa, Liptsiv and Vovchansk. The fights are still ongoing in three locations. The situation is under control. Ukrainian soldiers in some areas conducted a number of assault operations, measures to strengthen defense resilience are ongoing. Today in the Kharkiv direction, Russian foreigners have already lost 26 people killed and wounded and 15 units of weapons and military equipment. In the Kupiansky direction, the number of attempts of Russian occupiers to go forward increased to 13. Fighting is ongoing in the areas of the villages of Synkivka and Stelmakhivka. In the course of fighting, the loss of positions and territories is not allowed. In the Sivers komu direction, three attacks of zagarbnikiv. Another fight is ongoing in the area of bilogorivka. In the kramators komu direction the number of boezitknen is 13. One more continues near Andriyivka. The situation is tense but in control. Russian forces suffer losses - 190 people irrepressibly and sanitarnimi and 12 units of military equipment. Also, three warehouses flew into the air: two with ammunition and one with fuel-oil materials. In the Pokrovsk direction since the beginning of the day, 25 Russian offensive and assault actions have been repelled. Seven more boezitknen continue. Ukrainian troops are using border control measures and regrouping in particular areas. The total losses of the Russian opponent are specified, but it is already known about nearly four hundred eliminated and injured occupants since the beginning of the current day. The defense forces are taking measures to stabilize the situation. In the Kurahivs komu direction, the situation remains tense. The Defense Forces repelled eight Russian attacks. Three clashes are still ongoing. In the area of Netaylov, the situation is characterized by high enemy activity. In other areas, Ukrainian units conducted planned actions on designated command areas of the line of combat. In the Vremivs komu direction, four Russian attempts to advance in the direction of Staromayorskogo failed. In the pridniprovs komu direction the Russian occupiers continue attempts to push Ukrainian soldiers out of placdarmiv on the left bank of the dnieper. Russian forces carried out four attacks in the direction of oleskivs ki sand - krinki. In the course of fighting, the loss of positions is not allowed. At the end of the directions, the situation at this time is without much changes. In the limans komu, torets ,komu and orihivs komu directions the Russian occupiers today did not carry out active offensive actions. The Defense Forces execute an effective fire impact in order to intercept the initiative on the battlefield and exhaust the Russian offensive potential. Yes, the control point, anti-aircraft means, artillery system, ammunition warehouse and three other important Russian objects have been affected by rocket troops and artillery forces. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that losses were inflicted on manpower and hardware of the AFU 42nd Mechanised Brigade near Glubokoye (Kharkov region). In addition, two counter-attacks launched by the enemy's assault detachments were repelled near Volchansk and Staritsa (Kharkov region). The AFU losses amounted to up to 380 Ukrainian troops, eight motor vehicles, three 122-mm Gvozdika self-propelled artillery systems, and one Bukovel electronic warfare station. Units of the Zapad Group of Forces improved the tactical situation and inflicted losses on formations of the AFU 63rd Mechanised Brigade and 1st National Guard Brigade near Chervonaya Dibrova and Kuzmino (Lugansk People's Republic). The AFU losses amounted to up to 60 Ukrainian troops, one tank, one armoured personnel carrier, three motor vehicles, one 152-mm D-20 howitzer, and one 122-mm Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system. Units of the Yug Group of Forces completely liberated Belogorovka (Lugansk People's Republic) and took more advantageous lines and positions. Losses were inflicted on the enemy's manpower and hardware near Spornoye, Razdolovka, Kleshcheyevka, and Konstantinovka (Donetsk People's Republic). The AFU losses amounted to more than 340 Ukrainian troops, three tanks, and three motor vehicles. In the course of counter-battery warfare, two 122-mm D-30 howitzers, two UK-made 105-mm L-119 howitzers, one U.S.-made 105-mm M119 howitzer, and one Bukovel-AD electronic warfare station were neutralised. Four AFU ammunition depots were destroyed. Units of the Tsentr Group of Forces improved the tactical situation and inflicted losses on formations of the AFU 47th Mechanised Brigade, 25th Airborne Brigade, and 142nd Infantry Brigade near Umanskoye, Netaylovo, and Ocheretino (Donetsk People's Republic). One counter-attack launched by an assault detachment of the AFU 143rd Infantry Brigade was repelled near Solovyovo (Donetsk People's Republic). The AFU losses amounted to more than 330 Ukrainian troops, one tank, three infantry fighting vehicles, including one German-made Marder and one U.S.-made Bradley, as well as two motor vehicles. In the course of counter-battery warfare, one U.S.-made 155-mm M109 Paladin self-propelled artillery system, one U.S.-made 155-mm M777 howitzer, one 152-mm Msta-B howitzer, and one 122-mm D-30 howitzer were neutralised. Units of the Vostok Group of Forces inflicted losses on the enemy's manpower and hardware near Urozhaynoye and Staromayorskoye (Donetsk People's Republic). One counter-attack launched by an assault detachment of the AFU 72nd Mechanised Brigade was repelled near Vladimirovka (Donetsk People's Republic). The AFU losses amounted to up to 120 Ukrainian troops, two armoured personnel carriers, three motor vehicles, and one 152-mm D-20 howitzer. Units of the Dnepr Group of Forces inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the AFU 65th Mechanised Brigade, 141st Infantry Brigade, 128th Mountain Assault Brigade, and 108th Territorial Defence Brigade near Stepnoye (Kherson region), Stepnogorsk, Rabotino, and Novopokrovka (Zaporozhye region). One AFU sabotage and reconnaissance group was eliminated on the Pereyaslavsky island. The AFU losses amounted to up to 30 Ukrainian troops, one tank, nine motor vehicles, one 152-mm Akatsiya self-propelled artillery system, and one 152-mm D-20 howitzer. Operational-Tactical Aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, and Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces neutralised one German-made IRIS-T air defence system radar station and one S-125 SAM system. A meeting place of command of the AFU 92nd and 95th assault brigades were hit, as well as the enemy's manpower and hardware was engaged in 138 areas. Air defence units shot down 45 unmanned aerial vehicles, one French-made Hammer guided aerial bomb, four U.S.-made HIMARS and Olkha MLRS projectiles, and one Neptune anti-ship missile. ?? In total, 601 airplanes and 274 helicopters, 24,419 unmanned aerial vehicles, 523 air defence missile systems, 16,097 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,305 combat vehicles equipped with MLRS, 9,700 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 21,843 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russo-Ukraine War - 21 May 2024 - Day 818 Su M Tu W Th F Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While GlobalSecurity.org takes utmost care to accurately report this news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos. On 24 February 2022, Ukraine was suddenly and deliberately attacked by land, naval and air forces of Russia, igniting the largest European war since the Great Patriotic War. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" (SVO - spetsialnaya voennaya operatsiya) in Ukraine in response to the appeal of the leaders of the "Donbass republics" for help. That attack is a blatant violation of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Putin stressed that Moscow's goal is the demilitarization and denazification of the country. The military buildup in preceeding months makes it obvious that the unprovoked and dastardly Russian attack was deliberately planned long in advance. During the intervening time, the Russian government had deliberately sought to deceive the world by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace. "To initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." [Judgment of the International Military Tribunal] The UK Ministry of Defence reported that although Russia has opened a new axis in the north-eastern Ukrainian oblast of Kharkiv, Russian attacks remain high in eastern Ukraine. Russian forces continued their operational focus on the axis north-west of Avdiivka with attacks on a broad frontage either side of the E50 highway. Russian forces have likely made a series of small tactical gains over the last 72 hours, though probably at heavy cost. The E50 highway represents the main line of communication between Russian held Donetsk and the Ukrainian held town of Pokrovsk, which remains approximately 30km from current frontline position, but is likely a Russian operational objective. Russian attacks in this direction likely seek to create a salient and split Ukrainian forces in Donetsk. To the north of Bakhmut, in the vicinity of the town of Siversk, Ukrainian forces reported heavy clashes with Russian forces on 18 and 19 May 2024 with attacks against Ukrainian positions in Bilohorivka, Verknokamianske, and Rozdolivka. Russian gains in this area remain highly limited. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that Russia continues active operations in most directions, trying to break through the defenses of Ukrainian troops. There have been 86 combat clashes this day. Most of all - in the lanes of defense of Ukrainian units in Pokrovsky, Kharkiv, Siver and Kramatorsky directions. The Defense Forces of Ukraine suppress the pressure and give a decisive cut to the Russian actions. In the Kharkiv direction since the beginning of the day, there were 12 combat clashes. Fighting continues in the areas of Vovchansk and Staritsa. The Russian aviation dropped controlled air bombs on Vovchansk, Liptsi and three at once - on the White Well. The situation remains under the control of Ukrainian units, Ukrainian soldiers inflict the Russian enemy with a fire impression. The total Russian losses in this direction are already 71 persons and 14 units of weapons and military equipment. Among other things, damaged Russian rszv bm-21 "grad". In the Kupians komu direction, Russian occupiers attacked Ukrainian defensive borders nine times. Fighting clashes in the areas of the settlements of Synkivka and Ivanivka continue. In the sivers komu direction, the combat in the area of bilogorivki. In the kramators komu direction the number of combat clashes of the current day increased to ten. Ukrainian soldiers continue to repel the Russian assault in the area of the settlement of Klishchiyivka. The enemy of success is not the one. In the pokrovs komu direction fighting in the directions of settlements kalinove, novooleksandrivka, falcon, umans ke, as well as progress. In total, Russia has tried to improve the tactical position 33 times. Ukrainian defenders strictly respond to Russian occupiers. At this time, Russia lost a total of 47 Russian occupiers and 14 units of arms and military equipment here. In particular, destroyed ZRK "Kub" and MT-LB, damaged one tank and one heavy fire-throwing system TOS-1 Russians. The sixth for today, and also unsuccessful, the attempt of the captors to advance in the direction of the village of Staromayorske was repelled by Ukrainian defenders in the Vrmivs komu direction. In the pridniprovs komu direction Russian terrorists did aviudariv in the areas of novoberislava and veselogo, dropping on each three kabi. The rest of the destinations do not have significant changes in the environment. From the beginning of the day, the aviation of the Air Force, the army aviation and the units of the rocket troops and artillery of the Defense Forces of Ukraine hit a total of 16 concentration areas of the Russian occupiers, two radio stations and one Russian artillery system. Ukrainian soldiers keep Russian forces under strict fire control. The command is taking the necessary measures to dispose of the means of fire damage. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that losses were inflicted on manpower and hardware of the AFU 125th Mechanised Brigade, 112th, and 113th territorial defence brigades near Konstantinovka, Okhrimovka, and Granov (Kharkov region). Three counter-attacks launched by the enemy's assault detachments were repelled near Volchansk and Staritsa (Kharkov region). The AFU losses amounted to up to 245 Ukrainian troops, two tanks, two armoured fighting vehicles, two pickup trucks, three 152-mm 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled artillery systems, one 152-mm D-20 howitzer, and one U.S.-made AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery warfare station. Units of the Zapad Group of Forces took more advantageous lines and inflicted losses on formations of the AFU 14th, 21st, and 66th mechanised brigades near Novosadovoye, Ivanovka (Donetsk People's Republic), and Nevskoye (Lugansk People's Republic). Six counter-attacks launched by the AFU assault detachments were repelled near Stelmakhovka, Chervonaya Dibrova (Lugansk People's Republic), and Grigorovka (Donetsk People's Republic). The AFU losses amounted to up to 425 Ukrainian troops, one tank, two armoured personnel carriers, six motor vehicles, one 122-mm D-30 howitzer, and one 122-mm 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system. Two U.S.-made AN/TPQ-37 counter-battery warfare stations were destroyed. Units of the Yug Group of Forces improved the tactical situation along the front line and inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the AFU 57th Mechanised Brigade, 105th, and 118th territorial defence brigades near Konstantinovka, Razdolovka, and Chasov Yar (Donetsk People's Republic). The AFU losses amounted to more than 320 Ukrainian troops, one tank, two infantry fighting vehicles, and two U.S.-made 155-mm M777 howitzers. One AFU ammunition depot was destroyed. Units of the Tsentr Group of Forces improved the tactical situation, as well as inflicted losses on formations of the AFU 68th Jaeger Brigade and 24th Mechanised Brigade near Semyonovka and Novgorodskoye (Donetsk People's Republic). Seven counter-attacks launched by assault detachments of the AFU 71st Jaeger Brigade, 47th, and 110th mechanised brigades were repelled near Ocheretino, Solovyovo, and Umanskoye (Donetsk People's Republic). The AFU losses amounted to up to 420 Ukrainian troops, five armoured fighting vehicles, including four U.S.-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, six motor vehicles, one 152-mm Msta-B howitzer, one 122-mm Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, and one 122-mm D-30 howitzer. Units of the Vostok Group of Forces took more advantageous lines and inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the AFU 128th Territorial Defence Brigade near Velikaya Novosyolka and Makarovka (Donetsk People's Republic). One counter-attack of the enemy was repelled near Staromayorskoye (Donetsk People's Republic). The AFU losses amounted to up to 145 Ukrainian troops, two infantry fighting vehicles, eight motor vehicles, one U.S.-made 155-mm M198 howitzer, one U.S.-made 155-mm M777 howitzer, and one 122-mm D-30 howitzer. Units of the Dnepr Group of Forces inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the AFU 37th Marines Brigade, 65th Mechanised Brigade, and 15th National Guard Brigade near Veseloye (Kherson region), Rabotino, and Malaya Tokmachka (Zaporozhye region). The AFU losses amounted to up to 105 Ukrainian troops, seven motor vehicles, two U.S.-made 155-mm M777 howitzers, one 152-mm 2A36 Giatsint-B howitzer, and one 122-mm BM-21 Grad MLRS combat vehicle. Operational-Tactical Aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces have engaged AFU manpower and hardware clusters in 95 areas during the day. Air Defence units shot down 45 unmanned aerial vehicles, two U.S.-made ATACMS operational-tactical missiles, eight French-made SCALP-EG cruise missiles, five French-made Hammer guided aerial bombs, four U.S.-made HARM anti-radiation missiles, and eight U.S.-made HIMARS and Olkha MLRS projectiles. ?? In total, 601 airplanes and 274 helicopters, 24,464 unmanned aerial vehicles, 523 air defence missile systems, 16,114 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,306 combat vehicles equipped with MLRS, 9,717 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 21,872 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address This resolution was not a serious attempt to address the security of space: UK statement at the UN Security Council Explanation of Vote by UK Political Coordinator Fergus Eckersley at the UN Security Council meeting on non-proliferation. 20 May 2024 Thank you, President, the UK is committed to preventing an arms race in outer space. That is why we introduced a resolution in the General Assembly last year establishing norms, rules, and principles of responsible behaviour to reduce threats to space systems. It was adopted with the overwhelming support of 166 Member States. And it is why the UK supported the US and Japanese draft resolution in this Council, which sought to affirm the basic obligations of the Outer Space Treaty and prevent any nuclear weapons being placed in orbit around Earth. The detonation of a nuclear weapon in space could destroy or permanently damage a significant proportion of satellites in orbit around Earth, with highly disruptive and potentially life-threatening consequences for the essential space technology applications that we all rely on. It should be deeply concerning to all of us that Russia vetoed that resolution. Russia's counter resolution that we voted on today was simply not credible. It was a cynical attempt to distract attention away from reports that Moscow is developing a new satellite carrying a nuclear device. The resolution was built around language that was voted down just a few weeks ago by this Council and was widely opposed again in negotiations. So why put it to a vote again? This was not a serious attempt to address the security of space. And Russia knows very well its proposals were not verifiable or enforceable. Coming from a country which has flouted so many obligations in arms control, this raises the red flag. Let me remind you of Russia's recent track record: plans to withdraw ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; withdrawal from Open Skies and the Comprehensive Forces in Europe Treaties; suspending participation in New Start, violating the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty and the Chemical Weapons Convention; and, of course, breaching this Council's resolutions on Iran and DPRK. Colleagues, we need to redouble efforts to avoid an arms race in outer space, and to ensure our collective security. That requires serious, good faith discussion about the arms control architecture. We remain ready and willing to engage in those as a matter of urgency. Thank you. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address HMAS Anzac farewelled after 30 years' service By Lieutenant Eleanor Williams 20 May 2024 Navy frigate HMAS Anzac III, the first of her class, was decommissioned on Saturday, May 18 after nearly three decades in service. Commissioned on May 18, 1996 under command of then Captain Les Pataky, the Anzac-class helicopter frigate, FFH 150, was named in recognition of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corp and attended both the 90th and 100th remembrance services in Gallipoli. Commander Barton Harrington said it was an honour to be the final commanding officer of the ship and reminisced on his time at the helm. "Anzac has served an exceptional tenure and is the hallmark vessel for its numerous operations, deployments and commemorative activities," Commander Harrington said. He was exceptionally proud of ship's company for their continued commitment and efforts during their time served on board. "The people who have served in Anzac over the last 28 years have contributed significantly to protecting our maritime environment, strengthening relationships with international partners and representing the Royal Australian Navy," he said. "Today marks the completion of her time as the First Lady of the Fleet." At the centre of some of Australia's most important international engagements, Anzac conducted operations in fisheries protection, peacekeeping with three deployments to the Persian Gulf. Her accolades include: Battle Honours for East Timor 1999, Persian Gulf 2001-03, Iraq 2003 and Middle East 2007-13. Her most notable award was a Meritorious Unit Citation for naval gunfire support provided during the Battle of Al Faw. The ship's motto, 'United we Stand', was fitting as current crew lined the decks with former crew, including the commissioning Commanding Officer, Commodore Pataky, watching on. Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Mark Hammond and the Minister on behalf of the Prime Minister, Madeline King, were also in attendance for the decommissioning ceremony. Vice Admiral Hammond said it was a day of sadness and of pride, acknowledging current and former crew and thanking families for their support. "Our power at sea is derived from your strength, your resilience, your support and love for your sailors and officers," he said. Commander Australian Fleet Rear Admiral Christopher Smith took up his position on the dais, receiving the Australian White Ensign from Commander Harrington. Anzac's crew conducted their final march past, led by Parade Commander Lieutenant Commander Matthew Green and Guard Commander Lieutenant Jemma Dart, accompanied by the Royal Australian Navy band. Leading Seaman Claire Brown said it was a great experience to be a part of the decommissioning crew and has fond memories of her time on board. "Anzac is the second ship I have served in, with the regional presence deployment to Japan and Korea my favourite to date," Leading Seaman Brown said. "The greatest part is that I get to serve with my best friend." The ceremony concluded after midday with an evening of celebration following at Optus Stadium for the ship's decommissioning ball. While sunset has fallen on Anzac, her legacy and spirit remain. Seven frigates of the Anzac class will continue to serve and fulfil their commitment to the nation. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Deputy Secretary Campbell's Meeting with Brazilian Secretary General of Foreign Affairs US Department of State Readout Office of the Spokesperson May 20, 2024 The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller: Deputy Secretary of State Kurt M. Campbell met with Brazilian Secretary General of the Ministry of External Relations Maria Laura da Rocha today in Washington, D.C. for the semi-annual U.S.-Brazil High Level Dialogue. In honor of the 200thanniversary of diplomatic relations, Deputy Secretary Campbell and Secretary General da Rocha reaffirmed the importance of the bilateral partnership to advance shared regional and global priorities. The Deputy Secretary discussed U.S. support for Brazil during its G20 presidency and welcomed Brazil's leadership in the region to promote democratic ideals, respect for human rights, climate action, and the clean energy transition. The Deputy Secretary expressed U.S. solidarity with those impacted by severe flooding in southern Brazil and announced an additional $800,000 in U.S. support through the United States Agency for International Development for Brazilian relief efforts bringing total US assistance for the floods to $1,000,000. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address First China-Mongolia joint army drill wrapped up with live-action featuring 100+ armored vehicles Global Times By Liu Xuanzun Published: May 20, 2024 10:31 PM As the armies of China and Mongolia on Sunday wrapped up their first joint drill with a live-action exercise featuring more than 100 armored vehicles, experts said on Monday that the large-scale exercise could be just a start for more similar drills to in the future. The full-procedure, full-element live-action comprehensive exercise of the China-Mongolia Steppe Partner-2024 army joint drill commenced on Sunday morning, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on the day. The exercise was themed "tackling activities by illegal armed groups" and aimed at honing interoperability between the two armies, CCTV reported. During the live-action exercise, various types of drones, including hand-thrown fixed-wing drones and rotor-wing drones, were launched to conduct reconnaissance, while air defense teams seized vantage points and carried out attacks on mock hostile targets in the air with man-portable air defense missiles, according to the CCTV report. Under the artillery fire support from Type 05 self-propelled gun-mortars, two assault teams featuring Type 08 infantry fighting vehicles and Type 11 wheeled assault guns moved forward from the left and right wings. More than 100 armored vehicles from the two sides successfully breached the mock hostile defense line, as over half of the key firing points were destroyed in the process. After multiple waves of attack, the Chinese-Mongolian troops surrounded the mock enemies, before completely eliminating them with multiple types of weapons, CCTV said. "This is the first time the Chinese and Mongolian armies have organized a joint drill, and it focused on making exchanges and learning from each other, honing capabilities through realistic combat, and safeguarding regional peace and stability," said Ju Qiqi, the commander of the Chinese participating forces, as quoted in the CCTV report. The two sides jointly planned, commanded and operated in the exercise, enhanced the capability of jointly cracking down illegal armed groups, and further deepened the two militaries' strategic mutual trust and pragmatic cooperation, Ju said. Fu Qianshao, a Chinese military expert, told the Global Times on Monday that the participation of more than 100 armored vehicles in the exercise marked an unprecedented scale. China and Mongolia share a long border line, and their joint exercises on countering illegal armed groups, which are categorized as non-traditional security threats, are conducive to peace and stability in the region, another Chinese military expert told the Global Times, requesting anonymity. Experts also noted that in the exercise, China was able to transport a large number of heavy equipment to Mongolia rapidly through railway, meaning that should instabilities occur in the vicinity of China, China can provide help. The Steppe Partner-2024 joint exercise was launched on May 12 in Dornogovi Province, Mongolia, according to official reports. The Chinese participating forces set out from China via railway on May 6 and arrived at destination on May 9. In November 2023, China and Mongolia held the Border Defense Cooperatoin-2023 joint exercise in the border region in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region under the topic of stopping illegal criminal activities along the borders, in a move to improving the two countries' border defense troops' capabilities in jointly curbing border smuggling and terrorist activities and safeguarding border peace and stability, the Chinese Defense Ministry said at the time. Analysts said that the Steppe Partner-2024 joint army exercise is a further development in China-Mongolia defense cooperation, and it is possible that similar exercises will become routine based on developments in bilateral ties as well as domestic and international situations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Message to President of China Xi Jinping Vladimir Putin sent a message of gratitude to President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping, thanking him for the warm welcome and hospitality. May 20, 2024 12:30 The message from the Russian President reads, in part: "I would like to express my cordial appreciation for the warm reception and hospitality accorded to me and the Russian delegation during our state visit to the People's Republic of China. This visit left me with genuinely lively and unforgettable impressions. I am sure that our substantive talks will promote further relations of all-round partnership and strategic interaction between Moscow and Beijing. I will be glad to continue our constructive and comradely dialogue and close joint work on current issues on the bilateral, regional and international agendas. Please remember that you are always a welcome and dear guest on the Russian soil. From the bottom of my heart, I wish you, my dear friend, good health, wellbeing and success in your state activities." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on May 20, 2024 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China 2024-05-20 23:28 Reuters: I noted two points made by the Philippine National Security Council Spokesperson Jonathan Malaya during today's press conference. First, Malaya said there was a growing consensus within the Philippine government on the need to file a case against China over the destruction of coral reefs, including the harvesting of endangered giant clams, in the South China Sea. Second, Malaya also commented on the regulations released by China Coast Guard last week, saying that China had no authority over the high seas and the latest regulations went contrary to international law. What's China's comment? Wang Wenbin: On your first question, I noted earlier media reports saying that according to some in the Philippines, large amounts of coral reefs surrounding Zhongye Dao are severely degraded, the damage is man-made, and the only suspect is China. Let me make it very clear, China has indisputable sovereignty over Nansha Qundao, including Zhongye Dao, and the adjacent waters. The Philippines illegally occupied China's Zhongye Dao and has carried out frequent activities in the adjacent waters of Zhongye Dao. If any environmental degradation appears in those waters, it is the Philippines who needs to reflect on its behavior, instead of wrongly accusing China. On your second question, the regulations are rolled out by China Coast Guard to standardize the administrative law-enforcement procedures of Coast Guard agencies and better uphold order at sea. It is consistent with universal practices. Individuals and entities have no need for concern as long as they have not done anything illicit. Xinhua News Agency: Could you share with us more details about Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to Tajikistan? Wang Wenbin: At the invitation of Tajikistan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sirojiddin Muhriddin, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi paid an official visit to Tajikistan. During the visit, Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon and held talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs Muhriddin. The two foreign ministers signed cooperation documents between the two foreign ministries and jointly met the press. Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during the meeting and talks that no matter how the international landscape may evolve, China will always be a trustworthy friend and partner for Tajikistan. China stands ready to work with Tajikistan to expand trade, unleash the potential in connectivity, promote cooperation in mineral resources, broaden cooperation in emerging areas, such as new energy and green transition, and help Tajikistan accelerate industrialization, upgrade socioeconomic development, embark on a successful path of development and rejuvenation and bring tangible benefits to the people of Tajikistan. Tajikistan noted that China is its important strategic partner, and advancing its relations with China is a priority in its foreign policy. Tajikistan will, as always, firmly uphold the one-China principle, view Taiwan as an inalienable part of China's territory, oppose "Taiwan independence" in any form and support the Chinese government's effort to achieve national reunification. Both sides are of the view that what China and Tajikistan have achieved together under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Emomali Rahmonaestablishing the comprehensive strategic partnership in the spirit of good-neighborliness and friendship, agreeing to, in line with the trend of the times, build a community for security, a community of development between China and Tajikistan, and, on that basis, a China-Tajikistan community with a shared futureais a vivid example of how neighbors can and should get along by embracing mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit. This is also a shining example of state-to-state relations. Looking to the future, the two sides need to focus on cooperation in the following areas. First, firmly support each other's core interests. Second, continue to tap the great potential of mutually beneficial cooperation. Third, accelerate people-to-people and cultural exchanges. China welcomes Tajikistan's 14-day visa-free policy for eligible Chinese citizens and looks forward to having more young people from Tajikistan to study in China. Fourth, firmly uphold regional security and stability and deepen counterterrorism cooperation. The two sides need to strengthen efforts to fight terrorism, separatism and extremism, step up border control, enhance exchange and consultation on efforts against foreign interference and jointly guard against "color revolution." China supports the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Anti-Drug Center in Dushanbe. Fifth, maintain close multilateral coordination. The two sides need to strengthen the China-Central Asia mechanism and make it a success, bolster coordination within the UN, the SCO and other multilateral frameworks, practice true multilateralism, and advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world and universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization. Tajikistan will fully support China's work as the next rotating chair of the SCO. China Daily: On May 17, UN Human Rights Council's Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of the unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights Alena Douhan held a press briefing in Beijing on her visit to China and called on sanctioning parties to lift unilateral sanctions applied to China. What's your comment? Wang Wenbin: At China's invitation, UN Human Rights Council's Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of the unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights Alena Douhan visited China from May 6 to 17. She visited Beijing, Xinjiang and Shenzhen, and exchanged views with relevant government institutions, businesses, associations, and non-governmental organizations. On the final leg of her visit, she held a press briefing in Beijing on the visit. She stressed that unilateral sanctions must not be used as foreign policy tool and means of economic coercion, and relevant countries' unilateral sanctions against China are illegal under international law and have a negative impact on human rights. These sanctioning countries should lift their unilateral sanctions against China. Unilateral sanctions are diametrically opposed to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and the basic norms in international relations. Such sanctions seriously violate human rights and disrupt cooperation in international development. China firmly opposes it. We call on relevant countries to heed the just call from the international community, and lift all illicit unilateral sanctions at once. China is willing to step up communication with UN human rights mechanisms and other parties to jointly further enhance the world's understanding of the illicit nature and danger of unilateral sanctions and strive to remove their negative impact on countries globally for the sound advancement of the international human rights cause. Anadolu Agency: Taiwan's new leader Lai Ching-te was inaugurated today. And in his first speech, he said China and Taiwan are not subordinate to each other and emphasized Taiwan has sovereignty. What's China's comments? Wang Wenbin: I'd refer you to competent authorities on specific questions. Let me stress that "Taiwan independence" leads nowhere. No matter what banner or pretext the separatists use, "Taiwan independence" is doomed to failure. Shenzhen TV: We noted that on May 16, the 33rd Ordinary Session of the Council of the League of Arab States at the Summit Level was held and the Arab states wrote the commitment to the one-China principle into the session's resolution. What's China's comment? Wang Wenbin: The Arab states wrote the commitment to the one-China principle into the session's resolution. We highly appreciate it. This shows that the Arab states firmly uphold the UN Charter and basic norms in international relations and demonstrates once again that the one-China principle is the right thing to do and is where global opinion trends. China and the Arab states are good friends and partners. China stands ready to work with the Arab states to firmly support each other on issues concerning respective core interests and major concerns, uphold fairness and justice, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and elevate the relations between China and Arab states to a new level. CCTV: For some time, some in the US have been spreading claims that distort UNGA Resolution 2758, saying that the Resolution "did not make a determination on the status of Taiwan...and does not preclude Taiwan's meaningful participation in the UN system." What is your comment? Wang Wenbin: Taiwan is not a country. It has been an inalienable part of China's territory since ancient times. The international community has long reached the conclusion on this. It is a vital component of the post-WWII international order. The 1943 Cairo Declaration explicitly demands that "all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and the Pescadores, shall be restored" to China. The 1945 Potsdam Proclamation further stipulates that the "terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out." Japan in both the 1945 Japanese Instrument of Surrender and the 1972 China-Japan Joint CommuniquA pledged to observe the above-mentioned term of the Potsdam Proclamation. Be it in legal or factual terms, Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. UNGA Resolution 2758 settled the question of who shall represent the whole of China, that is, the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China, including Taiwan, at the UN. The Resolution made it clear that there is but one China in the world and Taiwan is part of China and a non-sovereign entity. It reaffirmed the one-China principle. Over the past half a century and more since the adoption of the Resolution, UN Secretaries-General and their spokespersons, in their Taiwan-related remarks, have clearly stated the UN is guided by UNGA Resolution 2758 and committed to the one-China principle. The official legal opinions of the Office of Legal Affairs of the UN Secretariat made it pretty clear that Taiwan is "an integral part" of China and that "the United Nations considers 'Taiwan' as a province of China with no separate status." The number of countries that have established diplomatic relations with China on the basis of the one-China principle has jumped from over 60 to 183. This clearly demonstrates that the one-China principle is not only a prevailing international consensus, but also a basic norm of international relations. Some in the US claim that UNGA Resolution 2758 "did not make a determination on the status of Taiwan" and "does not preclude Taiwan's meaningful participation in the UN system." This is a lie. They are trying to reopen the closed case that Taiwan is part of Chinaaa matter already settled by the international community once and for allato deny UNGA 2758 and the one-China principle. This move that turns back the wheel of history is a challenge to not only China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, but also international justice and conscience and the post-WWII international order. This is extremely preposterous and dangerous. China will and must achieve reunification. No one or force can hold it back. Our message to some in the US: The trend of the world is surging forward. Those who follow the trend will prosper; those who go against it will perish. Those who challenge the one-China principle will be swept away by the trend of the times; those who turn back the wheel of history will be run over by it.a AFP: What is the Chinese government's reaction to the death of the Iranian President? Wang Wenbin: President Xi Jinping has sent a message of condolences to Iran's First Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber. On behalf of the Chinese government and people, President Xi expressed deep condolences over the passing of President Ebrahim Raisi in the helicopter accident and heartfelt sympathies to First Vice-President Mokhber, President Raisi's family and the government and people of Iran. President Xi noted that after taking office, President Raisi made important contribution to ensuring Iran's security and stability and promoting national development and prosperity, and made strong efforts to consolidate and advance Iran's comprehensive strategic partnership with China. The unfortunate passing of President Raisi is a profound loss to the Iranian people, and the Chinese people have lost a cherished friend. The Chinese government and people deeply value the traditional friendship between our two countries and believe that with the concerted effort of both sides, the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership will continue to go from strength to strength. China also expresses deep condolences over the unfortunate passing of Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and heartfelt sympathies to his family. In the wake of the accident, China closely followed the situation and expressed readiness to provide all necessary support and assistance to Iran. China firmly supports the Iranian government and people in upholding independence, stability and development and stands ready to work with Iran to further deepen the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership. CCTV: At recent events for friendly exchanges, leaders from various countries and international organizations and people from various social sectors who are friendly towards China have openly stated their commitment to the one-China principle, support for China's effort to uphold sovereignty and territorial integrity, and opposition to "Taiwan independence" separatism and external interference in China's internal affairs. What's China's comment? Wang Wenbin: Over the past few days, leaders and political parties from countries that have diplomatic relations with China, people from various sectors friendly towards China and heads of major international organizations attended friendly exchange activities organized by China to review the journey of establishing diplomatic ties with China and achievements of cooperation with China. They all speak with a strong voice for the just commitment to the one-China principle and demonstrated a firm stance against "Taiwan independence" separatism and external interference in the Taiwan question. The one-China principle is a prevailing consensus in the international community, a basic norm governing international relations and also the political foundation and premise for China to develop relations with countries in the world. Facts prove once and again that upholding the one-China principle is a universal consensus and is where global opinion trends and the arc of history bends. The overwhelming majority of countries and international and regional organizations in the world stand firmly with the Chinese government and people and support China's just cause of opposing "Taiwan independence" and promoting reunification. I want to stress that there is but one China in the world. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory. The government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. No matter what political changes may take place in Taiwan, it cannot change the historical and legal fact that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same China, the world's abiding commitment to the one-China principle, and still less the historical trend that China will and must achieve reunification. The political manipulation and self-serving stunts on the Taiwan question by certain politicians in a handful of countries grossly interfere in China's internal affairs and violate the one-China principle. China strongly condemns this and will take all necessary measures to firmly uphold national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Nothing shall hold hack the trend of history. The pursuit of "Taiwan independence" is a dead end. External interference in China's internal affairs and encouragement and support for "Taiwan independence" will lead nowhere. Using Taiwan to contain China is doomed to failure. The Chinese people's just cause of opposing "Taiwan independence" separatism and striving for national reunification will enjoy wider and wider understanding and support from the international community. The day will come when China will be fully reunified. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China probes rural minister Tang Renjian for 'serious violations' The investigation is the latest in a string of probes targeting high-ranking Communist Party officials. By Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin 2024.05.20 -- Authorities in China investigate Tang Renjian, minister for agriculture and rural affairs, for "serious violations of discipline and law," the latest in a string of high-ranking officials to be targeted by Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign, according to the ruling Communist Party's disciplinary arm. Tang is "under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection for serious violations of discipline and law," a May 18 announcement on the commission's website said, without further details. The secretive commission has broad-ranging powers to investigate the doings of party members while holding them for months in incommunicado detention, and to work alongside law enforcement if it deems a case worthy of criminal proceedings. The announcement came just three days after Tang appeared at the National Rural Talent Work Conference in the northern province of Shaanxi, state-backed media The Paper reported on Saturday in an article headlined "Tiger-hunting at the weekend," a reference to Xi's vow to go after high-ranking corrupt officials, the "tigers," as well as lower-ranking "flies." His photo had been removed from the list of high-ranking ministry personnel on the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs official website on Monday. Tang is the latest in a string of high-ranking Chinese officials to be placed under investigation in recent weeks, following the announcement of similar probes into former Beijing vice mayor Gao Peng, former vice minister for justice Liu Zhiqiang and former Minister of Justice Tang Yijun on April 2. In March, the Commission announced a similar probe into Liu Yuejin, former commissioner for counterterrorism at the Ministry of Public Security. 'Tigers and flies' Last October, Xi Jinping called on leaders at all levels of the party to "be brave enough to struggle" as part of efforts to boost ideological unity, and many commentators regard his anti-corruption campaign as a tool to deal with political rivals. When he came to power in 2012, Xi relied on his trademark "tigers and flies" anti-corruption campaigns to bring down his political rivals and generate "struggle" within party ranks. Chongqing-born Tang Renjian, 61, is a senior economist who had previously served as governor of Gansu province, and who had been carrying out research in Shaanxi at the time of the announcement. He had come under fire during his tenure for the "forest to farmland" campaign that cleared mountainous land to grow rice. A similar campaign was blamed for the demolition of a belt of parks and green spaces around the Sichuan provincial capital, Chengdu, last year. A retired civil servant from Gansu who asked to be identified only by his surname Zhao for fear of reprisals said Tang hadn't distinguished himself particularly while in the province, citing the "forests to farmland" campaign. "His agricultural policies during his tenure weren't much to write home about," Zhao said. "He was an official who came out of the Ministry of Agriculture." "He wanted to grow rice in mountainous regions, then it was making farmland from forests," he said. "Then that was all reversed after a while, because he wanted to set up an agricultural management system." Last year, China's official propaganda machine sprang into action to soothe public anger amid reports that local "agricultural management" officials threatened to uproot backyard fruit and vegetable plots as part of a rural "beautification" campaign. It was unclear whether Tang's political actions were connected to the investigation against him Rife with corruption Veteran current affairs commentator Cai Shenkun said Tang Renjian was a technocrat protege of retired former Vice Premier and economic tsar Liu He. "Judging from the latter part of his resume, he had a good relationship with Liu He because he was appointed as deputy director of the Central Finance Office when Liu He was director," Cai said, adding that he could be being investigated as part of the case against his former boss. According to estimates from the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research, corruption is so widespread throughout party and government ranks as to provide rich pickings for anyone looking for a good reason to bring down a powerful official. Recent research published by the bureau suggests that at least 65% of Chinese officials at bureau level and above are involved in some form of corrupt dealings. Last year, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection launched investigations into 87 mid-level officials, according to the Commission's annual work report to the National People's Congress earlier this year. Nationwide, disciplinary and supervisory authorities filed 626,000 cases for investigation, detained 26,000 individuals, and imposed the Party disciplinary or administrative punishment on 610,000 people, the state-backed Global Times newspaper reported. In addition, 1,624 fugitives were repatriated through the SkyNet overseas surveillance scheme, it said. Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster. Copyright 1998-2024, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Head of embattled Hong Kong journalists' union to step down Ronson Chan says he has been warned that denunciations will continue if he seeks re-election as chairman. By Alice Yam for RFA Cantonese 2024.05.20 -- Ronson Chan, an outspoken critic of diminishing press freedom who currently chairs the embattled Hong Kong Journalists' Association, has said he won't run again for office in union elections at the end of next month, saying he had been told that the organization would continue to be targeted by the authorities if he didn't step down. "I was going to fight for a last term ... [but] I have decided not to run for re-election," Chan announced via Facebook on May 14. "There seem to be more attacks when Ronson Chan is linked with the Hong Kong Journalists' Association than when they are separate." Chan, a former deputy assignment editor at now-shuttered independent media organization Stand News, first took the job following the raid on pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai's Next Digital media empire and the closure of its flagship Apple Daily newspaper in June 2021, an indication, he believed, that the 2020 National Security Law was going to be used to put pro-democracy media and anything that journalists wrote on trial. Officials in China and Hong Kong repeatedly claim that journalists are safe to carry out "legitimate" reporting activities under both the 2020 National Security Law and the Article 23 Safeguarding National Security Law, which was passed on March 23. But Lai is currently on trial for "collusion with foreign forces" for printing articles in the Apple Daily. Journalists and press freedom campaigners, meanwhile, say press freedom has gone sharply downhill, as Beijing ramps up its mission to protect "national security" with a constant expansion of forbidden topics and "red lines" in recent years. Chan was arrested in September 2022 after he asked a police officer to show his warrant card during an ID check while on a journalistic assignment, just before he had planned to leave the city to take up a journalism scholarship at the Reuters Institute at Oxford University. He was subsequently charged with "obstructing a police officer in the course of their duty" and has remained in Hong Kong. In his Facebook post, Chan called his years as a journalist at the now-shuttered Stand News, and his time as chairman, "the highest honor of my life," but cited repeated attacks on him from government and pro-Beijing sources as the reason for his decision. He told RFA Cantonese in a recent interview: "This was a very difficult decision, but if I had stayed in post, it would have negatively affected the Hong Kong Journalists' Association." "I had no choice but to get off the ship," said Chan, adding that he had received messages from pro-government sources warning him that the attacks on him and on the Association would continue if he remained chairman. "What I was told was, if you stay on, then the attacks and criticism will continue," he said. "There was even an article about me in a pro-government media outlet in the past couple of days that asked the question 'Can Ronson Chan remain in place as chairman? Should he?'." "When I heard these things, I thought it would be pretty difficult if I were to stay in the job," he said. The Hong Kong Journalists' Association has been singled out on a number of occasions for criticism by officials and in pro-China media, which claimed he recruited a 13-year-old to join the organization and that he protects "disruptive elements" in the city. Hong Kong Secretary for Security Chris Tang has claimed that the HKJA doesn't represent journalists in the city, while the tax authorities recently presented the union with a HK$400,000 tax bill following a "review" of its tax affairs. Chan told RFA that he hadn't expected how comprehensively the Hong Kong media would be put under pressure in the wake of the 2020 national security legislation. "We had one executive member who resigned," he said. "He had been working in news, but when Radio Television Hong Kong found out that he was an executive member of the Association, they transferred him to subtitles." He said the number of people entering the once-thriving media industry is now very small, and very few are now willing to risk serving on the Association's executive committee. The Association, one of the few civil society groups still standing in the wake of the post-2019 crackdown, is now painfully exposed, Chan said. "Now that so many civil society groups, opposition political parties and groups have been wiped out, we now find ourselves on the front line, standing alone," he said. "The exposure feels cold and painful, but I'll bear it for now." Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Copyright 1998-2024, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China, South Africa Agree to Strengthen Military Ties Sputnik News 20240520 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun hosted South Africa's Navy Chief, Monde Lobese, in Beijing on Monday, with the sides agreeing to bolster military ties between their countries, media reported. The Chinese defense minister commended the relationship between the two countries, saying that their militaries had always put naval cooperation at the forefront, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported. The military officials agreed to ramp up strategic communications, deepen cooperation and work together to deal with risks and challenges, Dong was cited as saying. The South African naval commander commented on the progress in maritime cooperation between China and South Africa, adding that his country wanted to raise military ties to a new level. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Asian neighbors wary of China's plans to deploy floating nuclear plants By Le Nguyen May 20, 2024 China's planned deployment of floating nuclear reactors to the disputed South China Sea may risk ramping up tensions with other claimants and undermining regional security, and claimants should work through a multilateral framework to counter China, say experts. China plans to send some 20 floating nuclear power plants to the islands it reclaimed in the South China Sea, where it has long-running territorial disputes with some regional countries, The Washington Post reported early this month. China claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea as its own despite a ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 which rejected the claim as "having no legal basis." Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines also have rival claims to some island chains and parts of the sea. These claimants view China's planned operation of these reactors as "a direct challenge" to their sovereignty, Pratnashree Basu, associate fellow with the India-based Observer Research Foundation's Strategic Studies Program, told VOA in an email exchange, if the reactors are deployed to islands, rocks, low-tide elevations, or man-made features they claim. Basu cited Vietnam's 2008 Law on Atomic Energy, which requires nuclear-powered vessels in Vietnamese waters to be authorized by the country's prime minister. Such regulations do not exist in the Philippines, she noted, but Manila can still "assert its right to monitor [a] Chinese nuclear plant under its maritime laws." Since 2014, China has reclaimed land to build artificial islands on some features it controls in the Spratly archipelago which is also claimed by Hanoi and Manila. "Given Beijing's record of strengthening its foothold in the South China Sea regardless of international law, the planned deployment of nuclear power plant(s) would potentially bolster Beijing's grip on the artificial islands it has built and militarized," she wrote to VOA. The move risks further ramping up tension in an already tense region, she warned. Ha Hoang Hop, an associate senior fellow with the Singapore-based ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, told VOA that "it doesn't matter to other claimants if China just sails the floating nuclear plant around the South China Sea." "However, if they dock at Spratly or Paracel [another island chain claimed by both Beijing and Hanoi but controlled by Beijing], Vietnam will certainly protest," Hop said. He argued that the deployment to islands Vietnam claims "violates Vietnam's sovereign rights," noting that such deployment will inevitably support Chinese military and patrol activities in the South China Sea. "If the plants power Chinese military activities like electrical warfare, reconnaissance, airspace monitoring, drone warfare, among others, they would pose a serious threat to regional security," he added, warning that if the vessels carry nuclear warhead missiles to the South China Sea, it would constitute a "breach of international law." Observer Research Foundation's Basu noted that floating nuclear power plants can provide energy to China's offshore oil and gas exploration, and especially military bases. "Reliable energy also enhances surveillance and rapid-response capabilities," she added. Asked what Vietnam and the Philippines can do to counter the Chinese move, Raymond Powell, a team leader at Stanford University's Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, told VOA in an email that he is "not sure there's an avenue for contesting China's use of floating nuclear power plants in the South China Sea." "China is unlikely to respond to outside pressure to hold off, and it's not clear it would [be] violating any international law or regulation if it moves forward," he wrote in the email. ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute's Hop said that other claimants may consider renting nuclear power plants built by Western countries or Russia to deploy in the South China Sea as part of a "tit-for-tat" strategy. Basu suggested that the claimants and the U.S. work through ASEAN and other regional forums to address concerns about the floating reactors to promote multilateral engagement over unilateral actions. "Countries could challenge the deployment of floating nuclear power plants in disputed waters through international courts or tribunals, seeking rulings that could limit or regulate their operation," she wrote. The countries should also advocate for the application of existing international laws such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to floating nuclear facilities, she added. Additionally, according to Basu, building coalitions with global environmental and safety organizations to pressure for stricter regulations of floating nuclear power plants could be an option. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Report: Vehicles shipped to US used parts made in China with forced labor By VOA News May 20, 2024 BMW, Jaguar Land Rover and Volkswagen have used parts from a Chinese supplier banned in the United States for using forced labor, according to a U.S. congressional investigation. A report released Monday by the Senate Finance Committee stated that the car companies developed vehicles using parts created with Uyghur forced labor in the Xinjiang region of northwest China. Under the 2021 Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), the import of goods from Xinjiang to the United States is banned unless companies can prove that the production did not use forced labor. Beijing has been accused of placing over 1 million Muslims, including Uyghurs, in detention facilities in Xinjiang. Chinese officials deny the accusations. "Automakers' self-policing is clearly not doing the job," said Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, following a two-year investigation by Democratic staff on the committee. "Somehow, the Finance Committee's oversight staff uncovered what multibillion-dollar companies apparently could not: that BMW imported cars, Jaguar Land Rover imported parts, and Volkswagen AG manufactured cars that all included components made by a supplier banned for using Uyghur forced labor," he said in a statement. The congressional report said the California-based auto supplier Bourns Inc. had sourced components from the Sichuan Jingweida Technology Group Co. (JWD), a company on the UFLPA ban list since 2023 for the supposed use of forced labor in its manufacturing processes. Bourns then provided the components to Lear Corporation, a direct supplier for BMW and Jaguar Land Rover. The report said Lear sent letters in January to BMW, Jaguar Land Rover and Volkswagen, notifying them of the banned components and said it was working with its supplier to remanufacture the components. Volkswagen confirmed earlier this year that a shipment of its vehicles to the U.S. included parts from a blacklisted supplier. BMW, after questioning from the congressional committee, said it used barred parts from JWD in at least 8,000 of its Mini Cooper cars. BMW has also stated it plans to stop importing vehicles that use the barred parts. According to the congressional report, BMW used banned products until about April 2024. Jaguar Land Rover said it didn't know about its business relationship with JWD, according to the report. The company said it stopped shipments of the affected parts as soon as it learned of the issue. Some information for this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran: Statement by the High Representative on the death of President Raisi European External Action Service (EEAS) 20.05.2024 EEAS Press Team The European Union offers its condolences for the death of President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hussein Amir Abdollahian and other Iranian officials involved in the tragic helicopter crash on Sunday. The EU expresses its sympathies to the families of all the victims and to the Iranian citizens affected. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Global community extends condolences over Raisi's death Global Times By Zhao Yusha and Bai Yunyi Published: May 20, 2024 09:28 PM The international community has extended condolences on Monday to Iran following the tragic helicopter crash that claimed the life of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and several other officials. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a message of condolence to Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber following the unfortunate death of Raisi in the accident, saying Raisi's tragic death is a great loss to the Iranian people, and the Chinese people also lost a good friend. The unexpected death of Raisi may cause temporary vacancy for the successor to Iran's Supreme Leader and cause ripples to the internal power structure, yet the country's political structure can still ensure the country's normal functioning despite the incident, preventing it from descending into chaos. Experts believe Iran's foreign and domestic policies won't undergo major changes. However, the incident may temporarily stall negotiations between Iran and the US, bringing more uncertainty to the conflicts in the Middle East. On behalf of the Chinese government and the people of China, Xi expressed deep condolences and extended sincere sympathies to Mokhber, the family of President Raisi, and the Iranian government and people. Xi said that since President Raisi took office, he made important contributions to maintaining Iran's security and stability and promoting national development and prosperity. He added that Raisi also made positive efforts to consolidate and deepen the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership. The Chinese government and Chinese people cherish the traditional friendship between China and Iran, Xi said, noting that with the joint efforts of both sides, the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership will continue to consolidate and develop. China also expressed deep condolences for the tragic death of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who was on the same helicopter with Raisi, and extended sincere condolences to Amir-Abdollahian's family, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at Monday's regular press briefing. During a joint press briefing with Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu in Astana on Monday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian made significant contributions to the development of China-Iran relations and the promotion of regional friendly cooperation. China has actively assisted in the search and rescue efforts following the accident and is ready to continue providing any necessary support to Iran, Wang Yi said, adding that he believes that the Iranian government and people will get through this difficult time. Raisi and the Iranian top diplomat were killed on Sunday in a helicopter crash resulting from a "technical failure," Iranian state news media reported. Raisi was traveling in Iran's East Azerbaijan province. State TV said what it called a "hard landing" happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometers (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran, according to the Associated Press. Iran has declared five days of national mourning, according to local media reports. Following the incident, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in an address on state TV that "There will be no disruption in the country's operation ... Senior officials are doing their work and I have advised them on the necessary points and all of the country's operation will carry on smoothly and orderly." Mokhber, 68, has been appointed as Iran's interim president following the death of Raisi. Mokhber now leads a three-person council responsible for organizing a new presidential election within 50 days, media reported. Many countries and organizations sent their condolences after the incident. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday conveyed condolences to Iran over the deaths of Raisi and other senior government officials in the tragic helicopter crash. Members of the UN Security Council on Monday observed a minute of silence in memory of Raisi and his entourage who were killed in the helicopter crash. "With profound sadness and deep sorrow, we received the tragic news of the passing of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ibrahim Raisi, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, and their companions, due to the unfortunate plane crash incident in northern Iran," Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani said in a statement. Leaders from Qatar, India, Pakistan, Russia along with other countries also expressed their condolences. Short-term impact Raisi, the 63-year-old political heavyweight, had long been regarded as the natural successor to Supreme Leader Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran, Al Jazeera reported. The biggest impact brought by Raisi's death would be the temporary vacancy of the successor to Iran's Supreme Leader, Wang Jin, an associate professor at the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies at Northwest University in Xi'an, told the Global Times. Wang noted that Raisi had deep connection and abundant experience in the judiciary and religious arena; moreover, his background and personal style are in line with the expectations for successor of Iran's Supreme Leader. Raisi maintained a consistent stance with Khamenei on various international and domestic issues, taking a hardline stance on issues such as the Iran nuclear issue; tough on the West and Israel, and Middle East strategic issues, analysts said. Death of Raisi is expected to have a significant impact on the internal power structure in Iran. Raisi was considered a key figure in Iran's conservative camp, and his passing may trigger large-scale personnel reshuffle within the conservative faction, or exacerbate internal power struggles, Wen Shaobiao, an expert from the Shanghai International Studies University, told the Global Times. However, Chinese experts believe that overall, Iran's normal operation won't be rattled by Raisi's death, and the country's policies on major issues will remain the same. Iran's political system, with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leading the political landscape and with the constitutional procedures in place in the event of absence of the president, ensures that Iran is unlikely to experience the kind of political instability seen in some developing countries where the political system is not robust. The likelihood of the country descending into political turmoil due to the incident is relatively small, Liu Zhongmin, a professor from the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University, told the Global Times. Diplomatic trajectory unchanged The accident also occurred when Iran was placed in crucial foreign environment. Its conflict with Israel escalated when Iran launched missile attacks on Israel following Israel's bombing of the Iranian embassy building in April. Two top Biden administration officials held indirect talks with Iranian officials in Oman last week on how to avoid escalating regional attacks, Axios reported, citing two sources with knowledge of the talks. US President Joe Biden was briefed on the Iranian president's helicopter incident, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Sunday. The State Department was closely following reports of the incident, a spokesperson said Sunday. Both Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian are crucial figures in Iran's diplomatic circles, thus it takes time for their successors to familiarize and adjust. During this time, Iran may reduce its involvement in foreign affairs, as it needs to focus on electing a new president, said Wen, noting that Tehran's talks with Washington are likely to come to a halt and bring more uncertainty for de-escalating conflicts in the Middle East. Raisi paid a state visit to China in February 2023. That trip was Raisi's first state visit to China and the first by an Iranian president in 20 years, according to Iranian state media. After his visit to China, Raisi said Iran's foreign policy is to build trust in neighbors and economic convergence in Asia, emphasizing that "the trip to China was very important in order for Iran to play an effective role in the field of regional and global economic and commercial issues, because China is one of the world's largest economies that plays an important role in the field of trade in Asia and the international stage," Xinhua reported. In 2023, Saudi Arabia and Iran announced the resumption of diplomatic ties thanks to China's successful mediation. Amir-Abdollahian and Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud also traveled to Beijing for a meeting of resuming ties in April 2023. During Raisi's presidency, Iran's relations with the West continued to deteriorate, while its ties with China and Russia grew stronger through its "Look East" policy. This strategic shift has been consistent across multiple administrations and aligns with Iran's long-term interests, thus the recent passing of Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian is unlikely to change Iran's cooperation with China, nor will it alter Iran's overall diplomatic trajectory, Tian Wenlin, a professor at School of International Studies of the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Bodies of President Raisi, his entourage, identified: Official IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 20, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- The bodies of President Ebrahim Raisi and members of his delegation, who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday, have been identified and there is no need to conduct DNA tests, the head of Iran's Disaster Management Organization has said. Mohammad Hassan Nami told IRNA on Monday that "all the bodies were recognizable and have been transferred to the Legal Medicine Organization." President Raisi and his entourage, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollhian, were returning from an event on the border with Azerbaijan to inaugurate a dam project on Sunday, when their helicopter crashed in harsh weather conditions over mountainous terrain of Iran's northwest. Search and rescue workers located the crash site in the dense Dizmar forest in East Azerbaijan Province early on Monday following an 18-hour operation, which was hampered by heavy fog, rain and the rugged terrain of the area. Nami said all the bodies were recognizable despite burns. Among them, the body of Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem, Friday Prayers leader of Tabriz, was in a better condition, he added. "He was alive for up to an hour after the air accident and even had a telephone conversation with Mr. Gholam-Hossein Esmaeili, the head of the President's Office," the official pointed out. 4353**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Bagheri Kani appointed as head of int'l committee of Iran's Foreign Ministry IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 20, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Iran's government cabinet has appointed Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani as the head of the international committee of Iran's Foreign Ministry, following the martyrdom of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in a helicopter crash. Iran's Government Spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi made the announcement on Monday. The Islamic Republic of Iran's Guardian Council spokesman Hadi Tahan-Nazif had said that according to the Constitution, the vice president would take over as interim president with the Supreme Leader's approval. In an interview on Monday, Tahan-Nazif said that with the Supreme Leader's approval, a council consisting of the Iranian judiciary chief, parliament speaker, and vice president would take measures to hold presidential elections within 50 days. On Sunday, President Raisi was returning from a ceremony to open the Qiz Qalasi Dam, jointly built with the Republic of Azerbaijan, to Tabriz to inaugurate another project when his helicopter crashed in the Dizamar forest area in Varzaqan region between the village of Ouzi and Pir Davoud. 6125**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address VP Mokhber meets head of Iranian government branches IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 20, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Iran's Vice President Mohammad Mokhber has held a meeting with the heads of legislative and judicial branches of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Hosted by Mokhber on Monday, the meeting was attended by parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iranian judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i. In the meeting, the vice president and the heads of the other two branches emphasized the continuation of coordination between the three branches to solve the country's problems. According to Article 131 of the Constitution of Iran, in case of death, dismissal, resignation, absence, or illness lasting longer than two months of the president, or when his term in office has ended and a new president has not been elected due to some impediments, or similar other circumstances, his vice president shall assume, with the approval of the Leader, the powers and functions of the president. In case of the death of the vice president, or other matters which prevent him from performing his duties, or when the president does not have a vice president, the Supreme Leader shall appoint another person in his place. The helicopter carrying President Raisi and his accompanying delegation crashed on Sunday in the Dizmar forest in East Azerbaijan province, claiming the lives of all on board. Search and rescue teams scoured the mountainous terrain in heavy fog overnight and found the wreckage early on Monday. Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and several other officials were also on board. 6125**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Supreme Leader declares five days of public mourning following President's martyrdom IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 20, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has declared five days of public mourning following the martyrdom of President Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage in a helicopter crash in northwestern Iran. In a message issued on Monday morning, Ayatollah Khamenei expressed his great sadness over the death of President Raisi in the incident that took place in Iran's East Azerbaijan province a day earlier. In the message, the Supreme Leader described Raisi as a hard-working cleric and a popular president who dedicated his life to serving the people of Iran, the country and Islam. "In this bitter tragedy, the Iranian nation lost a warm-hearted, humble and valued servant," said Ayatollah Khamenei, adding that President Raisi never stopped his hard and round-the-clock work for the people of Iran despite being faced with criticisms of ill-wishers. He offered condolences to the Iranian nation and approved Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber to take over as interim president and to cooperate with the heads of the Iranian parliament and judiciary to prepare the ground for the election of a new president within the next 50 days. Ayatollah Khamenei also expressed sadness over the death of other senior officials who were with President Raisi in the helicopter crash in East Azerbaijan, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian as well as Tabriz Friday prayer leader and the provincial governor. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran's Cabinet issues statement on martyrdom of President Raisi IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 20, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Iran's Cabinet has issued a statement following the martyrdom of President Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage in a chopper crash in East Azarbaijan Province, northwest of the country. Ebrahim Raisi, the eighth president of Iran, has been martyred after a helicopter carrying him and his entourage crashed in the Varzaqan region in the northwest province of East Azarbaijan on Sunday. In a statement issued on Monday, the Iranian cabinet said that the popular president of Iran, Ayatollah Raisi, has been martyred on the birth anniversary of Imam Reza (AS), the eighth Shia Imam. The indefatigable and hard-working president made the ultimate sacrifice on the path of serving his nation, it added. The statement went on to note that the figure always took steps to help the country advance. The cabinet ministers offered condolences over the martyrdom of President Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, East Azarbaijan Province's Governor Malek Rahmati, Mehdi Mousavi, the head of Raisi's guard team, and other officials accompanying them. "We assure our loyal and appreciative and beloved nation that the path of service will continue with the tireless spirit of Ayatollah Raisi, the hero and the servant of the nation and the faithful friend of the leadership, and with the help of God Almighty and cooperation of the honorable people, there will be no shortcoming in the Jihadi management of the country," the statement added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran govt. holds emergency meeting after President Raisi declared dead IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 20, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- The Iranian government has held an emergency meeting following the news that the wreckage of a helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi was found in a remote region in Iran's northwest. Vice President Mohammad Mokhber led the emergency meeting of the Iranian cabinet Monday morning. The helicopter carrying President Raisi and his accompanying delegation crashed on Sunday in the Dizmar forest in East Azarbaijan Province. Search and rescue teams scoured the mountainous terrain in heavy fog overnight and found the wreckage early on Monday. Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and several other officials were also on board. 4353** NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address No trace of survivors at site of Iranian president's copter crash: IRSC chief IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 20, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) says that no survivors have been found at the site where the helicopter of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi crashed in northwest Iran. "No trace of survivors has been seen after the discovery of the site of the crashed helicopter," said Pir-Hossein Kolivand early on Monday in an interview with the semi-official Tasnim news agency. Kolivand revealed earlier in the day that the site of the crash involving President Raisi and senior officials accompanying him had been found after hours of extensive search in a mountainous region in the province of East Azerbaijan. President Raisi's helicopter crashed afternoon on Sunday in Varzaqan region as he was returning with Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and several others from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam on Iran's border with the Republic of Azerbaijan. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pres. Raisi's crashed chopper found: Iran Red Crescent IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 20, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- The president of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) has confirmed that rescue and search teams have identified President Ebrahim Raisi's crashed chopper. According to IRNA, Pir-Hossein Kolivand made the announcement on Monday morning, saying the teams have arrived at the wreckage of the crashed copter. He did not give further detail but said "the condition is not good". "73 rescue teams are present in the search area of the helicopter in Tawal village with advanced and specialized equipment", he added. Earlier, the Red Crescent's National Emergency Management Headquarters announced that its rescue teams have moved to the 2 identified hot spots identified by a Turkish drone. "Red Crescent rescue teams are moving towards the possible landing place of the helicopter", it said after Turkey's high-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle named Akinji detected a hot spot that probably belongs to the place where the helicopter crashed. A commander of Iran's Revolution Guards Corps confirmed the detection of the heat source was believed to be the wreckage of the helicopter. An announcement was also made by field source that the precise geographical coordinates of the helicopter carrying President Raisi were determined by the aerial monitoring of the region. Despite the adverse weather conditions, rescuers tried round the clock to find the site of a missing helicopter that was carrying the Iranian President and his delegation in northwestern part of the country. Rescue teams, including armed forces, combed the rocky area and the hilly terrain near the city of Varzaqan in East Azarbaijan province despite foggy and rainy weather. Earlier, Iran's Red Crescent Society (IRCS) said it had dispatched more groups to help locate the crash. "46 rapid response and rescue teams from the provinces of East Azarbaijan, Tehran, Alborz, Ardabil, Zanjan and West Azarbaijan were mobilized to help in the search and rescue operation". President Raisi was returning with Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and several others from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam on Iran's border with the Azerbaijan Republic, when his helicopter crashed upon landing in Varzaqan region on Sunday. 4399 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iranian President, Foreign minister martyred in helicopter crash ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency Mon / 20 May 2024 / 12:32 It has been confirmed that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was martyred in a tragic helicopter crash on Sunday in the northwestern province of East Azerbaijan, following the return from the working trip. Tehran -ISNA- His entire entourage, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Governor of East Azerbaijan Malek Rahmati, and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem, the Imam for Friday prayers in the city of Tabriz also perished. The head of state had traveled to the border region after joining Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev on Saturday to inaugurate a dam. Raisi had pledged to visit each of Iran's 30 provinces at least once a year, and regularly traveled around the country. Reports of a "crash landing" began circulating on Sunday afternoon, citing Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi. Low visibility and the impassibility of the area made search operations difficult, according to the reports. Rescue teams finally managed to locate the crash site on Monday morning with the help of Turkish surveillance drones. The wreckage was discovered in a wooded area on a mountain slope. The aircraft was severely damaged and charred, and there were no signs of survivors, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said. With Raisi's passing, First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber is expected to take office as an interim leader. A representative of the republic's conservative wing, Raisi, was elected in 2021. Before assuming the presidency, he had worked his way up from Prosecutor and Deputy Prosecutor in Tehran in the 1980s and 1990s all the way to attorney general, and later chief justice. According to the reports, the President's helicopter crashed against a mountaintop in the Varzaqan region on Sunday while returning from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam on Iran's border with the Azerbaijan Republic. End Item NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ebrahim Raisi, "a pillar against Western hegemony" ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency Mon / 20 May 2024 / 12:33 Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi alongside Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and accompanying officials have passed away in the tragic helicopter crash in Iran's East Azerbaijan Province, according to an official statement by Iranian state media. Tehran -ISNA- After locating the helicopter carrying the Iranian President and accompanying officials on Monday morning, Iran's Red Crescent Society (IRCS) issued a preliminary statement noting that there was "no sign of life" found near the wreckage locations. Raisi's early life Born in 1960 in Mashhad, Ebrahim Raisi was raised in a clerical family and received his religious education at a young age. At 15, he commenced his studies at the Qom seminary, learning under esteemed scholars, including Iranian leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei. Similar to Iranian leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei, Raisi wears a black turban, symbolizing his lineage as a Sayyed, a descendant of Islam's Prophet Mohammad. Entering the influential seminary in Qom shortly before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, during a period of discontent under Western-backed Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Raisi is believed to have participated in the events leading up to the Shah's exile and the establishment of the Islamic Republic under Iranian leader Sayyed Ruhollah Khomeini. He later attended Shahid Motahari University in Tehran, where he received a PhD in Islamic jurisprudence and law. Post-revolution, Raisi began his legal career in the prosecutor's office in Masjed Soleyman, later gaining experience as a prosecutor across various jurisdictions. By 1985, he had risen to the position of deputy prosecutor of Tehran. In 2019, Raisi became the first Iranian President to face US sanctions for alleged complicity in "serious human rights violations" - charges rejected as null and void by Iranian authorities. Ascending within Iran's judiciary after Sayyed Khamenei assumed supreme leadership in 1989, Raisi held successive roles, including prosecutor of Tehran, head of the General Inspection Organization, and deputy chief justice for a decade until 2014. In 2006, while serving as deputy chief justice, he was elected to the Assembly of Experts from South Khorasan, responsible for selecting Iran's leader. Raisi served as Iran's attorney general until 2016, when Sayyed Khamenei appointed him custodian of Astan-e Quds Razavi, managing the shrine of Imam Reza and affiliated organizations. In 2017, Raisi ran for the presidency for the first time, emerging as the main contender to former president Hassan Rouhani. Despite losing to Rouhani, Raisi received nearly 16 million votes, representing 38% of the electorate in a high-turnout election. Following a brief hiatus, Raisi was appointed as chief justice by Sayyed Khamenei in 2019. In 2021, Raisi once again entered the presidential race, this time emerging victorious after a landslide victory in the elections. Raisi's tenure marked with resilience amid challenges Under Raisi's tenure, his administration resumed indirect negotiations with world powers to restore the 2015 nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), to lift unlawful Western sanctions imposed on Iran after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the deal under President Donald Trump's administration. During his time in office, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to restore diplomatic relations and reopen missions in respective countries following seven years of strained ties after a series of talks brokered in Beijing under the auspices of Chinese President Xi Jinping. In an exclusive interview for Al Mayadeen, Raisi pointed out that the restoration of ties with Riyadh frustrated Tehran's enemies, including the Israeli occupation entity, which seeks to foment discord between Islamic countries. In September 2022, Raisi raised a picture of the former commander of the IRGC's Quds Force, martyr Qassem Soleimani, at the headquarters of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. During his speech at the 77th meeting of the UNGA, Raisi stressed that no matter which US president created the ISIS terrorist organization, Iran, spearheaded by martyr Qassem Soleimani, managed to defeat this project. Recently, Raisi praised Operation Truthful Promise, which saw the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) launching drones and missiles toward Israeli targets over occupied Palestine in retaliation to the Israeli aggression that targeted the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus. Despite the maximum pressure campaign imposed by the administration of former US President Donald Trump and pursued by his successor President Joe Biden, the Islamic Republic continued - under Raisi's tenure - its steady and remarkable growth, and has deepened and developed its international and regional relations in areas such as trade, security, and cultural exchange. Raisi's administration worked to expand its international trade partnerships, particularly with countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Trade agreements and economic cooperation initiatives have been pursued to diversify the country's economic relationships. In the same year, Iran became a permanent member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), starting a new stage of cooperation with members of the Eurasian organization. In 2023, the BRICS organization, uniting the world's largest developing economies and challenging the traditional hegemony of Western powers in global affairs, welcomed Iran among its members. Militarily, Iran has made several significant military advancements and strategic moves aimed at enhancing its defense capabilities under President Raisi's tenure. In recent years, the country has made strides in drone technology, achieving 100% self-sufficiency in the field of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and exporting drones to several nations. In addition, Iran witnessed significant achievements in its missile program and naval capabilities and has sought to deepen military cooperation with major powers like Russia and China. In April 2024, President Raisi expressed, once again, that the liberation of Palestine and occupied al-Quds is the top priority of the Islamic Republic of Iran and reiterated his country's support for "the Resistance movement in the region and in all Islamic countries that are defending their homeland." End Item NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Condolences over the death of President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi Vladimir Putin expressed his deepest condolences to Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the death of Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi. May 20, 2024 10:30 The message from the Russian President reads, in part: "Please accept our deepest condolences in connection with the great tragedy that befell the Islamic Republic of Iran - a helicopter crash that claimed the lives of President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi and several other prominent government leaders of your country. Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi was an outstanding politician whose entire life was devoted to serving his Motherland. He enjoyed the well-deserved respect of his compatriots and high prestige beyond his country. As a true friend of Russia, he made an invaluable personal contribution to the development of good neighbourly relations between our countries and made great efforts to advance them to the level of strategic partnership. I have had the privilege of meeting Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi on multiple occasions, and I will always cherish the fond memories of this wonderful man. Please convey my heartfelt condolences and support to the family and friends of the late President, as well as to all those affected by this tragic incident. I extend my wishes for strength to the Iranian people as they navigate through this challenging and irreparable loss." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Foreign Ministry Spokesperson's Remarks on the "Hard Landing" of the Helicopter Carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China 2024-05-20 09:33 China expresses deep concern over the "hard landing" of the helicopter carrying President Raisi and wishes for the safety of the president and the others aboard. China is closely following the situation and ready to provide all necessary support and assistance for Iran's rescue effort. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran to hold snap presidential elections on June 28 Iran Press TV Monday, 20 May 2024 7:02 PM Heads of the three branches of the Iranian government have agreed on a date for snap presidential elections in the country less than a day after it was confirmed that President Ebrahim Raeisi had been martyred in a helicopter crash in the northwest of the country. The official IRNA news agency said in a late Monday report that June 28 had been agreed as the date for Iran's snap presidential elections during a meeting in Presidency Office in Tehran. The meeting featured Iran's Head of the Executive Branch Mohammad Mokhber, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i. The session was a second between the three within hours from President Raeisi's martyrdom in the helicopter crash incident in East Azerbaijan province. Article 131 of the Iranian Constitution requires the top three officials of the country to make arrangements for holding presidential elections within a maximum of 50 days from the day on which an incumbent president dies in office or is incapacitated. The Monday meeting was also attended by the Iranian deputy president for legal affairs Mohammad Dehghan, deputy chairman of the Guardian Council Siamak Rahpeykand and deputy interior minister for political affairs Mohammad Taghi Shahcheraghi. A timetable was also announced for the elections under which hopefuls will be able to register from May 30 to June 3 while candidates will launch 15 days of campaigns starting June 12. The helicopter carrying Raisi and his entourage crashed around afternoon on Sunday as it was on its way to Tabriz, the capital of East Azerbaijan, from a location on the border with the Republic of Azerbaijan where the Iranian president had opened a major dam project. Rescuers found the wreckage of the helicopter early on Monday after hours of extensive search which involved more than 70 teams. Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and two senior provincial officials along with crew members and bodyguards also died as a result of the crash. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran envoy assures UN of proper management of affairs after Raeisi's martyrdom Iran Press TV Monday, 20 May 2024 5:30 PM A senior Iranian diplomat assures the United Nations that the government will take every legal measure to ensure the proper management of state affairs after the passing of President Ebrahim Raeisi and his companions in a helicopter crash. Iran's permanent representative to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani on Monday wrote a letter to the UN Security Council regarding the tragic martyrdom of the Iranian president, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six others accompanying them in a helicopter crash incident on Sunday in a mountainous region in East Azarbaijan Province amid inclement weather condition. He said the tragic incident happened as Raeisi and his entourage were returning after attending, alongside Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, the inauguration of Qiz-Qalasi Dam, a joint project between Tehran and Baku on the Aras transboundary border river. "As the Iranian nation mourns this tragic loss, every measure is taken by the government in accordance with the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran to ensure the proper management of state affairs in the absence of the President," Iravani said. He pointed to the assumption of the president's duties by the first vice president as per the Iranian Constitution and with the approval of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution and added that Mohammad Mokhber will remain in place until a new president is elected within a maximum period of 50 days. In addition, he added, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Ali Bagheri Kani has also been appointed as the acting foreign minister based on the decision of the cabinet on Monday. "We trust that the United Nations will join us in honoring their memory and upholding the principles they worked so tirelessly to advance," Iravani wrote. "Your support and the support of the international community are crucial as we strive to overcome this tragedy and continue on the path of peace and development." He described President Raeisi as a "dedicated politician" who was widely respected for his tireless efforts to foster good neighborliness, build confidence and promote dialogue both within the region and beyond. The president's commitment to peace, stability, and development was unwavering, the Iranian ambassador emphasized. As a distinguished diplomat, Amir-Abdollahian was highly regarded for his contributions to regional diplomacy, international cooperation and the principles of good neighborliness, he noted. "The loss of these key figures, along with their dedicated team, has plunged our nation into deep mourning and sorrow," he said. He noted that Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei had announced five days of national mourning to commemorate the victims of the sad incident. In a message on Monday, Ayatollah Khamenei said the tragic incident happened when Raeisi and his team were making efforts to serve the Iranian people. The Leader added that the entire period of responsibility of this noble and devoted man, both during the short term of the presidency and before that, was completely spent in non-stop efforts to serve the people, the country and Islam. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia's Putin holds telephone call with Iran's interim president Mokhber Iran Press TV Monday, 20 May 2024 5:20 PM Russian President Vladimir Putin has held a telephone conversation with the interim Iranian president, Mohammad Mokhber, who was appointed to the post following the martyrdom of President Ebrahim Raeisi in a helicopter crash in northwestern Iran. During the telephone conversation on Monday, Putin offered his "deepest condolences" to the Iranian government and nation over the tragic loss. He also reiterated the need to follow the late Iranian president's policy to further strengthen ties between Tehran and Moscow. Mokhber, for his part, thanked Putin for expressing sympathy with the people of his country and called for more cooperation between Iran and Russia to serve the interests of the two countries. The helicopter carrying President Raeisi, Foreign Minsiter Amir-Abdollahian, and several others, including East Azarbaijan Governor Malek Rahmati, Friday Prayers leader of Tabriz city Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem, bodyguards and crew members crashed in East Azarbaijan in northwestern Iran on Sunday. Earlier, Putin had met with Iran's Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali and expressed sadness over the incident. Putin on Sunday evening invited Jalali to his office in the Kremlin and studied the dimensions of the incident, giving the ambassador his assurance that Russia would do whatever necessary to help Iran. Separately in a letter to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei, Putin hailed Raeisi as an "outstanding politician" and said his death was an "irreplaceable loss." "Raeisi was an outstanding politician whose entire life was dedicated to serving his homeland," Putin said in the letter. "As a true friend of Russia, he made an invaluable personal contribution to the development of good-neighborly relations between our countries, and made great efforts to take them to the level of a strategic partnership." In related news, people paid tribute to the late Iranian president and foreign minister by placing flowers outside the Iranian embassy in Moscow. According to Article 131 of the Constitution, Mokhber, as first vice president, assumed interim duties in managing the executive branch upon the Leader's approval. Ayatollah Khamenei urged Mokhber to arrange to elect a new president within a maximum of 50 days in cooperation with the other two heads of the three branches of the government. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address President Raeisi's epic, inspiring role must always remain alive: IRGC Iran Press TV Monday, 20 May 2024 2:04 PM Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) expresses its condolences over the "honorable martyrdom" of Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi and his entourage in a chopper crash in East Azarbaijan Province. In a statement on Monday, the IRGC said the president's memories and "inspiring and epic" role in fulfilling important and sensitive responsibilities in the Islamic establishment, particularly during his three-year presidential tenure, must always remain alive and serve as a good model. It added that the Islamic establishment will continue to move towards building a "strong Iran" and promoting "modern Islamic civilization" based on prudent guidelines of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and support of the Iranian nation. The Islamic establishment will further move more resolutely to defeat and disappoint sworn enemies, it emphasized. The IRGC said that President Raeisi's life has always been based on piety, sincerity, justice and trust in God, which can lead the Iranian people in the future. The late president has always tried hard to solve the problems of the country and people by using the existing capacities, the statement read. The Iranian president, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and their accompanying delegation lost their lives after the helicopter carrying them crashed in the northwestern province of East Azarbaijan due to harsh weather conditions on Sunday. Their bodies were found on Monday after a massive night-long search operation. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Tehran: Martyrdom of Raeisi, Amir-Abdollahian will not disrupt Iran's policy Iran Press TV Monday, 20 May 2024 12:22 PM The martyrdom of Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian will not disrupt the country's regional and international role, the Foreign Ministry says. In a statement on Monday, the ministry offered its condolences to the noble Iranian nation over the passing of the popular president and his foreign minister as well as their companions. It said the martyrdom of these prominent figures will undoubtedly cause no disruption in the determination of the country's diplomatic apparatus to serve national interests and will not impact the Islamic Republic's "positive and constructive" role in regional and global equations. Over the past three years, Raeisi and Amir-Abdollahian, as Iran's president and foreign minister, played an eternal and crucial role in the history of Iran's foreign policy, it added. They made great efforts to improve Iran's status in the international arena, and promote convergence and cordial bonds among regional countries and nations, it noted. The ministry also hailed great efforts by the late Iranian president and foreign minister to forge constructive relations in the international system and support the establishment of justice in the region and the world. The ministry also expressed its sincere gratitude to world leaders and nations, political and religious figures as well as international organizations for their sympathy with the Iranian people and government. The Iranian president, foreign minister and their accompanying delegation lost their lives after the helicopter carrying them crashed in the northwestern province of East Azarbaijan due to harsh weather conditions on Sunday. Their bodies were found on Monday after a massive night-long search operation. Bagheri Kani named caretaker foreign minister Following the martyrdom of Amir-Abdollahian, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Ali Bagheri Kani was appointed as head of the international committee and caretaker foreign minister. Bagheri Kani, who is also Iran's chief negotiator with major world powers to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, was appointed to the post by First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi said. Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Monday that as per Article 131 of the Constitution, Mokhber assumes interim duties in leading the executive branch. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'Saddened and shocked': World leaders extend condolences after President Raeisi's martyrdom Iran Press TV Monday, 20 May 2024 6:51 AM World leaders have extended condolences to the Iranian government and nation over the martyrdom of President Ebrahim Raeisi in a helicopter crash in the country's northwest. Raeisi died alongside his accompanying delegation, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, after their chopper crashed in the Dizmar forest in East Azarbaijan Province on Sunday. Following an hours-long search hampered by poor weather conditions, rescuers found the burnt-out wreckage of the helicopter and its passengers were confirmed dead. Irreplaceable loss Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed Raeisi as an "outstanding politician" and said his death was an "irreplaceable loss." "Raeisi was an outstanding politician whose entire life was dedicated to serving his homeland," Putin said in a letter to Ayatollah Khamenei. "As a true friend of Russia, he made an invaluable personal contribution to the development of good-neighborly relations between our countries, and made great efforts to take them to the level of a strategic partnership." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Iranian president and top diplomat had been "true and reliable friends" of Moscow. He further described the pair as "patriots... who firmly defended the interests of their state and gave their lives in selfless service to the Motherland." China's President Xi Jinping paid tribute to President Raeisi, saying the "tragic death" of his Iranian counterpart is "a great loss to the Iranian people." "President Xi Jinping pointed out... the Chinese people have lost a good friend," Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a press conference. Xi sent "sincere condolences" to Iran's first vice president, the spokesman added. Wang said China had also expressed "deep sorrow" at the death of Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian. According to the Foreign Ministry, Xi said that "President Raeisi has made important contributions to maintaining Iran's security and stability, promoting national development and prosperity, and also made active efforts to consolidate and develop the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership". China would offer "all necessary support and assistance" and "continue to support the Iranian government and people in safeguarding their independence, stability and development", Wang said. 'Deeply saddened and shocked' Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said he was "deeply saddened and shocked by the tragic demise" of the Iranian president. "My heartfelt condolences to his family and the people of Iran," he added. "India stands with Iran in this time of sorrow," he said in a social media post on Monday. India's Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar also posted on X that he was "deeply shocked to hear of the passing away" of President Raeisi and his own counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. "Our condolences to their families," he said. "We stand with the people of Iran at the time of this tragedy." Terrible loss Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared a day of mourning "as a mark of respect for President Raeisi and his companions and in solidarity with Brotherly Iran." "Pakistan had the pleasure of hosting President Raeisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on a historic visit, less than a month ago. They were good friends of Pakistan," he wrote on X. "I along with the government and people of Pakistan extend our deepest condolences and sympathies to the Iranian nation on this terrible loss. May the martyred souls rest in heavenly peace. The great Iranian nation will overcome this tragedy with customary courage." Imprisoned former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan said, "We are deeply grieved to hear of the tragic deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a helicopter crash. They led their country's resolute support for the beleaguered Palestinian people." "Our condolences go to the people & leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran as we stand with them in their hour of grief & trial," he tweeted. Counterpart and brother Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described Raeisi as his "counterpart and brother." "I remember Mr. Raeisi with respect and gratitude" as a person who "worked for peace of Iranian people and for our region during his tenure," he added. Outstanding world leader Meanwhile, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he was shocked by the tragic demise of President Raeisi. He described the Iranian chief executive as "an exemplary person, an outstanding world leader," as well as a "protector of the sovereignty of his people and an unconditional friend" of Venezuela. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani also offered deepest condolences and sympathy to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, along with the Iranian government and people, over the incident and wished divine mercy for the martyrs. "With great sorrow and profound sadness, we received the news of the tragic helicopter crash in northern Iran that claimed the lives of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raeisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and their companions," he said in a statement. Iraq declared one day on national mourning over the Iranian president's martyrdom. President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq Nechirvan Barzani said, "The passing of President Raeisi is an immense tragedy and a profound loss for the Islamic Republic of Iran, its people, and its friends." "Nevertheless, we have faith that the noble people of Iran and the Islamic Republic will overcome this immense loss." Honorable stances in support of Palestine The Palestinian Hamas resistance group expressed "shared feelings of sorrow and pain with the brotherly Iranian people and ... full solidarity with the Islamic Republic of Iran in this tragic incident." The martyrs, it said, "held honorable stances in support of the Palestinian cause" and the nation's "legitimate struggle against the Zionist entity." "They made diligent efforts in solidarity [with] ... the steadfast Gaza Strip" and tried to "stop the Zionist aggression against our Palestinian people," Hamas noted. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas extended "sincere condolences and sympathy to the brotherly Iranian people" on the death of President Raeisi and his companions. In Yemen, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of Supreme Revolutionary Committee, expressed his "deepest condolences" to the Iranian people and the families of the officials who died in the crash. Mohammed Abdulsalam, spokesman for Yemen's Ansarullah, also stressed that the demise of President Raeisi "is not only a loss for Iran but also a loss for the Muslim world, especially for Palestine and Gaza." Staunch supporter Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement also described the Iranian president as a "big brother" to the Lebanese resistance movement, and a staunch supporter of its cause, saying he had defended resistance groups and their fighters. Similarly, it added, Amir-Abdollahian was a lover of resistance movements and dedicated to their support. EU condoles Charles Michel, president of the European Council, said in a social media post that, "The EU expresses its sincere condolences for the death of President Raeisi and Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, as well as other members of their delegation and crew in a helicopter accident. Our thoughts go to the families." In solidarity with Iran UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said his country "stands in solidarity with Iran at this difficult time." "I extend my deepest condolences to the Iranian government and people over the passing of President Ebrahim Raeisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and those accompanying them following a tragic accident," he said in an X post. In another statement on X, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani extended his "sincere condolences to the government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran" on the painful incident. In two separate messages sent to Iran's interim president Mohammad Mokhber, Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman offered condolences over the death of President Raeisi and his companions. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his Iranian counterpart's "dedication to his career" made him "a martyr for the sake of duty." In a message carried by the official SANA news agency, Assad "affirmed Syria's solidarity with the Islamic Republic of Iran and with the families of the late deceased and his comrades." "We worked with the late President to ensure that strategic relations between Syria and Iran flourish always," he asserted. Great sadness Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi expressed "great sadness and grief" over the tragedy, voicing Cairo's "solidarity with the leadership and people of Iran in this terrible loss". Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim also said Raeisi "exemplified a deep commitment to the welfare of his people and the dignity of his nation, which represents a proud and rich civilization rooted in the principles of Islam." Also in a statement released on social media, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said "the Iranian people lost a prominent statesman who served his country with dedication and loyalty all his life." "On this sorrowful day, I pray to Almighty Allah to grant patience and fortitude to the friendly and brotherly people of Iran," he added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pres. Raeisi, FM Amir-Abdollahian, companions die in chopper crash after night-long search op. Iran Press TV Monday, 20 May 2024 4:35 AM Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian have died in a helicopter crash in the northwestern province of East Azarbaijan. The helicopter carrying President Raeisi and his accompanying delegation crashed on Sunday in the Dizmar forest, nestled between the cities of Varzaqan and Jolfa in East Azarbaijan Province. It was transporting Raeisi, Amir-Abdollahian, East Azarbaijan Governor Malek Rahmati, Friday Prayers leader of the city of Tabriz Seyyed Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem and a member of the president's bodyguard team Mahdi Mousavi. The helicopter's pilot, co-pilot and crew were also among others on board the chopper. President Raeisi and his accompanying delegation were returning from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam on the Aras River with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev. Following the announcement of the martyrdom of Raeisi and his team, the cabinet held an emergency session headed by Vice President Mohammad Mokhber. Iran government says will operate 'without disruption' In a statement, the cabinet extended condolences to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and the Iranian nation over the martyrdom of President Raeisi and his companions. It assured the "loyal, appreciative and beloved" Iranian nation that President Raeisi's path will continue and not even a slight disruption will be caused in administrating the country's affairs. Ayatollah Khamenei on Sunday said the nation should not be worried or anxious, because "there will be no disruption to the work of the country." In televised remarks in the wee hours of Monday morning, Pir-Hossein Kolivand, head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS), said rescue teams have located the wreckage of the helicopter. He later told the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network (IRINN) that the search operation for the bodies of the victims has finished and the bodies are being transferred to the provincial capital of Tabriz. No disruption in Iran's foreign policy: Araqchi Secretary of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations Abbas Araqchi said in a televised interview that he was shocked by the news of the Iranian foreign minister's martyrdom. Araqchi, who also serves as an advisor to the foreign minister, added that the sad incident will cause no disruption in Iran's foreign policy. He also commended Amir-Abdollahian's great diplomatic efforts, particularly during the seven months of Israel's war in Gaza and Iran's retaliatory response to the regime's attack on the consular section of the Islamic Republic's embassy in the Syrian capital Damascus, dubbed Operation True Promise. The late Iranian foreign minister has run foreign diplomacy with patience, calm and good attitude, the diplomat noted. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iranian President Raisi's Death Sets Off Scramble To Find His Replacement By Michael Scollon May 20, 2024 The death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi sets in motion a scramble to replace him in short order, with long-term implications for the clerical establishment. Mohammad Mokhber, who served as first vice president under Raisi, has already taken over the presidential duties in an acting capacity. His time in office will likely be brief, with Iranian law stipulating that a new presidential election be held within 50 days. Mokhber, along with speaker of parliament Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, must now arrange a new vote, expected to take place early July. Raisi died on impact along with nine others, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, when the helicopter they were traveling in crashed in northwestern Iran on May 19. Raisi, a former judiciary head who was elected by a landslide in a controversial election in 2021, was seen as a protege and possible successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei, addressing the nation on May 19 before Raisi's death was confirmed, said that "the Iranian people should not worry, there will be no disruption in the country's work." But the death of the ultraconservative Raisi presents challenges to the Islamic republic's hard-liners, who solidified their hold on power following this spring's parliamentary elections. Ali Afshari, a U.S.-based former student leader who was jailed in Iran for his activism, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that "it may not be easy to find a leader like Raisi, who was completely obedient to Khamenei and the establishment." The normally lengthy process for determining suitable presidential candidates, all subject to vetting and approval by the powerful Guardians Council, will now be squeezed into a window of less than two months. In winning the presidency in 2021, Raisi benefitted from the mass disqualification of reformist and moderate candidates. Seen as a hand-picked candidate who would not pose a threat to Khamenei, he took more than 72 percent of the vote in a presidential election that garnered the lowest turnout ever since the Islamic republic was founded in 1979. There is some precedent for a quick presidential transition in Iran. The Islamic republic's second president, Mohammad-Ali Rajai, served less than two weeks before his assassination in 1981. He was replaced just over a month later by Khamenei, who took more than 95 percent of the vote in an election in which he was backed by all three other candidates. Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House in London, said in a video interview that she expects an expedited process this time around. "The leadership wants to show a commitment to the constitution, but also business as usual," Vakil said. "And facilitating a quick and accountable election will be important, at least for external constituencies and to show stability." Vakil lists past presidential candidates who have already undergone vetting by the Guardians Council among Raisi's possible successors, including parliament speaker Qalibaf. Vakil also said Khamenei could take the opportunity to "rehabilitate marginalized" former parliament speaker Ali Larijani, who was barred from running against Raisi in 2021, but "has been a loyal supporter of the system." Some observers have also suggested that this might be a chance to repair ties with members of former moderate President Hassan Rohani's camp, Vakil says, although she does not see Rohani himself as a potential candidate. In 2021, Raisi defeated Mohsen Rezaee, a senior officer of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps who is a member of the influential Expediency Council, as well as Abdolnaser Hemmati, a banker who was the only moderate in the race. "Who the system picks, or permits, to run will really indicate the priorities or direction of this political establishment," Vakil said. "If they do allow a more contested election, then this could be about building bridges and trying to increase popular legitimacy." On the other hand, if a hard-liner is selected from within the ranks of the clerical establishment, it would show that "the priorities are unity, conservative consolidation, and making sure that transition...continues to be prioritized." The election of a president this year will also bring changes to election timelines, as the next elected president will serve a full four-year term. This will mean that future presidential elections will fall the same year as parliamentary elections. Longer-term, Raisi's death leaves a major vacancy in the effort to groom the Islamic republic's next supreme leader, who makes all final decisions regarding Iranian foreign and domestic policies. Iran's clerical leadership, Afshari said, now finds itself "in an uncomfortable situation" in finding a suitable successor to the 85-year-old Khamenei, who has reportedly suffered from health problems in recent years. Reza Alijani, an Iranian journalist and analyst based in France, said that former competitors of Raisi would likely benefit. He named Khamenei's son, the prominent cleric Mojtaba Khamenei, as a strong contender to replace his father. "Mojtaba Khamenei's chances are likely much higher now," Alijani told RFE/RL's Radio Farda. With contributions by Kian Sharifi Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-raisi-president- replacement-scramble/32954910.html Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran Sets Mourning Period After President's Death, Announces June 28 For New Election By RFE/RL May 20, 2024 Even as Iran declared a period of mourning following the deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and others in a helicopter crash, the country moved forward and set June 28 as the date for an election to determine Raisi's successor. Iranian authorities also said the funeral procession for Raisi will be held in Tehran on May 22. The announcements came as Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared five days of mourning after the bodies of Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian were found at the site of a helicopter crash in northwest Iran. Meanwhile, Washington said for the first time that Tehran had asked for U.S. help in the helicopter incident but that it was unable to provide assistance, mainly due to logistical reasons. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller did not specify how the request was made or the nature of it. The United States and Iran do not have diplomatic relations. Iranian state television on May 20 said the helicopter had crashed due to poor weather conditions. It was unclear how many people were on board the helicopter when it went down. Khamenei also named First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber as interim president. Iranian law stipulates that if the president dies, power is transferred to the first vice president. A council consisting of the speaker of parliament, the head of the judiciary, and the first vice president must arrange for a new president to be elected within 50 days. Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Baqeri Kani was appointed acting foreign minister, Iranian state media reported. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said the governor of East Azerbaijan Province and other unspecified officials and bodyguards were aboard the ill-fated aircraft. Foreign governments on May 20 issued expressions of condolence and solidarity. Lebanon announced three days of mourning to honor Raisi. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian were both "true, reliable friends of our country." Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, issued a statement of condolence and thanked Raisi for his "tireless efforts in solidarity" with the Palestinian people. The United States, a bitter rival of Iran - and which had imposed financial sanctions on Raisi when he was head of Iran's judiciary in 2019 - also offered its condolences. "The United States expresses its official condolences for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, and other members of their delegation in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran," the State Department said in a statement. "As Iran selects a new president, we reaffirm our support for the Iranian people and their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms." The White House, meanwhile, had harsh words for Raisi, saying he had "blood on his hands" for supporting extremist groups in the Middle East. U.S. national-security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that "no question, this was a man who had a lot of blood on his hands." European Council President Charles Michel issued a statement of "sincere condolences," adding "our thoughts go to the families." Search-and-rescue teams, aided by several foreign governments, had been frantically searching for the helicopter after it went down in bad weather conditions in a mountainous area of the country late on May 19. Some activists criticized the EU for assisting in the rescue operation of a leader who has been accused of overseeing major human rights abuses. But EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic defended the move on May 20, saying that by providing satellite mapping services to Tehran, Brussels was acting "upon request for facilitating a search and rescue operation" and was not "an act of political support to any regime or establishment." "It is simply an expression of the most basic humanity," he added in a post on X. Raisi's helicopter was on its way to the city of Tabriz when it went down near the city of Jolfa in what state television said was a "hard landing," but several news reports quoted government sources as saying the helicopter crashed as it crossed a mountainous and forested area. The bodies from the helicopter that crashed were severely burned, but not beyond recognition, according to the head of Iran's Crisis Management Organization, Mohammad Hassan Nami. He said DNA tests were not needed to confirm the identities of those killed in the crash. He added that Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem, who served as Khamenei's representative in East Azerbaijan Province, survived the crash initially and remained alive for about an hour before he died. Nami said that, during that time, Al-e Hashem had made contact with Raisi's chief of staff by phone. He did not reveal any further details. The Iranian government said the helicopter was one of three flying in a convoy, and the other two reportedly landed safely in Tabriz. The ultraconservative Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian had been in Azerbaijan earlier on May 19 to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who said on X that Azerbaijan was "profoundly troubled" by the news that Raisi's helicopter had gone down. Raisi was elected president in 2021 and has since tightened many restrictions on Iranians through enforcement of morality laws and a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests spurred by the death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody for allegedly violating the code on head scarves. He has also pushed hard in nuclear talks with world powers while also allowing the country to markedly increase its uranium enrichment program. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-raisi-helicopter- crash-dead/32954491.html Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iranian Nobel Laureate Ebadi Says Raisi's Death Means He Will Evade Justice By Hooman Askary May 20, 2024 Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi has said that the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was regrettable because he will evade justice for his alleged crimes. Raisi, who died in a May 19 helicopter crash in northwestern Iran, has been accused of serving as a prosecutor on an "execution committee" that sent thousands of political prisoners and regime opponents to their deaths in the late 1980s. His presidency, which began in 2021, is also infamous for its stricter enforcement of Iran's draconian hijab law and brutal crackdown on mass demonstrations for women's rights. "If we haven't forgotten, which tragically is not easily forgotten, there was the painful incident of the mass execution of political prisoners by the execution committee," Ebadi said of Raisi in a May 20 interview with RFE/RL's Radio Farda. "The people of Iran had hoped to see him brought to justice, to witness how he would struggle and plead for his own exoneration. He did not deserve such an easy death." The rights watchdog Amnesty International has said that at least 4,500 people were executed in the mass killing ordered by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1988 for "waging war against God." The leftist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization, which was accused of treachery for its role in carrying out an invasion deep into Iranian territory after a cease-fire ended the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, says that up to 30,000 people were executed. Many of the victims were buried in secret. During a court trial in Stockholm in 2022 in which a former prison guard for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps faced testimony from hundreds of survivors and their relatives, Raisi was named as belonging to the three-member execution committee that determined the fate of prisoners. Ebadi, 76, was a prominent human rights lawyer for years in Iran before she was forced into exile in 2009. From her home in Britain, she has continued to criticize the Iranian authorities for their crackdown on virtually any form of dissent. Ebadi said that some in the foreign media expressed surprise that some Iranians were celebrating Raisi's death, including by lighting fireworks and dancing in videos shared on social media. "Are people truly this happy about the death of one person?" Ebadi said she was asked. "Regrettably, I told them that [hard-liners'] actions had made their deaths a cause for celebration." Ebadi said that now that the 63-year-old Raisi is dead, it is unlikely he will posthumously face prosecution. "Generally, and legally, once a person passes away, any criminal actions they committed are no longer prosecuted," Ebadi said. "However, they will remain in people's memories and be recorded in history, particularly in the annals of human rights." Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-ebadi-raisi- death-justice/32955289.html Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Will Raisi's Death Bring Major Changes To Iran's Policies? The Short Answer Is 'No.' By Kian Sharifi May 20, 2024 The helicopter crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has sent shock waves around the Islamic republic and the region. But Raisi's death is not expected to bring major changes to Tehran's domestic and foreign policies, analysts say. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all major state affairs, and the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps are the key centers of power in Iran, where the president's authority is limited. "The death of Raisi, in itself, will not cause a significant shift in Iran's policies," said Hamidreza Azizi, a fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. "After all, the president is the second in command in the power hierarchy of the Islamic republic, and strategic directions are set by the supreme leader." As president, Raisi oversaw a brutal crackdown on antiestablishment protests in 2022 and the tightening of the country's morality laws. The real significance of the ultraconservative Raisi's death, experts say, is that it could set off a power struggle among the country's hard-liners. The demise of Raisi, who was widely tipped to become the next supreme leader, could also complicate Khamenei's succession plans. Raisi, a former judiciary chief, was a longtime protege of Khamenei, who was believed to be grooming him as his successor. Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the London-based Chatham House, said Raisi "fit the bill" to take over from Khamenei and even modelled his life on the 85-year-old supreme leader. "[Raisi] was a loyal functionary willing to do the bidding of the supreme leader through multiple institutions," she said. "There are no obvious candidates that can tick a lot of boxes." Raisi's death has left a vacancy to fill. Elections must be held within 50 days, according to Iranian law, leaving the clerical establishment scrambling to find a suitable replacement. The early front-runners are speaker of parliament Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei. Azizi said the next president could have "significant influence over the overall trajectory" of Khamenei's succession. "As a result, this is going to lead to heightened intra-conservative competition to [become president]," he added. Ali Vaez, the director of the Iran Project at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, said the upcoming election offers an opportunity for the clerical establishment to "pursue a different course" by allowing a relatively competitive vote. In 2021, Raisi won the presidential election by a landslide, in a vote that was widely seen as rigged. His victory consolidated the power of hard-liners, who assumed control of all three branches of government. "But I suspect that the regime is dedicating all its efforts to preparing for a succession after Khamenei, striving to create homogeneous conditions at the top of the power pyramid, and not allowing any rivals into this circle," Vaez told RFE/RL's Radio Farda. International Relations Raisi's death is unlikely to have any impact on the deepening ties between Iran and Russia, a relationship that has increasingly worried the West, analysts say. Iran has supplied thousands of drones to Russia following its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The Iranian unmanned aircraft, known as the Shahed, has played a key role in the 27-month war, allowing Russia to devastate Ukrainian cities at a distance, including destroying critical infrastructure. "It is unlikely that anything will change in relations between Russia and Iran. At least if a conservative remains president," Ilia Kusa, an analyst at the Kyiv-based Ukrainian Institute of the Future, said on Facebook. "The situational partnership between Russia and Iran is tied not so much to one person as to the international situation, poor relations with the West, and close ties at different levels," he said. As for U.S.-Iranian relations, which have been tense for decades, the Biden administration does not expect any transformation with Raisi's death. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on May 20 that when it comes to Iranian policy, it is Khamenei who "calls the shots," not the president. "So we don't anticipate any change in Iranian behavior. And therefore the Iranians should not expect any change in American behavior when it comes to holding them accountable," Kirby said. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-raisi- no-change-policy/32955061.html Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's condolences to the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran 20 May 2024 09:35 918-20-05-2024 We are deeply saddened by the news of the tragic death in the helicopter crash of President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and those who accompanied them. We will always remember these outstanding political figures as genuine patriots of the Islamic Republic, who firmly upheld the interests of their country and gave their lives in selfless service to their Motherland. President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were known in Russia as real and reliable friends of our country. Their role in strengthening beneficial Russian-Iranian cooperation and trust-based partnership is invaluable. We offer the near and dear of the victims and the entire friendly people of Iran our sincere condolences. Our thoughts and hearts are with you in this hour of grief. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN chief mourns loss of Iranian President in helicopter crash 20 May 2024 - UN Secretary-General AntAnio Guterres, alongside members of the Security Council, has extended heartfelt condolences to the people and Government of Iran following the death of President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter accident on Sunday. The crash, which occurred in a mountainous region of northwestern Iran, also claimed the lives of Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six other passengers. "The Secretary-General expresses his sincere condolences to the families of the deceased and to the Government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Mr. Guterres' Spokesperson said in a statement released in New York on Monday. The members of the Security Council joined the Secretary-General in expressing condolences as they convened on Monday. Led by Pedro ComissArio Afonso, Permanent Representative of Mozambique and Council President for May, the ambassadors observed a moment of silence at the start of the body's 9629th meeting. According to media reports, President Raisi's funeral is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, and all cultural events in the country have been cancelled during what is now an official period of mourning. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, led a minute of silence in honour of the passing of those who died, at a conference on nuclear security taking place in Vienna on Monday. IAEA inspectors have been working with authorities for years at Iran's nuclear sites in order to limit capacity to purely civilian use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address World leaders react to death of Iran's Raisi By VOA News May 20, 2024 The United States expressed its condolences Monday for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others who were killed in a helicopter crash. "As Iran selects a new president, we reaffirm our support for the Iranian people and their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms," said U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller in a statement. The Iranian officials were returning from the Iran-Azerbaijan border when the helicopter went down Sunday. Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said Monday that he was "deeply shocked by the heavy loss that befell the brotherly and friendly Islamic Republic of Iran and its people." Pakistan declared a day of mourning, and Lebanon three days of mourning, as governments extend condolences to Iran. The U.N. secretary-general "expresses his sincere condolences to the families of the deceased and to the Government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a Monday statement. Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Raisi as an "outstanding politician." "Raisi was an outstanding politician whose entire life was dedicated to serving his homeland," Putin said. "As a true friend of Russia, he made an invaluable personal contribution to the development of good-neighborly relations between our countries." Chinese President Xi Jinping called Raisi's death "tragic" and said "the Chinese people have lost a good friend," a spokesman for China's foreign ministry said. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad expressed solidarity with Iran, and said Syria worked with Raisi "to ensure that strategic relations between Syria and Iran flourish always." Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi expressed Egypt's solidarity with "the leadership and people of Iran in this great loss." Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Raisi a "valuable colleague and brother." "As a colleague who personally witnessed his efforts for the peace of the Iranian people and our region during his time in power, I remember Mr. Raisi with respect and gratitude," Erdogan said on social media. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was shocked by the development and that "India stands with Iran in this time of sorrow." Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani expressed "great sadness and great sorrow." United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said the UAE "stands in solidarity with Iran at this difficult time." Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he was "deeply saddened" by Raisi's death, calling him "an excellent human being, defender of the sovereignty of his people and unconditional friend of our country." Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Raisi "exemplified a deep commitment to the welfare of his people and the dignity of his nation, which represents a proud and rich civilization rooted in the principles of Islam." NATO spokesperson Farah Daklallah sent the security alliance's "condolences to the people of Iran." European Council President Charles Michel said the European Union "expresses its sincere condolences." "Our thoughts go to the families," Michel said. Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un Sends Message of Condolence to First Vice-President of Iran Korean Central News Agency of DPRK Pyongyang, May 21 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Un , president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, sent a message of condolence to Mohammad Mokhber, first vice-president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, on May 20. The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un in the message expressed deep condolences, on behalf of the DPRK government and people and on his own behalf, to the first vice-president of Iran and, through him, to the Iranian government and people and the bereaved families, upon receiving the shocking news of President Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi's sudden demise in an accident. The message said that the demise of the president is a great loss to the fraternal Iranian people and the world people aspiring after independence and justice. The Iranian president was an outstanding statesman and a close friend of the DPRK people, who made a great contribution to the cause of the Iranian people for safeguarding the sovereignty, development and interests of their country and the gains of the Islamic revolution, the message said. Being convinced that the Iranian government and people would overcome the pain of the great loss and advance undauntedly and vigorously to build strong and prosperous Iran, the message prayed that the bereaved families would recover stability as soon as possible. -0- NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran mourns President Raisi after tragic helicopter crash People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 08:13, May 21, 2024 TEHRAN, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was confirmed dead on Monday after his helicopter crashed in the country's mountainous northwestern region on Sunday. Iran's official news agency IRNA confirmed the deaths of Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Governor of East Azarbaijan Province Malek Rahmati, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's Representative to East Azerbaijan Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem and Raisi's bodyguard, all of whom were onboard the same helicopter. Khamenei announced on Monday five days of public mourning. CRASH Pir-Hossein Kolivand, head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, told the semi-official Tasnim news agency early Monday that the crash site was located after hours of extensive search in the mountainous region of East Azerbaijan. An image released by the IRNA showed the wreckage of the helicopter scattered across a mountain peak. Rescuers faced harsh weather conditions and low temperatures during their search, which began immediately after the crash was reported on Sunday. The crash occurred as Raisi traveled from the Azerbaijani border following his attendance at a ceremony to inaugurate a storage dam with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev. In an interview with state TV IRIB on Sunday, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi attributed the helicopter's crash to bad weather conditions, which he said also hindered search and rescue efforts. Raisi, 63, was born in the city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran. Before being elected Iranian president in 2021, he held prominent positions, including judiciary chief and Tehran prosecutor. In a statement quoted by the IRNA on Monday, the Iranian cabinet said Raisi was an "indefatigable and hard-working president" who "made the ultimate sacrifice on the path of serving his nation." To mourn Raisi's death, the Iranian government has draped his seat with a black robe. Across various provinces, preparations are underway for mourning ceremonies, while events scheduled for National Cultural Heritage Week have been canceled, as reported by the IRNA. Raisi's death comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and Israel, marked by an exchange of attacks in April fueled by the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in October last year, while efforts to revive negotiations and salvage the Iran nuclear deal have hit a deadlock. Armed groups in the region like the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen have launched attacks on Israeli targets in a show of solidarity with the Palestinians. CONDOLENCES After Raisi's death, many world leaders and foreign governments expressed sorrow. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a message of condolence to Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, in which the Chinese leader expressed deep condolences and extended sincere sympathies to Mokhber, the family of President Raisi, and the Iranian government and people. Leaders from Russia, TArkiye, Egypt, the UAE, Jordan, Syria, Qatar, Pakistan, Venezuela and India, along with Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit and European Council President Charles Michel, have all sent messages of condolence after Raisi's death. "We extend our deepest condolences and sympathy to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ali Khamenei, and to the Iranian government and people," Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani said in a statement. Hamas, which has been in an escalating conflict with Israel since last October, expressed sympathy to the Iranian people for "this immense loss," lauding Raisi's support for the Palestinian cause and resistance against Israel. IMPACT The Iranian Constitution stipulates that in case of the president's death or incapacity, the first vice president will assume the role until an election is conducted within a maximum of 50 days. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Monday appointed the country's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, 68, as interim president. Iran's Constitutional Council Spokesman Hadi Tahan Nazif said that with Khamenei's approval, a council consisting of the Iranian judiciary chief, parliament speaker and first vice president will take measures to organize elections within 50 days. Even though the death of high-ranking officials is a blow to Iran's political governance, analysts said the "shock" can be absorbed. Khamenei has told Iranian people not to worry, promising "no disruption" to the country's affairs. "Iran, since its Islamic revolution in 1979 ... has proved to be more than capable of taking all sorts of shots (against it), especially when it comes to political leaders," opined Marwan Bishara, a senior political analyst from Al Jazeera. On the diplomatic front, while the passing of the foreign minister is a significant loss for Iran, analysts said the country's foreign policy will not undergo substantial changes. Amir-Abdollahian "has been an extremely effective foreign minister, overseeing a successful reconciliation with Saudi Arabia and navigating a series of difficult crises," according to an analysis by the Times of Israel. But "Iran's broad foreign policy won't change," it noted. However, some analysts believe the incident will prompt Iran to shift its political focus toward domestic matters. The country can now be "a little more self-engaged, wrapped up in internal politics, as it sorts out the election for the next president," said Michael Makovsky, president and chief executive of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Readout of National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan's Meetings in Israel May 20, 2024 Today in Israel, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Israeli Leader of the Opposition Yair Lapid, Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, Chief of Defense Herzi Halevi, and War Cabinet members Benny Gantz and Gadi Eizenkot to discuss the situation in Gaza and the United States' unwavering support for Israel. In his discussions with Minister Gallant and General Halevi, Mr. Sullivan received updated briefings on Israeli military operations in Gaza, and reiterated the President's longstanding position on Rafah. Minister Gallant and General Halevi briefed Mr. Sullivan on new alternative approaches to defeating Hamas in Rafah to address the concerns that have been expressed by the U.S. side through the Strategic Consultative Group process. The two sides agreed to continue discussions. Mr. Sullivan reaffirmed the United States commitment to securing the release of all hostages held by Hamas. Mr. Sullivan also discussed the importance of Israel and Egypt concluding talks to reopen the Rafah crossing as soon as possible, and the need for Egypt to ensure the continued flow of humanitarian assistance through Kerem Shalom. Mr. Sullivan emphasized the imperative to further surge assistance throughout Gaza, using all available crossings including Rafah, Erez East, Erez West, and the multinational humanitarian maritime corridor. Mr. Sullivan underscored the critical need for effective deconfliction mechanisms to ensure humanitarian workers can safely deliver aid to those in need throughout Gaza. In his meetings with Mr. Gantz, Mr. Eisenkot and separately with Mr. Lapid, Mr. Sullivan reiterated the US commitment to see Hamas defeated, all hostages released, and the opportunity available for Israel to secure its future and people through a more integrated Middle East region. ### NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's meeting with President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev 20 May 2024 17:49 925-20-05-2024 On May 20, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev received Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov who was on his working visit to Astana to take part in the Foreign Ministers Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. The officials discussed ways to further implement the agreements, reached by the two countries' heads of state and government, and the schedule of interstate dialogue. They also reviewed key aspects of expanding bilateral cooperation and interaction in the common integration associations - the EAEU, the CSTO, the CIS, the SCO, and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA). The officials expressed mutual intention to jointly resolve the entire package of diverse issues and implement the plans for strengthening their allied relations and strategic partnership for the benefit of the two countries and peoples. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's opening remarks during a meeting with President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Astana, May 20, 2024 20 May 2024 17:13 924-20-05-2024 Mr Tokayev, Thank you for setting aside the time for this meeting and the opportunity to meet with you. On May 18, you had a telephone conversation with President Vladimir Putin. He conveys his warmest regards and best wishes on the occasion of your birthday. You maintain close communication. You have already met in person twice this year (in addition to telephone conversations). Meetings are scheduled to be held as part of the SCO and the CSTO in Kazakhstan. We are also preparing for a BRICS summit in Kazan in October and hope that Astana will accept our invitation to participate in the events for the partner countries. Our respective prime ministers maintain regular contacts and will soon meet in Ashgabat at the CIS Council of Heads of Government. Today, I have held talks with Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Murat Nurtleu, both one-on-one and as part of broader talks with the delegations' participation. Our foreign ministries are consistently working to implement the agreements reached between you and President Putin, including the Joint Statement adopted in 2023 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Treaty of Neighbourliness and Alliance in the 21st century. We have a Joint Action Plan for 2024-2026, which fills our relations substantively. We noted the leaders' commitment to implementing other projects that will make the lives of our people more comfortable and our interactions easier. This is an important area as well. We appreciate our economic and financial relations and look forward to the entire range of our ties that cover almost all areas of human activity continuing to expand steadily. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's meeting with Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Murat Nurtleu 20 May 2024 16:06 923-20-05-2024 On May 20, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Murat Nurtleu during his official visit to participate in the SCO Foreign Ministers meeting in Astana. In furtherance of their commitment to strengthen the alliance and strategic partnership between the two nations, the foreign ministers discussed various aspects of multifaceted bilateral cooperation. They also addressed the cooperation between Moscow and Astana within Eurasian integration associations such as the EAEU, CSTO, CIS, SCO, and CICA. They also aligned their perspectives on certain regional security matters, ensuring a synchronised approach. The ministers signed the protocol to the existing intergovernmental agreement, originally established in 2000, governing consular presence within each other's territories. This protocol establishes a framework for the opening of new consulates general and refines the boundaries of consular districts. The meeting went in the traditionally warm atmosphere characteristic to Russian-Kazakh dialogues. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's opening remarks at a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister - Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Murat Nurtleu, Astana, May 20, 2024 20 May 2024 15:54 922-20-05-2024 Mr Murat Nurtleu, Dear friends, Thank you for this opportunity to hold bilateral contacts on the sidelines of the upcoming SCO Foreign Ministers Meeting. These contacts make it possible to coordinate our positions and to see how agreements reached by President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev are being implemented, and to find out what else we should do in order to obtain the most effective results that would meet the interests of both countries. The presidents maintain regular contact, and they have met two times already. They will hold at least as many contacts in the next few months during CSTO, SCO and other events. Our prime ministers are set to meet in late May. National foreign ministries have also established close contacts, and a schedule of mutual consultations is available. This amounts to effective and useful interaction. We hope that heads of foreign policy planning departments and information and press departments will hold consultations in the near future. We have a rich agenda that recently included cooperation to cope with emergencies caused by floods. We provide mutual support to one another. Other achievements include the important launch of activities of a joint working group to build Russian-Kazakhstani schools in both countries. Our presidents discussed this issue during their telephone conversation on May 18. We continue to improve the contractual and legal framework. About ten interdepartmental documents are currently being drawn up. Today, we will sign a protocol to an intergovernmental agreement that will make it possible to open a Russian consulate general in Aktau. Life goes on. It is important that, as I hope, our work is making the life of our citizens on either sides of the border more eventful, interesting and comfortable. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Rebel Chin forces in Myanmar capture town on Indian border Cikha is the 9th town in Chin state to fall to the rebel army. By RFA Burmese 2024.05.20 -- Armed ethnic Chin rebels have captured the town of Cikha in northwestern Myanmar near the border with India in the latest setback for the military junta. The combined forces of Chin National Army, or CNA, and the Chin Regional Defense Forces - grassroots militia made up of citizens opposed to the junta that ousted the country's democratically elected government in a 2021 coup - captured the town of about 3,000 people, the CNA said Monday. Cikha is the ninth township in Chin state to fall to the ethnic army. Two more townships in the state have been seized by the Arakan Army, an armed ethnic Rakhine group that also is fighting the junta. Since late October, rebel groups in the northern and western part of the country have made significant gains against junta troops, overrunning dozens of camps and capturing hundreds of soldiers. That has prompted the military to impose a draft to replenish its dwindling ranks. In Cikha, the rebels currently control a police station and a military garrison that were held by the junta, CNA spokesperson Salai Htet Ni told RFA Burmese. "Cikha is in a situation that we can control," he said. "However, there are still military council troops in some parts of the city, so we are continuing to clear these areas," referring to the junta. The attack began on Friday, May 17. After Cikha fell on Sunday, the rebels began advancing on Tonzang, further to the south. Salai Htet Ni said that there were casualties on both sides, but the details are not yet known. Residents of Cikha and Tonzang said that some of the junta troops who retreated from Cikha have joined forces with those in Tonzang to counterattack. Also, the junta has been conducting airstrikes since the attack began on Friday, they said. Fleeing or trapped A resident of Tonzang, speaking anonymously for security reasons, told RFA that about 8,000 people live in the town, and about 70% have fled due to fighting. The remaining residents are believed to be trapped by aerial bombardment and the fighting on the ground. "Today, a jet fighter made two passes in the morning," the resident said. Efforts are being made to evacuate Tonzang, a volunteer said. "The youth organization is coming to the rescue," he told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. "If a (junta) helicopter arrives, we will not be able to evacuate. We are currently evacuating people to a location three miles (about five kilometers) away from Tonzang." Aid workers said that because of the fighting in the region, residents of 15 villages, including the villages of Tuitum, Nazang, Phaitu, near the highway that connects Tonzang and Cikha, have fled into the forests. The junta has not yet released any official statements regarding the situation in Tonzang and Cikha. RFA attempted to contact Aung Cho, the state secretary and the spokesman for the junta in Chin state, but he did not respond to phone calls. Translated by Kalyar Lwin. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster. Copyright 1998-2024, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Myanmar now requires biometric 'smart card' to exit country by border But the junta's capacity to produce the cards is nowhere near meeting public demand. By RFA Burmese 2024.05.20 -- New restrictions requiring Myanmar nationals to obtain a special "smart card" before they can cross into a neighboring country have led to long lines at checkpoints and a thriving black market for the cards in border towns, applicants said Monday. The junta recently announced that, as of May 1, citizens entering China, Thailand and India will have to carry a 10-digit Unique Identification, or UID, card, as national ID cards will no longer be valid at border crossings. The new policy follows the imposition of a military draft by Myanmar's junta aimed at shoring up troop shortages brought on by losses to rebel forces. Many of those eligible for conscription have fled Myanmar's cities for rebel-held territory or left the country, rather than fight for the junta. On May 14, the junta's Ministry of Immigration and Population said that it is free to apply for the new UID cards and that applicants can file a complaint with authorities if they are made to pay a fee to obtain one. But the statement is little consolation to those who had regularly crossed the border for work until the announcement and now spend hours in line daily for an often futile shot at getting a card. Others have paid exorbitant bribes to purchase a UID from officials on the black market. In the Shan state town of Muse, near the Myanmar-China border, the immigration department issues only 100 tokens for UIDs each day, despite long lines, according to applicants and residents. Htay, the chairman of the Philanthropic Association of Muse, told RFA Burmese that at the current rate of distribution, many applicants won't be able to get a UID until next year. "Many people from Myanmar who work in China won't get smart cards until 2025, so they'll be unemployed for six or seven months," he said. "They'll lose their present job if they can't go back to China in time." Htay said that there is only one machine capable of producing UIDs in Muse, which is hampering distribution. Urgent service 'fees' But the capacity of the junta to produce UIDs is far smaller than the demand nationwide, prompting some entrepreneurial officials to provide same-day service cards at a cost of 50,000-600,000 kyats (US$12-150) for those who cannot wait. A migrant worker from Kayin state's Myawaddy township told RFA that he had to pay an official 200,000 kyats (US$49) for a UID to avoid losing his job across the border in Thailand's town of Mae Sot. "If I can't enter Thailand, then I'll lose my job," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. "Applicants ridiculously need to wait days before they can get a card, so I decided to use the 'urgent service' method." Another applicant in Myawaddy said only around 150 applicants receive UIDs each day and that immigration officials will summarily reject any application with incorrect information. "Also, if the server is down, the official won't even be able to issue cards," he said. San Aung, the director of the Mae Sot-based New Myanmar Foundation, which provides assistance to people displaced by conflict, said that young people have been flooding out of Myanmar however they can since the conscription law went into effect. "We're seeing this in particular at the borders," he said. "In the past, only [dissidents] were hiding locally. But now we're seeing tougher restrictions, with authorities checking ... for anyone between the ages of 18 and 35 who might be trying to flee Myanmar to avoid mandatory military service." Attempts by RFA to contact junta spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun for comment on the new UID policy went unanswered Monday. The UID requirement for border crossings is the latest bid by the junta to crack down on would-be draft-dodgers. Myanmar on May 2 also announced the suspension of new permits for conscription-age men hoping to find jobs abroad. Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster. Copyright 1998-2024, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Visit of the Foreign Minister of Turkiye to Pakistan Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar today held comprehensive talks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of TArkiye, Hakan Fidan. Foreign Minister Fidan is on an official visit to Pakistan at the invitation of his Pakistani counterpart. The two sides reviewed the state of bilateral relations and agreed to further strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation in trade, investment, defence and security domains. They also assessed preparations for the upcoming 7th session of Pakistan-TArkiye High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council (HLSCC) to be held in Islamabad in the near future. Deputy Prime Minister Dar appreciated TArkiye's firm and consistent support for the oppressed people of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). He also reiterated Pakistan's support for the legitimate rights of the people of Northern Cyprus. The two Ministers also discussed regional and global developments, especially the ongoing genocide and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. They stressed the need for urgent and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza and the provision of urgent humanitarian relief for the besieged Palestinian people. They reiterated the imperative for the creation of an independent Palestinian state for lasting peace in the Middle East. The two leaders also discussed the need to combat Islamophobia and stressed the urgency of addressing it in a holistic manner. Pakistan and TArkiye enjoy special bonds of friendship and brotherhood rooted in history, culture and religion. Regular dialogue and exchange of high-level visits are the hallmark of Pakistan-TArkiye robust bilateral relations. Islamabad 20 May 2024 87/2024 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Meeting on fuel and energy complex development Vladimir Putin held a meeting on developing the fuel and energy complex. May 20, 2024 19:30 The Kremlin, Moscow The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Maxim Oreshkin, Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, and Rosneft CEO - Chairman of the Management Board Igor Sechin. * * * President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, good afternoon. Today I suggest discussing not just the current state of the fuel and energy complex but also mid- and long-term tasks, of course, with due regard to our strategic plans outlined in the Executive Order on the Development Goals of the Russian Federation through 2030 and for the Future until 2036, issued on May 7. I mean addressing problems related to improving the well-being of Russian families, sustainable and dynamic growth of economic sectors, digitisation, ensuring technological leadership and, of course, the implementation of large-scale social projects and programmes, including the continuation of social gas distribution programme. I would like to emphasise that despite the sanctions and strong volatility on the global and regional energy markets, the domestic fuel and energy complex is developing steadily, opening new areas for exports and reliably and fully meeting growing domestic needs, which is fundamentally important and is a priority for us. The Russian economy is growing, the needs are growing, and they are met by the fuel and energy complex. In January-April, gas production in Russia amounted to 246.4 billion cubic metres, which is almost eight percent higher than over the same period last year. The oil industry performance is also quite stable. For instance, since the start of this year, gross oil production amounted to 195.7 million tonnes, which is a bit - by 1.8 percent - below the figure for the corresponding period last year. But we proceed from the premise that we have the OPEC Plus agreement, and this is a voluntary reduction. In addition, electricity consumption is steadily on the rise. This reflects the overall positive trends in the economy and production. Since the start of this year, this increase reached 6.1 percent compared to the relevant figure for the past year. The heads of the Government energy sector and leading energy companies are present at our meeting today. I will say this in the end - we will also gather in a more expanded format with heads of companies and will discuss everything we will talk about today. But at the first stage, we will talk in a narrow circle. As is known, the Address to the Federal Assembly determines many industries on which we should stake. We have set a number of major goals facing the fuel and energy complex that is certainly one of the most important industries. We have identified these goals for the next six years. In addition, at a sectoral meeting two years ago, I instructed the Government to draft and endorse a long-term energy strategy. When I said we would meet in an expanded format, I was referring to a discussion on drafting this strategy. I would like to ask you to speed up this work and complete it as soon as possible. Let's get down to business. <...> NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Blog Archive: Oct 2024 (60) Sep 2024 (149) Aug 2024 (155) Jul 2024 (155) Jun 2024 (150) May 2024 (153) Apr 2024 (149) Mar 2024 (155) Feb 2024 (145) Jan 2024 (156) Dec 2023 (155) Nov 2023 (150) Oct 2023 (155) Sep 2023 (150) Aug 2023 (155) Jul 2023 (155) Jun 2023 (150) May 2023 (155) Apr 2023 (150) Mar 2023 (155) Feb 2023 (140) Jan 2023 (155) Dec 2022 (156) Nov 2022 (150) Oct 2022 (155) Sep 2022 (150) Aug 2022 (155) Jul 2022 (154) Jun 2022 (150) May 2022 (155) Apr 2022 (150) Mar 2022 (155) Feb 2022 (140) Jan 2022 (156) Dec 2021 (156) Nov 2021 (150) Oct 2021 (155) Sep 2021 (150) Aug 2021 (155) Jul 2021 (155) Jun 2021 (150) May 2021 (155) Apr 2021 (150) Mar 2021 (155) Feb 2021 (140) Jan 2021 (155) Dec 2020 (155) Nov 2020 (150) Oct 2020 (158) Sep 2020 (150) Aug 2020 (130) Jul 2020 (124) Jun 2020 (120) May 2020 (124) Apr 2020 (120) Mar 2020 (124) Feb 2020 (116) Jan 2020 (125) Dec 2019 (126) Nov 2019 (120) Oct 2019 (124) Sep 2019 (120) Aug 2019 (125) Jul 2019 (124) Jun 2019 (120) May 2019 (123) Apr 2019 (121) Mar 2019 (124) Feb 2019 (112) Jan 2019 (125) Dec 2018 (126) Nov 2018 (120) Oct 2018 (124) Sep 2018 (121) Aug 2018 (124) Jul 2018 (125) Jun 2018 (120) May 2018 (124) Apr 2018 (121) Mar 2018 (124) Feb 2018 (112) Jan 2018 (123) Dec 2017 (124) Nov 2017 (124) Oct 2017 (141) Sep 2017 (135) Aug 2017 (138) Jul 2017 (137) Jun 2017 (134) May 2017 (138) Apr 2017 (135) Mar 2017 (139) Feb 2017 (129) Jan 2017 (143) Dec 2016 (135) Nov 2016 (138) Oct 2016 (142) Sep 2016 (128) Aug 2016 (133) Jul 2016 (136) Jun 2016 (138) May 2016 (164) Apr 2016 (311) Mar 2016 (348) Feb 2016 (320) Jan 2016 (348) Dec 2015 (314) Nov 2015 (338) Oct 2015 (363) Sep 2015 (358) Aug 2015 (399) Jul 2015 (374) Jun 2015 (331) May 2015 (337) Apr 2015 (319) Mar 2015 (320) Feb 2015 (271) Jan 2015 (286) Dec 2014 (254) Nov 2014 (238) Oct 2014 (287) Sep 2014 (267) Aug 2014 (259) Jul 2014 (260) Jun 2014 (238) May 2014 (241) Apr 2014 (228) Mar 2014 (240) Feb 2014 (217) Jan 2014 (263) Dec 2013 (226) Nov 2013 (254) Oct 2013 (256) Sep 2013 (252) Aug 2013 (263) Jul 2013 (261) Jun 2013 (251) May 2013 (250) Apr 2013 (221) Mar 2013 (193) Feb 2013 (164) Jan 2013 (157) Dec 2012 (155) Nov 2012 (240) Oct 2012 (526) Sep 2012 (411) Aug 2012 (394) Jul 2012 (284) Jun 2012 (229) May 2012 (213) Apr 2012 (213) Mar 2012 (253) Feb 2012 (269) Jan 2012 (298) Dec 2011 (273) Nov 2011 (219) Oct 2011 (204) Sep 2011 (201) Aug 2011 (236) Jul 2011 (217) Jun 2011 (211) May 2011 (206) Apr 2011 (215) Mar 2011 (215) Feb 2011 (186) Jan 2011 (215) Dec 2010 (107) Nov 2010 (98) Oct 2010 (55) Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's meeting with Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi 20 May 2024 14:00 920-20-05-2024 On May 20, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China Wang Yi on the sidelines of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Astana. Sergey Lavrov extended gratitude for the warm reception of President Vladimir Putin in Beijing and Harbin on May 16-17. In return, the Chinese side expressed appreciation for the selection of the People's Republic of China as the destination for the Russian leader's first state visit after assuming office. The ministers highlighted the critical significance of highest-level engagements in advancing the deepening of comprehensive partnership relations and strategic interaction between both nations. They delved into the substantive discussion regarding the execution of agreements made during the Beijing summit, along with addressing various other topics on the bilateral agenda. They also exchanged opinions on the current status and future prospects of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. The foreign ministers of Russia and China acknowledged the joint efforts of member states in upholding peace and stability in Eurasia. They also highlighted the increasing influence of the Organisation on global and regional affairs. The ministers reaffirmed their dedication to enhancing mutual coordination within the UN, its Security Council, as well as the SCO, BRICS, the G20, APEC and other key international organisations and dialogue platforms. Various pressing issues were addressed, including the Middle East peace process, developments in the Red Sea region, and the situation on the Korean Peninsula. The meeting participants also put an emphasis on the necessity of constructing a new security framework for Eurasia, particularly given the stagnation of Euro-Atlantic mechanisms. Sergey Lavrov thanked the Chinese partners for their well-balanced stance on resolving the Ukrainian crisis and appreciated Chinese President Xi Jinping's proposal to convene a peace conference with an equal participation by Russia and Ukraine, considering Moscow's legitimate security interests and the current situation. There was a thorough discussion regarding the situation in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly concerning the increased provocative actions by the United States and its allies. These actions aim to involve specific Asia-Pacific nations in narrow-bloc arrangements, undermining the ASEAN-centric security framework and deploying destabilising weapon systems in the region. The parties strongly condemned the interference of third countries in China's internal affairs, particularly regarding the Taiwan issue. Amid the inauguration of Taiwan's "president" Lai Ching-te on May 20, the Russian Foreign Ministry reaffirmed Moscow's steadfast adherence to the "one China" principle. The discussion was held in the usual trust-based and constructive manner. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia to Conduct Military Drills to Test Tactical Nuclear Weapons in Due Timeframe - Kremlin Sputnik News 20240520 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Military exercises for practicing the use of tactical (or non-strategic) nuclear weapons will be conducted at the appropriate time; the exact dates should be clarified with the Russian Ministry of Defense, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. "This is a question for the military department ... It will be executed within the appropriate time frame," Peskov told reporters when asked about the dates of the exercises to test the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons. Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that, at the president's order, the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces had begun preparations for upcoming exercises involving missile units from the Southern Military District, along with the participation of aviation and the Navy. These drills will focus on the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, aimed at ensuring Russia's territorial integrity and sovereignty in response to provocative statements and threats from certain Western officials. President Vladimir Putin referred to the exercises involving the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons as routine work, with nothing unusual. He also mentioned that the drills would be conducted in three stages, with Belarus joining Russia in the second stage, as Belarus hosts non-strategic nuclear weapons. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address We urge North Korea and Iran to cease all support to Russia: UK statement at the UN Security Council Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki at the UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine. 20 May 2024 Colleagues, there is much irony to Russia calling yet another meeting on weapons proliferation in a month where we have seen the appalling destruction of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. As we speak, Russian forces continue in their devastating attacks around Kharkiv. As UN experts visiting Ukraine in April discovered, this includes the use of ballistic missiles from North Korea. Russia's procurement of weapons from Pyongyang is in violation of numerous Council resolutions, and is in addition to its use of thousands of Iranian drones since 2022. We urge North Korea and Iran to cease all support to Russia. We note that any transfer of ballistic missiles or related technology from Iran to Russia would be a significant escalation. President, Russian forces have also admitted to using riot control agents on the battlefield and the UK agrees with the US determination that Russia has used chloropicrin against Ukrainian forces. Both are a clear breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention. This is a war that Russia cannot win, and which is costing young Russians their future. The military takes up 40% of Russia's government spending. Every Kinzhal missile costs $7 million, as much as 130 Russian teachers' salaries. And at the current rate, by next year, Russia will have been responsible for well over half a million personnel killed and wounded over three years of its needless war. Yet Russia shows no signs of wanting peace. The Russian Permanent Representative said himself in this chamber that soon the "the only topic for any international meetings on Ukraine will be the unconditional surrender of the Kiev regime". Ukraine wants peace but it is defending itself from a neo-imperial war of aggression. It has the right to project force beyond its borders to do so. Along with Ukraine, we support Switzerland's upcoming Summit on Peace. It will be an opportunity to demonstrate global unity on principles for a just peace based on the UN Charter. Our support for Ukraine will endure as it continues to fight Russian aggression, as it secures the just and sustainable peace it deserves, as it rebuilds and recovers, and as its sovereign right to chart its own course is guaranteed. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taiwan's new President Lai calls on China to stop threats Lai won January's election with 40% of votes, annoying China which regards Taiwan as part of its territory. By Taejun Kang and RFA Staff 2024.05.19 -- Lai Ching-te called on China to stop its military and political threats, as he was sworn in on Monday as the fifth popularly elected president of Taiwan. Lai, addressing a crowd outside the presidential office in central Taipei, repeated a call for talks with Beijing, which regards the democratic island as its territory and has never renounced the option of using force to bring it under control. "I also want to urge China to stop intimidating Taiwan politically and militarily, and to take on the global responsibility with Taiwan to work hard on maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the region, to ensure the world is without the fear of war breaking out," Lai said. "We also want to declare this to the world: Taiwan makes no concessions on democracy and freedom. Peace is the only option and prosperity is our goal for long-term peace and stability." Lai took office alongside Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim. His Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP, will be the first party to govern for a third consecutive four-year term since the democratic island held its first direct presidential election in 1996. Lai and Hsiao won the election on Jan. 13 after taking about 40% of the vote. During the inauguration ceremony at the Presidential Office, Lai wore a purple tie representing a butterfly native to Taiwan, as well as a yellow pin on his lapel depicting mustard flowers, a common plant across the island. He received two seals symbolizing his presidential power from the parliament speaker: the seal of the Republic of China and the seal of honor. Both seals were brought to Taiwan when the Republican government fled to the island in 1949 after losing the Chinese civil war to Mao Zedong's Communists. Lai, a four-term legislator and two-term mayor of Tainan, served as premier from 2017 to 2019 under Tsai, and became her deputy in 2020 during her second term. He is the first vice president to become president since Taiwan began holding direct presidential elections. Lai received loud applause when he reiterated that the Republic of China - Taiwan's formal name - and the People's Republic of China are "not subordinate to each other". "Fellow citizens, we have the ideal to pursue peace, but we must not have illusions," he said. "Before China gives up using force to invade Taiwan, citizens must understand this: even if we accept all of China's claims and give up our sovereignty, China's ambition to annex Taiwan will not disappear." The swearing-in ceremony, which ended with a flyover of Taiwan's F-16 fighter aircraft, was attended by outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen. US, Tibetan officials attend ceremony Also at the ceremony were former U.S. officials sent by President Joe Biden, lawmakers from countries including Japan, Germany and Canada, and leaders from some of the 12 countries that still maintain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, including Paraguay President Santiago Pena. The U.S. and Japan extended their congratulations to Lai and expressed the hope that efforts to enhance bilateral relations will continue under the new administration. In Washington on Monday, U.S. Reps. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican, and Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Illinois, of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party said they looked forward to working with President Lai on issues facing the United States and Taiwan. "The people of Taiwan have achieved decades of continued prosperity in the face of continuous threats and harassment from the CCP," they said in a joint statement. "Today's inauguration is a promising reminder of Taiwan's enduring commitment to democracy and how people around the world cherish the same freedoms and liberties we hold dear as Americans." Representatives from the Central Tibetan Administration and members of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile participated in the inauguration ceremony, the most significant Tibetan government delegation to attend a large-scale presidential inauguration. "We are here to rejoice and celebrate democracy in Taiwan because there are a lot of challenges Taiwan and Tibet both are facing a challenges of intimidation, coercion, the use of force [and] cyberwarfare," said Dolma Tsering Teykhang, deputy speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile. The Tibetan delegation also attended the ceremony to ensure the revival of the Taiwanese Group for Tibet, Taiwanese parliamentarians from various political parties who work with similar organizations overseas to help defend the human rights and freedom for Tibet, Teykhang said. "We look forward to not only learning from each other's democratic values and the shared interests that the Taiwanese people and the Tibetan people aspire to a human rights, the dignity of one's own identity [and] the preservation of [one's] own culture," she said. "So, we are here to learn from each other and to come together as a force to challenge the communist totalitarian regime," Teykhang said in a reference to China. 'Maintaining the status quo' China's Taiwan Affairs Office said on Monday that Lai sent "dangerous" signals that seek to undermine peace and stability. The current situation in the Taiwan strait is "complicated and grim," the office said in a statement responding to Lai's inauguration speech. Lai said his government would "maintain the status quo". Alexander Huang Chieh-cheng, a professor of international relations and strategic studies at Tamkang University, said Lai would "not rock the boat." "At the beginning of his presidency, as promised, he will play it safe and continue Tsai's national security policies in general terms," the professor said, adding that Lai did not have a deep bench of national security experts of his own and needed the incumbents to stay on for the time being. "Lai may take his own approach to cross-strait policy if Beijing exerts too much pressure on him. The next four years are going to be stormy for Taiwan and many neighbors," he told RFA. Norah Huang, research fellow at The Prospect Foundation, a government-affiliated think tank, said one of Lai's top priorities would be to strengthen Taiwan's self-defense while managing relations with China. "The new defense minister Wellington Koo has revealed he will focus on pushing forward asymmetric defense and reservist reform. Koo was a core member of Tsai Ing-wen's national security team. His appointment and statement reflects a more forceful implementation of the policies," she said. But Huang said Lai's main message on China policy was to maintain the status quo. "We'll have to see how the Chinese respond. There's a possibility to have some kind of engagement between the DPP and China." China regards Taiwan as a renegade province that should be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary. Since separating from mainland China in 1949, Taiwan has been self-governing. Tensions have increased since Tsai's administration took power in 2016, refusing to acknowledge the "One China" principle. During the January election, China's actions, including floating balloons through Taiwanese airspace and deploying aircraft carriers in the Taiwan Strait, exacerbated tensions and increased public dismay. China has convinced several of Taiwan's diplomatic allies to shift recognition to Beijing in recent years, leaving only 12 countries maintaining official relations with Taiwan. Lai's domestic challenges also loom large. The DPP has recently faced criticism for becoming the establishment, particularly from the younger generation. Under Tsai's rule, issues like slow wage growth, high housing costs, and power shortages have become points of contention. Despite winning the presidential election, the DPP lost its majority in the legislature with the loss of some seats in elections. Edited by Mike Firn. The story was updated to add reactions from the United States, japan and China as well as comments from U.S. Reps. John Moolenaar and Raja Krishnamoorthi and Dolma Tsering Teykhang, deputy speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile. Copyright 1998-2024, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Lai underscores democracy, 'four-pillar plan' for defense, diplomacy ROC Central News Agency 05/20/2024 02:26 PM Taipei, May 20 (CNA) Taiwan will continue engaging with democratic countries around the world as it works to bolster its defense capabilities under a "four-pillar plan" for peace, President Lai Ching-te (ea) said on Monday in his inaugural address. Democracy, peace, and prosperity are values that underpin Taiwan and what bind the country tightly with the international community, Lai said, and he pledged that they would remain key elements in Taiwan's diplomacy. "We will continue working with other democratic nations to form a democratic community, and share our experiences across a range of fields," he said. "We will work together to combat disinformation, strengthen democratic resilience, address challenges, and allow Taiwan to become the MVP of the democratic world." At the same time, however, the president said that China's military actions and "gray-zone" activities are seen by the international community as the greatest challenge to global peace and stability, adding that Taiwan is faced with many threats and attempts of infiltration from China. "Taiwan is strategically positioned in the first island chain, and what affects us here affects global geopolitical development," Lai warned. It is therefore pivotal, Lai said, to show resolve to defend the country against China's intimidation and infiltration and carry out the four-pillar plan. Lai first unveiled the four-pillar plan to safeguard peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in July 2023. The four pillars underscore the importance of defense capability, economic security, partnerships with other democracies, and stable and consistent cross-strait policy. In his speech, Lai vowed to push forward "values-based diplomacy," thereby forming a "peaceful global community" with democracies around the world, which in turn would act as a deterrence against war and ensure peace. Lai also highlighted the Indo-Pacific Security Supplemental Appropriations Act signed into law by United States President Joe Biden last month, which would provide the Indo-Pacific region with "additional security and assistance." Under the act, US$8.1 billion will be allocated for Indo-Pacific security, including US$2 billion in foreign military financing for Taiwan and other key allies in the region and US$1.9 billion to replenish defense articles and defense services to Taiwan and regional partners. (By Sean Lin) Enditem/ls NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Opposition raises concerns over Lai's cross-strait stance ROC Central News Agency 05/20/2024 11:00 PM Taipei, May 20 (CNA) The main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) raised concerns over President Lai Ching-te's () inaugural address on Monday, saying that his "two country doctrine" and ideology could further stall cross-strait relations. KMT Chairman Eric Chu () said that Lai's address placed the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) political ideology and interests above the national interest. In his inaugural address, Lai stated that the Republic of China (ROC) -- Taiwan's official name -- and the People's Republic of China (PRC) are not subordinate to each other. He also said the ROC, ROC Taiwan, and Taiwan are all "names we ourselves or our international friends choose to call our nation." In response, Chu expressed concerns that Lai "made the 'two-country doctrine' conspicuous," which Chu described as different from former President Tsai Ing-wen's () emphasis on the ROC Constitution and the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area. KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi () called on Lai not to rock the cross-strait status-quo boat or force the people into crisis with his political ideology. Meanwhile, former President Ma Ying-jeou's () foundation also issued a press release claiming Lai's inauguration speech violated the ROC Constitution by declaring the PRC to be another country. Hsiao Hsu-tsen (), director of the foundation, said in the statement that by claiming the ROC and the PRC "are not subordinate to each other," Lai violated the ROC Constitution which states that both the "Mainland area" and the "Taiwan area" belong to the ROC rather than two different countries. Hsiao also called the statement which hinted at Taiwan being an alternative name of the country "unconstitutional." KMT heavyweights also took particular note of Lai's call for procedural justice in the Legislative Yuan. Lai in the address stressed the importance of the legislature observing procedural justice-- "the majority should respect the minority, while the minority accepts majority rule." Lai's remarks about the Legislative Yuan came days after the latter witnessed a day of physical scuffles and verbal fighting over several controversial bills on "parliamentary reforms". Chu, who did not attend the inaugural ceremony Monday, said the KMT stands firm with public opinion and the DPP, now a minority in the legislature, should adhere to democratic procedure and allow the bills that represent the will of the majority to pass. Resorting to violence is not observing procedural justice, nor is it following the principle of majority rule, which are what Lai called for in his speech, Fu said. In his comment on Lai's address, Taiwan People's Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je () likewise called on the ruling party not to obstruct the legislative reform bills, which Ko said the DPP previously called for. On cross-strait relations, Ko said he believes Lai will continue to abide by the ROC Constitution. "But it is more important to see [Lai's] actions over the next three months," Ko said. Meanwhile, DPP caucus whip Wu Szu-yao () said that Lai demonstrated Taiwan's strong democratic foundation in his statement about cross-strait relations, in which he presented an open attitude to possible cooperation between Taiwan and China based on the shared goal of mutual interest and prosperity. Monday's inauguration was attended by the mayors of five of the six municipalities from Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung, with only New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih () missing the event. The mayors of Kaohsiung and Tainan are from the same party as Lai, while the four others belong to the KMT, with Hou being the presidential candidate on the KMT's ticket who ran against Lai. Hsieh Yi-fong (), a KMT lawmaker from Changhua County, was the only KMT lawmaker to make an appearance, to which her colleague KMT Legislator Wang Hung-wei () said she was surprised and "felt a bit betrayed." KMT Legislator Huang Chien-hao () said the party caucus had advised lawmakers not to attend the inauguration ceremony, but it was only advisory in nature. Hsieh, who is also the KMT's deputy secretary-general, said she attended the event in her capacity as a legislator and hopes negotiations can be held on the controversial bills, with the ruling and opposition parties refraining from falling into an antagonistic relationship. (By Liu Kuan-ting, Wang Cheng-chung, Wu Shu-wei, Fan Cheng-hsiang, Lin Ching-yin and Alison Hsiao) Enditem/AW NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address MAC urges Beijing to be receptive to Lai's overture ROC Central News Agency 05/20/2024 11:34 PM Taipei, May 20 (CNA) Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has called on Beijing to be receptive to an overture expressed by President Lai Ching-te () in his inaugural speech on Monday, which Beijing criticized as an attempt to promote Taiwanese independence. In a press release, MAC said Lai had extended "the greatest goodwill gesture" in the address by calling for engagements between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait for mutual benefit and joint prosperity. It urged China to respond to that overture positively and hence meet the expectations of the people from both sides of the strait and the international community. The agency added that it would closely monitor the situation across the Taiwan Strait and promote, with prudence, cross-strait exchanges in accordance with the constitution of the Republic of China (Taiwan's official name). The comments came hours after Beijing accused Lai of attempting to promote Taiwanese independence during the inaugural speech and reasserted its policy based on the "one China" principle. In a statement, Chen Binhua (), spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, described the speech delivered by "the leader of the Taiwan region" as "stubbornly insist[ing] on the position of Taiwanese independence," China's Xinhua News Agency reported. Chen was referring to Lai, who was inaugurated in Taipei on Monday morning, despite not mentioning Lai's name for a single time in the statement. The Chinese official also criticized the speech for containing "separatist fallacies" with an attempt to "incite division" among people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. He blamed Lai's Democratic Progressive Party for the current tensions between Taipei and Beijing as the party has "refused to acknowledge the '1992 consensus' that embodies the one China principle." Chen added that Beijing would unwaveringly adhere to the one China principle and the 1992 consensus, which expresses the idea that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one China, and work toward its goal of "reunifying" Taiwan. In his inaugural speech made in the presence of hundreds of foreign dignitaries in front of the Presidential Office building, Lai reaffirmed his commitment to upholding the status quo and his willingness to engage in dialogue with Beijing. On the other hand, he urged Beijing to recognize the existence of the Republic of China, respect Taiwanese people's choice and cooperate with Taiwan's government, while pledging to continue safeguarding the country's sovereignty. "I hope that China will face the reality of the Republic of China's existence" and "in good faith...engage in cooperation with the legal government chosen by Taiwan's people," he said, noting that "the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China are not subordinate to each other." "We have a nation insofar as we have sovereignty," Lai remarked, underlining the need for the people of Taiwan to stay united. Taiwanese, including members of different political parties, should "come together to safeguard our nation," he said, adding that no individual should "entertain the idea of giving up our national sovereignty in exchange for political power." (By Teng Pei-ju) Enditem/cs NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Lai urges Beijing to recognize ROC, calls for dialogue at inauguration (update) ROC Central News Agency 05/20/2024 04:07 PM Taipei, May 20 (CNA) President Lai Ching-te (ea) called on Beijing to acknowledge Taiwan's government and engage in dialogue with Taipei in his inaugural address on Monday, saying that both sides are responsible for promoting peace in the Taiwan Strait. "I hope that China will face the reality of the Republic of China's existence" and "in good faith...engage in cooperation with the legal government chosen by Taiwan's people," Lai said in front of the Presidential Office building in Taipei. Lai reaffirmed that his government would adhere to former President Tsai Ing-wen's (ee) policy toward China and work to maintain the status quo. The government will "neither yield nor provoke," said Lai, who also chairs the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), echoing Tsai's stance of refraining from provocative or rash acts in the face of Chinese pressure. The newly inaugurated president advocated for dialogue based on the principles of equality and dignity as well as exchanges between the two sides, instead of confrontation and containment. If national leaders prioritize the well-being of their people, they will share the common goals of maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait and promoting mutual benefit, Lai said. He suggested that the two sides start "from the resumption of tourism on a reciprocal basis, and enrollment of degree students in Taiwanese institutions." Currently, individual tourists from Taiwan and China can visit each other's country, but group travel remains restricted by both governments. At the same time, the Chinese government has since 2020 banned Chinese students from pursuing degree studies in Taiwan, permitting only exchange programs, summer camps, and other short-term educational activities. While calling for more exchanges, Lai also urged Beijing to cease its "political and military intimidation" of Taiwan while describing China's military actions and gray-zone coercion as "the greatest strategic challenges to global peace and stability." Beijing should fulfill its obligation to uphold stability in the Taiwan Strait and surrounding regions so as to "ensure the world is free from fear of war," he said. In face of "the many threats and attempts of infiltration from China," however, the people of Taiwan must demonstrate their resolution to defend the nation, Lai said, noting that the government would also work to raise defense awareness and strengthen the legal framework for national security. "We have a nation insofar as we have sovereignty," Lai remarked, underlining the need for the people of Taiwan to stay united. Taiwanese, including members of different political parties, should "come together to safeguard our nation," he said, adding that no individual should "entertain the idea of giving up our national sovereignty in exchange for political power." "The Republic of China and the People's Republic of China are not subordinate to each other," he said. Meanwhile, Taiwan will engage in "values-based diplomacy," he said, stressing the country's "unwavering commitments" to uphold democracy and freedom and contribute to the democratic community. (By Teng Pei-ju) Enditem/ls NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China likely to reject Lai's cross-strait exchange proposal: Scholars ROC Central News Agency 05/20/2024 11:00 PM Taipei, May 20 (CNA) Beijing is likely to reject or even respond with "fire and fury" to President Lai Ching-te's () proposal of resuming cross-Taiwan Strait exchanges in tourism and education, according to scholars. In his inaugural address on Monday, Lai called on China to engage in cooperation with Taiwan's government, proposing that it could "start from the resumption of tourism on a reciprocal basis, and enrollment of degree students in Taiwanese institutions." Wen-Ti Sung (), a Taipei-based fellow with the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub, said that it is "unlikely" for Beijing to have a positive response to Lai's proposal and instead "Beijing will meet it with fire and fury." "Beijing has never found Lai Ching-te to be to Beijing's liking. And Beijing wants to use pre-emptive pressuring tactics to establish the terms of subsequent cross-strait negotiations," Sung said. The Chinese authorities will probably look at the possibility of cross-strait exchanges in the way that they have mentioned it before, but they will not accept Lai's proposal, said Ian Chong (), an associate professor at the Department of Political Science of the National University of Singapore. "Because in the PRC's eyes, Taiwan is a regional government and therefore undeserving of any such parity," Chong said, implying that the People's Republic of China (PRC) will not respond on this proposal at the central government level. In August 2019, China halted independent travel to Taiwan, citing the strained state of cross-strait relations; and in 2020, both group travel to Taiwan and enrollment of Chinese degree students to institutions in Taiwan were also suspended. These measures are still in effect. Taiwan, on the other hand, allows its citizens to study in or travel independently to China, but not in tour groups arranged by Taiwanese travel agencies. Messages to both sides of the Pacific While both scholars are pessimistic about China's response to Lai's proposal, they respectively think that Lai has extended goodwill -- at least to a certain degree -- to Beijing, and reassurance to Washington. Lai expressed an interest and willingness to work together with China toward common prosperity, indicating that he thinks both sides can work toward becoming friends, Sung said. "He is being clear-eyed about the challenges in current [cross-strait] relations; so, he's proposing baby steps rather than extending any major olive branch at the moment," said Sung. Chong said that Lai's mention of his commitment to "maintain the status quo" in his speech is a move that will be welcomed by the United States, which does not support Taiwan independence. "There have been some worries in some forces in Washington that Lai will push for [Taiwan] independence in a way that is overly provocative -- I doubt that's going to happen," the Singaporean scholar said. In 2017, when serving as premier, Lai described himself as a "pragmatic worker for Taiwan independence," but as predicted, he did not mention this in his inaugural address. Tsai Ing-wen 2.0 Lai reiterated that he would uphold the "Four Commitments" -- an approach to cross-strait policy proposed by his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen () -- and proposed his own "Four Pillars of Peace action plan." Sung stated that Lai's intention is to project consistency and stability, especially "framing himself as a Tsai Ing-wen 2.0" on both cross-strait and foreign policy. "If there's a difference to be made [between Lai and past presidents] ... I think Lai makes less mention about shared political future with China in the future tense," he said. Meanwhile, Tang Shao-cheng (), a research fellow at the National Chengchi University's Institute of International Relations, said that the section about cross-strait relations in Lai's speech primarily followed Tsai's approach, and the assertion that the two sides of the strait are not subordinate to each other is similar to Tsai's stance. While the fundamental disagreements between both sides remain difficult to resolve, Tang said that Lai's proposal regarding cross-strait tourism and education reflects a gesture of goodwill. Lai's speech overall conveyed a mix of commitments and goodwill, he said. (By Liu Kuan-ting, Matt Yu and Sunny Lai) Enditem/cs NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chinese scholars pessimistic about Lai's inaugural address ROC Central News Agency 05/20/2024 11:29 PM Taipei, May 20 (CNA) Chinese scholars were pessimistic about President Lai Ching-te's () stance and approach to relations between the two sides across the Taiwan Strait outlined in his inaugural address on Monday. In Lai's speech, he mentioned that according to the Constitution of the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan's official name), the sovereignty of the ROC resides with its citizens, and anyone possessing ROC nationality is an ROC citizen. "These two articles tell us clearly: The ROC and the People's Republic of China are not subordinate to each other," Lai stated. The purpose of Lai's remarks on nationality was to express the idea that "mainland China has no jurisdiction over Taiwan," said Bao Chengke (), an assistant director at the Institute for East Asian Studies in Shanghai. "It's an intentional effort to create opposition in cross-strait affairs and to advocate for Taiwan independence from a legal perspective," Bao said. He added that Lai's assertion about nationality will escalate tensions across the Taiwan Strait as it contradicts China's emphasis that "Taiwan is part of China as historical fact." However, Bao contended that future exchanges between the two sides will continue and not undergo any fundamental change due to Lai's inauguration. When asked the reason for this prediction, Bao told CNA that the Chinese authorities operate under "the logic of both sides belonging to one family," and therefore they will promote cross-strait exchanges among civilians while simultaneously strengthening policies to suppress Taiwan independence. Meanwhile, Zhou Zhihuai (), former director of the Institute of Taiwan Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that Lai's inaugural address is a "testimony on Taiwan independence" that not only challenges the Chinese authorities, but is also provocative. He questioned how Lai could implement the blueprint outlined in his speech amid the absence of peaceful cross-strait conditions. Zhou asserted that it is a more pro-Taiwan independence speech than any ever delivered by Taiwan's former presidents Lee Teng-hui (), Chen Shui-bian () and Tsai Ing-wen (). Whether China will strengthen its "unilateral resolution mechanism for the Taiwan issue" needs to be observed, Zhou stated, stressing that China has no reason to be optimistic. Regarding Lai's proposal on resuming the enrollment of Chinese degree students at Taiwanese institutions, Zhou said that in an environment filled with hostility and unfriendliness -- referring to Taiwan -- it is questionable whether Chinese parents would want to send their children to study in Taiwan. "I think it's impossible," he said. (By Lu Chia-jung, Chang Shu-ling and Sunny Lai) Enditem/AW NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Two Taiwanese given suspended sentences in Chinese recruiting case ROC Central News Agency 05/20/2024 06:03 PM Taipei, May 20 (CNA) Two Taiwanese men have been given suspended sentences after being found guilty of illegally recruiting personnel for a Chinese high-tech company in Taiwan, the Hsinchu District Court said Monday. A man surnamed Huang () received a jail term of six months, suspended for two years, and was ordered to pay NT$360,000 (US$11,180), while another man identified as Hsu () was sentenced to three months in jail, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay NT$200,000. The court found the two guilty of violating the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, which stipulates that Chinese companies or "third-area" subsidiaries are not allowed to "engage in business activities" unless permitted by the competent authorities. Among the activities they cannot engage in under the provision are sales, R&D and recruiting activities. The sentences for the two men can be appealed. According to the ruling issued on May 10 by the court, Huang was approached by a Chinese national surnamed Wu () to serve as general manager and vice president of two affiliates in Taiwan of Shanghai-based Mindmotion Microelectronics, a company managed by Wu. The court found that Wu and Huang teamed up to establish the two companies in Zhubei City in 2017 and recruited R&D personnel for micro-processing units, with the help of a U.S. national who was not aware that China-based companies were not allowed to engage in such actions. Because Huang knew that the two Mindmotion affiliates could be investigated by law enforcement authorities for illegally operating in Taiwan, he quit his job in one of them in 2022, a position that was later filled by Hsu, while dissolving the other company, it said. Wu, meanwhile, has been put on the Hsinch District Prosecutors Office wanted list. (By Flor Wang and Kuo Wen-hsuen) Enditem/ls NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Mainland slams Lai in sending 'dangerous signal' in speech Global Times Any external forces manipulating "Taiwan card" to contain China doomed to fail: experts By Liu Xin and Ma Jingjing Published: May 20, 2024 10:43 PM Updated: May 20, 2024 10:47 PM The Chinese mainland on Monday reiterated its firm opposition to "Taiwan independence" and emphasized its unwavering stance against any form of separatist activities, following Lai Ching-te's speech upon assuming the role of Taiwan region's new leader on Monday. Analysts said that the pursuit of "Taiwan independence" is a futile endeavor that will lead to detrimental and calamitous consequences for Taiwan island. The US and certain external forces' attempts to manipulate the "Taiwan card" to contain China will only serve to destabilize the region further. Lai and deputy regional leader Hsiao Bi-khim officially assumed office on Monday. During his "inauguration speech", Lai blatantly referred to the island as a "nation," talked about the island's political system and "freedom," and hyped so-called political and military "intimidation" from the mainland. Lai's speech stubbornly followed the "Taiwan independence" stance, wantonly advocated separatism, incited cross-Straits confrontation and sought independence by relying on foreign support and by force, Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said in a statement on Monday. The mainstream public aspiration on the island favors peace over war, development over regression, communication over separation, and cooperation over confrontation. However, Lai disregards this sentiment and goes against the tide, releasing dangerous signals of separatist provocation. This disrupts peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits and fully exposes his nature of being "a worker for Taiwan independence," Chen said. "We will never tolerate or condone any form of separatist activities that seek 'Taiwan independence'," Chen said, stressing that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and that "Taiwan independence" and peace across the Straits are incompatible as fire and water. "Our determination to resolve the Taiwan question and realize national reunification is as solid as a rock, our ability to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity is unshakable, and our actions to fight against 'Taiwan independence' separatist activities and external interference are resolute and powerful," said Chen. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin also stressed at a press conference on Monday that "'Taiwan independence' is a dead end. Regardless of what pretext or banner it uses, any attempt to promote 'Taiwan independence' secessionism is doomed to fail." Lai's speech, which omitted mention of the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus, once again revealed his diehard stance of relying on the US and external forces to seek "Taiwan independence." Despite Lai's rhetoric of "pursuing peace," which aimed to deceive both the people of Taiwan island and the international community, his secessionism stance and actions would ultimately lead the island to instability, analysts said. Lai's speech has raised concerns within Taiwan island. The TAIEX, the Taiwan stock exchange's benchmark index, dropped during Lai's "inauguration speech", which some analysts said mirrored Taiwan society's low confidence in the new regional leader. Hsiao Hsu-tsen, director of the Ma Ying-jeou Culture and Education Foundation, said in a statement on Monday that Lai's speech, which referred to the island as "a nation" and viewed the mainland as a "foreign country" is a new "two-state" rhetoric. This is "a blatant provocation" and cross-Straits relations will fall into an "extreme dangerous situation," according to media reports. Despite Lai's deliberate use of straightforward language to connect with his audience, his speech was riddled with alarming historical inaccuracies and misrepresented constitutional and legal concepts. The absence of any sentiment toward the Chinese nation indicated that the speech essentially endorsed the separatist perspective of the so-called "one China, one Taiwan" rhetoric, revealing Lai's "Taiwan independence" stance without much disguise, Wang Wu-lang, secretary-general of the Cross-Straits Peace Forum, told the Global Times on Monday. On the issue of cross-Straits exchanges, Lai deliberately used the term "under the principles of parity," implying certain limitations on such exchanges and an approach that leaned more toward caution than openness, said Wang Wu-lang, noting that Lai will likely adopt more preventive regulatory measures from the perspectives of "security" and "defense" in cross-Straits exchanges. Moreover, the DPP is poised to increasingly rely on the involvement of the US, Japan and some Western powers. By adopting the strategy of "internationalizing the Taiwan question," they will continue the path of rejecting reunification and resisting the mainland and seeking independence through reliance on the US, said Wang Wu-lang. The future of economic and trade relations across the Straits won't look good, given Lai's strong confrontational mentality toward the mainland, Wang Jianmin, a senior cross-Straits expert at Minnan Normal University in Fujian, told the Global Times on Monday. "The DPP's attempts to seek economic 'decoupling' between the mainland and Taiwan and its unreasonable smearing of the mainland will likely remain unchanged. As a result, economic and trade ties across the Straits may continue to be difficult, with the possibility of deterioration amid growing risks," Wang Jianmin said. International consensus on one-China principle Lai is likely to continue Tsai Ing-wen's approach of collaborating with the US' "Indo-Pacific Strategy" to contain the mainland and maintain a status of cross-Straits confrontation, Wu Jung-yuan, chairman of the Labor Party and also a convener of the Cross-Straits Peace Forum, told the Global Times. With Lai taking office, the US may deepen its "substantial relations" with Taiwan island. However, these relationships are usually symbolic and short-lived, Wu said. On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken congratulated Lai and said he looked forward to working with him, Reuters reported. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin also said on Monday that the one-China principle is a widely recognized consensus in the international community and a fundamental norm in international relations. The vast majority of countries and international organizations stand firmly with the Chinese government and people in supporting China's just cause against separatism and for reunification. "Some politicians from a few countries engage in political manipulation and personal shows on the Taiwan question, severely interfering in China's internal affairs and violating the one-China principle. China strongly condemns such actions and will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity," Wang said, stressing that external forces meddling in China's internal affairs and supporting "Taiwan independence" have no way out, and any attempt to contain China by using Taiwan is doomed to fail. We firmly oppose any official interaction between the US and Taiwan island in any form and strongly condemn US interference in Taiwan affairs in any form or under any excuses, Chen said in a second statement on Monday. Also on Monday, China added three US companies including Boeing Defense, Space & Security, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems to the unreliable entities list after they sold arms to the island of Taiwan. These companies will be barred from engaging in China-related import or export activities, and are forbidden from making new investments in China. Senior executives of the companies are prohibited from entering China, while their work permits will be revoked, along with their visitor and residential status, and any related applications they submit will not be approved, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. The actions of the Ministry of Commerce on Monday underscore China's resolute stance in countering any efforts aimed at promoting "Taiwan independence." Moreover, any American entities or groups aligning with separatist acts in Taiwan island to undermine China's fundamental interests will invariably provoke retaliatory actions from China, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Monday. Now in office, Lai will possibly closely align himself with the US, willingly assuming the role of a US puppet and serving American interests. His cross-Straits policies dictated by American preferences will escalate tensions across the Taiwan Straits and harm the interests of people across the Straits, Li said. Li noted that by embracing his role as a US puppet, Lai forfeits the ability to lead the island of Taiwan to peace, prosperity, and stability. Instead, the island risks descending into a situation of crisis, confusion and instability. Wu also noted that as the US persists in tightening its grip on Taiwan for its own agenda, often at the expense of the Taiwan people, individuals on the island are gradually awakening to the true nature of US hegemony. People in the island are coming to understand that "unity brings prosperity, while seeking 'Taiwan independence' leads to a dead-end, and reliance on external powers is unreliable," said Wu. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address One-China principle general consensus of the international community: Chinese FM Global Times By Global Times Published: May 20, 2024 06:22 PM Many political dignitaries from countries that have diplomatic relations with China, friendly figures from various political parties and heads of major international organizations issued a voice of justice that adheres to the one-China principle and demonstrates their firm stance against Taiwan independence and separatism and opposition to external forces interfering in the Taiwan question, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Monday. The one-China principle is the general consensus of the international community and the basic norm of international relations. It is also the political foundation and prerequisite for China to develop relations with other countries, the spokesperson said. Facts have proven time and again that adhering to the one-China principle is the universal consensus of the international community. It is the great cause of justice and the aspiration of the people, Wang noted. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said on Monday that many political leaders and people from various sectors, including those from Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states vocally upholding one-China principle once again demonstrates that the international community's commitment to the principle is unshakable. Anyone who attempts to challenge the one-China principle will inevitably fail. Each time they stir up trouble, the international community's consensus on the one-China principle becomes stronger, and understanding and support for China's position increase, Wang Yi said as he is attending the SCO Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Astana on Monday. The actions of Taiwan independence secessionists pose the most serious challenge to the international order, the most dangerous change to the status quo in the Taiwan Straits, and the most significant disruption to peace in the Taiwan Straits, Wang Yi noted. The one-China principle is the political foundation and prerequisite for China's relations with other countries, as well as the anchor for maintaining peace in the Taiwan Straits, the Chinese top diplomat stressed. The vast majority of countries and international regional organizations across the world stand firmly with the Chinese government and people and support China's just cause of opposing independence and promoting reunification, the spokesperson said. "I want to emphasize that there is only one China in the world, Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory, and the government of the People's Republic of China is the only legal government representing the whole of China," the spokesperson said. No matter how the political situation on the island of Taiwan changes, it cannot change the fact that both sides of the Straits belong to the same territory. China's historical and legal facts cannot change the international community's basic pattern of adhering to the one-China principle, nor can it change the historical trend that China will inevitably be reunified, Wang Wenbin noted. "Individual politicians from a few countries have engaged in political manipulation and personal shows on Taiwan-related questions, seriously interfered in China's internal affairs, and violated the one-China principle. China strongly condemns this and will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity," the spokesperson said. "The trend of history is unstoppable, and Taiwan independence is destined to be a dead end," Wang Wenbin said, noting that external forces interfering in China's internal affairs and condoning and supporting "Taiwan independence" have no way out, and "using Taiwan to contain China" will fail. Chinese people's just cause of opposing "Taiwan independence" separatism and striving for national reunification will surely gain wider and wider understanding and support from the international community. The day will come when China will achieve complete reunification, Wang Wenbin noted. Meanwhile, in response to reports about the 33rd Arab League Summit Council meeting that was held on May 16 where Arab countries said they will abide by the one-China principle and write it into the resolution of the council meeting, the spokesperson said China highly appreciates that Arab countries will abide by the one-China principle, which was written into the resolution of the meeting. This shows that Arab countries firmly defend the UN Charter and the basic norms of international relations, and it once again proves that the one-China principle is an international justice and what the people want, Wang Wenbin said. China and Arab countries are good friends and good partners. China is willing to work with Arab countries to continue to firmly support each other on issues involving each other's core interests and major concerns, safeguard fairness and justice, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, and push China-Arab relations to a new level, Wang Wenbin said. Some Chinese embassies overseas recently held press conferences on the Taiwan question. Chinese Embassy in the UK reiterated Beijing's position ahead of an "inauguration" on Monday in the Taiwan region, and urged the British side to uphold the one-China principle. "We urge the UK government to abide by the one-China principle, not to send anyone to Taiwan for the so-called inauguration ceremony, not to allow relevant personnel from Taiwan to visit the UK, and not to have any official contact with Taiwan in any way," Minister Yang Xiaoguang said at a news briefing at the embassy in London on Friday. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China slaps sanctions on US companies over weapons sales to Taiwan Iran Press TV Monday, 20 May 2024 8:43 AM China has announced sanctions against three US military companies over arms sales to the self-ruled island of Taiwan. According to China's commerce ministry, the firms that will be added to Beijing's list of "unreliable entities" are General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, General Dynamics Land Systems, and Boeing Defense, Space & Security. "They will be barred from engaging in China-related import or export activities, and are forbidden to make new investments in China," the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. "Senior executives of the companies are prohibited from entering China, while their work permits will be revoked," it added. Last month, Washington approved a huge military aid package for Taipei, prompting a warning from Beijing, which said the package would increase the "risk of conflict" along the strait. China's announcement came as Lai Ching-te, whom Beijing has branded as a "dangerous separatist" that will bring "war and decline" to Taipei, was sworn in on Monday as the island's president. China has sovereignty over Taiwan, and under the "One China" policy, almost all world countries recognize that sovereignty. According to the principle, the Chinese Taipei is subject to Chinese sovereignty and Beijing is the sole representative of all China. Beijing also prohibits its own diplomatic partners from having formal ties with Taiwan, which has legal diplomatic relations with only 13 countries, mostly small US client states in Central America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. The Chinese government strongly opposes other countries pursuing official and diplomatic ties with the Chinese Taipei and has consistently warned the US and other states against engaging with the self-proclaimed government in Taipei. Washington has no formal diplomatic relations with Taipei but remains the island's largest weapons supplier, generating increasing tensions with Beijing over trade and a host of other issues. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan 1900hr(UTC+8), May 20, 2024 ROC Ministry of National Defense 2024/05/20 PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan 1. Dateis 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. (UTC+8) Monday, May 20 2. PLA activitiesis 8 PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 7 p.m. (UTC+8) today. ROC Armed Forces have monitored the situation and employed Navy vessels, and coastal missile systems in response to the detected activities. 3. Illustration of flight path is not provided due to no PLA aircraft crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait or entering Taiwan's southwestern ADIZ during this timeframe. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan May 20, 2024 ROC Ministry of National Defense 2024/05/20 PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan 1. Date: 6 to 6 a.m. (UTC+8) Sunday to Monday, May 19-20 2. PLA activities: 6 PLA aircraft and 7 PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 6 of the aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan's northern and 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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address SCO upholds one-China principle, opposes "Taiwan independence" People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 09:28, May 21, 2024 BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Zhang Ming, secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), highlighted the one-China principle when commenting on the new leader of the Taiwan region taking office on Monday. The SCO abides by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and the SCO Charter, respects the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of its member states, and earnestly safeguards their security and development interests, Zhang said in an interview with Xinhua. Noting that there is only one China and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory, Zhang said that the Government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China, and the Taiwan question falls within China's internal affairs. The SCO will continue to firmly support Chinese government's stance on the Taiwan question, adhere to the one-China principle, abide by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758, and oppose "Taiwan independence" secession in any form, he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address "The Turkish democracy should settle old scores with the tradition of coups by adopting a new and civilian constitution" Presidency of The Republic of Turkey 20.05.2024 Delivering remarks following the Presidential Cabinet Meeting, President ErdoAYan stressed that the current constitution cannot sustain the new TArkiye, and said: "The Turkish democracy should settle old scores with the tradition of coups by adopting a new and civilian constitution." President Recep Tayyip ErdoAYan held a press conference following the Presidential Cabinet Meeting at the Presidential Complex. Drawing attention to the busy schedule pursued since the last meeting, President ErdoAYan said: "We have hosted in our country heads of state and government from neighboring countries. We marked the 60th anniversary of the establishment of our diplomatic relations with Kuwait in a manner befitting its meaning with the visit of Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al Sabah. The fact that my brother Emir Sheikh Meshal Al Sabah paid the first visit following the Arab world to TArkiye is an indication of the importance attached to our relations. We have taken our cooperation one step further with the six new agreements signed during the visit. We aim to boost our trade volume with Kuwait to 5 billion dollars." "WE WILL EXERT EVERY EFFORT TO ACHIEVE PERMANENT PEACE" Noting that TArkiye reiterated its support to Azerbaijan during Prime Minister Ali Asadov's visit, President ErdoAYan stated: "The post-quake residences built by our Azerbaijani brothers and sisters are under construction. We view these residences as a symbol of the unbreakable bond of brotherhood between us. We are closely following the peace negotiations Azerbaijan has launched with Armenia following the Karabakh victory. We welcome the agreement on the return of the four villages, under occupation for 30 years, to Azerbaijan." Reiterating his warning that the historic opportunity that has now emerged in the South Caucasus should not be wasted, President ErdoAYan said: "Our Azerbaijani brothers and sisters have thus far repeatedly demonstrated that they are the party that seeks peace. We expect the same reconciliatory approach from the Armenian administration as well. Provocations by foreign powers that feed on instability in our region shouldn't be given any credence. We as TArkiye will exert every effort to achieve permanent peace." "CURRENT CONSTITUTION CANNOT SUSTAIN THE NEW TARKAYE" Underscoring that the current constitution cannot sustain the new TArkiye, President ErdoAYan highlighted his belief that TArkiye, with its 85 million-strong population, should accomplish its goal of a new constitution in the new century. Pointing out that future generations deserve to be governed with a libertarian constitution, President ErdoAYan said: "The Turkish democracy should settle old scores with the tradition of coups by adopting a new and civilian constitution." "TARKAYE MAKES HISTORY IN DEFENSE INDUSTRY" Describing defense as one of the top areas in which TArkiye has written a success story, President ErdoAYan stated that TArkiye is now capable of meeting almost all of its defense needs by national and local means, and said: "Along with our own, we have also started to fulfill the friendly and brotherly countries' demands, too. Our defense exports, which stood at 1.2 billion dollars a decade ago, have increased 4.5 times to 5.5 billion dollars in 2023." President ErdoAYan continued his remarks as follows: "Last year, we exported 230 types of defense products to 185 countries. We are among the top three countries in the UCAV technology with our unmanned aerial vehicles including TB2, AkAncA, Anka and Aksungur. Currently, more than 50 countries from Africa to Europe use the unmanned aerial vehicles manufactured by Turkish companies. Unmanned aerial vehicles play critical roles not only in military field but also in natural disasters as well as search and rescue activities." President ErdoAYan went onto say: "The importance of UAVs was once again revealed in the helicopter crash in which Iranian President Raisi and his accompanying delegation died. Bayraktar AkAncA UAV participated in the search and rescue operations upon the request of our Iranian brothers. Bayraktar AkAncA UAV performed 7.5 hours of search and scanning in the region despite the difficult weather conditions and flew a total of 2,100 kilometers. It returned to TArkiye after successfully completing its duty." "THE DISTANCE WE HAVE COVERED WITH GREECE SHOULD SET AN EXAMPLE FOR OTHER COUNTRIES IN OUR REGION" Stressing that Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' official visit to TArkiye attests to the will to open a new chapter in the bilateral relations, President ErdoAYan stated: "We are pleased by the increase in our contacts in line with good neighborly relations without needing any third party intervention. We of course cannot resolve every issue through a few meetings yet we will not refrain from seeking common ground on matters where we have shared interests. We are aware that this is a process that requires patience and wisdom. We see that Mr. Mitsotakis shares our sensitivity. Cognizant of the risks, we will inshallah maintain the process with determination. The distance we have covered with Greece in a short span of time should set an example for other countries in our region. TArkiye never leaves unreciprocated the hand extended to it. There are no problems that cannot be resolved on the basis of mutual respect and understanding." President ErdoAYan continued: "We reiterated our will to expand our cooperation with Georgia, another neighbor of ours, during the visit of Mr. Prime Minister and his delegation. In the future, we expect to receive more support from Georgia in the fight against organized criminal networks and FETO. It was very meaningful for us to see that Mr. Prime Minister is on the same page with us." "I EXTEND MY MOST HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES TO THE IRANIAN PEOPLE" Expressing his profound sadness over the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and members of the delegation accompanying him, President ErdoAYan wished Allah's mercy upon those who died in the helicopter crash, and said: "On behalf of the Republic of TArkiye and the Turkish nation, I extend my most heartfelt condolences to brotherly Iranian people, state and government. I had a phone call with Acting President of Iran Mohammad Mokhber during the cabinet meeting. We offered him our condolences during the telephone conversation. Iran is our neighbor. Iranian people are our brothers and sisters. We have been sharing the same geography throughout centuries, working side by side in peace. We have multidimensional cooperation in a wide range of areas from trade to energy, transportation to tourism, security to the fight against terror. We have always appreciated Iran's strong support for the Palestinian cause." "WE DECIDED TO DECLARE A DAY OF NATIONAL MOURNING" Stressing that TArkiye has been in close dialogue with Iran since the Astana process for the settlement of the problems in the region, President ErdoAYan stated: "We fulfilled what the bond of neighborhood requires by not joining the unilateral sanctions imposed on Iran. We last hosted the late Raisi in Ankara on January 24, furthering our relations with the signing of 10 new agreements." President ErdoAYan went onto say: "To date, TArkiye has always lent sincere support to its Iranian brothers and sisters, displaying an unwavering stance on this issue. We contacted the Iranian authorities following the helicopter crash and mobilized all our resources to contribute to the search and rescue efforts. We will continue to act with the same sentiments. At our cabinet meeting, we decided to declare a day of national mourning in our country to share the Iranian people's tremendous anguish. We once again extend our condolences to our Iranian brothers and sisters." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ukrainian Forces Holding Out In Vovchansk As U.S. Vows To Keep Aid Flowing By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service May 20, 2024 Russian forces maintained their relentless assault on Ukraine's Kharkiv region on May 20 -- including a massive drone attack on the city itself -- but local officials said the outgunned Ukrainian troops still held about 60 percent of the border town of Vovchansk, the focal point of Moscow's drive over recent weeks. "The enemy continues to try to drive the armed forces of Ukraine out of Vovchansk," Roman Semenukha, deputy head of the regional military administration, said on national television. "The town is about 60 percent controlled by the armed forces of Ukraine, [but] the assaults have not stopped." Semenukha said the Russians were concentrating their efforts on Vovchansk and Lyptsi, another area settlement with some 4,500 prewar residents. Ukraine earlier said it had downed all 29 Shahed-type kamikaze drones launched by Russia against Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, in the early hours of May 20. Elsewhere, Ukraine's military also said Russia had launched an Iskandar-M ballistic missile but did not say whether it had been intercepted. Russian troops began shelling border settlements in the Kharkiv region on May 10 and launched a ground offensive in the area of Vovchansk. On May 16, Russian units appeared to have entered Vovchansk, about 5 kilometers from the border, and the site of the fiercest fighting in the north. The capture of Vovchansk -- with a prewar population of about 17,500 -- would mark Russia's most important advance since the offensive began in the Kharkiv region as the Kremlin looks to stretch Ukraine's forces in the northeast. Kremlin-installed leader Leonid Pasechnik on May 20 said Ukrainian shelling had hit a fuel depot and ignited a blaze in the town of Dovzhansk in the occupied Luhansk region. It was at least the third time in the past month that Ukrainian shelling had reportedly hit a Russian-held fuel depot. Battlefield claims cannot immediately be verified. Meanwhile, the United States offered new words of support for Kyiv, urging other allies to maintain deliveries of weapons to aid in Ukraine's defense. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and some 50 defense chiefs from around the world were meeting on May 20 to coordinate additional deliveries of military aid to Ukraine. "We're meeting in a moment of challenge," Austin said as he vowed to keep U.S. weapons flowing "week after week." However, in an interview published by Reuters on May 20, Zelenskiy complained that Western allies are taking too long to make key decisions on additional military support. "Every decision to which we, then later everyone together, comes to is late by around one year," he said. With reporting by AP and Reuters Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-russian-drones- shahed-kharkiv-vovchansk/32954531.html Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chairman of Joint Chiefs Says No Plans at Present to Deploy US Trainers Into Ukraine Sputnik News 20240520 WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States has no plans at present to deploy US trainers into Ukraine, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Charles Brown said on Monday. "Right now there are no plans to bring US trainers into Ukraine," Brown said alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after a virtual Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting with US allies. Gen. Brown, Jr. also noted that he is confident Ukraine has not used US-supplied ATACMS missiles to attack the territory of Russia. "I am confident the ATACMS that we have provided have not been used in Russia, they have been used for targets in Ukraine," he said during the press briefing. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Troops Liberate Belogorovka in Lugansk People's Republic Sputnik News 20240520 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia's Ministry of Defense reported on the progress of the special military operation, including the number of decimated militants and locations liberated. Russian forces took full control of the village of Belogorovka in the Lugansk People's Republic, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday. "As a result of active hostilities, units of the Yug group of forces entirely liberated the settlement of Belogorovka in the Lugansk People's Republic, strengthening their positions," the statement read. The Yug Battlegroup also defeated Ukrainian forces near four villages in the Donetsk People's Republic. Ukraine lost more than 340 military personnel, three tanks and an array of Western-donated artillery systems. The Tsentr group of Russian forces improved their foothold in the Donetsk People's Republic, dealing heavy blows to Ukrainian troops near the villages of Umanskoye, Netaylovo and Ocheretino and repelling a counteroffensive near Solovyovo. Ukraine lost more than 330 military personnel, a tank, two German-made Marder infantry fighting vehicles and a US-supplied Bradley fighting vehicle. The northern group of Russian forces pressed on with their offensive in the Kharkov region in the past 24 hours, killing and wounding up to 380 Ukrainian military personnel and repelling two counterattacks. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The Summit will be Truly Global, Leaders from All Continents will be Represented - Address by the President President of Ukraine 20 May 2024 - 21:40 Dear Ukrainians! Summary of the day. I have just held a long meeting on an interim analysis of our preparations for the Peace Summit. We reviewed which states are already with us at the Summit and which ones we still need to work with. It is already clear that the Summit will be truly global, leaders from all continents will be represented. Many nations that value normal peaceful coexistence of peoples. We already have an understanding of the Summit's content - of the meeting's outcome we should achieve. I am grateful to all states, all leaders, all ambassadors of peace who help us prepare the Summit. In the three weeks remaining before the Summit, we will have time to work with dozens of leaders and states - those we expect to attend the Summit. Today I spoke with the Prime Minister of Croatia. Croatia - Mr. Prime Minister - confirms attendance. I am grateful for this and for the continued support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country, support for our defense. Croatia also supports our accession to the European Union, and we are working to ensure that Croatia joins the G7 Declaration of Support for Ukraine - on security commitments for our country. And it is important that several new security agreements with European countries have already been prepared, and several more agreements with our partners are now at the stage of coordinating specific details. In the near future, we will enhance this new security architecture for our country. New agreements will be signed. Step by step, we are creating new pillars for a rules-based international order. Despite all the brutality of Russian pressure and all the meanness of Russian terror, the world must prove that a consolidated force of all those who value life is enough to defend life and succeed in doing so. This is important for every country, for every nation, and if it works for Ukraine, it will definitely work for all other countries. Today I spoke with the Commander-in-Chief about the situation in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions in particular. We maintain control everywhere. Russian murderers are actively using guided aerial bombs - in the area of Chasiv Yar, in the Pokrovsk sector, in the area of Lyptsi in the Kharkiv region, and in other combat areas. This brings us back again and again to the need for air defense - for additional defense systems that could significantly mitigate the difficulties for our warriors and the threat to our cities and communities. This also pertains to the preparation for the transition of our Air Force to new combat aircraft. Unfortunately, the free world still lacks efficiency in these two tasks. But we still have a perspective and promising work with several partners - and we are doing everything to make sure that the day comes as soon as possible when we can add the power of "Patriots" to our eastern regions, our cities - such as Kharkiv, Sumy and others. I am grateful to all partners who understand this necessity of ours and its importance - the real strategic power of air defense in this war. Putin has nothing but terror. This is the basis of his capabilities. And every limitation of Russia's terrorist potential is a compulsion to peace. Our weapons to defend Ukrainian positions, our joint diplomatic efforts for the sake of the Peace Formula, our work to hold Russia legally accountable for the war - all of this brings peace closer. I am grateful to everyone who stands with Ukraine! Glory to all our warriors! Thank you to everyone who joins the Defense and Security Forces of Ukraine! Glory to Ukraine! NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Security Council Hears Briefings on Situation in Ukraine Meetings Coverage Security Council 9629th Meeting (AM) SC/15699 20 May 2024 (Note: The final summary of this meeting will be available at a later time.) The Security Council met this morning to discuss threats to international peace and security. Briefing the Council on the situation in Ukraine were Izumi Nakamitsu, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, and Margaret Kimberley, activist and civil society representative. THREATS TO INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY Briefings IZUMI NAKAMITSU, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs , said that, almost 27 months have passed since the Russian Federation launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine a "that represents over 800 days of death, destruction, widespread devastation and immense suffering for the Ukrainian people". The escalating attacks on Ukrainian villages, towns and cities a particularly the Kharkiv region a have led to more civilian deaths and injuries as well as massive destruction of civilian infrastructure. Strikes have also been reported inside the Russian Federation, reportedly also resulting in civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure. The continued and intensified attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure must stop immediately, she asserted. Over the last months, the provision of military assistance and transfers of arms and ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces have continued, she said, noting that these transfers have reportedly included heavy conventional weapons such as battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, combat aircraft, helicopters, large-calibre artillery systems, missile systems and uncrewed combat aerial vehicles, as well as remotely operated munitions, small arms and light weapons and their ammunition. There have also been reports of States transferring a or planning to transfer a weapons such as uncrewed aerial vehicles, ballistic missiles and ammunition to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and that these weapons have been used in Ukraine. Reiterating that "any transfer of weapons and ammunition must take place within the applicable international legal framework," including relevant Council resolutions, she expressed concern over reports related to the transfer and use of anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions in Ukraine. "There must be an immediate end to the use of these inherently indiscriminate weapons, which have a devastating and long-lasting humanitarian impact on civilians," she stated. Ukraine is now one of the world's most heavily mine-contaminated countries, and it will require decades of clearance efforts with the support of the international community to make sure communities are safe from the threat of mines. She went on to underscore that the large-scale influx of arms and ammunition into any armed conflict raises significant concerns for peace and security, even after the conflict has ended. "Importing, transit, producing and exporting States must act responsibly at every step along the arms and ammunition transfer chain to prevent diversion, illicit trafficking and misuse," she emphasized. In this regard, pre-transfer risk assessments, marking, record-keeping practices and tracing capabilities are paramount. To prevent the diversion of conventional arms and regulate the international arms trade, full and effective implementation of the relevant treaties must remain a priority. She reported that from 24 February 2022 to 16 May 2024, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has verified that conflict-related violence has killed at least 11,017 civilians and injured 21,445 in Ukraine. "It is very concerning that the number of injured civilians has increased significantly for the second month in a row," she observed, adding that the vast majority of civilian casualties are a result of the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas. Accordingly, she referred to the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas. Warning that the use of armed uncrewed aerial vehicles and missiles continues to cause civilian deaths and injuries as well as damage to civilian infrastructure, she stressed that "it is time to put an end to this war". MARGARET KIMBERLEY, Executive Editor of Black Agenda Report and a member of the Black Alliance for Peace and of the United National Antiwar Coalition, said the United States has allocated nearly $175 billion for the Ukrainian war effort. "For the last two years we have seen a terrible war which would end if this country and others would stop providing arms and instead seek peace," she said. "The possibility of peace was lost when my country and others subverted these talks by promising the Government of Ukraine that it would receive an endless supply of weapons with which to achieve a military victory." Not only has that victory been elusive, but thousands of Ukrainians, the people this country claims to care so much about, have lost their lives, she said, adding that many Russians have also perished in the fighting. The world needs cooperation, she said, adding that other nations have suffered economically from the futile effort to keep oil from the Russian Federation off world markets. Global South nations have been particularly impacted but developed nations in Europe were also deprived of affordable gas supplies from the Russian Federation. A recent poll indicated that 71 per cent of people in the United States would like to see a negotiated settlement instead of ongoing conflict. But the millions of Americans who want an end to the conflict have been deprived of representation. "As a citizen of the United States, I am frankly shocked by the lengths this country will go to in order to pursue a dangerous plan that is doomed to failure," she said, reiterating that there have been peace proposals in the past two years, most recently by China, which has developed a comprehensive 12-point plan that could mean the end of destruction and suffering. In closing, she urged the United Nations to investigate the catastrophic destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines on 26 September 2022. It is imperative that the United Nations undertake an independent investigation of its own, she said. Statements The representative of the Russian Federation said that, for some weeks now, "Western warmongers and backers of Kyiv" have been in a "good mood" because the United States allocated its long-awaited package of military assistance to the "Zelenskyy regime". Emphasizing that the "lion's share" of those resources will be spent in the United States itself, he said that several large weapons manufacturers raised their prices by 5.7 per cent a few weeks ahead of that decision, also spotlighting a "sharp increase in capitalization" among Western military corporations. He underscored, however, that military experts make clear that there is no "wonder weapon" that the West can give to Ukraine that can reverse the "extremely negative trends the Ukrainian army is seeing on the battlefield". Further, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) "sponsors of the Zelenskyy clique" are violating their international legal obligations, including the Arms Trade Treaty, he said. Noting that such Treaty obliges States to ban the transfer of weapons if there are reliable reports of their use to attack civilian infrastructure, he spotlighted the regular shelling of "Donbas, Belgorod and other Russian regions". As such, the West is demonstrating "selective blindness", he stated, adding: "The truth is that, from 2014, Washington and its allies have tried to set up an experimental guinea pig in Ukraine to spite Russia and, ideally, to hamper its development." He said, however, that "the piggy has become aggressive and unabashed". He then drew attention to "recognition from Brussels" that, if the West was to stop supplying weapons to Kyiv, the conflict would end in two weeks. "For any unbiased, thinking person, it is absolutely clear that, without their harmful interference, the conflict would have come to an end a long time ago a in fact, it would never have even started," he said. He added that any potential negotiations should be based on "fair considerations" of Moscow's security concerns and "new territorial realities". The representative of the United States said that "Russia's pretense that it is assistance to Ukraine and not its own aggression that is prolonging the war is as disingenuous as it is cynical." Noting that Moscow makes appeals to the Council while it brazenly violates its resolutions, he observed that "when caught, Russia obfuscates and distracts, right out of the 'Russian playbook' that we all know." He recalled that the 1718 Committee Panel of Experts inspected debris in Ukraine from a missile fired into Kharkiv and determined that it was from Pyongyang's Hwasong-11 series ballistic missile, underscoring that the export of such missiles constitutes a violation of the UN arms embargo. Reporting that the Russian Federation Armed Forces use chemical weapons to dislodge Ukrainian Forces from fortified positions, he said that Moscow retains an undeclared chemical weapons programme. He also expressed concern over China's support to rebuild Moscow's defence industrial base. The representative of Guyana expressed alarm at the rising civilian casualties and condemned attacks against civilians and the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. Calling on the parties to uphold their obligations under international law, she commended the humanitarian community for their aid and assistance. Expressing concern over the grave risks posed to regional and global security by transferring weapons into an active conflict, she said the supply of weapons and ammunition has the potential to further escalate or prolong the violence. She called on all parties to ensure transfers, comply with relevant disarmament instruments and UN Security Council resolutions and urged the parties to desist from the use of anti-personnel landmines and cluster munitions. "The only effective means of preventing further escalation or instability in Ukraine and the broader region is to end this war and to do so through peaceful means," she said. The representative of Malta , noting that attacks on Ukraine increased by 17 per cent between March and April, highlighted the use of glide bombs which can pack hundreds of explosives in a single blast. In the light of concerning reports that the Russian Federation is procuring weapons and ammunition from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, she said, the former's decision to veto the renewal of the mandate of the 1718 Panel of Experts is even more troubling. "Beneath the damage and destruction lie deep psychological wounds caused by Russia's war," she said. Further, since 10 May, nearly 8,000 civilians have been forced to flee from their villages and settlements in the Kharkiv region. Welcoming the upcoming "Summit on Peace in Ukraine", to be held in Switzerland in June, she stressed that Ukraine has the inherent right to defend itself and has the right to rely on its allies to do so. The representative of the Republic of Korea said it was "frankly preposterous" for the Russian Federation to request the meeting regarding weapon transfers to Ukraine. Military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang would be a more relevant topic, he said, noting that in April, the Russian Federation vetoed the mandate extension of the Council's 1718 Committee Panel of Experts to prevent the revelation of illegal supply of North Korean weapons to Russia. He urged the Russian Federation to immediately cease its military cooperation with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. He added that the Russian Federation's expansion of the front into Ukraine's north-eastern borders near Kharkiv is deplorable, and again stressed that the devastation and human suffering in Ukraine are a direct result of the Russian Federation's illegal invasion. "Only Russia can end the war and Russia must end the war," he said. The representative of France observed that the Russian Federation is carrying out daily attacks on Ukraine, some of which deliberately target the Ukrainian civilian population and infrastructure. France and its partners provide their support to Ukraine so that it can defend its people against these attacks. "What does Russia want when it demands that we cease support for Ukraine? [...] To raze Ukrainian cities unimpeded? Permanently deprive the Ukrainian people of water, gas and electricity?" she asked, stating: "We will not allow Russia to destroy Ukraine." In conducting its illegal war, Moscow uses illegal means. It obtains its weapons and ammunition a including ballistic missiles a from Pyongyang. And to conceal these flagrant violations of Council resolutions, it is blocking the renewal of the group of experts of the 1718 Committee. Moreover, she stressed, the country has acquired thousands of drones from Iran a the same drones that target civilian populations, stations, railways, residential buildings, shopping centres and energy infrastructure. The representative of the United Kingdom , noting the appalling destruction of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, said Russian Federation forces continue their devastating attacks around Kharkiv, using ballistic missiles from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Stressing that its procurement of weapons from Pyongyang violates numerous Council resolutions, in addition to its use of thousands of Iranian drones since 2022, he urged both countries to cease all support to Moscow. Also, any transfer of ballistic missiles or related technology from Iran to the Russian Federation would be "a significant escalation". Russian forces have also admitted to using riot control agents on the battlefield, he said, agreeing with Washington, D.C.'s determination that the country has used chloropicrin against Ukrainian forces. "This is a war that Russia cannot win and is costing young Russians their future," he asserted, noting that the military takes up 40 per cent of the Government's spending. At the current rate, by next year, "Russia will have been responsible for well over half a million personnel killed and wounded over three years of its needless war," he observed, stating that it "shows no signs of wanting peace". The representative of Algeria once again called on the parties abandon the logic of confrontation and privilege peaceful solutions through dialogue and negotiations. He expressed concern that increasingly lethal weapons are flowing into the area of conflict, further harming the civilian population, and that these weapons and ammunitions may fall into the hands of criminal and terrorist groups. "We once again call upon all parties to uphold the UN Charter and to fully comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law," he said, adding that it is crucial to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure to alleviate the suffering. The representative of Switzerland , noting the more than 700 civilian casualties recorded across Ukraine in April alone, highlighted the grave situation in the Kharkiv region and commended the humanitarian personnel facilitating the evacuation of those closest to hostilities. He also noted that Switzerland will hold a peace summit from 15-16 June "to provide space for different ideas", expressing hope for the "active participation of many of you". He also stressed that "our neutrality does not mean indifference"; rather, it means that Switzerland will advocate for a fair, lasting solution in Ukraine. For its part, the Russian Federation must immediately cease all hostilities and withdraw its troops from Ukrainian territory. Also pointing out that Moscow's military aggression continues to be fuelled by transfers of munitions from third parties, he stressed that all States must respect and comply with their obligations under international arms-control instruments. The representative of Japan said that it is a "tragic irony that a permanent member of the Security Council condemns those defending themselves from its own aggression". While Moscow has been criticizing the "legitimate" support for Ukraine by the international community, it has procured weapons from Pyongyang. Reiterating concerns about "what North Korea is getting in return", she expressed regret that the Russian Federation chose to cast the veto on the renewal of the Panel of Experts of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1718 (2006). She observed that peace in Ukraine must be based on the Charter of the United Nations, stressing that the security of Europe and the Indo-Pacific and beyond is inseparable. Also noting that her Government continues to spare no effort to bring about peace in Ukraine, she added: "Our resolve to stand with Ukraine and the UN Charter will never waver." The representative of Slovenia emphasized that any country under foreign invasion has a right to defend itself in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations. "Our aid to Ukraine supports this inalienable right and we will continue to do so until this war of aggression ends," he said. Recalling that the Panel of Experts of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1718 (2006) determined that a missile that landed in Kharkiv in January was a Hwasong 11 series missile from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, he expressed concern over the mounting evidence on Russia's missile procurement from Pyongyang, which is a violation of multiple Security Council resolutions and needs to be urgently addressed. He also expressed dismay over the Security Council's inability to extend the mandate of the Panel, which was vetoed by the Russian Federation. The representative of China expressed concern over the expanded variety and increasing lethality of weapons flowing into battlefields, as well as the cumulative risk of their diversion. "Weapons may end wars, but they do not bring about lasting peace," he observed. He therefore called on all concerned to "put peace and humanity first" and concentrate their resources and energy on diplomacy. Recalling the recent meeting between China President Xi Jinping and "the visiting Russian leader", he detailed discussions that underlined the need for a political solution and a new type of security architecture that is balanced, effective and sustainable. To the representative of the United States, he said that China is neither the creator of, nor party to, the Ukraine crisis, nor has Beijing provided lethal weapons to any party thereto. Further, China has the right to trade with all countries, and he urged the United States to stop taking advantage of the Ukraine crisis to "advance its geopolitical strategy". The representative of Ecuador said that his country's historic position has always been the rejection of armed violence, militarization and stockpiling of weapons. Underscoring that international legal frameworks governing the transfer of weapons and ammunition must be respected, he echoed the Secretary General's call on the parties to abstain from using explosive weapons on populated areas and to keep combat away from urban zones. He further stressed that the use of weapons with indiscriminate and disproportionate effects must cease. He deplored the prolonged invasion of Ukraine's territories that continues to exacerbate the risk of escalation, against a backdrop where the global military expenditure in 2023 reached $2.44 trillion a a 6.8 per cent increase in real terms over 2022. Further, he urged the international community to step up to facilitate peace talks. The representative of Sierra Leone observed that the continuous supply of weapons has the potential to prolong and escalate the conflict, urging the warring parties to protect civilian populations and infrastructure. All transfers of weapons in conflict situations should occur within the applicable legal framework and relevant Council resolutions to prevent the diversion of arms and ammunition, he asserted. In this regard, he pointed to the reported collapse of a building in the Russian city of Belgorod. Further, he highlighted that 40 per cent of the Ukrainian population needs humanitarian assistance while approximately 9.7 million people have been displaced by the war. Underscoring the need to uphold the principles of international law a including respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity a he called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. The representative of Mozambique , Council President for May, speaking in his national capacity, said that since the last Council meeting on Ukraine, held on 12 April, the situation in the country has worsened, noting that civilians continue to bear the brunt of death, danger and destruction. "The trend of incremental arms supplies to Ukraine reflects the escalatory nature of the conflict," he observed, adding that this conflict is marked by unbridgeable levels of mutual distrust and primacy of a military solution over a negotiated settlement. Stressing that equal measure of effort must be deployed so that peace and security are not endangered, he underscored the importance of arms control and responsible arms transfer. He recalled that his country has consistently advocated for a political and negotiated solution as the most viable way for peace between the two neighbouring countries and called on the parties to actively engage in a constructive dialogue. The representative of the United States , speaking in reply to China, said that his country will continue to call out those States that provide support to the industrial base of the Russian Federation as it carries out its brutal aggression against the people of Ukraine. "Our calls will not seize until that support to Russia seizes," he said. The representative of China , speaking in reply to the United States, said that his country's position on the Ukraine crisis is impartial and that Beijing supports a peaceful resolution of the crisis. "We hope the countries concerned will not undermine the collective efforts of the international community to seek a political solution," he said. The representative of Ukraine said it is a mockery of the Security Council's mandate when the aggressor demands the 15-member organ address complaints about the victim having weapons to defend itself. "It is a mockery of common sense when the aggressor makes such demands after opening a new front and thus significantly expanding the area of hostilities, human suffering and destruction," he said, adding that the north of Kharkiv region is now suffering the same fate as other hotspots. Settlements are being razed to the ground. People are fleeing their homes. And those who cannot evacuate are subjected to inhumane treatment by the soldiers from the Russian Federation, he said, adding that there have already been reports of executions by Russian soldiers in the town of Vovchansk and an air strike on 19 May killed 12 civilians, including a pregnant woman, in the Kharkiv region. "As Russian terrorists once again resorted to the tactics of double strikes, two paramedics were among the victims," he said. "We are alarmed that Russian troops flagrantly violate the Chemical Weapons Convention by resorting to artillery shelling with chemically hazardous substances." The Russian Federation's obsessive inclination to request the Council to meet on weapons supplies is a manifestation of their desire to expand a no-return-fire zone to the entire Ukraine. "For Ukraine, however, this is a matter of survival and we are therefore grateful to our allies who continue to support our fight," he said. "Ukraine will continue to exercise its inherent right to self-defence." Since the beginning of the Russian Federation's aggression, illegitimacy narratives have been the backbone of Moscow's propaganda. To justify its unwillingness to end the war, the Russian Federation continues to repeat this illegitimate narrative. In conclusion, he noted that solidarity with Ukraine saves the lives of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians and undermines the aggressor's ability to spread violence to other countries. The representative of the Russian Federation , taking the floor a second time, cited a "recent survey" indicating that only 17 per cent of Ukraine's population believes in the legitimacy of their President. Further, the Government of Ukraine has not taken this issue to the Constitutional Court, he said, "because it is worried it won't get the response it wants". He added that such legitimacy "has no impact whatsoever anyway on our special military operation". NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US defense chiefs meet to coordinate Ukraine support By VOA News May 20, 2024 U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and at least 50 other defense leaders from Europe and around the world met Monday to coordinate military support to Ukraine as it battles a renewed onslaught in the northeastern Kharkiv region from Russia. Ukraine has also launched a battle against Russian troops in the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula. Austin said Monday's meeting came at "a moment of challenge" and promised to move U.S. weapons to Ukraine "week after week." Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy for weeks has urged the U.S. to send more weapons as Ukraine attempts to beat back Russian forces on two fronts, but political gridlock in the U.S. has held up delivery. Russia has taken advantage of the slow arrival of the promised weapons by intensifying its campaign in Kharkiv. President Joe Biden recently approved a multibillion-dollar weapons package for Ukraine but is not immediately clear when the U.S.-funded hardware will appear on the front lines, where Ukraine is currently fighting a better-equipped Russian military. Meanwhile, Ukraine's military said Monday it destroyed all 29 aerial drones that Russia launched in overnight attacks The Ukrainian air force said the intercepts took place over the Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Poltava regions, and regional officials reported no casualties or damage. The Russian defense ministry on Monday said it destroyed seven Ukrainian drones, including five over the Belgorod region and two over the Kursk region. Russian missile attacks Sunday killed at least 11 people at a crowded resort just outside the city of Kharkiv. "There were never any soldiers here," said Yaroslav Trofimko, a police inspector at the resort. "It was a Sunday; people were supposed to be here to rest. Children were supposed to be here, pregnant women, resting, enjoying a normal way of life." Zelenskyy again pressed Western allies to provide additional air defense systems to protect Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities. "The world can stop Russian terror a and to do so, the lack of political will among leaders must be overcome," Zelenskyy said on social media. "Two Patriots for Kharkiv will make a fundamental difference," he added, referring to Patriot missile defense systems. He also said that air defense systems for other cities and support for soldiers on the front line would ensure Russia's defeat. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military on Sunday shelled two towns in Russia's southern Belgorod region, injuring at least 13 people, including three children, and damaging residential areas, Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram. Several apartment buildings sustained damage, Gladkov said. Ukraine's military has launched frequent attacks on towns and villages on Russian border regions. Russia said Sunday that Ukraine launched 62 drones on Russian regions, leading the Slavyansk oil refinery in Russia's southern Krasnodar region to halt operations, the Interfax news agency reported. A Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters in Kyiv that Ukraine's security and military drones struck the Slavyansk refinery and a military airfield in Krasnodar in overnight attacks. The Ukrainian navy also said it had destroyed the Russian Black Sea Fleet's Project 266M Kovrovets minesweeper. Russia said its forces defeated Ukraine's 24th and 42nd mechanized brigades and the 125th Air Defense Brigade at Lukiantsi, Vesele and Radhospne in the Kharkiv region and repelled attacks by Kyiv's forces at other points in the area. Russia accused Kyiv's forces of firing U.S., French and Ukrainian missiles at Russia-held territory. During a visit to China, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said that Moscow's offensive in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region was a response to Ukraine shelling border regions. Putin said that he aims at building a buffer zone against Ukrainian attacks, but that Moscow has no plans on capturing Kharkiv. "I have said publicly that if it continues, we will be forced to create a security zone, a sanitary zone," he said. "That's what we are doing." Russian troops were "advancing daily according to plan," he said. To increase the number of Ukrainian troops, Zelenskyy signed two laws Friday allowing prisoners to join the army while imposing steep fines for draft dodgers. The controversial mobilization law took effect Saturday. Ukraine recently lowered the draft age for soldiers from 27 to 25, and stiffened punishments for those who avoid being called up. Under the new law, Ukrainian men are also obligated to update their personal data at military conscription centers across the country a a measure aimed at streamlining army recruitment. Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chicago, May 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Electric 3-wheeler Market is projected to grow from USD 1.3 billion in 2024 to USD 1.5 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 2.2%, as per the recent study by MarketsandMarkets. Increasing environmental concerns and a push for sustainability are prompting consumers and businesses to shift towards electric vehicles. Government regulations and incentives are further accelerating this transition. Browse in-depth TOC on Electric 3-wheeler Market 281 - Tables 74 - Figures 326 Pages Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=59408226 List of Key Players in Electric 3-wheeler Market: Mahindra&Mahindra Ltd. (India) YC Electric Vehicle (India) Saera Electric Auto Pvt. Ltd. (India) Piaggio Group (Italy) Citylife Electric Vehicles (India) Drivers, Opportunities and Challenges in Electric 3-wheeler Market: Driver: Advancements in battery technology coupled with reducing battery prices Restraint: Limited power output, range, and speed Opportunity: Partnership with delivery and logistics fleet operators Challenge: High initial investments than ICE variants Key Findings of the Study: Passenger carriers to be the largest segment during the forecast period. Lithium-ion battery to be the largest segment during the forecast period. Asia Pacific is expected to lead the electric 3 wheeler during the forecast period. Get Sample Pages: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=59408226 The electric 3 wheeler market is projected to grow from USD 1.3 billion in 2024 to USD 1.5 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 2.2%. With the increasing stringency of government mandates, 3 wheeler manufacturers' focus has shifted to efficiency, emission-free propulsion, innovative technologies, and revised environmental standards. The growing adoption of electric 3 wheelers with improving charging infrastructure in various countries will change the market scenario in the coming years. With the introduction of new technology, batteries with improved specifications are being launched for use in EVs including 3 wheelers. Government initiatives have been driving market growth for electric 3 wheelers. India for instance, has set an ambitious target of making 80% of all 3 wheelers sold in the country to be electric by 2030. The Indian government has also established a project called the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric (FAME) Vehicles for the faster production and adoption of electric vehicles in India. Similarly, in China, the government is vigorously promoting electric 3 wheelers, which are quickly becoming the preferred means of transportation for many people. The Malaysian government aggressively encourages the use of electric 3 wheelers by providing subsidies. The government of Bangladesh has taken several initiatives to promote the use of electric 3 wheelers, including providing subsidies and tax exemptions. Further, the government of South Africa has implemented measures aimed at promoting the adoption of EVs within the nation. Electric 3-wheeler load carriers of medium-weight goods have a payload capacity of 300500 kg. Many e-commerce and logistics companies use electric 3-wheelers with a 300500 kg payload capacity. The electric 3-wheeler market has rapidly evolved with ongoing engineering and loading capacity developments. This is driving the 300500 kg payload capacity segment. Companies such as Mahindra&Mahindra Ltd., Atul Auto Ltd., Piaggio Group, Lohia Auto Industries, and Kinetic Green offer electric 3-wheelers with a 300500 kg payload capacity. Jiangsu Jinpeng Group Co., Ltd. also offers Electric Rickshaw (X3) and Electric Tricycle (TL) with a payload capacity of 400 kg and 332 kg, respectively. Developments by leading OEMs and large sales volume of such cargo electric 3 wheelers is expected to drive the electric 3 wheeler industry during the forecast period. Asia Pacific to be the fastest-growing market for electric 3 wheelers during the forecast period. Asia Pacific to be the fastest-growing market for electric 3 wheelers during the forecast period. Countries such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Thailand plan to rapidly increase the demand for electric 3 wheelers. The region also has established market such as China and India. During the forecast period, Sri Lanka is expected to be the fastest-growing country in Asia Pacific. There is an increasing demand for green technology vehicles in Sri Lanka. SL Mobility and Ideal Motors are the prominent manufacturers of electric 3 wheelers in the country. Due to the growth in sales of overall alternate fuel vehicles, the Sri Lankan electric 3 wheeler market is expected to grow. Similarly, The Thai government is rolling out policies to promote EVs as part of its plans to create an EV manufacturing hub. The government is determined to improve air quality, develop smart cities nationwide, and meet its target of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by or before 2065. Such initiatives will drive the electric 3 wheeler market in Asia Pacific region. Inquiry Before Buying: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_BuyingNew.asp?id=59408226 Recent Developments: In February 2024, Car & General partnered with Piaggio Vehicles Pvt. Ltd. (PVPL), a subsidiary of Piaggio Group, to introduce electric 3 wheelers in the Kenyan market. These vehicles, known as Piaggio Ape Electrik, will be available in two variants: the Ape E-City FX Max for passenger transport and the Ape E-Xtra FX Max for cargo transportation. In January 2024, At the third edition of the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet, Terra Motors Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding with the Tamil Nadu Government. Under the MOU, the company intends to invest USD 41.66 billion in developing charging infrastructure in Tamil Nadu. In January 2024, Omega Seiki Mobility partnered with Kissan Mobility to deploy 500 electric 3 wheelers for last-mile delivery purposes. This partnership, valued at USD 2.40 million, encompasses various applications across sectors, including e-commerce, fast-moving consumer goods, and durables segments. Related Reports: Announces Continued, Consistent Revenue Growth with Increasing Fixed Cost Leverage Boston, MA, May 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MiniLuxe Holding Corp. (TSXV: MNLX) today announced its financial results for the 13 weeks ended March 31, 2024 (Q1 2024). The fiscal year of MiniLuxe is a 52-week reporting cycle ending on the Sunday closest to December 31, which periodically necessitates a fiscal year of 53 weeks; fiscal years referred to in this release consist of 52-week periods. Unless otherwise specified, all amounts are reported in U.S. dollars. MiniLuxe continued its consistent, organic, year-over-year growth as Q1 2024 revenue increased 8% over Q1 2023 at $5.6M with gross profit of $2.3M, a 2% increase from Q1 2023. The Company views gross profit dollar growth as a key indicator of MiniLuxes positive trajectory towards long-term profitability and, in conjunction with the reduced cost base, moved materially to a narrowing loss rate. Miniluxe used its lightest volume quarter (Q1 is historically the lowest revenue volume due to seasonality) as an opportunity to test new service initiatives focused primarily on premium nails and waxing services. These initiatives have the impact of temporarily reducing topline revenue and gross margins, but are designed to accelerate adoption of MiniLuxes premium service offerings. Management plans to continue to experiment with service offering enhancements and other tests in order to continue to provide the most relevant self-care experience on the market while remaining committed to our mission of clean and empowerment of the designer. Q1 2024 operating loss was ($1.8M), representing $1.2M (or 40%) lower than Q1 2023, which was driven by reduced general and administrative expenses. As in past periods, the majority of the Companys growth came organically from the MiniLuxe Core Studios. The Core Studio base continued its consistent, multi-year trend of growth in Q1 2024 as revenue increased $0.2M to $5.1M, or 5% over Q1 2023. MiniLuxe also saw good trends on the demand and supply side of its business: (a) positive momentum on the demand side (new client and loyal client growth) and (b) growth and development of supply side (talent ecosystem growth). The Company focuses on growth in loyal client base, growth in designer talent base, and increasing studio AUV (average unit volume by revenue) as three pillars that demonstrate the strengthening brand resiliency and high demand for MiniLuxe in-studio service offerings. Subsequent Events and Remaining 2024 Outlook As was discussed in the Companys FY2023 MD&A, the following material fundraising actions were completed subsequent to Q1 2024: On March 12, 2024 MiniLuxe filed with the TSXV a new application to raise capital on the same terms as an initial convertible debenture offering completed on November 28, 2023 and January 22, 2024 (the Initial Offering). On April 26, 2024, the Company announced that it has completed the closing of the non-brokered convertible debenture unit offering, with an immediate closing of gross proceeds of approximately $0.475 million (the "Second Offering") that came as a top-up round from value-add advisors and individuals. Along with the Initial Offering, a total of approximately US$4.3 million was raised in the convertible note offerings with all associated warrants issued at a strike price of US$0.52/C$0.72. On April 9, 2024, MiniLuxe announced that it had completed a re-financing of its Senior Term Loan, extending maturity for 24 months for the base US$2.5 million and adding an additional US$2.0 million of new capital, all of which will now mature in May 2027. The Senior Term Loans are held by Flow Capital (TSXV: FW), a leading provider of flexible growth capital and alternative debt solutions. The Senior Term Loans shall pay 15.0% cash-pay interest along with 2.0% simple, paid-in-kind interest that accrues until maturity. As part of the transaction, the Company issued to Flow Capital warrants to purchase 1,692,308 Subordinate Voting Shares of the Company at a strike price of US$0.52 (~C$0.71) per share for a period of three years from the date of issuance. The warrants are subject to a hold period of four months and one day from the issuance date in accordance with applicable securities laws. In total, the Company has been successful in raising a total of US$6.2 million in gross proceeds since we kicked off the process last Fall. The Company intends to use the gross proceeds to bridge to profitability, while focusing on a narrower set of growth investments in the areas of fleet expansion (via M&A and franchising) and recent product innovation of its Paintbox press-on nails. Also subsequent to Q1 2024, and as noted earlier, on May 3, 2024, MiniLuxe entered into a majority-controlled joint venture agreement with an Atlanta-based firm Sugarcoat. The Company plans to enter into the US Southeast via the Atlanta market through this joint venture with intentions to convert an existing Sugarcoat nail services salon location. Our team has pulled together to focus on and accelerate a clear set of priorities driving stronger gross profit and studio-level contribution. New growth initiatives such as franchising, M&A and commercial brand partnerships also saw material momentum coming in to 2024. We are also pleased with the ability to continue to attract new primary capital from a strong set of value-add investors. said Tony Tjan, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of MiniLuxe. Q1 2024 Results Selected Financial Measures Results of Operations The following table outlines the consolidated statements of loss and comprehensive loss for the thirteen weeks ended March 31, 2024 and April 2, 2023: Cash Flows The following table presents cash and cash equivalents as at March 31, 2024 and April 2, 2023: Non-IFRS Measures and Reconciliation of Non-IFRS Measures This press release references certain non-IFRS measures used by management. These measures are not recognized under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS, and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Rather, these measures are provided as additional information to complement those IFRS measures by providing further understanding of the Companys results of operations from managements perspective. Accordingly, these measures should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analysis of the Companys financial information reported under IFRS. The non-IFRS measures referred to in this press release are Adjusted EBITDA and Fleet Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA Management believes Adjusted EBITDA most accurately reflects the commercial reality of the Company's operations on an ongoing basis by adding back non-cash expenses. Additionally, the rent-related adjustments ensure that studio-related expenses align with revenue generated over the corresponding time periods. Adjusted EBITDA is calculated by adding back fixed asset depreciation, right-of-use asset amortization under IFRS 16, asset disposal, and share-based compensation expense to IFRS operating income, then deducting straight-line rent expenses1 net of lease abatements. IFRS operating income is revenue less cost of sales (gross profit), additionally adjusted for general and administrative expenses, and depreciation and amortization expense. A reconciliation of IFRS operating income to Adjusted EBITDA is included in Selected Consolidated Financial Information. The Company also uses Fleet Adjusted EBITDA to evaluate the performance of its MiniLuxe Core Studio business (19 MiniLuxe-branded studios operating for 1+ year). This metric is calculated in a similar manner, starting with Talent revenue and adjusting for non-fleet Talent revenue and cost of sales, further adjusted by fleet general and administrative expenses and finally subtracting straight line rent expense (similar to amount used in the full company Adjusted EBITDA, less amounts allocated to locations outside of MiniLuxes core studio business, i.e. Paintbox). The Company believes that this metric most closely mirrors how management views the fleet portion of the business. A reconciliation of Talent revenue to Fleet Adjusted EBITDA is included in Selected Consolidated Financial Information. The following table reconciles Adjusted EBITDA to net loss for the periods indicated: The following table reconciles Fleet Adjusted EBITDA to net loss for the periods indicated: About MiniLuxe MiniLuxe, a Delaware corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts. MiniLuxe is a lifestyle brand and talent empowerment platform servicing the beauty and self-care industry. The Company focuses on delivering high-quality nail care and esthetic services and offers a suite of trusted proprietary products that are used in the Companys owned-and-operated studio services. For over a decade, MiniLuxe has been elevating industry standards through healthier, ultra-hygienic services, a modern design esthetic, socially responsible labor practices, and better-for-you, cleaner products. MiniLuxes aims to radically transform a highly fragmented and under-regulated self-care and nail care industry through its brand, standards, and technology platform that collectively enable better talent and client experiences. For its clients, MiniLuxe offers best-in-class self-care services and better-for-you products, and for nail care and beauty professionals, MiniLuxe seeks to become the employer of choice. In addition to creating long-term durable economic returns for our stakeholders, the brand seeks to positively impact and empower one of the most diverse and largest hourly worker segments through professional development and certification, economic mobility, and company ownership opportunities (e.g., equity participation and future franchise opportunities). Since its inception, MiniLuxe has performed over 4 million services. For further information Christine Mastrangelo Investor Relations, MiniLuxe Holding Corp. cmastrangelo@MiniLuxe.com MiniLuxe.com Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-looking statements This press release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking information") concerning the Company and its subsidiaries within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information may relate to the future financial outlook and anticipated events or results of the Company and may include information regarding the Company's financial position, business strategy, growth strategies, acquisition prospects and plans, addressable markets, budgets, operations, financial results, taxes, dividend policy, plans and objectives. Particularly, information regarding the Company's expectations of future results, performance, achievements, prospects or opportunities or the markets in which the Company operates is forward-looking information. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "targets", "expects", "budgets", "scheduled", "estimates", "outlook", "forecasts", "projects", "prospects", "strategy", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", or "will" occur. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, intentions, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts but instead represent management's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events or circumstances. Many factors could cause the Company's actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including, without limitation, those listed in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's filing statement dated November 9, 2021. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results, performance, or achievements could vary materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Forward-looking information, by its nature, is based on the Company's opinions, estimates and assumptions in light of management's experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that the Company currently believes are appropriate and reasonable in the circumstances. Those factors should not be construed as exhaustive. Despite a careful process to prepare and review forward-looking information, there can be no assurance that the underlying opinions, estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking information. Although the Company bases its forward-looking information on assumptions that it believes were reasonable when made, which include, but are not limited to, assumptions with respect to the Company's future growth potential, results of operations, future prospects and opportunities, execution of the Company's business strategy, there being no material variations in the current tax and regulatory environments, future levels of indebtedness and current economic conditions remaining unchanged, the Company cautions readers that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that our actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which the Company operates may differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. In addition, even if the Company's results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which it operates are consistent with the forward-looking information contained in this press release, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods. Although the Company has attempted to identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other risk factors not presently known to the Company or that the Company presently believes are not material that could also cause actual results or future events to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking information. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information, which speaks only as of the date made (or as of the date they are otherwise stated to be made). Any forward-looking statement that is made in this press release speaks only as of the date of such statement. 1 Straight-line rent expense for a given payment period is calculated by dividing the sum of all payments over the life of the lease (the figure used in the present value calculation of the right-of-use asset) by the number of payment periods (typically months). This number is then annualized by adding the rent expenses calculated for the payment periods that comprise each fiscal year. For leases signed mid-year, the total straight-line rent expense calculation applies the new lease terms only to the payment periods after the signing of the new lease. Greensboro, N.C., May 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Volvo Trucks North America (VTNA) and Volvo Financial Services (VFS) have joined forces to form Volvo on Demand, a collaborative initiative to change and lead the industry in the Truck-as-a-Service (TaaS) business model. Using 25 Class 8 Volvo VNR Electric trucks, Volvo on Demand was designed as an innovative solution to simplify the acquisition and reduce the major upfront investment in battery-electric vehicles. Volvo on Demand provides qualified customers with flexible term options as short as 12 months and includes Volvo Trucks industry leading Gold Contract and the option to bundle vehicle insurance for physical damage and collision, route planning and optimization guidance, as well as consultation to find the best charging solution and incentives that might be available. Volvo on Demand is the next way to leverage the established electromobility ecosystem tailored for Volvo VNR Electric trucks in North America. Volvo on Demand is the easiest way for customers to add a battery-electric truck to their fleet by providing the ability to test the technology and understand the requirements to operate an electric fleet without a substantial upfront investment, said Charles Carter, vice president, services and solutions, Volvo Financial Services. Volvo on Demand offers peace of mind to customers who are just beginning their electromobility journey, managing the unknowns and uncertainties of how to best run and scale electric trucks in their operations. We see this solution being exceptionally beneficial to many segments including drayage, regional haul, last mile and smaller fleets, who are tasked with delivering more sustainable transportation solutions for their customers. With Volvo on Demand, customers can minimize the upfront investment associated with transitioning to battery-electric trucks and free up credit lines that can be used towards business growth. A competitive mileage rate throughout the contract term provides flexibility, with a single monthly invoice encompassing all selected services, charging hardware and insurance. VFS has kickstarted the Volvo on Demand program with 25 Volvo VNR Electric trucks, including 20 6x4 tractors with the six-battery configuration and five 4x2 tractors with the four-battery configuration. The Class 8 Volvo VNR Electric is a zero-tailpipe emission solution which is an ideal fit for local and regional distribution, pickup and delivery, and food and beverage distribution. The battery-electric truck has a range of up to 275 miles (with a six-battery configuration) and features a dedicated battery thermal management system to maintain ideal battery temperatures. With a 250 kWh charge rate, the truck can achieve an 80% charge in as little as 90 minutes for the six-battery package and 60 minutes for the four-battery package. The Volvo VNR Electric truck provides instant torque, and smooth acceleration and deceleration delivering optimal performance and drivability and zero-tailpipe emissions. The electric driveline also reduces vibration and in-cab noise compared to traditional trucks which results in a more comfortable and relaxing driving experience. Volvo on Demand is being launched in the United States in areas with a nearby Volvo Trucks Certified Electric Vehicle (EV) dealership equipped to provide comprehensive support, including preventative maintenance, service, and charging facilities to maximize customer uptime. Volvo Trucks Certified EV Dealers have onsite technicians who have been comprehensively trained to service the VNR Electric safely and efficiently. With 59 locations across 31 states and Canadian provinces in North America completing the rigorous certification program, Volvo Trucks provides a robust ecosystem to facilitate the adoption of heavy-duty battery-electric vehicles. Today we have customers whove successfully deployed the VNR Electric and are continuing to seek ways to scale their operations to include more of these trucks, said Jared Ruiz, regional vice president, Volvo Trucks North America. We have a number of customers who have expressed interest in adding the VNR Electric to their operation but want to understand how it will fit within their specific applications. With Volvo on Demand through VFS, they can gain valuable experience before making large upfront capital investments. With Volvo on Demand customers can get a single truck or a few trucks with portable 50 kWh chargers to gain real world experience while making plans to scale, including accounting for potential lead times on charging infrastructure installation, with flexible payment terms. We see this program as the next evolution in scaling electromobility solutions by offering unmatched financial flexibility to our customers. Charging infrastructure remains one of the biggest hurdles fleets must overcome as they seek to deploy zero emission vehicles. In 2023, Volvo Trucks introduced two programs to streamline the electromobility transition for fleet managers, allowing them to focus on their daily business operations while a dedicated team works on their infrastructure installation and energization. The Turnkey Solutions program manages all aspects of the process to develop charging infrastructure and covers charging hardware, software, permitting, installation, all the interaction with the utility companies, and maintaining charging equipment. Through the Vendor Direct Shipping program, customers and dealers can order equipment through the dealership parts portal. Volvo Trucks sales teams can assist customers with the process and determine the type of charger best equipped for the application. VFS continues to finance charging infrastructure as part of the total electromobility transportation solution and both the Vendor Direct Shipping and the Turnkey Solution programs are options that enable qualified customers to bundle charging solutions with financing or leasing solutions for battery-electric trucks. Volvo Financial Services is the global finance arm of the Volvo Group, one of the world's leading manufacturers of trucks, buses, construction equipment and marine and industrial engines. Volvo Financial Services supports the Volvo Group's brands with a full range of offerings to customers and dealers, including financing, leasing, and insurance solutions. To learn more about Volvo Trucks North America and the Volvo VNR Electric, visit the company website . High-resolution images associated with this press release and others are available at https://press.volvotrucks.us/ . For further information, please contact: Kyle Zimmerman Public Relations Manager, Volvo Trucks North America kyle.zimmerman@volvo.com (704) 677-9757 Volvo Trucks North America, headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, is one of the leading heavy-duty truck manufacturers in North America. Its Uptime Services commitment is delivered by a network of nearly 400 authorized dealers across North America and the 24/7 Volvo Trucks Uptime Center. Every Volvo truck is assembled in the Volvo Trucks New River Valley manufacturing facility in Dublin, Virginia, which meets the internationally recognized ISO 9001 standard for quality, 14001 standard for environmental care and holds a dual ISO 50001/Superior Energy Performance certification at the platinum level, indicating a sustained excellence in energy management. Volvo Trucks North America provides complete transport solutions for its customers, offering a full range of diesel, alternative-fuel and all-electric vehicles, and is part of the Volvo Trucks global organization. Volvo Trucks supplies complete transport solutions for discerning professional customers with its full range of medium- and heavy-duty trucks. Customer support is provided via a global network of dealers with 2,200 service points in about 130 countries. Volvo trucks are assembled in 12 countries across the globe. In 2023 approximately 145,000 Volvo trucks were delivered worldwide. Volvo Trucks is part of the Volvo Group, one of the worlds leading manufacturers of trucks, buses, construction equipment and marine and industrial engines. The group also provides complete solutions for financing and service. Volvo Trucks work is based on the core values of quality, safety and environmental care. Attachment Newark, May 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Brainy Insights estimates that the USD 37.02 billion in 2023 global hotel franchise market will reach USD 77.16 billion by 2033. Integrating technology and digital innovation will continue to shape the hotel franchise market. Opportunities exist for franchises to leverage artificial intelligence, data analytics, mobile apps, and IoT devices to enhance the guest experience, personalize services, and streamline operations. Furthermore, the rise of remote/WFH work and flexible working arrangements has created a demand for hotels offering co-working spaces, business centers, and amenities conducive to remote work. Hotel franchises can tap into this trend by providing innovative workspace solutions and catering to digital nomads, freelancers, and business travellers seeking remote work-friendly accommodations. Download Report Sample (230+ Pages PDF with Insights) at: https://www.thebrainyinsights.com/enquiry/sample-request/14311 Scope of Wood Chipper Market Report Coverage Details CAGR 7.62% from 2024 to 2033 Market Size in 2023 USD 37.02 Billion Market Size by 2033 USD 77.16 Billion Largest Market North America Base Year 2023 Forecast Year 2024 to 2033 Historical Year 2020-2022 Segments Covered Chain Value, Hotel Type, Regions Regions Covered North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa In addition, environmental sustainability and eco-friendly practices are becoming increasingly important to travellers and stakeholders in the hospitality industry. Hotel franchises can capitalize on this trend by implementing sustainable approaches such as waste reduction, energy efficiency, water conservation, and eco-friendly construction to attract environmentally conscious guests and meet regulatory requirements. Key Insight of the global Hotel Franchise market Asia Pacific is expected to witness the highest market growth over the forecast period. The region is experiencing enormous economic growth, driven by developing nations such as Japan, China, India, and Southeast Asia. This economic expansion has increased disposable income, urbanization, and a burgeoning middle class, resulting in greater demand for travel and accommodation. Additionally, Asia Pacific is home to some of the world's fastest-growing tourism destinations, including iconic landmarks, cultural attractions, and natural wonders. The region's diverse landscapes, rich history, and vibrant cultures attract millions of domestic and international tourists each year, creating opportunities for hotel franchises to expand their presence and cater to growing demand. Moreover, as Asia Pacific economies continue to grow and integrate into the global economy, there is a corresponding increase in business travel and corporate events within the region. Major business hubs such as Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Mumbai require extensive hotel accommodations to meet the needs of business travellers, creating a favourable environment for hotel franchise growth. In 2023, the midscale segment dominated the market with the largest share of 28.74% and revenue of 10.64 billion. The chain value segment is divided into economy, luxury, midscale, upper upscale, upscale and upper midscale. In 2023, midscale segment dominated the market with the largest share of 28.74% and revenue of 10.64 billion. In 2023, the extended stay segment dominated the market with the largest share of 46.21% and revenue of 17.11 billion. The hotel type segment is classified into extended stay, residence, select service and others. In 2023, the extended stay segment dominated the market with the largest share of 46.21% and revenue of 17.11 billion. Inquiry Before Buying: https://www.thebrainyinsights.com/enquiry/buying-inquiry/14311 Advancement in market In March 2024: Hilton has revealed a partnership with Adventurous Journeys Capital Partners (AJ Capital) to acquire the beloved Graduate Hotels brand. This move marks a substantial expansion opportunity for the leading global hospitality entity within the rapidly expanding lifestyle hotel sector. In November 2024: Accor Pacific has unveiled its collaboration with 120 hotels spanning various apartments, hotels, and resorts, signifying a noteworthy achievement in advancing its franchise hotel ventures in New Zealand and Australia. Market Dynamics Driver: Globalization and travel trends. The globalization of travel and the surge in tourism within emerging markets have opened up significant opportunities for hotel franchises to expand their global footprint. This evolution is driven by the growing need for accommodation options in destinations that are increasingly popular among travellers. Franchisors are leveraging these trends by strategically targeting key markets where tourism is booming and adapting their offerings to cater to the various choices of travellers. This aspect involves understanding each market's unique cultural, economic, and social dynamics and tailoring hotel services and amenities accordingly. In emerging markets, affordable yet quality accommodation options that cater to domestic and international travellers are often needed. Hotel franchises can capitalize on this demand by providing a range of choices, from budget-friendly to luxury accommodations, to appeal to different customer segments. Moreover, the evolution of digital technology has made it easier for hotel franchises to reach and engage with customers in emerging markets. Online booking platforms have become vital tools for marketing and distribution, allowing franchises to connect with travellers directly and provide personalized experiences. By strategically expanding into emerging markets and adapting their offerings to suit local preferences, hotel franchises can set themselves up for long-term development and success in the global tourism industry. Restraint: Limited autonomy. Franchisees undoubtedly gain advantages from the support and resources furnished by franchisors, yet they contend with constrained autonomy in decision-making, a divergence from the latitude independent hotel operators enjoy. This disparity stems from the terms delineated within franchise agreements, which meticulously outline operational standards, marketing strategies, and business conduct. Consequently, franchisees need more flexibility and control over their operations, as they are beholden to the directives set forth by the franchisor. While this arrangement fosters consistency and adherence to brand standards across different locations, it can limit franchisees' ability to respond swiftly to localized market conditions or implement innovative strategies tailored to their specific circumstances. Franchise agreements often mandate adherence to standardized procedures and branding guidelines, which may only sometimes align perfectly with the nuanced needs or preferences of the local market. Furthermore, the financial obligations entailed by franchise agreements, such as royalty fees and marketing contributions, can further constrain franchisees' autonomy by necessitating adherence to predetermined budget allocations and expenditure requirements. Opportunity: Targeting niche markets. By honing in on niche markets, hotel franchises can develop a competitive edge by addressing these segments' specific needs and desires. For instance, catering to the needs of business travellers might involve offering amenities like well-equipped meeting rooms, business centres, and high-speed internet access coupled with services that prioritize efficiency and convenience, such as express check-in/check-out and complimentary breakfast options. Similarly, targeting family vacationers could entail providing family-friendly accommodations with spacious rooms, recreational facilities for children, and services like childcare or kid-friendly meal options. This factor can create a welcoming environment that appeals to families seeking a hassle-free and enjoyable stay. Moreover, hotel franchises can differentiate themselves by focusing on luxury seekers and offering personalized services and upscale amenities that cater to their discerning tastes. This aspect might include luxurious spa facilities, gourmet dining options, exclusive concierge services, and opulent room designs, providing unparalleled comfort and indulgence for guests seeking a premium experience. Additionally, hotel franchises can explore niche markets based on unique interests or preferences, such as eco-conscious travellers, wellness enthusiasts, or cultural aficionados. By incorporating sustainable practices, wellness programs, or cultural experiences into their offerings, franchises can attract guests who prioritize these aspects when choosing accommodations. Challenge: Regulatory compliance. Hotel franchises must navigate complex regulatory requirements encompassing zoning laws, building codes, health and safety regulations, and employment laws. Zoning laws dictate the permissible land use and development activities within specific geographical areas, including where hotels can be situated and what accommodations they can offer. Ensuring compliance with these laws involves receiving the necessary permits and approvals from local authorities, which may vary immensely depending on the location and local regulations. Furthermore, health and safety regulations impose stringent standards for maintaining cleanliness, hygiene, and sanitation within the hotel campus to safeguard the health and well-being of visitors/guests and staff. Compliance involves implementing robust sanitation protocols, food safety practices, and emergency preparedness measures and adhering to safety and health guidelines issued by relevant authorities. Compliance with these regulations is paramount for ensuring the lawful operation of the business and safeguarding the well-being of guests and employees. However, achieving compliance can be multifaceted and time-consuming, particularly for franchisees operating across multiple jurisdictions with varying legal frameworks. Some of the major players operating in the global Hotel Franchise market are: AccorHotels S.A. Best Western Hotels & Resorts Choice Hotels International Days Inn Econo Lodge Extended Stay America Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts Hilton Hyatt Hotels Corporation InterContinental Hotel Groups (IHG) Jin Jiang International La Quinta Lemon Tree Hotels Marriott Motel 6 Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group Melia Hotels International NH Hotel Group OYO Radisson Hotel Group Sheraton Super 8 Treebo Hotels Wyndham Key Segments cover in the market: By Chain Value Economy Luxury Midscale Upper Upscale Upscale Upper Midscale By Hotel Type Extended Stay Residence Select Service Others By Region North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico) Europe (Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Spain, Rest of Europe) Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, Rest of APAC) South America (Brazil and the Rest of South America) The Middle East and Africa (UAE, South Africa, Rest of MEA) Immediate Delivery Available | Buy This Premium Research Report @ https://www.thebrainyinsights.com/buy-now/14311/single About the report: The market is analyzed based on value (USD Billion). All the segments have been analyzed worldwide, regional, and country basis. The study includes the analysis of more than 30 countries for each part. The report analyses driving factors, opportunities, restraints, and challenges to gain critical market insight. The study includes Porter's five forces model, attractiveness analysis, Product analysis, supply, and demand analysis, competitor position grid analysis, distribution, and marketing channels analysis. About The Brainy Insights: The Brainy Insights is a market research company that provides actionable insights through data analytics to companies to improve their business acumen. They have a robust forecasting and estimation model to meet the client's objectives of high-quality output within a short period. They provide both customized (client-specific) and syndicate reports. Their repository of syndicate reports is diverse across all the categories and sub-categories across domains. Their customized solutions meet the client's requirements whether they are looking to expand or planning to launch a new product in the global market. Contact Us Avinash D Head of Business Development Phone: +1-315-215-1633 Email: sales@thebrainyinsights.com Web: http://www.thebrainyinsights.com Dublin, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global eGRC Market by Offering (Solutions, Services), Deployment Mode (On-premises, Cloud), Organization Size, Solution Usage (Internal, External), Business Function, Vertical (BFSI, Healthcare, Manufacturing) and Region - Forecast to 2029" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global eGRC market is projected to grow from USD 18.3 billion in 2024 to USD 34.5 billion by 2029 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13.4% during the forecast period. Beyond direct suppliers, organizations increasingly rely on complex ecosystems of third-party vendors, partners, and service providers. Managing third-party risks involves assessing their compliance, operational integrity, interconnectedness, and potential cascading effects. eGRC platforms with robust vendor risk management capabilities enable organizations to evaluate, monitor, and mitigate risks across their extended supply chains and partner networks. By vertical, the BFSI segment accounts for a larger market share BFSI is the primary adopter of eGRC solutions and has been a highly regulated and competitive industry focusing on delivering an enhanced customer experience. The change in operating methods, increased digitalization, and adoption of advanced technologies have increased exposure to different risks. In addition, the need to align with the changing regulatory environment and penalties associated with non-compliance has changed how risk is viewed and managed. Various vendors also offer solutions to help organizations manage corporate compliance-related obligations and risks related to anti-money laundering by deploying a single solution/platform. The banking sector is expected to adopt eGRC solutions to improve business performance, optimize risk-return outcomes, and reduce compliance costs. Large enterprises account for a larger market share by organization size Large enterprises have more than 1,000 employees. The large enterprises segment is projected to account for a larger revenue share in the global eGRC market. Large enterprises increasingly adopt eGRC solutions to streamline and centralize their governance processes. These solutions integrate various functions such as risk management, compliance monitoring, and policy enforcement into a single platform, enabling organizations to manage their regulatory obligations and mitigate risks efficiently. By implementing eGRC solutions, large enterprises can enhance transparency, improve decision-making, and ensure adherence to industry standards and regulations, safeguarding their reputation and improving stakeholder trust. Various vendors in the market offer integrated GRC solutions that enable organizations to quickly adapt to the changing regulatory, economic, and technological environments. These solutions help key decision-makers and leaders by offering the critical information required to balance risk management, cost optimization, and capacity for innovation. SAP is one of the key vendors that cater to large enterprises by offering an integrated GRC solution comprising various modules. Some other vendors in the market are IBM, Wolter Kluwer, and MetricStream. By region, North America accounts for the highest market size during the forecast period North America is projected to lead the eGRC market during the forecast period. The presence of economically and technologically advanced countries such as the US and Canada, the adoption of new and emerging technologies, and the strong financial position of market players are some of the significant factors that help organizations in North America have a competitive edge over others. The eGRC market in North America is experiencing substantial growth and is expected to continue expanding during the forecast period. The US and Canada are expected to contribute significantly to the North American market. The presence of key players such as IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, SAS, ServiceNow, and Oracle Corporation makes it a leading region in the eGRC market. The increasing implementation of cloud adoption, growing data breaches, and other cyber threats also contribute to the region's eGRC market growth. Research Coverage The report segments the eGRC market. It forecasts its size by Offering (Solutions and Services), Solution Usage (External and Internal), Business Function (Finance, IT, Operations, and Legal), Deployment Mode (On-premises and Cloud), Organization Size (Large Enterprises and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)), Vertical (Government, BFSI, Healthcare, Telecommunications, Energy & Utilities, Manufacturing, IT & ITeS, Retail & eCommerce, Transportation & Logistics, and Other Verticals) and Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Latin America). Major vendors in the EGRC market include IBM (US), Microsoft (US), Oracle (US), SAP (Germany), SAS Institute (US), ServiceNow (US), Thomson Reuters (Canada), FIS (US), Wolters Kluwer (Netherlands), LexisNexis (US), Mphasis (India), MetricStream (US), Riskonnect (US), Navex Global (US), OneTrust (US), Mega International (France), LogicManager (US), Acuity Risk Management (UK), C&F SA (Poland), Allgress (US), GlobalSuite Solutions (Spain), Onspring (US), Optimiso (US), Oxial (Switzerland), ReadiNow (Australia), SureCloud (UK), StandardFusion (Canada), Comensure (US), Dynamic GRC (Singapore), LogicGate (US), VComply (US), and SmartSuite (US). The study includes an in-depth competitive analysis of the key players in the eGRC market, their company profiles, recent developments, and key market strategies. Key Attributes Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 412 Forecast Period 2024-2029 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2024 $18.3 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2029 $34.5 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 13.4% Regions Covered Global Premium Insights Increasing Cyber Threats Faced by Organizations Across Various Sectors to Boost eGRC Market Growth eGRC Solutions to be Larger Segment of Market During Forecast Period Risk Management Segment to Lead Market During Forecast Period Managed Segment to Grow at Higher CAGR During Forecast Period Internal Segment to Record Larger Market Size During Forecast Period Cloud Segment to Grow at Higher CAGR During Forecast Period Finance Segment to Lead Market During Forecast Period Large Enterprises to be Larger Segment During Forecast Period BFSI to be Largest Vertical During Forecast Period Europe to Emerge as Most Lucrative Market for Investments in Next Five Years Market Dynamics Drivers Increasing Need to Comply with Stringent Regulatory Mandates Rising Cybersecurity Threats Flexibility and Scalability Offered by Cloud-based eGRC Systems Restraints Adapting to Changing Laws and Regulations Opportunities Integration of AI/ML and Blockchain Technologies into GRC Solutions Integration of eGRC with Core Business Operations Challenges Gap Between Company's Culture and Its eGRC Framework Development of Comprehensive eGRC Solutions Case Study Analysis Fortune 500 Financial Services Company Implemented Servicenow GRC Medium Enterprise Bank Chose Wolters Kluwer E-Sign to Secure Document Exchange Global Food and Beverage Giant Strengthened and Streamlined Corporate Governance Using Metricstream GRC Solution Robeco Implemented Solution by Sai360 to Meet Compliance Requirements Shemen Industries Adopted Processgene Software Suite to Automate GRC LME Implemented Riskonnect GRC to Manage Risk and Compliance Companies Featured Wolters Kluwer FIS Microsoft Lexisnexis SAS Institute IBM Oracle SAP Servicenow Thomson Reuters Mega International Mphasis Metricstream Riskonnect Navex Global Onetrust Logicmanager Allgress Surecloud Acuity Risk Management C&F SA Onspring Oxial Readinow Globalsuite Solutions Optimiso Standardfusion Comensure Dynamic-GRC Vcomply Logic Gate Smartsuite For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/oby4k0 About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Attachment Dublin, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Japan Data Center Market - Investment Analysis & Growth Opportunities 2024-2029" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Japan data center market will witness investments of $14.48 billion by 2029, from $9.71 billion in 2023, growing at a CAGR of 6.88% This report analyses the Japan data center market share. It elaboratively analyses the existing and upcoming facilities and investments in IT, electrical, mechanical infrastructure, general construction, and tier standards. It discusses market sizing and investment estimation for different segments. Some of the key investors in the Japan data center market are AirTrunk, AT TOKYO, Colt Data Centre Services, Digital Edge, Equinix, Goodman, Princeton Digital Group, MC Digital Realty, NTT Communications, Vantage Data Centers, ST Telemedia Global Data Centres, STACK Infrastructure and others. Hyperscalers are building their self-built data centers in partnership with real estate developers, which is estimated to impact the industry for colocation providers. For instance, in March 2023, Google announced the launch of its first self-built data center facility in the Inzai area of Greater Tokyo. In January 2024, Amazon Web Services plans to invest USD 15.2 billion in Japan to enhance its cloud computing infrastructure by 2027. The company aims to expand its data center facilities in both Tokyo and Osaka Japan has around 107 operational colocation data centers, most of which are being developed according to Tier III standards. The Japan data center market has the presence of some local and global operators, such as AirTrunk, AT TOKYO, Colt Data Centre Services, Digital Edge, Equinix, Fujitsu, IDC Frontier, Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ), MC Digital Realty, NTT Communications, SCSK Corporation (NETXDC), Telehouse, and others. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry announced that more than 100 regional governments have shown interest in hosting new data centers and planning to decentralize data centers. The regions offered as new data center locations include Uki City, Yoshinogari Town, Tottori City, and Nogata City. Japan's average construction cost per watt ranges between $10 and $11. The cost is between $10 million and $11 million per MW, likely increasing by 5%- 7% YoY. GLP, the logistics real estate firm based in the APAC region, is among Japan's data center market's new entrants. The company launched Ada Infrastructure, a new data center platform, and planned to invest over USD 10 billion (1.5 trillion yen) over the next five years to develop data centers across Japan. The deployment of 5G networks will boost the region's digital economy and lead to a higher demand for high-bandwidth networking infrastructure. Owing to smart city initiatives carried out by government agencies, the adoption of software-defined networking (SDN) is likely to increase. WHY SHOULD YOU BUY THIS RESEARCH? Market size is available in terms of investment, area, power capacity, and Japan colocation market revenue. An assessment of the data center investment in Japan by colocation, hyperscale, and enterprise operators. Investments in the area (square feet) and power capacity (MW) across cities in the country. A detailed study of the existing Japan data center market landscape, an in-depth market analysis, and insightful predictions about industry size during the forecast period. Snapshot of existing and upcoming third-party data center facilities in Japan Facilities Covered (Existing): 107 Facilities Identified (Upcoming): 41 Coverage: 17+ Cities Existing vs. Upcoming (Area) Existing vs. Upcoming (IT Load Capacity) Data Center Colocation Market in the Japan Colocation Market Revenue & Forecast (2023-2029) Wholesale vs. Retail Colocation Revenue (2023-2029) Retail Colocation Pricing Wholesale Colocation Pricing The Japan data center market investments are classified into IT, power, cooling, and general construction services with sizing and forecast. This report comprehensively analyzes the industry's latest trends, growth rate, potential opportunities, growth restraints, and prospects. This section provides a business overview and product offerings of prominent IT infrastructure providers, construction contractors, support infrastructure providers, and investors in the industry. A transparent research methodology and the analysis of the demand and supply aspects of the industry. KEY QUESTIONS ANSWERED What factors are driving the Japan data center market? How much MW of power capacity will be added across Japan during 2024-2029? What is the growth rate of the Japan data center market? How many existing and upcoming data center facilities exist in Japan? How big is the Japan data center market? Who are the key investors in the Japan data center market? Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 173 Forecast Period 2023 - 2029 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $9.71 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2029 $14.48 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 6.8% Regions Covered Japan VENDOR LANDSCAPE IT Infrastructure Providers Arista Networks Atos Broadcom Cisco Systems Dell Technologies Fujitsu Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Hitachi Vantara Huawei Technologies IBM Inspur Lenovo NEC NetApp Oracle Data Center Construction Contractors & Sub-Contractors Arup AECOM Daiwa House Industry Fuji Furukawa Engineering & Construction Hibiya Engineering ISG Kajima Corporation Keihanshin Building Linesight MARCAI DESIGN Meiho Facility Works Nikken Sekkei NTT FACILITIES Obayashi Corporation SHINRYO Corporation TAISEI Corporation Support Infrastructure Providers 3M ABB Alfa Laval Caterpillar Cummins Delta Electronics Eaton Fuji Electric HITEC Power Protection Johnson Controls Kawasaki Heavy Industries KOHLER-SDMO Legrand Mitsubishi Electric Rittal Rolls-Royce Schneider Electric STULZ Siemens Vertiv Data Center Investors AirTrunk Alibaba Cloud Amazon Web Services AT TOKYO Colt Data Centre Services Digital Edge Equinix Fujitsu Goodman Google IDC Frontier Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ) MC Digital Realty Microsoft NTT Communications SCSK Corporation (NETXDC) Telehouse Tencent Cloud TIS INTEC Group New Entrants Ada Infrastructure Edge Centres CyrusOne ESR GDS Services Keppel Data Centres NEXTDC Princeton Digital Group (PDG) SC Zeus Data Center STACK Infrastructure ST Telemedia Global Data Centres Vantage Data Centers Yondr EXISTING VS. UPCOMING DATA CENTERS Existing Facilities in the Region (Area and Power Capacity) Tokyo Osaka Other Cities List of Upcoming Facilities in the Region (Area and Power Capacity) Tokyo Osaka Other Cities REPORT COVERAGE IT Infrastructure Servers Storage Systems Network Infrastructure Electrical Infrastructure UPS Systems Generators Transfer Switches & Switchgears PDUs Other Electrical Infrastructure Mechanical Infrastructure Cooling Systems Rack Cabinets Other Mechanical Infrastructure Cooling Systems CRAC & CRAH Units Chiller Units Cooling Towers, Condensers & Dry Coolers Economizers & Evaporative Coolers Other Cooling Units General Construction Core & Shell Development Installation & Commissioning Services Engineering & Building Design Fire Detection & Suppression Systems Physical Security Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) Tier Standard Tier I & Tier II Tier III Tier IV Geography Tokyo Osaka Other Cities For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/xz7bwe About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Attachment Dublin, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "U.S. Data Center Market Landscape 2024-2029" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The U.S. data center market is expected to reach a value of $148.52 billion by 2029 from $101.59 billion in 2023, growing at a CAGR of 6.54% The U.S. data center market features a variety of active participants and vendors, contributing to its expansion. Those vendors that provide innovative and advanced technologies stand a better chance of securing a larger US data center market share throughout the forecast period. Some of the top IT and support infrastructure providers active in the U.S. data center market include Arista Networks, Broadcom, Cisco Systems, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Dell Technologies, IBM, NetApp, ABB, Caterpillar, Cummins, Eaton, Legrand, Schneider Electric, Vertiv, STULZ, Rolls-Royce Power Systems, Siemens, Delta Electronics and others. Northern Virginia is evolving into a multi-state market characterized by rapid data center developments spanning hundreds of acres. Although there's a trend towards establishing large data center campuses in peripheral regions, smaller opportunities remain available in conventional data center clusters like Ashburn. The state of Georgia is actively showcasing its support for the data center industry by implementing tax exemptions on high-technology data center equipment, extending this benefit until 2033. This initiative draws significant attention to the Atlanta market, where numerous data center projects are currently in development or planning phases. Constructing data centers in the Midwestern U.S. is a significant focal point for hyperscale operators developing facilities in key locations like Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Ohio. This market is anticipated to expand steadily, driven by the activities of major hyperscale companies. Texas is becoming a thriving data center hub in the U.S. owing to significant activities from the colocation and hyperscale operators. Pre-leasing remains a common trend, with most new constructions committed to single users before construction begins. The Western U.S. region stands as a developed and mature market for data centers, hosting all the major hyperscalers like Google, Meta (formerly Facebook), and Microsoft in prime locations such as Oregon, Idaho, Utah, and California. Given its preferred location for hyperscale operators, investments in this area are anticipated to increase throughout the forecast period. The growth of the data center market in New York and New Jersey is primarily driven by the continuous demand for data center space, positioning the area as a key connectivity hub within the heart of New York City's financial center. Compared to other regions, this area is anticipated to see lower investments in hyperscale data centers. However, investments in edge data centers are projected to grow considerably in the coming years, particularly in areas where space is available at a premium price. KEY TRENDS Data Center Operators Making Efforts to be More Sustainable and Environmentally Friendly The increase in energy consumption and carbon emissions has led the operators to address these issues. Many companies in the United States data center market purchase clean, renewable energy to power their current and future facilities, reducing their environmental impact. Despite the high energy cost, major companies like Google, Microsoft, Digital Realty, CyrusOne, Meta (Facebook), QTS Realty Trust, and Amazon Web Services continue to procure renewable energy to reduce emissions, achieve carbon neutrality, and promote sustainability. In January 2024, Microsoft signed a new 125 MW solar Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Apex Clean Energy in Ohio. The 125 MW Wheatsborough Solar project is currently being developed and is slated to come online by 2025. AI Transforming the Landscape of the U.S. Data Center Market The AI industry is set to significantly increase the size of hyperscale data centers. Even though the current AI investments haven't fully compensated for the growth in hyperscale data centers, the capacity of these data centers, especially for AI workloads, is expected to almost triple in the next six years. Data centers will play a crucial role in AI's success, but they also pose a challenge for providers. The high computational performance and energy consumption of GPUs and other specialized chips used in AI, such as ASICs and FPGAs, require massive power as rack densities rapidly increase. In October 2023, Meta resumed building its data centers in Temple, Texas, and Kuna, Idaho. The company updated its data center design to accommodate more powerful GPUs for AI work in the coming year. These centers will be the first to use this new design. Sustainable and Innovative Data Center Technologies There is an increasing focus on sustainable and innovative data center technologies. With the growing awareness of environmental concerns and the need for energy efficiency, U.S. data center market operators are investing in cutting-edge solutions. Innovations like liquid cooling systems and advanced data center designs are being implemented to enhance energy efficiency and reduce heat emissions. The development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) solutions is aiding in predictive maintenance, optimizing operations, and reducing energy consumption. Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) fuel is being used to replace traditional diesel generators. In September 2023, Vantage Data Centers recently shared its plan to use HVO fuel instead of traditional diesel fuel in its generators. The company will likely deploy HVO fuel for generators in Santa Clara, California. SEGMENTATION INSIGHTS Numerous innovative power and cooling systems have recently been launched, emphasizing sustainability. Infrastructure providers are increasingly concentrating on developing products that minimize environmental impact. In recent years, operators in the U.S. data center market have been implementing new and energy-efficient cooling systems intending to reduce power consumption by up to 50%. This trend is expected to continue in the forecast period as U.S. data center market vendors continually invest in developing more efficient products. The US data center market for liquid immersion and direct-liquid cooling solutions is experiencing strong growth owing to the increased deployment of artificial intelligence and machine learning workloads during the forecast period. Traditionally, data center operators have adopted VRLA batteries; however, they are now moving towards lithium-ion batteries. For instance, the Ashburn data center campus of EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure is equipped with lithium-ion batteries in UPS systems. Traditionally, diesel fuels have been the go-to choice for operators in the U.S. data center market due to their reliability. However, with a growing emphasis on reducing carbon emissions and achieving sustainability goals, there's a noticeable shift towards more eco-friendly alternatives. One such alternative is Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO), a renewable diesel fuel gaining popularity for its environmental benefits. In addition to constructing and developing data centers, the U.S. data center market companies emphasize strengthening physical security, fire detection systems & monitoring and managing the facilities through a real-time Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) system. KEY QUESTIONS ANSWERED How big is the U.S. data center market? What is the growth rate of the U.S. data center market? What is the estimated market size in terms of area in the U.S. data center market by 2029? How many MW of power capacity is expected to reach the U.S. data center market by 2029? What are the key trends in the U.S. data center market? Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 100 Forecast Period 2023 - 2029 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $101.59 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2029 $148.52 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 6.5% Regions Covered United States Key IT Infrastructure Providers Arista Networks Atos Broadcom Cisco Systems Dell Technologies DDN Storage Extreme Networks Fujitsu Hewlett Packard Enterprise Hitachi IBM Infortrend Technology Inspur Intel Lenovo Micron Technology Mitac Nimbus Data NetApp Oracle Pure Storage Quantum QNAP Systems QCT Seagate Technology Silk Supermicro Synology StorCentric Toshiba Western Digital Wiwynn Prominent Support Infrastructure ABB Airedale Alfa Laval Asetek Bloom Energy Carrier Condair Cormant Cyber Power Systems Caterpillar Cummins Delta Electronics Enlogic EATON FNT Software Generac Power Systems Green Revolution Cooling (GRC) Legrand HITEC Power Protection Johnson Controls KOHLER KyotoCooling Mitsubishi Electric Natron Energy NetZoom Nlyte Software Rittal Rolls-Royce Schneider Electric Siemens Trane (Ingersoll Rand) Tripp Lite STULZ Vertiv Yanmar ZincFive Prominent Construction Contractors AECOM Arup AlfaTech BlueScope Construction Brasfield & Gorrie Corgan CallisonRTKL Clark Construction Group Climatec Clune Construction DPR Construction EMCOR Group EYP MCF Fortis Construction Flour Corporation Gensler Gilbane Building Company Holder Construction HDR HITT Contracting Hoffman Construction Jacobs JE Dunn JHET Architects kW Engineering WSP Linesight M + W (EXYTE) Morrison Hershfield Mortenson Rogers-O'Brien Construction Rosendin Syska Hennessy Group Salute Mission Critical Sheehan Nagle Hartary Architects Skanska Southland Industries Sturgeon Electric Company Structure Tone Turner Construction The Mulhern Group The Walsh Group The Weitz Company TRINITY Group Construction Prominent Data Center Investors Amazon Web Services (AWS) Apple Aligned Data Centers American Tower AUBix CyrusOne CloudHQ Cologix Compass Datacenters COPT Data Center Solutions DartPoints DC BLOX DataBank Digital Realty Equinix Edge Centres EdgeConneX EdgePresence EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure Element Critical Evoque Flexential fifteenfortyseven Critical Systems Realty (1547) Google GIGA Data Centers H5 Data Centers HostDime Iron Mountain Meta (Facebook) Microsoft NTT DATA Netrality Data Centers Novva Data Centers PowerHouse Data Centers Prime Data Centers QTS Realty Trust Sabey Data Centers Skybox Datacenters Stream Data Centers STACK Infrastructure Switch T5 Data Centers TierPoint Vantage Data Centers Vapor IO Yondr 365 Data Centers New Entrants Corscale Data Centers Crane Data Centers Edge Energy NE-Edge Quantum Loophole Rowan Digital Infrastructure Segmentation by Facility Type Hyperscale Data Centers Colocation Data Centers Enterprise Data Centers Segmentation by Infrastructure IT Infrastructure Electrical Infrastructure Mechanical Infrastructure General Construction Segmentation by IT Infrastructure Server Infrastructure Storage Infrastructure Network Infrastructure Segmentation by Electrical Infrastructure UPS Systems Generators Transfer Switches & Switchgear Power Distribution Units Other Electrical Infrastructure Segmentation by Mechanical Infrastructure Cooling Systems Racks Other Mechanical Infrastructure Segmentation by Cooling Systems CRAC & CRAH Units Chiller Units Cooling Towers, Condensers, and Dry Coolers Economizers & Evaporative Coolers Other Cooling Units Segmentation by Cooling Techniques Air-based Liquid-based Segmentation by General Construction Core & Shell Development Installation & Commissioning Services Engineering & Building Design Physical Security Fire Detection & Suppression DCIM Segmentation by Tier Standard Tier I & II Tier III Tier IV Segmentation by Geography South-Eastern U.S. South-Western U.S. Western U.S. Mid-Western U.S. North-Eastern U.S. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ilxw8x About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Attachment Dublin, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Asia-Pacific Missile Tracking Systems Market: Focus on Application, Platform, and Country - Analysis and Forecast: 2023-2033" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Asia-Pacific missile tracking systems market is projected to reach $27.81 billion by 2033 from $15.39 billion in 2023, growing at a CAGR of 6.09% during the forecast period 2023-2033 The growth can be attributed to the vital role played by the incorporation of artificial intelligence and machine learning in enhancing the precision and velocity of missile tracking. This integration enables the real-time identification and interception of threats. Additionally, the proliferation of advanced threats like hypersonic missiles has spurred the advancement of more resilient missile tracking systems, necessitating ongoing innovation in both hardware and software elements. The Asia-Pacific (APAC) missile tracking systems market is experiencing notable growth driven by several key factors. The integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning has significantly enhanced missile tracking accuracy and speed, enabling real-time threat identification and interception. With the proliferation of hypersonic missiles and other sophisticated threats in the region, there is a pressing need for more robust missile tracking systems. As a result, defense agencies and manufacturers are investing in the development of advanced tracking technologies to counter emerging threats effectively. Moreover, increasing defense budgets in countries like China, India, Japan, and South Korea, coupled with geopolitical tensions, are driving the demand for state-of-the-art missile tracking systems in the APAC region. This presents lucrative opportunities for market players aiming to capitalize on the region's growing defense needs and technological advancements. How can this report add value to an organization? Product/Innovation Strategy: The product segment helps the reader understand the different types of products available for deployment and their potential. Moreover, the study provides the reader with a detailed understanding of the missile tracking systems market by application on the basis of application (target acquisition, air defense, space domain awareness, and early warning capabilities) and product on the basis of platform (space-based missile defense systems, ground-based missile defense systems, naval-based missile defense systems, and airborne-based missile defense systems). Growth/Marketing Strategy: The Asia-Pacific missile tracking systems market has seen major development by key players operating in the market, such as business expansion, partnership, collaboration, and joint venture. The favored strategy for the companies has been partnerships and contracts to strengthen their position in the missile tracking systems market. Competitive Strategy: Key players in Asia-Pacific the missile tracking systems market analyzed and profiled in the study involve major missile tracking systems offering companies providing missile tracking systems for the purpose. Moreover, a detailed competitive benchmarking of the players operating in the missile tracking systems market has been done to help the reader understand how players stack against each other, presenting a clear market landscape. Additionally, comprehensive competitive strategies such as partnerships, agreements, and collaborations will aid the reader in understanding the untapped revenue pockets in the market. Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 68 Forecast Period 2023 - 2033 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $15.39 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2033 $27.81 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 6.0% Business Dynamics Industry Outlook Missile Tracking Systems Market: Overview Evolving Missile Tracking Technologies in the Defense Industry On-going and Upcoming Programs Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) Future Technological Trends Artificial Intelligence Over-the-Horizon Radar Business Drivers Geopolitical Conflicts and Tensions Emerging Hypersonic Armament Capabilities Replacement of Legacy Systems Business Challenges Advancements in Stealth Technologies Complex Sensor Integration Efficient Data Transmission Business Opportunities AI and ML Integration Directed Energy Weapons Business Strategies Partnerships, Collaborations, Agreements, and Contracts Market Developments Value Chain Analysis Competitive Benchmarking and Company Profiles Hanwha Systems Co., Ltd. Market Share Analysis Company Overview Role of Hanwha Systems Co., Ltd. in the Missile Tracking Systems Market Product Portfolio Corporate Strategies Partnerships, Collaborations, Agreements, and Contracts Analyst View Market Segmentation: Application Target Acquisition Air Defense Space Domain Awareness Early Warning Capabilities Platform Space-Based Missile Tracking Systems Ground-Based Missile Tracking Systems Naval-Based Missile Tracking Systems Airborne-Based Missile Tracking Systems Country Japan India China Rest-of-Asia-Pacific For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/r4u90d About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Attachment New Bombardier Defense office in Adelaide, Australia, expands companys Asia-Pacific presence to better serve customers in essential markets Bombardier Defense leverages Bombardiers widely acclaimed and proven portfolio of aircraft to provide solutions for the most demanding missions The new location further complements the opening of the Melbourne Service Centre in September 2022 MONTREAL, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bombardier is pleased to announce that it has inaugurated a new Bombardier Defense office in Adelaide, Australia, increasing its presence in the country. The addition of this new location allows Bombardier to provide an enhanced level of service to its special mission customers in this important market. Bombardier Defenses new office will provide customers with an anchor point to meet with the companys exceptional team and to explore Bombardiers Challenger and Global aircraft families, best suited for civilian, military and hybrid mission types. The new Bombardier Defense office is an integral part of our overall mission to provide additional support for our missionized customers in Australia and, more largely, in the Asia-Pacific region, said Steve Patrick, Vice President, Bombardier Defense. This new office will enable us to provide more resources and increased flexibility in the region and give us a greater opportunity to showcase our outstanding missionized options to potential customers. Bombardier Defense is recognized worldwide for its diverse portfolio of proven and versatile specialized aircraft platforms, culminating in decades of experience working with more than 160 special mission operators and renowned mission systems integrators. Bombardiers missionized aircraft have a strong presence in Australia, including an in-service fleet of Medical Evacuation (Medevac) and Search & Rescue aircraft. About Bombardier At Bombardier (BBD-B.TO), we design, build, modify and maintain the worlds best-performing aircraft for the worlds most discerning people and businesses, governments and militaries. That means not simply exceeding standards, but understanding customers well enough to anticipate their unspoken needs. For them, we are committed to pioneering the future of aviationinnovating to make flying more reliable, efficient and sustainable. And we are passionate about delivering unrivaled craftsmanship and care, giving our customers greater confidence and the elevated experience they deserve and expect. Because people who shape the world will always need the most productive and responsible ways to move through it. Bombardier customers operate a fleet of approximately 5,000 aircraft, supported by a vast network of Bombardier team members worldwide and 10 service facilities across six countries. Bombardiers performance-leading jets are proudly manufactured in aerostructure, assembly and completion facilities in Canada, the United States and Mexico. For Information For corporate news and information, including Bombardiers Environmental, Social and Governance report, as well as the companys plans to cover all its flight operations with a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) blend utilizing the Book and Claim system visit bombardier.com. Learn more about Bombardiers industry-leading products and customer service network at businessaircraft.bombardier.com. Follow us on X (Twitter) @Bombardier. Media Contacts General media contact webform Matthew Nicholls +1-514-243-8214 Matthew.Nicholls@aero.bombardier.com Bombardier, Learjet, Challenger, Bombardier Defense, Global, Global 7500 are registered or unregistered trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f73aeb59-aa9b-47f0-ab54-a00233001521 Dublin, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Taiwan Data Center Market - Investment Analysis & Growth Opportunities 2024-2029" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Taiwan data center market by investments is expected to grow reach $3.45 billion by 2029 from $1.47 billion in 2023, growing at a CAGR of 15.26% This report analyses the Taiwan data center market share. It elaboratively analyses the existing and upcoming facilities and investments in IT, electrical, mechanical infrastructure, general construction, and tier standards. It discusses market sizing and investment estimation for different segments. The Taiwan data center market for IT infrastructure is dominated by global vendors such as Lenovo, IBM, Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Dell Technologies, Cisco Systems, Broadcom, and others, which has resulted in the high availability of efficient and advanced infrastructure in the market. Regarding support infrastructure, multiple global vendors have a presence in the market and have been offering their products and services to data centers for several years. Some major Taiwan data center vendors include Eaton, Cummins, Caterpillar, ABB, Airedale, Legrand, and others. In terms of construction contractors, the market has local and global contractors who have been providing their services for multiple data center projects over the years. For instance, DLB Associates has provided its services to Google data centers in the country. Taipei is the hub for data center development and foreign investments in the Taiwan data center market. Other cities are also expected to grow in the coming years. For instance, in March 2024, Vantage Data Center announced receiving over USD 64 million in loans from Taiwanese banks to construct its first facility, TPE11, in Taipei. The Taiwanese government launched digitalization initiatives and other projects to attract foreign market investments. For instance, according to Taiwan government FDI statistics, from January to December 2023, Taiwan recorded 568 outbound investment projects (excluding Mainland China), totaling USD 23.58 billion. This reflects a 4.03% rise in project numbers and a 136.67% increase in investment amount compared to the same period in 2022. The Taiwanese government is taking initiatives to increase the country's power availability and reliability. For instance, it set up a target for producing around 20% of electricity from renewable sources, 30% from coal, and 50% from gas by 2025 under its 20-30-50 plan. The government plans to generate around 60%-70% of electricity from renewable energy sources by 2050. NTT DATA, Acer Edc, Taiwan Mobile, Far EasTone Telecommunications, Chunghwa Telecom, Chief Telecom, and Chunghwa Telecom are prominent colocation providers in the Taiwan data center industry. Local operators lead the market, but global operators are expected to increase their investments and activity during the forecast period. WHY SHOULD YOU BUY THIS RESEARCH? Market size regarding investment, area, power capacity, and Taiwan colocation market revenue is available. An assessment of the data center investment in Taiwan by colocation, hyperscale, and enterprise operators. Investments in the area (square feet) and power capacity (MW) across cities in the country. A detailed study of the existing Taiwan data center market landscape, an in-depth market analysis, and insightful predictions about market size during the forecast period. Snapshot of existing and upcoming third-party data center facilities in Taiwan I. Facilities Covered (Existing): 15 II. Facilities Identified (Upcoming): 05 III. Coverage: 6+ Cities IV. Existing vs. Upcoming (Area) V. Existing vs. Upcoming (IT Load Capacity) Data Center Colocation Market in Taiwan I. Colocation Market Revenue & Forecast (2023-2029) II. Retail vs Wholesale Colocation Revenue III. Retail & Wholesale Colocation Pricing The Taiwan data center market investments are classified into IT, power, cooling, and general construction services with sizing and forecast. A comprehensive analysis of the latest trends, growth rate, potential opportunities, growth restraints, and prospects for the industry. Business overview and product offerings of prominent IT infrastructure providers, construction contractors, support infrastructure providers, and investors operating in the industry. A transparent research methodology and the analysis of the demand and supply aspects of the industry. KEY QUESTIONS ANSWERED How many existing and upcoming data center facilities exist in Taiwan? How big is the Taiwan data center market? What is the growth rate of the Taiwan data center market? What factors are driving the Taiwan data center industry? How much MW of power capacity will be added across Taiwan during 2024-2029? Who are the key investors in the Taiwan data center market? Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 115 Forecast Period 2023 - 2029 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $1.47 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2029 $3.45 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 15.2% Regions Covered Taiwan VENDOR LANDSCAPE IT Infrastructure Providers Atos Broadcom Cisco Systems Dell Technologies Extreme Networks Fujitsu Hitachi Vantara Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) IBM Juniper Networks Lenovo MiTAC Holdings NetApp Pure Storage Quanta Cloud Technology Super Micro Computer Wiwynn Data Center Construction Contractors & Sub-Contractors AECOM CTCI Data Knit DLB Associates MAA Group M+W Group Pacific Engineers and Constructors (PECL) Support Infrastructure Providers ABB Airedale Alfa Laval ATEN Caterpillar Cummins Delta Electronics EAE Eaton Green Revolution Cooling (GRC) HITEC Power Protection Johnson Controls Legrand Mitsubishi Electric Rittal Schneider Electric Socomec Siemens STULZ TECO Electric & Machinery Trane Vertiv Data Center Investors Acer e-Enabling Data Center Chief Telecom Chunghwa Telecom Far EasTone Telecommunications NTT Communications Taiwan Mobile New Entrants Empyrion DC SC Zeus Data Centers Vantage Data Centers EXISTING VS. UPCOMING DATA CENTERS Existing Facilities in the Region (Area and Power Capacity) Taipei Other Cities List of Upcoming Facilities in the Region (Area and Power Capacity) Taipei Other Cities REPORT COVERAGE IT Infrastructure Servers Storage Systems Network Infrastructure Electrical Infrastructure UPS Systems Generators Transfer Switches & Switchgears PDUs Other Electrical Infrastructure Mechanical Infrastructure Cooling Systems Rack Cabinets Other Mechanical Infrastructure Cooling Systems CRAC & CRAH Units Chiller Units Cooling Towers, Condensers & Dry Coolers Economizers & Evaporative Coolers Other Cooling Units General Construction Core & Shell Development Installation & Commissioning Services Engineering & Building Design Fire Detection & Suppression Systems Physical Security Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) Tier Standard Tier I & Tier II Tier III Tier IV For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/wh1tzf About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Attachment VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. (West Red Lake Gold or WRLG or the Company) (TSXV: WRLG) (OTCQB: WRLGF) is pleased to report drill results from its 100% owned Madsen Mine located in the Red Lake Gold District of Northwestern Ontario, Canada. This round of drill results from the Madsen Mine were all drilled from underground on the North Austin Zone, which represents a new area of high-grade mineralization extending the current Madsen resource to the northeast. This program was designed to expand the North Austin zone down-plunge to the northeast. There are three main plunge lines (ore shoots) that the team is targeting at North Austin, and the results in this press release have demonstrated down-plunge continuity on the order of 30 meters (m) within at least one of these ore shoots. The North Austin Zone sits adjacent to existing underground development marking it as a high caliber, near-surface target that could potentially be developed early during future mine restart and production. The North Austin Zone remains open down-plunge and along strike to the northeast and will continue to be a priority expansion target as underground drilling continues. HIGHLIGHTS: Hole MM24X-03-5127-010 Intersected 2.79m @ 37.33 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au), from 124.21m to 127m, Including 1.0m @ 88.06 g/t Au, from 125.21m to 126.21m. Hole MM24X-03-5127-011 Intersected 9.02m @ 5.26 g/t Au, from 53.06m to 62.08m, Including 0.88m @ 22.34 g/t Au, from 58m to 58.88m, also Including 0.5m @ 26.18 g/t Au, from 61.08m to 61.58m; And 2.54m @ 5.21 g/t Au, from 118.46m to 121m; Including 0.61m @ 16.60 g/t Au, from 118.96m to 119.57m. Hole MM24X-03-5127-007 Intersected 1.57m @ 25.12 g/t Au, from 128m to 129.57m, Including 1.0m @ 31.47 g/t Au, from 128m to 129m. Hole MM24X-03-5127-001 Intersected 2m @ 9.5 g/t Au, from 72m to 74m, Including 1.0m @ 17.94 g/t Au, from 73m to 74m. Shane Williams, President & CEO, stated, Its very encouraging to see the North Austin drilling beginning to deliver on expectations. Defining new areas of mineralization outside of, but adjacent to, the known deposit will continue to be a priority at Madsen and further solidifies our strategy with continuing to de-risk the asset while also taking full advantage of high-grade, near-mine organic growth opportunities. Plan maps and section for the South Austin drilling outlined in this release are provided in Figures 2 through 5. TABLE 1. Significant intercepts (>3 g/t Au) from drilling at North Austin Zone. Hole ID Target From (m) To (m) Thick (m)* Au (g/t) MM24X-03-5127-001 North Austin 72.00 74.00 2.00 9.50 Incl. 73.00 74.00 1.00 17.94 MM24X-03-5127-002 North Austin 126.87 127.80 0.93 5.48 MM24X-03-5127-003 North Austin No Assays > 3 g/t Au MM24X-03-5127-004 North Austin 66.50 67.42 0.92 5.21 MM24X-03-5127-005 North Austin No Assays > 3 g/t Au MM24X-03-5127-006 North Austin 59.65 65.00 5.35 3.11 Incl. 61.10 62.00 0.90 8.93 MM24X-03-5127-007 North Austin 128.00 129.57 1.57 25.12 Incl. 128.00 129.00 1.00 31.47 MM24X-03-5127-008 North Austin No Assays > 3 g/t Au MM24X-03-5127-009 North Austin 127.65 129.00 1.35 6.62 Incl. 127.65 128.50 0.85 10.08 MM24X-03-5127-010 North Austin 124.21 127.00 2.79 37.33 Incl. 125.21 126.21 1.00 88.06 MM24X-03-5127-011 North Austin 53.06 62.08 9.02 5.26 Incl. 58.00 58.88 0.88 22.34 Also Incl. 61.08 61.58 0.50 26.18 AND North Austin 118.46 121.00 2.54 5.21 Incl. 118.96 119.57 0.61 16.60 *The From-To intervals in Table 1 are denoting overall downhole length of the intercept. True thickness has not been calculated for these intercepts but is expected to be 70% of downhole thickness based on intercept angles observed in the drill core. FIGURE 1. Deposit-scale plan map of Madsen Mine highlighting North Austin Zone. TABLE 2: Drill collar summary for holes reported in this News Release. Hole ID Target Easting Northing Elev (m) Length (m) Azimuth Dip MM24X-03-5127-001 North Austin 435929 5646987 266 150.0 300 -5 MM24X-03-5127-002 North Austin 435929 5646987 266 176.6 298 -9 MM24X-03-5127-003 North Austin 435929 5646987 266 150.0 301 -17 MM24X-03-5127-004 North Austin 435929 5646987 266 150.0 308 -9 MM24X-03-5127-005 North Austin 435929 5646987 266 141.0 309 -16 MM24X-03-5127-006 North Austin 435929 5646987 266 150.0 306 -26 MM24X-03-5127-007 North Austin 435930 5646988 266 147.0 312 -4 MM24X-03-5127-008 North Austin 435930 5646987 266 161.0 312 -21 MM24X-03-5127-009 North Austin 435930 5646988 266 150.0 318 -5 MM24X-03-5127-010 North Austin 435930 5646988 266 141.0 318 -9 MM24X-03-5127-011 North Austin 435930 5646988 266 140.0 317 -16 DISCUSSION Accessed through the Madsen Mine East Portal, the North Austin Zone sits northeast in the footwall of the main Austin Zone. Like the main Austin and South Austin Structures, the North Austin domain is hosted within broad, kilometer-scale planar alteration and deformation corridors that have been repeatedly reactivated during gold mineralization and subsequent deformation and metamorphism. At the deposit-scale the Austin, South Austin, North Austin, and McVeigh Zones are locally folded and structurally dismembered by transposition and rotation into the penetrative S2 Foliation. In addition to this intense deformation overprint, the mineralized veins and alteration have been subjected to the relatively high temperatures of amphibolite facies metamorphism, which led to extensive recrystallization and growth of the skarn-like replacement mineral assemblage of diopside-amphibole-quartz-biotite. All significant gold mineralization on the mine property is demonstrably early relative to the most significant, penetrative deformation (D2) and metamorphic events. The North Austin Zone displays mine-style alteration and mineralization and consists of multiple mineralized domains defined over a strike length of 0.5km. Mineralization remains open at depth and along strike to the northeast. In drill core, or at underground face exposures, gold-bearing zones at the Madsen Mine are best identified visually by fine (sub-millimetre) grains of free gold within strong alteration and veining. All high-grade intervals generally contain visible gold on drill core exteriors, although numerous examples exist of high-grade assays where visible gold was only identified within the interior (cut surface) of the core samples. Apart from the presence of free gold, pervasive silicification (locally accompanied by discrete quartz veining) and quartz-carbonate or diopside veining are the best indicators that a given interval is within a high-grade zone along/within the mineralized structure. The current underground drilling program at the Madsen Mine is focused on further definition of near-term mining inventory, as well as growth of the current mineral resource. Drilling has been focused on the more continuous and higher-grade portions of the Austin, South Austin, and North Austin Zones. This will continue to be the strategy moving into 2024. High resolution versions of all the figures contained in this press release can be found at the following web address: https://westredlakegold.com/may-news-release-maps/ FIGURE 2. Madsen Mine long section showing location of 03-5127 Drill Bay in North Austin Zone.[1] FIGURE 3. North Austin plan view drill section showing assay highlights for Holes MM24X-03-5127-001 through -011.[1] FIGURE 4. North Austin section view showing assay highlights for Holes MM24X-03-5127-001, -002, -003 and -006.[1] FIGURE 5. North Austin section view showing assay highlights for Holes MM24X-03-5127-004, -005 and -007 through -011.[1] QUALITY ASSURANCE/QUALITY CONTROL Drilling completed underground at the Madsen Mine consists of BQ-sized diamond drill core for definition drill programs and oriented NQ-sized diamond drill core for exploration focused drilling. All drill holes are systematically logged, photographed, and sampled by a trained geologist at the Madsen Mine core processing facility. Minimum allowable sample length is 0.5m. Maximum allowable sample length is 1.5m. Control samples (certified standards and uncertified blanks), along duplicates, are inserted at a target 5% insertion rate. Results are assessed for accuracy, precision, and contamination on an ongoing basis. The BQ-sized drill core is whole core sampled. The NQ-sized drill core is then cut lengthwise utilizing a diamond blade core saw along a line pre-selected by the geologist. To reduce sampling bias, the same side of drill core is sampled consistently utilizing the orientation line as reference. For those samples containing visible gold (VG), a trained geologist supervises the cutting/bagging of those samples, and ensures the core saw blade is cleaned with a dressing stone following the VG sample interval. Bagged samples are then sealed with zip ties and transported by Madsen Mine personnel directly to SGS Natural Resources Facility in Red Lake, Ontario for assay. Samples are then prepped by SGS, which consists of drying at 105C and crushing to 75% passing 2mm. A riffle splitter is then utilized to produce a 500g course reject for archive. The remainder of the sample is then pulverized to 85% passing 75 microns from which 50g is analyzed by fire assay and an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish (SGS Code GO-FAA50V10). Samples returning gold values > 100 g/t Au are reanalyzed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish on a 50g sample (SGS Code GO_FAG50V). Samples with visible gold are also analyzed via metallic screen analysis (SGS code: GO_FAS50M). For multi-element analysis, samples are sent to SGSs facility in Burnaby, British Columbia and analyzed via four-acid digest with an atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) finish for 33-element analysis on 0.25g sample pulps (SGS code: GE_ICP40Q12). SGS Natural Resources analytical laboratories operates under a Quality Management System that complies with ISO/IEC 17025. The Madsen Mine deposit presently hosts a National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) Indicated resource of 1.65 million ounces (Moz) of gold grading 7.4 g/t Au and an Inferred resource of 0.37 Moz of gold grading 6.3 g/t Au. Mineral resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of 3.38 g/t Au and a gold price of US1,800/oz. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Please refer to the technical report entitled Independent NI 43-101 Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the PureGold Mine, Canada, prepared by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. and dated June 16, 2023, and amended April 24, 2024 (the Madsen Report). The Madsen Resource Estimate has an effective date of December 31, 2021 and excludes depletion of mining activity during the period from January 1, 2022 to the mine closure on October 24, 2022 as it has been deemed immaterial and not relevant for the purpose of the Madsen Report. A full copy of the Madsen Report is available on the Companys website and on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. The technical information presented in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Will Robinson, P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration for West Red Lake Gold and the Qualified Person for exploration at the West Red Lake Project, as defined by NI 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. ABOUT WEST RED LAKE GOLD MINES West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. is a mineral exploration company that is publicly traded and focused on advancing and developing its flagship Madsen Gold Mine and the associated 47 km2 highly prospective land package in the Red Lake district of Ontario. The highly productive Red Lake Gold District of Northwest Ontario, Canada has yielded over 30 million ounces of gold from high-grade zones and hosts some of the world's richest gold deposits. WRLG also holds the wholly owned Rowan Property in Red Lake, with an expansive property position covering 31 km2 including three past producing gold mines - Rowan, Mount Jamie, and Red Summit. ON BEHALF OF WEST RED LAKE GOLD MINES LTD. Shane Williams Shane Williams President & Chief Executive Officer FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Gwen Preston Director of Communications Tel: (778) 829-0459 Email: investors@westredlakegold.com or visit the Companys website at https://www.westredlakegold.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute "forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information generally can be identified by words such as "anticipate", "expect", "estimate", "forecast", "planned", and similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events. Forward-looking information is based on current expectations of management; however, it is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information in this news release and include without limitation, statements relating to the potential of the Madsen Mine and Rowan; any untapped growth potential in the Madsen deposit or the Rowan deposit; the results of further cleanup and recovery at the Madsen Mine; the Companys intention to establish additional drilling platforms; and the Companys future objectives and plans. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Forwardlooking information involve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking information. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, market volatility; the state of the financial markets for the Companys securities; fluctuations in commodity prices; timing and results of the cleanup and recovery at the Madsen Mine; and changes in the Companys business plans. Forward-looking information is based on a number of key expectations and assumptions, including without limitation, that the Company will continue with its stated business objectives and its ability to raise additional capital to proceed. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Additional information about risks and uncertainties is contained in the Companys managements discussion and analysis for the year ended November 30, 2023, and the Companys annual information form for the year ended November 30, 2023, copies of which are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. The forward-looking information contained herein is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to the Company. The forward-looking information is made as of the date of this news release and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by applicable law. For more information on the Company, investors should review the Companys continuous disclosure filings that are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. [1] Mineral resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of 3.38 g/t Au and a gold price of US1,800/oz. Please refer to the technical report entitled Independent NI 43-101 Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the PureGold Mine, Canada, prepared by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. and dated June 16, 2023, and amended April 24, 2024. A full copy of the SRK report is available on the Companys website and on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. Figures accompanying this announcement are available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c5ce32a9-d278-4968-9846-4169de3c692f https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c0653dea-ee70-448a-b273-553646ffa265 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e27d167c-ec6f-4406-ad79-655cea16008a https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d29b966b-0d0b-40df-aa56-47e6c561bec8 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f3df5f34-712f-467c-9e32-57e3853e06d5 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d9f2df2f-88b7-4756-90a4-589f126f2436 TORONTO, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Xtract One Technologies Inc. (TSX: XTRA) (OTCQX: XTRAF) (FRA: 0PL) (Xtract One or the Company), a leading technology-driven threat detection and security solution that prioritizes the patron access experience by leveraging AI, today announced that it will release fiscal 2024 third quarter results after the close of trading on June 6, 2024. Peter Evans, Xtract One CEO and Director, and Karen Hersh, CFO and Corporate Secretary, will host a webcast and conference call at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time the following day, June 7, 2024, to review the three months and nine months ended April 30, 2024. The webcast and presentation will be accessible on the Companys website. The webcast can be accessed here and the telephone number for the conference call is 844-481-3016 (412-317-1881 for international callers). Management will provide an overview of the interim financial results along with managements outlook for the business, followed by a question-and-answer period. About Xtract One Technologies Xtract One Technologies is a leading technology-driven threat detection and security solution leveraging AI to provide seamless and secure patron access control experiences. The Company makes unobtrusive threat detection systems that enable venue building operators to prioritize and deliver improved patron experiences while providing unprecedented safety. Xtract Ones innovative AI-powered Gateway product enables companies to covertly screen for weapons at points of entry without disrupting the flow of traffic. Its AI-based Xtract One Vision allows venue and building operators to identify weapons and other threats inside and outside of facilities, and Xtract One Insights provides valuable intelligence for optimizing operations. For more information, visit www.xtractone.com or connect on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Dublin, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "India eLearning Market - Focused Insights 2024-2029" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Indian e-learning market is expected to reach a value of $28.46 billion by 2029 from $10.24 billion in 2023, growing at a CAGR of 18.57% from 2023-2029. The India e-learning market report contains exclusive data on 54 vendors. The competitive scenario in the Indian e-learning market is dynamic and evolving, characterized by global players and homegrown innovators offering diverse products and services to cater to the increasing demand for online education and training solutions in India. Regarding market share, a few major players are currently dominating the market. Some companies currently dominating the market are BYJU'S, Khan Academy, NIIT, Simplilearn, Udemy, Unacademy, upGrad, and Vedantu. Major players focus on strategic agreements, acquisitions, and collaboration with emerging players to enter the Indian e-learning market and gain access to the vast youth generation seeking e-learning platforms. Government initiatives play a crucial role in driving the growth of the e-learning market in India through several measures aimed at enhancing access to digital education, promoting technological innovation, and addressing infrastructure challenges. The government of India has launched the Digital India campaign, which aims to transform the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledgeable economy. Through this initiative, the government has implemented several programs and policies to promote digital literacy, internet connectivity, and the adoption of digital technologies, all of which are essential for the growth of the e-learning market. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 emphasizes technology integration in education and aims to promote online learning, digital resources, and e-learning platforms. The policy envisions using e-learning tools and digital platforms to improve access to high-quality education, enhance learning outcomes, and foster innovation in teaching and learning practices. The growing need for strong workforce skills is a significant driver of the e-learning market in India. With rapid technological advances and changing job requirements, individuals increasingly demand to acquire new skills or upgrade themselves to remain competitive. In 2022, according to a report by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), India required an additional 103 million skilled workers across 24 key sectors to meet the demands of a growing economy. Despite the growing number of graduates in India, there is a gap between the skills demanded by employers and those of job seekers. According to the India Skills Report 2021, only about 45.9% of Indian graduates are employable, and 46.2% in 2022. This highlights the need for focused skill development initiatives. The need for skilled employees stems from the evolving demands of the job market, which increasingly requires specialized knowledge, technical expertise, and soft skills. INDIA E-LEARNING MARKET INSIGHTS The learning management system delivery mode segment showcases significant growth, with the highest CAGR of 20.57% in the India e-learning market. The growing demand for online education, driven by technological advancements, changing learning preferences, and the need for flexible learning options, fuels the adoption of LMS platforms. Educational institutions, corporations, government agencies, and training providers increasingly use LMS platforms to efficiently deliver and manage online learning programs. The self-paced learning mode segment in the Indian e-learning market will hold the largest market share in 2023. This segment is driven by the flexibility to access educational materials, progress through courses, and complete assignments at one's own pace and convenience. The availability of high-quality educational content on e-learning platforms has also significantly increased access to self-paced learning opportunities. The training function segment dominated the market, with the largest share of the Indian e-learning market. The training function encompasses various methodologies and approaches to deliver training content to learners. E-learning platforms provide individuals across India access to high-quality educational and training content. This accessibility is particularly beneficial in a country as geographically diverse as India, thus helping in segmental growth. The corporate end-user segment is growing significantly, with the fastest-growing CAGR of 20.38% during the forecast period. The segmental growth is driven by a robust IT and service industry, a large and young workforce, and the country's fast GDP growth. With India's burgeoning IT and service sector and its demographic dividend of a young workforce, there's ample room for expansion in the e-learning segment tailored for corporate users. KEY QUESTIONS ANSWERED How big was the India e-learning market? What is the growth rate of the India e-learning market? What are the drivers of the India e-learning market? Who are the major players in the India e-learning market? Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 94 Forecast Period 2023 - 2029 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $10.24 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2029 $28.46 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 18.5% VENDORS LIST Key Vendors BYJU's Khan Academy NIIT Simplilearn Udemy Unacademy UpGrad Vedantu Other Prominent Vendors Educart Doubtnut Elpis Technology Solutions edX Coursera LinkedIn Learning EDUCBA Excelsoft K12 Techno Services Moodle Paradiso Solutions Physics Wallah Skillzcafe Testbook Adda247 Compunnel Cuemath Educomp Embibe Entri Extramarks K8 School NextEducation Orion Edutech Shezartech Skill-Lync Vidyakul Duolingo Edureka MyCaptain Adobe Anthology Aptara British Council Cengage Learning Cisco D2L GP Strategies Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) IXL Learning McGraw Hill Oracle Pearson Skillsoft Coursify Chegg SEGMENTATION & FORECAST Delivery Mode Packaged Content LMS Others Learning Mode Self-Paced Instructor-Led Function Type Training Testing End-User Corporate Higher Education K-12 Government Vocational For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/lvtk0j About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Attachment Selbyville, Delaware, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Men Skin Care Products Market Size could reach USD 30.5 billion by 2032. The influence of social media and the ongoing development of specialized formulations tailored to men's unique skincare needs will catalyze industry growth over 20232032. Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/6795 Social media platforms serve as powerful channels for disseminating grooming trends and product recommendations, driving consumer interest. Additionally, the introduction of innovative formulations addresses specific concerns like hydration and anti-aging, enhancing product efficacy and appeal to male consumers. Cleansers and facewash to garner acclaim The Men Skin Care Products Market size from the cleansers and facewash segment will expand considerably from 2024 to 2032. As grooming routines become more commonplace among men, the demand for facial cleansing products escalates. Factors such as increased urbanization, rising awareness of skincare, and the need for effective solutions to combat pollution contribute to the segment's growth. Also, the availability of specialized formulations targeting men's skin concerns further drives adoption, solidifying the cleansers and facewash segment's dominance in the market. E-commerce to attain popularity The e-commerce segment will amass a decent men skin care products market share by 2032. As digital shopping platforms continue to surge in popularity, men increasingly turn to online channels for convenience and accessibility. E-commerce offers a wide selection of products, personalized recommendations, and hassle-free shopping experiences, catering perfectly to modern consumer needs. Additionally, the ability to compare prices and read reviews enhances consumer confidence, driving significant gains in online sales of men's skincare products. Asia Pacific to establish a substantial presence Asia Pacific will register a remarkable men skin care products market CAGR from 2023 to 2032, driven by the region's burgeoning population, in line with changing societal norms and increasing disposable incomes. Moreover, cultural influences and a growing awareness of skincare routines among men further propel market progression. Besides, the presence of key industry players and robust distribution networks will solidify Asia Pacific's position as a pivotal contributor to the men skincare products market. Request for Report Customization @ https://www.gminsights.com/roc/6795 Men Skin Care Products Market Players Procter & Gamble, Nivea Men, Unilever, Philips, and Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. are key players in the men skin care products industry. These players are expanding their industry share through targeted strategies. By developing specialized product lines tailored to men's unique skincare needs, they tap into an underserved demographic. Effective marketing campaigns challenge traditional gender norms, encouraging male consumers to prioritize skincare. Furthermore, partnerships with influencers and celebrities help increase brand visibility and credibility among male audiences. Continued research and development efforts to introduce innovative formulations will further strengthen their competitive position in the evolving men skincare products market outlook. Partial Table of Contents (ToC) of the report: Chapter 2 Executive Summary 2.1 Men skin care products market 3600 synopsis, 2018 - 2032 2.2 Business trends 2.2.1 Total Addressable Market (TAM), 2023-2032 2.3 Regional trends 2.4 Product trends 2.5 Customer preference trends 2.6 Age group trends 2.7 Distribution channel trends Chapter 3 Men Skin Care Products Industry Insights 3.1 Impact of COVID-19 3.2 Impact of the Russia-Ukraine war 3.3 Industry ecosystem analysis 3.4 Vendor matrix 3.5 Profit margin analysis 3.6 Technology & innovation landscape 3.7 Patent analysis 3.8 Key news and initiatives 3.8.1 Partnership/Collaboration 3.8.2 Merger/Acquisition 3.8.3 Investment 3.8.4 Product launch & innovation 3.9 Regulatory landscape 3.10 Impact forces 3.10.1 Growth drivers 3.10.1.1 Growing health and wellness consciousness 3.10.1.2 Growing men's grooming trend 3.10.1.3 Rising aging population 3.10.1.4 Increasing demand for natural and sustainable beauty 3.10.2 Industry pitfalls & challenges 3.10.2.1 Product overload and consumer confusion 3.11 Growth potential analysis 3.12 Porters analysis 3.13 PESTEL analysis Browse more skin care industry reports @ https://www.gminsights.com/industry-reports/skin-care/84 About Global Market Insights Global Market Insights Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider, offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy, and biotechnology. Central Mineral Belt contains Michelin, one of North Americas largest uranium deposits Benedict Mountains Property area shares geological characteristics with Michelin Exploration highlights include 3 uranium showings & samples up to 13.8% U3O8 Vancouver, British Columbia, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MegaWatt Lithium and Battery Metals Corp. (CSE:MEGA) (FSE: WR20) (OTCQB: WALRF) (the "Company", "MegaWatt Metals" or MegaWatt) is pleased to report the historical results from past exploration on the Benedict Mountains Uranium Property. On April 1, 2024, MegaWatt announced its agreement to acquire Labrador Mineral Resources Inc. and their Benedict Mountains Uranium Property (the Property). The Property consists of 2 mineral licenses ~200 km (124 mi) NE of Goose Bay, covering an area of approximately 350 hectares (865 acres) at the eastern end of Labrador's Central Mineral Belt, a northeast-trending region 260 x 75 km (162 x 47 mi) that hosts significant uranium resources. Exploration highlights for the Benedict Mountains Uranium Property include 4 uranium showings, grab samples up to 13.8% U3O8, a 1-meter (m) channel sample yielding 7% U3O8, and diamond drill hole intersections that include 5.85 m of .032% U3O8. MegaWatts CEO, Casey Forward, commented: The Benedict Mountains Uranium Property represents a new level of opportunity for us to advance MegaWatts focus on becoming a domestic, clean-energy minerals supplier. Were fortunate to be targeting a major, prospective mineral jurisdiction that contains the Michelin deposit. The Michelin deposit is one of North Americas largest uranium deposits. It contains a total Mineral Resource of 92 million pounds (Mlb) uranium, with 82.2Mlb being in the Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources category.[1] Other significant uranium deposits in the Central Mineral Belt include Moran Lake C Zone, Inda, Nash, Gear, Kitts, and the more recently discovered Jacques Lake, Two Time Zone, Anna Lake, White Bear Lake, and Rainbow deposits.[2] Evidence that the Benedict Mountains Propertys area should represent a prospective environment for uranium mineralization of similar style to that occurring in the Michelin-White Bear Mountain belt includes (1) the presence of pyroclastic felsic volcanics similar to those at the Michelin Deposit (Gower 1981), and (2) uranium values in lake sediments in the >98th percentile for Labrador, which is the same classification as the Michelin/Mustang Lake area (Davenport et al., 1999). In 2006, Monster Copper ran a program of reconnaissance geology/prospecting, lake and stream sediment sampling on the Property, which defined 8 significant multi-element anomalies. In 2007/2008, an airborne radiometric and magnetic survey was completed. Follow-up prospecting, channel sampling, geological mapping and detailed ground radiometric surveys identified 3 uranium showings Priority One, Harbinger, and Powe which were selected for future drill testing. Exploration highlights for each of the showings are below. Priority One showing highlights: Geological mapping and ground radiometric surveying revealed 2 discrete targets approximately 250 m x 75 m and 105 m x 11 m respectively In 2007, 16 grab samples from the zone were analyzed, with results ranging from 0.018% to 0.70% U3O8, with an average of 0.19% U3O8 In 2011, 3 holes were drilled in 1 of the showings target zones with each hole intersecting a subvertical zone of mineralization; the best drill intercept was 5.85 m of 0.032% U3O8 from 13 m to 18.85 m and 1.5 m of 0.044% U3O8 from 97 m to 98.5 m (Mega Uranium Ltd. news release, December 15, 2011) In 2006, Monster Copper identified 2 anomalies to the north and south of the showing; with 1 containing 2 anomalous uranium values (Setterfield, 2007) Harbinger showing highlights: 45 m x 160 m zone of anomalous radioactivity with good qualitative continuity of mineralization In 2007, 18 grab samples assayed from 0.05 to 0.38% U3O8, with an average of 0.17% U3O8 In 2008, sampling returned up to 0.52% U3O8 (Kruse and Tykajlo, 2009) In 2011, 3 holes were drilled with the best result being 7 m of 0.020% U3O8 from 56 m to 63 m (Mega Uranium Ltd. news release, December 15, 2011) Powe showing highlights: Showing is 40 m from a showing discovered in 2006 that yielded up to 0.14% U3O8 Mineralized shear zone is 15-30 cm (6-12 inches) wide 1-m channel sample across the shear zone yielded 7% U3O8 In 2007, a grab sample returned 13.8% U3O8, the highest-grade uranium showing in the area As announced in the Companys news release of May 7, 2024, titled MegaWatt Completes the Acquisition of Labrador Mineral Resources Inc., MegaWatt Metals has acquired Labrador Mineral Resources Inc. and their Benedict Mountains Uranium Property, which consists of 2 mineral licenses covering an area of approximately 350 hectares in Labrador's Central Mineral Belt. The Benedict Mountains Uranium Property represents a new level of opportunity for MegaWatt to benefit from the long-term drivers supporting the uranium sector while advancing the Company's focus on becoming a domestic, clean-energy minerals supplier. Qualified Person Mr. Geoffrey Reed (MAusMM (CP)) (MAIG), Consultant for the Company, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure or Mineral Projects and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release. For Additional Information Investors can learn more about the Company, our team and latest news at https://megawattmetals.com . About MegaWatt Lithium and Battery Metals Corp. MegaWatt is a British Columbia based company involved in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties. MegaWatt has acquired a 100% interest in a company that holds a 100% interest (subject to a 1.5% NSR) in the Benedict Mountains Uranium Property, consisting of 2 mineral licenses covering an area of approximately 350 hectares in the Central Mineral Belt on the east coast of Labrador, Canada, approximately 200 km NE of Goose Bay (see press release dated April 1, 2024). MegaWatt holds a 100% undivided interest (subject to a 1.5% NSR) on all base, rare earth elements and precious metals, in the Cobalt Hill Property, consisting of 8 mineral claims covering an area of approximately 1,727.43 hectares located in the Trail Creek Mining Division in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. Additionally, the Company has acquired a 100% interest in a company that indirectly holds a 100% interest (subject to a 2% NSR) in the Tyr Silver Project (see press release dated October 15, 2020). MegaWatt holds a 100% interest (subject to a 2% NSR) in and to the Route 381 Lithium Property, comprised of 40 mineral claims located in James Bay Territory, north of Matagami in the Province of Quebec, covering 2,126 hectares (see press release dated February 3, 2021), and a 100% interest in 229 additional mineral exploration claims prospective for lithium, also in the James Bay area of Quebec covering an area of 12,116 hectares or 121 square kms. On Behalf of the Board of Directors, MegaWatt Lithium and Battery Metals Corp. Casey Forward, CEO 1055 West Georgia Street, Suite 1500 Vancouver, BC, Canada V7X 1M5 For Further Information Please Contact: Kelvin Lee, Chief Financial Officer kelvin@megawattmetals.com , (236) 521-6500 SOURCES: 1. https://www.paladinenergy.com.au/exploration/michelin-canada/ 2. https://www.findnewfoundlandlabrador.com/files/2017/03/Uranium-in-Labrador-Jan-2012.pdf The CSE does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release includes "forward-looking information" that is subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. These forward-looking statements or information may relate to the Companys business plans, the exploration plans of the Company and the timing thereof, and other factors or information. Such statements represent the Companys current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Greenridge Exploration Inc. (Greenridge or the Company) (CSE: GXP | FRA: HW3), is pleased to provide a regional review of its Nut Lake Project (Nut Lake Property or the Project) located in the Thelon Basin, Nunavut Territory. Highlights: Geologically, the Project is bounded by two basins marking an unconformity that has garnered global attention for uranium exploration (please see Figure 2). The Nut Lake Property has the potential to host unconformity vein and breccia type uranium bearing systems. The most notable concentrations of this deposit type (better known as Beaverlodge-Type vein uranium deposits - please see Figure 2) is situated in the Athabasca basin in northern Saskatchewan and are pegged as being one of the most important sources of uranium in Canada producing ~62.8 M lbs of uranium at ~0.20% U 3 O 8 . 5 O . The Angilak Deposit (historically known as the Lac 50 Deposit and recently purchased by Atha Energy Corp.) and the Kiggavik Deposit are located ~55km to the south and ~135km to the north respectively of the Nut Lake Property in the Thelon Basin (please see Figure 1). Exploration criteria of the Athabasca Basin can be applied to the Thelon Basin due to their similarities including: Similar geologic age; Similar volcanic rocks and alteration products; Reactivated faulting; Multiple stages of uranium remobilization and deposition; and Basement-hosted alteration assemblages exhibiting gravity lows that serve as useful exploration vectors. Russell Starr, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, commented, The Thelon Basin has many similar geological attributes to the Athabasca Basin but is very underexplored. It has been proven that there are at least two significant uranium deposits in the Thelon Basin that have very similar characteristics to that of the prolific Beaverlodge Uranium District in the Athabasca Basin. Historical data from the Nut Lake Property and academic studies suggest that the Project has the potential to host significant unconformity vein type mineralization that could be the start of building the tonnage of a large uranium system. We look forward to continuing to prepare for an exciting 2024 exploration season at the Nut Lake Property. Figure 1 Nut Lake Property Regional Map Atha Energy Corp. & The Angilak Uranium Deposit (formally known as the Lac 50 Deposit) The Project is located ~55KM north of the recently acquired Angilak Uranium Deposit with a historical resource of 43Mlbs of U3O8 @ 0.69% by Atha Energy Corp. and ~47km south of a major newly staked land position by Atha Energy Corp. This newly acquired land position was staked approximately one week prior to the acquisition of Latitude Uranium Inc. (the previous owner of the Angilak Deposit) for a valuation of ~CAD $57 million (please see Atha Energy Corp. news release dated December 7, 2023 & recent approval of Latitude Uranium acquisition on March 8, 2024). Regarding its geological context, the Angilak Project and the Nut Lake Property area resides within the Western Churchill Province, a vast Archean Craton that underwent structural and metamorphic alterations during the Proterozoic era. Early Proterozoic tectonic movements led to localized collapse and the emergence of rift basins, which were subsequently layered onto the Archean crust. Notably, the Baker Lake Basin, along with the associated Angikuni and Yathkyed sub-basins, formed as a consequence of these tectonic processes. The boundary between these Proterozoic basins and the Archean marks an unconformity that has garnered global attention for uranium exploration, characterized as "unconformity-style uranium" deposits. The most notable concentrations of this deposit type are situated in the Athabasca basin in northern Saskatchewan. These types of uranium deposits are better known as Beaverlodge-Type vein deposits.2 The Beaverlodge Uranium District is a historically significant area for uranium exploration and mining producing ~62.8 M lbs of uranium at ~0.20% U3O85 located in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. It gained prominence during the mid-20th century as one of Canada's major uranium-producing regions. The following are key points about the Beaverlodge Uranium District:2 Location: The Beaverlodge Uranium District is situated in the northern part of Saskatchewan, near the town of Uranium City. It lies within the Precambrian Shield, a geological formation rich in uranium deposits. Discovery and Exploration: Uranium deposits in the Beaverlodge area were discovered in the late 1940s, sparking a rush of exploration and development. The district quickly became one of the most important uranium-producing regions in Canada. Geological Characteristics: The uranium deposits in the Beaverlodge District are primarily hosted within metasedimentary rocks of the Wollaston Group, which is part of the Precambrian Shield. These deposits are often associated with unconformities between different rock formations. Mining Operations: Several mines operated within the Beaverlodge Uranium District during its peak production years, including the Beaverlodge Mine, the Lorado Mine, and the Gunnar Mine. These mines produced significant quantities of uranium to support Canada's nuclear energy program and the global demand for uranium during the Cold War era. Legacy: While active mining operations in the Beaverlodge Uranium District have largely ceased, the area remains significant historically and geologically. It serves as a reminder of Canada's role in uranium production and its contribution to nuclear energy globally. Overall, the Beaverlodge Uranium District has been explored in much more detail than the Thelon Basin and has many similarities indicating that the Thelon Basin is a very prolific area to be exploring for Uranium bearing systems. The Kiggavik Deposit The Nut Lake Property is located just ~135KM south of the Kiggavik Uranium Deposit which is operated by Orano and has a historical resource of 133Mlbs of U3O8 @ 0.46%4. The geology of the Kiggavik Deposits have been under study since the 1970s, with drilling and ore sampling activities since 2007 largely confirming previous interpretations regarding grade distribution and lithology. The Main Zone, Centre Zone, and East Zone deposits are positioned between two regional ancient fault zones: the Thelon fault to the north and the Sissons fault to the south. Basement host rocks primarily consist of metasediments, with lesser amounts of altered granite and intrusive rocks. Uranium mineralization at Kiggavik occurs predominantly in altered metasedimentary rocks, such as meta-arkose, metapelites, and sericite schist, and to a lesser extent in altered granite and intrusive rocks. Notably, mineralization is absent in the Mackenzie diabase that intersects the Kiggavik property. Mineralization is generally finely disseminated along foliation planes or in veinlets parallel to the foliation, with occurrences in fracture infills and coatings along cross-cutting structures similar to what has been historically defined at the Nut Lake Property. The primary uranium minerals include pitchblende and coffinite, while secondary uranium minerals are rare. Uranothane, a fine-grained mineral, is present in weathered surface rocks and occasionally at greater depths. Pitchblende and coffinite are commonly associated with marcasite and pyrite, with other sulphides or accessory metals in minor amounts, indicating a predominantly single elemental composition within the Kiggavik ore zones. Uranium mineralization is accompanied by an intensive alteration halo characterized by desilification and the conversion of feldspar and mica to clay minerals, primarily illite and sericite, which is typical of unconformity type deposits.4 Exploration Criteria of the Athabasca Basin can likely be applied to the Thelon Basin Exploration criteria utilized in the Athabasca Basin, such as hydrothermal alteration, reactivated faults, and basement geology, are applicable to the lesser-explored Thelon Basin, supporting the Project's guiding hypothesis. Notable similarities include:3 Both basins' basement terranes feature widespread intrusive and extrusive magmatic events occurring at 2.60, 1.83, and 1.75 billion years ago, with similar volcanic rocks and alteration products, particularly in the latter two events. Complex sequences of arkosic lithic sandstone filled each basin post-1.7 billion years ago, originating from uranium-rich terranes and capped by stromatolitic dolostone. Pervasive diagenetic events have altered strata in both basins, resulting in quartz becoming the dominant framework mineral, with clay as the matrix. Intersecting-reactivated fault systems produce local geochemical anomalies and silicified zones. Geophysically translucent strata in both basins show only faint representation of geochemical anomalies, such as U-Th-K, in gamma ray data. Deposits included both subvertical fractal riedel-shear arrays with overall dextral transextensional indicators and low-angle compressional to extensional structures. Alteration of monazite preferentially released uranium into peak diagenetic saline fluids, leaving behind thorium-bearing aluminium sulfate phosphate (APS) minerals. Uranium-bearing fluorapatite locally cemented the lower sequences in each basin, occurring simultaneously with or slightly after the APS minerals, and clearly after regional diagenetic illite. Multiple stages of uranium mineralization and remobilization commenced approximately 100 million years after the fluorapatite events, persisting through the Phanerozoic era. Basement-hosted alteration assemblages exhibit gravity lows and serve as detailed exploration vectors. Figure 2- Map showing location of Thelon Basin with respect to Athabasca Basin and the Beaverlodge Uranium district. Regional Geology at the Nut Lake Property Regionally, the Project lies along the eastern edge of the northeasterly trending wedge of Paleohelikian or Late Aphebian Dubawnt Group rocks and the contact with Archean basement gneisses. These units are in fault contact along a northerly trending fault zone. Dubawnt Group rocks within the area are basal sedimentary rocks of the South Channel Formation, composed of white quartzites and pink to grey arkose and arkosic rocks. The sedimentary sequences of the lower Dubawnt Group are overlain by volcanic rocks of the Christopher Island Formation, including trachytic lithic and crystal tuffs and mafic to felsic trachyte flows. Archean gneisses are generally granitic to granodioritic in composition, with thin inter-layered bands of paragneiss or amphibolite. Syenites within the area are predominantly red, aphanitic, microsyenite, with some hornblende syenite locally. Microsyenite dikes intrude all other rock types along a northerly trend, exhibiting varying degrees of brecciation, especially near fault zones. These rocks contain variable amounts of magnetite, chlorite, disseminated hematite, and pyrite, with accessory zircon noted. The microsyenites are the most radioactive rocks in the area, containing an average of 100 ppm U, with uranium believed to be bound up in refractory minerals. Figure 3 Localized Nut Lake Property Geology Map. Source GSC Open File 4236. Abbreviations: PDs Proterozoic Dubawnt Sediments; Agn / Ar-gn Archean granitic rocks; Pt-g Undivided Granites About The Nut Lake Property The Project is located approximately 55km north of the Angulak Uranium Deposit or 180Km southwest of Baker Lake, Nunavut in the Yathkyed Basin (a sub-basin of the prolific Thelon Basin) in Nunavut Territory, Canada. The Project consists of three contiguous mineral licences encompassing a total land area of approximately 4,036 hectares (~40km). In 1979, Pan Ocean Oil Ltd. performed an exploration program consisting of ground geophysics, geological mapping, prospecting and Winkie drilling as follow up to previous sampling with elevated uranium in dyke swarms, fractures and contacts between syenites and trachytes. The geology of the Project area consists of basal sedimentary rocks of the South Channel Formation, composed of white quartzites and pink to grey arkose and arkosic rocks. The sedimentary sequences of the lower Dubawnt Group are unconformably or disconformably overlain by volcanic rocks of the Christopher Island Formation. The Project hosts high grade vein hosted grab samples of up to 4.36% U 3 O 8 , 53.16 oz/t Ag, 1.15% Pb and 7.0% Ni. During the 1979 field season, geological mapping at a scale of 1:1,000 was completed on a major portion of the Project. This was concurrent with prospecting on, and in the immediate area of the Project. Results from prospecting were the discovery of two (41 m wide) syenite dikes and a frost heaved area of felsic gneiss with up to 3,000 cps on fracture surfaces. Two significant Uranium bearing showings were discovered, the Lake Showing and the Heartbreak Showing. The most noteworthy was the Heartbreak showing which revealed 3.0 and 3.5 samples across a fracture that assayed 2.11% U 3 O 8 and 4.36% U 3 O 8 respectively. The results were followed up with a radon gal survey, a VLF-EM survey and an overburden sampling program. The radon survey results showed that the response is irregular with several good highs and the VLF-EM survey showed a series of northwesterly trending anomalies. It was concluded that further drilling of the Lake Showing is recommended. The Project and surrounding proximal area have seen approximately 805ft of Winkie Drilling and 6920ft of diamond drilling completed on it. Multiple holes intersected significant uranium mineralization, with the most noteworthy being at the Tundra Showing Hole Winkie AX W-24 intersected 9ft of 0.69% U 3 O 8 including 4.90% U 3 O 8 over 1ft from 8ft depth. Additional noteworthy holes were hole P049 which returned approximately 0.20% U3O8 over a 1ft interval and hole 068 which was drilled to intersect fracture mineralization and successfully encountered approximately 0.59% over 1ft. (Pan Ocean Oil Ltd., 1979 Assessment Report #81075). The combination of historically defined anomalies and modern exploration techniques provide prime ingredients for the potential of discovering a high-grade uranium system within the Project area. The Nut Lake Property has the potential to host unconformity vein and breccia type, sygenentic and sandstone-hosted phosphatic type mineralization. National Instrument 43-101 Disclosure Nicholas Rodway, P. Geo, (NAPEG Licence # L5576) is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Rodway has reviewed and approved the technical content in this release. References 1 Source: 1978 Assessment report (number 81075) by Pan Ocean Oil Ltd 2 Source: Reported by ValOre Metals Corp. in a Technical Report entitled Technical Report and Resource Update For The Angilak Property, Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, Canada, prepared by Michael Dufresne, M.Sc., P.Geo. of APEX Geosciences, Robert Sim, B.Sc., P.Geo. of SIM Geological Inc. and Bruce Davis, Ph.D., FAusIMM of BD Resource Consulting Inc., dated March 1, 2013. Note: The historical mineral resource estimate was calculated in accordance with NI 43-101 and CIM standards at the time of publication and predates the current CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (May, 2014) and CIM Estimation of Mineral Resources & Mineral Reserves Best Practices Guidelines (November, 2019). 3 Source: Jefferson, C.W., Pehrsson, S.J., Tschirhart, V., Peterson, T.D., Chorlton, L.B., Bethune, K.M., White, J.C., Davis, W.J., McNicoll, V.J., Paulen, R.C., and Rayner, N., 2023. Geology and metallogeny of the northeast Thelon Basin region, Nunavut, and comparison with the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan; in Canadas northern shield: new perspectives from the Geo-mapping for Energy and Minerals program, (ed.) S. Pehrsson, N. Wodicka, N. Rogers, and J.A. Percival; Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 612, p. xxxx. https://doi.org/10.4095/xxxxxx 4 Source: Areva Resources, NIRB File No. 09MN003,. (December 2011) Kiggavik Project Environmental Impact Statement Tier 2 Volume 2 Project Description and Assessment Basis. 5 Source: S. Dieng, K. Kyser, and L. Godin. Genesis of Multifarious Uranium Mineralization in the Beaverlodge Area, Northern Saskatchewan, Canada., Department of Geological Sciences & Geological Engineering, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada., 2015 Society of Economic Geologists, Inc. Economic Geology, v. 110, pp. 209240. About Greenridge Exploration Inc. Greenridge Exploration Inc. (CSE: GXP | FRA: HW3) is a mineral exploration company dedicated to creating shareholder value through the acquisition, exploration, and development of critical mineral projects in North America. The Company is led by an experienced management team and board of directors with significant expertise in capital raising and advancing large mining projects. On Behalf of the Board of Directors Russell Starr Chief Executive Officer, Director Telephone: +1 (778) 897-3388 Email: info@greenridge-exploration.com Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance, including statements regarding the project acquisition bringing a low-risk opportunity, the Company, building a strong battery metals portfolio with low-risk opportunities that positively impact the Company and its shareholders and the Company providing an initial work plan are "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the Project and its mineralization potential; the Companys objectives, goals, or future plans with respect to the Project; further exploration work on the Project in the future. These forward-looking statements reflect the expectations or beliefs of management of the Company based on information currently available to it. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those detailed from time to time in filings made by the Company with securities regulatory authorities, which may cause actual outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Photos accompanying this announcement are available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f238508a-80e9-4d6d-95c6-cb5a8d8fa65a https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/28b0b119-6232-4110-a556-5f4fb8bf8775 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/74e1d484-2e25-471d-afd5-4c48ad7de1cd By SA Commercial Prop News Artist impression of Jozini Mall in North-Eastern KwaZulu-Natal Jozini, in North-Eastern KwaZulu-Natal, will enjoy its first large one-stop retail centre when the 18,100sqm Jozini Mall opens in April 2013. The new mall, providing an investment of R140 million, is owned and developed by Greater Atlantic Properties (Pty) Ltd. The mall corrects a large undersupply of retail in this community estimated at over 22,000sqm which is severely restricted in meeting its daily shopping needs within its own town. Jozini Mall will provide comprehensive, convenient shopping from 45 shops, supported by over 400 parking bays, 36 taxi bays and eight bus bays. Gavin Tagg of Retail Network Services, which is crafting the retail dynamics for this project, explains that growth in Jozini CBD is restricted by the local topography. The CBD has not been able to expand with Jozinis growing population due to space limits, says Tagg. Jozini is a small town on the main route to Mozambique. It is synonymous with Lake Jozini, formerly the Pongolapoort Dam. This small business centre provides a gateway into Maputaland. Tagg notes the sheer number of shoppers in Jozini will drive spend at the mall. There are 42,000 households in the primary and secondary catchment area. This includes nearly 106,000 people living in the primary catchment area and some 134,000 people staying in the secondary market zone. Research undertaken by Fernridge Consulting rates the site as excellent for retail development. Its location and visibility contribute strongly to this rating. It is on the main road to the Jozini CBD, three kilometres from the town centre, next to a housing development in one of the most densely populated areas of the region. Residents wishing to shop in the CBD literally face an uphill battle, many of them having to walk up the long, steep incline until they reach the town, at the top of a hill. And, on, when they get to town, there is very little choice with the limited national retail offering in Jozini CBD. This will change with the new Jozini Mall. It will provide the community with a 3,000sqm Shoprite, as well as a relevant mix of retailers including hardware, fashion, furniture and fast food. While accessing this market represents an excellent trading opportunity for retailers, local consumers will also enjoy big benefits from Jozini Mall, reports Tagg. Retail Network Services, which is doing the leasing, is full-service specialist retail leasing company. Retail Network Services has an excellence record of successes to its name, including Pan Africa Shopping Centre in Alexandra, Edendale Mall in Pietermaritzburg, Hemingways Mall in East London, Tsakane Mall in Springs and Jabulani Mall in Soweto to its name. The Princeton Project features characteristics of alkalic porphyries, including, but not limited to: A large cluster (property-wide), or multiple small clusters (i.e., Whipsaw Creek, Fourteen Mile Creek Lamont Ridge) of small diorite to gabbro porphyry intrusive bodies; Areally small intrusive exposures; Broadly coeval Nicola Group host rocks; Associated structural complexity; Accompanying selective to pervasive porphyry-style (although low temperature) alteration; and Cu-Au Ag, with limited accompanying Mo mineralization. Work in the Ridgeway Cadia area, together with comparisons to alkalic deposits in BC has reinforced the interpreted significance of the iron carbonate silica alteration recognized in Fourteen and Fifteen Mile creeks. The close spatial association of elevated to highly anomalous Cu - Au - Ag - Ca - K with the high intensity Condor Chargeability anomaly may indicate proximity to underlying, potentially high-grade copper mineralized porphyry intrusion. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- COLLECTIVE METALS INC. (CSE: COMT | OTC: CLLMF | FSE: TO1) (the Company or Collective) is pleased to provide a review of exploration and deposit models pertinent to its flagship Princeton Project (the Project), in south-central British Columbia. The Property hosts several alkalic Cu-Au porphyry targets associated with Triassic diorite intrusions analogous to those associated with the currently producing Copper Mountain Mine, which lies approximately 10 km to the east. Two porphyry belts have been identified in British Columbia - one hosted within the Quesnellia terrane (QN) and a second within the Stikinia terrane (ST). Calc-alkaline Cu-Mo porphyry deposits (i.e. Highland Valley) tend to occur predominantly in the Stikinia terrane. In contrast, a comparatively large number of alkalic porphyry deposits are documented within Quesnellia, comprising both Silica Saturated and Silica Undersaturated. Chris Huggins, Chief Executive Officer of Collective, commented, Further work on the wealth of data available for the Project, together with comparison to British Columbia and international alkalic porphyry analogues, continues to indicate significant potential for discovery. We anticipate significant results from several initiatives to advance exploration on several secondary targets, such as the Fourteen Mile and Lamont Ridge areas from proposed 3D Induced Polarization surveys in 2024, as well as potential drilling of the primary Trojan-Condor target area. Highlights There are several significant interpretations arising from this technical summary of characteristic features of alkalic porphyry deposits in Australia, the analogues in British Columbia and the interpreted alkalic epithermal environment (Wilson 2021), as follows: Work in the Ridgeway Cadia area, together with comparisons to alkalic deposits in British Columbia has reinforced the interpreted significance of the iron carbonate silica alteration recognized in Fourteen and Fifteen Mile creeks (Note: iron carbonates include dolomite and ankerite). The spatial association of this alteration with a small exposure of diorite is interpreted to indicate the diorite is the causative source of the alteration and may be indicative of alkalic epithermal-style alteration in British Columbia. By comparison with Ridgeway, a large envelope of low-grade pyrite mineralization may be another indication of alkalic epithermal-style alteration, despite there being little or no accompanying copper mineralization. Reddening, or hematite (i.e., iron) alteration, in the Inner Propylitic Alteration Zone, may indicate proximity (i.e., within 200 meters vertically) to underlying, potentially ore grade copper mineralization. indicate proximity (i.e., within 200 meters vertically) to underlying, potentially ore grade copper mineralization. Zones of pervasive albite - chlorite - pyrite (i.e., sodic) alteration may indicate proximity (i.e., within 500 meters vertically and/or laterally) to potentially ore grade copper mineralization. indicate proximity (i.e., within 500 meters vertically and/or laterally) to potentially ore grade copper mineralization. Rare to minor, narrow copper-bearing veinlets might escape the core, and extend for several hundred meters beyond, the mineralized porphyry. To further evaluate several interpreted porphyry occurrences, the Company has submitted a Notice of Work permit application necessary to conduct multiple IP surveys, comprising up to 30 line km, on targets located in the Lamont Ridge Fourteen Mile Creek area. The most advanced target on the Property, the Trojan-Condor Corridor, is defined by a large (approximately 1.5 x 3.3 km), strong (>20 mV/V) chargeability anomaly along the corridor (please see News Release dated August 10, 2023). Kodiak Copper has used 3D IP to generate successful drill targets at their MPD Property 20 km to the northeast of the Princeton Property4. Geological Description Figure 1 Map showing two porphyry belts identified in British Columbia; one hosted within the Quesnellia terrane (QN) and a second within the Stikinia terrane (ST). (From Bissig and Cooke 2014). The following has been modified slightly from Lang et al. (1995)1: The alkaline (or alkalic) suite of porphyry deposits is represented by a comparatively small subgroup (of porphyry deposits) temporally restricted to the Early Mesozoic Quesnel and Stikine terranes in British Columbia, distinguished by: An association with alkalic igneous rocks; A metal assemblage of Cu-Au-Ag with no significant Mo; and Distinctive alteration, including assemblages characterized by Na- and Ca- bearing minerals, accompanied by magnetite-rich potassic alteration and typical propylitic alteration, with a near-absence of sericitic, argillic and advanced argillic assemblages. The Copper Mountain/Ingerbelle mining camp has been identified as a silica saturated, magmatic hydrothermal complex, characterized by: Alkalic igneous rocks that typically either lack, or have very minor, normative quartz or feldspathoid, and only rarely contain very minor modal quartz (usually restricted to late-stage intrusions); Diorite/gabbro to monzonite compositions only rarely accompanied by minor pyroxenite and syenite; Equigranular to porphyritic igneous textures; and Associated volcanic rocks of the Nicola Groups that are augite-phyric and mafic to intermediate in composition. The Project features characteristic of alkalic porphyries, including, but not limited to: A large cluster (property-wide), or multiple small clusters (i.e., Whipsaw Creek, Fourteen Mile Creek Lamont Ridge) of small diorite to gabbro porphyry intrusive bodies; Areally small intrusive exposures; Broadly coeval Nicola Group host rocks; Associated structural complexity; Accompanying selective to pervasive porphyry-style (although low temperature) alteration; and Cu-Au Ag, with limited accompanying Mo mineralization. Arguably, the most pertinent difference between the Project (and other alkalic-type exploration projects) with respect to alkalic deposits identified in British Columbia (i.e., Hudbay Minerals Copper Mountain, the Iron Mask Batholith, Mount Milligan, Mount Polley, etc.) is the weak development, or apparent lack, of potassic to calc-potassic alteration so prevalent in alkalic porphyry deposits. In New South Wales, the Cadia and Cadia East deposit are buried under a thin veneer of cover (please see Figure 2), while the top of sulphide mineralization at the Ridgeway deposit to the west is located approximately 350 m below surface and is, therefore, a blind intrusion. Recent work completed on alkalic deposits identified in British Columbia, as well as Australia (Cadia / Ridgeway), serves as a guide to exploration for analogues in British Columbia, including the Project. The following is summarized from Wilson (2021)3: The epithermal zone associated with the Ridgeway deposit is characterized by a relatively large envelope of pyrite as the only sulphide, between 1-3% and, locally, higher (Wilson 2021). In addition to the general absence of copper mineralization, there is no strong development accompanying phyllic or quartz sericite pyrite alteration (characteristic of calc-alkaline porphyry systems). The propylitic alteration system outboard of the potassic core of the porphyry system has been sub-divided into Inner and Outer Propylitic zones, as follows: Inner Propylitic - (chlorite hematite magnetite actinolite) hematite with minor preserved magnetite, distinct reddening - (chlorite hematite magnetite actinolite) Outer Propylitic - (chlorite epidote calcite -albite pyrite) Figure 2 - West East Geological Cross Section (looking North) of Ridgeway Cadia deposit area. Note: the entire section is underlain by the igneous complex (Gleeson et al 2020). Figure 3 Hypothetical cross section through an alkalic porphyry to the overlying epithermal zone. Interpreted average level of erosion in identified British Columbia alkalic deposits indicated by thick dashed line. (From Wilson 2021). Another feature pertinent to the Project (and alkalic exploration projects in general) is that phyllic alteration (sericite illite) is present, however it is structurally controlled (as veins and veinlets) rather than present as a huge blanket of alteration. To put this in context for the Project: at surface at the Kodiak Property, the AXE MINFILE occurrence has a cap of propylitic alteration with minor sericite approximately 150 m above porphyry apices 1 . . At the Katie Property, in the upper zones and in shallow drilling, there is massive albite - pyrite alteration with minor amounts of sericite above the apex of the causative intrusion, associated with albite, minor sericite and shallow potassic alteration 1 . . At Mount Milligan, a dolomite ankerite sericite alkali feldspar albite alteration cap is partially preserved in the 66 Zone, interpreted as a remnant of a carbonate phyllic overprint1. Note: carbonate is much more common in British Columbia systems than in Australian systems. One interpretation forwarded to explain this missing feature in British Columbia is the observation that BC deposits commonly have a pervasive illite-calcite-pyrite overprint, possibly reflecting higher CO 2 fluid content relative to LFB (Lochlan Fold Belt) systems and the interpretation that Alkalic epithermal systems, having illite and carbonate adularia-type alteration, are rooted in the inner propylitic alteration zone, however, other alkalic porphyry examples in BC have been eroded to the level of the causative porphyry intrusion (please see Figure 3). In addition, the close spatial association of elevated to highly anomalous Cu Au - Ag - Ca (as potential secondary carbonate) and K with the high intensity Condor Chargeability anomaly may indicate proximity to underlying, potentially high-grade copper mineralization associated with a subsurface (i.e., blind) porphyry intrusion. Qualified Person This news release has been reviewed and approved by Rick Walker, P. Geo., who is acting as the Companys Qualified Person for the Project, in accordance with regulations under NI 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. The information disclosed is not necessarily indicative of mineralization on the Project. References 1 - Lang, J. Stanley, C, Thompson, J. and Dunne, K.P.E. 1995. Na-K-Ca magmatic-hydrothermal alteration in alkalic porphyry Cu Au deposits, British Columbia. Mineralogical Association of Canada Short Course # 23, pp.339-366. 2 - Gleeson, K., Newcombe, G, Griffin, P and Stephenson, P. 2020. Cadia Operations, New South Wales, Australia - NI 43-101 Technical Report, prepared for Newcrest Mining Limited, Dated June 30, 2020, 289 p 3 - Wilson, A. 2021. Tops of alkalic Au-Cu porphyry systems: Exploration challenge & opportunity Alan Wilson Ore Deposits Hub 057, YouTube, October 21, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPefg5Ruk6w 4 - Saleken, L.W., 2013. Compilation Assessment Report on the Tulameen Project Mineral Property, Similkameen Mining Division, BC Geological Survey Assessment Report 33626a. About Collective Metals: Collective Metals Inc. (CSE: COMT | OTC: CLLMF | FSE: TO1) is a resource exploration company specializing in precious metals exploration in North America. The Companys flagship property is the Princeton Project, located in south-central British Columbia, Canada, approximately 10 km west of the currently producing Copper Mountain Mine. The Princeton Project consists of 29 mineral tenures totaling approximately 28,560 ha (70,570 acres) in a well-documented and prolific copper-gold porphyry belt and is easily accessible by road, located immediately west of Highway 3. The Companys Landings Lake Lithium Project is located in northwestern Ontario where numerous lithium deposits have been delineated to host significant reserves of Li 2 O. The Landings Lake Lithium Project is located 53 km east of Ear Falls, Ontario and covers 3,146 hectares. The Whitemud Project, with several identified pegmatite outcrops, neighbours the Landings Lake Project and consists of 381 single cell mining claims totaling 7,775 hectares. Social Media ON BEHALF OF COLLECTIVE METALS INC. Christopher Huggins Chief Executive Officer T: 604-968-4844 E: chris@collectivemetalsinc.com Forward Looking Information Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking statements, including with respect to future plans, and other matters. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such information can generally be identified by the use of forwarding-looking wording such as "may", "expect", "estimate", "anticipate", "intend", "believe" and "continue" or the negative thereof or similar variations. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, including but not limited to, business, economic and capital market conditions, the ability to manage operating expenses, and dependence on key personnel. Forward looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements respecting: statements with respect to the Project and its mineralization potential; the Companys objectives, goals, or future plans with respect to the Project; further exploration work on the Project in the future. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future, anticipated costs, and the ability to achieve goals. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, the continued availability of capital and financing, litigation, failure of counterparties to perform their contractual obligations, loss of key employees and consultants, and general economic, market or business conditions. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed this press release and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. Photos accompanying this announcement are available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ae6080e9-8f42-467f-81ff-3d7f2e0e6223 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8477da0e-820c-47f4-8e62-b79a577e2a05 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bb5f3e38-b654-4099-b286-d8733eccc56d Vernon, British Columbia, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Western Financial Group will kick off the grand opening of a new Vernon branch with the companys annual 5km walk to raise funds for local charities. NONA Child Development Centre will be the recipient of funds raised through the initiative. With care at the heart of Westerns business, the company is pleased to open its new, accessible and redesigned branch in Vernon on May 23. We want to be where our customers are and offer our services in a way thats accessible to everyone, so our customers can get in touch with us in person, over the phone or online, said Western Financial Group President and CEO, Kenny Nicholls. Healthy teams are also important to us, so integrating a walk while giving back to our local communities seemed to be an obvious way to celebrate Vernons grand opening. Buying insurance should be easy, and our customers should feel secure that we have their backs in the event that something should go wrong. Staff across the country will take part in a 5km walk to raise funds for issues that matter most to them. Western will donate $50 for each team member who participates in the walk. Since 2001, Western Financial Group Community Foundation has given back $9 million in support of local communities across Canada. Everyone who lives in the North Okanagan area knows NONA and the great services they provide the communitys children, so it made perfect sense for us to choose this worthy organization for our 2024 walk in Vernon, said Kenny. The walk will take place at Western Financial Group Vernon from 11:00am to 11:30am. The branch grand opening will start at 12:00pm with a BBQ fundraiser, for attendees and community members (while supplies last). The new branch has an updated look and feel, with a more open, accessible layout to better serve our customers. The branch hours are 8:30am to 5:00pm, Monday through Friday and now open Saturdays from 9:00am to 5:00pm. Grand opening details (photo opp): DATE: May 23, 2024 TIME: 12:00 2:00 WHERE: 905-4400 32 Street Vernon BC V1T9H2 WHO: Kenny Nicholls, Western Financial Group President and CEO Grant Ostir, Chief Business Development Officer Darren Sinclair, VP, Sales Helen Armstrong, Executive Director, NONA Councillor Fehr City of Vernon WHAT: Vernon Government Officials, members of Western Financial Leadership Team and NONA leadership will engage in a celebration of Westerns latest branch opening after a charitable walk to raise money for NONA. For more information about NONA, visit https://nona-cdc.com/. Western Financial Group Inc. Headquartered in High River, Alberta, Western Financial Group is a diversified insurance services company focused on creating security and peace of mind and has provided over one million Canadians with the proper protection for over 100 years. Western is committed to community service, customer service, innovation, growth, and people while providing personal and business insurance through our engaged team of over 2,000 people in over 200 locations, affiliates, and various connected channels. Since the very beginning, supporting our local communities has guided everything we do - its who we are. In 2001, the Western Financial Group Communities Foundation (our non-profit charity) was created as a way for our team members to give back and positively impact the people and pride in the places where we live, work and play to date we have invested over $9 million back into our communities. Western Financial Group is a subsidiary of Trimont Financial Ltd., a subsidiary of The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company. Western Financial Group Communities Foundation Founded in 2001, the Western Financial Group Communities Foundation serves to give back to the communities where Western employees live and work and play, and foster employee pride and engagement. The Foundation's core donation programs include community Infrastructure Grants, the Western Inspirational Awards for graduating high school students, and the Matching Grants Program. Since its inception, the Western Communities Foundation has given back more than $9 million to support local communities. Company enters $42 billion marketplace with acquisition of established and successful infusion pharmacy. SAN DIEGO, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dalrada Financial Corporation (OTCQB: DFCO, Dalrada, the Company), announced today that its wholly-owned healthcare subsidiary, Genefic, Inc. (Genefic), had acquired IV Services, LLC, a recognized pharmaceutical business and infusion management leader. The acquisition of IV Services expands Genefics existing pharmacy sales and operational footprint. Furthermore, the acquisition will also increase Genefics top line revenue through new product offerings with its established patient base and payor contracts with major insurance carriers which strengthens its current specialty pharmacy business. Acquiring an infusion specialist like IV Services bolsters Genefics offerings and allows us to further our expansion in this unique market, delivering immediate and long-term value to our pharmaceutical business, said Dalrada CEO, Brian Bonar. And, Im pleased to report that acquiring these companies is non-dilutive to Dalrada shareholders, he added. With the global infusion pharmacy management market currently worth approximately $42 billion and predicted to grow to nearly $70 billion by 2030, the acquisition presents Genefic with the opportunity to continue developing its patient care capabilities through IV Services expansive Louisiana-based facility and enter a well-established, rapidly-rising business segment. Genefic CEO, Dan Riley, echoed Bonars sentiments, adding, Were excited about what this acquisition will bring to Genefic. This is the first of multiple opportunities within the infusion pharmacy space that will provide us with a wider reach than ever before, while driving significant revenue. With IV Services full pharmacy licenses in Louisiana and Mississippi, Genefic adds more regional U.S. states to its pharmaceutical fold, complementing its existing licenses and operational presence in a growing roster of states, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and Texas. About Dalrada Corporation Dalrada Financial Corporation (OTCQB: DFCO) is a multi-national holding company that develops, manufactures, and sells a robust suite of products and services in the Clean Energy and Health Care sectors. Dalradas core segments include Dalrada Climate Technology, which offers cutting-edge heat pump technology for industrial and residential applications, and Genefic Specialty Pharmacy, which provides end-to-end prescription services as well as patient advocacy and support. Dalrada Financial Corporation consistently drives innovation that delivers maximum impact, bringing increased value to its shareholders. For more information, please visit www.dalrada.com, and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. About Genefic A wholly-owned subsidiary of Dalrada Financial Corporation, Genefic proudly delivers frontline health products and services through redesigned systems and reimagined patient care. Genefics unique pharmacy solution, Genefic Specialty Pharmacy, offers more than 30 years of dedicated expertise providing patient advocacy through end-to-end prescription services, medical education, and patient advocacy and support. Forward-Looking Statements Statements contained in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, particularly statements relating to cost reductions and the anticipated pre-tax savings from the cost reduction program, restructuring costs, footprint rationalization, simplifying and streamlining our operations, reducing complexity, enhancing the speed of decision-making, leveraging our sourcing capabilities and the timing of implementation and completion of the cost reduction program, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of management based on information available to us at the time such statements are made. These statements, which are generally identifiable by the use of the words will, believe, expect, intend, anticipate, estimate, forecast, project, plan, and similar expressions, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, are made as of the date hereof, and we undertake no duty or obligation to update them. Forward-looking statements are subject to the occurrence of many events outside the Companys control and actual results and the timing of events may differ materially from those suggested or implied by such forward-looking statements due to numerous factors that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Factors that may impact the Company's success are more fully disclosed in the Company's most recent public filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including its annual report on Form 10-K. Media contact: Isabella Monteparte (imonteparte@genefic.com) Mansfield, TX, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dr. Moustafa Youssef , a distinguished gastroenterologist based in Mansfield, Texas, has penned a compelling article shedding light on the groundbreaking advancements in the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) through Transoral Incisionless Fundoplication (TIF). Titled "Enhancing Digestive Health: A Breakthrough in Gastroenterology with Transoral Incisionless Fundoplication," Dr. Youssef's article delves into the transformative impact of TIF on patient outcomes and quality of life. In his article, Dr. Youssef emphasizes the revolutionary nature of TIF in changing the treatment landscape for acid reflux. He underscores the minimally invasive nature of the procedure, which offers patients a safer and more efficient alternative to traditional surgical interventions. By utilizing a specialized device inserted through the mouth, TIF reconstructs the natural barrier between the stomach and esophagus, providing relief from debilitating symptoms such as heartburn and regurgitation. Dr. Youssef highlights the key advantages of TIF, including shorter procedure times, reduced risk of complications, and faster recovery for patients compared to traditional surgery. Furthermore, TIF offers a more anatomically precise solution to GERD by reinforcing the natural valve mechanism without altering the anatomy of the digestive tract, thus preserving normal physiological function and reducing the risk of long-term side effects. Drawing from his extensive experience performing TIF procedures, Dr. Youssef shares compelling anecdotes of patients experiencing significant improvements in their symptoms and overall quality of life post-procedure. He emphasizes the transformative impact of TIF on patients who may have been hesitant to undergo traditional surgical procedures, offering them a path to lasting relief and enhanced well-being. Dr. Moustafa Youssef asserts that Transoral Incisionless Fundoplication represents a major advancement in the field of gastroenterology, offering a safe, effective, and minimally invasive solution for the treatment of GERD. He expresses confidence in the continued evolution and widespread adoption of TIF, underscoring its pivotal role in improving digestive health and enhancing patient outcomes worldwide. For more information you can read Dr. Moustafa Youssef's full article . To interview Dr. Youssef, contact: Media Contact: Joe E Carmean 410-845-0715 joe@punchingnungroup.com About GI Alliance: GI Alliance is the leading, physician-led, majority physician owned network for gastrointestinal care in the US. GI Alliance supports practice management for over 800 independent gastroenterologists, delivering the highest quality GI care for patients in 400 practice locations across Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah and Washington. GI Alliance partners with the nations premier GI physician practices supporting operational management, ancillary service development, and patient engagement, enabling practices to focus on providing the highest quality patient care while maintaining clinical autonomy. Investing in clinical research, care management strategies and sharing knowledge across the network, GI Alliance streamlines patient care, equipping physicians with cutting edge skills and treatment protocols that improve the patient experience and ensure the best possible patient outcomes. Attachment SAO PAULO, Brazil, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute will host its first Latin American FII PRIORITY Summit in Rio de Janeiro from 11 to 13 June 2024 at the Copacabana Palace. Over three days, more than 150 notable speakers will participate in 44 sessions. Held under the theme Invest in Dignity, the summit will explore how investing in the ecological transition, technology and innovation, and social inclusion can build a new global order that prioritises dignity for all. Key speakers include H.R.H. Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al Saud, Saudi Ambassador to the U.S., H.R.H. Prince Faisal Bin Bandar Al Saud, Chairman of the Saudi Esports Federation, H.E. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Chairman of the FII Institute, Mike Pompeo, former U.S. Secretary of State, and former presidents Felipe Calderon (Mexico), Juan Manuel Santos (Colombia), Jorge Quiroga (Bolivia), and Laura Chinchilla (Costa Rica). The summit will also featureamong othersindustry leaders, investment experts, and government officials like H.E. Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih, Saudi Minister of Investment, Baroness Ariane de Rothschild, CEO of Edmond de Rothschild Holding, Hon. Gustavo Manrique, Former Foreign Minister and Former Environmental Minister of Ecuador, Sir Martin Sorrell, Executive Chairman of S4 Capital Group, Andre Esteves, Chairman of BTG Pactual, Marcelo Claure, Founder & CEO of Claure Group, Bernard Mensah, President of International at Bank of America, Aloizio Mercadante, President of BNDES, Eduardo Bartolomeo, CEO of Vale, and Julia Dias Leite, CEO of the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRi). The sessions will delve into issues surrounding climate action, BRICS, energy transition, sustainable development, entrepreneurship, and emerging technologies. Highlights include the Board of Changemakers, focused on growth opportunities and economic prosperity, How Can Investors Navigate Dynamic Markets? on investment strategies amid market volatility, and The Future of Global Energy, discussing emerging energy technologies and projects. Other topics will address global investment megatrends, fintech and traditional finance convergence, and leadership in the rise of the global south. For media enquiries, please email: media@fii-institute.org and fii-institute@fsb.com.br. About FII Institute The Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute is a global non-profit foundation driven by data with an investment arm focused on impactful initiatives for humanity. Through its PRIORITY Summits, the institute brings together leading minds to foster innovation and sustainable solutions across the globe. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/fec08610-6358-43a3-96c0-8f9116ea9033 The Company is preparing an initial mineral resource estimate at the El Dorado Monserrat (EDM) project, targeted for release in Q3 of this year. The mineral resource estimate will be based on three drilling campaigns carried out over the past three years, representing a total of 10,982.7 meters of diamond drilling, plus historical drillings of the project. TORONTO, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fredonia Mining Inc. (Fredonia or the Company) (TSXV:FRED) announces that it has commissioned the preparation of an initial mineral resource estimate at the EDM project, targeted for Q3, 2024. The work is being undertaken by the independent geologist Mario Alfaro and the independent engineer Marco Alfaro. The wholly-owned EDM gold and silver project comprises 5,793ha located in the prolific Deseado Massif in Patagonia, Argentina. The EDM project has two large mineralized sectors the northern and southern sectors that have been only partly explored to date (Figure 1). The northern Monserrat sector comprises an area 3.5 km long by 3.2 km wide, made up of mineralized corridors hosted in andesitic lavas that form country rock, and contains more than 20 kilometers of epithermal veins, not all of which have been explored or drilled (Figure 2). This sector contains a series of mineralized target areas, including Main Veins, Bajo Pedernal, Monserrat West, Abanico, Gladys, and Monserrat East, among others. Some significant drill results include: 6.0 m @ 14.43 g/t Au Eq. at Main Veins; 2.4 m @ 18.05 g/t Au Eq. at Monserrat West; 4.0 m @ 2.42 g/t Au Eq. at Bajo Pedernal (see Fredonia news release, dated February 13th, 2023). The southern Mineralized Corridor sector comprises an area 6.0 km long by 1.0 km wide, and including the advanced Herradura Hill target area; Beethoven horst-epithermal veins (only scout drilling done so far); and Pamela target area (not yet drilled). The Herradura Hill target area consists of a maar-volcano-diatreme surrounded by an extensive brecciated domes and dykes host system, the dimensions of which are yet undefined - being geologically open in all directions (Figure 3). The latest work has shown a new metallogenic interpretation at the Herradura Hill target area, defined as flow domes and an epithermal veins complex with disseminated Au-Ag mineralization with dimensions open in all directions. Drill holes confirm very broad stockworks, wide hydrothermal breccias and veins hosted in a phreatomagmatic breccias, felsic domes and dykes that intrude the andesite flows that form the country rock. Some significant drill intercepts include 8.00 m @ 6.00 g/t Au Eq., including 3.00 m @ 12.65 g/t Au Eq. (Figure 4) at the Herradura Hill target (see Fredonia news release, dated January 31, 2023). See notes to Figures 2 and 3 below for information with respect to the assumptions used to calculate Au Eq. All of these target areas remain open along strike and dip. Following the release of its maiden mineral resource estimate, future drilling at the EDM project would contemplate three objectives: shallow drilling designed to expand mineralized zones; deep drilling to test high grade feeders; and additional drilling to test new target areas at the project. Estanislao Auriemma, CEO of Fredonia Mining expressed: "After extensive drilling campaigns over only a portion of the EDM project over the past three years, we are very pleased with the scope and size of the mineralized target areas so far discovered, and very much look forward to the projects maiden resource estimate, which we believe will confirm the excellent potential of our flagship project." Figure 1: Map showing the location of the two mineralized zones at the El Dorado Monserrat gold-silver project (5,793 ha licenses). Figure 2: Map showing drill holes location and intercepts at the Northern Monserrat sector: (*) Reported interval lengths are down-hole widths and not true widths. (**) Gold equivalent (Au Eq.) is calculated using metal prices of US$ 1,800/oz for Au and US$ 24/oz for Ag. The equation used is: Au Eq g/t = Au g/t + (Ag g/t 75). Au Eq assumes Au recovery of 90%. The limited metallurgical studies by Fredonia (selective Bottle rolls from Main Veins material) have indicated high (>90%) recovery of gold in oxide material. The Cerro Vanguardia mine to the east of EDM with similar mineralization reports recoveries in the high 90% for Au. Figure 3. Cross section showing drill holes location and intercepts at the Herradura Hill target: See Table of Intercepts in Fredonia NR dated January, 31st 2023. (*) Reported interval lengths are down-hole widths and not true widths. (**) Gold equivalent (Au Eq.) is calculated using metal prices of US$ 1,800/oz for Au and US$ 24/oz for Ag. The equation used is: Au Eq g/t = Au g/t + (Ag g/t 75). Au Eq assumes Au recovery of 90%. The limited metallurgical studies by Fredonia (selective Bottle rolls from Main Veins material) have indicated high (>90%) recovery of gold in oxide material. The Cerro Vanguardia mine to the east of EDM with similar mineralization reports recoveries in the high 90% for Au. Figure 4: HDDH047 from 269 to 277m contains 8.00m @ 6.00 g/t Au Eq. Including 3.00 m @ 12.65 g/t Au Eq. See Table of Intercepts in Fredonia NR dated January, 31st 2023. (*) Reported interval lengths are down-hole widths and not true widths. (**) Gold equivalent (Au Eq.) is calculated using metal prices of US$ 1,800/oz for Au and US$ 24/oz for Ag. The equation used is: Au Eq g/t = Au g/t + (Ag g/t 75). Au Eq assumes Au recovery of 90%. The limited metallurgical studies by Fredonia (selective Bottle rolls from Main Veins material) have indicated high (>90%) recovery of gold in oxide material. The Cerro Vanguardia mine to the east of EDM with similar mineralization reports recoveries in the high 90% for Au. Mr. Fernando Ganem, Professional Geoscientist, is a qualified person (QP) as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Ganem visited the property and has read and approved the technical contents of this release. Update to Management Team Fredonia Mining Inc. is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Carlos Espinosa as Chief Financial Officer of the Company, succeeding Mr. Omar Salas, who will remain with Fredonia in an advisory role to ensure a smooth transition. Mr. Espinosa is a mining executive with over 30 years of experience within Canadian capital markets, international business development and commercial banking. Among other positions, Mr. Espinosa was Fredonias CFO between 2016 to 2022, during which period he was part of the management team that completed the RTO resulting in the Companys listing on TSXV, as well as subsequent equity financing and acquisition transactions. During his career, he has also served as a Director and Officer of other mining companies with international operations. Mr. Espinosa earned an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Business Administration from UNAM - Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. The Company wishes Mr. Salas well in his future endeavours. About Fredonia Fredonia holds gold and silver license areas totaling approximately 18,000 ha. in the prolific Deseado Massif geological region in the Province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, including its flagship advanced El Dorado-Monserrat project (approx. 5,793 ha.) located close to AngloGold Ashantis 300,000 oz./yr Au-Ag Cerro Vanguardia mine, the El Aguila project (approx. 9,100 ha.), and the Petrificados project (approx. 3,000 ha). For further information Please visit the Companys website at www.fredoniamanagement.com or contact: Estanislao Auriemma, Chief Executive Officer, Direct +5491149980623, Email: estanislao.auriemma@gmail.com. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain Forward-Looking Statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation relating to the Company and the EDM project, including statements regarding expectations with respect to preparing and releasing a maiden resource estimate in Q3 2024 and the merits of the results thereof, the prospectivity of the EDM project for gold and silver mineralization, including the potential for metal recoveries from any mineral processing activity, and the Companys future exploration plans. Words such as might, will, should, anticipate, plan, expect, believe, estimate, forecast and similar terminology are used to identify forward looking statements and forward-looking information. Such statements and information are based on assumptions, estimates, opinions and analysis made by the Company considering its experience, current conditions and its expectations of future developments as well as other factors which it believes to be reasonable and relevant. Forward-looking statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including, without limitation, the factors described in the Companys filing statement dated June 22, 2021 available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca under the heading Risk Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements and information and accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on such statements and information and the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. The statements in this press release are made as of the date of this release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements made herein, or comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third parties in respect of the Company or its securities, other than as required by law. Photos accompanying this announcement are available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ee20f259-cdc3-43ab-835c-ce4b16528c4a https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f3556d46-1bbb-4137-8b7d-a83098aa59c7 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e1054195-e9d2-4dea-8418-c1e1bbe19b09 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/96a4b1ce-6862-467d-85ec-c77e6532916a Dublin, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "mHealth Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Component (Wearables & Connected Wearable Devices, mHealth Apps, Services), By End-use, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2024 - 2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. mHealth Market Growth & Trends The global mHealth market size is expected to reach USD 158.3 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 14.1% The substantial surge in emphasis on enhancing individual health and well-being through intelligent devices & wearable technology stands as the primary catalyst driving the market expansion. Moreover, growing utilization of internet & smartphones and widespread acceptance of mHealth technology & platforms among medical professionals and patients are anticipated to drive the growth. Increasing integration of digital healthcare services for remote patient monitoring is heightening demand for mobile health applications, thereby contributing to the market's projected growth. Increased utilization of mobile health platforms and technologies, including apps, during the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to market growth. Several government initiatives to launch mHealth apps during the pandemic are also responsible for driving the adoption of mHealth apps during this period. Furthermore, increasing internet penetration and adoption of digital health technologies for remote diagnosis and analysis of patient data are the major factors responsible for the high adoption of mobile health technologies during the pandemic. Moreover, restrictions and fear of infection have further fueled the adoption of mobile health technologies and apps which in turn are expected to accelerate the market growth over the forecast years. Apple, Inc.; Google, Inc.; AT&T; Allscripts Healthcare; and Samsung Electronics are some of the major market players, owing to their strong product portfolios, global presence, financial performance, and collaboration activities. Companies in the market are collaborating to expand their mHealth capabilities. For instance, Samsung and American Well entered a mHealth- telehealth partnership that provides access to mHealth tools to consumers. Several content players in the market are collaborating with other players to maintain their market position. For instance, in November 2022, Hartford HealthCare entered into a long-term partnership with Google Cloud for the advancement in healthcare systems with improvement in data analytics, digital transformation, and enhancement of delivery care & access. The companies are focusing on delivering mHealth services for a variety of distinct applications to gain a competitive advantage. Companies are increasingly involved in the development and launch of new products to maintain their market position. For instance, in 2020, Allscripts launched the Veradigm AccelRx software solution. This solution will be helpful in reducing patient wait time and is uniquely designed for specialty medication management. In addition, in March 2022, Samsung unveiled its latest innovation, a smart healthcare TV, and advanced digital health solutions for healthcare facilities at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Global Conference held in Florida. Furthermore, Samsung and ShareSafe partnered up to develop a secure casting solution from mobile devices to Samsung Smart Healthcare TV. mHealth Market Report Highlights Based on component, the mHealth apps segment accounted for the largest revenue share in 2023. The segment is also projected to witness the fastest CAGR during the forecast period. Based on end-use, the patient segment held the largest revenue share in 2023 and is expected to witness the fastest CAGR from 2024 to 2030 North America dominated the market in 2023, owing to various factors including rising incidence of chronic diseases, increasing healthcare expenditure, growing geriatric population, and improved network infrastructure. Asia Pacific is expected to witness the fastest CAGR from 2024 to 2030 Competitive Landscape Google, Inc. Allscripts (Veradigm LLC) Apple, Inc. AT&T Intellectual Property Veradigm LLC (formerly, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions) Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Telefonica S.A. Vodafone Group SoftServe, Inc Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. SeekMed Orange Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 150 Forecast Period 2023 - 2030 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $62.7 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2030 $158.3 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 14.1% Regions Covered Global Key Topics Covered: Chapter 1 mHealth Market: Research Methodology & Scope Chapter 2 mHealth Market: Executive Summary Chapter 3 mHealth Market: Variables, Trends, & Scope 3.1 Market Lineage Outlook 3.1.1 Parent Market Outlook 3.1.2 Related/Ancillary Market 3.2 Penetration and Growth Prospect Mapping 3.3 Market Dynamics 3.3.1 Market Driver Analysis 3.3.2 Market Restraint Analysis 3.3.3 Industry Challenges 3.4 Global mHealth Market Analysis Tools 3.4.1 Industry Analysis - Porter's 3.4.2 PESTEL Analysis 3.4.3 Major Deals & Strategic Alliances Analysis 3.5 COVID-19 Impact on the market Chapter 4. mHealth Market Segment Analysis, By Component, 2018 - 2030 (USD Million) 4.1. Definition and Scope 4.2. Component Segment Dashboard 4.3. Global mHealth Market, by Component, 2018 to 2030 4.4. Wearables & Connected Medical Devices 4.4.1. Market estimates and forecasts, 2018 to 2030 (USD Million) 4.4.2. Vital Sign Monitoring Devices 4.4.2.1. Market estimates and forecasts, 2018 to 2030 (USD Million) 4.4.2.2. Heart Rate Monitors 4.4.2.3. Activity Monitors 4.4.2.4. Electrocardiographs 4.4.2.5. Pulse Oximeters 4.4.2.6. Spirometers 4.4.2.7. Blood Pressure Monitors 4.4.3. Sleep Monitoring Devices 4.4.3.1. Market estimates and forecasts, 2018 to 2030 (USD Million) 4.4.3.2. Sleep trackers. 4.4.3.3. Wrist Actigraphs 4.4.3.4. Polysomnographs 4.4.4. Electrocardiographs Fetal and Obstetric Devices 4.4.4.1. Market estimates and forecasts, 2018 to 2030 (USD Million) 4.4.5. Neuromonitoring Devices 4.4.5.1. Market estimates and forecasts, 2018 to 2030 (USD Million) 4.4.5.2. Electroencephalographs 4.4.5.3. Electromyographs 4.5. mHealth Apps 4.5.1. Market estimates and forecasts, 2018 to 2030 (USD Million) 4.5.2. Medical Apps 4.5.2.1. Market estimates and forecasts, 2018 to 2030 (USD Million) 4.5.2.2. Women's Health 4.5.2.2.1. Market estimates and forecasts, 2018 to 2030 (USD Million) 4.5.2.2.2. Fitness and Nutrition 4.5.2.2.3. Menstrual Health 4.5.2.2.4. Pregnancy Tracking & Postpartum Care 4.5.2.2.5. Menopause 4.5.2.2.6. Disease Management 4.5.2.3. Chronic Disease Management Apps 4.5.2.3.1. Market estimates and forecasts, 2018 to 2030 (USD Million) 4.5.2.3.2. Diabetes Management Apps 4.5.2.3.3. Blood Pressure and ECG Monitoring Apps 4.5.2.3.4. Mental Health Management Apps 4.5.2.3.5. Cancer Management Apps 4.5.2.3.6. Obesity Management Apps 4.5.2.4. Personal Health Record Apps 4.5.2.5. Medication Management Apps 4.5.2.6. Diagnostic Apps 4.5.2.7. Remote Monitoring Apps 4.5.3. Fitness Apps 4.6. Services 4.6.1. Market estimates and forecasts, 2018 to 2030 (USD Million) 4.6.2. Monitoring Services 4.6.2.1. Market estimates and forecasts, 2018 to 2030 (USD Million) 4.6.2.2. Independent Aging Solutions 4.6.2.3. Chronic Disease Management & Post-Acute Care Services 4.6.3. Diagnosis Services 4.6.4. Healthcare Systems Strengthening Services 4.7. MHealth Systems 4.7.1. Market estimates and forecasts, 2018 to 2030 (USD Million) 4.7.2. EHR 4.7.3. E-prescribing Systems 4.8. Healthcare Analytics Chapter 5. mHealth Market: Segment Analysis, by End-use, 2018- 2030 (USD Million) 5.1. Definition and Scope 5.2. End-use Segment Dashboard 5.3. Market Size & Forecasts and Trend Analyses, 2018 to 2030 for the following 5.4. Patients 5.5. Providers 5.6. Payers Chapter 6. mHealth Market: Segment Analysis, by Region, by Component, by End-use, 2018- 2030 (USD Million) 6.1. Definition & Scope 6.2. Regional Market Share Analysis, 2023 & 2030 6.3. Regional Market Dashboard 6.4. Market Size, & Forecasts Trend Analysis, 2018 to 2030 For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/bala1n About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Attachment Dublin, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Veterinary Artificial Insemination Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Solutions (Equipment & Consumables, Semen, Services), By Animal Type, By Distribution Channel, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2024 - 2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global veterinary artificial insemination market is anticipated to reach USD 11.25 billion by 2030 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.34% from 2024 to 2030 The key factors driving the market growth include increasing consumption of animal protein, growing demand for livestock productivity, and adoption of sexed semen. In March 2023, Genetics Australia - the country's largest artificial breeding supplier announced that it would merge with URUS - a leading player in the veterinary artificial insemination industry. This would provide Genetics Australia access to global markets in marketing Australian genetics. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in many challenges including dampened growth, decreased sales and marketing activities, supply chain hurdles, and delays in the delivery of AI services. The erratic and uncertain consumption patterns in several key markets exacerbated by sporadic lockdowns and logistical bottlenecks further increased the uncertainty in the market. The growth was also dampened by other factors such as the African Swine-Fever. Genus, for instance, reported labor shortages, adverse impact on retail food service demand and meat packing capacity, and international logistics delays due to the pandemic. The company indicated that in the near-term, feed input costs, ASF, and COVID-19 implications would continue to exert pressure on the global porcine industry, particularly in China and Europe. In North America, the pandemic led to packing plant slowdowns during H1 of 2021. To fulfill the continuously increasing demand for meat and dairy products, market players are expanding artificial insemination solutions to breed high-quality livestock and enhance production. For example, in August 2020, Cogent with AB Europe launched a novel sexed semen service for U.K. sheep producers. In September 2021, LIC- an agritech co-operative based in New Zealand launched a sexed semen lab in the country to meet the growing demand. This boosted the cooperative's capabilities to artificially inseminate about 4.5 million cattle between the Spring mating season of September to December 2021. Developing regions such as Latin America are also contributing to the market growth for veterinary artificial insemination. For instance, Brazil, one of the major countries in the region has been adopting AI increasingly for the past decade. The country has also deployed Fixed-Time Artificial Insemination (FTAI) techniques to increase profitability and success rate. Veterinary Artificial Insemination Market Report Highlights Based on solutions, the services segment led the market with the largest revenue share of 42.05% in 2023. The semen segment on the other hand is anticipated to grow at the fastest CAGR of 6.98% over the forecast period Artificial insemination (AI) offers a safe and regulated environment for breeding, lowering the possibility of mishaps or injuries that could happen during natural mating. Furthermore, AI gives breeders more control over the breeding process, ensuring that mating takes place under the best possible circumstances, and raises the likelihood of viable pregnancies Based on distribution channel, the private segment led the market with the largest revenue share of 64.32% in 2023 and is also projected to grow at the fastest CAGR over the forecast period Based on animal type, the bovine segment held the market with the largest revenue share of 40.52% in 2023. The swine segment is estimated to grow at the fastest CAGR of 6.81% during the forecast period North America dominated the market with the revenue share of 30.28% in 2023. Latin America region is estimated to grow at the fastest CAGR of 7.07% over the forecast period As the global population continues to grow, there is an increasing demand for animal protein, including meat, milk, and eggs. This drives the need for efficient breeding practices to optimize livestock production, which includes the use of artificial insemination to improve genetics and reproductive efficiency Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 160 Forecast Period 2023 - 2030 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $7.37 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2030 $11.25 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 6.3% Regions Covered Global Market Dynamics Market Driver Analysis Increasing demand for meat, dairy, and dairy products Increasing need for sustainable food production Advancements in animal reproduction technology Supportive Initiatives Market Restraint Analysis Lack of awareness Limited access to supplies & skilled labor in certain countries Veterinary Artificial Insemination Market Analysis Tools Industry Analysis - Porter's PESTEL Analysis Regulatory Landscape Estimated Animal Population, by key species & key countries, 2023 COVID-19 Impact Analysis Companies Featured Genus URUS Group LP CRV SEMEX IMV Technologies Select Sires Inc. Swine Genetics International Shipley Swine Genetics Stallion AI Services Ltd Stgenetics For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/tujhhi About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Attachment Toronto, Ontario, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TVO Today is heading to Sault Ste. Marie on May 27 to hold an expert panel on the rise of public anger at The Loft at Algoma Conservatory of Music. The panel will be moderated by Steve Paikin of TVO Todays The Agenda and will include experts such as Mayor Matthew Shoemaker, among others. Every day, teachers are facing increased violence, Ontarians are engaging in more road rage incidents, and politicians are stepping down for their own safety. Joining Mayor Shoemaker for the TVO Today Live panel will be Sabreena Delhon, CEO of Samara Centre for Democracy, Michael Friscolanti, Editor-In-Chief of Village Media, Michele McCleave-Kennedy, Sault Ste Marie District Labour Council Executive Member and Vice President at the Ontario Federation of Labour, Joel Syrette, Director of Makwa Waakaa'igan and part time Faculty at Algoma University and Diane Kalen-Sukra, author of "Save Your City" and "Civic Resilience" and founder of Kalen Academy, an online training institute for civic leaders. Together these experts will consider the serious impacts public anger could have on democracy and will attempt to answer the central question of the event: Can angry people be good citizens? The rise in public anger is concerning for all of us, as it limits our ability to engage with one another and build community, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic, says John Ferri, VP of Programming and Content at TVO. A public forum like TVO Today Live offers a chance to take a step forward together and mend our frayed connections. By having this conversation at the community level, we hope it will resonate across the province with other communities experiencing similar issues. As a trusted source for intelligent and informative programming, TVO aims to connect and engage Ontarians on what makes communities unique and link them together by shining a spotlight on the issues, perspectives and solutions that matters most to Ontarians. This is why The Agenda with Steve Paikin, TVO Todays flagship current affairs program, will be extending their stay to dig further into the topics that matter in Sault Ste. Marie. Steve and The Agenda team will film multiple segments featuring interviews with residents and groups for upcoming episodes of the show. Im looking forward to participating in the panel and discussing the importance of local governance in the current political climate, says Mayor of Sault Ste. Marie, Matthew Shoemaker. Municipalities are the level of government closest to the public, and the challenges we face are only continuing to grow, so determining how to best navigate changing political norms is paramount. TVO Today Live is made possible through the generous support of The Wilson Foundation, whose mission is to strengthen and enrich Canada in education leadership, community, history and heritage, and public service. Previous TVO Today Live events have included guests such as legendary journalist Bob Woodward and comedian Samantha Bee, as well as debates on the impacts of social media and protests. TVO Today Live will air a recording of the event on Thursday, June 13 at 9:00 pm ET on TVO.org, YouTube, TVO Today Smart TV app and TVOs broadcast channel in Ontario. Visit the TVO Today Live series page and sign up for email updates to learn more. - 30 - ABOUT TVO MEDIA EDUCATION GROUP TVO Media Education Group inspires learning that changes lives and enriches communities. Founded in 1970, we are a globally recognized digital learning organization that engages Ontarians of all ages with inclusive experiences and diverse perspectives. Through video, audio, games, courses, newsletters and articles, were investing in the transformative potential of education for everyone. Funded primarily by the Province of Ontario, TVO is a registered charity supported by thousands of sponsors and donors. Visit TVO.me for more information. Stream TVO on your favourite device. Media contact: Genevieve Grant, TVO | ggrant@tvo.org Social: Twitter: @TheAgenda Facebook: @TheAgenda Instagram: @TheAgendaTVO YouTube: @TVOToday Attachment New York, New York, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NEW YORK, NY May 21, 2024 Night of Covenant House Stars was held on May 20, 2024 at the Rooftop Pavilion and Terrace at North Javits, New York City. The event was an inspiring gathering that brought together notable figures and over 600 community members to support Covenant House. Presented by Ulta Beauty, the event was a testament to the power of collective action in addressing the youth homelessness crisis. Bill Bedrossian, President and CEO of Covenant House International, identified the critical role of the event in sustaining the organization's efforts. "Night of Covenant House Stars galvanizes support for Covenant House and the youth we serve. He boldly declared to the community that Covenant House has put stake in the ground to say that we want to end youth homelessness as we know it today, within our lifetimes! And this is not some wild dream this is possible! The young people, some of whom you have met tonight, are worth it! They inspire us to do more to ensure that every young person has a safe place to sleep and an environment in which they can pursue their dreams, he told the audience. Brynn Whitfield of The Real Housewives of New York City assumed the esteemed role of host for this year's Night of Covenant House Stars. Raised by Mimi, a single grandmother who fought tirelessly to make ends meet, Brynn's unique journey fuels an unwavering passion for supporting youth grappling with home insecurity, homelessness, and trauma. Brynn recently spent an afternoon at Covenant House and witnessed first-hand how committed each young person is to overcoming homelessness and realizing their dreams. Tonight was a beautiful display of love and resilience. I could feel the compassion in the room, and I know this community of supporters cares as deeply about making change for these youth as the residents of Covenant House care about grabbing hold of their own lives and achieving their hard-earned independence. The star-studded evening featured appearances by talent from stage, screen, and music, all united in their support for Covenant House's mission to provide shelter, care, and services to young people facing homelessness. Among the personalities lending their support were Covenant House International board members Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Rachel Brosnahan, Academy and Golden Globe Award winner Ariana DeBose, and news anchor and best-selling author John Dickerson. They were joined by Emmy and Grammy award winner and host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Stephen Colbert; Tony Award winner Adrienne Warren; Tony and Grammy-nominated performer and recording artist Shoshana Bean; Quincy Isaiah from HBO's Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty; and BLKBOK, a piano star and culture creator. Music direction was by Ray Chew of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisels Rachel Brosnahan has been a part of the Covenant House community for 11 years. Each time she immerses herself in the culture of Covenant House, she is reminded that homelessness is the least interesting thing about the young people who call Covenant House home. Tonight is about coming together and taking action for the most vulnerable people in our community - our neighbors. I am so moved by the young people I met tonight who will go on to do incredible things. They just need people to see them beyond their circumstances, and believe in them, said Rachel. Stephen Colbert honored his dear friend John Dickerson with the Board Service Award. He had the audience in hysterics with jokes about Johns deep knowledge of obscure presidential facts and his many roles on CBS airwaves. And when it was time to present the award, he shared One of the things I admire most is how important to John the work of Covenant House is. John has been a board member since 2018, as his mother was before him, is a passionate advocate for children in crisis, and even participates in the annual Sleep Out initiative, where people voluntarily spend the night on the pavement to raise awareness of youth homelessness. The event was not just a showcase of celebrity support but also a celebration of the resilience and strength of the young people served by Covenant House. Through live performances, alumni storytelling, and heartfelt testimonials, attendees were given a glimpse into the transformative impact of Covenant House's work across the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. Lisa Silverstein, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Silverstein Properties accepted an award on behalf of the companys long-term support for Covenant House. She opened her remarks by recognizing with all the global discord and troubles in our world, our country and in our own backyard in New York, its very gratifying to come together and actually DO something to support the most vulnerable population. Its also a great privilege to have the capacity to help others. We all in this room know, privilege must be bound to responsibility, as privilege alone is useless if one cant better the world in which they live. Cisco Systems was awarded the 2024 Extraordinary Partnership in Service. Cisco and its employees have impacted every Covenant House site in the federation, and their global participation in the Sleep Out movement has set the pace for corporate teams and the overall grassroots impact a company can have on a cause. Patrick Morrissey, SVP, Global Specialists and Jonathan Davidson, EVP/GM, Cisco Networking accepted the award and said Were honored to accept this on behalf of Cisco and the thousands of people who have shown up over the years. Were honored to commit and recommit to our continued partnership. It really does take a village. Countess Luann de Lesseps, Erin Lichy, Dorinda Medley, and Jessel Taank, The Real Housewives of New York City cast members made special appearances and cheered on their friend and cast member, Brynn Whitfield, in her host role. Funds raised from Night of Covenant House Stars go directly to food, clothing, healthcare, education, job training, and short and long-term housing for youth overcoming homelessness at Covenant House across the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. ABOUT COVENANT HOUSE Covenant House is the largest, primarily privately funded charity in North and Central America providing immediate and long-term support for young people facing homelessness and survivors of trafficking through unconditional love, absolute respect, and relentless support. Covenant House doors are open 24/7 in 34 cities across the United States, Canada, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico to all young people who need housing and help, regardless of their race, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression, and all services and programs are available at no cost. Our North Star is ending youth homelessness as we know it. covenanthouse.org. Attachments Bibhav Kumar Delhi Police on Tuesday took Bibhav Kumar, the former personal secretary of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to Mumbai in connection with the assault on AAP Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal, police official privy to the probe said. Kumar had formatted his phone on May 17, citing a malfunction. Kumar is taken to Mumbai to retrieve the data as he had formatted the phone there, said the official. On May 18, CM Kejriwal's close aide Bibhav Kumar was arrested in connection with the assault on Maliwal and produced late at night before a local court which sent him to a five-day police custody. Kumar was also taken to CM residence on Monday where the crime scene was recreated. Delhi Police registered a case against Kumar for molestation and attempted culpable homicide after he allegedly assaulted Swati Maliwal at the Chief Minister's residence on May 13. The FIR includes charges under sections 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 341 (wrongful restraint), 354(B) (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 509 (word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code at the Civil Lines police station. Dublin, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "U.S. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Market - Focused Insights 2024-2029" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The U.S. emergency medical services market is expected to reach a value of $26.2 billion by 2029 from $14.43 billion in 2023, growing at a CAGR of 10.46% from 2024 to 2029. The U.S. emergency medical services market report contains exclusive data on 44 vendors. The emergency medical services (EMS) market in the U.S. is fragmented due to the presence of approximately 2,000 providers. This fragmentation entails a diverse landscape comprising large-scale companies and numerous small-scale regional competitors. These entities often secure long-term contracts with medical care organizations and actively seek strategic alliances and collaborations with businesses in various countries to expand their market footprint. Furthermore, emergency medical service providers are expanding their service offerings by integrating mobile healthcare, patient advocacy, primary care extenders, and medical education into their portfolios. In 2022, new protections have been introduced to prevent surprise medical bills. If an individual has private health insurance, these new protections ban the most common surprise bills. The No Surprises Act protects people covered under group and individual health plans from receiving surprise medical bills when they receive most emergency services, non-emergency services from out-of-network providers at in-network facilities, and services from out-of-network air emergency medical service providers. It also establishes an independent dispute resolution process for payment disputes between plans and providers. It provides new dispute resolution opportunities for uninsured and self-pay individuals when they receive a medical bill substantially greater than the good faith estimate from a provider. Telemedicine platforms facilitate remote consultations with physicians during emergencies by enabling real-time audio, video, or chat communication between healthcare providers and patients. Patients can swiftly connect with a physician in urgent situations, describe their symptoms, and receive immediate guidance. Physicians, in turn, can assess the situation, offer preliminary diagnoses, recommend necessary actions, or even prescribe medications remotely. This rapid response can prove crucial in emergencies, potentially averting complications or unnecessary hospital transfers. The advantages of telemedicine in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are noteworthy. It helps reduce unnecessary hospital transfers by allowing healthcare professionals to evaluate and manage patients on-site or within a more suitable healthcare facility. This optimization of resource utilization ensures that patients receive tailored care, ultimately enhancing overall outcomes. U.S. EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES MARKET INSIGHTS In 2023, the public provider segment dominated, occupying over 54% of the U.S. emergency medical services market share. The segmental growth is primarily driven by increased government support for providing the best EMS services across the U.S. The advanced life support service segment showcases significant growth, with the fastest-growing CAGR of 10.82% in the U.S. emergency medical services market. The increase in demand for advanced life support services in the U.S. is attributed to the aging population, which is more prone to health disorders and requires advanced life support services while transferring patients. The mass casualty incident segment is growing significantly, with the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The significant growth in the mass casualty segment is attributed to increased natural disasters, which can cause large-scale catastrophic incidents, such as epidemics, air or rail crashes, infrastructure/utility outages, and extreme weather. The adult patient group segment dominated the U.S. emergency medical services market share in 2023. The segmental growth is attributed to a significant increase in the percentage of the elderly population. The population of individuals over 65 in the U.S. is expected to double over the next 25 years to 84 million people. By 2030, older adults will comprise roughly one-fifth of the U.S. population. The air and water transportation segment by patient group is expected to have the highest growth rate in the U.S. emergency medical services market. Air transport allows emergency medical service providers to quickly reach remote areas where ground services cannot reach on time, thus helping the segment grow. In 2022, there were approximately 58 million people aged 65 and above in the U.S., projected to become about 82 million by 2050. As the elderly are more prone to diseases, the need for emergency medical services due to illnesses and accidental falls is expected to rise during the forecast period. KEY QUESTIONS ANSWERED How big is the U.S. emergency medical services market? What is the growth rate of the U.S. emergency medical services market? What are the key U.S. emergency medical services market trends? What are the restraints in the U.S. emergency medical services market? Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 85 Forecast Period 2023 - 2029 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $14.43 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2029 $26.2 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 10.4% VENDORS LIST Acadian Ambulance Service Air Medical Ambulnz Apollo MedFlight BSA Health System Central EMS City Ambulance Service Falck Global Medical Response HEMSI LifeLine EMS Lifestar EMS Lynch EMS Medstar MMT Redlands Community Hospital SeniorCare Emergency Medical Services American Medical Response (AMR) U.C. Health Union Emergency Medical Services Air Ambulance Worldwide Air Methods AirEvac International American Air Ambulance Chatham Emergency Services Eagle County Paramedic Services Emergency Ambulance Service Greenwich Emergency Medical Service Guardian Flight Leon County EMS Life Flight Network Livingston County EMS Mckeesport Ambulance Rescue Service Metro West Ambulance Mohawk Ambulance Service National EMS New Castle County EMS NorthStar EMS Okaloosa County Emergency Medical Services PHI Air Medical Puckett EMS Regional Paramedical Services RIT Ambulance Rural/Metro Corp SEGMENTATION & FORECAST By Provider Public Private Hybrid By Service Advanced Life Support Basic Life Support By Incident Single Casualty Incidents Mass Casualty Incidents By Patient Group Adults Pediatrics By Transport Ground Transport Air & Water Transport For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/j9b7im About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Attachment ROUYN-NORANDA, Quebec, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GLOBEX MINING ENTERPRISES INC. (GMX Toronto Stock Exchange, G1MN Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Berlin, Munich, Tradegate, Lang & Schwarz, LS Exchange, TTMzero, Dusseldorf and Quotrix Dusseldorf Stock Exchanges and GLBXF OTCQX International in the US) is pleased to inform shareholders that Emperor Metals Inc. (AUOZ-CSE, EMAUF-OTCQB, 9NH-FSE) has mobilized a drill rig to commence its 2024 exploration program on the Duquesne West Gold Property under option from Globex. The drill program will total 8,000 metres. The Duquesne West Gold property straddles the gold localizing Porcupine-Destor Break in Duparquet Township, Quebec and is located approximately 10 km east of the town of Duparquet. A historical resource of 727,000 ounces of gold (cut) at a grade of 5.42 g/t Au was calculated by Watts, Griffis and McOuat Consulting Geologists and Engineers, October 20, 2011 (click to access) in a report titled Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate Update for the Duquesne-Ottoman property, Quebec, Canada for XMet Inc. Emperor has taken a binary approach to exploration on the property seeking to outline an open-pittable, lower grade, large tonnage gold deposit in addition to the more conventional high-grade underground mine as was previously sought on the property. Current efforts by Emperor toward outlining these types of gold deposits consists among other things of new drilling and relogging, resampling, and assaying previous drill holes which Globex has maintained in Globexs core library. As a matter of course, Globex stores most drill core from drill holes undertaken on our properties for just such occasions. For access to Emperors press release, click here. For access to Globexs October 12, 2022 press release announcing the option to Emperor Metals, click here. This press release was written by Jack Stoch, P. Geo., President and CEO of Globex in his capacity as a Qualified Person (Q.P.) under NI 43-101. We Seek Safe Harbour. Foreign Private Issuer 12g3 2(b) CUSIP Number 379900 50 9 LEI 529900XYUKGG3LF9PY95 For further information, contact: Jack Stoch, P.Geo., Acc.Dir. President & CEO Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. 86, 14th Street Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec Canada J9X 2J1 Tel.: 819.797.5242 Fax: 819.797.1470 info@globexmining.com www.globexmining.com Forward Looking Statements: Except for historical information, this news release may contain certain forward looking statements. These statements may involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity and performance to be materially different from the expectations and projections of Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. (Globex). No assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forward-looking information will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits Globex will derive therefrom. A more detailed discussion of the risks is available in the Annual Information Form filed by Globex on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. 55,204,836 shares issued and outstanding Los Angeles, CA, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thumzup Media Corporation (Thumzup or the Company) (OTCQB: TZUP), a leader in innovative social media branding and marketing solutions, is excited to announce the addition of Jon Bond to its Advisory Board. This strategic appointment marks a significant step in Thumzup's ongoing efforts to redefine the landscape of social media advertising and enhance its overall market position. Jon Bond, co-founder of Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, which was founded on the principle of challenging the status quo. of the Mad Men era, brings a wealth of expertise and a venerable track record of transformative marketing strategies and technological innovation. Under his leadership, KBP pioneered guerrilla marketing, created the first pop-up store, and instituted creating word of mouth years before social media was invented. Jon's leadership and understanding of both traditional and digital media will be invaluable as Thumzup continues to grow and innovate within the ever-evolving social media landscape, commented Robert Steele, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Thumzup. I am thrilled to join Thumzup's Advisory Board and contribute to their groundbreaking approach to social media advertising," commented Jon Bond. I look forward to helping the company leverage my experiences in advertising innovation to further enhance its platform and expand its market reach. Throughout his illustrious career, Mr. Bond has been at the forefront of advertising and technology, transitioning from founding one of the first digital media shops, Iballs, to leading Big Fuel, a global social media powerhouse, and later serving as Chairman of the pioneering ad fraud detection company, White Ops. His efforts have consistently driven industry-wide advancements and garnered multiple accolades, including his recent nomination for the prestigious 2024 Advertising Hall of Fame. Jon also recently founded Weightless, an AI-powered marketing services consultancy aimed at helping emerging brands achieve scale. His role as a shareholder and board member at Addition Works, integrating AI technology like ChatGPT for brand customization, aligns with Thumzups mission of democratizing social media marketing. About Thumzup Thumzup Media Corporation (Thumzup) is democratizing the multi-billion dollar social media branding and marketing industry. Its flagship product, the Thumzup platform, utilizes a robust programmatic advertiser dashboard coupled with a consumer-facing App to enable individuals to get paid cash for posting about participating advertisers on major social media outlets through the Thumzup App. The easy-to-use dashboard allows advertisers to programmatically customize their campaigns. Cash payments are made to App users/creators through PayPal and other major cash apps for approved posts. Thumzup is a publicly traded company (OTCQB stock ticker: TZUP). For more information, please visit https://www.thumzupmedia.com . Legal Disclaimer This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include, without limitation, statements about its potential growth, impacts on the advertising industry, plans for potential uplisting, and planned expansion. These statements are identified by the use of the words "could," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "expect," "may," "continue," "predict," "potential," "project" and similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Although we believe that our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these plans, objectives, expectations or intentions will be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical experience and present expectations or projections. Actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements and the trading price for our common stock may fluctuate significantly. Forward-looking statements also are affected by the risk factors described in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Contact Info investors@thumzupmedia.com 800-403-6150 Attachment NEW YORK, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (Deutsche Bank or the Company) (NYSE: DB). Such investors are advised to contact Danielle Peyton at newaction@pomlaw.com or 646-581-9980, ext. 7980. The investigation concerns whether Deutsche Bank 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 26, 2024, Deutsche Bank issued a press release announcing that [i]n a hearing on April 26, 2024, the Higher Regional Court of Cologne assessed the claims of certain former Postbank shareholders that a higher offer price in connection with Deutsche Banks voluntary takeover offer of October 7, 2010, should have been paid. During the hearing, the Court indicated that it may find elements of these claims valid in a later ruling. Accordingly, Deutsche Bank advised that the courts statements will impact Deutsche Banks estimation of the probability of a future outflow, resulting in a legal provision in the second quarter of 2024. This provision will impact Deutsche Banks second quarter and full-year profitability and capital ratios. The estimate of the full amount of all claims, including cumulative interest, is approximately 1.3 billion euros. On this news, Deutsche Banks stock price fell $1.53 per share, or 8.61%, to close at $16.24 per share on April 29, 2024. Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered billions of dollars in damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com . Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. CONTACT: Danielle Peyton Pomerantz LLP dpeyton@pomlaw.com 646-581-9980 ext. 7980 OAKLAND, Calif., May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Numi Organic TeaTM, an award-winning social enterprise, founding B Corporation member, and a leading purchaser of organic, Fair Trade CertifiedTM teas, today announced its new Relax and Regenerate Herbal Supplement Tea Line featuring Damiana, a flowering vine native to Mexico, Central and South America, which has been celebrated for centuries as a mood enhancer and energy booster1. This latest product line, which includes three caffeine-free SKUs blended to evoke mood enhancement, expands upon Numi's successful tradition of distinctive blending, which balances delicious flavor while preserving functionality. Numis Relax and Regenerate Herbal Supplement Tea Line featuring Damiana is now available on the Numi Website, on Amazon and at select retailers, including Sprouts Farmers Market, for $7.99 for a 16ct box. I use Numi Organic Teas as an essential component of my herbalism practice. Their unique balance of efficacy and delicious flavor ensures my clients consistently consume the teas I suggest so that they experience the full medicinal benefits, said Kelsey Barrett, a clinical herbalist and educator who has been featured in Vogue and Edible for her work in transforming individual health through the power of plants. It is an honor to harness the awesome powers of the damiana plant in this line of teas so that consumers everywhere can begin to experience its positive effects on mood, hormone balance, and mental health. The unique benefits of Numis Relax and Regenerate Herbal Supplement Tea Line is more than tea; it's a natural elixir that will stand the test of time. With more than 30% of adults reporting symptoms of anxiety or depression up 29% from pre-pandemic levels2 the Numi Organic Relax and Regenerate Herbal Supplement Tea Line, featuring Damiana, addresses a critical need by nourishing and supporting the central nervous system and restoring balance and restfulness in the body3. Additionally, Damiana promotes hormonal health by working as an aromatase inhibitor, which slows down the enzyme that converts testosterone to estrogen. With its unique blend of compounds, Damiana nourishes the nervous system, fostering a sense of calm and balance. "With our Relax and Regenerate Herbal Supplement Tea Line, featuring Damiana, we continue to prioritize consumer well-being while addressing the nations acute need for emotional and mental support and balance," expressed Ahmed Rahim, Chief Visionary Officer and Co-Founder of Numi Organic Tea, who spearheads product development and tea blending. "In response to escalating stress and anxiety levels, our unique tea line showcases Damiana, masterfully blended to evoke diverse functionalities while maintaining superior flavor. Damiana, a natural and holistic remedy, supports the central nervous system, empowering consumers to reclaim balance and restore relaxation in the midst of their bustling lives. The constellation of complimentary herbs, flowers and spices offered in the Damiana product line round out the flavor while enhancing its benefits." Rich in antioxidants and naturally caffeine-free, the new Numi Relax & Regenerate Herbal Supplement product SKUs include: *NEW* Numi Organic Damiana Relax Tea ($7.99 MSRP): A soothing floral cup that combines organic herbs Damiana, floral butterfly pea flower, rose, and lavender into a smooth, earthy, and mellow tea that relaxes the nervous system while elevating mood and increasing energy.* A soothing floral cup that combines organic herbs Damiana, floral butterfly pea flower, rose, and lavender into a smooth, earthy, and mellow tea that relaxes the nervous system while elevating mood and increasing energy.* *NEW* Numi Organic Damiana Uplift Tea ($7.99 MSRP) : A zesty blend of organic herbs Damiana, desert lime, lemongrass, lemon balm, rose petals, licorice root that refreshes and elevates mood with a bright, lemon flavor.* : A zesty blend of organic herbs Damiana, desert lime, lemongrass, lemon balm, rose petals, licorice root that refreshes and elevates mood with a bright, lemon flavor.* *NEW* Numi Organic Damiana Focus Tea ($7.99 MSRP): An earthy, herbaceous blend of organic herbs Damiana, ginkgo leaf, lions mane, hibiscus, peppermint, spearmint, licorice, marshmallow, and a touch of rosemary. Offering a tart, sweet flavor, this tea is rich in antioxidants that enhance mood and memory.* All the blends in the line are organic, ethically sourced, climate-neutral, use plant-based compostable wrappers, and include a carbon footprint label on the package, reflecting Numis commitment to positively impacting the world. 1* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. 2 Kaiser Family Foundation report: The Implications of COVID-19 for Mental Health and Substance Use, March 20, 2023 3 https://www.wholefoodsmagazine.com/articles/3273-herb-of-the-month-Damiana NUMI ORGANIC TEA Founded in 1999 by brother and sister Ahmed Rahim and Reem Hassani, Numi Organic Tea is an award-winning social enterprise, founding B Corp, and leading purchaser of organic, Fair Trade teas distributed in more than 50 countries. Still family-owned and headquartered in Oakland, California, Numi supports community development projects both locally and internationally. Numi won the 2022 NEXTY Award in the Best Functional Food & Beverage category for its Stay Healthy De-Stress Tea. The NEXTY Awards are bestowed upon products that display outstanding innovation, inspiration, and integrity. To date, Numi has contributed more than $1 million in Fair Trade Premiums for tea farmers. Numis Fair Trade and Fair Labor commitments have helped sponsor schools, hospitals, community centers, road construction, and other improvements for living standards in its tea-growing communities. Through plant-based and sustainable packaging, carbon neutrality, and regenerative organic agriculture, Numi strives to create lasting positive impacts on the planet and each other. To learn more, visit NumiTea.com and follow Numi at Instagram.com/NumiOrganicTea, Facebook.com/NumiTea, Pinterest.com/NumiTea, and Twitter.com/NumiTea. Attachments Charleston, South Carolina, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The College of Charleston has received a generous $2.5 million gift from the Zucker family. To attract talented engineering students, $2 million will go to scholarships for the newly created School of Engineering, Computing, and Mathematics; and to foster a culture of philanthropy, $500,000 will go to the Zucker Family Challenge on CofC Day over the next five years. The Zuckers scholarship commitment supports the Colleges vision for a vibrant School of Engineering, Computing, and Mathematics. The scholarships, with a preference to female and underrepresented minority candidates, will help recruit, inspire and prepare diverse talent from across the country who wish to combine a rigorous engineering education with a broad-based liberal arts curriculum, giving them a unique value proposition in the workforce. We are very interested in this area, says Anita Zucker, who received an honorary degree from the College in 2010. My late husband, Jerry Zucker, was gifted at math and science. These skills made him the incredible person he was and built our businesses. Couple that with liberal arts, including the importance of communication and writing proficiency, and it completes the person. In addition to engineering scholarships, Zucker partnered with the university to create a $500,000 Zucker Family Challenge for the annual CofC Day events. Over the next five years this challenge will both motivate the Colleges existing donor base and encourage new donors. During the 2024 CofC Day event, which took place on March 13 and 14, the Zucker Family Challenge awarded $100,000 to match the gifts of 2,000 donors. Along with financial contributions, Zucker plays an active role at the College. She serves on the Presidents Strategic Initiatives Committee, the School of Business Board of Governors and the Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program Advisory Board. We have been so fortunate to have the Zucker family as part of our campus community over the past 30 years, says College of Charleston President Andrew T. Hsu. The Zuckers latest gift for engineering scholarships will help the College provide a pipeline of talent to our regions growing high-tech, manufacturing and life sciences industries. We would not be where we are today without loyal donors like the Zuckers. Attachments CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DP World, a global leader in supply chain solutions, announces that six business units have been Certified by Great Place To Work in the Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Peru. Great Place To Work is the global authority on workplace culture, employee experience, and the leadership behaviors proven to deliver market-leading revenue, employee retention and increased innovation. These certifications evaluate companies on their ability to foster positive and sustainable workplace conditions and are based entirely on survey responses from current DP World employees. The survey found that over 80% of respondents are proud to be part of the DP World team and have a positive opinion of the companys corporate image. Respondents highlighted diversity and inclusion as among the core themes most valued in the workplace. Brian Enright, CEO, DP World Americas, said: We are honored to be recognized by Great Place To Work. At DP World, we believe that providing a workplace culture that empowers and inspires our employees to reach their full potential is essential to attract and retain top talent. This acknowledgment is especially meaningful as it reflects our ongoing commitment to our ambitious growth strategy across the Americas. This award is a true testament to all our employees hard work, dedication, and commitment to excellence. Sarah Lewis-Kulin, the Vice President of Global Recognition at Great Place To Work, said: Great Place To Work Certification is a highly coveted achievement that requires consistent and intentional dedication to the overall employee experience. By successfully earning this recognition, it is evident that DP World stands out as one of the top companies to work for, providing a great workplace environment for its employees. - END - DP World Americas Media Contact: Melina Vissat, Head of Communications M: (+1) 704-605-6159 E: melina.vissat@dpworld.com About Great Place to Work Certification Great Place To Work Certification is the most definitive "employer-of-choice" recognition that companies aspire to achieve. It is the only recognition based entirely on what employees report about their workplace experience specifically, how consistently they experience a high-trust workplace. Great Place to Work Certification is recognized worldwide by employees and employers alike and is the global benchmark for identifying and recognizing outstanding employee experience. Every year, more than 10,000 companies across 60 countries apply to get Great Place To Work-Certified. About Great Place To Work As the global authority on workplace culture, Great Place To Work brings 30 years of groundbreaking research and data to help every place become a great place to work for all. Their proprietary platform and For All Model helps companies evaluate the experience of every employee, with exemplary workplaces becoming Great Place To Work Certified or receiving recognition on a coveted Best Workplaces List. Learn more at greatplacetowork.com and follow Great Place To Work on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. About DP World Trade is the lifeblood of the global economy, creating opportunities and improving the quality of life for people around the world. DP World exists to make the worlds trade flow better, changing whats possible for the customers and communities we serve globally. With a dedicated, diverse and professional team of more than 108,100 employees from 161 nationalities, spanning 74 countries on six continents, DP World is pushing trade further and faster towards a seamless supply chain thats fit for the future. Were rapidly transforming and integrating our businesses -- Ports and Terminals, Marine Services, Logistics and Technology and uniting our global infrastructure with local expertise to create stronger, more efficient end-to-end supply chain solutions that can change the way the world trades. What's more, we're reshaping the future by investing in innovation. From intelligent delivery systems to automated warehouse stacking, were at the cutting edge of disruptive technology, pushing the sector towards better ways to trade, minimising disruptions from the factory floor to the customers door. WE MAKE TRADE FLOW TO CHANGE WHAT'S POSSIBLE FOR EVERYONE. WICHITA, Kan., May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Great Place to Work Institute has honored Legend Senior Living with certification as a Great Place to Work for the sixth time. The certification process considered more than 1,000 employee surveys from across Legend Senior Livings 58 locations in six states. Nearly 80% of Legend associates rated the company as a Great Place to Work, or 20 points higher than the average company. Legend is also rated higher than the national percentage of employees in senior living. As high as 90 percent of associates at several Legend residences rate the company as a GPTW. Great Place to Work, an independent research and consulting firm, evaluated more than 60 elements of team members experience on the job. These included employee pride in the organizations community impact, belief that their work makes a difference, and feeling their work has special meaning. The Great Place to Work Certification is extremely important to us as it reflects our consistent dedication to providing a positive experience for every Legend associate, no matter their role in the company, said Matt Buchanan, President, Legend Senior Living. It's especially gratifying that the surveys come from the employees themselves to a third-party, which will continue to help attract the most compassionate professionals to serve seniors. According to Great Place to Work research, employees are 15 times more likely to choose a company that is certified as a great workplace. Certified great work places also retain and attract more talent and provide a more positive and purposeful work environment. In addition to consistent certifications as a Great Place to Work, Legend residences are routinely recognized among the Top 25 Senior Living communities by Fortune Magazine and U.S. News & World Reports Best of Senior Living. About Legend Senior Living Legend Senior Living is a privately held senior housing and services company based in Wichita, Kansas. Legend owns and operates 58 residences spanning independent living, assisted living, memory care and personal care in Florida, Colorado, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania. About Great Place to Work Great Place to Work is the global authority on high-trust, high-performance workplace cultures. Through its certification programs, Great Place to Work recognizes outstanding workplace cultures and produces the annual Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For and Great Place to Work Best Workplaces lists for Millennials, Women, Diversity, Small & Medium Companies, industries and, internationally, countries and regions. FOR MORE INFORMATION Paul Hansen Vice President, Marketing Legend Senior Living 316-616-6288 paul.hansen@legendseniorliving.com Columbus, OH, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tim Lamb, President of the Tim Lamb Group, the largest auto dealership sales, and acquisitions firm in North America, has brokered the sale of two dealerships in Wooster, Ohio to Patrick OBrien of Firelands Auto Group. The sale which includes Toyota of Wooster and Volkswagen of Wooster marks the fourth and fifth acquisition Tim Lamb has handled for Patrick OBrien and the sixth and seventh dealerships that OBrien adds to the Firelands Auto Group portfolio. The dealerships now known as Firelands Toyota of Wooster and Firelands Volkswagen of Wooster, are located approximately 1.5 hours outside of Sandusky. Included in the sale of the two dealerships, is an off-site body shop that will undergo renovations and be converted to additional service stalls and lifts. The three separate buildings include over 26,000 square feet of facility space on three acres of land. Firelands Toyota of Wooster is located at 1363 W. Old Lincoln Way and Firelands Volkswagen of Wooster is located at 1423 W. Old Lincoln Way in Wooster, Ohio. Tim Lamb facilitated the original sale of Toyota of Wooster and Volkswagen of Wooster to Dave Hill in 2011. Hill, who still owns a used vehicle dealership in Wadsworth, Ohio, closed the transaction with OBrien and Firelands on April 30, 2024. Firelands Auto Group currently owns five additional dealerships and a Collision Center within 35 minutes of Sandusky, Ohio. Tim Lamb also brokered the deal for Firelands Auto Group for the purchase of Firelands Toyota of Sandusky and Firelands Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in 2020, and most recently Firelands Honda of Sandusky in 2023. When Patrick OBrien purchased his first Firelands Auto Group store in Norwalk, OH in 2017, he hoped to grow a larger footprint of brands with multiple stores throughout Northern Ohio. Now owning seven stores, Firelands Auto Group offers customers a broad selection of new and used vehicles at their Firelands Chevrolet Buick Dealership & Collision Center in Norwalk, Firelands Chevrolet of Vermilion, Firelands Toyota, Firelands Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, and Firelands Honda in Sandusky, and now Firelands Toyota of Wooster and Firelands Volkswagen of Wooster. We have worked with Tim Lamb on multiple transactions, and we not only consider him a trusted advisor, but an expert in his field, stated Patrick OBrien, Owner, Firelands Auto Group. Its been a pleasure working with Patrick to help him expand the Firelands platform and locate opportunities that fit his growth plans, stated Tim Lamb, President of the Tim Lamb Group. Having worked with each of these gentlemen previously allowed me to understand their wishes and in turn make the process that much smoother for both parties. For more information on Tim Lamb Group visit, https://timlambgroup.com/. Photo Credit: Firelands Auto Group About Tim Lamb Group Since 2006, Tim Lamb Group has been the number one choice for dealers looking to sell, or purchase, a new vehicle dealership. Fifteen regional directors handle billions of dollars per year in transactions for multiple dealer operators in every part of the United States and Canada. The Group has leveraged their factory management experience and retail dealership background to become the largest auto dealership sales and acquisitions firm in North America. For more information and dealerships for sale, visit www.timlambgroup.com. Attachments Union, N.J., May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wakefern Food Corp. has announced a $1 million donation for student scholarships at Kean University in honor of the companys recently-retired president, Kean alumnus Joe Sheridan 80. The New Jersey-based supermarket cooperative that includes retail banners ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace and the Fresh Grocer endowed the Joe Sheridan Resiliency Scholarship to help students in the Universitys College of Business and Public Management (CBPM) pursue their professional goals and dreams. Sheridan, an Elizabeth native who retired as president and chief operating officer in December after nearly five decades with Wakefern, is an active supporter of the Kean University Foundation as well as many other social and community causes. Wakeferns generous gift honoring Kean alumnus Joe Sheridan creates a lasting legacy at Kean and offers students a financial safety net to continue their studies and follow in the footsteps of Joe and other prominent Kean alumni, said Kean President Lamont O. Repollet, Ed.D. We are grateful to Joe for his support throughout his years, and we thank Wakefern for their generosity in his name. The Kean University Board of Trustees on May 6 voted to name the 6th floor boardroom at Keans Hynes Hall after Sheridan and expressed gratitude to Wakefern for the support. Sheridan said he was grateful for the education he received at Kean, which is New Jerseys urban research university. I have been blessed throughout my career to work in a field the supermarket industry that serves our communities every day and am pleased that Wakefern, where I spent so many happy and successful years, is helping students at Kean achieve their dreams, he said. I look forward to continuing to support my alma mater and its students. Steve Fastook 06H, chair of the Kean Board of Trustees, said Kean is pleased to honor Sheridan as a graduate and a supporter. Joe Sheridan was born and raised in Elizabeth, graduated from Kean, and has never forgotten his roots, Fastook said. We are proud to count Joe among our many successful Kean alumni, and deeply appreciate this incredible gift to our students. The Joe Sheridan Resiliency Scholarship will benefit, in perpetuity, Kean CBPM students who maintain a GPA of 3.0 or above and who have demonstrated financial need. It is our great pleasure to thank Joe Sheridan and Wakefern, and express our deepest appreciation for this gift, said William Miller, chief executive officer of the Kean University Foundation. Through Joes vision and compassion, Keans College of Business and Public Management students will get a helping hand to keep them on track to graduation and the chance to build their own successful careers. Sheridan earned a Bachelor of Science degree in management science from Kean in 1980 and his wife, Joan Sheridan, received her masters degree in educational administration and supervision from Kean in 1986. Joe Sheridan began working as a selector in Wakeferns Elizabeth, New Jersey warehouse in 1976, before he graduated. He rose through the ranks at Wakefern to become president of the company in 2011. During Sheridans tenure as vice president and president at Wakefern, he shepherded membership and store growth; launched one of the grocery industrys earliest online shopping platforms in 2002; and rolled out Wakeferns popular private label product lines Bowl & Basket, Wholesome Pantry and Paperbird. Wakefern, a retailer-owned cooperative with 45 members and 365 supermarkets, including ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, the Fresh Grocer, Gourmet Garage, Fairway Market, Dearborn Market and Di Bruno Bros., also became a leader in social responsibility under Sheridans stewardship. The creation of the Kean scholarship is in keeping with Joe Sheridans desire to give back, said Wakefern Chief Communications Officer Karen Meleta. Throughout his career, Joe furthered Wakeferns commitment to community through his support of our ShopRite Partners In Caring program, which was created in 1999 and to date has donated more than $62 million to hunger-fighting organizations, she added. Sheridan has been an active volunteer with Special Olympics New Jersey and other nonprofits such as the Embrace Kids Foundation and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Creating the scholarship at Kean University was a fitting way to honor his legacy at Wakefern. Attachment Flamingos flock hits Emirates flight near Mumbai Airport, plane grounded A flock of at least three dozen Flamingos flying above the Pant Nagar area in Ghatkopar hit an incoming Emirates flight minutes before it landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, official sources said here on Tuesday. The incident happened late on Monday night. The flight EK-508, with around 310 passengers, made a safe landing around 9.15 p.m., at the CSMIA, the sources said. The airline team had already informed the airport authorities about the incident and a check by the airport teams did not find any carcasses of the majestic pink birds on or around the runway and airport premises. Later, a team of forest officials recovered the carcasses of around 37 Flamingos in the Laxminagar area of Pant Nagar, outside the airport boundaries, and a search is on for more. Though the aircraft is grounded, officials declined to reveal the details of the purported damage suffered by the Emirates plane but said a statement is likely to be issued later. Wildlife experts like Vanshakti NGOs D. Stalin said that the cause of the birds flying into the Emirates aircraft is being probed, but surmised that the new power lines passing through the flamingo sanctuary in Thane Creek may have resulted in disorientation to the birds. According to experts of the Forest Department and Bombay Natural History Society, the remains of the dead birds were found strewn in the vicinity of Laxminagar which were collected and taken away for autopsy. BNHS Director Kishor Rithe said it could have been a major risk for the flight and the passengers on board, adding that the BNHS would assist the concerned authorities in probing the issue. Rithe said that the BNHS has earlier stressed the need to protect the high-tide roosting places in and around the coastal areas of Mumbai to prevent any disturbances to the migratory flocks of birds. An important wetland reserve, the Thane Creek Wildlife Sanctuary comprising the Flamingo Reserve was declared a Ramsar Site in August 2022. The 65 sqkm sanctuary, among the biggest in Asia, is spread from Vashi in Navi Mumbai to Bhandup and attracts lakhs of Flamingos plus other migratory birds for food and nesting, besides tourists and nature lovers. Barcelona, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IOTS World Congress & Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress 2024, Booth #57-- DigiCert, a leading global provider of digital trust, today announced the evolution of its IoT security solution with the launch of DigiCert Device Trust Manager, designed to safeguard IoT devices throughout the entire lifecycle. The new Device Trust Manager addresses the critical needs of device manufacturers for an integrated and scalable solution to secure IoT devices, manage complex compliance requirements, and ensure operational and device integrity amidst growing threats targeting devices. With the projected growth of 55.7 billion connected devices by the year 20251 -- spanning consumer electronics, healthcare equipment, industrial systems, and more -- the threat landscape grows more diverse and complex each day. The scale of this interconnected ecosystem also amplifies compliance issues, as organizations struggle to adhere to stringent security standards and regulations across diverse device types, environments, and borders. To effectively mitigate these risks, organizations need a comprehensive way to manage and secure the vast array of devices in various stages of the lifecycle while safeguarding data, privacy, and operational continuity in the face of evolving threats. "With Device Trust Manager, DigiCert is reinforcing its commitment to digital trust in the rapidly expanding IoT landscape, said Deepika Chauhan, Chief Product Officer, DigiCert. We're excited to introduce this integrated platform to new and existing customers, transforming IoT device security with comprehensive protection throughout the device lifecycle. Device Trust Manager checks all the IoT boxes, except the one labeled 'Ship and Pray.'" DigiCert Device Trust Manager offers unparalleled security for every stage of the IoT device lifecycle, from birth to decommission, ensuring compliance while improving operational efficiency. The solution prioritizes privacy, consumer safety, and business continuity via: Enhanced Compliance: Simplifies adherence to international regulations, supporting rigorous compliance demands with detailed SBOMs (Software Bill of Materials), real-time monitoring, and secure provisioning to maintain device integrity throughout the lifecycle. Simplifies adherence to international regulations, supporting rigorous compliance demands with detailed SBOMs (Software Bill of Materials), real-time monitoring, and secure provisioning to maintain device integrity throughout the lifecycle. Operational Efficiency: Automates security processes, enabling quicker device deployment with features like over-the-air (OTA) updates and zero-touch provisioning. Automates security processes, enabling quicker device deployment with features like over-the-air (OTA) updates and zero-touch provisioning. Risk Mitigation: Improves anomaly detection capabilities to protect against downtime and data breaches. Improves anomaly detection capabilities to protect against downtime and data breaches. Scalable Security: Easily scales from small to large deployments, adapting to various device ecosystems. The latest solution from DigiCert, built upon the already impressive DigiCert One platform, shows continued innovation, said Sam Gabbay, President, TUO Accessories. Once again, DigiCert is leading the way by showing leadership, commitment to IoT security and especially their customer experience by thinking 10 steps ahead for them. I am proud to be a DigiCert customer and am excited to use Device Trust Manager, which shows promise to improve an already streamlined workflow. For more information about DigiCert Device Trust Manager and its benefits, read here. 1 Future of Industry Ecosystems: Shared Data and Insights, IDC, January 6, 2021 About DigiCert DigiCert is a leading global provider of digital trust, enabling individuals and businesses to engage online with the confidence that their footprint in the digital world is secure. DigiCert ONE, the platform for digital trust, provides organizations with centralized visibility and control over a broad range of public and private trust needs, securing websites, enterprise access and communication, software, identity, content and devices. DigiCert pairs its award-winning software with its industry leadership in standards, support and operations, and is the digital trust provider of choice for leading companies around the world. For more information, visit www.digicert.com or follow on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/digicert-inc-/ Attachment MIRAMAR, FLORIDA, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Approaching what AAA anticipates to be the second most-traveled U.S. Memorial Day Weekend in 20 years, cruising also is expected to be the fastest-growing tourism sector, according to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). The Summer of 2024 no doubt will fuel that cruising growth. With this exciting forecast, staying connected on a cruise is a key consideration. Travelers will be seeking the balance of adventure with the need to stay in touch on social media, with family and friends, as well as with work requirements. In preparation for this burgeoning summer travel season, cruisers can equip themselves with the following essential knowledge to stay connected: 1. **Assess Your Anticipated Mobile Device Usage**: You should determine whether you will be a moderate mobile device user during your cruise or a heavy user. You will be a moderate user if you plan to conduct voice and video calls; to text; to engage in light social media, emailing, and internet browsing, as well as secure data transactions such as mobile banking. Or you may expect heavy usage, with hours of social media, emailing, and internet browsing; streaming; or downloading large files. 2. **Explore Cellular Services for Moderate Usage**: For moderate usage, leveraging your home cellular provider's service through the Cellular at Sea network can provide convenient connectivity in staterooms and public spaces aboard ships. With affordable and reliable plans, cruisers can stay connected thanks to more than 400 partner cellular providers with service on 200 ships. Cellular at Sea becomes available when your ship gets 12 nautical miles from shore (after about an hour). You will receive a text message from your home provider with detailed rates, allowing you to opt in or out of the offer. Opting in will allow you to use your phone as normal, with slight nuances such as needing international country codes to place phone calls. Keep Airplane Mode turned off for Cellular at Sea to allow calls, texts, and data services to work. You also will need to enable International Roaming before setting sail. Your cellular provider will charge you following your cruise in your next billing cycle. To avoid unwanted roaming charges, close out apps not in use, and turn off auto-updates on apps, location services, and auto fetch on email. 3. **Opt for a Wi-Fi Package for Heavy Usage**: Heavy mobile device users requiring robust internet access for email, browsing, and social media; streaming; and downloading large files should subscribe to cruise line Wi-Fi packages. These packages cater to various heavy online usage needs, and ensure seamless connectivity throughout the voyage. You should subscribe to a package that allows you to access the internet for a set fee. Consider one that suits your needs for the most bandwidth-intensive applications. 4. **Combine Cellular and Wi-Fi**: If you anticipate spending a lot of time on the internet but also need your phone for clients, babysitters, bosses, or family to reach you, consider utilizing both cellular services for your phone and Wi-Fi for your laptop. Research that WMS conducted among cruisers in 2023 indicated that guests who utilize both services report higher satisfaction with their onboard communication experience. By following these guidelines, and staying informed about new packages and promotions, cruisers can enjoy a fulfilling voyage staying connected with family and friends while remaining available for important personal and/or work updates. Cruisers can visit Cellular at Sea, as well as their cruise operators web site, for more information on offerings. About WMS WMS is the premier global provider of wireless connectivity services connecting people and businessanywhere. WMS pioneered the first wireless network on a cruise ship 20 years ago. It remains the trusted strategic partner for connectivity in the most challenging and hard-to-reach places, for passengers, crew, and onboard operations, delivering best in class technology, service, and revenue growth for its clients. Passengers and crew of cruise and ferry lines rely on its hundreds of networks, its unmatched engineering expertise, its global roaming partners, and its leading customer support to connectanywhere. For more information, please visit https://wmsatsea.com. Attachments Dallas Twp., PA, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Misericordia University Education Club, inspired by the Mercy Girl Challenge introduced by Sr. Pat McCann, has successfully raised $1,825 for the Mercy Girl Effect initiative. The check was presented to Sr. Deirdre Mullan during a heartfelt ceremony in Insalaco Hall on May 2, 2024. This fundraising achievement was the culmination of a series of events organized by the club this spring, including a Chick-fil-A fundraiser and a campus-wide bake sale. Additional contributions came from personal donations made by the faculty and staff of the universitys Teacher Education Department. The presentation event marked a milestone for the clubs leadership team, Kaitlyn Shatzel, Vivian Wright, Alexandra Pehala, and Ariana Nolter, under the advisement of Steve Broskoske, Ed.D., associate professor and club advisor. Both Sr. Pat McCann and Sr. Deirdre Mullan attended the ceremony, underscoring the significance of the initiative and the collective effort of the Misericordia community, which played a crucial role in this achievement. Broskoske expressed his pride in the students initiative. Todays presentation is a testament to our students hard work and dedication inspired by Sr. Pat McCanns challenge. Their commitment has raised substantial funds and awareness for the Mercy Girl Effect, empowering young women globally. For more information about Misericordia Universitys Teacher Education Program, click here. For more information about the Mercy Girl Effect, click here. About the Mercy Girl Effect: The Mercy Girl Effect is a global advocacy movement that empowers young women through education to actively resist injustices. It encourages students to act in solidarity with young women worldwide, promoting educational opportunities and fighting exploitation. Attachment Jersey City, NJ, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Personal injury victims often endure a multitude of challenges, ranging from physical discomfort and financial strain to emotional distress. Additionally, navigating the complexities of dealing with insurance companies can add further hurdles to their recovery journey. Fortunately, working with a personal injury lawyer offsets some of these challenges, empowering victims to regain control of their lives or move forward. For Jersey City clients, Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers can recommend proper treatment for injuries to prevent health complications, advise family members/friends to receive emotional support, calculate the damages a victim can receive from a claim, and communicate with insurance companies/at-fault parties. In personal injury law, individuals who have suffered harm due to negligence can pursue the matter in court to recover damages for their injuries or property. The practice area is vast, including auto (car, truck, motorcycle, pedestrian, bicycle, train) accidents, construction accidents, Uber/Lyft accidents, and more. Without legal representation, insurance companies often employ tactics to minimize payouts for injury victims or deny claims altogether. Moreover, without legal guidance, victims may not fully understand their legal rights, including how much time they can take off work or their ability to hold third parties accountable for their injuries. However, an attorney with a clients interest at heart can file an insurance claim correctly, shoulder the burdens of deadlines, conduct extensive investigations to gather evidence, leverage resources to negotiate, and take a case to court if necessary. When seeking a Jersey City injury lawyer, victims or family members in Jersey City are encouraged to choose one with experience in personal injury law and a track record of success in similar cases. Plus, working with a local lawyer gives clients the peace of mind of knowing they have connections with other firms/legal professionals and understand Jersey Citys laws/courts. Reviewing testimonials and case studies can help a victim understand a lawyers approach, effectiveness, or compassion. Values like personalized attention, open communication, regular/constant case updates, honesty, integrity, and community can also narrow the search. The first step to representation is usually an initial consultation to discuss the specifics of a case and understand the available legal options. In the meeting, the client should bring any legal documents (medical, accident, or police reports), tell their side of the story, show photos or videos, and ask as many questions as possible. Skilled personal injury attorneys navigate the complexities and details of the claim process with legal techniques and current technology. They can recover economic (medical bills, property damage, lost wages, funeral costs) and noneconomic (pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of companionship) damages while ensuring similar cases dont reoccur. For victims of personal injury in Jersey City, Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers provides reliable legal representation, helping them recover losses and navigate the often-complex legal landscape with compassion and dedication. About Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers Founded in 1967, Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers is a multi-practice firm that puts clients interests first. With extensive experience in handling various legal matters, including personal injury cases, the firm understands the challenges individuals face after accidents caused by negligence. Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers provides tailored legal support and personalized attention to guide clients through the complexities of the legal process with care and understanding. *Attorney advertising. Results may vary depending on particular facts or legal circumstances. Media Contact: Company Name: Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers Contact Person: Edward P. Capozzi Phone: (201) 583-5765 Address: 239 Washington St Suite 307 City: Jersey City State: NJ Postal Code: 07302 Country: US Website: https://www.njlawresults.com/jersey-city-personal-injury-lawyers/ ATHENS, Greece, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp. (we, the Company, OET or Okeanis) (NYSE:ECO / OSE:OET) is pleased to announce the following financings update relating to its fleet. On May 20, 2024, we entered into a new $60.0 million senior secured credit facility to refinance the Companys existing facility secured over the VLCC vessel Nissos Kythnos and for general corporate purposes (the Nissos Kythnos New Facility). The Nissos Kythnos New Facility is provided by Danish Ship Finance A/S and the transaction is expected to close in May 2024. It is priced at 140 basis points over the applicable Term SOFR, until December 2026. Thereafter, a new applicable margin will be mutually agreed between the parties, for the remaining duration of the facility, which matures in six years. If the parties do not agree to a new applicable margin, the Company will have the ability to prepay the facility at no additional cost. The facility will be repaid in quarterly instalments of approximately $1.041 million each, together with a balloon installment of approximately $35.024 million payable at maturity, is secured by, among other things, security over the Nissos Kythnos, and is guaranteed by the Company. The facility also includes a sustainability linked margin adjustment provision, starting in 2025, whereby the applicable margin may decrease or increase by 5 basis points per year, subject to the Company meeting certain sustainability linked targets. On May 21, 2024, we entered into a supplemental agreement to our senior secured credit facility currently financing the VLCC vessel Nissos Donoussa (the Nissos Donoussa Supplemental Agreement). The Nissos Donoussa Supplemental Agreement, which is expected to become effective in May 2024, provides for a reduction of the margin to 165 basis points over the applicable Term SOFR, through the duration of the facility. No other material terms of the facility have been supplemented or amended. Iraklis Sbarounis, CFO of the Company, commented: We continue our focus in improving our capital structure and are very pleased to announce these two transactions, which reduce further our cost of debt. We are currently observing a very competitive financing market landscape for us, a testament to the positioning of the Company and our strong relationships with our financiers. We are delighted to commence partnerships with new ones and at the same time are proud and thankful to be able to benefit from ones we and our major shareholder have established and cultivated for many years. These transactions reduce our applicable pricing by approximately 100 basis points on our two VLCC vessels, and continue the momentum from our series of accretive refinancings and financing amendments over the last 10 months. We actively continue working on sourcing debt capital at favorable and value-creating terms to finance the purchase option of our Suezmax Poliegos under its current finance lease this summer, and target to provide further updates in due course. Contacts Company Iraklis Sbarounis, CFO Tel: +30 210 480 4200 ir@okeanisecotankers.com Investor Relations / Media Contact Nicolas Bornozis, President Capital Link, Inc. 230 Park Avenue, Suite 1540, New York, N.Y. 10169 Tel: +1 (212) 661-7566 okeanisecotankers@capitallink.com This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. About OET OET is a leading international tanker company providing seaborne transportation of crude oil and refined products. The Company was incorporated on April 30, 2018 under the laws of the Republic of the Marshall Islands and is listed on Oslo Brs under the symbol OET and the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ECO. The sailing fleet consists of six modern scrubber-fitted Suezmax tankers and eight modern scrubber-fitted VLCC tankers. Forward-Looking Statements This communication contains forward-looking statements, including as defined under U.S. federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements provide the Companys current expectations or forecasts of future events. Forward-looking statements include statements about the Companys expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, intentions, assumptions and other statements that are not historical facts or that are not present facts or conditions. Words or phrases such as anticipate, believe, continue, estimate, expect, hope, intend, may, ongoing, plan, potential, predict, project, should, will or similar words or phrases, or the negatives of those words or phrases, may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not necessarily mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or implied by the forward-looking statements. The Companys actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements for many reasons, including as described in the Companys filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Accordingly, you should not unduly rely on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this communication. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, the Company's operating or financial results; the Company's liquidity, including its ability to service its indebtedness; competitive factors in the market in which the Company operates; shipping industry trends, including charter rates, vessel values and factors affecting vessel supply and demand; future, pending or recent acquisitions and dispositions, business strategy, areas of possible expansion or contraction, and expected capital spending or operating expenses; risks associated with operations; broader market impacts arising from war (or threatened war) or international hostilities; risks associated with pandemics (including COVID-19), including effects on demand for oil and other products transported by tankers and the transportation thereof; and other factors listed from time to time in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Except to the extent required by law, the Company expressly disclaims any obligations or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based. You should, however, review the factors and risks the Company describes in the reports it files and furnishes from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which can be obtained free of charge on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissions website at www.sec.gov. NEWARK, Ohio, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Park National Corporations (NYSE American: PRK) (Park) board of directors announced today that they elected Karen Morrison and Kelly Gratz to serve as directors effective July 1, 2024. Both will also join the board of directors of The Park National Bank, Parks banking subsidiary, effective on the same date. These elections expand Parks board to 16 directors, including one director emeritus. Karen and Kelly bring wisdom and a variety of experiences to Park, said Park Chair and Chief Executive Officer David Trautman. Were fortunate they are willing to offer their considerable talents to us as we continue to grow and find new ways to serve our stakeholders. Kelly Gratz is the chief executive officer of G2O, a customer experience transformation company that helps businesses solve problems by using technology, data and analytics, products and talent. She has more than 35 years of experience serving as an executive leader in the technology, healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. I am thrilled to join Parks board of directors, it is a profound honor, said Gratz. I deeply appreciate the organizations values, steadfast commitment to integrity and personal approach to connecting with associates and customers. Gratz has been a member of the Healthcare Womens Business Associations (HBA) advisory board (Ohio chapter), and the vice chair on Marburn Academys board of trustees. She was named Rising Star by the HBA in 2008 and recognized in PharmaVoice Top 100 in 2012. Gratz earned a bachelors degree from the University of Dayton. Karen Morrison serves as president of the OhioHealth Foundation and senior vice president of OhioHealth Corporation. She has been with OhioHealth for over 30 years and currently leads the enterprise strategy for external affairs including community relations, corporate reinvestment, health equity and government affairs. In her role as foundation president Morrison oversees philanthropy for the enterprise. I am humbled by the opportunity to serve as a director for Park and eager to bring fresh perspectives to the table, said Morrison. I look forward to contributing to Parks continued success and finding meaningful ways to further its impact. Morrison serves on the board of Greif, Inc. (NYSE: GEF), and has extensive nonprofit board service. She is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, Women Corporate Directors, the Executive Leadership Council and The Links, Inc. Morrison was honored in the inaugural class of Columbus Business Firsts Women of Influence and received its first Businesswoman of the Year award. She was also named to the 2023 list of Directors to Watch by Directors & Boards Magazine. She earned a bachelors degree from Vanderbilt University, a graduate degree in preventive medicine from The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health and juris doctor from Capital University. Karen and Kellys successes in leading companies across different industries are a true testament to their skillsets, said Donna Alvarado, Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee for Parks board of directors. Their proven leadership and dedication seamlessly align with our mission and vision. I look forward to tapping into their wealth of knowledge to help us navigate what the future holds. Morrison will serve in the class of directors whose terms expire on the date of Parks annual meeting of shareholders in 2026. Gratzs term will expire on the date of Parks annual meeting of shareholders in 2027. They will both serve as members of the boards Risk Committee. Headquartered in Newark, Ohio, Park National Corporation has $9.9 billion in total assets (as of March 31, 2024). Park's banking operations are conducted through its subsidiary, The Park National Bank. Other Park subsidiaries are Scope Leasing, Inc. (d.b.a. Scope Aircraft Finance), Guardian Financial Services Company (d.b.a. Guardian Finance Company) and SE Property Holdings, LLC. Photos accompanying this announcement are available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/24be3698-a24b-426d-98dd-8f30cdcbe984 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9453a6e8-598e-4295-9483-5c99ab8be800 VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Glenn Gould Foundation proudly announces the eagerly anticipated hometown performance of one of the great future stars of romantic piano music, Ryan Wang. Set to take place in Vancouver, Canada, this concert represents a significant milestone in Ryans musical journey and highlights the Foundations commitment to nurturing young artists and fostering cultural enrichment in local communities across Canada. Date: Monday, June 03, 2024 at 7:30pm Venue: Vancouver Playhouse Tickets: https://www.vtixonline.com/the-glenn-gould-foundation/4256/ Even though no one in his family had been a musician, Ryans love for the piano sparked at a young age. At the age of four, Ryan began playing the piano; in 2013, he began his musical studies under the tutelage of renowned teachers Professor Lee Kum Sing and Dr. Sunsung Kong. He is currently studying on a music scholarship with Mr. Gareth Owen at Eton College in the UK and is in the Artist Diploma program with Professor Marian Rybicki at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris in France. Recently, Ryan received his Artist Diploma with Distinction at the Ecole Normale de Musique. Not only did he earn the highest mark among his fellow Artist Diploma students, but he also won the 2024 Prix Cortot in Paris, making Ryan the youngest student in history to win this prestigious prize. As a young child, Ryan rarely felt nervous before his performances, even at prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall: the joy of playing the piano overpowered any other emotions. However, as he grew older, Ryan learned that nervousness could be a helpful tool to channel emotions into creating the spontaneous energy of a live performance. I definitely do feel nervous at times, but it reminds me that I am human and that we have complex emotions, said Ryan. But I think in the end its about relaxation and being at peace when youre at the piano, even when youre nervousjust to be relaxed in your whole body makes a difference. Thats been my big discovery this past year. Ryans remarkable journey from a young piano prodigy to an internationally celebrated musician serves as a beacon of inspiration for aspiring young artists, locally and around the world. On June 1 at 1:00pm, Ryan will present a masterclass at Tom Lee in Vancouver. By sharing his experiences, techniques, and insights, he provides invaluable mentorship to young musicians, encouraging them to pursue their passions with dedication and confidence. In anticipation of the upcoming concert, Ryan Wang expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to perform in his hometown. Returning to Vancouver is special for me. It is where my musical journey began, and I am excited to share my music with the community that has supported me from the start. The Glenn Gould Foundation remains steadfast in its mission to recognize and celebrate outstanding artistic achievement, with Ryan Wangs homecoming performance serving as a reminder of the transformative power of music on individuals and communities alike. As the Foundation continues to advocate for the universal language of music, it reaffirms its commitment to inspiring future generations of artists and fostering a more harmonious and compassionate world. About The Glenn Gould Foundation The Glenn Gould Foundation is a registered Canadian charitable organization based in Toronto. Inspired by the legacy of legendary Canadian pianist Glenn Gould, the Foundation advances the understanding and appreciation of Goulds artistry and his belief in music as a transformative force in individual lives and across society. The signature project of The Glenn Gould Foundation is the presentation of the $100,000 Glenn Gould Prize, one of the worlds most prestigious awards for artistic achievement, which has sometimes been referred to as Canadas Nobel Prize of the Arts, because of its focus on global excellence, innovation, and the power of the arts to inspire positive impacts throughout society. RYAN WANG is available for media interviews. Limited press tickets are also available. For more information or to schedule interview times, please contact: Media Contact: Kelvin Yeung Account Director kelvin@hamazakiwong.com 778.998.9234 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9cf7648c-37e5-4c33-b474-49633c9614f2 VICTORIA, British Columbia, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cascadia Liquor broke the law by using prohibited replacement workers to perform duties normally done by its striking employees, according to an unfair labour practice (ULP) complaint. SEIU Local 2 filed the complaint today at the BC Labour Relations Board. The BC Labour Relations Code (the Code) prohibits employers from unfairly diluting workers collective power by using the services of new hires or recent transfers to mitigate the effects of a strike. In this case, the complaint says Cascadia, which is owned by the Truffles Group, violated the Code when it directed several newly hired managers and head office employees to perform work that, but for the strike, would have been performed by striking workers. The workers are inviting the community to join them in a rally calling on Cascadia to respect workers rights. WHAT : Solidarity Saturday Rally WHEN : Saturday May 25, 2024 @ noon WHERE : Cascadia Liquor at Quadra Village (2670 Fifth Street, Victoria) Cascadia has been using replacement workers to perform bargaining unit work, including operating the cash register and assisting customers. According to the complaint, this is against the law. The employer has also been using a replacement worker to perform deliveries. Prior to the strike, a union member at Quadra performed Cascadia Liquors deliveries in the Victoria area. Managers only assisted with deliveries on exceedingly rare occasions. But since the strike began, management has been performing deliveries. A copy of the legal complaint with additional details will be available at: www.Thirstyforafairdeal.ca. WHAT THE LAW SAYS ON REPLACEMENT WORKERS Section 68 of the Code prohibits the use of replacement workers to perform bargaining unit work: 68 (1) During a lockout or strike authorized by this Code an employer must not use the services of a person, whether paid or not, a) who is hired or engaged after the earlier of the date on which the notice to commence collective bargaining is given and the date on which bargaining begins, b) who ordinarily works at another of the employer's places of operations, c) who is transferred to a place of operations in respect of which the strike or lockout is taking place, if he or she was transferred after the earlier of the date on which the notice to commence bargaining is given and the date on which bargaining begins, or d) who is employed, engaged or supplied to the employer by another person, to perform e) the work of an employee in the bargaining unit that is on strike or locked out, or f) the work ordinarily done by a person who is performing the work of an employee in the bargaining unit that is on strike or locked out. REMEDY The Union has requested a number of remedies including that the Board issue a declaration that the Employer violated the Labour Relations Code; order Cascadia to cease and desist the violations; and order that Cascadia pay damages for this conduct. BACKGROUND Cascadia workers from Quadra Village, Eagle Creek, and Colwood have been on strike for respect and fair wages since May 4, 2024. They joined SEIU Local 2 last year because they needed improvements and fairness at the workplace, including better wages. Like many retail workers, theyve struggled to make ends meet, and cannot count on regular raises that keep up with the rising costs of living. For more information, please visit www.Thirstyforafairdeal.ca SEIU Local 2 represents 20,000 workers in British Columbia, Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Alberta. We are proud members of the largest, fastest growing and most dynamic union in North America. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES TORONTO, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FRNT Financial Inc. (TSXV:FRNT) (OTCQB:FRFLF) (FSE:XZ3) (the Company or FRNT) today announces the closing of its previously announced brokered private placement offering (the Offering) for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $1.24 million. Under the terms of the Offering, the Company issued 2,070,000 units (Units), at a price of C$0.60 per Unit, for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $1.24 million. Fort Capital Securities Ltd. (the Agent) acted as sole agent and bookrunner in connection with the Offering. Each Unit consists of one common share of the Company (a Common Share) and one-half of one Common Share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a Warrant). Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Common Share (each, a Warrant Share) at an exercise price of C$0.90 until May 21, 2027, subject to accelerated expiry in the event the volume-weighted average closing price of the Common Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (the TSXV) is $1.20 or more for ten (10) consecutive trading days, in which case the Company may accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants to the date that is thirty (30) days following the issuance of a news release by the Company announcing such acceleration. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the Offering to continue scaling its business and building out its capital base, and for working capital and general corporate purposes. In connection with the Offering and as consideration for their services, the Company paid to the Agent a cash commission of $74,520 and issued to the Agent 124,200 warrants of the Company (the Broker Warrants). Each Broker Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one Unit at a price of C$0.60 at any time on or before May 21, 2027. The Units were offered pursuant to the listed issuer financing exemption (the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption) as outlined in Part 5A of National Instrument 45-106 -- Prospectus Exemptions (NI 45-106) in the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario as well as certain offshore jurisdictions. An offering document related to the portion of the Offering conducted under the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption has been filed on the Companys profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.com. The Common Shares and Warrants issuable from the sale of Units under the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption are not subject to a hold period in accordance with Canadian securities laws and are immediately freely tradeable, while the Broker Warrants and underlying securities are subject to a four-month hold period. The securities offered pursuant to the Offering have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act), or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as such terms are defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) absent registration under the U.S. Securities Act and any applicable U.S. state securities laws or compliance with an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor will there be any sale of the securities in any State in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. David Washburn, President of the Company, and Alex McAulay, Chief Financial Officer of the Company each participated in the Offering, purchasing 100,000 Units and 41,667 Units, respective, and the Offering accordingly constitutes a related party transaction pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions (MI 61-101). The Offering is exempt from (i) the formal valuation requirement of MI 61-101 pursuant to the Section 5.5(b) of MI 61-101, as the common shares are not listed or quoted on any of the stock exchanges or markets listed in Section 5.5(b) of MI 61-101, and (ii) the minority shareholder approval requirement of MI 61-101 pursuant to Section 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61- 101, as the fair market value of the Units issued does not exceed 25% of the Companys market capitalization. A material change report was not filed by the Company at least 21 days before the closing of the Offering, as the participation of such insiders was not determined until shortly prior to closing and the Company wished to close expeditiously to confirm funds for the Offering. The Offering was approved by all of the independent directors of the Company. Upon completion of the Offering: (a) Mr. Washburn owns and controls an aggregate of 593,198 Common Shares and convertible securities entitling him to acquire an additional 1,853,930 Common Shares representing approximately 1.59% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares as of May 21, 2024 (or approximately 6.26% calculated on a partially diluted basis, assuming the exercise of the 1,853,930 convertible securities only); and (b) Mr. McAulay owns and controls an aggregate of 41,667 Common Shares and convertible securities entitling him to acquire an additional 520,833 Common Shares representing approximately 0.11% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares as of May 21, 2024 (or approximately 1.49% calculated on a partially diluted basis, assuming the exercise of the 520,833 convertible securities only). About FRNT FRNT is an institutional capital markets and advisory platform focused on digital assets. FRNT, through a technology-forward and compliant operation, aims to bridge the worlds of traditional and web-based finance. Partnering with both financial institutions and crypto native firms, FRNT operates 5 synergistic business lines including deliverable trading services, institutional structured derivative products, merchant banking, advisory and consulting, and principal investments & trading. Co-founded in 2018 by CEO Stephane Ouellette, FRNT is a global firm headquartered in Toronto, Canada. FRNT Financial Inc. Chief Executive Officer Stephane Ouellette investors@frnt.io 833 222-3768 https://frnt.io Neither the TSXV nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable law which may include, without limitation, statements relating to the use of proceeds of the Offering, the receipt of final TSXV approval in respect of the Offering, acceleration of the expiry date of the Warrants, the technical, financial and business prospects of the Company, its assets and other matters. Generally, forward-looking statements and forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, believes, or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. All forward-looking statements and forward-looking information are based on reasonable assumptions that have been made by the Company as at the date of such information. Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and forward-looking information, including but not limited to: the general risks associated with the speculative nature of the Companys business, current global financial conditions, uncertainty of additional capital, price volatility, no history of earnings, government regulation in the industries in which the Company operates, political and economic risk, absence of public trading market, arbitrary offering price, dilution to the Companys common shares, dependence on key personnel, currency fluctuations, insurance and uninsured risks, competition, legal proceedings, conflicts of interest and lack of dividends. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements and forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement or forward-looking information that is included herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. ANY FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS RESTRICTION MAY CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF U.S. SECURITIES LAW CALGARY, Canada, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- High Arctic Energy Services Inc. (TSX: HWO) ("High Arctic" or the "Corporation") is pleased to announce that the Toronto Stock Exchange (the "TSX") has conditionally approved the listing on the TSX of the new common shares of High Arctic ("New High Arctic Common Shares") which will be issued to the shareholders of High Arctic ("Shareholders") in exchange for their existing common shares ("Common Shares") pursuant to the terms of the previously announced plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement") between the Corporation and High Arctic Overseas Holdings Corp. (SpinCo). It is a condition of closing of the Arrangement that the TSX conditionally approve the listing of the New High Arctic Common Shares on the TSX or the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") on completion of the Arrangement. The TSX has also conditionally accepted the previously announced return of capital of up to $38.2 million (up to $0.76 per common share) of High Arctic (the "Return of Capital"). The purpose of the Arrangement is to separate the Corporation's North American and Papua New Guinea businesses. As at the closing of the Arrangement, which is expected to occur on July 31, 2024, each Shareholder will receive one-quarter of one (1/4) common share of SpinCo ("SpinCo Common Share") and one-quarter of one (1/4) New High Arctic Common Share for each Common Share held. The Arrangement, the Return of Capital, and other resolutions related to the reorganization, as well as annual meeting matters, will be put to the Shareholders for approval at an annual general and special meeting of shareholders of the Corporation to be held in Calgary, Alberta on June 17, 2024 (the "Meeting"). Assuming the required Shareholder approval is obtained at the Meeting, the Return of Capital is expected to be distributed to Shareholders prior to the closing of the Arrangement. The Arrangement remains subject to the satisfaction of closing conditions, including the final approval of the listing of the New High Arctic Common Shares by the TSX, the approval of the listing of the SpinCo Common Shares on the TSXV, and final approval of the Arrangement by the Court of King's Bench of Alberta. For more information on the Arrangement and the Return of Capital, please see the information circular dated May 9, 2024 in respect of the Meeting, available on the Companys SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.com. About High Arctic High Arctic is an energy services provider. High Arctic is a market leader in Papua New Guinea providing drilling and specialized well completion services and supplies rental equipment including rig matting, camps, material handling and drilling support equipment. In western Canada, High Arctic provides pressure control and other oilfield equipment on a rental basis to exploration and production companies, from its bases in Whitecourt and Red Deer, Alberta. For further information, please contact: Lonn Bate Interim Chief Financial Officer 1.587.318.2218 1.800.668.7143 High Arctic Energy Services Inc. Suite 2350, 3305th Avenue SW Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 0L4 website: www.haes.ca Email: info@haes.ca Forward-Looking Statements Forward-Looking Statements. Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or High Arctic's and SpinCo's future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intend", "could", "might", "should", "believe" and similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. High Arctic believes that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this press release should not be unduly relied upon by investors. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are expressly qualified, in their entirety, by this cautionary statement. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking statements, pertaining to the following: the timing and anticipated receipt of required regulatory (including stock exchange), court, and shareholder approvals for the Arrangement; the ability of High Arctic to satisfy the other conditions to, and to complete, the Arrangement; and the closing of the Arrangement, the approval by the Board and the amount and payment of the Return of Capital. In respect of the forward-looking statements and information concerning the anticipated completion of the proposed Arrangement, the anticipated timing for completion of the Arrangement and related transactions, High Arctic has provided them in reliance on certain assumptions that it believes are reasonable at this time, including assumptions as to the time required to prepare and mail shareholder meeting materials, including the required management information circular; the ability of the parties to receive, in a timely manner, the necessary regulatory, court, shareholder and other third party approvals; and the ability of the parties to satisfy, in a timely manner, the other conditions to the closing of the Arrangement. These dates may change for a number of reasons, including unforeseen delays in preparing meeting material; inability to secure necessary shareholder, regulatory, court or other third-party approvals in the time assumed or the need for additional time to satisfy the other conditions to the completion of the Arrangement. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release concerning these times. This forward-looking information represents High Arctics views as of the date of this document and such information should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any date subsequent to the date of this document. High Arctic has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to vary from those current expectations or estimates expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. However, there may be other factors that cause results, performance or achievements not to be as expected or estimated and that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from current expectations. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as results and future events could differ materially from those expected or estimated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as required by law, High Arctic undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. Lankan intelligence authorities start fresh probe on ISIS activities after arrest of four suspects in Ahmedabad Sri Lankan intelligence agencies have launched a fresh probe into the ISIS activities on the island nation following the arrest of four suspected ISIS terrorists, all natives of Sri Lanka, from the Ahmedabad airport. Sources said that Sri Lanka's State Intelligence has requested for more details from their Indian counterparts to identify the background of arrested suspects in Ahmedabad and their alleged links to ISIS. According to reports, the four suspects - Mohammad Nusrat (33), Mohammad Farish (35), Mohammad Nafran (27) and Mohammad Rashdeen (43) - left Colombo for Chennai a few days ago. From there, they travelled to Ahmedabad where they were arrested by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad on Monday. The reports stated that the suspects were given a task by their Pakistani handler to carry out terror attacks in Gujarat in order to "teach a lesson" to Jews, Christians and members of the BJP and RSS. Sri Lanka's Public Security Minister Tiran Alles told the media that the Lankan security agencies are taking the developments quite seriously and are closely monitoring the situation. "We are working in close coordination with our Indian counterparts to ensure that all necessary measures are taken to address any potential threat," Alles told the media. Five years ago, a group of Islamic State bombers carried out a series of suicide attacks in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, killing 270 people, including 45 foreigners, and injuring over 500. Weeks before the coordinated bomb attacks on three churches and several hotels, the Indian intelligence agencies had alerted their Lankan counterparts about the Islamic State's plan to carry out such suicide missions. However, in a major security lapse, the Lankan authorities ignored the warnings. They later admitted to receiving an "intelligence brief" from India about six terrorists planning a suicide attack on some important churches in the country. VANCOUVER, May 21, 2024 - Bedford Metals Corp. (TSX-V: BFM) (the "Company" or "Bedford") is pleased to announce that following a successful diligence review, it has elected to enter into a definitive option agreement (the "Agreement") with an arm's-length party pursuant to which it has been granted the rights to acquire the Close Lake Uranium Project, a further addition to the Company's mineral project portfolio. The Close Lake Uranium Project lies on the eastern side of the Athabasca Basin, adjoining claims held by Cameco Corporation, the largest uranium producer in the world. The Project is approximately 245 hectares and lies within the primary exploration corridor, which hosts the Keys Lake mine, the Cigar Lake Mine and the McArthur River Mine. The property is accessible through a network of roads and trails. After completing due diligence, Bedford elected to proceed with a definitive agreement, recognizing the potential of the Project to contribute to the Company's strategic objectives. The Project's promising attributes align with Bedford commitment to creating shareholder value through the development of high-quality mineral projects. Peter Born, President of Bedford, commented "We are thrilled to move forward with the Close Lake Uranium Project, which marks another step in our journey to build a world-class mineral project portfolio. I want to extend my gratitude to the entire team for their hard work through the diligence process and ongoing effort to unlock value for our shareholders." Bedford remains committed to providing further updates on its exploration plans for the Close Lake Uranium Project, as well as its other exploration programs. In line with its core values, Bedford is dedicated to conducting environmentally sensitive exploration activities and fostering collaborative relationships with local communities and indigenous nations. Environmental stewardship is paramount to the company's operations, and it is committed to upholding the highest standards of responsible resource development. For further information regarding the Close Lake Uranium Project, and the terms by which the Company can acquire the Project, readers are encouraged to review the news release issued by the Company on March 7, 2024. No finders' fees or commissions are payable by the Company in connection with the Agreement, nor does the Agreement contemplate that any securities of the Company would be issued. About Bedford Metals Corp. Bedford Metals Corp. is a mineral exploration company. We create value for our shareholders by identifying and developing highly prospective mineral exploration opportunities. Our strategy is to advance our projects from discovery to production, allowing Bedford to achieve shareholder value through the entire mining life cycle. Close Lake Uranium Project lies on the eastern side of the Athabasca Basin, adjoining claims held by Cameco Corp., the largest uranium producer in the world. The claim is approximately 245 hectares and lies within the primary exploration corridor, which hosts the Keys Lake mine, the Cigar Lake Mine and the McArthur River Mine. Access to the property is very good, through a network of roads and trails. Ubiquity Lake Uranium Project, covering 1382 hectares, lies just south of the bottom lip of the Athabasca Basin, adjacent to ALX Uranium's Carpenter Lake Project to the east. Situated near the Cable Bay Shear Zone, parallel to the Virgin River Shear Zone, which hosts Cameco's Centennial uranium deposit, the project holds immense potential. Furthermore, it is located 100 km west of Cameco's past-producing Key Lake uranium mine, underscoring the strategic significance of its location. Dr. Peter Born, PGeo, is the designated qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for, and has approved, the technical information contained in this release. For further information, please contact the Company at info@bedfordmetals.com or 604-622-1199 or visit the Company's website at www.bedfordmetals.com. On behalf of the Board, Bedford Metals Corp. "Peter Born" President Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under the applicable laws. CONTACT: MRKT360 INC https://mrkt360.com Alex Zertuche alexz@mrkt360.com For E.S.T Office Hours, Call 1 416-477-0587 Company continues to expand its Near Surface High-Grade Copper, Platinum, Palladium, Gold and Silver Zone 5km Northeast of its Main Nisk Deposit TORONTO, May 21, 2024 - Power Nickel Inc. (the "Company" or "Power Nickel") (TSXV: PNPN) is pleased to announce high-grade multi-elements assay results for hole PN-24-055. (see Figure 2 and Table 1 below) Highlights: PN-24-055 returned: 15.40 m of 0.44 g/t Au, 22.04 g/t Ag, 5.06% Cu, 13.12 g/t Pd, 3.35 g/t Pt and .015% Ni Including: 5.05 m of 0.61 g/t Au, 50.29 g/t Ag, 13.27% Cu, 24.62 g/t Pd, 6.73 g/t Pt, and 0.33% Ni With: 3.35 m of 0.70 g/t Au, 60.36 g/t Ag, 17.26% Cu, 25.02 g/t Pd, 3.61 g/t Pt and 0.37% Ni "This is a special discovery; these are big intersections to be that high-grade and we are seeing a pattern here. This intersection is in the high-grade wheelhouse that is plus or minus 100 metres wide and seems to have a prospective mineralized halo around it of 50-75 metres. With copper and metal prices surging, this is such a great find. We are excited to see how this discovery can grow from here," commented Terry Lynch, Power Nickel CEO. "The pictures plate below (see Figure 1) is becoming more and more exciting. Not only does current hole PN-24-055 show spectacular grades, but the thickness of the intersection is also equally impressive. I can't wait for the drills to start turning again and with guidance from Dr. Beresford, I'm eager to see what we will come up with as we expand our exploration program," stated VP Exploration Ken Williamson. Figure 1 below presents core pictures of some of the best intersections to date. It is noticeable that the relative quantity of semi-massive chalcopyrite observed in both PN-23-031A and PN-24-044, while excellent, appeared to be dwarfed when compared to some of the other holes coming from the core of the zone. Hole PN-24-047 and PN-24-053 recently confirmed this observation, which is well supported by the results obtained for PN-24-055 (this release). The Company's winter 2024 drill program ended with 15 successful holes at the Lion Discovery. Additional assays released keep supporting the ongoing progress on the discovery that has been made (see Figure 2 below). Power Nickel will continue to drill at the Lion Discovery in the upcoming summer season, following up PN-24-051 and PN-24-062, the deepest mineralized intersections to date. Table 1 below presents the significant results of previously released holes, and the current Assay Status for the remaining holes of the program. Table 1 : Significant Results and Assay Status - Lion Discovery drilling winter 2024 (Holes presented in this release are shaded in grey) Hole From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Cu (%) Pd (g/t) Pt (g/t) Ni ( %) CuEq Rec* (%) PN-23-031A 60.50 68.25 7.75 0.28 n/a 1.47 5.71 20.76 n/a 9.45 PN-24-044 160.25 176.00 15.75 1.60 25.34 2.52 2.73 0.65 0.19 4.48 Including 160.25 162.65 2.40 3.27 51.18 1.49 0.20 0.01 0.03 3.94 Including 169.45 176.00 6.55 2.59 40.27 5.33 6.35 1.50 0.43 9.06 with 169.45 170.05 0.60 24.30 5.70 5.29 3.26 0.29 3.31 22.27 and 173.60 176.00 2.40 0.60 103.62 12.12 13.27 2.52 0.22 16.39 PN-24-047 143.98 158.40 14.42 0.59 69.14 8.17 6.25 8.44 0.58 12.14 Including 148.00 152.66 4.66 0.85 91.00 11.66 8.42 6.69 0.46 15.50 Including 154.25 157.26 3.01 0.95 167.46 17.33 13.04 29.24 1.77 29.02 PN-24-048 147.00 162.27 15.27 0.50 16.13 1.89 7.07 1.26 0.80 4.86 Including 148.00 153.00 5.00 0.94 12.76 1.14 14.23 2.92 0.06 7.55 Including 159.55 161.25 1.70 1.27 99.84 12.30 15.45 0.60 0.38 17.17 PN-24-050 178.40 183.85 5.45 Pending internal QAQC and verifications PN-24-051 232.40 243.80 11.40 0.24 13.95 2.51 3.20 19.59 0.18 9.14 Including 232.40 235.00 2.60 0.40 41.18 8.09 8.37 84.75 0.54 34.77 Including 238.00 242.90 4.90 0.23 7.53 1.32 2.47 0.53 0.12 2.30 PN-24-052 183.50 194.85 11.35 0.26 6.12 0.63 1.57 0.67 0.04 1.48 Including 183.50 185.50 2.00 0.93 13.95 1.01 3.67 2.59 0.03 3.62 Including 192.00 194.85 2.85 0.22 10.44 1.36 3.54 0.82 0.08 2.82 PN-24-053 128.30 133.30 5.00 1.76 102.90 12.70 20.87 1.02 0.40 19.89 Including 129.30 131.55 2.25 2.37 133.68 19.85 31.78 0.86 0.37 30.10 PN-24-054 60.00 75.50 15.50 Pending internal QAQC and verifications PN-24-055 75.50 90.90 15.40 0.44 22.04 5.06 13.12 3.35 0.15 9.54 Including 84.85 89.90 5.05 0.61 50.29 13.27 24.62 6.73 0.33 21.02 with 86.55 89.90 3.35 0.70 60.36 17.26 25.02 3.61 0.37 23.36 PN-24-056 196.30 204.85 8.55 Pending internal QAQC and verifications PN-24-057 174.60 177.40 2.80 Pending internal QAQC and verifications PN-24-058 200.60 204.70 4.10 Pending internal QAQC and verifications PN-24-059 196.80 201.25 4.45 Samples in preparation for analysis PN-24-060 230.00 231.60 1.60 Samples in preparation for analysis PN-24-062 343.30 345.00 1.70 Samples in preparation for analysis Note: Length is presented as downhole distance; true width corresponds to 60-80% of such downhole distance in function of the orientation of the hole. CuEq Rec represents CuEq calculated based on the following metal prices (USD) : 2,360.15 $/oz Au, 27.98 $/oz Ag, 1,215.00 $/oz Pd, 1000.00 $/oz Pt, 4.00 $/lb Cu, 10.00 $/lb Ni and 22.50 $/lb Co., and a recovery grade of 80% for all commodity, consistent with comparable peers. From the available data and observations, the mineralized zone can be followed 225m laterally and 300m deep. The thickness of the massive chalcopyrite zone varies, ranging from up to 5-6 m true width in the core of the zone to less than 1 meter laterally. The core of the zone appears to be sheared and highly altered locally; considering the overall geological context in which the zone is hosted, and the knowledge acquired at Nisk Main, some degree of deformation is to be expected. In such scenario, hole PN-24-055 represents a near surface intersection through the core of the zone. 3D modeling and interpretation of secondary lithologies (dykes, sub-units) and structures from core logging and geochemistry data is ongoing as more results become available. Figure 3 below is a 3D view of the Lion Discovery Zone which illustrates our current interpretation as well as the vast open ground area that could potentially be host of more than one of these mineralized zones. QAQC and Sampling GeoVector Management Inc ("GeoVector") is the Consulting company retained to perform the actual drilling program, which includes core logging and sampling of the drill core. All samples were submitted to and analyzed at Activation Laboratories Ltd ("Actlabs"), an independent commercial laboratory for both the sample preparation and assaying. Actlabs is a commercial laboratory independent of Power Nickel with no interest in the Project. Actlabs is an ISO 9001 and 17025 certified and accredited laboratories. Samples submitted through Actlabs are run through standard preparation methods and analysed using RX-1 (Dry, crush (< 7 kg) up to 80% passing 2 mm, riffle split (250 g) and pulverize (mild steel) to 95% passing 105 m) preparation methods, and using 1F2 (ICP-OES) and 1C-OES - 4-Acid near total digestion + Gold-Platinum-Palladium analysis and 8-Peroxide ICP-OES, for regular and over detection limit analysis. Pegmatite samples are analyzed using UT7 - Li up to 5%, Rb up to 2% method. Actlabs also undertake their own internal coarse and pulp duplicate analysis to ensure proper sample preparation and equipment calibration. GeoVector's QAQC program includes regular insertion of CRM standards, duplicates, and blanks into the sample stream with a stringent review of all results. The results presented in the current Press Released are complete within the mineralized intervals, but results are still pending for the top portion of both holes reported. QAQC and data validation was performed on these portions of the holes where assays are fully integrated, and no material error were observed. Qualified Person Kenneth Williamson, Geo, M.Sc., VP Exploration at Power Nickel, is the qualified person who has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release. About Power Nickel Inc. Power Nickel is a Canadian junior exploration company focusing on developing the high-grade Nisk project into Canada's first Carbon Neutral Nickel mine. The NISK property comprises a significant land position (20 kilometers of strike length) with numerous high-grade intercepts. Power Nickel is focused on expanding the historical high-grade nickel-copper PGE mineralization with a series of drill programs designed to test the initial Nisk discovery zone and to explore the land package for adjacent potential Nickel deposits. In addition to the Nisk project, Power Nickel owns significant land packages in British Colombia and Chile. The Company is in the process of reorganizing these assets in a related vehicle, through a Plan of Arrangement that will be presented to Power Nickel shareholders of record for their approval. To obtain Power Nickel's Corporate Presentation, please use the link below: http://powernickel.com/corporate_presentation.pdf For further information, readers are encouraged to contact: Power Nickel Inc. The Canadian Venture Building 82 Richmond St East, Suite 202 Toronto, ON Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor it's Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This message contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements" concerning the Company within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential," "indicates," "opportunity," "possible" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results or realities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such material risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, among others, the timing for the Company to close the private placement or the second Nisk option or risk that such transactions do not close at all; raise sufficient capital to fund its obligations under its property agreements going forward; to maintain its mineral tenures and concessions in good standing; to explore and develop its projects; changes in economic conditions or financial markets; the inherent hazards associates with mineral exploration and mining operations; future prices of nickel and other metals; changes in general economic conditions; accuracy of mineral resource and reserve estimates; the potential for new discoveries; the ability of the Company to obtain the necessary permits and consents required to explore, drill and develop the projects and if accepted, to obtain such licenses and approvals in a timely fashion relative to the Company's plans and business objectives for the applicable project; the general ability of the Company to monetize its mineral resources; and changes in environmental and other laws or regulations that could have an impact on the Company's operations, compliance with environmental laws and regulations, dependence on key management personnel and general competition in the mining industry. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/power-nickels-lion-discovery-makes-an-enormous-roar--15-4-metres-of-over-9-5-copper-equivalent-302150734.html SOURCE Power Nickel Inc. VANCOUVER, May 21, 2024 - Vortex Metals Inc. (TSXV: VMS) (FSE: DM8) (OTCQB: VMSSF) ("Vortex" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that, further to its news releases dated June 27, 2023, November 20, 2023 and May 1, 2024, it has received final approval from the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") for its proposed acquisition of up to an 80% interest in the Illapel Copper Project in Chile (the "Illapel Project") pursuant to an Option Agreement dated November 17, 2023 (the "Option Agreement") with Windows Minerals SCM ("Windows") and SLM Rio 27 de Farellon Sanchez (together with Windows, the "Optionors"). Vikas Ranjan, Chief Executive Officer and a Co-Founder of Vortex Metals, stated, "We are thrilled to receive final approval for the highly prospective Illapel copper project. This marks a crucial milestone in the progress of our Company. The Illapel project, located adjacent to and extending from an existing mining operation in a well-established mining region, offers multiple high-potential, drill-ready targets that the company plans to explore immediately. With copper prices continuing to rally, Vortex Metals is eager to commence the first phase of drilling and deliver shareholder value. Illapel Copper Project Highlights: Three mineral leases totaling ~6,000 Ha ROFR on the currently operating Rio 27 Copper Mine with average grade of 1.39% cu for processed ore Proximity to the El Espino copper project, with an estimated value of US $380 million North & South of Rio 27 Mine: Mineralization extending along strike from the Rio 27 mine Permitted for drilling - Epithermal Gold-Copper Targets: Mapping and drilling of epithermal veins in the concession's western portion Proximity to major infrastructure, paved roads, power grid and water Low elevation - 1,500m above sea level with year-round drilling conditions Details of the Option Agreement: Pursuant to the terms of the Option Agreement, the Company has an option to earn a 60% interest in the Illapel Project (the "First Option") by making total cash payments of at least $1,100,000 over a four-year period, issuing a maximum of 23,000,000 common shares of the Company ("Common Shares") over a six-year period, incurring exploration expenditures on the Illapel Project totalling $10,000,000 over a five-year period, and completing a pre-feasibility study within the next six years. If the First Option is exercised in full, the Optionors have agreed to grant an exclusive option to the Company to acquire an additional 20% interest in the entity that will be incorporated upon exercise of the First Option, following the terms set out in the Option Agreement. All Common Shares issued pursuant to the Option Agreement will be subject to a contractual restriction on transfer from the date of issuance in accordance with the following schedule: (a) 25% within 6 months of the issue date; (b) 25% within 8 months of the issue date; (c) 25% within 10 months from the issue date; and (d) 25% within 12 months of the issue date. Upon exercise of the First Option, the Optionors will be granted a 2.5% net smelter returns royalty on the Illapel Project (the "NSR"). The Company can buy back 0.5% of the NSR for $1,750,000. If the Company incurs in excess of $10,000,000 in exploration expenditures within a five-year period after closing but does not exercise the First Option, then Windows will grant the Company a 1.5% net smelter returns royalty (the "Expenditure Return Royalty") on the Illapel Project and a mortgage and prohibition to transfer the Illapel Project in favour of the Company to secure payment of the Expenditure Return Royalty. In connection with the Option Agreement, the Company will pay a finder's fee (the "Finder's Fee") to Ishkan Inc. of (i) a maximum of $47,500 in cash; and (ii) a maximum of 987,500 Common Shares as consideration Common Shares are issued to Windows, with both the cash and Common Share issuances made pursuant to the Option Agreement in accordance with a pre-determined issuance schedule. The Exchange has approved the Finder's Fee. Phase-1 Exploration - 2024 Plan Vortex will now initiate a first-pass exploration program, which includes: Immediate testing of high-priority, drill-ready targets north and south of the Rio 27 mine; Detailed mapping, sampling, and drilling of targets linked to the epithermal veins in the western concession area; Initiation of mapping and sampling across promising structural formations and dykes, enriched with cross-cutting ocoite and copper oxides, identified throughout the project area. This program aims to swiftly evaluate high-priority targets while expanding our regional geological exploration to discover new drilling sites. The Company also announces the resignation of Roger (Zelong) He, the Chief Financial Officer, effective May 17th, 2024. The Company thanks Mr. He for his services and wishes him well in his future endeavors. The Company is pleased to announce that it has hired Calibre Capital Partners, based in Vancouver, Canada to provide CFO and related services. The founder of Calibre Capital Partners, Mr. Kevin Ma, who holds a CPA designation, and has extensive experience acting as the Chief Financial Officer for public companies, will act as the Chief Financial Officer of the Company. Qualified Person: All scientific or technical information in this press release referred to is based upon information prepared by or under the supervision of, or has been approved by, Robert J. Johansing, Bsc Geology, MSc Economic Geology, QP MMSA, a Certified Professional Geologist who is a "Qualified Person" for purposes of National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Johansing is independent from the Company. Vortex Metals Inc. is the parent company of Mexican subsidiary Empresa Minera Acagold, S.A. de C.V., which is the owner of a 100% interest in two drill-ready high-potential copper volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) properties (Riqueza Marina and Zaachila) in the state of Oaxaca, and a third high-potential gold property (El Rescate) in the state of Puebla. The Oaxaca projects incorporate the most highly prospective areas of high-grade copper mineralized surface exposures ('gossans') and prominent gravity anomalies along an emerging copper VMS belt that includes Minaurum Gold's (TSXV:MGG) Santa Marta project. Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain forward looking statements that are made as of the date hereof and are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions which involve risks and uncertainties associated with our business including permitting approvals, any private placement financings, the uncertainty as to whether further exploration will result in the target(s) being delineated as a mineral resource, capital expenditures, operating costs, mineral resources, recovery rates, grades and prices, estimated goals, expansion and growth of the business and operations, plans and references to the Company's future successes with its business and the economic environment in which the business operates. All such statements are made pursuant to the 'safe harbour' provisions of, and are intended to be forward-looking statements under, applicable Canadian securities legislation. Any statements contained herein that are statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. We caution readers of this news release not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements as several factors could cause actual results or conditions to differ materially from current expectations. Please refer to the risks set forth in the Company's most recent annual MD&A and the Company's continuous disclosure documents that can be found on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.ca. The Company does not intend, and disclaims any obligation, except as required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The Company cautions that mineralization on, or production from, neighbouring properties is no guarantee of the existence of similar mineralization or a guarantee of future production from the Illapel Project. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vortex-metals-secures-final-approval-on-the-option-for-the-illapel-copper-project-302149394.html SOURCE Vortex Metals Inc. WINNEMUCCA, May 21, 2024 - Paramount Gold Nevada Corp. (NYSE American: PZG) ("Paramount" or the "Company") is pleased to announce its proposed Grassy Mountain gold mine will have the benefit of a joint reclamation bond between the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (the "DOGAMI") and the Bureau of Land Management ("BLM"). The two agencies have executed a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") which ensures that Paramount will not be required to post two reclamation bonds, thereby reducing capital requirements, and lessening the administrative burden. The approach undertaken by the DOGAMI and BLM aligns with how environmental bonding has been established in the mining friendly jurisdiction of Nevada. Upon submission of the reclamation cost estimate by the Company, the DOGAMI and BLM will determine a single amount to be posted as financial security. Paramount's President, COO and Director, Mr. Glen Van Treek stated, "We are extremely pleased by the co-operation shown by the DOGAMI and the BLM in their MOU. This decision will be very beneficial to the development, construction and operation of our Grassy Mountain Gold and Silver mine." The MOU establishes joint responsibilities to develop and maintain common guidance, protection, and monitoring of disturbances due to mining operations on both federal and private lands. This coordinated effort between State and Federal agencies will help to prevent undue delays that may have otherwise occurred with duplication of administration and enforcement of reclamation obligations. About Paramount Gold Nevada Corp. Paramount Gold Nevada Corp. is a U.S. based precious metals exploration and development company. Paramount's strategy is to create shareholder value through exploring and developing its mineral properties and to realize this value for its shareholders in three ways: by selling its assets to established producers; entering joint ventures with producers for construction and operation; or constructing and operating mines for its own account. Paramount holds a 100% interest in three projects: Grassy Mountain; Sleeper and Bald Peak. The Grassy Mountain Gold Project ("Grassy") consists of approximately 8,200 acres located on private and BLM land in Malheur County, Oregon. Grassy contains a gold-silver deposit (100% located on private land) for which results of a positive Feasibility Study have been released and key permitting milestones accomplished. The Sleeper Gold Project is in Northern Nevada, the world's premier mining jurisdiction. The Sleeper Gold Project, which includes the former producing Sleeper mine, totals 2,474 unpatented mining claims (approximately 44,917 acres). The drill ready, Bald Peak Project in Nevada, consists of approximately 2,260 acres. Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements This release and related documents may include "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") pursuant to applicable United States and Canadian securities laws. Paramount's future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans or prospects constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other applicable securities laws. Words such as "believes," "plans," "anticipates," "expects," "estimates" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although these words may not be present in all forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements included in this news release include, without limitation, statements with respect to the use of proceeds from the Offerings. Forward-looking statements are based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analyses and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, but which may prove to be incorrect. Management believes that the assumptions and expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things: the conclusions made in the feasibility study for the Grassy Mountain Gold Project (the "FS"); the quantity and grade of resources included in resource estimates; the accuracy and achievability of projections included in the FS; Paramount's ability to carry on exploration and development activities, including construction; the timely receipt of required approvals and permits; the price of silver, gold and other metals; prices for key mining supplies, including labor costs and consumables, remaining consistent with current expectations; work meeting expectations and being consistent with estimates and plant, equipment and processes operating as anticipated. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: uncertainties involving interpretation of drilling results; environmental matters; the ability to obtain required permitting; equipment breakdown or disruptions; additional financing requirements; the completion of a definitive feasibility study for the Grassy Mountain Gold Project; discrepancies between actual and estimated mineral reserves and mineral resources, between actual and estimated development and operating costs and between estimated and actual production; the global epidemics, pandemics, or other public health crises, including the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) global health pandemic, and the spread of other viruses or pathogens and the other factors described in Paramount's disclosures as filed with the SEC and the Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta Securities Commissions. Except as required by applicable law, Paramount disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this document. Paramount Gold Nevada Corp. Rachel Goldman, Chief Executive Officer Christos Theodossiou, Director of Corporate Communications 844.488.2233 Twitter: @ParamountNV TORONTO, May 21, 2024 - Evergold Corp. (TSX-V: EVER, OTC: EVGUF, WKN: A2PTHZ) ("Evergold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it intends to complete a non-brokered private placement financing for aggregate gross proceeds of up to $3,500,000 through the issuance of a combination of hard-dollar units of the Company ("HD Units") at a price $0.045 per HD Unit and flow-through units ("FT Units") at a price of $0.050 per FT Unit (the "Offering"). It is expected that the majority of the gross proceeds from the sale of the FT Units will be used for drilling the large-scale DEM1 porphyry prospect in central B.C., where a small, first-ever 3-hole reconnaissance drill program carried out last fall delivered broad intercepts of low-grade gold and silver from surface and, within that broad envelope, local high grades of an impressive spectrum of high-value elements, including precious and strategic metals (see news, January 15, 2024). Encouragingly, a geophysical survey completed earlier this month over the immediate area of the DEM1 prospect revealed a large target, suggestive of the presence of abundant sulphides, extending to depth below the reconnaissance drill holes (see news, May 13, 2024). "The early drill results from DEM1 demand immediate follow-up, and we're keen to get down to it this season," said Kevin Keough, President and CEO. "As a founder and key shareholder with considerable equity exposure to this company, neither I nor the other directors take lightly the level of dilution required to finance the next stage of drilling. However, the only way to add real value to a junior mineral exploration company is with the drill bit, achieving and developing discoveries of merit, which we believe DEM to be, and it's a capital-intensive process. That said, precious metal prices are very strong, and we retain 100% of the upside exposure to the DEM1 prospect, in addition to our other key, fully drill-permitted gold-silver properties: Golden Lion in B.C., and Rockland, Nevada. These assets, combined with our current very low share price (less than half the level at which we capitalized the company on founding), presents a compelling value proposition. Very strong results out of the ground, which we believe the DEM1 system is capable of delivering, should therefore be attended by a corresponding upward re-rating in our share price, regardless of our capital structure." In connection with the Offering, the Company has entered into a fiscal advisory agreement with Canaccord Genuity Corp. ("Canaccord"). Subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV"), the Company shall compensate Canaccord in the amount of $25,000, payable in hard-dollar units of the Company (the "Compensation Units") to be issued at C$0.045 per unit with the same terms as the Offering. In addition, finder's fees in cash or securities, or a combination of both, may be payable by Evergold in connection with the Offering, subject to the rules of the TSXV. Financing Details: Each HD Unit will be comprised of one (1) common share of the Company and one (1) common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "HD Warrant"). Each HD Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one additional common share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.06 for a period of twenty-four (24) months following the closing of the Offering. Each FT Unit will be comprised of one (1) common share of the Company qualifying as a "flow-through share" as defined in subsection 66(15) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) (a "FT Share"), and one (1) common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "FT Warrant"). Each FT Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one additional common share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.06 per share for a period of twenty-four (24) months following the closing of the Offering. The gross proceeds from the issuance of the FT Units will be used for "Canadian exploration expenses" on the Company's Canadian mineral properties, primarily the DEM property, and will qualify either as "flow-through critical mineral mining expenditures" or "flow-through mining expenditures" (the "Qualifying Expenditures"), each as defined in subsection 127(9) of the Income Tax Act (Canada). The Company intends to renounce the Qualifying Expenditures to subscribers of FT Units for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 and to incur the Qualifying Expenditures on or before December 31, 2025. The net proceeds from the issuance of HD Units will be primarily used for exploration activities at the Company's properties, as well as for general working capital purposes. It is expected that the Offering will close on or about June 10, 2024, or such other date or dates that the Company may determine (the "Closing Date"), subject to the receipt of all required regulatory approvals, including the acceptance of the TSX-V. All securities issued in connection with the Offering will be subject to a hold period of four months and one day from the Closing Date, in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws. The securities offered have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Qualified Person Charles J. Greig, M.Sc., P.Geo., the Company's Chief Exploration Officer and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release. About Evergold Evergold Corp. is a TSX-V listed mineral exploration company with projects in B.C. and Nevada. The Evergold team has a track record of success in the junior exploration space, most recently the establishment of GT Gold Corp. in 2016 and the discovery of the Saddle epithermal vein and porphyry copper-gold deposits near Iskut B.C., sold to Newmont in 2021 for a fully diluted value of $456 million, representing a 1,136% (12.4 X) return on exploration outlays of $36.9 million. For additional information, please contact: Kevin M. Keough President and CEO Tel: (613) 622-1916 kevin.keough@evergoldcorp.ca www.evergoldcorp.ca Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" which are not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, risks related to the amendment of the size of the Offering and the completion, terms and expected closing date of the Offering, failure to identify mineral resources, delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals, political risks, inability to fulfill the duty to accommodate First Nations, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, changes in equity markets, inflation, changes in exchange rates, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in the development of projects, capital and operating costs varying significantly from estimates and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, and those risks set out in the Company's public documents filed on SEDAR. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. San Francisco firefighters pulled two people from a burning residential building in the Alamo Square neighborhood, one of whom sustained critical injuries. San Francisco Fire Department A firefighter stands in front of the scene of an earlier house fire on Grove Street in San Francisco. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle Letisha Humphrey, from left, talks with the Rev. Amos Brown as he sits with Terry Williams. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle Firefighters battle a house fire on the 900 block of Grove Street that left the parents of a popular dog walker, who was recently targeted by racist threats, badly injured. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle The home of a well-known local dog walker erupted in flames Tuesday morning near San Franciscos Alamo Square, one month after he told police he began receiving racist threats by mail. The dog walker, Terry Williams, said in an interview that his parents were badly injured in the fire but expected to survive. Firefighters rescued the pair from the burning home shortly after 11:30 a.m., when neighbors called 911 to report the fire on the 900 block of Grove Street, one block east of Alamo Square, fire officials said. Williams in recent weeks had received in the mail a voodoo doll depicting a Black person with a noose around its neck, as well as postcards and other mail containing racist and threatening language. The San Francisco Police Department is investigating the case as a hate crime, officials said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Supervisor Dean Preston, who represents the area, condemned the threats Williams received as racial terror and introduced a resolution at the Board of Supervisors last week urging city departments to prioritize the investigation into its source. Terry Williams, right, talks with a San Francisco firefighter after a house fire at his home. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle Williams, who was not home when the fire erupted, said his dogs also survived, though he was unsure how they managed to escape the flames. He was also unsure about the cause of the fire. Williams was meeting with James Caldwell, Mayor London Breeds chief criminal justice and public safety officer, when he got a call from his cousin alerting him to the fire. He was screaming, Your house is on fire!, Williams said. Caldwell drove Williams home, where he said he has lived since 1974. Police officers were dispatched to Williams residence in late April after he reported that someone left racist and threatening items in close proximity to his building, San Francisco Police Department spokesperson Allison Maxie said. Maxie did not provide details but said police had not made any arrests in the case. Advertisement Article continues below this ad San Francisco firefighters work at the scene of a blaze Tuesday on Grove Street, where a dog walker recently targeted by racist threats lives. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle Williams said his father had been released from the hospital by Tuesday afternoon, but doctors were keeping his mother hospitalized overnight. Welling up with tears, Williams said he had a loss of words to describe how he was feeling as he watched firefighters and inspectors walk in and out of the house. Im worried now. Im extremely worried. I feel like I let my parents down (because) I wasnt here. Williams said he still doesnt know the details around what caused the fire, but couldnt help making the connection to the racist packages he had received. His parents had been scared about the threats, too, he said. It brought my dad back to when he was a kid in Mississippi, he said, of the packages. If I knew who (the suspect) was, Id be in jail. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The San Francisco Fire Department was probing the cause of the fire, spokesperson Jonathan Baxter said. Flames spread to an adjoining home whose residents were evacuated but unharmed, Baxter said. The Red Cross and city officials planned to offer assistance to the seven people and three dogs who were affected, he said. Im really sad for him for something like this to happen to him of all people is heartbreaking, said Nicole Gantner, an Alamo Square dog owner. Having known Williams for 15 years, she called him a well-known and well-liked person. I wonder if someone is going after him. Alamo Square resident Todd Miner said he and the 30-some other members of the Alamo Dog Co. WhatsApp group were processing the news of the fire. He called the incident mind-boggling. He said he and the other members of the group were shocked and furious. Terry Williams, right, gets a hug of support from a friend as they stand across the street from his house, which burned Tuesday after recent racist threats. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle Around 3:30 p.m., a crowd of about a dozen people were gathered across the street from the house. An acrid stench was perceptible from down the street. An SFPD bomb squad van could be seen taking a large sack from the house. Advertisement Article continues below this ad An online fundraiser in recent weeks raised nearly $17,000 for what organizers said was surveillance cameras and other neighborhood security measures meant to protect Williams and his family following the spate of threatening mail. Kait McKee, a neighbor and friend, said Williams was well known in the local community. McKee said about 100 neighbors gathered in Alamo Square earlier this month to show support for Williams after he began receiving the racist threats by mail. We are all really freaked out and concerned for Terry and our community, McKee said. Toronto - Waseco Resources Inc. (the "Company") (TSX-V:WRI) wishes to announce that Gary O'Connor is resigning to pursue other activities. Company President, Richard Williams, on behalf of the Board, would like to thank Mr. O'Connor for his years of service and wish him continued success. For further information, please visit the Waseco web site at: www.wasecoresources.com or contact: Richard Williams, President, at telephone: (416) 364- 3123; or e-mail: rickw@wasecoresources.com. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Waseco Resources Inc. Richard Williams, President Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Copyright (c) 2024 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. Aston Martin will not scrap Imola car upgrade Mike Krack insists Aston Martin will not be hitting reverse gear on the Formula 1 team's latest major car upgrade. Fernando Alonso, Emilio Romagna GP 2024 Aston Martin Racing Technical boss Dan Fallows went into Imola hailing an aggressive upgrade for Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll's cars. And while Stroll scored two points, Alonso qualified and finished an abysmal 19th. Alonso's advisor Flavio Briatore surmised that the team appears to be going backwards . Team boss Krack admits: "We have homework to do and a lot to work on. We certainly see that this year the margins are getting smaller and as soon as you are on the wrong side of these small margins... it's just so close, he is quoted as saying by Spanish newspapers. Krack disagrees with critics who suggest Aston Martin has been on a steady decline since the stellar opening part of the 2023 season, in which Alonso completed an impressive series of podiums. In Shanghai we were third on the grid, Krack said. So it hasn't been very long. He also says Aston Martin is basically keeping development pace with the team's main competitors. The other teams had the same list of improvements (at Imola). But we are not happy with two points, that's clear, said the German. "Expectations are very high from last year. We try to be objective, but it's difficult. With eight podiums, the bar is very high. But we have to understand how those podiums came about. Some teams had not done their homework when we had, and that put us in a position that we were not prepared for as a team. So we have to be realistic. He therefore denied that the aggressive Imola upgrade proved such a failure that Aston Martin should now backtrack to avoid a developmental dead-end. No, the update is definitely a step forward, Krack insists. There is no need to remove it. However, there's no denying that Alonso finished second behind Max Verstappen at Monaco last year. Now, the Spaniard is worried that another poor qualifying result after Imola will make racing on the fabled streets of the Principality torture . Krack said with a smile: Yes, Monaco last year was Monaco last year. Now, Monaco this year is Monaco this year. So we will go there and see. (GMM) Thailand could push Monza off F1 calendar A potential new Formula 1 race in Thailand looks set to oust an existing European race host from the sport's annual calendar. Italian GP 2023 Alfa Romeo Christian Estrosi, the mayor of Nice, told L'Equipe newspaper this week that France must host a grand prix , after the Paul Ricard event he promoted fell off the schedule after the 2022 edition. He has been charged by the federal government with preparing a feasibility report for the potential return of a French GP - perhaps on the streets of Nice. But much more advanced are arrangements to bring F1 to Thailand. F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali met with the Thai prime minister in April to discuss a potential street race in the capital, Bangkok. Thai PM Srettha Thavisin was then at Imola last weekend, as he confirmed afterwards that he had a discussion with executives of the Formula One Group . This resonates with our policy to place Thailand on the global radar for international events and activities, the prime minister added. A new Thai GP would increase the race calendar to 25 grands prix - something Domenicali says he does not want to do. Angelo Sticchi Damiani, boss of Italy's automobile club Aci, is therefore worried about the fate of the country's two grands prix - at Imola and Monza. The iconic Monza's F1 contract expires next year, with major reconstruction works to bring the Italian GP venue up to modern standards currently underway. When we have certainty from the government regarding the possibility of public funding, we will be able to try to have an agreement with Formula 1, Sticchi Damiani is quoted as saying by La Gazzetta dello Sport. We are aiming for a ten-year agreement, on the model recently inaugurated by Hungary. Sticchi Damiani said he noticed that the Thai PM was at Imola last weekend. We are in a context where everything is changing rapidly, he said. "The prime minister of an Asian country that wants F1 was present in Imola. "The issue is that on the one hand Liberty Media is pushing to compete in places that can offer hospitality services that can be sold for large sums, in particular the Paddock Club. "On the other hand, the bulk of the competition comes from Europe where we will have Madrid coming in and two great nations like France and Germany don't have a grand prix at all but are pushing. In short, making proclamations is useless. We need to be realistic and understand that we need to act quickly and that time is not our ally, Sticchi Damiani added. (GMM) Vettel still not considering F1 comeback Sebastian Vettel says he is still no closer to deciding to return to Formula 1. Sebastian Vettel, Austrian GP 2022 Aston Martin Racing The quadruple world champion retired after the 2022 season - although he has always left the door open for a comeback in the future. Vettel, 36, has stayed connected both to F1 and motorsport in general, including a recent extensive test at the wheel of Porsche's Le Mans-ready prototype. And he was at Imola last weekend, paying high-profile tribute to Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger with an on-track demonstration of his own 1993 McLaren, and having organised a jog with the F1 drivers to visit the Senna statue at Tamburello. Of course it was wonderful to be cheered on the track today, Vettel said last Sunday at Imola, according to Germany's motorsport-total.com. A little bit of it was perhaps for me, but I was really here for Ayrton and Roland. And Vettel insists that it wasn't part of a campaign to remind Formula 1 teams that he might be interested in activating a return to the racing grid. Of course I've thought about returning and I knew beforehand that I would think about it, he said. "But in the end nothing has changed. There are things that I miss and things that I don't miss. It's always a give and take, but Formula 1 is just very intense these days if you look at the calendar and the number of races there are. Vettel left F1 declaring that his new priority would be his young family, including three children and his wife Hanna - and he says nothing has changed. Of course there are things I miss, especially the competition, said the former Red Bull and Aston Martin driver. And things I don't miss, so that hasn't changed. (GMM) Lise Pearlman speaks to those gathered in Courtroom H during a mock trial of the 1935 case of Bruno Hauptmann, who had been convicted and executed for kidnapping the baby of American aviation hero Charles Lindbergh, at the Marin County Courthouse on Monday in San Rafael. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle Bruno Richard Hauptmann got a new day in court Monday, nearly a century after he was convicted of kidnapping and killing aviation hero Charles Lindberghs baby, and the verdict was overwhelming: The guy got a raw deal when he died in the electric chair in 1936 at age 36, and the state of New Jersey should reopen the case to see about posthumously exonerating him. That was the 38 to 5 vote after a two-hour mock trial in Marin County Superior Court in San Rafael, and the no votes were tepid at best because nobody was arguing after the hearing was over. Which is saying a lot, considering the jurors were all lawyers, judges and academic or legal folks with similarly strong opinions. Theres too much evidence saying this case needs to be looked at again, retired Judge Lise Pearlman, who organized the mock trial with historian Noah Griffin and the Criminal Law and Justice Center of UC Berkeley, said after the vote. If the DNA in the evidence doesnt match Hauptmann, there was misconduct on the part of the police back then, and there were probably a dozen witnesses who lied. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Retired Marin County Superior Court Judge Lynn OMalley Taylor presided over the session, which consisted mostly of the crowd playing prosecutors, witnesses, defenders and Hauptmann reading actual testimony from the 1935 Trial of the Century. The updating twist came from Marin Deputy Public Defender Patricia Castillo, who played a modern attorney rebutting and illuminating the fairly obvious in hindsight screwups in the case against Hauptmann. Patricia Castillo speaks as modern defense counsel during a mock trial of the 1935 case of Bruno Hauptmann, who had been convicted and executed for kidnapping the baby of American aviation hero Charles Lindbergh, held in Courtroom H at the Marin County Courthouse on Monday in San Rafael. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle Over and over she chimed in, pointing out things like how a key witness said he saw Hauptmanns car speeding away from the Lindbergh house with the suspect at the wheel but that witness was legally blind. Or how pictures taken in 1-year-old Charles Lindbergh Jr.s nursery right after his snatching showed no muddy footprints on a suitcase under the window the kidnapper supposedly climbed through but those footprints mysteriously appeared on the suitcase by the time of trial. There was a chill in the air as the actual words of the man convicted of the kidnapping echoed all these years later when 1935 defense counsel Edward Reilly, played by Marin County Deputy District Attorney Sean Kensinger, questioned him closely about the night of the crime: On the night of March 1, 1932, were you on the grounds of Col. Lindbergh at Hopewell, New Jersey? Kensinger asked. Advertisement Article continues below this ad No, answered Hauptmann, played by Ryan Mirdadian Jr., a legal assistant and grandson of Judge Taylor. You never saw baby Lindbergh in your life, did you? I never saw it, Hauptmann replied. Other evidence either not considered, or discarded, at the original trial: The ladder police said Hauptmann used to climb into the second-story window was tested and shown to be unable to hold the weight of the 175-pound suspect and the 30-pound baby. Witnesses solidly placed Hauptmann on the fateful night many miles away at the bakery his wife worked at. A medical examination of the body, found 10 weeks after the kidnapping, showed the boy didnt die the night he disappeared, as police had said and he in fact showed signs that he might have been chopped into pieces in some bizarre medical experiment. Bonnie Taylor, right, as Anna Hauptmann is sworn in by Rob Loberg, left, deputy sheriff Marin County Sheriffs Department, during a mock trial of the 1935 case of Bruno Hauptmann, who had been convicted and executed for kidnapping the baby of American aviation hero Charles Lindbergh. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle If Hauptmann were still alive, Id say lets retry this case with people who know what theyre doing, Judge Taylor said after reading the mock verdict. At least take a look at the DNA evidence. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The furor that surrounded the 1935 trial attended by huge crowds who yelled Kill him, Kill him! while the jury deliberated permeated the actual closing arguments of the prosecutor, played by retired New Jersey Superior Court Judge Peter Buchsbaum. Calling Hauptmann the filthiest, vilest snake that ever crept through the grass, he said: Please dont get the idea that the state has to prove everything it starts out to prove, everything beyond a reasonable doubt. Thats a joke. To which the modern defense counsel responded, the prosecutor misrepresented the record and the states knowledge of the case, and then went blow by blow through the myriad of holes in the evidence and theories. Pearlman has been urging a reopening of the case since the 2020 publication of her 554-page book, The Lindbergh Kidnapping Suspect No. 1, The Man Who Got Away. She not only believes Hauptmann got railroaded, she theorizes that Lindbergh himself a fan of eugenics may have offered the baby up for gruesome medical experiments because he was physically imperfect with an abnormally big head and frailties, and then faked the kidnapping to cover it up. The growing cadre of supporters asking since then for the case to be reexamined include Hauptmanns 58-year-old great-great niece, Cezanne Love, and former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. The New Jersey State Police Office has refused to turn over evidence to researchers, saying they might contaminate it, and the state Office of Attorney General told the Chronicle it cant discuss reopening the case because it involves a researchers lawsuit. Historian Noah Griffin is seen in Courtroom H during a mock trial of the 1935 case of Bruno Hauptmann, who had been convicted and executed for kidnapping the baby of American aviation hero Charles Lindbergh. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle Griffin, who is also a lawyer and former vice mayor of Tiburon, orchestrated a similar mock trial in 1986 in San Francisco after meeting Hauptmanns widow, Anna Hauptmann who testified in that reenactment, as she did at her husbands original trial. The 1986 trial ended with a similar finding to Mondays. Advertisement Article continues below this ad This time the injustice is even more convincing, Griffin said, because of Pearlmans exhaustive forensic research of records, scientific analysis and available evidence, and as he intoned a solemn introduction at the beginning of the mock trial he said: Today, the torch has been passed to a new generation of truth seekers. They absolutely need to reopen this and test the DNA, Griffin said after the reenactment ended. I just dont think the state of New Jersey wants to be embarrassed. Among those playing parts in the mock trial or just looking on were the UC Berkeley Mock Trial Club, including this years class valedictorian Christopher Ying; prosecution, defense and civil attorneys from around the Bay Area; federal and state judges, and a local police and FBI chaplain. Retired Judge Peter Buchsbaum speaks as prosecutor attorney Attorney General David Wilentz during a mock trial of the 1935 case of Bruno Hauptmann, who had been convicted and executed for kidnapping the baby of American aviation hero Charles Lindbergh. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle Buchsbaum worked a civil case in the 1990s as a lawyer in the same Flemington, N.J., courtroom where the Lindbergh trial happened, and on Monday he marveled at how that room had a chair marked, This chair was sat in by Bruno Richard Hauptmann. Advertisement Article continues below this ad It was spooky sitting right in front of that seat, and now here I am all these years later doing this mock trial, he said. I didnt come away from today convinced that Hauptmann was innocent, but I do think it is worth looking into. Before being executed, the state offered to knock Hauptmanns sentence down to life in prison if he confessed to the kidnapping, but his wife said he refused, telling her: I dont want to live with a lie. Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Prices office filed a lawsuit against Farmers Insurance, claiming the company cost homeowners money by lowballing the cost of rebuilding estimates. Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price filed a lawsuit against Farmers Insurance, accusing the company of coming up with low estimates to rebuild homes in the event of a catastrophe such as a fire, allegedly leaving customers with insufficient coverage. The lawsuit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court last month, seeks civil penalties and a court order to stop the alleged scheme. The lawsuit also names Mid-Century Insurance Co., a Farmers subsidiary, as a defendant and claims the insurance companies saved $44 million as a result. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The allegations in the complaint are simply incorrect, and we do not seek to provide low replacement cost estimates, Farmers Insurance said in a statement. We intend to discuss this with the DAs office. We look forward to addressing these concerns and defending our position. Farmers is the second-largest home insurer in the state with a 15% market share as of 2022, according to the latest available data from the California Department of Insurance. Price, who announced the lawsuit Tuesday, said the alleged scheme extends beyond Alameda County. State law, Price said, requires home insurance companies to provide accurate estimates for costs to rebuild homes and coverage that reflects the value of homes. When you suffer a loss of your home, the insurance company has to make sure that youre able to replace that, Price said, and thats the fundamental responsibility that were saying these insurance companies have failed at. The lawsuit claims the companies use software that lowballs the costs to rebuild homes in the event of a loss, also known as replacement costs, in large part because it does not take into account specific characteristics and features of the homes. Instead the software pulls generic and at times outdated information from public data sources. Agents dont validate the data, much of which is not available to them in the software, according to the lawsuit. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The faulty estimates means customers purchase insurance coverage that leaves them underinsured, according to the suit. Through a series of internal studies in 2015 and 2017, the companies realized the faulty estimates resulted in insufficient coverage for homes, but they continue to use the software, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit comes as insurance companies cut back on business in California. That did not deter Price, she said. If an insurance company chooses not to unfairly cheat residents in California, then thats a good thing, she said. That means it opens the door for insurance companies that are willing to comply with California law. We certainly dont want to encourage anyone to leave the state of California, but we absolutely have a duty to protect our residents. The lawsuit is the second of its kind that Price has filed recently. On April 26, Price sued auto insurance companies, including Progressive and United Services Automobile Association, accusing them of turning to software that undervalued totaled vehicles, allowing the companies to underpay their customers for the vehicles. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Guam Memorial Hospital anticipates a shortfall of $74.3 million next fiscal year and is seeking another $50 million subsidy from the general fund, GMH officials told senators on Tuesday. GMH Chief Financial Officer Yuka Hechanova testified during the GMH budget hearing that the projected operating cost for fiscal 2025 is $232 million, while projected revenue from patient payments, federal grants and Department of Corrections payments is only $157.7 million. GMH officials are asking if the resulting $74.3 million difference can be made up by a $50 million subsidy from the general fund, as well as $24.3 million from the pharmaceutical fund. Hechanova said the emergency cash infusion that the Legislature provided in October 2023 enabled GMH to catch up with vendor payments but the current vendor payables have climbed back up to $14 million. GMH personnel costs have climbed, according to officials, due to two nurse pay plan increases and a general pay plan increase. Hechanova testified that GMHs monthly cash requirement is $16 million, but their cash receipts are averaging $13 million. Acting GMH Administrator Dr. Dustin Prins then presented senators with three subsidy options. Option 1 would maintain the current operational level and would require a fixed annual subsidy of $60 to $80 million. Option 2, according to Prins, would be a $30 million subsidy, as requested by Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, and would require the reduction of most of the secondary tenants at the hospital, to include services such as gastroenterology. It would also require $31.7 million cuts in physicians, supplies, travel nurses and other personnel. Option 3, according to Prins, would mean a subsidy of $10 million, which would mean they would need to cut all secondary tenants. This would leave GMH to become a service provider focused on short admission stays, maternal child health, pediatrics, and emergency room services, Prins said. He said the question for the people of Guam would be whether GMH should provide the same services as private institutions. Prins has served as the acting administrator during the personal leave time of Administrator and CEO Lillian Posadas, who he said is due to return at the end of the month. Annie is a reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle. She previously was a digital producer for The Chronicles Datebook section. She graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 2017 with a degree in journalism. During her time there, she spearheaded a culture column, produced radio pieces for NPR-affiliate station KCBX, and was a DJ and writer for KCPR, the campus radio station. Before joining the Chronicle, she was an associate producer at SFGATE and interned at VICE and Flood Magazine. Shes particularly interested in communities and scenes that are often misunderstood. The Public Utilities Commission will be backing the Guam Waterworks Authoritys petitions to take a $220 million land dispute with Core Tech International to the Supreme Court of Guam. Meanwhile, the Legislature will hire an attorney to determine whether to intervene in the case. GWA and Core Tech are suing each other in the Superior Court of Guam in a dispute over land that the northern district wastewater treatment plant sits on. The waterworks authority last Friday petitioned the Supreme Court of Guam to address the case, with GWA seeking to reverse decisions in the trial court made in Core Techs favor. Members of the PUC, during a special session last week, voted unanimously to file a brief in the Supreme Court of Guam, supporting GWA. Commissioners spent most of the meeting in executive session, and no other details were shared. GWA has argued that it would be a catastrophe for the water and wastewater system, ratepayers, and the military buildup if Core Tech prevails in the case. Core Tech paid $178 million for the Dededo property the plant sits on back in 2015, and argues the utility has failed for years to properly reserve an interest in the land. The company wants $220 million in damages and back rent. Senators to hire lawyer Meanwhile, members of the Legislatures Committee on Rules on Monday approved spending up to $65,000 on legal services to advise them on the lawsuit, through Resolution 409-37. Speaker Therese Terlaje, herself an attorney, said legal counsel will only advise senators on how and whether to proceed on the case. Terlaje said the treatment plant land in Dededo may have been transferred out of GovGuam without any approval from the Legislaturewhich is required by Guam law. Theres not a final determination, but if they determine that property was transferred without legislative approval, I believe the Legislature should assert its position that that property, according to all of our statutes, cannot be transferred in Guam without legislative approval, Terlaje said. GWA has argued that the Legislature never approved the transfer of the treatment plant property out of government ownership. The Department of Land Management, which facilitated the transfer to private ownership, has flagged irregularities and illegalities in the process. Resolution 409-37 passed without objection. But Vice Speaker Tina Muna Barnes did register some concern about the Legislature stepping into the case. The vice speaker was not present for the meeting, but wrote a letter to Terlaje Monday. She acknowledged that the Legislature may have to try and find the hundreds of millions of dollars sought by the current landowner in compensation. But she questioned the message sent to landowners and developers. When this government argues they can face such oppressive seizures, even if the mistakes are solely made by the government itself? she asked. She urged lawmakers not to take a legal position that implied that the government can rightfully take private property out of our peoples hands without any compensation. Tiyan High School and Harry S. Truman Elementary School received another six-year accreditation from the Accreditation Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges, the Guam Department of Education said in separate press releases. Other GDOE schools also recently received six-year ACS WASC accreditation recently: Ordot-Chalan Pago Elementary School Maria A. Ulloa Elementary School Chief Brodie Memorial Elementary School. GDOE said achieving accreditation from the ACS WASC is a significant milestone for any educational institution. Its a rigorous process that evaluates schools on various criteria to ensure they meet high standards of education and continuous improvement, GDOE said. Tiyan High School Principal Sophia Duenas said receiving WASC accreditation ensures the schools commitment to high educational standards, continuous improvement, and increased opportunities for students and staff. On behalf of our entire school community, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to our leadership and accreditation teams for their commitment to the process, to our dedicated faculty, staff, students, parents, and the WASC visiting committee for their unwavering support and hard work throughout the accreditation process, Duenas said. Commitment to excellence and continuous improvement is instrumental in achieving this significant milestone. Thank you for your invaluable contributions and for helping us uphold the highest education standards. Annette D. Salas, principal of Harry S. Truman Elementary School, said the process of accreditation is important to the school because it provides the blueprint that reflects a thorough, accurate description and analysis of what currently exists in both strengths and critical areas of needs with learning as the focus. It allows for us to identify and implement action steps towards continuous improvement processes to ensure our students are provided with a safe and healthy environment while achieving quality education, she said. The process allows us to be recognized, highlighting the staff and faculty for all the hard work, dedication and true commitment in the relationship with our students, providing nothing but the best for our students and families. We take this process seriously and are proud of our results. Together we are strong. She thanked those who made the accreditation happen. Education Superintendent Dr. Erik Swanson lauded the two schools. Achieving and maintaining the ACS WASC accreditation is no small feat; it requires a school to demonstrate a continuous commitment to self-improvement and educational excellence, Swanson said. A woman accused of fraudulently collecting a deposit and rent for someone elses apartment and trying to cash forged checks could spend 45 years in prison if convicted of all counts in two separate cases, according to magistrates complaints filed in Superior Court. Sandra Ann Leon Guerrero Mesa, 47, was charged Monday with two counts of forgery, theft and attempted theft, all as second-degree felonies in connection with the check cashing case. She was also charged with theft by deception as a third-degree felony in the apartment rental case. On Nov. 10, 2023, a representative from First Hawaiian Bank reported that Mesa cashed a fraudulent check from a medical center for $3,950 on Nov. 3. The money was withdrawn on Nov. 6, before the five-day hold period expired, and on Nov. 9, the bank was notified that the check was fictitious, according to the complaint. On Oct. 19, Mesa deposited a check for $4,975 from another company, but that check was put on hold and returned as fictitious. The money was never deposited into her account. Apartment rental case On Saturday, a woman told police that Mesa stole $900 from her by pretending to represent a landlord at Pacific Pearl Apartments. Last month, the woman was looking for a place to live, and Mesa told her about an apartment that was being renovated. Mesa said she could accept the $450 rent and $450 deposit on behalf of the landlord, according to the complaint. The woman gave Mesa $900. Mesa said the unit would be ready on Saturday, but when the woman tracked down the landlord, she learned that Mesa didnt have the authority to rent the apartment. Mesas explanations Mesa told police she collected $300 from the woman, but it was for a debt owned by someone else. She denied collecting other money. She also told police she wrote up a fake rental agreement and receipts as a favor for the woman, because the woman was being kicked out of her apartment. While she was in police custody, investigators questioned her about the fraudulent checks. She told them that she received the checks as payment for an online job she found on Craigslist, which required her to send gift cards to the individual who sent her the checks. She said she had emails to prove she was telling the truth, but she couldnt show the police the emails because her phone had been broken since Mothers Day. When police asked her how she contacted the other complainant on Saturday, she said she forgot that she put her SIM card into an old phone, which is why her number was the same. When asked if she could log in to her email to verify her claim, Mesa terminated the interview, the complaint stated. Mesa has previous convictions for theft and complicity to commit burglary, theft and aggravated assault, according to court records. She was held on $2,500 cash bail in the fraudulent check case and $1,500 cash bail in the apartment rental case. University of Guam President Anita Borja Enriquez applauds the 319 graduates from the commencement stage on May 19, 2024 at the Calvo Field House. Haiti - FLASH : The Kenyan Commander of the Mission at the head of a high-level delegation is in Port-au-Prince A high-level Kenyan delegation, including the Commander of the Multinational Security Support Mission (MMSS), arrived in Port-au-Prince, Monday May 20, 2024, via a Sunrise Airways flight from Miami where members of the delegation were in transit. According to information relayed by the Miami Herald, this reconnaissance delegation (before deployment) will have the task of examining in detail the preparations necessary for the arrival of the first Kenyan contingents, of coordinating efforts between the different stakeholders and of evaluating the situation on the ground in order to determine the first actions to be undertaken as part of the deployment of the Mission. The delegation could stay a week in Haiti... According to several sources, around 400 Kenyan soldiers (out of the 1,000 planned) should arrive by the end of the month. No timetable has been made public, for security reasons to prevent gangs from preparing... The first Kenyan contingent according to our information would be composed of around 200 elite men trained in combat who, according to the Kenyan authorities, are capable of managing the situation on the ground in a professional manner, they come from the Reconnaissance Unit of Kenyan police, rapid deployment force and special operations group that fought the Al-Shabaab terrorist group on the Kenya-Somalia border. (plus support staff) Kenya, which leads this force, will be joined by several other countries https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-42217-haiti-flash-7-countries-from-africa-asia-and-the-caribbean-will-support-the-pnh.html . Benin and Chad among Africans; The Bahamas, Jamaica and Barbados among the Caribbean, as well as Bangladesh, although it is unclear when exactly they will be deployed. These countries are all awaiting Kenya's deployment and so it is likely that they will subsequently deploy as necessary, at Kenya's request. The main objective of the MMSS is to help the Haitian National Police (PNH) combat gangs that regularly launch attacks against civilians and public and private infrastructure... The Mission will face various gang threats, and it is likely that Kenyan forces, as well as other members of the MMSS, will be the preferred target of the gangs. Korir Singoei, Kenya's Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs, declared on Sunday May 19 that Kenya would deploy the first contingents to Haiti in a few days and denied rumors of a visit by Kenyan President William Ruto to Port-au-Prince. Let's remember that President Ruto is currently on an official trip to the United States for a week, Haiti will be at the top of the agenda at the White House. This trip coincides with the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the United States and Kenya. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-42371-haiti-flash-the-pnh-receives-10-new-armored-vehicles-from-the-united-states-video.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-42357-haiti-flash-barbecue-affirms-that-its-men-are-ready-to-fight-the-mission-led-by-kenya.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-42337-haiti-flash-the-first-kenyan-contingent-regroups-for-departure.html HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Environment : The CPT wants to spend more than a billion gourdes to clean the streets... Monday May 20, 2024, the trash littering the streets everywhere across the capital and the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince was at the heart of a working session of the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) at the Villa d'Accueil. Architect Leslie Voltaire, on behalf of the Presidential Transitional Council, spoke with a delegation of mayors from the metropolitan area as well as Kenton Louis, the Director General of the National Solid Waste Management Service (SNGRS). They reviewed the various obstacles encountered in the process of cleaning up the capital and its surroundings. The project will affect Port-au-Prince, Delmas, Petion-ville, Carrefour and Cite Soleil, all these municipalities controlled in part by armed bandits, consequently, agents of the Haitian National Police (PNH) and the military of the Armed Forces of Haiti (FAd'H) FAD'H will be mobilized to guarantee the safety of the operators of the Ministry of Public Works, the SNGRS and the town halls who will be hard at work in order to eradicate this shameful image, offered by the capital and its surroundings. This project aims for at least 5 positive outcomes : Protect the health of residents of the capital against the proliferation of microbes and rodents carrying all kinds of diseases due to the accumulation of garbage on public roads. Reducing risks and preventing disasters that could be caused in less than a month by the arrival of the next hurricane season. Proceed with the creation of 2,500 direct jobs and around 10,000 indirect jobs. Create a political climate favorable to the takeover of public administration by the new transitional government, whose choice of Prime Minister is currently underway. This sanitation project lasting 100 days, initially estimated at 1 billion gourdes, will be revised upwards due to the repair work on Boulevard 15 Octobre and the Mais Gate road. Let's remember that among the sanitation projects launched by previous governments, none has given lasting results except for significant expenditure paid by the Public Treasury in conditions that are often not very transparent... TB/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping... Towards the reopening of the Port of Port-au-Prince After the Toussaint Louverture International Airport, the American army (with the PNH and the FAd'H) will endeavor to reopen the International Port of Port-au-Prince, declared Laura Richardson, head of the Southern Command of the American army. She stressed the importance of reopening the Port to facilitate the disembarkation of, among other things, food, fuel and medical supplies which will be distributed throughout the country. She also confirmed that limited U.S. personnel will assist with logistics during the Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti. President Ruto to discuss Haiti with Biden Kenyan President William Ruto this week is making the first state visit to the United States by an African leader in 15 years. The crisis in Haiti, where Kenya has committed troops to combat gang violence, will top the agenda. Ruto will meet US President Joe Biden in Washington on Thursday (May 23) for talks that will focus largely on the UN-backed multinational mission to restore order in Haiti. A first contingent of Kenyan police officers should arrive in Port-au-Prince despite a new legal challenge in Nairobi against the deployment https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-42355-haiti-flash-ekuru-aukot-in-kenya-once-again-tries-to-block-the-mission-in-haiti.html See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-42376-haiti-flash-the-kenyan-commander-of-the-mission-at-the-head-of-a-high-level-delegation-is-in-port-au-prince.html PNH : A member of the "Kraze Barye" gang killed Lorveus Maxo Junior (35 years old), an active member of the "Kraze Barye" gang led by Vitelhomme Innocent, was fatally injured in exchanges of fire with the Police, in the Colosso area (Tabarre 42). A 9mm pistol, 1 magazine, 69 cartridges of 22 and 23 cartridges of 5.56 were also found in his possession. CONATEL calls DIGICEL to order The National Telecommunications Council (CONATEL) requires the mobile telephone company DiGICEL and all operators to strictly comply with the circular of May 31 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36804-haiti-conatel-new-decisions-relating-to-tariff-changes-in-telecommunications.html during telecommunications tariff readjustments sold to the public. "Any creation or modification of tariffs for telecommunications services must be subject to the non-objection of CONATEL at least eight clear days before its application. Non-compliance with this information obligation will result in the application of penalties as provided for in this Circular." Bahamas : 124 Haitians repatriated Last week, a chartered Bahamasair flight left Lynden Pindling International Airport in New Providence bound for Cap-Haitien with 124 Haitians in an irregular migratory situation on board (108 men, 13 women and 3 minors. More than 100 candidates for the position of PM Friday May 17 ended the reception of files for the post of Prime Minister of the Transition. More than 100 contenders have reportedly confirmed their candidacies. The applications will be analyzed over three days and 15 candidates will be selected, then from this number, 3 will be selected for the final selection stage. HL/ HaitiLibre UC Berkeley School of Law graduates wear T-shirts that read UC divest as a form of protest during the law schools commencement at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley on May 10. Graduate Malak Afaneh, wearing the I, is accusing the law school deans wife of attacking her when she spoke in favor of Palestine at a gathering at his home. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle Students across at least eight University of California campuses have protested in support of Palestinians over the last several months, including a weeks-long encampment at UC Berkeley that was vacated May 14. At Berkeley, as at college protests nationwide, students have not only called for a cease-fire in Gaza but have also urged administrators to disclose and divest the institutions investments in companies that profit from Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories. For those outside the debate, it can be challenging to grasp exactly what students are asking for, because the demands vary from campus to campus and because the financial structures of a large system like the University of California are so complicated. Advertisement Article continues below this ad But what unites the protesters is a conviction that institutional ownership of shares in companies with ties to Israel especially military suppliers makes them complicit in genocide. They argue that divesting these stakes removes moral taint on the schools and puts pressure on Israel to give in to pro-Palestinian demands. To better understand specifically what the protesters want, the Chronicle spoke with a group of UC Berkeley Ph.D. students who have been leading the charge to develop a methodology for divestment. Theyre part of a divestment committee formed by UCs student worker union and UC Berkeley Divest, the group that established the encampment. We also dove into public data on UCs investments to detail what it might mean for UC to meet the students demands. For this story, we have focused on the desires of protesters at UC Berkeley, which may not be representative of protesters across UC campuses. Heres what we learned. UC Berkeley graduate students Connor Luellen, left, Chris Geary, Meabh Allen, Jake Orbison, Gabriel Woolls and Ahmed Abdalla researched the universitys investments in companies targeted for divestment. Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle What do the students want disclosed? Advertisement Article continues below this ad Many universities and university systems, including UC, do not publish the full details of their investment portfolios. UC is required to disclose its direct investments to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and it also publishes information on the holdings within some of its asset pools, such as the pension fund, but not others, like the retirement savings fund. But most of UCs investments are in vehicles such as index funds or private assets, not directly in companies. In the case of public funds, which make up about half of UCs total portfolio, information about its holdings is often public but can contain thousands of companies, making them challenging to sort through. Information about its private assets, including private equity funds, is not publicly available. Private assets make up about a fifth of the UCs total portfolio. Charlie Eaton, an associate professor at UC Merced who studies finance and inequality in higher education, said private equity funds generally dont share information about what they invest in because they try to beat the market based on private information. Protesters want more transparency on which companies UC is invested in, including those in funds, so they can make detailed demands for divestment. (Divestment is the sale of stocks and other investments belonging to certain companies.) The pro-Palestinian encampment at UC Berkeley on May 14. Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle On May 14, Jagdeep Singh Bachher, UCs chief investment officer, took a step toward fulfilling the students demands for disclosure: He announced that UC currently has $32 billion invested in assets that the protesters want the university to divest from. He based his number on demands in an April 26, student letter. The day Bachher released that number, the UC Regents, the governing board for the University of California and its 10 campuses, reiterated in a statement that it has no intention of divesting any of these assets. Advertisement Article continues below this ad (Bacchers comments) are a remarkable admission from the Chief Investment Officer that what the student movement has been arguing is correct, Matt Kovac, a spokesperson for the UC Berkeley Divest student group, told the Chronicle. UC is heavily invested, to the tune of 18% of its total assets, in companies facilitating the Palestinian genocide. (Israel has denied accusations of genocide.) Kovac said the protesters want continued public reporting from UC Investments, as well as more disclosures from campus-specific endowments. Bachher did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Which UC funds do protesters want to see engage in divestment? The assets controlled by UC Investments, an office under the UC Regents, are separate from each UC campus own endowment, though funds controlled by various UC institutions are sometimes interlinked. UC Berkeleys $7.4 billion endowment, for example, is made up of $2.9 billion managed by the UC Berkeley Foundation and $4.5 billion managed by the UC Regents. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Pro-Palestinian protesters take over a vacant UC Berkeley-owned building at Channing Way and Bowditch Street in Berkeley on May 15. Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle The UC Berkeley students research mostly focused on the UC Investments funds, which are far larger than UC Berkeleys own endowment. UCs systemwide $164 billion portfolio includes three broad pools of money: a $23.4 billion endowment, $122 billion in retirement funds and $18.7 billion in working capital. Kovac told the Chronicle that while protests have focused on UCs endowment, we are absolutely committed to divesting (money invested in all UC and UC campus funds) as fast and as much as possible from occupation, apartheid and genocide profiteers. What companies are divestment targets? Advertisement Article continues below this ad Kovac told the Chronicle that UC Berkeley Divest is targeting companies for divestment based on two sources: an American Friends Service Committee database of organizations tied to human rights violations (the database includes several categories of human rights violations, but the Berkeley group isolated links to Palestinian issues); and Who Profits, an independent research center dedicated to investigating corporations role in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. These lists include some of the biggest publicly traded companies in the world, among them Microsoft, targeted for its close ties to the Israeli military. Amazon and Google are also on the lists for their involvement in Project Nimbus, a joint contract to provide cloud infrastructure to the Israeli government. The Chronicle reached out to these companies for comment and will update the story when we receive a response. These companies are a significant part of many index funds UC invests in, including the S&P 500. UC has invested at least $9.9 million into the fossil fuel-free version of the fund, which includes five companies from the AFSC database among its top 20 holdings. While Kovac identified the companies on these lists as immediate and visceral violators of Palestinian human rights, he said the protesters ultimately want full divestment from the Israeli state and all Israeli companies. The demand echoes the goals of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, initiated in 2005, which argues that virtually all Israeli companies are complicit to some degree in Israels system of occupation and apartheid. Many supporters of Israel call the BDS movement antisemitic, saying its aim is to destroy Israel. Israels critics deny charges of antisemitism, arguing that opposing Israel should not be conflated with persecuting Jewish people, especially since there are pro-BDS Jews. How many investments does the endowment have in companies protesters want to divest from? According to UC CIO Bachher, the university system currently has $32 billion invested in assets that the protesters want it to divest. In addition to the companies and industries the students had identified as divestment targets, Bachher included $12 billion in U.S. Treasuries assets. Kovac said he appreciated the recognition that the U.S. government is the primary armorer and funder of this genocide but also saw the inclusion of the Treasuries as an attempt to deflect protesters anger away from UC and toward the federal government. Prior to Bachhers release of his estimates, the UC Berkeley Ph.D. students had estimated a minimum amount UC has invested in companies on the AFSC and Who Profits lists targeted for divestment. They used UCs SEC filings, limited self-reported holdings, proxy voting records and publicly available fund data for their analysis. The students identified $3.5 billion in investments in these companies. That includes several million in direct investments in Exxon Mobil, which provides Israel with fuel for fighter jets, and General Electric, targeted for supplying the Israeli military and operating wind farms in occupied Syrian territory. But most of the students work involved calculating how much UC invested in Israeli military-linked companies via the two largest public equity funds its invested in. The group of over a dozen Ph.D. students who conducted the analysis formed the UAW 4811 Berkeley BDS Exploratory Committee in January as members of UCs student worker union; they plan to publish a final research report over the summer. The students estimate is nearly a tenth of the $32 billion disclosed by Bachher, which speaks to how murky university investments have become. Eaton, the UC Merced professor, told the Chronicle that endowment investment managers are increasingly secretive because endowments are now managed like hedge funds and try to keep their investment strategies private. He thinks the current protests may change that. Hes never seen such broad calls for transparency in endowments, explaining that increased transparency will come with more monitoring of how a universitys investment strategy aligns with its values whatever those values may be. Chris Geary, a member of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement exploratory committee at UC Berkeley, works on his computer. Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle Is divestment feasible? As a technical issue, divestment is quite possible, Eaton told the Chronicle. Its sort of common sense that if you have $150 billion in assets, you can hire fund managers to do whatever you want. He says it would be fairly simple for institutions to swap out contested investments. At the UC Regents meeting, Bachher confirmed that if the UC Regents ordered him to divest, he would. He noted that UC has already sold fossil fuel assets, so there are precedents for divestment. California passed an anti-BDS law in 2016 as state legislators across the country tried to outlaw boycotting Israel. But Kovac, the UC Berkeley Divest spokesperson, said the protesters are unconcerned, following guidance from Palestine Legal, a group dedicated to protecting the rights of pro-Palestinian protesters. The group argues the law was so watered down by the legislative process that it would not affect the vast majority of BDS boycotts. What have the UC Regents and UC Berkeley done in response to the protest, and what might they do? Although divestment may be feasible, its not clear what the protesters can achieve. On May 14, UC repeated its refusal to divest from assets that support Israel. The protesters did win limited concessions from UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ in negotiations over ending the encampment. Christ promised to ask a committee of the UC Berkeley Foundation, which manages UC Berkeleys endowment, to hear concerns regarding the investment of a targeted list of companies due to their participation in weapons manufacturing, mass incarceration, and/or surveillance industries. It's not visible in this portrait of Kevin Fisher-Paulson's son Aidan headed to his prom, but the young man is definitely wearing an undershirt. Courtesy Kevin Fisher-Paulson What makes a man? Last week, I wrote about our son Aidan going to the prom in Yakima, Wash. And Aidan is growing up. I didnt want two issues to get mixed up, so I saved one detail: my victory underneath his prom ensemble. Underwear is an ancient concept. The Egyptians wore kalasiris or linen undergarments, and the Romans developed this into the subucula, which they wore beneath their tunics. They absorbed sweat and protected the outer garments, which were usually more expensive. Advertisement Article continues below this ad In modern days, we have hangers and hangers full of shirts and sweaters, but in the Middle Ages, there were not so many outfits, and doing laundry in those days meant beating clothes against the rocks in a river, so people tended to wash only their undergarments. On our trip to Ireland last year, when we visited Blarney Castle, the guide told us that the people hung their clothes over the privy chambers so that the ammonia smell would kill off any mites in the garment. In the 19th century, the American undergarment was the union suit, a one-piece item that covered everything down under. The exact origins are a bit murky. Some say Jacob Golomb, the founder of Everlast Sporting Goods (whos also credited with inventing boxer shorts), began making undershirts made of cotton. Regardless, cotton undershirts went into mass production in the early 1900s. The undershirt grew in popularity until 1934, when Clark Gable, one of the most prominent actors of the time, took his shirt off in the film It Happened One Night and was bare-chested underneath. Undershirt sales dropped by 75% that year, and didnt pick up again until World War II, when men were required to wear undershirts under their uniforms. Matter of fact, thats what got me into the habit. As a deputy sheriff, I was required to wear an undershirt. In basic training, Sergeant Erdmann explained that it gave us another shirt to wear if we got blood on our outer one. But more likely the reason was that its damned uncomfortable to wear a bullet-resistant vest without something underneath it. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Deputy Sheriff Kevin Fisher-Paulson is wearing an undershirt under his uniform. Courtesy Kevin Fisher-Paulson You may be wondering at this point what the difference is between an undershirt and a T-shirt. Its simple: The undershirt is underwear, and the T-shirt is outerwear. The undershirt may be longer and thinner, but both shirts are shaped like the letter T. The term T-shirt didnt get into print until F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote This Side of Paradise. TVs Barney Fife wore an undershirt. Actor James Dean wore the same item, but as a T-shirt. All that gets me to this: What values do our sons learn from us? No parent ever really knows. But with our two boys, they dont seem to have gotten the Catholicism. They dont seem to get the concept of straightening their rooms. Neither shows any sign of getting a drivers license or taking the garbage out without prompting. They do seem to get our politics, though that may change. Our family has a history of being contrary. Grandma Toal insisted that everyone on Myrtle Avenue in Glendale vote Democrat, whether they lived on the merchant side of the street or resided in the cemetery. Whereas her son (my father Hap) was a Goldwater Republican, and his three sons (Brother XX, Brother X and me) range from Libertarian through Conservative through Wild-eyed Liberal. Ill leave you to guess which is which. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Opposites, its said, attract. In the case of our connubial relationship, Brian does not wear undershirts, but I do. Maybe it came from Brian being a dancer, and no dancer wants even one more micron of fabric to make them look any thicker. What do the children of such a mixed marriage learn? Our older son Zane adopted neither my crew neck nor Papas undershirtlessness. He chose tank tops (also called camisoles). It was not a surprise to me that Aidan eschewed undershirts. He also eschewed V-neck sweaters, polo shirts, jeans, haircuts and socks. Aidan Fisher-Paulson, pictured on his final "back to school" day, wearing his usual ensemble, sans undershirt. Provided by Kevin Fisher-Paulson But then came last weeks prom. Aidan took a shower two hours early. As he got the suit out of the closet, he asked, Why does your shirt look so good when you wear a suit, Dad? Advertisement Article continues below this ad I replied, I wear an undershirt underneath. It makes a white shirt look whiter. He rolled his eyes but grabbed an undershirt. He asked me which garment got tucked into which, but at the end, with a boutonniere on top, he looked great. I may have lost the sock war, but I had won the battle of the undershirt. Clothes really do make the man. Kevin Fisher-Paulsons book Secrets of the Blue Bungalow (Fearless Books, $25) is available at fearlessbooks.com and area bookstores. In 2009, Swedish developer Markus "Notch" Persson could only dream of the success of his block-building game. At the time, he was still a blank slate in the gaming scene. But then he single-handedly created Minecraft. The early version with its simple game mechanics gave players full creative control: they explored a randomly generated world, mined resources and used them to craft new tools or building materials. Despite numerous changes since its launch, Minecraft has remained true to this concept to this day. Anzeige The unusual early access distribution contributed to its rapid success. Notch initially released an unfinished pre-release version - this original version can be played in the browser again today, as the WebAssembly JVM CheerpJ 3.0 enables the seamless execution of unmodified Java applications. When Notch retired from development in 2011, he handed over creative control to Jens "Jeb" Bergensten. In 2014, he sold the rights to Microsoft for 2.5 billion dollars. For many, Notch is now a persona non grata; he has been accused of racism, misogyny and supporting conspiracy theories, among other things. The controversial creator was therefore not even invited to the official celebration to mark his tenth birthday. Unbroken popularity However, this has not dampened Minecraft's success: in 2023, it was the first game to break the 300 million copies sold mark. The number of active players is also continuing to rise. According to Statista, there were 174 million active Minecraft players per month in 2023. It also enjoys continued popularity on YouTube and Twitch. Minecraft is far more than just a survival game with a world-building kit, however, as virtual circuits can be built with the help of "redstones", including complete 8-bit computers in Minecraft. Empfohlener redaktioneller Inhalt Mit Ihrer Zustimmmung wird hier ein externes YouTube-Video (Google Ireland Limited) geladen. YouTube-Video immer laden YouTube-Video jetzt laden YouTuber sammyuri hat CHUNGUS 2 in Minecraft gebaut: ein 8-Bit-Computer mit 256 Byte RAM. Thanks to such possibilities, Minecraft is also used in teaching, even for explaining physical quantum effects. At Didacta 2023, the start-up Reload presented a learning environment for programming, circuits and hardware design within Minecraft. The task designs can be adapted depending on the target group. For example, there are logic tasks that even primary school children can complete and tasks aimed at trainees and students. Anzeige Minecraft film A Minecraft film announced back in 2014 and various related projects were repeatedly put on hold. Now there is an announcement for a Minecraft movie including a start date. The Minecraft film, directed by Jared Hess, is to be released in cinemas on April 4, 2025. The film is set to star Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Kate McKinnon and Jennifer Coolidge. The strikes in Hollywood also contributed to delays in the work on the film. The two main actors Jack Black and Jason Momoa congratulated Minecraft on its 15th birthday on Instagram. Empfohlener redaktioneller Inhalt Mit Ihrer Zustimmmung wird hier ein externes Video (Kaltura Inc.) geladen. Videos immer laden Video jetzt laden (Source: Instagram Minecraft und Jack Black) Spin-offs and competition lagging behind After the flop "Lego Worlds" from 2015, not even Lego's mega collaboration with the gaming multiverse Fortnite was able to overtake Minecraft, although "Lego Fortnite" had an estimated 2.5 million players in its first few days. Similar to Fortnite, players have to collect resources, craft and fight monsters in survival mode. The construction mode, on the other hand, offers more freedom for creativity. Lego Fortnite is technically impressive, but offers little variety in terms of gameplay. It has not yet become a Minecraft competitor. The in-house spin-offs Minecraft Dungeons and Minecraft Legends have also been unable to match the success of the main game. So even after 15 years, Minecraft is still at the top of the gaming world. We are curious to see who will manage to take Minecraft's crown when - and with which game principle. (vza) We're a family of eight living in Georgia where Andrew's a professor at GSU and Nancy is a PhD student at UGA. You can read more about us here Joe Kava , the global head of data centres at Google, said continuing investment in the data centre will help to unlock the potential of artificial intelligence for companies not only in Kymenlaakso, but across Finland and Europe. GOOGLE on Monday announced it will make a substantial investment in what will be already the seventh expansion of its data centre in Hamina, Southern Finland. The value of the investment is an estimated one billion euros, meaning the internet giant is set to have poured around 4.5 billion euros into the data farm inaugurated in 2009. Google is thereby cementing its position as the largest investor in the country in the past decade, noted Nina Kopola, the director general at Business Finland. The construction process is expected to support some 1,900 direct, 1,650 indirect and 640 induced construction jobs a year for the next two years, according to an impact assessment by Deloitte cited by Business Finland. Once completed, the expansion is expected to create 100 jobs at a facility that presently provides employment to roughly 400 professionals ranging from electrical and mechanical engineers to catering and security staff. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) on Monday welcomed the investment announcement as positive news for economic and employment growth in Finland. He viewed that it will also highlight the country as an attractive and profitable investment environment for multinational operators. Google on Monday also revealed that it will start transmitting the excess heat generated by the data centre to the district heating network of Haminan Energia. The heat recovered at the facility will satisfy about 80 per cent of the local demand and will start having an impact on the towns energy balance as of next year. The heat will be provided to the municipal energy utility for free and, ultimately, used to heat households, schools and public buildings in a region that is currently highly dependent on fossil fuel, according to Business Finland. It is inspiring that a single action such as this enables almost an entire city to run its district heat distribution on excess heat. This will deliver savings to households, but first and foremost this is an important climate measure, commented Minister of Climate and the Environment Kai Mykkanen (NCP). The Nordics are widely regarded as suitable locations for server farms, given their relatively cool climate, supply of renewable energy and societal stability. Google's Hamina data centre, for example, runs 97 per cent on carbon-free energy, also making the heat recovered at the facility 97 per cent carbon free. The energy needs of server farms are projected to increase with the up-take of artificial intelligence. Aleksi Teivainen HT Helsingin Sanomat last Wednesday revealed that the revision would make it possible to call up reservists to assist in border supervision in circumstances where border security has eroded to the extent that it cannot be upheld by professional border guards. A SUBSTANTIAL REVISION to Finlands military service act is being devised at the request of the Finnish Border Guard. The call-ups, the newspaper wrote, would take the form of refreshers, albeit with the key difference that they would not entail training but the provision of assistance in urgent real-life situations. Such situations could include the outbreak of a communicable disease or a hostile foreign influence operation that brings scores of migrants to the border. If our core staff dont have the manpower to contain the situation at the eastern border this measure would be at our disposal, Minister of Defence Antti Hakkanen (NCP) outlined at a news conference in Helsinki on Wednesday, 15 May. Fundamentally, he added, the revision will define upholding border security as grounds for calling up reservists to refreshers. Both the Finnish Border Guard and Finnish government view that the revision is needed because Russia has demonstrated its readiness to experiment with activities that cannot be regarded as military operations but that, regardless, place a substantial burden on border officials. The revision was published for comments last week, with the government looking to present it to parliament before the summer recess. The revision would only apply to about one per cent of the military reserve, specifically reservists who completed their military service with the Border Guard. Reservists, who make up about three-quarters of the strength of the Finnish Border Guard, could be called up to the border at a short notice for a period of up to 30 days. The threshold for doing so, however, would be high. A decision to invoke the revision would be made by the government at the proposal of the president. They would be tasked primarily with support duties and would not carry firearms, although they would have the authority to use forcible measures under the supervision of a regular border official. Reservists can be ordered to perform lighter tasks, such as logistics and monitoring, so that the core staff can focus on harder mandate, outlined Hakkanen. A border guard could authorise a reservist who has undergone training to use forcible measures not including the use of firearms in situations where the subject of the measures poses a threat of violence in a situation overseen by the border guard. In principle the tasks couldnt be tasks where firearms are needed in the first place. Aleksi Teivainen HT Illia Ponomarenko , sponsored by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is known for his reporting on Russia's war against Ukraine. Over 20 Finnish organizations have voiced strong criticism of the World Village Festival, set to take place on May 25-26, due to the inclusion of a controversial far-right speaker. The groups demand that the festival cancel the appearance of Illia Ponomarenko, a Ukrainian journalist whose past associations have sparked significant concern. However, his links to the Azov regimenta group widely criticized for its neo-Nazi tieshave drawn sharp rebuke. Ponomarenko has publicly praised Azov, referring to its members as his "brothers-in-arms" and has written articles that some perceive as whitewashing the group's far-right connections. Majed Abusalama, Vice-Chair of Sumud The Palestinian Network in Finland, voiced his dismay: "The World Village Festival claims to be an anti-racist event with a theme of courage. How can it feature a speaker who promotes far-right ideologies?" Publications like Haaretz and The New York Times have documented Azov's neo-Nazi affiliations, highlighting antisemitic and extremist rhetoric within the group. Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have reported on Azov's violent actions against LGBTQ+ individuals and Roma communities. The controversy extends beyond Finland. Time magazine has reported on Azov's significant role in international far-right networks, noting its influence through online propaganda and training of foreign fighters. These activities have reportedly persisted during the period Ponomarenko has been associated with and praised the group. Fingo, the umbrella organization for Finnish development NGOs and organizer of the World Village Festival, has defended Ponomarenko's inclusion, stating that he denies the allegations against him. Critics argue that evidence of his far-right affiliations is evident from his social media and published articles. Despite the festivals declared values of human solidarity and anti-racism, the organizations opposing Ponomarenko's participation stress that hosting him contradicts these principles. They commend the festival for supporting the rights of Ukrainians suffering from the war but firmly oppose giving a platform to far-right ideologies. Majed Abusalama expressed further disappointment, emphasizing the festivals lack of focus on the ongoing genocide in Palestine. He insisted that Fingo has a moral duty to actively oppose racism and far-right extremism, underscoring the need for rigorous vetting of speakers to protect marginalized communities. "Fingo should do its homework before allowing antisemites and far-right extremists into a civic space," Abusalama asserted. "There should be no room for racism or racists at any festival." The controversy surrounding Ponomarenkos participation has ignited a broader conversation about the responsibility of public events to uphold their stated values and the necessity of thorough scrutiny in speaker selection. As the World Village Festival approaches, the debate highlights the ongoing struggle against racism and extremism within public forums. HT The EDF's projects aim to enhance the EU's expertise in various defense technologies, including cybersecurity, land, air, and naval combat, space technologies, and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense. The European Commission has announced the funding decisions for the 2023 European Defence Fund (EDF) research and development projects, awarding nearly 68 million to Finland's VTT Technical Research Centre. This marks the first time VTT has been granted coordination responsibility for leading two significant projects, while also participating in three additional initiatives. VTT's contribution will particularly focus on advancing digital technologies within these domains. "Digital technologies are evolving rapidly, and the defense sector is eager to leverage the latest innovations from companies and research institutions. Developing digital technologies is a key strength of VTT. It's vital for us to bring this expertise to projects that bolster European security and strengthen international research cooperation," said Sauli Eloranta, VTT's Director of Defense Technologies. VTT will coordinate two groundbreaking projects, FESPAN and SWARM-C3, aimed at improving the EU's defense capabilities in radar systems and swarm robotics. FESPAN (Forecasting Electromagnetic Signal Propagation Anomalies) focuses on developing methods to create a unified European threat situation picture and enhancing radar and communication systems' performance under atypical conditions. This project will introduce new radar and communication technologies to provide more precise airspace monitoring. It involves over twenty partner organizations from ten European countries, including the Finnish Meteorological Institute and Reaktor Innovations Oy from Finland. SWARM-C3 (Command, Control, and Communications for Multi-X Swarms) aims to develop solutions for the ethical and effective use of robotic swarms in defense operations. The project will create a new operational concept for managing autonomous unmanned swarm systems, such as drone swarms, across land, sea, and air. It will include command, decision-support, user interface, communication, and swarm intelligence solutions. The project involves five partner organizations from four European countries, with Finland's Insta joining VTT in the effort. In addition to leading FESPAN and SWARM-C3, VTT is a key partner in three other projects: NEMO , which focuses on developing language technologies tailored to the defense sector's needs and specialized vocabulary. , which focuses on developing language technologies tailored to the defense sector's needs and specialized vocabulary. FMBTech , dedicated to enhancing the capabilities of battle tanks. , dedicated to enhancing the capabilities of battle tanks. ESOCA, which aims to create methods for improving European air transport capabilities. The latest EDF funding round supports 54 defense research and development projects across the EU, totaling over 1 billion. Finland is prominently represented, with nineteen national organizations participating in nineteen different projects. VTT stands out as the most active Finnish participant and one of the leading European research institutions in terms of funding received. Launched in 2021, the European Defence Fund is a program financed by the EU budget, with a total allocation of approximately 8 billion for 2021-2027. Its goal is to foster collaboration between companies and research entities within the EU, enhancing the competitiveness, efficiency, and innovation capacity of Europe's defense industry and research community. This significant funding underscores VTT's pivotal role in advancing defense technologies and highlights the importance of international cooperation in strengthening European defense capabilities. HT While Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant , do not face imminent arrest, the announcement by the International Criminal Courts chief prosecutor was a symbolic blow that deepened Israels isolation over the war in Gaza. The chief prosecutor of the worlds top war crimes court sought arrest warrants Monday for leaders of Israel and Hamas, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , over actions taken during their seven-month war. Countries that are signatories to the International Criminal Court (ICC), including Finland, are obliged under international law to arrest individuals for whom the ICC has issued arrest warrants. This legal obligation is enshrined in the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC and as of 2024 has 123 signatories, not including Israel and the United States. When individuals such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, or senior Hamas leaders are named in these warrants, member states are required to detain and surrender them to the Court if they enter their territory. This commitment underscores the international community's dedication to upholding justice and accountability, ensuring that alleged perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity cannot evade legal scrutiny and potential prosecution by simply crossing borders. The courts prosecutor, Karim Khan, accused Netanyahu, Gallant, and three Hamas leaders Yehia Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel. Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders condemned the move as disgraceful and antisemitic. U.S. President Joe Biden also lambasted the prosecutor and supported Israels right to defend itself against Hamas. Hamas officials have condemned the ICC's move, arguing that their actions on October 7 were justified under international law as a reaction to Israeli violations. They maintain that their operations are a form of legitimate resistance against Israeli occupation and aggression. Khaled al-Shouli, a legal advocate associated with Hamas, defended the attacks, suggesting they were a response to long-standing Israeli policies and actions. Additionally, French-Algerian lawyer Abdelmajid Mrari, who has previously represented Hamas members, echoed these sentiments, portraying Hamas as a resistance movement fighting against occupation. A panel of three judges will decide whether to issue the arrest warrants and allow a case to proceed. The judges typically take two months to make such decisions. Israel is not a member of the court, so even if the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution. However, the threat of arrest could make it difficult for the Israeli leaders to travel abroad. Renowned human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, was one of the experts reviewing the case and has publicly backed the ICC prosecutors actions. Convened at the request of Karim Khan, the panel was tasked with evaluating the evidence for these arrest warrants. The panel includes prominent figures such as Judge Theodor Meron, Lord Justice Fulford, Danny Friedman KC, Baroness Helena Kennedy, and Elizabeth Wilmshurst. More than four months ago, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asked me to assist him with evaluating evidence of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and Gaza, Clooney writes on Clooney Foundation for Justice website. I agreed and joined a panel of international legal experts to undertake this task. Together we have engaged in an extensive process of evidence review and legal analysis including at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The experts engaged in an exhaustive review process, meticulously examining witness testimonies, expert analyses, official documents, and an array of videos and photographs. Their conclusion was unanimous: the evidence against the leaders of both Israel and Hamas meets the stringent legal standards required to prosecute. Amal Clooney emphasized the rigorous and unbiased nature of their review. The law that protects civilians in war was developed more than 100 years ago and it applies in every country in the world regardless of the reasons for a conflict, Clooney stated. I do not accept that any conflict should be beyond the reach of the law, nor that any perpetrator should be above the law. Today, my colleagues and I have published an oped and a detailed legal report of the Panels findings. My approach is not to provide a running commentary of my work but to let the work speak for itself. I hope that witnesses will cooperate with the ongoing investigation. And I hope that justice will prevail in a region that has already suffered too much, Amal Clooney mentions. On the Israeli side, Netanyahu and Gallant are accused of using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, and the murder and persecution of Palestinians, which are considered crimes against humanity. Main Points of the Panels Report: 1. The panel was convened at the request of the ICC Prosecutor to assess evidence for arrest warrants related to crimes in Israel and Gaza. 2. The panel consists of experts in public international law, international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and international criminal law. 3. They reviewed extensive evidence including witness statements, expert reports, official communications, videos, and photographs. 4. The panel unanimously agreed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. 5. Similarly, they found reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. 6. The report emphasizes that the charges are based on violations of international law governing the conduct of war, not the reasons for the conflict. 7. The panel calls for continued investigations and the cooperation of state authorities, witnesses, and survivors to ensure comprehensive justice. While the global south has welcomed the ICC anouncment, USA, Isreal and its allies have denounced it. The same nations now denouncing the ICC's decision to seek arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, previously praised the Court when it indicted Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes related to the abduction of Ukrainian children. Notably, U.S. President Joe Biden, who now criticizes the ICCs actions regarding Israel, had lauded the Courts move against Putin as "justified" and essential for accountability. HT The owner of restaurant and bar Mr. Digbys fears he may have to get rid of his parklet. Yuri Avila/The Chronicle Mr. Digbys owner Mike McCaffrey warns that some businesses in Noe Valley may close if construction proceeds this summer. Yuri Avila/The Chronicle A different repair project last year on 24th St. in Noe Valley hurt business, some merchants said. Yuri Avila/The Chronicle Noe Valleys stretch of 24th Street has become livelier this year. Storefronts that sat vacant for years now house shops, and diners have returned to restaurants and bars in the afternoons and on weekends. But now restaurant operators say a proposed repavement project on sections of 24th Street could jeopardize the businesses that are just beginning to rebound. Its not an exaggeration to say that businesses are going to close because of this, said Mike McCaffrey, owner of restaurant and bar Mr. Digbys. The project which will span from Homestead to Castro Street and Noe to Guerrero streets is expected to begin late summer and run through the end of the year, overlapping with the high season along the corridor. Project impacts include street and sidewalk closures, reduced parking and the removal of outdoor seating and parklets, which restaurateurs say they depend on to attract diners and increase seating capacity. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The Noe Valley Merchants and Professionals Association, a group representing neighborhood businesses, called for a postponement of the project until early 2025 in a press release issued last week. The group wants to avoid construction during the peak season of August to December. Already, 2024 has been a challenging year for restaurants like Mr. Digbys, McCaffrey said, and the upcoming project will make things more difficult. If you take away accessibility from customers, people just arent going to show up, he said. Mr. Digbys could be one of the restaurants affected by an upcoming repaving project in Noe Valley. Yuri Avila/The Chronicle When the repavement begins, Mr. Digbys will have to break down its parklet, which McCaffrey said will put him in a lose-lose situation. Hell have to choose between either getting rid of the parklet entirely, which would lower his overall seating capacity and drop revenue, or rebuilding it after construction ends. Hes already spent tens of thousands of dollars on the parklet. Thats money well never see again, he said. Public Works is aware of the Noe Valley merchants preference to avoid road work from September through the end of the year, Annie Yalon, a spokesperson for the citys planning department, told the Chronicle. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Road work on 24th has been on hold since 2015, according to Yalon. It was first delayed at the request of area merchants and then-District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener. Notifications for work on the project went back out in 2022, with follow-up letters in 2023, this time in conjunction with current Supervisor Rafael Mandelmans office. Since then, city staff say they have held in-person meetings with affected business owners and communicated with them via email. The city maintains that road work must be completed because 24th Streets pavement condition is very poor. Resurfacing planned for 24th Street should not be delayed any longer, Yalon wrote. The projects scope includes parking-strip repairs, curb work for ADA compliance, bus pad installation, sewer improvements and decorative asphalt. Yalon said Public Works is asking the contractor working on the project to sequence projects to avoid a full closure of 24th Street. McCaffrey and the neighborhood association, which he is a part of, recognize the repairs have to be done at some point. The quality of the road on 24th Street is terrible, he said. But city communication regarding the project has been spotty, some business owners say. Andrew Johnstone, owner of taqueria Little Chihuahua, said he first heard about work resuming from the Noe Valley association and not from the city. If I wasnt on the email list I wouldnt know anything about this, he said. After a February meeting between city staff and merchants, McCaffrey expected more clarity, but he still had unanswered questions. In April, after receiving no new information, the association organized to make their complaints public. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The road repavement project has been postponed since 2015. Yuri Avila/The Chronicle With the work looming over the corridor, some are bracing for impact. Ken Yeung, owner of neighborhood pub the Dubliner, is expecting a downturn in business due to the reduced parking on his block and street closures. Business this year has been steady, he said, with an early boost from the 49ers Super Bowl run. Because the bar relies on neighborhood regulars, who often travel out of town for the summer, business picks up as the weather cools and people start to gather for the holidays. We would prefer (work during the summer), but it sounds like they want to do it toward the holidays, Yeung said. The projects timeline has been vague, Yeung said. Not knowing when to expect work to commence has delayed his parklet repairs, as he doesnt want to spend money only to tear down the outdoor structure. Yalon said restaurateurs with parklets can apply for grant funding from the Shared Spaces program, which oversees dining parklets and other uses of public spaces, that expires in June. The funds can be put toward parklet compliance as well as removal. A Public Works representative and contractors will also reach out to businesses that have parklets around 45 days in advance with a more precise timeline for parklet removal. This wouldnt be the first time that Noe Valley merchants have had to deal with a major repair project. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Last year, utility work on the 4000 block of 24th Street brought down business at frozen yogurt shop Easy Breezy by 30%, said owner Ariel Ford. She had to remove outdoor benches to make room for sidewalk work, which closed access to the shop. While the upcoming project doesnt include her section of 24th Street, she believes the lack of parking and street closures will have a ripple effect into her block. We rely on spontaneous purchases. If people cant park in the area or even walk down the street, they might just go to another neighborhood, Ford said. As the project approaches, area entrepreneurs worry it could put a stop to the business momentum thats been building along 24th. McCaffrey, of Mr. Digbys, said the merchants association has grown substantially in the last two years, with high member engagement in events and meetings. We are so close to being back as a commercial corridor and we dont want that to be jeopardized, he said. Elena Kadvany has been a reporter on the Chronicles Food & Wine team since 2021. She covers the ins and outs of the Bay Area food industry, from breaking news about the latest restaurant openings to investigative stories into wage theft and workers rights. In 2024, her food writing portfolio won second place in the Society for Features Journalism Excellence-in-Features awards. Previously, she covered restaurants and education for the Palo Alto Weekly; her work has also been published in Bon Appetit and the Guardian, and her reporting has been recognized by the California News Publishers Association. She can be reached at Elena.Kadvany@sfchronicle.com. Recently, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) or as Pakistan calls it Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) was besieged by violent protests, with thousands thronging the streets, killing 4 and injuring 100 others. They were triggered for three key reasons: inflated electricity rates not in line with the hydropower generation costs in PoK, an increase in flour prices, and the lopsided privileges conferred upon its societys elites. Last month, PoKs Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), the group spearheading the protests, announced they would march to Muzaffarabad, the regional capital, on May 11, as the government had failed to deliver on its promises it had agreed to in December last year. On May 9 and 10, in a bid to stymie the march, the government arrested around 70 JAAC activists, going so far as conducting raids on the residence of the committees chairman, Shaukat Nawaz Mir. This propelled him to announce a shutter-down and wheel-jam strike across the region and advance the march date from 11 to 10, the Dawn reported. How has Pakistan responded? Initially, the government response was defined by a focus on security, deploying paramilitary forces, known as Rangers in Muzaffarabad despite the peaceful nature of the protests. Additionally, the government shut down government offices and educational institutions and partially suspended internet services in the region. Shortly after, on May 13, Shehbaz Sharif, the countrys newly elected prime minister, unveiled a 23 billion subsidy package as a last-ditch attempt to quell the protests. Now, the rate of 40kg flour was reduced from 3,100 to 2000, and the electricity tariff was brought down to 3, 5 and 6 for 100 units, 300 units and more than 300 units respectively. After this announcement, the Rangers were ordered to move out of the region. However, on the same day, their 19 pick-ups and five trucks, while exiting, were met with stone pelting near Shorran Da Nakka village, the Dawn reported. This prompted them to employ teargas shelling and firing, due to which three protestors were killed. Hence, the pacifying effect that the subsidy package was intended to have could not be implemented or have an impact amid the violence. However, a day later, Nawaz Mir declared that the government has accepted all of our demands, and urged the protestors to revert to business as usual, while also requesting the government to financially compensate the families of three protestors and one policeman killed during the violence. PoKs status within Pakistan or the lack thereof Before delving into how India has responded to the protests, PoKs status within Pakistan merits some elaboration. Constitutionally, Pakistan has only four provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Pakistan occupied parts of Kashmir in October 1947, which now comprises the so-called AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB; referred to as Northern Areas till 2009). GB was a part of AJK until the signing of the Karachi Agreement in 1949, after which it was separately administered by the Pakistan government. Article 257 of Pakistans Constitution, though does not mention AJK explicitly, outlines that: When the people of the State of Jammu and Kashmir decide to accede to Pakistan, the relationship between Pakistan and the State shall be determined in accordance with the wishes of the people of that State. Although PoK is not a part of Pakistan per se, for all practical purposes, it is controlled by the government in Islamabad. The Azad Jammu & Kashmir Interim Constitution Act of 1974, which is in place today, established an AJK Council that purportedly acts as a bridge between the governments in Muzaffarabad and Islamabad while having the power to legislate on 52 subjects. Given that the council is chaired by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, with headquarters in Islamabad, he acts as the final arbiter of matters related to PoK, significantly curtailing the powers of the Muzaffarabad government and excluding the people of PoK from the decision-making enclave. Moreover, under this act, the PoK government cannot make any laws pertaining to its inter alia defence and security, currency and external affairs. Indias Take Due to Pakistans illegal occupation of the region and arguably, the unprecedented scale of the uprising (at least in recent years), the protests have expectedly garnered reactions from Indian leaders. And, the high-pitch electioneering season in India that is currently underway only implies that this has come with an added touch of rhetoric by incumbent government leaders. The external affairs ministry spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, said the protests were a natural consequence of Pakistans continued policy of systemic plundering of resources from these territories, which remain under its forcible and illegal occupation. External affairs minister, S Jaishankar, made multiple comments, which are indicative of Indias positioning on PoK. For instance, on May 9, he said that following the abrogation of Article 370, people have come to understand the importance of PoK and that, every political party is committed to ensuring the return of the region to India. In another instance, while reiterating that PoK will always be a part of India, Jaishankar juxtaposed the development on both sides of Kashmir, saying that someone living in PoK must be comparing their situation to those living in Jammu and Kashmir. On the other hand, Union home minister, Amit Shah, took a dig at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah (also a part of the Congress-led INDIA alliance), both of whom had alluded that because Pakistan has atom bombs, we should not exercise our rights over PoK. Shah has asserted that the Narendra Modi government is not afraid of atom bombs, and that PoK belongs to India and we will take it back. The leaders claim to PoK has a constitutional basis. On February 22, 1994, when the militancy in Kashmir was at its peak, the Indian parliament unanimously passed a resolution. It enunciated that the state of Jammu & Kashmir has been, is and shall be an integral part of India, and called upon Pakistan to vacate the areas it had occupied through aggression. Since then, the resolution along with the 1947 Instrument of Accession, through which the ruler of the erstwhile princely state of J&K acceded to India, has served as Indias official stance on PoK. It must be noted that, when laying claim to the occupied parts, India does not differentiate between AJK and GB; instead, it refers to them collectively as PoK. Any differentiation by the GOI is for the sake of geographical clarity when pointing out the two parts of PoK. As V.K. Krishna Menon aptly put it at the UN in 1957: My government uses the words Azad Kashmir without accepting the connotation of the word Azad means free, we do not accept the term as meaning free Kashmir forceswe have to use the language as it is given, and it should be understood that we do not regard it in its literal sense. Notwithstanding Indias response to the protests, some Pakistani leaders have hinted at foreign interference, a claim firmly denied by the JAAC. This shift in focus risks undermining the protestors cause and the grievances of the PoKs populace, perpetuating their troubles and hampering the regions stability. Bantirani Patro is a research associate at the Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi. The views expressed are personal. What was your path to becoming a translator? Translator Kira Josefsson (Courtesy thebookerprizes.com) I was always interested in languages. My mom is Finnish, and though I havent been fluent in that language since I was a child, growing up in a multilingual environment certainly shaped me. I was born in Sweden and moved abroad after high school, ultimately ending up in Canada, where I did my undergraduate degree. In parallel, I worked as an editor at a magazine published bilingually out of Stockholm and London, and I started doing some translations in that role. Still, I never thought of translation as a career in and of itself, not until I came across Pooneh Rohis Araben (The Arab), a book that told a story about racism and belonging in Sweden I wished more people were aware of. I wanted to translate it, but had no idea how to go about getting permissions and finding a publisher. A series of lucky encounters helped my find my way into a few different translation spaces, including the Bread Loaf Translators Conference. Spending time with all these people who constantly moved between languages immediately felt like home, and it also gave me the tools I needed to slowly start navigating the translation industry. It took four years until I published my first full-length translation: Johanna Hedmans The Trio. How and why did you choose to translate The Details? Like many Swedish translators of fiction into English I often work with foreign rights agencies, who will contract a translator to produce a sample translation which they then use to sell the book to publishers worldwide. The Details was one such project. I signed on more or less sight unseen, but as soon as I sat down to work I knew I had something very special on my hands. Working to bring Ias words and world into English was an unalloyed joy from beginning to end. 144pp, 1536; HarperVia (Amazon) What are some of your favourite things about The Details? I love the grace that suffuses the novel its a rare kind of generosity thats not nostalgic or cloying, but manages to hold love alongside sharpness and humour. And then theres the fact that Ias writing is perfect. As a translator youre so close to the text, and it quickly becomes apparent when something could have benefited from another edit. An imprecise word, sloppy sentence structure the process of recreating the work in English is much harder when you have to guess at what the author means or is trying to do. That also means that its a true pleasure to translate something that is thoughtfully and precisely crafted. Not easy, but deeply gratifying; the prose withstands the pressure of being moved into a new grammar and you can focus on polishing the shape instead of patching up holes that appear in something less exquisitely crafted when you start pushing on it. READ MORE: Review: The Details by Ia Genberg What was the experience of working with the books author like? Were there any surprising moments during your collaboration? Most of the time I work without input from the author until the last few rounds of edits, when I share the translation along with any questions to make sure the tone makes sense to the author, and to make sure I havent misunderstood any passages. It is often a collaboration across time and space with the text as the mediator rather than a direct exchange, and its the biggest compliment when the author is happy with my work. In 2022, I was a fellow at the big Swedish book fair in Gothenburg, and found that three of the other translation fellows were also translating The Details. Ia was there too, doing a bunch of public events (at this point the novel was already a runaway success in Sweden) and we decided to go find her to introduce ourselves. She was just as gracious as you might expect from her writing, taking the time to stop and chat even though she was surely needed elsewhere. Is there a particular book that made you want to become a translator? If yes, why? Pooneh Rohis Araben was published in 2014. I came across it in a Stockholm bookstore a few years later, and I couldnt stop thinking about it Rohis incisive portrait of alienation in a country thats bad at accepting hybrid identities, and her rich prose. The novel tells a story thats different from the one most people imagine when I tell them where Im from, and Id been eager to complicate that rosy idea of a social democratic paradise for a while. I started to pitch it soon after reading it, and now, many years later, its under contract with British MTO Press. MTO will also publish Rohis second novel, Husk, a gutting story of post-partum psychosis that continues to explore belonging and alienation. Tell us about your favourite translations. Which books would you recommend to readers who are trying to diversify their reading habits? Where to begin! Adania Shiblis Minor Detail, translated from Arabic by Elisabeth Jacquette, is a striking attempt to record and remember colonial violence in the present and early years of the Israeli occupation, a book Id recommend to anyone interested in how history is made and what gets left out. In a different register, Alla Gorbunovas Its the End of the World, My Love, translated from Russian by Elina Alter, is a madcap novel in stories thats irreverent, dark, and at times jaw-droppingly funny. I also love Every Fire You Tend by Sema Kaygusuz. Translated from Turkish by Nicholas Glastonbury, it takes the 1938 Dersim massacre as its starting point, weaving the personal and the world-historical in lush, allusive prose. What role does translation play in creating a literary world without borders? Do you think it promotes inclusivity? Anyone who isnt reading literature in translation is missing out on a wealth of stories and ideas. The English-speaking world already rubs up against so many other languages, has so many other languages in it; limiting yourself to work originally written in English must be terribly boring. I want there to be a wide variety of stories written by a wide range of people, and perhaps that helps people to see that there are many different ways of living and experiencing the world. I dont tend to think of reading as a political goal in and of itself, however I dont read in translation because of some kind of ethical imperative, but because it makes my life more fun and interesting. Stories in and of themselves dont change dynamics of exclusion and oppression they might act as a catalyst or impetus for people to do something, but to actually move things we must organize to take power. Tell us about your translation process. Its pretty straightforward: I sit at my desk in my home office and do a first, very rough draft which doubles as the first time reading the novel, and then I go over it again and again, from start to finish. After three drafts Ive usually found the tone I want the work to have in English, and what follows is tinkering, finessing, a process that could probably go on forever but at some point (deadlines!) I am forced to close my document and send it out into the world. Sharmistha Jha is an independent writer and editor. With Onlinedubaivisa.com, a unit of Travejar, we've transformed the Dubai visa application process into a breeze, delivering your Approved Visa at the earliest. Lacking a valid Dubai visa can completely derail your plans to explore this City Of Dubai. To easily have this concern resolved, we've implemented a user-friendly approach for fast and reliable visa processing service available through OnlineDubaiVisa.com. As an official partner of the United Arab Emirates Immigration and Dubai government, we've streamlined the visa application process, eliminating any intermediaries and ensuring complete transparency and reasonable fees. 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Our commitment to your convenience extends further with 24/7 customer support available via chat, calls, and WhatsApp. Moreover, we prioritize the protection of your personal information by providing a safe and secure payment environment. Contact Info Email - info@onlinedubaivisa.com Our Website - www.onlinedubaivisa.com Registered Address- Travejar Tourism LLC Dubai Office: 106, Building-4, Al Suq Al Kabeer, Opp. Concorde palace Hotel Bur Dubai, +97 1565016625 India Office : 112, Mahima Trinity mall, New Sanganer Road Sodala, Jaipur- 302019 + 91 9828340000 United Kingdom: Office 169, 321 - 323 High Rd, Chadwell Heath, Dagenham, RM6 6AX, United Kingdom, +44 2080049605 Disclaimer: This article is a paid publication and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Hindustan Times. Hindustan Times does not endorse/subscribe to the content(s) of the article/advertisement and/or view(s) expressed herein. Hindustan Times shall not in any manner, be responsible and/or liable in any manner whatsoever for all that is stated in the article and/or also with regard to the view(s), opinion(s), announcement(s), declaration(s), affirmation(s) etc., stated/featured in the same. For Indian students aspiring to become doctors, the MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) degree is the coveted gateway. But securing admission to a top medical college can be a daunting process. This is where MBBS admission consultants step in, offering guidance and support throughout the journey. Delhi, a hub for educational institutions, boasts several consultancies specializing in MBBS admissions. Here, we explore the top 5 options to help you make an informed decision: Taksheela Institute of Education (TIE): Taksheela is one of the very few consultants in the country who provide admission assistance to MBBS aspirants for colleges both in India & abroad. They provide guidance to students from across the country as they have in-depth knowledge on admission procedures & counseling process for government & private colleges and deemed universities. Students can benefit from understanding their chances of getting admission as per their NEET rank and the cut-off set by different colleges. They also provide an insight into the fees structure for different quotas, category-wise seat allocation and overall infrastructure of colleges in our country. Looking for Top MBBS Study Abroad Consultant If you have any questions reach out to Taksheela expertise in Personalized Guidance, Website: https://www.taksheela.com/ Contact Now: +919831241212 WhatsApp Now (24x7 Available): Message Now Email id: info@taksheela.com With Taksheela's extensive assistance, Indian MBBS aspirants may also explore MBBS overseas options. Countries like Egypt, Russia, China, Georgia, Nepal and Bangladesh have excellent medical schools, hospitals and overall infrastructure which attracts students globally. Not only do they provide international exposure, superior clinical experience to their students but also boast of having extremely affordable course fees for MBBS and low living costs. Such colleges are recognized by WHO & NMC and some of them rank amongst the top government medical colleges in the world. Other countries like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are also becoming a preferred choice for some MBBS aspirants. TIE helps students achieve their aspirations by assisting in selection of country & university, initial registration formalities, admission letter assistance, getting visa & travel arrangements done and providing last-mile connectivity to all its students till they are settled comfortably. MBBS students studying abroad benefit from varied cultural and intellectual contexts, promoting holistic development. MBBS degrees overseas provide a world-class education and prepare future doctors to solve healthcare problems with empathy and expertise. Ruseducation Rus Education is a trailblazer in turning the dreams of aspiring doctors into reality by facilitating MBBS studies in Russia. Since 1992, our dedicated team has been instrumental in helping over 50,000 students achieve their goal of becoming successful doctors. As India's premier ISO 9001:2015 accredited medical education facilitator, we specialize in student recruitment for top Medical Government Universities in Russia. Russian medical universities are renowned globally for their prestige and excellence. They offer an affordable education without compromising on quality, providing students with exceptional academic and research opportunities. At Rus Education, we ensure that students receive the best support and guidance to explore the myriad opportunities in the field of medicine. Join us, and let your dream of becoming a doctor take flight with world-class education and unparalleled support. Education Vibes Unlock your potential and embark on an extraordinary journey with Education Vibes, where studying MBBS abroad is made effortless. Today, the world is interconnected like a family, making international education accessible and advantageous. Thousands of Indian students choose to pursue MBBS overseas for its myriad benefits: enhanced career opportunities, global exposure, and esteemed qualifications. Studying MBBS abroad is also a cost-effective option, with many prestigious universities adhering to NMC guidelines while offering affordable fees. Countries such as Russia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Bangladesh, and Uzbekistan host top-tier medical institutions renowned for their excellence. With straightforward eligibility criteria17 years of age, 50% in 12th grade with Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, and passing the NEET examyour path to an internationally recognized MBBS degree is clear. A reliable MBBS abroad consultant is crucial, guiding you through university selection, scholarships, and visa processes. Hope Consultancy Hope Consultancy is dedicated to guiding students and parents in their quest for higher education abroad. As a comprehensive search engine, it provides the most relevant and detailed information on global colleges and universities. Recognizing the challenges of securing proper guidance and financial resources, Hope Consultancy steps in to bridge the gap. Proud to be among the leading education consultants, Hope Consultancy helps students navigate the myriad of universities worldwide. The consultancy focuses on recommending top-tier institutions known for their academic excellence, allowing students to experience diverse educational styles and contribute their unique backgrounds and ideas. Hope Consultancy supports students through every step of their journey, from aspiring to study abroad to successfully completing their education. By serving as a motivating force, the consultancy aims to be the one-stop destination for all abroad education needs. With Hope Consultancy, students can achieve their dreams and reach new heights in their careers. Affinity Indian society has always held the healthcare profession in the highest regard, with doctors receiving the utmost honor. Consequently, many young Indians aspire to pursue a career in medicine, specifically through MBBS programs. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of Indian students enrolling in MBBS programs abroad. This trend can be attributed to several factors, one of which is the affordability of MBBS programs overseas. The limited number of government seats in Indian universities and the high tuition fees charged by private medical colleges have driven many students to seek education abroad. Many countries offer accredited medical universities with certified MBBS courses at competitive prices, making the decision to study MBBS abroad a smart and economical choice for Indian students. By opting to study MBBS abroad, Indian students can access high-quality education while managing their financial resources effectively. This pathway not only fulfills their aspirations but also opens up global opportunities in the medical field. Conclusion Choosing the right MBBS admission consultant in Delhi can significantly enhance your chances of securing a seat in a top medical college. By carefully considering your needs and leveraging the expertise of these consultants, coupled with your own dedication, you can pave the way for a rewarding career in medicine. Remember, this is just the first step. With unwavering focus and a passion for healing, you can achieve your dream of becoming a doctor. For more information visit: https://www.taksheela.com/ Compiled by Trace presence Disclaimer: This article is a paid publication and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Hindustan Times. Hindustan Times does not endorse/subscribe to the content(s) of the article/advertisement and/or view(s) expressed herein. Hindustan Times shall not in any manner, be responsible and/or liable in any manner whatsoever for all that is stated in the article and/or also with regard to the view(s), opinion(s), announcement(s), declaration(s), affirmation(s) etc., stated/featured in the same. Geoffrey Hinton, often known as Artificial Intelligence (AI) godfather said that he's "very worried about AI taking lots of mundane jobs." He also floated the idea of universal basic income being a solution at the time of changes in the job market due to AI. He said, "I was consulted by people in Downing Street. I advised them that universal basic income was a good idea. Geoffrey Hinton floated the idea of universal basic income being a solution at the time of changes in the job market due to AI. (Reuters) He asserted that AI will boost productivity and generate more wealth but it might lead to income inequality owing to which the technology will result in the rich getting richer while people might lose their jobs. He said, That's going to be very bad for society. Advocating for a more cautious approach to AI development, he said that in just 5 to 20 years AI could be an "extinction-level threat" for humans. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is also running his own experiment around a universal basic income as per which instead of receiving cash, everyone could receive a slice of a future large language model such as GPT-7, he said. "They can use it, they can resell it, they can donate it to somebody to use for cancer research," he said. On the impact of AI, the OpenAI CEO earlier said, The thing I'm most worried about right now is, the sort of, the speed and magnitude of the socioeconomic change may have, and what the impacts on what that will be. He added, GPT- 4 didn't have this huge detectable impact on the economy, and so people were kind of like, Oh well, we were too worried about that, and that's not a problem. I have a fear that we just won't take that one seriously enough going forward, and it's a massive, massive issue." Dell Technologies said that it is making a big push into the future of computing with personal computers designed specifically for artificial intelligence tasks as the market faces sluggish demand. CEO Michael Dell said, "We'll be delivering them in large quantities this year. By next year, they'll likely be quite standard." Dell Technologies Chairman and CEO Michael Dell said that AI capabilities will become commonplace in PCs by 2025 as these AI computers will have the capability of accelerating AI workloads. (AP) He said that AI capabilities will become commonplace in PCs by 2025 as these AI computers will have the capability of accelerating AI workloads, including neural processing units (NPUs) supplied by Qualcomm and dedicated key for Microsoft's AI Copilot service. Dell investors have recently focused on the companys server business and Michael Dell said that the company has provided AI infrastructure to hundreds of enterprise customers already. Dell shares gained 95% this year Erik Woodring, Morgan Stanley analyst, said that the companys AI server and storage businesses are seeing more momentum than previously assumed. The company also received praise from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang who said that Dell's capabilities serves as evidence of this crucial collaboration. Michael Dell acknowledged Nvidia partnership saying that it is a good arrangement as he emphasised on the importance of diverse partnerships in navigating the evolving computing landscape. The billionaire CEO also praised Indias strong economy, availability of tech talent and push to lead in AI saying that it is an attractive market for a company like Dell. India has talent and is a great resource for Dell and many other companies, but there is a desire for sovereign AI, he said as per indianexpress.com. Microsoft boss Satya Nadella was seen in a video talked about a powerful artificial intelligence (AI) tool- a photographic memory feature called Recall that will "remember and understand everything you do on your computer by taking constant screenshots". The feature has been added to the PCs in addition to Copilot which was launched last year replacing Microsoft's voice-assistant Cortana. In the video, Satya Nadella said, It's not keyword search, it's semantic search over all your history. And it's not just about any document. We can recreate moments from the past essentially. Elon Musk is not a fan of the new Microsoft feature as he said that he will turn it off while commenting on a video of Satya Nadella. But Elon Musk is not a fan of the feature as he said that he will turn it off. "This is a Black Mirror episode. Definitely turning this "feature" off," the Tesla CEO said in his post on X (formerly Twitter)- referencing Netflix series 'Black Mirror' that focuses on the lives of individuals grappling with the effects of technology in their lives. The tool was also criticised by other users on social media as one wrote, "Yeah, no thanks. Don't need to pay Microsoft a monthly fee to spy on me" while another commented, Bro they can't even get searching via the start menu right and we're supposed to believe this s*** will just work. A third remarked, Remember back in the day where Windows would cache snapshots and they would fill the hard drive and crash everything and make it impossible to use the system? On Recall, Microsoft said, "Your snapshots are yours; they stay locally on your PC. You can delete individual snapshots, adjust and delete ranges of time in Settings, or pause at any point right from the icon in the System Tray on your Taskbar. You can also filter apps and websites from ever being saved. You are always in control with privacy you can trust." Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport recently caused a stir with its proposed fee restructuring, requiring private and commercial vehicles to shell out cash for accessing airport premises. However, in a swift turn of events, the airport authorities have retracted this decision, the India Today reported. Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru. (HT Archive) ALSO READ | Man in Bengaluru booked for riding bike with a woman in his lap. VIDEO This backtrack occurred mere hours after the initial announcement that travel to and from the airport would incur additional expenses starting from Monday. Under the now-revoked mandate, commercial vehicles, including those affiliated with ride-hailing giants like Ola and Uber, were to be charged 150 for a seven-minute window of access. If these vehicles exceeded this timeframe, the fee would have surged to 300, the publication said. ALSO READ | Bengaluru teenager kills his younger brother for not giving mobile phone while playing games The intended implementation of this new fee structure was slated for both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 of the airport, affecting a wide range of travellers and transport operators. ALSO READ | Karnataka BJP chief Vijayendra demands CBI probe into obscene video case The decision to rescind the fee restructuring may have been prompted by various factors, including public outcry, logistical challenges, or perhaps a reassessment of the economic implications involved, the report added. Napa Valleys Tarpon Cellars, a brand that catered to millennials and Generation Z, has shut down. Provided by Emma K. Creative/Tarpon Cellars The California wine industry is in trouble and looking to younger drinkers to save it. But two recent and surprising shutdowns out of Napa suggest that millennials and Generation Z may not be the lifeboat wineries are banking on. Last week, Napa Valley winery Tarpon Cellars a shining example of millennial and Gen-Z wine marketing announced it was shutting down after seven years. Its most popular wines, depicting brightly colored marine life on its labels, oozed easy-drinking, summertime energy, and bottles included QR codes linking to customized Spotify playlists. A common fixture at music festivals, Tarpon quenched younger generations thirst for discovery by highlighting less popular grape varieties like Tempranillo, Chenin Blanc and Verdejo in experimental blends priced under $30. Read more: They had their Wine Country vineyard genetically tested. Then came the shocking discovery Advertisement Article continues below this ad Even at a time when some winery owners have predicted a reckoning in the wine industry, this shutdown is particularly jarring. Tarpon, which produced over 10,000 cases of wine a year, was a master at engaging the very consumers its peers are notoriously struggling to connect with. Recent studies have shown that millennials and Gen-Z are drawn to alcoholic beverages beyond wine, like seltzers and cocktails, and theyre drinking less in general. Wineries that successfully capture their attention are thought to have a better chance of survival. Yet it wasnt enough for Tarpon. Founder and winemaker Jeremy Carter said he ultimately lacked the capital he needed to keep the winery going. We had been trying to find solutions through various channels for about six months, he said. We had pulled all the levers we could and didnt have the capital or consistent sales growth to set up long-term success. Brendel Wines, a hip tasting room in downtown Napa, closed earlier this year after two years of business. Lauren Segal/Special to the Chronicle Tarpons announcement followed another unexpected closing: Brendel Wines, which suddenly and quietly shut down its hip downtown Napa tasting room in February, just two years after opening. Like Tarpon, Brendel epitomized the millennial aesthetic with an open, bright, airy tasting room with natural wood tones and a neon sign. It had a prime location on Napas buzzy First Street and expertly differentiated itself from its Cabernet-heavy neighbors. The wines, like the fizzy and pink-hued Grignolino sparkling, fit the latest trends, too. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Brendel declined the Chronicles request to comment on the tasting room closing but continues to sell wine on its website. As for Tarpon, Carter said his marketing approach was more experiential than the typical Napa Valley winery that relies heavily on a tasting room. He brought the wines to music festivals, chef dinners and other events which, while successful, typically had lower margins and higher overhead than a tasting room, he said. Carter also attributed Tarpons downfall to several challenges that he said are unique to the wine industry, such as high shipping costs that often doubled the total costs for the customer and managing inventory when wine is produced so far in advance. Sometimes, hed sell out of an entire vintage in six weeks that was supposed to last a year; other times, hed produce too much. While he still sees potential for wineries to market to millennials and Gen-Z, Carter feels the industry shouldnt be placing its fate on their shoulders. I see a lot of blame on younger generations for their drinking habits that I think is really unfair. They are drinking less alcohol and doing it in a way that is more aligned with their mental and physical health, he said. That should be applauded and not criticized, Carter continued. And its not (their) responsibility to keep every American winery like mine afloat. The Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court has allowed medical termination of pregnancy of a minor rape survivor saying that court cant remain a silent spectator to the agony of a minor. The 16-year-old girl was abducted and raped by her brother-in-law between November 9, 2023, to February 2024. (Representative file photo) Division bench of chief justice Ravi Malimath and justice Vishal Mishra on Monday allowed the medical termination, five days after the single bench of the same court dismissed the petition saying it could benefit the accused in the case, brother-in-law of the minor girl. The 16-year-old girl was abducted and raped by her brother-in-law between November 9, 2023, to February 2024. The accused abducted the girl on November 9, 2023 and kept her in a house in Satna from where the accused was arrested and police also found the girl from the same house in February this year. The girls mother filed a petition granting permission to terminate the 20-week pregnancy. Also Read:Cops lure man who impregnated 13-yr-old from Nepal, arrest him at border The court said, In the case in hand, the minor is a rape survivor. She got pregnant as an outcome of an unfortunate incident. She has already been examined by the medical board in terms of the order of this Court dated May 17, 2024, and the opinion given by the medical board is that the pregnancy is of 21 weeks and can be terminated safely under the supervision of two gynecologists. The continuance of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of pregnant woman or of grave injury to her physical or mental health. Since there is risk to the life of the pregnant woman and of grave injury to her physical and mental health, this court cannot remain a silent spectator to the agony of minor undergoing torture and has to act and take a decision, the court said, permitting termination adding that her physical and mental health has to be taken into consideration. In contemporary governance discourse, the term new normal has taken on a dual meaning. Initially met with apprehension, it denotes a troubling shift marked by decisions lacking empirical grounding, straining public finances, and fostering a culture of compliance through intimidation. However, upon closer examination, this new normal unveils an opportunity a deliberate shift towards sustainable practices rooted in evidence, empathy, and the collective welfare of society. The notion of a new normal in governance should signify a deliberate shift towards sustainable and accountable practices. (HT File) Within the corridors of bureaucracy, dissonant voices lament the erosion of traditional democratic principles. Civil servants, traditionally regarded as the backbone of democratic governance, express concerns about decisions made without evidence or data, exacerbating fiscal strain. The suppression of dissent and relegation of factual reporting perpetuate a culture of compliance through intimidation, threatening the foundational principles of transparency and accountability. In the face of these challenges, it becomes imperative to acknowledge the intrinsic nature of change within governance. However, this change must be constant and deliberate, grounded in contextual realities rather than driven by utopian ideals or vested interests. It should prioritise public interest, upholding the principles of democracy, transparency, and accountability. Harsh realities, wrong priorities The prevailing ground realities in our society are entrenched poverty, pervasive lawlessness, unemployment, inadequate healthcare and education, endemic corruption, deficient infrastructure, and economic disparities. Furthermore, the infiltration of criminals into politics poses a grave threat to the integrity of governance systems. In addressing these challenges, it is essential to question whether current governance changes effectively serve the marginalised and underprivileged, leveraging technology and data science for their benefit, and prevent the entry of criminals in politics as done in the case of public services. Answers to these questions defy simplicity. Governments may defend their decisions as gradual steps towards addressing social and economic issues, critics argue that policies often prioritise short-term political gains over long-term societal well-being. For instance, populist measures such as cash handouts and freebies - free water, electricity, and rations may be politically expedient but neglect essential investments in education, healthcare, and infrastructure crucial for sustainable development and poverty alleviation. These also signify bureaucratic inertia often undermining merit, innovation, and the efficacy of policies. Instead of being transient, the subsidies seem to have become a permanent feature of political decision-making. The disillusionment among youngsters, the vanguards of change, with traditional policies and practices is a palpable consequence. Movements advocating for systemic reforms, such as the Jan Lokpal agitation in 2014 and the farmers agitation in 2019, had ignited hope but have fallen short of expectations. Aspirational politicians, ensnared in perpetuating existing norms, favour excessive public spending over efficiency and accountability, exacerbating social inequalities and straining resources. Multifaceted approach To address these challenges and usher in sustainable governance, a multifaceted approach is necessary. Firstly, embracing change requires a focus on transparency and accountability, both legislative and judicial. Rigorous enforcement and stringent oversight mechanisms are essential to deter malfeasance and ensure financial prudence. Legislative oversight and budgetary processes should safeguard public funds from misuse or improvident spending, with legal repercussions for deviations from established norms. Moreover, for the security of socially and economically challenged populations, new social contracts must evolve. Reservations, if necessary, should be implemented judiciously, with exclusion thresholds based on family incomes to prioritise the most vulnerable. Income support and subsidies should be tied to achieving sustainable levels of family incomes. Education and health services should be expanded more equitably, with subsidies for the poor until they achieve sustainable universal basic incomes. The vulnerabilities exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic underscore the urgent need for compassionate care and equitable access to essential services. The notion of a new normal in governance should signify a deliberate shift towards sustainable and accountable practices, rooted in evidence, empathy, and the collective welfare of society. We should aim to realise the promise of inclusive and equitable governance for all by reforming institutions, promoting transparency, and empowering communities through an updated or new statutory framework. Acquiescing to unsustainable decisions that defy the logic of public interest should not be the norm but rather an aberration in governance. Thus, embracing change towards sustainable governance requires a concerted effort to prioritise public interest, uphold democratic principles, and address the multifaceted challenges facing society. We can pave the way for a future where governance serves the collective welfare of society, leaving behind the pitfalls of complacency and embracing the opportunities for positive transformation, fostering transparency, accountability, and inclusivity. sureshkumarnangia@gmail.com (The writer is a retired Punjab-cadre IAS officer. Views expressed are personal.) The rural towns of Baramulla, Sopore and Pattan, which have traditionally stayed away from polling in the last three decades amid boycott calls, saw a spike in voting as a large number of people stepped out of their homes on Monday. Voters stand in queue to outside a polling booth for Baramulla Lok Sabha seat. (Waseem Andrabi /HT) The parliamentary constituencys Baramulla assembly segment recorded 54.57% voting till 5 pm, up from the 16% recorded in 2019. Sopore segment witnessed 44.57% till 5 pm against the dismal 4% in 2019. Pattans numbers also went up from 33% last time to 52.9%. At Rangwar polling station, 50% polling was recorded till noon. The voters also responded positively in the Old City of Baramulla, which saw political parties campaign for the first time in three decades. At Government School Stadium Colony Azadgand, half of the 1,044 votes had been polled. Last time, due to the fear some 10 odd people had exercised their franchise. Today, voters came in early hours to cast their votes, said Mohammad Yusuf, a polling agent of a political party. Its my first vote in three decades as I have realised that the boycott wasnt fruitful and we should vote to get our rights. We need employment, development and safety of our land and jobs, he said while coming out from the polling station after casting vote with his wife. At Sopore Degree College, where five polling stations were established, 1,400 of the 4,200 voters had come in by 4 pm. We are losing all our securities one after another. I am hopeful we will get our rights back, said Amir Ahmad Malik as he handed voter slips to a group of young voters. Another voter, Irshad Ahmad, said, I was eligible for voting in the mid-90s but only got the chance to vote in 2024 as there isnt a call for boycott and the atmosphere is free from fear. At a polling booth established in Veterinary Hospital, Pattan, which has seen low turnout ever since militancy broke out in the region, 280 of the 1,215 people had cast their votes in the first four hours. Waiting in line was Hilal Ahmad Wani, 50, who had last voted in the 1987 assembly election, said The situation has changed in Kashmir after 2019. Many people who would boycott have come out. My jazbaat (emotions) are the same. We need to choose a leader who talks sense in the Parliament on our behalf. There was militancy and fear. Now, there is no such thing, 46-year-old businessman Showkat Ahmad said, adding, We are voting as no one in this government listens to us. The last five years have been terrible for us. Shahida, a 45-year-old home maker from Pattan, was also waiting for her turn to vote at a booth. Hopeful of her vote paving the way for a better future, she said, Our youth are in jail. Our power bills have gone up. We no longer get enough rice from ration depots. Things need to change. In view of the severe heat wave warning for the region, the Chandigarh education department on Tuesday wrote to all schools of the Union Territory to declare summer vacation from Wednesday. Chandigarhs Sukhna Lake wearing a deserted due to the extreme heat on Tuesday afternoon. (Keshav Singh/HT) While government schools were to go on vacation from Thursday, some private schools had scheduled their summer break from June 1, which prompted the department to issue the letter on Tuesday. Schools will remain closed till June 30. During this break, the teaching and non-teaching staff of the department on election duty for the Lok Sabha elections will remain available for their duty, the orders said. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a severe heat wave red alert warning for Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. The warning comes as temperatures soared across Northwest India, with the IMD predicting continued heat wave to severe heat wave conditions over the next five days. The bomb threats received by approximately 150 schools in Delhi-NCR earlier this month are suspected to have originated from Hungary's Budapest, PTI quoted a Delhi Police statement on Tuesday. The IP address of these emails has been traced to Budapest, a Delhi Police official said adding that it would be contacting its counterpart in Hungary for further investigation in the matter soon, PTI reported. The threat mail purportedly sent from a mail.ru server said that explosives were planted on school premises in Delhi. (PTI) The threat mail purportedly sent from a mail.ru server said that explosives were planted on school premises in Delhi. This triggered massive evacuations and searches at the premises of around 150 schools in the national capital. The mail was later declared as a hoax as nothing objectionable was found from the school campuses. ALSO READ | Airport, 8 hospitals get hoax bomb threats An officer involved in the investigation said the threat was sent from the mail ID, sawariim@mail.ru, which had a domain based in Russia. Its likely the IP addresses may be associated with a VPN and establishing the persons connectivity will be a challenge. We will seek Interpols help by sending it a Demi Official (DO) letter, seeking the details of the person who signed up for the email address, the officer said earlier. Mother Mary's School in Mayur Vihar, Delhi Public School in Dwarka, Sanskriti School in Chanakyapuri, Delhi Public School at Vasant Kunj, Amity School in Saket and Delhi Public School (DPS) in Noida Sector 30 were among the first schools to receive bomb threats via email. The police, after filing an FIR in the case, wrote to the mailing service company 'mail.ru' based in Russia via Interpol. Officials indicated that an initial investigation had raised suspicions of a "deeper conspiracy" orchestrated by a terror group amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. They also suggested that the threatening email might have been sent by an ISIS module. The Delhi government, meanwhile, issued an advisory to the educational institutes asking them to check their official emails timely after the hoax bomb threat at schools in the national capital. "It is advised that School Administrators/Managers/Heads of Government/Government Aided and Unaided Recognised Schools under the Directorate of Education, GNCT Delhi should ensure that emails/messages received on official email id of the school at any time of the day (before, during or after school hours) are checked timely," the advisory issued by the Directorate of Education said. It also instructed the school administration to inform the relevant district education officials and the Delhi Police if any suspicious activity is observed. (With inputs from PTI) NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday sought to attack chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his aide Bibhav Kumar over the Swati Maliwal assault case, wondering how the Rajya Sabha MP was able to enter the chief ministers residence without an appointment. AAPs Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal arrives at the Tis Hazari Court to get her statement recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (ANI FILE) The events inside the Chief Ministers residence in Delhi have exposed their reality to such an extent that even eight days after that incident, many questions remain in the minds of the people of Delhi, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said. Maliwal has alleged that Kumar attacked her at the CMs official residence at Flagstaff Road in Civil Lines area in north Delhi on May 13, when she went there to meet Kejriwal. Kumar, who has denied the charges and filed a counter complaint, was arrested on Saturday from the CMs residence in connection with this case, which was registered on May 16 The AAP has backed Bibhav Kumar, and alleged that Swati Maliwal had tried to implicate AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal in a false case. But when Bibhav Kumar didnt let her meet Kejriwal, Maliwal hurled the allegations at her. Trivedi also took a swipe at Kejriwal, saying he promised people before coming to power to keep his doors open to people. But today he is staying in his Sheesh Mehal and meeting people only after appointments. He told his MP that since there was no appointment, he would not meet her, the BJP leader added. He also asked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor to release his appointment diary for May 13. If there was no appointment then how could she come inside your residence? If anyone goes to any Chief Ministers residence without appointment he is not allowed to get in. You should answer how could she get in, the BJP leader asked. Maliwal, in her complaint, alleged that Kumar slapped her seven to eight times without any provocation, pounced on her, kicked her in the chest and pelvis, and deliberately pulled up her shirt when she went to meet Kejriwal. On Sunday, Kejriwal told a gathering of AAP ministers, MLAs, MPs and senior party leaders that the BJP has a plan to crush AAP, arrest all its senior leaders, seize its accounts and evict the party from its office. Amid a severe heatwave hitting most parts of India, the power demand, as the need for air conditioners and coolers is on the rise, reached a record high of 234 gigawatts (GW) on Tuesday. A woman pours water on her head to cool herself amid the ongoing heatwave, at the Swami Vivekananda Camp Chanakyapuri in New Delhi. (ANI) The extreme heatwave is causing Delhi's power demand to rise sharply. According to the State Load Despatch Center (SLDC) data at 3:33pm on Tuesday, Delhi's peak power demand reached 7717 MW, the highest ever in the city's history. Government data showed that power demand in the country hit 234 GW, up from the expected 225 GW to 235 GW in May. In June, power demand is expected to be between 235 and 240 GW, with 235 GW in the evening and 240 GW during the day. According to official data, this is the fourth day in a row that Delhi's peak power demand has exceeded 7,000 MW, breaking the previous May record of 7070 MW set on May 19, 2022. Severe heatwave conditions are expected to continue in northwest India, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat for the next five days. The government said it is taking all necessary steps to meet the electricity demand this summer. To ensure this, a series of meetings were held, focusing on preventing any power outages during the summer season. A heatwave is defined as temperatures of at least 40 degrees Celsius in the plains and 30 degrees Celsius in hilly areas. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) expects higher-than-normal temperatures across the country this summer. Peak energy demand increased by 12.7 per cent, from 215,888 MW in 2022-23 to 243,271 MW in 2023-24. The peak demand met grew by 13.9 per cent, from 210,725 MW in 2022-23 to 239,931 MW in 2023-24. Heatwave conditions in north India On Monday, the highest temperature of 47.4 degrees Celsius was reported in Najafgarh (Delhi). Delhi schools were ordered to announce summer vacations instantly on Tuesday by the Directorate of Education (DoE). It said in a notice, All the government schools are closed w.e.f. 11.05.24. However, it has been observed that some of the Govt. Aided and Unaided Recognized Private Schools are still open during the ongoing severe heat waves. Therefore, all the heads of government-aided and unaided recognized private schools in Delhi are advised to close the schools for summer vacation with immediate effect. IMD issued a severe heatwave alert for Rajasthan on Tuesday. On May 23, some areas in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, Saurashtra, and Kutch are expected to experience heatwave conditions. Uber is set to operate shuttle bus services for regular commuters in Delhi-NCR after the Delhi Transport Department granted an aggregator license under the Delhi Premium Bus Scheme, news agency ANI reported. Commuters will be able to pre-book seats on their preferred route by choosing the Uber Shuttle option on the Uber app. (Representational Image) The bus service will be launched under the Uber Shuttle programme, and commuters can pre-book seats on their preferred route by choosing the Uber Shuttle option on the Uber app. The Government of Delhi stays committed to improving public transport services and diversifying available transportation options to streamline commuting for Delhiites. We are pleased to extend an opportunity to Uber to utilize its global experience and technological prowess to contribute to an elevated commuting experience for the people of Delhi said an official of the Delhi transport department. Following a successful pilot program, where we witnessed significant demand for buses, we are thrilled to officially introduce the convenience of Uber rides to buses in Delhi, said India's Uber Shuttle head Amit Deshpande. He added Uber Shuttle will help put more people in one vehicle, and help ease traffic congestion and reduce carbon footprint. Through a new option for commuters and creating a new source of livelihood for drivers, we are confident that this initiative will prove to be a win-win for all The initiative was initially trialled in Delhi NCR and has been in operation in Kolkata since last year through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the West Bengal Government. How will this service work? - According to the company, the service is tailored to meet the needs of Delhi-NCR's daily bus commuters. - With a focus on reducing road congestion and carbon emissions, the program offers tech-optimised mobility solutions utilising private bus fleets. - Passengers can enjoy a seamless journey by using various features within the Uber app, including pre-booking seats up to a week in advance and tracking the bus's live location and route. - The ETA of buses (Bus ETAEstimated Time Arrivalenables managers to provide real-time live location updates of arriving buses or shuttles) can also be viewed directly through the Uber app, ensuring convenience for passengers. - Air-conditioned buses will cover predefined routes, linking business districts with residential areas in Delhi. Each shuttle bus, accommodating 19 to 50 passengers, will be operated by local fleet partners leveraging Uber's technology. (With ANI inputs) A flock of flamingos collided with an aircraft operated by Emirates late Monday night over the Laxmi Nagar area of Pantnagar, Ghatkopar, resulting in the death of 36 birds, according to forest officials. One of the downed flamingos. HT Photo SY Rama Rao, the Additional Chief Conservator of Forests for the Mangrove Protection Cell, said that the bodies of 36 flamingos were found in the area and that a search had been launched to determine if more flamingos had been killed. He confirmed that the birds were struck by a flight and that the search for affected flamingos was ongoing. Deepak Khade, the deputy conservator of the Mangrove Protection Cell, said, "The airport authorities have confirmed to us about the bird strike. This has happened closer to Laxmi Nagar (northern end of Ghatkopar East)." Prashant Bahadure, a range forest officer with the Mangrove Protection Cell, said, "I went to the airport, but they didn't allow me entry. The airport authorities have told us these flamingos were hit by an Emirates flight. We got a call from the local residents, and the incident may have happened between 8.40 pm and 8.50 pm. Our team was on the spot at 9.15 pm." An airport source revealed that EK 508, an Emirates flight, reported a bird strike upon arrival at Mumbai airport at 9.18 pm. The flight was on final approach for landing and managed to touch down safely. The aircraft is currently grounded, and engineers are being flown in to examine the plane. D Stalin, an environmentalist with the NGO Vanashakti, said, "What caused the birds to fly into the aeroplane etc. are being investigated. My theory is the new power lines through the sanctuary area are causing disorientation to the birds. It should have never been permitted. Alternate routes were many. While giving permissions for power lines (earlier it was not allowed inside sanctuaries), the wildlife board meekly surrendered to the power company. Instead, the Thane Creek Wildlife Sanctuary was bulldozed, and towers erected." Stalin further claimed, "It is also possible that CIDCO, which started this theory of bird hits danger to Navi Mumbai airport, has an indirect connection to this accident. Wetlands in the NRI complex area and TS Chanakya lakes are home to flamingo flocks. Since last month, efforts have been made to disturb the birds there and get the water bodies to be brought under construction. If someone or some people gave chase to the birds out at night, the flocks might have attempted to fly towards Thane Creek and, in the process, met with the accident." Mumbai: South Mumbai, known for its billionaires and much-coveted addresses, registered the lowest voter turnout of all the six constituencies of Mumbai on Monday, at 47.7% (till 11pm). Notching up numbers has been a struggle in the constituency historically in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it recorded a voter turnout of around 51.58%, significantly lower than the national average of 67.11%, while in 2014 it was 52.48%. SoBo lets down with 47.7% turnout However, while the numbers failed to shine, the polling booths glittered with the presence of influential people. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das was among the early voters (at 8am) at Activity High School on Peddar Road. Appreciating the smooth process of voting, he said, I would like to congratulate officials of ECI and others who have been working across the country. After casting his vote at the same booth, Deepak Parekh, former chairman of HDFC, expressed disappointment at the low turnout and the slow process. I know of people who stood for one hour in the heat. It is necessary to have a stable government it is key to progress. We have had one party for the last 10 years and hope that whichever party comes to power brings stability. It was the first time in 45 years when no one from the Deora family was contesting. Former MP Milind Deora, who has joined Shiv Sena recently, said, My father fought elections from 1980 to 2000, and followed it from 2004 to 2019. So, this feels strange however this is the beauty of democracy. Voting is our duty, and I hope the numbers in south Mumbai are better than the last time. Has he seen a difference in the work culture between and Congress and Sena? There is a big difference I am with a party now with a leader who is hungry and eager to serve Mumbai and Maharashtra, he said. Many polling booths saw an encouraging turnout of senior citizens who came in wheelchairs. It was the first time in three weeks that Naushir Dara Kharodi, 83, stepped out of his house. I have taught in Activity school as a guest lecturer and it is a privilege to vote here. It is like a second home to me, he said. At Villa Theresa High School, off Pedder Road, all eyes were glued on Mukesh Ambani Asias richest billionaire and his family. Arriving early at the polling booth, Neeraj Bajaj, chairman of Bajaj Auto, appealed to SoBo voters to turn out in huge numbers and break past records. At around 3pm veteran actor Suneil Shettys wife Mana walked in accompanied by daughter Athiya and son Ahan. This was followed by advocate Susieben Shah, chairperson of Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights. We dont expect south Mumbai to disappoint us. People will vote for one nation, one strong leader and development, said Shah. Farogh Mukadam, additional collector and joint managing director of Maharashtra Small Scale Industries Development Corporation, scale told HT, Until 3pm, the constituency had 35% turnout. The Mumbai average in 2014 and 2019 was 53%, which shows a trend of low voter turnout. Some election officials attributed the low voter turnout to heat and humidity. In order to encourage people to vote, last week Makarand Narwekar, former corporator from Colaba, urged housing society federations, ALMs and residents associations in south Mumbai to dissuade people from going on vacation. He had also appealed to travel agents and companies to waive cancellation fees for rescheduling travel plans and offer discounts for post-poll vacations. Indrani Malkani, chairperson, V Citizens Action Network (VCAN), said, South Mumbai has generally a lower voter turnout than the rest. If the final numbers are lower than the last time, it could be because people are away, as schools and colleges are closed for summer break. It was however heartening to find a large number of people with disabilities who voted because of facilities given to them. Known for its political and historical significance, the Allahabad Lok Sabha constituency is witnessing a fight between the old and the new. These are followed by 1 lakh Muslim voters, Brahmin bhumihars numbering 15,000, Thakur bhumihars accounting for 35,000, Srivastava/Kayastha numbering 70,000, Kols 1.5 lakh besides Musahar and Pasi voters numbering around 2 lakh, Banias 50,000 and others being around 45,000. (HT PHOTO) Traditionally a Congress stronghold, the seat from where Lal Bahadur Shastri and VP Singh emerged as prime ministers, has witnessed stalwarts like Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, Chhote Lohia Janeshwar Mishra, former Union minister Murli Manohar Joshi and even Millennium Star Amitabh Bachchan as its representatives. The grand old party has won seven of the eight polls held here between 1952 and 1984. However, in recent years, the BJP has made it its citadel, emerging victorious in five of the last seven elections. Interestingly, the battle for Allahabad seat features two fresh faces in a direct fight. The BJP has fielded debutante Neeraj Tripathi while the Congress has bet on Ujjwal Raman Singh, a former two-time SP MLA. The BJP dropped their sitting MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi and has gone for Neeraj Tripathi for a win. A lawyer by profession and a former additional advocate general of UP, Tripathi is the son of former West Bengal governor and ex-speaker of UP Assembly, Keshari Nath Tripathi. The 2024 Lok Sabha election is his first foray into active politics. The Congress, on the other hand, has opted for an experienced candidate, Ujjwal Rewati Raman Singh, a former two-time MLA from Karachhana assembly seat. He is the son of senior SP leader, Rewati Raman Singh, an eight-time MLA from Karachhana and a two-term MP from Allahabad (2004 and 2009). Ujjwal won the 2004 and 2017 state assembly elections as a member of SP. However, he left the SP with the blessings of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and joined the Congress on April 2, 2024, days before being announced as their parliamentary candidate. This also turns this fight between Singh and Tripathi into a battle of legacies with both sons fighting the political battle of Allahabad based on their respective fathers political credibility. To take on these two leaders, the BSP has fielded a newbie Ramesh Kumar Patel, a resident of gram panchayat Chitauri of Jasra Block in Prayagraj. He works as a contractor in district panchayat and PWD and has not been very active in politics. He has been the state vice president of the All-India Kurmi Kshatriya Mahasabha. Through him, the BSP is believed to be eying the substantial Patel and backward votes in the region. RURAL DOMINATION The Allahabad Parliamentary constituency has five assembly seats under it with the only urban assembly constituency being Allahabad South and the remaining four of Karachhana, Meja, Bara and Koraon falling in rural areas of the trans-Yamuna region of the district. Of the total 18,25,730 voters, including 9,88,343 men, 8,37,149 women and 238 transgenders, only 4,18,344 (22.91%) voters are from urban areas. It is clear that voters of rural areas would be playing a decisive role on this seat. CASTE DYNAMICS Brahmin and Backward caste voters play a dominant role on Allahabad parliamentary seat. The former account for around 5 lakh voters while the voters of backward communities number over 6.5 lakh with Patels (Kurmis) numbering around 3 lakh, Prajapati and Pals accounting for 1.21 lakh, Nishad/Mallahs numbering 2 lakh and Yadavs accounting for 40,000 voters. These are followed by 1 lakh Muslim voters, Brahmin bhumihars numbering 15,000, Thakur bhumihars accounting for 35,000, Srivastava/Kayastha numbering 70,000, Kols 1.5 lakh besides Musahar and Pasi voters numbering around 2 lakh, Banias 50,000 and others being around 45,000. ISSUES The major issues for voters centre around employment generation and better support to farmers with a large belt here known for potato production. Voters mainly want reinitiation of factories in Naini industrial area with full capacity and setting up of new industries so as to stop migration of youths to states like Gujarat and Maharashtra due to unemployment. Rural voters also want proper compensation to farmers in case of crop loss, support prices for uncovered crops/protection of crops from stray cattle. A large region of this constituency in trans-Yamuna area suffers from water shortage with Shankargarh and Koraon being the worst. One person was killed and two other sustained grievous injuries in post-poll violence on Tuesday following an altercation between workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Chhapra town of Bihar over alleged irregularities in the polling that took place in the Saran Lok Sabha seat a day earlier. A security official stands guard as people queue up to cast their votes at a polling booth in Saran, Bihar on Monday. (Santosh Kumar/ HT Photo) The deceased and the injured persons are said to be supporters of the RJD. The district administration has suspended internet services in the area for two days to prevent further escalation. Police said that the incident occurred at Bhikhari Thakur Chowk, under Muffasil police station limits, and two BJP workers have been detained. The deceased has been identified as Chandan Yadav (25), while the injured have been identified as Guddu Rai and Manoj Rai, one of whom has been referred to Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) for better treatment, Saran superintendent of police Gaurav Mangla said. The SP said that several shots were fired during the incident, killing Yadav on the spot. Saran DM Aman Samir and the Mangla are camping at the site. Violence broke out at booths 318 and 319 after RJD candidate and Lalu Prasad Yadavs daughter Rohini Acharya arrived there on the day of polling. Acharya visited PMCH to meet the injured person on Tuesday. The DM said two persons were arrested and raids are on to nab others involved in the incident. An FIR has also been registered and investigation is underway. Acharya was pitted against BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy from Saran in the fifth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections on May 20. Two people have been arrested and two others are absconding. I have been assured that they will be arrested soon. Some people end up doing such things because of the fear of losing. Such incidents should not take place during elections, former Bihar deputy chief minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said. A 40-year-old school teacher was allegedly stabbed to death by a stalker while she was on her way to school and her body was burnt by the accused to conceal the evidence in Bihars Katihar district on Tuesday, police said. Police said a special investigation team has been constituted to investigate the gruesome incident and soon the accused will be nabbed. (Representative Image) The deceased has been identified by police as Kumari Yashoda and the incident took place near her house at Pakariya Lakshmipur falling under the jurisdiction of Pranpur police limits. She was posted at Pakarhiya Primary School. The woman teacher was killed by stabbing and later the accused set the body on fire to conceal the evidence. The matter is related to love affairs. A special investigation team (SIT) has been constituted to investigate the gruesome incident and soon the accused will be nabbed, said Katihar superintendent of police (SP), Jitendra Kumar. The woman was Shiksha Sevak whose job was to ensure that the school children attended the classes regularly and also to teach the children, said block education officer (BEO), Upendra Prasad. The incident is quite shocking. A team of officials has visited the school, he added. Locals said soon after the woman teacher left for school, a man attacked her with a knife and slit her throat. When she died, the man set her body on fire. Soon the people gathered, but by then he had escaped, said a villager. Later she was taken to the primary health centre (PHC) Pranpur, where the doctor declared her dead. The body has been sent to Katihar district hospital for a postmortem. We have not yet lodged any first information report (FIR) but investigation is underway, and police have identified the accused who will be arrested soon, said a local police officer. People familiar with the matter said the woman teacher had an altercation with village level contractor Halchal Kumar who committed the crime. Meanwhile, teachers in the state have demanded adequate security to them as they have to leave for schools early in the morning to meet the deadline of 6 am. An MP MLA special court in Jharkhand on Tuesday summoned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) youth wing leader Naveen Jha and asked him to appear before the court on June 11. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. (File) The summon comes three months after the Jharkhand high court dismissed Gandhis petition challenging criminal proceedings in the case. Vinod Sahu, advocate of Jha, who is a state working committee member of the BJPs youth wing, said the summon was issued after a prayer was made for issuance of a non-bailable warrant (NBW). We have prayed for NBW. On which the MP MLA special court of Sarthak Sharma issued summons. Rahul Gandhi has been asked to appear before the court on June 11 after the election, Sahu said. Sahu said Jha had knocked the courts door after Gandhi in the Congress plenary session on March 18, 2018, made a speech against BJP stating that the people of this country will accept a lying Bharatiya Janata Party leadership drunk with power because they know what the Bharatiya Janata Party is designed for. Gandhi further said they will accept a man accused of murder as the President of Bharatiya Janata Party, but the people will never accept the same in the Congress Party. Gandhis advocate Kaushik Sarkhel said, Once the summon reaches us, we will pray for the dispensation of personal appearance of Rahul Gandhi. Earlier in two cases of similar nature, the court had given dispensation of personal appearance. A high court advocate familiar with the case said ups and downs are taking place in the case. After Jha filed defamation case against Rahul Gandhi on March 18, 2018 and criminal proceedings started against him from MP MLA court, Gandhi challenged the same before SDJM court of Ajay Kumar Guria. Guria gave order in favour of Rahul and dismissed Jhas case on July 7, 2018. Jha then challenged Gurias order before the court of judicial commissioner Navaneet Kumar, who gave order in favour of Jha and set aside Gurias order. After Navaneet Kumar set aside Gurias order, on November 28, 2018 MP MLA court again started criminal proceedings. Rahul then challenged Navaneet Kumars order before the Jharkhand high court in December 2018. Jharkhand HC directed a no-coercive step but after Covid, finally on February 21, 2024 dismissed Rahuls petition. Now again a summon has been issued, the advocate said. The death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash is not expected to result in any drastic change in the countrys domestic or foreign policies as true power lies in the hands of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the security establishment led by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). However, the death of Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian comes at a time when tensions between Iran and Israel are at an unprecedented level, with the shadow warfare waged by the two sides coming out into the open following Tehrans recent firing of hundreds of drones and missiles at Israeli targets in retaliation for an air strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria. Amir-Abdollahian was the face of Irans diplomatic efforts to address these tensions, and Tehran has done well to speedily replace him with Ali Bagheri Kani, who has been involved in negotiations with the West on sensitive issues, including the now defunct Iranian nuclear deal. While Irans state-run media has attributed the helicopter crash to technical problems, this hasnt prevented theories being circulated about the possible involvement of Israel. Israeli officials have dismissed such reports, but it would be in Irans own interest to speedily conduct an investigation into the crash. This would remove any lingering uncertainty about the incident and prevent the risk of miscalculation by both sides, as also the possibility that some actors may wish to capitalise on the situation created by Raisis death. The world community, including India, does not want the situation in West Asia to spiral out of control and efforts should continue to involve Iran in finding a solution to the Israel-Hamas conflict. Irans involvement with armed groups in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen underlines the urgency of such efforts. Raisis death will have a significant impact on the succession plan within Iran, especially as he was seen as a possible successor to the ageing Khamenei. First vice president Mohammad Mokhber has been made acting president and will have the task of conducting a presidential election within 50 days against a backdrop of growing voter apathy. With reformists and moderates completely sidelined, there are already concerns about different hardline factions jockeying for position, with a resultant increase in repressive measures on the Iranian people. Maharashtra HSC 12th Result 2024 Live: Maharashtra board students can now check their HSC or Class 12 final exam marks on mahresult.nic.in and other websites. The Maharashtra HSC 12th result was announced earlier today and direct links are now available on websites including hscresult.mahahsscboard.in, mahahsscboard.in, hscresult.mkcl.org and results.digilocker.gov.in. Students can check the Maharashtra HSC 12th result using roll number and mother's first name....Read More Maharashtra HSC result 2024: Link 1 This year, 14,33,331 students registered for the HSC exam in Maharashtra, of whom 14,23,923 appeared and 13,29,684 passed. The pass percentage is 93.37 per cent.. Maharashtra HSC Result 2024: Link 2 Some important dates related to the HSC result are: Maharashtra HSC result date: May 21 (check scores from 1 pm) Re-evaluation of result: Application will be accepted from May 22 to June 5 Photocopy of answer sheet: Application from May 26 to June 14 Supplementary exam: Application from May 27 and exam in June-July. Maharashtra HSC result 2024: Link 3 Maharashtra HSC 12th result 2024 direct link and live updates below. Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB) announced the Karnataka 2nd PUC Supplementary Result 2024 on May 21, 2024. Candidates who have appeared for the April/May examination and wish to check their results can visit the official website of Karnataka Results at karresults.nic.in. A total of 1,49,824 candidates registered and of them 1,48,942 appeared for the exam. Overall 52,505 candidates passed the exam. (Getty Images/iStockphoto) Pass Percentage details: According to the official notification, 35.25% of students have passed the Karnataka 2nd PUC Supplementary Exam 2024. A total of 1,49,824 candidates registered and of them 1,48,942 appeared for the exam. Overall 52,505 candidates passed the exam. Karnataka 2nd PUC Supplementary Result 2024 LIVE Updates Gender-wise performance details: Girls performed better than boys with a pass percentage of 40.44% when compared to that of boys at 31.31%. This year a total of 84,632 boys appeared for the Karnataka PUC supply examination out of which 26,496 boys passed. A total of 64310 girls appeared for the examination out of which 26009 girl candidates passed. Stream-wise performance details: The arts stream secured a pass percentage of 22.24%, the Commerce stream with a pass percentage of 22.06% and the pass percentage of the Science stream is 56.16%. This year 52120 candidates of the Arts stream appeared for the examination out of which 11,589 students passed. 39,474 candidates of the commerce stream appeared for the exam of which 8709 students passed. From the Science stream, 57,348 students appeared for the exam out of which 32,207 students passed. Candidates need to note that the scanned copy of the answer sheet application will begin today, May 21, 2024, onwards and will close on May 23, 2024. Steps to check scores The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) declared the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) or Class 12th final exam result on May 21, 2024. Candidates who have appeared for the examination and wish to check their results can visit the official website at mahresult.nic.in and other websites such as msbshse.co.in and hscresult.mkcl.org. MSBSHSE officials declared the results along with the details regarding the pass percentage, gender-wise pass percentage among other information.(HT file) Maharashtra HSC result 2024 live updates The overall pass percentage is 93.37%. A total of 1433331 students registered for the examination and 1423923 students appeared. A total of 1329684 students passed. The girls pass percentage is more than boys this year by 3.84%. The pass percentage of girls is 95.44% and boys pass percentage is 91.60. Konkan division has the highest pass percentage of 97.91% and Mumbai division has the lowest of 91.95% this year. In 26 subjects, the results is 100%. The Science stream pass percentage for 2024 is 97.82%, Arts stream pass percentage is 85.88%, Commerce stream pass percentage is 92.18%, Vocational stream pass percentage is 87.75% and ITI is 87.69%. In 2024, the pass percentage has increased by 2.12% compared to last year. MSBSHSE officials declared the results along with the details regarding the pass percentage, gender-wise pass percentage among other information. Students can check marks on the mentioned websites using their roll number and mother's first name. Over 14 lakh students appeared in the Maharashtra HSC or Class 12 final exam this year. Students can follow the below-mentioned steps to check Maharashtra HSC Result 2024: Visit the official website at mahresult.nic.in Find the link to check the Class 12/HSC results on the home page and click it A new page pops up where students are required to furnish their login information Submit the login details and your result appears on the screen Verify the details and save the page Take a print out of the page for further needs For more information visit the official website. The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) declared the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) or Class 12th final exam result on May 21, 2024. Candidates who have appeared for the examination and wish to check their results can visit the official website at mahresult.nic.in and other websites such as msbshse.co.in and hscresult.mkcl.org. Candidates who have appeared for the examination and wish to check their results can visit the official website at mahresult.nic.in and other websites such as msbshse.co.in and hscresult.mkcl.org.(Biplov Bhuyan/HT file) Maharashtra HSC result 2024 live updates MSBSHSE officials declared the results along with the details regarding the pass percentage, gender-wise pass percentage among other information. Students can check marks on the mentioned websites using their roll number and mother's first name. Over 14 lakh students appeared in the Maharashtra HSC or Class 12 final exam this year. In 2023, as many as 14,16,371 students appeared for the HSC exam and 12,92,468 passed. The overall pass percentage was 91.25 percent. Girl students performed better than boys, with a pass rate of 93.73 percent compared to the boys' pass percentage of 89.14 percent. Students can follow the below-mentioned steps to check Maharashtra HSC Result 2024: Visit the official website at mahresult.nic.in Find the link to check the Class 12/HSC results on the home page and click it A new page pops up where students are required to furnish their login information Submit the login details and your result appears on the screen Verify the details and save the page Take a printout of the page for further needs For more information visit the official website. Actor Aditi Rao Hydari is all set to mark her presence at the 77th edition of Cannes Film Festival. Aditi will attend the prestigious film festival as an ambassador for L'Oreal Paris. Early on Tuesday, the actor took to Instagram to share her new photos before she left India to walk the Cannes 2024 red carpet. Also read | Cannes Film Festival: Kiara Advani, Aishwarya Rai, Sobhita Dhulipala, Aditi Rao Hydari, Indians set to dazzle this year Aditi Rao Hydari finally leaves for Cannes 2024. Aditi Rao Hydari's new Instagram post The actor sported a white jacket with a pair of black pants and a matching cap in the photos clicked at her home. She mentioned her team for Cannes 2024, and wrote in her caption, I Cannes. Wish me luck! We Cannes! Sanu, Eli poo, Sandy, Esther, Vaishnav, Santu, Panks, Shakeel May the force be with us! We are worth it!!!! @lorealparis @lorealindia. Aditi's Cannes journey The actor made her Cannes debut in 2022, and served gorgeous looks on the red carpet, and off it. She attended the film festival in 2023 as well. Her first look at Cannes 2023 was a dreamy blue Oscar De La Renta look, which she wore for a L'Oreal shoot. The actor then graced the red carpet in a ruffled, sunflower yellow gown by Michael Cinco. Latest projects Aditi is being lauded for her performance in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's debut web series Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar. Through the stories of courtesans and their patrons, the Netflix series delves deep into the cultural reality of Heeramandi (Located in present-day Lahore). The series also features Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Richa Chadha, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Sharmin Segal, Taha Shah Badussha, Shekhar Suman, and Adhyayan Suman. Speaking to ANI recently, Aditi said about working with Sanjay again after Padmaavat (2018), "He creates such beautiful, immersive worlds. He gets the best out of his actors. What makes Heeramandi so special is that there are so many stories to tell and each about a very unique woman. And Sanjay Sir really gives a lot of dignity to his female characters and their stories." "He believes every woman, despite where she comes from, deserves to be treated like a queen. And her story is worth telling with a lot of dignity, pride and courage. So, to be a part of Heeramandi and to be with Sanjay Sir, to surrender to him, to learn from him was incredible and I feel very blessed for it. I love Sanjay Sir and it was amazing working with him," she added. Adalberto Aldo Toledo is a city hall reporter with The San Francisco Chronicle covering the mayor and Board of Supervisors. He is a Venezuelan American from a family of longtime journalists. Before joining the Chronicle in 2023, he reported on Peninsula governments and breaking news for the San Jose Mercury News. He also has bylines in the Dallas Morning News, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Champaign, Illinois News-Gazette. Raised in Texas, he studied journalism with a print news focus at the University of North Texas Mayborn School of Journalism, where he worked as News Editor for the North Texas Daily student newspaper. Actor Shekhar Suman, who joined the BJP earlier this month, has said that he will 'opt-out' of the party if he is unable to serve. Speaking with News18, he also said that he doesn't want to get into any political turmoil, debate and have any political ambitions. (Also Read | Shekhar Suman joins BJP at party headquarters in Delhi amid Lok Sabha elections: Till yesterday I did not know) Shekhar Suman at the Bharatiya Janata Party office in New Delhi on May 7. (PTI) Shekhar Suman on political ambitions Shekhar said, I want to still be an actor whos a part of politics so that it empowers me to do the kind of things I want to do for my industry and my state. I dont want to get into any political turmoil and debate and have any political ambitions, so to speak. Im not a politician. I dont want to be in politics and yet be in politics and do the kind of things that I wanted to do. Talks about his time limit Its not like if Im not able to deliver, Ill still linger on. Ive set myself a time limit and if Im not able to deliver what Ive promised myself, Ill opt out. Ive come here for a specific reason to serve. If Im unable to serve, theres no point being there just for the sake of it. But when you come with so much of positivity and determination, then god also helps, he added. Shekhar Suman's political journey Shekhar Suman joined the BJP on May 7. He returned to politics after a gap of about 15 years. Earlier this month, he joined the BJP at its headquarters in New Delhi in the presence of its senior leaders. The actor expressed gratitude and thanked God for guiding him to join the BJP, saying one has to do what Lord Ram desires. The actor had fought the 2009 Lok Sabha elections from Patna Sahib seat in Bihar on a Congress ticket but came third in the contest which was won by Shatrughan Sinha, who was then with the BJP. Shekhar Suman's career Suman is well known for a number of TV series, including Dekh Bhai Dekh and the late-night show Movers n Shakers, which he hosted. He recently starred in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's web series Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, portraying the character of Nawab Zulfikar. Sushmita shares old pic with a baby In the throwback picture, Sushmita was seen holding a toddler in her arms while smiling at her. She wore a white dress and her sash. Sharing the picture, Sushmita captioned the post, "This little girl, who I met in an orphanage, taught an 18 yr old me, lifes most innocent yet profound lessons, ones that I live by to this day. This captured moment is 30 yrs old today as is Indias first-ever Victory at Miss Universe!!!" Sushmita pens long note Sushmita continued, "What a journey its been & continues to be.Thank you India for always being my greatest identity & strength!! Thank you Philippines for the unending love & belongingThree decades & counting!! #mahalkita. I remember & celebrate your grace my beautiful @carogomezfilm #teamo." Sushmita thanks fans, family and friends She concluded, "To all my loved fans, friends, family & well wishers around the worldknow that, each one of you has made a difference to my life & inspired me in ways you may never know!! I feel the love!!! Thank you!!! WHAT AN HONOUR!!! Heres to the next #30 #Happy30years #yourstruly #MissUniverse1994 #INDIA I love you guys!!! #duggadugga." Sushmita at 1994 Miss Universe pageant After Sushmita, Yukta Mookhey, Lara Dutta and most recently, Harnaaz Sandhu brought home the title. During the 1994 event, in the final round, Sushmita was asked, "What for you is the essence of being a woman? She replied, "Just being a woman is a gift of God that all of us must appreciate. The origin of a child is a mother, who is a woman. She shows a man what caring, sharing and loving is all about. Thats the essence of being a woman." Sushmita's last project Sushmita Sen was last seen in Aarya - Antim Vaar, the finale to her Disney+ Hotstar series. The show also starred Ila Arun, Sikandar Kher, Indraneil Sengupta, Vikas Kumar, Maya Sarao, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Shweta Pasricha, Viren Vazirani, and Pratyaksh Panwar amongst others. Actor Shahana Goswami, renowned for her powerful and moving performances, made a stunning appearance at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in an exquisite creation by designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla. The designers described her ensemble as a "sensational piece de resistance" featuring impressive hand-embroidered Swarovski crystals. (Also read: Cannes Film Festival screens Shyam Benegal's restored version of Manthan to five-minute standing ovation) Shahana Goswami in an Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla outfit. Shahana's Cannes looks The look was completed with a frothy peach champagne chamois satin stylised draped sari. This creation, dubbed The Heavenly Hipster: As Haute As It Gets, embodies a conceptual balance between contemporary realities and nostalgic elements. Styled by Who Wore What When and adorned with jewellery from Tribe Amrapali, Shahana Goswami, along with fellow Indian celebrities such as Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Kiara Advani, showcased the diversity and creativity that define Indian cinema on an international stage. About Santosh She represented her upcoming political drama Santosh at the Festival. It is directed by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Sandhya Suri. Screened in the Un Certain Regard section, the film narrates the compelling story of a widow who takes on her late husbands role in the police force after his death. Santosh aims to make a poignant statement about power dynamics within the Indian policing system. Shahana Goswami's bold and chic style at Cannes perfectly complemented the film's powerful message. The photographs taken by photographer Ishan Singh on the iconic staircase of Hotel Martinez brilliantly showcase Shahana Goswami's timeless elegance, class, and sheer radiance. Amidst the glamour of the Cannes Film Festival, Shahana Goswami made a striking impression in statement designs by Rohit Gandhi, Rahul Khanna, and Til by Yav. In addition to her leading role in Santosh, the actor has contributed her talent to various other projects including Zwigato, Tu Hai Mera Sunday, Rock On, Neeyat, Break Ke Baad, Ru Ba Ru, and several others. Australian actress and film producer Cate Blanchett made heads turn at the 2024 Cannes Red Carpet on May 20, not just for her fashion statement but also for how it presumably consolidated her pre-established political stance on a pressing humanitarian issue. Cate Blanchett poses on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the film "The Apprentice" in competition at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 20, 2024. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY(REUTERS) The Oscar-winning star arrived at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival to attend the Monday premiere of The Apprentice, donning a black off-shoulder Jean Paul Gaultier dress by Haider Ackermann. The Internet instantly swarmed in to weigh in on her seeming political fashion statement, as netizens discussed the Colombian-French designer's certain colour-blocking of the dress. She paired her eye-catching dress with a chain of pearls worn below the neckline. It marked her third collaboration with Louis Vuitton's Artistic Director Watches and Jewellery, Francesca Amfitheatrof. Also read | King manipulator: Diddy's ex-head of security bashes his apology video, says he saw him get physical with Cassie Did Cate Blanchett make a pro-Palestinian statement on the Cannes red carpet? The initially fashionable and minimalist choice appropriate for the red carpet later revealed the supposed layered subtext as Blanchett lifted her dress trail, exposing its inner green lining. Although fans continue to speculate if the back of her dress was white or a light shade of pink, many couldn't ignore how her dress's coloursblack and greenwhen seen against the red carpet's backdrop, seemingly stood in solidarity with the Palestinian cause, reflecting the predominant colours of the sovereign statecurrently the subject location of a warring conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas. Although Cate hasn't officially addressed the issue of her attire choice for the red carpet event intentionally tying up with her pro-Palestinian stance, she's avidly vocalised her standpoint on the Israel-Hamas war. As one of the actors involved with the Artists4Ceasefire, a collective of creatives advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza, she signed a letter addressed to US President Joe Biden, asking for an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in Gaza and Israel. Also read | Amal Clooney instrumental in ICC arrest warrants for Israeli PM Netanyahu and Hamas leader Sinwar In May 2016, she was announced as the Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. The official UNHCR website underlines that as the bearer of the esteemed title, Blanchett supports wide-ranging issues, like high-level advocacy to fundraising, to meeting refugees in countries across the globe and works to amplify refugee voices and ensure the human stories behind the figures are heard. In addition to seemingly championing the cause through fashion at Cannes, she also opened up about how taking on the role as the UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador has totally changed her worldview. According to The Associated Press, Blanchett accepted that while some may think that she has a white saviour complex, her interactions with refugees in the field have totally changed her perspective on the world. Another reason why many netizens upheld the sound belief that she deliberately picked that dress for the internationally famed event is that, in November 2023, she advocated for Gaza at the European Parliament. A month after Hamas struck southern Israel on October 7, followed by Israel's widespread bombing of Gaza, she urged the EU to call for a ceasefire and stop the targeting of the unarmed Palestinian population. As the Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, she addressed the EU Parliament: I am not Syrian. I am not Ukrainian. Im not Yemeni. Im not Afghani. Im not from South Sudan. Im not from Israel or Palestine. Im not a politician. Im not even a pundit. But I am a witness. She added, Over the past few weeks, we have all, in horror, been watching the continuing violence in Israel and Gaza. The conflict has claimed, and is still claiming, thousands of innocent lives. Elvis Presley acquired the 13.8-acre Graceland estate in 1957 for a little over $100,000. The historic property, which features the iconic eight-bedroom Graceland mansion, is now set to be sold at a foreclosure auction. However, Riley Keough, the lavish estate's current owner and Elvis' granddaughter, has contested the sale. This comes after a legal notice indicated that the property would be sold off to the highest bidder on Thursday. The granddaughter of Elvis Presley is fighting plans to publicly auction his Graceland estate in Memphis after a company tried to sell the property based on claims that a loan using the king of rock n roll's former home as collateral was not repaid. A public auction for the estate had been scheduled for Thursday, May 23, 2024, but a Memphis judge blocked the sale after Presleys granddaughter Riley Keough sought a temporary restraining order and filed a lawsuit, court documents show.(AP) Riley Keough, Elvis' granddaughter files lawsuit After the King of Rock N Rolls death in 1977, the estate was passed on to his daughter Lisa Marie Presley. Upon whose death, the property was then transferred to Lisa Marie's eldest daughter, Riley. Following the notice from the Shelby County Courthouse, the 34-year-old filed a lawsuit, calling the auction fraudulent. Ahead of the injunction hearing, set for Wednesday, an attorney for Riley secured her a temporary restraining order on the sale. The notice claims that Lisa Marie, who died of bowel obstruction on January 12 last year, signed a Deed of Trust in 2018. It adds that she allegedly used Graceland as collateral to secure a $3.8 million loan via a company called Naussany Investments and Private Lending. The company claims that she never repaid her loan before her death. On this ground, the plans for Graceland had been initiated by the company. However, Riley is strongly contesting the sale of the property located in Memphis, Tennessee. The 60-page lawsuit states that these documents are fraudulent. A source close to her told New York Post that she is traumatised as she never thought that a historic piece of property could even be considered to go into the hands of any random stranger. As she was granted a temporary restraining order, Graceland officials said in a statement, Elvis Presley Enterprises can confirm that these claims are fraudulent. There is no foreclosure sale. Simply put, the counter lawsuit has been filed is to stop the fraud, citing an attorney for Riley, per WREG. Eminem's daughter Hailie Jade married her long-time boyfriend, Evan McClintock, on Saturday in Battle Creek, Michigan. The intimate ceremony was attended by the Rap God hitmaker and his fellow rappers, 50 Cent and Dr Dre. The 28-year-old podcaster confirmed her marriage on social media Monday, along with dreamy photos from her beautiful ceremony. Eminem's daughter Hailie Jade is married to her long-term partner Evan McClintock (Hailie Jade/ Instagram) Hailie Jade marries Evan McClintock They first met at Michigan State University, where Jade studied psychology and McClintock economics. The Just a Little Shady Podcast host shared a heartwarming Instagram post with a carousel of wedding photos and the caption, Waking up a wife this week. The now-married couple, who had been in a relationship since 2016, got engaged last February. We couldnt have asked for a better, more beautiful weekend celebration. So so many happy tears were shed, laughs & smiles were had, & so much love was felt, she continued, adding, Evan and I are feeling so grateful for all of the family & friends that traveled to support us and be a part of this new chapter of our lives as husband & wife. Eminem, 50 Cent and Jimmy Iovine in attendance Eminem was in attendance at Jade and McClintock's wedding, along with his fellow rappers and longtime friends, Dr Dre and 50 Cent; and former Beats Electronics CEO Jimmy Iovine, according to TMZ. The outlet added that the Real Slim Shady crooner did his fatherly duties as he walked his daughter down the aisle and shared a dance with her. Ahead of their engagement, McClintock previously revealed how he got the Not Afraid rapper's blessing during the Christmas Holidays on his fiancee's podcast. I saw your dad go downstairs, and Im like, I gotta do it right now, or Im not doing it today, and Im gonna have to schedule another time, he said, adding, So I just followed him downstairs and thankfully, he was just down there getting your cake and made it happen. Matthew Perrys death is being probed by investigators, who are still looking into how the actor got hold of ketamine. The drug was found in his system when he died. Investigators are now trying to zero in on who supplied him with ketamine. Investigators trying to zero in on who gave Matthew Perry ketamine (REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo)(REUTERS) Perry, who battled addiction issues for a long time, was found dead in October. He was found unresponsive in his hot tub. Law enforcement sources told TMZ that an investigation is underway into how the Friends star got the deadly drug, and who provided him with it. The DEA and local police are investigating the case. Insiders told the outlet that authorities have interviewed important people in Hollywood, including those who have battled drug addiction. No arrests have been made in the case yet. Matthew Perrys cause of death Perrys cause of death was related to the acute effects of ketamine, an autopsy released last year revealed. The report listed drowning, coronary artery disease, and the effects of buprenorphine as contributing factors in the actors death. The autopsy, released by the County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner, also stated his death was determined to be accidental. A week and a half before he was found dead, Perry was reported on ketamine infusion therapy for depression. He had also undergone a ketamine infusion at that time. However, the medical examiner said that the ketamine in Perrys system could not possibly have come from the infusion as the drug has a half-life of three to four hours. Perry is best known for his iconic role as Chandler Bing on Friends. "We are devastated by the passing of our dear friend Matthew Perry," Warner Bros. Television Group, which produced the show, told CBS News in a statement at the time. "Matthew was an incredibly gifted actor and an indelible part of the Warner Bros. Television Group family. The impact of his comedic genius was felt around the world, and his legacy will live on in the hearts of so many. This is a heartbreaking day, and we send our love to his family, his loved ones, and all of his devoted fans." Rajinikanth recently wrapped up shooting for his upcoming film Vettaiyan with TJ Gnanavel. The actor is currently in UAE, spending time with his friends and taking a break before returning to Chennai. A video of him taking a joyride in a Rolls Royce is now doing rounds on social media. (Also Read: Rajinikanth on Vijayakanth receiving a posthumous Padma Bhushan: I miss him) Rajinikanth with Yussuf Ali in Abu Dhabi. Rajinikanth in UAE On Monday, Rajinikanth spent quality time with his friend MA Yusuff Ali, the chairman and managing director of Lulu Group, and some top company executives. While there, he visited Yusuffs house in Abu Dhabi and took a ride in his Rolls Royce. A video shared by one of the companys employees shows Rajinikanth looking gleeful as he rides in the swanky car to the residence, where the duo chat away. Earlier this week, Rajinikanth also met Lulu Groups COO Saifee Rupawala. Saifee shared pictures he clicked with the Tamil actor, writing, Absolutely thrilled to have had the incredible opportunity to connect with the one and only Indian Superstar, Thalaivar. Rajinikanths team and the retail giant have not announced whether the meeting was formal or informal. Earlier this year too, Yusuff met Rajinikanth at his residence in Chennai. Rajinikanth celebrates grandsons birthday Rajinikanth's daughter, Soundarya Rajinikanth's son, Ved, turned nine on May 6. The actor and his wife Latha went to his grandson's birthday party. Rajinikanth and Latha greeted the guests and Ved's friends. While the birthday boy wore a team India jersey, his mother, Soundarya, donned a Chennai Super Kings jersey while carrying her younger son Veer. Upcoming work Rajinikanth has exciting films lined up for release. Apart from Vettaiyan, which will release in October and also stars Amitabh Bachchan, Fahadh Faasil and Rana Daggubati, he will star in Lokesh Kanagarajs Coolie. The films announcement teaser was met with a good response but ran into trouble due to the music composed by Anirudh Ravichander. Ilaiyaraaja sent the producers a legal notice for using one of his old songs without permission. Manoj on The Family Man, Farzi crossover Talking about the crossover, Manoj said, "The American contract is so strict, if I say something, then I will have to pay back some amount which I am not getting as well. That's why I can't say anything. But, bohot majja aaney wala hai (It's going to be fun)." On shooting the show, Manoj added, Mujhe bahut mazaa aa raha hai. Abhi shooting chal rahi hai. Ek schedule khatam kiya hai humne. Raat ko dedh baje jaa ke soya hu main... Main family man ki hi shooting kar raha tha (I am enjoying a lot. The shooting is going on. We have wrapped up a schedule. I slept at 1:30 am...I was shooting for The Family Man)." The Family Man filming Earlier this month, the makers of the franchise officially announced the third season, updating fans that they have commenced the shoot. Taking to Instagram, Prime Video shared pictures of Manoj sitting with the makers and wrote, "#TFM3W??? us: shoot begins. Drop your excitement." About The Family Man In the series created by Raj and DK, Manoj plays Srikant Tiwari, a middle-class man leading a double life as an intelligence officer for the Threat Analysis and Surveillance Cell (TASC), a fictional division of the National Investigation Agency. It is written by Suman Kumar and Raj & DK. The eagerly awaited third season will bring back many of the original cast members, including Priyamani (Suchitra Tiwari), Sharib Hashmi (JK Talpade), Ashlesha Thakur (Dhriti Tiwari), Vedant Sinha (Atharv Tiwari), amongst others. It is produced by Raj & DK's D2R Films banner. The makers have not announced the release date yet. The Family Man: Season 1 premiered on Prime Video on September 20, 2019. The second season was released on the streamer on June 4, 2021. About Farzi Farzi, a black comedy crime thriller series stars Vijay Sethupathi, Shahid Kapoor, Kay Kay Menon, Raashii Khanna and Bhuvan Arora. It is the story of an artist who decides to make counterfeit money. The eight-episode series released on Prime Video in February 2023. Bhansali spoke about Sahir Ludhianvi's biopic, Inshallah Bhansali said, "Now, as the 4th, 5th, and 6th unfold, you'll get to know, right now, I can't speak. I really don't know what I'll make, when I'll make it, it's a very spontaneous decision. I'll be making Gangubai, and suddenly, I put the script down and say, Ram Leela. So I'll be suddenly making Inshallah, and I'll say No, Gangubai (Kathiawadi). So I feel it's about the inner calling of the filmmaker, the inner calling that comes from deep down that 'ye banao (make this)'." He added, "Then I am full on onto the project, then I am into the film, and I am making it like it's me, my soul has to survive, us kisam ki (that kind of) commitment! It's with everything, so I can't make a film with because it sounds good on the paper or it's a good cast, it has to come from deep within to want to make the film, so what I'll make (I don't know)." What Bhansali said about Heeramandi recently Bhansali, while reflecting on his journey, spoke about his childhood visit to a film studio, igniting his passion for storytelling. "I wanted to make it 18 years ago. Then I thought there was another film to be made, then another film to be made. But this was always on my list of wanting to have to make it one day. After every film, Heeramandi would come out, and I would say once again, wait, it's too vast," he was quoted by news agency ANI. "It's too epic - too much of an epic to be made into two or two and a half hours. Then we thought we'd make it into two parts. It's difficult to make a series, but we've made it, and I have enjoyed it. I'm glad and thankful to God that we made it. 14 years of planning, 18 years of living with it, and two years of designing, so it's a lot of work that has gone into it," he added. Bhansali's recent project Recently, Bhansali debuted in the OTT world with Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar. Through the stories of courtesans and their patrons, the series delves deep into the cultural reality of Heeramandi. It features Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Richa Chadha, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sharmin Segal, Taha Shah Badussha, Shekhar Suman, and Adhyayan Suman. Heeramandi is streaming on Netflix. He recently announced Love & War with Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal and Ranbir Kapoor. The ambitious HOPE SF revitalization effort aims to transform 2,500 public housing units on Potrero Hill into mixed-income communities. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle San Francisco supervisors lambasted the operator of two public housing projects Monday over a deadly fire, persistent squatting, mounting piles of trash and even allegations of corruption by a rogue employee. Supervisors questioned at a hearing why the public housing projects in Potrero Hill and Sunnydale in Visitacion Valley were facing so many problems, including dangerous and unsanitary living conditions. Supervisors Shamann Walton and Ahsha Safai criticized the Eugene Burger Management Corp., which operates the complexes under a contract with the San Francisco Housing Authority. Eugene Burger operates a total of 974 units between Sunnydale and Potrero, 313 of which are vacant. The high number of vacant units stems from a plan to rebuild public housing called HOPE SF. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The program is meant to revitalize crumbling public housing throughout the city, but officials are still trying to secure funding to continue it, including funds for demolition of decrepit homes and construction of replacement units. We have a responsibility to take care of our communities, and when a contractor acts irresponsibly and illegally, unfortunately thats on the (Housing Authority), which brought that contract, Supervisor Shamann Walton said. We need to make sure that while we go through this transition that people are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve. The hearing came after Mission Local reported that the sprawling complex at Potrero Terrace is allegedly being mismanaged by Eugene Burger. A recent report acquired by Mission Local showed that the operator failed to comply with all five criteria mandated by its contract. In January and February, the report said, Eugene Burger failed all 95 site inspections at the complex because of issues like abandoned vehicles and overgrown vegetation, Mission Local said. The problems came to light after a fire broke out at one building in Potrero Terrace, killing a man who had been squatting inside a vacant unit. Eugene Burger has struggled to adequately board up vacant buildings and monitor the site amid understaffing. Mission Locals reporting found that the Housing Authority was fully aware that Eugene Burger was failing to properly manage its properties and take care of its residents. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Legal residents who have refused to move as part of the revitalization project are dealing with uninhabitable living conditions ranging from mold to broken, unsafe infrastructure and dangerous behavior by some inhabitants. Eugene Burger has also come under scrutiny after complaints that a rogue property manager had been collecting rent under the table from illegal tenants. People were allegedly paying between $500 and $2,000 a month to a property manager to live in vacant units at Potrero Terrace, the Latino Task Force told the Chronicle. The task force said its working with six to eight immigrant families now facing immigration problems because they did not know they were illegally inhabiting vacant units. Tonia Lediju, CEO of the Housing Authority and Eugene Burger representative Teresa Pegler both said they were unable to comment on the illegal rent collections because the matter is under investigation. Its completely unacceptable, Walton said during the hearing. Now its up to the Housing Authority and MOHCD to hold Eugene Burger accountable. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Eugene Burger said it has filed dozens of eviction notices against squatters at both Potrero Terrace and Sunnydale and is working with some squatters to get them properly housed. Lediju of the Housing Authority said it will deal with the squatting, trash, lack of staffing and other complaints. She said the authority has been working diligently with Eugene Burger to ensure that vacant buildings are boarded up, but she said its not that easy. Unfortunately, regardless of the measures we used, we still find that individuals are still able to get into our units, Lediju said. Oftentimes when we re-board up units we ask individuals to move but find them in other places on our site. Lediju said that at one time the authority had 16 housing officers on site at Potrero Terrace, but today they have just two. Were struggling with our staffing, she said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Pegler said her organization is considering bringing in an outside security firm to deal with the squatting situation at night, but she said it will cost almost $100,000 a month to do security at each location. Walton pushed back, saying that Burger had promised to fulfill all the duties of property manager when it applied to manage Potrero Terrace and Sunnydale projects. Safai said perhaps its time for the Housing Authority to reconsider its contract with Eugene Burger before it expires in a year. To think residents are living in conditions like this is mind-boggling, Safai said. Im very shaken and very disturbed by this. A global maritime court found on Tuesday that greenhouse gases constitute marine pollution, a major breakthrough for small island states threatened by the rise in sea levels caused by global warming. Judge Albert Hoffmann from South Africa, President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), opens a session of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, issues a legal opinion on measures to protect the oceans from climate change, in Hamburg, Germany, Tuesday, May 21, 2024.(AP) In its first climate-related judgment, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea said emissions from fossil fuels and other planet-warming gases that are absorbed by the oceans count as marine pollution. Its ruling - an "advisory opinion" that should nevertheless provide a precedent for cases elsewhere also said countries must go beyond the requirements of the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement to protect the marine environment and the states that depend on it. "What happened today was that the law and science met together in this tribunal, and both won," said Cheryl Bazard, ambassador to the European Union of the Bahamas, one of nine Caribbean and Pacific island nations that sought the opinion. Small island nations with scant economic power but acutely vulnerable to climate change have long felt neglected by successive global summits where pledges to cut carbon emissions have fallen far short of the minimum for limiting the worst effects of global warming. The court said states have a legal obligation to monitor and reduce the emissions that contribute to climate change and laid out specific requirements for their environmental impact assessments. It also said states' targets for cutting greenhouse emissions must be set objectively based on the best available science and relevant international rules and standards, thus setting the bar higher than the Paris Agreement did. RULING WILL SHAPE FUTURE CLIMATE CASES "The ITLOS opinion will inform our future legal and diplomatic work in putting an end to inaction that has brought us to the brink of an irreversible disaster," said Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne. Nikki Reisch, director at the Centre for International Environmental Law, said: "To those that would hide behind the weaknesses of international climate treaties, this opinion makes clear that compliance with the Paris Agreement alone is not enough." Climate activists and lawyers said the decision could influence two opinions on states' climate obligations that are pending from the Inter-American Court on Human Rights and the International Court of Justice. A similar potential precedent was laid down last month, when the European Court of Human Rights agreed with plaintiffs who argued that Switzerland was violating their human rights by not doing enough to combat climate warming. Eselealofa Apinelu, representing the South Pacific island of Tuvalu, said Tuesday's opinion made clear that all states were legally bound to protect the marine environment, and other states, from the existential threats of climate change. He called it "an important first step in holding the major polluters accountable". Also Read | Climate change exacerbates neurological diseases and mental health disorders as world heats up: Study But the road to concerted global action is far from smooth. China, the world's biggest carbon polluter, had argued in court that the Tribunal did not have general authority to issue advisory opinions, saying these could fragment international law. China's foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment. The other nations in the group that brought the case were Palau, Niue, Vanuatu, St.Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenadines and St. Kitts and Nevis. It's been over four years since Nia Sharma has not done a fiction show, however, the actor did participate in reality shows. And now, she is all set to get back to the grind, and would be seen returning to the small screen with a rather uncnventional role in a daily soap titled Suhaagan Chudail. Nia Sharma makes her TV comeback She reveals that it wasnt a conscious choice to take a break but she didnt mind it while it lasted. I also happened to ask myself why I sat for so long when there were offers coming to me left, right and centre. I wasnt begging for work. I could afford taking this break and to just sit back and relax, and find a project that would suit me. I was okay with this phase, I am not someone who is afraid of fading away, shares the actor, who was last seen in Naagin 4. Despite numerous offers, Sharma chose to wait for the right opportunity that resonated with her. With the amount of work that I have done till now, I sit in a chill space and I take pride in saying that I dont have to go out and make myself known everyday. It wasnt my conscious decision, but we are in a volatile field where we wouldnt know what is going to happen next, the 33-year-old asserts. The actor further adds that there were many web projects that didnt take off, and she consciously didnt take up any TV offers. "That's because I didnt find them interesting enough. But, I am so glad that with television, every show that comes, they make sure to call me, karna na karna is a different thing. I dont go and tell people specially that maine yeh aur vo show refuse kardia, thats not in my nature. After four years, I think I am back with a banger, admitting that she did turn down many television offers during her break, because of a lack of interest in the roles presented to her. Also Read: My break was more about learning and evolving, says actor Deepika Singh Her return to television comes with a lead role in the show. Reflecting on her initial reaction to the shows concept, Sharma recalls, A name which I was least expecting to take up because this is not your daily show. My first reaction was no and I never imagined myself doing a show called Suhaagan Chudail. I was like who does this and who talks about this. However, after multiple discussions with the makers and upon realising the uniqueness of the character, Sharma decided to take on the plunge. But then, I realised that this show has been written for me and no one else, once I started shooting for it. I am glad the makers put sense into me and I took it up. This is completely written for someone like me, I have my own agenda, its not exactly a typical negative character. I am being glorified as the title lead, a chudail on a mission, the actor ends. The Central Crime Branch (CCB) arrested five people on Monday on suspicion of drug abuse, following a raid at a party hosted at GR Farmhouse near the electronic city in Bengaluru, police said. The event, organised by a Hyderabad-based event planner, was attended by over 100 people, including 25 women from Andhra Pradesh and Bengaluru, with some reportedly flown in specifically for the occasion (File photo) Police said they had received noise complaints from the neighbours of the farmhouse as the party continued beyond the permitted hours. The police along with the CCB conducted raid at 3am. During the raid, the CCB recovered a stash of drugs, including 17 MDMA tablets and cocaine. Police also recovered the identification card of an Andhra Pradesh MLA in a luxury car parked near the venue. The police havent revealed the identity of the state legislator, and whether the person was involved with the alleged rave party. The event, organised by a Hyderabad-based event planner, was attended by over 100 people, including 25 women from Andhra Pradesh and Bengaluru, with some reportedly flown in specifically for the occasion, said police. Electronic city police inspector K Naveen said: The investigation is ongoing. We have registered a case under the NDPS Act and Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 268 (public nuisance). He said: The complete operation was carried out by CCB officers, and it falls under the jurisdiction of Hebbagodi police limits. We have registered a case and handed it over to Hebbagodi. The FSL teams are conducting a probe. Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday hit out at Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, accusing his government of corruption. The Odisha government is erasing the memory of the glorious Paika struggle, but Modi Ji has honoured it by issuing postage stamps and a coin commemorating it," Shah said in his rallies in Odisha. "Naveen Ji is imposing Babudom on the people of Odisha. He is strangling the dignity and pride of Odisha. I want to tell you that only a son of the soil of Odisha will rule the great Odisha. Only the one who will carry ahead the tradition of Mahaprabhu Jagannath will rule Odisha, he added. ALSO READ: BJP already got 310 seats, will cross 400 in remaining two phases: Amit Shah Continuing his attack on the Biju Janata Dal-led dispensation, Shah alleged that the government is ruining the traditions of Lord Jagannath in the name of tourism. They are trying to convert our religious centres into commercial centres. Temples and shrines are being broken, all four doors are not being opened. They were also trying to stop the Jagannath Rath Yatra but thanks to Modi Ji it is continuing unhindered, he added. ALSO READ: Modi rakes up mystery of the missing key of Jagannath temple Ratna Bhandar Accusing the Odisha government of corruption, Shah further said,"Odisha is one of the most endowed states but it also hosts a huge poor population. The Babus of Naveen Ji are looting the resources of Odisha." "I assure you all that if you form a BJP government here, no resource of Odisha will go out without value addition. We want to build an Odisha from where no Odiya will have to leave his elderly parents, his wife and children in his home to earn a living outside the state. The 25 years of Naveen Babu's rule are the lost years, he added. ALSO READ: Odisha CM surrounded by mafia, BJP will break its backbone: PM Modi Union home minister Amit Shah and Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik The Indian army has explored epic battles of the Mahabharata and also the strategic brilliance of the Mauryas, Guptas, and Marathas that have shaped Indias rich military heritage as part of an initiative called Project Udbhav (evolution) that aims to make the force progressive and future-ready, by drawing insights from the nations historical military wisdom, army chief Manoj Pande said on Tuesday. Indian Army Chief General Manoj Pande (ANI) 'Indias security cant be outsourced: Army chief stresses on self-reliance He was speaking at a conference titled Historical Patterns in Indian Strategic Culture organised by Indias oldest think-tank founded in 1870, United Service Institution (USI), and spoke about the Indian Armys Project Udbhav launched by defence minister Rajnath Singh last year that aimed to incorporate learnings from the Mahabharata, Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads, and Arthashastra. The project, he added, has revealed substantial intellectual convergences between eminent Indian and Western scholars. Udbhav was launched at the Indian Military Heritage festival in October 2023 by Singh in a collaboration between the army and USI. The project has delved deep into ancient texts such as Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads and Arthashastra, which are rooted in inter-connectedness, righteousness and ethical values, the army chief said. The Udbhav compendium is a compilation of the deliberations that have thus far taken place under the project, said a senior official asking not to be named. It will be uploaded on the USI website soon, he added. India has a rich history of great warrior kings, from Maharaja Ranjit Singh to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who displayed brilliant leadership and warfighting skills, said strategic affairs expert Air Marshal Anil Chopra (retd). For long, India has been studying warfighting concepts proposed by the West and those may not most relevant in our region and context. Our rich legacy will play a great role in guiding us and strategising for the future, Chopra added. The Indian Army, the worlds second largest, is drawing on treatises such as Kautilyas Arthashastra, Kamandakas Nitisara and Tamil poet-saint Thiruvalluvars Thirukkural for lessons on statecraft, strategy, diplomacy and warfare from ancient Indian philosophy. The ancient Indian wisdom is rooted in a 5,000-year-old civilizational legacy, where immense value is attached to knowledge. This legacy is exemplified by a vast repository of intellectual literature, the worlds largest collection of manuscripts and nurturing of multitude of thinkers and schools, across various domains, said Pande. The project has delved deep into ancient texts such as Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads and Arthashastra, which are rooted in inter-connectedness, righteousness and ethical values, he added. Furthermore, it has explored the epic battles of the Mahabharata and the strategic brilliance during the reigns of Mauryas, Guptas and Marathas, which has shaped Indias rich military heritage. Speaking at the same event, minister of state for defence Ajay Bhatt lauded the army and USI for the initiative. The geopolitical landscape is ever evolving, and it is imperative for our armed forces to be adaptive and innovative in their approach. By delving into our ancient texts and traditions, projects like Udbhav not only enrich our understanding of strategic culture, but also provide valuable insights into unconventional warfare strategies, diplomatic practices and ethical considerations in warfare, Bhatt added. The move comes against the backdrop of a flurry of efforts by the government to encourage Indianisation in areas, including education, health and science. Army needs 200 new helicopters, says General Pande The army earlier supported a project related to the compilation of Indian stratagems based on ancient texts. This resulted in a book on 75 aphorisms, and another publication, Paramparik Bhartiya Darshan Ranniti aur Netritva ke Shashwat Niyam, or Traditional Indian Philosophy Eternal Rules of Warfare and Leadership. The army is encouraging all ranks to read this book. The move also comes at a time when the armed forces are focussed on the indigenisation of military customs, and have taken some steps to erase colonial traditions. These include the navy adopting a new ensign with the flag drawing inspiration from the seal of Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and the Cross of St George being dropped, it also ended the practice of senior officers carrying batons, and the defence ministry has launched a drive to rename British-era cantonments as military stations. The father of the 17-year-old boy involved in the car crash that killed two people in Pune on Sunday has been arrested, apart from the owners of the two bars where the minor consumed alcohol and a member of the restaurant staff, police officials said on Tuesday. The Porsche was running without a license plate. (PTI) The arrest of the boys father, one of Punes most prominent builders from Sambhajinagar, came after a 24-hour-long chase during which he made several efforts to evade arrest including sending a car to Mumbai to mislead the police, officials said. Pune Porsche deaths:Excise dept files chargesheet against two prominent bar owners The builder after changing few locations went to Kolhapur, and then moved to Samhajinagar while at the same time tried to send another car in Mumbais direction to mislead the police, Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar said. He was eventually traced to Sambhajinagar with the help of technical surveillance, Kumar said. Early on Sunday morning, the minor, who was reportedly inebriated, was driving a Porsche and knocked down two motorbike-borne software engineers in Kalyani Nagar area of Pune. The Porsche, bought by the builder in March this year, was running without a license plate as he had not yet paid the 44 lakh road tax on the car and the minor was driving without a drivers licence. The builder has been booked under sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act for failing to carry out his duties as a guardian. In addition, he has also been booked under sections 3 ,5, 199 (a) of the Motor Vehicles Act, officials said. The three others arrested are Pralhad Bhutada, owner of the restaurant called Cosie where the minor and his friends first had drinks, the restaurant manager Sachin Katkar, and Sandip Sangale, owner of Blak Club where the group went for a second round of drinks. They have been remanded to police custody until May 24. The CCTV footage from the bar clearly shows that the juvenile was consuming alcohol. There is no doubt that he was driving under influence. We will be submitting all these facts to the court, Kumar said. The case and the subsequent bail granted to the minor under provisions of the JJ Act have drawn criticism. Under the bail conditions, the minor is required to work with Yerwada traffic police for 15 days and write an essay on the accident. On Tuesday, Maharashtra deputy chief minister and state home minister Devendra Fadnavis reached the commissionerate where he held a meeting with top police officers to discuss the investigation. Pune Porsche accident: Who were the two IT professionals who died in car crash Fadnavis blamed the Juvenile Justice Board for their lenient outlook in the face of two peoples deaths and which has caused outrage. He added that the Pune Police had already moved an application calling the crime heinous, and seeking that the minor be tried as an adult. Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar questioned the Pune polices conduct and demanded a judicial inquiry into the accident. How did the minor accused get access to alcohol How did an unregistered car ply on Punes roads...Why did it take so long to arrest the father of the minor, he said on X. Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has already crossed 310 seats mark in the ensuing Lok Sabha election after the completion of five phases of polling in different parts of the country and said the party would cross its target of 400 seats in the remaining two phases. Union home minister Amit Shah. (ANI) Addressing a public meeting in Odidhas Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituency, he also said that for the state, which is also facing the assembly elections simultaneously, the target is also to get over 75 Assembly seats and form the government. The current election is to make the country stronger, make Narendra Modi Prime Minister for the third time and make Odisha developed and restore Odia pride, he said. Follow LIVE updates on Lok Sabha elections Targeting chief minister Naveen Patnaik and his Tamil Nadu-born close aide VK Pandian, Shah alleged that the CM is imposing the Babushahi (Babu culture) in the state and that he has disrespected the Odia culture. Despite being a rich state with abundance of natural resources, Odisha is poor. Naveen Patnaiks babus are working to loot the resources. Should a Tamil babu govern the land of Utkal? It is only the person who can speak in Odia, and take the traditions of Lord Jagannath forward can be entrusted with the job. After 25 years, a government is going to be formed on the basis of Odia language, culture and literature in Odisha, said Shah. We want to make an Odisha where not a single youth will be forced to go to Maharashtra, Haryana or Bangalore for labour, leaving his wife and elderly parents here. He can get work in his home state. Odisha has a beautiful location, a long coastline, a huge store of mining resources and industrious youths, but the state only lacks a chief minister who can work hard. Elect the BJP to power in the state, we will make Odisha developed with a laborious and energetic young CM, he said. The BJD has neglected the Western Odisha. The BJP is committed to all-round development of Odisha. 27 lakh families in the state do not have houses, 26 lakh households lack drinking water, schools are closed, and the state ranks 29 in ease of doing business. The Naveen Patnaik government is only hijacking central schemes and providing only empty bags while Modi ji is providing free rice, alleged Shah. Read: Amit Shah jabs Naveen Patnaik, accuses him of 'strangling' dignity, pride of Odisha Raising the issue of Ratna Bhandar of Puris Jagannath temple, Shah said no one is speaking about how many times the doors of Ratna Bhandar were opened and why the report of the judicial commission inquiring into the missing of keys is not being made public even after six years. Once the BJP government is formed in Odisha, we will provide all details of the inventory of Ratna Bhandar after valuation by Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The Commission report will also be made public, said Shah. Read: Modi rakes up mystery of the missing key of Jagannath temple Ratna Bhandar Responding to the jibes of Shah and Modi on the Ratna Bhandar issue, BJD leader VK Pandian told PTI that he would request PM Modi to come and witness the Ratna Bhandar opening after four decades. The Prime Minister should find out where it (keys of Jagannath Temple Ratna Bhandar) has gone, if he has so much knowledge, perhaps, I would humbly request the honourable PM, he has so many authorities under him he would be having some knowledge, he can enlighten the people of Odisha. Hes making a political statement, so we will take it like that. In these four decades, the BJP ministers handled the issue for a decade when the saffron party was in power in the state in alliance with the BJD and perhaps, they should find from them where the keys are, he told PTI. At least six chief ministers and two former CMs have been roped in to bolster the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) campaign in the national capital where elections to pick seven lawmakers will be held on May 25 in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha polls. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath (centre) at a public meeting in support of BJP East Delhi candidate Harsh Malhotra in Mayur Vihar, New Delhi on Monday. (ANI Photo) Apart from intensifying the outreach through social media and door-to-door campaigns, a senior party functionary said the party is bringing in CMs and ministers from other states in line with its plans to step up its campaign. To ensure the partys candidates win with a big margin and the voter turnout is not low, the BJP is pulling out all the stops ahead of the next two phases to galvanise the cadre and motivate electors. In 2019, the party had won all seven seats with a margin of at least 25% and the overall voter turnout was over 50% in all the seats. This time, the effort is to ensure that the turnout does not dip, and the winning margins are better than the previous election, said the functionary. Among the chief ministers who have been roped in for campaign in the capital are Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam), Mohan Yadav (Madhya Pradesh), Pushkar Dhami (Uttarakhand), Bhajan Lal Sharma (Rajasthan) and Pramod Sawant (Goa). Former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and ex-Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar have also addressed public meetings in the capital. A roadshow and public meetings by party president JP Nadda and Union home minister Amit Shah are also scheduled in addition to Prime Minister Narendra Modis rally on May 22. Other than the fact that these leaders are good orators, they are popular figures. Their outreach helps the party consolidate its position among people who trace their origin to Assam or UP, the functionary quoted above said. A meeting of national general secretaries chaired by Nadda was held on Monday to assess the partys performance in the five phases that have been held so far. The party takes stock of issues such as voter turnout and other logistical challenges after every phase. Based on one such review, it has now been decided that big rallies and public events will not be held very close to the polling date as it prevents the booth workers from carrying out canvassing on the ground. Booth workers and the panna pramukhs have complained that they could not carry out door-to-door canvassing, which is the BJPs forte. It has now been decided that at least two to three days ahead of polling, they will only focus on meeting voters, giving them electoral slips and motivating them to come out and vote, said a second functionary who is part of the BJP Mahila Morcha. States have also been instructed to think of innovative methods to woo voters. In some states such as MP, the leaders are making phone calls to motivate the cadre and they in turn will persuade the voters, the second functionary said. Similar exercises will be conducted in states where elections will be held on May 25 and June 1. The outreach will be intensified particularly for seats where the contest is tough, for instance in Hisar and Rohtak in Haryana and in a few seats in UP, the first functionary said. These include Haryana where polls will be held for 11 seats; in Jharkhand where 7 seats will go to polls; in Bihar, where 16 seats will go to polls and in UP where elections will be held in 27 seats, including the PMs constituency of Varanasi. Elections in the sixth and the seventh phase will also be held in 17 seats in West Bengal and 12 seats in Odisha. A Delhi court framed charges against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for sexual harassment, intimidation and outraging the modesty of women in cases filed by women wrestlers. Former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh (PTI) Singh told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Priyanka Rajpoot that he was not guilty and wanted a trial. Singh said, Why will I plead guilty when I am not guilty? Speaking to reporters on May 11, Singh had said, The court has accepted some parts of the chargesheet and rejected some, it is a legal procedure. If the charges against me are proven, I will commit suicide. When questioned about his statement earlier this month, where Singh said that he could commit suicide if charges against him were proven, he said, Shaam ko aa jaaiye, latak jaate hain. (Come in the evening, I'll do it.) Are you joking? I had said that the day the allegations are proven...As of now, charges have been framed against me. They now have to prove it in court and tell about the evidence they have. I have all the evidence of my innocence...All these are false cases, Delhi Police have to prove what evidence they have against me, he added. Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court also charged Vinod Tomar, the former WFI assistant secretary and co-accused, with criminal intimidation in the case. Tomar said, All the allegations being levelled are false, and I have the evidence, which I will produce before the court in due time. Singh, the current BJP MP from Kaiserganj in Uttar Pradesh, was not given a ticket to run in the Lok Sabha election because of sexual harassment allegations against him. Instead, the party chose his son, Karan Bhushan Singh, to run for the seat. Delhi court's judgement ends a long case due to which Indian wrestlers protested against Singh twice in 2023. The court charged Singh under sections 354 (assault or criminal force with intent to outrage modesty) and 354A (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) based on the allegations of five complainants. The court also framed charges under section 506-part 1 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC based on the allegations of two complainants. However, the court discharged him on the allegations of the sixth complainant. Two FIRs were filed against Brij Bhushan based on the complaints of wrestlers. One was under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, but a cancellation report has been filed for this case which involved a minor wrestler. The Calcutta high court on Monday pulled up the Election Commission (EC) for its gross failure to address complaints pertaining to derogatory advertisements published by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal, and restrained the opposition party from carrying out materials that are in violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). The high court was also informed that the EC had issued a show cause notice to state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar after the TMC filed the writ petition. (Calcutta High Court) A single bench of justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya passed the order while hearing a petition by the TMC, seeking to restrain the BJP from publishing advertisements that are in violation of the poll code. Full coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 In the present case, the EC has grossly failed to address the complaints raised by the petitioner in due time. This court is surprised that no resolution worth the name has been arrived at regarding the complaints till date, more so because most of the phases of the elections are over, the judge said. Earlier this month, the BJP had published at least four advertisements in vernacular dailies, portraying the ruling party as corrupt and one that is against the Hindus, and claiming that women are not safe under the present regime. The TMC filed multiple complaints with the EC and later moved the high court after alleged inaction by the poll body. Perusal of the impugned advertisements clearly evince that those were in violation of the letter and spirit of the MCC. It is also clear that the allegations in the form of advertisements made against the petitioner are outright derogatory and definitely intended at insulting the rivals and levelling personal attacks, the bench said. The MCC prohibits political parties, leaders and candidates from criticising their opponents on the basis of unverified allegations. In the court, the ECs counsel said the poll body had taken note of the complaints against the advertisements. He said in one of the cases, the matter was taken up with the states chief electoral officer and in another, it was sent to the media certification and monitoring committee for necessary action. In another complaint, the matter was sent to the EC in Delhi through its secretary, the poll bodys counsel said. The high court was also informed that the EC had issued a show cause notice to state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar after the TMC filed the writ petition. The bench, however, said: This court is not satisfied that any of the so-called resolutions are resolutions in the real sense of the term. It is merely an exercise by the EC of passing the buck regarding the complaints made by the petition. HT reached out to an EC official for a comment but did not get one immediately. The TMC, which has in the past accused the EC of bias, said the court had passed an important order. The Calcutta high court has passed an important order. It said that such advertisements shouldnt have been published. They are derogatory and have violated the MCC. It also said that the EC should have taken a significant step, state minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said. In a post on X, Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale said: ECIs conduct throughout this election has been shameful. At every given opportunity, rules have been bent to favor Modi & BJP. Now, even Calcutta HC has strongly rebuked the ECI for failing to take action on BJPs fake & disparaging ads about @AITCofficial. The Honble court has also restrained BJP & banned the ads. This is an election where the ECI openly bats for the ruling party. BJP leader Shishir Bajoria said the party is going to challenge the order. We have not seen the order yet. We would go for an appeal once we go through the courts order, he said. Tyree Booker, left, a recipient of San Franciscos Rising Up Initiative aimed to reduce youth homelessness, shakes hands with Larkin Street Youth Services Executive Director Sherilyn Adams during a visit on May 8. Booker, who works as a cook and is studying to be a chef, credits the program for helping him to get out of the homelessness mindset and afford a place of his own. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle Five years after Mayor London Breed launched a $50 million initiative to cut San Franciscos youth homeless population by half, the city remains far from reaching its bold goal. The initiative, called Rising Up, brought together city officials, philanthropists and nonprofit groups in hopes of sharply reducing homelessness among young adults from 1,243 to about 622 within five years. They planned to reach that target, in part, by providing housing subsidies to more than 400 people ages 18-24 by 2024. The city covered about half of the program costs, while the rest came from individual donors and corporate and nonprofit contributors, including Airbnb, Tipping Point and Crankstart Foundation. Since the program began in January 2019, the city has helped more than 450 young people secure housing, but San Franciscos overall youth homeless population has only dipped 4% a disappointing reality far from the 50% goal, according to recently released results from the latest point-in-time count. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The shortcoming underscores the challenges in making meaningful progress on San Franciscos homeless problem, driven by an affordable housing shortage and exacerbated by the drug crisis. Breed is not the first mayor, and likely wont be the last, to fall short of an aspirational goal to fix the problem. When Gov. Gavin Newsom was mayor, he pledged to eradicate chronic homelessness in San Francisco within 10 years, but two decades later, the city estimates that more than 2,900 people are chronically homelessness. Jeff Cretan, a spokesperson for Breed, said the problem is driven in part by a regional and statewide shortage of housing. We are at the point where we are trying to create government-funded mechanisms to provide subsidized housing for families making over $200,000 a year, he said, pointing to a 94% rise in homelessness among families in the past two years. That shows a system that is broken, and one that leaves marginally housed lower-income people with very little place to go. San Franciscos Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, which has a budget of about $650 million, estimated in 2022 that it would require an additional $1.4 billion and more than 6,000 more shelter beds and permanent housing units to move everyone indoors within three years. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Deborah Bouck, a spokesperson for the department, said the citys resources were unable to match the number of young adults who became homeless in recent years, especially amid the pandemic. Still, Breeds administration highlighted what it sees as a bright point: Fewer young adults are languishing on San Francisco streets. The share of unhoused youths sleeping in a shelter grew from 22% in 2019 to 31% in 2024, while youths living in tents or vehicles dropped from 970 to 823 during that same period, according to the point-in-time count. Rising Up was designed to serve young people who were experiencing, or at risk of, chronic homelessness and help them to increase their income to eventually afford their rent without the added financial support. The program provides participants with a total rent subsidy of $27,000 over three years or an average of $750 per month. A November 2023 analysis from the Urban Institute found that Rising Up was successful in some regards but fell short in a number of areas. Participants waited long periods between referrals and housing, did not typically report any statistically significant increases in income and spent down their subsidies much faster than intended, according to the analysis. Black and Latino participants were also reportedly more likely to secure housing with their subsidy outside of San Francisco. The program was part of an intervention known as rapid rehousing, which provides time-limited rental subsidies to help someone quickly get stabilized and return to permanent housing. It differs from permanent supportive housing, which offers tenants long-term affordable housing with a range of supportive services. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Sherilyn Adams, CEO of Larkin Street Youth Services, the nonprofit lead on the Rising Up initiative, said rapid rehousing is an especially effective approach for young adults experiencing homelessness. Its a really great way to sort of transition into being fully self-sufficient, independent and on your own, Adams said. And its consistent with the sort of stage of development theyre in, in that most young people dont need support forever. Tyree Booker, 25, was one of the young adults who benefited from Rising Up. Booker was staying at the citys Lark-Inn shelter and working part-time jobs at restaurants when a friend told him about the program. Tyree Booker, an alumnus of the Rising Up Initiative, stands outside of Larkin Street Youth Services. Booker credits the program for helping him achieve financial literacy. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle I built a strong work ethic for myself, but I didnt have the wisdom on housing and how things work, so I really depended on the program to teach me how to finance, he said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Booker used the stipends to secure a room in an apartment in the Mission for about two years before he saved enough money to rent his own place. When Booker moved into his new apartment in April in downtown San Francisco, it marked the first time he had ever had a home to himself. I went from living paycheck to paycheck to being able to save a percentage of each check and have a 401(k), he said. Its been a big, stretchable experience that Im really going to use down the road. Sam Cobbs of Tipping Point called the initiatives 50% reduction target audacious, bold, and potentially aspirational. Although it missed that mark, Cobbs said in a statement that the program succeeded in helping to shift the youth homelessness response system to be more efficient, effective, and coordinated in serving young people going forward. Tipping Point was founded by Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie, who is running against Breed in Novembers election. Lurie has made his organizations track record on homelessness a central part of his campaign, though like the city, Tipping Point hasnt always hit its goals to help the unhoused. Advertisement Article continues below this ad In regards to Rising Up, Lurie said in a statement that he was proud that we were never afraid to set big goals. City Hall conditions people to think small and cynically about whats possible, but we must be bold to solve our biggest challenges, Luries statement continued. Im confident that we can end unsheltered homelessness in San Francisco, but that type of change is not going to come from the same City Hall insiders who got us into this mess. Rising Up was slated to end in 2023, but city officials were able to extend it through the fiscal year 2024-25. Its unclear whether new funding will be included in the mayors next budget, but youth advocates like Adams are pushing for it. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge managed to unite the party after years of discontent and the formation of the rebel G23 group besides playing a key role in forming the 25-member Opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). A rebellion is now brewing against him in West Bengal. His poster and hoardings were defaced and slogans were raised against him in Kolkata days after Kharge overruled Bengal unit chief Adhir Chowdhury over his stand on Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge. (PTI) The Congress on Monday sought a report from its Bengal unit over the defacement. KC Venugopal, Congress general secretary (organisation), said the party was taking a very serious note of grave anti-party activities. The posters and hoardings near Congresss office in Kolkata were defaced on Sunday a day after Kharge contradicted Chowdhurys remarks that TMC chief Banerjee cannot be trusted. Agent of Trinamool Congress was scribbled on Kharges posters and hoardings. The TMC is part of the INDIA bloc even as the Congress does not have an alliance with it in West Bengal. War of words The war of words between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Banerjee over the West Bengal chief ministers remarks about the Ramakrishna Mission and the Bharat Sevashram Sangha intensified on Monday. Modi accused her of unleashing a reign of terror on such institutes to appease her vote bank. Banerjee reiterated that she is not against any institution but those indulging in political activities despite being monks. Banerjee accused a section of monks of asking voters to support the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). ED opposes Sorens bail plea The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday opposed former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Sorens request for interim bail to campaign in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. It accused him of attempting to thwart an ongoing money laundering investigation in an alleged land scam by misusing state machinery and through his stooges. In an affidavit before the hearing, the agency stressed that Soren was involved in the illicit acquisition and possession of properties deemed proceeds of crime and that his conduct disentitles him to any reprieve. Soren has sought relief like Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was granted interim bail for the poll campaign. Sambit Patra faces flak BJPs Puri Lok Sabha candidate Sambit Patras remark that Odishas most revered deity Lord Jagannath is a devotee (bhakt) of Modi has triggered a political row. Top leaders such as Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, Kejriwal, Kharge, and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hit out at the BJP even as Patra claimed it was a slip of the tongue. The Congress shared a video of Patras comment and asked Modi to apologise. Patnaik criticised Patra for hurting the Odia pride. Mahaprabhu Shree Jagannatha is the Lord of the Universe. Calling Mahaprabhu a bhakt of another human being is an insult to the Lord... it is totally condemnable. This has hurt the sentiments and demeaned the faith of crores of Jagannatha bhaktas and Odias across the world, he wrote on X The Congress on Tuesday responded to Narendra Modi's 'never said a word against minorities' remark during an interview, saying that the prime minister is fast losing his memory. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh during an interview with PTI in New Delhi on March 22.(PTI) The prime minister is fast losing his memory. He has never had any adherence to truth. He is jhoothjeevi. What he says today, he forgets tomorrow and says he never said it, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh told PTI. Follow full coverage of the Lok Sabha elections. Ramesh said that prime minister, in his Lok Sabha election campaign, has been attacking the Congress party and making remarks about the Muslim community. He (Modi) has been attacking the Congress party, he's been talking of Hindu-Muslim, he's talking about Muslim League, he's talking about mangalsutra, Ramesh told PTI. "He has talked about the Congress party giving reservation on the basis of religion. This is all bogus statements that he has made." The Congress leader also responded to PM Modi's claim of winning a record-breaking 400 seats in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. "How can it be record-breaking? Rajiv Gandhi's mandate in 1984 was 410 (seats). What is the real meaning of '400 paar'? Their real intent is to change the Constitution of Babasaheb Ambedkar. Removing reservations is their target," Ramesh said. Ramesh also pointed out that the ongoing election is a silent election and took a dig at the Election Commission. This is absolutely a silent election. The Election Commission is also silent, it is so silent that it has closed its eyes, it can't hear, see, or say anything, he alleged. "We have lodged so many complaints with the Election Commission...it is a Constitutional authority. They have not taken any action over our complaints against the prime minister's speeches. It took them 11 days after the first phase of voting to release the voter turnout data." What PM Modi said In an interview to PTI, PM Modi had claimed that he has not spoken a word against minorities and that he has been highlighting the vote bank politics of the Congress. I have not spoken a word against minorities. I am speaking against the vote bank politics of Congress. I am speaking on the Congress working against the Constitution," PM Modi said. The Constitution makers of India, including Babasaheb Ambedkar and Pandit (Jawaharlal) Nehru, decided that reservation would not be given based on religion. Now that you are turning away from that, it is my responsibility to expose them. BJP is never against the minority, he added. Delhi's Rouse Avenue court has extended the judicial custody of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former deputy chief minister of the national capital, Manish Sisodia, till May 31. AAP leader Manish Sisodia (PTI file photo) Manish Sisodia has been under judicial custody since February 2023, in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case. His boss, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was also arrested in connection with a money laundering probe linked to the now-scrapped liquor policy. He is currently out on interim bail till June 2. The Delhi high court is expected to deliver its verdict on Manish Sisodia's bail pleas linked to the money laundering and corruption cases lodged by the ED and CBI respectively. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma is likely to pronounce the orders on both bail pleas at 5 pm today, per the cause list uploaded on the high courts website. On May 14, the Delhi high court reserved its order on Manish Sisodia's pleas after hearing the arguments of the Aam Aadmi Party, CBI and the Enforcement Directorate. Last week, ED named the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as an accused as it filed a fresh charge sheet against Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case. The ED and CBI have opposed releasing Manish Sisodia on bail, claiming concerted efforts by the accused to delay the process of framing charges. Also read: Delhi court dismisses Manish Sisodia's second bail plea in liquor policy case The Enforcement Directorate and CBI claim AAP leaders received kickbacks from a group of businessmen and politicians in return for including favourable provisions in the excise policy. The policy was scrapped after Delhi's Lieutenant Governor recommended a CBI probe into the allegations. The ED has claimed that a significant portion of the kickbacks was funneled by the accused to fund AAP's Goa assembly elections in 2022. AAP has denied all the charges. The probe agencies have alleged that the beneficiaries diverted "illegal" gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection. With inputs from PTI The Delhi high court on Tuesday denied bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia in all the cases pertaining to the alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy 2021-22, saying that there was no delay on the part of the prosecution to supply the documents and trial court to frame the charge. The high court's decision comes a day after the capital's Rouse Avenue court extended Sisodia's judicial custody till May 31. Manish Sisodia was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate last year,(PTI file) This court is of the view that there has been no delay on part of the prosecution to supply the documents & on the part of the trial court regarding argument on charge. It is not the fault of ED, CBI & the trial court that there was voluminous record of investigation, the court said. The high court also rejected the former Delhi deputy chief minister's contention that it cannot consider the application on merits and called them meritless. The court said that the Supreme Court had not curtailed the right of the lower courts to consider the application on merits. The court said that Sisodia was involved in the crucial destruction of electronic evidence and is an influential person as he is a powerful leader of the party. The court said that the possibility of Sisodia influencing material witnesses cannot be ruled out. During the hearing, the court said that Sisodia, rather than genuinely seeking public comment, orchestrated a scheme were pre-drafted emails were sent under the guise of public comment by various people under his direction. Corruption in this case originated from the applicants desire to frame the policy. The dissemination of false information by portraying it as a form of feedback constitutes corruption, the court added. The court also said that Sisodia has not been able to make a case for grant of bail. The high court, however, allowed him to meet his wife under custody every week on same terms and conditions as decided by the trial court. The Aam Aadmi Party leader's wife Seema has been suffering from an acute attack of multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune condition of the central nervous system. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has strongly censured retired Calcutta high court judge and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha candidate from West Bengals Tamluk constituency, Abhijit Gangopadhyay, and barred him from all campaigning for 24 hours after his crass remarks about chief minister Mamata Banerjee. The 24-hour bar on his campaigning will begin at 5pm on May 21. Former Calcutta high court judge and BJP candidate Abhijit Gangopadhyay. (File Photo) [T]he Commission painfully notes the fact that such abominable words have come from someone of Shri Abhijit Gangopadhyays educational and professional background and hence does not remotely deserve any benefit of doubt. And whereas, by Shri Abhijit Gangopadhyays words, he has brought damage and disrepute to the state of West Bengal that has a distinguished tradition of respect for women, the poll body noted in its order. On May 15, Gangopadhyay, at a public meeting in Haldia, had said in Bengali, Mamata Banerjee, how much are you being sold for? Your rate is 10 lakhs, why? Because youre getting your make up done by Keya Seth? Mamata Banerjee, is she even a woman? I keep wondering sometimes. The All India Trinamool Congress complained to EC on May 16 following which the poll panel issued a show cause notice to Gangopadhyay on May 17 for violating the Model Code of Conduct. He replied on May 20. In its show cause notice to Gangopadhyay, copied to BJP president JP Nadda, the EC cited the April 1 order which directed parties to ensure that no remarks demeaning women must be made. Most regrettably, however, Shri Abhijit Gangopadhyay has committed the same type of violation to a worse degree. This is deemed as a grave failure to enforce one of the most basic conducts in election campaign, even after clear directions from the Commission, the notice issued through West Bengal chief electoral officer said. [T]he Commission has carefully gone through the contents and averments made in the aforesaid reply of Shri Abhijit Gangopadhyay and has again gone through the statement made and is convinced that he has made a low-level personal attack and thus violated the provisions of Model Code of Conduct, the EC said in its order on May 21. Gangopadhyay resigned as a judge on March 5 and joined the BJP on March 7. His Lok Sabha constituency goes to polls in the sixth phase on May 25. Bengal BJP chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said : ECI has every authority to take action against someone to ensure free and fair polling but we still maintain that TMC presented the former judges statement in a distorted manner. A man of his stature can never insult a woman. The ECI has taken no action against Mamata Banerjee for the insulting remarks she made against a monk of the Bharat Sevashram Sangha, accusing him of triggering a riot. It seems ECI needs to consult ENT specialists. It can go to AIIMS, Delhi for that. Banerjee alleged on Saturday and also on Monday that Swami Pradiptananda of the Sangha was working for BJP and he engineered a riot in Murshidabad district a few weeks ago. The monk sent a legal notice to Banerjee on Monday. Her hands are creased with age, and tremble often in pain. She scowls in irritation as her fingers struggle to encircle one battered end of a charger pin, refusing to enter the socket of an old mobile phone. There is eventual success and the phone gently beeps into life. Yet, 80-year-old Mohinder Singh Kaur continues to mutter to herself, the cheap phone and dilapidated two-room shanty a constant reminder of a life of deprivation that she once thought impossible. She gazes into her phone; there are no messages. There is nobody left to message her. As she speaks, frequently collapsing into tears, her mind is burdened by memory; of what once was, and what now is. In Gaggarpur village, agriculture is now seen as bringing poverty and difficulties. (KeshavSingh/HT) LS polls: Of 52 Punjab candidates, mainstream parties field only six women For most of her life, Kaur led a life of relative comfort. She married into the village of Gaggarpur, nine kilometres away from the bustling district headquarters of Sangrur; far enough from urban centres for fields to stretch out as far as the eye could see; but close enough for a jaunt into town if boredom came calling. Importantly, the family had 26 bighas (16 acres) of farmland that brought in both income and respectability. Then, in the twilight of her life, something changed. Agriculture became risky and unprofitable; the wheat and paddy yields started bringing in lower and lower profits; the debts began piling up; and she watched her husband grow more weary by the day. In 2017, he died by suicide. We had a debt of 3 lakh that he was just unable to repay. It weighed on him and he couldnt take it anymore. That burden fell on my son, who couldnt arrange the loans either, so some months later, we found his body floating in the village pond, Kaur said. The two deaths shocked the extended family into action. Some money was pooled together, and 16 bighas of the land was sold off to return the debt with the mounting interest. It left very little for sustenance. The 10 bighas that remained were divided between Jagseer, 36, Mohinders younger son, and 28-year-old Amandeep Kaur, her dead sons widow. But the land is now on lease because the family has no money to buy implements for the fields. Amandeep has to work as a household help in rich homes in the village. And Jagseer is in severe depression and does drugs, Mohinder said. The flux in her family resonates across Punjab, home to some of the most prosperous class of cultivators in the country who once reaped the benefits of mechanisation of agriculture after the green revolution. But the downturn over the last two decades, due to structural issues of poor capital spending, under-investment in agriculture and market vagaries, has left cultivator families such as Kaurs in the lurch. It is a turmoil seen in many parts of India, and perhaps the factor behind protests by once dominant agrarian communities such as the Jats, Patidars and Marathas (across states) seeking the benefits of reservation in government jobs and admission to educational institutions. And it is a turmoil has made itself heard and seen on the national stage with the 2020-21 farm protests and the complete rewiring of political dynamics. The 2022 assembly elections captured some of this restlessness that saw the Aam Aadmi Party storm to power. For one full year, villages such as Gagarpur emptied out, sending its young and old to Delhis borders. For that one year, Punjab watched as its farmers clashed with the government, getting angrier by suggestions that the protests were engineered by foreign interests. They stormed the Red Fort at one point, took water cannons in the chest at another. As Lok Sabha elections approach, the anger in the fields may not be relevant nationally in the way they were five years ago. This years farm protest was a tame whimper in comparison, and never got off the ground. But in Punjabs 13 seats, this ferment around the mobilisation and the related distress among its cultivators will shape the Lok Sabha polls on June 1. Sangrur home to chief minister Bhagwant Mann defines this churn. The distress in the fields Sangrur has a history of protest. It was here that thousands of Punjabi farmers occupied prisons, first under the British, and then in a nascent independent India, battling for tilling rights for tenant farmers; a struggle called the Mujhara Leher. In 1952, the then government announced that 800,000 acres were being transferred in the names of the states tillers. It is Sangrur that served as the headquarters of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan) that commandeered 150,000 farmers for the protests at Delhis Tikri border. It is also Sangrur that records the highest per acre production of both wheat and paddy in the state; at 55 and 81 quintals per acre respectively, according to data from the state agriculture department. But Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan, general secretary of the BKU(Ugrahan) said that Sangrur, like the rest of the state, is deep in an agricultural crisis. Input costs are constantly rising, while farmer incomes are falling. Marginal farmers just cannot survive, especially when there is no other income from additional sources. So people want a waiver on their mounting debt and an MSP (minimum support price, a base price set by the government for some crops) on 23 crops that they produce. This is just a result of years of political apathy that is now coming to the fore, he said. In Nadampur, Kartar Singh spoke of a generational disinterest in agriculture growing by the year. When my father and grandfather farmed, we would get some profits and eat comfortably. But now, its getting more difficult. Our children want to get away as far as possible. Political parties should bring a separate manifesto for farmers, but we have little hope, because all they want to do is fight over petty matters, he said. In her shanty in Gagarpur, Mohinder Kaur knows that the Lok Sabha elections are meant to elect the countrys Prime Minister, but argues that the decision of who should run the country stems from local issues. This government is doing no good to the farmers. As a result, the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. We are now firmly in the second category, Kaur said. Across India, data from the 2018-19 NSSO SAS surveys show that farmers are reducing their stake in agriculture and diversifying into other sectors. But even this option is limited in Gagarpur. 32-year-old Amandeep Kaur, sits in a two storeyed home, the floors marble. Her father is Sada Singh Chahal, the sarpanch of the village, and she has a masters degree in education. She, most villagers believed, was headed for good things. But there are no good jobs, she complained loudly. I could have joined some private companies but the salary was too little. Now I am married with two children, but keep thinking that the best thing to do will be to migrate to Canada. But from what we hear from there, it isnt great either, she said. Amandeeps father was elected Gagarpurs village chief in 2019, when the Congress was still in power; Captain Amarinder Singh was chief minister; Now, her father is closely associated with the AAP, but even in this little time (the party has been in power for only around two years), there is already some disillusionment setting in. They promised badlaav (change) but nothing has changed. In fact, if anything the scenario is worse on the ground, she said. The politics in Sangrur Once the capital of the Jind principality, the Sangrur constituency has seen 17 Lok Sabha polls since 1952, and its allegiances have swayed from the Congress to the Shiromani Akali Dal. But in 2014, Punjab saw the entrance of a new player in its politics; loud and noisy from a neighbouring state, promising to break through the duopoly of the SAD and the Congress the AAP. For a while, they hunted for a local leader the AAPs undisputed face was Arvind Kejriwal, but he was Delhi chief minister and in a state with strong identity politics, a rooted face was key. They landed on Bhagwant Mann, actor, comedian and political satirist from the dusty lanes of Satoj in Sangrur. In 2014 and 2019, as the AAP began building support, Bhagwant Mann was the Punjabi symbol of that growth, winning Sangrur both terms. But there was a twist. In March 2022, as the AAP rejoiced, sweeping to victory with 92 seats of 117 in the state, Mann resigned from the Lok Sabha seat to become chief minister. A by-poll followed and pro-Khalistan leader Simranjeet Singh Mann, the leader of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), beat the AAPs Gurmail Singh by 5822 votes. Jagrup Singh Sekhon, former head of the political science department of the Guru Nanak Dev University, said that the by-poll loss was a symbol of a nascent, but potentially troublesome disconnect of AAP leaders in Sangrur with the local population, most of whom were farmers. That anger, once expressed, Sekhon said, may no longer be quite so visceral due to a string of pro-farm policies pushed by the state government. Schemes such as free-electricity up to 300 units offered by the Mann government may cause a change of heart. The other important factor is the farmers protest against the Union government which will certainly have an impact. If the BJPs candidates are facing that opposition, the AAP is being evaluated on their performance at the state level, Sekhon said. His reference is to BJP candidates not being allowed to even enter many villages to campaign. Encouragingly for the AAP, the party has a robust organisational network in the district, winning all nine of the assembly segments in the 2022 assembly elections. Their candidate is the experienced Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, the cabinet minister for higher education and governance reforms, and the MLA from Barnala. The AAP faces no challenge and Sangrur will be won by a huge margin, one senior AAP leader said, requesting anonymity. But the challenge is far from easy. The Congress candidate from the seat -- the two parties are part of the INDIA grouping but have agreed to fight it out in Punjab -- is the former leader of opposition in the Punjab assembly, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, once of the Aam Aadmi Party himself. Khaira said, The people of Sangrur will give Mann a befitting reply to their various failures in their two years of power. The BJP and SAD candidates are Kewal Dhillon and Iqbal Singh Jhoonda, respectively, but in this Sikh heartland, the fight is limited to the two principal parties. BJP fields Rana Gurmeet Sodhi from Ferozepur, Arvind Khanna is Sangrur pick Back in Gaggarpur, Kaur is still staring at her phone, the letters on its type-pad peeling off, just like the plaster on the walls around her. She is too tired for hope; too weathered for aspiration. But what will drive her weary feet to Gaggarpurs polling station is loss. She blames the fields, and the people who turned the gold to dust. My husband and son are both dead, and there are many families like mine that have been torn apart. When I vote, that is what I will think about, she said. This is the 27th in a series of election reports from the field that look at national and local issues through an electoral lens. The family of Aneesh Awadhiya, one of the two software engineers who died in the Pune car accident, is staring at an uncertain future after his death. Due to financial issues at home, Aneesh was bearing the expenses of the education of his younger brother, who too stayed in Pune, the family said. According to a senior official, the boys father was later brought to Pune, where he was arrested. (ANI photo) He was earning well and our elder son was bearing the expense of education of our younger son. Now, how will we continue his education? Who will bear the expense of his education? Aneesh's father Om Prakash Awadhiya told ANI. The accident happened on Sunday in Punes Kalyani Nagar area when a 17-year-old son of a builder, who was driving a Porsche hit a motorcycle and killed Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta. The teenager got bail within hours on the condition that he would have to work with the Yerwada traffic police for 15 days and write an essay on the accident. Awadhiya, who is from Madhya Pradesh's Umaria, said, Neither the police nor the government supported us. According to his father, Aneesh was a graduate of Pune's DY Patil University and had been working as an engineer for the past two years. He added that Aneesh was planning to move abroad. His hard work got him a job and he was working as an engineer in Pune. The day before the incident, which happened on May 19, he spoke to us, and a few days ago, he had returned from Dubai. He was telling his mother that he was planning to visit us and he had spoken in the office about going abroad. It was his birthday on the 19th, and he was at a party. Around 3am, we got a call about the accident and were asked to come to Pune. How can we have left like that? he added. Speaking about the accident, Om Prakash said that he found all the information about it through different news sources. We found out through the news that the car that killed Aneesh was very expensive. There were four people in the car, a minor was driving it and all of them were drunk. Pune Porsche accident: CCTV footage shows teen driver in bar; Congress reacts Aneesh's grandfather Atma Ram Awadhiya, too, accused the Maharashtra police and hospital staff of not cooperating with the family. He went to Pune for studies, then he started working as a software engineer there. On May 19, he was hit by a speeding luxurious car... I demand the government to make up for our loss. We are observing that Maharashtra police and hospital staff are not cooperating with us, he said. Mother of Ashwini Koshta, the woman techie who was killed along with Aneesh, said,"The parents (of the accused) should be punished for the way they have brought up their child. Law should also take action so that such an incident does not happen again. Police action in the case Political parties and social media have criticised the police's handling of the case. This led Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis to call the Police Commissioner to ensure a thorough investigation. After a call from Fadnavis on Monday, Shinde also called Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar on Tuesday, demanding strict action against the minor, who was reportedly driving at 160 kilometres per hour and was drunk. Pune Porsche accident: Owner, manager of bar arrested for serving liquor to minor Kumar confirmed that CCTV footage showed the accused driving at full speed while intoxicated. The police have asked the district court to try the juvenile as an adult because of the severity of the crime. A hearing on this request is expected on Tuesday. Additionally, the police have charged two public owners, two managers, and the boys father under the Juvenile Justice and Motor Vehicle Act (MVA) for their negligence and rule violations related to the case. Duo's friends and family on their death Describing Aneesh as a fun guy but also very respectful and polite, speaking to Indian Express, a friend of Aneesh's said, Aneesh did very well in college and had a brilliant future ahead of him. He was hoping to go to the US to study or work. Whenever we met, we used to talk about coding, the kind of projects we should take up. Ashwini's brother Samarpreet Koshta, who is supposed to travel to his hometown Jabalpur with her remains, said, She was a bright student and was enjoying her work. Prime Minister Narendra Modis image and popularity among electors helps the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) overcome challenges such as anti-incumbency against candidates, social equations and caste factors, Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant said on Tuesday. Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant campaigns for BJP candidate from the West Delhi seat, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, for the Lok Sabha polls at Sagarpur on Monday. (PTI) Sawant, who has been the partys star campaigner in a clutch of states such as Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana and Maharashtra, said while the challenges on the ground in each of these states varied, the positive sentiment on the ground for Modi will eventually overcome these impediments. When people say there is anger against the candidate or the incumbent, that sentiment is restricted mostly to the supporters. At the end of the day, when the voters go to vote, they see only Modi and they vote for him, said Sawant, who is in Delhi to campaign for the May 25 election. In a broadside against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, he said the Aam Admi Party (AAP) leader should explain how he agreed to an alliance with a party he fought against. This is the man who started India against corruption and went after the Congress government and the then CM Sheila Dikshit. Today he is part of the INDIA alliance. How does he explain the journey from India Against Corruption to INDIA alliance, he said. Sawant who has been attending public meetings in the national capital said the oppositions alliance is no match for the Modi factor and the voters are demanding to know why a party whose genesis is traced to the anti-corruption movement, drafted a flawed excise policy that was steeped in corruption. On the ground voters of the AAP and the Congress are not convinced about the alliance. There is nothing to suggest that the supporters of the respective parties will vote for the other... he said. The Modi factor, he said, has been able to boost the partys social engineering formula and counter polarisation of the minority vote against the BJP. On the one hand the Congress accuses the BJP of wanting to end caste-based reservation and on the other, their government in Karnataka finds ways of giving quotas to Muslims and depriving the OBCs of their rightful reservation...people can see who is against quotas, he said. The BJP government has been targeting the Karnataka government for impinging on the rights of the OBCs by giving reservation to Muslims in the 2B category. The BJP government had proposed to include Muslims in the ambit of the 10% quota for the economically weaker sections (EWS). Even in states where caste was a determining factor for voting, we see a significant shift. The younger voters particularly, have stopped looking at caste as a factor; they are part of Modis development agenda and want to elect candidates who can give economy and infrastructure a fillip. Citing the example of Maharashtra, where the issue of Maratha reservation was perceived to have emerged as political hot-potato for the BJP, Sawant said, the partys assessment and surveys showed that the discourse has moved from caste to development. And having spent time in Maharashtra, I can tell you, the BJPs tally will only increase... he said. The BJP had won 23 seats in the state in 2019, and this time the party went to the polls in alliance with the Shiva Sena (Shinde faction) and the NCP (Ajit Pawar) faction. To a question on the controversy over the procedure and documents required for the issuance of Overseas Citizenship of India or the OCI cards in Goa, Sawant said, We are aware of the concerns that people have about the circular issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), which initially seemed to suggest that a revocation order could serve as an alternative document for applying for the OCI in place of the previously required passport surrender certificate. The matter is now under the purview of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and after June 4, we are hopeful of resolving the issue, he said. Chinese authorities have used extreme forms of pressure to relocate 500 villages in the Tibet Autonomous Region with more than 140,000 residents since 2016, amounting to a widespread violation of international law, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Tuesday. Chinese authorities have been accused by rights groups and the Central Tibetan Administration, or the government in exile based in Dharamsala, of a range of repressive measures (AP) China sanctions US firms over arms sales to Taiwan HRW cited official statistics gleaned from more than 1,000 reports in Chinas state-run media which suggested Chinese authorities will have relocated more than 930,000 rural Tibetans between 2000 and 2025. Most of these relocations more than 709,000 people or 76% of the relocations occurred since 2016, the report said. The 70-page report, titled Educate the Masses to Change Their Minds: Chinas coercive relocation of rural Tibetans, states Chinese officials misleadingly claim that relocation will lead to improved employment and higher incomes and protect the ecological environment. In both whole-village and individual-household relocations, Chinese law requires those who have been relocated to demolish their former homes to deter them from returning, it said. Among the 709,000 people who were relocated, 140,000 were moved as part of whole village relocation drives and 567,000 as part of individual household relocations. Entire villages were moved to locations hundreds of kilometers away and the relocation of rural villagers and herders has been dramatically accelerated since 2016. Chinese authorities have been accused by rights groups and the Central Tibetan Administration, or the government in exile based in Dharamsala, of a range of repressive measures, including forcible separation of children from parents and admission into boarding schools, widespread surveillance and monitoring, and trans-national harassment of Tibetan activists. HRW contended that the whole-village relocation programmes in Tibet amounts to forced eviction that violates international law. The government prevents relocated people from returning to their former homes by requiring the demolition of these houses within a year of relocating. Between 2000 and 2025, a total of 3.36 million rural Tibetans were affected by other programmes requiring them to rebuild homes and adopt a sedentary way of life if they are nomads, without necessarily being relocated, the report said. The Chinese government says the relocation of Tibetan villages is voluntary, but official media reports contradict this claim, said Maya Wang, acting China director at HRW. The reports make it clear that when a village is targeted for relocation, it is impossible for residents to refuse to move without facing serious repercussions. The report drew on more than 1,000 articles in Chinas state-run media published between 2016 and 2023. HRW said the proliferation of digital news media within China has led to an increase in news reports in recent years, particularly from counties and townships. Though these reports follow strict propaganda guidelines and contain only information praising or endorsing policies of the Chinese Communist Party, they make it possible to follow the aims and practices of local officials in-charge of relocation programmes. The report recommended the Chinese government should stop relocations in Tibet until an independent, expert review of policies and practices determines their compliance with Chinese laws and international law on forced evictions. Chinese authorities should ensure that all relocations are in line with international human rights standards, including exploring all feasible alternatives before eviction, paying compensation, and providing legal remedies to those affected. Authorities should stop coercing or improperly pressuring people to consent to government plans for relocation and they should also end all quotas, deadlines or targets for officials to persuade people to relocate, the report said. Chinese government policy states every household has to consent to relocation but HRW found multiple references to initial reluctance among Tibetans whose villages were scheduled for relocation. In one case, 200 of 262 households in a village in Nagchu municipality initially didnt want to relocate to a site nearly 1,000 km away. Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline cleric who brought Iran closer to Russia, China Officials make intrusive home visits to gain consent, or tell residents that essential services will be cut if they do not move. They openly threaten villagers who voiced disagreements about the relocations, accusing them of spreading rumors and ordering officials to crack down on such actions swiftly and resolutely, implying administrative and criminal penalties, the report said. Together with Chinese programmes to assimilate Tibetan schooling, culture and religion into those of the Chinese nation, the relocation of rural communities erode or cause major damage to Tibetan culture and ways of life, the report added. The US on Monday addressed a recently published news report describing the Muslim community in India and reaffirmed its commitment to promoting universal respect for freedom of religion. The US said that they are engaging with countries worldwide, including India, on this matter. US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller (AP) "We are deeply committed to promoting and protecting universal respect for the right to freedom of religion or belief of all around the world. We have engaged many countries including India on the importance of equal treatment for members of all religious communities," US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a daily press briefing. This statement follows a report by The New York Times titled "Strangers in Their Own Land: Being Muslim in Modi's India," which alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "chipped away at the secular framework and robust democracy" since taking office. The report also claimed that Muslim families in India grapple with anguish and isolation as they try to raise their children in a country that increasingly questions their very identity. A recent report by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) stated that the share of the Muslim population in India increased from 9.84 per cent to 14.09 per cent between 1950 and 2015. "The share of Muslim population in 1950 was 9.84 per cent and increased to 14.09 per cent in 2015 - a 43.15 per cent increase in their share," the report said. In the same period, the share of Hindu population in India decreased from 84.68 per cent to 78.06 per cent. "The share of the majority Hindu population decreased by 7.82 per cent between 1950 and 2015 (from 84.68 per cent to 78.06 per cent)," the report said. The report noted increases in the Christian, Sikh, and Buddhist populations, while the Jain and Parsi populations decreased. The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) is an independent body constituted to advise on economic and related issues to the Government of India, specifically to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also highlighted the report by the EAC-PM and claimed that the narrative that "minority is in danger" is false and has been exposed. He said that the perception that has been created is "proving to be a mistake." "Between 1950 and 2015, the number of Hindus in India has decreased by about 8 per cent, while that of minorities has increased by 43 per cent. The perception that has been created is proving to be a mistake. The wrong narrative is being exposed. Whatever meaning one has to take out of it, they can. I don't want to bring out anything," PM Modi said while speaking to Republic TV earlier this month. "If this is factual, then the perceptions created as in that minority is being suppressed in India, there is no voice for the minority in India... all these narratives that are being created, all this allegation against India, please accept the truth and come out of this narrative," he added. The Ministry of External Affairs previously rejected a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of "reinforcing discriminatory nationalist policies." The Ministry called the organization "biased" and stated that it does not expect the organization to understand India's diverse, pluralistic, and democratic ethos. "The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is known as a biased organization with a political agenda. They continue to publish their propaganda on India masquerading as part of an annual report," Randhir Jaiswal, an MEA official spokesperson had said at a press briefing. South Korean carrier Air Premia is now flying between San Francisco International Airport and Incheon International Airport in Seoul four days a week. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle Air Premia, a South Korean airline, is now flying between San Francisco International Airport and Incheon International Airport in Seoul four days a week. Service started on Friday, according to the airline and SFO. Flights on the San Francisco route will take place on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, Air Premia said, with departures from SFO at 3 p.m. and arriving in Seoul at 7:50 p.m. the following day. Flights from Incheon will leave at 5:30 p.m. local time and arrive at SFO at 12:30 p.m. Air Premia flies Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft and already served Los Angeles International Airport and Newarks Liberty Airport outside New York. Advertisement Article continues below this ad According to South Koreas Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Air Premia carried over 671,500 passengers last year, with more than 229,300 on the Los Angeles and New York routes, the airline said. Air Premia joins United Airlines, Asiana Airlines and Korean Air in offering service from SFO to South Korea. The new SFO flights are part of Air Premias strategy of expanding its service into the U.S. The airline also serves Bangkok and Tokyos Narita airport. Air Premia also offers irregular flights to Hawaii, it said in a news release. The Americas are Air Premias most important strategic route, CEO Yoo Myung-sub said in the release. We plan to offer more routes and flights, creating more diverse options for Korean immigrants and local travelers heading to Korea. Asaduddin Owaisi of the AIMIM, on Tuesday, flagged the issue of Indian students being allegedly targeted in Kyrgyzstan, urging external affairs minister S Jaishankar to intervene in the matter. His appeal comes days after Indian and Pakistani students in Kyrgyzstan were advised by their consulates to stay indoors to protect themselves from mob violence. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi. (ANI file photo) Taking to social media platform X, Asaduddin Owaisi said some locals in Kyrgyzstan have been violently targeting Indian students in the country. He also said that a student reached out to him, saying that he hadn't eaten in five days due to the tense situation. Owaisi also shared a video of an Indian student in Kyrgyzstan purportedly making a phone call to the consulate inquiring about any evacuation procedures set in place. The student can be heard asking if Indians will be evacuated, to which the official said the students have already been briefed. The Indian student further inquires if any security would be provided to them if they attempt to take a flight and return home. Sharing the call audio on X, Owaisi posted, Some locals in #Kyrgyzstan have been violently targeting Indian students. A student reached out to me saying that they have not eaten for the last five days. @drsjaishankar, please take strong steps to protect our people there. Arrangements must be made for their return if the situation does not improve. The situation in Kyrgyzstan became tense for Indian students after a brawl broke out between foreign students and Kyrgyz students on May 13. The fight was seen by the locals as a violation of hospitality by the foreign students, mainly from Pakistan, India, and Egypt. Many Kyrgyz citizens took to the streets after the brawl and reports of mob violence against Indian and Pakistani students surfaced. There were no reports of any Indian students being injured in the violence, but the Indian government advised them to stay indoors till the violence cools down. External affairs minister S Jaishankar also informed in a separate post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that they are monitoring the welfare of the Indian students in Bishkek, adding that the situation is reportedly calm. An IndiGo flight, operating from Mumbai to Varanasi, on Tuesday was forced to return to the aerobridge at Mumbais Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International airport (CSMIA) after the crew spotted an overbooked passenger just before take-off. Airlines generally overbook to limit the possibility of a flight departing with empty seats. (Bloomberg File Photo) Singapore Airlines turbulence: What Boeing said on mid-air horror The incident took place around 7.50am after a crew member noticed a male passenger standing at the rear end of the aircraft when flight 6E 6543 was taxiing. It was then that the crew alerted the pilot and the flight had to return to the terminal, Sandeep Pandey, one of the passengers, said. Airlines generally overbook to limit the possibility of a flight departing with empty seats. Another passenger Akhilesh Chaubey, who was heading to Varanasi on a work trip, said, The flight returned to the bay and the passenger was offloaded. The airline then checked the cabin baggage of all passengers on board before proceeding with the take-off after a delay of at least an hour, he said. According to flight tracking website Flightradar24, the aircraft took off at 8.41am. There was an error during the passenger boarding process of 6E 6543 from Mumbai to Varanasi, wherein a standby passenger was allotted a seat reserved for a confirmed passenger. The error was noticed prior to the departure of the aircraft, and the standby passenger was de-boarded. This led to a slight delay in the departure of the aircraft. IndiGo will take all measures to strengthen its operational processes and regrets the inconvenience caused to customers, an airline spokesperson said. Amit Mishra, another passenger on the same flight, said that they landed in Varanasi at around 10.30am. To catch a flight of 7.50am, one needs to be at the airport by 6.30am at the latest if one does not have a check-in bag. Such delays due to the airlines illegal motives need to be taken up by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. The airline later clarified that the passenger who was de-boarded was an IndiGo staff who was flying SLT (staff leisure travel). SLT is IndiGo's policy allowing its staff to get discounted air tickets. Travel under this policy is on a space available (standby) basis only, and such passengers are allowed to board based on the availability of a seat before push back. The DGCA has asked IndiGo to submit a report on the incident, an official close to the matter said. The aviation regulator has been implementing penalties on airlines for denying boarding even on a valid ticket. Journalist shares Delhi airport nightmare after IndiGo flight delays: 'Trauma I'll remember for long' According to DGCAs civil aviation regulations notified in 2016, an airline is not required to pay any compensation to passengers if an alternative flight is arranged within an hour of the scheduled departure. However, in case the airline arranges for an alternative flight within 24 hours of denial of boarding, it must pay 200% of the booked one-way basic fare, plus airline fuel charge, subject to a maximum of 10,000. The Kerala high court on Monday upheld the death sentence given by a trial court to Muhammed Ameer ul-Islam, the lone convict in the 2016 rape and murder of a 30-year-old law student in Ernakulam district of the state. Kerala HC upholds death sentence in 2016 rape and murder of law student The accused, then 22 years old and a migrant labourer from Assam, trespassed into the victims residence near Perumbavoor on April 28, 2016, and fled after raping and murdering her. The law student was found murdered at her residence where she lived with her mother. According to the police, the woman was raped and brutally assaulted using sharp-edged weapons before being murdered. In 2017, the Ernakulam Principal Sessions court found Islam guilty under sections 376 (rape), 302 (murder), 449 (wrongful confinement), and 376A (causing death or resulting in a persistent vegetative state of the victim). He was awarded life imprisonment and a fine of 1 lakh. The convict, however, moved the high court challenging the verdict of the trial court. Hearing the matter on Monday, a division bench comprising Justices PB Suresh Kumar and S Manu upheld the death sentence. The HC observed, It was a cold blooded murder without provocation, for the only sin committed by the victim was that she resisted the attempts of the accused to commit rape on her. As indicated, the crime committed is in the nature of extreme brutality, that shocks conscience of the society. The facts aforesaid, according to us, satisfy the crime test. The court said that the mitigating circumstances, presented by the accused counsel, are not sufficient to commute a death sentence to imprisonment for life. ...according to us, in a case of this nature, the society would certainly approve the awarding of death sentence, especially since the victim was a young lady who was forced to live in a structure on the side of the public road, on account of her impoverished social background and the crime was one committed within the premises of her own shelter. Needless to say, the death sentence awarded to the accused is liable to be confirmed and we do so, the order read. Expressing satisfaction over the verdict, the victims mother said: I am happy that the man who killed my daughter will be hanged to death. It has been so long since the incident. I had always lived for my daughter, but shes gone. Islam, who had left Perumbavoor soon after committing the crime, was arrested from Kancheepuram in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, 50 days after he committed the gruesome crime. More than 100 police personnel questioned over 1,500 people in the case. The Special Investigation Team that probed the case used DNA technology and verification of call record details to prove Islams role in the crime. Fingerprints of over 5,000 people were also examined by the SIT personnel, who went through over 2 million telephonic conversations before tracing Islam. Parents of students from Madhya Pradesh studying in Kyrgyzstan have appealed to the central government to ensure the safe return of their children amid reports of conflicts between locals and foreigners in Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek. Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek, has been witnessing massive mob violence for the last few days.(HT File) In a conversation with PTI on Tuesday, Alka Solanki, whose son Raj is a medical student in the country, said, "My son is scared because of what has happened in the country in the last two days. I only want my son to return home safely with other students They are scared," she said. Another parent, Chen Singh Choudhary, whose son Yogesh is studying MBBS in Kyrgyzstan's capital, urged the prime minister to ensure the return of the students. "We request Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Mohan Yadav to ensure the safe return of the students" Choudhary told PTI. "My son and other students are scared because of the situation in Bishkek. I want my son to return home safely," said Leena Sarathe, whose son Ravi is a third-year medical student. As many as 15,000 Indian students are reportedly studying in Kyrgyzstan. India had earlier asked its students in Bishkek to stay indoors after fights broke out between some locals and foreigners in the country's capital. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also advised students to stay in regular touch with the Indian embassy. Meanwhile, the Indian embassy in Kyrgyzstan said it was in touch with the students, and the situation is calm. We are in touch with our students. The situation is presently calm but students are advised to stay indoors for the moment and get in touch with the Embassy in case of any issue, the statement said. The embassy also provided a helpine number. Our 247 contact number is 0555710041. The ministry of foreign affairs in Kyrgyzstan also said that the situation in Bishkek is under control. Kyrgyzstan, a popular destination for education in the medical field, attracts a large number of students from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. In the past few days, Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, has been experiencing massive mob violence with foreign students, including those from India and Pakistan, facing threats from local residents. According to local reports, the violence erupted following a brawl at a hostel between foreign students and locals, including Pakistanis and Egyptians. Videos of the brawl, which reportedly took place on May 13, went viral on social media. (With inputs from PTI) Over 1000 villagers in Odisha's Balangir constituency boycotted polling during Phase 5 of the Lok Sabha Election 2024 on Monday over their "demand for schools and hospitals''. The polling officers sealed all the EVMs and VVPATs at polling booths around 2 pm due to the absence of voters. Dabjor village residents highlighted the several challenges faced by villagers, including the lack of essential infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, and panchayats.(ANI) The incident occurred in Dabjor village under Karam Tala Gram Panchayat in the Titlagarh Assembly Constituency, which falls under the Balangir Lok Sabha Constituency in Odisha. Approximately 1071 voters boycotted the polling -- 561 male and 510 female. The absence of voters and poll agents was observed during the mock poll at 5.45 am. Despite waiting for hours, neither the poll agent nor the voters arrived to cast their votes. Consequently, we had to seal all the EVMs and VVPATs at 2 pm. It appears they boycotted the election due to their demands for schools and hospitals, said the Presiding Officer, as quoted by ANI. Debashish Patra, a village resident and voter, emphasised the reasons behind boycotting the elections. He highlighted several challenges faced by villagers, including the lack of essential infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and panchayats. Nine months ago, we complained to the district administration about our challenges, but no one has come to address them. Our Panchayat is located in a different village, 18 kilometres away. The government promotes the 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' scheme, but do they consider the same daughter who has to cycle 18 kilometres daily to attend school? Senior citizens have to travel 18 kilometres to collect their pensions. We have to travel for rations, and the journey's cost often exceeds the ration's value. We urge the government to solve our problems first; only then will we vote, said Debashish Patra. According to ANI, after the incident, the district collector urged the villagers to vote but refused until their demands were accepted. Odisha Lok Sabha Election Phase 5 During Phase 5 of the general elections in Odisha, 40 candidates contested for the Lok Sabha seats of Aska, Kandhamal, Bolangir, Bargarh, and Sundergarh, while 265 candidates competed in 35 assembly constituencies. The voter turnout in Odisha during the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha Election was approximately 72.8 per cent. Among the five Lok Sabha seats, the highest voter turnout was recorded in Bargarh at 67.27 per cent, followed by Sundergarh at 62.36 per cent, Bolangir at 61.35 per cent, Kandhamal at 57.46 per cent, and Aska at 57.09 per cent. Bijepur in Bargarh saw the highest polling among the 35 assembly constituencies at 72.40 per cent, while the Surada segment in Ganjam had the lowest turnout at 47.80 per cent. Elections will be held for 42 assembly segments and six Lok Sabha seats on May 25. The remaining 42 assembly segments and six Lok Sabha seats will be voted on in the last phase on June 1. Vote counting will take place on June 4. In the 2019 assembly elections, the BJD secured 112 out of 146 seats, with the BJP winning 23 seats and the Congress nine seats. Similarly, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJD emerged victorious with 12 seats, followed closely by the BJP with eight seats, while the Congress secured just one seat. With ANI inputs A hit by a Mumbai-Dubai Emirates flight carrying 310 passengers caused the death of at least 36 flamingos over the Laxmi Nagar area of Pantnagar in Mumbai's Ghatkopar on Monday night. A Mumbai airport source told HT that EK 508, an Emirates flight, reported a bird hit on arrival at 9.18pm. The flight, which suffered damages, landed safely at Mumbai airport, and it currently grounded there. The flight, which suffered damages, landed safely at Mumbai airport. (Representative Image) Additional chief conservator of forests (Mangrove protection cell) SY Rama Rao said 36 bodies of flamingos were found in this area and a search has been launched to find out if more flamingos are killed. He said they were hit by a flight, and a search has been launched for more affected flamingos. Mangrove protection cells deputy conservator Deepak Khade said, The airport authorities have confirmed to us about the bird strike. This has happened closer to Laxmi Nagar (northern end of Ghatkopar East). Prashant Bahadure, range forest officer of the mangrove protection cell, said, "I went to the airport, but they didnt allow me entry. The airport authorities have told us these flamingos were hit by an Emirates flight. We got a call from the local residents and the incident may have happened between 8.40 pm to 8.50 pm and our team was on spot at 9.15 pm. Environmentalist D Stalin on NGO Vanshakti said, What caused the birds to fly into the aeroplane, etc. are being investigated. My theory is the new power lines through the sanctuary area are causing disorientation to the birds. It should have never been permitted... Alternate routes were many. While giving permissions for power lines(earlier, it was not allowed inside sanctuaries) the wildlife board meekly surrendered to the power company. Instead, the Thane Creek Wildlife Sanctuary was bulldozed and towers erected. Stalin claimed that it is also possible that the CIDCO, which started this theory of bird-hit danger to Navi Mumbai airport, has an indirect connection to this accident. Wetlands in NRI complex area and TS Chanakya lakes are the home to flamingo flocks. Since last month, efforts have been made to disturb the birds there and get the water bodies to be brought under construction. If someone or some people had chased the birds out at night , the flocks might have attempted to fly towards Thane Creek and, in the process, met with the accident, he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday accused India's first prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru of opposing reservations for the deprived castes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election public meeting for Lok Sabha polls,in Motihari, Bihar.(Santosh Kumar/ Hindustan Times) Addressing a rally in Bihar's Motihari, the prime minister said,"Had it not been for Baba Saheb Ambedkar, Nehru would have never agreed to quotas for SCs, STs and OBCs. Nehru had made his views clear on the issue in letters he wrote to the then chief ministers in the country." "This has been the Congress' trait under successive prime ministers. Be it, Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi, they all opposed reservations. SCs, STs and OBCs have never got respect from the Congress", Modi was quoted by PTI as saying. ALSO READ: Lok Sabha polls 2024: Modi attacks Opposition in Bihar, reiterates reservation remark Modi made the allegation while lashing out at the opposition parties including Congress, accusing them of spreading a "falsehood" that the BJP, upon return to power with a brute majority, could scrap quotas by changing the Constitution. ALSO READ: BJP will end reservation if voted to power: Kejriwal The truth is that we have been protecting the rights of the deprived castes. It is only with the NDA led by BJP that rights of SCs, STs and OBCs are secure, he added. The prime minister also charged the opposition INDIA bloc with having plans to give reservation benefits "based on religion". "They want to do this because they are now left with just one vote bank. They are no longer supported by SCs, STs and OBCs, so they now care for only those carrying out a vote jihad", Modi added. During the Lok Sabha election campaign, Modi has time and again accused the Congress of trying to give away the reservations meant for the SC, ST and OBC communities on the basis of religion. They (Congress) are the people who stop the functioning of the Parliament, they question the Election Commission, they question the EVM, and now for their vote bank, they are insulting the constitution... Till the time I am alive, I will not let them give the reservation meant for Dalits, SCs, STs, and OBCs to the Muslims in the name of religion, he had said in one of the rallies, in Telangana's Medak. Prime Minister Narendra Modi appreciated the high voter turnout in Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency in Jammu and Kashmir and said such active participation is a great trend. Prime Minister Narendra Modi Baramulla which voted on Monday in the fifth round of the seven phases of elections saw a voter turnout of 55.79 per cent, as per ECI. The Office of Lieutenant Governor in a post on X said that the high voter turnout in Baramulla Lok Sabha seat shows people's unwavering faith in democracy. "High voter turnout, over 58% in Baramulla Parliamentary Constituency, is very encouraging and shows the people's determination and unwavering faith in democracy. I congratulate and thank the people of Baramulla for joining the Maha Kumbh of our democracy in large numbers," LG said on Monday. Reacting to his tweet, PM Modi on Tuesday said, "Compliments to my sisters and brothers of Baramulla for their unbreakable commitment to democratic values. Such active participation is a great trend. The Baramulla parliamentary constituency of Jammu and Kashmir recorded a voter turnout of 55.79 per cent as per the latest data issued by the Election Commission of India on Monday. As per the ECI, this is the highest voter turnout recorded in the constituency in the last 8 Lok Sabha elections in 35 years. Baramulla sees a fight between National Conference leader Omar Abdullah and JKPC leader Sajjad Lone. PDP's Mir Mohammad Fayaz is also in the fray. The voter turnout in Baramulla was 5.48 per cent in 1989, 46.65 per cent in 1996, 41.94 per cent in 1998, 27.79 per cent in 1999, 35.65 per cent in 2004, 41.84 per cent in 2009, 39.14 per cent in 2014 and 34.6 per cent in 2019. Earlier on May 13 in the fourth phase, the Srinagar constituency, recorded 37.99 per cent voting which is also the highest turnout in several decades. This was the first general election in the valley after the abrogation of Article 370 and the enactment of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1. The counting and results will be declared on June 4. The owner and manager of a Pune bar that allegedly served liquor to the 17-year-old boy who hit and killed two people with his father's Porsche car, have been arrested. The 17-year-old is the son of a prominent real estate developer from the city whose Porsche was running without a registration number. (HT photo) The city police arrested the bar owner and the bar manager who served liquor to the minor accused on the night of the accident, Pune CP Amitesh Kumar told ANI. On Tuesday morning, the minor driver's father was arrested from Maharashtra's Sambhajinagar. The boy's father was detained and brought to Pune, where he was arrested. Amitesh Kumar told HT that the father of the minor driver was attempting to evade arrest since he was booked. HT reported that two restaurant license holders and another person were arrested last night. The boy's father and four others, including owners of two restaurants, were booked under relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act (MVA) and the Juvenile Justice Act (JJA). The father was arrested for allowing the minor to drive the high-end car without license. According to the police, the man bought the Porsche car for his son in March this year but the vehicle was not registered. The boy is the son of a prominent builder in the Maharashtra city. He is just four months short of his 18th birthday. Within hours of the accident and detention, the Juvenile Justice Board had ordered his release. The board had asked him to write an essay reflecting on the accident, seeking help to give up drinking and do voluntary work with the Pune traffic police. The bail conditions led to a furore in the city. The Pune police commissioner, however, said on Monday that they wanted to try him as an adult for the case. On Sunday itself we had moved an application before the Juvenile Justice court (board) seeking permission to try the juvenile as an adult and send him to an observation home as the crime is heinous, but the plea was rejected. We are now approaching the sessions court with the same plea, he had said. Two IT professionals were killed in a car accident in Pune's Kalyani Nagar area early Sunday morning after a Porsche, allegedly driven by a minor under the influence of alcohol, crashed into their motorbike. The minor received bail hours after the incident under the condition that he would work with the Yerwada traffic police for 15 days and write an essay on road accidents. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday expressed shock and surprise over the Juvenile Justice Board taking a lenient view of the car crash. Fadnavis told reporters that the police have approached a higher court seeking permission to try the juvenile, who was granted bail, as an adult. Anis hails from Pali town and Ashwini hails from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. "The order passed by the JJ Board was shocking and surprising as it had taken a very lenient view of such a heinous crime. The Pune police had petitioned the board to allow them to treat the teenager as an adult as his age is 17 years and eight months. But the board kept the application aside by categorising it as 'seen and filed' and released him on bail which led to public outrage," said Fadnavis. Read: Porsche accident: Pune teen served pizzas in custody, claims Congress; Fadnavis says bail conditions shocking Victims of the car crash Anis Awadhiya and Ashwini Costa, both 24, were on their way back from an impromptu dinner with a group of friends when the speeding Porsche hit them. Ashwini Costa, who hailed from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, was riding pillion with Anis Awadhiya. Ashwini's mother, Mamta Costa, revealed that her daughter had planned to return to Jabalpur and had booked a ticket to surprise her father on his birthday in June. Just a day before the accident, Ashwini informed me that she will be returning home in Jabalpur and had booked her ticket for June 18 to surprise her father on her birthday. However, it ended this way, she said. Pune Porsche accident: Families of Anis, Ashwini shocked over bail, demand justice Anis Awadhiya, originally from Pali town in Madhya Pradesh, had been working in Pune for about a year and a half. He had graduated from DY Patil College of Engineering in Pune. Dnyanendra Soni, maternal uncle of Anis, said the bereaved family includes the mother, father, and 21-year-old younger brother who is studying at the citys DY Patil College. Soni said Anis's father has a small printing press and his mother is a homemaker. Anis used to support his family financially, said Soni. Infratil exceeds guidance with strong FY2024 result and outlines substantial investment for future growth Infratil today announced a strong result for the year ended 31 March 2024, with Proportionate EBITDAF exceeding guidance. Alongside the result Infratil has provided an update on the significant investment in growth underway across the portfolio and accelerating into the next financial year. Infratil CEO Jason Boyes said, we are pleased to report that as we celebrate 30-years of Infratil we continued to build on our legacy of success, delivering a strong financial result and making significant strides in growing our portfolio. While we celebrate these achievements, we recognise that our approach is designed for sustainable, long-term growth, not overnight success, and therefore this years result is the culmination of many years work. Proportionate EBITDAF was $864.1 million a 63% increase on the $531.5 million from the same period the previous year. While a substantial portion of this increase can be attributed to the higher ownership stake in One NZ since June 2023, even after adjusting for this change, growth stood at an impressive 15.5%. This earnings expansion underscores the strong performance across the portfolio's operational businesses, Mr. Boyes said. The net parent surplus from continuing operations was $854.0 million, up from $643.1 million in the prior year. The result included a $1,075 million revaluation of Infratils initial 49.95% stake in One NZ, following the acquisition of a further 49.95% stake in June this year. Mr. Boyes said earnings growth in all our key operating businesses was accompanied by significant progress in a number of key areas. CDC reinforced its position as a leading owner, operator, and developer of highly secure, sovereign, and connected large-scale data centres in Australia and New Zealand. Responding to a surge in demand for data centre capacity, CDC delivered a record 200MW in new contracted capacity, the largest ever addition in 12 months, while also achieving over 25% earnings growth. With eight data centres under construction across Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, and Auckland, accelerating development activity is a major priority. The transformative shift in customer demand has expanded CDCs development pipeline by over 400MW in FY2024, a significant increase from a year ago, Mr. Boyes said. One NZs normalised EBITDAF of NZ$600 million was a 13.7% increase from the prior year and at the mid-point of guidance, reflected a strong performance despite challenging economic conditions. Growth was driven through Consumer Mobile and Wholesale, alongside careful cost management. The Enterprise side of the business has been challenging with downward pressure on connections and revenue, as both public and private sector Enterprise customers downsize and look for cost savings in the current economic environment. Pleasingly, one year after its launch, the One NZ brand continues to be well-received, with key metrics surpassing those of the former Vodafone New Zealand brand. Metrics such as brand awareness and non-customer consideration are tracking ahead of expectations, indicating strong public reception and confidence in the rebranding strategy, Mr. Boyes said. Longroad Energy delivered EBITDAF of US$56 million, up US$24 million from the prior period, supported by 209MW of projects commencing operations and the completion of restoration works at Prospero 1 and 2 in Texas. Longroad also reached financial close and began construction on two of its largest projects: Sun Streams 4, a 377MW solar and 300MW/1200MWh battery storage project, and Serrano, a 220MW solar and 214MW/855MWh battery storage project, both in Arizona. Mr Boyes highlighted that these projects will power over 180,000 North American homes, with their output purchased by Arizona Public Service via 20-year power purchase agreements, helping to support system reliability during Arizonas hot summer months. To illustrate the scale of just one of these projects, the Sun Streams 4 project will house almost 800,000 solar panels covering over 3,100 acres." Gurin Energy received conditional approval to import 300MW of non-intermittent, low-carbon power into Singapore, one of five approvals by the Indonesian and Singapore governments to establish a green electricity trading corridor. The Vanda project, planned on the Riau Islands, will feature 2,000MW of solar photovoltaic capacity and 4,400MWh of battery storage, making it one of the world's largest planned projects. In the Philippines, construction is underway on Gurins 76MW Palauig Solar Power Plant in Zambales Province. This 80-hectare solar farm will deploy up to 136,000 energy-efficient solar panels and will be Gurins first project to reach commercial operations. A second 38MW project in the Philippines reached its final investment decision in April 2024 and is expected to begin construction shortly. Galileo has successfully sold its first projects, including a pipeline of 800MW of projects from a joint venture in Northern Europe and 140MW of projects in Italy from its own pipeline. Separately, Galileo has signed an agreement to sell its shareholding in Enviria, a leading solar PV rooftop business in the industrial and commercial market in Germany. All three transactions were undertaken with major international investors active in the energy transition sector. Manawa Energys financial results released reflect a year of solid performance. Total generation of 1,901GWh was broadly consistent with the previous year's 1,917GWh, despite a larger planned outage programme. EBITDAF from continuing operations stood at $145 million, up from $137 million in the prior year. These results demonstrate an impressive ability to maintain operational efficiency and reliability while supporting a robust asset investment programme. The Healthcare sector, a relatively new area for Infratil, is growing within the portfolio. RHCNZ Medical Imaging in New Zealand delivered a strong financial result with scan volumes up 3.7% to over 1 million and revenue up 10.4% to $340.6 million. One of RHCNZs key strategic priorities is to be the first choice for referrers and patients in New Zealand, while enhancing medical imaging access to all New Zealanders. RHCNZs commitment to this strategy was enhanced during the year as a result of ongoing geographic expansion - with new clinics opening in Papamoa and Whangarei, and with expansions to existing services in Invercargill and Paraparaumu, Mr. Boyes said. Our Australian diagnostic imaging business, Qscan, showed solid improvement in both financial and operational performance driven by operational efficiencies, new technological initiatives, and alongside a recovery in the radiology market. 2024 saw the opening of three greenfield sites in Maroochydore, Newstead and Tweed as well as multiple brownfield expansions. RetireAustralia had a record year with 408 resale settlements generating cash flows of A$78 million combined with 146 new unit settlements, with first sale proceeds of A$124 million. Strong demand is being experienced across the portfolio with waitlists in place for 24 of 29 villages and occupancy remaining high at over 96%, compared to the industry benchmark of 89%. Over the year Wellington Airport hosted 5.5 million passengers, nearly 200,000 more than the previous year. This rebound reflects a broader trend of renewed interest in travel and a signal that the aviation industry is steadily moving beyond the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. This momentum has also translated into a significant increase in earnings, with EBITDAF reaching $107 million, a 19.5% increase from the previous year. Committed to integrating sustainability Infratil was proud to be the first financial institution in New Zealand to achieve SBTi (Science Based Targets initiative) validation for our climate targets. This achievement signifies our credible commitment to climate action. During the year, we published our inaugural sustainability report, a comprehensive document outlining our refreshed sustainability strategy, key environmental, social, and corporate governance issues, emissions footprint, and illustrative case studies from our portfolio. Additionally, we released our inaugural Climate-Related Disclosures (CRD), aligning these voluntary disclosures as closely as possible with the mandatory Aotearoa New Zealand Climate Standards. Looking ahead, Infratil will publish its FY2024 climate-related disclosures by 31 July, in compliance with the mandatory Aotearoa New Zealand Climate Standards, along with our 2024 Sustainability Report. Mr. Boyes highlighted that beyond our reporting, the sector diversity of our portfolio contributes positively to various aspects of sustainability, from producing renewable energy generation to the provision of healthcare services and the facilitation of connectivity. Capital deployment During the year direct investment by Infratil in its portfolio companies totalled $2,225 million, primarily driven by the significant investment in One NZ. The agreement with Brookfield in June to acquire their 49.95% stake in One NZ was a major highlight, culminating a six-year journey that began before our initial investment in May 2019. Increasing our ownership in One NZ enhances our flexibility and focus on long-term value creation. To support this acquisition, we completed our largest equity raise, securing $935 million at $9.20 per share. Since the raise, Infratils shares have performed strongly, closing at $11.25 yesterday. As Infratils digital infrastructure platform grows globally we have also increased our stake in UK data centre platform, Kao Data, to a majority holding of 53%. This streamlined ownership will better support Kao Datas continued growth. Beyond its existing operational sites, Kao Data is targeting further expansion with the announcement of a new data centre campus in Manchester. Kao Data was recently granted planning permission for the 350 million facility which when complete will create a leading infrastructure hub to support Greater Manchesters fast-growing and diverse technology ecosystem, Mr. Boyes said. In addition to the $2.2 billion of direct investment, Infratils share of the capital expenditure undertaken by its portfolio companies was $1.7 billion. Strong thematic tailwinds continue to provide valuable opportunities for growth across the portfolio, which has seen significant growth capex across all key sectors Digital, Renewables, Healthcare and Airports. Shareholder returns, final dividend and dividend reinvestment plan In terms of our returns to shareholders, we will pay a partially imputed final dividend of 13.0 cents per share, to go with the 7.0 cents per share interim dividend, a 4% increase from the prior year. Infratils share price also rose from $9.20 to $10.89 during the year to 31 March, with an after-tax return to shareholders over the year of 21.7%, and a return over the last ten years of 22.0% per annum, Mr Boyes said. The dividend reinvestment plan (DRP) will operate for the final dividend, with a 2% discount applied to the DRP strike price. A copy of the DRP Offer Document is attached. The timetable for the DRP is: Event Date FY2024 Full Year Results release Today Ex-Date for Dividend 5 June Record Date 6 June Last Date to submit a participation notice 7 June Start date for determining market price for DRP 10 June End date for determining market price for DRP 21 June Strike Date 24 June Share Issue Date/Dividend Payment Date 25 June Allotment announcement 25 June In addition to this, Infratil has elected to pay $50.0 million of the third tranche of the FY2022 Annual Incentive Fee by way of issue of shares on 28 May 2024. In accordance with the Management Agreement, the share issue price will be set at 98 per cent of the weighted average sale price of all trades of Infratils ordinary shares on the NZX on the 5 business days immediately prior to the issue date of 28 May 2024. Outlook Infratil's current portfolio is heavily weighted towards high-growth digital infrastructure and renewable energy businesses, with a specific focus on developing these critical assets. Over 80% of our portfolio is invested in these two sectors, which are central to understanding our outlook, Mr Boyes said. These platforms represent two of the most sought-after asset classes, converging to address the growing demand for AI and data centres with the essential need for sustainable energy solutions. As AI development accelerates, the need for robust, scalable data centres powered by renewable energy becomes increasingly critical. This combination not only enhances operational efficiency and sustainability but also underscores our commitment to meeting the evolving demands of this global market. To date, few if any listed investment entities are exposed to both asset classes quite the way that Infratil is today. Mr Boyes highlighted that Infratil retains significant liquidity to support further internal and external investment opportunities with $820 million of available capacity to fund growth, including significant undrawn corporate facilities. At 31 March, gearing was 20.0%, up from 9.8% at the prior year. As we navigate a period where we are likely to see continued macroeconomic uncertainty, we remain excited about the investment opportunities within our existing portfolio which has long been a feature of Infratils investment approach. These opportunities are expected to surpass our available capital, enabling us to focus on the highest value investments for our shareholders. As we celebrate 30 years of Infratil it is also timely to thank our shareholders, who in many cases have been with us for 30 years. Your support, trust, and commitment have been instrumental in our success. It is because of you that we've been able to continue to invest for the long-term with confidence. On behalf of the entire Infratil team, thank you for being with us on this journey. We look forward to a bright future together. FY2025 Guidance FY2025 Proportionate Operational EBITDAF guidance has been set at $980 million to $1,030 million, reflecting the momentum that has been building across the portfolio. This is up 11% at the midpoint on a strong FY2024 result. Separately, for FY2025 we have separated out the guidance component for our early-stage renewables development platforms (Gurin Energy, Galileo, Mint Renewables), which are forecasting EBITDAF spend of $80 million to 90 million as they invest in growth over the year. FY2025 Proportionate capital expenditure guidance has been set at $2.7 billion to $3.1 billion, up 70% at the midpoint on significant FY2024 investment. This includes Infratil's share of the capital expenditure of its portfolio companies. Investor Briefing There will be a briefing for institutional investors, analysts and media commencing at 10.00am. A webcast of the presentation will be available live on the below link. https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/s5ph9mw4 Enquiries should be directed to: Mark Flesher Investor Relations Email: mark.flesher@infratil.com About Infratil: Launched in 1994, Infratil Limited is a New Zealand headquartered, global infrastructure investment company (NZX: IFT , ASX: IFT). Infratils purpose is to invest wisely in ideas that matter and, in doing so, create long-term value for shareholders. It invests in renewables, digital infrastructure, healthcare and airports, with operations in New Zealand, Australia, Europe, Asia and the United States. With group assets currently in excess of NZ$14 billion, Infratil targets returns to shareholders of 11-15% p.a. over the long-term. For more information, visit www.infratil.com and LinkedIn. Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: TRU - WHO Agency UNITAID Features TRU in Tech Landscape Report PaySauce Quarterly Market Update - September 2024 October 2nd Morning Report Rua Releases Annual Report for Year Ended 30 June 2024 SCL - Settlement of orchard sales The Warehouse Group 2024 ASM and Director Nominations AIR - Update on Chief Operational Integrity and Safety Officer Comvita Limited - Annual Report 2024 September 27th Morning Report Spark announces departure of Finance Director NEW DELHI: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian will be remembered as friends of India who made significant contributions to bilateral ties, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday as he conveyed the governments condolences over their death in a helicopter crash. External affairs minister S jaishankar said they will always be remembered as friends of India who contributed immensely to the growth of the India-Iran relationship. (X/DrSJaishankar) The Iranian leaders died when their helicopter crashed in East Azerbaijan province in thick fog on Sunday, while they were travelling after the inauguration of a dam on the border with Azerbaijan. Irans state-run media attributed the crash to a technical failure. Read: Why President Raisi's death rattles Irans leadership succession plan Jaishankar paid tribute to the Iranian leaders when he visited the Iranian embassy to sign a condolence book. India declared a day of national mourning on Tuesday as a mark of respect for Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian, with the national flag flown at half-mast throughout the country. Visited the Embassy of Iran in Delhi today to convey our deepest condolences on the tragic passing away of President Ebrahim Raisi and my colleague, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Jaishankar said in a post on X. They will always be remembered as friends of India who contributed immensely to the growth of the India-Iran relationship. Government of India stands in solidarity with the people of Iran at this very difficult time, he added. Iran President Ebrahim Raisi's death: Indian flag flies at half-mast at Rashtrapati Bhavan | Watch While speaking at a public event on Monday, Jaishankar lauded the contributions of Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian towards the finalisation of a long-term agreement between India and Iran on Indian operations at Chabahar port. The two countries signed the pact on May 13 and India agreed to invest $120 million to enhance operations at the port. Jaishankar said India had been trying to have an agreement with Iran on Chabahar for almost 20 years, but the two sides had only agreed on a short-term agreement because of a lot of problems on the Iranian side. In recent months, thanks to the two people who unfortunately died yesterday in the helicopter crash, the president of Iran and the foreign minister of Iran, because of their interest and initiative we were actually able to finalise a long-term agreement, which is very important because...one of the big things in the world is how do you make connectivity corridors, he said. The corridor centred around Chabahar will link Gujarat and Maharashtra in India to Iran, and then to Central Asia, Azerbaijan, Russia and even northern Europe. The agreement on Chabahar is bigger than just a port because it is a part of a connectivity chain that India is very keen on taking forward, he said. On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among world leaders who expressed sorrow at the death of Raisi and hailed his efforts to strengthen India-Iran relations. Deeply saddened and shocked by the tragic demise of Dr Seyed Ebrahim Raisi, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. His contribution to strengthening India-Iran bilateral relationship will always be remembered. My heartfelt condolences to his family and the people of Iran. India stands with Iran in this time of sorrow, Modi said in a post on X. Justice Chitta Ranjan Dash, who retired as a Calcutta high court judge on Monday, revealed that he was and is a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Chitta Ranjan Dash added that he was ready to go back to the organisation if they called for any assistance or work. Retired Calcutta high court judge Chitta Ranjan Dash(X/@barandbench) To the distaste of some persons, I must admit here that I was and I am a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)I owe a lot to the organisation... I am there from my childhood and throughout my youth, Justice Dash said during his farewell speech at the high court. According to Justice Dash, he had distanced himself from the organisation for about 37 years because of his work in law. I have never used my membership of the organisation for any advancement of my career because it is against its principlesI treated everybody at par, be he a rich or poor person, be he a communist, or from the BJP, Congress or TMC. All are equal before me; I do not hold any bias for anyone or any particular political philosophy or mechanism, he said. Justice Dash added that since he did not do anything wrong in life, he has the courage to say that he belongs to the RSS. If I am a good person, I could not belong to a bad organisation, he said. Demitting office after over 14 years as a high court judge, Justice Dash said, I have learnt to be courageous, upright and have an equal view for others and above all, the sense of patriotism and commitment to the workI tried to dispense justice on the principles of empathy. Law can be bent to do justice, but justice cannot be bent to suit the law. Who is Justice Chitta Ranjan Dash? Born in 1962 in Odisha's Sonepur, Justice Dash graduated in law from the Madhu Sudan Law College in Cuttack in 1985. In 1986, he enrolled as an advocate and in 1992, he was appointed as an additional standing counsel of the state government - which he continued till 1994. Justice Dash joined the Orissa Superior Judicial Service (Senior Branch) in February 1999 as a direct recruit, following which he was elevated to an additional judge of the Orissa high court in October 2009. He joined as a judge of the Calcutta high court on transfer on June 20, 2022. During his journey, Justice Dash was at the centre of controversy when he was part of a bench which delivered a judgment containing certain codes of conduct for adolescent girls to control their sexual urges. (With inputs from PTI) Bharatiya Janata Party's Puri candidate Sambit Patra's remark that Odisha's most revered deity Lord Jagannath is a devotee (bhakt) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi triggered a huge political row, with top leaders such as Naveen Patnaik, Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal hitting out the BJP. Later, Sambit Patra, however, described it as a slip of the tongue. Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik (L), BJP's Sambit Patra (C) and Congress leader Rahu Gandhi. The Congress shared a video of Sambit Patra speaking in Odia and slammed his remark on a local TV news channel, demanding that Prime Minister Modi apologise for the comment. While Sambit Patra apologised for the comment and claimed that "we all have a slip of the tongue sometimes, the Opposition leaders latched on to the remark, denouncing it as an insult to Lord Jagannath. Sambit Patra's Lord Jagannath remark row: How leaders reacted Naveen Patnaik: The Odisha chief minister, in an X post, criticised Sambit Patra for hurting Odia 'asmita' (pride). "Mahaprabhu Shree Jagannatha is the Lord of the Universe. Calling Mahaprabhu a 'bhakt' of another human being is an insult to the Lord... it is totally condemnable. This has hurt the sentiments and demeaned the faith of crores of Jagannatha bhaktas and Odias across the world. "The Lord is the greatest symbol of Odia asmita. I strongly denounce the statement... and I appeal to the BJP to keep the Lord above any political discourse. By this, you have deeply hurt Odia asmita and this will be remembered and condemned by people of Odisha for a very long time," Naveen Patnaik said. Mallikarjun Kharge: The Congress chief said it reinforces our charge that a BJP, drunk with power, will not even spare our Gods, let alone Indias people. The comments made by BJPs Puri candidate is an insult to Mahaprabhu Shree Jagannatha revered by crores of people. We condemn it in the strongest possible words On June 4th, this arrogance shall be destroyed by Will of the People, Mallikarjun Kharge wrote on X. Rahul Gandhi: The senior Congress leader hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the comment. When the Prime Minister starts considering himself as an emperor and the courtiers start considering him as God, then it is clear that the downfall of the Lanka of sin is near. Who gave a handful of BJP people the right to hurt the sentiments of crores of people? This ego is becoming the cause of their destruction, Rahul Gandhi posted in Hindi on X. Arvind Kejriwal: The Delhi chief minister alleged that Sambit Patra's remark reflects the arrogance of BJP leaders. "I strongly condemn this statement of the BJP. They have started thinking that they are above God. This is a height of arrogance. Calling God bhakt of Modi ji is an insult to God," Arvind Kejriwal posted on X. Ajoy Kumar: The AICC in-charge of Odisha also condemned the statement. "The country and Odisha will not tolerate this insult of Lord Jagannath!" Ajoy Kumar posted on the micro-blogging site. "Will the media ask any question to Sambit Patra? Where are those journalists with the 7 pm agenda? Where have those Hindutva organisations gone," he added. Sambit Patra clarifies Sambit Patra later clarified that he wanted to mean that the PM was an ardent 'bhakt' (devotee) of Lord Jagannath and not the other way round. Responding to Naveen Patnaik's post, Sambit Patra said, I gave a number of bytes today to multiple media channels after the massive success of Shri Narendra Modiji's road show in Puri today, everywhere I mentioned that Modi ji is an ardent 'bhakt' of Shri Jagannath Mahaprabhu. By mistake during one of the bytes, I said just the opposite... I know you too know and understand this... Sir let's not make an issue out of a nonexistent issue... we all have slip of tongue sometimes. PM Modi addresses rallies in Odisha Addressing two election rallies in Angul and Cuttack on Monday, PM Narendra Modi raised the missing Ratna Bhandar key issue and sought to know why the BJD government in the state "suppressed the judicial commission report" on the matter. The Supreme Court has declined to review its December 2023 judgment, which unanimously endorsed the Union governments August 2019 decision to abrogate Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu & Kashmir. Article 370 was removed through a presidential order issued on August 5, 2019. (ANI) Centre misleading people: Opposition's Article 370 jibe at BJP after J&K twin terror attacks Considering a bunch of review petitions assailing the judgment, a five-judge bench found no error apparent on the face of the record that could warrant a relook at the verdict. The review petitions are, therefore, dismissed, said the bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud. The other members of the bench included justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Surya Kant and AS Bopanna (since retired). The review petitions were considered by the judges in their chambers through circulation on May 1. The order was, however, released on Tuesday. Those approaching the court seeking review included the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association, Awami National Conference, advocate Muzaffar Iqbal Khan and Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Movement. All of them were parties before the court in the original proceedings that culminated in the December 11 verdict. Review petitions in the apex court are not heard in open courts and are usually considered in judges chambers, unless specifically directed otherwise. A petitioner is required to demonstrate errors apparent on the face of record to get a review plea entertained because a review plea is not heard like an appeal. As one of the judges on the bench -- justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, retired on December 25 2023, justice Bopanna was inducted in the new bench for the consideration of the review plea. The December 2023 verdict by a five-judge called the abrogation the culmination of the process of integration of the erstwhile state into the Union of India. In a historic decision that ended a chapter that started with the ascension of Jammu & Kashmir to India in 1947 at a time when the regions political future was uncertain, the judges declared the abrogation to be a perfectly valid exercise of power by the President, ruling that Article 370 was always meant to be a temporary provision. The judges were also in unison about the validity of the two constitutional orders (COs) issued in August 2019 by the President in applying all provisions of the Indian Constitution to J&K and the cession of Article 370, declaring that the President was not required to obtain the approval of the J&K constituent assembly (which was dissolved in 1957) or the J&K legislative assembly before notifying under Article 370 that this article shall cease to be operative. The 2023 judgment maintained that the abrogation of Article 370 was a policy decision and it completely falls within the realm of the executive to assess whether there existed special circumstances necessitating a special solution in the form of the abrogation. The judgment had further directed the Election Commission of India to conduct polls to the J&K legislative assembly by September 30, 2024, and asked the Centre to restore statehood to the region as soon as possible. Congress didnt revoke Art 370 in J&K for appeasement politics, says Amit Shah The top court, however, chose not to give a ruling on whether the reorganisation of the state of J&K into two Union territories of Ladakh and J&K was constitutionally permissible, pointing at the Centres statement that statehood of J&K would be restored eventually. Penning a separate judgment, justice Kaul, also implored the Centre to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for a structural investigation into violation of human rights in J&K by both State and non-State actors, and lay down a framework for restoration of social fabric, coexistence and reconciliation. The special investigation team (SIT), constituted to investigate the violence on the day of polling on May 13 and post-poll violence in the state, found lapses in the probe by the police, officials familiar with the matter said on Monday. Violence was reported in Palnadu, Tirupati and Anantapur. (ANI) Inspector general of police (special investigation bureau) Vineet Brij Lal, who headed the 13-member SIT, submitted a 150-page report to director general of police Harish Kumar Gupta on Monday, describing the violence in three districts Palnadu, Anantapuramu and Tirupati as extremely serious in nature. The report would later be sent to the ECI for further action, an official statement from the SIT said. The SIT was constituted by the DGP on the direction of the Election Commission to review the investigation of offences in which major incidents of violence occurred on the poll day and post-poll period, impacting law and order in Palnadu, Tirupati and Anantapur. According to the statement, the SIT noticed that most of those incidents were extremely serious in nature because multitudes of miscreants brazenly participated in the offence such as pelting stones indiscriminately, which potentially could lead to serious injury or even death. The SIT identified several lapses in the investigation and gave clear instructions to the investigation officers (IOs)for compliance at the earliest. Special teams were formed to identify and apprehend the accused at district level. The investigating officers were instructed to file a memo in the concerned courts for adding appropriate sections of law to the existing sections. They were further instructed to collect digital evidence like CCTV footage, videos, etc., arresting accused and filing of charge sheet at an early date, the SIT statement said. The statement said the SIT was divided into four sub-teams, each team headed by one deputy superintendent of police. While two teams were deployed in Palnadu district, one team each was sent to Anantapur and Tirupati districts. Based on the intensity of major incidents of violence occurred on poll day and post-poll days, a total of 33 cases were identified in these three districts 22 cases in three assembly constituencies of Palnadu, seven cases in one constituency in Anantapur and four cases in two assembly constituencies in Tirupati, the SIT said. It said the sub-teams had camped in their respective designated districts and thoroughly reviewed the cases identified regarding investigation done so far by going through the record, visiting scene of offences, interacting with the IOs and aggrieved persons and verifying the physical evidence collected so far. They also recorded witnesses statements and inquired into whether appropriate sections of law applied or not, whether all incidents were registered as cases or not, whether accused identified or not and arrested or not. In all these important 33 cases, as many as 1,370 members were cited as accused in the FIRs. Among them, 124 were arrested and notices were issued to another 94 accused so far. The SIT has directed the investigating officers to ensure completion of pending arrest at the earliest, the statement said. During the field visits, the SIT received representations from various aggrieved persons and is verifying the facts for further necessary action, the statement added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday trained his guns at the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, accusing them of running a competition to appease their vote bank. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public meeting for Lok Sabha polls, in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, Tuesday, May 21, 2024.(PTI) Addressing a poll rally in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj, Modi called both the parties "anti-development". Follow full coverage of the Lok Sabha elections. "The SP and Congress are more concerned about their vote bank than Kumbh (mela)," he said in his address. If they were seen doing much for the Kumbh, they feared their vote bank could become upset. He also accused the opposition INDIA bloc of being against good governance and against the Hindu faith. The INDI alliance is against our good governance and our faith, Modi said. Every corner of India testifies that INDI Alliance cannot bring about development and progress. "During the Kumbh Mela held under their rule, stampedes used to take place, and people (referring to an incident in February 2013) had to lose their lives. Everywhere, chaos prevailed. He also alleged that during the rule of the previous Samajwadi Party governments, the mafia used to occupy the lands of the poor. During the SP government, the mafia used to occupy the lands of the poor, now the BJP government demolishes their illegal palaces and builds houses for the poor, Modi said. "The youth can never forget how the SP government used to trade their dreams. Their hard work, their qualification, but who used to get the job? Jobs were given based on caste, jobs were given to those who gave bribes." Modi was addressing the rally in Prayagraj to seek votes for BJP candidate Neeraj Tripathi. The main contest in Allahabad is between Neeraj Tripathi, the son of former West Bengal governor and speaker of Uttar Pradesh Assembly Keshari Nath Tripathi, and Ujjwal Ram Singh, the son of former Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Reoti Raman Singh. Voting in the Allahabad Lok Sabha constituency will take place in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha election on May 25. Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin on Tuesday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks that the missing keys of Lord Jagannath's treasury in Odisha had gone to Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin (ANI) Stalin said that the PM's remarks were aimed at maligning the image of the Tamils for the sake of votes. Modi should stop making such remarks against Tamils, Stalin said a day after PM Modi's comments came at a poll rally in Odisha. The chief minister alleged that Modi was creating a feeling of enmity between people and anger between states with his hatred speeches. ALSO READ | Modi rakes up mystery of the missing key of Jagannath temple Ratna Bhandar "It amounts to insulting Lord Jagannath, revered by crores of people, besides insulting and hurting the people of Tamil Nadu who have good relations and friendship with the state of Odisha," said Stalin. "Can PM Modi disparage the people of Tamil Nadu as thieves stealing the treasure of a temple...doesn't it amount to insulting Tamil Nadu. Why such dislike and hatred for Tamils," the CM asked. Stalin further said that people would understand PM Modi's duplicity of praising the Tamil language in Tamil Nadu and speaking ill of it while canvassing votes in other states like Rajasthan and Odisha. Attacking the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government in Odisha on Monday, the PM said that "even the temple of Lord Jagannath in Puri is not safe in the hands of this government." ALSO READ | Odisha CM surrounded by mafia, BJP will break its backbone: PM Modi Modi said Odisha wanted to know why the BJD suppressed the judicial commission report on Ratna Bhandar keys. "The role of the BJD in the case is suspect. The BJP government, after it comes to power on June 10 will make the report public," Modi said, adding that the missing keys of the Ratna Bhandar had gone to Tamil Nadu. At an election rally at Odisha's Bolangir earlier, PM Modi made similar remarks. Modi asked how duplicate keys for the Ratna Bhandar were created if the state administration claims to have discovered them. A senior BJD leader responded, saying We know the issue would not have any bearing on the outcome of elections. Let BJP leaders and PM Modi make allegations. (With PTI inputs) The Delhi Police's five-member special investigation team (SIT) is taking chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar - arrested for allegedly assaulting Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal - to Mumbai for the retrieval of data from his formatted iPhone. Bibhav Kumar being taken to Mumbai for retrieval of phone data in Swati Maliwal assault case(PTI) According to the police, Bibhav Kumar had formatted his phone before transferring the data to some person or device in Mumbai. Bibhav Kumar was arrested on Saturday from Kejriwal's residence, two days after a case was registered against him under sections 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 341 (wrongful restraint), 354 (B) (assault or use of criminal force to a woman with intent to disrobe), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 509 (word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code. Currently, he is under a five-day judicial custody. What did Swati Maliwal say in her complaint? The former DCW chief, in her complaint, alleged that Kumar attacked her at the CM's official residence on May 13 when she went there to meet Kejriwal. According to her, Kumar repeatedly slapped her and kicked her in the stomach and pelvic area. She also alleged that Bibhav deliberately pulled her shirt. Following this, the police registered a complaint against Kumar. On Friday, the Delhi police team took Maliwal to Kejriwal's residence to recreate the crime scene. During this time, they seized the DVR of CCTV cameras and also recorded her statement before a magistrate. Meanwhile, shortly before his arrest, Kumar submitted an email complaint to the Delhi police countering Maliwal's allegations, saying that she had abused him with the intent of assault. It has come to the knowledge of the undersigned through the media that a case F.I.R. No. 27/2024 has been registered at P.S. Civil Lines in which the undersigned has been named as an accusedIt may be emphasized here that the undersigned has also made a complaint bringing to light the true facts of the alleged incident that happened on May 13, 2024 vide e-mail dated May 17, 2024 at 3:34 p.m. sent on e-mail ids: sho-civilline-dl@nic.in and dep.north@delhipolice.gov.in. It is requested that the same may be brought on record and investigated in accordance with law, the letter read. (With inputs from PTI) Delhi's Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Tuesday backed AAP MP Swati Maliwal over the latter's alleged assault at Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's house, saying he was deeply distressed with the media narrative unfolding on the matter. In a statement by Delhi's Raj Niwas, Saxena, who has had a frosty relationship with the AAP-led Delhi government, claimed Maliwal had called him and narrated at length "her traumatic experience" out of sheer anguish. The Aam Aadmi Party, meanwhile, said Saxena's statement proved that she was working for the BJP. A team of Delhi Police along with AAP MP Swati Maliwal at the residence of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to investigate an alleged assault case. VK Saxena said during her call, Swati Maliwal told him about the "intimidation and shaming that she is being subjected to by her own colleagues". I have been deeply distressed over the unfolding media narrative over the last few days on the issue of alleged assault on Swati Maliwal, MP, Aam Aadmi Party, at the residence of Chief Minister, when she went there to meet him all alone, Saxena said in a statement. Yesterday, she called me out of sheer anguish, describing at length her traumatic experience, and the subsequent intimidation and shaming that she is being subjected to by her own colleagues. She also expressed concerns over reported tampering of evidence and coercion against her, he added. AAP, in a statement, accused the BJP of hatching a conspiracy. "LG's statement proves that Swati Maliwal is working for the BJP. The BJP is hatching a new conspiracy every day during elections - sometimes liquor scam, sometimes Swati Maliwal, sometimes false allegations of foreign funding. The BJP will use new tactics everyday during elections. BJP is losing badly. Modi ji's sinking ship is taking support of Swati Maliwal," it said. Also read: BJP directs new appointment query at Arvind Kejriwal over Swati Maliwal assault Swati Maliwal has accused Bibhav Kumar of repeatedly slapping and kicking her in the drawing room of Arvind Kejriwal's house in Delhi. She claimed Kejriwal was inside her house when the alleged assault took place. The Aam Aadmi Party, meanwhile, has backed Kejriwal's personal secretary, Kumar, claiming that Swati Maliwal had barged into the chief minister's house without a prior appointment. The party further claimed that she wanted to harm Kejriwal at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). On Monday, AAP leader Atishi claimed the BJP made Maliwal file an FIR against Bibhav Kumar using an old ACB case as leverage. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today asked Kejriwal to explain how Swati Maliwal entered his house without an appointment despite his Z-level security detail. Bibhav Kumar was arrested by the Delhi police on Sunday. Meanwhile, the police today recorded the statements of all the staff present in Kejriwal's house on May 13. Swati Maliwal case: The Delhi Police has taken the statement of all the staff present at Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's house on May 13 in connection with the alleged assault case of AAP MP Swati Maliwal, ANI reported on Tuesday, citing sources. A team of Delhi Police along with AAP MP Swati Maliwal at the residence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi.(HT photo) The police have also sent all electronic gadgets recovered so far in the case to Forensic Science Laboratory (FS) for further investigation, they added. Swati Maliwal, in her complaint to the police, has alleged that Kejriwal's aide, Bibhav Kumar slapped her at least seven to eight times without any provocation and brutally dragged her while kicking her, forcing her to fall and hit her head on a table at the CMs residence on May 13. Kumar has filed a counter, accusing Maliwal of forcefully entering the CMs premises and using abusive language. He is under police custody till May 23. Earlier on Monday, the Delhi Police took Bibhav Kumar to the drawing room of Kejriwal's residence on Monday where Kumar had allegedly assaulted Maliwal, to find out details about the sequence of events that took place on the morning of May 13. The police noted down the answers to all their questions sequence-wise, mapped them and took photographs of the crime scene where the hour-long crime took place, officials said. On Tuesday, a five-member special investigation team (SIT) of the Delhi Police took Bibhav Kumar to Mumbai for the retrieval of data from his formatted iPhone. The police claim that Bibhav Kumar formatted his phone before transferring the data to some person or device in Mumbai. Bibhav Kumar was arrested on Saturday from Kejriwal's residence, two days after a case was registered against him under sections 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 341 (wrongful restraint), 354 (B) (assault or use of criminal force to a woman with intent to disrobe), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 509 (word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code. Hyderabad The Telangana government will take up temporary repairs to the damaged portions of Medigadda barrage of Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme on Godavari river on war footing to ensure that the command area under the project would get irrigation during the upcoming monsoon. Telangana to take up temporary repairs to Kaleshwaram project barrages A decision to this effect was taken at the state cabinet meeting headed by chief minister A Revanth Reddy at the state secretariat on Monday. Briefing reporters after the meeting, state information and public relations minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy said the cabinet had discussed in detail the interim report submitted by the expert committee of the National Dam Safety Authority recently. The interim report of the NDSA said there is no guarantee that the Medigadda barrage would become fully operational if the repairs are carried out and there was no scope of storing the water in the barrage. However, the cabinet decided to take up temporary repairs to the damaged portions of the barrage so that water could be released to the crops. We shall take the engineers into confidence before releasing the water, instead of going purely by technical aspects of the barrage, the minister said. The cabinet decided that the government would go by the final report of the NDSA committee on restoring the three barrages of the Kaleshwaram project Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla. We shall soon visit the barrages again and see how best we can get the benefit out of the project, Reddy said. The cabinet decided to purchase the entire quantity of paddy, which was damaged due to unseasonal rains in the last few days, at the minimum support price. We shall see that the farmers would not sell their produce even for a rupee less than the MSP, the minister said, adding that the collectors had been entrusted with the responsibility of procuring paddy without any hassles. Reddy further said the cabinet resolved to procure the entire fine rice required for the state directly from the farmers by paying them a bonus of 500 per quintal from the next Kharif season. The cabinet decided to celebrate the 10th formation day of Telangana on June 2 in a big way. We have decided to invite Sonia Gandhi to Hyderabad and honour her for granting statehood to the region, he said. The cabinet also resolved to constitute mothers committees to take up the responsibility of maintaining schools from the next academic year. Former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Tuesday faced scrutiny from the Supreme Court, which asked how he could contest the validity of his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after a Jharkhand trial court has already acknowledged the existence of prima facie evidence of money laundering against him. Former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren. (ANI) SC grants ED two days to respond to Hemant Sorens interim bail plea The top court underscored the distinctions that set Sorens case apart from that of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was previously granted interim bail in a money laundering case so that he could campaign in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. When Kejriwal was granted interim bail on May 10, he had not sought regular bail from a trial court, nor had there been any judicial order of cognisance against him in the Delhi excise policy case, pointed out a vacation bench comprising justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma. In contrast, a Jharkhand trial court has taken cognisance of the offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), relying on prima facie incriminating materials against Soren, and his bail plea was rejected, it observed. As it heard Sorens petition challenging his arrest by ED in January and seeking interim bail due to the general elections, the top courts bench posed probing questions to Sorens legal team, led by senior counsel Kapil Sibal, regarding the validity of his challenge against the ED arrest in connection with an alleged land scam despite a judicial order taking cognisance of offences under PMLA. The bench highlighted that the April 4 order of a Jharkhand court taking cognisance is based on its prima facie satisfaction on the existence of incriminating material linked to Soren. Once the cognisance has been taken, one judicial forum has applied its mind and reached a conclusion that prima facie there are materials justifying your arrest. In such a scenario, will another court look into the same materials? There is a judicial decision, and you need to satisfy us that after such an order, this court can still look into materials, the bench told Sibal. The detailed queries from the bench followed preliminary objections raised by additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju, representing ED, stating there is a marked difference between the case of Kejriwal and Soren because there are judicial orders of cognisance and rejection of bail in the latters case. ED has accused Soren of orchestrating a complex scheme to acquire and possess land illegally in Jharkhand. While Sibal maintained that the order of cognisance should not whittle down a persons challenge to arrest on the anvils of constitutional principles on liberty, the bench remained emphatic that the trial courts view could not be disregarded. These are findings recorded by a [trial] court in the exercise of its judicial powers. You will have to satisfy us that we can still hear it as a writ petition...after all, this is an imprimatur of prima facie satisfaction of materials for your arrest. Otherwise, the trial court could have released you at that stage, the bench said. It also pointed out that Sorens bail plea was dismissed by the trial court on May 13, which would mean that rejection of his arguments regarding absence of materials to show his prima facie guilt in the case concerned. The bench delineated the differences between the Soren and Kejriwal cases in the context of their respective bail pleas. It pointed out that the judicial orders of cognisance and rejection of bail in Sorens case imply that the trial court found grounds to proceed with the case. Kejriwals interim bail was granted in the absence of a trial courts cognisance order, or an application for regular bail, it said. With rigorous questioning from the bench regarding the legitimacy of contesting Sorens arrest, Sibal requested for more time to revert with pointed replies. The bench granted this request, adjourning the hearing till Wednesday. The alleged scam pertains to usurping prime landed parcels in Ranchi by the accused persons by making fake deeds using manufactured identities and falsifying original land records at Circle Offices and Registrar of Assurances (RoA), Kolkata and Circle Offices in Jharkhand, according to the ED charge sheet. ED has reportedly recovered documents related to at least 27 properties of which alleged fake deeds created by the people accused. ED opposes Hemant Sorens plea for interim bail to campaign in Lok Sabha polls Submitting its affidavit on Monday, ED opposed the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leaders request for interim bail to campaign in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, accusing him of attempting to thwart an ongoing money laundering investigation in an alleged land scam by misusing state machinery and through his stooges. The agency stressed that the JMM leader is involved in the illicit acquisition and possession of properties deemed proceeds of crime and that his conduct disentitle him to any reprieve. ED also stressed that granting such bail would set a precedent allowing other incarcerated politicians to claim similar privileges, emphasising that elections are a constant feature in India, and accepting Sorens request would mean no politician could be detained during elections. Union railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday travelled from Odisha's Bubaneswar to Baleswar by train and interacted with the passengers onboard. Taking to X, the union minister also shared a short video of the journey. Travelled in train from Bhubaneswar to Baleshwar! he captioned the post. Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw travels by train in Odisha.(X/Ashwini Vaishnaw) In the video, the union minister was seen showing his ticket to the TTE. He was also observed socialising with fellow passengers. The video has garnered around 4.3K likes and several comments on social media. Dear Sir I kindly request that you travel to Bihar and West Bengal to personally observe the current conditions of long-distance trains. This firsthand experience will provide valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities facing our railway system, a user wrote. Meanwhile another user commented, Vaishnav Ji, Please visit 2nd sleeper class also Speaking about the redevelopment of railway stations in Odisha recently, Vaishnaw said five stations in the Sundargarh Lok Sabha constituency will be redeveloped into world-class ones. Bimlagarh, Rajgangpur, Panposh, Rourkela and Hemgir are going to become world-class railway stations, the railway minister said while campaigning for the BJP candidate in the Bonai assembly segment. ALSO READ | When will bullet train begin services in India? Ashwini Vaishnaw shares update On being asked about the status of the Talcher-Bimlagarh railway link, the minister said, It will be completed soon. This year, 550 crore has been provided in the budget for the new railway line. The state government is not providing the required land for this important link " Over 28 km of the new railway line on the Talcher-Bimlagarh route has been completed. "The railway tracks have come up to Samal from Talcher and this year the link up to Khamar will be completed From the Bimlagarh side, the work needs to be expedited but it depends on the availability of land We are working on it, he added. ALSO READ | Rly min sanctions 876 crore for Harbour Line extension till Borivali Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's developmental works in the state, the minister said, Odisha has got a special place in the PMs heart. Modi ji is always serious about Odishas development and how the dreams of the Odias are fulfilled. (With inputs from PTI) Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar will fly to Iran on Wednesday to attend an official ceremony to pay condolences on the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a helicopter crash, the Ministry of External Affairs said. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar (PTI) A one-day state mourning is being observed across India on Tuesday as a mark of respect for Raisi. "Vice-President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar will pay a visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran on May 22 to attend official ceremony to pay condolences on the tragic demise of President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other Iranian officials in an unfortunate helicopter crash on May 19," an MEA statement said on Tuesday. President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have conveyed their condolences on the demise of Raisi. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited the embassy of Iran here on Tuesday to convey Indias condolences on the loss. The Iranian president, the country's foreign minister and several other officials were found dead on Monday, hours after their helicopter crashed in a foggy, mountainous region in the northwestern part of the country, Iran state media reported. Raisi, 63, and his entourage were heading to the city of Tabriz after returning from a visit to a locality on the Azerbaijan-Iran border on Sunday. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar will represent India at an official ceremony in Iran on May 22 to pay condolences to President Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials killed in a helicopter crash. Vice president of India, Jagdeep Dhankar. (File) The Iranian leaders died when their helicopter crashed in East Azerbaijan province in thick fog on Sunday, while they were returning from the inauguration of a dam on the border with Azerbaijan. Irans state-run media attributed the crash to a technical failure. The external affairs ministry said Dhankar will visit Iran on Wednesday 2024 to attend an official ceremony to pay condolences on the tragic death of Raisi, Amir-Abdollahian and the other Iranian officials in the helicopter crash on May 19. President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have conveyed their condolences to the government and people of Iran. External affairs minister S Jaishankar visited the Iranian embassy in New Delhi on Tuesday to convey Indias condolences on the tragic loss, the statement said. India observed a day of national mourning on Tuesday as a mark of respect for Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian, with the national flag flown at half-mast across the country. While signing the condolence book at the Iranian embassy, Jaishankar said Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian will be remembered as friends of India who made significant contributions to bilateral ties. On Monday, Modi was among world leaders who expressed sorrow at the death of Raisi and hailed his efforts to strengthen India-Iran relations. Deeply saddened and shocked by the tragic demise of Dr Seyed Ebrahim Raisi, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. His contribution to strengthening India-Iran bilateral relationship will always be remembered. My heartfelt condolences to his family and the people of Iran. India stands with Iran in this time of sorrow, Modi said in a post on X. Hollywood icon Scarlett Johansson expressed shock, anger, and disbelief on Tuesday after learning that artificial intelligence company OpenAI had demonstrated a new version of its chatbot featuring a voice that sounded eerily similar to her own. Actor Scarlett Johansson had accused OpenAI of creating a voice for the ChatGPT system that sounded eerily similar to her after she declined to voice the chatbot herself. (REUTERS) Istanbul's emblematic red and white trams, built over 100 years ago and loved by both locals and tourists, are about to give way to a more modern streetcar. The tramway has become a symbol of Istanbul's most popular shopping street, Istiklal Avenue, which runs for 1.4 kilometres (0.9 miles) on the European side of the city. Put into service in 1914, the original streetcars have undergone regular touch-ups, without ever betraying their historical look. The pictures show a tram powered by traditional overhead power lines (REAR)(L) and a modern battery-powered electric tram (R) waiting at the stop on Istiklal Street, in Istanbul. The iconic red and white tram on Istiklal Street, beloved by tourists makes way for a more modern one while remaining true to the original aesthetics, in Istanbul.(Photo by Yasin AKGUL / AFP) The new battery-powered trams, from their wooden floor to their reversible seats, stay faithful to the look of their predecessors. Two cameras on either side of the vehicles replace the old rear-view mirrors, giving drivers better visibility and enabling them to drive seated. "It's a very good thing that they are modernising the tram. The new one hasn't changed the nostalgic aspect of the old one," said local Gonul Murtekin, who travels with her grandson. Nostalgia and energy-saving Istanbul's mayoral office says it plans to retire all the old trams and put them in a transport museum which is still in the planning stage. In the meantime, the newest streetcar will be co-habiting with its century-old ancestors while it undergoes testing. The city authorities hope to dismantle the overhead power lines on Istiklal Avenue within a year. Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu has committed to reduce energy consumption. "With the battery system, we save a lot of energy," said Ali Tugrul Kucukalioglu, Istanbul's director of electric transport. He pointed out that a tram can "run for two days on a single battery". The batteries will enable the city to get rid of the trams' overhead power lines. "During national holidays, the tram had difficulty running because of the flags hanging from the lines," said Kucukalioglu. More importantly, the streetcar has been stripped of its external sidebars, which passengers would cling on as it travelled up and down Istiklal Avenue. "It was a risk for them and for our drivers," Kucukalioglu said. Clinging to the tram Yusuf Deniz, a young roast chestnut seller, recalled seeing tourists fall off the streetcar and hurt themselves. "When tourists want to hold onto the tram, they do not manage like the Turks do," he said. So the new tram is better. Until the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the 1920s, Istiklal Avenue, or the Grand Avenue of Pera as it was known then, was the heart of the city's cosmopolitan quarter. The street remains popular for tourists who choose to travel to Taksim Square on the century-old trams. Not all locals, however, feel the same about the new streetcars. Ahmet Huseyin, 16, is sad that he can no longer make the journey clinging to the side of the tram and getting some fresh air. "It ruins the traditional side of Taksim as it used to be," he said. The International Day for Biological Diversity, sanctioned by the United Nations, promotes awareness of biodiversity issues. Biodiversity, the intricate web of life on our planet, underpins human well-being now and in the future, and its rapid decline poses a threat to both nature and humanity. If variety is the spice of life, then biodiversity adds zest to Earth's ecosystems. This complex issue is attracting increasing interest from scientists and policy-makers around the world. Coined by Walter G. Rosen in 1985, biodiversity refers to "the variety of life on Earth and the natural patterns it forms". The significant day aims to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. From date and theme to history, scroll down to learn more about this occasion. (Also read: Narasimha Jayanti 2024: Date, puja timings, rituals, history, significance and best wishes to celebrate the festival ) International Day for Biological Diversity was established by the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly in 1993.(Unsplash) International Day for Biodiversity 2024 date and theme International Day for Biodiversity is celebrated every year on May 22 and this year, it will be observed on Wednesday. This year, the theme of the International Day for Biological Diversity is "Be Part of the Plan." This theme calls on governments, indigenous peoples and local communities, non-governmental organizations, lawmakers, businesses, and individuals to showcase their efforts in supporting the implementation of the Biodiversity Plan. History of International Day for Biodiversity The International Day for Biological Diversity was established by the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly in 1993. Initially, it was celebrated on December 29 to mark the day the Convention on Biological Diversity came into effect. However, on December 20, 2000, the date was changed to May 22 to commemorate the adoption of the Convention at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992 and to avoid the many holidays in late December. International Day for Biodiversity significance The International Day for Biological Diversity is aligned with the UN Post-2015 Development Agenda's Sustainable Development Goals, addressing a broad range of global issues. Biodiversity significantly impacts oceans, seas, forests, food security, health, sustainable development, science, technology, innovation, knowledge-sharing, capacity-building, urban resilience, sustainable transportation, desertification, land degradation, drought, and water and sanitation. The importance of biodiversity in sustainable development was highlighted in the Rio+20 outcome document, "The World We Want: A Future for All." This year's celebration aims to build momentum leading up to the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 16), scheduled in Colombia from October 21 to November 1, 2024. Support for biodiversity can be shown using the promotional materials for the day. An unusual form of cell death could lead to a Covid patient's lungs suffering extreme damage, potentially resulting in life-threatening conditions such as inflammation and acute respiratory disorders, according to new research. The ability to inhibit this unusual form of cell death -- ferroptosis -- can offer doctors new ways of to treat Covid-19 lung disease, the study suggested. In this study, researchers analysed human tissues and collected autopsies of patients who died of respiratory failure caused by Covid-19 infection. (Getty Images/iStockphoto) Cell death, where a cell stops functioning, can be natural or could result from causes such as a disease or an injury. The most common form of cell death involves cells "chopping up" the molecules inside, researchers explained, adding that this occurs in humans, both when they are ill or are ageing. (Also Read | Delhi sizzles at 47 degrees; 10 important dos and don'ts to follow during heatwave) However, in ferroptosis, the relatively uncommon form of cell death, cells die because their outer fat layers collapse, the researchers at Columbia University, US, said. In this study, they analysed human tissues and collected autopsies of patients who died of respiratory failure caused by Covid-19 infection. Samples from hamsters were also analysed. The team found that most cells were dying through the ferroptosis mechanism, forming the underlying basis for lung disease in Covid patients. Therefore, drugs that target and prevent the ferroptosis form of cell death could help improve the treatment course for Covid-19, the researchers said. "This finding adds crucial insight to our understanding of how Covid-19 affects the body that will significantly improve our ability to fight life-threatening cases of the disease," said Brent Stockwell, chair of the department of biological sciences at Columbia, and co-lead author of the study published in the journal Nature Communications. Previous studies have shown that ferroptosis, while instrumental to certain normal bodily processes, can also attack and kill healthy cells in patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. The authors said that the ability to inhibit ferroptosis could offer doctors new ways of combating cell death that should not be occurring, as in the case of Covid-19 lung disease. "We're hopeful that these important new findings could improve our ability to confront this pernicious disease, which, in too many cases, still diminishes health outcomes and results in death," said Stockwell. Looking to invest in suitcases from leading brands? You are at the right place. Investing in suitcases from top brands such as Safari, VIP, American Tourister, and others offers numerous benefits that significantly enhance your travel experience. First and foremost, leading brands are renowned for their commitment to quality and durability. These companies use high-grade materials like polycarbonate, polypropylene, and premium polyester, ensuring that their suitcases can withstand the rigours of frequent travel and harsh handling, thereby protecting your belongings effectively. Check out the 6 best suitcase brands in India. Moreover, top brands incorporate advanced features that make travelling more convenient and secure. For instance, many suitcases from these brands come with 360-degree spinner wheels for easy manoeuvrability, TSA-approved locks for added security, and well-designed interiors with compartments and compression straps to keep your items organised. Brands like Safari, VIP, and American Tourister often provide extensive warranties, sometimes spanning several years, which cover manufacturing defects. This assurance reflects their confidence in product quality and gives customers a sense of security. In our review, we have highlighted the best suitcases from six top brands: Safari Thorium Neo, American Tourister Ivy, Skybags Trooper, Aristocrat Airpro, VIP Widget, and Kamiliant American Tourister Harrier. Each of these options has been carefully selected based on their unique features, durability, and user satisfaction. By choosing from these recommendations, you can find a suitcase that perfectly suits your travel needs, ensuring a hassle-free and enjoyable journey. Trust in the expertise and reputation of top brands to make your travel experiences smoother and more pleasant. Safari suitcase brand Safari is an Indian luggage brand known for its wide range of travel and lifestyle products. Founded in 1974, the brand offers a diverse array of products, including hard and soft luggage, backpacks, duffel bags, and travel accessories. The Safari Thorium Neo set comprises three trolley bags in sizes 55 cm, 66 cm, and 77 cm, catering to varied travel needs from short trips to extended vacations. These bags boast a hard case construction made from polycarbonate, ensuring a sturdy and durable exterior that can withstand the rigours of travel. The sleek black design is complemented by a stylish purple inner fabric, adding a touch of elegance to the functional design. Each bag in the set is equipped with a 360-degree wheeling system, facilitated by eight wheels, providing smooth and effortless manoeuvrability in any direction, reducing the strain on your hands and arms during transit. Specifications of Safari Thorium Neo set of three trolley bags: Outer Material: Polycarbonate Colour: Black Water Resistant: Waterproof Capacity: 83 litres (Large size) Item Weight: 4.16 kilograms (Large size) Dimensions: 73 cm x 51 cm x 29 cm (L x W x H) (Large size) Wheel System: 4 wheels with 360-degree manoeuvrability Lock: 3-dial combination lock Reasons to Buy Reasons to Avoid Durable polycarbonate material Higher price point 360-degree wheeling system Weight may be heavy for some users Secure 3-dial combination lock Check out more suitcases from Safari American Tourister suitcase brand American Tourister is a globally recognized luggage brand known for its high-quality and stylish travel products. It's combination of durability, affordability, and attractive designs makes it a popular choice among travellers looking for dependable and fashionable luggage. The American Tourister Ivy 68 cm Medium Check-in Trolley Bag is a stylish and robust travel companion designed for both frequent and occasional travellers. This hard-sided luggage finished in an eye-catching sea green, is made from durable polypropylene (PP), offering exceptional dent resistance. Its construction ensures that the bag can withstand the roughest handling and the toughest journeys, maintaining its integrity and protecting your belongings. Equipped with a recessed TSA lock, the Ivy bag allows for secure inspection by airport authorities without causing any damage. Whether navigating through cobblestone streets or rolling across smooth airport floors, the 4-wheeler spinner system ensures effortless mobility. Specifications of American Tourister Ivy Luggage/Trolley Bag: Material: Polypropylene (PP) Colour: Sea Green Size: 68 cm (Medium check-in) Lock: Recessed TSA lock Wheels: 4-wheeler spinner system Warranty: 3-year global warranty Dimensions: 47 x 26 x 68 cm Reasons to Buy Reasons to Avoid Durable and dent-resistant material Medium size may not suit all needs Smooth 4-wheeler spinner system Slightly heavier than some competitors Recessed TSA lock for security Check out more suitcases from American Tourister Also read: Best trolley bags: Top 10 portable and spacious bags that make your travel easy Skybags suitcase brand Skybags focuses on creating lightweight luggage, making it easier for travellers to carry and manoeuvre their bags. Moreover, the brand often features bold colours, patterns, and graphics that appeal to younger demographics. The Skybags Trooper 55 cm Small Cabin Trolley Bag is a compact and stylish travel companion designed for hassle-free journeys. Featuring a vibrant red and white colour scheme and a printed polycarbonate hard casing, this luggage combines durability with a touch of flair, ensuring you travel in style. One of the key features of the Trooper bag is its retractable trolley handle, which allows for effortless mobility through airports, train stations and other travel hubs. For added security, the Trooper bag is equipped with a fixed number lock. In addition, the spinner wheels provide 360-degree rotation, enabling seamless movement in any direction. The hardshell construction protects your belongings from bumps and impacts, making it one of the best suitcase brands. Specifications of Skybags Trooper luggage bag: Material: Polycarbonate Colour: Red and White Size: 55 cm (Small cabin) Lock: Fixed number lock Wheels: 4 spinner wheels Handles: Retractable top, side, and trolley handles Reasons to Buy Reasons to Avoid Durable polycarbonate hard shell Only suitable for short trips Smooth 4-wheel spinner system Limited storage space Stylish printed design Check out more suitcases from Skybags Also read: Best trolley bags: Top 10 portable and spacious bags that make your travel easy Aristocrat suitcase brand Aristocrat is known for its budget-friendly products, making it accessible to a broad audience without compromising on quality. It is a part of VIP Industries, one of Asia's leading luggage manufacturers. The Aristocrat Polypropylene (PP) Airpro Set of 3 Hard Carry-On Spinner Suitcases offers a comprehensive solution for all your travel needs, combining durability, functionality, and style. This set includes three suitcases of varying sizes: 55 cm, 66 cm, and 76 cm, catering to different travel requirements from short trips to extended vacations. These bags are scratch-resistant, ensuring they maintain their aesthetic appeal even after frequent use. Moreover, each suitcase features smooth 360-degree dual wheels and an adjustable trolley handle, allowing you to navigate airports, train stations, and other travel environments with ease. Specifications of Aristocrat Polypropylene (PP) Airpro Set of 3 suitcase luggage: Material: Polypropylene (PP) Colour: Cross Teal Sizes: Set of 3 (55 cm, 66 cm, 76 cm) Wheels: 8 strong dual wheels Lock: Secured combination lock Warranty: 7 years against manufacturer faults Dimensions: 54 x 32 x 78 cm Reasons to Buy Reasons to Avoid Lightweight and durable polypropylene construction Higher price point for a set of 3 Smooth 360-degree dual wheels for easy movement May be bulky for some users Spacious interior with multiple compartments Check out more suitcases from Aristocrat Also read: Best luggage trolleys for travellers: Choose from top 10 spacious and sturdy picks VIP suitcase brand VIP products are known for their robust construction and long-lasting materials, ensuring they can withstand the stresses of travel. The brand offers a wide range of luggage products, including hard-shell and soft-sided suitcases, backpacks, duffel bags, trolleys, and travel accessories. Crafted from long-lasting polyester material, this luggage from one of the best suitcase brands, VIP, boasts lightweight yet super-strong construction. It ensures that your belongings are well-protected throughout your journey. It glides effortlessly on four silent and smooth spinner wheels, providing stability and manoeuvrability. Moreover, with spacious interiors boasting a capacity of 74 litres, you can pack more and worry less about running out of space. The luggage features front pockets for quick access to important items, allowing you to retrieve essentials without hassle. Besides, VIP offers a 5-year international warranty against manufacturing defects. Specifications of VIP Widget Polyester Soft-Sided Check-in Luggage: Material: Polyester Size: Medium, 69 cm Colour: Red Wheels: 4 spinner wheels Lock: 3-point secure combination lock Capacity: 74 litres Warranty: 5 years international warranty Dimensions: 42.5 x 31.5 x 68 cm Reasons to Buy Reasons to Avoid Lightweight and durable polyester material Some users may prefer hard shell luggage Smooth and silent 4-wheel glide Medium size may not suit all needs Secure 3-point combination lock Check out more suitcases from VIP Also read: Best trolley bags for travel: Top 9 choices to pick from Kamiliant by American Tourister suitcase brands Kamiliant luggage is characterized by sleek and modern designs, often incorporating vibrant colours and patterns. Despite its affordable pricing, Kamiliant prioritizes durability, utilizing sturdy materials and reliable construction methods to ensure longevity. The Kamiliant American Tourister Harrier luggage comes in a boxy shape that maximises volume, allowing you to pack efficiently without compromising on space. Featuring a dual texture with a matte finish, the Harrier suitcase exudes a modern and sophisticated look. The addition of a 3-digit fixed combination lock provides extra security for your belongings. Inside the suitcase, you'll find cross ribbons in the bottom compartment, along with a U-shaped pocket. Despite its sturdy construction, the Harrier suitcase is lightweight, making it easy to handle and transport. Another notable feature of the Harrier suitcase is its 50-50 packing design, which makes organisation and segregation of items a breeze. Specifications of Kamiliant American Tourister Harrier: Shape: Boxy Handles: Retractable top and side handles Texture: Dual-texture with matte finish Lock: 3-digit fixed combination lock Packing Features: Cross ribbons in bottom compartment, U-shaped pocket Wheels: 360-degree smooth rolling wheels Packing Style: 50-50 Dimensions: 46 x 28 x 68 cm Reasons to Buy Reasons to Avoid Spacious boxy shape for maximum volume Some users found the handle a bit flimsy Secure 3-digit fixed combination lock Boxy shape may not appeal to all users Efficient packing features for organisation Check out more suitcases from Kamiliant Top 3 features of luggage from best suitcase brands Best suitcase brands Dimensions Size Special features Safari Thorium Neo Set 73 x 51 x 29 cm (Large) 55, 66, 77 cm 360-degree wheeling system with 8 wheels American Tourister Ivy 47 x 26 x 68 cm 68 cm (Medium) Recessed TSA lock for security Skybags Trooper 38 x 21 x 55 cm 55 cm Printed polycarbonate hard casing with retractable handles Aristocrat Airpro Set 54 x 32 x 78 cm 55, 66, 76 cm Smooth 360-degree dual wheels VIP Widget 42.5 x 31.5 x 68 cm Medium, 69 cm 3-point secure combination lock Kamiliant Harrier 46 x 28 x 68 cm 68 cm 50-50 packing design Best value for money suitcase brand Skybags Trooper Luggage Bag Skybags comes across as the best value for money suitcase brand. The Skybags Trooper 55 cm Small Cabin Trolley Bag stands out as the best value for money due to its combination of durability, style, and practical features at an affordable price. The printed polycarbonate hard casing not only offers robust protection for your belongings but also adds a vibrant, stylish look. The retractable top, side, and trolley handles, along with the 4 spinner wheels, ensure easy and smooth manoeuvrability. The fixed number lock provides basic security, making it a reliable choice for frequent travellers. Additionally, its compact size is perfect for short trips, fitting comfortably in overhead compartments while still offering ample packing space. Overall, the Skybags Trooper delivers exceptional value by balancing cost, durability, and convenience. Best overall suitcase brand Safari Thorium Neo Set of Three Trolley Bags Safari makes its way for the best overall suitcase brand. The Safari Thorium Neo set of three trolley bags is the best overall product for its versatility, durability, and user-friendly features. This set includes three sizes55 cm, 66 cm, and 77 cmcatering to various travel needs from short trips to extended vacations. Made from sturdy polycarbonate, these bags are both lightweight and highly durable, capable of withstanding the rigours of travel. The 360-degree wheeling system with eight wheels ensures smooth and effortless manoeuvrability, reducing strain during transit. Each bag features a 3-dial combination lock for enhanced security. The sleek black exterior and stylish purple inner fabric combine elegance with practicality, making the Safari Thorium Neo set an excellent choice for travellers seeking reliability, security and a touch of sophistication. How to find the best suitcase brands Finding the best suitcase brands involves considering several key factors to ensure your luggage meets your travel needs. First, assess the material quality; durable materials like polycarbonate, polypropylene, or high-grade polyester can withstand rough handling and protect your belongings. Second, evaluate the suitcase's features such as the type of wheels (360-degree spinner wheels for easy manoeuvrability), lock mechanisms (TSA-approved locks for security), and handles (retractable and side handles for convenience). Third, consider the brand's reputation and warranty; established brands with positive reviews and comprehensive warranties offer greater reliability and peace of mind. Additionally, check for practical design elements like interior compartments, compression straps, and expansion options. By focusing on these aspects, you can identify suitcase brands that provide durability, functionality, and security for your travel needs. Similar articles you may like to read Best VIP Luggage for Travelers: Top 9 options for smooth, stylish and convenient travel Best American Tourister luggage: Travel smart with top 10 stylish and durable models Best Safari luggage bags: Top 10 picks for your next adventure, ensuring style and durability on every journey Best men's luggage bags: Discover the top 9 picks for effortless travel, packed with style and functionality Best luggage brands in India for you to consider FAQs on the best suitcase brands What materials are best for durable suitcases? Polycarbonate, polypropylene, and high-grade polyester are excellent materials for durable suitcases as they are lightweight, impact-resistant, and able to withstand rough handling. What is a TSA-approved lock, and why is it important? A TSA-approved lock allows airport security to inspect your luggage without damaging the lock, ensuring your belongings stay secure while complying with airport regulations. Why are spinner wheels preferred over regular wheels? Spinner wheels offer 360-degree rotation, making it easier to maneuver your suitcase through crowded airports and on uneven surfaces compared to regular wheels. What should I look for in a suitcase warranty? Look for warranties that cover manufacturing defects and offer long-term coverage, ideally from brands with a global warranty service to ensure support during international travels. How can I maximize packing space in my suitcase? Use suitcases with interior compartments, compression straps, and expandable sections to organize and compress your belongings, maximizing packing space efficiently. Disclaimer: At Hindustan Times, we help you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and products. Hindustan Times has an affiliate partnership, so we may get a part of the revenue when you make a purchase. We shall not be liable for any claim under applicable laws, including but not limited to the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, with respect to the products. The products listed in this article are in no particular order of priority. by Tushar Ranjan Mohanty On May 14, 2024, at least 12 terrorists and one Army soldier were killed while five other Security Forces (SF) personnel sustained injuries when terrorists from Afghanistan in their attempt to infiltrate inside Pakistan attacked Pakistani checkpoints in the Teri Mangal area, along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, in the Kurram District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The attack, launched with heavy weapons, targeted security installations within a 10 kilometres radius. On May 14, 2024, two border posts of the Bajaur Scouts came under rocket fire from militants inside Afghanistan, in the Bajaur District of KP. Pakistani Forces retaliated to the attack.There were, however, no reports of any losses. A girl is seen at a refugee camp in Islamabad, Pakistan on June 20, 2023. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal) On May 13, 2024, two militants were killed and an unverified number of other militants were injured when Pakistani forces foiled attempt by terrorists from Afghanistan to infiltrate into Pakistan in the Kaga Pass area, along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, in the Mamund tehsil (revenue unit) of Bajaur District. On April 17, 2024, seven terrorists were killed while trying to infiltrate in the Spinkai area of Ghulam Khan Tehsil (revenue unit), along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, in the North Waziristan District of KP. The infiltrators were surrounded, effectively engaged and after an intense fire exchange, all seven terriorists were sent to hell. A large quantity of weapons, ammunition and explosives was also recovered, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. The terrorists were identified as affiliates of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group. An unnamed spokesman of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group confirmed that seven militants affiliated with its Jaish-ul-Umari suicide squad were killed, and also claimed casualties from the other side without giving numbers. On March 9, 2024, two terrorists were killed and another three sustained injuries during an exchange of fire with SFs along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in North Waziristan District, when a group of five terrorists tried to infiltrate. After an intense fire exchange, two terrorists Hazrat Umer and Rehman Niaz were also sent to hell, while three other terrorists got injured, said an ISPR press release. According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), seven violent attacks by militants from across the border (including the six mentioned above), resulting in 24 deaths (23 terrorists and one SF trooper) inside Pakistan, along the Pakistan-Afghanistan-border, have been reported in the current year (data till May 19, 2024). During the corresponding period of 2023, three such incidents, resulting in eight deaths (all SF personnel) and one trooper injured, were reported. In the remaining part of 2023, another six such incidents were reported, resulting in 27 fatalities (18 terrorists and nine SF personnel) and 50 persons injured (40 terrorists and 10 SF personnel). Seventeen such incidents, resulting in 40 deaths (31 SF personnel, seven civilians and two terrorists) were reported in 2022. There were 12 such incidents, resulting in 19 deaths (16 SF personnel and three militants) were reported in 2021; seven such incidents in 2020, resulting in 11 fatalities (10 SF personnel and one militant); and another seven in 2019, with 22 fatalities (20 SF personnel and two militants). Meanwhile, on May 16, 2024, tension escalated in the Danday Pattan Kharlachi area, along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, in Kurram District, as heavy cross border firing took place in the area. There were heavy arms and ammunition used from both sides, an unnamed Pakistani security official from the area disclosed, adding, However there was no loss of life reported on the Pakistani side. The Taliban Government in Afghanistan also did not comment on casualties on the Afghan side. Earlier, on May 11, 2024, at least four Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants were killed and a few others were injured in an aerial strike by Pakistani forces at an unspecified location inside Afghanistan, along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, adjacent to the Waziristan District of KP. An unnamed senior TTP affiliate confirmed the attack and declared, We have dispatched a team to identify the exact location, killed militants and their affiliations, and determine the exact casualty count. We await their report. Prior to that, on March 18, 2024, Pakistan carried out intelligence-based anti-terrorist operations inside the border regions of Afghanistan, and killed eight people. A press release from Pakistans Foreign Office said the prime targets of the operation conducted in the morning were terrorists belonging to the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, adding that the outfit, along with the TTP, was responsible for multiple terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, resulting in deaths of hundreds of civilians and law enforcement officials. In response to the Pakistani attack, the Afghan Interim Government carried out multiple retaliatory attacks on security installations along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the Parachinar area of Kurram District in KP, in which one Army captain was killed and two Army personnel sustained injuries. Afghanistans Ministry of Defense issued a statement saying that they had responded to the Pakistani attacks and targeted Pakistani military centres with heavy weapons. The statement declared, Once again, Pakistani military and reconnaissance jets have entered Afghanistans territory and bombarded the homes of civilians in Barmal of Paktika and Spera of Khost. The volatility at the Af-Pak border has increased since the return of the Afghan Taliban to power in Kabul, belying Islamabads hope of improvement in the situation. Indeed, on May 10, 2024, Asif Ali Durrani, Pakistans Special Representative on Afghanistan, expressed regret that TTP attacks in Pakistan emanating from Afghanistan had significantly increased since the Afghan Taliban took over Kabul. Durrani noted, Earlier, it was hoped that with the arrival of the Taliban, the security situation on the Pak-Afghan border would improve but unfortunately the attacks emanating from Afghanistan had increased by 60 per cent in the last two years. Earlier, on March 6, 2024, Pakistans Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Munir Akram, responding to border incidents, stated that the Pakistani armed forces respond to cross-border attacks by the TTP and its affiliates against the countrys border posts and installations We would expect the UN to call on the Afghan interim government to prevent such cross-border attacks and infiltration by the TTP and other terrorists into Pakistani territory. On March 20, 2024, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif alleged that the cross-border attacks continued and warned that Pakistan would not tolerate any more such incidents on its soil. On the other hand, the Afghan Taliban has blamed Pakistan. On May 8, 2024, Enayatullah Khwarazmi, spokesperson for Afghanistans Ministry of Defense, denying Pakistani claims that Afghanistans soil was being used by the TTP against Islamabad, claimed that occasionally the soil of Pakistan was being used against Afghanistan, and Islamic State elements entered Afghanistan from there. Khwarazmi added, We have cases where ISIS [Islamic State] extremists have entered Afghanistan from Pakistan and are using Pakistani soil against our land. Pakistan must answer for this. The conflict over the Durand Line appears irreducible, as no regime in Afghanistan has ever accepted its legitimacy, even as Pakistan continues to assert irrevocable sovereignty over all territories up to the Line. As the Taliban regime entrenches itself further in Afghanistan, the friction along the Durand Line can only escalate. Tushar Ranjan Mohanty is a Counter-terrorism Expert on Pakistan at Institute for Conflict Management (ICM) in New Delhi The usual suspects are busy painting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party as ogres waiting to devour Indian Muslims as a part of some devious ideological agenda. Meanwhile, they are happily promoting bizarre ideas that seek to split India into numerous caste and class silos. Caste is an Indian reality. It has lost most of its bite over decades for various reasons, including rapid urbanisation and the spread of education. In day-to-day life, its influence is waning but politics is keeping it alive. The new politics of Rahul Gandhi is one such enterprise. It seeks to set Indians against Indians. The idea is to elevate the caste identity to a level that subsumes all other identities. An Indian would be known, first by his caste and then by anything else. The next promised step is to redistribute the national wealth among different caste and ethnic groups in proportion to their respective numbers. Gandhis catchline is jitni aabadi, utna haq. The partys manifesto may not have explicitly said this but the articulation has been specific in several of Gandhis public speeches, and the direction is evident from others. However, one thing is for sure. The equalisation plan will push back the country by half a century, when income tax was 97.5% in the top bracket. Daily necessities were then either unavailable or sold in the black market. Emphasis was on the redistribution of wealth and not on its creation. Some may dismiss Gandhis plans as electoral hyperbole. Such people underestimate his sense of entitlement. Here is a recall. On September 27, 2013, he made a surprise entry at a press conference. Ill tell you what my opinion on the ordinance is. Its complete nonsense. It should be torn up and thrown away, he told a stunned audience. The ordinance was to save convicted legislators from disqualification. Gandhis public censure led the government to withdraw the ordinance, which had been cleared by the Congress partys core group, including the then PM Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi. While Rahul is pushing his divisive agenda, his allies have called for vote jihad against the BJP. India is at the cusp of a take-off at this point in history. All the communities should benefit from the newfound prosperity. It was in this context that Modi asked Indian Muslims to introspect about the communitys backwardness. He said, I want to say this to the Muslim community. I am telling this to educated Muslims. Please introspect. Think. In office, Modi walked the talk. The Modi government has spent over 34 lakh crore delivering direct cash benefits to over 900 million people. Over 25 million homes have been built since 2016 under the rural public housing programme. The welfare programmes include providing cooking gas, free grain, houses, toilets, piped water, electricity, bank accounts and beefing up a long-running jobs guarantee programme. Many benefits pensions, subsidies, loans and scholarships are delivered as cash transfers to bank accounts linked to biometric identity cards held by over a billion Indians. A yearly handout of 6,000 is extended to over 110 million farmers. The resource transfers are without any leakages or corruption. These benefits are disbursed without asking about the caste, creed, or religion of the beneficiaries. For the Modi regime, the poor Indian is just a poor person in need of help. Poverty has no caste or creed. Rahul Gandhi wants to overturn this paradigm. In office, Modi has treated all the 140 crore odd Indians as equals. Modis anguish and plea for introspection by the Muslim community resonates with the views of Sardar Patel expressed soon after Independence. Speaking at Lucknow on January 6, 1948, Patel said: I am a true friend of the Muslims although I have been described as their greatest enemy I believe in plain speaking. It is your duty now to sail in the same boat with other Indians and sink or swim together. Isnt it ironic Modi and the Sardar are on the same page, even after a gap of 76 years? Its time for India to move out of identity politics and continue its march to become a fully developed nation by 2047, as PM Modi has envisaged. Its an achievable goal. Balbir Punj is the author of Tryst with Ayodhya: Decolonisation of India. The views expressed are personal The squabbling match between the BJP and Congress over the Muslim quota is intimately connected with the elite consensus and dissensus in the run-up to the Independence and the traumas of Partition under a colonial gaze. The discourse around Muslim quota returns every electoral season as a code for visceral memories of national vivisection that keep the political narrative trapped in the Hindu-Muslim, majority-minority, secular-communal, and Islamophilia-Islamophobia binaries. This conceptual matrix works as an elite containment strategy that displaces the broader questions of pan-religion class/caste exclusions and social justice. Much has been written on the colonial prioritising of religion over other identities in intellectually and politically accessing South Asia. In the late colonial period, the combination of colonial governance strategies, endemic communal violence, and religious revivalism spurred the emergence of objectified all-India Hindu and Muslim communities, led by their privileged caste elite the dwijas and ashrafs, respectively. The ensuing politics on the axis of religion was in a tense relationship with anti-caste mobilisations. In the case of Muslims, the myth of Muslim decline into backwardness, as Paul Brass puts it, can be traced back to the Hunter Commission Report (1882), wherein the entire Muslim community was spuriously characterised as disadvantaged based on the exceptional data of Bengal. For instance, between 1881 and 1921, the proportion of Muslims in public employment went up from 34.8% to 47.2%, while during the period, the population of Muslims varied between 19% (1881) and 23% (1921). Interrogating this data from the vantage point of the strong correlation between caste and class would reveal the cornering of the colonial patronage benefits by the Muslim Ashraf elite, owing to cultural capital, at the expense of the peripheral lower caste Muslims. The myth of Muslims as a backward community, among other things, strategically bolstered the formation of the All-India Muslim League (1906), the acceptance of a separate electorate for Muslims (1909), and a separate 25% quota in government services for Muslims (1926), in turn producing a unified and enclavist Muslim community led and profiteered by the Ashraf aristocracy. The persistent rival narratives of Muslims under siege or that of Muslim appeasement peddled by the elite classes have deep colonial roots and reproduce the politics arranged on the Hindu-Muslim binary at the expense of the social justice aspirations of the marginalised to this day. Babasaheb Ambedkar was consistently frustrated with the colonial Muslim-first approach to representative/redistributive measures for minorities, as was Abdul Qaiyum Ansari, who led the lower caste Muslim organisation, the Momin Conference, from the late 1930s onwards. The Momin Conference characterised the Muslim League as an Ashraf Muslim formation and contested Muhammed Ali Jinnahs two-nation theory and the demand for Pakistan in alliance with the Congress party. In 1939, the Momin Conference demanded a universal adult franchise and a separate electorate for lower caste Muslims as opposed to being accommodated within the separate Muslim electorate. The restricted franchise rested on property, tax-paying, and educational qualifications that protected the interests of the higher-class Muslims represented by the Muslim League. However, the tragedy of Partition could not be averted as the 1946 election, also hailed as a referendum on Pakistan wherein the Muslim League won handsomely, involved a restricted electorate where only 10% to 13% of Muslims, mainly Ashraf sections, had the right to vote. The votes of most peripheral lower caste Muslims were not even put to the test. In the complex negotiations during the proceedings of the Minorities Subcommittee in the Constituent Assembly, the colonial practice of religion-based electorates and quotas was discarded as religion had become a suspect category due to Partition. Except for Sikh representatives, who argued for political safeguards for a few Sikh Dalit castes, the Muslims and Christian representatives in the subcommittee, primarily upper castes, settled for cultural rights without any concern for the socio-economic upliftment of their lower caste community members. The Muslim Ashraf classes broadly endorsed Jinnahs call for Partition, while the lower-caste Muslims challenged it and worked closely with Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress. However, in a strange reversal in Independent India, the erstwhile communal Muslim Leaguers were accommodated within the Congress party through the discourse of mainstreaming Muslims with the efforts of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. In time, this Ashraf leadership became the key interlocutor for Muslim matters in the Congress party at the expense of the developing lower-caste Muslim leadership. By recruiting the guilt-ridden and docile Ashraf politicians, the Congress also arrested the evolution of any futuristic organic and assertive Muslim leadership whatsoever. In independent India, both the First (1955) and Second (1979) Backward Class Commissions, popularly known as the Kaka Kalelkar Commission and Mandal Commission respectively, refrained from treating Muslims as a monolithic, socially backward community and excluded the privileged castes/groups within them. The Mandal Commission Report, by enlisting 82 lower caste Muslim groups as backward, opened the way for broader pan-religion solidarity of oppressed castes. The Pasmanda movement, headed by Ali Anwar, has consistently opposed the demand for a Muslim quota and demanded judicious accommodation of similarly placed pan-religion Backward, Dalit, and Adivasi groups within the extant quota categories without invoking the principle of religion. By the early 1990s, most Muslim lower castes, constituting about 85% of the Indian Muslim population, were already availing of reservations by being enlisted within the central and various state OBC lists. However, Ashraf's interlocutors of the Congress have sought to consistently jeopardise the minimum rights accrued to the Pasmanda sections either by pushing for the demand for the Muslim quota or introducing the principle of religion within the OBC category. The inclusion of the Muslim quota in the Congress manifesto (2004), the move to grant 5% reservations to the entire Muslim community within the Andhra Pradesh state OBC quota (2004), the announcement of a 4.5% sub-quota for backward sections within minorities in the Central OBC quota (2011) and so on are illustrations of this logic. The notion that the condition of Muslims is worse than Dalits, attributed fallaciously to the Sachar Committee Report, is advanced by the Ashraf classes and their Left-liberal allies to promote a caste-blind approach to Muslim backwardness. Prime Minister Modi has recently hit the Congress strongly on its convoluted approach to Muslim quota. However, while the BJP frames this as Muslim appeasement, it is essentially Ashraf appeasement that the Congress is guilty of. While it is not clear what Rahul Gandhis cryptic admission that the Congress has made mistakes in the past means, the party will do well to revisit the career of Muslim backwardness from Hunter to Sachar with a critical lens. While Congress is guilty of invoking religion for unfair inclusions, the BJP, on the other hand, by strongly opposing the inclusion of Muslims and Christians of Dalit origins in the SC quota, is guilty of unfair religion-based exclusions. Transformative anti-caste politics must be imagined beyond the closures of Congress-BJP and the immediacy of electoral politics to create meaningful solidarities of oppressed castes and classes across religions. Khalid Anis Ansari is an assistant professor of Sociology at Azim Premji University. The views expressed are personal On May 19, Irans President Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Abdollahian and two other top provincial officials were killed in a helicopter crash in the mountainous terrain of Irans East Azerbaijan province, bordering Azerbaijan. Raisi was returning after inaugurating, along with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, the jointly constructed dam on the Aras River at the shared border. Raisis visit had marked the thawing of tensions with Baku, which had closed its embassy in Tehran in January 2023 after an armed assault by an Iranian man had left the head of the security service of the embassy dead. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, where the Supreme Leader has the ultimate authority and sets the broad contours of national security and foreign policy, the untimely death of a president does not necessarily constitute a shock to the system. But, in this case, Raisis rise to the presidency had been systematically brought about by current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as part of a smooth generational change in Irans political leadership. Raisi, like Khamenei, hailed from the north-eastern city of Mashhad, a holy city built around the burial place of Imam Reza, the eighth Imam in Twelver Shia Islam. In 2016, Khamenei appointed Raisi as the custodian of Astan Quds Razavi, which manages the Imam Reza Shrine and the wealthiest religious endowment in the country. After Raisi lost the presidential race to moderate Hassan Rouhani in 2017, he was appointed as the judiciary chief in 2019 and also appointed to the executive board of the Assembly of Experts, the 88-member clerical body responsible for electing the Supreme Leader. As chief justice, he carried out a comprehensive anti-corruption campaign in the judiciary, which gained him popularity, while his support for the enforcement of mandatory hijab established his conservative credentials. Raisis victory in the 2021 presidential election was predetermined by the Guardian Council, which disqualified not only reformist hopefuls but also traditional conservatives such as former parliament speaker Ali Larijani and former two-term president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who posed challenges to Raisis candidacy. The qualifying criteria for the position of Supreme Leader is that the candidate must be a cleric with religious scholarship at the rank of Ayatollah and must have political experience in the executive branch. Raisi not only had a theological background, like Khamenei and Khomenei before him, but he was also a sayyid a descendant of the Prophet. If any more signals were needed about Raisis centrality to Supreme Leader succession, in the elections to the Assembly of Experts simultaneously held with parliamentary elections in March this year, Raisi was elected from the South Khorasan province with no challenger; prominent contenders such as former president Hassan Rouhani were disqualified. The Assembly was to meet this week to elect the new chairman, and Raisi, who held the position of first deputy, was widely seen as the frontrunner. In 2019, on the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, Khamenei outlined his vision of ideological revival amid generational change under the slogan of the second phase of the revolution. At a time when many of the leaders and movements that defined Irans politics over the past three decades have faded away from the scene, Raisi, as Khameneis protege, was to lead the next generation of conservatives who will maintain tight control over the Iranian society to prevent any political challenges to the system from below as well as enhance both the military capabilities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards and Irans regional influence as deterrence against external foes. The Raisi governments enforcement of the mandatory hijab in the face of popular challenge in the form of the Women, Life, Freedom protests, and a resurgent axis-of-resistance to take on the United States and Israel in West Asia, had left no doubt that he was the man to carry out Khameneis second phase of revolution. It is for these reasons that Raisis death has derailed the succession planning in Tehran. Given none of the former presidents have been deemed suitable for the position of Supreme Leader, the twin task of finding a new president and a possible leader is fraught with challenges. First, the reformists and moderates have been crowded out of the political system, leaving a much narrower political spectrum in Iran, to the extent that all elections in Iran since the 2020 parliamentary elections have been primarily a competition among the conservative factions. The Supreme Leader will have to manage the infighting and divisions among the traditional conservatives and the younger generation of hardliners who are vying for top positions, whether of parliament speaker or ministerial berths. The second possibility is that the next presidential elections, which have to be held within the next 50 days, are open for wider competition, including those who have been pushed out of the system. Such a change may, on the one hand, have the effect of increasing popular participation in the process while, on the other, could encounter a backlash from the conservative and security brass which wont like to loosen their grip on power. The Islamic Republic, which has survived the last four decades despite numerous internal and external challenges, excels in the survival game. It will find a way or muddle through yet another phase of uncertainty and change. Deepika Saraswat is associate fellow, West Asia Center, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. The views expressed are personal A volcano on the isolated Indonesian island of Halmahera erupted dramatically, shooting a grey ash cloud into the sky. Soon after the eruption, seven neighboring villages were evacuated. Mt. Ibu erupted on Saturday evening, spewing ash 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) high and flashing purple lightning around its crater, according to information and photographs given by Indonesia's volcanology agency. Lightning appears amid a storm as Mount Ibu in Indonesia spews volcanic material during an eruption.(Reuters) A joint team of police, military, and search and rescue authorities was rushed to the region to evacuate residents from adjacent communities. The disaster agency tweeted photos of authorities assisting the elderly, while other people were transported in pick-up trucks and sheltered in emergency tents for the night, reported Reuters. (Also Read: Elon Musk launches Starlink satellite internet service in Indonesia) As the as cloud took to the sky, numerous individuals caught the display on camera and shared it on social media. Take a look at a few videos and pictures of the volcano here: The agency did not provide any information about how many people had been moved, but authorities have recommended that a seven-km (4.35-mile) radius be cleared. Indonesia's volcanology agency raised the alert level of the volcano to the highest level on Thursday, after Ibu erupted multiple times earlier this month. Ibu's activities follow a series of eruptions of different volcanoes in Indonesia, which sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and has 127 active volcanoes. (Also Read: Indonesia expects oil and gas investments to rise 29% to $17 billion in 2024) Flash floods and cold lava flow from Mount Marapi, one of the most active in West Sumatra province, covered several nearby districts following torrential rain on May 11, killing more than 60 people. In recent weeks, North Sulawesi's Ruang volcano has also erupted, spewing incandescent lava. The eruption prompted authorities to evacuate more than 12,000 people on a nearby island. A robbery that has shaken the residents of an apartment complex in Hyderabad shows the workings of the "chudidar gang", much like the "chaddi-baniyan gang". Members of this gang dress up in traditional clothes and cover themselves from head to toe while attempting to rob people so that no one can recognise them. Recently, two people from this gang broke into the home of Venkateshwar Rao, a resident of Hyderabad, living at Akriti Arcade Apartments in JEC Colony, as per reports. Snapshot of the two thieves in the apartment complex. Their entire act of entering the building and walking up and down the stairs was caught by a CCTV in the complex. The clip shows two people dressed in kurtas, with their faces, heads, and hands covered. Each of them also has a bagpack on them. The two carefully make their way down from the stairs and take an exit from the building. (Also Read: Cafe Mysore robbery case: Mastermind dupes other accused saying it was a real raid) Take a look at their act here: According to The New Indian Express, the pair stole 40 gm of gold, 1 lakh in cash and a laptop. The owners of the flat were visiting their native village in Andhra Pradesh when the incident took place. They found the crime upon returning from the village. They filed a complaint with the SR Nagar police, who thoroughly investigated the CCTV footage in order to identify the criminals. According to authorities, this was the first known incident in the area involving offenders masquerading as ladies in chudidars. The cops assume the gang members are male based on their walking manners and footwear. (Also Read: Advertisement on auto helps Delhi cops arrest 3 men who robbed tempo driver) A police officer told the news outlet, "We are trying to determine if there have been similar offences with the same modus operandi in other jurisdictions. The attire and method used by the burglars suggest a level of planning and familiarity with criminal tactics." A post by Elon Musk has created a buzz among X users. The tech billionaire slammed Meta Platform Instagram about their online child safety policies in his post. He also claimed that X has better safety protocols in place to fight child exploitation. Many disagreed with his post, claiming that X is filled with adult materials unsuitable for kids. In his recent X post, Elon Musk took a dig at Instagram on online child safety. (REUTERS) Post your family pics on X! We care & do more to fight child exploitation than any other platform by far, Elon Musk wrote. He then added a meme featuring a scene from the show The Simpsons. The first part of the photo shows two men standing outside an establishment with a text insert that reads, Perhaps theres some nice photos in here. What is interesting is that the sign above the door of the establishment shows the Instagram logo. Take a look at look at Elon Musks post here: The post was shared a few hours ago. Since then, it has accumulated nearly 14 million views - and the numbers are quickly increasing. The share has further prompted several comments from people. What did X users say about Elon Musk's post? Many will be understandably apprehensive about that tbh. Still need to get rid of all the porn bots and spam plaguing X, posted an X user. Nobody should be posting photos of their children on the open internet, added another. The majority of my audience are young teenagers, and every time I post something, there is at least one "nu*** in my bio", reply. Not only that, but people use trending hashtags to post violence and sex so they get more impressions. I mean, cmon, joined a third. I recently went through two years of posts to delete any pictures of my son. I dont love the nu*** in bio under a picture of my toddler, a fourth expressed. No. Photos of my children will never be posted on the internet, wrote a fifth. A few months earlier, the US Senate Judiciary Committee grilled CEOs of prominent social media sites - Meta, X, and TikTok - over their guidelines regarding the dangers that teenagers and children face while using these platforms, reported Al Jazeera. The lawmakers accused the companies of not doing enough to block sexual predators on the platforms and also prevent teen suicides. What are your thoughts on this X post by Elon Musk taking a dig at Meta? On May 18, a catastrophic accident unfolded on the Bengaluru-Tumakuru highway involving a Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus. The bus veered off the highway, plummeting into the road divider near the Madanayakanahalli bridge, a location close to Nelamangala, as per reports. Snapshot of the bus hanging mid-air. (Instagram/@bengaluru__sanchari) According to The Indian Express, eight persons, including the bus conductor and driver, had minor injuries. Although the accident led to a significant traffic jam for approximately an hour, the police swiftly assisted everyone in getting off the bus safely. The police told the New Indian Express that the driver made a right turn on the highway at 11 am, lost control, and struck the divider. The public then swiftly called the police to handle the situation. (Also Read: Haryana bus accident: FIR says 'drunk' driver ignored children's pleas to slow down; 10 points) Now, a video showcasing the scene at the highway was shared on social media. The bone chilling video shows the bus hanging mid-air between the highway and the divider. Watch the video here: Earlier, a bus going on Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway near Haryana's Nuh district caught fire. Nine people were killed in the accident and several others were injured. According to reports, the event happened while the bus was transporting devotees from Mathura, Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, to Chandigarh. There were about sixty individuals on board, all pilgrims from Chandigarh, Ludhiana, and Hoshiarpur, as per the police. The cause of the fire remains unknown. (Also Read: Punjab accident: 17 injured as bus hits tractor-trailer in Abohar) Additionally, the police shared that their team and the assistance of the local community managed to put out the fire in less than an hour. Aftab Ahmed, the Nuh MLA, expressed sorrow over the tragedy and reported that a number of individuals, including women, children, and the elderly, had been hurt. The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in Pune granted bail to a 17-year-old hours after his speeding Porsche hit a bike, killing two people. As per reports, the board asked the minor to work with traffic police for 15 days and write a 300-word essay on road accidents as his bail conditions. This news has sparked anger among people, with many demanding stricter actions. Police have arrested the minor's father in the Pune Porsche accident case. (File Photo) The juvenile, the son of a builder in Pune, was driving a car without a registration number. He reportedly hit the motorcycle with his vehicle at around 2:30 am in the Kalyani Nagar area. Following the incident, a case was registered against the accused under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Police also booked his father and filed a case against the pub for serving alcohol to a minor. Pune police has arrested the father of the accused. In addition, the department has arrested the owners of the restaurants and the staff member who served alcohol to the minor. Heres how X users reacted to the bail conditions: X users' reaction to Pune Porsche accident. (Screengrab) My client was detained in a matter registered at Yerawada police station. The honourable Court was kind enough to grant my client bail on certain conditions. We have complete faith in the investigation and shall continue to cooperate with the police agencies. My client is duty-bound to follow the stringent conditions of the Honourable Court. We shall continue to attend the proceedings and wait for the outcome of the investigation, the minors advocate, Prashant Patil, told HT. How did X users react to the Pune Porsche accident? (Screengrab) In addition to duty with traffic police and writing an essay, JJB also ordered the minor to seek proper treatment from a doctor for quitting alcohol and psychiatric counselling. The victims have been identified as Anis Awadhiya and Ashwini Costa. Both 24, they were engineers and originally from Madhya Pradesh. Reportedly, they were returning home after a party when the horrific incident took place. Hollywood actor Scarlett Johansson recently criticised OpenAI over a ChatGPT voice that she claims is eerily similar to hers. As per reports, she also stated that she was forced to hire legal counsel to get the voice removed from ChatGPT. Following this, the company has taken down the voice called Sky, stating that they did it Out of respect for Ms Johansson. Scarlett Johansson vs OpenAI: The tech company has taken down the ChatGPT voice called Sky. (Reuters, AP) Heres a quick timeline of how things unfolded: 1. What did Scarlett Johansson accuse OpenAI of? In a personal claim, Scarlett Johansson stated that OpenAI initially approached her to use her voice in their project. However, after careful consideration, she declined the offer to voice the chatbot herself. On May 20, the actor accused the tech company of using a voice that was strikingly similar to hers. Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system, Johansson said in a statement, reported the Verge. "Nine months later, my friends, family and the general public all noted how much the newest system named 'Sky' sounded like me," she added. 2. Sam Altman on Scarlett Johanssons claim The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johanssons, and it was never intended to resemble hers. We cast the voice actor behind Skys voice before any outreach to Ms Johansson, OpenAI's CEO Sam said to the Verge in a statement. 3. Scarlett Johanssons legal threat As a result of their actions, I was forced to hire legal counsel, who wrote two letters to Mr Altman and OpenAI, setting out what they had done and asking them to detail the exact process by which they created the Sky voice. Consequently, OpenAl reluctantly agreed to take down the 'Sky voice, Scarlett Johansson said in a statement. Sky has now been replaced with another voice called Juniper. 4. Sam Altman on why OpenAI took down Sky Out of respect for Ms Johansson, we have paused using Skys voice in our products. We are sorry to Ms Johansson that we didnt communicate better, Sam Altman told the Verge. 5. Scarlett Johansson on era of deepfakes and AI In her statement, the actor also said, In a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities, I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity. I look forward to resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected. What's your take on this controversy between Scarlett Johansson and OpenAI? After 30 people were injured and one died during the severe turbulence on a Singapore Airlines flight today, May 21, a 28-year-old student recounted the horror that he and other passengers faced. Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student on board the flight, explained to Reuters what went down with the 211 passengers. A Singapore Airlines flight was going from London to Singapore when it was hit by severe turbulence. "Suddenly the aircraft starts tilting up and there was shaking so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing a seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling," said Azmir. He also added, "Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it; they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it," he said. (Also Read: Singapore Airlines flight dropped 6,000 feet in turbulence horror that left 1 dead, several injured) Andrew Davies, another passenger, also posted about his experience on X and wrote, "I was on that flight and helped as much as I could. Those not injured (including me) are in a holding area at Bangkok airport. My heart goes out to the gentleman who lost his life and his poor wife. Awful experience." Lots of people injured - including the air stewards who were stoic and did everything they could. Bangkok emergency services were quick to respond. Very little warning. The seatbelt sign came on; I put on my seatbelt straightaway, then the plane just dropped." He also shared that those with medical training onboard came forward to help others. The Singapore Airlines aircraft was reportedly traveling at 37,000 feet (11,300 meters). The Boeing 777 plummeted quickly and steeply to 31,000 feet (9,400 meters) in less than three minutes, just after 0800 GMT. The plane descended quickly after spending just under ten minutes at 31,000 feet. (Also Read: Singapore Airlines crew were 'stoic, did everything they could': Passenger on turbulence nightmare at 37,000 feet) Thai trainees attend fruit logistics class in China Xinhua) 17:01, May 20, 2024 HAIKOU, May 20 (Xinhua) -- A training class on fruit logistics has opened for 10 participants from southern Thailand in Haikou, the capital of China's tropical province of Hainan. Starting on Sunday, experts will instruct the cutting-edge knowledge of tropical fruit logistics and processing, as well as the latest technologies and development trends of modern agriculture and smart agriculture. The trainees will also conduct field surveys in Haikou, Wanning, Sanya and other places to learn about the development status and the market potential of China's tropical fruit industry. The event provides valuable experience and inspiration for future work in this field, said Visa Pulsirirat, governor of Chumphon Province, Thailand, who attended the training, adding that it will also consolidate and deepen the friendly relations between the two countries at the local level. The seven-day training class is sponsored by China's Ministry of Commerce and organized by the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences. Li Jihua, vice president of the academy, said the training class is held to deepen the cooperation between China and Thailand in the fields of tropical fruit logistics and processing as well as modern agriculture, and jointly promote the development of the agricultural industry of the two countries. In the past five years, the academy has sent 134 people in 28 delegations to Thailand and received more than 40 people in nine delegations from Thailand for exchanges, according to Li. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) May 20, 2024: China has built its first modern aircraft carrier, the Type 003 Fujian, which began sea trials on May 1st that may last up to a year as the crew learns how to work as a team and operate a new ship. Representatives of the carrier builder are also on board to note and deal with any problems with the major ship components, like the engines, control systems and three Electromagnetic Air Launch Systems (EMALs) catapults on the deck used for launching aircraft. The Fujian is an 80,000 ton carrier powered by non-nuclear maritime power plants. The Carrier Air Group consists of 24 32-ton J-15 fighter bombers, four J-15D EW aircraft and twelve 28-ton J-35 fighter bombers, a more modern aircraft that will eventually replace the J-15. There are also 8 Z-18 and four Z-9 helicopters as well as four KJ-600 AWACS aircraft. Thats 56 aircraft and helicopters. The Fujian Task group includes several destroyers for escorts. The Fujian is the only modern carrier in any way comparable to the 11 American 100,000 ton nuclear powered carriers. Each of these has an air wing consisting of 80-90 aircraft including 40-48 F-18E fighter-bombers or new F-35C aircraft. Over the next decade the F-35C will gradually replace the F-18s. A U.S. fleet carrier air wing includes one EW (Electronic Warfare) squadron with seven EA-18G aircraft, a squadron with four or five E2C or D AWACS (airborne warning and control system) aircraft and a helicopter squadron with eight MH-60S helicopters, a helicopter maritime strike squadron with 12 MH-60R helicopters, half of them stationed on destroyers escorting the carrier, and two supply aircraft, either the older C-2A or the new CMV-22B tilt wing aircraft. The American carrier air wing operates from a 100,000 ton CVN (nuclear powered carrier). U.S. CVNs are part of a carrier task group that also includes destroyer and frigate escorts as well as an amphibious assault ship with a flight deck for helicopters to transport the battalion of marines on board to shore. Alternatively the amphibious assault ship can also just carry 20 F-35B vertical takeoff fighters. This gives the carrier task group a hundred or more aircraft, half of them F-35C or B fighters. The task group also has an SSN operating under water and used for scouting or combat if the Task Group goes to war. Most of the American CVNs are stationed in the Pacific because of the growing Chinese fleet, including the Fujian and ultimately many more Chinese carriers. China has already begun construction of the nuclear powered Type 004 carrier that will apparently weigh at least 100,000 tons and carry up to 100 aircraft. The first 004 will be completed by the end of the decade and, if successful, China plans to build three more. Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal recently opened up about what his father said when he first came up with the idea to launch his startup nearly two decades ago. He shared this memory while attending Vishesh Sampark, an event hosted by Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology. The event, Vishesh Sampark, where Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal shared about his interaction with his father, occurred on May 20. (Screengrab) A video capturing Goyals speech has rapidly gained traction on social media. In the video, he not only reflects on his fathers remarks but also provides an overview of the evolving startup landscape in India. I started Zomato 16 years ago in 2008. And, my dad at that time told me Janta hai tera baap kaun hai? And, his point was, You cant do a startup. Right.. And I come from a small town in Punjab thats the background, Deepinder Goyal says. He then adds how the perception around startups has changed in the last few years. Also, he shared his opinion on how the government has helped bring that change. Take a look at Deepinder Goyals speech here: Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri hosted the event at his residence on May 20. It was attended by innovators, intellectuals, startup leaders, and IT professionals from across the country. They gathered to discuss the country's digital transformation and future potential under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In addition to Deepinder Goyal, the event was attended by the founder of Urban Company Abhiraj Singh Bhal, the Managing Director of Peak XV Partners Rajan Anandan, the chairman of the Indian Cellular Association Pankaj Mohindroo, YouTuber Gaurav Chaudhary (Technical Guruji), the CEO of Map My India Rohan Verma, Varun Alagh, the co-founder of Honasa Consumer, and several others. Deepinder Goyal was born in 1983 in Punjabs Muktsar. His parents are both teachers. In an interview, Goyal once said that he was an average student in class, and his father even once had to request his teacher to let him graduate from Class 5. However, when in Class 8, with the help of a teacher, he turned his life around. When the exam results were declared, I was in the top three of my class, he told YourStory, adding this incident was the turning point in his life. Earlier this year, he married former model Grecia Munoz. He also appeared as a judge in the third season of the popular reality show Shark Tank India. (With inputs from ANI) One person died and several sustained injuries after a Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore encountered severe turbulence due to bad weather conditions. Singapore Airlines confirmed in a Facebook post that its flight SQ321 was en route from Heathrow Airport to Singapore when it experienced severe turbulence, forcing an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport at 3:45pm local time. Singapore Airlines said a person has died aboard and others were injured when a London-Singapore flight encountered severe turbulence.(AFP / File) We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER. There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board, the airline said. Read: Singapore Air Slumps as Cost Pressures Cloud Robust Ticket Sales Thai immigration police said that medical personnel have boarded the plane to assess injuries, but cannot confirm the number and some uninjured passengers were deplaned. The name of the deceased passenger has not been released. Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft. We are working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance, and sending a team to Bangkok to provide any additional assistance needed, Singapore Airlines added. The airlines later informed that 18 individuals were hospitalised and another 12 were being treated in hospitals. The remaining passengers and crew are being examined and given treatment, where necessary, at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, it said. Read: Singapore Airlines add more flights to and from Indian cities Upon landing, emergency crews from Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital were on site to assist and transfer injured passengers for medical treatment. Videos posted on the LINE messaging platform by Suvarnabhumi Airport showed a line of ambulances streaming to the scene, according to The Associated Press. Tracking data captured by FlightRadar24 and analysed by AP showed the Singapore Airlines flight cruising at an altitude of 37,000 feet. Just after 0800 GMT, the plane suddenly and sharply pitched down to 31,000 feet over the span of some three minutes. The aircraft remained at 31,000 feet for just under 10 minutes before rapidly descending and landing in Bangkok in just under half an hour. This incident marks the first fatality for Singapore Airlines since October 2000, when a plane crashed on a closed runway during takeoff in Taiwan, resulting in the deaths of 83 people. According to the Aviation Safety Network, Singapore Airlines has experienced a total of seven accidents to date. With inputs from agencies NEW DELHI: Chinese authorities have used extreme forms of pressure to relocate 500 villages in the Tibet Autonomous Region with more than 140,000 residents since 2016, amounting to a widespread violation of international law, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Tuesday. Soldiers dressed as ushers stand watch against a door during a deliberation on the government work report by Tibet delegations, on the sideline of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 6. (AP) The human rights advocacy organisation cited official statistics gleaned from more than 1,000 reports in Chinas state-run media, which suggested authorities have relocated more than 930,000 rural Tibetans between 2000 and 2025. Most of these relocations more than 709,000 people, or 76% of the relocations occurred since 2016, its report said. The 70-page report, titled Educate the Masses to Change Their Minds: Chinas Coercive Relocation of rural Tibetans, said Chinese officials misleadingly claim that relocation will lead to improved employment and higher incomes and protect the ecological environment. In both whole-village and individual-household relocations, Chinese law requires those who have been relocated to demolish their former homes to deter them from returning, it said. Among the 709,000 people relocated, 140,000 were moved as part of whole village relocation drives and 567,000 as part of individual household relocations. Entire villages were moved to locations hundreds of kilometres away and the relocation of rural villagers and herders has been dramatically accelerated since 2016. Chinese authorities have been accused by rights groups and the Central Tibetan Administration, or the government in exile based in Indias Dharamshala, of a range of repressive measures, including forcible separation of children from parents and admission into boarding schools, widespread surveillance and monitoring, and transnational harassment of Tibetan activists. HRW contended that the whole-village relocation programmes in Tibet amount to forced eviction that violates international law. The government prevents relocated people from returning to their former homes by requiring the demolition of these houses within a year of relocating. Between 2000 and 2025, a total of 3.36 million rural Tibetans were affected by programmes requiring them to rebuild homes and adopt a sedentary way of life if they were nomads, without necessarily being relocated, the report said. The Chinese government says the relocation of Tibetan villages is voluntary, but official media reports contradict this claim, said Maya Wang, HRWs acting China director. The report makes it clear that when a village is targeted for relocation, it is impossible for residents to refuse to move without facing serious repercussions. The report drew on more than 1,000 articles in Chinas state-run media published between 2016 and 2023. The proliferation of digital news media within China has led to an increase in news reports in recent years, particularly from counties and townships, HRW said. Though these reports follow strict propaganda guidelines and contain only information praising or endorsing policies of the Chinese Communist Party, they make it possible to follow the aims and practices of local officials in charge of relocation programmes. The report recommended the Chinese government should stop relocation in Tibet until an independent, expert review of policies and practices determines their compliance with Chinese laws and international law on forced evictions. Chinese authorities should ensure all relocations are in line with international human rights standards, including exploring all feasible alternatives before eviction, paying compensation and providing legal remedies to those affected. Authorities should stop coercing or improperly pressuring people to consent to government plans for relocation and should end all quotas, deadlines or targets for officials to persuade people to relocate, the report said. Chinese government policy states every household has to consent to relocation but HRW found multiple references to initial reluctance among Tibetans whose villages were scheduled for relocation. In one case, 200 of 262 households in a village in Nagchu municipality initially didnt want to relocate to a site nearly 1,000 km away. Officials make intrusive home visits to gain consent or tell residents that essential services will be cut if they do not move. They openly threaten villagers who voiced disagreements about the relocations, accusing them of spreading rumours and ordering officials to crack down on such actions swiftly and resolutely, implying administrative and criminal penalties, the report said. Together with Chinese programmes to assimilate Tibetan schooling, culture and religion into those of the Chinese nation, the relocation of rural communities erode or cause major damage to Tibetan culture and ways of life, the report added. The Apprentice, an explosive new biopic on former US President Donald Trump, made its debut in the Cannes Film Festival on Monday, just as he is gearing up to run for the White House again. However, the controversial biopic already prompted a lawsuit threat from Trump's team for sensationalized lies over certain scenes. Former US President Donald Trump (AFP)(AFP) "The Apprentice" traces Trump's origin story as an ambitious young property developer in 1970s and 1980s New York. However, the movie opens with a disclaimer that many of its events are fictionalised. Marvel fame Sebastian Stan stars as a young Donald Trump while Jeremy Strong of "Succession" fame plays his ruthless mentor and attorney Roy Cohn. In one of the more shocking scenes of the movie, Donald Trump is seen raping his first wife Ivana. During divorce proceedings, Ivana once accused Donald Trump of raping her, though she later rescinded the allegation. She died in 2022. Another scene from the movie that drew audible gasps from the Cannes audience was the scene with Donald Trump in a surgery room getting liposuction. The Apprentice director Ali Abbasi presented an almost sympathetic image of Donald Trump, a headstrong but naive social climber who saw his decency being eroded as he delves deeper into the world of politics and power. The movie appears to have already infuriated Trump's team. His campaign communications director Steven Cheung said a lawsuit would be filed "to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers". Cheung told AFP, This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalises lies that have been long debunked. The biopic received rave reviews. The Times of London even argued that it would "make you feel sympathy for Trump," while Variety said it was "sharp and scathing, but it avoids cheap shots." The movie made hit the screens at the French film festival on the backdrop of Donald Trump currently being on trial in Manhattan surrounding a hush money scandal, involving porn star Stormi Daniels. (With inputs from AFP) Israeli forces battled Hamas in Gaza on Tuesday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu angrily dismissed a bid for an international arrest warrant against him on charges of war crimes in the Palestinian territory. Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on Jabalia as seen from Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip on May 19, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant Hamas group. (AFP) US President Joe Biden backed Netanyahu in condemning as "outrageous" the bid by the International Criminal Court's prosecutor who also sought warrants against leaders of Palestinian militant group Hamas. Israel's military reported ground combat and air strikes on 70 targets in Gaza in 24 hours, while its forces were also engaged in deadly clashes in the other major Palestinian territory, the occupied West Bank. At least seven Palestinians were killed in the northern city of Jenin, the Ramallah-based health ministry said, as the army said it was "fighting armed men" in a "counterterrorism operation". Palestinian official news agency Wafa said a hospital surgeon, a school teacher and a student were among those killed in Jenin, a stronghold of Palestinian militant groups. The Gaza war started after Hamas's October 7 attack which sparked an Israeli retaliation that has brought a spiralling civilian death toll and levelled vast swathes of Gaza. "We are running out of words to describe what is happening in Gaza," Edem Wosornu of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told a Security Council meeting on Monday. "We have described it as a catastrophe, a nightmare, as hell on earth. It is all of these, and worse," she said of conditions in the besieged territory of 2.4 million people. Wosornu said "1.1 million people face catastrophic levels of hunger and Gaza remains on the brink of famine" while three quarters of its people had been forcibly displaced, some up to five times. Israel backtracks on broadcast ban Israel on Tuesday shut down the Associated Press's live video feed from war-torn Gaza and confiscated its equipment, before reversing the move hours later after the White House intervened. The AP said Israel had accused the US news agency of violating its ban on Al Jazeera, which was ordered shut two weeks ago based on a new Israeli law governing foreign broadcasters. Israel's Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi later announced he had issued an order to cancel the ban and return the equipment. Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Hamas also took 252 hostages, 124 of whom remain in Gaza including 37 the army says are dead. Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 35,647 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. Fighting has been raging around the far southern city of Rafah, the last area to face a ground invasion -- but fierce combat has also been reported again in the northern Jabalia area where Hamas forces have regrouped. Israel said Tuesday its forces had "eliminated several militants" in both areas. The World Health Organization said northern Gaza's last two functioning hospitals, Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan, were besieged by Israeli forces, with a total of over 200 patients trapped inside both. Israel launched its ground assault on parts of Rafah early this month, defying international opposition including from top ally the United States, which feared for the more than one million civilians trapped there. Israel has launched mass evacuations from Rafah where it has vowed to destroy Hamas and its tunnel system and rescue remaining hostages. The UN says more than 800,000 people have fled Rafah, and Wosornu confirmed that "the once over-crowded camps and emergency shelters in Rafah have now largely emptied". She said most of the displaced had fled to Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balah in camps where "they lack adequate latrines, water points, drainage and shelter". The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, on Tuesday said aid distribution had been suspended in Rafah "due to lack of supplies and insecurity". No impunity The bloody carnage of the Gaza war and the October 7 attack led the ICC's prosecutor Karim Khan to announce on Monday that he had applied for the arrest warrants against leaders on both sides. "International law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all," Khan said. "No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader -- no one -- can act with impunity." The request targeted Israel's Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant as well as Hamas's Qatar-based Ismail Haniyeh and Gaza-based Mohammed Deif and Yahya Sinwar. Netanyahu said he rejected "with disgust... the comparison between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas", and Biden also stressed that "there is no equivalence -- none -- between Israel and Hamas". Hamas also said on Monday it "strongly condemns" the move. Gallant on Tuesday said Khan's "parallel... between the Hamas terrorist organisation and the State of Israel is despicable". US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meanwhile said a Gaza ceasefire deal was still possible but that the ICC bid was impeding efforts. US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have for months sought to broker a ceasefire and hostage release deal to no avail. The warrants, if granted by the ICC judges, would mean that any of the 124 ICC member states would technically be obliged to arrest Netanyahu and the others if they travelled there. However the court has no mechanism to enforce its orders. The trial of nine accused smugglers opens on Tuesday, nearly a year after a derelict migrant trawler with hundreds on board sank off the coast of Greece in one of Europe's deadliest shipwrecks. Greek trial of one of Med's worst migrant tragedies opens Nine Egyptian men who were among the 104 survivors will appear before a court in Kalamata, southwestern Greece, to answer charges including negligent homicide, participation in a criminal organisation and facilitating illegal entry into the country. The men, aged 21 to 37 years old, have denied responsibility. Their lawyers say they are being scapegoated to obscure the responsibilities of the Greek coastguard, which failed to mount an effective rescue. The suspects, who have spent the past 11 months in pre-trial detention, face life imprisonment if convicted. As the sinking occurred in international waters, 47 nautical miles off the coast of Pylos, lawyers for the defendants say a Greek court is not competent to hear the case. The defence team also claims major procedural violations were committed in the investigation that led to the trial. They say their clients were arrested barely 24 hours after surviving the sinking, and on the basis of just nine testimonies, some of it collected without adequate translation. "Our clients were still in shock from what they had experienced. Other were on oxygen therapy. And all of a sudden, they were arrested without understanding why," Effie Doussi, a member of the defence legal team, told reporters last week. Some survivors subsequently claimed to have come under pressure from Greek police to "designate" suspects, based on blurry photographs, she added. The sinking of the rusty and overloaded trawler Adriana on the night of June 13 to 14, 2023 off the coast of Greece, has left many unanswered questions as to whether the tragedy could have been averted. The boat had set sail from Libya and was heading for Italy. Only 82 bodies were found while according to the UN, more than 750 people were on board, including Syrians, Palestinians and nearly 350 Pakistanis, according to the Pakistani government. Ahead of the trial, Human Rights Watch has noted that a parallel investigation into the Greek authorities' actions is still at a preliminary stage meaning the court will have incomplete information in assessing the culpability of the defendants. "There's a real risk that these nine survivors could be found 'guilty' on the basis of incomplete and questionable evidence," Judith Sunderland, HRW associate Europe and Central Asia director said in a statement. "Credible and meaningful accountability for one of the worst shipwrecks in the Mediterranean needs to include a determination of any liabilities of Greek authorities," she added. Several migrant support groups and media outlets have said that the Greek coastguard was slow to intervene and then gave only a trickle of information on the circumstances of the tragedy. The NGO Alarm Phone and the EU's border agency Frontex had both reported the trawler's presence to Greek authorities while it was in the Greek search and rescue zone. The coastguard had insisted that it communicated with persons on board who "refused any help". "You cannot divert a boat with so many people on board by force unless there is cooperation," coastguard spokesman Nikolaos Alexiou had said at the time. In contrast, survivors said the coastguard had wanted to tow the overloaded trawler. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, whose country is accused by rights groups of practising illegal pushbacks at its border with Turkey, later dismissed claims against the port authorities as "very unfair". An investigation by a naval court into the possible responsibilities of the coastguards is underway. But requests for access to the file have all been refused, the defence lawyers said. In September, around fifty survivors filed a group lawsuit against the coastguard. For migrant rights proponents, the trial is part of a longstanding practice of criminalising asylum seekers. According to the NGO Borderline Europe, Greek prisons hold around 2,000 migrants accused of being smugglers, constituting the second largest group in Greece's prison population. mr/yap/jph/rox This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Meghan Markle's ascending to the White House has been a topic of fervent discussion following her and Prince Harrys recent visit to Nigeria, has amplified speculations about Meghans political aspirations, with some experts suggesting she could be a serious contender for the White House. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are in Nigeria to champion the Invictus Games, which he founded to aid the rehabilitation of wounded and sick servicemembers and veterans. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)(AP) Erika Alexander, Meghans former co-star on the television series Suits, recently endorsed her potential candidacy, stating confidently that Meghan is heading to the White House and could very well be on her way to becoming the next POTUS. Meghan has been counselled to take cues from Donald Trump, known for his business empire and television persona rather than a political background, managed to capture the highest office in the land. So it wouldn't surprise you if, in the future, you come across the slogan Make America Great with Meghan. ALSO READ| Prince Harry and Meghan enjoy wine-filled double date with A-list couple to celebrate 6th anniversary Meghan's path to White House is sealed: Expert Professor Christopher Phelps, a historian and expert in US politics, told Daily Mail Online, It would be a great story. The British prince who loved her so much he gave up his British citizenship to become an American. There would be no requirement for him to do it - but he would have to if she wanted to have any credibility. The former royal couples recent trip to Nigeria has been hailed as a triumph, with some political insiders from California suggesting that Meghan might queue jump her way to the White House. One source told Mirror UK, She [Meghan] has her eyes on the prize. The buy-your-success thing is more suited as a Republican play. Meghan has political ambitions but like most celebrities or business people, they are not ready to put in the graft to get there. Maybe Oprah Winfrey could pull it off. But she's put in the hard yards in other ways. Meghan hasn't done anything, a second insider critiqued. Meghan needs more than a name recognition for a presidential run Professor Phelps also drew parallels between Meghan and Ronald Reagan, who navigated his way to becoming the Governor of California and later the 40th president of the United States. ALSO READ| Prince Harry a spare in his own marriage, is very frightened of Meghan Markle, royal expert claims Arnold Schwarzeneggers political career followed a similar trajectory, moving from Hollywood to the governorship of California. Phelps acknowledged that her name will open doors but also cautioned that name recognition alone is insufficient. You cant just say You all know who I am - vote for me, he advised. "She will need to have some substance on policy. Americans want to know how she would protect their jobs, where she stand of tax and to tackle crime in their neighbourhoods," he added. Israel and Hamas, engaged in heavy fighting in the Gaza Strip, both angrily rejected on Monday moves to arrest their leaders for war crimes made before an international court. Israel on May 20 slammed as a "historical disgrace" an application by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for an arrest warrant for Netanyahu.(AFP) The International Criminal Court's prosecutor Karim Khan said he had applied for arrest warrants for top Israeli and Hamas leaders over the conflict. Israel slammed as a "historical disgrace" the demand targeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, while the Palestinian militant group Hamas said it "strongly condemns" the move. Israel's top ally the United States joined the condemnation, while France said it supported the court's independence and its "fight against impunity". Netanyahu said he rejected "with disgust The Hague prosecutor's comparison between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas". Khan said in a statement that he was seeking warrants against the Israeli leaders for crimes including "wilful killing", "extermination and/or murder", and "starvation". He said Israel had committed "crimes against humanity" during the war, started by Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack, as part "of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population". Khan also said the leaders of Hamas, including Qatar-based Ismail Haniyeh and Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, "bear criminal responsibility" for actions committed during the October 7 attack. These included "taking hostages", "rape and other acts of sexual violence", and "torture", he said. "International law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all," Khan said. "No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader -- no one -- can act with impunity." The warrants, if granted by the ICC judges, would mean that any of the 124 ICC member states would technically be obliged to arrest Netanyahu and the others if they travelled there, a point noted by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. However, the court has no mechanism to enforce its warrants. US President Joe Biden denounced the ICC bid as "outrageous" and said "there is no equivalence -- none -- between Israel and Hamas". Germany agreed, with a foreign ministry spokesman saying the warrants gave "a false impression of equivalence". Biden also rejected accusations in a separate tribunal, the UN International Court of Justice, where South Africa has alleged that Israel's war in Gaza is genocidal. "What's happening is not genocide," Biden told a Jewish American Heritage Month event at the White House on Monday. South Africa welcomed the move at the ICC. Where will we go? The war ground on unabated, with Israeli forces battling Hamas in Gaza's far-southern city of Rafah, as well as in other flashpoints in central and northern areas. Israel defied international opposition almost two weeks ago when it sent troops into Rafah, which is crowded with civilians and which the military has described as the last Hamas stronghold. Netanyahu has vowed to keep fighting Hamas in Gaza until the Iran-backed Islamist group is defeated and all remaining hostages are released. The United Nations said more than 812,000 Palestinians had fled Rafah, near the Egyptian border. "The question that haunts us is: where will we go?" said Sarhan Abu al-Saeed, 46, a desperate Palestinian resident. "Certain death is chasing us from all directions." Witnesses told AFP that Israeli naval forces had also struck Rafah, and medics reported an air strike on a residential building in the city's west. The military said Israeli troops were "conducting targeted raids on terrorist infrastructure" in eastern Rafah, where they had found "dozens of tunnel shafts" and "eliminated over 130 terrorists". 'On verge of collapse' The war broke out after Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Hamas also took about 250 hostages during the attack, of whom 124 remain in Gaza including 37 the army says are dead. Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 35,562 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The Israeli military said on Monday the bodies of four hostages retrieved from Gaza last week had been found in tunnels under Jabalia in the north. Israeli forces have been fighting in northern and central areas previously declared largely cleared of militants, with the military saying its troops had killed 200 militants in Jabalia. Israel has imposed a siege on the long-blockaded Gaza Strip, depriving its 2.4 million people of normal access to clean water, food, medicines and fuel. The suffering has been eased only by sporadic aid shipments by land, air and sea, but truck arrivals have slowed to a trickle amid the Rafah operation. The European Union warned that 31 of Gaza's 36 hospitals are no longer functioning and that the rest are "on the verge of collapse, with more than 9,000 severely injured people at risk of dying". Air strikes continued across Gaza, including on Gaza City in the north, the military said. Gaza's civil defence said the bodies of eight dead, along with several wounded, were retrieved after an air strike on the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met Netanyahu on Sunday and told him Israel must link the military operation against Hamas with a "political strategy" for Gaza's future. Washington has pushed for a post-war plan for Gaza involving Palestinians and supported by regional powers, as well as for a broader diplomatic deal under which Israel and Saudi Arabia would normalise relations. A Japanese town mounted a large mesh barrier at a popular viewing spot for Mount Fuji on Tuesday, in an attempt to deter photo-taking by an ever-growing number of tourists. TOPSHOT - A person takes pictures of Mount Fuji from across the street of a convenience store, hours before the installation of a barrier to block the sight of Japan's Mount Fuji to deter badly behaved tourists, in the town of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi prefecture on May 21, 2024. The plan to erect a large mesh barrier across the road from an Instagram-famous view of Mount Fuji made headlines last month when it was announced by officials fed up with what locals said were unending streams of mostly foreign visitors littering, trespassing and breaking traffic rules. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)(AFP) Japan's most famous sight can be seen for miles around, but Fujikawaguchiko locals are fed up with streams of mostly foreign visitors littering, trespassing and breaking traffic rules in their hunt for a photo to share on social media. Parking illegally and ignoring a smoking ban, they would cram a pavement to shoot the snow-capped mountain, which soars photogenically into the sky from behind a convenience store, residents said. Workers began putting the black netting measuring 2.5 by 20 metres (eight by 65 feet) in place on Tuesday, and by late morning they were already done, an AFP reporter at the scene said. "I hope that the net will prevent dangerous activities," resident Michie Motomochi, 41, who runs a traditional Japanese sweet shop, told AFP. "I think it's disappointing that they are putting it up. It's obviously an iconic shot," said Christina Roys, 36, a tourist from New Zealand. "But it's completely understandable. We were here last night, managing to get the last shot before they were putting up the wall, and there were so many people," she said. "It's quite dangerous because of the traffic coming through. There are other spots where you can get the shot of the mountain." - Online bookings - Record numbers of overseas tourists are coming to Japan, where monthly visitors exceeded three million for the first time in March and then again in April. But as in other tourist hotspots, such as Venice -- which recently launched a trial of entry fees for day visitors -- the influx has not been universally welcomed. In Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto, locals have complained of tourists harassing the city's famed geisha. And hikers using the most popular route to climb Mount Fuji this summer will be charged 2,000 yen ($13) each, with entries capped at 4,000 to ease congestion. A new online booking system for the mountain's Yoshida trail opened on Monday to guarantee hikers entry through a new gate, although 1,000 places a day will be kept for day-of entries. Mount Fuji is covered in snow most of the year, but during the July-September hiking season, more than 220,000 visitors trudge up its steep, rocky slopes. Many climb through the night to see the sunrise, and some attempt to reach the 3,776-metre (12,388-foot) summit without breaks, becoming sick or injured as a result. Regional officials have raised safety and environmental concerns linked to overcrowding on the active volcano, a symbol of Japan and a once-peaceful pilgrimage site. Residents near other popular photo spots in the region, including the so-called Fuji Dream Bridge, have also reportedly complained about overtourism in recent weeks. One tour operator that offers day trips from Tokyo to the Mount Fuji area told AFP they are taking visitors to another Lawson store nearby where a similar view can be seen, but there are fewer nearby residents. bur-kaf-stu/cwl Kate Middleton has been back alongside Prince William for the first time since she revealed earlier this year her cancer diagnosis. Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton was just so stunning on her India tour and she still is on her two-day visit to Thimphu, Bhutan. (REUTERS) The Princess of Wales, 41, did so in a jointly shared post with the Prince of Wales to illustrate the mental health problems affecting young farmers. The royal couple took to X (formerly Twitter) through the Kensington Royal account to share their project, stating: This #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek weve brought together the inspirational Sam Stables from We Are Farming Minds and the brilliant Farmer Will for a very special film. Spending a day together on Sams farm in Hereford they chatted about mental health in the farming community, finding support and the Duchy of Cornwalls Mental Health Strategy. Although the Princess does not appear in the video, which is available on YouTube, her involvement in its production alongside Prince William is evident. The inception of this project predates her illness, showcasing her long-standing commitment to mental health advocacy. ALSO READ| Prince George breaches strict royal dress code to meet heads of state: That was a slap in the face The public last heard from the Princess in a moving video where she requested privacy as she began preventative chemotherapy. This announcement in March followed speculation regarding her absence after she underwent planned abdominal surgery in January. Initially not thought to be cancerous, a subsequent diagnosis confirmed the presence of the disease. Kate has spoken about the delicate process of discussing her health with her children, George, Charlotte, and Louis. King Charles also resumed his public engagements King Charles III, 75, also battling cancer, has resumed his royal engagements. The monarch has been actively fulfilling his duties, recently completing five engagements within two days. His schedule was so full that it prevented him from meeting Prince Harry during his short visit to the UK. Yet, Kate would not be a part of public events in the nearest future for instance, she is not expected to attend Chester Cathedral ceremony at the wedding of Duke of Westminster and Olivia Henson scheduled for June 7th. ALSO READ| Pope Francis' medical team reportedly flew to London for Kate Middleton's abdominal surgery Prince William will be there for the grand occasion in his capacity as an usher, according to Kensington Palaces report. Among the list of guests are British billionaire Hugh Grosvenor, who is a close friend of Princes William and Harry, and godfather to Prince Archie. Prince Harry, amidst the royal rift, has opted out of the wedding of the governor. May 21, 2024: France recently revealed its first locally made combat UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) equipped with explosives to damage or destroy a target the UAV is flown into. Called the Veloce 330 combat UAV, it is jet propelled with a maximum speed of 400 kilometers an hour and can take off and land vertically. Veloce 330 can remain airborne for 60 minutes and attack targets, usually armored vehicles, within fifty kilometers of the operator. A two or three kg explosive warhead is carried for these attacks. When used just for surveillance the range is 80 kilometers and airtime is about three hours. The sensors enable detection of a moving vehicle up to 15 kilometers in the day and three kilometers at night. The navigation system is resistant to most forms of jamming. Veloce 330 is expensive for a UAV, costing over $200,000 each. It is unclear if or when Veloce 330 will enter service or be sent to Ukraine. There are already a lot of Ukrainian and Russian UAVs operating in Ukraine. During 2023 Ukraine used over 200,000 UAVs and in 2024 seeks to produce over a million UAVs locally. Average cost for each UAV is $2,500, with some UAV types costing less than $1,000 while a smaller number cost over $10,000 each. The majority of these UAVs are basically loitering munitions that are sent out to areas where surveillance UAVs have spotted a lot of targets, usually enemy troops, and vehicles. These UAVs have video cameras and a link to operators who view the video on a tablet or via goggles containing small video screens while the operators have a form of handheld game controller to maneuver the UAV and select a target for the UAV to collide with and explode. Russia is seeking to match or exceed Ukrainian production. While many of these UAVs have been used in a variety of effective ways, loitering munitions have one tremendous advantage over earlier forms of firepower. Compared to bullets or artillery shells, a single loitering munition is much more likely to hit a target. In wartime it takes hundreds of artillery shells to cause one casualty. For rifle and machine-gun bullets, the number of bullets fired per casualty caused can be up to 100,000. Loitering munitions are much more effective because the operator scans the terrain below looking for a target. When one is found, the loitering munition attacks and almost always kills or wounds at least one soldier. Loitering munitions can be lost to enemy action. While small targets for riflemen or machine-gunners on the ground, they can be hit by ground fire. A more effective, and increasingly common way to defeat loitering munitions is EW, Electronic Warfare, specifically electronic jamming of the munitions control signals. As is common in combat, a jammer is not always available when you need it. Some UAVs are built to head for the last identified target if the control signal is jammed or lost. In some ways, loitering munitions are not as useful as artillery or bullets. Many artillery shells and bullets are not fired at a specific target or with the intent of causing casualties. This is what happens with suppressive fire, artillery or rifle fire directed at an area to discourage the enemy from entering or moving into position to fire at your troops. You can consider a loitering munition overhead as a form of suppressive fire on the troops below. In that respect a loitering munitions does what snipers have been doing for over a century, forcing troops to stay out of sight or the known sniper will get you. This was common during World War I when trench warfare made snipers useful for keeping enemy troops from observing the terrain between the trenches of opponents. In the 21st century more troops had access to affordable and very effective scopes for their rifles or even machine-guns. The American marines officially recognized this as a combat specialty and designated most snipers as scout-snipers' because their more useful skills involved observing as well as accurate shooting. In armies with a lot of well-trained troops, about ten percent are designated and equipped to be snipers or sharpshooters. The latter is a soldier with a talent for accurate shooting but is not trained and equipped as a sniper. Professional soldiers in general are more likely to use individual, well aimed shots versus automatic fire, also known as spray and pray that you hit something. You can see how this works in Ukraine, where the Ukrainian troops are better trained in the accurate use of rifle fire. It was Ukrainian troops who frequently used commercial quadcopters equipped with grenade or small bomb carry and release mechanisms. The Ukrainian soldiers often bought commercial UAVs for this and spent hours at a time sending out their quadcopter to search for targets. The quadcopter would have to frequently land to recharge. That demonstrates another 21st century development, the proliferation of electronic devices an infantryman can and often will take with him into combat. NATO nations learned from these Ukrainian experiences and have sent Ukraine what the Ukrainians say they need. For example, a month after the Russians invaded, the United States agreed to send Ukraine a large quantity of weapons, many of them specifically requested. One of these was called Phoenix Ghost, a system that was rapidly developed and built in the United States for the U.S. Air Force from specifications supplied by Ukraine. The air force revealed that the Phoenix Ghost was a project already in development before the Russians invaded. Ukrainians had already developed and built some innovative new weapons or modifications for existing ones the Americans were working on. The air force does not develop ground-based loitering munitions but does develop ones carried by aircraft. The Ukrainians made some suggestions which were included in the existing air force design and that resulted in the Phoenix Ghost, which went into production immediately. In other words, Phoenix Ghost is a custom made to user specifications UAV developed and manufactured in record time. The primary new feature of this loitering munition was its longer, six hour, flight endurance. The U.S. sent Ukraine over 1,200 of these loitering munitions in the first year of the war. For a long time, all the public knew about Phoenix Ghost was that it was similar to the American Switchblade loitering munition that was also being sent to Ukraine. The input from Ukrainian engineers was essential because many of the most effective Soviet-era weapons engineers were Ukrainian. That meant Ukraine had a tradition of pragmatic and innovative weapons development that was mobilized after the 2014 Russian seizure of Crimea and part of Donbas. The capabilities of the Ukrainian engineers were not exactly a state secret, but just not newsworthy. Foreigners familiar with weapons development knew about the Ukrainian skills and those who visited Ukraine for whatever reason, like American and other NATO military advisors, got a closer look at what those Ukrainian engineers could do. Those skills became even more important after the invasion began and suddenly engineers and scientists in other fields began applying their skills to rapidly develop new weapons and equipment to protect Ukraine from the Russians. After the invasion began the capabilities of the Ukrainian engineers became part of the reporting on how the Ukrainians stopped and turned back the Russian attack. That enabled the Ukrainian proposal for Phoenix Ghost to be taken seriously and rapidly implemented. The Ukrainian specified COTS (Commercial Off the Shelf), components and kept in touch via the high-speed Internet links provided by Starlink. The rumors of Phoenix Ghost indicate it is an improvement over Switchblade and mainly meant to be a more effective loitering munition. The Russians eventually experienced what Ghost could do by examining the damage and reports from their troops. Aevex Aerospace, the firm that developed and built Phoenix Ghost is itself a recent development, founded in 2017 and specializing in projects very similar to the Phoenix Ghost. Another American firm, AeroVironment, developed the Switchblade loitering munition and similar systems. Aevex is similar to AeroVironment, which has been around since 1971 and created many innovative commercial and military UAV designs. Switchblade is little-known to the general public but extremely popular with American troops fighting in small units, especially in remote areas. Switchblade was first revealed in 2005 and the Ukrainians are receiving at least a hundred of the Switchblade 300 plus some of the larger Switchblade 600s, which appears to be closer in weight-class and performance as Phoenix Ghost. Switchblade 300 is a small UAV launched from its storage container. Switchblade was sent to Afghanistan in 2009 for secret field testing. This was very successful and the troops demanded more, and more, and more. Switchblade completed development later in 2009 and was initially thought useful only for special operations troops. In 2011, after a year of successful field testing, the army ordered over a hundred Switchblades for troop use and since then has ordered a lot more. While Switchblade was developed for the army, the marines apparently noted the success that soldiers and SOCOM (Special Operations Command) had with this system and ordered them as well. Switchblade was very popular with troops in Afghanistan and with SOCOM in all sorts of places they wont discuss it in detail. Switchblade is still used and thousands have been ordered and many of them used. There have been several upgrades. The original 2009 Switchblade was a lightweight and expendable, used only once, UAV that could also be equipped with explosives. The Switchblade is launched from its shipping and storage tube, at which point wings flip out, a battery-powered propeller starts spinning and a vidcam begins broadcasting images to the controller. The Switchblade is operated using the same controller as the larger two kg Raven UAV. A complete Switchblade system with a missile, container, and controller weighed 5.5 kg. Moving up to a kilometer a minute, the original Switchblade can stay in the air for 20-40 minutes, depending on whether or not it was armed with explosives. Switchblade can operate up to ten kilometers from the operator. The armed version can be flown to a target and detonated, having about the same explosive effect as a hand grenade. Thus, Switchblade enables ground troops to get at an enemy taking cover in a hard to see location. Technically a guided missile, the use of Switchblade as a reconnaissance tool encouraged developers to refer to it as a UAV. But because of the warhead option, and its slow speed, Switchblade also functions like a rather small cruise missile. The troops were particularly enthusiastic about the armed version because it allowed them to take out snipers more quickly or a few enemy gunmen in a compound full of civilians. Switchblade has been so successful that the army ordered several upgrades and the updated original Switchblade was renamed Switchblade 300. A new version appeared in 2016. It was heavier, at 2.7 kg, with 15 minutes endurance and a 10-kilometer range. The sensor has night vision and is stabilized. The 300 can lock onto a target and track it. The 300 comes with optional accessories, like a six-pack launcher that is used as part of base defense. This was first used for base protection in 2019 and proved effective. One or more of these six packs are placed near the base perimeter and power is maintained with a solar panel. The base security commander can order a Switchblade to be launched from the six-pack and then control it to search for potential targets. Switchblade 300 is also capable of being used from a helicopter or larger UAV and controlled from the helicopter or by the operator of the larger UAV like a Reaper. In 2020 a third version, Switchblade 600 was introduced. While the original Switchblade weighed one kilogram, Switchblade 600 weighed 23 kg, could stay in the air for 40 minutes and be controlled up to 80 kilometers from the operator. Top speed is 180 kilometers an hour and more economical cruise speed is closer to 150 kilometers an hour. The heavier warhead can destroy most tanks, although some modern tank designs include protection from top attack. Switchblade 600 was requested by the U.S. Army for longer range surveillance missions and the option to hit specific small targets, like a building or enemy position. Unlike the earlier Switchblades, the 600 uses a tablet controller with more options, including manipulating the more powerful video camera. Video transmitted back to the operator can be saved and passed on. The operator also has a wave off feature in which a quick tap on the controller screen can cause the 600 to abort an attack and be available for another try. The 600 can also be programmed to carry out a mission without operator control. This means there is no control signal for enemy electronic warning systems to detect or jam. In this case when time is up the 600 self-destructs. The 600 can be carried into a remote area and used quickly. It is most likely used in Ukraine against the locomotives of Russian military supply and troop transport trains operating near the border or inside Ukraine. The locomotives were reported as damaged and disabled but the cause of the damage was not revealed. Switchblade is not a unique concept, as these loitering munitions have been around for decades. What Switchblade provided was a design that met the needs of combat troops, especially special operations personnel or small groups of Ukrainians seeking to halt Russian supply trucks. Since Switchblade entered service and its popularity became widely known, similar systems have appeared, trying to provide features that Switchblade lacked but features the troops wanted most. Ukraine had already developed a loitering munition of its own, but these are not as efficient as Switchblade. The Ukrainians ended up developing and building many different loitering munitions, a process that continues. At the same time Ukrainian neighbor and ally Poland also developed the Warmate loitering munition and sent them off to Ukraine. Warmate is a 5.3 kg conventional UAV that carries a 1.4 kg warhead. Warmate has an endurance of 70 minutes, a top speed of 150 kilometers an hour and can be controlled 15 kilometers from the operator. While portable, Warmate requires five minutes to assemble and needs a road or catapult device to be launched. Ukraine developed its own loitering munition, Silent Thunder, in 2019. This is a 9.5 kg UAV with a variety of different 3.5 kg warheads. It takes fifteen minutes to prepare Silent Thunder for use and it has a duration of 60 minutes and top speed of 150 kilometers an hour. It can be controlled up to 30 kilometers from the operator. Silent Thunder is reusable if no warhead is carried. Silent Thunder is a complex system to use and that limits its effectiveness. Russia is also using its new Zala loitering munition in Ukraine. Zala carries a two kg explosive charge. Zala is a delta shaped, 1.2 meter wingspan UAV with a three kg payload that is used mainly for explosives plus a vidcam to locate the targets and dive on it. It is carried and launched from a catapult on a truck. Endurance is 30 minutes and top speed is 130 kilometers an hour. Zala has been available since 2017 and was apparently tested in Syria before use in Ukraine. With the recent history of loitering munitions, the appearance of Phoenix Ghost is not surprising. As the Israelis have discovered, when you are facing constant threat of attack, innovative and rapidly developed weapons are a necessity. Kensington Palace has said that Kate Middleton is being kept informed about major projects as she receives treatment for cancer. However, the Princess of Wales will not return to work until her medical team approves of it. Kensington Palace provides update on Kate Middleton's cancer battle. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, Pool, File)(AP) According to BBC, a palace spokesperson said on Monday, May 20, that the royal is not expected to return to work yet. "The princess is not expected to return to work until it's cleared by her medical team," the spokesperson said. "Early childhood will continue to be central to her public work." Kate Middletons major project update Meanwhile, an excited Kate has now given her first major project update since she was diagnosed with cancer. Her Royal Foundation Business Taskforce for Early Childhood released a report on May 21 suggesting that 45.5 billion could be added to the economy a year if more family-friendly working practices were introduced by businesses. According to palace sources, Kate has viewed the report in full from home. "The work of The Prince and Princess projects is 'always on,' and that has been no different for the Centre over the past five months with a great deal of progress being made under [Guy, the centers director]'s leadership, a spokesperson reportedly said. However, early childhood is a huge priority for the Princess and so she has been kept fully updated throughout the development of the Taskforces work, and she has seen the report," the spokesperson added. Christian Guy, executive director of The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, said in a briefing while the report was unveiled, "I know that she is enormously grateful to the members of the Taskforce who have made such fantastic progress on this work over the past year." "She feels passionately about the transformational impact of getting this right together, both for the current generation and for many more to come," he added. "I know that she is keen to encourage all businesses, no matter what their size or purpose, to join us on this journey and is looking forward to seeing momentum grow in the coming months. King Charles III recently passed on the Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps baton to his eldest son, Prince William. "Difficult' Prince William prevented Prince Harry from meeting King Charles III during Duke of Sessex's recent visit to UK. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, Pool, File)(AP) The emotional and profound act only came days after Prince Harry returned to the United Kingdom and flew over but refused to see or meet his father and brother at all; the rift in the father-son relationship is clear. In an interview with OK!, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond reveals that following the appointment of Prince William as Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps, the monarch was trying to send a powerful message to Prince Harry. ALSO READ| Prince Harry and Meghan enjoy wine-filled double date with A-list couple to celebrate 6th anniversary There's no role for Prince Harry! Bond said, The image of the King and the future King together sends out a powerful message about the continuity of the monarchy. I think it was an example of mutual support the King handing a highly significant appointment to his older, loyal son and Prince William showing that he is ready and willing to take on some of his fathers duties as and when the time is right. The former BBC royal correspondent claimed King Charles, 75, and Prince William, 41, shared a undoubtedly closed bond. hey are the only two men in the country to experience or face the prospect of being monarch, she told OK!. They have only one another to share very particular thoughts or concerns with about this unique role. With Harry no longer part of the picture, William has become closer to his father. As time goes by, I think the King will look to his eldest son more and more to uphold and protect the institution of monarchy. Bond claims Prince William and Charles both dealing a lot due to Kate Middleton and King's cancer treatment, respectively, and that must have brought them closer together, as they confide their feelings and fears to one another. ALSO READ| Kate Middleton confirms she is returning to royal duties with a special film Its lovely to see father and son together, with William towering over his dad, looking youthful and strong in spite of the emotional stress he must be going through with his father and wife under treatment for cancer, she said. Charles and William together snubbed Harry to send a message The display of unity was clear when Prince Harry arrived in the UK but wasn't able to meet Charles because of the monarch's full schedule. But several reports suggest difficult Prince William was preventing Harry from meeting his father. Theres no doubt that the King is incredibly sad about his broken relationship with Harry and, of course, his almost non-existent relationship with his two grandchildren in California. But I think he sent out a clear message when he did not have time to meet Harry, she added. ALSO READ| Is Meghan Markle following Donald Trump's path to the White House? Political expert says, It would be a great story The stress of a fractured relationship with his younger son in my opinion may be too much for him to handle at the moment. Charles is a very emotional man and it may be that the pressure of trying to untangle a complicated relationship with Harry right now is just not something he should be tackling when he is also fighting cancer. Bond clarified the outlet, I believe that the King will always leave the door open for Harry, Im sure he still loves his darling boy, but the time has to be right and at the moment the Kings focus is on getting well again as soon as possible and fulfilling as many diary engagements as his health allows. NEW DELHI: The death of a person and injuries to at least 30 people on board a London-Singapore flight that encountered severe turbulence highlights an often-overlooked fallout of the climate crisis: a warming planet is increasing the incidence of air turbulence, particularly dangerous clear-air turbulence which goes completely undetected by radar systems. An Airbus A350 Singapore Airlines aircraft approaches for landing at Singapore Changi Airport in Singapore on March 24 (AFP FILE PHOTO/Representative Image) Recent research has suggested that the skies that aircraft fly through are bumpier today than four decades ago, with a 55% increase in annual duration of turbulence over the North Atlantic one of the worlds busiest routes between 1979 and 2020. Researchers have called for an urgent need for better investments in radar systems and forecasting for air travel, highlighting that emissions cuts are the way forward to keep the rise in global temperatures below 2C above pre-industrial levels and ameliorate its overall impacts. Moderate turbulence increased by 37%, and light turbulence increased by 17% during this period. (Turbulence in) Other flight routes over the US, Europe, the Middle East, and the South Atlantic also significantly increased, the research, Clear-air turbulence trends over the North Atlantic in high-resolution climate models, by a team of scientists from the University of Reading, UK, in 2023 said. The scientists put this worrying trend down to greater wind shear in the jet stream. Or more simply: changes in wind speed in the wind system blowing from west to east about 10km from the Earths surface. Typically, this change happens due to difference in temperature between the equator and the poles. Turbulence is a disruption of airflow which causes the airplane to enter irregular vertical motion. It can occur due to atmospheric pressure, jet streams, flying over mountains or through storms or foggy conditions. But its the kind that occurs under clear skies that worries researchers who find this unpredictable clear-air turbulence invisible and hard to detect. While severe turbulence is still very rare, it is projected to increase over time, Isabel Smith, a turbulence researcher at the University of Readings Department of Meteorology, said. She added that the rising gap in temperature in polar regions as against those in the tropics, is the main contributor. This is because the upper atmosphere is warming faster in the tropics, as a result of greenhouse emissions, than in the polar regions. This greater difference in temperature between low and high latitudes increases wind shear in the jet streams, the high-level wind currents that blow 10km above our heads where planes fly, which in turn enhances the formation of turbulent patches of air, Smith, the lead author of the study said. While winter is the most turbulent season for flights, the scientist found that summers by 2050 may become as turbulent as 1950 winters and autumns For every 1C of global near-surface warming, autumn, winter, spring, and summer are projected to have an average of 14%, 9%, 9%, and 14% more moderate clear-air turbulence, the researchers found. The researchers thus suggested investing in improved forecasting and detection systems. Following a decade of research showing that climate change will increase clear-air turbulence in the future, we now have evidence suggesting that the increase has already begun. We should be investing in improved turbulence forecasting and detection systems, to prevent the rougher air from translating into bumpier flights in the coming decades, professor Paul Williams, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Reading who co-authored the study, said. While aviation sector by itself is a major contributor to global emissions in 2022 aviation accounted for 2% of global energy-related CO2 emissions, having grown faster in recent decades than rail, road or shipping according to IEA estimates the rise in global temperatures poses other threats to the sector. In a separate study, Climate Central in 2023 listed five ways climate crisis is disrupting air travel. Runways at some major coastal airports are at risk from worsening floods (the Dubai floods last month are a classic example of the crisis); warmer air is less dense making it harder for planes to gather lift enough to take flight; with the potential for severe storms increasing, there is also a heightened risk of lightning strikes damaging electrical systems and equipment on aircraft; the shifting jet stream could translate into longer flights which in turn would increase fuel consumption; and the increase in clear air turbulence. Colombian guerrilla fighters on Monday killed two police officers and two other people in separate gun and bomb attacks that injured at least seven in the country's restive southwest, officials said. Police officers killed as Colombia rebels launch gun, bomb attacks Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez pinned an attack in the town of Morales, in the Cauca department, on Central General Staff rebels who had rejected a peace deal the FARC Marxist guerrilla group signed with the government in 2016. EMC militants opened fire and set off cylinder bombs at a police station in Morales, killing two officers and two people in the prison holding cells in what Velasquez labeled a "terrorist attack." Three other officers were injured. The army said it had sent 100 soldiers to the town, where police director William Salamanca said more explosive devices have been found in the streets. AFP observed the police station in ruins, with multiple bullet marks in its facade an image reminiscent of the deadly raids of the now-extinct FARC in the 1990s. "It was two hours of anguish," a Morales resident who asked not to be named, told AFP. Velasquez travelled at the request of President Gustavo Petro to Popayan, capital of the Cauca department, where he said officials had reported "harassment" by guerrillas in several other towns as well. Petro described the situation in Cauca as "unacceptable." "We will not tolerate the continued terrorization of the population with terrorist attacks," he wrote on X. In the neighboring department of Valle del Cauca to the north, a motorcycle loaded with explosives was detonated, injuring four people, including three children, officials there reported. The two departments are a hotbed of activity by EMC fighters under the control of guerrilla leader Ivan Mordisco, who quit a peace process in April after a split within the group, which had united some 3,500 combatants. The government has since launched an offensive against Mordisco's forces while continuing negotiations with the other faction. das/nn/fb/mlr/mlm This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. In wide-ranging testimony before the Senate Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken denounced the chief prosecutor of the worlds top war crimes court for seeking the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said that despite offering condolences for the death of Iran's president, it didn't change that leader's history of repression. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (Getty Images via AFP) Blinken, speaking to senators about the Biden administrations foreign affairs budget proposal, was repeatedly interrupted by protesters condemning U.S. policy toward its ally Israel and its war against Hamas in Gaza. The chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations and Senate Appropriations committees halted the hearings at least six times while Blinken was delivering his opening statements as demonstrators stood up to shout their opposition to the administrations position and accused him of being a war criminal and being responsible for a genocide against the Palestinian people. Several silent protesters held up their hands, stained with red paint or dye, behind Blinken during his appearances. In his remarks and his responses to questions from senators, Blinken followed President Joe Biden and other administration officials in condemning the International Criminal Court's prosecutor for seeking arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over actions taken during their seven-month war in Gaza. Blinken repeated the position that the tribunal, which Israel and the U.S. do not recognize, does not have jurisdiction and that it was extremely wrong-headed for the prosecutor to equate the Israeli officials with the Hamas leaders that he is also seeking to indict. Senate Republicans have threatened sanctions against ICC personnel over the decision, but the administration has not yet taken a stand. Blinken, however, said the administration would work with lawmakers to come up with an appropriate response, should one be needed. Blinken lamented that some administration critics appeared to be overlooking Hamas role in starting the war in Gaza with its deadly attacks on Israel on Oct. 7. A day after the State Department issued a statement expressing condolences for the deaths of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others in a recent helicopter crash, Blinken told senators that it was a typical gesture when countries adversaries, enemies or not have lost leaders. It changes nothing about the fact that Mr. Raisi was engaged in reprehensible conduct, including repressing his own people for many years as a judge and then as president," Blinken said. "It changes not a whit about our policy. His comments come even as Brett McGurk, a top Middle East adviser to Biden, had indirect talks last week in Oman with Ali Bagheri Kani, who is now serving as Irans acting foreign minister, according to a U.S. official familiar with the sensitive talks but who was not authorized to comment publicly. Kani, who became acting foreign minister after the crash, and McGurk were not in the same room, with Omani officials shuttling messages between McGurk and Kani. The official said such indirect talks are a channel that the U.S. has used in the past with the Iranians to convey concerns and make clear there are consequences for destabilizing actions. Weeks ago, Iran launched hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles at Israel after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria that killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consular building. U.S. forces helped down the barrage from Iran. The official added that the indirect talks were aimed at managing risks amid growing concerns that the Israel-Hamas conflict can evolve into a broader regional conflict. Russias Defense Ministry said Tuesday it began a round of drills involving tactical nuclear weapons. The exercises were announced by Russian authorities this month in response to remarks by senior Western officials about the possibility of deeper involvement in the war in Ukraine. Russian army's snipers change their position facing Ukrainian troops at an undisclosed location. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)(AP) It was the first time Russia has publicly announced drills involving tactical nuclear weapons, although its strategic nuclear forces regularly hold exercises. According to the ministry's statement, the first stage of the new drills envisioned practical training in the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, including nuclear-capable Kinzhal and Iskander missiles. The maneuvers are taking place in the Southern Military District, which consists of Russian regions in the south, including on the border with Ukraine; Crimea, illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014; and four Ukrainian regions that Russia illegally annexed in 2022 and partially occupies. The drills were announced on May 6, with the Defense Ministry saying in a statement that they would come in response to provocative statements and threats of certain Western officials regarding the Russian Federation. Tactical nuclear weapons include air bombs, warheads for short-range missiles and artillery munitions and are meant for use on a battlefield. They are less powerful than the strategic weapons massive warheads that arm intercontinental ballistic missiles and are intended to obliterate entire cities. The announcement came after French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated that he doesnt exclude sending troops to Ukraine, and U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Kyivs forces will be able to use British long-range weapons to strike targets inside Russia. The Kremlin branded those comments as dangerous, heightening tension between Russia and NATO. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on May 6 that Macrons statement and other remarks by British and U.S. officials had prompted the nuclear drills, calling the remarks a new round of escalation. TALLINN, Estonia A Russian court on Monday opened the trial of a theater director and a playwright accused of advocating terrorism in a play, the latest step in an unrelenting crackdown on dissent in Russia that has reached new heights since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine. Russian theater director and playwright go on trial over a play authorities say justifies terrorism Zhenya Berkovich, a prominent independent theater director, and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk have been jailed for over a year. Authorities claim their play Finist, the Brave Falcon justifies terrorism, which is a criminal offense in Russia punishable by up to seven years in prison. Berkovich and Petriychuk have both repeatedly rejected the accusations against them. Berkovich told the court on Monday that she staged the play in order to prevent terrorism, and Petriychuk echoed her sentiment, saying that she wrote it in order to prevent events like those depicted in the play. The women's lawyers have pointed out at court hearings before the trial that the play was supported by the Russian Culture Ministry and won the Golden Mask award, Russias most prestigious national theater award. In 2019, the play was read to inmates of a womens prison in Siberia, and Russias state penitentiary service praised it on its website, Petriychuk's lawyer has said. The case against Berkovich and Petriychuk elicited outrage in Russia. An open letter in support of the two artists, started by the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper, has been signed by more than 16,000 people since their arrest. The play, the letter argued, carries an absolutely clear anti-terrorist sentiment. Dozens of Russian actors, directors and journalists also signed affidavits urging the court to release the two from custody pending investigation and trial. Immediately after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin unleashed a sweeping campaign of repression, unparalleled since the Soviet era. It has effectively criminalized any criticism of the war, with the authorities targeting not only prominent opposition figures who eventually received draconian prison terms, but anyone who spoke out against it, publicly or otherwise. Pressure mounted on critical artists in Russia, too. Actors and directors were fired from state-run theaters, and musicians were blacklisted from performing in the country. Some were slapped with label foreign agent," which carries additional government scrutiny and strong negative connotations. Many have left Russia. Berkovich, who is raising two adopted daughters, has refused to leave Russia and continued working with her independent theater production in Moscow, called Sosos Daughters. Shortly after the start of the war in Ukraine, she staged an anti-war picket and was jailed for 11 days. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Boeing expressed its condolences to passengers and crew members of the Boeing 777 plane of Singapore Airlines after it suffered turbulence resulting in the death of a person and at least 30 injuries on Tuesday. The interior of Singapore Airline flight SQ321 is pictured after an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand. (Reuters) We extend our deepest condolences to the family who lost a loved one and our thoughts are with the passengers and crew, Boeing said in a statement. A flight from London to Singapore was hit with severe turbulence because of bad weather. Confirming the news, Singapore Airlines said on Facebook that its flight SQ321 from Heathrow to Singapore had to make an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport at 3:45 pm local time. It said in a statement, Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. We deeply apologise for the traumatic experience that our passengers and crew members suffered on this flight. Singapore has said it will be sending investigators to Bangkok. In a statement on Tuesday, the Singapore Transport Ministry said, The Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) of the Ministry of Transport (Singapore) is investigating the Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 incident. TSIB is in touch with its Thai counterparts and will be deploying investigators to Bangkok. A 73-year-old British man likely had a heart attack and died during the incident. Seven people had serious head injuries. Singapore Airlines said 18 people were hospitalised, and 12 are still being treated in hospitals. What happened? The Boeing 777-300ER plane, carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members, was on its way to Singapore when it made an emergency landing, according to the airline. The flight fell in an air pocket while the cabin crew was serving breakfast and then experienced turbulence. This caused the pilots to request an emergency landing, Suvarnabhumi Airport's general manager Kittipong Kittikachorn said at a press conference. Suvarnabhumi Airport said the plane requested an emergency landing at 3:35pm local time and landed at 3:51pm. Uninjured passengers got off, and another aircraft took them to their destination. As reported by Reuters, the airline said the plane landed at 3:45pm. The Sri Lankan government on Tuesday hit out at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for engaging in electoral vote bank politics by making an "outrageous allegation" of a "genocide" during the island nation's brutal armed conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that ended in 2009. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (AP) Trudeau, in a statement, noted that Canadas Parliament unanimously voted to recognise May 18 as 'Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day'. "We will always advocate for justice and accountability for the crimes committed during the conflict, as well as for the hardships faced by all in Sri Lanka. In 2023, we imposed sanctions against four former Sri Lankan government officials in response to their violations of human rights in the country during the armed conflict," Trudeau said in a statement on Saturday. Canada is a strong defender of human rights in Sri Lanka," he said, adding that Ottawa will "continue to urge the Government of Sri Lanka to respect freedom of religion, belief, and pluralism essential values to build lasting peace." Reacting sharply to Trudeau's statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka said it rejects the false allegation of a so-called "genocide" in the island nation during the civil war. "The Government of Sri Lanka in all previous communications has categorically refuted such outrageous allegation of genocide in Sri Lanka. No competent authority in Canada or elsewhere in the world has made any objective determination of genocide having taken place in Sri Lanka," the statement said. "These unfounded allegations relate to the conclusion of the armed separatist terrorist conflict waged by the LTTE in pursuit of a separate state, contrary to the principles of the UN Charter. The LTTE is a listed terrorist organisation in 33 countries worldwide, including in Canada," the statement noted. Prime Minister Trudeau's endorsement of this false narrative of genocide in Sri Lanka is highly disruptive of communal harmony among the Canadians of Sri Lankan origin, a valuable community of Sri Lankan heritage living overseas, it said. A "partisan narrative" ignores the complex reality of the Sri Lankan conflict and as such these comments by Prime Minister Trudeau "resonates adversely" among Sri Lankans and disrupt the Sri Lankan government's ongoing efforts towards national unity, reconciliation and progress in Sri Lanka, the statement said. "Canadas falsification of our history amounts to irresponsible disinformation. It misleads the minds of current and future generations in Canada and elsewhere, encouraging and perpetuating hatred," it said, urging the Canadian Government to assume responsibility in a spirit of mutual respect in promoting peace and harmony. On a related but separate front, Canadas disproportionate focus on Sri Lanka is a clear example of double standards," the statement noted. "It is crucial that countries like Canada, who claim to be global advocates of human rights, recognise their self-interested double standards which are resulting in increased polarisation in the international community," the statement said. "Clearly, the repeated statements by the Prime Minister of Canada with regard to Sri Lanka are the outcome of electoral vote bank politics in Canada, funded by a small number of Canadians of Sri Lankan origin with vested and personal interest," the statement said. Interestingly, India has also 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 with PTI earlier this month, External Affairs Minister S 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. Ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Trudeau's allegations in September last year of the "potential" involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. New Delhi has rejected Trudeau's charges as "absurd" and "motivated." India has been maintaining that the main issue has been that of Canada giving space to pro-Khalistani elements operating from Canadian soil with impunity. The Sri Lankan foreign ministry press statement also noted that the LTTE has indiscriminately targeted civilians of all communities in all parts of the country. It also targeted and assassinated the moderate Tamil leadership of the country including the former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. Since the end of the conflict in 2009, the Sri Lankan government has taken many steps towards reconciliation, unity and achieving durable peace and security despite the present economic hardships. The Government is determined to continue these measures, the statement added. The LTTE had run a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009. On May 18, 2009, the Sri Lankan Army declared victory with the discovery of the body of the dreaded LTTE leader Velupillai Prabakaran. According to Sri Lankan government figures, over 20,000 people are missing due to various conflicts, including the three-decade brutal war with Lankan Tamils in the north and east, which claimed at least 100,000 lives. Syrian first lady Asma Assad was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, the office of President Bashar Assad announced on Tuesday. The president's wife was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia after presenting with several symptoms and following a comprehensive series of medical tests and examinations, the official statement read. Asma Assad, wife of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.(REUTERS) Assad will adhere to a specialized treatment protocol that includes stringent infection prevention measures and will temporarily withdraw from all direct engagements as part of the treatment plan, it added. Asma Assad was treated for breast cancer earlier. A year after her diagnosis in August 2019, Assad announced that she was completely free of the disease. Syrian first lady Asma Assad, who was born and raised in the United Kingdom, is a powerful and divisive figure. She is subject to Western sanctions and has been a highly controversial figure throughout the Syrian conflict. ALSO READ | Assad's wife 'defends Syria crackdown' Assad previously worked as an investment banker. In 2000, she quit her job and married then-President Bashar Assad. Since then, she has remained active in the public sphere, advocating for civil and charitable organizations. However, she has faced criticism for allegedly using her British education and Western demeanour to conceal the harshness of her husband's suppression of dissent. Assad runs the Syria Trust for Development, an NGO that facilitates many of the aid and development operations in Syria. Last year, Assad also accompanied her husband, President Bashar al-Assad , on a visit to the United Arab Emirates. This was her first foreign official trip with him since 2011. The trip is seen as a sign of her growing role in public affairs. ALSO READ | France issues arrest warrant for Syria President Bashar al-Assad The war in Syria, which resulted in nearly half a million deaths and displaced half of the country's pre-war population of 23 million, started in March 2011 with peaceful protests against Assad's government. The protests faced a harsh crackdown, rapidly escalating into a full-scale civil war. (With inputs from Reuters) May 21, 2024: Egypt is once more negotiating with its Bedouin tribesmen to obtain help with the possible flood of up to 250,000 Palestinian refugees trying to get into Egypt because of Israeli operations against Hamas gunmen operating near the border town of Rafah. This is all about the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israelis and foreigners partying in Gaza. Israeli intelligence forces missed the preparations of Hamas in Gaza for a major attack. Seven months later, the aftereffects are still being felt. Since 1979 there have been two Rafahs, one in Egypt and one in Gaza. There are over a million Palestinian refugees from the Gaza fighting gathered near Sinais Rafah border crossing and most of them want to get to safety where they can find it, especially across the border in Egyptian Rafah or Egypt in general. In Sinai, which is part of Egypt, most of the population consists of Bedouins, About 0.5 percent of 111 million Egyptians are Bedouin while 3.5 percent of 9.8 million Israelis are Bedouin. In Israel the Bedouin do much better than those in Egypt. Educational and job opportunities are much better in Israel, while Israeli Bedouin get along much better with the security forces than in Egypt. Israel also has more Bedouin in the army and police than does Egypt. Smuggling is illegal on both sides of the border. Bedouin dominate it and realize that helping the security forces prevent Islamic terrorists from crossing the border means less military and police attention to the more traditional and lucrative smuggling of consumer goods and illegal migrants. Most of the Bedouin live in the Sinai Peninsula, which is controlled by Egypt with some eastern portions controlled by Israel. As a result of the 1967 Arab Israeli war, Israel controlled all of Sinai from 1967 to 1982, when the Egyptian-Israel peace deal included returning control of Sinai to Egypt. There are 30 Bedouin tribes in Sinai, where the total population is 600,000. Most Sinai residents belong to one of the tribes. In April 2024 the Egyptian army and the five largest Bedouin tribes in Sinai formed the Arab Tribes Union, or ATU. The paramilitary Union of Sinai Tribes (UST) works with the Egyptian military to police Sinai. UST was created in 2015 to deal with Islamic terrorists in Sinai and was once more dealing with Islamic terrorists in 2022. Now tribes are being asked to help keep Hamas gunmen out of Egypt and help settle Palestinian refugees in Egypt and Gaza. The tribes are willing to help as long as the Egyptians provide military and economic aid. There is still a problem with Palestinians who belong to Hamas, especially those who are armed and belong to organized gangs. Hamas calls the gangs military units but the gang members do not wear uniforms. The ultimate Hamas goal is the destruction of Israel. At the moment the Israeli security forces are better armed, trained and more numerous than the groups of armed Hamas members. Israel wants to wipe out Hamas, or at least kill as many as possible. Hamas is on the defensive in Sinai and trying to get into Egypt, where they are not welcome. Egypt knows that Hamas will behave like outlaws in Egypt as they prepare for another attack on Israel. The Bedouin tribes customarily offer sanctuary for fellow Arabs, but that does not include armed Hamas members looking for refuge from the Israeli military. Egypt also recognizes that some of the Palestinian refugees have kin in the Bedouin tribes and that makes it easier for Palestinians to find temporary, but not permanent sanctuary in Sinai. The Bedouin tribes do not have the resources to accept all the Palestinian refugees. Egypt does not want to accept all the Palestinians either. Egypt is trying to establish refugee camps and request economic aid from the UN so the refugees can be housed in tents and fed. Turning Palestinians loose inside Egypt is unpopular with Egyptian voters because it means more competition for a limited number of jobs. The current unemployment rate in Egypt is seven percent and the government has been gradually reducing the rate. An influx of Palestinian refugees would mean a lot of Egyptians would not be able to get a job or hang onto one they already have. The Bedouins in Sinai have their own economy which cannot handle a lot of Palestinian refugees. Egypt is now building a 13.5 kilometer wall from the Mediterranean inland to the Israeli border town of Kerem Shalom to keep the Palestinian refugees fleeing the Hamas-Israel violence in Gaza. The Palestinians cant return to their homes or whats left of their homes in Gaza until the fighting between Israeli troops and the surviving Hamas gunmen is over. No one knows when the fighting will end but the Israelis are seeking to get it over with as soon as possible. So do the Israeli Bedouins, especially those in the Israeli military. * Apple supplier Foxconn among firms asked to cut power use in Vietnam, sources say Foxconn asked to voluntarily cut 30% of power use, sources say * Province where Foxconn supplies Apple urged energy savings * Apple increased Vietnam suppliers by 40% to 35 last year By Francesco Guarascio and Ben Blanchard HANOI/TAIPEI, - Vietnamese officials have called on Apple supplier Foxconn to voluntarily reduce power use by 30% at its assembly plants in the north of the country where there were electricity outages last year, two people familiar with the matter said. The request for energy-saving measures, which two other industry sources said was sent to multiple manufacturers, is precautionary and aimed at averting a repeat of last summer when power shortage led to over a billion dollars in lost output. The request to Foxconn was "an encouragement", not a requirement and has not had any impact on production, one of the people said. Vietnam is increasingly welcoming multinational companies, some spreading their risk from traditional manufacturing base China amid rising trade tension with the U.S. Last month, Apple promised further spending in the country where over the past year it has raised its number of suppliers to 35 from 25. The southeast Asian nation relies on foreign investment for economic growth and has been trying to attract energy-intensive industries, such as semiconductor manufacturing. However, a heat wave last May and June triggered a power shortage that interrupted business in the north, causing $1.4 billion worth of loss, or 0.3% of gross domestic product, World Bank preliminary estimates showed. In March, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh pledged to foreign investors that power shortages would not happen again. The government has asked coal-fired power plants to delay maintenance to meet higher electricity demand in the hottest months, one of the people said. The people did not specify who sent the requests, when the request to Foxconn was sent or for how long the voluntary cut in electricity use would be needed. One person said the request was open-ended. All sources asked to remain anonymous because the matter was not public. Apple did not respond to a request for comment. COORDINATION Foxconn, formally Hon Hai Precision Industry, is the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer. It has half a dozen plants in northern Vietnam including in Bac Giang province where local authorities said it assembles Apple MacBooks and iPads. State-owned provincial power distributor Bac Giang Power Company said in March it had asked industrial parks and authorities "to coordinate in implementing electricity savings," showed a statement on the website of power regulator ERAV. BG PC Deputy Director Do Binh Duong, in a separate statement, said "adjustment of power loads, adjustment of production plans and electricity saving implementation of enterprises will have a great impact on the power system". The Ministry of Industry and Trade and state-owned power provider Vietnam Electricity , of which BG PC is a unit, did not respond to requests for comment. Energy-saving measures appear to differ nationwide. An official at an industrial park in another northern province said manufacturers have been asked to reduce power consumption on some days this month. Weather conditions are less challenging than in 2023 but authorities have boosted imports of coal and encouraged energy-saving to avoid shortages. In March, foreign chambers of commerce urged the government to guarantee power supply, with South Korean's KoCham saying semiconductor companies had delayed investment decisions because of power supply risk. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. In a dramatic courtroom clash, a federal judge reprimanded Robert "Bob" Costello, a key witness and former attorney for Michael Cohen, during former President Donald Trump's hush money trial. The confrontation unfolded as Costello testified that Trump was unaware of the $130,000 payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels to silence her allegations of an affair with Trump. Judge Juan Merchan, left, castigates witness Robert Costello about his "decorum" in the courtroom in Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 20, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)(AP) In a shocking turn of events, U.S. District Judge Juan Merchans pointed critique of Costello's courtroom behaviour became a focal point of the proceedings. The judges frustration peaked when Costello rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath after several objections from prosecutors were sustained. Why did Judge Juan Merchan lost his cool? Jeez, Costello exclaimed in frustration, prompting Judge Merchan to demand clarification. "Im sorry?" the judge asked twice, visibly irritated by the witness's demeanor. The tension escalated as Judge Merchan excused the jury and delivered a stern lecture on courtroom decorum. "If you dont like my ruling, you dont give me side eye and you dont roll your eyes," Merchan admonished. Are you staring me down right now? The judge then went ahead to expelled the courtroom audience, including reporters, to address Costellos conduct privately. According to a court transcript, Merchan warned, Sir, your conduct is contemptuous right now. If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand. He further threatened to strike Costello's entire testimony if the behavior continued. The contentious exchange overshadowed Costello's testimony, which contradicted previous statements by Cohen. Costello, called by Trump's defence team, claimed that Cohen had repeatedly stated Trump "knew nothing" about the payments to Daniels. "Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments, that he did this on his own," Costello asserted. Heated courtroom scene explained The heated courtroom scene unfolded as Costello recounted his initial meeting with Cohen on April 17, 2018, shortly after the FBI raided Cohens home and office. Costello described Cohen as a "maniac" during the meeting, recalling how Cohen paced back and forth, visibly distressed. "He was absolutely a maniac from the beginning, marching back and forth, pacing," Costello testified. Cohen, who turned against Trump and cooperated with federal investigators, previously testified that Trump was aware of and directed the hush money payments. Cohens credibility has been a central issue in the trial, with Costellos testimony aiming to undermine the prosecution's case. The judges sharp rebuke of Costello highlighted the courtroom drama as Trump's legal battles continue to unfold. Costello, a former federal prosecutor and longtime Trump ally, had previously testified before a Manhattan grand jury that ultimately indicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Following his testimony, Costello criticized Cohen's credibility, characterizing him as having a "lie, cheat, steal" mindset. "If they want to go after Donald Trump and they have solid evidence, then so be it. Michael Cohen is not solid evidence," Costello told reporters. As the trial progresses, Costello is set to resume his testimony, with the courtroom clash between him and Judge Merchan likely to remain a significant point of interest. The proceedings continue to draw public and media scrutiny as Trump navigates multiple legal challenges while campaigning for a potential return to the White House in 2024. Beloved American restaurant franchise Buffalo Wild Wings has recently come up with an exciting all-you-can-eat deal. The company announced Sunday that it is offering unlimited boneless wings and fries for $19.99. The limited-time promotional deal can be availed on Mondays and Wednesdays through July 10. Buffalo Wild Wings is offering customers unlimited boneless wings and fries every Monday and Wednesday for a limited time(Buffalo Wild Wings) Buffalo Wild Wings offering unlimited wings and fries The limited-time offer will be available across all Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants nationwide, the company told USA Today. However, it is applicable for dine-in orders only and is limited to one person per order. The deal also forbids the customers from sharing their meals. Customers can feast on unlimited wings from any one of the company's 26 iconic sauces and seasonings. ALSO READ: McDonald's unveils Grandma McFlurry for limited time, here's what it tastes like The combo meal also comes with unlimited fries. Buffalo Wild Wings has a wide range of sauce flavours, some of which are- mango habanero, lemon pepper, original buffalo, Thai curry and Nashville hot. In addition to their usual sauces, the company is also serving wings in special sauces- honey sriracha and honey garlic, for a limited period only. Special takeout and delivery offer For now, customers can also take advantage of the promo code- GOWINGS. The coupon allows customers to add 6-count traditional or boneless wings and get them for free. However, the promo code can only be used on takeout and delivery orders of $10 or more. This special takeout offer will run through June 30 and cannot be clubbed with any other discount coupon. ALSO READ: Taco Bell introduces new $5 Taco Discovery Box deal. What's inside? While the limited-time honey sriracha and honey garlic sauces are available on all orders, the company has another special sauce that is exclusive to takeout and delivery orders only. Buffalo Wild Wings describes the golden fire sauce as the perfect blend of Sting and Zing, where sweet and tangy Carolina Gold meets fiery chiles. Cyberattacks against water utilities across the country are becoming more frequent and more severe, the Environmental Protection Agency warned Monday as it issued an enforcement alert urging water systems to take immediate actions to protect the nation's drinking water. Cyberattacks against water utilities across the country are becoming more frequent and more severe, the Environmental Protection Agency warned Monday, May 20, 2024, as it issued an enforcement alert urging water systems to take immediate actions to protect the nation's drinking water from electronic threats. (Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa via AP, File)(AP) About 70% of utilities inspected by federal officials over the last year violated standards meant to prevent breaches or other intrusions, the agency said. Officials urged even small water systems to improve protections against hacks. Recent cyberattacks by groups affiliated with Russia and Iran have targeted smaller communities. Some water systems are falling short in basic ways, the alert said, including failure to change default passwords or cut off system access to former employees. Because water utilities often rely on computer software to operate treatment plants and distribution systems, protecting information technology and process controls is crucial, the EPA said. Possible impacts of cyberattacks include interruptions to water treatment and storage; damage to pumps and valves; and alteration of chemical levels to hazardous amounts, the agency said. ALSO READ| Russian theater director and playwright go on trial over a play authorities say justifies terrorism EPA deputy says many US water systems lack adequate cybersecurity plan In many cases, systems are not doing what they are supposed to be doing, which is to have completed a risk assessment of their vulnerabilities that includes cybersecurity and to make sure that plan is available and informing the way they do business, said EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe. Attempts by private groups or individuals to get into a water providers network and take down or deface websites arent new. More recently, however, attackers havent just gone after websites, theyve targeted utilities operations instead. Recent attacks are not just by private entities. Some recent hacks of water utilities are linked to geopolitical rivals, and could lead to the disruption of the supply of safe water to homes and businesses. McCabe named China, Russia and Iran as the countries that are actively seeking the capability to disable U.S. critical infrastructure, including water and wastewater. Late last year, an Iranian-linked group called Cyber Av3ngers targeted multiple organizations including a small Pennsylvania town's water provider, forcing it to switch from a remote pump to manual operations. They were going after an Israeli-made device used by the utility in the wake of Israel's war against Hamas. Earlier this year, a Russian-linked hacktivist tried to disrupt operations at several Texas utilities. A cyber group linked to China and known as Volt Typhoon has compromised information technology of multiple critical infrastructure systems, including drinking water, in the United States and its territories, U.S. officials said. Cybersecurity experts believe the China-aligned group is positioning itself for potential cyberattacks in the event of armed conflict or rising geopolitical tensions. ALSO READ| Exclusive: Changing trends in US university admissions for Asian students, expert breaks community college stigma and Industry experts call for new cybersecurity policies for water utilities By working behind the scenes with these hacktivist groups, now these (nation states) have plausible deniability and they can let these groups carry out destructive attacks. And that to me is a game-changer, said Dawn Cappelli, a cybersecurity expert with the industrial cybersecurity firm Dragos Inc. The worlds cyberpowers are believed to have been infiltrating rivals critical infrastructure for years planting malware that could be triggered to disrupt basic services. The enforcement alert is meant to emphasize the seriousness of cyberthreats and inform utilities the EPA will continue its inspections and pursue civil or criminal penalties if they find serious problems. We want to make sure that we get the word out to people that Hey, we are finding a lot of problems here, McCabe said. EPA did not say how many cyber incidents have occurred in recent years, and the number of attacks known to be successful so far is few. The agency has issued nearly 100 enforcement actions since 2020 regarding risk assessments and emergency response, but said thats a small snapshot of the threats water systems face. Preventing attacks against water providers is part of the Biden administration's broader effort to combat threats against critical infrastructure. In February, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to protect U.S. ports. Health care systems have been attacked. The White House has pushed electric utilities to increase their defenses, too. EPA Administrator Michael Regan and White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan have asked states to come up with a plan to combat cyberattacks on drinking water systems. ALSO READ| Ukraine humanitarian aid falling while needs rise: UN "Drinking water and wastewater systems are an attractive target for cyberattacks because they are a lifeline critical infrastructure sector but often lack the resources and technical capacity to adopt rigorous cybersecurity practices,'' Regan and Sullivan wrote in a March 18 letter to all 50 U.S. governors. Some of the fixes are straightforward, McCabe said. Water providers, for example, shouldn't use default passwords. They need to develop a risk assessment plan that addresses cybersecurity and set up backup systems. The EPA says they will train water utilities that need help for free. Larger utilities usually have more resources and the expertise to defend against attacks. In an ideal world ... we would like everybody to have a baseline level of cybersecurity and be able to confirm that they have that, said Alan Roberson, executive director of the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators. But that's a long ways away. Some barriers are foundational. The water sector is highly fragmented. There are roughly 50,000 community water providers, most of which serve small towns. Modest staffing and anemic budgets in many places make it hard enough to maintain the basics providing clean water and keeping up with the latest regulations. Certainly, cybersecurity is part of that, but that's never been their primary expertise. So, now you're asking a water utility to develop this whole new sort of department" to handle cyberthreats, said Amy Hardberger, a water expert at Texas Tech University. The EPA has faced setbacks. States periodically review the performance of water providers. In March 2023, the EPA instructed states to add cybersecurity evaluations to those reviews. If they found problems, the state was supposed to force improvements. But Missouri, Arkansas and Iowa, joined by the American Water Works Association and another water industry group, challenged the instructions in court on the grounds that EPA didnt have the authority under the Safe Drinking Water Act. After a court setback, the EPA withdrew its requirements but urged states to take voluntary actions anyway. ALSO READ| Satellite images show Gazans' quick exodus from Rafah after Israeli invasion Safe Drinking Water Act lacks authority for cybersecurity, experts say The Safe Drinking Water Act requires certain water providers to develop plans for some threats and certify theyve done so. But its power is limited. There's just no authority for (cybersecurity) in the law, Roberson said. Kevin Morley, manager of federal relations with the American Water Works Association, said some water utilities have components that are connected to the internet a common, but significant vulnerability. Overhauling those systems can be a significant and costly job. And without substantial federal funding, water systems struggle to find resources. The industry group has published guidance for utilities and advocates for establishing a new organization of cybersecurity and water experts that would develop new policies and enforce them, in partnership with the EPA. Let's bring everybody along in a reasonable manner, Morley said, adding that small and large utilities have different needs and resources. The former lawyer and fixer of Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, told jurors he stole tens of thousands of dollars from Trumps company on the last day of the hush-money trial as defence attorneys started to press. Michael Cohen, right, testifies on the witness stand with Judge Juan Merchan presiding in Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 20, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)(AP) On Monday, Cohen returned to the stand a fourth time for the defence to re-examine him. Trump's lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, asked him whether he received reimbursement for the $50,000 he said Cohen had paid to a technology firm, RedFinch that he was using as a shell company. Cohen also admitted that he gave the technology firm just $20,000 in cash in a brown paper bag, he noted. Blanche pressed out the admission from Cohen You did steal from the Trump Organization? Blanche asked. Cohen replied, Yes, sir. The trial, marking the first criminal case against an ex-U.S. president, is nearing its conclusion, with closing arguments anticipated next week. The former president faces 34 felony charges for allegedly falsifying records to disguise reimbursements to Cohen for a hush-money payment as legal fees. ALSO READ| Trump Media and Technology Group posts more than $300 million net loss in first public quarter However, Trump pleaded not guilty. And his lawyers claimed that there was nothing criminal in the former president's doing. Theres no crime, Trump told reporters on Monday while entering the court. We paid a legal expense. You know what its marked down as? A legal expense. Trump's lawyer has been undermining the credibility of Cohen The now-disbarred attorney has also acknowledged on the witness stand that he was compromised in the past to lie under oath and other things which he claims are meant to exonerate Trump. Cohen pleaded and had to go and serve time in federal prison for various crimes such as including lying to Congress and banks, as well as campaign finance to hide payments to women. RedFinchs task was to elevate Trumps status in a poll of prominent business figures. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger pressed Cohen on his motives for claiming the excess amount: Why did you take that extra 30?. Cohen cited anger over a reduced bonus, the reimbursement was almost like self-help. Cohen also sought repayment for a $130,000 payment to pornstar Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. A key document, annotated by Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, outlined Cohens reimbursement strategy for both the Daniels payment and Red Finch expenses. ALSO READ| Trump's 35 second long freeze during speech sparks concerns & rebuke, netizens debate long glitch or unfit to serve The trial centres on the repercussions of the hush money to Daniels, who alleges a sexual encounter with Trump, a claim he denies. The charges stem from the manner in which these reimbursements were documented. But seeing Cohen's past record Trumps lawyers with ammunition to question his reliability. Without Mr Cohen, there is no case, Blanche argued in front of Justice Juan Merchan. Blanche depicted Cohen as driven by financial gain, noting his earnings from anti-Trump books and podcasts. Late on Monday, he asked, The question to you today is whether a conviction benefits you financially. Cohen responded, The answer is no. It's better if he's not [convicted], because it gives me more to talk about in the future. DALLAS The National Rifle Association, looking to repair an image sullied by former leader Wayne LaPierre's spending excesses, elected Doug Hamlin as executive vice president and CEO on Monday. NRA names new leadership to replace former CEO found liable for wrongly spending millions Our association is at a decisive moment in our history, and the future of America and constitutional freedoms depends on the success of the NRA," said Hamlin, who recently served as executive director of the NRA's publications. Hamlin said in a statement he looked forward to working with staff to "promote political and public policies that are in the best interest of our members and all gun owners. The board of directors for the gun rights lobbying group elected former Republican Congressman Bob Barr of Georgia as its new president. I have been a fighter my whole life and I commit to boldly fight for our Second Amendment rights on behalf of the millions of NRA members," Barr said in a statement. "We need to grow our ranks, especially in this election year, and I pledge to focus my attention on doing just that. Former President Donald Trump addressed the group on Saturday and received the organization's endorsement in this year's presidential election. About 72,000 people attended the 153rd Annual Meetings & Exhibits, the association said. LaPierre was found liable in February at a civil trial in New York of wrongly using millions of dollars of the organizations money to pay for an extravagant lifestyle that included exotic getaways and trips on private planes and superyachts. LaPierre resigned as executive vice president and CEO on the eve of the trial. The jury ordered LaPierre to repay almost $4.4 million to the NRA, while the organizations retired finance chief, Wilson Phillips, owed $2 million. The lobbying group failed to properly manage its assets, omitted or misrepresented information in its tax filings and violated whistleblower protections under New York law, jurors found. After reporting a $36 million deficit in 2018 fueled largely by misspending, the NRA cut back on longstanding programs that had been core to its mission, including training and education, recreational shooting, and law enforcement initiatives. LaPierre's trial cast a spotlight on the leadership, culture and finances of the over 150-year-old organization that has become a powerful influence on federal law and presidential elections. John Feinblatt, the president of Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit which advocates for stricter gun control, in a statement called Hamlin a longtime insider, adding that the NRAs chaotic infighting and financial doom spiral shows no signs of stopping. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Prince Harry appears ready to extend an olive branch. After a public falling out with the Royal Family and recent visits to the UK after a long hiatus, experts believe the Duke of Sussex is willing to forgive, forget and love his family again. However, the sentiment may not be entirely mutual, with King Charles and Prince William seemingly hesitant to mend the rift. Harrys recent visit to London for the Invictus Games and his inability to meet his ailing father has opened the floodgates of speculation about whats next. Prince Harry flew more than 5,000 miles to see his father after King Charles III was diagnosed with cancer. But he did not see his estranged brother, William, during a visit that lasted scarcely 24 hours. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)(AP) Prince Harry ready to forgive Royal family According to BBC's former royal correspondent Jennie Bond on Times Radio, Prince Harry was initially the one demanding an apology. Bond cited how the estranged royal felt strongly about seeking an apology from the family for alleged slights towards his wife, Meghan Markle. There was going to be no meeting of minds or meeting in reality until there was an apology for the affronts he thought had been made to his wife." Bond said. The expert further remarks that now, when the Duke seems ready to mend the years-old rift, King Charles and William might not share the same sentiment. Also read: Prince Harry and Meghan enjoy wine-filled double date with A-list couple to celebrate 6th anniversary The Duke and Duchess of Sussex left the royal palace back in 2020 after stepping down from their royal duties. They then went on to make a bombshell Netflix documentary and conduct an explosive Oprah Winfrey interview, accusing the royal family of multiple instances of mistreatment. Prince Williams and King Charles are resisting to meet Harry While the animosity between the brothers is not hidden from anyone, insiders within the royal walls claim that William is clearly against the idea of bringing Harry back, especially after the damage done by those harsh Netflix remarks and excerpts from "Spare." The relationship between father and son, King Charles and Harry, still remains hopeful. The hope for reconciliation skyrocketed after the King was diagnosed with cancer this year, and Harry flew to London to visit him. Also read: Ben Affleck wakes up from Fever Dream marriage to Jennifer Lopez: It just wont work But as per Bond, the tables have turned somewhat. Messages coming from Harry's side are that he's ready at least to forgive and that he loves his family. He's said that quite publicly. He wants to see more of them," She added. But it is Charles and William who seem to be resisting reconciliation at this point so I think it was first one, then the other. Royals not happy with Harrys Nigerian trip The Duke and his wife Meghan recently toured an African country as part of their Invictus milestone. However, once they arrived, the three-day trip was conducted exactly as the royals would conduct their tour. Many criticised the couple for cashing in on the royal name even after being stripped of their royal status. Not only royal followers but also William was reported to be against the idea of the tour. Royal commentator Christopher Andersen earlier told OK Magazine, "They have chosen to ignore Harry, to freeze him out, and to not let him get under their skin when they are facing so many critical challenges," the expert addressing the recent health crisis faced by the UK royals added. "Right now, the royal family is united in its determination to act as if Harry and Meghan dont exist," he continued. One hopes that wont last forever, and that either William or the king will be courageous and far-sighted enough to take the olive branch Harry repeatedly extends to them." PORTLAND, Ore. In Oregons Multnomah County, home to Portland, the progressive district attorney who took office during the social justice movement of 2020 is being challenged by a candidate vowing to be tough on crime, highlighting the growing pressure on liberal prosecutors across the U.S. amid voter concerns over public drug use and disorder. Progressive prosecutor in Portland, Oregon, seeks to fend off tough-on-crime challenger in DA race District Attorney Mike Schmidts term began as the death of George Floyd at the hands of police sparked nightly protests in Portland and a larger national conversation about criminal justice reform. But in the past four years, progressive DAs and candidates in liberal bastions ranging from the San Francisco Bay Area to Seattle have faced setbacks as frustrations over public safety and homelessness have increased. Now, political experts are looking to Portland to see whether such issues could spur a similar shift in the citys electorate. Schmidt is being challenged by one of his own deputies, Nathan Vasquez, who has been a prosecutor in the office for over 20 years. Beginning in about 2020, you see this rise of the progressive prosecutor, said Todd Lochlan, professor of political science at Lewis & Clark College. But some of those candidates were essentially replaced or recalled, and I think whats going on now in the DAs race has something to do with this backlash to what is perceived, correctly or incorrectly, as prosecutors who are not as zealous in convicting people as some might prefer. Generally, progressive district attorneys such as Schmidt support finding alternatives to imprisonment and refraining from prosecuting low-level crimes in a bid to reduce incarceration rates and address social inequities in the criminal justice system. Shortly after taking office in summer 2020, as racial justice demonstrations gripped Portland streets, Schmidt announced that his office wouldnt prosecute protesters unless they were arrested for deliberate property damage, theft, or the use or threat of force against another person. Interfering with a police officer, disorderly conduct and criminal trespass were cited as examples of cases that his office would decline. Schmidt also decided that any charge of resisting arrest or assaulting a public safety officer would be subjected to the highest level of scrutiny. During his term, he also created a unit in his office tasked with reviewing prison sentences and wrongful convictions. Vasquez, endorsed by several police groups, denounced the protester policy, as well as Schmidts past support for Measure 110, a ballot measure approved by voters in 2020 that decriminalized the possession of small amounts of drugs. Amid one of the nation's largest spikes in overdose fatalities, state lawmakers this year ended up rolling back the first-in-the-nation law and restoring criminal penalties for so-called personal use possession. Schmidt supported reinstating the penalties. This race is a test of the voters tolerance coming out of the challenges of Measure 110 and the protests, said Paul Manson, professor of political science at Portland State University. Is there an appetite thats gone after years of some of these challenges? Voter support for progressive prosecutors has been tested elsewhere in the U.S. Pamela Price, the district attorney in Californias Alameda County, which includes Oakland and Berkeley, is facing a recall in November two years after San Francisco voters ousted progressive prosecutor Chesa Boudin. Seattle voters in 2021 elected Republican Ann Davison as city attorney over Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, who called for abolishing jails and police. But in other major cities, efforts to recall progressive prosecutors have faltered. Two attempts to recall Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon, who was elected in 2020, failed to make it to the ballot. The state House in Pennsylvania voted to impeach Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner in 2022, but the states top court ruled that the impeachment articles didnt meet the constitutionally required standard, and the state Senate voted to indefinitely postpone the trial. Both men are still in the role. In Portland, voters have cited homelessness and drugs as top issues in opinion polls. Encampments and public drug use have become increasingly visible, particularly in downtown. Voters also say crime is top of mind, despite provisional FBI statistics showing that U.S. violent crime decreased last year, continuing a downward trend after a pandemic-era spike. Homicides in Portland hit a record 95 in 2022, but decreased to 73 in 2023, and shootings fell by nearly 22% over the same period, according to Portland police data. Generally speaking, tough on crime sells well, said Lochlan. Most voters routinely say that crime is important to them. We know that homelessness is a very important issue. And I would expect that if people perceive those problems are not materially getting better, then they would vote for the challenger under the premise that, well, lets just let someone else give it a try. Schmidt and Vasquez are the only two candidates in Tuesdays nonpartisan primary. The winner will be elected if they get more than 50% of the vote, which is likely because the only other option is to write in a candidate. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Saudi Arabia's national airline ordered more than 100 new Airbus jets, a reflection of the kingdom's ambitious drive to lure more tourists. Saudi Arabia's national carrier orders more than 100 new Airbus jets as it ramps up tourism push Saudia Group, which represents the Saudia airline and its budget carrier Flyadeal, said Monday that it ordered 105 aircraft from the French aerospace company's A320neo family of jets, including 12 A320neos and 93 A321neos. That brings Saudia Group's Airbus aircraft order backlog to 144 of the A320neo family planes. Saudia said it is increasing flights and seat capacity across its existing 100-plus destinations to meet the country's goal of attracting more than 150 million tourists by 2030. In February, Airbus reported healthy results for its commercial aircraft business in its latest annual earnings report and set a target of 800 commercial aircraft deliveries, 67 more than in 2023. Airbuss fortunes contrast with struggles at U.S. rival Boeing, which seemed finally to be recovering from two crashes of Max jets in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia. But on Jan. 5, a door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9, and the company has been reeling ever since. Airbus has benefitted from its decision to launch the A321neo, a single-aisle aircraft with 180 to 230 seats. Neo stands for new engine option, meaning highly fuel efficient engines that save airlines money on one of their biggest costs. Boeing rushed to match it with the Max, a 737 equipped with new, more efficient engines, only to run into a myriad of technical issues. Despite Boeing's woes, Airbus is unlikely to extend its advantage in the Airbus-Boeing duopoly much further because the company already is making planes as fast as it can, with a backlog of more than 8,600 orders to fill. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. A Trump campaign spokesman has lambasted Donald Trump's biopic The Apprentice, which portrays the 45th president as a rapist and seeking to file a lawsuit against the makers. First look at The Apprentice shows Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump and Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn(X, formerly Twitter) We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told The New York Post. This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked, he added. The Apprentice, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday, claims to be inspired by true events, detailing Donald Trumps ascent in New York high society during the 1970s and 1980s. ALSO READ| Donald Trump biopic depicting him as a rapist hits Cannes, prompts lawsuit threats Directed by Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi, the film includes a controversial scene in which Trump is depicted allegedly raping his late ex-wife, Ivana Trump. Ivana Trump, who passed away in July 2022, alleged sexual assault in her 1989 divorce deposition, but she retracted the claim more than 25 years later. In a July 2015 statement released about a month after her ex-husband launched his first presidential campaign, Ivana stated, The story is totally without merit. Trump campaign says the biopic is pure malicious Cheung continued scathing the film, This film is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day, and doesnt even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store; it belongs in a dumpster fire. The Trump campaign adviser further argued that the film's release, less than six months before the 77-year-old former president is set to compete against President Biden in the upcoming election, constitutes election interference. As with the illegal Biden Trials, this is election interference by Hollywood elites, who know that President Trump will retake the White House and beat their candidate of choice because nothing they have done has worked, Cheung told the NYP. ALSO READ| Donald Trump invokes Nazi Germany in poll video, calls for 'unified Reich' The Apprentice stars Sebastian Stan as a young Donald Trump, Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump, and Succession star Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn, Trumps ruthless former lawyer and fixer. The Apprentice has not yet secured US distribution rights One of its investors, billionaire Dan Snyder, was reportedly furious with how it depicted the presumptive Republican nominee for president, according to Variety. The former Washington Commanders owner apparently expected the movie to be a flattering portrayal of the 45th president. On June 2nd almost 100m Mexicans will be eligible to cast a vote to elect the countrys next president. Claudia Sheinbaum of the ruling Morena party is likely to win comfortably. She holds a lead of 25 points in the opinion polls. But the presidency is only one of some 20,000 jobs up for grabs in what will be Mexicos largest election ever, measured by the number of voters and available posts. Mexicans will also elect representatives to all 628 seats in Congress, nine governors, more than 1,000 local legislators and some 18,000 municipal roles. The results will determine the political environment in which the next president will operate. They may also define the future of Mexicos traditional opposition parties, which have been discredited since their last stint in power. What is at stake is the democratic viability of Mexico: the possibility of having a party system that reflects the democratic pluralism of the country, says Clemente Castaneda, a senator running for re-election with Citizens Movement, a relatively young progressive party. Mexicans face a choice between three groupings. Morena is allied with the Labour Party and the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico. The main opposition is the Strength and Heart coalition, which combines the traditional parties, including rivals with differing ideas and agendas: the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that ruled Mexico for seven decades, the National Action Party and the Party of the Democratic Revolution. Citizens Movement is fielding candidates alone. Morenas coalition is unlikely to win the congressional supermajority which would allow it to alter the constitution. (It won one in 2018 but lost it again in 2021.) President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador introduced a package of changes in February to do just that. It includes electing judges by popular vote, closing independent regulatory agencies and increasing government control of the electoral oversight authority. This package looks unlikely to pass. Seven of Mexicos 32 states are disproportionately important, accounting for close to 50% of all votes. They include Mexico City and Nuevo Leon, a northern state that is home to Monterrey, the business capital. Although Ms Sheinbaum is set to carry most of these key states in the presidential vote, the opposition could win in many of the other races. Morena controls rural areas and poorer barrios of towns and cities. But places with richer, more educated populations tend to see more strategic voting patterns, says Daniel Linsker of Control Risks, a consultancy. Voters in Nuevo Leon and Jalisco, another important state for business, are expected to vote for Ms Sheinbaum, but for opposition parties in local elections. Citizens Movement is betting on such split voting. While its presidential candidate is polling in low double digits, the governors of both states were elected from the party. In these elections, cross-voting is urgently necessary to balance powers, says Luis Donaldo Colosio, the Citizens Movement mayor of Monterrey. Holding all the elections on one day will probably boost participation. But it is also likely to enforce a winner-takes-all dynamic that could favour the incumbent. According to Mr Linsker, this dynamic may be particularly strong in elections for Congress, since most Mexicans do not know their candidates. So they simply end up voting for the same party as for the presidency, he explains. Morena, more of a Lopez-Obrador fan club than a party, may lose steam once he leaves the presidency. A third of its governors elected since 2018 used to be members of PRI. They made Machiavellian jumps into Morena to stay in power. The elections are likely to leave Mexican politics in flux once again. Sign up to El Boletin, our subscriber-only newsletter on Latin America, to understand the forces shaping a fascinating and complex region. 2023, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on www.economist.com The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court filed applications on Monday to obtain arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defense minister and Hamas leaders on charges of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Israeli-Hamas bloodshed. If approved, the warrants against Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Miinister Yoav Gallant would be the first time the ICC has targeted a top leader of a close ally of the U.S. Charges against Netanyahu and Gallant detailed in a statement issued by prosecutor Kariim Khan include extermination, starvation, "wilfully causing great suffering," and "intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population." Applications for warrants were also filed for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Hamas military leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, and political leader Ismail Haniyeh. "On the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe" the Hamas leaders were involved in several war crimes and wars against humanity, Khan said in the statement, including "extermination ... murder ... the taking of hostages ... torture ... rape and other sexual violence," Khan said in his statement. "We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Israel by Hamas and other armed groups pursuant to organizational policies. Some of these crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day," Khan noted in the statement. A panel of judges must approve the warrant applications before the warrants can be issued. The applications were filed before Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court in the Situation in the State of Palestine. Netanyahu said last month that any ICC arrest warrants against senior Israeli government and military officials "would be an outrage of historic proportions." He said Israel "has an independent legal system that rigorously investigates all violations of the law." Asked Monday on CNN by correspondent Christian Amanpour about Netanyahu's comments, Khan told her: "Nobody is above the law." Israeli officials are "free, notwithstanding their objections to jurisdiction, to raise a challenge before the [ICC] judges of the court and that's what I advise them to do," he added. A London court has ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can appeal his extradition to the United States on espionage charges. Assange has been indicted on 18 charges in connection with his publication of sensitive and classified U.S. documents. High Court judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson said Assange has grounds to challenge the United Kingdom's government's extradition order, the Associated Press reported. The Royal Courts of Justice decision means Assange will have another chance to try to halt being turned over by British officials. His legal fight has been going on for more than 13 years. Assange's wife, Stella, said lawyers for the U.S. had tried to put "lipstick on a pig - but the judges did not buy it." She said the U.S. should "read the situation" and drop the case. Assange, 52, posted U.S. military secrets back in 2010. Among them was video footage showing a U.S. military helicopter killing civilians in Iraq and documents that indicated that hundreds of civilians had been killed in Afghanistan incidents, USA Today reported. Supporters consider him a beacon of freedom of the press while detractors say he has threatened U.S. security and put government workers across the globe at risk. In April, President Joe Biden said that he was considering Australia's request to dismiss Assange's prosecution. Former New York City mayor and Donald Trump associate Rudy Giuliani had launched a new brand of coffee, while he struggles to pay off millions of dollars of legal debt. Giuliani, 79, is selling three types of coffee - bold, decaf and morning - all bearing the brand name "Rudy." The bags retail at $29.99 and bear images of Giuliani superimposed over an American flag, the Statue of Liberty and a tropical beach. "I've moved at a fast pace, and have had many different roles in life, but the one constant thing has been a good cup of coffee, which is now proven to have health benefits," Giuliani said, in the website's marketing copy. "Please enjoy my delicious fresh roasted specialty coffee. It's quality you can trust." Giuliani filed for bankruptcy in early January after being ordered to pay $148 million in damages to Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea "Shaye" Moss. The former New York mayor defamed the pair by spreading conspiracy theories based on the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen. He also owes over a million dollars to his former attorney and hundreds of thousands to the IRS in back taxes. Assuming the business has no overhead costs, Giuliani would need to sell 4,934,978.33 bags of coffee to pay Freeman and Moss, according to an analysis done by the New Republic. "It may be that Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss are able to chase Rudy Giuliani to his grave to catch every penny they can out of his pockets," former U.S. Attorney Barb McQuade said on MSNBC, in late December. After the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, President Joe Biden affirmed his support for the Israeli government by calling the decision "outrageous". "The ICC prosecutor's application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous," Biden said in a statement on Monday afternoon. "We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security." The ICC is charging Netanyahu and Gallant with war crimes, including the willful starvation and intentional killing of civilians and causing "great suffering" to the Palestinians who reside inside the besieged Gaza Strip. Netanyahu's Hamas counterpart Yahya Sinwar was similarly charged with crimes for the October 7 attack on Israel. In his statement, Biden said there was "no equivalence" between Israel and Hamas - even as tensions between the United States and Israel remain high. American officials have confirmed there is famine in Gaza, acknowledged the Israeli Defense Forces' killing of American aid workers and repeatedly warned Israel to not carry out a ground invasion of the Gazan city Rafah. Senator Jim Risch, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the ICC's decision "absurd," adding that it "continues to be obsessed with targeting Israel during its time of need. There is no cause for why the court should be investigating Israel as it is not a party to the Rome Statute and Israel has a fully functional judiciary." ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan alleged that his office has detailed evidence of Israel committing war crimes, including video footage and interviews with victims. "We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy," he wrote in an ICC statement. "These crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day." Both Hamas and Israel criticized the ICC for drawing equivalences between the two. Hamas said that arresting "Palestinian resistance leaders" alongside Israeli politicians would be equating "victim with the executioner." Israeli President Isaac Herzog said it was "outrageous" to "draw parallels between these atrocious terrorists and a democratically elected government." The Supreme Court declined Monday to review a Maryland law that bans the purchase, sale or transfer of assault-style rifles but has yet to decide whether it will consider other pending appeals involving the weapons. The high court's justices didn't say why they turned down the case, but taking it up would have been unusual because the law is still being reviewed by a lower federal appeals court in Virginia. The 2013 statute was enacted following the mass shooting that killed 20 children and two adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. It's being challenged by Maryland residents who want to buy the banned weapons: a firearms dealer and three gun rights groups who sued the state in 2020. There are similar appeals still pending before the Supreme Court that involve challenges to an Illinois ban on assault-style rifles and high capacity magazines, which would allow it to still take up the issue. In 2022, the court's 6-3 conservative majority struck down a New York law that imposed limits on carrying concealed weapons, saying it violated Americans' constitutional right to self defense. The Maryland plaintiffs contend that banning semiautomatic rifles like the popular AR-15 also violates the Second Amendment, he Associated Press reported. Maryland's attorney general has defended the law on grounds that assault-style rifles are "highly dangerous, military-style" weapons that have been used in multiple mass shootings, including the one at Sandy Hook Elementary. Under Maryland's law, a semiautomatic rifle is considered a banned "assault weapon" if it has any combination of a folding stock, flash suppressor and grenade or flare launcher. The law also bans rifles that are shorter than 29 inches when their stocks are fully extended and there are no removable additions to the barrels. Military assault weapons generally have a selector switch that allows the user to fire in either semiautomatic mode, meaning one shot per trigger pull, or fully automatic, in which a single trigger pull can fire all the rounds in the magazine. A transgender student is seeking a protective order against Oklahoma education officials to prohibit them from revealing the student's identity, according to a report Monday. The unusual request came in connection with a pending lawsuit against state Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters and the state Board of Education over a request to change the student's name and gender in school records, the Oklahoman said, citing court records. It also followed a ruling in which a federal judge agreed to let the student be identified using the pseudonym "J. Doe," but the case has since been transferred to state court, the Oklahoman said. The student's lawsuit, filed in December, challenges an emergency rule proposed by Walters in September to prohibit local schools from "altering sex or gender designation" in their records "without authorization from the State Board of Education," according to a copy posted online by Oklahoma Watch. The rule was adopted by the board in January, with Walters saying it would allow schools to "focus on academics and to stop this left-wing nonsense," public radio station KOSU reported at the time. "I've heard this from folks of all political backgrounds, that we do not want these transgender games going on in our school," Walters said. The student's motion for a protective order was initially filed on April 15, when the student's lawyers said the defendants hadn't responded to attempts "at obtaining agreement" over the issue of the student's identity, according to the Oklahoman. The following day, a lawyer representing the state Education Department called one of the student's lawyers, Leslie Briggs of the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, who then withdrew the motion pending further discussions, according to the Oklahoman. But on May 14, the student's lawyers renewed their request for a protective order and said it was needed because Walters and Bryan Cleveland, the department's former general counsel, had already identified the student at a public meeting of the state school board. In an email that's part of the new motion, Briggs reportedly said the Education Department had proposed sealing all hearings in the case and subjecting both sides to a gag order, which Briggs said would mean that Walters and Cleveland would get to "purposely misgender the Plaintiff without reproach." The Education Department's lawyer, Jason Reese, wrote that the question of identifying the student "should be in the discretion of the court as matters unfold," according to the Oklahoman. A spokesperson for Walters and the school board didn't immediately return a request for comment from HNGN on Monday. A lawsuit filed against Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee accusing him of sexual assault during a 2003 San Diego helicopter ride has been dropped after a judge ruled the statute of limitations had not been met. The plaintiff, identified only as Jane Doe in court documents, filed the request to dismiss her lawsuit without prejudice Friday, leaving the door open to future refiling. "The voluntary dismissal thus has nothing to do with the veracity of Ms. Doe's claim, but instead results solely from the Court's recent ruling that the procedural requirements of the current statute of limitations governing adult sexual assault cases have not been met - a ruling with which we strongly disagree," her lawyer, Melissa Eubanks, said in a statement to Rolling Stone. "We anticipate that currently pending legislation will reopen the window for adult survivors of sexual assault to pursue claims directly against their perpetrators, and Ms. Doe fully intends to re-pursue her claims and to seek the recourse she deserves when that legislation is enacted." Lee's lawyer Sasha Frid called the dismissal a "complete vindication for Tommy Lee." "He has maintained from the very beginning that these allegations were bogus and false. The plaintiff voluntarily dismissed her claims. This dismissal was not subject to any settlement," Frid said to the outlet. According to court documents filed in December, Jane Doe accused helicopter pilot David Martz of luring her on the ride under the pretense of a sightseeing tour, the outlet reported. She claimed she was surprised when they picked up the now 61-year-old rocker. During the helicopter ride from San Diego County to Van Nuys, California, Lee allegedly sexually assaulted the victim, while Martz who died in a 2015 private plane crash "merely watched." "... plaintiff was in tears, but she had nowhere to go - she was trapped with little mobility to leave the cockpit," the documents obtained by the magazine stated. Jane Doe alleged she experienced "great shock, distress, humiliation, shame, and guilt," from the incident. The plaintiff accused Lee and Martz of having "a history of engaging in indecent and illegal conduct on Martz's helicopter." U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged the European Union to block below-market priced technology from China including solar panels and wind turbines. She made the comments as she was awarded an honorary doctorate at the Frankfurt School in Germany. Yellen warned that cheap Chinese exports represent a grave threat to the global economy. She noted that China has grown from representing 3% of the global economy to 20%. The Treasury Secretary says that China's over-saturation of cheap goods not only hurts the U.S. and Europe but could stop emerging countries from being able to develop their own manufacturing economy. "The viability of businesses around the world could be at risk," Yellen said. She also warned that critical mineral supply chains are "over-concentrated in China." TUNE IN as I deliver remarks at the @FrankfurtSchool on the importance of the transatlantic alliance for people in the U.S., Europe, and around the world. https://t.co/MAd1Tcbr8m Secretary Janet Yellen (@SecYellen) May 21, 2024 Her comments came hours after European Commission President Ursula von der Leven indicated the EU is considering joining the US to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, the Guardian reports. She noted the importance of the transatlantic alliance for the people of the U.S. and Europe, especially after Russia invaded Ukraine. Passengers involved in a deadly incident of severe turbulence on Tuesday described the terror they experienced on the Singapore Airlines flight. The plane was headed from London's Heathrow Airport to Singapore when the problems started. The fasten seatbelt signs came on and the plane suddenly dropped. Passengers described people being "launched into the ceiling." A video posted to social media showed the moment when the turbulence hit. This is the moment a flight attendant was thrown to the ceiling of the plane after violent turbulence. Ten people had minor injuries on the flight from Pristina to EuroAirport Basel. For the latest videos, head here: https://t.co/hhDQuQ1top pic.twitter.com/q55fSGl1dQ Sky News (@SkyNews) June 17, 2019 The video showed one woman hitting her head on the roof of the plane as items rained down on passengers. Screams are heard in the video. One woman is shown appearing to pray in the moments that followed. Airport officials in Bangkok say the victim who died was a 73-year-old British man who likely suffered a heart attack. He was identified as Geoffrey Kitchen, a musical theatre director who was traveling with his wife, the Times of London reported. 18 were hospitalized, the airlines reported. Seven of the passengers reportedly suffered critical injuries. The plane was at 37,000 feet but rapidly dropped around 6,000 feet, flight tracking data on FlightAware showed. Passenger Dzafran Azmir described the scene to Sky News. "Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it," Azmire said. "They hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it." Passenger Andrew Davies posted on X, "Lots of people injured - including the air stewards who were stoic and did everything they could." "People's belongings scattered, coffee and water splattered the ceiling. Surreal. So many injured people. head lascerations, bleeding ears. A lady was screaming in pain with a bad back. I couldn't help her - just got her water," Davies said. Lots of people injured - including the air stewards who were stoic and did everything they could. Bangkok emergency services quick to respond. Very little warning. The seatbelt sign came on, I put on my seatbelt straightaway then the plane just dropped. Andrew Davies (@andrewdavies_70) May 21, 2024 The airline says the Boeing 777-300ER diverted to Bangkok and landed about 3:45 p.m. local time at Suvarnabhumi Airport. There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board. Aftermath of Singapore Airlines flight 321 from London to Singapore which had to divert to Bangkok due to severe turbulence. One death passenger and several injured. Blood everywhere, destroyed cabin. #singaporeairlines #sq321 pic.twitter.com/C2FgrVt9yv Josh Cahill (@gotravelyourway) May 21, 2024 "Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased," the company said in a statement on social media. It added that it was working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance to passengers. They were also sent a team to Bangkok to assist. There were 211 passengers and 18 crew on board the plane. The nationalities of the passengers are as follows: 56 from Australia, 2 from Canada, 1 from Germany, 3 from India, 2 from Indonesia, 1 from Iceland, 4 from Ireland, 1 from Israel, 16 from Malaysia, 2 from Myanmar, 23 from New Zealand, 5 from the Philippines, 41 from Singapore, 1 from South Korea, 2 from Spain, 47 from the United Kingdom and 4 from the United States. When Georgia Democrats head to the polls on Tuesday, they'll be voting in an unusually high profile primary election - as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis faces challenger Christian Wise Smith. There is limited polling available in this race, as is common with state-level primaries for less prominent roles. However, the polling that does exist indicates that Willis will retain the Democratic nomination, heading into the general election. In late April, Georgia-based political consultant Fred Hicks polled 1,000 Democratic voters in the Peach State. An overwhelming 79% of voters said that they planned to vote for Willis, while just nine percent planned to vote for Wise Smith. Wise Smith is an attorney and the founder of the National Social Justice Alliance. The organization brings prosecutors from across the United States together to "end police brutality," according to his website. Willis, 52, rose to national prominence for her criminal investigation in former President Donald Trump's alleged attempts to interfere with the 2020 presidential election. Her office indicted Trump and 18 others on a slew of felony charges - including lying to state officials, harassing election workers and engaging in a cover-up. Willis was almost immediately the target of right-wing criticism, with Trump describing her as a "rabid partisan" who indicted the former president and his associates based on "fabricated accusations." Earlier this year, Willis was subject to scrutiny after one of the defendants in the election interference case filed a motion to dismiss the indictment and disqualify Willis' office, based on her having a conflict of interest. The motion was based on Willis' past romantic relationship with lead prosecutor Nathan Wade. A judge ruled that Willis did not have a financial conflict of interest but decided that either Wade or Willis would have to leave the case - prompting Wade to resign. This primary comes as Trump is waiting to hear the results of one of his other criminal cases. In Manhattan, the former president is facing several felony charges due to his role in allegedly paying off adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Amal Clooney played an instrumental role in the International Criminal Court's bid to seek an arrest warrant for Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Clooney, a prominent human rights lawyer, was reveleaed to be one of the six legal experts who assisted British prosecutor Karim Khan in reaching the decision to pursue warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders. The human rights lawyer, who is also married to actor George Clooney, said that her assistance was requested in helping Khan evaluate the evidence of alleged war crimes in Gaza and Israel four months ago. "As a human rights lawyer, I will never accept that one child's life has less value than another's. I do not accept that any conflict should be beyond the reach of the law, nor that any perpetrator should be above the law," Clooney said in a statement posted to her own foundation's website. The announcement came as a surprise to many, as she's faced backlash for months now from both critics and fans for remaining tight-lipped on the catastrophic war in Gaza that has so far killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, most of whom are women and children. On social media, many of those who had doubted her commitment to human rights apologized for their cruel comments. "I fully take back the criticism of Amal Clooney for not speaking publicly about Gaza. She couldn't, as she was involved with the proceedings," one commenter wrote. "Amal Clooney was quietly working on the ICC proceedings to bring Israel to The Hague for war crimes while she was being dragged online for not posting about Gaza. Queen, sorry we doubted you," posted another. Those angry with the ICC expressed their disdain over the ruling. An Israeli official slammed the move as "baseless blood libel" against the country, according to The Daily Mail. '[The] ICC prosecutor's baseless blood libel against Israel has crossed a red line in his lawfare efforts against the lone Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East,' the official told the Financial Times. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken denounced the action, calling it a "shameful" attempt by the ICC prosecutor to arrest Israeli leaders, as he rejected the court's authority and said the move will put ceasefire efforts at risk. "We reject the prosecutor's equivalence of Israel with Hamas. It is shameful,' Blinken said in a statement." Several other foreign leaders were not far behind, also releasing statements denouncing the ICC's findings. California police officers working with the Drug Enforcement Agency are reportedly investigating who supplied Matthew Perry the ketamine that contributed to the actor's death last fall. Perry, 54, was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his home in Los Angeles, on October 28. The County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner ruled that Perry's death was the result of "the acute effects of ketamine" with "drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine" cited as contributing factors. While Perry had been receiving medically supervised ketamine infusions to treat his depression, the drugs found during the coroner's investigation were not from medical professionals. Sources told TMZ that investigators have approached individuals connected to recreational drug use, in order to find more information regarding Perry's death. The "Friends" actor went to rehab 15 times during his lifelong battle with drug and alcohol addiction. He opened about the experience in his 2022 memoir, "Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing" - detailing the millions of dollars spent and numerous medical procedures he underwent as a result of his addiction. In the years leading up to his death, Perry shared that he had gotten sober. When he died, however, the amount of ketamine in his system was equivalent to that given as general anesthesia for surgical patients. After the drug overdose death of rapper Mac Miller, there were similar investigations into the individuals who provided him with drugs. The man who delivered drugs to Miller was sentenced to 11 years in prison. A man visiting a Wyoming national park was nearly mauled to death after a surprise run-in with two grizzly bears. The 35-year-old Massachusetts man suffered serious injuries Sunday at Grand Teton National Park in Moose, Wyoming, according to the National Park Service. "Based on initial reports from the injured visitor and preliminary information conducted as part of an ongoing investigation of the site, law enforcement rangers and park biologists believe the incident was a surprise encounter with two grizzly bears, with one of the bears contacting and injuring the visitor," park officials said. The victim was airlifted out of the park and transported via ambulance to a local hospital, where his condition is stable. The attack prompted the closures of Signal Mountain Summit Road and Signal Mountain Trail. In order to prevent bear attacks, the NPS advised visitors make noise, carry bear spray, and hike in groups of three or more. If a bear is encountered, park officials say to back away slowly. "Do not run," officials advised. IHG Hotels & Resorts (IHG), one of the world's leading hotel companies, today announced three signings across its fast-growing global luxury and lifestyle portfolio in Turks & Caicos for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants and Hotel Indigo. Developed in partnership with owner Molo Hotel Group and UK-based management group Lighthouse Hotel Management, both Slominski family owned companies, the resorts will mark IHG's debut on the celebrated Caribbean island and are all poised to open by 2027. Set on Turks & Caicos' picturesque Grace Bay, the properties will be brought to life by Glasgow-based architecture and interior design studio Ica, working in partnership with Turks & Caicos-based Conservative Architecture and Miami-based landscape architecture firm EDSA. Visitors and locals alike will be presented with three distinct island respites: InterContinental Turks & Caicos: Boasting a coveted beachfront location, the new-build InterContinental Turks & Caicos will exude approachable sophistication spanning seven stories. The all-suite property will be comprised of 59 spacious retreats offering panoramic ocean vistas. A ground floor restaurant and bar, outdoor pool, on-site fitness center and signature Club InterContinental lounge will encourage guests to relax and rejuvenate at their desired pace. Following InterContinental's announcement of its distinctive global brand evolution, guests also can expect to enjoy culturally rich experiences that expand minds and satisfy desires for knowledge. Boasting a coveted beachfront location, the new-build InterContinental Turks & Caicos will exude approachable sophistication spanning seven stories. The all-suite property will be comprised of 59 spacious retreats offering panoramic ocean vistas. A ground floor restaurant and bar, outdoor pool, on-site fitness center and signature Club InterContinental lounge will encourage guests to relax and rejuvenate at their desired pace. Following InterContinental's announcement of its distinctive global brand evolution, guests also can expect to enjoy culturally rich experiences that expand minds and satisfy desires for knowledge. Kimpton Turks & Caicos: The 192-room new-build Kimpton Turks & Caicos will offer a sense of retreat at every step. In addition to its awe-inspiring shoreline setting, the boutique luxury property will feature three outdoor pools as well as a spa and fitness center. An impressive seven dining options will include a beachfront restaurant, rooftop bar, poolside bars, ice cream and coffee parlor, juice bar as well as a ground floor restaurant and lobby bar. As with all Kimptons, beloved perks such as morning coffee and tea, evening social hour, "Forgot It? We've Got It!" amenity program, in-room yoga mats, complimentary bicycles and pet-friendly policies will further elevate guests' stays. The 192-room new-build Kimpton Turks & Caicos will offer a sense of retreat at every step. In addition to its awe-inspiring shoreline setting, the boutique luxury property will feature three outdoor pools as well as a spa and fitness center. An impressive seven dining options will include a beachfront restaurant, rooftop bar, poolside bars, ice cream and coffee parlor, juice bar as well as a ground floor restaurant and lobby bar. As with all Kimptons, beloved perks such as morning coffee and tea, evening social hour, "Forgot It? We've Got It!" amenity program, in-room yoga mats, complimentary bicycles and pet-friendly policies will further elevate guests' stays. Hotel Indigo Turks & Caicos: Just steps away from the InterContinental and Kimpton resorts, Hotel Indigo Turks & Caicos will bring to life the Hotel Indigo brand's ethos as The World's Neighborhood Hotel. The resort, which emulates the beautiful, laid-back vibe of its surrounding neighborhood - from the design and decor to the dishes served on property - will invite guests to discover something new that only Turks & Caicos can offer. The 56-room resort will be spread over one new building as well as two existing structures that will undergo a complete transformation. Guests can mingle amongst the locals at the on-site restaurant, lobby bar or coffee shop, while an outdoor pool and fitness room will be available exclusively for those staying on-property. Hotel website Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: WH) appointed Amit Sripathi Chief Development Officer reporting to the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer, Geoff Ballotti. Sripathi will lead Wyndham's North American franchise sales team as they help hotel owners tap into the power of the world's largest hotel franchise company and its iconic brands. After a successful career, which began at Wyndham's predecessor company, Hospitality Franchise Systems, Chip Ohlsson, Chief Development Officer, will be leaving the Company in June. During his tenure, Chip helped expand the Wyndham portfolio from 14 to 25 brands including ECHO Suites Extended Stay by Wyndham, the industry's fastest-growing, new-construction brand launch. A champion for diversity on the franchise sales team and for owners, Chip was instrumental in creating groundbreaking programs like Women Own the RoomSM (an industry first) and BOLD SM by Wyndham, which help make our industry more diverse while bringing new owners into the Wyndham family. "From launching his sales career with us in 1993, to returning nearly ten years ago to lead our North America franchise sales teams, Chip has shown unwavering commitment to Wyndham and our franchisees," said Ballotti. "We are extremely grateful for his proven leadership and ability to attract, promote and develop a best-in-class sales team that consistently delivers, and we wish him all the best." Mohari Hospitality, a global investment platform with an emphasis on the luxury hospitality and lifestyle sector, and Weller Development Partners, a leading developer of luxury hospitality and branded residential properties, today announced a programmatic relationship that will unlock new opportunities for growth for both companies and further solidify Weller's position as a preeminent developer in the luxury hospitality market. The combined resources of Weller and Mohari will catalyze future development of exceptional luxury hospitality assets in key markets throughout North America and the Caribbean. Moharis programmatic investment will not only bolster Wellers existing investments, including Six Senses Napa and Six Senses Grand Bahama, but will also provide a go-forward platform to co-invest in up to $2.5B of luxury hospitality and mixed-use projects throughout North America and the Caribbean. This partnership represents a powerful union of like-minded companies built on entrepreneurial spirit, innovation, environmental sustainability, and a shared commitment to community engagement. Mohari is dedicated to partnering with organizations that share our values as well as our vision for long-term investing. Weller Developments impressive, proven track record of developing exceptional luxury assets complements the capabilities of our firm and team well, and we look forward to combining our shared resources to continue both of our organizations commitments to creating best-in-class hospitality and leisure properties in key global luxury markets. J. Allen Smith, Managing Partner, Mohari Hospitality This partnership with Mohari Hospitality marks a transformative step for Weller Development Partners as we intensify our commitment to revolutionize the branded residential space. Moharis unique combination of entrepreneurial spirit and institutional experience is exactly what we look for in a strategic partner. This partnership aligns perfectly with our triple-bottom-line approach to development, and it will give us the runway we need to continue to source and develop world-class luxury hospitality projects for years to come. Our shared vision with Mohari ensures that projects like Six Senses Grand Bahama and Six Senses Napa will not only meet but exceed the aspirations of the most discerning global travelers, setting a new benchmark for luxury living. Marc Weller, Founder and CEO of Weller Development Partners The synergy between Mohari and Weller extends beyond development goals, as both companies share a strong commitment to social responsibility and environmental sustainability. Moharis dedication to supporting local cultural heritage and natural environments in the communities in which the company invests aligns well with Weller's triple-bottom-line approach that prioritizes community engagement and environmental sustainability along with profitability, creating a partnership built on shared purpose. Weller Development Partners, established in 2012, boasts a proven track record of success, exceeding $1.5 billion in investment and developing over two million square feet of luxury hospitality, residential, and mixed-use projects across the United States and The Bahamas. Their impressive portfolio includes the award-winning Sagamore Pendry Baltimore, a waterfront hotel ranked #1 in the US by Conde Nast Traveler's Readers' Choice Awards in 2018. Further solidifying their position as a leader in innovative luxury hospitality, Weller Development Partners is responsible for developing two of the first North American locations for the prestigious global hospitality brand, Six Senses. Six Senses Grand Bahama, slated for completion in 2026, offers a unique blend of wellness, sustainability, and unparalleled access to the island's pristine beauty. The 50-acre development will include 28 branded residences designed by award-winning architecture firm, Olson Kundig, and 64 resort villas designed by Gensler, as well as a signature Six Senses Spa, multiple restaurants, event space, beach club, and oceanfront pool. Six Senses Napa will introduce the brand's distinctive approach to wellness, environmental sustainability, and luxury to the renowned California wine country. Six Senses Napa features 16 branded residential homes and 89 resort keys designed by the acclaimed Olson Kundig, as well as Six Senses Spa, multiple restaurants, event space, vineyards, mineral springs, lakes and an abundance of natural wonders sprawling across the 750 acre property. From Paper to Platform: Future-Proof Your Procurement Team With Digital Transformation In an eye-opening survey by PwC, global procurement professionals have spoken when it comes to their digital transformation initiatives. By 2025, procurement departments have an average target of 72% digitalisation, with efficiency, transparency, traceability, and cost savings as some of their main drivers. Procure-to-Pay (P2P) has also benefited the most from the digital transformation of any procurement process, ahead of areas like spend analysis and supplier management. This may be because recent reports cite that digital procurement can reduce processing costs by up to 50% and increase efficiency by 60%. Slow adopters in hospitality should take note, especially considering the impact of industry-specific challenges like labour shortages. Legacy procurement systems overwhelm workers with manual tasks while reducing visibility, making purchasing cycles even longer. Larger hotel chains are notorious for siloed goals, data, and communication between procurement and other operations, creating even more friction points. Theres also the challenge of navigating price volatility, supply disruptions, and seasonality, which can make it difficult for hospitality procurement to optimise spend and adhere to budgets. Adding greater complexity to this environment is evolving guest expectations. Hotel procurement must be able to adapt quickly to customer demands, especially those surrounding social and environmental responsibility, as well as more personalised and experiential offerings. These factors point to increased pressure to streamline procurement processes through digital transformation, freeing up personnel to focus on higher-value tasks. By adopting solutions like cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and automation, hotels can gain more control, efficiency, and agility in their purchasing cycles. This is key to staying competitive and realising cost savings, even in an uncertain economy. Are you future-ready? While digital transformation has become an industry buzzword, there are specific ways that emerging technologies can enhance the function of hotel procurement. Processes like purchase order creation, invoicing, and supplier selection can be fully automated, eliminating manual tasks while shortening the procurement cycle. Workers can focus on more complex and value-generating responsibilities, like fostering relationships with strategic suppliers. Benefits of digital procurement include: Faster and more efficient procurement process Reduced costs and improved performance Elimination of unnecessary tasks User-friendly applications Increased user satisfaction Quick returns on investment Improved adherence to rules and increased flexibility 24/7 insight into procurement operations Proactive risk management in the supply chain Data-backed decision support High capacity for excellent service delivery There are many avenues to procurement digitalisation, but moving P2P software to the cloud is a must for any hotel aiming to future-proof its purchasing strategy. When hosted in the cloud, P2P centralises operations and communication in one place, making it easier for procurement teams to collaborate both internally and externally. Supplier portals allow for real-time information and document sharing with vendors, supporting improved supplier relationship management. Cross-department information, such as financial metrics, can also be securely shared. This not only minimises information silos but also helps align procurement with the hotels broader goals and roadmap. Whats more, P2P software can leverage tools like AI and data analytics to improve efficiency and help procurement make more strategic decisions. These insights allow for greater spend visibility, helping hoteliers reduce risk and realise cost-saving opportunities. For example, data analytics can quickly and accurately: Identify supplier performance and critical suppliers Predict market and consumer trends Gauge inventory demands Detect fraud, risk, or maverick spend An advanced procurement platform can also help hotels meet targets when it comes to social and environmental responsibility. Rather than searching for and comparing vendors manually, P2P systems can use advanced filters to find sustainable and diverse-owned suppliers. Hotels can also more confidently document their purchasing practices, which is beneficial for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting and compliance with other mandates. Its also an effective way to address changing guest values, which are increasingly concerned with responsible sourcing and ethical practices in the companies they purchase from. Maximise your investment with a P2P system created by hoteliers, for hoteliers By digitally transforming the procurement process, hoteliers can make more cost-effective purchasing decisions, streamline the procurement cycle, facilitate stronger vendor relationships, and improve procurement efficiency and collaboration. These outcomes are all crucial for staying competitive and resilient, even in an unfavourable economy or hiring market. Hotels that want to adapt quickly to consumer expectationsespecially those concerned with sustainability and transparencywill also benefit from more agile, tech-driven purchasing cycles. Adopting a cloud-based P2P system effectively achieves these results, helping hotels unlock sophisticated capabilities like AI. However, not all procurement solutions are created equal. By using software designed specifically for hospitality applications, hoteliers can ensure that digital transformation investments address their unique challenges and deliver a significant ROI over the long term. This is the guiding principle behind FutureLog, a digital procurement platform built by procurement strategists with 25+ years of experience in supporting digital transformation initiatives for some of the worlds leading hospitality organisations. FutureLog uses a FutureLog uses a centralised, cloud-based approach to fundamentally transform hotel procurement, promoting streamlined communication and connectivity between all P2P stakeholders. Its a smart investment that can help your purchasing team deliver greater valuenot just within the procurement function itself, but for the entire organisation. About the Author: Johannes Vocke is the Chief Financial Officer at FutureLog, the leading global cloud-based procure-to-pay platform for the hospitality and gastronomy industries. Prior to joining FutureLog, Johannes spent over a decade at prestigious Big 4 firms spanning Germany, the U.S.A. and Switzerland, working primarily on professional audit services and honing his skills in finance. With an M.Sc. in Accounting and Taxation from Mannheim, Germany's #1 Business School, and a B.Sc. in Economics and Law from the University of Munster, Johannes is responsible for leading all strategic financial initiatives across the organisation and is driven by his passion for innovation, analytics, and process optimisation. In his free time, he enjoys travelling, exploring the great outdoors (sometimes on foot, sometimes on his motorbike!), and is an avid festival-goer. Connect with Johannes on LinkedIn. About FutureLog FutureLog provides a fully integrated, cloud-based procure-to-pay platform for the hospitality industry. We facilitate an end-to-end procurement process from purchasing, through inventory management and up to invoice processing; all available in one platform to save you time and money. The FutureLog procure-to-pay platform is the foundation for seamless connectivity between Hotel Operations, Corporate Centres and Suppliers. Suzanne Ward Vice President Digital Marketing and Communication +41 41 759 1861 FutureLog Excerpt from Reuters Commercial real estate information giant CoStar (CSGP.O), and a group of high-end hotels have asked a U.S. judge to dismiss claims that they improperly shared data to keep room prices artificially high, calling the case "fanciful." CoStar and six hotel operators including Hilton (HLT.N), Hyatt (H.N), and Marriott (MAR.O), said in their Seattle federal court filing, on Friday that there was no evidence that they conspired to fix prices. CoStar, Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott either had no immediate comment or did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and neither did an attorney for the consumer plaintiffs.The defendant hotels shared prices, supply and future plans, allowing participating companies to use rivals strategic information to inflate prices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, New York, Nashville, Chicago, Boston, Austin and other cities, according to the lawsuit. Click here to read complete article at Reuters. Image Credit Leyad Henry Zavriyev, founder and CEO of Leyad, announced the acquisition of Hotel & Spa Lac Brome, a premier lakeside destination on Lac Brome. This marks Leyad's inaugural foray into the hospitality sector, reflecting its commitment to diversification and strategic growth. The hotel boasts 477 feet of pristine lake frontage, offering guests unparalleled views and tranquil surroundings. With 40 elegantly appointed rooms, a boutique restaurant serving French cuisine, state-of-the-art conference facilities, and a rejuvenating spa, Hotel & Spa Lac Brome epitomizes comfort and relaxation. Henry Zavriyev expressed his enthusiasm about this milestone acquisition, stating, "We are thrilled to announce Leyad's entry into the hospitality industry with the acquisition of Hotel & Spa Lac Brome. This property perfectly aligns with our vision of diversifying investments into new real estate asset classes." Leyad plans to enhance the guest experience at Hotel & Spa Lac Brome through a comprehensive renovation program. The renovation will encompass various aesthetic improvements to the premises, aimed at elevating the ambiance and modernizing the facilities while preserving the hotel's unique charm and character. "We are committed to investing in the revitalization of Hotel & Spa Lac Brome to ensure it remains a premier destination for travelers seeking comfort, tranquility, and unparalleled service," added Zavriyev. Three projects asked for the largest allocation of $175,000: the Berkshire Dream Center's bell tower restoration, Allegrone Companies' restoration of the Wright Building block (above), and the West Legends' first-time homebuyer build. Pittsfield Council Sees $808K in Community Preservation Funds PITTSFIELD, Mass. The City Council last week saw 11 Community Preservation Act funding allocations totaling $808,547. They were referred to the Committee of the Whole for final approval. An overall funding request of $1,614,363 across 14 projects was shaved down to partial funding for most of the projects, ranging from $7,881 to $175,000. "Due to the large dollar amount of the requests, the Committee had to prioritize projects of the highest need and immediacy and reduce some funding requests while maintaining the feasibility of the projects," Director of Community Development Justine Dodds wrote in a communication to the council. "Applicants were asked to revise their request to reflect the minimum amount needed to complete their project if reductions needed to be made." Three projects asked for the largest allocation of $175,000: the Berkshire Dream Center's bell tower restoration, Allegrone Companies' restoration of the Wright Building block, and the West Legends' first-time homebuyer build. The bell tower's overall cost is estimated to be nearly $626,000 and the organization requested $390,000. Built in 1911, it has displaced masonry and several locations and the goal is to repair the most critical areas and repoint the masonry so that it is stable again. "Worse than what you can see is the amount of rain and water damage that is in the backup wythes (verticals) of masonry. What we discovered in Phase 1, is that the masonry backup at these locations are constantly getting washed out from rain and getting displaced from the freeze thaw," the application reads. "This is highly destabilizing to the tower itself, and if left alone would lead to total collapse. Fully repairing the tower is vital to the longevity and safety of the building with the programs that are currently offered to the community within it. The speed at which the tower will lose integrity will increase every year that it's left alone, as will the cost to rebuild this part of the historic building." Allegrone has planned a $18 million overhaul of the historic Wright Building and the Jim's House of Shoes property and requested $350,000 in CPA funds. The project will combine the two buildings into one development, retaining the commercial storefronts on North Street and providing 35 new rental units, 28 of which will be market-rate units and seven of which will be affordable. In June 2023, the council adopted an overall budget of $848,659.58 for the fiscal year 2024 administration of the CPA, including an estimated local surcharge of $450,000, an estimated state match of $132,000, and a carry-over reserve from FY2023 of $266,659.58. "The actual match from the state was $119,510, lower than anticipated," Dodds reported. "Locally, the City generated $497,409.16, which was slightly higher than the original estimate." The FY25 CPA budget is $602,555 with an estimated $450,000 raised through the City surcharge and an estimated $110,000 through the state match. FY24 CPA Projects: Clarksburg Officials Keep PreK Program Free The Select Board at the joint meeting with the School Committee agrees to use free cash to offset the school budget. CLARKSBURG, Mass. Town and school officials came together on Monday in hopes of compromising over a tight budget. Instead, they ended up agreeing to dip into their reserves to ensure that prekindergarten program will continue free for town residents. The Select Board had been pushing for the school budget to come in at a 2 percent increase. The School Committee on Monday was prepared to vote a budget up by $128,454, or 4.53 percent. After an hour and a half of discussion, the school budget had gone up $1,000 to $2,967,609.58 and town officials agreed to commit $72,000 in free cash they'd wanted to set aside for the school roof. "Your budget's gone up today not down," said Town Administrator Carl McKinney. "That's not the goal here." "I know that," responded Supertentendent John Franzoni. "But we did what you wanted us to do." School officials had proposed to charge $300 a month for the prekindergarten program for 4-year-olds that was expected to bring in at least $30,000 a year. That program has been free for residents but residents and non-residents had been charged for 3-year-olds. "We are doing what we've been asked to do," said Franzoni. "Increase the revenues while trying to get expenses as steady as possible." He pointed out that the school has been bringing in revenue in the form of Chapter 70 education aid, which will increase by $255,552 for fiscal 2025 while the town's net spending will decrease by nearly $150,000. The jump in Chapter 70 is from a jump of 20 students to an enrollment of 216 largely from families moving into town over the past year. The School Committee reduced the number of school-choice slots in response. The budget estimated a total of $56,500 from the preK programs. But Jamie Boucher, a staff member, said charging parents now for 4-year-olds could be difficult. "This is hard for me as a school employee and as a parent," she said. "We voted in 2021 to have the preschool program and there was not going to be a charge and I feel like that could be a problem." Other schools have a nominal fee she said and Franzoni said no other school in the Northern Berkshire School Union charges for prekindergarten. Committee member Mary Giron said the "town's situation put us in this situation. ... "We're getting grants and cutting corners as much as we can without sacrificing the integrity of what we do here." "This is not easy for any of us," said Chair Laura Wood. Giron asked if the cost could be cut and the committee decided to add another $15,000 to the $250,000 in school choice funds they'd already committed to cover half the program. Business Administrator Lisa Blackmer said the school choice account was very low and she couldn't confirm if there was $30,000 to fully cover the preK. Boucher turned to the town officials and asked if that side could put anything toward the program. "The problem is obviously there's not enough money. We all wish that we had the money to do it," said Select Board Chair Robert Norcross. "We were just doing numbers and it looks like we've got to cut $53,000 out of the town side if you can't cut any more here." The town's hoping to add a fourth laborer to the Highway Department, increase the accountant's hours and ensure employees get compensated, he said, adding the town was "falling apart" because of the many infrastructure. The school budget as it stood meant a $53,000 cut on the town side. McKinney said the town was limited by minimal growth, nominal increases in state aid and the restrictions of Proposition 2 1/2. "You have challenges, too. I clearly understand that," he said. "But at the same time, we're not frivolous with we're good stewards of the taxpayer's dollars." Newly elected Select Board member Andrew Colton saying he strongly supported keeping it free. "We talked about how important it was last year to keep it free because the town had voted for it," said Select Board member Daniel Haskins. McKinney said there was $18,000 in free cash that could be put toward the program. Franzoni questioned the $167,000 in free cash being put away as a match for state money for the roof. "I appreciate all the hard work you're doing in trying to get money for the roof," he said, but "the direct quote that I got from MSBA is that they are not going to approve us for accelerated repair in this building because we were approved whatever seven-eight years ago for a full renovation." The Massachusetts School Building Authority had scotched a $500,000 earmark for the roof because the school is not up to educational building standards. Norcross said he had been assured by members of the current administration that the money could be secured for the estimated $500,000 roof repair. "I was told directly that they would approve the two-thirds of it," he said. "Then they also told us that they were going to try to find money for us to help with the match." He strongly recommended the money be put aside but with potential for a roof still years away, the board turned to using some $72,000 to underwrite the school budget and preschool program. The School Committee cut the high school tuition line by $14,000, a buffer number in case a student decided to go to Drury. Mass Housing and Shelter Alliance Honors Former Pittsfield Mayor BOSTON Former Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer was among those honored by the Massachusetts Housing & Shelter Alliance (MHSA) at its annual Home for Good fundraiser and award ceremony on Thursday, May 16 at WBUR CitySpace in Boston. Tyer, along with Quincy Mayor Thomas P. Koch and Brockton Mayor Robert F. Sullivan, received the prestigious Canon Brian S. Kelley Public Service Award from MHSA which recognizes individuals who are commited to ending homelessness. Inaugurated as the Mayor of the City of Pittsfield for a second four-year term in January 2020, Tyer was the first mayor in Pittsfield's history to be elected to a four-year term. In January 2024, Mayor Tyer stepped down from office and now serves as the Executive Director of Workforce Development and Community Education at Berkshire Community College. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, Mayor Tyer assembled the City of Pittsfield's COVID-19 Task Force. For more than a year, a team comprised of city and school officials, law enforcement, first responders, leadership from the Sheriff's Office, Berkshire Medical Center, and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency worked to ensure that the Pittsfield community had what it needed to remain safe during this unprecedented public health crisis. "Mayor Tyer ably handled all the challenges associated with governing during the pandemic with skill and great sensitivity. She fully supported, embraced, and promoted the Housing First model for those experiencing chronic homelessness," said Joyce Tavon, MHSA's CEO. "Mayor Tyer has worked to find housing solutions for those living in outdoor encampments as well as the wraparound services they need to address their healthcare needs and provide much-needed stability." The Canon Brian S. Kelley Public Servant Award is named in honor of the late Canon Brian S. Kelley, a longtime advocate to end homelessness who served as the Canon at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston. Canon Kelley played a founding role in MHSA and other initiatives to end homelessness. Butterflies are released Saturday as part of a remembrance ceremony held by HospiceCare in the Berkshires. While held for families and friends of hospice patients, the event was open to the community at large. PreviousNext Butterflies Honor Passed Loved Ones at HospiceCare Event Bereavement coordinator Rachel Lively, participant Susan Sorcinelli and volunteer Nancy Mclean spoke about the symbolize of butterflies in the grieving process. PITTSFIELD, Mass. A kaleidoscope of butterflies was released over Onota Lake in honor of loved ones who have passed. Hospice Care in the Berkshires held a remembrance ceremony at the Controy Pavilion on Saturday, ending with the release of six dozen painted ladies. Tears, happy memories, and strength were shared amongst attendees of all ages. Bereavement coordinator Rachel Lively said the butterfly's metamorphosis from a caterpillar can be compared to the change that a grieving person goes through and the beauty that can come from the pain. The release is one of the memorial services HospiceCare does for families of folks who have died in the last year but it is also open to the community, she said. "So anyone really can come and a lot of the folks who are here are families who have lost a loved one on hospice." Susan Sorcinelli, who had a loved one in hospice this past year, detailed a butterfly's transformation from a caterpillar to a winged beauty while wearing wings of her own. "Butterflies have long been associated with transformation, beauty, and the cycle of life," she said. "The remarkable life cycle which involves metamorphosis from a humble caterpillar to a stunning butterfly mirrors the journey of life." The non-profit is an affiliate of Integritus Healthcare and offers compassionate end-of-life care and bereavement services. Pittsfield Council Endorses 11 Departmental Budgets PITTSFIELD, Mass. The City Council last week preliminarily approved 11 department budgets in under 90 minutes on the first day of fiscal year 2025 hearings. Mayor Peter Marchetti has proposed a $216,155,210 operating budget, a 5 percent increase from the previous year. After the council supported a petition for a level-funded budget earlier this year, the mayor asked each department to come up with a level-funded and a level-service-funded spending plan. "The budget you have in front of you this evening is a responsible budget that provides a balance between a level service and a level-funded budget that kept increases to a minimum while keeping services that met the community's expectations," he said. Marchetti outlined four major budget drivers: More than $3 million in contractual salaries for city and school workers; a $1.5 million increase in health insurance to $30.5 million; a more than $887,000 increase in retirement to nearly $17.4 million; and almost $1.1 million in debt service increases. "These increases total over $6 million," he said. "To cover these obligations, the city and School Committee had to make reductions to be within limits of what we can raise through taxes." The city expects to earn about $115 million in property taxes in FY25 and raise the remaining amount through state aid and local receipts. The budget proposal also includes a $2.5 million appropriation from free cash to offset the tax rate and an $18.5 million appropriation from the water and sewer enterprise had been applied to the revenue stream. "Our government is not immune to rising costs to impact each of us every day," Marchetti said. "Many of our neighbors in surrounding communities are also facing increases in their budgets due to the same factors." He pointed to other Berkshire communities' budgets, including a 3.5 percent increase in Adams and a 12 percent increase in Great Barrington. Pittsfield rests in the middle at a 5.4 percent increase. Mayor's Office The Mayor's Office budget of $261,816 was preliminarily approved with little discussion. It is a $6,019, or 2.35 percent, increase from the previous year. In his first year in office, Marchetti has proposed three percent raises for himself and the director of administrative services. Account Name 2021 Approval 2022 Approval 2023 Approval 2024 Approval 2025 Approval Mayor $100,915 $102,428 $110,000 $115,725 $119,313 Director of Admin Services $59,554 $62,889 $67,605 $70,000 $72,170 Executive Assistant $42,125 $46,516 $50,004 $53,872 $54,133 Markets and Advertising $300 $125 $125 $200 $200 Supplies $2,575 $2,575 $2,450 $2,500 $2,500 Travel $1,000 $0 0 $1,000 $1,000 MA Municipal Association $11,200 $11,500 $11,500 $12,500 $12,500 Total $216,669 $225,908 $242,784 $255,797 $261,816 City Council The City Council budget of $109,262 was preliminary approved with some discussion. It is the same as last year's budget. Councilor at Large Kathy Amuso unsuccessfully motioned to reduce the education and training line by $1,620, which partly funds attendance at the Massachusetts Municipal Association conference. "I feel like all the departments, not all but many of the departments, seem to make a sacrifice and I think the City Council needs to make a sacrifice," she said. Amuso was the lone vote in support of the amendment. Councilor at Large Earl Persip III feels that the small fee to educate councilors and take advantage of networking once a year is "kind of important." "I don't want to limit someone's options to be able to participate in this because some people may be able to afford to go on their own, some people may not," he said. "I don't want to limit people who run and do things for City Council because they can't afford to come be part of the conversation so I won't support that." Warren agreed, saying the conferences have been beneficial, adding that the council has done more in six months than he has seen the body do in years. "I think the investment is well worth it," he said. Account Name 2021 Approval 2022 Approval 2023 Approval 2024 Approval 2025 Approval Councilors $90,002 $90,002 $90,002 $90,002 $90,002 Clerk of the City Council $4,000 $4,000 $4,000 $4,000 $4,000 Clerk of Committees $8,640 $8,640 $8,640 $8,640 $8,640 Education and Training $2,420 $2,420 $4,620 $4,620 $4,620 Advertising/Marketing $1,000 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 Total $106,062 $107,062 $109,262 $109,262 $109,262 Veterans The Veterans Services budget of $826,869 was preliminarily approved with little discussion. It is a $45,823, or 5.25 percent, decrease from the previous year largely due to a $50,000 savings in the program expense. Account Name 2021 Approval 2022 Approval 2023 Approval 2024 Approval 2025 Approval Veterans' Agent $53,657 $55,312 $59,460 $62,433 $64,358 Administrative Assistant $33,243 $33,742 $34,248 $37,259 $39,511 Equipment Maintenance $842 $1,400 $1,500 $1,750 $1,750 Rental Expense $6,500 $6,500 $6,500 $6,500 $6,500 Flags $8,600 $8,600 $11,000 $12,000 $12,000 Supplies $3,000 $2,000 $2,500 $2,500 $2,500 Program Expense $900,000 $900,000 $800,000 $750,000 $700,000 Award and Declarations $300 $250 $250 $250 $250 Total $1,005,650 $1,007,804 $915,458 $872,692 $826,869 City Clerk The City Clerk's budget of $436,540 was preliminarily approved with little discussion. It is a $28,315, or 6.94 percent, increase from the previous year. City Clerk Michele Benjamin said some of the line items have gone down because there were three elections to budget for last year and only two this year. There is a proposed significant increase in election workers' pay. "With early voting in 2020, we had 12,000 people early vote and we only had 10,000 go to the polls so we basically had two elections," Benjamin said. The council at its meeting last week approved her petition to bump election workers' pay by $5 per hour. This is not included in the proposal. Account Name 2021 Approval 2022 Approval 2023 Approval 2024 Approval 2025 Approval City Clerk $72,514 $75,825 $81,511 $87,941 $90,667 Assistant City Clerk $42,056 $43,627 $45,499 $48,440 $51,088 Head Clerk $38,969 $39,706 $40,301 $35,485 $37,425 Assistant Clerk Registrar $34,754 $39,706 $40,332 $48,559 $51,760 Election Officers $26,656 $22,935 $24,696 $35,280 $55,752 Secretary Board $32,229 $33,741 $35,189 $35,485 $36,423 Senior Clerk Typist $35,923 $37,609 $34,247 $35,485 $37,425 Election Custodians $3,000 $2,800 $2,800 $4,200 $3,200 Equipment Maintenance $6,471 $7,173 $6,775 $6,850 $6,900 Election Programming $6,000 $9,000 $6,000 $9,000 $6,600 Rental Expense $700 $700 $500 $700 $600 Education $1,000 $600 $800 $800 $1,200 Advertising & Marketing $500 $2,000 $2,500 $2,500 $2,500 City Code Updates $10,000 $8,000 $8,000 $10,000 $10,000 Record Preservation $2,000 $2,000 $6,000 $5,000 $5,000 Supplies $16,500 $23,000 $16,500 $23,000 $19,000 Census $15,000 $16,000 $18,000 $19,500 $21,000 Total $344,272 $363,082 $369,650 $408,225 $436,540 Council on Aging The Council on Aging budget of $411,103 was preliminarily approved without discussion. It is a $19,061, or 4.86 percent increase from the previous year due to contractual obligations. Account Name 2021 Approval 2022 Approval 2023 Approval 2024 Approval 2025 Approval Director $61,221 $64,240 $69,057 $74,686 $77,002 Senior Clerk Typist $34,251 $34,898 $34,115 $36,460 $38,453 Admin Assistant/Supervisor $28,084 $34,895 $37,513 $39,233 $40,605 Soc Serv Tech/Custodian $29,267 $30,640 $36,876 $38,667 $40,780 Soc Serv Tech/Custodian (PT) $28,240 $34,546 $38,090 $37,919 $41,026 Program Assistant $35,055 $39,463 $41,181 $44,369 $47,298 Activities Leaders (PT) $11,202 $33,218 $33,330 $38,472 $41,026 Kitchen Coordinator $23,860 $15,600 $18,093 $19,236 $20,513 Temp. Labor $3,485 $5,000 $5,000 $5,000 $5,000 Equipment Maintenance $6,300 $6,300 $7,656 $6,900 $6,900 Building Maintenance $14,000 $15,000 $17,691 $21,000 $22,400 Printing $1,000 $1,000 $1,179 $1,200 $1,200 Supplies $2,500 $2,500 $2,948 $3,000 $3,000 Program Expense $23,900 $23,900 $28,325 $25,900 $25,900 Total $302,365 $341,200 $371,055 $392,042 $411,103 Human Resources The Human Resources budget of $273,374 was preliminarily approved with little discussion. It is a $15,163, 5.87 percent, increase from the previous year. Account Name 2021 Approval 2022 Approval 2023 Approval 2024 Approval 2025 Approval Director of Human Resources $76,951 $90,430 $97,212 $105,135 $108,395 Human Resources Specialist $44,654 $48,452 $52,086 $56,126 $59,829 Training $13,500 $13,500 $15,000 $15,000 $15,000 Educational Opportunity $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 City Physician/ Medical Services $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 Online Application Program $5,600 $5,600 $9,750 $9,750 $9,750 Stipend Language Prof $3,000 $3,000 $6,500 $16,200 $18,900 Diversity and Inclusion $5,000 $5,000 $5,000 - - Postage $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 Supplies $3,500 $3,500 $3,500 $3,500 $4,000 Assessment Centers $19,500 $19,500 $15,000 $15,000 $15,000 Recruitment and Retention - $3,000 $5,000 $7,500 $12,500 Total $201,705 $218,982 $234,048 $258,211 $273,374 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion The DEI budget of $186,502 was preliminarily approved with little discussion. It is a $4,648, or 2.56 percent increase from the previous year. Amuso queried Chief Diversity Officer Michael Obasohan about the $3,000 increase for professional development. "Now there are more conferences that focus on equity and inclusion and justice that we can attend," he said. "There are a lot more of our employees that would like to attend these conferences." The councilor also asked if there was any way that the office could work on the school side, as Obasohan is limited to some meetings within the district about equity and discrimination. "Is there collaboration on the budget that we could have? That's what I'm looking at," she said. Marchetti said "anything is possible" but it comes down to "what is the role?" "I know that in my short term in office, [Obasohan] has assisted me with a school-based issue and that's me, I know there are others," he explained. "But I think if we're going to look for one person to provide diversity equity, and inclusion for all the employees of the city, all the employees of the school department, and 5,200 children, I'm not sure that that's feasible with one person." Councilor at Large Alisa Costa said there are many people that the department serves, adding "I appreciate the scope of the work that you're doing." Account Name 2021 Approval 2022 Approval 2023 Approval 2024 Approval 2025 Approval Chief Diversity Officer - $51,610 $89,803 $96,650 $99,647 Administrative Assistant - $18,250 $47,213 $52,304 $55,755 DEI Ambassadors - $8,400 $8,400 $8,400 $9,600 Contractual Services - $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 Recruitment and Retention - $5,000 $5,000 $5,000 $0 Professional Development - $5,000 $5,000 $5,000 $8,000 Supplies - $1,000 $3,000 $3,000 $1,500 Travel & Dues - $500 $1,000 $1,500 $2,000 Total - $99,760 $169,416 $181,854 $186,502 Airport The Pittsfield Municipal Airport budget of $338,352 was preliminarily approved with some discussion. It is a $27,137, or 8.72 percent, increase from the previous year. Persip queried Airport Manager Daniel Shearer on the $12,000 increase in utilities, which is related an increase in the supply rate, and Amuso had questions about the department's city vehicles. realme Philippines unveiled its brand new concept store design in a store opening at SM City Caloocan last Friday, May 17. The new branch is the first store to bear the freshest design, showing the brands commitment to innovation. The exciting redesign follows the brands global rebranding under the new tagline, Make it real Building on realmes rebranding initiative announced earlier this year with the tagline Make it real, the new store design embraces a simple yet bold aesthetic characterized by sleek lines and clean surfaces. The design seamlessly integrates high-tech features and interactive elements to elevate the customer experience within the store. Patricia Gonzales, realme Philippines Communications Lead, emphasized that the redesign captivates the eye and embodies the brand's evolution and forward-thinking approach to its future. This new space reflects our brands evolution and commitment to innovation, authenticity, and shared aspiration to turn dreams into realities. It is a culmination of our dedication and commitment to delivering unparalleled customer experiences, she said. Furthermore, the grand opening attracted a large crowd thanks to engaging in-store promotions and activities. In addition to the highly anticipated opening ceremony, Gaming personalities Doc Z Gaming and Anj Gaming amplified the crowd's energy by interacting with fans. The two also played Call of Duty Mobile using the realme 12 Pro+ 5G, alongside realme community members who also played using the realme C67. With this innovative store design, realme reaffirms its dedication to creating vibrant and immersive environments for its customers. As the brand moves forward, it remains dedicated to pushing boundaries and ensuring every customer interaction is memorable and meaningful. To learn more about realmes latest updates, visit the realme official website and follow realme on Facebook. As part of its unified mission for a safer and more inclusive digital space for Filipinos, the Senate of the Philippines, in cooperation with GCash, conducted a joint learning session among Senate employees as part of its initiative to promote cybersecurity and the adoption of digital financial services. Frontrow (Second left) Senate deputy secretary Atty. Arnel Jose Banas, Senate secretary Atty. Renato Bantug Jr., AFS, GCash VP for corporate communications and public affairs Gilda Maquilan, the public affairs and the marketing teams of GCash in the Senate during the GCash 101 Workshop Key officials, employees, and the Senate media attended the workshop held at Pasay City, with leaders from GCash sharing best practices in cybersecurity. As part of the session, GCash conducted an in-depth discussion on the different innovative products of the app along with the launch of its newest security measures. During the event, GCash also shed light on the importance of data privacy and the different steps being taken to ensure strict data privacy compliance and improve customer trust and loyalty. To help Filipinos become more well-informed and financially secure individuals, GCash also had a comprehensive discussion on the common cases of fraud as well as GCashs initiatives enhancing its security and fraud prevention on the app. Scammers should not be given further slack to continue their fraudulent activities against Filipinos. The false promise of these scammers should be shattered by our unwavering commitment to ensure the local digital ecosystem is a space where scammers do not proliferate, said Senate Secretary Atty. Renato N. Bantug Jr. As more and more Filipinos embrace digital adoption, GCash also recognizes the need for a safer and more secure platform. GCash has intensified its GSafeTayo campaign with the introduction of DoubleSafe, a security feature that safeguards users against unauthorized transactions by using state-of-the-art facial recognition technology. By providing financial access to Filipinos wherever they are, we are one with the government in its mission to support the Philippines journey to becoming a digital, cashless, and financially inclusive economy, said GCash Public Sector and government accounts head, Mara Duterte. Cybersecurity is of utmost importance at GCash. Together with the government, we will continue to strengthen our cybersecurity strategies so that Filipinos can rest assured in conducting their financial transactions, said GCash Assistant Vice President Paul Velasquez. Another major pillar of GSafeTayo is educating the public on how they can protect themselves from security risks. This includes phishing scams where criminals impersonate legitimate organizations via email or text, smishing; a text-enabled scam where cybercriminals send malicious links often disguised as account notices; prize notifications, and job offers, among others; love scams or online dating scams; online gambling scams; investment scams; loan scams; sextortion; and identity theft. Trust and Security is our number one priority at GCash. We remain committed to developing a more robust and resilient cyberspace for millions of Filipinos. We understand that we have a vital role to play in strengthening multi-sectoral collaborations to build a safe, inclusive, and sustainable digital financial sector. With our unwavering dedication to this cause, we are fully prepared to make a positive impact on the digital landscape of the country, said GCash Vice President for Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, Gilda Maquilan. Through its continuous collaboration with top law enforcement agencies in the country, GCash and its partners have blocked over 4.1 million accounts due to fraudulent transactions and other malicious activities. As a champion against financial cybercrime, we at GCash, together with our partners from the government, will triple our hard work to develop even stronger initiatives as for GCash, support the push of stricter laws that will arm the country's financial institutions with heightened risk management systems, power, and authority to manage the financial transactions of account owners which are poised to be dubious and suspicious, said GCash Head of Executive Escalations Rox Samin. As it continues to develop strong collaboration with the government, GCash continues to help shape the future of digital financial services in pursuit of financial inclusion and fostering economic growth. For more information, please visit www.gcash.com Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Get our The Life Cinematic email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Martin Scorsese has offered a glimpse of the extensive collection of film memorabilia that fills his New York home in a new TikTok video shared by his 24-year-old daughter Francesca. The Killers of the Flower Moon director, 81, joined his daughter in taking part in a popular TikTok trend: Im a... Of Course... In this case, the pair identified themselves as movie lovers before reeling off a list of items inside their home that speak to this identity. The video opens with Francesca in a corridor surrounded by vintage posters for Scorsese favorites including British filmmakers Powell and Pressburgers 1945 romance I Know Where I'm Going, Josef von Sternbergs 1941 noir The Shanghai Gesture and a French poster for Alfred Hitchcocks 1947 courtroom drama The Paradine Case (Le Proces Paradine). Francesca says: Were movie lovers, of course we have film posters all over our house, before her father interrupts to playfully direct her. Now do that again. It has to have more, you know? Youre proud of these posters! he suggests. When she tries the line again, he responds: Now its too big, take that down a bit. Francesca replies: Dad, it's a TikTok! Martin himself then takes over hosting duties, showing off an antique film camera and saying: Were movie lovers, so of course we have a couple of cameras around anyway. Francesca then shows off one of her fathers directors chairs, printed with his name, before Scorsese in a screening room adds that: Of course they have TCM. Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is a pay-TV network dedicated to classic and historic feature films. open image in gallery Martin Scorsese and daughter Francesca with the automaton from his 2011 movie Hugo ( Francesca Scorsese ) Francesca then demonstrates the familys dedication to physical media by pulling out a selection of their DVD collection, including Dino Risis 1962 road comedy Il Sorpasso (The Easy Life in English) and Nicholas Rays 1956 drama Bigger Than Life. Scorsese takes over once again to point out that as movie lovers, Of course we have some movie memorabilia around. Like for example, this is the original red shoes from the great movie The Red Shoes, 1949. Pointing to an empty glass case, he admits with a chuckle: Right now, the red shoes are loaned out to an exhibition somewhere. Sorry! The pair then pose with the automaton from Scorseses 2011 family movie Hugo, before the tour concludes with Francesca saying: Were movie lovers, of course its like impossible to choose a favorite filmmaker. The camera then pans out to reveal shes wearing a white T-shirt featuring a sketch of her fathers face. The pair have frequently gone viral for their TikTok videos together. Last October, Scorsese put his knowledge of internet slang to the test in a widely-shared clip. Sign up to Roisin OConnors free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Get our Now Hear This email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Roisin OConnors email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Taylor Swift seems to have inspired fellow pop star Charlie Puth to release what he has described as one of the hardest songs hes ever written after Swift gave him a shout-out on her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department. The Eras artist caused a frenzy among fans when a leaked lyric showed her praising Puth on the title track, as she sings: We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist. Puth, known for hits including Attention and We Dont Talk Anymore, shared the news of his new single with fans on Instagram on Tuesday (21 May). My new song HERO is about when you see someone you love hurting themselves, ruining the things in their life that are good, but you just cant save them, he wrote. Its one of the hardest songs Ive ever had to write, but I wrote it hoping that youve gone through something similar in your life, and that it can fill in the BLANK for you like it did for me. Im very excited to share my next album with you, especially this song because its a great representation of whats to come. Ive never put out a song like this before- its very different for me, but I want to thank @taylorswift for letting me know musically that I just couldnt keep this on my hard drive any longer. He added: HERO is yours on 24 May and this is the single artwork. Thank you to all of my fans... youll never know how much you mean to me. Puth also shared the artwork for the song, which was shot by photographer Maddy Rotman. It shows him reclining in a lawn chair surrounded by roses, shielding his eyes from the sun. Swift released her 11th studio album on 19 April, going on to shatter a number of records across streaming and physical sales. Enjoy unlimited access to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up Enjoy unlimited access to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up A number of songs on the album, including the title track, are widely believed to be about her brief fling with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy, as well as exploring her heartbreak following the end of her six-year relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn. Swift and Alwyn split in April 2023 ( Getty Images ) Upon the albums release, Swift wrote a message to fans: This period of the authors life is now over, the chapter closed and boarded up. There is nothing to avenge, no scores to settle once wounds have healed. And upon further reflection, a good number of them turned out to be self-inflicted. This writer is of the firm belief that our tears become holy in the form of ink on a page. Once we have spoken our saddest story, we can be free of it. The Independents Helen Brown gave the album five stars, praising Swifts storytelling power. In keeping with the literary (if ungrammatical) album title, Swift is on her most piercingly polysyllabic form here, she wrote. The artist is bringing her hugely anticipated Eras Tour to the UK and Ireland from 7 June, performing shows at stadiums in cities including Edinburgh, Liverpool, Cardiff, Dublin and London. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The real-life Martha from Baby Reindeer may not have been lying about her degree classification despite accusations of dishonesty across social media, The Independent can reveal. Fiona Harvey, 58, asserted in her interview with Piers Morgan, 59, that she has a photographic memory. But when he asked her to specify the grade she got for her law degree, she said: I just did an ordinary degree and then a diploma in legal practice. I didnt do an honours degree. While this was widely interpreted as an example of her lying or slipping up by online commentators, Harvey was telling the truth. This is because undergraduate degrees in Scotland take four years, but in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, the courses are three years long. In order to receive a specific grade, a person must do honours or an optional four year, which Harvey said in the interview she did not. She was therefore unable to receive a classification as they do not exist for ordinary undergraduate degrees, which are simply pass or fail. open image in gallery Fiona Harvey on Piers Morgan Uncensored ( YouTube ) The only situation in which a student at a Scottish university would receive no classification is if they fail their honours year and are unable to achieve a third-class degree. However, Harvey asserted that she did not do this part of the course she says she attended at Aberdeen University. Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days New subscribers only. 8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days New subscribers only. 8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free Her claims are backed up by the institution itself. There are four classes of Honours degree classification: First, Upper Second, Lower Second and Third, they explain online. A candidate who has not met the requirements for the award of a third-class Honours degree may, subject to meeting the requirements, be eligible for the award of a Designated Degree or non-Honours Degree. open image in gallery Piers Morgan did not appear to understand the Scottish education system ( Piers Morgan/X ) Morgans lack of knowledge about the Scottish education system was also revealed before he asked about Harveys degree classification of English A-levels. He asked her how many O and A levels she got at school, and she replied by explaining that she got six Highers, which is the Scottish equivalent qualification. open image in gallery Fiona Harvey claims she was the inspiration behind Martha in Baby Reindeer ( Ed Miller/Netflix ) The interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored took place following the release of the hit Netflix show Baby Reindeer, which details comedian Richard Gadds experience with a stalker. As the show was revealed to be based on a true story, internet sleuths took it upon themselves to identify the real woman who inspired the character of Martha. This saw Harvey tracked down after multiple posts from a disused Twitter (X) account matched up with messages sent by the stalker in the show. In the interview, Harvey admitted that she met Gadd, 33, but denied having ever stalked him and is allegedly taking taking legal action over claims made in the show. open image in gallery Jessica Gunning as Martha in Baby Reindeer ( Netflix ) These claims included allegations that she sent Gadd 41,071 emails, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages, 106 pages of letters and 350 hours of voicemail. However, since the interview, evidence has emerged that Harvey allegedly sent Labour leader Kier Starmer 276 emails over an eight month period while living in his constituency in 2020. In the emails, she reportedly called Starmer a stupid little boy and added your life wont be worth living. This saw her placed on a police watch list for people obsessed with public figures in 2021. The Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (FTAC), which is run by the Metropolitain Police and the NHS, is designed to provide psychological help for people with fixations before they escalate. A source said of the emails: There was no suggestion of any physical danger. But the murders of Jo Cox and Sir David Amess are a stark reminder of the dangers faced by MPs. It was felt that the police should be made aware of the large volume of emails so the individual could receive help and stop the nuisance messages. At the time of writing, the case reportedly remains under review by the Met police. Harvey is also alleged to have targetted Scottish comedian Jane Godley, 63, who was on the receiving end of a barrage of tweets, many of which took aim at her criticism of former US president Donald Trump. open image in gallery Comedian Janey Godley was also seemingly targetted by Fiona Harvey ( PA Archive ) Im sure hes not giving a damn what she says, Harvey appeared to write. I quite like her but the trump thing is an obsession with her! The Independent has reached out to Piers Morgan Uncensored, Netflix and the Labour Party for comment. The Independent also approached Ms Harvey who chose not to respond to the claims about Sir Keir. However, she did say she was pulling together a legal team to take action against Netflix and other outlets for the defamatory portrayal and for using her image without permission. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Benedict Cumberbatch has given his verdict on Andrew Scotts performance in the Netflix adaptation of The Talented Mr Ripley. Cumberbatch, who worked alongside the All of Us Strangers actor Scott on BBCs Sherlock from 2010 to 2017, has said that he was blown away by his former colleagues performance in the thriller series, titled Ripley. Speaking at the premiere for the forthcoming Netflix thriller series, Eric, which stars Cumberbatch as a father searching for his missing nine-year-old son, the actor was asked about his current viewing habits when he replied: Obviously Ripley. Because of Andrew, a dear friend, and Im always just blown away by his artistry and always learning by watching him. He continued: I just love the fact I can say hes a friend and Im supporting him as well. Hes just extraordinary. The eight-part miniseries, based on the 1955 Patricia Highsmith psychological thriller, is the latest adaptation since the hit film of the same name starring Matt Damon in 1999. Fleabag actor Scott plays the infamous conman as he attempts to infiltrate a world of glamour and wealth. open image in gallery Andrew Scott in Ripley ( 2024 Netflix, Inc. ) Despite Cumberbatchs glowing review and widespread critical appreciation, viewers were left divided by the series, with some saying they switched off from the series due to it being shot entirely in black and white. I didnt last the first episode. The cinematography is so annoying, said one viewer. open image in gallery Scott and Cumberbatch pictured together in 2017 ( Getty Images ) Black and white is a good way to keep the budget down but adds nothing, said one viewer. Writer-director Steve Zallian revealed that the decision to film entirely in black and white was one made early on, and was inspired by an edition of the Ripley book that he owned. The edition of the Ripley book I had on my desk had an evocative black-and-white photograph on the cover, he told Vanity Fair. Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days New subscribers only. 8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days New subscribers only. 8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free open image in gallery Andrew Scott as Thomas Ripley ( Netflix ) As I was writing, I held that image in my mind. Black and white fits this storyand its gorgeous. Jude Law, who originated the role of Dickie in Anthony Minghellas 1999 movie, has said that the Netflix adaptation couldnt be further from the film adaptation that he starred in. Both versions reflect the director in many ways. One is visual, colourful, and romantic. The other is quite forensic and more sinister. Film, to me, often reflects the person at the helm of the camera. He explained: Steve Zaillians [version], in many ways, couldnt be further from Anthonys. Its very interesting to see what scenes and threads still come to the surface, even if they are very different stylistically and in their pacing.. Ripley is now streaming on Netflix. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Bill Maher was left to explain he was making a joke after a wisecrack fell flat during his appearance on talk show The View on Tuesday (21 May). The comedian and podcast host, 68, was appearing on the show to promote his new book What This Comedian Said Will Shock You. During a spirited discussion, co-host Sunny Hostin took Maher to task for his use of the word woke, arguing that the term has been weaponized and bastardized as it has been co-opted by the political right. Maher replied that words migrate just as the positions of political parties change. He added: I mean, I think we agree about the danger of the super far right, and I cant say it enough, I think theyre the bigger threat. But, dont tell me that the left hasnt changed. I mean, Im old enough to remember when it was the conservatives who hated the Jews, ok? The comment was met by silence from the audience, until Maher clarified: That was a joke. open image in gallery Bill Maher appearing on The View, 21 May 2024 ( ABC ) Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin responded: Too dark! Too dark! before Maher retorted: Well, maybe it is, but its true. Elsewhere in the show, Hostin asked Maher a series of pointed questions about Israels war in Gaza, saying: Are you at all concerned about the innocent civilians that have been collectively punished and murdered, largely children and women? Are you at all concerned about the fact that the International Criminal Court just today issued a subpoena for Bibi Netanyahu? Maher responded that he feels the ICCs position is ridiculous because: They were attacked and they are defending themselves. Now this is a war, do you think Hamas needs to be destroyed? This is the question. After Hostin said yes, Maher continued: Ok, so Hamas needs to be destroyed because they are a terrorist organisation who say openly that they want to commit genocide on the Jewish people, on the state of Israel. Thats what from the river to the sea means, ok? They say it very openly. Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days New subscribers only. 8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days New subscribers only. 8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free Theyve attacked Israel five times. Theyve started five wars since they were given that land back. They could have chosen to have turn that place into any place they wanted to. They took a lot of money from the international community and they spent it on bombs, and guns, and building tunnels. After Maher acknowledged that he doesnt have a solution for the situation, Hostin asked him again whether he was concerned about the loss of innocent lives. Of course, everybody is, Maher responded. But thats what happens in a war. Heres a way to stop that: Stop attacking Israel. Earlier this month, Maher told Jerry Seinfeld that he plans to retire from stand-up comedy. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Southern Charm star Kathryn Dennis was arrested and charged with driving under the influence following a three-car collision on Monday (20 May). Dennis, 32, was stopped by the Goose Creek Police Department in Berkeley, South Carolina just after 10pm local time and asked to complete a sobriety test, according to a police report obtained by The Independent. A responding officer described Dennis as appearing impaired with glossy eyes and an odor of alcohol coming from her person. She was subsequently arrested and booked for a DUI. The reality star is required to appear in court on 4 June. The Independent was unable to locate a representative for Dennis. The TV personality left Bravos Southern Charm after eight seasons in January 2023. The series chronicles the lives of a group socialites in Charleston, South Carolina. News of Denniss arrest comes months after a vehicle registered in her name was involved in an alleged hit-and-run incident in South Carolina. open image in gallery Kathryn Dennis starred in eight seasons of Southern Charm ( Berkeley County Detention Center ) The SUV, which was later found at Denniss residence, struck a school resource officer directing traffic in front of Whitesville Elementary School, state highway patrol told People at the time. The publication, citing a knowledgeable source reported that Dennis was involved in the alleged incident. Dennis shares custody of her son, 7, and daughter, 9, with fellow Southern Charm star Thomas Ravenel, 61, whom she met on the show. The former couple have battled for custody and traded allegations since their split in 2016. Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days New subscribers only. 8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days New subscribers only. 8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free In 2018, Ravenel faced two accusations of sexual assault. Ashley Perkins, a Florida-based real estate agent, claimed that Ravenel sexually battered her mother, Debbie Holloway Perkins, after meeting him on the dating app Tinder in December 2015. Dawn Ledwell, the former nanny of Ravenel's children with Dennis, later claimed Ravenel assaulted her after a night out with his friends. Ravenel was arrested and charged with assault and battery in the second degree in September of that year. On 11 September 2019, Ravenel pled guilty to third-degree assault and battery in connection with an attack on Ledwell. He paid a $500 fine and agreed to donate an additional $80,000 to a local nonprofit aiding sexual assault survivors, but served no jail time. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Sarah Wayne Callies has recalled the rampant misogyny she faced on set of Foxs five-season drama Prison Break. The 46-year-old actor, who starred as Dr Sara Tancredi on the series which ran from 2005 to 2017 currently co-hosts the Prison Breaking rewatch podcast with former co-star Paul Adelstein, who portrayed Agent Paul Kellerman. During a recent appearance on Rachel Bilson and Olivia Allens Broad Ideas podcast, Callies admitted that before she started her podcast, she had difficulty rewatching the show. I dont recognize that girl. Shes so young, shes so new in the business... its like watching another person, she said. Callies was 28 when Prison Break premiered. I couldnt get beyond the parts that were toxic and painful, she added. She explained that the podcast has provided the sort of medicine to go back and rewatch the show despite the rampant misogyny, despite all of the challenges, despite being on a show like that, the only woman around. open image in gallery Sarah Wayne Callies played Dr Sara Tancredi on the popular Fox prison drama ( Getty Images for IMDb ) Allen jumped in to reveal that she used to feel jealous watching Callies on Prison Break. I was always like, That could be me, she remembered. There are two edges to that sword, Callies responded, adding: Ive had an actor on that show spit in my face. And I was like Holy s***! We will get there on the podcast; we will talk about it someday, she teased. There were things, like, I would go home some nights and have to spend an hour talking my husband out of going to hospitalize somebody. She clarified that her experience wasnt all negative. Some of the guys were great, and some of them were gentlemen, Callies said. So much of it was also great, and I made lifelong friends. Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days New subscribers only. 8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days New subscribers only. 8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free But I wasnt ready to look at it... because I didnt want it to send me into a spiral of like, what did I let them do to me, what did I let them say to me, what did I put up with, what did I not report. Following her time on Prison Break, Callies went on to star as Lori Grimes on AMCs hit zombie show, The Walking Dead. She most recently featured in ABCs The Company You Keep, which was canceled last year after one season. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy At least two people were killed and 10 injured after a knife-wielding woman attacked a primary school in Jiangxi province in China on Monday. The 45-year-old suspect reportedly used a fruit knife during the stabbing attack at the Mingde elementary school in the town of Wenfang in Guixi. Police said the woman, identified only by her second name Pan, has been detained. It is unclear if any students were among those killed or injured. The school was evacuated following the stabbing attack, according to The Beijing News, a state-owned newspaper. Parents expressed shock and fear over the incident, with some reporting a lack of communication from the school. I received the news at noon and I was very shocked, one parent who spoke on the condition of anonymity told BBC News. My child is in the fifth grade and very young and has safely arrived home, but the school has not informed us of anything and has kept everything hidden. I am going back to comfort my child and to find out what exactly happened. Police said four of the injured persons suffered non-life-threatening injuries while the other six suffered minor injuries. China has reported a number of knife attacks over the past year. Two people were killed and several injured after a suspected knife attack at the Zhenxiong County Peoples Hospital in Zhaotong city, in the southwest of the country, earlier this month. The state news agency Xinhua reported that there were more than 10 casualties in what it described as a vicious assault. In August last year, a knife-wielding man with a history of mental illness killed two people and injured seven at a residential complex in Yunnan province. A month before that, six people, including three children, were fatally stabbed at a kindergarten in Guangdong province. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy South Korea has banned access to a North Korean propaganda music video that it said idolised and glorified leader Kim Jong Un as a friendly father and great leader. South Koreas National Security Act blocks access to the Norths government websites and media to restrict exposure to the efforts by Kims autocratic regime to praise, incite or propagate its activities. The two Koreas are still technically at war since an armistice ended the 1950-1953 Korean War, not a peace treaty. The decision to ban the video was made after intelligence authorities asked for a review on whether it breached the law, Seouls Korea Communications Standards Commission. The video is typical content linked to psychological warfare against South Korea, as it was posted on a channel operated to connect with the outside world and mainly focused on unilaterally idolising and glorifying Kim, the regulator said in a statement. The video has become an unlikely social media hit around the world, going viral on short-form video app TikTok and other platforms. Pyongyangs state media often displays exaggerated demonstrations of loyalty by citizens toward its leaders to help the latter consolidate power and to craft a personality cult around them. open image in gallery North Korea ( KCNA via KNS ) Titled Friendly Father, the clip was unveiled last month by the Norths state television. It shows North Koreans ranging from soldiers to school children exuberantly belting out such lines as: Lets sing, Kim Jong Un the great leader and Lets brag about Kim Jong Un, a friendly father. The song was performed live accompanied by an orchestra at a ceremony to celebrate the opening of a new development project of 10,000 homes in capital Pyongyang. The music video features North Koreans of different backgrounds, ranging from children to troops and medical staff, exuberantly belting out lines such as: Lets sing, Kim Jong-un the great leader and Lets brag about Kim Jong-un, a friendly father. The Souths regulator blocked access to some North Korean propaganda YouTube channels last year on the spy agencys request. North Korea is undergoing a project to build 50,000 new homes in the capital by 2025, state media Korean Central News Agency reported. The Kim family dynasty that has ruled North Korea since its founding days and have sought to strengthen their grip on power by building cults of personality around them. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy An Indian court granted bail to a drink-driving teenager who rammed his Porsche into a motorbike and killed two people, on the condition that he write an essay about the incident. The court also told the 17-year-old boy from Pune in the western state of Maharashtra to undergo treatment for his drinking habit, take counselling sessions and work with the local police for 15 days. The teenager, who has not been named, is the son of a prominent real estate magnate, and the perceived leniency shown by the judge has sparked outrage in the country. The accident occurred at around 3.15am in Kalyani Nagar in Pune on Sunday. A group of friends was returning home on motorbikes after a party at a local restaurant. When they reached the Kalyani Nagar junction, one of their motorcycles was hit by the teenagers Porsche, police say, causing its two riders to fall and die instantly. After hitting the riders, the teenager crashed his car into some railings, police say. A video that has been widely shared on social media shows a group of passersby attacking the driver as he tries to exit the vehicle. The deceased were identified as software engineers Anis Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta, both 25. A case was registered against the driver at a local police station and he was charged with rash driving, causing death by rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide and endangering life or personal safety of a person. The accused is reportedly four months shy of 18, the minimum legal age to drive a car in India. He was reportedly out celebrating his Class 12 exam results. He was driving at 200 kmh when he collided with the motorcycle. The boys lawyer, Prashant Patil said: The juvenile accused who was arrested by Pune Police has been granted bail by the Juvenile Justice Board on certain conditions, including that the accused should work with the traffic police of Yerawada for 15 days, accused should write an essay on accident, should get treatment from the concerned doctor to help him quit drinking and should take psychiatric counselling and submit the report. Police said they will appeal the bail order and treat the accused as an adult. We will not leave any stone unturned to prove that this is a heinous crime, Punes police chief, Amitesh Kumar, told India Today. Police have also arrested the boys father and owners of the two bars that allegedly served him alcohol. The legal drinking age in Maharashtra is 25. Were in shock, Jugal Kishor Koshta, an uncle of one of the victims, told NDTV. Its condemnable that he should get bail in 15 hours. He and his parents should be investigated. We will discuss the matter once Ashwinis last rites are over tomorrow. We want his bail cancelled and he should remain in police custody. Because of him, an innocent girl, who has seen nothing of life, died," Sachin Bokde, another uncle of the victim, said. Sanjay Raut, a prominent member of the opposition party Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, accused Pune police of serving pizza and burgers to the accused teenager after the crash, India Today reported. Police commissioner should be suspended. He tried to protect the accused. A young couple was killed and the accused was granted bail within two hours, he told the ANI news agency. In the video, it can be seen that he was drunk, but his medical report was negative. Who is helping the accused? Who is this police commissioner? He should be removed or the people of Pune will come on the streets. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A British man has been killed and seven people are in a critical condition after being injured in a harrowing flight from London to Singapore which was hit by severe turbulence. Passengers aboard the Singapore Airlines flight were dramatically flung into the air after the plane was forced to drop 6,000ft within minutes due to weather conditions. The pilots were then forced to carry out an emergency landing in Thailand shortly before 4pm local time. Thai authorities confirmed a 73-year-old man had died of a suspected heart attack, with his wife also hospitalised. Follow our live blog for all the latest updates here open image in gallery Ambulances at Bangkok airport treating injured passengers ( X ) Suvarnabhumi airport general manager Kittipong Kittikachorn said that 30 other passengers and crew members have also been injured. Images on social media have shown food strewn across the floor with ambulances lined up outside the aircraft, while one traumatised passenger said that people were launched into the ceiling. Other images showed an air stewardess with blood over her face, while the interior of the plane can be seen with debris and oxygen masks strewn across the cabin. Were you or anyone you know onboard this flight? Email holly.evans@independent.co.uk The flight departed from Heathrow airport on Monday evening before hitting bad weather conditions, with 47 British nationals onboard. In a statement, the airline company said they encountered sudden extreme turbulence over the Irrawaddy Basin in Myanmar at 37,000ft and had to declare a medical emergency. open image in gallery The interior of the plane after the flight experienced turbulence ( REUTERS ) Suddenly the aircraft starts tilting up and there was shaking so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling, Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student on board the flight said. Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it, they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it. People dropped to the ground, my phone flew out of my hand and went a couple aisles to the side, peoples shoes flung about, he added. The crew and people inside lavatories were hurt the most because we discovered people just on the ground not able to get up. There were a lot of spinal and head injuries, Azmir said. I dont think they anticipated how bad it was. open image in gallery Oxygen masks and debris can be seen in the cabin ( REUTERS ) In a statement on Facebook, the airline said: We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER. There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board. Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft. We are working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance, and sending a team to Bangkok to provide any additional assistance needed. Tracking data captured by FlightRadar24 showed the flight cruising at an altitude of 37,000 feet. Just after 8am BST, the Boeing 777 suddenly and sharply pitched down to 31,000 feet over the span of some three minutes, the data shows. Thai authorities despatched ambulances and emergency teams to the airport, while images on social media show medical personnel surrounding the plane. open image in gallery Members of the rescue team in Bangkok ( AP ) Singapores Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said the government would provide assistance to the passengers and their families. I am deeply saddened to learn about the incident onboard Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London Heathrow to Singapore, he posted in a statement on Facebook. The region is currently experiencing extreme tropical thunderstorms, causing it to land at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok. Turbulence-related accidents are the most common type, according to a 2021 study by the National Transportation Safety Board. open image in gallery The flight encountered turbulence above the Bay of Bengal ( Flightradar24 ) Between 2009 through to 2018, the agency found that turbulence accounted for more than a third of reported airline accidents and most resulted in one or more serious injuries, but no aircraft damage. Singapore Airlines has consistently held an excellent safety record and is recognised as one of the worlds leading airlines. The only Singapore Airlines accident to result in fatalities involved a Boeing 747 Jumbo jet taking off from Taipei in the year 2000. The pilots mistakenly attempted to take off from a closed runway, and collided with construction equipment. Of the 179 passengers and crew on board, 83 died and 96 survived. Two British Airways cabin crew suffered broken legs when a flight from Singapore to Heathrow was affected by severe turbulence over the Bay of Bengal on June 28 last year. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy AstraZeneca has announced plans to nearly double its revenue to 80 billion dollars (62.8 billion) by 2030, ahead of a landmark investor meeting for the pharmaceutical giant. The FTSE 100 company will launch 20 new medicines over the coming years in areas like cancer care and rare diseases as part of a new era of growth. Chief executive Pascal Soriot said many of the new products have potential to generate more than five billion dollars a year and transform millions of lives. The medicines, combined with its existing portfolio, will help Astrazeneca hit the 80 billion dollar turnover target from 45.8 billion dollars last year, he said. He added: The breadth of our portfolio together with continued investment in innovation supports sustained growth well past the end of the decade. It comes just under a decade after AstraZeneca announced a 45 billion dollar annual target to help resist a takeover attempt by rival Pfizer. In that time, AstraZeneca has become a household name for its part in developing Covid-19 vaccines. It created one of the first shots against the disease in partnership with the University of Oxford. The drug, called Vaxzevria, will be withdrawn from the market, it announced recently, amid falling demand and the development of new vaccines designed to fight specific Covid-19 variants. Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, added: Developing new medicines is not an easy task as the success rate is unpredictable. Even when something is approved for commercial sale, there is always the risk of copycat products once patents expire. AstraZeneca faces the issue of patent expiries on several key drugs which treat diabetes, heart failure and kidney disease, which has kept share price growth muted in recent times. Shares in the drugs giant rose 1.2% on Tuesday morning. Peter Welford, an analyst at Jefferies, wrote that the target was expected with 20 new drug launches anticipated. The 80 billion dollar target is also likely designed to assuage shareholder concerns about Mr Soriots annual pay. Mr Soriot suffered a rebellion against a 18.7 million pay deal at AstraZenecas annual meeting in April, with 35.5% of shareholders rejecting the pay rise. However, the pay package received enough support to get the green light, bringing Mr Soriots annual pay over the last decade to 120 million. Separately, AstraZeneca announced on Monday that it would open a 1.5 billion dollar plant producing new antibody-drug conjugates designed to treat types of cancer. The medicine is a type of chemotherapy which kills cancer cells without harming surrounding healthy tissue. The product is expected to be an important part of its path to hitting the 80 billion dollar target. Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Bumble has purchased community-building app Geneva to further expand into the friendship market as it moves away from a sole focus on romantic relationships. The company said that the deal is designed to help it expand its focus from one-to-one connections to groups and communities, marking another shift into the company becoming primarily a connection-based platform rather than just a dating-centric one. In this months Q1 earnings call, CEO Lidiane Jones noted that the company planned on considering Genevas value add to the companys current goals. She said: Theres certainly a lot of interesting technology companies across the industry that were constantly looking at, but we immediately look at if it actually aligns and accelerates with our long-term mission here. The ongoing decline in dating apps has led to weak earnings industry-wide, with Bumble being one of the casualties. To cut costs, the company laid off 30 percent of its workforce this year. Although Bumble already has a separate friends app built around meeting locals, Geneva takes that concept to the next level by emphasizing community building not just connecting. Founded in 2019, Genevas mission is to bring like-minded people together in a given area to form a community, whether that be a book club or a hiking group. Since its inception, the company has raised $36m from investors including Coatue, Instagram founders Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom, Sequoias Michael Moritz, and Patreon co-founder Jack Conte. As for whether or not Geneva will continue to operate outside of Bumble, it remains to be seen, but evidence points to Geneva being incorporated into Bumbles app and ceasing to be a standalone platform. In a post on its website, Geneva told users that it would continue to support existing groups, however, it will be making the app invite-only as it undergoes this transition. Jones hinted at this direction in a LinkedIn post, stating that the company was planning to accelerate our friendship product using Genevas powerful technology platform. Concrete answers on what will happen to the standalone app are expected to arrive in Q3 of this year. This isnt the only big move Jones has made with Bumble this year, with the CEO aiming to take the platform in a new direction by reconsidering having women make the first move on the dating app. While noting that women making the first move has obviously been our signature, Jones explained to Fortune that it feels like a burden for a subset of our customers today amid a frustrating dating landscape. open image in gallery Atmosphere at The Cuts How I Get It Done Presented By Bumble at The Premiere on 21 January 2024 in Park City, Utah. ( Getty Images for The Cut ) Bumbles acquisition of Geneva shows that the company is intent on making big moves to contend with competitors like Hinge and Tinder, which regularly play with new payment structures and features to bring people back onto their platform. But Bumbles rebrand hasnt been with its pitfalls, namely the backlash against the companys latest ad campaign that controversially made a case against celibacy. Although the marketing team had been aiming for a tone of cheeky provocation, it ultimately didnt land how they wanted it to. We made a mistake, the company apologized in a statement. Our ads referencing celibacy were an attempt to lean into a community frustrated by modern dating, and instead of bringing joy and humor, we unintentionally did the opposite. The company noted that they planned on taking down the billboards and go back to the drawing board to create a campaign more representative of their brands message. They added that they will be making a donation to the National Domestic Violence hotline as well as other organizations to demonstrate their support for survivors and marginalized groups affected by abuse. Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Demi Moore has made her return to the Cannes Film Festival with her loyal friend by her side: her dog, Pilaf. The 61-year-old actor attended the French film festival over the weekend in honor of her new film, The Substance. The event marked the first time the Hollywood star has visited Cannes, France since she walked the red carpet in 1997. For the special occasion, the Ghost actor made sure to bring her famous chihuahua along for the ride. Ahead of her films premiere on Sunday, Moore posed for photos on the French Riviera with Pilaf in her hands. She wore an all-black ensemble consisting of a strapless black maxi dress with a cut-out neckline, paired with some black ballet flats. She held Pilaf in her arms, who looked relaxed in front of the camera. Moore was all smiles once again, as she held her dog Pilaf in her hands during The Substance photocall on Monday. The mother of three wore a white Elie Saab midi dress with black polka dots and black and white heels, along with a pair of black oversized sunglasses. Her tan and white chihuahua also put on a smiling face, with her tongue sticking out in true puppy fashion. open image in gallery Demi Moore attends the The Substance photocall at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival on Monday ( Getty Images ) Fans couldnt help but obsess over photos of Moore and her furry friend at Cannes. On X, formerly Twitter, one user wrote that although theyre not a fan of Moores gory horror movie which has divided audiences at the film festival they are a fan of Pilaf. I have many issues with the film but I must admit I am greatly enjoying the pictures of Demi Moore parading around Cannes with her tiny gremlin dog, they said. Put some respect on Pilafs name please, another person jokingly replied. I specifically follow her on Instagram cuz she takes Pilaf everywhere, said someone else. Indeed, the GI Jane actor often posts photos on social media of her adventures with Pilaf. She even shared images of herself and her chihuahua playing together at Cannes, along with close-up clips of her loveable dog. In case anyone forgot its Pilafs world and were just living in it, Moore captioned her Instagram post on Monday. Pilaf even has her own Instagram account, as she commented under Moores latest post from Cannes: Love u mommy Back in February, the Feud: Capote vs The Swans actor gushed over Pilaf during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where she referred to the dog who weighs a pound and a half as her teeny, tiny companion. She is a treasure, she is my little extra heart, Moore said. The Hollywood icon also revealed that she went so far as to investigate whether Pilaf was a Guinness World Record holder due to her small size. We looked into this because she literally is like the size of a guinea pig with legs and a tail, she told Colbert. However, because Pilaf has supermodel long legs, she didnt qualify to be the smallest dog in the world. Pilaf reportedly joined Moores household in early 2022 after she was gifted to the actor by one of her three daughters. Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Anne Hathaway who has cemented herself as a luxury fashion icon recently stepped out in a custom look from an affordable American brand, much to the excitement of fans. On May 20, the Idea of You star attended an event for Bulgari in Rome, Italy, wearing a white button-up shirt dress with a built-in corset, custom made by Gap Incs newest creative director, Zac Posen. According to a press release, the dress was designed from the same cotton material as Gaps signature white shirt. Referencing the American labels classic cotton button-down, the dress featured a wide collar which Hathaway had draped off one of her shoulders. The ensemble was only buttoned twice in the midsection, revealing a matching sheer corset also designed by Posen. Hathaway opted to wear a pair of pleated shorts under the shirt dress for a thigh-high slit effect, and styled the look with white pointed-toe heels. For accessories, Hathaway wore a diamond Bulgari necklace with a blue sapphire center stone, a silver snake wrap bracelet, coordinating earrings, and a diamond and sapphire ring. In a post shared to Instagram, her stylist Erin Walsh explained that the dress was inspired by the wardrobe in Audrey Hepburns 1953 film, Roman Holiday. An unforgettable night in Roma with @annehathaway for the @bvlgari Aeterna High Jewelry show, Walsh wrote in the caption. We wanted to capture a modern take on Roman Holiday. Dont you guys love how fresh and fabulous and glowing Annie looks???? Thank you Zac for a fabulous new era at Gap. And those jewels tho. While Hathaways dress was custom made by Posen, Gap shared in the press release that the brand will be offering a version on Gap.com in the near future, per Fashionista. On X, formerly Twitter, fans were elated that Hathaway decided to wear an item from the affordable retailer, rather than a high-fashion look. open image in gallery ( Getty Images for Bulgari ) The peoples princess [for real], said one user, while another wrote: Im really excited about Gap by Zac Posen. I like it and can definitely see it being worked into a version for retail, a third person wrote. And Zac doing summer/fall version at Gap price point would be perfect In February, Posen was announced as Executive Vice President and Creative Director of Gap Inc which also owns Banana Republic, Old Navy, and Athleta. Im thrilled to welcome Zac Posen, one of Americas most celebrated designers, at the onset of an exciting new chapter for Gap Inc, said CEO Richard Dickson in a statement. His technical expertise and cultural clarity have consistently evolved American fashion, making him a great fit for the company as we ignite a new culture of creativity across the portfolio and reinvigorate our storied brands. The New York-born designers new role will see him in charge of design, merchandising, and marketing at the brand. Posen will also work directly with the president and CEO of Old Navy, Haio Barbeito. Gap Inc and its brands have shaped American fashion and pop culture for decades and theres so much potential at Old Navy, Posen said. Im eager to join Gap Inc now as brand reinvigoration kicks up across the portfolio, rooted in great product, experiences, and a new culture of creativity. For the 2024 Met Gala, he created a custom Gap design for The Holdovers star DaVine Joy Randolph. Leveraging Gaps classic 1969 denim, Posen crafted a gown made entirely out of the fabric. The dress also featured red lining to embody the Golden Gate Bridge in Gaps hometown of San Francisco. Meanwhile, Posen dressed himself in a cream Banana Republic made-to-measure suit and pants, with a similar look available to purchase on the Banana Republic site. Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The stars were out at this years Cannes Film Festival. The annual event, which takes place in the south of France, saw several standing ovations and memorable red carpet looks. However, some fans are speculating that actor Cate Blanchett used the opportunity to make a pertinent political statement. The Australian actor, 55, walked the red carpet on Sunday, May 20 ahead of the premiere of The Apprentice a highly-anticipated docudrama about the early life of former US president Donald Trump. For the occasion, Blanchett donned a Haider Ackermann for Jean Paul Gaultier spring 2023 haute couture bustier dress. The floor-length gown featured a black satin front with emerald green silk lining on the inside of the dress, while the back of the dress was lined with a subtle shade of light pink. The gowns strapless neckline purposefully appeared unfinished, as she donned a Louis Vuitton shoulder necklace that ran across the length of her shoulders. While posing on the red carpet, the Oscar winner showed off the green lining on the inside of her dress, so that it was juxtaposed with the black front of the gown. As a photo of her red carpet look went viral on X, formerly Twitter, many fans believed the gesture was in solidarity with Palestine considering the colors of its flag are black, white, and green overlaid by a red triangle. When I grow up I want to become Cate Blanchett, and have the subtlety to think the carpet is already red, so I can just wear a black and white dress with green lining to make such a strong point, wrote user Dr Zahira Jaser on the platform. open image in gallery Cate Blanchett attends Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2024 in Cannes, France ( Getty Images ) However, others were quick to point out that the back of Blanchetts dress was actually light pink, not white like the Palestinian flag. Hearing the back of the dress is pink, oh well. I refuse to believe this effect is casual, Jaser replied to their post. The Lord of the Rings star has been vocal about her support for a ceasefire amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. In October, she was among 55 famous figures who signed a letter calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The artists, including Joaquin Phoenix and Kristen Stewart, urged US president Joe Biden to facilitate an end to the bombing of Gaza, and the safe release of hostages following Hamass attack on Israel on October 7. The following month, Blanchett spoke at the European Parliament Plenary Session as a Goodwill Ambassador the the United Nations Refugee Agency, where she emphasized her support for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. I am not Syrian, I am not Ukrainian, I am not Yemeni, I am not Afghani. I am not from South Sudan. I am not from Israel or Palestine. I am not a politician. I am not even a pundit. But I am a witness. And having witnessed the human cost of war, violence and persecution visiting refugees from across the globe, I cannot look away, Blanchett said in her address. Over the past few weeks, we have all, in horror, been watching the continuing violence in Israel and Gaza. The conflict has claimed and is still claiming thousands of innocent lives. More than 35,562 Palestinians have been killed and 79,652 wounded during Israels war in Gaza, according to the latest update from Gazas Health Ministry. The UNs World Food Program recently warned that some 300,000 people in northern Gaza are suffering from a full-blown famine, while the entire 2.3 million population of Gaza is experiencing catastrophic levels of hunger. Earlier this month, social media users began calling out celebrities for perceived inaction over the war in Gaza, staging a blockout to pressure the stars to take a stand. Internet users blocked content from the social media accounts of certain celebrities who havent spoken up against Israels actions in Gaza during its war with Hamas, using hashtags such as #blockout, #blockout2024, or #celebrityblockout. The Independent has contacted representatives for Blanchett for comment. Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The Princess of Wales has made a tentative return alongside Prince William by issuing her first project update since her cancer diagnosis earlier this year. Kate, 41, did so on Mental Health Awareness Week in a joint post with the Prince of Wales highlighting the psychological struggles young farmers can face. The couple wrote on X (Twitter) via the Kensington Royal account: This #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek weve brought together the inspirational Sam Stables from We Are Farming Minds and the brilliant Farmer Will for a very special film. Spending a day together on Sams farm in Hereford they chatted about mental health in the farming community, finding support and the Duchy of Cornwalls Mental Health Strategy. While the Princess does not personally appear in the video, which can be viewed in full on YouTube, it was produced by both herself and William. It is believed that work on the farming project began before her current illness. The post comes after the Princess last addressed the public in a poignant video where she asked for space and privacy as she undergoes preventative chemotherapy. The revelation came in March following a period of intense scrutiny about her whereabouts after she took a break from public duty for planned abdominal surgery in January. open image in gallery Kate revealed her cancer diagnosis in a moving video ( Independent TV ) While her condition was not believed to be cancerous at the time, the disease was later discovered. She explained that it took time to appropriately explain the situation to her and Prince Williams three young children George, 10, Charlotte, nine, and Louis, six. Kates tentative return to work comes after King Charles, 75, who also has cancer, began public-facing duties again at the end of last month. Despite reports that he would be undertaking a reduced summer schedule, just last week the Monarch undertook five engagements in the space of 48 hours. He has been so busy that he cited his packed schedule as his reason for being unable to meet with Prince Harry on his brief visit to the UK this month. However, Queen Camilla has has warned the King not to overdo it despite his desire to return to normality. open image in gallery King Charles made a surprise appearance at the Royal Opera House last week ( Getty ) Kate was last seen in public on Christmas Day when she attended the church service on the Sandringham Estate, as is tradition, with her family. She is not currently expected to attend any public-facing events in the near future, including the society wedding of the year between the Duke of Westminster and Olivia Henson at Chester Cathedral on 7 June. William, however, will be in attendance at the 400-strong guestlist celebration and is reported to be serving as an usher. open image in gallery Prince Wiliam will not be joined by King Charles or Kate Middleton at the so-called society wedding of the year as they continue their cancer treatments ( Chris Jackson/Getty Images ) Hugh Grosvenor is a close friend of both William and Prince Harry and is Prince Archies godfather. But Harry will reportedly not attend Grosvenors big day to avoid overshadowing the event amid reports of increased tensions between him and his family. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Witness testimony in Donald Trump's hush money trial could enter its final day on Tuesday with the defense expected to rest its case after calling just a handful of witnesses. Should the defense rest its case, Judge Juan M. Merchan has said he will send the jury home until closing arguments the day after Memorial Day. Prosecutors rested their case Monday after star witness Michael Cohen concluded his testimony. Cohen spent nearly four full days on the witness stand, placing the former president directly at the center of the alleged scheme to stifle negative stories to fend off damage to his White House bid. Among other things, Cohen told jurors that Trump promised to reimburse him for the money he fronted and was regularly updated about efforts to silence women who alleged sexual encounters with him. Trump denies the womens claims. The defense's calling of attorney Robert Costello to the stand was a source of discord for lawyers on both sides, with the prosecution arguing that he shouldn't be allowed to testify at all. The judge ultimately permitted the defense to question him about two allegedly inconsistent statements in Cohens testimony and to offer some rebuttal to his testimony. A ruling on the defense's motion to dismiss the case might also come on Tuesday. It remains unclear if Trump will testify. The trial is in its 20th day. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The case is the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president and the first of four prosecutions of Trump to reach a jury. Currently: Trump campaign calls Cannes film The Apprentice blatantly false, vows legal action Trumps social media account shares a campaign video with a headline about a unified Reich Trump hush money case: A timeline of key events Key players: Whos who at Trumps hush money criminal trial Hush money, catch and kill and more: A guide to unique terms used at Trumps trial Here's the latest: RULING ON MOTION TO DISMISS WAITING IN THE WINGS As witness testimony resumes in Donald Trump's criminal trial on Tuesday, a ruling on the defense's motion to dismiss the case is waiting in the wings. Defense attorneys asked Judge Juan M. Merchan to dismiss the case on Monday after court adjourned for the day, arguing that prosecutors had failed to prove their case and there was no evidence of falsified business records or an intent to defraud. Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo shot back that the trial evidence overwhelmingly supports each element of the alleged offenses, and the case should proceed to the jury. Colangelo argued that the jury has seen overwhelming evidence that the records of the payments to Michael Cohen were falsely categorized as payments for legal services instead of reimbursement and that there was ample evidence that the alleged fudging was done to deceive people including the voting public and government regulators. Merchan did not indicate when exactly he would make a decision on the motion. COSTELLO TO RETURN TO THE STAND Attorney Robert Costello will return to the witness stand on Tuesday as Donald Trump's hush money trial enters its 20th day. Costello's testimony was a source of discord on Monday between attorneys on both sides, with prosecutors arguing that he should not be allowed to testify at all. Before the attorney took the stand, Judge Juan M. Merchan ruled that he would allow the defense to question him about two allegedly inconsistent statements in Michael Cohens testimony and to offer some rebuttal to his testimony. Costello, a former federal prosecutor in New York, is relevant to Donald Trumps hush money case due to his role as a Michael Cohen antagonist and critic in the years since their professional relationship splintered. The attorney had offered to represent Cohen soon after the lawyers hotel room, office and home were raided by the FBI in 2018 and as he faced a decision about whether to remain defiant in the face of a criminal investigation or to cooperate with investigators in hopes of securing more lenient treatment. Costello was invited last year to appear before the grand jury that indicted Trump after asserting that he had information that undermined Cohens credibility. CLOSING ARGUMENTS COULD BE THE TUESDAY AFTER MEMORIAL DAY Closing arguments in Donald Trump's criminal trial could take place the day after Memorial Day. Judge Juan M. Merchan said Monday that when the defense rests its case, he will send the jury home until closing arguments on the day after Memorial Day. Should that happen, jurors will spend a full week away from the trial. Merchan cited scheduling issues in giving the May 28 date. The defense is expected to rest its case on Tuesday after calling just a handfull of witnesses, including attorney Robert Costello. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A North Carolina board that regulates land surveyors didn't violate a drone photography pilot's constitutional rights when it told him to stop advertising and offering aerial map services because he lacked a state license, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday. The panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in upholding a trial courts decision, found the free-speech protections of Michael Jones and his 360 Virtual Drone Services business weren't violated by the state's requirement for a license to offer surveying services. The litigation marked an emerging conflict between technology disrupting the hands-on regulated profession of surveying. A state license requires educational and technical experience, which can include examinations and apprenticeships. Jones sought to expand his drone pilot career by taking composite images that could assist construction companies and others with bird's-eye views of their interested tracts of land. The North Carolina Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors began investigating his activities in late 2018. The board wrote to Jones in June 2019 and ordered him to stop engaging in mapping, surveying and photogrammetry; stating accuracy; providing location and dimension data; and producing orthomosaic maps, quantities and topographic information. Performing surveying work without a license can subject someone to civil and criminal liability. By then, Jones had placed a disclaimer on his website saying the maps weren't meant to replace proper surveys needed for mortgages, title insurance and land-use applications. He stopped trying to develop his mapping business but remained interested in returning to the field in the future, according to Monday's opinion. So he sued board members in 2021 on First Amendment grounds. U.S. District Judge Louise Flanagan sided with the board members last year, determining that the rules withstood scrutiny because they created a generally applicable licensing system that regulated primarily conduct rather than speech. Circuit Judge Jim Wynn, writing Monday's unanimous opinion by the three-member panel, said determining whether such a business prohibition crosses over to a significant speech restriction can be difficult. Even where a regulation is in fact aimed at professional conduct, States must still be able to articulate how the regulation is sufficiently drawn to promote a substantial state interest, Wynn said. In this case, he wrote, it's important that people can rely on surveyors to provide accurate maps. And there's no evidence that the maps that Jones wants to create would constitute unpopular or dissenting speech," according to Wynn. There is a public interest in ensuring there is an incentive for individuals to go through that rigorous process and become trained as surveyors, he wrote, adding the licensing law protects consumers from potentially harmful economic and legal consequences that could flow from mistaken land measurements. Sam Gedge, an attorney at the Institute for Justice firm representing Jones, said Monday that he and his client want to further appeal the case, whether through the full 4th Circuit, based in Richmond, Virginia, or at the U.S. Supreme Court. Monday's ruling says the state can criminalize sharing certain types of photos without a government-issued license. And it does so on the theory that such a law somehow does not regulate speech," Gedge wrote in an email. "That reasoning is badly flawed. Taking photos and providing information to willing clients is speech, and its fully protected by the First Amendment. Joining Wynn a former North Carolina appeals court judge in Monday's opinion were Circuit Judges Steven Agee and Stephanie Thacker. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} An appeals court refused Tuesday to halt Hunter Biden's federal gun trial set to begin in two weeks, during his fathers reelection campaign. The full 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to pause the case against the president's son while his challenges to the prosecution on multiple fronts play out. His bid to dismiss the case had previously been rejected by a three-judge panel. Defense attorneys for the presidents son had argued there was no urgent need to start the trial on June 3. They also cited the short time between the Delaware trial and the start of another trial on tax charges in California tentatively set to begin the same month. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to lying about his drug use in October 2018 on a form to buy a gun that he kept for about 11 days in Delaware. He has acknowledged an addiction to crack cocaine during that period, but his lawyers have said he didnt break the law. Defense attorneys are also appealing a separate decision from U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika rejecting a claim that the case violates the Constitutions Second Amendment on firearm ownership. The investigation had looked ready to wrap up with a plea deal last year, but the agreement imploded after a judge raised questions about it. Biden was subsequently indicted by Justice Department special counsel David Weiss in both Delaware and California, where he's accused of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over three years while living an extravagant lifestyle, during his days of using drugs. He is separately challenging rulings rejecting his motions to dismiss those charges. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin committed Monday to keeping U.S. weapons moving to Ukraine as Kyiv faces one of its toughest moments against a renewed assault by Russia. Austin and as many as 50 defense leaders from Europe and around the world were meeting Monday to coordinate more military aid to Ukraine, as Kyiv tries to hold off a Russian offensive in the northeast while launching its own massive assault on the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula. We're meeting in a moment of challenge, Austin said, noting that Russia's new onslaught of Kharkiv showed why the continued commitment by the countries was vital to keep coming. Austin vowed to keep U.S. weapons moving week after week. The U.S. announced no new aid packages Monday, even as Ukrainian forces continue to complain that weapons are just trickling into the country after being stalled for months due to congressional gridlock over funding. Pentagon officials have said that weapons pre-positioned in Europe began moving into Ukraine soon after the aid funding was approved. It's unclear how much of that has reached some of the front lines, where Russian troops have intensified their assault. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday during a visit to China that Moscow's offensive in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region aims to create a buffer zone but that there are no plans to capture the city. Ukrainian troops have been fighting to halt Russian advances in the Kharkiv region, while also increasing their offensive attacks in Crimea, including on military infrastructure sites on the Black Sea coast and in the Russian-occupied city of Sevastopol. Ukraine has also struggled to get enough troops to the front lines, as the war drags on into its third year and fighting takes its toll. In an effort to increase troop numbers, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed two laws, allowing prisoners to join the army and increasing fines for draft dodgers fivefold. The controversial mobilization law goes into effect on Saturday. In the three weeks since President Joe Biden signed the $95 billion foreign aid package, the U.S. has sent $1.4 billion in weapons pulled from Pentagon stockpiles and announced it was providing $6 billion in funding through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. USAI pays for longer-term contracts with the defense industry and means that the weapons could take many months or years to arrive. In recent packages the U.S. has agreed to send High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and rockets for them, as well as munitions for Patriot and National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, artillery, anti-aircraft and anti-tank munitions, and an array of armored vehicles, such as Bradley and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles. The U.S. is also providing additional coastal and riverine patrol boats, trailers, demolition munitions, high-speed anti-radiation missiles, protective gear, spare parts and other weapons and equipment. The State Department has also approved a proposed emergency sale of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) to Ukraine for an estimated $30 million. State said Ukraine has asked to buy three of the rocket systems, which would be funded by the government of Germany. The U.S. has now provided about $50.6 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Watch on Tuesday (21 May) as Michael Gove speaks on antisemitism after it was revealed Jewish hate crimes have tripled in London. The communities secretary will accuse organisers of pro-Palestinian marches of not doing enough to stop some demonstrators spreading anti-Jewish messages in a speech condemning the rise in antisemitism in the UK. The Cabinet minister will say that while many protesters are thoughtful, gentle, compassionate people, they are side by side with those who are promoting hate. Critics have voiced concerns about the handling of the demonstrations and the effect they have on the UKs Jewish community. Organising groups have previously said that the marches, which have drawn crowds of thousands in calling for an end to the war in Gaza, are overwhelmingly peaceful with a low arrest rate. Many of those on these marches are thoughtful, gentle, compassionate people driven by a desire for peace and an end to suffering. But they are side by side with those who are promoting hate, Mr Gove will say in a speech on Tuesday. The organisers of these marches could do everything in their power to stop that. They dont. Some seven arrests were made during a protest in central London on Saturday, which was attended by thousands of people calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East. They included one man who was observed by officers carrying a coffin with offensive language on it, Scotland Yard said. Mr Gove will highlight that the UK has seen a spike in antisemitism more widely, arguing that it is the common currency of hate and the thread that connects extremist ideologies from Islamists to those on the far right and the hard left. Reports of anti-Jewish hate incidents in the UK reached a record high last year, according to figures from a Jewish security charity. Two-thirds of the 4,103 antisemitic incidents occurred on or after Hamas October 7 attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza, the Community Security Trust (CST) has said. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Reports of antisemitic hate crimes trebled in London last year, new police data shows. Hate crimes flagged as antisemitic by the Metropolitan Police rose from 562 incidents in 2022 to 1,729 in 2023 a surge of 208 per cent. Freedom of information data obtained by The Independent also showed that hate crimes flagged as Islamophobic rose by 49 per cent in the same period, from 940 to 1,405. The figures are revealed ahead of a speech on Tuesday by communities secretary Michael Gove about the rise of antisemitism in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, accusing organisers of pro-Palestine marches of not doing enough to stop antisemitic messages. Organising groups have previously said the events, attracting crowds of thousands, are overwhelmingly peaceful with a low arrest rate. Mr Gove said he wanted to make marchers pay for weekly pro-Palestinian protests in London, adding: I dont want to make it unaffordable for groups to protest but when groups protest again and again then I think it is fair to ask them to pay. Reports of antisemitic behaviour dramatically increased after the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October, according to Jewish security organisation The Community Security Trust (CST), which recorded 4,103 antisemitic incidents in the UK in 2023, a 147 per cent rise on the 1,662 incidents in 2022. The Met Police previously said last year that it saw a surge in antisemitic offences recorded between 1 to 18 October, with 218 incidents reported, as well as a rise in Islamophobic hate crimes. The new data shows there were 1,335 recorded victims of suspected antisemitism in 2023, of whom 71 per cent were Jewish. That was up from 469 recorded victims in 2022. Some 1,274 people were recorded as victims of reported Islamophobic hate crimes in London in 2023, of whom 77 per cent were Muslim up from 872 in 2022. Chief Rabbi Mirvis, Eddie Marsan, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Rachel Riley, Maureen Lipman (second from right) and Vanessa Feltz (right) take part in a march against antisemitism organised by the volunteer-led charity Campaign Against Antisemitism at the Royal Courts of Justice in London ( PA ) There was a 49 per cent rise in faith-based hate crime incidents where the victims religion was Christian, with 141 people targeted in 2022 and 210 in 2023. Responding to the Mets police data, a spokesperson for the CST said: The police hate crime statistics match our own figures which showed a sharp rise in anti-Jewish incidents and hate crimes following 7 October last year. Antisemitism is always completely unacceptable, and we will continue to work closely with the police and the local Jewish communities to reduce the impact of this hatred. A spokesperson for the Met Police said: The Met has been working closely with representatives from Londons Jewish and Muslim communities since the attacks in Israel. Officers have been regularly deployed to provide reassurance and to investigate offences in the vicinity of faith schools, places of worship and in those communities where we know the levels of concern are highest. Those visits will continue. Regrettably, despite the increased presence of officers, we have seen a significant increase in hate crime across London. This includes abuse directed at individuals or groups in person or online, racially or religiously motivated criminal damage and other offences. We continue to encourage anyone who experiences hate crime to report it to the police. It is not acceptable and we will investigate. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A former Royal Marine who had been charged with spying for China has been found dead in a park. Matthew Trickett, 37, of Maidenhead, Berkshire, who had been accused of assisting the Hong Kong intelligence service and of foreign interference, was on bail after appearing at Westminster Magistrates Court last week, alongside Chi Leung (Peter) Wai, 38, and Chung Biu Yuen, 63. His body was discovered in Grenfell Park, Maidenhead, at around 5.15pm on Sunday after a report from a member of the public, Thames Valley Police said on Tuesday evening. Matthew Trickett covering his face as he left Westminster Magistrates Court, central London, after appearing in court accused of assisting the Hong Kong intelligence service ( PA ) An investigation is ongoing into the death, which is currently being treated as unexplained. His family have been informed and they are being supported by officers, with a post-mortem examination to be conducted in due course. In a statement, the family said: Were mourning the loss of a much-loved son, brother and family man. Tricketts solicitor Julian Hayes, senior partner at Berris Law, said: We are naturally shocked at this news and supporting his family as best we can. A local resident said the popular park, which is located close to Maidenhead railway station in Berkshire, was busy on Sunday. Tatiana Dioniseva, 30, said: There were so many people here there were children everywhere. It was a bit bizarre because it was sunny there were children about and then a crime scene over there. A police cordon remained in place in Grenfell Park on Tuesday evening, with several police officers stationed next to a black forensics tent erected in the centre, close to a childrens playground. More officers were positioned at vantage points and paths around the park. Left to right: Chung Biu Yuen, Chi Leung Wai, and Matthew Trickett appearing at Westminster Magistrates Court ( PA ) Prosecutor Kashif Malik said during last weeks hearing that Trickett had attempted suicide after being charged, and had asked for the defendant to be remanded in custody for his own welfare. Trickett was formerly employed by the UK Border Force at Heathrow airport, before joining Home Office Immigration Enforcement on 21 February 2024, and was previously a Royal Commando in the marines for six years. He was also the director of MTR Consultancy, a security firm formed in April 2021. Mr Wai works as a Border Force officer at Heathrow airport and Mr Yuen is employed as a Hong Kong trade official based in London. The charges alleged that between 20 December 2023 and 2 May 2024, Mr Yuen, Mr Wai and Trickett agreed to undertake information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception that were likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service. It is also alleged that on 1 May 2024 they forced entry into a UK residential address, being reckless as to whether the prohibited conduct, or course of conduct of which it forms part, would have an interference effect. Chung Biu Yuen, left, and Chi Leung Wai, leave Westminster Magistrates Court ( PA ) They were charged with the offences under the National Security Act following an investigation by the Mets counterterrorism command that saw a total of 11 people arrested. The trio had all been bailed and were next due to appear at the Old Bailey on Friday. The UK Foreign Office summoned Chinese ambassador Zheng Zeguang to a meeting with senior officials last week over the growing row after instruction from the foreign secretary, David Cameron. Chinas London embassy reacted with fury to the charges, describing them as a fabrication and an unwarranted accusation against Hong Kong. A Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) spokesperson previously said: The FCDO was unequivocal in setting out that the recent pattern of behaviour directed by China against the UK including cyberattacks, reports of espionage links and the issuing of bounties is not acceptable. In March, the government accused China of conducting a cyber espionage campaign against politicians and the Electoral Commission. Chinas UK embassy spokesperson previously said: For some time now, the UK has staged a series of accusations against China, including those on China spies and cyberattacks. All those accusations are groundless and slanderous. Following Tricketts death, a mandatory referral was made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct as he was regularly registering at a police station while on bail, with the matter now passed to Thames Valley Polices Professional Standards Department to investigate. Constance Marten, 36, and her partner Mark Gordon, 50 ( PA ) For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A jury has failed to reach verdicts in the trial of aristocrat Constance Marten and her partner Mark Gordon over the death of their newborn baby. Marten, 37, and Gordon, 50, have been on trial for manslaughter since January after their daughter Victoria died the previous January while they were camping on the South Downs in wintry conditions. The couple were on the run for nearly two months despite repeated public appeals for their whereabouts. Following their arrest, Victorias remains were found in a Lidl shopping bag in an allotment shed in Brighton, East Sussex, last March. The couple denied charges of gross negligence manslaughter of Victoria between 4 January and 27 February last year and causing or allowing the death of a child. They also denied charges of perverting the course of justice by concealing her body, along with concealing the birth of a child and child cruelty. Judge Mark Lucraft KC discharged the jury at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, almost six months after the trial began, and following more than 72 hours of deliberation. Marten and Gordon may face a retrial. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A woman has been mauled to death by her own XL Bully dogs inside a home in east London. Armed officers swooped on the scene after reports the victim, in her fifties, was attacked by a dog on Cornwall Close, Hornchurch, at 1.12pm on Monday. The woman was treated by medics from London Ambulance Service, but sadly she was pronounced dead at the scene. A stock picture of an XL Bully ( Getty Images ) A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: Due to the threat posed, armed officers attended. After assessing the situation, officers were able to safely seize two dogs. These were registered XL Bully dogs and prior to officers arrival had been contained inside a room in the house. They did not leave the house at any time during the incident. The family of the woman, who was the owner of the dogs, are being supported by officers. Pictures from the scene show a large police cordon and an air ambulance had landed to help the victim. It has been illegal to own, breed or sell American XL bullies without an exemption certificate in England and Wales since 1 February this year. It came after a mother and son were jailed after an eight-year-old boy was seriously injured in a savage and sustained attack by an XL Bully dog. Amanda Young, 49, and Lewis Young, 30, were given a two-year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to being the owner ( PA ) The victim, who cannot be identified, suffered extensive injuries to his scalp, face and hands in the attack in the communal area of a block of flats in Wadham Road, Bootle, Merseyside, on February 10, Liverpool Crown Court heard last Monday. Amanda Young, 49, was jailed for 20 months after admitting being the person in charge of a dog which caused injury while dangerously out of control in a public place, and her son Lewis Young, 30, was given a two-year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to being the owner. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The family of a kind-hearted mother killed by one of her registered XL Bully dogs have urged other owners to give up the breed if they show a hint of aggression. Angeline Mahal, believed to be in her fifties, was attacked by her two dogs at the semi-detached home in Cornwall Close in Hornchurch just after 1pm on Monday. Armed police attended the scene and told neighbours in the cul-de-sac to stay indoors before the area was evacuated shortly after 4pm. Despite London Ambulance Service sending paramedics and a helicopter, the woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Angeline Mahal was attacked by a dog at her home in Cornwall Close ( Supplied ) A sticker in the front window of the mother-of-twos home reads: Never mind the dog. Beware the kids. A neighbour described how two of the beauticians sons found her lying in the hallway with fatal injuries inflicted by her beloved dogs. A relative, who wished to remain anonymous, feared Angeline - known as Angel to friends - had been dead for many hours before she was discovered. He told The Sun: We miss her, she was sincere and loved by everyone. We asked her to get rid of the dogs. The bond with owners and their dogs is too strong. A police cordon pictured at the home in Cornwall Close, Hornchurch, east London ( William Warnes/PA Wire ) He said: She had two dogs from when they were puppies. They were registered. It was more likely to have been one of them attacked her. We are just shocked. You hear about these attacks in a paper but you never expect this to happen to your own family. He added: Theres something I want to make clear and its that anyone who has XL Bully-type dog needs to do the right thing if they spot their pets becoming aggressive and give them up. I know its hard because people have such an attachment - but we wouldnt want any other family to go through this. We miss Angeline. She was a sincere person with such a kind heart. Another neighbour told The Evening Standard: Two of her boys returned home and she had been attacked. It was too late for her imagine coming home to that. Its a tragedy, they were too late. She was a really nice lady and its tragic. I called her Ange - she was a gentle person who was quiet and humble. We are all reeling from this. Its just so sad. She was pronounced dead at the scene ( William Warnes/PA Wire ) On Tuesday afternoon, Ms Mahal was named locally, as His Majestys Coroners East London confirmed they had been made aware of her death. Both dogs were registered as exempt from the governments ban on XL Bully dogs, which came in on 1 February after a series of attacks. Under the agreement for having a dog exempt, owners must have had the animal neutered, have it microchipped and keep it muzzled and on a lead in public. But one neighbour, Sejal Solanki, said she had warned her child about going near the dogs. She said: I said Dont ever touch those dogs. Theyre dangerous. A blue forensic tent was put up outside the Ms Mahals home, which is in a small residential street. Police said she was pronounced dead at the scene and the two registered dogs were seized after being contained in a room. According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 16 deaths due to dog attacks in 2023, a sharp rise from preceding years where the number had been in single figures. As of late 2023, around 60% of dogs held in police kennels were a bull breed of some kind. Have you been affected by this? Email alexander.ross@independent.co.uk Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Prince Harry has suffered a setback in his latest legal skirmish with The Sun publisher, after a judge ruled he cannot take allegations against Rupert Murdoch to trial. The Duke of Sussex, 39, alleges he was targeted by journalists and private investigators working for Mr Murdochs newspaper, and his is among 42 claims to be brought against the tabloid. Lawyers for the prince had sought permission to update parts of his case as they sought to link NGN executives such as Mr Murdoch to knowledge of hacking and unlawful activity. However, in a new ruling on Tuesday, Mr Justice Fancourt refused permission for allegations to be brought against the 93-year-old media magnate and other senior executives, on the basis they would add nothing to allegations already made against other senior NGN bosses. Rupert Murdoch was previously a director of News International, now News UK, the parent company of News Group Newspapers ( Victoria Jones/PA ) Barristers representing various individuals suing the company over allegations of unlawful information-gathering claimed earlier this year that Mr Murdoch knew of unlawful activity as early as 2004 but turned a blind eye to the allegations while overseeing a culture of impunity at the publisher. The High Court had previously heard that the final editor of the News of the World had confirmed to police that his boss Rebekah Brooks and Mr Murdoch had known about hacking by early 2011, after being informed of a reporters confession. The claimants will seek the inference that Rupert Murdoch... was told about the Guardian allegations ... and knew that the denial published by his company... was false or, at the very least, turned a blind eye to its veracity and that of the allegations, the lawyers said in legal papers. NGN, which also published the defunct News Of The World, denies the accusations, with its lawyers previously telling the court the new allegations were a scurrilous and cynical attack. Prince Harry at the High Court in June 2023 ( Reuters ) In relation to Harrys case, Mr Justice Fancourt also refused permission to add new allegations relating to the years 1994, 1995 and 2016 and for other amendments that add to the allegations of phone hacking. It comes after News Group Newspapers (NGN) lost their bid to push back a full High Court trial, after they asked to hold a narrower-in-scope trial to decide if the cases had been brought too late. They currently face accusations dating as far back as 1993, which include blagging information, burglaries and bugging. In a ruling in April, Mr Justice Fancourt dismissed their request, saying it was unsatisfactory to delay the case by up to two years and increase overall costs. The publishers have previously denied unlawful activity took place at The Sun, while they have paid out hundreds of millions to victims of the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World. Hugh Grant has settled his High Court claim against The Sun publisher ( James Manning/PA ) However, a previous hearing heard that the prince could be forced to settle his claim against NGN because of the risks of high legal costs. David Sherborne, representing Harry and others, said the duke was subject to the same issues as actors Sienna Miller and Hugh Grant, who both previously said legal costs contributed to the settlement of their cases. Mr Grant said he had been told by lawyers he risked being liable for 10m in costs even if he was successful at a trial. NGN welcomed the decision, with a spokesperson saying: In 2011 an unreserved apology was made by NGN to victims of voicemail interception by the News of the World. Since then NGN has been paying financial damages to those with proper claims. In some cases, it has made commercial sense for both parties to come to a settlement agreement before trial to bring a resolution to the matter. As we reach the tail end of the litigation, NGN is drawing a line under the disputed matters. These civil proceedings have been running for more than a decade and deal with events 13-28 years ago. At a hearing in March 2024, the claimants sought to introduce wide-ranging allegations into their pleadings. NGN argued that a number of these were irrelevant to the fair and just determination of claims and had nothing to do with seeking compensation for victims of phone hacking or unlawful information gathering. The court in its judgment today has thoroughly vindicated NGNs position and did not give permission to introduce large and significant portions of the amendments. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A British passenger has described the carnage onboard the Singapore flight that dropped rapidly in turbulence killing one person and injuring dozens more. The Boeing 777-300ER plane was en route from Heathrow to Singapore carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew when it made the emergency landing in Bangkok, the airline said in a statement. Seven of the 30 people wounded during the flight are seriously injured, Bangkok airports general manager told a news conference on Wednesday. Andrew Davies describes experience from holding pen in Bangkok ( Sky News ) Passenger Andrew Davies, from Lewisham, south London, has described passengers performing CPR on a poor gentleman and calling for a defibrillator. He told Sky News that the seatbelt sign came on moments before the fall, adding: The plane just dropped. It was an extremely surreal experience. Suddenly peoples belongings, cushions, teacups, plates you name it, were hurtling through the cabin. I cant answer how long it happened for people say three minutes. Passengers with medical training helping as much as they could, heposted on X. CPR on the poor gentleman that passed, he said adding that they had shouted for a defibrillator. Oxygen masks that fell from the ceiling during the turbulent flight ( REUTERS ) Another passenger laid flat in aisle further behind me. Not sure what happened with them. Wish I could have helped more. He warned: Lesson is - wear a seatbelt at ALL TIMES. Anyone who is injured, was not wearing a seatbelt. People who kept them on (including me) are not (as far as I could tell). Members of a rescue team discuss after a London-Singapore flight was diverted to Bangkok due to severe turbulence, in Bangkok ( AP ) Peoples belongings scattered, coffee and water splattered the ceiling. Surreal. So many injured people - head lacerations, bleeding ears. A lady was screaming in pain with a bad back. I couldnt help her - just got her water. He said that when the plane landed Bangkok emergency services [were] quick to respond. Very little warning. The Boeing 777-300ER aircraft of Singapore Airlines, flight SQ321 from Heathrow is seen on tarmac ( AP ) Were you on board the flight? Email barney.davis.ind@independent.co.uk Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student also on board said: Suddenly the aircraft starts tilting up and there was shaking so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing a seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling. Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it, they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it, he said. The spokesperson for FlightRadar 24 said with regard to data showing a drop in height, our initial thinking is the turbulence event is prior to the standard descent from 37,000 to 31,000 feet. That appears to just be a flight level change in preparation for landing. Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. We deeply apologise for the traumatic experience that our passengers and crew members suffered on this flight, the airline said, adding it was working with Thai authorities to provide all necessary assistance. Close Rishi Sunak explains why the XL Bully dog was added to the banned breeds under the Dangerous Dogs Act earlier this year Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A woman killed by her XL Bully dogs at her house in east London has been named locally as Angeline Mahal. Ms Mahal, believed to be in her 50s, was attacked by her two dogs at the semi-detached home in Cornwall Close in Hornchurch just after 1pm on Monday. Armed police attended the scene and told neighbours in the cul-de-sac to stay indoors before the area was evacuated shortly after 4pm. Despite London Ambulance Service sending paramedics and a helicopter, the woman was pronounced dead at the scene. On Tuesday afternoon, Ms Mahal was named locally, as His Majestys Coroners East London confirmed they had been made aware of her death. Both dogs were registered as exempt from the governments ban on XL Bully dogs, which came in on 1 February. Under the agreement for having a dog exempt, owners must have had the animal neutered, have it microchipped and keep it muzzled and on a lead in public. But one neighbour, Sejal Solanki, said she had warned her child about going near the dogs. She said: I said Dont ever touch those dogs. Theyre dangerous. Have you been affected by this? Email alexander.ross@independent.co.uk Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Andy Burnham has called for a Hillsborough law to be introduced putting a duty of candour on public servants to avoid future cover-ups such as the infected blood scandal. The former health secretary and now Greater Manchester mayor said such a law is the only way to break the cycle that has led to Whitehall cover-ups including the Post Office scandal, the Hillsborough disaster, the Grenfell tragedy and the infected blood scandal. As paymaster John Glen prepares to set out a 10bn compensation package for victims and their families, Mr Bunham said a legal duty of candour for public servants was needed for full restitution to be delivered. We need now to make sure there is a Hillsborough law on the statute books, a duty of candour on all public servants, that is the only way we can break this cycle and have a situation where people tell the truth at the first time of asking, he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme. Infected blood scandal greatest injustice country has seen, claims Andy Burnham. ( BBC Breakfast ) Campaigners have demanded a Hillsborough law since former bishop of Liverpool James Jones set out 25 learning points in a report into the disaster at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final in Sheffield where 97 Liverpool fans died. In December the government introduced a Hillsborough Charter pledging to place the public interest above its own reputation but said a law enforcing a legal duty of candour was not necessary. Responding to the final report of the Infected Blood Inquiry, which blamed politicians, doctors and civil servants for a chilling cover-up of a scandal that led to the deaths and suffering that continue to this day, Mr Burnham said Rishi Sunak needed to implement the Hillsborough law as part of full restitution for what went wrong. From the 1970s to the 1990s, a calamity of failures left 30,000 patients infected with HIV and hepatitis, and killed more than 3,000 people so far. The inquiry, led by Sir Brian Langstaff, suggested hundreds of people infected during childbirth may still be living undiagnosed and unaware. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologised to infected blood victims (Carl Court/PA) ( PA Wire ) In a statement to the Commons after the reports publication, Mr Sunak said: This is a day of shame for the British state. Todays report shows a decades-long moral failure at the heart of our national life. From the National Health Service to the civil service, to ministers in successive governments, at every level the people and institutions in which we place our trust failed in the most harrowing and devastating way. They failed the victims and their families and they failed this country. On Tuesday Mr Burnham said the failures that led to the scandal were systemic and accused the department for health of digging in and covering up the issue from the public. As well as the Hillsborough law, Mr Burnham has called for a full consideration of corporate manslaughter prosecutions against Whitehall departments. Mr Sunak has pledged that lessons will be learnt from the report and that Cabinet Office minister Mr Glen will provide details of compensation for the victims and their families, which is expected to exceed 10bn, on Tuesday. ( PA ) Dozens of failures by the government and NHS were highlighted in the report. They include: Allowing the importation and distribution from 1973 of blood products made in the US and Austria which carried a high risk of causing hepatitis Teenage boys being treated as objects for research and infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated products Deliberate destruction of documents and falsely reassuring the public and patients that blood didnt carry Aids and that hepatitis C was relatively mild and inconsequential Failing to tell people they were infected or delaying telling them, and failing to trace patients once universal hepatitis C screening was introduced Repeatedly using inaccurate and defensive language which cruelly told people that they had received the best treatment available The prime ministers apology was echoed by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who issued a full apology on behalf of his own party and said a harsh light needs to be shone on the lessons that need to be learnt. Sir Keir added that it was also a failure of politics that justice had taken so long. Welcoming the prime ministers statement, he said: He should be under no doubt whatsoever that we will work with him to get that done swiftly. Because ... the victims in this scandal have suffered unspeakably, thousands of people have died, they continue to die every week, lives completely shattered, evidence wilfully destroyed, victims marginalised, people watching their loved ones die, children used as objects of research on and on it goes. Copies of Sir Brian Langstaffs report at Central Hall Westminster London (Tracey Croggon/Infected Bllod Inquiry/PA) ( PA Media ) The pain is barely conceivable and so, as well as an apology, I also want to make clear we commit that we will shine a harsh light upon the lessons that must be learned to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Michael Gove will today warn that the rise of antisemitism in Britain is a sign that the country is descending into darkness. The communities secretary is set to speak to the Jewish community in London amid huge concerns at the way there has been a 147 per cent increase in antisemitic incidents since 2022. The number has risen from 1,662 in 2022 to 2,699 incidents in the UK during the period on or after 7 October 2023 - the day when Hamas terrorists slaughtered and kidnapped hundreds of Jews in Israel. Mr Goves hard-hitting speech will come on the same day as Lord Walney publishes a landmark report on political violence and disruption, and ahead of the publication of the governments Counter Extremism Action Plan in the coming weeks. The senior minister will identify three forms of extremism of Islamism, the far right and hard left as all sharing a common thread of antisemitism. Communities secretary Michael Gove is set to speak about antisemitism today ( PA Wire ) Mr Gove is expected to say: Its an iron-clad law of history that countries which are descending into darkness are those which are becoming progressively more unsafe for Jewish individuals and the Jewish community - the Spain of the Inquisition, the Vienna of the 1900s, Germany in the Thirties, Russia in the last decade. It is a parallel law that those countries in which the Jewish community has felt most safe at any time are the countries where freedom is most secure at any time. The Netherlands of the 17th century. Britain in the first decades of the last century. America in the second half of that century. So when Jewish people are under threat, all our freedoms are threatened. The safety of the Jewish community is the canary in the mine. Growing Antisemitism is a fever which weakens the whole body politic. He will go on: I see that directly in my work tackling extremism and promoting community cohesion. There is one thing which - increasingly - unites the organisations and individuals which give cause for extremist concern. Antisemitism. It is the common currency of hate. It is at the dark heart of their world view. Whether Islamist. Far Right. Or Hard Left. Referring to recent protest marches, the secretary of state is expected to call out organisers for not doing more to prevent symbols of anti-Jewish hate. He is due to say: Many of those on these marches are thoughtful, gentle, compassionate people - driven by a desire for peace and an end to suffering. But they are side by side with those who are promoting hate. The organisers of these marches could do everything in their power to stop that. They dont. Mr Gove will urge members of the House of Lords to pass the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill, which will stop businesses and organisations including those affiliated with Israel being targeted through ongoing boycotts by public bodies, leading to community tensions and a rise in antisemitism. He is expected to stress that ensuring the safety of Jewish people is a moral duty for all to uphold, saying: We must say to every Jewish citizen in this country - your safety is the best guarantee of our security, your freedom to live as you choose the only way we can be certain we remain a land of liberty, your future is our future. We said Never Again. And that is a promise we will never, ever, disavow. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Michael Gove has provoked a furious debate by unveiling plans to make marchers pay for the massive pro-Palestinian protests dominating the centre of London at weekends. In a hard-hitting speech this morning, Mr Gove warned of a huge rise in antisemitism in the UK, pointing out that the number of incidents was up 147 per cent last year. He pointed to evidence from the Community Security Trust (CST) which stated that two-thirds of the 4,103 antisemitic incidents occurred on or after the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October, which triggered the war in Gaza. The communities secretary announced a number of measures to tackle extremism from Islamists, the far right and the extreme left, which featured in a series of recommendations from former Labour MP Lord Walney in a report on the subject. The report, published today, included references to pro-Palestinians and climate change activists such as Just Stop Oil. He warned that the UK is at a crossroads as he laid out 41 recommendations, including: Tightening laws to ban Gaza protests on certain days such as Remembrance Sunday Making it easier for businesses to pursue organisers of protests for damages Making protest groups pay for policing Banning protests near parliament and creating a buffer zone around MPs offices Police and CPS should apply the law more broadly to crack down on people praising terror groups Not automatically suspending teachers in blasphemy row Michael Gove speaks on antisemitism after Jewish hate crimes triple in London ( Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire ) Lord Walney has also called on ministers to expand the Public Order Act 1986 so that police have greater powers to stop marches from going ahead. Politicians expressed grave concerns about pro-Palestine protests over Remembrance weekend last year, and there was disruption as right-wing groups set out to confront the marchers. Mr Goves speech came as the High Court ruled that government attempts to lower the threshold for police to tackle serious disruption in marches and protests were unlawful. Work of fiction Campaign groups seized on the legal judgment as one of the reasons that Mr Gove and Lord Walneys recommendations should be dismissed. They also pointed out that Lord Walney John Woodcock had been a chair of the Labour Friends of Israel and alleged he had business interests which could call into question his judgement on arms sales and tackling climate change. A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said: History will come to regard the acts of this government and its cronies as the real criminals, which is why they will stop at nothing to silence those telling the truth and acting like we are in the emergency that we are in. Glen Secker, a member of the executive committee of Jews for Justice for Palestinians, said: Michael Goves remarks is a work of fiction. It resembles nothing to the reality. Each 1,000 members of us at JJP attend demonstrations each time and we are welcomed by everybody. There is no hostility. On Jews not being accepted at pro-Palestinian marches unless they agree to the destruction of Israel, he added: It is a fictional line, you wouldnt get organisations like us to obey his instructions on what we can or cannot say. International Centre of Justice for Palestinians public affairs officer Jonathan Purcell said: The Woodcock report sets a dangerous precedent. It will inevitably be used to support Goves new extremism definition, which seeks to crack down on protest rights in the UK. The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jama said: The resumption of these baseless attacks by Michael Gove and John Woodcock amount to an admission: apologists for Israels genocidal violence and system of apartheid have lost the democratic and legal arguments, but continue to attempt to delegitimise Palestinian solidarity. They will not succeed. Public abhors extremism Other campaign groups welcomed Mr Goves speech and Lord Walneys recommendations. The Campaign Against Antisemitism said in a statement: Lord Walney lays bare how far our branches of law enforcement have fallen behind these extremist groups and the expectations of the British public, which abhors extremism and the use of illegal or intimidatory tactics to accomplish goals that cannot be secured at the ballot box. Organisers of the protests must no longer be permitted to hide behind excuses of a few bad apples but finally held to account. We fully support Lord Walneys recommendations, a number of which echo proposals that we have recently made to the Home Office and other departments. Our criminal justice system must be brought into line, and the laws on which it operates must be brought up to date. The Community Security Trust (CST), which provides protection for the Jewish community in the UK, said: The growth of antisemitism in this country since 7 October is appalling, including the repeated presence of antisemitic and extremist rhetoric on anti-Israel protests, and there is a strong sense that this balance has been lost. Consequently, we welcome Lord Walneys recommendations for strengthening laws relating to political protest, political violence and disruption. We thank Lord Walney for his efforts and will look to work with government to support the implementation of his recommendations. Karen Pollock, chief executive of Holocaust Educational Trust, said: For far too long, our city centres have been filled with violent chants and placards calling for the elimination of the Jewish state of Israel. Antisemitism has become commonplace, with medieval tropes modernised to attack the only Jewish state, the Jewish star of David compared to a swastika and Zionism being equated to fascism. Jewish people, like everyone else in this great nation, should feel safe on our streets and these recommendations are the first step in ensuring this becomes the case once again. Mr Gove declared that the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on the left, directed at boycotting Israeli academia and businesses, is antisemitic. Among his measures was a threat to make marchers pay for the repeated disruption and cost of policing. He said: I dont want to make it unaffordable for groups to protest but when groups protest again and again and again, then I think it is fair to ask them to pay. Lord Walney recommended in his review that protest organisers contribute to the policing costs of their demonstration. He said UK democracy was at a crossroads and must be defended from extremists on the left and right. Mr Gove also urged Labour peers to stop slowing down the progress of legislation to allow antisemitism to be tackled more effectively. He said there will be national advisers on antisemitism and hatred against Muslims. But in a speech which warned of the UK and other Western democracies descending into darkness, Mr Gove said that the organisers of marchers had not done enough to tackle antisemitic tropes such as the singing of From the River to the Sea which is understood to mean the destruction of the state of Israel. He said he has also been alarmed by Nazi symbols on marches. The event was hosted in north London at the JW3, the only Jewish community and arts centre in the UK. Addressing an audience of Jewish community leaders, Mr Gove spoke of his horror of how antisemitism had quickly erupted within hours of Hamass brutal attack on 7 October, the worst single loss of life of Jews in a day since the Holocaust. Marchers demonstrating for Gaza in London ( Aaron Chown/PA Wire ) A virus Quoting the late chief rabbi Jonathan Sachs, Mr Gove said that antisemitism is a virus that evolves. He said it had gone from medieval religious hatred to an attempt to delegitimise the state of Israel. Mr Gove argued that attacks on Israel were attacks on Western values, particularly by Marxists, and he pointed out that supporters of antisemitic movements include Iran, Russia and China. Comparing the treatment of Israels attempts to defend itself to atrocities around the world by largely left-wing protesters, Mr Gove said: There are no BDS campaigns directed against Bashar Assads Syria regime guilty of killing more Muslims in living memory than any other. There are no student encampments urging university administrators to cut all ties with China. Given what is happening in Xinjiang or Hong Kong, or what happened in Tibet, I know of no efforts to organise marches in their thousands to demand immediate action to stop the persecution of the Rohingya or Korean people by Myanmars government. I may have missed it, but agitation to end the war in Sudan, or in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or Mali, or Ethiopia, does not seem to energise our campuses. And nowhere is there any suggestion other than with Israel, that the errors or even crimes of a countrys leaders should necessitate the end of that countrys independent existence. Referring to an anti-Western agenda behind the attacks on Israel, he went on: The decolonization narrative is meeting during the idea that the success of liberal Western nations is built on plunder and exploitation, that we seek even now to dominate others through illegitimate means, and that our attachment to freedom as mere hypocrisy is central to their efforts to advance their goals. That is why forces within those powers seek to influence the debate in our country. They want to weaken our collective resolve in support of democratic values, and fellow democracies. And they know that if they cannot undermine support for Israel, by encouraging a broader lack of self-confidence in the Wests values, they have secured a signal victory. Apart from Mr Goves speech, political reaction was muted. A Labour source said the party needed time to study the 41 recommendations. Home secretary James Cleverly said he would carefully consider the report. The High Court But there was a blow to the government in its attempts to tackle the pro-Palestinian marches, with the High Court ruling against the lowering of the threshold for police to intervene. Civil liberties group Liberty had brought legal action against the Home Office over protest regulations passed by statutory instrument last year. The government measures lowered the threshold for what is considered serious disruption to community life, from significant and prolonged to more than minor. The changes were made to tackle groups like Just Stop Oil from blocking roads but also impacted pro-Palestinian demonstrations. They would have allowed police officers to take into account any relevant cumulative disruption of repeated protests. The regulations came after the government tried to introduce the same changes when the Public Order Bill went through parliament, but they were rejected by the Lords at the time by 254 votes to 240. Two judges ruled for the group, finding the Home Office acted outside of its powers by reducing the threshold and failed to carry out a fair consultation process. Lord Justice Green and Mr Justice Kerr said: As a matter of ordinary and natural language, more than minor is not within the scope of the word serious. The judges continued: Under section 2A(b), when considering whether a public procession or assembly may result in serious disruption to the life of the community, a senior police officer must take into account all relevant disruption and may take into account any relevant cumulative disruption. If we are correct in our conclusion that serious does not include more than minor, that affects how the police apply the connected concepts of disruption and cumulative because it is critical context to those provisions. As the regulations were approved, the then home secretary Suella Braverman argued the changes would provide further clarity for police. She told MPs in June 2023: People have a right to get to work on time free from obstruction, a right to enjoy sporting events without interruption and a right to get to hospital. The roads belong to the British people, not a selfish minority who treat them like their personal property .... In some cases, the protests have aggravated the public so much that theyve taken matters into their own hands. Theyve lost their patience, the police must be able to stop this happening and its our job in government to give them the powers to do so. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} David Cameron has admitted that British tourists could soon be turned away by EU Frontex border guards policing the entry into Gibraltar, under a deal to allow a fluid border between the Rock and Spain. The foreign secretary was giving evidence to the European Scrutiny Committee which has raised serious concerns over the impact on UK sovereignty with the proposed treaty. The row has broken out because of a need for Gibraltar to come to a longer border solution with the EU as a result of Brexit. Had the UK voted to remain in the EU, the free travel provisions would not have been a problem but with 15,000 crossings a day, the Gibraltan and UK governments are seeking a solution. Gibraltar opposed Brexit with 96 per cent voting Remain. Lord David Cameron discussed Gibraltar ( PA Wire ) Asked by former Brexit minister David Jones whether EU officials would be able to refuse access to British tourists seeking to enter Gibraltar, Mr Cameron admitted: In future, there would be two sets of checks one by Gibraltar, one by Schengen and if there was a Schengen alert, that could be the circumstance. Lord Cameron said that there is still a chance that no deal will be signed at all unless it ties in with the red lines of the British and Gibraltar governments. He told MPs: If a deal isnt possibile within our red lines we wont agree a deal. If the deal isnt right then we wont sign it. Naming the red lines, Lord Cameron said that the British military base must continue to operate as it does now; also every inch of Gibraltar remains sovereign UK territory; and finally, the Gibraltar government fully agrees it. Lord Cameron though angered some MPs by saying he supports the Gibraltar governments push for a fluid border which would have it operate as an adjunct to the Schengen Area under free movement rules. He insisted that this meant EU checks will need to take place in Gibraltar but likened it to Eurostar border checks by the French at St Pancras station in London. However, Peterborough MP Paul Bristow said: You would accept that a crucial difference is that while the Spanish claim sovereignty over Gibraltar the French do not claim sovereignty over St Pancras yet. When pressed by former cabinet minister David Jones, the foreign secretary was also unable to rule out access to Gibraltar by Spanish police in hot pursuit or for surveillance purposes which are part of the Schengen accords. He said: These are all part of the discussions. Rules governing Gibraltars border with Spain are understood to be a major sticking point ( PA Archive ) But in a series of clashes with Mr Jones, Lord Cameron insisted that to have a fluid border required EU Frontex border guards to be present in Gibraltar and an alternative option of a separate border check on Spanish territory was not viable. Pointing out that if full Schengen checks come into place that things will get worse at the border, he warned: The status quo is not an option. Currently there are about 15,000 daily crossings on the Spanish border with Gibraltar and waits can be as long as six hours. Lord Cameron accepted that Gibraltans have every right to be suspicious of Spanish intentions and he agreed that there had been problems with Spain recently preventing the Red Arrows doing a display on the Rock. MPs also raised concerns over how a Greek minister recently referred to Gibraltar as Spanish in relation to the talks with the EU. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Boris Johnsons chief of staff Dominic Cummings has claimed nothing will change in the wake of the devastating tainted blood report as he accused Rishi Sunak of a bullshit apology. The prime minister said Monday was a day of shame for Britain after the findings exposed a massive cover-up of the biggest healthcare failure in UK history. The Infected Blood Inquiry pointed the finger at politicians, doctors and civil servants over a scandal that left 30,000 patients infected with HIV and hepatitis. But Mr Cummings, who was also Mr Johnsons chief adviser in No 10, claimed that in the wake of the report nothing will change about how Whitehall works, there'll be no accountability for senior people. Families affected by the tainted blood scandal protest ( Getty Images ) He said Westminster had a formula for bullshit apologies then quickly onto the next media bullshit as he pointed to previous scandals from Iraq and Afghanistan to Covid and Post Offices, saying they *never* change after each disaster except to get worse. He suggested that in preparation for the publication of reports like that into the tainted blood fiasco: Officials prepare fake theatre for .. MPs / hacks, (Westminster) wallows in cheap sentiment for a day or so with practiced 'tight lipped emotional' faces & fake 'never again' statements 'from all sides of the House', & officials carry on applying the same corruption, lies, and incompetence to government that's become par for the course. Mr Cummings, a long-time critic of Whitehall added that the system is working as intended. Mr Cummings was Mr Johnsons de facto chief of staff in No 10 during the Covid crisis, but he left Downing Street after the two men fell out. Mr Johnson previously stood by him when he was at the centre of a furious outcry after it emerged that he had driven to County Durham during the first lockdown, after his wife fell ill with suspected coronavirus. Dominic Cummings said thesystem was working as intended (James Manning/PA) ( PA Wire ) While there he also visited the Teesdale beauty sport Barnard Castle, in what he later claimed was a test to make sure he was fit to drive before setting off on the journey back to London. In recent weeks he has unveiled plans for a new political party, the Start-Up Party, which he claims could replace the Conservatives. The former head of the Vote Leave campaign has vowed that his new organisation would be completely different from the other parties. Close 'Beat the poison!' Michael Gove says government is 'clear-eyed' about threat of extremism Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Michael Gove has been accused of a witch hunt after saying he wanted pro-Palestinian marchers to pay for the massive weekly protests. The secretary of state for levelling up labelled pro-Palestine university encampments as antisemitism repurposed for the Instagram age and he accused activists of hostility towards Jewish students. In a speech on Tuesday, Mr Gove also accused organisers of not doing enough to stop some demonstrators spreading anti-Jewish messages, which he claims, included chants calling for the annihilation of Israel. His remarks have sparked furore among organisations supporting Palestinians in Gaza, who have been holding huge protests in London every weekend since the 7 October Hamas attacks. His speech came ahead of the publication of the Lord Walney review into political violence, which recommended government tighten laws to ban Gaza protests taking place on certain days as well as calling for powers to help businesses claim damages from protest organisers. But on the same day, the High Court ruled the Home Office had acted unlawfully when it implemented regulations to lower the threshold for police intervening in protests. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The first victims of the infected blood scandal will receive their final compensation payment before the end of the year, the government has said. Announcing the details of the Infected Blood Compensation Authority, cabinet office minister John Glen also promised that all those affected by the scandal will be eligible to claim compensation under the scheme. And, to cheers from campaigners watching in the Commons public gallery, Mr Glen announced Sir Robert Francis as the interim chairman of the body that will administer the compensation scheme. The government is expected to announce 10bn of infected blood scandal compensation ( AFP/Getty ) Sir Robert led the investigation into one of the NHSs worst care disasters, the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal. After his appointment, Sir Robert said: Having witnessed the depth of victims suffering as I compiled my report on the compensation framework, I know the urgency of providing them with the remedies they are entitled to as soon as is practicable. The governments proposals for the scheme are positive and meaningful and I look forward to discussing them with the community through a validation exercise which the minister and I have agreed will take place. Mr Glen added: We are establishing the Infected Blood Compensation Authority, an arms-length body to administer the compensation scheme. A shadow body has already been set up and an interim CEO has been appointed, and today Im delighted to announce the appointment of Sir Robert Francis as the interim chair of the organisation. The experience and the care that Sir Robert will bring to this role will ensure that the scheme is credible and trusted by the community. His support in delivering this scheme will be invaluable. Mr Glen told MPs it was the governments expectation that the first payments would be made before the end of the year, stressing that time is of the essence. But the minister would not say how much the total compensation bill will be, with the government yet to finalise the details. It came after the final report of the Infected Blood Inquiry pointed the finger at politicians, doctors and civil servants for a chilling cover-up of a scandal that led to deaths and suffering that continue to this day. From the 1970s to the 1990s, a calamity of failures left 30,000 patients infected with HIV and hepatitis and has killed more than 3,000 people to date. Sir Brian Langstaffs report identified dozens of failures by the government and NHS, including: Allowing the importation and distribution from 1973 of blood products made in the US and Austria which carried a high risk of causing hepatitis Teenage boys being treated as objects for research and infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated products Deliberate destruction of documents and falsely reassuring the public and patients that blood didnt carry Aids and that hepatitis C was relatively mild and inconsequential Failing to tell people they were infected or delaying telling them, and failing to trace patients once universal hepatitis C screening was introduced Repeatedly using inaccurate and defensive language which cruelly told people that they had received the best treatment available Mr Glen said further interim payments will be made as he recognised that members of the infected blood community are dying every week. He told MPs: There may be people, indeed there will be people, listening today who are thinking to themselves that they may not live to receive compensation. Today, Im announcing the government will be making further interim payments ahead of the establishment of the full scheme. Payments of 210,000 will be made to living infected beneficiaries, those registered with existing infected blood support schemes, as well as those who register with the support scheme before the final scheme becomes operational, and the estates of those who pass away between now and payments being made. The Infected Blood Inquiry report was published on Monday ( Jeff Moore/PA ) In August 2022, around 3,000 surviving victims were awarded interim payments of 100,000 each at the recommendation of Sir Brian. He called for them to be made without delay given the high mortality rate of those infected with HIV and hepatitis C. Mr Glen reiterated the prime ministers apology to victims of the infected blood scandal, telling the Commons: Yesterday the prime minister spoke about the anguish that the infected blood scandal brought to those impacted by it. I want to reiterate his words and apologise again today, I am sorry. He later added: Those who have been infected or affected as a result of this scandal will receive compensation. To be crystal clear, if you have been directly or indirectly infected by NHS blood, blood products or tissue contaminated with HIV or hepatitis C, or have developed a chronic infection from blood contaminated with hepatitis B, you will be eligible to claim compensation under the scheme. And where an infected person has died, but would have been eligible under these criteria, compensation will be paid to their estate. And this will include where a person was infected with hepatitis B and died during the acute period of infection. The Hepatitis C Trust welcomed the announcement, highlighting Sir Roberts appointment in particular. Chief executive Rachel Halford said it is reassuring to the infected blood community that someone who understands the scandal and the people affected by it will guide this important work. She added: Interim payments of a further 210,000 will provide reassurance to many facing financial hardship because of years of ill-health, job loss or caring responsibilities linked to this scandal. But she said much more detail is urgently needed to clarify who will be able to access financial support and when, alongside clearer information on the future of existing blood support schemes. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Calls are growing for the former health secretary Ken Clarke to be stripped of his peerage after he was condemned for indefensible actions during the infected blood scandal. Demands for Lord Clarke to be kicked out of the House of Lords are totally understandable, a cabinet minister said. Mel Stride also said the Tory grandee still had questions to answer over the biggest healthcare failure in UK history. The final report of the Infected Blood Inquiry accused Lord Clarke of "misleading" the public and attacked his "combative style" when he gave evidence. Former health secretary Ken Clarke He was criticised by the inquiry chair Sir Brian Langstaff for suggesting there was no conclusive proof that Aids could be spread through blood. His claims that campaigners attributed everything to me because I later became a well-known figure and that they were trying to find some celebrity whose fault it was, were also condemned. Clive Smith, the chair of the Haemophilia Society, said Lord Clarkes engagement with the official inquiry had been appalling. Asked if Lord Clarke should remain in the Lords, he told LBC: "We wrote to the Upper House when it was suggested that he was going to get a peerage, saying, Please dont do that yet, wait until the Infected Blood Inquiry has reported. "Now we have the conclusions of the Infected Blood Inquiry report, I think our letter was well-timed and entirely accurate. "The way in which he gave his evidence (to the inquiry) was appalling." The government is expected to announce 10bn in compensation ( AFP/Getty ) Des Collins, a solicitor who represents 1,500 victims of the scandal, also told The Telegraph: He should have his peerage stripped. Maria Armour, who contracted Hepatitis C through a blood transfusion in 1981, said: He should definitely give his peerage up. He and Jeremy Hunt should be arrested for their deceit and the arrogance they showed during the inquiry. Andrew Evans, chairman and co-founder of campaign group Tainted Blood said: I think Ken does have a role to play, but hes certainly not the only one. Labour MP Dame Diana Johnson told The Independent: It is very rare for a peerage to be removed as it requires an Act of Parliament, however some victims think he should give up his peerage voluntarily. I agree with Andrew. Asked if he felt Lord Clarke has questions to answer, Mr Stride, the Work and Pensions secretary, told Sky News: "There are clearly questions that are being posed, very serious questions, and to that degree indeed there are questions that need to be addressed." He later said he totally understands why victims have called for Lord Clarke to be stripped of his peerage. I totally understand that. There will be absolutely, correctly very strong feelings about many aspects of the conclusions and what has been unearthed, he told GB News. In a 1983 press release Lord Clarke said: "It has been suggested that Aids may be transmitted in blood or blood products. There is no conclusive proof that this is so." That line was repeated over the next several years. Families affected by the infected blood scandal ( Getty Images ) But Sir Brian said that while it was technically correct the line was indefensible. It did not spell out the real risk. It gave false reassurance. It lacked candour and, by not telling the whole truth, was misleading. He added: "It was not an accurate reflection of the (Department of Health's) actual understanding, which was that it was likely that Aids was transmitted through blood and blood products. "No minister challenged the 'no conclusive proof' line. They should have done." Ministers are on Tuesday expected to confirm details of a compensation scheme around four decades after government decided against any form of payout to those infected with HIV. Lord Clarke, who was a health minister at the time, said there would be no state scheme to compensate those suffering what were "the unavoidable adverse effects" of medical procedures. Lord Clarke has been contacted for comment. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Labour and the Lib Dems have been warned by the Electoral Commission that they need to comply with electoral law after being fined for multiple offences. Four investigations carried out by the democratic watchdog concluded that Labour was guilty of five offences and one contravention of the rules and handed a fine of 400. Meanwhile, the Lib Dems were found guilty of four offences of late reporting of donations and fined 350. Labour was reprimanded for a failure to notify a change in accounting unit treasurer, and four late reported donations; and clate reporting of its Ipswich constituency party accounts. Starmer and Davey lead Labour and the Lib Dems respectively ( Getty ) The far right Britain First was fined 1,500 for failing to file its accounts for 2022 with the fine increased to 1,875. Louise Edwards, the commissions director of regulation and digital transformation, said: The laws we enforce are there to ensure transparency in the finances of political parties and to increase public confidence in our system, so its important that parties comply with the requirements, and report to us in a timely fashion. A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: "This was an honest oversight by local parties who largely rely on volunteers. We continue to offer training to local parties to ensure reporting deadlines are met." A Labour party spokesperson said: Through our rigorous review processes, we identified that there had been a delay in the reporting of a small number of local donations. We proactively reported these donations to the Electoral Commission on becoming aware of them to ensure that there are no gaps in transparency, and co-operated fully with the Commission to explain the late declarations." Sources in Labour pointed out that their fiine was the second lowest ever awarded by the Electoral Commission. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Labour will build a new generation of towns in a bid to tackle the housing crisis, Angela Rayner will say in an attempt to impress the house-building sector. The deputy Labour leader has said the foundations of our past are the inspiration for the proposals, pointing to her partys record in government following the Second World War, when towns like Stevenage and Basildon were built. Speaking at the UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF), a property industry conference, Ms Rayner is expected to say Labour will back developers who deliver if it wins power. Ms Rayner, who is also the shadow housing secretary, will tell the conference a Labour government would set high standards on design, quality, affordable homes, green spaces and infrastructure. New towns will be a crucial part of Labours plans to grasp the ongoing housing crisis across Britain, she is expected to say. Labour will build a new generation of towns in a bid to tackle the housing crisis, Angela Rayner will say ( PA Archive ) She will meanwhile signal Labour is willing to work with responsible developers who can deliver affordable homes alongside green spaces, and the schools and transport links residents need. Labour has blamed the Conservatives for a low level of housing planning approvals in recent years. House building has risen since the last election, with 202,300 new homes started in 2022/23 compared to 187,870 in 2019/20, returning to levels last seen just before the financial crash. But planning applications have fallen since the middle of 2022, with Labour blaming the planning system and the Governments decision to scrap mandatory housing targets in the face of backbench pressure. When Sir Keir Starmer set out his first steps for a Labour government last week, housing was not explicitly mentioned in the pledge card, but the Labour leader said this would feed into the partys commitment to create economic stability. When Sir Keir Starmer set out his first steps for a Labour government last week, housing was not explicitly mentioned in the pledge card ( Victoria Jones/PA Wire ) Ahead of the speech, Ms Rayner said: Labours new towns are just one part of our ambitious house-building agenda which will see swathes of good quality, affordable houses built in the national interest. Developers who deliver on their obligations to build high quality, well designed and sustainable affordable housing, with green spaces and transport links and schools and GPs surgeries nearby, will experience a new dawn under Labour. But those who have wriggled out of their responsibilities for too long will be robustly held to account. Labours towns of the future will be built on the foundations of our past. The post-war period taught us that when the government plays a strategic role in housebuilding, we can turbo-charge growth to the benefit of working people across Britain. That is what Labours plans will achieve. Tory chair Richard Holden added: Its remarkable that Angela Rayner would want to talk about housing whilst there is an active police investigation related to her own housing situation. Police are currently investigating tax matters and other issues in connection with Ms Rayners housing affairs, including whether she broke electoral law. It is also being looked at whether she paid the correct amount of capital gains tax when she sold her property, and what the council tax arrangements were at her former house. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Speculation is mounting that Labour is paving the way to open UK/US trade talks with a Donald Trump administration if he wins back the White House just as Sir Keir Starmer enters Downing Street. The Independent has learnt that senior Labour MPs, including shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock and shadow exports minister Tan Dhesi, were guests at the right-wing Heritage Foundation in Washington DC this week. The Heritage Foundation has earned a reputation for being at the heart of a shift to the right in the Republican Party. It has led Project 2025, the preparations for the next Republican administration in the White House including policy documents and staffing. The shadow ministers were joined by Tory Crewe MP Kieran Mullan and pro-Trump British think tank the Legatum Institute at the discussions in Washington. David Lammy has said Labour would seek to work with whoever is in the White House ( PA Wire ) The move comes after shadow foreign secretary David Lammy raised eyebrows by defending former president Trumps Nato policy. The Independent understands that Mr Lammy also asked to speak at Heritage in a further attempt to bolster relations when he visited but had his request turned down. Recently, Mr Lammys attempts to build bridges with Trump allies have been praised by Legatum for changing his previously hostile language about the former president. Drew Hale, who chaired the meeting and is Heritages head of trade policy, also praised the Labour MPs for their engagement on a potential US/UK trade deal. He described the MPs as great and said that they appeared to be very favourable to a US/UK deal as well as the UK joining the existing trading group with America, Canada and Mexico (USMCA). Sarah Elliott, head of the US unit at Legatum who was also present, added that Labour is definitely putting an olive branch out and showing an openness to work with Republicans. A trade deal with the US was one of the biggest promises made by Brexiteers during the 2016 EU referendum. However, a succession of Tory prime ministers have failed to deliver one following Joe Bidens victory over Mr Trump in 2020. In her brief premiership, Liz Truss suspended the US trade talks and Rishi Sunak has not restarted them. The much-coveted US trade deal would be a major victory for a Keir Starmer government if Labour could succeed where the Tories failed. Labour has closer ties with the Democrats but appears more ready to deal with the Republicans than the current Tory leadership. Mr Kinnock told The Independent: The purpose of this cross-party delegation to Washington DC was to strengthen political ties between the UK and the US across a number of key policy areas. The programme included meetings and briefings with a diverse set of organisations ranging from Congress to the World Bank, USAid, the State Department, business groups and think tanks. A wide range of issues were discussed at every meeting, from Ukraine, to trade, to migration, to the special relationship. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A Tory foreign minister has slammed the International Criminal Courts (ICC) decision to seek arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders as a repugnant moral equivalence. UK deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell said the courts request smacked of an unworthy and ludicrous comparison between Israel and Hamas - and it would not help end the war. The ICC sought arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, and Ismail Haniyeh, for allegations of war crimes on Monday. Mr Mitchell said: This smacks of an unworthy and ludicrous sense of moral equivalence between a murderous proscribed terrorist organisation and the democratically elected government of Israel seeking to protect its citizens. We do not believe the ICC prosecutor seeking warrants will help with a ceasefire. As we have said from the outset, we do not think the ICC has jurisdiction in this case. Top left to bottom right: Yoav Gallant, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif ( Getty ) In response, Labour questioned if the government valued the rule of law and said the independence of the court should be respected. Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said: Labour has been clear throughout this conflict that international law must be upheld, that the independence of international courts must be respected and that all sides must be accountable for their actions. Labour supports the International Criminal Court as a cornerstone of the international legal system that supports allies regardless of its focus, whether in Ukraine, Syria or Sudan. Does the Tory party believe in the international rule of law or not? Mr Mitchell went on to claim the court, based in the Hague, did not have jurisdiction in either Israel or Palestine due to the Jewish state not being treaty to the Rome Statute, and Palestine not being recognised as a state. He also reiterated hardline Israeli minister Benny Gantzs claim that the court showed moral blindness by placing Israel in the same line as blood-thirsty terrorists - referring to Hamas. Israeli leaders Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant are wanted for their alleged role in the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, wilfully causing great suffering and wilful killing or murder as a war crime, among other things. Deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell said the ICCs decision to seek arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders was a repugnant moral equivalence ( PA Wire ) Hamas leaders Yehia Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh are also accused of bearing responsibility for crimes including extermination and murder, the taking of hostages, torture, rape and other acts of sexual violence. Israels staunchest ally, the US, also expressed its shock at the application over Israels leader, with president Joe Biden calling it outrageous. He said: And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence none between Israel and Hamas. Israel is not a member of the court, and even if the arrest warrants are issued, Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution. But the threat of arrest could make it difficult for the Israeli leaders to travel abroad. Israel launched its war in response to the 7 October terror attack by Hamas that killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 others hostage. The Israeli offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, at least half of them women and children, according to the latest estimates by Gaza health officials. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} At least six Egyptian women have died after a vehicle carrying about two dozen people slid off a ferry and plunged into the Nile River. The accident, which happened in Monshat el-Kanater town in Giza province just outside Cairo, also injured nine other passengers, the Health Ministry said in a statement. Giza is one of three provinces forming Greater Cairo. The ministry said six of the injured were treated at the site while three others were transferred to hospitals. It didnt elaborate on their injuries at this point. Giza provincial Gov. Ahmed Rashed said the microbus was retrieved from the Nile, and rescue efforts were still underway as of midday Tuesday. The cause of the accident was not immediately clear. According to the state-owned Akhbar daily, about two dozen passengers, mostly women, were in the vehicle heading to work when the accident occurred. Many Egyptians make their way using boats on a daily basis, especially in Upper Egypt and the Nile Delta. Sailing along the Nile is also a favorite pastime during holidays in the Arab worlds most populous country. Ferry, railway and road accidents are common in Egypt mainly because of poor maintenance and lack of regulations. In February, a ferry carrying day laborers sank in the Nile in Giza, killing at least 10 of the 15 people on board. The five who survived were transported to a hospital and later discharged. The cause of the sinking was not made immediately clear. The ministry allocated compensation of 200,000 Egyptian pounds (around $6,466) to each family of the deceased and 20,000 ($646) to each of the five injured. The laborers were on their way to work at a local construction firm. It took rescue teams hours to recover the bodies, according to local media which aired live-stream videos on social media platforms showing divers searching for the dead as villagers waited on the Nile banks. The incident took place in the town of Monshat el-Kanater in Giza. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A Brazilian woman arrested earlier this month is accused of displaying stalker behavior similar to that portrayed in the Netflix show Baby Reindeer over a doctor who she said saved her life. Kawara Welch, 23, allegedly called the doctor 500 times, and sent him 1,300 emails in one day. She also contacted his family and broke into his clinic prior to her arrest. Welch, a student studying nutrition at a university in the Uberlandia municipality, was arrested in Ituiutaba, Brazil, on May 8 after allegedly stalking the medical professional who treated her for depression six years ago. The charge of stalking carries a sentence of up to two years in jail, according to Brazilian news outlet Fantastico. Welch is also accused of theft, threats and extortion. She had been considered a fugitive since March 2023, the outlet reported. The doctor, who has not been identified, told Fantastico that after he had treated Welch, she would harass him nonstop, waiting behind corners for him to finish work before following him home. Kawara Welch, 23, alleged to have called the doctor 500 times in one day and broken into his clinic ( @kawawelch/Instagram ) She said that it wasnt a coincidence, that no one saves someone elses life so many times out of the blue, that there was something more to it, the doctor explained. He added that she broke into his practice and chased him several times. The case bears similiarities to the Netflix show Baby Reindeer, written by British comedian Richard Gadd, which retold the true story of his own experience with a stalker. The hit show drew backlash after social media sleuths, despite being warned off by Gadd, tracked down the supposedly anonymous woman depicted in the show Martha online. Journalist Piers Morgan later conducted a lengthy interview with the real-life Martha on his YouTube series, Piers Morgan Uncensored. In Brazil, the doctor said that Welchs messages had become threatening and he had attempted to cease contact with her, even asking a colleague to treat her instead. She had an incredible ability to track him down, he said. "She ended up sending me 1,300 messages in one day. And calls, she sent me more than 500 calls in one day, a single day, he told Fantastico. Piers Morgan interviewed Fiona Harvey, the real-life Martha, who was portrayed on the Netflix show Baby Reindeer ( Piers Morgan/X ) I changed my cell phone number three or four times, but I stopped changing because I saw it was completely useless. She had an incredible ability to find my new number. According to Fantastico, in the last five years, the doctor has registered 42 police reports against Welch. In one instance in 2022, she broke into his office and attacked his wife. In 2023, Welch stole the doctors wifes phone, leading to a warrant for her arrest. In March 2023, she was issued with a restraining order, but failed to comply with the terms. Earlier this month another woman, Rebeca Garcia, was dubbed The Venezuelan Baby Reindeer by Latin American media outlets. Dozens of Venezuelan women said that Garcia had been harassing, stalking and threatening them over multiple years. The case went viral on social media in Latin America, in part because of the overwhelming response to the victims accounts and pleas for justice in the country where officials claimed that harassment between women doesnt exist. Garcia allegedly sent hundreds of inappropriate emails to her victims, broke into their residences, and even published a book on Amazon detailing false encounters and fantasies with multiple women. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The smiling face of whistleblower Joshua Dean stared out from a flower-laden portrait on Thursday at a Wichita Baptist church as loved ones remembered the 45-year-old known for faith, fierce intelligence and an incessant curiosity bordering on annoying, one celebrant preacher joked to the packed congregation. Mr Dean, an avid athlete, died on 30 April after a desperate battle with a sudden illness that saw him airlifted from Kansas to Oklahoma, where he ultimately passed away. Academically gifted and the holder of multiple advanced degrees, hed given depositions in a shareholder lawsuit against Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, where hed previously been employed as an auditor following the path of his stepfather, who worked at the key Wichita site for decades. Its no secret, if youre here in the building, you probably know he was one of the whistleblowers at Boeing, Rev. Jerrod Vickers said Thursday. And I really believe that that was the intent of his heart: He just wanted to see that people were safe and was willing to do what it takes to ensure that. He put himself at great risk to do so because he loved people. Joshua Dean, 45, became a whistleblower after working as an auditor at Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita -- but died 30 April after a sudden illness. A celebration of life was held for him last week in Kansas ( Sheila Flynn for The Independent ) Dean is survived by a son, parents, siblings and extended family; several hundred people on Thursday joined them for a celebration of his life at Cross Point Free Will Baptist Church. You know, 45, that is a very short time on Earth, the preacher continued, and yet its a very long time. The gathering took place less than five miles from the sprawling headquarters of Deans former employer Spirit Aerosystems, which spans 600 acres and employs about 12,000 more than half the companys global workforce. Its one of about 450 aerospace companies dominating the economy of Wichita which has been proudly proclaiming itself the Air Capital of the World from the Kansas plains for nearly a century. Trucks and trains loaded with fuselage parts are a common sight, and workers everywhere wear badges with the names of aviation stalwarts Spirit, Bombardier, Textron (formerly Cessna) and Airbus. Among the mourners on Thursday was a former Spirit coworker, Santiago Paredes who himself became a whistleblower at the aviation manufacturer, which counts Boeing as its biggest customer, after encouragement from Dean. Paredes went public with his claims about quality control issues in the days after the passing of his friend, which already came on the heels of the March death of another whistleblower, John Barnett, a former Boeing quality manager. A coroners report found last week that Barnett had died by suicide but the timing and circumstances of his death raised eyebrows at the time, and the subsequent death of Dean, a little more than seven weeks later, poured gasoline on conspiracy theory rumors and lit a match on top of them. Santiago Paredes, who was encouraged to become a Spirit AeroSystems whistleblower by his former coworker, attended Deans memorial on Thursday ( Sheila Flynn ) Paredes brushed off rumors of whether nefarious forces were at play. I dont think so, he told The Independent over coffee before his friends memorial. But, you know, Im always looking behind my mirror to make sure nobodys cars following me. Im not saying that Im scared, but at the same time, I cant put a blind eye to the reality of what could be. I have to prepare myself for that. The men had become friends at work when Paredes, a team leader, walked Dean, an auditor, through processes and answered questions. Then I ran into him in town a couple of times, Paredes said. We kind of built a little relationship, through eating in the cafeteria thats how he found out a lot of the stuff that I went through, because he was in the area when I was demoted, sent to the backdrop. Paredes had raised safety protocol issues during his time at Spirit, claiming he was demoted for sharing his concerns though he was reinstated shortly before leaving the company in 2022. Hed moved on and had put Spirit in the past when Dean part of a shareholder lawsuit contacted him last year, Paredes told The Independent. Hes like, Hey, I know what happened to you and I was wondering if you have any documents like the ethics reports and the emails that I had sent to the CEO and all that stuff, said Paredes, whod indeed kept copies of his warnings just to cover my own butt. Airplane fuselages bound for Boeing's 737 Max production facility are pictured in 2019 awaiting shipment on rail sidings at Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita ( REUTERS ) Paredes agreed to share what hed seen and documented if he was assured anonymity. As an example of his friends upstanding character, he detailed how Dean avoided all contact with Paredes during his initial participation to avoid any appearance of collusion or impropriety. That discipline and faith in the process, Paredes said, speaks to his character, his integrity, and the kind of person that he was. He was a person with integrity, a person that wanted to do the right thing above anything else. Paredes drove the three hours on Thursday morning from his new home in Lawrence to Wichita, where the tentacles of Spirit, Boeing and the aviation industry touch every aspect of life. Main thoroughfares have names like Hydraulic Avenue and Air Capital Boulevard, and local hotels give aviation industry discounts. The Spirit campus is massive, a complex of hangars, offices, parking lots and yards with visible fuselage parts. It is buttressed by the Kansas Aviation Museum and McConnell Air Force Base. At Harrys Uptown Bar & Grill last week, every person sitting at the bar either worked in the aviation industry or had friends and family employed by it. Ron Lentz, a trucker who grew up in Wichita, pointed out that not only his ex-wife but his sons ex-wife and ex-girlfriend worked at the same department at Spirit. Across the horseshoe bar where deceased patrons are immortalized with name plaques sat the CEO of an oil company exporting jet fuel. You cant talk to anybody that dont know somebody or is not connected somehow, Lentz told The Independent. He was sweeping the floor of an aviation machine shop back in junior high; now his retired high school friends are returning to work part-time at aviation jobs, some after already finishing careers there. Eleven B-29s in Boeing-Wichita assembly factory awaiting final flight tests. The Superfortresses were introduced to combat in May 1944, mainly in the Pacific as long range bombers against Japan. ( Shutterstock / Everett Collection ) Clyde Cessna, a rural Kansan, completed his first successful flight with a self-built plane in 1911 and five years later moved his airplane manufacturing operation from his farm to Wichita. Other aircraft manufacturers followed, and a merger at the tail-end of the 1920s first brought the name Boeing to the region, according to the Kansas Aviation Museum (which now includes the Boeing: Science, Math, and HIstory Center & Lattner Learning Hangar.) The city was already well established as an aircraft production hub before World War II, which created a boom, employing tens of thousands; despite post-war layoffs introducing Wichita to the tenuous bust-or-boom nature of aviation employment the industry continued growing in the region.. Boeing, in particular, became known as a great place to work. Wichitans still wax lyrical about the company pool from the 1960s, the enviable benefits and the pride workers took in their employer. Kansas Aviation Museum, abutting Spirit AeroSystems and McConnell Air Force Base, chronicles Wichitas century-plus history as an aviation capital ( Sheila Flynn ) Boeing was, for a long time, for the most part, a revered and beloved company, says aviation freelancer and local historian Richard Harris, whose grandparents worked for the aircraft giant. But towards the end of their time here, relations got testy. Boeing had some tough negotiations with the machinist union, the International Association of Machinists and the addition of a new union representing the white collar workers at Boeing put more pressure on Boeing. In the end, Boeing pulled out of Wichita in 2012, leaving more than 2,000 job losses though it had already spun off its commercial division to Spirit, which remained a main supplier. There is a deep, I think, sour feeling towards Boeing ever since they pulled out, says Harris, who says the move was locally viewed as the company getting even with the union for a strike and generally regarded here as an act of outright spite by Boeing. We dont trust the aircraft industry like we used to. Local historian Richard Harris The departure of such a tried-and-true long-time employer was indicative of a larger trend and deeply hurt Wichita, he says. We dont trust the aircraft industry like we used to, Harris tells The Independent. There are so many people who feel that you could be fired just for looking cross-eyed at the wrong person and theres a real distrust of management farther up the chain. Theres a tremendous distrust of management thats remote. About 24 hours after Harris made those observations, as mourners were gathering for Deans memorial, word was trickling through the ranks of Spirit workers that hundreds of them would soon be facing layoffs. At the local Kwik Shop, the closest convenience store to Spirit, one customer who said he worked on Spirit fuselages looked shell-shocked when he told The Independent hed received a phone alert minutes beforehand about the upcoming losses. It was something Wichita had been dreading in the wake of all of the negative and sensational headlines. Boeing has been engaged with talks to again merge with Spirit, and with mergers often come cuts; on Thursday news broke of an internal memo outlining the upcoming dismissal of around 400 hourly workers. Caseys Bar and Grill in Wichita stands at the edge of the Spirit AeroSystems site and is popular with workers; the watering hole was uncharacteristically quiet last Thursday, the day news broke of upcoming layoffs as a celebration of life was held a a nearby church for former Spirit auditor and whistleblower Joshua Dean ( Sheila Flynn ) Hours later at Caseys Bar & Grill a dark, low-ceilinged favorite hangout of Spirit workers at the edge of the companys site it was uncharacteristically quiet after the first shift clocked off on Thursday afternoon. One couple, a teacher and a Spirit worker, discussed the job losses as they prepared to go to their daughters school event; they believed his job was safe for now. Leaked discussions from a Facebook group for Spirit AeroSystems employees, whose names have been blocked for their protection ( Facebook ) In the Facebook group, Spirit employees joke, complain and support whistleblowers whove come forward with quality control issues ( Facebook ) The newly-revealed job losses were taking conversational precedent over gossip about whistleblowers, which has provided limitless fodder on employee forums for weeks spurred, again, by the deaths of two of them. Locals have been sharing gallows humor memes and jokes, though everything is tinged with genuine concern. If you see something, update your will, then say something, one employee wrote in a private Facebook forum for Spirit employees. I see it now, freak accident takes lives of all whistle blowers riding bus to go testify, wrote another Wichita-based Spirit manager in the employee forum. Watch your 6 is all I have to say I feel like whenever we brought stuff up in Wichita they would sweep it under the rug. A former Spirit AeroSystems employee Paredes, for his part, told The Independent he had steeled himself for backlash from other workers but has been bolstered by a steady stream of support. Hes been receiving messages from former and current employees not only applauding his bravery but also backing up his claims worryingly. I feel like whenever we brought stuff up in Wichita they would sweep it under the rug, one former Spirit employee, who took a job with another company out of state at the end of last year, said in one message seen by The Independent. Until you either stop caring or you leave. When this came up I found my defenses were up, wrote another former coworker, offering to buy Paredes a beer. In my eyes youve always been honorable and one of the people on the inspection team I respected the most. I applaud your transparency and willingness. Youve earned even more of my respect. Paredes says hes hoping for an aviation culture change which will percolate from the top down. But in the meantime, in the face of job losses, dying whistleblowers and unquestionable uncertainty, the vibe across Wichita remains uneasy. I have never seen or felt the city more uptight about its role in aviation as it is right this moment, local historian Harris tells The Independent. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} If there was a struggle the night before Tammy Daybell was found dead in her room, her son wouldve heard it, he testified at his fathers murder trial. I heard nothing, Garth Daybell told jurors at the Idaho courthouse on Monday. Both Garth and his sister Emma Daybell Murray took the stand to defend their father Chad Daybell the self-proclaimed prophet and doomsday author accused of murdering their mother and his lovers two children in 2019. Tammy Daybell, 49, was found dead in her Rexburg, Idaho bedroom in the early morning hours of 19 October 2019. Her husband was later charged with her murder after an autopsy revealed she had died of asphyxia. Two of the Daybells five adult children testified in their fathers defense that their mothers health had been deteriorating months leading up to her sudden death. They said she was noticeably more tired, even going to bed before dinner on some nights. Tammy and Chad Daybell were married in 1990. He is now accused of conspiring with Lori Vallow to kill her ( Facebook ) Her oldest son Garth told the court that his mother experienced "fainting spells" after she had been kneeling for a while, and she was getting tired extremely easily. On 18 October 2019, the night before she died, Tammy was too tired to cook dinner for the family and asked him to pick up some fast food instead. She said, I dont feel good today; I dont want to cook. Can you go get some McDonalds for us? Garth said. So Garth drove to Rexburg, Idaho and picked up food for himself and for his parents, making sure to get her favorite a quarter-pounder with cheese. It was Tammys last meal. Garth, who is a teacher during the day, told the court that he left the home again for a night job at a haunted house and when he returned around 1am, he retreated to his room, where he watched YouTube videos for several hours. As I passed their bedroom, I heard my father snoring, he said, adding that didnt see any sign of a struggle or fight and as far as he knew, it was a normal night. A few hours later, Garth was awakened by his dad calling for, Garth, Garth get up. I need help. When Garth got to the bedroom, he saw his mother had rolled out of bed and her feet were tangled in the sheets. As he tried to get her back into bed, he knew something was wrong. I felt she was cold and stiff and gray, he recalled. I realized she had been not breathing. He told the court that if there had been a struggle or fight, he would have heard it. But he said he heard nothing. Previous testimony from Fremont County Coroner Brenda Dye revealed that Daybell said he found his wife frozen on the bedroom floor after she had spent the night coughing and vomiting. Despite the mysterious circumstances, her family declined an autopsy and Tammys death was ruled to be from natural causes. Chad Daybell's defense calls on his 2 children His sister-in-law Heather Daybell previously told the court that Daybell had pushed for the quick funeral because he didnt want to drag this out. His demeanor seemed strange to me, she added. But Daybells daughter Emma Daybell Murray, who exchanged smiles with her father as she staunchly defended him on the stand Monday, insisting the way he acted at her mothers funeral was typical for any grieving Latter-day Saint husband. Latter-day Saints believe we will be resurrected and with our families forever, she said. A funeral isnt saying goodbye foreverits a see you later. Its a break. She said she told authorities the family did not want an autopsy because their father was so emotionally out of control. I know the grief he felt was real. He may not have had the same romantic relationship with my mother that he had in the past, but I knew he valued her as a person, and seeing her die was very traumatic, Emma said. I dont think autopsies should be done on anyone. The idea of my mothers body undergoing that was very distressing to me. In an unwavering, monotone voice, much like her fathers, she told the court about her mothers declining health, her anemia, her exhaustion and how she would bruise easily from carrying groceries. She was always one to meet the demands of daily life without being exhausted and she started going to bed before dinner some nights, Emma said. It would be like 5, 6, 7 oclock at nightand she would sleep in a lot. Emma, who worked with her mother at a local elementary school, talked about how her mother was competitive and tried to exercise. Both Emma and Garth said Tammys Fitbit data, which prosecutors used to show her activity was above average until she died, was partially made up as she would shake her wrists to get points while she competed with her family to win fitness challenges. Emma told the court her mother took supplements like colloidal silver, encouraged others to do the same, and also used an antidepressant to alleviate her symptoms. Colloidal silver, which was used to treat infections before antibiotics became available, is sometimes sold as a homeopathic remedy. When Emma was asked by Fremont County prosecutor Lindsey Blake if she would be surprised to learn there was no mention of anemia or sleep apnea in Tammys medical records, she responded that her mother was an extremely private person and never spoke of her health with others. However, previous testimony from those who knew Tammy claimed she appeared to be in good health in the days and weeks leading up to her death. Daybell introduced his children to Lori Vallow the day after Tammys funeral, in the home where she had died three days earlier, according to Daybells son-in-law Joseph Murray who testified on Tuesday. Two weeks after Tammys death, Daybell and Vallow married on a beach in Hawaii. Tylee Ryan and Joshua JJ Vallow were found buried on Chad Daybells property in June 2020 ( Family handout ) Both of Daybells children testified that they knew Daybell and Vallow were together in Hawaii but did not learn the full extent of their relationship until Vallows arrest in February 2020. She was charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder of her two children, Tylee and JJ, and conspiracy to commit murder of Tammy. Prosecutors say that the couple conspired with Vallows late brother Alex Cox to kill the children and Daybells wife both as part of their doomsday beliefs but also to collect life insurance money, the kids social security and survivor benefits. It was only after the two children were reported missing and authorities began delving into Daybell and Vallows bizarre cult beliefs that questions began being asked about Tammys death too. In December 2019, investigators exhumed her body for an autopsy and it was determined that she had died from asphyxiation, not of natural causes. New video shows Chad Daybell discussing finances with daughter as he tells her Im not coming back The siblings also told jurors that they follow the teachings of the Mormon church but that their fathers faith was far more extreme. Emma told the court that her father helped cast out a dark entity in her that was causing anxiety. Dad cast it out using the power of the priesthood and then I felt better afterwards, she said. They said both their father and their mother discussed people being dark and light a term that was used by Daybell in messages with Vallow about her children. Daybell would label people light and dark based on how much he believed a person had been taken over by evil. When asked about her knowledge of the whereabouts of Vallows children after theyd gone missing, Emma responded: From my understanding, I was told that the children were in a safe place. In this aerial photo, investigators search for human remains at Chad Daybell's residence in Rexburg, Idaho in June 2020 ( Post Register ) Their bodies were later found on her fathers property. Emma revealed to the court that she was the one who searched wind directions on her familys computer, not her father, on the day Vallows 16-year-old daughter Tylee Ryan was allegedly killed and burned on the property. But Daybells attorney John Prior insists there is no evidence directly tying Daybell to all three murders and claims his client was manipulated by Vallow, who was convicted of the murders last year and received three life sentences. Daybell has pleaded not guilty to the charges. If convicted, he faces the death penalty or life in prison. Lori Vallow was convicted of the murders last year and received three life sentences ( AP ) Before testifying at the trial this week, Daybells children only spoke publicly once, in an interview with CBS 48 Hours, where they defended him. My father needs someone to be a voice for him, Emma Murray said. To let people know whats real, what we know. I do know that my father believes that killing someone, murdering someone, is not what God wants. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A Florida man was arrested for allegedly decapitating a pet dog named Dexter that he had adopted from an animal shelter just one day earlier. Deputies began looking for Domingo Rodriguez on 14 May, after they received reports of a dead dog wrapped in plastic at a park in Fort Desoto, according to the Pinellas County Sheriffs Office. Officers called to the grisly scene found a bulldog mix dog that had its head chopped off and had been stuffed into a bag floating in a mangrove swamp in the park. The dog was chipped, allowing Pinellas County Animal Services to identify it as being a 4-year-old animal that had been adopted by the suspect on 10 May. Mr Rodriguez, 66, has now been charged with one count of felony animal cruelty and one count of disposal of bodies of dead animals, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. The St Petersburg resident was booked into the Pinellas County jail following his arrest. Domingo R Rodriquez has been charged with felony animal cruelty after allegedly decapitating and disposing of a 4-year-old dog, Dexter, in Fort DeSoto Park in Pinellas County, Florida ( Pinellas County Sheriffs Office ) When first confronted by police over the incident, Mr Rodriguez allegedly said that the dog "must have run away overnight on 10 May. Officials say that Mr Rodriguez returned to speak to investigators on 15 May and "admitted to traveling to Fort Desoto Park on May 11, 2024, and provided deputies with several inconsistent statements." He was arrested after his visit on 15 May and has since been released on bond. Pinellas County Animal Services said it was "shocked" by the discovery and implored the public to report any instances of animal abuse to the police. Dogs like Dexter who arrive as strays, many injured and scarred, are the reason animal welfare workers and volunteers get up every morning to do what we do, the agency said in a statement on Facebook. Our jobs are full of wonderful rewards, especially when we receive updates showing our adoption dogs and cats resting easy in loving homes, but an event like this breaks our hearts, the statement said. They added: The screening for Dexter found no issues that would indicate danger to his welfare. We encourage anyone who sees animal abuse happening in Pinellas County to report it by calling our offices at (727) 582-2600 and selecting Option 4." The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A former high school teacher who once appeared on Good Morning America being surprised by her students has been convicted of federal charges for having a sexual relationship with a teenage student. Heather Hare, 33, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison along with 20 years to be served concurrently after she engaged in sexual activities with a minor 20 to 30 times, a Saline County Circuit Court determined. Hare was sentenced on 15 May. Prosecutors had charged her with transporting a minor across state lines for the purpose of unlawful sexual activity. Federal prosecutors found that Hare taught Family Consumer Science classes at Bryant High School in Bryant, Arkansas, where she met the victim on the first day of their senior year. The woman later held one-on-one counseling sessions with the student and gave them her personal phone number, Instagram and Snapchat. Heather Hare, 33, has been handed a federal prison sentence for engaging in a sexual relationship with one of her students ( Bryant Police Department ) The teacher told the student that she had a dream of them having sex and gave them her home address in Conway. The relationship spanned the 2021 and 2022 school years, with sexual encounters taking place at the womans home, car, classroom, and school parking lots. In one instance, the two engaged in sexual activity while on a field trip to Washington DC as part of an extracurricular activity relating to Hares classes. She pleaded guilty to sexual activity she had with the minor while on the trip in April 2022. The teacher was indicted on 1 August 2023 on charges of one count of interstate/foreign travel for prostitution/sexual activity by coercion and one count of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. Hare took a plea deal and one charge of second charge of interstate/foreign travel for prostitution/sexual activity by coercion was dropped. Once the womans prison sentence is over, she will be under supervised release for the rest of her life. Teachers who have sex with their minor students should take note of todays sentence for Ms Hare which reflects the consequences of abusing her position of trust and taking advantage of the vulnerability of this minor to repeatedly engage in unlawful sexual activity, prosecutors said. Close Video shows Karen Read and cop boyfriend on night of his murder The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The trial of a woman accused of murdering her police officer boyfriend in Massachusetts continued on Tuesday as a witness who claimed she heard the defendant say I hit him multiple times sat for a cross examination. Karen Read, a financial analyst and former Bentley University professor, is on trial charged with the second-degree murder and manslaughter of Boston police officer John OKeefe. Prosecutors allege that Ms Read ran over OKeefe in her car while drunk, leaving him for dead in the snow outside a fellow police officers home in the early hours of 29 January, 2022. Ms Reads defense claims that she is being framed by police as part of a sprawling cover-up involving prominent law enforcement family, the Alberts. Jennifer McCabe was with Ms Read when they discovered OKeefes body lying in the snow in front of the home of Brian and Nichole Albert, where a group went after a night out at a local bar. McCabe, who Google searched hos (sic) long to die in cold the morning that OKeefes body was found in the snow, was questioned by the defense about her statements and actions after his death. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} An investigation has been opened into the death of Matthew Perry and how the Friends actor received the anesthetic ketamine, which was ruled a contributing factor in his death. Los Angeles Police Capt. Scot Williams told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday that the police department was assisting the Drug Enforcement Agency with a probe into why the 54-year-old star had so much ketamine in his system when he died in October. The investigation was first reported by TMZ. In a statement to The Independent, the Drug Enforcement Administration said: DEA does not confirm or comment on ongoing investigations. Perry was found unresponsive in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home. His autopsy, released in December, found that the amount of ketamine in Perrys blood was in the range used for general anesthesia during surgery. The drug is sometimes used to treat depression. Matthew Perry Courteney Cox ( Getty ) The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner said in the autopsy report that Perry also drowned in the heated end of his pool, but that it was a secondary factor in his death, deemed an accident. According to Perry's autopsy, people close to the actor told investigators that he was undergoing ketamine infusion therapy, an experimental treatment used to treat depression and anxiety. But the medical examiner said that his last treatment 1 1/2 weeks earlier wouldn't explain the levels of ketamine in Perrys blood. The drug is typically metabolised in a matter of hours. Perry was among the biggest television stars of his generation when he played Chandler Bing alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBCs megahit sitcom Friends. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A off-duty police officer in Washington, DC was injured on Monday afternoon when a suspect opened fire as the officer was driving to work. Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith said the officer was on his way to the 4th District station just after noon when he observed a vehicle driving very erratically in front of him with two people inside on the 5800 block of 7th Street Northwest. The vehicle then stopped very abruptly and one man emerged and opened fire on the officers car, she said. It remains unclear if the shooters knew the victim, who was not identified, was a police officer. The officer, an 18-year MPD veteran, was not in uniform and was driving his personal vehicle. He suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was able to drive himself to the 4th District station, where he was transported to a hospital. Smith could not confirm whether the officer was shot or injured by flying debris. The officer was able to provide a partial license plate and description of the vehicle. Police tracked the car using a helicopter and pursued it over the Maryland border before it crashed in Landover, Maryland. Two men in the vehicle were arrested. Police in the nations capital have struggled to contain violent crime, with murders and carjackings in particular spiking in 2023. But Smith and Mayor Muriel Bowser maintain that changes in law enforcement strategy and policy have produced results, with homicides down 26% and carjacking down 30% compared with the same time last year. We will not tolerate this kind of violence in our city, Smith said. We will use every resource to make sure that no one gets away with this type of crime. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Tesla investors are urging shareholders to vote against Elon Musks $56bn payday and have slammed the board for failing to curtail him. The group of shareholders calling for investors to push back includes New York City comptroller Brad Lander. He wrote to fellow Tesla investors on Monday asking them to refuse Mr Musks pay package as well as the re-appointment of two board members, according to The Wall Street Journal. Even as Teslas performance is floundering, the board has yet to ensure that Tesla has a full-time CEO who is adequately focused on the long-term sustainable success of our company, the group wrote on Monday. Tesla is suffering from a material governance failure which requires our urgent attention and action, they added. In the letter, the investors argue against the re-appointment of Kimball Musk, Mr Musks brother, and James Murdoch, a personal friend, because of their close connection to Mr Musk. Kimball Musk has been on the board for two decades. Mr Lander argued that the board has been too close to Mr Musk and that they hadnt done their due diligence when assessing the pay package. Elon Musk arrives for the 10th World Water Forum in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia on Monday ( AP ) Also part of the shareholder group critical of Mr Musks compensation package are Amalgamated Bank, SOC Investment Group, Nordea Asset Management, United Church Funds, and Danish pension fund AkademikerPension. Mr Lander, a Democrat, is in charge of New York Citys public pension funds. Shareholders are set to vote on Mr Musks compensation and other issues, such as moving the firms incorporation to Texas, at Teslas annual meeting on 13 June. The compensation package received the green light from shareholders in 2018 but it was struck down in January by a court in Delaware, pointing to issues with the approval process. The judge was also concerned that it wasnt in the shareholders best interest, Bloomberg noted. Tesla then proposed the compensation package yet again and has worked to convince shareholders to back it. The company has argued that Mr Musk earned the money by reaching targets set in 2018 when it comes to Teslas share price and other matters. But a number of investors feel that the compensation package has raised questions regarding the independence of the board as well as Mr Musks role atop Tesla amid rising competition and decreasing demand in the electric vehicle market. The group of shareholders critical of the pay package argues that the board of Tesla is filled with allies of Mr Musk and that it hasnt seriously held him accountable. Mr Musk is at the head of several companies that he splits his time between. The group also said Mr Musks use of Tesla stock to fund other projects puts investors at risk. Mr Musks buying of Twitter played a material role in Teslas underperformance, the group argued. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A grizzly bear attacked and injured a man at Wyomings Grand Teton National Park, prompting officials to temporarily close part of the park to visitors. The 35-year-old victim, who has not been identified by officials, was given emergency medical care at the scene and transported to St Johns Hospital on Sunday. The man who is from Massachusetts is in stable condition and is expected to make a full recovery, according to park officials. Park rangers say that the man was caught in a surprise attack by two grizzly bears, with one of them injuring him. Officials closed the Signal Mountain Summit Road and Signal Mountain trail to all public entry. It is the second bear attack in North America in the space of a week. A 36-year-old hunter who was tracking a bear in Canada was attacked by a different adult grizzly bear, sustaining multiple injuries. That attack happened in the Rocky Mountains in Elkford, British Columbia, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Officials say the victim managed to shoot the bear and it was later found deceased. Despite the two attacks, according to the US National Park Service, bear attacks are rare. However, the agency advises visitors against leaving food unattended unless properly secured, keep a clean camp and store attractants and garbage. If a bear happens to be spotted, visitors should stay at least 100 yards away. Its not clear what the mans injuries were and officials did not provide details of the attack. There were 38 bear-related incidents in nearby Yosemite National Park last year, per the National Park Services website. Incidents are currently up 16 per cent compared to last year. Four male bears are currently active in Yosemite Valley. Another large male bear has been seen along the riverbanks and a female bear has been active for over a month in and out of the area. There are about 1,400 to 1,700 grizzly bears in the US. The species is still listed under the Endangered Species Act as a threatened species, meaning it could become endangered in the foreseeable future. The last attempt to get the bears delisted was in 2023 when US Senator Jim Risch, an Idaho Republican, introduced a bill in the US Senate that would do just that. The US Fish and Wildlife Service took grizzly bears off the threatened species list in 2007 and 2017 but were reinstated by district judges in 2009 and 2018. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Miami Beach police officers have a flashy new accessory that hasnt won the department many fans. MBPD announced its new Rolls-Royce Ghost cruiser earlier this month. The luxury car, wrapped in the department's black and white livery, is intended to draw interest at upcoming recruiting events, according to Axios. The estimated cost of a vehicle of that vintage is around $110,000. The police department unveiled the Rolls-Royce in a flashy advert featuring an idyllic sunset and swaying palms. Department spokesperson, Christopher Bess, said incorporating the car into recruitment ads was an innovative and fun way to connect with the consumer market. Miami Beach Police Departments new Rolls-Royce Ghost. The luxury car was loaned to the department by Braman, a local dealership, and will be used for recruitment events ( screengrab/Miami Beach Police Department ) The car was loaned to the department by Miami dealership, Braman Motors. The company still owns the vehicle and sponsored the costs of wrapping the car. The dealership will allow the police department to use the vehicle until it decides it wants the car back. But the announcement of the departments new wheels was met with swift backlash, with some arguing that the car was a gaudy and inappropriate way to try to attract new recruits. Miami Beach Police just unveiled a Rolls Royce cop car, done in collaboration with a dealership to recruit police, an X user going by Joshua P Hill wrote. I wish I was making this up. "You need to fire whosever idea this was," one X user wrote. Another asked the MBPD if "that's what civil forfeiture is for". "Doesnt a Rolls prowl car just further mock the poor?" wrote X user James Archer. "Why not collaborate more with gyms, dojos, rec centers to give more kids a safe place to have fun and blow off some steam? Why do police have to seem like an occupying force? They can be, should be, friends with the people." Another commenter, before learning the car had been loaned to the city at no cost, gave the MBPD a wishlist of ways they'd have rather seen the money spent. "Id rather MBPD auction the car off and have bought extra gear and training the officers need. The money in the rolls Royce could have provided officer safety, instead its coming off as hubris," the commenter said. Another respondent dubbed the car an embarrassment. "This is exactly how you make the Miami Beach Police Department the laughing stock of every department in the United States," the Miami New Times reports. MBPD is not the only police force to use donated luxury vehicles to grab attention. In 2013, Ed Bolian, an auto enthusiast, allowed the Alpharetta Police Department in Georgia to wrap his Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 and use it in a parade. While Americans might consider police departments boasting about luxury cruisers to be a bit gauche, that is not the case in Dubai, where the city police proudly displays its fleet of not just one, but 14 super cars. Dubai's police force has the world record for the fastest police vehicle in service a Bugatti Veyron that can reach 253mph (407kph), according to CNN. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A federal civil rights complaint accuses the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of discrimination over a program that offers resources and mentorships to students who are women of color. The complaint, filed with the US Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights (OCR), alleges that MITs Creative Regal Women of Knowledge program (CRWN) discriminates on the basis of both sex and race by offering its resources to women of color. The mission of the CRWN program, according to its website, is to inspire undergraduate women of color to move confidently as visionaries, grounded in excellence, empathy, and support for one another. CRWN offers students networking, mentoring, social outings and financial assistance. The undergraduate program, the site notes, defines women of color as Black, Indigenous, Hispanic/Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islanders, and other minoritized ethnicities, and includes transgender women, cisgender women, and non-binary women. The complaint, from the Rhode Island-based conservative Legal Insurrection Foundation, alleges that the program violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars race and sex discrimination in federally-funded enterprises like education, as well as OCR guidance. Discrimination against white applicants is just as unlawful as discrimination against black or other non-white applicants, the complaint argues. The Independent has contacted the MIT Office of Minority Education, which runs the CRWN, for comment. Earlier this year, the US House of Representatives Education and the Workforce Committee launched an investigation into allegations of antisemitism at MIT, and students have also sued the school over allegations it allowed antisemitism on campus. The group bringing the complaint has challenged academic programs across the country offering specialized resources on the basis of a students identity. Such programs have frequently been the target of conservative groups. Last year, the US Supreme Court struck down the use of race as a factor in university admisssions, the building block of decades worth of affirmative action programs. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Robert Pickton, a notorious Canadian serial killer, is on life support after he was attacked by a fellow inmate at the maximum-security prison where hes serving a life sentence. The Correctional Service of Canada said that Pickton, 74, was involved in a major assault on May 19, though it declined to provide additional details about the mans current condition or confirm how the attack unfolded. The safety and security of institutions is paramount and an investigation into what occurred is currently underway, a spokesperson for the agency said. In an earlier statement, officials said that the attacker had been identified and appropriate actions were being taken. According to the Vancouver Sun, Pickton was being held in Port-Cartier Institution, a maximum-security prison in Quebec that holds 237 men, when a fellow inmate speared him in the head with a broken broom-like handle around 2pm, the outlet reported. Robert Pickton, a Canadian serial killer, is in hospital on life support after he was attacked by afellow inmate ( AP ) Its thought that the inmate who attacked Pickton had served a stint in solitary confinement after going after other inmates. The prisoner was later released into the same unit as Pickton. The serial killer was transported to the Hospital of the Child Jesus in Quebec City following the attack. Picktons attorney has not yet responded to The Independents request for comment. In 2007, the killer was convicted of murdering six women Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Marnie Frey, Georgina Papin and Brenda Wolfe after a trial in British Columbia. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of full parole for 25 years. He became eligible to apply for parole in February. The remains of 33 women were found on Picktons pig farm in Port Coquitlam, and the serial killer has claimed to have murdered 49 victims. At one point, he was charged with murdering 21 women but most of the counts were later dismissed. Families of some of the victims have campaigned against a police application seeking to destroy evidence related to cases against Pickton, the Vancouver Sun reported, claiming that they could be useful someday if DNA technology can eventually tie him to the murders of the other women. Pickton released a self-published memoir in 2016, but it was quickly removed by Amazon. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Tennessee will become the first state to give parents free diapers to families as part of its Medicaid program. The initiative, known as the TennCare III Amendment, has received federal approval and is expected to become available later this summer, the Division of TennCare announced Tuesday. Parents will have access to up to 100 diapers per month at no cost until the child turns 2 years old. Infants typically use hundreds of diapers a month. The children need to be covered under TennCare or CoverKids to access the benefit. Tennessee state lawmakers granted $30m in funding for the program during last years legislative session. The initiative was originally introduced by Republican Governor Bill Lee as a pro-life and pro-family policy to allocate part of $330m in savings from the states Medicaid block grant funding structure. Tennessee to become first state to provide free diapers to qualifying families ( Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images ) In a statement to the Tennessean, Mr Lee said, Strong families are central to strong communities, and Tennessee is leading the nation in prioritizing resources for families in need. We are the first state in the nation to cover the cost of diapers for mothers in the first two years of a childs life and we hope this is a model for others. TennCare said it is now focused on finalizing the key details of the benefit and will provide further information on how to obtain diapers when they become available in August. According to the Nashville Diaper Connection, a non-profit that supplies diapers to needy families in the city, babies born into poverty could spend a day or more in one diaper. Sitting in the same diaper can cause infections such as a rash, fever, blisters and boils. Currently no federal program offers diaper assistance, even though parents should estimate to spend close to $1,000 on the product annually. Most daycare centers will turn away parents if they cant supply a days worth of diapers, perpetuating a cycle of financial insecurity. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Restrictive and vague abortion laws in Texas caused one family to experience a nightmare as they were unable to get medical care during a miscarriage, they claim. Ryan Hamilton, who lives in Texas, went viral on X this past week after sharing the terrifying situation his wife, Jess, experienced when she found out she had suffered an incomplete miscarriage with their second child. The couple sought at least three different doctors at two hospitals in Texas to no avail while trying to obtain medical intervention for Jess who was experiencing severe pains and bleeding associated with the miscarriage, he wrote. Multiple doctors refused to give Jess medication, refused to provide a dilation and curettage procedure and seemingly did not take her medical situation seriously allowing her to sit in an emergency room for hours on end and eventually sent her home, he stated in the post. A new doctor was on call. He was an older man. You could hear him in the hallway as he said, Im not giving her a pill so she can go home and have an ab*rtion! Being well aware that our baby no longer had a heartbeat. Then, he came into the room to say, and I quote: Considering the current stance. Im not going to prescribe you this pill. Then, just sent us on our way, the distraught dad wrote. Mr Hamilton said he later found his wife unconscious on their bathroom floor having lost blood and bodily fluids throughout the multi-day situation. Now, not only do we have to live with the loss of our baby... we have to live with the nightmare of what we just experienced because of political and religious beliefs, Mr Hamilton wrote in his post. He added: MY WIFES HEALTH SHOULD HAVE COME FIRST. In Texas, abortion is illegal after a fetal heartbeat is detected unless a reasonable medical judgment determines there is a greater risk of the pregnant person dying or impairment of a major bodily function. But the law stops short of defining reasonable medical judgment or major bodily function. Additionally, anyone who performs an abortion without meeting those requirements can also be subject to criminal prosecution and loss of a medical license. Mr Hamilton said the third time he and Jess went to a hospital he felt the staffs primary concern was worried about the legalities involved. He recounted how they admitted his wife, asked questions, did a scan to confirm the fetus was still inside with no heartbeat but then disappeared for hours, Only to come back in and keep asking the same questions over and over. Even then, despite Jesss condition and two failed attempts at taking medication to treat the miscarriage, the doctors could not, in good faith, determine she was eligible for a dilation and curettage procedure. Stories similar to Ryan and Jesss have been reported out of Texas and other states with strict anti-abortion laws that do not protect medical providers from criminal penalties. Womens health advocate Maria Shriver (L); Texas mother of two who fought a legal battle after being denied an abortion, Kate Cox (C); and Latorya Beasley (R) of Alabama whose embryo transfer was canceled as a result of the recent Alabama Supreme Court decision; sit in the House chamber before US President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on the floor of the US House of Representatives, on Capitol Hill ( EPA ) Kate Cox, a woman in Texas who has used her experience to advocate for clearer and less restrictive abortion laws, similarly faced a dire medical situation when she found out her unborn child would likely not survive the pregnancy or birth. Ms Cox was unable to obtain an abortion due to Texass laws. She is one of many people suing the state for using vague language in the law that caused them to be denied medically necessary abortions which ultimately harmed them. Ms Cox was also one of many who testified to the Texas Medical Board this week about the impacts of the law as the board looks to clarify some of the uncertain language. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The Biden campaign has raised less cash than the Trump campaign for the first time as the two 2020 rivals prepare to face off again this November. Last month, the Biden campaign raised more than $51m, far below the $90m haul it took in in March, President Joe Bidens campaign revealed. The haul was also significantly lower than the $76m raised by the campaign of Donald Trump and the Republican Party, after the former president boosted his effort with the Republican National Committee (RNC) and attended major fundraisers. But Democrats still lead Republicans in overall cash and Mr Biden himself has significantly more cash than Mr Trump. The Biden campaign reported overall having $84m at the end of April, while Mr Trump reported having $49m. Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said that if you include the Democratic National Committee and other aligned groups, the Biden campaign had actually racked up $192m at the end of last month. On Monday, the Biden campaign revealed that it had its strongest month so far for recurring donors with a haul of $5.5m. According to the campaign, more than 225,000 donors have said they will give every month, which is 1.5 times more than at this time during the last election cycle. The Biden campaign managed to rake in the cash in March after Mr Bidens feisty State of the Union address, fundraising in eight key states, and a star-studded campaign fundraiser with former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton which took in $26m alone. The Biden campaign is set to host another star-studded fundraiser next month in Los Angeles with actors George Clooney and Julia Roberts. Joe Biden delivers remarks for Jewish American Heritage Month at the White House on 20 May ( EPA ) After securing the Republican presidential nomination in March, Mr Trump is now able to raise cash jointly with the RNC. His daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, was appointed co-chair of the RNC earlier this year. Two-thirds of Mr Trumps April haul came from a single fundraiser held at the Palm Beach home of investor and billionaire John Paulson, which raised $50.5m. Mr Trump has suggested that Mr Paulson could be rewarded with the role of treasury secretary during a possible second Trump term in the White House, Reuters noted. Up to now, Mr Trump has lagged behind Mr Biden in the money game, with the $50.5m fundraiser almost single-handedly helping him beat the Biden campaign in April. It remains unclear if hell be able to continue to outraise Mr Biden without such massive fundraisers boosting his bank account each month. This comes as the former president is facing some financial trouble because of increasing legal fees stemming from his civil and criminal court cases. Mr Trumps Save America PAC stated in a Federal Election Commission filing on Monday that it had paid more than $3.3m in legal fees during the month. The Trump campaign claimed that the fundraising last month was particularly remarkable when you consider he has been confined to a courtroom for nearly 9 hours a day over the past four weeks. The campaign said in March that, while it wouldnt be able to compete with Mr Bidens fundraising totals, Mr Trump still won the electoral college in 2016 even after raising less cash than Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton though she actually received nearly three million more votes than Mr Trump. In 2020, Mr Biden managed to win by small margins in key states to win the electoral college even after claiming seven million more votes than Mr Trump nationally. While Mr Biden and Mr Trump have been largely tied in national polls, Mr Trump has been in the lead in several battleground states which are set to decide the election in November. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump has lashed out once again at Joe Biden and the US Department of Justice after it was revealed that classified documents were found stashed in his bedroom at Mar-a-Lago. The former president, in a typically loud post on his social media platform Truth Social, claimed that FBI agents had been authorized to use deadly force during the unconstitutional raid of his Florida property. Four documents marked classified were found in Mr Trumps bedroom, according to a newly unsealed opinion by US District Judge Beryl Howell. The 87-page document found prosecutors had presented compelling evidence that the former president had knowingly stashed national security documents in his home and then tried to conceal them when the DOJ tried to retrieve them. In her opinion, Judge Howell wrote: Notably, no excuse is provided as to how the former president could miss the classified-marked documents found in his own bedroom at Mar-a-Lago. In his Truth Social tirade, Mr Trump slammed the August 2022 at his Florida home and private club. WOW! I just came out of the Biden Witch Hunt Trial in Manhattan, the Icebox, and was shown Reports that Crooked Joe Bidens DOJ, in their Illegal and UnConstitutional Raid of Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE. Donald Trump has blasted president Joe Biden and the Department of Justice, after it was revealed that classified documents were being stashed in his personal bedroom at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida ( @realDonaldTrump ) NOW WE KNOW, FOR SURE, THAT JOE BIDEN IS A SERIOUS THREAT TO DEMOCRACY. HE IS MENTALLY UNFIT TO HOLD OFFICE 25TH AMENDMENT. In a rare statement, seemingly in direct response to the former presidents post, the FBI said that its agents had followed standard procedure during the raid. "The FBI followed standard protocol in this search as we do for all search warrants, which includes a standard policy statement limiting the use of deadly force, the statement read. No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter." The FBIs search of Mar-a-Lago confirmed that dozens of other classified documents remained on the property. Mr Trump has claimed he had every right to possess the secret documents as a former president. In her opinion, Judge Howell noted there were at least two more rounds of classified materials found at Mar-a-Lago following additional searches. Two months after the former president yielded 38 unique classified documents to the government on June 3, 2022, the government discovered over 100 additional classified documents stored in Mar-a-Lago during execution of the August 8, 2022 search warrant that the former president had failed to deliver, the opinion stated. The documents were classified to levels as high as TOP SECRET, with some documents bearing additional sensitive compartment indications; undoubtedly, these documents contained national defense information. It went on: More classified-marked documents still were uncovered in November 2022 in a leased storage unit, in December 2022 in the Office at Mar-a-Lago, and apparently sometime thereafter in the former presidents own bedroom at Mar-a-Lago. Judge Howells opinion was unsealed along with a large batch of other previously secret grand jury-related documents stemming from the investigation into Mr Trump for withholding reams of classified documents after leaving office in 2021, including some of the nations most sensitive military secrets. The former president said he was made aware of the findings of the unconstitutional raid on his home after leaving court for the day on Tuesday ( AP ) US District Judge Aileen Cannon released the batch of documents on Tuesday after lengthy negotiations with special counsel Jack Smiths team and the former presidents lawyers. Two weeks ago, Judge Cannon indefinitely postponed the planned 20 May trial date, stating that a host of issues around evidence, discovery, and the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) still needed to be decided before the high-profile trial could commence. The former federal prosecutor, who was nominated to the bench by Mr Trump in 2020, argued in her decision that extending the pre-trial process through the end of July would outweigh the best interest of the public and Defendants in a speedy trial. It means that the former presidents ongoing criminal trial in Manhattan, in which he is accused of falsifying business records to mask hush money payments of $130,000 to pornstar Stormy Daniels, could be the only trial that plays out before the end of 2024. A trial date for his DC trial for election subversion was taken off the calendar while the Supreme Court decides if Mr Trump has immunity from prosecution. In the Florida case, Mr Trump faces 40 separate federal charges in the case, stemming from allegedly holding onto hundreds of classified documents after leaving the White House for his private Mar-a-Lago home and club in Florida, then conspiring to obstruct government attempts to retrieve the materials. He has pleaded not guilty. In documents unsealed earlier this month, the former presidents valet and co-defendant, Walt Nauta, described Mr Trump essentially choosing at random which documents to return to the National Archives as he wrapped up his presidential affairs. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A former aide to Eric Adams is assisting federal authorities in an investigation into corruption allegations against the New York City mayor, according to a report. Rana Abbasova served as Mr Adams long-time liaison with the Turkish community, as well as acting as the director of protocol for the Mayors Office for International Affairs. Scrutiny of the mayor began last November when the Brooklyn home of his top fundraiser, Brianna Suggs, was raided by FBI agents. They were reportedly looking for evidence that his 2021 mayoral campaign had conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal donations. Ms Abbasovas cooperation was first reported on Monday by The New York Times, which cited three sources close to the matter, marking the latest development in the investigation. The outlet noted that it was not clear what information Ms Abbasova had provided to the federal authorities but that she has been involved in or has had knowledge of some of the mayors dealings with Turkish government officials and businessmen, per emails. Investigators are looking for evidence that Eric Adams 2021 mayoral campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal donations ( Getty Images for Haute Living ) She also helped coordinate events and meetings with members of the Turkish community in New York and abroad and arranged some of his travel, accompanying him on two official trips to Turkey, records cited by The Times have shown. Ms Abbasova, who worked for Mr Adams for around four years before he became mayor, has not been accused of wrongdoing. A spokesperson for Ms Abbasova declined to comment on the matter when contacted by The Independent. The Independent has also attempted to contact the FBI and US District Attorneys office by telephone. Following the raid on Ms Suggs residence on November 2 2023, Mr Adams cancelled meetings in Washington DC and returned to New York to deal with a matter, according to a spokesperson. The mayor later confirmed that he had hired legal counsel, but has not admitted to any wrongdoing. The federal investigation has since broadened to look into whether the mayor crossed any lines during his time as Brooklyn borough president when he intervened to help the Turkish consulate secure approval to open a 35-story skyscraper near the United Nations. One of the lawyers representing Mr Adams, Brendan R McGuire, said in a statement shared with The Times that Ms Abbasovas cooperation was not a new or meaningful development. It is our understanding that Ms Abbasova has been talking to investigators since her improper conduct was reported by the administration in November, the statement said. In November, the FBI raided the Brooklyn residence of the mayors top fundraiser, Brianna Suggs, as part of the investigation into corruption allegations against him ( Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ) The warrant used to raid Ms Suggs residence was intended to find evidence that campaign staff allegedly conspired with a Brooklyn-based developer, KSK Construction, the Turkish government or Turkish nationals to violate campaign finance laws. Foreign nationals are prohibited from making campaign contributions, but investigators are trying to determine if foreign nationals used people in New Yorks Turkish-American communities to act as straw contributors. Straw contributors are those who use someone elses money to make a political contribution using their own name. Mr Adams has also been accused of working with FDNY officials to fast-track the building inspection process as favors to powerful real estate developers and political donors. In February, the FBI also raided two high-ranking New York fire chiefs homes as part of the corruption investigation, with questions raised as to whether Brian Cordasco and Anthony Saccavino had been paid $100,000 as part of a scheme to expedite building inspections. As with Mr Adams and Ms Abbasova, the two men have also not been charged with wrongdoing. A spokesperson for the Mayors Office previously told The Independent that the investigation into Mr Cordasco and Mr Saccavino was unrelated to Mr Adams. The mayor has longstanding ties with Turkish government officials and institutions as well as the Turkish-American community in New York. During a flag-raising ceremony just six days before the FBI raids, Mr Adams declared New York City is the Istanbul of America. Im probably the only mayor in the history of this city that has not only visited Turkey once, but I think Im on my sixth or seventh visit to Turkey, he boasted. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Three of Hunter Bidens exes, including his brothers widow, will testify at his federal gun charges trial next month a new filing from the prosecution indicates. Special counsel David Weiss, who brought the three gun-related charges against Mr Biden last September, indicated he will present personal testimony from the three unnamed witnesses to speak about Mr Bidens substance use disorder in and around October 2018 a fact that is crucial to the heart of the case. Though the three witnesses are unnamed in the filing, Mr Weiss provided enough information to conclude that the witnesses are likely Kathleen Buhle Mr Bidens ex-wife; Hallie Biden, his late brothers widow whom he dated briefly; and another woman whom Mr Biden briefly dated. Mr Biden had separate romantic relationships with all three women shortly before, during, or directly after October 2018 when prosecutors allege he illegally purchased a firearm. Their testimony will corroborate the governments claim that Mr Biden chose to lie on a federal background check form by falsely stating he was not an unlawful user of a controlled substance or an addict when purchasing a gun. Ms Buhle, who was married to Mr Biden from 1993 until 2017, will testify about finding drugs or paraphernalia in her ex-husbands vehicle on approximately a dozen occasions throughout 2018. Though the two were divorced at the time, Ms Buhle allegedly checked Mr Bidens vehicle periodically because she did not want their children in a vehicle with drugs. Hunter Biden (far left) walks with his wife Kathleen Buhle (center left) while attending the trial of Senator Edward Kennedy on 29 August 2009 ( Getty Images ) Hallie Biden, who was married to Beau Biden until he died in 2015, dated Hunter Biden from 2016 until 2019. According to prosecutors, she observed Mr Biden using drugs on multiple occasions and searched his bags, vehicle, and backpacks in an effort to help him get sober. Mr Biden lived with Hallie and her children for some time. Prosecutors allege Hallie removed the alleged gun Mr Biden purchased from his vehicle in October 2018 and discarded it in an outdoor trash container. Beau Biden (left) celebrates with wife Hallie Biden (right) in November 2010 ( Getty Images ) Prosecutors say Witness 2, who was in a brief romantic relationship with Mr Biden between December 2017 and October 2018, observed [Mr Biden] using crack cocaine frequently every 20 minutes except when he slept. In addition to the three womens testimony, Mr Weiss said the prosecution will provide excerpts from Mr Bidens 2021 memoir and audiobook Beautiful Things, in which he detailed his nearly four years of active addiction. The governments evidence and witness testimony will support their claim that Mr Biden knowingly lied on a firearm background check form and to a firearms dealer while purchasing the gun. Mr Biden is charged with three federal charges: making false statements during a background check, making false statements on a background check form, and illegal possession of a firearm. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Jon Stewart returned to The Daily Show on Monday evening to lay into the conservative media ecosystem in a tour de force rant about so-called cancel culture and censorship hypocrisy, reserving particular animosity for Fox News host Sean Hannity, whom he unforgettably branded a meat bag support system for a forehead vein. The liberal comedy icon has returned to the Comedy Central show that made his name in time for the 2024 election year and dedicated his latest monologue to what he described as an entire industry devoted to complaining about not being allowed to say the things they say all the time. He continued: The idea that there is an all-pervasive, all-powerful threat to free speech called cancel culture has become a central tenet of modern conservatism. They celebrate their being silenced at conferences. They celebrate their being silenced on podcasts and streaming outlets. They celebrate their being silenced with over 700 book titles about being cancelled. Why are there so many of these f***ing books?! Unless you dont know, nobody reads anymore Mr Stewart went on to display a vast collection of real books written by conservative media figures, from The War on Woke by Alan Dershowitz to Woke, Inc by Vivek Ramaswamy. Conservatives have an entire industry devoted to complaining about not being allowed to say the things they say all the time! Their victimhood is the entire brand! he observed. The anchor made his point by showing a montage of Fox hosts including Dana Perino, Jesse Watters and Laura Ingraham complaining about being prevented from using particular phrases because of alleged sensitivity concerns, only to then brazenly use them anyway at a later date. Jon Stewart mocks Fox News anchor Sean Hannity over cancel culture obsession ( Comedy Central/YouTube ) Theyre so full of s*** that Sean Hannity can say, with a square head, Im not the kind of guy who gets outraged. Sean Hannity! Mr Stewart joked. Hes basically just a meat bag support system for a forehead vein! He continued: Look, it is absolutely true that in our modern, social media-driven society, our interactions are incentivised and monetised for outrage and it is f***ing exhausting for everyone. [But] we are not censored or silenced. We are surrounded by and inundated with more speech than has ever existed in the history of communication and it is all weaponised by professional outrage hunters of all stripes scouring the globe for graduation speech snippets, offhand comments during promotional tours, out of context comedy bits, lame marketing ideas, or any words and phrases they believe they can latch onto to generate, monetize clicks. Outrage is the engine of our modern media economy. He concluded by observing that there is one meaningful force for cancellation in modern American culture and its name is former president Donald Trump. Mr Stewart gave as his example Liz Cheney, the ex-Wyoming Republican congresswoman who has effectively been excommunicated from her party after voicing her opposition to Mr Trump and his MAGA movement and by leading the House inquiry into January 6, as clear a case of cancellation as you could ask for. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Marjorie Taylor Greene has spoken out after Jasmine Crockett is said to have filed a trademark application for the phrase bleach blonde bad-built butch body. Half an hour into House Oversight Committee proceedings last Thursday, the Republican lawmaker lined up the Democrat in her crosshairs insulting her fake eyelashes. While the House devolved into chaos with Ms Green also taking aim at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs intelligence, the congresswomans insults were ruled not to have flouted rules. Scratching her head at the decision, Ms Crockett asked whether making remarks about somebodys bleach blond, bad-built butch body was also allowed a clear jibe at Ms Greene. Ms Crockett is now looking to capitalise from the feud, with her campaign purportedly filing a trademark for the scathing alliterative remark, according to documents viewed by Fox News. The Texas representative plans to create a suite of hats, hoodies, socks, and t-shirts branded with the phrase, as per the documents. Jasmine Crockett is purportedly filing for a trademark on the scathing phrase ( Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) Turning 50-years-old next week, Ms Greene has responded to the claims that Ms Crockett is looking to make a buck from monetising the insult. I think no matter what shape, size or how we look, we need to be ourselves, not telling women the only way to be attractive or accepted is to have fake boobs, fake hair, fake lashes, and injected faces, she told the outlet. I mean, we all wear makeup and do lashes and stuff sometimes, but its out of control. Women need a better message for women, the Georgia representative added. On Monday, Ms Greene took to social media to share a workout video, defending her built and strong figure. Yes my body is built and strong NOT with nips, tucks, plastic, or silicone, but through a healthy lifestyle, she wrote on X. Days earlier, Ms Crockett also took to X to tease her new line of merchandise, branding it A Crockett Clapback Collection. So we are going to drop A Crockett Clapback Collection. This collection will feature various swag that includes random things Ive said. The money will go to ensuring that we have a Democratic House! Give me a little time to really get the swag online etc., but B6 will drop pic.twitter.com/7RnPQ4jVHs Jasmine Crockett (@JasmineForUS) May 18, 2024 She said on Friday that the proceeds from her swag will go to ensuring that we have a Democratic House. Last Thursday Ms Greene was pulled up by Ms Crockett after she strayed away from the purpose of the House meeting: resolving whether Attorney General Merrick Garland was to be held in contempt of Congress. Bringing up Justice Juan Merchan, the judge in charge of Donald Trumps hush money trial, Ms Crockett asked her how it was relevant to the proceedings. I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what youre reading, the fiery Georgia Republican said. Ms Greenes outburst came during an already-tense hearing, and prompted nearly an hour of disorder in the committee. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trumps jailed former trade adviser has warned of mass deportations should his former boss return to the White House, during an interview conducted from inside prison. Peter Navarro, 74, is serving a four-month sentence at the low-security FCI Miami prison in Florida after he was convicted on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress. He was charged in 2022 after he refused to provide testimony or documentary evidence when requested by the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. In the new interview Navarro conducted from behind bars via email with Semafor, he gave his predictions on the unfinished business that would be back on the table, should Mr Trump regain the presidency in November. He told the outlet that Mr Trump would look to restore our private sector supply chains and manufacturing back to US soil, and claimed the country was dangerously vulnerable to foreign coercion in industries including defense, tech and pharmaceuticals. Navarro, 74, began his four month jail sentence in March after he was convicted on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress last year ( REUTERS ) Trump will also quickly seal the border and begin mass deportations, he said, in a published excerpt of the email exchange with Semafor. [President Joe Biden] has imported a wave of crime and terrorism along with an uneducated mass that drives down wages of Black, brown, and blue-collar Americans. Blacks and Hispanics, particularly males in the workforce, are flocking to Trump in droves. Navarro surrendered to authorities on 19 March to begin his jail sentence, though pleaded with the Supreme Court to release him just 15 days later. His sentence came after refusing to appear in front of a bipartisan panel to discuss the plot to prevent the certification of the 2020 election results. Navarro had referred to the plan as Green Bay Sweep in his book In Trump Time (2021) but refused to comply with a subpoena to discuss it with the committee, subsequently arguing, unsuccessfully, that Mr Trump had asserted executive privilege over his testimony and evidence relating to the failed insurrection. On 7 September last year, a jury found him guilty on both counts after fewer than four hours of deliberation following a two-day trial during which the ex-Trump aides defence team presented no witnesses of their own. Before entering prison in March, Navarro delivered a brief press conference in a parking lot in which he attempted to portray himself as a martyr to Democrat-led persecution and, like Mr Trump, baselessly bemoaned the partisan weaponization of our judicial system. He pledged to walk proudly into prison and told reporters: I will gather strength from this. Navarro requested to be released two weeks later. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Jurors in Donald Trumps hush money trial were shown a series of damning emails that appear to show Rudy Giuliani-linked attorney Robert Costello pressuring Michael Cohen to stay loyal to the former president while the one-time fixer was under federal investigation. In April 2018, Cohens office and home were raided by the FBI and his cellphones and documents seized in connection to special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Following the raid, Mr Costello suggested that Cohen should retain him as counsel, in what Cohen previously testified was part of a pressure campaign to keep him close to Mr Trump and prevent him from flipping against him. On Tuesday, Mr Costello returned to the stand as Mr Trumps final defense witness and the historic trials final witness just hours after he had been nearly tossed off the witness stand altogether for rolling his eyes at the judge. Under cross-examination from the prosecution, Mr Costello was confronted with emails where he had called on Cohen to get on the same page and reminded him that he has friends in high places. On May 2018, Mr Costello emailed his partner saying: Our issue is to get Cohen on the right page without giving him the appearance that we are following instructions from Giuliani or the President. One month later on 22 June 2018 two months before Cohen reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors Mr Costello emailed an associate to complain that Cohen continues to slow play us and the president. Is he totally nuts? Mr Costello wrote. What should I say to this a******? Hes playing with the most powerful man on the planet. That email certainly speaks for itself, doesnt it, Mr Costello? asked Assistant District Attorney Susan Hoffinger. A courtroom sketch depicts Assistant District Attorney Susan Hoffinger questioning Robert Costello on May 21 as Donald Trump and Justice Juan Merchan look on ( REUTERS ) Yes, it does, Mr Costello replied. Mr Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records for a series of invoices and checks to Cohen in 2017 that reimbursed him for a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in the weeks before the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors allege Mr Trump unlawfully covered up potentially politically damaging information about his affairs to boost his chances of winning. He has pleaded not guilty and denies having sex with Ms Daniels. Cohen who was then-president Trumps personal attorney during the investigation previously testified to and emails shown in court showed an apparent attempt from Mr Costello to open a back channel of communication between him, via Mr Giuliani, to Mr Trump. In his testimony last week, Cohen described what he felt were Mr Costellos sketchy attempts to strong-arm him into his service. This is part of the pressure campaign that, everyone is lying to you, that you are still regarded, the president still supports you, do not speak, do not listen to what the journalists or anyone is saying, and stay in the fold, Cohen said last week. Dont flip, dont cooperate. Cohen didnt trust him, he said, yet he remained loyal to Mr Trump. After conversations with his family, and what he described as a sense of obligation to his wife and children and to the country, Cohen said he came to a realization: I made a decision that I would not lie for president Trump any longer. He ultimately pleaded guilty in August 2018 to campaign finance violations, tax evasion, and lying to Congress. On the stand, Mr Costello repeatedly denied pressuring Cohen to do anything, and claimed that he merely treated him as a client with his interests in mind and wasnt chasing an opportunity to represent him. Cohen never signed a retainer agreement and never considered Mr Costello his attorney. Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom next to his lawyer Todd Blanche shortly before the defense rested its case on Tuesday May 21 ( AP ) Mr Costello claimed that he was merely trying to get everyone on the same page because Cohen had been complaining incessantly, frankly, that Giuliani was making statements in the press that Cohen didnt approve of. I was encouraging Michael Cohen to express any of his complaints, so that I could bring them to Giuliani and get them worked out whatever they were, he said. He called a question about whether he agreed to testify to Congress to intimidate Cohen ridiculous. During a Republican-led House committee hearing last week, Mr Costello called Cohen absolutely manic. He was putting on quite a show, Mr Costello testified on Monday as he described an initial meeting with Cohen in 2018. He explained to us, two nights before, that he was on the roof of the Regency hotel and he was going to jump off and kill himself. On Monday, moments after Mr Costello took the stand, New York Justice Juan Merchan scolded the attorney for rolling his eyes, saying ridiculous and jeez and sighing heavily during objections in his testimony. You dont like my rulings? You dont say jeez, he said. You dont roll your eyes. Do you understand that? As he was preparing to bring the jury back in, he fired off at Mr Costello one last time: Are you staring me down right now? Clear the courtroom. A courtroom sketch depicts Justice Juan Merchan reprimanding Robert Costello during Donald Trumps hush money trial on May 20 ( AP ) With only attorneys and Mr Trumps entourage in the courtroom, the judge warned that Mr Costellos behavior could land him in contempt of court. If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand, he said. The defense rests its case and Trump wont testify Mr Costello was the second and final witness called by the former presidents defense team. After bringing up 19 witnesses over the last six weeks, Manhattan prosecutors rested their case on Monday. Defense attorneys introduced only two witnesses, including Mr Costello, and closed their case on Tuesday morning. Mr Trump who repeatedly suggested he would take the stand in his defense, and falsely claimed that the trial gag order prevents him from doing so failed to testify. Closing arguments from both parties will begin on May 28. Judge Merchan will then provide instructions to the jury before deliberations begin. A verdict could be reached as early as May 29. In one of his press conferences from the hallway outside the courtroom on Tuesday, steps away from the mens bathroom, Mr Trump complained about the trial taking him away from his campaign schedule. Id like to be out campaigning right now. But again, Im gonna be in here almost five weeks in court, he said. They have no case. Theres no crime. Its a kangaroo court. Theres never been anything like this that Ive ever seen. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} After being New York mayor, Trump lawyer, and criminal defendant, Rudy Giuliani is now trying his hand at coffee salesman as he grapples with bankruptcy and debt of $148m. As proceedings in his bankruptcy case rumbled on this week, Mr Giuliani launched Rudy.Coffee, offering three styles of coffee beans. The first 100 bags are signed by the former mayor, the products website claims, and will begin shipping in June. The three variations come with tag lines such as fighting for justice with an image of Mr Giuliani from his time as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York; enjoying life, with an image of a flip-flop-wearing Mr Guiliani sitting on a beach; and Americas mayor, with an image of a smiling Mr Giuliani holding a cup. While former president Donald Trump has chosen to sell sneakers and bibles to cover his legal fees, his former lawyer is flogging three coffee types: bold, morning, and decaf. The bags weigh two pounds each and can be purchased for $29.99. The site apparently includes a message from Mr Guiliani himself. Ive moved at a fast pace, and have had many different roles in life, but the one constant thing has been a good cup of coffee, which is now proven to have health benefits. Please enjoy my delicious fresh roasted specialty coffee. Its quality you can trust, he says. TV doctor Maria Ryan, Mr Giulianis girlfriend, also posted an ad for the coffee on X on Tuesday. Rudy Giuliani launches new coffee venture ( rudy.coffee ) I'm really looking to improve my health. I do know coffee has health benefits, but not in those little plastic things that are already ground hurts my stomach, she says in the video. So I was looking for products that had non-GMO, really organic bean farms, and I couldn't find any, so Rudy Giuliani and I collaborated and we have rudy.coffee coming to your home soon. The domain registrar search tool, Whoxy, reveals that the coffee site was registered on 26 March, according to The New Republic. Mr Giulianis coffee venture comes as the judge in charge of his bankruptcy case said that he was disturbed that so little progress had been achieved in sorting out his finances. On Tuesday, the judge blocked Mr Giuliani from appealing a $148m defamation judgment against him. The former NY mayor declared bankruptcy in December after being ordered to pay the judgment sum to two election workers after he pushed a baseless conspiracy theory regarding their part in the 2020 election. He has subsequently missed deadlines to file financial disclosures. He has not sold homes in Florida and New York and he was suspended last week from WABC Radio, where he had a daily show. The station cited his repeated violations of a ban on sharing baseless claims about the 2020 election. A lawyer for the election workers, Rachel Strickland, said: They have done nothing. They sold nothing. They settled nothing. She also accused Mr Giuliani of getting fired on purpose. I am disturbed about the status of this case, US Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane said. Attorneys for Mr Giuliani said that he had work in progress to bring in cash but did not specify details on Tuesday. A lawyer also said that his multimillion-dollar Manhattan apartment would soon be up for sale. They also said that problems have been cleared up and required financial filings will be made. Several people allege that Mr Giuliani owes them money. They finally have, I think, gotten things on track, Giuliani attorney Heath Berger said. When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Mr Giuliani said: Mayor Rudy Giulianithe man who took down the Mafia, locked up Wall Streets biggest criminals, cleaned up New York City and comforted the nation following September 11this regularly asked to partner with products and services as a trusted and respected public figure. He doesnt get behind anything he doesnt believe in, and as an avid consumer of coffee (due to his demanding work schedule) hes 100 per cent behind this product and brand, and as they say, dont knock it until you try it, he added. Meanwhile, Mr Giuliani has been indicted for his alleged part in a 2020 election interference plot in Arizona but prosecutors say hes nowhere to be found. Last month, the former New York City mayor was one of 18 Trump allies and fake electors to be indicted in a sprawling case to plant fake electors to cast electoral college votes for the former president instead of President Joe Biden. State prosecutors have spent weeks trying to serve Mr Giuliani with a summons, Richie Taylor at the Arizona attorney generals office told CNN. But he has proved elusive and is now the only one of the 18 who has yet to be served with a summons. The Associated Press contributed to this report Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has pleaded not guilty to election interference charges in Arizona after being served at his 80th birthday party. Mr Giuliani, former lawyer to Donald Trump, faces nine felony charges for his alleged role in a 2020 presidential election interference plot. The former mayor has been charged alongside 17 others in the scheme. He appeared virtually at his arraignment on Tuesday in Phoenix, Arizona, according to the Associated Press, where he was required to post a $10,000 bond. His trial will begin in October. The Arizona indictment accuses the defendants of interfering with the lawful transfer of the presidency of the United States, keeping President Donald J Trump in office against the will of Arizona voters, and depriving Arizona voters of their right to vote and have their votes counted. Prosecutors say that one month after the 2020 election, 11 Republicans supporting Mr Trump convened at the states GOP headquarters to sign certificates claiming the states electoral college votes. Rudy Giuliani, pictured speaking to reporters in January, pleaded not guilty after prosecutors say he participated in the 2020 Arizona fake electors scheme ( Getty Images ) The additional seven people charged, including Mr Giuliani, were included for their alleged roles in the scheme. Ted Goodman, a spokesperson for Mr Giuliani, said the former mayor looks forward to full vindication soon. These charges are essentially a cut and paste version of what theyre attempting to use to interfere with the 2024 Election and to take down President Trump and anyone willing to take on the permanent Washington political class, Mr Goodman wrote to The Independent Arizona officials served the indictment to Mr Giuliani after his 80th birthday bash in Palm Beach, Florida on Friday. At the party, the former New York mayor served cake and belted out a rendition of Frank Sinatras New York, New York. He was unfazed and enjoyed an incredible evening with hundreds of people, from all walks of life, who love and respect him for his contributions to society, Mr Goodman told The Independent last week. Rudy Giuliani sings 'New York, New York' at his birthday party in Palm Beach this past weekend. He was later served an indictment ( Rudy W. Giuliani/America's Mayor Live (E410) ) Others charged in the case include Mr Trumps former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows; the main election security lawyer for the Republican National Committee (RNC) Christina Bobb; and former Arizona Republican Party chair Kelli Ward. Ms Ward pleaded not guilty on Tuesday. Mr Giuliani was the last defendant to be served after officials said it was difficult to locate him. A spokesperson for Mr Giuliani previously told The Independent: We are LIVE every night, where we regularly announce our specific location, in reference to the ex-mayors live broadcasts on YouTube. His legal woes in Arizona comes as he struggles with bankruptcy and $148m in debt. Related video: Jimmy Kimmel roasts Rudy Giuliani over birthday party court summons The former New York mayor declared bankruptcy in December after being ordered to pay two election workers after he pushed a baseless conspiracy over their part in the 2020 election. He has subsequently missed deadlines to file financial disclosures. The judge in charge of his bankruptcy case said that he was disturbed that so little progress had been achieved in sorting out his finances earlier this month. Last week, the judge also blocked Mr Giuliani from appealing a $148m defamation judgment against him. This article has been updated to include a statement from Mr Giulianis spokesperson. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Former president Donald Trump has said that it should be up to states to decide whether to criminally prosecute women for having abortions. In a new interview with Time, Mr Trump said that, if he wins the 2024 election, he would leave it to individual states with strict abortion bans to monitor pregnancies and decide when further action may be warranted. During his first term, Mr Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices to the court who later overturned Roe v Wade, the landmark ruling that had enshrined reproductive rights across America for half a century. Since then, more than 20 states have put in place full or partial abortion bans. Mr Trump has proudly claimed responsibility for ending the constitutional right to an abortion. At the same time, he has also sought to limit the damage that the issue may have among voters, most of whom favour reproductive rights. A Gallup poll last summer found that only 13 per cent of Americans believe abortion should be completely illegal. Earlier this month, in a video posted on Truth Social, Mr Trump finally laid out his his stance on abortion rights repeating right-wing talking points that Democrats support execution after birth but refusing to sign a federal abortion ban, saying the issue should be left to the states. But when speaking to Time magazine in an interview published on Tuesday, the former president wouldnt commit to vetoing any further federal restrictions. I dont have to do anything about vetoes because we now have it back in the states, he said. As well as leaving abortion policies up to the states, Mr Trump told Time that he believes states should also be left to decide on the monitoring of pregnancies. I think they might do that, he told Time. Former president Donald Trump at Manhattan criminal court for his trial in New York on Tuesday 30 April ( AP ) When asked if he would be comfortable with states prosecuting women for having abortions, he said: Its irrelevant whether Im comfortable or not. Its totally irrelevant, because the states are going to make those decisions. He added: And by the way, Texas is going to be different than Ohio. And Ohio is going to be different than Michigan. I see whats happening. Preisdent Joe Bidens campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez responded to Mr Trumps comments saying they leave little doubt as to the Republican candidates intentions. Donald Trumps latest comments leave little doubt: if elected hell sign a national abortion ban, allow women who have an abortion to be prosecuted and punished, allow the government to invade womens privacy to monitor their pregnancies, and put IVF and contraception in jeopardy nationwide, she said in a statement. Simply put: Novembers election will determine whether women in the United States have reproductive freedom, or whether Trumps new government will continue its assault to control womens health care decisions, she said. President Joe Biden for his part has vowed that he will fight efforts to restrict reproductive rights both in the courts and using legislation. MBABANE - The clearance of goods turnaround time at the Ngwenya/Oshoek border has declined from 1 hour and 24 minutes for exports and 34 minutes for imports, to a mere 10 minutes for each. This was the results of the Time Release Study (TRS that was conducted at the Ngwenya/Oshoek border to determine the time taken to clear goods passing between Eswatini and South Africa. The South African Revenue Service (SARS) Commissioner Edward Kieswetter stated that over the four days of the detailed study, a sample size of 323 declarations per day for exports and 51 declarations per day for imports was utilised, tracked against specific and detailed process flow maps, and the results analysed in detail. He shared that because trucks were not currently processed as single units at Oshoek, drivers must park outside the control area, cue for immigration formalities together with pedestrians and bus or taxi passengers, and thereafter, retrieve their trucks. He said for exports to Eswatini from SA, the waiting time for drivers in the immigration queue was 23 minutes, and for imports, it was 7 minutes. He said pre-clearance was an important aspect of port efficiency and operators were advised to obtain pre-clearance well ahead of reaching the port. He said this was crucial for facilitating trade and ensuring the smooth flow of goods across borders. The commissioner stated that shipments would otherwise face an increased risk of delays and disruptions, resulting in significant delays and financial losses. He added that providing data electronically to regulators prior to the arrival of goods also expedites compliance verifications by Customs and Other Government Agencies (OGAs) who then use their time and resources to manage other security threats and compliance risks. Kieswetter said while Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) linked transactions only constituted 2 per cent of the total transactions over the period, their value of E13 million for imports and E21 million for exports was significant. He said yet the TRS data showed that one in four, or 25 per cent of the customs declarations submitted by traders to Customs are still not being pre-cleared. Furthermore, 25 per cent of Bills of Entry and Manifests are only submitted within an hour before the truck is marked for arrival at the border post, he said. He added that the importer, exporter or clearing agent averages, then adds, on average, 42 minutes to complete the capturing, submission, and processing of both the Customs Bill of Entry and the electronic Road Freight Manifest (eRFM). Delay Kieswetter mentioned that SARS process actually processes the submissions literally within seconds to clear the goods. He said they recognised that due to network and connectivity delays at the Oshoek Border Post, there may be up to a 5-minute delay before clearing agents receive their release messages and are working to address this. Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS) Commissioner General, Brightwell Nkambule said the OshoekNgwenya Border Post was selected as the focus of this study because of its strategic value to the economies of the two countries. He said for Eswatini, Ngwenya processes the highest number of travellers and accounts for the highest trade volumes. He said the TRS shall therefore provide them with actionable insights to enhance clearance process efficiencies and deliver substantial benefits to the clients we serve, which they believe would have a positive impact on the economic performance of the two countries. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The Trump campaign has threatened to sue the filmmakers of The Apprentice, a biopic about the former presidents early days as a New York City real estate developer, calling the movie a pure fiction. We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers, Trump campaign chief spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement to Variety. This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked. As with the illegal Biden Trials, this is election interference by Hollywood elites, who know that President Trump will retake the White House and beat their candidate of choice because nothing they have done has worked. The film, directed by Ali Abbasi, features Sebastian Stan playing a young Donald Trump as he rises through the business world. The story centers on his relationships with his first wife, Ivana Trump, and the lawyer and fixer Roy Cohn, played by Successions Jeremy Strong. The Independent has contacted the producers of The Apprentice film for comment. The biopic reportedly contains a variety of unflattering scenes involving Mr Trump, featuring him using drugs and getting cosmetic surgery. Most controversially, according to Variety, the film shows Mr Trump raping Ms Trump. (In a 1989 divorse deposition, Ms Trump accused Mr Trump of raping her, but she later disavowed the allegation.) The Trump campaign arent the only ones upset at the films content. Dan Snyder, the former owner of the Washington Commanders, reportedly invested in the film via the company Kinematics but later took issue with its portrayal of Mr Trump, a personal associate and recipient of various campaign donations. The Apprentice premiered publically on Monday at the Cannes Film Festival in France. The film reportedly received an eight-minute ovation. Mr Abbasi, the director, told the audience that he hoped his film would be relevant to the times. There is no nice metaphorical way to deal with the rising wave of fascism. Theres only the messy way. Theres only the the banal way, he said. Theres only the way of dealing with this wave on its own terms, at its own level and its not going to be pretty, but I think the problem with the world is that the good people have been quiet for too long. So, I think its time to make movies relevant. Its time to make movies political again. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The landmark trial of three former Syrian intelligence officials began Tuesday at a Paris court for the alleged torture and killing of a French-Syrian father and son who were arrested over a decade ago, during the height of Arab Spring-inspired anti-government protests. International warrants have been issued for the defendants, being tried in absentia. The father Mazen Dabbagh and his son, Patrick, were arrested in the Syrian capital, Damascus, in 2013, following a crackdown on demonstrations that later turned into a brutal civil war, now in its 14th year. The probe into their disappearance started in 2015 when Obeida Dabbagh, Mazens brother, testified to investigators already examining war crimes in Syria. The four-day hearings come as Syria's President Bashar Assad has started to shed his longtime status as a pariah that stemmed from the violence unleashed on his opponents. Human rights groups involved in the case hope it will refocus attention on alleged atrocities. About 50 activists gathered near the Paris Criminal Court, chanting for freedom and in support of the disappeared and the dead. If the three Ali Mamlouk, former head of the National Security Bureau, Jamil Hassan, former Air Force intelligence director, and Abdel Salam Mahmoud, former head of investigations for the service in Damascus are convicted, they could be sentenced to life in prison in France. The first hearing on Tuesday invited several, including Ziad Majed, a Franco-Lebanese academic specializing in Syria, for context testimonies" in front of three judges. Majed shed light on the history of the Assad familys rule since the early 1970s. The three defendants are part of the Al-Assad system. I know their names; they are also famous in Lebanon, he said, meaning they are well-known for being part of the Assad government. After his two-hour testimony, Majed joined the demonstrators, calling for justice for the disappeared. Arwad, a young Syrian girl who has lived in France since 2018, was not at the hearing but joined the rally. We are refugees, we support freedom, she said. The Dabbagh family lawyer, Clemence Bectarte, from the International Federation for Human Rights, told The Associated Press she had high hopes for the trial. This trial represents immense hope for all Syrian victims who cannot attain justice. Impunity continues to reign in Syria, so this trial aims to bring justice to the family and echo the stories of hundreds of thousands of Syrian victims, Bectarte said. The brother, Obeida, is set to testify on Thursday, the third day of the trial. I hope the responsible parties will be condemned. This could set a precedent for holding Assad accountable, he told the AP. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have died. Even today, some live in fear and terror. Brigitte Herremans, a senior researcher at the Human Rights Centre of Ghent University, emphasized the trials significance despite the defendants' absence. Its very important that perpetrators from the regime side are held accountable, even if its mainly symbolic. It means a lot for the fight against impunity, Herremans said. The verdict is expected on Friday. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The alleged leaders of a suspected far-right plot to topple Germanys government went on trial on Tuesday, in a case that shocked the country. Nine defendants, including a prince and former soldiers, faced judges at a special warehouse-like courthouse built on the outskirts of Frankfurt to accommodate the large number of defendants, lawyers and media dealing with the case. About 260 witnesses are expected at a trial that the Frankfurt state court expects to extend well into 2025, one of three related trials that in total involve more than two dozen suspects. The defendants include the highest-profile suspects in the alleged plot, among them Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, whom the group allegedly planned to install as Germanys provisional new leader; Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, a judge and former lawmaker with the far-right Alternative for Germany party; and former German military officers. Most of them are charged with belonging to a terrorist organization that was founded in July 2021 with the aim of doing away by force with the existing state order in Germany, and also with preparation of high treasonous undertaking. Defendant Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss on the first day of the second trial ( Getty Images ) Reuss and Ridiger von Pescatore, a former paratrooper, are alleged to have been the groups ringleaders. Prosecutors have said that the accused believed in a conglomerate of conspiracy myths, including Reich Citizans and QAnon ideology, and were convinced that Germany is ruled by a so-called deep state. Adherents of the Reich Citizens movement reject Germanys postwar constitution and have called for bringing down the government, while QAnon is a global conspiracy theory with roots in the United States. These arent harmless cranks, but dangerous terror suspects, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a statement as the trial started. Lawyers for Reuss disputed the charges. He is being depicted here as the big monster, the leader of the whole story, but none of that is true, defense attorney Hans-Otto Sieg told reporters. But we will straighten that out. The group planned to storm into the parliament building in Berlin and arrest lawmakers, according to prosecutors. It allegedly intended to negotiate a post-coup order primarily with Russia, as one of the allied victors of World War II. The plotters allegedly had about 500,000 euros ($543,000) in funding and access to an arsenal, including 380 firearms and nearly 350 weapons that could be used for stabbing, as well as equipment such as bulletproof vests and handcuffs. Federal prosecutors say they had drawn up several lists of enemies to be used in the takeover of regional and local authorities, and that the groups members were aware the planned takeover of power would be linked with the killing of people. Prosecutors say that Reuss tried to contact Russian officials in 2022 to win Moscows support for the plan, and it isnt clear whether Russia responded. The defendants in Frankfurt include a Russian woman accused of supporting a terrorist organization, in part by allegedly setting up a contact with the Russian Consulate in Leipzig and accompanying Reuss there. Journalist and observers wait to enter the Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt courthouse on the first day of the second trial ( Getty Images ) The Frankfurt trial, while the most prominent, is the second of three trials focusing on the plot to open. They involve a total of 26 suspects. Originally there were 27, but one man charged in Frankfurt died before the trial. A trial of nine people in Stuttgart that began at the end of April is focusing on the military arm of the plot, which prosecutors say was tasked with implementing the plans drawn up by the alleged leaders. A third trial, opening in Munich on June 18, will feature the other eight suspects. The alleged coup plot came to light with a slew of arrests in December 2022. But officials had long warned that far-right extremists pose the biggest threat to Germanys domestic security. That threat was highlighted by the killing of a regional politician and an attempted attack on a synagogue in 2019. A year later, far-right extremists taking part in a protest against pandemic restrictions tried and failed to enter the parliament building in Berlin. In a separate case, five people went on trial in Koblenz a year ago over an alleged plot by a group calling itself United Patriots which prosecutors say also is linked to the Reich Citizens milieu to launch a far-right coup and kidnap Germanys health minister. In January, a report that extremists met to discuss the deportation of millions of immigrants, including some with German citizenship, triggered mass protests against the rise of the far-right. Some members of Alternative for Germany reportedly attended the meeting. The party, which has enjoyed strong support over the past year, sought to distance itself from the event, while also decrying the reporting of it. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} France and Belgium released statements supporting the worlds top war crimes courts request for arrest warrants for leaders of Israel and Hamas, after Israel and the United States both harshly condemned the effort. The International Criminal Courts chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders Yehya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel. While Netanyahu and Gallant do not face imminent arrest, the announcement Monday was a symbolic blow that deepened Israels isolation over the war in Gaza. Israeli forces raided a militant stronghold Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, killing at least seven and wounding several, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The raid into Jenin is part of months of surging violence in the Palestinian territory. Sri Lanka announced a national day of mourning Tuesday after Iranian officials announced that President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were found dead Monday, hours after their helicopter crashed in fog, leaving the Islamic Republic without two key leaders. Iran backs Hamas, and the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah, also supported by Tehran, has fired rockets at Israel. In April, Iran launched its own an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel. Israel launched its offensive after Hamas Oct. 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed about 1,200 people mostly civilians and abducted about 250. At least 35,000 Palestinians have died in the war, according to Gazas Health Ministry, which doesnt distinguish between combatants and civilians. Around 80% of the population of 2.3 million Palestinians has been displaced within the territory, often multiple times. Currently: Iran's president and foreign minister die in a helicopter crash. ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrant for Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Netanyahu. These photos show Palestinians quick exodus from Rafah after Israel issued evacuation orders. Drexel University threatens to clear encampment as arrests linked to Israel-Hamas war protests exceed 3,000. Follow APs coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war Here's the latest: ISRAELI FORCES KILL 6 IN A RAID ON A WEST BANK MILITANT STRONGHOLD, PALESTINIAN HEALTH MINSITRY SAYS JERUSALEM Israeli forces raided a militant stronghold Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, killing at least seven and wounding several, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Israeli military said it struck militants during an operation into the city. In addition to the seven fatalities, the Palestinian Health Ministry said nine people were injured. Among those killed was Dr. Ossayed Kamal Jabareen, the surgery specialist at Jenin Governmental Hospital who was killed on his way to his work, according to Dr. Wissam Abu Baker, the hospitals director. The raid was ongoing and the casualty numbers could rise. The raid into Jenin is part of months of surging violence in the Palestinian territory. Nearly 500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, part of an Israeli crackdown on militancy in the territory. Attacks by Palestinians against Israelis have also increased. Saraya al-Quds, the military arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, said its fighters battled Israeli forces raiding Jenin. Israel has arrested more than 3,000 Palestinians since the start of the war. FRANCE AND BELGIUM SUPPORT WAR CRIMES COURT'S REQUEST FOR ARREST WARRANTS France and Belgium each released statements supporting the worlds top war crimes court's request for arrest warrants for leaders of Israel and Hamas. International Criminal Court top prosecutor Karim Khan accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders Yehya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel. While Netanyahu and Gallant do not face imminent arrest, the announcement Monday was a symbolic blow that deepened Israels isolation over the war in Gaza. France supports the International Criminal Court, its independence, and the fight against impunity in all situations, its Foreign Ministry said in a statement late Monday, around the same time Belgium Minister of Foreign Affairs Hadja Lahbib posted on X, Crimes committed in Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of the perpetrators," along with a statement. Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders condemned the move as disgraceful and antisemitic. United States President Joe Biden also lambasted the prosecutor and supported Israels right to defend itself against Hamas. SRI LANKA DECLARES NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING FOR IRANIAN PRESIDENT COLOMBO, Sri Lanka The Sri Lankan government declared Tuesday a national mourning day for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The government also ordered all state institutions to hoist the national flag at half-staff. Raisi visited Sri Lanka in April to inaugurate a long-delayed hydropower and irrigation project. The project, valued at $514 million, was started in 2010. It was scheduled for completion in 2015 but was delayed by the sanctions, technical issues and the COVID-19 pandemic. Raisi was the first Iranian leader to visit Sri Lanka since then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited in 2008. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The European Union has reprimanded Kosovo over the closure of six branches of a Serbia-licensed bank, saying the move would negatively impact the life of the ethnic Serb minority living in northern Kosovo and damage Kosovo-Serbia normalization talks. On Monday, Kosovo police closed the branches of the Postal Saving Bank in line with the decision to ban the use of the Serbian dinar currency in the country. Starting on Feb. 1, the government required areas dominated by the ethnic Serb minority in Kosovo to adopt the euro currency, which is used in the rest of the country, and abolished the use of the Serbian dinar. Pristina postponed the move for about three months, following pressure from the EU and the United States, concerned that the decision would negatively impact the ethnic Serb minority in northern Kosovo. An EU statement from Brussels, which was emailed to The Associated Press, considered the move as escalatory against the spirit of normalization, adding that such uncoordinated actions" by Kosovo put chances of reconciliation at risk. Brussels and Washington are pressing both countries to implement agreements that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti reached in February and March last year. The EU-facilitated normalization talks have failed to make progress, especially following a shootout last September between masked Serb gunmen and Kosovo police that left four people dead and ratcheted up tensions. Most of Kosovo uses the euro, even though the country isnt part of the EU. Parts of Kosovos north, populated mostly by ethnic Serbs, continue to use the dinar. Many Serbs there rely on the government of Serbia for financial support, often delivered in dinars in cash. In the continued absence of sustainable alternatives, this will have negative effects on the daily lives and living conditions of Kosovo Serbs and other communities eligible for financial transfers from Serbia, the EU statement said. Serbia's and Kosovo's chances of joining the EU one day are jeopardized by their refusal to compromise, according to the blocs foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell. The EU again urged Kosovo and Serbia to return to the negotiating table. Serbian forces fought a 1998-99 war with ethnic Albanian separatists in what was then the province of Kosovo. About 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, died until a 78-day NATO bombing campaign pushed Serbian forces away. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, which Belgrade doesnt recognize. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A convoy of 20 vehicles donated to Ukraine through Londons Ulez scrappage scheme arrived. More than 100 vehicles have been donated to the war-torn country through the Ulez programme since it began from 15 March - with around half being taken to the eastern European country. British-Ukrainian Aid (BUAID), which is operating the scheme with Transport for London (TfL), said the vehicles will be used for humanitarian and medical purposes during Ukraines conflict with Russia. BUAID said a further 13 vehicles are en route to Ukraine. The Ulez area was expanded by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to include the whole of the capital in August last year, making it the worlds largest pollution-charging area. People who drive in the zone in a vehicle that does not meet minimum emissions standards are required to pay a 12.50 daily fee. A 160 million scheme run by TfL enables residents, small businesses, sole traders and charities scrapping non-compliant cars to claim grants. More than 100 vehicles have been donated under the scheme ( Nick Turpin/TFL/PA Wire ) For a scrapped vehicle to be sent to Ukraine through the programme, it must serve a function such as assisting with medical aid or evacuating people from dangerous areas. A BUAID spokesperson said: We remain enormously grateful for the support given to us by the Mayors of London and Kyiv, and by our many partners, supporters and donors. Vehicles that would have gone to scrap are saving lives in Ukraine, and we know that every one of them is valued and valuable. It is great to see people showing the Dunkirk spirit that Churchill talked about in World War Two, making transport available to those under threat from a ruthless enemy. TfLs head of transport strategy and planning Lucy Hayward-Speight said: The scrappage scheme has provided support for people to make the green transition alongside the London-wide Ulez being introduced. As well as helping to clean up the capitals toxic air, Londoners are also demonstrating their concern for others by choosing to provide vital aid for those in the most unimaginable circumstances in Ukraine. We would encourage anyone eligible to donate their vehicle if they can. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A grieving chimpanzee has carried her dead baby around with her for three months, to the shock of zoo visitors. Those heading to the Bioparc zoo in the Spanish city of Valencia have been greeted over the past three months with the sight of the grieving ape carrying around her dead baby. Natalia lost her child when it was only a few days old. She has clung to the inert body ever since, seemingly unwilling to separate. This is a conduct that has been previously observed in chimpanzees, not only in zoos but also in the wild, Miguel Casares, the head of Bioparc, told Reuters. Like humans, chimpanzees may mourn the deaths of those close to them, but it is unusual for the process to be so stark or so long. Nevertheless, Casares said it must be respected, just as in humans: Our visitors, who at first are quite shocked by the sight of a dead baby, understand as soon as we explain to them why we have left it and why we keep it under observation. Natalia, a chimpanzee that has carried her dead baby for months, which experts say must be respected and reveals that grieving is not exclusive to humans, is comforted by Cala, the baby of Noelia (L), a chimpanzee at Valencias Bioparc, Spain May 16, 2024 ( REUTERS ) Natalia had already lost one of her offspring in 2018, so she has been closely monitored this time. Chimpanzees are among the most endangered primates in Africa, where a wild population of 100,000 to 200,000 is suffering from hunting, habitat loss and disease. A study earlier this month found Chimpanzees, like humans, may be life-long learners. Researchers have found the great apes continue to learn and hone their tool-using skills well into adulthood. The team observed the chimps became better at using their fingers to grip and manipulate their stick tools as they got older, and continued to sharpen their skills in the first 20 years of their lives. The team said its findings, published in the journal Plos Biology, show perfecting skills is more than just a matter of physical development and potentially related to mental learning capacities as well. The work also helps shed light on the thinking and lifelong learning skills evolved in humans, according to the researchers. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Angry TikTok critics who accused Amal Clooney of being too busy to speak out publicly about the war in Gaza were proved ironically somewhat correct on Monday, after it was revealed that she had been instead secretly working with the International Criminal Court for an arrest warrant against the Israeli prime minister for possible war crimes. For months, pro-Palestine social media users have been furious that Ms Clooney, an international human rights lawyer and wife of actor George, had not made public statements on the crisis in Gaza, declaring that she was a disappointment. Since the Met Gala, a mass unfollowing and blocking of celebrities who had not spoken out about the atrocities has been underway, dubbed #Blockout2024, with millions of people unfollowing influencers such as Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift. Then on Monday, Ms Clooney published an expert report supporting ICC calls for arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as several Hamas leaders, over alleged war crimes. She also issued a statement saying that she did not provide running commentary on her work, which obviously had to remain secret due to the delicate legal nature of her work but that hadnt stopped social media from its own. On TikTok, one woman accused her in January of turning her back on the Palestinian cause and caring more about her fashion industry endeavors and celebrity status than justice in the Middle East. Amal Clooney is nowhere to be found this broad actually said her caseload was full, said one user, in a video posted in December. Shes as bad an actor as her husband... Your name means hope guessing you hoped wed forget about you huh? The video has since been viewed over 75,000 times. Amal Clooney, international human rights lawyer and wife of Hollywood star George Clooney, had been criticised online for her perceived lack of comment on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East ( Alberto Pezzali/Invision/AP ) Shes another one that bites the dust badly, said another user, in a video in February. If a Lebanese who has made it her lifes work to defend people against human rights abuses, cant bring herself to say anything publicly it really screams the question is her Hollywood status really more important to her than saying something? Ms Clooney is a British barrister born to Lebanese parents, and her maternal grandmother had Palestinian roots. In an online statement published Monday, Ms Clooney explained how shed gotten involved in looking into possible war crimes in Gaza: More than four months ago, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asked me to assist him with evaluating evidence of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and Gaza. I agreed and joined a panel of international legal experts to undertake this task. Together we have engaged in an extensive process of evidence review and legal analysis including at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. She added: My approach is not to provide a running commentary of my work but to let the work speak for itself. I hope that witnesses will cooperate with the ongoing investigation. And I hope that justice will prevail in a region that has already suffered too much. Following the statements, some in the TikTok community pointed out that the dragging of Ms Clooney online had perhaps been a little bit too much. In a video titled Maybe a lot of you need to apologize to Amal Clooney now? one user highlighted that Ms Clooney had been doing incredibly important work behind the scenes for the ICC, which meant she could not comment publicly. I know its really easy to think that speaking out is everything but when it comes to international law speaking out is for people who can and I think we have to just be a little bit mindful that it doesnt always work like that for everyone, the user said. Earlier this month social media users called out celebrities for perceived inaction over the war in Gaza, staging a blockout to pressure the stars to take a stand. Ms Clooney was not specifically targeted in the blockout, but social media users have condemned online attacks on Ms Clooney on X, formerly known as Twitter. A timely reminder that performative activity on social media is not action, wrote one user. Amal Clooney has been dragged continuously for the past few months for supposedly being silent on Gaza. She was diligently doing her actual job and making a tangible difference in the real world. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, 63, died alongside Irans foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and two senior local officials on board the helicopter on 19 May. Raisi was confirmed dead after hours of frantic searching through a foggy mountainous region. Irans interior minister Ahmed Vahidi confirmed earlier to state TV that one of the helicopters in a convoy carrying President Raisi, 63, suffered a hard landing adding that rescue teams struggled to reach the site due to ongoing difficult weather conditions. The confirmation of Mr Raisis death came through state TV and a government-run news agency early on Monday morning. On Sunday night, Iranians had been urged to collectively pray for their president, while state TV aired prayers for his safety as well as showing worshipers praying for his health in the holy city of Mashhad. An event taking place to mark the death of Raisi in London on Friday ended in a clash between pro-Iran supporters and anti-Iranian government protesters With tributes and reactions pouring in from other countries around the world, heres what we know about Mr Raisi and his time in office. Rise to power Born to a conservative family in eastern Iran, Raisi studied theology at the seminaries in Qom. He was a teenager when the countrys popular revolution established Iran as a theocracy, but he quickly became an enthusiastic participant in enforcing the vision of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic. Irans President Ebrahim Raisi said they will respond strongly to US attacks ( Iranian Presidency/AFP via Getty ) At 21 years old, Raisi began serving as a prosecutor, pursuing politically charged cases in the cities of Karaj and Hamadan. He gained a reputation as one of the regimes most severe figures a young, brash ideologue, willing to get his hands dirty. Within a few years, Raisi was appointed as a judge, a rapid rise that was stunning to Iranians and led to years of questions about his professional credentials. Raisi also faces sanctions from the US and other nations over his involvement in the mass execution of prisoners in 1988. A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration to protest against the inaugeration Ebrahim Raisi in London in 2021 ( AFP via Getty Images ) Raisi was defiant when asked at a news conference after his election about the 1988 executions, which saw sham retrials of political prisoners, militants and others that would become known as death commissions at the end of the bloody Iran-Iraq war. Raisi served on the commissions where international rights groups estimate that as many as 5,000 people were executed. He ran unsuccessfully for president in 2017 against Hassan Rouhani, the relatively moderate cleric who as president reached Tehrans 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. In 2021, Raisi ran again in an election that saw all of his potentially prominent opponents barred from running under Irans vetting system. He swept nearly 62 per cent of the 28.9 million votes, the lowest turnout by percentage in the Islamic Republics history. Millions stayed home and others voided ballots. Raisi served on the commissions where international rights groups estimate that as many as 5,000 people were executed ( Uzbekistan's President Press Office ) Time in office Since taking office 2021, Raisi has ordered a tightening of morality laws, overseen a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests and pushed hard in nuclear talks with world powers. He has supported the countrys security services as they cracked down on all dissent, including in the aftermath of the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini and the nationwide protests that followed. Mahsa Amini was an Iranian woman who was arrested in Tehran for opposing mandatory hijab rules. The 22-year-old later died in police custody in 2022. Mahsa Amini was an Iranian woman who was arrested in Tehran for opposing mandatory hijab rules ( AP ) In March, a United Nations investigative panel found that Iran was responsible for the physical violence that led to Aminis death. Her death sparked mass prorests and a monthslong security crackdown killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained. In Irans dual political system, split between the clerical establishment and the government, it is the supreme leader rather than the president who has the final say on all major policies. But many see Raisi as a strong contender to succeed his 85-year-old mentor, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has strongly endorsed Raisis main policies. Whats next for Iran? Under Iranian laws, if a serving president dies, the first vice president takes office, with the confirmation of the supreme leader, who has the final say in all matters of state in Iran. The current vice president Mohammad Mokhber is expected to be promoted as the interim president of Iran. It will be followed by an election for a new president within a maximum period of 50 days. The elections will now take place a year prior to when they were scheduled in 2025 when Raisis term would have ended. Who is the new interim president? Mr Mokhber, 69, is seen as a close aide to the supreme leader and became vice president in 2021 when Raisi was elected as president. He was part of a team of Iranian officials delegation who visited Moscow in October and agreed to supply surface-to-surface missiles and more drones to Russias military, sources told Reuters at the time. The team also included two senior officials from Irans Revolutionary Guards and an official from the Supreme National Security Council. In 2010, he was among the individuals and entities who were sanctioned by the European Union for alleged involvement in nuclear or ballistic missile activities. Two years later their names were removed from the list. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Watch as Qatars foreign minister spokesperson, Majed Al-Ansari, was expected to comment on the International Criminal Courts (ICC) prosecutors request for arrest warrants for Hamas leaders, including its political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh who lives in Doha, on Tuesday, 21 May. The leader faces the possibility of legal action after the ICC prosecutors office said on Monday, 20 May, it had requested arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defence minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders - including Mr Haniyeh - for alleged war crimes in the conflict that began after the October 7 Hamas attack. Karim Khan KC said there were reasonable grounds to believe that both Mr Netanyahu and Hamass leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, bore criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the wake of October 7. Charges against Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant include starvation of civilians as a method of warfare intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population wilfully causing great suffering persecution as a crime against humanity [and] extermination and/or murder. Charges against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, military chief Mohammed al-Masri, and Mr Haniyeh all relate to Hamass 7 October attack on Israeli soil and the alleged mistreatment of hostages taken into Gaza after the assault. Mr Khan said the crimes of the three leaders include extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape and sexual assault in detention. A senior Hamas official told Reuters after the statement was made that it equates the victim with the executioner. Mr Netanyahu responded angrily to the ICC prosecutors statement, saying Israelis were being painted as mass murderers and accusing Mr Khan of callously pouring gasoline on the fires of antisemitism that are raging across the world. Close Mourners surround truck carrying remains of Iran president For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A funeral procession for the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi took place in the city of Tabriz on Tuesday, close to the site where his helicopter crashed on Sunday afternoon. Tens of thousands of people turned out for the event in the capital of the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan, expected to be one of several processions across the country over the coming weeks. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is expected to lead congregational funeral prayers in Tehran after another procession in the holy city of Qom. Despite the vast turnout, mourning across the country for the hardline leader has been muted. Raisi, nicknamed the Butcher of Tehran for his role in executing anti-regime protesters in the 1980s, also presided over a vicious crackdown against further protest in 2022 and last year. US State department spokesperson Matt Miller said Raisi has blood on his hands for his involvement in suppressing dissent. He described the former hardline cleric as a brutal participant in the repression of the Iranian people for nearly four decades. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Thousands of Iranians have turned out to mourn the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi after he was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday. A video broadcast by state media showed hordes of mourners gathering for a procession through the city of Tabriz in northwest Iran, near the site where the politicians helicopter crashed. Raisi, 63, was one of eight passengers, including the foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, on board the helicopter as it flew through a mountainous region south of neighbouring Azerbaijan in foggy conditions. Despite the huge crowds on Tuesday, most of whom appeared to be male, swathes of the Iranian population have been celebrating Raisis death on social media. It is also unclear what international presence a funeral this week will draw, as Raisi faced US sanctions for his part in mass executions in 1988 and for abuses targeting protesters and dissidents while leading the countrys judiciary. Iran under Raisi also shipped bomb-carrying drones to Russia to be used in its war on Ukraine. I dont feel comfortable sending condolences while Iran is sending drones that are used against civilians in Ukraine, wrote Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis on the social platform X. The hardline president was unpopular among much of Irans young population. After the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a woman detained over her allegedly loose headscarf, or hijab, weeks of protests rocked the country. The crackdown that followed the demonstrations killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained. People carry Ebrahim Raisis coffin through Tabriz in Iran ( via Reuters ) Most of those at the funeral procession were male, though there were some women in attendance ( Fars News Agency/AFP via Getty ) Houthi activists stand outside the Iranian embassy in Sanaa, Yemen as they offer condolences over Raisis death ( Reuters ) Nonetheless, two days after his death, mourners in Tabriz swarmed a large truck that was carrying Raisis coffin, as well as those of the other seven killed, through the streets of the city. It was adorned with flowers and draped in the Iranian flag State TV broadcast live images of mourners, many of them dressed in black, beating their chests while the truck drove slowly through the crowd. To restore damaged legitimacy following a historic low turnout of around 41 per cent in Marchs parliamentary election, Irans rulers must stir up public enthusiasm to secure high participation in the early presidential election that will be held on 28 June. Everyone has come to bid farewell to the... president and his companions regardless of their faction, ethnicity or language, claimed Tabriz lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian. Images also showed people in the capital of Yemen, Sanaa, which is controlled by the Iranian-funded Houthi militia, as well as in an Iranian Islamic centre in Peshawar, Pakistan, publicly mourning the death of Raisi. His body later arrived at the Iranian capital of Tehrans Mehrabad airport, where government and military officials lined a red carpet. Many could be seen crying as a military escort carried the coffin. A seat on the presidential plane was left empty during the flight, according to images published by state media. It was covered only in black cloth and had a picture of Raisi on it. Soldiers carry Raisis coffin at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran ( Iranian Presidency/AFP via Getty ) The remains were then transferred to the holy city of Qom, where Raisi studied at a seminary as a teenager. Many of the clerics who make up Irans theocratic elite are trained there. The coffin will later return to the capital to lie at the Grand Mosalla Mosque before being transferred to Raisis hometown of Mashhad, in eastern Iran, for burial on Thursday. Raisis body will be moved to the historic Imam Reza shrine, where Ayatollah Khamenei will conduct prayers, according to state media outlet Mehr News. Iranian leaders announced a public holiday and the closure of offices all over the country on Wednesday so that processions can take place in the capital, while five days of mourning have also been officially declared. Until the election on 28 June to choose a new president, Vice President Mohammad Mokhber has been appointed to assume interim duties. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has appointed Mohammad Mokhber as the country's acting president following the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash. Raisi, his foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and two senior local officials were travelling in a helicopter with their security detail when the aircraft crashed in the mountainous region of Iran's northwest on Sunday. The crash site was discovered on the side of a steep mountain on Monday morning with only the burned-out wreckage of the helicopter remaining. There were no survivors. As well as announcing five days of national mourning, Ayatollah Khamenei named Raisis first vice president as the man to lead the country until a new full-time president can be selected. Iran helicopter crash wreckage seen in drone video as president confirmed dead by state media ( ViralPress ) Mr Mokhber, who has served as Raisis deputy since he was first elected in 2021, is perhaps more importantly seen as close to the ayatollah, who has the final say in all matters of state. As a result, Mr Mokhber will be seen as one of the stronger contenders to replace Raisi permanently. He was quickly appointed interim president during an emergency meeting chaired by the governments executive, legislative and judiciary branches. "We will follow the path of president Raisi in fulfilling assigned duties without any interruption," Mr Mokhber said following his appointment. The Islamic Republic's constitution directs that in the event the president dies or is incapacitated, the first vice president shall take over for an interim period of 50 days. During that time the acting president must work with the speaker of parliament and the head of the judiciary to arrange for an urgent presidential election to be held. Khamenei confirmed this would be Mokhbers main priority within a maximum of 50 days in his statement. He earlier said there will be no disruption in the work of the country during this period of uncertainty. Mr Mokhber is evidently a trusted hand in the eyes of the supreme leader, having served for 14 years as the head of Setad, an investment fund linked to the countrys religious leadership. Formally known as the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, Setad was set up by Irans first supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to organise the management and sale of properties abandoned during the Islamic Revolution. Setad and 37 companies it oversaw were added to a list of entities sanctioned by the US treasury department in 2013. Mr Mokhber has also personally been sanctioned by the EU in the past. In 2010, the bloc added him to a list of individuals and entities facing action for alleged involvement in nuclear or ballistic missile activities. Two years later, it removed him from the list. Mr Mokhber was part of a team of Iranian officials who visited Moscow in October and agreed to supply surface-to-surface missiles and more drones to Russias military, sources told Reuters. The team also included two senior officials from Irans Revolutionary Guards and an official from the Supreme National Security Council. Irans cabinet has also appointed deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani as acting foreign minister following the death of Amirabdollahian. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The International Criminal Courts chief prosecutor has filed a motion applying for arrest warrants for Israels prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes. Chief prosecutor Karim Khan also called for arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders, including chief Yahya Sinwar, Hamass military leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, and Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamass political bureau. The move from the ICC has caused fury among Israeli and Hamas politicians alike, with both sides incensed by the comparison to one another. But if the arrest warrant for Mr Netanyahu is granted, it will mark the first time a Western-affiliated leader has faced one. Speaking in English to address his foreign supporters directly, Mr Netanyahu responded to the motion by describing Mr Khan as one of the great antisemites in modern times, adding that he was callously pouring gasoline on the fires of antisemitism that are raging around the world. Below, The Independent looks at what a warrant could mean for Mr Netanyahu, and why possible warrants for the three Hamas leaders are less controversial. What happens if the ICC issues the warrant? An arrest warrant could also be issued for Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant (right) ( via Reuters ) If the ICC approves Mr Khans application for an arrest warrant, Mr Netanyahu would, theoretically, be barred from travelling to any of the 124 signatories to the court. That includes the United Kingdom, all major European countries and the likes of Canada and Australia. If he sets foot in any of those countries, that nation is obliged to arrest Mr Netanyahu and hand him over to the ICC, where he would later face trial for alleged war crimes. The most recent leader to be issued an arrest warrant was Russian president Vladimir Putin, who last March was reprimanded for the forcible deportation of Ukrainian children as part of his full-scale invasion. He has not travelled to any signatories to the ICC since and was forced to cancel a trip to South Africa last July. A spokesperson for UK prime minister Rishi Sunak described the ICCs latest actions as not helpful to reaching a pause in the fighting, getting hostages out or humanitarian aid in, but they did not comment on whether or not they would comply with the warrant, saying they would not comment on hypotheticals. Russian president Vladimir Putin was the last leader to be issued an arrest warrant by the ICC ( AP ) They would have to argue that Mr Netanyahu had diplomatic immunity if they wanted to avoid arresting him. Israel, China and Russia, as well as Israels staunchest ally, the US, however, are not signatories. US president Joe Biden described the ICCs decision as outrageous, while a group of Republican senators, typically more supportive of Israel, went one step further. After rumours swirled that the ICC were seeking arrest warrants, the senators issued a direct, public statement to the court. Target Israel and we will target you... you have been warned, they said. They could later move to pass a law to sanction ICC officials or ban them from the US. In effect, if a warrant is issued, it may make it difficult for Mr Netanyahu, as well as Mr Gallant, to travel freely to nations that have criticised Israels conduct in Gaza. Frances Foreign Ministry, for example, said it supports the International Criminal Court, its independence and the fight against impunity in all situations. Equally, it appears that the move would bring Israels closest allies, like the US, even closer, with the ICC being the one potentially facing fallout. What do possible warrants mean for the Hamas leaders? In the frame: (from left) Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamass political bureau, Hamass military leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, and Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar ( AFP/HO/AFP/Getty ) After Mr Khan issued the applications for arrest, Hamas demanded the withdrawal of the allegations against its leaders, claiming the ICCs prosecutor was equating the victim with the executioner. But the warrants affect the three leaders differently from Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant. The state of Palestine is a signatory to the ICC, which it is allowed to do because it has non-member observer status at the United Nations. It is on this basis that the ICC believes it has jurisdiction to potentially issue the warrants. But Hamas, which runs Gaza and not the occupied West Bank, is a non-state actor already condemned by many of the other signatories to the ICC. Ismail Haniyeh, Hamass political leader based in Qatar, may have to think more closely about meetings with senior Arab leaders if the warrant is issued. But the entire Gulf region, including Qatar, has not signed up to the Rome Statute that founded the ICC, so he will face fewer travel issues than Mr Netanyahu. For Mr Sinwar and Mr al-Masri, who are both believed to be hiding in the Gaza Strip, Israel is actively seeking to kill them and has thousands of soldiers looking for them in the enclave. An arrest warrant would have little effect on their ability to travel. Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Microsoft is launching a new AI system that watches everything its user does on their computer. The system is intended to be like having a photographic memory so that users can recall what they have seen or done on their PC. That will also help it figure out what a user wants to do next. Microsoft pushed Windows Recall as a way of improving its built-in AI tools. It allows users to access virtually what you have seen or done on your PC in a way that feels like having photographic memory, it said. But it is likely to lead to privacy concern among users concerned about the data that it gathers. The company said that it would allow people to choose how much and what data it gathers. It was one of a number of features and new products that Microsoft revealed at its Build conference this week. Most of those features were aimed at bringing AI tools to Windows, with a view to making it quicker and easier to make new documents and find information. The conference follows big AI announcements last week from rival Google, as well as Microsoft's close business partner OpenAI, which built the AI large language models on which Microsoft's Copilot is based. Google rolled out a retooled search engine that periodically puts AI-generated summaries over website links at the top of the results page; while also showing off a still-in-development AI assistant Astra that will be able to see and converse about things shown through a smartphones camera lens. ChatGPT-maker OpenAI unveiled a new version of its chatbot last week, demonstrating an AI voice assistant with human characteristics that can banter about what someone's wearing and even attempt to assess a persons emotions. The voice sounded so much like Scarlett Johansson playing an AI character in the sci-fi movie Her that OpenAI dropped the voice from its collection Monday. OpenAI also rolled out a new desktop version of ChatGPT designed for Apple's Mac computers. Next up is Apple's own annual developers conference in June. Apple CEO Tim Cook signaled at the companys annual shareholder meeting in February that it has been making big investments in generative AI. Some of Microsoft's announcements Monday appeared designed to blunt whatever Apple has in store. The newly AI-enhanced Windows PCs will start rolling out on June 18 on computers made by Microsoft partners Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Samsung, as well as on Microsoft's Surface line of devices. But they'll be reserved for premium models starting at $999. Additional reporting by agencies Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Get Simon Calders Travel email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy At least 36 protected flamingoes have been killed in a single bird strike incident in western India involving an Emirates Boeing 777. The Dubai-Mumbai flight EK-508 was flying over the outskirts of Indias financial capital with over 300 passengers on board when it collided with the flock shortly before landing. The Emirates crew reported the bird strike incident upon arrival at Mumbai at 9.18pm local time (3.48pm GMT) on Monday. The accident occurred in the suburban Ghatkopar area, when the plane was preparing for landing, approximately six kilometres away from the international airport. Some 310 passengers were onboard. The plane is reported to have suffered some damage in the incident but made a routine landing at Mumbai airport. The aircraft remained grounded there on Tuesday. After the incident, locals reported that the site was littered with bird carcasses with broken pieces of wings, claws and beaks strewn across a large suburban area. Officials from the Maharashtra Forest Department recovered the scattered remains of many of the birds and a search has been launched to find out if more flamingos were killed. The toll of 36 dead may yet rise. The carcasses have been sent for an autopsy to find the exact cause of their death, Pawan Sharma, founder of the Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW), told the Press Trust of India news agency. A local activist suggested the birds may have been flying on an unusual trajectory because of disruption to the nearby Thane Creek Wildlife Sanctuary. Environmentalist D Stalin from the NGO Vanshakti told the Hindustan Times newspaper that the new power lines through the sanctuary area are causing disorientation to the birds. While giving permissions for power lines (earlier, it was not allowed inside sanctuaries) the wildlife board meekly surrendered to the power company. Instead, the Thane Creek Wildlife Sanctuary was bulldozed and towers erected, he was quoted saying. Thousands of flamingoes come to Mumbai in winter, but the birds and their habitat are threatened by rampant construction and encroachment of natural spaces in one of the worlds most populated cities. India has the largest population of lesser flamingoes outside the African continent. Officials count the flamingoes every day for three days from October to May in order to maintain estimates of the countrys population. Flamingoes are protected in India under the Wild Life (Protection) Act of 1972. In 2018, the authorities in Mumbai designated almost 1,700 hectares of the shore and creek as a flamingo sanctuary. But there have been concerns over encroachment in the designated area and risks relating to construction nearby. In a statement to The Independent, an Emirates spokesperson said: Emirates can confirm that EK508 from Dubai to Mumbai on 20 May was involved in a bird strike incident upon landing. The aircraft landed safely and all passengers and crew disembarked without injury, however sadly a number of flamingos were lost and Emirates is cooperating with the authorities on the matter. The aircraft was also damaged in the incident and, as a result, the return flight EK509 scheduled to depart to Dubai on 20 May was cancelled. All passengers and crew were accommodated overnight and a replacement aircraft is being arranged for all passengers, and is scheduled to depart Mumbai on 21 May at 9pm local time. Emirates apologises for any inconvenience caused. The safety of our passengers and crew is of the utmost importance and will not be compromised. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Six Britons are still fighting for their lives in hospital and survivors have spoken out after a Singapore Airlines flight was hit by severe extreme turbulence. There was a total of 20 passengers in intensive care units in Bangkok on Wednesday evening as investigators arrived in the Thai capital to learn how the turbulence sent the plane into a sudden dive. The incident happened 10 hours into the flight from London Heathrow to Singapore, when the Boeing 777 carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members, dropped 6,000ft in about three minutes. The dive tossed people around the cabin, with some suffering head injuries from hitting the ceiling. After regaining control, the captain diverted the plane to Bangkoks Suvarnabhumi Airport, where medical teams evaluated those aboard and sent more than 80 to hospital. One person onboard the flight said passengers were doing somersaults as the plane was hit by severe turbulence ( Reuters ) In its latest update, Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital, where most of the injured were taken, said 20 people were being treated in intensive care, including the six Britons. A total of 58 people were still under treatment at multiple medical facilities, and 27 had been discharged. There was also tragedy, with 73-year-old Geoffrey Kitchen dying from a suspected heart attack. Mr Kitchen, from Thornbury near Bristol, was described as the most wonderful human by a friend on Wednesday. Meanwhile, passengers who survived the ordeal emerged to speak to the press. Josh Silverstone, who suffered a cut to his eye and a chipped tooth, said he woke up on the floor of the plane ( AP ) Jerry, who was travelling to his sons wedding, told the BBC the day was the worst of my life. Speaking with a bandage covering part of his head, he said: [It was] so sudden, there was no warning at all, and I ended up hitting my head on the ceiling, my wife did. Some poor people walking around ended up doing somersaults. It was absolutely terrible, and then suddenly it stopped and it was calm again, and the staff did their best to tend to the injured people. The British man killed in severe turbulence was named as Geoffrey Kitchen, from Thornbury near Bristol ( Facebook ) Josh Silverstone, from south London, was discharged from hospital after suffering a cut to his eye and a chipped tooth. The 24-year-old, who was on his way to Bali, said: I woke up on the floor, I didnt realise what happened, I mustve hit my head somewhere. There were people laying out on the floor, they were paralysed. Fellow passenger Beverley Mayers, who was not injured, described the situation inside the plane as sheer terror. The whole plane was shuddering ... great pieces were falling off and dropping on the floor, people getting hit in the head, she told Australias TV channel Nine. Singapore Airlines said the flight encountered sudden extreme turbulence at 37,000ft above Myanmars Irrawaddy basin. 131 passengers and 12 crew members were well enough to travel on to Singapores Changi Airport on Wednesday morning ( EPA ) The airlines chief executive, Goh Choon Phong, said: We are very sorry for the traumatic experience that everyone on board SQ321 went through. We are fully cooperating with the relevant authorities on the investigations. The carrier said 131 passengers and 12 crew members from Flight SQ321 who were well enough to travel were picked up on a special flight and arrived early Wednesday at Singapores Changi Airport. A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said officials are supporting the family of the passenger and are in contact with local authorities. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Get Simon Calders Travel email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A passenger has died aboard Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 after the flight from London Heathrow to Singapore encountered severe turbulence. Along with the death, around 50 of the 211 passengers and 18 crew on board were injured, it has been reported. Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased and says it is working with the authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance. What more do we know about this tragedy? Singapore Airlines flight SQ321, nonstop from London Heathrow to Singapore, took off at 10.37pm on Monday night for a routine flight to Southeast Asia . It appears the Boeing 777-300 encountered clear air turbulence over the Bay of Bengal, south of the southern tip of Myanmar, just before 9am British time. A turn towards Bangkok and a rapid descent from the cruising altitude began at 9.07am UK time. The aircraft landed in the Thai capital at 9.45am. At the time the aircraft encountered the clear air turbulence, about 90 minutes remained of the expected flight time to Singapore. It is likely that crew would have been moving around the cabin dealing with breakfast, together with a number of passengers. The Boeing 777-300 had been delivered to Singapore Airlines in February 2008. It is likely to remain on the ground until engineers are satisfied that it suffered no structural damage. What is the safety record of Singapore Airlines? Excellent. The only Singapore Airlines accident to result in fatalities involved a Boeing 747 Jumbo jet taking off from Taipei in the year 2000. The pilots mistakenly attempted to take off from a closed runway, and collided with construction equipment. Of the 179 passengers and crew on board, 83 died and 96 survived. What is clear air turbulence? The US National Weather Service says: Turbulence is caused by abrupt, irregular movements of air that create sharp, quick updrafts/downdrafts. These updrafts and downdrafts occur in combinations and move aircraft unexpectedly. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) defines clear air turbulence as sudden severe turbulence occurring in cloudless regions that causes violent buffeting of aircraft CAT is especially troublesome because it is often encountered unexpectedly and frequently without visual clues to warn pilots of the hazard. Is it unusual for a fatality as a result of turbulence? Yes, very rare. But injuries on board an aircraft can be alarming. Writing for the British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa), former pilot and flight safety specialist Steve Landells says: The injuries we see tend to occur when people arent strapped in. This may be because the turbulence is encountered without warning but we also see quite a lot of people hurt because they dont obey the fasten seat belt instructions. Cabin crew are particularly vulnerable. How often does this sort of incident happen? One study suggests aircraft encounter severe clear air turbulence at least 790 times a year, which works out at once every 11 hours. But climate researchers say the incidence at a typical point over the North Atlantic increased by 55 per cent between 1979 and 2020. According to Paul Williams, Professor of Atmospheric Science in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading, a doubling of carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere would increase hazardous turbulence on commercial flights, making it twice or even three times more common than it is today with five serious cases a day on average. How is climate change contributing to clean air turbulence? Emerging evidence suggests the temperature changes caused by the climate crisis are disrupting the flow of air currents in the atmosphere due to changes in wind speed and direction. Climate change is going to have many effects on aviation. We expect the atmosphere to become more turbulent. So there could be possibly twice or three times as much turbulence on flights in the next few decades, Paul Williams, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Reading, previously told The Independent. We know that the jet stream at flight cruising altitudes has become 15 per cent more sheared over the North Atlantic since satellites began observing it in the 1970s, Dr Williams said. A 2017 study published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, looked at the impact of stronger wind shear an abrupt change in wind speed or direction over a short distance that is a major cause of turbulence on winter-time transatlantic flights. It found that the doubling of global CO2 levels will increase the average amount of severe CAT at 39,000ft by 149 per cent, meaning airline passengers will have a bumpier ride in the future if emissions continue unabated. What can passengers do to limit the danger? The most basic precaution is keeping your seatbelt at least loosely fastened whenever seated. Steve Landells of Balpa says: Dont be tempted to get up when the captain has told you to strap in; we are always talking to the pilots of aircraft ahead of us and, even if it is smooth when we put the signs on, we may know it is going to get bumpy soon. If the pilot instructs the cabin crew to strap in, the likelihood is that the turbulence is going to be severe. What does clear air turbulence feel like? It is either a sudden, very scary bump in the flight, possibly with a turn involved, or a more protracted series of uncomfortable vertical movements. The feeling has been likened to a theme-park ride in which you keep going round and round without a chance to get off. Can turbulence bring down an aircraft? Not a modern jet such as the Boeing 777. As with this tragedy, it is events within the cabin that are most dangerous. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Get Simon Calders Travel email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Transport for London (TfL) has published a list of outstanding congestion charge debt from the worlds embassies - with the US topping the ranks. US diplomated have racked up more than 14 million worth of debt since 2003 in a dramatic comparison to Togo, who owe just 40. TfL published the list on Monday and said some stubborn embassies are refusing to pay the charges. They added that thety are pushing for the matter to be taken up at the International Court of Justice and said: We and the UK Government are clear that the Congestion Charge is a charge for a service and not a tax. This means that diplomats are not exempt from paying it. open image in gallery The US Embassy in Nine Elms ( Google Maps ) The majority of embassies in London do pay the charge, but there remains a stubborn minority who refuse to do so, despite our representations through diplomatic channels. We will continue to pursue all unpaid Congestion Charge fees and related penalty charge notices The Japanese embassy has the second highest debt at 10.1 million, followed by the high commission of India at 8.6 million. Among all embassies, the total is 143.5 million with India (8.6m) Nigeria (8.4m) and China (7.9m) coming in next on the list. Meanwhile, Togo diplomats owe the least to TfL with just 40 outstanding on their record. People took to social media users to express their surprise at the list. One wrote: By my count, there are only 40 countries out of all the 193 countries in the world which *dont* owe TfL money in unpaid congestion charges. open image in gallery American embassy believes the levy is a tax that, under international law, should not be imposed on the United States Government Some even took it upon themseleves to pay off some of the debt. One Costa Rican residing in London said he would personally like to pay for the 160 worth of congestion charges racked up in the last two decades by his fellow Costa Ricans working in the embassy. The figures relate to unpaid fees and fines accrued by diplomats between the launch of the congestion charge in 2003 and the end of last year. Diplomats argue the congestion charge is a tax, meaning they are exempt from paying it under the Vienna Convention. In February 2020, then-foreign secretary Dominic Raab issued a written ministerial statement revealing that his officials have written to a number of diplomatic missions and international organisations to press for payment of money owed relating to the congestion charge, parking fines and business rates. The scheme involves a 15 daily fee for driving within an area of central London between 7am and 6pm on weekdays, and between noon and 6pm on weekends and bank holidays. There are discounts and exemptions for various groups of people and vehicles, such as residents, taxis and fully electric cars. The Independent has approached the US and Japanese embassy for a comment. NHLANGANO The Triple Treat Dance Group were crowd winners of the Shiselweni Dance Competition. This was during a dance competition hosted by Eswatini National Arts and Culture (ENCAC) at Fusion Pub and Grill. The Triple Treat Dance Group was one of seven groups that competed during the competition. It was gathered that the events main purpose was to unearth talent in the region and to help expose the talent of upcoming artists. Triple Treat won a trip to Durban as well as E1 500. They will now attend the upcoming KwaZulu World Carnival, which will be hosted in Durban on May 25. Worth mentioning is that, all the participants walked away with consolidation prizes of E200 and upwards from number seven to the winner. Some of the interviewed competitors shared that they were excited about such opportunities as they met other dancers and learned new dance moves. They shared that they wished for such events to be hosted frequently so that they could get exposure. During the event, there were different performances from artists as well as cultural dancers. The main guest of the event, Passion Master, whose real name is Vusi Mazibuko from Nelspruit, was a marvel to watch. Passion Master who is a South African Traditional Music Award (SATMA) winner for best siswati Album in 2019, performed tracks including Makhwapheni and Emagama among other tracks. He stated that he was also in the country to spot talent and was willing to assist upcoming artists in recording their music. He described Eswatini as his second home as he said he was recognised from the border until he got to the venue. At the venue, fun lovers could get enough of him as they took pictures with him. The event ended with different upcoming artists performing for the audience. A man who fell out of a pickup truck after it plunged off a coastal cliff in Northern California has been rescued by a helicopter crew. His vehicle was located approximately 200ft down from the Highway 1 roadway, where a large tree had stopped it from rolling further down the cliff. Crews did not locate anyone inside the vehicle and began an extensive search of the terrain, looking for anyone who may have been ejected or who escaped the wreckage. Approximately 55 minutes into the search, which included a check of the surrounding ravines, the victim was found 350ft down from the vehicle wreckage. Footage shared by the Sonoma Sheriff shows the helicopter crew reaching the victim, who was critically injured, before he was flown to a local hospital. He is expected to survive. Ambulances were filmed rushing to a Singapore Airlines plane after it diverted to make an emergency landing in Bangkok due to severe turbulence. At least one passenger died and 30 were injured as the Boeing 777-300ER plane made its way from London to Singapore carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew. Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. We are working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance, and sending a team to Bangkok to provide any additional assistance needed, the airline said in a statement. Benjamin Netanyahus denunciation of the International Criminal Court chief prosecutors call for his arrest for war crimes was, even by his own robust standards, ferocious. By coupling the indictments of him and his defence minister Yoav Gallan with that of Hamas officials, this collaborator with Israels enemies had committed a blood libel, and drawn a twisted moral equivalence akin to comparing the actions of Franklin D Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler during the Second World War. Before debate on the ICC decision is enveloped in a fog of rhetoric on both sides of the argument it is worth considering what it is not, as well as what it is. Yes, such warrants could create a legal obligation on states like Britain, which is a signatory to the ICC as Israel and the US are not to arrest any of the defendants arriving on their shores. But such arrest warrants have not yet been issued, and it will be up to three ICC judges probably over the next two months to decide whether they should be. And even if the warrants are issued, the crucial decision of whether war crimes were committed will be up to the Court. That said, it is, of course, understandable that much (though not all) of Israel is infuriated that its alleged war crimes after 7th October, following Hamass multiple murders, kidnaps and other atrocities, should be linked in any way to those of Hamas. Indeed, this is why opposition leader Yair Lapid has sided with the war cabinet in its outrage. But just as Hamas made a choice that resulted in the brutal murder of 1,200 mainly civilian Israelis, and the abduction of 240 hostages, so Israel made a choice in the way it conducted what Netanyahu described on the evening of that black Saturday as a war of mighty vengeance one in which 35,000 Palestinians have been killed (more than half of them women and children, according to the UNs downward-revised figures), and in which large sections of Gazas desperate population are now going hungry, not to mention untreated for illness and injuries, for lack of aid and medical care. Seven months into the war, that approach has yet to achieve and, in the eyes of many of Netanyahus critics, in Israel as well as outside it, will not achieve the total victory over Hamas he has repeatedly predicted. But it has devastated Gaza, and the lives of many hundreds of thousands of surviving civilian residents. Almost a million Palestinians who had taken refuge in Rafah have again moved on, in the daunting search for somewhere safe to escape the expansion of an operation that the world has repeatedly warned Israel against. This is the context in which Tuesdays editorial in Haaretz argues that the ICCs move underscores the total strategic failure of Netanyahu and his government, and points out that the Israeli prime minister has repeatedly shown contempt for all such warnings. It is not, of course, the ICCs job to judge the success or failure of Netanyahus diplomatic or military strategy per se. But there are several problems with the Israeli prime ministers remarkable assertion that chief prosecutor Karim Khan, a British-Pakistani lawyer, is among the great antisemites of our times because he has accused Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the use of starvation as a weapon of war and, despite Israels denials, intentionally directing attacks against Gazas civilian population. First, Khan has the unanimous backing of a six-strong advisory panel of eminent legal experts. Inevitably, there has been a focus on one: Amal Clooney. But two of the panel are Jewish, the British KC Danny Friedman, and the Israeli-American Theodor Meron. No doubt, some in Israel will try to discount 94-year-old Meron, who, as a teenager, was held in a Nazi labour camp in the Second World War. Later, as a young lawyer with the Israeli foreign ministry, he wrote the internationally accepted opinion of the 1967 Six-Day War that the expansion of civilian Jewish settlements into the Occupied Territories had violated international law. Meron rose to become universally acknowledged as one of the worlds greatest international jurists, presiding over, for example, the International Criminal Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia. Secondly, Khan has not been exactly impulsive in holding Israel accountable for its actions. Indeed, he was strongly criticised by Palestinians for his apparent lack of haste in pursuing an earlier investigation of Israel (and Hamas) for suspected war crimes in the 2014 Gaza war. And, thirdly, Khan and the panel have been unequivocal in the grave charges of war crimes they have also levelled against Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh. They have not bought for a moment the argument that Hamas did not intend to commit multiple war crimes on 7th October. Indeed in the words of the panels formal opinion there was a common plan that necessarily involved the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and that these were systematic and coordinated. US president Joe Biden has condemned the ICC move as outrageous. But, better than anyone, he must know that it would never have come to this if Netanyahu had heeded his repeated warnings to conduct the war in a way that respected civilian lives all the while continuing to supply Israel with the weaponry that has inflicted so many casualties. In Europe, the British government has also criticised the application, while France, Belgium and Slovenia have broadly supported it. David Lammy, the British shadow foreign secretary, deserves praise for having broken ranks in backing the ICC in its call for Netanyahus arrest. For even if the case never comes to court, as it well may not, at least the warrant application has performed a real service in making clear that every nation, democratic or not, is, or should be, subject to international law. More practically, there is a chance that the threat of ICC proceedings may have an impact on the wars conduct that agonised warnings by Western governments have so far largely failed to do. And if it is seen as stigmatising Israels present government, it is hard to escape the conclusion that Netanyahu has brought it on himself. Company says it is in the middle of a regulatory process with ComReg Eir has declined an invitation to appear before an Oireachtas committee tomorrow to discuss how it handles customer complaints. The company has written to TDs and senators saying it is involved in an ongoing regulatory process with ComReg, which it does not want to be prejudiced. Last month Eir pleaded guilty to 12 counts of not complying with legal requirements relating to its complaints-handling process. The firm admitted that it did not deal correctly with customer complaints, and paid a 7,500 fine. A district court judge described Eir as a disgrace, after hearing evidence that the teleco had warned staff they could be disciplined if they handled customer complaints in accordance with the law. An Eir training manual for its agents said that under no circumstances were complaint telephone numbers or webpage addresses to be given to customers, and any staff member doing this would be subject to a disciplinary action. Eir has since said that the instruction was taken out of context, and described ComRegs characterisation of the manual as incorrect. The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications invited both ComReg and Eir to a hearing tomorrow to discuss the issue, but only the regulator accepted. Gerry Horkan, the vice chair of the committee and a Fianna Fail senator, said: Eir has told us it is not in a position to come in now. Once it is in a position to do so, and once any legal hurdles have been crossed, we would hope to bring it in sooner rather than later. A spokesperson for Eir said: Eir is currently engaged in an ongoing regulatory process initiated by ComReg, and it would therefore not be appropriate to attend a hearing at present. As an alternative, we have invited the committee to visit our care centres to meet with senior staff and colleagues, where we can update them on our approach to customer care. In a briefing note on the enforcement proceedings sent to the committee, Eir said it wrote to ComReg after the recent case correcting allegations that were made in the district court. It says that given the existence of an ongoing regulatory process, we would not want to place any party in the position of inadvertently intervening or potentially prejudicing the outcome. Eir added that it also did not want to risk any legal proceedings that might follow, suggesting that it may yet sue ComReg over the process. TDs and senators were also given details of the significant investment it has made in customer care. Eir said that independent data compiled by ComReg for the first quarter of 2024 found that the company had the lowest proportion of complaints for voice and broadband customers in the market. It said that recognising the special role politicians play in the community in Ireland, it had set up a dedicated customer support contact point for the exclusive use of Oireachtas members. This is open during the Dail term and, according to Eir, dedicated staff have been responding to an average of 20 to 25 queries from politicians each week. Corre Energy has pointed to significant progress after completing two European projects last year. Corres main business is the development, construction and commercialisation of long duration energy storage projects which are linked to greater use of renewables. Commercial close status was reached as planned at the Zuidwendig Compressed Air Storage facility in the Netherlands and the Green Hydrogen Hub in Denmark in 2023. In a statement today, Corre reported that operating losses in 2023 were in line with management expectations and pointed to ongoing cost and cash controls. The company also signed a deal for its first compressed air energy storage (CAES) facility in Ahaus, Germany, doubling the size of its European portfolio. The company has teamed up with Dutch power provider Eneco for this project, with 75pc of underground cavern construction at the German site now completed. The energy storage group also raised 18.9m in fresh funding last year. It added that there is a process ongoing which looks to secure strategic investment for the business following external interest. In March, the company said it has received multiple indications of interest: industrial, strategic and institutional to invest in the business. It said at the time that discussions with each interested party remain at an early stage and did not confirm whether interest is for some or all of the business. In a statement today, Corre added that there is no certainty that any investments will be made at this stage. It plans to engage with shareholders over the coming weeks in relation to short-term funding needs ahead of this potential investment process. The company is also focused on expanding its portfolio, as well as the delivery of existing projects. Corre is also considering a number of initiatives to meet growing demand, including standardising the design of CAES projects to reduce project delivery times and costs. Other ideas being considered included building in the application of complementary storage technology and growing the leadership team. 2023 was about accelerating our operational performance following the key achievements of reaching commercial close at two of our projects in the Netherlands and Denmark, chief executive Keith McGrane said. Our financial position in 2023 is very much in line with expectation for this development stage of our business as we continue to deliver growth and commercial ambition, he added. Davy analyst Michael Mitchell wrote that there was a reasonable expectation that supportive shareholders will fund further short-term working capital requirements of the business, thereby providing an important financial backstop at a time when its strategic investment process progresses forward. Simba Bianchi on growing up in direct provision, working with Coolio and his 10x platinum record The door opens to Jungle Beam Studios named for the Lion King-adjacent vibe he has adhered to, with Beam addressing the spotlight he wants to shine on others. And the first thing anyone can see is the homage Bianchi has created to foster musical talent in Ireland. Farm orgs unanimous in condemnation of processors The price pulls this time last year brought plenty of anguished complaining from producers, but nothing else. This time the cuts are even more severe. Photo: Brian Farrell With quotes for bullocks and heifers back another 5c/kg to 5.00/kg and 5.05/kg, one finisher summed up how many in the game are feeling. The price received by Irish farmers for beef fluctuates between three basic realities: you have either just been turned over, you are being turned over or you are about to be turned over, he said, adding in plenty of industrial language. Scandal-hit charity Bothar is aiming to break even this year, although losses continued to mount in 2023. New accounts for the Co Limerick-based Bothar CLG show that losses more than halved to 282,824 from the 711,311 sustained in 2022. Revenues increased by 60pc to 768,695 and the directors state that after the significant progress made by the company in re-organising and improving its corporate governance procedures, there was a significant uplift in both legacy donations and donations in kind. However, the income for last year is someway off pre-scandal income of 3.44m for 2020. The directors say Bothar continues to apply cost reductions where necessary with the goal for the 2024 financial year of incurring a small deficit or a position of break even. The directors add that having experienced a critical downturn in activities in prior years arising from the alleged mishandling of corporate finances by previous board members and a former CEO, the company re-emerged on an innovative and rejuvenated platform. They say this involved presenting a remedied vision to new and existing donors and a promise to restart and maintain the original foundation and purpose of the organisation. They state that in addition to ongoing cost reduction measures, the company also disposed of its Limerick premises in the latter months of 2023, something which has provided a source of temporary funding for ongoing operation costs until a point is reached whereby revenue is sufficient to cover daily costs. The accounts reveal that there was no additional costs in 2023 to the charity arising from the identified alleged fraud and related legal and other costs. The bill over the prior years had totalled 1.3m. Addressing the companys going concern status, a note states that the advances made by Bothar in 2023 and 2022 demonstrate a progression towards full compliance with Governance requirements and particularly those of the Charities Regulator. It says this process has had a substantial impact on Bothars finances and reputation resulting in the sale of premises in Dublin and Limerick. The note adds: However, suitably Bothars employees moved to part-time working from January 1, 2024 as part of cost reduction. The company reduced office space to a more fit for purpose office rental in Castletroy and offer remote working as part of current employment contracts. The note says the directors continue to work towards a position where expenses of the company are covered by revenue as there is no further reliance on funding from the sale of assets. Numbers employed have decreased from 12 in 2020 to now only four in 2023, with staff costs reduced by 57pc to 303,258. The alleged misappropriation of funds at Bothar first came to public attention in 2021 through Bothar taking High Court injunction proceedings against its former CEO David Moloney. Alleged irregularities first came to light during the 2019 financial year from an anonymous whistleblower concerning inappropriate travel expenses. Under EU and Irish law, trucks must be fitted with recording devices known as tachographs. Photo: Stock/Getty An agricultural haulage company and a driver employed by them have both been fined in the district court for failing to comply with EU tachograph regulations. The prosecutions were brought by the National Transport Authority against Daly Agrifarm Ltd of Ballydekin House, Midleton, Co Cork, and driver Andrew Shanahan. State solicitor Frank Nyhan, representing the National Transport Authority, said Daly Agrifarm and Mr Shanahan were both charged with failing to use the tachograph driver card on August 18, 19 and 20 in 2023. Under EU and Irish law, trucks must be fitted with recording devices known as tachographs. Their function is to record the driving times, breaks and rest periods of individual drivers, vehicle speed, distance travelled and other data. Drivers have their own credit-card style cards to insert into the machines while they are working to record their individual data. Giving evidence, Aidan Tierney, an inspector with the Road Safety Authority, told the Midleton District Court that an articulated truck operated by Daly Agrifarm Ltd was stopped at a checkpoint on the N77 in Laois on April 20, 2024. The truck was transporting hay and the tachograph showed that the driver, Mr Shanahan, had only inserted his card when the inspector approached. Further investigation showed that the truck had been used for deliveries for three days without the driver card to destinations in Kildare. Today's News in 90 seconds - 21st May 2024 Mr Tierney said that agricultural deliveries were exempt from the rules, but only within a 100km radius of the operators home base and the Daly Agrifarm vehicle had been operating well beyond that distance. Daithi ODonnabhain, defence solicitor for Daly Agrifarm, said his client accepted the facts presented to the court. He said his client was disposing of hay that had been severely affected by the bad weather and was effectively a mushroom farm. He said the driver had acted without his clients knowledge, but Daly Agrifarm did accept they were also responsible for the breach of the rules. Judge Colm Roberts said the company and the driver were both responsible. He fined both Daly Agrifarm Ltd and Mr Shanahan 1,000 each. MBABANE Uncle Waffles is looking to feature American musician and actor Joey Badass on part two of her recently released banger Wadibusa. This was revealed by the broadcasting and media production company Kreative Kornerr. According to a post made by Kreative Kornerr on Instagram this past weekend, Joey Badass has been already contacted about the possible feature. A text which included musician Pcee, Uncle Waffles and Joey Badass reflected that Joey is interested in meeting and finalising the feature. Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott, known by his stage name Joey Badass, is an American rapper and actor. Born in Brooklyn, New York City, he formed the regional hip hop group Pro Era in 2011, with whom he released three mixtapes and formed the larger collective, Beast Coast the following year. He signed with Cinematic Music Group as a solo act to release his debut mixtape 1999 in 2012 and its follow-up Summer Knights also from the same year, both of which yielded critical acclaim. His first two albums B4.Da. $$ and All-Amerikkkan Badass both peaked at number five on Billboard 200 and saw continued critical praise, while his third album 2000 released in 2022, peaked at number 22. He made his television acting debut in the USA Network series titled Mr Robot. A sample of Joey Badass possible verse for Wadibusa was shared as a teaser on Uncle Waffles Instagram channel. The song Wadibusa is an Amapiano single which was released by Uncle Waffles on April 19. The song features Royal Musiq, Ohp Sage, Pcee and DJY Biza. Worth mentioning is the fact that the video hit 1 million views in four days after being released. At the time of compiling this report, the video was sitting on 5 915 500 views. These numbers reflect that the video is growing popular as it is now headed for six million views. Her fans have given her thumbs up on the song, and they are already in love with the music video, as some left comments that they could not stop watching it and are in love with Waffles mind. Some of the comments under the YouTube video praise the whole track for being a banger, unlike most Tiktok snippets. One user wrote, No way she is still Uncle Waffles as this is on some Godmother level, and another wrote, Everything that she drops is a hit; we definitely cannot wait for your next banger, with lots of love from Haiti. Also worth mentioning is the fact that Uncle Waffles will be headlining this years Brooklyn Mirage show, which will be hosted in New York on August 18. The DJ revealed on an Instagram post that being the only second act from Africa and the first of many Amapiano acts to headline this venue is a dream for her, and she will be bringing it to life. The Eswatini-born superstar urged her fans to sign up for the presale tickets which will go live next Wednesday and be prepared for a show as headline waffles have taken another step. The talented Amapiano star had her first headline show in New York last September, and it was dubbed We Love Waffles at the Great Brooklyn Hall, which was a huge success for the young lady as the show was sold out. She will also be performing live in the kingdom on May 26, courtesy of the upcoming Pop Sunday show, which will be hosted at Albert Millin. Woman whose body was found in a house in The Lough, Co Cork named locally as Joyce Joy OMahonyGardai do not believe there are any suspicious circumstances surrounding the womans death The remains were taken to Cork University Hospital A post-mortem will be carried out on the remains of a woman amid fears she may have lain dead in her home in a Cork suburb for almost two years before she was found. Gardai do not believe the discovery of the badly decomposed body of the woman involved any suspicious circumstances. The grim discovery was made at Brookfield Lawn in The Lough on Tuesday afternoon as the deceased was named locally as Joyce 'Joy' O'Mahony. Her body was discovered in a downstairs room at the two storey property. Ms OMahony, who was aged in her late 60s, may have lain dead at the house for almost two years. Her remains were discovered when local residents raised concerns about a pest control problem and a local firm investigated. Both Gardai, Cork Fire Brigade and paramedics attended the scene when it emerged that human remains were in the property. The Office of the State Pathologist has been notified and the remains were examined before they were removed to the morgue at Cork University Hospital (CUH). A full post-mortem examination - potentially with the assistance of a forensic anthropologist - is expected to be carried out on Wednesday. Gardai believe the woman involved is the house occupant though formal identification is likely to require an examination of dental records and potentially even DNA. It is understood the woman lived alone at the property. Locals indicated that Joyce O'Mahony, known locally as Joy, had not been seen in the area for some time, possibly late 2021. She was predeceased by her father Dr Thomas J OMahony who had a very successful and large GP surgery in The Lough prior to his death in 2010. Her mother Patricia, who was known as Patsy, was known locally in The Lough as a stylish, generous and very musical person. She passed away in a nursing home in January 2021. It is believed that Joyce was still alive up to some time in 2022 based on a perusal of items in her home. Post and food stuffs indicated the householder was alive in late 2022. Patsy OMahony, who was originally from the South Terrace in Cork, died at the age of 91. She was noted for playing the piano and had a great love of music. The couple had four children two girls and two boys whom they raised at the property not far from the picturesque Lough bird sanctuary. Patsy OMahony was a widow for over a decade following the death of her 84-year-old husband. Joyce was described locally as a kind but very private person. Some residents believed the woman had moved away from the area temporarily following a family bereavement. The garden of the property was badly overgrown and locals were shocked by the revelation of what Gardai had discovered inside the house. The scene was sealed off by Gardai to allow for a full technical and forensic examination. However, there was no sign of forced entry to the property and no sign of any disturbance inside the house. Foul play is not suspected in the incident. Detectives will now examine foodstuffs in the property as well as bank, phone and postal records to try to determine the last known movements and activities of the deceased. Some items are understood to be dated to late 2022. Gardai are now conducting door-to-door inquiries in the area to try to determine the last known public sighting of the woman. A file will be prepared for the Cork Coroner's Office. An inquest into the death is expected to be held next year. It is the third such death in Cork over recent times. Last year, a Cork Coroner returned an open verdict in the case of a man who lay dead and undiscovered in his home for 22 years - less than 100 metres from the main Cork-Limerick road. The family of Timothy O'Sullivan (61), who had lived in the UK, called for an urgent review of derelict house regulations as they warned no other family should have to endure what they experienced. The skeletal and partially mummified remains were found by council workers inspecting a derelict property at Beecher Street in Mallow on January 13 2023. Mr O'Sullivan, a native of Caherciveen in Kerry but who grew up and worked in the UK, died sometime between January 9 and January 23 2001 but wasn't discovered for 22 years. The time period for his death was determined by a dated Tesco shopping receipt, personal diary entries and the timing of his social welfare payment collections. Cork Co Council officials had attended the property almost a decade earlier to board up broken windows and to investigate a complaint from neighbours about a rodent infestation but had not entered the Beecher Street house. Mr O'Sullivan's Australia-based sister, Noreen Foster, had called to the Beecher Street property in July 2003 but was informed by neighbours and Gardai that it was believed Mr O'Sullivan had moved back to the UK some time previously. In a statement read out to the inquest by solicitor Fiona O'Sullivan on behalf of Aidan Shine, a nephew of Mr O'Sullivan, and the entire O'Sullivan family, they called for an urgent review of derelict housing regulations in Ireland. This is to increase the powers of local councils to gain access to derelict houses, to simplify the process of determining property ownership and to expedite the timeframe in which such properties are checked. Today's News in 90 Seconds - May 22nd Mr O'Sullivan was born in Cahersiveen in Kerry in 1939 but was raised in the UK where he worked and married. However, he regularly returned to Kerry over the years. Around 1989 he moved back to Ireland and bought the property at Beecher Street in Mallow. His mother died in January 1990 and Mr O'Sullivan's wife, Barbara, later returned to the UK where she was from. His sisters, Noreen and Maureen, were in regular contact with him via letters and Christmas cards but neither heard from him at Christmas 2001. The inquest was told that Cork Co Council was notified of broken windows at the Beecher Street property in December 2014. The windows were later boarded up by council workers. A complaint was later received about a rodent infestation in the rear of the property but no access could be obtained by council staff. On January 13 last, ongoing rodent infestation concerns prompted the council to assign three workers to attend the Beecher Street property to install a new front door lock so Rentokil could deal with the rodent problem. They discovered the body of Mr O'Sullivan when they gained entry to the property after drilling out a door lock. A Waterford teenager suffered fatal injuries after being struck by the wing mirror of a van moments after getting off a school bus near her home two years ago, an inquest has heard. 40 tents are still in place just hours after operation to clear the banks of homeless asylum-seekersThe tents are pitched on a small patch of grass a few hundred metres up from where they were beforeEamon Ryan denies migrant camp was dismantled ahead of the high-profile Europa League final in the AvivaThe Government has said it wants to move asylum-seekers out of tents and into in modular or prefabricated housing by winterUp to 30,000 asylum-seekers are expected to arrive in the State this year as around 600 arrive each week Around 55 men have re-pitched their tents at the Grand Canal in Dublin just hours after another state-agency operation to clear the banks of homeless asylum-seekers. Around 40 tents are still in place along the Grand Canal in Dublin after 89 male asylum-seekers, sleeping rough in the same location, were moved this morning. The asylum-seekers who remain did not get offers of accommodation and have re-pitched their tents on a small patch of grass a few hundred metres beyond where they were before. This evening, more men were on their way to bed down for the night. Migrant tents at the Grand Canal lock at Wilton Terrace this evening (Picture Credit:Frank McGrath) Barricades were put up along the canal to prevent new tents from being pitched. However, Olivia Headon, a volunteer who has been helping those seeking international protection, said only a portion of people were offered accommodation this morning and remain near the site. She told RTE's Drivetime: "We have a lot of men who are still on the canal in a very small green space that has not been barricaded yet, who will possibly sleep there tonight. "There was quite a lot of anxiety from the men. They did not fully understand what was happening. I think always in the back of people's minds is - 'Is this deportation, are they bringing us to the airport?'" 40 tents spring up at the site on the bank of Dublin's Grand Canal (Pic: Adrianna Wrona) "We do not need to have this massive multi-agency operation each time that costs thousands it can be done in a more humane and dignified way that it does not always have to be this urgent removal," she added. There were tense scenes at lunchtime when a number of men appeared at the canal and began to shout abuse at those gathered. Attempts to calm the situation by one woman were met with further racist insults. Earlier, as efforts to clear the area began, there was widespread bewilderment and confusion among the asylum-seekers. Some of the men had received an email from the IPO advising them to make their way to the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum to avail of accommodation. The email advised that the Number 44 bus will bring you to Dundrum or alternatively you can take the Luas Green Line. Many of the men do not speak English and were confused about where they should go. Migrant tents at the Grand canal lock at Wilton Terrace/Mespil Road (Picture: Frank McGrath) Using a translator app on a smartphone, one man from Jordan said he did not know whether he had received an email because he cannot read. He said he had been sleeping along the canal bank for a week. Another man, Brian Mogotsi, said he had arrived in Ireland in January and had had no offer of accommodation since then. He had fled South Africa to seek asylum in Ireland due to safety fears for his life. With each day that goes by I just get more and more desperate, he said. Im out here by myself and it can really get to a person. I honestly dont know how long I can keep this up. Migrants pictured at the camp along the Grand Canal Picture: Gerry Mooney Ibrahim Nasir, from Ethiopia, said he had been sleeping at the canal bank since last Wednesday. I went to the IPO and then I came here, he said. I had no tent for four days. I slept on the ground. I havent slept for three days. I did not eat, I cannot sleep or live anywhere. I came with two friends. I do not know where I will go. I have no place to go and no-one I know here. Another asylum-seeker from Afghanistan said he had been sleeping in a tent along the Grand Canal for two months. They dont allow me for working. If they give me a permit, tomorrow Im working. I just want to have a home, he told the Irish Independent. This mornings clearance was the fourth time asylum-seekers sleeping in tents were moved from parts of Dublin city in recent months - twice at Mount Street and twice at the Grand Canal. The Government hopes to have asylum-seekers out of tents by winter and into modular or prefabricated housing instead. A Green Party spokesperson said the Government wants to get asylum-seekers in tents in sites such as Crooksling, out of there by winter. The Coalition is looking at a number of other sites where such migrant camps will be set up and everything is being assessed. The spokesperson said the use of tents is short term. Previously, migrants were also housed in tents at Stradbally, Co Laois. However, he declined to give an indication of a timeframe, saying the situation is complex and sensitive. Its a very challenging situation, he said. Im not going to pin myself to a certain date. They are working at speed, they are working around the clock. We have never had the levels of migration that weve seen over the last two years. The Government expects up to 30,000 asylum seekers to come into the State this year as around 600 people seeking international protection arrive each week. The State is currently looking at using a part of Thornton Hall in north county Dublin to house asylum-seekers in military-style tents. The site is expected to be ready within four to six weeks. Earlier, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan denied that homeless asylum -seekers were moved ahead of the high-profile Europa League final in the Aviva Stadium tomorrow evening. The Green Party leader said they were moved as accommodation became available and not because of the final between Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen. Mr Ryan told RTEs News At One: Thats not the reason you would be looking to provide people accommodation, because of a football match. It is an ongoing reality that we have to provide protection for people seeking refuge here. That has been a real challenge because the numbers that have been coming. We did not have the available accommodation, but as soon as it becomes available we clearly want to provide it for those who are in a more perilous situation who are camped in that way, so that is the reason it was done now it is because we have the accommodation available. Mr Ryan acknowledged you could never stop if someone wanted to pitch a tent in a certain location, but said ministers want to stop makeshift camps for safety reasons. Early this morning, almost two weeks after the previous attempt to clear the encampment in the capital, a multi-agency operation began to remove tents set up by asylum-seekers who had been sleeping rough along the canal. Gardai, staff from Waterways Ireland, the HSE and medics from the Safetynet charity are taking part. A number of beds have become available in recent days, meaning 89 International Protection applicants were offered spaces at specially designed accommodation on Tuesday. Some of the men received an email from the International Protection Office advising them to make their way to Central Mental Hospital at Dundrum before 10am to avail of accommodation. They were advised to get the number 44 bus or the Luas Green Line. An operation to clear tents at the Grand Canal Dublin. Photo: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos However, a number of tents are still in place on the canal, with the remaining asylum-seekers yet to be accommodated. Many of the men do not speak English and were confused about where they should go. Using a translator app on a smartphone, one man from Jordan said he did not know whether he had received an email because he cannot read. He said he had been sleeping rough along the canal bank for a week. Another man, Brian Mogotsi, said he had arrived in Ireland in January and had had no offer of accommodation since then. He had fled South Africa to seek asylum in Ireland due to safety fears for his life. With each day that goes by I just get more and more desperate, he said. Im out here by myself and it can really get to a person. I honestly dont know how long I can keep this up. The latest migrant camp on the Grand Canal in Dublin had grown to more than 100 tents two weeks after a similar camp was dismantled. Today's News in 90 seconds - 21st May 2024 The new camp started to grow between Baggot Street Bridge and Wilton Place on the city centre side of the canal within days of the removal of a camp of around 100 tents at Mount Street Bridge on May 9. The removal of the Mount Street Bridge site came just over a week after an extended camp of more than 200 asylum-seekers was dismantled from Mount Street, Grattan Street and the surrounding side streets and laneways on May 1, which had existed for more than a year. Asylum-seekers at that time were brought offsite to accommodation in Crooksling and Citywest after local residents and businesses in the Mount Street area threatened legal action. In a statement this morning, the Department of Integration said: International Protection Accommodation Services (Ipas) continue to work towards ensuring that the limited available bed space for International Protection applicants is prioritised for those most in need, including those who are found to be rough sleeping. Last week, Taoiseach Simon Harris defended government action on the growing problem of migrant camps and said he believed a blind eye was turned by official Ireland to the development of what became almost a public health emergency, in relation to the camp on Mount Street Lower. He added that state-owned land must be identified very quickly to provide tented accommodation with sanitation. Its extremely important. We have obligations in relation to accommodation and we will meet them. "But it is just one part of a broader conversation that needs to happen about what a sustainable migration system looks like, Mr Harris said last week. Hopefully it will all be worth it 11,000 German fans fly to Dublin as Bayer Leverkusen look to make history in Europa League final Xabi Alonsos men were unbeaten in winning the Bundesliga and are out to complete the second part of their treble bid Bayer Leverkusen club DJ Max Saenger with a fan ahead of tomorrow night's Europa League final which takes place in Dublin Barbara McCarthy Tue 21 May 2024 at 03:30 Planes, trains, overpriced hotels and 10 pints but nothing will stop around 11,000 Bayer Leverkusen fans bringing their black magic to Dublin. I miss my kids so much female peacekeepers on what life is like in Lebanon Video calls have been a godsend for Commandant Aine McDonough during her peacekeeping deployment in Lebanon. It means she can see her two boys, Tomas (3) and Donnchadh (2) at home while she is on deployment for three months. Irelands blood scandals have caused human suffering and cost the State around 800m in compensation so far. A damning inquiry report in the UK this week found that authorities there covered up the infected blood scandal after knowingly exposing victims to unacceptable risks. More than 30,000 people in the UK were infected from 1970 to 1991 by contaminated blood products and transfusions. Ireland moved decades faster to address the contamination tragedy. The tribunal set up to compensate people infected by contaminated blood transfusions or blood products in the Republic of Ireland has paid out around 800m since 1996. In this country a compensation tribunal, which is still sitting and will continue to do so for years to come, was set up by the government in 1995 first to compensate women infected with hepatitis C as a result of the use of contaminated human immunoglobulin anti-D. This blood product was given to women with the rhesus-positive blood type to protect future pregnancies. The Finlay inquiry in the mid 1990s looked at the rules that were broken by the then blood transfusion service in producing anti-D. The Lindsay tribunal set up in 2000 examined the contamination of Factor 8 products used by men with haemophilia which were contaminated with HIV and hepatitis C. The tribunal heard how home-produced blood clotting agent caused infection in seven haemophiliacs despite earlier claims that it was safe. Evidence to the tribunal revealed how clotting agents were manufactured in the US from blood donated by homeless people and drug addicts. It was also revealed no effort was made to trace people who could have become infected. More than 1,200 received contaminated blood product. Another 220 men with haemophilia were infected with HIV and hepatitis C. Most were infected from imported clotting concentrates manufactured by commercial firms. The compensation tribunal became a statutory body with the enactment of the Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal Act, 1997. It allowed for compensation for people infected with HIV as a result receiving products to treat men with haemophilia. It also meant there could be claims for general damages, to dependants of people infected. It includes damages for pain and suffering, personal injury, loss or diminution of expectation of life or happiness which the deceased suffered during his or her lifetime. Where there is more than one dependant, the tribunal has the authority to divide the award as it feels is appropriate and fair. Ireland is expected to officially recognise the state of Palestine tomorrow morning. It is set to join two other EU countries in acknowledging the war-torn country as an official state. The Irish Government has flagged its intention to recognise Palestine as a state this month amid unprecedented attacks in the Gaza Strip by the Israel Defence Forces. Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez raised questions months ago about EU trade deals with Israel while the war in Gaza continued. Mr Varadkars successor, Simon Harris, has spoken to Mr Sanchez about Ireland and Spain recognising Palestine as a state. Norway, Malta and Slovenia have also signalled that they are considering giving full state status to Palestine. It is understood two other EU states will recognise Palestine as a state tomorrow morning. Other like-minded countries are expected to follow in Irelands footsteps in the coming weeks but the Government has decided now is the time for Ireland to recognise Palestine. Recognising a Palestinian state will only strengthen Hamas - Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Coalition is facing into local and European elections in just over three weeks. The move comes after an International Criminal Court prosecutor sought arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as top Hamas leaders, on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Meanwhile, in an online video targeted at Ireland, Israels foreign ministry warned that recognising a Palestinian state will lead to more terrorism and jeopardise any prospects for peace. The narrator says: Ireland, the possibility of recognising a Palestinian state risks turning you into a pawn in the hands of Iran and Hamas. Such a move will only strengthen Hamas and weaken an already dysfunctional Palestinian authority. The fact that Hamas leaders are thanking you should serve as wake-up call. Your actions will only fuel extremism and instability. Progress can only be achieved through direct negotiations within a wider regional context. Dont be pawns in the hands of Hamas. Say no to recognition. This article was updated on May 22, 2024. It initially stated in error that the International Criminal Court had issued arrests warrants. The ICC has in fact sought arrest warrants. Its deeply frustrating Kerry parish priest (75) denied state pension due to 31 years as Ghana missionary Fr Patsy Lynch left very disappointed and feels discriminated against after retirement plans scuppered In one of May's most-read news stories, Fr Patsy Lynch shared his 'deeply frustrating' story of being denied a state pension as he spent three decades as a missionary in Ghana Cian O Broin Tue 21 May 2024 at 03:31 A priest has been refused the state pension because he does not have enough PRSI contributions after spending 31 years working as a missionary in Ghana. Terence Crosbie was arrested at Logan Airport on March 16, three days before his scheduled flightHis lawyers have denied he was attempting to flee the US when he was detained Lawyers for the Dublin Fire Brigade firefighter charged with raping a woman in Boston during the St Patricks festival weekend have denied he tried to flee the country because he did anything wrong. Terence Crosbie was arrested at Logan Airport on March 16, three days before his previously scheduled flight, trying to get back to Ireland. Members of the Massachusetts State Police stopped Mr Crosbies plane on the tarmac and removed him. However, Crosbie's attorney denied to local radio station WCVB that he was trying to flee the country because he did anything wrong. According to his attorney, Crosbie could not reach legal counsel or speak to anyone at the consulate because it was closed, and he panicked. Terence Crosbie was charged last week with rape, the Suffolk County District Attorney said. A 28-year-old woman told police at Massachusetts General Hospital that she had been sexually assaulted at the Omni Parker House early on March 15, the prosecutor said. Investigators found surveillance video of Crosbie and the alleged victim at the hotel and at a bar the night before the incident. Terrence Crosbie Crosbie was in the United States with members of his fire brigade from Dublin. They flew in on March 14 and were scheduled to leave on March 19. Earlier this month, Crosbie (37) was remanded in custody by a US judge when he re-appeared in court in Boston. Mr Crosbie, who has been placed on leave by Dublin Fire Brigade since the charges emerged, has denied the allegations and claims he never said a word to her. Crosbie appeared in the Central Division of Boston Municipal Court where one of his attorneys, Daniel Reilly requested additional records from the Omni Parker House and the Black Rose pub in the citys downtown area- two locations where Mr Crosbie was the night of the alleged attack. According to Mr Reilly, his team has received some footage but they are looking for a more detailed window of video surveillance from both the pub and the hotel. They are also requesting employee information from the hotel. CCTV footage from bars and hotels tends to be written over after 30 days, Mr Reilly told the court. We want to make sure we get to that before it might disappear, before memories might fade, in case it shows anything that is exculpatory or might serve as alter impeachment evidence. Terrence Crosbie The prosecution argued that the request for employee information is too vague, not specific and irrelevant. They claimed that Boston Police Department had adequately obtained records during their investigation and the defence should subpoena the police records. But the presiding judge, Judge Joseph M Griffin, sided with the defence and scheduled a follow-up records hearing. Judge James W Coffey upheld the decision, however, Assistant District Attorney Christopher Boutin flagged previously agreed-on amendments to the defences request. Mr Reilly stated that the defence has already notified the record holders. A status hearing was set at Bostons Municipal Courthouse for June 20 to attend to potential outstanding legal concerns. Mr Reilly said his client maintained his innocence and that the case was likely to proceed to the Massachusetts Supreme Court. He is being held on $100,000 bail and was ordered to surrender his passport and remain in Massachusetts. At a previous hearing last month, lawyers representing the Dublin Fire Brigade firefighter said he would do everything to clear his name. I can tell you right now, he is going to fight and clear his name and do everything that he can to address these charges and maintain his innocence, Boston attorney Brad Bailey told Boston 25 News Reporter Bob Ward. This is a man, Bob, who has never been in trouble before. Has no prior record, has never been in jail. Here he is, in a jail cell with no ability to make bail, really in a situation that is arguably punitive for somebody who has the presumption of innocence, Bailey said. Today's News in 90 seconds - 21st May 2024 The victim told police in a report, the incident occurred on March 14 at the Black Rose Irish Pub near Faneuil Hall where she met a man from Ireland. She told police they returned to his room at the Omni Parker House hotel where they had consensual sex. Afterward, she told police they fell asleep in separate beds. The following day, the victim said she woke up to another man, later identified as Terence Crosbie, sexually assaulting her. The victim quoted Crosbie, who she didnt know, as saying, I know you want this, he (the other man) fell asleep. Crosbie and the other man, both from Ireland, were visiting Boston for St. Patricks Day and were sharing the hotel room. In an interview with police, Crosbie denied the rape. He told police he climbed into bed not knowing she was even there, but he heard her gather her clothes and leave the room. As always in these matters, the willingness of the victim to come forward is crucial," District Attorney Kevin Hayden said on March 18. THE countdown to the 29th of May 2024 historic election in South Africa continues as the newly-formed six-months-old uMkhonto weSizwe Political Party (Spear of the Nation) MK launched its manifesto filling the 37 000-seater Orlando Stadium which has a great significance to the struggle of the black people for freedom. President Zumas Nine lives The 82-year-old former President, Jacob Zumas long and controversial political career reached one of many picks this past weekend with the official launch of MK. Zuma, who joined the ANC as a teenager, was jailed on Robben Island for a decade under the apartheid regime. He went on to head the ANCs intelligence wing in exile, and after the end of apartheid, quickly rose through the African National Congress (ANC) Political Partys ranks. He led the ANC for years and was the South African president for almost two teams. He is now going up against his former political party under the banner of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party in the countrys most closely contested election since the first democratic vote 30 years ago. Since 2005, Zuma has been hit with a barrage, of legal challenges, court trials, and political scandals that might have sunk many ordinary politicians. No politician in the country has presented a test of powers on the separation of state powers like him, proving that the conduct of political power is limited by the rule of law. However, he has bounced back each time, his grassroots approach helping him keep a loyal follower base intact. State capture saga would take centre stage in his second team. Zumas close relationship with the powerful Gupta brothers Ajay, Atul and Rajesh had been under scrutiny for years. The family had close relations with President Mandela and President Mbeki, however, all things changed against President Zuma. The Gupta family only controlled four percent of the Eskom supply, which was their strongest case for capturing the State. The rest was supplied by white monopoly capitalist companies and black associates. One billion would be spent on the Judge Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo-led Sate Capture commission. More than seven hundred charges of corruption were given against Zuma. However, could not find even one strong enough to persecute. The commission would go on for years, and Zuma attended until he decided that it was futile to continue attending as he believed that the commission was politically motivated and set up to persecute him and not for real state capture. This would annoy Judge Zondo to no end, forcing him to take matters to the highest level. Historic Constitutional Court judgement The commissions legal team led by Judge Zondo had come up with a strategy that, they felt outwitted Zuma. They felt Zuma benefitted from the strength of South Africas rule of law with his so-called Stalingrad strategy taking every legal point and appealing every judgment against him. Instead of going to a lower court, as customary in contempt of court proceedings, the Zondo Commission went directly to the Constitutional Court. Judge Zondo influenced the Constitutional Court to accept jurisdiction on the basis that it was its order that he was defying and because of the exceptional and urgent circumstances. Zondo also argued that the public had an interest in having Zuma give evidence at the commission and respond to the grave allegations of corruption that have been made against him during his nine years in office. This took away Zumas rights of appeal which is part of the Bill of Rights within the constitution they protect. The consequence was that Zuma, had nowhere to appeal, as it is the apex court. South Africas Constitutional Court thus found former president Jacob Zuma guilty of contempt of court and sentenced him to 15 months imprisonment without the option of a fine. This according to many legal experts was a very hush sentence for an 80-year-old Zuma and his crime. Unfortunately, this 2021 judgment would come back to haunt them as violent unrest erupted costing the country jobs, more than R30 billion, and forcing President Ramaphosa to issue a remission of sentence to Zuma and 9 000 inmates on the face-saving ground of overcrowded jails. MK infringement on ANC trademark case Fast forward to 2024, The African National Congress took the uMkhonto Wesizwe Party (MKP)to court seeking an interdict claiming the MKP infringed its trademark which they claimed was likely to cause confusion or deception in the mind of the average South African voter. In addition, the ANC contends that the MKP has, through the use of the name uMkhonto weSizwe and its logo synonymous with the history of the ANC, infringed on their history. Unfortunately, the ANC lost two times against the MKP on this matter. Umkhonto weSizwe Political Party vs Electoral Commission The Electoral Commission is then taken to the Electoral Court by Zuma and MKP for upholding two of 22 objections to have Zuma barred from being a candidate as he has a criminal record. On Friday, April 26, 2024, the Electoral Court published its heavily anticipated judgment, outlining the reasons for its decision in favor of former President Jacob Zuma. The judges argued that the Presidential remission of Zumas sentence effectively reduced it to three months, which would not disqualify him from National Assembly membership. The judgment discusses the importance of the appeal process in determining the disqualification of individuals under Section 47(1)(e) of the Constitution. It argues that until the appeal process is concluded, the individual is not regarded as having been sentenced. In this particular unique case, Zuma had no opportunity for any appearance which was his constitutional right, and never stood in front of any judge to answer for himself. Electoral Commission appeals to Constitutional Court Following the Electoral Commission ruling, which was overturned on appeal, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) took the case on appeal to the Constitutional Court even before receiving the full judgment. It claimed that it needed constitutional clarity to ensure that the elections were free and fair. The approach effectively brought Zuma again face to face with the same Constitutional Court judges who were his jailers. Zumas lawyers asked for them to recluse themselves sighting clear obvious bias, but they refused. As things stand their judgment is still pending. Should they rule in favour of the IEC then Zuma cannot go to Parliament or become president. This is no longer a train smash because the ballot papers already have his picture and that can no longer change. Let us all wait and see May 29 election result. Comment septembereswatini@gmail.com . A joined-up health service is finally on the way for patients across Ireland. After years of not talking to each other, hospitals and clinics will finally have access to vital records wherever a patient presents. Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly will bring a memo to Cabinet on Tuesday outlining plans to advance digital health records. It comes after decades in which a single identifying health number for every citizen has been talked about for Ireland - while long established in other countries. Mr Donnelly will tell colleagues the steps he will be taking to empower patients to access their own medical records, manage their own care, avail of more services in the community and to access health services closer to home. The Digital Framework being brought to Cabinet today sets out details of how data and digital technology will be used to improve the populations health. The intention is to connect ICT systems and data to deliver a joined-up digitally enabled health service, an insider said. The end goal is to make it possible for healthcare professionals, and others who support delivery of care, to be able to access the information needed about their patients - when and where they need it, they added. The new system involves development of a national Patient App, as well as the completion of a community health-based record system for an Enhanced Community Care Programme. There will be a National Shared Care Record, which is expected to improve clinical outcomes. It will allow doctors and other healthcare workers to quickly view a patients current medications, allergies, recent blood test results and any relevant clinical documents, such as active treatment plans. Doctors and nurses are then enabled to make speedy clinical decisions, informed by an overview of the patients medical history, the source said. The National Shared Care Record will also support continuity of care when patients are discharged from a hospital bed into the community. Patients will also have access to their own healthcare information in the National Shared Care Record. The pace at which the HSE will deliver these programmes is likely to depend on several critical factors, however, including the extent to which dedicated funding and resources become available. Minister Donnelly has been very critical of the lack of electronic health records in Ireland describing Ireland as a laggard in Europe. The Programme for Government and the Committee on the Future of Healthcare - Slaintecare Report, both insist that to deliver universal healthcare, digital health services must be developed with cross-country functionality. They have been identified as key enablers of reform, and for delivering care more effectively for patients, the ultimate beneficiaries. It has been pointed out that sometimes very ill patients, or those unconscious as a result of accidents, have no means of telling medics their health status including their blood group, and what transfusions they can tolerate. The Departments Digital Health Strategic Framework will be published after going to Cabinet today and will be further supported by publication of the HSEs roadmap for delivery. The HSE is trying to modernise its processes Patients can expect robots to take over more work from HSE staff in future but it is unclear how this will affect jobs. A new blueprint imagines a greater role for a robotic workforce and more advanced technology in the health service as well as the long-term introduction of electronic medical records for patients. The plan, given Cabinet approval today, will include technology that allows a computer program or robot to take over more tasks currently absorbing staff time. Robots can be developed to mimic repetitive, mundane, and labour-intensive work, freeing up the workforce to focus on higher-value activities such as problem-solving, exception handling, troubleshooting, and customer facing activities, it said. The HSE was already using robotic process automation to automate a number of routine, repetitive, and labour-intensive tasks, it said. During the pandemic, machine learning was used to analyse the nature of queries from people contacting the health service and those insights were used to design the online portals for digital Covid certs. The plan is revealed in the Digital for Care: A Digital Health Framework for Ireland 2024-2030 report, published today. It sets out a roadmap to digitally transform health services in Ireland and improve access for patients. Today's News in 90 seconds - 21st May 2024 The plan, which currently has no price tag, will this year see the the roll-out of a patient app that will provide people with medical history and records. Next year will see introduction of a shared care record to integrate patient records no matter what part of the health service they engage with. A longer-term deployment of electronic health records, a one-stop shop on each persons health information, accessible throughout the service, is also included. Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said: Digital technology now extends throughout most aspects of our daily lives. We use it at work, at home, in our social lives, when we look for information, book flights or pay for goods or services. The public demand no less in healthcare. This Digital Health Framework for Ireland (2024 - 2030) sets out a clear ambition for the future. A future that harnesses the power of data, digital technology, and innovation, to widen access to health and social care services, provide improved affordable and equitable care, better patient safety and greater productivity. This year will see the introduction of virtual wards in some hospitals where a patient who should be in hospital is being monitored electronically at home. University Hospital Limerick is one of the hospitals where it will be piloted in an attempt to free up desperately needed beds. There will also be more use of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to help with the management of waiting lists and use of SMS appointment reminders for patients to cut down on no-shows. It is planned to start the procurement of a solution for national electronic prescribing and also continue to invest in GP systems and key data sources. Another aim is to leverage maximum value electronic health record systems deployed at existing hospitals and continue the deployment across the larger maternity hospitals and the New National Childrens Hospital (NCH). It also envisages continuing to build cyber resilience through the implementation of recommendations of the post-incident report following the ransomware attack in 2021 including 24/7 enhanced cyber security operations. A senior prison official has admitted that the death of a prisoner on enhanced status from a heroin overdose on a wing in Wheatfield Prison with no history of drug problems was unusual. Thomas Stokes (23) with an address at a halting site at Oldcastle Park Lawns, Clondalkin, Co Dublin, was found unresponsive in his cell in Wheatfield Prison on the morning of September 16, 2017. Mr Stokes, who was the youngest of a family of 11 children, was subsequently pronounced dead the following day at Tallaght University Hospital. The deceased inmate had been serving a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence for a series of robberies of shops and businesses over a 10-day period in the Clondalkin area in July 2016. A court heard that Mr Stokess crimes has been motivated out of his need to discharge a drug debt after his family had been threatened. The inquest heard that a postmortem confirmed that the prisoner died as a result of a lack of oxygen to the brain due to a heroin overdose. The assistant governor of Wheatfield, Joseph Hernon, told a sitting of Dublin District Coroners Court on Monday that drugs were a problem across all prisons in Ireland. However, Mr Hernon said there was no problem with drugs at the time on the landing where Mr Stokes had been kept within Wheatfield. He explained that the wing was used to house prisoners on enhanced status so that the death of an inmate from that area of the prison from a heroin overdose would have been unusual. The inquest heard no evidence of any drugs had been found in the deceaseds cell. However, Mr Hernon confirmed that daily searches would be carried out in all parts of the prison to check for drugs. In reply to questions from the coroner, Clare Keane, the assistant governor said he believed heroin was in less use in prisons now compared to seven years ago. Although he had no figures to substantiate his claim, Mr Hernon said he felt there was now more pill use by prisoners as they regarded heroin as a dirtier drug. He acknowledged that drugs remained a widespread problem across the prison population but added that the Irish Prison Service used a mix of tools to address the issue. Mr Hernon also revealed that fewer nighttime checks were now carried out on prisoners over which there were no concerns compared to at the time of Mr Stokes death. He explained there was a balance between the need to check on prisoners and their human right to privacy. Following a report by the Inspector of Prisons into Mr Stokes death, Mr Hernon confirmed that low lighting was now used on landings at nighttime to ensure staff conducting checks on cells could be seen clearly on CCTV. In reply to questions from jury members, Mr Hernon said he had no idea how the deceased had got access to heroin. Two of Mr Stokes brothers who attended the hearing left the inquest before a verdict was delivered. One of them, Martin Stokes, had earlier given evidence that his parents had visited his brother in prison the day before he was found unresponsive when he was in very good form and humour. Mr Stokes said his brother did a bit of drugs but he had not come across to us as taking drugs in prison. He claimed his family were shocked to be told by doctors in TUH that too much damage had been caused to his brothers organs before he had been brought to hospital by prison staff. The witness voiced claims, which the coroner classified as hearsay, that his family were told that his brother had been screaming in his cell for help and he was ignored. He questioned why no prisoner officer had attempted to directly check on his brother when he had remained in the same position on his bed during the night. A prison officer, Philip Neenan, said he had visibly checked on Mr Stokes once every hour during the night as required under IPS policy. Mr Neenan said he had no need to open the prisoners door as he appeared to be sleeping and he had not noticed any issue of concern. The prison officer said Mr Stokes personal call button in his cell had not been activated at any stage. Mr Neenan confirmed he would have heard screaming if Mr Stokes had been looking for help. The inquest heard evidence that the alarm was raised after the prisoner was unresponsive in his cell at 8.15am and he was brought to TUH by ambulance arriving at 9.33am. The coroner was also informed Mr Stokes began breathing again following intervention by nursing staff at Wheatfield. Counsel for the Irish Prison Service, Asim Sheikh BL, said he did not believe it could be said there had been any delay in attending to the prisoner. Prison officer, Andrew Fitzpatrick, said prison staff faced a constant battle to stop drugs getting into Wheatfield. Mr Fitzpatrick said drugs were either dropped by drones, thrown over the prison wall or smuggled into the prison. In reply to questions from Dr Keane, Mr Fitzpatrick said the first thing prison staff usually think about if they find a prisoner unresponsive is drugs. However, he said there had never been an issue in relation to drugs with Mr Stokes. Mr Fitzpatrick pointed out that prisoners on enhanced status, like the deceased, tended to avoid issues that would result in a loss of privileges. A jury of five females and one male returned a verdict of death by misadventure without making any recommendations. Tanaiste Micheal Martin visits troops in Camp Shamrock, Lebanon Father and son in the Irish defence forces speak about their UN deployment in Lebanon A member of the Irish Defence Forces is to retire after serving for 42 years, while his son has just started a six-month tour in Lebanon. Company Sergeant Martin Clabby, of the 6th Battalion in Athlone, Co Westmeath, will retire in three weeks. CS Clabby has served on 13 overseas missions, including nine tours in Lebanon. He said he has loved his career in the Defence Forces and has got to see the world. Tanaiste Micheal Martin with members of the 124th Infantry Battalion at Camp Shamrock in Debel, Lebanon. Photo: PA His son Nathan Clabby, a sergeant in the 6th Battalion, has just started a six-month tour with the 124th Infantry Battalion. The father and son have served two tours of Lebanon together. Tanaiste Micheal Martin spent the weekend at Camp Shamrock in southern Lebanon where he spoke to Irish peacekeepers. CS Clabby, who joined the army when he was 17, said: Retiring is going to be a bit of a shock to me, trying to get used to civilian life after 42 years in the army. Ive already served twice with Nathan overseas and I know hes capable, so Ive no worries about him. Asked about his time in the Defence Forces, CS Clabby said: Ill be honest, I love it. Everything (about it). If youre into fitness, its a great job. The lifestyle, getting to see the world. Ive been to Africa twice, Liberia, Chad. Ive been to Syria. Ive been to Lebanon nine times. Ive been to Kosovo. So Ive got to see the world. Liberia and Chad is where I really soldiered. I like that. Im a soldier there. Today's News in 90 seconds - 21st May 2024 CS Clabby is also Recce qualified and has previously served as the battalion commanders eyes and ears. Recce soldiers can operate up to 10km forward of the battalion, gathering information about terrain, routes and the enemy and feeding it back to battalion headquarters to enable decision-making and planning. He added: I have loved every mission. Ive actually loved doing my job. Ive done different jobs, numerous different jobs. Come overseas, get on with it. Thats all you do. Sgt Nathan Clabby said he is looking forward to his mission, adding that he was delighted to be out in Lebanon. He arrived at Camp Shamrock earlier this month and went into Groundhog within days. Groundhog is the Defence Forces term for taking cover in bunkers. The first one goes off, and you are thinking to yourself, right, Im here now, this is the real deal out here now at the minute. But like I said, weve done all our training before, so were ready for any incident that happens. Taoiseach Simon Harris has rejected Labour Party claims that it was intended to keep secret a Housing Commission report until after the local and European elections. The leaked report criticises Government progress on housing and says that despite some of the highest levels of investment, outcomes in Ireland are some of the worst in Europe. The revelation of findings led to a Dail row as Mr Harris denied minister Darragh O'Brien had been sitting on the report for weeks. He said he had only received it 13 days ago on May 8. The report calls for a "radical strategic reset of housing policy", saying Ireland has a housing deficit of 256,000 homes. But Mr Harris said he had promised a drive for 50,000 houses in each of the next five years, which was "in the landing zone". The commission, set up by the Government, used unusually strong language about "ineffective decision-making and reactive policy where risk aversion dominates". It calls for "emergency action" to meet "pent-up demand", as well as providing for future population growth and inward migration. Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald told Mr Harris that Fine Gael had been in power for 13 years and this was "a damning indictment of your housing policy. "It talks about systemic failure and a failure to deliver value for money with one of the highest public expenditures on housing in Europe yet one of the poorest outcomes. "I suppose this should be no surprise when you pay billions to lease rooms that go back to a wealthy property fund after 25 years. Th Housing Commission is telling you directly that your housing plan isn't working. "And they state that only a radical strategic policy will fix the problem. It means we must see a turn away from the disastrous housing policies of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail. "Your Government can't even get your targets right. You failed to take account of more than a decade of unmet housing demand. And now we have a deficit t which means that families with their own kids live in their parents homes." The commission calls for social and affordable housing delivery to increase to 20pc of all new homes, she said. "The report makes it clear that Government failure is undermining affordability in the housing system. Affordability has been shredded on your watch, Ms McDonald said. Mr Harris said the Government had set up the commission, and its report would be published this week. It should then be read and considered before people demanded immediate courses of action. But he said many recommendations were already being separately addressed, because a major Planning and Development Bill, with a multitude of provisions, was making its way through the House. A 38-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping following an incident at a west Belfast shopping centre. Police attended the Park Centre on Donegall Road shortly after 3pm on Monday following reports of an attempted abduction. It is understood the shopping centre was briefly locked down after a woman attempted to leave with a child before she was stopped by security. In a statement police confirmed a woman was arrested. A PSNI spokesperson said: Police have arrested a 38-year-old woman on suspicion of kidnapping, she is currently in custody assisting police with their enquiries. Amendments to legislation came into force in January last year Whistleblower claims brought to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) tripled last year, with the employment tribunal noting a considerable increase in its latest annual report. The tribunal received 301 complaints under the Protected Disclosures Act last year up 201pc on the 96 claims lodged in 2022 marking the first time ever that statutory complaints of whistleblower penalisation have exceeded 100. Amendments to the original legislation came into force in January of last year, requiring all private-sector organisations, with 250 or more staff to set up formal reporting channels for protected disclosures. The changes also extended whistleblower protections to cover volunteers, trainees, shareholders and company boards, as well as job applicants, among others. The amended legislation also shifted the burden of proof to require a respondent to disprove a connection between an act of penalisation and a protected disclosure. Commenting on the figures, barrister and protected disclosures expert David Byrnes BL said: It would seem that the largest obstacle whistleblowers alleging penalisation had faced in their claims before the WRC was being able to prove a connection between a protected disclosure and penalisation. That burden of proof now rests firmly with the employer it having been recognised EU-wide that whistleblower penalisation is typically perpetrated in a clandestine-type manner. Mr Byrnes said the changes in the law left an open question about whether it was appropriate for the person bringing a complaint, or the respondent party to the claim, to give evidence first before the tribunal. However, Mr Byrnes said the matter of compensation for whistleblower penalisation was becoming clearly aligned to practices in anti-discrimination law. The European Court of Justice has given a clear signal that awards should have a compensatory effect as well as a dissuasive effect, Mr Byrnes said. He also pointed to the WRCs decision to make an award at the maximum of its jurisdiction in a whistleblower case last year. In that case, the tribunal gave five years wages, 91,000, to a masseuse who was pressured into providing her male boss with sexual services and later dismissed after resisting pressure to expand her range of services to clients at a Dublin massage parlour. Commenting on the annual report, Audrey Cahill, the WRCs director general, said last year had been the first full year of normal services for the WRC since 2019, and thanked her staff for high standards of delivery and commitment across all areas of its operations. Significant trends have begun to emerge in some key areas of our activity which will inform our work plans in the coming years and we look forward to continued positive engagements with all of our service users and stakeholders, Ms Cahill said in a press statement. The tribunals inspectors went to 4,727 businesses and discovered 2,221 in breach of their obligations under employment law, the report notes. More than 1.95m in unpaid wages was recovered for employees, an increase of more than half a million euro on 2022. Over a quarter of recovered wages, 565,409, were from food service businesses, which had the highest number of inspections of any economic sector, and there was a 58pc rate of non-compliance with employment law among those inspected. Lucinda OSullivans restaurant review: Lucas has that easy, drop-in feel you want from a Spanish wine bar Checking out the new cafe and wine bar on the Old Dunleary Road, our critic was delighted by the fab food and buzzy vibes The Lucas Iberico and cheese platter. Photo: Lucinda O'Sullivan Lucinda O'Sullivan Tue 21 May 2024 at 03:30 We were welcomed at the door of the new Lucas, a Spanish wine bar on the Old Dunleary Road, beside the legendary Purty Kitchen, by the eponymous Lucas himself. He wasnt tall, dark and handsome as you might expect, more along the lines of short, chubby and ginger and on four legs; a friendly cocker spaniel wagging his tail with delight. Ryanair passengers spend an average of 23.40 per flight on ancillary extras like checked bags and seat selection Michael O'Leary at a press conference in Milan last January. Photo: Pier Marco Tacca / Getty Back by popular demand! trumpets a banner ad on Ryanair's website this week. Midweek flights from 12.99!" Thats an eye-catching fare, but its no surprise that the average price paid per passenger last year was higher at 49.80. The figure is up 21pc on last year (41), which itself was up 10pc on pre-Covid averages, as revealed in the airline's annual results this week. Passengers also spend an average of 23.40 on ancillary sales, it said which include extras like seat selection, priority boarding and checked bags. All told, when you combine fare increases and add-ons, Ryanair is making 15pc extra revenue per passenger this year. Its annual results give a fascinating insight into Europes largest budget airline which flew 183.7 million passengers between April of 2023 and March of 2024. Thats 23pc higher than the travel peak pre-Covid, with full-year profits up by one-third to a whopping 1.92 billion. Ryanair's cheapest fares - try the 'fare finder' hiding in plain sight This year, it expects to grow even more. 2024 sees Ryanairs largest ever summer schedule, with over 200 new routes around Europe (including Cork Airport to Rhodes and Zadar), and passenger traffic is forecast to grow by 8pc in the financial year to March of 2025. By then, it aims to be flying 200 million of us around Europe annually - although the exact number may be impacted by Boeing aircraft delivery delays. Previously, CEO Michael OLeary has said fares in Europe could rise by 5-10pc this year. Despite higher fares and fuel costs, however, he now says that recent pricing is softer than expected. The airline is cautiously optimistic that peak summer fares will be flat to modestly ahead of last summer, it said. Critics believe Donald Trump (pictured) will be unable to keep his thoughts organised in two lengthy debates with Joe Biden. Photo: Abbie Parr/AP United States president Joe Biden took the media and political world by surprise in challenging Donald Trump to two debates and then swiftly accepting offers from CNN and ABC. Trump accepted the debates, on June 27 and September 10, but whether he will show up is another matter. ESABELWENI - Members of the Nazareth Baptist Church and the general public scrambled for blessings as the leader of the church, His Holiness Unyazi Lwezulu, arrived in the country yesterday. The leader of the church arrived in the country at around 10am, through Mahamba Border Gate. Members of the church and the general public, who eagerly awaited the arrival of the African Messiah, as they refer to him, enveloped his motor vehicle when he entered the border gate. Unyazi Lwezulu parked the motor vehicle and released the blessings through the car window. Majority A majority of the church members handed over pure water for blessings, some handed over petroleum jelly and sunlight soap. Unyazi Lwezulu took some time to pray for the members items. Some people scrambled to make offerings in appreciation for the arrival of the Shembe leader. From Mahamba, Unyazi Lwezulu proceeded to the headquarters of the church, known as Esabelweni at Bethany, Mahlanya. His motorcade had 30 cars and a couple of buses transporting the church members from South Africa. The members of the church, who had been at the church since 3am, rushed to position themselves next to the road when they saw Shembes convoy at Lozitha. The church members welcomed their leader with the shout of Hallelujah, uyingcwele while waving palm tree leaves. Some members of the church knelt from a distance to give way to those who escorted the convoy to the headquarters. The escorts included members of the church, who were clad in traditional attire. The church members danced slowly to the beat of the songs and trumpets until they reached their final destination. Upon arrival at his house, Unyazi Lwezulu alighted from his motor vehicle and went straight to the house. At the time, members of the church were singing aloud outside. Some were heard praying aw, nkosiyami Shembe siyabonga kufika kwakho nkosi yaseZulwini. Returned Unyazi Lwezulu then returned to the congregation and blessed them through the word of mouth, saying God bless you (Inkosi inibusise). The members of the church responded with a loud Amen, uyingcwele. The leader of the church returned to the house immediately after blessing the congregation. Elders of the church shared that Unyazi Lwezulu would assess the situation and report his presence to the countrys ancestors, so that he could be in a position to release blessings during the course of the two-week service. The elders also shared that the programme would be announced and issued upon instruction. We are so happy to have Unyazi Lwezulu back in the country. We are hoping that whatever troubled us would be a thing of the past, said some of those found at Esabelweni. Laws are silent in a time of war, wrote Cicero, but the International Criminal Court (ICC) has unleashed a thunderbolt in its seeking of arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders. Its chief prosecutor Karim Khan said he believes Benjamin Netanyahu, his defence minister and three Hamas leaders are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel. Mr Khan said that the effects of the use of starvation as a method of warfare, together with other attacks and collective punishment against the civilian population of Gaza are acute, visible and widely known. Of the Hamas actions on October 7, he said he saw for himself the devastating scenes of these attacks and the profound impact of the unconscionable crimes charged in the applications filed. The US and Israel have both utterly condemned the move. President Joe Biden said the decision was outrageous. He also said whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence, none, between Israel and Hamas. It will be at least two months before three judges of the ICC can execute the warrants, but the move is nonetheless symbolically significant. The allegations are also devastating. For while the ICC has previously issued warrants for Russias Vladimir Putin, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya and the Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, no leader of a Western-style democracy has ever been issued one. A spokesperson for Human Rights Watch said the decision represented a principled first step, which opens the door to those responsible for the atrocities committed in recent months to get a fair trial. The warrants were sought at the same time Tel Aviv announced it would expand its military offensive in Rafah, despite warnings of mass casualties. The war has killed at least 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gazas health ministry. About 80pc of the population of 2.3m Palestinians has been displaced within the territory. Pressure is also mounting on Tel Aviv from the White House to agree to a day after plan for the Gaza Strip that Mr Netanyahu has been long evading. Behind the scenes, Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, has turned the screw on Mr Netanyahu to accept a political solution to the war in Gaza and a regional deal with Saudi Arabia. But the Israeli leader has so far scoffed at calls for plotting peace while fighting the war. Escalation of the Rafah offensive could result in unconscionable loss of civilian life, and risk exploding the political powder keg the Middle East has become. Frustrations are also growing within Mr Netanyahus own government over a lack of coherence and control. Benny Gantz, his erstwhile rival and current member of the war cabinet, has threatened to quit if the prime minister does not come forward with a comprehensive plan by next month prioritising the release of hostages. War breeds more war, and any political vacuum will only be filled by more violence. President Michael D Higgins lays a wreath at the memorial on Talbot Street, Dublin, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Martina Devlin rightly, and with customary forensic aplomb, poses an important challenge to political grandees on both sides of the Irish Sea (Time for those in power to finally lift the silence on Dublin-Monaghan bombings, Irish Independent, May 17). She calls on them to do the honourable thing by illuminating the killing of innocent Irish citizens on May 17, 1974. It is now 50 years since the atrocities and while there is a vast array of informed hearsay, there is no official transparency. How any self-respecting national governance system could have allowed such an abomination to pass by without any real effort to investigate compliance is a grotesque insult to the deceased and their families. Most people who have followed the aftermath of this heinous crime broadly know the likely core truth. The lack of state interest must rate as an affront beyond words. The British, too, have many troublesome questions to address. The shadow of a long litany of injustices, such as a shoot-to-kill policy, and the treatment of the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four, still lingers. The Irish official response, or total lack of it, is almost no less debilitating. Surely, in a time when past travesties and atrocities are being properly investigated and called out, the Dublin-Monaghan bombings warrant urgent attention. Jim Cosgrove, Lismore, Co Waterford Governments change of tack on immigration owes much to election anxieties It feels like only a few weeks since anyone who dared to criticise our immigration system was called a racist and far-right troublemaker. Now, it seems we are presented with a new government measure on this issue every five minutes. These measures broadly mirror the views expressed by the so-called racists and far-righters. It would appear we are witnessing a Pauline conversion on behalf of the political establishment. While Paul the Apostles volte-face was definitely genuine (enduring death for his convictions), one has doubts about the bona fides of our political masters. A cynic might suggest that a combination of the recent referendum results and forthcoming elections had no small part to play in this extraordinary about-turn. Eric Conway, Navan, Co Meath Addressing harsh realities of life at Pentecost mass under glare of a rising sun The sun was rising over the Cavan drumlins and lakes as a special dawn mass was celebrated on Sunday at the historic Drumlane Abbey to celebrate Pentecost Day. Pentecost marks the end of the Easter season. The celebrant began his reflection by quoting one of the characters in the film That They May Face the Rising Sun, which is based on the book by John McGahern. The rain comes down, the sun shines, grass grows, children grow old and die. Thats the holy all of it. We all know it full well but cant even whisper it. He then spoke about the key tenets of the Christian faith. Gerry Comiskey, Drumlane, Co Cavan With a dapper dress sense and the sharpest of minds, OReilly towered over elites There have been many wonderful tributes to Tony OReilly and your editorial captures the essence of this hugely accomplished Irishman (Titan OReilly made an impact on so many aspects of Irish life, Editorial, May 20). I would also like to add that he was always impeccably dressed. His distinctive shirt-and-tie combination made him stand out among the rich and powerful. He may have fallen on hard times in recent years, but his legacy is assured as one of the greatest and most influential Irish business enablers of the last 50 years. May he rest peacefully. Tom McElligott, Listowel, Co Kerry For peace to prosper, both sides must dig deep and find the courage to forgive Yesterday morning, I read a news article about a man claiming responsibility for the 1979 murder of Louis Mountbatten, two young boys and an elderly lady in Sligo. I blew up Earl Mountbatten in Sligo, but I had a justification he had come to my country, the man said. Look at the Famine... are we to forget that? The Black and Tans? He came to my country and murdered my people and I fought back. I hit them back. Yesterday afternoon, I watched an interview with Professor Joseph Campbell, who is renowned for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. He spoke of the destruction of 6,000-plus monasteries in Tibet by the Chinese air force, which killed thousands of Tibetan people, including many monks and nuns. To this day, no Buddhist will say a word against the Chinese people. Declan Foley, Melbourne, Australia Bruce Springsteen gig a spiritual experience I was fortunate to share with devoted fans Nine days ago in Kilkenny, I attended my first Bruce Springsteen gig. I intended to see him in action for decades, but for one reason or another it never happened. Im so glad I finally got to see him. From the moment The Boss and his brilliant E Street Band arrived on stage to his final acoustic solo, it was a near-transcendental experience. I have never witnessed such love and emotion for one man, and its clear he feels the same way about his fans. For three hours, I was carried along on a wave of positive energy that was impossible to resist. Springsteen brings out the very best in us through his music. His songs convey the entire human experience from the precious highs to the difficult lows in life in a way that very few other artists can. He delves into the deepest of emotions love, fear, disappointment and grief and reflects them back to the crowd in a way that is very powerful. The stand-out moment for me was his acoustic version of Ill See You in My Dreams at the end of the night. He seemed quite emotional as the 27,000-strong crowd sang the chorus back to him. Somehow, he has that rare ability to take on board our deepest thoughts and feelings and sing them back to us. That genuine connection and love for his fans, coupled with his talent and energy, is unparalleled. Aisling Delahunty, Kildare town Five leading County Clare eateries and hotels were awarded provincial gold at this years Irish Restaurant Awards. After selecting county finalists for each category earlier this year, the regional and All-Ireland winners of the Irish Restaurant Awards 2024 were announced at a ceremony in the Clayton Hotel, Burlington Road on Monday evening. Clare businesses and individuals that were crowned Munster winners are: Dermot Fetton, from Earl of Thomond Restaurant at Dromoland Castle Hotel, in the Best Restaurant Manager category; Vaughans Anchor Inn in the Best Gastropub category; Aileens at Armada Hotel in the Best Customer Service category; Homestead Cottage in the Best Newcomer category; and Siobhan Ni Ghairbhith, from St. Tola Goat Cheese Farm, in the Local Food Hero category In total, this years Irish Restaurant Awards the 15th year of the Awards received over 160,000 public nominations for restaurants, cafes and other food services establishments across the country the highest number yet. Each year, funds are raised for a chosen charity at the All-Ireland final of the Irish Restaurant Awards. This year, substantial funds were raised for the Irish Kidney Association. Speaking at the event, President of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, Paul Lenehan, said: During these undoubtedly tough times for our industry, celebrating Irelands food and hospitality offering is as crucial as ever. Above all, the Awards give us the opportunity to recognise and celebrate the hard work of Irelands talented restaurant, cafe and food-led hospitality staff. These Awards highlight the resilience and innovation in our food industry. Behind every great dish is a team of individuals committed to creating memorable dining experiences. As ever, this years Irish Restaurant Awards showcased the very best of the regions culinary talent. I would personally like to extend my congratulations to all the winners and nominees for their dedication and passion. The firm said it is planning to increase its business by 50% over the next five years Pictured at the announcement of the news that O'Flynn Exhams LLP has plans to grow its business by 50% over the next five years is Managing Partner, Shane Crossan (back) with trainee solicitors (L-R) Leanne Hill, Maurice Lane, Rachel Dukelow, Amy Horgan and Tiana O'Brien. As part of the expansion, it will double the number of trainee solicitors it hires each year. Picture: Michael O'Sullivan /OSM PHOTO A Cork law firm has announced that it plans to drastically increase the number of solicitors it employs as it looks to expand its business by 50% over the next five years. OFlynn Exhams LLP said it is aiming to increase its number of solicitors to at least 30 by 2029. The firm, which currently has eight trainee solicitors, said it will double the number of trainee solicitors it hires each year. The business, dating back to the late 18th century, said it will take on four trainees this year for the first time and hopes to retain the majority of those solicitors when they qualify. Based on Corks South Mall, the firm said its training programme provides graduates with the practical and technical skills necessary to become successful solicitors. It said each of its trainees complete rotations in corporate and commercial law, litigation and dispute resolution, commercial property, and private client law. Shane Crossan, managing partner at OFlynn Exhams, said that the firm is committed to nurturing upcoming talent and supporting our team members to grow and progress in their careers. We will be hiring solicitors in every area of our practice which is a reflection of how business is performing in Munster. Commercial property in Cork is bucking the national trend and the overall population here is expected to continue to grow, Mr Crossan said. This is the first generation where geography is less of a concern, employees see the value of working in a place like Cork where they are guaranteed a good quality of life and quick career progression pathways. The firm said it also runs an internship programme each summer which is open to undergraduate students and graduates, with trainee solicitors primarily selected through it. Rachel Dukelow, a trainee solicitor due to qualify in January 2025, said that the internship is a worthwhile experience. I took part in 2021 and was offered a training contract starting in June 2022. The training at OFlynn Exhams is well-rounded and you gain invaluable first-hand experience even in high-profile cases, Ms Dukelow said. Cork has a lot to offer, the work life balance is better here and now that the Professional Practice Course (PPC) has been combined into the one sitting, you only need to move to Dublin once. I had no experience prior to joining OFlynn Exhams. The first four months I spent on the trainee programme before moving to Dublin for the PPC was great preparation and meant I got the most out of the academic year in Blackhall. Those interested in finding out more about OFlynn Exhams can visit https://www.ofx.ie/. The men face charges in relation to the seizure of 2.25 tonnes of cocaine that was discovered on board the MV Matthew cargo ship off the Cork coast last September Five men who are facing charges relating to Irelands biggest ever drugs haul have been sent for trial at a Special Criminal Court. A Special Criminal Court sits with three judges and no jury and deals specifically with cases involving terrorism and organised crime. The five men, Iranian Saeid Hassani, 38, Dutch national Cumali Ozgen, 49, Filipino Harold Estoesta 30, Ukrainian Mykhalo Gavryk, 31 and Ukrainian Vitaliy Vlasoi, 31 appeared at Mallow District Court. The book of evidence was served on each of the accused who were all assisted by interpreters. Court presenter Inspector Tony OSullivan said that signed certificates had been received from the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to allow the five to be tried in a Special Criminal Court. Legal representatives for all of the accused reserved their positions on the certificates that were submitted to the court. The five men face three charges in relation to the seizure of 2.25 tonnes of cocaine valued at more than 157 million that was discovered on board the MV Matthew cargo ship off the Cork coast in September 2023. They are charged with the possession of cocaine for sale or supply with a value in excess of 13,000 in Irish waters and for possession of cocaine for sale or supply with a value in excess of 13,000 outside of Irish territorial waters as well as conspiracy to have in their possession, on September 24, cocaine for sale or supply in excess of 13,000 in contravention of Sections 5 and 15a of the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1977. They all also face an additional charge of participating in or contributing to activities facilitating a serious offence by a criminal organisation on September 4, 2023 contrary to Section 72 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006. Insp. OSullivan said that the State was making an application in each case to have the accused sent forward For a sitting of a Special Criminal Court. Judge Colm Roberts granted the applications in the case of all five accused. He also granted legal aid for the provision of one senior counsel, one junior counsel and one document counsel for each of the accused. Legal aid was also granted for the translation of the book of evidence, the provision of translators and the provision of a marine engineer for the inspection of the vessel the MV Matthew. Judge Roberts issued an alibi warning to each of the accused that if they wished to rely on alibi evidence as part of their defence they had 14 days to make it known. Harold Estoesta asked the judge if 14 days was long enough for him to be able to clarify alibi evidence as there was more than 1,000 pages in the book of evidence. Judge Roberts said that this was a matter he would need to address with his solicitor. The lack of broadband in the town of Mitchelstown was raised at last Mondays Northern Committee meeting by several councillors. Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr Frank OFlynn raised the issue under Any Other Business after receiving numerous complaints from residents and business owners. This is a very big issue for both the business people and the householders. They cannot understand that people outside of Mitchelstown have good quality broadband, but there is no fibre broadband in the town of Mitchelstown, he said. Mitchelstown is a large town, said Mayor OFlynn. It is a good business town and a lot of large businesses are located there. If you were trying to entice the current businesses to expand and to attract new businesses to the town the first things to be ticked off would be water, power and communications. Residents are disappointed the coverage is very poor. Broadband is a basic right. It is crazy that a large town with so many businesses and residents dont have access to fibre broadband. There are third world countries with a proper optic fibre broadband service in place. It is crazy that there is no mobile phone coverage in Doneraile or Castletownroche. We are supposed to be encouraging people to work from home, how can you work from home if you have no proper broadband service? he added. Mayor OFlynn requested that a letter be sent to the Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan and National Broadband Ireland (NBI) seeking the expediting of fibre broadband in Mitchelstown. I would ask that we write to the powers that be seeking the installation of fibre broadband in the town of Mitchelstown as a matter of urgency. In the letter I would also ask for an update on the provision of broadband in North Cork. Fianna Fail councillor Deirdre OBrien said good broadband is required by everyone on a daily basis. It is not satisfactory in this day and age. It is quiet slow and tedious the whole thing with national broadband. People use it for everything now and they need it to work from home. Everybody needs good broadband from business owners to members of the farming community. I fully support the motion. Independent councillor Frank Roche requested the expediting of fibre broadband in Castletownroche to be included in the letter to Minister Ryan and NBI. Fine Gael councillor John Paul OShea provided a point of information to the meeting. Fine Gael proposed the national broadband plan a number of years ago and are investing 2.8 billion in it and Fianna Fail voted against it. We all want to see it rolled out. There is a timeframe for it to be rolled out but Fianna Fail voted against the national broadband plan. It was agreed that a letter would be sent to Minister Ryan and NBI seeking the urgent rollout of fibre broadband in both Mitchelstown and Castletownroche. The letter would also request an update on the general rollout of fibre broadband in North Cork. Locals will be able to use the room to take part in empowering new initiatives and courses Several officials gathered for the opening of the Wellbeing Room. Photo: Green Party councillor Oliver Moran A newly constructed Wellbeing Room at the Glen Resource Centre in Cork was officially launched by the Minister for State for the Department of Health, Colm Burke TD, on Monday. The new Wellbeing Room provides a safe and inclusive space to run valuable health and wellbeing programmes and community services, according to the HSE. According to a release, the space will provide an area where locals can take part in a wide variety of programmes which could benefit their health, employability and mental health. Minister for State at the Department of Health, Colm Burke TD, said that the space marks such a positive step forward for the local community. I would encourage all to get involved, to experience first-hand some of the empowering new initiatives and courses being run in the Wellness Room at The Glen Resource Centre. Deputising for Lord Mayor of Cork, councillor Mick Finn said that spaces such as the new Wellness Room are key to providing opportunities to learn in local accessible venues. They are also invaluable in bringing people together, Cllr Finn added. "I see the Wellness Room in the Glen Resource Centre as being a place where ideas will be shared and new concepts will be discussed and interrogated, leading to the development of best practice programmes and further innovations in community health and education. Cork City councillor Oliver Moran was also in attendance, and he said the room is an open space available for community needs. Sorcha Ni Chrualaoich, HSE Principal Community Worker with Cork Kerry Community Healthcare, welcomed the launch of the Wellbeing Room. The Health Action Zone and community health work partners here are committed to providing an exciting programme of activities to people in the Glen, Blackpool, Ballyvolane, Mayfield and the wider community healthcare network, which further enhances the health and wellbeing of the local community here. Catherine McCullagh, a recently trained Healthy Food Made Easy (HFME) Tutor, said that she could not wait to start delivering community courses. The room is fantastic! she said. The Wellbeing Room is funded by the HSE/Cork Kerry Community Healthcare and Cork City Council. To learn more, those interested can visit https://glencentre.ie/. We were told to go in hotel bathroom, fill bath and barricade door Irish caught up in Hurricane Milton in Florida Call for more ethics and morals when purchasing goods Sinn Fein Cllr Deirdre Ferris called on Kerry County Council (KCC) to make more conscious-based decisions and to instigate an ethical and moral procedure within its policy. Speaking at Mondays full meeting of KCC, Cllr Ferris asked if the council had an Ethical Procurement Policy and referenced the growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement around the world. She cited the Dunnes Stores workers of 1984, who boycotted South African goods over apartheid, as exemplars in taking an ethical stance. I just want to draw your attention to something that has caught my eye here this morning, Cllr Ferris said. There are seven Hewlett-Packard laptops as council property. If youre not aware, Hewlett-Packard is a company that helps run the biometric ID system which restricts Palestinian peoples movements in Palestine, she added. Cllr Ferris proceeded to take issue with KCCs decision to acquire a new machine for its yard, at which point she was told by management that it operates according to a procurement system guided by national and EU legislation. Cllr Ferris said ethical procurement motions had passed in seven other local authorities in Ireland. As leaders in local government in Kerry, she called it an obligation to look to our conscience when purchasing certain products. We need to be more cognisant and to start that movement. Im asking that we show leadership to refuse to purchase products that are facilitating genocide, collective punishment, and the attempted ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, she said. In reply, KCC said it abides by national and European ethical standards. Since 2016, the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) publish guidelines for the procurement of goods, services and works which must ensure all successful tenderers comply with statutory obligations in the field of environmental, social and labour Law. KCC say employees are required to comply with a formal Ethical Framework for local government when conducting procurement processes on behalf of KCC, and in accordance with its own procurement policies and procedures. Around 170 residents of a County Leitrim hotel have been told to move by the end of the month as the government contract is coming to an end. Lough Allen Hotel, Drumshanbo, County Leitrim has been home to Ukrainian refugees for the past two years. The hotel, which is housing around 170 people, is predominantly used by women and children. However, the hotels contract is coming to an end and the residents must vacate the property by May 31, 2024. Follow Independent Leitrim on Facebook It is believed the residents were informed of the move at a recent meeting and hotel management has attempted to have the contract extended to allow the residents to stay at the hotel. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) said it will provide residents with alternative options, however, it is unknown where they will be moved too. The residents can also seek to find a private rental option. A spokesperson for The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) said, Temporary accommodation for those fleeing the war in Ukraine was provided at the Lough Allen Hotel, Drumshanbo, County Leitrim. "This arrangement is due to come to an end shortly. "All accommodation contracted by the Department is temporary in nature, moves happen frequently when contracts end. Those who are residing at the accommodation have been contacted by the Department to notify them of the change. "Alternative offers of accommodation will be provided to the residents, and every effort will be made to ensure that the alternate accommodation will be in the general area. Beneficiaries of temporary protection are also entitled to make their own private arrangements, including potentially availing of pledged accommodation if they wish or private accommodation, and can avail of some supports to do so. MAKHEWU A 36-year-old man of KaKhoza was brutally attacked, allegedly by a police officer, with a bush knife at Ngomane, Simunye on Saturday morning. According to sources, the police officer allegedly hacked the man after he found him inside a house occupied by a certain woman. Brendon Dennis was severely hacked with the bush knife on his left hand when he was trying to protect himself from being slashed on the head. This incident involving the police officer and the barman employed at Mbha Restaurant and Bar happened around 5am on Saturday. The barman had a bruise on his left eye and a deep cut on his right arm. He was admitted to the Good Shepherd Catholic Hospital on Saturday and was transferred to the theatre at the health facility yesterday, where he was operated on his injured left arm. The identity of the police officer will not be disclosed pending his appearance in court. Narrating what happened, Dennis mentioned that he was working the night shift at the bar and spotted a few men enjoying alcoholic beverages outside one of the houses at the compound. He shared that he also rented a flat at the compound and he indicated that the police officer was a familiar face at the compound, as he used to play pool at the bar. The barman said he went to collect his jersey at his girlfriends house and decided to rest for a few hours, as he was waiting to do a handover to his colleague, who was working the day shift. Unlocked He claimed that while inside his unlocked girlfriends house, he heard the door opening and the police officer, armed with a bush knife, asked him how many times he had made love to his girlfriend. Dennis alleged that he responded by saying he had not yet been intimate with his girlfriend. He narrated that his relationship with his girlfriend, who works at RES Corporation, was a month-old. His girlfriends particulars are known but cannot be revealed as she could not be reached at the time of compiling this report. Dennis stated that he suspected his girlfriend was in a love relationship with the police officer, as some people had alerted him, hence he came to the compound armed. In addition, he alleged that the law enforcer wielded the bush knife and hacked him on his left arm while trying to protect his upper body and head from being hacked. Dennis said he tried to grab the bush knife and he sustained deep cuts on his left thumb and other fingers. We then fought for the bush knife and he managed to get hold of it and hacked me on my right arm and further assaulted me with fists and kicked me all over the body while lying down soaked in blood. Calm People came and tried to calm him and it was at that instance that I escaped and police were called and they took me to the hospital, he said. The barman said police officers from the Simunye Police Station came on Sunday and recorded a statement after he had opened a case. The police officer is expected to appear at the Simunye Magistrates Court charged with attempted murder, pending his committal to the High Court. Deputy Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Assistant Superintendent Nosipho Mnguni said the police had arrested a suspect, aged 31 years, of Siteki in connection with the matter. We have a matter of a man who was hacked several times of KaKhoza. A 31-year-old suspect of Siteki has been charged with attempted murder, she said. Rosses Point retains its Blue Flag status It has also been awarded a Green Coast award an honour which has also gone to Rosses Point which retains its Blue Flag status. An Taisce announced the International Blue Flag and Green Coast Award recipients for 2024 on Monday afternoon. The awards were presented by Hildegarde Naughton TD - Government Chief Whip and Minister of State at the Department of Education at a ceremony held in the Galway Bay Hotel overlooking Salthill Blue Flag beach. The Minister said: It is my great pleasure to congratulate all of the recipients of International Blue Flags and Green Coast Awards today. For Ireland to be the home of 94 Blue Flags across the length and breadth of our beautiful beaches and marinas. As we get warmed up for the bathing and swimming season this year we are breaking the record with some 70 Beaches receiving the Green Coast Award. We all know just how lucky we are to have such beautiful water quality and natural beauty across our shores and this years recipients are testament to just how exceptional and rich in diversity that our beaches are. Congratulations to everyone involved and I want to wish a very happy and safe bathing and swimming season to everyone for 2024. The Blue Flag is one of the worlds most recognised environmental awards. Originating in France in 1985 it was launched as an International programme as part of the European Year of the Environment in 1987. In 1988, the first year sites were awarded outside of France 19 beaches and 2 marinas received the Blue Flag in Ireland. 2024 is the 37th year that beaches and marinas have been awarded here in Ireland, with 94 beaches and marinas being awarded for the 2024 season. The Green Coast Award recognises beaches for their clean environment, excellent water quality and natural beauty. Green Coast Award sites are exceptional places to visit and enjoy our rich coastal heritage and diversity. An important aspect of the Green Coast Awards is the involvement of voluntary Clean Coasts groups, who participate in community clean-ups and help manage the applicant beaches in cooperation with Local Authorities. The main purpose of the Green Coast Award programme is to foster partnerships within communities in an effort to protect and enhance local coastal environs, and to celebrate the efforts of those communities. The first Green Coast Awards were presented to four beaches in Wexford in 2003. The award was rolled out nationally in 2008 and has gone from strength to strength ever since. The 2024 season sees a record breaking 70 beaches being awarded the Green Coast Award. This is an increase of 4 awards compared to last year. 10 beaches have been awarded both The Blue Flag and Green Coast Award for the 2024 season, these beaches are: Fountainstown and Inchydoney East Beach in Co. Cork; Balcarrick, Donabate in Fingal; Salthill and Silverstrand Beaches in Galway City; Tra Inis Oirr (Main Beach) in Co. Galway; Baile an Sceilg, in Co. Kerry; Bettystown Beach in Co. Meath; Enniscrone and Rosses Point Beach in Sligo. Green-School Committee members of Ballinode Community College, Sligo pictured at the Green-Schools Awards 2024, at the McWilliam Park Hotel, Claremorris on May 14th, photographed with their teacher Angela Wooley and Sligo County Councils Environmental Awareness Officer, Aine OLoughlin Green School committee members of Corran College, Ballymote at the Green-Schools Marine Awards 2024 in the Hyatt Centric Hotel, Dublin on May 16th, with Cathy Baxter (Director of the Environmental Education Unit, An Taisce) and Conall OConnor (Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage). Pic: Fintan Clarke Sixteen schools in Sligo were awarded Green Flags at a special event held in the McWilliam Hotel in Claremorris on May 14. A large gathering of pupils and teachers from Sligo, Leitrim and Mayo, were welcomed by Green-Schools Travel Team Lead, Lukasz Krzywon. Green Schools is a student-led environmental management programme for schools. The 16 Sligo schools awarded this week were among 756 schools nationwide that received their flags throughout the month in the areas of Litter & Waste, Water, Travel, Biodiversity and Global Citizenship, . Ballinode College, Sligo was presented with the Litter & Waste flag upon reinstating the Green Schools programme in their school. St. Aidens N.S, Monasteraden, was also recognised and received their Primary Climate Ambassador flag. This flag is awarded to schools that have already achieved 10 flags and focuses on climate actions related to waste, energy, water, transport, and biodiversity. Corran College in Ballymote was awarded their Global Citizenship Marine Environment flag. Furthermore, the school was recognised as the Regional Secondary School Winner for the West and North Region at the Green Schools Marine Awards ceremony, which took place at the Hyatt Centric Hotel in Dublin, also last week. Speaking at the ceremony, Aine OLoughlin, Environmental Awareness Officer, Sligo County Council said Sligo County Council is committed to the Green Schools programme. She said, The programme provides a framework for students to apply critical thinking to create positive environmental changes within their schools and beyond. Green-School Committee members of Ballinode Community College, Sligo pictured at the Green-Schools Awards 2024, at the McWilliam Park Hotel, Claremorris on May 14th, photographed with their teacher Angela Wooley and Sligo County Councils Environmental Awareness Officer, Aine OLoughlin Congratulations to the students, teachers, and entire school communities for their outstanding efforts and steadfast commitment to sustainability. Im delighted to witness schools being awarded their first flag, as well as those who have been actively participating in the programme for more than two decades. The remarkable work being carried out in schools serves as an inspiration to us all. Schools receiving their Green Flag were recognised under the following themes: Litter & Waste: Ballinode College, Sligo. Water: Sligo Grammar School, Sligo. Biodiversity: Rathcormac N.S: Carn NS, Gurteen; Culfadda N.S, Ballymote. Global Citizenship Litter and Waste: Taunagh N.S., Riverstown. Global Citizenship Energy: St. Ronans N.S, Cloonloo; St. Pauls N.S., Collooney; St. Edwards N.S., Sligo; Ursuline College, Sligo; Learn Early Montessori, Ballymote. Global Citizenship Marine Environment: Corran College, Ballymote. Global Citizenship Travel: Kilross N.S, Ballintogher; S.N. Realt na Mara, Rosses Point. Global Citizenship Food and Bio: Scoil Chriost Ri, Enniscrone. Primary Climate Ambassador: St. Aidens N.S, Monasteraden. Appeal: witnesses who may have noticed suspicious behaviour in or around the HSE Modular Site, Upper Heywood, Clonmel between 8.30pm on Monday, May 20, and 1.30am on Tuesday, May 21, are asked to contact Gardai (stock image) A second serious incident involving criminal damage has allegedly taken place at a proposed refugee accommodation site in County Tipperary in recent days. Gardai in Clonmel are currently investigating an incident of suspected criminal damage which occurred at the HSE Modular Homes Site, Heywood Road, Clonmel, County Tipperary between midnight and 1am, in the early hours of Tuesday, May 21. A mobile lighting system was damaged by fire in the incident. The scene was held for a technical examination this morning, said a Garda spokesperson. Investigating Gardai are currently following a number of lines of enquiry. Gardai are appealing to anyone who may have observed this incident occur, or who may have noticed suspicious behaviour in or around the HSE Modular Site, Upper Heywood, Clonmel between 8.30pm on Monday, May 20, and 1.30am on Tuesday, May 21. Likewise, Gardai are appealing to any drivers with Dash-Cam footage recorded who were in the Upper Heywood Road area, Clonmel between these times. The incident follows an attack on the Heywood road site in Clonmel at 11.40pm on Thursday, May 16, where a security guard had to be hospitalised and a number of vehicles were damaged in an arson attack. Gardai are investigating whether the Clonmel incident may be linked to other attacks on refugee centres around the country, including Dublin, Cork, Wicklow and Galway. Detectives do not believe the Tipperary incident involved any personnel involved in previous attacks but are concerned that it may have involved advice, information or coordination from those involved in other incidents. Far-right groups have been blamed for inciting local fears over such accommodation centres. In several cases, far-right activists have praised the attacks and, in one case, have taken credit for it. There have been more than 25 attacks or threatened attacks on centres linked to refugee accommodation in Ireland. More than half of those attacks of threatened attacks have occurred over the past 18 months. A total of 15 arson attacks occurred in 2023 alone several targeting properties that were wrongly linked to refugee accommodation. Gardai are also concerned by the number of people involved in the Clonmel attack and the willingness to use violence against the security guards involved. A number of vehicles were also deliberately damaged. The Heywood Road site has been earmarked for modular homes for refugees. It is planned to erect 82 modular homes at the State-owned site on the outskirts of Clonmel town. Each home will be capable of housing four people. Anyone with any information or footage on these incidents, is asked to contact Clonmel Garda Station on 052-6177640 or email CT.TipperarySouth.CE@garda.ie or alternatively phone the Garda Confidential Line Free-phone on 1800 666 111. Wexfords funniest adopted son Des Bishop has been announced as the latest headline act for this years Spiegeltent Festival. The comedian, who moved from Queens, New York to Wexford town as a teenager in the 1980s where he studied at St Peters College, is bringing his new show Lately to Wexford Spiegeltent Festival on Friday October 25. Des new show takes a hilarious look at the changes that have taken place in recent years changes around the world, in Ireland and in particular changes in Des life. Lately is a hilarious, in-your-face stand-up show that talks about all this and more as Des tries to make sense of all the changes in his life and all our lives. Sign up to the This is Wexford newsletter here The Des Bishop announcement is the latest act for Wexford Spiegeltent 2024, with the comedian joining Keith Barry, Cry Before Dawn, Amble and Kingfishr as confirmed shows. Since moving from Queens, New York to Wexford in his mid-teens, Des Bishop has carved out a highly successful stand up career and is one of the most enigmatic forces on the international comedy circuit. His acclaimed television series on RTE include The Des Bishop Work Experience (2004), Joy in the Hood (2006), the award winning six episode comedy documentary series In the Name of the Fada (2008) and most recently, Des Bishops Election (2016). In 2011, RTE broadcast a critically acclaimed documentary made with his terminally ill father, My Dad Was Nearly James Bond. In 2014 Des spent a year living in China learning Mandarin, as depicted in the six part documentary series broadcast on RTE, Des Bishop: Breaking China. Des has released five stand-up DVDs including Des Bishop Live (2005), Tongues (2008), Desfunctional (2009) and Made in China (2015), which all charted top ten. Today's News in 90 seconds - 21st May 2024 Des has also written two stage plays, Rap Eire and Shooting Gallery, in collaboration with Arthur Riordan. His first book, My Dad Was Nearly James Bond, a family memoir, was published by Penguin in October 2011. In addition to performing sold-out National and International tours, Des has played a variety of international festivals including the Montreal Just for Laughs, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Kilkenny Cat Laughs and the Vodafone Comedy Festival in Dublin. Tickets for Des Bishop go on sale this Friday, May 24 at 10am. See lantern.ie for ticket details. Keep dogs on a lead near the cliffs and waters edge A dog was rescued by Fethard RNLI volunteers, having fallen around 40ft from a cliff edge into the sea on Sunday. Volunteer lifeboat crew at Fethard RNLI were requested to launch their lifeboat by the Irish Coast Guard at 4.30 p.m., to go to the aid of a family pet who had fallen from a cliff. Sign up to the This is Wexford newsletter here Fethard RNLIs inshore lifeboat was launched at Fethard Dock and arrived on scene ten minutes later where a Jack Russel had fallen 40 feet onto a bed of seaweed. "Two local kayakers saw the dog in difficulty and raised the alarm. Crew member Nadia Blanchfield made her way to the small beach at Poles Bay, recovered the dog, bringing her on board the inshore lifeboat, said Volunteer Deputy Launch Authority, Pat Wallace. Thankfully the family pet was uninjured from the fall. Helm James Barry and Paddy ORegan made up the full crew. Conditions were sunny, calm waters, with a light easterly breeze. Today's News in 90 seconds - 21st May 2024 Commenting about the call out Pat said: This shout highlights how a leisurely walk on a sunny day can change in a heartbeat. It is always advisable to keep dogs on a lead near the cliffs and waters edge, and if your pet gets into difficulty, have a means to call for help and dont attempt to follow them into difficulty. Pat went on to say: The Hook Peninsula area has many beautiful cliff walks to be enjoyed, but accidents happen, so always carry a means to call 999/112 and ask for Coast Guard if you find yourself in difficulty. Cllr Ger Carthy and Ronnie Doyle presented a set of hoodies to The Lagoon Junior Choir in Our Lady's Island on Sunday. Also pictured at the handover were Teresa Rea, Fr Jim Cogley, Maria Mullins and Niamh Murphy. Pic: Jim Campbell Since it was set up in July of last year The Lagoon Junior Choir of Our Ladys Island has entertained all those fortunate enough to hear them sing. And now the choir, whose 17 members range in age from 7 to 12, have been provided with snazzy new hoodies to ensure the public know exactly who they are. Decorated with an image of the tree from Scarageen Island, the hoodies represent one of the focal parts of the local area, as Teresa Rea explains. Sign up to the This is Wexford newsletter here In choosing the new name and logo we wanted something a little different so we focused on the nature side of Our Lady's Island, said Teresa who is one of the choirs mentors and founders. What stood out for us was the tree on the Scarageen Island because it reminded us of the tree of life. "This symbol has been preserved in Ireland for centuries and is known to represent personal growth, unity and strength among individuals and the community so we believe it to be very appropriate for our choir. "We also added the elements of the sun, birds and water, all of which are so very special in this beautiful place of ours. A similar approach was used when creating a name for the junior choir. The lake here in Our Lady's Island is the largest example of a sedimentary lagoon in Ireland, it is one of only three lagoons in Ireland, the other two are in Tacumshane and Ballyteige. Being so unique to this area we decided to use the word lagoon in the logo and so it became the The Lagoon Junior Choir, Teresa continued. In addition to the hoodies, the choir has received some new musical instruments courtesy of sponsors Councillor Ger Carthy and local businesswoman Ronnie Doyle. Expressing her thanks for this support, Teresa said the choir has gone from strength to strength since it was formed last summer. Today's News in 90 seconds - 21st May 2024 They are a great bunch and are brilliant at picking up everything we do very quickly. They are amazing and its wonderful to see so many of young people taking part and getting involved. "It is very rewarding for myself, Maria Mullins and Niamh Murphy to see them grow in confidence every week. We are getting great feedback from the community and beyond about them, people just love to hear the children sing, and they love singing. Crediting local musician Paddy Scallon with the idea to start the junior choir, Teresa also paid tribute to Fr Jim Cogley and all the childrens parents for their encouragement and support. An Taisce has announced Arklows South Beach as one of 70 Green Coast Award recipients nationwide, with three Wicklow beaches also retaining their Blue Flag ahead of the 2024 bathing season. Recognising its clean environment, excellent water quality and natural beauty, Arklow South Beachs Green Coast Award ranks it as an exceptional place to visit and enjoy rich coastal heritage and diversity. After not applying for the award in 2023, Arklow South Beach was one of five new sites nationwide given the Green Coast Award this year, and one of the record-breaking 70 beaches that received the award for the 2024 bathing season, which takes place from June 1 to September 15. Further north, Brittas Bay North and South Beaches and Greystones South Beach retained their Blue Flags, one of the worlds most recognised environmental awards, with 94 beaches and marinas in Ireland awarded for the 2024 season. The Blue Flag programme aims to raise environmental awareness and promote sound environmental management of beaches, marinas and eco-tourism boats around the world, with the 85 Irish beaches and 9 marinas that have achieved this accolade adherong to specific criteria related to water quality, information provision, environmental education, safety and site management for the duration of the bathing season. The awards were presented by Hildegarde Naughton TD, Government Chief Whip and Minister of State at the Department of Education, at a ceremony held in the Galway Bay Hotel overlooking Salthill Blue Flag beach in County Galway. Speaking at the awards ceremony, Minister Naughton said: For Ireland to be the home of 94 Blue Flags across the length and breadth of our beautiful beaches and marinas. As a Galway Minister, I am particularly proud to see the return of the Blue Flag to one of my own local swimming spots, Traught Beach in Kinvara, I know that this will be of particular note and celebration for many Galway swimmers. As we get warmed up for the bathing and swimming season this year we are breaking the record with some 70 Beaches receiving the Green Coast Award. We all know just how lucky we are to have such beautiful water quality and natural beauty across our shores, and this years recipients are a testament to just how exceptional and rich in diversity that our beaches are. Congratulations to everyone involved, and I want to wish you a very happy and safe bathing and swimming season to everyone for 2024. Speaking at the event, Ms Cathy Baxter, Director of the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce, said: We were delighted to be welcomed to Salthill, a Blue Flag and Green Coast Award beach for many years, for the opportunity to celebrate the beaches and marinas awarded for the 2024 season. The Local Authorities, marina operators and Clean Coasts groups responsible for their management have worked tirelessly to ensure that these sites meet the excellent standards required by The Blue Flag and Green Coast Award. I would like to congratulate all the awardees on their success and to thank Galway City Council for hosting us here today. The Africa Irish Society of Wicklow (AISW) celebrated this years Africa Day in Burnaby Park, Greystones, on Saturday, May 18, to honour the wealth of African traditions flourishing in the community and the contributions people of African heritage make to Irish society. Blessed with a glorious day of sunshine, attendees were treated to African live music, dance, education, food, with events hosted by Emer ONeill, including educational sessions from Cakamu and Kcitu (leading cultural programmes with music, drumming, and storytelling), exhibitions from several African countries, whilst DJ Spaqz was on the turntables. There were also drumming lessons led by Brian Fleming, and dancing from No Wahala and Zoryana. Colm Flood, Independent Candidate for Bray West was joined by Lee Donnelly, Independent Candidate for Bray East, making the trip out to enjoy the festivities, remarked how the event highlighted the importance of diversity and inclusion in our society. The Moroccan stand was a "highlight of the event, showcasing traditional Moroccan culture and cuisine, they said, concluding Africa Day was a true reflection of our community's spirit. It was heartening to see everyone come together to celebrate our differences and commonalities. The North Wicklow Against Genocide group began a full week of protest action with a march on Taoiseach Simon Harris's constituency office, in Bray, County Wicklow to demand the Government stops blocking the Occupied Territories Bill. A group of about 30 protestors made their way down Brays Main Street from the Town Hall, on Monday morning, May 20, stopping outside Simon Harris's constituency office, on Quinnsborough Road, to address a crowd and called on Fine Gael, as the only party blocking the Occupied Territories Bill from becoming law, to review its stance on the Bill. The Bill would ban any goods or services produced in the Israeli-occupied territories, including the Golan Heights, and would affect imports to Ireland as well as the transactions of Irish citizens, Irish companies, and companies with Irish subsidiaries worldwide. During the protest, details of just some of the 15,800 children the group said have lost their lives, their images visible in a gallery displayed outside the Taoiseach's office, were broadcasted to the crowd gathered, the accounts at times disturbingly graphic. While this was ongoing, members distributed leaflets with a QR code which opened an email, good to go to a host of Government ministers, opening with the line: Simon Harris, I write to you disgusted that Fine Gael has bowed to big business and international pressure and continues to block the Occupied Territories Bill from passing into law. The email further asked: Why are you refusing to sanction Israel? The Occupied Territories Bill, when it was brought forward in 2018, was supported by all parties except for Fine Gael. For anyone gathered who wished to send the correspondence, it concluded by stating: The Irish People and all other political parties want the Occupied Territories Bill to pass into law. Fine Gael needs to do the right thing and stop putting the interests of big businesses above the human rights of Palestinians. Simon Harris, we are repulsed by your inaction. You need to pass the Occupied Territories Bill now. To stop a genocide, we need Israeli sanctions and not just strong words. I await your reply." Monday's protest began a week of action which ends with a Solidarity Family Fun day, planned on Saturday, May 25, from 1-4pm, on Greystones beach, while Sunday, May 26 closes out the week with a Busk for Palestine event on Bray seafront, from 1-6pm. Monday afternoon's fatality was the fourth life lost on Wicklow roads in 2024. A local election candidate has spoken out about road safety after a man in his 50s became the fourth to die on County Wicklow roads so far this year. At around 12.30pm on Monday, gardai and emergency services were alerted to a single vehicle accident at Turlough Hill in the Wicklow Mountains, involving a motorcyclist from Dublin, who was fatally injured. Wicklow gardai and Fire Services, and the National Ambulance Service units all attended the scene. The R756 road along the Glendalough to Blessington route was closed off so a technical examination of the scene could be carried out. Road diversions were put in place and the road remained closed for a period of four hours. The local coroner was notified and a post-mortem examination was due to be carried out on Tuesday morning. Gardai are appealing for any witnesses to this incident to come forward. Any road users who may have camera footage (including dash-cam) and were travelling in the area at the time are asked to make this footage available to investigating gardai. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Rathdrum Garda Station on 040 446206, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station. The mans death comes after that of 15-year-old Molly Dempsey of Baltinglass on May 5. In early April, Gorey man Niall Keane lost his life in a motorcycle accident at Tombreane in Carnew, while Kiltegan resident Daryl Culbert (21) and his friends Katie Graham (19) and Michael Kelly (25) lost their lives in a road traffic collision just across the border, around 5km from Carlow town, in January. Hailing from nearby Ashford, Shane Langrell, a Fine Gael election candidate, expressed his sorrow at the losses and called for action. He said: The number of deaths taking place this year on Irish and Wicklow roads is of serious concern. Mondays incident was the fourth death on local Wicklow roads and the 80th death overall on Irish roads, and we are only in the fifth month of the year. Figures for this year are much higher than last year, which is alarming in itself as 2023 represented a 19pc increase in road deaths compared to 2022. GEGE A five-hour long search for the missing Mbondzela Farm security guard, who is suspected to have been kidnapped, did not yield any fruits yesterday. A contingent of police officers from different police stations in the Shiselweni Region combed the nearest forest in search of Vukani Mkhwanazi, to no avail. Mkhwanazi went missing while on duty at Mbondzela in the Shiselweni Region. The police officers, who were in the company of two family members and three guards of the farm, conducted the search, covering a distance of seven kilometres. The search began at 7am. The search party moved towards the direction Mkhwanazi was last seen moving in. On the day Mkhwanazi was last seen, according to an eyewitness who preferred to remain anonymous, he (Mkhwanazi) had set out to look for livestock along the boundaries of the farm and came across a group of unknown people. The unknown people were suspected to be members of political parties as they were allegedly seen wearing the same clothes around the area previously. It was said the unknown people jumped over a fence to the road, where they met Mkhwanazi. It was said that Mkhwanazi made a call to one of his colleagues, who he told about the people he had spotted. Fired It was said that a gunshot was allegedly fired by the unknown people at Mkhwanazi, who also fired back. It was said that he was then chased into the forests by the unknown people, and he had not been seen since then. The search for Mkhwanazi was intensified yesterday by police officers. Since Mkhwanazi went missing on Saturday night, he was searched for by the Gege police on the same night and the following day. The police searched for him in the forests and dongas. When Gege police conducted the search, they spotted shoe prints close to a stream. There was also a spot with various other shoe prints, suggesting that different people were in that area. Next to that area was a way out of the stream, which was in a donga. He is believed to have been abducted. About an hour before the search was abandoned, traces of blood were observed and samples were taken by the police for forensic testing to determine whether it was of a human or an animal. Confirmed Deputy Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Assistant Superintendent Nosipho Mnguni confirmed that the missing man was not found during the search. She said the search would proceed today. The police yesterday published Mkhwanazis picture as a missing person on their social media pages. They shared that he was last seen on May 18, 2024 around 4pm. He was last seen wearing navy blue jeans, a grey jacket, orange and brown buffer and brown half boots. According to the police, Mkhwanazi went missing with a firearm; a panzer pump action that was loaded with 10 live rounds of ammunition. Kate Middleton has made a tentative return alongside Prince William by issuing her first project update since her cancer diagnosis earlier this year. Kate (41) did so on Mental Health Awareness Week in a joint post with her husband highlighting the psychological struggles young farmers can face. The couple wrote on X (Twitter) via the Kensington Royal account: This #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek weve brought together the inspirational Sam Stables from We Are Farming Minds and the brilliant Farmer Will for a very special film. Spending a day together on Sams farm in Hereford they chatted about mental health in the farming community, finding support and the Duchy of Cornwalls Mental Health Strategy. While the Princess does not personally appear in the video, which can be viewed in full on YouTube, it was produced by both herself and William. It is believed that work on the farming project began before her current illness. The post comes after the Princess last addressed the public in a poignant video where she asked for space and privacy as she undergoes preventative chemotherapy. The revelation came in March following a period of intense scrutiny about her whereabouts after she took a break from public duty for planned abdominal surgery in January. While her condition was not believed to be cancerous at the time, the disease was later discovered. She explained that it took time to appropriately explain the situation to the couples three young children George, 10, Charlotte, nine, and Louis, six. Kates tentative return to work comes after King Charles (75) who also has cancer, began public-facing duties again at the end of last month. Despite reports that he would be undertaking a reduced summer schedule, just last week the Monarch undertook five engagements in the space of 48 hours. He has been so busy that he cited his packed schedule as his reason for being unable to meet with Prince Harry on his brief visit to the UK this month. However, Queen Camilla has has warned the King not to overdo it despite his desire to return to normality. Kate was last seen in public on Christmas Day when she attended the church service on the Sandringham Estate, as is tradition, with her family. She is not currently expected to attend any public-facing events in the near future, including the society wedding of the year between the Duke of Westminster and Olivia Henson at Chester Cathedral on 7 June. William, however, will be in attendance at the 400-strong guestlist celebration and is reported to be serving as an usher. Hugh Grosvenor is a close friend of both William and Prince Harry and is Prince Archies godfather. But Harry will reportedly not attend Grosvenors big day to avoid overshadowing the event amid reports of increased tensions between him and his family. Baby girl died when nursery worker strapped her to bean bag, face down Kate Roughley (37) convicted of manslaughter of nine-month-old Genevieve Meehan whom she called stress head Kate Roughley in a still image from a PA video. Image: PA Kim Pilling Tue 21 May 2024 at 03:30 A nursery worker who strapped a baby girl face down on to a bean bag for more than an hour and a half has been convicted of her manslaughter. Israel on Tuesday urged "nations of the civilised world" to oppose the International Criminal Court prosecutor's request for arrest warrants against its leaders, and to declare they would ignore the warrants. UN estimates 810,000 people fled city following evacuation notice Israel made a new push in central Gaza yesterday, bombarded towns in the north of the Strip and said it intended to broaden its military operation in Rafah despite US warnings of the risk of mass casualties in the southern city. Photo Courtesy: Unsplash New Delhi: The government has asked its state-run oil refiners and private company Reliance Industries Ltd. to collaborate on negotiating a long-term supply agreement with Russia, Bloomberg reported. According to the report, the government wants its refiners to secure at least one-third of their contracted supply from Russia at a fixed discount in order to shield the nation's economy from price fluctuations. The request was informal, the report said, citing the sources who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the discussions. The sources told Bloomberg that Reliance is not expected to join the governments efforts for collaboration as it is unlikely to share sensitive information as it competes with state-run oil refiners in the domestic market. India has been a major buyer of Russian crude since the Ukraine invasion, but stricter enforcement of US sanctions has constrained this trade, forcing refiners to purchase more expensive oil. India is urging its state refiners to work together and enhance their bargaining power in supply negotiations instead of competing, the report said. There is a history of collaboration among state refiners, who have previously engaged in joint talks with suppliers in the Middle East and West Africa to secure better terms. However, it is unusual for India to seek assistance from a private refiner, according to the report. State refiners have been eyeing oil discounts of more than $5 per barrel compared to Dated Brent, but Russia is offering a $3 discount and is reluctant to adjust, the report said. After the war began, the discount for one Russian grade surged to over $30 before narrowing. Indian Oil is the only state refiner that previously had a long-term supply deal with Russia, which expired at the end of March and has not been renewed due to disagreements over volumes and price. Mumbai: JSW Cement announced on Tuesday that it will invest nearly Rs 3,000 crore for a new cement manufacturing plant in the Nagaur district of Rajasthan. This investment includes setting up a clinkerisation unit with a capacity of up to 3.30 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), a grinding unit with a capacity of up to 2.50 MTPA, and an 18-megawatt (MW) waste heat recovery-based power plant. The funding for this greenfield and integrated facility will come from a mix of equity and long-term debt. JSW Cement has already received some regulatory and statutory approvals and is in the process of obtaining additional clearances. This new unit will mark JSW Cement's entry into the North India cement market and is expected to generate over 1,000 direct and indirect jobs, according to the company's press statement. On Tuesday, JSW Cement revealed plans to invest approximately Rs 3,000 crore in setting up a new cement manufacturing facility in Rajasthan's Nagaur district. The project will encompass the construction of a clinkerisation unit with a capacity of up to 3.30 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), a grinding unit capable of handling up to 2.50 MTPA, and an 18 megawatt (MW) power plant that utilizes waste heat recovery. The proposed investment for this greenfield and integrated facility will be funded through a combination of equity and long-term debt. JSW Cement has already received some regulatory and statutory approvals and is in the process of obtaining additional clearances. This new unit will mark the company's entry into the North India cement market and is expected to create over 1,000 direct and indirect jobs, according to a company press statement. This is one of the most significant investments we are making in Rajasthan through our cement business. It puts JSW Cement firmly on its path to achieving a pan-India footprint within the next few years. This will enable us to service the prolific needs of our customers in the northern states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, and the NCR (National Capital Region), said Parth Jindal, managing director of JSW Cement. About the North India market, Nilesh Narwekar, chief executive officer of JSW Cement, said, These states have one of the highest GDP growth rates and are witnessing significant infrastructure and housing development. We are very excited to be able to enter this booming construction market. In August, the company revealed its intentions to ramp up capacity from 19 MTPA to 60 MTPA within a span of five years. Furthermore, it outlined its strategy to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) in 2024, with the proceeds earmarked to finance the envisioned expansion. Photo Courtesy: Samsung website Samsung Electronics on Tuesday unveiled the Galaxy Book4 Edge, the next-generation of AI PCs. With 45 TOPS NPU AI computing performance and hybrid AI integrations, the Galaxy Book4 Edge amplifies the PC experience and offers the most hyperconnected mobile AI ecosystem yet. Together, Samsung and leading industry partners are propelling AI innovation and unleashing a next-generation AI PC with the Galaxy Book4 Edge. The Galaxy Book4 Edge expands our vision of AI connectivity bridging the gap between mobile and PC, while democratizing AI experiences that change the way we operate each and every day, said TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics. This next-generation AI PC unlocks new levels of computing performance, made possible by our proven Samsung Galaxy interface and open collaboration with industry leaders to bring our users world-class hardware and software solutions. Levelling Up AI Connectivity Galaxy AI1 on Galaxy Book4 Edge enables the ultimate connected experience, backed with Wi-Fi 72 readiness for quick and seamless cross-device connectivity, while uniquely bridging the use of on-device and cloud-based processing. With this hybrid approach, users can benefit from AI features even when offline, while still maintaining top-of-the-line security over their data. With on-device AI, the intelligent Snapdragon platform learns from users over time, increasing productivity and creating optimized AI experiences. With the addition of the Galaxy Book4 Edge, experiencing comprehensive AI enhancements across Samsung Galaxy devices has never been more accessible. Galaxy Book4 Edge is a Copilot+ PC,3 transforming the way users interact with their devices by allowing users to be more productive and creative using simple, everyday language. Connect a mobile device to Galaxy Book4 Edge to experience Galaxy AI features on an even bigger, more immersive display with Link to Windows. Mirror Circle to Search with Google5 results on a PC display and paste them directly into files to work quickly and seamlessly. Galaxy Book4 Edge also brings fan-favorite features, Chat Assist6 and Live Translate, to the PC. Samsung collaborated with Microsoft to bring Copilot in Windows to Galaxy Book, enabling the perfect mix of on-device and cloud-based AI for the best experience. For everyday actions such as setting alarms, retrieving contacts, sending messages and more, users can access their mobile devices via Copilot voice prompts. Copilot also supports intelligent, next-step action suggestions for increased productivity. Get More Done, Faster The Galaxy Book4 Edge is a continuation of Samsungs legacy in providing best-in-class experiences through premium hardware expertly tuned with cutting-edge software. Designed from the ground up for AI, the Galaxy Book4 Edge introduces the next generation of AI PCs putting a broad scope of AI in users hands and empowering them to accomplish more with less effort. With 45 TOPS NPU processing power, the Snapdragon X Elite processor equips the Galaxy Book4 Edge with unmatched performance for accelerated AI capabilities across all functions. Powered by the fastest, most powerful Snapdragon processor on a laptop, Galaxys on-device AI technology will continuously improve, ensuring a seamless and responsive experience. Searching for documents, emails or web pages on your PC can be time consuming. With Recall, now you can just describe the clues you remember to find it. Or, search across time to find the content you need and re-engage with it. In todays hybrid work environment, video calls are a daily occurrence, and Galaxy Book4 Edge helps defy language barriers with international colleagues, friends and family. Live Captions provide accurate subtitles in real time. If there are spoken words, regardless of the application, turn them into English subtitles in real time on your screen. Galaxy Book4 Edge is designed to make workflows more comprehensive than ever, backed by incredibly efficient, 4x faster AI processing thanks to the Snapdragon X Elite compute platform. Move between applications and commands seamlessly with the devices dedicated AI key, activating AI capabilities with a simple keystroke. And while using Galaxy Book4 Edge, count on all-day battery life, up to 22 hours of video playback time,and Super-Fast Charging. Unlock Creative Potential Anytime, Anywhere Samsung Galaxy users can now enjoy an even larger suite of tools for creators. Galaxy Book4 Edge with Cocreator uses AI to transform creative pursuits. Turn sketches and text into fine art, or input text prompts to create entirely new designs. Take creativity on video calls to the next level with Windows Studio effects. Make video conferences a bit more fun by experimenting with camera filters and background effects powered by on-device AI, or enjoy voice focus, portrait blur and eye contact. Galaxy Book4 Edges premium display and design upgrades make it even easier to be fully immersed in creative pursuits. Vision Booster delivers improved outdoor visibility and the anti-reflective13 10-point multi-touch touchscreen dramatically reduces glare alongside the Dynamic AMOLED 2X14 display. Its ultra-thin and light design ensures users have the freedom to create whenever and wherever creativity strikes. An adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz also delivers a remarkable display alongside cinema-grade brightness and color standards. With Auto Super Resolution, the Galaxy Book4 Edge does not compromise graphics, delivering high-definition and high-frame graphics that upscale games in real time. Trusted Security, Backed by Samsung Knox and Microsoft Secured by Samsung Knox, Samsungs defense-grade, multi-layer security platform, Galaxy Book4 Edge safeguards critical on-device information and protects against vulnerabilities with secure hardware, real-time threat detection and collaborative protection. And as a Microsoft Secured-core PC out of the box, Windows customers can feel confident in the advanced safeguarding of firmware that comes with the highest level of Windows 11 protection. With on-device AI, select Galaxy AI and Copilot+ features process user functions without uploading data to the cloud, protecting user privacy. For Recall, your snapshots are yours. They stay local on your PC and you can use easy controls to delete, adjust and filter what content is saved. "You are always in control with privacy you can trust. For features that require cloud-based AI activity, Microsofts suite of security features offer around the clock protection. Device Privacy Settings further embody Samsung Galaxys commitment to give users choice over their device and AI safeguards," read the Samsung website. Availability The Galaxy Book4 Edge will be available in select markets including France, Germany, Italy, Korea, Spain, the UK and the U.S. starting June 18, 2024. The 14-inch and 16-inch size options come with refined finish for a sleek, premium feel, created from a wide variety of recycled materials, including plastics, glass and aluminum. For more information about Galaxy Book4 Edge, please visit: https://www.samsung.com/galaxy-book/. Photo courtesy: Facebook/Sambit Patra As Odisha voted for the Lok Sabha and a new assembly in the Fifth Phase of the election, Patra told reporters that Lord Jagannath, the presiding deity of Puri, "is Modi's bhakt". After the Chief Minister took offence to the comment and launched an angry protest on social media, Patra issued a clarification, saying it was a "slip of tongue". "Lakhs of people have gathered here to see PM Modi. Jagannath is Modi's bhakt and we are all PM Modi's family. I cannot control my emotions and I think today is a momentous day for all Odias," said Patra, who is the candidate from Puri. His remarks drew immediate condemnation from Naveen Patnaik, who is hoping for a sixth consecutive term in the state. "Mahaprabhu Shree Jagannatha is the Lord of Universe. Calling Mahaprabhu a bhakt of another human being is an insult to the Lord. This has hurt the sentiments and demeaned the faith of crores of Jagannatha bhaktas and Odias across the world," Patnaik posted on social media. "The Lord is the greatest Symbol of Odia Asmita. Calling Mahaprabhu a bhakt of another human being is totally condemnable. I strongly denounce the statement made by the BJP Puri Lok Sabha candidate and I appeal to the BJP to keep the Lord above any political discourse. By this you have deeply hurt Odia Asmita and this will be remembered and condemned by people of Odisha for a very long time," his post read. Mahaprabhu Shree Jagannatha is the Lord of Universe. Calling Mahaprabhu a bhakt of another human being is an insult to the Lord. This has hurt the sentiments and demeaned the faith of crores of Jagannatha bhaktas and Odias across the world. The Lord is the greatest Symbol of Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) May 20, 2024 Congress's Supriya Shrinate joined the protest, posting, "Lord Jagannath is a devotee of Modi... What has happened to the BJP people? Such an insult to our beloved God? this arrogance will come to an end". Patra issued a clarification saying: "I gave number of bytes today to multiple media channels after the massive success of Shri Narendra Modiji's Road Show in Puri today, everywhere I mentioned that Modi ji is an ardent "Bhakt" of Shri Jagannath Mahaprabhu ..by mistake during one of the bytes I pronounced just the opposite ..I know you too know and understand this ..Sir let's not make an issue out of a nonexistent issue ..we all have "slip of tongue sometimes." Mahaprabhu Shree Jagannatha is the Lord of Universe. Calling Mahaprabhu a bhakt of another human being is an insult to the Lord. This has hurt the sentiments and demeaned the faith of crores of Jagannatha bhaktas and Odias across the world. The Lord is the greatest Symbol of Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) May 20, 2024 However, even after his clarification post, the wave of outrage continued. A post by Kerala Congress read, "Sambit Patra says that Prabhu Jagannath is a Bhakth of Modi. @sambitswaraj, God sends no one away empty, except those who are full of themselves". Several netizens demanded a public apology from the BJP leader. A 17-year-old killed two people after he crashed his speeding Porsche on them. Photo Courtesy: Screengrab of viral video Pune police have arrested the father of the 17-year-old boy who crashed his speeding Porsche into a bike which killed two people. Real estate developer Vishal Agrawal was arrested from Aurangabad city of Maharashtra after a case was registered against him on Monday. He was reportedly on the run. What happened on Sunday night? A man and a woman, riding a motorbike, were killed when the car, driven by a 17-year-old, hit their vehicle in Pune's Kalyani Nagar in the wee hours of Sunday. The accident happened at 3:15 am when Anish Awadiya and Ashwini Costa were returning home with friends on motorcycles after partying at a club, according to the police, reported NDTV. The two riders were flung into the air under the impact of the crash, causing them to land on another car. They died instantly. After hitting them, the car crashed into the pavement and came to a halt, said the report. According to media reports, the minor accused is the son of a renowned builder in Pune. Videos on social media showed a group of people thrashing the minor as he tried to come out of his mangled car. Photo courtesy: X/@ArvindKejriwal New Delhi/IBNS: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday echoed other opposition party leaders' voice claiming INDIA, the anti-BJP front, is set to win over 300 seats. Kejriwal claimed a lot of surveys have indicated the INDIA alliance is set to form the government, putting an end to the 10 years of uninterrupted Modi regime. Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal said, "As the 5th phase of elections is completed and as the elections are being held, it is becoming clear that on June 4, the Modi government is going and INDIA alliance is going to form a coalition government. "A lot of people have surveyed. The survey results are claiming INDIA alliance is winning over 300 seats alone on June 4 and is set to provide a clean and stable government." #WATCH | Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal says "As the 5th phase of elections is completed and as the elections are being held, it is becoming clear that on June 4, the Modi government is going away and INDIA alliance is going to form a coalition government. On June 4, the INDIA alliance pic.twitter.com/0QKRRMTXRM ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2024 Earlier, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh claimed the INDIA alliance is on its way to win around 350 seats in the long summer elections, which are nearing an end.. Ramesh posted on X, "With five phases of the elections now concluded, voting for 428 seats is over. With just 15 days to go for the outgoing PMs final departure, heres the round-up of the campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections: The trends that have been emerging since Phase 1 have only gained strength: it is clear that for the BJP, it is South mein Saaf, North, West, and East mein Half. ".. It appears that the INDIA alliance has already crossed the halfway mark of 272 seats and is on course for a tally of over 350 seats in total..." With five phases of the elections now concluded, voting for 428 seats is over. With just 15 days to go for the outgoing PMs final departure, heres the round-up of the campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections: 1. The trends that have been emerging since Phase 1 have only Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) May 20, 2024 West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is battling out a spirited BJP in her backyard, has claimed the saffron camp will get around 195 seats at most while the INDIA alliance is poised to win 315 seats. "The wind is changing.. Modi is losing," Mamata had said recently at a public meeting. The opposition leaders made the claims after Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a call for his BJP to win 370 seats alone and 400 seats as the NDA, the ruling coalition. With its tally of seats being saturated in North and West, BJP now hopes to make gains in states like West Bengal, Odisha, Telangana, Tamil Nadu. LOBAMBA The National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) is alleged to have not accounted for the use of over E30 million that was designated for the COVID-19 response project. Although it was not mentioned during the PAC sitting, it is common knowledge that this was at the time when the NDMA was under the leadership of the incumbent Prime Minister, Russell Dlamini, as Chief Executive Officer, in the 2020/2021 financial year. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) cast doubt on the clean audits of the governments disaster response agency, during the fifth day of the PAC, when the Deputy Prime Ministers (DPM) Office responded to audit queries. The DPMs Office is the parent ministry of the NDMA. The scrutiny of the NDMA queries took over two hours of the PAC as the parliamentary watchdog went through the recommendations of the auditor generals (AG) compliance audit report on government accounts for the financial year ended March 31, 2021. Uncounted The AG had reported that the financial reports of management revealed that there was an uncounted for expenditure amounting to E30 936 887.72 for the COVID-19 response project, in the financial year ended March 31, 2021. The AG noted that a detailed statement of comprehensive income reported a total expenditure of E349 955 313, whereas the records and management performance report submitted to his office, through a letter dated March 29, 2022, presented an expenditure amount of E319 936 887.72 for the COVID-19 project. The unaccounted for funds were designated for the COVID-19 response project. In the response that was given during the 2022 PAC session, where the 2021 financial audits were under scrutiny, the DPMs Office Principal Secretary/controlling officer, Ambassador Melusi Masuku, told the then PAC that the NDMA made an error and did not include a donation in kind worth E30 million in the financial audits. Breakdown A recommendation was made to the NDMA to provide a breakdown of the utilisation of the E30 936 887.72 to the AGs office, with all related supporting documents. Two years later, the matter has not been concluded as the AGs Office said it was still awaiting the breakdown of the expenditure and related documents, which were not in the annexed documents of the thick report that was brought before the PAC. The AG also noted a further E11 million, still under COVID-19 response, in another responsibility area. Though documents for the expenditure were submitted, they were still to be reviewed by the AGs Office. PS Masuku, in his response to the PAC, said the matter was resolved as the documents had been submitted to the AGs Office. However, the Assistant Auditor General, Samkele Motsa, said he was unaware of any documents that the controlling officer was referring to. This was after he was asked by the Chairperson of the PAC, Deputy Speaker, who also Mhlangatane Member of Parliament (MP), Madala Mhlanga, if the matter had been resolved as per the submission of the PS. Motsa said: The records we had in the ledger showed E319 936 887.72, while the trial balance showed E349 955 313, he said. The tension in the House mounted when the PS asked the NDMA Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Thoko Dlamini, to respond on the status of the matter, since the report was compiled based on responses that were provided by NDMA. Meeting The CFO said they convened a meeting with the AGs Office, where the breakdown was reflected in March this year, as well as last Friday. She also told the PAC that minutes of the meetings where the responses to the PAC were discussed were annexed to the documents they submitted. However, the assistant AG told the PAC that information he had in his office was that the E30 million funds were still uncounted for, as nothing had been concluded on the matter. He said he was surprised to hear Masuku telling the PAC that the matter had been resolved, yet it was still pending. Some of the MPs, who included Dvokodvweni MP Sifiso Shabalala, suggested that the PS should take an oath, because his responses were suspicious. The disagreements between the AGs office and NDMA were glaring as both parties maintained their position on the status of the financial records. The MPs further posed a question to the PS, asking him why he was lying before the PAC. The MPs stated that they were not going to sit there and waste taxpayers money listening to contradicting statement. They said if the matter was resolved, the AG would have easily agreed, but seemingly someone somewhere was not telling the truth. What fuelled the tension even more was an explanation made by Motsa, saying it was not possible for the accounting books to have different balances. He said the general ledger in fact should rather have a higher balance, because its entries are made per transaction, yet a trial balance is a consolidation. He said it was questionable that the trial balance was over by E30 million. After Motsas explanation, Kubuta MP Masiphula Mamba noted that the matter dated back to 2021, and asked what had dragged it to 2024, because it should have been resolved a long time ago. This is a matter of public interest. The public wants to know what happened to the findings of the 2021 AGs report. Are you not cooking the books of accounts, given the explanation by the AG? Why is the general ledger different from the trial balance? he asked. The Deputy Chairperson of the PAC, who is also Nhlambeni MP, Manzi Zwane, questioned the whereabouts of the over E30 million expenditure breakdown. He said all they wanted to determine was what the E30 million was used for. The CFO maintained that the government auditors in their various engagements went through their system, which reflected that the E30 million was just an error of management letter, but the actual figure was indeed the E349 million that was shown by the audited statement. The assistant AG told the PAC that the facts were misrepresented in the report by the PS, as there was no consensus that was reached. We still retain that the general ledger and trial balance are not balancing, he said. The chairperson asked why the officers were telling different stories while there was enough time to prepare responses and finalise the matter ahead of their appearance before the PAC. Why did you not resolve these matters before you came here, I am lost, you should be speaking the same language, Mhlanga said. Photo Courtesy: PIB In the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha polls, Jammu and Kashmir once again shined when Baramulla's parliamentary constituency shunned its dark and uncertain past and returned to pre-militancy poll fervour as the seat saw a strong voter turnout on Monday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised voters of the region and said: " Compliments to my sisters and brothers of Baramulla for their unbreakable commitment to democratic values. Such active participation is a great trend." After a record voter turnout of 38.49% in Srinagar PC in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Baramulla Parliament Constituency now seems headed for the highest turnout in the last 8 Lok Sabha elections. Voter turnout of 54.21 % was recorded as of 5 PM in the districts of Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora and Budgam. CEC Rajiv Kumar, along with fellow Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar, and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu. while appreciating the efforts of both civil and security personnel in the smooth and peaceful conduct of elections and thanking enthusiastic participation by the voters of J&K said that a clear message has been given that people of the region are eager to exercise franchise and have their stakes in the democratic system of governance. Polling took place in 2103 polling stations across the Baramulla Parliamentary constituency with live webcasting at the polling stations. Voting started at 7 a.m. across the PC with long queues of enthusiastic voters waiting to cast their votes. There are 22 candidates in the fray in the Baramulla PC in the ongoing GE 2024. Polling personnel including security personnel worked tirelessly to ensure that an atmosphere of calm, peace and festivities welcomed voters at the polling stations. The Commission has enabled Kashmiri migrant voters residing at various relief camps in Delhi, Jammu, and Udhampur to also have the option of voting in person at designated special polling stations or using postal ballot. 21 Special Polling Stations were established at Jammu, 1 at Udhampur and 4 at Delhi. Earlier, in the fourth phase, Srinagar PC covering districts of Srinagar, Ganderbal, Pulwama, Budgam & Shopian Districts partly recorded voter turnout of 38.49%, highest in many decades. This was the first general election in the valley after the abrogation of Article 370 and the enactment of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. Videograbs of Pune accident/ courtesy: X New Delhi/IBNS: 17-year-old Vedant Agarwal who rammed his father's high-end Porsche into a motorcycle in Pune , killing two techies in their 20s, knew that his act could cause death, and hence, the Indian Penal Code section against him would be applied accordingly, a top police officer has said. The other two occupants of the car, who are friends of the accused, are being treated as witnesses for now, and the police are trying to build a watertight case, Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar told NDTV Tuesday. The accident took place in the early hours of Sunday, when the 17-year-old, who had been drinking with his friends in two pubs in Pune to celebrate his Class 12 CBSE results, knocked down the two IT professionals in the Kalyani Nagar area. Aneesh Awadhiya (24), who was riding the bike was sent flying and hit a parked car, while Ashwini Koshta (25), who was riding pillion, was flung 20 feet into the air. Both of them died on the spot. Kumar said the teenager, who is the son of a prominent Pune builder, was taken for a medical test in the early hours on Sunday and his blood has been taken and sent for a forensic report. "Here, we are not applying a case of 304(a) of the Indian Penal Code of drunken driving and a rash and negligent act. We are applying Section 304, where we are saying that he had the knowledge that his rash act - where he was driving a Porsche without a number plate at a rash speed on a narrow street after consuming alcohol - could cause or was likely to cause death," the police commissioner told the channel. Emphasising that he does not think the report on the test for alcohol in the teenager's blood would come back negative, Kumar said that, irrespective of what the report finally said, the police are trying to prove a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder where there is a knowledge that the act could cause death. Vedant was also asked to learn traffic rules and submit a report by 15 days, The New India Express reported. Vedant's father Vishal Agrawal was arrested from Aurangabad city of Maharashtra after a case was registered against him on Monday. He was reportedly on the run. Photo courtesy: Sheena Chohan's Team/Emily Jean Russell photography Cannes/IBNS: Indian actress Sheena Chohan is "excited" as the trailer of her film Amar-Prem was launched at the Bharat Pavilion in the 77th edition of Cannes Film Festival. The film is in the official NFDC India Section at the prestigious festival. Sharing her joy, the actress, who is now in Cannes, told IBNS, "I'm so excited that my film, Amar-Prem has had its launch today at the Bharat Pavilion." "I had so much fun researching, understanding and fitting into this character. Shes a symbol of pure love in this heart touching love triangle," she added. Amar Prem is directed by Suvendu Raj Ghosh and produced by the Great Indian Film Television. Sharing about her role, Sheena tells, "I play Neha, a girl who believes in true love and who has had a fulfilling relationship with her husband who she not only deeply loves, but respects and admires, and then she finds out a truth he had hidden from her. "It's absolutely heartbreaking, an emotional rollercoaster, but is about the real value and purpose of true love and so its one of my favourite films I've made." Talking about what prompted her to take up the role, she adds, "Firstly it was the director - Suvendu Raj Ghosh - when he narrated the project to me it filled me with so much joy, because it is doing exactly what cinema should - it's bringing a message about purpose in life, about the goodness of man, about hope and about love to people. "Everything for me comes down to character - I always immerse myself completely into a character and become a blank page for my director and in this film it was a dream as Suvendu Sir knew exactly what he wanted and the character he gave me had so many interesting layers to her. It was beyond a pleasure!" Giving insights about the film's subject, she shares, "It's a film we can all connect to because we all know what it is like to love and to lose - at some point in our lives we all lose people we love and the more we love them, the more it hurts. "This film is a philosophical look into how a person can love someone so much it breaks through any natural jealous impulse or desire to own a person and instead looks at the true properties of love, which doesn't include putting people in a cage, but in giving them their freedom and wanting to see them happy. Its USP is that I've never seen a film take up a subject so touching like this." Sheena, whose work includes projects such as Malayalam film The Train opposite Mammootty, Netflixs The Fame Game starring Madhuri Dixit, Disney Hotstars The City of Dreams 2 and Ex Mates, Netflixs Ant Story to name a few, is presently shooting in the US where her Hollywood film Nomad releases later this year. Apart from Amar Prem, Sheena has 3 more releases in 2024. The first is a Hindi feature Sant Tukaram, where she plays Avalai Jiji Bai, the female lead opposite Subodh Bhave, directed by Aditya Om. The second is a Telugu film, where she plays alongside south star JD Chakravarthy. Sheena will also be seen in a negative lead, playing a She-Devil, for another OTT platform. (Photo courtesy: Sheena Chohan's Team/Emily Jean Russell photography) Iranian President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi addressing the General Assembly in September 2022.Photo Courtesy: UN Photo/Cia Pak Iran has decided to hold the 14th presidential election on June 28, a day after president Ebrahim Raisi and some members of his accompanying team, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, died in a helicopter crash on Sunday. "Article 131 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran states the formation of a council to manage the executive affairs of the country for a period of 50 days and prepare for the presidential elections," IRNA news agency reported. Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian have died after the helicopter in which they were travelling crashed in a dense forest area in East Azerbaijan. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, alongside members of the Security Council, has extended sincere condolences to the people and Government of Iran following the death of President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi. The Secretary-General expresses his sincere condolences to the families of the deceased and to the Government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Guterres Spokesperson said in a statement released in New York on Monday. The Secretary-General expresses his sincere condolences to the families of the deceased and to the Government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Guterres Spokesperson said in a statement released in New York on Monday. The members of the Security Council joined the Secretary-General in expressing condolences as they convened on Monday. Led by Pedro Comissario Afonso, Permanent Representative of Mozambique and Council President for May, the ambassadors observed a moment of silence at the start of the bodys 9629th meeting. According to media reports, President Raisis funeral is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, and all cultural events in the country have been cancelled during what is now an official period of mourning. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, led a minute of silence in honour of the passing of those who died, at a conference on nuclear security taking place in Vienna on Monday. IAEA inspectors have been working with authorities for years at Irans nuclear sites in order to limit capacity to purely civilian use. Representative Image of a Singapore Airlines flight photo courtesy: Unsplash At least one person died and several others were injured after a Singapore Airlines flight from London encountered severe turbulence on Tuesday. The flight was on its way from London to Singapore. The airline posted on X: "Singapore Airlines flight #SQ321, operating from London (Heathrow) to Singapore on 20 May 2024, encountered severe turbulence en-route. The aircraft diverted to Bangkok and landed at 1545hrs local time on 21 May 2024." Singapore Airlines flight #SQ321, operating from London (Heathrow) to Singapore on 20 May 2024, encountered severe turbulence en-route. The aircraft diverted to Bangkok and landed at 1545hrs local time on 21 May 2024. We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on Singapore Airlines (@SingaporeAir) May 21, 2024 "We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER. Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased," the airline said. The airline said it is working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance. Images have emerged from inside SQ321 after hitting severe turbulence while enroute to Singapore, killing one passenger. https://t.co/sPhFfVr1Tb pic.twitter.com/IngvtijtAD Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) May 21, 2024 SIA said it is sending a team to Bangkok to provide any additional assistance needed. The aviation company did not specifically mention the total number of people injured in the mishap. (Note: The Image is a representative photo of a Singapore Airlines flight and it is not related to the flight which encountered the turbulence) American sex worker engages with over 200 clients despite knowing she was HIV-positive. Photo Courtesy: @LPaulKang X page An American sex worker from Ohio is claiming she engaged with over 200 clients despite knowing that she was HIV-positive, triggering the police to warn people who contacted her for the 'risky business' to immediately get themselves tested. The prostitute was identified as 30-year-old Linda Leccesse. Authorities said that she had interacted with at least 211 clients from multiple states in the past two years since January 1, 2022, when she had tested and found herself HIV-positive. Leccesse solicited most of those clients on Market Street in Marietta a small city in southeast Ohio on the border of West Virginia but the possibly infected people are believed to be spread across the East Coast, reported New York Post. On May 14, 2024, the (Southeast Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force), through an investigation, indicted a local sex trafficker, Washington County Sheriff Office Chief Deputy Mark Warden said during the press conference as quoted by Parkersburg News and Sentinel. During that investigation they had learned that this individual had tested positive for HIV in 2022 This individual still continued the sex trade and through the investigation the agents had learned over 211 individuals have either had contact or contact physically or by phone with this individual, Warden said. He said an officer from the Sheriffs Office and the Marietta Police Department will be reaching out to contact those 211 individuals to inform them and ask them to be tested. We want the citizens out there to understand that there will be a deputy sheriff reaching out to these individuals that we have numbers for, Warden said. Theyre not in trouble, this is public health awareness. This is not a scam. Leccessee was arrested on May 13 for soliciting sex. It was during this time that police same to know that she knew that she was HIV-positive for two years. The next day, she was indicted for engaging in solicitation after a positive HIV test, a third-degree felony, New York Post reported. Photo Caption: American sex worker engages with over 200 clients despite knowing she was HIV-positive. Photo Courtesy: @LPaulKang X page These visuals have sparked a wave of concern and outrage among many, raising critical questions about Canadas stance on hate speech and the role of its authorities in maintaining social harmony. The presence of such floats at a cultural and religious event intended to promote peace and community spirit is not only inappropriate but also inflammatory. The fact that these effigies were allowed to be displayed openly, with no intervention from the Canadian police present at the event, is deeply troubling. It begs the question: is Canada now openly permitting such forms of hate-mongering? The Indian diaspora in Canada, along with many others, are rightfully alarmed. This incident is not an isolated one but part of a troubling trend where Khalistani extremists have been allowed to hijack public events to propagate their agenda. The lack of action from the authorities is not just a failure in maintaining law and order but a tacit endorsement of such behavior. One cannot help but question whether the current Canadian administration is willing to go to any lengths to appease a fringe element of the Sikh community for the sake of vote-bank politics. Is the government prioritizing political expediency over the values of tolerance, respect, and peaceful coexistence that Canada is known for? The implications of this are far-reaching. Allowing such divisive and inciteful displays undercuts the fabric of multiculturalism that Canada prides itself on. It sets a dangerous precedent where hate speech and incitement are given a free pass under the guise of free expression. The silence and inaction of the authorities in this case are not just concerning but also reflective of a deeper issue within the political landscape. It raises doubts about the commitment of the Canadian government to protect all its citizens from hate and discrimination, irrespective of political considerations. As a society, Canada must not stand idly by while such hate-mongering tactics are allowed to flourish. The government needs to take a firm stand against any form of incitement and ensure that all communities feel safe and respected. The authorities should have intervened at the Nagar Kirtan event to stop the display of such offensive and provocative floats. Failure to do so not only emboldens extremists but also erodes the trust of the public in the ability of the state to uphold justice and equality. It is imperative for the Canadian government to address this issue head-on. Clear and decisive actions must be taken to prevent the recurrence of such incidents. Canada must reaffirm its commitment to fostering a society where diversity is celebrated, and every individual, regardless of their background, is treated with dignity and respect. The current administration must show that it stands against hate-mongering and that it will not sacrifice the core values of Canadian society for political gains. (Image and text courtesy: Khalsavox.com) India is the country of thousands of holy places that attract millions of devotees each year. Uttarakhand is one such region with several pilgrimage sites that are always busy with pilgrims. As May begins, the Adi Kailash and Om Parvat pilgrimage in Uttarakhand starts. Registration for the Adi Kailash Yatra is open. On Monday, May 13, the first group of 19 pilgrims began their journey to Adi Kailash and Om Parvat. Recently, 49 pilgrims arrived at the Dharchula base camp, on their way to Jolingkong, where they can see the sacred peak. These pilgrims are headed to the Shiv-Parvati temple, located by a lake at 18,500 feet in Jolingkong, from where the sacred Adi Kailash peak is visible. The pilgrimage takes seven days per group, with stops at camps in Pithoragarh, Dharchula, Gunji, Bundi, Chaukori, and Bhimtal. On the eighth day, pilgrims head back to New Delhi. So far, over 500 pilgrims from all over India have registered for this year's yatra, according to Dhan Singh Bisht, the KMVN base camp manager. How to Register for the Pilgrimage To join the Adi Kailash Yatra, you need to register through the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN). Heres how to do it: Fill Out the Application Form: Get the form from the KMVN website or office. Submit Required Documents: Along with the form, submit: Police verification certificate Notified area permit Medical clearance certificate Indemnity bond Required fee Form Submission: Email the completed form and documents to crckmvn@gmail.com. Mail the original documents to the Manager, Central Reservation Center, Oak Park House, Mallital, Nainital, Uttarakhand - 263001. For help, call 8650002520. Eligibility Criteria Because the journey involves high altitudes and tough terrain, only medically fit people can join. A medical clearance certificate is needed. People with serious health issues or fear of heights should not undertake this pilgrimage. Importance of Adi Kailash Yatra Adi Kailash is one of the five sacred Kailash mountains and is very important in Hinduism. It is believed to be the home of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. The pilgrimage lets spiritual seekers connect deeply with their faith in the peaceful Himalayan setting. Mount Kailash, revered by Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists, stands at 19,500 feet in the Tibetan Autonomous Region. It is seen as the world's spiritual center and the home of many deities. For Jains, it is known as Ashtapad, where Lord Adinath, the first Tirthankara, achieved enlightenment. Walking around Mount Kailash, called parikrama, covers 52 km and is believed to cleanse sins and purify the soul. Devotees walk this path clockwise, seeking spiritual growth and peace. By following these guidelines and understanding the pilgrimage's significance, devotees can embark on a journey that promises spiritual growth and profound experiences. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - Adi Kailash Yatra 2024 Q: How do I sign up for the Adi Kailash Yatra? A: To join, apply through the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN). Fill out their form, send required documents like police verification, medical clearance, and pay the fee. Email copies to crckmvn@gmail.com and mail originals to the Manager, Central Reservation Center, Oak Park House, Mallital, Nainital, Uttarakhand - 263001. For help, call 8650002520. Q: What documents do I need to register? A: Along with the form, submit police verification, medical clearance, and other mentioned documents. This ensures everyone's safety during the journey. Q: Who can join the Adi Kailash Yatra? A: Only medically fit individuals can join due to the challenging terrain. A medical clearance is a must. People with serious health issues or fear of heights should avoid for their safety. Q: How long does the Yatra take? A: It's a seven-day journey with stops at camps in various places. On the eighth day, participants return to New Delhi. Q: Why is the Yatra significant? A: Adi Kailash is a sacred site believed to be Lord Shiva's abode. The pilgrimage lets you connect deeply with your faith amidst the beautiful Himalayas. Mount Kailash is revered by many religions as a spiritual center. Q: Can children join? A: It's not suitable for children due to high altitudes and tough terrain. Participants should be physically and mentally prepared. Narasimha Jayanti 2024: Narasimha Jayanti is a highly significant religious festival for Hindus, dedicated to Lord Narasimha, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. This day is celebrated with great enthusiasm, especially in South India. In 2024, Narasimha Jayanti will be observed on May 21st, during the Chaturdashi Tithi of the Shukla Paksha in the month of Vaishakha. Narasimha Jayanti 0224: Date and Time Narasimha Jayanti: 2024 Date And Puja Timing Chaturdashi Tithi Begins May 21, 2024 - 05:39 PM Chaturdashi date Ends May 22, 2024 - 06:47 PM Narasimha Jayanti evening puja time From 03:40 PM 06:18 PM Parana for Narasimha Jayanti May 23, 2024 - 05:09 AM Narasimha Jayanti Afternoon Resolution Time From 10:25 AM 01:02 PM Narasimha Jayanti 2024: History Lord Narasimha is a manifestation of Lord Vishnu. According to mythology, Vishnu took the form of Narasimha, a half-man, half-lion, to save his devotee Prahlada from his demon king father, Hiranyakashipu. Hiranyakashipu had received a boon that made him invincible to death by god, demon, man, or animal, and he could not be killed indoors or outdoors, day or night. Vishnu, in the form of Narasimha, overcame these protections by killing Hiranyakashipu at dusk, on a doorstep. Narasimha Jayanti 2024: Rituals Narasimha Jayanti symbolises the triumph of good over evil. On this day, devotees remember how Lord Narasimha saved Prahlada, showcasing the omnipotence of the divine. Worshipping Lord Narasimha on this day is believed to provide protection and resolve difficulties. According to the Drik Panchang, devotees eat only one meal the day before the festival and avoid grains and cereals during the fast. The fast is broken the next day at an appropriate time. On Narasimha Jayanti, devotees perform puja during Madhyahna and before sunset, as it is believed that Narasimha appeared at dusk. It is recommended to stay awake through the night and perform Visarjan Puja the next morning. The fast ends after Visarjan Puja and giving alms to Brahmins. Narasimha Jayanti 2024: Wishes and Quotes | Stock Image Narasimha Jayanti 2024: Wishes and Quotes Happy Narasimha Jayanti 2024: Messages and wishes May the divine grace of Lord Narasimha fill your heart with love, courage, and wisdom on this auspicious day. Happy Narasimha Jayanti 2024! Let us celebrate Lord Narasimha's birth anniversary and seek his blessings for a peaceful and prosperous life. On this auspicious occasion, may Lord Narasimha protect us from all dangers and negativity. May the blessings of Lord Narasimha guide us towards righteousness always. Happy Narasimha Jayanti 2024! Let us strive for a life filled with love, kindness, and compassion under Lord Narasimha's blessings. Remember the victory of good over evil and pledge to lead a righteous life on this holy day. Happy Narasimha Jayanti 2024! May Lord Narasimha grant us strength to overcome obstacles and live in peace and happiness. Seek divine blessings for a better and brighter future on this special day. Happy Narasimha Jayanti! May the divine presence of Lord Narasimha protect us from harm and negativity. Follow Lord Narasimha's teachings to become better human beings. Happy Narasimha Jayanti 2024! May Lord Narasimha's blessings fill our lives with happiness and prosperity. Happy Narasimha Jayanti 2024! Pray for the well-being of ourselves and loved ones on this holy day. Seek divine guidance for a life of purpose and meaning. Happy Narasimha Jayanti 2024! May Lord Narasimha bless us with the strength to overcome fears and doubts. Celebrate Lord Narasimha's birth and pray for a peaceful and harmonious world. May the divine grace of Lord Narasimha bring success and fulfillment. Happy Narasimha Jayanti 2024! Remember the importance of righteousness and moral values on this holy day. Happy Narasimha Jayanti 2024! May Lord Narasimha protect us from negative energies and evil influences. Pray for the well-being of all living beings on this special day. Happy Narasimha Jayanti 2024! Let the divine presence of Lord Narasimha guide us towards love, compassion, and service. Happy Narasimha Jayanti 2024: Quotes "The power of the divine is infinite and all-encompassing. Seek Lord Narasimha's blessings on this holy day." "May Lord Narasimha bless us with the courage and wisdom to overcome obstacles and lead righteous lives." "On this auspicious day, seek divine protection and strive to become better human beings." "Celebrate the victory of good over evil and pledge to live with kindness and compassion." "May the divine presence of Lord Narasimha guide us to peace, harmony, and prosperity." "Seek the blessings of Lord Narasimha and pray for the well-being of all beings." "Lord Narasimha's teachings remind us of righteousness and inspire us to uphold moral values." "May divine grace bring success, happiness, and fulfillment in all our endeavors." "The fierce form of Lord Narasimha represents the power of the divine to conquer negativity and evil." "Celebrate Lord Narasimha's birth and seek his blessings for a peaceful world." Narasimha Jayanti 2024: FAQs What is Narasimha Jayanti? Narasimha Jayanti is a Hindu festival celebrating the birth of Lord Narasimha, the fourth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. He appeared in the half-man, half-lion form to vanquish the demon king Hiranyakashipu and protect his devotee Prahlada. When is Narasimha Jayanti celebrated? It is observed on the fourteenth day of the Shukla Paksha (bright fortnight) in the Hindu month of Vaisakha, which usually falls in April or May. In 2024, Narasimha Jayanti was celebrated on May 21sy. What is the significance of Narasimha Jayanti? Narasimha Jayanti represents the triumph of good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, and God's protection for devotees. Devotees worship Lord Narasimha seeking blessings for protection, removal of negativity, and overcoming challenges. How is Narasimha Jayanti celebrated? Devotees wake up early, take a bath, and perform puja (worship) rituals for Lord Narasimha. Offerings like sandalwood paste, saffron, coconut, fruits, and flowers are common. Some devotees observe fasting on this day. Public performances of the Bhagavata Mela, a traditional folk dance depicting stories from the Bhagavata Purana, are popular in South India. What are some puja rituals for Narasimha Jayanti? Taking Sankalpa (oath) in the afternoon. Performing Narasimha puja before sunset. Jagaran (staying awake all night) in devotion. Visarjan puja (immersion of puja items) the next day morning. Chanting Narasimha Gayatri Mantra. Where is Narasimha Jayanti mostly celebrated? Narasimha Jayanti is observed throughout India, but it holds special significance in South India. For more informative articles on historical and upcoming events from around the world, please visit Indiatimes Events. Recently, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced his government's plan to discontinue the graduate visa route, aiming to tighten migration controls in the United Kingdom. This policy shift is poised to significantly alter the landscape for international students, particularly those from India, casting a shadow over their educational and professional prospects in the UK. Graduate Route Visa: What is it & why will Indian students be impacted the most? The Graduate Route Visa is a program designed to offer foreign students an opportunity to extend their stay in the UK following the completion of their undergraduate, postgraduate, or other qualifying courses. Under this scheme, individuals who have completed their doctoral qualifications, such as a PhD, are granted a three-year visa, while those finishing other eligible courses receive a two-year visa. Freepik This visa provides recipients with the freedom to work, freelance, pursue further education, and travel abroad with the possibility of returning to the UK. Moreover, it facilitates a transition to a 'skilled worker' visa for those who secure employment before the expiration of their graduate route visa. Introduced by the British Government in July 2021, the Graduate Route Visa imposes certain eligibility criteria. Applicants must be physically present in the United Kingdom at the time of application and hold either a Short Term Study Visa or General Student Visa (Tier 4). Additionally, their educational institution must inform the UK Home Office upon course completion. Graduate Route Visa Program discontinuation: How Indian students will be impacted According to reports, Professor Brian Bell, the Chair of the Migration Advisory Committee, highlighted that any limitations imposed on the Graduate Route would disproportionately impact Indian students. BCCL This is because, between 2021 and 2023, Indian students received a significant share of the Graduate Route visas, accounting for 42% of the total granted, which amounts to 89,200 visas. Consequently, the decision to discontinue this visa option raises concerns specifically for Indian students. This visa holds considerable sway in the decision-making process for Indian students opting for higher education in the UK, making its discontinuation a significant cause for alarm. For more information on exams, results and careers, please visit Indiatimes Education. For the past couple of days, life for residents of Delhi and the National Capital Region has been like living in a frying pan as the temperature continues to soar. On Monday, temperatures in several parts of Delhi again breached the 47 degrees Celsius mark. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a 'red alert' for the next four days due to heatwave to severe heat wave conditions in the national capital. All schools closed in Delhi The Delhi government on Monday directed private and government-aided schools that have not closed for summer vacations despite the heatwave to do so with immediate effect. In a circular, the Directorate of Education said all the schools were directed to observe summer vacation from May 11 to June 30 for this academic year. Also read: Education Department Issues Guidelines For Schools BCCL "...all the govt. schools are closed w.e.f. 11.05.24. However, it has been observed that some of the govt. aided and unaided recognised private schools are still open during ongoing severe heat waves. Therefore, all the heads of govt. aided and unaided recognised private schools of Delhi are advised to close the schools for summer vacation with immediate effect," read the circular. IMD issues warning As the extreme weather conditions set in, the IMD has advised people, especially vulnerable groups like the elderly and infants, to avoid heat exposure. It is also advised to drink sufficient water, even if not thirsty, to avoid dehydration. Also read: As Heat Wave Grips Delhi, Here Are Some Tips To Keep Yourself Safe BCCL What doctors say Health experts have also asked residents of Delhi to be cautious. Dr. Neeraj Nishchal, professor in the Department of Medicine at AIIMS, New Delhi, advised the public to exercise caution during peak heat hours to prevent heat-related illnesses. Don't step outside in the afternoon Dr. Nishchal emphasized the heightened risk of heat-related problems during the hottest parts of the day, particularly in the afternoon. "It is essential that we should preferably not step out when the temperature is very high, especially in the afternoon, that is when the maximum chances of heat-related illness happen," he stated. AP Vulnerable groups such as the elderly, children, and individuals with pre-existing health conditions are particularly at risk, he said. "Extreme phases, elderly, kids, or people with comorbidities, even those who are healthy should also take care. The younger population, they exert themselves, so they must prevent themselves," Dr. Nishchal said. Drink at least 3-4 litres of water "If you are playing in hot and humid conditions, then heat-related problems can even happen to the younger population. It is essential to take precautions and not exert themselves. Any normal individual should drink at least 3-4 litres of water, whatever you consume should be kept in mind with the comorbidities. Any physical activity should not be performed during the peak heat hours, wear loose clothes, light-colored clothes," he advised. For more news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News. More than ten years after it disappeared, the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 continues to raise more questions than answers. Even after the most expensive and longest search operation in history, the location of the flight remains as mysterious as it was in 2014. But this might soon change as a team of scientists from Cardiff University in the UK has proposed a new approach. Violent crashes leave distinct signals According to them, audio signals captured on underwater microphones during the fatal crash could help in locating MH370. They said that violent ocean impacts, such as plane crashes, produce distinct signals that travel through the water. Hydrophone technology on the seabed can record these signals, and the scientists believe that can give them a clearer idea of where MH370 went down. Also read: Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: The Biggest Mystery In Aviation History AFP What previous data showed Dr. Usama Kadri, who led the study, said that based on two decades of hydroacoustic data available from the CTBTO, a comprehensive study was undertaken of 100 hours of data identified as having the potential for containing signals pertaining to acoustic signatures of aircraft crashing into the sea. Ten historical aircraft accidents that occurred in open sea locations were selected for this study, and their locations were identified using the hydroacoustic data. "Notably, each hydroacoustic station consists of three hydrophones arranged in a triangular configuration with distances of a few kilometers between them. By calculating the time differences in signal arrival, it is possible to determine the bearing of the signal," the study published in the Nature Journal said. NATURE Hydroacoustic data alone not enough While this alone may not lead to the discovery of the location of the crash or the remains of MH370, the authors of the study say that hydroacoustic data could help anyone still looking for it. "In the case of MH370, official investigations concluded the aircraft must have crashed near the 7th arcthe point at which the last communication between the plane and INMARSAT occurred. Further analysis and future research are therefore necessary to fully comprehend the detected signals and their implications for MH370's disappearance," Kadri said. Also read: MH370: Why Many Believe Pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah Is The Culprit AFP MH370, a Boeing 777, was on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with a total of 227 passengers and 12 crew members on 8 March 2014 when it disappeared from the skies. For more news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News. Kanchanben Badshah, a 112-year-old South Mumbai woman, sets an example by exercising her franchise and leading from the front this year. She will go to the polls to vote, despite her age, because she has refused to vote from home. The Election Commission has stated that people above the age of 85 would be able to vote door-to-door. However, Kanchanben declined the offer. What did the Election Commission say about the 112 YO woman who refused to vote from home? Kanchanben Badshah, a 112-year-old South Mumbai woman | Image: X The Election Commission's nodal officer, Nayana Pawar, and her colleagues congratulated and honoured Kanchanben after being impressed by her commitment to voting at the polling station. (Also read: Police Constable Wins Hearts By Taking Care Of Baby While Its Mother Goes Inside A Polling Booth To Cast Her Vote) The woman, who observed numerous historical events such as independence, partition, and world wars, now encourages young people to participate in the democratic process. In an interview with India Today, she urged young people to vote and expressed concern about how the country would function without key votes. Where is the woman from? + Here's a Gujarati article about her. She declined the vote from home facility and insisted she will go to the booth to vote. It also says she is a Narendra Modi fan. pic.twitter.com/RJoCxhsI9P Zucker Doctor (@DoctorLFC) May 20, 2024 Kanchanben has participated in every election held in Mumbai and is resolved to vote in the Lok Sabha election on May 20. She was born in 1912, lost her spouse at an early age, and outlived her three children. (Also read: Band Baja Baarat Matdaan: Groom And Family Dance While Waiting At Polling Booth To Cast Vote) She presently lives in the Breach Candy neighbourhood of South Mumbai with her two grandchildren, Parind and Jignesh. How did her family react? My grandad's paternal aunt voted today. She is 112 years old pic.twitter.com/ykDoD9Z7xR Zucker Doctor (@DoctorLFC) May 20, 2024 Her grandson, Parind Badsha, stated that she believes coming to the polls at this age motivates others. She prefers going to the polling booths physically, stating that voting from home is not useful to anybody. When you go out, it inspires others to follow in your footsteps. That's her main motive for going out to vote, Parind said. What do you think about this? Tell us in the comments. For more trending stories, follow us on Telegram. In the bustling Tangra area in East Kolkata, the city's 'mini China Town', a lone traveller braving the heat will also happen upon a small Kali temple that symbolises the confluence of two unique cultures. Located on Matheswartala Road, the Chinese Kali Temple has a special origin story. Interestingly, it also serves noodles and momos as prasad. Here's all you need to know. Who takes care of the shrine? Inside the Chinese Kali Temple in Tangra, Kolkata | Image: Telegraph India According to Telegraph India, a man Sanjay Prasad looks after the shrine. Also the owner of a Chinese restaurant located behind the temple, Prasad told the paper, Pujas are offered daily at 9.30 am and 7 pm every day. Bhog is offered on selected days normally the day after the new moon. Saturdays at the temple see larger ceremonies in honour of Goddess Kali. On Diwali each year, special paper and incense are used to ward off bad spirits. Both Goddess Kali and Lord Shiva statues are housed inside the temple run by a priest named Arnab Mukherjee who said, The puja follows strict Vedic rules and since the temple houses a Narayan shila, the bhog is vegetarian. Chinese worshippers who flock to the shrine are said to have even given up beef. In keeping with the spirit of the way things are run here, the temple offers momos, noodles and sticky rice as prasad to eager devotees. Do you know noodles and momos are served as prasad at this temple | Unsplash/representative image Also read: Mysterious Deep-sea Hooked Squid, Largest Of Its Kind, Attacks Camera. Rare Footage Viral How did the Chinese Kali temple come to be? Sometime in the 1930s or the 1940s, during World War II, Chinese people are reported to have sought refuge in Tangra, Kolkata. The story goes that one day the parents of a gravely ill 10-year-old boy, with nowhere else to go, laid his body in front of this shrine | Image: Atlas Obscura Also read: Duo Dazzles With Bharatanatyam & Odissi Dances To Heeramandis Sakal Ban' On Street In Spain For six years, Hindus revered a local shrine--two granite stones smeared with vermillion--under a tree. Legend has it that one day the parents of a gravely ill 10-year-old boy, with nowhere else to go, laid his body in front of this shrine. They prayed and prayed at the shrine hoping for their child's recovery. Like most miracles, this one had worked its magic too. The child woke up and was as fit as a fiddle. The parents, overcome with joy, constructed a temple on that spot. With help from the community and their own faith, the temple came to be. Also read: Blue Meteor Lights Up Skies Over Spain & Portugal, Viral Video Captures 'Breathtaking' Moment What do you think of this? Hit us up in the comments section and let us know. There's a whole lot more on Indiatimes Trending. You can also follow us on Telegram. Kanhaiya Kumar, a tea vendor from Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), is gaining popularity for his skills. Recently, a video went popular on the internet showing the seller performing stunts while brewing tea. Making and serving tea in various ways has become his speciality. His stunts have gained popularity among social media users. This keeps his customers entertained. Who is Kanhaiya Kumar? The 65-year-old man sells Chai in Jabalpur | Image: YouTube The 65-year-old man has made headlines. He used to sell lassi before launching this business. He has been in business for 40 years, beginning when he was only ten. (Also read: After Dolly Chaiwala, There's A 'Frustrated Engineer' Selling Chai In Bengaluru) Kanhaiya Kumar claimed he acquired the methods when selling lassi earlier. He attempted these acrobatics with a drink of lassi. He explained that he learned all of his skills from seeing them on television. What is the price for his cup of tea? Initially, he sold each cup for 10 paise. Now, after all these years, he sells each cup for Rs 10. Kanhaiya Kumar amazes everyone when he flips the glass 360 degrees manually. He sells each cup for Rs 10 | Image: YouTube The technique is that he does not let a single drop of tea spill on the surface. His feats thrill his clients, and they come at his business every day to drink tea and watch him perform magic. How has his customer base increased? Tea aficionados travel for hours to see his business. They commend his enthusiasm for making tea, even at his age. (Also read: The Biggest Collaboration Of 2024: Dolly Chaiwala From Nagpur Meets Vada Pav Girl From Delhi) Kanhaiya Kumar rose to prominence following the video's viral success. The footfall at his shop has increased, allowing him to run the firm more efficiently. Check the viral video here. What do you think about this? Tell us in the comments. For more trending stories, follow us on Telegram. Shantanu Naidu: Industrialist Ratan Tata cast his vote at a polling booth in Colaba, Mumbai, on Monday during the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. Six Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai were up for voting in the national election on that day. The chairman emeritus of Tata Sons Ltd. displayed his finger marked with indelible ink after casting his ballot. His assistant, Shantanu Naidu, accompanied him to the polling station. The renowned business leader and philanthropist was also seen interacting with a polling official. Here is everything about Shantanu Naidu, Ratan Tatas millennial friend. The bond between the 86-year-old Tata and the 30-year-old Naidu blossomed through their mutual love for animals. Who is Shantanu Naidu? At the age of 31, a young man Shantanu Naidu has achieved a position in the business industry which has always remained a dream for many people. According to reports, Shantanu Naidu gives Business tips to Ratan Tata for investing in startups. Shantanu Naidu was born in 1993 in Pune Maharashtra. He is a famous Indian businessman, engineer, junior assistant, DGM, social media influencer, author, and entrepreneur. Shantanu Naida is very popular across the country as a deputy general manager of Tata Trust. Ratan Tata Invests In Shantanu Naidus startup Goodfellows | BCCL GoodfellowsIn 2021, Shantanu Naidu launched another venture, Goodfellows, aimed at providing support to the elderly. The startup developed an anti-poaching device for tigers in India and reflective dog collars made from scrap materials, reducing animal-related night accidents by 37 per cent. Under Naidu's leadership, Motopaws expanded to 17 cities and hired 250 employees in eight months. Shantanu Naidu, an MBA from Cornell University is the fifth generation of his family to be working in the Tata Group. According to his LinkedIn profile, Shantanu has been working in the Tata Trust since June 2017. Apart from this, Naidu has also worked as a Design Engineer at Tata Elxsi. Industrialist Ratan Tata cast his vote on Monday, May 20, 2024, at a polling booth in Mumbai's Colaba during the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. On this day, six Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai were up for voting in the national election. Shantanu Naidu's BookNaidu also published a book in 2021 titled "I Came Upon a Lighthouse" under HarperCollins. Ratan Tata Invests In Shantanu Naidus startup goodfellows Shantanu Naidu And Ratan Tata Friendship Since 2018, Naidu has served as a manager in Ratan Tatas office and has remained close to him, becoming a trusted millennial friend. ALSO READ: Here's What Ratan Tata's Other Family Members Are Doing Right Now Beginning of his Journey in Tata Shantanu Naidus dream came true when Ratan Tata invited him for a meeting after seeing his Facebook post about dog collars with reflectors for stray dogs, designed to help drivers spot them on Mumbais roads. Word spread and our work got featured in the Tata newsletter, Shantanu Naidu wrote in his post. As a student organization, they initially lacked sufficient funding to create the collars. They decided to use denim pants as the base material, collecting them from various households. They made 500 reflective collars in Pune and fitted them on 500 dogs. Soon Naidu's work started getting all attention and it was highlighted in the Tata companys newsletter which got him an invitation to Mumbai from Ratan Tata himself, the former chairman of the Tata group and an animal activist. In 2016, Shantanu Naidu went to pursue his MBA at Cornell University, in the US. When he finished his degree and came back in 2018, he joined Tata Trusts as the Deputy General Manager in the chairman's office. ALSO READ: Ratan Tata's Manager Shantanu Naidu Shares Views On 18-hour Day Debate For the latest and more interesting financial news, keep reading Indiatimes Worth. Click here Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has called for the longstanding Windows versus Mac rivalry, unveiling a new generation of computers with specialized AI chips and improved performance. In an interview with Bloomberg Television on Monday, Nadella praised Apple for its achievements but also expressed Microsoft's commitment to rekindling strong competition. "Apple has done a fantastic job. Now, we aim to reintroduce real competition between Windows and Mac," Nadella said. Also Read: What Satya Nadella Said In His First Email To Microsoft Employees After Becoming CEO Microsoft Launches AI-centric PCs pinterest The technology giant has unveiled a new category of AI-focused PCs, known as Copilot+PCs. Microsoft states that these devices will integrate a dedicated AI processing chip, greatly enhancing their performance. Microsoft's Surface devices, as well as models from other manufacturers, are anticipated to be 58% faster than Apple's high-end MacBook Air M3. Priced from $999(Rs 83 thousand approx) these new computers are set to hit the market on June 18th. Also Read: Why Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Feels Rival Google Should Have Won The AI Race Microsoft And Apples AI Report Card Hiring Alert! Apple May Hire More Than 5 Lakh Employees In India Within The Next Three Years Microsoft's strong AI efforts are backed by its partnership with OpenAI, a leading research organization. This partnership seeks to place Microsoft as a leader in generative AI services. However, regulatory bodies in the US, Europe, and the UK are closely monitoring Microsoft's and its competitors' AI investments. They are assessing the impact on market competition and considering regulatory measures similar to those applied to mergers. On the other hand, Apple is all set to unveil its AI strategy during the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference. Although lagging behind some tech rivals in AI development, Apple intends to incorporate advanced AI capabilities into its devices. The company is said to be working on high-performance chips for cloud computing servers to tackle complex AI tasks, while simpler AI functions will be handled directly on iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Greeces Food Authority (EFET) has announced plans for an inspection at a food production unit in south-central Greece after meals from the facility caused food poisoning in 63 children across seven schools. The inspection was ordered after reports emerged that strains of Staphylococcus bacteria were found in some distributed meals. However, the facility, Giannitsis Logistics S.A., was engulfed in flames on Sunday evening before the inspection could take place. EFET President Andreas Zampelas confirmed that the planned actions were halted due to the fire, leaving no official report on the meals. The incident has prompted the supreme courts chief prosecutor, Georgia Aidilini, to order an investigation into the fires cause, with arson being a potential factor. The fire brigades swift response with significant resources could not prevent the complete destruction of the unit. This development adds a layer of complexity to the public health concern, as authorities work to determine the connection, if any, between the food poisoning cases and the subsequent fire at the production facility. Following the food poisoning incident that affected 63 children from seven schools in Lamia, reports indicate that the children showed symptoms of severe abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. While the exact current condition of the children is not detailed in the latest updates, it was noted that at least 15 children and one teacher sought hospital care due to severe symptoms but were subsequently released after receiving medical advice. Parents have expressed outrage over the incident, with more than 30 lawsuits filed against the catering company responsible for the school meals. The community remains in shock as the investigation into the cause of the fire at Giannitsis Logistics S.A., the implicated food production unit, continues, with arson being a suspected factor. The situation has raised significant public health concerns, and authorities are closely monitoring the recovery of the affected children while also investigating the potential link between the food poisoning cases and the devastating fire. iefimerida.gr Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has expressed strong disapproval on Monday over the actions of North Macedonias new leaders, who omitted the North prefix from their countrys name, a requirement under the Prespa Agreement. The newly inaugurated President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova and Prime Minister-designate Hristijan Mickoski, both of the nationalist VMRO party, claimed it was their constitutional right to use the term Macedonia exclusively. Speaking at the Greek Exporters Association (SEVE) general assembly in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, Mr. Mitsotakis highlighted his partys opposition to the agreement, which they believe concedes too much to their neighbor regarding the recognition of a Macedonian ethnicity and language. Our disapproval was not for lack of wanting a resolution, but because the agreement in question granted our neighbors the Macedonian ethnicity and language, Mr. Mitsotakis said. The Greek leader also addressed the rise of nationalism in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, and the Greek governments cautious stance on the memoranda accompanying the Prespa Agreement, which have yet to be ratified by Greeces Parliament. The Greek leader warned that the path of North Macedonia towards European integration passes through Greece and could be jeopardized by such actions. Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis echoed the sentiment, emphasizing that the Prespa Agreement cannot be altered or nullified unilaterally, as it forms the foundation of the international relationship with North Macedonia. He reassured that Greece respects the electoral outcome in North Macedonia, despite any ideological or political differences with the new administration regarding the agreement. The recent actions by North Macedonias leadership have strained the relations between the two countries. Greece has warned that it could block North Macedonias EU membership if the Prespa Agreement violations continue. The agreement, seen as a cornerstone of stability and cooperation in the region, has been undermined by the nationalist rhetoric, causing concern in Athens and potentially halting North Macedonias path to European integration. The issue has also delayed the ratification of the Prespa-related memoranda in the Greek Parliament, with Foreign Minister Gerapetritis stating that Greece will proceed with ratification once North Macedonia fully complies with its international commitments. iefimerida.gr The allure of Greeces picturesque landscapes and the anticipated future value appreciation are turning the countrys vacation home market into a hotspot for foreign investors. The market is particularly attractive for high-end properties, with luxury homes priced between 350,000 and 550,000 drawing significant interest. Elxis-At Home In Greece, a firm specializing in the sale of vacation homes, attributes this trend to several factors beyond the natural beauty of Greece. The competitive pricing of these properties, even at 550,000 euros, stands out against other Southern Mediterranean countries. For instance, similar properties in Italy and Spain, featuring private pools and sea views, are over 40 percent more expensive, explains George Gavriilidis, Managing Director of Elxis. The company highlights that many clients opt for off-plan purchases, which offer a lower initial price and the potential for higher returns and capital gains upon resale. This strategy has led to some investors selling their properties within a year of purchase due to significant value increases. In a recent example from May, Dutch owners sold a villa for 325,000 euros, a 47 percent gain compared to its 2021 purchase price, with the only difference being that it was sold furnished. In the southern Rethymnon area, the price of a newly built 80 sqm villa with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a pool is now 327,000 euros. This reflects a 23.3 percent rise from 2022 and a 16.7 percent increase from last year, offering substantial profits for potential resale. The primary demographic investing in Greek vacation homes includes entrepreneurs aged 50 to 65, focusing on personal use. A growing segment of younger buyers, aged 35 to 45 with high incomes, are also entering the market, not only for personal use but also for short-term exploitation and tax-free capital gains upon resale. Elxis forecasts that the sale prices of vacation homes in Greece will continue to rise at an average annual rate of 8-10 percent in the coming years. Many clients view the current market as possibly the last opportunity to acquire a unique vacation home in Greece at a competitive price, ensuring not just a solid annual yield of at least 4 percent but also significant profits from future resale, concludes Mr. Gavriilidis. The demand for modern luxury properties is evident in the rapid sales at Hellenikon, where all properties were sold shortly after the urban regeneration project began. Lamda Developments CEO, Odysseas Athanasiou, reported on SKY News that sales have generated 700 million euros, with about 500 additional mid-range properties hitting the market and pre-sales performing exceptionally well. Protio, a property utilization platform, has identified new investment hotspots in Athens real estate sector based on income property trends for the first quarter of 2024. Amerikis Square and the Polytechnio area top the list with the highest yields, while Korydallos and Attiki Square also show strong performance. Aigaleo and Viktoria Square remain key players, benefiting from Athens expanding city center. Ekali, in the Northern Suburbs of Attica, has emerged as a new area of interest with a yield of 5.8 percent, indicating the growing investment potential in the northern suburbs. Protios analysis for the first quarter of 2024 reveals a dynamic shift in investment trends, with established areas maintaining high rankings and new areas gaining investor attention. iefimerida.gr Former President Goodluck Jonathan has urged Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, to settle their political differences. Jonathan who spoke on Monday during the flag-off of Trans-Kalabari road in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers, said the political tension in the State is not helpful. While calling on the two politicians to cease fire and work together for the success of the State, he added that Rivers is the heart of the Niger Delta region. Advertisement He said: The political tension in the state is becoming so much. In this state, Nyesom Wike and Siminalayi Fubara must work together for the development of the land and the people of Rivers state. READ ALSO: Sheathe Your Swords Niger Delta Youths Urge Wike, Fubara The tension will not help us. Rivers State is very critical in this country. It is the heart of the Niger Delta. If Rivers state is destabilised, the whole Niger Delta will be destabilised. There is a common saying that when two elephants are fighting, the grass suffers. Both the governor and our ministers are young people and powerful. If they continue to fight, the Rivers people will suffer. We are calling them to embrace themselves. Convener of Pan Niger Delta Forum, Edwin Clark, says National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, and Umar Damagum, acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), should caution former Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers against destabilising the State. Governor Siminalayi Fubara and Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, have been at loggerheads over the political structure of the State since 2023. Advertisement In an open letter to Ganduje and Damagum on Monday, Clark said they must not support Wike in his ongoing feud with Fubara. The elder statesman said: I know both of you are fully aware and involved in the political crisis in Rivers State which is caused by Wike, who is controlling the two parties in Rivers State, particularly the PDP. READ ALSO: Set Up Disciplinary Committee To Investigate Wike, Those Who Have Hijacked PDP For Selfish Gains Clark Advises I strongly advise both of you to withdraw from the madness of politics of Rivers State to avoid the dangerous crisis facing Rivers State, one of the most important states producing the resources used to sustain the economy of this country. I hope you do not forget that the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and the deep seaport of Onne are very well established in Rivers state. The support given to Nyesom Wike by both party chairmen has made him courageous enough to intimidate and anger the Rivers State Governor and Government, and this is seen as an act to overthrow the duly elected governor, which is criminal. I am therefore appealing to you, in the interest of peace and stability in Nigeria, to disassociate yourselves from the diabolical and mischievous plan by Wike for no just cause to bring down the government of his successor, Governor Fubara. I strongly advise both of you to retrace your steps and take charge of your political parties in Rivers State and not leave it for Wike, who is neither PDP nor APC. Motilola Akinlami, a Yoruba Nollywood actress, has accused her colleague, Kunle Afod, of undermining her in the film industry. In a video posted to her Instagram page on Monday, Motilola said that the movie star had planned to blacklist her in the film industry because she ended their relationship. The actress further alleged that Kunle ordered Femi Adebayo and other Nollywood producers to avoid dealing with her, forcing her to refund money for some assignments. Advertisement According to the actress, this has been going on for five years. Motilola didnt stop there; she also asked Kunle Afods wife, Dasola, to put her husband in check. She claimed that when she had relationship with her husband, Afods wife would always trash her online reputation, which harmed some of her connections at the time. READ MORE: DNA Test Should Be Made Mandatory At Child Birth Do2dtun Asserts She said: Ive kept this thing for over five years, this is the fifth year running. Please for Gods sake everyone, all the powers that be in this industry already know about this matter. Mr Kunle Afod please leave me alone. Why dont you just leave me and my career alone? They will call me for jobs and you will say they should remove me if they want to use you. Somebody just called me for a job, in fact Yomi Olorunlaye called me for a job this evening and they said Afod would be the director and I said okay only for him to send me a message that Afod said he wont work with me. Afod, what is it? I said I dont want to have anything with you again and since all these years you kept insisting that nobody must call me for jobs. Is it by force that I have something with you? I said I am not doing again. When I was with you, I knew how your wife was running from pillar to post. Desola warn your husband, hold your husband please. I knew how your wife was running from pillar to post and spoiling my name around the streets of Instagram and I said I no longer want to have anything with you again but you insisted that people should not call me for jobs. Why dont you go and hold on to your wife and leave me alone? Afod leave me alone to do my job! What is it? First you said Femi Adebayo should not come to my set and he didnt come, anybody that works with me you stop relating with them. Secondly you went ahead to tell the PM of Joke Ajadis job that if they call me, they should make sure you are not on the same set, I had to return the money for that set, this is like the 10th time this will be happening. Afod leave me alone! I stopped talking to you four years ago and everybody has begged you! Is it by force? Leave me alone Kunle Afod, I said I am not doing again. Desola hold your husband very well! What is it? Desola I know how you spoiled my name on Instagram making some people not to be friends with me till today. Hold your husband and tell him to let me do my job!. So many people are in my DM asking me Moti why have I not been seeing you in movies? Its Afod o! If they call me, he would say they should not call me! What is the reason? Because I no longer want to work with him, I no longer want to be friends with him, I no longer want to roll with him and it is not by force. A lot of things have happened. A lot of you have heard of this, I personally called all our industry leaders, none of them have been able to find a solution to this matter. This is the same thing they did to Junior Pope. They will first start by blacklisting you, he has been waiting now for the past five years to see RIP messages about me but God didnt do it for him. Im not going to die Afod, Im not going to leave this industry for you. Afod leave me alone, I have left you alone. Anywhere they mention my name, let me work. Watch the video below Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), has again urged the Federal Government to prioritise the allocation of resources to critical sectors. Obi who lamented the poor state of Nigerias education sector via X on Monday, cited the low enrollment rates in secondary and tertiary institutions compared to global averages. The former Anambra State Governor further highlighted the disparity between the countrys spending priorities and its development needs. Advertisement According to him, while the global average for secondary school enrollment is above 80 percent, Nigerias rate is just 28 percent. He wrote: As the giant of Africa that we are, I remain concerned about our fiscal indiscipline as a nation. Imagine the situation in our education sector, where the global average of secondary school enrollment is above 80%, while in Nigeria it is 28%. READ ALSO: Osun Assembly Submits Bill To Increase Political Office Holder Salaries The global average of tertiary school enrollment is above 55%, while Nigeria is less than 15%. Yet our budget for the National Assembly car parks is N6 billion. The budget for the National Assembly recreational facilities is N4 billion. Approved for the construction of hostels in 12 tertiary institutions is just N1 billion. It is time for us to stop this financial indiscipline and embrace financial discipline by prioritising the allocation of resources to the critical areas of human and national development. He emphasised the need to address the countrys educational challenges and invest in its future. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), on Monday, gave the Federal Government until May 31 to reverse the electricity tariff. The bodies gave the ultimatum in a communique issued in Abuja, at the end of a joint emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the NLC and TUC. Advertisement On April 3, the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) approved an increase in the electricity tariff for customers in the Band A classificationfrom N66 to N225 per kwh. The tariff hike attracted public outcry and calls for its reversal. In the communique, the unions said the action taken by the government without consideration for the hardship of the masses was unjust and burdensome. The NEC once again vehemently condemns the unilateral increase in electricity tariffs by the authorities. This action, taken without due consideration for the economic hardships faced by the masses and the provisions of the law, is deemed unjust and burdensome. The NEC reaffirms its demands for an immediate reversal of the tariff hike and the vexatious apartheid categorization into bands to alleviate the suffering of Nigerian workers and citizens and gives the National Electricity Regulatory Commission and the federal government until the last day of May 2024 to meet these demands, the communique read. READ ALSO: You Take Instructions From Highest Bidder Oba Benin Accuses EFCC Of Corruption The organised labour said appropriate actions would be taken if the government failed to meet its demands. This includes, but is not limited to, the mobilisation of workers for peaceful protests and industrial actions to press home these demands for social justice and workers rights, the unions said. The labour unions also reiterated the May 31 ultimatum for the federal government to finalise the new national minimum wage fixing process for workers. We need an agreement that will genuinely reflect the true value of Nigerian workers contributions to the nations development and the current crisis of survival facing Nigerians as a result of governments policies. The NEC affirms its commitment to ensuring that the interests and welfare of workers are adequately protected in the negotiation process. The NEC-in-session therefore reiterates the ultimatum issued by the NLC and TUC to the federal government, which expires on the last day of this month, the labour movement added. The leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, Edwin Clark, has issued warning to the former governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike. Clark alleged that Wike is controlling both the Peoples Democratic Party and All Progressives Congress in the oil rich state. The elder statesman said that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, was causing confusion against Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State. Advertisement Clark made this known in a letter addressed to both the chairmen of the APC and PDP, on Monday. He urged stakeholders in the parties to call Wike to order. READ MORE:Wike Not Ready For Peace In Rivers, Disobeying Tinubus Order Clark The letter partly reads: As a patriotic old statesman, I strongly believe that I should address this letter to you to call to order FCT Minister, Chief Nyesom Wike, because he is dancing naked in the open market in the politics of madness in Rivers State with one leg each in the two parties. I know both of you are fully aware and involved in the political crisis in Rivers State, which is caused by Wike, who is controlling the two parties in Rivers State, particularly the PDP. I strongly advise both of you to withdraw from the madness of politics of Rivers State to avoid the dangerous crisis facing Rivers State, one of the most important states producing the resources used to sustain the economy of this country. I hope you do not forget that the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and the deep seaport of Onne are very well established in Rivers State. How can the Federal Government and the two main political parties allow an individual to disrupt and cause confusion, harassment of the democratically elected Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, on the guise that he alone and not the people of Rivers State made Fubara Governor, in his provocative and inciting statement? Tension engulfed the Ojo area of Lagos State on Monday after two students of the Lagos State University were hit by stray bullets. The incident reportedly happened outside the school campus at a popular students residential area called PPL. The two students were said to have been hit around 8 pm while at a food vendors spot where they had gone to eat. Advertisement The identities of the students are yet to be known, likewise the identity of the shooter(s). An X user with the name Baddy of Lasu confirmed the incident on his page saying: Two students have been shot at PPL, Ojo, Lagos. Please, students of LASU, stay indoors and dont go out. Commenting on the post, Kappo Olawale, the Senior Special Adviser on Students Union Affairs to Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, affirmed the incident. READ ALSO: How Can I Miscarry 21 Times And Still Remain Normal? Nabila Fash Refutes Oritsefemis Claims Olawale said he had been in touch with the universitys Student Union President, who said the victims are in stable condition. I have kept in touch with the President of the Student Union. Information passed just now is that the students have been stabilised. The Dean of Students was also on the ground to ensure they were properly attended to. Thanks to God! he posted. Another student of the institution who spoke in confidence with newsmen confirmed the development, adding that one of the students has been hospitalised and hes responding to treatment. It happened around past 8 pm at PPL. They went to get food outside, so they heard gunshots, and they ran away. When they got home, they observed that the bullets had hit the male on the neck and arm. Due to the bleeding, he was rushed to the LASU Health Centre from where he was rushed again to the Igando Medical Hospital. Hes already responding to treatment, Punch quoted the student to have said. Three men were arraigned before an Abeokuta Chief Magistrate Court for allegedly assaulting a medical doctor in Ogun State. INFORMATION NIGERIA reports that the defendants, on Monday, identified as James Akode, 57, Lekan Ajeigbe, 35 and Rilwan Roheem, 33, were accused on a three-count charge of conspiracy, assault and unlawful damage. The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges. Advertisement The prosecution counsel, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Matthew Famuyiwa, told the court that the three defendants committed the offence on May 17 at the Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Aro in Abeokuta, Ogun State. He said that the defendants conspired among themselves to assault one Dr. Alexander Onochie by pushing him down and causing him pains while performing his duty. READ MORE: DSS Operatives Invade Ogun Court, Assault, Arrest Defendants During Trial Famuyiwa added that the defendants also damaged the side mirror valued at N20,000 and the bumper of the complainants Toyota Camry car which value is not yet known. He noted that the trio conducted themselves in a manner likely to cause breach of peace by causing commotion in the hospital environment. He addd that the offence contravened Sections 516, 351, 451, and 249 of the criminal code laws of Ogun State 2006. The prosecutor said: The Doctor while attending to an emergency patient at the emergency ward, said that one of the defendant Mr Akode came into his office and pleaded for quick attention on the sick sibling he brought for treatment. The doctor told him to be patient, that he was attending to another emergency, and when he was through with the patient, he called on the next patient, but nobody came in. On coming out of his office, he noticed there was nobody at the waiting room and when he stepped outside, he saw the trio with others, who conspired to assault him. The Magistrate, Mrs D.O Kolawole Ogunbowale, thereafter admitted the defendants to bail in the sum of N200,000 each with two sureties in like sum, who must be a registered bonds men with Ogun state Judiciary. She, however, adjourned the case until June 4 for further hearing. Oba of Benin, Ewuare II has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for alleged aiding of crimes in the country. The traditional ruler made this known when he received the new Benin Zonal Director of EFCC, Effa Okim in his Palace in Benin, on Monday. The monarch cited a case involving undisclosed former palace officials who were left off the hook after they were arrested for fraud and handed over to EFCC in Benin for investigation and prosecution. Advertisement He alleged that some EFCC operatives allegedly handled the case with kid gloves, which led to the release of the culprits a few years ago. The monarch, who did not name the palace officials, expressed shock that the EFCC investigators allegedly swept glaring evidence of fraud against them (the palace officials) under the carpet. He said: We want to draw your attention to one or two grey areas in your operations. No matter how much you try to support the EFFC from the palace, It is very difficult because they seem to listen to other parties. What I have been told is that they take instructions from the highest bidder. We get news from everywhere. We try to assist the EFCC. I even wrote a letter to the then-chairman who was removed from office. I even sent an emissary to talk to him regarding certain elements in Edo State, particularly the palace. How can EFCC operatives, especially, the lady who handled the case I cited earlier behave like that? If I was asked to comment on her performance, I would score her zero. I do not know if she was doing an EFCC job or just dancing to the tunes of people who were giving her money. At the time we were trying to assist EFCC, the report we kept getting was negative and I was not happy about it. Millennials are more likely than older generations to keep at least some finances separate after they get married and combine other aspects of their lives. Read more Reema Malhotra-Phillips never considered giving up her bank account when she got married last year. As a woman I think its important to have financial independence, she said, even though I am planning on being with my husband until the day I die. Advertisement When they bought their Fishtown home, the Phillipses did open a joint account to pay the mortgage and bills. They also take money out of that pot for vacations and other shared experiences. But they keep the rest of their finances separate. I use my personal bank account for anything that doesnt involve our home or something that my husband would be partaking in, said Malhotra-Phillips, who works in sexual violence prevention education at the University of Pennsylvania. The personal card is swiped when Im out with my friends, when Im at lunch at work, when Im buying him gifts or other people gifts. Millennials like Malhotra-Phillips, 31, are more likely than other generations to keep at least some finances separate from their partners. In a national survey of couples who live together, are married, or are in a civil partnership, almost 70% of millennials who are in their late 20s to early 40s told Creditcards.com, an offshoot of Bankrate.com, that they had at least some separate accounts. Thats compared to 64% of Gen Zers, who are under 28, as well as half of Gen Xers, who are in their mid 40s to late 50s, and half of Baby Boomers, who are in their 60s and 70s. Its just really an evolution of roles in the family, said Jacky L. Petit-Homme, a certified financial planner and cofounder at Liberty One Wealth Advisors in Center City. Once upon a time, one partner worked and the other didnt. So there wasnt really finances to combine. In those situations, all accounts needed to be joint, he added, so the nonworking partner could access money. But over the past 50 years, the percentage of women in opposite-sex marriages who make roughly as much or more than their husbands has tripled, according to the Pew Research Center. Emily Goodman, who works in sales, owns several properties and a small business, Dye Hard Fan, that sells Philly sports-themed apparel. She never considered fully combining her finances with her husband, who works in pharmaceuticals, but they did set up joint checking and savings accounts for home expenses and utilities. We wanted something that we call ours, she said. But they didnt want that setup for everything. The 30-year-old Collegeville resident said she thinks many young couples today have different attitudes toward money than their parents. My parents see our finances like, Whats yours is your husbands, Goodman said. I just dont see it that way. How couples split shared expenses Some couples say it wasnt hard to decide whether to officially combine finances. But regardless of whether the money is put in a joint account or Venmod back and forth, they grapple with how to split shared expenses: Should they go 50/50 or choose a different ratio based on who makes more money? The big thing we debated was how much money we were going to put into the joint account, Malhotra-Phillips said. It was important to us that it was equitable. The Phillipses decided to automatically deposit half of each of their paychecks into the joint account. Sydney Rae Chin, 26, of Brewerytown, got married last year and has been living with their husband for three years. The couple keeps separate accounts but plans to eventually get a joint account to work toward shared goals, like buying a home. When it comes to splitting expenses, they use a ratio system that they reassess based on how much each person is making at the time. Recently, for example, Chin was in a culinary job training program and not making money, so they contributed about 30% to living expenses, while their husband contributed the other 70%. This was something that we talked about for a bit, Chin said. 50/50 didnt really resonate with us. Russian air defences downed 47 Ukrainian drones overnight 12 Oct 2024 | 11:09 AM Moscow, Oct 12 (UNI) Russian air defences destroyed 47 Ukrainian drones this night, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. see more.. N Korea accuses S Korea of flying drones over Pyongyang, S Korea denies claim 12 Oct 2024 | 10:16 AM Pyongyang, Oct 12 (UNI) The Foreign Ministry of the North Korea on Friday accused South Korea of sending drones over Pyongyang, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. see more.. Russia lodges protest over upcoming Japan-US military drills 12 Oct 2024 | 10:03 AM Moscow, Oct 12 (UNI) Russia lodged a strong protest with Japan over its military drill plans with the United States near Russia's borders, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday. see more.. Over 20 killed in Israeli strike on Jabalia in northern Gaza Strip 12 Oct 2024 | 10:00 AM Gaza, Oct 12 (UNI) More than 20 people were killed, dozens injured and are missing after an Israeli strike on the town of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Al Aqsa broadcaster reported on Friday. see more.. Pro-Palestinian protesters and Philadelphia police have a standoff along 34th Street at the University of Pennsylvania on Friday. Read more Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said Monday that his office had declined to file charges against four pro-Palestinian protesters who were arrested Friday night by Penn police while allegedly attempting to occupy a campus building, saying the evidence submitted by the universitys police force did not support the notion that the demonstrators had behaved criminally. Krasner said that although his office did approve misdemeanor charges against three people for resisting arrest or defiant trespass prosecutors had declined to approve some more serious charges recommended by police, also due to what the DA called a lack of evidence. Advertisement In one instance, Krasner said, a protester participating in the short-lived attempt to occupy Fisher-Bennett Hall, near 34th and Walnut Streets, was accused of assaulting a responding officer. But according to Krasner, Penn police have not provided us with crucial video evidence and other forms of corroboration that we would normally expect, and that every indication is there was no injury [to the officer], there was no medical treatment. If police provide additional evidence supporting more serious charges, Krasner said his office would still consider filing them. Still, he said any charge requires probable cause, adding that law enforcement should tread lightly and be careful before we act like every kind of protest is a crime. It is not. The DAs remarks were a new development in what has become a series of campus demonstrations against the war in Gaza. Protest encampments have also been erected in recent weeks at schools including Drexel, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr colleges, and police at Penn arrested 33 people earlier this month while disbanding a 16-day-old encampment on the College Green. A Penn spokesperson declined to comment Monday. Attempts to reach the three people who were charged for comment were unsuccessful, and the Defender Association of Philadelphia which is listed as representing all three declined to comment. Despite the tumult on campus this spring, Penn celebrated commencement Monday afternoon with no disruptions or protests. Krasner who frequently represented protesters during his earlier career as a defense attorney has kept a close eye on the demonstrations at the Ivy League school, visiting the encampment and speaking out about his hope that the demonstrations remain nonviolent. He said Monday that he spent much of his weekend reviewing evidence connected to Fridays incidents, which began around 8 p.m., when members of the Penn Gaza Solidarity Encampment announced their intention to occupy Fisher-Bennett Hall. Organizers said they had renamed it Refaat Alareer Hall in memory of the Palestinian poet and professor killed in an airstrike in Northern Gaza in December. By 9:20 p.m., however, there were reports that people were in custody. Penn said later over the weekend that 19 people were arrested, 12 of whom were given citations for failing to disperse, then released. Six of the 19 people who were arrested were Penn students, the school said. The other seven were detained and accused of more serious offenses by Penn police. Krasners office can choose which charges, if any, to prosecute after police submit their recommendations, and the DA said his office concluded there was not sufficient evidence of criminality in four of seven cases. Krasner also some of those seven people appeared to have been behaving in a manner that was no different from protesters who were allowed to simply leave. Elements of the offenses were not made out, there was not probable cause, and it would be inequitable and unjust to treat certain people completely differently than the way Penn police were treating other people doing the exact same thing, Krasner said. Two of the three people charged face counts of resisting arrest, while the third is accused of defiant trespass. All also face a summary count of disorderly conduct. As for the alleged assault on the officer, Krasner said he expected to be granted access to the officers body worn camera video later this week. It will be important for us to see video that to date remains unavailable, he said. And once we see it we will consider the possibility of filing charges connected to that altercation. Theyre the cream of the crop: Philadelphia School District teachers honored for being at the top of their profession. Sixty Philadelphia public school teachers were honored Tuesday with the annual Lindback Award for Distinguished Teachers, and will receive $3,500 from the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation. Advertisement The winners were chosen for their skill and dedication, for going the extra mile, for creating lasting impressions on students. They were chosen from among the districts roughly 9,000 teachers, nominated by administrators and chosen by a panel of school system and Lindback representatives. READ MORE: These teachers represent the citys best. Step inside classrooms of 3 of Phillys Lindback winners. The 2024 Lindback prize winners are: Swarthmore College for the first time since its founding in 1864 will hold commencement off campus, due to a pro-Palestinian encampment on Parrish Lawn where the ceremony was to be held. The commencement, Swarthmores 152nd, has been relocated to the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphias Fairmount Park, about 10 miles from campus, the college announced to the campus community Monday. It is scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday, and about 410 students are expected to receive degrees. Advertisement We know that some of you will be disappointed by the decision to move the ceremony off campus, wrote Tomoko Sakomura and Rob Goldberg, acting co-presidents of Swarthmore. The fact is that there is really no viable on-campus alternative to Parrish Lawn that can accommodate an event as complex and large as commencement. READ MORE: Pro-Palestinian encampment rises at Penn as students and faculty protest over war in Gaza The encampment at Swarthmore was erected nearly four weeks ago; it was the first in the region and remains in place. Others at Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and the University of Pennsylvania have since come down. The only other current local encampment is at Drexel University. The development at Swarthmore comes after talks with protesters broke down last week. An impasse was reached on Wednesday, the college said. The college cited deeply upsetting behavior by protesters as talks broke down. The group became confrontational before walking out of the room, wrote Sakomura and Goldberg in a Thursday email to the Swarthmore community. During that time, dozens of other students surrounded the Intercultural Center exits, creating a threatening, intimidating environment, especially for those of us who felt trapped inside. READ MORE: Over 24 hours, 19 demonstrators at Penn taken into custody after attempting to seize a campus building, while a new encampment goes up at Drexel They said it went beyond a reasonable definition of peaceful protest. Student organizer Ragad A., who declined to give her last name for fear of doxxing and harassment, said meetings seemed fruitful at first. Students rolled back some of their initial demands, focusing on the universitys divestment from what they call the Israeli apartheid regime as well as getting the school to issue a statement denouncing scholasticide in Gaza the last university in Gaza was destroyed in January. In turn, the administration suggested creating an ethical investment committee and were open to creating a scholarship for students at risk in Gaza, said A. But conversations hit a stalemate last week, when students received a memorandum of understanding that they said did not reflect the progress made. We were practically stabbed in the back, said Ragad A., who is Palestinian American. She said the investment committee was rolled back to a subcommittee, the school now said it would look into the scholarship idea, and they would not make a public statement concerning scholasticide, which students saw as one of the more actionable items from their list of demands. As an institution that believes in the rights of education, it is the obligation of institutions like Swarthmore College to recognize and denounce the destruction of universities and educational facilities in Gaza, she said. The college had a different view. We engaged in good faith negotiations with the students to try to find common ground and to bring the protest to a peaceful conclusion, said spokesperson Alisa Giardinelli on Monday. We disagree with their characterization of those negotiations. College leaders said they are focused on making sure commencement will be a festive and inclusive occasion for seniors. They acknowledged that many have asked why the college, which has Quaker roots, doesnt just clear out the encampment and hold the ceremony on Parrish Lawn as planned. Swarthmore has a long-standing commitment to supporting peaceful protest, the college leaders said. As weve seen at other institutions, attempts to clear encampments have often led to physical confrontations including between police officers and protesters and, in many cases, have not successfully ended the protests. Stephanie Ives, the colleges vice president for student affairs, sent an email to Swarthmore Students for Justice in Palestine and allies on Monday telling them it was time for the encampment to come down. Please consider this official notice that you are required to clear the site on Parrish Lawn as soon as possible, she wrote, according to a copy of the email provided by a student. The academic year is almost over, and the College must shift its attention to all of the work that occurs during the summer to prepare for the fall semester. Students who do not comply will face measures, including loss of privileges and interim suspension from the college, she wrote. Students also will face consequences for violating campus policies over the course of the year, she said, while some incidents including the one at the intercultural center last week remain under investigation. Massimo and Ana Boni at the refrigerator door that is the entrance of their Italian restaurant behind Vita, their gelato shop. Read more Vita, Massimo and Ana Bonis tiny gelato parlor near Rittenhouse Square, has been harboring a secret since opening last fall. The answer lies behind a Ferrari red refrigerator door to the left of the counter. On May 30, the Bonis will open a 100-seat Italian restaurant behind the gelateria in what had been the dining room of Branzino, which closed in early 2022. In keeping with the air of mystery, diners will head inside through the gelateria, and are encouraged to exit through the rear patio, following the side alley back out to 17th Street. Advertisement The couple wont allow photos of the bar and dining room before the opening and have insisted that those attending a preview dinner switch off their phone cameras. They say they are aiming for a mellow vibe, with low lighting, a bar, and a brick patio beneath string lights and a canopy of trees. Obviously I have an idea in my mind of what it will be, but its not me that dictates that, Massimo Boni said. Vita is the restaurant debut for the Bonis, college sweethearts who met in New York. He is 30, Italian-born, and raised in Radnor; she is also 30, Venezuelan-born, and raised in Miami. The menu includes house-made pasta and entrees such as bistecca alla Fiorentina, chicken al Mattone, and sea bass puttanesca. Starters will be $8 to $18, pasta dishes $21 to $26, and entrees $32 to $42. The drink list will include an all-Italian wine list and cocktails; the bar will be available to walk-ins. The path to Vita Five years ago, Massimo Boni was an engineer and construction manager for a company in New York that oversaw the build-out of the posh Estiatorio Milos at New Yorks Hudson Yards, which opened in 2019. The day after it opened, he and Ana, then working in finance, went to experience it. If you point to anything in that restaurant, I could tell you a story about it all the materials, the laborers to the vendors, to the suppliers, to the designers, the architects, the owner himself, Boni said. Being able to go there, sit down, and then enjoy the space for what it was meant to was so fulfilling and so gratifying. That hammered the idea of hospitality. A year later, when the pandemic hit, Boni enrolled in culinary school. He worked at his day job, as well as an externship three days a week from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the luxe coastal Italian restaurant Marea on Central Park South. That gave him the confidence to do what he calls a career 180 with a move home to Philadelphia. The plan was always to do an Italian restaurant in Philadelphia, Boni said. Obviously, Philadelphia has millions of Italian restaurants, so how could I differentiate myself and do it a little bit different? When I stumbled upon this location, it seemed like an opportunity that was too good to be true. Most times it usually is, but we wanted to figure out a way to make the space work. It was Anas idea to do what they call the gelato speakeasy, allowing the couple to generate income from desserts while applying for their liquor license and building the restaurant. The Bonis negotiated for several months with Luan Toto, the former owner of Branzino, who still owns the building at 261 S. 17th St. They were close to a deal but banks were turning them down, Massimo said. Without a loan, they couldnt proceed with construction. It got a point where the ball was in my court, he said. It was the weight of regret versus the weight of failure. Shortly after signing the lease, they were approved for a loan by what Boni said was the 100th bank they approached. The next bit of serendipity was meeting Matthew Cocco, an experienced gelato maker, just as the dessert-maker they had originally hired moved away. Cocco signed on not only to make gelato but as a business partner. Through Maria Jose Hernandez of Autana restaurant in Ardmore, they met the executive chef, Juan Luis Urdaneta, a Venezuela native who opened Flora, an Italian restaurant in Bogota, before immigrating to the United States. Besides the classics such as carbonara, cacio e pepe, and Amatriciana, he managed to cinch the job with his own takes on bottoni and balanzoni. The restaurant, whose Resy reservations open May 24, will operate from 5 to 10 p.m. Thursday, 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday. Gelateria hours will remain the same for now (opening at noon Tuesday through Sunday). Nurses at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children approved a new contract on May 15. Read more The nurses who staff St. Christophers Hospital for Children have signed a new contract that includes bonuses and wage increases for nurses, as well as improved weekend staffing. The nurses approved the three-year contract last week with support from 92% of those who voted, according to the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, or PASNAP. The contract will cover nearly 500 nurses and replaces one that expired nearly five months ago. Advertisement Increasing staffing levels was the nurses top priority in negotiations with hospital administrators, said Deb Young, an outpatient nurse at St. Christophers, adding that doing so requires competitive wages to attract and retain nurses. In order to provide the best care, we need enough nurses, said Young, who has worked at the North Philadelphia hospital for over four decades. READ MORE: St. Christophers Hospital support staff got rid of their union Nurses will receive a contract-signing bonus of $1,100 or more, depending on whether they work full- or part-time, the union said. Nurses will also see their wages increase over the contracts duration. Tower Health, which bought St. Christophers in 2019 in partnership with Drexel University, said in a statement it is pleased with the results of the negotiations. We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with St. Christophers dedicated and talented nurses, the systems statement said. The ability to feel shame is a human trait too often undervalued when considering the qualities of people chosen to protect the publics interest. That has become blatantly clear as voters try to make a choice for president, but its just as important when viewing the conduct of officials at all levels of government. For example, where was the shame when the New Jersey Legislature last week approved a bill that will make it harder for people to obtain public records they need to prove their rights have been violated? The Legislatures shameful changes to the states Open Public Records Act will make it so expensive and cumbersome to obtain public information that justice will be harder to find. Advertisement No longer will courts routinely award attorney fees to litigants who successfully prove they were wrongly denied public records. Instead, a separate finding must be made on whether an agency acted in bad faith or knowingly violated the law. That seemingly innocuous change means lawyers who might represent low-income litigants pro bono wont do it in fear they may not get paid. READ MORE: Forty days of work and now a 67% raise? For N.J. lawmakers, a sweet gig keeps getting better. | Editorial The legislators also decided government offices would no longer be required to justify any extra fees they charge for complex records requests. Instead, all fees will be presumed reasonable unless the person requesting records can prove otherwise. That makes it too easy for officials to charge fees so high they discourage people from even asking for records. The new rules also target public policy and other politically active groups by making them liable in lawsuits for making records requests that substantially interrupt the performance of a government agency. You cant rightly claim that the public has the freedom to access public records while, at the same time, imposing a looming threat of retribution for people who dare to use that right, April Nicklaus, deputy director of Voter Choice New Jersey, told the New Jersey Monitor. Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D., Union) claims changing the current law will result in a savings of taxpayer dollars. Presumably, he is referring to the costs associated with ensuring government offices have the necessary personnel and technology to efficiently provide public records to taxpayers. In other words, hes putting a price tag on justice. Thats the same kind of thinking that has filled Americas prisons with people who, except for being unable to afford a good lawyer, might not be incarcerated. If the legislators are worried about costs, instead of unduly limiting peoples ability to obtain information that belongs to them as taxpayers, the lawmakers might try managing current revenue to improve public information systems statewide. Its telling that some lawmakers changed their official votes after the open records legislation received more than enough to pass. Were they trying to avoid being blamed for the damage done? Assemblyman David Bailey Jr. (D., Salem) and Assemblywoman Rosy Bagolie (D., Essex) initially voted yes, then no. State Sen. Vince Polistina (R., Atlantic) switched his no vote to not voting. Assemblywoman Barbara McCann Stamato (D., Hudson) and State Sen. John McKeon (D., Essex) initially did not vote, then changed their votes to no. Assemblyman Brian Bergen (R., Morris), who opposed the bill, blamed the flip flops in the Assembly on Speaker Craig Coughlin (D., Middlesex). The speaker knew he needed Republican votes to get it over, but he didnt know how many he was going to get, so it was an ever-changing thing, Bergen said. READ MORE: In N.J., Tammy Murphys withdrawal from the U.S. Senate race signals a welcome change to politics as usual | Editorial Bartering for votes is the nature of politics, but that doesnt make it any less shameful when the public is hurt as a result. No wonder polling indicates many Americans wouldnt care if their preferred politician failed an integrity test. Apparently, they no longer believe integrity is necessary to hold public office. Certainly, it was no surprise to many New Jerseyans that U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, who escaped a corruption conviction in 2017, is back in court facing unrelated bribery charges. That hasnt stopped the Hudson County Democrat from saying he might run for reelection as an independent this fall. His lack of shame is a reminder that a certain presidential candidate has a record of dubious behavior that includes his banking millions of dollars while bankrupting the Trump Plaza Casino Hotel, Trump Marina Hotel Casino, and Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City. Making it more difficult to access public records in New Jersey strengthens the notion that government does not belong to the people; it belongs to whoever has bought or bartered the allegiance of more politicians. Gov. Phil Murphy can return some power to the people by vetoing this bad open records overhaul and asking state lawmakers to craft more legitimate reforms. Vice President Kamala Harris delivers the keynote speech at the SEIU's convention in Philadelphia. Read more As Vice President Kamala Harris took the stage for the keynote speech at the annual convention of the Service Employees International Union, the crowd in Philadelphia chanted: Four more years. Well do it together, Harris told the gathering of labor leaders Tuesday before launching into a speech focused on President Joe Bidens administrations efforts to partner with the powerful labor union, and the stakes of the 2024 election. Advertisement We are protecting the sacred right to organize because we know when unions are strong, America is strong, she said. The visit was Harris second trip to the Philadelphia area in May, a sign of the regions crucial role in the presidential race. She visited Montgomery County earlier this month for an event focused on reproductive rights. Why is the SEIU significant to the Biden campaign? Harris speech came just after the SEIU, among the most diverse unions in the country, elected its first Black president, April Verrett. The former treasurer-secretary for the organization, Verrett was elected president on the first day of the three-day convention. The SEIU represents more than 2 million workers across the country across a broad range of fields, including health care, public service, child care, and janitorial work. In her speech, Harris discussed the time she spent with SEIU members on visits to Oakland and Detroit, describing the physically and emotionally taxing work taken on by those in the service industry. And care workers deserve to be paid fully and fairly for that work, she said. Since its founding, Harris said, the SEIU has been on the front lines of every major expansion of rights for the American people. The union, which endorsed Biden and Harris early in the cycle, pledged to spend $200 million on Biden and other Democrats this year to turn out voters of color in Pennsylvania and other swing states. Were going to mobilize a powerful multiracial working-class voting base to win the biggest, you know, election of our time, Verrett said. Were gonna talk to them and were gonna connect the dots that this election matters. A spokesperson for the SEIU said the union, and its partners, had already knocked on more than 169,000 doors in Pennsylvania this election year. Polls have shown that Bidens support has eroded among Black and Latino voters. Verrett attributed that decrease in support to a general lack of enthusiasm, and frustration over the economy and cost of goods. To overcome this, she said, the administration needs to speak directly about economic issues and rising costs. But ultimately she believes workers of color will not support former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Im not a pollster, I dont have a magic wand or a Magic 8 Ball. But I am a Black woman in America and I challenge anybody to convince me that Black people and brown people are gonna get up and vote en masse for a known racist, sexist, misogynist, she said. Our problem is making sure those voters actually make it to cast their ballots. During the vice presidents speech, some in the crowd sought to send a message criticizing the administrations support for Israels war in Gaza, chanting, Harris, Harris, you cant hide. We charge you with genocide, according to a video posted to Instagram. How has Biden messaged on labor? Biden has consistently centered union members in his reelection campaign and as part of his political persona. In his first political event after announcing his reelection campaign last year, Biden spoke at a rally hosted by labor leaders in Philadelphia. Last month, he spent three days in Pennsylvania on the campaign trail. During a stop to speak with union steelworkers in Pittsburgh, Biden announced plans to seek higher tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum. On Tuesday, Harris said Biden has led the most pro-union administration in the nations history, highlighting efforts to cancel student loan debt, raise the federal minimum wage for contractors, and strengthen the Affordable Care Act. The support of working-class voters was a key element of Bidens 2020 win in Pennsylvania, when he cut into Trumps support in rural and postindustrial counties. To win in November, Biden will likely need to hold that coalition together. Francis Ryan, a Rutgers University professor who studies labor history, noted that the strong support of labor groups has long been essential for Democrats seeking to turn out working-class voters. He said this has been especially true in Philadelphia and its surrounding areas. In a lot of elections, especially in national elections, where the vote is sometimes determined by just a few thousand votes, labor continues to play an important role in securing victories, he said. Verrett predicted that would be even more true in 2024 pointing to a growing number of worker strikes nationwide. Just like theyre using their power on the strike lines, working people are going to use their power in this election, she said. Nearly 16,000 mail ballots were rejected during Pennsylvania's April primary for arriving late, missing dates, and other reasons. Read more Voting rights groups are preparing voter education campaigns and encouraging local officials to minimize the number of ballots rejected in November after thousands of mail ballots couldnt be counted last month. The ballots are rejected for a variety of reasons some are improperly filled out, others dont make it to an election office before polls closed at 8 p.m. on Election Day. Advertisement Nearly 16,000 ballots fell into that category during the April primary. The number represented an improvement on previous years, something state officials attributed to a redesigned mail ballot. But it is still a significant number of votes that could determine the outcome of down ballot races in a higher-turnout general election while sowing distrust in the high-stakes presidential election. While litigation remains pending on the states mail voting law, voting rights groups are calling for all 67 Pennsylvania counties to implement a notice and cure policy that gives voters a chance to fix their ballot before the election. Without clarity in the election code and without comprehensive notice and cure programs were going to continue to see bad faith actors in Pennsylvania use and exploit the issues on mail in ballots to breed voter distrust and to breed unnecessary litigation, said Deborah Hinchey, Pennsylvania special projects director for All Voting is Local. How many ballots were rejected? The 15,928 rejected ballots represents a small portion of the voters in Pennsylvania, even in a low-turnout election like Aprils primary. But a similar proportion of rejected ballots in November could have a major impact when all eyes will be on Pennsylvania, as the state plays a key role in deciding the presidential race and which party controls the U.S. Senate. Of the rejected ballots in April, 8,010 were rejected because they arrived at an election office after 8 p.m. on election day either because the voter or U.S. Postal Service returned it late. The other 7,918 were rejected because of issues with the date, signature, or privacy envelope. According to data provided by the Pennsylvania Department of State, roughly 2.2% of mail ballots were rejected last month compared to 2.8% in the 2023 primary. State officials attribute the improvement to changes in the design of mail ballots. Ever vote is precious, every single one of them, said Al Schmidt, Pennsylvanias secretary of state. Were very happy that the data has shown that the redesign has been successful in reducing the number of ballots rejected as a result of voter error. How will lawsuits change dynamics before November? The counting of undated ballots or those with incorrect dates has long been a subject of contention in Pennsylvania elections. Just before the primary, in March, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit overturned a lower court decision that would have required Pennsylvania counties to count mailed ballots even if they were undated or had an incorrect date. The suit, filed by the NAACP, the ACLU, and other voting rights groups, argued the ballots should be accepted because the state law requiring dates served no purpose in determining a voters eligibility. If a voter casts a mail ballot in an election, it must be filled out between the day the county sends the ballots and the day it is returned, even if the date is not recorded. Last month, the Third Circuit denied an appeal from the civil rights groups. But Marian Schneider, senior policy counsel for voting rights at the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said the plaintiffs in the lawsuit plan to file a new motion for summary judgment before the end of the month. The ACLU is also currently challenging a decision in Butler County not to count provisional ballots cast by voters who realized after submitting their mail ballot that they had not used the privacy envelope. Further litigation is likely between now and November either to limit the ballots that are cast or to expand counties options for counting ballots. What can counties do to help voters? Some counties have processes in place to help voters fix their ballots if an error is detected before it is counted. For instance, the Chester County Voter Services Office contacts any voter that has a deficiency on their ballot so they have the opportunity to come into the election office in person and fix their ballot. County election workers are also stationed at every remote drop box able to ask voters if they properly completed their ballot. But those processes are not required. Hinchey said All Voting is Local is pushing local officials to begin working with voters on this. The situation that Pennsylvania is in is that our county boards of elections have to be proactive to enfranchise voters and our state legislature has to be proactive to clarify our election our election code and if our countries dont do that thousands and thousands of Pennsylvanians could be disenfranchised, she said. At minimum, Schneider said, counties need to load information about incomplete ballots into the states voter database so that voting rights groups and partisan advocates can alert voters that they need to fix their ballot. That increases the odds that these voters will hear that they made a mistake and they can do something about it, she said. But some counties have held off on these processes, in part due to the lack of clarity in the law. Various organizations, including the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, have pushed the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass laws clarifying Pennsylvanias mail voting law so the details are no longer left to the court. Theyre looking at the law and theyre trying to do the best they can, Lisa Schaefer, the groups executive director, said of local election officials. WASHINGTON In the hours after the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Ohios then-Republican senator, Rob Portman, voted to accept President Joe Bidens win over the defeated former president, Donald Trump, despite Trumps false allegations that Biden only won because of fraud. But as Trump charges toward his rematch with Biden in 2024, Portman has been replaced by Sen. J.D. Vance, a potential vice presidential pick who has echoed Trumps false claims of fraud and said hell accept the results this fall only if its a free and fair election. Advertisement READ MORE: Expect to see AI weaponized to deceive voters in this years presidential election South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, other possible VP picks, also declined to object to Biden's victory over Trump, but have been less committal this year. Rubio said recently if "things are wrong" with November's election, Republicans won't stand by and accept the outcome. And the new speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, helped organize Trumps failed legal challenge to Bidens win. He demurred when asked if he believed the 2020 election was legitimate during an event with other Trump allies about the upcoming election. As Trump makes a comeback bid to return to power, Republicans in Congress have become even more likely to cast doubts on Biden's victory or deny it was legitimate, a political turnaround that allows his false claims of fraud to linger and lays the groundwork to potentially challenge the results in 2024. READ MORE: How voters can avoid deepfakes and AI-generated misinformation in the 2024 presidential election A new report released Tuesday by States United Action, a group that targets election deniers, said nearly one-third of the lawmakers in Congress supported in some way Trump's bid to overturn the 2020 results or otherwise cast doubt on the reliability of elections. Several more are hoping to join them, running for election this year to the House and Senate. The public should have a real healthy dose of concern about the real risk of having people in power whove shown theyre not willing to respect the will of the people, said Lizzie Ulmer of States United Action. The issue is particularly stark for Congress given its constitutional role as the final arbiter of the validity of a presidential election. It counts the results from the Electoral College, as it set out to do on Jan. 6, 2021, a date now etched in history because of the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. In its report, States United found that in Congress, 170 representatives and senators out of 535 lawmakers overall can be categorized as election deniers. Heading into the fall elections, two new Senate candidates and 17 new House candidates already are on the ballot this fall seeking to join them. It's not just Congress that has been seeded with people who supported trying to overturn Trump's 2020 loss, but the highest ranks of the Republican Party. This is deeply alarming, said Wendy Weiser, the vice president for democracy programs at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. A democracy can only function if the participants commit to accepting the results of popular elections. That is it. Thats the entire political system. READ MORE: Biden is struggling in Pa. even with his base as voters prefer Trump on major issues. Here are takeaways from an Inquirer/NYT/Siena poll. The former president picked Michael Whatley, who has echoed Trumps election lies, to become co-chairman of the Republican National Committee, with his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump. Christina Bobb, who was recently indicted for her alleged involvement in a scheme to recruit fake electors in Arizona, has been named the RNCs head of election integrity. Under Trumps direction, the RNC is making the elections process its top priority, bringing in the new personnel and adding resources, said Danielle Alvarez, an adviser to both the Trump campaign and the party committee. Biden is in the White House, thats true," Alvarez said, but there were issues in the election. To be clear, there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election that cost Trump reelection. Recounts, audits and reviews in the battleground states where he contested his loss all affirmed Bidens victory, and courts rejected dozens of lawsuits filed by Trump and his allies. READ MORE: Wildwood rally shows Trumps base has only grown louder and prouder since 2016 States United's report details how successful election deniers have been in bolstering their congressional ranks. It examines the results of congressional party primaries in the 10 states that have held them this year and found that in each state, at least one election denier has made it to the general election for a House or Senate seat. The report defines election deniers as people who falsely claimed Trump won in 2020, spread misinformation about that election or took steps to overturn it, or refused to concede a separate race. It finds that at least 67 will be on the ballot in the House in November, including 50 incumbents. Three will be running for the Senate one of whom, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, is an incumbent. There have been high-profile losses among election deniers, as well. Last week in West Virginia, Republican Rep. Carol Miller, who also voted against accepting Bidens victory, successfully fended off a primary challenge from Derrick Evans, who was convicted of a felony civil disorder charge after storming the Capitol on Jan. 6. Numerous election deniers in 2022 lost bids for swing state offices such as governor or secretary of state that would have given them direct power over voting in 2024. Still, the movement has grown by dominating Republican primaries. In the race for the nomination to challenge Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio, businessman Bernie Moreno, who has previously said Trump was "right" to call 2020 "stolen," won his primary. In Indiana, Republican Sen. Mike Braun voted to certify Biden's win, but he will step down this year to run for governor and is poised to be replaced by Rep. Jim Banks, a prominent election denier who easily won the GOP primary in that state. READ MORE: Trump voters care about the economy, Biden voters about abortion? Its not that simple. The report classifies neither Rubio or Scott as election deniers, but skepticism about the trustworthiness of voting has become an organizing GOP principle, particularly for the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Before becoming the House speaker, Johnson recruited colleagues to support a lawsuit, which ultimately failed, filed by Trump's allies to overturn his 2020 loss. More recently Johnson met with Trump at the former president's Mar-a-Lago resort to shore up his own political support amid a far-right rebellion seeking to oust him as speaker. He emerged promising House legislation that would be designed to stop immigrants in the country illegally from voting. During a press conference on the Capitol steps to announce the bill, the speaker acknowledged it's hard to prove that certain immigrants are wrongfully casting ballots. Election experts say it is extremely rare for immigrants who are ineligible to vote to break federal law to do so. While Congress passed legislation putting in safeguards to better protect against interference after the Capitol attack, its lawmakers who will ultimately be asked to accept the 2024 results from their states. Vance stood by his recent remarks. And Rubio said he expects there will be lawsuits in jurisdictions where the final tallies are close, as sometimes happens. When people ask me, Are you going to accept the outcome? I think what some people are arguing is if theres things wrong with this election, were going to point it out, Rubio said in a short interview. Mayor Cherelle L. Parker speaks at an April news conference. The mayor announced earlier this week that all city employees must return to work in-person fulltime beginning in July. Read more The backlash was immediate. Before Mayor Cherelle L. Parker even announced publicly on Monday that shell require all city employees to return to in-person work full-time by this summer, leaders of the union that represents much of the citys professional staff revolted. They said that their members are incensed and that the administration did not negotiate the change with them. Advertisement Parker said the policy is not subject to collective bargaining, and she acted unilaterally to end hybrid work for thousands of government employees. The announcement caused a major rift between the Democratic mayor and AFSCME District Council 47, one of the citys largest unions, less than six months into Parkers first term. And it comes just weeks before the unions contract with the city is set to expire, setting up an increasingly contentious negotiation. During an interview with the Inquirers editorial board Tuesday, Parker said her administration continues to work with the citys municipal unions and that she expected some employees to have some challenges and concerns about the change. I know were not always going to agree, she said. But Ive been elected by the people to do the best I can with making the best decision possible to help move our city forward, and thats what Im trying to do. I think this is in the best interest of the city. The problem for both sides is that there is no consensus among employers and public-sector unions as to whether a return to the pre-pandemic status quo has to be negotiated. Heres what each side is saying and what could happen next. Mayor Parker says her policy doesnt need to be bargained During a news conference Monday, Parker said she does not believe her policy needed to be bargained with the unions but did not offer a further justification. She said she expects ongoing hearty and healthy discussions with the municipal workforce about the policy, and she emphasized that her administration announced an expansion of perks like parental leave and sick-time flexibility. READ MORE: Mayor Parker wants employees in-office to help Center City bounce back Parker added that the workforce was at the center of her decision-making. We cant run the city and make good on any of [our] promises without the men and women who do it on a daily basis, she said. I respect them, I appreciate them, and I value them. Two organized labor leaders who represent building trades and service workers said in statements they support the mayors decision. The Building Trades stand with Mayor Parker, said Ryan Boyer, a close Parker ally and the head of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council. Its important to the vitality of the city and equity with those workers that dont have the option of working remotely. Union leaders say the mayor should have negotiated The city and the union discussed the return-to-office policy once and had another negotiating session scheduled for this week, according to David Wilson, president of AFSCME Local 2187 of District Council 47, which represents much of the citys professional and administrative staff. He said the mayor implementing the policy unilaterally amounts to the city walking away from bargaining. District Council 47s contract with the city does not include a specific provision as to whether an end to hybrid work flexibility must be negotiated. But union officials and city leaders did negotiate telework conditions with individual departments during the pandemic under former Mayor Jim Kenney. Gennifer Reed, president of Local 2186, which represents city supervisors, said the contract also has for more than 30 years included options for alternative work schedules and flex time. Those provisions say employees can adjust their working hours and deviate from a typical 9-to-5, five-days-a-week schedule with the agreement of their department head. Parkers policy doesnt change workers hours just their working location. Francis Ryan, a professor of labor at Rutgers University who wrote a book about AFSCME in Philadelphia, said hybrid work arrangements are a historically unique example of discussing workplace hours. But I think it fits in with the context of what collective bargaining normally does, he said. When you look at the history of collective bargaining in the public sector, there are cases where flex time and other kinds of work arrangements have been bargained. There isnt consensus on whether return-to-work has to be bargained Experts and labor lawyers say there is not a consensus between employers and unions as to whether return-to-office policies need to be negotiated, and requirements for negotiation can vary widely, based on individual unions contracts. Joseph E. Slater, a professor at the University of Toledo College of Law and an expert in public-sector labor law, said there are three ways to classify whether a topic is subject to collective bargaining: Its considered a mandatory topic, meaning the city could not unilaterally impose a policy before coming to an agreement or an impasse with the union. Only some aspects of the policy are mandatory, meaning the effects of it must be bargained. Its not negotiable at all. Slater said he believes the first two options are significantly more likely than the third. READ MORE: City workers say they feel like pawns for Center City revival as Mayor Parker pushes in-office requirement Other jurisdictions have taken a variety of approaches. For example, the Pennsylvania state government developed telework agreements with four unions that represent public-sector workers. At the federal level, agencies have negotiated hybrid conditions to varying degrees, but it is considered a mandatory subject of bargaining. Last month, the Department of Education announced that all staff would be required to work in-person at least five days per pay period, but the union that represents department employees said it had not agreed to the policy. Last week, the department postponed its plans. What could happen next? The unions could fight the policy by filing an unfair-labor-practice charge with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. Slater said the board would then determine which, if any, parts of the policy the employer would have to bargain before implementing. Typically, an administrative law judge makes an initial ruling, which can be appealed to court. Labor leaders have not yet said if or when they intend to take further action. In a statement, District Council 47 said only: More to come. Baggage delivery time at major airports improves, finds BCAS New Delhi, May 21 (UNI) A slew of measures taken by aviation security watchdog Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has resulted in marked improvement in baggage delivery time at major airports in the country. "From 62.2% of passengers getting on-time baggage delivery in January, the number increased to more than 90% from March 2024 onwards. More importantly, the progress has been sustained since then and the percentage of bags arriving within 30 minutes has reached a high of 92.5% in May 2024," said an aviation ministry official. As per the global standards prescribed by International Air Transport Association (IATA), as well as Schedule 3 of the OMDA (Operation, Management and Development Agreement) with airports, baggage should be delivered to passengers within 30 minutes of the arrival of the aircraft. A City Council bill would institute development controls around East Mermaid Lane in Chestnut Hill. The bill was sparked by a large apartment proposal by the Goldberg Group in 2021. Read more An effort to create a neighborhood conservation district mandating design and materials in development around East Mermaid Lane in Chestnut Hill is on track to be passed by City Council in June, despite pushback from the Philadelphia Planning Commission. The bill would create a zoning overlay governing new construction and remodeling in that corner of Chestnut Hill. Vinyl and aluminum siding, and concrete masonry would not be allowed, for example, while Wissahickon schist, brick, limestone would be. Advertisement Among a long list of provisions, the bill would also ban roof decks, force HVAC equipment and gas meters to be hidden from the street, and require that at least 15% of a front yard be landscaped. What we were trying to do is just make [developers] build something that looks similar, said Camille Peluso, an architect of the overlay. Were not asking to be draconian like a historic society or an HOA that requires paint colors. Conservation districts are a little-used development tool in Philadelphia that are meant to ensure that new and renovated buildings accord architecturally with the existing neighborhood. Rules are set individually for each district and are regulated through the Planning Commission and City Council, unlike a historic district, which contains a uniform set of restrictions that are governed by the Historical Commission. The bill to create the district, which Councilmember Cindy Bass introduced April 25, received a negative review from the Planning Commissions staff. Conservation districts are meant to preserve small collections of buildings that look similar, but planner Ian Hegarty argued that the East Mermaid Lane proposal encompasses three distinct architectural styles. Some of the homes that would be protected are large manses built in the mid-19th century and set on expansive lots, while others are densely built twins and rowhouses near rail transit that date to the early 20th century. Below Mermaid Lane are a cluster of institutional buildings, such as the Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting and the former site of the nonprofit Blossom Philadelphia formerly known as United Cerebral Palsy of Philadelphia that was sold to the Goldenberg Group, a Philadelphia-based developer, in 2019. Hegarty said that the staff decided that there wasnt enough consistent architectural character across the area to justify a conservation district. The backers of the conservation district have been planning the bill for three years, dating to the Goldenberg Groups 2021 revelation that it planned to build a 250-unit apartment building. The company did not return a request for comment on the current plan for the site. Their lawyer, Ballard Spahrs Matt McClure, submitted a letter to the Planning Commission protesting the district proposal. The former industrial site that was then used for Blossom Philadelphia may be in play in the coming years in terms of redevelopment, Hegarty said. I understand that that is a primary motivation for [the conservation district]. Advocates took Hegartys recommendation against the proposal as a slight on the merits of the neighborhood but agreed that the former Blossom Philadelphia site was a concern. We are in the midst of trying to preserve our neighborhood and that includes four acres of it that are ready to be developed into housing, or whatever, by a predatory developer, Peluso said. The conservation district bill was also dealt a blow by the Chestnut Hill Community Association (CHCA). Multiple board members contended that the conservation advocates had acted alone, without support from the larger neighborhood. The proposal was not brought to the zoning experts in the neighborhood organization. Theyre quite well aware that the community association exists, said Larry McEwen, who serves on its board. This has been brought before you without any attempt to present it to the community association or any of the other RCOs in Chestnut Hill. Peluso herself is on the board of CHCA, too, but described the organization as concentrated on issues concerning neighborhoods at the top of the hill. Weve had a problem in this area of Chestnut Hill, where it has been the poor stepchild of Chestnut Hill, she said. The controversy that unfolded over the hour-long Planning Commission meeting punctuated by a bill supporter breaking down in tears led commissioners to hold the bill for 45 days. That would delay City Council consideration until after the summer recess. But at the City Council Rules Committee hearing Tuesday, a Planning Commission staff member stated that the bill will again be on the agenda of the commissions June meeting. That could allow Council to consider the bill in June. The tradition of councilmanic prerogative gives district members near total control over zoning in their areas, allowing them to create their own land-use rules within their political boundaries. Since Philadelphia rewrote its zoning playbook in 2012, City Council members have many idiosyncratic zoning overlays to appease constituents, punish enemies, and advance policy goals they cant get passed at a citywide level. While the Planning Commission often condemns this behavior, they are powerless to stop it. Overlays can be really good things, the more the merrier, Bass said at the end of the hearing to laughter from her colleagues, just before the bill was voted out of committee. This story has been updated to make clear what the Planning Commission staff agreed to at the hearing. In this rapid age of digitalisation, we at Zurich Malaysia are constantly on the lookout for partners that align with our brand campaign ethos to Care For What Matters, she said. Our collaboration with AEON Bank represents a shared vision for promoting Syariah-compliant financial inclusion not only for Islamic communities, but for Malaysians of all walks of life. Through this multi-year collaboration, we are ready to meet the dynamic needs of todays digital-savvy customers and be at the forefront of digital innovation. Theres no greater priority than the protection we can provide for our families and loved ones, and were excited and proud to be able to drive this through the partnership with AEON Bank. On behalf of the Insurance Council and its members, I welcome Andrew to the counter fraud and scam team, where I know his years of knowledge and expertise will be a great asset in guiding this important work, he said. Andrew will lead the new function as it becomes a standalone entity, external to the ICA, working with insurers to reduce the cost of fraud and scams to insurance customers and the community. The LMAs DABAU Group is the perfect conduit between insurance carriers and Lloyds, Howell said in a news release. Each member of the group shares common goals. By coming together, we can help to shape the future of delegated authority across the industry, and for the benefit of the wider market. With a focus on systems, processes, and people, members and those we work with will be able to plan well, make informed decisions, and develop reporting within their own companies. We [also] need to be able to reinsure for it as well and it needs to fit with what the reinsurers expectations of catastrophe events are, said Aldridge. So it is a huge challenge and it will be interesting to see where it comes out. I think the future for women in the insurance industry is bright, she said. I look at CNA and I look at its leaders, and I find lots of women among them - which gives me hope. I look around us in financial services and also see women who are climbing the ladder, and pulling others up with them. Carnevale joins Munich Re Specialty from Homesite Underwriting Managers, where she served as senior vice president and chief risk officer. Her career also includes roles at Allied World, where she was senior vice president and head of programs, and at Starr Insurance Companies, where she was deputy manager of programs. This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync. Once in a while, we get to cover an insurance story that coincides with current events. In the past, weve explored the insurance ramifications of things like the Johnny Depp/Amber Herd case and the fall of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Sadly, the latest instance of insurance in the headlines is a much more solemn event: the tragic cargo ship crash that resulted in Baltimores Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsing and killing six workers. This accident involved public infrastructure, private industry, and even international business stakeholders from Denmark (the ships charterer, Maersk) to Singapore (the ships owner, Grace Ocean Pvt. Ltd, and manager, Synergy Marine Group). Not surprisingly, it also involved a lot of insurance policies. As the state of property and casualty insurance remains precarious due to high loss ratios from climate-related catastrophes, the last thing insurance carriers and reinsurers wanted or needed was a mass casualty event, which should have been avoidable. Unfortunately, accidents happen. And now, the entire worlds eyes are on the main characters of this story, including Baltimore, the state of Maryland, the ships owner, the ships charterer, and the many insurance companies standing behind each entity. Who has insurance on the Francis Scott Key Bridge? As of now (although we hardly expect this to be a comprehensive list), news outlets are reporting a variety of stakeholders with insured interests in the bridge, the ship, the ships cargo, and more. These include: The Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA): This government organization is responsible for constructing, managing, operating and improving the States toll facilities, as well as for financing new revenue producing transportation projects. As such, it makes sense that MDTA has a $350 million property insurance policy and a $150 million liability policy, both of which the agency has reportedly filed claims with. The Dali cargo ship: The vessel that crashed into the Key Bridge was insured by Britannia P&I, the oldest and one of the largest Property and Indemnity (P&I) insurers in the world. Insurance Business Magazine reported that all together, the International Group of P&I Clubs (IGP&I) of which Brittania is a part, has more than $3 billion of reinsurance cover. No doubt, many of the IGP&I member companies will be responsible for some portion of the damages, as they have a heavy presence insuring and reinsuring the marine markets. Grace Ocean Pvt. Ltd and Synergy Marine Group: The ships owner and management company, respectively, are both based in Singapore and hold massive insurance policies on the ship. Together, these companies filed a petition in U.S. District Court to limit their liability (and thus their insurance companies obligation to pay) based on the Limitation of Liability Act of 1851. It remains to be seen whether a judge will grant this request, based on claims from the ships owner and manager that there was no fault or negligence involved in the accident. In addition to these policyholders, we can expect insurance beneficiaries to include the families of those workers killed in the accident along with the many businesses now incurring financial losses due to the ports shut down itself, or the resulting supply chain interruptions. The Key Bridge collapses impact on the larger insurance industry While experts and analysts are saying the insurance losses from the Key Bridge collapse could become the largest marine loss in history, no ones calling for doom and gloom within the wider industry yet. Thanks to a diverse and well-funded network of insurance carriers and reinsurers, the potentially $4 billion loss will be spread through the whole global reinsurance market, according to John Miklus, the president of the American Institute of Marine Underwriters, as reported by CNN. Because of how the systems designed, even a loss this large is still one that the insurance industry is prepared to absorb. Bruce Carnegie-Brown, chair of Lloyds of London, told CNBC that the amount of insurance payouts that come from the Key Bridge collapse may be the largest-ever marine insured loss, but not outside parameters that we plan for. This is good news for an industry thats already facing ongoing catastrophic losses from wildfires, flooding, and hurricanes, among other frequent natural disasters. To learn more about how insurers remain solvent and the role of reinsurance, check out this article from our blog. Baltimores Key Bridge collapse has implications for many types of insurance policies When we think about an event as significant as the Key Bridge Collapse, one that shuts down an entire seaport, the insurance claims go far beyond the property (the bridge, the ship, and its cargo). From liability, to life insurance, to directors and officers, to business interruption, these are the most likely types of insurance policies thatll pay claims because of the Key Bridge collapse. Property insurance: Whether its the ship, the bridge, cars that fell into the water when the bridge collapsed, or other types of property that were damaged in the accident, property insurance claims will help property owners with the costs of repairing or replacing their physical property. Marine liability insurance: As opposed to property insurance, liability insurance (also called casualty insurance) is responsible for paying claims for damages that go beyond damaged property. In the case of the Key Bridge collision and collapse, two people were killed, four more are presumed dead, and two people survived with minor injuries although the emotional toll the traumatic incident has on them and their ability to work in the future remains to be seen. Liability policies held by everyone from the companies performing work on the bridge at the time of the crash to the ships owners and management to the Port of Baltimore itself will see claims. Once investigations uncover which entities were legally at fault, well have a clearer picture of which policies will have to pay, and how much. Life and accidental death & dismemberment (AD&D) insurance: If the workers killed in the Key Bridge collision were employed, rather than contracted, their employer may have provided them with a life and AD&D policy. If this is the case, the workers beneficiaries would receive a death benefit along with an additional benefit based on the accidental nature of their deaths. No amount of money can bring a loved one back, however, these types of death benefits can ease the burden of funeral and other expenses. Cargo insurance: Cargo insurance specifically covers the value of the cargo a ship was carrying at the time of an accident. If the cargo was somehow undamaged, then its owners wouldnt need to file a claim. In the case of the Key Bridge collapse, the Dali was carrying around 4,700 shipping containers only half of its total capacity. Despite not being full, the Dalis cargo consisted of a large variety of items, including hazardous materials, some of which leaked into the Baltimore Harbor, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. The cargos owners will likely have large cargo insurance claims to file to recover the costs of their materials and possibly largescale cleanups. Directors & Officers (D&O) insurance: This type of policy protects directors and officers of companies from legal costs and settlements that arise during the course of doing business. While no D&O claims have been reported in the news as of yet, they could emerge if information comes out that someone in a leadership position at the ships owner or management company made a mistake or acted negligently in a way that contributed to the accident. Trade credit insurance: Since the Port of Baltimore is the countrys top site (by volume) for importing and exporting vehicles, there are going to be a lot of businesses (car dealerships, for example) that cant sell vehicles while the port remains closed or at limited capacity. Without products to sell, these businesses may have trouble paying their own bills, which is where trade credit insurance comes in. This type of policy helps businesses stay afloat when theres a sudden interruption to its own commercial customers ability to pay. Companies further down the supply chain may be able to get claims paid through their trade credit insurance policies if their customers cant pay their bills because of the sudden halt of imports coming through Baltimore. Business interruption insurance: Many businesses directly rely on the Port of Baltimores daily operations to function. With the port closed because of the collapsed bridge, businesses that cant perform their operations or whose operations are limited because of the closed port may be able to file claims with their own business interruption policies to help them recover from financial losses. Contingent business interruption insurance: The impacts of business interruption span far beyond just those companies forced to pause or halt their operations due to an unforeseen event. When a companys business is interrupted because its unable to get supplies it needs for its own manufacturing process, for example, because those supplies arent coming through the port of entry, the company may be able to rely on its contingent business interruption insurance for help. The world relies on insurance. Insurance relies on infrastructure. The collapse of Baltimores Francis Scott Key Bridge is a stark reminder of how interconnected the global economy is. Its also a reminder of how important insurance coverage is when things go tragically and catastrophically wrong. Without the help of insurance, the recovery process would be even longer, even more expensive, and, quite frankly, industry-crippling for those directly and indirectly feeling the impact of the bridges collapse. Luckily for everyone involved, the worldwide network of insurance carriers and reinsurers should be able to handle its obligations, even in this extremely large and expensive disaster. Everyone working in the insurance industry today should be reminded of the vital role you play in keeping the world moving. We at AgentSync are proud to serve the industry as a key piece of technological infrastructure that enables insurance carriers, agencies, MGAs, MGUs, and everyone in between to do their jobs, ultimately serving the insured that rely on them. Topics Liability Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Co. is suing a Connecticut couple the insurer alleges defrauded its insured, a Florida theater nonprofit, by using the organizations checking and credit card accounts for more than a half million dollars in unauthorized personal expenditures over a decade. According to the insurers complaint filed in federal court in Connecticut, Lindsay Warfield spent $587,669.58 of the Educational Theatre Associations money for her own personal benefit and the benefit of her husband, Randall Adkison. From October 10, 2013 through March 18, 2023, Warfield was chapter director of Florida State Thespian Society, an affiliate of Educational Theatre Association, which was insured under a policy from Philadelphia Insurance. As state chapter director, Warfield had access to the associations bank accounts and checkbook and had the authority to approve credit card payments for the business. The Society has troupes in schools around the state and an annual festival in Tampa, its website shows. Warfields non-business expenditures allegedly included payments for groceries, clothing, furniture, airline tickets, and beauty salon, custom auto and veterinarian services, as well as payments to vendors including Airbnb, Universal Studios, Sea World, Disney, Broadway, and various museums and movie theaters. According to the complaint, the couple moved to Connecticut from Florida shortly before the board of the Educational Theatre Association in March 2023 uncovered the alleged misappropriation of funds and suspended Warfield. Philadelphia Insurances complaint further alleges that after the fraud was uncovered by the nonprofits board, Adkison, who was an assistant director with the Florida chapter, deleted all festival registration data prior to 2023. According to the complaint, when she was asked about the charges, Warfield admitted to misappropriating monies for personal use such as Airbnb stays and Wayfair expenses. Warfield allegedly explained she kept her business credit cards in the same electronic wallet on her phone and that she sometimes used the business credit cards for personal items by mistake. Philadelphia claims that Warfield stated her intention to reimburse the monies that she misappropriated but she has not done so. Philadelphia Insurance paid the associations $587,669.58 claim and is now seeking repayment along with interest, punitive damages, costs, attorney fees, and other relief for claims including fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment and negligence. The Educational Theatre Association is a professional association for theatre educators. It has 45 affiliate chapters, including the one in Florida. Topics Florida Carriers Fraud Claims Connecticut A federal judge ruled last Friday in favor of the Delaware State Police in a lawsuit filed by a former trooper who said she was subjected to years of discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation as she rose through the ranks. Police sergeant Nicole Oldham, 49, said she endured harassment and discrimination from 2002 to 2018. She received a termination letter from former state police Col. Nathaniel McQueen Jr. in October 2018, months after being placed on medical leave and a week after filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. An attorney for Oldham, now known as Nicole Hantz, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. During her career, Oldham became the first female to be voted president of a police academy class, and the first to be assigned as an investigator in the fatal crash reconstruction unit, according to the lawsuit. A trooper-of-the year nominee in 2004, she later became the first woman to be named officer in charge of the governors executive protection unit, according to the lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Richard Andrews said many of Oldhams hostile work environment claims were barred by the passage of time because she failed to demonstrate a continuing pattern of similar conduct by the same individuals. Instead, many of the claims targeted different conduct by different troopers over a period of several years. Other complaints of a hostile work environment failed to show discrimination and harassment that was severe and pervasive, Andrews added. The judge also rejected Oldhams discrimination claims based on her transfer from a super troop in Georgetown to a less desirable troop in Bridgeville in 2018, and her subsequent termination. Andrews said Oldham failed to demonstrate that her transfer, which police said was done to resolve intrapersonal issues, was an adverse employment action or retaliation for her sexual harassment complaints. The judge also said McQueen was justified in relying on documents submitted by medical providers to determine that Oldham suffered from permanent disability that warranted her termination. The medical providers suggested it was unlikely that she would be able to return to full duty. Oldhams lawsuit described a police agency that she said turned a blind eye toward sexual harassment, misogyny, extramarital affairs and hostile working conditions, and retaliated when misconduct was called out. Oldhams allegations included sometimes lurid details of the abuse she said she suffered at the hands of fellow officers. Oldham alleged among other things that she was targeted with false rumors that she had sex with male subordinates, and that she performed oral sex on a state lawmaker to gain a lead spot on former Gov. Jack Markells executive protection unit. She also said she was targeted for retaliation after spurning sexual advances by other troopers. Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Legislation Claims Law Enforcement In a ruling against an upscale restaurant chain, a Massachusetts Appeals Court has followed the recipe the states high court set forth in 2022 in ruling that the COVID-19 virus does not trigger business interruption insurance because it does not cause direct physical loss or damage. Davios restaurant chain sought to recover under its all-risk business policy issued by Strathmore Insurance Co. for business losses it suffered due to service restrictions and remediation efforts necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the Davios ruling as one by the Massachusetts Supreme Court. The Davios ruling was by the Massachusetts Appeals Court. Insurance Journal regrets the error. Strathmore, a subsidiary of Greater New York Mutual Insurance Co., denied Davios claims on the basis that the loss of business income was not caused by direct physical loss of or damage to property, as required under the policy. Davios filed suit and a Superior Court judge granted Strathmores motion to dismiss. The restaurants then appealed from the judgment of dismissal. Strathmore was also the defendant in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court 2022 case in which it was sued by a different Boston-area restaurant group, Verveine Corp. The Verveine ruling was the first by a state supreme court on COVID-19-related business interruption claims filed against insurers across the country, the majority of which insurers have won. Noting the similarities between the Verveine and Davios cases, the opinion written by Justice William Meade said the appeals court discerned no reason to distinguish the Davios case from the Verveine case decided by the high court two years ago. Massachusetts: First State Top Court Gives Industry a Win in Covid-19 Claims Case Davios claimed that the virus became physically present at its restaurants and the presence of the virus caused it to take extraordinary measures, which included closing certain operations and services, substantially modifying others, restricting access to many of the properties, enforcing physical distancing, and undertaking extensive active efforts to repair, restore, and remediate the facilities. The restaurant firm also maintained that some surfaces and objects retained residual infectious virus even after cleaning, and no amount of cleaning could prevent aerosolized infectious particles from attaching to surfaces after cleaning. However, the restaurants were able to continue operating at reduced levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. Davios Massachusetts locations include Bostons Seaport, Foxboro, Lynnfield, Braintree and Chestnut Hill. The appeals court faced the same question addressed in Verveine whether there was any direct physical loss of or damage to property and similarly concluded that those words from the insurance policy require a physical alteration of the property and the COVID-19 virus did not physically alter or affect any of the insured property. On the question of what constitutes a physical alteration of property, Verveine again provided the guidance that property has not experienced physical loss or damage in the first place unless there needs to be active repair or remediation measures to correct the claimed damage or the business must move to a new location. Thus, the evanescent presence of a harmful airborne substance that will quickly dissipate on its own, or surface-level contamination that can be removed by simple cleaning, does not physically alter or affect property. In contrast, the saturation, ingraining, or infiltration of a substance into the materials of a building or persistent pollution of a premises requiring active remediation efforts does constitute a physical alteration. The appeals court noted that similar distinctions have been noted in COVID-19 insurance cases across the country and courts have reached the same conclusion even when presented with detailed allegations regarding how the COVID-19 virus affects the air and surfaces around it. In Verveine, the Supreme Judicial Court assumed that the virus was physically present in the restaurants but explained that the suspension of business at the restaurants was not in any way attributable to a direct physical effect on the plaintiffs property that can be described as loss or damage. As demonstrated by the restaurants continuing ability to provide takeout and other services, there were not physical effects on the property itself. Davios specifically alleged that there have been hundreds (if not thousands) of infected guests on-site since the pandemics outset. But the court found that these allegations do not show that the virus physically altered or affected the insured property in any way. Rather, they show the evanescent presence of a harmful airborne substance, and that there was no direct physical loss or damage to property. Related: Topics Massachusetts COVID-19 CFC, the London-based specialist managing general agent, announced the appointment of Kate Della Mora to the newly created role of CEO, CFC Canada. Della Moras appointment coincides with the launch of CFCs first office on the ground in Canada, based in Toronto, with the ambition of building a team of business development professionals to provide Canadian brokers across the country with direct access to support, complementing CFCs existing Canada-facing underwriting teams based in the UK. Della Mora joins CFC from Marsh Canada where she held the role of National Specialty Growth leader for over four years and has extensive experience of cyber and professional liability from her years at Allianz, Liberty International, Berkley and Travelers. This hire marks another exciting step for CFC as we expand our global footprint and aim to be closer to our broker partners, commented Louise OShea, group CEO, CFC. CFC said it has offered insurance solutions to Canadian brokers for more than two decades. During that time it has grown to become a market leader in cyber and now offers over 20 classes of specialist insurance to protect businesses in nearly every industry with products designed for emerging and technology based risks, the company said. Headquartered in London with offices in New York, San Francisco, Austin, Toronto, Brussels, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane, CFC has more than 900 employees, who work with more than 150,000 businesses in 90 countries Source: CFC Topics Canada Canadas government is banning key-programming machines and other equipment used to steal cars, while implementing harsher penalties to combat a rising number of auto thefts across the country. Minister of Justice Arif Virani unveiled a national plan to combat car thefts at an event on Monday in the Toronto area. We know that auto thefts are increasing, and in some areas these crimes are becoming more violent, he said. The plan includes laws that would raise the maximum time a criminal spends in jail for stealing cars to 14 years from 10. It also targets the leaders of car-theft rings and includes harsher penalties in cases involving violence. Brampton, a suburban city near Toronto, has seen a sharp spike in violent car jackings. Canadian car thefts were a C$1.2-billion ($880 million) gift to organized crime in 2022, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said at the event Monday. Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government called a national summit on the issue after a 300% rise in stolen vehicles in the Toronto region from 2015 to 2022. Many of the initiatives announced on Monday flow from that summit, including new intelligence sharing, scanning machines and coordination between police and border services. So far in 2024, we have intercepted over 1,200 stolen vehicles in railyards and marine ports. But there is more to do, Canada Border Services Agency President Erin OGorman. Photograph: A tire lock on a parked vehicle. Photo credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg Copyright 2024 Bloomberg. Topics Auto Fraud Canada Risk Strategies announced that it has acquired Silveus Insurance Group, Inc (Silveus). The Indiana-based broker dates back to 1940 and is the countrys largest independent specialty provider of crop insurance. Terms of the deal were not provided. Based in Warsaw, Indiana, Silveus is widely recognized nationwide for its deep expertise and understanding of both federal and private products available to growers to reduce their risk exposures. The firm is the industry leader in private product development, selling a variety of private and federal insurance products. The firms client base is geographically diverse, spanning 40 states, and ranges from small, five-acre farms to some of the nations largest corporate farming operations. Topics Mergers & Acquisitions GSK Plc is facing a whistleblower lawsuit that could potentially cost it billions of dollars from the laboratory that revealed the presence of a probable carcinogen in Zantac, the heartburn medication that the UK drugmaker invented and turned into a blockbuster. An amended complaint filed Monday contends that GSK hid Zantacs cancer risks for decades while Medicare, Medicaid and other US government health programs covered prescriptions for the antacid. The lawsuit, which hasnt been reported before, was brought by Connecticut-based Valisure, the independent lab that raised the alarm about Zantacs cancer risks in 2019. Big drugmakers already face some 80,000 state suits from users of the drug who say their cancers were caused by Zantac contaminated with NDMA, the dangerous chemical Valisure discovered. Bloomberg Intelligence estimates they could cost GSK as much $1.2 billion. The labs whistleblower suit addresses potential fraud on the part of the company and, if successful, would seek repayment of billions of dollars the government paid for Zantac, along with fines. Our argument is that every dollar the government state or federal paid for Zantac, was fraud, Brent Wisner of Wisner Baum in Los Angeles, one of Valisures attorneys in the case, said in an interview. It may rise to the level of posing an existential threat to GSK. GSK has said theres no consistent or reliable evidence that Zantac increases the risk of cancer of any kind. Lyndsay Meyer, a US-based spokesperson for GSK, had no immediate comment on Valisures suit. Whistleblower cases are typically brought by company employees or other insiders who report wrongdoing. Valisure filed the suit because it had non-public information about GSK when it discovered NDMA in Zantac. The lab also gave its findings to the US Food and Drug Administration several months before making them public. Wisner and Jennifer Moore of Moore Law Group in Louisville, Kentucky, took on Valisures case this month. The pair are known for large verdicts they won against Bayer AG on behalf of people who claimed the companys herbicide Roundup caused their cancers. The German companys shares have lost about 70% of their value since investor concern arose about Bayers liability, eventually leading to the departure of former Chief Executive Officer Werner Baumann. Confidential Settlements GSK has reached a string of confidential settlements in Wisners and Moores state-court cases in California involving claims Zantac caused users cancers. The accords came on the eve of trial in some cases. The whistleblower case, however, poses a different kind of financial risk than individual Zantac suits. Medicaid alone spent some $5.2 billion from 1991 to 2020 on Zantac, while Medicares costs over a seven-year period starting in 2012 were almost $800 million, according to the suit. Valisures lawyers will ask a judge to triple any recovery under provisions of states and the US governments false-claim laws. GSK may also face fines of as much as $11,000 for each false claim it submitted, according to the filings. Also called qui-tam complaints, whistleblower suits are filed under seal and given to the US Justice Department for review. Government prosecutors can intervene if they choose. Valisure originally filed its whistleblower complaint in 2019, but the case was kept under seal until the government had a chance to review it. Laboratory officials filed the case on behalf of US taxpayers and those in 25 states. A judge unsealed Valisures suit in March after the government declined to either join the suit or recommend dismissal. The amended complaint offers more details about the labs claims. Potentially Lethal In the suit, Valisure contends that NDMA is a potentially lethal carcinogen no matter how small the exposure and GSK officials knew Zantac could degrade into that substance in certain circumstances, but never warned consumers. Just the second medication to garner more than $1 billion in annual sales, Zantac hit the US market as a prescription drug in 1983 before becoming an over-the-counter heartburn treatment in 1996. Some versions of the drug continued to require a prescription, such as those for infants. French drugmaker Sanofi, which acquired over-the-counter Zantac in 2017, recalled the brand-name version shortly after Valisure released test results in 2019 showing elevated levels of NDMA in the medication and its generics. The labs research indicated the drugs active ingredient, ranitidine, formed NDMA over time or at higher temperatures. An odorless liquid chemical once used to make rocket fuel, NDMA is often found as a byproduct of manufacturing processes. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies it as a group 2A carcinogen, meaning that its probably carcinogenic in humans. In 2020, the Food and Drug Administration confirmed Zantac and its generics could form NDMA and ordered drugmakers to take all versions of the medicine, including generics, off the market. Sanofi has since returned Zantac to store shelves but replaced ranitidine with famotidine, the active ingredient in competitor Pepcid, which hasnt been shown to form NDMA. Bloomberg reported last year that a study done in 1982 by GSK, then called Glaxo, showed the potential for Zantac to form NDMA. GSK kept the findings secret until sharing it with regulators after Valisures findings came out. The case is Valisure v GlaxoSmithKline Plc, 19-cv-4239, US District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia). Photo: Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg Copyright 2024 Bloomberg. Topics Lawsuits German chemical company BASF said on Tuesday it reached a $316.5 million settlement with some U.S. public water systems that claimed toxic forever chemicals in firefighting foam made by the company contaminated their water supplies. The money provided by the settlement, which must be approved by a federal judge, will help cities, towns and other public water systems remediate contamination of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. PFAS are a class of chemicals used in thousands of consumer and commercial products, including firefighting foams, non-stick pans and stain-resistant fabrics. They have been tied to cancers and other diseases, and are often called forever chemicals because they do not easily break down in nature or the human body. BASF said in a statement that the settlement does not constitute an admission of liability or wrongdoing, and that it will seek to recover for the settlement through its numerous insurance policies. The company said it will pay about $4 million as part of the settlement in July, and will pay another $312.5 million in March. BASF is among nearly two dozen chemical companies that have faced lawsuits brought by water systems over PFAS pollution in sprawling litigation that has been centralized in a South Carolina federal court. The lawsuits focus on PFAS that contaminated groundwater after being sprayed in firefighting foams at fire houses and airports across the U.S. In 2023, those lawsuits led to more than $11 billion in settlements between U.S. water systems and major chemical companies including 3M, Chemours, Corteva and DuPont de Nemours. In April, Johnson Controls unit Tyco Fire Products agreed to a $750 million settlement. Related: Court Approves 3M Settlement Over Forever Chemicals in Public Water Systems BASF and roughly half a dozen other companies had been tentatively scheduled to go to trial in early 2025. This significant agreement is in large part the result of the pressure of upcoming trial cases, attorneys for the water systems at the law firms Douglas & London, Napoli Shkolnik, Baron & Budd and Motley Rice said in a joint statement on Tuesday. It acknowledges the scope of the PFAS crisis, and the financial depths required to address a problem of this magnitude, they said. Beyond the courtroom, PFAS have come under increased regulatory scrutiny in the United States in recent years as well. In April, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency set the first national drinking water standards to protect people from the chemicals, and designated a pair of the chemicals as hazardous substances under the nations Superfund program. Related: EPA Designates PFAS Chemicals as Superfund Hazardous Substances Topics Lawsuits Chemicals Tehran, May 21 (UNI) Iranian Vice President for Executive Affairs Mohsen Mansouri said on Monday that the body of President Ebrahim Raisi would be buried on Thursday in the northeastern city of Mashhad. He made the remarks while elaborating on the planned measures for the holding of the mourning ceremonies of Raisi and members of his accompanying team, who all died in a helicopter crash in the East Azarbaijan Province on Sunday, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency. He noted that in view of the frequent requests by people in different provinces for attending the mourning ceremonies, the Iranian Education Ministry had canceled all students' exams from Tuesday to Friday, adding nationwide closure had been announced for Wednesday to better hold the mourning ceremonies. The funeral ceremonies would be held for Raisi in Tabriz, Qom, the capital Tehran, Birjand and Mashhad from Tuesday to Thursday, and the president's body would be buried in the holy shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad on Thursday night. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Monday declared five days of national mourning over the incident, according to a statement published on his website. On Monday afternoon, a large number of people gathered in Tehran, mourning the tragic deaths of Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Governor of East Azarbaijan Province Malek Rahmati and Iran's supreme leader's representative to East Azerbaijan Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem. The crash occurred on Sunday in Varzaqan County as Raisi, along with his accompanying team on board three helicopters, was on his way from Khoda Afarin County, where he had attended the inauguration ceremony of a storage dam along with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev earlier in the day, to the provincial capital Tabriz. The members onboard Raisi's helicopter lost their lives. UNI/XINHUA ARN HOUSTON (AP) Houston area residents affected by deadly storms last week received some good news as officials said power was restored Sunday to a majority of the hundreds of thousands who had been left in the dark and without air conditioning during hot and humid weather. The widespread destruction of Thursdays storms left at least seven dead and brought much of Houston to a standstill. Thunderstorms and hurricane-force winds tore through the city, reducing businesses and other structures to piles of debris, uprooting trees and shattering glass from downtown skyscrapers. A tornado also touched down near the northwest Houston suburb of Cypress. By Sunday evening, 88% of customers in the Houston area had their power restored, said Paul Lock, a spokesperson for CenterPoint Energy. We expect everyone to be back on by end of business Wednesday, Lock said. More than 240,000 homes and businesses in Texas remained without electricity Sunday evening, mostly in the Houston area. More than 1,780 customers remained without power in Louisiana, which also was hit by strong winds and a suspected tornado. CenterPoint Energy said 2,000 employees and more than 5,000 contractors were working in the Houston area to restore power. We understand the higher temperatures we are experiencing across Houston and surrounding communities make getting the lights and air conditioning back on even more important, Lynnae Wilson, CenterPoints senior vice president of electric business, said in a statement. At one of five cooling centers for people still without power in their homes, residents took shelter from the heat at a community center in the Cloverleaf neighborhood and wondered when their power would come back. At least 15 community centers were set to serve as cooling centers in the Houston area on Monday. Carolina Sierra and her 6-year-old son, Derek, enjoyed the air conditioning for a couple of hours Sunday. She said they have been without electricity since the storm hit Thursday, and their home has been stifling. Derek passed the time coloring a picture of a dragon while his mother charged her cellphone and a portable lamp they planned to use Sunday night if the power was still not restored. Sierra said she gives her son multiple baths to try to keep him cool but he tosses and turns at night and struggles to sleep. We are desperate, Sierra said. We hardly sleep at night because of the heat. Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia stood outside the center Sunday, helping load water and ice onto vehicles while offering words of encouragement to residents still waiting for power to be restored. Nearly 500 vehicles stood in line at the center on Sunday to get water and ice. We are seeing a bit of the recovery come through, Garcia said. But we cant see enough of it fast enough. Disaster assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and loans from the Small Business Administration were on the way, said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the top elected official in the county where Houston is located. The federal assistance, which can help pay for temporary housing and repairs, will help residents affected by last weeks storms as well as by flooding from heavy rainfall in late April and early May in parts of Houston, Harris County and several counties north of Houston. Mayor John Whitmire said a six-block area in downtown Houston would be closed Monday to allow crews to continue repairs after various high-rise buildings had their windows blown out. Residents broke into cheers as lights and air conditioning kicked on at the eight-story Houston Heights Tower, a senior housing facility, Sunday morning. The nearly 200 residents had been living on emergency power since Thursday evening, with generators providing enough electricity to run just one of the buildings elevators and a handful of fans in the community room, leaving apartments in darkness. Volunteers and city workers had been ensuring residents received a steady supply of water, food and essentials like toilet paper. It just goes to show you how people come together, resident Joseph Torregrossa said, choking back tears. The National Weather Service said in a post on the social platform X that residents should expect sunny, hot and increasingly humid days in the Houston area. Highs of about 90 degrees (32 Celsius) were expected this week, with heat indexes likely approaching 102 degrees (39 Celsius) by midweek. With the temperature reaching 91 degrees (33 Celsius) Sunday afternoon, Lisa Reed sat in a folding chair outside her home in the Cloverleaf neighborhood because she was still without electricity. A volunteer crew of AFL-CIO apprentices who had reached out to Garcias precinct office had just cut up a large tree in her front yard that had come crashing down on two vehicles in her driveway and stacked the wood neatly in two large piles. Reed said no home on her street, where branches and other debris were piled along the sidewalk, escaped damage from last weeks storms. Its nothing I can do, said Reed, a fifth grade teacher. Take it all in stride. Im a firm believer that God will work it all out. Houston area school districts canceled classes for more than 400,000 students Friday. The Houston Independent School District, the states largest, said 215 of its 274 campuses would be open Monday. Two other large school districts in the the Houston area, Cypress-Fairbanks and Spring Branch, planned to be closed. ___ Associated Press reporter Mark Vancleave contributed to this report. Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Windstorm As Maui continues to recover from the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, Hawaii officials are looking at preventing another similar disaster ahead of what is expected to be a dry, fire-prone season, Gov. Josh Green said in proclaiming Wildfire Mitigation and Risk Reduction Preparedness Month. The Aug. 8, 2023, wildfire destroyed much of the town of Lahaina and killed 101 people. Of about 3,000 households displaced, about 600 still need to get into long-term housing, Green said. More than 60 people have applied for One Ohana, a $175 million fund, named after the Hawaiian word for family, to compensate the families of people killed, he said. We are now past the nine-month mark since the tragedy, and todays Day 276, Green said. Most people now have gone through a great deal of recovery and healing. But there are still people wrestling with where they are. Hawaii lawmakers recently appropriated funds for more firefighting equipment and a state fire marshal. Climate change has been boosting drought in Hawaii, drying the archipelagos vegetation and increasing the risks of destructive blazes. Wildfires were once rare in Hawaii, but they have grown in frequency in recent years. Green warned of a very dry season. Officials highlighted wildfire preparation efforts, including expanding a network of remote weather stations, approval of a state fire marshal and encouraging neighborhoods to band together to become recognized as Firewise communities. State Department of Transportation Director Ed Sniffen described the agencys actions, including looking at evacuation routes and planting native, drought-resistant vegetation. Honolulu Emergency Management Director Hiro Toiya encouraged residents to have go-bags ready for quick evacuations, with items such as essential documents and extra underwear. And Im not being facetious, like just bring extra underwear, he said. That can just really make a difference in terms of your quality of life in the immediate aftermath of the emergency. The new head of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, Amos Lonokailua-Hewett, was expected to be among the officials at Fridays news conference. But with National Weather Service thunderstorm alerts, he chose to stay back, just in case, said James Barros, administrator of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Wildfire Hawaii Californias top state court on Tuesday will consider a labor unions challenge to a ballot measure allowing app-based services such as Uber and Lyft to classify drivers in the state as independent contractors rather than as employees with more benefits. The seven-member California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in San Francisco in a lawsuit by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and four drivers who say the 2020 ballot measure known as Proposition 22 was unconstitutional. A California appeals court in 2023 struck down a lower-court ruling that found Prop 22 violated Californias constitution. Whether gig workers should be treated as employees or contractors is a crucial issue for the industry, as employees are entitled to the minimum wage, overtime pay, reimbursements for expenses and other protections that do not extend to independent contractors, who as a result can cost companies up to 30% less, according to several studies. Uber, Lyft and other app-based services spent more than $200 million on a campaign to pass Prop 22 and have said that without it, the increased costs could force them to stop doing business in the largest U.S. state. A study released on Monday by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, found that most gig drivers in five major U.S. cities including Los Angeles and San Francisco earn significantly less than the minimum wage when full costs are taken into account, including downtime. Drivers in California were paid less than their counterparts in Boston, Chicago and Seattle, according to the report. Joseph Bryant, SEIU executive vice president, said the Prop 22 case is a key piece in a campaign to secure basic legal protections for gig workers across the country and reverse more than a decade of exploitation. No matter the outcome, we will not be intimidated by corporations unconstitutional attempts to dictate law in California, Bryant said in a statement. The California Attorney Generals office, which is defending Prop. 22, declined to comment, deferring to its filings in the case. Protect App-Based Drivers and Services, an industry-backed group that has intervened in the case on behalf of the state, provided a statement from Stephanie Whitfield, an Instacart driver who said the flexibility of her job has allowed her to focus on her medical health while earning a living. Its not just about me its ensuring the people and families I deliver to are able to continue to have access to the services they rely on, Whitfield said. NATIONWIDE BATTLE California is just one front in a nationwide legal battle over the proper classification of gig drivers and other contract workers. Lawmakers in Minnesota passed a measure over the weekend that would set a minimum wage of $1.28 per mile and 31 cents per minute for gig drivers, replacing a higher minimum adopted by Minneapolis that spurred Uber and Lyft to threaten to cease operating in the city. Earlier this month, the top court in Massachusetts heard arguments over whether competing ballot proposals that would redefine the relationship between app-based companies and drivers in that state should be allowed to go before voters in November. One proposal supported by industry groups mirrors Prop 22, while another would allow drivers to unionize. And last week a trial kicked off in a lawsuit by the Massachusetts attorney general accusing Uber and Lyft of unlawfully classifying their drivers as contractors to avoid treating them as employees entitled to a minimum wage, overtime and earned sick time The U.S. Department of Labor, meanwhile, is contending with several legal challenges to a rule that would make it more difficult for companies in many industries, including app-based services, to treat workers as independent contractors. Prop 22 was approved in November 2020 by nearly 60% of voters in California. It exempts app-based drivers from a 2019 state law known as AB5 that narrowed the circumstances in which many workers can be treated as contractors. Instead, Prop 22 allows app-based transportation services to classify drivers as independent contractors as long as they are paid at least 120% of the minimum wage while passengers are in the car and receive expense reimbursements and subsidies to pay for health insurance. A state judge in 2021 found that Prop 22 violated the state constitution because it limited the legislatures power to include gig drivers within the scope of California workers compensation law. A mid-level appeals court last year disagreed and revived the measure. That court said the California Constitution permits the states electorate, along with the legislature, to make changes to the workers compensation system. (Reporting by Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Aurora Ellis) Related: Topics California Personal Auto Contractors Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) is a leading home appliance company that sells products under a wide variety of brands including Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag, Amana, Jenn-Air, and Consul. The company's roots go back to 1908 when Lou Upton first sold electric washing machines to Sears. Upton and his uncle Emory obtained funding three years later in 1911 to begin making a patented, electric motor-driven wringer washer. Upton Machine Co. was born and grew rapidly. The name was changed to Whirlpool Corp three decades later in 1950. Whirlpool posted $488 million in net earnings on revenue of $19.46 billion in 2023. Its market cap was $4.91 billion as of May 2024. The company's growth wouldn't be possible without many subsidiary brands. Whirlpool has made acquisitions throughout its history to expand its product line from washing machines to all types of appliances. Its acquisitions have also allowed it to expand into a variety of domestic and foreign markets raising antitrust concerns in some cases. Here's a list of some of Whirlpool's more notable acquisitions. Note that Whirlpool doesn't provide revenue and profit figures by subsidiary. Key Takeaways Whirlpool sells products under a wide variety of other brand names that include KitchenAid, Maytag, Amana, Jenn-Air, and Consul. The company began in 1908 when Lou Upton first sold electric washing machines to Sears. Whirlpool grew from there to a 2024 market cap of $4.91 billion in 2024. Whirlpool agreed to pay $1.7 billion to acquire its rival, the Maytag Corp, in August 2005. The company expanded its presence in Europe when it purchased Italian appliance maker Indesit Co. in 1975. Seeger Refrigerator Co. and R.C.A. Stoves and Air Conditioners Type of businesses : Refrigerators, stoves, and air conditioners : Refrigerators, stoves, and air conditioners Acquisition price : Not available (3-company merger) : Not available (3-company merger) Date of purchase: July 1955 One of Whirlpool's earliest efforts to expand its product offerings and reach took place in 1955. It involved a major merger of three companies. Whirlpool merged with the Seeger Refrigerator Co., enhancing Whirlpool's product line to include refrigerators. Whirlpool also acquired the air conditioning and stove businesses of R.C.A. Corp. as part of the deal. The combined companies had assets of $130 million at the time of the merger. This was a key early development for Whirlpool because it helped to position the company as a provider of a wide range of appliances beyond its traditional washing machine offerings. Maytag Corp. Type of business : Washers, dryers, kitchen and home appliances : Washers, dryers, kitchen and home appliances Acquisition price : $1.7 billion cash and stock : $1.7 billion cash and stock Date of purchase: March 31, 2006 Whirlpool agreed to pay $1.7 billion to acquire its rival, the Maytag Corp., in August 2005. The aggregate value of the deal was $2.6 billion including about $900 million in Maytag debt. Whirlpool reimbursed another bidder's $40 million breakup fee due to Whirlpool's pursuit of Maytag. Maytag was founded in 1893 in Iowa and had grown into a premier home appliance maker. Whirlpool became the immediate owner of successful brands through the Maytag deal, including Jenn-Air, the maker of microwave ovens, refrigerators, dishwashers, and small alliances. It also became the owner of several divisions of Amana, a popular maker of home appliances. Whirlpool's consolidation of control over the home appliance industry through the Maytag takeover wasn't without its critics. The acquisition was the subject of an antitrust investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice which ultimately found that the transaction didn't pose a major threat to competition. KitchenAid Type of business : Kitchen and home appliances : Kitchen and home appliances Acquisition price : Undisclosed : Undisclosed Date of purchase: January 12, 1985 Whirlpool announced plans to enter into an agreement with Hobart Corp., a unit of Dart & Kraft, Inc., in 1985. The goal was to acquire the appliance brand KitchenAid. Analysts estimated that Whirlpool paid as much as $170 million for KitchenAid although the price of the deal was undisclosed. KitchenAid was founded in 1919 and manufactures and sells products such as ovens, refrigerators, microwaves, dishwashers, and food processors. The acquisition was delayed for a year due to an antitrust lawsuit that proved to be unsuccessful. Whirlpool finally acquired all operations of the company in 1986 except for the dishwasher and trash compactor operations. These were sold to Emerson Electric Co. as part of the acquisition agreement. Hefei Rongshida Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. Type of business : Home appliances (China) : Home appliances (China) Acquisition price : Reported $552 million for 51% stake : Reported $552 million for 51% stake Date of purchase: October 24, 2014 Whirlpool became the majority interest holder with the purchase of a 51% stake in China's Hefei Rongshida Sanyo Electric Company Ltd. in October 2014. Hefei Sanyo is a leading home appliance maker based on the mainland. Whirlpool was struggling to grow sales in Asia at the time of the purchase. Whirlpool expanded its reach beyond larger urban areas and into the previously untapped rural Chinese market with its acquisition of Hefei Sanyo which was renamed Whirlpool China Co. Ltd. as part of the deal. Indesit Company S.p.A. Type of business : Home appliances (Europe) : Home appliances (Europe) Acquisition price : Reported $1 billion for 60.4% stake : Reported $1 billion for 60.4% stake Date of purchase: October 14, 2014 Whirlpool acquired a 60.4% controlling stake in the Italian appliance maker Indesit Co. in 2014 for approximately $1 billion. Indesit was founded in 1975 and is known for its washing machines, freezers, and ovens. The deal was completed in cash and debt and took place just a year after Whirlpool made the similar purchase of a majority stake in China's Hefei Sanyo. The purchase expanded Whirlpool's presence in Europe which was far smaller than in the U.S. Whirlpool 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 Whirlpools commitment to diversity, inclusiveness, and social responsibility. This chart illustrates how Whirlpool reports the diversity of its management and workforce. This shows if Whirlpool 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 . Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) has grown into one of the world's largest coffeehouse chains by selling an ever-growing selection of products. It's a retailer, roaster, and provider of its own brand of specialty coffee. It also sells hot and cold beverage products, baked goods, and other food items, as well as coffee-related merchandise like mugs, scoops, and presses. The first Starbucks opened at Seattles historic Pike Place Market in 1971 and went public two decades later in 1992. The top individual shareholders of Starbucks are Mellody Hobson, Michael Aaron Conway, and Rachel Ruggeri. The top institutional shareholders are Vanguard Group Inc., BlackRock Inc. (BLK), and State Street Corporation. Starbucks posted a 12-month trailing net income of more than $5.56 billion as of July 2024 and a 12-month trailing revenue of $36.5 billion for the same period. It had an intraday market capitalization of over $86 billion as of July 30, 2024. Key Takeaways Starbucks is a retailer, roaster, and provider of its own brand of coffee. It also sells other food items and merchandise. The company had a market capitalization of more than $86 billion in mid-2024. The top individual shareholders of Starbucks are Mellody Hobson, Michael Aaron Conway, and Rachel Ruggeri. The top institutional shareholders are Vanguard Group Inc., BlackRock Inc. (BLK), and State Street Corporation. Top 3 Individual Insider Shareholders This list reflects direct ownership. It doesn't include indirect ownership of shares or shares accessible through stock options. The term "insider" refers to people in senior management positions and members of the board of directors, as well as people or entities that own more than 10% of the company's stock. It has nothing to do with insider trading in this context. Mellody L. Hobson Mellody Hobson owned 728,680 Starbucks shares as of March 2024. Hobson has served as chairperson on the Starbucks board of directors since 2021. She was the first black woman ever to serve as chair of a Fortune 500 company. Hobson served as a Starbucks board member from 2003 until 2018. Michael Aaron Conway Michael Conway held 78,304 shares of Starbucks in March 2024. Mr. Conway was appointed as chief executive officer of Starbucks North America in April 2024. He previously served as group president of Starbucks' International and Channel Development team. Mr. Conway joined Starbucks in 2013 after a tenure as vice president of marketing at Campbell Soup Company. Rachel Ruggeri Rachel Ruggeri owned 65,341 Starbucks Shares as of March 2024. Ruggeri was named chief financial officer and executive vice president of Starbucks in 2021 after first serving on the accounting team beginning in 2001. She helped to debut the Starbucks Stored Value Card upon her arrival. She went on to hold numerous finance positions and was promoted to vice president of corporate finance and planning in 2010. Top 3 Institutional Shareholders All of these shareholders are financial services companies. Information about the top shareholders of Starbucks and the size of their holdings comes from required quarterly SEC disclosures. Data from these disclosures is compiled, organized, and displayed by various websites. Vanguard Inc. Vanguard's funds held 108.4 million shares of Starbucks as of March 2024, representing 9.57% of the total number of shares outstanding with a market value of over $8.2 billion. Vanguard is one of the world's largest investment management companies, offering 423 low-cost mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as of May 2024. The firm had about $8.6 trillion in global assets under management (AUM) as of February 2024. The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) is one of the company's largest ETFs with about $375.1 billion under management as of April 30, 2024 and 0.21% of VTI's holdings are allocated to shares of Starbucks. BlackRock Inc. BlackRock's funds held over 76 million shares of Starbucks as of March 2024, representing about 6.7% of the total number of shares outstanding with a market value of $5.7 billion. BlackRock is one of the world's leading asset and investment management firms with approximately $10 trillion in AUM as of the end of 2023. The firm offers a wide range of mutual funds, iShares ETFs, and closed-end funds. The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) is one of BlackRock's largest ETFs with just less than 465 billion in AUM as of May 21, 2024 and 0.20% of IVV's holdings are shares of Starbucks. State Street Corp. State Street's funds held approximately 45.8 million shares of Starbucks as of March 2024, representing about 4% of total shares outstanding with a market value of about $3.4 billion. State Street is a leading asset and investment management company with approximately $4.3 trillion in AUM at the close of 2024's first quarter. The firm provides a range of financial products and services to individuals, wealth managers, institutional investors, and other clients around the world. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) is one of State Street's largest ETFs with about $532.7 billion in AUM as of May 21, 2024. Approximately 0.20% of SPY's holdings are allocated to shares of Starbucks. What Is Starbucks' Share Price? Starbucks was trading at about $78 per share in July 2024. Its 52-week range is from $71 to $107. When Does Starbucks Pay Dividends? Starbucks pays dividends quarterly, typically in the middle of the quarter. Payments were made on Feb. 23 and May 31 of 2024. How Many Starbucks Locations Are There? From its beginning as a single storefront serving fresh-roasted whole bean coffees, the company boasts 32,000 stores in 80 countries. The Bottom Line Starbucks is a Goliath of the coffee world with stores and eateries worldwide. It also sells baked goods and branded merchandise. Starbucks top individual shareholders are Mellody Hobson, Michael Aaron Conway, and Rachel Ruggeri as of 2024. The top institutional shareholders are Vanguard Group Inc., BlackRock Inc. (BLK), and State Street Corporation. Starbucks posted a 12-month trailing net income of more than $5.56 billion in July 2024. The Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) has called for the EU to pursue a single harmonised capital markets union during its next term in order to address the blocs competitiveness, ahead of elections next month. The EUs capital markets union (CMU) is a plan to create a single market for capital across member states with the aim of allowing money to flow more easily across the bloc so it can benefit consumers, investors, and companies, regardless of where they are located. The EU says the CMU would offer greater choice of funding at lower costs and provide small and medium-sized businesses with the financing they need. The EU Commission first adopted the CMU action plan in September 2015. BPFI chief executive Brian Hayes said one of the key issues faced by Europe is the level of fragmentation of capital markets, especially when compared to the US. In order to increase competitiveness and attract global capital to support the large-scale funding needs of member states, a single, harmonised capital markets union is viewed as essential," said Mr Hayes. "The EU has tried before to promote CMU and success so far is limited. As part of its policy recommendations for the next EU term, the BPFI said that Ireland is in a prime position to become a significant hub for capital markets activity in the EU. The BPFI says Ireland is the fifth-largest financial services centre in the EU and the eighth-largest exporter of financial services globally. What happens at an EU level matters hugely to Ireland both from a jobs and growth perspective. "We cannot take the success of banking, payments, and fintechs for granted. Irelands position as a leading centre for these services in the Eurozone must be protected, said Mr Hayes. The BPFI is also calling for a move towards further supervisory and regulatory convergence at EU level. It said this can help to further develop the EU single market in financial services while helping to ensure a level-playing field between EU member states. Mr Hayes added that it is also critical that the EU looks to revive the securitisation market to support further lending to the European and Irish economies. We know that EU governments require 700bn annually to meet climate and digitalisation objectives and getting the securitisation market working is an essential source of new funding. The International Monetary Fund has warned Britain's government it was on course to miss its debt target and should not cut taxes before an election later this year, with tax rises likely to be needed in future. The IMF increased its projection for British economic growth in 2024 to 0.7% from an April forecast of 0.5%, an upgrade that reflected strong early 2024 growth data and will be welcomed by British prime minister Rishi Sunak, who is struggling to win over voters. But its annual report on Britain's economy also criticised policies of Mr Sunak's government, in particular recent tax cuts in the form of lower social security contributions. The IMF said the Bank of England should cut interest rates two or possibly three times this year, by a quarter-point on each occasion, although it saw inflation only returning to the bank's target on a durable basis in early 2025. The IMF said Britain was set for a "soft landing" after a short, shallow recession in the second half of 2023. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt focused on the upgrade to the immediate economic outlook, saying the IMF had agreed with his recent comments that the UK economy has turned a corner. "It is time to shake off some of the unjustified pessimism about our prospects," he said in a statement. But the IMF said growth would remain stuck in a slow gear and debt was on course to rise. It forecast public sector net debt excluding the Bank of England's bond-buying programme would hit 97% of GDP in the 2028/2029 financial year. "We are genuinely concerned, not just for the UK, for all countries that have used fiscal buffers extensively, that they must do more to rebuild these buffers," IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva told a news conference. In March, Britain's budget watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility said the British government was on track to meet its target to get debt falling as a share of GDP in the last year of its five-year forecast horizon, albeit narrowly. The IMF said it saw more spending ahead than in the UK's forecasts and Britain needed to tighten its belt through tax increases or spending cuts by an average of about one percentage point of GDP, or roughly 30bn a year, to stabilise debt by the end of the decade. It said it would have advised against the social security rate cuts already introduced by the government, given their heavy cost of about 0.5% of GDP. Furthermore, it said Britain should consider new revenue-raising measures such as higher carbon and road-usage taxation, a broadening of the value-added tax and inheritance tax bases, and reforming capital gains and property taxation. The state pension should be indexed to inflation and no longer the "triple-lock" system that includes wage growth and there could be more charges for public services alongside technology investment by the state. The IMF said weak investment in the past was now weighing on the growth rate of Britain's economy, and government efforts to rein in immigration presented another headwind to growth. "Against the backdrop of these challenges, as a general principle, staff would advise against additional tax cuts, unless they are credibly growth-enhancing and appropriately offset by high-quality deficit-reducing measures," the IMF said. Mr Sunak and Mr Hunt are expected to give more sweeteners to voters after the summer in a final attempt to bolster support for their Conservative Party before an election that opinion polls suggest will be won by the opposition Labour Party. Reuters At least 20,000 Irish farmers will be among those across Europe to benefit from CAP simplification. But environmentalists are not pleased, with 140 organisations publishing an open letter in which they say they are horrified that so many politicians across Europe are "threatening the basis of life on earth" in order to provide "false solutions to farmers hardships". "Small farmers with 10 ha or below will not be subject to inspections for conditionality, which was formerly known as cross-compliance, and therefore any financial penalties. This is a simplification for up to 20,000 farmers in Ireland", said Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon in the Dail, when he welcomed the European Commission's simplification proposals to help farmers overwhelmed by bureaucracy, and to help the administrators of common agricultural policy (CAP) funding. Minister of State Heydon said the 20,000 farmers must continue to meet the conditions required, but will not be inspected or penalised under conditionality. "Other farmers above 10ha will still be subject to conditionality controls and any penalties arising. This change will apply to claims made in 2024". Minister of State Heydon said this first year of the new CAP was challenging for farmers, and for the Department. "The current CAP has introduced new rules on performance reporting, and an increased focus on improving the environmental sustainability of the sector. Farmers across Europe and in Ireland have been highlighting the many challenges they are facing, and the difficulties in managing these, when considering changing climatic and economic conditions". He added: "The Minister and I and our officials will continue to work with the Commission and other member states to further simplify the CAP." On other simplifications proposed by the Commission, he said legislation is due shortly, along with amendments to Ireland's CAP strategic plan. But EU environmental orgaisations condemned what they called an opportunistic rollback of EU green policies to gain political support ahead of the European Parliament elections in June. Greenpeace, BirdLife, Friends of the Earth, Oxfam, WWF, ClientEarth, the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, and GOB Mallorca were among regional, national, and international civil society organisations slamming reversal of EU sustainability policies for the agrifood sector, in an open letter. They said no action was taken to address complaints of unfair trade practices and cheaper agricultural imports from non-EU countries. The European Commission wants to scrap basic environmental standards for farms, to appease industry lobbyists, and agriculture ministers are threatening the EUs new rules to fight global deforestation. In recent months, Ursula von der Leyens European Commission has loosened pollution rules for industrial farms, dropped plans for sustainable food production, abandoned targets to reduce pesticides, and shelved efforts to ensure a resilient water supply. On April 24, the European Parliament gave its final green light to the proposed relaxations of some environmental conditions for receiving farmer subsidy payments. The EU Council followed up with its approval on May 13. Member states had earlier endorsed the so-called simplification package in March, following a wave of protests by EU farmers. The text received broad support from country delegations, with only Germany abstaining. The changes will be in force until the end of the current CAP period in 2027, and farmers can apply some of them retroactively for the 2024 subsidy claim year. It is up to national administrations to determine how the measures will work in practice. But environmental groups say the EU institutions disregarded democratic principles in the rush to approve the package. In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in March, environmental and consumer organisations joined up to condemn the scrapping of environmental requirements without an impact assessment, and after consulting with only four farming organisations. But the Commission pointed out the political urgency of the measures to address a crisis situation in EU agriculture. Environmentalists are unconvinced, with Marilda Dhaskali of BirdLife Europe recently saying relaxing environmental rules is a convenient scapegoat for the real challenges farmers face. I knew it was going to be a lifelong pursuit, Conor OBrien says of Villagers longevity. Featuring a rotating cast of musicians led by the Dubliner, its been an ongoing pursuit since 2008, growing slowly but steadily, surely. Theres a sense of nostalgia around his sixth studio album, That Golden Time. The title itself hints at a long-ago past, a longing, perhaps, for something different, less algorithm-driven, while theres a woozy, lush sound running throughout, with contributions from a group of players that OBrien had first seen performing in a tribute to Italian composer Ennio Morricone. My first love of music was always film soundtracks, he explains. OBrien, now in his 40s, has also started a Substack newsletter, a space for his musical detritus, scribbles and obsessions, with snippets from his Golden Notebook among the posts. These reflections on the past, on his journey, have helped shape the future. There's no point in trying to repeat yourself... Once I've done something I just get bored. Did he find in the past that he was repeating himself? Most of the time with albums, for me, what you're hearing, as the listener, is 10% of the work I've done, because I throw away 90% - I don't throw it away, but I put it aside. And then in a few years time, it might become the beginnings of something else. That's how I work. It's always really uncomfortable. And it's always lots of failure. He admits this 'failure' isn't enjoyabe but says he is kind of addicted to it. He dabbles in other creative outlets - he has a techno sideproject called Vanishing Arcs, has played drums with the likes of his former Immediate bandmember David Hedderman, and does the odd little creative writing, but I find it hard to get out an album every two years. Over the past 18 months, O'Brien been busy indulging his nostalgia of the Villagers project compiling lyrics, artwork, and scraps from his notebooks for a book that will be released later in the year. It's been a hell of a lot of work to do alongside preparing the album, but I'm really proud of it it will be nice to hold a body of work that I've spent a lot of time on for the last 15, 20 years. Itll just be nice to have it all in one book. While previous album Fever Dreams was built out of four or five long band sessions and jamming for hours before extracting ideas, OBrien played and recorded everything in his Dublin City apartment for That Golden Time. Another big change for him, in 2024, is that hes given up alcohol. I've stopped drinking. And Ive started living in my body again and being present a lot more. He adds: I feel like it's given me a whole new energy. It feels quite deep, actually. Because I was quite dependent on it for quite a few years. Villagers, That Golden Time O'Brien says he was inspired by Richie Egan, a peer and friend for 20-plus years, who currently lives in Malmo, Sweden, and released his seventh studio album under the moniker Jape last year. He took that plunge, and I could just see it, he was happier and lighter and felt more present. And it's a cliche to say, but I do feel more present. OBrien says he hit the self-destruct button a bit too much in the last few years, drinking too much wine before and during shows. Not really being able to go on stage without half a bottle of wine in you... That was making it lose something, he reflects. He couldn't go on stage without it? I didn't even test that hypothesis. I never got to test that because I was just doing it every night and then continuing to drink after the shows so that kind of ruined a little bit of the I mean there's lots of stuff I'd say I would have beautiful memories of right now if I didn't do that... It wasn't an extremely dangerous - like it wasn't high-level dependency but it was definitely dependency and I was numbing myself in order to do the job. So I've finally gotten rid of that, which is good. Hes not preachy but OBrien states simply: It's really nice to experience things with full consciousness. That Golden Time features collaborators including the American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Peter Broderick on violin, David Tapley of Dublin band Tandem Felix on pedal steel guitar, and Donal Lunny (Planxty, The Bothy Band) on bouzouki, who has become a particular musical foil of OBriens in recent years, the pair having played short sets together indeed on the Golden Chimes Substack, OBrien has uploaded a cover of Planxtys As I Roved Out. I think I really got to know him through the Ceiliuradh, which was in the Royal Albert Hall about 10 years ago now, he explains of an event centred on Michael D Higgins State visit to the UK, the first by an Irish president. Lunny put me at ease so much, because I was so nervous because I was still a bit, I guess, wet behind the ears. He was just this lovely, peaceful, steady figure. And over the years, when I've played with him, it just feels so natural. OBrien says That Golden Time is the most vulnerable album hes made. Perhaps thats evident on penultimate song Behind that Curtain, when he sings: We're playing with God because he's gone for a walk. Whats his relationship with faith? I was always so religious growing up. I was brought to the church every week, but I used to just pray every night for as long as I could and name everybody I knew, and pray for them. [It lasted] up until I was about 12 and I started listening to Nirvana. Nihilism took over then. I think as you get older - you know, I'm in my 40s now - you start to realise with all these things, there's value in all of them, they're all just different ways of filling your days, trying to make sense of this mad, messy grey area that we all live in. That Golden Time is out on Domino Records now. Villagers Play Trinity College Dublin on Saturday, June 29 Conor O'Brien: Question of Taste Currently listening to: I've been getting back on a Big Star buzz recently. I wrote a little songwriting piece about the origins of one of the new Villagers songs which started life as an imagined Big Star tune, and have been reacquainting myself with their albums ever since. 'Try Again' is one of the best tunes; I've listened to it three times today. Best recent gig: I enjoyed Alabaster DePlume at the Button Factory. I had conflicting feelings about it actually, but I think this was a good thing; there was an anarchic energy at the core of it which has coloured my days since. Perfect Days Current viewing: I finally saw Wim Wenders' Perfect Days a few days ago. It's a beautiful film. Koji Yakusho carries it with such a benevolent presence. I was frustrated by the ending, but most film endings frustrate me; I don't know why it always feels like there could have been more. Currently reading: I just finished the wonderful Antarctica by Claire Keegan. I find that short stories are good for travelling. I've been dipping in and out of The Lyrics by Paul McCartney, edited by Paul Muldoon. It's a dream to read. Where is the Marquee? The biggest change this year is the Marquees address but thankfully it has not moved too far away. The new venue is the former Tedcastle's Yard on Centre Park Road, just across the road from its previous home. The Marquee will remain there for at least three summers. You may notice that construction is underway on the old site, with more than 1,000 apartments being built in the area. Live at the Marquee 2024, site map. How do I get to the Marquee? Live at the Marquee is about a seven-minute drive from the city centre in low traffic conditions. Walking, itll take about 30 minutes from the city, or 15 minutes from Ballintemple. If coming from the city, Centre Park Road is the first turn on the left at the Albert Road roundabout. Or simply make your way to the old Marquee site, and youll spot the distinctive yellow and blue tent. What times do Marquee gigs start and finish? Gates to the venue are usually open at 6.30pm, except of course if theres a multi-act event kicking off in the afternoon. Start times can vary, depending on the gig, but many of the main acts seem to take to the stage between 8.30pm and 9pm, and their sets usually finish by 10.30pm. What about parking? Parking in the area is limited, but there are an increased number of spaces available on the new site. The new location has 300 car park spaces which can be booked on ticketmaster.ie for 9. Coming from the city, the parking entrance is just beyond the pedestrian entrance on Centre Park Road. If you're heading to Van Morrison on May 31, organisers have said that parking for that event is fully sold-out. Car parking at Live At The Marquee, Cork. Picture: Eddie O'Hare Is there at Ticketmaster office at the Marquee? Yes, the Ticketmaster kiosk is situated on the way to the main entrance after you enter the pedestrian gate. Food and drink? Be sure to bring your bankcard as the Marquee is a cashless venue. Drinks are available at the usual bars in the tent, and a new bar in the outside area. Sample prices: pints of Guinness and Rockshore lager or cider are 6.50; a can of Gordons Gin & Tonic is 8; and wine is 8. Bar area at Live At The Marquee, Cork. Picture: Eddie O'Hare There are some food vans onsite, and the Marina Market and the Black Market are converted warehouses with multiple food stalls within walking distance of the venue. As well as the city itself, Ballintemple and Blackrock village also have several bars. Whos playing at the Marquee in Cork? The full list of performers is: SUGABABES Thursday 23rd May, Special guest: DJ Stevie G THE CORONAS - Friday 24th May, Special guests: The Cliffords GAVIN JAMES - Saturday 25th May , Special guests: Lea Heart & Man Alive VAN MORRISON Friday 31st May BICEP present Chroma AV DJ Set plus Joy Orbison, Sally C & Shee - June Bank Holiday, Sunday 2nd June JOHN BISHOP, Back At It Tour Thursday 6th June One Day presents blk. - Friday 7th June DAMIEN DEMPSEY - Saturday 8th June Special guests: HERMITAGE GREEN Theo Von, Return of the Rat Sunday 9th June Tickets for this date go on sale now from Ticketmaster. BRYAN ADAMS Tuesday 11th June NE-YO, Champagne & Roses tour Wednesday 12th June & Thursday 13th June JENNY GREENE & THE RTE CONCERT ORCHESTRA The Next Chapter Friday 14th June CHRISTY MOORE - Saturday 15th June LYRA Sunday 16th June. MICK FLANNERY with special guest Susan ONeill - Friday 21st June BIGGEST DISCO - Saturday 22nd June Tom Odell Tuesday 25th June HMGoG secures further energy resilience with agreement for new Battery Energy Storage System His Majestys Government of Gibraltar has announced that it has signed an agreement with Solar Century Africa Limited, a renowned global market leader in the development of solar PV and energy storage projects using smart energy technology and controls, for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of a new 14MWh Battery Energy Storage System at the North Mole Power Station. The total cost of the project is 16.5 million and follows a competitive tender process which commenced in July of last year. The BESS will provide instant back-up power to the Gibraltar Electricity Authoritys electricity distribution network in the event of engine failure as well as providing system frequency support to assist with load variations and disturbances in the grid. The order for the BESS unit itself will be issued immediately, with the BESS expected to arrive on site in around 8 months time. The BESS will be fully commissioned and operational approximately 7 months later, allowing for the release of all the diesel rental plant and therefore reducing operational costs as well as carbon emissions. The introduction of the BESS operating in parallel with the NMPS will undoubtedly contribute towards making Gibraltars power system as a whole more resilient and will contribute towards reducing the frequency of power cuts caused as a result of power generation and, to an extent, bring in dynamics which are generally associated with large interconnected power grids whilst we continue to preserve our absolute electrical energy independence as a small nation. The Minister with responsibility for the Electricity Authority, the Hon Gemma Arias-Vasquez, said: I am absolutely delighted that we have been able to sign the agreement for the BESS. This is a significant investment which will provide a greener, more resilient future for Gibraltar. It is important to understand, however, that the new Battery will not be able to eliminate power cuts completely. It will, however, significantly mitigate against power cuts caused by a failure in the power station. To put things into perspective, since 2020, 16 power cuts would have been avoided had we had the BESS system in place. I am therefore very pleased that we have been able to sign the agreements and would like to thank everyone involved in the project for their efforts, including my predecessor Albert Isola who commenced this project. SOME 77% of women experience feelings of loneliness during pregnancy and early motherhood. This is according to research by the Royal College of Surgeons in Irelands Centre for Positive Health Sciences and the HSE Dublin, South Kildare, and West Wicklow area. The finding does not surprise Dr Sabrina Coyle, a senior psychologist in specialist perinatal mental health at the Coombe Hospital. Women I work with commonly talk about loneliness and a lack of social support as part of their experience, says Coyle, who sees a number of issues at play. One has to do with a normal evolutionary process that happens for a woman approaching motherhood. As she moves into the last month or two of pregnancy, theres a normative contracting of the social circle which is underpinned by evolution. The woman starts to move away from work, she goes on maternity leave, and she disengages from other social activities because also in a physiological sense she doesnt have the energy for them. Everything becomes focused on welcoming her baby to the world. Coyle says that, for the expectant mum, a psychological adjustment process starts in early pregnancy, but becomes more focused in the last months. This adjustment, she says, is around beginning to think of herself as a mother for the first time, what that means, and the whole shift in identity that comes with it. It sees the prospective mother move into a more interior, reflective space. A lot of things start becoming really important. Most women begin recalling memories of their own childhood and their experience of being parented, Coyle adds. All these [memories] come back to her, and she starts thinking about her own hopes and wishes for what kind of mother shed like to be. These shifts take place in pregnancy, and then the baby is born. Suddenly, Coyle says, the new mum is thrown into a whole new world of daily postpartum tasks that feel overwhelming. Feeding, changing, putting baby to sleep, trying to nourish yourself, and get some rest its all-consuming. Changes are also taking place in the mums relationship with her partner, with her family and with others close to her. Mum becomes generally all focused on the baby. Partners can find theres less time for them as a couple, Coyle says, adding that the quality of the partner relationship becomes very important at this stage. Other new mothers often present an idealised portrayal of motherhood, which is not conducive to connection, says Coyle. One in three mums experience perinatal mental health difficulties. For mums whose experience is outside the idealised view, it can feel really hard to connect with other mums, she says. Women whove had a traumatic birth or who have a baby in neonatal care, for example these experiences contribute to feeling different. This brings judgment from the mum herself shes not good enough. And this brings a sense of shame and stigma. On the day Coyle spoke with the Irish Examiner, she had listened to a new mum open up about her struggle to connect with other mothers. She spoke about her baby being very sensitive and crying a lot. She felt very anxious being out in public, because she finds it hard to soothe him. She feels other mums might judge her. Ashley Westpheling with her nine month old baby son. Photograph Moya Nolan Intense life experience Ashley Westpheling has a nine-month-old son, and says she definitely faced loneliness as a new mum. New motherhood is an intense life experience and after the initial adrenalin moves on, it can be isolating, a very challenging time. My husband Matthew works from home, and he had a couple of weeks leave. It was a big help, having someone else in the house, even when he was working. Celbridge-based Westpheling sees two factors contributing to new mothers loneliness. The first, she describes as logistical. Physically finding the time and space to meet others. The first couple of times going out of the house can feel like climbing Everest. Then theres the cost: Classes for new mothers arent always cheap. My son was quite colicky, so for a long time, hed just be screaming for hours every day. Id go to the groups and my baby would be screaming the whole time it made it difficult to carry on a conversation. Westpheling found connecting with other mums was challenging. The crux of it is that society judges mothers harshly. It breeds a fear of judgment, even among mothers themselves. Its difficult to feel honest about your experience. Theres a real tendency to say everythings grand, oh I love being a mother, this babys my whole world, or maybe laugh off [the difficulties]. It can all be quite light-hearted chat and nothing too serious. Im open to talking about mental health difficulties, but I never really spoke about it with other new mums, and nobody spoke about it with me, even though its quite common. It didnt feel like the right time or place. TCD associate professor in the school of midwifery, Deirdre Daly Invisible woman TCD associate professor Deirdre Daly in the school of midwifery leads the Maternal health and Maternal Morbidity in Ireland (Mammi) study, which examines prevalence and risk factors for a range of health issues in more than 3,000 first-time mothers in Ireland. Mums were asked what it was like becoming a new mother and what mattered most to them in the perinatal phase. A big theme was the magnitude of motherhood. Women talked about the weight of responsibility, their changed life, their need for real-time reassurance, says Daly. Women also said they didnt know where to turn to for support. Daly says this links to new mums experiencing a kind of disappearing of them. After birth, all of the attention of the healthcare staff is on the baby. The mother becomes the invisible woman. Daly says women talked about a loss of self. Even 10 years on they still talked about it. They wouldnt turn the clock back, but there was a part of them that was gone and they missed it. Most were highly educated, used to being connected, and out in the world. From being highly competent women, they felt completely unprepared for this new role of mother. Daly says it all adds up to a profound shift in identity that is left unspoken. Its not part of the dialogue around new motherhood it is silent in the discourse. In Celbridge, Westpheling feels much less lonely now. I found if I opened up and shared my experience, other mothers were more willing to open up too. I know now everybodys struggling, even if theyre not saying it. Its about not being afraid to be vulnerable. Empowering change This month the HSE launched Lets Connect the campaign which encourages new mums and their families to: Talk: Have conversations about maternal mental health and the loneliness that can be experienced after having a baby; Have conversations about maternal mental health and the loneliness that can be experienced after having a baby; Connect: Make connections with new mothers in communities to help combat loneliness; Make connections with new mothers in communities to help combat loneliness; And empower women to look after their mental health in pregnancy and beyond, by connecting them with information, care, and support. As part of Lets Connect, the Centre for Positive Health Sciences has launched the Motherhood Programme. Focusing on promoting mental wellness, it offers a range of resources, support services, and educational materials tailored to needs of mothers and their families. It shares stories of women across Ireland, as well as tools to support wellbeing in areas including stress management, relationships, and sleep. Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has joined police bosses from across Europe in calling on social media companies to establish a technical means to identify child sexual abuse and other serious crimes on encrypted communications they provide. The European Police Chiefs issued a declaration saying they are deeply concerned that end-to-end encryption was being expanded without major tech companies retaining the ability to ensure their services were not being used for the most serious of crimes, including those against children. The police chiefs also said the social media companies would not be able to respond to a lawful warrant seeking access to the encrypted communications of suspected criminals as part of investigations into child sexual abuse. The association which includes EU and other European countries said these concerns also applied to the investigation of terrorism, murder, human trafficking, drugs smuggling and economic crime. The declaration comes as Meta introduced encrypted messaging as a default across all personal chats and calls on Messenger and Facebook, as it announced last December. In a statement, Garda HQ confirmed the commissioner was a signatory to the declaration. It said the European Police Chiefs recognised that law enforcement and the technology industry had a shared duty to keep the public safe. The joint declaration notes two key elements as being crucial to supporting online safety: The ability of technology companies to provide for lawful access and the ability of technology companies proactively to identify illegal and harmful activity on their platforms, the statement said. It said while the commissioner noted the value of encryption as part of cyber security, that a balance must be struck between security and public safety. The Garda Commissioner is on public record as stating the need for appropriate legal mechanisms in order to provide for lawful access to such encrypted devices, it said. In its statement, the European Police Chiefs said companies currently have the ability to alert the proper authorities with the result that many thousands of children have been safeguarded, and perpetrators arrested and brought to justice. We are, therefore, deeply concerned that end-to-end encryption is being rolled out in a way that will undermine both of these capabilities," it said. "Companies will not be able to respond effectively to a lawful authority. Nor will they be able to identify or report illegal activity on their platforms. As a result, we will simply not be able to keep the public safe. Our view is that technical solutions do exist they simply require flexibility from industry as well as from governments. The current voluntary mechanism used by tech companies for non-encrypted communications is facilitated by the continuation of a temporary exception to EU privacy regulations, which was recently extended to April 2026. Digital rights groups and tech companies are opposed to any breach of encrypted communications not only on privacy grounds but also because they claim it will undermine encryption more generally and be abused by democratic governments and, more seriously, authoritarian regimes. European childrens rights groups including the ISPCC and Cari in Ireland have long-called for legal powers to be made available to allow the scanning and removal of online child sex abuse material, citing a growing problem. A man who has been in custody since March 20 charged with the murder of Cobh chef Ian Baitson has asked that he be allowed to apply for bail. Dylan Scannell, 30, with an address at ORahilly Street, Cobh, Co Cork, appeared via video link from Cork Prison before Judge Colm Roberts at Mallow District Court. Court presenter Sergeant Linda OLeary said that directions were still awaited from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to allow the case to proceed. She said that the State would be applying to have Mr Scannell remanded in custody for a further four weeks with his consent. Solicitor David OMeara, acting on behalf of Mr Scannells solicitor Ken Murray, informed Mr Scannell of the States application and asked was he willing to consent to a further four-week period in custody to which Mr Scannell said he was. Mr OMeara said that he would consent to the four-week extension of custody but added that Mr Murray would expect some indication of when the case was likely to proceed at the next hearing. Mr Scannell asked Judge Colm Roberts if he could apply to be released on bail and the judge advised him that he was entitled to do so and should speak to his solicitor about it. Judge Roberts said that the States request to further extend the period of custody was reasonable and he remanded Mr Scannell in custody with consent to appear again by video link on June 18. Mr Scannell was charged with the murder of Ian Baitson at Midleton District Court on March 20. Ian Baitson suffered serious injuries during an incident in a carpark in Cobh on March 15, he died of his injuries in hospital on March 19. A 30-year-old chef who smashed windows at the bus station on Parnell Place and then lashed out with both hands against gardai dealing with the situation has been jailed for 10 months. Jamie Kavanagh of Fernwalk, Greenfields, Ballincollig, County Cork, appeared before Cork District Court where Sergeant Dave Delea outlined the background to the incident. Mr Kavanagh is accused of obstruction of gardai, possession of a blade, being drunk and a danger, being threatening and abusive and causing criminal damage on February 14 at the bus station. Defence solicitor Eddie Burke said the accused was pleading guilty to all charges. Repairing the criminal damage cost more than 2,000 and it was accepted by the defence that it would not be possible for Mr Kavanagh to raise this compensation. Judge Mary Dorgan offered to suspend the last two months of the 10-month sentence if the accused would comply with the directions of the Probation Service. However, the defendant, who appeared by video link from prison said he was not interested in going to probation and just wanted to go back to working full time once his time in jail was completed. The judge had suggested that the probation service may be of assistance to him in dealing with his underlying alcohol addiction. Mr Burke said the young mans 45 previous convictions for the one offence of being intoxicated to the extent that he was a source of danger to himself or others spoke volumes about the defendants background problem. Sergeant Dave Delea described the aftermath of the criminal damage incident when gardai arrived at the bus station: As gardai were assisting him to stand up he became abusive and told gardai to f*** off in an angry tone of voice and tensed up his body, became aggressive and lashed out with both hands. "Two windows were smashed at the bus station a short time earlier that day." Mr Burke said the accused qualified as a chef and worked in major hotels in Cork and Killarney but that when issues arose for him he turned to alcohol. Judge Dorgan said: You are very highly qualified as a chef. It is an awful shame you have this addiction issue. Are you going to deal with it? Jamie Kavanagh replied: I am trying to stay off drink. Kris Acton has travelled the world, living in the US, Central America, and Europe. But he says there is nowhere on earth like the wilds of Connemara. This quality of life is one of the best; I wouldnt give it up, he says. Theres actually no better place to be, particularly on a fine day, then the West Coast of Ireland. Kris and his wife Tatjana run Clifden Eco Beach Camping and Caravan Park on the Aughrus peninsula overlooking Omey Island in Co Galway: they have 54 tent, caravan and camping pitches on an idyllic beachfront in a protected habitat, whose shallow crystal-clear waters are a special area of conservation for bottle-nose dolphins. Nowadays, the word eco is popping up everywhere, sometimes with little or no real meaning, but for more than 30 years, Kris and his family have been frontrunners in recognising the importance of taking genuine measures to protect the environment on which their livelihood depends. CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB Green credentials The Actons business has just re-attained its Sustainable Travel Ireland Gold Standard, which it was first awarded in 2014. But this is by no means the only certification or accolade Clifden Eco Beach Camping has received since it decided to invest heavily in ensuring its campsite is run in a genuinely sustainable manner back in the early 2010s. Lara Acton tries out one of the carbon-neutral hot seaweed tubs at the Clifden Eco Beach Camping and Caravan Park on the Aughrus peninsula overlooking Omey Island in Co Galway. It has received a Clean Coasts Business of the Year Award, numerous awards from travel magazines and websites, and is carbon-neutral certified by South Pole Global, which makes it the first eco-certified carbon neutral business in the whole country, not just in our field, Kris says proudly. Back in the day, I just knew I had to protect this environment for the next generation and the only way to do that was through sustainability, he says. We got on board early, got educated, got on board with Ecotourism Ireland in 2012, paid for all our own training and certification. We got no funding from government to do this. Firsts are a frequent feature in conversation with Kris. Back in 1990, when the family business run by his father was still predominantly beef farming with a little seasonal camping as a supplement, the Actons were the first farm in Connemara to seek and attain organic certification. After Kriss father died in 2015 and the land was divided among his beneficiaries, Kris turned to the tourism business as his full-time income and says he will not return to farming. But even before then, he had begun the process of truly greening his campsite offering. His was the first campsite in Ireland to ban the blue toilet fluid used in campervans, which contains the ecocidal formaldehyde. We introduced the green organic-based liquid, and we have influenced thousands of campervanners over the years to substitute the harmful chemical additives with the more environmentally friendly product, Kris says. Bans on plastic water bottles have become a common environmental stance in recent years, with even big festivals like Glastonbury taking the move, but when Kris decided to ban plastic bottles from his campsite outright in 2014, he believes he was the first business in Europe to do so. The camping park is served by its own aquifer with exceptional water quality, so Kris banned single-use water bottles and started selling reusable bottles, having sold over 4,000 of them since. Environmental pressures of tourism Awareness of ecotourism is on the rise: theres a growing discomfort across the EU with knowing that your annual getaway is causing ecological and societal devastation. In April of this year, tens of thousands of Canary Islanders turned out in a mass protest against what they say is the Spanish governments policy of unrestricted tourism growth, with two new vast resorts planned for Tenerife. Canarias tiene un limite (The Canaries have a limit), their banners read. Hannah Burnham from the USA enjoying the view at the Clifden Eco Beach Camping and Caravan Park. Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands, is, of course, a firm favourite with Irish sun worshippers: after UK residents, the Irish made up the second-highest proportion of visitors. But Lanzarotes arid landscape cannot create enough water for tourist demands without major environmental impacts: a diesel-powered desalination plant outside Arrecife sucks in seawater and pumps out a concentrated brine back into the sea. Eighteen per cent of Lanzarotes energy consumption and corresponding CO2 emissions goes to desalination, all for the ice cubes in your cut-price cocktails and cooling showers at any time of the day or night. Also in April, Italian tourist officials, long beset by conservation problems relating to over-tourism, began charging tourists 5 per head to visit Venice, despite local protests that this was turning the ancient canalled city into a themepark. Welcome to Veniceland, residents posters read. Kris believes that tide is turning and tourists from many different countries no longer want their leisure time to come at the expense of the planet. While French, German and Dutch tourists make up the bulk of the EU nationalities who stay at Clifden Eco Beach Camping and Caravan Park, he says it is domestic staycationers, followed by eco-conscious Brits, who make up the bulk of his clients. Even without the environmental costs weighing down the holiday spirits, when it comes to how enjoyable a holiday is, Kris questions whether battling the throngs for a beach towel space in an over-crowded resort and risking ever more common heatwaves on a traditional sun holiday is really even all that relaxing. Its overcrowded, its too hot, theres not much privacy and its not really a very nice holiday, Kris says. Fifty per cent of our visitors are repeat business, because we run the business quite uniquely with respect to the environment. We have a really low density, no overcrowding or privacy issues. People come here to relax, and they are guaranteed that here as soon as they drive off the public road. Campers at the Actons can even enjoy the pleasures of an outdoor fire, but only in designated braziers that the business provides. Paddling along at the Clifden Eco Beach Camping and Caravan Park. Many Irish tourism business are warning that 2024 marks a true return to the overseas holiday for Irish holiday-goers post-covid, with short term rental bookings low so far. But Kris says this is not true in the outdoors and ecotourism sector. After a record-breaking Easter, Clifden Eco Beach Camping and Caravan Park is already fully booked for family pitches for the summer. Irish people changed dramatically post-covid and they are starting to value outdoor tourism, as opposed to sitting on the lounger beside the pool in Spain. Funnily enough, its more affluent people who are going for nature, glamping and camping, he says. Of course, the unpredictable Irish weather is what holidaymakers are so often trying to avoid. But theres a range of outdoors activities in the area for those whose idea of fun is not dependent on sunbathing weather, from self-guided bike and hike tours, to kayaking and shore angling to on-site hot seaweed tubs, which Kris says are very popular when the weather is poor. Beach life The Actons camping park has 1km of its own beachfront for holidaymakers to enjoy. Set against the backdrop of the Twelve Bens mountains in Connemara National Park, it overlooks Omey Island, reached by foot at low tide. This is a very protected landscape. There are seven Natura 2000 sites within 5km of the campsite, and it is a designated Machair Habitat Site. Machair habitats are found in Scotland and on the West Coast of Ireland: Machair in Scots Gaelic or Maghera in Irish, the term refers to a beach and dune-fronted habitat backed by peat and wetlands. They are a refuge for everything from protected wading birds like lapwings and dunlins to pollinating insect species. According to Birdwatch Ireland, of all the Irish Machair habitats surveyed, Co Galways were the only ones to note an increase in sightings of breeding waders over a 10-year period where there was an average 38% decline in their numbers. The carbon-neutral hot seaweed tubs. Theres no doubt the livelihood of this family business depends on the sea, but while this unique environment and its breath-taking scenery is the Actons bread and butter, Kriss connection to the land is not purely a business proposition, but far deeper than that. He has childhood memories of playing on the beach with the children of holidaying families, introducing them to the joys of shoreline exploration and beach fishing. "I was born and raised here and I farmed this land with my father, he says. I have a very strong connection to the land here, and as I get older, I find I have a deeper connection to it. And you know that the only way to preserve the area is sustainability measures. A next-generation sustainable is another word that is in heavy use these days as businesses try to ramp up their eco-credentials, but its frequently a poorly defined buzz-word. One way to assess whether or not something is truly sustainable is to look at it and ask: could I come back in 20 years or 50 years or 100 years, and would this way of life be still be able to work, with exactly the same inputs and outputs, as it is today? For Kris, future-proofing is a large part of why he has invested so heavily in making sure his green credentials are exactly what they say on the tin. My kids have a deep fondness for the land too and will take over the business, which was why it was important to us to have a truly sustainable business, why we invested heavily in international accreditation, he says. A spectacular view from the park. Kris and Tatjanas two children, Lara and Steafan, are 21 and 18 and both are currently studying in Galway. Kris says, while they will probably want to spread their wings and travel, they have a keen interest in the family business, which he hopes will continue to provide them with the same high standard of life that he has enjoyed. Their heart is in it and they want to be a part of it, which is great because in a lot of rural areas the young people are leaving, and feel that theres nothing here for them, he says. The only way you can hold onto the young is to give them an incentive, so they see the quality of life out here on the coast and they appreciate the natural beauty. A lot are leaving, but I hope I can hold onto my two and they can take over the business. Of course, they have itchy feet at the moment, like all young people have. Opportunity for other businesses Clifden Eco Beach Camping and Caravan Park is now a Failte Ireland case study for other tourism businesses who recognise the growing trend in ecotourism, and there is a broader push on in Ireland to recognise the opportunities for tourism offerings like the Actons. But Kris isnt resting on his laurels: the business will next seek an ISO 14001, an international standard in environmental management. Despite the expense and work involved in independent certification Kris estimates his latest Sustainable Travel Gold Standard cost 4,500 to achieve in an environment where theres a serious risk of greenwashing, and where customers want to know that they are getting the real deal, he says it pays to go green. There is an abundance of greenwashing now, he says. Everyone has a mission statement. Sure they might have solar panels, but if you look further into the business you might see theyre doing something very harmful elsewhere. Thats where the independent certification comes in. Its a lot of hard work and receiving a gold standard takes a lot of time and money, but for us, it has paid dividends down through the years. We get acknowledged in a lot of international guides, which is free advertising at the end of the day. But the bottom line is that you have to protect the environment that pays your wages and sustains your way of living. Donald Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen testified that he stole money from Trump's company as a form of "self-help" as prosecutors rested their case on Monday at the former US president's hush money trial. The prosecution's most important and final witness, Cohen acknowledged on his last day of testimony that he pocketed most of a sum of money that was meant for a technology company that did work for Trump's company. I just felt it was almost like self-help, Cohen said. Cohen's admission that he had stolen from his then-boss, first raised by defense lawyers on cross-examination, could hurt his credibility with jurors who will be charged with deciding whether Trump should be found guilty at the first trial of a former US president. Shortly after Cohen left the witness stand, prosecutors rested their case and Trump's lawyers began calling witnesses of their own. One of them drew a reprimand from the judge after he expressed dissatisfaction, prompting the judge to momentarily clear the courtroom. "If you don't like my ruling, you don't give me side eye and you don't roll your eyes," Justice Juan Merchan told Robert Costello, a lawyer called by the defense team to testify. Trump's lawyers have said they do not plan to call many witnesses, and it was unclear whether Trump himself will testify. Donald Trump, far left, takes notes as Michael Cohen, right, testifies on redirect, questioned by assistant district attorney Susan Hoffinger, with Judge Juan Merchan presiding in Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 20, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP) Cohen, 57, said he paid roughly $20,000 in cash in a paper bag to a tech company out of the $50,000 that it was owed and kept the rest. The Trump Organization later reimbursed him $100,000 in total. He said he stole the money because he was upset about his annual bonus being cut after he fronted $130,000 of his own money to buy the silence of porn star Stormy Daniels, who was threatening shortly before the 2016 election to go public with her account of an alleged sexual encounter with Trump. New York prosecutors say Trump broke the law by covering up that payment to Daniels. Cohen testified that he discussed that payment more than 20 times with Trump in October 2016, at a time when Trump was facing multiple accusations of sexual misbehavior. Cohen previously testified that Trump worried that Daniels' story would hurt his appeal to women voters. That undercut the argument by Trump's legal team that he was seeking only to protect his family from embarrassment. But as a convicted felon and admitted liar, Cohen is a problematic witness. Testifying for the defense, Costello said Cohen told him after a 2018 FBI raid that he did not have any dirt on Trump to offer prosecutors. He said, I swear to God, Bob, I dont have anything on Donald Trump, Costello said, referring to Cohen. Former President Donald Trump returns after a lunch break during his at Manhattan Criminal court, Monday, May 20, 2024, in New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool Photo via AP) Costello also said Cohen told him numerous times that Trump knew nothing about the payment to Daniels. Cohen has previously testified that he lied to Costello because he was worried he would relay to Trump any indications that he might cooperate with prosecutors. WILL TRUMP TESTIFY? Though Trump said before the trial began that he planned to testify, defense lawyer Todd Blanche told the judge last week that it was no longer certain. Outside the courtroom on Monday, Trump did not tell reporters whether he would testify or not. At the outset of Monday's session, Merchan said he expected the prosecution and the defense to make their closing arguments next week followed by jury deliberations. The first former president to face a criminal trial has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up the payment to Daniels, who had threatened to go public with her account of an alleged 2006 sexual encounter - a liaison Trump denies. Trump, 77, has blasted the trial as a politically motivated effort to hobble his Republican Party campaign to take back the White House from Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 5 election. Former President Donald Trump sits in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Monday, May 20 2024. (Mark Peterson/Pool Photo via AP) If he chooses to testify, Trump will have the opportunity to convince jurors that he was not responsible for the paperwork at the heart of the case, and rebut Daniels' detailed account of their meeting in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. He would not be restrained by a gag order that bars him in other settings from criticizing witnesses, jurors and relatives of the judge and prosecutors. However, he would face cross-examination by prosecutors, who could try to expose inconsistencies in his story. Any lies told under oath could expose him to further criminal perjury charges. Trump last appeared as a witness in a civil business-fraud trial last year, delivering defiant and rambling testimony that aggravated Justice Arthur Engoron, who was overseeing the case. Engoron would go on to order him to pay $355 million in penalties after finding he fraudulently overstated his net worth to dupe lenders. The hush money trial is widely seen as the least consequential of the four criminal prosecutions Trump faces, but it is likely the only one to go to trial before the election. Trump faces charges in Washington and Georgia of trying to overturn his 2020 loss to Biden and charges in Florida of mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House in 2021. He has pleaded not guilty in all three cases. The Australian and New Zealand governments announced on Tuesday that they were sending planes to evacuate their nationals from violence-scorched New Caledonia. Australian foreign minister Penny Wong confirmed Australia had received clearance from French authorities for two flights to evacuate citizens and other tourists from New Caledonia amid violent unrest that has beset the French Pacific archipelago where indigenous people have long sought independence from France. We continue to work on further flights, Ms Wong wrote on the social media platform X on Tuesday. The Department of Foreign Affairs said 300 Australians were in New Caledonia. French Army embarking a plane to New Caledonia at the Istres military base, southern France (Etat Major des Armees via AP) New Zealand also announced it was sending a plane on Tuesday to evacuate 50 of its nationals from Noumea, the Pacific islands capital, in the first in a series of proposed flights to bring its citizens home. New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days and bringing them home has been an urgent priority for the Government, New Zealand foreign minister Winston Peters said. In co-operation with France and Australia, we are working on subsequent flights in coming days. At least six people have died and hundreds more have been injured in New Caledonia after violence erupted last week following controversial electoral reforms passed in Paris. Some 270 rioters had been arrested as of Tuesday, and a 6pm-6am curfew was in effect. A street in Noumea, New Caledonia, is pictured after unrest (Nicolas Job/AP) France has sent in over a thousand security personnel, with hundreds more due to arrive on Tuesday, as it tries to quell the unrest and restore control. There have been decades of tensions between indigenous Kanaks seeking independence and descendants of colonisers who want to remain part of France. The unrest erupted on May 13 as the French legislature in Paris debated amending the French constitution to make changes to New Caledonia voter lists. The National Assembly in Paris approved a Bill that would, among other changes, allow residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years to cast ballots in provincial elections. Opponents fear the measure will benefit pro-France politicians in New Caledonia and further marginalise Kanaks who once suffered from strict segregation policies and widespread discrimination. The Trump campaign has come out swinging against The Apprentice after the film, which depicts the former president raping his first wife, shocked audiences at Cannes. A Trump spokesperson said they will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers. Speaking to Variety on Monday after the world premiere of Ali Abbasis film, the Trump campaigns chief spokesperson Steven Cheung confirmed they would take legal action. This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalises lies that have been long debunked, he said. As with the illegal Biden Trials, this is election interference by Hollywood elites, who know that President Trump will retake the White House and beat their candidate of choice because nothing they have done has worked. This film is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day, and doesnt even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store, it belongs in a dumpster fire. Abbasis film, which stars Sebastian Stan as Trump and opens with a disclaimer that the events depicted are fictionalised, earned an eight-minute standing ovation at the Cannes film festival on Monday. Audience members reportedly gasped over scenes including Trump getting liposuction, having scalp-reduction surgery and, most controversially, a scene in which he pushes his first wife, Ivana, to the ground and rapes her. The scene is a fictionalised account of a 1989 incident that was previously detailed in the couples divorce proceedings in 1990. In the film, Trump reacts with fury after Ivana disparages his physical appearance. You have a face like a fucking orange, she tells him. Youre getting fat, youre getting ugly and youre getting bald. The future president is then shown forcing his wife to the floor and raping her. Divorce proceedings In her 1990 deposition, Ivana Trump described a similar assault that she said occurred shortly after her husbands scalp-reduction surgery. She claimed that Trump pushed her to the floor and pulled out handfuls of her hair. Ivana initially described what followed as a rape, but later walked back on the claim. In a 1993 statement, she said: On one occasion during 1989, Mr Trump and I had marital relations in which he behaved very differently towards me than he had during our marriage. As a woman I felt violated I referred to this as a rape, but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense. During the couples divorce proceedings, Trump dismissed his wifes version of the incident as obviously false. The Apprentice also stars Jeremy Strong as Trumps lawyer and fixer Roy Cohn and Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump. Read More Judge in Trump trial threatened to throw witness out of court for behaviour Guardian Mourners have started gathering for days of funerals and processions for Irans late president, foreign minister and others killed in a helicopter crash. The Iranian government-led series of ceremonies is aimed at both honouring the dead and projecting strength in an unsettled Middle East. For Irans Shiite theocracy, mass demonstrations have been crucial since millions thronged the streets of Tehran to welcome Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 during the Islamic Revolution. An estimated one million turned out in 2020 for processions for the late Revolutionary Guard general Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad. A Shiite Muslim weeps while holding photos of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) Whether president Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others draw the same crowd remains in question, particularly as Mr Raisi died in a helicopter crash, won his office in the lowest turnout election in the countrys history and presided over sweeping crackdowns on all dissent. Prosecutors have already warned people over showing any public signs of celebrating his death and a heavy security force presence has been seen on the streets of Tehran since the crash. But Mr Raisi, 63, had been discussed as a possible successor for Irans supreme leader, the 85-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His death now throws that selection into question, particularly as there is no heir-apparent cleric for the presidency ahead of planned elections on June 28. Raisis death comes at a moment when the Islamist regime is consolidated, wrote Alex Vatanka, an Iran expert at the Middle East Institute. In short, there will be no power vacuum in Tehran; nonetheless, post-Khamenei Iran suddenly looks far less predictable than it did just a few days ago. Candles are lit in memory of Mr Raisi and others killed in the helicopter crash (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) A procession on Tuesday morning led by a vehicle carrying the coffins of the dead slowly moved through the narrow streets of downtown Tabriz, the closest major city near the site of Sundays crash. Thousands dressed in black slowly walked beside the coffins, some throwing flowers up to them as an emcee wept through a loudspeaker for men he described as martyrs. The bodies will travel on to the holy Shiite seminary city of Qom before travelling to Tehran later on Tuesday. On Wednesday, a funeral presided over by Mr Khamenei will then turn into a procession as well. On Thursday, Mr Raisis hometown of Birjand will see a procession, followed by a funeral and burial at the Imam Reza shrine in the holy city of Mashhad, the only imam of the Shiites faith buried in Iran. That shrine has long been a centre for pilgrims and sees millions visit each year. Over the centuries, its grounds have served as the final burial site for heroes in Persian history. It is an incredibly high, rare honour in the faith. Iranian president Mohammad-Ali Rajai, the only other president to die in office when he was killed in a 1981 bombing, was buried in Tehran. Irans theocracy declared five days of mourning, encouraging people to attend the public mourning sessions. Typically, government employees and schoolchildren attend such events en masse, while others take part out of patriotism, curiosity or to witness historic events. Across Iran, its rural population often more closely embraces the Shiite faith and the government. However, Tehran has long held a far different view of Mr Raisi and his governments policies as mass protests have roiled the capital for years. The death of Mahsa Amini in 2022 sparked mass protests across Iran (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File) The most recent involved the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a woman detained over her allegedly loose headscarf, or hijab. The months-long security crackdown that followed the demonstrations killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained. In March, a United Nations investigative panel found that Iran was responsible for the physical violence that led to Ms Aminis death. On Sunday night, as news of the helicopter crash circulated, some offered anti-government chants in the night. Fireworks could be seen in some parts of the capital, though Sunday also marked a remembrance for Imam Reza, which can see them set off as well. Critical messages and dark jokes over the crash also circulated online. Irans top prosecutor has already issued an order demanding cases be filed against those publishing false content, lies and insults against Mr Raisi and others killed in the crash, according to the semi-official Isna news agency. A diplomatic crisis between historic allies Spain and Argentina has expanded as Spain pulled its ambassador from Buenos Aires and Argentine President Javier Milei lambasted the move as nonsense typical of an arrogant socialist. Spain said it was officially pulling its ambassador from Argentina in response to comments made by President Milei at a far-right rally on Sunday in Madrid, where he accused the Spanish prime ministers wife of corruption and described socialism as cursed and carcinogenic. Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters on Tuesday that the Spanish ambassador to Argentina will definitely stay in Madrid. Argentinas President Javier Milei (Manu Fernandez/AP) Argentina will continue without an ambassador, he said. Mr Milei responded angrily, telling the local La Nacion news channel that the Spanish decision was nonsense typical of an arrogant socialist. Socialists are capable of doing anything, he added. The decision further escalated a diplomatic spat between the socialist Spanish government and the right-wing Argentine government following weeks of mounting tensions as Mr Milei traded barbs with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. Spains government had summoned its ambassador for consultations and demanded an apology from Mr Milei after the libertarian leaders fiery speech on Sunday at a conference hosted by the hard-right Vox party. Defying the norms of presidential behaviour, Mr Milei snubbed all Spanish government officials as well as Spains King Felipe on his visit to Madrid over the weekend and instead met only business executives and far-right opposition figures. Mr Albares accused Mr Milei of responding to the governments hospitality with a frontal attack on our democracy, on our institutions and on Spain. On Monday Mr Milei only doubled down on his attacks, refusing to apologise for his criticism of Mr Sanchez, who took a brief break from the public eye last month after a judge opened a case alleging corruption and influence-peddling against his wife, Begona Gomez, based on complaints brought by a right-wing group that Mr Sanchez denounced as a smear campaign. Gonzalez Pons will not get away with such abuse says Government The Government has said it roundly condemns the latest comments about Gibraltar from Partido Popular spokesman Esteban Gonzalez Pons. 'It is extremely serious that a senior Spanish politician should seek to dehumanise Gibraltar and its people through the use of insulting and vicious language which should have no place in the modern Europe of today.' 'Indeed, comments of this nature, even in the context of the European election campaign, will only serve to incite hatred and to divide people, a common tactic used by extremist organisations and individuals all over the planet. It is disappointing that a senior public figure should demonstrate such startling ignorance of the reality of this part of Europe. Mr Pons is inaccurate and just plain wrong in much of what he has said.' 'Firstly, the facts show that Gibraltar is an economic benefit to Spain and not a drain. There are 15,000 people who live in Spain and work in Gibraltar, including some 10,000 Spanish nationals. Gibraltar purchases some 1 BILLION euros a year in goods and services from Spain. This put Gibraltar as export market number 41 for Spanish industry, out of a possible 222 territories. Moreover, the latest impact study suggests that residents of Gibraltar spend over 80 million euros a year shopping, buying foodstuffs and other goods and services in Andalucia region. In addition to this, Gibraltar residents with a second home in Spain spend over 70 million euros annually in the neighbouring country. This means that Gibraltar accounts for 25% of the GDP of the Campo de Gibraltar and, as a whole, is the second largest employer for the neighbouring region of Andalucia.' 'It is clear that all this generates economic wealth, employment and activity all over the south of the country. Mr Pons regrettably fails to understand the close and positive economic relationship that exists. Indeed, Mr Pons should note that when the pandemic hit the region the Gibraltarian taxpayer paid the wages of all Spanish and Spanish resident workers on the Rock who were not able to work. Additionally, we ensured that all cross-frontier workers were administered Covid vaccines supplied by the United Kingdom at the same time as Gibraltarian residents. This collaboration and co-operation is the reality of the relationship between Gibraltar and the Campo, and not the misleading and negative view that Mr Pons has today used to mislead his fellow Spaniards in trying to prejudice them against the people of Gibraltar.' 'Secondly, the accusation that Gibraltar is a tax haven is also untrue. The tax-exempt company was abolished in 2010. The European Commission itself approved the Gibraltar Income Tax Act 2010, showing it was an entirely proper tax regime in keeping with EU rules which has also enjoyed the support of the EU's Code Group. Gibraltar has been removed from the list of the Financial Action Task Force set up by the OECD. The European Commission has also proposed, after the same factual technical analysis, the removal of Gibraltar from the EU list. That decision was only overturned by the European Parliament, at the instigation of the PP itself, and purely for political reasons which have no basis in fact. Gibraltar has tax exchange information agreements with 139 countries, including on a reciprocal basis since March 2021 with Spain itself!' 'Thirdly, that Mr Pons should accuse Gibraltar of acting as a refuge for drugs launches, drug smuggling and money laundering is an absolute disgrace. The model of launches used by smugglers were outlawed in Gibraltar in 1995. They are still in use in Spain but not here. Gibraltar has also been praised by law enforcement in Spain for outlawing the storage of petrol in containers meant for the supply of such launches, something which remains legal across the border. The PP politician is so out of touch that he calls for Gibraltar to comply with EU financial standards without being aware that Gibraltar already does so, even though we have left the European Union.' 'The Government is very concerned at both the tone and the content of the latest comments made by the PP spokesman and will not allow such insults and untruths to rest unchallenged. His crude reference to Gibraltar as an infection is dehumanising and simply unacceptable language in any context, still more so when related to an allied and friendly territory. This kind of incitement to hatred has no place in the modern world we are all trying to build.' 'The irony is that all the mainstream parties of left and right in Europe are united in condemning discrimination and hate, including Mr Pons and his own political grouping in the European Parliament. It is regrettable that by using hateful and discriminatory rhetoric when it comes to Gibraltar, Mr Pons is distancing himself from the proud democratic traditions of Europe which have and will continue to allow us living side by side and supporting the continued shared prosperity of this area.' The Chief Minister, the Hon Fabian Picardo KC MP, said: "The truth about Gibraltar and its People must be told to challenge these atrocious comments that seek to dehumanise and create feelings of hate and prejudice against us based on self evident lies. Meanwhile, we will keep working with the United Kingdom in the negotiations with the EU to ensure that we are not derailed in seeking a safe and secure treaty for Gibraltar." Thailands National Museum has hosted a welcome home ceremony for two ancient statues that were allegedly illegally trafficked from Thailand by a British collector of antiquities and were returned from the collection of New Yorks Metropolitan Museum of Art. The objects a tall bronze figure called the Standing Shiva or the Golden Boy and a smaller sculpture called Kneeling Female are thought to be around 1,000 years old. This most recent repatriation of artwork comes as many museums in the US and Europe reckon with collections that contain objects looted from Asia, Africa and other places during centuries of colonialism or in times of upheaval. A Thai person looks at the Standing Shiva sculpture from the 11th century during a repatriation ceremony at the National Museum in Bangkok (Sakchai Lalit/AP) The Metropolitan Museum had announced last December that it would return more than a dozen artefacts to Thailand and Cambodia after they were linked to the late Douglas Latchford, an art dealer and collector accused of running a huge antiquities trafficking network out of South East Asia. He was indicted in the United States in 2019 for allegedly orchestrating a long-running scheme to sell looted Cambodian antiquities on the international art market. Mr Latchford, who died the following year, had denied any involvement in smuggling. Speaking at Tuesdays ceremony, the Metropolitans curator of Asian and Southeast Asian art, John Guy, called the returned works unrivalled masterpieces of their period and said the handover was a very meaningful moment to recognise the importance of the art of Thailand in world culture. The ancient bronze kneeling woman sculpture is displayed during a repatriation ceremony at the National Museum in Bangkok, Thailand (Sakchai Lalit/AP) The Met initiated the return of these two objects after reviewing information and established that the works rightly belonged to the Kingdom of Thailand, he said. This return followed the launch of the Metropolitans Cultural Property Initiative last year, an initiative driven by the Mets commitment to the responsible collecting of antiquities and to the shared stewardship of the worlds cultural heritage, Mr Guy told his audience in the capital Bangkok. Thai culture minister Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol expressed her countrys gratitude for the return of the items. These artefacts that Thailand has received from the Met are the national assets of all Thais, she said. Thai culture minister Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol during the repatriation ceremony in Bangkok (Sakchai Lalit/AP) Last month, the Metropolitan Museum signed a memorandum of understanding in New York with Thailand formalising a shared commitment to collaborate on exchanges of art, expertise, and the display and study of Thai art. The statement also explained that the museum had recently tackled the controversial issue of cultural property and how it was obtained. It said its measures include a focused review of works in the collection; hiring provenance researchers to join the many researchers and curators already doing this work at the museum; further engaging staff and trustees; and using The Mets platform to support and contribute to public discourse on this topic. It is so hot in Mexico that howler monkeys are falling dead from the trees. At least 83 of the midsize primates, who are known for their roaring vocal calls, were found dead in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco. Others were rescued by residents, including five that were rushed to a local veterinarian who battled to save them. Howler monkeys sit in a cage at a veterinarian clinic after they were rescued amid extremely high temperatures in Tecolutilla, Tabasco state, Mexico (Luis Sanchez/AP) They arrived in critical condition, with dehydration and fever, said Dr Sergio Valenzuela. They were as limp as rags. It was heatstroke. While Mexicos brutal heatwave has been linked to the deaths of at least 26 people since March, veterinarians and rescuers say it has killed dozens and perhaps hundreds of howler monkeys. In the town of Tecolutilla, Tabasco, the dead monkeys started appearing on Friday, when a local volunteer fire-and-rescue squad showed up with five of the creatures in the bed of the truck. Normally quite intimidating, howler monkeys are muscular and can be around 2ft (60 centimetres) tall, with tails as long again. They are equipped with big jaws and a fearsome set of teeth and fangs. But mostly, their lion-like roars, which belie their size, are what they are known for. They (the volunteers) asked for help, they asked if I could examine some of the animals they had in their truck, Dr Valenzuela said on Monday. A veterinarian feeds a young howler monkey rescued amid extremely high temperatures in Tecolutilla (Luis Sanchez/AP) They said they didnt have any money, and asked if I could do it for free. The veterinarian put ice on their limp little hands and feet, and hooked them up to IV drips with electrolytes. So far, the monkeys appear to be on the mend. Once listless and easily handled, they are now in cages at Dr Valenzuelas office. Theyre recovering. Theyre aggressive theyre biting again, he said, noting that is a healthy sign for the usually furtive creatures. Most are not so lucky. Wildlife biologist Gilberto Pozo counted about 83 of the animals dead or dying on the ground under trees. The die-off started around May 5 and hit its peak over the weekend. They were falling out of the trees like apples, Mr Pozo said. They were falling out of the trees, and the people were moved, and they went to help the animals, they set out water and fruit for them They were in a state of severe dehydration, and they died within a matter of minutes. Already weakened, Mr Pozo says the falls from dozens of yards up inflict additional damage that often finishes the monkeys off. Mr Pozo attributes the deaths to a synergy of factors, including high heat, drought, forest fires and logging that deprives the monkeys of water, shade and the fruit they eat. For people in the steamy, swampy, jungle-covered state of Tabasco, the howler monkey is a cherished, emblematic species; local people say the monkeys tell them the time of day, by howling at dawn and dusk. Mr Pozo said the local people who he knows through his work with the Biodiversity Conservation of The Usumacinta group have tried to help the monkeys they see around their farms. But he notes that could be a double-edged sword. They were falling out of the trees, and the people were moved, and they went to help the animals, they set out water and fruit for them, Mr Pozo said. They want to care for them, mainly the baby monkeys, adopt them. A howler monkey sits inside a cage with others at a veterinarian clinic after they were rescued (Luis Sanchez/AP) But no, the truth is that babies are very delicate, they cant be in a house where there are dogs or cats, because they have pathogens that can potentially be fatal for howler monkeys, he said, stressing they must be rehabilitated and released into the wild. Mr Pozos group has set up a special recovery station for monkeys it currently holds five monkeys, but birds and reptiles have also been affected and is trying to organise a team of specialised veterinarians to give the primates the care they need. Belatedly, the federal government acknowledged the problem on Monday, with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador saying he had heard about it on social media. He congratulated Dr Valenzuela on his efforts and said the government would seek to support the work. Mr Lopez Obrador acknowledged the heat problem I have never felt it as bad as this but he has a lot of human problems to deal with as well. By May 9 at least nine cities in Mexico had set temperature records, with Ciudad Victoria, in the border state of Tamaulipas, clocking a broiling 47C. With below-average rainfall throughout almost all the country so far this year, lakes and dams are drying up, water supplies are running out and authorities have had to truck in water for everything from hospitals to fire-fighting teams. It is telling us something about what is happening with climate change Low levels at hydroelectric dams have contributed to power blackouts in some parts of the country. Consumers are feeling the heat as well. On Monday, the nationwide chain of OXXO convenience stores the nations largest said it was limiting purchases of ice to just two or three bags per customer in some places. In a period of high temperatures, OXXO is taking measures to ensure supplies of products for our customers, parent company FEMSA said in a statement. Limits on the sale of bagged ice seek to ensure that a larger number of customers can buy this product. But for the monkeys, it is not a question of comfort, but of life or death. This is a sentinel species, Mr Pozo said, referring to the canary-in-a-coal mine effect where one species can say a lot about an ecosystem. It is telling us something about what is happening with climate change. May 20, 2024 Idaho State University will soon offer a degree in one of the nations fastest-growing fields. Starting in Fall 2024, the Department of Computer Science will offer a bachelors degree in software engineering. Compared to the already offered bachelor's degrees in computer science and computer engineering, the software engineering degree path will emphasize software development skills and programming while requiring students to take fewer math courses. Classes for software engineering will be offered at ISUs Pocatello and Idaho Falls campuses. Each year, over 250 students take our Computer Science and Programming course and show a strong interest in software engineering careers, but they arent interested in taking the math courses required to obtain a degree in computer science or computer engineering, said Steve Chiu, professor and chair of Idaho State Universitys Department of Computer Science. With a focus more on the coding side of the field, this new degree in software engineering will allow students to enter the workforce with the skills necessary to land high-paying and in-demand jobs. I chose to pursue a degree in software engineering to complement my computer science major and applied mathematics minor because it requires just a few additional courses, said Gabriel Ory, a junior at Idaho State. Yet, beyond convenience, the program's emphasis on practical skills like project management and teamwork, often overshadowed in CS programs by technical skills and knowledge of theoretical concepts, is something I believe will be helpful for me and my career. The opportunity to learn about mobile app development also excited me, given my interest in video games. Another of the first degree-seeking students of the new major will be an employee of the computer science department. Chan Blackett, an administrative assistant, plans to earn her degree as a nontraditional student. "I fell in love with programming when I took a BASIC class in high school, said Blackett. Since then, I have dabbled in a few programming languages, learning them on my own. Once I heard that the department was starting a software engineering program this coming Fall, I jumped right on it." The median wage for software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers is just over $124,000 per year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall employment is expected to grow by 25 percent by 2032. There is a significant shortage of software developers and engineers in Idaho and the country, said Chiu. The reason is simple: sophisticated software systems have become essential in most of what we rely on to sustain and enhance our daily lives. Additionally, the rapid rise of artificial intelligence-based systems could not have been possible without significant contributions from software engineers. Since the Fall of 2019, the number of students majoring in computer science at Idaho State has grown from 183 to 262 in the Fall of 2023, an increase of more than 40 percent. In May 2022, ISU awarded its first advanced degrees in computer science, and that same year, Idaho State started offering a bachelors in computer engineering. The software engineering and computer science degrees represent two complementary approaches to software, said Lyle Castle, Interim Dean of ISUs College of Science and Engineering. Having both of these programs opens up the field to many more students and helps meet a growing demand for careers in software development. For more information on the ISU Computer Science Department, visit isu.edu/cs. Prospective students can schedule a campus tour at isu.edu/visit. 1371138342::cfb49c8e-2422-11e5-99a3-d7f5c6e8b241 A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more. An N.C. House Select Committee is recommending that the General Assembly change a state law forcing districts to start school the Monday closest to Aug. 26 and end no later than the Friday clo ( Middle East Monitor ) Amal Clooney, wife of Hollywood actor George Clooney, and renowned human rights lawyer provided an expert report supporting the ICCs arrest warrant application for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and three senior Hamas officials, she said in a statement. Published on the Clooney Foundation for Justices website, the statement said that Clooney joined a panel of international legal experts to evaluate evidence of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and Gaza. She wrote, More than four months ago, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asked me to assist him with evaluating evidence of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and Gaza. I agreed and joined a panel of international legal experts to undertake this task. Together we have engaged in an extensive process of evidence review and legal analysis including at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The Panel and its academic advisers are experts in international law, including international humanitarian law and international criminal law, she explained. New York Post video: Amal Clooney helped convince ICC to issue arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas leaders Despite our diverse personal backgrounds, our legal findings are unanimous. We have unanimously determined that the Court has jurisdiction over crimes committed in Palestine and by Palestinian nationals. We unanimously conclude that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity including starvation as a method of warfare, murder, persecution and extermination, she continued. Explaining her reason for agreeing to take on this role when she was approached by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan four months ago, Clooney explained: As a human rights lawyer, I will never accept that one childs life has less value than anothers. I do not accept that any conflict should be beyond the reach of the law, nor that any perpetrator should be above the law. I hope that justice will prevail in a region that has already suffered too much. Clooney, who is of Lebanese origins, has faced months of criticism of failing to speak out against Israels genocidal bombing campaign in Gaza which has killed more than 35,500 Palestinians to date. Middle East Monitor Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) Karim A.A. Khan, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), said Monday that he is asking the ICC to issue arrest warrants for several Hamas leaders as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Secretary of Defense Yoav Gallant. It is the first time the ICC has sought warrants against leaders of a parliamentary government. Most of the officials indicted have been from African dictatorial regimes. If the warrants are approved, in a process that may take several months, Netanyahu and Gallant will join a rogues gallery featuring deposed Libyan strongman Moammar Gaddafi, deposed Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. In March, 2023, just a year ago, Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked all countries that are parties to the ICC to detain Vladimir Putin if they could, after the court issued an arrest warrant for him. Russia is not a signatory to the Rome Statute that authorizes the court, but in 2015 Ukraine (also not a signatory) granted jurisdiction to the court over Ukrainian territory. It was for crimes committed in Ukraine that Putin was indicted. The reaction in Washington to the warrant request for Netanyahu and Gallant has been the opposite. This reaction shows that the Biden administration does not respect international law and does not care that Putin committed crimes under it, but just wants to stick it to Putin. It is personalistic, not a matter of law. Because if the law was at issue, it should apply to everyone, including (especially) Benjamin Netanyahu, the Butcher of Gaza. Everything Washington officials said in response to the request for warrants was wrong. I mean, incorrect. It isnt a matter of opinion or a difference in values. They are spewing falsehoods. It is as though they have all contracted Trumpitis and now keep compulsively telling serial lies. President Biden, apparently now the chief defense attorney for Netanyahu, denounced any equivalence between Hamas and the Israeli leadership and said that he rejects charges of genocide against it. Bidens spokespeople questioned whether the ICC has jurisdiction to charge the Israeli leaders. Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the announcement as outrageous and said that it threatened the success of negotiations toward a ceasefire and a hostage release. Mr. Blinken did not explain why the ICC request for warrants should should delay a ceasefire. The Biden administration vetoed 3 ceasefire calls at the UN Security Council earlier this year, and abstained on a fourth, which it undercut by falsely damning it as non-binding. Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson said he and his colleagues would look into the possibility of placing sanctions on the ICC judges and their families. The 18 judges are elected to nine-year terms by an assembly of the 124 states that are signatories to the Rome Statute, finalized in 2002, which authorizes the court and lays out International Humanitarian Law. The ICC therefore represents nearly two thirds of the countries in the world. Mike Johnson represents a district in Louisiana. The parties to the International Criminal Court include Britain, Canada, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland, Japan, Spain, Sweden, as well as the State of Palestine and large numbers of countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Pacific. It took some courage to sign the Rome Statute, since the officials of the signatory country place themselves under the authority of the judges. It is not a courage that the United States, Israel or Russia displayed, and it is disgraceful that the United States has not signed the major human rights instrument of the twenty-first century. Al Jazeera English Video: World reacts to ICC prosecutor seeking Israel, Hamas arrest warrants So why is everything Washington is saying about the decision of Karim Khan wrong? First, the request for warrants does not make an equivalence between Israel and Hamas. The court does not judge countries, it judges individual officials. These are the charges against the three Hamas leaders, aside from just killing a lot of innocents: Taking hostages as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(iii); Rape and other acts of sexual violence as crimes against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(g), and also as war crimes pursuant to article 8(2)(e)(vi) in the context of captivity; Torture as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(f), and also as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i), in the context of captivity; Other inhumane acts as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(l)(k), in the context of captivity; Cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i), in the context of captivity; and Outrages upon personal dignity as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(ii), in the context of captivity. Rape, torture, hostage taking all bulk large here. These are the charges against Netanyahu and Gallant: Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Statute; Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health contrary to article 8(2)(a)(iii), or cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i); Wilful killing contrary to article 8(2)(a)(i), or Murder as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i); Intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime contrary to articles 8(2)(b)(i), or 8(2)(e)(i); Extermination and/or murder contrary to articles 7(1)(b) and 7(1)(a), including in the context of deaths caused by starvation, as a crime against humanity; Persecution as a crime against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(h); Other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(k). The charges arent the same, or equivalent, at all. The Israeli officials are charged with starving the civilian population, blowing up the civilian population, exterminating the civilian population. There is no mention of rape or torture or hostage taking. In each case the officials are being charged for their specific actions. The Israeli officials are not charged with genocide by the ICC, contrary to what Mr. Biden alleged. The reason that the ICC has jurisdiction is that the State of Palestine has very doggedly and brilliantly arranged for that jurisdiction. First, Palestine sought to be admitted as a non-member observer state of the United Nations, the same status that the Vatican has. The UN General Assembly voted Palestine in some 12 years ago. As an observer state, it gained the right to become a signatory to the Rome Statute, which it did in 2015. Then Palestine asked the ICC to exercise jurisdiction over the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which had de jure been granted to the State of Palestine by the 1993 Oslo Peace Treaty, signed by Bill Clinton, Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat. On February 5, 2021, the ICC concluded that it does have jurisdiction over actions taken in the Occupied Territories. Gaza is included in that jurisdiction. Hence, the ICC can issue the request for warrants against Hamas war criminals as well as against Israeli officials who commit war crimes or crimes against humanity in the Occupied Territories. It most definitely has jurisdiction. In fact, since Palestine is a party to the ICC, the case for jurisdiction here is much stronger than for Ukraine and Putin. Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected the whole notion of a ceasefire and contrary to Mr. Blinkens flagrant toadying there is no prospect of any such ceasefire. Hamas offered a hostage deal on the eve of the invasion of Rafah, and Netanyahu invaded precisely in order to torpedo any deal. That is why Israelis are demonstrating in the tens of thousands against Netanyahu. If Blinken had any shame hed fly to Tel Aviv and join them. The ICC decision is completely irrelevant to negotiations, which have in any case collapsed and are not ongoing. Blinken is trying to blame Karim Khan for his own egregious failure as a diplomat. Unlike Khan, Blinken has done nothing practical to hold Netanyahu to account for repeatedly violating the Biden administrations toothless red lines. As for Mike Johnson and his merry band of GOP troglodytes, he should be careful if hed ever like to vacation in Rio or in most of Europe. Article 70 of the Rome Statute has these paragraphs prohibiting: d) Impeding, intimidating or corruptly influencing an official of the Court for the purpose of forcing or persuading the official not to perform, or to perform improperly, his or her duties; (e) Retaliating against an official of the Court on account of duties performed by that or another official; The Court should play hardball with politicians who try to sanction its judges, and should issue warrants against them. Wouldnt it be lovely to see Mike Johnson arrested while on vacation at the Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro and unceremoniously flown to the Hague in handcuffs? And Mike Pompeo and Trump, who did sanction ICC judges, should also have warrants out. Though with Trump the ICC would have to get in line behind a whole gaggle of prosecutors waving warrants for an endless list of crimes. DEVELOPMENT CHANNEL SAMPLES - H LENS 14.42 g/t Au over an estimated true channel width of 6.75m 13.31 g/t Au over an estimated true channel width of 6.40m DIAMOND DRILLING - J LENS 20.17 g/t Au over an estimated true width of 6.62m in hole FAI0018 8.54 g/t Au over an estimated true width of 4.72m in hole FAI0020 6.46 g/t Au over an estimated true width of 9.66m in hole FAI0024 TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Jaguar Mining Inc. ("Jaguar" or the "Company") (TSX:JAG) (OTCQX:JAGGF) is pleased to provide an update and announce that access development and concomitant mineral resource delineation diamond drilling has intersected high-grade mineralization at its Faina Project ("Faina"). Faina is part of the Company's MTL Mining Complex which also includes its Turmalina Mine, and is located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, approximately 130 kilometers northwest of the city of Belo Horizonte. In December 2023, the Company released an NI 43-101 Technical Report (see Press Release dated December 18, 2023) announcing Probable Mineral Reserves for Faina of 132 koz (787 kt @ 5.22 g/t Au), Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources of 233 koz (1,427 kt @ 5.08 g/t Au) and Inferred Mineral Resources of 232 koz (1,420 kt @ 5.09 g/t Au). Since development of the project commenced in 2022, approximately 3,760m of primary access development from the Turmalina Mine to Faina has been achieved, and a further 1,700m of development is planned for 2024, including approximately 560m of secondary productive development. To date, the Company has invested approximately US$15 million in capital at Faina which has mainly been divided between infill resource definition drilling, metallurgical testwork, access development and studies. Vern Baker, President, and CEO of Jaguar Mining stated: "We are delighted to have reached high grade mineralization in Faina access development and definition diamond drilling. Primary access development and infill diamond drilling will continue to open and better define the mineralized areas through 2024 as the project ramps up to planned production levels in 2025. Our initial plan is to feed mined material through our MTL mill while continuing with focused metallurgical testwork which will inform longer term processing options. Going forward exploration will focus on expanding the Mineral Resources inventory at Faina as well as conversion of Inferred Mineral Resources to higher classification categories." Figure 1. Location of the MTL Mining Complex, Turmalina Mine and Faina Project relative to Jaguar's other operational areas in Minas Gerais, Brazil Figure 2. Location of the Faina Project relative to Jaguars MTL Mining Complex and Turmalina Mine Figure 3. Long Section showing the location of access development from Turmalina Mine to Faina Faina Mineralization Gold mineralization is hosted within a series of six separate structurally and stratigraphically controlled mineralized lenses defined as lens E (undifferentiated chemical sediments), and lens F to lens J (meta-mafic rocks). These mineralized lenses occur over several stratigraphic intervals within a mafic volcanic package (amphibolite facies) and are characterized by very fine to fine grained massive to disseminated sulfide rich zones which are both conformable and unconformable with bedding, often accompanied by quartz veinlets and stringers. Sulfides are generally 5-10% of the rock mass within the better mineralized zones with the dominant sulfide minerals being arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite and at times courser grained 1-2cm crosscutting stringers of the antimony bearing minerals stibnite and berthierite are observed. Individual lenses vary in width both along strike and down dip / plunge from less than 1m to greater than 10m with the thicker and higher-grade lenses associated with fold hinges. Faina Diamond Drilling and Channel Sampling Results Resource definition diamond drilling successfully intersected the J lens, I lens and H lens as modelled. High grade intercepts with grade x thickness (GT) values greater than 25 (GT) are tabulated below in Table 1. A plan view showing the location of the target lens and diamond drill impact results is presented below in Figure 4. Figure 4. Plan view showing the location of access development from Turmalina Mine to Faina and diamond drilling intersections. Note that high grade mineralization has been intersected in preliminary development on the H lens, see Figure 7 for detail. Table 1. Significant diamond drilling impacts with grade x thickness (GT) > 25 Faina Lens H Development Channel Sample Results Positive channel sampling results have been intersected in initial mineralized development on Lens H. The individual sample results and composites are presented in Figure 7 below and tabulated in Appendix 2, Table 4. Figure 5. Faina Lens H development. Plan showing the location and results of development face channel sampling Figure 6. Lens H development. A = Faina's sulphide-rich hydrothermalite Au ore exposed in gallery FH435. Note multiple laminae of tiny arsenopyrite crystals aggregate. B = Faina's footwall style of mineralization: sulphide (pyrrhotite-rich) metachert. C = Faina rock chip sample from lens H with a grade of 17.99 g/t Au. Figure 7. Faina development gallery (intersecting H lens), showing the channels with individual sample gold assay results. Detailed location, grade and sample data are presented in Appendix 2, Table 4. Qualified Person Scientific and technical information contained in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Jonathan Victor Hill, BSc (Hons) (Economic Geology - UCT), FAUSIMM, Advisor Exploration and Geology to Jaguar Mining Inc., and is a "qualified person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). The Iron Quadrangle The Iron Quadrangle has been an area of mineral exploration dating back to the 16th century. The discovery in 1699-1701 of gold contaminated with iron and platinum-group metals in the southeastern corner of the Iron Quadrangle gave rise to the name of the town Ouro Preto (Black Gold). The Iron Quadrangle contains world-class multi-million-ounce gold deposits such as Morro Velho, Cuiaba, and Sao Bento. About Jaguar Mining Inc. Jaguar Mining Inc. is a Canadian-listed junior gold mining, development, and exploration company operating in Brazil with three gold mining complexes and a large land package with significant upside exploration potential from mineral claims. The Company's principal operating assets are located in the Iron Quadrangle, a prolific greenstone belt in the state of Minas Gerais and include the MTL Mining Complex (Turmalina Mine and Plant) and Caete Mining Complex (Pilar and Roca Grande Mines, and Caete Plant). The Company also owns the Paciencia Mining Complex, which has been on care and maintenance since 2012. The Roca Grande Mine has been on temporary care and maintenance since April 2019. Additional information is available on the Company's website at www.jaguarmining.com. For further information please contact: Vernon Baker Chief Executive Officer Jaguar Mining Inc. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 416-847-1854 Alfred Colas Chief Financial Officer Jaguar Mining Inc. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 416-847-1854 Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's expectations and plans relating to the future. All of the forward-looking information made in this news release is qualified by the cautionary statements below and those made in our other filings with the securities regulators in Canada. Forward-looking information contained in forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "are expected," "is forecast," "is targeted," "approximately," "plans," "anticipates," "projects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimate," "believe" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may," "could," "would," "might," or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, may be considered to be or include forward-looking information. This news release contains forward-looking information regarding, among other things, the duration of the temporary suspension of the Company's 2023 production guidance in ounces and costs, the expected future release of new guidance for 2023, the anticipated impact of planned changes in mining systems and cost cutting initiatives on the Company's future performance and production results, information related to expected sales, production statistics, ore grades, tonnes milled, recovery rates, cash operating costs, definition/delineation drilling, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, costs and timing of the development of projects and new deposits, success of exploration, development and mining activities, currency fluctuations, capital requirements, project studies, mine life extensions, restarting suspended or disrupted operations, continuous improvement initiatives, and resolution of pending litigation. The Company has made numerous assumptions with respect to forward-looking information contained herein, including, among other things, assumptions about the estimated timeline for the development of its mineral properties; the supply and demand for, and the level and volatility of the price of, gold; the accuracy of reserve and resource estimates and the assumptions on which the reserve and resource estimates are based; the receipt of necessary permits; market competition; ongoing relations with employees and impacted communities; political and legal developments in any jurisdiction in which the Company operates being consistent with its current expectations including, without limitation, the impact of any potential power rationing, tailings facility regulation, exploration and mine operating licenses and permits being obtained and renewed and/or there being adverse amendments to mining or other laws in Brazil and any changes to general business and economic conditions. Forward-looking information involves a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including among others: the risk of Jaguar not meeting the forecast plans regarding its operations and financial performance; uncertainties with respect to the price of gold, labour disruptions, mechanical failures, increase in costs, environmental compliance and change in environmental legislation and regulation, weather delays and increased costs or production delays due to natural disasters, power disruptions, procurement and delivery of parts and supplies to the operations; uncertainties inherent to capital markets in general (including the sometimes volatile valuation of securities and an uncertain ability to raise new capital) and other risks inherent to the gold exploration, development and production industry, which, if incorrect, may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the Company and described herein. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of gold exploration, development, mining and production, including environmental hazards, tailings dam failures, industrial accidents and workplace safety problems, unusual or unexpected geological formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding, chemical spills, procurement fraud and gold bullion thefts and losses (and the risk of inadequate insurance, or the inability to obtain insurance, to cover these risks). Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. For additional information with respect to these and other factors and assumptions underlying the forward-looking information made in this news release, see the Company's most recent Annual Information Form and Management's Discussion and Analysis, as well as other public disclosure documents that can be accessed under the issuer profile of "Jaguar Mining Inc." on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. The forward-looking information set forth herein reflects the Company's reasonable expectations as at the date of this news release and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. APPENDIX 1 Table 2. Faina Diamond Drilling Results Table 3. Faina Diamond Drilling Location Data APPENDIX 2 Table 4. Faina Development Sampling Location Data and Results Lense H (Middle) VANCOUVER, BC, May 21, 2024 /CNW/ - May 22, 2024 Sydney, Australia Highlights Patriot is capitalizing on the current advantageous flow through financing conditions by executing a private placement at $14.54 per share for C$75m at a 51% premium to the Company's last traded price on the TSX as of May 17, 2024 . The Company is acting decisively due to recent measures announced in the 2024 Canadian Federal budget, which are to take effect on June 25 2024, and are expected to reduce future Flow-Through premiums to exploration companies. The Placement received strong demand from existing and new institutional, professional and sophisticated investors. Existing substantial investors also maintained their pro-rata in the placement, which included committing to a four month hold on its new securities. Placement results in issuance of common shares as well as CDIs which will further increase liquidity on the ASX. Proceeds from the flow through capital raise will be used exclusively on exploration at the Corvette Lithium Project for the period June 2024 to December 2025 Updated mineral resource for CV5 targeted for late Q3 2024. Patriot Battery Metals Inc. (the "Company" or "Patriot") (TSX: PMET) (ASX: PMT) (OTCQX: PMETF) (FSE: R9GA) is pleased to announce that it has received firm commitments to raise approximately C$75 million (before costs) via a fully subscribed charity flow-through offer of approximately 5.16 million common shares of the Company ("Flow-Through Shares") at an issue price of C$14.54 per share to institutional, professional and sophisticated investors ("Flow-Through Offering"). The issue price represents a 51% premium to the last closing price of Patriot common shares on the TSX as of May 17, 2024. Patriot Managing Director, Ken Brinsden commented "We are delighted by the very strong support from existing and new institutional and sophisticated investors for the Flow-Through Offering. With a strengthened balance sheet, Patriot is now positioned to continue its exploration and study work at Corvette, aimed at further growing the Corvette mineral resource and testing a number of high priority targets within the Company's broader landholding, and drive the business through to production." The Flow-Through Offering will be facilitated by PearTree Securities Inc. ("PearTree"). Euroz Hartleys Limited, Argonaut Securities Pty Limited ("Australian Joint Lead Managers"), on behalf of a syndicate that includes Bell Potter Securities Ltd. and Foster Stockbroking as Australian co-managers, and Raymond James Ltd., as Canadian sole bookrunner, on behalf of a syndicate that includes BMO Capital Markets and National Bank Financial Inc. as Canadian co-managers, acted as joint lead managers to the transaction (the "Canadian Agents", and together with the Australian Joint Lead Managers, the "Joint Lead Managers"). The Company intends to use the gross proceeds from the sale of the Flow-Through Shares to incur exploration expenses that are eligible "Canadian exploration expenses" that qualify as "flow-through critical mineral mining expenditures" as such terms are defined in the Income Tax Act (Canada) ("Act"), which will be eligible for a federal 30% investment tax credit for any eligible individual investors and, for any individual investor who is resident or subject to tax in the Province of Quebec or any investor which is a partnership of which a partner or limited partner is subject to tax in the Province of Quebec, the incurred exploration expenses will also be eligible for the two 10% additional deductions under the Taxation Act (Quebec) ("Qualifying Expenses"). The closing of the Flow-Through Offering is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, approval of the TSX and receipt of all required regulatory and other approvals. Shareholder approval is not required to complete the Flow-Through Offering. On completion of the Flow-Through Offering, 4.61 million of the Flow-Through Shares will be converted to approximately 46.1 million Chess Depositary Interests ("CDIs") on the basis of 10 CDIs for each share. Pursuant to a block trade agreement among PearTree and the Joint Lead Managers (the "Block Trade Agreement"), the Joint Lead Managers will facilitate the secondary sale of the CDIs to select institutional investors by way of a block trade at A$0.85 per CDI ("CDI Block Trade"). In addition, pursuant to the Block Trade Agreement the Canadian Agents will facilitate the secondary sale of the remaining Flow-Through Shares that are not converted to CDIs to select institutional investors by way of a block trade at C$7.65 per Flow-Through Share ("Shares Block Trade"). The allotment of the Flow-Through Shares will fall within the Company's 15% placement capacity under ASX Listing Rule 7.1. A prospectus under section 713 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) will be issued in connection with the Flow-Through Offering to facilitate secondary trading of the CDIs issued on account of the Flow-Through Shares. Settlement of the Flow-Through Offering is expected to occur on Friday, May 31,2024 and the Flow-Through Shares issued will rank equally with the Company's existing common shares on issue. The Flow-Through Shares will be listed on the TSX, and Flow-Through Shares that are not converted to CDIs and are sold pursuant to the Shares Block Trade will be subject to a four (4) month statutory hold period. Participants in the CDI Block Trade are unable to convert their CDIs into common shares of the Company for the purpose of trading such shares in Canada until four (4) months have elapsed from the settlement date. The Company was able to issue the Flow-Through Shares at a premium as Canadian charity flow-through shares, which provides tax incentives to those investors for expenditures that qualify as Qualifying Expenses. The tax treatment applicable to the Flow-Through Shares does not apply to CDIs subsequently issued on account thereof. The term "flow-through share" is a defined term in the Act and is not a distinct type of share under corporate law. In this case, the Flow-Through Shares refer to common shares that will be issued by the Company to investors under a written agreement with the investors whereby the Company agrees to incur certain Qualifying Expenses, and to renounce such expenses to the investors. If the Company and the investors comply with the rules of the Act, the investors will be entitled to deduct their proportionate share of the amount renounced in computing their income for Canadian income tax purposes and Quebec income tax purposes, as the case may be and, as a result, the Flow-Through Shares are issued at a higher price. The tax benefits associated with the Flow-Through Shares are available only to the initial subscribers thereof (who are Canadian residents) and not to any other person who acquires the Flow-Through Shares through the on-sale or transfer of those Flow-Through Shares. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or in a transaction exempt from, or not subject to, the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act or the applicable state securities laws. About Patriot Battery Metals Inc. Patriot Battery Metals Inc. is a hard-rock lithium exploration company focused on advancing its district-scale 100% owned Corvette Property located in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region of Quebec, Canada, and proximal to regional road and powerline infrastructure. The Corvette Property hosts the CV5 Spodumene Pegmatite with a maiden mineral resource estimate of 109.2 Mt at 1.42% Li 2 O inferred1 and ranks as the largest lithium pegmatite resource in the Americas based on contained lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), and one of the top 10 largest lithium pegmatite resources in the world. Additionally, the Corvette Property hosts multiple other spodumene pegmatite clusters that remain to be drill tested, as well as more than 20 km of prospective trend that remains to be assessed. 1 The CV5 mineral resource estimate (109.2 Mt at 1.42% Li 2 O and 160 ppm Ta 2 O 5 inferred) is reported at a cut-off grade of 0.40% Li 2 O with an effective date of June 25, 2023 (through drill hole CV23-190). Mineral resources are not mineral reserves as they do not have demonstrated economic viability. For further information, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by calling +1 (604) 279-8709, or visit www.patriotbatterymetals.com. Please also refer to the Company's continuous disclosure filings, available under its profile at www.sedarplus.ca and www.asx.com.au, for available exploration data. This news release has been approved by the Board of Directors. "KEN BRINSDEN" Kenneth Brinsden, President, CEO, & Managing Director Disclaimer for Forward-looking Information This news release contains "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are included to provide information about management's current expectations and plans that allows investors and others to have a better understanding of the Company's business plans and financial performance and condition. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included in this news release, regarding the Company's strategy, future operations, financial position, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as "plan", "expect", "estimate", "intend", "anticipate", "believe", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. In particular and without limitation, this news release contains forward-looking statements pertaining to the Flow-Through Offering, including the approval by the TSX, the closing of the Flow-Through Offering, the conversion of the Flow-Through Shares into CDIs, the sales pursuant to the CDI Block Trade and the sales pursuant to the Shares Block Trade, and the use of proceeds. Forward-looking information is based upon certain assumptions and other important factors that, if untrue, could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such information or statements. There can be no assurance that such information or statements will prove to be accurate. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive of all factors and assumptions which may have been used. Forward-looking statements are also subject to risks and uncertainties facing the Company's business, any of which could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. Some of the risks the Company faces and the uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements include, among others, the ability to execute on plans relating to the Company's Corvette Project, including the timing thereof. In addition, readers are directed to carefully review the detailed risk discussion in the Company's most recent Annual Information Form filed on SEDAR+, which discussion is incorporated by reference in this news release, for a fuller understanding of the risks and uncertainties that affect the Company's business and operations. Although the Company believes its expectations are based upon reasonable assumptions and has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. As such, these risks are not exhaustive; however, they should be considered carefully. If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements found herein. Due to the risks, uncertainties and assumptions inherent in forward-looking statements, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained herein are presented for the purpose of assisting investors in understanding the Company's business plans, financial performance and condition and may not be appropriate for other purposes. No securities regulatory authority or stock exchange has reviewed nor accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release. The forward-looking statements contained herein are made only as of the date hereof. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law. The Company qualifies all of its forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements. Competent Person Statement (ASX Listing Rule 5.22) The mineral resource estimate in this release was reported by the Company in accordance with ASX Listing Rule 5.8 on July 31, 2023. The Company confirms it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in the announcement and that all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the estimates in the announcement continue to apply and have not materially changed. The Company confirms that the form and context in which the competent person's findings are presented have not been materially modified from the original market announcement. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blackrock Silver Corp. (TSXV:BRC) ("Blackrock" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with Research Capital Corporation as the lead underwriter and sole bookrunner, on behalf of a syndicate of underwriters (collectively, the Underwriters), pursuant to which the Underwriters have agreed to purchase, on a bought deal basis, 28,125,000 units of the Company (the Units) at a price of $0.32 per Unit for aggregate gross proceeds to the Company of $9,000,000 (the "Offering"). Mr. Eric Sprott, through 2176423 Ontario Ltd., has indicated his intention to participate in the transaction. Each Unit shall be comprised of one common share of the Company (a "Common Share") and one-half of one Common Share purchase warrant of the Company (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant shall entitle the holder thereof to purchase one Common Share at an exercise price of $0.48 per Common Share for a period of 24 months following closing of the Offering. The net proceeds from the Offering will be used for exploration, resource expansion and conversion drilling, working capital and general corporate purposes. The Company has granted to the Underwriters an option (the Over-Allotment Option) to increase the size of the Offering by up to an additional number of Units, and/or the components thereof, that in aggregate would be equal to 15% of the total number of Units to be issued under the Offering, to cover over-allotments, if any, and for market stabilization purposes, exercisable at any time and from time to time up to 30 days following the closing of the Offering. The closing of the Offering is expected to occur on or about May 29, 2024 (the Closing), or such other earlier or later date as the Underwriters may determine. Closing is subject to the Company receiving all necessary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the Exchange) to list, on the date of Closing, the Common Shares, and the Common Shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants and the Underwriters broker warrants, on the Exchange In connection with the Offering, the Company intends to file a prospectus supplement (the Prospectus Supplement) to the Companys short form base shelf prospectus dated August 4, 2023 (the Shelf Prospectus) with the securities regulatory authorities in each of the provinces and territories of Canada (except Quebec). Copies of the Shelf Prospectus and the Prospectus Supplement to be filed in connection with the Offering, will be available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. The Shelf Prospectus and the Prospectus Supplement will contain, important detailed information about the Company and the Offering. Prospective investors should read the Prospectus Supplement and accompanying Shelf Prospectus and the other documents the Company has filed on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca before making an investment decision. This press release is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities in the United States or in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to qualification or registration under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. The securities being offered have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and such securities may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons absent registration or an applicable exemption from U.S. registration requirements and applicable U.S. state securities laws. About Blackrock Silver Corp. Backed by gold and silver ounces in the ground, Blackrock is a junior precious metal focused exploration company driven to add shareholder value via the drill bit. With 6.12 million tonnes grading 508.5 g/t silver equivalent[1] at its Tonopah West project, and a new bonanza-grade gold discovery at its Silver Cloud project, the Company has a proven track record of exploration success. In addition to its gold and silver project portfolio, the Company is credited with a lithium discovery, the Tonopah North project. Anchored by a seasoned Board of Directors, the Company is focused on its 100% controlled Nevada portfolio of properties consisting of low-sulphidation, epithermal gold and silver mineralization located along the established Northern Nevada Rift in north-central Nevada and the Walker Lane trend in western Nevada. For more information, please contact: Andrew Pollard, President & Chief Executive Officer Blackrock Silver Corp. Phone: 604 817-6044 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION This news release includes certain statements and information that constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements and forward-looking information specifically include, but are not limited to, statements that relate to the completion of the Offering and the timing thereof, the use of proceeds of the Offering, the exercise by the Underwriters of the Over-Allotment Option, the timely receipt of all necessary approvals, including approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. Such forwardlooking statements or information are based on a number of assumptions, which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things: conditions in general economic and financial markets; accuracy of assay results; geological interpretations from drilling results, timing and amount of capital expenditures; performance of available laboratory and other related services; future operating costs; and the historical basis for current estimates of potential quantities and grades of target zones. The actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forwardlooking statements as a result of risk factors, including the timing and content of work programs; results of exploration activities and development of mineral properties; the interpretation and uncertainties of drilling results and other geological data; receipt, maintenance and security of permits and mineral property titles; environmental and other regulatory risks; project costs overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses; availability of funds; failure to delineate potential quantities and grades of the target zones based on historical data; and general market and industry conditions. Forward-looking statements are based on the expectations and opinions of the Companys management on the date the statements are made. The assumptions used in the preparation of such statements, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date the statements were made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements included in this news release if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as otherwise required by applicable law. [1] Technical information relating to the Tonopah West project is based on and derived from the National Instrument 43-101 technical report prepared for Blackrock entitled Technical Report for Updated Estimate of Mineral Resources, Tonopah West Silver-Gold Project, Nye and Esmeralda Counties, Nevada, USA effective October 6, 2023 and dated November 8, 2023 authored by Jeffrey Bickel, C.P.G. (the Technical Report). The Technical Report outlines 6.12 million tonnes at a block diluted grade of 242 grams per tonne (g/t) silver (Ag) and 2.9g/t gold (Au) for a total inferred mineral resource of 47,738,000 ounces Ag and 570,000 ounces Au, or 508.5 g/t silver equivalent (AgEq) for 100.04 million oz AgEq. AgEq equivalent grade is based on silver and gold prices of US$22/ounce and US$1,850/ounce, respectively, and recoveries for silver and gold of 87% and 95%, respectively. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2024) - Japan Gold Corp. (TSXV: JG) (OTCQB: JGLDF) ("Japan Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the Board appointment of Dr. Keiko Hattori, a Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of the University of Ottawa, who brings extensive industry knowledge of gold deposits and exploration, and understands the value of the Company's mining activities in Japan. As a professor of geochemistry and economic geology, Dr. Hattori has built an impressive reputation as an expert in geoscience with numerous accomplishments and is recognized as the first woman to receive a BSc degree in Geology from the University of Tokyo, where she also completed a Master of Science in epithermal gold deposits in Japan and a PhD in mineral deposits in Japan. She is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, where she is Director of the Earth, Oceans and Atmosphere division, and is an advisor to government research funding programs in European Union countries. Dr. Hattori has been Associate Editor of several journals including Economic Geology, and Scientific Research from Nature Publication. She is the recipient of numerous recognitions, including the Kato Takeo Gold Medal from the Society of Resource Geology of Japan in 2022, and the Duncan R. Derry Medal from the Mineral Deposits Division of the Geological Society of Canada in 2024. Mr. John Proust, Chairman and CEO of Japan Gold said, "We are delighted to welcome Dr. Hattori to the Board of Directors. She is a pioneer in her field and her distinction and stature is widely recognized internationally. She is unique in that she bridges Japanese and Canadian geology knowledge and expertise, and her appointment underscores the quality of our team. We look forward to her contributions as a director of the Company". Commenting on her Board appointment, Dr. Hattori said, "Japan, as a young volcanic arc, is a well-known hub of high-grade epithermal gold deposits, many of which are still concealed. This, combined with recent improvements to the mineral exploration climate in Japan, provides exciting opportunities. I look forward to contributing to the success of Japan Gold". The Company also announces that Paul Harbidge has stepped down as a director and has joined the Company's Advisory Board. Mr. Harbidge will continue to advise the Company on technical matters and leverage his vast knowledge and experience in gold mining exploration and world class discoveries. "I am very proud of the progress that Japan Gold has made during my tenure on the board. Firstly, by establishing an enviable land position over the most prospective gold regions of the country, to building a strong foundation of technical data which has provided a pipeline of targets to make the next new discovery in Japan. This work has also attracted Barrick to partner with the company. I look forward to my continued involvement with the company as a technical advisor as they unlock the true potential of the country," said Mr. Harbidge. "Paul has been a trusted director of the Company and has been instrumental in assisting us with the advancement of our technical and operational exploration activities in Japan. We look forward to continuing to work with Paul as an advisor as we progress to unlock the value of our projects," stated Mr. Proust. In connection to her Board appointment, the Company has granted 200,000 stock options to Dr. Hattori in accordance with the Company's Equity Incentive Plan. The stock options are exercisable at $0.20 per share for a period of five years, with one-third of the options vesting on grant and one-third of the options vesting every six months thereafter. About Japan Gold Corp. Japan Gold Corp. is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on gold exploration across Japan. The Company holds a large portfolio of prospecting applications and prospecting rights which cover areas with known gold occurrences, has a history of mining and is prospective for high-grade epithermal gold mineralization. The Japan Gold leadership and operational team of geologists, drillers and technical advisors have extensive experience exploring and operating in Japan and have a track record of discoveries world-wide. Japan Gold has an alliance with Barrick Gold Corporation to jointly explore, develop and mine certain gold mineral properties and mining projects with the potential to host Tier 1 or Tier 2 gold ore bodies in Japan. On behalf of the Board of Japan Gold Corp. John Proust Chairman & CEO For further information, please contact: Alexia Helgason VP, Corporate Communications Phone: 604-417-1265 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Cautionary Note Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to Mr. Harbidge's advisory role at the Company. These statements are forward-looking in nature and, as a result, are subject to certain risks. Actual results achieved may differ from the information provided herein and, consequently, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information contained herein speaks only as of the date of this News Release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forwardlooking information or to explain any material difference between such and subsequent actual events, except as required by applicable laws. Vancouver, British Columbia, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Panther Minerals Inc. (Panther Minerals or the Company) (CSE:PURR) (OTC:GLIOF) (FWB:2BC) is pleased to announce the Company has submitted a Notice of Operations on Federal Claims to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office in Anchorage. This submittal is related to a proposal to conduct exploration activities, including diamond drilling, on active federal mining claims that comprise a portion of the Boulder Creek Uranium property located in the southeastern Seward Peninsula, 160 km east of Nome, Alaska, under option by the Company (Boulder Creek or the Property). The Company has engaged Jack DiMarchi of Core Geoscience LLC, to manage the Companys permitting activities in Alaska. Additional permitting submittals will follow related to activities on the State claims that form part of the Property and with regards to the proposed field camp therein. We are encouraged to have initiated the permit application process in a lead up to our first phase of exploration work on the Property, stated Rob Birmingham, President of Panther Minerals. The expertise of Jack will ensure we complete the correct protocols and advance to finalizing the permits in an expeditious manner. About the Boulder Creek Property The Property is located on Alaskas Seward Peninsula in northwestern Alaska and hosts the Boulder Creek uranium deposit within Tertiary-aged sandstones peripheral to a Late Cretaceous alkalic quartz monzonite intrusion. Discovered in 1977 by means of airborne radiometric data, Boulder Creek is the most northerly known sandstone-type uranium property in the world1. First explored by Houston Oil & Minerals between 1978 and 1981, completing 52 core holes (3,463 m) and about 60 m of near-surface split-tube sampling in 21 holes, Boulder Creek has a historic resource estimate (non-National Instrument 43-101 compliant) of one million pounds U308 at an average grade of 0.27% and average thickness of 3 metres and depth of mineralization from surface to 120 metres1. The foregoing is a historical estimate made prior to the implementation of National Instrument 43-101 -- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and was not prepared in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101, nor does it use the categories of mineral resources set forth in NI 43-101. The Company considers the historic estimate to provide information as to the historical exploration on the Property. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. The historical estimate should not be relied upon. The Property was most recently explored by Triex Mineral Corp. between 2006 and 2008. Triex conducted soil and bio-geochemical surveys on the prospect, along with surface prospecting and airborne radiometric surveys and completed 22 core holes (2,217 m) 2. Some of the exploration information presented herein includes historical data developed by previous operators of the Property. The Company is providing these historical data for informational purposes only and gives no assurance as to their reliability and relevance to the Company's proposed exploration program at the Property. The Company has not completed any quality assurance program or applied quality control measures to the historical data. Qualified Person The scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved for disclosure by Lindsay Bottomer, PGeo. Mr. Bottomer is a qualified person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 -- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and is a consultant for the Company. Sources Pubs.USGS.gov - "Geology and Origin of the Death Valley Uranium Deposit, Seward Peninsula, Alaska" Economic Geology, Volume 82, 1987, pp. 1558-1574. Alaskas Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys. gov - Alaskas Mineral Industry 2006: A Summary- D.J. Szumigala and R.A. Hughes. About Panther Minerals Inc. Panther Minerals is a mineral exploration company actively involved in the exploration of its North American project portfolio. The acquisition of the Boulder Creek option reflects the company's continuing intention of pursuing advanced, high-quality prospective uranium projects that can be readily worked on and efficiently explored in a timely manner. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mr. Robert Birmingham, Chief Executive Officer For more information please visit: www.pantherminerals.ca or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The CSE and Information Service Provider have not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this release. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Often, but not always, forward-looking information and information can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, estimates, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking information relating to the Property, the expectation and the timing of the 2024 summer exploration program, the expectation that the Company will exercise the Boulder Creek Option, and the expected financial performance of the Company. The forward-looking information reflects management's current expectations based on information currently available and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking information. Such risk factors may include, among others, but are not limited to: general economic conditions in Canada and globally; industry conditions, including governmental regulation and environmental regulation; the availability of capital on acceptable terms; the need to obtain required approvals from regulatory authorities; stock market volatility; competition for, among other things, skilled personnel and supplies; incorrect assessments of the value of acquisitions; geological, technical, processing and transportation problems; changes in tax laws and incentive programs; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions and dispositions; and the other factors. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include: (i) adverse market conditions; and (ii) other factors beyond the control of the Company. New risk factors emerge from time to time, and it is impossible for the Companys management to predict all risk factors, nor can the Company assess the impact of all factors on Companys business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ from those contained in any forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties that could affect financial results is contained in the Companys filings with Canadian securities regulators, which are available on the Companys profile at www.sedarplus.ca. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2024) - Elemental Altus Royalties Corp. (TSXV: ELE) (OTCQX: ELEMF) ("Elemental Altus" or the "Company") announces its operating and financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2024. For complete details, please refer to the Financial Statements and associated Management Discussion and Analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2024, available on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) and the Company's website (www.elementalaltus.com). All amounts are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated. Highlights Royalty revenue of US$3.3 million and adjusted revenue 1 of US$4.7 million, up 24% on Q1 2023 of US$4.7 million, up 24% on Q1 2023 Attributable Gold Equivalent Ounces 1 (" GEOs ") of 2,283 ounces, up 13% on Q1 2023 (" ") of 2,283 ounces, up 13% on Q1 2023 Operating Cash Flow plus Caserones dividends of US$1.2 million, compared with a loss in Q1 2023 and expected to grow through 2024 as margins increase Adjusted EBITDA1 of US$3.2 million, up 42% on Q1 2023 2024 Outlook Diba remains on track to be the Company's newest producing gold royalty. Allied Gold Corp (TSX: AAUC) ("Allied") have announced that mining is expected to commence in Q2 2024 Elemental Altus on course to meet guidance of 10,000 to 11,700 GEOs as production increases over the year. This guidance represents at its midpoint a 19% increase on 2023 and provides top-line exposure to gold and copper prices Repaid US$5 million debt in Q1 2024, leaving US$25 million undrawn on the credit facility and with approximately US$9 million cash on quarter end prior to Q1 royalty receipts. The Company intends to continue to reduce the amount drawn on the credit facility while maintaining financial flexibility to make new acquisitions Falling G&A expenditure and significant expected cash flow generation following merger synergies and asset sales, which are also expected to generate milestone payments placing the company in a position to generate material cash flow Frederick Bell, CEO of Elemental Altus, commented: "With increasing revenue and expanding margins over the course of 2024, we expect to generate significant free cash flow to invest into new opportunities. The Diba royalty is on track to commence mining in Q2 and has the potential to be a material long-life royalty for the company based on the exploration potential once it is in production. We also added optionality at the other end of the spectrum post quarter with a royalty over a Rio Tinto operated lithium project in Rwanda, where we expect to see significant news flow over the course of 2024 and which will complement our existing gold exposure in Egypt with In2Metals who are actively exploring the licence package. Elemental Altus, through its peer leading revenue-generating portfolio, continues to provide some of the best exposure to commodity prices, specifically gold and copper, both of which have performed significantly above the Company's 2024 guidance assumptions of US$2,000/oz gold and US$3.90/lb copper year to date. The start of Q2 2024 has seen both commodities hit near all-time highs which is expected to drive financial outperformance over the coming year." Q1 2024 Financial Highlights The following table sets forth selected financial information for the three months ended March 31, 2024. Royalty revenues are at zero cash cost. Three months ended March 31, 2024 2023 $'000 $'000 Total Revenue 3,327 2,806 Adjusted Revenue* 4,747 3,827 Adjusted Cash Flows from operations* 1,170 (68 ) Total net (loss) (1,014 ) (1,916 ) Adjusted EBITDA* 3,199 2,253 2024 2023 GEO GEO Total attributable Gold Equivalent Ounces* 2,283 2,016 * See the "Non-IFRS Measures" section of this news release Asset Update Diba Allied have announced that mining is on track to commence at Diba in Q2 2024 following construction of a haul road and declaration of a maiden Mineral Reserve of 280,000 ounces at a grade of 1.43g/t Au. The Company has an initial 3% NSR royalty at Diba that reduces to 2% after a production hurdle. Alongside rapid progress in bringing the deposit to development, Allied's ability to expand the resource in parallel demonstrates the potential upside of the Company's royalty, which sits along strike from a Tier 1 deposit in Sadiola and has significant exploration potential. Bonikro Royalty attributable sales in Q1 2024 were 21,407 ounces, a significant increase from 4,471 ounces in Q1 2023 due to the majority of production being sourced from the royalty area. Allied has indicated that Bonikro production will be weighted towards the second half of the year, further improving the near-term outlook. Laverton Focus Minerals ("Focus") (ASX: FML) have announced increases in Resources at a number of higher grade open pit deposits at the Laverton Gold Project, including some of those covered by Elemental Altus's royalty. Focus plans to update their 2021 Stage 1 Prefeasibility Study for open pit production, reflecting increased Resources and improved gold pricing. Corporate Update Debt Repayment On March 21, 2024, the Company made a repayment of $5 million of its credit facility, reducing the borrowing balance for the Company to $25 million and the unutilized amount of the credit facility to $15 million, plus another US$10 million available under certain conditions. Share Sales On 27 February 2024, the Company sold its initial Firefly Metals Ltd shares that it has received as part of the Ming gold stream disposal for US$2.3 million. On March 27, 2024, the Company sold its entire shareholding interest in Canyon Resources Limited for US$1.2 million. The company received the cash payment post period end on April 4, 2024. Royalty Acquisitions Subsequent to quarter end, the Company also acquired a 1.25% - 1.40% NSR royalty on the HCK Lithium Project in the Republic of Rwanda, with Rio Tinto Mining and Exploration Limited having the licence to operate. The royalty serves as repayment for the Company's US$0.2 million receivable balance from Aterian Plc. Frederick Bell CEO and Director Corporate & Media Inquiries: Tel: +1 604 646 4527 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Elemental Altus is a proud member of Discovery Group. For more information please visit: www.discoverygroup.ca or contact 604-653-9464. TSX.V: ELE | OTCQX: ELEMF | ISIN: CA28619K1093 | CUSIP: 28619K109 About Elemental Altus Royalties Corp. Elemental Altus is an income generating precious metals royalty company with 10 producing royalties and a diversified portfolio of pre-production and discovery stage assets. The Company is focused on acquiring uncapped royalties and streams over producing, or near-producing, mines operated by established counterparties. The vision of Elemental Altus is to build a global gold royalty company, offering investors superior exposure to gold with reduced risk and a strong growth profile. Qualified Person Richard Evans, FAusIMM, is Senior Vice President Technical for Elemental Altus, and a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical disclosure contained in this press release. Notes 1. Non-IFRS Measures The Company has included certain performance measures which are non-IFRS and are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. These non-IFRS measures do not have any standard meaning under IFRS and other companies may calculate measures differently. Royalty revenue is received at zero cost. Distributions from associates related to Elemental Altus' effective royalty on Caserones are received net of Chilean taxes and have no other costs. Adjusted Revenue and cash flow from operating activities Adjusted revenue is a non-IFRS financial measure, which is defined as including gross royalty revenue from associated entities holding royalty interests related to Elemental Altus' effective royalty on the Caserones copper mine. Management uses adjusted revenue to evaluate the underlying operating performance of the Company for the reporting periods presented, to assist with the planning and forecasting of future operating results, and to supplement information in its financial statements. Management believes that in addition to measures prepared in accordance with IFRS such as revenue, investors may use adjusted revenue to evaluate the results of the underlying business, particularly as the adjusted revenue may not typically be included in operating results. Management believes that adjusted revenue is a useful measure of the Company performance because it adjusts for items which management believes reflect the Company's core operating results from period to period. Adjusted revenue is intended to provide additional information to investors and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. It does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Adjusted depletion, adjusted tax expense and adjusted cash flow from operating activities are non-IFRS measures which include depletion, tax and dividends from the Caserones royalty asset in line with the recognition of adjusted revenue as described above. Gold Equivalent Ounces Elemental Altus' adjusted royalty, streaming, and other revenue is converted to an attributable gold equivalent ounce, or GEO, basis by dividing the royalty and other revenue from associates in a period by the average gold price for the same respective period, plus the net gold ounces received in the period from streaming investments. The presentation of this non-IFRS measure is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. Other companies may calculate these non-IFRS measures differently. The production forecast was derived using information that is available in the public domain as at the date hereof, which included guidance and estimates prepared and issued by management of the operators of the mining operations in which Elemental Altus holds an interest. The production forecast is sensitive to the performance and operating status of the underlying mines. None of the information has been independently verified by Elemental Altus and may be subject to uncertainty. There can be no assurance that such information is complete or accurate. Adjusted EBITDA Adjusted EBITDA excludes the effects of certain other income/expenses and unusual non-recurring items. Adjusted EBITDA is comprised of earnings before interest, taxes, depletion, including depletion and taxes relating to share of profit from associate, and share-based compensation. Management believes that this is a useful measure of the Company's performance because it adjusts for items which may not relate to underlying operating performance of the Company and/or are not necessarily indicative of future operating results. On behalf of Elemental Altus Royalties Corp. Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V.) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements This news release contains certain "forward looking statements" and certain "forward-looking information" as defined under applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "plans" or similar terminology. Forward-looking statements and information include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the date that the name change is expected to become effective, whether shareholders will be required by their broker to exchange their issued certificate for a new certificate or take any other action in connection to the name change, the Company's ability to deliver a materially increased revenue profile with a lower cost of capital, the future growth, development and focus of the Company, and the acquisition of new royalties and streams. Forward-looking statements and information are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions that, while believed by management to be reasonable, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Forward-looking statements and information are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the ability of Elemental Altus to control or predict, that may cause Elemental Altus' actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied thereby, and are developed based on assumptions about such risks, uncertainties and other factors set out herein, including but not limited to: the impact of general business and economic conditions, the absence of control over the mining operations from which Elemental Altus will receive royalties, risks related to international operations, government relations and environmental regulation, the inherent risks involved in the exploration and development of mineral properties; the uncertainties involved in interpreting exploration data; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities; the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with Elemental Altus' expectations; accidents, equipment breakdowns, title matters, labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties or interruptions in operations; fluctuating metal prices; unanticipated costs and expenses; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future; the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses, commodity price fluctuations; currency fluctuations; regulatory restrictions, including environmental regulatory restrictions; liability, competition, loss of key employees and other related risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of important factors which could cause actual results to differ from forward-looking statements, refer to the annual information form of Elemental Altus for the year ended December 31, 2023. Elemental Altus undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements and information except as required by applicable law. Such forward-looking statements and information represents management's best judgment based on information currently available. No forward-looking statement or information can be guaranteed, and actual future results may vary materially. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2024) - American Eagle Gold Corp. (TSXV: AE) (OTCQB: AMEGF) ("American Eagle" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Gordon Stothart, former CEO of IAMGOLD Corp. ("IAMGOLD"), has joined the Company's Board of Directors effective immediately. Mr. Stothart is an independent mining consultant and professional engineer whose career began as an Engineer in Training in 1987 at the Noranda (now Glencore) Bell Copper Mine in the Babine region of British Columbia, next door to American Eagle's NAK project. With over 35 years of management, operations, and technical experience in the mining industry, Gordon has managed numerous global projects from advanced exploration to production. Mr. Stothart was instrumental in constructing both the Antamina Mine in Peru and the Cote Gold mine in Ontario, Canada. Most recently, before becoming the CEO of IAMGOLD, Gordon served as the Chief Operating Officer of IAMGOLD from 2007 to 2020. "We are excited to welcome Gordon to the team as a member of our Board of Directors. His knowledge of the Babine region, as well as his extensive experience in operations, resource development, and capital markets will undoubtedly benefit our Company and our shareholders as we continue to advance the NAK copper-gold porphyry project," said American Eagle Gold Chairman, Stephen Stewart. Gordon will be replacing Alexander Stewart on the board, who will be retiring as a director of the Company. American Eagle would like to thank Alexander for his over three years of service on the board. Details of NAK's 2024 Drill Program The 2024 drill program, scheduled to begin imminently, will integrate the Company's growing understanding of the relationship between the emplacement of multi-phase Eocene dikes and sills with reactive and permeable host rocks to form the extensive Nak mineralized system. The Company is developing models for geology, mineralization, alteration, and structure for the system, which will form the basis for its ongoing planning. The expanded 2024 drill program, currently planned for 15,000 metres, will aim to link, better define, and expand upon the historical North and South zones, which the Company showed in its 2022 and 2023 drill programs to extend to considerable depths (close to 950 m below surface) along a strike length of 750 m and across a width of 400 m. Intercepts from 2023 include 900 m of 0.50% Copper Equivalent from surface in the North zone (Link to NAK23-12 News Release) and 302 metres of 1.09% within 606 m of 0.74% Copper Equivalent starting from 98 metres downhole in the South Zone (Link to NAK23-17 News Release). Click Here to View the 2024 Drill Plan at NAK Click Here to View 2024 Drill Plan Webinar Hosted by Geologists Charlie Greig and Neil Prowse About American Eagle's NAK Project The NAK Project lies within the Babine copper-gold porphyry district of central British Columbia. It has excellent infrastructure through all-season roads and is close to the towns of Smithers, Houston, and Burns Lake, B.C., which lie along a major rail line and Provincial Highway 16. Historical drilling and geophysical, geological, and geochemical work at NAK, which began in the 1960's, tested only to shallow depths. Still, the work revealed a very large near-surface copper-gold system that measures over 1.5 km x 1.5 km. Drilling completed in 2022 and 2023 by American Eagle has returned significant intervals of high-grade copper-gold mineralization that lie beyond the extent of historical drilling, indicating that several zones of near-surface and deeper mineralization, locally with considerably higher grades, exist within the broader NAK property mineralizing system. For the latest videos from American Eagle, Ore Group, and all things mining, subscribe to our YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@theoregroup About American Eagle Gold Corp. American Eagle is focused on exploring its NAK copper-gold porphyry project in west-central British Columbia, Canada. Anthony Moreau, Chief Executive Officer 416.644.1567 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. www.americaneaglegold.ca Q.P. Statement Mark Bradley, B.Sc., M.Sc., P.Geo., a Certified Professional Geologist and 'qualified person' for the purposes of Canada's National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Properties, has verified and approved the information contained in this news release. Forward-Looking Statements Certain information in this press release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding whether the Company will be able to complete the Offering as anticipated, the receipt of regulatory approval, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange, to complete the Offering, the intended use of proceeds and intended drill program or its anticipated results at the Company's NAK project, the ability of the Company to make the qualifying expenditures as anticipated by management, and other matters ancillary or incidental to the foregoing. This information is based on current expectations that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual results might differ materially from those suggested in forward-looking statements. American Eagle Gold Corp. assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward looking-statements unless and until required by securities laws applicable to American Eagle Gold Corp. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in filings by American Eagle Gold Corp. with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available under American Eagle Gold Corp. profile at www.sedarplus.ca. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the TSX Venture Exchange policies) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 /Arras Minerals Corp. (TSXV:ARK) ("Arras" or "the Company") is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement financing (the "Offering") of up to 7,692,308 units of the Company ("Units") at a price per Unit of C$0.26 (the "Offering Price") for aggregate gross proceeds of up to C$2 million. Darren Klinck, President of Arras, commented, "Over the past 18 months since we announced the initial strategic equity investment by Teck, Arras has successfully and significantly advanced our project portfolio in Kazakhstan with the funding from that associated financing in 2022. We are now pleased to have a strategic alliance with Teck on a portion of our land package and a US$2.5 million budget in 2024 funded by Teck which is expected to advance targets to drill-ready status this year. In addition, the highly successful soil-sampling program at our 100%-owned Elemes project which we announced results from in Q1 this year, has attracted considerable attention from major mining companies as we have identified two coherent copper-in-soil anomalies stretching more than 8 km each and containing porphyry mineralization which Arras intends to begin testing later this year." Tim Barry, CEO of Arras, went on to add, "As we commence our third field season this month in Kazakhstan, we expect to be advancing and drilling at least three new copper-gold porphyry targets this year. By utilizing modern exploration techniques in a region that has had very little to no exploration focus since pre-1990, our thesis is continuing to strengthen that the Bozshakol-Chingiz metallogenic belt has the potential to contain multiple new copper-gold deposits masked under shallow cover. This is truly a very exciting time for Arras as we quickly advance in a new tier-one jurisdiction for exploration of base and precious metals." Private Placement Terms Under the Offering, each Unit shall comprise of one (1) common share in the capital of the Company (each, a "Common Share") and one-half of one (1/2) non-transferable Common Share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each whole Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to purchase one (1) additional Common Share at a price of C$$0.40 for a period of (3) years from closing of the Offering (the "Expiry Date"). In the event the volume weighted average trading price of the Common Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") meets or exceeds C$$0.60 for fifteen (15) consecutive trading days at any time after four months and one day following closing of the Offering, the Company shall have the option, but not the obligation, at any time thereafter to accelerate the Expiry Date to a date that is thirty (30) days following the date of issuance of a press release by the Company announcing the acceleration of the Expiry Date. The net proceeds of the Offering will be used to advance the Company's exploration program in Kazakhstan and for general corporate purposes. Finders' fees may be payable on a portion of the Offering in accordance with applicable laws and TSXV policies. The Offering is scheduled to close on or about June 4, 2024 and is subject to the approval of the TSXV. The securities issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to a four-month hold period in Canada and will be subject to U.S. resale restrictions under U.S. securities laws as applicable. The securities to be sold in the Offering have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended ("U.S. Securities Act"), or any state or other applicable jurisdiction's securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state or other jurisdictions' securities laws. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any offer, solicitation, or sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Qualified Person: The scientific and technical disclosure for this news release has been prepared under supervision of and approved by Matthew Booth, Vice President of Exploration, of Arras Minerals Corp., a Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101. Mr. Booth has over 19 years of mineral exploration experience and is a Qualified Person member of the American Institute of Professional Geologists (CPG 12044). On behalf of the Board of Directors "Tim Barry" Tim Barry, MAusIMM CP(Geo) Chief Executive Officer and Director INVESTOR RELATIONS: +1 604 687 5800 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Further information can be found on: the Company's website https://www.arrasminerals.com or follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/arrasminerals or or follow us on X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/arrasminerals About Arras Minerals Corp. Arras is a Canadian exploration and development company advancing a portfolio of copper and gold assets in northeastern Kazakhstan, including the Option Agreement on the Beskauga copper and gold project. The Company has established the third-largest license package in the country prospective for copper and gold (behind Rio Tinto and Fortescue). In December 2023, the Company entered into a strategic alliance with Teck Resources Limited ("Teck") in which Teck will sole fund a US$5 million generative exploration program over a portion of the Arras license package in 2024-2025 focusing on critical minerals. The Company's shares are listed on the TSXV under the trading symbol "ARK". Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding the Offering, future events and Arras' future results that are subject to the safe harbors created under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Exchange Act, and applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements include, among others, statements regarding the Offering, the participation in the Offering by Teck Resources Limited, the amount of securities that may be sold and proceeds raised by the Company from the Offering, timing of closing of the Offering, the terms to the securities offered under the Offering, the receipt of TSXV and other required regulatory and third party approvals in respect of the Offering, exercise of the Company's acceleration right in respect of the Warrants (or the satisfaction of the acceleration condition in respect thereof), and plans and expectations of the exploration program Arras is in the process of undertaking. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections about Arras' exploration projects, the industry in which Arras operates and the beliefs and assumptions of Arras' management. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "targets," "goals," "projects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "continues," "may," variations of such words, and similar expressions and references to future periods, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond management's control, including investor interest in the Offering and perception of the Company and its business and assets, regulatory approval of the Offering, changes to the market price for the Company's securities, changes to economic conditions, changes to metals and commodity prices, price of inputs, expected costs and timelines to achieve the Company's goals, that general business and economic conditions will not change in a materially adverse manner, financing will be available when needed on economically reasonable terms, undertaking further exploration activities, the results of such exploration activities and that such results support continued exploration activities, unexpected variations in ore grade, types and metallurgy, volatility and level of commodity prices, the availability of sufficient future financing, and other matters discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Management Discussion and Analysis filed on the Company's profile on SEDAR+ on February 28, 2024 and in the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2023 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed on February 28, 2024 available on www.sec.gov. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results or developments may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by the Company in this release is based only on information currently available and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Italy's foreign minister said on Tuesday it was "unacceptable" and "absurd" to compare Israel and Hamas after the International Criminal Court's prosecutor applied for arrest warrants for leaders on both sides. "It is completely unacceptable that Hamas and Israel are put on the same level -- the leaders of the terrorist group that started the war in Gaza by massacring innocent citizens and the leaders of the government elected by the people of Israel," Antonio Tajani said in an interview with the Corriere della Sera newspaper. The minister, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the G7 this year, described the parallel as "absurd", adding: "In no way can one even imagine such an equivalence. "Be careful not to legitimise anti-Israeli positions that can fuel anti-Semitic phenomena." China said Tuesday it hoped the International Criminal Court would uphold an "objective" position after a prosecutor requested arrest warrants for leaders from Israel, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Islamist movement Hamas. The International Criminal Court's prosecutor Karim Khan on Monday said he had applied for arrest warrants for alleged war crimes of top Israeli and Hamas leaders over their conflict. Asked on Tuesday about the decision, Beijing said there was "an overwhelming consensus in the international community to immediately stop the war in Gaza and put an end to the humanitarian crisis of the Palestinian people". "It is hoped that the ICC will uphold its objective and impartial position and exercise its powers in accordance with the law," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said. "The collective punishment of the Palestinian people should not be continued," he added. "China has always stood on the side of justice and international law on the Palestinian issue," Wang said, adding Beijing supported "endeavours to promote a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the Palestinian issue". Khan said in a statement that he was seeking warrants against Israeli leaders Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes including "wilful killing", "extermination and/or murder", and "starvation". He said Israel had committed "crimes against humanity" during the war, started by Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack, as part "of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population". Khan also said the leaders of Hamas, including Qatar-based Ismail Haniyeh and Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, "bear criminal responsibility" for actions committed during the October 7 attack. Israel slammed as a "historical disgrace" the demand targeting Netanyahu and Gallant, while Hamas said it "strongly condemns" the move. China has historically been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and supportive of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. President Xi Jinping has called for an "international peace conference" to resolve the fighting. According to the statement issued by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on 20 May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant committed crimes against humanity for extermination, murder, persecution and other inhumane acts, and war crimes for murder, causing bodily and mental harm, cruel treatment, intentional attacks against civilians and deliberately starving civilians as a method of warfare. My Office submits that the evidence we have collected () shows that Israel has intentionally and systematically deprived the civilian population in all parts of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival. () Notwithstanding any military goals they may have, the means Israel chose to achieve them in Gaza namely, intentionally causing death, starvation, great suffering, and serious injury to body or health of the civilian population are criminal, wrote Karim Khan. For their part, three senior leaders of the Palestinian Hamas organisation Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau, Yahya Sinouar, head of the movement in Gaza, and Mohammed Deif, its military chief are alleged to have committed crimes against humanity for extermination, crimes against humanity and war crimes of murder, rape, sexual violence and torture, as well as hostage-taking and cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity (war crimes) and other inhuman acts (crimes against humanity). Most of these crimes are linked to the context of the hostages' captivity. For the Prosecutor, there are reasonable grounds to believe that Sinwar, Deif and Haniyeh are criminally responsible for the killing of hundreds of Israeli civilians during attacks perpetrated on 7 October 2023 by Hamas and other armed groups and for the abduction of at least 245 hostages. (...) It is the view of my Office that these individuals planned and instigated the commission of crimes on 7 October 2023, and have through their own actions, including personal visits to hostages shortly after their kidnapping, acknowledged their responsibility for those crimes. We submit that these crimes could not have been committed without their actions. The five people named are being prosecuted as direct perpetrators and as superiors. JUSTICE INFO: In the history of international justice and of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in particular, what turning point does the announcement by Prosecutor Karim Khan represent? HABIB NASSAR: It's quite a turning point because international justice in general, and the ICC in particular, has suffered since its birth from very strong criticism of "double standards", of its very selective approach to prosecutions. After the appointment of this prosecutor [Karim Khan has been ICC prosecutor since June 2021], things did not get off to a very promising start, with the abandonment of investigations in Afghanistan against international forces, in particular the United States and the United Kingdom. So today's announcement by the prosecutor is very good news, particularly in relation to these accusations. How do you interpret this change in the prosecutor? Do you see it as a reversal of what he seemed to be showing or announcing at the time of his election? I think there was an evolution rather than a reversal. It is something of a moment of truth for Karim Khan. You could say that he has responded quite strongly to the criticism that he was initially serving a Western agenda. When he took legal action against Putin and I'm not criticising him this was also interpreted as justice serving Western powers. Today, with this request for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders as well as Hamas leaders, it sends a very strong message to the whole world. The West is now facing its own moment of truth, because many of them, friends of Israel, are States Parties to the Rome Treaty [the 1998 treaty that founded the ICC] and they may have an obligation to arrest these people. It will be interesting to see how these states react in this particular case and to the ICC. Will we see a similar movement to the one we saw in Africa when there was this wave of anti-ICC sentiment that led a number of countries to announce that they were going to withdraw and denounce the Rome Treaty? The West, at least in rhetorical terms, is putting the fight against impunity at the centre of its foreign policy. How will they react? And how will the states that claim to be friends of the Palestinian cause react? This is another moment of truth. Hamas is a very important Palestinian organisation. Will those states that denounce double standards also denounce them when it comes to Hamas? I think we will also see criticism of the ICC for the threat that these arrest warrants, if confirmed, represent to the peace negotiations. I think that's the angle that will be used to criticise these warrants. Do you think that the arrest warrant for Ismail Haniyeh, who represents the political wing of Hamas, is particularly open to this criticism? Yes, and it will be interesting to see how the prosecutor has held Haniyeh responsible, as opposed to the Hamas military leaders. Is it on the basis of superior responsibility or is there other evidence? We don't have the elements to know it. Was it a surprise to you that he was one of the people targeted? Yes, it came as something of a surprise. Obviously, the prosecutor will deny any political calculation, but is this somehow his way of showing that he is prosecuting both the top Palestinian leaders of Hamas and top Israeli leaders? It may be a strategy, but in any case he will have to provide evidence of Haniyeh's responsibility. Isn't the argument that these arrest warrants will seriously complicate the peace negotiations valid? I think this is the argument that the United States in particular will use, but so will other Western states and perhaps even Arab states that are involved in the current negotiations. This could complicate matters but, by targeting individuals who have not so far shown a willingness to commit to a peace process, it may facilitate it. The exception would be Ismail Haniyeh because he is the political leader of the movement, not the military leader. But in principle these are not calculations that the prosecutor is supposed to make. It is clear that the United States is trying to sideline Netanyahu and that these arrest warrants will help the United States in its calculations. Everything is weighed up in such politically sensitive announcements. The fact that there are three Hamas leaders and two Israelis, the fact that it is the three Hamas leaders who appear first in the prosecutor's statement, before the Israelis, will this be interpreted in one way or another in your opinion? Yes, of course. I was surprised that Hamas leaders came first. But chronologically, if we take into account the crimes committed on 7 October, it was Hamas that committed the first crimes in this episode of the war - even if the Israeli-Palestinian war is not limited to the war that has been going on since 7 October. There will always be all sorts of justifications. The same applies to the Prosecutor's use of this panel of experts, which is very interesting [a panel of experts has been put together by the ICC Prosecutor to assess the evidence and the nature of the crimes]. The Prosecutor has been very careful because he knows very well that he will face all sorts of criticism, denunciations and accusations. There's always a set-up. So a certain amount of staging has been put in place to prevent all kinds of criticism as far as possible. Clearly, in this conflict, the prosecutor could not have implicated one party without implicating the other. These are matters of strategy, even though he obviously did not invent violations to justify calling the parties into question. It is clear that there have been crimes on both sides. This is the first time that the Prosecutor's Office of the ICC has simultaneously charged the top leaders of both parties to a conflict, isn't it? Yes, I think so. Given the polarisation surrounding this conflict, I don't think he could have done otherwise. Of course, there will be criticisms that the scale of the violations committed by Israel is greater, but these criticisms are not acceptable because the violations committed on 7 October are international crimes. I think it was therefore a good thing to proceed in this way, because of the polarisation of opinions, both internally and internationally. My hope is that this will awaken public opinion to the fact that very serious violations were committed by both parties. What exasperates me a little in this conflict is the inability of many people to denounce the crimes, whoever the perpetrators, and to want to take sides. I can't decontextualise: it's clear that there is a context of occupation and colonisation; it's very clear that one side is much stronger than the other. All that is very important, but when it comes to the victims, they are the same, whoever the perpetrators are. The lack of empathy towards some of the victims of the conflict is quite frightening in Western, Arab and other opinions. I think that these prosecutions will make everyone a little uncomfortable. It's a strong message and I hope it will make people think about how, with all the good intentions in the world, they show solidarity with [only] one side. For Habib Nassar of Impunity Watch, the ICC prosecutor's announcement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a turning point in the history of international justice. This is speculation, but did he want to send the message that he is impartial but that, in the end, he may not have as much evidence against everyone and that there is a risk that the judges will invalidate some of his requests? And in this case, it would be up to the judges to take responsibility and not him? Perhaps, yes. The prosecutor is a bit like the political arm of the ICC, he has a certain amount of discretion and room to manoeuvre. But the judges do not. He would obviously prefer it if it were the judges who, as a last resort, ruled out some of these arrest warrants or prosecutions. That may be the reason. Is this also a way of putting pressure on judges? No, I don't think so. But it may be a way of passing the buck. It will no longer be the prosecutor's responsibility: he will have brought charges, and no one will be able to accuse him of having been biased. From now on, all eyes will be on the judges, who generally don't get as much attention, especially in the pre-trial chamber. From a legal point of view, what do you make of the choices made by the prosecutor regarding the alleged crimes? I found it particularly interesting that the crime of deliberate starvation was retained. It's the first time that an international tribunal may deal with this crime. The siege [of Gaza] also goes with it, the humanitarian obstruction, the targeting of civilians, the cutting off of water and electricity. For both Hamas and Israeli representatives, the crime is extermination. This is a very, very strong term. This is not yet genocide, but it could be a prelude to an indictment for genocide, because the prosecutor has not finished his work. A prelude or a way of avoiding it? Yes, that could also be the case. It's difficult to say why he made that choice. He may well say that he has not gathered enough evidence to hold that genocide has been committed. But some of the violations for which he has issued arrest warrants may constitute the crime of genocide. So it is difficult to say whether he has done so to avoid the crime of genocide or whether he is in the process of preparing or continuing the investigation into this crime. Politically, if he had started with the crime of genocide, that would obviously have inflamed passions even more. So he may have made a strategic choice to start with other crimes. In legal terms, do you think his approach is prudent or bold? I think he complied with the law. I don't think he was particularly daring. I think he's done his job and we'll see how he continues to do it, because it's not finished yet. If the arrest warrants are confirmed, we will have to see how they are implemented. Unfortunately, the conflict and the violations have not stopped. But in my opinion, on this issue, he has done his job. We still have a lot of questions about the fact that nothing has been done about the settlements, which have been going on since 1967 and have worsened since 7 October, both by the Israeli army and by the settlers. This is very problematic and I don't quite understand the prosecutor's choice to ignore these things when, in terms of evidence, it would probably have been much simpler. Settlement is the main obstacle to peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Denouncing colonisation as a war crime and prosecuting those responsible could facilitate the peace process. The ICC has missed an opportunity here. Instead of being denounced all the time as an obstacle to peace, it could have demonstrated here that justice can serve peace, and it has not done so. It still has the opportunity to do so. This is a crime that has been going on for more than fifty years, and it has accelerated. So do you fear that the prosecution strategy is guided more by media impact? Unfortunately, yes, and it's problematic that the ICC is waiting for a widespread outbreak of conflict, and for there to be so much media attention, before intervening. When there are low-intensity conflicts and the ICC has the opportunity to investigate violations committed in this context, international justice can play a role and prevent the conflict from escalating. The ICC has taken far too long to investigate and prosecute. It could have done so much earlier. Does this mean that there are still questions about the Prosecutor's strategy, which has taken just one year to issue spectacular indictments in Ukraine and seven months in Palestine, while other situations - Nigeria, Sudan, Venezuela, Georgia - have shown the same slowness and indecision? Is today's turnaround a real turnaround, or just a partial, even opportunistic one? Look, when there's a positive development, we have to recognise it. It's not enough, but on the issue of double standards, what's happened today is an important turning point. It's a first step. I wouldn't say we're out of the woods. It remains to be seen how States that could facilitate the implementation of these arrest warrants will react. It also seems unlikely that these Israeli leaders - and no doubt those of Hamas too - will one day appear before the judges in The Hague. The same applies to Putin. Does this reduce the ICC to a strictly symbolic function? The ICC is one element in a much broader infrastructure for justice. Justice is not just about criminal justice. Today, the territory of Gaza is partially destroyed and a possible trial at the ICC is not going to do much to change that. This is where international justice shows its limitations. We also need to think about other measures of justice and reparation. We must listen to the Palestinian and Israeli victims. For the former, justice will only begin to be achieved the day they can enjoy the right to self-determination, in other words to have a viable Palestinian state. In the end, that is the real justice in this conflict. French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne on Tuesday urged people not to draw an "equivalence" between the International Criminal Court prosecutor's arrest warrant requests for Israeli and Hamas leaders. "These simultaneous requests for arrest warrants should not create an equivalence between Hamas and Israel," Sejourne told lawmakers in parliament. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said Monday that he requested arrest warrants for top Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohamed Deif, as well as Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, on suspicions of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Where he said the Palestinian militant chiefs could be culpable of "extermination", "rape and other acts of sexual violence" and "taking hostages as a war crime", he accused the Israelis of "starvation", "wilful killing", and "extermination and/or murder". Sejourne insisted that Hamas was "a terrorist group that celebrated the October 7 attacks" that killed 1,170 Israeli civilians according to an AFP tally based on official tolls. Israel, meanwhile, is "a democratic state that must respect international law in the conduct of a war that it did not itself start", Sejourne said. Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 35,562 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. "France recognises the independence of the ICC, it's a principle," Sejourne said. "It will now be up to the judges at the ICC to decide on whether these warrants will be granted, they will do it in an independent way," he added. Insisting on France's "solidarity towards both Israelis and Palestinians", Sejourne said Paris "is committed to finding a political solution" to the conflict. Speaker of the House of Commons Greg Fergus takes part in the Speakers Parade prior to question period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick Tuesday, May 21, 2024 - President William Rutos plan to grow the countrys Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate to 7.2 per cent by 2027 may be in jeopardy as experts warn of manufacturers fleeing the country over regulation mishaps and harsh taxation policies. Speaking during an interview, the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry's (KNCCI) Head of Policy Research & Advocacy, Kiplimo Kigen revealed that the organization's members had cautioned of negative effects on the larger economy if the government doesn't vet the policies it continues to introduce thoroughly. Particularly referencing the Finance Bill,2024, Kiplimo lamented that the government has been introducing new taxes that affect the cost of raw materials and production in general. Consequently, the increased costs in manufacturing are expected to trickle down to the consumers through increased costs of goods. Further, the Chamber of Commerce has warned that investors are now increasingly considering neighbouring East African countries as better destinations to set up shop, denying Kenya much-needed opportunities. What we're hearing from our manufacturers at the Chamber of Commerce is that the discontentment is getting to a position where they're considering moving their production to neighbouring countries and then just supply back under the East African community tariff and sell their products to Kenya, stated Kiplimo. This comes even as an American business advisor, the Managing Director of Exigent Risk Advisory, Declan Galvin expressed almost similar concerns. Galvin stated that the country has been creating new regulations rapidly without thoroughly scrutinizing the existing environment and without retiring existing policies. The Kenyan DAILY POST Tuesday, May 21, 2024 - Controversial forex trader Raymond Omosa alias Kenyan Prince has been left with an egg on his face after he was exposed for flaunting a fake life on social media. A social media user shared a video of Kenyan Princes Mercedes Benz that had been repossessed for defaulting loan, days after he flaunted wads of cash on social media. He had bought the Benz on loan from a car dealer in Mombasa and failed to pay a balance of Ksh 1 Million. The auctioneers repossessed the car and took it to the dealer. It is alleged that Kenyan Prince is a notorious fraudster masquerading as a forex trader. He hires flashy cars to lure his victims. Watch the video of his Mercedes Benz that was repossessed. The Kenyan DAILY POST. Monday, May 20, 2024 - Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen has admitted to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization after overstating how much he needed to be repaid for paying funds to a poll-rigging tech company called Red Finch. Cohen was once a Trump loyalist who has become one of his biggest foes. Trump's defence team says he turned on the former US president after he was denied a White House job. On Monday, May 20, Cohen testified that he handed the CEO of the company $20,000 in cash in a brown paper bag in exchange for services that included rigging 2016 election polls in Donald Trump's favour But when Trump's chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg asked him during a mid-2017 meeting whether he needed to be reimbursed $50,000 for this, Cohen agreed and pocketed the difference, he said. "You did steal from the Trump Organization based on the expected reimbursement from Red Finch, correct?" Trump lawyer Todd Blanche, his voice rising to a high pitch, asked Cohen. "Yes, sir," Cohen calmly replied. Trump broke away from his eyes-closed position during this exchange and popped a mint before appearing to pay close attention to Cohen's testimony. "Have you paid back the Trump Organization for the money you stole from them?" Blanche asked later. "No, sir," Cohen responded. In one of the final questions he was asked during cross-examination, Michael Cohen answered "no" when asked whether a conviction would benefit him financially. The opposite is actually true, Cohen claimed, saying that an acquittal would give him more material to discuss on his podcast and other media appearances. "Its better if hes not [convicted] because it gives me more to talk about in the future, he testified. Former President Donald Trump is sitting through the fifth week of a trial where he is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. To secure a conviction, prosecutors will need to show that Trump not only falsified business records related to payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, but that he did so to illegally conceal information from voters that could have hurt his 2016 presidential chances a crime that escalates these charges from a misdemeanour to a felony. Tuesday, May 21, 2024 Just hours after President William Ruto left the country for the US, leaving his Deputy, Rigathi Gachagua in charge of the country, the DP has gone on the begging spree. Speaking during a meeting with the joint Board of Trustees of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) at his official residence in Karen, Gachagua appealed to international partners to enhance their support for programmes aimed at combating the adverse effects of climate change in the country. He noted that Kenya had suffered the brunt of adverse weather related to climate change. The DP noted that Kenya experienced five failed rainy seasons that led to severe drought that hit the country before receiving increased rainfall that led to destructive floods. Gachagua said that the Government had scaled up its response to the phenomenon to mitigate against occurrences like severe drought, enhanced rainfall, and floods as witnessed in the country recently, calling for more global support. He mentioned that the ongoing programme targeting 15 billion trees by 2032 would greatly benefit from the partners support. Climate change is real. We have an ambitious programme of growing trees as one of the mechanisms we have identified to combat the negative effects of climate change. "I appeal to you for your expertise, and technical advice for this programme to come to fruition, said Gachagua. DP Gachagua also urged the international partners to push for the restoration of Nairobi's rivers, saying their contribution was critical to the success of the programme. I want to appeal to you to support us in the restoration of Nairobi Rivers. "We are rolling out a serious restoration programme and CIFOR-ICRAF can play a role in assisting us in offering technical advice, and resource mobilization to boost this programme, Gachagua added. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, May 21, 2024 - Kirinyaga County Governor Anne Waiguru has blasted Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua over his perceived fallout with his boss, President William Ruto. In a statement on Monday, Waiguru who is also the Council of Governors chairperson said public officers like those holding the position of deputy president should not personalise their office. Waiguru further said it is wrong for Gachagua to think that anyone who expresses his desire to occupy his office is an enemy. While we respect the office of the Deputy President, and indeed any other office of leadership, a progressive democracy does not allow us as occupiers of public leadership offices to personalise them to the extent that it becomes taboo for anyone else to nurture and express ambition to occupy them. "We hold these offices in trust, not as owners," Waiguru said. The second-term governor, who analysts say might be eying the DP position in 2027, said every Kenyan, including women and youth, has a right to pursue their dream of holding any office in the country. The Kenyan DAILY POST Tuesday, May 21, 2024 - Renowned political analyst Prof. Mutahi Ngunyi has shared another piece of advice to Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, who is rumoured to have fallen out with his boss, President William Ruto, over some issues affecting Mt Kenya residents. Gachagua is said to be opposed to the new Finance Bill 2024 which introduces taxes on basic commodities like bread and farm produce and this has rattled Ruto and his close henchmen. However, commenting on X, Ngunyi warned Gachagua against fighting his boss, President William Ruto. Ngunyi warned Gachagua that if he started a fight with Ruto, former President Uhuru Kenyatta would join it and finish him. Dear Riggy G: RESIST the urge to FIGHT William Ruto too early. "Not over Military Choppers or the size of Sandwiches at the State House. RESIST. And Uhuru is ONLY interested in you, to DESTROY you. "Trust me. I am WRONG sometimes, and RIGHT sometimes, Ngunyi wrote on X The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, May 20, 2024 - Africas richest billionaire, Aliko Dangote, has lamented about difficulties faced by African investors travelling on the continent claiming he needs 35 different visas on his Nigerian passport. Dangote disclosed this recently at the Africa CEO Forum Annual Summit in Kigali, Rwanda. I still complained to President Kagame. I told him that as an investor, I have to now apply for 35 different visas on my passport, and I told Mr. President, I really dont have the time to go and be dropping my passports in embassies to get a visa, he said. But you see, the most annoying thing is that yes, if you are treating everybody the same, then I can understand. Using the French passport as an example, Dangote said Patrick Pouyanne, chairman of Total Energies, does not need 35 visas on his French passport to gain access to African countries. You dont need 35 visas on your French passport. This means you have a freer movement than myself in Africa, he said. Speaking about how to make business transactions easier within Africa, he said right now, Our main job is to make sure the regional markets all work. Once they work, then we can now go to Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). But then, for AfCFTA also, we need to make sure that it works. We cannot have a very promising continent and our intra-trade rate is less than 16 percent. Okay, so we Africans will have to do it. If we are waiting for foreigners to come and do it, both the development of Africa, its not going to happen, he said. So it can only happen to us Africans. We must risk our sources and make sure that we lead, then we will have people who actually trust and believe in Africa like Patrick to come and help us to push to the next level. Monday, May 20, 2024 - The International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, the courts prosecutor Karim Khan has said. Speaking to CNNs Christiane Amanpour on Monday, May 20, Khan said the ICCs prosecution team is also seeking warrants for Israels Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as two other top Hamas leaders known as Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, the leader of the Al Qassem Brigades who is better known as Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas political leader. The warrants against the Israeli politicians mark the first time the ICC has targeted the leader of a close ally of the United States. The decision puts Netanyahu in the company of Russian President Vladimir Putin, for whom the ICC issued an arrest warrant over Moscows war on Ukraine, and the Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi. A panel of ICC judges will now consider Khans application for the arrest warrants. The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict, Khan told CNN. The fact that Hamas fighters need water doesnt justify denying water from all the civilian population of Gaza, he added. More than 35,500 Palestinians have been killed and more than 79,000 wounded in Gaza since October 7, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Monday. CNN cannot independently verify the figures. Netanyahu called the decision a political outrage. They will not deter us and we will continue in the war until the hostages are released and Hamas is destroyed, he said at a meeting of the parliamentary group of his Likud party. Khan said the charges against Sinwar, Haniyeh and al-Masri include extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape and sexual assault in detention. The world was shocked on the 7th of October when people were ripped from their bedrooms, from their homes, from the different kibbutzim in Israel, Khan told Amanpour, adding that people have suffered enormously. Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people across several locations in southern Israel on October 7 and took some 250 hostages into Gaza. Many of the hostages are still being held in Gaza. Khan said it meant crimes continued to be committed against so many innocent Israelis that are held hostage by Hamas and families that are waiting for their return. Khan said his team has a variety of evidence to support the application for arrest warrants against Sinwar, Haniyeh and al-Masri, including authenticated video footage and photographs from the attacks as well as evidence from eyewitnesses and survivors. Khan said Israel had every right and indeed an obligation to get hostages back, but you must do so by complying with the law. Responding to the announcement by Khan, Hamas said in a statement that it strongly condemns the attempts of the ICC Prosecutor to equate victims with aggressors by issuing arrest warrants against a number of Palestinian resistance leaders without legal basis. Hamas calls on the ICC Prosecutor to issue arrest warrants against all war criminals among the occupation leaders, officers, and soldiers who participated in crimes against the Palestinian people, and demands the cancellation of all arrest warrants issued against Palestinian resistance leaders, the group added. Monday, May 20, 2024 - Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced on Monday, May 20, five days of mourning for President Ebrahim Raisi who died in a helicopter crash. I announce five days of public mourning and offer my condolences to the dear people of Iran, said Khamenei in an official statement a day after the death of Raisi and other officials in the helicopter crash in East Azerbaijan province. President Raisi died on Monday after his helicopter crashed in a mountainous region of the country. Rescue teams had been scouring the area since Sunday afternoon after the helicopter carrying Raisi had gone missing on its radar. He was travelling with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian who also died in the accident, and some body guards. Early Monday morning, relief workers located the missing helicopter, and state TV revealed the president had died. The servant of Iranian nation, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi has achieved the highest level of martyrdom whilst serving the people, state television said Monday, with Mehr news agency also saying he was dead. Tuesday, May 21, 2024 - Langata Member of Parliament Phelix Odiwuor, popularly known as Jalango, has been accused of grabbing a prime parcel of land in Karen. According to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahais of Kenya, Jalango, along with several accomplices, allegedly assaulted security guards and unlawfully entered a property on Muhusi Road in the Mukoma residences area on May 15, 2024. The first-time MP and his accomplices reportedly tied up the guards, threatened them with a gun and commanded them to vacate the premises before speeding off in a black Range Rover. In a letter addressed to the Karen Langata District Association (KLDA) and the Mukoma Residents Association, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahais of Kenya details the incident. The National Assembly of the Bahais of Kenya has received a report from its security firm this morning informing them of an assault on their security guards at the above property within Mukoma residences area on Muhusi Road, the letter states. The incident happened on 1 May 2024 at around 5PM. The letter continues to describe the events, stating that the intruders, led by Jalango, broke the gate, tied up the security guards, and threatened them with a gun. The intruder was identified as Mr. Phelix Odiwuor Khodhc (Aka Jalango MP Langata Constituency). He was seen driving off in a black Range Rover and was accompanied by other people. "They broke the gate, tied the hands of the security guards, roughed them up, pointed a gun at them, and told them not to be seen on the land again before speeding off, the letter explains. The incident was reported to Hardy Police Station later that night. The Bahai community has informed the Karen Langata District Association (KLDA) and Mukoma Residents Association to remain vigilant against such intrusions. The Kenyan DAILY POST. Tuesday, May 21,2024 - Former Ndaragwa Member of Parliament Jeremiah Kioni has lauded the Limuru III conference, indicating that it lived up to its expectations and met the caliber of the first two Limuru events. In an interview with one of the local TV stations, Kioni insisted that all the key objectives for staging the regional political conference were achieved. The former lawmaker explained that the organizers of the conference had faced opposition from some political quarters but managed to stage a successful meeting. According to Kioni, the organizers drew a list of expected attendees who turned up, making the Mt Kenya political event live up to its hype. "We had intended to hold the meeting and we held it. The people we expected to come came and we achieved what we wanted to achieve," Kioni stated. The Limuru III conference was planned by Kioni and Narc Kenya chairperson, Martha Karua and was aimed at addressing issues affecting the Mt Kenya region. The conference was held at the Jumuiya Conference at Kabuku, Limuru last week. The Kenyan DAILY POST Tuesday, May 21, 2024 - Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has asked leaders to stop political sideshows, tone down political temperatures, and focus on serving the public. Gachagua was speaking during a church service in Nyeri County, where leaders who accompanied him vowed to defend him from a State House plot to elbow him out of power. He criticized Mt. Kenya leaders who gave speeches before him for politicking in church without paying attention to delivering on their mandate. "A lot of politics have been said here but I will say nothing. "The reason is that Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is a man of few words and if you have followed my politics for the last 10 months, I talk less and do more," he noted. Gachagua told the leaders to mind their own business and stop pretending to defend him at the expense of service delivery to the people. "I have heard MPs talking about matters of the Deputy President instead of CDF. "How will you know the stories of the Deputy President? Please mind your business. "It's not the election period yet. For now, let us respect those who were elected and give them a chance to work. "The public will have an opportunity to evaluate your work and make a decision. "Let us bring down the temperature and allow those who have the opportunity to serve to do so," Gachagua stated. He also called on those focused on 2027 campaigns to give elected leaders room to serve their terms and work without interference and distraction. The Kenyan DAILY POST Tuesday, May 21, 2024 - A teacher based at Kitengela International School (KISC) has left her family in distress after she disappeared in unclear circumstances. Madam Trishillah Shifu Lumumba was last seen on Monday, May 13th in the evening after work. She has not been traced since then. Her family tried to reach her on the phone but the phone has been switched off. The family has reported the matter to the police and circulated her photo on social media, hoping to find her. Cases of Kenyans going missing in unclear circumstances have been on the rise. While some of the missing end up reuniting with their families, others disappear without a trace. The Kenyan DAILY POST. Tuesday, May 21, 2024 - A disgruntled employee has exposed pathetic working conditions at Orbits Chemical Industries after employees were reportedly exposed to toxic gases on 20th May 2024. The victims were denied medical attention despite being exposed to the toxic gases. The affected employees have also been gagged from speaking to the media about the incident. Read. I am writing to bring to your attention a concerning situation involving a company that has neglected the health and safety of its employees. Employees at ORBIT CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES Ltd Mombasa road were exposed to toxic gases yesterday on 20th/05/2024, specifically sulfur trioxide (SO3), without appropriate medical attention or concern from management. Several employees at the company were exposed to sulfur trioxide gas due to inadequate safety measures and equipment failure. Despite the severity of the situation, the company management has failed to take prompt action to ensure the affected employees receive proper medical care. Shockingly, instead of addressing the issue and providing necessary assistance, management has resorted to threats and intimidation tactics to silence employees from speaking out about the incident with them(management )finding a secure place to sit at and away from the fumes. It is deeply troubling that Company is disregarding the health and safety of its workforce and actively discouraging employees from seeking medical help after exposure to hazardous substances. Such negligence poses a significant risk not only to the affected individuals but also to the surrounding community and environment. As our only hopes kindly help us EXPOSE this company, so that the Health Regulation Board gets aware & conduct a thorough investigation into the practices of this company regarding employee health and safety. Immediate intervention is needed to ensure that affected employees receive appropriate medical attention and that necessary measures are implemented to prevent similar incidents in the future. I appreciate your attention to this matter The Kenyan DAILY POST. Tuesday, May 21, 2024 - Azimio One Kenya Alliance blogger Pauline Njoroge has dumped the opposition coalition and she is now working with state house blogger Dennis Itumbi, who is working under President William Rutos aide Farouk Kibet. Njoroge, who was Jubilee party deputy organizing Secretary General, has been hired to publicize Rutos 'useless trip' to the United States. Impeccable sources state that Pauline Njoroge, who was running broke after the Jubilee party lost the 2022 presidential election, was offered a good financial deal, and knowing well where she comes from, she took the offer and immediately started publicising Rutos trip to the White House. In her defense for ditching the opposition, Pauline Njoroge termed it patriotism and said she must support Ruto while traveling to the US to make business deals. Whether in UDA or Azimio, we must always remember that we share the FLAG. "Once the Kenyan government crosses the border to engage with other governments out there, we must all join to support it, our Local political differences notwithstanding. "We resume on that once we get back home. This has always been my conviction, Njoroge wrote on her X The Kenyan DAILY POST Tuesday, May 21, 2024 - President William Ruto surprised Kenyans after he hired a private jet to fly him to America. The A6 RJU BBJ (Boeing Business) jet will cost Kenyan taxpayers Ksh 200 million for the trip from Nairobi to Atlanta Georgia and back. The private jet Ruto is using is owned and operated by the RoyalJet Group, who described the plane as one of the newest in their fleet, having been added fresh from the factory in 2017. Ruto using a luxurious jet as millions of his countrymen are suffering due to the high cost of living due to the high taxes that have been introduced by his administration has left tongues wagging. The President has shown his greed in spending taxpayer's money since former Presidents like the late Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta never used such an amount to travel to America. When Uhuru was traveling to the United States, he used the official Presidential jet which is a Fokker 70 model to Dubai and then connected the flight using normal airlines like Emirates or Lufthansa. The Kenyan DAILY POST Tuesday, May 21, 2024 - President William Ruto has reportedly hatched a plan to divide the Mt Kenya region which controls about 26 percent of the country's votes and plays a significant role in controlling the economy. Like his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta, Ruto through his advisors sees a united Mt Kenya region as a threat to his re-election in 2027 due to demands they have been making especially the One-Man One-Vote, One-Shilling policy being pushed by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. Ruto's advisors also see the unity of Mt Kenya as a ticking time bomb and he wants it dismantled so that residents can stop holding the government hostage like the recent rejection to pay the 'Avocado tax'. The President knows that Gachagua is the Mt Kenya kingpin and if you want to paralyze the region you start by decimating the king. Now, through his close lieutenants, Ruto, who is a brilliant student of politics, knows the best way to destroy a monarch is first by destroying the King. Through his proxies led by Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro, Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru, Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung'wah, and Laikipia East MP, Kimani Ichungwah, Ruto has launched a war against Gachagua to finish him politically. The President is also using state house blogger Dennis Itumbi to launch an online war against Gachagua on social media. However, speaking in a church in Nyeri County on Sunday, Gachagua urged Mt Kenya leaders to refuse to be used to split Mt Kenya region. The Kenyan DAILY POST Tuesday, May 21, 2024 Just after landing in the United States of America, President William Ruto faces a hurdle that may force him to compromise his principles by accepting the LGBTQ community. This is after the US Department of State issued an emergency alert yesterday to its citizens living in other countries after increased attacks on the LGBTQ community. In an alert shared by the US Embassy in Nairobi, the Department urged all citizens in foreign nations to take extra caution especially those partaking in LGBTQ events to avoid falling victim to the attacks. "Due to the potential for terrorist attacks, demonstrations, or violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests, the Department of State advises U.S. citizens overseas to exercise increased caution." "The Department of State is aware of the increased potential for foreign terrorist organization-inspired violence against LGBTQI+ persons and events and advises U.S. citizens overseas to exercise increased caution," read part of the alert. Those in Kenya facing the attacks were urged to seek assistance from the Embassy located along United Nations Avenue in Gigiri. Additionally, the foreigners were given emergency contacts in case they couldn't make it to the Embassy. On the other hand, those in other countries were advised to stay alert in locations often frequented by tourists including pride celebrations and venues frequented by the LGBTQ community. Furthermore, the tourists were urged to subscribe to the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive information and alerts, making it easier for them to access help. American citizens were further advised to follow the Department of State on all social media platforms for timely updates. The Embassy also gave contact details of the consular services with different phone numbers for those in Kenya and separate ones for those in other countries. In Kenya, the Supreme Court in 2023 ruled that the Penal Code and the Constitution did not bar the community from forming associations due to their sexual orientation. The Kenyan DAILY POST Tuesday, May 21, 2024 - President William Ruto Ruto landed in Atlanta on Monday for the start of a critical week of talks with the Biden administration while rocking expensive loafers. Keen observers led by fashion stylist Eve Maina noted that he was wearing pricey Ferragamo Loafers worth Ksh 112, 000. Ferragamo Loafers Ksh 112, 200. Mzee ako na taste for sure, Eve tweeted. The loafers are cut from hammered leather with a natural grain, artisan buffed for depth of color, and finished with a flexible rubber sole. This opulence raised eyebrows, considering that millions of Kenyans are facing harsh economic times. Ruto also flew in a chartered Boeing 737-700 business jet operated by Royal Jet of Dubai. The jet will cost taxpayers Ksh71 million for a one-way trip between Kenya and the US. Below is a photo of the Head of State displaying opulence in his expensive loafers as he landed in the US. The Kenyan DAILY POST. Tuesday, May 21, 2024 - Renowned political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi has sensationally claimed that President William Ruto would do well politically without the backing of the Mt Kenya region. Ngunyi warned that the rest of the country could unite behind the head of state if the vote-rich region dumps Ruto. Dear Kikuyus, you can unite as much as you want at Limuru3. But the 43 tribes of Kenya can also be behind Ruto without you, Ngunyi wrote on X. Ngunyi went on to term Mt Kenya region as unreliable and ungrateful. Why? I warned Ruto that ...you cannot buy a Kikuyu, you can only rent one". Ngunyi made the remarks in the wake of the Limuru III meeting on Friday. 'You cannot buy a Kikuyu, you can only rent one' slogan was rampant among the proponents of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) from the Mt Kenya region in 2021. For those who remember, it is the same Ngunyi who predicted in 2022 that former Prime Minister Raila Odinga would annihilate Ruto during the hotly contested presidential election. The Kenyan DAILY POST Tuesday, May 21, 2024 Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga was among the world leaders who paid tribute to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi following his untimely death in a helicopter crash. Raisi died following a helicopter crash on Sunday, alongside his Foreign Minister, Hossein Abdollahian, and other senior officials. In his tribute to the fallen Iranian strongman, Raila said the loss is a blow to the Islamic Republic of Iran, adding that the country's traditions and strong institutions will withstand the shock and overcome the loss. "I have received with shock the news of the death of President Ebrahim Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian. "The death has come at a trying and uncertain moment for Iran, with the country navigating heightened tensions in the Middle East," he said. Raila recalled the hosting of Raisi in Kenya, saying the time had him regard the late President as a good friend of Kenya and a great supporter of Africa. "May his soul rest in peace," Raila added. The Kenyan DAILY POST Tuesday, May 21, 2024 - South Sudan rebel leader General Stephen Buay Rolnyang has threatened to withdraw from high-level mediation for South Sudan being held in Nairobi alleging there was an assassination attempt on him. Rolnyang who leads the South Sudan People's Movement/Army (SSPM/A) claimed that the two attempts on his life were made in a space of one week. According to disturbing reports, General Rolnyang wrote to General Lazaros Sumbeiywo detailing the assassination attempts. President William Ruto, who chairs the high-level mediation team, had appointed Sumbeiywo as the chief mediator to bring peace between the South Sudanese government and hold-out groups. Following the alleged assassination attempt, Rolnyang stated that he would return his team back to South Sudan. He claims that close associates of the Juba government had sent assassins to Nairobi to hunt and eliminate him. The Juba security agents employed Kenyan agents wearing dark glass eyes and came to the hotel where they kept hiding near the hotel toilets in the evening carrying some pictures in their hands definitely which might be my picture, he stated remarking that this happened on May 16. I noticed them and I returned to my room and immediately alerted the security. The rebel leader claims that he reported the incident but his grievances were dismissed. According to the General, one of the assassins sent from Juba visited him and confessed since they were related. Rolnyang revealed that the only reason that he was not assassinated was because he had married from the family of the security agent who was sent to eliminate him. The rebel leader now fears that President Salva Kiirs administration is not honest with the peace talks. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, May 20, 2024 - Three Americans have been named among suspects responsible for Sundays coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Sylvain Ekenge, DRC army spokesperson, said the attempt involved foreigners and Congolese. These foreigners and Congolese have been put out of action, including their leader, Ekenge said. Ekenge added that several suspects were detained and the situation is now under control. The army spokesperson did not provide further information concerning the incident. Lucy Tamyln, US ambassador to the DRC, said she was shocked and very concerned to receive reports of American citizens being involved. Pictures of two men with their hands clasped were published in local media, alongside pictures of a passport that indicated one was a 36-year-old US citizen born in Maryland. Please be assured that we will cooperate with the DRC authorities to the fullest extent as they investigate these criminal acts and hold accountable any U.S. citizen involved in criminal acts, Tamlyn tweeted. The armys announcement of successfully thwarting a coup attempt came hours after armed men attacked the house of Vital Kamerhe, former chief of staff and close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi. Kamerhes residence is about two kilometres from the presidential palace. Michel Muhima, Kamerhes spokesperson, had said the gunmen clad in military uniform engaged the politicians guards in a shootout, leaving three people dead. Watch the video of two foreigners allegedly involved in the coup attempt below. Tuesday, May 21, 2024 - National Assembly Majority Chief Whip Silvanus Osoro has accused Mt Kenya residents and leaders of trying to blackmail President William Ruto. The region voted for Ruto to the last man but has been restive with residents and leaders complaining of high taxation and unequal distribution of national resources. Speaking on Sunday, Osoro wondered why Mt. Kenya leaders have been complaining, yet they allegedly own half of the Kenya Kwanza government. According to Osoro, leaders from the Mt. Kenya region hold key government positions such as deputy president, chief justice, Treasury, cabinet secretary for water, cabinet secretary for agriculture, cabinet secretary for land, and national assembly majority leader. Osoro argued that Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua's allies are unnecessarily blackmailing the president, yet they could use their positions to resolve the issues affecting Mt Kenya. "Every time you meet, you blame the president. "You should call these leaders and tell them what you want. "You control this country, you control the government, and you actually own half of this government. " You have no reason to complain. "You have no reason to bring unnecessary squabbles to the national government. "Stop blacking the president of Kenya because that is how it should be," Osoro said. The Kenyan DAILY POST Tuesday, May 21, 2024 - Nandi residents drawn from the Kipkimba area appear to have lost faith in President William Ruto, two years after overwhelmingly electing him. This is after they accused him and his government of failing to fulfill their campaign pledges. As a result, the visibly dejected residents have written to their local leaders demanding the actualization of campaign promises made on the campaign trail in the 2022 General Elections. The residents decried that they had been promised economic transformation within 100 days but close to two years after the elections, the region had nothing to smile about. According to one of the residents, not only were the leaders not initiating new projects, but they were also stalling previous ones started by their predecessors. During the election period, you pledged to address several key issues that affect our community, including roads in the area, Kipkimba market, Kipkimba dip, power connectivity, enhancing public health facilities, increasing educational opportunities, and youth unemployment among others, the letter read in part. These issues are of great importance to the residents of Kipkimba and your commitment to resolving them played a significant role in the support you received. In the letter, the residents remarked that should the issues highlighted not be addressed, the constituents would seek alternatives. The residents told elected leaders from the region that it was their duty to honour commitments made during the campaign period. Additionally, the residents asked for accountability on government projects being done in the area. Explaining how the leaders had abandoned the area, one of the residents stated that there was no goodwill to finish projects started by previous legislators. The Kenyan DAILY POST Tuesday, May 21, 2024 President William Ruto now stands to lose big following the tragic death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a plane crash. This is after it emerged that the deals he signed with Raisi when he hosted him at State House in Nairobi on July 12, 2023, may never be implemented following his death. During his short stay in Kenya, the late Iranian leader signed several MoUs with Ruto. The signing came after bilateral talks between the two leaders. Ruto and Raisi witnessed the signing of new MoUs and agreements in the areas of agriculture, livestock, culture and heritage, information, ICT, fisheries, housing, and urban and metropolitan development. Ruto had expressed interest in supporting young Kenyans to innovate and build their startup businesses, through the Iran House of Innovation and Technology. The MoU would also see more Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVETs) constructed to allow both countries to exchange educational experiences, training, and access educational consultancy opportunities. Ruto said he had a commitment from President Raisi to facilitate the export of more tea, meat, and agricultural products to Iran. The MoU would also see Kenya export products to Central Asian countries through Iran. Iran also expressed a desire to set up a motor vehicle assembly plant in Mombasa County, thus supporting the mechanical and automotive sectors. Ruto and Raisi also explored more ways of creating more jobs for Kenyans. Kenya reached an agreement with Iran to receive support from the Islamic State to conduct research into the blue economy which will include research into the fishing industry. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, May 20, 2024 - The Zimbabwean police have arrested a 27-year-old woman identified as Nella Kundai for stabbing her aunt, 41-year-old Dorothy Matongo to death following a dispute over power usage. This played out after Kundai and Matongo who share a home, disagreed over how to manage their electricity bill. Kundai, citing financial difficulties, refused to contribute to the payment. Sympathizing with her niece, Matongo paid US$5 to restore their electricity but instructed that it be used only for lighting, not cooking. Ignoring her aunts instructions, Kundai used the electricity for cooking, leading to a furious argument. The confrontation quickly escalated into violence, culminating in Kundai stabbing Matongo three times in the chest. Matongos family claims that the tragedy could have been avoided if the police had taken earlier reports of escalating tensions seriously. Despite the familys attempts to seek help from the authorities, our pleas were not heard, said Prime, Matongos daughter. She addedI went to the police station and told them about the growing tension between my mother and Kundai, but the police did not take action. Shockingly, they told me that I should only report the incident after my mother had been stabbed. Prime herself sustained injuries during the altercation. She was struck in the stomach by a toilet seat as she tried to intervene. Kundai is now in police custody, facing murder charges, and is expected to appear in court soon. Tuesday, May 21, 2024 The government of President William Ruto has moved to make the lives of Kenyans even more difficult despite burdening us with heavy taxes. This is after the government, through the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO), informed restaurant owners that they needed a licence to be able to play music on their business premises. According to KECOBO, restaurant owners should apply for business licenses through Collective Management Organizations (CMOs). Restaurant owners need to make their application through the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) which is a CMO representing authors, composers, and publishers of musical works. According to KECOBO, playing music on business premises without a CMO licence, the offender shall be liable to pay a fine not exceeding Ksh500,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding four years or both. According to MCSK, the licence covers the performances of music and audiovisual works provided by means of radio receiving sets, disc players, tape machines, video cassette players, television, and similar devices including digitized music, as background performances in all the commonly controlled areas of restaurants, cafes, bars, casinos and other similar food, gaming and liquor retailing establishments. To calculate the amount of cash each hotel must pay, KECOBO takes into account the percentage of the sum of the cost of a single business permit and the cost of a liquor licence or percentage of a single business permit alone in the absence of the liquor licence, subject to a minimum flat rate. As such, hotels in Kenya pay 80 per cent of the sum of the cost of a single business permit and the liquor license. Where there is no liquor license, the restaurant will pay 100 per cent of the cost of a single business permit. According to MCSK, the amount paid should not be less than Ksh9,000 per annum which is the agreed minimum flat rate. The amounts collected are distributed to musicians annually by MCSK. The Kenyan DAILY POST Physicians have the unique duty of giving patients and their loved ones the worst news people can receive. It may be complicated, heavy, dark, somber, terrifying, and hopeless. It may also be a welcome, a relief, an ending, and a beginning. It is as important as anything we will ever say or do with or for our patients. Research shows that the attitude and communication skills of the person delivering the distressing news are important in determining the course of a familys ability to cope and recover from tragedy. Ive carefully studied giving bad news and communication in general throughout my professional and personal development. It has been a priceless investment. One patient I recall, to whom I found it especially difficult to give bad news, was Tony. I had to tell him he had AIDS long before there were treatments. Before he arrived for his appointment, I mumbled and paced, and mumbled and paced, hoping that the right words would spontaneously come to mind. My anxiety was in vain. Tony knew, in his gut and his heart, why my staff had called him to come in. We just sat in the exam room; few words were exchanged. He didnt need to hear any bioscience. He didnt need to know the natural course of the disease. In those defining moments, the only thing Tony needed to know was that he wasnt alone that he would see me at his next appointment, and the appointment after that, and the one after that. So, we just sat until Tony was done sitting about 15 minutes. Its called therapeutic presence (a.k.a. suit up and show up, + or shut up.) Another patient I remember too well was a 2-year-old boy who arrived at the ER after a catastrophic motor vehicle accident. He was holding tight to life with his tiny fists, but his grip weakened. He slipped away. In a small, windowless room that no one ever wanted to enter were at least 25 family members and friends gathered around my small patients mother. I knelt next to her chair, eye to eye. I told her that we did everything we could, everything medicine had to offer, but it wasnt enough; he didnt make it. I stayed by her side until she didnt need me so close. I was her therapeutic presence. She didnt ask for, nor did I offer details. They were offensively irrelevant. Most physicians feel that delivering unwelcome news is one of the more difficult of their duties. Few have any training or opportunity to build confidence in communicating distressing news were comfortable with helping and curing patients. Some physicians are reluctant to discuss a diagnosis for which there is little to offer. Other physicians feel like failures if a cure is not possible. When under pressure, some physicians blurt out promises which are just false hope. Thats insensitive, even cruel. Any of the reasons above, which a physician might use to rationalize avoidance of delivering unwelcome news, are about relieving the physicians discomfort. The news, however, is not about the physician. Its about the patients and their circles of belonging. In these times of need, self-interest does not supersede our patients best interests. An article I read in preparation for writing this stated that time constraints, as well as the challenges of getting paid for these interactions, can become a burden. It had never occurred to me to make time or payment determinants of service in this context. I have found that no matter the size of my giving to my patients and their families, it is never as much as they have already given me. We all patient, family, friends, and me, become part of each others stories, however briefly. Sitting with the family by my patients bedside as s/he leaves earthly life is a great honor. It is not possible to overstate the familys gratitude and relief that you are close. It is easy to forget that to them, this passage is mysterious and intense, as real as life gets. Your words can quickly be forgotten, but those you serve will always remember the feeling of your caring presence. With the population aging, physicians are expected to face more of these difficult discussions. We need to cultivate, with greater intention, our understanding of the social, psychological, and cultural contexts of our patients lives and the trusting relationships we build with them over time. These relationships will help determine how and to whom we deliver difficult news and provide insight into how it will be received. Faith A. Coleman is a family physician. - - Trinity College Dublin has dropped a 214,000 fine against its students union, which had been imposed due to protest action. The university had invoiced its students union for 214,285 after a series of demonstrations about fees and rent, as well as pro-Palestinian solidarity protests took place on campus. Trinity claimed the fee was related to losses accrued due to the students blocking access to the major Book of Kells tourist attraction on the campus. Separately, it also initiated disciplinary action against a group of student leaders. Students at the university formed an encampment on the campus in protest against the fine, as well as Trinitys ties to Israel. Following engagement with the protesters, the college said it would complete a divestment from investments in Israeli companies that have activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and appear on the UN Blacklist in this regard. This process is expected to be completed by June. The students dismantled the camp after Trinity said it would endeavour to divest in other Israeli companies, noting that its supplier list contains just one Israeli company which will remain until March 2025 for contractual reasons. Last week, students who had been called for disciplinary hearings were informed the action had been dropped. However, the invoice to the students union remained outstanding until Monday when it was also withdrawn following a meeting. A spokeswoman for the university said: At a meeting today between the University and student representatives, a joint renewed commitment was made to student partnership. On the basis of this renewed commitment, the University will not be pursuing the invoice. TCDSU president Laszlo Monarfi told the PA news agency: Its a win for the right to protest. Students and workers united will never be defeated. More tents have been removed from the Grand Canal area after 89 international protection applicants were offered alternative accommodation this morning (May 21). According to RTE, barricades have been erected along the canal in Dublin following a clean-up operation which began at 7.30am. It comes after a number of beds became available in IPAS-designated accommodation in recent days, which resulted in offers of accommodation being issued by email to 89 asylum seekers. The offers of accommodation were confirmed by a Government spokesperson, who stated, "International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) continue to work towards ensuring that the limited available bed space for International Protection applicants is prioritised for those most in need, including those who are found to be rough sleeping." According to RTE, most men sleeping in the area had been given tents by agencies due to a lack of State accommodation. This morning's operation is the third time tents have been cleared from the Grand Canal area in the past month. Social media users have criticised the government for their handling of the situation, with some mentioning the waste of tents being dumped unnecessarily. One X (formerly Twitter) user commented, "Simply kicking the can down the road and not actually addressing the issue." Another commented, "Oh good, more money wasted by the government to remove the tents only for them to pay for more tents for the next load of IPAs to set up at another spot in town. This government is an absolute farce." Another comment reads, "Disgraceful amount of waste between tents etc and our money. How many tents have gone to landfill in the last few weeks?" Following the creation of the first camp on the Grand Canal, Taoiseach Simon Harris spoke to Virgin Media News and promised the encampments would not be "allowed to fester". He said, "We're working on accommodation on a daily basis, on a several times a day basis, and I do expect to see more responses coming on stream. We will not have a situation where these encampments will be allowed to fester, go on for weeks and weeks and months and months as was the case on Mount Street, that's not acceptable to me. "But yes issues will arise, tents will appear, and the government will work with agencies on a multi-agency approach [sic] to resolve these issues and that's what we're about." Header image: Screenshot/X/Niall O'Hara Garrett, IN (46738) Today Rain showers this morning with mostly cloudy conditions during the afternoon hours. High 73F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Variably cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. Low 53F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Angola, IN (46703) Today Showers early, then cloudy in the afternoon. High 68F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 51F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Angola, IN (46703) Today Rain showers early with mostly cloudy conditions later in the day. High 68F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Thunderstorms. Low 51F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Auburn, IN (46706) Today Showers early with some clearing for the afternoon. High 73F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Variably cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. Low 53F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%. EXO-Ls and Bunnyzens have divided opinions as Suho utilized AI for the music video of his latest song, "Cheese," featuring Red Velvet Wendy. On May 20, the double title track "Cheese" MV and its digital source were simultaneously dropped on various music platforms ahead of the official release of his 3rd mini-album, "1 to 3," on June 3. Prior to this, the second lead track with the same name will be unveiled on May 31st. In the meantime, EXO-Ls (EXO fandom) and Bunnyzens (Suho solo fandom) showed their excitement as Red Velvet Wendy and Suho showed their vocal chemistry while depicting the lyrics about their relationship with an old lover. The message compares "Cheese" to love, which "breaks when cold, and melts when hot." When the MV was then revealed, it drew rave reviews from fans, praising its creative concept and his comical chemistry with Wendy. Unfortunately, not everyone was fully impressed by the male idol after his fans complained about him using AI. An X account vented their frustration about how Suho "took 10 steps back" for using the new tech, rather than commissioning professional artists to make real art, just like what he has been doing since his debut. its so incredibly disappointing to see a man who built his solo career on real art (his creative direction being heavily inspired by vincent van gogh, having his self portraits done by real artists for his first album) take 10 steps back and use ai in his music video #SUHO # https://t.co/qYrgLMBVSr (@jjunmyoen) May 20, 2024 you cant support art and then turn around and do this its so like i cant believe that he would do it and i dont want anyone making excuses for him either. hes an educated man who has shown a passion for the arts but then??????????????? (@jjunmyoen) May 20, 2024 he has been so incredibly inspired by art in all its forms - from film to music to paintings to novels. this is so incredibly sad to witness. (@jjunmyoen) May 20, 2024 ALSO READ: EXO No More? Leader Suho Dispels Eris' Withdrawal & Disbandment Concerns With THIS Message Following this, some fans agreed and claimed that it is a valid argument, given that Suho giving importance to the value of classical art before is what made him stand out among the influx of soloists. Fans called it "unethical," "unauthentic," and "lazy." i didnt know he used ai, im actually really disappointed it just feels.. unauthentic and lazy maddox // (@cloudedrumor) May 20, 2024 And if people keep allowing idols to use Ai it will just get worse and worse... May 20, 2024 this is genuine criticism, i don't see why everyone's getting their panties in a twist is it wrong to disagree with things our faves do from time to time????? https://t.co/oWsJvMfWiV HAECHAN DAY (@jwitterdotcom) May 20, 2024 Op has a valid critism really kpop stans in the comments needs to understand how much a/i affects artists career especially if they do art as a full time job art is supposed to be unique, it supposed to convey meaning in their piece https://t.co/D388DA9J2g farah ia era() (@nanascatagenda) May 20, 2024 Nevertheless, Eris jumped to Suho's defense, stating that using AI doesn't make his art any less, and attacked the original poster. Other fans assumed that the fan was just "jealous" of Suho being with Wendy in the MV and asked them to just leave the fandom. Suho's supporters even found "receipts" of the OP "hating" on Wendy and at the same time supporting AI by creating AI artworks inspired by Suho's and other idols' releases. i dont like wendy on INDIVIDUAL LEVEL and proceed to not listen to her music online , so much for INDIVIDUAL level cuz music performance should be evaluated separate from INDIVIDUAL feelings about the artist and u wrote Im in a way signalling her out just stop w hypocrisy https://t.co/JsowTdAoOf pic.twitter.com/OG3X1oiSzv all for (@sonsswseungwan) May 21, 2024 You're just making excuses, remove JM from your bias list, you're very dramatic. Do you hate this collaboration because of Wendy? Is that right? You don't deserve him. Very rude, I won't forget you, girl. Stay away from JM and don't talk about JM anymore. https://t.co/tSqUqLMbqN pic.twitter.com/hsK99rCYQJ May 20, 2024 Regardless of this debate, Suho's "Cheese" earned support from global fans after it topped the iTunes Top Songs chart in 21 regions, including Saudi Arabia, Finland, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Argentina, Bulgaria, Chile, Oman, Peru, El Salvador, and more. This new song also ranked in the TOP 5 in a total of 28 regions, including Singapore, Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Thailand, and more, demonstrating the high interest of global fans. READ MORE: What Kind of Leader Is Suho? Idol Shares 'Real' Role in EXO, Hobbies, More! For more K-Pop news and updates, keep your tabs open here at KpopStarz. KpopStarz owns this article. Written by Eunice Dela Cruz Teen Vogue is drawing flak for doing something that supposedly disrespects IVE member Gaeul. On May 21, 2024, Teen Vogue uploaded a video of IVE partaking in the channel's "Compliment Battle" series. During the video, one member faces another and reads aloud compliments from fans to them, in the hopes of getting them to laugh. The ones who laugh lose! The first pair to take on the challenge was Gaeul and Jang Wonyoung. One tweet that Jang Wonyoung read states, "This song is the superior song; nothing else can get to its level. I love it so much. Also, Gaeul's rap is everything, sorry not sorry, I don't make the rules." IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: IVE Gaeul Reveals Expensive Gift For Her Parents: 'They Earn Good Money...' However, it was soon pointed out that the tweet was made on July 4, 2020. IVE debuted in 2021, meaning the tweet was likely not for IVE's Gaeul, but for another idol who shares the same name. This proved to be true. A quick search proved that the original tweet was praising FAVORITE member Gaeul's rap in the song "Fancy." The group debuted in 2017, and the fan shared the tweet in celebration of the girl group's third anniversary. This is not the first time a Western media outlet has faced backlash for supposedly disrespecting a member of IVE. Earlier this month, IVE appeared on WIRED's "Answer The Web's Most Search Questions" series. When it was IVE's turn, they used her real name, Kim Ji Won. FOR MORE INFORMATION: WIRED's Latest Video Backlash: Did They Cross the Line with IVE Liz? It didn't take long for people to realize the questions were not catered towards Liz but for South Korean actress Kim Ji Won. As this is the second time a Western media outlet failed to do their proper research, DIVEs (IVE's fandom) are understandably upset. They accused Teen Vogue of being lazy and not doing their due diligence. Many stated that their actions show how little they appreciate IVE, with fans expressing their disappointment. teen vogue is actually so weird for adding this comment there was literally tags and pics in the og posts letting them know it wasnt about her but they still added it ? pic.twitter.com/vDZG9IKkOW w. saw ive (@itswonyseo) May 20, 2024 the tweet is literally from 2020 before gaeul even debuted with ive wtf were they thinking ina (@kittyjiwonz) May 20, 2024 Wired & teen vogue.. watch out if theres more from US interviews theyre so lazy even to do a little research for IVE, it shows that if they appreciate the girls by doing so but such a disappointing and a little rude to add comments thats totally not for ive. May 20, 2024 While the two idols didn't react to the comment, it is highly likely Jang Wonyoung realized it was not for Gaeul; she could supposedly see the date the tweet was made in the card they provided. Oh that got me messed up. And they would know because of the debut date Isa (@CUTEVILLAINN) May 21, 2024 CHECK THIS OUT: Miu Miu Faces Backlash After Unveiling Latest Collection - Why Is IVE Jang Wonyoung Being Mentioned? What do you think of the situation? Tell us in the comments below! In other news, IVE released the music video for "Accendio" on May 16, 2024, serving as the second single from their latest mini-album, "IVE SWITCH." The album was released on April 29 alongside its first lead single, "HEYA." KpopStarz Owns This Written by Alexa Lopez New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) A charter providing for legal and institutional framework for deeper cooperation among member nations of India-backed regional grouping BIMSTEC has come into force. Besides India, the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) comprises Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan. Also Read | 'BJP Leaders Will Go to Jail After June 4 for Electoral Bond Scam', Says AAP Leader Atishi. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal described coming into force of the grouping's charter as a "significant milestone". "A significant milestone for BIMSTEC regional cooperation! BIMSTEC Charter entered into force on 20 May 2024, providing legal and institutional framework for meaningful cooperation and deeper integration of the Bay of Bengal region," he said on 'X'. Also Read | Very Sad for Women of Sandeshkhali, will Visit There After Lok Sabha Elections, Says Mamata Banerjee. "It enables BIMSTEC to partner with other interested countries/organisations and admit Observers and new Members," he added. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the entry into force of the charter reaffirmed India's commitment to a peaceful and sustainable neighbourhood. "The entry into force of the BIMSTEC Charter reaffirms India's commitment to a prosperous, peaceful and sustainable neighbourhood. It is achieved by building on our shared history, culture, vision and mutual respect for each other," he said on 'X'. "BIMSTEC reflects the synthesis of our Neighbourhood First and Act East policies!" he said. In the last few years, India has been making concerted efforts to make BIMSTEC a vibrant forum for regional cooperation as initiatives under SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) were not moving forward for a variety of reasons. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Azamgarh (UP), May 21 (PTI) Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said the INDIA bloc is getting huge support in Uttar Pradesh and claimed that the BJP will lose all Lok Sabha seats except Varanasi. Addressing a rally in support of SP's Lalganj candidate Daroga Prasad Saroj, Yadav said, "This time, whatever strategy they (BJP) have made, the people of Uttar Pradesh have made up their mind to wipe them out." Also Read | West Bengal Weather Forecast: Met Department Predicts Squally Weather, Rain in Coastal Districts From May 24. Describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency Varanasi as "Kyoto", the former chief minister said, "In the figures and information coming in now, the BJP is in fight in only one seat, that is 'Kyoto', and in all the rest seats the BJP has lost." Prime Minister Modi had assured to make Varanasi like Kyoto city of Japan known for tourism. Also Read | Madhya Pradesh: Court Asks Woman To Pay Rs 3,000 Monthly Maintenance to Mother Whom She Shunted Out During COVID-19 Lockdown. Earlier, as Yadav arrived at the venue, the crowd tried to reach near the dais, forcing police personnel to lathicharge to control them even as the SP leaders on the stage appealed to the gathering to maintain peace. On Monday too, there was a ruckus in Yadav's rally in Sant Kabir Nagar. Before this, in a joint rally at Phulpur (Pragagraj) with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the two leaders had to leave without addressing the gathering after a huge crowd gathered near the dais. Addressing the rally on Tuesday, the SP chief said when the elections started, the BJP gave "400 paar" slogan, but now the people are raising slogan of "400 haar". He said this time 140 crore people of the country will ensure that the BJP does not get even 140 seats. "You must have heard their (BJP leaders) speeches. They are telling the same old story. No one wants to listen to them. The people have made up their mind and our PDA (backward, Dalit, minority) families will defeat the NDA," Yadav said. Accusing the BJP of lying, he claimed that every promise made by the BJP has turned out to be false. He also attacked the BJP on Covid vaccine and said that the vaccine has posed a life threat to the people. "They (BJP) even recovered money from the vaccine company that administered the doses to us." Lalganj and Azamgarh seats will go to polls on May 25 in the sixth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) BJP president J P Nadda on Tuesday said that Congress' governments at the centre were "majboor (helpless) sarkar" while the Narendra Modi dispensation is a "majboot (strong) sarkar". Addressing election meetings in the national capital, he lashed out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, alleging that the foundation of the Aam Aadmi Party. "They lied on every occasion." Also Read | Ethylene Oxide in Food: FSSAI Finds No Trace of EO in Samples of MDH, Everest Spices in 28 Lab Reports. Referring to the alleged assault of AAP MP Swati Maliwal, the BJP chief said, "This incident (Maliwal's assault) somehow came to light and that is why it grabbed our attention. We don't know how many such incidents have taken place with others." "Kejriwal was silent for four days and has been shifting the microphone from one side to the other which clearly shows his dual character," the BJP chief said. Also Read | Delhi Shocker: E-Rickshaw Driver Stabbed Multiple Times in Chest and Neck by Unidentified Persons in Jafrabad Area, Dies. Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar was arrested on Saturday for allegedly assaulting Maliwal at the chief minister's residence. The AAP has claimed that Maliwal was "blackmailed" by the BJP to become part of the "conspiracy" against the chief minister since she was facing charges in an illegal recruitment case. Nadda held a roadshow South Delhi Lok Sabha seat along with party candidate Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and also addressed a poll meeting at Pitampura in support of Chandni Chowk candidate Praveen Khandelwal. The local Jat Sabha feliciated both Nadda and Bidhuri at the Jat Chaupal. He exuded confidence that the BJP under the leadership of PM Modi will get over 370 seats and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will secure more than 400 seats. "There is a one-sided atmosphere in favour of the BJP in the country," Nadda said, adding that his party will again win all seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital. "All parties are dreaming that they will win the election but all those dreams will die immediately after the results are announced," the BJP chief said. At the poll meeting in Pitampura, Nadda said, "The Congress government was 'majboor sarkar' while PM Narendra Modi's government is a 'mazboot sarkar'." He said that while the whole world is going through a tough economic situation, the Indian economy is growing because of the efforts of the Modi government. "We are second in the world in the manufacture of mobile phones and medicines. Highways are expanding while optical fibres have reached rural areas. Under the Modi government, the infrastructure development is at its peak," Nadda said. He asserted that soon Solar energy will ensure zero electricity bills for all and everyone in Delhi would have access to piped gas. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Tuesday said the high voter turnout in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal will prove advantageous for the BJP. Voting in seven Lok Sabha constituencies of West Bengal -- Bangaon, Barrackpore, Howrah, Uluberia, Sreerampur, Hooghly and Arambag -- was held on May 20. Also Read | Delhi LG VK Saxena Questions Arvind Kejriwal's Silence Over Swati Maliwal Assault; AAP Says 'His Statement Proves Maliwal Is Working for BJP'. "Even though the national average was around 60 per cent, West Bengal recorded 73 per cent polling with a clear advantage for the BJP," said Singh, the Union Minister of State for Personnel. He said that in spite of the extreme summer heat, each of the seven constituencies recorded high polling. "High voter turnout in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal is going to be advantageous for the BJP," the minister asserted. Also Read | MHT CET 2024 Answer Key Out at cetcell.mahacet.org: Maharashtra Common Entrance Test Exam Answer Key for PCB and PCM Groups Released, Know Steps To Download. Among the seven constituencies that went to polls on Monday, the highest turnout of 76.90 per cent was recorded in the Arambag Lok Sabha seat, he said. "Bangaon and Barrackpore constituencies recorded 75.73 per cent and 68.83 per cent voter turnout, respectively," said the BJP leader, who was assigned the party's election responsibility for the fifth phase of polls in West Bengal. The Hooghly constituency recorded a voter turnout of 74.17 per cent, Sreerampur 71.18 per cent polling while in Howrah it was 68.84 per cent, he said. "An unusually high voter turnout, which was not so much expected, was seen in Uluberia which recorded 74.50 per cent polling," Singh said. The Union minister said that Bongaon, Barrackpore and Hooghly were already with the BJP and the party would retain those seats. "In all, the BJP hopes to win all seven seats where polling took place in phase five on Monday. We are absolutely confident about six seats of these seven," the minister said. The huge voter turnout and support for the BJP is a mark of endorsement by the people of West Bengal for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policy and schemes, Singh said, adding that this was a reiteration that West Bengal is part of the 'Viksit Bharat' journey led by PM Modi. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Basirhat (WB), May 21 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said she was heartbroken for the plight of women in Sandeshkhali and asserted that the BJP should not have played with the dignity of women in the trouble-torn area as its "conspiracy now stands exposed". While addressing a rally in Basirhat, Banerjee slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for talking to Sandeshkhali protester and BJP candidate Rekha Patra over the phone, alleging that the country has the "worst track record in terms of women's safety and security under the BJP rule". Also Read | Ebrahim Raisi Death: EAM S Jaishankar Visits Iranian Embassy, Says President Raisi and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian Contributed to India-Iran Relationship. Sandeshkhali falls under the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat in North 24 Parganas district. I am sorry for whatever has happened to the women of Sandeshkhali and the way they have been humiliated. I express my sadness from the core of my heart. Nobody should dare to play with the dignity of women," Banerjee said. Also Read | West Bengal Weather Forecast: Met Department Predicts Squally Weather, Rain in Coastal Districts From May 24. She also said, "People would have never understood how the BJP had hatched the conspiracy, had the videos not surfaced. The BJP should not play with the dignity of women, Banerjee said in her first visit to the Lok Sabha seat since the flare-up in January this year. Banerjee's remarks come in the backdrop of multiple purported videos surfacing on social media, which claimed that a local BJP leader made several women of Sandeshkhali sign blank papers, which were later filled up as complaints of sexual assault against TMC leaders. The TMC supremo said she would soon visit the Sandeshkhali region. "As soon as our candidate Haji Nurul wins Basirhat, my first visit will be to Sandeshkhali. I will go to meet the people there," she said. The riverine Sandeshkhali area, situated on the borders of the Sundarbans, about 100 kilometres from Kolkata', has been on the boil since February with protests over allegations of sexual abuse and land grab against now-arrested TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters. "PM calls someone over the phone, holds a tutored conversation, and circulates that on television. But how many people does he actually talk to like this? It is under his tenure that the country saw maximum crime against women. BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh is the first when it comes to crime against scheduled caste and scheduled tribe," she said. Banerjee said both her party and the state government have taken immediate action whenever "one or two incidents" have taken place. Since the first week of May, four videos have been released by a portal. In the first one, a man who claimed to be a BJP mandal president in Sandeshkhali was heard saying that the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, was behind the "whole conspiracy". The second video was about women, who had earlier filed rape complaints, claiming that they were made to sign a blank paper by local BJP leaders and coerced to go to the police station. In the third one, BJP candidate from Basirhat constituency and Sandeshkhali protestor Rekha Patra was heard saying that she "doesn't know the rape survivors who were taken to Delhi to meet the President." In the fourth video, a BJP leader was heard saying that over 70 women had received Rs 2,000 each for taking part in protests against TMC strongman Shahjahan Sheikh who is accused of sexual assault and land grab. PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of any of the videos. Referring to the Calcutta High Court order on Monday, which has issued an injunction restraining the BJP from publishing advertisements that violate the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) until June 4, the day the Lok Sabha election process ends, the chief minister alleged that the BJP has been spreading canards through misleading advertisements. "As part of Modi Babu's guarantee, they were spreading misleading advertisements in newspapers against us. We made multiple complaints against it stating that it was illegal but there was no action. Yesterday, the High Court also stated that it is indeed illegal. They don't release funds of MGNREGA but spend crores on conspiracy, to buy votes and spread propaganda," she added. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Jagadhari (Haryana), May 21 (PTI) Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday called Prime Minister Narendra Modi 'Jhoothon Ka Sardar' and accused him of lying about Congress's manifesto to mislead the public. Addressing his first rally in Haryana here in Yamunanagar district, Kharge slammed Modi for his saying that the Congress was planning to redistribute wealth and take away women's mangalsutras. Also Read | Swati Maliwal Assault Case: CM Arvind Kejriwals Silence Speaks Volumes About His Stance on Womens Safety, Says Delhi LG VK Saxena. "If Congress comes to power, it will snatch away all your properties. After getting X-ray done, where is mangalsutra, where is gold, silver and will take it out, give it to others," he said Modi said in his rallies. "If you have 2 acres, one acre will be given to others, if you have two buffaloes, one will be given to Muslims. He (Modi) said this These are not our words," Kharge said in the district's Jagadhri city. Also Read | Uttar Pradesh: Disguised As Chole Bhature Seller, Wanted Criminal Nabbed From Ramlila Maidan in Mainpuri. "If a PM sitting in such a position says these things, then what should we say? Should such people be given votes again?" he asked the gathering. "He is a 'jhoothon ka sardar.'" Congress candidate from Ambala Lok Sabha seat Varun Chaudhary and AAP's Kurukshetra candidate Sushil Gupta were also present at the rally. Congress is contesting nine seats, while the Aam Aadmi Party, its partner in the INDIA bloc, is contesting the Kurukshetra seat for the May 25 polls. Kharge said the alliance will bring a caste census, and it will do it for the good of the public, not to snatch anyone's property. He said the Congress is fighting against the ideology of RSS -- a Hindu right body and the ideological parent of the BJP. "You are snatching the Constitution and we are fighting against it. You want to end democracy and we are fighting it," Kharge said. The Congress president said the current fight is between the people and Modi, and the people and the BJP. "Because, people are fed up with them." Kharge also sought BJP's response on its promise of 2 crore jobs each year, Rs 15 lakh in everyone's bank account, and doubling of farmers' income. "Did you get it?" he asked the gathering. "...Did he give (jobs)... How can a PM tell such a lie?" "The Prime Minister is a liar. Raise your hands, he is a liar," he exhorted the people, adding, "What is wrong if I call such a prime minister 'jhoothon ka sardar.'" Kharge said he is confident that the INDIA bloc will come to power. "The Modi government is not coming, I can say that with certainty.". The Congress leader said the party's election manifesto is for Dalits, the poor, women, weaker and deprived sections, farmers, and the youth. "It is not for any particular community or religion." He lashed out at Modi over the now-repealed three farm laws and death of "750 farmers" during their agitation against the reforms at Delhi's borders. "'Tumne sabka saath to liya, lekin sabka satyanash kar diya' (You took support from everyone, but then you destroyed them)," he said Kharge from the dias also paid tribute to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary. He said it was under the leadership of Rajiv Gandhi that the Congress got the biggest mandate with 414 seats in 1984. He hailed him for framing 11 "important" policies, including the anti-defection law, laying the foundation of communication, IT and computerisation. "Today women are sarpanches, Dalits are sarpanches, OBC are sarpanches," it is all because of the Congress, he said. He said it was Rajiv Gandhi, at whose initiative, the voting age was reduced from 21 to 18. "We do not lie like Modi. We have shown what work we have done. "We did everything, that is why Modi ji you became the Prime Minister of the country," he said and listed such projects as Bhakra dam, and factories like HMT, HAL, BEL set up under the Congress. "You (Modi) say the country is secure because of you. 'Tum to pahad khod ke chuha nikalne wale log hai,'" Kharge said, adding, it was former prime minister Indira Gandhi who divided Pakistan into two and freed Bangladesh. "You always say I did this and I did that. What Indira Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi did for the nation, that is called work," he said. Kharge also took exception to Modi likening Congress's manifesto to a "Muslim League manifesto" and said, "He must read it. If he cannot read it properly, we can send one person from the Congress office to make you understand." Kharge, holding a copy of the Constitution in his hands, said: "This fight is to save the Constitution and democracy in the country." (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Bankura (WB), May 21 (PTI) Colourful poll graffiti, street corner meetings and flags of different parties on tree branches, the usual paraphernalia associated with elections, are all visible in every nook and corner of the Bankura Lok Sabha seat, except the poll fever among people which seems to be missing. The phenomenon of people going about their daily lives like any other time of the year when elections, parliamentary polls no less, are at the doorstep, could be normal in some parts of the country but is quite unusual in Bengal. Also Read | Rajiv Gandhi Death Anniversary 2024: Quotes by Rajiv Gandhi To Share in Memory of the Former Indian Prime Minister. In Bankura constituency, which goes to polls less than a week on May 25, election fever is not yet visible, be it in the district headquarters town or in the rural areas. Hara Sunder Dutta, assistant secretary of Bankura district Hindu Mahasabha admits that there is a general lack of enthusiasm among the people about the elections. Also Read | Brain-Eating Amoeba Kills One in Kerala: Minor Girl Dies of Rare Brain Infection PAM in Kozhikode. "People are now more interested in their own work and lives," he said. Somnath Barat, a local businessman who doubles up as a social media journalist, says this time around, the electorate in Bankura is not just indifferent, but are guarding from making their opinion public. The BJP has renominated Subhas Sarkar, a doctor and Union Minister of State for Education, in the outgoing NDA government, while the TMC has put up its Bankura district president and advocate Arup Chakraborty. The CPI(M) has fielded lawyer Nilanjan Dasgupta from the seat, where a total of 12 candidates are in the fray. Asserting that Sarkar will win his second term from the constituency, Dutta claimed that the Trinamool nominee is facing strains within a section of his party workers. Maintaining that this election will be a close fight between the two candidates, Barat said, "Arup Chakraborty is a formidable candidate and is a good organiser." A TMC official in Ranibandh claimed that Chakraborty, the sitting MLA of the ruling party from Taldangra assembly segment, will certainly win, wresting the seat from the BJP. Stating that in 2019, a section of party workers had not put in full effort since the previous TMC candidate Subrata Mukherjee was "an outsider" to Bankura, TMC's Ranibandh block president Uttam Mahato told this correspondent, "but this time, Arup Chakraborty is a son of the soil and he will be available among us round the year." In 2014, cine star Moon Moon Sen, a Kolkata resident like Mukherjee, had won from Bankura on a TMC ticket, breaking the CPI(M)'s stranglehold on the seat which its leader Basudev Acharia won in nine consecutive elections from 1980. Speaking of Chakraborty as his opponent, Sarkar claimed that the TMC candidate was no match for him. "In 2019, my opponent was a big shot. Subrata Mukherjee was very popular in the state and also among the youth, but Modi-ji's development and people's faith in him (turned the elections around)," Sarkar told PTI. Sarkar, who finished third in the 2014 elections from the seat, defeated the veteran TMC leader by a margin of 1.74 lakh votes in 2019. The constituency witnessed a swing of nearly 29 per cent vote share in favour of the BJP at the expense of CPI(M) between the two elections. "Chakraborty is nothing in comparison to Mukherjee," the BJP candidate said, asserting that his margin will significantly increase this time. Dismissing Sarkar's claim, Chakraborty said that the TMC has made a turnaround in Bankura since the panchayat polls and would continue its winning streak. "I work for the people here 24x7," the TMC candidate told PTI. Claiming that Sarkar has not done much for the people of Bankura as its MP, Chakraborty alleged that even within the BJP's ground-level workers, there are murmurs of dissent over his candidature. Sarkar, on the other hand, asserted that the people of Bankura and the workers and supporters of BJP were steadfastly with him. Better known as 'Daktarbabu' in the region on account of his medical degree, Sarkar said that he has adequately spent his MPLAD funds in various development projects in the constituency in the last five years. He said that Rs 150 crore was given to the Bankura Sammilani Medical College by the Centre for Infrastructure Development. "The project is complete, but unfortunately the state government cannot provide doctors and nurses and that is why the benefits cannot be reached to the people," he said. CPI(M) candidate Nilanjan Dasgupta, a criminal lawyer practising in Bankura court, asserted that the Left votes which went to the TMC and BJP in 2014 and 2019, will come back to its fold. "People have now realized that the MPs from these parties are indifferent to their plight," he said, claiming that only the Left members are vocal about people's issues, from rights, livelihood to food and education, in Parliament. Dasgupta claimed that it is a good sign for the Left that people are largely tight-lipped about their political choices and said this could mean the electorate has had a change of mind. "Voters are disillusioned with the degeneration in politics which is currently dominated by religion at one end and allegations of corruption at the other," the CPI(M) candidate said. Both the TMC and BJP leadership in the constituency claimed that a section of the Kurmi community putting up Surajit Singh Kurmali as an independent candidate will not be able to queer their pitch. The Kurmis have been agitating over a string of demands including recognition as a scheduled tribe, recognition of Sarna religion and inclusion of Kurmali language in the eighth schedule of the Constitution. In the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections, the BJP had won four and TMC three segments in the Bankura Lok Sabha constituency. The BJP had won Bankura, Chhatna, Saltora (SC) and Raghunathpur (SC), the last being in Purulia district. The TMC had won the Ranibandh and Raipur segments, which are reserved for scheduled tribes, apart from Taldangra. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Pune (Maharashtra) [India], May 21 (ANI): The police detained the Father of the minor accused in the Pune car accident case on Tuesday morning, said police officials. The father of the minor was identified as Vishal Agarwal. According to the Commissioner of Police, Pune, Amitesh Kumar, father of the minor accused, has been detained from the Sambhajinagar area of Aurangabad district in Maharashtra this morning. Also Read | Rajiv Gandhi Death Anniversary 2024: Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge Pay Homage to Former PM on His Punyatithi (Watch Videos). In the early hours of Sunday, two individuals, including a young woman, lost their lives after a luxury car collided with their motorcycle near Kalyani Nagar in Pune, said police officials. On Monday the Pune Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar said that the Pune Police are seeking permission to try the juvenile accused in the Pune rash driving case, which killed two people, as an adult under sections of the Juvenile Justice Act. Also Read | Anti Terrorism Day 2024 in India Date, History and Significance: Know About the Day That Raises Awareness About the Dangers of Terrorism. "Police have taken yesterday's incident seriously. We have taken action under section 304 of IPC, which is a non-bailable section as it was a heinous crime...A drunk car driver was rashly driving on a narrow lane," the Pune Commissioner of Police told ANI. Earlier on May 19, the Juvenile Justice Board granted bail to the accused involved in a recent car accident in Pune, said the juvenile accused's advocate, Prashant Patil. The bail comes with several conditions aimed at rehabilitation and awareness. The conditions include the following: The accused should work with the traffic police of Yerawada for 15 days; the accused should write an essay on the accident; should get treatment from the concerned doctor to help him quit drinking; and should take psychiatric counselling and submit a report. "The juvenile accused who was arrested by Pune Police has been granted bail by the Juvenile Justice Board on certain conditions including that the accused should work with the traffic police of Yerawada for 15 days, accused should write an essay on accident, should get treatment from the concerned doctor to help him quit drinking and should take psychiatric counselling and submit the report," Prashant Patil said. The deceased have been identified as Anis Awadhiya and Ashwini Costa. The tragic incident occurred at about 3:15 am. Deputy Commissioner of Police Vijay Kumar Magar of Pune City Police confirmed that the juvenile has been apprehended and his father and the owner of a bar that served him alcohol have been booked. An FIR has been lodged, and an investigation is underway. "A bike rider and pillion rider were killed when a speeding car hit them from behind in the Kalyani Nagar area last night. The accused has been arrested, and an FIR has been registered. We are also verifying the certificates to ascertain the accused's age, as he claims to be a minor," stated DCP Magar. The police have charged the minor with rash and negligent driving and causing harm by endangering life or personal safety under IPC sections 304A, 279, 337, 338, and 427, along with relevant sections of the Maharashtra Motor Vehicle Act, added the DCP. The juvenile's father and the bar that served him liquor face charges under Sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act, said the city police in Pune. According to the FIR, the accident occurred as a group of friends were returning home on their motorcycles after a party at a restaurant in Kalyani Nagar. At the Kalyani Nagar junction, a speeding luxury car struck the bike carrying Awadhiya and Costa, causing them to fall and die instantly. The car subsequently crashed into roadside pavement railings. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Agartala (Tripura) [India], May 21 (ANI): Tripura Police rescued a 13-year-old minor who had been abducted from the Taltala area in West Tripura on Sunday morning and arrested two accused. The rescue took place in Salema, Dhalai district, late on Monday night. The arrests were made possible through diligent mobile tracking efforts. Also Read | Delhi Shocker: E-Rickshaw Driver Stabbed Multiple Times in Chest and Neck by Unidentified Persons in Jafrabad Area, Dies. The two accused, Jay Pal and Prasenjit Sarkar, were apprehended by the police team led by Bamutia Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Anthony Jamatia and Assistant Sub Inspector Deepak Das, under the supervision of Lefunga Police Station OC Sahadev Das. The abducted minor and the accused were brought to Bamutia Police Station around midnight. Also Read | Jharkhand Shocker: 18-Year-Old Dalit Girl Axed to Death by Brothers Over Love Affair With Tribal Youth in Chatra. OC Sahadev Das provided details to the media, confirming that the operation was carried out efficiently and discreetly to prevent the suspects from becoming alert. "The police initiated the investigation immediately after receiving the complaint, maintaining secrecy to ensure the success of the operation," OC Sahadev Das said. The successful rescue and arrests highlight the prompt and coordinated efforts of the Lefunga police. OC Sahadev Das emphasised that further legal action will be taken as per the law, ensuring justice for the abducted minor. The community has expressed relief and gratitude for the quick resolution of the case, acknowledging the dedication and professionalism of the Lefunga police team. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Islamabad [Pakistan], May 21 (ANI): A multi-party opposition alliance, Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayeen-e-Pakistan has requested permission to hold a public gathering in Islamabad, ARY News reported. The Tehreek Tahafuz Aayeen-i-Pakistan, a multi-party coalition of opposition parties launched earlier this year, has decided to start a campaign across the nation for the "restoration" of the Constitution, with power shows expected in Karachi and Faisalabad, Pakistan-based Dawn reported. Also Read | Walmart Layoffs Continue: Retail Giant To Lay Off 318 Employees at Edgerton Warehouse As It Moves Distribution Operations to Topeka in US. This request follows Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Amir Mughal and the alliance's focal person Akhunzada Yousafzai's approach to the Islamabad administration to seek permission to hold a public gathering on June 8th, at F-9 Park, as per ARY News. The alliance stated that Islamabad High Court (IHC) had already granted permission for the gathering. According to ARY News, the applicants stated that the public gathering initially planned for March was postponed due to the last days of Ramadan. Also Read | Iran Government To Hold Presidential Election on June 28 After Ebrahim Raisi's Death in Helicopter Crash Near Varzaqan County. Previously, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted permission for a public gathering following a petition by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Chief Justice of the IHC, Justice Aamer Farooq, presided over the hearing. PTI District President Aamir Mughal approached the IHC through his counsel and PTI leader Sher Afzal Marwat. The PTI named the Secretary of Interior, Chief Commissioner Islamabad, and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad as respondents. PTI also requested the court to order the authorities to refrain from using force against anyone attending the public meeting. On May 16, Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayeen-e-Pakistan also moved to the courts to seek permission to hold a rally in Faisalabad on May 17 as a part of its movement to 'save' Pakistan's constitution, Pakistan-based Dawn reported. As a part of its movement, the Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan decided to hold power shows in Faisalabad and Karachi. Addressing a lawyer's convention in Faisalabad, Sunni Ittehad Council head Hamid Raza said they had decided to go ahead with the rally even if the government did not give permission. However, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan was not in favour of the idea, saying PTI workers would bear the brunt. He added that Imran Khan asked his legal team to move the courts for permission, according to a Dawn report. The alliance head, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, said he called on Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to order the Punjab police chief to permit the public gathering in the city, as he also supported her father Nawaz Sharif's narrative for civilian supremacy. In April, the six-party alliance decided to begin a nationwide movement for the rule of law and selected Mahmood Khan Achakzai as its president. The opposition's decision to launch the campaign was aimed at protecting the Constitution. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Lahore [Pakistan], May 21 (ANI): The Punjab Assembly approved the Defamation Bill, 2024, dismissing all amendments suggested by the opposition, Dawn reported. This decision sparked protests from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-supported Sunni Ittehad Council and journalists reporting on the parliamentary sessions. Also Read | US Shocker: Teacher Who Appeared on Good Morning America TV Show Jailed for Having Sex With Teenager in Arkansas. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mujtaba Shuja ur Rehman presented the "Punjab Defamation Bill 2024" in the Assembly. The speaker allowed the Opposition to present its amendments, but they were eventually rejected by the Treasury, as per Dawn. The Opposition tore apart copies of the bill and termed it a black law. Members of the Press Gallery Committee boycotted Assembly proceedings and also staged a protest demonstration in front of the Assembly building. Also Read | UK: Small Boy Pushed Off Cliff for Stopping Man From Raping His Sister, Miraculously Survives. According to Dawn, the draft law proposes a special tribunal to try those involved in drafting, publishing and/or airing "fake news". The tribunal shall decide the case within six months and may impose a fine of up to Pakistani currency (PKR) 3 million. However, in cases of allegations against individuals holding constitutional posts, the high court will hear the cases. Also, the bill says the government will provide legal assistance to women and transgender individuals in defamation cases through an official legal team. Earlier, the government refused to send the draft bill to a selected committee consisting of opposition members to involve all stakeholders for consultation, stating that it had already been extensively discussed by the special committee. Opposition leader Malik Ahmed Khan Bhachhar questioned the rush of the treasury to pass the bill before midnight. Lawmakers from the SIC protested against the bill by waving placards, chanting slogans, and submitting 10 amendments. Opposition member Rana Shahbaz told the chair that Opposition members were not present in the committee formed for the defamation bill. "One of our members was out of the country and another was busy in court proceedings. Hence, only one opposition member was present in the meeting regarding the defamation bill, and his input was not considered." Ahmad Rashid Bhatti, also argued that introducing the defamation bill violates Article- 8 of the Constitution." Clause 23 of this law also conflicts with the Defamation Law 2024," he told the House. He noted that after the Fourth Amendment, the word 'defamation' was removed from the Constitution, and now it was being reinstated into the law." PTI-backed SIC legislator, Junaid Afzal Sahi, believed the law was aimed at targeting his party after the media had already been gagged. In a rare precedent, Advocate-General Khalid Ishaq joined the house proceedings and while responding to the objections raised by the opposition, read out some important points of the bill. The journalists after boycotting house proceedings gathered outside the assembly building and protested against the 'black law'. Lahore Press Club president Arshad Ansari told the protesting journalists that the government had engaged them in talks for more than two hours. He noted that the government refused to postpone the bill's approval for one week to allow stakeholders to reach a consensus. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Seoul, May 21 (AP) The world's leading artificial intelligence companies pledged at the start of a mini summit on AI to develop the technology safely, including pulling the plug if they can't rein in the most extreme risks. World leaders are expected to hammer out further agreements on artificial intelligence as they gathered virtually Tuesday to discuss AI's potential risks but also ways to promote its benefits and innovation. Also Read | Syrian First Lady Asma Al-Assad Diagnosed With Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Says President Bashar Assad's Office. The AI Seoul Summit is a low-key follow-up to November's high-profile AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in the United Kingdom, where participating countries agreed to work together to contain the potentially catastrophic risks posed by breakneck advances in AI. The two-day meeting -- co-hosted by the South Korean and UK governments -- also comes as major tech companies like Meta, OpenAI and Google roll out the latest versions of their AI models. Also Read | US Shocker: Teacher Who Appeared on Good Morning America TV Show Jailed for Having Sex With Teenager in Arkansas. They're among 16 AI companies that made voluntary commitments to AI safety as the talks got underway, according to a British government announcement. The companies, which also include Amazon, Microsoft, France's Mistral AI, China's Zhipu.ai, and G42 of the United Arab Emirates, vowed to ensure safety of their most cutting edge AI models with promises of accountable governance and public transparency. The pledge includes publishing safety frameworks setting out how they will measure risks of these models. In extreme cases where risks are severe and intolerable," AI companies will have to hit the kill switch and stop developing or deploying their models and systems if they can't mitigate the risks. Since the UK meeting last year, the AI industry has increasingly focused on the most pressing concerns, including mis- and dis- information, data security, bias and keeping humans in the loop, said Aiden Gomez CEO of Cohere, one of the AI companies that signed the pact. "It is essential that we continue to consider all possible risks, while prioritising our efforts on those most likely to create problems if not properly addressed. On Tuesday evening, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are to meet other world leaders, industry bosses and heads of international organisations for a virtual conference. The online summit will be followed by an in-person meeting of digital ministers, experts and others on Wednesday, according to organisers. It is just six months since world leaders met at Bletchley, but even in this short space of time, the landscape of AI has changed dramatically, Yoon and Sunak said in a joint article published in South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper and the UK's online news site Monday. The pace of change will only continue to accelerate, so our work must accelerate too. While the UK meeting centred on AI safety issues, the agenda for this week's gathering was expanded to include innovation and inclusivity, Wang Yun-jong, a deputy director of national security in South Korea, told reporters Monday. Wang said participants will subsequently discuss not only the risks posed by AI but also its positive aspects and how it can contribute to humanity in a balanced manner." The AI agreement will include the outcomes of discussions on safety, innovation and inclusivity, according to Park Sang-wook, senior presidential adviser for science and technology for President Yoon. Last year's Bletchley meeting attracted world leaders and tech luminaries like Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The Seoul summit, serving as an interim meeting until another in-person event next year in France, drew less important representatives from government and tech companies. China, which attended the Bletchley gathering, isn't joining the virtual summit though it will send a representative to Wednesday's in-person meeting, the South Korean presidential office said. Governments around the world have been scrambling to formulate regulations for AI even as the technology makes rapid advances and is poised to transform many aspects of daily life, from education and the workplace to copyrights and privacy. There are concerns that advances in AI could take away jobs, trick people and spread disinformation. This week's meeting is just one of a slew of efforts to draw up AI guardrails. The UN General Assembly has approved its first resolution on the safe use of AI systems, while the US and China recently held their first high-level talks on AI and the European Union's world-first AI Act is set to take effect later this year. (AP) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) By Ayushi Agarwal Colombo [Sri Lanka], May 21 (ANI): Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry expressed his country's keenness to join the BRICS grouping on Monday and conveyed that the group has become a 'good body' after India became part of it. He emphasized that Sri Lanka would reach out first to India whenever it formally applies to join the BRICS grouping. Also Read | Israel Lambasts ICC Chief Prosecutor Over Gaza War Arrest Warrants for PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. "We will look forward for BRICS. Also, I think the cabinet had appointed a sub-committee to look into that and recommend to us. We would like to see that because we would like to have multiple options. Who doesn't want to? So therefore BRICS is a good body, particularly since India is a part of it," Sabry said in an interview with ANI. "The first country we would be talking to is India and seek India's support for us to reach to the BRICS. And then of course I have been invited to take part on the BRICS foreign ministers meeting in Russia. So I hope that I will be there and then we will assess that. And yes, I think that right now personally if you ask me, I think that we should look at BRICS seriously," he added. Also Read | Ebrahim Raisi Dies: India Announces One-Day State Mourning on May 21 Following Death of Iranian President in Helicopter Crash. On January 1, 2024, Russia took over the chairmanship of BRICS, an intergovernmental organization that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, plus four new members: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates joined BRICS as new full members, which is a strong indication of the growing authority of the association and its role in international affairs. When asked if Sri Lanka is looking to host any high-level visit from India, the Sri Lankan Minister said that his president visited India recently and now they are looking to host the Indian Prime Minister and a high-level delegation in the country. "We are looking forward to the visit to the Indian prime Minister as soon as possible when the circumstances conduce you for such a visit because my president already visited last year. So this is the turn for the Indian prime minister to visit Sri Lanka," he said. "We would hope for a high-level delegation with a very powerful business delegation accompanying the honourable Prime Minister and visiting Sri Lanka in near future, that will further strengthen our relationship, which is at an all-time high," he added. At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe visited India on an official visit on July 21, 2023. This was President Wickremesinghe's first visit to India since assuming the current responsibilities. During his visit, President Wickremesinghe met President Droupadi Murmu and held discussions with the Prime Minister and other Indian dignitaries on a range of issues of mutual interest. Sri Lanka is an important partner in India's Neighbourhood First Policy and Vision SAGAR. The visit reinforced the longstanding friendship between the two countries and explored avenues for enhanced connectivity and mutually beneficial cooperation across sectors. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Washington, DC [US], May 21 (ANI): United States said on Monday that they were 'unable' to provide assistance to the Iran government due to logistical reasons after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's helicopter crashed on Sunday afternoon. "We were asked for assistance by the Iranian government. We did make it clear to them that we would offer assistance, as we would do in response to any request by a foreign government in this sort of situation," US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a daily briefing. Also Read | Israel Lambasts ICC Chief Prosecutor Over Gaza War Arrest Warrants for PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. "I'm not going to get into the details, but we were asked by the Iranian Government for assistance. We said that we would be willing to assist. It's something that we would do with respect to any government in this situation. Ultimately, largely for logistical reasons, we weren't able to provide that assistance," Miller added. Saying that Iranian President had 'blood in his hands,' Spokesperson Miller condoled the death of President Ebrahim Raisi and said that "We don't want to see anyone die in a helicopter crash." Also Read | Ebrahim Raisi Dies: India Announces One-Day State Mourning on May 21 Following Death of Iranian President in Helicopter Crash. "Let me say a few things. One, we have been quite clear that Ebrahim Raisi was a brutal participant in the repression of the Iranian people for nearly four decades. He was involved in numerous horrific human rights abuses, including playing a key role in the extrajudicial killing of thousands of political prisoners in 1988. Some of the worst human rights abuses occurred during his tenure as president, especially the human rights abuses against the women and girls of Iran," he said. "We regret any loss of life. We don't want to see anyone die in a helicopter crash. But that doesn't change the reality of his record both as a judge and as the president of Iran and the fact that he has blood on his hands. So, I think, most importantly, our fundamental approach to Iran has not changed and will not change. We will continue to support the people of Iran, to defend their human rights, their aspirations to an open, free society and democratic participation," he added. The chopper, which also carried other officials, had disappeared in the mountains of northwestern Iran after making a 'hard landing' on Sunday. They were confirmed killed on Monday morning around 16 hours after the helicopter they were travelling in crashed in poor weather. Raisi, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, and seven other people who were onboard the helicopter that crashed on Sunday have died, state media Press TV reported on Monday. Raisi was returning to Iran following a visit to Azerbaijan when his helicopter came down in bad weather conditions on Sunday afternoon. Nine people were on the helicopter that crashed in northwest Iran on Sunday, as reported by Tasnim News. Raisi and his accompanying delegation were returning from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam on the Aras River with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev. Following the announcement of the deaths of Raisi and his team, the Iranian cabinet held an emergency session headed by Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, Press TV reported. Raisi was heading to the city of Tabriz on Sunday afternoon when the incident took place. An Al Jazeera reporter said that "looking at the wreckage of the helicopter, the chances of anyone surviving in such an accident are quite slim. We see that the whole cabin of the helicopter is completely burned." The publication said that Iranian authorities "are saying that some of the bodies were burned beyond recognition and that they have not been able to identify who is who at the site." Drone footage of the wreckage taken by the Red Crescent was carried on state media. It showed the crash site on a steep, wooded hillside, with little remaining of the helicopter beyond a blue and white tail, CNN reported. For the first time, Iran is going through such a situation. The country has never seen something similar with the president and the foreign minister disappearing in a helicopter crash, reported Al Jazeera. Following the report of the Iranian President's death and that of the foreign affairs minister, the government cabinet convened an urgent meeting, IRNA reported. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Colombo [Sri Lanka], May 21 (ANI): Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry affirmed his country's commitment to safeguarding India's national security interests on Monday, stating that Colombo, as a responsible neighbour, will not allow anyone to harm India's security. The Minister also addressed India's concerns regarding the visits of Chinese research vessels to the island nation, saying that they would like to work with other countries in a transparent manner but not at the cost of others. Also Read | Israel Lambasts ICC Chief Prosecutor Over Gaza War Arrest Warrants for PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. "We have very clearly stated that we would like to work with all countries, but any reasonable concerns regarding Indian security will be taken into note, and we will not allow anyone to harm that. Subject to that, of course, in a very transparent manner, we would like to work with all countries," the Minister said in an interview with ANI. "I just got to know that recently China has become India's biggest trading partner. So similarly, like you work with that. We would also like to work with everyone, but that should not come at anyone else, third parties cost. So therefore, let me reiterate, as a responsible neighbour and a civilizational partner we will not undertake anything that would harm the legitimate security concerns of India," he added. Also Read | Ebrahim Raisi Dies: India Announces One-Day State Mourning on May 21 Following Death of Iranian President in Helicopter Crash. When asked about the ongoing elections in India, the Minister said that the exercise is a celebration of democracy and asserted that Sri Lanka would work with India irrespective of its election outcome. "It's a celebration of democracy, the largest democracy in the world. Indian people are educated. Indian people will know what is good for them. I think when it comes to elections, it is domestic matter. It is the public who must decide and others only should watch. We see this celebration is taking place of a democracy. We want a peaceful conclusion of this and we will work with any outcome with the indian public decide," he said. Last year, India had expressed its security concerns over the docking of the vessel at the Sri Lankan port as it was shown as a research vessel with the capability of mapping the ocean bed, which is critical to anti-submarine operations of the Chinese Navy. The Chinese research ship had docked at Sri Lanka's Hambantota Port. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar while commenting on Chinese spy vessel Yuan Wang-5 which had docked in Sri Lanka, said that any developments that have a bearing on India's security are "obviously of an interest to us". "What happens in our neighbourhood, any developments which have a bearing on our security, obviously are of an interest to us," Jaishankar said at a joint press conference after the 9th India-Thailand Joint Commission Meeting. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Chennai, May 21: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) was conducting raids at the residences of two Coimbatore-based doctors in Tamil Nadu. According to the investigating agency sources, the raids were connected to the blast at the Rameshwaram Cafe in Bengaluru on March 1. A low-intensity IED bomb had exploded at the cafe injuring 10 people. According to sources, two teams of NIA were conducting the raids at the residences of the two doctors at Narayanaguru Street in Sai Baba colony. There is a heavy deployment of local police in front of both residences to prevent any untoward incident. Rameshwaram Cafe Blast: NIA Detains Two Suspects in Bengaluru Explosion Case. Two suspects in the case, Mussavir Hussain Saheb and Abdul Matheen Thaha, were arrested in West Bengal on April 12. On October 23, 2022, there was a car bomb explosion in front of the Arulmigu Kottai Sanagameswar temple in Ukkadam, Coimbatore. Later a charred body of a 29-year-old youth, Jamesha Mubin was found at the blast site. Bengaluru: Rameshwaram Cafe's Brookfield Outlet Where Blast Occurred To Reopen on March 8; Viral Video Shows Long Queue Outside Indiranagar Outlet. The suicide bomber was planning to explode himself along with the car near a market on October 23, 2022, which was Diwali eve. However, the blast occurred before the expected time thus saving several people. Several people and organisations in the Coimbatore region have been under the radar of the Central agencies ever since this attack. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 21, 2024 12:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) will declare the Class 12 board exam results today, May 21. The Maharashtra Board HSC or Class 12th exam results will be announced during a press conference at 1 pm. Students who appeared for the MSBSHSE Class 12 or Higher Secondary examinations can check their results by visiting the official website of Maharashtra Board at mahahsscboard.in and mahresult.nic.in. After this, students must click the HSC or Class 12th result link. The results will be displayed on the screen. The MSBSHSE has also released a list of websites where students can check their Class 12th exam results. This year, the MSBSHSE Class 12 or Higher Secondary examinations were held offline between February 21 and March 19. Maharashtra Board HSC Result 2024: Date, Time for MSBSHSE Class 12 Exam Results Announced, Know List of Websites To Check Marks. Maharashtra Board HSC Result 2024 Date and Time Maharashtra Board HSC Result 2024: Date, Time for MSBSHSE Class 12 Exam Results Announced, Know List of Websites To Check Markshttps://t.co/jp7RkfvJTW#Maharashtra #HSCResult2024 #Class12Result LatestLY (@latestly) May 20, 2024 (SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user's social media account and LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY, also LatestLY does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.) On 20 May Argentinas Presidentheightened diplomatic tensions with Spain upon his return to Buenos Aires in the wake of his incendiary comments during a speech at an event organised by far-right Spanish opposition party Vox in Madrid the previous day. End of preview - This article contains approximately 360 words. Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article Not a Subscriber? Choose from one of the following options On 20 May a new migrant caravan departed from the city of Tapachula in Mexicos southern state of Chiapas, heading to the US, according to media reports. End of preview - This article contains approximately 385 words. Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article Not a Subscriber? Choose from one of the following options On 20 May Brazils national confederation of municipalities (CNM) began its annual event in Brasilia known as the Marcha dos Prefeitos (mayors march), in which local mayors gather to present their demands to federal government authorities. Analysis: Over 10,000 local officials, such as mayors, deputy mayors, municipal secretaries, and city councillors, have come from towns and cities around the country and will stay in Brasilia until 23 May to exert pressure on the government led by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and on the national congress over issues such as tax breaks on payrolls. This had been a major source of tension between the branches of government in recent months, but the Lula administration and leading lawmakers, such as senate president Rodrigo Pacheco, have managed to negotiate a plan to gradually phase out tax breaks on payrolls for companies in 17 economic sectors and for public sector employees in municipal authorities. However, the mayors are weighing in on the debate and are likely to demand a more gradual reimposition of taxes on municipal payrolls. On 16 May Pacheco announced that congress had reached an agreement with the government to maintain tax reductions on municipal payrolls for the rest of 2024. The Lula government has agreed to continue the tax benefit, which was introduced in 2011 and lowered the payroll tax rate from 20% to 8%, but from 2025 onwards, the payroll tax rate will increase every year. In a press release, the CNMs president, Paulo Ziulkoski , is cited as describing the maintenance of payroll tax breaks as a fundamental demand but added that this was just the tip of the iceberg. He also called on the federal government to review the social security contributions of municipal employees. , is cited as describing the maintenance of payroll tax breaks as a fundamental demand but added that this was just the tip of the iceberg. He also called on the federal government to review the social security contributions of municipal employees. Ziulkoski also highlighted the burden on municipal authorities caused by climate-related disasters, such as the severe floods currently devastating his native state of Rio Grande do Sul. The CNM estimates that natural disasters have cost municipalities throughout Brazil over R$32bn (US$6.27bn) in losses and damages in 2024 so far, and Ziulkoski called for more financial support from the federal government. Looking Ahead: Lula is scheduled to give a speech at the Marcha dos Prefeitos today (21 May). Meanwhile, the senate is due to review the legislation to set the terms for phasing out the payroll tax breaks this week; it remains to be seen how much federal lawmakers will concede to the mayors. Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader won a second term in a decisive first-round victory, securing 58.85 percent of the vote with over half of the voting centers reporting. His nearest rival, former President Leonel Fernandez, received 27.29 percent, Aljazeera reports. Abinader's victory surpassed the 50 percent threshold, avoiding a runoff. Abinader, popular for his strong migration policies and economic management, pledged unity and impartial leadership, emphasizing a government without distinctions or party biases. Despite minor irregularities reported by opposition parties, the election process was deemed smooth and democratic. High voter turnout reflected lingering concerns from the suspended 2020 municipal elections. International observers, including former Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuno, praised the integrity of the electoral process. Abinader promised constitutional reforms on presidential term limits and vowed not to seek a third term. READ NEXT: Dominican Republic Votes; Abinader Seeks Re-election Public Support and Controversial Policies Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader, with approval ratings around 70 percent, secured a second term, reflecting public support for his economic management and strict migration policies. Since his 2020 election, Abinader, a US-trained economist of Lebanese descent, has focused on restoring government trust amid corruption scandals and controlling undocumented migration from Haiti. A key initiative is a 164km concrete border wall with Haiti, resulting in over 250,000 deportations in 2023, despite international criticism, according to CNN. Opinions on President Abinader's migration policies are mixed. Voter Willy Soto, 21, supports the crackdown, while Javier Taveras, 38, criticizes the harsh treatment of Haitians and questions the wall's effectiveness. Although popular domestically, Abinader's migrant policies face backlash from human rights groups, who label them as racist and violating international law. The president's focus on economic stability and migration control continues to resonate with many voters, solidifying his political standing despite controversy. Prospects Under Abinader's Leadership President Luis Abinader's re-election promises to reinforce his major policies, including an anticorruption agenda and strict border control measures. In his second term, Abinader plans to complete the border wall, strengthen the economy, and root out corruption. However, the relationship with Haiti remains contentious. Haiti, sharing the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, has been in chaos since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise. Abinader's crackdown on Haitian migrants has drawn accusations from human rights groups, who estimate around 130,000 people of Haitian descent remain stateless in the Dominican Republic due to restrictive birthright citizenship laws. Despite requests from the United Nations to suspend deportations due to high violence rates in Haiti, Abinader refused, emphasizing national security, AP News noted. The international community, including the United States, has noted Abinader's hardline stance on Haitian migration. While the Biden administration congratulated Abinader on his victory, experts like Michael Shifter believe he has used the Haitian crisis to bolster political support. As Haiti undergoes a political transition and Abinader begins another four years in power, there are hopes for a softened stance and increased cooperation. Voters like Rafaela Tejada support Abinader's policies for national security, while others, like William Charpentier Blanco, express concern about rising hate speech and the impact on legal migrants. Luis Abinader's second term presents the challenge of balancing national security with human rights amid ongoing turmoil in Haiti. READ MORE: UNICEF Reports Surge in Child Migrants Taking 'Donkey Route' Across Darien Gap This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Ross Key WATCH: Voters in the Dominican Republic set to elect new president - From VOANews President Joe Biden encountered a subdued but significant form of protest as he delivered the commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta on Sunday. The event, typically a celebration of academic achievement, was marked by quiet dissent from students and faculty critical of Biden's handling of international conflicts and racial issues. Biden's speech was overshadowed by the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, which has drawn global attention and criticism, ABC News reports. Valedictorian DeAngelo "DJ" Fletcher set the tone with a call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, highlighting the deep concern among many at Morehouse College regarding international peace and justice. During his address, Biden acknowledged the gravity of the situation in Gaza, describing it as "heartbreaking" and emphasizing his support for peaceful protests. "Your voices should be heard," Biden affirmed, addressing the assembled graduates and guests. He candidly shared his personal frustration, including his family's own concerns, over the ongoing conflicts and the elusive quest for lasting peace in the region. READ NEXT: Biden and Trump Set for 2 Presidential Debates in June and September Graduation Ceremony Dynamics and Symbolic Gestures As graduates filed in for the ceremony, a visible split emerged among them in response to Joe Biden's presence and remarks. Some draped themselves in Palestinian flags and wore traditional keffiyehs, symbols of solidarity with Palestinians affected by the conflict, according to Fox News. While there were no disruptive protests, several graduates and a faculty member expressed dissent through symbolic gestures like turning their chairs away from the president or raising fists in silent protest. Notably, alumni and the 2024 graduating class differed in their reactions, with alumni showing more overt support through standing ovations compared to the predominantly seated 2024 graduates. Biden speech also sparked criticism among Black voters, a crucial demographic whose support has shown signs of waning according to recent polls. Lou Valentino, a New York resident, accused Biden of "race baiting" and criticized what he perceived as a failure to uplift Black Americans in his speech. Others echoed similar sentiments, citing disillusionment with Democratic policies and a desire for less government intervention. Institutional Response and Historical Context Morehouse College, known for its historic role in fostering African American leadership, responded to the protests with measured support for the students' right to peaceful assembly. Drawing on its legacy, which includes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the college emphasized the importance of activism and dialogue on issues of social justice, even as it navigates internal and external critiques of Biden's invitation to speak, Yahoo! News noted. The silent protest at Morehouse College reflects broader national debates over US foreign policy and racial justice. Joe Biden's remarks, framed within the context of American democracy and racial equity, underscored ongoing challenges faced by Black communities and the need for inclusive leadership. Despite the subdued atmosphere and symbolic protests, Biden's presence at Morehouse College highlighted the complexities of leadership in a polarized society. As the nation prepares for upcoming elections, the event serves as a poignant reminder of the diverse viewpoints shaping American politics and policy. READ MORE: Rudy Giuliani's 80th Birthday: An Indictment This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Ross Key WATCH: President Biden faces silent protests at Morehouse commencement speech - From ABC 7 Chicago An Arizona man, David Michael Pagniano, a 62-year-old resident of Prescott, has been given a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to the 2017 murder of his wife, Sandra Pagniano. Sandra's tragic death involved being buried alive in a hand-dug grave near their home while their children slept, according to authorities. Yavapai County Attorney Dennis McGrane described the case as particularly disturbing, prompting his office to pursue the death penalty, CBS News reports. Sandra Pagniano, 39 at the time of her death, vanished in May 2017 amid divorce proceedings with her husband. Despite their separation, they resided together with their two young daughters. READ NEXT: Arizona: 6 Arrested in Connection with Halloween Party Attack Resulting in Death of Preston Lord Investigation and Discovery of the Crime The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office initiated an extensive investigation into Sandra's disappearance, which ultimately led to the grim discovery of her body bound and gagged in packing tape inside a hand-dug grave in a remote area near Prescott. The medical examiner confirmed she had been buried alive, indicating a horrifying ordeal that lasted several minutes after burial, Toofab noted. Detectives uncovered unsettling details during their investigation. Cellphone records placed an Arizona man in the vicinity of the grave site both before and during the time of Sandra's disappearance. Furthermore, they discovered two notes allegedly written by Sandra and filed in their divorce proceedings. These notes, purportedly expressing her intention to leave everything to David, were later revealed to have been forged by him, adding a layer of deception and betrayal to the case. Guilty Plea and Sentencing An Arizona man's trial was pending when he unexpectedly pleaded guilty the night before proceedings were set to begin. This decision left sentencing in the hands of the judge, who handed down a life sentence for the murder charge. In addition, Pagniano received a 16-and-a-half-year prison term for kidnapping, forgery, and fraud offenses related to the case. The sentencing of an Arizona man has reverberated throughout the Prescott community, underscoring the devastating impact of domestic violence and betrayal within families. Sandra Pagniano's death serves as a poignant reminder of the vulnerability faced by victims of domestic abuse and the critical importance of supporting efforts to prevent such tragedies, according to Fox News. McGrane expressed hope that the life sentence would offer some solace to Sandra's grieving family, emphasizing his office's commitment to pursuing justice rigorously. He highlighted that cases involving such egregious acts of violence warrant thorough prosecution to ensure accountability and prevent future harm in Yavapai County. The Arizona man's life sentence marks the harrowing legal saga that has gripped Prescott since Sandra Pagniano's tragic death in 2017. It underscores the resilience of law enforcement in pursuing justice and the necessity of community support for victims of domestic violence. As the community reflects on this case, there is a renewed commitment to protecting vulnerable individuals and families from similar tragedies in the future. READ MORE: Illinois Teen Dies in Car Crash Shortly Before Graduation This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Ross Key WATCH: Man arrested in wife's disappearance - From 12 News The bipartisan border deal is making its comeback after Donald Trump pressured Senate Republicans to kill the bill. This was confirmed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, with the measure being reintroduced as a stand-alone bill later this week. The Democratic Senate Majority Leader announced it on Sunday as the border issue has become a more and more important issue coming into the November 2024 election. It previously had strong Republican and Democratic support until Trump sounded off negatively against it and began pressuring fellow Republicans to vote no. The bill ultimately failed even though it was widely popular. However, as The Hill noted, this second round for the border deal will also likely fail as Republicans are once again poised to reject it, though some Democrats may also vote against the measure. However, it is likely seen as a boon to Democrats who can use it to flip the narrative as Republicans have been blocking the border deal for their own political gain. "We are hopeful this bipartisan proposal will bring serious-minded Republicans back to the table to advance this bipartisan solution for our border," wrote Schumer in his letter to his Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle. The Democrat has earlier teased the effort's return earlier this month. "I will be honest: I do not expect all Democrats to support this legislation. Many of our colleagues do not support some of the provisions in this legislation, nor do I expect all Republicans to agree to every provision," he added. "But that is often how bipartisan legislation must be shaped when dealing with an issue as complex and politically charged as our nation's immigration laws." What Will the Bipartisan Border Deal Do If It Passes? Originally, the border deal was brought up through a bipartisan effort by Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, and Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. This was in response to Republicans saying that any aid for Ukraine must be paired with legislation to address the situation at the southern border. READ MORE: Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Guatemala President Bernardo Arevalo, Meet Regarding Migration Should it be passed, the Border Act would be able to reform US asylum laws and also hire thousands of border agents to help police the border. According to Reuters, it would also help bring down fentanyl smuggling. However, even if it passes the Senate, House Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson, who is more closely allied with Trump, have vowed that "the bill would be dead on arrival." Donald Trump's Meddling Led to the Bipartisan Border Deal to Fail Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other renowned Republican senators firmly backed the bill as the Democrats made concessions to the Republicans' demands. With bipartisan support, it was supposed to pass. However, upon realizing that the bill would make Joe Biden look good and disprove their narrative that he is not doing enough about the border, Donald Trump pressured other Republicans to reject it. As NBC News pointed out, Trump's pressure campaign on his fellow Republicans was so strong that even McConnel, one of the bill's strongest supporters, ultimately voted no during the first time the vote was even brought up. Several other Republicans also flipped after Trump falsely claimed to his supporters that the bill would make the border worse. "It looks to me, and to most of our members, as if we have no real chance here to make a law," said McConnell, explaining why even he flipped. He did not admit that this was due to Trump's pressure so Biden would not look good. READ MORE: Russia Spreading Disinformation About US Border Crisis To Undercut Ukraine Aid This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: Trump admits to trying to tank border deal to prevent a Biden win - CNN The iconic Graceland estate, once owned by Elvis Presley and now at the center of a legal storm, faces a potential public auction following a foreclosure notice. A recent public notice announced the impending foreclosure sale of Graceland, located on Elvis Presley Boulevard in Memphis, citing a $3.8 million debt owed by the Promenade Trust, which manages the estate. This debt allegedly stems from a loan secured by Lisa Marie Presley, Riley Keough's mother, in 2018, USA Today. READ NEXT: Priscilla Presley, Riley Keough Resolve Estate Dispute Legal Maneuvers Riley Keough, as trustee of the Promenade Trust following her mother's death in January 2023, swiftly responded with legal action. Represented by Memphis-based law firm Morton and Germany, Keough secured a temporary restraining order postponing the scheduled May 23 auction pending further court proceedings. In a lawsuit filed on May 15 in Shelby County Chancery Court, Keough asserts that documents presented by Naussany Investments and Private Lending, the purported lenders, are fraudulent. The lawsuit contends that Lisa Marie Presley never borrowed money from Naussany Investments nor granted them a Deed of Trust over Graceland, according to New Channel 3. "These documents are fraudulent," the lawsuit states emphatically, casting doubt on the authenticity of signatures and the existence of the lending entity itself. An injunction hearing, crucial to determining the immediate future of Graceland, is scheduled for May 22, where both parties will present their arguments before the court. This hearing will likely influence whether the foreclosure sale proceeds or if further legal actions are warranted. Elvis Presley purchased Graceland in 1957, making it his beloved home until his passing in 1977. Lisa Marie Presley inherited the estate, which subsequently opened to the public as a museum in 1982. The property, spanning 179 acres, holds significant historical and cultural value, attracting around 600,000 visitors annually. As the legal battle over Graceland unfolds, the estate's future remains uncertain. Riley Keough's efforts to contest the foreclosure sale underscore the deep personal and historical significance of Graceland, not just as a landmark but as a cherished legacy of the legendary Elvis Presley. The outcome of the impending court decisions will determine whether Graceland continues to be preserved as a cultural icon or faces a turbulent financial future. Delving deeper into the legal intricacies of the case reveals a complex web of allegations and counterclaims. The lawsuit filed by Riley Keough challenges the legitimacy of the loan agreement and questions the authenticity of the documents presented by Naussany Investments and Private Lending. Keough's legal team, led by Memphis-based attorneys Morton and Germany, is poised to argue vigorously for the protection of Graceland's legacy. Graceland's Economic Impact Beyond its cultural significance, Graceland plays a vital role in the local economy of Memphis, attracting tourists from around the world and generating revenue for businesses in the area. The potential disruption caused by a foreclosure sale could have far-reaching consequences for the city's tourism industry and the livelihoods of those dependent on Graceland-related businesses. At the heart of the legal battle lies the question of preserving Graceland as a cultural treasure for future generations, Commercial Appeal noted. The estate holds not only historical artifacts and memorabilia but also serves as a symbol of Elvis Presley's enduring legacy. Riley Keough's determination to uphold her family's legacy reflects a broader commitment to safeguarding the rich heritage embodied by Graceland. READ MORE: Kendall Jenner Attends Bad Bunny Concert with Ex, Fuels Reconciliation Rumors This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Ross Key WATCH: Graceland set for foreclosure auction, notice states; Elvis heir claims fraud, fights sale - From WREG News Channel 3 Editors Note: This story first appeared on Armchair Lehigh Valley and is being published on lehighvalleylive.com as part of a partnership with the website, which aims to give voters factual information in a nonpartisan way to help them make informed decisions at the polls. Armchair Lehigh Valley is run by publisher Katherine Reinhard and editor Robert H. Orenstein, two longtime journalists who formerly worked at The Morning Call in Allentown. Learn more about Armchair Lehigh Valley and subscribe here. The vice presidential debate scheduled for Sept. 25 at Lafayette College between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trumps yet-to-be-named pick is uncertain, according to an email Lafayettes president sent to students. The email was first reported by Lafayettes student newspaper on May 15. In the end-of-year update to students, faculty and staff ahead of the colleges commencement, Lafayette President Nicole Hurd briefly touched on the vice presidential debate among other topics. As you know, the College was selected last fall by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) to host the U.S. Vice Presidential debate for the first time. Yesterday, two presidential candidates announced intentions for their debates that may impact this plan, Hurd wrote. In addition to Lafayette, the nonpartisan CPD chose three other schools to host the presidential debates this year. The commission was established in 1987 and has hosted presidential and vice presidential debates in nine election cycles, according to its website. But that streak was upended when the Republican National Committee voted in April 2022 to withdraw from the commissions debates because it said the group was biased. On Truth Social, Trump has continually challenged President Biden to a debate. Biden responded on May 15 by posting a video offering to debate Trump twice on his campaigns social media outlets. Two debates were quickly scheduled on CNN and ABC, but the wheels were set in motion behind-the-scenes for weeks because both campaigns wanted to circumvent the CPD, according to The New York Times. On Thursday, Bidens campaign said Vice President Harris accepted CBS News invitation to debate Trumps pick on July 23 or Aug. 13. That leaves Lafayette Colleges potential for the national spotlight in jeopardy. Scott Morse, the assistant vice president for communications & marketing at Lafayette, said the CPD has pledged to keep us informed on any impact recent developments may have on the vice presidential debate. The commissions chair, Frank Fahrenkopf, told No Labels on May 16 that all of the 2024 sites are prepared to host debates on dates chosen but did not say whether the debates are officially canceled. Armchair Lehigh Valley reached out to the Commission on Presidential Debates through email but did not receive a response. Lafayette celebrated the November 2023 announcement of the vice presidential debate. In a press release, Hurd said she was eager for the debate to present our vibrant campus to a national audience. The college also announced plans for facilities updates and launched a website. A 56-year-old Bethlehem man was sent to prison for a year on Monday for failing to pay $2.5 million in taxes from income generated by his Dominos Pizza franchises, according to a news release. Ammar Jali owned 36 franchises in Pennsylvania and Ohio, according to the release from the U.S. Attorneys office. He failed to pay taxes on $10 million in income between 2014 and 2016, the release says. He was effectively thumbing his nose at both the IRS and all the honest filers who accurately report their income and pay what they owe, U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero said in the release. Defense attorney Paul J. Hetznecker of Philadelphia said Jali is remorseful and took full responsibility for his actions. U.S. District Judge Joshua D. Wolson sentenced Jali to a year in prison, imposed a $50,000 fine and ordered Jali to pay $2.5 million in back taxes. He pleaded guilty Jan. 29 to submitting a false tax return. Hetznecker submitted character letters from several of Jalis employees who were grateful for help he provided. Hetznecker unsuccessfully asked the judge to keep Jali out of prison. We appreciate the judges measured evaluation of all the mitigating factors, Hetznecker said. The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiwana Wright. Anyone contemplating cheating on their taxes should know that IRS criminal investigation special agents work tirelessly, year-round, to investigate tax and financial crimes, said IRS Criminal Investigation Acting Special Agent in Charge Denise Leuenberger. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to Lehighvalleylive.com. Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. The South Jersey business owner who defied Gov. Phil Murphys COVID lockdown orders by keeping his gym open, racking up dozens of court summonses, has been cleared of all charges, his attorney said Tuesday. Ian Smith, co-owner of Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, opened his facility during the coronavirus pandemic in May 2020 in defiance of a state-ordered closing of nonessential businesses. Police arrested some gym members as they left after workouts at the facility. Smith and co-owner Frank Trumbetti faced more than 80 summonses charging them with violating a governors orders, operating without a mercantile license, creating a public nuisance and disturbing the peace. At one point, the state Attorney Generals office recommended fines of up to $10,000 a day and imprisonment for the owners of Atilis if they did not shutter their business. Many of the charges also carried up to six months in jail, said Smiths attorney, John McCann of Oakland in Bergen County. Following an appeals court ruling on the state fines, the gym was ordered to pay about $165,000 in fines for violating the public health emergency rules issued by Murphy and state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli. Though the state and municipal cases were separate, McCann said now that the local charges have been dismissed hes looking to see if he can retrieve the money the gym owners paid in state fines based on the dismissal of the municipal charges. When you look at this, it didnt make a lot of sense at the time. It kind of looked like they were throwing everything they could at these guys, McCann said. McCann said the summonses were written up by the Bellmawr Police Department, but the cases were later transferred to Winslow Township Municipal Court due to a conflict. Those charges hung over these guys heads for over four years, McCann said. On April 24, a judge in Winslow Township dismissed the charges but gave the prosecutors until this week to appeal. We didnt get a lot of cooperation from Bellmawr with regard to discovery. The only thing we got with regard to discovery was the summonses, McCann said Tuesday. You need the reports, you need a whole bunch of stuff. The judge in Winslow said Bellmawr didnt provide their court with meaningful discovery to give to us, McCann said. She basically said that Bellmawr ignored the requests. When there was no appeal from officials in Bellmawr or the state, all charges were dropped with prejudice, meaning they cannot be filed again, according to McCann. Bellmawrs court clerk on Tuesday declined to comment on the case, and the court clerk in Winslow Township was not immediately available to comment. A spokesperson for the state Attorney Generals Office did not immediately respond to a call and an email seeking comment Tuesday morning. Atilis Gym co-owner Ian Smith, left, holds a summons he received from police after he opened the doors for business despite the state's order that all such facilities remain closed to slow the spread of the coronavirus in 2020.Tim Hawk | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com In an interview during the pandemic, Smith accused the state of being very selective about which businesses could stay open and those that could not. Telling people that liquor stores are essential but places they can come to work on their physical and mental health is not its just not adding up. So, we decided to take matters into our own hands, Smith said at the time. In May 2020, the business filed a federal lawsuit against the state, accusing Murphy, along with then-Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and other New Jersey officials of violating the owners constitutional rights by forcing them out of business indefinitely with no timeline for when they can reopen. McCann on Tuesday said Atilis owners did not make money off gym memberships during the pandemic. The facility, for that period of time, became the campaign headquarters for Republican U.S Senate candidate Rik Mehta, who challenged Democrat Cory Booker for his U.S. Senate seat. People entering Atilis were exercising their right to volunteer for Mehtas candidacy. If they worked out while they were there, they were not charged a membership fee, McCann said. There was no income coming in but for the GoFundMe money they were raising to fight the state, McCann said. The GoFundMe raised more than $530,000 for the gym owners cause. On Sunday, Smith took to social media to claim victory in the gyms fight against the state. The support we received locally, nationally, and internationally for our stand is something I will be forever grateful for, Smith said. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. ROARING SPRING, Pa. (AP) A Pennsylvania school districts decision to remove a song from a recent student choral concert has divided the community and spurred a review by a civil rights group. Lift Every Voice And Sing, a late-19th century hymn sometimes referred to as the Black national anthem, was among several songs that were to be performed during the May 7 show by the Spring Cove Middle School chorus. The Altoona Mirror reported that district officials cut the song the day before the concert, saying students had voiced concerns about the song and the divisiveness and controversy in the nation. The district also received several calls from people regarding the song and its inclusion in the concert, officials said. This raised concerns about potential disruptions at the show. School Board President Troy Wright called the decision a lose-lose situation and said parents were threatening to pull their children from the concert over the song. We cant make everyone happy, Wright told the newspaper. We have to do the balancing act between who supports it and who doesnt support it, and our job is trying to find the balance between it. The decision to cut the song was made by District Superintendent Betsy Baker and Middle School Principal Amy Miller. Baker said Lift Every Voice and Sing was one of many songs selected for the chorus by the music teachers who picked songs that they felt were appropriate. Because the chorus practiced other songs, one of those was picked to fill the slot. We wanted everyone to feel comfortable, Baker told the newspaper, saying the decision to cut the song was clearly a divisive issue here and stressing that race had nothing to do with the decision. There was no right decision, but we focused on letting all of the kids participate in the concert, Baker said. Stephen Hershberger, whose son was among the students performing in the chorus concert, was among residents who criticized the decision. Cutting the song just sends the message that a few individuals discomfort outweighs the perspective and care and concern of minority students and others who dont have the same beliefs as them, Hershberger told the newspaper. The Blair County NAACP has said its executive board will proceed with a formal investigation into the districts decision, the newspaper reported. Laois businesses were hugely successful at this year's All-Ireland final of the Irish Restaurant Awards taking home three awards on the night. The event was held in the Clayton Hotel, Burlington Road, on Monday night where almost 1,200 of the Irish hospitality industry's owners, chefs, managers and staff gathered to crown the best establishments from across the country. Bowe's Foodhall & Cafe in Durrow scooped the Best Cafe in Leinster. The team were over the moon to take home the award. "Thrilled and over the moon is an understatement to have won Best Cafe in Leinster. Years of hard work from everyone over the last 11 years. Many thanks to our wonderful customers," they said. The award for the Best Restaurant Manager in Leinster went to Kasia Urban, Bramley Abbeyleix. Meanwhile the award for the Best Sustainable Practices in Leinster went to Mueller and O'Connell Bakery, Abbeyleix. Speaking at the event, President of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, Paul Lenehan, said: During these undoubtedly tough times for our industry, celebrating Irelands food and hospitality offering is as crucial as ever. Above all, the Awards give us the opportunity to recognise and celebrate the hard work of Irelands talented restaurant, cafe and food-led hospitality staff. These Awards highlight the resilience and innovation in our food industry. Behind every great dish is a team of individuals committed to creating memorable dining experiences. As ever, this years Irish Restaurant Awards showcased the very best of the regions culinary talent. I would personally like to extend my congratulations to all the winners and nominees for their dedication and passion. Over 1,000 people now board trains daily at Portlaoise station but very few are wheelchair users, because there is almost no access. The lack of wheelchair access has been highlighted by Laois Fine Gael Cllr Thomasina Connell who said local wheelchair users report "extreme difficulty" with getting into the station to catch a train. "I am told it's extremely difficult. On Make Way Day we were told by wheelchair users that they go to Portarlington instead because they can't utilise Portlaoise station. "We're a huge town. 20,000 people in Laois have a disability. They attend services in Portlaoise. They should have a station that is accessible," she said. She tabled a motion to the May meeting of Portlaoise Municipal District asking it to engage with Irish Rail to implement disability access at Portlaoise station. The reply confirms that Irish Rail has put Portlaoise down the list, exactly because it will be so difficult to make it accessible. Although Portlaoise is now the busiest in Laois, just ahead of Portarlington where 941 passengers board daily, they are going to start with Ballybrophy Station which has 165 daily customers. Tom Curran is the Age Friendly Officer in Laois County Council. "Irish Rail have committed to making all stations Age Friendly and have initially prioritised 10 stations in Ireland, which include Ballybrophy in Laois. "As a result of walkability audits in Portarlington, Ballybrophy and Portlaoise, issues have been identified and Irish Rail's Age Friendly Manager is engaging with myself and the Age Friendly Office in progressing Ballybrophy initially, which will address disabiity access measures. Of the three stations in Laois, Portlaoise is the most challenging and I expect that when the initial 10 stations are accredited, Portarlington will follow and then Portlaoise," Mr Curran said. "I don't understand why they are making it Age Friendly. That's quite different. I am in communication with the Irish Wheelchair Association and Irish Rail to try and arrange a meeting at the station. I hope it will take place by the end of June," Cllr Connell said. Cllr Barry Walsh also took part in Make Way Day, to experience how people with disabilities get around Portlaoise. "This needs to be addressed very quickly," he said. Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald agreed. "I am very disappointed to see Portlaoise will be last. It has the biggest populatoin, it's important we have that meeting with Irish Rail," she said. The Irish Wheelchair Association is calling for mandatory disability access to public transport. It has published a new report on disability access for public transport and public spaces, 'Getting Nowhere', available for download online. A report from the Housing Commission said the Governments housing policy needs a radical reset, and has called for a ramping up of the states housing supply. It has made a total of 76 recommendations to the Government, varying from the cost and quality of housing, affordability of home purchase for first-time buyers, social housing and rural housing. It said a new oversight body for housing is needed as well as a greater role for the State in funding housing. The Housing Commission was set up under the Programme for Government to examine issues such as tenure, standards, sustainability and quality-of-life issues within housing. In a leaked report, the Commission condemned the Government for spending a huge amount of money in areas such as long-term leasing, which it said has very poor outcomes for the State. The Housing Commission said that the housing issues have arisen because of the failure to successfully treat housing as a critical and economic priority, evident in a lack of consistency in housing policy. Only a radical strategic reset of housing policy will work, it added. A major issue of concern to the commission is Irelands housing deficit. It is critical that this housing deficit is addressed through emergency action. Coupled with this is the need for a step-change increase in the level of housing supply on an ongoing basis. There should be a targeted increase in the proportion of social and cost-rental housing to 20% of the national stock, ensuring an appropriate tenure mix. A long-term commitment to stable levels of public financing will also be crucial, supplementing the funding coming from private sources. Ireland as a nation is changing at pace. The Irish public is diverse, with a growing number of minority groups. A one-size-fits-all approach will not work. We need to take account of housing strategy, delivery and management. A focus on expressing our collective aspirations for society, inclusive of supporting diversity and environmental goals, is needed, embodying shared values that deliver for our people. Our analysis shows that, while the specific details can be complex, the overall strategy to successfully achieve a sustainable housing system is not complicated. People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said the report is a damning indictment of the catastrophic failure of the Governments housing policy. The Governments policy is a catastrophic failure when it comes to dealing with the most serious crisis this country faces, which is the inability of the Government to put a secure and affordable roof over the heads of hundreds of thousands of working people and young people and others who are impacted by the housing crisis, he said. The Government have failed disastrously to take seriously what the Housing Commission is now rightly saying is a crisis that needs an emergency response. Social Democrats spokesman for housing Cian OCallaghan said the report is further evidence that the Governments housing targets are completely inadequate and hopelessly out of date. The Government knows this and Ive known this for years. The Taoiseach Simon Harris has admitted it, he knows it and the dogs on the streets know it, the TD for Dublin Bay North said. What were seeing is that the Government, rather than updating the targets to the level that is needed, its content on sitting on old targets in the hope that theyll meet old and out-of-date targets. That shows complete lack of urgency given the housing crisis that were in. Were calling on the government to publish the Housing Commission report urgently. They shouldnt be sitting on that until after the elections and were calling them to urgently update the housing target that is needed. Labour Senator Mark Wall said the states over-reliance on the private market has to come to an end. We need to go back to building council houses on council land and thats where the Government needs to get to, he added. The clapping on the back for 30,000 houses has got to stop and we have to see radical change in relation to housing policy with this Government and getting to the figures that have been announced today. A protest over housing is to take place this Saturday in Dublin. An "exceptional" young paramedic, Ross Murphy, was laid to rest on Monday afternoon in Maynooth, following his tragic sudden death last week. The local community and colleagues from the National Ambulance Service have been paying heartfelt tributes to Ross since he passed away unexpectedly last Thursday, May 16, at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin. Ross Murphy was a life saving emergency services officer with the National Ambulance Service (NAS), having previously worked for Lifeline Ambulance. He was from Maynooth. St. Mary's Church in Maynooth was filled with loved ones and fellow emergency service workers on Monday afternoon for Ross's funeral mass, where they gathered not only to mourn but also to celebrate the life of a much-missed individual. The live-saving hero was laid to rest in Laraghbryan Cemetery, Maynooth. In a touching tribute on social media, the National Ambulance Service said "today we were honoured to be able to celebrate the life and mourn the passing of Ross Murphy with his family". "An exceptional young man. Rest easy Ross." Today we were honoured to be able to celebrate the life and mourn the passing of Ross Murphy with his family. An exceptional young man. Rest easy Ross @AmbulanceNAS @AmbulanceDublin @NAS_HonourGuard @NAS_Swords @PeopleofHSE pic.twitter.com/KL1vQ7ZK3c NAS Education - East (@nas_training) May 20, 2024 Dublin Fire Brigade also led the tributes online, saying they were "deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Ross. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and our colleagues in the National Ambulance Service. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam." Independent European candidate Saoirse McHugh labelled her rival Peter Casey a "clown" during a debate on RTE's Upfront with Katie Hannon on Monday night. The debate featured a mixed panel of eight independent and party candidates vying to earn votes ahead of the big day on Friday, 7 June, elections for the European Parliament will take place. Among the panel was Saoirse McHugh, independent and former Green Party member from Mayo, and Peter Casey, a fellow independent and controversial former presidential candidate. The most memorable things from the Midland North West debate on RTE in 2019 were the exchanges between Casey and McHugh. Following the 2019 local election debates, they were both positioned beside each other again last night, even though Casey was closer to McHughs podium than his own at times. McHugh was quick to call Casey out when he said he had been a migrant in three different countries legally. "Didnt you tweet last year that you entered a country illegally?" she asked. "Dont be silly", he replied, despite the fact that she was right. The tweet from 2023 was found and reposted almost instantaneously by viewers, proving Casey had did indeed said that. The brief fracas which occurred between McHugh and Casey was prompted by a fiery disagreement over the EU's role in peace worldwide. The topic of Gaza came to the fore as an urgent case about which "there is so much more the Irish government can do immediately", argued McHugh amid several unruly interjections from Casey. She said: "We can immediately stop selling dual-use goods to Israel. We can immediately stop the US military using Shannon, we can immediately the US military using Shannon and we can immediately bring in the Occupied Territories Bill." Casey can be heard interjecting: "When the war comes out, Shannon will be the first place to go," to which McHugh replied: "Yeah, because the US military are there." Casey responded saying: "You have to have defence" before McHugh unleashed a mighty show of frustration as the debate descended into chaos saying: "You're a clown, would ya stop! Peace is what will keep us safe." After the clip was shared to social media, many people reacted with sympathy for McHugh while others claimed she "let herself down". The Taoiseach has said he will consider the recommendations of a Government-commissioned report which called for a radical policy reset in housing policies. Simon Harris told the Dail the Government will publish the 400-page report this week amid calls from the opposition for a debate on the findings. Minister for Housing Darragh OBrien received the Housing Commission report on May 8. The leaked report said the Governments housing policy needs a radical reset and called for a ramping up of state housing supply. Mr Harris told the Dail the Government has already taken many radical steps in the housing market, citing the establishment of the Land Development Agency and reformed planning laws. This Government is making progress when it comes to housing supply, this Government is making progress when it comes to homeownership, he said. This Government is putting in place plans, schemes, incentives that are helping hundreds of couples every single week buy their first home. All of you in your constituencies see new homes being built. But the Government also knows that its not just about the here and now. We have to look at where we get to 2050. He said the Government is reviewing housing targets after the publication of the 2022 census. The revised targets, which will apply to the second half of the decade, will be set out later this year. Mr Harris admitted housing output needs to be significantly increased. Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said the report was a damning indictment of the Governments housing policy. ! That's the verdict of FF & FG's own Housing Commission on their disastrous policies. Chaos, terrible decisions, and bad use of public money. Housing can be fixed by delivering homes people can afford, by taking on the vulture funds and big landlords, by pic.twitter.com/OCBi5Ww1YP Mary Lou McDonald (@MaryLouMcDonald) May 21, 2024 The Housing Commission is telling you directly that your housing plan isnt working and they state that only a radical strategic reset in housing policy will fix the problem, she added. It means delivering housing that people can actually afford. It means taking on the vulture funds, the big landlords and the vested interests that are making the housing crisis worse. It means delivering the biggest affordable and social housing programme in the history of the state so that young teachers, nurses, gardai, retail workers can afford a home. This is the urgent change that we need in housing. Labour leader Ivana Bacik described Irelands housing crisis as the civil rights issues of this generation. Yet, week in week out all we hear from Government is self-congratulation, saying that your policies and your housing plans are working, the Dublin Bay South TD told the Dail. Taoiseach, thats not the reality and the Housing Commission has exposed the reality. Theyre not an opposition party. Theyre not an ideological body. Theyre set up by the Government. The members of the commission comprise figures in the trade union movement, developers, academics, experts who have nothing to gain from gilding the lily or indeed from personal bias, but theyre clear we have some of the highest levels of public investment in housing in Europe, but our outcomes are among the very worst. The report confirms what some of us have been saying all along developer-led planning does not deliver the homes we need. Weak tenants rights protections hurt renters and do not free up supply and low building targets, insufficiently ambitious targets are damaging the wellbeing of our population. Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said he had not yet read the leaked Housing Commission report. Where some suggestions, we think, make sense and can help us go further and faster, by all means, we will take them on not necessarily every idea, he told RTE Radio on Tuesday. Asked about the amount the Government spends on housing versus the supply of housing in Ireland, he said there was a lag between increased expenditure and higher output. It isnt just a numbers game. It is about quality and about cost we do have to make housing affordable. City of Hope Awarded $5.4 Million CIRM Grant to Create a Stem Cell Laboratory and Expand Access to State-of-the-Art Disease Models and Technology Among a Diverse Scientific Community City of Hope, one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States, has been awarded $5.4 million from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to build and fund a stem cell research laboratory on its Duarte, California, campus that will further expand its scientific capabilities. The mission of the unique Stem Cell-Based Disease Modeling Laboratory is two-fold. First, it will advance stem cell-based disease modeling to spur innovation in regenerative medicine. The laboratory leverages City of Hope's infrastructure and expertise using human cell-derived organoids ? a key focus in current efforts to create disease models relevant to understanding biological mechanisms that often lead to new therapies. In particular, the laboratory will supply healthy and cancerous stem cell-based models in brain, heart and breast tissue to the region's scientists for research. Second, it will stimulate stem cell research in medically underserved communities by increasing scientists' access to specialized laboratory equipment services, and training and by educating students about regenerative medicine. "Our new laboratory will expand access to state-of-the-art disease models to researchers at City of Hope and our neighboring institutions, enabling them to pursue impactful scientific questions and to accelerate innovation in stem cell therapies," said program director Nadia Carlesso, Ph.D., City of Hope's chair of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. "This will accelerate research in regenerative medicine, benefiting patients and researchers throughout California. We also aim to plant the seed for future careers in regenerative medicine by educating students about the field." Carlesso's team will focus on Southern California regions, such as the Inland Empire, which is home to some of the fastest growing, low-income communities that face greater health issues and have access to fewer physicians. "It is important to emphasize that innovative biomedical research flourishes when people with different perspectives, experience and skills are empowered to explore new ideas and to work collaboratively and inclusively," Carlesso said. "Thus, recruiting, training, retaining and nurturing a workforce representing all dimensions of diversity is critical for the development and implementation of leading-edge therapies that can reach underserved populations." To this end, a 22-person educational team will educate community physicians, researchers and students on how to use stem cell disease models with the goal of cultivating California's future workforce in regenerative medicine. These programs will partner with higher education institutes in the Inland Empire and with K?12 school districts in Duarte, Monrovia, Charter Oak and Azusa, as well as provide hands-on training to undergraduate/graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, researchers and others. "We are eager to introduce more people to the exciting world of stem cell research and shape their vision for future jobs in science," said co-program director John Termini, Ph.D., professor of cancer biology and molecular medicine at City of Hope. "Our workshops will explore how to apply the field's techniques and examine diverse approaches to solving medical problems." "Long-term activities supported by the laboratory will accelerate research in regenerative medicine, benefiting patients and researchers throughout California," said Carlesso, who is also associate director of basic research at the Gehr Family Center for Leukemia Research at Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope. Led by Carlesso and Termini, the laboratory team includes Michael Barish, Ph.D., professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine; Mark LaBarge, Ph.D., professor of population sciences; June-Wha Rhee, M.D., assistant professor of cardiology; and Yanhong Shi, Ph.D., chair of neurodegenerative diseases and Herbert Horvitz Professor in Neuroscience. The grant to Carlesso's team adds to the more than $212 million that Beckman Research Institute at City of Hope has received from CIRM to date, indicating the state-funded agency's support of City of Hope's long-standing leadership in stem cell-related therapies. As a biomedical institution, City of Hope holds deep expertise in developmental and stem cell biology, resulting in strong clinical programs in bone marrow transplantation, cancer immunotherapy and gene therapy research to correct genetic defects, as well as cell replacement and tissue regeneration strategies to potentially treat diabetes. The Stem Cell-Based Disease Modeling Laboratory will operate in a renovated space that will assemble state-of-the-art instruments and technologies and centralize the generation and establishment of organoid models. It joins a wealth of City of Hope core resources, including Biostatistics & Mathematical Oncology and Gene Editing and Viral Vector cores, to both advance science and train others in subspecialized scientific areas. About City of Hope City of Hope's mission is to make hope a reality for all touched by cancer and diabetes. Founded in 1913, City of Hope has grown into one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the U.S. and one of the leading research centers for diabetes and other life-threatening illnesses. City of Hope research has been the basis for numerous breakthrough cancer medicines, as well as human synthetic insulin and monoclonal antibodies. With an independent, National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center at its core, City of Hope brings a uniquely integrated model to patients spanning cancer care, research and development, academics and training, and innovation initiatives. City of Hope's growing national system includes its Los Angeles campus, a network of clinical care locations across Southern California, a new cancer center in Orange County, California, and cancer treatment centers and outpatient facilities in the Atlanta, Chicago and Phoenix areas. City of Hope's affiliated group of organizations includes Translational Genomics Research Institute and AccessHopeTM. For more information about City of Hope, follow us on Facebook, X, YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn. 20 may 2024 at 17:55 News published onand distributed by: BlueHalo Awarded $95.4M SMDC Contract to Advance Directed Energy Technology ARLINGTON, Va. , May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) has awarded BlueHalo a $95.4M contract for advanced Directed Energy (DE) prototype development as part of the Laser technology Research Development and Optimization (LARDO) program through the Aviation & Missile Technology Consortium (AMTC). The U.S. Army SMDC has awarded BlueHalo a $95.4M contract for advanced DE laser weapon prototype development This contract enables BlueHalo's continued work to design and build cutting-edge laser weapon systems for the warfighter?delivering multiple prototypes with increased automation, efficiency, performance, and ruggedization along with improved size, weight, and power (SWAP). "We are developing tools to win the next war so there is no next war," said Dr. Vikram Manikonda, BlueHalo Chief Technology Officer, "We are expanding and accelerating BlueHalo's air defense innovations, not only with Directed Energy technologies but with the diagnostic and surveillance monitoring systems that enable their sustainment, operation, and continuous improvement in the field. Our solutions are interoperable and designed with extreme care for the warfighter, providing the Army with a full system of systems to mature the use of laser weapons to meet our national security demands." Leveraging BlueHalo's advancements in counter-UAS (C-UAS) technologies and lessons learned through the active deployment of its LOCUST laser systems, BlueHalo will conduct continuous system performance improvement, research and prototyping to advance performance and durability, and increase the lethality of engagements against small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) and similar threats. "Through the LARDO program, the U.S. Army is investing in the rapid innovation and maturation of our Nation's laser weapon capabilities," said Trip Ferguson, BlueHalo Chief Operating Officer, "BlueHalo's LOCUST laser systems are deployed overseas, providing multi-domain mission success in UAS threat elimination and force protection. We are honored that the U.S. Army continues to trust BlueHalo to deliver superior Directed Energy technologies and air defense innovations." The LOCUST system combines precision optical and laser hardware with advanced software, artificial intelligence (AI), and processing to enable and enhance the directed energy "kill chain," which includes tracking, identifying, and engaging a wide variety of targets with its hard-kill HEL. About BlueHalo BlueHalo is purpose-built to transform the future of global defense, providing industry-leading capabilities in the areas of Space, C-UAS and Autonomous Systems, Electronic Warfare & Cyber, and AI/ML. The company develops and brings to market next-generation capabilities to support customers' critical missions and national security. Learn more at https://www.bluehalo.com and follow us on our LinkedIn. SOURCE BlueHalo 21 may 2024 at 06:00 News published onand distributed by: iQmetrix Revives Much-Missed Live Event for Telecom Retail Sector: SummitX 2024 Telecom retail is a fascinating and complex sector that is highly innovative, deeply interconnected, and full of challenges that can only be solved by working together. To gather the industry into one space, as well as inspire and educate, iQmetrix?North America's only provider of Interconnected Commerce solutions for telecom?is thrilled to announce the return of its famous Summit event, now with an exciting evolution. Introducing... SummitX. SummitX will be held October 27-29, 2024, at the incredible desert destination of JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Resort and Spa in Arizona. This unmissable event is the only one of its kind for telecom retail, bringing together carriers and MVNOs, authorized wireless retailers, device manufacturers, and telecom-retail-adjacent companies and vendors. It will offer a fantastic mix of conference and seminar sessions, unmatched networking opportunities, a vendor showcase, and a host of incredible social and breakout events across the spectacular desert resort property. The 2024 SummitX theme is Innovation | Insights | Intelligence | Interconnection?concepts that capture the four key conference tracks. Two days of sessions and events on October 28 and 29 will see retail experts and keynote speakers exploring innovations on the future of telecom retail, insights into the sector and its challenges, intelligence on wider industry trends, and the interconnections created when we come together with likeminded professionals and complementary businesses. Past Summit attendee Joe Reinke, IT Team Leader at BeMobile, said, "Summit has always been a gathering of the brightest minds and leaders in our industry. It's where my passion for BI reporting was ignited, and I always come away with a clearer vision of how the industry is moving forward and how we can strategically align our efforts." In addition to SummitX sessions and events, the Vendor Showcase exhibition will highlight leading industry suppliers and innovative solutions that elevate telecom retailers' operations and customer experiences, while offering those vendors unparalleled access to new partnership opportunities. So, why is the evolution of iQmetrix's much-loved Summit event now called SummitX? X is for the great experiences we'll create. X is for interconnectivity and intersectionality. X is for the 10 (long) years since our last Summit. Megan Howse, Senior Vice President of Marketing at iQmetrix, said, "We couldn't be more thrilled to be bringing back our greatly missed Summit and taking it to the next level. SummitX is going to be a truly unmissable event of the kind you simply cannot experience anywhere else in the telecom retail industry. Alongside the cherished great experiences of the past, we'll also be introducing new elements, creating a dynamic blend of tradition and innovation. It's going to be so great reconnecting in person with our clients and partners. We can't wait!" Steve Eastlick, COO of Wireless World, said, "We have always found iQmetrix Summits to be a great experience. The atmosphere is always lively, and attending has helped our company in numerous ways. The breakout sessions have provided us with unique ideas and allowed us to collaborate with others to create more efficient processes. Working with iQmetrix has made our company better." Registration for SummitX 2024 is now officially open. Those registering before July 31 will benefit from an early-bird discount of $100 off the regular registration price, plus buy three passes and get the fourth free. Attendees are also encouraged to book their on-site accommodation at the SummitX package price as early as possible. Members of telecom, retail, and technology trade media may contact iQmetrix for complimentary press passes to access the two days of SummitX sessions and the Vendor Showcase (social events and accommodation not included). Please visit the SummitX webpage for more information, and for links to register and book accommodation. About iQmetrix iQmetrix is the only provider of Interconnected Commerce software solutions for telecom retail. Interconnected Commerce is a complete set of software and technologies that are modular, flexible, and have telecom-specific capabilities, enabling telecom retailers to provide an uplifting experience for their customers. We empower telecom retailers to transact, activate, and fulfill products, as well as operate their business, and unify the online and in-store experiences. We interconnect the entire industry, bridging carriers, retailers, manufacturers, and a huge ecosystem of vendors and external system integrations. Since 1999, we've been passionate about helping the leading brands in telecom to grow by providing best-in-class software, services, and expertise that enables them to adapt and thrive. Our solutions powered $17BN in sales last year, handling nearly 60 million invoices and 22 million activations, and are used by approximately 320,000 telecom retail professionals across 1,000 clients. iQmetrix is a privately held software-as-a-service (SaaS) company with employees in Canada, the U.S., India, and Europe. For more information, please visit www.iqmetrix.com. 21 may 2024 at 07:00 News published onand distributed by: Intermap's Real 3D Data Elevates Video Game Development Enhancing in-game realism with real 3D mapping Streamlining design processes for the creation of gaming environments DENVER, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intermap Technologies (TSX: IMP; OTCQB: ITMSF) ("Intermap" or the "Company"), a global leader in 3D geospatial products and intelligence solutions, today announced a contract with one of the top 5 video game developers to provide custom digital surface models (DSMs) for the creation of realistic in-game environments. By leveraging Intermap's NEXTMap 3D DSMs, video game developers can depict terrain as it exists in real life, enhancing the authenticity of the user experience. The consistency and accuracy of Intermap's data reduce the time and effort required by designers to achieve environments that closely resemble real life. This efficiency is a critical benefit for game developers, enabling them to bring new games to the market quickly without limitations imposed by older, coarser public data sources. Today's agreement includes a service to align Intermap's data solution with the client's other reference sources, such as imagery, resulting in substantial time and cost savings. This seamless integration underscores the Company's commitment to delivering comprehensive solutions tailored to meet the unique requirements of its clients. "The demand for high-quality, real data and images is driving the growth of 3D mapping and modeling in the gaming industry," said Patrick A. Blott, Intermap Chairman and CEO. "As gamers seek increasingly immersive experiences, developers seek to leverage advanced technologies to create environments and characters that closely resemble real life. Our expertise in real 3D geospatial data, augmented by our AI/ML-driven application layers, provides enhanced value extraction and unlocks new realms of creativity for developers. This contract highlights the pivotal role of real 3D elevation data in advancing the realism of gaming environments." The addressable market for high-quality, realistic 3D mapping solutions is expanding rapidly, driven by the growing demand for realism and immersive experiences in video games and other virtual world applications. The market for 3D mapping and modeling in games is expected to grow from $5.86 billion in 2023 to $15.62 billion in 2031 at a CAGR of 13% ( source ). Intermap's solution emphasizes the superiority of real-time reality capture of actual data over synthetic digital twins, setting a new standard for gaming realism. By providing unparalleled accuracy and detail, the Company enables video game developers to create experiences that exceed user expectations for lifelike worlds. Learn more about Intermap's NEXTMap elevation data at intermap.com/nextmap . Intermap Reader Advisory Certain information provided in this news release, including reference to revenue growth and run-rate, constitutes forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate", "expect", "project", "estimate", "forecast", "will be", "will consider", "intends" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Although Intermap believes that these statements are based on information and assumptions which are current, reasonable and complete, these statements are necessarily subject to a variety of known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Intermap's forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties pertaining to, among other things, cash available to fund operations, availability of capital, revenue fluctuations, nature of government contracts, economic conditions, loss of key customers, retention and availability of executive talent, competing technologies, common share price volatility, loss of proprietary information, software functionality, internet and system infrastructure functionality, information technology security, breakdown of strategic alliances, and international and political considerations, as well as those risks and uncertainties discussed Intermap's Annual Information Form and other securities filings. While the Company makes these forward-looking statements in good faith, should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary significantly from those expected. Accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits that the Company will derive therefrom. All subsequent forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, attributable to Intermap or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as at the date of this news release and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the forward-looking statements made herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities law. About Intermap Technologies Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Intermap (TSX: IMP; OTCQB: ITMSF) is a global leader in geospatial intelligence solutions, focusing on the creation and analysis of 3D terrain data to produce high-resolution thematic models. Through scientific analysis of geospatial information and patented sensors and processing technology, the Company provisions diverse, complementary, multi-source datasets to enable customers to seamlessly integrate geospatial intelligence into their workflows. Intermap's 3D elevation data and software analytic capabilities enable global geospatial analysis through artificial intelligence and machine learning, providing customers with critical information to understand their terrain environment. By leveraging its proprietary archive of the world's largest collection of multi-sensor global elevation data, the Company's collection and processing capabilities provide multi-source 3D datasets and analytics at mission speed, enabling governments and companies to build and integrate geospatial foundation data with actionable insights. Applications for Intermap's products and solutions include defense, aviation and UAV flight planning, flood and wildfire insurance, disaster mitigation, base mapping, environmental and renewable energy planning, telecommunications, engineering, critical infrastructure monitoring, hydrology, land management, oil and gas and transportation. 21 may 2024 at 07:30 News published onand distributed by: MegaWatt Metals Reports Historical Exploration Results for the Benedict Mountains Uranium Property in Labrador's Central Mineral Belt Central Mineral Belt contains Michelin, one of North America's largest uranium deposits Benedict Mountains Property area shares geological characteristics with Michelin Exploration highlights include 3 uranium showings & samples up to 13.8% U3O8 Vancouver, British Columbia, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MegaWatt Lithium and Battery Metals Corp. (CSE:MEGA) (FSE: WR20) (OTCQB: WALRF) (the "Company", "MegaWatt Metals" or "MegaWatt") is pleased to report the historical results from past exploration on the Benedict Mountains Uranium Property. On April 1, 2024, MegaWatt announced its agreement to acquire Labrador Mineral Resources Inc. and their Benedict Mountains Uranium Property (the "Property"). The Property consists of 2 mineral licenses ~200 km (124 mi) NE of Goose Bay, covering an area of approximately 350 hectares (865 acres) at the eastern end of Labrador's Central Mineral Belt, a northeast-trending region 260 x 75 km (162 x 47 mi) that hosts significant uranium resources. Exploration highlights for the Benedict Mountains Uranium Property include 4 uranium showings, grab samples up to 13.8% U3O8, a 1-meter (m) channel sample yielding 7% U3O8, and diamond drill hole intersections that include 5.85 m of .032% U3O8. MegaWatt's CEO, Casey Forward, commented: "The Benedict Mountains Uranium Property represents a new level of opportunity for us to advance MegaWatt's focus on becoming a domestic, clean-energy minerals supplier. We're fortunate to be targeting a major, prospective mineral jurisdiction that contains the Michelin deposit." The Michelin deposit is one of North America's largest uranium deposits. It contains a total Mineral Resource of 92 million pounds (Mlb) uranium, with 82.2Mlb being in the Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources category.[1] Other significant uranium deposits in the Central Mineral Belt include Moran Lake C Zone, Inda, Nash, Gear, Kitts, and the more recently discovered Jacques Lake, Two Time Zone, Anna Lake, White Bear Lake, and Rainbow deposits.[2] Evidence that the Benedict Mountains Property's area should represent a prospective environment for uranium mineralization of similar style to that occurring in the Michelin-White Bear Mountain belt includes (1) the presence of pyroclastic felsic volcanics similar to those at the Michelin Deposit (Gower 1981), and (2) uranium values in lake sediments in the >98th percentile for Labrador, which is the same classification as the Michelin/Mustang Lake area (Davenport et al., 1999). In 2006, Monster Copper ran a program of reconnaissance geology/prospecting, lake and stream sediment sampling on the Property, which defined 8 significant multi-element anomalies. In 2007/2008, an airborne radiometric and magnetic survey was completed. Follow-up prospecting, channel sampling, geological mapping and detailed ground radiometric surveys identified 3 uranium showings ? Priority One, Harbinger, and Powe ? which were selected for future drill testing. Exploration highlights for each of the showings are below. Priority One showing highlights: Geological mapping and ground radiometric surveying revealed 2 discrete targets approximately 250 m x 75 m and 105 m x 11 m respectively In 2007, 16 grab samples from the zone were analyzed, with results ranging from 0.018% to 0.70% U3O8, with an average of 0.19% U3O8 In 2011, 3 holes were drilled in 1 of the showing's target zones with each hole intersecting a subvertical zone of mineralization; the best drill intercept was 5.85 m of 0.032% U3O8 from 13 m to 18.85 m and 1.5 m of 0.044% U3O8 from 97 m to 98.5 m (Mega Uranium Ltd. news release, December 15, 2011) In 2006, Monster Copper identified 2 anomalies to the north and south of the showing; with 1 containing 2 anomalous uranium values (Setterfield, 2007) Harbinger showing highlights: 45 m x 160 m zone of anomalous radioactivity with good qualitative continuity of mineralization In 2007, 18 grab samples assayed from 0.05 to 0.38% U3O8, with an average of 0.17% U3O8 In 2008, sampling returned up to 0.52% U3O8 (Kruse and Tykajlo, 2009) In 2011, 3 holes were drilled with the best result being 7 m of 0.020% U3O8 from 56 m to 63 m (Mega Uranium Ltd. news release, December 15, 2011) Powe showing highlights: Showing is 40 m from a showing discovered in 2006 that yielded up to 0.14% U3O8 Mineralized shear zone is 15-30 cm (6-12 inches) wide 1-m channel sample across the shear zone yielded 7% U3O8 In 2007, a grab sample returned 13.8% U3O8, the highest-grade uranium showing in the area As announced in the Company's news release of May 7, 2024, titled "MegaWatt Completes the Acquisition of Labrador Mineral Resources Inc.", MegaWatt Metals has acquired Labrador Mineral Resources Inc. and their Benedict Mountains Uranium Property, which consists of 2 mineral licenses covering an area of approximately 350 hectares in Labrador's Central Mineral Belt. The Benedict Mountains Uranium Property represents a new level of opportunity for MegaWatt to benefit from the long-term drivers supporting the uranium sector while advancing the Company's focus on becoming a domestic, clean-energy minerals supplier. Qualified Person Mr. Geoffrey Reed (MAusMM (CP)) (MAIG), Consultant for the Company, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 ? Standards of Disclosure or Mineral Projects and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release. For Additional Information Investors can learn more about the Company, our team and latest news at https://megawattmetals.com . About MegaWatt Lithium and Battery Metals Corp. MegaWatt is a British Columbia based company involved in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties. MegaWatt has acquired a 100% interest in a company that holds a 100% interest (subject to a 1.5% NSR) in the Benedict Mountains Uranium Property, consisting of 2 mineral licenses covering an area of approximately 350 hectares in the Central Mineral Belt on the east coast of Labrador, Canada, approximately 200 km NE of Goose Bay (see press release dated April 1, 2024). MegaWatt holds a 100% undivided interest (subject to a 1.5% NSR) on all base, rare earth elements and precious metals, in the Cobalt Hill Property, consisting of 8 mineral claims covering an area of approximately 1,727.43 hectares located in the Trail Creek Mining Division in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. Additionally, the Company has acquired a 100% interest in a company that indirectly holds a 100% interest (subject to a 2% NSR) in the Tyr Silver Project (see press release dated October 15, 2020). MegaWatt holds a 100% interest (subject to a 2% NSR) in and to the Route 381 Lithium Property, comprised of 40 mineral claims located in James Bay Territory, north of Matagami in the Province of Quebec, covering 2,126 hectares (see press release dated February 3, 2021), and a 100% interest in 229 additional mineral exploration claims prospective for lithium, also in the James Bay area of Quebec covering an area of 12,116 hectares or 121 square kms. On Behalf of the Board of Directors, MegaWatt Lithium and Battery Metals Corp. Casey Forward, CEO 1055 West Georgia Street, Suite 1500 Vancouver, BC, Canada V7X 1M5 For Further Information Please Contact: Kelvin Lee, Chief Financial Officer [email protected] , (236) 521-6500 SOURCES: 1. https://www.paladinenergy.com.au/exploration/michelin-canada/ 2. https://www.findnewfoundlandlabrador.com/files/2017/03/Uranium-in-Labrador-Jan-2012.pdf The CSE does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release includes "forward-looking information" that is subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. These forward-looking statements or information may relate to the Company's business plans, the exploration plans of the Company and the timing thereof, and other factors or information. Such statements represent the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations. 21 may 2024 at 08:00 News published onand distributed by: Duck Creek Technologies Highlights Esteemed Sponsors of Formation '24 BOSTON, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Duck Creek Technologies, the intelligent solutions provider defining the future of property and casualty (P&C) and general insurance, is thrilled to unveil the prominent sponsors set to join the forefront of insurance technology decision-makers at its highly anticipated customer conference, Formation '24. The event is scheduled to take place from May 21 to May 23, 2024, at the Omni Dallas Hotel in Dallas, Texas. Duck Creek is poised to welcome insurtech leaders and industry professionals from around the world, fostering a dynamic environment with abundant educational and networking prospects centered on the latest trends and innovations driving the insurance industry forward. "This year we have record sponsorship commitments from over 60 members of our partner ecosystem, including platinum sponsors Aggne Global, Coforge, Cognizant, and LTIMindtree; and gold sponsors Accenture, Capgemini, Next Level Solutions, Opterrix, PwC, Quadient, and Yovant," said Rohit Bedi, Chief Revenue Officer, Duck Creek Technologies. "This underscores the robust partner ecosystem Duck Creek has cultivated to benefit our global customers. We maintain steadfast relationships with industry leaders, offering complementary and distinctive solutions to enhance and simplify our joint customers' experience." For a full list of Formation ?24 sponsors, click here. The agenda and speaker line-up are now available on the conference website. For more information on Formation ?24 or to register now for the year's must-attend event, please visit https://www.duckcreek.com/formation/. About Duck Creek Technologies Duck Creek Technologies is the intelligent solutions provider defining the future of the property and casualty (P&C) and general insurance industry. We are the platform upon which modern insurance systems are built, enabling the industry to capitalize on the power of the cloud to run agile, intelligent, and evergreen operations. Authenticity, purpose, and transparency are core to Duck Creek, and we believe insurance should be there for individuals and businesses when, where, and how they need it most. Our market-leading solutions are available on a standalone basis or as a full suite, and all are available via Duck Creek OnDemand. Visit www.duckcreek.com to learn more. Follow Duck Creek on our social channels for the latest information ? LinkedIn and X. Media Contacts: Dennis Dougherty [email protected] 21 may 2024 at 08:30 News published onand distributed by: Eureka College Expands Technology Partnership with Apogee, Adding Apogee Managed Campus Services Eureka College has expanded its five-year partnership with Apogee, a Boldyn Networks company, the leading provider of managed network and IT services for higher education in the United States. This expanded partnership includes Apogee Managed Campus, its suite of Managed Network, Security, Cloud, Professional, and IT services. Designed to comprehensively address the IT services needs of higher education institutions, Apogee Managed Campus builds on the successful implementations of Apogee ResNet and Apogee Managed Network Services that were initiated at Eureka College in 2019. Eureka College was founded in 1855 in Eureka, Ill. The school's continued investment in IT infrastructure and services advances its 2022-2025 strategic plan and delivers on the promise of providing a superior campus experience for all students, faculty, and staff. "With the knowledge and experience that Apogee provides, Eureka College has become a leader among small, private U.S. colleges in adopting and implementing IT best practices," said Eureka College Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Ann Fulop. "Apogee is always working behind the scenes so that our leaders, faculty, staff, and students don't have to worry about IT. We know that Apogee is backing us up and freeing us up so that we can focus on delivering on the initiatives we have outlined in our strategic plan as well as achieving the positive outcomes that we know are possible." Partnership Timeline 2019 : Eureka College engaged Apogee to provide Residential Network Services (ResNet) and Managed Network Services to ensure high-speed, reliable Wi-Fi connectivity for its residence halls and campuswide. Read the case study here. : Eureka College engaged Apogee to provide Residential Network Services (ResNet) and Managed Network Services to ensure high-speed, reliable Wi-Fi connectivity for its residence halls and campuswide. Read the case study here. 2023 : Apogee Professional Services assisted Eureka College with its Active Directory and email migration. : Apogee Professional Services assisted Eureka College with its Active Directory and email migration. 2024: Eureka College expanded its partnership to include Apogee Managed Campus, its comprehensive suite of Managed Networks, Security, Cloud, Professional, and IT services. Apogee's Expanded Role: From 2019 to Now In early 2024, Apogee expanded its partnership with Eureka College to provide Apogee Managed Campus Services to address the institution's IT services needs more fully. Additional services that Apogee is now providing include: "Eureka College is an excellent role model for colleges and universities that are benefiting from embracing a progressive approach to IT services and support," said Apogee Chief Executive Officer Scott Drossos. "Our Apogee team knows how essential IT is to the success of all higher ed stakeholders. We are honored that Eureka College trusts Apogee with all things IT, and we look forward to many more years of working effectively together." About Eureka College Located on nearly 70 wooded acres in Eureka, Ill., and chartered in 1855, Eureka College cultivates excellence in learning, service and leadership while providing students uniquely personalized educational opportunities. Eureka College holds the unique distinction of being the first college in Illinois and among the first in the nation to admit men and women on an equal basis. The College, originally founded by abolitionist members of Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), is the smallest of colleges and universities to ever award a bachelor's degree to a future President of the United States (Ronald Reagan). About Apogee Established in Austin in 1999, Apogee, a Boldyn Networks company, is a leading provider of managed technology services that enable colleges and universities to innovate, enriching the campus experience and fostering student vitality. Uniquely positioned to serve Higher Education, Apogee supports a community of millions of students and administrators at over 350 colleges and universities nationwide. The company's comprehensive portfolio includes ResNet (residential networks), Managed Campus (networks, managed IT, cloud, and security services), campus engagement and digital signage, and video services. Apogee was acquired by Boldyn Networks in May 2024 and is part of their global operation spanning the U.S., Europe, and Asia. 21 may 2024 at 09:15 News published onand distributed by: Emperor Resumes Drilling on Globex's Optioned Claims ROUYN-NORANDA, Quebec, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GLOBEX MINING ENTERPRISES INC. (GMX ? Toronto Stock Exchange, G1MN ? Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Berlin, Munich, Tradegate, Lang & Schwarz, LS Exchange, TTMzero, Dusseldorf and Quotrix Dusseldorf Stock Exchanges and GLBXF ? OTCQX International in the US) is pleased to inform shareholders that Emperor Metals Inc. (AUOZ-CSE, EMAUF-OTCQB, 9NH-FSE) has mobilized a drill rig to commence its 2024 exploration program on the Duquesne West Gold Property under option from Globex. The drill program will total 8,000 metres. The Duquesne West Gold property straddles the gold localizing Porcupine-Destor Break in Duparquet Township, Quebec and is located approximately 10 km east of the town of Duparquet. A historical resource of 727,000 ounces of gold (cut) at a grade of 5.42 g/t Au was calculated by Watts, Griffis and McOuat Consulting Geologists and Engineers, October 20, 2011 (click to access) in a report titled "Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate Update for the Duquesne-Ottoman property, Quebec, Canada for XMet Inc." Emperor has taken a binary approach to exploration on the property seeking to outline an open-pittable, lower grade, large tonnage gold deposit in addition to the more conventional high-grade underground mine as was previously sought on the property. Current efforts by Emperor toward outlining these types of gold deposits consists among other things of new drilling and relogging, resampling, and assaying previous drill holes which Globex has maintained in Globex's core library. As a matter of course, Globex stores most drill core from drill holes undertaken on our properties for just such occasions. For access to Emperors press release, click here. For access to Globex's October 12, 2022 press release announcing the option to Emperor Metals, click here. This press release was written by Jack Stoch, P. Geo., President and CEO of Globex in his capacity as a Qualified Person (Q.P.) under NI 43-101. We Seek Safe Harbour. Foreign Private Issuer 12g3 ? 2(b) CUSIP Number 379900 50 9 LEI 529900XYUKGG3LF9PY95 For further information, contact: Jack Stoch, P.Geo., Acc.Dir. President & CEO Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. 86, 14th Street Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec Canada J9X 2J1 Tel.: 819.797.5242 Fax: 819.797.1470 [email protected] www.globexmining.com Forward Looking Statements: Except for historical information, this news release may contain certain "forward looking statements". These statements may involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity and performance to be materially different from the expectations and projections of Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. ("Globex"). No assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forward-looking information will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits Globex will derive therefrom. A more detailed discussion of the risks is available in the "Annual Information Form" filed by Globex on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. 55,204,836 shares issued and outstanding 21 may 2024 at 10:15 News published onand distributed by: HII Launches "Build It" Campaign to Highlight Shipbuilder Support for U.S. Navy NEWPORT NEWS, Va., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- As New York City hosts the annual Fleet Week in celebration of the nation's sea services, HII (NYSE: HII) ? the nation's largest military shipbuilder and a sponsor of the Intrepid Museum's commemoration of the event ? is launching a hiring campaign to spotlight the contributions and rewards of building ships for the U.S. Navy. The HII "Build It" campaign is dedicated to the men and women who partner with the U.S. Navy to build ships critical to the national defense. Shipbuilders value the mission and pride in ship construction, steady advancement and job security, and comprehensive benefits such as health coverage and professional development opportunities. "The breadth of our workforce at HII is astonishing," said Xavier Beale, vice president of human resources at HII's Newport News Shipbuilding. "From the craftsmen and women in our shipyards who build the most powerful ships in the world with their own hands, to the nuclear engineers who enable safe nuclear power and propulsion, all the way to the cyber and data scientists who build the tools that deliver decision advantage: it's a workforce for our 21st century national defense." In addition to Newport News Shipbuilding, which is the nation's only builder of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and one of two builders of nuclear-powered submarines, HII's divisions include Pascagoula, Mississippi-based Ingalls Shipbuilding that delivers amphibious ships, destroyers and cutters, and McLean, Virginia-based Mission Technologies, which builds technologies and solutions that connect and strengthen an all-domain force. HII's Build It campaign targets workers of all ages and skill levels, and highlights paid training and development at its shipyards for those who require it. Russell Dawson, 36, was accepted into the century-old Newport News Shipbuilding Apprentice School right out of high school. Since graduating in 2010, Dawson has supported aircraft carrier and submarine programs at the shipyard, moved up the ranks and is currently working on the Columbia-class program, the Navy's top acquisition priority. "I've always wanted to serve my country," said Dawson. "I see my work as a shipbuilder doing just that. It's an honor to help build the greatest ships for our Navy." From an apprentice to a master shipbuilder who has worked over 40 years at the company, HII shipbuilders contribute daily to national security. Stan Brazell, manager of quality receipt and inspection at Ingalls Shipbuilding, began his career in 1991 as an outside machinist apprentice and over the course of his career has worked on almost every ship program at Ingalls, including the construction of USS Bataan (LHD-5). "I view this job as my way of serving our country," said Brazell. "While I may not be wearing combat boots, I do wear work boots and those boots have allowed me to contribute to building freedom." The Build It campaign will appear on social media, digital and display advertising, and local television. HII expects it will complement a current national advertising campaign launched by the U.S. Navy, which is aimed at energizing a movement to attract workers in support of shipbuilding and the national defense. Examples of videos in support of HII's campaign are: Build It: Preshus Build It: Kevin Build It: Grant Build It: Quadale Engaging Future Shipbuilders Throughout the year HII is proud to play a role in fostering a culture of innovation, growth, and community engagement by investing in initiatives that support and inspire the leaders of tomorrow. For example, HII recently partnered with the Tall Ship Providence Foundation in Alexandria, Va., on an upcoming educational video series for fourth graders about the history of shipbuilding. The series emphasizes the importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and the ongoing significance of shipbuilding to the nation. HII believes that the video series and the Foundation's continued educational efforts will inspire young talent to explore career opportunities in shipbuilding. Watch a preview of the video titled "How to Build a Ship: Who Builds Ships" here. For information about employment opportunities and careers at HII, including shipbuilding, visit HII.com/careers. About HII HII is a global, all-domain defense provider. HII's mission is to deliver the world's most powerful ships and all-domain solutions in service of the nation, creating the advantage for our customers to protect peace and freedom around the world. As the nation's largest military shipbuilder, and with a more than 135-year history of advancing U.S. national security, HII delivers critical capabilities extending from ships to unmanned systems, cyber, ISR, AI/ML and synthetic training. Headquartered in Virginia, HII's workforce is 44,000 strong. For more information, visit: HII on the web: https://www.HII.com/ HII on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeamHII HII on X: https://www.twitter.com/WeAreHII HII on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/WeAreHII SOURCE HII 21 may 2024 at 10:16 News published onand distributed by: Syria's President Bashar al-Assad addresses the new members of parliament in Damascus, Syria in this handout released by SANA on August 12, 2020. SANA / VIA REUTERS The first trial in France of officials of the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad is to begin on Tuesday, May 21, with three top security officers to be tried in absentia for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Paris Criminal Court will try the three officials for their role in the deaths of two French-Syrian men, Mazzen Dabbagh and his son Patrick, arrested in Damascus in 2013. "For the first time, French courts will address the crimes of the Syrian authorities, and will try the most senior members of the authorities to ever be prosecuted since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in March 2011," said the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). Read more Subscribers only French arrest warrant for Bashar al-Assad challenged in Paris appeals court The war between al-Assad's regime and armed opposition groups, including Islamic State, erupted after the government repressed peaceful pro-democracy protests in 2011. The conflict has killed more than half a million people, displaced millions, and ravaged Syria's economy and infrastructure. Trials into the abuses of the Syrian regime have taken place elsewhere in Europe, notably in Germany. But in those cases, the people prosecuted held lower ranks and were present at the hearings. Ali Mamlouk, former head of the National Security Bureau, Jamil Hassan, former director of the Air Force intelligence service, and Abdel Salam Mahmoud, former head of investigations for the service in Damascus, are subject to international arrest warrants and will be tried in absentia. Scheduled to last four days, the hearings will be filmed. Read more Subscribers only French arrest warrant for Bachar Al-Assad rewards patient work by Syrian activists 'Torture' At the time of the arrest, Patrick Dabbagh was a 20-year-old student in his second year of arts and humanities at the University of Damascus. His father Mazzen worked as a senior education adviser at the French high school in Damascus. The two were arrested in November 2013 by officers who claimed to belong to the Syrian Air Force intelligence service. "Witness testimony confirms that Mazzen and Patrick Abdelkader were both taken to a detention centre at Mezzeh Military Airport, which is run by Syrian Air Force Intelligence and notorious for the use of brutal torture," the International Federation for Human Rights said, stressing that the pair were not involved in protests against the Assad regime. They were declared dead in 2018. The family was formally notified that Patrick died on 21 January 2014. His father Mazzen died nearly four years later, on 25 November 2017. In the committal order, the investigating judges said that it was "sufficiently established" that the two men "like thousands of detainees of the Air Force intelligence suffered torture of such intensity that they died." Read more The Syrian regime must be held accountable During the probe, French investigators and the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA), a non-governmental organization, collected accounts of torture and mistreatment at the Mezzeh prison, including the use of electric shocks and sexual violence, from dozens of witnesses including former detainees. Lawyer Clemence Bectarte, who represents the Dabbagh family and the International Federation for Human Rights, said the trial was a new reminder that "under no circumstances" should relations with the Assad regime be normalized. "We tend to forget that the regime's crimes are still being committed today", she said. Spanish and European Union flags fly at the Spanish Embassy in Buenos Aires on May 20, 2024. LUIS ROBAYO / AFP Spain will "definitively" withdraw its ambassador to Argentina after President Javier Milei refused to apologize for calling Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's wife "corrupt," Spain's foreign minister said on Tuesday, May 21. Spain withdrew its ambassador to Argentina at the weekend and Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said that the envoy "will remain definitively in Madrid. Argentina will no longer have a Spanish ambassador." Argentina's outspoken president caused outrage with an attack on socialism at the weekend while at a Madrid conference organized by the far-right Vox party. "The global elites don't realize how destructive it can be to implement the ideas of socialism," Milei said. "They don't know the type of society and country that can produce, the type of people clinging to power and the level of abuse that generates." He added: "When you have a corrupt wife, let's say, it gets dirty, and you take five days to think about it." Sanchez, a Socialist, recently considered resigning after Spanish prosecutors opened a preliminary corruption investigation against his wife, Begona Gomez, which was quickly closed. Within hours of Milei's attack, Spain recalled its ambassador and Albares slammed the visiting president's "insult." Read more Subscribers only Spain's Vox party hosts global far right ahead of EU elections He demanded a "public apology" from Milei, saying that Madrid would not exclude the possibility of rupturing diplomatic ties. Sanchez also called on Milei to retract his comments. However, the Argentina government slammed what it called "flashy and impulsive threats" and insisted that Sanchez's government should apologize. Milei responded on Thursday that Spain's decision to pull its ambassador from Buenos Aires in the midst of a diplomatic spat was "absurd," and he would not play tit for tat. "It is absurd, typical of an arrogant socialist," said Milei, adding he would not withdraw the Argentina ambassador from Madrid in return. Milei, a self-declared "anarcho-capitalist", won elections last November with a vow to cut Argentina's vast public debt to zero. He has instituted an austerity program that has seen the government slash public subsidies. But he has also become known for his controversial remarks. There have been weeks of rising diplomatic tensions between Spain and Argentina leading up to the latest spat. One Spanish minister last month indicated that Milei took drugs. InvestigationAn investigation carried out by Le Monde, Lighthouse Reports and seven international media outlets found that migrants are being arrested by the hundreds and deported to desert areas in Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania. Human rights are being violated with the backing of the European Union's resources. In Rabat, the capital of Morocco, Lamine, a young Guinean, was arrested six times by the police in 2023 before being ruthlessly sent back to the other side of the country. (People mentioned in this investigation by a first name only requested anonymity.) In Mauritania, Bella and Idiatou, also Guinean, were abandoned in the middle of the desert after being arrested and then imprisoned. Their crime? Attempting to reach Spain by sea. In Tunisia, Francois, from Cameroon, found his way as best he could after the security forces abandoned him in the middle of the mountains near the border with Algeria. It was the third time he had been deported in the space of a few months. These three stories are strikingly similar. Yet they took place in three different North African countries. The three countries share a common characteristic. They are each one of the final stages of the main migration routes to Europe: the Central Mediterranean route, linking the Tunisian coast to the Italian island of Lampedusa; the Western Mediterranean route, from North Africa to Spain; and the Atlantic route, from the shores of Senegal and the Western Sahara to the Canary Islands. Significant resources mobilized by the EU For this reason, Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania are the focus of much attention from the European Union (EU), as the bloc carries out its policy to combat unauthorized immigration. At a time when public opinion is tense, member states are divided and the political agenda is dominated by the rise of the far-right in many countries, Europe is mobilizing substantial resources to prevent sub-Saharan migrants from reaching the sea. The risk is that the aid provided to the governments of these North African countries is used for illegal practices and repeated human rights violations. Since 2015, the three countries have received over 400 million for border management through the Emergency Trust Fund (EUTF) alone, which was launched by the EU at the Valletta migration summit in Malta. In addition, certain member states have also been granted aid directly or through other programs. In July 2023, the EU signed another agreement with Tunisia, which includes 105 million in aid to combat unauthorized immigration. Shortly before, on June 19, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin had pledged more than 25 million to Tunis to strengthen migration control. More recently, on February 8, 2024, in Nouakchott, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a 210 million aid package for Mauritania, part of which would be allocated to "migration management." You have 88.21% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only. Ambassador Josephine Nkrumah, Resident Representative of the ECOWAS Commissions President in Liberia, Dr. Simeon Koffi, Executive Director of the ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority (ERCA), Mr. Wilmot Reeves, Deputy Commerce Minister for Commerce and Trade Services, and others attended the workshop opening at Boulevard Palace in Monrovia. LOUISE Donlon, executive director of the Lime Tree Theatre | Belltable has been appointed as the new chair of the Culture Ireland expert advisory committee. Ms Donlon has worked at the forefront of arts administration for over 30 years and has served as a member of the Arts Council and on the board of Siamsa Tire. She was appointed as a member of Culture Irelands expert advisory committee in 2021 and her appointment by Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin, TD, as chair to the committee, is effective until the end of 2026. Louise Donlon said The global impact of Irish arts and culture is quite phenomenal, exceeding that of countries much larger than Ireland. The investment by artists, arts organisations and Government continues to reap many rewards and accolades, which benefits all sectors of society and the economy. "I am delighted to have been invited to chair Culture Ireland at this exciting time and I look forward to working with my colleagues on the expert advisory committee to continue the great work being done by Culture Ireland in showcasing Irish arts on the global stage. A YOUNG Erasmus student who was attacked in her student accommodation was allegedly punched three or four times in the face. On May 8, 2024, at around 4.15pm, a University of Limerick (UL) Erasmus student in Kilmurry Village student accommodation entered her bedroom and noticed that some things had moved and that her bedroom window was wide open. A man, identified in Limerick District Court, as Martin Morey, of no fixed abode, allegedly threw the young woman onto the bed and then onto the floor and she received three or four punches to the face. Her face was cut near her eye and she had serious facial injuries, which required hospital treatment, the court heard. The court, sitting this Monday (May 20, 2024), heard that a mobile phone and 55 in cash were taken. READ MORE: Spotlight on snapper as he wins prize The 32-year-old man was charged with a Section 3 assault and burglary. On May 8, 2024, a UL student saw Morey discard a jacket in a ditch and felt that he looked suspicious. He took video footage on his phone, which was given to gardai. The jacket was obtained which allegedly had the young womans blood on it. Judge Patricia Harney was satisfied with garda evidence and refused bail. Morey was remanded in custody to appear before Limerick District Court again this Tuesday (May 21, 2024) and DPP directions are awaited. THERE was glory for Limerick at the Cannes Film Festival. Jayne Foley, artistic director with Fresh Film Limerick and art teacher at Limerick and Clare Education and Training Boards (ETB) College of FET, Mulgrave Street Campus, won Global Introduction Award 2024 at Cannes Film Festival. The category 'Community Impact' is for supporting young filmmakers throughout the country, school and college for 28 years. Jayne told Limerick Live: It was a huge honour to share the stories of these young film makers and this recognition validates our efforts and inspires us to continue." Jayne also thanked Film in Limerick, Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board, Screen Ireland, the arts council and RTE. Meanwhile, Limerick woman Dr Susan Liddy, who is the president of Women in Film and Television International (WIFTI) has announced that their global summit will be held in Ireland in February 2026. Dr Liddy gave a warm shout out to Paul Ryan and Rachael Power, from Film in Limerick, Jayne Foley Fresh Film Festival and Eimear Brophy, Further Education and Training Manager, Enterprise Engagement at Limerick and Clare ETB, who were there on the night. It was wonderful to meet so many Limerick people in Cannes who are working to promote film in the region, Dr Liddy said. READ MORE: Mayor of Limerick recognises three honourees for achievements "It speaks to a thriving regional presence and is a positive sign for the further development of film in the Mid-West," she told Limerick Live. Dr Liddy is the founder and director of Catalyst International Film Festival in Limerick, which celebrated its 5th year in 2024 and which boasts actor Ruth Negga as its festival ambassador. Dr Liddy lectures in the Department of Media and Communications in MIC and is a board member of the Writers Guild of Ireland, Raising Films Ireland and the Irish Film Institute. THIS Sunday (May 26), cultural diversity and traditions will be celebrated for Africa Day. It's a collaboration between the Limerick migrant integration forum and Limerick City and County Council. Between noon and 6pm on Sunday at the Milk Market, there will be dancing, music, food and art for a completely immersive experience. In partnership with Irish Aid and African embassies, Africa Day aims to bridge the gaps of inequalities and barriers in our society, fostering social cohesion and celebrating the richness of African cultures. Mayor of the City and County of Limerick, Cllr Gerald Mitchell said: In a world where differences often divide us, Africa Day Limerick is a reminder that our diversity is not a barrier, but our greatest strength. This event is a testament to the vibrant spirit of Limerick, a city that not only accepts diversity but actively celebrates it. Its a declaration that every culture, every story, and every voice matters. Kate Njoku, chairperson of the Limerick migrant integration forum said: Africa Day Limerick 2024 is not just an event; its a movement towards a more inclusive and integrated society. Its a day where we celebrate not only African heritage but also the shared values that unite us as a community. READ MORE: Limerick woman to lead national culture committee Seamus OConnor, Chief Officer, community development at Limerick City and County Council said: We are delighted to collaborate with Limerick migrant forum to present the Africa Day Event in the Milk Market. No doubt it will be a fantastic day, not only to celebrate and taste the cultures of Africa but also to witness the strength of diversity in Limerick. I want to acknowledge the work of the members of the migrant forum for organising this event and I have no doubt it will be enjoyed by all on the day. Africa Day will include a variety of performances and activities, from traditional African drumming and storytelling to fashion shows and interactive sessions. DJ Raspizo will entertain the crowd with afro beats and there will be performances from Niieedo, Mexican Community, Indian Community, African Gospel Choir, Kate Njoku, and other gospel artists, among others. Union road minister Nitin Gadkari has made a strong pitch to cut goods and services tax on ethanol-powered cars, pitching 2-3% lower tax than gasoline-powered vehicles for flex fuel cars, and 13-14% lower tax for flex fuel hybrids to compensate for their higher manufacturing costs. For a flex fuel hybrid with ex-factory price of 9 lakh, this can bring down the price by 2.80 lakh, similar to a petrol-run vehicle, Gadkari's calculations showed. Currently, hybrid cars attract GST of 28%. In a 10-page letter to finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in October seen by Mint, the minister said flex fuel hybrids that use 100% ethanol as fuel pollute even less than battery EVs. Gadkari's letter compares battery EVs and ethanol hybrids on 'well-to-wheel' emissions, or the total emissions from extracting fuel to using it in a vehicle. This is in contrast to tailpipe emissions, where EVs score ahead of others. Though flex fuel vehicles aren't mass-produced in India yet, Toyota recently debuted a100% ethanol hybrid version of its Innova. Maruti Suzuki too has been working on flex fuel engines. Meanwhile, the recent interest in hybrids has prompted analysts to raise their target price on Maruti Suzuki, which is seen to be in pole position to reap the benefit of a change. The push for flex fuel Hybrids such as the Toyota Hyryder and the Honda City e:HEV sport a regular petrol engine, plus an EV battery and motor. Gadkari's tax proposal is to lower the tax on purely ethanol-fired vehicles (flex fuel vehicles or FFVs), as well as hybrids which use ethanol (flex fuel strong hybrid electric vehicles or FFV-SHEVs). While India continues to invest in and manufacture highly competitive internal combustion engine (ICE) technologies and pursue electrification of transportation, it need not choose between these two excellent energy pathways and can leverage both through the FFV-SHEV technology. FFV-SHEV are the perfect examples of ICE and EV-based automobiles co-existing, co-creating and learning from each other", the letter said. These will also help reduce India's oil import bill, it added. Also read: Can hybrid cars help you save more than the EVs? India aims to have 20% ethanol-blended petrol at all fuel pumps by 2025, saving an estimated 30,000 crore in oil imports and reducing 10 million metric tons in greenhouse gas emissions. Flex fuel hybrids pollute even less than battery EVs, the letter said, comparing lifetime emissions. These will also help reduce India's oil import bill, said the letter, a copy of which was seen by Mint. Gadkari said this should effectively lead to a merit-based taxation system". Toyota Kirloskar Motor and Maruti Suzuki, both hybrid tech pioneers, have advocated a multi-technology pathway to lower vehicular emissions, whereas competitors like Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra, as well as South Korea's Hyundai and Kia, have argued against incentivizing technologies other than battery EVs, which have zero tailpipe emissions. The latter group has taken the view that these 'intermediate' technologies which only increase fuel efficiency and comply with emission reduction norms shouldn't receive additional benefits, as it can hamper investments in EVs. In April, Gadkari had mentioned that he had suggested lower taxes on hybrids, which was seen as a positive for Maruti Suzuki and Toyota Kirloskar Motor. However, the minister's letter makes a case for a favourable incentive framework, adding OEMs with lesser emissions can effectively earn carbon credits. Flex fuel route to self-reliance To be sure, Gadkari has backed ethanol-based flex fuels for long, extolling its benefits in reducing India's oil import bill, enabling farmers to become energy producers and boosting the agrarian economy. In his letter, Gadkari points out while substituting ethanol will propel the country towards energy self-reliance and promote a circular economy by making use of plant residue (parali, which farmers in North India burn, and which contributes to air pollution). In August 2023, Gadkari had launched a Toyota Innova Hycross flex-fuel hybrid prototype which can run on 100%-ethanol. Also read: Why the hybrid boom is funding EVs "Strong hybrid allows us to do any of the electrified technologies in the shortest period of time, because it already has a full electric powertrain", said Vikram Gulati, country head, Toyota Kirloskar Motor. "If there's a consumer out there who has a choice of much more fuel-efficient technologies, which have implications for the society as these vehicles will be around for the next 15 years, the government and industry should be enabled to make that choice. Hybrids can give 40-50% higher fuel efficiency compared to gasoline engines", Gulati added. "We urge the government to look at taxation in absolute rupee terms, which, if it is at par with IC-engines, will be revenue neutral for the government, but it will help greater offtake of electrify vehicles, without any revenue loss to the government. Worldwide year-on-year growth for hybrid vehicles in US, Europe and China have seen very high growth at par with EVs", he said. Recently, broking firm JM Financial raised its price target for Maruti Suzuki, stating the company will be a key beneficiary of the customer preference for hybrids. The company had a foresight back then (when it launched CNG) and we believe its current tech-agnostic approach is again a well thought-out approach against committing resources to a single technology," JM Financial said. Also read: Toyota stresses on incentivizing hybrids to drive EV adoption 'Viable intermediate option' Strong hybrids, particularly FFV-SHEV, are a viable intermediate option, approaching closer to zero emissions. These vehicles can bridge the gap while the country works towards a full transition to electric vehicles. Despite their potential, strong hybrid vehicles are subject to high taxes. Electric cars are charged with 5% GST, while hybrid vehicles are taxed at 28% for sub-4-metre and 43% for above-4-metre hybrid vehicles", Vikas Nimesh, senior research associate, power utility and electric mobility, Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE) said. The government should consider reducing the tax slabs, especially for FFV-SHEV, to encourage the widespread adoption of these vehicles, significantly reducing on-road emissions, contributing to cleaner air quality in cities, and decreasing dependency on petrol and diesel. Additionally, promoting the use of India-produced ethanol in these vehicles would further support the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, fostering self-reliance and economic independence", he added. Automotive industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) in 2022 had urged Nitin Gadkari to consider lower tax rates for flex fuel vehicles to aid customer adoption. In December 2022, ahead of the Auto Expo in January 2023, all leading Indian and foreign two-wheeler manufacturers had displayed flex-fuel prototypes at a SIAM event. We are all working under the aegis of Siam with a roadmap for introducing flex fuel vehicles. By October-December 2023, we will all showcase tooled-up pilot of flex fuel two-wheelers. And by September - October 2024, we all will work towards mass production of at least one model of flex fuel two-wheeler per manufacturer," KN Radhakrishnan, CEO, TVS Motor Company and chairman of SIAM's two-wheeler council had said. In the same event, Maruti Suzuki had showcased a flex-fuel vehicle too: A Wagon-R which could run on E20-E85 blended fuel. BEIJINGXiaomi is a Chinese company known for its rice cookers, robot vacuums, air purifiers and smartphones. Now, it has pulled off what Apple, its longtime rival, couldnt: Make an electric car and bring it to market. And it did it in three years. In its home market, Xiaomipronounced SHAU-meeis cranking out its SU7 sedan to a waiting list of buyers after its launch in late March. Since early April, the Beijing-based company said it had delivered more than 10,000 of the electric vehicles and received nearly 90,000 binding orders. Priced between $30,000 and $42,000, the company says the SU7 can go up to 500 miles on one charge, undercutting comparable versions of the Tesla Model 3 in China by around $4,000 and outrunning it by around 200 miles per charge. Xiaomis feat illuminates a new reality in the century-old automotive business: The barriers to entry for making a car have shrunk in recent years with the emergence of electric vehicles. And in this new reality, China is speeding way ahead. As the hardware has become simpler, the focus for what makes an appealing product has shifted decisively to software and features. New EVs are more like computers with batteries on wheels," said Paul Gong, head of China autos research at UBS. Chinese carmakers are now ahead of almost everyone else along the entire EV supply chain." To save on time and costs, the company adopted practices from Tesla and other automakers, mined its own product-development know-how and plugged into Chinas fast-moving car supply chain. Years of honing laptops, blenders and petcams helped it develop features tailored to a fickle consumer base, including a detachable panel of physical buttons that magnetically clips on below the 16.1-inch center screen for those who dont like to control their volume or seat via touch screen. Consumer-product expertise also helped in the integration smartphone, car and household devices. For example, the phone screen can be mirrored on the touch screen. When the car is in a going home" mode, once it reaches a set distance from home, smart lights and air conditioners switch on inside the residence. In April, at Chinas biggest annual car show, executives from the worlds largest car brands crowded around the Xiaomi stall. Wang Chuanfu, chief executive of Warren Buffett-backed BYD, Chinas biggest EV maker, told Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun that he had initially doubted Xiaomi could pull it off, but said he had been proved wrong. Thats no small feat. Respect!" he said, according to video footage of the exchange. Eyeing Tesla Xiaomi is the worlds third-largest smartphone maker, after Apple and South Koreas Samsung Electronics. But making cars required a whole new level of complexity, Lei told state broadcaster China Central Television in an April intervieweven without having to make the internal combustion engine that has made traditional cars so nettlesome to produce. Xiaomi brought on some 6,000 people to work on the car project, Lei said. Some were recruited from foreign carmakers such as Porsche and BMW; others were transferred from other departments, said Ma Yingbo, a member of Xiaomis marketing team. Among the cars Xiaomi looked to for inspiration was Teslas Model 3. To simplify development and reduce costs, Xiaomi adopted Teslas process of gigacasting," which employs large-scale, high-pressure aluminum die-casting to create the cars frame. The process combines hundreds of manufacturing steps into one, saving on components, weight, cost and time. Xiaomi also had to innovate. The liquid aluminum that gets injected into the die-casting machine has to be a certain variety that can withstand an extraordinary amount of pressure. Xiaomi had to come up with its own material, building an artificial-intelligence program that used a method known as deep learning to simulate how different materials would behave when placed inside the die-cast machine, Ma said. China speed Xiaomi joined with Beijing Automotive Group to begin its plant project using the state-owned companys car-making license. From there, it took Xiaomi half a year to design the plant and an additional 15 months to build it, with the remainder of the three-year road to launch spent dealing with approvals, quality control and standards. The company only seriously started looking into entering the car sector after the U.S. government blacklisted it in January 2021 for what it said were ties to Chinas military, prohibiting Americans from investing in Xiaomi, Lei told CCTV. (In May 2021, Washington agreed to remove the company from the blacklist.) On the day of the blacklisting announcement, Lei recalled gathering board members for an emergency meeting, worried that Xiaomi could soon lose access to American components and would no longer be able to make smartphones. In short, Lei said, Xiaomi needed to find new ways of making money. In March 2021, Xiaomi declared its intention to join the ranks of Chinese EV makers and pledged to invest $10 billion over the next decade. From one model to mass production Xiaomis entry catapulted it into the top 10 EV newcomers in China and intensifies a drawn-out price war in Chinas EV market, where more than 100 brands are vying for a slice of the worlds biggest auto marketmany of them unprofitable. Lei expects only five to eight companies to survive and said that Xiaomi is currently selling at a loss. To turn a profit, Xiaomi would have to produce 300,000 to 400,000 of the SU7 each year, he told CCTV. Xiaomi needs to quickly increase production to meet demand. Customers who ordered the car in late April will have to wait 40 to 50 weeks for delivery. There have been reports in Chinese-language media of the car being involved in minor crashes and an SU7 breaking down shortly after delivery. The company didnt respond to requests for comments on those reports. Last week, the U.S. increased tariffs on Chinese EVs to roughly 100%. Xiaomi has said it would focus on the China market in the next three years. The company didnt make Lei available for an interview. Know thy customer As the hardware for electric vehicles becomes simpler, what increasingly determines success in China is a cars software and features, executives say. For that, Xiaomi could rely on its in-house expertise of household products and gadgets. The company is intimately familiar with customers lifestyle preferences and tapped those insights for its product development, said Tu Le, who splits his time between China and the U.S. and is the managing director of the industry research firm Sino Auto Insights. When Lei showed the SU7 to BYDs Wang, he said that from the start Xiaomi spent a lot of time trying to make the car appealing to female buyers. We figured out who calls the shots," said Lei, according to the video footage, explaining that it was usually women who made the final buying decision. One feature that was particularly popular with female customers, he said, was the cars sun protection on its glass roof. Xiaomi said that the fortified tinted glass keeps the car cool in the sun and blocks UV raysa feature appreciated by Chinese women eager to shield their skin from the sun. The SU7s dashboard can also plug into Xiaomis wider software ecosystem, showing the drivers Xiaomi phone display and allowing anyone with other Xiaomi devices to control them through the car. In that sense, SU7 feels more like another gadget in the Xiaomi world," said Sino Auto Insights Le. Earlier this year, Apple ended its yearslong push to create its own electric vehicle, daunted by the increasing difficulty the company faced as it spent billions trying to catch or exceed the capabilities of existing carmakers. Upon learning of Apples exit, Lei said he instructed employees to ensure the SU7 would work with Apples proprietary CarPlay software, which displays iPhone screens on car dashboards, he told CCTV. Ma Xiaoyun, a student from the northern Chinese city of Tianjin, said he bought a Xiaomi phone in addition to the car just so he could experience their seamless integration with his household devices, such as his water filter and robot vacuum cleaner. But what appeals the most to the 21-year-old Ma is the cars acceleration, advertised as 0 to 62 miles an hour in 2.78 secondsa pace of acceleration reminiscent of some versions of the Porsche Taycan, which costs at least four times as much as the SU7. Im getting a lot for the money," he said. Write to Sha Hua at sha.hua@wsj.com and Yoko Kubota at yoko.kubota@wsj.com An Emirates flight flying over the Laxmi Nagar area of Pantnagar in Mumbai's Ghatkopar on Monday night struck a flock of flamingos, resulting in the deaths of at least 40 birds. The Emirates flight EK 508 from Dubai-Mumbai reported a bird hit upon arrival at Mumbai airport at 9.18 pm. Despite the hit, the flight which suffered damages, landed safely, as per the Hindustan Times report. An airport source confirmed the bird hit to HT, stating that the incident was reported immediately upon the flight's arrival. Additional Chief Conservator of Forests (Mangrove Protection Cell), SY Rama Rao, reported the discovery of 36 flamingo bodies in the area and announced a search to determine if more birds were affected. The airport authorities have confirmed to us about the bird strike. This has happened closer to Laxmi Nagar (northern end of Ghatkopar East), said Deepak Khade, Deputy Conservator of the Mangrove Protection Cell, as quoted by HT. Confirming the incident, Emirates spokesperson said, Emirates can confirm that EK508 from Dubai to Mumbai on 20 May was involved in a bird strike incident upon landing. The aircraft landed safely and all passengers and crew disembarked without injury, however sadly a number of flamingos were lost and Emirates is cooperating with the authorities on the matter." The aircraft was also damaged in the incident and, as a result, the return flight EK509 scheduled to depart to Dubai on 20 May was cancelled. All passengers and crew were accommodated overnight and a replacement aircraft is being arranged for all passengers, and is scheduled to depart Mumbai on 21 May at 21:00 local time. Emirates apologises for any inconvenience caused. The safety of our passengers and crew is of the utmost importance and will not be compromised, the spokesperson said. Prashant Bahadure, Range Forest Officer of the Mangrove Protection Cell, added, I went to the airport, but they didnt allow me entry. The airport authorities have told us these flamingos were hit by an Emirates flight. We got a call from the local residents, and the incident may have happened between 8:40 pm and 8:50 pm. Our team was on the spot at 9:15 pm, reported HT. Environmental activist D Stalin from NGO Vanshakti suggested that the new power lines through the sanctuary area might be causing disorientation among the birds, leading to the incident. What caused the birds to fly into the aeroplane, etc., are being investigated. My theory is the new power lines through the sanctuary area are causing disorientation to the birds. It should have never been permitted. Alternate routes were many. While giving permissions for power lines (earlier, it was not allowed inside sanctuaries), the wildlife board meekly surrendered to the power company. The Thane Creek Wildlife Sanctuary was bulldozed and towers erected, Stalin was quoted by HT. BERLINJust months ago, the AfD was on a roll. With all-time best poll ratings, the German far-right party appeared headed for record election scores this year, promising to extend a winning streak for nationalist and populist parties across the region. Now, an avalanche of scandals is clouding the partys national and European ambitions. After years of thriving on controversy, the AfD is seeing voters pull away and risks being relegated to a purely regional force concentrated in Germanys former communist east. Speaking in her sixth-floor office overlooking Berlins monumental Reichstag building, Alice Weidel, the AfDs co-chairwoman, acknowledged the difficulties. Like no other party, we are facing an institutional assault," she said, pointing to what she called biased public-sector media. And its having an impact on our electoral chances." Last Monday, a court ruled that Germanys intelligence agency could investigate the party as a suspected extremist organizationa move that could lead to its ban. The next day, another judge fined a popular AfD leader for using a banned Nazi slogan in a speech. On Thursday, the party said investigators had searched the office of an AfD lawmaker who is the partys number-two candidate for this years European Parliament election, as part of what prosecutors said was a corruption investigation involving Russia. Other prosecutors are also conducting a preliminary probe into the partys top EU election candidate following reports he had accepted payments from Russia and China. Last month, the candidates parliamentary assistant was detained on suspicion of spying for Beijing. Its definitely having an impact, because at the core, a politician and a partys most valuable capital is their credibility and thats whats being undermined here," said Weidel, referring to the corruption allegations. The AfD remains the second or third most popular party in Germany, depending on the polls, amid voter frustration with the ruling coalition, but its ratings have dropped from 24% in December to 16%, according to a recent survey by polling group Forsa. Forsa head Manfred Gullner said the succession of scandals was the main reason for the ratings drop, causing some who had turned to the party because of their rejection of the government to leave again." The rough patch began late last year after Correctiv, an investigative publication, reported that senior party members discussed the forced deportation of migrants, including some who had become German citizensa policy that would be in breach of the constitution. Tens of thousands took to the streets in protest. The AfD even drew a rebuke from Marine Le Pen, leader of the French far-right Rassemblement National party, an AfD ally in the European Parliament. Weidel said that deporting German citizens was never discussed. Thats complete nonsense. No one wants that. That would be unconstitutional and, as far as Im concerned, a breach of human rights," she said. With stacks of the Economist and a George Orwell collection of essays on her shelf, Weidel is an unlikely figurehead for one of Europes most hard-line far-right parties. Her resume paints her as an elite globalist of the kind AfD politicians revile in their speeches. She is most animated when discussing exchange-rate mechanisms, fiscal theories and the euros design flaws. An economics Ph.D., Weidel worked at Goldman Sachs and in consulting before joining the partys leadership in 2015. She lives in a same-sex relationship with a Sri Lankan-born Swiss film producer. The couple and their two sons split their time between southern Germany and Switzerland. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, a Green Party leader and opponent of Weidel, has expressed admiration in private for the AfD leaders parliamentary oratory, according to people familiar with the ministers thinking. While she is the face of the AfD to the outside world, Weidel, born in western Germany, doesnt have full control over the party, whose regional leaders in the former communist East, the partys stronghold, exert considerable influence. Founded in 2013 by fiscally conservative economic professors to protest the bailout of over-indebted Greece, the AfD morphed into an anti-immigration and antiestablishment party. It now rejects the notion of man-made climate change and wants Germans to vote on leaving the euro. Some of its leaders want Germany to stop atoning for the Holocaust. The AfDs chapters in the eastern states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia are classified as extremist organizations by Germanys domestic intelligence agency and are under constant surveillance. These regions are also where the AfD is most popular. Other nationalist parties have mellowed over time, sanding off their ideological edges to woo moderate voters. After ditching its anti-EU positions and embracing economic populism, Frances Rassemblement National is projected to win the 2027 presidential election. Brothers of Italy party leader Giorgia Meloni became prime minister on the back of a similar exercise. If you read the AfDs official program, you could say thats a classical national-conservative party," said Christian Stecker, a political-science professor at Darmstadt Technical University. But look into the chat groups, go to the party conferences, listen to the market-square speechesand you see much clearer far-right positions." This week, Bjorn Hocke, the partys popular parliamentary leader in Thuringia, was fined for knowingly using a banned slogan of Hitlers SA militia during a speech. On the same day, a different court rejected an appeal by the AfD seeking to stop Germanys domestic intelligence agency from investigating it for suspected extremism. Hocke has said he didnt use the phrase knowingly and his lawyer has appealed the courts decision. Weidel said the AfD is a target of a campaign by left-leaning journalists. But she also betrays some frustration with Hocke and other AfD provocateurs. The AfD has different currents. Mr. Hocke represents one of these currents and we have to accept that," she said. The latest AfD scandals could prove the most damaging. Last month, German authorities detained the parliamentary assistant of Maximilian Krah, the AfDs lead European election candidate, on suspicion that the Chinese-born German national was spying for Beijing. Krah later fired the assistant and said he had no knowledge of the allegations. The detained assistant and his lawyer couldnt be reached for comment. In an unrelated case, the Dresden prosecutor-generals office told The Wall Street Journal it was conducting two preliminary investigations into news reports that Krah, a member of the European Parliament, had received payments from Russian and Chinese sources. Krah told the Journal there have obviously been no payments in the sense you mentioned" and noted that his parliamentary immunity remained intact and that he was subject to a preliminary probe, not a full-fledged investigation. On Thursday, prosecutors in Munich said they had opened a corruption investigation into a member of the German parliament and searched his offices. Weidel later confirmed Petr Bystron, a Czech-born member of the German parliament and number two on the partys EU election list, was the target and that parliament had lifted his immunity. The investigation was prompted by Czech media reports accusing the lawmaker and others of receiving payments from a now-sanctioned Czech-based Russian propaganda outfit. Bystrons parliamentary office didnt respond to a request for comment. He has repeatedly denied accepting money from Russian sources. Weidel said the AfD leadership had demanded written explanations from Krah and Bystron and was urging them to take legal action against their accusers. Should we get evidence that confirms the accusations, we would of course act and immediately expel all affected people from the party," she added. Until then, the presumption of innocence applies." Despite its difficulties, pollsters say the AfD continues to appeal to voters beyond its far-right base. It is still more popular than any other far-right party in postwar Germany and while its ratings have suffered at the national level, they have remained stable in its eastern German strongholds, where it could still finish in first place at three regional elections later this year. The AfD has a substantial share of loyal supporters who will stick to the party no matter what," said Manes Weisskircher, a political scientist at the Technical University Dresden. Convincing them to vote differently is a long-term challenge for other parties." Write to Bojan Pancevski at bojan.pancevski@wsj.com Tech billionaire Elon Musk's statement criticizing Meta's Instagram platform for its online child safety policies has sparked widespread discussion, with social media users slamming the Musk-owned X platform for hosting adult content unsuitable for children. Musk took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to assert that X implements superior safety protocols aimed at combating child exploitation. However, his claim has triggered controversy among users, some of whom argue that X hosts a considerable amount of adult content unsuitable for children. "Post your family pics on X! We care & do more to fight child exploitation than any other platform by far," Musk wrote. He also included a meme featuring a scene from "The Simpsons". The first part of the meme shows two men standing outside an establishment with the Instagram logo, accompanied by the text, Perhaps theres some nice photos in here. The post shared a few hours ago, has garnered nearly 14 million views, with the number rapidly increasing. It has also prompted numerous comments from users. What did X users say about Elon Musk's post? Many will be understandably apprehensive about that tbh. Still need to get rid of all the porn bots and spam plaguing X, a user commented in response to Musk's post. Another added that nobody should be posting photos of their children on the open internet. The majority of my audience are young teenagers, and every time I post something, there is at least one 'nu*** in my bio' reply. Not only that, but people use trending hashtags to post violence and sex so they get more impressions. I mean, c'mon (SIC), commented another X user. I recently went through two years of posts to delete any pictures of my son. I dont love the nu*** in bio under a picture of my toddler, another X user expressed. X is literally loaded with porn. It's in my comments all the time, countering Musk's claim, another user posted. No. Photos of my children will never be posted on the internet, added another. Bengaluru: Quick commerce is set to become an integral channel for most direct-to-consumer (D2C) companies going ahead, including for those supported by Bertelsmann India Investments (BII), according to managing director Pankaj Makkar. We consider quick commerce to be the evolution of e-commerce," Makkar told Mint in an interview. He said even delivery platforms servicing giants like Amazon and Flipkart must seriously evaluate this strategy. Personal care D2C brand Nat Habit, which raised about $10.2 million led by Bertelsmann last year, is the latest among the companies that are in talks to sell products through quick commerce. The investment firm, which also counts meat delivery startup Licious and furniture retailer Pepperfry among the companies it has backed, is primarily focused on consumer-tech startups which constitute 80% of its current portfolio. Quick commerce gained popularity during the pandemic with consumers getting groceries and essentials delivered in less than 20 minutes. However, its use cases have expanded to include other items such as beauty, fashion, electronics and eyewear in recent months. Some major players operating in this space include Swiggy's Instamart, Zomato-backed Blinkit and Zepto. Makkar said these quick commerce companies need to evaluate the right amount of stock-keeping units (SKUs) to avoid operational inefficiencies. "Quick commerce companies should prioritize fast-moving products over stocking all SKUs. Achieving this requires leveraging technology and advanced data analysis to determine the optimal inventory across urban dark stores. This approach demands significant innovation and effort." Innovative business models Bertelsmann India is also exploring "innovative business models" within the D2C space, "particularly those that have revolutionized supply chain operations", Makkar said. Supply chain management tends to be one of the most challenging topics for companies to create massive Moats. We are highly enthusiastic about direct-to-consumer brands," he said. Moats is a business ability to maintain competitive advantage to sustain profitability and market share. "However, we anticipate significant innovation not only in product development but also within supply chain management. As we identify more companies that meet these criteria, we remain committed to investing in them." Last week, logistics firm Delhivery's chief executive officer Sahil Barua also expressed interest in operating in the quick commerce segment and stressed the company's efforts to play a role in the overall supply chain for clients such as Amazon and Flipkart that have announced plans to foray into the category. While Barua pointed to the large gap to fill between 10-15-minute deliveries and same or next-day deliveries, he said there is an emerging line of products that could come under the quick commerce segment involving two to four-hour deliveries. Quick commerce, which is currently a $2.8 billion market, clocked a 77% growth in its gross merchandise value (GMV) last year and is estimated to sustain a 40-45% growth over the next three years, riding on promising user growth potential, according to a March report by Redseer. Assisted commerce model Founded in 2012, Bertelsmann India is a sector-agnostic mid-stage growth fund that typically focuses on series B and series C rounds. It does about four to six deals a year. Since the beginning of this year, the company has already done two deals and expects to do another four to five deals by the end of 2024, Makkar said. It is currently deploying capital from its second fund that it raised in 2022 and which is $500 million in size. Its previous fund is $250-300 million in size. "We believe India has substantial growth potential, with strong underlying fundamentals and a favorable macroeconomic climate," Makkar said. "Consequently, we remain quite optimistic and will continue to invest in India." Bertelsmann has also backed startups in other categories as seen in its investments in companies such as Rozana which operates in the assisted commerce segment. Assisted commerce refers to startups that cater to first-time internet transactors in tier-2 markets and beyond by assisting consumers to make purchases online. In this model, companies such as Rozana appoint sales representatives at various touchpoints to help consumers become familiar with online shopping. In March, the rural startup raised about $22.5 million led by Bertelsmann India alongside other investors. "These assisted commerce services are designed to help individuals in tier 2 and 3 cities learn how to navigate e-commerce," Makkar said. "Over time, users receive assistance and gradually transition to completing transactions independently as they develop trust in the platform. Assisted commerce models may also require an offline element to help customers in these areas build initial trust with the brand. These physical centres also serve as a point of contact for purchasing products that are in a complex category or that require some consultation or assistance at the time of purchase. Offline expansion Beyond assisted commerce, even larger brands such as Nykaa, Wakefit and Mamaearth realise the opportunity of offline centres as people return to their normal shopping patterns post-pandemic. These players have been making rapid strides to set up more stores to expand their revenue channels. Even investors at Fireside Ventures and Accel Partners have resonated with the shift in consumer behaviour and are increasingly backing only those online brands that have a longer-term offline strategy. "Companies should launch their products across all channels, provided the unit economics are viable," Makkar said. Investors encourage this strategy and seek to support substantial businesses that leverage multi-channel access to generate increased demand and facilitate the growth of large companies, he added. Every day roughly two dozen trains set off from Delhi, Indias capital, to Bihar, an impoverished eastern state. This week more will be added to ferry the thousands of Biharis heading home to celebrate Holi, the Hindu festival of colours that falls on March 25th this year. Even so, there will be many more people hoping to travel than train seatsnot just on the Delhi-Bihar routes, but also on the hundreds elsewhere in India that carry people between its pockets of prosperity and its hinterlands. Such internal mobility is central to the countrys development. Internal migrants are an important pillar of urban economies. Big cities pull in professionals from across the country. Lower-skilled migrants work on construction sites, guard gates and clean houses. The money they send home brings relief to areas that desperately need it. Yet given enormous income disparities between Indian regions, the number of Indians who migrate is small by comparison with other large and unequal countries such as China. The country could be much richer if more did so. Consider the case of Vijay Kumar, who works as a security guard in a posh suburb of Delhi. He earns 15,000 rupees ($181) a month, far more than he would at home. The 8,000 rupees ($96) he transfers to Rataul in Bihar is enough to feed his family and send his children to school. According to an estimate in Indias annual economic survey, domestic remittances were worth the equivalent of 1% of GDP in 2016-17. That number could be much larger if Indians started moving more. Reliable data on the number of migrants do not exist, in part because so much of Indias economy is informal. One survey conducted in 2021 estimates that 29% of Indians (nearly 400m people) are migrants. That includes those that move within the same state. Just 12% (160m) move between states. The overwhelming reason for both types of migration is marriage, accounting for 72% of all moves. The share of those moving for work is just 11%, including migration within states. Most of them are men: only 2% of women move for work. By international standards migration in India is weak. One study in 2014 found that Indias internal migration levels were lower than in all but one of the 82 countries examined. More recent globally comparable data are not available, but urbanisation rates, a proxy for domestic migration, suggest that India still lags. The World Bank estimates that in 2021 35% of Indians lived in cities, a lower share than China (63%), Indonesia (57%) and other lower-middle-income countries (43%). The other issue is that a lot of migration is circular", says Chinmay Tumbe of the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad and author of India Moving". He reckons that there are 100m temporary migrants in the country, who will return home eventually. But lasting wealth is created only when families spend generations in cities. Returning migrants also add pressure to strained rural economies. Why are Indians not more mobile? In cities most work is too precarious for migrants to put down roots. Housing is expensive and jobs do not pay enough to cover it. A quarter of Mr Kumars salary goes on renting a pigeon hole and a shared toilet". Differences in culture and language are another barrier in a country with hundreds of different languages and no lingua franca. So is the rise of nativist movements across the country. This year Bangalore, Indias tech capital and a magnet for migrants, has been embroiled in a battle over language. Municipal authorities have required businesses to display signs predominantly in Kannada, the states tongue, or risk losing their licences. Calls to reserve jobs for locals are getting louder. The lack of a safety-net is another obstacle. Migrants lose welfare benefits, such as access to public health care, when they cross state borders. Welfare spending is skewed towards villagers, who enjoy generous subsidies in agriculture and can get access to a guaranteed workfare programme. Few equivalents exist in cities. Some signs of change are visible. After a sudden pandemic-era lockdown triggered an exodus of migrants from cities, their travails prompted the national government to improve the portability of government welfare schemes. One initiative now allows people to access subsidised grain anywhere in the country. The southern manufacturing hubs of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are planning to provide safe accommodation to encourage more women to move there, possibly mindful of the role female workers played in Chinas manufacturing boom. At the national level, the government could establish an inter-state migration council to help migrants and ensure their freedom of movement, suggests Mr Tumbe. Narendra Modi, the prime minister, extols the importance of national unity and national industries to make India a developed country by the time it celebrates 100 years of independence in 2047. Making it easier to move around would be one way to achieve that goal. 2024, The Economist Newspaper Ltd. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on www.economist.com Despite a burgeoning travel sector and a sharp rebound in economic growth from covid lows, India has slipped ten places to 39 in the World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism Development Index 2024 (TTDI) rankings since 2019, mostly hurt by weak access to healthcare facilities, inadequate tourism infrastructure, and low-skilled manpower serving the sector. On an overall index score of 7, where 1 is the worst, and 7 the best, India's score of 4.25 was lower than its emerging-market peers such as China and Brazil, WEF's new Insight Report showed. Among the world's top 10 economies, India's slide down the rankings was the sharpest, followed by the UK, which fell 3 places since 2019 to occupy the seventh spot. The US retained its top position, while China, the world's second-largest economy, moved a notch higher to 8 in the global rankings. The TTDI focuses on 119 economies based on factors and policies contributing to a sustainable and resilient development of the travel and tourism sector. The rankings reflect each country's ability to develop and sustain its travel and tourism industry. The United Arab Emirates saw the biggest growth in the index, while India remained above the average by 7.1%. The report calls for revamping tourism policies to create a more conducive environment for both domestic and international travellers. Streamlining regulations and incentivising investment in the tourism sector can significantly boost India's attractiveness as a destination, since it currently lags on tourism policies, air transport, and tourist service infrastructure, the report highlighted. By contrast, India scored high on price competitiveness as well as availability of cultural and natural resources, boosting its allure for tourism. The WEF's annual report flagged poorly-skilled human resources as well as poor hygiene hurting the growth of travel and tourism in the country that received about 10.93 million international tourists in FY20, before the pandemic shut down travel. Read | Suite' surprise: Discounts rain at 5-star hotels for summer, autumn travel The United States leads the TTDI rankings, standing at 32.3% above the average. Interestingly, Thailand, a popular tourist destination, ranks lower than India, with its score falling by 4.12%. This decline is possibly due to delays in easing travel restrictions after the pandemic ebbed, compared to other regions, impacting its ability to recover air route capacity and attract international tourists. The report suggests that India needs to improve its infrastructure, policy conditions, and sustainability to enhance its future rankings and fully leverage its travel and tourism potential. The Asia-Pacific region was the second-highest performer among all regions globally, but experienced the largest average decline in TTDI scores (-0.7%) due to delays in loosening travel restrictions and struggles with air route capacity and sector investment recovery. Globally, the travel and tourism industry, which historically accounted for 10% of global GDP, is on a path to recovery post-pandemic. International tourist arrivals are projected to reach 88% of 2019 levels in 2023 and are likely to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2024. The west Asia has outpaced other regions, with tourist arrivals 20% above 2019 levels, while Europe, Africa, and the Americas have recovered to around 90% of their pre-pandemic levels. However, the recovery is uneven, particularly in conflict-stricken areas and regions affected by natural disasters such as forest fires. Also, Environmental challenges continue to impact the travel and tourism sector globally. Issues such as bio-diversity loss, climate-related extreme weather events, and pollution pose significant risks to tourism resources and infrastructure. The sector, which accounted for 5.8% of global water use and 5-8% of global material extraction in 2019, is under pressure to adopt more sustainable practices, the report added. Also read | For international travellers, India remains a distant destination According to the report, a big dampener for India has been the steady reduction in government funding for overseas tourism promotions over the years, from 524 crore in 2021-22 to 341 crore in FY23, and further down to 167 crore for FY24. In contrast, substantial funds have been directed towards the development of pilgrimage destinations, with an increase of 66%, from 150 crore in FY23 to 250 crore in FY24. Despite these shifts, the overall budget for the tourism sector remains unchanged at 2,400 crore, the same as in FY23. However, only 1,343 crore of this allocation was spent on promoting tourism in FY23, with a mere 60 crore of the 341 crore budgeted for overseas promotions actually utilized. An equal amount was spent on domestic campaigns, falling short of the allocated 75 crore. "Over the years, there has been a reduction in spending on promoting India as a destination overseas, which is how most countries get high-spending in-bound tourists. Small policy changes could potentially have a big impact on the tourism landscape of the country. For instance, we don't want them to give out free visas but they can incentivise transiting travellers to come spend a day or two travelling here and bring in a 48-hour free transit visa facility. Right now the focus of the government is primarily on domestic and spiritual tourism. They need to expand beyond that and also target business from inbound travellers," said Dipak Deva, managing director, Travel Corporation India Ltd, a Fairfax company. He said changes should also be made to the Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS), which will help small and medium companies operating in the travel space to expand their businesses through financial rewards to these service providers by way of duty credit scrips based on a percentage of their net foreign exchange earnings. These scrips can be used to pay various duties, such as customs and excise, which can lower operational costs. The government should encourage the private sector to spend on promoting India with schemes such as SEIS. "We must mobilise the embassies overseas to make tourism a key focus area and the ministry of tourism should focus on marketing India - let's say it's time for Incredible India 3.0," he added. Rajiv Mehra, president of the Indian Association of Tour Operators, said, "India has no problem with infrastructure at the moment, flights or road, they are all very good. The problem is that there is no advertisement of the country outside, including roadshows or fam trips for tour operators and print and electronic media etc." This is putting the country at a huge disadvantage. India has earmarked just 3 crore for this fiscal for overseas tourism promotion. In 2022, the country had shut all its 20 tourism offices abroad, allocating the work to local Indian embassies in these countries. "Whenever there is one foreign in-bound tourist, s/he creates nine employment opportunities locally. But this has reduced to five now because India is only still at 70% of the total in-bound travellers compared to the pre pandemic levels," he added. The report highlights the travel and tourism sectors global contribution to GDP, nearly matching pre-pandemic levels in 2023 at $9.9 trillion. However, persistent issues such as labour shortages, supply and demand imbalances, and price increases have strained destinations and businesses within the sector. Additionally, infrastructure in air transport and tourist services has not fully recovered to 2019 levels, indicating ongoing challenges in meeting the rising demand. The top 10 economies in the 2024 TTDI include the United States, Spain, Japan, France, Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, China, Italy, and Switzerland. These countries benefit from favorable business environments, robust transport and tourism infrastructure, and a high concentration of natural and cultural resources. The top 30 TTDI scorers accounted for over 75% of travel and tourism industry GDP in 2022 and 70% of GDP growth between 2020 and 2022. In the Asia-Pacific region, Japan, Australia, and China lead in travel and tourism development, with India ranking as the top lower-middle-income economy in the TTDI. The region has made progress in areas such as ground and port infrastructure, information and communication technology-readiness, and cultural resources. However, emerging economies in south and southeast Asia lag in transport, tourism, and information and communication technology infrastructure. Most of the dataset for the TTDI is statistical data from international organizations, with the remainder based on survey data from the World Economic Forums annual Executive Opinion Survey, which measures qualitative concepts or for which internationally comparable statistics are not available for enough countries. New Delhi: India and the UK are inching closer to sealing a free trade agreement (FTA) after negotiations that have been ongoing since January 2022 finally made some breakthroughs. While some differences do persist, two points of disagreement are on the verge of being resolved. Two people aware of the development said that in the proposed terms being formalized, the UK may allow Indian professionals to work there under certain conditions. In exchange, India may allow the import of premium-category electric vehicles, subject to a fixed cap. The Union commerce ministry has placed the finalisation of the FTA at the top of its 100-day post-poll agenda, according to the first person. So far, 13 rounds of negotiations have been held. The ongoing discussions, which began on 10 January, mark the 14th round of negotiations," the second person mentioned above said on condition of anonymity. Chapter-wise textual negotiations are nearly closed, and the schedules for goods and services are at an advanced stage. Mobility is part of the services-level discussions." The intensity of the negotiation has picked up in recent months, with the UK team visiting New Delhi in March, followed by the Indian delegations visit to London in both April and May. Additional visits are planned in the coming months. If negotiations proceed smoothly, the FTA is expected to be signed before the UK elections next January. Queries emailed on Friday to commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal and spokesperson of THE commerce ministry remained unanswered till press time. Meanwhile, in response to an emailed query, the spokesperson for UKs department for business and trade said, We have always been clear we will only sign a deal that is fair, balanced and ultimately in the best interests of the British people and the economy." The UK and India continue to work towards an ambitious trade deal that works for both countries," the spokesperson said. The sticking clauses According to the people cited above, the UK has agreed in principle to allow work visas for Indian professionals to reside for a fixed period (which is yet undecided), with the option for renewal dependent on meeting mutually agreed-upon conditions. However, the provision for accompanying spouses may not be included in the agreement. The work visas being negotiated would benefit all professionals visiting the UK for work as per the agreed-upon provisions of the FTA, unlike, say, IT services companies employees who obtain visas for a certain period only to work on a certain project. In return, India may allow the import of a fixed number of premium electric vehicles annually on reduced duties, subject to the fulfilment of terms and conditions agreed upon by both nations. The cap may be adjusted based on compliance with these terms. The numbers being discussed are tentatively in the range of 2,000-2,500 EVs. The UK is demanding significant cuts in Indian tariffs for products such as Scotch whisky, which currently faces a hefty 150% duty, as well as for electric vehicles and chocolates. Regarding the issue of Scotch whisky, India has offered a deal like the one it has with Australia. Under the India-Australia FTA, the duty on Australian wines has been reduced from 150% to up to 75% over a period of 10 years. Currently, import duties for Scotch whisky from the UKboth bottled and bulkstand at 150% above the minimum import price (MIP). It could now be reduced to 100% for bottled Scotch, which could be further reduced to 75% over a 10-year period, the people cited above said. Then, Indias request for exemption from the proposed carbon tax remains unresolved. The UK has proposed to introduce a levy for imported goods by 2027 that have lower or no carbon price to support its decarbonisation drive. This tax would be on similar lines to the proposed carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) by the European Union. As of now, the UK is not prepared to grant India a free pass regarding this tax, which is part of broader efforts to combat climate change by imposing costs on carbon emissions, according to the people aware of the matter. The trade situation Merchandise trade between India and the UK has grown from $10.45 billion in FY22 to $11.46 billion in FY23 and it increased further by 13.26% to $12.98 billion in FY24. An FTA between the two countries is expected to boost trade volumes in both goods and services," said Ajay Sahai, DG, FIEO (Federation of Indian Export Organisations). Given that India exports IT and business services to the UK, the FTA will facilitate the seamless movement of skilled professionals, further enhancing bilateral trade relations." However, the general feeling is that an India-UK FTA would benefit India more from a services standpoint than goods. The FTA with the UK is anticipated to minimally impact the growth of goods exports, given that more than half of Indian products already enter the UK with low or no tariffs," said Ajay Srivastava, the founder of Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI). The average tariff on goods imported from India into the UK stands at 4.2%." Reducing duties for Indian products worth $6 billion won't provide any additional benefit, as they already enter the UK duty-free, even without the FTA. These products include petroleum products, medicines, diamonds, machine parts, airplanes, and wooden furniture," Srivastava said. On the other hand, there are potential gains from reducing duties for Indian exports valued at $5 billion, including textiles, apparel (shirts, trousers, women's dresses, bed linen), footwear, carpets, cars, marine products, grapes, and mangoes, he said. An Indian team led by chief negotiator L. Satya Srinivas, additional secretary, ministry of commerce, visited the UK on 16 April. During the four-day visit, various issues were discussed extensively, including the proposed carbon tax, India's demand for business mobility, duty-free access for certain goods, etc. Thereafter, another team led by deputy chief negotiator Darpan Jain, joint secretary, ministry of commerce, visited London in May to iron out the differences. The team returned on 15 May and is confident" of resolving most of the sticky issues by offering a workable solution that suits both nations, the first among the two persons mentioned above said. The FTA's journey has been fraught with delays, now exceeding a year past its initial deadline of mid 2024, largely due to issues like professional visas, duties on various goods, and migration concernsa sensitive subject in the UK since Brexit. Union Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah claimed on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already won 310 of the total 543 Lok Sabha seat by the end of Phase 5 Lok Sabha elections. Speaking at a public meeting in Odisha's Sambalpur. Shah said, "The voting for five phase of [Lok Sabha] elections are over. My brothers and sisters of Odisha, do you want to know the result of the five phases?" "In the five phases, Modi ji has crossed 310 seats. Now you have to help Modiji cross 400 seats," Amit Shah said. His statement came a day after the end of Phase 5 Lok Sabha elections 2024. The polling for the fifth phse took place on May 20. The sixth and seventh phase of elections will take place on May 25 and June respectively. In his appeal to the people of Odisha, Shah said, "For the entire country, there's a target of over 400 seats but for my Odiya brothers and sisters, they have to help the BJP get 75 assembly seats." The Odisha Legislative Assembly consists of 147 members. The Odisha Assembly Elections 2024 are taking place in four phases, starting May 13. The first phase of elections took place on May 13, the second phase on May 20, the third phase on May 25, fourth on June 1. The results will be announced on June 4. Amit Shah attacked the BJP government in Odisha on Tuesday and was quoted by PTI as saying that Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is 77 years old, should retire due to his "advanced age and health issues". He also promised that the BJP will make a young Odia-speaking 'bhumiputra' the CM if the party is voted to power in the state.' Addressing a poll rally at Nayagarh, Shah also sought clarification from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on the missing keys of Puri Jagannath temples Ratna Bhandar. Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray was among many other people who raised concerns over the "slow pace of voting in Mumbai". Thackeray alleged the election officials were delaying the voting process at many polling centres at behest of the BJP-led government. "I have seen that voters are going in huge numbers at the voting centre but due to inconvenience they had to go back," Thackeray said. "A lot of time is being taken inside so that they are not able to vote. I request all the voters that even if it takes time, please go to the voting centres and cast your vote...," Thackeray was quoted by ANI as saying. Meanwhile, news agency PTI quoted Thackeray as telling voters to stay put at polling centres till morning if needed and leave only after exercising franchise. Fadnavis reacts to Thackeray's remarks Reacting to Thackeray's remarks, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said in a post on X, "We were the first to complain to the commission about the slow pace of voting in Mumbai." "But now, as usual, Uddhav Thackeray has started his rallying cry. As usual, they have started accusing Modi ji when the defeat is clear in front of them. They are now laying the groundwork to deal with the post-June 4 situation," Fadnavis said. Fadnavis further claimed that "threats are also being given to the officers involved in the election process." The BJP leader requested all Mumbaikars to go to the polling station and vote in large numbers. "As many people as are inside even after 6 o'clock, everyone can vote. So do not exercise your right to vote," he said. Mumbai Lok Sabha Elections: 'Delay in polling' Former HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh, who exercised his franchise in Mumbai on Monday, highlighted low voter turnout in Mumbai South. He said "...I asked the man (polling official) who checked the name, what is the turnout now? He said it is low here in South Bombay." Parekh said the process of voting in Mumbai South was also slow. "But, the process is also slow. I know some people who stood for 1 hour and went back as the weather was hot...," Parekh told reporters on Monday. Meanwhile, the Maharashtra chief electoral officer said the voting for the fifth phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held till 6 pm. "So whoever has come in the queue before 6 pm will be allowed to vote. We appeal to everyone to get in the queue before the 6 pm vote," he said. MUMBAI : India Inc is pushing to fill vacancies through internal promotions and cross-team hires, instead of looking for external candidates, in its bid to reduce cost and bolster talent retention. Some companies say that as many as seven in 10 vacancies are now getting filled internally. "Internal hires are the preferred way, unless one needs a skillset that is unavailable within the group. Over the last three years , the number of positions closed internally has gone up from 45% to 70%," said S. Venkatesh, group president of human resources (HR) at RPG Group. He pointed out that onboarding external candidates can get difficult as last-minute dropouts are not uncommon. Talent retention is a key concern for companies. The loss of key talent has prompted firms to promote in-house candidates, offering them career mobility with an aim to securing their loyalty. This move seems to be sector-agnostic, as recruiters are seeing a decline in number of mandates coming in even for empty posts. To get an external candidate, a firm will need to pay 4-6 times his/her current monthly salary "There is a preference towards internal job mobility and 15-20% more jobs are getting filled via this route in engineering, construction and infrastructure sector," said Aditya Narayan Mishra, chief executive of Ciel HR Services. He said that a back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that in order to get an external candidate, a company would need to pay 4-6 times his/her current monthly salary. "Besides the recruitment fees, there are induction costs, and the candidate takes time to adjust to the new company culture, which requires time and investment," he added. Staffing firms, however, caution against this inward-looking strategy, warning that not casting the recruitment net wider could result in hiring a wrong candidate, which can potentially prove more expensive for the firm. "Companies have become more prudent in rolling out hiring mandates. However, they run the risk of getting only more executives of the same kind and end up paying more. The number of wrong internal hires could far outweigh the expenses incurred in recruiting external talent," said Agamjeet Dang, chief executive officer at search firm Executive Access India. The IT sector, which has seen a high attrition over the last couple of years, is now focusing on internal hires as a talent-retention measure. "TCS continued its focus on leveraging internal talent through upskilling and cross-skilling for growth opportunities. In FY 2024, 33% of job requirements were fulfilled through grooming its internal talent," said Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in its annual report for 2023-2024. In its annual report for 2022-23, the company had said that "giving first right of refusal to internal talent for new open positions, inspires higher levels of loyalty to the organization. This has resulted in a very strong, deeply acculturated mid-layer with long tenures in the company." Some firms maintain that except for campus recruitment and niche skills not available in-house, they will consider internal hires only. "We hire expats for niche skills only in smelting, mining and petroleum. 80% of our hires have been internal as a company policy," said Praveen Purohit, deputy chief human resources officer, Vedanta Group. However, such a policy could prove counterproductive if the internal candidate falls short of expectations. The internal promotions can go awry when the person elevated for retention may turn out to be incapable of handling the larger role. Many US firms are now looking at both internal route and starting a search for external candidates for the same senior post. This is to ensure transparency, get the best fit and maintain the competitiveness within the firm," said Suresh Raina, partner at search firm Heidrick & Struggles India. Crypto companies are fighting for survival after a regulatory crackdown. Their latest strategy: spending big on this years elections. The industry has amassed a formidable war chest and is working to elect politicians it sees as allies and defeat those who are critical. A trio of super political-action committees has together raised more than $85 million, one of the largest amounts among PACs engaged in the 2024 elections. Fairshake, along with two affiliated super PACs, raised the funds from an industry A-list, including crypto exchange Coinbase Global and Cathie Woods ARK Invest. The push is being powered by a surge in crypto prices. This is the first time weve really had all the pieces in place," said Kristin Smith, chief executive of the Blockchain Association, an industry group. Wealthy investors and big companies have long used campaign donations and lobbyists to win influence in Washington. What sets the crypto industrys push apart this year is that its ability to keep operating in the U.S. is at stake. With regulators filing civil lawsuits alleging that the industry is running afoul of securities laws and prosecutors unsealing criminal indictments, some companies have been looking overseas for growth or relocating entirely. Earlier this month, former President Donald Trump was asked what he would do if re-elected to stop crypto companies from leaving the U.S. If we are going to embrace it, then we have to let them be here," Trump said in support of the industry at Mar-a-Lago, his social club and part-time residence in Florida. Fairshake hasnt yet weighed in on the presidential election. Previous attempts by crypto advocates to influence elections havent been as well-funded. In 2022, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried contributed to a PAC that ultimately raised $12 million. A federal judge sentenced Bankman-Fried to a quarter-century in prison on several counts of fraud earlier this year. This cycle is different. The industry has banded together after a string of lawsuits from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Crypto firms have brought on more lobbyists, working to convince lawmakers that Bankman-Frieds FTX isnt indicative of the industry. Fairshake, launched late last year, has been leading the efforts. The group brings together the major players in crypto, including the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Financial. The efforts so far have focused on Congress. The industry is supporting legislation that would regulate issuers of stablecoins, or dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies, which make it easier to trade in and out of the market. The legislation would set rules for issuers, including requiring that tokens are completely backed by reserves. Fairshake built its war chest through both cash and cryptocurrency donations. Phil Potter, the former chief strategy officer at crypto exchange Bitfinex, donated 33 bitcoins to the PAC last summer, equivalent to about $1 million. Those tokens were sold for cash, a Fairshake spokesman said. To date, Fairshake said it has spent $25 million in the current election cycle. Earlier this year, it unleashed its biggest spending spree to date, aimed at defeating Katie Porter, a California congresswoman who launched a Senate bid. The group deployed $10 million on ads against Porter, a beloved figure among many liberals and a critic of how much energy consumption bitcoin requires. The ads by Fairshake focused on topics that resonate with voters more widely, claiming Porter took cash from big banks, big pharma and big oil," not on Porters crypto stance. Porter later lost the primary. Porter said that Fairshake isnt engaging in genuine dialogue with candidates, and that the group is just trying to scare elected leaders into accepting their agenda. It is unclear to what degree Fairshakes efforts affected the outcome of the race. But the crypto industry is increasingly open about its desire to influence campaigns. Stand With Crypto, a nonprofit spun off from Coinbase, recently announced the creation of its affiliated PAC. It also grades various politicians. President Biden, whose administration has waged a crackdown on crypto, got an F." Meanwhile, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. won better marks after calling crypto a bulwark against government and corporate expansion" at a conference last year. His grade from the group: an A." Write to Caitlin Ostroff at caitlin.ostroff@wsj.com and Vicky Ge Huang at vicky.huang@wsj.com Wow Skin Science, a direct to consumer (D2C) beauty and personal care brand, is looking to raise $65-75 million in primary capital from both new and existing investors. The company is likely to secure funding at its previous round's valuation of $400 million, when GIC had invested $48 million in 2022, said two people in the know. The company has initiated talks with certain Japanese and Middle East-based funds for a new funding round, one of the two people said. It will be raising capital at a flat valuation, which in this market is also great. The company has appointed investment bank Investec for the fundraising process, while consulting firm KPMG is conducting vendor due diligence, said the second person. It is early days, the final contours of the fund raise will be decided in months to come. The companys existing investors are likely to invest pro-rata in the new funding round, he added. A Wow Skin Science spokesperson declined to comment. Emailed queries sent to Investec and KPMG did not elicit any response. In 2021, ChrysCapital had acquired about 35% in Wow Skin Science for $50 million, valuing the company at $125 million. The company has posted 40-50% revenue growth in FY24, up from 320 crore in FY23, said the first person. As it contains its burn and gets closer to profitability, there is investor interest. Firm reflects substantial post-covid growth in India's beauty and personal care sector Wow Skin Science reflects the substantial post-covid-19 growth in India's beauty and personal care sector, especially in the D2C segment. Rising disposable incomes, and the expansion of quick commerce and omnichannel approaches, have fuelled this growth. Established in 2014 by brothers Manish and Karan Chowdhary, the company specializes in toxin-free beauty products crafted from natural ingredients spanning skin, hair, nutritional supplements, bath and body, and wellness categories. Also Read: A sunscreen for your every need Its distribution channels include e-commerce platforms, its own website, and physical retail outlets, with around 40,000 retail touchpoints across four brands: WOW Skin Science, WOW Life Science, Body Cupid and Nature Derma. Wow Skin Science is also present in the US, the Middle East, and European Union. The company has so far been aggressive in expanding its product categories as well as its geographic footprint. However, for the financial year ended 31 March 2023, the company's losses had jumped 56% to 213 crore from 136 crore in FY22. It competes with with the likes of Plum, EarthRhythm, Juicy Chemistry, Organic Harvest, mCaffeine, Beardo, Mamaearth and Bombay Shaving Co. in the Indian market. Peak XV-backed Awfis Space Solutions on Tuesday raised over 268.61 crore in an anchor book round a day before its initial public offerings (IPO) open for subscription. According to the exchange filing, the company allocated 70,13,483 shares to 32 anchor investors at the upper price band of 383 per equity share. The IPO Committee of the Company at its meeting held on May 21, 2024, in consultation with the Book Running Lead Managers to the Offer, has finalized allocation of 70,13,483 Equity Shares, to Anchor Investors at Anchor Investor allocation price of 383/- per Equity Share (including share premium of 373/- per Equity Share), The company further informed that 53.53 per cent of the total allocation to anchor investors were allocated to 12 domestic mutual funds. Out of the total allocation of 70,13,483 Equity Shares to the Anchor Investors, 37,53,968 Equity Shares (i.e. 53.53% of the total allocation to Anchor Investors) were allocated to 12 domestic mutual funds through a total of 19 schemes, the company said. Larger investment position was taken by Ashoka Whiteoak ICAV and Ashoka Whiteoak Emerging Markets Trust PLC. Prominent Domestic Institutional Investors included HDFC Mutual Fund, Nippon Life India Trustee Ltd, Axis Mutual Fund, Canara Rebeco Mutual Fund, Motilal Oswal Large Cap Fund and Edelweiss Trusteeship Co Ltd. Prominent amongst foreign funds included Goldman Sachs Funds, Allianz Global Investors Fund, HSBC Global Investors Fund, Volrado Venture Partners Fund and Natixis International Funds. Awfis Space Solutions IPO details Awfis Space Solutions IPO The Awfis Space Solutions IPO subscription will open on Wednesday, May 22, and close on Monday, May 27. The price range is set between 364 and 383 per equity share, each with a face value of 10. Bids must be placed for at least 39 equity shares, and any additional bids must be in multiples of 39 equity shares. The basis of share allotment for Awfis Space Solutions' IPO is expected to be finalized on Tuesday, May 28. Refunds will begin on Wednesday, May 29, with shares being credited to the demat accounts of allottees on the same day. The Awfis Space Solutions shares are anticipated to be listed on the BSE and NSE on Thursday, May 30. In recent history, the SME IPOs and stocks have been drawing attention of investors and market on the back of significant growth, jaw-dropping returns and lucrative investment opportunities. Investors wish to diversify their portfolio and tap into the potential growth of SME businesses but noticeable trend suggest that they often miss the bus on the SME IPO rally. Kresha Gupta, Director at StepTrade Share Services said that retail investors have a limited portion in the SME IPOs because of their allocation structure. "A number of quality SME IPOs, which are already minuscule in terms of issue size, leave a substantial portion reserved for institutional investors, leaving a relatively smaller room for individual participants," she said. Seconding her notion, she added at the over half of Winsol Engineers IPO was reserved for anchor investors, market makers, and QIBs, which left merely 47% issue for retail investors. Even of the remaining chunk, non-institutional high net worth investors took another 14.28% of the issue size, leaving retail investors with less than one-third of the issue size. Another reason behind retail investors missing out the SME race is the heavy oversubscription of the SME IPOs, Gupta told LiveMint after launching the SME-focused Portfolio Management Services (PMS) in Ahmedabad last week. "These IPOs usually receive bids extraordinary subscriptions, somewhere around 100-1,000 times their issue size. Despite their eagerness to participate, retail investors get find extremely difficult for them to secure allotment. Hence, only a small fraction of retail investors manage to get a slice of the cake, while the rest are unable to capitalize on the substantial gains, she added. To recall, Kay Cee Energy & Infra IPO was subscribed massively by 960 times, with the retail portion subscription rate coming in at 1,710.96 times. The stock enjoyed a great debut on January 5, opening at an almost 366% premium at 252 apiece compared to the issue price of 54 apiece. The non-professional investors are not aware of SME companies and their long-term potential. Compared to mainboard companies, SME stock have lower visibility, less liquidity and a minimum investment threshold, said Yash Bhanushali, PMS Fund Manager at StepTrade Share Services. These investors also have a wrong perception that SME companies are risky, he said, adding that higher capital contribution is the primary challenge for retailers in the SME IPOs race as they cannot buy small quantities. If we compare beta of NSE Emerge index to Nifty 50 for long term horizon, NSE Emerge companies are relatively less risky. Ankush Kumar Jain, Director and Fund Manager of StepTrade Share Services believes that retailers are more risk-averse than institutional investors and the risk-reward ratio in the SME companies is much better, but one needs to do their homework or due-diligence in cherry-picking the SME counter. SMEs, by their nature, are smaller and less established companies, which can be seen as riskier than large-cap companies. This can lead retailers to shy away from SMEs even when they are experiencing a strong rally," he told us. Jain asserted that SME companies require detailed research and analysis for investment, but retailers typically have fewer resources for conducting in-depth examination on stocks compared to institutional investors which automatically makes it difficult for them to identify promising opportunities. Many retail brokerages and investment platforms tend to focus on large-cap stocks, which can further limit the exposure of retailers to SMEs, he added. Private sector lender Bandhan Bank Ltd ended FY24 on a sombre note. Its stock has lost almost a quarter of its value over the past year owing to its lacklustre financial performance. Profit after tax increased by a meagre 1.6% to 2,230 crore in FY24 and operating profit fell 6.3% to 6,640 crore. Even if the base year FY23 numbers are adjusted for the net gain of 430 crore from the portfolio sold to an asset reconstruction company, operating profit was flat. Though Q4FY24 results showed a sharp sequential improvement in gross non-performing assets (GNPA) from 7% to 3.8%, this was largely due to technical write-offs of 3,850 crore. If the reduction in GNPA had been achieved primarily through recoveries, it would have been a good sign. More importantly, it is better to curb slippages or accretion to GNPA as preventing the problem is better than curing it. Also read: Banks had a blockbuster quarter. But don't let that fool you. The emerging enterprise business (EEB) segment, which accounts for 3,210 crore of the total GNPA of 4,780 crore, showed signs of continued stress based on special mention accounts (SMA) data, albeit at a slightly slower pace. SMA-2, which is the aggregate of borrowers with loans overdue by 60 to 90 days, remained high at 480 crore, even though it was down about 10% sequentially. Tracking SMA -2 is important as there is a higher probability of these loans becoming NPAs, which are defined as loans that have not been paid for more than 90 days. Asset quality and credit cost The bank does not face challenges to its growth even as it grapples with asset-quality issues from the high slippage rate. Bandhan Bank grew its balance sheet by 14% in FY24. Deposit and advance growth rates were also healthy at 25.1% and 15.6%, respectively. Its net interest margin (NIM) continued to be one of the highest in the sector at 7.3% in FY24. Also read: At SBI, India's biggest bank, a new chairman to be anointed this week However, bottom-line profitability was diluted significantly by the high credit cost. Other banks earn a lower NIM, but their credit costs are also much lower. For example, SBI and HDFC have a NIM of around 3.5%, but their credit costs are less than a 1% of loans, as against 1.9% for Bandhan Bank, even if entire technical write off is excluded from Q4FY24. The bank' valuation, at 1.4x of its adjusted book value for FY24, remains undemanding. But there are too many moving parts that need to be monitored amid volatile financial performance. For example, founder and current CEO Chandra Shekhar Ghosh will retire in July and it remains to be seen if the next CEO changes strategy to reduce the accretion of gross NPAs. This is likely to keep investors edgy. Shares of Delhivery cracked 12 percent in intra-day deals after the logistics company posted a net loss in the fourth quarter ending March 2024 (Q4FY24). The company reported a loss of 96.2 crore in the quarter under review as against a profit of 52.97 crore in the previous quarter (Q3FY24). However, on a YoY basis, its net loss narrowed from 117.5 crore in the same quarter last year. Its revenue for the quarter under review also fell over 7 percent to 1,878.77 versus 2,026.85 in the December quarter. On a YoY basis, the revenue rose 9 percent from 1,722.78 crore in March 2023. Its EBITDA climbed to 46 crore from 13 crore in the year-ago period. The company's expenses also increased to 2,257.2 crore in Q4FY24 against 2,107.6 crore a year ago. The stock fell as much as 11.9 percent to its day's low of 383.90. It is now over 21 percent away from a 52-week high of 488.05, hit on February 5, 2024. Meanwhile, the stock is still up 12.5 percent from its 52-week low of 341.05, hit on May 22, 2023. In the last one year, the scrip has advanced over 20 percent, meanwhile, just gained 3 percent in 2024 YTD. Meanwhile, for the full 2024 fiscal, the company's consolidated net loss declined to 259.2 crore from 1,007.7 crore in FY23. In a separate statement, the company's MD and CEO Sahil Barua said, "FY24 has been a crucial year for us where we delivered consistent service levels, significantly improved profitability, completed a large portion of our planned long-term capital investments and achieved material working capital improvement". The company's board has also approved the incorporation of a wholly-owned subsidiary for manufacturing drones and freight air transport services. Post the Q4 results, brokerage house Prabhudas Lilladher upgraded the stock to buy from accumulate with a target price of 530 ( 510 earlier), implying a 38 percent upside potential. "Delhivery anticipates a 15-20 percent growth in the e-com sector for FY25E as it renegotiates contracts with its customers for FY25E. We expect Delhivery to maintain its market share at 21-22% and grow its volumes at 18% CAGR in the long run (FY25-35E). The express parcel segment remains the leader in generating service EBITDA margins (18%) and the management expects to pass on the incremental margin benefits to clients. PTL (at 2.2%) is expected to follow suit, on the back of higher loads and improved asset utilization. Overall, Delhivery is poised to further optimize its cost structure, driving enhanced profitability," said the brokerage. It also noted that Delhivery remains net debt free (Rs.53.2 bn net cash) and has a favorable working cap position (31 days vs earlier 73 days in FY20). Delhivery is expected to maintain an edge over competitors given 1) a unique low-cost business model (B2B+B2C in same infra), 2) continued investments in building infrastructure (tractor trailers, automated hubs, etc), 3) focus on cost optimization, and 4) strong proprietary tech infra, rationale PL. Emkay also has a target price of 500 for the stock with a buy rating. It continues to expect the company to turn PAT positive in FY25, as tapering capex intensity and net cash balance sheet help soften the blow on volumes in the short term. "With a focus on ramping up other businesses like supply chain services, Delhivery will not only diversify its revenue streams but strengthen its moat of being the lowest cost operator, in our view," said Emkay Global in a report. Gurugram-based Delhivery, an integrated logistics services provider, covers around 19,000 pin codes in India. Power demand and scorching heat go hand-in-hand. As Delhi witnessed a severe heatwave, the peak power demand in the national capital surged to an all-time high of 7,717 MW on Tuesday afternoon, according to Delhi's State Load Despatch Center (SLDC). According to the data reflected on the SLDC website, Delhi's peak demand broke all previous records. At 3.33 pm on Tuesday, it reached 7,717 MW recording the peak demand which was the highest ever in the history of the national capital. "Fourth day in a row, Delhis peak power demand crossed 7000 MW. For the first time, Delhis peak power demand likely to cross 8000 MW, DISCOM officials were quoted by news agency ANI as saying. The minimum load recorded on Tuesday as of 9 pm was at 5,109 MW around 8 am, according to SLDC. Delhi SLDC said in a post on X on Tuesday, "At 15:33 hrs today, Delhi's maximum demand met a new all time high today of 7717 MW; crossing for the first time the high made in June 2022." Delhi's previous all-time high peak power demand was 7,695 MW on June 29, 2022, around 3:10 pm. On Monday Delhis peak power demand clocked 7,572 MW the highest ever in May in Delhi. 'BSES discoms are fully prepared' BSES Delhi assured that its discoms "are fully prepared to ensure a reliable power supply to its around 50 lakh consumers and 2 crore residents across South, West, East, and Central Delhi". "Our robust arrangements include long-term PPAs, green power, and banking arrangements with other states," BSES Delhi said in a post on X. The BSES Delhi also informed that it is also leveraging cutting-edge technologies like AI and Machine Learning to accurately predict power demand and ensure a steady power supply. "Around 2,100 MW of green power to play an important role in powering Delhi during the summer months," a spokesperson of BSES discoms BRPL and BYPL told PTI. Heatwaves in Delhi and power demand Heatwave conditions impact power demands during summer. The power demand can be attributed to weather conditions as residents tend to use more air conditioning and cooling appliances during extreme summer. "Air conditioning can contribute to 30-50 per cent of the total annual energy consumption of any domestic or commercial establishment," discom officials said. This week, Delhi's maximum temperature soared to over 45C, while many were left grappling for relief amid severe heatwaves. On Tuesday, the minimum temperature settled at 30.7 degrees Celsius, four notches above normal, according to the IMD. The maximum temperature of the day is expected to be around 45 degrees Celsius, news agency PTI reported. Adding to the woes, the weather department predicted heatwave conditions until Saturday (May 25). The maximum temperature is expected to touch 46C by next week, May 27. The weather department also issued a red alert for the next four days. Former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Brij Bhushan Singh on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to the sexual harassment charges levelled against him by a group of women wrestlers last year. When the judge asked him whether he pleaded guilty to the charges or not, Singh reportedly told the Delhi Rouse Avenue Court, Iska koi sawal hi nahi. Galti kiye hi nahi hain [There's no question of pleading guilty. I haven't done anything wrong]." While pleading not guilty before the court, the two accused, Brij Bhushan Singh and a WFI official named Vinod Tomar, claimed trial in three sexual harassment cases. Tomar submitted before the court, All the allegations being levelled are false, and I have the evidence which I will produce before the court in due time." Meanwhile, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's counsel denied the sexual harassment allegations. He argued that Singh did not stay in the same hotel with players in foreign countries. The court then sought a reply from the Delhi Police on the matter. The case was listed for a hearing at 2 pm on June 1. After the hearing in the Delhi court, Brij Bhushan Singh said he had evidence to prove himself innocent. "...As of now, charges have been framed against me. They now have to prove it in court and inform about the evidence they have. I have all the evidence of my innocence...all these are false cases," he said. Charges framed against Brij Bhushan Singh The statement by the two accused came days after the court framed charges against Singh under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 354 (assault or criminal force with intent to outrage modesty) and 354A (sexual harassment) based on the allegations of five complainants. The court also framed charges under Section 506-part 1 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC based on the allegations of two complainants. However, the court discharged him on the allegations of the sixth complainant. Simultaneously, the court also framed charges against Tomar under Section 506-part 1 of the IPC on the allegations of one complainant. The court found sufficient material to frame charges against Brij Bhushan, news agency ANI reported on May 10. The Rouse Avenue Court formally framed charges against BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in women wrestlers' sexual harassment case on Tuesday, May 21. The court framed charges under seven sections which he denied and claimed a trial. Pune Porsche accident: On Tuesday, Excise Department Officials in Maharashtra said that on the order of the Pune District Collector, the district's Excise Department had sealed Cosie Bar and Black Bar. These were the bars allegedly visited by the juvenile, who was also served alcohol. The father of a 17-year-old boy, whose speeding luxury car killed two software engineers in Pune, was placed under arrest on Tuesday evening, hours after he was detained from central Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar town, police said. Here's what we know so far -Two 24-year-old IT engineers, hailing from Madhya Pradesh, were killed after an allegedly drunk juvenile driving a speeding Porsche hit them at 3.15 am in the night in Kalyani Nagar. -The two riders -- Anis Awadhiya and Ashwini Costa, both 24-year-old IT professionals hailing from Madhya Pradesh -- died of their injuries, police said According to the Pune Police order, the 17-year-old was celebrating his Class-12 Board examination results with twelve other friends at Cosie Barthe minor ordered rounds of Hoegaarden, Johnnie Walker, Black Label, Absolut Blue, and food. -The juvenile was granted bail by a Juvenile Justice (JJ) Board only 15 hours after the teen was arrested, triggering massive outrage. Further, the judge ordered the teenager to write a 300-word essay on traffic accidents, do community service for 15 days with traffic police, and undergo counselling for his drinking -The teenager's father, a builder, was detained in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and brought to Pune, where he was placed under arrest on Tuesday evening -Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis questioned the "leniency" of the Juvenile Justice Board's punishment for the teen. -In a separate FIR, the Pune police have booked the owners of the two restaurants, Pralhad Bhutada of Cosie and Sandip Sangale, the proprietor of Blak Club, for serving alcohol to minors under the relevant sections of the IPC The minor's father bought the silver-grey Porsche this March, but the car had not yet been registered as he had not paid the 44 lakh road tax on it. -Several media reports have also suggested that the minor will be tried as an adult for the alleged crime -The Madhya Pradesh-based parents of the victims of the car accident in Maharashtra's Pune on Tuesday sought stringent punishment for the accused boy as well as his parents, accusing them of being responsible for the death of their children, reports PTI. Reacting to the Lt Governor's statement in Swati Malliwal's alleged assault case at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals official residence, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday said V.K. Saxena's statement proves that Swati Maliwal is working for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The AAP accused the saffron party of hatching a new conspiracy every day during elections. It said the party is losing badly, and Modi ji's sinking ship is taking the support of Swati Maliwal. "LG's statement proves that Swati Maliwal is working for the BJP. The BJP is hatching a new conspiracy every day during elections - sometimes liquor scam, sometimes Swati Maliwal, sometimes false allegations of foreign funding. The BJP will use new tactics everyday during elections. BJP is losing badly. Modi ji's sinking ship is taking support of Swati Maliwal," the AAP said in a statement. Earlier today, the Delhi Lt. Governor said that the AAP Rajya Sabha MP has expressed her concerns to him about being subjected to coercion by the Aam Aadmi Party. Also Read | Ended up better than I imagined: Netizens laud viral dowry calculator "Yesterday, she called me out of sheer anguish, describing at length her traumatic experience, and the subsequent intimidation and shaming that she is being subjected to by her own colleagues. She also expressed concerns over the reported tampering of evidence and coercion against her. Although Maliwal has been vociferous, hostile and blatantly partisan towards me and my office, often criticising me unjustifiably, yet any physical violence and hounding perpetrated on her are inexcusable and unacceptable," Saxena said. The L-G further said that the Delhi chief minister is being evasive and dodgy on this matter. Slamming Kejriwal, the L-G further said,"I would have expected that, at least for the sake of propriety, my CM would have come clean, rather than being evasive and dodgy. His deafening silence speaks volumes about his stance on the safety of women." Also Read | When will Mamata Banerjee visit Sandeshkhali? Heres what the Bengal CM said "Delhi is the national capital and is home to the entire diplomatic community from around the world. Such shameful incidents and the insensitive and contemptuous government response on the issue of women's safety, tarnish India's image worldwide. Had such an incident happened in any other Chief Minister's residence in the country, external forces with vested interests, inimical to India, would have unleashed a scathing global narrative around women's safety in India," he added. Buddha Purnima, or Buddha Jayanti or Vesak, is an annual celebration observed on the first full moon of the Hindu calendar month Vaishakha. This significant day commemorates the birth of Lord Gautam Buddha, who was born as Prince Siddhartha Gautam in Lumbini, present-day Nepal, around 563 BC. Buddhists worldwide celebrate Buddha Purnima with great fervour. This year, Buddha Purnima will be observed on 23rd May (Thursday). Here are some of the best places to observe Buddha Purnima: Sarnath Near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Sarnath is where Lord Buddha delivered his first sermon after enlightenment. It holds immense significance for Buddhists and attracts pilgrims worldwide, especially on Buddha Purnima. Bodhgaya Bodhgaya in Bihar is where Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, becoming the Buddha. It is one of the holiest Buddhist pilgrimage sites and hosts elaborate celebrations during Buddha Purnima. Arunachal Pradesh This northeastern state of India is home to several Buddhist monasteries and stupas. Places like Tawang and Bomdila are renowned for their serene Buddhist ambience, making them ideal for observing Buddha Purnima. Ladakh The high-altitude region of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir is dotted with monasteries and Buddhist cultural heritage sites. The colourful festivities and religious rituals during Buddha Purnima make Ladakh a memorable destination for visitors. Sikkim Sikkim, nestled in the Himalayas, boasts a rich Buddhist heritage. The state is adorned with monasteries, including the famous Rumtek Monastery and Pemayangtse Monastery. Prayers, processions, and cultural performances mark Buddha Purnima celebrations in Sikkim. How to celebrate Buddha Purnima Temple Visits Buddhists visit temples and monasteries to pay homage to the Buddha by offering flowers, candles, and incense at shrine rooms and stupas. Bathing of the Buddha A symbolic ritual involves pouring water over the shoulders of Buddha statues, representing purification and renewal. Chanting and offerings of scented water often accompany this act. Giving Alms Buddhists participate in acts of charity and giving to the less fortunate, including donating food, clothing, and other necessities to monks, temples, and the needy. This practice is known as Dana and reflects the virtue of generosity. Lantern Processions In some countries, especially in East Asia, lantern processions are held in the evening. Participants carry brightly lit lanterns while chanting Buddhist sutras. These processions symbolize the light of wisdom dispelling the darkness of ignorance. A vendor arranges paper lanterns at his roadside shop ahead of 'Vesak' festival also known as Buddha Jayanti to commemorate the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha, in Colombo on May 20, 2024. (Photo by Ishara S.Kodikara / AFP) Decoration and Illumination Temples and homes are adorned with colorful decorations, lanterns, and lights to create a festive atmosphere. Illuminated displays depicting scenes from the Buddha's life are often set up in public places. Quotes by Buddha "Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without." "The mind is everything. What you think you become." "Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth." "Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment." "In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you." "Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life." "Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship." "Happiness never decreases by being shared." "The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows." "Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule." Raisi was a hardliner who won Irans 2021 presidential polls that saw the lowest-ever turnout in the Islamic Republics history. Raisi was on the US sanctions lists for several charges including his role in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 at the end of the Iran-Iraq war. A protege of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the 85-year-old Supreme Leader, Raisi was one of several contenders tipped to succeed him. From prosecutor general of Tehran in 1994 to chief justice of the country, Raisi had worn many hats. At another level, under Raisi, Iran enriched uranium to nearly weapons-grade. What are the implications for India? Raisi was a hardliner who won Irans 2021 presidential polls that saw the lowest-ever turnout in the Islamic Republics history. Raisi was on the US sanctions lists for several charges including his role in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 at the end of the Iran-Iraq war. He was a protege of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the 85-year-old Supreme Leader, and an expected one of several contenders tipped to replace him. From prosecutor general of Tehran in 1994 to chief justice of the country, Raisi had worn many hats. At another level, under Raisi, Iran enriched uranium to nearly weapons-grade. What happens next within Iran? According to news reports, first vice president Mohammad Mokhber, 68, was confirmed president by Ayatollah Khameini. A panel comprising Mokhber, the speaker of parliament and the head of the judiciary, must now arrange an election for a new president within 50 days. Internal stability will be a big focus for Tehran in the days to come. What will Raisis death mean for West Asia? Not much, as it is the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and Supreme Leader who look after foreign policy. Tensions spiked after Irans consulate in Syria was bombed. Iran fired a volley of missiles at Israel, which retaliated by targeting Irans Isfahan province that hosts a uranium enrichment plant. These tensions are unlikely to diminish especially if Iran elects another hardliner in place of Raisi. Analysts say that is a probability, if Tehran concludes that its security threats are mounting. How will it affect ties with the West? If a hardliner replaces Raisi, ties are unlikely to improve. Irans ties with the West are rocky over its suspect nuclear programme and its support to groups such as Hamas and Houthis. Talks with the West on removing sanctions over Irans nuclear programme stalled during Raisis term. Indias ties with Iran have been impacted by western sanctions especially those impacting its financial and oil sectors. Tensions with the West also rose after the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, detained for wearing a loose headscarf. The death of Iran's president Ebrahim Raisi, in a helicopter crash on Sunday is unlikely to result in immediate changes to Iran's ruling system, which Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei determines. However, Raisi was widely viewed as a leading candidate to succeed the 85-year-old supreme leader. His sudden death raises the possibility that Khamenei's son could eventually assume the position. A potential hereditary succession would challenge the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic. Established as an alternative to monarchy, many Iranians already perceive the regime as corrupt and dictatorial. The aftermath of Raisi's death raises questions about the future direction of Iran's leadership and its political system. How does the Iranian government work? Iran conducts regular elections for the president and parliament, allowing universal suffrage. However, ultimate authority rests with the supreme leader, who holds decisive power over major policies, serves as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and controls the influential Revolutionary Guard. The supreme leader also appoints half of the 12-member Guardian Council, a clerical body responsible for vetting candidates for president, parliament, and the Assembly of Experts, which selects the supreme leader, AP reported. In theory, the clerics oversee the republic to ensure compliance with Islamic law. In practice, the supreme leader manages the ruling system meticulously to balance various interests, advance personal priorities, and safeguard against challenges to the Islamic Republic or his leadership. Iran will hold presidential elections on June 28, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. How did Iran's relations change under Raisi's presidency? During Raisi's presidency, there was a noticeable shift in Iran's foreign policy focus towards the Middle East, diverging from the priorities set by his predecessor, Hassan Rouhani, who emphasized strengthening ties with European nations and normalizing relations with Western countries, PTI reported. Under Raisi's leadership, diplomatic efforts were made to improve relations with Middle Eastern countries. Iran-Saudi Arabia relations Notably, Iraq hosted five rounds of negotiations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, resulting in the historic normalization of their relations in early 2023. On March 10, 2023, Saudi Arabia and Iran reached a historic agreement to restore diplomatic relations following a seven-year hiatus. Both nations pledged to usher in a new era of cooperation amidst their longstanding rivalry for dominance in the Persian Gulf region. The exchange of ambassadors marked this breakthrough, the opening of embassies, and a series of high-level meetings. Notably, President Ebrahim Raisi's November visit to Riyadh made him the first Iranian leader of his rank to visit the Saudi capital in eleven years. However, at an emergency gathering of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Arab League hosted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia successfully countered Iranian attempts to rally military backing for Hamas in its conflict with Israel. Additionally, Saudi Arabia resisted Iran's pressure to convince the six Arab states with established diplomatic relations with IsraelEgypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Moroccoto sever these ties. Furthermore, Iran engaged in negotiations with Jordan and Egypt, with Iraq again playing a facilitating role. Iran also strengthened its ties with China and Russia during Raisi's presidency, aligning with the Supreme Leader's strategic pivot towards the East for long-term benefits. In the late 1980s, concerns began to arise about the privacy of email communication. Though not yet as ubiquitous as it was destined to become, email had already become a common enough means of exchanging messages that people had begun to worry about what would happen if they were intercepted. It was this anxiety that Phil Zimmermann set out to address when he created Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), a software program designed to make online communications more secure. Initially, PGP was just a command-line program to encrypt messages. As it gained popularity, it was adapted to integrate with various email clients. I remember installing PGP on Thunderbird, even though at the time it seemed like a futile exercise, since none of the people I communicated with had it installed on their computers. Almost from the moment PGP emerged, it faced a spate of legal challenges. Governments have long been uneasy about encryption technology getting into the wrong hands, fearing that if it ends up with a hostile adversary, national security would be jeopardized. This is why US export control regulations have always prohibited the export of encryption technologies. Since PGP could be downloaded anywhere from the internet, export curbs designed for physical products were powerless in keeping it within US borders. And so the US Department of Justice launched an investigation into PGP. While concerns about encryption may have been reasonable in earlier technological contexts, since PGP was built on the RSA algorithm, messages remained confidential as long as the private keys of participants stayed secret. It made no difference that the underlying technology was publicly known. This distinction was lost on the US government, which argued that PGP should be treated as a munition" under the rules, as it could be used to encrypt sensitive military information. Though the case was eventually withdrawn, and over time there has been a significant relaxation in the US governments stance on encryption regulation, well never know the cost the world has paid on account of this delay. Today, we stand at the threshold of an epochal technology revolution. Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to disrupt every aspect of human knowledge and become the worlds first general-purpose technology since the commercialization of electricity. Today, it is the famous large language models (LLMs) of US Big Tech companies that are the visible face of the AI revolution. These systems can be accessed in a variety of user-friendly ways, such as through chat interfaces and application program interfaces (API), or directly be integrated into other services that we regularly use. While this is ideal for lay users without technical expertise, developers building AI use-cases prefer working with open-source alternatives. Not only are these models free to use, they are almost always accompanied by model weights and documentation, giving developers the flexibility they need to get things done. Over the past few months, however, voices of opposition have begun to be raised in the US against the very idea of open-source AI. One of the concerns seems to be in relation to safety. Opponents of open-source AI models argue that it is impossible to place guard-rails on models if they are released as open source, which would make them fundamentally unsafe. Also read: What I got wrong in a decade of predicting the future of tech Then there are geopolitical concerns. If future wars will be won by powers that have AI superiority, distributing AI models as open source might erode the hard-won competitive advantage of the US. While this is largely a function of the extreme Sinophobia that has gripped the US, draft legislation is already underway to make it easy for the US administration to impose export controls on AI models. In my view, both these fears are overblown. LLMs today are so small that they can be copied on a USB drive and run on an ordinary laptop (all the research for this article and some part of the text was generated on the 8-billion-parameter version of Llama3 that I am running locally on my 2021 MacBook Pro). Given that models are so small that they can be smuggled out in thumb-sized storage devices, attempting to impose export restrictions would amount to bolting the stable door after the horse has bolted. As for model safety, this, in many instances, is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Proprietary models, despite all the reinforcement learning and constraint training they have been subject to, hardly have an unblemished track record of safety. On the other hand, since open-source models come with weights and the documentation, any bugs that surface can be dealt with by the communityand that too, often quicker and more efficiently than would be possible in large slow-moving corporations. The US proposal to impose restrictions on the export of open-source AI is reminiscent of its restrictions on PGP. While this might be a reaction to the Chinese geopolitical threat, its effects, like in the case of PGP, will be felt by countries that depend on these base models to develop their own bespoke AI solutions. I am especially concerned for India. Much of our AI strategy is based on pre-training and fine-tuning open-source AI models to produce solutions that can address the diverse needs of this country. If we are suddenly denied access to them, it will put our ambitions of being the AI use-case capital of the world in serious jeopardy. Does the political survival of Britains first Indian-origin prime minister call for the sacrifice of the dreams of thousands of Indian students aspiring to study in the UK and find a job there to pay off the loans they have taken to finance their education? We hope Rishi Sunak will rise above the primitive instinct to make sacrifices and instead turn fortune's grimace into a smile. Right now, Rishi Sunaks Conservative Party is on a losing wicket in British politics. It has lost all recent by-elections and city council elections. The Labour Party leads them in opinion polls by big margins. The Scottish Nationalist Party is losing its appeal with many voters in Scotland, who are now likely to vote Labour, probably bringing Labours tally of lawmakers from Scotland back to majority levels in the next round of British general elections. Sunak is not necessarily to blame for voter disenchantment with the Tories. They have been in power since 2010, and the natural accumulation of anti-incumbency over nearly 14 years could be crippling by itself. Then there are Boris Johnsons shenanigans during Covid cake and champagne parties at 10 Downing Street when all of Britain was locked down and people were prevented from travel even to meet their ailing relatives, and deliberate lying about such hypocrisy that have thoroughly put off traditional Tory voters. Liz Truss, who briefly succeeded Johnson as prime minister, made a hash of her Budget by proposing tax cuts without getting them evaluated by the Budget Office for their implication for the exchequer, irking bond vigilantes and sending bond yields spiking. This ruined the normal Conservative claim to fiscal credibility. Britain is currently experiencing buyers remorse over Brexit. Many who voted for Brexit feel they were not fully informed of the consequences. They blame Johnsons predecessor, Theresa May, for getting Brexit wrong and the Tories in general for foisting a Brexit referendum on the population without educating them on all the implications of Britains departure from the European Union. And This: The British economy is haunted by the ghosts of Brexit The blame is spread across a spectrum of Tory leaders, but the job of fixing the problem and ending voter disenchantment falls to the incumbent leader of the party, Rishi Sunak. He is faced with a hard choice. While winning over fresh voters is hard, retaining existing supporters is relatively easy. However, a hardcore nativist segment is being wooed away from the Conservative Party by the new right-wing populist formation, Reform UK. Its platform is that out-of-control immigrants are overrunning Old Blighty, forever destroying the true British spirit. To prevent further erosion of Tory support to the anti-immigrant Reform UK, Sunak has been acting tough on immigration. His government has passed legislation to overcome judicial objections to a longstanding plan to send would-be immigrants to Rwanda, where they would live far away from Britain while their asylum claims are processed. Now, the government has proposed to greatly reduce the scope of the Graduate Route Visa (GRV) scheme to limit the number of immigrants who come to stay in Britain by pursuing higher education there. Only the best and the brightest would be allowed to stay on under the proposed amendment. The GRV scheme gives a student who completes a Bachelors or Masters degree in Britain two years of residence in the country after their studies to look for and find a job. Those who do a PhD have an extra year. If a graduate finds a job, the employer can sponsor a visa for further stay. Without the GRV, students would have to return to their home countries as soon as they complete their studies. This would adversely affect students from India, who accounted for 42% of the 89,000 GRV visas issued over the last two years. Indian students, for the most part, take loans to finance their study abroad and hope to repay the loan by subsequent earnings in the country where they study. If the GRV scheme is closed, it would effectively end the dream of studying in Britain for Indian students, except for a tiny section that can fund its British education without the help of a loan. The National Indian Students and Alumni Union, UK, has petitioned the government against any move to end the GRV. They cite the finding of the governments Migration Advisory Committee that there is hardly any misuse of the visa scheme to warrant its termination. The association of British universities, Universities UK, is worried that truncating the scope of GRV would dent the supply of foreign students, a major source of income for the British higher education system, which caps the fees for residents but allows universities to levy higher fees on external students. Graduates who stay on in Britain represent a skilled talent pool that can enrich the British economy. The long-term benefit of youth immigration, particularly of skilled youth immigration, is self-evident for ageing societies of Europe, where the native working-age population faces decline even as the skill levels required of the workforce to keep up with productivity gains in other rich countries keep rising. The choice before Sunak is between short-term political gain by placating nativists with anti-immigration policies and long-term economic benefit by encouraging educated youthful immigrants to make Britain their home. We hope the British prime minister would cut his short-term losses for long-term gains. Turns out you can have too much of a good thing. Last week, Thailands Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin ordered a U-turn on the countrys cannabis policy , saying the plant should soon be classified as a narcotic again and its use limited to medical and health purposes. This decision comes two years after former premier Prayuth Chan-Ochas administration decriminalized the drug. His aim? To bring tourists back to Thailand after the pandemic, open up a multibillion-dollar medical marijuana business opportunity and give farmers another cash crop to grow. Thavisins announcement shouldnt come as a surprise. The new government has been weighing its options. The weed experiment hasnt gone as planned. Reversing it wont be easy, but the kingdom should persevere trying to regulate this sectoreven if the consequences are painful. Ignoring it will affect Thai youth and social harmony. Ultimately, the industry is only benefiting businesses, not poor farmers. Walking through Bangkoks narrow alleyways recently, it was impossible to miss the numerous cafes that spilt on to the streets or the distinct scent of marijuana wafting through the balmy air. These dispensaries sprang up seemingly overnight after the 2022 decision to legalize cannabis. Even then it was controversialand ever since, competing forces have been trying to reverse the decision. Of course, there can be benefits in decriminalizing marijuana. One is less pressure on courts and prisons. There are major overcrowding issues in Thai jails, where 75% of inmates are there on drug-related charges. Research has also shown that taking cannabis off the underground illegal market helps drive it out of the illicit drug trade. Many parts of the US have already been through this evolution. Cities like New York have adopted a far more liberal approach to decriminalization, but are also struggling with the consequences. It is unlikely that Thailand could learn from its experience. Culturally it is a far more conservative society, and sits in a region with harsh drug laws around possession and consumption. Thailand used to have those laws too, but now it is the anomaly in Southeast Asia. Singapore, for instance, imposes the death penalty for trafficking. It considers cannabis a highly addictive narcotic, has banned its consumption, and runs campaigns that seek to show how much damage it has caused in other countries. In Indonesia, the death penalty is also used as a deterrent, although until recently it was rarely enforced. I had reported on the harsh drug laws and outgoing president Joko Widodo administrations decision to prioritize cracking down on drugs. Its a policy that is likely to be continued under the next leader, Prabowo Subianto. In contrast, Thailand became the first country in Southeast Asia to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes in 2019. Almost 8,000 dispensaries and many consumer-agro firms have cropped up across the country, selling everything from cannabis buds and oil extracts to weed-infused candy and baked goods. Foreigners have also reportedly entered the unregulated market, opening shops and selling weed. Under current decriminalization laws, cannabis products must not contain more than 0.2% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound that provides a high sensation, to be considered lawful. Part of the push to legalize the plant was motivated by economics: The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce said in a 2022 report that the domestic cannabis industry could be worth $1.2 billion by 2025. But the U-turn is also being prompted by some real concerns, particularly over the social and health impact on young people. Recent research has shows that a quarter of 18-to-65-year-olds had used cannabis since decriminalization up from 2.2% in 2019. Young people are also smoking more weed: 10 times as much. Anecdotally, doctors have reported more patients seeking treatment after theyve fallen ill or tried quitting cannabis. If the government does push through with its plans and classifies cannabis as a category-five drug, its possession could result in a jail sentence of up to 15 years and a maximum fine of 1.5 million baht ($40,600). Banning the drug outright will no doubt cause a lot of pain to farmers, small business owners, tourists and consumers. A middle-ground approach to return to medical usage would be wise. Taxing marijuana would also help to boost government coffers, and weeding out foreigners from the trade would help to regulate the sector and allow locals to benefit morewhich was policys the original intent. Thailand has enjoyed the high from this lucrative field long enough. It is now time for a managed and rational come down. bloomberg The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) issued a show-cause notice to former Union Minister and MP Jayant Sinha on Tuesday, citing his lack of interest in organisational work and election campaigning since the party announced Manish Jaiswal as the candidate for the Hazaribagh Lok Sabha seat, reported ANI. You are not taking any interest in organisational work and election campaigning ever since the party declared Manish Jaiswal as the candidate from the Hazaribagh Lok Sabha seat. You did not even feel the need to exercise your vote. The party's image has been maligned because of your conduct, read the notice from the Jharkhand unit of BJP, as quoted by ANI. The notice further stated, As per the instructions of State President Shri Babulal Marandi ji, you are requested to give clarification in this regard within two days, ANI added. Jayant Sinha, son of former Finance Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Yashwant Sinha, had recently expressed his desire not to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The Hazaribagh MP revealed that he had requested BJP President JP Nadda to relieve him of direct electoral duties so that he could focus on climate change efforts, as per ANI. I have requested Hon'ble Party President Shri @JPNadda ji to relieve me of my direct electoral duties so that I can focus my efforts on combating global climate change in Bharat and around the world. Of course, I will continue to work with the party on economic and governance issues. I have had the privilege of serving the people of Bharat and Hazaribagh for the past ten years, Sinha stated in a post on X. The former Union Minister expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and the party leadership for the opportunities provided to him. Moreover, I have been blessed by the many opportunities provided by Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji, Hon'ble Home Minister Shri @AmitShah ji, and the BJP leadership. My sincerest gratitude to all of them. Jai Hind! his post read. Elections in Jharkhand will be conducted in four phases: May 13, 20, 25, and June 1. In the 2019 elections, 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 won one seat. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar has signaled that the record voter turnout in the Srinagar and Baramulla Lok Sabha constituencies in the Lok Sabha poll 2024 may prompt assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) at the earliest. The highly successful conduct of polls with impressive turnout in Srinagar and Baramulla gives the Election Commission the confidence to hold Assembly polls in J&K at the earliest, CEC Kumar told the Indian Express on Monday. Srinagar witnessed a record 38 percent voter turnout in the May 13 polling. This marked the highest voting percentage in the constituency since the 1996 general elections, when 41 percent of voters exercised their franchise. Similarly, the Baramulla parliamentary constituency recorded a 59 per cent voter turnout during the polling in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 on May 20. This is the highest since the 1984 general elections when the seat in north Kashmir saw about 61 percent voter turnout. Jammu and Kashmir, without an elected government since 2018, is currently administered by the Centre's appointee Lieutenant Governor (L-G). In December last year, the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to conduct the Assembly polls in the UT by September 2024. CEC Kumar's signal could mean assembly elections in the erstwhile state soon after the Lok Sabha 2024 elections. Top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders hailed the encouraging voter turnout in Kashmir seats, attributing it to the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. However, leaders from the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) the two regional parties - have said that the high voter turnout is against the decision of August 5, 2019. The saffron party has also not fielded candidates in any of Kashmir's three parliamentary seats. Anantnag-Rajouri one of the three parliamentary seats in Kashmir will vote in the sixth phase on May 25. Last J&K Assembly Polls in 2014 After delimitation, the J&K assembly has 90 seats. The last assembly elections in J&K were held in November-December 2014. The election to the 87-member house saw the PDP winning 28 seats, the BJP bagging 25, and the NC winning 15 seats. The PDP and BJP formed the government, with Mufti Mohammad Sayeed becoming the chief minister. Sayeed passed away in January 2016. His daughter Mehbooba Mufti was sworn in as the next chief minister of J&K. In June 2018, however, the BJP withdrew its support to the PDP-led government and the Governor's rule was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir. Lok Sabha elections 2024: Amid criticism that the chief minister did not find it necessary to visit Sandeshkhali in West Bengal despite massive protests by local women over alleged sexual atrocities, CM and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said she would visit the region within a few days. As soon as our candidate Haji Nurul wins Basirhat, my first visit will be to Sandeshkhali within a few days. I will go to meet the people there, she said. During her first visit to the Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency since the Sandeshkhali unrest in January, Mamata Banerjee said she was heartbroken over the plight of women in the trouble-torn area. While addressing an election rally in Basirhat, she also asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should not have played with the dignity of women in Sandeshkhali as the saffron camp's conspiracy now stands exposed. I am sorry for whatever has happened to the women of Sandeshkhali and the way they have been humiliated. I express my sadness from the core of my heart. Nobody should dare to play with the dignity of women, said the West Bengal chief minister. People would have never understood how the BJP had hatched the conspiracy, had the videos not surfaced. The BJP should not play with the dignity of women, Banerjee said Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for talking to Sandeshkhali protester and BJP candidate Rekha Patra over the phone, Banerjee alleged that the country has the worst track record in terms of women's safety and security under the BJP rule. The Trinamool Congress chiefs comments came against the backdrop of multiple purported videos surfacing on social media, which claimed that a local BJP leader made several women of Sandeshkhali sign blank papers, which were later filled up as complaints of sexual assault against TMC leaders. Sandeshkhali area, situated on the borders of the Sundarbans, about 100 kilometres from Kolkata, has been on the boil since February with protests over allegations of sexual abuse and land grab against now-arrested TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, on his 33rd death anniversary on Tuesday. The Prime Minister posted on X, On his death anniversary, my tributes to our former PM Shri Rajiv Gandhi Ji. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and party MP Rahul Gandhi paid homage to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 33rd death anniversary at Veer Bhumi in Delhi on Tuesday morning. Other Congress leaders like P Chidambaram and Sachin Pilot also paid their respects to the former prime minister in the national capital. In the post, Rahul said, Father, Your dreams, my dreams, Your aspirations, my responsibilities. Your memories, today and always, always in my heart. Sachin Pilot wrote in a post on X, I pay my respectful tributes to former Prime Minister Late Shri Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary. Unique, historical and unforgettable works like computer and telecommunication revolution, empowerment of Panchayati Raj system, promoting youth participation in politics were done by Rajiv Gandhi ji. As the youngest Prime Minister, with his vision and strong will, he provided new momentum, direction and energy to the development of the country. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh told PTI that Rajiv Gandhi's political life was very short but "hugely impactful" and he left behind numerous legacies, including the 1991 manifesto which promised liberalisation. "These include the right of 18 year olds to vote; Constitutional empowerment of panchayats and nagarpalikas, including reservations for women in elections to them; peace in Assam, Mizoram, Tripura and Punjab; India's entry into the IT, computer and telecom era as a major power; the use of science & technology to address societal concerns and challenges; strengthening of India's space and nuclear programmes. And much more," he said. In 1984, Rajiv Gandhi assumed leadership of the Congress Party after his mother, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was assassinated. He became India's youngest Prime Minister at 40 when he took office in October of that year. He served as the Prime Minister of India till December 2, 1989. Born on August 20, 1944, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber during an election rally in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991. Researchers have discovered microplastics in human testicles, potentially contributing to declining sperm counts in men, according to a report by The Guardian. The study found microplastic pollution in every sample tested. The research, titled Microplastic presence in dog and human testis and its potential association with sperm count and weights of testis and epididymis', involved studying dissolved tissue samples to analyse the remaining plastics. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of New Mexico in the United States, involved testing 23 human and 47 dog testes. It was published on May 15 in the Toxicological Sciences journal. Xiaozhong Yu, one of the researchers and authors of the study and a professor at the University of New Mexico, told The Guardian that he was surprised by the findings. At the beginning, I doubted whether microplastics could penetrate the reproductive system. When I first received the results for dogs, I was surprised. I was even more surprised when I received the results for humans. Impact on Sperm Count The samples were from the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, which routinely collected human testes. The samples were analysed after a seven-year storage period. The human testicles were preserved, so their sperm counts could not be measured. However, the dog testes showed lower sperm counts in samples with higher PVC contamination, per the report. The study, thus, indicated a possible link between microplastics and reduced sperm counts while noting that further research is needed to confirm this theory. On the likely impact on sperm count, Professor Yu said, PVC can release a lot of chemicals that interfere with spermatogenesis, and it contains chemicals that cause endocrine disruption. Notably, sperm counts in men have been decreasing for decades, with chemical pollution, including pesticides, often blamed. However, microplastics have recently been detected in human blood, placentas, and breast milk, suggesting widespread contamination. While the health impacts are not fully understood, lab studies have shown microplastics can damage human cells. Environmental Impact The study noted that microplastics are ubiquitous, found from Mount Everests peak to the ocean's depths, and people ingest and inhale these particles daily. These microplastics may then lodge in tissues and cause inflammation or chemicals in the plastics might harm them. In March, doctors also linked microscopic plastics in blood vessels to higher risks of stroke, heart attack, and early death, the report said. Habitat for Humanitys administration office, currently housed in the basement of the Clarkston United Methodist Church, will move to the new location immediately. The ReStore will remain at 1633 G St. in Lewiston until moving to the new spot in the summer. We have worked hard for the last five months with our realtor, Becka Picchena, and our Board to visualize and outline what we see for our opportunities in this building, Executive Director Deb Snyder said in the news release. We are looking forward to our entire staff working closer together under one roof. The Board and staff has worked hard and put in many hours to complete the necessary explorations of this opportunity. The L-C Valley Habitat for Humanity was founded in 1991 and has built 35 homes for families in Asotin and Nez Perce counties during that time. The group plans to start on its 36th home in July, according to the news release. The National Famine Way Commemorative Walk is passing through Longford as it makes its way along the banks of the Royal Canal en route to the final destination of Dublin. The walkers were welcomed into Richmond Harbour at Clondra after a 20km walk from Strokestown yesterday (Monday, May 20). They leave again this morning, Tuesday (May 21) at 9am on their mammoth 32.6km walk to Abbeyshrule. Schoolchildren from Scoil Mhuire Clondra joined this morning carrying the symbolic bronze shoes and laying stones at the bronze shoes plinth marking the way. Paddy Mahon CE Longford County Council and Cathaoirleach Colm Murray will join the walk at Foigha Harbour at lunchtime (c.1.15pm). The Commemorative Walk takes place over six days, starting yesterday. It will be led by the Ambassador of Ireland to Canada, Eamonn McKee and representatives of the Liverpool Irish Famine Trail to mark the launch of the Global Irish Famine Way. The Commemorative Walk is free, accessible and open to everyone in the six counties it passes through to join in. Starting at the National Famine Museum | Strokestown Park in Roscommon, it follows the National Famine Way for 165km to EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum in Dublins Docklands. From the starting point of Strokestown Park House the walk began with a dramatic re-enactment of the events in 1847 which prompted the foundation of the trail including traditional musicians, school children and walkers dressed in famine costume. Members of the Tighe family, whose ancestors were evicted, will read the names of the 1,490 tenants forced to leave their homes in Strokestown, march to Dublin and emigrate to Canada on the worst of the infamous coffin ships. Only half of the emigrants survived. Their names are etched on a commemorative glass wall outside the National Famine Museum. The National Famine Way traverses six counties and each is staging commemorative events as the walkers pass through. The National Famine Way is a collaboration between Waterways Ireland, the Irish Heritage Trust and the county councils along the route. The local authorities involved are Roscommon, Longford, Westmeath, Meath, Kildare, Fingal, and Dublin. The symbol of the National Famine Way is a pair of childrens shoes displayed at the National Famine Museum. The trail is waymarked by bronze replicas crafted by artist Alannah O'Kelly as a poignant reminder of the journey the 1,490 souls made. Ambassador McKee, the Liverpool Irish Famine Way walkers and children from local schools will carry a symbolic pair as they make this evocative pilgrimage. Caroilin Callery, National Famine Way, said, We are getting close now to the 2024 commemorative walk - the first since the trail was officially launched in 2019. I am very much looking forward to doing it for the 5th time as it is always a thought provoking and enriching experience. This time it is all the more special as it is being led by the visionary Ambassador Eamonn Mc Kee who has been a driving force behind the development into the Global Irish Famine Way. Our emigrants did not stop in the Quays in Dublin their journeys spread far and wide around the world and it is only fitting to tell the second part of their stories as they carved out new lives on foreign shores and had worldwide influence over the decades and centuries to follow which is still being felt worldwide today. And we can see and feel that in the huge interest and warm welcome the Bronze Shoes have received already in this inaugural phase, the ambassador said. The official launch of the Global Irish Famine Way will be at EPIC, The Irish Emigration Museum when the walkers arrive on Saturday 25 th May. It is an extension of the National Famine Way and will be the largest heritage trail in the world. It will eventually follow the journeys of all the Irish Famine emigrants around the world, including the UK, Canada, the United States, South Africa, and Australia. The Bronze Shoes that mark the National Famine Way will also mark each significant location on the Global Irish Famine Way. It begins in 2024 with Canada and the UK (Liverpool). Representatives from each are taking in the commemorative walk. Fifteen locations have already been secured in Canada including Grosse Ile, St Johns Newfoundland, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa. Toronto, Niagara, Saint John Partridge Island, Saint Colomban and Hamilton. Evoking the initial journey, these bronze shoes travelled by sea from Galway to Newfoundland on the Marine Institute vessel the RV Celtic Explorer. A series of commemorative events will mark their arrival. The first pair of shoes destined for Liverpool will be carried on the Commemorative Walk and then on to Liverpool on The Walk of the Bronze Shoes. The Liverpool walkers will escort the bronze shoes by ferry to Holyhead; by road to Birkenhead and by ferry to Mersey Ports. From there, theyll walk the shoes to Clarence Dock, where 1.3m Irish Famine poor were brought into Liverpool during An Gorta Mor. The group will carry the shoes to the Irish Famine Memorial at St Lukes Church. Church. Organisers hope that the National Famine Way Commemorative Walk will become an annual event following National Famine Commemoration Day (which falls on Sunday, May 19 this year). The National Famine Way is open to walkers at any time and the route and associated stories can be followed through a free app. Walkers can also purchase an official passport to get stamped along the route. Crime By Chris Boyle Published: May 21 2024 Vincent Dougherty allegedly stole valuables from three homes and attempted to burglarize four additional homes on the North Shore. Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that an alleged serial burglar was arraigned on multiple burglary and attempted burglary charges for seven incidents along the North Shore of Nassau County. Vincent Dougherty, 64, was arraigned Wednesday before Judge Robert McDonald on three counts of Burglary in the Second Degree (a C violent felony) and four counts of Attempted Burglary in the Second Degree (a D violent felony). Bail was set at $1 million cash, $1 million bond, and $5 million partially secured bond. The defendant is due back in court on May 30, 2024. Dougherty is a discretionary persistent felony offender. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years to life in prison on each completed burglary. Vincent Dougherty is an alleged career criminal with burglaries spanning over decades. Over the course of several months in 2021, this defendant allegedly lurked in the backyards of multiple homes in exclusive North Shore neighborhoods, gained access through unlocked doors or by smashing windows, and stole luxury items, said DA Donnelly. Dougherty is also charged with attempting to burglarize four more homes in Glen Head, Syosset, and Old Westbury. Thanks to the relentless investigative work of police and my prosecutors, we were able to link this defendant to these alleged crimes and hold him accountable. DA Donnelly said that, according to the indictment and investigation, the defendant on seven separate occasions allegedly burglarized or attempted to burglarize homes on the North Shore. Each of the burglaries took place in the early morning hours at homes that abutted public properties, parkland, or wooded areas. On May 8, 2021, at a home on Wenwood Drive in Brookville, the defendant allegedly entered through an unlocked door, stole a Hermes handbag, and fled the scene. On July 19, 2021, at a residence on Hickory Drive in Old Brookville, the defendant again allegedly entered through an unlocked door, stole a Chanel handbag, and fled. On September 11, 2021, at a home on Spring Court in Muttontown, the defendant allegedly broke a kitchen window with a rock and stole the homeowners wallet with cash and credit cards inside. On May 18, 2021, on Winchester Drive in Glen Head, and on June 11, 2021, at two locations in Syosset, the defendant allegedly attempted to gain access and burglarize the residences. The defendant also allegedly attempted to burglarize another home on Morgan Drive in Old Westbury on September 21, 2021. Each of the alleged incidents was caught on surveillance video. Police were able to use the surveillance video and the defendants clothing to link him to the alleged burglaries. The defendant was arrested on May 14, 2024, by detectives of the Nassau County Police Departments 8th Precinct Squad. NCDA thanks NCPDs 2nd Precinct and 8th Precinct Squads for their assistance in this prosecution. The case is being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Tracy Keeton of the Major Offense/Homicide Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Daniel Quinn of the County Court Trial Bureau. Dougherty was represented by the Legal Aid Society at arraignment. Local News By Chris Boyle Published: May 21 2024 Innovators Honored at 12th Annual Luncheon. The Long Island Air & Space Hall of Fame, presented by GSE Dynamics, Inc., proudly announces the inductees for its 2024 class. The event is scheduled for Monday, June 10, 2024, at 12 pm noon. Each year, the Long Island Air & Space Hall of Fame honors individuals who have significantly advanced aeronautical and technological achievements. Proceeds from the luncheon program Proceeds generated from the luncheon support the museums education and preservation programs. About the Class of 2024 Dayton T. Brown Sr. (1898-1978): A pioneering aeronautical engineer, Dayton T. Brown Sr. founded Dayton T. Brown, Inc. During his tenure as Chief Engineer at Brewster, he played a crucial role in developing the Brewster F2A, a groundbreaking all-metal monoplane fighter for the U.S. Navy. Later, he established his own firm, which evolved from sheet metal work to become a leading testing laboratory for aircraft and space components. Dayton T. Brown Jr. Following his engineering studies and military service, Dayton T. Brown Jr. joined his fathers company in 1951, rising through the ranks to become President and Chairman. Under his leadership, the company diversified into multiple divisions, supporting military initiatives nationwide. Today, Dayton T. Brown, Inc. utilizes its cutting-edge expertise to meet the defense needs of 38 states. Fernando Frank Caldeiro (1958-2009) Aerospace engineer Fernando Frank Caldeiros journey began with degrees from SUNY Farmingdale and the University of Florida. He later oversaw the B-1 bomber program at Rockwell before joining NASA, where he contributed to 52 Space Shuttle launches and was selected as an astronaut. Sadly, he passed away in 2009 before his scheduled space mission. Jacqueline Jackie Cochran (1906-1980) was a pioneering female aviator who broke through aviation barriers. Her passion for flight led her to become a licensed pilot by age 22. Defying gender stereotypes, she dominated air races in the 1930s. During WWII, she led the WASPs, training over 1,000 women pilots. After the war, she broke the sound barrier, becoming the first woman to do so, and tirelessly advocated for equal opportunities for women in the Air Force. Tickets are $75 per person or $700 for a table of 10. Call reservations at 516.572.4066 or visit: https://www.cradleofaviation.org/plan_your_visit/event_calendar.html/event/2024/06/10/long-island-air-and-space-hall-of-fame-luncheon/484193. About the Air & Space Hall of Fame Sponsor GSE Dynamics, Inc. is a Women-Owned Small Business and full-service engineering and manufacturing company engaged in the manufacture, assembly, and testing of military mechanical and structural components and assemblies. GSE is a recognized member of the Defense Industrial Base with a consistent record of best-value pricing, delivery, quality, and technical expertise. About the Cradle of Aviation Museum Experience one of the largest collections of air and spacecraft in the world! Explore over 100 years of air and space history through eight galleries and Long Islands only Giant Screen Dome Theater. The museum is located on Charles Lindbergh Blvd., Garden City, NY. For more information: Call 516-572-4111 or visit https://www.cradleofaviation.org/. LIVONIA, MICH. The Coordinated Community Response Coalition (CCRC) of Oakland, Macomb and Wayne Counties, in partnership with Madonna University, will host the Elder Abuse Has No Borders Conference on Thursday, June 13, 2024, from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm. The conference will be held at the Madonna University Welcome Center and Franciscan Center (36600 Schoolcraft Rd., Livonia, MI 48150). The event will feature: Keynote speaker Hill Harper Panel discussion on elder adult safety Presentations on dementia and abuse, and the Uniform Power of Attorney Act Continental breakfast, lunch, and networking opportunities Registration is online only at tinyurl.com/elderabusehasnoborders. Ticket prices vary depending on registration date and Continuing Education (CE) credit options. Student and senior discounts are available. Space is limited. About the CCRC The CCRC's mission is to build partnerships to address elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation while ensuring victim safety and confidentiality. Their vision is for all older adults to have access to resources and be treated with dignity and respect. For more information, contact the CCRC Chair Antonia Harbin-Lamb at (313) 937-8291 ext. 2090, or email aharbin@wcnls.org or epeets@wcnls.org. The manager of a Dorchester dental practice is facing charges of practicing dentistry without a license, including performing an extraction that left an exposed root in the patients mouth requiring extensive follow-up care. Fritz Gabriel, 69, of Milton, who manages Forest Hills Dental at 1815 Dorchester Ave., is also accused of billing MassHealth, the states Medicaid program, for services that were not provided, according to a statement from Attorney General Andrea Campbells office. Gabriel and the dental practice were indicted Monday by a Suffolk County grand jury. According to the attorney generals office, Gabriel and Forest Hills Dental billed MassHealth for extractions, root canals and multi-surface filings that were never performed based on later examinations or x-rays of the affected patients teeth. In addition, while many of the services billed or provided were required to be performed by a licensed dentist, Gabriel was not licensed to practice dentistry. The fraudulent MassHealth claims totaled about $245,000, according to the attorney generals office. Gabriel is charged with Medicaid false claims, larceny over $1,200, assault and battery and unlicensed practice of dentistry. Forest Hills Dental is charged with Medicaid false claims and larceny over $1,200. According to a report from the Boston Globe, the attorney generals office rarely enforces criminal laws against unlicensed medical practices, with the most recent instance being the prosecution of Louise Wightman for practicing as a psychologist without a license on the South Shore from 1998 to 2005. Wightman was convicted in 2007, according to the Globe. GBH News General Manager Pam Johnston announced Monday she plans to step down on May 31. In an announcement by GBH, Johnston said the time is right, for her to step down and make room for a new leader to guide the next chapter at GBH News. Johnstons tenure at GBH began in 2012 when she served as Frontlines director of audience and development. Johnston served in that position for more than eight years before accepting the general manager position in 2020. According to a report published by The Boston Globe, Johnstons announcement comes before potential layoffs that leaders have warned may be coming, as the station works to cut costs before the fiscal year ends June 30. With new leadership at GBH, there are new opportunities and new strategies for our newsroom, Johnston wrote Monday in an email to GBH staff obtained by The Boston Globe. GBH reported Johnston said her mission had been to bring GBH News content to new audiences with a focus on digital platforms. Read more: Layoffs to come to Boston schools amid budget cuts as pandemic aid dwindles Digital is now a key part of our success, Johnston told GBH. We have become industry leaders in podcasting and digital storytelling. Our YouTube channel is one of the most successful in all of public radio. The Boston Globe reported that GBHs Chief Executive Susan Goldberg and Chief Operating Officer Shane Miner confirmed Joshnstons last day would be May 31, and Debra Adams Simmons, GBHs senior director of editorial projects, will serve as interim general manager of GBH News, effective immediately. Pam is well-versed in modern audience metrics and a champion for digital innovation, pushing to expand how we deliver news and information to audiences where they are and thats increasingly on digital and streaming platforms, Goldberg and Miner wrote. Our overall audience reach has doubled in the last five years because of this digital growth. Testimony in the trial of Karen Read, a Mansfield woman charged in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend, John OKeefe, continued Tuesday at 9 a.m. Read, 44, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of OKeefe, who was found cold to the touch and unresponsive on Jan. 29, 2022, outside of a home in Canton. Norfolk County prosecutors say Read struck OKeefe with her SUV while driving intoxicated. Reads attorney, David Yannetti, said during the trials opening statements that her car never struck OKeefe and that others are to blame for his death. The trial is taking place in Dedhams Norfolk County Superior Court. On Friday, Jen McCabe took the witness stand. She was a friend of OKeefe and was at the Waterfall Bar & Grille in Canton with friends, including OKeefe and Read, before going to 34 Fairview Road after midnight on Jan. 29, 2022. McCabe was also with Read and another witness, Kerry Roberts, when they found OKeefes body on the front lawn of the Canton home later that morning. She told me that she didnt remember going there, Jennifer McCabe said of Read on Friday. She said, Did I hit him, could I have hit him? Then she proceeded to say she had a cracked headlight. Honestly, I thought she was talking crazy. Defense attorneys are expected to begin cross-examination of McCabe on Tuesday. This story will be updated throughout Tuesday when testimony continues at 9:00 a.m. Youre spinning all of this, McCabe told Reads attorney 1 p.m. Dedham, MA - May 21: Witness Jennifer McCabe testifies during Karen Read's trial at Norfolk County Superior Court. Read, 44, is accused of running into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV in the middle of a nor'easter and leaving him for dead after a night of heavy drinking. (Pool Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)Matt Stone/Boston Herald Alan Jackson, Reads attorney, asked McCabe about her phone calls with OKeefe after midnight on Jan. 29, 2022. There were six calls between the two of them and the last came at 12:50 a.m., McCabe agreed. Jackson provided her with a call log extracted from OKeefes phone. Jackson then showed McCabe a document with Apple ID information. It was a Cellebrite extraction of McCabes phone records. It was made after she submitted her phone to law enforcement. The Cellebrite report about McCabes phone extraction did not show the calls between McCabe and OKeefe between 12:14 a.m. and 12:50 a.m. All those calls were deleted and unrecovered from her phone, Jackson said. I didnt understand that report and Im not an expert, McCabe said. McCabe denied deleting her phone calls before she gave her phone to the police. I willingly turned in my phone, McCabe said. Absolutely not, she said in response to a question about deleting the calls with OKeefe. She said she handed in her phone four or five days after OKeefe died. I do not recall deleting any phone calls at all, McCabe said. I would have no reason to delete anything. Jackson asked if she had deleted calls with any witnesses before she turned over her phone, to which she responded, No. Jackson handed her a packet of documents about 10 pages long. It included text messages in a group chat starting Feb. 1, 2022, with Brian and Nicole Albert and her husband, Matthew McCabe. At 2:15 p.m., she received a message from her husband. Tell them the guy never went in the house, Matthew McCabe wrote, in reference to comments being made to Channel 4 news. Exactly, Brian Albert responded in the text thread, according to Jackson. This is one witness telling another witness to give certain information to the media, Jackson said. Did you take any steps whatsoever to influence Kerry Roberts statements? Jackson asked. No, McCabe said. Jackson asked whether McCabe and Roberts discussed a timeline of events. The two of us were trying to figure out what happened to our friend, McCabe said. A timeline was drafted on Feb. 1, 2022, McCabe agreed. Two police officers came to McCabes home and interviewed Roberts, McCabe agreed. Shes telling them EVERYTHING! McCabe wrote in a text message to the group chat with the Alberts and her husband. Jackson said EVERYTHING was written in all capitals. McCabe was listening to a phone call Roberts had with a police officer when she sent the text. I was horrified because Kerry is a blunt person and she had made a comment about OKeefes and Reads relationship. I was shocked and horrified, McCabe said. We never worked together to come up with a story, McCabe said. Jackson was pressing McCabe about why she sent the text message while Roberts was speaking to law enforcement. At the end of the day, you were eavesdropping on an interview Kerry Roberts was having with law enforcement in their official capacity, Jackson said. No, I was sitting, eating dinner and some of the things I obviously overheard, McCabe said. Was I eavesdropping? No. Is there some big cover-up story? No. You consistently reported back to the group about how Kerry Roberts was doing with the police? Jackson asked. I would update them, McCabe said. On Jan. 30, 2022, McCabe drove with Roberts to the Canton police Lt. Michael Lanks household. He was one of the first officers to respond to OKeefes body. That was never reported to authorities before, Jackson said. I guess I never thought about it much, McCabe said. Lanks wife came out of the house and had a conversation inside Roberts car. She was checking on Kerry, and you know, saying Oh, my god, this is so crazy, McCabe said. McCabe then was questioned by Jackson about meeting with the Norfolk District Attorneys Office ahead of the trial. Jackson said during that meeting a phone extraction obtained by the defense and submitted during discovery revealed that McCabe was at Lanks house on Jan. 30, 2022. McCabe often looked at the jury when giving lengthy answers. She turned to the jury and said, Again, I never spoke with Michael Lank at his house. It was not an off-the-books meeting. It was Kerry dropping her daughter at one of her good friends house whose husband happens to be a Canton cop. That is what it is. That is the truth. Thats a lot of coincidences, Jackson said. McCabe said Jackson was spinning all of this. McCabe agreed she initially told a state trooper that she did not remember going to Lanks house but later remembered. McCabe described seven calls over the course of 19 minutes to OKeefe between 12:29 a.m. and 12:50 a.m. as butt-dials to a federal grand jury, according to Jackson. This was the same period of time that Norfolk prosecutors say OKeefe died, according to Jackson. Adam Lally, the Norfolk prosecutor objected to the question and Judge Beverly Cannone sustained the objection. It was the last question Cannone allowed for the day and jurors were excused at 1 p.m. Cross-examination will continue on Wednesday of McCabe. Youre creating a scene that didnt happen, McCabe says 11:56 a.m. Dedham, MA - May 21: Defendant Karen Read sits at the defense table during her murder trial at Norfolk County Superior Court. Read, 44, is accused of running into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV in the middle of a nor'easter and leaving him for dead after a night of heavy drinking. (Pool Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)Matt Stone/Boston Herald Jennifer McCabe said during cross-examination that she didnt tell a grand jury about Reads I hit him statements because she wasnt asked. Alan Jackson, Reads attorney, said that the transcript showed that McCabe was asked about what happened when she and Read were standing in front of police officers. At no point did McCabe tell the grand jury the I hit him, I hit him, I hit him statements made by Read. The grand jury specifically asked what she heard when McCabe and Read were near the police and first responders, according to Jackson. Did I hit him? Could I have hit him? Is he dead? Is he dead? McCabe told the grand jury, Jackson said referring to a transcript. Next, Jackson played a recording at the time McCabe called 911 on Jan. 29, 2022, but recorded on a voicemail inside the car of Read. In the background, Reads screaming can be heard. Windshield wipers rhythmically boom over the recording. The dialogue is difficult to distinguish. Jackson then began asking questions about who McCabe called that morning. She called her sister after 911, but those calls were later deleted from her phone, according to Jackson. McCabe said she was friendly with Canton police Lt. Michael Lank. She said she knew of Canton police Sgt. Sean Goode, but she wasnt friends with him. Both officers responded to the Canton home when OKeefes body was found. She knew that Chris Albert and Lank had a good friendship. McCabes sister is married to Brian Albert, the homeowner of 34 Fairview Road. Chris Albert is Brian Alberts brother. McCabe said she did not remember Goode inside of the house on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022, after OKeefes body was found. McCabe denied talking about what she and the Alberts were going to tell police about what happened. Youre creating a scene that didnt happen, McCabe said. Jackson asked whether the McCabe couple, the Albert couple and Brian Higgins were allowed to talk out of earshot of law enforcement. Chris Albert, Brian Alberts brother who was at the Waterfall the night before, came over much later, McCabe said. Everybody was trying to figure out what had happened, McCabe said. Jackson then began questioning McCabes statements to Massachusetts State Police. I said the taillight was cracked, McCabe said she told Trooper Michael Proctor later that morning. Dedham, MA - May 21: An exasperated defense attorney, Alan Jackson questions witness Jennifer McCabe as she testifies during Karen Read's trial at Norfolk County Superior Court. Read, 44, is accused of running into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV in the middle of a nor'easter and leaving him for dead after a night of heavy drinking. (Pool Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)Matt Stone/Boston Herald Defense questions I hit him statements McCabe says she heard Read say 10:59 a.m. Looking at the flat lawn, McCabe could see the SUV clearly around 12:30 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022. Not once, but six times, McCabe looked out the door of 34 Fairview after midnight, McCabe agreed. When she looked out that window there was no body, Jackson asked. I never saw a body, I wished I had, McCabe said. That sounded a little rehearsed, Jackson said. Not at all, she said. Asked if she saw anything out of the ordinary when McCabe left the Canton house, she said, No. Jackson asked McCabe about what she did when she got home. She went upstairs and used her phone. She did not make any phone calls, but she texted her sisters. She texted her husband and a friend in a group chat, she said. Jackson then asked about McCabes testimony when she quoted Read as saying I hit him, I hit him, I hit him on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022. It was an impactful statement, McCabe agreed. When looking at her testimony before a grand jury, she did not recall whether she told the grand jury about the I hit him statements. Im not sure its in this document, but I can say with 100% clarity that she said, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him, McCabe said. It is yes, the most powerful part of her testimony, McCabe agreed. But she could not recall whether she told the grand jury those statements. McCabe agreed that she had reviewed her transcript with the grand jury before testifying in court, but she did not recall mentioning the I hit him statements to the grand jury. Jackson asked about the 12 different statements that McCabe gave in April 2022 to a grand jury about the statements Read made. In each of those questions, she testified, Read asked Did I hit him? or Could I have hit him? I was answering the question that I was asked, McCabe said. McCabe said that when Read spoke with a police officer, she said, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him. She did not remember which officer or if it was an EMT. McCabe never told the grand jury about the I hit him statements she attributed to Read that morning, according to Jackson. The truth is that you have manufactured this story for this jury because you think it helps you out, Jackson said Absolutely not, McCabe said. The presiding judge called for a morning break before 11 a.m. Where was the body? defense asks McCabe 10:31 a.m. Witness Jennifer McCabe describes a broken taillight on Karen Reads vehicle while testifying during Reads trial at Norfolk County Superior Court, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read, 44, is accused of running into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV in the middle of a nor'easter and leaving him for dead after a night of heavy drinking. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool) AP Alan Jackson, Reads attorney, asked McCabe whether shes spoken with her husband about the events of Jan. 28 and 29, 2022. Yes, we talk about this case about the vicious harassment we are all receiving, McCabe said. Jackson asked about the details of the night, what happened at the bar and her memory of what happened at 34 Fairview, did she talk to other witnesses about that? Weve tried to figure out what happened to our friend John, McCabe said. Speaking about it is very difficult, she said. The harassment of the case, comes up every day, she said. Facts of the case are not discussed as much as the vicious harassment, she said. Jackson tried repeatedly to ask about what McCabe told a grand jury about Higginss Jeep and where it was parked, and McCabe repeatedly asked for a transcript of her statements to the grand jury. I may not have been asked about the Jeep, McCabe said. Next, Jackson asked about text messages McCabe sent OKeefe at 12:27 a.m. and wrote here. Then at 12:31 a.m., she texted, pull behind me. At 12:40 a.m., she texted hello. At 12:42 a.m. where are you? and at 12:45 a.m. she texted hello. Five times she texted and each time she walked to the door and looked at the SUV while texting OKeefe, McCabe agreed. McCabe asked several times throughout the morning to look at transcripts of her interviews before grand juries, both the Norfolk County one that led to Reads indictment and the federal grand jury probe which authorities have not disclosed a target. At one point, she spent several minutes reviewing the transcript before answering Jacksons question about what she did when she texted OKeefe and she was inside 34 Fairview Road. Five times she texted McCabe and six times she looked out the window, the last time the SUV was gone, McCabe agreed. The SUV moved three times further up the street, McCabe said. I had a clear view of Karens SUV, correct, McCabe answered Jackson. She did not hear any sounds outside, any screaming, nor any screeching tires, she said. She did not hear any collisions or door slams. And then you saw the SUV gone, Jackson said. So I have a question Mrs. McCabe, where was the body? I have no idea, McCabe said. Im assuming the body was on the front lawn. The problem with that is you were looking at the front lawn, Jackson said. McCabe agreed she had a clear and good view of the SUV. Im looking at the SUV, not on the ground, McCabe said. Defense begins cross-examination of Jen McCabe 9:35 a.m. Jen McCabe took the witness stand and resumed her testimony that began last Friday. Alan Jackson, Reads attorney, began asking questions about interactions McCabe had with Read and OKeefe at the Waterfall bar. I didnt see them interact much, McCabe said. Asked by Jackson if she told Read, You are coming with me, McCabe corrected him. Why dont you come with me? McCabe recalled asking Read. She then waited outside the bar for Read and OKeefe. Jackson showed a surveillance video from outside the Waterfall bar, at 12:11 a.m. OKeefe walked outside the bar. A person with white shoes could be seen in the video, but McCabe said she wasnt sure that it was her. I told Karen you are coming with me to Karen because John was still in the bar with Matt, McCabe said. Matthew McCabe, her husband, testified last week. Asked by Jackson if there was a reason to separate Read and OKeefe, McCabe said No. There was never any idea of separating them, McCabe said. We were waiting for John to come out and I said, Why dont you come with me, it was innocent, McCabe said. Jackson asked about what she told Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor during an interview on Jan. 29, 2022. Under questioning, she said that Proctor incorrectly transcribed what she said about where a Jeep was parked that night. The Jeep belonged to Higgins, a friend of Albert and a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. I never placed Ms. Reads car where Mr. Higginss vehicle was, McCabe said. I may never have been asked about a Jeep. A 51-year-old man who at one point owned and operated 14 sober homes stretching from Lynn to Brockton was found liable for sexual harassment after prosecutors say he offered privileges to tenants in exchange for sex acts and explicit pictures. Peter McCarthy, of Lynn, was ordered to pay nearly $4 million in damages by a federal jury in Boston. McCarthy was convicted in 1992 of indecent assault and battery, a crime that required him to register as a sex offender, according to acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua S. Levys office. McCarthy was on the states sex offender registry from 2004 to 2015. The U.S. Attorneys office and the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division sued McCarthy in 2021, claiming he violated the Fair Housing Act by subjecting tenants at the sober homes to sexual harassment, Levys office said in a statement. The $3.8 million award includes both compensatory and punitive damages, seeking to both punish McCarthy and compensate the tenants prosecutors say he sexually harassed. The Justice Department will seek a separate civil penalty against McCarthy to vindicate the public interest and a court order to prevent him from managing Steps to Solutions sober homes or having contact with residents or prospective tenants, according to the statement. Between 2009 and 2021, prosecutors say McCarthy, who was the registered agent and sole officer of the company, harassed residents of the sober homes by offering to reduce or forgive their rent, provide additional privileges inside the home, or waiving security deposits in exchange for engaging in sex acts or sexually explicit photos. McCarthy also made unwanted sexual comments, according to the statement. The suit describes an incident in 2017 where a female resident of one of the sober homes asked McCarthy for an overnight pass to allow her to spend the night at her mothers house and visit her daughter. McCarthy said he would give the woman the pass if she made breakfast for him in the morning, which she understood to be a reference to sex. Later, in 2019, McCarthy sent sexually explicit photos to a tenant and asked for photos in return. Fearing she would be kicked out of the sober home because she was behind on rent, the tenant sent him a sexually explicit photo, according to the suit. Sexual harassment of tenants is abhorrent, and the department stands committed to holding housing providers accountable, said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division. We commend the survivors who came forward to testify about the heinous conduct that they experienced. This verdict sends a message that there is no place in our society for landlords who abuse their position of power to prey on vulnerable people. A Massachusetts man visiting a national park in Wyoming was seriously injured this weekend when he was attacked by a grizzly bear. According to the National Park Service, the 35-year-old man, who has not been identified, was visiting Grand Teton National Park when he encountered two grizzly bears on Sunday afternoon. One of the bears attacked him, seriously injuring him. Park rangers and Teton County Search and Rescue went to the scene of the attack near Signal Mountain Summit Road, where they provided emergency medical care. The man was airlifted by a helicopter to an ambulance, which brought him to St. Johns Hospital in Jackson, Wyoming. Authorities said Sunday the man was in stable condition and expected to fully recover. Signal Mountain Summit Road and Summit Mountain Trail were closed to the public following the attack. The National Park Service advised all visitors to areas where bears live to properly store food and keep campsites clean to avoid encounters with bears. When in the woods, visitors should stay alert, make noise, hike in groups and carry bear spray for safety. If you see a bear, give it space and stay at least 100 yards away, the National Park Service said. If you encounter a bear, back away slowly but do not run. Two men are facing a charge of conspiracy to commit murder for hire after prosecutors say they attempted to plot the murder a witness in a federal drug trial and members of a rival gang. Kareem Pines, 25, of Wareham was arrested Tuesday morning and is set to appear in federal court in Boston later Tuesday afternoon. Another man, Elijah Melton, 26, of Middleborough, is already in federal custody and will appear in court at a later date, acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua S. Levys office said in a statement. Melton was arrested and charged in December 2023 with conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl and the distribution of 400 grams or more of fentanyl, according to Levys office. He was released following an appearance on those charges but was arrested in February after prosecutors accused him of violating his pre-trial release conditions. Melton was ordered detained pending his trial and has remained in federal custody since. Prosecutors say a cooperating witness told authorities that Melton solicited him to murder a person he believed was cooperating with officials in his drug case. Melton is accused of telling the witness that members of his gang had put a bounty on the witness. Prosecutors say he provided information about the man he wanted dead to the witness like the city he lived in, the car he drove, and the distinctive jewelry he wore. Melton is accused of offering to have an underage family member deliver $75,000 to a family member of the cooperating witness, according to Levys office. The witness told federal authorities he refused the money. He is also accused of asking the cooperating witness to kill two other individuals that were beefing with [his] crew, according to the statement. Prosecutors say Melton told the cooperating witness he wanted two federal prosecutors killed, provided the witness with information about the prosecutors and said he would provide the money to kill the prosecutors. Prosecutors say Melton told the cooperating witness that Pires, the man arrested Tuesday, could help identify the targets and the locations where they might be found. Melton expected the cooperating witness to be released from prison shortly and gave the witness a letter for Pires and the phone number for his family member, according to Levys office. Prosecutors say the letter Melton gave the witness contained information about the plan to murder the rivals. Before the witness was released from custody, Melton is accused of giving him a second letter to be delivered to Pires, which prosecutors say referenced the target rivals. When the witness was released from custody, he arranged to meet with Pires, Levys office said. The pair met in a public location, where the witness gave the second letter to Pires, who, prosecutors say, agreed to put together information, including pictures, about the people Melton is accused of attempting to pay to have killed. The charge both men face, conspiracy to commit murder for hire, carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, according to Levys office. Three teenagers have been charged after police say they attacked another group of teens at a Boston MBTA train station earlier this month. According to the Suffolk County District Attorneys Office, the three teens, all from Quincy, and two other unidentified suspects were caught on video during the unprovoked attack at Kenmore Station on May 10. At about 10:14 p.m. on May 14, transit police received a call about an assault at the station. The four victims, all teens from Duxbury, told police they had been attacked by a group of strangers, one of which lifted a sweatshirt to show a knife in his waistband. The victims told police they were punched and thrown on the cement floor, and one of the victims jacket and sneakers were stolen. Three of the victims were bleeding from their mouths and one had blood on his clothing and knuckles, police said. The stolen jacket was found destroyed near the scene. Surveillance video from the station and cell phone video of the incident corroborated the victims account, according to the district attorneys office. Another person who spoke to police saw a Snapchat video of the incident that was sent to about 60 people and recognized the three suspects as Quincy high school students. These individuals may have thought they could launch a brutal and unprovoked attack on a group of young people and get away clean, but the tenacity of transit police combined with help from the victims, the public, and video and social media evidence proved them wrong, District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement. These victims endured a terrifying experience and suffered serious injuries while doing nothing more than enjoying an evening in Boston. Their attackers will answer for their actions. Aidan McGuinness, 18, was charged in the Roxbury branch of Boston Municipal Court on Friday with unarmed robbery and assault and battery causing serious bodily injury. He was held on $1,500 bail and ordered to stay away from the victims. The other two suspects who have been charged are both 17, and have not been publicly identified because they are minors. One was charged in Suffolk Juvenile Court with two counts of assault by means of a dangerous weapon (knife), one count of assault and battery causing serious bodily injury, one count of unarmed robbery and one count of assault and battery. The other was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (cement floor), assault and battery causing serious bodily injury and unarmed robbery. Both were held on $200 bail and ordered to stay away from the victims and Kenmore Station. All three suspects will return to court on June 24. Next month, 3,933 California-based Tesla, Inc. employees will face layoffs, as part of a series of Tesla layoffs throughout the United States. While California employees will begin separation from the company starting June 14, more than 7,000 Tesla employees around the country have or will get a pink slip through the summer with plants in New York, Texas and Nevada in the mix. In total, 7,659 employees across all four states will be included in the Tesla Inc. layoffs. According to the Employment Development Department of California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification database, layoffs in the California affect employees in Alameda, Los Angelos, San Joaquin and Santa Clarita counties. WARN notices which are federal regulations requiring employers to notify employees and the state of operation a 60-calendar-day notice of mass layoffs were issued by Tesla, Inc. to the state of California as early as April 22, and processed on April 25. Alameda County accounts for nearly half of Californias Tesla layoffs, with 1,731 employees affected throughout Fremont, California, and San Joaquin accounting for 1,280 layoffs. There are no Tesla Inc. layoffs affecting Massachusetts as of May 20. Americans bought 268,909 electric vehicles in the first quarter of 2024, which is 2.6% more than the first quarter of 2023, according to an article Kelley Blue Book reported earlier this year. However, the report notes sales actually slipped quarter to quarter, with Americans buying 15.2% fewer electric vehicles in the first quarter of 2024 than the last quarter of 2023 the first quarter-to-quarter turndown since 2020. Kelley Blue Book reported Teslas market share fell to 51.3% during the first quarter of 2024 down 61.7% from 2023, and U.S sales were down 13.3% year over year. In April, Tesla Inc., owner and CEO Elon Musk told employees the company would cut 10% of its work force, amounting to about 14,000, according to New York Times. While the New York Times reports Musk did not indicate where cuts would be made, many of Teslas employees are based in four large car factories in California and Texas, as well as factories in New York and Nevada. Elon Musk talks to press media during the launch of Starlink satellite internet service at a public health center in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia on Sunday, May 19, 2024. Elon Musk arrived in Indonesia's resort island of Bali to launch Starlink satellite internet service in the world's largest archipelago nation. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)AP New York layoffs The New York Department of Labor WARN database shows Tesla Inc., has issued five rounds of layoffs affecting New York in 2024 with the most recent received last week. Layoffs will affect 345 employees. In the first round of layoffs, 285 employees will be affected with employee separations beginning July 15, with 280 employees at the 1339 South Park Ave. location, and five employees from the 1216 South Park Ave. location. The second round affects 26 employees, with separations beginning July 30, according to WARN. That round affects employees at the 1339 South Park Ave. location. The third round of layoffs will affect four employees at 1339 South Park Ave., with separations beginning Aug. 1. The fourth round of layoffs will layoff three employees of the 1399 South Park Ave. location, with separations beginning on Aug. 5. The final round of layoffs posted at this time will affect another 27 employees 26 of whom are employed at the 1399 South Park Ave. location, and one employee from the 1216 South Park Ave. location, according to WARN. Separations begin on Aug. 11. The 1339 South Park Ave. location currently employees 2,025 employees, according to documents announcing the first layoff notice, issued in April, and a total of seven employees at the 1216 South Park Ave. location. After all five rounds of cuts, the 1339 South Park Ave. location will have 1,686 employees and the 1216 South Park Ave. location will be left with one employee. Nevada layoffs The Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation shared an update on May 5, regarding Tesla Inc. layoffs to affect 693 employees based in Sparks, Nevada. The notice states terminations are commencing during the 14-day period beginning on June 14, 2024. Employees affected by layoffs include project managers, engineers and production controls, according to the state department. Texas layoffs According to the Texas Workplace Commission WARN database, 2,688 employees from Austin in Travis County, Texas were laid off from Tesla in April. The Texas WARN database did not provide as many details as other states databases. The chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst still thinks he did the right thing May 7 when he called in police to arrest students, faculty and community members engaged in a campus protest. Evidence that other UMass stakeholders disagree with him about that mounts, day by day. On Monday, the first general faculty meeting in 15 years supported a no-confidence vote in Javier Reyes leadership, by a tally of 473-332. That vote followed a similar no-confidence measure approved by the Student Government Association, as well as criticism from 63 members of the UMass Amherst history department and 225 other faculty and librarians. Though hes holding his ground, Reyes promised this week he will work to regain the confidence of the thousands of students, faculty and staff who in the past two weeks expressed the view he should no longer lead the school, less than a year after beginning the job and just weeks after his formal installation. Only trustees can make that happen; the board appears to be firmly behind Reyes. The chancellor said that while disappointed in Mondays Faculty Senate vote, he accepts it. Thats a good and needed step, but for Reyes to regain support and trust, hell need to do more. In our view, Reyes must move away from the vigorous defense he presented at his appearance before a Faculty Senate session and which he reaffirmed in his statement Monday. Specifically, before many on campus forgive him for sending in more than 100 police needlessly, as we argued in a May 12 editorial Reyes should stop characterizing the May 7 protest as a tinderbox and fortified encampment. Reyes had alternatives. He could have continued talks with students taking part in the protest, which centered on a wish to have UMass end its ties to military support for the Israeli governments war in Gaza. It doesnt help that Reyes began his pledge this week to regain public confidence by overdramatizing conditions at the protest by writing: I also had to consider the danger of the structure itself more than two thousand pounds, we have since learned, of flammable wooden fencing and pallets surrounded by hundreds of people, with no clear way in or out for first responders . Nothing caught fire. Instead, many young people who were acting peacefully found themselves facing off with helmeted police. In his Dear Campus Community message Monday, Reyes drew a distinction between peaceful demonstrations and fortified encampments, claiming that only the former is protected by the First Amendment and university policy. We hope Reyes can find a way back from his flawed decision. He said this week that progress depends on speaking civilly with one another. All sides need to step away from their defenses and listen hard and consider views they may not like. One first-round draft pick already finds himself in a legal dispute with Fanatics a month after getting drafted. Fanatics filed a lawsuit against Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., ESPN reported Monday, claiming he breached his contract that was agreed upon in May 2023. Harrison, according to the suit, publicly asserted that his contract with the clothing retailer doesnt actually exist. The wideout also allegedly never fulfilled any obligations of his contract. BOSTON The states chronic school absenteeism rate fell from 24.5% to 19.6%, a decrease of 4.9%, in the past year, according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The reduction equates to nearly 45,000 fewer students considered chronically absent, comparing March 1, 2023, to March 1 of this year, Russell D. Johnston, the acting commissioner, told Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education members Tuesday. SPRINGFIELD A federal judge dismissed opposing lawsuits by embattled Springfield Police Officer Gregg Bigda and the city over Bigdas employment status, but the ruling hasnt quelled the longstanding skirmish. U.S. District Judge Mark G. Mastroianni dismissed both complaints, after Bigda filed a claim against the Police Department and the city for allegedly conspiring to malign him, plus improperly keep him from full reinstatement to his longtime job. SPRINGFIELD Just as the work day was getting started Tuesday, pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel activists showed up at Baystate Medical Center to protest the ongoing war in Gaza. The aim of the protest, while located in front of the Springfield hospital, was to challenge the American Medical Association, which is headquartered in Chicago, and Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, who protesters say has made a choice not to act on the genocide of Palestinians. SOUTH HADLEY A commanding majority staff members of Mosier Elementary School say its principal lacks the skills to effectively manage the school. The South Hadley Education Association informed Interim Superintendent Mark McLaughlin and the School Committee that its members last week passed a no-confidence vote regarding the leadership of Principal Cynthia Flynn. Editors note: This story has been updated to remove a characterization about alleged violence at the May 7 protest that has not been properly verified. AMHERST University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty and staff on Monday voted that they have no confidence in Chancellor Javier Reyes leadership. A Westport-based councillor has called on the Sacred Heart Secondary School to refuse accommodation at a site which had been earmarked for one of the oldest schools in Mayo. Cllr Brendan Mulroy called on the all-girls school to refuse an offer from the Department of Education to use temporary accommodation at Scoil Phadraig on Altamount Street. The long derelict site was initially proposed as the new school building for Holy Trinity NS who are currently based in a building deemed not-fit-for-purpose. The building has since been offered to Sacred Heart Secondary School as temporary accommodation, prompting backlash from local representatives. The proposal would involve immediate upgrade works to the Scoil Phadraig building and for Sacred Heart School to take occupation of this accommodation, along with the retained use of modular units and some of the better condition accommodation on its current site, according to a letter sent to Holy Trinity NS from a Department of Education official. Students from Holy Trinity NS with their school principal, Orla Brickenden At yesterdays (Monday) meeting of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District, Cllr Brendan Mulroy called on the school to step up the mark and reject the offer from the department and ask for new accommodation on a green field site. Sacred Heart are currently using portacabins on their school pitch as temporary accommodation for students. If the Sacred Heart School board of management and principal refuse the offer of a site from the department to move up, Holy Trinity will be given a site, said Cllr Mulroy. But for some reason, the board of management and the principal of the Sacred Heart School are not playing ball with Holy Trinity. Cllr John OMalley, who said the long-running debacle over Holy Trinitys new school building had become nasty. Its going to cause a lot of problems. Because I can assure you, Ive been talking to people as well, and I can assure you if they bring classes up there, there will be a lot of teachers will be off sick, will be taking sick leave, they wont be coming in and they wont teach there, said Cllr OMalley. 'Ludicrous' Cllr Peter Flynn said no funding should be allocated to refurbish Scoil Phadraig until it was decided whether Westport needed a new school on a green field site. The Fine Gael councillor said it was ludicrous that 90 percent of students attending Sancta Maria College in Louisburgh were from outside the local catchment area. Sancta Maria College is currently serviced by several school bus routes which travel to and from Westport each day. Cllr Christy Hyland described the situation as a mess and said having students from the Sacred Heart School using two campuses would result in chaos. Young people walking up and down from the Castlebar Street complex to the Altamount Street complex; its not good, inclement weather, et cetera. I dont think its a good idea at all, the Independent councillor commented. Our population, its estimated, is going to grow. We see the chaos at Scoil Phadraig [on the Newport Road] regarding traffic and safety. In most places schools are going on the verges of the towns. It is, and should be, a green field site for the Sacred Heart School. Cllr OMalley claimed that Holy Trinity NS had been tricked into signing the old Scoil Phadraig building over to the Department of Education to progress a new school building. Responding to these claims, Catherine McConnell, Director of Service for the Westport-Belmullet Municipal District, said: While there was the promise of the school, it was never possible for them to actually hand it over to anyone other than a government department. Ms McConnell said Mayo County Council had not received any contact from Sacred Heart or Holy Trinity NS regarding the latest accommodation proposal. A WESTPORT councillor has urged the public to make use of two new water stations in Westport and reduce the reliance on plastic bottles. Mayo County Council recently installed water filling stations on Bridge Street and James Street in Westport where the public can fill their water bottles for free. The water filling stations have become popular in cities and towns around Ireland in recent years with more people using reusable water bottles as an alternative to single use plastics. Independent Westport councillor Christy Hyland welcomed the installation of the water filling stations and urged the public to become aware of their location and to avail of them. By using these water stations one is helping to play their part in sending out the message that we must make a big effort in reducing the use of plastic. I would urge people to have a second thought when they go to buy their next bottle of water when all they have to do is bring their empty bottle to the water station and fill it free and so save themselves money and help stamp out the use of plastic, he said. Successful CLLR Hyland said he approached the county council staff in Westport about installing the water stations after seeing how successful they are in other towns and hopes they will be rolled out across other towns in the region. I was going through another town a few months ago when I saw one of these water stations and I decided to examine the facility. I immediately headed back to Westport after doing my business and informed our area manager that we must commence the rollout of these water stations in our electoral area which includes many other towns like Newport, Louisburgh etc. I then secured the funding and went into the application phase of the process and we now have the first two water stations in Westport which I hope to follow up with more in my electoral area. The message must go out to bin the plastic. It pays to be observant when one travels throughout the country, he concluded. by Fern Siegel , May 21, 2024 San Francisco creative agency Venables Bell + Partners promoted Brittni Hutchins to associate partner, managing director. She was previously associate partner, chief growth officer. Paul Venables, VB+P founder-chairman said that Hutchins' influence on more aspects of our business means only good things for VB+P and our clients. Hutchins was a brand team leader at VB+P earlier in her career, and returned in 2021 as head of growth and marketing and then associate partner, chief growth officer. In those capacities, she secured 17 new partnerships, including Girl Scouts of the USA, AG1, Bob Evans Farms and PepsiCo brand Off The Eaten Path. Since my first stint with the agency, VB+P has always been a special place for me. One that I credit for shaping the type of brand person, new business lead, and now managing director Ive become. Im looking forward to ... continuing our legacy as a fiercely independent creative force that puts people first, Hutchins told Agency Daily. advertisement advertisement She has also headed creative initiatives that underscore critical social and political issues in the U.S., such as reproductive rights, book bans, hate incidents against the AAPI community and LGBTQIA+ mental health. Hutchins founded "Women That Fight (WTF)," a collective of senior women in advertising compelled to take action on pressing issues facing women. The agency's client roster also includes Chipotle and Peelz. by Sarah Mahoney @mahoney_sarah, May 21, 2024 How much people trust the advice they get at their hardware store turns out to be more important than almost any other factor, and that difference puts Menards at No.1 in customer satisfaction. Ace Hardware scores second place in J.D. Powers latest rankings, followed by Home Depot. Lowes comes in fourth, with a customer satisfaction rating slightly below average. While the research company evaluates multiple factors, trust drives sales: People who have complete confidence in a home improvement retailer make 80% of purchases there, compared with 69% when the level of trust in the retailer is good. Considering that the average customer in our survey spends $1,786 a year on home improvement products, theres a lot at stake, says Michael Taylor, senior managing director of retail intelligence practice at J.D. Power. advertisement advertisement Trust, it turns out, is best measured by how clean people perceive stores to be and how helpful they find the sales associates. Other factors in the analysis include additional services, digital tools, return policies, and value given the price paid. On a score of 1,000, Menards earned a 678, followed by Ace Hardware at 676, and Home Depot third at 665. The study average came next, at 655, with Lowes coming in below that, at 660. Taylor tells Marketing Daily that Power's research often reveals brands that truly dominate their categories. That didnt happen in this study. Each of the four brands had real strengths and some weaknesses, so it was a mixed bag. Assistance means a great deal in the category. "These stores are bewildering, and there is a lot of stuff in there. Its nice to talk to somebody who can give you confidence that youre buying the right thing. And when sales associates are good with people and receptive to questions in-store, that shows up in the data. The big chains have an inherent advantage in terms of selection and more developed online and tech support options. On the other hand, smaller stores often mean you are more likely to interact with an employee and find someone who knows what they're talking about. The study included more than 2,100 people who have purchased home improvement-related products within the previous 12 months. The study was fielded from January 2024 to March 2024. Taylor says perceived value also plays an important role, especially in a choppy economy for the DIY market. Home Depot recently reported a sales decline. And Lowes just announced its sales fell 4% to $21.4 billion, compared to $22.3 billion in the prior-year quarter. On a comparable basis, sales dropped 4.1%, with big-ticket items especially soft. With ongoing softness in the housing market, the Mooresville, North Carolina company affirmed its forecast for the full year, anticipating a comparable sales decline of between 2 and 3%. Net earnings fell 22% to $1.76 billion from $2.26 billion in the prior year. Those results were modestly ahead of Wall Street expectations but illustrate ongoing weakness in the category. Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health targets K. pneumoniae through a new experimental vaccine University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers at the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health (CVD) have been awarded $3.96 million to develop a maternal vaccine that prevents sepsis caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae in newborns and infants. The research study will continue the development of a first-of-its-kind vaccine against Klebsiella pneumoniae, a potentially fatal infection in babies born in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and many African countries. The vaccine could also potentially be used to prevent hospital-acquired K. pneumoniae sepsis infections worldwide. Funding is being provided by Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X), a global non-profit partnership dedicated to supporting early-stage antibacterial research and development to address the rising threat of drug-resistant bacteria. CVD scientist Sharon Tennant, PhD, Professor of Medicine at UMSOM, began development of the vaccine with Alan Cross, MD, Professor of Medicine at UMSOM, 10 years ago, which was first evaluated in adult animal models. We are grateful for the funding and support from CARB-X to further develop our K. pneumoniae vaccine to prevent sepsis in neonates, said Dr. Tennant. This funding will allow us to continue our efforts to prevent these infections and to hopefully ensure that families can one day experience the joy and wonder of a healthy baby instead of tragedy. She heads a research team that includes Dr. Cross and Scott Baliban, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine and CVD researcher at UMSOM. They are working in partnership with Auro Vaccines Private Limited (Auro Vaccines), based in Hyderabad, India. Auro Vaccines is a step-down subsidiary of Aurobindo Pharma Limited, India. If their study demonstrates that the new modified vaccine can protect against K. pneumoniae infections in animal studies, the vaccine can then be evaluated in human clinical trials to test its safety and efficacy. Neonatal sepsis is a life-threatening response to bloodstream infections that occur in newborns fewer than 28 days old. Due to their immature immune systems, newborns are particularly susceptible to infections. The landmark BARNARDS study estimated that 2.5 million neonates or infants in the first month of life die annually of sepsis, with the greatest burden in low- and middle-income countries. Currently, no vaccine is available to prevent K. pneumoniae infections. The only option is to treat infected babies with IV fluids and antibiotics, and to provide treatment as quickly as possible to prevent the rapid progression of the infection which can cause multiple organ failure that leads to death. The risk of death from sepsis increases 7.6 percent for every hour that treatment is delayed, which can be an insurmountable challenge in countries lacking easy access to pediatric hospital care, said Mark T. Gladwin, MD, who is the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and Dean, UMSOM, and Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland, Baltimore. Combine this with the rise in treatment-resistant infections due to the overuse of antibiotics, and we see how urgent the need is to have a vaccine to prevent this deadly condition in our most vulnerable babies. The CVD vaccine, which targets the surface sugars of K. pneumoniae, is expected to be given to pregnant women, thereby protecting their babies from this deadly infection. The conjugate vaccine targets four types of surface sugars that account for more than 80 percent of K. pneumoniae infections. If successful, researchers expect the vaccine will prevent the vast majority of K. pneumoniae neonatal sepsis infections. The CARB-X award supports examining the feasibility of this project to reach a high potential impact for the vulnerable patient population. There is currently no K. pneumoniae vaccine on the market. This investment from CARB-X will help to accelerate development of this vaccine to prevent Klebsiella infections in young babies, said Miriam Laufer, MD, MPH, FASTMH, Interim Director of the CVD. The CVD has participated in research that has highlighted the importance of K. pneumoniae in causing serious infections in young infants in resource limited settings. We are excited to continue development of a vaccine that can prevent these infections and save lives. The CVD has an outstanding record of developing vaccines for global use against high priority pathogens, and this effort will build on that experience. Added Erin Duffy, PhD, R&D Chief of CARB-X: With this award, the CVD team has even greater potential to bring a maternal vaccine for neonatal sepsis to market and save the lives of millions of infants worldwide, especially in low-and-middle income countries through its global partnership with Auro Vaccines of India.By vaccinating expectant mothers, the risk of neonatal sepsis might be reduced substantially as babies who are too young to be vaccinated would receive antibodies from their mothers in utero as well as through breastfeeding after birth. CARB-X funding for this research is supported by federal funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority; under agreement number 75A50122C00028, and by awards from Wellcome (WT224842), Germanys Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the UK Department of Health and Social Care as part of the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Innovation Fund (GAMRIF), the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The content of this press release is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views CARB-X or its funders. About the University of Maryland School of Medicine Now in its third century, the University of Maryland School of Medicine was chartered in 1807 as the first public medical school in the United States. It continues today as one of the fastest growing, top-tier biomedical research enterprises in the world -- with 46 academic departments, centers, institutes, and programs, and a faculty of more than 3,000 physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals, including members of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and a distinguished two-time winner of the Albert E. Lasker Award in Medical Research. With an operating budget of more than $1.2 billion, the School of Medicine works closely in partnership with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Medical System to provide research-intensive, academic, and clinically based care for nearly 2 million patients each year. The School of Medicine has nearly $600 million in extramural funding, with most of its academic departments highly ranked among all medical schools in the nation in research funding. As one of the seven professional schools that make up the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine has a total population of nearly 9,000 faculty and staff, including 2,500 students, trainees, residents, and fellows. The combined School of Medicine and Medical System ("University of Maryland Medicine") has an annual budget of over $6 billion and an economic impact of nearly $20 billion on the state and local community. The School of Medicine, which ranks as the 8th highest among public medical schools in research productivity (according to the Association of American Medical Colleges profile) is an innovator in translational medicine, with 606 active patents and 52 start-up companies. In the latest U.S. News & World Report ranking of the Best Medical Schools, published in 2023, the UM School of Medicine is ranked #10 among the 92 public medical schools in the U.S., and in the top 16 percent (#32) of all 192 public and private U.S. medical schools. The School of Medicine works locally, nationally, and globally, with research and treatment facilities in 36 countries around the world. Visit medschool.umaryland.edu. About the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine For over 40 years, researchers in the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health (CVD) have worked domestically and internationally to develop, test, and deploy vaccines to aid the world's underserved populations. CVD is an academic enterprise engaged in the full range of infectious disease interventions, from basic laboratory research through vaccine development, pre-clinical and clinical evaluation, large-scale pre-licensure field studies, and post-licensure assessments. CVD has created and tested vaccines against cholera, typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever, non-typhoidal Salmonella disease, shigellosis (bacillary dysentery), Escherichia coli diarrhea, nosocomial pathogens, tularemia, influenza, coronaviruses, malaria, dengue, ebola, and other infectious diseases. CVD's research covers the broader goal of improving global health by conducting innovative, leading research in Baltimore and around the world. Our researchers are developing new and improved ways to diagnose, prevent, treat, control, and eliminate diseases of global impact, including COVID-19. In addition, CVD's work focuses on the ever-growing challenge of antimicrobial resistance. About CARB-X CARB-X (Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator) is a global non-profit partnership dedicated to supporting early-stage antibacterial research and development to address the rising threat of drug-resistant bacteria. CARB-X supports innovative therapeutics, preventatives and rapid diagnostics. CARB-X is led by Boston University and funded by a consortium of governments and foundations. CARB-X funds only projects that target drug-resistant bacteria highlighted on the CDCs Antibiotic Resistant Threats list, or the Priority Bacterial Pathogens list published by the WHO, with a priority on those pathogens deemed Serious or Urgent on the CDC list or Critical or High on the WHO list. https://carb-x.org/ | X (formerly Twitter) @CARB_X About Auro Vaccines Auro Vaccines Pvt. Ltd. is a step-down subsidiary of Aurobindo Pharma Limited, India. Its state-of-the-art facility for vaccine R&D and manufacturing, situated at Hyderabad, Telangana, India, was set-up in 2018 over a 14-acre campus. The facility is designed to manage complete life cycle of vaccines staring from cell banks to commercial supplies of drug products. The unit and its systems are designed to meet WHO-Geneva standards, other major regulatory and cGMP requirements. JOURNALIST: You just concluded a meeting with Ms. Holguin. During your visit to Ankara did you discover any potential to overcome the Turkish intransigence regarding the position of two states on the Cyprus issue? G. GERAPETRITIS: The Cyprus issue remains a top priority for Greek foreign policy. We are actively working to bring the President of Cyprus and the leader of the Turkish Cypriots to the dialogue table. I maintain excellent relations with both the UN Secretary-General's Personal Envoy and the Secretary-General himself. We communicate and meet regularly to activate the dialogue mechanism between the two sides. We are aligned with the Cypriot government in the belief that improving Greek-Turkish relations can positively impact the initiation of dialogue on the Cyprus issue. We, indeed, discussed the Cyprus issue in Ankara. The Greek position is clear. The two sides should discuss the basis of the UN Security Council resolutions for a Bi-zonal, Bi-communal Federation. The dialogue should be initiated and there should be a productive discussion, which will lead us to a viable and beneficial solution of the Cyprus issue within the framework of the resolutions. I believe that the Turkish side recognizes the importance of dialogue. After all, it is in this dialogue that we also invest as regards Greek-Turkish relations. I hope and wish for a positive development to the Cyprus issue in the near future. JOURNALIST: Following your visit to Ankara, what is the timeline for the next meetings? G. GERAPETRITIS: The next milestone is September in New York, at the UN General Assembly, where a meeting between the two leaders will take place. The leaders will also attend the NATO Summit in Washington. If deemed appropriate, they will meet there as well. The next milestone is the High-Level Cooperation Council. The two leaders agreed yesterday to convene the Council towards the end of the year in Ankara. In the meantime, until September, there will be a new round of political dialogue, positive agenda, and Confidence Building Measures, so that we have more positive and tangible results. It is particularly important that normalization is emerging in our relationship with Turkiye: We meet on a regular basis. These meetings do not necessarily have to yield a very specific, major result; we can now even disagree without this necessarily creating tension. JOURNALIST: Since the express visa measure has been very successful, are you considering expanding it to other islands as well? G. GERAPETRITIS: First, let me point out that this was an initiative of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and serves the idea that any approach by governments can only exist through a people-to-people approach. For this reason, I believe it has been extremely important not only for the economy of our islands but also for establishing foundations of friendship and good neighborliness. We coordinated with the European Commission to adopt this measure, given that it constitutes a deviation from the Schengen rules. Our intention was to activate the measure for islands hosting refugee structures, as well as those with direct ferry lines. Considering that it is a deviation from the Schengen rules, it is difficult to expand it. Hopefully, we will have the opportunity for other measures that will bring the two peoples closer together. JOURNALIST: You have stated that you are likely to lead the discussion on the delimitation of maritime zones. As far as we are aware, this issue was not raised in Ankara. Do you see any willingness on the part of Turkiye to discuss this? Is there an intent on their part to refer it to The Hague? G. GERAPETRITIS: The issue of delimitation of the continental shelf and the EEZ is a complex technical matter with significant historical weight. It is noteworthy that it has been the subject of 64 rounds of exploratory contacts, without substantial results. Although it has an intrinsic value to be able to enjoy a period of calm in the Aegean without violations of our national airspace and without significant migration flows, a definitive resolution of the continental shelf and EEZ issue would be extremely important for long-term and sustainable peace in our region. Our intention is to discuss these issues when conditions are suitable. An environment of sincerity and mutual understanding should be firmly established, particularly through the consolidation and full implementation of the positive agenda agreements. We stated from the beginning that we would proceed step-by-step in the Greek-Turkish dialogue. We are doing so prudently so as to build primarily upon what unites us. Certainly, differing views on fundamental issues have not disappeared. The timing depends on the mandate given by the two leaders to the Foreign Ministers to initiate and monitor the relevant dialogue. It would be ideal if we could reach a joint agreement on the delimitation. In any case, the path of a special agreement to refer this difference to international jurisdiction always remains. JOURNALIST: In Ankara, we observed a generally positive atmosphere, but there were also significant disagreements on various specific issues, such as the Monastery of Chora and the minority. How do you assess the visit? G. GERAPETRITIS: My overall assessment is positive. The atmosphere was sincere, and both sides demonstrated a deliberative spirit. I do not consider it as negative that we recorded our disagreements. And this is because to be able to discuss even those points we disagree on without generating tension and crisis is essential for any dialogue process. Moreover, it would have been impossible to achieve complete convergence, especially since both states carry huge historical burdens. Our intention is to be able to place the emphasis on what unites us and discuss those issues on which we disagree without tension. This is how a normal inter-state relationship, a productive normality, should function. JOURNALIST: The statements by North Macedonia's new President, Ms. Siljanovska, constitute a breach of the Prespa Agreement. You have reacted by emphasizing that North Macedonia's European perspective depends on the faithful implementation of the agreement. Are you considering initiatives at the NATO level as well? G. GERAPETRITIS: Let me first point out that in my view, the Greek side's response was swift, multidimensional, and effective. In addition to the announcements by the Prime Minister and the Foreign Ministry, we had statements from the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission, and the EU High Representative, as well as from Spokespersons of the Foreign Ministries of other states, who were informed and mobilized at the initiative of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The truth is that today's political leadership of North Macedonia is already under internal pressure. The country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement that there must be full compliance with the Prespa Agreement and the constitutional name of the state, while the Ministry of Justice characterized the oath-taking as null and void. I am convinced that the citizens of North Macedonia would not want to jeopardize their relationship with Greece and the European perspective of their country. It is obvious that we raise issues of compliance with the Prespa Agreement in all international fora and demand its bona fide implementation. JOURNALIST: The opposition is calling on you to ratify the memoranda. You have stated that this will happen within this year. Has anything changed regarding this? G. GERAPETRITIS: I believe that developments have vindicated the policy we have been following. We will bring the memoranda for ratification at an appropriate political time; their ratification depends on the bona fide and full implementation of the Prespa Agreement. Because, apart from the issue of the constitutional name, there are other substantial pending issues. I really do not understand the oppositions stance: on the one hand, it accuses us of not having ratified the memoranda and, on the other, it sees risks to the implementation of the Agreement from the behaviour of the new political leadership of North Macedonia. The reality is that we want to bring the memoranda up for ratification because we, too, agree in principle with the European course of North Macedonia. However, this cannot be done unless there is full and tangible compliance with the Prespa Agreement. Let's not forget that the implementation of the Agreement is explicitly a prerequisite for the accession process of North Macedonia. JOURNALIST: Regarding the Beleri case, do you believe that the Albanians are deliberately delaying the accession process, so that by the time the first package of chapters gets assessed, his legal ordeal would be over, he would be declared deposed, and a Greek veto would be meaningless? G. GERAPETRITIS: I would not like to interpret the intentions of the Albanian government. he Greek side has from the very beginning positioned itself very strictly and on the basis of rules. What we have been saying all along is that issues concerning democracy, the rule of law, minority rights, and the political rights of all citizens constitute European stakes rather than a bilateral dispute. We continue to believe this. And certainly, it was not Greece that sparked the Belleri case. After all, the first chapter of the accession negotiations specifically concerns these fundamental issues. It is obvious that when this chapter opens, how justice has functioned in Albania, and whether Mr. Belleri was provided with the guarantees that should be offered to every citizen, especially members of national minorities, will be substantively evaluated. We remain firmly in favor of the accession of all Western Balkan states to the European family, as this would substantially contribute to peace and prosperity in a highly fragile corner of Europe. On the other hand, we all understand that concessions on European acquis are not acceptable. Greece will ensure that any existing problems in relation to this are appropriately highlighted. President Joe Biden has nominated the head of Air Force Special Operations Command to become the next superintendent of the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind's nomination from the White House came last week, less than 18 months into his role leading the service's air commandos, and the Senate is now tasked with confirming him. In a press release Monday, the three-star general -- who graduated from the academy in 1991 -- said he is honored by the president's selection. "I am humbled by the nomination to be the 22nd superintendent of our academy," Bauernfeind said in the release. "The opportunity to develop warfighters, leaders of character and quality, and critical thinkers for our Air Force and Space Force is an honor." Read Next: Colorado Officials Fight Military's Attempt to Move Air National Guard Members to US Space Force Bauernfeind took over Air Force Special Operations Command, or AFSOC, in December 2022. During his short tenure, the command has faced a wide range of situations, including ongoing maintenance issues with the CV-22 Osprey; the recovery of eight air commandos who were killed in a crash off the coast of Japan last year; and most recently, the death of Senior Airman Roger Fortson at the hands of police on May 3. Bauernfeind's nomination came the same week that he spoke at Fortson's funeral and as he works to support both the airman's family and his fellow special operations airmen. In his 32-year career, Bauernfeind has logged more than 3,500 hours in the MC-130E, MC-130H and MQ-9 aircraft, according to his service biography. Prior roles he's held include serving as the commanding general of Special Operations Command Korea; chief of staff at U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida; and vice commander of U.S. Special Operations Command in Washington, D.C. While Bauernfeind's tenure at AFSOC has been less than the typical two years, it's not uncommon for the Air Force to move around its limited number of three-star generals into positions only they can fill, such as heading major commands or superintendent roles, Katherine Kuzminski, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security think tank, told Military.com. But Kuzminski added that the appointment of an AFSOC commander to be the Air Force Academy's superintendent is notable. "You frequently see that a pilot ends up leading these organizations, which is true in his case as well," Kuzminski told Military.com on Monday. "I would also imagine that over the course of his career, in the last 20 years, there's been a very high demand for his sets of skills." In the years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. military has relied more heavily on special operators for missions. Now, the U.S. military overall is pivoting to focus on "great power competition" -- a term used to describe more defense spending and changes focused on rising threats, including China in the Pacific region. In a series of sweeping changes announced earlier this year, Air Force officials are reorganizing and restrategizing with China in mind. One such change includes plans to "upgrade and advance the cadet experience" for ROTC and Air Force Academy students to "lead in a complex environment," Military.com previously reported. "[People's Republic of China President] Xi Jinping has told his military to be ready to take Taiwan by force by 2027, even if the U.S. intervenes," Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in February. "Freshmen at both the Air Force Academy and those entering ROTC units will be commissioned in 2027." Lt. Gen. Richard Clark, the current superintendent at the Air Force Academy, has served in that role since September 2020, according to his service biography. The outgoing officer, who is set to retire June 1, said the school is in good hands with the AFSOC commander. Clark highlighted Bauernfeind's experience when it comes to the service's new focus on China. "Leading the academy has been an amazing experience, and I know that our academy is in great hands with Lt. Gen. Bauernfeind," Clark said in a press release Monday. "[His] operational experience will be a key factor as the academy moves forward in the development of leaders of character ready for great power competition." Related: In Major Overhaul, Air Force and Space Force Will Roll Out New Ranks, Training, Structure to Compete with China After nearly three dozen service members were injured earlier this month when their landing crafts collided off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, during a night operation, the last sailor to have gone to the hospital has been released. Two vessels called landing craft, air cushions, or LCACs, collided with each other on the night of May 1, resulting in 35 Marines and sailors being injured. Five sailors were transported to the hospital, and all but one were released that same week. The last sailor who was hospitalized after the incident was released from Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in Virginia on May 13, according to a service spokesperson on Friday. Read Next: AI-Created Porn Targeted Taylor Swift. Now, Lawmakers Want to Make Sure That's a Crime in the Military. Last week, the Naval Safety Command updated its list of "short narratives" that describe serious incidents that occur within the Navy and Marine Corps. It said that a "collision during LCAC night operations resulted in damaged assets and injuries to personnel." The Navy confirmed the collision occurred between the two vessels. Originally, the service said that 30 sailors and Marines had been injured, but later updated that number to 35. The safety command marked the incident as a "Class A Mishap," meaning that it caused more than $2,500,000 in damage, destroyed the equipment, or resulted in a fatality or permanent total disability for a service member. While the incident was not fatal, the Navy did not specify how much the damage cost or the nature of the troops' injuries. The service told Military.com on Friday that the two LCACs, which launched separately from the USS Wasp and USS New York, were safely transported to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Virginia, following the incident. Service members who were not transported to the hospital were treated for "minor injuries" aboard the Wasp and New York. The incident remains under investigation, a spokesperson for the U.S. 2nd Fleet, Cmdr. Lara Bollinger, told Military.com on Friday. The sailors and Marines were part of the Wasp Amphibious Ready Group, or ARG, which includes the Wasp, New York and USS Oak Hill. The Marines aboard the LCACs are from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, or MEU. LCACs are 91-foot-long vessels -- driven by ducted propellers -- that transport cargo and troops from ship to shore, though the exact nature of the mission that the troops were conducting is unclear. The sailors and Marines had been in pre-deployment training last month. The ARG is now underway in the Atlantic, according to posts from last week. Related: 30 Sailors and Marines Injured in Training Incident Off Coast of Florida A soldier with the 101st Airborne Division was murdered in an off-base residence near Fort Campbell, Kentucky, on Saturday and the case remains under investigation, according to local civilian authorities. Pfc. Katia Duenas-Aguilar, 23, was found dead in a residence about four miles outside of the base, according to a spokesperson with the police department in Clarksville, Tennessee. She was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division's (Air Assault) Combat Aviation Brigade. As of Tuesday, the Army and civilian law enforcement had scant information on the investigation. No one had been arrested in connection with the homicide, and it was unclear whether any other soldiers are suspected to have been involved. Read Next: After Failing to Overturn VA Abortion, LGBTQ+ Policies, House Republicans Try Again with Must-Pass Bill "We are stunned by the death of Pfc. Duenas-Aguilar," Lt. Col. Tony Hoefler, spokesperson for the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), said in a statement. "In the meantime, we will continue to cooperate with Army and local investigative authorities on this matter." Duenas-Aguilar was a native of Mesquite, Texas, a town just outside of Dallas, according to a statement from the Army. She enlisted into the service as an information technology specialist in 2018 and completed basic training in 2019 at Fort Eisenhower, Georgia, the base previously known at Fort Gordon. She was then assigned to Fort Campbell. Her awards include two Army Achievement Medals, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Army Service Ribbon. Fort Campbell sits on the Kentucky-Tennessee border and is home to the famed 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). Some 30,000 soldiers are assigned to the division, which is among the Army elements with the most frantic training and deployment schedules. The division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team recently conducted a rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Johnson, Louisiana. The 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team is currently deployed to Europe. They're set to be replaced with the 10th Mountain Division's 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team this summer. Authorities are requesting anyone with information about Duenas-Aguilar's death to contact the Clarksville Police Department at 931-648-0656. The Clarksville Montgomery County Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line is 931-645-8477. Tips can also be submitted online at this link. Related: Veteran Who Allegedly Strangled Fellow Patient at Florida VA Hospital Charged with Murder Among the 150,000 soldiers who landed on and fought across the hostile beaches of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, were 1,000 members of a new, specially trained unit the U.S. Army Rangers. Most of them fought across the German beachfront defenses, supported by nearly 7,000 naval vessels and 11,000 Allied aircraft. More than 200 Rangers fought vertically up the sheer cliff face of Pointe du Hoc, a craggy outcropping overlooking the two American landing beaches in an effort to capture what was thought to be a key location of German artillery. As a military historian of what I call the American Ranger tradition, Ive traced this martial phenomenon from the colonial period to the 21st century. Their pathway to Normandy and their exploits that fateful morning represent a core component of the modern U.S. Armys culture and evolution in the decades since. Ranger rebirth The idea for the U.S. Army Rangers was inspired by British Prime Minister Winston Churchills idea for what he called a butcher and bolt force small teams that would conduct surprise attacks, kill or destroy key enemy targets, and escape undetected. The Commandos, as these British units were called, conducted high-profile and daring raids into occupied Europe from 1940 to the end of the war. Their sudden and shocking assaults along the French and Norwegian coastlines provided a boost in British morale during the dark early days of the war. In spring 1942, Gen. George C. Marshall, the U.S. Armys chief of staff, agreed to send a small detachment of Americans to train with the British commandos to gain combat experience. These American troops were then supposed to be sent to units across the United States rapidly growing army to share their expertise as new recruits prepared to go to war. Gen. Lucian Truscott Jr., who had made the initial pitch to Marshall, believed the term commando was too British and instead argued that these men should be called Rangers. Truscott recalled the tenacity, flexibility and aggressive nature of colonial forces like Rogers Rangers, famous for daring raids during the French and Indian War in the 1750s and 1760s. Truscott believed that few words have a more glamorous connotation in American military history than the word ranger. The 1st Ranger Battalion was trained by the British Commandos. A select few of them joined the British and Canadians in an August 1942 raid across the English Channel into Dieppe, France, which resulted in catastrophic losses and hard-learned lessons for the eventual landings at Normandy. Those Rangers were the first U.S. troops to fight in Europe during World War II. In November 1942, the 1st Ranger Battalion took part in Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of northern Africa. They captured the port town of Arzew, Algeria, without firing a shot during the invasions opening hours. They conducted daring nighttime raids, like the one on the Italian military outpost at the Sened Station in Tunisia, and were essential to Gen. George Pattons breakout at Tunisias Djebel el Ank in 1943. The unit was so successful that the Army created additional Ranger battalions for the invasions of Italy and France, which were still being planned and would be undertaken in 1943 and 1944, respectively. As these new battalions were forming and training, two in Africa and two in Tennessee, there was some confusion among Army commanders about how they would be used in combat. Were they specialized raiding forces like the commandos, or elite infantry meant to spearhead beach landings and other large-scale offensives? The 1st Rangers had done both in Africa, and these new Rangers would be asked to do so as well. U.S. Army Rangers train with British Commandos. (United States Office of War Information via Library of Congress) These new Ranger battalions were less heavily armed than their conventional counterparts. While they fit under the same organizational framework, they lacked the heavier weapons and internal artillery capabilities of a standard American infantry battalion. As the Allied campaign pushed across northern Africa and into Italy, the Rangers found themselves consistently on the front lines of the Allied advance, where they suffered disastrous casualties fighting in prolonged conventional battles they were neither designed nor equipped for. In this May 1, 2019, photo, the cliffside of Pointe du Hoc overlooking Omaha Beach in Saint-Pierre-du-Mont, Normandy, France. On June 6, 1944, U.S. Rangers scaled the coastal cliffs to capture a German gun battery. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) Rangers for D-Day Like the rest of the D-Day force, the Rangers prepared for the operation without knowing when or where it would take place. The newly organized 2nd and 5th Ranger battalions arrived in England in January 1944 and, alongside the more than 2 million other Allied soldiers on the British Isles, started preparing for the Normandy landings. The Rangers completed the murderous Commando training course in Scotland, famous for its grueling hill runs and use of live ammunition, spent weeks practicing amphibious landings along the English coastline, and scaled the towering seaside cliffs near Swanage more times than they could count. On the fateful morning of the Normandy landings, the Ranger battalions were split into three groups with two distinct assignments. Task Force A, three companies led by Lt. Col. James Rudder, was assigned the most difficult mission: Pointe du Hoc. Using rocket-propelled grappling guns, rope and specialty fire ladders, the Rangers needed to climb 90 feet of sheer rock face under German fire, take the cliff top and destroy a group of 155 mm German guns overlooking the landing beaches. Task Forces B and C, the remaining Rangers, were insurance. Depending on what happened at the cliffs, these Rangers had to land and fight across Omaha Beach and either rescue a faltering cliff assault or support the 29th Infantry Division in clearing the beach and taking the critical town of Vierville. The fight at Pointe du Hoc Rudders Task Force A had a rough start: A wrong turn in their landing craft put them 30 minutes behind schedule. The 225 Rangers finally started their climb well after sunrise and were met with intense German fire from above. Many of the first men to reach the top only did so with their hands and knives their ropes had been cut. But 30 minutes after they started climbing, the Rangers had reached the craggy and blasted top of Pointe du Hoc. Numbering barely 70, they found no functional German guns, which had either been destroyed in pre-invasion bombardments or moved by the Germans just days before. Landing on Omaha Beach By the time the 800-plus Rangers of Task Forces B and C landed on Omaha Beach, they had not yet heard from the delayed cliff assault team amid the chaos of the mornings fight. Within minutes, concentrated German machine gun fire devastated the men struggling up the beach. Nearly half of Lt. Col. Max Schneiders force were killed or wounded as they made their way onto the beach. The rest hid behind a low seawall. Brig. Gen. Norman Cota approached the gathered troops. After a short and heated discussion with Schneider, the Rangers heard Cota yell something about needing to get troops off the exposed beach. His order became the current 75th Ranger Regiments motto: Rangers, Lead the Way! Using explosives specially designed for clearing obstacles, the Rangers cleared a pathway through the German barbed wire, and the assault up the beach began anew. Famously reenacted by Tom Hanks and his fellow on-screen Rangers in 1998s World War II epic Saving Private Ryan, the Ranger attack kick-started one of the first major breakthroughs of the morning. Before long, American soldiers were face to face with German defenders and opening large gaps in the defenses on their way to taking the beach and pushing inland. A few among many Like most of the troops on D-Day, the men of the 2nd and 5th Rangers experienced combat for the first time on those beaches and cliffsides. They paid a heavy price for the Allied victory: Nearly 400 of the original 1,000 Rangers who set out for Normandy were killed, wounded or missing. Overall, 4,000-plus Allied soldiers were killed on the day of the invasion, with 5,000 more wounded. The Rangers were a small part of the overall operation, but they epitomize the strength, adaptability and determination of every service member who stepped foot on those beaches, piloted those landing craft, flew air support or toiled on an off-shore warship. Four decades after D-Day, U.S. President Ronald Reagan visited Pointe du Hoc and paid his respects to the 62 surviving members of the 2nd Rangers who had climbed the cliffs. He honored them and every other young man who stormed the beaches of Normandy: These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war. James Sandy is Assistant Professor of History, University of Texas at Arlington This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The question of how much it cost to send spacecraft into space has been debated for many years, and the answer can vary depending on the specific mission and circumstances involved. (how much did it cost for the space x launch?) According to various sources, the cost of sending a spacecraft into space can range from a few thousand dollars to tens of millions of dollars or more. The exact cost will depend on a number of factors, including the type of spacecraft being launched, the size and weight of its payload, and the orbit in which it will be traveling. One of the most well-known examples of a successful space launch is that of NASAs Mars Exploration Rover Mission in 2009. This mission cost around $760 million in total, including contributions from private companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic. Other recent notable space launches include NASAs Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars in February 2021, and Chinas Change-4 lunar lander, which successfully sampled moon rocks and took images back to Earth in January 2020. Of course, the cost of space launches is not an exact science, and there are always uncertainties involved. For example, unexpected expenses such as repairs or equipment failures can quickly add up, leading to higher costs down the line. Despite these challenges, advances in technology and reduced operating costs have made it possible to launch smaller, more affordable spacecraft into space over time. For example, SpaceX, the company behind the Falcon 9 rocket, offers pricing options for missions as low as $300,000. (how much did it cost for the space x launch?) In conclusion, the cost of sending spacecraft into space can vary greatly depending on the specifics of each mission. From relatively inexpensive missions like NASAs Mars Exploration Rover Mission to much larger and more expensive missions like Chinas Change-4 lunar lander, space exploration remains one of the most challenging but exciting fields of research. As technology continues to improve, its likely that well see even more affordable and accessible ways to reach out beyond our own planet. The Giants recently signed catcher Donny Sands to a minor league contract. The 28-year-old made his organizational debut with Triple-A Sacramento on Sunday, going 0-5 with three strikeouts. That was Sands first affiliated action of the 2024 season. The Tigers released him at the end of March. Sands subsequently had a brief stint in Mexico, suiting up in 16 games for the Toros de Tijuana. He hit .245/.339/.490 with four home runs to earn another crack at Triple-A pitching. Sands spent most of last year with Detroits top affiliate in Toledo. Acquired over the 2022-23 offseason alongside Matt Vierling and Nick Maton in the deal sending Gregory Soto to Philadelphia, Sands slumped to a .225/.318/.353 batting line in 371 plate appearances with the Mud Hens. He never appeared in an MLB game with Detroit. The Tigers outrighted Sands from the 40-man roster in January and released him after he went 1-8 in Spring Training. To this point in his career, Sands has appeared in just three major league games all of which came with the Phillies in 2022. Hell add short-term cover for a team dealing with a couple injuries behind the plate. Patrick Bailey is on the concussion injured list. Tom Murphy will be out until at least July because of a sprained left knee. The Giants signed Curt Casali to a big league deal late last week. He and Blake Sabol are sharing the catching duties at the MLB level until Bailey returns. Jakson Reetz, who is on the 40-man roster, is on optional assignment to Sacramento. Sands joins him with the River Cats as a potential competitor for the third catcher role. The Rays announced a few transactions before this evenings game against the Red Sox. Zach Eflin landed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to yesterday, with lower back inflammation. Brandon Lowe is back from the 10-day IL to take the vacated roster spot. Tampa Bay also optioned reliever Manuel Rodriguez to Triple-A Durham to open a bullpen spot for Richard Lovelady, who has joined the team after being acquired from the Cubs on Saturday. Eflin has turned in solid results in 10 turns through the rotation. The right-hander is averaging just under six innings per start and has worked to a 4.12 earned run average. While his 17.9% strikeout rate is on track to be his lowest since 2017, he has compensated by essentially never handing out free passes. Eflin has only walked four batters all season, a 1.6% rate that is the lowest among all pitchers with 50+ innings. The 30-year-old has been one of Tampa Bays more valuable pitchers this year, although his performance is a step down from last years work. Eflin had a brilliant first season in St. Petersburg, turning in 177 2/3 innings of 3.50 ERA ball to earn a sixth-place finish in AL Cy Young balloting. He did lose a couple weeks early in the 23 campaign to lower back tightness, though. Eflin told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (X link) that this years back issue feels similar to last seasons minor injury. Eflin suggested he could be back in around two weeks, while manager Kevin Cash indicated it was likely to be a 2-4 week absence. Tampa Bay has off days on Thursday and next Monday, so they could function with a four-man starting staff of Aaron Civale, Taj Bradley, Zack Littell and Tyler Alexander into next week. Lowe returns after a nearly six-week absence due to an oblique strain. The second baseman is in the cleanup spot against Tanner Houck tonight. Since Lowe landed on the IL, the Rays have rotated Curtis Mead, Amed Rosario and Richie Palacios through the keystone. Mead struggled enough that he has since been optioned to Triple-A. Palacios and Rosario have each hit well in their first seasons in Tampa Bay. Theyre each capable of playing multiple positions and should still see fairly regular playing time around the diamond. In other injury news, the Rays sent Jeffrey Springs to the Florida Complex League on a rehab assignment. The left-hander threw one inning this afternoon in his first game action since he underwent Tommy John surgery last April. Pitchers are typically allotted 30 days on a rehab stint, but returnees from Tommy John are usually allowed more than a month to build back into game shape. Springs could be ready for MLB action by the second half of June. DETROIT -- An incident between a lieutenant with the Detroit Police Department and a pro-Palestinian protester has led to the lieutenant being placed on administrative duties, according to the Associated Press. The incident took place Sunday outside Huntington Place in Detroit where President Joe Biden delivered the keynote address during an NAACP fundraiser. Cellphone footage as well as body cam footage from police shows the female protestor and the lieutenant about 10 feet apart when the officer says why dont you just go back to Mexico? When the female protestor says shes not from Mexico, the lieutenant continues Cause thats where you were hanging out. Go back and hang out in Mexico. Go party in Mexico again. Detroit Police Chief James White said he reviewed the footage and ordered an internal affairs investigation that will also look to determine if department policy was violated. As part of the investigation, the lieutenant -- who has not been named publicly -- was relieved of his duties related to policing protests and demonstrations. Cmdr. Michael McGinnis says the department later learned that the protestor had recently visited Mexico and the officer in question was already aware of that. His comment was related to her returning to vacation, McGinnis said. When you add that context, it changes the egregiousness of the interaction. Though it does not eliminate concerns Chief White has, it does change the storyline. While addressing the media Monday, White express his own personal displeasure at the situation. I was offended. In fact, I was outraged by what I saw, White said. We support peaceful protests. CHEBOYGAN COUNTY, MI -- A husband and wife from Cheboygan are facing multiple felony charges each in connection with their alleged embezzlement from a vulnerable adult. According to UpNorthLive, Edward Guyette II, 33, and his wife Jessica Guyette, 27 were both charged in the matter following an investigation. A family member helped the victim contact police to alert them that checks were written from the victims investment account resulting in a large loss of funds. Edward Guyette II is charged with 69 counts in the matter, including 33 counts of uttering and publishing, one count of conducting a criminal enterprise, 33 counts of forgery, one count of conspiracy to interfere in a criminal case and one count of larceny over $20,000. Jessica Guyette is charged with one count each of conspiracy to conduct a criminal enterprise, conspiracy to commit embezzlement from a vulnerable adult $100,000 or more, conspiracy to commit uttering and publishing, conspiracy to commit forgery and conspiracy to commit interfere in a criminal case. ANN ARBOR, MI - Four pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protesters were arrested as police cleared their encampment at University of Michigan early Tuesday morning, police said. The protesters were brought to the Washtenaw County Jail, according to the Washtenaw County Sheriffs Office, which provided no other details on those who were arrested. University of Michigan police in riot gear showed up at the Diag before 6 a.m., May 21 to drive out about 50 protesters, according to Deputy Chief Melissa Overton of the universitys Division of Public Safety and Security. A crowd of about 100 has since relocated to the Washtenaw 14A-1 District Court building in Pittsfield Township, also the location of the county jail. Protesters and supporters called Tuesdays action shameful, while university leaders defended the action as necessary for campus safety. The courthouse protesters are demanding answers on those arrested. Were going to stay until our protesters are released, said 23-year-old grad student Shreya Chowdhary. An attack against one of us is an attack against all of us. People with conscience have to stand up, said protester Gaia Kile, a 62-year-old Ann Arbor resident at the courthouse. Read more: Pro-Palestinian encampment driven from University of Michigan campus University President Santa Ono, along with university police, said the removal of the encampment addressed safety risks, such as fire hazards, as well as escalations from protesters that included placing fake corpses at the private homes of members of the Board of Regents. Regent Chair Sarah Hubbard echoed this position. We have supported the protesters rights for over a month, and have supported their abilities to express freedom of thought significantly, she said. Recent moves have necessitated this action and we look forward to having ongoing dialogue with all parties. Other safety concerns included dealing with severe storms over the summer and reports of homelessness at the encampment, Hubbard said. The University of Michigan welcomes all voices (to) be heard on campus, but we are not a campground, she said. The safety of people on our campus is paramount. It is disappointing the university could not avoid the police action seen across the country at colleges like Columbia University, said professor Silke Weineck. She called Tuesdays removal of tents law and order theater ahead of Onos May 23 hearing on Gaza protests in front of Congress. Safety was not a concern at the encampment, Weineck said, as more disruptive protester actions took place at other locations. The camp itself was a lovely space, she said. The most important thing is that they are protesting something that should upset every decent person, and they are in their sphere doing what they can do. It beats apathy a mile. Though only 50 protesters were present early Tuesday, there have been upwards of 200 protesters sitting and sleeping in tents on the universitys Diag for a month. Daily programming led by the pro-Palestinian student group Tahrir Coalition balances craft projects with subjects such as how to have difficult conversations with Zionist family members. Read more: No arrests signal hands-off approach as tents for Gaza came to 3 Michigan universities Police presence had included cruisers out of sight and a handful of Michigan State Police troopers sitting on bicycles about a 100 yards away. The Tahrir Coalition has demanded divestment from Israel in multiple protests on the Ann Arbor campus since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7. This was the day Hamas killed more than 1,200 mostly civilian Israelis, according to the Associated Press. More than 34,500 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territorys Health Ministry, though the Associated Press reports the toll does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The United Nations released a report on May 14 saying the death toll of women and children is lower than previously reported. There had been no arrests at the encampment prior to Tuesday, though a non-student was arrested at a protest led by the same group on May 3 outside the universitys Museum of Art. On May 15, protesters went to seven of eight homes owned by members of the Board of Regents, placing demands and fake, bloody corpses simulating the human toll in Gaza. The regents and university criticized these actions as unacceptable. Four protesters were also charged on Friday for assaultive behavior on officers for a Nov. 17 sit-in at Onos office. Were prepared to manage whatever protesters decide to come up with next, Hubbard said. Read more: See police clear the Gaza encampment at University of Michigan 20 1 / 20 University of Michigan Pro-Palestinian student protester encampment cleared Multiple videos from protesters during the May 21 encampment sweep show officers using pepper spray and riot gear to push the crowd outside the Diag and toward North University Avenue. Officers issued three warnings to protesters over a 15-minute period to request they leave voluntarily before being subject to arrest, Overton said. By 6:31 a.m., protesters were no longer on the Diag, with the surrounding concrete made wet by pepper spray and water from the encampment. Video shared with MLive/The Ann Arbor News shows how officers removed protesters from the area. If you would like more reporting like this delivered free to your inbox, click here and signup for our weekly newsletter: Michigan Schools. Want more Ann Arbor-area news? Bookmark the local Ann Arbor news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Ann Arbor daily newsletter. ANN ARBOR, MI Erin OConnor draws a line from her childhood years in her mothers paint-your-own-pottery studio in Okemos to her emerging career as an artist. She opened that when I was 5 years old, so I spent a lot of time there growing up and was exposed to a lot of different mediums, she said. OConnor, 27, is now a third-year medical student at the University of Michigan, which keeps her busy, but she still finds time to make art. Since 2022, when she made her first Ann Arbor Art Fair appearance, she has been making and selling unique, hand-crafted, glass mosaics inspired by Art Deco and geometric designs. One of her latest pieces commemorates Ann Arbors bicentennial, the towns 200th birthday, and its now made into an official poster for this years Art Fair coming up in July. The official 2024 poster for the 56th State Street District Art Fair, one of the three united fairs that make up the Ann Arbor Art Fair, featuring a glass mosaic map of Ann Arbor by artist Erin O'Connor.Ann Arbor Art Fair Ann Arborites will recognize OConnors colorful mosaic is a map of the citys central area, including downtown, the UM campus, neighborhoods, the Huron River and railroad tracks. The State Street District Art Fair, one of the three united fairs that make up the Ann Arbor Art Fair, honored OConnor with the Most Promising Emerging Artist Award in 2023 and a few months ago invited her back as its featured artist for 2024. Its just been such a cool experience and an honor to be the featured artist and be a part of the bicentennial, she said. She was given the choice of either choosing a piece from her portfolio or creating a custom bicentennial-themed piece for the poster. I thought it was a fun challenge and I had a great time making it, she said of deciding to go with the latter. She researched Ann Arbor history and came across old maps from 1874. They were in four parts, so she had to piece them together, laying them out like a puzzle. And then I kind of just created the map in my style, said OConnor, who hand cuts each glass piece, grinds it and glues it to a wood base before finishing with charcoal-colored grout. Ann Arbor has big plans for 200th birthday party in May and there will be cake OConnor said she didnt want to go too hard with a maize-and-blue theme, but theres definitely a nod to UM with the gold and blue colors. She estimates she put over 30 or 35 hours into the piece, as it was a bit more intricate than some of her other mosaics and she wanted to be precise. The other aspect of the piece is I used a glass that shifts colors based off the lighting and the angle, so from the forward view you see a lot of like blues and greens and then from more of the side view you see a lot more like purples and deep blues, she said. While posters of the mosaic complete with the citys A200 bicentennial logo likely will find their way onto a number of peoples walls, as for where the original artwork may end up, OConnor said shes in talks about possibly displaying it in city hall. In the meantime, shes gearing up for her third consecutive Ann Arbor Art Fair July 18-20. Shes one of three featured artists for the three united fairs, though the only one with a bicentennial-branded poster. This years Summer Art Fair poster features artwork by Erin Curry depicting a dog wearing an astronaut helmet, while the poster for the Street Art Fair, The Original, features artwork by Kent Ambler depicting the Burton Memorial Tower. The Ann Arbor Art Fair is fast approaching. Here are some details to know OConnor said its a lot to balance medical school and her art career, but its worth it. The workload for both kind of ebbs and flows, and I just kind of make it work, she said, adding both are priorities for her, now seven years since her successful fight with cancer. I think that doing art makes me a better student. Her medical career plan is to become a doctor and go into plastic surgery, including working with cancer patients and helping breast cancer survivors with breast reconstruction. She sees it as a nice way to combine medicine and creativity, she said. Want more Ann Arbor-area news? Bookmark the local Ann Arbor news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Ann Arbor daily newsletter. A statement has been added from University of Michigan President Santa Ono, as well as university police. The number of protesters present at the time of the sweep was updated to about 50 people, though it has housed 200 as recently as Monday evening. ANN ARBOR, MI - The Pro-Palestinian encampment was cleared early Tuesday morning on the University of Michigan Diag. Officers from the universitys Division of Public Safety and Security dressed in riot gear were on scene to sweep the 50-person encampment as early as 5:45 a.m., May 21, according to the student organization Tahrir Coalition, which is behind the protests. Protesters posted video showing officers using pepper spray while pushing the crowd toward North University Avenue away from the Diag. Protesters said on various social media platforms they were no longer on the Diag by 6:31 a.m. Drivers in the area should be aware of people in the streets. Read more: See police clear the Gaza encampment at University of Michigan University President Santa Ono said the sweep came Tuesday days after the university fire marshal determined protesters had created fire hazards that would result in a likely catastrophic loss of life should a fire break out. The fire marshal and Student Life leaders asked camp occupants to remove external camp barriers, refrain from overloading power sources and stop using open flames, Ono said in a statement. The protesters refused to comply with these requests. That forced the university to take action and this morning, we removed the encampment. Ono also said the encampment was always a violation of campus rules since the tents went up on April 22. He also said the fire inspection was the latest in a series of troubling events from protesters, from graffiti on the Michigan Union sign to assaultive behavior on police officers to placing fake corpses at the private homes of university regents. Moving forward, individuals will be welcome to protest as they always have at the University of Michigan, so long as those protests dont violate the rights of others and are consistent with university policies meant to ensure the safety of our community, Ono said. To be clear, there is no place for violence or intimidation at the University of Michigan. Such behavior will not be tolerated, and individuals will be held accountable. Officers warned protesters to leave the area three times over a 15-minute period, said university police spokeswoman Deputy Chief Melissa Overton. Participants who did not comply were subject to arrest, but no arrest numbers were provided upon request from MLive/The Ann Arbor News. Some protesters are still standing on North University while interacting with officers blocking entry to the Diag. About 100 protesters are walking Ann Arbor streets, including a gathering at Liberty Plaza. The tented encampment of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protesters on Central Campus was in its fourth week. While police have not previously arrested protesters at the encampment, a non-student was arrested at a protest led by the same group Friday, May 3, outside the universitys Museum of Art. Four protesters who sat in university President Santa Onos office on Nov. 17 have been charged in Washtenaw County for assaultive behavior on officers. Read more: No arrests signal hands-off approach as tents for Gaza came to 3 Michigan universities About 200 protesters have been sitting and sleeping in tents on the universitys Diag that acts as a nexus of Central Campus. Daily programming led by the pro-Palestinian student group Tahrir Coalition balances craft projects with subjects, such as how to have difficult conversations with Zionist family members. Police presence had included cruisers out of sight and a handful of Michigan State Police troopers sitting on bicycles about a 100 yards away. The Tahrir Coalition has demanded divestment from Israel in multiple protests on the Ann Arbor campus since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7. This was the day Hamas killed more than 1,200 mostly civilian Israelis, according to the Associated Press. More than 34,500 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territorys Health Ministry, though the Associated Press reports the toll does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The United Nations released a report on May 14 saying the death toll of women and children is lower than previously reported. The police sweep of the encampment comes just two days before Ono was set to testify to Congress on Gaza encampments at U.S. universities. He will submit a transcribed interview to the U.S. House committee. This is a developing story and will be updated as more information is available. If you would like more reporting like this delivered free to your inbox, click here and signup for our weekly newsletter: Michigan Schools. Want more Ann Arbor-area news? Bookmark the local Ann Arbor news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Ann Arbor daily newsletter. ANN ARBOR, MI - Just before 6 a.m., University of Michigan police arrived to dislodge about 50 pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protesters from their encampment on the Diag. Multiple videos from protesters show officers using pepper spray and riot gear to push the crowd outside the Diag and toward North University Avenue. Officers issued three warnings to protesters over a 15-minute period to request they leave voluntarily before being subject to arrest, according to Deputy Chief Melissa Overton of the universitys Division of Public Safety and Security. By 6:31 a.m., protesters were no longer on the Diag, with the surrounding concrete made wet by pepper spray and water from the encampment. Video shared with MLive/The Ann Arbor News shows how officers removed protesters from the area. Many of the protesters are walking Ann Arbor streets, at one point gathering at Liberty Plaza. About 100 went to the Washtenaw County Courthouse in Pittsfield Township to further protest, yelling shame at any cop nearby and demanding answers about the potential arrests of protesters. Were going to stay until our protesters are released, said 23-year-old grad student Shreya Chowdhary. An attack against one of us is an attack against all of us. People with conscience have to stand up, said protester Gaia Kile, a 62-year-old Ann Arbor resident at the courthouse. University police have yet to release arrest numbers. Read more: Pro-Palestinian encampment driven from University of Michigan campus Tuesday mornings action was to remove safety risks, Overton said in a statement. The encampment posed safety risks, both to participants and the community at large, and its presence was in violation of multiple policies and regulations, she said. Its removal was important to help maintain the safety and security of the UM campus community. University President Santa Ono said Tuesdays sweep came days after the university fire marshal determined protesters had created hazards that would result in a likely catastrophic loss of life should a fire break out. The fire marshal and Student Life leaders asked camp occupants to remove external camp barriers, refrain from overloading power sources and stop using open flames, Ono said in a statement. The protesters refused to comply with these requests. That forced the university to take action and this morning, we removed the encampment. He added the fire inspection was the latest in a series of troubling events from protesters, from graffiti on the Michigan Union sign to assaultive behavior on police officers to placing fake corpses at the private homes of university regents. Related: Fake corpses, bloody toys placed by Gaza protesters at University of Michigan regents homes Moving forward, individuals will be welcome to protest as they always have at the University of Michigan, so long as those protests dont violate the rights of others and are consistent with university policies meant to ensure the safety of our community, Ono said. To be clear, there is no place for violence or intimidation at the University of Michigan. Such behavior will not be tolerated, and individuals will be held accountable. Though only 50 protesters were present early Tuesday, there have been upwards of 200 protesters sitting and sleeping in tents on the universitys Diag for a month. Daily programming led by the pro-Palestinian student group Tahrir Coalition balances craft projects with subjects, such as how to have difficult conversations with Zionist family members. Police presence had included cruisers out of sight and a handful of Michigan State Police troopers sitting on bicycles about a 100 yards away. The Tahrir Coalition has demanded divestment from Israel in multiple protests on the Ann Arbor campus since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7. This was the day Hamas killed more than 1,200 mostly civilian Israelis, according to the Associated Press. More than 34,500 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territorys Health Ministry, though the Associated Press reports the toll does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The United Nations released a report on May 14 saying the death toll of women and children is lower than previously reported. The police sweep of the encampment comes just two days before Ono was set to testify to Congress on Gaza encampments at U.S. universities. He will submit a transcribed interview to the U.S. House committee. If you would like more reporting like this delivered free to your inbox, click here and signup for our weekly newsletter: Michigan Schools. Want more Ann Arbor-area news? Bookmark the local Ann Arbor news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Ann Arbor daily newsletter. MUNDY TWP, MI -- The Flint and Genesee Group Foundation received approval for $250 million from the state of Michigan for a planned megasite on more than 1,000 acres near Bishop Airport. A resolution to fund the request from the Flint and Genesee Group Foundation was approved by the Michigan Strategic Fund Board on Tuesday, May 21, just a month after the same board approved an additional $9.2 million for the project. GRAND RAPIDS, MI-- Demand is high for new apartments in an independent living center under construction on Fulton Street in Grand Rapids Township. The Ravines, a 26-unit facility planned for Porter Hills Village, at 3600 Fulton St. E, is slated to be completed by the summer of 2025. GRAND RAPIDS, MI An Alger Middle School student suffered a gunshot wound Tuesday, May 21, outside of the school building, the district said. The student, shot in the face, suffered non-life-threatening injuries and has been taken to a local hospital, police said. The school district said that the injured student and another student were in a nearby city park Tuesday afternoon when the shooting occurred. The other student is cooperating with Grand Rapids police. It was not clear what led to the shooting. The gun was recovered at the scene. Grand Rapids police Chief Eric Winstrom said the injured boy and his friend ran to the school for help after the shooting. It was unclear if they were playing with the gun when it discharged. Winstrom said he feared the worst when he heard the boy had been shot in the face. I have a 12-year-old son. This one really hit home, he said. What I saw when we arrived was two children, whether they were playing with a gun, whether this was an intentional act, they sought help from this GRPS school, he said. They ran to the front door. He said that school staff was providing medical help when police reached the scene. This is something that obviously could have been extremely tragic. We just lost a child Saturday night to gun violence downtown, he said. This would have been absolutely heartbreaking. It is still extremely frightening. Related: Girl, 15, killed in shooting near downtown Grand Rapids identified Winstrom said the boy who was shot was conscious and alert and able to speak with officers at the scene. Police are working to determine where the gun came from. The school was placed on Code Red lockdown immediately after the incident. Thanks to the quick actions of our team, no one inside Alger Middle School was in danger, Superintendent Leadriane Roby said in a letter to parents. BATTLE CREEK, MI -- A Michigan poker player took home the top prize of a multi-day tournament in Southwest Michigan. Kevin Oswald, of Croswell, was crowned champion, earning $234,422 as the top finisher at the Mid-States Poker Tour, held May 16 to 19 at FireKeepers Event Center, off I-94 near Battle Creek. The $1,110 buy-in, no-limit Hold em tournament brought 2,717 entrants, with a total prize pool of $2.6 million, FireKeepers said. The top four players made a chop agreement, meaning they agreed to split the winnings evenly. They each received $234,422. As the chip leader, Oswald was declared the winner and took home a trophy. The casino provided a play-by-play of the action at the final table: Nick Davidson was the first to exit after calling off his stack with 10s against Curtis Vierstraetes kings. Buck Bucceri found his nines couldnt hold against Oswalds queens. Daniel Schill faced Oswald again and was eliminated when the turn favored Oswald. Vierstraetes hand fell short against Steve Wanglers eights. Rob Mitchell, a World Series of Poker bracelet winner, exited in fifth after failing to connect against Wangler, leaving four players. Final Table Results totaled over $1.28 million: 1: Kevin Oswald $234,422 2: Brad Sailor $234,422 3: Steve Wangler $234,422 4: Anton Vucinaj $234,422 5: Rob Mitchell $106,677 6: Curtis Vierstraete $84,288 7: Daniel Schill $66,113 8: Buck Bucceri $51,626 9: Nick Davidson $41,090 Steven Senk, vice president of gaming operations at FireKeepers, thanked the dealers and other staff for their work to make the tournament a success. We are committed to maintaining this standard of excellence and will continue to deliver exciting and captivating events, both at the MSPT and throughout our lineup of poker events at FireKeepers, ensuring that poker enthusiasts are always eager to return for more, Senk said. Upcoming events include the Memorial Day $1,000 Hourly High Hands on Monday, May 27; $10,000 Second Quarter Tournament of Champions on Sunday, July 6, and the $60,000 Grand Finale Event on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. Want more Kalamazoo-area news? Bookmark the local Kalamazoo news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Kalamazoo daily newsletter. KALAMAZOO, MI -- The city of Kalamazoo supported local autonomy for rent control policies with a proclamation during its Monday, May 20 meeting. In the 1980s, Michigan banned any resolution or ordinance that would have the effect of controlling the amount of rent charged for leasing private residential property. Advocacy group We the People Michigan wants to change that. The proclamation itself doesnt implement anything yet, its just a statement to state legislators that they need to do something, said organizer Tristen Jessup. Im hoping that we can use this document in our conversations with with legislators. In February, the group met with commissioners about their personal experiences finding affordable housing in Kalamazoo and the hope of securing their support. By bringing local elected officials attention to issues Kalamazoo tenants face, Jessup said she and her team of advocates hope to impress the need for renter protections. Ultimately, they want Michigan legislators to repeal the ban on rent control. The group plans to continue advocating for these protections in Kalamazoo, Jessup said, and is considering taking their message to other local leaders and even county officials. RELATED: Kalamazoo County needs nearly 8,000 more homes by 2030 Past attempts to repeal the ban have faltered, due to lack of support from local governments. State Rep. Carrie Rheingans, D-Ann Arbor, introduced a rent control bill in 2023, citing soaring rental costs in Southeast Michigan. In Kalamazoo, about 41,000 or 56% of residents rent their homes, according to the 2022 Census. According to 2024 rental data from Zillow and RentCafe, the median monthly cost of a one-bedroom apartment in Kalamazoo is $1,200 a month. A person living in Kalamazoo who earns $10.33 an hour must work 100 hours a week to avoid spending more than 30% of their income on rent alone, according to the citys proclamation. The mission of the Kalamazoo City Commission is to promote economic, cultural and physical welfare of its citizens, commissioner Don Cooney said, as he read the proclamation into record. I offer my sincerest thanks to the members of the City Commission for taking time to hear our personal stories, listening to our collective demands and wielding what power (they) have to finally lift this terrible ban, Jessup said. Kalamazoo Gazette/MLive offers free email news alerts. Click here to sign up for alerts or for the daily 3@3 Kalamazoo news roundup. Bookmark the local Kalamazoo news page here. MIDLAND, MI A contractor was performing routine maintenance work on a Midland grocery stores roof when he noticed something amiss with the business sign. He opened a small door on back of it, initially fearing hed stumbled onto a dead body. To his surprise, he was greeted by a living woman, one who had fashioned the sign into an apartment shed been residing in for a year. It was crazy. I about had a heart attack, the worker told responding Midland police officers, according to video of the incident. This is the weirdest thing Ive ever found. The 34-year-old woman emerged from the sign clad head to toe in black balaclava, Puma track jacket, Adidas track pants, gloves, and large ski goggles. Inside her makeshift living space were bedding, a desk, houseplant, computer printer, Keurig coffeemaker and food. This is pretty genius, honestly, one officer said on arriving on scene. Police responded to the surprise squatter at Family Fare, 2026 N. Saginaw Road, just after 2 p.m. on April 23. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Midland Police Department provided MLive with three videos recorded by officers body-worn cameras. MLive is not identifying the woman as she has not been charged with any crimes. The following is from the recordings, which include officers speaking with store employees, contractors and the woman living on the roof: The footage begins with police gathering behind the store, conferring with its manager and two contractors who had been on the business roof. Officers express amazement on the womans abode. Shes got a whole set up in there, the manager tells police. She asks police to remove the woman, saying she doesnt want there to be any bad blood but that for liability purposes, she cant have someone living on the roof. A contractor tells police theyve asked the woman to come out from the sign, but she wont. Family Fare, 2026 N. Saginaw Road in Midland.Heather Jordan During the discussion, an officer mentions hes familiar with the woman, as the department has been getting calls regarding her for a year or so, based on her manner of dress. The officer says the woman has claimed she has an allergy to the sun, accounting for her apparel. The manager says shes called police on the woman in the past but she vanished before officers arrived. Officers climb a ladder to the roof and get the woman to open the small metal door to the sign. The woman says shes moving within 24 hours to get away from all this. Police tell the woman she must come out immediately and will be able to gather her items later, assuring her the store manager plans to work with her on this. When officers ask the woman how shes been getting on the roof, she evades the question. She asks the officers not to contact her family, saying shes trying to get away from people. At this point, youre not in any trouble whatsoever, the officer replies. Youre an adult. I dont need to tell anybody your business. The woman then says she doesnt believe it was a coincidence maintenance workers were on the roof that day. She describes herself as homeless, even though Im not really supposed to tell you guys that. Officers continue cajoling her to exit. Believe it or not, you got a nickname, one tells her. Oh, whats that, Spider-Man or something? she asks. No, Roof Ninja. Tell me that aint cool, the officer says. Thats true, she laughs. Another officer tells the woman shes impressed and intrigued by her living situation. The woman says shes been living in the sign for a year or so. She says it would get cold in the winter, but shes experienced with that as she used to live in Alaska. What caused you to look in here? an officer asks. Did someone turn you onto this? No, this is actually an old safe spot, the woman says, without much elaboration. As the woman gathers some items, officers joke with her that she eats better and healthier than they do. They peek into the sign and say its clean and smells good. The woman in turn offers them bottles of a non-alcohol ginger root beverage, which they laughingly decline. The officers again ask the woman how shes managed to scale the roof as they escort her to the ladder. I really dont want to say in the event of needing to get up here at some point, she replies. On the ground, the woman speaks with Family Fares manager and apologizes for meeting her on such conditions. The manager expresses sympathy but says if something were to happen to the woman while on the roof, the store could close and employees lose their jobs. The manager tells the woman if she returns to the property, police will arrest her. The manager assures the woman her items will be gathered and given to her. She also urges her to find somewhere safer to stay. Trust me, its safer up there than it is on ground level right now, the woman says. The manager says shes sorry for throwing a wrench in the womans plans, to which the squatter remains philosophical. Thats just the way it goes, she says. Police offer to drive the woman someplace or to get her assistance with Midlands Open Door crisis shelters and soup kitchen. The woman declines all help, saying she cant go to those places. Officers reiterate to the woman shell be arrested if she returns to Family Fares property. They did not issue her a citation. Days after the story went viral, Family Fare donated $10,000 to Midlands Open Door. Saralyn Temple, executive director of Midlands Open Door, previously told MLive her organization reached out to the woman but she turned down help. Individuals struggling with housing in Midland County can contact Midlands Open Door at 989-835-2291 for support. The organizations website is at MidlandOpenDoor.org. Former Detroit Tigers catcher Donny Sands has signed a minor-league deal with the San Francisco Giants. Hes been assigned to Triple-A Sacramento. Sands had been playing for the Tijuana Toros in the Mexican League since being released by the Tigers in March. The Tigers opted for Dillon Dingler and veteran Anthony Bemboom as their two catchers in Triple-A Toledo this year, squeezing Sands off the roster at the end of spring training. Sands, 28, made his Major League debut in 2022 with the Philadelphia Phillies, but only appeared as a pinch-hitter, going 0-for-3. The right-handed hitter was drafted in the eighth round of the 2015 draft by the New York Yankees and converted from an infielder to a catcher. He was traded to the Phillies after the 2021 season. Sands hit well during his one year in the Phillies system, but couldnt repeat the production in 2023 with Triple-A Toledo. He hit .225 with a .671 OPS with five home runs in 371 plate appearances with the Mud Hens. The Tigers designated him for assignment in December and then outrighted him to Toledo when he went unclaimed on waivers. Sands was given an invitation to spring training but played sparingly. The departure of Sands left utility man Matt Vierling as the only player remaining from the trade that sent reliever Gregory Soto and infielder Kody Clemens to the Philadelphia Phillies 16 months ago. Infielder Nick Maton was designated for assignment in February and later traded to the Baltimore Orioles for cash. The official severe weather forecast still has parts of Michigan in the risk of severe storms. Its becoming more clear now it will be a late night storm event. Since severe storms having a tough time holding together in the middle of the night we will likely escape some severe weather. The Storm Prediction Center held strong on their severe weather update at noon. They have painted the same areas for severe weather as their original forecast very early this morning. They still indicate through the forecast graphics a line of severe storms weakening as it moves across Lower Michigan. Severe wind gust forecast for Tuesday afternoon through 8 a.m. Wednesday, May 22, 2024NOAA The severe wind gust forecast above shows Iowa, Minnesota and Missouri will be where the storms fire up and become very severe. The storms then will lose some punch as they move into eastern Wisconsin and eastern Illinois. There will also be a tendency for the storms to move north into the U.P. instead of east across Lower Michigan. Now look at our best weather computer model in this situation. Its not aggressive at all on bringing severe storms across at least the southern two-third of Lower Michigan. Radar forecast from 4 p.m. today, May 21 to 7 a.m. Wednesday, May 22.NOAA Escanaba, Marquette and the eastern U.P. should have a higher chance of severe thunderstorms than Muskegon, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Jackson, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Flint, Saginaw and Bay City. If we do see any severe storms in Lower Michigan it would be in the far northwest part and maybe spotty in nature over the far west-central part of the state. Radar forecasts at 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. tonight show most of the severe storms over the Upper Peninsula.NOAA Whatever the line of storms looks like the timing is becoming more certain. It will be the middle of the night before any storms get cranking in Lower Michigan, if they get cranking at all. We will continue to monitor the situation here, but right now Michigan is safe through at least 8 p.m. when severe storms could start in the Upper Peninsula. Its not often that we see a line of possibly severe storms that could hit Michigan in the wee hours of overnight, but thats what we are looking at for late tonight. The National Weather Service (NWS) team in Grand Rapids has put the window for possible severe weather from 11 p.m. Tuesday to 5 a.m. Wednesday. This includes the chance for high, damaging winds and hail. Theres also a small, isolated risk of a tornado. The highest severe weather threat will be along the West Michigan corridor west of U.S. 131, from Benton Harbor north to Holland, Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Ludington and Manistee. A line of severe thunderstorms containing damaging winds could impact the area late tonight. The highest threat (level 3 out of 5) is west of Highway 131 and after 11 PM, the NWS meteorologists said. Before dawn today, the storm line that is expected to enter Michigan around midnight tonight was just a cluster of storms out near Nebraska and western Iowa. Meteorologists expect them to get better organized and form more of a solid line by the time they reach the western edge of Wisconsin later today. Then tonight, all eyes will be on how the line moves into Michigan - and if it hangs together or weakens substantially after dark. The severe weather forecast for May 21, 2024 shows a higher risk for severe storms in West Michigan between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Graphic provided by the National Weather Service.National Weather Service MLive Meteorologist Mark Torregrossa has said this about tonights storm forecast: The basic idea is individual supercell thunderstorms, the most severe type of thunderstorms, will develop over Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin and Illinois this afternoon. The individual storms can produce strong tornadoes, very damaging wind gusts up to 90 mph and very large hail over 2 inches in diameter. The storms are then expected to merge and develop into a squall line of storms. At that point, the tornado risk goes down but the straight-line wind potential continues. From Grand Rapids westward, we have a severe weather risk pegged at level 3 on a 5-level scale. Most of the rest of Lower Michigan has a level 2 risk. If the storms behave as expected, they should drop below severe criteria as they move into Ann Arbor, Detroit and the Thumb overnight. Farther north, the NWS team in Gaylord is also sounding the severe weather alert for its Northern Michigan coverage area. Here are their forecast notes from this morning: A line of strong to severe storms is expected to track into Northern Michigan late this evening and tonight. The primary hazard with any strong storms will be damaging winds. Large hail and a tornado or two will also be possible, primarily near Lake Michigan. Currently, highest confidence in severe storms is along the Lake Michigan shoreline -- which is also highlighted by the Enhanced Risk (3/5) near Manistee. Confidence in severe storms decreases with eastward extent as there is some uncertainty with how long strong/severe storms will hold together as they move across the area tonight. A dangerous, widespread tornado and damaging wind outbreak is expected this afternoon in a few states just to our west. The severe storms will move into Michigan, but may be weakening significantly as they move across our state. Heres a first update on todays storm risk in Michigan. The overall severe weather forecast today gives you a really good idea where the thunderstorms will first explode. It also gives us the hopeful idea the storms may be weakening some as they move into Michigan from the west. While Im talking about some weakening possible as storms enter Michigan, it should be noted the orange shaded area in West Michigan is still an Enhanced Severe Weather Risk area. The basic idea is individual supercell thunderstorms, the most severe type of thunderstorms, will develop over Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin and Illinois this afternoon. The individual storms can produce strong tornadoes, very damaging wind gusts up to 90 mph and very large hail over 2 inches in diameter. The storms are then expected to merge and develop into a squall line of storms. At that point, the tornado risk goes down but the straight-line wind potential continues. From Grand Rapids westward, we have a severe weather risk pegged at level 3 on a 5-level scale. Most of the rest of Lower Michigan has a level 2 risk. If the storms behave as expected, they should drop below severe criteria as they move into Ann Arbor, Detroit and the Thumb overnight. Overall severe weather risk for today, May 21. This forecast combines the risk of tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail.NOAA The severe wind forecast is indicating the potential for high-end wind gusts in the storms just to our west. In the wind forecast below the black hatched area indicates a possibility of 75 mph gusts or higher. The discussion from the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) says gusts up to 90 mph are possible in the storms just west of Michigan. The squall line could be still severe as it crosses Lake Michigan and enters West Michigan. If the storm line doesnt enter Michigan until the second half of this evening we will fare much better with weaker storms. At the moment this is fortunately the way things are pointing. Even late evening storms could still be severe, just not as severe as just to our west. Severe wind gust forecast for today, May 21.NOAA The tornadic storms are much more likely just west of Lower Michigan. We do get an isolated tornado or two along any breaks in lines of severe storms. Again the western third of Lower Michigan is in the 2% chance of a tornado. As of 7:45 a.m. today the forecast for isolated tornadoes includes Traverse City, Big Rapids, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. Tornado forecast for today, May 21.NOAA Severe hail forecast for today, May 21.NOAA Preliminary timing of the line of storms shows early evening along the Lake Michigan shoreline, at earliest. Some of the data even shows the line of storms waiting until late evening. The later the storms arrive the better we will fare with lower-end severe storms. The line of storms is expected to move into eastern Lower Michigan anytime between late evening to the middle of the night. Obviously weve had severe storms in the middle of the night in the past, but the chances of something significant would be much lower late at night. Start thinking about stormy weather this evening and overnight. Once the late morning round of models comes in I can update you here. Liubao tea, a Chinese dark tea characterized by its strong and lingering fragrance and medical effects, boasts a history of more than 1,500 years. Over a century ago, as one of the major commodities, Liubao tea was exported along the old maritime Silk Road to Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries. Liubao tea has long been popular in overseas Chinese communities. Its fame grew significantly overseas in the second half of the 19th century among Chinese migrants in Southeast Asia, who used it as a herbal remedy in the hot, humid climate. Its production process and long history have led to Liubao tea being recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage. The public brand value of Wuzhou Liubao tea reached 4.403 billion yuan in 2023. Wuzhou has over 310,000 mu (about 20,667 hectares) of tea plantations, with an output value exceeding 16 billion yuan (about 2.24 billion U.S. dollars). Samir Jain is a Jaipur-based astrologer who has over 28 years of experience in the field of Astrology, Numerology, Palmistry and Vastu Shastra. He is also an expert in Jain Temple Vastu and Jain Jyotish. For more details, visit planetsastro.com, call/WhatsApp +91 8696930617 or email jainksamir@gmail.com. Follow us on: Bihar DElEd Answer Key 2024 out at secondary.biharboardonline.com, raise objections by May 23 You are already a Moneycontrol Pro user. OK Follow us on: BJP set to win more than 400 seats under PM Modi's leadership: Pramod Sawant Follow us on: Its going to be a Gurjar vs Gurjar contest in South Delhi Lok Sabha seat OTHERS OTHERS Follow us on: My Account or or Hello, Login All Remarks against Mamata Banerjee: BJP's Abhijit Gangopadhyay barred from campaigning for 24 hours Follow us on: Election wrap: Prashant Kishor sees bearish market sentiments if BJP doesn't cross 370 mark, Kejriwal slams Amit Shah for 'Pakistanis' remark and more Follow us on: Election Yatra 2024: CEOs, diplomats hit the road to experience the festival of democracy OTHERS OTHERS Follow us on: My Account or or Hello, Login All BJP's Sambit Patra to observe fast as 'penanace' amid backlash over Lord Jagannath remark Follow us on: 'We will gain seats in ...': Kharge's big prediction for INDIA bloc Follow us on: Chris Hemsworth recalls adorable encounter with Stray Kids at the 2024 MET Gala, says, 'I gave them cuddles, I love them' Follow us on: Preity Zinta enjoys Jalebi and Rabadi during the night shoot of 'Lahore 1947' set, says, 'sweetest thing to survive' Follow us on: Friends actor Matthew Perrys death from acute ketamine effects being investigated by DEA and LAPD OTHERS OTHERS Follow us on: My Account or or Hello, Login All ASML and TSMC can disable chip machines if China invades Taiwan Dinesh Unnikrishnan is Editor-Banking & Finance at Moneycontrol. Dinesh heads the Banking and Finance Bureau at Moneycontrol. He also writes a weekly column, Banking Central, every Monday. Follow us on: Firms need private equity money to grow, but can't expect overnight success: Dr Lal PathLabs' Arvind Lal Follow us on: Corporate veteran Nitin Paranjpe of Unilever to retire in May OTHERS OTHERS Follow us on: My Account or or Hello, Login All Cryptocurrencies driven by speculative motives, retail investors should be careful: RBI Bulletin OTHERS OTHERS Follow us on: My Account or or Hello, Login All Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice earns an 8 minute standing ovation at Cannes, sparks controversy over rape scene Niva Bupa likely to file IPO DRHP with Sebi by early June to raise up to Rs 3,000 cr: CNBC-TV18 IREDA considering FPO in the second half of this fiscal to raise funds Follow us on: JSW Cement to invest Rs 3,000 crore to set up integrated facility in Rajasthan Follow us on: MC Inside Edge: Silent clambers up Indus; Honey & Co try similar feat in Jyoti Structures, realty bulls turn cautious PM Modi was preparing 'communal pitch' but we refused to play on it, says Congress OTHERS OTHERS Follow us on: My Account or or Hello, Login All Rahul, Akhilesh's 'unique' tete-a-tete amid rally in UP after mic stops working Souptik Datta Reports on Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai. Btw, curiosity never kills the cat. You can reach me on souptikdatta@nw18.com Follow us on: Vodafone Idea to raise Rs 2,075 cr via preferential allotment of shares to AB Group Danish Khan is the editor of Technology and Telecom. He was previously with the Economic Times and has tracked the sector for 13 years. Engaged with India, other nations on importance of equal treatment for members of all religious communities: US OTHERS OTHERS Follow us on: My Account or or Hello, Login All Kerala HC discharges KPCC chief Sudhakaran in case of conspiring to kill CPI(M) leaders Follow us on: Pune Porsche accident: Three accused sent to police custody till May 24 OTHERS OTHERS Follow us on: My Account or or Hello, Login All Pune Porsche Accident: City police arrests teen's father, bar owner and manager who served liquor to minor Sandeep Sahu is a senior Bhubaneswar-based journalist and columnist, who has authored a biography of President Droupadi Murmu published by Penguin India. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication. Andy Mukherjee is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies and financial services. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication. Arun Anand has authored two books on the RSS. His X handle is @ArunAnandLive. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication. Follow us on: 'Betrayal of democratic principles' says Delhi HC as it denies bail to Manish Sisodia for 2nd time Manish Sisodia case: What was the excise policy scam? Why has he not been able to get bail? OTHERS OTHERS Follow us on: My Account or or Hello, Login All Monk sends defamation notice to Mamata Banerjee, Bharat Sevashram Sangha distances from his statements Best cities to find a job in the US Follow us on: Scarlett Johansson vs OpenAI: 'Her' actor slams firm after AI system's voice resembles her own Follow us on: 300 trafficked Indians 'revolt' in Cambodia; most of them arrested: Andhra Pradesh Police Follow us on: Kyrgyzstan violence: Parents of students from MP urge Centre to ensure their safe return OTHERS OTHERS Follow us on: My Account or or Hello, Login All Microsofts CEO Satya Nadella says new AI PCs will revive PC-mac rivalry Follow us on: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says Dell partnership is key in its push to expand AI A Singapore Airlines flight hit an air-pocket on May 21 and encountered severe turbulence, which left one person dead and several others injured. Singapore Airlines CEO on Wednesday issued a public apology after one passenger died and about 70 others were injured due to severe turbulence on a flight from London to Singapore. The Boeing 777-312 (ER) aircraft (9V-SWM) operating flight SQ321 from London to Singapore had to make an emergency landing at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok at 3:34 pm on May 21 after one person died onboard the Singapore Airlines flight that was caught in mid-air turbulence. The flight fell into an air pocket while the cabin crew was serving breakfast before it encountered turbulence, prompting the pilots to request an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport, where it landed at 3.45 pm (local time) on Tuesday. Passengers onboard the Singapore Airlines flight which experienced severe turbulence, resulting in an emergency landing in Bangkok, and the death of a passenger, described chaotic scenes with significant damage inside the plane and severe injuries. "At 3:35 pm the airport received a distress call from the Singapore Airlines flight saying there were passengers on board injured by turbulence, and requesting an emergency landing," the Suvarnabhumi Airport said in a statement. Heres what happened inside the Singapore Airlines flight: According to Singapore Airlines, the said flight took off from London's Heathrow Airport and "encountered severe turbulence en route". "We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER. There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board," the airline said in a statement. It added, "18 individuals have been hospitalised. Another 12 are being treated in hospitals," without giving details of the nature and severity of the injuries. Flight tracking data suggests the plane dropped more than 1,800 metres (6,000 feet) in just five minutes over the Andaman Sea. Notably, parts of Thailand have been experiencing thunderstorms. Aviation news handle FL360 aero shared a few images and clips of the plane carrying distressed passengers after it hit turbulence. Few More Visuals from the incident, where one fatality and several injuries confirmed, following severe turbulence on board Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-312(ER) aircraft (9V-SWM), that operated SQ321 from LHR to SIN, ending up diverted to Bangkok (BKK).#safety #aviation https://t.co/pyjl4QrrA1 pic.twitter.com/BwCAOAjZeo FL360aero (@fl360aero) May 21, 2024 The last Singapore Airlines fatality was in October 2000 when a plane crashed on a closed runway during take-off in Taiwan and 83 people died. Singapore Airlines has had seven accidents according to records by the Aviation Safety Network. (With agency inputs) Follow us on: UAE, US to see more AI partnerships: Minister Invite your friends and family to sign up for MC Tech 3, our daily newsletter that breaks down the biggest tech and startup stories of the day Over 100 Beijing museums will host more than 1,000 exhibitions online and on-site to enhance infotainment and celebrate the recently launched Beijing Museum Month. Free and non-reservation tickets will be available to residents and college students, according to organizers of the program that kicked off on Saturday, which marked the 48th International Museum Day. The launch was held at the Grand Canal Museum. This year's theme for International Museum Day is "Museums for Education and Research". In line with this theme, the slogan for the 2024 Beijing Museum Month is "City of Museums Making Learning More Enjoyable". During the museum month, visitors can amble through weekend markets featuring cultural and creative products at museums, enjoy outdoor movies, and immerse themselves in the literary charm of newly established reading areas within museums. "We're making efforts to help Beijing create the cultural landmark of 'City of Museums' and to integrate the museum into everyday life," says Yu Jun, deputy chairman of the Standing Committee of Beijing Municipal People's Congress. Beijing boasts 186 registered museums and an additional 27 cultural institutions housing significant collections. They are categorized in seven areas, including history and cultural art, natural sciences and technology, revolutionary memorials and archaeological sites. In 2020, the capital came up with the idea to build up a "City of Museums". And the rich museum sources in Beijing have captured crowds of visitors flocking into the city. During the May Day holiday, museums in Beijing held about 109 exhibitions and other activities, attracting more than 2 million visitors, an increase of approximately 30 percent year-on-year, setting a historical record. Many museums offered extended hours, according to data from the National Cultural Heritage Administration. At the launch ceremony on Saturday, another 10 museums in Beijing were added to the country's list of "national first-grade museums", the highest classification for museums in China, as determined by the National Cultural Heritage Administration. They include the Overseas Chinese History Museum of China, the China Railway Museum and the National Museum of Modern Chinese Literature. With these additions, Beijing now boasts 28 national first-grade museums, solidifying its position as the leading city in the country. To give visitors a clear picture of what each museum has to offer among the vast plethora in Beijing, The Beijing Museum Guide and a map were also released at the ceremony. Chen Mingjie, head of the Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau, says integration of museums and the city is their ongoing goal. "We aim to create a closer fusion between museums and the city, as well as a deeper integration with people's daily lives. Students can attend classes in museums, and museums can 'enter' communities and stations, allowing everyone to experience the atmosphere of a 'City of Museums' anytime and anywhere. Ultimately, we strive to transform Beijing into a 'living museum city' in its entirety," says Chen. dengzhangyu@chinadaily.com.cn Claudio Puccio -- TCSO booking photo View Photo Columbia, CA A Virginia man will serve nine years in prison for the armed robbery of two campers in the Columbia area in March. On Monday (5/20), 56-year-old Claudio Puccio, who was staying in the Columbia area, was sentenced to 9 years in state prison to be served at 85%, according to Tuolumne County District Attorney Cassandra Jenecke. Puccio pleaded guilty to the March 17th robbery with a firearm and assault with a deadly weapon. Jenecke added that in court, the female victim gave a Victims Impact Statement about how significantly this event has affected her life. She also noted that both charges qualify as strike offenses under Californias Three Strikes Sentencing scheme. As earlier reported here, a couple camping near Camp 9 Road in the Columbia area of Tuolumne County awoke to Puccio inside their tent, pointing a gun at them and demanding money, which they gave him. They testified that he ordered them out of the tent while threatening to blow their heads off. Puccio then forced them into their vehicle and ordered them to leave the area. Once the couple got to Parrotts Ferry Road, they called 9-1-1 to report what happened. Tuolumne County Sheriffs deputies accompanied the male victim to the campsite to collect their belongings. During that time, they found Puccio sitting nearby in his car with a handgun on the passenger seat. Tragic Betrayal: Mother sentenced to 10 years for selling newborn son In a harrowing case that has gripped the nation, a 23-year-old woman from Gokwe has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for selling her own newborn baby. Pauline Maganga pleaded guilty to charges of contravening Zimbabwes Trafficking in Persons Act before a Harare magistrate. The heartbreaking ordeal unfolded just two days after Maganga gave birth to her son in Johannesburg, South Africa. The young mother made the devastating decision to sell her infant to an accomplice. According to prosecutors, Maganga sold the baby in South Africa on June 26th, 2023. Tragically, the accomplice managed to smuggle the infant back to Zimbabwe in October of that year. The chilling plot was uncovered on November 27th, 2023, when the accomplice was arrested following a tip-off. Thankfully, the baby was quickly placed under the care of the Department of Social Welfare, ensuring his safety and well-being. When Maganga learned of her accomplices arrest, she returned to Zimbabwe on December 12th, 2023, in a last-ditch attempt to reclaim the child. However, her claims were viewed with deep suspicion, as she had previously stated the baby had died shortly after birth. In handing down the 10-year sentence, Magistrate Lazini Ncube said although Pauline Maganga had claimed she was struggling to survive, selling a child was an unacceptable and unlawful act, regardless of the mothers personal circumstances or motivations. The sale of a human being, especially a newborn, is a grievous crime that cannot be tolerated. Breaking News via Email Related Zimbabwe Latest News By Lambert Strether of Corrente. Bird Song of the Day Eastern Meadowlark (Eastern), Kissimmee Prairie Preserve, Okeechobee, Florida, United States. Song. I think I hear a propeller airplane in the background? Plus many insects and other birds. * * * In Case You Might Miss (1) New Trumps New York trial starts to wrap up. (2) Bidens path to victory interviewed. (3) A method for decrapifying Google search. * * * Politics So many of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in fact a rational management of symbolic capital. Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles * * * Biden Administration Top US drug agency a notable holdout in Bidens push to loosen federal marijuana restrictions [Associated Press]. DEA has not yet made a determination as to its views of the appropriate schedule for marijuana, reads a sentence tucked 13 pages into Garlands 92-page order last Thursday outlining the Biden administration proposal to shift pot from its current Schedule I alongside heroin and LSD to the less tightly regulated Schedule III with such drugs as ketamine and some anabolic steroids. Internal records accompanying the order indicate the DEA sent a memo to the Justice Department in late January seeking additional scientific input to determine whether marijuana has an accepted medical use, a key requirement for reclassification. But those concerns were overruled by Justice Department attorneys, who deemed the DEAs criteria impermissibly narrow. Several current and former DEA officials told the AP they believe politics may be at play, contending the Justice Department is moving forward with the marijuana reclassification because President Joe Biden wants to use the issue to woo voters in his re-election campaign and wasnt willing to give the DEA time for more studies that likely would have dragged beyond Election Day. Those officials also noted that while the Controlled Substances Act grants the attorney general responsibility for regulating the sale of dangerous drugs, federal law still delegates the authority to classify drugs to the DEA administrator. Its crystal clear to me that the Justice Department hijacked the rescheduling process, placing politics above public safety, said Derek Maltz, a retired agent who once headed the DEAs Special Operations Division. If theres scientific evidence to support this decision, then so be it. But youve got to let the scientists evaluate it. Former DEA Administrator Tim Shea said the striking absence of Milgrams sign-off suggests she was backing the DEA professionals.' 2024 Less than a half a year to go! RCP Poll Averages, May 10: National results static, but most of the Swing States (more here) are incrementally, but steadily, moving Trumps way. Pennsylvania leans more Trump this week than last. Of course, it goes without saying that these are all state polls, therefore bad, and most of the results are within the margin of error. Now, if either candidate starts breaking away in points, instead of tenths of a point. NOTE I changed the notation: Up and down arrows for increases or decreases over last week, circles for no change. Red = Trump. Blue would be Biden if he were leading anywhere, but he isnt. * * * Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan) Prosecutors rest their case in Trumps hush money trial [Politico]. Its not clear how long the presentation of Trumps defense will last, but the judge presiding over the case, Justice Juan Merchan, said he expects closing arguments to take place next Tuesday, after Memorial Day weekend. Then the jury will begin deliberating. Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan) Live updates: Defense rests without Trump testifying in hush money case [Associated Press]. Court will resume at 2:15 p.m. ET [today], when prosecutors and the defense will discuss the instructions that will be given to jurors before they start deliberating. Deliberations are expected as early as next Wednesday. The charging conference is an opportunity for prosecutors and the defense to weigh in on how they want the jury to be instructed in the law and what the verdict sheet will look like. At the conference, the parties may discuss how the charges are organized and the elements of a crime spelled out in the law that the prosecution needs to prove beyond a reasonable doubt to achieve a conviction. Theyll provide the judge with their versions of instructions and the verdict sheet a form the jury fills out listing each charge and the possible verdicts but itll ultimately be up to Judge Merchan to decide how to instruct the jury. Jury instructions are a roadmap to the sometimes complex legalities involved in the case. They arent designed to sway the jury one way or another, but rather to ensure jurors have a good understanding of the charges theyre weighing and the laws involved. Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan): Brad Smith: What I would have told the Trump jury [Washington Examiner]. The goal of his hoped-for testimony, Smith said, was to lay out the ways the law [FECA] has been interpreted in ways that might not be obvious. As an example, Smith cited the phrase for the purpose of influencing an election, which has been heard during much analysis of the trial. You read the law and it says that anything intended for the purpose of influencing an election is a contribution or an expenditure, Smith explained. But thats not in fact the entirety of the law. There is the obscure, and separate from the definitional part, idea of personal use, which is a separate part of the law that says you cant divert campaign funds to personal use. That has a number of specific prohibitions, like you cant buy a country club membership, you cant normally pay yourself a salary or living expenses, you cant go on vacation all these kinds of things. And then it includes a broader, general prohibition that says you cant divert [campaign funds] to any obligation that would exist even if you were not running for office. [W]e would have talked about for the purpose of influencing an election is not a subjective test, like What was my intention? its an objective test. So hiring campaign staff is for the purpose of influencing an election. Go back to 1999. Hillary Clinton buys a house in New York. She bought it clearly to influence the election I mean absolutely, right? because she had to have a residence in New York. It is totally indisputable that is a reason why she bought it. But its not a campaign expenditure. A thread from Smith: Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan) People v. Trump [Politico]. Blanche asked if Cohen has a financial interest in the outcome of the trial. Cohen conceded that he did, but disputed Blanches suggestion that Cohen would benefit more from Trump being convicted. Its better if hes not, for me, because it gives me more to talk about in the future, Cohen said. I hardly think so. If Trump is convicted, we have the spectacle of Maddow fawning over Cohen to look forward to. A whole new market! Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan) Highlights from day 19 of Donald Trumps hush money trial: Prosecution rests [Associated Press]. After Blanche asks for a dismissal: Trump attorney Blanche beseeched the judge to not let this case go to the jury relying on Mr. Cohens testimony, arguing Cohen had not only lied repeatedly under oath in the past, but again while testifying in this trial. But Judge Merchan appeared unmoved by the argument, asking the defense attorney whether he believed that as a matter of law, this persons so not worthy of belief that it shouldnt even be considered by the jury? Blanche said that he did. You said his lies are irrefutable, the judge replied. But you think hes going to fool 12 New Yorkers into believing this lie? Depends on whether the Trump defense team kept the Blue No Matter Who types off the jury, I would say. Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan): 5 big takeaways from Day 19 of Trumps hush money trial [ABC]. Robert Costello, a former attorney for Cohen, had spent less than 15 minutes on the witness stand when Judge Juan Merchan sustained a string of the states objections. After one such interjection, Costello was heard muttering under his breath, Jeez. That extracurricular musing prompted Merchan to dismiss jurors and issue Costello a stern rebuke, ordering him to uphold proper decorum in my courtroom. The matter appeared settled. But seconds later, Merchan barked: Are you staring me down? With that, Merchan took the extraordinary step of clearing reporters from the courtroom. After a few minutes, reporters and jurors returned and Merchan resumed proceedings without addressing the matter. * * * Trump (R) Georgia focus group voter on Trump trials: We need an answer' [Axios]. Most Georgia swing voters say they are skeptical that former President Trump would face serious punishment over his criminal indictments, even if hes convicted, according to our latest Engagious/Sago focus groups. These voters, who voted for President Biden in 2020 after voting for Trump in 2016, said they think the ex-president is getting special treatment over his four criminal indictments. Its a sign of the broad distrust among voters of the criminal justice system, particularly when dealing with one of the most famous politicians in the world. Any other regular person would still be in jail or house arrest or something, said Marquetta F.. 11 participants out of 14 said they think that Trump is not being treated like other criminal defendants. Five are registered Democrats, three are Republicans, and six are independents. While most Georgia swing voters say the ongoing New York criminal case is not changing their views of Trump, they still would like his trials to be resolved before the election, although that is looking increasingly unlikely. If were going to hold him accountable, it needs to be before he has the opportunity to possibly get the highest office in the land back, we need an answer, yes or no, said Joel M. If the voters think Trump is getting special treatment, that cuts against Trumps narrative. Hmm. * * * Trump (R): Donald Trump deletes video post on Truth Social referencing unified Reich' [New York Post]. The video appeared to use an online template, titled Newspaper Vintage History Headlines Promo, to highlight the potential effects of a Trump victory. Another reference in the Trump video appeared to be taken directly from a Wikipedia entry on World War I stating that German industrial strength and production had significantly increased after 1871, driven by the creation of a unified Reich.' First Reich: Holy Roman Empire. Second Reich: Imperial Germany. Third Reich: The Nazis. 1871 refers to the Second. Still, who gave this nimrod staffer access to Trumps account? I dont think Susie Wiles is happy right now, given the Democrat pearl-clutching. * * * Biden (D): Never Trump? Never Biden voters might loom larger [WaPo]. While much has been made of Never Trump Republicans, Never Biden voters appear to loom even larger at least for now. [In 2020], at least 50 percent of voters said not only that they werent voting for Trump, but that there was no chance they would. At most, just 4 in 10 said the same of Biden. Thats now flipped. The most recent poll to show this is Mondays New York Times-Siena College poll of six key swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Across those states, 46 percent of registered voters said there was no chance theyd vote for Trump, while 52 percent said the same of Biden. Thats the biggest gap to date, including an earlier Times poll and CNN polling as recently as last month. But even with smaller gaps, every such poll in recent months has shown more Never Biden voters than Never Trump ones. And in 3 of 4 such polls since November, its been a majority of voters who say theyll never vote for Biden just as it was with Trump in 2020. Hmm. Biden (D): Alarmed Democrats flee Bidens ailing brand in battleground states [The Hill]. If you go out there and do a focus group, the focus groups all say, Hes 200 years old. You got to be kidding me. And the worst part about it is for unaffiliated voters or people that havent made up their mind, they look at this and say: You have to be kidding us. These are our choices? And they indict us for not taking it seriously, said a Democratic senator who requested anonymity to discuss the alarm sparked by Bidens weak poll numbers in battleground states. Polls have shown that 40 percent of registered voters in battleground states were not too satisfied or not at all satisfied with the candidates in the presidential election. The senator said Democratic colleagues know this is a problem but also realize its too late to do anything about it and that this is the ticket we have to get behind and we have to win with this ticket. Well see how much gravity we can defy, the lawmaker said of senators in tough races who are polling better than Biden. Lots of good detail for each state. And then this: People keep saying, Why didnt he take a pass, hes just so tired? the senator said of constituents who are baffled over Bidens decision to run for a second term. That is such a prevalent feeling.' On tired, I wonder if voters are projecting, and if they, too, would like to take a pass. Biden (D): How can Biden save America from Trumps return to the White House? Drop out of the race [USA Today]. If Democrats were to nominate Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, hed beat Trump like LeBron James posting up Kevin Hart. There are many others, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey. Trump would look old and unhinged next to their youthful competence and sober characters. And while Vice President Kamala Harris, who polls worse against Trump than Biden does, would have been a serious threat to take the nomination in open primaries, there is no chance a convention of Biden delegates would select her. They want to beat Trump too badly to take that risk. First trial balloon for Josh Shapiro. * * * Kennedy (I): RFK Jr. lists voting address at Westchester home thats in foreclosure and where neighbors have never seen him [New York Post]. Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lists his residence to vote as a tony Westchester County address which is in foreclosure proceedings for non-payment, court records show. The independent candidate claims his voting address is 84 Croton Lake Road In Katonah, though he is not the owner of the million-dollar, in-arrears property, does not show up in resident searches for it, and some longtime neighbors and even local authorities were shocked at the notion its his home. No he doesnt live here, a local cop insisted Sunday. The Kennedy campaign insisted in a Sunday night statement that the home is RFK Jr.s official address. He receives mail there. His drivers license is registered there. His automobile is registered there. His voting registration is from there. His hunting, fishing, falconry, and wildlife rehabilitation licenses are from there. He pays rent to the owner, the campaign said. * * * Trump vs. Biden Polls: Joe May Need a Rust Belt Sweep [Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine]. Best of breed on the Swing State genre, so far; detail, polling. Well worth a read. Its the battleground-state polling that should be most alarming to Team Biden for the simple reason that he is consistently trailing in three Sun Belt states (Arizona, Georgia, Nevada) that were crucial to his 2020 win. If they (along with another competitive southern state, North Carolina) appear out of reach for the incumbent later in the campaign season, his path to victory may depend on a sweep in three highly competitive Rust Belt states: Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. For now, a Biden sweep of Rust Belt battleground states seems a likelier bet. In Michigan, Trump leads in the RCP head-to-head averages by 0.3 percent, while Biden leads by 0.3 percent in a five-way race. In Pennsylvania, its Trump by two points in both a two-way and five-way contest. And in Wisconsin, Trump leads by 0.6 percent in a head-to-head race and by 1.2 percent with minor candidates added in. A Biden Rust Belt sweep (assuming Biden picks off an electoral vote in Nebraska and Trump counteracts that with an electoral vote in Maine) would give the president the smallest possible majority of 270 electoral votes . That would come, of course, with a guaranteed challenge of the outcome by Team Trump, but thats a virtual certainty in any case short of a Biden landslide. At this point, the presidents team would take any sort of win with joy and relief, even if they have to fight Trump and his mobs for a couple more months to make it stick. All in all, the path to a second Biden term is dangerously narrow. Yep. And Kennedy is a wild card. Biden and Trump Hunt for Breakthrough Moment in Stagnant Election [Wall Street Journal]. For many Americans, the race between two universally known but widely disliked candidates has had the low drone of background noise. Many have rushed to their political camps, pretty much sure of how they will vote this fall despite their displeasure with the choice before them. But the campaigns are eager to make sure their core supporters are fully engaged and committed to votingand they want to move sooner rather than later to reach the approximately one-third of voters who remain persuadable and up for grabs. Bidens aides and allies have long argued that many Americans arent fully dialed into the race and that when they recognize that it is a choice between Biden and Trump, the incumbents approval ratings will rise. Trump sees an upside and has been openly calling on Biden to debate him for months. His team thinks that putting the two on stage together will remind voters of Bidens agea significant vulnerability, according to Trumps advisersand that Trump will benefit from that contrast. * * * Why election polls were so wrong in 2016 and 2020 and whats changing to fix that [CNBC]. Heading into the 2024 rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden, pollsters are trying a variety of strategies to avoid repeating history and to accurately capture the elusive Trump vote. For one, pollsters have adjusted their approach to weighting, a method that assigns a multiplier to each respondent to change how much their answer sways the overall poll outcome. Pollsters have always used weighting to construct survey samples that accurately reflect the electorate in terms of gender, age, race or income. But after 2016, they are taking particular care to weight education. A proxy for class. More: Some people will start a poll, theyll tell you who theyre going to vote for and then they say, Im done. I dont want to talk to you anymore. Goodbye,' Don Levy, director of the Siena College Research Institute, which helps conduct polls for the New York Times, told CNBC. In 2020 and 2022, we didnt count those people. But this time around, Levy says they are counting the drop-offs. They found that if they had counted those impatient respondents in 2020 and 2022, their poll results would have moved about a point and a quarter in the Trump direction, Levy said, eliminating roughly 40% of their error. Levy added that SCRI is also taking an extra step to target Trump voters by modeling their sample to include a higher survey quota for people who are considered high-probability Trump voters in rural areas.' Senate Democrats dont believe Bidens bad polls, either [Axios]. But theres literally no analysis explaining why they dont. * * * * * * * * * Syndemics I am in earnest I will not equivocate I will not excuse I will not retreat a single inch AND I WILL BE HEARD. William Lloyd Garrison * * * Covid Resources, United States (National): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; includes many counties; Wastewater Scan, includes drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); Iowa COVID-19 Tracker (in IA, but national data). Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts (especially on hospitalization by city). Lambert here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To update any entry, do feel free to contact me at the address given with the plants. Please put COVID in the subject line. Thank you! Resources, United States (Local): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin, dashboard; Stanford, wastewater; Oakland, wastewater); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater reports); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur dAlene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard) ; NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard) ; PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (dashboard); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV ( wastewater ); WY ( wastewater ). Resources, Canada (National): Wastewater (Government of Canada). Resources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usees); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater). Hat tips to helpful readers: Alexis, anon (2), Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (10), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, square coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3). Stay safe out there! * * * Airborne Transmission Another good review for NuKit: Our review of the Nukit Tempest is live: It cleaned our 728 cubic ft. test room in 31 minutes faster than the Airmega 150, Alen Flex, Mila and Core 300. It generated just 41.8 dB It pulled only 8.8 watts Outstanding work by @NukitToBeSure!https://t.co/LvEHRzYHse HouseFresh (@ThisHouseFresh) May 20, 2024 Transmission: H5N1 Let them eat Viruses [Anthony J. Leonardi, The Easy Chair]. I cant tell if its a race to the bottom with standards, or that we like feasting on viruses and swimming in sewage to prove our own vigour. It seems we cut corners on safety in order to make nutrition more affordable. If it ends up sparking another pandemic, however, we will all bear the cost. I guess thats what is meant by privatizing gains and nationalizing losses. In my opinion, bird flu is now endemic in cattle. Meaning, there are even more opportunities for it to cross into humans. Furthermore, the virus is poorly adapted to human receptors, and can refine. It may refine to facilitate human to human spread and see its lethality rise as a consequence of better adaptation. Unfortunately, because of what we are willing to accept as far as the risk of viruses goes, it is quite possible that there will be a human H5N1 pandemic. I recommend, as I have always done, preparation. This entails a stock of N95, a plan with family and friends, and a safe harbour. The safe harbour part is not so easy. One has a go bag, but where to go? Maskstravaganza Some NC House Republicans oppose anti-mask bill [WRAL]. Rep. Erin Pare, the only Republican from Wake County in the state legislature, said that now that the bill is in the House, shell fight for the public health exception to be added back in while also still supporting another provision in the bill, to increase criminal penalties for people who commit crimes while wearing masks. Shes not alone in voicing concerns from the right. Rep. John Torbett, R-Gaston, also wrote that hed support adding back in the language allowing people to wear masks for public health reasons. Torbett is technically listed as the bills lead sponsor, but thats only because the Senate took a bill he had sponsored, with the goal of increasing criminal penalties for people who wear masks to commit crimes, and rewrote it to also get rid of the public health exception for mask-wearing. I will try to put back redundant language to clarify the medical use being OK, Torbett said. A hopeful sign. The bill has not yet passed, and seems to be stalled, for now (engrossed). Doctors rail against proposed ban against public masking [North Carolina Health News]. Banning masks, even for medical purposes, is likely to generate lawsuits, some say. Tara Muller, a policy attorney with Disability Rights North Carolina, sent a letter to state senators last week contending that the bill [HB237], if passed, would lead to violations of the NC Persons with Disabilities Protection Act, the Americans With Disabilities Act, and the Individuals With Disabilities in Education Act, or IDEA. These disability rights laws guarantee people with disabilities equal access to public spaces and the right to be reasonably accommodated as needed for equal access, Muller said in her letter. When people with disabilities are denied access to their communities, institutionalization and segregation from the community is a real possibility and one which violates their rights pursuant to the Olmstead decision to live in the most integrated settings.' Caption: A face mask sported by DHHS Sec. Mandy Cohen and NC Emergency Manager Mike Sprayberry at the Emergency Operations Center on May 19, 2020 during the COVID pandemic. Photo credit: NC Dept of Public Safety Lifes little ironies. (Of course, the mask is cloth, presumably so the logo could be embroidered onto it, so even then Mandy was prioritizing public relations over health, let alone modeling good behavior. Nevertheless.) Testing and Tracking: H5N1 Move over, wastewater. Store-bought milk could be another way to track the bird flu outbreak in cows [STAT]. Scientists from the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center have managed to generate a full genetic sequence of H5N1 virus from milk, a development they suggest means commercially purchased milk products could be used to monitor the progress of the bird flu outbreak in dairy cattle and to check for important changes in the virus over time. With dairy farmers still reluctant to allow testing of their cattle, scientists trying to assess whether the outbreak is increasing or waning are in the dark. Likewise, their surveillance for important changes in the viruses changes that would signal the virus is evolving to be better able to infect mammals has been hampered by the limited data being shared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. If and when H5N1 mutates, and the (human) pan syndemic hits, hat tip to the dairy farmers, a hearty well done to CDC, and big ups to the (captured) USDA. Transmission: H5N1 HPAI dairy herd infection case report [Dairy Extension, Michigan State University]. This report is what was known and reported on day 15 of the HPAI infection in a herd of approximately 500 lactating cows. It began in a barn with two pens of cattle that had three water fountains, the center one being shared. They wanted to try to confine the disease to a single group or at least a single barn. They changed their wash cycle in milking so that it washed after this group of cows. Regardless of their efforts*, HPAI spread to all groups of lactating cattle on the farm. . Based on the number of cows with elevated temperatures and subtracting out the normal rate, they believe 40% of the lactating herd was infected Clearly, by day 15, the full impact of the disease has not yet been felt. However, the farmer did some cost estimations. He has spent $5,000 $7,500 in extra medical supplies. Even though the costs of these common medications are low, the volume needed has been quite high. There has been the loss of milk, loss of quality premium, increased labor and loss of a few pregnancies resulting in culling animals. He estimates the cost for this herd of approximately 500 cows at $30,000 $40,000. The owner of the farm in this case report understands that this does not include the potential longer-term costs. Another farmer said that some herds are seeing symptoms for four to six weeks. Additional negative impacts include increased culls of animals that do not recover significantly and increased weight gain of late lactation cows that recover feed intake but not milk output. It has been a lot of work, stressful on the cows and frankly overwhelming, the farmer said. As required by law, this farmer reported the disease to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD). He believes it is important for the industry to understand the disease. NOTE * Perhaps because H5N1 is airborne? Michigan reports 3 more H5N1 outbreaks in dairy herds [Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy]. The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDRAD) today reported three more H5N1 avian flu outbreaks in dairy herds In a statement, the MDARD said the three newly affected dairy herds are in Clinton, Gratiot, and Ionia counties, all of which were affected in recent outbreaks. According to the MDARDs line list, Michigan has now reported 18 outbreaks in dairy cows in nine counties, the most of any state. Hmm. Michigan is a swing state. The Bird-Flu Host We Should Worry About [Katherine Wu, The Atlantic]. [T]]he virus does not seem to have acquired what Webby considers the most crucial modification, one that would help it more efficiently enter human-airway cells in the first place. To do that, H5N1 would need to adjust its ability to latch on to particular sugars on cell surfaces, which effectively serve as locks to the cells interior. For decades, though, the virus has preferred the version of those sugars thats most commonly found in the gastrointestinal tract of birds, and still seems to. Experts would really start to worry, [WHOs Richard] Webby said, if it started glomming very tightly instead onto the ones most commonly found in human airways. That said, the difference between those sugars is architecturally quite small. And although scientists might colloquially call some bird receptors and others human receptors, mammals can produce bird receptors, and vice versa. (Humans, for instance, have bird receptors in their eyes, which likely explains why the farm worker who appears to have caught H5N1 from a dairy cow developed only conjunctivitis.) The right animal host could encourage the virus to switch its preference from birds to humansand pigs fit that bill. They just so happen to harbor both bird receptors and human receptors in their respiratory tract, giving the flu viruses that infect them plenty of opportunity to transform. Something to watch Sequelae: Covid When Cells Turn Against Us: The Ferroptosis Link in COVID-19 Lung Destruction [SciTech Daily]. In severe COVID-19 cases, the lungs can suffer extensive damage, leading to life-threatening conditions such as pneumonia, inflammation, and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Until recently, the underlying cause of these wide-ranging lung reactions had not been clearly understood. Researchers at Columbia and the Columbia University Irving Medical Center have shed light on this mystery in new research published in Nature Communications. The study found that ferroptosis, a form of cell death first named and identified at Columbia in 2012, is the major cell death mechanism that underlies COVID-19 lung disease. The finding indicates that deliberately halting ferroptosis with therapeutic drug candidates could improve COVID-19 outcomes. And: Ferroptosis was first reported by Professor Stockwell in 2012. Ferroptosis is an unusual form of cell death in which certain cells die because their outer fat layers collapse. It differs from the most common kind of cell death, which occurs both in disease contexts and in normal processes like aging and involves cells chopping up the molecules in their interior. Elite Maleficence Too Many Deaths, Too Many Left Behind: A Peoples External Review of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions COVID-19 Pandemic Response [AJPM Focus] (AJPM Focus is the official open access journal of the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research and the American College of Preventive Medicine; Elsevier). From the Abstract: The authors used a modified Delphi process to identify core pandemic management areas, which formed the basis for a survey and literature review. Their analysis yields 3 overarching shortcomings of the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions pandemic management: (1) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leadership downplays the serious impacts and aerosol transmission risks of COVID-19, (2) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leadership has aligned public guidance with commercial and political interests over scientific evidence, and (3) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance focuses on individual choice rather than emphasizing prevention and equity. Instead, the agency must [oh?] partner with communities most impacted by the pandemic and encourage people to protect one another using layered protections to decrease COVID-19 transmission. Because emerging variants can already evade existing vaccines and treatments and Long COVID can be disabling and lacks definitive treatment, multifaceted, sustainable approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic are essential to protect people, the economy, and future generations. As we have been saying for quite some time. However, since CDC will do none of those things, it should be burned to the ground, the rubble plowed under, and the ground salted. (The authors include both Harvard Medical personnel and Peoples CDC members. Interesting!) Long-COVID codes in health record may dramatically underestimate its prevalence [Center for Disease Research and Policy]. Long COVID is likely much more prevalent than indicated in electronic health record (EHR) diagnostic or referral codes, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine researchers report in eClinicalMedicine. A total of 55,465 patients were flagged for long COVID, with 20,025 diagnostic codes and 35,440 referral codes. The incidence of new long COVID rose steadily in the records during 2021, peaking in January 2022 and then declining. The authors said that validation of outcome measures is needed to better capture long-COVID cases. National survey data suggests that many people in the UK suffer with long COVID, but relatively few cases are recorded in primary care, they concluded. We have shown that using EHR diagnostic or referral codes unfortunately has major limitations in identifying and ascertaining true cases and timing that severely limit its utility in shedding light on causal pathways to prevent or treat Long COVID. * * * Lambert here: Patient readers, Im going to have to rethink this beautifully formatted table. Biobot data is gone, CDC variant data functions, ER visits are dead, CDC stopped mandatory hospital data collection, New York Times death data has stopped. (Note that the two metrics the hospital-centric CDC cared about, hospitalization and deaths, have both gone dark). Ideally I would replace hospitalization and death data, but Im not sure how. I might also expand the wastewater section to include (yech) Verily data, H5N1 if I can get it. Suggestions and sources welcome. UPDATE I replaced the Times death data with CDC data. Amusingly, the URL doesnt include parameters to construct the tables; one must reconstruct then manually each time. Caltrops abound. TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts Cases National[1] Biobot May 13: Regional[2] Biobot May 13: > Variants[3] CDC May 11 Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC March 23 Hospitalization New York[5] New York State, data May 20: National [6] CDC May 11: Positivity National[7] Walgreens May 20: Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic May 16: Travelers Data Positivity[9] CDC April 29: Variants[10] CDC April 29: Deaths[11] Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity CDC May 11: Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits CDC May 11: LEGEND 1) for charts new today; all others are not updated. 2) For a full-size/full-resolution image, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Windows) on the chart thumbnail and open image in new tab. NOTES [1] (Biobot) Dead. [2] (Biobot) Dead. [3] (CDC Variants) FWIW, given that the model completely missed KP.2. [4] (ER) CDC seems to have killed this off, since the link is broken, I think in favor of this thing. I will try to confirm. UPDATE Yes, leave it to CDC to kill a page, and then announce it was archived a day later. And heaven forfend CDC should explain where to go to get equivalent data, if any. I liked the ER data, because it seemed really hard to game. [5] (Hospitalization: NY) Tiny uptick, well see if its a blip. I suppose to a tame epidemiologist it looks like endemicity, but to me it looks like another tranche of lethality. [6] (Hospitalization: CDC) Still down. Maps, charts, and data provided by CDC, updates weekly for the previous MMWR week (Sunday-Saturday) on Thursdays (Deaths, Emergency Department Visits, Test Positivity) and weekly the following Mondays (Hospitalizations) by 8 pm ET. [7] (Walgreens) Slight uptick. [8] (Cleveland) Leveling out. [9] (Travelers: Posivitity) Up and down. [10] (Travelers: Variants) KP.2 enters the chat, as does B.1.1.529 (with backward revision). [11] CDCs data and visualization, still being updated. Stats Watch There are no official statistics of interest today. * * * Tech: With JPMorgan, Mastercard on board in biometric breakthrough year, you may soon start paying with your face [CNBC]. Our focus on biometrics as a secure way to verify identity, replacing the password with the person, is at the heart of our efforts in this area, said Dennis Gamiello, executive vice president of identity products and innovation at Mastercard. He added that based on positive feedback from the pilot and its research, the checkout technology will come to more new markets later this year The consumer case is tied to the growing importance of loyalty programs. Most quick-service restaurants require consumers to provide their loyalty information to earn rewards which means pulling out a phone, opening an app, finding the link to the loyalty QR code, and then presenting the QR code to the cashier or reader. For payment, consumers are typically choosing between pulling out their wallet, selecting a credit card, and then dipping or tapping the card or pulling out their phone, opening it with Face ID, and then presenting it to the reader. Miller says PopID simplifies this process by requiring just tapping an on-screen button, and then looking briefly at a camera for both loyalty check-in and payment. One more reason to eliminate cash, eh? Tech: These fellas never stop coming up with great ideas: Satya Nadella says Windows PCs will have a photographic memory feature called Recall that will remember and understand everything you do on your computer by taking constant screenshots pic.twitter.com/Gubi4DGHcs Tsarathustra (@tsarnick) May 20, 2024 Who will they sell the data to? * * * Todays Fear & Greed Index: 62 Greed (previous close: 64 Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 56 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated May 21 at 1:41:03 PM ET. The Gallery A less famous sunset: News of the Wired Does One Line Fix Google? [Tedium]. Google quietly added something else to its resultsa Web filter that presents what Google used to look like a decade ago, no extra junk.. Its essentially Google, minus the crap. No parsing of the information in the results. No surfacing metadata like address or link info. No knowledge panels, but also, no ads. It looks like the Google we learned to love in the early 2000s, buried under the More menu like lots of other old things Google once did more to emphasize, like Google Books. Its worth understanding the tradeoffs, though. My headline aside, a simplified view does not replace the declining quality of Googles results, largely caused by decades of SEO optimization by website creators. The same overly optimized results are going to be there, like it or not. It is not Google circa 2001it is a Google-circa-2001 presentation of Google circa 2024, a very different site. [B]y adding a URL parameter to your searchin this case, udm=14. Intuitive! This article includes instructions for Vivaldi; here is a site with more browsers (but not Safari). It worked for me; I just added udm=14 to an existing Google search, and all the stuff I already know went away. Commentary: What if the worst of humanity wasnt in charge of everything for once https://t.co/P29bknAjIj Lauren McKenzie (@TheMcKenziest) May 20, 2024 * * * Contact information for plants: Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) find out how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. From Amfortas: Amfortas writes: Thats the Bee Tree, a lil right of center. The only reference to the bee tree I can find is from 2020: northern texas hill country: i have pears and peaches starting to bud, more than a month earlier than last year(which was too early, it turned out: had to have burn barrels for a late freeze.) bees in the bee tree are awake and wandering and hungry.and shampoo residue makes you smell like a flower, it seems so ive been feeding them at the entrance to the new hive.again, a month earlier than i intended. Perahps if there is a more current reference, Amfortas will qualify * * * Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the annual NC fundraiser. So if you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldnt see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know Im on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for three or four days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals: Here is the screen that will appear, which I have helpfully annotated: If you hate PayPal, you can email me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will give you directions on how to send a check. Thank you! Yves here. The conflict in Goza is both protracted and intractable. The earlier chapters in the Israel-Palestine struggle over the land between the river and the sea help explain why. One nugget in this recap of the first Intifada is that the US was once able to tell Israel how to behave. By Dr. Vladislav B. Sotirovic, Ex-University Professor, Research Fellow at Centre for Geostrategic Studies, Belgrade, Serbia The Meaning of Intifada The Arabic word intifada means shaking off but in the political language as a term, it means uprising. More precisely, this term refers to the two Palestinian uprisings on both territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. These two territories were occupied by Israel during The 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and the coalition of the Arab states in the region of the Middle East.[1] Both intifadas lasted from 1987 to 2000.[2] The First Intifada The First Intifada was, in fact, the spontaneous uprising in 1987 which lasted until 1993. It began as a revolt of the Palestinian youth throwing stones against the forces of the Israeli occupation but soon became a widespread movement involving civil disobedience with periodic large-scale demonstrations supported by commercial strikes. Usually, it is considered that the beginning of the First Intifada was a response to: The realization that the Palestinian Question in the Middle East together with the Arab-Israeli conflict was not seriously taken into consideration by the Governments of Arab states. The fact that the Palestinians in the so-called Occupied Territories (after The 1967 Six-Day War) should have to take matters into their own hands. The West Banks and Gazas Palestinians started an uprising in December 1987 against the policy of occupation run by the Israeli Government. It has to be clearly noted that the First Intifada was not either started or directed by the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization (the PLO) which was at that time located in Tunis.[3] It was, actually, a popular mobilization organized by local Palestinian organizations and institutions in Palestine. The movement very quickly became massive involving several hundreds of thousands of Palestinians of whom many had not participated before in the previous resistance actions and many of them were teenagers and even kids. The response of the Israeli security forces was brutal repression of the whole Palestinian population of the Occupied Territories. During the first years of the uprising, the movement chose a similar form of the fight of Mahatma Gandhi (18691948) in India against British colonial authorities: civil disobedience, massive demonstrations, general strikes, refusal to pay taxis, boycotts of Israeli products, writing political graffiti or establishment of underground the so-called freedom schools.[4] Later, the uprising took certain forms of terrorist actions like stone-throwing, Molotov cocktails, or putting the barricades to stop Israeli military forces. The actions of the First Intifada have been organized within the framework of the United National Leadership of the Uprising which embraced several popular committees. The fact was that Intifada succeeded in attracting up to that time the biggest attention by the international community, especially of those dealing with human and minority rights to the situation of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The Israeli occupation of these territories has been criticized as never since 1967.[5] Israeli Defence Minister Yitzhak Rabins strategy to deal with Intifada was to use military force and security power. In the years from 1987 to 1991, according to Palestinian sources, the Israeli army murdered over 1.000 Palestinians. Among them, there were some 200 teenagers under the age of 16. Armys actions included massive arrests resulted that during the First Intifada, Israel had the highest number of prisoners per capita in the world. Due to such brutal actions, by 1990 most of the Palestinian leaders of the Intifada had been in prison and, therefore, the uprising lost its cohesive force but, nevertheless, it continued until 1993. The Negotiations, the Washington Talks, and the Oslo Accords During the First Gulf War in 19901991, the Palestinians and their national organization the PLO opposed the US-led attack on Iraq. After this war, the PLO became diplomatically isolated, and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia stopped financing it, therefore, bringing the PLO to the financial and political crisis. The US administration after the First Gulf War decided to politically make firmer its position in the Middle East by diplomatically promoting Washingtons crucial role in the process of resolution of regional cancer the Arab-Israeli conflict. It was organized multilateral conference in Madrid in October 1991 attended by on one side the Palestinian representatives and the representatives of the Arab states and on the other side representatives of Israel led by PM Yitzhak Shamir who was practically forced to participate in the conference under the pressure by the US President George H. W. Bush (Bush Senior).[6] However, behind the Israeli delegation, it was, in fact, Washington dictating Israeli conditions to negotiate. More precisely, Y. Shamir required that: The PLO be excluded from the conference (as considered to be a terrorist organization); and The Palestinians would not directly raise the question of independence and statehood for Palestine. The talks after Madrid have been continued in Washington where the Palestinian delegation was composed of negotiators from the Occupied Territories. However, the representatives of East Jerusalem were not allowed to participate in the negotiations by Israel on the grounds that East Jerusalem is part of the State of Israel. Formally, the PLO representatives were excluded from the conference but in reality, its political leaders regularly consulted with and advised the official Palestinian delegation but little progress was achieved through the process of negotiations. According to Israeli PM Y. Shamir, the focal aim of the Israeli delegation and negotiation policy was to drug out Washingtons talks for some 10 years as after that the Israeli annexation of the West Bank would be simply de factoaccomplished fact for the international community. Very soon, in 1992, immediately when Yitzhak Rabin became a new Israeli PM, the human rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories (the Gaza Strip and the West Bank) tremendously became worse a fact which dramatically undermined the legitimacy of the Palestinian delegation to Washingtons talks and prompted the resignation of several delegates. There were several reasons for the failure of Washingtons talks as human rights violations and economic decline in the Occupied Territories, growth of radical Islamism as a challenge to the PLO, violent actions against Israeli security forces and civilians by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and, finally, the first suicide bombing (in 1993).[7] There were two chief reasons for the Israeli PM Y. Rabin to continue the negotiations with the Palestinian representatives: The real security threat for Israel of radical Islam and Islamic fundamentalists; and The stalemate in the Washington talks. Those two factors also contributed to Y. Rabins Government reversing the traditional Israeli refusal to negotiate with the PLO (at least not directly). As a consequence of such a drastically changed political situation, it was Israel to initiate secret talks directly with the Palestinian representatives from the PLO in Oslo, Norway. The talks resulted in the Israeli-PLO Declaration of Principles, which was signed in Washington in September 1993. The main points of the declaration were: A fact that it was founded on bilateral recognition of Israel and the PLO as legitimate negotiating sides. The declaration established that the Israeli forces would withdraw from the Gaza Strip and Jericho. The additional withdrawals of Israel from unspecified territories of the West Bank during a five-year interim period were agreed upon. However, the key issues of Israeli-Palestinian relations have been put aside to be discussed in some final status talks like the extent of the land to be ceded by Israel, the status of the city of Jerusalem, the Palestinian refugee problems resolution, the nature of the Palestinian entity to be established, the question of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank or water rights. With the 1993 Oslo Accords, the First Palestinian Intifada against the State of Israel was over. Vladislav B. Sotirovic 2024 Personal disclaimer: The author writes for this publication in a private capacity which is unrepresentative of anyone or any organization except for his own personal views. Nothing written by the author should ever be conflated with the editorial views or official positions of any other media outlet or institution. ___________ [1] The 1967 Six-Day War from 5th to 10th June is known in the Arabic world as the June War. The formal reason for this war has been three requests by Egypt to the OUN Emergency Force in Sinai: 1) to withdraw their detachments from the Israeli border; 2) the increase of Egyptian military troops on the Sinai Peninsula; and 3) to close the Straits of Tiran in the Gulf of Aqaba for the use by Israeli ships. Three Arab states made a military coalition against Zionist Israel: Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. The 1967 Six-Day War was started by the Israeli Minister of Defence General Dayan as a pre-emptive airstrike. However, it was soon followed by the Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula, Old Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights during two last days of the war [Guy Laron, The Six-Day War: The Breaking of the Middle East, New HavenLondon: Yale University Press, 2017]. [2] Don Peretz, Intifada: The Palestinian Uprising, LondonNew York: Routledge, 2018. [3] The Palestine Liberation Organization (the PLO) is both a political and military organization that was created in 1964 for the sake of uniting different Arab Palestinian groups to fight Israeli anti-Palestinian policy on the land of Palestine. The PLO became dominated since 1967 by al-Fatah that was led by Yasser Arafat. In 1974, the PLO became recognized by the Arab states as an official political and national representative of all Palestinians. The Israeli military invasion of South Lebanon in 1982 decreased its military power and organization itself. As a consequence, the PLO became reorganized in Tunisia. The organization, however, became split into several extremist-radical groups like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine or the Black September (classic terrorist group) who became responsible for kidnappings, hijackings or murdering within or outside of the Middle East. Yasser Arafat, therefore, persuaded in 1988 the PLO to renounce violence and terrorist acts and its governing council recognized the existence of Israeli state. As a direct consequence of such political move, since 1988, the PLO was accepted by many states as being a Government-in-Exile of Palestine. Yasser Arafat in 1993 acted as a Chair of the Palestinian National Authority administering the territories of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank [Jillian Becker, The PLO: The Rise and Fall of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2014]. [4] The regular schools were closed by the military authority of Israel as an act of revenge for Intifada. [5] The Palestinian side claims that during the First Intifada, the Israeli Government runs a secret policy of killing of the Palestinians on the Occupied Territories. Such kind of operations has been done by special units who either presented themselves as Arabs in order to approach and execute the victims or by snipers who have been killing from a distance. [6] The Madrid Peace Process was launched by the US President Bush and the Soviet leader M. Gorbachev. [7] It is a matter of very fact that before the First Intifada started, Israel enabled further development of the Islamic groups among the Palestinians believing to create in such a way opposition to the PLOs secular nationalism and consequently to divide Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. However, since 1993, it became obvious that Islamic fundamentalist groups are more dangerous for Israel than the PLO. About Hamas, see in [Matthew Levitt, Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad, New HavenLondon: Yale University Press, 2006]. Representatives from the Armenian Ministry of Defence met with their counterparts at NATO Headquarters at the end of April to review activities conducted within the framework of NATOs Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP) for Armenia. They took stock of the achievements made and set out the plan of joint activities for the rest of the year and for 2025. The Director of the Defence and Security Cooperation Directorate of NATOs Operations Division, Piers Cazalet, who also contributed to the annual review, noted: The DEEP programme is an excellent tool to support Armenian military education system reforms and strengthen the countrys cooperation with NATO. The Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia, Colonel Arthur Yeroyan, underlined the importance of regular stock-taking and highlighted the added value of NATOs cooperation through its Defence Education Enhancement Programme. He said: As our Armed Forces are reforming and going through cultural changes, we are grateful for NATOs support in the key area of military education. The Commandant of Armenias Military Academy, Colonel Arsen Mangasaryan, added: With the support of DEEP experts we implemented major changes in all levels of our educational curriculum, starting from cadets up to the most senior levels. It helped us to establish cooperation with many international partner institutions. During the visit, Colonel Yeroyan also met with the Director of Cooperative Security Division of the NATO International Military Staff, Major General Darian Tiberiu Serban. Texas Gov. Abbott pardons Army veteran convicted of killing assault rifle-wielding BLM protester in 2020 On May 16, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pardoned a former U.S. Army sergean t convicted of murder for shooting an AK47-wielding Black Lives Matter protester back in 2020. The decision came shortly after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously recommended a full pardon. A Texas state district court judge sentenced Daniel Perry in May 2023 to 25 years in prison for shooting and killing U.S. Air Force veteran Garrett Foster during a demonstration protesting police brutality against people of color in downtown Austin, Texas back on July 25, 2020. Following the sentence decision, Abbott directed the parole board to review Perry's case. (Related: Texas army sgt. who killed BLM protester in self defense during George Floyd riots sentenced to 25 years in prison by radical Austin judge.) "Among the voluminous files reviewed by the Board, they considered information provided by the Travis County District Attorney, the full investigative report on Daniel Perry, plus a review of all the testimony provided at trial," Abbott said in a statement announcing the proclamation that absolved Perry. "Texas has one of the strongest Stand Your Ground laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney." My statement regarding the pardon of Sgt. Daniel Perry. pic.twitter.com/t7UMWdeOV2 Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 16, 2024 The decision also included the restoration of Perry's firearm rights. He may also be able to apply to have his record expunged, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Attorney General Ken Paxton lauded Abbott's move. "Americans across the country have been watching this case in Texas and praying for justice after BLM riots terrorized the nation in 2020. Our right to self-defense is enshrined in the Constitution. Soros-backed prosecutors like Jose Garza do not get to pick and choose the rights we have as Americans, and I am relieved that justice has prevailed," he posted on X, formerly Twitter, referring to Travis County District Jose Garza, whose office prosecuted the case against Perry. We are building the infrastructure of human freedom and empowering people to be informed, healthy and aware. Explore our decentralized, peer-to-peer, uncensorable Brighteon.io free speech platform here. Learn about our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Every purchase at HealthRangerStore.com helps fund our efforts to build and share more tools for empowering humanity with knowledge and abundance. Garza, meanwhile slammed the governor's pardon. "The Board and the Governor have put their politics over justice and made a mockery of our legal system. They should be ashamed of themselves," Garza said. "Their actions are contrary to the law and demonstrate that there are two classes of people in this state where some lives matter and some lives do not. They have sent a message to Garrett Foster's family, to his partner, and our community that his life does not matter. They have sent the message that the service of the Travis County community members who served on the grand and trial juries does not matter. To the family and friends of Garrett Foster and the people of Travis County, we will not stop fighting for justice." Perry, who was working as an Uber driver, shot assault-rifle-wielding Foster during the Summer of Floyd after Foster together with a mob of BLM protesters swarmed him in his car in the middle of a public street. A press release from Perry's attorney Clint Broden back in 2021 indicated that "when Sgt. Perry turned on Congress Avenue, several people started beating on his vehicle Foster quickly approached the car and then motioned with the assault rifle for Mr. Perry to lower his window." Broden said Perry believed Foster was with law enforcement and complied. Perry then fired the handgun after Foster raised his assault rifle toward him. After that, a crowd member began firing on Perry's vehicle. The ex-Army never left his vehicle but immediately called the police upon getting to safety. The man who defended himself against BLM rioters was indicted today a year after the incident in yet another example of how illegitimate our justice system is Army Sgt Daniel Perry was driving Uber when rioters mobbed his car and pointed a gun towards him pic.twitter.com/RQb3yX354o AntifaWatch (@AntifaWatch2) July 1, 2021 Democrats and Republicans weigh in on Abbott's decision Apart from Paxton and Garza, several political personalities turned to social media to air their sentiments on Abbott's recent decision. Democrat and former El Paso Congressman Beto O'Rourke bashed it. "Abbott will try to tell you that the biggest threat to law and order in Texas is immigrants. Or President Biden. Or college students. But it's him," O'Rourke wrote. "The truth is this guy doesn't give a s about you, your life, your safety or the rule of law. He cares about pandering to extreme right-wing Republicans and raising money from billionaires. That's why he pardoned Perry, that's why he hurts the people he should be helping." For state Rep. Ron Reynolds, Abbott's action was an "all-time low, even for the governor." Reynolds described the pardon as a gesture to the Trump wing of the Republican Party. "I am very frustrated. This seems to be very much MAGA-driven, something he's doing to keep his base happy. I will be sending a letter to the governor expressing my disappointment. I doubt that he'll care." He also called the pardon "a slap in the face to the Foster family (and to) the Black Lives Matter movement." Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said that the justice system was hijacked. "Texas Republicans have once again proven that they cannot keep the public safe, they are not the party of 'tough on crime,' and they are not the party of 'law and order.' Only in an authoritarian state can a murderer be fully pardoned at the direction of a Fox News TV personality and corrupt governor. Make no mistake: Daniel Perry is a murderer who was on a mission to commit violence against Texans, and today our justice system was hijacked for political gain," he said. Meanwhile, 21st District Congressman Chip Roy praised the pardon. He replied to Abbotts statement with "Excellent. Matt Rinaldi, Texas GOP chair, also said that it was about freaking time. Head over to BlackLiesMatter.news for stories related to this. Sources for this article include: InformationLiberation.com KXXV.com Statesman.com U.S. slaps new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, batteries and other EV hardware The administration of President Joe Biden has passed massive tariffs on Chinese products , quadrupling duties on Chinese-made electric vehicles to over 100 percent and enforcing new levies on Chinese computer chips, solar cells and lithium-ion batteries. The White House said the latest actions are aimed to "protect American workers and businesses." The tariffs will affect $18 billion in Chinese imported goods, along with steel and aluminum, semiconductors, batteries, critical minerals, solar cells and cranes. Biden administration officials claim the measures were in response to years of "unfair trade practices" by China along with the theft of technology and intellectual property and the cyberhacking and corporate espionage of American businesses. (Related: Biden waging trade war with China that U.S. CANT win.) "China's using the same playbook it has before to power its own growth at the expense of others by continuing to invest, despite excess Chinese capacity and flooding global markets with exports that are underpriced due to unfair practices," White House National Economic Adviser Lael Brainard said in a statement to reporters. The revised tariffs are justified, as stated by U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, who has accused China of stealing U.S. intellectual property and claimed that in some instances Beijing has become "more aggressive" with cyber incursions targeting American technology. Tai said previous "Section 301" tariffs had been successful in decreasing U.S. imports of Chinese goods while growing imports from other nations. We are building the infrastructure of human freedom and empowering people to be informed, healthy and aware. Explore our decentralized, peer-to-peer, uncensorable Brighteon.io free speech platform here. Learn about our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Every purchase at HealthRangerStore.com helps fund our efforts to build and share more tools for empowering humanity with knowledge and abundance. White House claims tariffs will protect U.S. auto jobs from cheaper Chinese EVs American officials have repeatedly tagged China as the United States' top "competitor" while stiffening economic restrictions against the nation. The government claims its large new tariffs on Chinese EVs and car batteries would provide U.S. auto jobs temporary protection, possibly at the expense of the White House's push to fight so-called climate change by increasing EV adoption in the United States. Few Chinese-made EVs are presently sold in America, so the direct impact on consumers of higher EV tariffs would be minimal according to analysts. The White House also plans to more than triple tariffs on Chinese EV batteries and battery parts to 25 percent. Graphite, permanent magnets used in EV motors and other EV minerals would receive fresh 25 percent duties added. These tariffs could affect a wider group of vehicles. Automakers have warned that hitting the EV targets will be difficult partially because various Biden administration rules deny federal subsidies to EVs that acquire too much content from China. Without access to lower-cost batteries and battery materials made in China, EVs will be too expensive for mainstream American consumers, automakers have stated. As reported by the latest U.S. government data, American automakers exported 155,337 vehicles worth $6.3 billion to China in 2021. China sent just 64,067 vehicles to America in the same year, valued at $1.45 billion. Most of the vehicles imported from China were sold under U.S. brands, led by General Motors' Buick division. Currently, four vehicle lines sold in the U.S. are made in China, based on government data: Ford's Lincoln Nautilus SUV, the Buick Envision SUV, the Polestar 2 and Volvo's S90 sedans. Polestar and Volvo are partners of Chinese automaker Geely. Chinese retaliatory tariffs that focused on American vehicles could hurt workers at the BMW factory in Spartanburg, South Carolina, which delivers about 25,000 vehicles to China each year, or the Mercedes-Benz SUV plant in Alabama that manufactures electric SUVs sold in the world's biggest market. A clean-technology trade war between America and China could also jack up the costs of EVs, batteries and other EV hardware, keeping overall EV prices high, according to industry executives and several analysts. EVs wearing American brands like the Mustang Mach-E or Tesla Model 3, have 30 percent to 51 percent Chinese content, based on U.S. Transportation Department data. "From the battery, from the mining, from all the technology integration, the Chinese supply chain now is the leading supply chain. It's the best. Why don't you allow a U.S. company to have the freedom to choose the best supplier?" said Stella Li, head of Chinese EV and battery maker BYD's operations in the Americas. Beijing has warned that such actions violate the principles of fair competition and harm the steadiness of world trade. Follow CommunistChina.news for more stories about China's ongoing trade war with America. Watch the video below to learn more about the latest tariffs slapped on China by the Biden Administration. This video is from the Maverick News channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Low-cost China-made Volvo EV to be sold in the U.S. this summer, threatening Tesla and other EV makers. Trump vows to abolish Bidens EV mandate that "only benefits China." Bidens tariffs to drive up prices of canned goods, solar panels as "Bidenflation" intensifies. Sources include: RT.com Reuters.com Brighteon.com Biden vows to VETO bill that could make him lose control of Israel President Joe Biden has declared his intention to veto a bill that would force the United States to expedite all approved arms shipments to Israel because it could make him lose control of the Middle Eastern nation. The proposed bill, introduced on May 14 by Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA), would cut off all federal funding to the Department of State, the Department of Defense and the National Security Council if the White House doesn't agree to move forward with all approved arms shipments for Israel. The Israel Security Assistance Support Act was approved by the House of Representatives on May 16, with 208 Republicans and 16 Democrats in support and three Republicans and 184 Democrats opposed. (Related: Republicans introduce legislation to criminalize student protestors if caught, they'll become "terrorists" with No Fly List travel restrictions.) Republicans argue that the bill makes it clear that the president had no business attempting to dictate Israel's policies nor how it uses the U.S.-manufactured weapons that are instrumental in its ongoing military campaign in Gaza. Upon the bill's passage in the House, the White House said it would "undermine the president's ability to execute an effective foreign policy" and raises "serious concerns about the infringement" of the president's authority under the Constitution. Biden's freeze of arms shipment criticized by both the left and the right Debate over the bill began when the Biden administration put on hold a weapons shipment of 3,500 bombs some as large as 2,000 pounds each of which is capable of killing hundreds of people in populated areas. The arms shipment was suspended as the Biden administration sought to discourage Israel from its offensive on the crowded southern Gazan city of Rafah. We are building the infrastructure of human freedom and empowering people to be informed, healthy and aware. Explore our decentralized, peer-to-peer, uncensorable Brighteon.io free speech platform here. Learn about our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Every purchase at HealthRangerStore.com helps fund our efforts to build and share more tools for empowering humanity with knowledge and abundance. Biden's decision to follow through on his threat to hold weapons shipments to Israel has also been criticized from the left as being of negligible effect, as the vast majority of arms transfers to Israel are continuing despite the freeze on the one specific arms shipment and the ongoing Israeli attack on Rafah. The Biden administration is already planning to send a $1 billion shipment for arms and ammunition to Israel. On the right, Republicans have criticized the president's attempt to meddle in Israeli politics and to threaten its ability to deal with Hamas. "We're beyond frustrated," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). "I don't think we should tell the Israelis how to conduct their military campaign, period." "It is clear that Biden and [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer have turned their back on Israel," said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). "They are carrying water for Iran and its proxies." "Israel needs to finish the job," he added. "And America needs to help Israel extinguish the flame of terror that is wrought by Hamas." "It is President Biden and Senator Schumer himself who are standing in the way of getting Israel the resources it desperately needs to defend itself," continued Johnson. Watch this clip from Fox Business featuring Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) reporting that Republicans have vowed to bring an impeachment resolution against Biden over his "gross abuse of power" when he cutoff aid to Israel. This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Poll: Majority of Democratic voters believe Israel is COMMITTING GENOCIDE in Gaza and Biden is supporting it. Trump doubles down on support for Zionist genocide and mass bombing of Palestinians. WHITE HOUSE REPORT: Israel may have used U.S.-supplied weapons to kill civilians, which violates international humanitarian law. AIPAC-funded Republicans threaten ICC: "Target Israel and we will target you." U.S. opposed to Israel's Rafah operation "as currently planned," some offensive munitions being withheld from Israel by Biden admin. Sources include: MiddleEastEye.net NYPost.com APNews.com Brighteon.com REPORT: FDA used flawed studies, bad data to justify allowing abortion pills to be sent through the mail by pharmacists A paper published in the journal Issues in Law and Medicine has revealed that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) used selective data and misleading claims to justify the removal of the requirement that abortion pills be administered in person. In the past years, the abortion drug mifepristone was only available at specific medical facilities under direct doctor supervision to confirm the pregnancy and its stage, ensure it was not ectopic and prevent coercion and misuse. However, the administration of President Joe Biden made a policy change in December 2021 during the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The Biden administration had stopped enforcing the requirements since April, allowing pharmacists to mail abortion pills to recipients with a prescription. Then-acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock identified four studies that the FDA reviewed to determine whether the remote distribution of abortion pills would be safe or not. The FDA also cited a low number of adverse event reports related to abortion drugs in 2020. However, abortion drug prescribers have not been required to report non-lethal complications since 2016, leading to potential underreporting. (Related: 19-year-old Canadian girl dies after taking common abortion pill.) Ingrid Skop, the vice president and Director of Medical Affairs at the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute, and her co-authors criticized the quality of the studies the FDA used to justify its decision. The authors argued that the FDA's decision was based on flawed studies and underreported data. 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. "Most were small and incomplete (with follow-up data not available on all women) and did not replicate the conditions of use that the FDA approved (because they all included at least some women who received routine pre-abortion testing)," the paper stated. Moreover, the paper noted that many United States studies are of poor quality due to the private payment for most abortions and the reluctance of women to report complications. There are no federal mandatory reporting requirements for abortion complications, which creates uncertainty about the actual number of complications and deaths following abortions. Meanwhile, data from Britain, where there is a more comprehensive system for collecting data on abortion complications, suggests significantly higher complication rates. "When examined thoroughly, the United Kingdom data shows that medical abortion with mifepristone and misoprostol has significantly higher complication rates than the Aiken, et al. study referenced by the FDA suggests, especially when these pills are distributed without standard pre-abortion testing and without medical supervision, AKA 'pills by post,'" the report said. Skop and her co-author, Calum Miller from Oxford University, stated that the FDA "must follow the science by considering the highest quality studies examining the safety of abortion drugs, and they must follow the laws regulating their actions," but fails to do so. ADF files a lawsuit against the FDA's approval of abortion pills In response to the policy change, the Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a lawsuit on behalf of pro-life doctors and activists. The ADF accused the FDA of overstepping its bounds and disregarding safety concerns when it initially approved mifepristone over two decades ago. U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas initially sided with the plaintiffs and issued a preliminary injunction on April 7, which in turn, suspended the FDA approval of mifepristone. As expected, the Biden administration swiftly appealed the decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in August. However, the panel, comprised of judges appointed by former President Donald Trump, delivered a mixed ruling. The panel blocked the overturning of the FDA's initial approval of mifepristone, but reinstated restrictions on the drug, including limiting its use after seven weeks of pregnancy and prohibiting mail delivery. The issue reached the U.S. Supreme Court in December 2023. The highest court in the nation declared its intention to reassess the August ruling. This re-evaluation has the potential to influence not only the FDA's initial approval of mifepristone in 2000 but also the subsequent extension of the timeframe for its administration from seven to 10 weeks. Visit Abortions.news for similar stories about abortion laws around the world. Watch as a new pro-life battle exposes the dangers of chemical abortions under the Biden regime. This video is from the High Hopes channel at Brighteon.com. More related stories: Supreme Court ruling on use of abortion pill could impact November elections. PILL HOARDERS: Maryland officials buy $1.2M worth of abortion pills prior to impending nationwide ban. POLITICIZED: Studies find abortion pill mifepristone dangerous, but medical journal retracts data ahead of Supreme Court hearing. Pro-life groups sound alarm about new Alberta abortion clinic offering chemical abortion drugs via TELEMEDICINE. Newsom refusing to renew $54 million Walgreens contract for California because pharmacy chain refuses to sell abortion pills in some states. Sources include: LifeSiteNews.com 1 LifeSiteNews.com 2 TheGuardian.com Brighteon.com Israel flattens Gazas Jabalia as officials present genocide defense at ICJ Fierce clashes continued to rage in Gazas northern city of Jabalia on 17 May as Israel launched indiscriminate airstrikes across the strip. (Article republished from TheCradle.co) Israeli troops persisted with their incursion into the Jabalia refugee camp for the sixth day in a row, Al Mayadeens correspondent reported. Non-stop bombardment has targeted the camp since the early hours of 17 May. Heavy gunfire also inflicted the camp as Israeli vehicles pushed deeper inside. Israels focus is Jabalia now. Tanks and jets are wiping out residential districts as well as markets, shops, restaurants, everything. It is all happening before the one-eyed world. Shame on the world," a resident of Jabalia, Ayman Rajab, told Reuters. The Americans are going to get us some food. We want no food, we want this war to end and then we can manage our lives on our own, he added. The army also advanced towards the entrance of the northern city of Beit Hanoun and laid siege to the area, according to Al Mayadeen. Israeli forces continue to face heavy resistance from Hamas military wing and other groups. The Qassam Mujahideen snuck behind enemy lines penetrating east of the Jabalia camp, and targeted a Merkava tank with an enemy soldier riding on it, as well as a Zionist troop carrier with Al-Yassin 105 shells. The mujahideen also blew up a tunnel entrance with another troop carrier arrived at the location, Hamas Qassam Brigades said in a statement on Friday. The Qassam Brigades also said its fighters cut off the enemys supply line east of the Jabalia camp after they targeted a troop carrier there with an Al-Yassin 105 shell, and rained bullets on a group of enemy soldiers with a BKC machine gun, leaving them dead and wounded, and forcing the enemy to change the supply line for its invading forces. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movements Quds Brigades announced targeting Israeli snipers and launching mortars on Israeli infantry forces. Meanwhile, Israeli jets pounded the entire strip, killing several. In the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, Israeli airstrikes killed four Palestinians and injured a number of others at a school sheltering displaced people. Israel also bombarded Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south and Gaza City in the north. Israeli fighter jets targeted the Askula area in Gaza and two houses; one in front of Kuwait Hospital in Rafah and the other in Al-Janeinah neighborhood, WAFA news agency reported. The heavy clashes and indiscriminate bombardment across Gaza came as Israels delegation was giving its defense at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). A day earlier, hearings began as the court heard South Africas opening argument. Pretoria filed an application for an urgent session at the ICJ last week in order to demand additional emergency measures to halt Israels ongoing assault on Gazas southernmost city of Rafah, which has killed dozens, displaced hundreds of thousands, and severely hindered aid entry into Gaza since 7 May. At the court, Israels legal team argued that Tel Aviv has gone to great lengths to bring aid into Gaza and urged the ICJ to reject South Africas request for additional measures to halt the Rafah operation. Israels Deputy Attorney General for International Law Gilad Noam accused South Africa of having an ulterior motive and that it is requesting additional measures because it wants a military advantage for its ally Hamas, which it does not want to see defeated. Read more at: TheCradle.co Melinda Gates to resign from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Melinda French Gates, the ex-wife of billionaire globalist Bill Gates, has abruptly announced her departure from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a philanthropic giant she co-founded nearly 25 years ago with her ex-husband. Her decision comes as she reportedly redirects her focus toward her extensive work advocating for the rights and empowerment of women and girls a cause that has been central to her recent philanthropic endeavors. In a statement released Monday, May 13, on X, the 59-year-old French Gates expressed her intention to step down from her role as co-chair of the foundation on June 7 citing a desire to transition into the next phase of her philanthropic journey. With a substantial allocation of $12.5 billion in resources at her disposal as part of her exit from the foundation, French Gates reportedly intends to channel her efforts toward advancing the well-being of women and families worldwide. Her pivot toward women's rights and gender equality is anticipated to significantly influence the landscape of charitable giving. Notably, French Gates' primary vehicle for her philanthropic initiatives has been Pivotal Ventures, a company she established in 2015. Unlike a traditional foundation, Pivotal Ventures has been operating as a limited liability company, enabling it to engage in a diverse range of activities, including advocacy efforts, grant-making and investments. Through Pivotal Ventures, French Gates has championed causes, such as paid family leave, female representation in politics and other issues vital to women's advancement. We are building the infrastructure of human freedom and empowering people to be informed, healthy and aware. Explore our decentralized, peer-to-peer, uncensorable Brighteon.io free speech platform here. Learn about our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Every purchase at HealthRangerStore.com helps fund our efforts to build and share more tools for empowering humanity with knowledge and abundance. As she embarks on this new chapter, French Gates' departure signals a shift in the Gates Foundation's leadership structure. Her ex-husband Gates will assume the role of sole chair of the foundation. The two announced their divorce in May 2021 after which the foundation pledged to continue its operations under their joint leadership. (Related: Bill Gates "geek dad" image falls apart following his divorce from Melinda.) French Gates' departure underscores her desire to forge a distinct path in philanthropy independent of her former spouse. Her resignation marks a significant juncture for the Gates Foundation prompting speculation about its future direction and impact on global philanthropy. French Gates to focus on women's issues Amir Pasic, the Eugene R. Tempel Dean of the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, described French Gates' decision to leave the Gates Foundation as a significant milestone in the evolution of one of the world's most influential philanthropic entities. Pasic highlighted the potential impact of her $12.5 billion allocation toward women's issues noting the limited funding directed to women's and girls' organizations in recent years. French Gates' departure elicited statements of regret from Gates, who acknowledged her instrumental role in shaping the foundation's vision. Mark Suzman, the foundation's chief executive, highlighted French Gates' commitment to advancing women's rights globally and her dedication to addressing recent setbacks in this area. French Gates' transition marks a significant turning point for the Gates Foundation, which has historically focused on various global challenges. Her departure follows the announcement of her divorce from Bill Gates in 2021 signaling a shift in the foundation's leadership dynamics. Despite challenges in their working relationship, Ms. French Gates has been steadfast in her commitment to her philanthropic endeavors seeking to carve out her distinct voice and impact alongside her former spouse. Her departure coincides with efforts to enhance the foundation's governance and operational efficiency. The foundation's trajectory faced uncertainty following the divorce announcement but subsequent changes, including the addition of new trustees, signified a renewed focus on its mission and strategic direction. Watch the following video about "Melinda Gates to resign from Gates Foundation effective June 7." This video is from the Daily Videos channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Melinda Gates drops MULTIPLE BOMBSHELLS about former husband Bill Gates. Melinda Gates unloads on globalist husband Bill Gates: He had multiple affairs His "abhorrent" meetings with Jeffrey Epstein were the last straw Pedophile Jeffrey Epstein "was evil personified." 'Furious' Melinda Gates warned Bill over Jeffrey Epsteins escapades: Report. Sources include: ZeroHedge.com NYTimes.com Twitter.com PivotalVentures.org Brighteon.com WaPo: Biden suffered from 2 near-fatal ANEURYSMS in 1988 and was almost given LAST RITES President Joe Biden suffered two aneurysms in the late 1980s that almost ended his life, according to a report by the Washington Post (WaPo). According to the Jeff Bezos-owned news outlet, the first aneurysm happened to Biden in February 1988 when he was 45 years old. It had been misdiagnosed as a pinched nerve, with the then-U.S. senator for Delaware taking at least 10 acetaminophen tablets a day to provide at least a modicum of pain relief. However, doctors discovered the dangerous warping of a blood vessel; had it burst, it would have likely been fatal. Biden then underwent an emergency surgery to correct the condition and address its potentially deadly consequences. This severe February 1988 aneurysm stemmed from the initial misdiagnosis. Biden's refusal to seek immediate medical attention even as the pain in his neck became unbearable also made things worse. WaPo reported that a Catholic priest was even called in to administer the Last Rites to him. Citing an account by the president's sister Valerie Biden Owens, WaPo recounted that Jill Biden intervened and prevented the priest from giving the U.S. senator the Viaticum. "Jill Biden, who had been ordered to stay out of the room, burst in, yelling at [the priest] to leave. 'You're not giving him the Last Rites. He's not going to die,' she said," according to WaPo. Doctors pushed through with the risky surgery, which ultimately saved Biden's life. But the then-senator wasn't out of the water yet, as he suffered a pulmonary embolism while in recovery. The National Pulse explains that a pulmonary embolism is "sudden blockage of arteries that brings blood to the lungs." 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. Biden did recover from this embolism, but the earlier aneurysm was followed by a second one found in May 1988, which again required surgery. The senator recovered from this second surgery and eventually made his way to the White House spending eight years as vice president before being elected as chief executive in the rigged 2020 elections. Are Biden's gaffes a consequence of his aneurysm? "An aneurysm is a warping in a blood vessel, commonly as a bulge or bubble. Aneurysms can fill with blood and subsequently rupture. When ruptured, aneurysms are fatal in about 50 percent of cases," the Pulse continued. "Even among those who survive, two-thirds will suffer long-term neurological damage. Aneurysms can be genetic and continue to appear in a patient over time. At 81 years old, Biden's history of aneurysms may raise additional concerns about the closely guarded state of his health." In February, the Pulse reported how Biden refused to take a cognitive test during his annual physical examination at the time. "I'm squared away, they say I look too young," he told reporters at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland where he had his physical exam. (Related: Doctors urge Biden to take MENTAL COMPETENCY test following increasing evidence of presidents cognitive decline.) White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also confirmed that Biden didn't undergo a cognitive test during his physical exam, arguing that he "doesn't need one." Former President Donald Trump has poked fun at Biden's failing cognitive function as evidenced by the incumbent's various verbal gaffes in multiple instances. She also declined to make Biden's physician available for questioning by reporters, contending that it's not the standard practice. According to the Pulse, "This deviates from the usual protocol during the Trump administration, when the former president's physician was subjected to extensive questioning." Head over to JoeBiden.news for more stories about the incumbent president's health. Watch this video from "Fox and Friends First" about the White House scolding reporters on their "false" coverage of the president's health. This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Biden's cognitive decline is now painfully obvious to the world, yet Dems continue to deny it. Too feeble to indict: Joe Biden's disastrous press conference confirms his diminished mental capacity. Hillary Clinton: Joe Biden's AGE is a legitimate issue to consider ahead of 2024 presidential elections. Biden's gaffes and repeated stumbles spur nervous talks about the 25TH Amendment and Kamala taking over. DOJ special counsel report describes Biden as having "diminished faculties" and "faulty memory" proving critics right that he is in a state of COGNITIVE DECLINE. Sources include: TheNationalPulse.com 1 TheNationalPulse.com 2 Brighteon.com White ethnicities are being replaced What is happening in the US is happening everywhere in the Western world. As the empire itself is rotten, so must be its constituent parts. (Article by Paul Craig Roberts republished from PaulCraigRoberts.org) In the US white parents have to take their kids out of public schools, because public schools are indoctrination centers where white kids are indoctrinated that they, their parents, and their relatives are racist exploiters of people of color and that they are born into the wrong body and need to be sterilized in order to escape the wrong gender, thus further reducing the white birth rate. In Jean Raspals The Camp of The Saints, white Europeans are prohibited from marrying within their white ethnicity. In Americas edition of The Camp of the Saints, white youth are simply sterilized by sex change operations. The American federal courts have set it up so that parents have no say about the sterilization of their children. Despite this ruthless tyranny, America thinks it is a free society, and conservatives chant USA, USA, USA. A country with a population this stupid cannot survive. The website Axios seems to blame declining white public school enrollments not on the coerced indoctrination of white kids but on whites alleged desire for racial segregation. In other words, whites are racist for resisting propaganda that they are racists. https://www.axios.com/2024/05/17/suburban-schools-white-latino-segregation?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top In a few years there will be no place in America for a white person. Their country has been stolen from them. White Americans are such second class citizens that they are not protected by the 1964 Civil Rights Act and are openly discriminated against in employment. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency that ignored the statutory language of the Civil Rights Act and imposed illegal and unconstitutional racial quotas to the disadvantage of white Americans, requires companies with 100 or more employees to report annually the racial composition of their work force. Bloomberg News obtained the data for 2020 and 2021 and found that 94% of the 323,094 new jobs created by the companies went to blacks. This constitutes discrimination against whites that goes far beyond coerced proportional representation. White Americans have been discriminated against ever since Alfred Blumrosen broke the law in the 1960s and imposed discriminatory racial quotas. White Americans did nothing about their loss of constitutional protection. Consequently, after more than a half century of institutionalized racism against white Americans, white people cannot even get a job. In 2021 blacks comprised 12.6% of the population and got 94% of the new jobs. Whites comprised 59.3% of the population and got 4% of the jobs. Bloomberg News seems to think that institutionalized racial discrimination against white people is a great achievement. https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2023-black-lives-matter-equal-opportunity-corporate-diversity/#:~:text=The%20overall%20job%20growth%20included,underrepresented%20at%20big%20US%20companies Whites were intimidated by charges that they are racists. They opposed racial quotas on the basis that it was abandonment of a merit-based system, not on their loss of constitutional protection. The 14th Amendments equal protection clause no longer applies to white people. Corporations (and universities and US military) can openly discriminate against white Americans and nothing is done about it. The loss of Constitutional protection is the first step in extermination. The Biden regime and the ruling elites are determined to replace the white population. This is the reason for the US policy of open borders and the use of US of government tax revenues to recruit immigrant-invaders from 160 countries and fly them into red states. This is being done to Americansand to Europeansby their own white leaders, not by blacks or the Wests alleged enemies, the Russians, Chinese, and Iranians. It is totally clear that the refugee policy is a white replacement policy. And the moronic whites keep voting for those who are determined to replace them. The Democrat Party which is committed to white replacement is actually poised to become the dominant party. How do we avoid the question whether people this stupid deserve their displacement? Read more at: PaulCraigRoberts.org American doctors stranded in Gaza beg the U.S. to stop sending weapons to Israel A group of American doctors who are currently stranded in Gaza are calling on the U.S. to stop sending weapons to Israel. The Israeli militarys closure of the border crossing with Egypt closed the only point of entry and exit for foreign aid workers in Gaza while cutting off medical supplies, water and food. The physicians recently spoke to the Washington Post to explain the horrors theyve seen as Israels offensive in Gaza continues to take a terrible humanitarian toll. In particular, they described the suffering in Rafah, a city where more than a million displaced Palestinians are currently sheltering and that is expected to be Israels next target. Dr. Adam Hamawy, a reconstructive plastic surgeon, told the outlet that although the suffering in Gaza is not unlike that seen in war zones in a general sense, the difference in this case is that so many of the victims are children. Dr. Hamawy, who previously served as a combat trauma surgeon in Iraq, said: Think of the injuries that you see in war, with blood everywhere, with shrapnel thats supposed to kill soldiers and military personnel and take out tanks and bunkers. Now think about that going through a childs body. He also said that he thinks American politicians might view the situation differently if they saw firsthand the destruction Israel was causing in Gaza using American-made weapons. For example, he talked about performing amputations on children and helping severely burned children. He recounted how disheartened he was when a medical student showed him munitions used to shell his home that said, Made in the USA, Lockheed Martin. We are building the infrastructure of human freedom and empowering people to be informed, healthy and aware. Explore our decentralized, peer-to-peer, uncensorable Brighteon.io free speech platform here. Learn about our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Every purchase at HealthRangerStore.com helps fund our efforts to build and share more tools for empowering humanity with knowledge and abundance. He and his colleagues participating in a volunteer medical mission there have been calling for a ceasefire. They are also calling for the U.S. to stop selling arms to Israel and to use its power to convince the Jewish State to reopen the crossing in Rafah that was seized by Israeli forces early in May. The doctor also described how IDF airstrikes have been shaking the walls of the hospital while they try to save patients, which is becoming increasingly challenging as they run out of every type of supply imaginable, as well as sterilization products and anesthesia. Another American doctor who is stranded in Gaza, Mahmoud Sabha, told the LA Times that they were shocked by the cruelty of Israels actions there. He also drew attention to the fact that in addition to preventing aid from reaching the people who need it most, blocking off the crossing in Rafah means that new aid workers cannot get in to replace the ones who are rotating out. This is compounded by the fact that many American doctors stuck in Gaza are starting to see their health deteriorate. Dr. Sabha also shared his concern about children dealing with burns and amputations, saying that if hospitals in Rafah are forced by Israeli troops to evacuate, these patients could die. If the hospital were abandoned or their families were forced to evacuate, I have no clue how these patients would survive, especially those with amputations restricting their movement. I imagine the patients saying a final goodbye to their loved ones. Biden administration continues to supply Israel with arms despite concerns about civilian casualties Illinois State representative Abdelnasser Rashid has been acting as a representative for trapped doctors to the federal government. He reiterated that these physicians are pushing for America to stop supporting genocide. Were doing both things: trying to make sure our government is pushing for basic protections for aid workers and, more globally, trying to stop our government from funding the ongoing genocide in Gaza, he said. Last week, the Biden administration proceeded with a $1 billion arms deal with Israel, even in the face of concerns that civilian casualties were mounting in Rafah. Sources for this article include: News.AntiWar.com WashingtonPost.com AT&Ts MASSIVE data breach affects 73 MILLION previous and current customers Millions of previous and current AT&T customers were at risk of having their personal information exposed after the carrier announced last month that user data was published on the dark web AT&T reported that over 73 million current and former customers have information like their Social Security number and more published on the dark web in March. The carrier added that the leak involved data from 7.6 million current users and at least 65.4 million former customers. (Related: Election systems expert demonstrates how easy it is to HACK voting machine USING ONLY A PEN.) The AT&T website wrote that the information "varied by customer and account but may have included full name, email address, mailing address, phone number, social security number, date of birth, AT&T account number and passcode." If you are worried that your data was involved in the recent data leak, the carrier has started contacting both current and former customers whose data has been leaked. Customers affected by the security breach can expect to receive direct communication from AT&T via email or letter regarding the incident. AT&T reported that it already reset the passcodes of affected customers. The company said it discovered the customer information in a specific data set on the dark web. While AT&T is still searching through the set, it released the following statement: "AT&T has launched a robust investigation supported by internal and external cybersecurity experts. Based on our preliminary analysis, the data set appears to be from 2019 or earlier, impacting approximately 7.6 million current AT&T account holders and approximately 65.4 million former account holders. Currently, AT&T does not have evidence of unauthorized access to its systems resulting in exfiltration of the data set. We encourage current and former customers with questions to visit www.att.com/accountsafety for more information." What to do if your data is breached If you suspect that your account was involved in the data breach, you can visit haveibeenpwned.com to check if your information was sold on the dark web. Once you visit the website, type your email address into the search bar. The website will then search to see your data. It will display if there were data breaches linked to your email address on different websites. You may have even received an email from Have I Been Pwned warning that some of your data was stolen. If your information has been stolen and you have received a notification from Have I Been Pwned, take immediate action to minimize the damage. 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. Follow the steps below to secure your data: Change your passwords If hackers have recorded your account passwords, they could easily access your online accounts and steal your data or money. If you are on a laptop or desktop computer, change your passwords for all your important accounts, such as banking, email or social media. Make sure you do this on another device so the hacker isnt recording you setting up your new password on the hacked device. When choosing new passwords for your accounts, use strong and unique passwords that are hard to guess or crack. Do not use easy-to-identify information like your birthday or the street where you live. Alternatively, you can use a password manager to generate and store your passwords securely. Enable two-factor authentication Activating two-factor authentication (2FA) on your accounts can help add an extra layer of security. Monitor all your accounts and recent transactions Even if you don't suspect that your account has been hacked, it's good to check your online accounts and transactions regularly for any signs of suspicious or unauthorized activity. If you notice anything unusual, report it to the service provider or authorities. Additionally, you should carefully review your credit reports and scores to see if there are any signs of identity theft or fraud. Contact your bank and credit card companies If hackers have obtained your bank or credit card information, they could use it to make purchases or withdrawals even without your consent. Immediately inform your bank and credit card companies of the situation. Doing this allows them to help you freeze or cancel your cards, dispute any fraudulent charges and issue new cards. Use identity theft protection Identity theft protection companies can help monitor personal information like your home title, Social Security Number, phone number and email address and alert you if it is being used to open an account. These companies can also help you in freeze your bank and credit card accounts to prevent further unauthorized use by hackers. Additionally, some of these services might include identity theft insurance of up to $1 million to cover losses and legal fees and a white-glove fraud resolution team where a U.S.-based case manager helps you recover any losses. Alert your contacts Lastly, alert your contacts if hackers have accessed your email or social media accounts because cyber criminals could use them to send spam or phishing messages to your contacts. Hackers can also impersonate you and ask for money or personal information. Immediately alert your contacts and warn them not to open or respond to any messages from you that seem suspicious or unusual. Because this is still a fluid situation, AT&T has announced that it is actively investigating and gathering information. Even if you are not an AT&T customer, the incident can offer some valuable lessons. Take precautionary measures to secure your data. Visit Glitch.news for more stories about other hacking attempts. Watch the video below to find out if China can hack the U.S. power grid. This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Data leak alert: Government watchdog employee sends info on 256,000 private consumers to personal email. Massive cyberattack hits U.S. Big Pharma leaving tens of thousands of prescriptions unfilled. Leaked documents from a Chinese contractor offers rare insight into how the CCP operates its cyberwarfare and surveillance operations. Hackers target Change Healthcare, which handles 15 BILLION health records annually. Sources include: 100PercentFedUp.com CyberGuy.com Brighteon.com Michael Cohens 100 secret recordings on phone, including one with Trump, can be used against him Michael Cohen has been called up as the star witness of the prosecution in Trump's hush money trial in New York. He has admitted under oath that he had recorded about 100 calls with journalists on his phone when he was still former President Donald Trump's lawyer. He also confessed to having recorded a call with the former president, where they discussed plans to buy a Playboy model's story about having an alleged affair with Trump. In an interview on Fox News, trial attorney Mercedes Colwin pointed out that based on the testimony, Cohen is just proving that he is untrustworthy. According to her, no laws have been broken as New York is a one-party consent state, where it is legal to record conversations without the other party's consent. "But it's cringeworthy for jurors to sit there who are trying to determine his credibility that he has so many recordings. When this comes up in cases that I've handled, especially if it's at the opposing side, you can certainly put your arms around it and almost jump up and down in glee." Because this is something that can be used against the opposing side, Colwin explained. Cohen claims to have recorded Trump attempting to buy rights to a story so it wouldn't be published Cohen, who worked for Trump for more than a decade, said to the Manhattan Supreme Court jurors during the most recent hearing that the Sept. 6, 2016, conversation, taped on the Voice Memos app on his iPhone, was the only time he recorded his former boss. "So, what do we get to pay for this? One-fifty?" Trump could allegedly be heard saying on the nearly three-minute recording played in court by Assistant District Attorney Susan Hoffinger. The call focused on plans to buy the rights to former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal's story about having an affair with the former POTUS from the National Enquirer, Cohen said in the testimony. 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. He further claimed that the call was recorded to assure then-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker that Trump would reimburse Pecker the $150,000 he paid to McDougal for the exclusive rights to her story, which he never planned to publish. "It was so I could show it to David Pecker and that way he would hear the conversation, that he would know Mr. Trump is going to be paying him back," Trump's former lawyer said on the stand. Colwin noted: "If the jury believes that Cohen has lied about anything on the stand, they can discount the entirety of his testimony." Meanwhile, sitting at the defense table in the courtroom, Trump could be seen smirking and shaking his head at Cohen's explanation for making the recording without telling him. Earlier, Cohen laid out for jurors the myriad ways he acted like a "fixer" for the real estate mogul, including threatening to sue reporters who published unfavorable stories about him, getting a yellow cab company to pay for a fender-bender with his limo and generally lying and bullying others on his behalf. (Related: NYT op-ed: 'I thought the Bragg case against Trump was a legal embarrassment. Now I think it's a historic mistake.') Visit Trump.news to read more news related to the ongoing legal battle the former president is fighting. Watch the video below that talks about how Cohen failed miserably in Trump's trial. This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Anti-Trump impeachment counsel, congressman, sent money DIRECTLY to Judge Merchan's family. SUPPRESSED: NY appeals court DECLINES Trump's request to overturn GAG order. Sources include: 100PercentFedUp.com NYPost.com Brighteon.com NATO to overstep Russias red line as it mulls sending troops to train Ukrainian armed forces Some of the 32 NATO member states are inching closer to seriously considering sending military troops to Ukraine in answer to Kyiv's request of training 150,000 recruits as the beleaguered nation is facing a critical point in its manpower shortage. The appeal to send in men came after the delay in the delivery of American weapons. An article in the New York Times indicated that if the alliance sends soldiers for faster deployment into the Russian-Ukraine war, NATO would be blurring a previous "red line" and could draw the United States and Europe more directly into the war. Previously, the White House said it would not put American troops, including trainers, on the ground in Ukraine, a position that an administration official reiterated on Thursday. The administration has also urged NATO allies not to send their troops. However, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Thursday that a NATO deployment of trainers appeared inevitable. "We'll get there eventually, over time," he said. But for now, an effort inside Ukraine would put "a bunch of NATO trainers at risk" and would most likely mean deciding whether to use precious air defenses to protect the trainers instead of critical Ukrainian infrastructure near the battlefield. American instructors used to be part of a NATO training program in Yavorov, in western Ukraine but were withdrawn in early 2022. Russia has since struck the facility with missiles multiple times. NATO has also trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops in Germany, Poland, the U.K. and elsewhere. Western tactics proved less than adequate during the summer 2023 offensive, however. The Times has described the Ukrainian battlefield as "far different and more intense than what American forces have fought on in recent years." 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. Once NATO instructors are inside Ukraine, the U.S. would be obligated to defend any NATO instructors inside Ukraine from attack, "potentially dragging America into the war," the news outlet reported. The idea of sending NATO troops to Ukraine was first floated by French President Emmanuel Macron back in February. Estonia and Lithuania have since expressed support for either sending instructors or support troops, to free up Ukrainian soldiers for combat duty. Meanwhile, Britain, France and Germany are working on a plan to send contractors to maintain weapons in the combat zone, the Times reported. Though the U.S. has banned defense contractors from going to Ukraine, "a small number have already been allowed in, under State Department authority, to work on specific weapons systems like Patriot air defenses," the news site further noted. Earlier this week, British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said that "moving training closer" to Ukraine would make sense, but added that London did not want to put British troops on the ground. Russia-Ukraine War has exposed serious flaws in some of U.S.'s most sophisticated weapons systems The United States has been Ukraine's most important ally, providing a total of $107 billion in aid to the Ukrainian government since the start of the war in 2022. Now that the weapons have been deployed, the U.S. has been receiving reports of the flaws of some of its most important weapons and military production systems. As previously reported, an area in which the U.S. has revealed its shortcomings is in electronic warfare. Russia's jamming systems have created major issues with Western precision weaponry, including GMLRS rockets and Excalibur artillery shells. Moscow's electronic units have become increasingly adept at scrambling the GPS navigation systems used to guide the missiles and shells to their targets. They have made American-made gadgets go off-course and useless. "The war has revealed that some of the U.S. precision-guided munitions fail in a highly contested electromagnetic environment," Stacie Pettyjohn, a military analyst at the Center for a New American Security, told Business Insider. In the meantime, they used cheap off-the-shelf Ukrainian drones to surveil enemy positions, guide artillery strikes and fit them with grenades or explosives to attack enemy positions. These drones are also susceptible to electronic warfare, but Ukraine has produced technology to evade jamming signals and exploit gaps in Russia's electronic warfare defenses. Pettyjohn added that maneuvering, concealing and supplying troops on battlefields under constant drone surveillance is another conundrum Department of Defense experts are grappling with. Reports indicated that the Pentagon is rapidly seeking to improve its ability to deploy drones to support troops and take out enemy drones. At the moment, the U.S. army units have only a few old drones per unit, the analyst disclosed. Another weakness of the U.S. military that recently surfaced is the U.S.'s capacity to produce weapons in the quantity Ukraine needs. The ongoing conflict resembles World War I, having two militaries in well-defended positions firing tens of thousands of rounds of artillery a day at each other to wear the opponent down. And the U.S. military is yet to adjust. (Related: NATO running out of weapons for Ukraine: "bottom of the barrel" now visible.) Meanwhile, Russia has placed its economy on a war footing, massively increasing the amount of military equipment it can produce and placing Ukraine at a serious disadvantage. Bookmark UkraineWitness.com for updates on the current situation in the beleaguered nation. Sources for this article include: RT.com NYTimes.com BusinessInsider.com Newsgate: Reporters caught coordinating with political hacks In my last post, When Beat Reporters Act Like They Work for the Agency Theyre Supposed to Cover , I outlined why some reporters, such as NBC Justice Reporter Ryan Reilly, seem to carry water for those they cover rather than act as independent journalists. (Article by Sharyl Attkisson republished from SharylAttkisson.Substack.com) And I promised this eye-opening follow on. Inside documents and leaks have given us graphic glimpses into the transactional journalism practiced by reporters at prominent national news groups. It amounts to our own industry scandal: Our Newsgate. Compromised reporting has always existed as a result of covert collaborations between reporters and political interestsDemocrats and Republicans alike. Some of the most exemplary hard evidence available happens to be heavy on reporters with Democrat ties. Much of it came during the scandal-ridden 2016 presidential campaign when candidate Donald Trump upended politics and ran against Hillary Clinton, who was also running against Bernie Sanders for the Democrat nomination. As youll see, much of the political establishment and establishment media seemed to be working on Team Hillary. It can be argued that some individual accounts provided here can be rationalized and are not serious breaches of ethics. But taken as a whole, its easy to see how we as journalists have done a poor job protecting ourselves from being co-opted by organized interests, often ones that are paid and politically-motivated. Whether we realize it or not, theyve figured out how to exploit the media and use us to publish their propaganda. It implies a broad and growing trend that has seriously undermined the credibility of the news industry. Opinion reporters and those who work for obviously ideological news groups are entitled to publish party propaganda. Its one matter to provide viewpoint journalism. But its quite another for us to pretend to be independent journalists while acting as a tool of any interest, or publishing narratives or talking points upon suggestion or demand, without disclosing were doing just that. I've gathered the following accounts and arranged them alphabetically by media organization. The examples are derived from human sources, Freedom of Information Act documents, and WikiLeaks. When available, Ive linked to the actual documents. Incidentally, the material provided through WikiLeaks helps explain why WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange went from darling of the Democrats prior to 2015, to a demonized accused criminal. WikiLeaks had obtained and published, without comment or favor, damning documents revealing controversial and embarrassing inner workings of the Democratic National Committee. Obviously, what follows is just a small sampling of the behind the scenes dealings that occur between reporters and their sources. Those mentioned below, to the extent theyve offered comment, have denied doing anything improper or unethical. Some of the reporters have explained that the reason they provided advance drafts of stories to their news subjects, or allowed the subjects to make editorial choicesmoves that are generally considered unethicalwas to be responsible, as part of a fact check. Some have commented their actions reflect common practice. Read on for details. As you read through the examples, you may notice how many of the allegedly conflicted reporters circulate among the same national news organizations even after their individual controversies. Their scandals dont seem to hurt their careersif anything, it seems they may help! Its difficult not to conclude that its no accident: the news organizations are hiring these reporters in order to get coverage thats slanted a certain way. Associated Press (AP) The State Department considered AP reporters Matt Lee and Bradley Klapper friendlies, and planned to place Hillary Clinton email stories with them and dictate the timing of their release. The goal was to blunt the June 2015 news that Clinton had failed to provide Congress certain required emails. Clinton campaign press officer Nick Merrill coordinated directly with the State Department on the plan to use AP to lay this out before the [Republican] majority on the [Benghazi] committee has a chance to realize what they have and distort it. Merrill posited, It would be good to frame this a little and frankly to have it break tomorrow when well likely be close or in the midst of a [Supreme Court] decision taking over the news hyenas. AP published a story the following day. The pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC American Bridge claimed it placed negative stories about Jeb Bush with AP and other news outlets. In August of 2015, as the Clinton campaign was reeling in damage control mode over revelations about Hillarys improper email usage, her aide Cheryl Mills laid out her personal preferences for getting their side of the story out to the public in the most favorable way possible. They included feeding information to AP and determining the timing of its release. (Also, see Dilanian below under LA Times) The Atlantic Marc Ambinder from The Atlantic, asked a Hillary Clinton aide for advance text of a speech. The aide dictated conditions, including 1) You in your own voice describe [Hillarys words] as muscular, to which Ambinder agreed. Ambinder was known for his left-leaning reporting and formerly worked for ABC, CBS and National Journal. Incredibly, he went on to develop a comprehensive counter-disinformation curriculum for election officials and political candidates as part of USCs Election Cybersecurity Initiative. CBS The State Department and White House indicated they had arranged with CBS News Face the Nation for Secretary of State John Kerry to be shielded from any questions about the Hillary Clinton email controversy. Think we can get this done so [Kerry] is not asked about email, the White Houses Jennifer Palmieri emails to State Department spokesman Jen Psaki on March 12, 2015. Despite the fact that Kerrys appearance on Face the Nation happened two days after Clinton held her first press conference on the emails, he was not asked about the controversy. CBS News says there was no discussion about or agreement to limit questions. CNBC CNBC anchor and New York Times contributor John Harwood, who moderated a Republican presidential debate, appears to have offered, compliments, helpful thoughts and analyses to the Clinton campaign. Harwood also worked at the Wall Street Journal, NBC and CNN. On Sept. 21, 2015, Harwood appears to have solicited editorial ideas from Clinton campaign chair John Podesta for Harwoods upcoming interview with Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush. Harwood asks Podesta: what should I ask Jebin Speakeasy interview tomorrow? CNN On April 28, 2016, a Democratic National Committee official indicates the DNC can supply CNN with questions to ask Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz. In an email titled, Cruz on CNN, the DNC official emails DNC colleagues that CNN is looking for questions. Please send some topical/interesting ones. Maybe a couple on Fiorina. Someone please take point and send them all together by 3pm. Thank you! In another exchange, the Clinton campaign emailed that CNN politics producer Dan Merica and Clinton were basically courting each other. In an email, Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile (then a CNN contributor) said she obtained an advance question for an upcoming CNN town hall with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, and she passed it on to the Hillary campaign. This would give Clinton an advantage in the televised event. Indeed, the question asked in the March 13 town hall. Brazile responded to the news by saying she didnt do what her email said shed done. A second email revealed Brazile passed along to the Clinton campaign another advance question in advance of a CNN primary debate between Clinton and Sanders. One of the questions directed to HRC tomorrow is from a woman with a rash. Her family has lead poison and she will ask what, if anything, will Hillary do as president to help the ppl of Flint, Brazile wrote on March 5, 2016. On March 6, a woman fitting the description did ask a similar question. CNN political commentator Maria Cardona emailed Democratic National Committee officials a draft of her opinion piece that attacked Bernie Sanders prior to the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. She invited the DNCs editorial input and made changes accordingly, asking the DNC, Is this better? The pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC American Bridge claimed it placed negative stories about Jeb Bush with CNN and other news outlets. American Bridge also claimed that a report it produced against the conservative Koch Brothers (billionaire donors) resulted in a high-profile CNN story. (See also Stelter under New York Times) Daily Beast Eleanor Clift of the Daily Beast appears to feel left out when she wasnt invited to a Clinton campaign dinner for reporters as Hillary Clinton was launching her run for President. On April 10, 2015, she writes Clinton campaign chair John Podesta, John, I completely understand why dinner at your home did not include someone like me, whos a known quantity to Clinton campaign veterans. But I wanted to make an appeal for an early opportunity to get myself and the Daily Beast Political editor, Jackie Kucinich, on your radar so I/we can write and report knowledgeably. Theres a long campaign ahead, and Id like to establish a line of communications. Is there an assistant I should go through? I look forward to working with you (and maybe getting some of that pasta and walnut sauce dish!!) All best, Eleanor Daily Kos A source for the pro-Hillary Clinton propaganda and smear group Media Matters named Daily Kos one of several news outlets that are helpful in getting out the Media Matters agenda, according to Daily Caller. Huffington Post The [Huffington Post] guys were good, Sam and Nico, said a Media Matters source to Daily Caller, speaking of reporters who will report what Media Matters puts out. The comment apparently refers to Nico Pitney and Sam Stein. Los Angeles Times Ken Dilanian, who covered the CIA for the LA Times, explicitly promised positive news coverage and sometimes sent the CIA press office entire story drafts for review prior to publication, according to the Intercept, which obtained internal CIA emails and called Dilanian the CIAs mop-up man. His approach apparently won approval from numerous left-leaning national news organizations who hired him including AP, USA Today, and NBC News, where he is currently a Justice and Intelligence Correspondent. His work is typically seen as biased in favor of the justice and intelligence communities he covers, and anti-Trump. Jim Rainey of the LA Times took a lot of our stuff, a Media Matters source told Daily Caller. MSNBC Media Matters staff had the direct line of MSNBC president Phil Griffin, and used it, a Media Matters source told Daily Caller. If we published something [negative] about Fox in the morning, [MSNBC would] have it on the air that night verbatim. We were pretty much writing their prime time. But then, virtually all the mainstream media was using our stuff. Additionally, the Clinton campaign believed it could count on NBCs Andrea Mitchell to conduct a helpful interview, upon its request, with Hillary Clinton amid the email controversy in 2015, according to WikiLeaks emails. New York Times New York Times reporter Scott Shane privately provided the State Department Public Affairs office with what appears to be an advance NYT story publication schedule regarding a major controversy surrounding Hillary Clintons State Department. Brian Stelter at the New York Times [later at CNN for several years] was helpful, in publishing the Media Matters narrative, a source told Daily Caller. He was seen as consistently anti-Trump and on the chosen Media Matters narratives. New York Times reporter Mark Leibovich (formerly of The Atlantic) gave Hillary Clinton the opportunity to approve or veto her quotes. He later explained that was because he agreed to make the original interview with her off-the-record and required her approval to use selected pieces of it. The pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC American Bridge claimed it placed negative stories about Jeb Bush with the New York Times and other news outlets. Its unclear exactly how, but the Clinton campaigns Jennifer Palmieri got an advance briefing about a soon-to-be-published New York Times story. She appears to have been involved in or at least got the chance to see different drafts of the story. She also indicated she had a direct line on the timing of publication. I got a briefing on the story, its in a much better place, Palmieri writes on July 8, 2015 to Clinton and colleagues. Takes the viewpoint that 20 years after [Bill Clinton] declared the era of big government is over, HRC [Hillary Clinton] is putting forward more liberal agenda that would expand governments role. It refers to HRCs policy ideas as opposed to plans, notes she hasnt rolled them out yet, and will do an economic speech on Monday. It says that if her ideas were enacted they would likely cost in the hundreds of billions of dollars, does not put a number on it, which is good. There is a good bit in there about Bernies plans too, and how he would represent a bigger expansion of government and questions whether HRCs agenda will be seen as progressive enough in comparison. It should post later tonight or tomorrow. Nov. 13, 2015 Clinton campaign press secretary Brian Fallon indicated the campaign had successfully planted a negative story about Sen. Charles Grassley in the New York Times, apparently with reporter Maggie Haberman. After hitting a wall with other outlets, NYT will do a story about DiSanto. Adam Jentleson in reids office is giving a statement saying the connection is troubling and raises questions. Could pop this weekend, Fallon emails another Clinton ally. Three days later, the New York Times Haberman published the article questioning whether a State Department official (DiSanto) was improperly leaking damaging information to Grassley. Haberman was previously lauded as a cooperative journalist by Clintonites while working at Politico. At the Times, she became known for her biased reporting against President Trump. (See also Haberman under Politico) (See also Harwood under CNBC) Politico In April of 2015, Chief Politico political correspondent Glenn Thrush sent part of an article to Clinton campaign official Podesta for approval before it was published. Please dont share or tell anyone I did this, Thrush writes in the April 2015 exchange. Because I have become a hack I will send u the whole section that pertains to uTell me if I fuc*ed up anything. Podesta signs off and the article is published. An email on April 17, 2015 shows Thrush also sent eight paragraphs from a pre-published article to Clinton Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri with the title please read asapdont share. Palmer writes colleagues, Glenn Thrush is doing a story about how well launch went and some part of it will be about me which I hate. He did me the courtesy of sending what he is going to say about me. Seems fine. The New York Times apparently approved of Thrushs reporting style. It hired him, along with left-leaning Maggie Haberman, to negatively cover President Trump. In 2017, Thrush was removed from his Times assignment amid sexual misconduct allegations. The Times ended up permanently removing him from the White House beat and suspending him, but eventually welcomed him back to cover the Justice Department. Additionally, Staffers at Media Matters say they knew they could dump stuff to Ben Smith when he was at Politico, according to Daily Caller. Ben Smith will take stories and write what you want him to write. That type of reporting apparently set well with other left-leaning news organizations, as Smith went on to become editor-in-chief at Buzzfeed.com and then media columnist for the New York Times. Politico chief investigative reporter Ken Vogel emailed a soon-to-be-published story to Democratic National Committee official Mark Paustenbach per agreement and invited his thoughts. Paustenbach gave the draft to the DNCs head of communications, Luis Miranda. Vogel gave me his story ahead of time/before it goes to his editors as long as I didnt share it, Paustenbach told Miranda. In his effort to get an interview with Chelsea Clinton, Mike Allen, Politicos chief political reporter offered to provide questions in advance, precisely agreed upon with a Hillary Clinton aide. The interview would be no-surprises: I would work with you on topics, and would start with anything she wants to cover or make news on. Quicker than a network hit, and reaching an audience you care about with no risk, Allen wrote the aide. After the email became public, Allen apologized and said he would never do what he offered to do in his email. Hillary Clinton staffers described Maggie Haberman, then of Politico, as an ideal friendly journalist with whom to place stories. We have had her tee up stories for us before and have never been disappointed, writes one staffer in an email. As mentioned, Haberman went on to work for the New York Times where she became know for her biased coverage against President Trump. The emails were first reported in The Intercept. Read the Intercept article by Glenn Greenwald and Lee Fang PBS The Clinton campaign apparently arranged for PBS to put the news out about the reversal of Clintons support for the Trans Pacific Partnership TPP trade deal in interview with Judy Woodruff on Oct. 7, 2015. In an email exposed by WikiLeaks, the Clinton campaign implied it retained control over the timing of the PBS rollout, and planned a coincident paper release statement. I told PBS to hold till 345pm and that we would send the statement to our travelers after they put the news out (we should give them 15 minutes of breathing space), writes the campaigns Jennifer Palmieri. She notes, We can move up PBS time if need be. The time on the PBS online release is 3:44pm. Salon A Media Matters source told Daily Caller that left-leaning Salon proved to be a helpful news outlet for getting its message across. San Francisco Chronicle A Media Matters source told Daily Caller that Joe Garofoli at the Chronicle took a lot of our stuff. Vox The Clinton campaign indicated that it believed it could use Ezra Klein of the liberal blog Vox (formerly of the Washington Post) to further its narrative on Clintons email controversies in 2015, according to emails released by Wikileaks. Klein went on to join the New York Times in 2020. The Wall Street Journal The pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC American Bridge claimed it placed negative stories about Jeb Bush with the Wall Street Journal and other news outlets. The Washington Post Dana Milbank of The Washington Post or somebody connected to an article he was planning apparently turned to the Democratic National Committee for negative research about Donald Trump. On April 21, 2016 a DNC official wrote colleagues, research request: top 10 worst Trump quotes? Milbank doing a Passover-themed 10 plagues of Trump. Off top of my head, Im thinking: Punish women Mexicans as rapists Ban Muslims Shoot someone in middle of 5th ave Rough up BLM protestor Anchor baby Do a lot worse than waterboarding Blood coming out of her wherever Spill beans on teds wife Talked about penis on stage at debate Any other big things Im missing? And can you pull bullets for these? The resulting Milbank article entitled The Ten Plagues of Trump cited eight of the suggestions provided by the DNC. Democratic National Committee officials discussed placing a story with the Washington Posts Greg Sargent to put a positive spin on some bad news for Hillary Clinton. The goal was to make sure the first story out of the gate is as helpful as possible, according to a DNC official. But, the specific reporter is not as important as getting it to an outlet before the news breaks so we can help control the narrative on the front end. Otherwise this may likely get spun in a not-so-helpful way. We should also get Rep. [Elijah] Cummings on the phone with that reporter. The email continues, can we please consider giving Sargent the first bite to get a good first story out there? Can I have him call you? We had been working him for weeks in general on writing up something positive, we think hed play ball. Staffers at Media Matters counted on the liberal Plum Line, Sargents Washington Post blog, according to a source who spoke to Daily Caller. Greg Sargent will write anything you give him. He was the go-to guy to leak stuff, claimed the source. If you cant get it anywhere else, Greg Sargents always game. Weve pushed stories to Eugene Robinson and E.J. Dionne [at the Washington Post], the Media Matters source told Daily Caller. The pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC American Bridge claimed it placed negative stories about Jeb Bush with the Washington Post and other news outlets. An additional window into how political interests, including super PACs, work to influence and manipulate the news is found in an internal Clinton campaign memo published on WikiLeaks in 2017. In the memo, the Hillary Clinton super PAC Correct The Record boasts it had placed 21 strategic memos with the media that led to stories in a number of news outlets including National Journal, Politico, USA Today, MSNBC and The Hill. Correct The Record has joined other pro-Hillary Clinton groups founded by Clinton surrogate David Brock, including Media Matters and the American Bridge super PAC, in attacking Clintons opponents. Correct The Records targets have included Democrat Bernie Sanders and Republican Donald Trump. Correct The Record president Brad Woodhouse repeatedly appeared in news interviews during the 2016 campaign without the disclosure that he operates a Hillary Clinton super PAC that coordinates openly with the campaign, unlike any other super PAC. Among other functions, the Correct The Record memo says it arms more than 300 surrogates with facts and talking points to spread the message and the facts on cable and other news and deploy products targeted to specific audiences. One of the products is pushback documents distributed to members of the media, key surrogates, pundits, opinion leaders to refute false information about Clinton. The documents include research analyses, talking points and blog-style posts made specifically for the web. Other products are media statements and positive media relations with Clinton beat reporters, producers and editorsOur communications team is constantly in touch with the media and provide, whether in our own voices or in the voices of surrogates, a constant stream of statements to the press on all things Clinton related. And because media relations isnt just going on the record, some of our teams most important work is killing bad stories before they ever get written. Under Metrics, the Correct The Record memo cites its mailing list of 960 members of the national media and 10,756 regional reporters in 28 states. It sends talking points and memos regularly to 369 televisions producers and bookers. It says its work has impacted the framework for dialogue about 2016, Clinton, and her competitors. The group says it has engaged trusted names to write opinion editorials for newspapers across the country. Correct The Record has placed 132 op-eds nationally and in strategic local markets and, since May 15, helped write and place 36 op-eds across the country in a number of publications including Politico, Times Union, Huffington Post, CNN, Washington Blade, and New Jerseys Bergen Record. Correct The Record also says its conducted over 900 on-the-record and off-the-record media interviews and identified 372 surrogates including influential and frequent pundits on broadcast and cable news for Presidential 2016 politics and provided them around 80 sets of talking points, background materials and briefings on topical issues to defend Clinton and her record. More information on how super PACs influence the news media is found in an internal memo written by Brocks pro-Hillary American Bridge super PAC. It was also published by WikiLeaks. The opposition research group set up war rooms for the first time on site in states where its trackers were monitoring Republican candidates to interact with reporters on site, and to cut and move footage more efficiently so we can break news before anyone else. In other words, American Bridge uses its formidable resources to do one-sided investigative work and then peddles the product as news to reporters. Apparently, the strategy works. The American Bridge memo said its on-site war room in Wisconsin collected negative clips about Senator Ron Johnson and got them covered by Talking Points Memo, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, The Capital Times, The Hill, and Roll Call. In the memo, American Bridge also bragged that CNN was receptive to its outreach. CNN recently ran a feature story on our use of livestream technology. Examples of the groups rapid response efforts getting picked up by the press included Jeb Bushs comments on privatizing Social Security (June 2015), his comment that all lives matter (July 2015), Chris Christie jumping on Jeb Bushs work longer hours bandwagon (July 2015), and Rick Perry slamming Jebs economic growth record in Florida (July 2015). Several of these were clipped, cut, and shared on social media and/or by press release while the candidates were still delivering the same speech, read the American Bridge memo. American Bridge said it placed negative stories about Bush with CNN, Washington Post, the Associated Press, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and several key Florida outlets. Our tracking operation has also been key in undermining Jeb through a constant barrage of rapid response attacks. One month after the 2014 midterm elections, American Bridge released a primer to define the field before the prospective candidates could define themselves for the electorate. The group took credit for successfully marketing a negative media narrative on Scott Walker, leading to his downfall. We developed a powerful narrative of cronyism, outsourcing, and looking out for the interests of big business over middle class families, which undercut his economic message, said the groups memo. It also took credit for forcing the Kochs [conservative billionaire donors]out of the shadows and said an American Bridge report against the Kochs resulted in a high-profile CNN story. Read more at: SharylAttkisson.Substack.com Sector of northern border sees record-breaking wave of illegal immigrants apprehended Border Patrol for the northern Swanton Sector in the Northeastern United States reported more than 1,400 migrant apprehensions in April , surpassing the combined apprehension totals for 2021 and 2022. Border Patrol Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia announced this milestone, highlighting how the migrant crisis is affecting more parts of the U.S. beyond its border with Mexico. (Related: America sees 550% increase in illegal immigrants coming in from Canada.) "Another record-breaking milestone in northern border history. Swanton Sector continues to encounter an unprecedented number of undocumented migrants, with well over 1,400 apprehensions in April, surpassing the total number of apprehensions of FY 21 and FY 22 combined," wrote Garcia in a statement posted on X. The recent arrest milestone is the latest in a growing trend of migrant encounters in the area and also through the entire U.S.-Canada border at large. The announcement also follows a report of the arrest of 220 illegal immigrants in one week the highest number of weekly arrests in the sector's history. "Swanton Sector continues to encounter an unprecedented number of undocumented migrants," Garcia said. "During the week of April 22, Champlain Border Patrol Agents apprehended a total of 220 subjects, the highest number ever encountered in a single week in Swanton Sector history." The Swanton Sector, a section of the northern border managed by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), spans across New Hampshire, Vermont and the northeastern counties of New York. 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. Of those caught between ports of entry during that time, Border Patrol agents apprehended over 10,000. The Swanton Sector by far dealt with the highest number of illegal alien apprehensions, having arrested nearly 7,000 illegal immigrants attempting to cross between ports of entry, CBP data shows. Border Patrol warning of larger migration waves if trends continue CBP warned that if the current trend continues, migrant apprehensions in the Swanton Sector will easily surpass the reported apprehensions in 2023. According to CBP data for the northern border, there have been over 7,500 migrant arrests this year between ports of entry, with over 5,000 of those arrests occurring at the Swanton Sector alone. In fiscal year 2023, the sector encountered nearly 7,000 migrants, significantly more than the 1,065 encounters in fiscal 2022 and the 365 encounters in fiscal 2021. CBP also reported that there were nearly 190,000 encounters along the northern border in fiscal year 2023. Of those, a total of 487 were suspected terrorists more than the 249 suspected terrorists who were caught trying to sneak into the U.S. through the southern border in the same fiscal year. While the northern border sees a surge in illegal immigration, these numbers are still dwarfed by those at the U.S.-Mexico border. Border Patrol agents at the southern border have recorded approximately 6 million encounters since Biden took office, the latest data shows. Visit OpenBorders.news for more stories about the border crisis. Watch this video from InfoWars featuring Michael Yon warning of the possibility that China might exploit the U.S.'s unfenced border with Canada to smuggle agents through. This video is from the Ruth Mackenzies channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Trudeau plans to continue immigration policies despite admitting they have caused decline in wages, housing crisis in Canada. On the Frontlines: Biden administration plans to give amnesty to up to 18M illegal aliens Brighteon.TV. Illegals now breaking into America through unfenced NORTHERN border with Canada: "Record-breaking surge." USBP agents report 743% increase in illegal migrants trying to cross northern border. Biden administration proposes permanently opening all borders between U.S., Mexico and Canada. Sources include: YourNews.com DailyCaller.com Brighteon.com Senator Cornyn raises alarm regarding terror threat on U.S. soil as ISIS-linked network helps more illegal immigrants cross border Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) has warned that a terror threat on U.S. soil is inevitable. This caution follows Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines' confirmation of a human smuggling network with ISIS ties facilitating illegal immigration across the southern border. At a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing focused on virtual threats to the 2024 election, Cornyn shifted the focus to physical threats. He asked Haines about Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray's March 11 warning regarding ISIS-affiliated individuals helping migrants cross the U.S.-Mexico border. (Related: Record-high 12,600 illegal migrants break into America in one day while government officials snooze away.) Cornyn reiterated the FBI director's concerns and inquired if Haines could disclose in an open session how many illegal immigrants with ISIS ties had entered the U.S. via the southern border. Haines responded that she couldn't provide specifics in an open session but confirmed that they have been monitoring a facilitation network linked to ISIS. "There is a facilitation network that we have been monitoring, which has links to ISIS, and it is something we are managing. But I can't provide further details without a closed session," Haines said. Sen. Cornyn remarked that Americans will eventually have to "live with the consequences" of these security threats. Cornyn's comments align with the latest Homeland Threat Assessment, indicating that foreign terrorists are actively seeking information on travel routes to enter the United States. This came after Wray's testimony that there is "no doubt" criminals have entered the U.S. through the southern border. 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. "There is a specific network with ISIS ties among overseas facilitators of the smuggling network that we are very concerned about, and we've been dedicating significant effort with our partners to investigate," Wray testified. FBI, DHS warn of possible terror attacks during Pride Month The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have recently issued a public service announcement warning that foreign terrorist organizations, such as ISIS, could target events across the U.S. during Pride Month-related activities in June. This fiscal year, agents have encountered 196 individuals on the FBI's terrorist watchlist attempting to enter the U.S., with 81 caught trying to enter illegally between ports of entry, according to CBP data. Republicans blame President Joe Biden and his administration's policies for the record number of illegal immigrants entering the country, raising concerns about the associated national security threat. In October, Republican senators raised the alarm after Border Patrol agents caught illegal border crossers carrying explosives. Recently, House Homeland Security Committee Republicans expressed concern in an April 3 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about DHS's practices in processing and releasing known or suspected terrorists into the United States. Since Biden's first full fiscal year in office, 351 people on the terrorist watchlist have been caught trying to enter the country illegally between ports of entry, compared to about a dozen during the four years of the Trump presidency. Last month, officials told NBC News that an Afghan migrant on the terrorist watchlist has been living in the U.S. with no restrictions. Mohammad Kharwin, 48, was arrested in February 2023 and released in March by an immigration judge who was unaware of his security threat status. Kharwin is linked to Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG), a designated terrorist group. In February, the FBI informed the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of Kharwin's potential terrorist ties, leading to his re-arrest in San Antonio on Feb. 28. ICE detained him until a March 28 hearing, where prosecutors did not present classified information about his ties to HIG. The judge released him on a $12,000 bond. Illegal migrants get anything free while Americans get hell. Watch this video. This video is from the Vampire Slayer channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: TREASON: Leftist groups setting up "guerrilla camps" near southern border to help illegal migrants INVADE AMERICA more easily. SQUATTERS GALORE: Illegal migrants are now taking over homes of American host families: "How many are coming? We knew nothing!" House Democrats pushing to permit migrants to vote. Sources include: YourNews.com Brighteon.com Report: U.S. had indirect talks with Iran to prevent conflict escalation before Iranian presidents death News outlet Axios reported that some senior United States officials have held indirect talks with Iran this week in Oman. They tackled the potential for escalation in the Middle East and how to avoid escalating attacks in the region. The said dialogue reportedly included U.S. President Joe Biden's top Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, and the acting U.S. envoy for Iran, Abram Paley. The two arrived in Oman on May 14 and met with Omani mediators, but it was unclear who represented Iran at the talks. As per the sources, the talks focused on clarifying the consequences of actions by Iran and its proxies in the region and discussing U.S. concerns regarding the status of Iran's nuclear program. Several Iranian officials hinted in recent weeks about the possibility of Iran moving toward production of nuclear weapons. This was the first round of discussions between the U.S. and Iran since January. According to Vedant Patel, the State Department's deputy spokesperson, the Biden administration has ways to communicate with Iran when necessary. "The Biden administration continues to assess that Iran is not currently undertaking the key activities that would be necessary to produce a testable nuclear device," he said, adding that the U.S. doesn't believe Iran's supreme leader has made a decision "to resume the weaponization program that we judge Iran suspended or stopped at the end of 2003." The White House and the State Department declined to comment on the talks in Oman. (Related: An eye for an eye: Iran warns that it will destroy Israeli nuclear facilities if its own are targeted.) 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. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi dies in a helicopter crash Under Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran launched hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel in response to an airstrike on an Iranian embassy in Syria that killed two Iranian generals and five officers. Now, just a few weeks after Iran's active retaliation against Israel's attacks, news of the Iranian president's passing flooded mainstream and social media. Raisi, a hardliner seen as a potential successor to Khamenei, was killed when his helicopter crashed in poor weather in the mountains near the Azerbaijan border, officials and state media said on Monday. The charred wreckage of the helicopter which crashed on Sunday, May 19, carrying Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six other passengers and crew was found early on Monday, May 20, after an overnight search in blizzard conditions. Khamenei said First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, would take over as interim president, the official IRNA news agency reported. "I announce five days of public mourning and offer my condolences to the dear people of Iran," Khamenei said in a statement. Mokhber, like Raisi, is seen as close to Khamenei. The accident came on the heels of growing dissent within Iran over an array of political, social and economic crises. Iran's clerical rulers face international pressure over Tehran's disputed nuclear program and its deepening military ties with Russia during the war in Ukraine. World leaders have expressed their condolences on the death of Raisi. Chinese President Xi Jinping called the death "a great loss to the Iranian people and the Chinese people have lost a good friend," according to China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The European Council President Charles Michel shared the bloc's "sincere condolences" for the death of the Iranian leader, Amirabollahian and the other Iranian officials who died in the crash. EU policy chief Josep Borrell also offered his condolences. "The EU expresses its sympathies to the families of all the victims and the Iranian citizens affected," he said in a statement. Palestinian militant group Hamas also conveyed its deepest condolences and solidarity to Khamenei, the government and the Iranian people for "this immense loss." It praised Raisi and Amirabollahian for supporting Palestine against Israel and expressed confidence that Iran's "deep-rooted institutions will overcome the repercussions of this great loss." Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the two top officials "reliable friends." "Their role in strengthening mutually beneficial Russian-Iranian cooperation and trusting partnership is invaluable," Lavrov said. "We sincerely extend our condolences to the families and friends of the victims, as well as to the entire friendly people of Iran. Our thoughts and hearts are with you in this sad hour." Read more stories about conflicts in the Middle East, Europe and other parts of the world at WWIII.news. Watch the report below about the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. This video is from Tommy's Podcast channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Sources include: Axios.com Reuters.com AlJazeera.com Brighteon.com A global censorship prison built by the women of the CIA The polite world was fascinated last month when long-time NPR editor Uri Berliner confessed to the Stalinist suicide pact the public broadcaster, like all public broadcasters, seems to be on. Formerly it was a place of differing views, he claimed, but now it has sold as truth some genuine falsehoods like, for instance, the Russia hoax, after which it covered up the Hunter Biden laptop. And lets not forget our censor-like behaviour regarding Covid and the vaccine. NPR bleated that they were still diverse in political opinion, but researchers found that all 87 reporters at NPR were Democrats. Berliner was immediately put on leave and a few days later resigned, no doubt under pressure. (Article by Elizabeth Nickson republished from ElizabethNickson.Substack.com) Even more interesting was the reveal of the genesis of NPRs new CEO, Katherine Maher, a 41-year-old with a distinctly odd CV. Maher had put in stints at a CIA cutout, the National Democratic Institute, and trotted onto the World Bank, UNICEF, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for Technology and Democracy, the Digital Public Library of America, and finally the famous disinfo site Wikipedia. That same week, Tunisia accused her of working for the CIA during the so-called Arab Spring. And, of course, she is a WEF young global leader. She was marched out for a talk at the Carnegie Endowment where she was prayerfully interviewed and spouted mediatized language so anodyne, so meaningless, yet so filled with nods to her base the AWFULS (affluent white female urban liberals) one was amazed that she was able to get away with it. There was no acknowledgement that the criticism by this award-winning reporter/editor/producer, who had spent his life at NPR had any merit whatsoever, and in fact that he was wrong on every count. That this was a flagrant lie didnt even ruffle her artfully disarranged short blonde hair. Christopher Rufo did an intensive investigation of her career in City Journal. It is an instructive read and illustrative of a lot of peculiar yet stellar careers of American women. Working for Big Daddy is apparently something these ghastly creatures value. I strongly suggest reading Rufos piece linked here. Its a riot of spooky confluences. Intelligence has been embedded in media forever and a day. During my time at Time Magazine in London, the bureau chief, deputy bureau chief and no doubt the war and diplomacy correspondent all filed to Langley and each of them cruised social London ceaselessly for information. Tucker Carlson asserted on his interview with Aaron Rogers this week that intelligence operatives were laced through DC media and in fact, Mr. Watergate, Bob Woodward himself, had been naval intelligence a scant year before he cropped up at the Washington Post as an intrepid fighter for the truth and freedom no matter where it led. Watergate, of course, was yet another operation to bring down another inconvenient President; at this juncture, unless you are being puppeted by the CIA, you dont get to stay in power. Refuse and bang bang or end up in court on insultingly stupid charges. As Carlson pointed out, all congressmen and senators are terrified by the security state, even and especially the ones on the intelligence committee who are supposed to be controlling them. They can install child porn on your laptop and you dont even know its there until you are raided, said Carlson. The security state is that unethical, that power mad. Now, its global. And feminine. Where is Norman Mailer when you need him? At the same time, at the same time, Freddie Sayers, the editor-in-chief of Unherd, testified in Parliament on the Global Disinformation Index which had choked Unherd's ability to grow. Unherd had hired three advertising firms who were, one after the other, unable to place ads. The third sourced the problem to the Index, which had deemed his interviews with journalist Katherine Stock about the problems faced by young people transitioning their sex, had made him persona non grata for all advertising agencies across the world. Eerily, that same week, Katherine Stock was awarded a high honorable mention in the National Press Awards for her work. Here is Clare Melford, the fetching chief of the Global Disinformation Index, a woman seemingly bent on sterilizing confused children, Yet another non-profit authoritarian working for a mysterious Big Daddy. Who the hell trained her? On Tuesday this week, out pops Europes headmistress, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Politico.eu, complaining about Russia and right-wingers sowing distrust of Europes election processes. She is, she says, launching a new war on Disinformation. Most importantly, no more reporting on migrant assaults. This seems to be their new crusade. Please note the halo over her Christed head. Honestly, they are shameless, vain, silly creatures with limited bandwidth. Other than obedience to some grim reaper. Said Politico: She promised to set up "a European Democracy Shield," if reelected for a second term, to fight back against foreign meddling. EU cybersecurity and disinformation officials expect a surge in online falsehoods in the 20 days prior to the European Parliament election June 6-9, when millions of Europeans elect new representatives. Officials fear that Russia is ramping up its influence operations to sow doubt about the integrity of elections in the West and to manipulate public opinion in its favor. By the way, madam, western election integrity has been thoroughly compromised by the men who tell you what to do. More than half of us think elections are stolen. More than half. Thats not disinformation, its math. This week Michael Shellenberger, who is the acknowledged lead in the take-down of the global censorship complex, had a look at Julie Inman Grant, another American Barbie, now Australia's "e-safety commissioner," with ties to the WEF. Grant had demanded that X censor a migrant stabbing, and X refused. Grant, as Shellenberger describes, is the Zelig of internet history tinkering in the bowels of said internet until she burst onto the public stage as Australias chief censor, bent on building a global online safety network. At a recent government hearing, she announced, We have powerful tools to regulate platforms with ISP blocking power, and can collect basic device information, account information, phone numbers and email addresses, so that our investigators can at least find a place to issue a warning. Grant went on to say they could compel take-downs, fine perpetrators and fine content hosts. The Daily Mail had a ball with Inman Grant, mocking her and pointing out that she was wasting taxpayer money on a game of whack-a-mole. Nevertheless, Grant takes herself very very seriously and since she is accreting power at a massive clip, so must we. Grant's network of independent regulators is called the Global Online Safety Regulators Network. "We have Australia, France, Ireland, South Africa, Korea, the UK and Fiji so far, with others observing. Canada is coming along, she preens, and is about to create a National Safety Regulator." Canada's proposed censorship program is so draconian you can be jailed for something you posted online years ago. And the government proposing it is so unpopular, it will be lucky to hang onto 20 seats in the next election. There are literally hundreds of these women. Why? Why? At a meeting this year of the World Economic Forum, V?ra Jourova, from the European Commission, outlined just how exciting she and her team found the tools she is being given. "We can," she said, "influence in such a way the real life and the behavior of people! She sighed with excitement after this sentence. Jourova was caught last September trying to spread yet another Russia hoax. You have only to hear censorship plans uttered in a central-European accent to really understand what is happening here. As terrifying as this all seems, and it is terrifying, it is instructive to look at the ruination of the career of America's chief censor, Renee DiResta. DiResta, as research head of the Stanford Internet Observatory, is now being sued for abuse of power and unethical behavior that violates the constitution. Spookily, DiResta soared from "new mom" to providing the intellectual under-pinnning for censorship, until she headed up the Stanford Internet Observatory during Covid, where she was instrumental in censoring vaccine and Covid "disinformation." People thought her backstory contrived and in fact, Shellenberger found that she was, unmistakably another CIA trained censor of inconvenient information under the guise of "safety." At this point, every time you hear the word safety, its best to check your ammunition supply. Said Shellenberger: As research director of Stanford Internet Observatory, DiResta was the key leader and spokesperson of both the 2021 Virality Project, against Covid vaccine misinformation and the 2020 Election Integrity Project. Shellenberger goes on to look into DiRestas work history and finds a lot of congruence with CIA operations. But then I learned that DiResta had worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The journalist Matt Taibbi pointed me to the investigative research into the censorship industry by Mike Benz, a former State Department official in charge of cybersecurity. Benz had discovered a little-viewed video of her supervisor at the Stanford Internet Observatory, Alex Stamos, mentioning in an off-hand way that DiResta had previously worked for the CIA. In her response to my criticism of her on Joe Rogan, DiResta acknowledged but then waved away her CIA connection. My purported secret-agent double life was an undergraduate student fellowship at CIA, ending in 2004 years prior to Twitters founding, she wrote. Ive had no affiliation since. But DiRestas acknowledgment of her connection to the CIA is significant, if only because she hid it for so long. DiRestas LinkedIn includes her undergraduate education at Stony Brook University, graduating in 2004, and her job as a trader at Jane Street from October 2004 to May 2011, but does not mention her time at the CIA. And, notably, the CIA describes its fellowships as covering precisely the issues in which DiResta is an expert. As an Intelligence Analyst Intern for CIA, you will work on teams alongside full-time analysts, studying and evaluating information from all available sourcesclassified and unclassifiedand then analyzing it to provide timely and objective assessments to customers such as the President, National Security Council, and other U.S. policymakers. At this juncture it is a race, as the intelligence community moves to shut down the revelations of its manipulations and machinations, and people injured by the vaccine and the flagrant abuse of election integrity move to fight them. It is instructive to note that DiResta, while apparently soaring to the heights of journalism at Wired, the New York Times, the Atlantic, selling her safety/censorhip program, cannot seem to get actual people to read or subscribe to her Substack. DiResta, like so many women in power now, are in reality, talentless cutouts for a hidden and malignant agenda. An agenda that the people of the world roundly hate. I have just one final thing to saw to these truly dreadful human beings. My God is stronger than whatever demon or predator you obey. And as a woman, I am ashamed of each and every one of you. To use one of your awful phrases: Do Better. Welcome to Absurdistan is reader-supported. Every piece you read costs you about 30 cents, so we are a very good deal indeed. Please consider keeping me going. Absurdistan is taking a pause from our China series. Last week, a CCP cutout sued the Globe and Mail and CSIS for refusing to allow them to predate the Canadian Banking system. The $250-million suit targets a series of stories in which The Globe reported that Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland had instructed the plaintiff and two other founding investors to divest their shares and ordered their Toronto-based bank to comply with extraordinary national-security conditions. This reporting is from Sam Coopers Substack which can be read here. We are so far CCP compromised up here, that they can now, with confidence sue our government for exercising their sovereign power and stopping their criminal incursions. A reader this week directed me to this video on why the Pentagon was briefed that Canada is a 'forward operational hub for PRC threat networks. Again, the CCP is running a failed state which, in order to survive, must feed on successful economies. The people dying of fentanyl in your city are being deliberately killed by the CCP and Chinese Triads in collusion with Mexican cartels, in order to destabilize our culture, kill our most vulnerable and make billions from it. Problems like this have solutions. Our government is so hornswoggled by CCP compromised politicians and bureaucrats, they can no longer take effective action. There is a lot of work to do, please consider funding a very cheap annual subscription. Read more at: ElizabethNickson.Substack.com Paleontologists from the United States have found the fossilized remains of a mammal species that roamed the planet approximately 65.5 million years ago. Discovering Militocodon lydae Following the extinction of the nonavian dinosaurs, a mammal like a chinchilla but more closely related to cows was discovered by scientish which they called Militocodon lydae. The species was discovered from a portion of a skull and jawbone found at the Corral Bluffs fossil site in Colorado. It would have lived approximately 65 million years ago. "Rocks from this interval of time have a notoriously poor fossil record, and the discovery and description of a fossil mammal skull is an important step forward in documenting the earliest diversification of mammals after Earth's last mass extinction," said Dr. Tyler Lyson, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. According to paleontologists, Corral Bluffs is situated inside the Denver Basin and is east of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Corral Bluffs are a south-facing arc of exposures that are a portion of the Denver Formation's D1 sequence, which extends from the upper Cretaceous to the lower Paleocene. The scientists employed advanced scanning methods, 3D reconstructions, and teeth comparisons-comparing the specimen's teeth to those of other fossils and contemporary animals-to place M. lydae is positioned correctly on the evolutionary tree. Evidence indicating the animal's teeth were utilized for crushing and shearing rather than grinding was crucial to the study. That implies that the little animal would eventually give rise to modern cows, pigs, and deer. In the last eight years, the researchers have only discovered a tiny number of M. lydae fossils; therefore, further research and findings are required to verify that this small and very adorable-looking species is, in fact, what we believe it to be. Read Also: Earth Was Already 'Stressed' Before Dinosaur Extinction, Says Researchers Closes Significant Gaps The study stressed that more specimens that do not cleanly fit into current taxonomic bins will most likely be found as early Paleocene archaic ungulates are discovered and studied, presenting us with an evolutionary history muddled by evolutionary grades and transitional species. The discovery's scientists claim that the animal closes some significant gaps in our understanding of the Periptychidae family of early mammals, which rose to prominence following the extinction of the dinosaurs. Experts have found it difficult to track the evolution of animals in the immediate aftermath of the extinction of the dinosaurs due to the scarcity of fossils from this era. Paleontologists have been excavating the Corral Bluffs site for decades, and it is becoming more and more useful in addressing that issue. In the animal kingdom, it would have been a period of rapid and extensive diversification, especially for mammals. With the dinosaurs out of the way and the dust from the asteroid impact having settled, mammals like M. lydae seized the chance to prosper. "The discovery and thorough descriptions and comparisons of the partial M. lydae skulls represent an important step toward unraveling the complex evolutionary history of periptychid mammals," said paleontologist Lucas Weaver of Kent State University in Ohio. Related Article: Early Mammals Rapidly Diversified After Dinosaur Extinction New Zealand's urban centers are on the brink of a transformation. The government's bold move to densify housing is not just a response to the housing crisis but also a step towards a greener future. This article explores how the country is navigating the delicate balance between urban development and the preservation of biodiversity. Building Up and Branching Out The push for higher-density housing in New Zealand's urban areas has been met with mixed reactions. While it promises to alleviate the housing shortage, it also raises concerns about the loss of green spaces and biodiversity. In Dunedin, the debate is heated, with residents fearing that their leafy suburbs will be replaced by concrete and steel. Yet, amidst the outcry, there's a growing recognition of the need to integrate nature into our cities. Urban Nature's Role in Climate Resilience The concept of 'density with biodiversity' is gaining traction as a way to make cities more livable and climate-resilient. Urban nature serves as a buffer against climate-related events like flooding and heatwaves. It also provides a haven for both wildlife and city dwellers, improving mental health and well-being. Learning from Global Pioneers New Zealand can look to international examples for inspiration. Melbourne's commitment to planting 3,000 trees annually aims for a 40% tree canopy cover by 2040, combating rising temperatures and fostering biodiversity. Toronto's green-roof bylaw mandates vegetation on 20-60% of roof areas in high-density developments, addressing air quality and the urban heat island effect. Challenges in Creating Biodiverse Developments Despite these aspirations, New Zealand has struggled to create biodiverse residential developments. The shift to medium-density often leads to a significant reduction in permeable areas, which are crucial for stormwater management and biodiversity. The Aotearoa BiodiverCity research group's ongoing work reveals that many developments lack ecologically meaningful vegetation, highlighting the need for strategic design to achieve more biodiverse cities. Also Read: New Zealand Conservation Experts Disappointed Only Few People Wants to Join Conservation Efforts A Strategic Blueprint for Sustainable Urbanization The Government Policy Statement on Housing and Urban Development (GPS-HUD) is New Zealand's roadmap for housing and urban development. Developed alongside the National Maori Housing Strategy (MAIHI Ka Ora), it aims to create thriving, resilient communities that grow sustainably within environmental limits. Four Pillars of the GPS-HUD The GPS-HUD outlines four key action areas to achieve its vision: Reducing Barriers to Building: Simplifying planning and regulation settings, making funding more accessible, and partnering with the construction sector to enhance performance. Building More Homes Where Needed: Establishing MAIHI and place-based partnerships, increasing housing supply through urban development, and continuing to build public housing. Assisting People into Affordable Homes: Helping more New Zealanders own their homes and increasing the supply of quality, affordable rentals. Addressing Urgent Housing Needs: Delivering the Aotearoa Homelessness Action Plan and reforming the emergency housing system. Implementing the Vision To bring this vision to life, the GPS-HUD emphasizes the importance of Maori partnership, ensuring that Maori-led housing solutions are supported and delivered locally. It also calls for an adaptive and responsive system that can meet the demands of land-use change, infrastructure, and housing supply. Related article: Little Blue Penguins Invaded New Zealand From Australia, Say Researchers Mount Fuji has been the most famous tourist attraction site in Japan for decades, towering at 12,388 feet (3,776 meters) above sea level. Being the East Asian nation's tallest mountain, Mt. Fuji is not only a picturesque scenery but also an active volcano. It is located in central Japan and about 100 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, making it accessible for sight-seeing for both locals and foreigners. However, the popularity of Mount Fuji seems to have a cost, in terms of local community disruptions caused by tourism. This development is based on a surge of visitors flocking to the site in recent years following the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier in 2024, Japanese media reported complaints by locals who work and reside against some "bad-mannered" tourists who arrive to see Mt. Fuji. Dubbed "Mount Fuji overtourism," the problem caused by vacationers in the area has forced Japanese residents and authorities in the town of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, to take action. Reports as of May 2024 show the townspeople launched an initiative to block the view of the mountain by erecting a barrier at a popular photo site in the town: in front of a convenience store. Mount Fuji Blockage The Mount Fuji blockage initiative in Fujikawaguchiko gained momentum following a series of complaints filed by Japanese residents in April 2024 that Mt. Fuji tourists are causing problems in the town. In particular, there is an influx of "misbehaving" tourists for quite some time now in front of the town's Lawson convenience store, where behind it offers a perfect view of the active volcano. Due to the disruption, including overcrowding, littering, and illegal parking, caused by overtourism, the Japanese town blocked the view of Mt. Fuji to reduce the influx of tourists in the area, according to recent reports. In addition, visitors are also seen crossing a busy road in the area, leaving waste on the street, and ignoring traffic lights. While some of the town business establishments, including restaurants, partly rely on foreign holidaymakers, the Mt. Fuji tourism eventually caused harm. The site became popular in 2022 after a photo of the mountain taken in the area went viral on social media, according to local sources. Since then, the area experienced an increase in tourists since Japan lifted COVID-19 restrictions. Also Read: Most Dangerous Volcanoes in the World That Can Erupt at Any Time Mount Fuji Tourism In addition to the blockage in Fujikawaguchiko, Japanese residents in a different locality are also complaining about the Mount Fuji overtourism, wherein this time it is happening over a scenic bridge in Fuji City, called Fuji Dream Bridge. Reports over the weekend state that Fuji City residents are concerned about tourists flocking to the bridge to glimpse a view of the famed mountain. Yet, just like at the convenience store site in Fujikawaguchiko, the Fuji Dream Bridge has become a social media hotspot in recent months. According to Miyu Toyama, a local official at the city's Exchange Tourism Division, the overtourism at the Fuji bridge started in December 2023 when a foreign social media influencer placed images of Mount Fuji taken on the bridge were uploaded on Instagram. Related Article: Pollution Reaches Japan's Mount Fuji, Mount Oyama Through Microplastics Microplastic pollution has been a growing environmental problem in the past several decades. However, scientific research since the 21st century has shown that not only plastic and its smaller particles, called microplastic or nanoplastic, affect the environment but also potentially living organisms. Yet, data concerning the impact of microplastics on our bodies is still limited until now. In the past, microplastics were found in the heart, brain, and breast of humans. Now, a new study shows that the tiny plastic particles were found in an unexpected part of the body: testicles. According to researchers from the University of New Mexico, who were involved in the study, the presence of testicular microplastic was found not only on male humans but also dogs. Testicular Microplastic Discovery Findings about the testicular microplastic discovery on humans and dogs were published in the journal Toxicological Sciences on May 15. Under the research paper, a scientific team from the University of New Mexico in the United States arrived at their conclusion by analyzing postmortem tissue of 23 human testes, as well as 46 canine tissue samples. While our understanding of how microplastics impact the human body remains limited, previous research has shown that the particles can cause toxic effects on us, including reproductive and developmental toxicity. Meanwhile, large plastic debris that ends up in the environment has been proven to be detrimental to animals, including marine life in the world's oceans. Also Read: Plastic's Polar Reach: Antarctic Birds Consume Microplastic Particles Microplastic Pollution Problem Microplastic pollution, as mentioned earlier, has significantly made its presence across Earth's biosphere, including terrestrial habitats, the oceans, and even the atmosphere. Experts say that the ingestion of microplastics remains a concern for humans since the chemicals that enter our bodies cannot be excreted, as cited by the non-profit organization Ocean Conservancy. Based on other scientific literature, microplastics can be ingested or inhaled by humans from the air, the food that we eat, and beverages that we drink, according to scientists as cited by the organization. The main problem comes from the fact that plastics cannot be fully destroyed, its fragmented, smaller particles still exist and they can spread quickly without us noticing immediately. Microplastic Health Impact The microplastic pollution threat remains a mystery, especially when it comes to its potential adverse effects on the bodies of animals, including humans. Yet, scientists in recent years have offered a clue as to how dangerous these extremely small plastic particles are. Scientific experimentations show that microplastics can cause some of the following toxic effects once inside the body: Oxidative stress Metabolic disorder Immune response defect Neurotoxicity Reproductive toxicity Developmental toxicity This potential microplastic health impact was hypothesized researchers in China through a separate study published in the journal Environment & Health under ACS Publications in 2023. Based on their findings, the authors emphasize that exposure of humans to microplastics can result in DNA damage and organ dysfunction. Unlike diseases, symptoms of microplastic intoxication are harder to detect. Related Article: Microplastic Pollution: These Tiny Particles of Whole Plastics Confirmed for the First to Threaten Human Health [Study] Air pollution has been a major problem in urban areas and communities due to potential health impacts on vulnerable populations. In a recent report, researchers noted that the UK ships in ports contribute more air pollution than cars due to nitrogen oxides. According to a report, air pollution can affect the environment and human health. When pollution blocks sunlight, it can potentially have significant effects on forests and other animals. Additionally, long-term exposure to air pollution can lead to health concerns, such as respiratory diseases, cancer, birth defects, and nervous system damage. Meanwhile, plants and crops can also suffer from pollution, affecting their growth potential. Air pollution concerns and UK ships in ports In understanding the pollution between ships and cars, a recent report noted that ships contribute more to air pollution than cars in the same regions. The report emphasized that the nitrogen oxides (NOx) are higher in ships and ports. The report mentioned that some of the top polluted ports, Milford Haven, Southampton, and Immingham, contributed significantly to emissions, particularly NOx, PM2.5, and sulfur oxides. As a result, reducing emissions and focusing on environment-friendly or cleaner fuels can avoid exacerbating climate change. The numbers can increase and likely contribute more to emissions and air pollution. According to the report, 4,000 shops in NOx-polluted ports can produce more, or 1.75 times, the NOx of about one million cars in one particular area. In analysis, the researchers explained that in Southampton, with high PM2.5 pollution, ships were found to have four times more NOx effects compared with the city's cars. The report highlights the urgency of shifting to zero-emission technologies that can cut backport pollution. Additionally, long-term reduction plans can significantly help the environment and mitigate the effects of air pollution in NOx-polluted areas. Investing in the clean maritime plan is helpful in attaining 200 net-zero targets. The urgent effort to address pollution and emissions can mitigate the risk of pollution-related health concerns. Also Read: Climate Change To Reduce Global Income By 19% In The Next 25 Years, Study Says Coal train pollution brings health risks and hospitalization In a recent Nature World News (NWN) report, researchers raised alarm about the impact of coal train pollution on people or communities exposed. It explains that prolonged exposure results in hospitalization, heart disease, and asthma. A train carrying coal as part of transportation can affect vulnerable populations, particularly older adults, children, and people with medical conditions near or passing the area of coal trains. Additionally, it can lead to an increase in global warming. Coal is also widespread, mostly found in 80 countries. A significant reduction in coal use can help reduce the alarming effects of climate change. The main risks are particularly for communities near railways. Studying the potential health risks will help provide new insights into mitigating coal-related health dangers. Related Article: Climate Change Outpaces Plant Recovery, Turning Forests into Carbon Emitters For more similar stories, don't forget to follow Nature World News. The second-largest city in Honduras, San Pedro Sula, has the worst air quality in the whole continent of America. The city in Central America has air quality that is over 50 times worse than what is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Dangerous Level The air quality in the metropolis of nearly a million people has reached "dangerous" levels, according to IQAir, a Swiss organization that monitors air quality and gathers data from more than 30,000 monitoring stations worldwide. According to IQAir, this week's PM2.5 levels-dangerous air particles with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers-reached 249.1 mcg/m. According to standards from the World Health Organization, annual mean concentrations shouldn't be higher than 5 mcg/m. Because of the hazards to public health, Honduran officials have increased the threat level to the highest in the majority of the country's departments and encouraged citizens to stay indoors and close their windows to prevent exposure to contaminated air. Public and private schools have been temporarily closed, according to Education Secretary Daniel Sponda, because of a "risk to the physical integrity of the educational community." The number of patients with respiratory illnesses has increased by 20%, according to the health secretariat. "We have seen a steep increase in respiratory emergencies, especially within vulnerable populations, such as children and senior citizens," said Dr. Cristobal Bustamante, the national director of the emergency medical unit of the Honduran Permanent Contingency Commission. He added that the high level of air pollution can cause irritation, inflammation, cell damage, and the exacerbation of pre-existing respiratory conditions, among other effects on the respiratory system. Due to excessive air pollution, numerous flights scheduled to land in San Pedro Sula over the past two days were forced to divert to neighboring nations because the pilots could not see the runways. Since then, several Honduran airports have been forced to close. Read Also: Air Quality Suffers in China as Air Pollution Sweeps Beijing with Sandstorm El Nino And Forest Fire El Nino's strong temperature surges have harmed "the dry corridor," which runs through Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, and are to blame for the air pollution. El Nino causes droughts by raising temperatures and reducing rainfall, particularly in the dry corridor. Experts warn that El Nino will reach extreme levels this year, putting more people at risk than ever before, and that over 3.4 million people in Central America need humanitarian help. Honduras is seeing a major increase in wildfires as a result of the country's dry climate and extreme temperatures. According to data from the Forest Conservation Institute of Honduras, 2,598 fires in 2024 destroyed 211,292 hectares (5.2 million acres) of the nation. Known as "the lungs of Tegucigalpa," La Tigra National Park was nearly totally devastated by fire at the end of March, which had a serious impact on the delicate ecosystem around the city. "This contamination is linked to the gradual effects of climate change coupled with El Nino, which has caused the conditions for wildfires and droughts," said Juan Jose Reyes, the head of Copeco's early warning system. He added that if Honduras does not alter its environmental policies, the event might become commonplace and endanger millions of people throughout Central America. Related Article: China's Air Clears as Nitrogen Oxides Emissions Fall: A Positive Environmental Shift Despite Fossil Fuel Use Japanese authorities have issued warnings to the public about the dangers posed by wild bears following recorded attacks on humans, including police officers, in the northeast of the country. Bear Attack A video of a bear about 1 meter (3 feet) in size was captured in Fukushima prefecture by officials in charge of wildlife damage. and was roaming around in a residential area. On Saturday, police officers responded to a report of a dead man lying on the ground in the local woods. During the time the authorities were attending to the dead body, the bear attacked them. They suffered injuries to their arms and heads and are in serious condition, although not life-threatening. The man had reportedly gone bamboo shoot hunting in the highlands a few days earlier, when he was discovered dead with gash wounds. It is still unknown if a bear assaulted him, resulting in his death. After a police aircraft inspected the area, a party of hunters and police headed to the scene on Sunday to try again to recover the body. But when they realized it would be hard to ensure safety, they turned back. On Monday, they intend to talk about what to do next. To keep people from visiting the area, the local government and police have blocked off nearby roads. The people in the area are being asked to exercise caution. The prefectural police of Akita have advised residents to stay indoors throughout the night and to have bells and other noise-making items handy in case they come across bears. Thousands of Asiatic black bears can be found all over Japan's wild. Attacks have increased as it becomes more difficult to distinguish between a bear's habitat and a human's home. The increased number of bear encounters is also attributed to the paucity of acorns, berries, and other food, which may be related to climate change. Read Also: Japan Plans to Use Rock Music to Fend Off Aggressive Bear Attacks AI Bear Warning System After a record number of assaults on humans in the last year, Japan is going to test an AI bear-warning system. A trial system in the central Japanese prefecture of Toyama will track live feeds from private, municipal, and government security cameras to detect bears in close proximity to people and promptly alert hunters, police, and relevant local authorities. AI will also be used to track bears' movements and make predictions about where they might end up in the future. Should the plan prove effective, it will be used in other regions of the nation where bear numbers are substantial. Bear assaults caused 219 injuries and six fatalities throughout 19 prefectures in the year to March, the greatest number recorded since national data became accessible. Thirty cameras have been positioned along rivers that flow from neighboring mountains into the city of Hanamaki, in the northeastern prefecture of Iwate, as part of a trial project for another AI monitoring system. Along the rivers, bear sightings are frequently reported, with alerts transmitted to a monitoring station and nearby communities. In order to prevent the animals from entering the city without killing them, the city is working with the manufacturer of security systems on deterrent strategies. Related Article: Carcass Of Bear Suspected Behind Attacks In Japan Found Beside Human Remains At its Build 2024 event in Seattle this week, Microsoft released updates to its cloud infrastructure to bolster support for all workloads, including AI-related ones. The updates includes new Azure virtual machines (VM), a new provisioning service, and options for enabling access to Microsoft Copilot in Azure. In the VM space, Microsoft shared plans to release Azure VMs that can run on Cobalt 100 processors currently in preview. The Azure Cobalt 100 CPU, which is built on Arm architecture, was launched in November last year by Microsoft in an attempt to make its infrastructure across data centers more energy efficient when compared to commercial AMD and Intel CPUs. Cobalt 100-based VMs are Azures most energy efficient compute offering and deliver up to 40% better performance than our previous generation of Arm-based VMs. the new Cobalt 100 based VMs are expected to enhance efficiency and performance for both Azure customers and Microsoft products, Omar Khan, general manager of Azure infrastructure marketing at Microsoft, said in a statement. IT observability and management software maker SolarWinds today introduced a new AI platform that when embedded into the companys other solutions will provide generative AI capabilities to speed problem resolution, minimize downtime, and empower IT staff to improve service delivery. SolarWinds AI, developed using SolarWinds AI by Design framework, is embedded in SolarWinds AI in Service Desk, an IT service management (ITSM) solution. SolarWinds AI in Service Desk uses large language models and proprietary algorithms to help service agents by summarizing complex ticket histories, providing suggested agent responses to inquiries, and generating real-time recommended steps for resolving issues, according to the company. In creating SolarWinds AI, we leveraged our long history of engaging with the IT community to build an AI system that could act as a valued partner to IT pros in their everyday lives and reimagine the productivity, efficiency, and innovation theyre capable of, said Krishna Sai, senior vice president of engineering at SolarWinds, in a company statement. Netanyahu predicts warrant application will turn ICC into a 'farce' I sraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor to apply for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders will bring shame down on the court and turn it into a farce. "As the Prime Minister of Israel, I reject with disgust the prosecutor's comparison between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas. This is a complete distortion of reality," Netanyahu said on Monday. "The outrageous decision by the ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, to seek arrest warrants against the democratically-elected leaders of Israel is a moral outrage of historic proportions. It will cast an everlasting mark of shame on the international court," the Israeli Prime Minister said in a video message posted on X. Israel was waging a just war against Hamas, Netanyahu said, describing Hamas as a "genocidal terrorist organisation". He rejected any moral equivalence between Hamas and Israeli leaders as "twisted and false". The warrant application was a "travesty of justice and a disgrace," he said. It was an attempt to deny Israel the basic right of self-defence and would fail. Netanyahu accused Khan of pouring fuel on the fires of "anti-Semitism" and said his abuse of his authority would turn the ICC into "nothing more than a farce". --IANS/DPA Netanyahu predicts warrant application will turn ICC into a 'farce' Post your comments Found this article helpful? Spread the word and support us! Rajkummar's film commitments keep him away from 'Mr & Mrs Mahi' Delhi promotions A ctor Rajkummar Rao skipped the promotions of his upcoming film 'Mr & Mrs Mahi' in the national capital as he is currently busy shooting for his other film. New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) Actor Rajkummar Rao skipped the promotions of his upcoming film 'Mr & Mrs Mahi' in the national capital as he is currently busy shooting for his other film. In a press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday, Janhvi said: He (Rajkummar) wanted to come. We were in Varanasi. We promoted the film there but hes actually shooting for a film there. Whatever cities we go to he will try coming. She shared that Rajkummar was sad as he couldnt be a part of the promotions. He got very sad yesterday because he said the fun of promoting a good film is something else. He really wanted to be here but hes got his film commitments. Thats why I have got double energy here, Janhvi said. Talking about visiting Varanasi and doing Ganga aarti, the actress shared: It was beautiful. Our promotions started on a divine note. Since childhood, there has been this different fascination for Varanasi. It is a historic place and the energy there is just beautiful. "I am very happy that we started our promotions from Varanasi and with Ganga aarti. I think it was a divine thing because we couldnt have asked for a better start of promotions, she said. The film is all set to release in theatres on May 31. Rajkummar's film commitments keep him away from 'Mr & Mrs Mahi' Delhi promotions Post your comments Found this article helpful? Spread the word and support us! "This does not mean that USPS has changed their mind about downsizing the facilities. It just means it won't happen until 2025." At least seven Catholic churches designed by Mahomet-area native George Stauduhar, including St. Lawrence in Penfield, will be closed under the Peoria Dioceses Growing Disciples plan. But many others including St. Patricks in Urbana, St. Malachys in Rantoul, St. Boniface outside of Seymour, St. Josephs in Ivesdale and Sacred Heart in Farmer City will remain partly if not fully open. "Try for a moment to remember what it has felt like on those occasions when someone asked you about your thoughts and beliefs, with the aim not of trouncing you, but because they wanted to hear you. Try to recall what it has been like, in your life, to be heard." Champaign, IL (61820) Today Mostly cloudy early, then sunshine for the afternoon. Warm. High 86F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Some passing clouds. Low 56F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients with type 2 inflammation may soon gain access to a new drug -; dupilumab -; that showed rapid and sustained improvements in patients in a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial, researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine. This monoclonal antibody is the first biologic shown to improve clinical outcomes in COPD. The data supporting the use of dupilumab in COPD will be reviewed by the United States Food and Drug Administration in June. The disease improvements -; as measured by a significantly lower annualized rate of acute exacerbations and significantly better lung function than placebo-treated adults with COPD -; were observed at 12 weeks after the initiation of dupilumab and were sustained throughout the 52-week trial period. In terms of safety, the number of adverse events was similar between placebo and treatment groups and consistent with the established profile of dupilumab. The lung disease COPD is marked by cough and labored breathing. COPD has traditionally been thought of as an inflammatory disease predominantly driven by neutrophilic inflammation. About 20 percent to 40 percent of COPD patients have COPD with a predominant type 2 inflammation that is commonly detected by elevated blood eosinophil counts. These patients have a high risk of exacerbations. Dupilumab substantially decreases exacerbation frequency and improves lung function as well as symptom burden in patients with COPD with type 2 inflammation and high exacerbation risk, who are already on maximal inhaled therapy." Surya Bhatt, M.D., professor of medicine and endowed professor of airways disease in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Medicine Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine Bhatt and Klaus Rabe, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of pulmonary medicine at the LungenClinic Grosshansdorf, Grosshansdorf, Germany, co-led the international multicenter clinical study that had 470 patients in the dupilumab group and 465 patients in the placebo group. The patients ranged in age from 40 to 85. The just completed trial replicates an initial, nearly identical, Phase 3 clinical trial of dupilumab reported in NEJM by Bhatt and Rabe last year. The current Phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was needed to confirm findings of that first trial for COPD patients with blood eosinophil counts of 300 cells per microliter or higher and an elevated exacerbation risk, despite being on inhaled triple therapy. Carefully designed clinical trials produce data that allows the FDA to determine whether benefits of an investigational drug outweigh any known and potential risks for its intended population. COPD patients often have disease exacerbations that can lead to an increased risk of subsequent exacerbations, accelerated lung-function decline and an increased risk of death. Thus, says Bhatt, improving lung function and reducing exacerbations are unmet needs in patients with COPD. "COPD is the third leading cause of death globally," Bhatt said. "Exacerbations of COPD lead to poorer quality of life, increased hospitalizations and an increased risk of death." Support came from Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. Study results were presented at the May 2024 American Thoracic Society International Conference in San Diego, California, and simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The more time spent on social media, the greater the likelihood that children and young people will both smoke and/or vape, suggests research published online in the respiratory journal Thorax. Clocking up a weekday tally of 7 or more hours was associated with a more than a doubling in risk among 10 to 25 year olds, the findings indicate, reinforcing concerns about the marketing clout of these platforms, say the researchers. The existing body of research on social media use and smoking and vaping mostly concerns the USA, so to better assess the situation in the UK, the researchers drew on data from 10 to 25 year olds taking part in the UK Household Longitudinal Study 2015-21. Participants were asked to report their normal weekday social media use as well as current cigarette smoking and vaping activity. Among 10,808 participants with a total of 27,962 reported observations, just over 8.5% reported current cigarette smoking in at least one survey, and 2.5% reported current vaping. Just over 1% reported dual use. Analysis of the responses showed that cigarette smoking, vaping, and dual-use were all more common among participants reporting heavier social media use. Just 2% of those who said they didn't use social media reported current cigarette smoking compared with nearly 16% of those who said they spent 7 or more hours/weekday on it. Similarly, current vaping ranged from less than 1% among non-users of social media to 2.5% among those spending 7 or more hours on it every weekday. The likelihood of smoking, vaping, and dual-use also rose in tandem with the amount of time spent on social media. Those who said they spent less than 1 hour/day on social media were 92% more likely to be current smokers than those who said they spent no time on it, while those clocking up 7 or more hours/day were more than 3.5 times as likely to be current smokers. And those who said they spent 1-3 hours a day on social media were 92% more likely to report current vaping than those who said they spent no time on it. And those spending 7 or more hours/day on social media were nearly 3 times as likely to report current vaping than those who said they didn't spend any time on these platforms. Heavier social media use was associated with a greater likelihood of dual use. Those reporting spending 1-3 hours/day on it were more than 3 times as likely to be dual users as those who said they didn't spend any time on social media. But those spending 7 or more hours/day on social media were nearly 5 times as likely to both smoke and vape. The findings were independent of other factors associated with a heightened risk of smoking and vaping, including age, sex, household income, and parental smoking and vaping. When the analysis was broken down by sex and household income, similar associations emerged for smoking, but not for vaping. Males, those under the legal age of sale, and those from higher income households were more likely to vape. This is an observational study, and as such, no firm conclusions can be drawn about causal factors. The researchers also acknowledge that the study relied on self reported data, and that they didn't have any information on the social media platforms used, or how they were being used. But they proffer some explanations for their findings. "First, and most straightforwardly, there is evidence that the corporations behind cigarette smoking and vaping make use of social media to advertise and promote their products," write the researchers. "This includes direct advertising which is algorithmically targeted and the use of paid social media influencers who present smoking and vaping as a fashionable and desirable activity. Greater time spent on social media is likely to increase exposure to these forms of influence," they explain. "Second, social media use has been shown to have features in common with reward-seeking addictive behavior. High social media use may increase susceptibility to other addictive behaviors like smoking," they add. "Third, as a space that is largely unsupervised by parents/caregivers, social media use may encourage behaviors that are transgressive, including cigarette smoking and vaping." They conclude: "The companies that own social media platforms have substantial power to modify exposure to material that promotes smoking and vaping if they choose to or are compelled to. Voluntary codes seem unlikely to achieve this, and the introduction and enforcement on bans on material that promote this should be considered. "In general, we think that algorithms should not be promoting products to individuals that they cannot legally buy. Legislation and enforcement around this and other corporate determinants of health concerns should be considered a core part of online safety and child protection." In a linked editorial, Dr Kim Lavoie of the University of Montreal, voices concerns about the popularity of e-cigarettes and vaping products among young people. Aside from the addictive nature of nicotine and the relative affordability and accessibility of these products, "the answer may lie in the subtle and creative ways e-cigarette manufacturers have managed to reach, and entice, youth into taking up vaping," which include social media, she suggests. "The policy implications of this paper are important, particularly as they pertain to regulation of advertising and algorithms targeting under-age users," she writes. The American Pediatric Association recommends iron supplements to all healthy infants who breastfeed longer than 4 months, while its European counterpart, Society of Gastroenterology, Hepataology and Nutrition, does not recommend it. "These deviating guidelines stimulated us to design the study. Breastfeeding is strongly recommended, and the proportion of children are breastfed during the first half of life is high. We wanted to determine whether breastfeeding babies could benefit from extra iron." The aim of the SIDBI trial was to compare the guidelines based on the effect of iron supplementation on the children's psychomotor development. International cooperation SIDBI stands for Supplementing Iron and Development in Breastfed Infants and is a randomized, placebo-controlled trial that was conducted between December 2015 and May 2020 with follow-up until May 2023. It was an international collaboration between the Medical University of Warsaw and Umea University, and the children were recruited in both Poland and Sweden. In total, 221 infants were recruited. If exclusively breastfed at 4 months, they were randomly assigned to receive either iron, 1 mg/kg, or placebo once daily from 4 to 9 months of age. The participants were then assessed by a psychologist at 12, 24 and 36 months of age. Cognitive, motor and language abilities as well as behavioral problems were studied. Results fill the knowledge gap We did not see any significant differences in psychomotor development between children who received extra iron and children who received placebo. In other words, there was no benefit from iron supplements for development. More children in the placebo group had iron deficiency, but the difference was not significant. Our results provide high-quality evidence in the field where randomized trials were lacking. They reinforce the European guidelines not to recommend iron supplements to all healthy breastfed infants. We are proud to have published the results in JAMA Pediatrics, and we hope for a lot of attention for the study." Ludwig Svensson, PhD student in the SIDBI trial Continued work Ludwig is looking forward to analyzing the remaining data within the SIDBI study. "Among other things, we will look at behavioral problems at the age of 3. It will be very exciting to see if behavior that can be associated with ADHD or autism spectrum was affected by iron supplements." Updated medical guidance on excited delirium, the controversial term accused of covering up deaths in police custody, including that of George Floyd, is being brought forward before its scheduled date of October 2025, reports The BMJ today. The move comes as attitudes towards the use of the term appear to be changing, explains journalist Chris Stokel-Walker. For instance, last month Colorado joined California in banning police, medical staff and coroners from using the term, and the UK Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) removed the phrase from its incident forms. The phrase "excited delirium" was first coined by two doctors working in Miami in the 1980s, but subsequent analyses have never found a reliable medical basis for its use in the medical lexicon. Yet it and a related term more common in the UK, "acute behavioral disturbance" (ABD), have been mentioned as a cause of death or contributing factor in 44 cases of UK police restraint since 2005, according to an investigation published in March 2024 by the charity Inquest, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Observer. An earlier study published in July 2023 found that mentions of ABD in mental health records in one London NHS trust increased year-on-year between 2006 and 2021. James MacCabe, professor of epidemiology and therapeutics at King's College London, believes that the use of both terms is misguided, while Catherine Polling, NIHR clinical lecturer in general psychiatry, also at King's College London, says: "It's not traditionally a term that we use, and it's not in any of our diagnostic manuals." The guidance, produced by the Faculty of Forensic & Legal Medicine (FFLM), part of the Royal College of Physicians, is used to inform police forces' handling of suspects in custody. In 2019, the guidance linked excited delirium and ABD together, discussing how the two overlapped with one another. But an updated version in 2022 shied away from using excited delirium and included additional warnings about using specific forms of restraint and medicine that could result in harm or death to those it was being enacted upon. Controversy over the terms are well-warranted, argues MacCabe. "In the case of George Floyd, it's quite clear what is happening: it's being used as a way of explaining the fact that people have died when they've been in police custody or when they've been restrained, and it's a way of deflecting attention away from the restraint techniques that might have been used." There is also another reason why it's such a controversial diagnosis, says MacCabe: it seems to be predominantly applied to black people. The same July 2023 analysis that tracked ABD mentions in the London NHS trust found that black people were more than twice as likely to have ABD referenced in mental health assessments than white people, while a US analysis of 166 reported deaths in police custody between 2010 and 2020 attributed to excited delirium found that black people were 43.3% of the reported deaths. A separate study shows that excited delirium is mostly cited as a cause of death in people who have previously been restrained. The IOPC said in a statement: "We have decided to stop using the term 'excited delirium' as we recognize that it is language that is outdated and potentially offensive. We have removed it from IOPC forms that police forces use to make referrals to us and will not use the term as an option for categorizing our investigations." While unable to share a draft of the new FFLM guidance, Margaret Stark, one of the authors, can confirm that it updates references to include the latest knowledge, and removes references to non-clinical terms such as "disproportionate superhuman strength." Stark is happy to see the back of excited delirium but thinks losing the term 'acute behavioral disturbance' would be a mistake. She points to the importance of having a label for when people feel severe anxiety in police custody, because feeling that anxiety can lead to changes in the body that become a medical emergency. Experts agree it's time to find a better term, but what should replace excited delirium? Andrew Stolbach, associate professor of emergency medicine at Johns Hopkins University, says that not having a way to define the issues he encounters with patients does them a disservice, though he dislikes "excited delirium." He says he'd prefer to describe the symptoms in front of him, rather than assume a diagnosis without further tests. He believes it also serves another, more noble, purpose. "Whenever there's a term that's historically been associated with racism, it's important to be sensitive to that," he says. "We need to recognize the weight that carries. And that's just even more reason to move on." Digital platforms and mobile applications promise to deliver remote specialist care in low-resource settings. Recently, the SkinNTD app was introduced by the World Health Organization (WHO) to train and guide frontline healthcare workers who encounter neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Like all innovations, rigorous validation is essential before the widespread use of SkinNTD. In a recent study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, researchers discuss the results of an early-phase assessment of its usability and usefulness. Study: Evaluating the World Health Organizations SkinNTDs app as a training tool for skin neglected tropical diseases in Ghana and Kenya: cross-sectional study. Image Credit: greenbutterfly / Shutterstock.com What are NTDs? NTDs consist of 20 diseases that affect over 1.5 billion people throughout the world, mostly women and children. In an effort to prioritize research on NTDs, the WHO has classified NTDs into those appropriate for large-scale prevention and those requiring individual management, the latter of which include skin NTDs. Some examples of skin NTDs include Buruli ulcers, cutaneous leishmaniasis, leprosy, and lymphatic filariasis. All of these conditions are difficult to diagnose and treat without specialized staff and require financial investment. The population at the greatest risk of skin NTDs is frequently unaware of these conditions, which facilitates their dissemination and progression. Stigmatization of those affected by these diseases also discourages them from seeking timely medical help. As a result, some skin NTDs may become chronic, disabling, mutilating, and stigmatizing disorders, thus profoundly impacting the quality of life of affected individuals and their economic productivity. Taken together, these factors emphasize the importance of mobilizing and training frontline healthcare workers at the community level, as these individuals are often the first to encounter skin NTD patients. Telehealth services, which involve the use of modern communications and information technology, aim to ease and accelerate the delivery and administration of healthcare. Nearly 700 digital interventions and training programs have been implemented in Africa, many of which have achieved creditable results. However, these programs are often focused on one or very few conditions, thus limiting their cost-effectiveness and utility. Evaluating the utility of SkinNTD SkinNTD allows frontline healthcare workers to identify signs and symptoms of skin NTDs, access more information about the potential diagnosis, and make better clinical decisions. In the current study, SkinNTD was tested in Ghana and Kenya by frontline healthcare workers who were familiarized with application for five or more days. Thereafter, study participants answered a survey based on the user Mobile Application Rating Score (uMARS), which explores the objective areas of engagement with the application, its functionality, aesthetics, and information quality, as well as a subjective quality assessment. A subgroup of survey participants was also asked to participate in interviews and one focus group. What did the study show? The study included 60 participants for quantitative analysis, 57% male. The qualitative exploration included 17 study participants. Most participants worked for public health institutions, nearly 75% of whom were frontline health workers, though not skin specialists. About 70% of the study participants indicated that they were comfortable with mobile technology. The uMARS survey found that SkinNTD received a mean score of four out of five for quality, with information quality being the highest-rated among the four domains. Other notable features of the application included simple language, offline usability, and user-friendliness, all of which could make it suitable for rural use. Most study participants indicated that the application reduced the time required to diagnose a skin NTD. The mean quality score did not vary with age, sex, category of healthcare worker, country, or type of work. Neither prior experience of skin NTDs nor dermatology experience affected the quality rating. Subjective quality was assessed at 3.8 out of five, while the perceived impact of SkinNED was about 4.5. Study participants indicated that the application was easy to use, worked well offline, and could be a valuable tool for frontline workers in remote locations and when deprived of necessary resources. While many were unwilling to pay for the application, almost all study participants recommended its use. Conversely, several areas were identified for further improvement, such as a more detailed and helpful chapter on signs and symptoms of neglected NTDs, photographs of skin conditions specific to African populations, and the need to be able to input patient records and monitor patients. Some participants requested personalization and customization features, such as the ability to change font size. About 33% of study participants indicated they did not have adequate internet access, thus making offline functionality an important aspect. Moreover, 53% of study participants emphasized the importance of making SkinNTD available in other languages, particularly Twi and Swahili. The need to involve official institutions at all levels in disseminating the application was also indicated to ensure its credibility and high training standards in the future. Conclusions The study findings suggest the potential utility of SkinNTD, as these results demonstrated its user-friendly nature, ease of use, and offline functionality. Further evaluation and validation studies could facilitate the development of SkinNTD as a medical diagnostic device beyond training purposes. Other similar applications in use today include the Skin App, which was integrated into SkinNTD, and the Guaral App, which was explicitly designed for cutaneous leishmaniasis detection in rural Colombia. Additionally, the eSkinHealth app was developed for remote diagnosis, decision support, and surveillance of skin diseases in LMICs, especially those with darker-skinned populations. The SkinNTDs app can play a pivotal role in the global effort to combat skin NTDs and reduce their burden on affected communities. Stronger actions are needed immediately to thwart insurance brokers who fraudulently enroll or switch people in Affordable Care Act coverage, Sen. Ron Wyden, chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, said Monday. "We want the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to hold these brokers criminally responsible for ripping people off this way," he told KFF Health News. In a sharply worded letter sent to CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the Oregon Democrat expressed "outrage" over the practice, which nets unscrupulous agents commission payments while leaving consumers with a potential host of problems, from losing access to their regular doctors or treatments to higher deductibles and even owing taxes. Noting that tens of thousands of Americans have been victimized, Wyden called on regulators to step up enforcement and be more proactive in notifying potentially affected consumers. He vowed to introduce legislation that would make participating in such schemes subject to criminal penalties. "CMS must do more and you must do it now," he wrote in his letter. Complaints about such unauthorized enrollment schemes have grown in recent months. KFF Health News has reported that unscrupulous brokers or agents can easily access policyholder information to change their coverage through private commercial platforms integrated with the federal Obamacare marketplace, healthcare.gov, which serves 32 states. The challenge for federal regulators is to thwart the activity without reducing enrollment a top priority for President Joe Biden's administration. CMS, which oversees the federal website, said it's working on regulatory and technological fixes and can suspend or terminate problem agents' access to healthcare.gov. The agency will respond directly to Wyden, said Jeff Wu, acting director of CMS' Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight, in a written statement. He further noted that the agency is "consistently evaluating opportunities to identify and resolve issues sooner, including through outreach, technical assistance, and compliance actions." Ronnell Nolan, president and CEO of Health Agents for America, whose group has been outspoken about the need for regulators to do more, welcomed Wyden's involvement and the potential for criminal penalties for perpetrators. "It's a crime when a person's insurance is taken from them when they're in the middle of cancer treatment or on a transplant list and they're put in a predicament where they might lose their life because of the fraudulent activity," she said. After initially declining to quantify the problem, CMS this month issued a statement saying it had received more than 90,000 complaints in the first quarter of 2024 about unauthorized enrollments and plan switches. While the number of complaints represents a small percentage of the more than 16 million enrollments processed through healthcare.gov for this year's coverage, it may understate the breadth of the problem, as complaints likely don't reflect the magnitude of cases. Although Wyden lauded CMS' efforts to fix problems already encountered by consumers, he said in his letter that the agency needs to be more proactive about preventing them. He urged regulators to contact potentially affected consumers instead of waiting to investigate only after a policyholder files a complaint, which sometimes doesn't occur until weeks or months after a plan is switched. It can be difficult for victims to recognize the changes. Rogue agents don't obtain their consent, and many are signed up for plans that have no monthly premiums, so they don't get a bill. Other consumers unknowingly enroll when they respond to misleading marketing promising gift cards, "government subsidies," or other financial help. Rather than wait for a consumer to complain, regulators could reach out directly when they see a policy submitted or changed by a broker or agency that has been found to be fraudulently enrolling others, Wyden wrote. Wyden also said CMS should use its authority to impose civil penalties, up to $250,000, against "brokers who submit fraudulent enrollments." "I am disappointed these penalties have not yet been used to hold bad actors accountable," he wrote. Finally, he wants the agency to review private-sector platforms used by agents and brokers to enroll consumers in ACA plans. Those private companies are not used by 18 states and the District of Columbia, which run their own ACA marketplaces. The state-run marketplaces impose additional layers of identity-proofing and other security measures and have reported far fewer problems with unauthorized enrollment. Dozens of private "enhanced direct enrollment" entities are certified by CMS to integrate with healthcare.gov. Their involvement was expanded during the Trump administration, which also sharply reduced funding for nonprofits to help with outreach and enrollment. The platforms were designed to be simpler to use than healthcare.gov. But they have drawn criticism from agents, who say the private websites make it too easy for unscrupulous brokers or others to access policyholder information and make changes. Currently, more than half of federal marketplace enrollments are assisted by agents or brokers, and most act legitimately, regulators and others say. A discovery by Simona Stager's team could help come up with a treatment to the most serious form of leishmaniasis. Leishmaniasis is a tropical disease affecting a growing number of people worldwide. Each year, between 700,000 and 1 million new cases are reported. Caused by a protozoan parasite of the genus Leishmania, which is transmitted to humans by the simple bite of a sand fly, leishmaniasis comprises three clinical forms, of which the visceral form is the most serious. If left untreated, visceral leishmaniasis, also known as black fever, is almost always fatal. Most cases occur in Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Nepal, and Sudan. Professor Simona Stager of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) and her team, in collaboration with other researchers from INRS and McGill University, have observed a surprising immune mechanism linked to chronic visceral leishmaniasis. This discovery could be an important step towards a new therapeutic approach to this disease. The results of their research have been published in the journal Cell Reports. In many infections, CD4 T cells play a key role in defending the affected organism. Unfortunately, in the case of chronic infections such as leishmaniasis, maintaining the number of functional CD4 cells becomes an important issue, as the immune system is constantly activated to react against the pathogen affecting the infected person. New immunity soldiers to the rescue However, the study carried out by Professor Stager in her laboratory at INRS's Armand-Frappier Sante Biotechnologie Research Centre suggests that these cells may have more than one trick up their sleeve to maintain their vitality. We have discovered a new CD4 cell population in mice infected with the parasite responsible for visceral leishmaniasis. These T cells have interesting properties." Simona Stager, expert in immunology of infectious diseases By observing these novel cells, the scientists noticed that they increase in number during the chronic phase of the disease and also that, like progenitor cells, they are capable of self-renewal or differentiation into other effector cells responsible for eliminating the parasite, or regulatory cells that inhibit the host's response. Professor Simona Stager points out that CD4 T cells normally differentiate into effector cells from "naive" CD4 T cells. But during chronic infections, because of the constant need to generate effector cells, naive CD4 T cells are highly solicited and may become exhausted. "We believe that in the chronic phase of visceral leishmaniasis, the new population we have identified is responsible for generating effector and regulatory cells. This would allow the host to prevent exhaustion of its existing pool of naive CD4 Tcells for a certain antigen," explains Ph.D. student and first author of the study, Sharada Swaminathan. The new lymphocyte population discovered by the INRS team could be a decisive immune booster, taking over from over-solicited naive CD4 T cells. "If we can figure out how to direct this new lymphocyte population to differentiate into a protective effector cell, it could help the host get rid of the Leishmania parasite." -; Simona Stager, Vice-Director of the Infectiopole and member of Pasteur Network A cure for other infections? The study also mentions that cells similar to this new CD4 T lymphocyte population have been observed in mice infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus and in mice carrying the H. polygyrus intestinal worm. So it is quite possible that this population is present in other chronic infections or in other chronic inflammatory environments. This overlap sets the stage for an even wider scope for the discovery made by Professor Stager's team. "If our hypothesis is correct, these cells could be exploited therapeutically not only for visceral leishmaniasis, but also for other chronic infections," concludes the researcher. Interview with Atul Grover: Medical Residents Are Increasingly Avoiding Abortion Ban States Play On KFF Health News' "What the Health?," chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner sat down with Atul Grover of the Association of American Medical Colleges to talk about its recent analysis showing that graduating medical students are avoiding training in states with abortion bans and major restrictions. Among those who applied for residencies this year, that was true not only for aspiring OB-GYNs and others who regularly treat pregnant patients, but for all specialties. Fourteen states, primarily in the Midwest and South, have banned nearly all abortions. The new analysis by the AAMC 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. Find more of our reporting on what this trend means for the medical profession here. After successfully releasing the tech-loaded Harley-Davidson X440 in partnership with Hero, both the are are expected to bring more US models to the Indian market. It has been reported that manufacturers are gearing up to improve the fleet, and will new products range in the country. Some reports have suggested that both Hero MotoCorp and Harley-Davidson are in the process of finalizing an agreement, which will allow them to work in the same direction. Expected to Push Local Manufacturing If everything goes as speculated, both companies together will start manufacturing Harley-Davidson models locally and will export them overseas as well. A concrete confirmation about the same is yet to be shared by officials. Current Product Line Meanwhile, Harley-Davidson and Hero MotoCorp offer a robust X440 motorcycle in the Indian market. It is available in three variants and can be purchased at the starting price of Rs 2.39 lakh, while the top model goes up to Rs 2.79 lakh (all ex-showroom). Engine At the heart, the motorcycle is powered by an impressive 440cc BS6 engine, which generates a maximum power of 27 bhp and 38 Nm of peak torque. As far as some advanced features are concerned, the model is equipped with Bluetooth connectivity with a turn-by-turn navigation system, Switchable ABS, LED treatments, among others. An IndiGo flight from Mumbai to Varanasi was forced to return to the airport on Tuesday just as it was about to take off, after the crew spotted an overbooked passenger standing at the rear of the aircraft. The aircraft had to return to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) in Mumbai after the crew alerted the pilot about the male passenger while flight 6E 6543 was taxiing. One of the passengers, Akhilesh Chaubey, who was heading to Varanasi on a work trip, said, The flight returned to the bay and the passenger was offloaded. The airline then checked the cabin baggage of all passengers on board before proceeding with the take-off after a delay of at least an hour. Speaking about the incident, an IndiGo airline spokesperson stated that the error was noticed before the departure of the aircraft, and the standby passenger was de-boarded. There was an error during the passenger boarding process of 6E 6543 from Mumbai to Varanasi, wherein a standby passenger was allotted a seat reserved for a confirmed passenger. The error was noticed prior to the departure of the aircraft, and the standby passenger was de-boarded. This led to a slight delay in the departure of the aircraft. IndiGo will take all measures to strengthen its operational processes and regrets the inconvenience caused to customers, the spokesperson added. To prevent flights from departing with empty seats, airlines often overbook flights to minimise the risk According to the aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), penalties have been imposed on airlines for denying boarding even on valid tickets, Hindustan Times reported. As per regulations notified in 2016, an airline is not obligated to provide compensation to passengers if an alternative flight is arranged within an hour of the scheduled departure. However, if the airline arranges for an alternative flight within 24 hours of denial of boarding, it must pay 200% of the booked one-way basic fare, in addition to the airline fuel charge, with a maximum limit of Rs 10,000. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website Maharashtra Board HSC Result 2024 Live Updates: The Maharashtra Board has released the Maharashtra HSC Result 2024 today, May 21 for the science, arts, or commerce stream students. Candidates who appeared for the Maha 12th exam can check their scores on the official websites at mahresult.nic.in, hscresult.mahahsscboard.in, and mahahsscboard.in using their roll number and mothers name. This year, the Maharashtra 12th exams were held from February 2 to March 19, 2024. A total of 93.37% passed. Girls have outperformed boys yet again. Science is the best-performing stream. Stay ahead with all the exam results updates on News18 Website. While parents of Indian students are worried about safety, only 1% of those set to go for higher studies in the United States (US) this fall have decided to defer it to January next year. Most feel that the ongoing pro-Palestine protests on campuses, which are somewhat subdued now, will die down by the time the academic session resumes in August, post the summer break. For those who have secured admission and paid for flight bookings, college fee and accommodation, not taking visa will mean losing a year, when they have been preparing for two years. Fall (September-October) is the largest intake period for the US universities. Most colleges and universities in the US have turned into battlegrounds with students participating in a Pro-Palestine movement for the past couple of months and the local police cracking down on student encampments to disperse the protesters. Campuses of prominent universities saw violence and students being detained by the local police authorities. Currently, most encampments have been taken down by the police. In retaliation, students have begun protesting outside the houses of college trustees, while some have planned to stage a walkout at the graduation commencement ceremony. With the summer break approaching in most universities three months from mid-June or more the larger sentiment is that the situation may de-escalate. According to Pratibha Jain, Eduabroad Consulting, parents of Indian students, who have secured admission to colleges and universities in the US and are set to go during the fall intake (September-October), have queries on their childrens safety. Parents are nervous about safety, but if they dont take visa now, the student will lose a year. Only around 1% of those planning to join college in the US in the fall have deferred it to January next year. They are hopeful that post the long summer break, the movement would lose momentum, said Jain, a Mumbai-based study abroad consultant. US UNIVERSITIES CUT DOWN ON SUMMER COURSES TO MAKE STUDENTS GO HOME Jain added that American universities this year have largely reduced the number of summer courses they would offer during the June-July period as a legally valid way to make students leave campus for the entire summer. Every year, for instance, if a university used to offer 60 summer courses, it has reduced the number to six this time. This is mainly due to the protests. When there are no courses, students cannot come to the campus, said Jain. Also, the concern is mainly for those going to prominent universities like Columbia and the UCLA, among others, where the protests broke out. Those going to universities in the mid-west say it is not an issue as there werent any large-scale demonstrations as such, she said. Every year, on an average, around 1.5 lakh student visas are issued to the US, which reports say is one of the top study abroad destinations, closely followed by the United Kingdom (UK) and Australia. Jain said that a larger change, which has been in the pipeline and has become visible this year, is that around 3-5% of those planning to study abroad have decided to pursue undergraduate studies back in India, while they could go for post-graduation to foreign universities. This could be for multiple reasons, including fear of safety due to racism, private universities in India getting recognition by accrediting authorities as well as financial factors, she said. A Delhi-based parent, whose daughter is to join college in the US this fall, said he was slightly worried about her safety, but since she has been preparing, they will stick to the decision. We have been speaking to other parents as well, the concern is not too much as the protests have toned down already and may go down even further. We have just asked her to not get involved whatever the case may be, said her father, who didnt wish to be named. While some parents said it was better to wait and watch, others said they may have to re-evaluate their choice of college if the situation doesnt improve. Ashish Mehta, based in Mumbai, whose son is set to join the New York University in the fall, said, I am monitoring the situation daily to see how its escalating. It is obviously stressful to send your kid halfway across the world, especially where protests and arrests are going on. My son is headed to a city college, where protests have been on in full swing. If the situation doesnt calm down, we dont know if re-evaluating the college decision would make more sense. Mumbai-based Seema Shah, whose daughter is set to join the Northeastern University, said, It is definitely a cause for concern for all parents. Its too early to take any action or change any decisions that have been made. Were not jumping to conclusions. Lets wait and see how the situation progresses. Its still a couple of months away maybe all the protests will fizzle out by then. ADVISORY CLEAR FOR INDIAN STUDENTS: DO NOT GET INVOLVED LeverageEdu, another study abroad platform, too, said that although there is a concern, it is not over the top. We are asking Indian students to stay safe during these times, but the larger feeling is that it will die out eventually. Most universities we have spoken to have promised us that measures such as detention are extreme and rare. Racial sensitisation is happening across campuses in the US and most colleges with open grounds etc have been advised to suspend mass gathering of students, said Akshay Chaturvedi, founder and CEO, Leverage Edu. Even if the movement continues post summer, the advisory is to not get involved. Taking part in protests peacefully doesnt put Indian students in visa trouble, however, in cases of cities where there is a curfew in place, violating it may lead to questioning or an arrest, which will get reported to ICE (US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement). Repeat offences will have consequences on renewal or the current visa status. We have spoken to professors and even university authorities and the advisory is clear do not get involved. So far, international students we have spoken to are complying with it, he said. Stay ahead with all the exam results updates on News18 Website. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said the INDIA bloc is getting huge support in Uttar Pradesh and claimed that the BJP will lose all Lok Sabha seats except Varanasi. Addressing a rally in support of SPs Lalganj candidate Daroga Prasad Saroj, Yadav said, This time, whatever strategy they (BJP) have made, the people of Uttar Pradesh have made up their mind to wipe them out. Describing Prime Minister Narendra Modis constituency Varanasi as Kyoto, the former chief minister said, In the figures and information coming in now, the BJP is in fight in only one seat, that is Kyoto, and in all the rest seats the BJP has lost. Prime Minister Modi had assured to make Varanasi like Kyoto city of Japan known for tourism. Earlier, as Yadav arrived at the venue, the crowd tried to reach near the dais, forcing police personnel to lathicharge to control them even as the SP leaders on the stage appealed to the gathering to maintain peace. On Monday too, there was a ruckus in Yadavs rally in Sant Kabir Nagar. Before this, in a joint rally at Phulpur (Pragagraj) with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the two leaders had to leave without addressing the gathering after a huge crowd gathered near the dais. Addressing the rally on Tuesday, the SP chief said when the elections started, the BJP gave 400 paar slogan, but now the people are raising slogan of 400 haar. He said this time 140 crore people of the country will ensure that the BJP does not get even 140 seats. You must have heard their (BJP leaders) speeches. They are telling the same old story. No one wants to listen to them. The people have made up their mind and our PDA (backward, Dalit, minority) families will defeat the NDA, Yadav said. Accusing the BJP of lying, he claimed that every promise made by the BJP has turned out to be false. He also attacked the BJP on Covid vaccine and said that the vaccine has posed a life threat to the people. They (BJP) even recovered money from the vaccine company that administered the doses to us. Lalganj and Azamgarh seats will go to polls on May 25 in the sixth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website Former Calcutta High Court judge and BJP candidate Abhijit Gangopadhyay on Monday sent his reply to the show-cause notice issued by the EC for his undignified remark against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The poll panel acted on a complaint by the Trinamool Congress against Gangopadhyay for his remarks against Banerjee while addressing a public meeting held on May 15 in Haldia. We have received his (Gangopadhyays) reply today and forwarded it to the Delhi office, the official told PTI. The Election Commission had sought a response from Gangopadhyay by 5 PM on May 20. Senior officials of the Election Commission would take a call after going through the former judges reply to the show-cause notice, he said. The BJP has fielded Gangopadhyay from the Tamluk seat in West Bengal where voting will be held on May 25. In its notice, the EC said Gangopadhyays comment is beyond dignity in every sense of term and in bad taste, and prima facie violative of the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct and its advisory to political parties. Gangopadhyay was the fourth politician in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections to have been served a notice for undignified remarks against women. BJPs senior leader Dilip Ghosh and Congress Supriya Shrinate were censured by the poll body after being served notices for their remarks against Mamata Banerjee and Kangana Ranaut respectively. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday dubbed the INDIA bloc as a congregation of scamsters that was communal, casteist and dynastic to a severe degree, cent per cent. Modi launched the blistering attack at rallies in Mahrajganj and Purvi Champaran Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar, where he also predicted a big blow for the opposition alliance that stood for corruption, appeasement politics and perverted anti-Sanatan mindset, on June 4 when Lok Sabha poll results will be out. The PM, who is seeking a third consecutive term in office, also underscored that he shall be bequeathing no viraasat (inheritance) since he considered the people of the country as his only waaris (successors). He also charged the RJD-Congress combine, which formerly ruled Bihar, with having brought disrepute to the land which gave birth to first president Rajendra Prasad. He pointed out that the state, in the 1990s, had become known for irangdaari tax (extortion) and the NDA, which has been in power for nearly two decades, was trying to bring to a halt the trend of large-scale migration to other parts of the country for want of industries and job opportunities in Bihar. He lambasted the Nehru-Gandhi family, which he referred to as Congress royal family, for keeping mum over controversial remarks made by its leaders and allies against people of Bihar in states such as Punjab, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. Your vote is not just for electing your local MP but also to make your PM strong, said Modi, who also claimed that migrants from Bihar were treated well in Gujarat when he was the CM of that state. The PM also launched indirect attacks on leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav, who he said were born with silver spoons. The nation cannot move forward with the sins of the INDIA bloc, which stands for corruption, appeasement politics, represents the tukde-tukde gang and a perverted mindset that heaps scorn on Sanatan Dharma, he said. This is the reason why the INDIA bloc was exhausted in the very first phase of the elections. In the subsequent phases, it was battered. In the remaining two phases, the trend will continue, and on June 4 when votes are counted, the results will come as a big blow to the intentions of the opposition alliance, he claimed. Modi claimed that the opposition alliance did not look like a political front. It appears to be a congregation of scamsters, who are together responsible for corruption scandals worth Rs 20 lakh crore, he alleged. Modi claimed the parties of the opposition alliance have three common evils. They are all communal, casteist and dynastic to a degree that is severe, cent percent, he claimed. Modi also bristled at the oppositions criticism of welfare schemes run by his government, alleging that his opponents had bundles of notes stashed away in Swiss banks and could not understand the plight of the common people the way I do, having been born in a poor family. They were opening accounts in Swiss banks, while the people of India were starving, he alleged. Referring to Tejashwi Yadav, whom he did not mention by name, he said, I am told that the waaris of jungle raaj has been saying I will be advised bed rest after the Lok Sabha elections. The shehzada of Congress says he wants to see me in tears. His party openly chants slogans like Modi teri kabr khudegi (your grave will be dug). These people have a counterpart in Uttar Pradesh (an allusion to Akhilesh Yadav) who says I have reached the end of my life and hence contesting from Varanasi, said Modi, adding that the remarks showed lack of sensitivity on the part of those born with silver spoons, who have never known what is a life filled with struggles. He said the leaders of the INDIA bloc were furiously hurling abuses and curses at him as June 4 was approaching. They cannot accept that Modi is getting elected by the people of the country for another five-year term, he claimed. In his speech, the PM also made a reference to the much-talked-about feast Gandhi had enjoyed at Lalu Prasads residence last year. Those who refused the invitation to the consecration of Ram temple in Ayodhya had no problems in sharing a meal with the corrupt, he said. Modi also referred to Champaran as Mahatma Gandhis karma bhoomi and his own roots in Gujarat the janmabhoomi (place of birth). The Congress betrayed his ideals upon coming to power and devoted itself to promoting the interests of one family, he alleged. I have spent my first 10 years in power filling the potholes left by the Congress. I intend to speed up progress in the next term, said Modi as he spoke about his thrust on welfare measures like toilets for women who had to suffer physical ailments because of the absence of this very basic of all amenities. At his second rally in the Mahrajganj constituency, the PM seemed alarmed at the sight of several youngsters climbing on poles to catch a glimpse of him. You all must get down. The country needs young people like you. If you fall and hurt yourself it will cause me anguish. I will not commence my speech until you get down, Modi said and sought their forgiveness if my admonition has made you feel humiliated. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website Jamhuriyat, or democracy, in Kashmir was one of the dreams of former prime minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee. On Monday, when 49 Lok Sabha seats across eight states went to polls, Jammu and Kashmirs Baramulla surpassed the turnout in big cities including Thane, Kalyan and various constituencies in Mumbai in Maharashtra. The seat reported higher voter turnout than Lucknow and Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. Elections, particularly Lok Sabha Polls, are an integral part of any democracy. Surpassing at least the last four decades record and witnessing the second best voter turnout since its first Lok Sabha elections, Baramulla, as of 11.30 pm on Monday, reported 58.17 per cent voter turnout, and the number may go further up with updation of data from the Election Commission of India. Major cities like Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan from Maharashtra were behind the turnout of Baramulla. The six Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai North, North West, North East, North Central, South and South Central reported a turnout between 47 percent and 55 percent. In each of these seats, the turnout was lower than the 2019 Lok Sabha numbers. The situation was no better in nearby Thane and Kalyan seats, which reported slightly higher turnout than 2019 at 49.81 per cent and 47.08 per cent, respectively. Not just Mumbai, Uttar Pradeshs capital Lucknow and high-profile seat Amethi also reported a lower turnout than Baramulla. Lucknow reported around 52 per cent voter turnout, slightly lower than its 2019 performance while in Amethi, the turnout was 54 per cent. It is also important to note that these figures of voter turnout may get updated in the coming days by the field level officers as and when polling parties will return. Polling in the fifth phase of General Elections recorded an approximate voter turnout of 60.09 per cent as of 11:30 pm, the ECI said in a statement. Baramulla had reported the highest ever voter turnout in 1984 at 61.09 per cent and in 1989, at the peak of the insurgency, the voter turnout dropped to about six per cent. Since then, the voter turnout on the seat had been between 27 per cent and 42 per cent. So far, Lok Sabha elections have been completed in 428 seats and the turnout in Baramulla was higher than around 30 big cities. The list includes Hyderabad, Mathura, Secunderabad, Shahjahanpur, Kanpur, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Pune, Agra and Nagpur. The turnout in Baramulla was also higher than that of Chennai Central and South; Bangalore South, North and Central; and Ahmedabad East and West. Voting Day Clubbed With Weekend Last month, News18 had reported the connection between urban apathy and weekend polling. Considered among the biggest battles of the Election Commission, the issue of urban apathy has been raised every now and then. In March 2023, while announcing the dates for the Karnataka assembly polls, the commission had said that polling on midweek bars the urban working class from clubbing the voting holiday with regular offs and takes away the option of a long weekend. The polling in the state was done on Wednesday. Speaking to the media while announcing Karnataka assembly polls, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar had said that if the polling was scheduled for a Monday or a Friday, people would have clubbed it with the weekend. If it were a Tuesday or a Thursday, it would still be possible to turn it into a mini holiday and people would have left town. But while planning the schedule of the Lok Sabha dates, the ECI seems to have missed that point. In the 2024 Lok Sabha, the first two phases were conducted on Fridays and both times, the voter turnout was lower than in 2019, except for a few seats. The fourth and fifth phases were conducted on Mondays. The third phase was held on Tuesday. The next two phases will be held on Saturdays May 25 and June 1. In the second phase, held on April 26, cities like Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar in Uttar Pradesh and three Lok Sabha seats in Bangalore North, South and Central, went to polls, and all reported less than 55 per cent turnout. In the fourth phase, held on May 13, Hyderabad and Secunderabad were at the bottom with less than 50 per cent turnout. While polling on certain days may not be the biggest contributing factor to low voter turnout, it may play a critical role, especially in the urban working class. Another possible factor that would have discouraged the urban voters in the fifth phase would be higher temperatures in these towns. As per the India Meteorological Department, the maximum temperature in Thane was 38 degrees Celsius. In Mumbai, it was between 35 and 40 degrees Celsius in different parts. In Lucknow, it was between 40 and 43 degrees Celsius. The next phase of polling will be done on May 25 before counting of votes on June 4. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website Claiming that the NDA has already bagged 310 seats after the completion of five phases of the Lok Sabha polls, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday urged the people of Odisha to free the state from babu-raj and allow the BJP to form government at the Centre and also in the state. Addressing two election rallies in Sambalpur where the BJP has fielded Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Shah said this time lotus, the partys symbol, will bloom in Odisha. After the fifth phase of polls, the NDA has already bagged 310 seats. We will secure 400 plus seats after the sixth and seventh rounds of polls, Shah claimed. Alleging that Odisha has been ruled by a handful of officers, Shah said this election will end the ongoing babu raj in the state. He alleged that the tribals of Keonjhar get no benefit even though most of the mines and mineral reserves of the country are located in Keonjhar district. Claiming that Modi has ensured that there is no terrorism across the country, the Union Home minister said: PoK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir) was with India and it would remain with us. India would take PoK. He criticised the Congress and its leaders who are reportedly frightened over Pakistan possessing an atom bomb. Modi has given a befitting reply to Pakistans terror activities and he does not fear such threat of nuclear bomb, Shah said. Coming down heavily on the previous Congress government, Shah said: Congress has done nothing for tribals. Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had formed a separate ministry for tribal affairs while Narendra Modi as the PM has worked to eliminate Naxalism in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Shah said PM Modi has constituted DMF (district mineral foundation) and given crores of rupees for the development of the tribal region. The budgetary allocation for tribal affairs has been enhanced to Rs 1.25 lakh crore during Modi government from Rs 25,000 crore given during the previous UPA regime, Shah said, adding that the BJP government has set up 740 Ekalabya Schools where one lakh students have been studying. He said about 40,000 teachers were appointed in these schools. Shah said kendu leaf pluckers will get bonus and proper price on their minor forest produce. He also announced setting up a 500-bed hospital in Keonjhar and also another 500-bed hospital and medical college in Sambalpur. He said PF (provident fund) provision will be made for Kendu leaf workers. Shah also accused the BJD government of insulting Odishas pride, language, culture and tradition. BJP will give a young, energetic, hardworking and dynamic Odia Bhumiputra (son of the soil) as chief minister if voted to power in the state, he told the gathering. He said the new BJP government will provide jobs to two lakh people in a span of one-and-half-a-year. Shah said: Naveen Babu is forcing Babu shahi (officers rule) on Odisha, and is assaulting the pride and dignity of the Odia people. He is throttling the culture and pride of the state. Shah urged the people to elect a BJP government in the state to ensure speedy development and preservation of their rich culture. A Bhumiputra will rule the land of Utkala Bhumi and not a Tamil babu if people vote for BJP, he said. Alleging that the BJD government wants to convert the Jagannath temple to a commercial centre, Shah said that the mutts and temples have been destroyed in Puri and all four gates of the Jagannath temple are yet to be opened for the public. Even a conspiracy was hatched to halt the world-famous Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath, Shah alleged. He also alleged that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is leaving no stone unturned to loot mineral resources of the state. He said though Odisha has rich mineral resources, the state doesnt have a chief minister who can protect the states resources. The BJD government has also neglected western Odisha. BJP is committed for equal development of all parts of the state, the Home minister said. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website One person died and three others sustained injuries after an altercation broke out between two groups in Bihars Saran district, believed to be supporters of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), over allegations of irregularities during polling that happened on Monday. A police official said the incident happened in the Bada Telma area near Bhikhari Thakur Chowk on Tuesday morning, adding that a few people had been detained in connection with the incident and the internet had been banned in the area for two days. He said shots were fired during the incident one person was killed on the spot, and three others were injured. The deceased was identified as Chandan Yadav (25), he added. The injured persons were admitted to the nearest hospital. Later, two of them were sent to Patna for better treatment, Superintendent of Police Gaurav Mangla said. A case has been registered and an investigation is underway. Three persons have been arrested in connection with todays incident, he said. Internet was also suspended in the district to prevent a flare-up, he added. RJD president Lalu Prasads daughter Rohini Acharya was the Mahagathbandhan candidate in Saran against BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy. Bihars Saran voted during Phase 5 of the Lok Sabha election on Monday. Responding to the developments, former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said, Two people have been arrested and the other two are absconding. I have been assured that they will be arrested soon. Some people end up doing such things because of the fear of losing. Such incidents should not take place during elections. (With inputs from PTI) Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website In a first, just five days ahead of voting for Lok Sabha Election 2024 in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal held nukkad sabha meetings along with his wife Sunita in support of the Aam Aadmi Partys East Delhi candidate Kuldeep Kumar. Today, I have come along with Sunita Kejriwal. She was the bridge between you and me when I was in jail. She used to appraise me about your problems and carry my message to you. She will speak a few words, said the Chief Minister addressing the people who had gathered. Incidentally, Sunita Kejriwals first road show was in the East Delhi constituency. Addressing the people, Sunita said, It is because of your blessings that your chief minister, my husband is amongst you all. Thank you. The almighty also supports the truth, this is a fact, isnt it? Dont you all want that your chief minister should remain with you all and not go back to jail? For this, on 25th May, all of you have to vote for jhaadu. Since May 10, when Kejriwal was released on interim bail, his wife, who, as he said, kamaan sambhali (held the fort), and had led the AAPs campaign, had taken a back seat while the chief minister hit the campiagn trail. The joint campaign by the two together is a clear indication that Sunita Kejriwal would be in charge when Kejriwal goes back to jail. Incidentally, when the couple was campaigning in East Delhi, the police had reached the chief ministers official residence along with his former aide Bibhav Kumar. Kumar was arrested last Saturday following grievous charges of assault by the partys own Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal, which he has denied. The AAP has been looking to consolidate support amongst women. Not surprisingly, Kejriwal had begun his speech addressing women, When I was in jail, I heard that many of my mothers and sisters did a lot of puja-path that Kejriwal may come out soon, many prayed, asked for mannat. I am thankful to all my mothers and sisters because of whose blessings I am here, he added. Going over his familiar trope, he added, This is nothing less than a miracle that I am out, Modi ji had tried his best that I remain inside. Referring to the response of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a TV channel, Kejriwal said, They asked him, Kejriwal has made bus rides free in the country, Modi said, this is not right. Bus travels should not be made free. Kejriwal went on to argue what problem Modi ji could have when by saving money, I have made bus rides free in times of such high price rise and that the PM could demonstrate a large heart if bus rides across the whole country is made free by him. With an eye on the womens vote, Kejriwal promised that Rs 1000/- for women will be disbursed soon. Look at the irony. I made medicines free for the whole country. And when I went to jail, they stopped my medicines for 15 days. I begged them, I am a diabetic since 20 years and for the past 10 years, I had been taking insulin injections everyday. I take four injections of insulin in my stomach every day. When I was in Tihar, they stopped my insulin injections and my sugar levels rose up to 300 350 instead of the normal 140. If sugar levels rise, liver, kidney get spoilt, said Kejriwal seeking to strike a chord of sympathy with the people. On the emotional pitch, Kejriwal said, Now they are saying that on the 2nd, I will have to go to jail again. It is up to you. If you vote for the BJP, I will have to go to jail again. If you vote for jhaadu, then Kejriwal will roam freely amongst you. They are arresting someone every day. They arrested me. Poor Manish Sisodia is in jail. They arrested Sanjay Singh. They arrested Satyendar Jain. Day before yesterday, they arrested my PA. Now, they are saying they will arrest Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj. We had elected a Prime Minister or a thaanedar, Kejriwal questioned. In yet another direct attack on the Prime Minister, Kejriwal said, Look at his speeches. These days, he has resorted to abuse. I was in Mumbai, there he said, Sharad Pawar is a bhatakti aatma (roaming spirit). Pawar is 84 years old, Modi ji is 74 years old. Should he speak like this? Uddhav Thackeray apni baap ke nakli santan hai, aisi baat toh sadakchap karte hain (Uddhav Thackeray is a fake child of his father. Only roadside people speak such a language). What language is this? One day he said that if INDI alliance forms the government, it will take away your mangal sutras, what language is this? On the 4th of June, INDI alliance is forming the government and AAP will be its part and we will obtain full statehood for Delhi. After the 4th, the police will listen to you. I was thinking, I am a small person. There is a small party. We have governments only in Delhi and Punjab. Pradhan Mantri ji is such a big and powerful person. He is the Raja of this country. Why did he put me in jail? Thats because he wants to stop our work in Delhi. What is my fault? I built good government schools, I made arrangement for good schools. I told Pradhan Mantri ji, I built 500 schools, why dont you build 5,000, 50,000, then you will become bigger, said the chief minister with AAP East Delhi candidate Kuldeep Kumar by his side. The AAP made similar arguments about mohalla clinics. Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodias Patpartgang falls in the East Delhi constituency. The AAP has fielded Kuldeep Kumar, who belongs to the SC community, from an unreserved constituency. The AAP Congress alliance suffered a blow in this constituency as Arvinder Singh Lovely, who has a sizeable support, ditched the Congress for the BJP. Another former AAP MLA from the Laxmi Nagar assembly constituency, which falls in the East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, Nitin Tyagi, has also withdrawn from the partys campaign. The East Delhi constituency will see a direct fight between AAPs Kuldeep Kumar and BJPs Harsh Malhotra. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday attacked Rahul Gandhi, questioning whether a leader who has been praised by the enemy be allowed to form the government. Singh, while addressing an election rally in Jharkhands Bokaro, was referring to former Pakistan minister Fawad Hussain Chaudhrys praise for the Congress leader. Former Pakistan minister Fawad Hussain Chaudhry, who had claimed that Pakistani terrorists were behind Pulwama and Uri attacks, had not praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi but had praised Rahul Gandhi with comments such as Rahul on fire. I want to ask you (people) whether such a leader who has been praised by the enemy be respected or allowed to form the government? Which direction do they want to take the country? I appeal to everyone to save the country, Singh said. Chaudhry, who was a minister in the Imran Khan government in Pakistan, had shared a video featuring Rahul Gandhi on X, with a caption Rahul on fire. Singh asserted that no force on earth can prevent the establishment of Ram Rajya in India. Singh said that under the Congress rule, banks ran into losses but under the BJP government, all banks recorded huge profits. He also attacked the Congress, stating that the grand old party was promising reservations on the basis of religion, which is not permissible under the Constitution. Singh said all prime ministers of the Congress had promised to eradicate poverty and failed but under Modi rule, 25 crore people have been brought out of poverty. Attacking the JMM-led alliance and jailed former chief minister Hemant Soren for plunder of wealth, he said corruption peaked in Jharkhand under the present regime and without the CMs patronage it was not possible. He appealed to the people to show the exit door to the ruling coalition in the state. The CM who mysteriously went missing for 24 hours, which is unprecedented in Indias history, is languishing in jail, he said, while referring to Hemant Soren. Singh said although INDIA bloc accuses BJP of misusing ED and CBI against opposition but these agencies could seize only Rs 32 lakh under the previous Congress regime, whereas under Modi government, they seized Rs 1 lakh crore besides property worth Rs 22,000 crore. In our party, if any worker or leader is found indulged in corruption, he will be sent to jail. Nobody could raise an accusing finger at any of the CMs of BJP-ruled states, he added. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website Rubina Dilaik and Abhinav Shukla have been embracing the joys of parenthood following the recent arrival of their twin daughters, Jeeva and Edhaa. Currently, the duo is soaking in the serene beauty of Bhutan and treating fans to glimpses of their enchanting escapades. In their latest update, the couple has once again delighted their followers with new snapshots from their Bhutan journey. The latest photos shared by Abhinav on his Instagram handle showcase the duo posing against the backdrop of the Buddha Dordenma Statue. Rubina looks stunning in a casual ensemble comprising a pink sweater and blue denim, while Abhinav rocks a grey jacket and joggers. The second photo captures Abhinav looking at his wife lovingly as she poses for the camera. Meanwhile, the last picture captures the lovebirds in a moment of pure joy as they pose in their stunning ensembles. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Abhinav Shukla (@ashukla09) Alongside the photos, Abhinav wrote in the caption, Our second visit to Bhutan, one of my favourite countries! Do you know which are my top three favourite countries apart from India? Watch my YT channel! Fans and followers flooded the comment section with love and adoration for their stunning chemistry. One user wrote, So nice to see you two happy, while another commented, World beautiful couples Rubina and Abhinav. In a previous post shared by Rubina, the couple can be seen enjoying moments amidst the scenic landscapes of Bhutan. Among the images, one shows Rubina and Abhinav posing alongside locals. Rubina looks elegant in her attire, donning a sleeveless beige knitted pullover with a side tie-up over a printed brown top and a black maxi skirt. She accessorised her ensemble with a silver necklace and matching earrings. Abhinav complimented her style with a dark grey sweatshirt, blue jeans, and grey shoes. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rubina Dilaik (@rubinadilaik) Rubina and Abhinav first crossed paths on the sets of the TV serial Choti Bahu. After dating for a while, the couple exchanged vows in 2018. Last year, the couple welcomed two twin daughters Edhaa and Jeeva. On the professional front, Abhinav Shukla manages his YouTube channel called Outdoor with Abhinav Shukla, where he shares his travel vlogs. On the other hand, Rubina hosts her podcast show Kisine Btaya Nahi on her official YouTube Channel, where she talks about pregnancy-related issues and postpartum struggles. With the Lok Sabha Election now in the penultimate phase, a controversy of sorts has erupted involving Mamata Banerjee and the Bharat Sevashram Sangha (BSS), after the West Bengal chief minister has alleged that some of the monks were working for the BJP. In the last three days, Banerjee again targeted a prominent monk of the BSS and blamed him for the riots at Beldanga in Murshidabad during Ram Navami processions last month. Banerjee later clarified on Monday at a public rally in Bishnupur constituency in Bankura district, I am not against Ramakrishna Mission. Why should I be against an institution and show disrespect? Even I paid a visit to Maharaj (former head of the RKM) when he was ill. I have only talked about one or two people. Bharat Sevashram Sangha does great philanthropic work for the people and they also love me. I only mentioned one name and he is Kartik Maharaj. He did not allow our agents in polling booths. Two days before the election in Murshidabad, he incited a riot in the district. Thats why I took his name, as quoted by The Indian Express. Swami Pradiptananda, also known as Kartik Maharaj, the head of BSS Beldanga unit, has sent a legal notice to the Trinamool Congress supremo, seeking an unconditional apology within 48 hours. call upon you [Banerjee] to forthwith address the press and issue an unconditional apology and retract your virulent and malafide statement within 48 hours from receipt of the instant notice and cease and desist from making further similar statements against my client defaming and maligning my client, Pradiptanandas counsel Billwadal Bhattacharyya said in the notice, as mentioned by Hindustan Times. Pradiptananda told media, In my legal notice, I stated that the CMs false accusations have caused reactions among monks and devotees. (In the notice, I asked her to) provide proof for the allegations she made. Otherwise, she should issue an unconditional apology. He claimed Banerjees comments were highly libellous and demanded a reply within four days, failing which he would take legal action. BSS, however, has distanced itself from the remarks made by Swami Pradiptananda. Swami Biswatmananda, principal secretary of BSS headquarters, said as quoted by The Times of India, The order respects Banerjee for the work she does for the poor. Pradiptanandas statements were made in his personal capacity and were not endorsed by BSS. This should not have been said. It is unfortunate. No permission was sought from us (BSS headquarters). We will inquire into it, he said. What Exactly Happened? During his protest, Pradiptananda said, All parties have cordial relations with me. Even TMC leaders have come to meet me. So did Congress and BJP leaders. In Beldanga, a section of people considers me to be their guardian. There is no politics in it. He criticised Banerjee for not addressing a communally divisive statement made by her party MLA Humayun Kabir. I have the right to protect my religion, he added. At a rally on Saturday in Hooghlys Jayrambati, the birthplace of Sarada Devi, wife of Sri Ramakrishna, Mamata had referred to Kartik Maharaj, and said I do not consider him a monk as he is directly involved in politics and is ruining the country. I used to respect the Bharat Sevashram Sangha a lot. Banerjee also accused some members of the Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) working for the BJP. She went on to say members of the Ramakrishna Mission got their instructions from Delhi. Some monks of the Ramakrishna Mission and Bharat Sevashram Sangha are working under the influence of BJP leaders in Delhi, Banerjee said as quoted by The Indian Express. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday accused Banerjee of bad-mouthing and threatening ISKCON, RKM, and BSS to protect Muslims and infiltrators, calling them TMCs vote bank. the chief minister is bad-mouthing our great organisations and maligning them under pressure from hardcore Muslim outfits to secure votes. TMC is insulting Bengals heritage and culture. They repeatedly use vulgar words against Ram Mandir [in Ayodhya]. Would not you reply to TMCs appeasement politics with your votes, Modi said at a rally in Bankura. About Ramkrishna Mission While the Ramakrishna Mission was established in 1897 by Swami Vivekananda, who has been adopted by the RSS as one of its icons, the Sevashram Sangha was founded in 1917 by monk Pranabananda Maharaj and is best known for providing humanitarian relief across the country during natural calamities. Although Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission are legally and financially separate, they are closely inter-related in several other ways and are to be regarded as twin organisations. Their headquarters is called Belur Math, located in Belur, West Bengal. PM Modi claims a close association with the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, and in June 2017, at the death of its head Swami Atmasthananda, had offered his condolences calling it a personal loss. He posted on X that he had got spiritual guidance from Swami Atmasthananda in Rajkot, Gujarat. I lived with him during a very important period of my life. ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, is a Vaishnava Hindu religious organisation. One-China principle anchor of peace across Taiwan Strait: Chinese FM Xinhua) 08:09, May 21, 2024 ASTANA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Monday that the one-China principle is what underpins peace across the Taiwan Strait. He made these remarks on the sidelines of the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Astana, to expound on China's solemn position regarding Taiwan region's new leader's assumption of office. Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that the one-China principle cannot be violated. No matter how the political situation on the Taiwan island changes, it will not change the historical and legal facts that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is part of China, he said. Wang noted that recently, political leaders and people from all walks of life in many countries, including member states of the SCO, have made a just voice of abiding by the one-China principle and firmly supporting China's just cause of opposing "Taiwan independence" and promoting reunification, which once again shows that the fundamental situation regarding international community's adherence to the one-China principle is unshakable. Anyone who attempts to challenge the one-China principle will inevitably fail, he said. Every time they stir up trouble, the international community's consensus on upholding the one-China principle shall further consolidate, and the understanding and support for China's position shall add up, he said, adding that this is the truth that a just cause enjoys abundant support while an unjust cause finds little support. Separatist attempts for "Taiwan independence" are doomed to fail, said Wang. 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 constitute the collective memory of the international community, he said. Wang noted that separatist attempts for "Taiwan independence" constitutes the most serious challenge to the international order, the most dangerous change to the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, and the most significant damage to peace across the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese foreign minister said that the one-China principle is the fundamental prerequisite and political foundation for China to establish and develop relations with all other countries, and it is also what underpins peace across the Taiwan Strait. The general trend of China's reunification is irreversible, Wang said. The Chinese nation has a common belief that the territory is indivisible, the country cannot be destabilized, the nation cannot be separated, and the civilization cannot be broken, he said, adding that this is the historical inevitability and internal logic of China's eventual reunification. He said that the Taiwan question is China's internal affair. Realizing China's complete reunification is a shared aspiration of all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation and a historical trend that no force can stop. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has expressed deep condolences over the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter accident, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday. In a message of condolence sent to Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, Xi, on behalf of the Chinese government and the people of China, expressed deep condolences and extended sincere sympathies to Mokhber, the family of President Raisi, and the Iranian government and people. Xi said that since President Raisi took office, he made important contributions to maintaining Iran's security and stability and promoting national development and prosperity. He added that Raisi also made positive efforts to consolidate and deepen the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership. Raisi's tragic death is a great loss to the Iranian people, and the Chinese people also lost a good friend, Xi said. The Chinese government and Chinese people cherish the traditional friendship between China and Iran, Xi said, noting that with the joint efforts of both sides, the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership will continue to consolidate and develop. China also expresses deep condolences over the unfortunate death of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and extends sincere sympathies to his family, Wang added. After the accident, China paid high attention to it and expressed its willingness to provide all necessary support and assistance to Iran, the spokesman said. China will continue to support the Iranian government and people in maintaining independence, stability and development, and stands ready to work with Iran to further deepen the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership, Wang said. The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor has sought arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leaders of Hamas for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Courts Karim Khan in a statement said he was applying for arrest warrants for Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas because he has reasonable grounds to believe that they were responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, which included the killing of hundreds of Israeli civilians in the October 7 attack led by Hamas in Israel, and taking of the 245 hostages. The prosecutor accused Hamas of murder, extermination, hostage-taking and acts of sexual violence. Khan, who also requested the ICC for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israels defence minister Yoav Gallant, said he believed they were responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including starvation of civilians and intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population. What Arrest Warrants Mean For Israeli PM and Hamas? An arrest warrant does not necessarily mean that an individual is guilty, but it could lead to a lengthy trial for Netanyahu and Hamas leaders. If the court finds sufficient evidence against Israel and Hamas for perpetrating war crimes, it will summon them to appear or can issue an arrest warrant, asking the member countries to make the arrest and transfer the suspects to the ICC. If the suspect appears in court, a pre-trial takes place in which the court decides if there is enough evidence for the case. There is a trial before the three ICC judges in which the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the individual is guilty of the crimes. As per the ICC, the accused may be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison if charged guilty. Under exceptional circumstances, life imprisonment can also be given. The ICC has so far issued arrest warrants against 42 people, 21 of whom have been detained with the help of member states. What is the International Criminal Court? The ICC was established in 2002, and is headquartered in The Hague. It is a permanent global court that can prosecute individuals, rogue leaders for atrocities, war crimes, genocides and crimes against humanity. The ICC was created after the Yugoslav wars from 1991 to 2001 and the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. Unlike the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the ICC is not an organ of the United Nations and does not prosecute states. Although the ICC is independent of the UN, it is endorsed by the General Assembly and maintains a cooperation agreement with the UN. When a case is not within the ICC jurisdiction, the UN Security Council can refer a case to ICC granting its jurisdiction. The ICC is governed by the Rome Statute that was ratified by 124 countries, of which the US is not a part. Any member state can ask the ICC to launch an investigation for alleged crimes committed on the territory or by a national. The courts first verdict was against Thomas Lubanga, the leader of a militia in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in March 2012. He was convicted of war crimes relating to the use of children in that countrys conflict and sentenced in July to 14 years. The ICC has previously issued arrest warrants against high-profile individuals, including former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, Saif Gaddafi, the son of the late Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, and most recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin. Can ICC Prosecute Israeli Nationals? Israels actions in Gaza were referred to the ICC by five countries South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros and Djibouti in November. Though Israel is not part of the Rome Statute, but that cannot prevent the ICC to prosecute Israeli nationals. Israel has refrained from signing the Rome Statute because of its concerns about being the subject of prosecutions generating from the illegal status of the settlements in the Palestinian territories, which are considered by many to violate the Fourth Geneva convention, as per the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2021, the ICC began a formal investigation into alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories. The Palestinian Authority submitted evidence to the court of what it claims were war crimes committed by the Israeli military. A UN report found evidence of war crimes by both Palestinian group Hamas and the Israeli military. The ICC said then that it has jurisdiction on the conflict and, by majority, that the territorial scope of this jurisdiction extends to Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The court had already been investigating possible crimes committed by Israel since 2014 in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. What About Hamas Then? The Palestinian authorities had signed the Rome Statute in 2015. Thus, the ICC has jurisdiction over actors in Gaza and other Palestinian authorities, and actors in those territories, including Hamas. ICC prosecutor Khan had said in October that crimes committed by Israel in Gaza and Hamas in Israel fall under the court jurisdiction, as per a Reuters report. This means the ICC can indict Hamas leaders over possible crimes committed against both Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Reaction to Arrest Warrants Israeli PM Netanyahu said Karim Khan was one of the great anti-semites in modern times. He said Khans decision to seek arrest warrants against him and the defence minister was callously pouring gasoline on the fires of antisemitism that are raging around the world. Israels Foreign Minister Israel Katz called it a scandalous decision and an unrestrained frontal attack on the victims of October 7 and our 128 hostages in Gaza. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has called the ICC prosecutors move outrageous. Let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence none between Israel and Hamas, Biden wrote. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security. Hamas demanded the withdrawal of the allegations against its leaders, claiming that the ICCs prosecutor was equating the victim with the executioner. It said the request to issue arrest warrants for the Israeli leadership came seven months too late, after the Israeli occupation committed thousands of crimes. Btselm, a leading Israeli human rights organisation, said the warrants marked Israels rapid decline into a moral abyss.The international community is signalling to Israel that it can no longer maintain its policy of violence, killing and destruction without accountability, it added, as quoted by the BBC. A 17-year-old boy released on bail granted by a Pune court within 15 hours of being detained for allegedly running over two people by his over-speeding Porsche car in the early hours of Sunday has left many baffled. The incident brings to light how the maximum number of road accidents and deaths in the country occur due to drink-driving. The minor, a son of a prominent builder, was released by the Juvenile Justice Board within hours of the accident, on conditions that he should write an essay reflecting on the accident, seek help to give up drinking and do voluntary work with the Pune traffic police. His father, who was on a run after being booked under Juvenile Justice Act, was detained from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and was brought back to the city for further probe, Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar said. Kumar further said the Pune Police is seeking permission to try the juvenile accused as an adult under the Juvenile Justice Act. The father has been booked under the provision of sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act on the charges of allowing his son to drive the Porsche and consume liquor, as confessed by the minor. The Pune Police also arrested the owner of restaurant Cosie, Pralhad Bhutada, and its manager, Sachin Katkar, as well as the manager of restaurant Blak, Sandip Sangale, for allegedly serving alcohol to the minor accused. The three persons arrested will be produced in court later in the day, said a senior Pune City Police officer. What is the Porsche Car Case? According to the police, the minor accused had thrown a party for 12 of his friends to celebrate his Class 12 results. They had gone to Cosie in upscale Mundhwa and Blak Club at Marriott Suites at Koregaon Park annexe, where they consumed alcohol between 9.30 pm on Saturday and 1 am on Sunday. The police said the teenager was driving his unregistered silver-grey Porsche Taycan at 160 kmph when it hit a motorcycle from behind near a pub, that killed 24-year-olds Ashwini Koshta and Aneesh Awadhia from Madhya Pradesh. The two victims were former colleagues working for an MNC in Kalyaninagar. Koshta had quit her job a few months ago and was scheduled to return to her home in Jabalpur on June 18 for her birthday. The minors father had bought the Porsche in March but the car had not yet been registered as he had not paid the Rs 44 lakh road tax. As per the FIR registered by Assistant Police Inspector Vishwanath Todkari at Yerwada Police Station, Upon inquiry, the minor said his father handed over the Porsche to him despite knowing that he had no drivers training and did not have a drivers licence. He has also said his father allowed him to party with his friends and that his father was aware that he was consuming alcohol". Deputy Commissioner of Pune City Police Vijay Kumar Magar arrested the juvenile, after booking him for rash and negligent driving, as well as causing harm by endangering life or personal safety under IPC sections 304A, 279, 337, 338, and 427, in addition to relevant sections of the Maharashtra Motor Vehicle Act. What is the Legal Drinking Age in India? In India, the legal drinking age varies from the age of 18 to 25 years, to different state laws. Some states like Gujarat, Bihar, Nagaland, and Manipur have banned alcohol entirely. Haryana, Goa, and others have a legal drinking age of 25 years while other states allow those who are 21 years or above to consume alcohol. The Motor Vehicles Act of 1988, amended in 2019, includes provisions to address the menace of drunk driving. Section 185 of the Act specifically deals with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, setting clear guidelines and punishments for offenders. What are Drink-Driving Laws? According to Section 185 of the Motors Vehicles Act, if a person is found driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle beyond the permissible limit of alcohol at 30 mg per 100 ml in blood, or drugs, they are liable to punishment. Upon the first offence, the driver is liable to face imprisonment for a term up to six months or a fine extending to Rs 10,000, or both. Additionally, their driving license may be suspended for a specified period. In case of subsequent offences within three years of the first conviction, the offender may face imprisonment for a term up to two years and/or a fine extending to Rs 15,000. If drink driving causes injury to another person, the offender may be punished with imprisonment for a term extending to two years and/or a fine of Rs 5,000. In case, the drink driving leads to the death of another person, the offender may face imprisonment for two to seven years, along with a fine. What if the Offender is a Juvenile? As per Section 199A of the Motors Vehicles Act, where a juvenile has committed an offence, the guardian of the minor or the owner of the motor vehicle will be held guilty of the contravention and will be liable for punishment. The guardian will be punished with imprisonment for up to three years and with a fine of Rs 25,000. The registration of the motor vehicle used for offence will be cancelled for 12 months. The juvenile will not be granted a driving licence under section 9 or a learners licence under section 8 until he or she has attained the age of 25 years. The juvenile will be punishable with fines as provided in the Act while any custodial sentence may be modified as per the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 (56 of 2000). This change was introduced after a parliamentary panel had suggested higher penalties for traffic offences. In fact, the panel had recommended treating accidents caused by drink driving as pre-meditated crimes rather than as cases of negligence. Data on Road Accidents As per the road accident data for 2022 released by the Centre, drink diving accounted for a substantial portion of road fatalities in the country, causing 3,268 accidents, which is nearly one-tenth of all accidents recorded that year. Additionally, 1,503 deaths were attributed to drunken driving, comprising 11% of the total road accident deaths in India in 2022. As per Statista, the number of road accidents across India amounted to 461,000 in 2022. Each year, about 3 to 5% of the GDP of the country was invested in road accidents. About 70% of accidents involved young Indians. The country has about 1% of the global vehicle population but it accounted for 6% of the worlds road traffic accidents. One person was killed and three others injured in post-poll violence in Bihars Saran district on Tuesday morning, police said. The incident happened in the Bada Telma area near Bhikhari Thakur Chowk, they said. An altercation broke out between two groups, said to be supporters of the BJP and RJD, over allegations of irregularities during polling that happened on Monday in the area, amid which shots were fired. One person was killed on the spot, and three others were injured, a police officer said. The deceased was identified as Chandan Yadav (25), he added. The injured persons were admitted to the nearest hospital. Later, two of them were sent to Patna for better treatment, Superintendent of Police Gaurav Mangla said. A case has been registered and an investigation is underway. Three persons have been arrested in connection with todays incident, he said. Internet was also suspended in the district to prevent a flare-up, he added. RJD president Lalu Prasads daughter Rohini Acharya was the Mahagathbandhan candidate in Saran against BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy. After meeting the family of the injured persons in Patna, Acharya said, Todays incident proves that BJP leaders are scared. Its a simple murder of democracy. I want justice for my workers. My three party workers were shot. Even during polling on Monday, there was a murderous attack on me. I just managed to escape. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav also condemned the incident. There is no place for violence in elections. I am in touch with the officers of the district administration. The administration has assured me that the remaining two accused will also be arrested by evening. Those indulging in such acts prove that they have lost the polls, he said. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website A 55-year-old contractual worker allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself inside the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus in southwest Delhi, police said on Tuesday. According to the police, the deceased, Vijay, worked as a safai karamchari on a private contract at the university. A PCR call regarding a suicide was received from JNU campus at 1.59 pm. A team reached the campus and near a multi-storeyed building, found a person hanging from a tree with an iron chain tied around his neck, a senior police officer said. The officer said the spot was inspected and proceedings under 174 Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) have been initiated, adding further enquiry is being conducted to ascertain the reason behind the suicide. Meanwhile, the JNU administration issued a statement expressing condolences over the matter. The university is deeply saddened by the loss of one of the outsourced staff and extends its heartfelt condolences to his family members. In light of this tragedy, the university is committed to providing its support to the family during this difficult time, the statement read. The university said that the salary of the deceased employee was paid regularly by the concerned vendor. In view of this unfortunate incident, it also directed the vendor to extend all the necessary help, including any ex- gratia payment, to Vijays family on an urgent basis. The local police has already started an investigation into the incident. We request everyone to remain vigilant and also refrain from spreading unverified information. Further, we request all to respect the privacy and dignity of the deceased and his family during this difficult time, the university said in the statement. The JNU Students Union (JNUSU) also expressed condolences and demanded that the kin of the deceased be employed by the university. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website At least 36 flamingos died after crashing into a plane near Maharashtras Mumbai. According to sources, the migratory birds struck an Emirates flight over Ghatkopars Laxmi Nagar area, due to which the plane suffered severe damage. According to the Mumbai Airport sources, EK 508, an Emirates flight, reported a bird hit on arrival at 9.18 pm on Monday. The flight later made a safe landing at the Mumbai airport. During searches late Monday night, around 29 bodies of flamingos were retrieved while four to five more carcasses were found on Tuesday morning. Emirates can confirm that EK508 from Dubai to Mumbai on 20 May was involved in a bird strike incident upon landing. The aircraft landed safely and all passengers and crew disembarked without injury, however, sadly a number of flamingos were lost and Emirates is cooperating with the authorities on the matter, the airlines spokesperson said. The aircraft was also damaged in the incident, so the return flight EK509 scheduled to depart to Dubai on May 20 was cancelled, the Emirates spokesperson informed. All passengers and crew were accommodated overnight and a replacement aircraft is being arranged for all passengers and is scheduled to depart Mumbai on May 21 at 21:00 local time. Emirates apologises for any inconvenience caused. The safety of our passengers and crew is of the utmost importance and will not be compromised, he added. The wetlands along the Mumbai and Navi Mumbai coast are a well-known flamingos habitat. The migratory birds arrive on these shorelines around December and are spotted till March and April. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website The Delhi High Court on Tuesday denied bail to former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the now-defunct excise policy case, citing great misuse of power and breach of public trust by the AAP leader. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, presiding over the bench, denied the bail plea, noting that the prosecution had established a prima facie case of money laundering under Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). He also stated that Sisodias conduct amounted to a great betrayal of democratic principles as he rejected his plea for bail. Sisodia used deceptive methods The couth further noted that Sisodia employed deceptive methods to create an illusion of public support for the Delhi excise policy. However, in reality, the policy was framed to benefit only a few individuals. This constitutes a form of corruption, the court stated. During the proceedings, the court noted that the AAP leader had destroyed crucial evidence, including electronic evidence. The judge mentioned two mobile phones that were reportedly damaged, as per Bar and Bench report. This court is of the opinion that petitioner has not been able to make out a case for grant of bail in his favour, the court stated. The recent dismissal of Sisodias bail request by the trial court in both the CBI and ED cases has prompted his current appeal to the High Court. This marks Sisodias second attempt at securing bail. One round of bail applications was previously rejected last year. Sisodias bail plea in the CBI case was dismissed on March 31 last year. Subsequently, on April 28, 2023, the trial court rejected his bail application in the ED case. The former Delhi chief minister has been in custody since February last year. He is under investigation by both the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy case. He is accused of manipulating the policy to provide unfair advantages to license holders and is alleged to have garnered illegal gains, resulting in money laundering allegations. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website Finding a motorbike at an affordable price is quite challenging amid the inflated market prices of automobiles. It can cost up to lakhs. For a common man from a humble background, buying a bike poses serious financial difficulties. What if we tell you a bike is available for just Rs 50,000 in India. Wondering where? In Nandikotkur town of Nandyal district (Andhra Pradesh), there is Sri Giridhara a bike showroom by the side of KG road, which connects Kurnool to Atmakur. The bike showroom is of the Japanese company, Komaki, which has been set up. These electric bikes have a great battery life, which would require a single charge to cover long distances, depending upon the mileage. Many people end up spending lakhs while buying bikes and are not aware of other brands in the market. For small-time businessmen or common man, a Komaki bike is comparatively cheaper and can help the buyer travel long distances with a single charge in a hassle-free manner. Giridhar Reddy, manager of the showroom, said in an interview with Local18, With just Rs 10, one can travel about 150 kilometres. If one wants to travel on a petrol bike, it would cost about Rs 300. Thus, if Rs 300 is spent every day, the monthly expense would be too high. He further explained that if one wants to buy a new petrol bike, it would cost lakhs, whereas a Komaki bike will cost around Rs 50,000, which can cover the same distance at a very low cost, making it affordable. As per the showroom manager, a majority of these battery-operated two-wheelers are in the market and bought by government employees from various fields, teachers and lawyers. He shared that most of the bikes had been bought from his showroom. Through word-of-mouth advertising, many others have been placing orders, or giving feedback to their family members and relatives about the vehicle, which has increased the sale. May 2020 marks the inception of Komaki Group, which registered a staggering overall growth rate of 1,200 percent within 20 months of establishment. In March 2022, it had a turnover of Rs 301 crore. The company witnessed growth without depending on any government subsidy or bank loans. Komaki is among one of the few start-ups in the clean energy sector which has been minting profits consistently. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website Justice Chitta Ranjan Dash, who retired as a judge of the Calcutta High Court on Monday, said he was a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Speaking at his farewell at the high court in the presence of the judges and members of the bar, Justice Dash said he was ready to go back to the organisation if they called him for any assistance or for any work that he was capable of doing. To the distaste of some persons, I must admit here that I was and I am a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), he said. Demitting office after over 14 years as a high court judge, Justice Dash came to the Calcutta HC from the Orissa HC on transfer. I owe a lot to the organisation I am there from my childhood and throughout my youth, he said. I have learnt to be courageous, upright and have an equal view for others and above all, the sense of patriotism and commitment to the work, he said. Justice Dash said that he had distanced himself from the organisation for about 37 years because of the work he undertook. I have never used my membership of the organisation for any advancement of my career because it is against its principles, he said. Justice Dash said he treated everybody at par, be he a rich or poor person, be he a communist, or from the BJP, Congress or TMC (Trinamool Congress). All are equal before me, I do not hold any bias for anyone or for any particular political philosophy or mechanism, he said, adding that he tried to dispense justice on the principles of empathy and that law can be bent to do justice, but justice cannot be bent to suit the law. He said that he was ready to go back to the organisation if they called him for any assistance or for any work they needed which he was capable of doing. Because I have not done anything wrong in my life, I dare to say I belong to the organisation because that is also not wrong, he said, adding that if he was a good person, he could not belong to a bad organisation. Born in 1962 in Odishas Sonepur, Dash did his schooling in Ullunda and completed his higher studies in Dhenkanal and Bhubaneswar, following which he graduated in law in Cuttack in 1985. He enrolled as an advocate in 1986 and was appointed as an additional standing counsel of the state government in 1992, which he continued till 1994, according to the website of the Calcutta HC. He joined the Orissa Superior Judicial Service (Senior Branch) in February 1999 as a direct recruit. He was elevated as an additional judge of the Orissa HC in October 2009. Dash joined as a judge of the Calcutta HC on transfer on June 20, 2022. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website As Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) braces for a series of events and tourist season, the security forces are battling Pakistans centralised control and command to send terrorists, along with unexpected weather. According to top-level officials deployed in Kashmir, there are reports of terrorist movement in different areas, mainly Poonch and Rajouri, almost daily. Jammu and Kashmir will have the Lok Sabha elections, followed by the Amarnath Yatra, with local elections expected to conclude before September. Additionally, the tourist season has already begun. The officials said that although there is no authentic data on infiltration this year, since the third week of April, Pakistan has been trying to push terrorists from launch pads. The weather is one factor that provides favorable conditions for infiltration, but it is the pressure that is forcing terror groups to target anyone, including tourists. Unlike in the previous years, they have targeted tourists, which shows the desperation of terror outfits to demonstrate their efforts to their masters in spreading terror in J&K, a senior official deployed in J&K told News18. Another senior official involved in intelligence gathering stated that there have been inputs of terror-related movements getting centralised due to the multiple events scheduled in J&K, including the elections. Earlier, tanzeems used to send terrorists during infiltration-prone seasons. Each tanzeem had its area of operations and would send young terrorists with specific tasks. But due to changes in Kashmir, they have shifted focus from the Kashmir area to Poonch and Rajouri. Also, tanzeems have been instructed not to send terrorists independently to avoid getting eliminated by forces. Now, everything is centralised, and the actual masters decide everything resulting in low infiltration, the official said, on condition of anonymity. A senior official heading anti-terror operation told News18 about various movements of terrorists, particularly from the Pir Panjal range. Forces suspect that there is either local backup or easy routes that terrorists are exploiting to attack and leave without leaving any traces. Terrorists operating in the Poonch-Rajouri areas likely have local support or easy routes they use after attacking forces. While reviewing past incidents, forces have noticed a pattern in the routes, which they suspect are being used by terrorists to flee, the official said. Last week, a former sarpanch was killed and a couple from Rajasthan was injured in two firing incidents by terrorists. The incidents have hinted forces that tourist season this time would be a challenge. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website Koratagere, Karnataka has hit the headlines after the police busted a gang of three people accused of cable theft. On interrogation, the second accused Raghavendra revealed that he used to get a monthly salary of Rs 20,000 from the prime accused Venkatesh. According to the Koratagere police, Venkatesh used to receive the stolen cable wires from Raghavendra who managed to steal them from the fields. Venkatesh then sold it to another accused named Vinesh Patil. Vinesh used to sell these wires and earn further money. Apart from the cable wires, Patil deals in selling many other stolen items. Venkatesh hails from Basaveshwara Nagar, Bengaluru. There has been an unprecedented surge in cable-theft theft-related crimes in the Koratagere. These incidents have become one of the major concerns for the local police. The three accused had been stealing the cables installed in the tubewells of the farmers in many parts of the Koratagere for the past five or six months. The complaints related to the cable wire thefts had been piling up since 2023. According to a report, incidents of robberies related to wire thefts have been reported at 25 places at Koratagere. As per the report, at that time, the inaction from the police added to the distress of the locals. According to the farmers, the local police had made only empty claims of tracing the thieves but to no avail. They said that the government officials have also not responded to their complaints. Adding to their grievances was the fact that the officials switched off their mobile phones thus causing further problems for the locals. The farmers alleged that the robbers had stolen even 600-foot-long cable wire worth lakhs of rupees. The theft happened once a week. The additional superintendent of the police, however, had refuted these claims. Instead, he said that whenever a farmer had contacted them, the police officials had immediately helped them. He also said that no official is allowed to turn off their mobile phones. He asked the farmers to cooperate with the police regarding the investigation. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website In what could spell more trouble for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), another set of pictures of the partys top leadership with Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terrorists has surfaced. Sources have said that AAP was trying for a deal against funding in Canada. CNN-News18 has accessed exclusive details of the deal. Sources told CNN-News18 that Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan met BKI leaders in Canada. Sandhwan met BKI leader Harjeet Singh Bajwa in Canada. According to eye witnesses, later Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addressed them over the phone. The meeting took place in September 2022 in Montreal, Canada. According to sources, the BKI donated over USD 5 million to the AAP. Against this funding, they demanded not to arrest Khalistan Referendum Voter Registration Activists. Who is Harjeet Singh Bajwa? Bajwa is a known Khalistani leader in Canada and openly propagates Khalistani ideology. He also incites Sikhs into demanding a separate nation, Khalistan. CNN-News18 is also in possession of a video of Bajwa from August 15, 2022, where he was seen raising Khalistan Zindabad slogans in front of the Indian Consulate. The crowd present there also burnt the Indian National flag in his presence. AAPs Khalistani Funding Claims CNN-News18 was the first to report on AAP foreign funding, following which a case was registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Earler, SFJ founder Gurpatwant Singh Pannun had purportedly alleged in a video that Khalistani groups gave USD 16 million (approximately Rs 133.54 crore) to Kejriwals AAP to fund elections between 2014 and 2022. He had claimed that the Delhi CM made a shocking proposition in 2014 to release convicted terrorist Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar in exchange for financial support. Bhullar was involved in the 1993 Delhi bomb blast that killed nine people and injured 31 others. Sources had told CNN-News18 that according to Pannun, Kejriwal used to run three teams and was the kingpin of the funding exercise. Team 1 purportedly comprised Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and erstwhile AAP leader Gurpreet Ghuggi. Ghuggi had allegedly met Babbar Khalsa International operative Rajinder Singh who was a close associate of the outfits head Wadhawa Singh Babbar. They discussed financial support in lieu of foreign BKI operatives being helped to go back to India, according to Pannun. Bhagwant Mann was an MP and at the time and AAP leader Sanjay Singh was incharge of Punjab. Singh was also brought on the phone to assure support, said Pannun. Team 2 allegedly comprised Mann and erstwhile AAP leader Sukhpal Khaira. Khaira stated that his father was the first to give a call for Khalistan and AAP and Kejriwal personally assured support, said the sources. Team 3 allegedly had Bhagwant Mann, AAP Rajya Sabha member Sandeep Pathak, erstwhile AAP leader Kumar Vishwas, as well as IIT alumni contacts of Kejriwal. According to top intelligence sources, the NIA will be asked to probe all these angles. This is too early to conclude the role of individuals but these are serious allegations and proper investigation is important, a source said. According to sources, the NIA will soon file an FIR in the matter after receiving a reference from the Centre. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website The Pune Police Police have arrested the manager and owners of two pubs in the city after a Porsche car being driven by a 17-year-old boy allegedly hit and killed two people in Kalyani Nagar area. Sources said that these two pubs and restaurants are under the radar for breaking the laws and serving liquor to minors. Those arrested are Cosie Hotel owner Pralhad Bhutada, manager Sachin Katkar and BLAK manager Sandeep Sangle. Sources said that Pune Municipal Corporation and Pune Police will start taking action against bars, pubs and restaurants which operate beyond permissible time limit. The youngster, son of a real estate developer, was drunk at the time of the accident, the police claimed. Sources said that the accused had in his statement mentioned that his father was aware that he had gone partying and drinking and he had the car along. Sources said that the police will question the father, who has been arrested. A group of friends were returning on motorbikes around 3.15 am on Sunday after a party when a speeding luxury car hit one of the motorcycles at Kalyani Nagar junction. The two riders Anis Awadhiya and Ashwini Costa died of their injuries. The Juvenile Justice Boards had granted the youngster bail on the same day while asking him to write an essay on road accidents. The decision has drawn criticism. Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar said, Police have taken the incident seriously, and have taken action under IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). We moved two applications in this case. We also took action under sections 75 (punishment for cruelty to child) and 77 (penalty for giving intoxicating liquor or narcotic drug or psychotropic substance to a child) of Juvenile Justice Act against the father of the accused. Any misconception of soft peddling by the police is not correct. Any one found supporting the accused shall be dealt with severe punishment. Have faith in us. Guilty shall be punished irrespective of his economic strata, Pune police further said. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website The Pune Municipal Corporation and city police will soon initiate action against bars, pubs and restaurants that operate beyond permissible time limit, sources told News18, adding that there are two pubs under police radar and managers of both these outlets have been detained. Timing of pubs is an issue. For future also, well ensure that pubs are shut by by 1:30 am. Well ensure that nuisance of pubs are taken care of, Pune police commissioner told News18. Speaking to the channel, victim Ashwini Koshtas uncle too questioned why are pubs allowing minors. Sources further said that Pune accident accused, in his statement, mentioned that his father was aware that he had gone partying and drinking, and he had the car too. Police will now question the father, who was arrested from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on Tuesday. The accused, a 17-year-old boy driving Porsche car who the police claim was drunk at the time after consuming liquor at a bar knocked down two motorbike riders in Kalyani Nagar area in the early hours of Sunday, causing their death. A non-bailable section, 304 IPC, was applied in the case on the afternoon of Sunday itself. It was not just a simple case of 304 A, which is normally applied in accident matters. The court was moved on the same day for permission to try the juvenile accused as an adult under Section 15 of Juvenile Justice Act since the ghastly incident was a heinous crime as defined under Section 2 of the Juvenile Justice Act with the objective that he doesnt get bail, Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar said. Despite our best efforts, the court disallowed our application and granted bail to the accused. We have appealed against this order before the higher court. The Pune Police reasserts that the action taken was the most stringent course possible. We shall strive to take the case to its logical conclusion with the objective of the accused getting the harshest possible punishment, Kumar added. The Juvenile Justice Boards decision to grant the youngster bail on the same day while asking him to write an essay on road accidents has drawn criticism. The CCTV footage of the bar clearly shows that the juvenile was consuming alcohol. There is no doubt that the juvenile was driving the car after consuming alcohol. We will be submitting all these facts to the court, commissioner Kumar said. We have also registered an offence against his father under the Juvenile Justice Act, and against the proprietors of the bar establishment for serving alcohol to an underage person. We have transferred the probe of these cases to the crime branch, he further said. Police displayed professionalism while dealing with the case, Kumar claimed. The case was transferred to an ACP-level officer and it is our endeavour to make a watertight case. We will appoint a special counsel in this case, he added. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut alleged that the teenager was served pizza, burger and biryani at the police station after being detained. Kumar said that all accusations against the police station are being investigated. It is said that the car involved in the accident was purchased from Bengaluru. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website Taking serious note of a hit-and-run case in Pune, Maharashtras deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, arrived directly at the Pune Police Commissionerate on Tuesday to review the situation. Emphasising the gravity of the incident, he warned that no one would be spared. Fadnavis also appealed to parents to ensure that freedom does not turn into lawlessness. In the meeting, Fadnavis reviewed the investigation conducted so far, the subsequent actions planned, and the preventive measures to be taken to avoid such incidents in the future. Speaking to reporters afterward, he mentioned that the police have applied Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code in this case, instead of 304A, thus adopting a stringent stance from the beginning. The accused in the case is a 17-year-old boy. However, according to the amendments made in laws following the 2012 Nirbhaya case, a minor involved in a serious crime can be tried as an adult. The police mentioned this in their initial report, but the Juvenile Justice Board did not consider this stance, opting for orders focused on social reform, which led to public outrage. The police promptly appealed to a higher court, which took cognisance of the matter. As per the law, if there is a need to reconsider an order from the Juvenile Justice Board, it must first be brought before the same court, and if reconsideration is denied, an appeal can be made to a higher court. Consequently, this procedure is being followed, and given the stance of the higher court, we are confident that the Juvenile Justice Board will reconsider its order, said Fadnavis. No one has the right to drink, drive an unregistered vehicle, and endanger lives. Justice will undoubtedly be served in this case. Orders have been given to inspect whether bars adhere to the conditions of their licenses, and those not complying will be shut down. Additionally, strict adherence to verifying age and identity before granting entry to bars has been mandated. Regular anti-drunk driving campaigns with checkpoints will be conducted. Parents must ensure that freedom does not turn into lawlessness. Further action in this case will be taken as per the next order from the Juvenile Justice Board. The deputy CM also stated that if any police personnel are found to have acted improperly, they will be dismissed after reviewing CCTV footage. The businessman father of the juvenile accused was arrested by the Pune crime branch and Sambhajinagar police in a joint operation. He had gone into hiding immediately after the incident. In the joint action, Pune crime branch and Sambhajinagar police arrested him, his driver, and another person from a hotel in the city. Early on Tuesday morning, the Pune crime branch raided the hotel where the father was hiding and arrested him. He will next be produced in a Pune court. Following an order from deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis to expedite the investigation, Pune police have made significant progress. In the past 24 hours, they have arrested seven accused related to this case under different sections of the IPC. The police have also arrested the owner of the pub that served alcohol to the minor, flouting norms. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website Pune has been rocked by headlines following a tragic accident in which a Porsche driven by an inebriated 17-year-old fatally struck a motorcycle, resulting in the deaths of two young professionals in the early hours of Sunday. Anis Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta, both 24-year-old IT professionals from Madhya Pradesh, were returning from dinner with friends when the speeding Porsche struck their motorcycle at the Kalyani Nagar junction. Ashwini was seated behind Anis, who was riding the bike. Both succumbed to their injuries. Who is Anis Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta? Ashwini, a native of Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, had planned a surprise for her fathers upcoming birthday in June, her mother, Mamta Koshta, revealed, as per Hindustan Times report. Just a day before the accident, Ashwini informed me that she will be returning home in Jabalpur and had booked her ticket for June 18 to surprise her father on her birthday. However, it ended this way, she said. We were supposed to send her off in a palanquin (to the grooms house) after her marriage (in future), but now we were forced to carry her body on a bier, expressed Ashwinis grief-stricken mother to news agency PTI in Jabalpur following the completion of her final rites. She added, She was one among a million. She had so many dreams and now everything is left here only. On the other hand, Anis, who hailed from Birsinghpur Pali in the Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh, had been working in Pune for about a year and a half. He had graduated from DY Patil College of Engineering in Pune. According to Aniss father, Om Awadhiya, he was not only supporting himself and his family financially but was also taking care of his younger brother, who also lived with him and studied in Pune. The culprit will get punishmentThat is okayBut how can we bring back our child now? He had spoken to his mother just two days before the incident and told us that he will come soon. He was a big support for the family, said Aniss father, his lament echoing, What will happen to my younger son now? Who will take care of his expenses in Pune?. Court Orders Ignite Controversy The 17-year-old, who was driving the speeding Porsche and allegedly drunk, appeared before the Juvenile Justice Board and was granted bail on the same day. The decision to grant bail has sparked controversy due to the conditions imposed, which include volunteering with the traffic police and composing an essay on road accidents. The CCL (Child in Conflict with Law) will write an essay of 300 words on the topic of road accidents and their solutions, the order had stated. Meanwhile, the police have filed a case against the teen under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act. The father of the minor, Vishal Agrawal, was taken into custody on Tuesday evening in central Maharashtras Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar town. The teenagers father, a prominent real estate developer, was apprehended by the crime branch officers investigating the accident case. He was then transported to the city later that evening. We have arrested him in the case and he will be produced before a court on Wednesday, stated Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar to the media. (With inputs from agencies) Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website Buddha Purnima, also known as Vesak or Buddha Jayanti, is a significant and joyous festival celebrated by Buddhists worldwide. On this auspicious occasion, Buddhists celebrate the life and teachings of Lord Buddha, his birthday and the day he attained enlightenment (nirvana). Celebrated with great enthusiasm and devotion in India, Buddha Purnima is also observed in numerous countries in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, China, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Tibet. ALSO READ: Happy Buddha Purnima 2024: Vesak Day Wishes, Images, Messages and WhatsApp Status to Share The month of Vaisakha in the Buddhist and Hindu calendars, as well as the Vikram Samvat calendar, marks Buddhas moksha and his birthday. This important event is calculated based on the lunisolar calendar prevalent in Asia. Buddha Purnima is usually celebrated on the full moon day of the month of Vaisakha in the Buddhist calendar and is held in the regions associated with the life of the Buddha, namely modern-day India and Nepal. While the date of Lord Buddhas birthday varies annually in the Western Gregorian calendar, it usually falls in April or May. In 2024, this auspicious day falls on Thursday, May 23. According to Drik Panchang, the timings for Buddha Purnima are as follows: Purnima Tithi Begins: May 22, 2024, at 6:47 AM Purnima Tithi Ends: May 23, 2024, at 7:22 PM Auspicious time for baths and donations: 4:04 AM to 5:26 AM on May 23 Auspicious time for worshipping Lord Vishnu: 10:35 AM to 12:18 PM Kashi astrologer Pandit Sanjay Upadhyay said that on the day of Buddha Purnima, one should take a bath in a holy river or Ganga in the morning. After the bath, one should offer Arghya to Lord Sun and then sprinkle black sesame seeds in the flowing water. Apart from this, one should donate to the needy or Brahmins as one wishes on this day. Lord Vishnu is pleased with this and gives blessings to the devotees. Pandit Upadhyay also shared that Chandradev should also be worshipped on the day of Buddha Purnima. On this day, one should offer Arghya to Him at the moonrise in the night. This will remove devotees financial problems. Urvashi Rautelas elegant looks at Cannes 2024 have taken the internet by storm. The Bollywood diva appeared on the Cannes red carpet for the third time in a row this year. She stole the show with her custom-made navy blue attire. The actress attended Emilia Perezs premiere alongside Selena Gomez. For her third look, Urvashi Rautela chose a blue voluminous gown from the collection of Sylvia, a Polish designer. The dress featured a sleeveless square neckline with a cinched waistline. The dress was covered with moon and star patterns with shimmer embellishments. The skirt had a layered ruffled look with a flare that made her stand out in the crowd. She finished off her ensemble with a custom-made serpentine necklace, which she calls a Dancing Fish Necklace from Lamar Quise Jewellery. It was set in a silver and pink hue and provided a contrast with the dark gown. View this post on Instagram A post shared by URVASHI RAUTELA (@urvashirautela) For her makeup, Urvashi went for a clean look with neatly done eyebrows and kohl-rimmed eyes and a nude glossy lip tint. Lastly, Urvashi arranged her hair in a sloppy bun. Urvashis first look at the 77th Cannes Film Festival was a stunner. The actress wore a fuchsia corseted dress with a slit skirt. She added drama to her look by wearing circular halo-style sleeves. Her dress was by Khaled & Marwan, a Haute Couture fashion brand based in Beirut, Lebanon. She arranged her hair with a jewelled headband and an updo that matched her tube-style shirt. She completed her appearance with lace gloves and silver bangles. Her silver earrings finished the look. View this post on Instagram A post shared by URVASHI RAUTELA (@urvashirautela) Urvashi Rautela effortlessly moved from her iconic pink ruffle gown to another stylish and elegant dress for the second look. She looked stunning in a shimmering red gown by Khaled & Marwan, with a strapless neckline and elaborate red sequin embroidery on a nude background. The figure-hugging silhouette transitioned to a floor-length hem with a modest train. The satin v-sleeves were the gowns highlighting feature, adding to her overall elegance. She finished off the look with a playful lip-shaped bag decorated with red and silver sequins. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Urvashi Rautela (@asliurvashians) Her makeup included crimson and silver eyeshadow, mascara, kohl kajal, defined brows, contoured cheeks, accentuated features, a touch of blush, and bare lipstick. Her hair was styled in a ruffled look. On Monday several Bollywood celebrities including Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, soon-to-be parents Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh stepped out to exercise their right to vote in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 in Mumbai. Actor Ranbir Kapoor, who is currently busy shooting for Nitesh Tiwaris Ramayana, was also photographed flaunting his inked finger at a polling booth. However, his actress-wife Alia Bhatt didnt turn up to vote. Following this, netizens began debating about the same on social media. For the unversed, Alia isnt an Indian citizen. The actress holds a British passport. Amid all this, Alia has shared a cryptic post on her Instagram account. Though we cant confirm if it has anything to do with the ongoing discussion about her citizenship on the internet. The #AliaBhatt British citizen thing is getting serious after the election that happened yesterday. Akib (@akib777) May 21, 2024 Alia shared on her Instagram story: Love. Theres no argument, no matter how strong, that can overcome that word. She accompanied the post with The Good Word hashtag. While promoting her Hollywood debut Heart of Stone, co-starring Gal Gadot and Jamie Dornan, Alia had answered the most Googled questions about her and one of them was, Is Alia Bhatt British? As Gal Gadot asked Alia in a video for Wired if she is a British citizen, the Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani star nodded and said, My mom was born in Birmingham, but I was born and brought up in India. When Gal Gadot asked her, She spoke British English with you your entire life?, Alia replied, My grandmother lived in England for her whole life so my grandmother has the English accent. Earlier, Alias mother Soni Razdan had shared that though she was born in the UK, she lived in India for most of her life. She told The Indian Express, I was born in the UK but when I was three months old, I moved to Bombay. My mother got the British passport for me. We lived in south Bombay and I studied in Bombay International School, which was started by my parents. As for my passport, why should anyone tell me what I should do about it? It is my choice and right as a citizen of the world to decide what passport I want. Donald Trumps controversial biopic, titled The Apprentice debuted at Cannes 2024 and it has sent shaken the festival. The film, based on the life of businessman and former President of United States of America, starred Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump. The film put Trumps personal life before he became a household name across the globe. Multiple reports have stated the film is explosive and features several alleged shocking moments from his life. A Variety report stated the film also depicts Donald Trump raping his late ex-wife Ivana, making deals with underworld figures to bring his dream of Trump Towers to life and more. The film also features events that took place in his life in 1970s and 1980s. The film received a thunderous 8-minute standing ovation with many praising the performances. Cate Blanchett led the eight-minute #Cannes2024 standing ovation for The Apprentice, hugging Sebastian Stan and congratulating director Ali Abbasi. pic.twitter.com/3ntckc2uGA Ramin Setoodeh (@RaminSetoodeh) May 20, 2024 However, The Apprentice has not gone down well with Trump Campaign, as expected. They issued a statement to the media revealing that they are filing a lawsuit against the film and will ensure the film doesnt get released in the US. We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers. This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told The New York Post. This film is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day, and doesnt even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store; it belongs in a dumpster fire, he added. Speaking with the press at Cannes after the premiere, BBC reported director Abbasi told reporters, Donalds team should wait to watch the movie before they start suing us. I dont necessary think this is a movie that he would dislike I think he would be surprised. About The Apprentice: The Apprentice stars Sebastian Stan essays the role of the former POTUS whereas Jeremy Strong plays his lawyer and mentor Roy Cohn. The film is yet to announce its US and worldwide release dates. Gauahar Khans husband Zaid Darbar has left netizens disappointed and furious. Recently, Zaid took to his Instagram stories and shared a photo in which he was seen posing on a footpath in Mumbai. The picture also featured a homeless man sleeping nearby. In the caption of his story, Zaid tagged his actress-wife Gauahar and wrote, No AC, no fan, no darkness, but still sleeping so peacefully because no wife? But I am the most peaceful with you jaanu (darling) I love you jaanu However, Zaids Instagram story disappointed netizens. Soon after a screenshot of it was shared on Reddit, several social media users reacted to it and bashed music composer Ismail Darbars son. Is he really that stupid to put up a story like this? one of the users wrote. Another person called him disgusting and insensitive. Gauahar is always busy in gyaan peloying (schooling) others and her husband is like this. Even yesterday (May 20), madam had a problem at the polling booth. Also, what gave him (Zaid) the right to click a random mans picture, let alone while he is sleeping?? Imagine if someone had clicked him or Gauahar like that without consent? a third comment read. Tasteless joke in so many ways. Its obviously sexist and boomer-humour. Of course, its also making fun of someone who is poor. What a sad man to get married to, added another. Meanwhile, Gauahar Khan was also trolled on Monday for suggesting the use of the Aadhaar card for voting. I have an appeal. Why do we have Aadhar cards if we are not considered citizens enough to vote? Your Aadhaar card is your identity that you are an Indian citizen and you should be able to vote with that, she said in a video she shared on her social media handle. People who have left the building are still on that list. I have seen it myself. And if I, my mom, my husband, everyone is registered on that building. none of us are there. So how does one vote? We go with our Aadhar card, Id proof and they say, No you cannot vote, the actress added. Gauahar Khan and Zaid Darbar married in December 2020. They welcomed their first child, a baby boy in May 2023. The couple recently celebrated their sons first birthday in Mumbai which was attended by several celebrities including Debina Bonnerjee, Hina Khan, Vinny Arora, Mahi Vij and Pankhuri Awasthy. Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif has been a subject of pregnancy rumours for several months now. A recent video of Vicky Kaushal and Katrina Kaif from the streets of London has gone viral convincing fans that they are going to be parents soon. Meanwhile, a new report in Times Now.com/Zoom has claimed that Katrina is going to deliver her baby in London. READ MORE: Katrina Kaif to Deliver Her FIRST Baby in London; Vicky Kaushal Already There Days after joining the Bharti Janta Party, Shekhar Suman has said that he has no plans of quitting acting and becoming a full-time politician. In an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, Shekhar remained tight-lipped about the changes he wants to bring about through his political work in the film industry. However, he added that he has no intention of continuing his BJP journey if hes unable to fulfil his goals. READ MORE: Shekhar Suman Makes BIG Statement, Says I Will Opt Out of BJP If Im Unable to | Exclusive In an old interview, Salman Khans father, veteran screenwriter Salim Khan, had recounted the actors ugly spat with Vivek Oberoi over Aishwarya Rai. There is no logical or rational solution to emotional problems and both Salman and Vivek have been emotional, Salim Khan was quoted as saying by Zoom. Salman and Aishwarya were reportedly dating each other before parting ways in 2002. Following this, reports of Aishwarya dating Vivek surfaced, resulting in an ugly spat between him and Salman. READ MORE: When Salim Khan Recalled Salman Khans Fight With Vivek Oberoi Over Aishwarya: Koi Aur Le Gaya Rakhi Sawants former husband Adil Khan Durrani has made yet another shocking claim against the actress. In an exclusive conversation with News18 Showsha, Adil has alleged that Rakhi is still married to her first husband, Ritesh Raj Singh. Adil has accused Rakhi of spreading lies, stating that they are very much together and were only creating a drama. They are still husband and wife, Adil told us. Adil further claimed that even when he was married to Rakhi, she hid her relationship with Ritesh and used to meet him in Dubai. READ MORE: Rakhi Sawant and Ritesh Are Married, Adil Durrani Makes SHOCKING Claim: She Was Hiding | Exclusive Jennifer Lopez is yet to address Ben Affleck divorce rumours but she made a rare comment about him in a recent interview. JLo, who will be seen in Atlas, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! amid divorce rumours and shared the story of the engagement ring that Ben presented to her years ago. For the unversed, the Jenny From the Block hitmaker dated Ben in the early 2000s before they parted ways. Ben went on to marry Jennifer Garner before they split and found his way back to JLo eventually. READ MORE: Jennifer Lopez BREAKS Silence About Ben Affleck Amid Divorce Rumours, Heres What She Said Malayalam superstar Mohanlal is celebrating his 64th birthday today, May 21. The veteran actor has established a special position in the hearts of the masses, thanks to his incredible performances. Mohanlals last screen appearance was in Malaikottai Vaaliban, released in January. But the Malayalam star seems to be in no mood to take a break. He has been signing up for back-to-back projects. On this special occasion, the makers of his upcoming film L2: Empuraan have unveiled a new poster of the action-thriller. It features the Drishyam alum in his much-anticipated character of Khureshi Abraam. L2: Empuraans poster captured Mohanlal in a stylish all-black avatar. He donned a T-shirt, layered it with a leather jacket and completed his suave look with matching trousers. A salt-and-pepper hairdo and beard, coupled with orange-tinted aviator sunglasses sealed his grim vibe. Mohanlal sported an intense expression as he walked amidst a group of bodyguards, all suited up for some action. Although they carried guns in their hands, Mohanlal had zero weapons, underlining his power and authority. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mohanlal (@mohanlal) The poster also revealed that L2: Empuraan will be released in five languages Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi. Mohanlal also shared the poster on his Instagram handle. Fans of the Malayalam actor expressed their excitement for Mohanlals forthcoming cinematic marvel. Reacting to the poster release one individual commented, Lets meet the Devil. Another found his new look to be simply on Fire. Its time for vengeance highlighted a movie enthusiast. Others wished Mohanlal a happy birthday. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mohanlal (@mohanlal) L2: Empuraan is the sequel to Mohanlals 2019 blockbuster Lucifer. It is the second installment of the planned trilogy, directed by Prithviraj Sukumaran. Earlier, in an interaction with Film Companion, the director revealed that Mohanlal will portray an unconventional role in the film, unlike his action-oriented stints. You are not going to see Mohanlal wind up as mund and beat up people in a closed-down factory, that is not what Im making. Maybe Ill do one of those Bollywood-ish end title songs, he confirmed. L2: Empuraan also stars Prithviraj Sukumaran himself, alongside Tovino Thomas, Manju Warrier, Sachin Khedekar, Saniya Iyappan, Fazil, and Indrajith Sukumaran in key roles. The film is expected to premiere theatrically sometime in 2025. Priyanka Chopra is a global icon and there is no doubt that she enjoys a huge fan following even across the boundary. Well, the actress made head turns with her new haircut at a Bvlgari Aeterna event. Priyanka also posed with Hollywood actor Anne Hathaway, Hong Kong-Taiwanese actor and model Shu Qi, and Chinese-American actor Liu Yifei. The photos and videos are going viral on the internet. Priyanka opted for a structured monochrome off-shoulder dress. But it was her short new hairdo that caught everyones attention. She completed her look with a beautiful Serpenti Aeterna necklace by Bvlgari, and was seen holding a bouquet of flowers and smiling as she posed at the event. Take a look here: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Patty Cardona (@jerryxmimi) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Patty Cardona (@jerryxmimi) Recently, she took a trip down memory lane and shared a photo with Katrina Kaif. In no time it went viral. Well, she will be seen with Katrina and Alia in Jee Le Zaraa. Taking to her Instagram stories, Priyanka shared the photo and wrote, Woah Dunno who took it and when this picture was taken but babies@katrinakaif. In the photo, both are looking ready for a dance sequence. They are wearing shimmery clothes and smiling for the camera. Talking about Jee Lee Zaraa. Farhan Akhtar announced it in 2021 and quickly became one of the most anticipated films. However, since then, there have been no major updates. During an interview with Variety, Farhan Akhtar claimed that the dates were an issue behind the delay. He told the publication, We just have issues with dates, and the actors strike thats happened has put Priyankas dates into a huge tizzy with what can happen and what cant, so Ive started genuinely believing that that film now has a destiny of its own. Itll happen when it has to, well see. 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 Lok Sabha Polls 2024 are a significant event that will shape the future of the nation. As the elections are taking place, various influential figures have been encouraging citizens to exercise their right to vote. One of the prominent voices in this campaign is that of Saira Banu, a veteran actress and the wife of the late legendary actor Dilip Kumar. Saira Banu, who has had a long and illustrious career in the Indian film industry, appealed to the citizens to participate in the elections by casting their votes. Her appeal on social media is heartfelt and reflects the deep respect she holds for her late husbands dedication to the nation and its democratic processes. In her message, Saira Banu recalled Dilip Kumars commitment to his national duties. Dilip Kumar, often regarded as one of the greatest actors in the history of Indian cinema, was not just a film icon but also a true patriot who believed in the power of democracy. Saira Banus note said, Dilip Sahib, a true patriot, always yearned for the best for our marvellous nation. His belief in the innate humanity of our people shone through in his constant care and concern for India. As a conscientious citizen, he unfailingly upheld the importance of exercising the right to vote. Every election, he would dutifully cast his vote, striving for the betterment of our homeland. In her post, she also wrote about how she and Dilip Kumar would make voting day a special occasion, turning it into a celebration of their civic duty. After their marriage, they would venture out together to vote, accompanied by fans who admired their dedication to the nation. She encouraged citizens to follow in the footsteps of her late husband, who always made it a point to vote and contribute to the countrys success. As this voting day approaches, I urge everyone to exercise their right to vote and contribute to our nations success. Vote, for it is not only our right but our duty to shape the destiny of our beloved nation, she further added. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Saira Banu Khan (@sairabanu) Saira Banus appeal comes at a crucial time when the fifth phase of the elections is underway across six states and two Union Territories. The actress appeal is part of a larger movement in which various Bollywood celebrities have also urged citizens to vote. Prominent figures like Amitabh Bachchan, Karan Johar, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Ayushmann Khurrana and Shilpa Shetty, among others, have been vocal about the importance of voting in the 2024 General Elections. Scarlett Johansson said OpenAI made a voice for the ChatGPT system that sounded a lot like her after she said no to doing it herself. She said this after OpenAI decided to remove the voice called Sky. OpenAIs CEO, Sam Altman, said the voice wasnt meant to be Scarlett Johanssons. Johansson said in her statement that Altman had asked her last September to voice a ChatGPT character, but she turned down the offer. Nine months later, my friends, family and the general public all noted how much the newest system named Sky sounded like me, she said, adding, When I heard the released demo, I was shocked, angered and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference. Closer home, Bollywood, too, has been plagued by AI and deepfakes. After Rashmika Mandanna, Alia Bhatt and Nora Fatehis deepfake videos went viral, there was widespread outcry about the misuse of technology and the absence of adequate legal safeguards that have allowed this harmful use of artificial intelligence (AI) to flourish. Not long back, a video with a morphed voice of Katrina Kaif speaking French had also gone viral on social media. The original video dates back to 2017 when Katrina Kaif and Salman Khan were present at the launch event of Bina Kaks book, Silent Sentinels of Ranthambhore, in Mumbai. They were joined by Salmans father, veteran screenwriter Salim Khan. A fan page of Katrina shared the video, morphed this time, where she is speaking fluent French, assisted by artificial intelligence. Aamir Khan, in a purported 27-second clip, which seemed to have been edited using artificial intelligence (AI), could be seen talking about staying away from rhetoric (jumla) before the Lok Sabha elections. The deepfake video inserted Aamir into a scene from a decade-old episode of his television show, Satyamev Jayate. Coming to Ranveer Singh, in a video featuring the actors AI-generated voice, he was seen purportedly voicing his political views. While the video from the actors recent visit to Varanasi is genuine, the audio is of an AI-enabled voice clone of the actor. In the clip, Singh was seen urging people to vote for Nayay (justice) in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. However, it was later clarified that the viral video was morphed and edited. Ranveer also addressed the issue and warned everyone on social media by posting on X, Deepfake se bacho dostonnnn. Bollywood stars have every now and then advocated for stronger actions against such cyber crimes. Nina Dobrev is currently on her road to recovery after getting into a severe motorbike accident. The Vampire Diaries star got herself seriously injured after trying to ride an electric bike. Sharing an update on Instagram, Nina dropped pictures from her hospital bed with braces on her neck, hand, and leg. While the first picture shows the actress right before riding on the electric bike, the second one features her lying on the bed. how it started vs how its going, she wrote. In other updates on her Instagram stories, Nina shared another picture of herself sitting on her hospital bed, further assuring that she is okay. Im ok but its going to be a long road of recovery ahead, she wrote. Nina also vowed to never ride on the dirt bike again in her life. However, she didnt share how the accident unfolded or if she had any major injuries to her body. As soon as the news surfaced, fans took to her comment section, wishing for her speedy recovery. Many even joked that she is no longer a vampire from her popular supernatural show. Her friends and close ones also reacted to the post, sending their own messages to the actress. Nooooo! You poor babe, Sophia Bush wrote, while Julianne Hough noted, Thats my girl! Obviously wouldnt make jokes if you were not ok Twilight actress Ashley Greene remarked, Always going bigheal fast. Ninas Vampire Diaries co-star Kayla Ewell also commented on the post and wrote, Nina making the hospital gown the new spring trend. Love you! Handling it like a champ! Ninas boyfriend, Olympic snowboarder Shaun White, left a comment and wrote, Just keeping things on brand. Notably, the two started dating in 2020 and made it public, two years later at the London premiere of Top Gun: Maverick. Nina Dobrevs projects Nina Dobrev has worked on a number of successful projects, including Degrassi: The Next Generation and The Vampire Diaries, to name a few. Her portrayal of Elena Gilbert and her doppelganger, Katherine Pierce, in the supernatural show got her well-deserved acclaim from both critics and fans alike. She featured alongside actors Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder. The actress will be next seen on the big screen in Chris Nelsons Reunion, a comedy-thriller focused on former high school classmates who uncover a murder. Lil Rel Howery, Billy Magnussen, and Jillian Bell star in a wild ride of twists and turns where a high school reunion gets cut short by murder, the films official synopsis read. Reunion will be released digitally on June 28, 2024. Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi revisited the time he worked with Abhishek Bachchan. The actors worked together in Yuva, which released in 2004. The film released a year after Vivek broke up with Aishwarya Rai. With the film completing 20 years this week, Vivek recalled that he had broken his leg into three pieces and Abhishek along with Ajay Devgn carried him to the hospital. He added that they welcomed him back with high spirits. Speaking with Times Now, Vivek said, A perfectly fun day turned into pain with a terrible motorcycle accident breaking my left leg in three places. I remember my big brother Ajay and my buddy Abhishek at my side, carrying me to the hospital, being my side through the agony of broken bones tearing through my skin with blood everywhere. He added, No, worse was yet to come. I came to know Mani Anna had a heart attack after witnessing my accident. Whilst both of us were recovering in the hospital, Ajay and Abhishek were with me, lifting my spirits with jokes and painkillers in a not-so-lucid state. Vivek said it took him four months to recover. After many complications, four months later, it felt like a reunion on the sets. The entire unit lifted my morale while I limped through shooting the songs Fanaa and Anjana Anjani. Sometimes I wonder how we pulled it off, he said. Yuva, directed by Mani Ratnam, was a massive hit. The film was not only popular in Hindi but in Tamil (titled Aayutha Ezhuthu) as well. Viveks performance was also loved. The film revolved around The film is set in Kolkata and it revolved around three youngsters Michael (Ajay Devgn), Arjun (Vivek Oberoi), and Lallan Singh (Abhishek Bachchan), whose lives get entangled due to state politics. The film depicted the highs and lows of being a youth leader. The film won several awards, including Filmfare for Best Supporting Actor (Abhishek Bachchan), Best Supporting Actress (Rani Mukerji) and Best Film Critics and Best Screenplay (Mani Ratnam). Veteran actor Jaya Bachchan had once spoken about how people in the Hindi film industry questioned her for working with Amitabh Bachchan. Jaya already became a bigger star when Amitabh was still trying to set his foot in Hindi cinema. It was Jaya who agreed to work with Amitabh in SalimJaved scripted Zanjeer (1973) when he had faced a string of flops and most lead heroines refused to work with him. In an interview in 2010, Jaya revealed that people would call her mad for working with Amitabh Bachchan. She also said several people told her that Amitabh will never make it. Jaya made her debut in the Hindi film industry with Guddi in 1971, while Amitabhs first film was Saat Hindustani (1969). The duo featured in many films together such as Ek Nazar (1972), Zanjeer and Abhimaan (1973), Chupke Chupke, Sholay and Mili (1975), Silsila (1981), and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001). Amitabh had a cameo appearance in Guddi (1971) and Piya Ka Ghar (1972). They got married in 1973 and have two children together- actor Abhishek Bachchan and entrepreneur Shweta Bachchan Nanda. Speaking with Rediff, Jaya got candid about the Abhisheks comparison with Amitabh. If he really has it in him, then he will overcome the towering figure (Amitabh). He must struggle in order to achieve. I know when Amitji came (in film industry) people used to say are you mad? Why are you working with this guy? He will never make it. Same people who said this have worked with him, regularly, later, she had said. Jaya further said, Not only as a mother but as a student of cinema and acting I would like to see an actor, it can be Abhishek or anybody, who can really take on Amitabh Bachchan. Why not? Somebody hopefully, better (than Amitabh)? Earlier this year, Jaya Bachchan opened about the difficult phases that she and Amitabh Bachchan went through. Amitabh went through a rather tough time in the 1990s when his company went bankrupt. Recalling the time, Jaya told her granddaughter Navya on her podcast, We went through different kind of failures in different phases of my life. When a man is going through a tough phase, its nice to just be there and be quiet for them. Its nice to be silently standing there and saying listen I am here for you. Pity that Indias growth story is being eclipsed even as we speak. Yes, with tongue firmly in cheek, Indias Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been robbed off its sheen by a section of the Western Medias Gross Dilatory Propaganda (WM-GDP). Whats worrying is that this WM-GDP is almost totally export led and most of this industrial-scale output is being consumed by the bucketloads by unsuspecting Indians. And at the risk of lodging the tongue a little deeper into the recesses of the cheek, it would have to be said that Indian consumers have come to believe that what they are consuming is Real GDP as opposed to Nominal GDP! If there was ever a case of invoking anti-dumping laws this is it. The problem could have been happily ignored had the manufacturers not purported to be reputed brands in themselves. When these big names feed the narrative, people, especially Indians who still exalt all things phoren, believe their products to be kosher. And this is why several people, including predatory Opposition politicians, latched on to The Guardian Newspaper report that was rather illogically titled, Modi builds highways but where are our jobs? As if the highways were the work of a legion of apparitions. Or is The Guardian suggesting that even if they were being built by real humans the job of building India was by itself not a fulfilling one? Sure, its back breaking work but are we to assume that these toilers get no satisfaction in knowing that their labour is transforming the lives and livelihoods of their fellow citizens? Oh, what contempt this Guardian of the working class has for the dignity of labor. This Guardian newspaper article or should we just brand it a pyramid of inverted piffle moaned about how Modis 10 years in office have left people poorer at the bottom of the social ladder and richer at the top. That there were no jobs to be had and where there were a few available they werent good ones. And as if to anticipate the arguments against the conclusions drawn in their piece the authors implied that the economic data on Indias burgeoning economic growth was dodgy, perhaps even doctored. It is no ones argument that the Modi governments economic record is beyond question. The Prime Minister is the first to say that theres a lot for him still to do. Theres no arguing that there is inequity in Indian society and some of it is cruel and crushing. But disparity of the kind we witness in India today was evident a century ago in the United States, where the Great Depression scorched the poorest of the poor. Look how far the Americans have come and it was all because of decisive leadership. Which Modi exhibits. Yes, mistakes will be made by him, perhaps the BJP will even be punished for them. But till now a vast number of Indians still trust Modi to deliver on his promises. Its that trust that keeps the BJP ahead in the electoral race and that trust has been earned, contrary to the GDP that the Western Media dumps into India. Nevertheless, its reassuring to note that at the very least the champagne socialists of a section of the Western Media are more ambitious for Indians than Indians were for themselves a little over three decades ago. Then the Congress party with its anti-big business policies pushed millions of Indians into poverty. Of course, The Guardian newspaper forgot to tell you that the alternative to Modi in 2024 the Congress Party and its ecosystem hasnt quite divested itself of its suspicion of big capital and is populistically contemplating frightfully wasteful schemes (tried and thankfully rejected) in the name of re-distributing national wealth. If The Guardian had any sense of fairness, it would do its own brand and its credibility a big favor by acquainting itself with the facts. Talking of which here are just over 30 headlines it may wish to contemplate. 415 million Indians lifted out of multi-dimensional poverty in 15 years: UNDP report Indias GDP to grow at a rate of 7.2%: IMF India star performer, contributing more than 16% of global growth: IMF Indias economic growth surges, defying global challenges: Asian Development Outlook Indias 8% growth dream within reach through fiscal restraint: Economist Barry Eichengreen Indias economy to grow at 8-8.3% in current fiscal: PHDCCI EPFO net October member additions at 1.53 million Net new women EPFO subscribers addition rises to 28.69 lakh in FY23 5.14 crore person-years of employment every year has been generated since 2014 on an average: SKOCH report Out of 5.14 crore person-years, the government has paid for 1.97 crore person-years of fractional employment as an average per year since 2014: SKOCH report Employment generation totals to 25.2 crore credit-led employment and 19.7 crore person-years of fractional employment every year since 2014: SKOCH report PLI Scheme report card: Production/sales touch Rs 8.61 lakh crore, over 6.78 lakh jobs created Unemployment Rate (UR) in urban areas decreased to 6.7% during January-March 2024 for persons of age 15 years and above: PLFS Female UR decreased to 8.5% in January-March 2024: PLFS Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in urban areas shows an increasing trend from 48.5% to 50.2% during January-March 2023 to January-March 2024 respectively for persons of age 15 years and above: PLFS Female Labour Force Participation Rate in urban areas rises to 25.6% during January-March 2024, reflecting Overall Increasing Trend in LFPR: PLFS Increasing Trend in Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for persons of age 15 years and above from 45.2% in January-March 2023 to 46.9% in January-March 2024: PLFS Female Worker Population Ratio in urban areas rises to 23.4% during January-March 2024, reflecting Overall Increasing Trend in WPR: PLFS Number of GST return filers up 65% to 11.3 million in 5 years: Finance ministry Net direct tax collection at Rs 10.64 trillion in Apr-Nov, 58.3 per cent of BE Share of women MSMEs jumps 37% in total MSMEs registered on govts Udyam portal Factory output: IIP rises to 16-month high of 11.7% in October Net FDI into India touches 21-month high at 5.9 billion dollars in October India top investment destination as West looks beyond China: UN report India hot investment destination for Western corporate giants: UN report Indias merchandise exports may grow to $500-510 billion in FY 25: FIEO India registers record export at USD 778 billion in 2023-2024 Public sector banks total profit jumps 35%, crosses Rs1.4 trillion in FY24 Claims paid to farmers under PMFBY against crop damage crosses Rs 1.59 trillion Auto sector shows strong start in FY25, total sales up 25% in April Export of Apple iPhones From India Doubled In Fiscal Year 2023-24: UPI transactions witness meteoric rise from 92 crore to 8,375 crore in just 5 years Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. Bharat Sevashram Sangha national secretary Swami Biswatmananda Maharaj on Tuesday said the public will protest West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjees comments against them and soon give its verdict. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also registered his protest and stood by the monastic order. His comments came a day after Swami Pradiptananda Maharaj, also known as Kartik Maharaj, announced he had sent a legal notice to Banerjee, demanding an apology for her allegedly defamatory remarks about the organisation. Swami Biswatmananda, also known as Dilip Maharaj, had earlier claimed he was unaware of the issue. The public will protest; the public will give its verdict. We dont have to say much as even the prime minister has stood by us, he even messaged me yesterday, the monk said, when asked for his reaction on Banerjees remarks that they were working as per instructions of the BJP. Sharing a media byte of Swami Biswatmanandas statements to a Bangla news channel, senior BJP leader Amit Malviya said the country will protest the chief ministers rabid comments against Hindu organisations like ISKCON, Bharat Sevashram Sangha (BSS) and Ramakrishna Mission (RKM). He even invoked the Bhagavad Gita, referring to Prime Minister Modis support for the monks through the use of some verses. (To protect the Sadhus, destroy the Evil Forces, and establish Dharma, I come in every Yuga) he wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. He added: Swami Biswatmananda (Dilip Maharaj), General Secretary of Bharat Sevashram Sangh says that the entire country will protest Mamata Banerjees rabid comments against Hindu organisations like ISKCON, Bharat Sevashram and Ramakrishna Mission. He appreciates Prime Minister Modi for standing besides them, along with the countrymen. (To protect the Sadhus, destroy the Evil Forces, and establish Dharma, I come in every Yuga) Swami Biswatmananda (Dilip Maharaj), General Secretary of Bharat Sevashram Sangh says that the pic.twitter.com/cgGXqt1a2A Amit Malviya ( ) (@amitmalviya) May 21, 2024 On Monday (May 20), the PM and Banerjee engaged in a heated exchange over her remarks against Ramakrishna Mission and Bharat Sevashram Sangha, with Modi accusing the Trinamool Congress of threatening monks for vote bank politics and Banerjee clarifying that her criticism was directed at certain individuals, not the institutions. Addressing an election rally in Jhargram, PM Modi condemned the vandalism at Ramakrishna Mission ashram in Jalpaiguri on Sunday night (May 19) and accused the TMC regime of instigating violence against monks to appease their vote bank. It is shameful that the TMC has taken up the onus of hurting the religious faith of Hindus in Bengal. The CM is threatening the Ramakrishna Mission and Bharat Sevashram Ashram monks. On Sunday, Ramakrishna Mission ashram in Jalpaiguri was attacked. The people of Bengal will not tolerate this, he said. His remarks followed the vandalism incident, where miscreants stormed the RKM ashram premises in Jalpaiguri, threatening monks and other employees at gunpoint. Around 10 armed youths barged into our ashram at 3 am, went to the first floor and threatened the eight people present there including senior monks at gunpoint to leave the premises, an ashram official said. The attackers then vandalised the premises, breaking CCTV cameras and locking the main gate before fleeing. Police later rescued the stranded monks and staff. An ashram official suggested that a local land mafia was behind the incident, which was reportedly a property dispute issue. The monks have lodged a complaint at Bhaktinagar police station against a local thug and his associates. Political tensions have intensified as both the BJP and TMC used the development to galvanise their support bases during the elections, with the BJP portraying the attack as part of a broader pattern of religious intolerance under the TMC and Banerjee defending her commitment to religious and philanthropic institutions while denouncing political meddling by certain individuals. Banerjee, speaking at rallies in Onda and Panskura earlier, praised the RKM and BSS for their philanthropic work and said her criticism was directed at specific persons. I am not against the Ramakrishna Mission, why should I be against an institution or insult it? she asked, adding, I have spoken about one or two persons. She recounted her past support for the RKM, highlighting how she saved Swami Vivekanandas house in Kolkata from being sold and secured the house where Sister Nivedita stayed in Darjeeling. She also mentioned the construction of a skywalk to Dakshineswar temple from the Metro railway station. The CM singled out Kartik Maharaj of the BSS, accusing him of political activities and instigating clashes in Rejinagar. If he wants to canvass for BJP, he can, but should do it wearing its badge, she said, alleging that he was previously aligned with Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Claiming that the BSS monk from Murshidabad district was working for the BJP, she accused him of instigating people when clashes between two groups happened at Rejinagar a few weeks ago. I had spoken about Kartik Maharaj, he did not allow Trinamool Congress agent to sit (at a polling booth) in Rejinagar, she added. (With PTI inputs) Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra State Assembly and senior Congress party leader Vijay Wadettiwar has demanded a judicial inquiry into the Pune Porsche accident which claimed two lives. The accident involved a 17-year-old son of a businessman who rammed his Porsche car into a motorcycle, killing a couple on the spot. The investigation revealed that the luxury car had no registration number, and the minor driver was seen consuming alcohol at a pub before the accident. Wadettiwar questioned how an unregistered car was allowed on Pune roads and how the pub served alcohol to the minor. In his reaction on the microblogging website X, Wadettiwar said, The alcohol test of the minor came back negative, but CCTV footage shows him consuming alcohol. This raises many questions about the investigation. How do pubs and bars serve alcohol to minors? Why do the local corporation and police allow these pubs and hotels to ignore the rules? He also questioned the delay in arresting the father of the minor. Wadettiwar further demanded that Pune police should also face scrutiny in this case. The businessman father of the juvenile accused was arrested by the Pune crime branch and Sambhaji Nagar police in a joint operation. He had gone into hiding immediately after the accident. In the joint action, Pune crime branch and Sambhaji Nagar police arrested him, his driver and another person from a hotel in Sambhaji Nagar city. Early Tuesday morning, the Pune crime branch raided the hotel where the father was hiding and arrested him. He will be produced in the Pune court on Tuesday. Following an order from Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis to expedite the investigation, Pune police have made significant progress. In the last 24 hours, they have arrested seven accused related to this case under different sections of the IPC. The Pune police have also arrested the owner of the pub that served alcohol to the minor, flouting norms. Explore in-depth coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Schedule, Voter Turnout, Upcoming Phase And Much More At News18 Website BEIJING: Apple has launched an aggressive discounting campaign on its official Tmall site in China, offering discounts of up to 2,300 yuan ($318) on select iPhone models. The discounting comes as the U.S. tech giant seeks to defend its position in the high-end smartphone market, where it faces increasing competition from local rivals such as Huawei. Running from May 20 to May 28, it is more substantial than the one Apple offered in February. While the highest discount in the February campaign was 1,150 yuan, this time discounts are up to 2,300 yuan. The steepest discount applies to the 1TB iPhone 15 Pro Max model, while other models also see significant price cuts. For instance, the 128 GB version of the base iPhone 15 model has a discount of 1,400 yuan, according to Reuters' checks on Monday. The increased competitive pressure on Apple comes after Huawei last month introduced its new series of high-end smartphones, the Pura 70, following the launch of the Mate 60 last August. Apple's previous discounting effort in February appears to have helped the company mitigate a sales slowdown in China. Apple's shipments in China increased by 12% in March, according to Reuters' calculations based on data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT). This marks a significant improvement from the first two months of 2024, when the company experienced a 37% slump in sales. In a bizarre incident from Bengaluru, a simple request to turn on the air conditioner led to a heated argument between an Uber driver and his passenger. A video shared on X captures the intense exchange, showing the driver and passenger clashing over the malfunctioning AC. The clip, posted on the Ghar Ke Kalesh page, features the passenger questioning the driver about his sudden anger. Initially conversing in Hindi, the driver lost his cool and demanded the passenger speak in Kannada instead. Dr. Atharv Dawar, the passenger, explained that the trouble began when he asked the driver to switch on the AC. The driver refused, citing a problem with it. Dr. Dawar mentioned that although the driver first communicated in Hindi, he later insisted on Kannada, which escalated the situation. Also Read: Bengaluru Woman Seeks Justification for Paying Rs 2K to Uber to Get Home After Rs 3.5K Flight Since everyone is forming an opinion let me share the context here- the 16-second video is 1st followed by the other video. I denied to sit in his friends Indica as it didnt have AC and was filthy. Then I sat in his car and he talked to me in Hindi only, Mr. Dawar wrote on X, sharing the videos. But d moment I asked him to Turn on the AC he got charged up. Listen to him responding in Hindi AC nahi hai. Its not abt language here its about arrogant n irresponsible person using Kannada language as smokescreen to continue scamming gullible people who travel to BLR for work, he further elaborated. Since everyone is forming an opinion let me share the context here- 16sec video is 1st followed by the other video. I denied to sit in his friends Indica as it didnt have AC and was filthy. Then I sat in his car n he talked to me in Hindi only. pic.twitter.com/CeNhOuN5J0 Dr. Atharv Dawar (@atharvdawar) May 20, 2024 Dr. Dawar also mentioned that he reported the driver to Uber Support, including a photo of the cabs number. The video quickly went viral, sparking a range of reactions from the public. One viewer commented, I find driver to be arrogant in this case! He is not respondin to the question and I dont find issue with passenger as he is not asking the driver to speak in Hindi or any language he is tryin to be cooperative but Y is the driver behaving in this way not sure. Another added, You are not the only one here, Its become a trait 4 drivers to change stance once they arrive. Unfortunately, cab aggregators dont hv d power or dont want to 2. There has to be a uniform raking system & drivers with negative reviews need to be temporarily taken off the rosters. Also Read: City Is Messed Up: Bengaluru Man Gets Waiting Time Of 50 Minutes For Uber Since being posted, the video has garnered over a million views. Microsoft is releasing Recall for Copilot Plus PCs, an upcoming Windows 11 tool that records every detail you see and perform on your computer. It also allows you to search and retrieve your entire history from the device. A video of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella discussing this powerful artificial intelligence (AI) tool has gone viral. But billionaire Elon Musk has managed to get concerned about the feature. The Tesla CEO has referred to it as a Black Mirror episode. In the video, Nadella talks about a feature called Recall that acts as a photographic memory, continuously recording screenshots to remember and comprehend everything you do on your computer. Its not a keyword search, its a semantic search over all your history. And its not just about any document. We can recreate moments from the past essentially, Nadella stated. However, Musk declared in his post, This is a Black Mirror episode. Definitely turning this feature off. This is a Black Mirror episode. Definitely turning this feature off. https://t.co/bx1KLqLf67 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 20, 2024 It alludes to the Netflix series Black Mirror, in which a number of characters struggle with how modern technology affects their personal lives and habits. Musks retweet has more than 17 million views. The comments section was also in favour of the Tesla CEOs remarks. A user said, The Hunger Games & Black Mirror episodes are turning into reality. The Hunger Games & Black Mirror episodes are turning into reality American AF (@iAnonPatriot) May 20, 2024 Another user humorously noted, Did the CIA come up with this? Did the CIA come up with this? Matt Couch (@RealMattCouch) May 20, 2024 This is a huge invasion of privacy, wrote a user. This is a huge invasion of privacy XRPcryptowolf (@XRPcryptowolf) May 20, 2024 Recalls capabilities are quite broad it can log activities within applications, monitor conversations during live meetings, retain track of every website you have visited for research and much more. Recall is known internally at Microsoft as AI Explorer. All you have to do is initiate a Recall action, which functions similarly to an AI-powered search and it will provide you with a context-rich picture of that time frame. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella described the new feature in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. He stated that it uses the individuals personal semantic index and the laptops small language model to do operations on-device. A comparable feature named Timeline was offered by Microsoft in Windows 10, however, it was dropped in 2021. Similar functionality may also be found in the Rewind program for Mac. But Recall is seamlessly incorporated into Windows 11 right out of the box. Since the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections in Mumbai, Gauahar Khan has been a hot topic, thanks to a viral video showing her storming away from a polling booth, fuming about the mismanagement there. Another clip on her Instagram Stories added fuel to the fire, as she complained about not being able to use her Aadhaar card to cast her vote. However, she later updated that she managed to vote and proudly flaunted the ink mark on her finger. But it was her Aadhaar Card frustration that really got people talking, with many poking fun at her suggestion to use it for voting. She argued, I have an appeal. Why do we have Aadhar cards if we are not considered citizens enough to vote? Your Aadhaar card is your identity that you are an Indian citizen and you should be able to vote with that. Her passionate plea quickly went viral, sparking a wave of funny comments and memes across social media. And so, the meme fest began. One popular meme joked, Gauhar Khan goes to Pani Puri stall to eat Dahi Pakoda. Also Read: Bro Promoted Panvel Tourism Like No One: Desis Hop on To Trend With Viral Memes Another read, Gauhar Khan goes to railway station to catch her flight. Then she complains about the Railway Ministry and Aviation Ministry about missing it. Gauhar Khan goes to railway station to catch her flight. Then she complains about Railway Ministry and Aviation Ministry about missing it. https://t.co/01PPXDv83i Aishwarya Mudgil (@AishwaryakiRai) May 20, 2024 A third meme added, Gauhar Khan goes to NEET examination centre to give CA exams than complain to ICAI than she was not allowed to give exams, while a fourth quipped, Gauhar Khan goes to Myntra app to order food. Gauhar Khan goes to NEET examination centre to give CA exams than complain to ICAI than she was not allowed to give exams.#Dictatorship #ModiGovernment #DelhiWithModiJi #LokSabhaElections2024Phase5 #LokSabhaElectons2024 Aadhar pic.twitter.com/nWgry9HpVE CA Anshul Garg (Modi ka Pariwar) (@AnshulGarg1986) May 20, 2024 Gauhar Khan goes to Myntra app to order food https://t.co/luFdM9y1t5 (@kopeng_in) May 20, 2024 And the memes kept coming Gauhar Khan goes to CUET centre to give JEE and then complains that NEET wasnt organised well. https://t.co/1eJYL3sQde Daksh Sengar (@SengarDaksh) May 20, 2024 Gauhar Khan goes to an ATM with her Aadhar card to collect MNREGA wages. It was denied because she was a Muslim ! Ramblings(Parody) (@PC67761415) May 21, 2024 Meanwhile, Bollywood stars like Ranveer Singh, Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone, Aamir Khan, Janhvi Kapoor, Kiara Advani, and Farhan Akhtar were seen around the city, proudly casting their votes on Monday. People can experience unimaginable twists of fate, even in the form of their spouses or partners. A woman from Indonesia probably had the most bizarre one as she found out that she attended her husbands previous wedding as a child. As per the report by the South China Morning Post, the 24-year-old woman named Renata Fadhea from Bangka Island is married to a man who is 38 years older than her. Recently, she discovered that fifteen years ago she attended one of his previous weddings when she was only 9 years old. The reports further state that they reconnected more than a decade later. Taking to Tiktok, Renata Fadhea shared the bizarre information with the world, which has amassed more than 7.1 million views. The now-viral clip features a group photo from her husbands old wedding in 2009. It shows the 9-year-old Fadhea standing near her future husband. Fadhea also revealed that she came to the wedding as a guest because they were distant relatives. As per more information on the website, her husband is her aunts nephew. As adults, the couple met in 2019 and tied the knot a year later, in 2020. They are parents to a son. Fadhea stumbled upon the photo while going through her husbands second marriage album. She added that his now ex-wife has separated in 2011. He has another child from his first marriage, the reports state. Netizens express mixed reactions to Renatas discovery. The first user wrote, See? As long as you have money, its fine, even with a 38-year age difference. A second user stated, I dont understand, but I hope he does not get divorced this time. And a third user shared, Met by chance when a child, reunited as a grown-up, its fate. The young woman mentioned that she and her husband are very happy with each other and leading a good life. Marrying early is very common in Indonesia. As per a UNICEF report, some women are married before the age of 18. They state that it could be due to poverty, lack of education and religious reasons. A tea vendor in Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) named Kanhaiya Kumar is grabbing attention for his skills. Recently, a video went viral on the internet showing the vendor doing tricks, while making tea. Making and serving tea in different ways have become his forte. Social media users are liking his stunts. His customers are entertained due to this. The 65-year-old man is making headlines. He used to sell lassi before starting this business. He has been involved in business for 40 years, starting when he was only 10. Kanhaiya Kumar said he learned the tricks while selling lassi earlier. He tried these stunts with a glass of lassi. He explained that he has learnt all his skills by watching them on TV. In the beginning, he used to sell each cup for 10 paise. Now, after all these years, he is selling each cup for Rs 10. Kanhaiya Kumar rotates the glass 360 degrees by hand and impresses everyone. The trick is that he does not let even a drop of tea spill on the countertop. His customers are impressed by his stunts and gather at his shop everyday to have tea and enjoy the tricks he performs. Tea lovers travel long hours to have tea from his shop. They praise his passion for making tea even at this age. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Zeel Bhuva | Food Blogger (@foodie_.life) After the video went viral, Kanhaiya Kumar became famous. The footfall at his shop has increased and helped him to run the business even more efficiently. Recently, another video went viral on Instagram, where another tea vendor was seen. He also adopted a similar style of making tea. Pappu Chaiwala from Surat sells tea, performing several stunts. While making tea, he tosses the packet of milk in the air, only for the packet to fall into the pot. Then he adds his chosen ingredients to the milk, along with tea leaves. Then he pours the tea into a different pot and boils it before serving. The video that went viral had the address of his tea stall as well. His video received around 25 million views. His fans shared their amazement in the comment section. One user commented, I think he is also waiting to meet Bill Gates. Another Instagram user wrote, His catching is better than the Pakistan teams catching. An elderly man died after getting attacked by a cow moose, as he was trying to take photos of two newborn moose calves in Homer, Alaska. The victim was identified as 70-year-old Dale Chorman. The incident took place on Sunday. Austin McDaniel, a spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Public Safety, said that while Chorman was fatally injured, another man who was with him escaped uninjured. The cow moose charged at the men when they were walking through the bushes looking for the newborns. The second person did not witness the fatal attack, but medics pronounced Dale Chorman dead at the scene. As per the Associated Press, the cow moose left the area following the attack. People have always been advised to stay away from moose, especially after they have given birth. Austin McDaniel reiterated the importance of maintaining distance from cow moose and said, Calving season for moose is the time when you definitely want to give them extra space. Cow moose with calves are going to be some of the more aggressive moose youre going to come in contact with. Those moose will become unpredictable and work to protect their calves at any cost. Even one kick or stomping from an adult moose can be severe, considering their massive size. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, an average adult female moose can weigh up to 800 pounds (approximately 363 kilograms) and a large adult male moose can weigh 1600 pounds (approximately 726 kilograms). These animals can stand almost 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall. Moose are known as elk in Europe. They are the worlds tallest, largest, and heaviest extant species of deer. In North America, they are the second-largest land animal, closely behind the American bison in body mass. Moose encounters are not uncommon in Alaska, where there are 200,000 moose against the human population of about 737,000. As per the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the key to co-existing with moose is to give them their space. The department also suggests waiting as long as possible to let a moose pass if it is in your way. Often moose become aggressive when people throw snowballs at them, approach them too closely, or have pet dogs that bark at mooses. This makes the animal perceive humans as a threat and prompts them to attack. It is also illegal to them. Just last month, a dystopian thriller titled Civil War, helmed by Alex Garland, was released. The film showed a modern American Civil War depicting Texas and California against the US military and other regional factions. It led to an interesting question getting surfaced online. An AI bot, Gemini, was asked about what actual military conflict in the USA would look like today and whether Texas and California may ally. The answer will shock you. Googles Gemini AI shared, If we saw a civil war today, states that seceded during the first civil war (Confederate states), might again be more likely involved on one side, it mused. These include Southern states like Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri. It further added that there may be a rural or urban divide and the AI shared that rural areas may withdraw. The AI further claimed that just like the USA election, in the Civil War, there might be key battleground states. It stated, States with a history of swinging between Republican and Democratic control might be more susceptible to internal division in a civil war, and names states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, and North Carolina. Gemini offered insight by sharing that in terms of military firepower, California, Florida and Texas have the most number of military bases, a crucial factor in a conflict as grave as a Civil War. It also pointed out a few potential significant players like Virginia and North Carolina, as these have high concentrations of military personnel. It considered Alaska with its difficult terrain to be of geographical advantage. The AI bots prediction completely contrasts what the film Civil War has depicted, where Texas and California are allies. But, Gemini stated that the current political climate in the USA is quite polarised and these two particular states end up on different ends of the spectrum. It would be challenging to bridge this divide as the states have varied cultural identities and social values. Gemini predicted that even if these two states became allies, there would still be competition among them for resources that might lead to conflict. Ruskin Bond is one of the most beloved childrens writers in India. Over the decades he has penned more than 60 books for children, many of which are added as essential readings in Indian schools. Thanks to his contribution to Indian literature, he is the recipient of prestigious civilian awards like Padma Shri in 1999 and Padma Bhushan in 2014. One hardly questions the credentials of Bond as an Indian national. However, those unfamiliar with his work often mistake him for a foreigner because of his British descent. Bond turned 90 years old on May 19, last Sunday. In an interview with PTI, he looked back at many instances from his life. The Susannas Seven Husbands writer revealed that one time he was asked to pay the foreigner fee at the famous Sun Temple in Konark, Odisha. Bond recalled, They charge extra from foreigners for entering Konark. I said, I am not a foreigner, I am an Indian, but then to avoid an argument I paid extra. And behind me came a Sardar ji, he had a British passport but they let him in. He wasnt charged extra because he didnt look like a foreigner. After 2008, Indian nationals have to pay Rs 40 at the Konark Sun Temple, while foreigners have to pay Rs 600. VIDEO | Heres what author Ruskin Bond, who turned 90 on Sunday, said on people perceiving him to be a foreigner. They charge extra from foreigners for entering Konark (Sun Temple in Odisha). I said, 'I am not a foreigner, I am an Indian', but then to avoid an argument I paid pic.twitter.com/o0rGqexGAL Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 19, 2024 Bond was born on May 19, 1934, to British parents Aubrey Alexander Bond and Edith Clarke in Kasauli. Today, he is one of the few Anglo-Indians remaining in India. After high school in India, Bond spent some years in London, where he published his first book The Room on the Roof. It won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1957. However, despite the success of his debut novel, Ruskin Bond returned to India in his mid-20s and made the country of his birth his home. Today Bond lives with his Indian adoptive family in the small town of Landour in Uttarakhand. Talking about his adoptive family, Bond told PTI, When I was in London, I did have a very close relationship with a Vietnamese girl. It didnt come to anything. Time passed by and I never really felt that I could, in those days at least, have a family life. I was very much a lone ranger on my own until my present family became part of my life. Now, I am a family man without getting married. Every one of us has witnessed sunrise and sunset several times. But have you ever noticed that many times, the sky appears to be green during sunrise or sunset? Sometimes this phenomenon can be seen after sunrise or just before that sunrise. But what is the reason behind this change of colour? In an interview with Live Science, Johannes Courtial, a scientist at the University of Glasgow explained that the light of the sun is usually white. However, when the white light passes through a medium with a higher density, such as glass or water at a certain angle, the wavelengths get separated and as a result, we get to see lights of different colours. Scientifically the phenomenon is known as refraction of light. Let us first know how the different colours of the rainbow appear. Earths atmosphere consists of various gases with different densities which is one of the main reasons behind the refraction of light. This is the phenomenon why we get to see rainbows even when there is no rain. Refraction of lights is particularly noticeable when the sun is very close to the horizon. This mainly happens during sunrise and sunset. As the sunlight enters the dense part of the earths atmosphere at a certain angle we get to see a greenish flash appear on the sky. Why this phenomenon takes place? The question arises, why the light that appears is specifically green in colour? We all know that the colour green is a mixture of two colours blue and yellow. During sunrise and sunset when the sunlight falls at a specific angle, the wavelength of the blue light and the yellow light overlap with each other producing a greenish phenomenon. This phenomenon is mainly visible in coastal areas and mountains. This is mostly witnessed in Coastal areas when the warm air creates a blanket over the cold water. The air layers refract the sunlight which leads to this phenomenon. A man in Brazil crashed his Lamborghini into a pole while chasing a thief who had stolen his Rolex watch in the middle of a busy road. A video of the incident, which has been going viral on social media, shows the green Lamborghini racing toward a two-wheeler driven by the thief as he tries to flee. Motorista de Lamborghini persegue ladrao de Rolex e acaba batendo em poste na Faria Lima em Sao Paulo pic.twitter.com/AANSrcd6Ov BHAZ (@portal_bhaz) May 19, 2024 The footage shows the driver of the Lamborghini ramming into a pole and also hitting the thief. The front of the Lamborghini is badly damaged, with smoke coming from its engine. Within seconds, the thief, who falls after being hit, gets up and runs away just moments before the Lamborghini driver exits his car to catch him. The incident happened in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo on May 18. The thief had allegedly stolen the mans Rolex watch at gunpoint. As per CNN Brazil, the thief on the motorcycle approached the Lamborghini driver while he was stopped at a traffic light. The thief then forcibly took the watch and tried to escape from the scene. According to Brazilian outlet Metropoles, the watch was valued at Brazilian real 200,000 (equivalent to $40,000 or Rs 32 lakh), and the suspected thief has been identified. Citing local police, the outlet reported that the man resides in Taboao da Serra and was riding a motorcycle registered in his mothers name. The outlet also reported that as the thief fled from the crash site, he left behind a .32-caliber revolver used in the robbery along with a cellphone, which helped investigators in identifying him. Stay informed with the Iranian President News Latest Updates.. The Bell-212 helicopter that was carrying Irans President Ebrahim Raisi and its foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian did not have its signal system turned on or did not possess such a system. The assessment was made by Turkish transport minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu, according to a report by the BBC. He further said that neighbouring country Turkey hosts an emergency research coordination centre for aviation accidents and Iran falls into its area of responsibility. We checked for a signal from the helicopter, but unfortunately, most likely the signal system was turned off or that the helicopter did not have that signal system, we could not detect them, Uraloglu was quoted as saying. Turkey said that they received a call from Iran on Sunday night seeking assistance to detect the signal. We checked for the signal, as we always do when requested, but there was so signal, an official told UK broadcaster BBC. The official did not elaborate on whether the chopper was equipped with the system or whether it did not have the latest technology. He also could not confirm if it was turned off for security reasons. All kinds of aircrafts, especially the ones which are carrying state officials, should have this system, the official said. Former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed the crash on continued US sanctions which have impeded the sale of aviation parts. When asked about Zarifs remark, the US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said: Ultimately, its the Iranian government that is responsible for the decision to fly a 45-year-old helicopter in what was described as poor weather conditions, not any other actor. A massive search and rescue operation started Sunday afternoon when two other helicopters in Raisis convoy lost contact with his aircraft amid harsh weather conditions in the mountainous region. The Iranian state-run news agencies early Monday broke the news of his death, saying the servant of the Iranian nation, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi, has achieved the highest level of martyrdom, showing pictures of him. Killed alongside the Iranian president were Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, members of the provincial authorities of East Azerbaijan and his security team. Irans military chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri on Monday ordered a probe into the cause of the crash. Bell Helicopter, now Bell Textron, developed the aircraft for the Canadian military in the late 1960s as an upgrade to the UH-1 Iroquois. The new design featured two turboshaft engines instead of one, increasing its carrying capacity. First introduced in 1971, it was quickly adopted by both the militaries of the United States and Canada. The Bell 212 can carry out various tasks, including carrying passengers, deploying firefighting gear, transporting cargo, and mounting weapons. The Iranian model that crashed on Sunday was configured for government passengers. The latest version, the Subaru Bell 412, is advertised for police use, medical transport, troop transport, the energy industry, and firefighting. It can carry 15 people, including the crew, according to European Union Aviation Safety Agency certification documents. Stay informed with the Iranian President News Latest Updates.. WASHINGTON: An appeals court refused Tuesday to halt Hunter Bidens federal gun trial set to begin in two weeks, during his fathers reelection campaign. The full 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to pause the case against the presidents son while his challenges to the prosecution on multiple fronts play out. His bid to dismiss the case had previously been rejected by a three-judge panel. Defense attorneys for the presidents son had argued there was no urgent need to start the trial on June 3. They also cited the short time between the Delaware trial and the start of another trial on tax charges in California tentatively set to begin the same month. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to lying about his drug use in October 2018 on a form to buy a gun that he kept for about 11 days in Delaware. He has acknowledged an addiction to crack cocaine during that period, but his lawyers have said he didnt break the law. Defense attorneys are also appealing a separate decision from U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika rejecting a claim that the case violates the Constitutions Second Amendment on firearm ownership. The investigation had looked ready to wrap up with a plea deal last year, but the agreement imploded after a judge raised questions about it. Biden was subsequently indicted by Justice Department special counsel David Weiss in both Delaware and California, where hes accused of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over three years while living an extravagant lifestyle, during his days of using drugs. He is separately challenging rulings rejecting his motions to dismiss those charges. Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor Stay informed with the Iranian President News Latest Updates.. Salman Rushdie, the Indian-born American Booker Prize winning author, said if the Palestinian state is created imminently then it would resemble a Taliban-like state is created. Rushdie said that he has batted for a Palestinian state for most of his life but if there would be a Palestinian state now it would be run by Hamas and would be a client state of Iran. (I have) argued for a Palestinian state for most of my life since the 1980s, probably right now, if there was a Palestinian state, it would be run by Hamas, and that would make it a Taliban-like state, and it would be a client state of Iran, Rushdie said while speaking on a podcast run by German broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, released last week. Is that what the progressive movements of the western left wish to create? To have another Taliban, another Ayatollah-like state, in the Middle East, right next to Israel?, he further added. Students and others have set up tent encampments on campuses around the country to press colleges to cut financial ties with Israel. Tensions over the war have been high on campuses since the fall but demonstrations spread quickly following an April 18 police crackdown on an encampment at Columbia University. More than 3,000 people have been arrested on US campuses over the past month. Campuses have been calmer recently, with fewer arrests, as students leave for summer break. Still, colleges have been vigilant for disruptions to commencement ceremonies. Rushdie said the protests should at least mention Hamas. He said that it is strange to see students who are progressive support a fascist terrorist group. The fact is that I think any human being right now has to be distressed by what is happening in Gaza because of the quantity of innocent death. I would just like some of the protests to mention Hamas. Because thats where this started, and Hamas is a terrorist organisation. Its very strange for young, progressive student politics to kind of support a fascist terrorist group, Rushdie further added. Student protests also rocked New York University where Salman Rushdie is a faculty member. He did, however, mention that police action on students is not a good idea but also criticised student group occupying buildings and damaging university property. Stay informed with the Iranian President News Latest Updates.. Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made reassuring comments about King Salmans health during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday after the royal court said on Sunday the monarch will undergo treatment for a lung inflammation, state TV reported. Due to King Salmans health issue, Crown Prince Mohammed, the de facto Saudi leader, postponed a visit to Japan that had been scheduled to begin on Monday, Japans Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said. The 88-year-old monarch would be treated with antibiotics until the inflammation subsides after he underwent medical tests at the royal clinics at Jeddahs Al Salam Palace due to high temperature and joint pain, the state news agency cited the royal court as saying on Sunday. The crown prince reassures everyone of the health of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (the king)praying to God Almighty to bless him with a speedy recovery and to grant him good and sound health, state TV said. Saudi King Salman will undergo treatment at Al Salam Palace in Jeddah for a lung inflammation, the state news agency said on Sunday, hours after he underwent medical tests. Citing the royal court, the state news agency said the 88-year-old king would be treated with antibiotics until the inflammation subsides. Due to King Salmans health issue, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto Saudi leader, postponed a visit to Japan that had been scheduled to begin on Monday, Japans Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said. Saudi Arabia informed the Japanese government that due to the health condition of King Salman of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammeds visit to Japan, which had been scheduled to begin on the 20th, had to be postponed, Hayashi said at a news conference in Tokyo. Earlier on Sunday, King Salman underwent medical tests at the royal clinics at Al Salam Palace due to high temperature and joint pain, the Saudi state news agency said. The king was last admitted to hospital in April for a routine checkup, state TV reported then. King Salman, the custodian of Islams holiest sites, became ruler of the worlds top oil exporter in 2015 after spending more than 2-1/2 years as the crown prince and deputy premier. His illness struck just as the crown prince met with U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in the kingdom for talks on a strategic agreement between Washington and Riyadh. Saudi Arabias embassy in Japan did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the crown princes cancelled trip. He had been set to meet with Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during the trip scheduled from May 20-23. Stay informed with the Iranian President News Latest Updates.. Kyle Rice, a father of two who lives in suburban Delaware, spends over $1,500 a month and travels across four states in the US, spanning over 202 kilometres, to reach his office in New York City. The upside he gets to maintain the lifestyle he desires. Come with me as I do a super commuter from Wilmington to my job in Manhattan in New York City, Kyle Rice, an EMS software developer from New Castle, Delaware, is heard saying in his video that has gone viral on TikTok. Around 1.4 million TikTok viewers watched his two-hour trek from home to office. Rice catches the 6:00 am train from Delaware, through Pennsylvania, New Jersey and into New York and is among the growing number of 9-to-5ers who sacrifice their comforts of living in the suburbs of the big city to earn a living. He says he is compensated well because he earns a six-figure salary. A report by the New York Post reveals that it is not just Rice but other office-goers as well as business owners who are following this route. The report narrated stories of New York beautician Kaitlin Jay, 30, who travels 1,127 kilometres from her home in Charlotte, North Carolina into the city to her shop where she charges $100 per head for hairstyling. It also spoke to journalist Chip Cutter who travels from Ohio capital Columbus to New York City thrice a week because of his high-paying role at a newspaper. I dont have to worry about the high cost of living in NYC. The average one-bedroom in Manhattan is $4,443, three times my mortgage of $1,400. I live in a suburban area with all the benefits of urban pay, Rice told Business Insider. He served as a critical care paramedic in Delaware for 15 years before joining his new high-paying role in New York City. Despite his passion for treating patients, the longtime ambulance attendant wanted to delve into the tech side of EMS healthcare at Murua company in the Financial District that offers an app for protocol management to medical providers. Rice, who has doubled his annual income since taking the role, makes the lengthy, twice-weekly journey to fulfil his job responsibilities. I leave my house at 6:15 a.m. and drive eight minutes to the train station in Wilmington to catch the 6:33 a.m. Amtrak train to Newark Penn Station. The ride is around an hour and 37 minutes, he said. Rice also said that oftentimes he is the first to reach office and highlighted that his commute time is lesser than someone who lives in New York. I calculated my commute versus someone living in Long Island. It came out to be roughly the same amount of time, he said. Stay informed with the Iranian President News Latest Updates.. A 73-year-old British man died and more than 70 other passengers were injured when a Singapore Airlines flight from London was struck by severe turbulence and plunged 6,000 feet in the span of some a few minutes Tuesday over the Indian Ocean. The flight was then diverted and landed in stormy weather in Bangkok. Singapore Airlines flight #SQ321, operating from London (Heathrow) to Singapore on 20 May 2024, encountered severe turbulence en-route. The aircraft diverted to Bangkok and landed at 1545hrs local time on 21 May 2024.We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on Singapore Airlines (@SingaporeAir) May 21, 2024 Authorities said the British man may have suffered a heart attack, though that has not been confirmed. His name was not immediately released. The Boeing 777-300ER flight from Londons Heathrow airport to Singapore, with 211 passengers and 18 crew members aboard, landed at Bangkoks Suvarnabhumi Airport at 3:45 p.m. local time, the airline said in a Facebook post. There were three people from India on board the flight who got injured. Emergency medical crews rushed to help the passengers. Videos posted on the LINE messaging platform by Suvarnabhumi Airport showed a line of ambulances streaming to the scene. We are in contact with Singapore Airlines regarding flight SQ321 and stand ready to support them, Boeing said in a statement. BREAKING: 1 DEAD, 30 INJURED ON BOEING FLIGHT TO SINGAPOREA Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 hit extreme turbulence that forced it to make an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok. The aircraft was carrying a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew. Source: BBC pic.twitter.com/VruJtfXAKT Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) May 21, 2024 In a statement posted on Facebook, Singapore Airlines said that as of four hours after the emergency landing, 18 people remained hospitalized while another 12 were treated on outpatient basis. The remaining passengers and crew are being examined and given treatment, where necessary, at the airport, it said. Airports of Thailand group said the lightly injured and non-injured passengers are being assisted at a specially assigned location inside the terminal at the Suvarnabhumi Airport. Thailands Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungruangkit said in a statement that Singapore would dispatch another plane later Tuesday night to transport the lightly injured and non-injured passengers to the city-states Changi airport. He said that plane was expected to arrive in Bangkok at 9:45 p.m. Kittipong Kittikachorn, general manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport, told a news conference on Tuesday night that the British man appeared to have suffered a heart attack. Tracking data captured by FlightRadar24 and analyzed by The Associated Press show the Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 cruising at an altitude of 37,000 feet (11,300 meters). Just after 0800 GMT, the Boeing 777-300ER suddenly and sharply plummets to 31,000 feet (9,400 meters) over the span of some three minutes, the data shows. The aircraft then stayed at 31,000 feet (9,400 meters) for under 10 minutes before diverting and landing in Bangkok less than half an hour later. The sharp descent in turbulence happened as the flight was over the Andaman Sea, near Myanmar. The aircraft sent a squawk code of 7700 at that time, an international emergency signal. Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased, the airline said. We are working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance, and sending a team to Bangkok to provide any additional assistance needed. Singapore Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat also extended condolences on his Facebook page. He said his ministry and Singapores Foreign Ministry, as well as the countrys Civil Aviation Authority and Changi Airport officials, along with airline staff, are providing support to the affected passengers and their families. Stay informed with the Iranian President News Latest Updates.. A woman who was a resident of east London was killed by her two pet XL bully dogs earlier this month. The woman, who was in 50s, was pronounced dead at the scene. The woman lived in Cornwall Close, Hornchurch and her dogs were registered. The canines were safely seized after being contained inside a room, local authorities said while speaking to the Guardian. Today's death of a woman in her 50s in Romford will be the 16th person to have been killed by an XL Bully or XL Bully cross in the UK since November 2021.Since we launched our campaign in July 2023, out of the 5 subsequent fatalities to dogs, 4 were caused by XL Bullies. https://t.co/Ha3J3zxn9a pic.twitter.com/flMRjXKTpR Bully Watch (@BullyWatchUK) May 20, 2024 Armed police officers had to enter the home of the woman to attend to the emergency. Police were called to Cornwall Close around 1.12pm to reports of a woman attacked by a dog. The woman was treated by medics from London ambulance service, but sadly she was pronounced dead at the scene. Due to the threat posed, armed officers attended. After assessing the situation, officers were able to safely seize two dogs, a spokesperson for the London Metropolitan police said. Scene this morning in Hornchurch after a woman was killed by XL bully dogs in the property yesterday afternoon. Thought to be the first fatal attack involving registered XL bullies since the ban came into force in February @LBC @LBCNews pic.twitter.com/xyxGTFZ6JM Helen Hoddinott (@helenhoddinott) May 21, 2024 These were registered XL bully dogs and prior to officers arrival had been contained inside a room in the house. They did not leave the house at any time during the incident. The family of the woman, who was the owner of the dogs, are being supported by officers, the statement said. The UK government made it a criminal offence to own the XL bully breed in England and Wales without an exemption certificate since February. If anyone owned the breed then they were instructed to have the animal neutered, microchipped and muzzled and on a lead in public, and imposed other restrictions. The outcry against the breed rose last year when a footage of an XL bully dog attacking people on a road in Birmingham went viral. The girl sustained shoulder and arm injuries. A man named Ian Price, 52, died after being attacked by two dogs in Stonnall, West Midlands, in the same month. The police said that they believed that the animals were XL bully dogs. In 2021, a 10-year-old child was mauled to death by a seven-stone XL bully dog called Beast. Its owner was sentenced to three years in jail. Stay informed with the Iranian President News Latest Updates.. UPDATE May 21, 2024 4:01 PM CDT A jury took less than three hours Tuesday to find a former graduate student guilty of murdering a professor in the University of Arizona's Department of Hydrology. Murad Dervish, 48, was found guilty on charges including first-degree murder in the October 2022 shooting of department head Thomas Meixner, 52, the Arizona Republic reports. Dervish, who had been banned from campus for threatening faculty members, shot Meixner 11 times. Defense attorney Leo Masursky said Dervish "lost his mind" that day, but prosecutors said the killing was planned and Dervish bought the gun a month earlier, the AP reports. The Republic reports that Meixner's widow broke down in tears after the verdict was read out. Oct 6, 2022 8:57 AM CDT A professor in the University of Arizona's Department of Hydrology was shot and killed on campus Wednesday by an individual police identified as a former student. Police initially received a call for help in removing the suspect from the campus' John W. Harshbarger building, home to the Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, as he was previously banned, reports KOLD. While en route shortly before 2pm, officers received a second call about a shooting inside the building. One faculty member inside described hearing seven to 10 gunshots, per the Arizona Daily Star. The victimidentified as department head Dr. Thomas Meixnerwas rushed to a hospital, where he died. Is someone speaking earnestly to you, or are they overflowing with snark? Researchers out of the Netherlands decided they wanted to build a device that could offer some insight, resulting in an artificial intelligence-driven "sarcasm detector" that did quite well in sussing out what speech was sincere and what was more of the mocking or ironic variety. Per the Guardian , scientists at the University of Groningen's speech technology lab debuted their detector on Thursday at a joint meeting in Ottawa, Ontario, of the Acoustical Society of America and the Canadian Acoustical Association, explaining how they trained their algorithm using a previously compiled database called MUStARD . Using footage from the database that included scenes from such sitcoms as Friends and The Big Bang Theory, researchers Xiyuan Gao, Shekhar Nayak, and Matt Coler created a "multimodal algorithm," per Interesting Engineering. They trained their new neural network on not only the text, but also the audio and emotional content from those clips; sentences pulled from those clips had previously been given annotated sarcasm labels by other scientists from the US and Singapore. Gao and team then ran unlabeled conversations through their sarcasm detector and found that it could pick up on sarcasm in about three-quarters of those exchanges. That figure was even higher when the team used "synthetic data" to tweak the accuracy, though that research hasn't been published yet. Gao notes the scientists would like to expand on this experiment, possibly incorporating more gestures and expressions (smirking, raised eyebrows) into the algorithm, as well as exploring running more languages through the detector, per the Register. That outlet also notes that such technology could prove useful across a variety of fields, including AI-assisted health care. But even Gao concedes that it's doubtful their sarcasm detector could ever exactly approximate the wit of humans. "Are we going to have a machine that is 100% accurate?" she says, per the Guardian. "That's not something even humans can achieve." (More sarcasm stories.) A New Mexico high school seniorand Hunkpapa Lakota of the Standing Rock Sioux tribewas denied the opportunity to celebrate her graduation with a traditionally decorated cap, advocates say. Video from the Farmington High School commencement ceremony on May 13 shows two staffers approaching Genesis White Bull, taking her graduation cap, which was decorated with beadwork and a white feather plume, and handing her a plain cap in return. "That's part of our culture, when we reach a milestone in our life, we as Lakotas decorate, do our beadwork and place our plume on them," White Bull's mother tells the Tri-City Record , adding that the family had prayed over the plume, known as an aopazan, before placing it on White Bull's head. When her mother saw what happened, she approached the staff members and asked to be allowed to remove the aopazan herself; instead, she says, they cut it from the cap with scissors. Per the Guardian, the school district initially said the staffers were "following district guidelines" before ultimately apologizing in a later statement. "To learn from this experience and to improve our school community, we will continue to collaborate with groups within the Navajo Nation and other community stakeholders to begin the healing process and figure out the best ways to move forward," it says. The first lady of the Navajo Nation and the ACLU of New Mexico both issued statements supporting White Bull. (More New Mexico stories.) The number of lawsuits over fatal or near-fatal incidents allegedly linked to Panera's Charged Lemonade is now four. The family of a Pennsylvania teen filed a suit this week, shortly after the restaurant chain announced it was discontinuing the beverage , NBC News reports. Luke Adams, 18, says he drank one of the lemonades on March 9, not realizing its ultra-high caffeine content, before heading to the movies with his friends. In the theater, he started making a strange noiseand when a friend elbowed him to tell him to stop, he realized Adams was unresponsive and didn't appear to be breathing, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported earlier this month. Two nurses and a cardiologist happened to be at the same movie, and they performed CPR and used the theater's automated external defibrillator to shock his heart twice. He was rushed to the hospital, where he had two seizures, and spent two days intubated. After six days, he was released, with no signs of permanent damage to his heartbut a subcutaneous defibrillator was implanted, and it will shock his heart if it experiences a life-threatening rhythm again. "He was about as close as you can come to being dead," says a cardiologist who worked on him at the hospital. No underlying health conditions or heart abnormalities were found, but medical notes included in the lawsuit say that "heavy caffeine intake" was the only potential trigger for the cardiac arrest and that it also likely had something to do with the seizures. Three other lawsuits blame the drink for two deaths (those of a 21-year-old Pennsylvania student and a 46-year-old Florida man) and the serious, permanent cardiac injuries suffered by a 28-year-old Rhode Island woman. Adams' mother says she cried when she heard Panera is discontinuing the drink. "They were tears of joy, because no other parent will ever have to go through this because of a Panera lemonade again." (More Panera Bread stories.) Scarlett Johansson says she rejected an offer from OpenAI to use her voice in its new ChatGPT system. Then the actor heard the demo released last week. The voice of Sky, she told Variety on Monday, is "so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference." Johansson said her lawyers contacted OpenAI to get the voice taken down, and the company announced Monday it's hitting the brakes on its use of the star's soundalike while it considers the matter. ChatGPT-40 users who aren't stars also were creeped out by the similarity, per the Hollywood Reporter. Their uneasiness didn't come out of nowhere: Johansson's roles include an AI voice in the 2013 film Her. CEO Sam Altman seemed to acknowledge the connection, posting "her" on X, which Johansson noted in her statement. It was Altman, she said, who offered her the part in September. OpenAI said its voice, which answers questions, does belong to a professional actor, but not that one. "We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity's distinctive voice," the company posted on its blog. OpenAI wouldn't name the actor who won the part but said she used her natural voice. In the film, the character played by Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with that voice. In one demo, Sky came across as flirty, per Mashable, and included a compliment over a male voice's hoodie. That brought mockery by the Daily Show. The voices were chosen from more than 400 candidates, OpenAI said, adding that it worked with casting directors to narrow the field to 14. Those actors were brought to San Francisco for recording sessions last year, the company said. (More ChatGPT stories.) Turkey's president took a swipe at the Eurovision Song Contest on Monday, accusing the annual event of allegedly encouraging "gender neutralization" and threatening the traditional family, the AP reports. It was an apparent reference to Swiss singer Nemo who won the 68th Eurovision Song Contest earlier this month with "The Code," an operatic pop-rap ode to the singer's journey toward embracing a nongender identity. The 24-year-old singer became the first nonbinary winner of the contest that has long been embraced as a safe haven by the LGBTQ community. In a speech following a Cabinet meeting, Recep Tayyip Erdogan described participants at the contest as the "Trojan horses of social corruption" and said his government was right to keep Turkey out of the pan-European pop competition since 2012. "At such events, it has become impossible to meet a normal person," claimed Erdogan, whose ruling Justice and Development Party finds its roots in Turkey's Islamic movement and whose government has grown less tolerant of LGBTQ rights in recent years. "We understand better how we made the right decision by keeping Turkey out of this disgraceful competition for the past 12 years," he said. (A contestant was dramatically expelled from this year's competition hours before the finale.) The FDA has approved Neuralink's plan to put its brain implant in a second human patientwith adjustments for issues that arose with the first . Some 85% of the implant's electrode-containing threads became dislodged from Noland Arbaugh's motor cortex, severely limiting the data that could be gained from neurons and translated into action through a computer cursor, per the Wall Street Journal . Though the human brain pulsates, Neuralink found Arbaugh's brain moved up to three times what it had expected, per the Journal. Neuralink has since proposed fixes, viewing the issue as not severe enough to require an entire product redesign, Quartz reports. Its solution is to embed some of the threads deeper into the brain tissueup to eight millimeters instead of the three to five millimeters in Arbaugh's case, per the WSJ. Neuralink hopes to implant the device in a second quadriplegic participant next month. More than 1,000 people have joined the patient registry, though fewer than 100 meet the qualifications for the study, the Journal reports, noting Neuralink continues to accept new applications. It hopes to implant its device in 10 diverse candidates before the year is up. Applicants in Canada and Britain, where Neuralink soon hopes to launch trials, are also invited to sign up. (Arbaugh continues to have high hopes for his brain-computer interface.) Citizens of North Korea are snagging remote jobs with US companies and funneling earnings into their country's missile program, federal authorities said Thursday in announcing fraud charges against a US woman accused of facilitating such a scheme. Christina Chapman, 49, of Litchfield Park, Arizona, is among five people facing charges of wire fraud, identity theft, and money laundering. Chapman, a Ukrainian man, and three unidentified foreign nationals allegedly stole the identities of more than 60 US citizens and handed details to North Korean individuals who posed as remote IT workers as part of a scheme that generated nearly $7 million for the government department that oversees production of North Korea's weapons, Axios reports. The Ukrainian national, 27-year-old Oleksandr Didenko, allegedly created accounts on US-based job search platforms, then sold them to people he believed were North Korean workers. Between 2020 and 2023, workers "using the stolen, false, or borrowed identities of US nationals" infiltrated more than 300 US companies, including a "top five" TV network, a "premier" Silicon Valley tech company, an aerospace manufacturer, and an "iconic" car manufacturer, per ABC News and CNN. Authorities say some companies were purposefully targeted by the workers, who were linked to North Korea's Munitions Industry Department. Workers also "attempted to gain employment and access to information at two different US government agencies" but were "discovered and thwarted," prosecutors say. Workers allegedly accessed computers from a laptop farm Chapman operated so as to appear having a US-based IP address. Chapman, who allegedly charged a monthly fee for her services, also "helped launder the proceeds from the scheme by receiving, processing, and distributing paychecks from the US firms to these IT workers," according to the State Department. The scheme generated at least $6.8 million in revenue, Axios reports. Chapman, arrested Wednesday, faces nine counts, including conspiracy to defraud the US, per CNN. US authorities are seeking Didenko's extradition from Poland. They're also offering a reward of up to $5 million for information on the three other alleged co-conspirators and a fourth unindicted co-conspirator. (More North Korea stories.) Not everyone is happy with Gov. Ron DeSantis' latest legislation minimizing efforts to fight climate change in the state of Floridaincluding, apparently, Steve McLaughlin, a meteorologist for NBC Miami. McLaughlin posted a minute-long video online on Saturday talking about the new law set to take effect in July, in which most references to climate change have been nixed, and which no longer requires the Sunshine State to consider climate change when crafting policy. The Florida law also bars offshore wind turbines, streamlines the approval process for natural-gas pipelines, and strips out language allowing for state officials to set renewable energy goals. "'Don't Say Climate Change!'" McLaughlin wrote on X. "As Florida is on fire, under water and unaffordable, our state government is rolling back climate change legislation and language." McLaughlin slammed the law, which he says was put into place "in spite of the fact that the state of Florida, over the last couple of years, has seen record heat, record flooding, record rain, record insurance rates, and the corals are dying all around the state." The Hill notes that, in 2023, Florida saw its hottest year yet since the late 1800s, registering an annual average of 73.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Axios notes that on the day of McLaughlin's message, Miami's heat index logged a "feels like" temperature of 112 degrees; Sunday saw the same results. Florida's heat wave also recently hit "Level 5" status, the highest level, with Climate Central's Climate Shift Index, suggesting that "human-caused climate change made this excessive heat at least five times more likely," per the Washington Post. DeSantis' second term as governor runs through the end of 2026, and McLaughlin didn't go so far as to explicitly advise his viewers not to vote for the GOP in November. "We will never tell you who to vote for, but we will tell you this: We implore you to please do your research and know that there are candidates that believe in climate change and that there are solutions, and there are candidates that don't," he says in his video. McLaughlin also says he didn't get the all clear from NBC Miami before issuing his "scathing critique," per the Post, but he adds he was careful not to mention DeSantis or any political party specifically. "I think that's where I would have gotten in trouble," he wrote to Axios. "But my bosses have been so supportive." (More climate change stories.) Russia's war in Ukraine has had a ripple effect across Europe, including for vulnerable migrating birds that are reportedly flying far out of their usual route to avoid areas of fighting. Researchers have found evidence of greater spotted eagles altering routes across Ukraine to avoid key areas of violence and curtailing or even forgoing rest stops as they head to their breeding grounds. "It's kind of like if you were to run a marathon but you had no water breaks. And at the end, someone asks you to run an extra 7 or 8 miles," Charlie Russell of the University of East Anglia, co-author of the study published Monday in Current Biology , tells the Guardian , noting this likely had a negative effect on the breeding efforts of a large raptor already at high risk of extinction. Researchers used GPS data from 19 tagged eagles that flew over Ukraine to reach breeding grounds in southern Belarus during March 2022 and April 2022, only weeks after the war began. Females traveled from Greece, while males traveled from East Africa. In comparing the flight paths to 65 migrations logged by 20 birds from 2018 to 2021, researchers discovered the 2022 migrations were longer by both distance (plus 53 miles on average) and time (plus 55 hours on average). One eagle flew an extra 155 miles. Males flew at a lower speed in 2022, as if on guard. But what was perhaps most astonishing was that only 32% of the eagles made a pit stop in Ukraine in 2022, compared with 90% in prior years. Some key refueling spots in Ukraine were avoided completely. Researchers say the biggest deviations came in areas with heavy military activity. One eagle altered its path after coming within a kilometer of explosions on the outskirts of Kyiv. "These types of disturbances can have significant impacts on the behavior, and potentially fitness, of the eagles," Russell says, per Earth.com. The study notes the delayed arrival at breeding grounds and probable increased energy costs of getting there likely had a detrimental effect and may even "affect the survival chances of any young," per the Guardian. Experts say it's important to understand these and other stresses on vulnerable species. The research "indicates that there are potentially many human activities, beyond wars, that likely change or impact animal behavior," Russell notes, per a release. (More Russia-Ukraine war stories.) Israeli officials seized a camera and broadcasting equipment belonging to the AP in southern Israel on Tuesday, accusing the news organization of violating a new media law by providing images to Al Jazeera. The Qatari satellite channel is among thousands of clients that receive live video feeds from the AP and other news organizations. The AP denounced the move, saying it "decries in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government to shut down our long-standing live feed showing a view into Gaza and seize AP equipment," per Lauren Easton, VP of corporate communications. "The shutdown was not based on the content of the feed but rather an abusive use by the Israeli government of the country's new foreign broadcaster law." Officials from the Communications Ministry arrived at the AP location in the southern town of Sderot on Tuesday afternoon and seized the equipment. They handed the AP a piece of paper, signed by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, alleging it was violating the country's foreign broadcaster law. Shortly before the equipment was seized, it was broadcasting a general view of northern Gaza. The AP complies with Israel's military censorship rules, which prohibit broadcasts of details like troop movements that could endanger soldiers. The live shot has generally shown smoke rising over the territory. The seizure followed a verbal order Thursday to cease the live transmissionwhich the news organization refused to do. "In accordance with the government decision and the instruction of the communications minister, the Communications Ministry will continue to take whatever enforcement action is required to limit broadcasts that harm the security of the state," the ministry said in a statement. Israeli officials used the law to close down the offices of the Qatar-based broadcaster on May 5, as well as confiscate the channel's equipment, ban its broadcasts, and block its websites. Israel has long had a rocky relationship with Al Jazeera, accusing it of bias against the country. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called it a "terror channel" that spreads incitement. Al Jazeera is one of the few international news outlets that has remained in Gaza throughout the war, broadcasting scenes of airstrikes and overcrowded hospitals and accusing Israel of massacres. (More Israel-Hamas war stories.) A Christian group that has closed its beaches on Sunday mornings for generations is relenting temporarily, allowing beachgoers onto the sand while it fights a court case with New Jersey over whose rules are paramount, per the AP . The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a Methodist group that established a Christian seaside retreat at the Jersey Shore in 1869, says it will allow people onto the beach on Sunday mornings while the case plays out. The association has asked for an emergency ruling halting action by the Department of Environmental Protection to enforce beach access laws that New Jersey says Ocean Grove is violating. The agency threatened fines of $25,000 per day. "For 155 years, we have closed our beach on Sunday mornings to honor Goda core pillar of this community since the founding of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association," the group's statement says. "We are challenging this order to preserve our property rights and religious freedom." Ocean Grove is part of Neptune Township, just north of Asbury Park and about 60 miles south of New York City. The association owns all the land in the community that calls itself "God's Square Mile at the Jersey Shore," including the beaches, which it has kept closed until noon on Sundays while it held worship services. Some people defied the rules last year. They said association personnel called the police, but officers did not intervene once they arrived. In court papers, the association said that "all members of the public are welcome (onto the beach) 365 days a year. Anyone, regardless of race, creed, religion or orientation is welcome onto this private property 99.5% of the year." Public access is restricted for 45 hours out of the year between Memorial Day and Labor Day, a policy the association called "abundantly reasonable." There is no indication when the administrative law judge might issue a decision. The DEP and the state attorney general's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday. (More New Jersey stories.) UPDATE May 31, 2024 4:05 PM CDT Days after being attacked in a Quebec prison, a serial killer has died, Canadian authorities said Friday. Correctional Service Canada said Robert Pickton's family and victims have been notified, the Abbotsford News reports. "We are mindful that this offender's case has had a devastating impact on communities in British Columbia and across the country, including Indigenous peoples, victims and their families," officials said. "Our thoughts are with them." The corrections agency said the assault is being investigated. May 21, 2024 12:45 PM CDT Canadian serial killer Robert Picktonwho boasted of killing nearly 50 womenis hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after an assault at a Quebec prison, authorities said Tuesday. The Correctional Service Canada said the 74-year-old Pickton was assaulted Sunday at the maximum security Port-Cartier Institution, about 300 miles northeast of Quebec City. The suspected assailant is another inmate, 51-year-old Hugues Beaulieu, reports the AP and the CBC. Authorities have not speculated about a motive in the attack or released more details about it. Peters said New Zealand is working with Australia and France and there will be additional flights in the coming days. "Today's flight will carry around 50 passengers with the most pressing needs from Noumea to Auckland. Passengers for subsequent flights will be prioritised by consular staff." Mike Lightfoot, who's with 51 other New Zealanders at Hotel Chateau Royal, told Newshub earlier today that some people at the hotel had been told to get ready to leave. "They are making contact with those most in need to get them out first." "We are excited that something is happening." However, Lightfoot said the situation has become increasingly frustrating and questions why the NZDF hasn't been able to get into the country and do evacuations sooner. "We have Magenta Airport which is 15 minutes from the city. The French military have been landing at this airport daily. "French police have told me the road from Majenta to Noumea is clear. So Im asking why is the French government not letting New Zealand in? Why are they not allowing us to fly a plane up here? What is the reasoning?" New Caledonia descended into violence last week after Paris voted to change voting rules. The changes would allow more French residents to vote in local elections, a move indigenous Kanak say will weaken their influence. Six people, including two French police officers and four young Kanak, have been killed in the violence. In recent days, security forces have been trying to clear roadblocks set up by protestors that have restricted access to the international airport. The NZDF's C-130 will be landing at the domestic airport at Magenta. More than 200 people have so far been arrested and an additional 1000 French police and military have been flown in to bolster the 1700 personnel already in the territory. Fairbanks, AK (99701) Today Cloudy early with showers for the afternoon hours. High 42F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Rain showers early with overcast skies late. Low around 30F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com The Cabinet congratulated His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on the success of the 33rd Arab Summit, which was hosted by the Kingdom of Bahrain and held under the presidency of HM the King. The Deputy King, His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, yesterday chaired the weekly Cabinet meeting at Gudaibiya Palace. The Cabinet said that HM the Kings presidency had a significant role in the summits success, noting that the summits outcomes will further cement Arab unity. It stressed the importance of HM the Kings address at the 33rd Arab Summit, which emphasised the necessity of reaching a consensus on endorsing peace as a strategic, indispensable choice to maintain the progress of humanity towards a brighter future, as well as HM the Kings announcement of the Kingdom of Bahrains proposal of a suite of initiatives to contribute to serving core issues essential to the stability and development of the region. The Cabinet commended Team Bahrains joint efforts, including that of the government ministries and entities and private sector institutions, all of which contributed to the success of the summit. In this regard, the Cabinet directed the formation of a national committee concerned with coordinating and following up on the implementation of the initiatives submitted by Bahrain to the Arab Summit. On the occasion of the 43rd anniversary of the establishment of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the Cabinet expressed its congratulations to HM the King and GCC leaders, commending the Councils achievements and accomplishments across all sectors. Congratulations The Cabinet congratulated the newly appointed Prime Minister of the State of Kuwait, His Highness Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, for forming Kuwaits government. The Cabinet further wished him success in serving Kuwait and its people. The Cabinet extended its condolences to the Islamic Republic of Iran following the passing of its President, Ebrahim Raisi, and other officials in the tragic accident. The Cabinet then discussed several memorandums during the meeting, approving the following: 1. A memorandum submitted by the Government Executive Committee on developing mechanisms for companies that enhance food security in the Kingdom of Bahrain. 2. A memorandum submitted by the Minister of Social Development and the Minister of Housing and Urban Planning on the latest developments concerning those affected by the recent fire in a residential building in the Al Lawzi area. 3. A memorandum submitted by the Ministerial Committee for Legal and Legislative Affairs on the governments response to three proposals and two laws submitted by the Council of Representatives. TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com The Bahrain Labour Fund, Tamkeen, has unveiled a new programme to support Bahraini enterprises in franchising their businesses globally. The announcement was made at a recent event attended by key business stakeholders. The event featured a panel discussion that highlighted the importance of franchising for Bahraini companies. The new Business Franchising Programme is a joint effort between Tamkeen, Export Bahrain, and iFranchise Facilities Services LLC, a consultancy specialising in franchising. The initiative offers comprehensive support to empower Bahraini enterprises to venture into new markets, enhancing their global competitiveness and promoting domestic exports. Tamkeens Chief Executive, Her Excellency Maha Abdulhameed Mofeez, stated that the programme provides customised assistance through two avenues: one for enterprises new to franchising and another for existing chains seeking international expansion. Included within the programmes ambit are assessments of readiness, market evaluations, strategic alliances with Export Bahrain, support for business development, and a guiding hand in the initiation of franchising endeavours and the forging of partnerships. Franchising offers an ideal pathway for Bahraini products to reach global markets, said Safa Sharif A. Khaliq, CEO of Export Bahrain. Mark Seibert, CEO of iFranchise Facilities Services, commended Bahrains conducive business environment and the roles of Tamkeen and Export Bahrain in facilitating the global expansion of Bahraini enterprises. This collaboration is in line with Tamkeens 2024 strategic priorities, which are centred on economic impact and the development of the private sector. * The rhetoric of "Chinese overcapacity" contradicts factual evidence and fundamental economic principles. * At a time when the world is grappling with climate change and economic stagnation, the burgeoning new energy sector in the world's second-largest economy holds profound significance for global development. * Trade protectionism disrupts the stable operation of the global NEV industry chain and could impede the progress of sustainable development worldwide. BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- China's booming new energy vehicle (NEV) sector recently drew scrutiny for purported "Chinese overcapacity" from certain Western nations. To provide clarity on the industry's landscape to a global audience, three government officials and an industry expert joined the fifth episode of the China Economic Roundtable, an all-media talk platform hosted by Xinhua News Agency. They elucidated why such assertions lack merit, outlined the significance of Chinese NEVs in the global shift towards sustainability, and disclosed the political underpinnings of Western containment strategies and protectionist measures. THE OVERCAPACITY FALLACY The rhetoric of overcapacity contradicts factual evidence and fundamental economic principles upon a closer examination of the supply-demand relationship, global labor division, and future developmental trajectories, the panelists said. In 2023, China's NEV sales reached 9.49 million units, slightly lower than the production of 9.59 million units. Nonetheless, Huo Fupeng, a National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) official, clarified that this slight production surplus does not signify overcapacity. Instead, it fosters competition and technological advancements. Huo explained that as innovative firms upgrade technologies to capture larger market shares, outdated capacities will naturally phase out, leading to a dynamic equilibrium. Assessing the NEV sector's condition solely through a supply-demand lens fails to align with economic principles, he said. While certain Western nations have portrayed China's escalating NEV exports as evidence of overcapacity, the speakers refuted this narrative, asserting that export-based reasoning also cannot hold water. He Hailin, a Ministry of Industry and Information Technology official highlighted that a nation's production capacity surpassing domestic demand is a common phenomenon globally as it mirrors comparative advantages and results from labor division. "For instance, 80 percent of U.S.-manufactured chips are exported, 50 percent of Japanese cars are sold overseas, and nearly 80 percent of Germany's auto output is shipped to foreign markets," Ding Weishun, a Ministry of Commerce official, said. In contrast, China predominantly caters to its domestic market and China's NEV exports constitute a small portion of its total production. While approximately 9.59 million NEVs were manufactured in the country last year, only about 12 percent of them were exported. Looking ahead, amidst a global push for sustainability, there is a huge demand for China's new energy products. As a proactive response to the global green and low-carbon transition, China's thriving sectors like NEVs, wind power, and photovoltaics have gained more prominence, Huo said. GLOBAL BENEFITS The speakers said that at a time when the world is grappling with climate change and economic stagnation, the burgeoning new energy sector in the world's second-largest economy holds profound significance for global development. Last year, Chinese-made NEVs were exported to over 180 countries and regions, including France, Thailand, and Indonesia, showing their appeal among global consumers. Ding said Chinese-made NEVs are a cost-effective option for prospective car owners. These vehicles have extended the convenience of personal transportation to more people and met the surging global demand for eco-friendly transportation solutions. Globally, the pursuit of green growth necessitates access to high-quality, affordable, and sustainable products and technologies, Huo said, pointing out that China has made its share of contribution through the development of new energy vehicles. Huo noted that China's NEV industry has grown rapidly over the past years, coinciding with the country's announcement of its dual carbon goals and a global acceleration towards a green economy. During the process, China has also played an exemplary role in enhancing global climate governance, as it has facilitated global climate governance and provided practical experience for other countries, according to Qu Fengjie, a researcher with the Academy of Macroeconomic Research under the NDRC. The speakers said the rise of China's NEVs could catalyze an upgrade in the global auto industry, fostering an ecosystem that embraces both collaboration and competition. Huo observed that leading automakers in the world have opted to establish manufacturing plants and research facilities in China. This strategic move is advantageous for their NEV technology innovation and the shift towards NEV production. Through competition and cooperation with overseas peers, Chinese automakers have cultivated a robust competitive environment, Qu said, citing the case of Tesla as an example of healthy rivalry among domestic and foreign car manufacturers. With the swift expansion of the new energy industry, a surge in job creation is anticipated, and related sectors are expected to experience faster growth. As a strategic emerging industry, the sector is poised to become a new engine for global economic expansion, Qu said. REAL DANGER: TRADE PROTECTIONISM In recent years, globalization and trade multilateralism have faced some headwinds due to slowing economies and domestic politics in some countries, thereby giving rise to trade protectionism. The specter of trade protectionism has cast a shadow over the global economy, with critics arguing that such policies contradict the principles of open markets and international cooperation. Huo was forthright in his criticism, stating that trade protectionism fails to resolve internal industrial issues and disrupts the stable operation of the global NEV industry chain. The fallout from protectionist policies extends beyond economic disruption. Huo warned that such measures are not conducive to global low-carbon transformation. With China contributing significantly to the global renewable energy capacity, protectionism could impede the progress of sustainable development worldwide. Ding also voiced concerns, arguing that it impacts the green transformation and undermines the global collective efforts to address climate change. "It is like waving the banner of green development on one hand while brandishing the club of protectionism on the other," Ding said. "This is a classic case of contradiction, which can be described as 'double-standardism.' Ultimately, it will also harm the realization of global green, low-carbon development and climate goals." Qu added a critical perspective on the political motivations behind U.S. protectionism, suggesting that it is used as a tool to criticize China's economic system and development model, creating ideological opposition and weakening China's influence and reputation in the international community. (Video reporters: Du Rui, Guan Guifeng, Li Linxin, Xiao Zhengqiang, Li Chang, Yang Zhigang, Hao Xiaojiang, Liu Yang, Dong Shuo and Ruan Shuai; Video editors: Zhang Li, Li Qin and Wei Yin) An Atlantic County man pleaded guilty on Monday to kidnapping and weapons charges after he broke into an apartment and forced the resident to drive him to an ATM and withdraw cash, authorities said. Glenn Graves, 33, of Atlantic City pleaded guilty to first-degree kidnapping, second-degree possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose and fourth-degree resisting arrest by flight, the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office announced Tuesday. Graves attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Graves was accused of forcing his way into an Atlantic City apartment with a handgun on Dec. 27, 2022, ransacking the place and forcing the resident to drive him to a local bank at gunpoint to withdraw cash. While seated in the back of the car, Graves forced the victim to withdraw $600 from the drive-thru ATM before fleeing the car, authorities said. Police found a gun with a defaced serial number and a pair of latex gloves that Graves allegedly used during the kidnapping, according to officials. Graves was later identified as a suspect using surveillance footage, witness statements and a positive DNA match recovered from the latex gloves, officials said. Graves also pleaded guilty to second-degree charges of aggravated assault, possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose and eluding police stemming from incidents in August and December 2022. Graves admitted to firing a handgun at an occupied vehicle driving through Brigantine Homes, a housing complex off Brigantine Boulevard in Atlantic City, on Aug. 5, 2022. He also pleaded guilty to eluding police in a stolen car during a traffic stop in Egg Harbor City on Dec. 4, 2022, officials said. His sentencing is scheduled for July and Graves is expected to receive 18 years in state prison under the terms of the plea deal, authorities said. Graves was denied release pending his sentencing hearing and is being held at the Atlantic County jail. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Matthew Enuco may be reached at Menuco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow Matt on X Convicted killer Sean M. Lannon would spend the rest of his life in prison under a proposed plea deal to resolve the remainder of his five murder cases, according to court documents. Lannon, 50, was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2022 after pleading guilty to beating his childhood mentor to death in New Jersey. He was sent to New Mexico last year to face four murder charges in that state, including the shooting death of his estranged wife, Jennifer. He pleaded guilty in one of the New Mexico cases last week and is awaiting a plea hearing the three remaining murder charges. Under the pending plea deals, Lannon would spend the remainder of his life in prison. Lannon and his wife moved from New Jersey to New Mexico with their three children and lived in the small town of Grants. It was in a home they rented there that Lannon allegedly shot Jennifer, 39, to death in 2021. Hes then accused of luring two acquaintances, Jesten Mata, 40, and Matthew Miller, 21, to the home on separate days and killing them, authorities said. Lannon stowed all three bodies in plastic storage totes, which he later moved 80 miles east to Albuquerque, according to prosecutors. In Albuquerque, Lannon met Randall Apostalon, 60, who agreed to move the totes to a storage facility using his pickup truck, according to court documents. The pair feuded when they couldnt find a storage spot and Lannon beat the man to death in late February 2021, prosecutors said. Lannon pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge in Apostalons death last week and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In New Mexico, Sean Lannon is accused of killing his estranged wife, Jennifer, as well as Jesten Mata (top, right), Matthew Miller (bottom, left) and Randall Apostalon. In March 2021, police discovered Apostalons truck parked at the Albuquerque International Sunport airport. Apostalons body was in the passengers seat covered with a tarp and the remains of the Grants victims were in the back, still in the totes. Mata and Miller had been dismembered. Meanwhile, Lannon had flown from the airport to Philadelphia a day earlier with his children. After leaving the kids with family in South Jersey, he later made his way to the East Greenwich home of 66-year-old Michael Dabkowski. Dabkowski mentored Lannon and his brother through the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program in the 1980s and Lannon claimed the man molested him as a child. He told investigators he had gone to Dabkowskis home to recover photographs of the abuse, but no evidence of the photos was ever presented in court. Lannon admitted beating Dabkowski to death, before stealing his vehicle. He was arrested March 10, 2021, in St. Louis. He allegedly confessed to all five killings, offering various unsubstantiated justifications for his actions. Documents filed in New Mexicos court system as part of his plea in the killing of Apostalon reveal the planned next steps in resolving the remaining three murder charges in Grants. Lannon has agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder in the killings of his estranged wife, Mata and Miller, according to the court filing. Sentences of 15 years for each killing would run consecutively to each other and to the sentence in the Apostalon case, meaning he would be sentenced to a total of 60 years in prison in New Mexico. A court date to enter pleas in the Grants cases had not been scheduled as of Tuesday morning, so its possible the deal could fall through. If it all happens as planned, though, Lannon would first be returned to New Jersey to serve out the remainder of his 35-year sentence before serving his 60 years in New Mexico, according to the plea filing. In the meantime, Lannon remains in a jail in Albuquerque while he awaits his next plea hearing. The home on Kingman Avenue that Sean Lannon was renting in Grants, New Mexico. Police say it's where he killed three people, including his ex-wife, Jennifer.Adria Malcolm | For NJ Advance Media Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Coming soon to a New Jersey pharmacy near you: hormone-based contraceptives without a prescription, Gov. Phil Murphys administration announced Monday. Pharmacists and pharmacies in the state that wish to dispense birth control over the counter must first complete a four-hour course on patient screening, selection of self-administered hormonal contraceptives, and patient counseling regarding self-administered hormonal contraceptives, according to the new rules approved by the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners, the state Board of Pharmacy and an order issued by Department of Health on Monday. Interested consumers should contact their pharmacy to find out when hormone-based birth control will be available. A New Jersey businessman rescued the home of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendezs wife from foreclosure just as the Democrat allegedly helped him secure a lucrative business relationship with Egypt, a lawyer testifying at his bribery trial said Monday. Attorney John Moldovan told a Manhattan federal court jury that he was working for the businessman, Wael Hana, in July 2019 when he was asked to pay over $20,000 toward the Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, homes mortgage. Moldovan said Hana provided the money that he delivered to a bank to negate the need for a mortgage foreclosure lawsuit. Menendez, 70, a New Jersey Democrat who has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, moved into the home after the couple married a year later. Hana and Menendezs wife, Nadine, have pleaded not guilty in the case as well, although Nadine Menendezs trial has been postponed until July after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and surgery was required. In 2022, an FBI raid turned up 13 gold bars and over $480,000 in cash in the home, and a federal agent who led the raid testified extensively about it last week, saying tens of thousands of dollars were found stuffed in four jackets where the senator kept his coats. Other cash was found in bags and in a closet safe. Prosecutors say the gold bars, cash and a luxury car found in the couples garage were bribery proceeds. Lawyers for Menendez have said that the gold bars belonged to his wife and that the senator hoarded cash at home as a reaction to trauma from his family losing everything, except cash, before they fled Cuba and before he was born. Moldovan testified that Hana asked him to establish a legal record that the money to pay off outstanding debt on the mortgage was a loan rather than a gift. In all, Nadine Menendez owed nearly $271,000 on a $320,750 mortgage, Moldovan said. Prosecutors say the mortgage payment was made just as Hana was securing a monopoly with Egypt to ensure that any meat exported there from the U.S. was certified by Hanas company to prove it was processed in a manner that conformed with Islamic dietary requirements. Prosecutors say while he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Menendez took favorable actions toward Egypt to aid Hana, who had been friends with Nadine Menendez for many years. He had to relinquish the position after his fall arrest. Among the charges lodged against the senator is that he was acting as a foreign agent of Egypt. The trial, which began last week, is supposed to last at least another month. Justice Sam Alito spent the weekend trying to explain why a symbol of the lie-fueled effort to overturn the 2020 election an upside-down American flag -- was flying outside his home after the Jan. 6 insurrection. We still await a plausible explanation. It is surreal that even a Donald Trump devotee on the Supreme Court would so vividly align himself with seditionists Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, QAnons, and other stop-the-steal lunatics -- who crashed through the Capitol, defecated on desks, attacked policemen with flagpoles and truncheons, and led a violent rampage that ultimately resulted in nine deaths. Joe Bidens campaign and some Republicans are sounding the alarm over a video Donald Trump shared on social media that references a unified Reich echoing Nazi Germany. This post by Trump is still up, btw Biden-Harris HQ posted to X, with a screenshot of the video that highlights unified Reich in text of the ad. It was posted and shared on the former presidents Truth Social account while he was on a lunch break from his Manhattan hush money trial on Monday. The headline appears among messages flashing across the screen such as Trump wins!! and Economy booms! Other headlines appear to be references to World War I. The word Reich is often largely associated with Nazi Germanys Third Reich. Please pardon my language, but there is not other thing to say than ARE YOU F---ING KIDDING ME? This man is a stain, a Nazi, a pure a simple garbage of a human being . And ANYONE who supports him now will be ASHAMED to ever admit they did someday. Flush Trump down the toilet. Former GOP Congressman and Trump critic Adam Kinzinger posted to X. Please pardon my language, but there is not other thing to say than ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? This man is a stain, a Nazi, a pure a simple garbage of a human being . And ANYONE who supports him now will be ASHAMED to ever admit they did someday. Flush Trump down the toilet https://t.co/KLnMbBDWIn Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) (@AdamKinzinger) May 21, 2024 And Kinzinger wasnt alone. Trumps continued use of Nazi rhetoric is un-American and despicable. Yet too many Americans are brushing off the glaring red flags about what could happen if he returns to the White House, former GOP White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews said. When someone shows you who they are, believe them. Trump previously used rhetoric echoing Adolf Hitler when he said immigrants entering the U.S. illegally are poisoning the blood of our country, and called his opponents vermin. This was not a campaign video, it was created by a random account online and reposted by a staffer who clearly did not see the word, while the President was in court, Karoline Leavitt, the campaign press secretary, said in a statement. Though CNN correspondent Alayna Treene pushed back at the statement on the air Tuesday. Now, despite that, I will say the video still up! And this was brought to their attention yesterday. I asked the Trump campaign, you know, if this is what youre saying, why have you not removed this video from Donald Trumps account? We did not get an answer to that, she said. And obviously, we know that Donald Trump has shared some kind of anti-Semitic rhetoric and, and images on social media before. And Trumps rival isnt buying it either. Trumps press secretary claims Trumps ad calling for a UNIFIED REICH was posted by a random unknown staffer. Here is Trump saying that only he and his top right-hand man, Dan Scavino, have access to post on his social media accounts. The campaign posted to X. Trumps press secretary claims Trumps ad calling for a UNIFIED REICH was posted by a random unknown staffer. Here is Trump saying that only he and his top right-hand man, Dan Scavino, have access to post on his social media accounts pic.twitter.com/AtU6UnzFBm Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) May 21, 2024 Trump has also drawn wide backlash for having dined with a Holocaust-denying white nationalist in 2022 and for downplaying the 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white nationalists chanted Jews will not replace us! The Associated Press contributed to this report. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco. Billionaire megadonor Timothy Mellon is all in on Donald Trump. And also Robert F. Kennedy Jr.? As the lingering question of whether Kennedys run will peel off more voters from Joe Biden or Trump in November hangs in the balance, Mellons move could suggest he thinks Kennedy is a boon for the former president. Trump, for his part, has hammered Kennedy on the campaign and has called him an unhinged ... Democrat plant. Mellon gave $25 million to the super PAC backing Kennedy. Mellon is the scion of a banking and industrial family worth more than $14 billion, according to Forbes. Thats right- Trumps largest donor is almost single-handedly propping up RFK Jrs candidacy, Democratic strategist Lis Smith posted to X. Donald Trumps largest donor has now given $25 MILLION to the Super PAC backing @RobertKennedyJr. Thats right- Trumps largest donor is almost single-handedly propping up RFK Jrs candidacy. https://t.co/zJCKWMgoPg Lis Smith (@Lis_Smith) May 20, 2024 Mellon has given the pro-Trump super PAC known as MAGA Inc at least $16.5 million since 2022. And during the 2020 race, he gave at least $20 million to another pro-Trump super PAC, America First Action Inc. Six months out from an Election Day in which many Americans have voiced their dissatisfaction at a rematch between Trump and Biden, Kennedy has been offering himself as an alternative. Some of the issues Kennedy focuses on stalwart support for Israel and criticism over COVID-19 lockdowns could appeal more to conservative voters than Democrats. Polls at this point show far more Republicans than Democrats have a favorable opinion of Kennedy, although many Americans dont know who he is. A February Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that about half of Republicans, 53%, had a favorable view of him, compared with 30% of Democrats. About one-quarter in each case said they didnt know enough about Kennedy to say. Kennedys campaign argues that he threatens both Trump and Biden, who boasts support from several members of Kennedys own family and called the endorsements an incredible honor. The president has largely ignored Kennedy, who previously challenged him for the Democratic nomination before launching an independent bid. Kennedy has gone after Trump as well, challenging him to a debate when both men speak on separate days at the Libertarian Party convention later this month. Kennedy claims Trumps backers are wavering in their support. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco. A New Jersey man has been convicted of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl he met on social media nearly three years ago. Lenic Galvan faces up to 10 years in state prison at his sentencing scheduled for July 10, the Somerset County Prosecutors Office said. After meeting the girl online in July 2021, Galvan arranged for her to be driven to his home on Linden Avenue in Bound Brook, where the assault took place. Galvan, now a 22-year-old Piscataway resident, was arrested and charged the following day. The girl was found in Plainfield the night of the assault. A jury convicted Galvan last week of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child. He was not convicted on a charge of aggravated sexual assault. Gavan will have to serve 85% of his prison term before he is eligible for parole and will be required to be registered as a sex offender for life. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Former Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez might be batting cleanup again cleaning up Jennifer Lopezs messy marriage with Ben Affleck. You might recall that Lopez dumped A-Rod when she went running back to Affleck, a former boyfriend, and married him. Now, theres trouble in Hollywood and, with J-Los history of running back to old boyfriends, will Rodriguez get a call? SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE YANKEES NEWSLETTER: RESTORING THE GLORY Affleck and Lopez are living separately while both are in Los Angeles, sources have told People magazine. The couple were seen together in public this month for the first time since March 30, but a source close to Lopez, 54, told People that Affleck has not been staying at the couples Los Angeles home. He is living at one of their other properties while filming his movie The Accountant 2. Lopez has been in New York in recent months to film her movie Kiss of the Spider Woman, promote the Netflix film Atlas and serve as a co-chair for the 2024 Met Gala, which she took part in without Affleck by her side, People reported. He recently attended the May 5 live Roast of Tom Brady solo. In March 2021, the New York Post reported Rodriguez and Lopez had ended their engagement, which dated back to 2019. Soon after, Rodriguez and Lopez announced their relationship was over in a statement to the Today show. We have realized we are better as friends and look forward to remaining so. We will continue to work together and support each other on our shared businesses and projects. We wish the best for each other and one anothers children. Out of respect for them, the only other comment we have to say is thank you to everyone who has sent kind words and support. But it became obvious A-Rod had been dumped: Two weeks after the announcement, Lopez was spotted in Los Angeles with Affleck, with whom she was engaged from 2002 to 2004. At the time, the New York Posts Page Six reported the reunion was just friendly, but the pair eventually married in 2022. The trouble appears to be Lopezs craving for attention and Afflecks desire to lay low. Getting back together, I said, Listen, one of the things I dont want is a relationship on social media, Affleck said in a documentary. Then I sort of realized its not a fair thing to ask. Its sort of like, youre going to marry a boat captain and you go, Well, I dont like the water. Rodriguez, meanwhile, has been dating Canadian fitness instructor Jaclyn Cordeiro since October 2022. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription. Six-day (Tuesday through Sunday) print subscribers of the Watertown Daily Times are eligible for full access to NNY360, the NNY360 mobile app, and the Watertown Daily Times e-edition, all at no additional cost. If you have an existing six-day print subscription to the Watertown Daily Times, please make sure your email address on file matches your NNY360 account email. You can sign up or manage your print subscription using the options below. In a bid to enhance road safety awareness among children and encourage active travel, Active Devon has unveiled plans to roll out a comprehensive Child Pedestrian Training (CPT) programme across Devon. The initiative, named 'Walkability', aims to equip primary school children with essential road safety knowledge and practical skills over the course of two years. Designed in collaboration with educators throughout Devon, the programme targets a critical juncture in children's development: the transition to independent travel. With pedestrian safety at the forefront, 'Walkability' will be made available to all primary schools within the Devon County Council area. The core objective of the CPT course is to instil in children the necessary awareness and capabilities to navigate their surroundings safely. By blending classroom instruction with real-world experiences, the programme seeks to empower children to confidently and securely traverse their neighbourhoods. Covering a spectrum of vital road safety topics, the 'Walkability' curriculum encompasses both theoretical and practical sessions. Children will delve into understanding road signs, mastering the Green Cross Code, navigating road crossings, identifying safe routes, and maintaining vigilance at all times. Louise Marshall, a representative from Active Devon, said: Walk to School Week is the perfect time to announce our two year Walkability programme. Walking to school is an important part of the Governments active travel agenda and will help more children to become more active, resulting in health and environmental benefits for them, their families and the community. Many of us remember learning about the Green Cross Code when we were at school and this programme will deliver practical advice, through different scenarios and training, to enable children to feel confident when in and around traffic, and where possible, on that walk to and from the school gates. Upon school registration, parents will receive detailed information about the 'Walkability' training, including dates and curriculum specifics. Following the completion of the two-hour sessions, initially targeting years 5 and 6, each child will receive a booklet summarising the key learnings, facilitating ongoing reinforcement at home. While selected training days will commence during the summer, the full programme rollout is scheduled for September. Schools interested in participating are encouraged to complete a registration form available on the Active Devon website. Louise adds: We hope that this is just the tip of the iceberg and we are able to widen the age group as we progress through the programme, enabling even more children to safe and confident around Devons roads. Northwest Indiana's Scandiana Lodge, Sons of Norway will meet Saturday at the library in downtown Chesterton to discuss Norway's national holiday. The group will meet at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, May 25 in the Bertha Wood room of the Westchester Public Library - Thomas Branch, 200 W. Indiana Ave., Chesterton. There will be a potluck lunch at 1 p.m. followed by a program at 2 p.m. "Visitors need only bring themselves," Publicity Director Jim Nelson said. "Lodge member Sidsel Lindborg will tell us about celebrations of Syttende mai (May 17), Norway's national holiday, in her childhood and young adult years growing up in Norway. Norwegian cities and communities of all sizes celebrate the holiday with parades, music and traditional folk costumes. All places of business except gas stations are closed on Syttende mai. The focal point of the day is the parade, and Norwegian holiday parades are very different from American parades." The group seeks to celebrate and preserve the Scandinavian heritage of its members. "Our lodge members come from Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties. We welcome interested visitors," he said. "If you'd like to learn more about the Scandinavian countries and the role they played in the settlement of the Calumet Region, please join us." When she arrived at the airy yellow childrens ward at the provincial hospital in Kratie, she immediately asked the childs father if the family had had contact with any sick or dead poultry. He admitted that their rooster had been found dead a few days before and that the family had eaten it. Dr. Luch told her colleagues her theory. Their responses ranged from dubious to incredulous: A human case of avian influenza had never been reported in their part of eastern Cambodia. They warned her that if she set off the bird flu warning system, many senior government officials might get involved. She risked looking foolish, or worse. Anxious but increasingly certain, Dr. Luch phoned the local public health department, located just across the street. Within minutes, a team arrived to collect a sample from the child, Virun Roeurn, for testing in a lab. By then, Viruns distraught parents had lost faith in the hospital. They demanded that he be sent by ambulance to the capital, Phnom Penh. His flu swab sample traveled with him. Last September, the New York Police Department signed a sweeping agreement in federal court that was meant to end overwhelming responses to protests that often led to violent clashes, large-scale arrests and expensive civil rights lawsuits. The sight of hundreds of officers in tactical gear moving in on pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, on Saturday suggested to civil libertarians that the department might not abide by the agreement when it is fully implemented. At least two officers wearing the white shirts of commanders were filmed punching three protesters who were prone in the middle of a crosswalk. And film clips of recent campus protests showed some officers pushing and dragging students, a handful of whom later said they had been injured by the police, though many officers appeared to show restraint during the arrests. I think members of the public are very concerned that the police will be unwilling or unable to meet their end of the bargain, said Jennvine Wong, a staff attorney with Legal Aid, which, along with the New York Civil Liberties Union, filed a lawsuit against the city over the departments response to protests in 2020 after the killing of George Floyd. If Id pictured Donald Trumps first criminal trial a few years ago, Id have imagined the biggest, splashiest story in the world. Instead, as we lurch toward a verdict that could brand the presumptive Republican nominee a felon and possibly even send him to prison, a strange sense of anticlimax hangs over the whole affair. In a recent Yahoo News/YouGov poll, only 16 percent of respondents said they were following the trial very closely, with an additional 32 percent following it somewhat closely. Those numbers rank as some of the lowest for any recent news event, wrote Yahoo Newss Andrew Romano. When people were asked how the trial made them feel, the most common response was bored. TV ratings tell a similar story. Network coverage of Donald Trumps hush money trial has failed to produce blockbuster viewership, Deadline reported at the end of April. Cable news networks, Deadline said, saw a decline in ratings among those 25 to 54 since the same time last year. At the courthouse last week, I met news junkies whod lined up at 3 a.m. to get a seat at the trial and maybe score selfies with their favorite MSNBC personalities, but it felt more like wandering into a subcultural fandom than the red-hot center of the zeitgeist. A block or so away, you wouldnt know anything out of the ordinary was happening. Perhaps the trial would have captured more of the publics attention had it been televised, but lack of visuals alone doesnt explain Americas collective shrug. The special counsel Robert Muellers report didnt have images, either, but when it was published, famous actors like Robert De Niro, Rosie Perez and Laurence Fishburne starred in a video breaking it down. Im aware of no similar effort to dramatize this trials testimony, and I almost never hear ordinary people talking about it. Saturday Night Live tried, last weekend, to satirize the scene at the courthouse with a cold open mocking Trumps hallway press appearances, but it ended with an acknowledgment of public exhaustion: Just remember, if youre tired of hearing about all of my trials, all youve got to do is vote for me, and it will all go away. It wasnt a particularly funny line, but it gets at something true that helps explain why this historic trial doesnt seem like that big a deal. When Trump was president, his opponents lionized lawyers and prosecutors often in ways that feel retrospectively mortifying because liberals had faith that the law could restrain him. That faith, however, has become increasingly impossible to sustain. Eight times a day during his felony trial, a former president of the United States must stand and honor 12 jurors and six alternates as they walk past, eyes straight ahead or down, casting no glances at him. Its inspiring to watch these ordinary citizens as sovereign soldiers for justice. On Monday this calm processional was disrupted, as jurors were forced to hurry out after a witness for the defense mocked the authority of the court. Moments later, Justice Juan Merchan ordered the courtroom immediately cleared, and reporters fled in a frenzy. The reason for all of this was the testimony of Robert Costello, an astonishingly arrogant former federal prosecutor who has defended the likes of George Steinbrenner and Leona Helmsley, borrowing a little of his nasty affect from each. Michael Cohen testified earlier that Costello and Rudy Giuliani were assigned by Donald Trump to open a back channel to Cohen to keep him in the Trump fold. On a drizzly Saturday afternoon, hundreds of mahjong enthusiasts gathered in Downtown Brooklyn to play the 19th-century Chinese game of strategy and luck. As attendees entered the Korean food hall Hana House, they spread out over some two dozen tables. Upbeat electronic music from a live D.J. played throughout the space. The afternoon marked the second birthday of Green Tile Social Club, a New York-based mahjong community that was hosting its first tournament. Four Asian American alumni from the University of Texas at Austin Ernest Chan, Grace Liu, Joanne Xu and Sarah Teng started playing together about two years ago, and it grew into the club. For Stab of Guilt, the first, sprawling survey show of Rene Trevinos 24-year practice at the Wellin Museum of Art in Clinton, N.Y., among his other work, the artist has installed 119 paintings, each 18 inches by 18 inches. These are disparate images, some historical, some contemporary, all variations on the circle: heraldry, Aztec symbols, currency, images of the sun and of star patterns, a manhole cover, a disco ball. This collection hints at how fluidly this Dallas-born, Baltimore-based, Mexican queer artist regards the aesthetic world: He isnt concerned with rigid hierarchies of being. What he is concerned about is connecting the disparate and layered parts of himself that exist beyond the traditional markers of identity. Trevino who has been exhibited at the Arlington Arts Center in Virginia, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Wadsworth Atheneum in Connecticut and White Box in New York City is unique in that he doesnt treat identity as a series of boxes to check, or a set of ramparts to guard, but instead, as a range of paths to explore. Lawyers for the actress Riley Keough, the granddaughter of Elvis Presley, have sued to stop what they say is a fraudulent scheme to sell Graceland, the familys cherished former home in Memphis. Court papers that Ms. Keoughs lawyers filed this month claim that a company planning to auction off Graceland is fraudulently claiming that her mother Elviss daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, who died in 2023 had borrowed money and put Graceland up as collateral. The papers say that the company, Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC, appears to be a false entity and that the documents it presented about the loan were also fake. There is no foreclosure sale, Elvis Presley Enterprises, which operates Graceland, said in a statement, in which it also said that the lawsuit had been filed to stop the fraud. Graceland, a popular tourist attraction, is a major source of income for Elvis Presley Enterprises and the family trust. OpenAIs Scarlett Johansson problem When OpenAI unveiled the latest version of ChatGPT last week, a chatbot that can listen to spoken questions and respond verbally, many users had one question: Is that Scarlett Johansson? The actress, who provided the voice for an A.I. assistant in the movie Her, has now made clear that she did not do the same for OpenAI and she demanded that the company stop using the sound-alike. Its another sign of eroding trust in OpenAI, which has taken fire from creative industries and former employees. I was shocked, angered and in disbelief, Johansson said in a statement on Monday, days after OpenAIs product announcement kicked off debate about one of ChatGPTs new virtual assistant voices, which is called Sky. The company wouldnt confirm who provided the vocals, though Sam Altman tacitly encouraged the comparison, plugging the announcement with a single word her on social media and writing that the new ChatGPT feels like A.I. from the movies. (OpenAIs chief technology officer, Mira Murati, said that was a coincidence.) In her statement, Johansson shed more light on the matter: Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system. He told me that he felt that by my voicing the system, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers to feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and A.I. He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people. Altman tried again two days before the ChatGPT product announcement, she added, but released the service before they could connect. Johansson no stranger to waging war against big companies suggested that she was ready to take legal action. The Numbers: Macys lags while Bloomingdales and Bluemercury grow. Macys said its comparable-store sales in the United States fell 1.2 percent from the same quarter a year earlier. The retailer has not reported a sales increase since the first quarter of 2022. It reported a first-quarter profit of $62 million, less than half of what it made in the same quarter last year. Sales at the namesake Macys brand were the weakest of all of the companys brands, falling 1.6 percent. Sales at Bloomingdales rose 0.8 percent, and Bluemercurys sales rose 4.3 percent. Macys slightly raised the low end of its sales forecast for the year and bumped up its profit forecast. What Theyre Saying: Shoppers are feeling squeezed. Tony Spring, Macys chief executive, and Adrian Mitchell, the chief financial officer, said several times on a call with analysts that they expected consumers to remain under pressure for the rest of the year. Inflationary pressures persist, and theyre feeling that pinch, Mr. Spring said. David Swartz, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar, saw worrying signs in the details of the earnings, namely that credit card revenues were lower in the first quarter compared with last year, which the company attributed to higher delinquency rates. It suggests their customers are buying things with Macys credit cards that they cant actually afford because theyre not paying their credit card bills on time or maybe not even at all, Mr. Swartz said. That doesnt give you a lot of confidence that their customers are in very good financial shape at the moment. Early in his term, President Biden seemed to have struck an uneasy truce with the oil and gas industry. Mr. Biden had imposed restrictions on drilling as part of his ambitious climate agenda, but he also approved an enormous $8 billion oil project in Alaska. The United States had become the worlds leading exporter of natural gas, and no other country in history was pumping more crude. The industry was enjoying record profits. Then, in January, Mr. Biden paused new permits for export facilities for liquefied natural gas. That decision galvanized oil and gas companies against Mr. Biden, according to industry lobbyists, and will be an undercurrent at a fund-raising lunch set for Wednesday in Houston. The luncheon, organized by three oil executives, will benefit former President Donald J. Trump, who is running to unseat Mr. Biden and is expected to attend, according to several people who have seen the invitation. To the industry, Mr. Bidens pause on new gas export permits was a wake-up call, said Thomas J. Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, which supports the fossil fuel industry. He could be potentially icing billions of dollars in long-term L.N.G. contracts. Thats real. Thats tangible. For the past two years, commencement speakers at the City University of New York School of Law have made support for Palestinians and opposition to Israel a focus of their speeches. The backlash was intense. So this year, well before other campuses across the United States faced upheaval over pro-Palestinian student demonstrations, the CUNY law school administration took a new tack. In September, before the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, the school announced that there would be no student speaker at all at this years commencement ceremony. The choice is now drawing its own backlash and has brought more controversy to the event. This spring, several students at the school sued university officials, saying that the school was suppressing speech and infringing on their First Amendment rights by not allowing a student-elected speaker to give an address. Two guests who had been scheduled to speak Deborah N. Archer, a civil rights lawyer and president of the American Civil Liberties Union, and Muhammad U. Faridi, a litigator recently withdrew from the event. The ceremony will now have no outside speakers and no keynote address, the law school said. The school also announced in April that it would host its May 23 ceremony off-campus, at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, in a departure from the ceremonies of the past two years, which have been held at CUNY facilities. The Apollo requires guests to have tickets and has a smaller capacity than the schools previous venues, the law school said. Senator Robert Menendezs soon-to-be wife dropped a lot of names during a 2019 meeting she held with a lawyer who later paid off the delinquent mortgage on her Englewood Cliffs, N.J., home, saving it from foreclosure. But Mr. Menendezs name was not one of them, the lawyer, John Moldovan, testified on Tuesday in the second week of the senators federal bribery trial in Manhattan. Mr. Moldovan said he was later instructed by his boss, Wael Hana, the owner of a New Jersey-based halal meat certification company, to pay $23,568.54 to a lender that held the mortgage on the home owned by Nadine Menendez, who married the senator in 2020. Mr. Hana never brought up the senators name either, Mr. Moldovan testified. Never mentioned his name once to me, Mr. Moldovan said during cross-examination by Mr. Menendezs lawyer, Avi Weitzman. Pinned Donald J. Trump, who is accused of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal that threatened to derail his 2016 campaign, faces 34 felony counts. On Tuesday morning, five weeks after the first jurors were seated for the criminal trial of Donald J. Trump, the defense rested, with closing arguments and then jury deliberations scheduled for after Memorial Day weekend. And, despite dangling the possibility, Mr. Trump did not testify. Testimony started April 22 with a tabloid publisher called by the prosecution, David Pecker, and ended with a lawyer called by the defense, Robert Costello. In between were a porn star, Stormy Daniels; Mr. Trumps former lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen; an erstwhile aide of Mr. Trump, Hope Hicks; and a bevy of lesser-known witnesses, mostly for the prosecution. The former president is charged with falsifying 34 business records to hide Mr. Cohens reimbursement for a $130,000 hush-money payment he made to Ms. Daniels, who says she had sex with Mr. Trump in 2006. Mr. Trump, 77, has denied the charges and the encounter. If convicted, he could face prison or probation. Here are five takeaways from Mr. Trumps 20th day on trial. The defenses big witness may not have been a great idea. Mr. Costello, once Mr. Cohens informal adviser, continued on the stand on Tuesday, after a reprimand Monday from Justice Juan M. Merchan, who said he had been contemptuous. Mr. Costello had been called by the defense to attack Mr. Cohens credibility, but during cross-examination, prosecutors sought to portray him as an agent of Mr. Trump, suggesting he was trying to prevent Mr. Cohen from cooperating with federal investigators. That included reading an email from Mr. Costello saying he was trying to get Cohen on the right page. The defense had hoped to damage Mr. Cohen a key prosecution witness beyond repair. Mr. Costellos choppy performance may be remembered, too. Trump talked a lot, just not in court. Mr. Trumps vociferousness has never been questioned. During the trial, he regularly spoke outside the courtroom, including Tuesday, when he repeated refrains slamming the trial and complaining about the courtroom temperature. While he called the trial election interference, saying it was impeding his campaign, Mr. Trump did squeeze in rallies on weekends and off-days, as well as some golf. But after teasing an appearance on the stand, he declined to testify. And after violating a gag order 10 times, he carped carefully, particularly after Justice Merchan threatened jail time. Trumps entourage exhibited his pull over his party. Republican politicians might not normally flock to defend a person enmeshed in a trial prompted by a porn stars story of extramarital sex. But Mr. Trump has a tight hold on his party, and right-wing luminaries came to support their presumptive presidential nominee. Image Donald Trump Jr. and other supporters of the former president spoke to reporters outside the Manhattan court throughout the trial. Credit... Dave Sanders for The New York Times Throughout the trial, visitors included several potential vice-presidential candidates including Senator J.D. Vance, an Ohio Republican, and Vivek Ramaswamy, who was once Mr. Trumps primary opponent and a brood of Republican lawmakers. Mr. Trumps son, Donald Jr., also attended Tuesday; another son, Eric, was a regular. There was also a former leader of New Yorks Hells Angels chapter. Many visitors then attacked witnesses, something Mr. Trump could not do because of the gag order. Perhaps the most notable attendee was Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House, who called the trial corrupt and a sham. It was a remarkable attack on the legal system by a staunch conservative who is second in line to the presidency and an indication of Mr. Trumps sway. Some key figures were never called to the stand. Notable as some witnesses were, absences were also interesting. One big name: Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who says she had an affair with Mr. Trump in 2006 and 2007. Mr. Trump denies this, and she was not called as a witness, though she indicated she was keeping an eye on the case. Other unseen characters who were frequently mentioned included Keith Schiller, the former presidents bodyguard, and Dylan Howard, a former editor of The National Enquirer, who had a medical condition that prevented him traveling from Australia. Both might have told interesting tales: Mr. Howard helped buy up and bury unflattering stories about Mr. Trump, including Ms. McDougals. He also participated in discussions about Ms. Danielss story. Mr. Schiller was close to Mr. Trump, and fielded a call from Mr. Cohen in which Mr. Cohen says he discussed Ms. Daniels with the former president. But Mr. Schiller was not called by the prosecution or defense. It will be at least a week before the jury starts to deliberate. Jurors will return May 28 for closing arguments, which Justice Merchan predicted would last the entire day. On Tuesday afternoon, lawyers argued over jury instructions, an important part of any trial. After several hours of debate, with both sides seemingly winning some points, Justice Merchan said he would provide a final version of those instructions on Thursday. Justice Merchan said he hoped deliberations would begin May 29. And after sitting silently through 22 witnesses over 16 days of testimony, the jurors verdict will be unprecedented: the first in an American presidents criminal trial. This June, as many travelers make plans to attend Pride Month events around the world, including New York Citys giant parade on June 30, security concerns are casting a shadow on celebrations. A travel advisory issued last week by the State Department advises U.S. citizens overseas to exercise increased caution at Pride celebrations, events and places popular with the L.G.B.T.Q. community because of the potential for terrorist attacks or acts of violence. That advisory follows a joint public service announcement on May 10 from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that describes an increased security threat against Pride events in the United States and elsewhere and warns that terrorist organizations or supporters may seek to target the gatherings. Neither alert mentions any specific threats or locations, nor do they advise against traveling. Heres what to know. On June 8, 1931, Alexander McClay Williams, a 16-year-old Black student, was executed by electric chair, the youngest person to be put to death in Pennsylvania history. Months earlier, Alexander had been convicted of murdering a 34-year-old white woman, Vida Robare, a matron at the reform school outside Philadelphia that Williams attended. There were no witnesses to the murder, and evidence that might have cleared Alexander was kept from the jury by prosecutors. For almost four decades, Sam Lemon, a great-grandson of William Ridley, Alexanders lawyer, worked to reveal that Williams had not committed the crime, and was the victim of gross prosecutorial misconduct by Delaware County, Pa. A judge overturned the conviction in 2022 and granted a motion for a retrial. Jack Stollsteimer, the Delaware County district attorney, moved to dismiss the charges posthumously, acknowledging yet another example of a Black person being wrongfully convicted of a crime they hadnt committed. President Biden announced on Tuesday that his administration had approved more than one million claims from veterans injured by toxic exposures during their service, actions made possible by a new law he championed, officials said. The president signed the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics, or PACT, Act, into law in the summer of 2022, with the goal of quickly getting benefits to veterans who had been suffering from a variety of maladies that did not qualify for treatment by the Department of Veterans Affairs. At an event at the Nashua YMCA in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Mr. Biden praised his administration for making good on the nations obligations to the people who defend it. I took office, I determined that come hell or high water we were going to protect the heroes and protect our nation, Mr. Biden said, describing the thousands of members of the armed forces who were poisoned by toxic exposures. My son Beau was one of those veterans, so this is personal to me. Vince Fong, a Republican state assemblyman in California, won a special election on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, to finish the congressional term of Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted as the House speaker in October. Mr. Fong, a former aide to Mr. McCarthy, was the prohibitive favorite in the race after receiving the most votes in two previous elections for the seat and beating his nearest opponent by roughly 20 percentage points. Mr. Fong was endorsed by Mr. McCarthy in the race and benefited from the enduring sway of his former mentor in the Bakersfield region. Perhaps just as crucial to Mr. Fong was an endorsement from former President Donald J. Trump, considering that the congressional district is considered Californias most conservative. In the special runoff election on Tuesday, Mr. Fong beat Mike Boudreaux, the sheriff of Tulare County, for the third time this year. The two men qualified for the Tuesday runoff after a special election in March in which they were the two top finishers but neither candidate took 50 percent of the vote. Two key players in Donald J. Trumps criminal case in Georgia won their races on Tuesday night, The Associated Press reported: Judge Scott McAfee, who won a general election race; and Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, who won a Democratic primary. The two candidates were considered the favorites in their respective races. But they were running for second terms a few months after the election-interference case against Mr. Trump and his allies hit serious turbulence. Defense lawyers said Ms. Williss romance with a lawyer she had hired to manage the prosecution a relationship that came to light in January created an untenable conflict of interest, and they had asked Judge McAfee to remove her from the case in Fulton County Superior Court. Ms. Willis pushed back vigorously against the effort. In mid-March, Judge McAfee ruled that she could stay on the Trump case if the subordinate, Nathan J. Wade, stepped down, which he quickly did. This month, the Georgia Court of Appeals agreed to review the judges decision. The Biden administration was poised to send about a dozen detainees at Guantanamo Bay to Oman for resettlement last year, but it abruptly halted the secret operation amid questions from Congress about security in the Middle East after Hamas attacked Israel, according to administration officials. None of the prisoners have ever been charged with crimes, and all of them had been cleared for transfer by national security review panels. A military cargo plane was already on the runway at Guantanamo Bay ready to airlift the group of Yemeni prisoners to Oman when the trip was called off, people familiar with the military operation said. Belongings they could take with them had been collected, signaling to the prisoners that they would soon be going. Then the plane flew away empty, and their belongings were returned. When members of the Kennedy family joined President Biden in Philadelphia to endorse his re-election and denounce the presidential candidacy of the best-known Kennedy of this generation, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. one person stepped forward to make the familys case: his younger sister Kerry. Nearly every single grandchild of Joe and Rose Kennedy supports Joe Biden, Ms. Kennedy said as her siblings, and Mr. Biden, flanked her onstage. Thats right: The Kennedy family endorses Joe Biden for president. That was not the first time that Ms. Kennedy, the seventh child of Robert and Ethel Kennedy, had been the face of the familys pushback against her brother. As Mr. Kennedy has emerged as a skeptic of Covid-19 vaccines and a purveyor of conspiratorial theories on the assassination of his father, it has fallen to Ms. Kennedy to distance her family from the brother she has long held close and to guard the legacy of a proud and private family as it fades from the political stage. To a large extent, Ms. Kennedys siblings say, her outsize role is an outgrowth of the affection she has displayed toward her brother since they were children playing on the grounds of the family estate in Hickory Hill, Va. and the disappointment she feels now. It is political as well: She argues that her brothers insurgent campaign threatens the re-election of Mr. Biden and is aware that her family could shoulder some of the blame should Donald J. Trump return to the White House next year. GLOBALink | China's Guangxi lauded for ecological protection efforts at int'l symposium Pub Date:24-05-21 10:58 Source:Xinhua Guangxi in South China has been lauded for its ecological protection efforts at an international symposium on ecological conservation and the healthcare industry. Produced by Xinhua Global Service Editor:Qin Shuying Related News Insights | Hypocrisy and double standards ... The fallacious, dangerous logic of 'Chines... Anhui Cultural and Tourism Benefiting the ... Anhui Accelerates Construction of a High-l... A bipartisan group of four congressional lawmakers have objected to the Biden administration plan to boost access to metals needed for electric vehicle batteries by easing sanctions on an Israeli mining executive accused of corrupt practices in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The objection came as the Biden administration moves to allow Dan Gertler, an Israeli billionaire, to sell his financial stake in three mines in Congo as part of an effort to remove him from the mining trade there. Senior Biden officials have argued this will help Congo, the largest producer of cobalt in the world, by enticing more Western-leaning investors. They say investors have been skittish of doing business there because Mr. Gertler has been accused of relying on personal ties to government officials in Congo to get mining concessions at below-market prices, creating a cloud of corruption over its entire mining industry. Mr. Gertler has said that all his investments in Congo were aboveboard. But the four lawmakers two senators and two House members disputed that, saying the Biden administration was wrong to propose allowing Mr. Gertler to profit as he sells off his holdings in Congo. Four years ago, Mike Schmidt handily won the election to be the top prosecutor in the Portland, Ore., area, expanding the ranks of progressives looking to remake the criminal justice system from the inside. But he faces a daunting re-election bid from one of his deputies at the Multnomah County District Attorneys Office. His rival, Nathan Vasquez, a deputy district attorney, has blamed Mr. Schmidt for Portlands recent problems with drugs and crime. Many residents have said they are fed up with the citys troubles a sentiment shared by big-city residents across the country since the pandemic, but one that is perhaps more acute in Portland. Homicides there hit record highs in 2021 and 2022. Businesses have fled the city center. Homelessness has soared. Opioid overdose deaths have tripled. Mr. Vasquez has said that he wants to take on lawless behavior and prosecute even petty crimes. Mr. Schmidt, who campaigned in 2020 on making low-level crimes a lower priority, has responded to voter concerns by trying to burnish his law-and-order credentials. He supported a partial rollback of Oregons pioneering drug decriminalization law this year and dedicated more staff members to prosecuting violent crime. Car theft numbers have dropped rapidly in the past year, and he has touted that progress. Voters are headed to the polls on Tuesday in several states. In Californias 20th Congressional District, the most conservative in the state, two Republicans will face off in a special election to determine who will temporarily fill the seat of Representative Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted as House speaker last year and then resigned. The winner will serve until January, when the next Congress is sworn in. Vince Fong, a state lawmaker and onetime aide to Mr. McCarthy, had a significant lead in the primary. He will face Mike Boudreaux, the longtime sheriff of Tulare County. (They will face each other again in the fall in the quest for a full term.) Beginning around the 1940s, a neighborhood near downtown Palm Springs became home to mostly Black and Latino residents. The one-square-mile tract was on the land of the Cahuilla Indians and offered one of the few places minorities could live because of racial housing discrimination. After a federal law change in 1959, these residents were evicted and their homes destroyed to make way for economic development. For years, former residents said they were evicted with little or no notice. Zelensky urged NATO to do more in a Times interview President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the U.S. and Europe to do more to defend Ukraine, in a wide-ranging interview with The Times. He proposed that NATO planes shoot down Russian missiles in Ukrainian airspace. Whats the problem? Zelensky said during the interview on Monday in Kyiv. Why cant we shoot them down? Is it defense? Yes. Is it an attack on Russia? No. Are you shooting down Russian planes and killing Russian pilots? No. So whats the issue with involving NATO countries in the war? There is no such issue. That kind of direct NATO involvement, which analysts say could provoke Russia to retaliate, has been resisted in Western capitals. Zelensky drew a comparison to how the U.S. and Britain helped Israel shoot down a barrage of drones and missiles from Iran last month. Zelensky said he had also appealed to senior U.S. officials to allow Ukraine to fire U.S. missiles and other weaponry at military targets inside Russia, a tactic the U.S. continues to oppose. The inability to do so, he said, gave Russia a huge advantage in cross-border warfare that it is exploiting with assaults in Ukraines northeast. A former British marine charged with spying for Hong Kongs intelligence service has died, according to a police statement released on Tuesday evening. The man, who was named by the Thames Valley Police as Matthew Trickett, was found dead in a park in Maidenhead, a town west of London, on Sunday. Mr. Trickett was one of three men charged last week under Britains National Security Act with assisting the Hong Kong intelligence service, and their case was expected to return to court on Friday. Hong Kong is a former British colony and a special administrative region of China, and tensions between London and Beijing have been ratcheting up in recent months as the British government has become increasingly vocal over allegations of Chinese espionage. In the wake of the charges last week, Britain summoned the Chinese ambassador for a reprimand. Mr. Trickett, 37, who was a British immigration enforcement officer and a former Royal Marine, was also the director of a private security firm, MTR Consultancy. Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, the obscure aristocrat who wanted to become German chancellor, and eight men and women who planned to bring him into power by violently overthrowing the government, went on trial on Tuesday in Frankfurt. Nearly a year and a half after a spectacular nationwide raid involving 3,000 police officers at 150 locations that the authorities say foiled a bizarre, far-right plan to seize power, the prince and the plotters will start facing justice. It is expected to be one of the most complex court cases since West Germany tried Auschwitz concentration camp commanders in the 1960s. In a large, gray temporary courtroom hastily built on the outskirts of Frankfurt, the nine accused saw each other for the first time since late 2022, when most of them were arrested. In that time, prosecutors have analyzed thousands of files and chat exchanges and hours of witness testimony to prepare a case they hope will show the grave danger posed by the would-be insurrectionists, who included several retired elite soldiers, a police officer and a former federal far-right lawmaker. Tobias Engelstetter, one of the four federal prosecutors arguing the case in Frankfurt, read the bizarre details behind the charges in an opening statement that lasted longer than two hours. Nearly a year after one of the deadliest shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea, off southern Greece, a court in Kalamata dropped criminal charges on Tuesday against nine Egyptians charged in connection with the tragedy. The court deemed that Greece did not have the jurisdiction to try the case, as the trawler sank in international waters. Lawyers for the defendants, who were on the trawler when it sank but were accused of smuggling and other crimes, hailed the decision as belated justice. But the court did not rule on whether the Egyptian men were guilty or not only that the case was not for Greece to decide. The outlook for the case is now unclear, including where else it may be tried. A separate investigation by the naval court into the shipwreck and the actions of the Greek coast guard is continuing; the effect of Tuesdays ruling on that inquiry is also undetermined. More than 700 people are believed to have been on the rusty fishing trawler Adriana when it sank on June 14 off the southern coast of Greece, en route to Italy from Libya. Only 104 people survived all men and boys, most of whom were from Syria, Egypt and Pakistan. Survivors testimonies said that women and children were onboard, too, but on lower decks and unable to escape. Prince Harry was dealt a setback in his long-running legal campaign against Britains tabloids on Tuesday after a high court rejected a bid to draw Rupert Murdoch into allegations about how Mr. Murdochs London papers dug up personal details about him and later concealed or destroyed evidence of it. Justice Timothy Fancourt ruled that lawyers for Harry and about 40 other plaintiffs could not amend their complaint against News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun, to include Mr. Murdoch, the 93-year-old media mogul who controls the company, as well as other senior News Group executives. There is a desire on the part of those running the litigation on the claimants side to shoot at trophy targets, whether those are political issues or high-profile individuals, Justice Fancourt declared in the 284-page ruling. This cannot become an end in itself. It only matters to the court so far as it is material and proportionate to the resolution of the individual causes of action. The trial, he added, is not an inquiry. The judge also rejected Harrys attempt to broaden the time frame of the alleged unlawful actions to before 1996 and after 2011, saying his lawyers had filed that amendment too late. That rules out allegations of actions targeted at his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, or his wife, Meghan. Russia sent a pointed reminder on Tuesday that it could use battlefield nuclear weapons in Ukraine, releasing video of its forces beginning exercises to practice their use, two weeks after President Vladimir V. Putin ordered the provocative drills. Video released by the Russian Defense Ministry showed a caravan of military vehicles moving down a wooded road, as well as mobile Iskander missile systems which can deliver conventional or nuclear explosives getting into position to launch, with their warheads blurred out. The footage also showed a supersonic strategic bomber armed with missiles and an attack aircraft being prepared for takeoff. In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said the exercise, carried out near Ukraine, was aimed at preparing the force for the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons. The goal is to unconditionally ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state in response to provocative statements and threats of individual Western officials, the ministry said. Upon announcing the drills earlier this month, the Kremlin suggested the move was a response to comments by President Emmanuel Macron of France, who refused to rule out sending French troops to Ukraine, and David Cameron, Britains top diplomat, who said Ukraine could use British weapons to strike inside Russia. Russian forces on Tuesday inched closer to the central part of Vovchansk, a town in Ukraines northeast that they have been attacking for the past 10 days as part of a new offensive in the region. Roman Semenukha, the deputy head of the military administration in the northeastern Kharkiv region, said on television on Monday that Ukrainian forces had lost about 40 percent of the town, with Russian troops pushing from the north. Open-source maps of the battlefield compiled by independent groups also show that Russia now controls the northern part of the town, which had a prewar population of 17,000. Vovchansk, which lies just five miles from the Russian border, has been a prime target of Moscows new offensive. Both U.S. officials and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia have said the offensive is part of an effort to establish a buffer zone. With his army struggling to fend off fierce Russian advances all across the front, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine urged the United States and Europe to do more to defend his nation, dismissing fears of nuclear escalation and proposing that NATO planes shoot down Russian missiles in Ukrainian airspace. Mr. Zelensky said he had also appealed to senior U.S. officials to allow Ukraine to fire American missiles and other weaponry at military targets inside Russia a tactic the United States continues to oppose. The inability to do so, he insisted, gave Russia a huge advantage in cross-border warfare that it is exploiting with assaults in Ukraines northeast. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine spoke to the Times journalists Andrew Kramer, Philip P. Pan and Bill Brink for 50 minutes at the presidential office in Kyiv on Monday. Anastasia Kuznietsova provided translation. This transcript of the interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Q. The Biden administration has prohibited Ukraine from using American-made weapons to strike inside Russia, out of concern for escalation, including the risk of nuclear war. Your government has urged a change. Given the situation on the battlefield, how should this policy change, and why? First of all, the Biden administration was indeed against the use of Western weapons. Today, we have our own weapons, our own drones, and we use them, but I would like to note that we do this for defense. This is very important, and what we have always asked of President Biden and not only President Biden, but the leaders of many countries is that we want to use the weapons for defense. When there are attacks from Russian territory targeting civilians exclusively, and artillery is firing exclusively at civilians, when artillery strikes a city, the city center thats how it happens you cant respond to them because of the range of your artillery. We dont have long-range shells. You must understand that for the last year and a half, Ukraine hasnt had any long-range shells. Palestinians in Gaza expressed mixed feelings after the chief prosecutor at the worlds top criminal court said he was seeking arrest warrants for leaders of both Israel and Hamas on war crimes charges, a move that many said equated victim with perpetrator. We deplore, denounce and are surprised by the decision of the International Criminal Court which places the accused, the victim, and the executioner in one cage, said Zahir Essam, a 55-year-old living in Gaza City. Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, announced on Monday his decision to apply for arrest warrants for Yahya Sinwar, Hamass leader in Gaza; Muhammad Deif, Hamass military chief; and Ismail Haniyeh, the movements Qatar-based top political official. He also said he would seek warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of Israel. The announcement in effect treated Israeli officials and Hamas leaders in the same way, despite what Mr. Essam sees as a power imbalance between the two sides in the conflict in Gaza, which began when Hamas led an attack on Israel on Oct. 7. Funeral commemorations for Irans president and foreign minister were underway in Iran on Tuesday as investigators looked into the helicopter crash that killed them and the country grappled with the shock of losing two of its most prominent leaders at a volatile moment. Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has announced five days of mourning for the president, Ebrahim Raisi, 63, and the foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, 60, who died when their helicopter plunged into a mountainous area near the Iranian city of Jolfa on Sunday. The state news media said the crash had resulted from a technical failure. Irans Armed Forces said they had begun an investigation and sent a team to the site. Videos posted by Iranian news agencies showed crowds lining the street behind barriers on Tuesday morning under a gray sky in the northwestern city of Tabriz, awaiting a procession carrying the flag-draped coffins of Mr. Raisi, Mr. Amir Abdollahian and the six others killed in the crash. Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court prosecutor who announced on Monday that he would apply for arrest warrants for leaders of Israel and Hamas, has gained a reputation over a long career in international law as a gifted speaker and a tough-minded litigator. A British litigator, he took over as chief prosecutor of the I.C.C. in June 2021. Before that, he had served for both the defense and the prosecution at several international courts. Among his high-profile clients were Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, son of the late Libyan dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi; and Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, who fired him. One contentious case was his defense of William Ruto, now the president of Kenya, who faced charges of inciting violence that followed national elections. In 2016, when Mr. Ruto was deputy president, the case ended in a mistrial because of witness interference and political meddling. Mr. Khan was not accused of wrongdoing. He also worked on war crimes issues in Rwanda, Cambodia and Iraq. Case 9:23-cr-80101-AMC Document 566 Entered on FLSD Docket 05/21/2024 Page 14 of 28 Accordingly, suppression is required because the warrant did not meet the particularity requirement. 3. The Mar-a-Lago Raid Was Executed In An Egregious Fashion And In Bad Faith The Special Counsel's Office cannot save this search by reliance on the good-faith exception under United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897 (1984). See United States v. Travers, 233 F.3d 1327, 1330 (11th Cir. 2000) ("The officers do not act in objective good faith, however, if the warrant is so overly broad on its face that the executing officers could not reasonably have presumed it to be valid.). President Trump is seeking evidence bearing on this issue in the pending motions to compel, and fact-finding will likely be necessary before the Court can resolve it. See, e.g., United States v. Accardo, 749 F.2d 1477, 1481 (11th Cir. 1985) (reasoning that [b]oth parties should be given an opportunity to present evidence touching upon the conduct of the officers," and remanding for a hearing on the good faith issue"). However, several known circumstances already counsel against a finding in favor of the Office on this fact-specific inquiry. Without no basis whatsoever, in the affidavit or otherwise, FBI agents searched the private bedrooms of the First Lady and President Trump's youngest son. See Walter v. United States, 447 U.S. 649, 657 (1980) ([A] warrant to search for a stolen refrigerator would not authorize the opening of desk drawers."). The FBI's photo log demonstrates that the agents took extensive photographs of those rooms- 42 and 27, respectivelyfor no apparent reason. See Ex. 5 at USA- 01285293-300. There was no factual basis for the agents to rummage through rooms not specified in the warrant and, not surprisingly, they seized nothing from these other rooms. Nor was there any basis for the FBI to bring firearms into Mar-a-Lago. There were no threats and no risk to agents' safety arising from their allegations relating to possession of documents at a premises already guarded by the Secret Service. But the agents appear to have 12 YouTube YouTube TikTok TikTok TikTok TikTok YouTube Visual Investigations How a Haitian Gang Is Trying to Turn Itself Into a Militia Dozens of 5 Segonn members dance in a music video. In recent years, one of Haitis most powerful and best armed gangs, 5 Segonn, promoted itself with brash rap videos posted on social media. In recent years, one of Haitis most powerful and best armed gangs, 5 Segonn, promoted itself with brash rap videos posted on social media. Dozens of 5 Segonn members dance in a music video. But videos and photos recently posted by the gang to TikTok show a shift: Its trying to present itself as an organized security force. But videos and photos recently posted by the gang to TikTok show a shift: Its trying to present itself as an organized security force. Several 5 Segonn members wearing tactical gear and riding in the back of a truck. The gang members are now uniformed and wielding more powerful weapons. The gang members are now uniformed and wielding more powerful weapons. Dozens of 5 Segonn members gathered in a room. One of these weapons is the Belgian-designed FN FAL rifle. One of these weapons is the Belgian-designed FN FAL rifle. Members of the 5 Segonn gang holding FN Fal rifles. Its typically carried by militaries and hasnt been seen in the hands of 5 Segonn before. Its typically carried by militaries and hasnt been seen in the hands of 5 Segonn before. Members of the 5 Segonn gang holding FN Fal rifles, with one of the rifles highlighted. The group now appears to be more capable as a Kenyan-led multinational police force is set to arrive in Haiti. The group now appears to be more capable as a Kenyan-led multinational police force is set to arrive in Haiti. A group of 5 Segonn gang members dressed in tactical gear. Since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, the security situation in Haiti has deteriorated and gangs have stepped in to fill the void. They now control or exert their influence across most of the capital, Port-au-Prince. The recent transformation of 5 Segonn coincided with the unification of several rival gangs in late February. Days later, the allied groups orchestrated a massive prison break, plunging the country into further chaos and leading Prime Minister Ariel Henry, the countrys de facto ruler, to resign. Together, the gangs have commandeered key roads that criss-cross Haiti and enter neighboring Dominican Republic, and have occupied several strategic police stations, according to an analysis by The New York Times. Port-au-Prince Bay HAITI Port-au-Prince Gang control Primary areas Many police stations have been seized by gangs. Airport PORT-AU-PRINCE HAITI Port-au-Prince Bay Gang control Primary areas Port-au-Prince Many police stations have been seized by gangs. Airport PORT-AU-PRINCE HAITI Port-au-Prince Bay Gang control Primary areas Port-au-Prince Many police stations have been seized by gangs. Airport PORT-AU-PRINCE Sources: Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, Human Rights Watch; MakyavelStudios via X; the National Human Rights Defence Network (RNDDH), the U.N. Human Rights Office and the U.N. Integrated Office in Haiti. Note: These are estimates, and the situation is fluid. Areas of control change frequently, and gangs may operate outside their main territory. The Kenyan-led deployment, aided by U.S. supplies and funding, could face a far more volatile situation than past international U.N. peacekeeping missions. Earlier this month, 5 Segonns leader took to social media to taunt and threaten the incoming security force, which will be based at the capitals airport. The U.S. is investigating whether European and American weapons, made exclusively for militaries and sold in Latin America, are being smuggled to 5 Segonn and other Haitian gangs, according to two senior Justice Department officials who were not authorized to speak publicly. 5 Segonns promotion of its new image began with the creation of a TikTok account, shortly after the rival gangs united. Posts display the gangs military appearance and weaponry. Although the account was suspended after just 11 posts, The Times archived and analyzed the contents, along with hundreds of media files posted by gang members, to track how 5 Segonn's capabilities have evolved. 5 Segonns name is Creole for Five Seconds. They are thought to be one of Haitis biggest cocaine traffickers, according to Western diplomats and a regional intelligence official. Their leader is 27-year-old Johnson Andre, known as Izo, whom the U.S. sanctioned in December for the kidnapping of U.S. citizens, assassination, possession of illegal firearms, hijacking and documented cases of sexual violence. TikTok TikTok TikTok TikTok YouTube YouTube YouTube TikTok TikTok On social media, Izo often posts videos of himself dancing and drinking. On social media, Izo often posts videos of himself dancing and drinking. A video of Izo dancing and holding a bottle of alcohol, with dozens of bottles behind him. But starting in March he added a new persona, openly declaring himself a cartel leader and the head of a new tactical corps. But starting in March he added a new persona, openly declaring himself a cartel leader and the head of a new tactical corps. A video of Izo sitting in a vehicle wearing tactical gear. Its logo bears the corps name: Unite Village de Dieu, or Unite Village of God, the name of Izos neighborhood. Its logo bears the corps name: Unite Village de Dieu, or Unite Village of God, the name of Izos neighborhood. An annotated image of the UVD emblem, which features rifles and a dinosaur. Videos show Izo using live drone feeds to direct attacks against the police. Videos show Izo using live drone feeds to direct attacks against the police. Izo watches a screen while talking into a walkie-talkie. And hes seen in highly choreographed footage overseeing men in tactical gear. And hes seen in highly choreographed footage overseeing men in tactical gear. Dozens of UVD members dressed as soldiers with rifles. Their vehicles appearance was once inspired by the notorious Los Angeles Crips gang. Their vehicles appearance was once inspired by the notorious Los Angeles Crips gang. Several men wearing matching blue outfits in front of a blue Toyota truck that says CRIPS. Now their vehicles are wrapped in camouflage and organized with sequential license plates. Now their vehicles are wrapped in camouflage and organized with sequential license plates. A vehicle wrapped in camouflage with a UVD license plate. And 5 Segonns actions are growing bolder, attacking targets deeper in government-held territory. And 5 Segonns actions are growing bolder, attacking targets deeper in government-held territory. A video of a government building under fire. Theyve taunted security forces by destroying one of their vehicles near the National Palace, a major government symbol. Theyve taunted security forces by destroying one of their vehicles near the National Palace, a major government symbol. A video of a Haitian National Police vehicle on fire. And in April, they hijacked a cargo ship, moored it at a gang-controlled dock and plundered some of the rice it carried. And in April, they hijacked a cargo ship, moored it at a gang-controlled dock and plundered some of the rice it carried. A video of men offloading bags of rice from a cargo ship. The weapons that historically fueled Haitis violence were usually stolen from the Haitian Army and police or purchased from stores in the United States and smuggled to the Caribbean. But the FN FAL rifles seen with the 5 Segonn gang, for instance, are a newer model than the version acquired by the Haitian Army in the 1980s, a former high-ranking Haitian official told The Times, raising questions about their origin. The groups possession of the weapon was first publicly identified by Michael Deibert, an author focused on Haiti. The new weapons could be coming from Colombia, where President Gustavo Petro announced last month that millions of bullets, thousands of grenades and other weapons were looted from military warehouses. They were sold to armed groups, like cartels, he said, and on the international black market, including to Haitian gangs. Associated Press The Justice Department officials say the sources may be more widespread, with weapons coming from other militaries in South and Central America. Brazil is one of the largest weapons manufacturers in the world, they note, manufacturing some of the military weapons that are now used by Haitian gangs. Still, U.S. officials say they have limited insight into what is happening in Haiti as the dire security situation means they have insufficient personnel on the ground to monitor gang activity. The growing lethality of the gangs arsenals may also indicate a strengthening tie with cartels in Latin America, said a senior regional intelligence official and two diplomats who spoke on background to discuss sensitive information. They pointed to Haitis growing importance as a cocaine trafficking route to Europe. Izo is now working with one of the key suspects in Mr. Moises 2021 assassination: Dimitri Herard, the one-time chief of the presidents security detail, according to the intelligence official, a senior State Department official, and a third Western diplomat based in Haiti who was not authorized to speak publicly. Mr. Herard was among the inmates freed during the February prison break, according to Haitian officials. A wanted poster for Mr. Herard released by the Haitian police this month warns that he is armed and dangerous, and is wanted on several charges including: rape, homicide, terrorism and prison escape. Haitian National Police via Facebook The sources said Mr. Herard seems to be helping organize and advise Izos gang to look beyond local turf battles and pursue more strategic goals tied to drug trafficking and national politics, and that he may be a link to larger criminal organizations in the region, including drug cartels. The rise of Haitian gangs started a few decades ago. The armed bandits were used by politicians to suppress voter turnout or anti-government protests and by the business elite to secure land for industrial purposes or to attack rival businesses. But like many things in Haiti that has now all been upended. A 12-year-old boy who has never had his hair cut in his life and reportedly suffers from tonsurephobia, an uncontrollable fear of having his hair cut, has been threatened with expulsion by his school because of his long hair. Farouk James has never had more than a trim of his impressive mane and his waist-long mane has earned him more than 250,000 followers on Instagram alone. However, ever since he started classes at his new school in September of last year, he has been pressured into cutting his locks so that they reach above his shirt collar, per school regulations. Farouks family has sent the school doctors notes that show he suffers from tonsurephobia, an extreme fear of having his hair cut, but the school has apparently chosen to ignore them and enforce its rule. Photo: Farouk James Modelling/Facebook Ive got tonsurephobia and also narcolepsy which means I easily go into a deep sleep, and they tie together. I can have horrific dreams of my hair being cut off, Farouk James told Sky News Kids Show FYI. They clearly dont believe it, they think its just a phase, a front to keep myself at the school. Farouks mother, Bonnie Miller, said that her son has tried going to school with braids in order to comply with the rule, but that has been deemed unacceptable because interweaving is forbidden at the London school. Due to not complying with the hair lengths rule, the 12-year-old has already been on detention several times, and may even be expelled. Ive been given detentions because of my hair recently. The first punishment was a half-an-hour detention, then an hours detention, then on Friday this week Ive got a two-hour detention, James said. That eventually leads to isolation, suspension, and eventually expulsion. Farouks mother claims that she knew of the schools rule before enrolling Farouk there, but was under the impression they would be able to obtain an exemption on medical grounds. Unfortunately, after the start of the school year, the headmaster informed her that her son would be expelled unless he got a haircut because tonsurephobia is not recognized as a phobia. Ive been working on my son to try to get him to cut his hair because he loves the school and I really value the education he gets there, Miller said. Hes just about to start psychotherapy to overcome the phobia, we really are doing everything possible. Farouk has even told me that if he gets his hair cut his life wont be worth living. Short of me actually filming me taking him to the barbers and sending that to the school, I dont know what else to do. Asked to comment by UK media, Farouks school declined, claiming the need to respect confidentiality when it comes to matters relating to individuals in its community. A Chinese man wanted for murder managed to avoid police detection for over 20 years by pretending to be a deaf and mute scavenger in the mountains of Hubei Province. On the evening of May 22, 2004, a young and quick-tempered man named Xiao got into a heated argument with a neighbor in his home village of Oumio Daying, in Xianyangs Xiangcheng District. At one point, Xiao allegedly picked up a shovel and hit his neighbor over the head with it, killing him on the spot. That night, knowing that he risked spending the rest of his life behind bars or worse, getting the death penalty, Xiao decided to abandon his wife and 11-year-old child to go on the run. He ran into the mountains of Anxi County, in Fujian Province, where he became a scavenger selling scraps to survive. To make sure he never gave anything away about his past life, Xiao pretended to be deaf and mute for the next 20 years, only smiling at people and communicating through gestures. Time passed, but police never gave up on finding Xiao and bringing him to justice for his crime, and even though the runaway man was very composed, never once contacting his family over the last couple of decades, they still managed to track him down. Last month, police in Anxi took a seemingly deaf and mute scavenger into custody for getting into a fight with some locals, and even though he was released shortly after, he was still processed and his photos ended up in a nationwide database. Earlier this month, while running Xiaos old photos against those in the national database, police got a surprising match. A deaf and mute man in Fujian Province showed an uncanny resemblance to the wanted man, so a police force was sent to investigate. Upon finding the suspect, they asked him point blank, Are you from Xiangcheng District in Xianyang, to which he instantly replied Yes. I have been holding back my words for 20 years, and I felt that I was going crazy, a relieved Xiao told the police. When I left, my son was 11, and now 20 years have passed, I wonder how my family is doing? Xiao has since been taken back to his home village, and despite being gone for so long, he showed them exactly where he had the altercation with his neighbors on that fateful evening. He will now have to serve the prison time he had been running from for so long. The people who knew him as a deaf and mute scavengers told police that they had never suspected him of being a criminal on the run. He kept to himself and never talked to anyone, so no one really knew anything about him. This story reminded us of another runaway criminal we wrote about last year, a man who spent the last 14 years of his life hiding in a mountain cave after robbing a gas station for $23. Eric Adams Eric Adams Loves PR The NYPD PR team has doubled to 86 staffers during the administration of former cop Eric Adams, according to New York Focus. The surge in staffing comes as city agencies are laying off staffers and scaling back programs. The citys once vaunted pre-k program, which began under Mayor Bill deBlasio, is in shambles as parents are forced to scramble for seats for their kids. Composting is now kaput. Tarik Sheppard, deputy commissioner of public information, also has been charged with grandstanding in the wake of the student protests over the destruction of Gaza. After the cops raided a student encampment at City College, and blocked reporter access to the event, Sheppard posed for a video of cops ripping down a Palestinian flag and replacing it with an American one. We allow press into war zones but the NYPD blocked the press out and created a propaganda video, said Queens council member Tiffany Caban. The mayor, meanwhile, is focused on the weighty matters of the day, such as revoking the key to the city to Diddy after a video of the rapper emerged showing him assaulting his ex-girlfriend. Adams said he was deeply disturbed by watching that chilling video of the young lady being assaulted by him. The mayor and his team will determine at a future date whether to yank the key from Diddy, a revocation that has never happened before in NYC. Adams is the mayor who awarded the key to the Harlem-born Diddy for the millions of dollars that he donated to NYC and his support for Black entrepreneurs. Sean Combs is the embodiment of the NYC attitude, said Adams in handing the key to the rapper. Perhaps Adams can weasel out of this sticky situation by letting Diddy keep the key but changing the NYC lock. He better move fast. Adams approval rating among likely voters in the 2025 mayoral contest stands at 24 percent, according to a Manhattan Institute poll released last month. Only 16 percent of them plan to vote for Adams. NYCs mayor, who loves to travel overseas, will soon have plenty of free time on his hands. Are you having trouble falling asleep at night? Heres a helpful tip: pick up and start reading a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. You will be snoozing in no time. One caveat: make sure the SEC document hasnt been filed by Trump Media and Technology Group, because its filings are eye-openers. In its 10-Q statement filed on May 20, TMTG reports that Q1 revenues plunged 31 percent to a minuscule $771K, which is walking-around money for the companys 64.9 percent owner Donald Trump. Despite those tiny revenues, TMTG posted a whopping $328M loss compared to a $210.3M deficit a year ago. But fear not. TMTG management points to its $273M in cash/cash equivalents and says full-speed ahead. Management believes there is not substantial doubt regarding the Companys ability to continue as a going concern as of March 31, 2024, and the substantial doubt as of December 31, 2023, has been mitigated, says TMTG in the 10-Q. The Company believes it has sufficient working capital to fund operations for at least the next twelve months from the date of issuance of these financial statements. But what if Trump is behind bars? TMTGs says its success is based in part on the popularity of its brand and the reputation of Trump. The value of TMTGs brand may diminish if the popularity of President Donald J. Trump were to suffer, it says in the 10-Q. Adverse reactions to publicity relating to President Donald J. Trump, or the loss of his services, could adversely affect TMTGs revenues, results of operations and its ability to maintain or generate a consumer base. TMTG better hope that Trump is allowed to keep his cellphone while in the slammer. And then there is the matter of sugar babies, which is slang that rarely reaches the SEC domain. The 10-Q spells out Truth Socials terms of service designed to prevent prohibited content from seeping into the platform. It describes that content as portraying or suggesting explicit sexual acts or sexually suggestive positions or poses; sexually suggestive (explicit or vague) statements, texts or phrases; or content in which sexual acts are requested or offered, including pornography, prostitution, sugar babies, sex trafficking or sexual fetishes. Dictionary.com defines sugar baby as a younger person who provides romantic companionship or sexual intimacy to a wealthy older person in return for gifts or financial support. Its best to keep the TMTG 10-Q out of the bedroom. It will keep you awake all night. Team Biden maintains the public isnt paying attention to the presidential election. That misguided position is designed to assure jittery Democrats that Joe Biden will win re-election, though polls show he is trailing Donald Trump. It will lead to defeat in November. A Gallup poll rips the White House nothing to worry about argument to shreds. It found that 71 percent of Americans have given quite a lot of thought to the upcoming election. Thats on par with the 2020 campaign. The polling organizations research indicates that the amount of thought given to an election corresponds to turnout. A robust 67 percent of eligible voters turned out in 2020. Thats in sharp contrast to the 2000 race when only 43 percent of voters thought about the election in the Spring and turnout was a paltry 54 percent. Democrats today are thinking more about the election than Republicans by an 84 percent to 78 percent margin. That doesnt necessarily bode well for Biden. A good chunk of those engaged Democrats are surely thinking that 81-year-old Biden should forgo another run and let the younger generation of the party emerge, while others are mulling a vote for RFK Jr. The highlights of an exceptional week of racing, this week, included the first round of the Sporting Press Irish Oaks, the final of the Champion 550, semifinals of the Islandbridge Open Sprint all in Shelbourne, the semifinals of the Champion Open Unraced in Kilkenny and the semifinals of the Lee Strand A3 550 in Tralee. Another good week of Offaly winners with some interesting ones again catching the eye. Early Week Racing Monday, Enniscorthy, semi-finals of April Open Unraced Stake. Johnnys Dilemma made it three wins from three starts in this competition in 29.08 (20 slow) by three lengths at 5/4 fav. The second semi went to Ballybreesutumn in 28.85 (20 slow) by six lengths at 7/4 for John OConnor and Johnny Somers. Friday Racing Kilkenny, semifinals of the Champion Open Unraced. This stake was previously known as the Redmills Unraced, now strangely without a sponsor but still valuable with 32k in total for prize money. The first semifinal went to Moanteen Wildcat for Rachel Wheeler in 29.05 (20 slow) by one length at 5/4 fav. The second semifinal was also won by the favourite as Broadstrand Syd won by six lengths in 28.79 (20 slow) by six lengths for John Linehan at 2/1 fav. Newbridge staged the semi-finals of the Friends Of Newbridge A1 Derby 550. The first heat was won by Leeloo for Croghan owner Nuala Lynch in 30.02 by two lengths at 6/4 fav. The second semi went to Coonough Paddy for Barry Clancy in 30.00 flat by one length also at 6/4 fav. One other Offaly winner on the supporting card, in the first race, an A8 contest Sallagh Swing won for Mick Lynch in a decent 29.01 by five lengths at 4/5 fav. In Shelbourne, the semi-finals of the Islandbridge Open Sprint were the two best races on a decent card at Headquarters. The two heats were both won by champion trainer Graham Holland, the first heat went to Ballinakill Alf who was having his sixteenth career win in 18.47 by three lengths at 1/2 fav. The remaining semi went to Romeo Taylor in 18.41 by five lengths at 6/4 fav. In the final of the Talking Dogs A4 stake the 1.75k first prize went to Uncle Frankie (Ballymac Cashout-Dark Ava) for Mark Robinson by three lengths in 28.71 at 1/1 fav. One Offaly winner later in the card as Highview Katy won in an A2 grade for Croghan trainer Gerry Merriman in 28.87 by one length at 3/1. In Tralee, there were three semi-finals of the Lee Strand A3 550 Stake with two qualifying from each heat for Friday's final. The first heat went to Deadly Choice for Michael ODonovan in 29.74 by three lengths at 5/4 fav. The second heat went to Summerfield Air for Galway trainer Gerry Holian in 29.67 by five lengths at 6/4 fav. The remaining semi-final winner was Unanimouspanther for Pat Buckley in 29.76 by one length at 1/1 fav. Only a length separating all three heat winners which should lead to a cracking final on Friday in the Kingdom. Saturday Racing First Offaly winner on Saturday was in Thurles, in the first race on the card, an ON3 unraced, So Its Bono won for Birr owner Paul Pardy in 29.30 (20 slow) by four lengths. Another Faithful County winner in Mullingar as Killeshill Glam won an A7 contest in 30.38 (50 slow) by a head at 5/2 for Croghan owner Vincent Lynch. Curraheen Park in Cork held the first round of the Deadly Kennels open 750 won last year by Kinturk Road for Liam Dowling. Four heats with Tuono Charlie going fastest in the final heat in 41.57 by eight lengths at 1/1 fav. A huge night of racing in Shelbourne with the first round of the Sporting Press Irish Oaks and final of the Shelbourne Champion 550. Ten heats in the first round of the Sporting Press Online Edition Irish Oaks won last year by Crafty Shivoo for Peter and Brian Divilly. The Oaks was first run in 1930. However in 1932 it became an official stake on the racing calendar under the auspices of the IGB. 1932 and 33 it was run in Clonmel before being shared for next few years between Harolds Cross and Shelbourne. During the second world war it was shared between Cork and Limerick but in 45 it was back in the capital being shared annually between the two city tracks. In 1992 it made a permanent home in Shelbourne where it has remained ever since. Some remarkable bitches have won this competition down the year and added immensely to the majestic bloodlines that has made the Irish greyhounds the best in the world. In 2021 the great Susie Sapphire won this stake, in 15 Ballydoyle Honey, 09 Skywalker Queen, 2003 Axle Grease, in 01 Marinas Tina, 1987 the great Yale Princess and in 1983 one of the greatest of all times Quick Suzy. These are but a few of quality champions that have won and worn the ribbon of Oaks winner. 10 heats on Saturday with a double for Murt Leahy. Fastest of the ten was Droopys Mandolin who stopped the timer in a magnificent 28.12 by four lengths at 1/2 fav. The Robert Gleeson trained black will take some beating in this stake as she has now won twelve of her fifteen starts including the Champion Unraced in Shelbourne last August, the Galway Oaks and won the Winter Festival night in December. Two Offaly trained bitches both qualified with neither getting any luck in running. Highview Treat for Gerry Merriman and anti post favorite to win this stake Short Grip for P.J. Cocoman, expect both to improve dramatically this Saturday. The most valuable stake final of the week also took place in Shelbourne on Saturday, The Shelbourne Champion 550, the 7.5k purse went to Carmac King (Droopys Sydney-Peters Queen) who has now won his last six races and this final in a super 29.34 by three lengths at 1/1 fav. This Owen McKenna trained hound will surely now be heading all guns blazing for the Irish Derby and if he can retain current form hell take some stopping. Interesting times ahead. Sunday Racing For the second week in a row there was no Faithful County winner at the matinee meeting in Mullingar or any of the evening meetings. Upcoming Events Friday, final of the Champion Open Unraced in Kilkenny, final of the Friends Of Newbridge A1 Derby, final of the Islandbridge Open Sprint in Shelbourne and final of the Lee Strand A3 550 in Tralee. Saturday, semi-finals of the Deadly Kennels Open 750 in Cork and second round of the Sporting Press Irish Oaks. The first round of the English Derby gets underway this week with fifty one Irish dogs all vying to retain the trophy won so majestically last year by Gaytime Nemo and Graham Holland. Heats are on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Tribune Offaly Dog Of The Week Leeloo gets the nod this week for winning in the semifinal of The Friends Of Newbridge A1 Derby on Friday night in a fine 30.02 for Croghan owner Naula Lynch. Offaly Winners Five Offaly winners this week, well done to all connections. Four Irish people were on board a Singapore Airlines flight from London in which one person died and many others were injured when the plane hit severe turbulence. The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that four Irish citizens were on the flight, but it is not yet known whether they were among the many injured people. A department spokeswoman said: We are aware that four Irish citizens were on board. The Embassy is in close contact with the relevant Thai authorities and stands ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance. A spokesman for Bangkoks Suvarnabhumi Airport, where the flight was diverted to, said a 73-year-old man who died on the flight suffered a suspected heart attack. He added that seven other people were seriously injured, with dozens more suffering minor injuries. Singapore Airlines said the flight encountered sudden extreme turbulence over Myanmars Irrawaddy Basin at 37,000 feet about 10 hours after departure, with the pilot declaring a medical emergency and diverting the plane to Bangkok. A spokesman for the airline said 18 people were hospitalised, with a further 12 requiring treatment in hospital. The remaining passengers and crew were being examined and given treatment, where necessary, at Suvarnabhumi International Airport. There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board. The nationalities of the passengers were 56 from Australia, two from Canada, one from Germany, three from India, two from Indonesia, one from Iceland, four from Ireland, one from Israel, 16 from Malaysia, two from Myanmar, 23 from New Zealand, five from the Philippines, 41 from Singapore, one from South Korea, two from Spain, 47 from the United Kingdom, and four from the United States of America. The airline said in a statement: Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. We deeply apologise for the traumatic experience that our passengers and crew members suffered on this flight. We are providing all necessary assistance during this difficult time. We are working with our colleagues and the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary assistance. A Singapore Airlines team is on its way to Bangkok to provide any additional assistance needed. SIA is working with the relevant authorities on the investigation into this incident. We will also provide regular updates on our Facebook and X. This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here. Be shocked, very shocked. As TomDispatch regular Liz Theoharis and Shailly Gupta Barnes, both of whom play key roles in the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice, make clear today, the way this country has dealt with the homeless, whose numbers have soared recently, has hardly been impressive (though it was certainly better during the pandemic years). Worse yet, as they report, there's a case before the all-too-well-housed Supreme Court that, if five of the six conservative -- and that's a polite word for them these days -- justices concur, will criminalize misery in a genuinely original fashion. It will essentially make it possible for community after community to declare homelessness illegal. And given recent rulings, don't be faintly surprised if (when?) they do so. As PBS's Supreme Court expert Marcia Coyle, who listened to the oral arguments in the case, Grants Pass v. Johnson, commented: "It does seem as though the conservative majority is leaning towards the city [of Grants Pass, Oregon]. And the implications are huge" because so many cities are dealing with this problem and what the Supreme Court has to say about what Grants Pass can do is going to affect how all the other cities try to address this problem." And while you're at it, imagine that, if the 2024 election goes the way the latest polls are suggesting, four-plus years from now such a ruling could seem mild. If Donald Trump and crew have the chance to appoint yet more Supreme Court justices because liberals Sonya Sotomayor and Elena Kagan decided not to retire during the Biden presidency, the present court could seem almost "liberal" by comparison and, in a sense, so many Americans might find themselves homeless indeed in a grim new all-American world. Tom Housing, Not Handcuffs The Moral Response to Homelessness By Liz Theoharis and Shailly Gupta Barnes On April 22nd, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Grants Pass v. Johnson, a case that focuses on whether unhoused -- the term that has generally replaced "homeless" -- people with no indoor shelter options can even pull a blanket around themselves outdoors without being subject to criminal punishment. Before making its way to the Supreme Court on appeal, the Ninth Circuit Court held that municipalities can't punish involuntarily homeless people for merely living in the place where they are. This is exactly what the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, did when it outlawed resting or sleeping anywhere on public property with so much as a blanket to survive in cold weather, even when no beds in shelters were available. The law makes it impossible for unhoused residents to stay in Grants Pass, effectively forcing them to either move to another city or face endless rounds of punishment. In Grants Pass, the punishment starts with a $295 fine that, if unpaid, goes up to $500, and can escalate from there to criminal trespass charges, penalties of up to 30 days in jail, and a $1,250 fine. The issue before the court is whether such a law violates the Eighth Amendment's restrictions against cruel and unusual punishment. The city is asking the court to decide that the Eighth Amendment doesn't impose any substantive limit on what can be criminalized, so long as the punishment itself isn't considered cruel and unusual. If so, municipalities across the nation would be free to make involuntary homelessness unlawful. In response, more than 40 amicus briefs with over 1,100 signatories were filed against the city's case, representing millions of people concerned about or potentially affected by the far-reaching consequences of such a decision. The Kairos Center for Religions, Rights & Social Justice -- to which the two authors of this piece belong -- submitted one such brief together with more than a dozen religious denominations, historic houses of worship, and interfaith networks. Along with the 13 official signatories of that brief, many more clergy, faith leaders, and institutions support its core assertion: that the Grants Pass ordinance violates our interfaith tradition's directives on the moral treatment of poor and unhoused people. Indeed, the Supreme Court's decision could dramatically criminalize poverty and homelessness nationwide, especially if cities near Grants Pass, in the state of Oregon, and across the country, put in place similar restrictions. Sadly, such a scenario is anything but far-fetched, given not just this Supreme Court but all too much of this country. Since the early 2000s, our nation has regularly turned to policing and "law and order" responses to social crises. Often wielded against poor and low-income communities in the form of fines, fees, and risks of jail time, such threats are regularly backed up by police in full body armor, using tactical gear and, in this century so far, hundreds of millions of dollars of military equipment transferred directly from the Pentagon to thousands of police departments nationwide. All of this has made the possibility of using violence and brute force more likely in relation to many situations, including the world of the unhoused. Most recently, of course, militarized police have swarmed campuses to help quell largely peaceful student protests over the war on Gaza. Consider it anything but ironic that when Northeastern University students were arrested for their Gaza encampment, they were taken to the same facilities where unhoused people were being processed during homeless encampment sweeps, as local contacts in Boston have told us. Poverty and Housing Insecurity The homelessness and housing crises unfolding today reflect a broader national crisis of economic insecurity. In 2023, after all, approximately 135 million people or more than 40% of the nation, were considered poor or low-income and just one crisis away from becoming homeless. In a dramatic return to pre-pandemic conditions, this included 60% of Latinos (38.9 million), 59% of Native Americans (2.3 million), 55% of Blacks (22.5million), 36% of Asian people (8 million) and 32% of Whites (61.8 million). Among those tens of millions of Americans, housing insecurity is alarmingly widespread. Before the pandemic, there were approximately 8 to 11 million people who were homeless or on the verge of becoming so, relying on a crumbling shelter system and a growing constellation of informal encampments on America's streets, or trapped in a rotating series of sleeping places, including cars and couches, or doubled or tripled up in apartments. Worse yet, even those numbers were likely an underestimate: when the pandemic hit in 2020 and millions of people lost their jobs, 30 to 40 million people suddenly found themselves at risk of becoming homeless. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Biden slams ICC prosecutor at event celebrating Jewish American Heritage month Speaking at a White House event celebrating Jewish American Heritage month, President Joe Biden condemned a request by the ... (Image by YouTube, Channel: Associated Press) Details DMCA President Biden at the White House on May 20, 2024 celebrating Jewish American Heritage month Yesterday, President Biden during a meeting at the White House celebrating Jewish American Heritage referred to the situation in Gaza with the following, "Let me be clear, contrary to allegations against Israel, made by the International Court of Justice, what's happening is not genocide. We reject that". Hmm. Biden had earlier condemned the ICJ move along with the allegations made by the UN's International Court of Justice that Israeli actions in Gaza would be genocidal. Let's be clear. When a country kills women, children and old people indiscriminately using tanks, war planes and ground troops that's genocide. And all the world-sans the US and Israel-recognizes Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. What is the difference between Hitler's Nazi's indiscriminately killing Jews during WWII and what the IDF, Israeli Defense Force is doing against the Palestinian's in Gaza? It may not be on the same scale of what the Nazi's did in Europe and the Soviet Union. But what Israel is doing in Gaza is still genocide. Of course Israel accuses anyone that criticizes its actions as anti-Semitism. Yet isn't it the ironies of all ironies that the State of Israel resembles Hitler's Nazi's in what it is doing in Gaza. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Readers' Favorite announces the review of the Christian - Thriller book "Exodus Team" by BEBogdon, currently available at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BWSPG2RZ and other book retailers. "Reviewed By Essien Asian for Readers' Favorite By day, Maj Newhouse is a proficient mechanic with a grateful list of clients. When she is not working on faulty vehicle parts, she and her friends Aimee and Kevin Cole, talented siblings, engage in some rather peculiar activities, challenging the authority Inquidia, a leader in innovative training, integrates advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistance into its services for Qatar's oil, energy, and petroleum industries. This groundbreaking enhancement transforms industry practices, driving significant progress and boosting profitability across the sector. Driving Progress with Advanced AI Solutions Inquidia's AI-powered solutions are tailored to meet the specific challenges faced by Qatar's oil, energy, and petroleum sectors. By leveraging cutting-edge AI technology, Inquidia offers services that streamline operations, In order to create awareness for the implementation of a secure IT landscape in companies, Virtimo Visions 2024 focused on IT security. Berlin, 21.05.2024 | In the digital era, IT security is not an option, but a necessity it is the basis on which trust between technology providers and users is built. The presentations at Virtimo Visions 2024, Virtimo AG's regular client event, showed in particular that the implementation of Pan Con Queso, a year-old pizza pop-up with pies inspired by its owners Mexican and Pacific Islander heritage, will open its first brick-and-mortar location in Southeast Portlands Creston-Kenilworth neighborhood, co-owner Henry Martinez told The Oregonian. The new pizzeria will take over the 300-square-foot space originally home to The Electric Pizza Company, found in the same complex as bar Holy Ghost and Chinese restaurant 28 Tigers on a lot that previously held the Pub at the End of the Universe. Last year, Martinez (Dimos Apizza, Scotties Pizza Parlor) and mental health professional Makeila Magno joined forces to take over the small kitchen at Living Haus brewery (628 S.E. Belmont St.). Martinez and Magno call their personal-sized pies pixxas, and use that bread to highlight house-pulled mozzarella (the queso in pan con queso). Toppings range from a seasonal elote to a chorizo con papas to a SPAM and pineapple, that last one dubbed the Mr. MacArthur in honor of Magnos late grandfather, who lived on the islands and considered the processed pork to be Hawaiian prime rib. At the new shop, Martinez and Magno will serve slightly larger 12-inch pies; sides including house-marinated olives, tinned fish, roast vegetables; a new version of their Caesar salad; and a seasonal salad made with chamoy vinaigrette. For dessert, the duo are working on a Mexican-spiced cookie that theyll serve with horchata ice cream. Drinks can be ordered from Holy Ghost, though Pan Con Queso does plan to serve been and wine in the future. Pan Con Queso hopes to open its new pizzeria at 2730 S.E. Gladstone St. on June 1; check Instagram for updates Further reading: Pan Con Queso is the next Portland pizzeria you need to know about Michael Russell; mrussell@oregonian.com Our journalism needs your support. Subscribe today to OregonLive.com. Editors note: This story first appeared on palabra, the digital news site by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. By Antonio Mejias-Rentas | Edited by Pilar Marrero Juan Dalmau Ramirez, Puerto Rico Independence Party (PIP) candidate for governor, traveled nearly 4,000 miles from San Juan to Seattle to meet with members of the boricua diaspora in Washington state, in the Pacific Northwest. Thats likely the furthest a Puerto Rican candidate has reached to speak with his compatriots, but Dalmau didnt just travel there to get out the vote for his gubernatorial bid. He sought support for a political project that is much more far-reaching than a simple election. During a speech last month at Seattle University School of Law, Dalmau discussed the political status of a country invaded by the United States in 1898 during the Spanish-American War and converted in 1952 to a commonwealth or Free-Associated State (Estado Libre Asociado in Spanish). This status gave Puerto Rico its own government but not control of its defense, borders, coin, or diplomatic relations. The candidate went on to describe Puerto Rico as a colony subjected to the whims of Congress and the Puerto Rican people as a nation with a history and characteristics of its own, deserving of sovereignty. Later, at a junte or social gathering with a small group of the 48,000 Puerto Ricans living in Washington state, Dalmau appealed to the few boricuas who are registered to vote in Puerto Ricos November elections, to those who can have some influence over how their relatives vote in the island, and to those who could make a financial contribution to his Patria Nueva (New Homeland) campaign. Juan Dalmau speaks at Seattle University School of Law to a group of Puerto Ricans and supporters living in the diaspora. Photo by Chloe Collyer for palabraPalabra But perhaps the most important purpose of his recent visit to Seattle and other U.S. communities has been to solidify bonds with a Puerto Rican diaspora that now almost doubles the islands population and that given its ability to elect members of Congress ofavorable to the cause the independence movement recognizes as a vital force in the process of self-determination and eventual decolonization of Puerto Rico. I believe that there is a great political force in the diaspora that favors independence and sovereignty and the defense of our Puerto Rican nationality, our own identity, Dalmau said in an interview with palabra. Despite the U.S. citizenship obtained in 1917, he insisted that we are American citizens by law, but we are not Americans. We are Puerto Ricans, Latin American, Caribbean. Boricuas in the diaspora may be able to educate the U.S. political class about the fact that Puerto Rico is a colony, meaning that it is an anti-democratic regime controlled by Congress, Dalmau added. Audience members raise the Puerto Rican flag, including the black flag, a symbol of resistance and hope, in support of Juan Dalmau as he lectures on Puerto Rican sovereignty at Seattle University School of Law. Photo by Chloe Collyer for palabraPalabra According to Dalmau, Democratic and progressive legislators are those most likely to support the idea that reparation to the harm done by colonialism is not annexation. His message counters the argument of those on the annexation side who say that for Puerto Ricans, who cannot vote in U.S. presidential or congressional elections, the only way to reach equity is to become a state. Jenaro Abraham, a professor of political science at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, says that Puerto Ricans in the diaspora have a great responsibility regarding decolonization because of the privileges of living in the ruling country, with more access to political resources and power. We have the power to move members of Congress all the power to push the political buttons on this side of the pond, in that direction, said Abraham, who serves as vice president of Diaspora PIP, a U.S. affiliate of Puerto Ricos independence party. According to census data, there are nearly 6 million Puerto Ricans living in the 50 states and Washington, D.C., (practically twice the population of Puerto Rico), largely concentrated in Florida, New York, and other northeastern states, where their votes could be decisive in some races. After his talk at the Seattle University School of Law, Juan Dalmau meets at a local brewery in Seattle, Washington with community members to speak one-on-one about the issues facing Puerto Rico. Photo by Chloe Collyer for palabraPalabra According to the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY), more than 4 million boricuas were eligible to vote in the U.S. in 2019. Boricua voters represented 1.7% of the national electorate, but their presence was higher in states like Connecticut (7.9) or Pennsylvania (3.2). In Pennsylvania, a key state in U.S. presidential elections, almost 500,000 Puerto Ricans comprise the third-largest concentration in the diaspora. Joe Bidens presidential campaign has increased efforts in that community, which traditionally voted Democratic. In Florida, with more than 1.2 million Puerto Ricans, Biden received 68% of the boricua vote in 2020. But in the states central region, which has the largest concentration of new Puerto Rican residents, Trump received 32%, an impressive increase of 11 points compared to 2016. Florida is key to a Republican triumph, and this year, in what is expected to be a close race, the Puerto Rican communitys influence there may be more decisive than ever. Dalmau may have not encountered a huge diaspora in Seattle, but he was greeted in the city by one of the countrys most liberal and progressive societies. His stay included a visit to the office of Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal, who leads the Progressive Caucus and who voted for the first version of the Puerto Rico Status Act in 2022. Stuck in a committee with little to no possibility of getting a vote in this congressional session, the bill proposes a binding plebiscite, which would force the United States to adhere to the voters decision. Although Puerto Ricans have voted on their status six times since 1967, this would be the first referendum called by Congress and not the Puerto Rican government. In the proposed plebiscite, Puerto Ricans would choose one of three options: independence, sovereignty in free association with the United States, or statehood. In a 2021 interview, Dalmau said he met that year with Democrats Nydia Velazquez and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, two prominent boricua members of Congress from New York who worked on the bill. Although Dalmau gave his tacit approval, he warned in an editorial the following year that the binding plebiscite destined the bill to fail. Gracias a @aocenespanol por recibirnos en el dia de hoy en su oficina en Washington DC, y por la oportunidad de dialogar sobre temas urgentes para los puertorriquenos como la descolonizacion, la autosuficiencia y autogestion comunitaria, justicia ambiental, y cambio climatico. pic.twitter.com/tj75InnEtR The Puerto Rican Alliance (PRA) (@pra_puertorico) May 18, 2023 The clause that forces Congress to accept the plebiscites result constitutes the proverbial poison pill, he wrote. The decolonization plan proposed by the PIP is a status assembly where Puerto Ricans choose delegates to represent non-territorial and non-colonial status formulas, Dalmau told palabra. The delegates would go to Congress, and the legislative body would speak on the viability of each of the options and determine what each side would be held to in all of the possible scenarios. Once Congress responds to our call to action, Dalmau went on, Let Puerto Ricans decide on a status, with full understanding, once and for all. Ramon Miranda Beltran after Juan Dalmau's speech at Seattle University School of Law. Photo by Chloe Collyer for palabraPalabra Luis Ponce Ruiz is co-founder of Boricuas Unidos en la Diaspora (BUDPR), an organization created in 2017 to kindle a discussion of Puerto Ricos colonial status in the United States. The group organized Dalmaus Seattle visit, along with Diaspora PIP. Ponce believes that participation in U.S. politics by diaspora Puerto Ricans is essential to the decolonization process. The more we speak to politicians and participate from within the inside of the monster, and we do it from a pro-independence or sovereignist point of view, [the more] well be knocking down myths, changing narratives, impacting a very powerful group of people who, at some point, will decide on the future of Puerto Rico, Ponce said. To pretend that the future of Puerto Rico will be resolved without the interference of Congress, which has plenary powers over Puerto Rico, is a fantasy, he concluded. In Seattle, Dalmau emphasized that neither of the two parties that have governed Puerto Rico since the second half of the 20th century received more than 33% of the vote in 2020. That year, the PIP obtained almost 14% (a dramatic increase over the 3% Dalmau got in 2012) and the Citizens Victory Movement (Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana MVC) party got a similar percentage. For this electoral cycle, the PIP and MVC have forged an unprecedented alliance in which both political parties will rally behind a single candidate in several races. That makes Dalmau the pro-independence candidate in almost seven decades most likely to win. Our moment has arrived, Dalmau proclaimed to applause during his Seattle speech. But a win for Dalmau depends on much more than just the total of the PIP and MVC votes, argues island academic and analyst Cesar J. Perez Lizasuain. Politics dont allow simplistic arithmetic, added Perez, explaining that the MVCs support has eroded since 2020 for a number of reasons. He also said that some of that partys most liberal proposals are rejected by the most traditional sectors of the PIP. Its imperative that if the PIP wants to present itself as a true winning option which I think it can be it has to also transcend the limited borders currently drawn by the alliance with the MVC, he added. It must also look for a way to appeal to other sectors of the electorate, to which Victoria Ciudadana does not. Dalmaus Seattle visit is the latest in a series of trips that the charismatic, 50-year-old politician has taken to communities with boricua presence in the United States. In recent months hes met with diaspora groups in Illinois, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, and Dalmaus agenda includes marching in New Yorks Puerto Rican Day Parade in June. Dalmaus reaching out to the diaspora contrasts with Vice President Kamala Harris visit to Puerto Rico in March, a clear intent to sway Puerto Rican voters in the diaspora towards the Biden-Harris campaign. Just like residents of Puerto Rico can influence how their relatives in the diaspora vote, Puerto Ricans living in the United States can help determine who wins the islands elections. Two Washington residents, Nathanyel Nieves (left) and Heather Street, pose after discussing with Juan Dalmau the issues affecting Puerto Ricans living on and off the island. Photo by Chloe Collyer for palabraPalabra There are no hard numbers of how many diaspora boricuas are eligible to vote in Puerto Rico. An electoral code adopted in 2020 says that a voter must have permanent residence in Puerto Rico and not be registered to vote in any other U.S. jurisdiction. According to data from Puerto Ricos State Electoral Commission (CEE, in Spanish), there were 6,806 absentee ballot applications in 2020. Jo Cosme, 35, is a multidisciplinary artist who moved to Seattle in 2018 after being displaced by the hurricanes of the year before. She said that she already voted for Juan Dalmau in 2020 and, along with a small group of compatriots with which she lives, plans to return to Puerto Rico to vote for him again in November. Hes the only one offering a change, said Cosme, who added that she believes her vote is more useful in Puerto Rico than in Seattle. Were all tired of the same old thing, and Dalmau is speaking about all the things that we have been thinking about; that need to change. Friends gather at a table filled with traditional Puerto Rican food during the junte, or social gathering, that followed Juan Dalmau's speech at Seattle University School of Law. Photo by Chloe Collyer for palabraPalabra According to Mayra Rodriguez, an accountant from San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, who has spent the last 10 years in Seattle, Dalmaus speech was an excellent form of explaining Puerto Ricos colonial problem. The 62-year-old, pro-independence leftist, said that Puerto Ricos status influences how she looks at U.S. politics. Although she voted for Biden in 2020, this year she is considering Cornel Wests independent bid. We have to break with [old] structures and seek candidates who are positioned with our suffering and our colonial problem, Rodriguez said. Nathanyel Nieves is a 28-year-old musician, the son of a Puerto Rican father and an African American mother, who has lived with his family in Tacoma, Washington, since he was a child. He said he will not vote for Biden, given his support of the Israeli government in the Gaza conflict. Nieves used an obscene term to refer to Trump. Nathanyel Nieves proudly shows off his tattoo of the Puerto Rican flag. Photo by Chloe Collyer for palabraPalabra Nieves said he is one hundred percent pro-independence and a member of the Diaspora Palante collective, which proposes sovereignty and a socialist government. The musician arrived at the junte dressed in the colors of the Puerto Rican flag and recalled how, as a child, he held on to his boricua identity to survive in an environment where he was the only person of color. The best thing that Puerto Ricans in the diaspora can do, says Nieves, is to educate Puerto Ricans on the island about the social ills suffered by many of their compatriots in the United States. Those on the island who may not know how things work, how this country is run, he said. Why we cannot be the 51st state. Its up to us to really uplift the voices on the island, to show that. ---- Antonio Mejias-Rentas is a longtime Puerto Rican and bilingual journalist who has lived and worked in Los Angeles for more than 40 years. As a Hispanic Link columnist and entertainment editor at La Opinion for two decades, he chronicled the booming U.S. Latino arts and entertainment scene. As managing editor at Boyle Heights Beat during the last 10 years, he mentored teen journalists and managed the web page for that community news outlet in an East Los Angeles barrio. He is a former NAHJ board member and former NAHJ-LA president. Retired in February, he still has some stories to tell. @lataino Pilar Marrero is a journalist and author with extensive experience in covering social and political issues in the Latino community. As a disinformation monitor for the National Conference on Citizenships Algorithmic Transparency Institute, she has been tracking COVID-19 misinformation, the anti-vaccine movement, and politics. Pilar is also an Associate Editor for Ethnic Media Services in San Francisco, a Spanish-language content partnerships adviser for The Marshall Project, and a consulting producer for 187, the Rise of the Latino Vote, a documentary by the Public Media Group of Southern California which premiered in 2020. @PilarMarrero Chloe Collyer (they/them) is a nonbinary photographer, journalist, and 5th-generation Seattle resident whose work is deeply connected to the history and marginalized communities of the Pacific Northwest. Chloe is a natural documentarian whose toolkit includes 15 years behind the camera, an AA in Commercial Photography, and seven years of experience working as a photojournalist and photo editor. For the past decade, Chloe has taught photography to all ages while freelancing for editorial clients across the United States. @Chloetry An obscure political group that has pumped at least $3.25 million into ads attacking Susheela Jayapal, a former Multnomah County commissioner running for Congress, released a much-anticipated federal filing disclosing its April donors on Monday. The form lists no donors or donations. That means Voters for Responsive Government, which formed as a political action committee in April, must have taken in all of the donations fueling its multi-million dollar campaign against Jayapal in the three weeks before the election past the April 30 deadline that would have required the group to disclose its backers before Oregons May 21 primary. Jayapal is facing state Rep. Maxine Dexter, Gresham City Councilor Eddy Morales and attorney Michael Jonas in the Democratic primary for the 3rd Congressional District, a seat long held by retiring U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer. It is despicable and the height of hypocrisy that a group called Voters for Responsive Government would use loopholes (to) ensure Oregon voters dont know who is behind their $3 million of smears and unfounded lies, Andrea Cervone, Jayapals campaign manager, said in a statement on Monday evening. To put its $3.25 million into perspective, the candidates have raised and spent about $600,000 to $900,000 apiece for their own campaigns. Voters for Responsive Government must have received more than $1 million in the first two days of May. On May 2, the political group paid just over $1 million for ads against Jayapal. It has since made several more media buys against the candidate, funding commercials and mailers accusing Jayapal of poor leadership when she was on the Multnomah County Commission. The negative ads are incendiary and somewhat misleading. They attempt to pin the failings of the Multnomah County Commission and its powerful chair on Jayapal alone. Jayapal was one of five commissioners in charge of county business between 2019 and her resignation in late 2023. One flyer shows a picture of caged dogs and draws from The Oregonian/OregonLives coverage of neglect at the Multnomah County animal shelter while Jayapal was on the commission. Another says Jayapal and the county commission gave crack pipes, straws and tin foil to drug addicts, in response to the area drug crisis. In fact, the countys plan to provide smoking supplies to fentanyl and meth users as a method of harm reduction never happened before it was put on hold last summer. And the problems at the county animal shelter existed long before Jayapal joined the commission. Cary Davidson, a California lawyer who is listed as the treasurer for the PAC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sami Edge covers higher ed and politics for The Oregonian. You can reach her at sedge@oregonian.com or (503) 260-3430. Three New York donors, including former New York City Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg, contributed the vast majority of the $1.4 million that the 314 Action Fund raised in April, while it spent heavily to back doctor Maxine Dexters campaign to represent Portland in Congress. The nationally focused fund, which is named for the first three digits of pi and backs liberal scientists for Congress, spent $2 million in April, 85% of that to boost Dexter, a Democratic state lawmaker from Northwest Portland. In all, it has spent at least $2.2 million to back her, federal campaign finance disclosures show. New federal filings disclosed Monday show that Bloomberg, investor Robert Granieri and Sesame Street creator Joan Ganz Cooney collectively gave two-thirds of the money the 314 fund raised last month. Bloomberg gave $500,000, Granieri $350,000 and Cooney $100,000. Two of those big donors are strong political supporters of Israel, a thread that carries through from individual contributions directly to Dexters campaign. Granieri donated $250,000 last October to the United Democracy Project, an affiliate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and is a major Republican donor. Bloomberg, a former Democratic candidate for president who gives big to causes including gun safety, has also cast himself as an ally of Israel. Federal filings show Cooney has no recent history of funding pro-Israel political groups. Cooney donates to Democrats. Granieris $6.2 million in very large donations dating back to 2021 have gone primarily to a political committee that supports electing LGBTQ+ friendly Republicans and to the failed presidential campaign of Republican Nikki Haley. He also gave $500,000 a PAC associated with Emilys List, which works to elect pro-choice Democratic women. The 314 donor revelations are significant because Dexters top opponents have accused 314 Action Fund of being a front for Republican and pro-Israel donors undermining them in the campaign. In early May, former Multnomah County Commissioner Susheela Jayapal and Gresham City Councilor Eddy Morales accused Dexter of engaging in a dishonest and cynical ploy to obscure the donors propping up her campaign. The 314 Action Fund did not have to disclose its newest donors until Monday, one day before the primary election. Dexter has defended her support from the 314 Action Fund, which has for several years spent to support liberal candidates with training in science, medicine and related fields. Shaughnessy Naughton, president of the 314 fund, said in a statement on Monday, We are an organization that supports Democratic scientists to public office, and were proud to have the support of engineer and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Michael Bloomberg. Sami Edge covers higher education and politics for The Oregonian. You can reach her at sedge@oregonian.com or (503) 260-3430. Turnout in Oregons primary election inched a hair above 20% by the end of the workday Monday, when slightly more than 24 hours remained for voters to get their ballots back to elections offices, the state reported. That suggests that it would be a stretch, but not out of the question, for final voter turnout in this springs primary to come close to the 38% level registered in 2022. But its crystal clear most registered voters all of whom were mailed ballots they could send back postage free wont do so. Thats despite numerous high-profile races, ranging from highly contested, high dollar races for Democratic nominations for Congress to significant contests for secretary of state and attorney general. Even nonaffiliated and minor party voters can decide nonpartisan races for county commissions, county clerks and district attorneys and help make the call on money measures. OREGON ELECTION 2024: Live Results Page | Election Page At the close of business Monday, county elections officials reported they had collected ballots from 20.2% of registered voters. That compared to the 2022 report as of days end Monday of 22.2%. But the Monday figure doesnt necessarily include all of the perhaps 200,000-plus ballots that poured into elections offices from Friday afternoon through the end of Monday, either from being physically dropped off by voters or being sent by U.S. mail. Election workers in some counties needed more time to process them all. Oregon has more than 3 million registered voters, 33% of them Democrats, 24% Republicans and 36% not affiliated with any party. (The rest are registered with other small parties, meaning they vote only in nonpartisan races along with unaffiliated voters.) If tradition follows, voters will turn in more ballots today than on any other day of the nearly three-week period when votes can be cast. In 2022, for example, fully one-third of all votes cast were on ballots turned in on Election Day, more than 320,000 in all. Mondays preliminary figures indicated Clackamas County voters had the highest ballot return rates in the Portland area, at 20.4%. Thats perhaps not surprising, given that the county has two highly competitive countywide races, for county chair and a seat on the county commission. In addition, nearly all Clackamas County Democratic voters have the opportunity to weigh in on one of the hottest congressional primary races in the country, to decide whether state Rep. Janelle Bynum of Happy Valley or attorney and engineer Jamie McLeod-Skinner of rural Deschutes County will try this fall to unseat first-term Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, also of Happy Valley. The balance of power in the U.S. House will be at stake, which helps explain why millions of dollars from outside Oregon have poured in to help shape voters impressions of the two Democrats. Voters have until their local post office closes to get their ballots in the mail and until 8 p.m. to drop their ballots in an official drop box. Any ballot mailed on or before Election Day will be counted as long as it reaches elections offices within the next seven days. For a list of places to drop ballots, check the county pages: Multnomah County, Clackamas County and Washington County. Portland area voters also can track their ballot after its submitted. For outside the metro area, heres a list of all ballot drop-off sites across the state. If you have other questions, here is how to locate or phone the Portland area election offices: Multnomah County: 1040 S.E. Morrison St., 503-988-8683, multco.us/elections Washington County: 2925 N.E. Aloclek Drive, Hillsboro, 503-846-5800, washingtoncountyor.gov/elections Clackamas County: 1710 Red Soils Court, Oregon City, 503-655-8510, clackamas.us/elections And be sure to look for results of all the key races starting just after 8 p.m. on OregonLive.com. Betsy Hammond oversees coverage of state politics and government as well as education, Portland City Hall and homelessness. Reach her at betsyhammond@oregonian.com or follow her at @OregonPolEds Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe Multnomah Falls Oregons tallest waterfall and one of the most popular natural attractions in the state will soon be crawling with visitors, who will once again need a permit to get a close-up look. Timed-entry permits are back for the 2024 season, required daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., between May 24 and Sept. 2, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Theres no shortage of less-than-upbeat portraits of Portland in the national media these days, but a recent Today show segment spotlighted the Rose City as a top destination for solo travelers this summer. On the May 17 Today 3rd Hour, Travel + Leisure editor-in-chef Jacqui Gifford shared some suggestions with hosts Craig Melvin, Sheinelle Jones and Dylan Dreyer. Gifford began by advising solo travelers to be prepared, do research about where they were visiting, stay connected by letting family and friends know where they were going, and to embrace the freedom of solo travel. Dreyer asked Gifford what a good destination might be for those who are craving a little bit of adventure. We are suggesting Portland, Oregon, Gifford said. Portlands a great city. She mentioned singled the great food scene, creative culture, the amazing coffee scene, and its a beautiful, walkable downtown. Gifford went on to praise the monthly First Thursday art events, and said, Its also great for nature and adventure. This is the warmer season, not the rainy season, so if you want to take a road trip, go on the historic Columbia River Highway, and see the Columbia River Gorge, as well as what they call Waterfall Alley, the series of waterfalls that includes Multnomah Falls. For hotels, Gifford recommended The Hoxton, which is located in Old Town. Gifford mentioned that rooms start from $100 a night, and the property includes two restaurants on site, a speakeasy and lots of cool local art. The other solo travel destinations Gifford discussed in the segment were Greenpoint, New York, and Dallas, Texas. Kristi Turnquist covers features and entertainment. Reach her at 503-221-8227, kturnquist@oregonian.com or @Kristiturnquist Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe The best campground on the West Coast is in Oregon, according to a new ranking from camping website The Dyrt. The Dyrt, which bills itself as the most active camping community in the world, put together a list of the best campgrounds in the U.S., organized by region. Oregon had three campgrounds on the Pacific regional top 10 list. Bay Point Landing in Coos Bay was The Dyrts overall No. 1 pick for best campground in the Pacific region Washington, Oregon and California. Bay Point reached the top spot in part because of what the ranking called a menu of luxuries way beyond the usual camping experience that includes a hot tub, heated pool, wine tastings, yoga, hiking tours. The campground has ocean views and is about 30 miles south of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation area. A view from the Cape Trail at Cape Lookout State Park.Jamie Hale/The Oregonian Cape Lookout State Park, also on the Oregon coast near Netarts, came in at No. 4. The ranking raved about Cape Lookouts beautiful sunsets and called it hard to beat for convenient camping with super-easy beach access. A kayaker paddles out onto Timothy Lake in the Mount Hood National Forest.Jamie Hale/The Oregonian Hoodview Campground, near Timothy Lake in the Mount Hood National Forest, was ranked No. 7. Lakeside camping with views of Mount Hood, an extensive trail system and access to the fabled Pacific Crest Trail earned Hoodview its spot in the top 10. Looking for an adventure east of the Cascades? In 2023, travel website Trips to Discover ranked central Oregons Bivy Campground at Smith Rock State Park as the most beautiful campground in Oregon. Julie Evensen covers trending topics and popular culture. She can be reached at jevensen@oregonian.com or @juliecevensen on Twitter and @julieevensen on Threads. Our journalism needs your support. Subscribe today to OregonLive.com. Billerud Will Not Proceed with Plans to Convert Escanaba Mill to Cartonboard Production May 21, 2024 - Billerud's Board of Directors has decided to not proceed with plans to convert its Escanaba mill to cartonboard production. Instead, the company will target to shift its product mix gradually towards packaging materials in North America with a moderate investment level. "After in-depth feasibility studies, evaluations, and supplier discussions, we have concluded that the projected return on investment is not sufficiently attractive to proceed with the conversion of Escanaba to cartonboard production," said Ivar Vatne, President and CEO of Billerud. Billerud began a feasibility study in the latter part of 2022 to examine the potential of converting its paper mill in Escanaba, Michigan, to the production of cartonboard. In addition, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer on January 31, 2023 signed legislation approving the Michigan Economic Development Corporation's (MEDC) appropriation of up to $200 million in funding to support the company's plans to convert the Escanaba mill. Vatne continued, "During the process, conditions have changed and the cost of equipment and services necessary to transform the operations have greatly increased. Instead, we will pursue a higher returning and more moderate investment strategy for our North American mills going forward. "The long-term market outlook for paper and packaging material in North America is promising. With better-than-expected machine flexibility we see great potential to diversify our product portfolio towards packaging grades fully in line with our strategy," Vatne concluded. Billerud said that it will continue to serve the North American markets with its high quality cartonboard produced at its European mills. Costs of around SEK 200 million for the US transformation program will be recognized in the 2024 second quarter result, reported as an item affecting comparability, the company added. Editor's note: In March of 2022, Billerud acquired Ohio-based Verso Corporation. The acquisition included Verso's production operations in Escanaba and Quinnesec, Michigan, and Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. About the Escanaba Mill The Escanaba Mill, with 860 employees, has the capacity to produce 660,000 tons per year of coated sheets, coated web, coated digital and inkjet, and label paper. The mill's 2,000-acre site has a kraft pulp mill, a refiner mechanical pulp mill, three paper machines, a pulp dryer, three off-machine blade coaters, six supercalenders and six winders. Escanaba is a fully integrated mill, producing its own wood chips, pulp and power. Billerud provides paper and packaging materials that challenge conventional packaging for a sustainable future. The company has production units in Sweden, USA, and Finland. SOURCE: Billerud On May 4, an Army sergeant gave his older sibling the "absolute best surprise" on her wedding day. Brother Surprises His Older Sister on Her Wedding Day William Watson took leave to travel to American Fork, Utah, for his sister Helena Morgan's special day. Morgan originally thought her younger brother would not be able to show up at the wedding. In a viral TikTok video, Morgan shared the heartening surprise of her baby brother getting 36 hours of leave to fly across the country and accompany her down the aisle, specifying the best day of her life with a remarkable surprise. The emotional moment was captured as Watson walked into a hair salon, where Morgan sat holding Starbucks drinks. Astonished with joy at the sight of her brother, she gasped, covering her mouth and tearing up before sharing a fervent hug. Reflecting on the situation, Morgan revealed that due to her belief that her brother couldn't show up, she had arranged for a cardboard cutout of him to be present at the ceremony. Recalling the tender moment, she mentioned her brother's gesture of bringing Starbucks for Robyn, his fiancee, whom Morgan had expected to have DoorDash Starbucks. Furthermore, Morgan shared another TikTok video displaying behind-the-scenes snapshots from her wedding day. She conveyed appreciation for her brother's support, mentioning how he helped her get ready and gave comforting encouragement before they walked down the aisle. She also recognized the presence and support of his fiancee throughout the day. Read Also : Rhode Island Couple's Unique Clam Discovery Leads to Wedding Dad Participates in Staged Wedding to Walk Her Daughter Down the Aisle Ruthie Fonseca and her father, Julio, were extremely close, talking daily about their lives and family matters. Julio, a clinical psychologist from Puerto Rico, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in August 2018 following a family vacation, crushing Ruthie. "The first thing that came to mind was fear. I couldn't imagine life without my dad, and in an instant, that changed," Ruthie, the owner and lead wedding content creator at Julious Daughters. Julio underwent surgery shortly after his diagnosis on September 27, but doctors quickly discovered the cancer had spread. Ruthie, who worked at a bridal salon, couldn't envision her wedding without her dad walking her down the aisle. Determined not to let cancer take that experience away, she planned a special photo shoot with him. With dresses borrowed from Justin Alexander and help from friends at Nuva Photography, they staged the shoot at Rollins College shortly before Christmas. Ruthie wore her mom's wedding ring as her "something old" and was nervous, wanting the moment to be perfect. This shoot was the only time her dad would see her as a bride. Julio died five months later, on May 29, 2019. Ruthie later shared a TikTok video of the shoot, which went vigorous, getting over 200,000 views and 1,000 comments. She elucidated that it was a way to honor her dad and wrestle with grief, hoping her experience might give hope and inspiration to others. Despite being single, Ruthie believes her dad is still helping her find the right partner and plans to use the photos to honor him on her wedding day. Earlier this year, Republicans in Alabama approved a law to safeguard in vitro fertilization (IVF) after a court ruling that stopped the medications in the conservative state. They presented it as a temporary solution, vowing to address the matter more comprehensively before the legislative session ended. Despite this assurance, no further action was taken before the GOP-controlled Legislature deferred this week, ahead of its scheduled May 20 deadline. Alabama Republicans Presented Temporary Remedy on IVF Issue After signing the bill in March, Alabama GOP Governor Kay Ivey called it a "short-term measure" and indicated that more work would be needed. State Representative Terri Collins, who sponsored the bill, expressed during debates that the passing of the legislation would be a good time to assess and potentially amend the laws, considering options like a constitutional amendment or other adjustments. The issue arose when Alabama's Supreme Court ruled in February that embryos are considered children, leading IVF clinics to halt services and causing a national outcry. Former President Donald Trump urged a swift resolution, prompting lawmakers to draft and pass a bill quickly. However, the bill only offered civil and criminal immunity to those providing IVF services and did not address whether frozen embryos have the same rights as children under state law. Despite bipartisan support, many lawmakers were disappointed with the bill's limitations. Two of the state's three major IVF clinics resumed services after the bill's passage, but the Center for Reproductive Medicine at Mobile Infirmary, the clinic involved in the lawsuit that led to the court's decision, decided to halt services permanently by the end of the year due to concerns over future litigation. Republican leaders, including Collins, did not address why the issue wasn't revisited during the 2024 session. A spokesperson for Governor Ivey stated that her office would continue to monitor the situation and emphasized the March legislation's role in reassuring clinics about resuming IVF services. During the legislative debates, Democrats proposed measures to explicitly state that embryos outside the uterus are not considered unborn children and even suggested a constitutional amendment to clarify this. However, none of these proposals advanced. Reproductive rights groups criticized the Republicans for not providing a long-term solution. Betsy Campbell from RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association called for legislation that scientifically defines the status of embryos and stressed the need for lawmakers to address the issue comprehensively. Anti-Abortion Activists Strategizing Prolonged Battle Against IVF Anti-abortion activists have spent decades working to overturn Roe v. Wade and are now strategizing a prolonged battle against in vitro fertilization (IVF). Following a recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling deeming frozen embryos as children, conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation are aiming to persuade both GOP officials and evangelical communities that IVF raises serious moral concerns and should be restricted, similar to their efforts against abortion. They plan to appeal to evangelical denominations to take a strong stance against IVF, hoping to reshape conservative Christian views and influence legislation. Despite IVF's widespread popularity, these groups seek new regulations, such as limiting embryo creation and banning certain procedures. However, they face challenges in convincing evangelical circles and GOP lawmakers, many of whom support IVF. Despite some initial success in certain states and among some Republicans, changing the national discourse on IVF may prove more challenging than the anti-abortion movement. In March, a teen from Pennsylvania had to be resuscitated after going into cardiac arrest triggered by drinking Panera Bread's highly caffeinated Charged Lemonade, according to a lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania, shortly after Panera declared it was discontinuing the conentious drink. This is at least the fourth one against Panera, with former lawsuits indicating two deaths and one woman's permanent health concerns to the drink. Pennsylvania Teen Experienced Cardiac Arrest After Drinking Charged Lemonade Panera has refused any misconduct in legal records and did not answer questions about the recent lawsuit. The lawsuit states that Luke Adams, 18, who had no known health problems, purchased a chicken sandwich and a large Charged Lemonade on March 9 in Monroeville. That evening, while at a movie theater, Adams became not responsive, making unusual sounds, according to a friend. Two nurses and a cardiologist in the theater executed CPR and used a defibrillator to resuscitate him. Dr. Andrew Pogozelski, who has treated Adams since, credited the swift actions of those in the theater for his survival. Adams experienced two seizures following his hospitalization, which medical notes suggested could be linked to caffeine intake from the Charged Lemonade. Adams, a high school junior, expressed feeling "extremely lucky" to have survived, having been intubated during his hospital stay. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette stated his circumstances days before Panera declared the stoppage of Charged Lemonade. The drink contains caffeine from numerous sources, including guarana extract. Lawsuits have labeled it a "dangerous energy drink," linking it to the deaths of Sarah Katz, a University of Pennsylvania student, and Dennis Brown, a Florida man. Another lawsuit claims it caused permanent cardiac injuries in Lauren Skerritt from Rhode Island. The Food and Drug Administration states that up to 400 milligrams of caffeine per day is safe for healthy adults. Following the lawsuits, Panera increased warnings about the drink's caffeine content, advising moderation and not recommending it for children, caffeine-sensitive individuals, or pregnant or nursing women. Panera also moved Charged Lemonade behind the counter and updated its nutrition information to reflect its caffeine content. Read Also: Army Sergeant Surprises His Older Sister on Her Wedding Day by Walking Down the Aisle Pennsylvania Teen's Mother Describes the Ordeal as Traumatizing Adams' doctors found no structural abnormalities or underlying conditions in his heart, leading them to implant a subcutaneous defibrillator for future protection against life-threatening heart rhythms. Adams' mother, Lisa Feyes, an emergency room nurse, described the ordeal as traumatizing. Panera declined to comment on whether previous lawsuits influenced the decision to phase out Charged Lemonade, attributing the decision to a "recent menu transformation." Feyes expressed relief at the drink's discontinuation, hoping no other parent would experience a similar situation. Adams' lawsuit seeks damages and accuses Panera of negligence and recklessness in the drink's design, marketing, and promotion. Elizabeth Crawford, representing Adams and other plaintiffs, argued that the product should have been removed from shelves earlier, stating that warnings were insufficient and the incident was preventable. She emphasized the unexpected and traumatic nature of the event for Adams and his family. An Illinois car crash has left a Glenbrook South High School student, Marko Niketic, dead after immediately succumbing to injuries. Niketic, 17, a high school senior, lost his life in a devastating car crash caused by a drunk driver, while his passenger, his 16-year-old girlfriend, was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries. The incident occurred in Glenview, Illinois, and has shaken the Glenbrook South High School community as they prepare to honor Marko at their upcoming graduation ceremony. Illinois High School Senior Killed Taeyoung Kim, aged 21, faced serious charges following a tragic incident on Mother's Day. According to the Glenview Police Department's statement, Kim allegedly caused the death of Marko Niketic, a senior at Glenbrook South High School, due to his actions while driving a 2021 Ford Mustang earlier that day. The charges against Kim, included two counts of aggravated DUI causing death, reckless homicide, aggravated DUI causing great bodily harm, reckless driving, speeding, driving without lights when required, driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, and improper lane usage. Reports indicated that the fatal crash occurred at approximately 11 p.m. when Kim's vehicle, traveling at a high speed, collided with Marko's near an intersection. Tragically, Marko lost his life at the scene, while passengers from both vehicles sustained critical injuries and were rushed to nearby hospitals. Kim himself suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was subsequently hospitalized. Glenview police continue their investigation into the circumstances surrounding the accident. One of the passengers in Niketic's vehicle was identified as his girlfriend, who suffered severe injuries including a brain bleed and a broken pelvis. Following his arrest on Friday evening, Kim faced a bond court hearing on Saturday, where he was ordered to remain in custody. He was charged with reckless homicide, aggravated DUI causing death and great bodily harm, reckless driving, speeding, DUI with a blood alcohol concentration over .08, DUI involving drugs, improper lane usage, and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident. Drunk Driver's Legal Proceedings During Taeyoung Kim's court hearing, details from the bond court proffer revealed that a search warrant had been executed on the vehicle's black box. The data showed Kim's car was traveling at an alarming 131 miles per hour just 2.5 seconds before impact, with the recorded speed at the time of the collision registering at 122 miles per hour. Notably, the listed speed limit on Lake Avenue in that area stands at 35 miles per hour. At the time of the incident, Kim possessed a valid driver's license and had no prior criminal record apart from two minor traffic violations in Lake County from 2021, one for speeding and the other for disregarding a traffic control device, for which he received supervision. During Kim's initial court appearance, Judge David Kelly characterized the crash as a fast, furious, and deadly accident. The judge remarked on Kim's deliberate use of his vehicle as a weapon, highlighting a blatant disregard for human life. Kim's attorney, James Kuhn, conveyed his client's father's sentiments, expressing sincere apologies and condolences to all the victims' families. Kuhn mentioned that Kim's father takes some responsibility for what happened, reflecting on potential lapses in supervision. Marko Niketic's obituary mournfully stated that he would be dearly missed by his Kumovi, family, and friends in both the United States and Serbia. At Marko's funeral, his father, Darko Spasojevic, remembered him as an active and cherished member of their community, emphasizing his warm personality, intelligence, and ability to bring people together. Glenbrook South High School's upcoming graduation is scheduled for June 2 at the Rosemont Theatre in Rosemont, Illinois, according to the school's website. A spokesperson from Glenbrook High School District 225 confirmed that Marko would have been among the graduating students but declined to provide further comments to the media. The family of a teen executed by Pennsylvania in 1931 for killing has filed a lawsuit looking for damages nearly a century after his demise. Black Teenager's Family Seeks Compensation After His 1931 Execution On Monday, lawyers representing Alexander McClay Williams' family declared they were suing over his killing after the vacating of his guilty sentence and the ordering of a new trial in 2022. However, Williams, who was 16 at the time of his killing, was not retried after his demise, and his record was eradicated in 2017. Williams' family has always maintained his innocence. In 2022, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer discharged the accusations against Williams, affirming he should never have been accused. "Sadly, we cannot undo the past. We cannot rewrite history to erase the egregious wrongs of our forebearers," Stollsteimer said. "However, when, as here, justice can be served by publicly acknowledging such a wrong, we must seize that opportunity." Citing Williams' unlawful guilty sentence and killing, his family has now filed a lawsuit against the state and Delaware County, looking for undefined vindictive damages. Williams, a Black teenager, was guilty after the killing of 34-year-old Vida Robare, a white house matron at the Glen Mills School for Boys, on October 3, 1930. Her ex-husband, Fred Robare, who also worked at the school, found her body. Williams was arrested and charged with stabbing Robare 47 times. Despite no witnesses and Williams not being seen at the scene, prosecutors relied on coerced confessions from the 16-year-old. The lawsuit states prosecutors ignored other evidence, such as Robare's divorce filing against her husband for "extreme cruelty." Williams was executed on June 8, 1931. Read Also: Army Sergeant Surprises His Older Sister on Her Wedding Day by Walking Down the Aisle Attorneys Representing Williams' Family Uncovered Evidence Indicating Fabrication Williams' family attorneys revealed that Sam Lemon, the great-grandson of Williams' trial attorney William H. Ridley, discovered that evidence against Williams was fabricated. In 2022, the Court of Common Pleas for Delaware County vacated Williams' guilty sentence and ordered a new trial based on this new proof. Subsequently, Stollsteimer discharged the case, according to the attorneys. Susie Williams Carter, now 94, the last surviving sibling of the family, expressed outrage at a press conference, demanding justice for her brother's wrongful execution. The lawsuit, filed by Philadelphia lawyer Joseph Marrone, targets Delaware County and the estates of two detectives and a prosecutor involved in the case. Marrone argues that Williams was unfairly targeted because of his race and received a biased trial. Governor Tom Wolf apologized for Williams' wrongful execution, and the District Attorney acknowledged the violation of the teen's constitutional rights. A judge in Delaware County vacated the conviction. Williams' family endured decades of suffering due to the wrongful conviction, with little knowledge of the truth until recent investigations by author and educator Samuel Lemon. The case sheds light on systemic injustices in the legal system, prompting calls for reform from exonerees and advocates for criminal justice reform. A 10-year-old boy, Asher Sullivan, who was swept into a storm drain while helping his family with storm remains cleanup, has been placed on life support for organ donation, as verified by his father. Despite officially dying on May 18, Asher remains on life support to facilitate the donation process, as his father, Jimmy Sullivan, declared in a Facebook post. Sullivan conveyed that continuing to be magnanimous is characteristic of Asher, who will be honored with a gathering at the hospital as a hero. 10-Year-Old Boy Swept Into a Storm Drain Asher, a fourth-grade student, was involved in the accident while playing and assisting with cleanup efforts after severe weather in Christiana, Tennessee. He was sucked into a drain by moving water and remained underground for 10 to 14 minutes before getting urgent medical attention. Despite attempts, Asher never recovered consciousness and was treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. His father, Jimmy Sullivan, who leads the Rutherford County Schools district, kept the community updated on Asher's situation through Facebook posts. The family, including Asher's mother, Kaycee Sullivan, and his brother Declan, got extensive support from the community, specifically after Declan battled cancer in 2020. Asher is defined as a happy child who enjoys traveling and outdoor activities with his family. The Sullivans are regarded as a beloved family in their neighborhood, which is populated by many Rutherford County Schools' teachers and students, numerous of whom were helping during Asher's accident. Read Also: 3 Dead Including Pregnant Woman in Severe Storms Across the Southern Region Tennessee Boy Remains on Life Support for Organ Donation Asher Sullivan was playing with other neighborhood children in the water while neighbors were clearing storm debris following severe thunderstorms on May 8. Unfortunately, Asher got caught in a storm drain and was pulled under the street. Despite attempts to save him, including life-saving measures conducted by his father, Jimmy Sullivan, who serves as the superintendent of Rutherford County Schools, Asher sustained serious brain injury due to lack of oxygen. His father shared an emotional update, revealing Asher's passing at 1:20 p.m. CT. Sullivan recounted how Asher, true to his selfless nature, decided to donate his organs, leading to his remaining life support. The family sees this act as quintessentially "Asher" and plans to honor him with an honor walk at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. The tragic accident occurred during a severe weather event in Rutherford County, marked by a rare Tornado Emergency. This same weather system caused a lightning strike that ignited a fatal house fire, claiming three lives, including that of a child and a pregnant woman, in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. Despite being critically injured and placed on life support, further brain damage was revealed by a subsequent MRI. The family made the difficult decision to let Asher go after his vitals deteriorated rapidly. Tests confirmed Asher's passing, and the family is now mourning privately, asking for prayers as they navigate life without him. Sullivan reflected on Asher's remarkable life, filled with travel, sports, and kindness, describing him as a bright soul who touched many hearts. The owner, along with three other staff members of a local New Hampshire daycare in Manchester, is now in the custody of police authorities after being accused of child endangerment. The staff voluntarily turned themselves in to the authorities after being accused of sprinkling melatonin in the food of the children they care for without the awareness and consent of their respective parents. Last week, authorities announced charges against Sally Dreckmann, 52, the owner of a daycare, along with employees Traci Innie, 51; Kaitlin Filardo, 23; and Jessica Foster, 23, all residents of Manchester. Each individual faces 10 counts related to endangering the welfare of a child, as stated in a recent police statement shared on Facebook. New Hampshire Daycare Ingests Melatonin To Kids In November, detectives received a report indicating unsafe practices at an in-home daycare in west Manchester, according to the police. The investigation revealed that the daycare staff were adding melatonin to children's food without the parents' knowledge or consent. Arrest warrants were subsequently issued for those involved. Sally Dreckmann was released on a $400 cash bail and is scheduled for arraignment on June 10. Traci Innie and Jessica Foster were released on personal recognizance bail and have court dates set for June 6. Details regarding Kaitlin Filardo's bail and court date were not available. It remains unclear whether the four defendants have retained legal representation. Attempts to contact Dreckmann, Innie, and Filardo were unsuccessful, and Foster declined to comment. The investigation, which began in November 2023, is ongoing, and police have not yet outlined the next steps. Child Endangerment Through Melatonin Intake According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the brain produces melatonin in response to darkness. This hormone plays a crucial role in regulating circadian rhythms, the body's 24-hour internal clock, and promoting sleep. While melatonin gummies and supplements are rampant in the market these days as sleep aids, these supplements often have negative side effects on children's growth and puberty. The Mayo Clinic notes that melatonin is available over the counter and is generally safe for short-term use. Unlike some sleep medications, melatonin does not typically cause dependency. The NIH advises parents to consult a healthcare provider before giving melatonin to their children, as there is a risk of accidental or intentional overdose. A 2022 study found a significant increase in reports to U.S. poison control centers involving melatonin ingestion by individuals 19 years and younger, rising from 8,337 cases in 2012 to 52,563 cases in 2021. Hospitalizations for this age group also increased during this period, with the most significant rise in cases involving intentional overdoses among teenagers and accidental overdoses in children aged 5 and under. Furthermore, parents are advised to seek guidance from a licensed healthcare provider before giving melatonin supplements to their children, despite its generally safe reputation for short-term use. This precaution is essential because over-the-counter melatonin usage can potentially expose children and teenagers to the risk of accidental or intentional overdose. I have a new article up in Meridian Magazine and I hope that youll take a look at it. In it, I recommend a book that I recently read and that I very much enjoyed: How Can We Make Sense of Evolution?: A Latter-day Saint Perspective Now let me continue on that subject for just a little bit. Although a few critics on the Peterson Obsession Board maintain that Im a young-earth creationist who completely rejects evolutionary biology, Im not. As Ive said on the multiple occasions that people have asked me how old I believe the Earth and the Universe to be, I answer that they are, respectively, 4.543 billion and 13.7 billion years old. At least, subject to revision those are my current estimates. However, I think that I tend to be quite a bit more sympathetic to the questions raised by some in the Intelligent Design movement than is the author of the book in question. That will possibly be evident from the next portion of this blog. Below, I share with you a lengthy quotation from Matti Leisola and Jonathan Witt, Heretic: One Scientists Journey from Darwin to Design (Seattle: Discovery Institute Press, 2018). Matti Leisola, DSc, is a bioengineer and former dean of Chemistry and Material Sciences at Helsinki University of Technology. He is an expert in enzymes and rare sugars, having published 140 peer-reviewed articles and won the Latsis Prize from the ETH-Zurich (the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule Zurich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology). He served for a time as the research director of Cultor, an international biotech company, co-founded the International Society of Rare Sugars, and was the founding editor of BIO-Complexity.: In the same era, the Englishman Thomas Huxley gave a talk at the Royal Geographical Society. There he told about a jelly-like matter found on the bottom of the sea. He named it Bathybius haeckeli, in honor of [Ernst] Haeckel, his fellow Darwin disciple, and suggested that a slimy layer of the stuff covered perhaps hundreds of square miles on the sea bottom. He proclaimed it the missing link between inorganic matter and organic life. In reality it was only a precipitate that was formed when alcohol was added to seawater. Darwin contributed to this tradition of imaginative origin-of-life storytelling in an 1871 letter to Joseph Hooker: It is often said that all the conditions for the first production of a living organism are now present, which could ever have been present. But if (& oh what a big if) we could conceive in some warm little pond with all sorts of ammonia & phosphoric salts, light, heat, electricity &c present, that a protein compound was chemically formed, ready to undergo still more complex changes, at the present day such matter would be instantly devoured , or absorbed, which would not have been the case before living creatures were formed. Met by such imaginative yarn-spinning it is surely reasonable to ask what does experimental science actually tell us about the origin of life, fanciful storytelling aside? Part of the answer is that, for a time, experimental science seemed to offer tentative support for the idea that life could emerge spontaneously from very humble source material. The ancient Chinese found evidence that aphids could spontaneously generate from bamboo. Documents from ancient India reference the spontaneous generation of flies from dirt. And the Babylonians concluded that canal mud could generate worms. No less a thinker than Aristotle concurred, seeing no reason to doubt these ancient testimonials. Later, in the Renaissance, the Flemish chemist and physician Jan van Helmont wrote instructions about how to get mice to emerge from pots containing moist seeds and dirty rags. But how all this could be remained a mystery. The discovery of microorganisms began to cast doubt on the idea that life regularly and easily sprang from non-life. And eventually the French Academy promised a reward to the one who could solve the puzzle. Louis Pasteur got the prize after showing with an ingenious experiment that living organisms and specifically in his case, microorganisms do not form spontaneously. Experiments in the decades that followed confirmed his findings. It was soon conventional wisdom: In the normal course of things, only life begets life. The hope of finding experimental evidence for the spontaneous formation of life has, however, not been abandoned. It was now clear that life from non-life is not part of the usual course of things, but perhaps it did belong to the realm of the unusual and long ago, and perhaps this possibility could be demonstrated in the lab. The biochemist Alexander Oparins 1924 Russian-language work The Origin of Life offered a partially testable hypothesis for how this might have happened. And John Haldane, apparently unaware of Oparins Russian-language work, offered a similar proposal in English in 1929. A generation later, in 1953, Stanley Miller put their ideas to the test. A picture of Millers equipment has been featured in practically every biology textbook since then. The public has been led to believe that thanks to Millers experiment, the problem of the origin of life has largely been solved, at least in broad outline. The 1960 declaration of famous paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson in the journal Science is representative: The consensus is that life did arise naturally from the nonliving and that even the first living things were not specially created, he wrote. The conclusion has, indeed, really become inescapable, for the first steps in that process have already been repeated in several laboratories. (21-23) Heres an interesting story: 76% of Utahns identify a religious affiliation, the largest of any state: Several denominations have grown in Beehive State in past decade Such statistics may bear some slight relationship, at least, to Utahs appallingly poor performance in recent metrics. Ive already mentioned this one, for example, but you may have missed it. In any case, you can take it as representative of my adopted states miserable record: Utah ranked the No. 1 overall state by U.S. News and World Report: Utah takes the crown for the third year in a row Please Hit Subscribe! If you have received benefit from this or any of my other 4,600+ articles, please follow this blog by signing up (with your email address) on the sidebar to the right (you may have to scroll down a bit), above where there is an icon bar, Sign Me Up!: to receive notice when I post a new blog article. This is the equivalent of subscribing to a YouTube channel. Please also consider following me on Twitter / X and purchasing one or more of my 55 books. All of this helps me get more exposure, and (however little!) more income for my full-time apologetics work. Thanks so much and happy reading! *** I am critiquing Lecture XII (pp. 299-320) in the book, Errors and Persecutions of the Roman Catholic Church, published in 1881 by J. H. Chambers & Co. (St. Louis), which is entitled, The Charge of Idolatrous Worship made against the Roman Church: Is it True? It was written by a Presbyterian: Rev. Samuel J. Niccolls, D.D. (1838-1915). He was a chaplain during the Civil War, a pastor, and moderator at the 1872 meeting of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Detroit. The organization of the Young Mens Christian Association (YMCA) owes its success largely to his influence and perseverance. Dr. Niccolls was selected to receive special honors by Princeton University in its Sesquicentennial Celebration in 1896. His words will be in blue. *** Protestants, ever since the time of the Reformation, have asserted that the worship of the church of Rome is idolatrous in its nature and tendencies. This charge constitutes one of the chief reasons of their opposition to that church. They claim that the usages of worship which prevail in it, are not only contrary to the practice of the primitive church, but that they are in direct contradiction to the positive commands of the Word of God. On the other hand, the adherents of the church of Rome have most strenuously denied this charge as slanderous in the extreme; they have complained that they have been misrepresented in this matter, and that their true belief is the very reverse of what has been charged against them. . . . If it is not true, one party is a slanderer of the church of God, and a chief reason for its existence turns out to be a lie. Very true! If it is true, the other against whom the accusation is made, is branded with guilt and dishonor. Yes, if true. The key word is if. It is proposed to set the facts of this controversy plainly and fairly before the intelligent reader, that he may judge for himself. Fair enough! Lets see what he can come up with. First of all, in order to reach a right decision, it is necessary to know what constitutes idolatry. Both Protestants and Romanists are agreed that it is a most heinous sin; that the word of God condemns it; and that idolatrous worship is hateful in the sight of God. But what is idolatry? What are the characteristics of an idolatrous worship? These questions are to be answered by the Scriptures, and by them alone. The Bible is what we both revere as Gods inspired revelation, so its where the battle must be fought. The internal act of worship consists in giving to God the supreme reverence, love and confidence of our hearts. Whatever usurps His place in the soul of man, is an idol, a false god; . . . The external act of idolatry consists in worshipping false gods, or in giving to other objects than God that homage and worship which are due to Him alone. Any form of worship which robs God of the supreme homage due Him, by ascribing divine attributes and offices to creatures; or which sets before the worshipper as the object of his trust and adoration, a being who is not God, is plainly idolatrous. It is a violation of the first commandment. We agree. But it is also taught in the Scriptures that God must not be worshipped by the use of images or pictures. This is where we start to disagree. The second commandment clearly forbids this, and stamps such worship as idolatrous. The precise thing forbidden by it, is the making of images or pictures as objects of worship, and bowing down to them and serving them, that is, performing acts of religious worship before them. The graven image of Exodus 20:4 has to do with Gods forbidding of idolatry: making a stone or block of wood or a mere image God, and worshiping it. The Jews were forbidden to have idols (like all their neighbors had), and God told them not to make an image of Him because He revealed Himself as a spirit. The KJV and RSV Bible versions use the term graven image at Exodus 20:4, but many of the more recent translations render the word as idol (e.g., NASB, NRSV, NIV, CEV). * Context makes it very clear that idolatry is being condemned. The next verse states: You shall not bow down to them or worship them (NIV, NRSV), or serve them as if they were literally God (Ex 20:5; Dt 5:9). In other words, mere blocks of stone or wood (them) are not to be worshiped, as that is gross idolatry, and the inanimate objects are not God: Revelation 9:20 (RSV) The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot either see or hear or walk; This does not absolutely preclude, however, the notion of worshiping the true God with the help of a visual aid, as I will show in due course. Idolatry is a matter of disobedience in the heart towards the one true God. We dont always need an image to have an idol. Most idols today are non-visual: money, lust for power, convenience, our own pride or intellects; there are all sorts of idols. Anything that replaces God as the most important thing in our life and the universe, is an idol. The Hebrew word translated serve includes all kinds of external homage, such as burning incense, making offerings, and kissing in token of subjection. Ill take his word for that, but the point is to what or to Whom these acts are directed. This still doesnt absolutely preclude all images and religious objects, properly used. . . . terrible judgments . . . fell upon the people whenever they attempted to worship God by images. When in the wilderness the people demanded of Aaron that he should introduce image- worship among them, their purpose was not to renounce Jehovah as their God; they only asked a symbol of Him, as the heathen had their symbols. I dont think the text teaches this at all. They werent trying to worship the true God via an image. Aaron and the mob were after something entirely different: Exodus 32:1, 4, 7-8 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, Up, make us gods, who shall go before us; . . . [4] And he received the gold at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made a molten calf; and they said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt! . . . [7] And the LORD said to Moses, Go down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves; [8] they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it . . . Thats not only rank idolatry and blasphemy, but polytheism as well. Dr. Niccolls completely misrepresents the nature of what was going on there. God said that He would blot out of His book (Ex 32:33) whoever engaged in this idolatry, and He sent a plague to judge them (Ex 33:35. This was not just using an image improperly in worship; it was much more serious: pretending that a golden calf was actually a god who had brought them out of Egypt. Dr. Niccolls vainly tries to force-fit this into a scenario that would include all religious images, and it just doesnt fly. . . . one essential mark of the true worship of Jehovah, as contrasted with idolatrous worship, was that in it no images or visible objects representing the invisible object of worship were to be used. The Jews from the time of Moses until now, have always considered the worship of the true God by images as much an act of idolatry as the worship of false gods . . . Indeed, the scriptures make little or no difference between the worshipping of God by images, and the worshipping of false gods. Both are idolatrous. This simply isnt true. Moses had worshiped God in the burning bush on Mt. Sinai (Ex 3:2-6). It was not only fire, but also called an angel of the Lord (Ex 3:2), yet also God (3:4, 6, 11, 13-16, 18; 4:5, 7-8) and the LORD (3:7, 16, 18; 4:2, 4-6, 10-11, 14) interchangeably. The wandering Hebrews worshiped Him in the pillars of fire and cloud: all images of God, by Gods own design. One of the most striking and undeniable passages about such worship-of God-through-an-image appears in the very next chapter: Exodus 33:10 And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the door of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, every man at his tent door. Note that the pillar of cloud is: 1) a creation (water, if a literal cloud); 2) visual, hence an image; and 3) thought to directly represent God Himself. Its also a supernatural manifestation, which is a major difference compared to any true idol made by the hands of men; but that would make no difference for those who mistakenly hold that any image whatsoever associated with God is impermissible. The Bible mentions a pillar of cloud and also a pillar of fire (by night), representing God (see: Ex 13:21-22; 14:24; Num 14:14; Neh 9:12, 19). The Bible specifically makes it clear that God was in the two pillars: Exodus 13:21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud . . . and by night in a pillar of fire . . . Exodus 14:24 . . . the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down upon the host of the Egyptians . . . Exodus 33:9 When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the door of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses. Numbers 12:5 And the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the tent . . . Numbers 14:14 . . . thou, O LORD, art in the midst of this people; for thou, O LORD, art seen face to face, and thy cloud stands over them and thou goest before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. Deuteronomy 31:15 And the LORD appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud . . . Psalm 99:7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; This represented God, and His people worshiped Him in the cloud, which we know with certainty from Exodus 33:10. It doesnt always state that the people worshiped God through the supernatural image-pillars, but we know from Exodus 33:8-10 that it was entirely permissible to do so (no hint of condemnation in the biblical text); certainly not idolatry. Moreover, the Jews worshiped God as represented by fire or God in the fire in an additional way: 2 Chronicles 7:1-4 When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. [2] And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORDs house. [3] When all the children of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD upon the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the earth on the pavement, and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, For he is good, for his steadfast love endures for ever. [4] Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the LORD. God Himself expressly sanctions such images (cloud and fire), and worship in conjunction with them. Therefore, not all images of God are idolatrous. Case closed. Game, set, match . . . God made Himself specially present in or near material objects, too. He states repeatedly that He is present above the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant, between the two carved cherubim (Ex 25:22; 30:6; Lev 16:2; Num 7:89; 1 Sam 4:4; 2 Sam 6:2; 2 Kg 19:15; 1 Chr 13:6; Ps 80:1; 99:1; Is 37:16; Ezek 10:4; Heb 9:5). Therefore, we are informed that the Jews would bow before the ark to pray or worship: Joshua 7:6 Then Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening . . . [proceeds to pray in 7:7-8] 1 Chronicles 16:4 Moreover he appointed certain of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the LORD, to invoke, to thank, and to praise the LORD, the God of Israel. Some of the early Calvinists were so fanatical that they smashed not only statues of saints, but also organs, stained glass, even statues of Jesus Christ and crucifixes. They ignored all the distinctions that the Bible plainly makes. We reject such clear biblical teaching at our peril. Iconoclasm (opposition to images) is a false tradition of men that was officially condemned by the Church long ago. * If, then, we find any church which in its teachings or practice, gives to men, or saints, or angels, the homage and praise which are due to God alone, we are right in calling it idolatrous; * Indeed. The mistake, however, is in claiming that the Catholic Church teaches that creatures should receive the same homage and praise as God. This is a damnable lie. Youll notice that Dr. Niccolls produces no official magisterial text along these lines, to back himself up. Theres a good reason for that: there are none. So on what does he base his charge in the first place? Just because thats what he wants to project onto Catholic worship, as if he can read our hearts and conjure up some supposed teaching of ours that is nonexistent? Thats all he has? * or if we find a church which claims to worship the living God alone, and yet uses images or symbols to represent Him, and bows down to them, and serves them, we have a right to say, that such worship is idolatrous. * No we do not, if God is being worshiped in the same way as He is in the Bible, through the symbols of cloud and fire. Those are images and symbols, too, after all. We go by the Bible on this score. Dr. Niccolls and his Presbyterians do not. Were much more biblical. They ignore things in the Bible that dont conform to their unbiblical traditions of men. * There are, in general, four things taught and practised by the church of Rome against which Protestants bring the charge of idolatry. These are the invocation of saints and angels; the worship of the Virgin Mary; the use of images in the worship of God; and the adoration of the Host. * None of these charges succeed, as I will proceed to show, as he addresses each one in turn. Ive already disposed of the third one from clear and undeniable biblical teaching. * As to the first the invocation of saints the doctrine of the Roman church, as declared by the council of Trent, is as follows: That the saints who reign together with Christ, offer to God their prayers for men; that it is good and useful suppliantly to invoke them, and to flee to their prayers, help, and assistance, on account of the benefits to be obtained from God, through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our only Redeemer and Savior. * None of those involve worship or idolatry. Its simply asking the saints to pray for us, just as we ask each other on earth to do so. This is expressly sanctioned by Jesus in his story of the rich man petitioning Abraham (Luke 16:19-31). Were not placing anyone in Gods position. As Niccolls own citation from Trent states, its on account of the benefits to be obtained from God, through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Thats not idolatry! Its shoddy, incoherent, woefully insufficient logic that claims that it is idolatry. * Saints and angels are confessedly the objects of worship in the Roman church; but a distinction is made between the worship offered to them, and to God. The worship of douleia is due to saints and angels, while that of latreia belongs to God alone. It is on this distinction that the Romanist relies to defend himself from the charge of idolatry. It has, however, been well remarked by a distinguished theologian, that this distinction is of little use. * This is laughably ridiculous. Having declared that the Catholic Church is idolatrous, he then immediately dismisses the crucial distinctions we make, which prevent the charge from possibly being made , as if they dont matter. After all, some distinguished theologian said it made no difference! See how it works? The anti-Catholic critic cant prove that we endorse rank idolatry, so he goes after our distinction between adoration of God and veneration of saints, which ought to altogether solve the problem that they have with us, by making crystal clear that it is not idolatry at all. * But in the nick of time the absurd charge is salvaged by merely proclaiming that we are bottom line lying through our teeth and that, in fact, there is no distinction. Its desperation, folks. Know lousy arguments when you see them. As a veteran of probably 1500 written debates by now, believe me, I know em when I see em: and right away, too. * Any homage, internal or external, which involves the ascription of divine attributes to its object, if that object be a creature, is idolatrous. * We agree. We completely disagree that anything in our teaching espouses this. We dont teach that any saint isnt a creature, or is omniscient or omnipotent or omnipresent, or immutable, or answers prayers on their own without God, etc. Its a lie; a bum rap. And where do these people get off making these claims; thinking that they dont have to document them from our own theology and our official books? * It is easy to say that the saints are not to be honored as God is honored, but this does not alter the case, if the homage rendered them assumes that they possess the attributes of God . . . * We dont teach this. Thats all that matters. Any layman can potentially practice it in a way that doesnt conform to the teaching. That is not the teaching itself. Heresies and cults and theologically uneducated or miseducated people butcher the Bible itself (to use but one example of countless ones) all the time. Does it follow that the Bible is to blame for that? No, of course not. Nor is our teaching to blame for those who distort it. We dont throw the baby out with the bathwater. One bad apple doesnt make all the apples in the cart bad or destroy the ideal or concept of the apple itself. * The facts are, as can readily be learned from the books of devotion in common and authorized use in the Roman church, that blessings are sought from the saints, which God alone can bestow, and that they are relied upon to obtain these blessings for their worshippers * Really? Again, we dont worship them; we honor them. I again cite Dr. Niccolls own citation from rent, as to where the answers to prayer and the blessings come from: benefits [are] obtained from God, through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our only Redeemer and Savior. This is presupposed in all such prayers or petitions. * All blessings, temporal and spiritual, are sought for at the hands of the saints. * Basically, he is attacking the concept of patron saints. But a biblical argument can be made for it. Protestants object that certain saints have special or particular influence with God, and more efficacious prayers in specific area. I dont see why. The Bible clearly teaches that different people have different levels of grace (Acts 4:33; 2 Cor 8:7; Eph 4:7; 1 Pet 1:2; 2 Pet 3:18). * From this it follows, it seems to me, that some might specialize in certain areas more so than others, according to different parts of the Body of Christ (there is much Pauline teaching on that). I dont see why this should be either controversial or objectionable. Its usually objected to because of observed excesses, while an ironclad argument against it from Scripture is rarely made. * The fact remains that The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects (James 5:16). In the larger context of that passage, James states: James 5:17-18 Elijah was a man of like nature with ourselves and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. [18] Then he prayed again and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit. Would it not follow, then, that Elijah seemed to have a particular influence over weather? Therefore, why couldnt someone ask him to pray to God about the weather, rather than someone else, since he had this record of asking for rain to cease, and it did for three and-a-half years? So he became, in effect, the patron saint of meteorological petitions. We do roughly the same in this life with friends, on the level of empathy. So, for example, if a woman has difficulty with miscarriage or difficult pregnancies or deliveries, she might go to a woman who has experienced the same thing and ask her to pray to God for her. I dont see any intrinsic difficulty here. Catholics dont ever deny anyone the ability to go straight to God. But we assert with James that certain prayers of certain people have more power (also with regard to certain specificities); therefore it is sensible to go to them as intermediaries. And this includes those in heaven, of whom Jesus said that they were more alive than we are. The Bible massively teaches that we can and should go to the most holy person we know and ask them to pray to God for us or for some cause. So once again, we are being more biblical than our Protestant critics. Thus the saints are asked to give that which God alone can bestow, We dont ask them to bestow the answer, but rather, to ask God to do so; to intercede. and as they are addressed by their worshippers from every part of the earth, We dont worship them. and by many thousands at the same hour, the mind of the worshipper must clothe them with the attributes of omniscience and omnipresence. This doesnt follow, either. See: Is All Prayer Necessarily Worship? (vs. Jordan Cooper): Including the Non-Worship Biblical Usage of I Pray You (RSV) / I Pray Thee (KJV) [3-20-24] * Saints Can Hear Millions Of Prayers? (Vs. Jordan Cooper): Including a Summary of the Extraordinary, Unfathomable Characteristics of Redeemed Human Beings in Heaven [3-20-24] * The second ground for the charge of idolatry is the worship of the Virgin Mary. . . . as the spirituality of the church declined, this feeling degenerated into a superstitious regard, and at last culminated in her worship as an object of divine honors. . . . the deification of the Virgin . . . * The burden of this slanderer (and we must conclude that he is that by now) is to prove it from our documents. Needless to say, he doesnt. He merely assumes that everyone knows this. It needs no proof. Why should I even bother arguing it if he gives no evidence that the Catholic Church actually teaches this in the first place? Some ignorant people may do it even many , but thats not the Church, and its irrelevant to comparative theology and practice. * . . . the first step was the declaration of her perpetual virginity, * I believe he [Jesus Christ] was born of the blessed Virgin, who, as well after as she brought him forth, continued a pure and unspotted virgin. (Letter to a Roman Catholic, quoted in A. C. Coulter, John Wesley, New York: Oxford University Press, 1964, 495) Were they all filthy idolaters, t00? * the last act in the series was to declare her immaculate conception * How is that making her like God? The belief is that God performed a special miracle at her conception, to make her free or original sin. That doesnt make her like God at all. It makes her like Eve before the fall of man: sinless, and like all of the angels that didnt fall and rebel against God. Angels arent God, either. They are creatures. Martin Luther believed in this, too , until he modified it a bit later in life (still thinking she was sinless). Was he an idolater as well? * She was, according to this dogma, born without the least stain of original sin, and is thus placed, as to complete sinlessness, on an equality with her adorable Son. * This is cluelessly stupid and grossly unbiblical. As I just noted, if this were true, Adam and Eve before the fall and all of the unfallen angels would be equal to Jesus, too. * Dr. Niccolls then goes on to recite the usual litany of prayers addressed to Mary for her intercession, that sound horrible to Protestant ears because they are uniformly and essentially misunderstood. Ive dealt with this several times: * Defense of Allegedly Idolatrous Marian Devotions [1-11-13] * The doctrine of the council of Trent on this point [the Mass] is, that the bread and wine are changed by the power of God into Christs body and blood. They do not represent, but they actually become the real Christ, and remain so. The consecrated wafer becomes the whole Christ body, soul and divinity. . . . This worship is given in the belief that, as the bread has been changed into the true body of Christ, * How, then, can it possibly be idolatry, if we are worshiping God Himself and not wafers or wine? It cant be, by definition, because that would require replacing God with something else, whereas we believe that the bread and wine are God after consecration. Therefore, we are consciously worshiping God in the consecrated elements. I did so yesterday at church. Martin Luther also believed in the Real Presence and in adoration of the consecrated host. * If such a change has indeed taken place, and the whole Christ is locally present in the wafer, then indeed the worship would be proper. * Exactly! And that is the bottom line. We believe in the miracle; so did Luther. Therefore it cant possibly be idolatry, precisely because we believe it to be God, not mere bread and wine, and idolatry always resides in the heart and interior disposition. If one doesnt believe in the miracle of transubstantiation or something similar (like Luther), then (obviously) they think it is bread-worship, but that cant be the case for Catholics who believe in it, by definition. * When men place before themselves a piece of bread a wafer made of flour and give to it the homage due to God alone, as the Romanist confessedly does, * This is asinine! We do not do that, and what he already wrote shows that he knows this. So why does he now go back and claim that we confessedly and supposedly give a piece of bread the homage due to God alone ? Its dishonest and deceitful! And its an utterly incoherent argument. * The arguments which are drawn from the Scriptures to defend the Romish doctrine of the Mass are contradictory, unsatisfactory, and in positive violation of well known and established laws of interpretation. * Easy to say. I provide extensive biblical arguments on my Eucharist and Sacrifice of the Mass web page. * The notion that the Lords Supper is a true sacrifice offered up for the living and the dead, is in plain violation of the teachings of the New Testament, which declare that Christs once offering up himself a sacrifice, has made a complete atonement, and by one offering he hath perfected forever those that are sanctified. It is a remembrance, a memorial of a sacrifice already made once for all, and not a repetition of that sacrifice. * We dont believe that it is a new sacrifice every Mass, but rather, a miracle by which the one historical sacrifice of Christ on the cross is supernaturally made present at each Mass. * It is also an insuperable objection to this doctrine, that it involves impossibilities and contradictions. It requires us to believe that a material object should be completely changed, and at the same time not changed. The bread remains bread, and the wine wine; and yet we are required to believe that they are something else. It requires us to disbelieve and set aside the well authenticated evidences of our senses. * See: * *** BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- China has built a mid-latitude high-frequency radar network in the country's northern regions to provide high-quality detection data for global space weather forecast and warning. The first batch of scientific detection results of the network was released at an international workshop of the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN), which opened in Beijing on Monday. The network, constructed by the National Space Science Center (NSSC) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was completed in October 2023. It's also a part of the second phase of China's Meridian Project, a space weather monitoring network comprising ground-based stations. China has made new breakthroughs in high-frequency coherent scattering radar technology and scientific research, and will deepen international cooperation in this field, said NSSC. The ionosphere is home to all the charged particles in Earth's atmosphere. It's also home to many spacecraft including the space stations. Ionospheric irregularities can disrupt signals, scientists say. Six high-frequency coherent scattering radars were set up in Jilin Province, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northern regions of China. This high-frequency radar chain achieves large-scale continuous detection of ionospheric irregularities in mid and high latitudes of the Asian sector. The detection range can reach 4,000 km from south to north, and the east-west span exceeds 12,000 km, according to NSSC. The high-frequency radar chain is expected to join the SuperDARN, a global network of scientific radars monitoring conditions in the near-Earth space environment, and realize real-time data exchange and sharing with databases in the United Kingdom and Canada. The SuperDARN, which has members from a dozen of countries including the UK, the United States, Canada, Japan, China, France, Italy, Norway, Australia and South Africa, is also one of the main international organizations participating in the International Meridian Circle Program proposed by China. So far, the flagship feature of Microsofts new Copilot+ PC vision is Windows Recall, an AI-powered local search of your PC. But theres a catch: Recall is going to suck up a lot of your PCs storage space. Recall was first shown off Monday at Microsoft Build as part of a massive Windows AI push introducing the Copilot+ PC generation. Think of it as a powerful local search engine for your PC. Ironically, in much the same way Google revolutionized search on the Web, Microsoft hopes to do the same for local search. get windows 11 pro for cheap Windows 11 Pro Price When Reviewed: 69,99 Euro Best Prices Today: The Recall feature is currently in preview in Windows 11. It works by periodically taking snapshots of what your PC displays, then encrypting them and storing them locally. Microsoft has a lengthy explanation of what it does to preserve your privacy within Recall: allowing you to pause Recall, exclude Web sites (InPrivate mode in Edge is excluded automatically), and erase all of Recalls screenshots from your PC. Your screenshots are encrypted, locked to your account, and (from what Microsoft tells us) not shared to the cloud. The tradeoff is the ability to find just about anything that you didnt save, Microsoft says, even if you dont know what it is, exactly, or in what app it was stored. For me, this is extremely useful; there will be others who will probably find this horrifying. Recall does have one gotcha, however, that appears like it will affect your PC regardless. Microsoft says that Recall will demand 50GB of your PCs storage, and most likely use 25GB of it for active storage. Thats the reason that Microsoft requires 256GB of SSD storage for all Copilot+ PCs, executives told me. That 25GB of Recall storage translates to 3 months of snapshots, typically, Microsoft says. For files which could be hidden months or even years ago would require a lot more space. We dont know if Recall snapshots can be stored on an external drive, either. SSD prices are already expected to spike; Recall wont help. That may make PCs more expensive, and thats never a good thing. Many of Microsofts Surface devices aim at something: a tablet. A mini laptop. A pull-forward design. The Surface Laptop 2024 (7th Edition) is less about the Microsoft hardware than whats inside it namely, a new Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chip. Like the Surface Laptop 5, the Surface Laptop 2024 comes in two sizes, a slightly larger 13.8-inch (versus a 13.5-inch display for its predecessor) and the 15-inch model. On paper, the 15-inch model is a third of a pound lighter, but I didnt notice a difference while lifting it. Both displays put out 400 nits, which is close enough to the 384 nits we measured the Surface Laptop 5 at. (The full specs of the new Microsoft Surface Laptop are in our original story.) All told, its another way of saying that the most recent Surface Laptop 5 doesnt really offer that many obvious changes. Its the same design, but with some tweaks; the touchpad hides the haptics found inside the Surface Laptop Studio. Unlike the Surface Pro 2024, whose Flex Pro keyboard benefits from the haptic touchpad, the haptics here didnt do anything for me at first touch. The new Dune (sans sandworms) color of the new Microsoft Surface Pro 2024 (7th Edition). The new Dune (sans sandworms) color of the new Microsoft Surface Pro 2024 (7th Edition). Mark Hachman / IDG The new Dune (sans sandworms) color of the new Microsoft Surface Pro 2024 (7th Edition). Mark Hachman / IDG Mark Hachman / IDG Microsofts Surface Laptop has always attempted to offer a solid keyboard, a good to great screen, and good battery life. The latters sure to get a boost with the Qualcomm Arm-based Snapdragon X Elite chip inside. Microsoft quotes 20 hours of battery life on the Surface Laptop 13.8-inch and 22 hours of battery life on the 15-inch model, but thats with the display tuned to 150 nits. We test at 250-260 nits, so battery life should drop in our future benchmark results. This is a device whose benefit will be from the upgraded components, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor. My opinion is unchanged from the Surface Pro; I see nothing to disbelieve Qualcomms claims that the Snapdragon X Elite is on par with the Core Ultra, benchmarks aside. The UI is fast and smooth. Applications load extremely quickly. Scrolling and loading pages in Edge was surprisingly fast. If theres a hitch or a stutter, I didnt see it. A pair of USB4 ports are on the side of the Surface Laptop 2024 (7th Edition). A pair of USB4 ports are on the side of the Surface Laptop 2024 (7th Edition). Mark Hachman / IDG A pair of USB4 ports are on the side of the Surface Laptop 2024 (7th Edition). Mark Hachman / IDG Mark Hachman / IDG The key will be in how the Surface Laptop runs third-party applications, including benchmarks, since that was a major stumbling block for Qualcomms previous laptop chip attempts. Naturally, I asked to run a benchmark or two. Microsoft officials shut down my request to connect an SSD as well as download a benchmark like Cinebench, so Ill have to continue to believe Qualcomms performance claims for now. Given the large number of rival Copilot+ laptops that use Qualcomm chips, its clear that Microsoft wont enjoy an advantage based on components alone. (Unlike previous Arm offerings, Microsoft didnt co-design the Snapdragon X Elite.) Well have to see how it holds up under testing. (Updated at 7:37 PM with a link back to the full specifications of the Microsoft Surface Laptop.) The Stanbic Bank Head of Digital and Innovation, Estelle Jacqueline Asare, has called on banks to leverage the strengths of complementary partners and increase their investments into new agile technologies in their bid to accelerate digital banking. This, she said, will enable banks provide their customers with more personalized experiences and entrench loyalty. Ms. Asare said this when she joined a group of experts to discuss digital banking trends at the West Africa Digital Leaders Summit held at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City, Accra. Sharing insights on a panel discussion on Making End-to-End Digital Banking a Reality, Estelle Asare highlighted the importance of banks adopting a customer-centric approach, learning from Fintechs agility and innovation. She noted that Customer centricity and Agility is what is driving fintech growth. They focus on customer needs and pain points, how fast they can resolve them and provide convenience. It is important that banks learn from them to enable the provision of better digital services. If banks want to innovate and survive, we must look at how to partner complementary service providers and leverage each others strengths. As banks, we need to consider how we integrate using APIs and create open banking platforms to support the entirety of the customers lifestyle and life journey. Integrating with platforms that enable us harness data, allows us to provide hyper customization to our customers and that is what makes them stick to us. Harnessing all of that to provide targeted offers to our customers will be a game changer for banks, she added. Ms. Asare further underscored the importance of securing systems and mitigating risks in the evolving landscape of digital banking leveraging cybersecurity and enhanced biometric verification. She mentioned that The growth of digital banking and AI calls for heightened focus on cybersecurity. If we dont keep our eyes on the risks and ensure that the bank is secure, we will end up losing more than our digitally active customers. We will lose the bank itself. The West Africa Digital Leaders Summit event was organized by technology firm, Temenos. The event brought together specialists, experts and industry leaders to interact on various topics including exploring digital banking trends, leveraging cloud banking, opportunities and trends in the payments sector and how digital transformation can increase revenue and grow a banks customer base. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Travelport, a global travel technology company, and Africa World Airlines (AWA), West Africa's leading domestic and regional carrier, have launched a ground-breaking collaboration aimed at reinventing the travel experience for customers across the African continent and beyond. Sunny Prakash Gupta, the Regional Manager of Gtech Distribution Pvt Ltd Travelport Official partner in Central and West Africa, expressed delight with the collaboration and confirmed Travelport's commitment to offer continuous access to a wide selection of goods from Africa World Airlines. Today, Travelport officially announces that it has signed an agreement with Africa World Airline (AWA) - the leading domestic and regional carrier in West Africa. This multi-year deal confirms that Travelport's agencies will have continued access to wide range of products from AWA through the Travelport+ platform, he announced. Mr. Gupta noted that Travelport agents will have seamless access to AWA's products via the Travelport+ platform. He stated that this will make it easier for travel dealers to search, shop, and compare Africa World Airlines' latest offerings. In a speech, Africa World Airlines' Head of Commercial, Jonathan Appiah, emphasized the airline's commitment to providing exceptional service and seamless connectivity to its passengers, emphasizing the value of its collaboration with Travelport. At Africa World Airlines, we have always been committed to providing exceptional service and seamless connectivity to our passengers. By partnering with Travelport, we gain access to cutting-edge technology, a vast network of travel agents, and a wealth of expertise that will enable us to enhance our offerings and deliver unparalleled convenience, he stated. He also stated that their collaboration with Travelport will boost their distribution channels and raise their awareness in worldwide markets. He stated that this will not only benefit their airline, but will also help to strengthen the aviation business in Ghana and the subregion. This is very huge. The more your customers see your products out there, the more theyre able to also book, so definitely this impact on our passenger numbers which also helps in revenue and revenue generation make a company a growing concern so its a very strategic alliance that is going to help us to achieve what we want to achieve in the long term, he asserted. Mr. Appiah went ahead to express his excitement about the partnership, stating, "As we embark on this exciting journey together, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the entire Africa World Airlines team for their dedication and hard work in making this partnership a reality. I also extend my appreciation to our partners at Travelport for their unwavering support and shared vision. Together, we are confident that we can revolutionize the travel experience in Africa and make a positive impact on the lives of our customers, he reaffirmed. Both Travelport and Africa World Airlines realize the changing nature of the travel industry and are committed to staying on the cutting edge of innovation. They hope to use this collaboration to utilize cutting-edge technologies and best practices in order to make popular choices for African and international passengers. The alliance between Travelport and Africa World Airlines represents a turning point in the aviation sector, offering improved connectivity, convenience, and service quality for passengers. It also combines AWA's dedication to providing great service with Travelport's cutting-edge technology and extensive network of travel agencies. This collaboration strives to improve offerings and provide exceptional convenience to passengers. About Travelport Travelport is a leading global travel technology company, providing distribution, technology, payment, and other solutions for the travel and tourism industry worldwide. They are on a mission to simplify the complex industry they have known and loved for decades. Where others add features, they invent new solutions. They work with partners that share their passion for delivering exceptional experiences for travelers. About Africa World Airlines Africa World Airlines, founded by Togbe Afede XIV, is a privately owned airline. Its inception took place on November 15, 2010, with its inaugural revenue flight commencing on September 21, 2012. The airline operates routes to various key destinations in West Africa, including Kumasi, Tamale, and Takoradi in Ghana, as well as Lagos and Abuja in Nigeria. As part of their continuous expansion efforts, they have forged strategic partnerships with several prominent international carriers, including South African Airways, Emirates, Brussels Airlines, ASKY Airlines, United Airlines, and Ethiopian Airlines. These collaborations are instrumental in fulfilling their corporate mission of providing seamless and cost-effective air travel options for both leisure and business travelers along our network. Africa World Airlines aspires to set the standard for quality air travel services in West Africa and beyond. Their commitment is to offer a welcoming, dependable, and affordable travel experience to all their valued passengers. From left to right Enoch Kumah, Network, Planning and Revenue Manager at AWA; Jonathan Appiah, Head of Commercial at AWA; Sunny Prakash, Regional Manager, Travelport; and James Parmar, Customer Success Manager at Travelport The executives of Travelport and AWA cutting the cake to solidify the partnership Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Fidelity Bank, Ghana's largest privately-owned bank, signed a landmark agreement with Proxtera on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, to empower Small, and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through the Ghana Integrated Financial Ecosystem (GIFE) Platform. The partnership was solidified during the ongoing 3i Africa Summit, a major gathering focused on driving Africa's growth potential. Signing on behalf of their respective organizations were Nana Esi Idun-Arkhurst, Divisional Director, Retail and Business Banking at Fidelity Bank, and Mr. Saurav Bhattacharyya, Chief Executive Officer of Proxtera. Nana Esi Idun-Arkhurst emphasized the crucial role of SMEs in Ghana's economy, highlighting their job creation and innovation, but also acknowledging challenges like limited access to finance, customer reach, and essential business skills. This lack of expertise, Ms. Idun-Arkhurst explained, hinders informed decision-making and sustainable growth. GIFE, a collaborative effort between the Development Bank Ghana (DBG), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and the Bank of Ghana (BOG), with Proxtera as the digital infrastructure provider, aims to address these very challenges head on. The platform provides MSMEs with a comprehensive digital solution for growth. "GIFE presents yet another opportunity for the bank to provide the needed solutions to today's modern SMEs, helping them compete locally, regionally, and globally, in addition to all the programs, platforms, and solutions we already offer SMEs," emphasized Fidelity Bank's Nana Esi Idun-Arkhurst. Ms. Idun-Arkhurst expressed hopes that all SMEs who sign up on the GIFE platform will have the unparalleled opportunity of positioning themselves to be a global player. Ms. Idun-Arkhurst further highlighted that Fidelity Bank looks forward to working with Proxtera to deepen the governance of Ghanaian SMEs "and we will work with all the various stakeholders in the value chain to make this possible." Mr. Saurav Bhattacharyya, CEO of Proxtera, reiterated Proxtera's commitment to the shared vision of empowering Ghanaian MSMEs. "We are dedicated to making GIFE a successful platform that fosters inclusive economic growth," said Mr. Bhattacharya. "Our collaboration with Fidelity Bank and other GIFE participants ensures that the platform meets the specific needs of Ghanaian SMEs. We have plans for continuous improvement and expansion of the GIFE platform, ensuring it remains a valuable resource for businesses well into the future." Fidelity Bank's signing with Proxtera on the GIFE platform marks a significant step towards empowering Ghana's SMEs. This collaboration demonstrates the bank's commitment to supporting the growth of this vital sector and contributing to a more prosperous Ghanaian economy for all. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video US Based block, TBD, which is focused on creating open and decentralized technologies to connect the financial world is set to hold workshop series in three different African Countries targeting the training of developers in the the usage of tbDex, an open source liquidity and trust protocol to unlock unlock frictionless, compliant cross-border payments settled in seconds. The workshop is slated for May 16 in Accra, Ghana, May 24 in Cape Town, South Africa and May 28, Nairobi Kenya. The workshop series will focus on crucial areas to ensure participants gain a comprehensive understanding of how tbDEX operates as a catalyst in liquidity exchange. It will also help participants acquire hands-on experience in developing a financial application that uses the tbDEX messaging protocol. Furthermore, participants will learn how Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Verifiable Credentials (VCs) address your compliance requirements. Advancing the Growth of tbDEX in Africa and partnership with Chipper Cash Highlighting the Challenges of Currency liquidity and access to global financial system in Africa, CEO of TBD, Mr. Mike Brock emphasized on the need for a tbDEX ecosystem in Africa, which already includes Yellowcard, the largest and only licensed stablecoin on/off ramp on the African continent. He added that the partnership with Chipper Cash will help to accelerate global cross-border payments and decentralized identity. The alliance also aims to reduce the cost of remittances on the continent. The firms highlighted that the partnership would explore ways to empower small businesses while deepening financial inclusion. Speaking at Press meeting with tech journalists and media Personalities, Co - founder for Chipper Cash, Maijid Moujaled noted that "it's really about how to reduce cost of remittances". He added that Africa still remains one of the expensive destinations to send money and Chipper Cash offers an open network that allows for multiple participants that enforce competition to drive down the cost of remittances. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video South Africa's highest court has barred former President Jacob Zuma from running for parliament in next week's general election. The Constitutional Court ruled that his 15-month prison sentence for contempt of court disqualified him. Mr Zuma was convicted in 2021 for refusing to testify at an inquiry investigating corruption during his presidency which ended in 2018. He has been campaigning under the banner of the newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party after falling out with the governing African National Congress (ANC). MK Secretary General Sihle Ngubane said the party was disappointed with the ruling, but it would not affect its campaign. "He is still the leader of the party. It [the judgment] doesn't affect our campaign at all," he said. Mr Zuma's face would remain on the ballot paper for the 29 May election, Mr Ngubane added. South Africans vote for political parties, with the candidates at the top of their lists getting parliamentary seats depending on the number of votes the party gets. Some MK members sang and danced outside the court, while those inside the court - some dressed in traditional Zulu regalia - sat silently as the judgement was handed down. Mr Zuma has not yet commented on the ruling. ANC leader and South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa told a local radio station that he "noted" the ruling. "The court has ruled, and as I have often said, that is the highest court in the land and we have given the judiciary the right to arbitrate disputes amongst us in terms of our constitution," he said in an interview with 702. MK's emergence has raised the prospect that the ANC could lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid 30 years ago. uMkhonto we Sizwe is the original name of the ANC's armed wing, which fought apartheid. Source: BBC Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Presbyterian Church of Ghana has hinted of making the Presbyterian University Ghana a world class Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Centre the first of it kind in Ghana and Africa at large. Addressing the School of Graduate Studies 2024 badge during the 6th Congregation Ceremony in Kwahu- Abetifi Ramseyer Training Centre, the Moderator of the Church and double as the Chancellor of the University revealed plans are far advanced by the church to establish a world class Artificial Intelligence (AI) Laboratory Centre for the university to enhance teaching and learning. Admonishing and lauding the effort of the immediate past Moderator of the Church Rt. Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante to assist needy but brilliant students a scholarship scheme , he noted by saying "the Presbyterian Church of Ghana is very keen to see the development of the University" "At the last graduation ceremony my predecessor instituted a scholarship for the university with his personal seed money and after my speech today I wish to add on to that seed" "I present to the University on this occasion one hundred thousand Ghana cedis (Ghc 100,000) which will go directly into scholarship and bursary support for Presbyterian students who decide to study here at PUG" "another Support I want to announce for the University community is the establishment of an Artificial Intelligence Laboratory to enhance teaching and learning of Information Communication Technology " the Moderator kum Chancellor addressed the graduands. Rt. Rev. Dr. Abraham Nana Opare-Kwakye however expressed deep concern regarding what he described as empty political promises urging the graduands to exercise their democratic right wisely in the upcoming 2024 general elections. He advised the graduands in the address saying "the choices we make and the actions we take today largely defines our future , as educated and enlightened citizens you have a crucial role to play in shaping the future of our nation" " I call upon you to exercise your democratic rights wisely to vote not out of self interest or narrow mindedness but out of genuine desire to see positive changes and progress in our society" He reiterated "don't be swayed by empty political promises or divisive rhetorics but rather we should come together as one nation united in our shared aspirations and common humanity " "let us engage in civil discourse and constructive dialogue, respect our differences while striving towards our shared goal, "above all, let us reject violence and intolerance in all it forms , for true democracy can only thrive in an atmosphere of peace, tolerance, and mutual respect" he added. This year , a total of 341 students of the Presbyterian University, Ghana PUG graduated across the various master's degree programs out of which 224 were males and 117 representing females. Source: Michael Akrofi Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has declared the nation will observe five days of mourning following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a devastating helicopter crash in the mountainous northwest of the country yesterday. But there are plenty of Iranians who are instead celebrating the unexpected death of the president, who has earned a reputation as a brutal, hardline executor of Khamenei's will. The daughters of Minoo Majidi - a 62-year-old Iranian woman who was one of hundreds of people shot dead by security services during the nationwide fallout following the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022 - shared a video to social media raising a glass to the president's demise. Read Full Story .... dailymail >>> : Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video At the NCA Tower in Accra today, the National Communications Authority (NCA) joined the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and other member states of the Union to celebrate this years World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD). The theme for this years celebration was, Digital Innovation for Sustainable Development. The Director General of the NCA, Dr. Joe Anokye, giving his welcome address expressed his delight in this years WTISD celebration and its theme. He said the NCA as a member state of the ITU accords WTISD with optimum importance and has been commemorating it locally over the years. He continued that digital innovation has emerged as a potent catalyst for sustainable development and it is in that regard that the Government of Ghana is championing the Digital Agenda which is an all sector-inclusive initiative to propel the nations digital economy. Dr. Anokye noted that the NCA on its part, under the supervision of the Ministry of Communication and Digitalisation (MoCD), continues to develop regulatory frameworks and review existing frameworks to accommodate and encourage innovation while ensuring consumer protection and data privacy. He commended the ITU for its continued support to African Member States in realising the full advantages of digital transformation through addressing policy and regulatory challenges and fostering innovation across economic sectors, and stressed on the NCAs readiness to avail its regulatory facilities for the capacity development of sister regulators in the Africa Region. Dr. Joe Anokye took the opportunity to announce to the general public that following the subsea cable cut which led to the March 14 incident, all the four (4) Subsea Cable Landing Service Providers (ACE, MainOne, SAT-3 and WACS) have completed repair works. In her keynote address, the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Hon. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, said WTISD is reminder of the tremendous impact that telecommunications and ICTs have had on lives, businesses and the economy growth of all countries. She noted that the world is now advocating for innovations to solve developmental issues and also offer opportunity for entrepreneurial development with a strong case often made at international forums that the agreed sustainable development goals can be facilitated and achieved when digital technologies are utilised. Hon. Owusu-Ekuful went on to emphasise that it is the goal of the Government to build a sustainable future in a quest to meet the targets of the sustainable development goals. This, she said, requires that employment of innovative thinking and action in policy formulation for the common good of all citizens. We must pursue the adoption and promotion of digital innovation technologies to solve the many developmental challenges that we face as a people to leapfrog to an improved living condition. Employing digital innovative technologies in sectors such as health, education, employment, rural development, and climate monitoring just to mention a few will advance our nation Hon. Ursula Owusu Ekuful remarked. The Honourable Minister recognised the Government of Ghanas steadfast effort in fostering a culture that embraces innovation, adaptability, and continuous evolution emphasising on the National ICT for Accelerated Development Policy, 2003 which set the roadmap for building the foundations for Ghanas digital journey. This policy, she said, identified fourteen (14) key pillars that address all the sectors of the economy to embrace ICTs in their operations and functions. She also announced that Cabinet has approved Ghanas Digital Economy Policy meant to consolidate the gains the country has made and to build on what the ICT4AD policy. According to the Minister, the Digital Economy Policy is a forward-looking document with five (5) policy focus areas and strategies to enable the country to pursue the low hanging initiatives that the policy identifies. She added that, Empowering individuals by fostering their competencies, capabilities, and skills to use digital technologies is one of the pillars of the digital economy policy. Again, Hon. Owusu-Ekuful underscored the paramount importance of collaboration among stakeholders to drive digital innovation for sustainable development highlighting that while dialogue is crucial, the time has come translate these discussions into action. She stressed the need to strengthen collaboration to collectively advance sustainable development by unlocking the immense value creation potential of digital economy initiatives. Bringing her address to a close, the Honourable Minister hinted that government is putting in place the necessary pillars to make Ghana the ICT Hub for West Africa and therefore urged the private sector to join hands with government in supporting digital transformation, particularly in the development of smart and sustainable cities. In a video message, the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Ms. Doreen Bogdan-Martin acknowledged that innovation has always been a uniquely human endeavour irrespective of historical timelines or the pace of technological advancement. She emphasised that innovation can arise from anyone, adding that digital technology not only enables sharing of ideas but also fosters connections among individuals. The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, in an address read for him by a representative of the UNESCO Country Office, Carl Ampah, the Project Specialist (Culture), noted that developing economies face obstacles in accessing the digital technologies that could help to mitigate growing inequalities, climate change and environmental depletion. This, he hinted, is the rationale which will lead countries to agree on a Global Digital Compact aimed at safeguarding technology as a force for human wellbeing at the upcoming Summit of the Future in September this year. As part of the event, presentations were made by three (3) local entities using digital innovation and technology to provide solutions within the Ghanaian economy. The entities were Complete Farmer Ltd, providers of farming solutions including the platform for buyers to access directly and vice versa; Glico E-Health, providers of virtual access to medical doctors and mobile laboratory and pharmacy services, and Reservoir Management Group, an organization using cutting-edge AI technology to elevate health, safety and security at the workplace. About NCA The National Communications Authority, (NCA), was established by an Act of Parliament, Act 524 in December 1996, which has been repealed and replaced by the National Communications Authority Act, 2008 (Act 769). The Authority is the statutory body mandated to license and to regulate electronic communication activities and services in the country. About World Telecommunication & Information Society Day, 17 May 2022 World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) has been celebrated annually every 17 May since 1969 to mark the founding of ITU and the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention in 1865. The ageing of the global population will be the defining demographic trend of the 21st centuryyet our societies struggle to see the opportunities that this trend can unfold. Telecommunications and information communication technologies (ICTs) have a role to play in achieving healthier ageing, but also in helping people build smarter cities, combat age-based discrimination at the workplace, ensure financial inclusion of older persons, and support millions of caregivers across the world. WTISD 2022 will allow ITU membership, partners and other stakeholders to raise awareness about the important role of telecommunications/ICTs in supporting people to stay healthy, connected and independent, physically, emotionally and financially to a life of healthy ageing and as critical for the sustainability of economic and health systems. As part of ITUs efforts towards the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing and the theme of WTISD 2022, Digital technologies for Older Persons and Healthy Ageing, ITU invites you to actively participate in commemorating, contributing, and innovating throughout the year with national, regional, and international initiatives to accelerate digital technologies for older persons and healthy ageing. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Management of the Social Security and national Insurance trust (SSNIT), have responded to the member of Parliament for North Tongu, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwas comment on the sale of some 6 hotels belonging to SSNIT. In a media release dated, May 19, 2024, the management of SSNIT explained that, contrary to the comments by Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, it seeks to partner a strategic investor to raise capital to invest in the hotels and also assist in their management. SSNIT is in an ongoing process to partner with Rock City Hotel Limited, as that strategic investor. Member of Parliament for Abetifi and Minister of Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong, is a director and beneficial owner of Rock City Hotel. It is his association with Rock City Hotel that has culminated in the North Tongu Member of Parliament to question SSNIT's decision to partner with the former. Subsequently, he has filed a petition with the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), to stop SSNIT from going ahead to partner Rock City. Ablakwa's argument is that, Bryan Acheampong, as a minister of state, should not be allowed to use his Rock City Hotel to partner SSNIT. It is his case that it is a matter that bothers on "conflict of interest, abuse of power, lack of due process, procurement breaches, cronyism, and graft." But SSNIT's management says the primary objective of finding a strategic investor is to increase efficiency, profitability, shareholder value, and the long-term sustainability of the SSNIT pension Scheme. Excerpts of the media release signed by its management read, Accordingly, SSNIT went through International Competitive Tendering (ICT) processes as prescribed by the Public procurement Act, 2003(ACT 663), as amended by ACT 914, for the selection of a strategic investor. Management of SSNIT further emphasized that the trust commenced the process with the engagement of a Transaction Advisor through the ICT method of procurement with publications of advertisements in the Daily graphic on 14th November, 2018 and in the Ghanaian Times on the 15th November, 2018. The advertisement was published in an international magazine. As of January 16th, 2019 deadline, fifteen (15) firms had expressed interest in submitting bids. Of these, six (6) were shortlisted and issued with Request for proposal (RFP) documents. The national Trust further assures pensioners, contributors and the general public of its commitment to managing the affairs of the Trust prudently for the sustainability of the pension scheme. Source: Kobina Darlington/peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Three Americans have been named among suspects responsible for Sundays coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Sylvain Ekenge, DRC army spokesperson, said the attempt involved foreigners and Congolese. These foreigners and Congolese have been put out of action, including their leader, Ekenge said. Ekenge added that several suspects were detained and the situation is now under control. The army spokesperson did not provide further information concerning the incident. Lucy Tamyln, US ambassador to the DRC, said she was shocked and very concerned to receive reports of American citizens being involved. Pictures of two men with their hands clasped were published in local media, alongside pictures of a passport that indicated one was a 36-year-old US citizen born in Maryland. Please be assured that we will cooperate with the DRC authorities to the fullest extent as they investigate these criminal acts and hold accountable any U.S. citizen involved in criminal acts, Tamlyn tweeted. The armys announcement of successfully thwarting a coup attempt came hours after armed men attacked the house of Vital Kamerhe, former chief of staff and close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi. Kamerhes residence is about two kilometres from the presidential palace. Michel Muhima, Kamerhes spokesperson, had said the gunmen clad in military uniform engaged the politicians guards in a shootout, leaving three people dead. Watch the video of two foreigners allegedly involved in the coup attempt below.

JUST IN: Three Americans are accused of being involved in a failed coup attempt in Congo that left multiple people dead.

According to the Democratic Republic of Congo military, they stopped an attempted coup near the presidential palace.

Among the 50 people who were involved pic.twitter.com/MllFIQ0sRH

Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 19, 2024
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Former Special Prosecutor, Martin A. B. K. Amidu has asked the embattled Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng to stop the propaganda of saving the public purse millions of Ghana Cedis through payroll audits with the Controller and Accountant-Generals Department (CAGD). But rather confess to Ghanaians with contrition for his suspected commission of several specified corruption and corruption-related offences under Section 79 of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act 2017 (Act 959) since his assumption of office as the Special Prosecutor before the law catches up with him. According to him it is nauseating to read a report from Kissi Agyebeng deceiving Ghanaians that he is saving this nation millions of Ghana Cedis of the public purse from payroll audits in the Northern Region when Kissi Agyebeng and the CAGD have been committing the same suspected offences of abuse of the payroll system in the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) since his assumption of duty as the Special Prosecutor at the OSP. "I have in my possession letters written and signed by Kissi Agyebeng without reference numbers violating Article 195 of the 1992 Constitution and Section 21 of Act 959. Kissi Agyebeng, the Chief Accountant of the OSP, (who is an employee of the CAGD), and the CAGD are paying unconstitutionally employed staff of the OSP vast amounts of salaries and allowances each month from the public purse without any authority under the 1992 Constitution," he stated. Read below his full statement.... Kissi Agyebeng - Stop The Propaganda Of Being Holy And Confess To The Suspected Crimes Under You As The Special Prosecutor Before The Law Catches Up With You It is time to demand that Kissi Agyebeng should stop the propaganda of saving the public purse millions of Ghana Cedis through payroll audits with the Controller and Accountant-Generals Department (CAGD) and rather confess to Ghanaians with contrition for his suspected commission of several specified corruption and corruption-related offences under Section 79 of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act 2017 (Act 959) since his assumption of office as the Special Prosecutor before the law catches up with him. It is nauseating to read a report from Kissi Agyebeng to-day, dated 20 May 2024, deceiving Ghanaians that he is saving this nation millions of Ghana Cedis of the public purse from payroll audits in the Northern Region when Kissi Agyebeng and the CAGD have been committing the same suspected offences of abuse of the payroll system in the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) since Kissi Agyebengs assumption of duty as the Special Prosecutor at the OSP. Anytime Kissi Agyebeng suspects that suspected criminal activities of the OSP may come to public notice and attention he resorts to using his supporting rented press and media to throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians of his indispensability to the fight against corruption in Ghana. Whether anybody shares the same moral and cultural values with me, I cannot allow the continued deception of Ghanaians by suspected criminals who ought to be under investigation by the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) for causing financial loss to the state in the process of the commission of specified corruption and corruption-related offences under Section 79 of Act 959. Law enforcement cannot be a selective enterprise as Kissi Agyebeng and his particular media houses want to impose on Ghanaians in violation of the right to defend the 1992 Constitution. I have in my possession letters written and signed by Kissi Agyebeng without reference numbers violating Article 195 of the 1992 Constitution and Section 21 of Act 959. Kissi Agyebeng, the Chief Accountant of the OSP, (who is an employee of the CAGD), and the CAGD are paying unconstitutionally employed staff of the OSP vast amounts of salaries and allowances each month from the public purse without any authority under the 1992 Constitution. The OSP and Kissi Agyebeng who heads it ought to be confessing to Ghanaians that Kissi Agyebeng wrote and signed letters without any constitutional authority appointing and paying staff without stating their conditions of service in the appointment letters. Kissi Agyebeng then signed another set of two letters in his personal capacity as the Special Prosecutor months later with conditions of service bearing the same dates confirming those appointments with two separate ranks assigned to the same staff. The implication as Kissi Agyebeng knows is that the staff petitioned against the rank initially assigned, and Kissi Agyebeng in suspected criminality wrote the second letter and back dated it to enable the abuse of the OSP payroll by the CAGD and himself. This is the tip of the iceberg! When you live in a glass house you do not throw stones! Kissi Agyebeng is so full of himself that he does not recognize that by selectively appointing and giving higher ranks to some staff and neglecting others who think they deserve the same or better ranks he has antagonized several of his unlawfully appointed staff. How then does it lie in Kissi Agyebengs mouth to be parading a report which the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) is contesting as reasons for his indispensability in the fight against corruption in Ghana? The staff on the OSP payroll whom Kisis Agyebeng and the CAGD have been paying in violation of Article 195 of the 1992 Constitution and Section 21 of Act 959 from the public purse are all ghost workers on the OSP payroll under the 1992 Constitution. Kissi Agyebeng: Why do you see the speck that is in your brothers eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? see Matthew 7: 3-5 in the RSV Catholic Edition for Africa. Kisi Agyebeng ought also to remember Hamlets statement to Laertes when Hamlet said: ...Let Hercules himself do what he may, The cat will mew and every dog will have his day. No earthly pretence of attending the same church with the head of one of the arms of Government and sharing the same pastor can override Gods edict and truth to save Kissi Agyebeng and the OSP in escaping from confronting their suspected crimes. The 1992 Constitution must be defended no matter the entrepreneurial motives of Kissi Agyebeng as the Special Prosecutor and his media friends to loot the public purse through the abuse of the payroll of the OSP while deceiving the Ghanaian public about the Ghana Education Service and its Trade Unions committing the same or lesser offences. Martin A. B. K. Amidu 20 May 2024 See attached Martin Amidu's statement Your browser does not support iframes. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Nana Akomea has cautioned the Electoral Commission against recording mathematical errors as it was seen in their limited registration exercise. The Electoral Commission (EC) commenced the registration exercise on Tuesday, May 7, to give opportunity to eligible people who couldn't register in the 2023 exercise to do so in order to exercise their voting right in this year's December 7 polls. During the second and third days of the exercise, the EC tabulating the number of registrants made errors and later rectified them. They have apologized for this blunder but it comes without caution to them not to repeat this mistake. The Electoral Commission has corrected errors in the previously released daily voter registration numbers. The inaccuracies were in the cumulative totals for days two and three, though the regional numbers were correct. The Upper Easts day threes total was mistakenly repeated for day four. These have been amended, a statement by the EC read. Tackling this issue during Tuesday's edition of "Kokrokoo" morning show on Peace FM, the Chief Executive of the InterCity State Transport Corporation, Nana Akomea found these mistakes unpardonable, alluding to a similar case in the 2020 elections. He advised the electoral management body to find a lasting solution to this problem. "This EC arithmetic calculation that they can't do, I can hardly understand it. That 1 plus 1 that they can't get correct, it is disgraceful and they should be careful about that. That 1 plus 1 that the Electoral Commission cannot get right is not good because I remember they repeated the same thing in the 2020 elections resulting in them announcing the election results about twice. It is not good!" Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A man was killed after a moose charged him in Alaska. According to Alaska State Troopers, the incident occurred when the cow encountered two men near Homer around 11:52 a.m. on Sunday. Alaska State Troopers say the moose had charged two men, kicking one of them. Medical crews responded to the scene where the man was later pronounced dead. The moose was no longer in the area by the time they arrived, troopers said. An investigation is ongoing. The man has not been identified by name. Bull moose are generally known to be more aggressive toward humans, but during calving season, which runs from mid-May to mid-June, cow moose with calves can be defensive and charge or attack humans who come too close to their young The Alaska Department of Fish and Game provides information on how to deal with aggressive moose on its website. PITTSBURGH A Dauphin County woman who took a Lyft ride to suburban Pittsburgh last year and opened fire on her biological sons adoptive family and their neighbors pleaded guilty to multiple charges on Monday. Kayla Menne, a 26-year-old Middletown resident, pleaded guilty to three counts each of aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person, as well as one count each of carrying a firearm without a license, discharging a firearm into an occupied structure and criminal mischief. Initially, Menne faced 24 charges, including seven counts each of aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person. Allegheny County Court Judge Jennifer Satler said a pre-sentencing evaluation of Menne will occur before she is likely sentenced later this year. HARRISBURG An ailing prison inmate serving a life sentence in Pennsylvania for killing a man during a 1975 robbery won a compassionate release order from a judge Monday, although the order came hours after he was put on life support. Ezra Bozeman, 68, won the release order from an Allegheny County judge while on a ventilator in an intensive care unit battling sepsis because of complications from his quadriplegia, his lawyers said in a statement. Bozemans petition for medical release from prison was supported by Gov. Josh Shapiro and the superintendent of the state prison at Laurel Highlands where he has been incarcerated. Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala had opposed Bozemans petition. On Sunday night, Bozeman was rushed to the hospital. Pennsylvanias 15-year-old compassionate release law allows a judge to grant the transfer of a seriously ill inmate who is expected to die within one year to a private medical facility. His lawyers said they hoped Bozemans condition stabilizes so that he can be transferred to a long-term care facility. Ezra Bozeman has been a shining example of what it means to live as a dignified human being, even as he received poor medical care as a quadriplegic, Sean Damon of Amistad Law Project said in a statement. Bozeman was represented by the Abolitionist Law Center and Amistad Law Project. Bozeman emerged paralyzed from the chest down after a February surgery to remove a large blood clot near his spinal cord. After that, his lawyers filed papers seeking compassionate release. Bozeman was convicted of second-degree murder in 1975 for killing Morris Weitz during a robbery at a dry cleaner in Pittsburgh. Bozeman has maintained his innocence, saying that he was not involved in the robbery and was nowhere near the scene, and that a key witness against him had recanted his testimony. A 17-year-old boy is missing from his home in Lower Paxton Township, police said. Julian Luttrell was last seen around 9 p.m. Sunday. He left his home on the 6100 block of Locust Street overnight between Sunday and Monday, according to police. He may have a hiking-style backpack and a black scooter with him. Luttrell is known to visit businesses in the Linglestown area, police said. Police said Luttrell has high-functioning autism. He is about 5 feet, 9 inches tall; 180 pounds, with long, curly blonde hair. Police are asking anyone with information to call 717-558-6900 or submit a tip through CrimeWatch. Sen. John Fetterman was part of congressional delegation that made a trip to Turks and Caicos to discuss the release of five Americans, including one from Pennsylvania, being held on ammunition charges. The individuals, including Bryan Hagerich from Somerset County, are being detained for carrying ammunition in their luggage when traveling to islands. The minimum sentence for the offense in Turks and Caicos is 12 years in prison, according to a U.S. State Department alert. Senator Fetterman said Hagerich and the others were being held because they inadvertently had ammunition in their luggage. Fetterman said after meeting with officials from the islands he was optimistic that we can get this resolved. A Pennsylvania woman pleaded guilty Monday to shooting a county prosecutor after a confrontation about a property transfer and was sentenced to several years in prison. Porice Diamond Mincy pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for shooting Cameron County District Attorney Paul J. Malizia in the leg at Malizias law office last June. The 32-year-old Brookville woman was sentenced to four to eight years in prison. Malizia was released from a hospital the day he was shot. Attorney General Michelle Henry, whose office prosecuted Mincy, called it a brazen act of violence, and noted Malizia has remained in office since the attack. Henrys office said in a statement that Mincy showed up without an appointment at Malizias office in rural Emporium, about 130 miles east of Erie, and made some sort of demands concerning a property transfer, a matter he handled as a private practice lawyer, not as district attorney. Mincy became belligerent, Henrys office said, and shot him in the leg before leaving in a vehicle. She was arrested shortly afterward. Her lawyer, Lonny Fish, said Monday that the other charges against her were dismissed. She showed up in the office, she wasnt happy with the answers that the secretary gave, Fish said. So she went and trashed one of the other offices, and then he approached her in the waiting room. And he hit her. To be honest, I think he was probably within his rights to do that she was a trespasser. Fish said Mincy did not have a license to carry a concealed weapon so she was going to, most likely, be convicted of that, regardless. He described Mincy as a mother of small children who had not been in trouble before. She had moved to the area from New York and was home schooling her kids. Malizia said in a phone interview Monday that after Mincy confronted his office worker and threw office material on the ground, she sucker punched him, breaking his nose. He said he took a swing at her but missed. Fish produced a cellphone video Mincy that recorded that he argued shows Malizia did actually punch Mincy. Malizia, who is 70 and in his fourth term in office, said he grabbed Mincy around the waist and tried to get her down some stairs and out of the office. She stopped for a second and she turned her head and bit me on the thigh, on my left thigh, he said. The bite did not tear through his jeans but was strong enough that it caused a wound. After that, she pulled a .25 caliber automatic handgun out of, he thinks, a fanny pack, and shot him in the other leg, Malizia said. The barrel was against his leg and the bullet passed through the outside of his leg, ricocheted off a wall and landed about 35 feet down a hallway. Malizia was treated at a hospital and released that night and did not miss any work as a result. Mincy was upset about which names had been put on a deed when ownership was transferred, Malizia said. I wish her the best of luck, Malizia said. I mean that very sincerely. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a news conference in New York on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023. Trudeau is in Philadelphia today, on his first trip south of the border since his government launched a new "Team Canada" charm offensive in the United States. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld Donald Trump didnt testify at his criminal trial where a verdict could come as soon as the end of next week. CNN reported: Trump didnt take the stand: Publicly, Trump left open the prospect that he could testify in his own defense, but his attorneys had always seemed to discount the possibility. Closing arguments set for Tuesday: Now the jury will get a week off thanks to the Memorial Day holiday, with closing arguments set for next Tuesday. A verdict is possible by the end of next week. Pretend tough guy Trump was never going to testify. If Trump had taken the stand, the cross-examination would have been brutal and probably gotten him a criminal conviction and ended his presidential campaign. Trump lacks the self-discipline to testify. The hush money trial could have a verdict before next weekend. It is impossible to predict what a jury is thinking or what they will do, but prosecutors presented nearly two dozen witnesses and a vast paper trail documenting the scheme and the crimes. The ex-president has been complaining about the judge and the trial process at every opportunity so it certainly seems like he is planting the seats for an appeal after he is convicted. However, it is possible that the jury doesnt think the crimes were proven to be connected to Trump, or that they were not felonies. The trial phase will come to an end when the jury delivers its verdict, but if Trump is convicted, his legal expenses will balloon even more as the appeals process begins. A Special Message From PoliticusUSA If you are in a position to donate purely to help us keep the doors open on PoliticusUSA during what is a critical election year, please do so here. We have been honored to be able to put your interests first for 14 years as we only answer to our readers and we will not compromise on that fundamental, core PoliticusUSA value. [wpedon id=344887 align=center] It was a bat Read moreRidge Spring-Monetta football comes out victorious over Williston-Elko in defensive standoff Two of the better football teams in Region 7-5A, if not the best two, did battle on the first cool night of the season and the defensive units showed up ready to play. Read moreImproved defense on display for Gators in key region win CHAPIN The Lexington-Richland Five school board voted May 20 to add a $240 million bond referendum to the Nov. 5 general election ballot for voters in the Chapin- and Irmo-area school district. The 5-1 vote is a key step towards financing the district administrations plan to reorganize and rezone its schools, which Superintendent Akil Ross has laid out in board meetings and workshops for over a year. If approved, the referendum would go towards security renovations, building a new elementary campus and making swaths of building repairs and expansions, aimed at addressing overcrowding and fixing aging campuses. Our facilities are not the best, and that might not be the popular thing to say out loud, but it is the truth, board chair Rebecca Blackburn Hines said. So, put it to the voters, thats what were going to do. Ross has stressed that the bonds would not increase the property tax rate assessed on district residents. But the decision on allowing the district to sell the bonds is now in the voters hands, and opposition from one board member over financial guardrails and future costs may provide a preview of any possible future opposition. The top-line spending priorities for the bond-raised $240 million would be new secure vestibule entrances at 12 campuses and security camera upgrades at every facility. Next would be the construction of a new Dutch Fork Elementary School, whose current campus would be renovated into a new center for various district-wide education programs called the Richlex Education Center, named after the segregated Black school formerly housed on the site. COLUMBIA Richland County is considering closing the juvenile wing of its jail, a move that will put young detainees in state care and put more of a burden on South Carolinas already overcrowded facilities. Richland and Charleston are the only counties with juvenile detention facilities. Juveniles detained in other counties are put in the custody of the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and placed in its Juvenile Detention Center in Columbia. While just 27 juveniles are being housed at the countys Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, the states pretrial detention facility is stretched thin. The potential closure would affect all juveniles being held in the states secure facilities. Our facilities are already extremely overcrowded, and adding additional youth to facilities, it just exacerbates those overcrowded conditions, SCDJJ Communications Director Michelle Foster said. Raise the Age, a law passed in 2019 to raise the minimum age to be considered adults in the criminal justice system from 17 to 18, was implemented without proper funding, which has contributed to the overcrowded conditions, according to Foster. In March 2022, Greenville closed its juvenile detention center to address critical staff storages at its adult jail, a move that also put more strain on the state. Some have said the children and teenagers are in worse conditions under state custody. Back in 2019, Joker managed to make over $1 billion at the global box office and earn itself 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and a Best Actor win for Joaquin Phoenix. I recall respecting the movie for Phoenixs performance and the inspired idea to paint him as a Scorsese-style Read moreJoker: Folie a Deux If you have a hummingbird feeder in your yard, youre probably enjoying watching the hummers sipping nectar to fuel up for their long migration south in the coming weeks. But did you know that nectar makes up only a small percentage of a hummingbirds diet? Up to 80% of it comes from insects Read moreCommentary: Protect insects, protect birds On Dec. 23, he went to the house the GPS showed his wife frequented and told the residents it was surrounded by gang members until he found his wife, according to a resident of the house interviewed for the report. That same resident said she saw a Black man she didnt recognize pull a black mask over his head and walk past her window. Patrick Miles kept asking the residents in the house where his wife was and said the people out here aint good and that he was tight with the 349 crew, according to the report. He allegedly said they would drag his wife out of the house. Those in the house told Miles his wife wasnt there. When the homeowner, Marshall Kendall, asked, Who you got on us, Miles promised nobody. Patrick Miles drove around Florence looking for his wife again on Dec. 25 when the GPS tracker placed her car at an office building. His wife wasnt in her car, and he used it to drive to the house he visited days earlier, allegedly thinking she was there for drugs or infidelity. On the way to the house, Patrick Miles saw his wifes friend Richard Feagin walking down Melrose Avenue. He stopped the car and approached Feagin. Feagin said Miles was clutching something behind his back, according to the report. Feagin thought Miles had a gun, according to the report. In the report, Miles said Feagin pulled a knife but didnt charge him. Miles later told authorities he just wanted to talk to Feagin. Feagin left but dropped his cellphone. Miles picked it up. Miles drove back to his truck and found Alisa Miles waiting there. She told Patrick Miles she had returned to the house to get her stolen property, according to the report. She walked to the house to swap the phone for her makeup bag. Patrick Miles later told authorities the makeup bag had been stolen and had money in it. Patrick Miles parked at a nearby fire station when she went to make the exchange. He said he bumped his lights to let any cameras know it was a police officer parked there. He said he does it anytime he pulls up somewhere. JOHNSONVILLE Two hundred forty-four years ago, the legend of Francis Marion began here at Witherspoons Ferry. In the swamp-infested backcountry of what is now Florence County, Marion took command of a ragtag group of farmers and merchants charged with keeping South Carolina from falling into British hands during the Revolutionary War. It was in these rivers that Marion led his men in a David-and-Goliath-style battle with the British, eventually helping to force them out of South Carolina and America. A small crowd again assembled at Witherspoons Ferry on May 17 to remember Marions legacy. People munched on cookies emblazoned with Marions silhouette, listened to experts recount his story and rededicated a historic marker that commemorates the day in September 1780 that he received his command at Witherspoon's Ferry in Johnsonville. We can only wonder how different things might have been for the colonists, how different our lives might be today, were it not for Francis Marion, said William Bolt, a history professor at Francis Marion University, at the ceremony. Lawrence Eaddy, whose mother erected the original marker in 1980, led the charge to replace the deteriorating sign on Highway 51. After a year and a half of work with city officials, they proudly unveiled the gleaming white marker in front of about 20 people. That is a connection that our area has to a very noteworthy leader in the Revolutionary War, and Johnsonville has proudly claimed that connection, Eaddy said. Not only was the ferry a key site during the Revolutionary War, it was also a prominent commercial route for many years before and after the fighting. Both South Carolinas 15th governor, David R. Williams, and William Johnson, Johnsonvilles namesake, owned the land during the 19th century. PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 13:54:44 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 1074 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for dissemination in the United StatesVANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 /Arras Minerals Corp. (TSXV:ARK) ("Arras" or "the Company") is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement financing (the "Offering") of up to 7,692,308 units of the Company ("Units") at a price per Unit of C$0.26 (the "Offering Price") for aggregate gross proceeds of up to C$2 million.Darren Klinck, President of Arras, commented, "Over the past 18 months since we announced the initial strategic equity investment by Teck, Arras has successfully and significantly advanced our project portfolio in Kazakhstan with the funding from that associated financing in 2022. We are now pleased to have a strategic alliance with Teck on a portion of our land package and a US$2.5 million budget in 2024 funded by Teck which is expected to advance targets to drill-ready status this year. In addition, the highly successful soil-sampling program at our 100%-owned Elemes project which we announced results from in Q1 this year, has attracted considerable attention from major mining companies as we have identified two coherent copper-in-soil anomalies stretching more than 8 km each and containing porphyry mineralization which Arras intends to begin testing later this year." Tim Barry, CEO of Arras, went on to add, "As we commence our third field season this month in Kazakhstan, we expect to be advancing and drilling at least three new copper-gold porphyry targets this year. By utilizing modern exploration techniques in a region that has had very little to no exploration focus since pre-1990, our thesis is continuing to strengthen that the Bozshakol-Chingiz metallogenic belt has the potential to contain multiple new copper-gold deposits masked under shallow cover. This is truly a very exciting time for Arras as we quickly advance in a new tier-one jurisdiction for exploration of base and precious metals." Private Placement TermsUnder the Offering, each Unit shall comprise of one (1) common share in the capital of the Company (each, a "Common Share") and one-half of one (1/2) non-transferable Common Share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each whole Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to purchase one (1) additional Common Share at a price of C$$0.40 for a period of (3) years from closing of the Offering (the "Expiry Date").In the event the volume weighted average trading price of the Common Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") meets or exceeds C$$0.60 for fifteen (15) consecutive trading days at any time after four months and one day following closing of the Offering, the Company shall have the option, but not the obligation, at any time thereafter to accelerate the Expiry Date to a date that is thirty (30) days following the date of issuance of a press release by the Company announcing the acceleration of the Expiry Date.The net proceeds of the Offering will be used to advance the Company's exploration program in Kazakhstan and for general corporate purposes. Finders' fees may be payable on a portion of the Offering in accordance with applicable laws and TSXV policies.The Offering is scheduled to close on or about June 4, 2024 and is subject to the approval of the TSXV. The securities issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to a four-month hold period in Canada and will be subject to U.S. resale restrictions under U.S. securities laws as applicable.The securities to be sold in the Offering have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended ("U.S. Securities Act"), or any state or other applicable jurisdiction's securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state or other jurisdictions' securities laws. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any offer, solicitation, or sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.Qualified Person: The scientific and technical disclosure for this news release has been prepared under supervision of and approved by Matthew Booth, Vice President of Exploration, of Arras Minerals Corp., a Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101. Mr. Booth has over 19 years of mineral exploration experience and is a Qualified Person member of the American Institute of Professional Geologists (CPG 12044).On behalf of the Board of Directors"Tim Barry"Tim Barry, MAusIMM CP(Geo) Chief Executive Officer and DirectorINVESTOR RELATIONS: +1 604 687 5800 info@ arrasminerals.com Further information can be found on:the Company's website https://www.arrasminerals.com or follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/arrasminerals or follow us on X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/arrasmineralsAbout Arras Minerals Corp.Arras is a Canadian exploration and development company advancing a portfolio of copper and gold assets in northeastern Kazakhstan, including the Option Agreement on the Beskauga copper and gold project. The Company has established the third-largest license package in the country prospective for copper and gold (behind Rio Tinto and Fortescue). In December 2023, the Company entered into a strategic alliance with Teck Resources Limited ("Teck") in which Teck will sole fund a US$5 million generative exploration program over a portion of the Arras license package in 2024-2025 focusing on critical minerals. The Company's shares are listed on the TSXV under the trading symbol "ARK".Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding the Offering, future events and Arras' future results that are subject to the safe harbors created under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Exchange Act, and applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements include, among others, statements regarding the Offering, the participation in the Offering by Teck Resources Limited, the amount of securities that may be sold and proceeds raised by the Company from the Offering, timing of closing of the Offering, the terms to the securities offered under the Offering, the receipt of TSXV and other required regulatory and third party approvals in respect of the Offering, exercise of the Company's acceleration right in respect of the Warrants (or the satisfaction of the acceleration condition in respect thereof), and plans and expectat PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 13:50:56 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 365 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 STOCKHOLM, SE / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Bambuser AB (STO:BUSER)(FRA:5JL) Singapore/Stockholm - Singapore headquartered brand specializing in frictionless live commerce solutions, Mela Platforms, and Bambuser, the global leader in video commerce technology, are excited to announce a new strategic partnership. This collaboration is set to redefine the e-commerce landscape by integrating Bambuser's video commerce solutions with Mela Platforms' robust thematic event capabilities.Mela Platforms has established itself as a key player in maximizing revenue for brands, e-commerce platforms, and publishers through immersive, theme-based event production and live shopping experiences. The partnership aims to leverage each company's strengths, with Mela bringing its expertise in seamless event integration and Bambuser enhancing the user experience with interactive, shoppable video content."We look forward to our partnership with Mela platform, and we're eager to embark on this journey of exploration together, said Jonas Lagerstrom, Chief Operating Officer at Bambuser.The integration of Bambuser's shoppable video solutions into Mela Platforms' service offerings is expected to drive significant growth in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) for all stakeholders involved. The new partnership is not just about technology; it's about creating a dynamic and engaging shopping experience that resonates with the modern consumer's expectations.About Mela PlatformsBased in Singapore, Mela Platforms specializes in providing a fully integrated solution for running zero-cost, high-impact thematic live shopping events. Their platform is designed to optimize ROI through continuous learning models and state-of-the-art analytics.For further information, please contact:Mela Platforms: trigam@ theprophets.in About Bambuser Bambuser is the world's leading video commerce company with the largest customer base in its industry. More than 250 brands from 40+ countries leverage Bambuser's best-in-class solutions. Bambuser is truly global with headquarters in Stockholm and offices in New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, and Turku, and with a passionate team speaking more than 30 languages. Founded in 2007 as a livestreaming pioneer, trusted by the world's leading news agencies, Bambuser pivoted to Live Shopping in 2019, leveraging its legacy as the industry leader in video-first technology.Follow us Subscribe to Bambusers press releases here .Bambuser on LinkedIn.Contact information Bambuser press@ bambuser.com AttachmentsBambuser Explores New Opportunities in the Southeast Asia Market Through Strategic Partnership with Mela PlatformsSOURCE: Bambuser AB PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 19:52:09 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 737 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Jeffrey Getty and Lisa Clifford join Callan Family Office to help clients prepare for the sale and/or transition of their closely-held businesses.PHILADELPHIA, PA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Callan Family Office, a registered investment advisor serving ultra-high-net-worth families, family offices, foundations and endowments across the United States, today announced the launch of a new offering focused on supporting business owners considering transacting or transitioning their businesses.The Business & Transaction Advisory Practice will be led by industry veterans Jeff Getty and Lisa Clifford. They educate owners on value optimization, exit option strategies, and value enhancement through due diligence preparation. Additionally, they work closely with the business owner's legal and tax counsel on transaction structuring to minimize all levels of taxation in alignment with the client's financial, philanthropic, legacy and estate planning goals."Business owners represent a large segment of the U.S. GDP and most owners' net worth," said Jack Ginter, Chief Executive Officer of Callan Family Office. "Before selling or transitioning, an owner should ensure that their business is in its strongest possible position to allow them to generate maximum value. Jeff and Lisa have spent decades strengthening companies and preparing them for sale. We are excited to bring them on to lead this practice and deliver holistic support to business owners during all phases of their business lifecycle." Getty and Clifford join Callan Family Office from Key Private Bank, where Getty led the family wealth consulting team and founded the Business Advisory practice. During his 14-year tenure, he managed a team of 12 professionals, providing support on approximately 30 to 40 transactions per year.Getty holds a Juris Doctor and Master of Science in Taxation. In addition, he is a Fellow in the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel (ACTEC), Accredited Estate Planner (AEP), Certified Merger & Acquisition Advisor (CM&AA), Certified Financial Planner (CFP), and Certified Value Growth Advisor (CVGA). He is author of the book The Descent is the Real Climb: The Unexpected Truths About Successful Business Transitions."Having spent two decades advising thriving business owners, we are thrilled to join a company synonymous with entrepreneurial success," Getty said. "We look forward to assisting clients of Callan Family Office on how to prepare for this life-changing event." Clifford holds the Certified Private Wealth Advisor designation (CPWA) and is a Certified Merger & Acquisition Advisor (CM&AA)."Unlike other firms, we have an extremely narrow focus: maximize the value of our clients' businesses in preparation for a sale," Clifford said. "I'm proud of our work for hundreds of owners, helping them achieve their goals for their businesses and families. I look forward to delivering optimal value to Callan Family Office clients." About Callan Family OfficeIndependently owned and operated, Callan Family Office was founded by experienced wealth professionals to provide investment management, thoughtful personalized advice, and holistic financial planning to ultra-high-net-worth families, foundations, and endowments. The firm's principals have spent their careers serving ultra-high-net-worth clients and institutions. Callan Family Office has agreements with Callan LLC to use the Callan tradename in providing investment advisory services to the ultra-high-net-worth market segment and to access Callan's institutional quality research, education, and investment guidance experience. Callan Family Office and Callan LLC are independent, unaffiliated investment advisory firms separately registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.Callan Family Office has agreements with Callan LLC to use the Callan tradename in providing investment advisory services to the ultra-high-net-worth market segment and to access Callan's institutional quality research, education, and investment guidance experience. Callan Family Office and Callan LLC are independent, unaffiliated investment advisory firms separately registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.Callan Family Office (CFO) is the exclusive trademark licensee of Callan LLC. Callan LLC provides products and services to CFO. Clients of CFO are not clients of Callan LLC, and the parties are not affiliated. CALLAN, CFO and the other Callan trademarks and service marks are registered and/or unregistered trademarks of Callan LLC and may not be used without its permission. INVESTMENT ADVISORY SERVICES AND PRODUCTS PROVIDED TO CLIENTS OF CFO ARE PROVIDED SOLELY BY CFO AND NOT BY OR ON BEHALF OF CALLAN LLC. REPRESENTATIVES OF CFO ARE EMPLOYEES AND AGENTS OF CFO AND NOT EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS OF CALLAN LLC.Contact DetailsFor Callan Family Officeinfo@ callanfo.com Company Website https://callanfamilyoffice.com/ SOURCE: CALLAN FAMILY OFFICE PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 15:16:30 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 1019 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 /Centenario Gold Corp. (TSXV:CTG) ("Centenario" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it will host a Webinar at 10:00 am PDT on Thursday May 30th, 2024. In attendance from Centenario and presenting will be, Alain Charest, CEO & VP of Exploration and Doug Fulcher, President. The purpose of the webinar is to provide investors with an update on the project and the next phase exploration and drilling program on the Eden Property, Mexico.Format: Management presentation (20 minutes) update and planned next phase exploration program on the Eden property, near Cosala, Mexico, followed by a question period. Please email your questions before or during the meeting to Steve McGuire at smcguire@ centenariogold.com 6ix Meeting Link: https://events.6ix.com/preview/centenario-gold-update-and-2024-drilling-3 The investor update will be posted on the Company's website following the Webinar.Alain Charest, CEO & VP of Exploration states "The geological information obtained from the maiden drilling program completed in February 2024, has greatly improved our understanding of the mineralized systems found on the Eden property." "During the last two months, the Centenario geological team has processed this new information and outlined several new targets to drill-test across the Eden property. We feel it is important to give our shareholders and potential new investors an opportunity to ask questions directly to management and we look forward to speaking with you on May 30 th." Non-Brokered Private Placement FinancingCentenario is also pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement financing (the "Private Placement") for a total of up to $1,000,000 through the issuance of up to 20,000,000 units (the "Units") at a price of $0.05 per Unit. Each Unit will be comprised of one common share (each, a "Common Share") in the capital of the Company and one common share purchase warrant (each, a "Warrant"), whereby each Warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one common share of the Company at a price of $0.10 per Common Share for a period of 24 months following the closing date of the Offering. All securities issued pursuant to the Private Placement will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus a day from the date of issuance in accordance with applicable securities legislation in Canada. The Company will use the proceeds of the Private Placement to fund further work at its Eden Gold-Silver Property in Mexico and for general working capital purposes. Completion of the Private Placement is subject to TSX Venture Exchange acceptance. The Company may pay finders' fees and finders' warrants to eligible finders.The Existing Shareholder Exemption and Investment Dealer ExemptionThe Private Placement is also made available to registered shareholders of the company who, as of the close of business on May 31, 2024, hold common shares of the company pursuant to the prospectus exemption set out in British Columbia Securities Commission Rule 45-534, Prospectus Exemption for Distribution to Existing Security Holders, and in similar instruments in other jurisdictions in Canada. The existing shareholder exemption limits a shareholder to a maximum investment of $15,000 in a 12-month period unless the shareholder has obtained advice regarding the suitability of the investment and, if the shareholder is resident in a jurisdiction of Canada, that advice has been obtained from a person who is registered as an investment dealer in the jurisdiction.The company is also making the Private Placement available to certain subscribers pursuant to the investment dealer exemption. In accordance with the requirements of the investment dealer exemption, the company confirms that there is no material fact or material change about the company that has not been generally disclosed.About Centenario Gold Corp. and the El Eden Gold-Silver Project:Centenario Gold Corp. is a natural resource exploration company that was formed to focus on exploring and generating high quality mineral prospects in Mexico. During 2020, the exploration team of Centenario visited and evaluated more than 12 mineral prospects before finding the Eden gold silver property located in Durango State, Mexico. On March 24th, 2021, after completing the preliminary evaluation work and due diligence review, Durango Gold Corp S.A de C.V., the 100%-owned Mexican subsidiary of Centenario Gold Corp., signed a 4-year option agreement to acquire 100% of the mineral rights to the Eden Au-Ag property subject to a 1% NSR. The Eden property consists of three adjoining mineral concessions totalling 5,689 hectares in size hosting a series of high-grade N to NE trending, epithermal Au-Ag vein structures. The Eden property's northern border is adjacent to Americas Gold & Silver's Nuestra Senora producing mine while the Eden property's southern border is adjacent to Prime Mining Corp's, Los Reyes advanced exploration property.Prime Mining has outlined a new resource on the Los Reyes property of, indicated 1.47 M AuEq and Inferred 0.73m AuEq. (Prime Mining Corp. NI 43-101 dated June 12. 2023) AuEq grade (gpt) = Gold grade (gpt) + Silver grade (gpt) x ($22 / $1700).Further information on the Centenario Gold and the Eden Property can be found on our website at www.centenariogold.com along with the NI43-101 compliant Technical Report filed on SEDAR+.On behalf of the Board of Directors,Doug Fulcher President, DirectorFor further information, please call:Doug Fulcher 604-803-5901 Steve McGuire 604-762-7869 Alain Charest 011-52-618-299-9885 www.centenariogold.com The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Statements in this press release, other than purely historical information, including statements relating to the Company's future plans and objectives or expected results, may include forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in resource exploration and development. As a result, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statementsCaution Regarding Forward Looking Statements:Certain information included in this press release, including information relating to future financial or operating performance and other statements that express the expectations of management or estimates of future performance constitute "forward-looking statements". Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding copper, gold and silver forecasts, the financial strength of the Company, estimates regarding timing of future development an PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 14:04:09 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 398 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 HUNTSVILLE, AL / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Curiteva, Inc., announced today the addition of Chris Schultz as Vice President of Marketing to the rapidly growing technology company headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama. This addition is part of a recently initiated strategy to enhance the company's brand and propel Curiteva towards the next level of innovation and growth. This effort aligns with the company's ongoing commitment to innovation, marked by the continuous introduction of products with its novel Inspire Technology.Schultz brings more than 17 years of extensive clinical, marketing and leadership experience in the Spine Industry. Prior to joining Curiteva, Schultz spent a decade honing his expertise at Nuvasive as a Spine Specialist, followed by an advanced marketing role with Integrity Implants. Most recently, he served as Sr. Director of Product Management with Accelus, where he was responsible for helping drive the company's marketing strategy, growth initiatives, and market penetration efforts."Chris is a talented, experienced leader in our industry, and we are honored to have him join the Curiteva team," said Chief Commercial Officer David Schmidt. "His expertise will be instrumental as we continue to innovate and bring revolutionary technology to market to meet the evolving needs of our customers and the patients they serve." Schultz will be responsible for developing and executing strategic marketing plans, building brand awareness, and driving market adoption."Curiteva is poised to set a new bar on how implants are constructed and ultimately received by the patient. The Curiteva brand, its people, core products, and the Inspire Technology have a very bright future and I am honored and excited to be a part of the team. I look forward to helping lead the charge for this transformative company and its technology," commented Chris Schultz.About Curiteva:Curiteva is a privately held technology and manufacturing company based in Huntsville, Alabama. Our business is founded on a commitment to building world-class manufacturing, accelerating research and development, maintaining lean operational discipline, and delivering novel technology to meet the evolving needs of our customers and the patients they serve. Curiteva is pioneering 3D printing of Trabecular PEEK implants with a bioactive nano-surface to revolutionize how engineered structures and implant biomaterials accelerate immunomodulation, enhance healing, and improve patient outcomes. For more information, please visit www.curiteva.com Contact InformationKristen KyzerDirector of Business Developmentkkyzer@ curiteva.com 256.213.1057SOURCE: CuritevaView the original press release on newswire.com PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 15:42:24 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 998 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 On May 17, 2024 the British Columbia Provincial Health Services Authority (BC-PHSA) Posted the Contract Award Notice Valued at $9.4 million CAD.News in SummaryAfter a successful competitive RFP process, on April 23, 2024 the Company executed a Province-wide contract for Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) products and services. The Company announced the execution of the contract on May 7, 2024. The contract has a term of 36 months with 2 extensions of 12 months each. The average contract value of each individual subscription is expected to be approximately $1,520 CAD per year which covers the cost of the Connected Health Kit prescribed to patients, software and connectivity. Subsequently the BC-PHSA has posted the award of the contract at BCBid.gov.ca , with a value of $9,412,277.06. So far in 2024 Cloud DX has announced 26 new contracts with hospitals, paramedic services, US clinics and 2 Canadian Provinces with a total value of $14.6 million CAD indicating an inflection point in the company's growth. KITCHENER, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Cloud DX (TSXV:CDX)(OTCQB:CDXFF), a leading North American provider of virtual care and remote patient monitoring platforms is pleased to update investors regarding the terms of the Remote Patient Monitoring Agreement for Cloud DX RPM Services with a British Columbia Provincial Health Services Authority, initially announced on May 7, 2024.On May 17, 2024 BC-PHSA posted the Award of the contract at BCBid.gov.ca , with a value of $9,412,277.06. The contract has a term of 36 months with 2 extensions. The average contract value of each individual patient subscription is expected to be approximately $1,520 CAD per year which covers the cost of the Connected Health Kit prescribed to each patient, software, and connectivity. Certain additional fees, including customizations and integrations can be added on an as-needed basis. In the most recent financial statements Cloud DX reported a gross margin of 71%.Cloud DX is now one of the leading suppliers of Remote Patient Monitoring services in Canada. In addition to contracts at the clinic, hospital, institute and municipal government level, Cloud DX has secured 5 Provincial level contracts for RPM including Alberta Health Services, Alberta Primary Care Network, Yukon Health, Health PEI and now BC-PHSA. On June 21, 2023 Cloud DX announced a Master Services Agreement to supply members of the Mohawk Medbuy shared services organization, which manages procurement for over 100 Hospital Systems and provincial authorities across Canada. In addition to these large contracts the Company supplies RPM solutions to 11 Ontario Community Paramedic Services and over 8 hospital systems including Hamilton Health Sciences, The Ottawa Hospital, the Ottawa Heart Center, Kingston Health Sciences and several more. Further details of this agreement will be released by the client upon publication of the contract award as per provincial regulations.Cloud DX has now announced 26 new contracts and/or contract renewals so far in 2024. Notable announcements include new contracts with Ontario Paramedics, Ottawa University Research Institute, VHA Home HealthCare and Health PEI. Together the announced value of these contracts now exceeds $14 million CAD, with terms of 12 to 36 months (not including extensions).Cloud DX Founder and CEO Robert Kaul stated: "The announcement of the Provincial Remote Patient Monitoring contract by the British Columbia PHSA marks a critical milestone in Cloud DX's growth. With an announced value of $9.4 million CAD this award proves that Remote Patient Monitoring has become a priority with Canadian Provincial Health Authorities. As the largest supplier of Remote Patient Monitoring in Canada Cloud DX now has the capability to bring the benefits of this new mode of care to well over 50% of the population. We look forward to working with all our Provincial Government partners to improve care for all Canadians." About Cloud DXAccelerating digital healthcare, Cloud DX is on a mission to make healthcare better for everyone. Our Connected Health remote patient monitoring platform is used by healthcare enterprises and care teams across North America to virtually manage chronic disease, enable aging in place, and deliver hospital-quality post-surgical care in the home. Our partners achieve better healthcare and patient outcomes, reduce the need for hospitalization or re-admission, and reduce healthcare delivery costs through more efficient use of resources. Cloud DX is the co-winner of the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, winner of "2022 Top Innovator" from Canadian Business, a 2021 "Edison Award" winner, a Fast Company "World Changing Idea" finalist, and one of "Canada's Ten Most Prominent Telehealth Providers." Cloud DX is an exclusive partner to Medtronic Canada and Teladoc Health Canada.Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.Cloud DX Investor Site https://ir.clouddx.com/overview/default.aspx Social LinksTwitter https://twitter.com/CloudDX Facebook https://www.facebook.com/clouddxinc/ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/cloud-dx/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cloud.dx/ For media inquiries please contact:Marketing Enquiries Phone 888-543-0944 marketing@ clouddx.com For investor inquiries please contact:Jay Bedard Cloud DX Investor RelationsPhone 647-881-8418 investors@ clouddx.com Officer responsible for this Press Release:Robert Kaul Chief Executive Officer Phone 888-543-0944 ceo@ clouddx.com Forward Looking StatementsThis news release contains forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release. In particular PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 16:17:15 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 572 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Do you, or did you, own shares of Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP)? Did you purchase your shares between November 29, 2023 and March 22, 2024, inclusive? Did you lose money in your investment in Compass Minerals International, Inc.? Do you want to discuss your rights? NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the securities of Compass Minerals International, Inc. ("Compass Minerals" or the "Company") (NYSE:CMP) between November 29, 2023 and March 22, 2024, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas and alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against the Company and certain of its officers (the "Complaint").If you purchased or acquired Compass Minerals securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Compass Minerals International, Inc. Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Investor Relations Manager Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later thanJune 24, 2024 . A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.According to the Complaint, Defendants failed to disclose to investors that:(1) Compass Minerals overstated the likelihood that it would be awarded a renewed U.S. Forest Service contract for the use of its proprietary magnesium chloride-based aerial fire retardants for the 2024 fire season, as a result of safety issues presented by its fire retardant; and (2) Compass Minerals materially overstated the extent to which testing had confirmed that its fire retardants were safe.On March 25, 2024, before the market opened, the Company announced that the U.S. Forest Service had informed the company that it will not be entering into a contract for the use of magnesium chloride-based aerial fire retardants for the 2024 fire season. On this news, Compass Minerals' stock price fell $3.00 per share, or 17.09%, to close at $14.55 on March 25, 2024.If you purchased or acquired Compass Minerals securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Compass Minerals International, Inc. Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Investor Relations Manager Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List" thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for sixteen consecutive years.ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. 2024 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.Contact Information:Peter Allocco Investor Relations ManagerBernstein Liebhard LLP https://www.bernlieb.com (212) 951-2030 pallocco@ bernlieb.com SOURCE: Bernstein Liebhard LLP PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 01:50:21 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 486 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 KINGSTOWN, SAINT VINCENT and THE GRENADINES / ACCESSWIRE / May 20, 2024 / Crypto analysts are watching closely as NFTFN's ongoing presale generates significant buzz. This revolutionary web3 fintech platform is captivating investors with its potential to disrupt the NFT market and reach staggering heights. Can it outperform even Solana's all-time high (ATH)?NFTFN: A New Player Challenging the Status QuoInvestors are on the hunt for the next big cryptocurrency, and NFTFN is emerging as a frontrunner. Its presale has attracted a passionate community with its innovative solutions designed to revolutionize the NFT landscape.Tackling Real Issues in the NFT Market Head-OnNFTFN is a web3 fintech company addressing critical challenges in the NFT market. Their flagship product, SuperNova (SNV), is a DEX offering a unique range of assets, including NFT perpetuals (perps). This allows users to speculate on the price of NFTs without needing to own the underlying asset. SuperNova (SNV) also features crypto perps and even ordinal perps.Democratizing the NFT Craze for AllThe presale has been a magnet for smaller investors who were previously priced out of the blue-chip NFT market. With SNV's ingenious NFT floor price index, users can gain exposure to top collections for a mere $10.Industry Heavyweights Back a Rising StarNFTFN isn't going it alone. They've secured the backing of influential figures like Polygon founder Sandeep Nailwal and established partnerships with industry leaders such as OpenSea and Binance Smart Chain.Positioned for a BreakoutFollowing a successful first presale round, the second stage is underway. Investors are eager to grab a share of the 25 million tokens available. Early adopters are already seeing rewards, with stage 1 investors enjoying a 20% paper profit.Potential to Surpass Established Players?With a well-structured tokenomic model and events like the Bitcoin Halving acting as catalysts, NFTFN has the potential to deliver a staggering 50x return on investment for presale participants. This meteoric rise could position it to challenge even Solana's impressive ATH.Don't Miss the OpportunityThe NFTFN presale has already surpassed a remarkable $600,000, with over 20 million tokens finding new homes. This enthusiastic response is a testament to the immense potential of SuperNova (SNV).Join the PresaleStage 1: The initial stage offered a limited pool of 10 million tokens at an incredible price of $0.025 each. It sold out rapidly, highlighting the enormous investor demand.Stage 2: The second stage is nearing completion, with 25 million tokens available at a slightly increased yet undervalued price of $0.030 each. This limited-time opportunity allows investors to secure NFTFN tokens at a competitive rate before prices rise in subsequent stages.By participating in the presale, investors are aligning themselves with a rapidly growing NFT market expected to reach a staggering $230 billion by 2030.Discover the Most Exclusive Presale Opportunity of 2024 Now:Visit NFTFN Token PresaleNFTFN Official WebsiteJoin Official Telegram GroupFollow Official X AccountMedia Contact:Name - Abhishek Email -abhishek@ nftfn.xyzCompany - NFTFN City - Kingstown Country - St. Vincent and the GrenadinesSOURCE: NFTFN PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 16:16:30 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 600 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Do you, or did you, own shares of Doximity, Inc. (NYSE:DOCS)?Did you purchase your shares between February 9, 2022 and April 1, 2024, inclusive?Did you lose money in your investment in Doximity, Inc.?Do you want to discuss your rights?NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the common stock of Doximity, Inc. ("Doximity" or the "Company") (NYSE:DOCS) between February 9, 2022 and April 1, 2024, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against the Company and certain of its officers (the "Complaint").If you purchased or acquired Doximity common stock, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Doximity, Inc. Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Investor Relations Manager Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later thanJune 17, 2024 . A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.According to the Complaint, Defendants repeatedly touted the Company's business prospects and the sustainability of its revenue growth and profitability, while downplaying both the impact of competition and tightening macroeconomic conditions, as well as Doximity's reliance on "upselling" products and services (such as additional advertising) to existing customers to sustain performance and future growth.On August 8, 2023, after the market closed, Doximity provided disappointing guidance for the second quarter of fiscal year 2024 and slashed its guidance for the full fiscal year 2024. In conjunction with the disappointing guidance, Doximity announced that it would reduce its workforce by approximately 10%.On this news, Doximity's stock price fell $7.49 per share, or nearly 23%, to close at $25.30 per share on August 9, 2023.Then, on April 1, 2024, Jehoshaphat Research published a report alleging, among other things, that "Doximity's underlying sales . . . are declining at a negative -3-6% rate, but [] this decline has been masked through accelerated revenue recognition." On this news, Doximity's stock price fell almost 2%, closing at $25.80 per share on April 1, 2024.If you purchased or acquired Doximity common stock, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Doximity, Inc. Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Investor Relations Manager Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List" thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for sixteen consecutive years.ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. 2024 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.Contact Information:Peter AlloccoInvestor Relations ManagerBernstein Liebhard LLP https://www.bernlieb.com (212) 951-2030 pallocco@ bernlieb.com SOURCE: Bernstein Liebhard LLP PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 06:10:51 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 627 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / At the heart of San Francisco, TRUSTKID is making a name for itself as a tech-driven media startup with the goal to elevate the voices of the world's mission-driven brands and individuals.Spearheaded by Oliver Kim (21) and powered by Blingkle Labs, TRUSTKID leverages the collective talent of an all-Gen Z ensemble that has previously contributed to raising over $45 million in their early-stage startup valuation.Kim's unique personal background cannot be overlooked. With support from South Korea's dictator Park Jung Hee in the 1970s, Kim's grandfather, Kim Jung Woong, founded the Korean Folk Village, a cultural site in South Korea dedicated to preserving traditional Korean customs with a real estate value of approximately 3 billion USD. Kim's maternal grandmother is now-passed Chun Rak Won of Paradise Company Inc., one of Asia's wealthiest first-generation casino tycoons. Despite his upbringing, Kim, as a teenager, found himself with a deeper longing for fulfillment beyond the comfort of his family's generational wealth.As a teenager, Kim was drawn to the world of entrepreneurship, entering the startup world by bootstrapping and exiting two startups in the ed-tech and e-commerce sectors as a high school student at Brooks School. He later established Blingkle Labs with fellow Gen Z serial entrepreneurs and operators who share the same level of passion as him in the startup space. Blingkle Labs is a San Francisco-based, mission-driven venture studio that draws a wide network of young industrial engineers from institutions like Disney, Citadel, and the MIT Media Lab, as well as Harvard, MIT, and Stanford. The Studio focuses on creating ventures that address global challenges like the mental health crisis, infusing TRUSTKID, one of its portfolio startups, with a deep sense of mission and purpose.Johnny Rapp (26), co-founder of TRUSTKID, discovered his talent even earlier than Kim. He started his career in marketing at the age of 13, quickly establishing his reputation as the internet marketing prodigy.' When Rapp was just 18 years old, he led and managed a team of digital marketers to plan, execute, and oversee campaigns for public figures like Jennifer Lopez, Drake Bell, and Terrell Owens.Beyond that, TRUSTKID team directed the growth of 13 social media accounts with a total of more than 18 million followers as of January 2024, including the household social media account @clips that has more than 14 million followers. As of the aforementioned date, these accounts have generated more than 15 billion video views and, together, attract up to 2.4 billion views every month, with an average of 1.3 billion, demonstrating the Team's ability to engage and scale audiences online at a rapid pace.TRUSTKID has developed end-to-end digital marketing solutions for brands and individuals of all sizes by combining the analytical strengths of AI with human marketers' creative direction.Kim emphasizes that TRUSTKID combines the "best of both worlds" by combining technological precision of the latest tech with talented human marketers' insights. TRUSTKID utilizes machine learning algorithms to predict digital trends, personalize content, and optimize engagement. Then, marketers at TRUSTKID enriches this data with creative storytelling and strategic oversight. "In a nutshell," says Kim, the co-founder.Kim says, "When it comes to partnerships, we look for brands and individuals whose missions are positively impactful and truly worthy of being seen and heard by a larger audience. I think that's another aspect of TRUSTKID that sets us apart from our competitors." As the world of marketing continues to evolve, Kim and Rapp remain committed to transforming how brands and individuals with missions communicate with the world, making sure their messages not only spread widely but also inspire action and change.Media DetailsContact Person Name: Oliver Kim Contact Email: oliver_kim@ blingklelabs.xyz Company: TRUSTKIDWebsite URL: https://www.trustkid.co Location: San Francisco, United StatesSOURCE: TRUSTKID PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 19:32:20 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 502 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Announcement reflects Avenue Z's client-centric focus as the Company unifies its branding under one banner and strengthens its Senior Executive Team for its next stage of growth.NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 /Avenue Z, a strategic marketing and communications company announces the appointment of Jessica Dalziel as its Chief Client Officer. Dalziel brings over 15 years of experience in unlocking top-tier solutions, fostering innovative thinking, and harnessing exceptional talent across strategic accounts. With this appointment, she will oversee the full breadth of client relationships across the Company."Our strategy revolves around nurturing the growth and success of our clients across multiple channels. To accomplish this, we're embracing a more client-centric approach than ever before," stated Jeffrey Herzog , Chairman and CEO of Avenue Z." Jess' natural leadership talents and steadfast connections bolster and accelerate our commitment to industry-wide revolution, amplifying customer experiences along the way." Dalziel will enhance client experience through solutions tailored to each client's unique needs and business goals, elevate service delivery standards, and fortify Avenue Z's reputation as a trusted advisor in the industry. In this role, Dalziel will report to the company's COO,Dave Johnson."Jess has been pivotal in shaping NightWise's strategic marketing initiatives, elevating our brand's presence, and fostering smooth, productive collaborations with her exceptional talent and friendly demeanor", said Danny RinaldiFounder & CEO of NightWise. "Her adept management of complex projects has positioned us as frontrunners in the sleep industry, while her partnership with every team member has greatly contributed to our successes." Dalziel shared, "Many agencies focus solely on advancing technologies such as AI or the latest trends. A successful client strategy harnesses both but never loses sight of human empathy and trust. It delves into the intricacies of each client's needs, enabling our teams to tailor solutions that resonate on a deeper level and drive impactful results. I'm thrilled to leverage my background to strengthen our client relationships and bring unparalleled value alongside the talented team at Avenue Z".Before joining Avenue Z, Dalziel served as the VP of Strategic Accounts at Investis Digital in New York. In this role, she spearheaded business growth, innovative processes, and resources, with a keen focus on business development and nurturing client relationships. Prior to that, Dalziel held value-creation positions at Isobar, a dentsu company, where she adeptly coordinated project plans on a global scale, seamlessly integrating them across diverse stakeholders.Dalziel earned her MBA from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, and a bachelor's degree in Advertising from Grand Valley State University.Avenue Z is a strategic marketing and communications company breaking traditional boundaries between marketing, advertising and PR. From the Wall Street Journal to TikTok, PR to social and search, we create narratives that drive commerce, connections, and conversion, across all channels. With experts, tech and teams based in New York, Boston, Orlando, Miami and global reach - we drive influence. Visit www.avenuez.com Contact DetailsAvenue Z Madeleine Worrall+1 817-808-1521 madeleine.worrall@bevelpr.com SOURCE: AVENUE Z PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 16:16:43 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 606 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Bernstein Liebhard LLP:Do you, or did you, own shares of Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC)?Did you purchase your shares between November 4, 2020 and November 2, 2022, inclusive?Did you lose money in your investment in Lincoln National Corporation?Do you want to discuss your rights?Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the securities of Lincoln National Corporation ("Lincoln National" or the "Company") (NYSE: LNC) between November 4, 2020 and November 2, 2022, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against the Company and certain of its officers (the "Complaint").If you purchased or acquired Lincoln National securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Lincoln National Corporation Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Investor Relations Manager Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later thanJune 24, 2024 . A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.According to the Complaint, Defendants failed to disclose to investors that: (1) the Company was experiencing a decline in its variable universal life insurance business; (2) the goodwill associated with the life insurance business was overstated; (3) the Company's policy lapse assumptions were outdated; (4) the Company's reserves were overstated; and (5) the Company's reported financial results and financial statements were misstated.On November 2, 2022, after the market closed, Lincoln National released its third quarter 2022 financial results, reporting a net loss of $2.6 billion for the quarter. This was compared to a net income of $318 million for the third quarter of 2021 the previous year. The Company explained that "[t]he current quarter's adjusted operating results included net unfavorable notable items of $2.0 billion, or $11.62 per share, related to the company's annual review of DAC and reserve assumptions." The Company also disclosed that it "incurred a $634 million goodwill impairment to the life insurance business." On this news, Lincoln's stock price fell $17.27, or 33.2%, to close at $34.83 per share on November 3, 2022.If you purchased or acquired Lincoln National securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Lincoln National Corporation Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Investor Relations Manager Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List" thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for sixteen consecutive years.ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. 2024 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.Contact Information:Peter AlloccoInvestor Relations ManagerBernstein Liebhard LLP https://www.bernlieb.com (212) 951-2030 pallocco@ bernlieb.com SOURCE: Bernstein Liebhard LLP PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 04:50:56 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 420 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NEW ORLEANS, LA / ACCESSWIRE / May 20, 2024 / Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until June 24, 2024to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC), if they purchased or otherwise acquired the Company's securities between November 4, 2020 and November 2, 2022, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.What You May DoIf you purchased securities of Lincoln National and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or via email ( lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com) , or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-lnc/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court byJune 24, 2024 .About the LawsuitLincoln National and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.On November 2, 2022, post-market, the Company released its 3Q 2022 financial results, disclosing a net loss of $2.6 billion for the quarter, compared to a net income of $318 million for the third quarter of 2021 the previous year, due to "net unfavorable notable items of $2.0 billion, or $11.62 per share, related to the company's annual review of DAC and reserve assumptions," and that the Company "incurred a $634 million goodwill impairment to the life insurance business." On this news, the price of Lincoln's shares fell by $17.27, or 33.2%, to close at $34.83 per share on November 3, 2022, on unusually heavy trading volume.The case is Meade v. Lincoln National Corporation, et al., No. 24-cv-01704.About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLCKSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is one of the nation's premier boutique securities litigation law firms. KSF serves a variety of clients - including public institutional investors, hedge funds, money managers and retail investors - in seeking recoveries for investment losses emanating from corporate fraud or malfeasance by publicly traded companies. KSF has offices in New York, Delaware, California, Louisiana and New Jersey.To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com Contact:Kahn Swick & Foti, LLCLewis Kahn, Managing Partnerlewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com1-877-515-18501100 Poydras St., Suite 960New Orleans, LA 70163SOURCE: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 16:41:11 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 432 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Cincinnati's leading veterinary services, Animal Care Center (ACC), is proud to announce and invite the community to a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its newest facility in Anderson on May 23, 2024, at 11 am.CINCINNATI, OH / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Cincinnati's leading veterinary services, Animal Care Center (ACC), is proud to announce and invite the community to a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its newest facility in Anderson on May 23, 2024, at 11 am.Dr. Ben Walter and Tigger With existing locations in Forest Park, Fairfield, and Blue Ash, the addition of the Anderson location further solidifies ACC's commitment to providing top-notch care to pets across the Cincinnati area.For over 40 years, Animal Care Center has been dedicated to offering a complete range of veterinary services, ensuring beloved pets' optimal health and well-being. From routine check-ups to emergency procedures, ACC's team of experienced veterinarians utilizes the latest in veterinary technology to provide comprehensive care for dogs and cats."At Animal Care Center, we understand that pets are more than just animals - they're family members," said Dr. Alyssa Myers, Lead Veterinarian at ACC. "With the opening of our Anderson location, we're excited to extend our exceptional services to even more pet owners in the Cincinnati area." The new Anderson facility boasts state-of-the-art amenities and a team of skilled professionals dedicated to providing compassionate care to furry companions. Whether it's routine vaccinations, dental cleanings, or advanced medical treatments, pet owners can trust ACC to deliver high-quality care in a welcoming environment."At ACC, we believe in going above and beyond to keep pets healthy, happy, and thriving," added Dr. Myers. "We're thrilled to open our doors in Anderson and look forward to serving the needs of the local pet community." The Anderson location will host an open house on June 1, 2024, with special promotions and activities planned for pet owners and their furry companions. For more information about Animal Care Center and its services, visit www.animalcarecenters.net Media Contact: Jenny Baker, Public Relations at (513) 405-0718 Email: Jenny.Baker@cvpco.com About Animal Care Center: Animal Care Center (ACC) is Cincinnati's leading provider of veterinary services, pet care, boarding, and grooming. With convenient locations in Forest Park, Fairfield, Blue Ash, and now Anderson, ACC has been serving the Cincinnati community for over 40 years. Committed to providing compassionate care and state-of-the-art services, ACC offers a complete range of veterinary services to keep pets healthy and happy. For more information, visit www.animalcarecenters.net Contact InformationJenny BakerDirector of Strategic Communicationsjenny.baker@cvpco.com 513-405-0718SOURCE: Animal Care CenterView the original press release on newswire.com PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 18:01:06 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 510 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 New State-of-the-Art Facility Offers Unique Non-Surgical Treatments for Chronic PainDUBAI, ARAB EMIRATES / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Physiowell , a Physiotherapy, Osteopathy and Chiropractic center in Dubai, is raising the bar higher than ever for patient-centered treatment and healthcare quality. Established by the forward-thinking businessman Zafer El Khatib, Physiowell is leading the way in the UAE's wellness revolution. The facility is impressively devoted to improving the physical health of its community by using customized and cutting-edge wellness strategies.Physiowell Center Physiowell is a chiropractic, osteopathy, and physiotherapy center (physio) in Jumeirah, Dubai Zafer's Expertise in Wellness Transformation in the UAEWell-known in Dubai's business community, Zafer El Khatib offers a wealth of experience and creativity to the physical therapy industry. With a decade of experience in design and building, as well as a background in business administration and civil engineering from the American University of Beirut, Zafer's strategic vision has been essential in developing the culture and cutting-edge infrastructure of Physiowell. His knowledge of the UAE's changing market and his connections with important business figures have been crucial in creating a wellness facility that not only meets but also exceeds patient expectations. With a dedication to wellness transformation in the UAE, Zafer believes in always moving forward conscientiously in a competitive environment.Personalized Wellness Services in the UAEPhysiowell works with a very simple philosophy and that is prioritizing patient care above everything else. Every patient receives individualized therapy that is catered to their unique health concerns and wellness objectives. Every facet of the facility demonstrates this patient-first philosophy, from the selection of its highly qualified team of international physiotherapists, osteopaths, and chiropractors to the custom treatment programs created for each patient.The innovative wellness approach by Physiowell is what they hold at the core of their ethos. The facility is proud to offer the Vertonex iDU machine, a state-of-the-art technology for non-surgical relief of herniated discs. This exclusive machine uses advanced technology to provide effective and long-lasting relief for patients suffering from herniated discs. With a remarkable success rate, the Vertonex iDU machine is a game-changer for those seeking a non-invasive solution for their disc-related pain.Leading Wellness Services in the UAEChiropractic care: Proficiency in using spine adjustments and manipulations to treat headaches, neck discomfort, and back pain.Physiotherapy: Tailored treatment plans intended to regain mobility, strength, and functionality.Osteopathy: A complete medical discipline that enhances general health and well-being by addressing the alignment of the body.Disc non-surgical treatment: The Vertonex iDU machine uses technology to precisely determine the pressure in the area of the vertebral segments and intervertebral discs, ensuring safe and efficient treatment for acute and chronic disc problems.Physiowell's dedicated and experienced team of specialists is dedicated to offering individualized wellness services, creating a true haven for people looking for a comprehensive route to recovery and ideal health. They aim, as best as possible, to ensure that every patient not only recovers but flourishes.Contact InformationZafer ElKhatib CEOinfo@ physiowell.ae +971(4)2692121SOURCE: Physiowell Chiropractic and Physiotherapy Center in DubaiView the original press release on newswire.com PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 14:00:42 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 496 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Willems Brings Deep Experience to the Burgeoning European Retail Media MarketSAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / PRN announced the launch of a new in-store retail media focused division, PRN Europe, led by industry veteran Tijmen Willems, PRN Europe Vice President of Retail Media EMEA. In this role, Willems will spearhead the growth of PRN In-Store Retail Media Networks in Europe. Willems and his team will partner with PRN sister company Scala to develop new retail media platforms with current retail clients and prospects and will grow PRN's retail media sales organization in the EMEA region.Tijmen Willems Tijmen Willems, PRN Europe Vice President of Retail Media EMEA.Willems , based in Amsterdam, has deep experience working in retail media and leading growth. Having previously held the Country Director Benelux and Nordics role with Criteo, an industry leader in handling media programs for some of the world's top e-commerce retailers, Willems was responsible for setting and implementing Criteo's growth strategy."With exceptional expertise and vision, we are confident that Tijmen will drive significant growth in retail media advertising sales for our clients, further solidifying our position as the global leader for in-store retail media advertising," commented PRN CEO Kevin Carbone. "With the number and quality of in-store retail media networks in Europe projected to grow dramatically in the next three to five years, Scala and PRN offer a complete in-store solution that creates a superior in-store shopper experience and delivers maximum retail media revenue to retailers." "I look forward to supporting retailers and brands in creating innovative in-store experiences that drive sales and increase customer engagement. The STRATACACHE group offers a unique suite of solutions that provides retailers and brands with greater in-store performance measurement and gives consumers a more personalized shopping experience. Together with the talented team, we will further grow the business in EMEA," said Willems.Chuck Billups, PRN SVP Global Retail Media, adds, "Tijmen brings years of experience to this role, striking the perfect balance between shopper experience and delivering retailer revenue results for our partners. Getting him on the team and working with Scala's retail technology experts and the rest of PRN's in-store retail media experts is going to have a huge impact." About PRN:PRN, part of the STRATACACHE family of marketing technology companies, delivers end-to-end solutions providing retail media monetization, hardware, software, services and support, driving content to 41,000+ screens for major brands in over 13,000 locations. PRN has over 30 years of success in architecting, deploying, and monetizing multi-stakeholder rich media networks. PRN's proprietary set of tools, technologies, content partnerships and creative services have been expressly designed to deliver fresh and engaging experiences that delight out-of-home and retail consumers, engage brands, and deliver maximum value to our venue partners. Learn more about PRN at www.prn.com , on LinkedIn, Twitter @PRNllc or on Facebook.Contact InformationAndrea PoleyDirector, Communications & Digital Marketingandrea.poley@scala.com 610-704-8142SOURCE: PRNView the original press release on newswire.com PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 09:02:37 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 532 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / In the afternoon of October 4, 2024, Li's client, a 68-year-old real estate agent/property manager/loan originator and a breast cancer survivor was on her way out of a Safeway parking lot in San Mateo, when she was hit on her driver side by an elderly driver who was making a left turn. After the impact, the elderly driver was rude and refused to give Li's client her driver license information or her car insurance policy number.In the next two days after the collision, Li's client's condition rapidly worsened, and on day three, she was rushed to the hospital for severe sepsis. She stayed in the hospital for seven days. It turns out because Li's client was a cancer survivor and because she had diabetes and was on blood thinner medications, Li's client was more susceptible to seatbelt injury than a normal healthy person. Li's client sustained two hematomas (blood clots) from the seatbelt injury: one in her left breast and one in her right pelvis. The hematoma caused infection to her bladder which threw her into sepsis. In the next three years, Li's client was in and out of hospital for a total of eight breast surgeries, trying to remove the hematoma. Eventually, the doctor decided to perform a complete mastectomy of her entire left breast.The elderly driver's insurance is Farmers Insurance. After unable to receive any offer pre lawsuit from Farmers insurance, Li filed the lawsuit in San Mateo Superior Court on June 8, 2022, Chang v. Webb, case No. 22CIV02340. Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Farmers Insurance's last offer was $100,000. Farmers Insurance disputes the severity of the injury, brushing it off as a low impact collision--it claims the difference in impact speed is only 3 miles per hour and car repair only costs a couple of thousand dollars.After reviewing thousands of pages of medical records, consulting with the best medical experts in the area, and deposing treating doctors, Li was able to make Farmers Insurance pay its policy limit of $1,5000,000 to Li's client on the eve of trial. The settlement was reached on May 8, 2024."I am happy for my client. What I can get for my client pales in comparison with the amount of pain and humiliation she has to suffer through. No woman would want to lose her own breast. I am glad that this is over," said Teresa Li.About Teresa Li, Law Offices of Teresa Li, PCTeresa Li has recovered over $35 million on behalf of injured clients. She specializes in traumatic brain injury/concussion in addition to other practice areas including brain injury, Uber/Lyft, car, truck, bike and motorcycle accidents, wrongful death and more. Li has been selected by Super Lawyers Magazine as Super Lawyers in 2024, and repeatedly selected as a Super Lawyers Rising Star and has been included in the Top Women Attorneys in Northern California list since 2014. For more information, please call (888) 635-3259, or visit http://www.lawofficesofteresali.com . The law office is located at 315 Montgomery Street, 9th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94104. To read more about Teresa Li in the news, please visitLaw Offices of Teresa Li, PC .SOURCE: Law Offices of Teresa Li, PC PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 14:00:49 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 1038 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Closing of Metaworld Corporation's (dba Syntheia) Brokered Private PlacementVANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Stock Trend Capital Inc. (CSE:PUMP)(FRA:P0G)(OTC PINK:STOCF) (the "Company" or "Stock Trend") is pleased to provide an update on its investment in Metaworld Corporation (dba Syntheia) ("Syntheia"), a Canadian-based AI technology company operating, developing, and commercializing conversational AI technology.On May 16, 2024, a news release was issued announcing the closing of Syntheia's brokered private placement offering of subscription receipts (the "Subscription Receipts") through the issuance of 8,144,199 Subscription Receipts for gross proceeds of $2,850,469.65 (the "Financing"). The May 16th, 2024, press release is referenced below in its entirety.Additional Information - News Release131 Announces Closing of Private Placement of 8,144,199 Subscription Receipts in SyntheiaMay 16, 2024 - Toronto, Ontario - 1319472 B.C. Ltd. ("131") is pleased to announce, further to its press release dated April 12, 2024, the closing of Metaworld Corporation's (dba Syntheia) ("Syntheia") brokered private placement offering of subscription receipts (the "Subscription Receipts") through the issuance of 8,144,199 Subscription Receipts for gross proceeds of $2,850,469.65 (the "Financing"). Syntheia may close a second tranche of the Financing in the upcoming weeks.The Financing was carried out in connection with the proposed reverse takeover of 131 by Syntheia by way of amalgamation (the "Proposed Transaction") pursuant to the terms of an amended and restated letter agreement (the "Amended Letter Agreement") dated April 10, 2024. The resulting issuer from the Proposed Transaction (the "Resulting Issuer") will continue to operate the business of Syntheia. 131 has applied to list the Resulting Issuer's common shares on Cboe Canada Inc. (the "Exchange") and, if and upon the satisfaction of the Exchange's initial listing requirements, the common shares of the Resulting Issuer are expected to begin trading on the Exchange following the closing of the Proposed Transaction.Assuming the closing of the Proposed Transaction and completion of the listing on the Exchange, the net proceeds from the Financing will be used by the Resulting Issuer for operational expansion, business development and working capital purposes.Pursuant to the Financing, Syntheia, First Republic Capital Corporation and 131 entered into a subscription receipt agreement (the "Subscription Receipt Agreement") dated May 16, 2024 with Endeavor Trust Corporation as subscription receipt agent (the "Subscription Receipt Agent").The Financing was brokered by First Republic Capital Corp. as lead agent (the "Lead Agent") and Hampton Securities Ltd. (together with the Lead Agent, the "Agents"). In connection with the closing of the Financing, Syntheia paid 50% of: (a) a fee of $7,253.40 (the "Advisory Fee") for advisory services provided to Syntheia in connection with the Financing; (b) a corporate finance fee of $49,755.99 payable to the Lead Agent (the "Corporate Finance Fee"); (c) aggregate cash fees of $171,028.18 payable to the Agents and certain eligible persons (the "Commission" and together with the Advisory Fee and the Corporate Finance Fee the "Cash Compensation"); and (c) the Agents' expenses. The remaining 50% of the Cash Compensation and the Agents' expenses has been deposited into escrow with the Subscription Receipt Agent and shall be released upon satisfaction or waiver of the escrow release conditions set out in the Subscription Receipt Agreement, together with any interest earned thereon.In addition, Syntheia has issued: (a) 20,724 advisory warrants (the "Advisory Warrants") to the Lead Agent; (b) 142,160 corporate finance warrants (the "Corporate Finance Warrants") to the Lead Agent; and (c) 488,652 compensation warrants (the "Compensation Warrants", together with the Advisory Warrants and the Corporate Finance Warrants, the "Agent's Warrants") to the Agents and certain eligible persons. Each Agent's Warrant entitles the holder to subscribe for one Unit at $0.35 for a period for twenty-four (24) months from the date that the Resulting Issuer's common shares commence trading on the Exchange.Upon the satisfaction or waiver of, among other things, all of the condition precedents to the completion of the Proposed Transaction, each Subscription Receipt will be exchanged for one unit of Syntheia (a "Unit") with each Unit being comprised of one (1) common share of Syntheia (a "Common Share") and one (1) Common Share purchase warrant of Syntheia (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will be exercisable for one Common Share at an exercise price of $0.50 for a period of 24 months following the date that the Resulting Issuer shares begin trading on the Exchange.Upon closing of the Proposed Transaction, the Common Shares, Warrants and Agents' Warrants will be exchanged for Resulting Issuer shares and Resulting Issuer warrants on economically equivalent terms on a 1:1 basis.The Warrants are subject to acceleration at Syntheia' option, if at any time prior to the expiry of the Warrants the 10-day volume-weighted average price of the Resulting Issuer shares is greater than $0.75, provided that: (i) the Resulting Issuer disseminates a press release providing notice of its intention to accelerate the expiry of the Warrants, and (ii) the accelerated expiry date of the Warrants falls on the earlier of (unless exercised by the holder prior to such date): the 30th day after the date of dissemination of such press release, and/or 24 months following the listing of the Resulting Issuer shares on the Exchange.The securities referred to in this news release have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons absent U.S. registration or an applicable exemption from the U.S. registration requirements. This release does not constitute an offer for sale of, nor a solicitation for offers to buy, any securities in the United States. Any public offering of securities in the United States must be made by means of a prospectus containing detailed information about the issuer and its management, as well as financial statements.Additional Information The common shares of 131 have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirement. This press release shall no PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 16:19:23 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 717 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Do you, or did you, own shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH)? Did you purchase your shares between March 14, 2022 and February 27, 2024, inclusive? Did you lose money in your investment in UnitedHealth Group Inc.? Do you want to discuss your rights? NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the common stock of UnitedHealth Group Inc. ("UnitedHealth" or the "Company") (NYSE:UNH) between March 14, 2022 and February 27, 2024, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota and alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against the Company and certain of its officers (the "Complaint").If you purchased or acquired UnitedHealth common stock, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit UnitedHealth Group Inc. Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Investor Relations Manager Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later thanJuly 15, 2024 . A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.UnitedHealth is a health care and well-being company comprised of two distinct and complementary businesses: Optum and UnitedHealthcare. UnitedHealthcare provides health insurance to individuals, employers, and small businesses and is the largest insurance provider in the United States. Optum provides healthcare-related services, including software solutions, payment services, and data analytics.On February 24, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") filed a lawsuit challenging UnitedHealth's previously announced acquisition of Change Healthcare ("Change"). The DOJ alleged that the proposed acquisition would violate antitrust laws because the integration of Change and Optum would give UnitedHealth unparalleled access to information regarding nearly every health insurer, as well as health data on every single American. UnitedHealth assured the DOJ, investors and customers that Optum would "maintain robust firewall processes" to prevent confidential supervisory information (CSI) from being shared between Optum and UnitedHealthcare.On February 27, 2024, the Wall Street Journal reported that the DOJ had re-opened its antitrust investigation into UnitedHealth. In that article, the public learned for the first time that the DOJ was investigating the relationships between the Company's various segments, including Optum.UnitedHealth was aware of the DOJ investigation since at least October 2023. Instead of disclosing this material investigation to investors or the public, UnitedHealth insiders sold more than $120 million of their personally held UnitedHealth shares. In the four months between learning about the DOJ investigation and the investigation becoming public, UnitedHealth's Chairman Stephen Hemsley sold over $102 million of his personally held UnitedHealth shares and Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, sold over $15 million of his personally held UnitedHealth shares.On this news, UnitedHealth's stock price fell $15.14 per share, or 2.95%, to close at $498.28 per share on February 28, 2024.If you purchased or acquired UnitedHealth common stock, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit UnitedHealth Group Inc. Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Investor Relations Manager Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List" thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for sixteen consecutive years.ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. 2024 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.Contact Information:Peter Allocco Investor Relations ManagerBernstein Liebhard LLP https://www.bernlieb.com (212) 951-2030 pallocco@ bernlieb.com SOURCE: Bernstein Liebhard LLP PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 19:40:44 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 542 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 California company offers customized solutions depending on a business' requirements to facilitate them during relocation.CONCORD, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Valley Relocation, a renowned provider of commercial relocation services, announces its commitment to delivering tailored relocation solutions to businesses across the Bay Area. With a wealth of experience and a dedication to customer satisfaction, Valley Relocation continues to redefine industry standards by offering personalized services that cater to the unique needs of businesses in this dynamic region.Trucks in transit during the day.Understanding the diverse requirements and challenges faced by businesses in the Bay Area, Valley Relocation specializes in crafting customized relocation strategies that ensure a seamless transition to new locations. From start to finish, the company's team of experts works closely with clients to develop comprehensive plans for the process.Key features of Valley Relocation's tailored relocation services in the Bay Area include:Comprehensive Consultation: Valley Relocation begins each project with a detailed consultation to understand the specific needs and objectives of the client. By taking the time to listen and assess the unique circumstances of each business, the company develops personalized relocation plans that align with their goals and requirements.Flexible Solutions: Recognizing the ever-changing nature of the Bay Area market, Valley Relocation offers flexible solutions that adapt to evolving needs and circumstances. Whether clients require adjustments to their timeline, additional services, or changes to their relocation strategy, the company remains agile and responsive to ensure a successful outcome.Specialized Expertise: With years of experience serving businesses in the Bay Area, Valley Relocation possesses specialized expertise in navigating the complexities of local regulations, traffic patterns, and logistical challenges. This knowledge allows the company to anticipate potential obstacles and implement strategies to overcome them, ensuring a smooth and efficient relocation process.Transparent Communication: Valley Relocation believes in transparent communication throughout the relocation journey. Clients in the Bay Area can expect regular updates, clear explanations of processes, and open lines of communication with the company's team of professionals, fostering trust and confidence every step of the way.Exceptional Customer Support: The company's dedicated team of experts is committed to providing exceptional support and guidance to clients throughout the relocation process. Whether addressing inquiries, resolving issues, or providing assistance, Valley Relocation ensures that clients receive the highest level of service and support.Commenting on the company's dedication to serving businesses in the Bay Area, a spokesperson for Valley Relocation stated, "We understand the unique needs and challenges faced by businesses in the Bay Area, and we are committed to providing tailored relocation services that exceed expectations. With our personalized approach and unwavering commitment to excellence, we aim to deliver a seamless and stress-free relocation experience for every client." For a comprehensive overview of Valley Relocation's services, prospective clients can explore their website. Alternatively, their customer service team is readily available to answer any questions.About Valley RelocationValley Relocation boasts an impressive near-forty-year history as a leading California commercial relocation provider. Their unwavering dedication to client satisfaction and achieving the highest quality standards has positioned them as a trusted partner for businesses navigating the complexities of relocating to new facilities.Contact Information:Contact: Terri Mierkey Website: https://valleyrelocation.com/ Phone Number: (800) 284-6285 Address: 5000 Marsh Creek Road, Concord CASOURCE: Valley Relocation PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 16:19:25 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 678 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Bernstein Liebhard LLP:Do you, or did you, own shares of Vestis Corporation (NYSE:VSTS)?Did you purchase your shares between October 2, 2023 and May 1, 2024, inclusive?Did you lose money in your investment in Vestis Corporation?Do you want to discuss your rights?Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the common stock of Vestis Corporation ("Vestis" or the "Company") (NYSE: VSTS) between October 2, 2023 and May 1, 2024, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against the Company and certain of its officers (the "Complaint").If you purchased or acquired Vestis common stock, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Vestis Corporation Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Investor Relations Manager Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later thanJuly 16, 2024 . A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.Vestis was created as the result of its September 2023 spinoff from food service and facilities services provider Aramark, in which Vestis became an independent publicly traded company (the "Spinoff"). Prior to the Spinoff, the company that was to become Vestis operated as the Aramark Uniform Services division of Aramark, providing rental uniforms and workplace supplies, including uniform delivery; laundering for rental linens, floor mats, and towels; restroom services; and first-aid supplies.According to the Complaint, Defendants failed to disclose to investors that: (1) Aramark had historically underinvested in the business that became Vestis; (2) Vestis operated with outdated facilities and an underperforming sales force; and (3) Vestis' outdated facilities and underperforming sales force led to "service gaps" that had impeded the Company's levers of growth and had resulted in customer attrition.On May 2, 2024, Vestis issued a press release reporting its financial results for the second quarter of FY2024 ended March 29, 2024. The Company reported revenue of $705 million, a mere 0.9% year-over-year increase. CEO Scott was quoted in the press release, stating, "Our results in the quarter and our outlook for the year are not in line with expectations." Indeed, in the press release, Vestis also provided a "Revised Fiscal Year 2024 Outlook," reporting that it "now expect[ed] to deliver fiscal 2024 revenue growth in the range of [negative] (1)% to 0%."On this news, Vestis' stock price fell $8.31 per share, or nearly 45%, to close at $10.16 per share on May 2, 2024.If you purchased or acquired Vestis common stock, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Vestis Corporation Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Investor Relations Manager Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List" thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for sixteen consecutive years.ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. 2024 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.Contact Information:Peter AlloccoInvestor Relations ManagerBernstein Liebhard LLP https://www.bernlieb.com (212) 951-2030 pallocco@ bernlieb.com SOURCE: Bernstein Liebhard LLP PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 18:01:08 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 378 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Vedula harnesses decades of expertise in technology, operations, and product development to propel WellnessLiving's growth trajectory into 2024 and beyond.TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / WellnessLiving, the fastest-growing, all-in-one business management software for the fitness and wellness industry announced today the appointment of Krishna Vedula as its Chief Technology and Product Officer.Krishna Vedula WellnessLiving Appoints Krishna Vedula as Chief Technology and Product OfficerIn this role, Krishna will oversee the development and implementation of technology across the entire company, including Product Engineering, Artificial Intelligence (AI) development, Product Management, Technology Operations, and Information Security, among other areas."We're thrilled to welcome Krishna to the WellnessLiving team," said Len Fridman, CEO and co-founder of WellnessLiving. "Krishna's proven track record of driving exponential growth and shareholder value using technology and product innovation makes him the perfect fit for WellnessLiving. We're excited to welcome him aboard and look forward to the incredible contributions he will make to our company." Previously, Krishna has held leadership roles across technology, operations, and product development at notable companies, including 365 Retail Markets, ACI Worldwide, Lumen Technologies, among others. Most recently, at 365 Retail Markets, he led his teams to consistently deliver award-winning innovations in hardware, software, and payment solutions. These achievements, year after year, resulted from both in-house developments and multiple strategic acquisitions. His success was fueled by close collaboration with key customers and internal stakeholders, guaranteeing the alignment and integration of cutting-edge solutions."I am excited to join WellnessLiving and work alongside such a talented team, dedicated to revolutionizing the fitness and wellness industry. I look forward to leveraging the potential of AI and technology to enhance our platform and provide even more value to our customers," said Krishna Vedula.Before his time at 365 Retail Markets, Krishna spent several years at ACI Worldwide and Lumen driving transformational initiatives while managing world-class teams of hundreds of engineers around the globe. Krishna holds a master's in business from Mumbai University and executive education from Harvard Business School.Please join us in welcoming Krishna Vedula to the WellnessLiving family. Together, we will redefine the standard for fitness and wellness solutions and empower businesses to thrive.Contact InformationNadia MilaniVP of Marketingpr@ wellnessliving.com 1-888-668-7728SOURCE: WellnessLivingView the original press release on newswire.com PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-21 15:03:08 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 537 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 PASADENA, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Whittier Trust, the oldest multi-family office headquartered on the West Coast, is pleased to announce that Greg Geary has joined the firm as Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer in its Pasadena office.In this role, Greg Geary will spearhead all facets of information technology at Whittier Trust. He joins the firm at a time of extensive growth, creating an immense opportunity to evolve the Whittier Trust IT infrastructure to realize new opportunities to enhance client service. His leadership will also allow for a greater focus on cybersecurity and client data security matters."We are thrilled to welcome Greg Geary to our Whittier Trust team," says Tom Frank, Executive Vice President. "His extensive experience and profound expertise in information technology, particularly within the financial services domain, align seamlessly with our commitment to delivering unparalleled client service. As Whittier Trust continues to experience remarkable growth, Greg's leadership will undoubtedly enhance our technological capabilities and further fortify our position as a leader in wealth management," he added.Greg Geary brings to Whittier Trust more than twenty-five years of comprehensive experience in information technology, with fifteen of those years dedicated to serving financial services firms spanning the investment management, private equity, and mortgage banking sectors. Geary's recent tenure as Vice President at DigitalBridge, an investment management firm, showcases his adeptness in navigating complex IT landscapes within the financial industry. Noteworthy past engagements also include pivotal roles at Disney, IndyMac Bank, and Avanade. Geary holds an MBA in Corporate Finance from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems from California State University Northridge.A distinguished figure in the Southern California IT executive community, Greg Geary serves as an executive board member of Innovate@UCLA, a nonprofit organization with strong affiliations to UCLA, and holds a board position at the Southern California Chapter of the Society of Information Management (SIM), a prominent national IT executive community organization.Greg Geary's appointment underscores Whittier Trust's dedication to fostering innovation and excellence in client service. With a focus on leveraging technology to augment client experiences, bolster client security and drive organizational growth, Whittier Trust remains steadfast in its mission to exceed client expectations and deliver superior wealth management solutions.About Whittier TrustCollectively, Whittier Trust Company and The Whittier Trust Company of Nevada, Inc. (referred to herein individually and collectively as "Whittier Trust") are state-chartered trust companies wholly owned by Whittier Holdings, Inc. ("WHI"), a closely held holding company. As the oldest multi-family office headquartered on the West Coast, Whittier Trust isn't just a financial institution, it's a trusted partner with a long, rich history of successfully navigating the financial markets to preserve, protect, and enhance its clients' wealth and well-being across generations. Whittier Trust operates with the singular focus of providing holistic, top-tier client service and highly personalized investment solutions to ultra-high-net-worth individuals and their families designed to advance and secure their long-term financial legacies and goals. The firm has offices in Pasadena, San Francisco, Menlo Park, Newport Beach, West Los Angeles, Reno, Seattle, Portland and Austin. To learn more, visit http://www.whittiertrust.com Contact:Brandi J. FieldsWhittier TrustEmail: BFields@ whittiertrust.com SOURCE: Whittier Trust The Gambias ambitious transition to democracy started when President Adama Barrow was elected in 2016, ending Yahya Jammehs 22-year rule. But socio-political disagreements are preventing the country from fully breaking away from its autocratic past. The Gambia could become a model for democratic governance in a region affected by coups, democratic backsliding and political instability. Efforts have been made to implement reforms that could redefine the countrys politics and governance. The Gambias democratic potential is clear from its formulation of a draft constitution anchored, among other things, in human rights, the rule of law and institutional checks and balances. External partners and many Gambians view the draft constitution as the mother of all reforms. It provided the basis for security sector reform, transitional justice and judicial and other institutional changes. The draft also introduced presidential term limits, curtailed presidential powers and strengthened judicial powers and the Independent Electoral Commission. However, in September 2020, the National Assembly rejected the draft, which was the product of a two-year consultative process involving Gambian citizens, including those in the diaspora. That rejection has had significant implications for the whole transition process. The draft limited the president to two terms of five years each, consecutive or not meaning Mr Barrow would not be eligible to run in 2026. As candidate of the coalition that defeated Mr Jammeh, he promised to step down after a three-year (2017-2020) transitional period but then ran for another term in December 2021. The main opposition, the United Democratic Party (UDP), has expressed support for the rejected draft and vowed to oppose any amendments. However, Mr Barrows political allies in and outside the ruling National Peoples Party (NPP) rejected a retroactive application of the presidential term limit, saying it should start from the date the new constitution is adopted. The draft constitution also introduces higher requirements for presidential candidacy and electoral victory. A presidential candidate must have a university degree and win an absolute majority of valid votes. The latter is especially significant as it could necessitate a run-off. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Moreover, for the first time, Gambians in the diaspora would have the right to participate in both presidential and parliamentary elections. Proposals for a separate diaspora constituency were, however, rejected. For Mr Barrow and his allies, winning an absolute majority in future elections could prove difficult. The NPP, formed in 2020 following Mr Barrows decision to end an alliance with the UDP, doesnt have enough support for a one-off victory on its own. In April 2022, it failed to win a convincing majority in the National Assembly elections. The party currently holds 24 of the National Assemblys 58 seats, including five nominated by Mr Barrow. Furthermore, the draft constitution subjects the presidents nominations of ministerial posts, key law enforcement and security positions, and the Chief Justice, to approval by the National Assembly. The president would also no longer be able to nominate some National Assembly Members. A total of 53 (of 69) members would be elected from single-member constituencies, 14 women would be voted for separately (two from each administrative area), and two members would be nominated by the national federation for persons with disabilities. Disagreements over these and other provisions, including those on the Gambian states secularity or otherwise, mean the country remains governed by its 1997 Constitution, also known as the Jammeh Constitution. Mediation efforts, including those led by former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja, have failed to break the deadlock. The Barrow-allied 23 National Assembly Members who voted to reject the draft seem unlikely to change course, meaning another attempt to pass it would fail. With no clear strategy and roadmap for restarting the reform process, the absence of term limits under the current constitution makes Barrow legally eligible for another term. So far, he hasnt been definitive on a possible 2026 candidacy, but the potential for a controversial and destabilising third term cannot be ruled out. Deciding not to run could reduce tensions and provide a political impetus for restarting the transition. Such a decision would require Barrow to select a successor, which would no doubt spark divisions in the NPP and among allies who may either have presidential ambitions or favour particular individuals. Nevertheless, another Barrow run would certainly deepen tensions, creating political problems that could require an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) intervention as happened during the December 2016 and January 2017 post-election crisis. The nature of such a crisis would depend on the position taken by the opposition. It could accept Mr Barrows candidacy and mobilise to defeat him in the polls or organise mass protests or other actions that might undermine the countrys stability. Post-Jammeh, The Gambia has an opportunity to reshape its politics, institutions and governance. But this can only happen if the countrys political actors and external partners urgently work to end the current stalemate. Political actors especially should demonstrate greater sincerity, adopt a collaborative and consensus-building approach, and be prepared to compromise on thorny issues. ECOWASs 2017 intervention and continued maintenance of the ECOWAS Mission in The Gambia has given the regional bloc considerable political and military influence. This could be leveraged to play a more active mediation role in breaking the deadlock. Specifically, it could build consensus on key provisions of the draft constitution and help draft a roadmap for completing the reform process. Continuing to govern under the 1997 Constitution risks undermining the efforts of the Gambian people and international partners. Renewed instability, six years after ECOWAS intervened in the country, would further erode the institutions credibility as it struggles to manage political crises and unconstitutional changes of government in West Africa. Sampson Kwarkye, Project Manager, Paulin Maurice Toupane, Senior Researcher and Seydou Daffe, Junior Fellow, Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Regional Office for West Africa, the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin (This article was first published by ISS Today, a Premium Times syndication partner. We have their permission to republish). Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The governor of Kebbi State, Nasir Idris, mobilises the military for surveillance operations with N500 million monthly. The Senator representing Kebbi South Senatorial District, Garba Maidoki, disclosed this during the plenary on Tuesday. Mr Maidoki, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), made the remarks while contributing to a motion sponsored by Isah Jibrin (APC, Kogi East) on the need to rehabilitate communities ravaged by gunmen in Omala Local Government Area of Kogi State. My governor was telling us that every month, he spends N500 million on the Nigerian Army. Where is the money?, the Kebbi senator queried. The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, asked if the senator had evidence showing that the Nigerian Army used to receive the money as claimed. Mr Maidoki responded by saying that he is relying on what the governor of Kebbi State told him. Well, that was what he said. I am quoting the governor of Kebbi State he added. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later He, however, cautioned the military from relying solely on the finances of the state governors before mobilising troops for operation. I think if the Nigerian Army relies on the governors to give them money to mobilise for operation, I think, in this country, we are not making any headway. Lives under threat Mr Maidoki also told the Senate that despite the monthly package paid to the Nigerian Army, many of the communities are still under siege by terrorists and the lives of the residents are threatened. Distinguished senator, my people from my senatorial district came to me during Sallah. Our lives are under threat. As a senator representing them, I told them to go and see the governor. They made a convoy and went to see the governor. Unfortunately, the governor was not on seat. They went back. A week later, they were attacked and 20 of them were killed and then we rushed to go and condole them, he narrated. Military base The senator noted that three communities prone to attack have been identified in his senatorial district but the military is not doing enough to stop the attacks despite the money allegedly given to them monthly. We agreed with the Nigeria security when we were here that certain places that are prone to attacks, they will establish front bases there. In my senatorial districts, they have identified three, they set up one. That one alone has reduced our banditry by more than 80 per cent. The remaining two, as I am talking to you, they have not established it and if we appropriate money to the Nigerian Army and they are telling us they cannot set up a base until the governor gives them money, I think we have a problem, Mr Maidoki said. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Abuja Light Rail System is set to be inaugurated by President Bola Tinubu for commercial operations, as part of his administrations first-anniversary celebrations. The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, announced this on Monday during an inspection at the Abuja Metro Station in the Central Business District. He inspected the facilities and travelled on the train, making stops at the Stadium, Idu, and Airport stations along the route. He expressed satisfaction with the quality of work and the facilities at the train stations and stated that the project was ready for inauguration for commercial operation by President Tinubu, fulfilling a presidential promise. In a few days, the president will inaugurate the commercial operation of this Metro line. We have to thank God Almighty that we are good to go. We are ready, and you can see the facilities. So, we are very happy, and we thank God the promise Mr President made has been kept, he said. The minister also said that access roads to the train stations had also been completed, allowing residents from various communities to drive to any of the stations and board the train to their destinations. Mr Wike also said some facilities omitted during the projects design, including escalators and lifts for the sick and elderly, as well as air-cooling systems in the waiting areas, would be addressed in due course. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later He assured that these omissions would not hinder the operation. We have been able to identify one or two things that were omitted during the design, and we believe that during the operation, some of those things will be taken into consideration. Particularly, I believe that as a standard metro line, where passengers will be waiting to board the trains, there should be air conditioners. I also thought that some of the stations should have had escalators and lifts for the elderly and those who may not have the strength to climb the staircases. Apart from that, I think we are happy with the work that has been done, and we believe Nigerians will be happy, particularly the residents of the FCT, he said. Mr Wike attributed the achievements by the FCT Administration to the support of President Tinubu, thanking him for his backing. Assuming we were not getting his support, this wouldnt have been a reality. So, we want to thank him for the support, he said. Financial savings in training costs Speaking further on the projects funding details, Mr Wike said that the FCT Administration had renegotiated the training cost for personnel from $128 million to $75 million, thereby saving about $53 million for the federal government. Before we came, the former administration approved $128 million for the training of our people by CCECC for 29 months, and we said no, thats very exorbitant. We renegotiated with CCECC, and now it has been brought down to $75 million. We have saved no less than $53 million for the government, he said. The Abuja Rail Mass Transit scheme consists of eight stations:, namely Abuja Metro, Stadium, Kukwaba I, Kukwaba II, Wupa, Idu, Basanjiwa, and Airport stations. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Nigerian Army 6 brigade in Taraba State says soldiers attached to Sector 3 Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS) have arrested two suspected kidnappers and rejected a N2 million bribe offered by the suspects. The brigades acting Public Relations Officer, Oni Olubodunde, stated this in a statement issued in Jalingo on Tuesday. He said Usman Ali, 25, and Abdulrahman Amadu, 28, offered the bribe to escape arrest but the soldiers turned it down. Mr Olubodunde said the suspects were wanted for alleged involvement in multiple kidnapping cases in the Wukari area of the state. Acting on a tip-off, troops from the 93 Battalion Sub-Sector 3B OPWS, stationed at Forward Operating Base Wukari, carried out a well-planned raid in Chinkai village of Wukari Local Government Area. This raid led to the apprehension of two individuals identified as Usman Ali, aged 25 and Abdulrahman Amadu, aged 28. The suspects have been on the wanted list of the security agencies for their involvement in multiple kidnappings in Wukari and its surroundings. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Upon their arrest, the suspects attempted to bribe the troops with 2 million Naira for release. However, the soldiers staunchly refused the bribe, underscoring their dedication to justice and integrity. The suspects were also overheard stating that if money failed to secure their freedom, their associates would resort to armed means to rescue them from custody. The statement also disclosed that in a separate operation in Ibi Local Government Area, troops stationed at Sarikin Kudu arrested four more suspected kidnappers: Jafaru Banyi, aged 28, Mohammad Ardo, aged 25, Amadu Shatta, aged 20 and Biyu Ardu, aged 25. These captured suspects have been linked to numerous high-profile abductions in the region, targeting both locals and foreigners for ransom and have long been under the surveillance of security agencies. The Commander 6 Brigade/ Sector 3 OPWS, Kingsley Chidebere, a brigadier general has since commended the troops for their courage and unwavering commitment to ethical standards. He emphasised that the successful apprehension of these suspects is a testament to the diligent efforts and dedication of the soldiers, highlighting their refusal to accept bribes as a clear demonstration of their professionalism and integrity, Mr Olubodunde stated. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) has concluded plans to conduct a mass burial for 270 unclaimed corpses if not claimed within the next six weeks. Ehizogie Adeyemi, coordinator, Mortuary Services of the hospital, disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Benin on Tuesday. Mrs Adeyemi gave the breakdown of the corpses as 201 infants and 69 adults, noting that the hospital had in a statement given six weeks ultimatum to the owners of the corpses to claim them. The coordinator of the mortuary services said the corpses of the 201 infants had been in the hospital since 2023 while that of the 69 adults were there between April 2021 and December 2022. She said the contact addresses and phone numbers provided by the owners of the corpses to the hospital were no longer reachable or valid. READ ALSO: Police rescue kidnap victims in Abuja She added that at the expiration of the six weeks ultimatum, the hospital would conduct a mass burial for the unclaimed corpses if the owners failed to claim them. The statement earlier issued by the hospitals management urged owners of such corpses to claim them within a six-week notice, starting from 20 May. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Many residents have fled their homes in Kopako in a crisis over the appointment of a traditional ruler for the village in Lavun Local Government Area of Niger State PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the crisis began when Mohammed Yisa was installed as the village head, contrary to the directives of the Etsu Nupe, Yahaya Abubakar. The position became vacant after the death of the last occupant, Muhammed Gana, in March. PREMIUM TIMES was told that after the death of Mr Gana, the Zhitsu Gbogbo ruling house was waiting to produce his successor, in line with a tradition of rotation of the stool among the ruling houses. However, Mr Yisa of the Zhitsu Yisa ruling house was installed by the villages kingmakers and is said to be popular with the youth of the community. Angered by the development, the other ruling houses filed their objection with the Etsu Nupe, the paramount ruler of the Nupe ethnic group to which the villagers belong, at his Wadata Palace in Bida on 24 April. After listening to the parties, Mr Abubakar ruled that Mr Yisa should quit the position as the candidate of the Zhitsu Gbogbo ruling house. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later However, Mr Yisa reportedly refused to comply with the Etsus directive, with the supporters of the other party alleging that they were being attacked by thugs, forcing many of them to flee the village. According to a letter by their lawyer, Oluwole Oluranti, which he made available to journalists in Minna, the state capital, titled, Complaint against threat to life, causing grievous hurt, possession of dangerous weapons, the situation in the village has become volatile. He said his clients were under incessant attacks and that the inaction of the police had emboldened the attackers. In the letter, Mr Oluranti said the police in Bida and Doko intervened but were quickly overwhelmed by the situation, allowing the attackers to regroup and launch fresh attacks on his clients on 25th, 26th, and 27th April. He said no action had been taken against the perpetrators of the violence, whom he said were more than 20. Mr Oluranti urged the security agencies to urgently bring the situation under control to enable his clients to go back home and for lasting peace to prevail in the village. READ ALSO: Police arrest two suspected ATM thieves in Niger The police spokesperson in the state, Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed the crisis and said the letter was referred to the SCID in Minna for investigation. According to him, the SCID sent officers to the village but found that the alleged suspects were on the run. He said the police were working to apprehend the perpetrators. The state commissioner for homeland security, Abdullahi Bello, also said the state government was working to restore peace in the village. The government is not resting to put the situation under control; all security agencies have been put on their toes to avert any possible outbreak of law and order, and measures have been put in place to punish anyone found wanting, Mr Bello said. The state government has not spoken on the main succession dispute in the village. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Director-General of National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Abubakar Sulaiman, has urged the legislative arm of government at the national and subnational levels to prioritise staff training for effective lawmaking processes in the country. Mr Sulaiman said this at the opening ceremony of a three-day workshop tagged Effective Management and Administrative Structure of the Legislature in Abuja on Tuesday. He said the legislature as a democratic institution required well-trained personnel to man, manage, account, record and follow up on all the processes within the arm. According to Mr Sulaiman, a professor, there are evidence-based researches which show relationships between well-trained personnel and the overall performance of the legislature. He said the contribution of administrative staff of the legislature, in terms of supporting legislative activities, has contributed to national development. The effective and efficient performance of the legislature depends, to a large extent, on the capacity of the administrative structure. Thus, the capability and capacity of their core human resources must be constantly improved through training and retraining. It is in the realisation of the above that NILDS has designed this three-day intensive capacity building workshop on Effective Management of Administrative Structure of the Legislature. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later READ ALSO: NILDS DG tasks AU on good governance The workshop is aimed at equipping participants with the necessary knowledge, skills and experience that will support effective and efficient running of the legislatures at both national and sub-national levels, he said. In his remarks, the Chairperson of Ogun Assembly Service Commission, Waliu Taiwo, commended the institute for organising the workshop. Mr Taiwo said such training would improve the knowledge of the personnel and enhance their efficiency. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Two suspects have been arrested by the police in Bida, Niger State, for alleged ATM swapping. Philip Adefemi, 46, and Joseph Michael, 42, both of Masaka Area of Nasarawa State, were arrested on 18 May after a case of ATM card swapping was reported at the Bida A Division. The police spokesperson in the state, Wasiu Abiodun, in a statement on Tuesday, said their victim was at a commercial bank in Bida on the same date to withdraw money, but when he inserted his ATM card, the machine didnt dispense cash. Noticing the development, the person standing behind the victim at the ATM gallery offered to assist him. However, his ATM was swapped in the process, unknown to the victim until a few minutes later when he received a debit alert of N400,000 on his phone. On receipt of the complaint, officers from the Bida Division tracked down and arrested the suspects, while one Bala escaped arrest. The police spokesperson said 42 ATM cards were recovered from the suspects, including those of the victim, and a Mercedes-Benz C230 with Reg Number KUJ 44 NT. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Mr Abiodun said the suspects during interrogation claimed that they were from Abuja and heading to Offa, Kwara State, for a burial ceremony when they decided to spend a night in Bida and look for victims to rob of ATM cards in the morning. According to the police spokesperson in the statement, most of the cards the suspects used for swapping expired, and they used the victims cards to withdraw after observing the passwords at the ATM. Mr Abiodun said the suspects were still under investigation and would be charged in court at the end of the investigations. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has decried the escalation of insecurity in the three northern regions of Nigeria. According to the socio-political group, these problems reflect the regions political, social, and economic challenges. The group stated this in a communique issued on Tuesday by its spokesperson, T. A. Muhammad-Baba, after a meeting of its National Executive Committee (NEC) in Kaduna. It said the NEC reiterates ACFs position that the problems, if untamed, could lead to social chaos. The meeting acknowledged the efforts of the government at all levels towards tackling the identified challenges. It, however, lamented that perhaps due to the quantum and widening dimension of the problems, the public policy response to the problems remains weak and ineffective at best. Equally worrisome is the widening regional disparities in social demographic factors, such as access to education, health public infrastructure, economic inclusion, political participation, living conditions, etc. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Governments must move to curb such disparities so as to ensure that Nigeria does not become two states in one. Factors that unify rather than divide citizens along any lines should attract the attention of all concerned, government and citizens alike. As it has severally reiterated in recent public outings, ACF calls for urgent action and definitive attention by the government at all levels to confront the rapid decline in living conditions of citizens. The addition of new taxes and levies becoming increasingly burdensome, too heavy to bear for ordinary Nigerians. ACF calls on citizens to rally around the government and offer prayers for God Almightys intervention in our various tribulations such as will translate into a new, prosperous Nigeria where justice, equity, love, righteousness, and hope emerge to replace the current despair and hopelessness. To inspire the spirit of needed sacrifices by citizens, ACF calls on public functionaries to shun profligacy and recklessness in spending public funds, the communique reads. The forum also expressed its support for security agents in their efforts to rid the country of criminality, insecurity, and instability and prayed that they very soon prevail over insurgents, terrorists, and bandits. For years, Nigerias northern region has been under attack by terrorists, locally known as bandits. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday inaugurated the 6th National Stakeholders Working Group also known as the Governing Board of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI). Inaugurating the 15-member committee, Mr Tinubu said he was proud of the board with the members carefully selected, based on their diverse competencies, skills, knowledge, integrity and track record of service in their previous assignments. Represented by Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, who also chairs the new NEITI Board, the president said prudent management of Nigerias resources was central to this administrations economic agenda and anti-corruption policies. Mr Tinubu reaffirmed Nigerias commitment to the implementation of the principles and standards of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Nigeria. The present administration is passionate and remains fully committed to the global EITI, the work of NEITI and the visible impacts which the EITI process has achieved so far in Nigeria. Nigeria is, therefore, irrevocably committed to the implementation of EITI in the oil, gas, and mining industries, he said. He said NEITI had demonstrated a high degree of competence, integrity and commitment to the values that the country required to achieve economic growth and development in the sector. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later The president added that the effort was through the availability of reliable information and data required for national planning and reforms. As members of this board, your job is clearly and specifically evolving strategic policy direction and oversight that supports NEITI management and the secretariat to continue to implement its activities smoothly without any distractions or interference. It is also very important that the board supports NEITI to preserve its corporate values, remain focused and committed to its values of transparency and accountability for the benefit of all of us present here today and our future generations, he said. Addressing the Board shortly after the inauguration, Mr Akume said his appointment demonstrated the federal governments prompt response to the recent EITI assessment of Nigerias implementation of the initiative which stressed the urgent need to reconstitute NEITIs Board to avoid sanctions. He said the new NEITI Board would take steps to address outstanding issues raised by the EITI validation report which the NEITI secretariat has already prepared a detailed corrective action plan for the Board to consider. This Board has the responsibility to understand the issues and provide policy support to the secretariat to successfully implement the plan. Nigeria scored 72 points in that global Assessment. And it is my hope that Nigeria will score 100 points at the next validation due in January 2026 under this Board and my chairmanship. `We must support the ongoing independent audits of the industry, reforms in the oil and gas sector being driven by the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, the reforms in the solid minerals sector and the proposed amendments of the NEITI Act, he said. Earlier, Ogbonnaya Orji, executive secretary of NEITI, while expressing gratitude to the president over his approval for the inauguration, said global EITI was also delighted over the decision for Nigeria to get a new board. The 15-member NEITI Board also include the Executive Chairperson of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), representing the government, while the Group Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) is representing the National Oil and Gas Company. The Board also has a representative of the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS), Lagos Chamber of Commerce and the President of Miners Association of Nigeria, representing Extractive Companies (Oil, gas and mining companies), among others. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The former Nigeria President, Goodluck Jonathan, has called for a ceasefire in the political feud between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike. Messrs Fubara and Wike, who is the FCT minister, have been engaged in a protracted political battle since last October when some lawmakers in the state assembly backed by Mr Wike attempted to impeach Mr Fubara. The relationship between the two former allies has deteriorated, defying the peace deal brokered by President Bola Tinubu after the seats of pro-Wike lawmakers were declared vacant following their defection to the APC. The crisis has battered the state legislature, with three lawmakers, backed by Mr Fubara, taking over the legislative business of the assembly after a court barred the 27 pro-Wike lawmakers from parading themselves as members of the assembly. Speaking while flagging-off the 12.5km Trans-Kalabari Road project in the state on Monday, Mr Jonathan, a former governor of the neighbouring Bayelsa State, urged Governor Fubara and the FCT minister to give peace a chance, adding that Rivers State is the heart of Niger Delta. If Rivers State is destabilised, the whole Niger Delta will be destabilised, and it will not end within the Niger Delta alone. Because I am from this part of the country, I know how the system works. We dont want a crisis in Rivers State, Mr Jonathan said in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES by Chukwudi Nelson, the spokesperson to Governor Fubara. And I join the leaders of Rivers and well-meaning Nigerians who have been calling for a truce, who have been calling for a ceasefire, to also re-emphasised that there is a need for a ceasefire. Let us do things that would rather project this state positively. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later There is this common saying that when two elephants fight, the grass suffers. Both the governor and the minister are young people, very young people but they are powerful. And if you continue to fight, Rivers people will suffer and we dont want Rivers people to suffer, Mr Jonathan emphasised. Mr Jonathan helped Mr Wike, who served as his then minister of state for education, to become governor of Rivers in 2015. The former president was in the oil-rich state to flagg-off the road project on the invitation of Governor Fubara. Fubara warns against sabotage of project In his remarks at the ceremony, Mr Fubara advised the three local government areas where the project passes not to sabotage the project to enable the contractor deliver it on record time. He said that the project, when completed, will bring economic growth to the area, adding that he has fulfilled his campaign promise to the people that he would construct the road if they would vote for him. We are not going to focus only on roads. But this particular road is important to the development of our state. That is why we are starting it now because of the time that is required to deliver it. So, please give us the necessary support so that this project will be achieved in a record time. This way we can also look at other aspects of the state economy. Mr Fubara thanked Mr Jonathan for accepting to perform the flag-off of the project. He said the former president understands the magnitude of the project and the transportation needs it would address. The project flag-off by Mr Jonathan is part of events marking the one year anniversary of Governor Fubara. Abia State Governor Alex Otti was a guest to Governor Fubara last week, where he inaugurated a 10.98km Aleto-Ogale-Ebubu-Eteo Road in the state, as part of an event marking Mr Fubaras one year in office. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, Nnaghe Obono, has ordered disciplinary action against some officers who allegedly assaulted a resident in the state. The police spokesperson in the state, Tochukwu Ikenga, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday. The officers were said to have been filmed assaulting a yet-to-be-identified resident in an unknown location in the state. Anambra State Police Command wishes to let the members of the public know that the police officers seen on a viral video assaulting a citizen have been identified, and the Commissioner of Police, Nnaghe Obono Itam, has ordered immediate disciplinary proceedings to commence on the incident, Mr Ikenga, a superintendent of police, said. But, the police spokesperson did not mention the identities and the number of the officers. He did not also mention when and where the incident happened. He said police authorities in the state have invited the victim to the State Police Headquarters to help in facilitating the necessary procedures involved in the process. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Mr Obono, according to the statement, has reiterated that the police command under his watch would not tolerate any form of unprofessional conduct by police operatives in the state. The police commissioner stressed that police operatives need to be courageously calm when dealing with the residents, especially when provoked. He urged Nigerians to always respect civil authority and be law-abiding. Viral video clip In the clip, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, an armed police officer was seen violently hitting the resident with bare hands along a road. The officer, afterwards, used his rifle to hit the resident. The resident, who was standing beside a tricycle in the area, did not retaliate. It is unclear if the resident was a tricyclist. The video did not show other officers involved in the alleged assault. Not the first time Cases of police brutality and assault against Nigerians are not new. In October 2020, Nigerian youths protested against police brutality across the country and called for the disbandment of the now-defunct SARS, formerly a police unit. Despite the ban on SARS, the cases of police brutality have persisted across the country. Six officers, for instance, were caught in a viral video in April 2023, using a machete to smack two unidentified people in Imo State. The police in the state would later begin an orderly room trial of the officers. Four police operatives were arrested in September 2023 for allegedly assaulting a traveller in Rivers State. Days after, a young man accused some officers in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, of allegedly kidnapping, locking him up in a police cell and forcing him to pay some money before being released. The police in the state subsequently arrested the officers who allegedly carried out the act. Again, in April 2023, a police officer who was filmed slapping a motorist in the Emouha Area of the state was demoted. The Emouha incident occurred a few days after Ubi Ebri, another officer, allegedly shot dead a young man in the neighbouring Delta State for reportedly refusing to give a N100 bribe. PREMIUM TIMES reported how youths in Delta State protested with the victims corpse along major roads in Asaba. Mr Ebri, the officer, was immediately arrested, dismissed from service and later arraigned. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Niger State Commissioner for Homeland Security, Bello Mohammed, has confirmed an attack by bandits on residents of Shiroro Local Government Area of the state. Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday on the phone, Mr Mohammed, a retired army brigadier-general, confirmed reports of multiple attacks in the area. It could be recalled that dozens of residents in Shiroro LGA fled their homes on Sunday night following a series of attacks by bandits. The affected communities include Kemaka, Roro, Unguwan-Usman, Karaga, Rumace, and Bassa. The displaced residents, who spent Sunday night hiding in the bush, reported that the attackers were about 200. Before the Sunday night attacks in Shiroro, bandits had blocked the Zungeru-Tegina road on 12 May and kidnapped an unspecified number of traders who were on their way to the Zungeru weekly market. Sources said the bandits blocked the road near Kundu village in broad daylight. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Niger is one of the worst affected states by banditry as it shares a long boundary with the troubled North-west region where the outlaws are most active in Nigeria. But Mr Mohammed said efforts were ongoing to combat the menace, especially in the states farming communities. The states large and fertile land makes it a food basket, but output from the sector has been severely affected by bandits routinely kidnapping farmers and traders for ransom. READ ALSO: Students feared abducted as bandits invade university Meanwhile, the commissioner said the state government was also working to establish temporary settlement centres for displaced persons. The government is taking steps to bring the situation under control. We are providing resettlement centres for the affected communities because, even if they return home now, there is no peace of mind. Some of them dont even have a place to sleep if they go back. If there is life, there is hope, he said. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Senate on Tuesday resolved to convene a national summit to find a lasting solution to the incessant clashes between farmers and herders. The upper chamber said the summit will be coordinated by an hoc committee which has yet to be constituted and will be attended by interest groups and individuals. The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio announced the decision after a majority of the senators supported it through voice votes. The resolution was a sequel to a motion sponsored by Isah Jibrin (APC, Kogi East) during the plenary. Mr Jibrin, while presenting his motion said a recent clash between farmers and herders in Omala LGA of Kogi led to the death of over 500 persons while properties worth millions of naira were destroyed. He added that survivors and displaced persons have returned home but cannot afford shelters and have no means of sustenance. The senator noted that the incident has increased the number of out-of-school students in the state. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Mr Jibirin thereafter prayed the Senate to encourage the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to assist the affected communities with relief materials and other forms of support necessary for their rehabilitation. He also requested that the federal government should provide capital for the women and youth in the community to facilitate their various economic activities. Debate Many of the senators who contributed to the motion supported it. Titus Zam (APC, Benue North-west) canvassed the enactment of a law that prohibits open grazing. Mr Zam said the law will prohibit herders from grazing cattle openly from one state to the other. Adams Oshiomhole (APC, Edo North) proposed the establishment of an ad hoc committee to organise a national summit on the issue, look into the causes and proffer solutions. Sunday Karimi (APC, Kogi West) lamented the incessant clash between farmers and herders in his senatorial districts. Mr Karimi also supported the call for a national summit on the issue. Last week two men were killed while returning from the farm. Another lady was shot in her farm Mr Karimi said. The immediate past Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, also supported the call for a national summit. He urged the federal government to be sensitive in funding the security agencies. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The House of Representatives has asked the federal government to exempt military personnel from paying tolls at airports, seaports and train stations across the country. This resolution was a sequel to a motion of urgent public importance by Abdulsamad Dasuki (PDP, Sokoto) on Tuesday during plenary. The Federal Executive Council (FEC) last week approved the cancellation of all exemptions on airport access payments for VIPs in Nigeria due to the huge revenue losses they cause to the government Before now, very important Nigerians including the president, vice president and some government officials, were exempted from paying access fees at the airports gates. Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, said the approval for this category of Nigerians to start paying the fees was given following a memo he presented at the FEC meeting. Moving the motion, Mr Dasuki said armed forces personnel must be exempted from paying tolls to access airports. The lawmaker argued that the exemption would serve as an honour to the personnel for the sacrifices they make. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Men and women of the armed forces honour our nation with the highest form of service and without reservation; keeping us safe from harm, protecting our wealth and territorial integrity, ensuring safe navigation on our territorial waters, protecting our borders including the Gulf of Guinea, Creeks, Sahara Desert and forests, and fighting armed bandits who invade our communities. It is important to show gratitude by honouring our brothers and sisters who are voluntarily serving under our flag, putting in their active years to keep our nation safe with some losing their lives, and some becoming disabled from the battlefield amidst other effects, the legislator said. Mr Dasuki said the action would be symbolic to encourage recruitment into the military. He urged the government to be intentional in honouring uniformed men. Concerned that their services, though remunerated, cannot be quantified, especially when the risks to them and their dependents are considered. Therefore, we should not be hesitant to show them in our little way that we see them and we acknowledge their sacrifices, he said. Mr Dasukis motion was specifically on airports, however, Hussein Jalo (PDP, Kaduna) moved an amendment to the motion that the privilege should be extended to seaports, railway stations and motor parks. The amendment was adopted. When the motion as amended was put to vote by the presiding officer, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, it was overwhelmingly supported by the lawmakers. Consequently, Mr Tajudeen directed the relevant committees of the House to ensure compliance. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Nigerian Army has formally announced the closure of Banex Plaza in Abuja, a move expected to raise concerns about the armys role in a democracy. Army spokesperson Onyema Nwachukwu said the plaza, popular for the sale of phones and other electronics, was shut down after an agreement with the management of the plaza to identify individuals who recently assaulted two soldiers. In response to this unfortunate incident, a meeting was convened with the management of Banex Plaza to identify and apprehend the perpetrators of this heinous act by temporarily shutting down activities in the plaza Mr Nwachukwu, a major general, said in a Tuesday statement. PREMIUM TIMES reported how a mob, believed to be workers at the plaza, on Saturday, assaulted two soldiers allegedly over the sale of a mobile phone. A viral video on social media showed the assault as the soldiers in uniform tried to flee from their attackers. In an apparent retaliation, a group of soldiers invaded the plaza where they also assaulted some civilians. The army spokesperson had told PREMIUM TIMES that the assault on the soldiers would be investigated. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later This newspaper also reported on Sunday that soldiers blocked the entrance to the plaza, essentially preventing any business from going on in the shops in the plaza. Such incidents as happened at Banex Plaza are supposed to be investigated by the police who would then prosecute those found culpable. The shutdown could also have been announced by civil authorities such as the Abuja administration or the Abuja Municipal Council Area where the plaza is located. Both the police and Abuja administration told PREMIUM TIMES Tuesday night that they were not aware of the shutdown of the plaza. With all due respect, you know very well that Police are not involved why all this. Channel all your complaints to the military pls, Abuja police spokesperson Josephine Adeh told this newspaper via WhatsApp in response to our enquiry. The military feels that somebody has offended some of them and then you went to shut down the market. It is wrong morally, it is wrong legally, it is unlawful, it is unconstitutional and should not be allowed in a democratic setting, human rights lawyer Mojirayo Ogunlana told PREMIUM TIMES. In his statement, Mr Nwachukwu suggested that the army was leading the investigation, saying the army wanted to prevent a fatal assault on soldiers as happened in Okuama, Delta State, recently. This investigation ultimately aims at ensuring the security of the Federal Capital Territory and to prevent such unwarranted attacks on own personnel and other security operatives, as has been observed in other areas, such as the unfortunate attack in Okuama, Mr Nwachukwu wrote. Read the full statement by the army below. Following the recent unrest at Banex Plaza in Wuse, Abuja, on Saturday 18 May 2024, by yet to be identified hoodlums who launched a brutal attack on some Nigerian Army personnel, a swift intervention by soldiers and policemen on internal security duties salvaged the situation and rescued the attacked personnel from being lynched by the hoodlums. It is important to note that the soldiers attacked were unarmed, did not engage in any form of aggression, and posed no threat to anyone. Therefore, the cruel treatment meted out to them was entirely unwarranted and unjustifiable. In response to this unfortunate incident, a meeting was convened with the management of Banex Plaza to identify and apprehend the perpetrators of this heinous act by temporarily shutting down activities in the plaza to ensure that the hoodlums who have been using the Banex neighborhood as a sanctuary to pose a security threat to the Federal Capital Territory were apprehended. This, is in furtherance of the need for extensive investigation to be conducted at the scene to determine both the immediate and underlying causes of this mayhem. This investigation ultimately aims at ensuring the security of the Federal Capital Territory and to prevent such unwarranted attacks on own personnel and other security operatives, as has been observed in other areas, such as the unfortunate attack in Okuama. The Nigerian Army will equally ensure that it diligently investigates the circumstances surrounding the presence of the personnel at the plaza and the attack that ensued. Nonetheless, such acts of violence against personnel are not only condemnable, but could degenerate to a breakdown of law and order, orchestrating threats to national security. Accordingly, the NA enjoins members of the public to exercise caution and restraint in dealing with military personnel and other security operatives, especially when they are in uniform. There are established channels through which grievances or misconduct by personnel could be reported to the appropriate authorities. It is imperative that these channels are utilized to maintain order and respect for those who serve and protect our nation. ONYEMA NWACHUKWU Major General Director Army Public Relations Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print NICB's Contractor Fraud Awareness Week runs May 20-24, 2024 OAK BROOK, Ill., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Twenty states across the nation are joining together with the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), the insurance industry's association dedicated to preventing and prosecuting insurance crime, to fight contractor fraud that often occurs after a natural disaster. NICB works to educate homeowners and business owners about how to avoid becoming a victim of deceptive contractors as part of its annual Contractor Fraud Awareness Week (CFAW), which runs from May 20 to May 24, 2024. Contractor Fraud Awareness Week 2024 "Contractor fraud, especially after a natural catastrophe, not only affects individual homeowners, but also impacts insurance premiums and costs Americans billions of dollars every year," said David J. Glawe, President and CEO of NICB. "This type of fraud not only undermines trust within communities but also inflicts significant financial and emotional harm on families across the nation." Last year was a historic year for billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in the U.S. with 28 separate events costing at least $1 billion and totaling more than $93 billion in catastrophe losses. Upwards of 10 percent or $9.3 billion is lost to post-disaster fraud. The following states and Puerto Rico have officially recognized Contractor Fraud Awareness Week to combat this growing trend: Alabama Arkansas Connecticut Florida Illinois (Resolution) Indiana Kentucky Louisiana Massachusetts Missouri Mississippi Montana Nebraska New Hampshire North Dakota Oklahoma Pennsylvania South Carolina West Virginia Wisconsin NICB partners with government agencies, as well as insurance carriers, to educate homeowners and businesses on how to avoid becoming victims of insurance fraud. NICB also sponsors public awareness events across the country and works with local law enforcement agencies to help catch fraudsters taking advantage of hardworking Americans. Additionally, NICB participates in federal, state and local task forces, fusion centers, and intelligence groups, while working strategically with lawmakers and regulators in all 50 states to boost efforts by insurers and law enforcement to combat insurance fraud. "Contractor fraud is a crime that thrives in the shadows. By arming ourselves with knowledge, vigilance, and a healthy dose of skepticism, we can protect our homes and our hard-earned money," Glawe said. "Homeowners should be wary of high pressure sales tactics and should seek multiple bids. Always get a signed contract and beware of upfront payments. Finally, watch for red flags and trust your gut feelings." NICB recommends following these tips before hiring a contractor: Be Proactive Assess Damages: If you think you have catastrophe-related damage, reach out to your insurance company, and ask for clarification on your coverage. Recruit a Professional: Seek out a licensed, insured, and well-reviewed contractor before any potential fraudulent contractors come knocking on your door. Research and Verify Before Signing Anything Research and Verify: Before hiring a contractor, research their credentials, reputation, and track record. Check for licenses, certifications, and reviews from previous clients. Verify their insurance coverage and inquire about any past complaints or legal issues. Get Multiple Quotes: Obtain bids from multiple contractors for comparison. Be wary of significantly low bids, as they may indicate substandard work or hidden costs. Aim for a balance between affordability and quality. Beware of Red Flags: Be alert to red flags such as high-pressure sales tactics, vague or evasive answers, or reluctance to provide written estimates or contracts. Trust your instincts and proceed with caution if something seems off. Stay Involved and Take Account Written Contracts: Always insist on a written contract detailing the scope of work, materials, timeline, and a payment schedule that does not include large upfront payments. Review the contract carefully, ensuring that all terms and conditions are clearly outlined and agreed upon by both parties. Stay Involved: Stay actively involved in the project by regularly communicating with the contractor and monitoring progress, while keeping records of all work communications. Seek Legal Advice if Necessary: If you suspect contractor fraud or encounter significant problems during the project, seek legal advice promptly. A legal professional can help you understand your rights, explore options for resolution, and take appropriate action to protect your interests. Report Fraud Anyone with information concerning insurance fraud or vehicle theft can report it by calling toll-free 800.TEL.NICB (800.835.6422). About the National Insurance Crime Bureau: Headquartered in Oak Brook, Ill., the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) is the nation's leading not-for-profit organization exclusively dedicated to combatting and preventing insurance crime through Intelligence, Analytics, and Operations; Education and Crime Prevention; and Strategy, Policy, and Advocacy. NICB is supported by more than 1,200 property and casualty insurance companies and self-insured organizations. To learn more, visit NICB.org. SOURCE National Insurance Crime Bureau SINGAPORE and NEW YORK, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- AlphaGeo is proud to announce the launch of the first ever integrated spatial index combining localized risk and adaptation measures, delivering the "ground truth" of resilience for any location worldwide. The future profile of any place isn't what a climate risk model tells us today it's what we do about it. AlphaGeo's proprietary risk and adaptation datasets combine to give the "ground truth" of any location's resilience. Physical climate hazards such as floods, fires, hurricanes, heatwaves and drought are becoming more acute, making adaptation a central priority for governments, industry and asset managers everywhere. Adding to its proprietary climate physical risk forecasting (covering all risks under multiple scenarios and timescales), AlphaGeo has now added a comprehensive "adaptation layer" including water treatment and sanitation facilities, seawalls, flood barriers, fire monitoring stations, water desalination plants and more. This combined risk and adaptation data guides authorities in understanding the gaps to be addressed in their locations and measures that can be taken to achieve greater resilience. AlphaGeo's clients leverage its easily accessible datasets via Snowflake, API, CSV file or directly on its enterprise SaaS platform and apply it directly to core business needs such as risk management, cap-ex planning and due diligence for acquisitions. Founder & CEO Dr. Parag Khanna says, "Foresight into location dynamics due to market, socioeconomic, demographic and climate factors enables investors to act with much greater confidence despite today's volatility. We've built a platform that caters both to risk and opportunity -- defense and offense." Users who visit https://alphageo.ai/explore/ can view risk and resilience-adjusted data for sample locations in Florida, California and the United Kingdom, viewing their scores changing over different time periods and benchmark location performance against others. Visitors to AlphaGeo's website are also invited to click "Login" and create a free account in which they can access data on locations of interest to them. Institutional customers can create large portfolios of location data and leverage tools such as "Alpha Finder," which generates maps of locations that best match your selected criteria. For more information, please visit AlphaGeo's webpage: https://alphageo.ai/ Additional queries can be directed to COO Mark Langan ([email protected]) or Chief of Staff Jennifer Kwek ([email protected]). SOURCE AlphaGeo Board-certified dermatologist shares 5 tips for Skin Cancer Awareness Month ROSEMONT, Ill., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Sunburns can be painful and damaging to your skin, while also increasing your risk of skin cancer, the most common cancer in the United States and one of the most preventable. A new survey by the American Academy of Dermatology shows that one in three Americans (36%) got a sunburn in 2023, a significant increase over the previous year. "No matter your skin tone, you can get a sunburn if you are outside without proper protection," said Veena Vanchinathan, MD, FAAD, a board-certified dermatologist in Morgan Hill, Calif. "It's important to practice safe sun because both tanning and sunburning harms your skin. If you repeatedly experience sunburns, your skin will become more damaged over time." A new survey by the American Academy of Dermatology shows that one in three Americans (36%) got a sunburn in 2023. Post this Prevention is key. Protect your skin from the sun to prevent sunburn and reduce your risk of skin cancer and premature skin aging. Seek shade, and wear sun-protective clothing such as long sleeves, pants, a wide-brimmed hat, and sunglasses with UV protection. Apply a broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher to all skin not covered by clothing. The same AAD survey showed that fewer than 34% of Americans use sunscreen, with only one in three reapplying it every two hours, which is the recommended timeframe. As many as 27% of people who do use sunscreen tend not to reapply sunscreen at all. Since sunscreen's protective qualities wear off over time and sweat and water can wash it off the skin, it's important to reapply sunscreen to protect yourself from the sun's harmful rays and reduce your risk of sunburn. If you do get a sunburn, the first step to treating it is to get indoors and out of the sun. Once indoors, Dr. Vanchinathan and the AAD recommend following these tips to help relieve your sunburn: Take cool baths or showers to help relieve any pain. Afterward, gently pat your skin dry. Soothe your sunburn by applying moisturizer containing aloe vera or soy while your skin is still damp and whenever you feel discomfort. You can also apply calamine lotion, place a cool, damp washcloth on the affected area, or take a colloidal oatmeal bath. Take aspirin or ibuprofen to help reduce swelling and discomfort from your sunburn. Drink extra water, as having a sunburn can make you dehydrated. Do not pop sunburn blisters. A blister means you have a second-degree sunburn. Allowing blisters to heal instead of popping them protects you from infection. Keep blisters clean and apply petroleum jelly to protect them while they heal. If your sunburn gets worse, partner with the sun protection expert, a board-certified dermatologist. Signs of a worsening sunburn that requires medical attention include high fever, chills, or nausea, or pus or swelling of the skin, a potential sign of a skin infection. "While a sunburn is often treatable at home, symptoms occasionally require additional attention by a board-certified dermatologist," said Dr. Vanchinathan. "Not only are we able to help make you more comfortable, it's also a great time for your dermatologist to check you for signs of skin cancer." These tips are demonstrated in "How to treat a sunburn: Dermatologist tips," a video posted to the AAD website and YouTube channel . This video is part of the AAD's "Your Dermatologist Knows" series, which offers tips people can use to properly care for their skin, hair, and nails. To find a board-certified dermatologist in your area, visit aad.org/findaderm . More Information Sun protection How to perform a skin self-exam How to select a sunscreen AAD B-Roll Library About the AAD Headquartered in Rosemont, Ill., the American Academy of Dermatology, founded in 1938, is the largest, most influential and most representative of all dermatologic associations. With a membership of more than 21,000 physicians worldwide, the AAD is committed to advancing the diagnosis and medical, surgical, and cosmetic treatment of the skin, hair, and nails; advocating high standards in clinical practice, education and research in dermatology; and supporting and enhancing patient care because skin, hair, and nail conditions can have a serious impact on your health and well-being. For more information, contact the AAD at (888) 462-DERM (3376) or aad.org. Follow @AADskin on Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest and YouTube and @AADskin1 on Instagram. SOURCE American Academy of Dermatology Recipients include pioneer of the Safety Plan Intervention, Dr. Barbara Stanley, and leading youth suicide prevention expert Dr. Jeff Bridge NEW YORK, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), the largest private funder of suicide prevention research globally, will honor its 2024 Research Award recipients at its annual Research Dinner on May 22 at the Conrad Hotel in New York City. The honorees include trailblazing suicide prevention researcher Barbara H. Stanley, PhD who will be recognized posthumously with the Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as Jeff Bridge, PhD, whose research is focused on youth suicide and improving outcomes and care for young people at-risk for suicide. "Research is the foundation of all our efforts to prevent suicide including our public education, advocacy, and support for those affected by suicide" said AFSP Senior Vice President of Research Dr. Jill Harkavy-Friedman. "It's through the tireless work of researchers like Dr. Stanley and Dr. Bridge that we learn more about what leads to suicide and how we can save lives. We are honored to spotlight their many contributions to the field of suicide prevention and the efforts of the entire research community who dedicate their time to tackling this urgent public health challenge. Recognizing all that we have achieved through research reminds us that there is hope and that suicide can be prevented." The event is closed to the public, but media interested in reporting on suicide prevention research and award recipients are invited to contact AFSP's PR Team for more information. This year's research awardees include: AFSP Lifetime Achievement Research Award Barbara Stanley, PhD (1949-2023, Awarded Posthumously) Dr. Barbara Stanley was a trailblazing clinical psychologist who dedicated her life to advance learning and interventions to improve mental health. She specialized in the treatment of individuals with borderline personality disorder, depression, and self-harm. With her colleague Dr. Gregory Brown, Dr. Stanley developed the widely used Safety Planning Intervention. It is implemented in emergency departments, inpatient and outpatient facilities, Veterans Affairs, and crisis hotlines and has no doubt played a role in saving countless lives. She has also mentored several young investigators on fMRI studies examining the interpersonal dysfunction dimension of borderline personality disorder, genetics studies of borderline personality disorder, and treatment engagement trials with suicidal individuals. Dr. Stanley was a force in her field authoring and editing more than 200 articles and book chapters, was editor-in-chief of the Archives of Suicide Research and served on several editorial boards. She was a past chair and member of the American Psychological Association Committee on Human Research, and also served as a standing member of the Adult Psychopathology and Disorders of Aging NIH CSR study section. Besides serving on the faculty in Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, she held numerous appointments across private and government sectors. At AFSP, she served on both the Research Grant Committee and Scientific Council and was the recipient of several AFSP research grants throughout her career. Annual AFSP Research Award Jeff Bridge, PhD Dr. Jeff Bridge is director of the Center for Suicide Prevention and Research in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital. He is receiving this year's Annual Research Award for his outstanding recent work related to youth at risk for suicide. His research focuses on the risk factors contributing to suicide and suicidal behavior in young people and improving the quality of care they receive. He has received multiple AFSP grants for his work including a 2006 Young Investigator Award and 2011 AFSP Early Career Researcher Award in 2011. He was also a senior investigator for a 2014 AFSP Linked Standard Research Grant. Dr. Bridge is also the Nationwide Foundation endowed chair of innovation in behavioral health research, and professor of pediatrics, psychiatry, and behavioral health at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. At AFSP, Dr. Bridge serves as a scientific advisor, member of the Research Grants Committee, and Scientific Council member. Annual AFSP Paula J. Clayton Early Career Research Grant Award Alison Athey, PhD Dr. Athey is an associate behavioral/social scientist at RAND and a licensed clinical psychologist in Maryland. A recipient of a 2023 AFSP Early Career Research Grant, her study aims to identify what interventions will help loss survivors stabilize their own mental health after their loss and where these interventions are best delivered. This award honors Athey's work that reflects the career focus of the late Dr. Paula J. Clayton, a leader in the field and AFSP's Chief Medical Officer from 2006-2013. By setting out to test the effectiveness of a postvention intervention for suicide loss survivors, Dr. Athey's study relates closely to one of Dr. Clayton's primary research interests, bereavement by suicide. Her work focuses on understanding risk for and preventing life-threatening behaviors including suicide, overdose, and gender-based violence. She has a special interest in evaluating strategies to promote the implementation of evidence-based assessment, prevention, and postvention strategies with high-risk groups, following high-risk events, and in low-resource settings. AFSP Lifetime Achievement Award in Public Health & Community Impact for Suicide Prevention Catherine Barber, MPA Catherine Barber, MPA, is a senior researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health's Injury Research Center where she led the effort to design and test the pilot for the CDC's National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). This novel database is used across sectors to provide the public and professionals with a clearer understanding of violent deaths so they can be prevented. This award honors Barber's leadership in public health and community action, for her contributions to the field of suicide prevention, which led to programs and broad community change at AFSP and across the U.S, with respect to how we address firearm suicide. Barber's expertise is in designing and evaluating injury surveillance systems and interpreting their data for prevention. She is the founding director of Means Matter, a project to disseminate research and interventions aimed at reducing a suicidal person's access to highly lethal suicide methods. Barber was the lead author with Elaine Frank on the original CALM-Online (Counseling on Access to Lethal Means), a free online course for health care and social services providers that was produced with the Suicide Prevention Research Center (SPRC). She was also one of the originators of the Gun Shop Project, a novel approach to bringing firearm retailers, instructors, and other firearm stakeholders into the suicide prevention field. She was the recipient of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention's Allies in Action Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. Learn more about the role of research in preventing suicide. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide, including those who have experienced a loss. AFSP creates a culture that's smart about mental health through public education and community programs, develops suicide prevention through research and advocacy, and provides support for those affected by suicide. Led by CEO Robert Gebbia and headquartered in New York, with a public policy office in Washington, DC, AFSP has local chapters in all 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico, with programs and events nationwide. Learn more about AFSP in its latest Annual Report and join the conversation on suicide prevention by following AFSP on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and TikTok. Media interested in comment on this news are encouraged to fill out this press request form and review AFSP's Ethical Reporting Tips. SOURCE American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Grant to help TCUs enrich their arts curricula by incorporating Indigenous practices DENVER, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Indian College Fund (College Fund) announced new efforts to enhance Native arts curriculum development programs at six tribal colleges and universities (TCUs). Each of the participating TCUs will receive $100,000 to enrich their curricula by integrating Indigenous education values and incorporate Native knowledge, language, and cultural practices. The project will also help to expand institutional capacity, developing or revising academic courses, minors, and certificate and degree programs. The six participating TCUs and their programs are: Ilisagvik College, Barrow, Alaska Inupiat Art Curriculum Development and Enhancement Northwest Indian College , Bellingham, Washington Xwel'xweleqw (A metaphor for the "people who survive) , Salish Kootenai College , Pablo, Montana Puti es sxilwisi : Continuing the Journey by Rethinking Culture and Language Education at SKC , Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute , Albuquerque, New Mexico Weaving Art into the Curriculum , Stone Child College , Box Elder, Montana Neiyahwahk Kahyahs Kahkitahsinahikechik (Traditional Chippewa-Cree Artwork) , United Tribes Technical College , Bismarck, North Dakota Mitakuye Oyas'i Native Arts , American Indian College Fund President and CEO, Cheryl Crazy Bull, said, "Native arts are both the symbolic and the practical embodiment of Indigenous ways of knowing and being in the world. We are honored to support our communities as they increase the visibility of traditional and contemporary Native arts and appreciate the partnership with our TCUs and MACP that makes this possible." This work, made possible through a three year, $600,000 project with Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, will help to build a solid foundation to encourage the advancement of Native arts. About the American Indian College Fund The American Indian College Fund has been the nation's largest charity supporting Native higher education for 34 years. The College Fund believes "Education is the answer" and provided $17.4 million in scholarships and other direct student support to American Indian students in 2022-23. Since its founding in 1989 the College Fund has provided more than $319 million in scholarships, programs, community, and tribal college support. The College Fund also supports a variety of academic and support programs at the nation's 35 accredited tribal colleges and universities, which are located on or near Indian reservations, ensuring students have the tools to graduate and succeed in their careers. The College Fund consistently receives top ratings from independent charity evaluators and is one of the nation's top 100 charities named to the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance. For more information about the American Indian College Fund, please visit www.collegefund.org. Journalists The American Indian College Fund does not use the acronym AICF. On second reference, please use the College Fund. SOURCE American Indian College Fund ADELAIDE, Australia, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Amp Energy ("Amp" or the "Company") announced today it has finalised all required commercial agreements for the development of the Cape Hardy Advanced Fuels Precinct one of the leading green hydrogen, green ammonia and advanced fuel projects in Australia. The agreements, which were executed with Iron Road Ltd, include the purchase of a 630-hectare parcel of land at Cape Hardy as well as finalised royalty structure and common user infrastructure agreement. Amp will continue to build upon development progress made since announcing the Strategic Framework Agreement with Iron Road Ltd in April 2023 to bring advanced fuel production capacity to Cape Hardy. The Cape Hardy Advanced Fuels Precinct will provide production at scale with up to 10 GW of planned electrolyser capacity. Development will be structured to initially bring 1 GW online with incremental stages to reach 10 GW of total capacity. The project will both cater to the domestic Australian market, supporting the Australian Government's net zero goals, while also featuring global export capabilities. To facilitate distribution, Cape Hardy will be equipped with Australia's first purpose-built advanced fuels export terminal. Amp has been in discussions to develop the Cape Hardy Advanced Fuels precinct, in collaboration with Iron Road Ltd and The Government of South Australia, for the past two years. During that time, Amp has made significant development progress. The project's concept, design, and pre-Front End Engineering Design (FEED) phase have been studied and reviewed by two leading global engineering firms, Arup and Technip Technologies, as Amp targets completion of pre-FEED studies for the first 1 GW electrolyser phase over the next 9 months. FEED scoping and contracting is currently underway ahead of awarding the FEED contract in late 2024 or early 2025. Desalinated water is to be sourced from the recently announced Northern Water Supply (NWS) seawater desalination plant that will be located at Cape Hardy to meet the project's demand for electrolyser feed water, cooling water, process plant water, and fire water. Amp is co-funding pre-FID expenditures for the NWS project. Additionally, Amp is working closely with the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC ("BDAC"). With continued support from the BDAC, Amp is confident the Cape Hardy Advanced Fuels Precinct will have a meaningful economic impact on the region. Amp currently estimates this will include approximately 4,000 direct and 6,000 indirect jobs for the first gigawatt of electrolyser capacity alone. "We are seeing growing demand for Advanced Fuels both in Australia and abroad. This includes green ammonia, liquid hydrogen, methanol, and sustainable aviation fuel. The Cape Hardy Advanced Fuels Precinct will allow for large-scale production of these fuels that will be critical to the energy transition and achieving net zero targets. We could not be more excited about the project's potential impact, and we are grateful for the partnership and continued support from Iron Road Ltd, the South Australian Government and BDAC as we progress full steam ahead on development" said Paul Ezekiel, Amp President and Co-founder. Minister for Trade and Investment, Joe Szakacs said "The State Government recognises the strategic importance of the Cape Hardy Advanced Fuels Precinct attracting investment into the state for domestic and export opportunities, as there is an increasing flight to quality for hydrogen projects worldwide." About Amp Amp Energy is a global energy transition development platform, which delivers renewables, battery storage, Advanced Fuels and green AI data centers at scale, together with proprietary AI-enabled grid flexibility through its Amp X platform. Since its inception 15 years ago, Amp has developed and built or contracted 14 GW of assets globally. Amp is backed by major investments from institutional capital partners including global private equity firm the Carlyle Group, who has invested over US$440 million. The company has global operations throughout North America, the UK, Australia, Japan, and Spain. For more information, please visit amp.energy PHILADELPHIA, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Andreozzi + Foote, a prominent national law firm representing victims of crime based in Pennsylvania, has filed a lawsuit against UHS of Doylestown, LLC, doing business as Foundations Behavioral Health, on behalf of Joel Nunez, an incapacitated adult resident of Pennsylvania. The lawsuit, filed in Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County on May 17th, seeks justice for Joel Nunez, who suffered a brutal physical assault at the hands of a Foundations Behavioral Health employee. Joel Nunez, who brings this action through his court-appointed guardian, Araceli Nunez, resides in Pennsylvania and can be contacted through Andreozzi + Foote. Joel suffers from multiple disorders and mental health diagnoses, rendering him non-verbal and in need of substantial support in all aspects of his life. At the time of the incident, Joel resided at the Foundations Behavioral Health facility located at 833 East Butler Pike, Doylestown, Bucks County, PA. On June 26, 2022, Joel was physically assaulted by a Foundations employee, Jophany Raphael, after Raphael followed Joel into his bedroom. Raphael blocked Joel from leaving, pushed him to the floor, and repeatedly kicked him in the head, chest, and abdomen while other staff members witnessed but did not intervene. Despite Joel's evident injuries, Foundations staff delayed seeking emergency medical attention, opting instead to observe his bruises and red marks before eventually sending him to the hospital two days later. Raphael has since pleaded guilty to simple assault in the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County. The lawsuit also highlights that Foundations Behavioral Health had a history of non-compliant inspections and citations from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services prior to the assault on Joel. "We are dedicated to fighting for justice for Joel Nunez and ensuring that those responsible for his suffering are held accountable," said Veronica Hubbard, attorney at Andreozzi + Foote. "The failure of Foundations Behavioral Health to protect Joel from such egregious abuse is unconscionable, and we will work tirelessly to see that justice is served." The lawsuit alleges negligence, gross negligence, carelessness, and recklessness on the part of Foundations Behavioral Health, citing failures in abuse prevention policies, inadequate screening and supervision of staff, and delays in providing necessary medical attention to Joel. The complaint seeks compensatory and punitive damages for the severe emotional, psychological, and physical harm Joel has endured. "We hope this lawsuit will not only bring justice for Joel but also lead to systemic changes that prevent such abuse from occurring in the future," added Veronica Hubbard. "No one should have to endure what Joel has been through, and we are committed to holding Foundations Behavioral Health accountable for their actions and omissions." For more information or to speak with one of our attorneys, please contact Ben Andreozzi at [email protected] or 717-525-9124. About Andreozzi + Foote: Andreozzi + Foote is a national law firm dedicated to representing survivors of crime. With a commitment to justice and advocacy, the firm provides compassionate and skilled legal representation to ensure that survivors receive the justice they deserve. For more information, visit victimscivilattorneys.com SOURCE Andreozzi + Foote "One of the biggest challenges for schools dealing with this abundance of tech is what to do with it when it breaks," says former K-12 Technology Director, Eric Wells. Since his career shift to regional operations leadership at Trafera, Wells has played a critical role in kick-starting operations facilities nationwide, including the 2023 opening of a facility in Mabscott, West Virginia . "Building on our plans over the last several years, we continue to look for opportunities to partner more closely with school districts nationwide, delivering exceptional service for their deployed technology," commented Scott Gill, CEO of Trafera. "Charlotte, North Carolina is the perfect next hub for us, allowing us to serve schools throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, and the surrounding region." This new facility is being equipped and staffed to provide device repair, warranty services, and technical support for K-12 districts in the area. Wells concludes, "We are excited to continue our investment in people, processes, and premises. Every move we make underscores Trafera's commitment to customer success!" A ribbon-cutting ceremony will officially mark the facility's opening, with local leaders, educators, and community members in attendance. Guests will get to tour the facility and witness the advanced technical support infrastructure Trafera has established. Grand Opening & Ribbon Cutting Celebration Date: Monday, June 10th Ribbon Cutting Ceremony: 2:00 PM ET Location: 5400-M West W.T. Harris Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28269 As the educational technology landscape evolves, Trafera remains at the forefront, helping schools seamlessly integrate technology into the classroom. This expansion underscores the company's commitment to delivering unparalleled support to K-12 organizations nationwide. For more information about Trafera and its educational technology solutions, visit trafera.com. To attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony or for media inquiries, please contact Chad Dehmlow at [email protected]. SOURCE Trafera Leading Massage, Skincare & Wellness Franchise Strengthens its Corporate Bench to Further Elevate Lives Across the Nation SAN ANTONIO, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Massage Heights, esteemed massage and wellness brand, has appointed Austin Alexander as Vice President of Franchise Development. This announcement follows the release of the International Franchise Association (IFA) report , which forecasts personal services to remain the top industry for franchise expansion in 2024. With health and wellness concepts ranking on the top of this list, the brand is primed for significant growth, with a network of over 115 Retreats across North America. Known for exceptional massage, skincare and wellness services, adding Alexander to the team sets them up to embrace new opportunities and achieve even greater success. Austin Alexander's Background With an impressive background of being a franchisee as well as on the franchisor side within the development team of a fitness concept, Alexander brings a wealth of experience from the health and wellness industry to Massage Heights. Having been on both sides of a franchise model, he understands the ins and outs of brand growth and will offer a unique perspective to franchisees. Austin's track record speaks volumes, demonstrating his adeptness in various aspects of franchising, from market analysis to territory selection. Prior to his current role, he held key positions within well-established franchises such as Self Esteem Brands and Lift Brands, refining his skills in operations, sales, and business development. From firsthand experience, Alexander understands the challenges new franchisees face and what it takes to run a successful business. His knowledge of franchise ownership gives him unique insights into the desires of potential franchisees and the ability to truly resonate and empathize with them. "Stepping into this role is a privilege, and I'm thrilled to continue leveraging my extensive franchising experience within this respected brand," said Alexander. "My goal is to further propel growth, forge strong partnerships, and support franchisees as we expand the Massage Heights community together. With a deep understanding of our brand's values and a commitment to excellence, I am dedicated to fostering a culture of success and empowerment within our franchise network." Top of Form Along with the IFA, FranData posted strong projections for 2024, reporting that personal services will maintain its position as the top industry for franchise expansion this year. With that knowledge, Massage Heights has identified key target growth markets and has prime territories available nationwide. "An energetic and enthusiastic entrepreneur at heart, Austin is deeply committed to empowering others to realize their own entrepreneurial aspirations and contribute to community well-being through business ownership," said Shane Evans, Founder & CEO of Massage Heights. "His strong background and passion for franchising, particularly in the health and wellness sector, align perfectly with our mission to empower individuals to own their own businesses and promote well-being within communities. We are on a strong growth trajectory being in our 20th anniversary year, and I'm confident Austin will help us continue this momentum." Massage Heights is currently seeking single and multi-unit operators to join its growing brand. To learn about Massage Heights franchise opportunities, visit https://www.massageheightsfranchise.com/ . About Massage Heights The massage franchise started in 2004 and has grown to more than 115 Retreats throughout North America by providing personalized wellness treatment options through therapeutic massage and skincare services. Massage Heights is a massage and wellness franchise dedicated to elevating the lives of others by providing Members and Guests with professional, affordable and resort-quality massage, skincare and wellness services. SOURCE Massage Heights The automotive climate control system market has expanded as a result of rise in demand of comfort and convenience, stringent environmental regulation, and rise in sale of electric and hybrid vehicle. PORTLAND, Ore., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Automotive Climate Control Systems Market by Technology (Automatic and Manual), Vehicle Type (Passenger Vehicle, Commercial Vehicle, and Electric Vehicle), and Distribution (OEM and Aftermarket), by Component (Control and Sensor, Compressor, Condensor, HVAC, Evaporator, and Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2023-2032". According to the report, the automotive climate control systems market was valued at $8.4 billion in 2022 and is estimated to reach $27.3 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 12.8% from 2023 to 2032. Prime Determinants of Growth Consumer preferences for comfortable driving experiences, regardless of external weather conditions, drive the demand for advanced climate control systems in vehicles. Increasingly stringent regulations regarding vehicle emissions and energy efficiency drive the adoption of climate control systems that are more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly. Innovations such as dual-zone and multi-zone climate control, advanced air filtration systems, and smart climate control interfaces enhance the appeal and functionality of automotive climate control systems, driving market growth. The rise of electric and hybrid vehicles presents opportunities for innovative climate control solutions that optimize energy usage and extend vehicle range while providing effective heating and cooling. Request Sample of the Report on Automotive Climate Control Systems Market Forecast 2032 https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/A134914 Report Coverage & Details: Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 20232032 Base Year 2022 Market Size in 2022 $8.4 billion Market Size in 2032 $27.3 billion CAGR 12.8 % No. of Pages in Report 485 Segments covered Technology, Vehicle Type, Distribution, Component, and Region Drivers Rise in Demand for Comfort and Convenience Stringent Environmental Regulations Rise in Sales of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles Opportunity Rapid Advancement in Technology Restraints High upfront cost Complexity of Integration Procure Complete Report (485 Pages PDF with Insights, Charts, Tables, and Figures) https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/checkout-final/automotive-climate-control-systems-market-A134914 Impact of Russia-Ukraine War Scenario Both Russia and Ukraine are significant players in the global supply chain for automotive components, including control systems. Any disruptions in the production and supply of components from these countries due to the conflict can affect the availability of parts for automotive manufacturers worldwide. This could lead to delays in production and potential shortages, impacting the automotive control system market. and are significant players in the global supply chain for automotive components, including control systems. Any disruptions in the production and supply of components from these countries due to the conflict can affect the availability of parts for automotive manufacturers worldwide. This could lead to delays in production and potential shortages, impacting the automotive control system market. The conflict may lead to volatility in commodity markets, including those for metals and minerals used in the production of automotive control systems. Fluctuations in raw material prices can impact the cost of manufacturing automotive components, potentially affecting pricing strategies within the market. The automatic segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period On the basis of technology, the automatic segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for more than two-thirds of the global automotive climate control system market revenue. This is attributed to automatic climate control systems offering unparalleled convenience and ease of use for vehicle occupants. Instead of manually adjusting temperature settings, users can set their desired cabin temperature, and the system automatically maintains this temperature by adjusting fan speed, air distribution, and heating/cooling settings as needed. This hands-free operation enhances user experience, especially during long drives or in changing weather conditions. However, the manual segment is projected to manifest the fastest CAGR of 14.8% from 2023 to 2032, This is attributed to the fact that the cost of manufacturing and installing manual climate control systems is lower than that of automatic systems. Automakers may choose manual controls to keep overall vehicle prices cheaper in price-sensitive countries or vehicle categories, appealing to purchasers on a tight budget. The passenger vehicle segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. On the basis of vehicle type, the passenger vehicle segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for more than half of the global automotive climate control system market revenue. This was due to passenger comfort and convenience being given the most importance in the design of passenger vehicles, which include automobiles, SUVs, and luxury cars. With the ability to customize comfort settings, maintain ideal cabin temperatures, and reduce driver and passenger fatigue on lengthy trips, automotive climate control systems are essential to improving the entire driving experience. However, the electric vehicle segment is projected to manifest the fastest CAGR of 13.2% from 2023 to 2032. This was attributed to electric vehicles being inherently more energy-efficient than traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. This efficiency extends to climate control systems, where electric vehicles require less energy to heat or cool the cabin as compared to their fossil fuel counterparts. As a result, climate control systems in EVs can operate more efficiently, contributing to extended battery range and improved overall efficiency. The aftermarket segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period On the basis of distribution, the aftermarket segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for more than two-thirds of the global automotive climate control system market revenue. This was due to vehicles' age and their original climate control systems may become less efficient or malfunction, leading to a need for replacement. The aftermarket segment benefits from this demand for replacement parts as vehicle owners seek to restore or upgrade their climate control systems to maintain comfort and functionality. However, the OEM segment is projected to manifest the fastest CAGR of 17.3% from 2023 to 2032. This is attributed to OEMs integrating climate control systems directly into new vehicles during the manufacturing process. As the automotive industry experiences growth in new vehicle sales, the OEM segment naturally benefits from the inclusion of climate control systems in these vehicles. This direct integration ensures that OEMs capture a significant portion of the market share for climate control systems. The compressor segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period On the basis of component, the compressor segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for more than one-fifth of the global automotive climate control system market revenue and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. This was due to the compressor being a critical component of automotive air conditioning systems, responsible for compressing and circulating refrigerant throughout the system. It plays a central role in cooling the air inside the vehicle cabin during hot weather, making it an indispensable part of climate control systems. However, the condenser segment is projected to manifest the fastest CAGR of 16.3% from 2023 to 2032. This is attributed to condensers playing a crucial role in the refrigeration cycle of automotive air conditioning systems. They are responsible for cooling and condensing the high-pressure, high-temperature refrigerant vapor into a liquid state, which is then circulated back to the evaporator to absorb heat from the vehicle cabin. This essential functionality ensures that condensers are integral components of all automotive air conditioning systems. North America to maintain its dominance by 2032 On the basis of region, North America held the highest market share in terms of revenue in 2022, accounting for more than one-third of the global automotive climate control system market revenue. This is attributed to the automotive manufacturing industry in North America being strong, with top automakers creating a wide variety of cars with cutting-edge temperature control systems. The widespread adoption and integration of temperature control systems across vehicle models is facilitated by the presence of significant automotive OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) and component suppliers. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the fastest CAGR of 15.9% from 2023 to 2032. This growth is attributed to China, Japan, India, and South Korea being among the largest automobile markets in the world, and all located in the Asia-Pacific region. The demand for advanced temperature control systems in passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and electric vehicles (EVs) has increased due to the automotive industries' explosive rise in these nations. To Talk With Our Industry Expert @ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/connect-to-analyst/A134914 Leading Market Players: - DENSO CORPORATION Hanon Systems Hitachi Astemo Indiana, Inc. Johnson Electric Holdings Limited MAHLE GmbH Marelli Corporation Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. OMEGA Environmental Technologies Sanden Corporation Sensata Technologies, Inc. The report provides a detailed analysis of these key players in the global automotive climate control system market. These players have adopted different strategies such as expansion and product launch to increase their market share and maintain dominant shares in different regions. The report is valuable in highlighting business performance, operating segments, product portfolio, and strategic moves of market players to showcase the competitive scenario. Browse More Trending Reports India Satellite Market Size, Share, Competitive Landscape and Trend Analysis Report by Function, by Orbit Type, by Application, by End Use : Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2022-2032 Military Drones Market Size, Share, Competitive Landscape and Trend Analysis Report by Type, by Range, by Technology, by Application : Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031 Satellite-Based Earth Observation Market Size, Share, Competitive Landscape and Trend Analysis Report by Product Type, by Satellite Orbit, by End-use : Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031 Small Caliber Ammunition Market Size, Share, Competitive Landscape and Trend Analysis Report by Size, by Applications, by Casing Type : Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031 About Us Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain. We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry. Contact: David Correa 1209 Orange Street, Corporation Trust Center, Wilmington, New Castle, Delaware 19801 USA. USA/Canada (Toll Free): +1-800-792-5285 UK: +44-845-528-1300 Hong Kong: +852-301-84916 India (Pune): +91-20-66346060 Fax: +1-800-792-5285 [email protected] Web: www.alliedmarketresearch.com AMR Resource Center: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/resource-center Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/636519/Allied_Market_Research_Logo.jpg SOURCE Allied Market Research SODERTALJE, Sweden, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Scania starts sales of autonomous mining trucks, opening up for safer, more efficient and more sustainable mining operations. The realisation of autonomous transport is taking a big step forward as Scania opens up for orders of the company's self-driving mining solutions. It is now possible to place orders for Scania's 40-tonne autonomous heavy tipper for mining, with the 50-tonne model to follow shortly afterwards. As a first step, Scania will start sales of its autonomous mining solutions in Australia, with first deliveries and start of operation scheduled from 2026. The next market in line will most likely be Latin America, a region where Scania has a significant market presence in the mining segment. "The transition from research and development to the launch of a commercial product is a major milestone for us and for autonomous heavy transport in general. This is the most advanced product Scania has put on the market so far," says Peter Hafmar, Vice President and Head of Autonomous Solutions at Scania. Easier to go electric and to achieve sustainable mining Mines have long been seen as one of the most promising environments for autonomous vehicles, as they can contribute to safer working conditions and more efficient operations. Scania's mining solutions with smaller, civil-class trucks also have overall potential advantages over the industry's traditional heavy haulage trucks, both in terms of emissions and productivity. By utilising Scania's autonomous mining trucks, the overall mining footprint including energy and infrastructure requirements can be reduced, meaning that capital and operating expenses may also be reduced at suitable sites. Scania's autonomous trucks can also be smoothly fitted into an existing operations set-up in a mine, thanks to their interoperability with other systems and vehicles. "Another benefit with our solution is that it allows mining companies to more quickly take the next step towards zero-emission operations. It's easier to electrify operations with Scania's autonomous trucks compared with traditional heavy haulage trucks," says Hafmar. Developed in close cooperation with mining customers Over the past ten years, Scania has invested heavily in the development of self-driving vehicles. Innovations include applications for hub-to-hub transport on highways as well as autonomous vehicles for confined areas such as mines. Scania's autonomous tipper truck has been developed in close cooperation between Scania's R&D department and customers in the mining industry, with extensive testing in the harshest real-life conditions. "It's probably the most ambitious research and development project we have done so far together with a customer, and I am very pleased about the result. Thanks to all the rigorous checks and numerous on-site tests we have been able to develop an optimal autonomous transport solution for mines," Peter Hafmar concludes. CONTACT: Erik Bratthall Corporate Public and Media Relations [email protected] This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/scania/r/autonomous-trucks-go-commercial---scania-opens-up-orders-in-the-mining-segment,c3984476 The following files are available for download: https://news.cision.com/scania/i/autonomous-trucks-go-commercial-scania-opens-up-orders-in-the-mining-segment,c3302061 Autonomous trucks go commercial Scania opens up orders in the mining segment https://news.cision.com/scania/i/scania-autonomous-trucks,c3302062 Scania Autonomous Trucks SOURCE Scania RADNOR, Pa., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Avantor, Inc. (NYSE: AVTR), a leading global provider of mission-critical products and services to customers in the life sciences and advanced technologies industries, announced that Michael Stubblefield, President and CEO, will be participating in a fireside chat at Bernstein's 40th Annual Strategic Decisions Conference in New York on Thursday, May 30, 2024 at approximately 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time. To hear a live audio webcast of the session, visit Events & Presentations in the Investor section of Avantor's website, ir.avantorsciences.com. A replay of the webcast will be available for 30 days. About Avantor Avantor, a Fortune 500 company, is a leading life science tools company and global provider of mission-critical products and services to the life sciences and advanced technology industries. We work side-by-side with customers at every step of the scientific journey to enable breakthroughs in medicine, healthcare, and technology. Our portfolio is used in virtually every stage of the most important research, development and production activities at more than 300,000 customer locations in 180 countries. For more information, visit avantorsciences.com and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Investor Relations Contact Christina Jones Vice President, Investor Relations Avantor 805-617-5297 [email protected] Global Media Contact Emily Collins Vice President, External Communications Avantor 332-239-3910 [email protected] SOURCE Avantor and Financial News These 200 lawyers are the deep expert "core" of Axiom's broader network of over 1,000 legal professionals with varied AI experiencea talent network where only the top 3% of applicants are accepted. In collaboration with clients, Axiom builds focused AI legal teams that help clients address the key areas they say require top AI legal talent today: Commercial and Contract Law, Data Privacy and Cybersecurity, Legal Ops, IP Regulatory and Compliance, Finance, and AI Technology and Product Development. "We anticipated high demand for legal AI talent over a year ago and have focused on recruiting the highest-quality legal AI talent to the Axiom network ever since," said David McVeigh, CEO of Axiom. "The industry has passed the tipping point with the high volume of new AI regulations globally, concerns around ethical AI use, an AI skills gap internally, and AI technology evolving faster than legal teams can keep up. Many companies are finding demand for high-quality AI legal talent outstripping supply and extraordinarily expensive. With Axiom's deep bench of high-quality AI legal talent, we can help in-house teams quickly meet their AI talent, compliance, and technology needs without breaking their budget." It's no secret that corporate in-house legal teams are embracing the transformative power of AI to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their legal operations. GCs and legal ops leaders increasingly recognize this era as a transformative moment for corporate law and want to invest in AI to automate and streamline processes in their day-to-day work. And in the case of technology and services vendors, in-house legal teams are being called upon to support the integration and use of safe, effective, and regulatory compliant AI into new products and services.1 2 But there's a catch. A recent study of 300 small, mid-sized, and large enterprise businesses found 41% of GCs reporting AI as among the new or emerging practice areas most likely to be in demand in the next two yearsyet most in-house legal departments said they're unprepared to meet the daunting challenges posed by AI. More than two-thirds (65%) reported a lack of technology and product development lawyers in-house, about half (47%) had no data privacy and cybersecurity lawyers on staff, and most (70%) lacked in-house resources for new or emerging practice areas such as AI and machine learning (ML). "Legal teams and technology developers are under immense market pressure to use AI for strategic business advantage and advancement, but they also need to be in lockstep with a rapidly evolving global regulatory landscape, and ensure their AI use is trustworthy and safe," said C.J. Saretto, Chief Technology Officer at Axiom. "It's crucial for in-house legal departments to invest in experienced legal talent to harness AI's power while ensuring safe, effective, and legally acceptable use. The shift towards AI-savvy legal teams is quickening and having the right AI legal talent at the right time will be the decisive factor between success or failure and effective risk mitigation." Axiom is no stranger to helping in-house legal teams and legal operations with complex legal technology matters, having completed more than 1,400 technology engagements in the past five years. And even while building the company's deep legal AI talent bench, Axiom talent was stepping up to help Fortune 100 clients, other large enterprises, SMBs, and innovative startups capitalize on AI's capabilities and navigate related policy, regulatory, and operational challenges across industries and practice areas. Some of Axiom's recent AI engagements include: Helping a high profile, cutting-edge legal AI startup train and ensure the trustworthiness of its legal AI models. A large project team approaching 100 Axiom lawyers is embedded within this startup's legal and application development teams to review and test the company's forthcoming research tool, which employs AI to review, analyze, and answer complex legal research questions based on published case law, filings, regulations, and other sources. Then, in the final phase of a three-phase approach, a fresh contingent of more than 750 Axiom lawyers will stress test the tool to help optimize it at scale and verify accuracy for niche law subsets and specific regulations. train and ensure the trustworthiness of its legal AI models. A large project team approaching 100 Axiom lawyers is embedded within this startup's legal and application development teams to review and test the company's forthcoming research tool, which employs AI to review, analyze, and answer complex legal research questions based on published case law, filings, regulations, and other sources. Then, in the final phase of a three-phase approach, a fresh contingent of more than 750 Axiom lawyers will stress test the tool to help optimize it at scale and verify accuracy for niche law subsets and specific regulations. Helping a global Fortune 100 pharma company launch a new digital technology group operating at the complex intersection of MedTech, AI/ML, and pharma and healthcare law. A project team of seven Axiom lawyers with specialized digital and AI technology roll-out experience, led by an Axiom project manager, drafted and negotiated vendor agreements, statements of work, and affiliate agreements. The team ensured data processing, privacy, and healthcare regulations such as HIPAA and anti-kickback rules were properly addressed. Additional Axiom technology IP lawyers were also brought in to support patent drafting for the innovative digital tools the new organization was developing internally and/or acquiring and integrating from third parties. launch a new digital technology group operating at the complex intersection of MedTech, AI/ML, and pharma and healthcare law. A project team of seven Axiom lawyers with specialized digital and AI technology roll-out experience, led by an Axiom project manager, drafted and negotiated vendor agreements, statements of work, and affiliate agreements. The team ensured data processing, privacy, and healthcare regulations such as HIPAA and anti-kickback rules were properly addressed. Additional Axiom technology IP lawyers were also brought in to support patent drafting for the innovative digital tools the new organization was developing internally and/or acquiring and integrating from third parties. Helping a global Fortune 100 financial services corporation define, enhance, and manage generative AI risk assessment, data privacy, and information security policies and processes across the organization. An Axiom lawyer was embedded in the company's generative AI technology group to attend meetings, compile notes, and provide detailed risk analysis; develop communications, training, policies, and processes for gen AI use; recommend and incorporate regulatory changes into action plans and controls; track AI usage and other metrics; maintain the company's AI tools inventory; and provide executive reporting and updates on AI risk management. Still another Axiom lawyer is addressing the privacy and information security implications of the EU AI Act and other relevant regulations in all of the company's contracts and workflows. define, enhance, and manage generative AI risk assessment, data privacy, and information security policies and processes across the organization. An Axiom lawyer was embedded in the company's generative AI technology group to attend meetings, compile notes, and provide detailed risk analysis; develop communications, training, policies, and processes for gen AI use; recommend and incorporate regulatory changes into action plans and controls; track AI usage and other metrics; maintain the company's AI tools inventory; and provide executive reporting and updates on AI risk management. Still another Axiom lawyer is addressing the privacy and information security implications of the EU AI Act and other relevant regulations in all of the company's contracts and workflows. Helping a global Fortune 100 technology company ensure responsible AI use across their product offerings. Five Axiom lawyers advise business teams on AI product development on relevant matters at each stage of AI model creation, from training to adversarial testing to general availability release. This includes IP, privacy, and ethics; model accuracy, fairness, inclusivity, and bias mitigation; data use and copyright (fair use); LLM development, expansion, and sustainability; and more. The team also helps ensure the company's products are compliant with US and international AI regulations (GDPR, CCPA, EU AI Act, etc.). And some 15 Axiom lawyers with AI experience are embedded in business and product teams as part of their overall work, including projects where AI is not the primary focus but intersects or otherwise has a role to play. And those are just for starters. "When you need top-quality AI legal talent, you'll find it at Axiom," said Catherine Kemnitz, Chief Strategy & Development Officer at Axiom and Managing Director of Axiom Advice and Counsel. "This might be the biggest bench of AI all-stars in the industry, reflecting Axiom's history of leading legal services transformationsuch as establishing our Arizona-based affiliated law firm. Axiom is disrupting the industry again with the most robust bench of on-demand AI legal talent out there, which we'll continue to invest in for our clients. Our bench lets clients deploy large numbers of the best legal minds to train legal generative AI models and establish innovative partnerships between technology and human talent. This ensures legal AI meets the trustworthiness and compliance standards both lawyers and tech vendors need before they can harness the power of AI." For more information or to talk to an Axiom representative, visit https://www.axiomlaw.com/practice-areas/artificial-intelligence. For more information about Axiom, please visit our website, hear from our experts on the Inside Axiom blog, and connect with us on LinkedIn. Related Axiom News About Axiom Advice & Counsel Located in Arizona, Axiom Advice & Counsel (AA&C) is setting a new standard for the modern law firm. From prioritizing clients and the lawyer experience, to finding the right legal talent for the right legal matter, AA&C's approach to the law firm model provides clients with better value for every dollar spent on outside counsel. AA&C represents a diverse set of clients, ranging from growing mid-market businesses to global multinationals with large in-house teams. The firm focuses on corporate law including general counsel services, real estate, litigation, labor and employment, mergers and acquisitions, data privacy, intellectual property, and regulatory matters. For more information, please visit https://www.axiomadviceandcounsel.com. About Axiom Axiom is where high-caliber legal talent meets full-service law firm work. We invented the alternative legal services industry 24 years ago and now serve more than 1,500 legal departments globally, including 68% of the Fortune 100, with 95% client satisfaction. Axiom gives small, mid-market, and enterprise clients a single trusted provider who can deliver a full spectrum of legal solutions and services across more than a dozen practice areas and all major industries at rates up to 50% less than national law firms. To learn how Axiom can help your legal departments do more for less, visit axiomlaw.com. 1 https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/insights/legal/b/thought-leadership/posts/corporate-legal-departments-are-seizing-the-genai-opportunity 2 https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2023/11/07/reinventing-the-legal-department-a-roadmap-to-integrating-ai-for-strategic-business-advancement/ SOURCE Axiom The Potent Herb, Properly Processed and in the Right Concentration, Acts as an Antioxidant and a Potent Immunomodulator FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Many health concerns stem from a compromised immune system. When the body's natural defenses are weak or ineffective, it opens up the doors for a variety of health concerns. These range from allergic reactions to rheumatoid arthritis, Type 1 diabetes, and other autoimmune diseases. BIRM is an innovative supplement designed to safely and effectively restore the immune system, naturally boosting individuals' health in the process. "In Ecuador, BIRM is considered a natural product," explains BIRM creator and esteemed doctor and scientist Edwin A. Cevallos. "The formula contains one primary ingredient: Dulcamara root. This is carefully harvested and processed to create our BIRM formulasone of which is stronger for active immunocompromised conditions, while the other is our preventative formula for those seeking to preserve health through a strong immune system." BIRM's impact comes from restoring a sense of balance to the immune system. If someone has an allergic reaction, their immune system is overactive. If they have Type 1 diabetes, their immune system is compromised. BIRM regulates the immune system, restoring balance and helping the body function more efficiently. Along with providing unobtrusive secondary support, BIRM is made with herbal, 100% natural ingredients and is a toxic-free supplement. This makes it helpful as a coadjuvant dosage that can support additional medical treatments, such as antibiotics or chemotherapy. "Whether you're already sick or you're trying to stay healthy, health is a sensitive issue, and we take it seriously," says Dr. Cevallos. "We always try to approach it with a positive perspective. How do we help people live healthy lives? How can we create solutions that can safely enable their bodies to function well without creating additional side effects in the process? BIRM is that solution. It is balancing immune systems for our customers across the globe, and improving their health and quality of life in the process." About Dr. Edwin Cevallos and BIRM The creator of BIRM, Dr. Edwin A. Cevallos , is an oncologist, chemo and radiation therapist, researcher, and scientist and has received international recognition for his work on the world's first immunomodulator product of natural origin. BIRM is developed using a proprietary manufacturing method to process specific species of Dulcamara root in varying concentrations. The result is a product that can both proactively and reactively balance the immune system and restore quality of life. Learn more at birm.us . Media Contact: Alexandra Orbe [email protected] (593) 2 2509851 / 2563918 SOURCE BIRM Global digital asset regulation is rapidly advancing as national leaders race to enable digital monies, commodities, and assets. Most geographies have drafted, approved, and in some cases fully implemented pro innovation regulation. Europe , Asia , and the Middle East regulatory frameworks are providing clarity for innovators and government issued CBDCs are in active pilots in many countries. , , and the regulatory frameworks are providing clarity for innovators and government issued CBDCs are in active pilots in many countries. US and Australian regulators have been slow to provide clarity for innovators, having favored regulation by enforcement, an increasingly untenable situation. SAN FRANCISCO, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Blockchain Coinvestors, a leading blockchain venture fund-of-funds and co-investment program with a combined portfolio of more than 1000 blockchain enterprises and projects, including more than 80 blockchain unicorns, today unveiled its bi-annual Digital Asset Regulation Report which tracks the state of digital asset regulatory progress among the world's top 25 financial centers. Driven by increasing consumer demand for the benefits afforded by blockchain technology of faster, cheaper, and easier access to commerce solutions, leading financial centers are rapidly implementing regulatory frameworks for the future of digital finance. "The world's financial capitals are now firmly focused on upgrading to digital finance with the consequent requirement to provide pro innovation digital money, commodity, and asset legislation," said Matthew Le Merle, Managing Partner of Blockchain Coinvestors. "You will not be a global financial center of the future if you are not a global digital finance leader." Blockchain regulation is advancing rapidly in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East: Europe's MiCAR framework is now in place; the UK and Switzerland have provided broad regulatory frameworks; both Hong Kong and Singapore have announced plans to be global centers for the industry; and in the Middle East, Dubai's VARA regulatory body represents an advanced crypto regulatory framework. Central Bank digital currencies (CBDC's) are also rapidly progressing abroad, including many live pilot programs. As a result, the value creation of web3 is proving to be a more global phenomenon than web1 or web2, which were dominated by the US, enabled by early pro innovation legislative leadership in the 1990's. With US presidential elections on the horizon in November, we are now seeing the emergence of a more organized pro digital asset movement. The Republican presidential candidate and many members of the existing Democrat administration are now firmly supportive of the underlying technology. As such, the report anticipates digital asset regulation will be a key US electoral issue for the first time this year, especially amongst politicians looking to attract the votes of digital natives. "Voter demographics is driving a rapid reassessment of the need for US politicians to also embrace this emerging technology," said Alison Davis, Managing Partner of Blockchain Coinvestors. "Digital finance is required to power the ways in which the next generation wishes to conduct their commerce. They represent almost 50% of the US electorate and are highly in favor of digital finance." Blockchain Coinvestors assesses a variety of factors in determining the world's top 25 financial centers, both qualitative and quantitative, such as market capitalization and liquidity, population, GDP per capita, corporate activity, role in international trade, and others. To track regulatory progress, we continually review a variety of public sources and gather information from our regular conversations with industry leaders, policy makers, and government officials. We also track key legislative agenda items and notable litigation. The Blockchain Coinvestors Digital Asset Regulation Report is available at www.blockchaincoinvestors.com/regulation About Blockchain Coinvestors Blockchain Coinvestors is the best way to invest in blockchain businesses. Our vision is that digital monies, commodities, and assets are inevitable and all of the world's financial infrastructure must be upgraded. Our mission is to provide broad coverage of early stage blockchain investments and access to emerging blockchain unicorns. Blockchain Coinvestors' investment strategies are now in their 10th year and are backed by 400+ investors globally. To date we have invested in 40+ pure play blockchain venture capital funds in the Americas, Asia, and Europe and in a combined portfolio of 1000+ blockchain companies and projects including 80+ blockchain unicorns. Blockchain Coinvestors' first fund of funds ranks in the top decile amongst all funds in its category on both Pitchbook and Preqin. Headquartered in San Francisco with a presence in London, New York, Grand Cayman, Zug and Zurich, the alternative investment management firm was co-founded by Alison Davis and Matthew Le Merle. Visit us at www.blockchaincoinvestors.com Media Contact Armel Leslie RFB | Peaks Strategies [email protected] SOURCE Blockchain Coinvestors Management LP LONDON, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The 'shoulder season' is upon with double the number of Brits expecting to travel this May and June to save on high season costs. However, budget conscious Brits defaulting to debit cards abroad could be stung by an extra 32.32 bill reveals research by payments firm Caxton. This is due to card fees banks impose on customers who pick the wrong plastic to use overseas with charges of up to 2.99% for each overseas transaction, and 4.75% for getting cash. Caxton Travel Card Calculating these fees against new holidaymaker data on summer spending and ATM use, consumers could waste an average of 32.32 per trip on charges1. With 19.4 million foreign holidays taken by UK residents between July and September last year, Brits following suit could face a bill of 627m this summer2. The tourist 'tap' Caxton research shows Brits make an average of 19 card transactions overseas, typically spending 32.33 per tap1. During their trip they'll take money out three times, withdrawing around 150 each time1. In the UK, debit cards account for half of all payments made, with contactless methods surging by 30%3. Using these cards abroad can become an unnecessary holiday expense. Toll in the wall Most high street banks charge for using their standard debit cards overseas as a cost for converting the money from pounds into a foreign currency. This conversion fee typically applies to both spending and taking out cash abroad with a debit card. However, for ATM use HSBC also adds on a 2% non-sterling cash fee for standard account holders, meaning customers will be charged 4.75% of the amount withdrawn. Although the number of foreign holidays Brits took rose 12% last summer, the research showed the typical card use per person had fallen year on year, with purchases down 10% and spend per transaction down 2%4 5. Over the same period the average amount UK consumers withdrew from cashpoints was up by 17%, while the number of ATM withdrawals per trip dropped 7%, suggesting a greater focus on budgeting and fewer impulse buys. Caxton Chief Operating Officer, Alana Parsons commented: "When you're abroad it's easy to let your guard down when it comes to bank card fees. We've become used to making quick taps with our cards, so it's understandable why many people continue to do so on holiday. "However, this leads to needless charges. To break the habit and hold onto your hard-earned cash get a currency card for holiday spending. Having a separate card will help you budget and can also be pre-loaded with the money you need so you can relax." Notes to Editors: Download full release and figures 1 Caxton researchers analysed 1,249,798 foreign currency transactions made by 64,737 consumers and 81,751 overseas ATM withdrawals made by 27,922 consumers between July and September 2023; These figures were used with the high street bank debit card fees to calculate the average bill of using a high street debit card overseas Contact [email protected] for the full analysis 2 ONS: Overseas travel and tourism: July to September 2023; 19.4 million x 32.32 = 627,008,000 3 UK Finance: Half of all payments now made using debit cards 4 ONS: Overseas travel and tourism: July to September 2023 5 Caxton 2023 research showed average amount withdrawn at overseas ATM from July to September 2022 = 126.63; Average count withdrawals = 3.16 About Caxton Caxton is an award winning fintech payments company which processes tens of millions of international and domestic transactions each year. Website: https://www.caxton.io/cards Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2417115/Caxton_Travel_Card.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2414860/Caxton_Logo.jpg SOURCE Caxton ALMATY, Kazakhstan, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Bulat Utemuratov's Group has donated around $30 million to support residents of the regions in Kazakhstan affected by some of the worst flooding in a century. The donation, comprising $24.2 million from Bulat Utemuratov's Foundation, a $4.5 million donation from Beeline Kazakhstan and RG Gold, and a $1.1 million donation from Alidar Utemuratov, will be used to provide financial support, restore vital infrastructure and rehouse local residents who have been left homeless in the Aktobe and Akmola regions. Photo Credit: Ministry for Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan (PRNewsfoto/Bulat Utemuratov Foundation) Over 440 families displaced by floods in the Aktobe region and 50 families in the Akmola region will receive keys to their new homes in the coming months. Last week, the Bulat Utemuratov Foundation handed over 34 houses to the affected families in towns located in the Aktobe region including Kobda, Uil and Alga. This week 31 families in the Aktobe region and 20 families in the Akmola region will receive keys to their new homes. The whole process of the transfer of houses and apartments in both regions is set to be completed by the end of August 2024. Bulat Utemuratov commented: "The state is working hard to return thousands of our fellow citizens affected by the flooding to normal life as soon as possible, and our task is to support these efforts in every possible way. I am pleased we are already making a difference, with families in the Aktobe and Akmola regions receiving new homes and more to follow soon." Humanitarian relief is a key tenet to the Foundation's work and is evidenced across the efforts of its portfolio companies. The Foundation's Aid Card project continues to provide financial aid to people in areas affected by floods, fires, and dam failures. Last year, the Foundation donated $5 million to victims of the earthquake in Turkey, along with $1 million to support families of victims of the Kostenko mine disaster. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2418067/Bulat_Utemuratov_Donation.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2200082/4717737/Bulat_Utemuratov_Logo.jpg SOURCE Bulat Utemuratov Foundation ALMATY, Kazakhstan, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Bulat Utemuratov's Group has donated around $30 million to support residents of the regions in Kazakhstan affected by some of the worst flooding in a century. The donation, comprising $24.2 million from Bulat Utemuratov's Foundation, a $4.5 million donation from Beeline Kazakhstan and RG Gold, and a $1.1 million donation from Alidar Utemuratov, will be used to provide financial support, restore vital infrastructure and rehouse local residents who have been left homeless in the Aktobe and Akmola regions. Photo Credit: Ministry for Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan Over 440 families displaced by floods in the Aktobe region and 50 families in the Akmola region will receive keys to their new homes in the coming months. Last week, the Bulat Utemuratov Foundation handed over 34 houses to the affected families in towns located in the Aktobe region including Kobda, Uil and Alga. This week 31 families in the Aktobe region and 20 families in the Akmola region will receive keys to their new homes. The whole process of the transfer of houses and apartments in both regions is set to be completed by the end of August 2024. Bulat Utemuratov commented: "The state is working hard to return thousands of our fellow citizens affected by the flooding to normal life as soon as possible, and our task is to support these efforts in every possible way. I am pleased we are already making a difference, with families in the Aktobe and Akmola regions receiving new homes and more to follow soon." Humanitarian relief is a key tenet to the Foundation's work and is evidenced across the efforts of its portfolio companies. The Foundation's Aid Card project continues to provide financial aid to people in areas affected by floods, fires, and dam failures. Last year, the Foundation donated $5 million to victims of the earthquake in Turkey, along with $1 million to support families of victims of the Kostenko mine disaster. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2418067/Bulat_Utemuratov_Donation.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2200082/4717737/Bulat_Utemuratov_Logo.jpg BOCA RATON, Fla., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Anthology, the leading provider of education solutions that support the entire learner lifecycle, today announced Centennial College, one of Canada's Top Research Colleges, has selected Blackboard Learn Ultra as its new learning management system (LMS). With a commitment to exemplary teaching and a focus on educating students for career success, Centennial College required an LMS that could deliver an unparalleled experience for faculty and students. "In tests and focus groups, our students chose Blackboard's intuitive, mobile-first design as their strong favorite." Post this "It was important for us to have a partner that truly understands the needs of faculty and staff and that encourages development of features in collaboration with its customers," said Dr. Cary DiPietro, Dean of Learning, Teaching and Scholarship, Centennial College. "It's clear that Anthology has made significant investments in reimagining Learn Ultra based on pedagogical best practices and with an eye towards leveraging cutting-edge technology to deliver a robust learning environment. In tests and focus groups, our students chose Blackboard's intuitive, mobile-first design as their strong favorite." Blackboard Learn Ultra was selected following an open competition and review process and demonstrated industry-leading innovation and vision. The innovation is the result of significant investment in fresh functionality and client involvement in the development of new features such as the AI Design Assistant, a tool that provides instructors with inspiration and a starting point for the course design process. The AI Design Assistant helps build more engaging courses more quickly by suggesting a course structure, sourcing images, generating rubrics, creating test and quiz questions, and proposing more authentic assessments. Features like Flexible Grading provide streamlined navigation to prioritize workflow by instructor preference and were developed with substantial input from faculty and users. "Centennial College is looking to the future and needs a partner that is delivering innovative education solutions that offer an intuitive, seamless user experience," said Joe Belenardo, Chief Revenue Officer at Anthology. "This partnership is the first page in the next chapter for Blackboard Learn Ultra as we deliver innovation with a purpose, like AI-facilitated tools to help faculty spend less time on administration and more time engaging students. We're proud to serve Centennial College on their mission to educate students for career success." The college will also implement Anthology Ally with Blackboard Learn, a separate application that creates inclusive online content and supports web accessibility, aligning with institutional commitments to fostering an environment where everyone feels welcome and like they belong. Centennial College is recognized as one of the most culturally diverse post-secondary institutions in Canada and the ability to provide digital course content in multiple formats and languages is imperative to deliver an inclusive student experience. Learn more about Blackboard Learn Ultra. About Anthology Anthology offers the largest EdTech ecosystem on a global scale for education, supporting more than 150 million users in 80 countries. With a mission to provide dynamic, data-informed experiences to the global education community through Anthology Intelligent Experiences, we help learners, leaders and educators achieve their goals by offering over 60 SaaS products and services designed to advance learning. Discover more about how we are fulfilling our mission for education, business and government institutions at www.anthology.com. About Centennial College Centennial College, founded in 1966, is Ontario's first public college. Anchored primarily in the eastern part of the Greater Toronto Area, the college boasts five campuses and two satellite locations. Renowned for its outstanding teaching, creative curriculum, and robust network of partnerships, Centennial annually welcomes over 40,000 full-time and part-time students from over 130 countries. These students pursue their education in over 400 diploma, certificate, and degree programs across various fields, including business, media, arts, community and consumer services, engineering technology, health care, and transportation. Media contact: Erin Mitchell, Director of Communications, Anthology. [email protected] Michelle Ervin, Media Relations Manager, Centennial College. [email protected] . SOURCE Anthology DALLAS, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- National mortgage lender Certainty Home Lending, a Guaranteed Rate Company, today announced the appointment of Shadi Kamran as its new National Business Development Executive, poised to drive increased productivity and efficiency across Certainty's national platform. Kamran is based out of Los Angeles, supporting strategy and sales performance. Certainty Home Lending With a career spanning over 20 years in lending, Kamran brings deep experience in personal loan originations and leading high-performance teams. He also has a deep understanding of product guidelines, pricing, capital markets, and emerging technology's role in the lending process. He is credited as a top industry producer, having managed over $10B transactions over his award-winning career. Franco Terango, Chief Executive Officer at Certainty Home Lending, expressed his enthusiasm for Kamran's addition to the team, stating, "We are thrilled to welcome Shadi to the Certainty family. His dedication to building enduring partnerships across diverse business segments, extensive mortgage finance experience, and team leadership expertise will be leveraged within Certainty's network of originators and branches. Our clients stand to benefit greatly from Shadi's particular blend of career experience in the field." Reflecting on Certainty Home Lending's thriving culture, financial strength, and core mortgage capabilities as critical areas of strength, Kamran stated, "Our comprehensive product suite offers solutions for virtually every mortgage and home financing need. The technologically advanced mortgage platform empowers loan officers to serve both customers and business partners with ease and excellence. Additionally, the people and culture at Certainty are unique, and I am excited to once again collaborate with industry colleagues and leaders who I've regarded so highly over years in the business." Certainty Home Lending operates under the umbrella of Guaranteed Rate, offering an array of industry-leading loan products complemented by cutting-edge mortgage technology. This technology streamlines the origination process, benefiting both loan officers and consumers. For more information about Certainty Home Lending solutions and services, please visit www.certaintyhomelending.com or contact Shadi directly at shadi.kamran@certaintyhomelending[dot]com. About Certainty Home Lending Dallas-based Certainty Home Lending is a national mortgage lending company and a Guaranteed Rate Company. The company has helped borrowers achieve the dream of homeownership for over two decades. It takes pride in its team-oriented atmosphere, fostering a culture of excellence that focuses on delivering an exceptional experience to each of its customers. This approach earned Certainty the MortgageCX Best-In-Class Lender award from 2018 2022 and recognition as one of National Mortgage News' Best Mortgage Companies to Work For in 2023. At Certainty, clients come first. We understand that the best customer experience is delivered by satisfied, empowered financial service professionals with access to the best loan products and tools. Learn more at certaintyhomelending.com. About Guaranteed Rate Guaranteed Rate Companies is a leader in mortgage lending and digital financial services. Headquartered in Chicago, the Guaranteed Rate Companies is the #2 retail mortgage lender in the U.S. with over 850 branches across the U.S. serving all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Since its launch in 2000, Guaranteed Rate Companies have helped more than 2 million homeowners with home purchase loans and refinances. The company has cemented itself as an industry leader by introducing innovative technology, offering low rates, and delivering unparalleled customer service. Honors and awards include Best Mortgage Lender for First Time Homebuyers by NerdWallet for 2023; HousingWire's Tech100 award for the company's industry-leading FlashClose in 2020, digital mortgage platform MyAccount in 2022, and Language Access Program in 2023; No. 2 ranking in Scotsman Guide's 2022 list of Top Retail Mortgage Lenders; The most Scotsman Guide Top Originators for 11 consecutive years; Chicago Agent Magazine's Lender of the Year for seven consecutive years; and Chicago Tribune's Top Workplaces list for seven consecutive years. Visit rate.com for more information. Media Contacts: Kendall Allen Rockwell Broadsheet Communications For Guaranteed Rate [email protected] SOURCE Guaranteed Rate With 130 million registered members worldwide, the Chinese tea brand aims to sell 15 billion of servings annually as it pioneers modern Oriental tea in future SHANGHAI, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- CHAGEE, a leading tea brand in China, is aggressively expanding its global reach. At the International Tea Day 2024 - Modern Oriental Tea Innovation Forum, held on May 21st, Junjie Zhang, Founder and CEO of CHAGEE, revealed that the brand now serves over 130 million registered members worldwide. CHAGEE has set its sights on catering to consumers across 100 countries and delivering 15 billion of modern oriental tea each year. Junjie Zhang, Founder and CEO of CHAGEE CHAGEE Targets 100 Countries and 15 Billion Cups Annually in Global Expansion Drive Since opening its first shop abroad in Malaysia in August 2019, CHAGEE has further expanded into Thailand and Singapore, and now operates over 4,500 stores globally. The expansion underscores the increasing international demand for oriental tea, with CHAGEE at the forefront of the trend. Speaking at the forum, Zhang said, "CHAGEE is dedicated to revitalizing ancient tea-making methods that date back 900 years through the use of modern technology. The initiative not only returns us to the origins of tea but also redefines the contemporary tea-drinking experience. CHAGEE is focused on promoting the health benefits of our products while facilitating cultural exchanges between China and the global community. Our objective is to build a world-class brand in the ready-to-drink tea market, offering consumers worldwide the opportunity to enjoy the taste of contemporary Asian tea." The Rise of Oriental Tea Brands on the Global Stage CHAGEE, which was established just six years ago in Yunnan provinceconsidered one of the historic origins of tea in China, has swiftly climbed the ranks to become a leader in the competitive tea beverage sector. Specializing in raw-leaf fresh milk tea, the company melds traditional oriental culture with tea heritage and innovation. Its expansion across all major provinces and cities throughout China illustrates CHAGEE's rapid growth and significant penetration in the global market. In 2023, CHAGEE achieved a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of 10.8 billion yuan in Chinese market. As of the first quarter of 2024, CHAGEE had achieved over 5.8 billion GMV and it's expected over 20 billion yuan by the end of 2024. More importantly, the oriental tea brand is increasingly attracting a younger audience. Diverging from the traditional tea market, which typically skews older, CHAGEE has captured the interest of consumers in the 15 to 50 age demographic. The broad appeal is significantly unifying the perception of modern oriental tea across generations. Over the past few years, CHAGEE has fused modern technology and health-conscious values with oriental traditions to promote its innovative tea products worldwide. In 2023, the brand enhanced its product formulations by removing artificial flavorings from its tea bases, eliminating creamers from its milk, and ensuring that its beverages contain zero trans fatty acids. CHAGEE also introduced novel features such as the Product ID Card and a Health Calculator, and took the unprecedented step of publishing calorie and nutrient content reports for its products, a first in the ready-to-drink tea industry. In early 2024, the company continued the lead in the industry by implementing the Nutritional Choice label at its Shanghai locations, introducing the first nutritional grading system specifically for tea beverages. The development ushers in a new era focused on managing sugar intake. In March, CHAGEE announced the glycemic index (GI) values for several tea beverages for the first time, providing a scientific basis for sugar management. Today, CHAGEE's signature offering, Jasmine Green Milk Tea, enjoys robust sales, with over 230 million servings sold annually. The standout beverage not only maintains a growing repurchase rate but also demonstrates the brand's commitment to meeting consumer expectations for quality, user experience, and health benefits. Modernized Operation Boosts Profitability Over the past few years, CHAGEE has dramatically transformed its operational processes, crucial in its mission to become a competitive force worldwide. The company has integrated modern management tools into its operations, establishing an online system that synchronizes the management of personnel, inventory, delivery, and store locations. This integration has led to the development of a holistic digital operations framework and a comprehensive digital management system, marking significant advancements in the industry's operational practices. CHAGEE stands alone as the sole freshly brewed tea company in the country to have successfully implemented a decentralized local service center. The company operates according to the '1+1+9+N' model, which encompasses a central headquarters, a dedicated local team, nine directly-managed stores, and an unlimited number of franchised stores. This structure offers substantial support for its franchisees, bolstering local operational capabilities and enhancing responsiveness to market dynamics. CHAGEE also maintains a policy of operating directly-managed stores prior to opening up a new market to franchising. When entering a new city, it first opens a flagship store to test the business model and establish a market presence. Depending on local market needs, the number of directly-managed stores may exceed nine to ensure business consistency is achieved prior to expanding the franchise network. The strategy has enabled rapid expansion and high profitability rates among CHAGEE's domestic stores over the past six years, significantly aiding its franchisees in becoming profitable. In the critical areas of digitization and intelligent technology, CHAGEE has continued to invest and achieve significant results. The company began integrating automated tea-making equipment in select shops in 2022 as part of a pilot initiative. The subsequent year, CHAGEE unveiled the next-generation TEA BAR, featuring innovative offerings like Tea Extreme Extract and Oriental Ice Tea, modernizing the traditional tea-drinking experience with a technological twist. The period also marked the official rollout of CHAGEE's proprietary automated tea-making equipment across its stores. To ensure a robust supply chain, CHAGEE directly sources all tea and milk for its domestic operations, managing distribution through the group's headquarters. The company has established multiple urban warehouses across the country to maintain optimal freshness of all raw materials. Internationally, tea products for CHAGEE's shops are also sourced and logistics are handled through the headquarters, adhering to all necessary international quarantine protocols. Additionally, high-quality milk and other raw materials used in each location comply with local regulations, supported by CHAGEE's local supply chains and storage solutions to facilitate procurement and distribution. At the forum, Zhang also discussed the intrinsic appeal of tea as one of the world's primary beverages, capable of transcending age, borders, and economic cycles. He envisages the future of modern oriental tea as both a return to its roots and a means of connecting people globally. "CHAGEE is focused not on creating demand but on discerning and satisfying the expectations of tea drinkers around the world." Zhang added. SOURCE CHAGEE JOHANNESBURG, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In compliance with para 3.59 of the JSE Listings Requirements and para 6.39 of the JSE Debt Listings Requirements, shareholders and noteholders are advised of the following changes to the board of directors of the Company (the Board) in accordance with the Company's nomination and succession plan for directors and the chairman: 1. Appointment of independent non-executive director Mr David G P Eyton has been appointed as a non-executive director of Sasol with effect from 1 September 2024. Mr Eyton satisfies the independence requirements for directors under applicable requirements in South Africa and the United States. David will also join the Company's Capital Investment, Safety, Social and Ethics and Remuneration Committees. David held various positions at BP Plc between 1982 and 2022. He has extensive experience in the oil and gas sector, having held various business and functional leadership roles. He provided leadership in BP's energy transition and managed BP's digital and operating management systems, corporate venture capital and research and development functions. David has been the chairman and trustee of the John Lyons Foundation since 2016 and serves on the board of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering. David holds a BA Engineering degree from the University of Cambridge. He is a fellow of The Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and the United Kingdom Institute of Directors. The Chairman of the Sasol Board (Chairman), Mr Steve Westwell, said: "We are pleased to welcome a person of David's calibre to the Sasol Board. His background in energy transition and digital technologies will be valuable to Sasol as we progress our transition." 2. Retirement of chairman of the Remuneration Committee Ms Mpho Nkeli has decided to retire as non-executive director and chairman of the Remuneration Committee of Sasol on 31 August 2024. The Chairman said: "Mpho enabled the Board to consciously take account of the competing interests of the diverse stakeholders of Sasol, in carving out and implementing a remuneration philosophy and policy that sought to balance the interests of employees and investors in pursuit of a sustainable Sasol. We wish her well in her future endeavours." Mr Timothy Cumming, appointed as a director with effect from 1 June 2024, will take over as chairman of the Remuneration Committee on 1 September 2024. Tim has been appointed as a member of the Capital Investment, Remuneration and Safety, Social and Ethics Committees with effect from 1 June 2024. The Board is satisfied that his remuneration oversight experience in the South African market will stand him in good stead as chairman of the Remuneration Committee. 3. Retirement of chairman and appointment of interim chairman Mr Steven Westwell retires as non-executive director and Chairman on 1 June 2024 when he reaches the twelfth anniversary of his appointment to the Sasol Board. Ms Muriel Dube, Sasol's Lead Independent Director (LID), said: "The Board expresses its gratitude and appreciation for the immense contribution made by Steve on the Board and its Committees, including on statutory committees. In addition to serving as LID, Steve most ably led the Board's oversight on capital investments in his capacity as chairman of the Capital Investment Committee. He also recently presided successfully over the succession of the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company and the filling of two vacancies on the Board. Steve's expertise, wisdom and experience will be sorely missed." Muriel Dube, in her capacity as LID, will carry out the responsibilities of the Chairman of the Board until the appointment of the Chairman is made. In particular, Muriel will bring to completion the Chairman succession process currently underway. SOURCE Sasol Limited SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- As a bill holding oil drillers accountable for health harms awaits a vote on the California Assembly Floor, Chevron reported spending $3 million lobbying in the first three months of the year to defeat that bill, AB 3155, the only bill it claims to be lobbying against, according to state disclosures analyzed by CalMatters. Chevron spent more lobbying in the first quarter than any entity in the state according to the analysis. In addition to lobbying against AB 3155, Chevron also lobbied various state agencies. AB 3155 (Friedman) holds oil drillers legally accountable for birth defects, cancer, and respiratory problems in people who live within a half mile of an oil well that doesn't use the most protective leak control technology that is commercially available. The bill creates a presumption of liability that can be rebutted if the company uses the best pollution control technology or can prove the health problems were caused another way. "Chevron is scared of AB 3155 because it will hold the company accountable to the people it harms in communities surrounding its wells," said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog. "All the company has to do to avoid liability is use the best commercially available pollution control technology. But Chevron spends its money trying to influence politics instead of cleaning up its wells. The Assembly should tell Chevron it needs to be accountable for unsafe drilling." A state scientific panel for CALGEM found a link between birth defects and respiratory problems and living within the setback zone. 5 of the top 12 most common toxins at LA oil drilling sites are carcinogens. More than 2.7 million Californians live within 3,200 feet of an existing operational oil or gas well. SOURCE Consumer Watchdog SAN JOSE, Calif., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --On May 9, 2024, construction owners from the Wisconsin and Illinois areas gathered to network, establish valuable connections, and spark new partnerships at the inaugural CO Summit 2024. Co-organized by Lumber , the event was a tremendous success, with 23 companies from Wisconsin and Illinois showcasing their offerings, attendees had ample chances to connect with industry peers, share ideas, and explore potential collaborations. Co-Summit 24 Panel Discussion The highlight of the event was a thought-provoking session led by Oleg Pravdin on the emerging Trends and Challenges faced by construction owners, focusing on issues such as compliance, intricate payroll processes, and unintegrated applications that necessitated manual data entry. Pravdin meticulously explained the difficulties in managing payroll, time tracking, and adhering to building compliance regulations, which often prevent construction owners from concentrating on their core expertise - construction. Additionally, he delved into the complexities of prevailing wages, a crucial aspect for contractors working on federal projects. This part of the session was particularly illuminating, as it highlighted the specific requirements and common pitfalls associated with prevailing wage laws under the Davis-Bacon Act. Pravdin provided actionable insights on how to navigate these challenges, ensuring compliance while minimizing administrative burdens. Furthermore, the session shed light on common errors in Davis-Bacon projects, explaining their causes and providing strategies for correction. Lou Perez, Head of Sales at Lumber, commented on the summit's success: "The inaugural CO Summit 2024 exceeded our expectations in every way. The phenomenal networking opportunities allowed construction owners to connect, share ideas, and form valuable partnerships. This event has truly highlighted the vibrant potential of the construction industry and opened up exciting possibilities for everyone involved." Shreesha Ramdas, CEO of Lumber, added, "CO Summit 2024 has been an eye-opening experience, highlighting the immense possibilities within the construction industry." With enthusiastic participation and support from various organizations, CO Summit 2024 set a strong foundation for future events, promising continued growth and innovation in the construction industry. The next CO Summit will be held in Sacramento, California, around September this year. Visit the CO Summit 2024 page for more information. About Lumber Lumber is a construction workforce management platform that streamlines payroll, time tracking, safety, compliance, field productivity, rewards, and recognition for contractors. Visit lumberfi.com for more information. SOURCE Lumber Joel's journey to Smile 4 Ever Mexico in Tijuana exemplifies the transformative power of affordable dental care. Struggling with dental problems that affected his quality of life, Joel found a solution in Tijuana, where dental procedures are significantly cheaper. Tijuana dentists offer savings of up to 75%, with single implants costing between $800 and $1,800 and full mouth restorations ranging from $6,900 to $16,000. Joel's experience was marked by exceptional care from the welcoming staff, including appointment scheduler and patient coordinator. Overcoming initial uncertainties, Joel received All-on-4 implants, a minimally invasive procedure that revitalized his smile and life. His story highlights the affordability and quality of dental care in Tijuana, making it a beacon of hope for others facing similar challenges. TIJUANA, Mexico, May 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Take Care of Yourself, You Deserve It, Joel's Message to Everyone A Dental Implant History Dental Tourism | The Best Dentists Option in Tijuana Mexico Smile 4 Ever Mexico Pictures with family, laughter with grandchildren, all lost to a dental problem that had consumed his quality of life. When Joel first contacted us, He knew that his dental problems needed fixing, but the path to it was filled with uncertainty. Was it worth the effort? Could he overcome his reservations and finally take care of himself? Taking a good decision, choosing Tijuana Dentists Tijuana, a place often misunderstood, had what he needed for his transformation. Stories swirled about the city, but Joel knew better; he knew that the real danger lay instead in not taking the leap. With determination, Joel embarked on his journey to Smile 4 Ever Mexico for her all on 4 dental implants in Mexico treatment. Filled with smiling faces and outstretched hands. From Jorge, the appointment scheduler, to Magda, the patient coordinator, to the skillful doctors, everyone greeted him with warmth and understanding. Ready to Fly to Mexico Sorting out insurance and phone services, and overcoming misconceptions were all part of the questions we helped him solve. But he wasn't alone. Assistance was always at hand, just a phone call away, and every encounter with the staff at the clinic brought him closer to his goal. His nephew, too, joined him on this trip. As our bonds grew stronger, and the process became more seamless, and soon enough, here at the clinic we all turned from caretakers to friends. Soon Joel's name, was spoken with genuine care and affection here. It became a symbol of his transformation, a name no longer hidden behind a frown but radiant with a new smile. The Final Transformation 4 implants per arch was placed on Joel, supported by 2 hybrid dentures, the dental procedure was more than just a medical intervention; a turning point that brought Joel back to life. The once-hidden smile emerged, glowing and full of life. "What price could one put on a smile like that?" he said His reflection in the mirror told a new storya story of self-love, acceptance, and renewed joy. Every smile with his wife, every laugh with his grandchildren, was a testament to his courage and the unwavering support of those who had joined him on this journey. Returning to his life in California, Joel was a changed man. The streets of Tijuana, the smiling faces at Smile 4 Ever Mexico, and the experiences he had shared with his nephew were now part of his life's story. His story became an inspiring one for us, a beacon of hope for those who felt unworthy or afraid. The echoes of "Hey Joel, Hi Joel, how are you?" still rang in his ears, a constant reminder that he had not just found a solution to a dental problem but discovered friends, joy, and a new way to live. Joel's journey to Smile 4 Ever Mexico is a tale of transformation that goes beyond the physical. It's a story of human connection, self-discovery, and the unbreakable bond between a man and his smile. A story that all of us should hear. Author: Fer For more amazing histories visit: Patient Testimonials About Smile 4 Ever Mexico At our Smile 4 Ever Mexico, we pride ourselves on being a cost-effective choice without compromising quality. While we offer significant savings compared to dental options in the United States, rest assured that we prioritize the highest standards of care and attention to detail. Press Contact: Fer 619-906-7481 https://smile4evermexico.com SOURCE Smile 4 Ever Mexico Bain analyzes more than 900 US higher ed institutions; finds graduation rates can be misleading, data can help institutions learn from schools that outperform BOSTON, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Graduation rates and student earnings data are not enough to assess the performance of higher education institutions, according to new research released today by Bain & Company. During its analysis of more than 900 US higher ed institutions, Bain found that differences in student body mix such as underlying readiness for college and cost of living, as well as geographic location, can mask which institutions excel in terms of student outcomes. "More than a third of college students fail to graduate within six years of enrolling and many don't see the growth in their income necessary to provide a strong return on investment," said Jeff Denneen, global head of Bain's Higher Education practice. "Colleges and universities need to change track and focus on the interventions that matter most to delivering better student outcomes. Our research identifies four areas higher education leaders should focus on if they wish to provide the most value to students. For example, universities can leverage advanced analytics to avoid students slipping through the cracks due to their socio-economic circumstances. By helping all their students succeed, universities can create a virtuous cycle of differentiation and increased demand." Predicting student outcomes As part of its analysis, Bain built a tool that assesses student outcomes and performance of public and private four-year institutions while controlling for student body characteristics and socio-economic factors. Many institutions outperform expectations that are often impacted by factors, such as family income and education history, academic preparation, full or part-time status, or racial, ethnic, and gender demographics. There is a strong relationship between actual and predicted outcomes, Bain found. "The media, policymakers, and general public are starting to talk much more about outcomes than student debt and tuition, but most reports aren't considering the full story," said Mark Krafft, Bain partner and member of Bain's Higher Education practice. "Many colleges and universities aren't getting enough credit for the outcomes that they support their students to achieve because they are working with student bodies or in geographies with historically lower graduation rates and career outcomes. People talk about the impressive graduation rates and starting salaries from the top ranked universities while most of those students were destined to succeed regardless of the institution. Our analysis allows us to tease that apart so that we can better understand who is helping students succeed the most." Four areas for success Four critical areas that higher ed leaders should prioritize if they wish to improve student outcomes according to Bain include: Make student outcomes leadership's top priority: Announce publicly that student outcomes are the top institutional priority, and shift time, attention, and resources accordingly. Boosting student outcomes requires sustained support from an institution's board and senior leadership. Announce publicly that student outcomes are the top institutional priority, and shift time, attention, and resources accordingly. Boosting student outcomes requires sustained support from an institution's board and senior leadership. Address systemic barriers to student success: Map the student journey from admission to graduation to tackle barriers preventing students from succeeding. These can include internal barriers such as complex course registration or degree requirements, and external barriers such as financial need, mental health challenges, and family obligations. Map the student journey from admission to graduation to tackle barriers preventing students from succeeding. These can include internal barriers such as complex course registration or degree requirements, and external barriers such as financial need, mental health challenges, and family obligations. Implement a strong career-connected learning strategy: Prepare students for successful careers and lives through a combination of classroom learning and real-world experiences. Partner with employers to determine the skills and experiences they value most. Prepare students for successful careers and lives through a combination of classroom learning and real-world experiences. Partner with employers to determine the skills and experiences they value most. Employ data to set targets and inform the approach: Use data to understand institution- and department-level student outcomes and set realistic improvement targets. Media Contacts: Katie Ware (New York) Email: [email protected] About Bain & Company Bain & Company is a global consultancy that helps the world's most ambitious change makers define the future. Across 65 cities in 40 countries, we work alongside our clients as one team with a shared ambition to achieve extraordinary results, outperform the competition, and redefine industries. We complement our tailored, integrated expertise with a vibrant ecosystem of digital innovators to deliver better, faster, and more enduring outcomes. Our 10-year commitment to invest more than $1 billion in pro bono services brings our talent, expertise, and insight to organizations tackling today's urgent challenges in education, racial equity, social justice, economic development, and the environment. We earned a platinum rating from EcoVadis, the leading platform for environmental, social, and ethical performance ratings for global supply chains, putting us in the top 1% of all companies. Since our founding in 1973, we have measured our success by the success of our clients, and we proudly maintain the highest level of client advocacy in the industry. SOURCE Bain & Company BOGOTA, Colombia, May 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ecopetrol S.A. (BVC: ECOPETROL; NYSE: EC) ("Ecopetrol") reports that on May 20, 2024, the ordinary meetings for bondholders of Ecopetrol's 2010 and 2013 local bonds were held, in accordance with the notices published on May 9, 2024 by Alianza Valores Fiduciaria S.A. and Itau Fiduciaria Colombia S.A., as representatives of the 2010 bonds and the 2013 bonds, respectively, in a widely circulated newspaper. Itau Fiduciaria Colombia S.A. held the meeting for bondholders of the 2013 bonds, today at 8:00 a.m., and registered a quorum corresponding to 0.16% of the outstanding 2013 bonds. Alianza Valores Fiduciaria S.A. held the meeting for bondholders of the 2010 bonds, today at 10:00 a.m., and registered a quorum corresponding to 5.28% of the outstanding 2010 bonds. In accordance with article 6.4.1.1.22 of Decree 2555 of 2010, a decision to approve a statutory reform must be taken by the favorable vote of the majority of bondholders present at the meeting who also represent eighty percent (80%) of the outstanding bonds. Therefore, given that such eighty percent (80%) was not present at the meetings, a second call to approve the statutory reform approved by Ecopetrol's shareholders on March 22, 2024, will be published tomorrow on May 21, 2024 by Alianza Valores Fiduciaria S.A. and Itau Fiduciaria Colombia S.A. in a widely circulated newspaper. For more information about the general conditions to attend the bondholders assemblies, please visit the following link: https://www.ecopetrol.com.co/wps/portal/Home/es/Inversionistas/asamblea-de-tenedores-de-bonos Ecopetrol is the largest company in Colombia and one of the main integrated energy companies in the American continent, with more than 18,000 employees. In Colombia, it is responsible for more than 60% of the hydrocarbon production of most transportation, logistics, and hydrocarbon refining systems, and it holds leading positions in the petrochemicals and gas distribution segments. With the acquisition of 51.4% of ISA's shares, the company participates in energy transmission, the management of real-time systems (XM), and the Barranquilla - Cartagena coastal highway concession. At the international level, Ecopetrol has a stake in strategic basins in the American continent, with Drilling and Exploration operations in the United States (Permian basin and the Gulf of Mexico), Brazil, and Mexico, and, through ISA and its subsidiaries, Ecopetrol holds leading positions in the power transmission business in Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Bolivia, road concessions in Chile, and the telecommunications sector. This press release contains business prospect statements, operating and financial result estimates, and statements related to Ecopetrol's growth prospects. These are all projections and, as such, they are based solely on the expectations of the managers regarding the future of the company and their continued access to capital to finance the company's business plan. The realization of said estimates in the future depends on the behavior of market conditions, regulations, competition, and the performance of the Colombian economy and the industry, among other factors, and are consequently subject to change without prior notice. This release contains statements that may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All forward-looking statements, whether made in this release or in future filings or press releases, or orally, address matters that involve risks and uncertainties, including in respect of the Company's prospects for growth and its ongoing access to capital to fund the Company's business plan, among others. Consequently, changes in the following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements: market prices of oil & gas, our exploration, and production activities, market conditions, applicable regulations, the exchange rate, the Company's competitiveness and the performance of Colombia's economy and industry, to mention a few. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. For more information, please contact: Head of Capital Markets Carolina Tovar Aragon Email: [email protected] Head of Corporate Communications Marcela Ulloa Email: [email protected] SOURCE Ecopetrol S.A. Dedicated Investment Program II Will Further Eir Partners' Strategy of Partnering with Companies Across the Healthcare Technology & Technology Enabled Services Marketplace MIAMI, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Eir Partners Capital, LLC ("Eir", "Eir Partners" or the "Firm"), a middle market private equity firm focused on healthcare technology and tech-enabled services, today announced the final closing of Eir Partners Investment Program II with $496 million in capital commitments. Eir previously raised $255 million in capital commitments for its inaugural program, Eir Partners Program I, which closed in 2021 and invested in five platform investments. The oversubscribed program was raised in less than four months and secured commitments from a diversified range of investors including leading financial institutions, insurance companies, family offices, funds-of-funds, endowments and foundations, and seasoned industry executives. "We are thrilled to receive support from a distinguished group of investors to continue our strategy of partnering with exceptional businesses and teams," said Brett Carlson, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Eir Partners. "Their commitment will help grow and establish Eir as a leading health-tech investment firm in the market." Eir Partners Investment Program II will continue to invest in disruptive companies that have proven market fit and scale demonstrating outsized organic growth potential coupled with accretive M&A opportunities. Eir seeks to partner with businesses where the firm's operating experience and executive advisor network can make an impact across all aspects of the business including technology, finance, sales, and human capital. Lazard Freres & Co. LLC acted as the exclusive placement advisor, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel in the formation of Eir Partners Investment Program II. About Eir Partners Eir Partners Capital, LLC is a Miami-based private equity company focused exclusively on healthcare technology and tech- enabled services. Eir combines its operational expertise with bottoms up thematic sourcing efforts to accelerate value creation. Since inception, Eir has completed transactions across payer, provider, employer and pharma tech, including leading industry names such as Apixio, Capta, GiftHealth, Helpware, and ReviveHealth. Targeted stages of investment include growth equity through control buyouts and equity check sizes range from $25 - $100 million. For more information, please visit the Eir Partners website at https://www.eirpartners.com/ or the Eir Partners LinkedIn page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/eir-partners. Contact Chris Tofalli Chris Tofalli Public Relations, LLC 914-834-4334 [email protected] SOURCE Eir Partners Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates ambitious entrepreneurs who are shaping the future SUGAR LAND, Texas, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced that CEO and co-founder, Stuart Hinchen, and CDO and co-founder Peter Jenkins of QuVa Pharma were named as Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 Gulf South Award finalists. The Gulf South program celebrates entrepreneurs from Central and South Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Now in its 38th year, Entrepreneur Of The Year is the preeminent competitive business award for audacious leaders who disrupt markets, revolutionize sectors and have a transformational impact on lives. Over the past four decades, the program has recognized the daring entrepreneurs with big ideas and bold actions that reshape our world. Stuart Hinchen and Peter Jenkins are regional entrepreneurs selected as finalists by an independent panel of judges. The candidates were evaluated based on their demonstration of building long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact, among other core contributions and attributes. "Peter and I are humbled to be considered amongst the finalists for this prestigious award," said Stuart Hinchen, QuVa Pharma CEO and co-founder. "QuVa Pharma continues to be the embodiment of so many creative people dedicated to improving healthcare across the USA, and we are honored to represent them all". QuVa Pharma is a national, industry-leading, FDA registered 503B outsourcing services company that provides health systems and hospitals essential sterile injectables medications critical to patient care. QuVa's mission is to enable healthcare providers the ability to make informed decisions by providing high quality and effective medications, services, and solutions that facilitate efficient and accurate delivery of patient care. Entrepreneur Of The Year honors many different types of business leaders for their ingenuity, courage and entrepreneurial spirit. The program celebrates original founders who bootstrapped their business from inception or who raised outside capital to grow their company; transformational CEOs who infused innovation into an existing organization to catapult its trajectory; and multigenerational family business leaders who reimagined a legacy business model to fortify it for the future. Regional award winners will be announced on June 13, 2024 during a special celebration and will become lifetime members of an esteemed community of Entrepreneur Of The Year alumni from around the world. The winners will then be considered by the National judges for the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards, which will be presented in November at the annual Strategic Growth Forum, one of the nation's most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies. In addition to Entrepreneur Of The Year, EY US supports other entrepreneurs through the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women program and the EY Entrepreneurs Access Network to help connect women founders and Black and Hispanic/Latino entrepreneurs, respectively, with the resources, network and access needed to unlock their full potential. Sponsors Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards include presenting sponsors PNC Bank, Cresa, Marsh USA, SAP and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. In the Gulf South, sponsors also include ADP, DLA Piper, Marsh McLennan Agency, vcfo, Big Picture Inc., and Pierpont Communications. About Entrepreneur Of The Year Founded in 1986, Entrepreneur Of The Year has celebrated more than 11,000 ambitious visionaries who are leading successful, dynamic businesses in the US, and it has since expanded to nearly 80 countries and territories globally. The US program consists of 17 regional programs whose panels of independent judges select the regional award winners every June. Those winners compete for national recognition at the Strategic Growth Forum in November where National finalists and award winners are announced. The overall National winner represents the US at the World Entrepreneur Of The Year competition. Visit ey.com/us/eoy. About EY EY exists to build a better working world, helping to create long-term value for clients, people and society and build trust in the capital markets. Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in over 150 countries provide trust through assurance and help clients grow, transform and operate. Working across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax and transactions, EY teams ask better questions to find new answers for the complex issues facing our world today. EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation are available via ey.com/privacy. EY member firms do not practice law where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com. SOURCE QuVa Pharma, Inc. The regulatory approval process with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has commenced for Innocan's LPT-CBD release technology, marking a key step in the advancement of non-opioid pain management HERZLIYA, Israel and CALGARY, AB, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Innocan Pharma Corporation (CSE: INNO) (FSE: IP4) (OTCQB: INNPF) ("Innocan" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce significant advancements in the regulatory process for its Liposome-Cannabidiol (LPT-CBD) technology, which provides an innovative solution in non-opioid pain management. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") has granted Innocan an Investigational New Drug ("IND") number and approved an initial meeting with the Company to discuss the strategic path forward. The meeting with the FDA has been set for July 31, 2024, where Innocan will present its preclinical results and proposed clinical development plan. This meeting is key to launching human clinical trials for the LPT-CBD injectable drug, developed to provide a novel treatment option for chronic pain. "We are very pleased with this crucial step towards launching our IND program for LPT-CBD in the United States," commented Iris Bincovich CEO of Innocan Pharma. "This upcoming FDA consultation is pivotal, poised to set the stage for our clinical trials and drive forward our mission to revolutionize pain management. We look forward to the FDA reviewing our development program and providing us with guidance on our advancement to human clinical trials." Continued Iris Bincovich, CEO, "I thank Prof. Chezy Barenholz and Dr. Ahuva Cern of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, renowned experts in liposome research, for their continued efforts providing strong supportive data on LPT-CBD, enabling our upcoming engagement with FDA." LPT therapy, which requires only one single monthly subcutaneous injection, offers a groundbreaking alternative to opioid-based approaches. Addressing the critical opioid crisis, where, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over three-quarters of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. involve opioids, Innocan's LPT-CBD presents a compelling, life-saving alternative. In multiple pre-clinical trials, Innocan's therapy has shown consistent efficacy of its LPT-CBD injectable treatment, through prolonged and controlled release of CBD in animals with chronic pain conditions. About Innocan Innocan is a pharmaceutical tech company that operates under two main segments: Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Wellness. In the Pharmaceuticals segment, Innocan focuses on developing innovative drug delivery platform technologies based on advanced cannabinoids science, to treat various conditions to improve patients' quality of life. This segment involves two drug delivery technologies: (i) LPT CBD- loaded liposome platform facilitating exact dosing and the prolonged and controlled release of CBD into the blood stream. The LPT delivery platform research is in the preclinical trial phase for: Pain Management. In the Consumer Wellness segment, Innocan develops and markets a wide portfolio of innovative and high-performance self-care products to promote a healthier lifestyle. Under this segment, Innocan has established a joint venture by the name of BI Sky Global Ltd. that focuses on advanced targeted online sales. https://innocanpharma.com/ For further information, please contact: For Innocan Pharma Corporation: Iris Bincovich, CEO +1-516-210-4025 +972-54-3012842 +442037699377 [email protected] NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. Cautionary note regarding forward-looking information Certain information set forth in this news release, including, without limitation, information regarding research and development, collaborations, the filing of potential applications with the FDA and other regulatory authorities, the potential achievement of future regulatory milestones, the potential for treatment of conditions and other therapeutic effects resulting from research activities and/or the Company's products, requisite regulatory approvals and the timing for market entry, is forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. By its nature, forward-looking information is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond Innocan's control. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by Innocan, including expectations and assumptions concerning the anticipated benefits of the products, satisfaction of regulatory requirements in various jurisdictions and satisfactory completion of requisite production and distribution arrangements. Forward-looking information is subject to various risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed in this news release. The key risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to: general global and local (national) economic, market and business conditions; governmental and regulatory requirements and actions by governmental authorities; and relationships with suppliers, manufacturers, customers, business partners and competitors. There are also risks that are inherent in the nature of product distribution, including import / export matters and the failure to obtain any required regulatory and other approvals (or to do so in a timely manner) and availability in each market of product inputs and finished products. The anticipated timeline for entry to markets may change for a number of reasons, including the inability to secure necessary regulatory requirements, or the need for additional time to conclude and/or satisfy the manufacturing and distribution arrangements. As a result of the foregoing, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking information contained in this news release concerning the timing of launch of product distribution. A comprehensive discussion of other risks that impact Innocan can also be found in Innocan's public reports and filings which are available under Innocan's profile at www.sedar.com . Readers are cautioned that undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking information as actual results may vary materially from the forward-looking information. Innocan does not undertake to update, correct or revise any forward looking information as a result of any new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable law. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2046271/3968398/Innocan_Pharma_Corporation_Logo.jpg SOURCE Innocan Pharma Corporation Business unit leaders with expanded executive responsibilities to support better execution and customer investments at the local level Jim Fakult, President, New Jersey Operations, to retire after 37 years of service AKRON, Ohio, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- To help drive its transformation to a premier electric company, FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) today announced the appointment of four new executives to oversee the company's Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey state electric company businesses and its stand-alone transmission companies: John Hawkins President, Pennsylvania , effective June 2 , effective Torrence Hinton President , Ohio , effective June 24 , , effective Doug Mokoid President , New Jersey , effective June 17 , , effective Mark Mroczynski President , Transmission, effective June 2 The company is in the final stages of selecting an executive to oversee its combined West Virginia/Maryland division and expects to announce the appointment in the near term. These four executives will report to Wade Smith, President, FirstEnergy Utilities. Each leader will help execute FirstEnergy's new business structure that shifts decision making and accountability closer to customers. The executives leading these state businesses will be accountable for operational excellence and "profit-and-loss" financial performance, as well as regulatory strategy and outcomes in their jurisdictions. This structure will foster better execution and customer investment at the local level, where it will make a positive difference in the communities served by FirstEnergy's electric companies. Mroczynski will lead the strategic direction and efficient operation of FirstEnergy Transmission, LLC (FET) assets American Transmission Systems, Incorporated (ATSI), Mid-Atlantic Interstate Transmission (MAIT) and Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line Company (TrAILCo) as well as assets owned by Keystone Appalachian Transmission Company (KATCo.) He will be responsible for profit and loss of the transmission business, directing transmission's regulatory and policy strategy and building consensus and collaboration with transmission business investors. Wade Smith, President, FirstEnergy Utilities: "This group of dynamic executives has the experience and knowledge to help our state and transmission businesses execute on our investment plan while elevating the customer experience and achieving successful financial and regulatory outcomes. Their proven track records include driving financial and operational performance and accountability, a commitment to continuous improvement and the ability to lead organizations through change. They champion safety, transparency and financial discipline and model FirstEnergy's core values and behaviors, which are foundational to FirstEnergy's vision for the future." Jim Fakult, President, New Jersey Operations, has decided to retire after 37 years of service, including 11 years in his current role. He will remain with the company through September 1 as Mokoid transitions into his new role. Smith: "I thank Jim for his many contributions during his career at FirstEnergy. Through his leadership at JCP&L and his extensive involvement in business and community initiatives, Jim has made a positive difference for our customers and communities." John Hawkins Biography Hawkins joined FirstEnergy in 2022 as Vice President, Operations Support & Distribution Engineering, overseeing numerous departments that support distribution, transmission and customer experience functions. Prior to FirstEnergy, he served in a variety of leadership roles in operations at Entergy Louisiana, including Vice President of Reliability, where he was the incident commander for major restoration events following hurricanes Laura and Ida. He also has held operational and engineering positions of increasing responsibility in transmission and distribution with NextEra/Florida Power & Light, Lone Star Transmission and Duke Energy. Hawkins earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering technology from Purdue University and a Master of Business Administration from Indiana University. He is a licensed professional engineer in Ohio and Texas. Torrence Hinton Biography Hinton joins FirstEnergy from WEC Energy Group, where he serves as President of its Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas companies in Chicago and northern Illinois. He joined Peoples Gas in 1999, progressing through several roles with increasing responsibility before being named to the company's top leadership team. Prior to his most recent position, Hinton was Vice President, Operations, at Peoples Gas, responsible for public and employee safety, regulatory compliance, operational excellence, financial performance and top-tier customer service. Hinton holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a master's degree in business administration with a concentration in strategy and leadership from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is active in numerous community, educational and industry organizations, serving on the boards of Chicago Commons, Chicago United, Chicago Urban League, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Utilities Business Diversity Council, Navy Pier, United Way of Metro Chicago (Vice Chair) and World Business Chicago. He is an active member of the Commercial Club of Chicago and its Civic Committee, The Economic Club of Chicago and Youth Guidance's BAM Advisory Council. Hinton has achieved numerous leadership recognitions and awards, including as a 2023 recipient of Chicago United's Business Leaders of Color award and the Ada S. McKinley Community Services' Legacy award. Doug Mokoid Biography Mokoid comes to FirstEnergy from Atlantic City Electric/Delmarva Power (an Exelon Company), where he serves as Vice President & Region President responsible for shaping company regulatory and legislative strategies while building meaningful relationships with internal and external stakeholders. His prior role was Director of Operations for Atlantic City Electric, where he developed and implemented strategies to improve safety, reliability, customer satisfaction performance and employee engagement. Mokoid has also held construction, maintenance and safety leadership positions with Philadelphia-based PECO and as a lead engineer with Public Service Electric and Gas. A graduate of Rutgers University, Mokoid received a bachelor's in mechanical engineering and his juris doctorate degree. He is on the board of directors of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, New Jersey Utility Association and the Drumthwacket Foundation. Mokoid is also a member of the Delaware Business Roundtable and a trustee of the Atlantic Cape Foundation. Mark Mroczynski Biography Currently the Acting Vice President, Operations, for FirstEnergy, over the past year Mroczynski has led a series of major business units including Transmission and Distribution Operations, Information Technology/Cyber Security, Transformation, External Affairs and Corporate Affairs & Community Involvement. He joined the company in 2004 in Fossil Generation, serving in technical services roles at power plants before being promoted to Director of Operations for Ohio Edison/Penn Power in 2008. He also has held senior leadership positions in Construction & Design Services and Transmission Programs, helping establish and develop FirstEnergy's transmission investment program into a premier transmission business. Prior to FirstEnergy, Mroczynski worked in operations, engineering and supply chain at J&L Specialty Steel, Inc. Mroczynski earned a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from The University of Akron and an Executive MBA from Kent State University. He is a registered professional engineer in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Active in the industry and community, Mroczynski is a board member of FET, JCP&L and Grid Assurance, LLC. He is involved in the North American Transmission Forum, EPRI, Lean Construction Institute, and the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies. He is a Founding Director of the Association of Iron and Steel Engineers. Mroczynski also serves on the boards of Embracing Futures, LLC, the Lake Erie Council of the Boy Scouts of America and the International Soap Box Derby, where he is a former Chair. FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and operational excellence. Its electric distribution companies form one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, serving more than 6 million customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. The company's transmission subsidiaries operate approximately 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. Follow FirstEnergy online at firstenergycorp.com and on X, formerly known as Twitter, @FirstEnergyCorp. Editor's Note: Professional photos of Hawkins, Hinton, Mokoid and Mroczynski are available for download on Flickr. (052124) SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp. COCOA BEACH, Fla., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- From kayaking on bioluminescent waters to witnessing sea turtles lay their eggs on the sand, Florida's Space Coast ( VisitSpaceCoast.com ) is a nature lover's dream destination, and some of the area's must-do outdoor experiences are coming up this summer. Miles and miles of beautiful beaches aren't the only thing that await outdoor enthusiasts on the Space Coast. Some of the best ways to connect with nature while visiting this bucket list destination include: Florida's Space Coast is a nature lover's dream destination. Post this Brevard Zoo is the only zoo in the country to offer guided kayaking tours around an animal exhibit! The Magic of Bioluminescence : From June through September, the waters of Indian River Lagoon, Mosquito Lagoon and the Banana River come alive with nighttime bioluminescence. See for yourself while embarking on a guided kayak or boat excursion. : From June through September, the waters of Indian River Lagoon, Mosquito Lagoon and the Banana River come alive with nighttime bioluminescence. See for yourself while embarking on a guided kayak or boat excursion. Thrilling Nighttime Turtle Walks : On Wednesday and Saturday evenings in June and July, Friends of the Carr lead unforgettable public tours of the sands of Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge. See loggerhead sea turtles lay their eggs, cover them and return to the ocean. : On Wednesday and Saturday evenings in June and July, Friends of the Carr lead unforgettable public tours of the sands of Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge. See loggerhead sea turtles lay their eggs, cover them and return to the ocean. Kayak Through the Zoo : Now celebrating its 30th year, the Brevard Zoo is the only zoo in the country to offer guided kayak tours around an animal exhibit. Take a floating tour through Expedition Africa or go off on your own through Wild Florida. : Now celebrating its 30th year, the Brevard Zoo is the only zoo in the country to offer guided kayak tours around an animal exhibit. Take a floating tour through Expedition Africa or go off on your own through Wild Florida. Peak Summer Fishing : The Space Coast offers incredible fishing all year, from Mosquito Lagoon all the way south to Sebastian Inlet, with more than 500 species of fish available. Many fishing enthusiasts will agree that summer offers some of the best catches around, including redfish, snook and trout. : The Space Coast offers incredible fishing all year, from Mosquito Lagoon all the way south to Sebastian Inlet, with more than 500 species of fish available. Many fishing enthusiasts will agree that summer offers some of the best catches around, including redfish, snook and trout. Meet Manatees : Remember to look at but don't touch the Space Coast's beloved sea cows. VisitSpaceCoast.com offers tips for where to go and what to look for to increase your chances of a manatee encounter. : Remember to look at but don't touch the Space Coast's beloved sea cows. offers tips for where to go and what to look for to increase your chances of a manatee encounter. Travel Sustainably : From beach restoration projects to eco-friendly accommodations, the Space Coast has tons of options for travelers who wish to practice sustainable travel. : From beach restoration projects to eco-friendly accommodations, the Space Coast has tons of options for travelers who wish to practice sustainable travel. Al Fresco Dining : There's no better way to take in the great outdoors than to savor an amazing meal with a view of the water and a fresh salt-air breeze. A few restaurants to check out include Dolphins Grill at Cape Crossing (the largest tiki bar on the Space Coast!), Marker 99, Yellow Dog, Shiloh's, Pier 220, Marker 24, Grills Seafood and Intracoastal Brewing Co. "The Space Coast will forever be an outdoor lover's playground, but summertime is when nature really comes alive in our area," said Peter Cranis, Director of the Space Coast Tourism Development Office. "With so many ways to interact with and explore our gorgeous environment and its unique habitats, this is the perfect time to book a trip to Florida's Space Coast." For information on more things to do and places to stay throughout the Space Coast, go to VisitSpaceCoast.com . About Florida's Space Coast Florida's Space Coast is a family-friendly destination located 45 minutes east of Orlando. Encompassing Cocoa Beach, Melbourne and The Beaches, Port Canaveral, Titusville, Palm Bay and Viera, it is home to the world's second-busiest cruise port and 72 miles of beaches (the longest stretch in the state), as well as 190,000 acres of wetlands and waterways full of habitat found nowhere else. Florida's Space Coast is home to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, where rockets still soar into orbit. For more information, contact the Space Coast Office of Tourism at 877-572-3224 or go to VisitSpaceCoast.com . SOURCE Florida's Space Coast Office of Tourism IRVINE, Calif., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) unit is responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, money laundering, public corruption, and more. There are several methods that they may use to uncover financial crimes. However, the data available to CI through the Banking Secrecy Act (BSA) has proven to be one of their most powerful tools in uncovering instances of tax evasion. Criminal Tax Evasion Defense CI relies heavily on BSA data, with nearly 88% of its criminal tax investigations in fiscal year 2023 involving individuals or entities with a BSA filing. BSA data has proven instrumental in allowing CI to execute substantial asset seizures and secure increased convictions. With a federal conviction rate of nearly 90% and a presence across the U.S. and internationally, CI is dedicated to prosecuting tax criminals and maintaining the integrity of the financial system. If you need help resolving your civil or criminal tax exposure issues, get help from our Dual-Licensed Tax Lawyers & CPAs by calling the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing today at (800) 681-1295 or click here to schedule a reduced rate initial consultation. IRS Criminal Investigation Unit's Use of BSA Data IRS CI recently disclosed using Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) data in combating financial crimes, underscoring its effectiveness in investigations. According to CI, in fiscal year 2023, nearly 88% of the investigations initiated by the agency involved individuals or entities with a BSA filing. This highlights the critical role BSA data plays in uncovering financial wrongdoing across various sectors. Impact on Financial Crime Investigations From FY21 to FY23, CI reports that BSA data played a pivotal role in securing significant outcomes in financial crime investigations. Notably, it contributed to an average prison sentence of 39 months for convicted individuals and the seizure of $7.4 billion in assets linked to criminal activities. Furthermore, restitution orders totaling $434 million and forfeited assets totaling $629 million were attributed to BSA data, representing substantial increases compared to previous fiscal years. Diverse Application in Investigations CI Chief Jim Lee emphasized the versatility of BSA data in uncovering a wide array of financial crimes, including those related to COVID relief programs, skimming schemes, and employment tax fraud. Among investigations originating from BSA data in FY23, approximately 77% relied on information from suspicious activity reports, while 63.6% utilized data from currency transaction reports. Additionally, fraudulent Small Business Association loans tied to COVID relief programs, skimming incidents, and employment tax fraud constituted significant portions of investigations leveraging BSA data. CI's Jurisdiction and Achievements As the law enforcement arm of the IRS, CI holds jurisdiction over a range of financial offenses, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, and public corruption. Notably, CI boasts a federal conviction rate of nearly 90%, a testament to its effectiveness in prosecuting offenders. With 20 field offices across the United States and 12 attache posts internationally, CI maintains a robust presence in combating financial crimes both domestically and abroad. Accordingly, if you are concerned that you may be accused of a tax crime, then you must seek legal support. Our Dual-Licensed Tax Lawyers & CPAs can help assess your case and identify the proper course of action. We will work diligently protect your interests and reduce or eliminate the potential penalties you face. What is the Banking Secrecy Act? The BSA is a U.S. federal law enacted in 1970 aimed at combating money laundering and other financial crimes. It requires financial institutions to assist government agencies in detecting and preventing money laundering by maintaining records of cash purchases over $10,000, filing reports of cash transactions exceeding this amount, and filing suspicious activity reports (SARs) for transactions that appear to be connected to illicit activities. The BSA also imposes requirements on financial institutions to verify the identity of customers and maintain effective anti-money laundering programs. Methods the IRS Criminal Investigation Unit Uses to Uncover Tax Crimes Ultimately, there are several strategies that the CI may use to uncover tax crimes. For instance, charges may stem from any of the following: Review of Tax Returns and Documentation IRS Criminal Investigation meticulously reviews tax returns and supporting documentation to detect discrepancies and irregularities that may indicate tax crimes. By cross-referencing reported income with other financial records and conducting thorough examinations of tax filings, CI can identify inconsistencies or fraudulent activities, laying the groundwork for further investigation and potential prosecution. Analysis of Offshore Accounts and Complex Financial Structures CI specializes in scrutinizing offshore accounts and complex financial structures utilized by individuals and entities to conceal income and evade taxes. Through comprehensive analysis of international financial transactions and collaborations with foreign tax authorities, CI can uncover hidden assets and income streams, exposing tax evasion schemes and holding perpetrators accountable for their actions. Cooperation with Informants and Whistleblowers CI may collaborate with informants and whistleblowers who provide insider information on tax crimes. These individuals, often with knowledge of fraudulent activities, can assist CI in gathering evidence and identifying key players involved in tax evasion schemes, enhancing the agency's ability to investigate and prosecute offenders effectively. Surveillance and Undercover Operations In certain cases, CI may conduct surveillance and undercover operations to gather evidence of tax crimes. This may involve monitoring suspect individuals or businesses to observe their financial activities and interactions, providing CI with valuable insights into potential tax evasion or fraudulent behavior that can be used in criminal investigations and prosecutions. Partnerships with Other Law Enforcement Agencies CI frequently partners with other law enforcement agencies, both domestically and internationally, to uncover and combat tax crimes. By sharing information and resources, CI can leverage the expertise and capabilities of partner agencies to conduct comprehensive investigations, track down tax evaders, and bring them to justice. Monitoring Social Media Activity Finally, CI may monitor social media activity to gather intelligence and evidence related to tax crimes. By analyzing publicly available information, including posts, photos, and interactions, CI agents can identify individuals flaunting lavish lifestyles inconsistent with reported income or engaging in activities suggestive of tax evasion. This information can provide valuable leads for further investigations and enforcement actions against tax offenders. Contact Our Attorneys for Help with Your Tax Issue If you have failed to file a tax return for one or more years or have taken a position on a tax return that could not be supported upon an IRS or state tax authority audit, eggshell audit, reverse eggshell audit, or criminal tax investigation, it is in your best interest to contact an experienced tax defense attorney to determine your best route back into federal or state tax compliance without facing criminal prosecution. We Are Here for You Regardless of your business or estate needs, the professionals at the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing are here for you. We are open for business and our team will help ensure that your business is too. Contact the Law Offices of David W. Klasing today to discuss your business with one of our professionals. In addition to our fully staffed main office in downtown Irvine California, the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing has unstaffed (conference room only) California based satellite offices in Los Angeles , San Bernardino , Santa Barbara , Panorama City , Oxnard , San Diego , Bakersfield , San Jose , San Francisco , Oakland , Carlsbad, Sacramento . We also have unstaffed (conference room only) satellite offices in Las Vegas Nevada , Salt Lake City Utah , Phoenix Arizona & Albuquerque New Mexico , Austin Texas , Washington DC , Miami Florida and New York New York that solely handle Federal & California Tax issues. Our office technology allows clients to meet virtually via GoToMeeting . With end-to-end encryption, strong passwords, and top-rated reliability, no one is messing with your meeting. To schedule a reduced rate initial consultation via GoToMeeting follow this link . Call our office and request a GoToMeeting if you are an existing client. We also now offer a convenient scheduling option, where you can secure David W. Klasing, Esq M.S.-Tax CPA's undivided attention for a 4-hour consultation at any of his satellite offices. See our Audit Representation Q and A Library See our Criminal Tax Law Q and A Library See our Non-Filer Q and A Library Public Contact: Dave Klasing Esq. M.S.-Tax CPA, [email protected] SOURCE Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing, PC SION, Switzerland, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- H55, a pioneer in electric aviation technologies, is thrilled to announce the intention of the Governement of Quebec to invest in equity in H55. Led by Investissement Quebec, a key driver of economic development in Quebec, this investment would mark a major milestone in H55's journey to bring certified electric propulsion solutions to North America, supporting the company's production ramp-up and research and development activities. This investment in H55 would be in line with Government's plans to establish a new innovation zone, Espace Aero, focusing on the aerospace industry. Headquartered in Switzerland, H55 leads the way in electric aviation, specializing in certified electric propulsion, battery storage, and energy management solutions. With a steadfast commitment to safety, performance, and sustainability, the company is enabling the aviation industry to achieve net zero emissions, offering cutting-edge technologies for a greener and more efficient future of air travel. This significant development follows several recent announcements, driving growth momentum for H55. In late March, H55 announced European Union Aviation Safety Agency's (EASA) approval of its Compliance Check List for its electric motor, battery packs, and energy management systems, making it the first company to meet all requirements for the entire Electric Propulsion System (EPS). Regulatory engagements with the FAA and Transport Canada are underway to expedite North American Type Certification. H55 Canada, located in the Greater Montreal region in Longueuil, will serve as the primary hub for H55's North American manufacturing operations. Equipped with a state-of-the-art facility, initial battery pack production is set to commence in late 2024. H55 Canada will continue to collaborate on product development and engineering customization with key customers, including Pratt & Whitney Canada, CAE, and Harbour Air. Investissement Quebec's investment would represent a pivotal moment in H55's journey, providing financial support to scale up North American production, engineering, and research and development activities. This strategic partnership would underscore Quebec's dedication to fostering innovation in aerospace, reinforcing its position as a hub for cutting-edge technological advancements in sustainable aviation, and accelerating H55's ambitions in Canada and the USA. Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Minister Responsible for Regional Economic Development and Minister Responsible for de Metropolis and the Montreal Region, stated : "Today's announcement is an excellent demonstration of our commitment to developing Quebec's economy. With the arrival of a key player like H55, our ecosystem will be stronger than ever." Expressing gratitude for the Government of Quebec's steadfast support, Andre Borschberg, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of H55, emphasizes, "Invest Quebec's investment in H55 would accelerate our operational expansion in Quebec." Emphasizing the Aerospace Innovation Zone's dynamic environment, he adds, "This zone offers unparalleled opportunities, uniting companies and academic institutions aligned with our vision of revolutionizing aviation paradigms. We are honored to be chosen by the Government to play a pivotal role in shaping Quebec into a leading global hub for clean aviation." In response to the investment intentions, H55's CEO, Martin Larose expressed enthusiasm, stating, "We would be delighted to welcome Invest Quebec as a valued strategic partner. This investment would mark a key moment in our journey, empowering us to expedite scaling up production, propelling our research and development endeavors, and bolstering our ongoing customer initiatives in Canada alongside PW&C, CAE, and Harbour Air. Having the Government of Quebec onboard provides all the right prerequisites in positioning H55 as a leader in sustainable aviation". Furthermore, H55 and the Government of Quebec will partner closely to foster innovation around battery technologies and sustainable energy solutions. Leveraging its abundance of clean energy resources, Quebec aims to promote clean energy storage solutions and support the transition to a low-carbon energy system. This investment represents a significant development for H55, propelling the company forward in its goal of revolutionizing the aviation industry through sustainable innovation. With the Government of Quebec's funding, H55 would be poised to make even greater strides in advancing the future of flight. For more information about H55 and its groundbreaking electric propulsion technology, please visit www.h55.ch . About H55 H55 is a Swiss-based company founded and led by the former Solar Impulse management team, Andre Borschberg, Sebastien Demont and Gregory Blatt. H55's mission is to revolutionize the aviation industry by providing certified electric propulsion and battery management systems tailored to a diverse range of aircraft to achieve sustainable air travel. Through a commitment of providing certified solutions and its pioneering legacy, the H55 team of visionary engineers and aerospace experts is at the forefront of driving the aviation industry toward a more environmentally responsible future, setting new standards, and pushing the boundaries of what is possible in electric aviation. For more information [email protected], T: +41 79 464 22 60 Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2345318/H55_Logo.jpg SOURCE H55 SA OSLO, Norway, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Havfram has signed a contract with Iberdrola for the installation of 21 Siemens Gamesa wind turbines at their Windanker project in the Baltic Sea. The agreement covers transport and installation support, which will be executed by one of Havfram's newbuild NG20000X-HF wind turbine installation vessels. The contract will start in the summer of 2026 and makes a perfect fit towards high utilization for the vessel planned to be used. Windanker, located in the German Baltic Sea, will reach an installed capacity of 315 MW after its commissioning in 2026. Most of the renewable electricity generated by the new Siemens Gamesa 15 MW turbines will be commercialized through long-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) on the German market. Even Larsen, CEO of Havfram Wind, commented: "Iberdrola is one of the most experienced developers in the market and has demonstrated a strong commitment to renewable energy solutions. Currently, they have 1,793 MW offshore wind capacity in operation and a further 3,000 MW under construction. Havfram is proud to be supporting Iberdrola's ambitions within offshore wind and their efforts to mitigate climate change." Martin Degen, Commercial Director and Vice President of Havfram, described the relationship as follows: "The entire procurement process with Iberdrola was pragmatic and uncomplicated as both organizations share rigorous standards for quality and sustainability. To be selected as T&I partner for Windanker, Iberdrola's third Baltic Sea project, proves our established position in the market and that we, at Havfram, are trusted to carry out installations in the crucial end phase before the wind farm goes into operation. The project adds to our strong and growing contract backlog." CONTACT: HAVFRAM Corinna Thiel Marketing & Communication Manager [email protected] havfram.com This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com. https://news.cision.com/havfram/r/havfram-awarded-contract-by-iberdrola-for-windanker-project,c3984036 The following files are available for download: https://news.cision.com/havfram/i/havfram-wind-ng20000x-jack-up-vessel-with-a-3-250-tonne-crane,c3301826 Havfram Wind NG20000X Jack-Up vessel with a 3 250-tonne crane LITTLE ROCK, Ark., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- High Street Equity Partners (HSEP), a leading venture capital firm committed to investing in innovative technology companies within emerging innovation hubs across the United States, proudly announces its selection by the Arkansas Development Finance Authority (ADFA) for the Arkansas State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) program. Reauthorized and expanded under President Biden's American Rescue Plan, the SSBCI is a nearly $10 billion initiative aimed at supporting small businesses and entrepreneurship across the United States. The program provides essential capital and technical assistance to promote small business stability, growth, and success. Administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, SSBCI funds are allocated to states, the District of Columbia, territories, and Tribal governments to support capital programs that encourage lending and investment in small businesses, build entrepreneurial ecosystems, and create high-quality jobs. Arkansas has been approved for up to $81.6 million in SSBCI funding. Through its partnership with High Street Equity Partners, the State of Arkansas aims to catalyze high-growth companies based in Arkansas. Mark A. Conine, President of the Arkansas Development Finance Authority, stated, "This partnership represents a significant vote of confidence in our state's innovation ecosystem, creating new opportunities for local talent to thrive and redefine the success stories of tomorrow. High Street Equity Partners is well-positioned to leverage their expertise and experience to fuel the growth of visionary entrepreneurs and strengthen the state's economic landscape." Mitch Brooks, Founding Managing Partner of High Street Equity Partners, expressed his enthusiasm, stating, "We are thrilled to enter into this investment partnership and to have ADFA amplify our mission to support resilient founders building remarkable companies in emerging innovation hubs like Arkansas. We believe that extraordinary talent exists beyond traditional tech hubs such as Silicon Valley, which have historically captured the majority of seed capital. After sharing our vision with ADFA's leadership and board, it is gratifying to see their alignment and shared goals. Together, we will invest in, support, and scale the next generation of promising technology companies in the state." Arkansas has a rich history of entrepreneurial spirit, from its robust agricultural sector to its growing high-tech community. Over the past decade, the state has seen a surge in startup activity, with the establishment of numerous co-working spaces, incubators, and accelerators. The SSBCI program is designed to catalyze private capital and provide crucial support to this entrepreneurial ecosystem. For more information about High Street Equity Partners, please visit www.highstreetequity.com . SOURCE High Street Equity Partners NEWPORT NEWS, Va., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- As New York City hosts the annual Fleet Week in celebration of the nation's sea services, HII (NYSE: HII) the nation's largest military shipbuilder and a sponsor of the Intrepid Museum's commemoration of the event is launching a hiring campaign to spotlight the contributions and rewards of building ships for the U.S. Navy. The HII "Build It" campaign is dedicated to the men and women who partner with the U.S. Navy to build ships critical to the national defense. Shipbuilders value the mission and pride in ship construction, steady advancement and job security, and comprehensive benefits such as health coverage and professional development opportunities. "The breadth of our workforce at HII is astonishing," said Xavier Beale, vice president of human resources at HII's Newport News Shipbuilding. "From the craftsmen and women in our shipyards who build the most powerful ships in the world with their own hands, to the nuclear engineers who enable safe nuclear power and propulsion, all the way to the cyber and data scientists who build the tools that deliver decision advantage: it's a workforce for our 21st century national defense." In addition to Newport News Shipbuilding, which is the nation's only builder of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and one of two builders of nuclear-powered submarines, HII's divisions include Pascagoula, Mississippi-based Ingalls Shipbuilding that delivers amphibious ships, destroyers and cutters, and McLean, Virginia-based Mission Technologies, which builds technologies and solutions that connect and strengthen an all-domain force. HII's Build It campaign targets workers of all ages and skill levels, and highlights paid training and development at its shipyards for those who require it. Russell Dawson, 36, was accepted into the century-old Newport News Shipbuilding Apprentice School right out of high school. Since graduating in 2010, Dawson has supported aircraft carrier and submarine programs at the shipyard, moved up the ranks and is currently working on the Columbia-class program, the Navy's top acquisition priority. "I've always wanted to serve my country," said Dawson. "I see my work as a shipbuilder doing just that. It's an honor to help build the greatest ships for our Navy." From an apprentice to a master shipbuilder who has worked over 40 years at the company, HII shipbuilders contribute daily to national security. Stan Brazell, manager of quality receipt and inspection at Ingalls Shipbuilding, began his career in 1991 as an outside machinist apprentice and over the course of his career has worked on almost every ship program at Ingalls, including the construction of USS Bataan (LHD-5). "I view this job as my way of serving our country," said Brazell. "While I may not be wearing combat boots, I do wear work boots and those boots have allowed me to contribute to building freedom." The Build It campaign will appear on social media, digital and display advertising, and local television. HII expects it will complement a current national advertising campaign launched by the U.S. Navy, which is aimed at energizing a movement to attract workers in support of shipbuilding and the national defense. Examples of videos in support of HII's campaign are: Build It: Preshus Build It: Kevin Build It: Grant Build It: Quadale Engaging Future Shipbuilders Throughout the year HII is proud to play a role in fostering a culture of innovation, growth, and community engagement by investing in initiatives that support and inspire the leaders of tomorrow. For example, HII recently partnered with the Tall Ship Providence Foundation in Alexandria, Va., on an upcoming educational video series for fourth graders about the history of shipbuilding. The series emphasizes the importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and the ongoing significance of shipbuilding to the nation. HII believes that the video series and the Foundation's continued educational efforts will inspire young talent to explore career opportunities in shipbuilding. Watch a preview of the video titled "How to Build a Ship: Who Builds Ships" here. For information about employment opportunities and careers at HII, including shipbuilding, visit HII.com/careers. About HII HII is a global, all-domain defense provider. HII's mission is to deliver the world's most powerful ships and all-domain solutions in service of the nation, creating the advantage for our customers to protect peace and freedom around the world. As the nation's largest military shipbuilder, and with a more than 135-year history of advancing U.S. national security, HII delivers critical capabilities extending from ships to unmanned systems, cyber, ISR, AI/ML and synthetic training. Headquartered in Virginia, HII's workforce is 44,000 strong. For more information, visit: HII on the web: https://www.HII.com/ HII on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeamHII HII on X: https://www.twitter.com/WeAreHII HII on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/WeAreHII SOURCE HII In partnership with Leeward Community College and the State of Hawai'i, Farmers and Entrepreneurs Gain Access to HPP Technology for Naturally Fresh, Extended Shelf-Life Products MIAMI, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Hiperbaric, the global leader and manufacturer of high pressure processing (HPP) equipment, has partnered with Leeward Community College and the State of Hawai'i to provide the first state-of-the-art HPP system in the State of Hawai'i for the new Wahiawa Value-Added Product Development Center (WVAPDC). The Hiperbaric 55L HPP equipment installed at the Wahiawa Value-Added Product Development Center (WVAPDC). (Photo courtesy of Hiperbaric) The Hiperbaric 55L HPP equipment, manufactured by Hiperbaric. (Photo courtesy of Hiperbaric) The 33,000-square-foot facility, located in Central O'ahu, is designed to empower Hawai'i's entrepreneurs, students, and farmers alike. With a mission deeply rooted in fostering growth and opportunity in Hawaii's agricultural industry, it serves as a catalyst for economic advancement and food innovation statewide. The centerpiece of the new center is a Hiperbaric 55L HPP machine, which has a 55-liter (14.5 gallons) vessel and a 200mm (7.9 inches) diameter. With a throughput of around 600 lbs. per hour, it is the ideal unit for SMEs, food companies serving niche markets, seasonal production, or R&D centers. Its robust and compact design, with one single integrated intensifier, makes it easy and quick to install in almost any facility. The machine gives access to High Pressure Processing (HPP) technology, which is a non-thermal (5C 20C) food and beverage preservation method that guarantees food safety and achieves an increased shelf life while maintaining the organoleptic and nutritional attributes of fresh products. "We are thrilled to partner with Leeward Community College and the State of Hawai'i to bring HPP technology to the new center," said Hiperbaric USA Executive Director Roberto Peregrina. "This is the first piece of HPP equipment in Hawai'i, which will provide a natural processing method for local farmers and entrepreneurs to add value to their agricultural products and bring more locally made foods to market across the islands and beyond." "The HPP system is a game-changer for our facility and the local food ecosystem," said Chris Bailey, Manager at WVAPDC. "It opens up so many new possibilities to create innovative value-added products with longer shelf lives in a way that preserves nutrition and flavor." In addition to HPP equipment capabilities, the WVAPDC offers product development consultation, lab testing, production kitchens, and educational programming through Leeward CC's Aina to Makeke program. The goal is to empower local entrepreneurship, increase opportunities for farmers and growers, and advance Hawai'i's foods globally. "Here, our focus is on education. Priming mindsets and investing in our students with entrepreneurial vision, skills and providing resources our entrepreneurs lack, like equipment and subject matter experts to get their products noticed and on shelves," Leeward Community College Chancellor Carlos Penaloza said. "High pressure processing is an important component to realize the State's goals of food resilience and regional economic diversification. We are excited to activate the State's first high pressure processing machine at the Wahiawa Value-Added Product Development Center (WVAPDC), a food innovation facility that provides product development consultation services, lab testing and production kitchens," added Senator Donovan M. Dela Cruz, who represents a district in Central Oahu with rich agricultural history. "By extending the shelf life of food and value-added products, our local entrepreneurs can share their creations with customers from across the globe. The State is also planning the development of commercial manufacturing facilities to compliment educational facilities like WVAPDC to provide opportunities for businesses to scale up. These efforts reaffirm the State's commitment to our farmers and entrepreneurs." On April 12th, more than 300 people gathered for a blessing ceremony to celebrate the opening of the Wahiawa Value Added Product Development Center (WVAPDC). The WVAPDC will also be hosting a free 90-minute online seminar on Thursday, May 23rd at 10am HST. The session will introduce the significance of HPP as an innovation of food commercialization, producing food and beverage products that are food-safe and have longer shelf life. The seminar is open to members of the Hawai'i community interested in learning how to develop value-added products at WVAPDC. Current users of the facility are also encouraged to attend. The session will be recorded and available for viewing at a later time. To register, visit Intro to High Pressure Processing, hosted by WVAPDC. About Hiperbaric Hiperbaric is the global leader in high pressure technology, designing, manufacturing, and marketing its high pressure processing equipment internationally. The company is recognized for its reliability, customer support, teamwork and continuous effort in R&D. Hiperbaric has installed more than 400 machines in more than 50 countries across five continents. Hundreds of companies worldwide use Hiperbaric HPP equipment to process juices and beverages, meat, fish and seafood, fruits and vegetables, dairy and ready-to-eat meals. Hiperbaric is headquartered in Burgos, Spain, with a U.S. office in Miami, FL, and commercial and technical offices in Mexico, Asia, and Oceania. For more information, visit: www.hiperbaric.com About Wahiawa Value-Added Product Development Center (WVAPDC) The Wahiawa Value-Added Product Development Center (WVAPDC) is a 33,000 square foot food manufacturing facility located in the town of Wahiawa in Central O'ahu. Our center is a resource for food entrepreneurship and education. We offer product development consultation services, lab testing and production kitchens. We serve Hawai'i's producers, processors, entrepreneurs, farmers, and students. We are committed to taking value-added food and beverage products to market and advancing Hawai'i foods across the globe. For further information, please contact: Anthony Zapata Hiperbaric HPP Business Development Manager [email protected] Mobile (USA): +1 305 746 0209 SOURCE Hiperbaric Entrepreneurs should focus on brand representation, raising awareness and rewarding customers. WASHINGTON, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- For entrepreneurs, creating a comprehensive marketing plan can seem like a daunting and overwhelming task. However, a solid marketing plan is crucial to reach your target audience, increase brand awareness, and ultimately drive sales and revenue. As mentors to America's small business owners, SCORE understands the importance of a well-crafted marketing plan and is committed to helping business owners create one that will put your business on the path to success. "Repeat customers are a critical asset to a small business." -SCORE mentor Rex Winter Post this David and Susan Sperstad worked with SCORE mentors when opening their business, Touright Bicycle Shop, in Little Falls, Minn. Instead of trying to conquer your corner of the business world by marketing everywhere all the time, it's important to plan your marketing thoughtfully. Your plan doesn't have to be overly ambitious. But it does need to help set you up for success, rather than leaving you feeling frazzled or overwhelmed. Represent your brand You might already have a logo and branding materials, but it's time to take that branding to the next level. Envision your logo in various advertising and marketing forms - on community bulletin boards, in newspaper ads, on bus shelters. Where do you want to see your logo? Where do you want to hear people talking about your brand? Consider asking a mentor for assistance with this process. Luke Jian, founder of Agora Coworking in Grayslake, Ill., turned to SCORE mentors Alan Blitz and Paul Rosenstrock for help with starting his business. "They were always available to answer my questions and provide guidance, even outside of our scheduled meetings," explained Jian. "Their input helped me to develop a comprehensive business plan and marketing strategy that has set my coworking space up for success in the long run." Raise awareness Once you've thought about your brand aesthetic, it's time to figure out how to reach your target customer. Define who your potential customers are and where they are already consuming information. Try to get a sense of their lifestyle and set your marketing efforts to match. Not sure where your customers learn about products and services like yours? Ask them. Hearing their preferences can guide where you invest your marketing dollars as you work to raise awareness of your business. Reward loyal customers "Communicate often and effectively with your customers," recommends SCORE mentor Rex Winter. "Repeat customers are a critical asset to a small business. Work at building loyalty through effective communication and programs that reward repeat business." A discount after a certain number of visits might be the perfect incentive to keep a customer coming back, but be sure you are incorporating sales, promotions and rewards programs into your overall marketing plan. Consider in advance your resources and cash flow if you plan to offer flash sales, discount programs or seasonal events or specials so you don't get overwhelmed. If you're looking for individualized support in creating your marketing plan, contact SCORE for free business mentoring. Touright Bicycle Shop owners David and Susan Sperstad in Little Falls, Minn. explain why they sought the expertise of a mentor: "We knew experience is the best teacher, so we couldn't go wrong in reaching out to a SCORE mentor who had successfully run a small business," said David. Interested in more information on marketing strategies and best practices? SCORE is hosting a webinar, How To Create A Marketing Plan For Your Small Business, on May 30 at 1 PM ET. Registration is free and available here. About SCORE: Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 17 million entrepreneurs start, grow or successfully exit a business. SCORE's 10,000 volunteers provide free, expert mentoring, resources and education in all 50 U.S. states and territories. Visit SCORE at www.score.org. Funded [in part] through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. CONTACT: SCORE 202-968-6428 [email protected] Looking for a small business expert or owner for an upcoming media story? Email [email protected] to request an interview source. SOURCE SCORE NEW YORK, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The global hunting equipment accessories market size is estimated to grow by USD 10.00 billion from 2024-2028, according to Technavio. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 7.44% during the forecast period. For more insights on the forecast market size and historic data (2018 - 2022) - Download Free sample report in a minutes Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Hunting Equipment Accessories Market 2024-2028 Forecast period 2024-2028 Base Year 2023 Historic Data 2018 - 2022 Segment Covered Distribution Channel (Offline and Online), Product (Gun and rifles, Auxiliary equipment, Archery, and Others), and Geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa) Region Covered North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Key companies profiled American Outdoor Brands Inc., BERETTA HOLDING SA, Blaser Group GmbH, BPS Direct LLC, Buck Knives Inc., Cote Reco Inc., DICKS Sporting Goods Inc., Easton Technical Products Inc., FALCO SK s.r.o., FeraDyne Outdoors LLC, Herstal SA, Leupold and Stevens Inc., Outfit International AS, Pure Fishing Inc., Quebec Inc., Revo Brand Inc., RKA Gun Gallery, Spyderco Inc., Sturm Ruger and Co. Inc., Under Armour Inc., Vista Outdoor Inc., and Vortex Optics Key Market Trends Fueling Growth The trend of smart technology integration in hunting gear is reshaping the hunting equipment market globally. Smart optics and rangefinders use advanced sensors for precise measurements and real-time data, enhancing hunting accuracy. Smart GPS devices enable seamless sharing of location data, promoting safety and coordination during group hunts. Additionally, these devices offer emergency response features, improving hunters' situational awareness. Smart trail cameras employ motion sensors and image recognition to provide real-time wildlife surveillance, aiding hunters in strategic decision-making. These innovations cater to the demand for data-driven hunting experiences, driving growth in the hunting equipment market. Market Challenges The hunting equipment and accessories market has faced tough challenges due to strict regulations on hunting activities. These rules have caused a drop in demand for certain items like high-capacity magazines and specific types of ammo. For instance, where magazine capacity limits are in place, sales of high-capacity magazines have fallen sharply. This has hit manufacturers hard, reducing production and sales. Also, hunting regulations have changed how consumers behave. Many hunters have adjusted their preferences and practices because of legal restrictions, meaning they don't need certain gear anymore. For example, bans on hunting certain species or strict hunting seasons have lowered the demand for related accessories. Manufacturers are adapting by focusing on making products that meet these tough regulations. They're producing eco-friendly gear, non-toxic ammo, and accessories promoting ethical and sustainable hunting. This shift in product development shows the market's response to changing rules. Research report provides comprehensive data on impact of trend, driver and challenges - Download Free sample report in a minutes Segment Overview Distribution Channel 1.1 Offline 1.2 Online Product 2.1 Gun and rifles 2.2 Auxiliary equipment 2.3 Archery 2.4 Others Geography 3.1 North America 3.2 Europe 3.3 APAC 3.4 South America 3.5 Middle East and Africa 1.1 Offline- The offline segment is set to grow significantly in the coming years. It includes various products and services vital to the hunting community, highlighting the importance of traditional retail stores and in-person experiences. Specialty hunting and outdoor retail stores play a key role, acting as essential hubs for hunters to get equipment and accessories. Valued at USD 12.54 billion in 2018, this segment offers hands-on shopping, allowing customers to check products like firearms and hunting apparel before buying. Retailers like Cabela Inc in the US exemplify this. Local hunting supply stores and firearm dealerships also play a significant role, catering to hunters' specific needs and offering personalized services and expert advice. These factors drive the growth of this segment, thus boosting the market during the forecast period. For more information on market segmentation with geographical analysis including forecast (2024-2028) and historic data (2018 - 2022) - Download a Sample Report Research Analysis The hunting equipment accessories market offers a wide array of tools and gear to enhance outdoor experiences. From hunting knives to game calls, hunters rely on these essentials for success. From hunting rifles and guns to bows and arrows, the market accommodates various weapon preferences. Ammunition options abound, ensuring hunters are adequately equipped for their pursuits. Apparel such as clothing and boots offer comfort and durability in rugged environments. For elevated vantage points, tree stands provide hunters with strategic positions. Adventure tourism enthusiasts also find appeal in these accessories for immersive outdoor experiences. In summary, the hunting equipment accessories market caters to the diverse needs of hunters, offering essential tools for successful outings in the wilderness. Market Research Overview The hunting equipment accessories market offers a range of tools and gears essential for outdoor enthusiasts. From hunting optics like binoculars and riflescopes to spotting scopes, hunters rely on precise vision. Field dressing kits with gut hooks, bone saws, and skinning blades ensure efficient processing of game. Camouflage patterns and fabrics provide hunters with effective concealment. Game calls attract targets while adhering to bag limits and licenses ensures compliance with regulations. Certifications are important for demonstrating proficiency. Technological advancements like GPS tracking devices aid in navigation and tracking game patterns and behavior. The market thrives on providing hunters with reliable, durable equipment that enhances their outdoor experience. Table of Contents: 1 Executive Summary 2 Market Landscape 3 Market Sizing 4 Historic Market Size 5 Five Forces Analysis 6 Market Segmentation Distribution Channel Offline Online Product Gun And Rifles Auxiliary Equipment Archery Others Geography North America Europe APAC South America Middle East And Africa 7 Customer Landscape 8 Geographic Landscape 9 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends 10 Company Landscape 11 Company Analysis 12 Appendix About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. Contacts Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media & Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: [email protected] Website: www.technavio.com/ SOURCE Technavio DENVER, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Brown Palace Hotel & Spa a legendary hotel located in the heart of downtown Denver since 1892 proudly announces the launch of a reimagined Summer menu for Palace Arms, one of the city's most iconic restaurants. Through the talents and expertise of executive chef Kim Moyle, Palace Arms comes to life with a reimagined, "Colorado inspired and Summer embracing," menu. Open Thursday through Saturday, from 5pm to 9pm, the reconceptualized menu offers flavor focused cuisine incorporating local ingredients and cultural influences that reflect the state's unique character alongside a hand-crafted specialty cocktail menu and an award-winning wine list. The newly curated menu features an array of delectable dishes including the Elk Chop complimented with Colorado Mountain Mushrooms and a Colorado Huckleberry Demi Glaze as well as the Rocky Mountain Trout with a locally sourced Vegetable Farro among other Chef favorites. Additionally, patrons are able to buyout or cater from Palace Arms which offers a unique and fun experience as guests get to celebrate any occasion amongst Napoleonic artifacts and elevated decor all while enjoying the revamped culinary creations of Chef Kim Moyle. "I am excited to showcase such a refined, yet approachable menu that boasts the bold and intrinsic tastes of Colorado," said executive chef Kim Moyle. "The reimagined menu is a true celebration of Colorado cuisine and a tribute to the city that has embraced the Grand Dame of Denver for over a century." This relaunch follows the proactive decision to temporarily suspend operations of Palace Arms while the restaurant underwent a reimagination to better reflect the experiences diners are currently seeking. "As we continue to evolve to best meet the interests of both guests and locals, our mission to protect the integrity of the Palace Arms' experience while delivering the exceptional service we pride ourselves on remains the same," said general manager Jana Smith. "The reimagined Summer menu is just the start of our ongoing goal to weave in fresh and modern offerings, while upholding many of the time-honored traditions The Brown Palace is known for." In an effort to further support the local community, The Brown Palace Hotel & Spa has partnered with Food for Thought Denver for the month of June. Food For Thought is a non-profit organization that strives to eliminate weekend hunger for children in the Denver Metro Area by providing food for the weekend to those who rely on free and reduced lunch programs at school for their daily meals. Ten percent of all sales at Palace Arms will be donated to help make a difference in the lives of the deserving children in the Denver community. The Brown Palace Hotel & Spa is a Forbes Four Star, AAA Four Diamond luxury landmark located in the heart of downtown Denver. Having played host to presidents, celebrities and royalty for more than 128 years, The Brown is known as one of the city's oldest and most prestigious businesses. Encompassing 243 richly appointed guestrooms and presidential suites; six iconic dining options such as Ellyngton's, Palace Arms, Ship Tavern and the renowned Afternoon Tea in the Atrium Lobby; more than 20,000 sq. ft. of flexible meeting space and the luxurious spa, The Brown Palace captivates guests with its historic heritage fused with modern-day amenities. This icon is also part of Marriott International's signature Autograph Collection, an exclusive collection of upscale and luxury hotels within the global portfolio. For more information on Palace Arms at The Brown Palace Hotel & Spa, please visit www.brownpalace.com. To make a reservation at Palace Arms, please call 303-294-3659 or visit Open Table. MEDIA CONTACT: Kaitlin Harris The Zimmerman Agency [email protected] SOURCE The Brown Palace Hotel & Spa SAN FRANCISCO and SUZHOU, China, May 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovent Biologics, Inc. ("Innovent") (HKEX: 01801), a world-class biopharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and commercializes high-quality medicines for the treatment of cancer, metabolic, autoimmune, ophthalmology and other major diseases, today announced that the New Drug Application (NDA) for IBI311, a recombinant anti-insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) antibody, has been accepted and granted priority review designation by the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of the China National Drug Administration (NMPA) for the treatment of Thyroid Eye Disease (TED). IBI311 is the first anti-IGF-1R antibody with NDA submitted in China. As a biological drug with a novel mechanism of action, IBI311 will potentially resolve an over 60-years shortage of innovative TED drugs in China by offering an effective, safe and accessible treatment option for Chinese TED patients. This NDA was accepted based on the positive results of a Phase 3 registration clinical study RESTORE-1 (CTR20223393) in subjects with TED in China. The primary endpoint of the study was successfully met in February 2024. Significant improvements in proptosis, disease activity, and quality of life were observed in the IBI311 group compared to placebo. The overall safety profile of IBI311 was favorable, and no new safety signals were identified. Detailed results of the RESTORE-1 study will be presented at medical conferences or journals in 2024.https://www.prnasia.com/story/436967-1.shtml TED is an autoimmune disease that causes progressive inflammation and damage to tissues around the eyes. The annual incidence of TED is estimated to be 16/100,000 in women and 2.9/100,000 in men [1], with the estimated prevalence of 0.1-0.3%[2].The use of IGF-1R-targeted antibody has been recommended in multiple clinical treatment guidelines worldwide[3, 4, 5]; particularly, IGF-1R-targeted antibody is recommended as first-line therapy for patients with clinically significant proptosis. In China, there exists an urgent need for effective, safe and accessible treatment options. Professor Xianqun Fan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the leading principal investigator of the study, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai JiaoTong University School of Medicine, stated, "TED is one of the most common orbital diseases in adults, with proptosis as the most apparent clinical manifestation. The course of TED is protracted, which seriously impairs patients' visual function and appearance, and usually brings a heavy psychological burden to patients. In China, physicians are hampered with limited choice of treatment. IBI311 has shown encouraging efficacy with respect to proptosis and orbital soft tissue inflammation with good safety in clinical studies. As the principal investigator of the RESTORE-1 study, I am proud of the NDA submission based on IBI311's promising efficacy and safety demonstrated in the pivotal study and would like to thank the effort of all investigators from participating sites. We look forward to the approval of IBI311, which will be a great advance in the management of TED and benefit more Chinese patients." Dr. Lei Qian, Vice President of Clinical Development of Innovent, stated, "We are honored to receive the regulatory acceptance of NDA for IBI311 with the support and dedication of participants, investigators and regulatory authorities. IBI311 has demonstrated favorable safety and comprehensive efficacy benefits in the RESTORE-1 study, including relief of proptosis, control of disease activity, and improvement in quality of life. We will actively communicate with the regulatory authorities during the NDA review and hope to provide an effective, safe and more accessible treatment option for Chinese TED patients as soon as possible. Innovent is strategically establishing its innovative commercial and late-stage portfolio in the fields of ophthalmology, autoimmunity, cardiovascular and metabolic (CVM) , aiming to help more people pursue a healthy life." About Thyroid Eye Disease (TED) TED is an autoimmune disease involving ocular tissues and is usually associated with Graves' disease (GD) and is the most common orbit-related disease in adults. TED occurs in approximately 25 to 50% of GD patients and can also be seen in other thyroid diseases, even in euthyroidism[6]. The annual incidence of TED is estimated to be 16/100,000 in women and 2.9/100,000 in men[1]and the estimated prevalence of clinically relevant TED ranges from 0.1% to 0.3%[2]. According to disease severity, it can be divided into mild, moderate and severe. Although TED appears to affect women more often, severe cases occur more frequently in men. Patients aged 30 to 50 years are most commonly affected, and severe cases occur more frequently in patients over 50 years[7]. At present, the pathogenesis of TED is not fully understood, but several studies have shown that orbital fibrous present in muscle fibers, orbital fibrous connective tissue space are key factors leading to orbital soft tissue enlargement in TED[8]. The natural history of TED is divided into active and inactive phases[9]. The most common symptoms are dry eye, ocular gritty, photophobia, lacrimation, diplopia, and pressure behind the eye, while typical signs include upper eyelid retraction, eyelid edema, periorbital and conjunctival edema, and proptosis. TED is usually mild to moderate, and about 35% of patients with TED are severe, manifesting as severe pain, vision-threatening corneal ulcers, or compressive optic neuropathy[10]. In addition to potentially affecting vision, TED can have an extremely severe impact on the patient's appearance and social functioning and quality of life. Currently, the first-line treatment option for moderately severe active TED is intravenous glucocorticoid therapy, which suffers from unsatisfactory improvement of proptosis and systemic side effects, and second-line treatment includes other immunomodulators, which also have risks related to unclear improvement of proptosis and treatment. Teprotumumab, Tocilizumab and Rituximab are recommended by the Chinese Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment Guidelines for Thyroid Eye Disease (2022)[3], the European Group on Graves' orbitopathy (EUGOGO)[4] and the consensus on thyroid eye disease of the American Thyroid Society and the European Thyroid Society[5] as the second-line treatment options for moderate to severe active TED. Teprotumumab targeting IGF-1R is recommended as first-line therapy for patients with clinically significant proptosis. About IBI311 IBI311 is a recombinant anti-IGF-1R antibody developed by Innovent for the treatment of TED. IGF-1R is a transmembrane tyrosine kinase receptor that plays a role in the development, metabolism, and immune regulation, and is overexpressed in OFs, B, and T cells of TED patients[11]. IBI311 can bind IGF-1R, block IGF-1R signaling pathway activation mediated by IGF-1 and other related ligands or agonistic antibodies, reduce the expression of downstream inflammatory factors, thereby inhibiting the synthesis of hyaluronic acid and other glycosaminoglycan caused by OFs activation, as well as related inflammatory reactions including tissue congestion and edema; inhibit adipocyte cellularization of OFs, thereby reducing the disease activity of patients with TED and improving proptosis, diplopia, ocular congestion and edema among other symptoms and signs. In May 2024, the NDA for IBI311 was accepted by the NMPA for the treatment of TED. About Innovent Innovent is a leading biopharmaceutical company founded in 2011 with the mission to empower patients worldwide with affordable, high-quality biopharmaceuticals. The company discovers, develops, manufactures and commercializes innovative medicines that treat some of the most intractable illnesses. Its pioneering therapies to treat cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic, autoimmune and eye diseases. Innovent has 10 products in the market, 4 new drug applications under the NMPA review, 4 assets in Phase III or pivotal clinical trials and 18 more molecules in early clinical stage. Innovent partners with over 30 global healthcare leaders, including Eli Lilly, Roche, Sanofi, Adimab, Incyte and MD Anderson Cancer Center. Guided by the motto, "Start with Integrity, Succeed through Action," Innovent maintains the highest standard of industry practices and works collaboratively to advance the biopharmaceutical industry so that first-rate pharmaceutical drugs can become widely accessible. For more information, visit www.innoventbio.com , or follow Innovent on Facebook and LinkedIn. Statement: Innovent does not recommend the use of any unapproved drug (s)/indication (s). Forward-looking statement This news release may contain certain forward-looking statements that are, by their nature, subject to significant risks and uncertainties. The words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend" and similar expressions, as they relate to Innovent Biologics ("Innovent"), are intended to identify certain of such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend to update these forward-looking statements regularly. These forward-looking statements are based on the existing beliefs, assumptions, expectations, estimates, projections and understandings of the management of the Company with respect to future events at the time these statements are made. These statements are not a guarantee of future developments and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond the Company's control and are difficult to predict. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from information contained in the forward-looking statements as a result of future changes or developments in our business, the Company's competitive environment and political, economic, legal and social conditions. The Company, the Directors and the employees of the Company assume (a) no obligation to correct or update the forward-looking statements contained in this site; and (b) no liability in the event that any of the forward-looking statements does not materialize or is otherwise inaccurate. References 1. Li Z, Cestari D M, Fortin E. Thyroid eye disease: what is new to know? Curr Opin Ophthalmol. 2018; 29 (6): 528-534. 2. Bartley G. The epidemiological characteristics and clinical course of ophthalmology associated with autoimmune thyroid disease in Olmsted Country, Minnesota. Trans Am Ophthalmol Soc 1994; 92: 477-588. 3. Hiromatsu Y, Eguchi H, Tani J, Kasaoka M, Teshima Y. Graves' ophthalmopathy: epidemiology and natural history. Intern Med. 2014; 53 (5): 353-60. 4. Edsel I. Thyroid Associated Orbitopathy. Retrieved June 7, 2011, from Medscape Reference: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1218444-overview # a1http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1218444-overview 5. Ali F, Chorsiya A, Anjum V, Ali A. Teprotumumab (TEPEZZA): From the Discovery and Development of Medicines to USFDA Approvals for Active Thyroid Eye Disease (TED) Treatment. Int Ophthalmol. 2021; 41 (4): 1549-1561. 6. Dolman P J. Evaluating Graves' orbitopathy. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012; 26 (3): 229-248. 7. Bahn R S. Graves' ophthalmopathy. N Engl J Med. 2010; 362 (8): 726-738. 8. Bartalena L, Kahaly GJ, Baldeschi L, et al. The 2021 European Group on Graves' Orbitopathy (EUGOGO) clinical practice guidelines for the medical management of Graves' Orbitopathy. Eur J Endocrinol. 2021; 185 (4): G43-G67. 9. Group of Oculoplastic and Orbital Diseases, Chinese Ophthalmology Branch, Chinese Medical Association; Group of Thyroid Diseases, Chinese Endocrinology Branch, Chinese Medical Association. Chinese Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Thyroid Associated Ophthalmopathy (2022). Chinese Journal of Ophthalmology. 2022; 58 (9). 10. Burch HB, et al. Management of Thyroid Eye Disease: a Consensus Statement by the American Thyroid Association and the European Thyroid Association. Eur Thyroid J. 2022; 11 (6): e220189. 11. Douglas RS, Naik V, Hwang CJ, et al. B cells from patients with Graves' disease erase express the IGF-1 receptor: implications for disease pathogenesis. J Immunol 2008; 181: 5768-5774. SOURCE Innovent Biologics AUSTIN, Texas, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- QuoteWell, a tech-driven insurance wholesale broker, has partnered with industry trade association the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT) to help deliver a responsive and transparent wholesale brokerage experience to IIAT's 9,000+ agency members. By leveraging QuoteWell's advanced AI-driven platform, IIAT members will gain access to a more efficient submission process, real-time status updates, and comprehensive support from experienced underwriters. "We are thrilled to partner with QuoteWell to enhance our members' capabilities in accessing specialty commercial markets," said Marit Peters, IIAT President and Executive Director. "QuoteWell is an innovative solution that will empower our members to expand their business horizons and deliver exceptional value to their clients." "Partnering with IIAT is fantastic opportunity for QuoteWell to join forces with a respected Texas institution, reinforcing our commitment to supporting independent agents and fostering their success in the ever-evolving insurance industry," said Joey Bouchard, QuoteWell CEO. For more information about the partnership and how IIAT members can benefit, please visit the QuoteWell partnership page on the IIAT website. About QuoteWell Founded in 2021, QuoteWell is a tech-driven insurance wholesale broker delivering a responsive and transparent experience to retail agents and carriers. The company has raised $20MM in funding and is licensed to operate in 44 states. Learn more about how to get appointed and their appetite at quotewell.com. About IIAT The Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT) is the largest association of independent insurance agents in Texas, dedicated to promoting the success and growth of independent agents. IIAT provides its members with advocacy, education, and resources to help them thrive in the competitive insurance industry. SOURCE QuoteWell LAS VEGAS, May 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- InventHelp's Virtual Invention Browsing Experience, or VIBE, will be exhibiting at Licensing Expo 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Licensing Expo, the world's largest licensing trade show, will once again open its doors to attendees May 21-23, 2024. Companies registered to exhibit this year include Paramount, Hasbro, Funko, Pokemon, and more. InventHelp's Virtual Invention Browsing Experience, or VIBE, will be exhibiting at Licensing Expo 2024 in Las Vegas. Post this "Brands at Play", the theme for 2024's annual show, will celebrate the concept of play and the power it holds for all ages. The theme will spotlight the creativity that play allows when building a brand. Among the brands, InventHelp will exhibit VIBE, a technology platform that allows qualified companies to review InventHelp client invention ideas in confidence. VIBE utilizes large touchscreens to present inventions as 3D models or images along with invention descriptions. These state-of-the-art viewing stations allow business representatives to enjoy privacy and comfort as they review InventHelp client inventions that are available for licensing or sale. The first 50 qualifying companies who enter VIBE at booth G-188 to look for new ideas will receive a Starbucks gift card. Attendees can take advantage of this year's multitude of roundtables, parades, and events including keynote speaker, Paris Hilton. According to the show's description of the keynote, "The session will feature insights from Hilton, Gersh, and Dekel on how to leverage influence, build a brand, and scale IP across multiple categories and platforms." InventHelp will also be hosting an event to commemorate 40 years of helping inventors on day 2 of Licensing Expo. InventHelp's 40th Birthday Party will feature Cavey, InventHelp's mascot. Cavey will also be walking in the Character Parade among other beloved characters including Bluey, the Kool-aid Man, and more. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to see content from the show. CONTACT: Maria Jones, [email protected] SOURCE InventHelp Wraparound before and after school programming through KinderCare's Champions brand now available in select National Heritage Academies schools in Colorado, Michigan, and Ohio LAKE OSWEGO, Ore., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- KinderCare Learning Companies today announced that Champions, KinderCare's before-and-after school program, will be available for registered National Heritage Academies charter school families across 16 select schools in Colorado, Michigan and Ohio in the 2024-2025 school year. Champions currently provides out-of-school-time learning programs for school-age children at more than 900 schools nationwide. "A recent study showed that 7 out of 10 parents are constantly thinking about child care gaps. We know it can be challenging for some parents to bridge those gaps between school hours and work hours," said Dan Figurski, President of Champions and KinderCare for Employers. "We're proud to provide this solution for National Heritage Academies parents and childrenit's an extension of the school day, at their school." Before and after school programming through KinderCare's Champions brand available in select National Heritage Academies Post this The Champions programs will provide before-and-after school care from 6:30 a.m. to the start of the school day and again from the end of the school day until 6 p.m. Many families in the National Heritage Academies network also qualify for child care subsidy programs, which Champions can assist with, making before-and after-school programs accessible for eligible families who may otherwise struggle to find affordable out-of-school-time options. Champions, which has more than 25 years of experience in before- and after-school programs, earned corporate accreditation from Cognia. Children enrolled in Champions programs learn from qualified providers important skills and life lessons related to STEM, social and academic development, physical education, literacy, creative expression and more to create a whole-child approach KinderCare is known for. Participating Schools: Colorado Mountain View Academy, Colorado Springs Ohio Alliance Academy of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Orion Academy, Cincinnati Bennett Venture Academy, Toledo Winterfield Venture Academy, Toledo Stambaugh Charter Academy, Youngstown Michigan Flagship Charter Academy, Detroit Ridge Park Charter Academy, Grand Rapids Paramount Charter Academy, Kalamazoo Holly Park Academy, Lansing Prevail Academy, Mount Clemens Reach Charter Academy, Roseville Metro Charter Academy, Romulus North Saginaw Charter Academy, Saginaw Quest Charter Academy, Taylor East Arbor Charter Academy, Ypsilanti Families interested in learning more about Champions programs at these National Charter Academies charter schools or enrolling their student can find additional information online. About KinderCare Learning Companies A leading provider early childhood and school-age education and care, KinderCare builds confidence for life in children and families from all backgrounds. KinderCare supports hardworking families in 40 states and the District of Columbia with differentiated flexible child care solutions to meet today's dynamic work environment: In neighborhoods, with KinderCare Learning Centers that offer early learning programs for children six weeks to 12 years old and with Creme de la Creme School , which offers a premium early education model using a variety of themed classrooms; that offer early learning programs for children six weeks to 12 years old and with , which offers a premium early education model using a variety of themed classrooms; At work, through KinderCare Learning Companies for Employers , providing customized family benefits for employers across the country, including employer-supported child care benefits, on-site and near-site early learning centers and back-up care for last-minute child care, and In local schools, with Champions before and after-school programs. KinderCare programs meet the highest standards, validated by independent, third-party evaluation including: Gallup , measuring workforce engagement, , measuring workforce engagement, National Association for the Education of Young Children , ensuring individual early learning center quality, Cognia , accreditation for before- and after-school programs BRIGANCE and TerraNova assessments of children's academic progress and achievement, and WELL Health-Safety Rating , validating health and safety practices in our facilities. Headquartered in Lake Oswego, Oregon, KinderCare operates more than 2,400 early learning centers and sites. In 2024, KinderCare earned its eighth Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award one of only two current organizations worldwide to achieve this milestone for eight consecutive years. To learn more, visit KC-Learning.com. Media Contact Colleen Moran KinderCare Learning Companies 503-872-1300, option 3 [email protected] SOURCE KinderCare Learning Companies CHANHASSEN, Minn., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: LTH) today announced the webcast information for its Investor and Analyst Day taking place on Thursday, May 30, 2024. As shared during its first quarter financial results call on May 1, 2024, Life Time will host the Investor and Analyst Day at its Corporate Office in Chanhassen, Minnesota. The Life Time leadership team will present on a range of topics of interest for the investor community, including an overview of the Company's evolution into a leading healthy way of life leisure company. A question and answer session will be held following the presentations. Attending In-Person Institutional Investors Institutional investors who would like to attend in-person should contact Ken Cooper at [email protected] or (952) 406-2322. Webcast Information Date: Thursday, May 30, 2024 Time: 9:30 a.m. ET ( 8:30 a.m. CT ) until approximately 12:30 p.m. ET ( 11:30 a.m. CT ) ( ) until approximately ( ) Register for the Webcast: LTH May 30 Investor & Analyst Day To view the webcast, you will be provided a password upon confirming your email. It is recommended to register in advance. A link to register for the live webcast will also be available at https://ir.lifetime.life . Replay Information Webcast A recorded replay of the webcast will be available within approximately four hours of the conclusion of the event and may be accessed at: https://ir.lifetime.life. Materials The Investor Materials will be posted to https://ir.lifetime.life at approximately 7:00 a.m. ET (6:00 a.m. CT) on Thursday, May 30, 2024. About Life Time Life Time (NYSE: LTH) empowers people to live healthy, happy lives through its portfolio of more than 170 athletic country clubs across the United States and Canada. The health and wellness pioneer also delivers a range of healthy way of life programs and information via its complimentary Life Time Digital app. The Company's healthy living, healthy aging, healthy entertainment communities and ecosystem serve people 90 days to 90+ years old and is supported by a team of more than 39,000 dedicated professionals. In addition to delivering the best programs and experiences through its clubs, Life Time owns and produces nearly 30 of the most iconic athletic events in the country. SOURCE Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. MIAMI, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockton Caribbean & Central America (CCA) announced today the launch of CCA FAB, the insurance broking industry's first Food, Agriculture & Beverage practice focusing exclusively on the region. The new Food, Agriculture & Beverage practice within Lockton CCA the Miami-based wholesale insurance and reinsurance operation focused on the region, within Lockton's Latin America and Caribbean Insurance Services Series (LACIS) will deliver tailor-made insurance solutions to companies at all points along the value chain of the food, agriculture and beverage industries. Among other potential offerings, these include bespoke liability insurance and contract review, crop insurance, stock throughput solutions, product liability and recall insurance, reputational damage insurance, and financial and professional coverages. Lockton CCA has historically served many high-profile local and global food, agriculture and beverage companies with exposures within the region, including food distribution companies, distilleries, breweries, and soft drink manufacturers, on behalf of local independent brokers and insurers. The new CCA FAB practice, working as a wholesaler, will deliver new and innovative solutions designed for the food, agriculture, and beverage industry to these brokers and insurers to better serve their clients. Lockton named Simon Arden and Mario Martinez as co-leaders of CCA FAB. They will jointly report to Julian Pratt, CEO of Lockton CCA, and Tony Matta, President of CCA. Arden and Martinez, insurance industry veterans with history and experience in the Caribbean and Central America, will work closely with Lockton's global Food, Agriculture & Beverage practices in both London and the United States to help food, agriculture and beverage industry companies effectively manage their risk. "As the food, agriculture, and beverage sector in the Caribbean and Central America grows and evolves, businesses need tailored advice from brokers who understand the industry and the region," Arden said. "Lockton CCA is excited to help deliver outside-the-box thinking and problem-solving to help industry participants manage their most critical operational, financial, and reputational risks and build competitively priced and responsive insurance programs." About Lockton What makes Lockton stand apart is also what makes us better: independence. Lockton's private ownership empowers its 11,500+ Associates doing business in over 140 countries to focus solely on clients' risk, insurance and people needs. With expertise that reaches around the globe, Lockton delivers the deep understanding needed to accomplish remarkable results. For more information, visit www.lockton.com. SOURCE Lockton C$ unless otherwise stated TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC SEHK: 945 TORONTO, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - Manulife Financial Corporation ("Manulife") today announced the applicable dividend rates for its Non-cumulative Rate Reset Class 1 Shares Series 15 (the "Series 15 Preferred Shares") (TSX: MFC.PR.L) and Non-cumulative Floating Rate Class 1 Shares Series 16 (the "Series 16 Preferred Shares"). With respect to any Series 15 Preferred Shares that remain outstanding after June 19, 2024, holders thereof will be entitled to receive fixed rate non-cumulative preferential cash dividends on a quarterly basis, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of Manulife and subject to the provisions of the Insurance Companies Act (Canada). The dividend rate for the five-year period commencing on June 20, 2024, and ending on June 19, 2029, will be 5.77500% per annum or $0.360938 per share per quarter, being equal to the sum of the five-year Government of Canada bond yield as at May 21, 2024, plus 2.16%, as determined in accordance with the terms of the Series 15 Preferred Shares. With respect to any Series 16 Preferred Shares that may be issued in connection with the conversion of the Series 15 Preferred Shares into the Series 16 Preferred Shares, holders thereof will be entitled to receive floating rate non-cumulative preferential cash dividends on a quarterly basis, calculated on the basis of the actual number of days elapsed in each quarterly floating rate period divided by 365, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of Manulife and subject to the provisions of the Insurance Companies Act (Canada). The dividend rate for the three-month period commencing on June 20, 2024, and ending on September 19, 2024, will be 1.77245% (7.03200% on an annualized basis) or $0.443113 per share, being equal to the sum of the three-month Government of Canada Treasury bill yield as at May 21, 2024, plus 2.16%, as determined in accordance with the terms of the Series 16 Preferred Shares. Beneficial owners of Series 15 Preferred Shares who wish to exercise their right of conversion should instruct their broker or other nominee to exercise such right before 5:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on June 4, 2024. Conversion inquiries should be directed to Manulife's Registrar and Transfer Agent, TSX Trust Company, at 18007839495. The Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") has conditionally approved the listing of the Series 16 Preferred Shares effective upon conversion. Listing of the Series 16 Preferred Shares is subject to Manulife fulfilling all the listing requirements of the TSX and, upon approval, the Series 16 Preferred Shares will be listed on the TSX under the trading symbol "MFC.PR.S". The Series 15 Preferred Shares and the Series 16 Preferred Shares have not been and will not be registered in the United States under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or the securities laws of any state of the United States and may not be offered, sold or delivered, directly or indirectly in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, a "U.S. person" (as defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act) absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy securities in the United States and any public offering of the securities in the United States must be made by means of a prospectus. About Manulife Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we provide financial advice and insurance, operating as Manulife across Canada, Asia, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States. Through Manulife Investment Management, the global brand for our Global Wealth and Asset Management segment, we serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. At the end of 2023, we had more than 38,000 employees, over 98,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 35 million customers. We trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges, and under '945' in Hong Kong. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com . SOURCE Manulife Financial Corporation The Mini-Doc Showcases Midea's Cold-Climate Heat Pump System and the Transformation of a Residential Facility in Alaska LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Midea America, in collaboration with Warner Bros. Discovery, is proud to present "Project Homestead," an inspirational mini-documentary showcasing the transformative renovation of Willow Ranch. Willow Ranch is a residential facility near Willow, Alaska operated by Hope Community Resources, the foremost provider of support services to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, traumatic brain injuries, mental health challenges and complex medical conditions in Alaska. Project Homestead highlights the installation of various Midea home appliances and its innovative, energy-efficient, cold-climate heat pump system, which will provide a warm haven for a deserving household for years to come. To watch the mini-documentary, please follow this link. An Inside Look into Project Homestead In this heartwarming film, viewers will witness the transformation of a house on the Willow Ranch property, home to four residents supported by Hope Community Resources. The collaborative efforts of Midea, Warner Bros. Discovery, Hope Community Resources, local contractors and volunteers provided a life-changing, all-expense-paid home renovation. Willow, Alaska, with its extreme climate, serves as the perfect backdrop for this project, underlining the importance of warm, energy-efficient living environments. Midea was thrilled to be involved in this project to showcase its desire to make energy-efficient heat pump technology more accessible across all communities. Hosted by Jeff Thorman, seasoned general contractor and the face of Home RenoVision DIY, the film explores how home renovation can positively impact the lives of people in need. "I am thoroughly impressed with the exceptional performance of Midea's cold-climate heat pump system, especially in the challenging harsh winter conditions of Alaska," expressed Jeff Thorman. "Having been in the home renovation industry for 25 years, I have a deep appreciation for innovative technologies that not only provide essential comforts but do so in an energy-efficient and cost-effective manner. Midea's system is a testament to what modern engineering can achieve delivering reliable heating even in extreme cold, which is a game-changer for regions like Alaska." Midea's Heat Pump System Midea's cold-climate heat pump system can deliver efficient heating and cooling in all American climates, even northern regions during harsh winters. While heat pumps historically have a reputation for underperforming in temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, in recent lab testing sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Energy as part of its Cold Climate Heat Pump Technology Challenge, Midea's cold-climate heat pump system achieved 118% of rated capacity heating output at -15 degrees Fahrenheit debunking the myth that heat pumps only work in mild climates and proving that heat pumps are the HVAC systems of the future, everywhere. This also comes at a time of extreme demand for cost-effective and energy-efficient options, with the supply and transportation costs of fossil fuel in Alaska continuing to rise. "Midea is at the forefront of heat pump innovation, designing contractor and user-friendly systems that are making this modern technology accessible for all," said David Rames, Senior Product Manager, Midea America Corp. "Our commitment to innovation and diverse solutions reflects our dedication to making a positive impact on everyone who needs high performing, highly efficient comfort solutions. The efficacy of our heat pump system in Alaska especially for residents in need is the ultimate proof and something in which we take immense pride." Production units of Midea's forthcoming cold-climate heat pump system are slated to be available in the summer of 2024. Additional Midea Appliances Beyond the Midea cold-climate heat pump system, the renovation also featured the installation of other Midea home products and technologies intended to enhance the comfort and well-being of the residents: a refrigerator, air fryer and oven. Midea's SmartHome application and technology will also allow Hope Community Resources to control and monitor operation remotely and provide useful information regarding usage, condition and energy consumption. For more information, please visit midea.com/us. ABOUT MIDEA AMERICA Midea America Corp. is the U.S. subsidiary of Midea Group Co., Ltd., a publicly listed, Fortune 500 company and the world's leading manufacturer of home appliances. Midea America Corp. is headquartered in Parsippany, NJ and has a Research and Development Center in Louisville, Kentucky. With more than 150,000 employees and presence in over 195 countries, Midea's products touch the lives of millions of families through air treatment, refrigeration, laundry, small and large kitchen appliances, water appliances, floor care and lighting. ABOUT WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD) is a leading global media and entertainment company that creates and distributes the world's most differentiated and complete portfolio of content and brands across television, film and streaming. Available in more than 220 countries and territories and 50 languages, Warner Bros. Discovery inspires, informs and entertains audiences worldwide through its iconic brands and products including: Discovery Channel, Max, discovery+, CNN, DC, Eurosport, HBO, HGTV, Food Network, OWN, Investigation Discovery, TLC, Magnolia Network, TNT, TBS, truTV, Travel Channel, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, Warner Bros. Television Group, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, Warner Bros. Games, New Line Cinema, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies, Discovery en Espanol, Hogar de HGTV and others. For more information, please visit www.wbd.com. SOURCE Midea PHOENIX, May 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- U-Box Load Share, the latest green initiative from U-Haul to support today's gig economy, is a 2024 Champions of Change honoree. U-Haul was among 10 finalists recognized as the "Most Innovative" companies on May 16 at the DoubleTree Resort in Paradise Valley, thanks to its implementation of the groundbreaking Load Share program. U-Haul customers have performed more than 35,000 U-Box Load Share transactions since the ecofriendly program's inception, helping families get their belongings sooner while cutting down on freight tractor-trailer shipments and carbon emissions produced. The Champions of Change awards are hosted by Az Business Magazine, an AZ Big Media publication, to celebrate dynamic innovators and trailblazers, visionary thinkers and philanthropists, and business and nonprofit leaders across Arizona. "Being named a Champion of Change is a great honor, and it's further affirmation that U-Box Load Share is needed in today's economy," said Sam Shoen, U-Box Program Director. "The environmental impact of Load Share is very real, and our customers appreciate that along with the many other benefits. We are providing a safe, collaborative way to engage in smarter and greener moving solutions." This is the latest in a line of commendations for U-Box Load Share. In December, it was named the 2023 Best in Biz Awards gold winner for Most Environmentally Friendly Service of the Year. It also earned silver awards for Most Innovative Service of the Year and Consumer Service of the Year. That comes on the heels of winning 2022 Sustainability Service of the Year from The Business Intelligence Group and being named a 2022 Social Impact Awards finalist by PR News. How does U-Box Load Share work? A Load Share occurs when a family moving its belongings in a U-Haul truck agrees to tow a trailer loaded with another family's U-Box portable moving container to the same destination city. Each transaction is monitored and managed by centralized U-Haul personnel. A vetting process is used to pre-select potential candidates, with priority on those customers with previous rental truck and towing experience. When a Load Share is performed, the cost savings from not needing to contract a freight tractor-trailer for the U-Box shipment is allocated in three ways: A discount to the U-Haul truck rental customer's rate Lower one-way rates charged to all U-Box customers Funding newer and safer equipment, and retrofitting existing equipment with improved safety and convenience features The unique thing about U-Box Load Share is that it is not intended nor designed to make U-Haul a profit. It was created to facilitate people helping people and benefit the environment. To date, more than 35,000 Load Shares have been completed. Shared Use, Shared Responsibility Allan Yang, U-Haul Chief Sustainability Officer and Scientist, noted that awards for U-Box Load Share underline the Company's commitment to sustainability, decarbonization and industry-defining innovation. "U-Haul is a shared-use business," Yang stated. "Our shared-use products and services not only address the challenges of resource efficiency, but also cultivate a sense of community among our sustainability stakeholders. By pooling resources and optimizing the towing capacity of trucks, U-Box Load Share brings forth a paradigm shift towards sustainable and shared mobility." Beyond U-Box Load Share, U-Haul environmentally friendly initiatives include the Company's core model of having communities share a moving truck or trailer rather than individuals needing to own trucks and large-capacity vehicles to transport their belongings; U-Haul Adaptive Reuse, a program for preserving and repurposing existing buildings for new stores rather than engaging in teardowns and ground-up projects with each acquisition, thus reducing carbon emissions and the need for new-building materials (about 70% of U-Haul-owned facilities are the result of Adaptive Reuse); U-Haul truck modifications to incorporate a low profile, rounded corners and advanced chassis skirts to reduce wind drag and improve fuel economy up to 20% (in addition to fuel economy gauges in every new-production U-Haul truck); and green products like plastic U-Haul Ready-To-Go Boxes that get shared hundreds of times before being recycled. About U-HAUL Founded in 1945, U-Haul is the No. 1 choice of do-it-yourself movers with more than 23,000 rental locations across all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. The enhanced U-Haul app makes it easier for customers to use U-Haul Truck Share 24/7 to access trucks anytime through the self-dispatch and self-return options on their smartphones through our patented Live Verify technology. Our customers' patronage has enabled the U-Haul fleet to grow to 192,200 trucks, 138,500 trailers and 44,500 towing devices. U-Haul is the third largest self-storage operator in North America with 967,000 rentable units and 83.3 million square feet of self-storage space at owned and managed facilities. U-Haul is the top retailer of propane in the U.S. and the largest installer of permanent trailer hitches in the automotive aftermarket industry. Get the U-Haul app from the App Store or Google Play . Contact: Jeff Lockridge E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 602-760-4941 Website: uhaul.com SOURCE U-Haul WASHINGTON, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA announced Tuesday it selected a new instrument to study the Sun and how it creates massive solar eruptions. The agency's Joint EUV coronal Diagnostic Investigation, or JEDI, will capture images of the Sun in extreme ultraviolet light, a type of light invisible to our eyes but reveals many of the underlying mechanisms of the Sun's activity. The Joint EUV coronal Diagnostic Investigation (JEDI) will fly aboard the European Space Agencys Vigil space weather mission and capture new views that will help researchers connect features on the Suns surface to those in the Suns outer atmosphere, the corona. Once integrated aboard the ESA's (European Space Agency's) Vigil space weather mission, JEDI's two telescopes will focus on the middle layer of the solar corona, a region of the Sun's atmosphere that plays a key role in creating the solar wind and the solar eruptions that cause space weather. The Vigil space mission, planned to launch in 2031, is expected to provide around-the-clock space weather data from a unique position at Sun-Earth Lagrange point 5 a gravitationally stable point about 60 degrees behind Earth in its orbit. This vantage point will give space weather researchers and forecasters a new angle to study the Sun and its eruptions. NASA's JEDI will be the first instrument to provide a constant view of the Sun from this perspective in extreme ultraviolet light giving scientists a trove of new data for research, while simultaneously supporting Vigil's ability to monitor space weather. "JEDI's observations will help us link the features we see on the Sun's surface with what we measure in the solar atmosphere, the corona," said Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Combined with Vigil's first-of-its-kind, eagle eye view of the Sun, this will change the way we understand the Sun's drivers of space weather which in turn can lead to improved warnings to mitigate space weather effects on satellites and humans in space as well as on Earth." The project is led by Don Hassler at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. The instrument is funded by the NASA Heliophysics Space Weather Program with a total cost not to exceed $45 million. Management oversight will be provided by the Living With a Star Program of the Explorers & Heliophysics Projects Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. For more information on NASA heliophysics missions, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/heliophysics SOURCE NASA Museum to Offer $5 General Admission on Memorial Day; New Exhibition, Ghost Army: The Combat Con Artists of World War II, Opens May 25 COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Veterans Memorial and Museum (NVMM) will host its annual Memorial Day Remembrance Ceremony on Monday, May 27, at 10 a.m. ET on the Rooftop. The event is open to all and included with a special $5 admission price on Memorial Day and free, as always, for Veterans and active-duty service members. The event will honor our fallen military members and the families they left behind with a wreath-laying ceremony and keynote address from Patrick J. Murphy, 32nd undersecretary of the U.S. Army and America's first Iraq War Veteran elected to U.S. Congress. The event will be live streamed nationally on YouTube and Facebook. New Exhibition, Ghost Army: The Combat Con Artists of World War II, Opens May 25 at National Veterans Memorial and Museum Post this The National Veterans Memorial and Museum will host an annual Memorial Day Remembrance Ceremony on Monday, May 27, at 10 a.m. ET. "It is with great honor and respect we remember the men and women of our armed forces who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedoms," said Colonel Bill Butler, U.S. Army (Retired), acting president of the NVMM. "At the NVMM, we tell the stories of all Veterans from all service branches throughout history, however, stories of the brave men and women whose lives were lost in service are among the most revered stories we have the privilege to share. We invite Veterans, patrons and the public to join us in honoring them and their families." This year, the NVMM is asking the public to help fill the museum lawn with flags to honor our fallen heroes. For a gift of $20 or more , the NVMM will plant a flag on the lawn and list your service member's name, service branch and rank on nationalvmm.org in remembrance of those who sacrificed their lives for our freedoms. Memorial Day weekend also marks the opening of a new exhibition, Ghost Army: The Combat Con Artists of World War II, exclusively sponsored by the E.L.Wiegand Foundation, and created by the National World War II Museum. Ghost Army explores how a little-known, 1,105-member, top-secret special troop of artists, engineers and soldiers were able to create and deploy the first mobile, tactical deception unit in U.S. Army history. The "Ghost Army," or officially the U.S. Army 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, was capable of simulating up to two divisions or 30,000 soldiers utilizing inflatable rubber tanks, trucks and planes, false radio messages, sound effects, and more to mislead enemy forces. Ghost Army, presented at the NVMM by the Central Ohio For Dealers, will be on view from May 25 through August 25 as part of a year-long commitment by the NVMM to tell stories from World War II, in honor of the 80th Anniversary of D-Day, Thursday, June 6. On that day, the NVMM will host reenactors, offer special crafts and activities for children, and, at 3 p.m., hold a panel discussion on how aviators cleared the skies for D-Day. All activities are included in a special admission price of $5. About the National Veterans Memorial and Museum The National Veterans Memorial and Museum takes visitors on a narrative journey telling individual stories and sharing experiences of Veterans from all military branches throughout history. The National Veterans Memorial and Museum pays tribute to the sacrifices of men and women in service and their families. History is presented through a dynamic, participatory experience with photos, letters and personal effects, multi-media presentations, and interactive exhibits. Together, these elements link our national story of service to the larger context of the world. SOURCE National Veterans Memorial & Museum White House Historical Association President Stewart McLaurin and Author Edward O'Keefe Discuss the Women Who Made Theodore Roosevelt Into a President WASHINGTON, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The White House Historical Association released a new episode of The White House 1600 Sessions podcast today featuring a conversation on the five extraordinary women without whom Theodore Roosevelt may never have become the 26th President of the United States. Stewart McLaurin, president of the Association, met with Edward O'Keefe, CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation and author of the new book, "The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President," to discuss the impact his mother, sisters and wives made on Roosevelt's life. In this episode, McLaurin and O'Keefe visit Theodore Roosevelt Island, the national memorial located in Washington, D.C.'s Potomac River, and reflect on the man born in New York City who would become known as "the conservation president." Theodore Roosevelt was an imperfect man of his time, one born to privilege but who advocated the strenuous life after struggling with ill-health and losing two of his greatest loves on the same day: his mother, Mittie, a Southern belle with a keen wit, and Alice, his college sweetheart and first wife. Both drew him away from science and into politics, including the support of women's suffrage. His older sister, Anna, would become his trusted advisor and political strategist, and his younger sister, Corinne, would be his top supporter and informal spokesperson. First Lady Edith Carow Roosevelt, Theodore's childhood playmate and second wife, would go on to leave her own mark on the White House both in the role of presidential spouse as well as with a major renovation of the Executive Mansion. The full video of this podcast episode is also available on the White House Historical Association's YouTube channel here. The White House 1600 Sessions podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The White House 1600 Sessions The White House Historical Association's President Stewart McLaurin is the host of The White House 1600 Sessions, the Association's official audio and video podcast devoted to exploring the history, cultural impact, untold stories, and personal accounts of America's most iconic residence and highest office. About the White House Historical Association The White House Historical Association was founded in 1961 by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy to support her vision to restore and preserve the Executive Mansion and its legacy for generations to come. Mrs. Kennedy sought to inspire Americans, especially children, to explore and engage with American history and its presidents. Supported entirely by private resources, the Association is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that has contributed more than $115 million to the White House in fulfillment of its mission. To learn more about the White House Historical Association, please visit WhiteHouseHistory.org. SOURCE The White House Historical Association Gathering hosted by CoHNA comes against the recent introduction of SCR104 condemning Hinduphobia TRENTON, N.J., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 15 State Senators and Assembly Members (Democrats and Republicans), attended the first ever Hindu Advocacy Day in New Jersey, hosted by the Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA). New Jersey is home to one of the largest Hindu communities in the US, and the bi-partisan event focused attention on their many contributions to the state across all sectors. Lawmakers also pledged support for the Hindu Heritage Month resolution for New Jersey , which has passed the Assembly and is now making its way to the Senate. Coming on the heels of the recently introduced resolution SCR 104 , CoHNA's Hindu Advocacy Day also focused on the growing problem of anti-Hindu hate and Hinduphobia . Senator Vin Gopal, the primary sponsor of the bill, joined the event in the middle of a busy senate schedule, recalled how he took his oath on the Bhagavad Gita while being sworn in, and that hate in any form must not be tolerated. He thanked CoHNA for working with his office on the resolution and invited the attendees to the Senate voting session for a special shoutout. "I am really excited CoHNA got a special shoutout and recognition in the Senate for coming to Trenton and hosting the Advocacy Day and working on the Hinduphobia resolution," said Hitesh Trivedi, CoHNA Board Member and Director of its NJ chapter. "We thank our New Jersey leaders for standing with the Hindu community and engaging in a constructive dialogue. As many of our lawmakers stressed today, it is critically important for Hindus to engage and talk with our elected officials - and a grassroots platform like CoHNA has been the starting ground for so many of us." FBI data and research from universities like Rutgers have documented the growing hate against Hindus in America. The rash of attacks on individuals and on Hindu temples from New York to California has brought the problem home in a most visceral way, traumatizing the community and impacting the ability of some to freely practice their faith. The gathering was addressed by lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, all of whom thanked the Hindu community for the scale, depth, and impact of their contributions to their districts, to New Jersey, and to the US as a whole. Others shared their experiences of being part of vibrant Hindu celebrations - be it Diwali, Holi, Navratri, Guru Vandana, or International Yoga Day. Upendra Chivukula , the first Hindu Assemblymember ever to be elected in New Jersey, shared insights from his decades of experience on why representation matters and how far the community has come. "If we don't ask, others will ask for us. Whoever gets to the lawmakers first will get their attention first," he said, thanking CoHNA for organizing this important day and bringing the community to Trenton to meet public officials. A Community Effort A number of Hindu community leaders attended the event and spoke of the important work that CoHNA is doing in representing the community and advocating for the causes that the community cares about and giving Hindus a platform. Speakers at the event explored the many different ways American Hindus can serve and give back to their community. "I was inspired by the Hindu values I learned while growing up through Bal Vihar camps in Massachusetts and New Jersey," said Cherry Hill Councilwoman Sangeeta Doshi , recalling her decision to run for office. The NJ Democratic Hindu Caucus Co-chairs, Falguni Pandya and Venu Menon, also talked about why the caucus was formed and how it has been advocating for the Hindu community. Collaboration between different organizations was also an important theme, where leaders like Dhiren Amin, President of Indian Business Association, Ganesh Ramakrishnan, NJ Communications Coordinator for Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, and community leader Dr. Mukund Thakar highlighted the need to work in tandem to amplify the positive impact on the community in various areas - from political representation and education to serving people regardless of race, ethnicity, or religion. Find pictures and comments from the event on our feed on X formerly known as Twitter. About CoHNA CoHNA is a grassroots level advocacy and civil rights organization dedicated to improving the understanding of Hinduism in North America by working on matters related to the Hindu community and by educating the public about Hindu heritage and tradition. For more information, please visit https://cohna.org or follow us on X(Twitter) , Facebook , LinkedIn and on Instagram . SOURCE Coalition of Hindus of North America Key Survey Data Points One-in-four Americans consider themselves and their partner car-incompatible 50% said they frequently have to readjust their car's seat positions, mirrors, seatbacks and stereo volume Mazda partnered with expert LMFT, Elizabeth Earnshaw , to share advice on how to address car-incompatibility conflict resolution and how features in the all-new 2025 CX-70 can help ease these disagreements IRVINE, Calif., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) is revealing what could be driving arguments with couples when it comes to their vehicles. While infidelity and financials are frequently cited causes for riffs in relationships, a new culprit is creating turmoil in garages across the country: sharing a vehicle. A recent survey of 2,000 married or cohabiting couples, fielded online by Talker Research on behalf of Mazda, found surprising facts about what couples argue about when it comes to sharing a vehicle. 2025 Mazda CX-70 The survey found that nearly half (45%) of married or cohabiting couples admit they argue over a shared vehicle monthly. Some of the items that participants cited as topics that they often argued about when it comes to sharing a vehicle are the need to frequently have to readjust seat positions (62%), mirrors (55%), seatbacks (51%) and stereo volume (50%) after their partner uses the vehicle. With this in mind, the 2025 CX-70 , Mazda's all-new two-row mid-size crossover SUV, was thoughtfully designed to bring harmony to the driving experience and to relationships across the country, through new technologies such as its available Driver Personalization System. The Driver Personalization System uses the vehicle's internal camera to scan facial features and converts them into numeric information creating a driver profile. The system then uses the driver profile to automatically restore over 250 personalized driver settings to their desired positions such as seat position, mirror position, driving display and stereo settings. This means that the next time the driver gets ready to hit the road after their spouse last drove the vehicle, all of their preferred settings will be adjusted with no extra effort on their part. The driver profile is secured locally on the vehicle only and is not subject to remote access. Saved driver profiles can be deleted at any time. The Driver Personalization System within the CX-70 can help you focus on the things more important in life. In fact, 21% of those surveyed would reward their spouse for properly readjusting vehicle settings by taking them out on a romantic dinner date. To address car-incompatibility issues, one in four Americans with long-term partners would completely clean the car once a week to avoid arguments about their shared vehicle. In order to provide additional help for partners to feel less car-incompatible, Mazda is partnering with Elizabeth Earnshaw, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, founder of A Better Life Therapy, author of "I Want This To Work" and the upcoming "Till Stress Do Us Part" and influencer. Earnshaw, LMFT has developed tips for couples to address car-incompatibility while highlighting how features of the Mazda CX-70 can help mitigate these arguments. "Many times in my sessions, I see arguments around vehicles causing deeper problems with couples in their marriages," said Earnshaw. "Clear communication and understanding of your partner's wants and needs is important to a healthy relationship and the Driver Personalization System within the Mazda CX-70 can help alleviate relationship pain points." Elizabeth Earnshaw, LMFT tips for dealing with car-incompatibility: Understand your mental load: Couples should take time to sit down with their partner to make a list of all of the things that have to be remembered in a day in order to manage their relationship, home and car. Explore who tends to be responsible for the bulk of it. Discuss together whether this feels fair or if things need to be redistributed and work to redistribute as necessary. Couples should take time to sit down with their partner to make a list of all of the things that have to be remembered in a day in order to manage their relationship, home and car. Explore who tends to be responsible for the bulk of it. Discuss together whether this feels fair or if things need to be redistributed and work to redistribute as necessary. Manage your stress : Too much stress makes it difficult to relate to others, even the people we love the most. To manage stress, partners should prevent the small stressors as much as they can, learn to self soothe by doing things like deep breathing and muscle relaxation and work together to solve big problems. When dealing with stress around a vehicle, make sure to take the time for deep breathing before addressing the issue. : Too much stress makes it difficult to relate to others, even the people we love the most. To manage stress, partners should prevent the small stressors as much as they can, learn to self soothe by doing things like deep breathing and muscle relaxation and work together to solve big problems. When dealing with stress around a vehicle, make sure to take the time for deep breathing before addressing the issue. Interdependent Relationship: Even though partners share their car, they still want to be able to be themselves. Interdependent Relationships are the gold star and means that as a couple, partners can integrate who they are as a unit and who they are as unique individuals. Couples who have the ability to make space for time together and time apart tend to be the happiest. Work together to understand each other's needs for personal time and regularly schedule time to spend together and apart for relationship balance. Even though partners share their car, they still want to be able to be themselves. Interdependent Relationships are the gold star and means that as a couple, partners can integrate who they are as a unit and who they are as unique individuals. Couples who have the ability to make space for time together and time apart tend to be the happiest. Work together to understand each other's needs for personal time and regularly schedule time to spend together and apart for relationship balance. Practice Active Listening: Couples get stuck arguing about their differences in preference, especially with their vehicles, when they focus on who is right and who is wrong when they should be practicing active listening. Partners can practice active listening by putting their own agenda to the side so you can truly hear and understand their partners viewpoint. If they catch themselves starting to drift towards other thoughts, bring their attention back to what their partner is saying. After they've finished talking, summarize what they shared and then they should ask if they've missed anything before providing solutions or sharing their own point of view. With its inspiring, yet sophisticated design with thoughtful cargo solutions paired with the latest technology and conveniences, couples can expect that the Mazda CX-70 will deliver peace and help you focus less on the little things, like adjusting settings, and more on the important points of life with your partner. To learn more about the all-new Mazda CX-70 visit: www.mazdausa.com/vehicles/cx-70 About Mazda North American Operations Mazda North American Operations is headquartered in Irvine, California, and oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Colombia through approximately 795 dealers. Operations in Canada are managed by Mazda Canada Inc. in Richmond Hill, Ontario; operations in Mexico are managed by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City; and operations in Colombia are managed by Mazda de Colombia in Bogota, Colombia. For more information on Mazda vehicles, including photography and B-roll, please visit the online Mazda media center at InsideMazda.MazdaUSA.com/Newsroom. Follow @MazdaUSA on social media: Facebook , Instagram , X , YouTube , and Threads . About Elizabeth Earnshaw, LMFT Over the last decade, Elizabeth Earnshaw, LMFT has become one of today's most trusted relationship teachers. Elizabeth is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Clinical Fellow of The American Association of Marriage & Family Therapy. She founded A Better Life Therapy, where her team serves thousands of couples a year and is the creator of the Instagram Account @lizlistens where she shares relatable relationship advice. In addition to making couples therapy more accessible, she is the author of "I Want This To Work". Elizabeth often contributes to publications like The New York Times, USA Today, and The Washington Post. *Survey Methodology Survey was conducted by Talker Research on behalf of Mazda from Apr. 9 to Apr. 15, 2024, with a panel of 2,000 married or cohabitating Americans who have been in a relationship for at least five years and share a vehicle. SOURCE Mazda North American Operations VANCOUVER, BC, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - NexGen Energy Ltd. ("NexGen" or the "Company") (TSX: NXE) (NYSE: NXE) (ASX: NXG) is pleased to announce that on May 21st, the Company is submitting to the Federal regulator the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission ("CNSC") responses to the remaining 49 technical review comments received on February 12, 2024 as part of the Federal Environmental Assessment ("EA") review process for the Company's 100% owned Rook I Project (the "Project"). The 49 technical comments represent the remaining aspects of the original 274 questions received from the CNSC from their technical review of the Rook I Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement ("EIS") submitted by NexGen in June 2022. As part of this submission, NexGen has also submitted a revised Federal EIS to the CNSC as part of the response process. Leigh Curyer, NexGen's Chief Executive Officer, commented: "The Company received Provincial EA approval in November 2023 and then submitted responses to the full Federal technical review comments and received ~80% accepted in round 1. The submission of these remaining 49 responses represents another significant milestone in the final advancement of the Federal EA for the Rook I Project. The NexGen team commends the rigour and diligence of the Federal EA process which formally began 5 years ago with the submission of the Project Description as it validates the technical robustness of the Project, which, once approved, will be the world's largest and lowest-cost uranium fuel producer, providing outstanding environmental, social, and economic benefits for current and future generations. With NexGen's Federal Licence Application having been accepted by the CNSC in September 2023, and full support and consent for the Project from the four local, Rights-bearing Indigenous Nation partners, we look forward to the successful conclusion of the Federal EA technical review process and the establishment of a Federal Commission Hearing date to conclude the approval process for this generational project, enabling construction and operation of this environmentally elite and fully supported green energy project." All four Local Priority Area ("LPA") Communities the Clearwater Dene Nation ("CRDN"), Birch Narrows Dene Nation ("BNDN"), Buffalo River Dene Nation ("BRDN"), and Metis Nation Saskatchewan ("MN-S") on behalf of MN-S Northern Region 2 ("NR2") have formally confirmed their consent and strong support for NexGen's stewardship of the Rook I Project through the signing of industry-leading Benefit Agreements. All four have fully signed off on all aspects of the Federal EA process required at this time and are advocating for its imminent approval. In accordance with established Federal EA process, the CNSC will now conduct a completeness check of NexGen's most recent submission, which will be completed within 30 days. Upon conclusion of the completeness check, technical review of NexGen's comment responses and revised EIS will be undertaken by the CNSC through the Federal-Indigenous Review Team which is prescribed as 60 days. Upon confirmation from the CNSC that all technical comments have been resolved and acceptance of the EIS as final, the CNSC will establish a Federal Commission Hearing date. About NexGen NexGen Energy is a Canadian company focused on delivering clean energy fuel for the future. The Company's flagship Rook I Project is being optimally developed into the largest low cost producing uranium mine globally, incorporating the most elite standards in environmental and social governance. The Rook I Project is supported by a NI 43-101 compliant Feasibility Study which outlines the elite environmental performance and industry leading economics. NexGen is led by a team of experienced uranium and mining industry professionals with expertise across the entire mining life cycle, including exploration, financing, project engineering and construction, operations and closure. NexGen is leveraging its proven experience to deliver a Project that leads the entire mining industry socially, technically and environmentally. The Project and prospective portfolio in northern Saskatchewan will provide generational long-term economic, environmental, and social benefits for Saskatchewan, Canada, and the world. NexGen is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "NXE" and on the Australian Securities Exchange under the ticker symbol "NXG" providing access to global investors to participate in NexGen's mission of solving three major global challenges in decarbonization, energy security and access to power. The Company is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, with its primary operations office in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. www.nexgenenergy.ca Forward-Looking Information The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable United States securities laws and regulations and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. "Forward-looking information" includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates, the 2021 Arrow Deposit, Rook I Project and estimates of uranium production, grade and long-term average uranium prices, anticipated effects of completed drill results on the Rook I Project, planned work programs, completion of further site investigations and engineering work to support basic engineering of the project and expected outcomes. Generally, but not always, forward-looking information and statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or the negative connotation thereof or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotation thereof. Statements relating to "mineral resources" are deemed to be forward-looking information, as they involve the implied assessment that, based on certain estimates and assumptions, the mineral resources described can be profitably produced in the future. Forward-looking information and statements are based on the then current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates and forecasts about NexGen's business and the industry and markets in which it operates. Forward-looking information and statements are made based upon numerous assumptions, including among others, that the mineral reserve and resources estimates and the key assumptions and parameters on which such estimates are based are as set out in this news release and the technical report for the property , the results of planned exploration activities are as anticipated, the price and market supply of uranium, the cost of planned exploration activities, that financing will be available if and when needed and on reasonable terms, that third party contractors, equipment, supplies and governmental and other approvals required to conduct NexGen's planned exploration activities will be available on reasonable terms and in a timely manner and that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner. Although the assumptions made by the Company in providing forward looking information or making forward looking statements are considered reasonable by management at the time, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be accurate in the future. Forward-looking information and statements also involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performances and achievements of NexGen to differ materially from any projections of results, performances and achievements of NexGen expressed or implied by such forward-looking information or statements, including, among others, the existence of negative operating cash flow and dependence on third party financing, uncertainty of the availability of additional financing, the risk that pending assay results will not confirm previously announced preliminary results, conclusions of economic valuations, the risk that actual results of exploration activities will be different than anticipated, the cost of labour, equipment or materials will increase more than expected, that the future price of uranium will decline or otherwise not rise to an economic level, the appeal of alternate sources of energy to uranium-produced energy, that the Canadian dollar will strengthen against the U.S. dollar, that mineral resources and reserves are not as estimated, that actual costs or actual results of reclamation activities are greater than expected, that changes in project parameters and plans continue to be refined and may result in increased costs, of unexpected variations in mineral resources and reserves, grade or recovery rates or other risks generally associated with mining, unanticipated delays in obtaining governmental, regulatory or First Nations approvals, risks related to First Nations title and consultation, reliance upon key management and other personnel, deficiencies in the Company's title to its properties, uninsurable risks, failure to manage conflicts of interest, failure to obtain or maintain required permits and licences, risks related to changes in laws, regulations, policy and public perception, as well as those factors or other risks as more fully described in NexGen's Annual Information Form dated February 24, 2023 filed with the securities commissions of all of the provinces of Canada except Quebec and in NexGen's 40-F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and Edgar at www.sec.gov. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information or statements or implied by forward-looking information or statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements due to the inherent uncertainty thereof. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or reissue forward-looking information as a result of new information or events except as required by applicable securities laws. SOURCE NexGen Energy Ltd. At its 35th anniversary celebration, New Jersey Community Capital highlighted its recent achievements and new strategic plan to support homeownership, economic development and wealth creation in underserved neighborhoods nationwide NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- New Jersey Community Capital (NJCC) unveiled an ambitious five-year growth strategy developed to drive equity and opportunity in underserved communities at its spring celebration on May 1st. The community development financial institution (CDFI) is not only accelerating its mission to finance and develop affordable housing, small businesses and school and child-care facilities but also expanding its geographic focus to serve eligible communities nationwide. To support its broader efforts, NJCC has added key team members to its board and leadership team. Bernel Hall, President and CEO, New Jersey Community Capital NJCC's Unique Business Model Delivers Double Bottom Line Results "We plan to leverage our deep-rooted expertise and proven community finance model to become a national leader in driving equitable development. We have an expansive roadmap that aims to catalyze widespread economic stability and wealth generation through innovative, accessible financial solutions," NJCC President and CEO Bernel Hall said during the event. "The heart of our strategy is our unique business model. It has been so effective that we believe it will enable us to scale our lending, equity investment and real estate development programs beyond the Tri-state area. Initially, we plan to extend them along the eastern seaboard and eventually across the nation. We are not just growing in scalewe are enhancing the depth of our impact by targeting communities that are most in need of transformative capital," Hall explained. Alongside geographic expansion, NJCC's roadmap includes growing its two subsidiary firms, University Ventures and Community Asset Preservation Corporation. These entities support a broad spectrum of critical community-based needsfrom affordable housing and quality educational facilities to robust social services. "Each of these ventures are designed to reknit and strengthen the fabric of the communities they support. At the same time, they ensure that our investments offer the double-bottom lines our funders hope to achieve by generating social and financial dividends," Hall added. Accomplished Leaders Join NJCC To Power Its Expansion As NJCC embarks on this ambitious journey, several accomplished leaders recently joined its executive team and board. All bring unique strengths and experiences to the CDFI that are key to its expansion and goals. They include: Sabrina N. Conyers , a seasoned partner with McGuireWoods, LLP, joined the NJCC Board of Directors, Investment and Credit Committees. She brings extensive expertise in tax transaction planning, corporate governance and real estate finance to guide financial strategies and ensure all investments the organization makes are not only impactful but also financially prudent. , a seasoned partner with McGuireWoods, LLP, joined the NJCC Board of Directors, Investment and Credit Committees. She brings extensive expertise in tax transaction planning, corporate governance and real estate finance to guide financial strategies and ensure all investments the organization makes are not only impactful but also financially prudent. Claudia Lima , a veteran impact investor, joined the NJCC Executive Team as chief investment officer. She will oversee NJCC's investment, lending and real estate subsidiaries. Prior to joining NJCC, Lima was an executive vice president at SDS Capital, where she managed a $200 million impact investment fund. Prior to SDS, she was managing director of community lending and investments at CIT Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank, covering 22 states. Lima will be based in Los Angeles, California as part of NJCC's national expansion efforts. , a veteran impact investor, joined the NJCC Executive Team as chief investment officer. She will oversee NJCC's investment, lending and real estate subsidiaries. Prior to joining NJCC, Lima was an executive vice president at SDS Capital, where she managed a impact investment fund. Prior to SDS, she was managing director of community lending and investments at CIT Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank, covering 22 states. Lima will be based in as part of NJCC's national expansion efforts. Johvanna Sampson will join NJCC as managing director of lending with over two decades of community development and lending experience. Sampson has worked in retail banking, commercial lending, mortgage lending and most recently as vice president of commercial lending at BlueHub Capital. Throughout her career, she has been instrumental in driving market expansion in the Southeast, West Coast and Midwest and will lead NJCC's lending capacity nationwide. Brian Waweru , an emerging market private equity investor with 15 years of experience at renowned institutions like Blackstone and RMB Ventures, joined NJCC as director of strategic investments. Waweru will expand NJCC's private equity and mezzanine debt initiatives as part of NJCC's specialized small business investment company's investment platform, University Ventures. "As we expand our operations, these leaders will play a pivotal role in not only executing our strategic vision but redefining what is possible in community development finance," Hall said. "Their diverse skills and shared passion for economic justice position NJCC to lead effectively across the nation." Keynote Speakers Addressed NJCC's Legacy of Impact In a keynote address, NeighborWorks America's SVP of Field Operations Kathryn Watts lauded NJCC's ability to apply creative and innovative solutions to affordable housing challenges. "They [NJCC] keep us on our toes by always stretching the envelope with creative, groundbreaking business strategies," Watts said. NeighborWorks America awarded nearly $2 million in grants in New Jersey projects alone in the last fiscal year, catalyzing $350 million in total investments. Acting Commissioner Jacquelyn Suarez of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs also addressed the audience during the event. "New Jersey Community Capital's mission of advancing equity and opportunity through strategic investments in traditionally underserved communities intrinsically aligns with the work of the Department of Community Affairs," Acting Commissioner Suarez said. "Creating affordable housing, supporting local communities and promoting equitable redevelopment are central components to what we do at DCA, which is why we truly appreciate NJCC's efforts in these important areas." The NJCC Spring Celebration also included the formal recognition of NJCC's most distinguished partner organizations. NJCC presented the following awards: Funder of the Year PNC Bank PNC Bank Developer of the Year GonSosa Development GonSosa Development Community Organization of the Year The Children's Home Society of New Jersey The Children's Home Society of Small Business of the Year JAS Group Enterprise, Inc. With these changes to its Strategic Plan, NJCC reaffirms its commitment to investing in areas that traditional finance has overlooked, striving to close the wealth gap and fostering economic inclusivity. The Spring Celebration marked the start of a new and exciting chapter for NJCC and served as a launchpad for future ambitions that aim even higher and reach even further. To support NJCC in its efforts to increase affordable housing, advance community development and promote women- and BIPOC-owned businesses, visit newjerseycommunitycapital.org. About New Jersey Community Capital: NJCC is a nonprofit community development financial institution (CDFI) dedicated to creating thriving communities through strategic investments and knowledge. Founded in 1987, NJCC has grown to serve as a critical architect of community development initiatives, driving economic stability and prosperity in underserved areas. Media Contact: Beshanda Owusu [email protected] 773-398-9194 SOURCE New Jersey Community Capital Seeing Eye Survey Finds Majority of Guide Dog Users Report Service Denials, Despite Legal Protections MORRISTOWN, N.J., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Findings in a recent report from The Seeing Eye about access barriers faced by guide dog handlers, reveals that 80% of guide dog handlers have experienced a denial of service from a rideshare service; 62% of respondents encounter challenges with air travel due to accessibility; and 54% of guide dog handlers surveyed were illegally required to show ID before entering a business. The full report is available at www.seeingeye.org/accessreport. Access barriers are not just about a denial of service. Service dog handlers face challenges with unequal access to goods or services in the form of discrimination which can include segregated seating at a restaurant, isolation of the team for the convenience of other patrons, requests for pet deposits, or requests for identification. "As a guide dog handler, it is challenging to encounter access barriers while simply trying to go about everyday life. There's not only an economic impact from missed opportunities, but also an emotional toll of having to justify one's right to be accompanied by a guide dog for independent travel," said Seeing Eye Sr. Specialist of Advocacy and Government Relations Melissa Allman. "However, ninety-five percent of guide dog handlers responded that they would not let these challenges stand in their way. It's heartening to hear how many of my fellow handlers are prepared to self-advocate and will continue to exercise their right to work with service animals." The report comes from an online survey completed by more than 500 guide dog handlers across the United States and Canada in October and November 2023. The survey was broken down topically with questions about access barriers encountered in public places, rideshares, and air travel. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FINDINGS: The statistics below were gathered from responses by guide dog handlers in the United States. The full report includes results from Canadian guide dog handlers and a breakdown by U.S. Region. Access to Public Places: 22% of respondents have been told their dogs must wear a vest to enter public places. There is no legal requirement in either country that service animals wear specific equipment to demonstrate that they are in fact service animals. 54% of respondents have been told they must show ID to enter a business. ADA regulations make clear that it is illegal in the U.S. to require that people with service animals show ID to enter a business. 55% of respondents were told they could not enter with their dogs because other people accessing the business could have allergies, which is illegal in both the U.S. and Canada . . 48% of respondents have been told at restaurants that they could only sit outside or far from other patrons with their dogs, even though laws in both countries make it illegal to segregate or isolate patrons due to the presence of a service animal. 75% of respondents reported that within the past 5 years, they have been prevented from safely working with their guide dogs inside businesses and other public places due to an increase in poorly behaved dogs. Rideshares : 76% of respondents said they use rideshares to get around with their guide dogs. 81% of respondents who are rideshare users have experienced a denial of service due to the presence of their guide dogs. 45% said they sometimes decide not to bring their guide dogs with them because of their experiences with being denied rides. More than 62% of respondents had drivers who accepted the ride but complained about having to transport the dog throughout the trip. Some guide dog handlers were charged cleaning fees or received bad ratings. Air Travel : About 63% of respondents said they travel by air at least once per year. 62% of respondents have had problems completing the behavior and health attestation forms air travelers with service animals must now complete pursuant to current regulations, due to inaccessibility or a lack of technology. 55% of respondents have been required by TSA to be separated from their guide dog during screening or to remove equipment from their dog that is necessary for the dog to work, such as the leash, harness, or collar even though these demands go against TSA protocol for screening service animals. These findings come in the wake of the organization's 95th anniversary which was accompanied by a call for stronger advocacy for service dog handlers' rights, and on the heels of a 2019 Seeing Eye study published in the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness about public interference with guide dogs which also emphasized the need for more education among the public. Visit The Seeing Eye Advocacy Center at www.seeingeye.org/advocacy for more about guide dog handlers' rights and to download The Seeing Eye Advocacy App for Apple and Android devices, which contains federal, state, and provincial laws and regulations in the United States and Canada and other educational materials. Established in 1929, The Seeing Eye provides specially bred and trained dogs to guide people who are blind or have low vision. Seeing Eye dog handlers experience greatly enhanced mobility and independence, allowing them to retain their active lifestyles. The Seeing Eye is a 501(c)3 non-profit supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, bequests, and other planned gifts. The Seeing Eye does not receive government or insurance funding. The Seeing Eye is a trademarked name and can only be used to describe the dogs bred and trained at the school's facilities in Morristown, N.J. If you would like more information on The Seeing Eye, please visit the website at www.SeeingEye.org, call (973) 539-4425, or email [email protected]. Contact: Ronica Cleary 302-414-9977 [email protected] SOURCE The Seeing Eye Saturday, June 15, 8 PM: Freight & Salvage, Berkeley Friday, June 21, 8 PM: Bankhead Theater, Livermore OAKLAND, Calif., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir (OIGC), a beacon of harmony and unity, will celebrate Juneteenth this year with two soul-stirring performances across the Bay Area. Led by Founding Artistic Director Terrance Kelly, OIGC invites attendees to reflect on the past, celebrate the present, and embrace the promise of a more equitable future through the power of Black gospel music. Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir's 2024 Juneteenth Series with two concerts. Saturday, June 15, 8pm at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley and Friday, June 21, 8pm at Bankhead Theater in Livermore. Tickets now available at www.oigc.org/tickets Juneteenth, celebrated on June 19th, marks the day in 1865 when enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, finally learned of their freedom, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous occasion, now observed nationwide, symbolizes the resilience and triumph of the human spirit over adversity. OIGC kicks off Juneteenth festivities with a performance on Saturday, June 15, 8 PM at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, and will perform again at the Bankhead Theater on Friday, June 21 at 8 PM, wrapping up Livermore Valley Arts' Juneteenth celebration. "Gospel music was the only escape for African American people during slavery," says Director Kelly. "Celebrating Juneteenth with Black gospel music brings people in from being a spectator to experience the resilience, joy, and strength that can change hearts and minds. I'm so excited about this concert we're not just gonna sing, we're gonna saaang!" Tickets for OIGC's Juneteenth performances range from $25 to $35 and are available for purchase at www.oigc.org/tickets. Audiences can expect a dynamic blend of new repertoire and classic favorites, showcasing the choir's exceptional talent and unwavering dedication to the cultural tapestry of the Bay Area. Don't miss this opportunity to experience the transformative magic of gospel music in celebration of Juneteenth. About the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, founded in 1986 by Terrance Kelly, unites over 300 singers across multiple choirs from diverse faiths, races, and cultures. The namesake award-winning choir performs 25-30 times annually, including notable events such as jazz festivals, tours, and inauguration ceremonies. Additional ensembles include the Oakland Interfaith Youth Choir, the Oakland Interfaith Community Choir, the Oakland Interfaith Kids Choir, and the virtual Oakland Interfaith World Choir. In 2022, OIGC acquired the Oakland Youth Chorus, further expanding its youth program and outreach. With their mission to inspire unity and joy among all people through black gospel and spiritual music traditions, the OIGC continues to touch the hearts of audiences around the world. Learn more at www.oigc.org. Media Contact: Isa S. Chu, Marketing Manager, [email protected], (510) 587-9409 SOURCE Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir RIA continues swift growth with addition of several new advisors and expansion into South Carolina. BEACHWOOD, Ohio, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- OneSeven, a prominent RIA dedicated to providing advisors with transformative opportunities, proudly announces the arrival of four esteemed advisors, expanding its nationwide presence across 16 states and counting. Bernard Semon, Stephen Shaffer, Tim Valentine, and Christopher Lakian join OneSeven from various regions of the United States, enriching the firm's advisory services with their diverse expertise. Bernard Semon transitioned to OneSeven on April 1st, assuming the role of Portfolio Manager for Stratos Investments, a DBA of OneSeven, based in El Paso, Texas. With experience at Raymond James and Morgan Stanley, Bernard brings valuable insights to portfolio management and financial advising. Stephen Shaffer, CFP, AIF, of Yardley, Pennsylvania, joined Lake House Private Wealth Management, a DBA of OneSeven, as Partner and Director of Financial Planning on April 9th. Steve's specialization in serving high-achieving professionals, particularly airline pilots, adds depth to OneSeven's financial planning capabilities. Tim Valentine, CFP, APMA, BFA, joined OneSeven on April 24th as a Private Wealth Advisor in Canton, Ohio. With a passion for building meaningful client relationships, Tim's financial expertise and creative approach enhance OneSeven's client-centric solutions. Christopher Lakian, AIF, became part of OneSeven on April 26th as CEO and Founder of Magnetic North Financial, a DBA of OneSeven, based in Charleston, South Carolina. With two decades of experience, Chris brings a wealth of knowledge in financial services to his role. "We are thrilled to welcome Bernard, Stephen, Tim, and Christopher to the OneSeven family," said Todd Resnick, Co-Founder and President of OneSeven. "Their varied expertise and profound insights enhance our dedication to superior customer service, enabling us to deliver personalized and effective financial solutions to clients across the country. This underscores our unwavering commitment to achieving excellence in every client interaction." The addition of these accomplished advisors from various regions underscores OneSeven's dedication to providing unparalleled wealth management solutions to clients across the nation. About OneSeven: OneSeven is not your typical financial firm. Our mission is to make a meaningful impact in the world of wealth management, where unique experiences are rare. With offices now spanning 16 states and boasting 32 advisor teams, we're proud to oversee over $4.3 billion in assets under management (AUM). Our independent financial advisors go beyond the numbers, striving to provide holistic and tailored solutions for each client. We take the time to understand what truly drives our advisors their interests, long-term goals, and aspirations. By becoming your trusted partners, we serve as sounding boards for your ambitions, challenges, concerns, and successes, aligning your practice to what really matters. Brian Hart Flackable (866) 225-0920 ext. 101 [email protected] SOURCE OneSeven MONTREAL, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - LGI Healthcare Solutions (LGI), a leader in Canadian healthcare IT, is proud to announce that over 250,000 patients have been successfully redirected from emergency departments to more adapted care, greatly reducing waiting room congestion. Each redirected patient secured an appointment within 48 hours, thus aiding in the reduction of emergency wait times. The LGI Emergency Redirection solution, now implemented in over 120 healthcare facilities across Europe and Canada, originated from a 2015 project initiated at Montreal's Sacre-Cur Hospital. By 2016, the model's effectiveness and replicability led to wider adoption in other hospitals. The solution was then adopted in France in 2020, and in Switzerland in 2023, with the redirection count reaching 250,000 by 2024. Francis Cuerrier, Product Director, attributes the model's success to its straightforward deployment. "After establishing a partner network, we can roll out the solution in a matter of weeks, " he remarks. "Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with over 95% of patients advocating for its universal application in emergencies, and 99.6% of nurses are comfortable using it." Michel Desgagne, President and Chief Executive Officer of LGI, celebrates this achievement. "Redirecting emergency traffic significantly advances our mission of improving performance in healthcare," he states. "Each redirection optimizes resource use, cutting costs for the healthcare network and reducing urgent care wait times. We hope this model will be adopted more widely to decrease overall healthcare expenses and improve urgent care accessibility," he concludes. About LGI Healthcare Solutions For over 40 years, LGI Healthcare Solutions has distinguished itself through a rich and diversified solutions portfolio. We help improve the performance of healthcare facilities and the experience of their staff and patients. We serve thousands of facilities across Canada, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and France. SOURCE LGI Healthcare Solutions Agreement includes continued local governance and management, ongoing community commitment and significant capital investment in the region. TACOMA, Wash., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Overlake Medical Center & Clinics and MultiCare Health System announced today that they have signed an affiliation agreement emphasizing their joint long-term commitment to deliver the highest quality, most advanced health care to communities across Washington. Through this agreement, Overlake and its network of clinics will comprise the new North Sound region of MultiCare's statewide network and will be the North Sound region's flagship health system. "Overlake and MultiCare have a shared commitment to transform health care in the region. This affiliation will enable both of our organizations to grow and thrive," said Jason Thompson, chair of Overlake Medical Center & Clinics Board of Trustees. "Overlake is an exceptional organization, and this affiliation will allow us to sustain and strengthen our 64-year commitment of providing care to our community." Together, these two well-regarded health systems will work to expand local access to health care and invest in the communities they both serve. This affiliation will provide opportunities for Overlake and MultiCare to collaborate and integrate in ways that will best enable both organizations to respond to health care industry challenges and advance the quality of care they collectively provide. Commitments outlined in the agreement will create a combined strategic, financial, operational and clinical platform that will better position the organizations to achieve their goals. Key details of the commitments include: Significant capital investment in the region: Overlake and its network of clinics will comprise the new North Sound region within MultiCare's statewide network, reflecting Overlake's expanding regional service area within King and Snohomish counties. The two organizations will invest significantly to meet the growing health care needs of the Eastside and North Sound communities. Together, the organizations will provide ever greater access to the excellent clinical care for which Overlake is known. Overlake and its network of clinics will comprise the within MultiCare's statewide network, reflecting Overlake's expanding regional service area within and counties. The two organizations will invest significantly to meet the growing health care needs of the Eastside and North Sound communities. Together, the organizations will provide ever greater access to the excellent clinical care for which Overlake is known. Amplification of Overlake services : MultiCare has a shared interest in growing Overlake's services in the new North Sound region and maintaining their strong levels of clinical performance . Overlake will retain its name and logo as the two organizations work together to increase access to exceptional, compassionate health care. : MultiCare has in the new North Sound region and maintaining their . Overlake will retain its name and logo as the two organizations work together to increase access to exceptional, compassionate health care. Local leadership, medical staff and foundation: Overlake's Board of Trustees, leadership team, medical staff structure and local Foundation will remain. Overlake will continue their unique local culture as a community institution, while drawing upon the strengths of the affiliation. Any gifts made to the Overlake Foundation will continue to support Overlake and the community it serves. Overlake's Board of Trustees, leadership team, medical staff structure and local Foundation will remain. Overlake will continue their unique local culture as a community institution, while drawing upon the strengths of the affiliation. Any gifts made to the Overlake Foundation will continue to support Overlake and the community it serves. Sharing of resources and expertise through measured integration: Overlake and MultiCare have opportunities to learn from one another to better serve the health care needs in the state of Washington . "For more than six decades, Overlake Medical Center & Clinics has served the Eastside and Puget Sound communities, and I am confident that this is the right next step for our health system," said J. Michael Marsh, president and chief executive officer of Overlake Medical Center & Clinics. "In fact, one of our reasons for pursuing an affiliation with MultiCare was to ensure the ongoing fulfillment of our mission for decades to come. As we move forward, we will be led by our guiding principles that keep patient care and the local community at the forefront." "MultiCare's mission is partnering for healing and a healthy future," said Bill Robertson, chief executive officer of MultiCare. "In Overlake, we have found a like-minded partner that shares our interests in advancing the health status of King County and beyond. We are excited for Overlake to join MultiCare's network of 12 hospitals and 300 clinics across the Pacific Northwest. We look forward to the future we will create together and look forward to welcoming them to the MultiCare family." This transaction is subject to routine regulatory approval as well as customary closing conditions with an anticipated closing date in the second half of 2024. To learn more, patients and the community can visit OverlakeForward.org. About Overlake Medical Center & Clinics Overlake Medical Center & Clinics is a nonprofit regional health care system based in Bellevue, Wash., serving the Eastside community since 1960. The health system includes a 349-bed hospital and a growing network of primary, urgent and specialty care clinics located throughout the region. Overlake is recognized locally and nationally for quality and safety, including recurring Leapfrog A ratings, Healthgrades' Patient Safety Excellence Award and recognition as a Best Regional Hospital by US News & World Report in its Best Hospitals 2023-24 rankings. Overlake offers comprehensive advanced services, including a dedicated Cancer Center, Level lll Trauma Center, Childbirth Center and Level lll NICU, cardiac, neurosciences, orthopedic and mental health services. Employing more than 3,500 people, Overlake is dedicated to its mission of compassionate care for every life we touch. Overlake provided nearly $48 million in charity care over the past three years and is committed to providing exceptional patient care and services. For more information, visit overlakehospital.org. About MultiCare Health System MultiCare Health System is a not-for-profit health care organization that's been caring for communities in Washington state since the founding of Tacoma's first hospital in 1882. With more than 23,000 team members, including employees, providers and volunteers, we've grown from a Tacoma-centric, hospital-based organization into one of the largest community-based, locally governed health systems in the state of Washington. Our comprehensive system of health serves patients across the Pacific Northwest and includes a dozen award-winning hospitals across the state of Washington, as well as numerous primary care, virtual care, urgent care, pediatric care and specialty services, including MultiCare Behavioral Health Network; MultiCare Indigo Urgent Care; Mary Bridge Children's Hospital & Health Network (named a "Top Children's Hospital" five times by The Leapfrog Group, and home to the South Sound region's only Level IV NICU); Pulse Heart Institute; MultiCare Connected Care, our accountable care organization; and MultiCare Rockwood Clinic, the largest multispecialty clinic in the Inland Northwest region. MultiCare provided nearly $168 million in charity care over the past three years and is committed to our mission of partnering for healing and a healthy future. Overlake Contact: MaryBeth Dagg, Director of Marketing, Communications & Community Engagement p. 425-631-6611, [email protected] MultiCare Contact: Lori Meyers, AVP, Corporate Communications p. 206-915-7384, [email protected] SOURCE MultiCare Health System PANAMA CITY, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The vibrant landscape of Panama City has come into focus this year as a favored bleisure destination. Travelers discover this city as a place where modernity meets a captivating historical legacy, inviting exploration of both business and leisure pursuits. Amidst this array of enriching experiences, Marriott Panama Hotel emerges as a stellar choice for those seeking an authentic hotel experience. Marriott Panama Hotel The Marriott Panama Hotel offers a magnificent experience of hospitality and comfort. With 21 event rooms and a convention center that can accommodate up to 2000 people, many bleisure travelers may need to organize or attend events, meetings, or conferences during their stay in Panama. This hotel provides sophisticated spaces for hosting business events of any size, backed by a team of experts in event organization and conventions, and talented chefs who work closely to create customized menus that reflect the tastes and needs of each occasion. However, the excellence of the Marriott Panama Hotel goes beyond its event spaces and culinary offerings. All hotel rooms are designed to offer an immersive accommodation experience, with internet access and spacious desks that invite those working remotely to reach new levels from the comfort of their room. Additionally, the hotel offers internet access in all areas, including the spectacular pool terrace overlooking the iconic Cerro Ancon, creating an inspiring environment for creativity and productivity. "At the Marriott Panama Hotel, we understand the importance of providing an environment that facilitates work and relaxation," states Glenn Simon, the hotel's general manager. "Our strategic location, combined with our modern amenities, allows our guests to make the most of their time in Panama City, whether they are here for business or pleasure." The location of the Marriott Panama Hotel adds another level of convenience for business travelers, as it is located just meters away from Panama's national transportation terminal, close to business centers, and the city's main tourist attractions, such as the Panama Canal, Casco Antiguo, and Amador Causeway. Additionally, just outside the hotel's door, guests can access Albrook Mall, the largest shopping center in Latin America, for an unparalleled shopping experience. With its unwavering commitment to excellence in service, guest comfort, and attention to detail, the Marriott Panama Hotel continues to be a wonderful choice for those who want to experience the best of Panama City. Contact Information Zasha Perez Gallardo Director of Public Relations Central and South America Caribbean & Latin America (CALA) [email protected] SOURCE Marriott International Dream vacation for two from America's favorite olive company launches on National Olive Day TRACY, Calif., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Olive lovers, rejoice! Pearls Olives , from the Musco Family Olive Co., makers of America's favorite olives, is adding a little extra flavor to National Olive Day with its annual Pearls Greece Vacation Giveaway. Launching on June 1, this year's sweepstakes will send two olive enthusiasts on a nine-day immersive vacation to the birthplace of the authentic Mediterranean flavors found in each jar of Pearls Specialties Olives . For National Olive Day, Pearls Olives will send two olive enthusiasts on a nine-day immersive Greece vacation. Post this Pearls Garbanzo Salad courtesy of Chef Jamie Gwen incorporates Pearls Specialties Kalamata Olives for delicious flavor straight from the Mediterranean. This trip honors the natural beauty, cuisine and flavors of the Mediterranean while giving the winner the chance to indulge in beautiful beaches, cultural sights and culinary delights. An itinerary created by Intrepid Travel will include activities like a Greek cooking class, a winery tour and tours of ancient sites. "Our founder, Nicolo Musco, always believed in 'making a good thing even better,' and that's exactly what we hope to do with this annual sweepstakes," said Tracy Wood, senior director of brand and product management at Musco. "We have always been passionate about incorporating the most authentic ingredients into our Pearls Specialties Olives and our research shows that olives are growing in popularity, with premium specialty olives leading the way. This trip of a lifetime is the highlight of our year, and we couldn't be more excited to give olive lovers a taste of our rich Mediterranean heritage." This growing desire for olives has inspired new and flavorful additions to Pearls' offerings, from Garlic & Jalapeno Double Stuffed Queen Olives and Pimiento Strips Jumbo Queen Olives to Castelvetrano. Perfect for entertaining or sharing with loved ones, these refined yet indulgent additions elevate meals and snacking or pair deliciously with cheese and charcuterie, a dirty martini or a glass of wine. With a family heritage that dates back to the 18th century, the Pearls brand is passionate about selecting and handpicking fresh olives of the highest quality, directly from sun-kissed Mediterranean regions. This attention to quality is captured in each jar of Pearls Specialties Olives with beloved favorites like Garlic, Blue Cheese, Jalapeno, Kalamata, Sliced Kalamata, Pitted Medley and Martini Vermouth. "Our passion for olives runs deep. This amazing fruit is in our DNA and defines what we do best," said Wood. "Last year's response to our inaugural giveaway was phenomenal. We saw tens of thousands of entries from olive lovers across the country and anticipate even greater enthusiasm this year as we continue to celebrate our passion for olives." For more details and to enter with just an email address, visit olives.com . Entries are limited to one per person. For more information about Pearls Specialties Olives and to explore Mediterranean-flavored recipes, visit olives.com/recipes . About Pearls and Musco Family Olive Co. Pearls is well known for its growing line of Specialties Olives and their pimento-stuffed green olives along with its innovative line of Olives To Go! in easy-to-use, single-serve cups in varieties for snacking or cooking. Additionally, Pearls is famous for its ripe olives, which are 100 percent grown and packed in sunny California and picked at the peak of freshness. Pearls olives can be found nationwide at your favorite retailer and its sunny yellow package is the symbol of quality you can taste and trust. Founded more than 80 years ago, Musco Family Olive Co. is America's favorite brand of olives. The third-generation, family-run business is the country's only 100 percent U.S.-owned full-line olive company and is the largest producer of ripe olives in the world. Together with hundreds of multi-generational family farms throughout California's Central Valley for its ripe olives and the finest producers of imported olives for its Specialties olives and green olives, Musco Family Olive Co. brings delicious olives from orchard to the table nationwide. Musco Family Olive Co. is proud of its industry-leading environmental stewardship program and has been recognized with numerous awards. The company is committed to olive lovers, its California growers, long-tenured family of employees, and countless valued vendors and business partners. For more information, please visit www.olives.com . SOURCE Pearls Olives, Musco Family Olive Co. BERNSTEIN STRATEGIC DECISIONS CONFERENCE KEYBANC CAPITAL MARKETS INDUSTRIALS & BASIC MATERIALS CONFERENCE HOUSTON, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Quanta Services, Inc. (NYSE: PWR) announced today that company management will participate in two institutional investor conferences in May: the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference and the KeyBanc Capital Markets Industrials & Basic Materials Conference. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference Duke Austin, Chief Executive Officer, Jayshree Desai, Chief Financial Officer, and Kip Rupp, Vice President Investor Relations, will meet with institutional investors during the conference on May 29, 2024. Mr. Austin and Ms. Desai will also participate in a fireside chat hosted by Bernstein analyst Chad Dillard on the same day at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time, which will be broadcast live over the Internet. Live webcast links and archived replays of this presentation will be available in the "News & Events" area of the Investor Relations section of Quanta's website (https://investors.quantaservices.com/news-events ) . KeyBanc Capital Markets Industrials & Basic Materials Conference Duke Austin, Chief Executive Officer, Jayshree Desai, Chief Financial Officer and Kip Rupp, Vice President Investor Relations, will meet with institutional investors during the conference on May 30, 2024. About Quanta Services Quanta is an industry leader in providing specialized infrastructure solutions to the utility, renewable energy, communications, pipeline and energy industries. Quanta's comprehensive services include designing, installing, repairing and maintaining energy and communications infrastructure. With operations throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and select other international markets, Quanta has the manpower, resources and expertise to safely complete projects that are local, regional, national or international in scope. For more information, visit www.quantaservices.com. Kip Rupp, CFA, IRC Quanta Services, Inc. (713) 341-7260 SOURCE Quanta Services, Inc. Powered by Regent Access, the Massachusetts Application for State Financial Aid (MASFA) enables undocumented students to apply for state need-based financial aid FREDERICK, Md., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Regent Education, a leader in SaaS-based financial aid and scholarship management solutions, announced today that the Massachusetts Department of Education (MA DHE) is live with Regent Access, the solution that powers its new Massachusetts Application for State Financial Aid (MASFA) . The MASFA, a critical piece of the Massachusetts Tuition Equity Law , gives students who cannot complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) because of their immigration status a way to apply for state need-based financial aid. Regent Access powers the MASFA, providing a user-friendly, responsive online experience that mirrors the FAFSA. In production in five states including Massachusetts, Regent Access eliminates enrollment barriers for undocumented students by helping them gain access to the state financial aid needed to help finance their education. The MA DHE sought to launch the MASFA quickly, but required additional help to do so. They identified Regent Access as the only vendor solution that would both support the MASFA project requirements and also meet the Department's expedited timeline. To date, close to 200 schools across the state have received training on Regent Access. "Massachusetts is making great strides in expanding access to state need-based financial aid," said Jim Hermens, CEO, Regent Education. "Launching the MASFA is a critical step in helping undocumented students realize their educational goals, and we are proud to partner with the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education in support of this effort. We look forward to continuing our support of their initiatives for years to come." About Regent Education Regent Education enables colleges and universities to simplify and automate the management of the most complex financial aid scenarios, maximize institutional scholarship dollars, eliminate enrollment barriers, and exceed enrollment goals. With a sole focus on financial aid, Regent Education delivers a holistic suite of SIS-agnostic, cloud-based solutions designed to meet an institution's scholarship and financial aid needs across all enrollment and educational models. Learn more at www.regenteducation.com . Media Contact: Heather A. Hodgson Vice President, Marketing [email protected] SOURCE Regent Education Expansion of the e-commerce industry, increased product recall due to stringent government rules for product quality in the automotive industry, rise of tech-driven reverse logistics services, and increase in adoption of IoT-enabled connected devices drive the growth of the global reverse logistics market. PORTLAND, Ore., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Reverse Logistics Market by Return Type (Recalls, Commercial Returns & B2B Returns, Repairable Returns, End-of-use returns, and End-of-life returns), and End User (E-commerce, Automotive, Pharmaceutical, Consumer Electronics, Retail, Luxury Goods, and Reusable Packaging): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2023-2032". According to the report, the reverse logistics market was valued at $630.9 billion in 2022, and is estimated to reach $947.7 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 4.3% from 2023 to 2032. Prime Determinants of Growth The global reverse logistics market has experienced significant growth and transformation driven by a combination of expansion of the e-commerce industry, increased product recall due to stringent government rules for product quality in the automotive industry, rise of tech-driven reverse logistics services, and growth in adoption of IoT-enabled connected devices. Moreover, the introduction of blockchain technology and reduction in losses owing to the adoption of a multi-modal system are likely to shape the industry's future. Request Sample of the Report on Reverse Logistics Market Forecast 2032 https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/5191 Report coverage & Details: Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 20232032 Base Year 2022 Market Size in 2022 $630.9 billion Market Size in 2032 $947.7 billion CAGR 4.3 % No. of Pages in Report 280 Segments Covered Return Type, End User, and Region. Drivers Expansion of the E-commerce industry Increased product recall due to stringent government rules for product quality in the automotive industry Rise of tech-driven reverse logistics services Growth in adoption of IoT-enabled connected devices Opportunities Introduction of blockchain technology Reduction in losses owing to adoption of a multi-modal system Restraints Lack of control of manufacturers on reverse logistics service Uncertainty in the reverse logistics process Procure Complete Report (280 Pages PDF with Insights, Charts, Tables, and Figures) https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/checkout-final/reverse-logistics-market The end-of-life segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. By return type, the commercial returns and B2B returns held the highest market share in 2022, and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period, owing to the expansion of the e-commerce industry, changing customer expectations, and rise in environmental concerns in the e-commerce industry. However, the end-of-life returns segment is projected to have the highest CAGR of 6.3% from 2023 to 2032, owing to growing environmental concerns among manufacturers and strengthening government regulation for safe disposable of end of life returns products as they contain hazardous materials. The demand for reverse logistics services in end of life products, primarily waste electrical and electronic equipment, has increased in recent years, which is further boosting its market demand. The e-commerce segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period By end user, the e-commerce segment held the highest market share in 2022 and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. Similarly, the e-commerce segment is anticipated to portray the fastest CAGR of 5.5% during the review period owing to a rise in the volume of products ordered through e-commerce platforms and increased demand for effective reverse logistics. Product returns add about 7%-11% to the base price of any product sold through e-commerce, and this figure is likely to climb up, necessitating the rapid implementation of an effective reverse logistics solution. Asia-Pacific to maintain its dominance by 2032 By region, Asia-Pacific held the highest market share in terms of revenue in 2022 and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. Similarly, the Asia-Pacific segment is anticipated to portray the highest CAGR of 5.1% from 2023 to 2032, owing to the growing logistics industry due to the expansion of the manufacturing sector in the region. Moreover, strong government assistance for the development of regional logistics infrastructure aids in the growth of reverse logistics market. Furthermore, the expanding E-commerce business in emerging economies such as India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and others is helping drive the reverse logistics market's expansion. To Talk With Our Industry Expert @ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/connect-to-analyst/5191 Leading Market Players: - C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. Reverse Logistics GmbH Core Logistic Private Limited DB Schenker Deutsche Post DHL Group FedEx Corporation Kintetsu World Express, Inc. Safexpress Pvt. Ltd. United Parcel Service, Inc. Yusen Logistics Co., Ltd. The report provides a detailed analysis of these key players in the global reverse logistics market. These players have adopted different strategies such as new product launches, collaborations, expansion, joint ventures, agreements, and others to increase their market share and maintain dominant shares in different regions. The report is valuable in highlighting business performance, operating segments, product portfolio, and strategic moves of market players to showcase the competitive scenario. Browse More Trending Reports Boat Rental Market Size, Share, Competitive Landscape and Trend Analysis Report by Boat Type, by Boat Size, by Power, by Activity : Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031 Car Leasing Market Size, Share, Competitive Landscape and Trend Analysis Report by Lease, by Vehicle and by End-user : Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2023-2032 Cargo Shipping Market Size, Share, Competitive Landscape and Trend Analysis Report by Cargo Type, by Ship Type, by Industry Type : Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2022-2031 Contract Logistics Market Size, Share, Competitive Landscape and Trend Analysis Report by Service, by Type, by Industry Vertical, by Mode of Transportation : Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2022-2031 About Us Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain. We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry. Contact: David Correa 1209 Orange Street, Corporation Trust Center, Wilmington, New Castle, Delaware 19801 USA. USA/Canada (Toll Free): +1-800-792-5285 UK: +44-845-528-1300 Hong Kong: +852-301-84916 India (Pune): +91-20-66346060 Fax: +1-800-792-5285 [email protected] Web: www.alliedmarketresearch.com AMR Resource Center: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/resource-center Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/636519/Allied_Market_Research_Logo.jpg SOURCE Allied Market Research NEW YORK, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights today announced the winners of its 2024 RFK Book and Journalism Awards during a virtual ceremony with remarks by president Kerry Kennedy and featuring special guest presenters Kimberly Adams, Michael Beschloss, Margaret Engel, Annette Gordon-Reed, Van Jones, Rory Kennedy, Nicholas Kristof, Arantxa Loizaga, Craig Melvin, Natalie Morales, Amna Nawaz, Soledad O'Brien, Symone Sanders, and John Seigenthaler. Award winners were honored for their work documenting pressing social issues and human rights abuses. Winning entries were selected from roughly 400 global submissions. "Journalists and authors empower change. Their work is a rallying cry, drawing attention to the abuses and inequities that cannot be ignored," said Kerry Kennedy, president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. "The writers, photographers, artists, and producers who tell these stories are critical to preserving democracy and protecting human rights. We are honored to celebrate them today." Among the Journalism Award winners: Carnegie-Knight News21, housed at Arizona State University, won the College Journalism Award for its project America After Roe. Featuring the work of 25 student journalists from nine universities, the project examines how the monumental decision has gone beyond abortion bans and courthouse battles to more broadly affect health care, culture, policy, and people. America After Roe was also named the Grand Prize Winner. won the for its project America After Roe. Featuring the work of 25 student journalists from nine universities, the project examines how the monumental decision has gone beyond abortion bans and courthouse battles to more broadly affect health care, culture, policy, and people. America After Roe was also named the The Marshall Project won this year's Criminal Justice Award for its three-part series "When Guards Abuse Prisoners," which investigates how a correctional department disciplines or fails to discipline its officers. won this year's for its three-part series "When Guards Abuse Prisoners," which investigates how a correctional department disciplines or fails to discipline its officers. Netflix and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting won the Domestic Television Award for their piece "Victim/Suspect," which documents a shocking nationwide pattern - young women tell police they've been sexually assaulted, but instead of finding justice, they're charged with a crime, arrested, and imprisoned by the very system they believed would protect them. and won the for their piece "Victim/Suspect," which documents a shocking nationwide pattern - young women tell police they've been sexually assaulted, but instead of finding justice, they're charged with a crime, arrested, and imprisoned by the very system they believed would protect them. The Associated Press won the International Photography Award for its coverage of the war in Gaza , with judges praising the skill, empathy, and experience of staff photographer Fatima Shbair as she covers the ongoing humanitarian crisis. "War in Gaza " also received the John Seigenthaler Courage in Journalism Award. This year's Book Award winner is "Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class" by acclaimed historian Blair LM Kelley. Spanning two hundred years, "Black Folk" highlights the lives of the laundresses, Pullman porters, domestic maids, and postal workers who established the Black working class as a force in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Kelley weaves her ancestors' story into the history, adding a personal, moving, and very human narrative. The annual competition, in place since 1969 for journalism categories and 1980 for the Book Award, highlights exemplary work that explores issues of human rights, social justice, and the power of individual action. It is one of the few awards in its field determined by peers. We are grateful to Mort Zuckerman and the Zuckerman Family Foundation for their support of this year's Robert F. Kennedy Book and Journalism Awards ceremony. Special thanks to historian and author Michael Beschloss, head of the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award committee, and Margaret Engel, director of the Alicia Patterson Journalism Foundation and chair of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards committee, as well as the committees and many volunteer judges who participated this year. The full list of honorees for the 2024 RFK Book and Journalism Awards can be found below. High School Journalism The Hidden Homeless Naperville Central High School Nathan Yuan College Journalism and Grand Prize America After Roe Carnegie-Knight News21 Housed at Arizona State University, in partnership with University of Oregon, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Florida International University, University of Colorado Boulder, St. Bonaventure University, University of Oklahoma, University of North Texas, Ohio Wesleyan University Nontraditional Media Alone and Exploited The New York Times Hannah Dreier Domestic Print Inside the Psychiatric Hospitals Where Foster Kids Are a "Gold Mine" Mother Jones Julia Lurie Domestic Photo Black Maternal Mortality The Washington Post Jahi Chikwendiu Domestic Television Victim/Suspect Netflix and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting Rachel De Leon, Chris Celements, Nancy Schwartzman, Julie Goldman, Tracy Elizabeth Jarrett, Amanda Pike, Alice Henty, Inbal Lessner, J. Daniel Torres, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon International Print China: The Superpower of Seafood The Outlaw Ocean Project Ian Urbina International Photo and John Seigenthaler Courage in Journalism Award War in Gaza The Associated Press Fatima Shbair International Television Inside the Iranian Uprising Frontline (PBS) Majed Neisi, Sasha Joelle Achilli, James Allnutt, Dan Edge, Andrew Metz, Raney Aronson-Rath Criminal Justice When Guards Abuse Prisoners The Marshall Project Joseph Neff, Alysia Santo Radio Hidden Confessions of the Mormon Church Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX Michael Montgomery, Michael Rezendes, Jason Dearen, Brett Myers, Tom Berman Cartoon Art by Peter Kuper Book Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class Liveright Blair LM Kelley About Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that has worked to realize Robert F. Kennedy's dream of a more just and peaceful world since 1968. In partnership with local activists, RFK Human Rights advocates for key human rights issues, championing change makers and pursuing strategic litigation at home and around the world. And to ensure change that lasts, we foster a social-good approach to business and investment and educate millions of students about human rights and social justice. SOURCE Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights NEW YORK, May 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of securities of HireRight Holdings Corporation (NYSE: HRT) pursuant and/or traceable to the registration statement and prospectus (collectively, the "Offering Documents") issued in connection with HireRight's October 2021 initial public offering (the "IPO"), of the important June 3, 2024 lead plaintiff deadline. SO WHAT: If you purchased HireRight securities 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 HireRight class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=23874 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than June 3, 2024. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers. DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, the Offering Documents made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) HireRight was exposed to customers with significant employment and hiring risk and HireRight derived greater revenue growth from existing client hiring than from new client hiring; (2) as a result, HireRight's revenue growth was unsustainable to the extent that it relied on the stability of its current customers' hiring and/or the profitability of securing new customers; (3) accordingly, HireRight had overstated its post-IPO business and/or prospects; and (4) as a result, defendants' statements about HireRight's business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages. To join the HireRight class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=23874 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action. No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Contact Information: Laurence Rosen, Esq. Phillip Kim, Esq. The Rosen Law Firm, P.A. 275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor New York, NY 10016 Tel: (212) 686-1060 Toll Free: (866) 767-3653 Fax: (212) 202-3827 [email protected] www.rosenlegal.com SOURCE THE ROSEN LAW FIRM, P. A. MILWAUKEE, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ademi LLP is investigating FISB (OTCQX: FISB) for possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law in its transaction with West Coast Community Bancorp. Click here to learn how to join the https://www.ademilaw.com/case/1st-capital-bancorp or call Guri Ademi toll-free at 866-264-3995. There is no cost or obligation to you. In the transaction, FISB shareholders will receive West Coast Community shares valued at approximately $10.78 per FISB share, based on the closing price of $29.94 for West Coast Community Bancorp shares on May 20, 2024 in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $63 million. The transaction agreement unreasonably limits competing transactions for FISB by imposing a significant penalty if FISB accepts a competing bid. FISB insiders will receive substantial benefits as part of change of control arrangements. We are investigating the conduct of FISB's board of directors, and whether they are fulfilling their fiduciary duties to all shareholders. If you own FISB common stock and wish to obtain additional information, please contact Guri Ademi either at [email protected] or toll-free: 866-264-3995, or https://www.ademilaw.com/case/1st-capital-bancorp. We specialize in shareholder litigation involving buyouts, mergers, and individual shareholder rights throughout the country. For more information, please feel free to call us. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. Contacts Ademi LLP Guri Ademi Toll Free: (866) 264-3995 Fax: (414) 482-8001 SOURCE Ademi LLP AMERICAN FORK, Utah, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced that Shawn Moon, CEO of Zerorez, Inc. was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 Mountain West Award finalist. The Mountain West program celebrates entrepreneurs from Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Mr. Moon was selected as a finalist by an independent panel of judges who evaluated candidates based on their demonstration of building long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact. This recognition highlights Moon's exceptional leadership and visionary approach, which have significantly contributed to Zerorez's growth and success. His foresight in partnering with Banner Capital has been instrumental in accelerating Zerorez's expansion. Under his leadership, the company has not only grown organically but also expanded through strategic acquisitions. This partnership has enabled Zerorez to operate at a greater scale, enhancing the company's ability to deliver superior cleaning services to a broader customer base. "Being named a finalist for the EY Entrepreneur Of the Year award is a humbling validation of the tireless dedication and innovation by our team at Zerorez," said Mr. Moon. "This recognition is a testament to our relentless pursuit of excellence and our unwavering commitment to becoming your trusted provider in creating clean and healthy environments." About Zerorez Founded in 2003, Zerorez, Inc. is a premier provider of carpet, flooring, and air duct cleaning services, headquartered in American Fork, Utah. With franchisees and operations extending across North America and now in the United Kingdom, Zerorez is celebrated for its pioneering technology and dedication to delivering superior results without the use of harsh chemicals. The company revolutionized the cleaning industry with its proprietary Zr Wateran ionized, alkalized water that is non-toxic, safe for people, pets, and the planet, yet powerful enough to clean effectively. Zerorez's commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction is reflected in its impressive track record, boasting over 200,000 reviews and an average rating of 4.9 stars on Google. No other cleaner in the world gets your carpets, rugs, and other surfaces as clean or keeps them clean as long as Zerorez. For more information, visit www.zerorez.com. About Entrepreneur Of The Year Entrepreneur Of The Year is the preeminent competitive business award for audacious leaders who disrupt markets, revolutionize sectors and have a transformational impact on lives. Entrepreneur Of The Year has celebrated more than 11,000 ambitious visionaries who are leading successful, dynamic businesses in the US, and has since expanded globally. Regional award winners will be announced on Saturday, June 15 during a special celebration and will become lifetime members of an esteemed community of Entrepreneur Of The Year alumni from around the world. The winners will then be considered by the National judges for the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards, which will be presented in November at the annual Strategic Growth Forum. PR Contact: Bill De Groot Company: Zerorez, Inc. Email: [email protected] SOURCE Zerorez, Inc. Kansas Food Bank and Geary County Food Pantry will collaborate to distribute the company's protein donation to Kansas veterans and neighbors facing food insecurity SMITHFIELD, Va., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Smithfield Foods donated more than 38,000 pounds of protein to help veterans and families in Geary County, Kansas, who are facing food insecurity. Feeding America's Kansas Food Bank will collaborate with Geary County Food Pantry to distribute protein servings throughout the community. At Smithfield Foods, we are on a mission to ensure that no one goes hungry. Post this Tolcha Mesele, senior community development manager, Smithfield Foods, presents a donation check for more than 150,000 servings of food during Armed Forces Day Celebration event in Junction City, Kansas. "At Smithfield Foods, we are on a mission to ensure that no one goes hungry, especially military veterans and families that have made the ultimate sacrifice to serve our country," said Steve Evans, vice president, community development for Smithfield Foods. "We're honored to do good in this community through this food donation to take a bite of out hunger in Geary County." The donation, which included bacon, sausage, smoked sausage, ham steaks, hot dogs and various sandwich meats, will provide over 150,000 servings of protein to individuals at risk of hunger in Geary County. The donation was announced during the Armed Forces Day Celebration on May 18 hosted by the Military Affairs Council near Fort Riley in Junction City, Kansas. Geary County experiences the highest rate of child food insecurity and one of the highest rates of overall food insecurity in the state. "We are deeply grateful to Smithfield Foods for their generous donation to our community and being a huge part of our Armed Forces Day event," said Isreal Waddell, director for Military Affairs Council for Junction City, Kansas and Geary County, Kansas. "Their commitment to supporting our military families and combating food insecurity in Geary County is truly commendable. This donation will make a meaningful difference in the lives of the community and the men and women who have selflessly served our country." Smithfield's hunger relief program, Helping Hungry Homes, has provided hundreds of millions of servings of protein all 50 U.S. states, as well as in Poland, Romania and Mexico, since 2008. Smithfield donated nearly 28 million servings of protein to food banks, disaster relief efforts and community outreach programs across the U.S. in 2023 and has pledged to donate 200 million servings of protein by 2025. For more information about Smithfield's programs to support local communities, please visit smithfieldfoods.com/helping-communities. About Smithfield Foods, Inc. Headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia, since 1936, Smithfield Foods, Inc. is a U.S. food company that employs more than 54,000 people in seven countries and partners with thousands of American farmers. As one of the world's leading vertically integrated protein companies, we are dedicated to producing "Good food. Responsibly." to feed a growing world population. We have pioneered sustainability standards for more than two decades, including our industry-leading commitments to become carbon negative in our U.S. company-owned operations and reduce GHG emissions 30% across our entire U.S. value chain by 2030. We believe in the power of protein to end food insecurity and have donated hundreds of millions of food servings to food banks, disaster relief efforts and community outreach programs in all 50 U.S. states. Smithfield boasts a portfolio of high-quality iconic brands, such as Smithfield, Eckrich, Gwaltney and Nathan's Famous, among many others. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com and connect with us on Facebook, X, formerly known as Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Threads. SOURCE Smithfield Foods, Inc. MIAMI, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Sonny Meraban Scholarship for Entrepreneurs proudly announces its call for applications, inviting undergraduate students from around the world to embark on a journey of innovation and excellence. Named in honor of Sonny Meraban, a visionary figure in real estate investment and cryptocurrency, this esteemed scholarship is dedicated to nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit and fostering transformative ideas. With a generous one-time award of $1500, the Sonny Meraban Scholarship seeks to provide financial support and mentorship to individuals who exemplify a strong commitment to entrepreneurship, creativity, and community impact. Applicants for the Sonny Meraban Scholarship for Entrepreneurs must meet rigorous criteria to be considered: Undergraduate Status: Applicants must be enrolled as undergraduate students at an accredited college or university. Entrepreneurial Spirit: Candidates should demonstrate a robust entrepreneurial mindset, characterized by creativity, innovation, and a passion for pursuing business ventures. Academic Excellence: Applicants must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0 or equivalent academic achievement. Leadership Potential: Individuals should exhibit leadership qualities and a dedication to making a positive impact in their communities or industries. In addition to meeting these requirements, applicants are invited to respond to an essay prompt, where they are tasked with describing a business idea or project they are passionate about. Sonny Meraban, the esteemed founder and CEO of Bitcoin of America, is the visionary behind this scholarship. His illustrious career and indomitable spirit serve as a testament to the transformative power of entrepreneurship. Despite Bitcoin of America's closure in 2023, Sonny Meraban's legacy as a trailblazer in the cryptocurrency industry continues to inspire aspiring entrepreneurs worldwide. "Welcome to the Sonny Meraban Scholarship for Entrepreneursan initiative dedicated to nurturing the next generation of innovative thinkers and trailblazers in the world of business," says Sonny Meraban. "Join us in honoring Sonny Meraban's legacy and shaping the future of entrepreneurship." For more information about the Sonny Meraban Scholarship for Entrepreneurs and how to apply, please visit https://sonnymerabanscholarship.com/. About Sonny Meraban Sonny Meraban is the founder and CEO of Bitcoin of America, a visionary real estate investor, and a pioneer in the cryptocurrency realm. Through the Sonny Meraban Scholarship for Entrepreneurs, he seeks to empower the next generation of business leaders to pursue their dreams and make a lasting impact on the world. SOURCE Sonny Meraban Scholarship LONDON, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Specialist Risk Group ("SRG"), the fast-growing, people and culture focussed, specialist insurance intermediary has today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Warburg Pincus, a leading global growth investor, and Temasek, a global investor. Closing is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. SRG's management team will invest alongside Warburg Pincus and Temasek and will continue to hold a significant stake in the business. SRG was launched in January 2020 under the leadership of Group CEO Warren Downey and Group Deputy CEO Lee Anderson and currently employs over 600 people and places premiums of more than 1 billion. A combination of strong organic growth and a series of strategic investments and acquisitions has seen SRG grow dramatically into the natural home for specialist people and businesses since its inception. Warburg Pincus and Temasek are both world class investors in their own right who will support the realisation of SRG's growth ambitions and its strategy. James O'Gara, Managing Director, Warburg Pincus, said: "We've been following SRG's progression over the past few years with keen interest and are delighted to partner with the business and its very talented team on their next stage of growth. As active and experienced investors into insurance businesses globally, we believe SRG has all the right ingredients talent, capabilities, and culture to build on its position as a true standout amongst European and international intermediaries. We look forward to working with the team and Temasek to help realise that potential.'' Warren Downey, SRG Group CEO, said: "We are thrilled to be partnering with such outstanding investors as Warburg Pincus and Temasek. They are ideal partners who will provide the support and firepower we need as we embark on the next exciting stage of our growth journey. I would like to take this opportunity to thank HGGC for their support over the last 3 years, we have thoroughly enjoyed working with them during this time, and their involvement has played a significant role in SRG becoming what it is today." HGGC said: "We've enjoyed a tremendous partnership with Warren and the SRG team and seeing them achieve many of the business goals we set together ahead of schedule has been especially rewarding." Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. HGGC / SRG were advised by Evercore (financial advisor) and Kirkland and Ellis (legal advisor). Warburg Pincus was advised by Macquarie Capital (financial advisor) and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (legal advisor). Management was advised by Liberty Corporate Finance and Eversheds (legal advisor). For press enquiries please contact: SRG Russell O'Connor [email protected] 07760 282 586 Warburg Pincus [email protected] +44 7570 844 338 About Specialist Risk Group Specialist Risk Group is an insurance intermediary bridging Retail, Wholesale, International and Underwriting disciplines. Founded under the mantra, "Building a company we are proud to tell our friends and family about" SRG is rapidly becoming natural home for specialist people and businesses. The business focusses on specialisms in which it can take a leadership position and now numbers 640 staff, places premiums of 1bn. About Warburg Pincus Warburg Pincus LLC is a leading global growth investor. The firm has more than $81 billion in assets under management. The firm's active portfolio of more than 250 companies is highly diversified by stage, sector, and geography. Warburg Pincus is an experienced partner to management teams seeking to build durable companies with sustainable value. Since its founding in 1966, Warburg Pincus has invested more than $116 billion in over 1,000 companies globally across its private equity, real estate, and capital solutions strategies. The firm is headquartered in New York with offices around the globe. About Temasek Temasek is a global investment company with a net portfolio value of S$382 billion (US$287b, 232b) as at 31 March 2023. Its Purpose "So Every Generation Prospers" guides it to make a difference for today's and future generations. As an active investor, forward looking institution and trusted steward, it is committed to deliver sustainable value over the long term. Temasek has overall corporate credit ratings of Aaa/AAA by rating agencies Moody's Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings respectively. Headquartered in Singapore, it has 13 offices in 9 countries around the world: Beijing, Hanoi, Mumbai, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Singapore in Asia; and London, Brussels, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, and Mexico City outside Asia. For more information on Temasek, please visit www.temasek.com.sg About HGGC HGGC is a values-driven, partnership-focused private investment firm. The firm's ecosystem of investors, operators, and professionals are united by the shared mission to develop leading enterprises and build long term value together. HGGC invests in technology, business services, financial services and consumer enterprises generally valued between $200M - $1.5B+. The firm is based in Palo Alto, CA and manages over $6.9 billion in cumulative capital commitments. Since its inception in 2007, HGGC has completed more than 600 platform investments, add-on acquisitions, recapitalizations, and liquidity events with an aggregate transaction value of over $71 billion. More information, including a complete list of current and former investments, is available at www.hggc.com. SOURCE Specialist Risk Group NEW YORK, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Specialty Food Association (SFA) has released a second edition of its groundbreaking research report, Understanding the Real Value of Specialty Foods. Built on interviews with 1,000 shoppers, 100 retailers, and other data points, the new report outlines the positive impact of specialty products on retailer profitability and shopper loyalty, impact that has only increased in importance since the first edition came out in 2014. Sales of specialty foods have grown from $88 billion in 2013 to an estimated $207 billion in 2023, an increase of 149%. Post this Specialty Food Association: Understanding the Real Value of Specialty Foods - 2024 Edition Describing the current moment as "an era of specialty food prominence," the report notes that sales of specialty products have grown from $88 billion in 2013 to an estimated $207 billion in 2023, an increase of 149%. With specialty food and beverages now representing 21.6% of all center store grocery sales in the 63 categories measured by SFA, they are no longer regarded as niche products, but a major driver of growth in the grocery sector. "There is a general perception of specialty foods as inherently worth more, whether in price or in time shoppers spend to procure them. This updated research proves that perception correct," said Bill Lynch, SFA president. "This has meaningful implications for many SFA members and the industry as a whole. In a time of economic uncertainty and fluctuating prices, we hope this research helps food makers, buyers, brokers, and distributors understand the positive impact that specialty products have on retailers' bottom lines." Top Takeaways: Specialty foods drive shopper loyalty. The report outlines a clear relationship between how customers rate their primary store and that store's selection of specialty food items. Almost half (44%) of primary store shoppers surveyed for the report make trips to secondary stores specifically "to find specialty food items that their regular store does not carry." These trips, along with others made to dedicated specialty stores, represent $1,200 in sales per household per year, sales which retailers could be retaining themselves. "If my favorite store carried a wider selection of specialty food products," said 41% of shoppers surveyed, "I would be less likely to make shopping trips elsewhere." "For my stores, specialty foods provide guests moments of joy," said Dwight Richmond, director of center store for Town & Country Markets. "Helping them re-discover unique foods they loved or encounter new foods they are going to love helps us create a guest who is excited to come back. They're telling their friends about the 'treasure hunt' of foodie finds in our stores, and that makes them a loyal customer for years to come." Specialty foods drive retailer profits. In addition to the sales generated from retaining more trips, specialty foods are disproportionately more profitable on the shelf, according to this report. In fact, specialty food items generate a gross margin dollar return that is 3-4 times higher per unit than mainstream items, which, the report posits, helps to balance out "somewhat slower turns from specialty products." Given specialty products' higher average prices and gross margin rates, these items deliver more than twice the return on inventory investment (ROI) for retailers: 50.1% compared with 19.8% for non-specialty items, according to this report's data. "From a business perspective," said Richmond, "specialty foods provide needed boosts in margin and dollar-sale profitability across all the categories they belong to." SFA's new report contains sections on the economic impact of specialty foods, consumer insights and market dynamics, retailer case studies, growth opportunities, the role of distributors, private-label trends, e-commerce strategies, and the future outlook for the specialty foods market. Understanding the Real Value of Specialty Foods - 2024 Edition is available for purchase in the SFA Learning Center . Qualified food industry professionals who register for the 2024 Summer Fancy Food Show can also download a complimentary copy of the report with a redemption code. Learn more and register on the SFA website . About the Specialty Food Association The Specialty Food Association (SFA) was founded in 1952 and is the not-for-profit trade association of the $207-billion specialty food industry. Representing more than 3,800 businesses worldwide, SFA champions industry participation and success for a diverse community of makers, buyers, importers, distributors, and service providers by developing resources, information, education , and events that celebrate innovation and inclusivity. SFA owns and operates the Fancy Food Shows as well as the sofi Awards , which have honored excellence in specialty food and beverage annually since 1972. The SFA also produces the e-newsletter SFA News Daily , the Trendspotter Panel annual predictions and Fancy Food Show reports, the State of the Specialty Food Industry Report , Today's Specialty Food Consumer research, and the Spill & Dish podcast. Find out more online and connect with SFA on Facebook , X , Instagram , LinkedIn , and TikTok . SOURCE Specialty Food Association The fastest-growing spice company in the U.S. retains new broker to further expand foodservice footprint SPOKANE, Wash., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Spiceology, known for its Periodic Table of Flavor and innovative signature spice blends, announced its partnership with the leading foodservice sales agency in North America, CORE Foodservice. Named a fastest growing company by Inc. 5000 five years in a row, Spiceology continues to expand its product offerings and flavor solutions in foodservice, alongside its DTC and retail channels. Partnering with CORE provides a robust network to bring Spiceology into more professional kitchens across the country. Spiceology "CORE and Spiceology are a natural fit," said Darby McLean, CEO of Spiceology. "As we focus on scaling up our foodservice offering, it made sense to partner with the largest, best-connected broker in the sector. And CORE's emphasis on culinary innovation is a strong match for our chef-centered ethos." A chef-founded company, Spiceology supports the evolving needs of chefs through the highest quality core raw ingredients and never-before-tasted, fresh-ground flavors; the company's ultra-versatile spice blends and salt-free product line help professional kitchens save on food costs and labor without sacrificing creativity. And more chefs are embracing the spice blend; in a recent study, Spiceology found that using blends in a professional kitchen reduces costs by an average of 25% vs mixing core ingredients. "When compared to other spice providers, you can taste the difference Spiceology is bringing to the table," said Travis King, President of CORE Foodservice. "That kind of flavor innovation, along with dish consistency and time and cost savings are what chefs and pro kitchens are actively looking for as economic and diner trends shift. We're excited to get boots on the ground and share these game-changing spices and spice blends with our foodservice clients." Visit Spiceology.com for more information. ABOUT SPICEOLOGY Founded in 2013, Spiceology is at the heart of the kitchen for all who love food. Named a fastest growing company by Inc. 5000 five years in a row, Spiceology is home to chef-created and never-before-tasted flavors and over 300 ingredients that are ground fresh and shipped fresh. Bestsellers like Greek Freak and Smoky Honey Habanero have become pantry and counter staples in both professional and home cook kitchens around the world. Spiceology's ingredients and blends can be found in the aisles of retailers large and small, in the pantries of hundreds of thousands of home cooks, and in the kitchens of some of the world's greatest chefs. ABOUT CORE FOODSERVICE CORE Foodservice is a re-imagined, best-in-class North American agency focused on providing solutions for the foodservice industry's new operating environment. As one of the most progressive foodservice sales agencies, CORE Foodservice brings together industry-leading capabilities from both Acosta Group and CORE Foodservice, creating a strategically resourced organization designed to meet the requirements of new customer behaviors and expectations. For more information, please visit https://corefoodservice.com. Media Contact: Vicky Franco 619-410-2929 [email protected] SOURCE Spiceology LAIYANG, China, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 20, the State Grid Laiyang City Power Supply Company dispatched its staff to Zhaowangzhuang Village. They distributed convenience cards to villagers tending to their pear orchards, assessed their electricity needs for irrigation, and swiftly addressed any complex issues related to their electricity usage, ensuring reliable power support for their irrigation needs. In Laiyang City of Yantai, Shandong Province, the cultivation of Autumn Moon pears has become a significant income source for local farmers. With the expansion of pear orchard cultivation, the regional power load has seen substantial growth. Proactively, the State Grid Laiyang City Power Supply Company collaborates closely with village committees and farmers to gauge the actual electricity demands for irrigation, refine power supply measures, and enhance service capabilities to support rural development and the revitalization of the countryside. To robustly secure electricity for local farmers' irrigation needs, the State Grid Yantai Power Supply Company has comprehensively inspected the operation of power supply facilities. It has established 126 irrigation power supply service teams, leveraging a "grid management" model to assign specific managers to designated service areas. Utilizing drones and visual devices, these teams conduct thorough and multi-dimensional inspections. They enhance the monitoring of power load in irrigation facilities, make timely adjustments to transformers and load settings to prevent severe overloads, low voltage, and unbalanced three-phase power. The company optimizes the allocation of repair resources, stocks essential items like cables and circuit breakers, pre-positions large repair materials, and adheres to the principle of "restore power first, then repair" to swiftly address and rectify faults. An "emergency green channel" for irrigation electricity has been opened to launch an emergency service mechanism, accelerating the processing of electricity applications and capacity increases, streamlining procedures, and prioritizing farmers' irrigation electricity needs with special treatment. To date, the State Grid Yantai Power Supply Company has inspected and patrolled 1,591 agricultural drainage lines and 18,555 agricultural transformer areas individually. They have also conducted infrared thermography and ultrasonic partial discharge live testing, eliminating a total of 356 defects and hidden dangers, proactively handled 56 cases of severe overload in transformer areas, refurbished more than 120 kilometers of low-voltage lines, and resolved 275 electricity-related issues. The company continues its diligent efforts in securing electricity supply for irrigation, deepening its services to ensure increased agricultural production and income for farmers. SOURCE State Grid Laiyang City Power Supply Company MCLEAN, Va., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Steampunk announced today that the company has been awarded a Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The BOA was awarded as part of the STRATUS program for cloud integration and development support services. The STRATUS program aims to accelerate cloud adoption by providing rapid access to hyperscale cloud service providers, integration and development service providers, and SaaS providers/resellers. Steampunk was selected for the program's unrestricted portion and has a 10-year ordering period to support USDA's cloud solution objectives. "Steampunk is thrilled and honored to continue our partnership with USDA through STRATUS," said Joe Nizhnikov, Senior Vice President at Steampunk. "Over the last four years, Steampunk has had the privilege of working directly with USDA to exploit the power and innovation of cloud computing using our Design Intelligence delivery framework. Together we have demonstrated the very real business value of cloud-based solutions through cloud migration, modernization, and innovation engagements." Since 2019, Steampunk has supported the majority of USDA mission areas, as well as the Department's Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) Digital Infrastructure Services Center (DISC). Steampunk thrives on producing mission outcomes with capabilities in DevSecOps, Data Exploitation, Digital Platform modernization, Cybersecurity, and Design & Strategy. Steampunk is delivering on some of the most complex technology challenges at USDA using its Design Intelligence delivery framework that combines a continual focus on customer experience with deep technical expertise and proven Agile delivery methods to achieve Quality at Speed for the USDA mission. About Steampunk Steampunk is a change agent in the federal contracting industry, bringing new thinking to clients in the Civilian, Homeland Security, Health, and Department of Defense sectors. Through our unique Design Intelligence delivery framework we are fundamentally changing the expectations our federal clients have for true shared accountability in solving their toughest mission challenges. As an employee-owned company, we focus on investing in our employees to enable them to do the greatest work of their careers and rewarding them for outstanding contributions to our clients. If you want to learn more about our story, visit http://www.steampunk.com. Media Contact: Robert Pearson, Chief Marketing Officer [email protected] | 571.344.5538 www.steampunk.com SOURCE Steampunk, Inc. The SubieEvents enthusiast series will take place in six cities across the U.S. and feature thousands of Subaru vehicles Post this Events will include opportunities for fans to test drive the updated 2024 Subaru Solterra EV, as well as to drive their own Subarus on specially designed autocross courses to test themselves while gaining valuable driving experience. Subaru will present a curated showcase of vintage and special edition vehicles, Subaru Motorsports rally, and Gymkhana vehicles. Some event locations also will include meet-and-greet and ride-along opportunities with Bucky Lasek, as well as Subaru Motorsports USA drivers Travis Pastrana and Scott Speed. Each event will also feature an All-Subaru Car Show for participants (registration required) and spectators to enjoy. Alan Bethke, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Subaru of America, Inc.: "The joy of Subaru fans celebrating together is the best part of the SubieEvents series. We have it all, from Lightning Lap leaders to Goodwood Festival favorites to enthusiasts' own rides, and we're excited to share amazing vehicles and experiences with even more attendees this year." Vehicles on-site will include the Airslayer STI and Travis Pastrana's 1983 Subaru GL "Family Huckster" Gymkhana cars, Brandon Semenuk and Keaton Williams' 2023 Subaru Motorsports USA #180 WRX rally car, numerous vintage, performance, and lifestyle vehicles, as well as the latest BRZ and WRX models, plus new surprises as the event series progresses. The full schedule of the 2024 SubieEvents series includes: Date Event Location June 2nd Wicked Big Meet Stafford Motor Speedway, Stafford Springs, CT August 4th Subiefest California Santa Anita Park, Arcadia, CA August 18th Boxerfest York Fairgrounds, York, PA September 8th Subiefest Midwest RT66 Raceway, Joliet, IL October 5th Subiefest Florida Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL October 19th Subiefest Texas Lone Star Park, Dallas, TX In conjunction with the Subaru Loves Pets pillar of the Subaru Love Promise, the SubieEvents series will feature pet adoption opportunities in partnership with local pet organizations at each location. Fans will also have the chance to purchase custom Subaru Gear, create their own Subaru event stickers, test their skills on iRacing simulators, and much more. Subaru partners at SubieEvents include pro skater Bucky Lasek, Crankshaft Culture, Subaru Motors Finance, Subaru Certified Collision Centers and Subaru Motorsports USA. For more information and details on SubieEvents, visit subiefest.com and follow #Subiefest2024, #Wickedbigmeet2024 and #Boxerfest2024 on social media. About Subaru of America, Inc. Subaru of America, Inc. (SOA) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Subaru Corporation of Japan. Headquartered at a zero-landfill office in Camden, N.J., the company markets and distributes Subaru vehicles, parts and accessories through a network of more than 630 retailers across the United States. All Subaru products are manufactured in zero-landfill plants and Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. is the only U.S. automobile manufacturing plant to be designated a backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. SOA is guided by the Subaru Love Promise, which is the company's vision to show love and respect to everyone, and to support its communities and customers nationwide. Over the past 20 years, SOA and the SOA Foundation have donated more than $300 million to causes the Subaru family cares about, and its employees have logged nearly 88,000 volunteer hours. As a company, Subaru believes it is important to do its part in making a positive impact in the world because it is the right thing to do. For additional information visit media.subaru.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Diane Anton Corporate Communications Manager (856) 488-5093 [email protected] Adam Leiter Corporate Communications Specialist (856) 488-8668 [email protected] SOURCE Subaru of America, Inc. HUNTSVILLE, Ala., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Summit 7, the leading provider of IT services for the Defense Industrial Base, is pleased to announce the appointment of Darron Makrokanis as its Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). In this role, Makrokanis will be responsible for driving revenue growth, expanding market presence, and leading the sales, marketing, product, and partnership teams. Darron Makrokanis, CRO at Summit 7 With over 20 years of experience in the technology industry, Makrokanis brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to Summit 7. He has a proven track record of driving sales and revenue growth through innovative practices in various leadership positions, including President, Senior Vice President, and CRO. "We are thrilled to welcome Darron to the Summit 7 team," said Scott Edwards, CEO of Summit 7. "His extensive experience and strategic mindset make him the ideal candidate to lead our revenue generation efforts. We are confident that his leadership will accelerate our growth and help us achieve even better client experience throughout Summit 7" Prior to joining Summit 7, Makrokanis held executive positions at several prominent technology companies, where he successfully led sales teams and achieved exceptional growth. His deep understanding of the cybersecurity landscape and his ability to build strong customer relationships will be invaluable in driving Summit 7's product, marketing and customer success initiatives. "I am excited to join Summit 7 and contribute to its continued success," said Makrokanis. "The company has a strong reputation for delivering innovative cybersecurity solutions to defense contractors, and I look forward to accelerating the mission of Protecting the American Dream." Makrokanis has a diverse educational background including a Graduate-level Certificate in Leadership & Management from Harvard Extension School and another in Data Analytics from MIT Professional Education. He also holds a B.Sc. in Forensic Science/Criminal Justice and an Associate of Arts in Business Administration from American InterContinental University, both with honors. Additionally, he studied Criminal Justice at Tiffin University and Montgomery College. About Summit 7 Summit 7 is a national leader in cybersecurity, compliance, and managed services for the Aerospace and Defense industry and corporate enterprises. Summit 7's Microsoft Cloud solutions have led the way in meeting compliance regulations for the DIB regarding CMMC, DFARS, NIST 800-171, ITAR, and CUI data. Summit 7 Systems is privately held and headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama. SOURCE Summit 7 Systems Senate President Kathleen Passidomo appointed Couris to advance innovative solutions to Florida's health care challenges. TAMPA, Fla., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida Senate President Kathleen Passidomo appointed John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General Hospital, last month to serve as a member of the Health Care Innovation Council, a statewide volunteer organization established this year to advance innovation in health care as part of the Senate's priority Live Healthy initiative. "Florida can serve as a national model in delivering high-quality health care to all Floridians. With support from Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and other leaders on the state level, we can make strategic investments in innovation that have the potential to revolutionize the way we deliver care in the Sunshine State," said Couris. "I'm honored to be a part of the new Health Care Innovation Council, where we will focus on dynamic and strategic solutions that can increase access, cut costs and improve patient outcomes." The Florida Legislature established the Live Healthy Innovation Council with the passage of Senate Bill 7018, proposed by the Senate Health Policy Committee and co-sponsored by Senator Gayle Harrell. Representative Karen Gonzalez Pittman sponsored the bill's House companion. The Legislature passed SB 7018 during the 2024 legislative session with overwhelming support from both chambers. The bill was signed into law by the Governor on March 21. "John Couris was instrumental in the development of the Live Healthy initiative. His transformational vision for our health care system is increasing access, improving care and reducing costs for patients," said President Passidomo. "I am pleased to appoint him to the Live Healthy Innovation Council." The goal of the legislation is to harness the innovation and creativity of entrepreneurs and businesses, in collaboration with the state's health care system and stakeholders, to lead the discussion on innovations that will address challenges in the health care system, transform the delivery of care and strengthen the quality of health care in Florida. The Health Care Innovation Council consists of 15 members who will lead discussions with innovators, developers and implementers of technologies, workforce pathways, service delivery models or other solutions. Based on the public input and information gathered at public meetings, the bill requires the council to create best practice recommendations and focus areas for the advancement of the delivery of health care in Florida, with an emphasis on: Increasing efficiency in the delivery of health care. Reducing strain on the health care workforce. Increasing public access to health care. Improving patient outcomes. Reducing unnecessary emergency department visits; and Reducing costs for patients and the state without reducing the quality of patient care. Through a revolving loan program within the Florida Department of Health (DOH), low-interest loans will enable applicants to implement one or more innovative technologies, workforce pathways, or service delivery models to: Fill a demonstrated need. Obtain or upgrade necessary equipment, hardware, and materials. Adopt new technologies or systems; or A combination thereof to improve the quality and delivery of health care in measurable and sustainable ways that will lower costs and allow that value to be passed onto the health care consumer. The Health Care Innovation Council will review loan applications and submit to DOH a prioritized list of proposals recommended for funding. As president and CEO of Tampa General, Couris has led the hospital to become one of the leading academic health systems in the nation through the implementation of emerging technologies and innovations. In partnership with University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine (USF Health), Couris and Tampa General established the Tampa Medical and Research District. Modeled after renowned medical districts in the nation's greatest cities, the district is an ever-growing hub of world-class clinical care, academics, research and biotechnology. Couris oversaw the creation of the CareComm command center within Tampa General nearly five years ago, which uses data and analytics to increase efficiencies and direct hospital resources to better support patients. As a result of this effort, Tampa General has improved patient outcomes and reduced the length of stay, resulting in lower risk for infection and overall health costs. Recent adaptations of the CareComm command center, which relies on GE Healthcare technologies, focuses on early warning and management of sepsis which had reduced the sepsis mortality rate at Tampa General to a quarter of the national average. Couris also spearheaded the launch of a new, innovative program TGH at Home which provides access to best-in-class hospital care from health care providers in the comfort of a patient's home. Since the program's launch, TGH at Home has demonstrably reduced the risk of readmission for participating patients. As part of the Health Care Innovation Council, Couris will advance innovative, science-driven, reproducible solutions, capable of meeting the state's growing need for health care. ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL Tampa General Hospital, a 981-bed, not-for-profit, academic health system, is one of the largest hospitals in America and delivers world-class care as the region's only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. Tampa General Hospital is the highest-ranked hospital in the market in U.S. News & World Report's 2023-24 Best Hospitals, with six specialties ranking among the top 50 best hospital programs in the United States. Tampa General Hospital has been designated as a model of excellence by the 2022 Fortune/Merative 100 Top Hospitals list. The academic health system's commitment to growing and developing its team members is recognized by two prestigious Forbes magazine rankings in the top 100 nationally in the 2023 America's Best Employers for Women and top 25 in Florida in the 2023 America's Best Employers by State. Tampa General is the safety net hospital for the region, caring for everyone regardless of their ability to pay, and in fiscal year 2021, provided a net community benefit of approximately $240.3 million in the form of health care for underinsured patients, community education, and financial support to community health organizations in Tampa Bay. It is one of the nation's busiest adult solid organ transplant centers and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With six medical helicopters, Tampa General Hospital transports critically injured or ill patients from 23 surrounding counties to receive the advanced care they need. Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center, and its 32-bed Neuroscience, Intensive Care Unit is the largest on the West Coast of Florida. It also is home to the Muma Children's Hospital at TGH, the Jennifer Leigh Muma 82-bed neonatal intensive care unit, and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General Hospital's footprint includes TGH North which is comprised of three hospitals and several outpatient locations in Citrus and Hernando counties, 17 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices, TGH Family Care Center Kennedy, TGH Outpatient Center, TGH Virtual Health, and 21 TGH Imaging outpatient radiology centers throughout Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Palm Beach counties. Tampa Bay area residents also receive world-class care from the TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track network of clinics. To see a medical care professional live anytime, anywhere on a smartphone, tablet or computer, visit Virtual Health | Tampa General Hospital (tgh.org). As one of the largest hospitals in the country, Tampa General Hospital is the first in Florida to partner with GE Healthcare and open a clinical command center that provides real-time situational awareness to improve and better coordinate patient care at a lower cost. For more information, go to www.tgh.org. Media Contact: Amanda Bevis (202) 680-9262 cell [email protected] SOURCE Tampa General Hospital DAYTON, Ohio, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Tangram Flex, Inc., a leading provider of innovative software integration and interoperability solutions for mission-critical systems, is pleased to announce its software integration platform, Tangram Pro, is now designated as an "Awardable" solution on the Department of Defense Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office's (CDAO) Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace. Design, build, and verify the behavior of software integration and interoperability of mission-critical systems Design, build, and verify the behavior of software integration and interoperability of mission-critical systems The CDAO Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace serves as a platform for identifying and procuring cutting-edge technologies and solutions in the fields of digital and artificial intelligence. Through rigorous evaluation and adherence to stringent standards, Tangram Pro has demonstrated its capability to deliver exceptional value and expertise in the realm of software integration, interoperability, and verification. Submissions are independently reviewed and evaluated for acceptance to the marketplace having one of the judges comment, "Your software integration platform solution holds potential for bringing significant value to the Department of Defense (DoD)". This designation underscores Tangram Pro's commitment to excellence and its ability to meet the evolving joint all-domain command and control needs across the DoD. Tangram Pro's innovative approach to software integration and interoperability allows for the management of the complexity of integrating with Government provided architectures, while driving reusability, flexibility, security and operational efficiency. "We are honored to be recognized as an 'Awardable' vendor on the Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace," said Matt Naveau, CTO at Tangram Flex. "The Tradewinds Marketplace gives our Department of Defense partners a rapid path to access the solutions we're developing to quickly and effectively address critical national security efforts." Tangram Pro's inclusion in the Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace signifies a significant milestone in the company's journey to become a trusted partner for software integration agencies seeking advanced tools and processes to rapidly bring new technologies and connecting mission-critical systems across the DoD. By harnessing the power of software visualization and modeling paired with executable code-generation, Tangram Pro aims to drive innovation, enhance interoperability, and ultimately, make a meaningful timeline and security impact on the defense and national security landscape. For more information about Tangram Flex and its solutions, visit https://tangramflex.com. About Tangram Flex: Located in Dayton, OH, Tangram Flex is a leading provider of innovative software integration solutions, tools, and processes. We empower our customers and partners to manage the complexity of integrating and enhancing mission-critical system software. By leveraging our software integration platform, Tangram Pro, we focus on driving system engineering and software development efficiencies, bringing advanced system visualization, verification of system behavior, and the auto-generation of executable code delivering new technologies to our warfighters across the DoD faster than ever. Media Contact: Matt Zolman Marketing Manager Tangram Flex, Inc. (937) 287-4936 [email protected] SOURCE Tangram Flex NILES, Ill., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bradford Exchange Mint, source for coins of enduring value worldwide, announces an extraordinary tribute to the "Greatest Generation" heroes as we mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day. D-Day 6 June 1944 over 150,000 heroic Allied forces from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and 10 other nations participated in the largest air, land and amphibious assault of the 20th century. Code-named "Operation Overload", the success of the monumental D-Day mission led to European victory in World War II. Now, as we approach the 80th anniversary of that unforgettable day of heroism, heartbreak, and timeless courage a limited edition Silver masterpiece has been created. An intricately sculpted and oversized Silver ingot, containing 2 troy ounces of 99.9% pure Silver, portrays three courageous Allied soldiers storming the beaches at Normandy on the front. In addition, a quote from the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, states "The Free Men of the World are Marching to Victory" is engraved at the bottom. GENUINE WORLD WAR II-ERA 90% SILVER COIN The Bradford Exchange's Chief Numismatist, Walter J. Kole remarks: "What makes this tribute truly a remarkable piece of World War II history is the ingot is inset with a GENUINE and very fine condition 1944 Walking Liberty Half Dollar. This 80 year-old Silver U.S. coin may even have been carried by military troops serving overseas or at home." The reverse side of the ingot displays an engraved map of the Normandy, France coastline highlighting five beach landings, UTAH, OMAHA, GOLD, JUNO, and SWORD. This is a superb Silver salute to our Greatest Generation's courage and sacrifice to defend democracy the save free world. The work is strictly limited to just 300 editions worldwide with the first 160 editions serial-numbered for North America collectors. Additional international versions of this masterpiece will be made available for the Australian and the United Kingdom markets. ABOUT THE BRADFORD EXCHANGE MINT: The Bradford Exchange Mint is a trusted resource for genuine coins of enduring value worldwide. Partnering with some of the world's most acclaimed artists and world mints, The Bradford Exchange Mint creates original and limited minted designs, timely tribute Proofs, and offers rare and curated collections of historic U.S. coins. To learn more, CALL 1-877-739-6220 SOURCE The Bradford Exchange Mint NEW YORK, May 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The global travel vaccines market size is estimated to grow by USD 3.97 bn from 2024-2028, according to Technavio. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of almost 8.64% during the forecast period. For more insights on the forecast market size and historic data (2018 - 2022) - Download Free sample report in a minutes Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Travel Vaccines Market 2024-2028 Forecast period 2024-2028 Base Year 2023 Historic Data 2018 - 2022 Segment Covered Disease Type (Influenza, Diptheria, Hepatitis, and Typhoid and others), End-user (Adult vaccines and Pediatric vaccines), and Geography (North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of World (ROW)) Region Covered North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of World (ROW) Key companies profiled Abbott Laboratories, Altimmune Inc., AstraZeneca Plc, Bavarian Nordic AS, Bharat Biotech Ltd., CSL Ltd., Dynavax Technologies Corp., Emergent BioSolutions Inc., GlaxoSmithKline Plc, KM Biologics Co. Ltd., LG Chem Ltd., Merck and Co. Inc., Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc., Sanofi SA, Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd., Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co. Ltd., SK Chemicals Co. Ltd., Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., and Valneva SE Segment Overview This travel vaccines market report extensively covers market segmentation by Disease Type 1.1 Influenza 1.2 Diptheria 1.3 Hepatitis 1.4 Typhoid and others End-user 2.1 Adult vaccines 2.2 Pediatric vaccines Geography 3.1 North America 3.2 Europe 3.3 Asia 3.4 Rest of World (ROW) 1.1 Influenza- The Travel Vaccines Market experiences robust growth, driven by the rising incidence of diseases such as influenza during vacations and medical tourism. Microbes and pathogenic organisms pose health hazards for travellers, necessitating immunization against various diseases. Vaccines, including attenuated organisms and bio-based drugs, play a crucial role in building immunity against illnesses like influenza, Dengue fever, and Hepatitis B virus. Top players like GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, and CSL dominate the market with their influenza vaccine offerings. Travel vaccinations, such as HEPLISAV B and Takeda's Dengue fever vaccine, are essential for safety during overseas travel. Novel vaccine technologies, like those based on molecular genetics, are also gaining popularity. Emporiatrics offers vaccine formulations for diseases like Yellow fever, Cholera, and Diarrhea. While vaccines ensure disease prevention, it's essential to consider dosages, side effects, and pandemic situations when planning travel vaccinations. 31.North America - The Travel Vaccines Market in North America is expected to dominate the global scene due to the presence of organizations like the Pan American Health Organization and the requirement of proof of vaccination for international travel. The market caters to first-time travellers and regular vacationers, offering vaccines such as BOOSTRIX, INFANRIX, Pediarix, BEXSERO, MENVEO, and influenza vaccines. With the increasing prevalence of diseases like influenza, rabies, typhoid, measles, and mumps, travel clinics have become essential for ensuring complete immunization before overseas travel. New vaccines, including those for dengue fever, hepatitis B, and measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), are continually being introduced, incurring substantial cost for consultation fees and administration charges for multiple doses. While vaccines offer immunity against various microbes and pathogenic organisms, it is essential to consider disease type, likelihood of illness, and health hazards before use. Safety, side effects, and dosages are critical factors to consider when choosing travel vaccinations. Companies like Takeda, Dyanavax, and those producing bio-based drugs and antibodies are at the forefront of developing innovative travel vaccine solutions. For more information on market segmentation with geographical analysis including forecast (2024-2028) and historic data (2018 - 2022) - Download a Sample Report Key Market Trends Fueling Growth The travel vaccines market is influenced by various factors, including demographics and disease prevalence. Migrants, particularly those from younger age groups, have lower vaccination rates, increasing the risk of vaccine-preventable diseases in host countries. Key vaccines include those for hepatitis B, Dengue fever, and yellow fever. Novel technologies like mRNA vaccines and recombinant DNA technology are driving industry gains. Travelers should be aware of potential side effects, dosages, and safety concerns when using vaccines for diseases like cholera, hepatitis B, and yellow fever. Market Challenges The Travel Vaccines Market caters to travelers requiring vaccinations against vaccine-preventable diseases, primarily in endemic regions. High costs and limited insurance coverage are major barriers, with consultation fees and vaccine administration charges varying widely. Travel clinics offer essential vaccines like rabies, typhoid, measles, mumps, and more, but the substantial cost deters first-time travelers and those on vacations or medical tourism. New vaccines and initiatives aim to address these challenges, utilizing advanced technologies like recombinant DNA and mRNA. Research report provides comprehensive data on impact of trend, driver and challenges - Buy Report Research Analysis The Travel Vaccines Market is a significant segment of the broader Biotechnology industry, focusing on the production and distribution of vaccines for travel-related diseases. This market caters to the needs of travellers, ensuring their immunity against vaccine-preventable diseases and health hazards associated with Overseas travel. Recombinant DNA technology and mRNA vaccines technology are the latest advancements in this field, enabling the production of specialized vaccines against pathogens causing infectious diseases such as Yellow Fever, Hepatitis A and B, Typhoid, and Rabies. The prevalence of these diseases varies based on disease strains and geographical locations, making it essential for travellers to stay informed and get immunized accordingly. Initiatives like the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Travel Vaccine Network aim to increase awareness and accessibility of travel vaccines, contributing to the gains of the industry. Ultimately, the use of vaccinations is a crucial aspect of Travel Safety, protecting travellers from illnesses caused by pathogenic organisms and ensuring a healthy and enjoyable travel experience. Market Research Overview The Travel Vaccines Market refers to the production, distribution, and sale of vaccines used to prevent illnesses contracted during international travel. These vaccines are essential for preventing diseases such as Hepatitis A and B, Typhoid, Yellow Fever, Rabies, and Japanese Encephalitis. The market is driven by factors such as increasing international travel, government initiatives to promote vaccination, and the rising awareness of health risks associated with travel. The market is segmented based on vaccine types, end-users, and regions. Key players in the Travel Vaccines Market include Sanofi Pasteur, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck & Co., and Pfizer Inc. The market is expected to grow at a significant CAGR during the forecast period. The demand for travel vaccines is particularly high in developing countries due to the increasing number of travelers and the rising awareness of health risks. The market faces challenges such as the high cost of vaccines and the lack of reimbursement policies in some countries. Despite these challenges, the Travel Vaccines Market is expected to continue its growth trajectory due to the increasing number of travelers and the rising awareness of health risks associated with travel. Table of Contents: 1 Executive Summary 2 Market Landscape 3 Market Sizing 4 Historic Market Size 5 Five Forces Analysis 6 Market Segmentation Disease Type Influenza Diptheria Hepatitis Typhoid And Others End-user Adult Vaccines Pediatric Vaccines Geography North America Europe Asia Rest Of World (ROW) 7 Customer Landscape 8 Geographic Landscape 9 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends 10 Company Landscape 11 Company Analysis 12 Appendix About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. Contacts Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media & Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: [email protected] Website: www.technavio.com/ SOURCE Technavio Series of solutions and initiatives to be released throughout 2024 DALLAS, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global leader in cybersecurity, today unveiled its plans for protecting consumers as they increasingly adopt generative AI applications alongside the expected growth in adoption of AI PCs. Designed to address the unique opportunities and risks posed by AI, Trend's strategy helps consumers embrace the use of generative AI applications safely to lower their risk of being harmed by the use and abuse of AI. In addition, Trend has, and will continue, to innovate using AI in its own cybersecurity solutions and services for greater security effectiveness and efficiencies. While AI presents great promises to consumers, it has also afforded cybercriminals the opportunity to more effectively perpetrate scams and fraud in the form of tactics such as harder to detect phishing emails or deepfake videos. In a recent study conducted by Trend, nearly 72% of respondents expressed excitement about AI's potential to enhance task quality and uncover new opportunities, but almost 65% said they worry about AI's role in spreading misinformation while 58% are concerned about AI's misuse of their images and likeness. Beyond these potential abuses of AI, there are other possible vulnerabilities to AI applications themselves that, without protection, may result in consumers unknowingly being misdirected or unintentionally exposing their private data. Trend's strategy helps consumers embrace the use of generative AI applications safely to lower their risk. Post this Eva Chen, Co-Founder and CEO at Trend: "Generative AI represents an infrastructure shift that requires us to use our long history of understanding digital threats to develop innovative solutions and meet the moment. Our goal is to ensure every user, from individual consumers to the largest organizations in the world, can harness the full potential of AI and AI PCs securely and confidently." The arrival of AI PCs also represents another shift in how consumers will use AI applications in the future, thanks to the neural processing units (NPUs) that power them. IDC predicts AI PCs will make up nearly 60% of all PC shipments worldwide by 2027, growing from 50 million units in 2024 to more than 167 million in 2027.* With an AI PC, consumers will now be able to use AI applications locally on their devices, promising better speed and privacy than having to access or send data to be processed in the cloud. This additional computing power also presents the opportunity for Trend to deliver some of its cloud AI capabilities on device and introduce new capabilities that take advantage of the efficiency and data privacy benefits that AI PCs offer. Trend will be delivering solutions for consumers in the second half of 2024 that are designed to protect AI, protect users from AI abuses, and leverage AI in both existing and new products and services including: AI Application Protection: Protection capabilities against tampering with AI applications, contaminating the AI application with malicious input, and preventing AI applications from inadvertently or maliciously accessing sensitive data. Protection capabilities against tampering with AI applications, contaminating the AI application with malicious input, and preventing AI applications from inadvertently or maliciously accessing sensitive data. Malicious AI Content Protection : Solutions that protect consumers from malicious AI-generated or AI-altered content. : Solutions that protect consumers from malicious AI-generated or AI-altered content. NPU-powered Cybersecurity Capabilities: Solutions designed for AI PCs that leverage the additional compute power. As a sign of the significance of AI threats, MITRE has introduced its ATLAS matrix which assesses the risks associated with AI assets. The MITRE Adversarial Threat Landscape for Artificial-Intelligence Systems https://atlas.mitre.org/matrices/ATLAS. Trend is mapping its capabilities to this matrix where applicable for consumer use cases. * "IDC Forecasts Artificial Intelligence PCs to Account for Nearly 60% of All PC Shipments by 2027," IDC, February 7, 2024. Certain statements included in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are sometimes accompanied by words such as "believe," "may," "will," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "expect," "should," "would," "plan," "predict," "potential," "seem," "seek," "future," "outlook" and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning Trend's AI related consumer solutions. These statements are based on our current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, we do not know whether our expectations will prove correct. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof, even if subsequently made available by us on our website or otherwise. We do not undertake any obligation to update, amend or clarify these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. About Trend Micro Trend Micro, a global cybersecurity leader, helps make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Fueled by decades of security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend Micro's cybersecurity platform protects hundreds of thousands of organizations and millions of individuals across clouds, networks, devices, and endpoints. As a leader in cloud and enterprise cybersecurity, the platform delivers a powerful range of AI-enabled threat defense techniques optimized for environments like AWS, Microsoft, and Google, and central visibility for better, faster detection and response. With 7,000 employees across 65 countries, Trend Micro enables organizations to simplify and secure their connected world. www.TrendMicro.com. SOURCE Trend Micro Incorporated The inaugural U.S.-Colombia Binational Summit for Afro Descendant Leaders, held at Morehouse College a few days ago, marked a significant milestone in U.S.-Colombia relations. ATLANTA, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- This initiative, led by the Global Black Economic Forum with the theme "Connecting the African Diaspora," underscored Colombia and the United States' dedication to advancing racial equality, fostering knowledge exchange, and building support networks to address disparities in opportunity and equity. Drawing together around 400 leaders and business representatives from both nations, the event was centered on bolstering bilateral relations through economic collaboration and cultural interchange. Photo credit Chris Mitchell / CME 3000 Photography. Over the years, the U.S. has become Colombia's main commercial ally and the primary issuer of international travelers and foreign investment. Within this strong partnership between nations, the state of Georgia has played a pivotal role, being the first U.S. state to establish a full-time international representation in Colombia since 2013, which is current up to this date. It is worth noting that, in 2023, a partnership between the Atlanta Black Chamber of Commerce and the Colombian Government, including the Embassy of Colombia in the United States, The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism and ProColombia, the promotion agency of the country, facilitated a delegation of Afro-American entrepreneurs to Cali, Valle del Cauca, to explore opportunities for exporting products and services and attracting global investments. "At ProColombia, we are committed to keep supporting the internationalization process of our territories and we are convinced that afro-descendant communities hold immense potential for driving economic and social change. This summit symbolizes a continued effort to provide entrepreneurs from both countries with a deeper understanding of the business landscape that encourage sustainable and mutually beneficial partnerships between the United States and Colombia", said Carmen Caballero, President of ProColombia, the promotion agency of the country. "The Colombia-U.S. relationship stands as one of the most robust and enduring partnerships in the Western Hemisphere," said Luis Gilberto Murillo, acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia. "Addressing issues shared by Afro-descendent communities in both countries is paramount and must take a front seat in our bilateral agenda. Our business, social and political leaders play crucial roles as agents of change in this process. Their leadership is essential to ensure we remain committed to bridging our shared history and challenges, paving the way towards a more equitable future for Afro-descendant peoples across the Americas", Minister Murillo concluded. SOURCE ProColombia SINGAPORE, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Vantage Foundation proudly announces its partnership with Teach For Malaysia (TFM) to empower indigenous Orang Asli communities in Malaysia through education. This collaboration underscores Vantage Foundation's mission to shine the spotlight on the invisible challenges faced by marginalised communities around the world. Vantage Foundation will offer strategic support to TFM's initiatives addressing the educational challenges of Orang Asli students, aiming to raise awareness and empower them to reach their full potential. Vantage Foundation and Teach For Malaysia join forces to empower indigenous children through education "Our partnership with Teach For Malaysia highlights our commitment to inclusive education and empowering marginalised communities, especially the Orang Asli, to thrive," said Steven Xie, Executive Director of Vantage Foundation. TFM's expertise in recruiting, training, and supporting teachers aligns with Vantage Foundation's mission of promoting social mobility and inclusive education. Together, they aim to break down systemic barriers and empower the Orang Asli community. "We're thrilled to collaborate with Vantage Foundation to empower our children through education," said Fam Li Ying, Director of Growth at Teach For Malaysia. "Together, we hope to realise a vision that all children in Malaysia will have access to quality education." One impactful example is Shawn Stanly, a teacher at a school in Banun. Shawn's innovative teaching methods create an immersive learning environment where imagination thrives and dreams take shape. His approach bridges the gap between students and unfamiliar concepts, fostering a love for learning. For instance, Shawn captivated his students by transforming the classroom into an airplane interior. Inspired by a student's longing to experience air travel, Shawn created a "flight simulation" to broaden their horizons. Despite limited resources, Shawn dressed as a pilot and turned the classroom into an airplane cockpit, complete with a makeshift window projector. Using a hailer, he guided his mesmerized students through a virtual journey on Air Banun to destinations like Paris and the Himalayas, sharing fascinating facts along the way. "This experience opened their minds to the world beyond their village," Shawn reflects, his passion for teaching evident. "It's not just a job; it's a calling," he adds with a smile, underscoring his commitment to empowering Orang Asli communities through education. The Vantage Foundation and Teach For Malaysia partnership marks a significant stride toward educational equity and social justice in Malaysia. Through collaboration and expertise, they aim to transform the lives of Orang Asal students nationwide. Discover more about Teach For Malaysia's initiatives at https://teachformalaysia.org/ About Vantage Foundation Vantage Foundation is an independent charitable organisation launched at the McLaren Technology Centre in the UK with the support of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and the NEOM McLaren Extreme E team in 2023. For more information, please visit www.vantage.foundation SOURCE Vantage Foundation SAN JOSE, Calif., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Vantis Vascular, Inc. (Vantis), a pioneering medical technology company founded by physicians with a passion to revolutionize vascular interventions, announced today the successful closing of a $5 million SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) financing round, which is convertible upon Vantis' future Series C preferred round. This financing, which follows a total raise of $24 million to date from high-net-worth individuals and NIH grants, marks a significant milestone in Vantis' journey to advance the field of interventional cardiology and improve patient outcomes. "At Vantis, we're on a mission to transform the way the medical community navigates and treats complex and calcific arteries," said Jason Turner, Chief Executive Officer at Vantis. "This financing underscores the confidence of our investors in our vision, experienced management team, and the potential of our technologies to drive innovation and make a lasting impact in vascular interventions. This round will aid to accelerate our development efforts, while supporting the near-term commercial launch of our CrossFAST system." Funds will accelerate development efforts, while supporting the near-term commercial launch of our CrossFAST system. Post this Vantis' flagship products in development include the CrossFAST Integrated Microcatheter Guide Extension System and the CrossSHOCK Intravascular Lithotripsy (IVL) System. These innovative, next-generation solutions aim to enhance the delivery, safety and efficacy of vascular interventions, ultimately improving patient outcomes and quality of life. "Coronary interventions are becoming increasingly more challenging, requiring specialized tools to deliver lifesaving therapies," stated Tim Fischell, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Vantis. "We are excited about the potential of our purpose-built, next-generation products to address these critical challenges. Physicians express a significant need to improve existing catheter-based technologies given anatomical challenges and the fact that we are treating more complex cases. Providing an integrated catheter system that will enhance procedural efficiency from start to finish will be game-changing." The CrossFAST Integrated Microcatheter Guide Extension System, with 2-in-1 DuoPro Interlocking Technology, provides interventionalists with enhanced control and maneuverability to traverse the most calcific and tortuous anatomies, while the CrossSHOCK IVL System utilizes a low profile, micro electrode design to optimize the IVL experience, while striving for a safer, faster and more efficient approach to treating calcified arteries. Both products serve large and growing cardiovascular markets, including the multibillion IVL opportunity. Products are currently in development and are not commercially available for sale in any geography. For more information about Vantis and its groundbreaking technology, visit www.vantisvascular.com. About Vantis Vascular: Vantis Vascular, Inc. is a medical technology company dedicated to revolutionizing vascular interventions. Founded by physicians, Vantis develops performance-driven technologies that aim to provide faster, safer and more effective treatments to patients. With a focus on innovation and patient-centric solutions, Vantis is committed to advancing the field of interventional cardiology and improving patient outcomes worldwide. SOURCE Vantis Vascular, Inc. Copperweld explores the challenges and offers potential solutions BRENTWOOD, Tenn., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Copper crosses the $5-per-pound threshold Copper is currently trading at two-year highs, which analysts suggest may be driven by the potential that copper supply will struggle to keep pace with rising global demand. Depleted inventory combined with an uptick in demand from industries with high copper consumption translates into a scenario where many analysts predict the price of copper to rise far beyond $5/lb.1 CCA building wire reduces the impact of rising copper prices in the new construction industry. Post this Copper prices soar while supply struggles to keep pace with rising global demand, and the copper theft crisis isnt helping. What will $5/lb copper mean for new construction and the building wire market, and is there hope for some relief? CCA building wire uses 1/6th the amount of copper when upsized two AWG sizes against copper conductors, as is required by the NEC for most electrical circuits. Utilizing CCA instead of single-metal copper for commodity building wire applications could have potentially saved the nation nearly 700 million pounds of copper in 2022. Many experts saw May's new price point coming as copper had already increased in value by about 20%, but an understanding of the numerous factors impacting copper supply are leading some experts to accelerate their prediction timelines for reaching the long-expected $15,000-per-metric-ton ($6.80/lb) milestone as early as 2025.1 The rising price of copper Analysts attribute much of the copper price explosion to soaring demand, mainly due to the large role the metal plays in renewable energy, decarbonization efforts, and power grid investments. However, this latest round of copper price increases does not stem from demand alone; it is also due to concerns about copper production and standing inventory's struggle to keep pace.2 Copper supply is further threatened by the increased tightening of mining regulations and geopolitical tensions. In 2022, copper production was about 22 MMT, while demand was about 26 MMT, with recycled copper scrambling to help make up the 4 MMT difference. Despite copper producers' efforts to increase output, there is also a shortage of new mine development. Simply put mines are not producing as much copper as the market requires.2 As a result of these factors, the U.S. Department of Energy classified copper as a "Critical Material" in their 2023 report.3 This classification is reserved for a substance that the Secretary of Energy designates as "a high risk of supply chain disruption; and serves an essential function in one or more energy technologies."4 What does this mean for the building wire market? The greater a market's reliance on a critical material, the greater its vulnerability to instability. Few industries will feel the impact of record-setting copper price increases like the construction industry, which accounts for almost half (46%) of the nation's copper supply. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), within the construction industry, building wire alone uses 20% of the total U.S. copper supply.5, 6 But, the factor impacting the building industry's vulnerability to copper price fluctuation is more closely tied to a single product's dependency on copper: building wire. For decades, the primary conductor material for building wire has been composed of 100% copper. So logically, the price of copper has an outsized impact on the price of building wire. Steep increases in building wire costs Over the past few months, builders and electrical contractors who use solid-copper building wire have felt the financial and administrative fallout of record-setting building wire costs. When copper prices spike, building costs soar, requiring copper price approvals, re-estimations, construction delays, and slower cycle times. These factors devastate budgets, reduce profits, and frustrate relationships. From March to May of 2024, copper building wire experienced several wire cost increases, each around 5%.7, 8 During these events, building wire distributors buy wire at higher levels, allowing them to 'hold back' price increases for a few weeks; but when distributors exhaust lower-price copper wire inventories, builders and contractors see dramatic price increases. As a result, copper wire cost fluctuations occur in cycles rather than through a linear relationship with the price of copper. Currently, the construction market is anticipating the build-up of another building wire cost increase. During copper events like this, home builders are getting 'hammered' by increase after increase after increase in copper pricing. The resulting impact on building wire costs has been dramatic: a massive surge of 25%-35%, on average. And, that's just over the past 3 months! The relationship between copper price and wire theft There is another, more sinister, relationship with the price of copper the incidence of wire theft. Home builders have long observed the direct impact of high copper prices on the prevalence of building wire theft. The higher the price of copper, the greater the incentive for thieves to assume risk in hopes of a big payoff. Copper building wire is a prime target for thieves because of its increasing value as scrap. Whether via outright theft of complete circuits by skilled thieves or pilferage via liberal end-cutting by third-party installers, many job sites experience some degree of copper theft. It is estimated that as high as 8% of the copper wiring in new construction is lost to copper theft and insider pilferage. Annually, this would amount to enough copper building wire for 112,000 homes (15.7 million pounds of copper). And, when copper wiring is stolen from a new construction site, there are even more costly factors to consider: production delays and lost time for the builder, repairs to circuit components and sheet rock, replacement of appliances and luminaires caused by damage, the cost of private security, and an increased risk of fire hazards all costs that come out of the builder's pocket. What are the obvious solutions? Use less copper. Deter incentives for theft. Fortunately, the building construction industry already has an alternative to single-metal copper wire in place. Copper-Clad Aluminum (CCA) is a bimetallic conductor that has been referenced by the NEC since 1971 and is listed for use by UL and ETL. CCA building wire is being rapidly adopted by builders and electrical contractors who are looking for safe and effective alternatives to copper building wire. CCA building wire uses less copper CCA building wire uses 1/6th the amount of copper when upsized two AWG sizes against copper conductors, as is required by the NEC for most electrical circuits. This upsizing allows CCA to provide comparable electrical performance to equivalently rated copper conductors. Credible reports also find that CCA conductors, when upsized, are on average 2.7% more efficient due to lower impedance.9 Utilizing CCA instead of single-metal copper for commodity building wire applications could have potentially saved the nation nearly 700 million pounds of copper in 2022! That's equivalent to the copper required for 3.8 million EVs or 3.6 million homes. Using this 2022 potential saving model, CCA building wire could conserve 3.2 billion metric tons (7 billion lbs) of copper resources over the next decade, not even accounting for market growth.10, 11 CCA building wire reduces theft incentives While substations have used CCS grounding conductors to reduce theft incentives for decades, builders and electrical contractors are turning to Copperweld's CCA products to help mitigate the costs associated with copper wire theft. Copperweld's metallurgically bonded CCA building wire has little scrap value, making it less attractive to copper thieves. If a thief carts a load of CCA wire to a local copper recycler, he will likely leave embarrassed, empty handed, and bimetal educated. CCA reduces the impact of rising copper prices While increasing copper prices send shock waves through the building wire market, there is a simple way to mitigate the impacts. Implementing a CCA building wire adoption strategy can help better protect profits in addition to positively impacting copper conservation efforts and reducing theft incentives. Sources: If you'd like to assess the effects of switching to CCA building wire for your residential and commercial construction projects, contact a Copperweld representative at 615-377-4200 or [email protected]. Media contact: [email protected] SOURCE Copperweld If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here London, May 21 : The UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologised for the infected blood scandal on behalf of successive governments and declared it was a "day of national shame". Addressing the House of Commons following the publication of the inquiry, Sunak said on Monday: "I want to make a whole-hearted and unequivocal apology for this terrible injustice." He also promised to pay "comprehensive compensation" to those infected and those affected by the scandal, Xinhua news agency reported. "Whatever it costs to deliver this scheme, we will pay it," he said, adding that details will be set out on Tuesday. Earlier on Monday, a damning 2,527-page inquiry concluded that the contaminated blood scandal in the UK which has caused more than 3,000 deaths, "could largely, though not entirely, have been avoided." The report said that "a catalogue of failures" by successive governments and doctors caused the "calamity," in which tens of thousands of patients with haemophilia and other bleeding disorders were infected with HIV and hepatitis viruses after receiving infected blood and blood products between the 1970s and early 1990s. "It may also be surprising that the questions why so many deaths and infections occurred have not had answers before now," the report added. The scandal has been called "the worst treatment disaster" in the history of Britain's National Health Service (NHS). The report also revealed that there has been "a hiding of much of the truth" by the government and the NHS "to save face and to save expense". Such a cover-up was "not in the sense of a handful of people plotting in an orchestrated conspiracy to mislead, but in a way that was more subtle, more pervasive and more chilling in its implications," it said. The scandal was linked to supplies of a clotting factor imported from the US, which used blood from high-risk paid donors. The government announced the establishment of a UK-wide public inquiry in 2017 to examine the circumstances that led to individuals being given contaminated blood and blood products. In 2022, the government made interim compensation payments of 100,000 British pounds (about $127,000) to about 4,000 infected individuals and bereaved partners who were registered with the country's infected blood support schemes. Varanasi, May 21 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with 25,000 women at Kashi's Sampurnanand Sanskrit University ground on Tuesday. He will address an election rally in Prayagraj too. Kashi region BJP Spokesperson Navaratan Rathi said: "There are 1,909 booths in Varanasi Lok Sabha and 10 women from each booth have been invited for Prime Minister Modi's interaction with women. All preparations for the event have been completed." Doctors, engineers, lawyers, professors, chartered accountants, and teachers have also been invited to the programme that will start around 4 p.m. on Tuesday, he added. BJP's state unit secretary and Mahila Morcha in-charge Archana Mishra said: "Our enthusiastic participation at his Kashi roadshow on May 13 made the Prime Minister very happy and that is why he is coming here again to share his happiness with us." She said BJP's women wing members have gone door-to-door in Varanasi to invite women for the Tuesday event. Lok Sabha coordinator and MLC Ashwini Tyagi said: "Prime Minister has done many things for the upliftment of women during his 10 years in office. It was because of him that 33 per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies under the Nari Shakti Vandan Act could become possible." After the event, Prime Minister Modi will spend the night at the BLW guest house in Varanasi. The Prime Minister will address a meeting at the Government Polytechnic Ground on Wednesday (May 22), said Basti Superintendent of Police, Gopal Krishna Chowdhury. He said that members of SPG security had already reached Basti and inspected the rally venue and added that no flying zone had been declared in nearby areas. He said from May 20 to May 22, flying drones or balloons in the region have been banned due to security reasons. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Minister Anupriya Patel, too, would share the stage with Prime Minister Modi. Moscow, May 21 : Rocket attacks on a town in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine have caused a fuel depot to catch fire, according to the occupation authorities. "As a result of a missile strike with cluster munitions on Sverdlovsk, a fuel and lubricants storage facility was damaged," wrote Leonid Pasechnik, the head of pro-Russian separatists forces in the Luhansk region, on Monday on his Telegram channel. Ukraine renamed the small town of Sverdlovsk, which has been occupied by Russian forces since 2014, and Dovzhansk in 2016. According to Ukrainian media, a Russian military base was also hit in the missile attack. Videos on social networks show heavy clouds of smoke, but also a burning multi-storey barracks-style building. The Russian authorities on the ground have not officially released any information on casualties or injuries. Ukraine has been fending off a full-scale Russian military invasion for more than two years. Kiev has recently fired missiles at oil processing plants and fuel depots in addition to purely military targets to hamper the Russian military's logistics. --IANS/DPA khz Tel Aviv, May 21 : Three former US foreign policy officials in Donald Trump's administration are in Israel and have met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the opposition leader, Yair Lapid. Tel Aviv, May 21 (IANS) Three former US foreign policy officials in Donald Trumpas administration are in Israel and have met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the opposition leader, Yair Lapid. The three aides are Robert OaBrien, who was Trump's National Security Advisor (NSA), John Rakolta, former Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, and Ed McMullen, former Ambassador to Switzerland. John Rakolta as the US Ambassador to the UAE was instrumental in normalizing the relationship of Israel with UAE and Bahrain and played a key role in signing the Abraham Accords. The three are considered to be the close policy advisors of Donald Trump. Sources in the Israeli Prime Ministeras Office confirmed the visit of the three high-ranking former US officials, who are Trump's close aides. According to sources, the senior policy advisors have discussed with Netanyahu and Lapid the situation in Israel, the war with Hamas and the policy stand taken by the current US President Joe Biden. It was during the period of Donald Trump as the US President between 2017 and 2021 that the capital of Israel was shifted from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem -- a long demand by the Israelis. With Donald Trump being the Republican candidate for the US presidential post, he is trying to pitch himself as a much more reliable ally to Israel than Biden. Sources in Israel's Prime Ministeras office said that the three policy advisors of Trump have communicated to the Israeli leadership the wholehearted support of the Republican presidential candidate for the Israeli cause. Seoul, May 21 : South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said on Tuesday the government will closely monitor the impact of Washington's recent decision to raise tariffs on some Chinese imports. The remark came as the US announced last week its plans to raise tariffs on around $18 billion worth of imports from China, focusing on strategic sectors, such as solar cells, semiconductors and electric vehicles, reports Yonhap news agency. "While South Korea has been posting export growth for seven consecutive months, the uncertainties in the global economy and trade environment have been growing," Choi said during a meeting with trade experts, referring to the latest US tariff hikes. "In response, we need to assess the impact on the South Korean economy based on previous trade dispute cases and the current trade trend between the US and China, and come up with measures to prepare for various potential scenarios," Choi added. Experts also urged the government to implement tailored measures for different businesses, including those operating in China and those competing with Chinese firms, as well as to monitor Beijing's response to the new US tariff policy. Choi added that South Korea will continue to communicate with local businesses to help them maintain competitiveness in the global market. Raichur, May 21 : In a tragic incident in Koravinahala village of Karnataka's Raichur district, a four-year-old girl fell victim to a stray dog attack and succumbed to injuries on Tuesday. The deceased has been identified as Lavanya, daughter of Keralinga. Fifteen days ago, seven children were attacked by a stray dog while they were playing. Lavanya was bitten on the back of her neck and other parts of her body. Lavanya was discharged from the hospital two days ago and was under treatment at her residence. Unfortunately, she succumbed to her injuries. The other children who were attacked by the dog are still under treatment. Keralinga, Lavanya's father, stated that his daughter was attacked right in front of their residence. He urged the authorities to take action to ensure that other children in the village do not meet the same fate as his daughter. The villagers said that to date, the authorities have not visited the village to enquire about the affected children. The dog was killed by the villagers on the same day of the attack. Kariyappa, the Panchayat Development Officer of Samagakunta village, said that he got information about the incident on Tuesday and will visit the village. He said that a rescue team would be sent to look out for stray dogs that were attacking people. "We received information that the dog was not local and had strayed from a different region. While traveling to another place, it attacked the children," he said. The villagers have expressed their outrage alleging negligence by the authorities. New Delhi, May 21 : As temperatures continue to soar in the national capital, doctors on Tuesday advised caution against prolonged exposure to heat. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast a heatwave and hot and humid weather warning for the next seven days in New Delhi. The maximum temperature will range between 44 and 47 degrees Celsius. On Monday, the national capital's maximum temperature reached 47.4 degrees Celsius -- the highest in the country. The IMD has also issued a severe heatwave red alert for Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, predicting that the heatwave to severe heatwave conditions will persist over the coming days. "Exposure to high temperature for a prolonged time can lead to heat stroke," Dr Satish Koul, Senior Director, Internal Medicine, Fortis Gurgaon, told IANS. "Exposure to excessively high temperatures during summer months is leading to various illnesses, including heat stroke, dehydration, drowsiness, food and water-borne illnesses and electrolyte imbalance," said Dr Atul Gogia Senior Consultant and Head Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. Dr Satish noted that the high temperatures can also "turn fatal when a person develops neurological symptoms like altered mental status or altered behaviour". Dr Atul told IANS that severe dehydration leading to renal shutdown can also be life-threatening. Health experts noted that rising temperatures can affect everyone but, people of extreme ages, such as the elderly or children, are more prone to heat illness. Meanwhile, the Delhi government has ordered an immediate closure of schools given the rising heatwaves. A high body temperature may lead to nausea and vomiting, poor concentration and drowsiness, cramps, throbbing headache, confusion, dizziness, palpitation, fast strong pulse, and loss of consciousness, Dr G. J. Singh from Yashoda Super Specialty Hospital, Kaushambi, told IANS. The experts advised staying indoors during extreme heat waves, wearing light clothes, keeping proper hydration, eating good and balanced food at home, and avoiding meals from outside. New Delhi, May 21 : A 29-year-old criminal, who was wanted for killing his maternal uncle over a property dispute, was arrested in the national capital after a massive operation, a Delhi Police official said on Tuesday. The accused identified as Pawan Bhati, a resident of Loni, was also carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head. At the time of his arrest, a 'star mark' pistol loaded with two bullets was recovered from him. The officials said that he was also found previously involved in five cases of a heinous nature and a case under the Uttar Pradesh Gunda Act. Bhati was on April 23 was externed from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. Deputy Commissioner of Police (southwest) Rohit Meena said that on May 18, specific input was received regarding the movement of a suspect with an illicit weapon in the market of Sector 1, R.K. Puram. "The team immediately laid a trap at the place of information. Ultimately, Bhati was located near Khalsa Restaurant, Sector 1 and apprehended with one sophisticated Star mark pistol loaded with two live cartridges in the magazine," said the DCP. During interrogation, it was revealed that Bhati was involved in the gruesome murder of his real maternal uncle (Mama) on May 11. "The accused was avoiding arrest in this case and a reward of Rs. 50,000 was declared for his arrest," said the DCP. On interrogation, Bhati revealed that in the first week of this month, his uncle and others attacked his family members. Following this, a criminal case was filed against his uncle and others. "On May 11, in order to take revenge, he along with his associates attacked his maternal uncle Vikram Mavi with knives, rods, swords and a pistol. Mavi sustained more than 50 injuries. He and his associates also fired 7-8 rounds with the illegal weapon and managed to escape from the spot," said the DCP. "In this murder, 11 males and females have been arrested so far. Bhati disclosed that one of his associates, Prasant a.k.a Muttu, arranged the recovered weapon for him to commit the crime. Further investigation revealed that Prasant had already been arrested in the above-mentioned gruesome murder and is in judicial custody" the DCP added. Chennai, May 21 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) was conducting raids at the residences of two Coimbatore-based doctors in Tamil Nadu. According to the investigating agency sources, the raids were connected to the blast at the Rameshwaram Cafe in Bengaluru on March 1. A low-intensity IED bomb had exploded at the cafe injuring 10 people. According to sources, two teams of NIA were conducting the raids at the residences of the two doctors at Narayanaguru Street in Sai Baba colony. There is a heavy deployment of local police in front of both residences to prevent any untoward incident. Two suspects in the case, Mussavir Hussain Saheb and Abdul Matheen Thaha, were arrested in West Bengal on April 12. On October 23, 2022, there was a car bomb explosion in front of the Arulmigu Kottai Sanagameswar temple in Ukkadam, Coimbatore. Later a charred body of a 29-year-old youth, Jamesha Mubin was found at the blast site. The suicide bomber was planning to explode himself along with the car near a market on October 23, 2022, which was Diwali eve. However, the blast occurred before the expected time thus saving several people. Several people and organisations in the Coimbatore region have been under the radar of the Central agencies ever since this attack. Rohtak, May 21 : The third generation of the Hooda clan in politics, Deepender Hooda, who is in the fray from the Jat-dominated Congress bastion Rohtak, which was won by his family nine times and three consecutive terms by him, is aiming the revival of the Congress with the parliamentary polls. He's extensively campaigning in a blistering heatwave in this parliamentary constituency that spreads over nine assembly segments to ensure his return to the lower house of Parliament. He is currently a member of the upper house. Deepender's father Bhupinder Hooda, who is campaigning aggressively across all 10 parliamentary constituencies, has represented the Rohtak seat, the state's political capital, four times, while his grandfather Ranbir Singh Hooda twice. Predicting that people now want to change the government in the state too, Deepender, who on average covers 25-30 villages in a day by holding public meetings and face-to-face interactions, told IANS the Lok Sabha election has set the ball rolling for the assembly elections in Haryana too that are less than five months away now. "People want change in the state government too. First, the Congress-AAP alliance will root out the BJP from the state in the Lok Sabha polls by ensuring a win on all 10 seats. Later, we will show the exit door to the BJP from the state's helm," said a confidant Deepender, who believes anti-incumbency is banking high on the 10-year helm of the saffron party in the state. Out of the 18 parliamentary polls in Rohtak, the Congress has won 11 times. In the 2019 general elections BJP's Arvind Sharma, a surgeon by profession, defeated Deepender by a slender margin of 7,503 votes. Deepender's major loss was in the Ahir-dominated Kosli constituency, despite major gains from his family's pocket borough, Garhi Sampla Kiloi. Deepender and Sharma are in a straight contest again. In his campaign to reach Parliament for the fourth time, the 46-year-old Deepender speaks of the development done during his three stints. Also in his speeches, he tries to drive home the point that winning from the Rohtak Lok Sabha not only ensures a ticket to the Parliament but also to Chandigarh, the state's capital. "I am focusing on the development works done by me and the previous Congress governments in the state. I am telling the people that only the Congress can bring them back on the path of overall growth," said a soft-spoken Deepender, who completed an MBA from the US, known to be an easy access to the public. During his campaign, the junior Hooda was seen making crispy and crunchy "jalebi" at a roadside stall. In his public meetings, women with their faces covered in a ghunghat (veil) are coming in strength to raise issues concerning them and the treatment meted out to wrestlers. His rival Arvind Sharma, 62, a dental surgeon by profession, has been promising to bring the Metro to Sampla in Rohtak district and announced to quit politics, if he failed to do so. His vote percentage was 47 per cent in 2019, just .6 per cent higher than his nearest rival Deepender. Four-time MP Sharma, who largely banks on PM Modi's wave, previously represented the Sonipat and Karnal Lok Sabha seats. Two-time chief minister Bhupinder Hooda, the father of Deepender, rose to fame by defeating former deputy prime minister Devi Lal thrice. "It is only the Hoodas who are emotionally attached to grassroots. Deepender Hooda, as an MP of the Rajya Sabha, provided funds from his discretionary funds for constructing toilets in our village school. Our MP (Arvind Sharma) was not visible in the past five years, even amidst tough times of Covid-19," octogenarian farmer Naib Rathi in the Badli assembly constituency in Jhajjar district told IANS. "If Rohtak has been developed so far, it is because of Bhupinder and Deepender," he said while admitting the farmer protests weigh heavily on the minds of the electorates in rural areas. Echoing similar sentiments, another villager Ram Yadav, while pointing towards bad roads, said, "Yeh chhora hamara hai, hum isko vote karenge, aur yeh kaam bhi karega (He is our son, we will vote for him and he will work for us." The Hooda junior was the only Congress candidate among 10 in the state to make it to the 2014 Lok Sabha despite being bedridden then. "The victory of Deepender Hooda will mean the revival of the Congress just ahead of the assembly elections," a political analyst who wished to remain anonymous told IANS. The stakes are high for Hooda senior in these elections as he is trying to prove that he is still a mass leader and could lead the party in the forthcoming assembly polls also, a senior party leader said. Hooda was marginalised after the party's two consecutive defeats in the assembly polls. Still, he remains the Congress' top leader, despite an ongoing struggle with a rival camp comprising former Union minister Kumari Selja and Randeep Surjewala, who owes proximity to the Gandhis. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has not fielded a candidate for Rohtak, while its offshoot Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) has given a ticket to its youth wing state chief Ravinder Sangwan. As per the INDIA bloc's seat-sharing pact, the Congress is contesting nine seats in the state, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is in the fray from Kurukshetra. The BJP and its former coalition partner JJP are contesting on 10 seats each and the INLD on seven seats. In the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat, there are 18,86,796 voters who will cast votes along with nine other seats in the state on May 25, while the results will be out on June 4. (Vishal Gulati can be contacted at gulatiians@gmail.com) Bengaluru, May 21 : The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has approached the Karnataka High Court challenging the bail to former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda's son and JD(S) MLA HD Revanna in a sexual assault case registered by a former maid. Sources confirmed that the petition has been filed by the SIT in this regard and the Karnataka government has appointed former Advocate General Prof. Ravivarma Kumar as the Special Public Prosecutor to argue for the SIT. Senior counsel CV Nagesh is most likely to appear for HD Revanna, who is the father of the main accused Prajwal Revanna in the sex videos case that has taken the state by storm. The 42nd Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's (ACMM) court had granted bail to HD Revanna recently. The counsels representing the SIT had put forth vehement arguments to send HD Revanna to judicial custody in the case. They had also argued that the ACMM court does not have jurisdiction to deal with the case as the prosecution has added rape charges in the case. To recall, HD Revanna recently came out of prison in a kidnapping case involving a victim of the sex video scandal in which JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna can be seen sexually abusing the woman. The prosecution had argued that, "The victim claimed that she had left her house, as she was unable to bear the harassment at the hands of HD Revanna and his son Prajwal Revanna. The house allotted to her under the Ashraya scheme was taken back, but a complaint to the District Commissioner in this regard made no difference." "HD Revanna and Prajwal Revanna both committed sexual assault, and the court should not see the case against Revanna as separate from that of Prajwal Revanna. Under no circumstances should he be granted bail. Since the rape charge has been added to the case, the trial should be conducted in the session's court," the prosecution argued. "Repeated atrocities were committed against the same victim. The father and son committed the same offence. The first accused, HD Revanna, is protecting the second accused, his son Prajwal Revanna. The first accused helped his son to escape from India," the prosecution had submitted. CV Nagesh, the counsel for HD Revanna, had claimed that the complaint in this regard was not lodged by the complainant. "It is a false case created intentionally. The victim does not know what sexual assault is," he argued. "The rape charge against Revanna has been added only now. The alleged act was not committed on the day when the complaint was lodged. It did not occur a week ago or even a year ago. The complaint states that the alleged act was committed years ago," he had submitted. "The victim did not register the complaint at the Holenarasipur Police Station. Instead, the Sub-Inspector from Holenarasipur Police Station went to Bengaluru and got the complaint written as wanted by the victim. The station book mentions that at 11 P.M. on April 24, one victim had come from Bengaluru who was in a distraught state," Nagesh stated. New Delhi, May 21 : Delhi Police on Tuesday took Bibhav Kumar, the former personal secretary of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to Mumbai in connection with the assault on AAP Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal, police official privy to the probe said. "Kumar had formatted his phone on May 17, citing a malfunction. Kumar is taken to Mumbai to retrieve the data as he had formatted the phone there," said the official. On May 18, CM Kejriwal's close aide Bibhav Kumar was arrested in connection with the assault on Maliwal and produced late at night before a local court which sent him to a five-day police custody. Kumar was also taken to CM residence on Monday where the crime scene was recreated. Delhi Police registered a case against Kumar for molestation and attempted culpable homicide after he allegedly assaulted Swati Maliwal at the Chief Minister's residence on May 13. The FIR includes charges under sections 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 341 (wrongful restraint), 354(B) (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 509 (word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code at the Civil Lines police station. Guwahati, May 21 : Leader of the opposition in the Assam assembly, Debabrata Saikia, has sought action against Kamtapur Autonomous Council (KAC) Chief Executive Member Gokul Barman who has been embroiled in a controversy for assaulting a woman police constable. Saikia wrote a letter to the state women commission chairman on Tuesday mentioning that Barman using his political clout thrashed a woman police constable who happened to be his love interest and even sexually assaulted the woman. The victim had to be hospitalised in Dibrugarh following the attack on May 10; however, no action was being initiated against Gokul Barman, said the Congress leader. Saikia appealed to the state women commission to call upon the Assam Director General of Police to record his statement on the assault of the woman police constable. Moreover, he also demanded that all government perks and benefits provided to Barman must be withdrawn immediately. The opposition leader also urged for a detailed inquiry collecting the call detail records of Gokul Barman. He has also advised a thorough forensic examination of the whole incident. For the unversed, Gokul Barman, who was married to another woman, was accused of being involved in an altercation with a Dibrugarh-based woman police constable who he is supposedly having an extramarital affair with. After the incident, the constable, who was from Boitamari in the Bongaigaon district, required hospitalisation. In response to these claims, Gokul Barman denied any connection with the incident; however, Hiteshwar Barman, the President of the Kamtapur Autonomous Council, demanded an official inquiry into the matter. New Delhi, May 21 : Amid the surge in unsolicited commercial communications (UCC) or spam voice calls on mobile phones, the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) on Tuesday urged the government to ensure a level-playing field in regulatory compliance requirements between telecom service providers (TSPs) and other messaging platforms providing similar communication services. While the industry continues to assist the Department of Telecommunication (DoT), the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Department of Consumer Affairs in addressing the spam calls and SMSs menace, the top industry body said it looks forward to progressive action from the authorities. Under the TRAI's Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulation (TCCCPR) the industry has developed various modules, which have been "reasonably successful" considering the noticeable decline in the volume of spam originating from SMSs over the last couple of years. "However, UCC from voice calls, is still an issue that the regulator and TSPs are working together to address," said Lt Gen Dr SP Kochhar, Director General, COAI. The issue involves multiple stakeholders -- TSPs, telemarketers, aggregators, principal entities (PEs) like banks, financial institutions and real estate agencies. "TSPs are currently working on bringing a few more models to address the issue of UCC through voice calls. The government has allocated the 140 series for promotional voice calls and has now prescribed the 160 series for transactional and service voice calls," informed Kochhar. These modules are being worked upon and designed under discussions between all TSPs and technology partners and will be implemented by TSPs in the coming months, he added. Further, the digital consent acquisition (DCA) framework is an important module developed by the TSPs, wherein PEs are required to digitally take explicit consent from the users for sending commercial/business communications. TSPs are trying to engage and onboard various PEs to implement the DCA framework. The committee formed by the Department of Consumer Affairs is working to prepare draft guidelines under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, to safeguard consumers from unwarranted commercial communications. "We believe that these guidelines, once notified, will be helpful in addressing the menace of UCC substantially as it will put a deterrence on the unregistered telemarketers," said COAI. Washington, May 21 : US President Joe Biden's security adviser, Jake Sullivan, has insisted on access to humanitarian aid throughout the Gaza Strip in talks with the Israeli leadership. It is important that Israel and Egypt conclude their talks on the early reopening of the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, Sullivan stressed in talks with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Galant and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, the White House said on Monday. Humanitarian workers must be able to safely deliver aid to those in need throughout the Gaza Strip, Sullivan stressed. He added that all available border crossings must be used for aid to reach the coastal territory. Galant and Halevi had informed Sullivan about "new alternative approaches" to fighting the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas in Rafah. The US has harshly criticised a major Israeli ground offensive in the southern Gaza Strip city, located on the border with Egypt. "Both sides agreed to continue talks," the White House said. Sullivan also met with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In his meetings with the ministers in the war cabinet, Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, Sullivan reiterated that the US wanted to see Hamas defeated and all Israeli hostages still in the group's hands released. He had made similar comments in talks with Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid. During his visit to the region, Sullivan also met with Hussein al-Sheikh, the Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), and newly appointed Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa of the Palestinian Authority (PA), it was reported. They had discussed ending the fighting through a hostage agreement. --IANS/DPA sd/svn Colombo, May 21 : Sri Lankan intelligence agencies have launched a fresh probe into the ISIS activities on the island nation following the arrest of four suspected ISIS terrorists, all natives of Sri Lanka, from the Ahmedabad airport. Sources said that Sri Lanka's State Intelligence has requested for more details from their Indian counterparts to identify the background of arrested suspects in Ahmedabad and their alleged links to ISIS. According to reports, the four suspects - Mohammad Nusrat (33), Mohammad Farish (35), Mohammad Nafran (27) and Mohammad Rashdeen (43) - left Colombo for Chennai a few days ago. From there, they travelled to Ahamedabad where they were arrested by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad on Monday. The reports stated that the suspects were given a task by their Pakistani handler to carry out terror attacks in Gujarat in order to "teach a lesson" to Jews, Christians and members of the BJP and RSS. Sri Lanka's Public Security Minister Tiran Alles told the media that the Lankan security agencies are taking the developments quite seriously and are closely monitoring the situation. "We are working in close coordination with our Indian counterparts to ensure that all necessary measures are taken to address any potential threat," Alles told the media. Five years ago, a group of Islamic State bombers carried out a series of suicide attacks in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, killing 270 people, including 45 foreigners, and injuring over 500. Weeks before the coordinated bomb attacks on three churches and several hotels, the Indian intelligence agencies had alerted their Lankan counterparts about the Islamic State's plan to carry out such suicide missions. However, in a major security lapse, the Lankan authorities ignored the warnings. They later admitted to receiving an "intelligence brief" from India about six terrorists planning a suicide attack on some important churches in the country. -- IANS sushita/as/svn Kyiv, May 21 : German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday morning and made a plea for more international support to protect the country's skies from Russian airstrikes. "To protect Ukraine from the hail of Russian missiles and drones, it urgently needs more air defence," she said at the start of her seventh visit to Ukraine since the all-out war erupted in February, 2022. Her trip had not been announced for security reasons. Baerbock said that Kyiv's allies must "join forces" both for Ukraine's sake and to prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from sending troops to "our own borders." She noted that a German-led initiative aimed at building up Ukraine's air defences has raised almost $1 billion. "And we are working hard to ensure that this will be even more," the minister said. "We are turning over every stone several times and have even gone ahead with an additional Patriot unit." Ukraine has been on the back foot for months due to shortages of equipment, ammunition and soldiers in the war's third year. The large city of Kharkiv in the north-east of the country, not far from the Russian border, is being bombarded daily. Russian ground forces have also been advancing into the broader Kharkiv region. Baerbock had to cancel a planned visit to Kharkiv on Tuesday due to the Russian attacks. She had visited the city, which was heavily attacked by Russian troops at the beginning of the war, in January 2023. Shortly before Baerbock's visit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky once again stressed the urgency of getting air defence systems and Western fighter jets to his country. "Unfortunately, the free world lacks speed on these two issues," he said on Monday evening. Zelensky has repeatedly requested the delivery of two more Patriot air defence systems to protect Kharkiv. Ukraine reportedly has three of the most powerful US-made air defence systems. The German government has provided two of them and recently promised a third unit. The other Patriot unit currently active in Ukraine comes from the US. Washington is considering the delivery of a further system. German attempts to procure Patriots from partner countries in Europe or overseas have not been successful so far. --IANS/DPA sd/svn Kolkata, May 21 : The framing of charges in the coal smuggling case at a special CBI court in West Bengal's Asansol area in West Burdwan District was postponed on Tuesday till July 3. Kolkata, May 21 (IANS) The framing of charges in the coal smuggling case at a special CBI court in West Bengalas Asansol area in West Burdwan District was postponed on Tuesday till July 3. The process was delayed because of the absence of the three accused in the case. One of the three accused, Binay Mishra has been absconding for a long time. As per information available with the CBI, he is currently settled in Vanuatu Island where he has taken citizenship after surrendering his Indian passport. Apart from him, Joydeb Mondal and Narayan Kharge are the two other accused who were absent at the special court on Tuesday. Their counsels informed the court that they could not be present physically because of ill-health. The next date for the process of charge-framing in the case is July 3 and the judge ruled that all the accused should be present in court on that day. The CBI has submitted two supplementary chargesheets at the special court in the matter. On Tuesday, the CBIas counsel informed the court that they will file another supplementary chargesheet in the matter by the next date of hearing and some new names would be included in it. However, the judge questioned the reason for filing a fresh supplementary chargesheet in the last stage of the investigation. In the previous chargesheets 43 individuals were named apart from some corporate entities, some of which have already been declared as bankrupt. New Delhi, May 21 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday fired fresh salvos at the INDIA bloc in Bihar at a poll rally and tore into Congress-RJD governments for "forced" migration of youth from the state. Prime Minister accused the Congress and its allies of ruining 60 years of the country and also destroying the lives of three to four generations and said that they will be made to pay the price for such 'injustice' by the citizens. He said that the 21st century cannot move forward with the 'sins' of the INDIA bloc and asserted that people of the country will 'strike back' at the "ill-intentions" and "misdeeds" of Congress and RJD on June 4, the day when results for Lok Sabha elections will be declared. "This strike will be against rampant corruption, politics of appeasement, tukde-tukde gang, Jungle Raj, anti-Sanatan mindset and also on their devious plot to divide society for political gains," PM Modi said at the public rally. PM Modi, on a campaign trail to Bihar, addressed two rallies on Tuesday, first in East Champaran and second in Maharajganj. Both rallies saw a groundswell of support as thousands of people gathered at the venues. PM Modi slammed the past dispensations of Bihar for decades-long migration of youth and said that it was only stopping now due to the efforts of the NDA government. Taking a swipe at Congress and its "prince", PM Modi said that the Opposition doesn't have any agenda in the elections, other than "abusing" him. "Somebody is saying that they will dig Modi's grave, someone is saying that they will bury him while Congress prince wants to see tears in my eyes," he told the huge gathering. Taking on the INDIA bloc, PM Modi stated that the nation can't run as per their whims and fancies. Further mocking the Opposition, the Prime Minister said that they have been completely defeated and decimated by the fifth phase of elections. "INDI alliance was in low spirits in the first phase and by the fifth phase, they have been completely decimated. The sixth and seventh phase will see their further downfall," he said. Lambasting the Opposition for its "anti-Ram" stand, PM Modi said they not only "opposed" Ram Temple construction but also declined the invite for Pran Pratistha. "A person who was convicted and sentenced to jail term was released on health grounds. But, he chooses to relish good food at home and decline an offer to visit Ram Temple," PM Modi told the gathering, taking a jibe at RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav. Kolkata, May 21 : The Election Commission of India (ECI), on Tuesday barred former judge of Calcutta High Court and BJP candidate for the Lok Sabha polls, Abhijit Gangopadhyay from campaigning for 24 hours, as a fallout of his derogatory comments against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made earlier this month. As per the ECI's order Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who is contesting from Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency in East Midnapore District of West Bengal, has been barred from campaigning for a period starting from 5 P.M. on Tuesday till 5 P.M. on Wednesday. At a public meeting in Haldia on May 15, Abhijit Gangopadhyay said in Bengali, "Mamata Banerjee, how much are you being sold for? Your rate is Rs 10 lakh, why? Because you're getting your make-up done by Keya Seth? Mamata Banerjee, is she even a woman? I keep wondering sometimes." On May 17, the ECI slapped a show-cause notice on Abhijit Gangopadhyay acting on a complaint from the Trinamool Congress accusing him of making derogatory comments about Mamata Banerjee. Accordingly Abhijit Gangopadhyay replied to the show-case notice within the stipulated time-frame on May 20. After reviewing his reply, said insiders from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, the commission decided to bar him from campaigning for 24 hours. The demeaning remarks by Abhijit Gangopadhyay went viral after a video emerged online a day later in which he could be heard wondering about the amount at which CM Banerjee was getting sold. Polling for Tamluk along with seven other Lok Sabha constituencies is scheduled in the sixth phase on May 25. Islamabad, May 21 : Calling it a "black law", almost all journalist organisations in Pakistan have rejected the controversial 2024 Defamation Bill which was bulldozed and passed by the provincial Assembly of Punjab on Monday. Condemning the bill as a direct and serious assault on press freedom in the country, the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) slammed the government for ignoring the demands of the media community and forcibly passing the bill from the provincial Assembly. CPNE maintained that the relevant stakeholders were not taken on board, nor any consideration was given to the recommendations of the provincial Punjab government. "The bill, rushed through without any due consideration, not only establishes a parallel judicial system but also empowers self-styled tribunals to impose hefty fines, ranging from Rs three million to Rs 30 million," read a statement issued by the CPNE. Under no circumstances will the CPNE accept such draconian legislation and we stand ready to protest alongside other journalistic organisations," the statement added. As per the bill, a special tribunal would be formed to try those involved in drafting, publishing and/or airing fake news. The tribunal shall decide the case within six months and may impose a fine of up to Rs three million. However, in case of allegations against individuals holding constitutional posts, the High Court will hear the cases. The bill also maintains that the government will provide legal assistance to women and transgender individuals in defamation cases through an official legal team. Despite the fact that a meeting was held between Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari and journalist bodies on Monday, in which the bodies recommended the government put it on hold for some days, discuss amendments and remove some proposed measures, the bill was introduced in the provincial Assembly, ignoring the recommendations of the journalist bodies. The passing of the bill in the provincial Assembly saw protests by opposition benches and journalists covering the parliamentary proceedings. "The bill would provide the administration with unchecked authority to suppress dissenting voices," maintained CPNE. "All major journalistic organisations, including the CPNE, Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA), All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), and Association of Electronic Media Editors and News Directors (AEMEND), are united in demanding that the Punjab Information Minister postpones the defamation bill," the CPNE statement read. Journalist bodies have decided to announce protests against the draconian law, insisting that any law or legislation impeding freedom of expression or press freedom would face strong resistance and opposition. Tel Aviv, May 21 : At least seven people were killed in an Israeli military operation in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, according to Palestinian health authorities. The Health Ministry in Ramallah on Tuesday said that nine Palestinians were injured, with two of them in critical condition. The director of a hospital in Jenin told Palestinian television that a doctor had been killed by gunfire on his way to work. According to the Palestinian Education Ministry, a teacher and a pupil were also among the dead. Extremist Palestinian groups reported that they had engaged in fierce firefights with Israeli special forces in Jenin. According to media reports, they also used explosive devices. The Israeli army said it conducted an anti-terrorism operation in Jenin. The city is considered a militant stronghold and has faced repeated Israel raids since the outbreak of war in Gaza. Since October 7, the Palestinian Health Ministry in the occupied West Bank has counted at least 490 Palestinians killed in the territory during Israeli military operations, confrontations, or their own attacks. --IANS/DPA sd/svn Kolkata, May 21 : A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan accused of outraging the modesty of a woman at a village in the Uluberia Lok Sabha Constituency in Howrah, West Bengal, on Sunday, has been taken off poll-related duties and suspended. According to an official statement issued by the BSF, an inquiry is underway and the jawan will be severely punished if found guilty. The complainant had alleged that she was out for her morning walk on Sunday when the accused jawan and a colleague -- both of them in uniform -- gave indecent proposals. After she protested, the accused jawan allegedly hugged and kissed her. Locals nabbed him after she raised the alarm. The alleged incident has given the Trinamool Congress fresh ammunition to attack the decision of the Election Commission to deploy Central Armed Police Forces personnel for the elections. "Central forces personnel are here to outrage the modesty of women in Bengal," Trinamool leader and Minister Shashi Panja commented. "The BSF has set up an inquiry to investigate the matter and strict action will be taken if the accused is found guilty. The BSF is a professional force and does not tolerate any act of indiscipline by its personnel. BSF has been performing election duties with utmost seriousness and any misconduct by the troops is taken very seriously. In the alleged incident of outraging the modesty of a woman, BSF acted promptly and the accused constable was taken off election duties and placed under suspension. BSF takes the matter of indiscipline with utmost seriousness and urgency," the official statement by the BSF stated. Bhubaneswar, May 21 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik saying that he has 'insulted' Odia pride and was imposing bureaucracy on the state. He said this while addressing an election meeting in Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituency from where Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is contesting the elections. The constituency will go to polls on May 25. Home Minister Shah in the meeting claimed that BJP has already crossed the 310 seats mark after the end of five phases of polls. He also said the Bharatiya Janata Party will form a government in Odisha by winning more than 75 seats in the Assembly elections. Launching a scathing attack on ruling Biju Janata Dal, HM Shah said, "Naveenji, you are imposing bureaucracy on Odisha. You have insulted Odia people and ruined Odia culture, self-identity and pride. Can a bureaucrat from Tamil Nadu rule this great Utkal Pradesh (Odisha state)? A Bhumiputra who can speak in Odia language and take forward the tradition of Lord Jagannath will only rule this Odisha." HM Shah further alleged that the BJD government has been engaged in destroying the culture and tradition of Lord Jagannath in the name of tourism. "Odisha government wants to turn the Puri Srikhetra into a commercial centre. Mutts & Mandirs were demolished and the four gates of Srimandir are not being opened. A conspiracy was also hatched to stop the Rath Yatra and it is PM Modi who worked to keep the tradition of Rath Yatra intact," Shah said. The Home Minister said that Odisha is one of the richest states in the country in terms of its rich natural resources but the people here are poor. He accused the state officers and bureaucrats of looting the huge mining resources of the state. HM Shah said that once BJP is elected to power here the mining resources of the state will not be exported outside Odisha and the value addition on the mining resources will be carried out in the state only after setting up of a complete production chain here. "We want to make an Odisha where not a single youth will be forced to go to Maharashtra, Haryana or Bangalore for labour leaving his wife and elderly parents here. He can get work in his home state. Odisha has a beautiful location, a long coastline, a huge store of mining resources and industrious youths but the state only lacks a Chief Minister who can work hard. Elect BJP to power in the state, we will make Odisha developed with a laborious and energetic young CM," HM Shah added. He alleged stepmotherly treatment towards the western part of Odisha by the BJD government. Speaking on the Ratna Bhandar (treasury trove of Puri Shree Jagannath Temple) issue, Shah said that if the BJP forms government in Odisha then it will carry out the inventory of the ornaments, precious stones and other assets kept in Ratna Bhandar by the Reserve Bank of India and make all the details public. HM Shah also assured the establishment of a 500-bed hospital and medical college for the labourers at Sambalpur. He also promised to start the study of medical science courses in the Odia language. The Minister said that all the guilty involved in the Chit fund scam will be put behind bars and the money looted from investors will be returned within 18 months of the BJP forming government in Odisha. Amit Shah is scheduled to address three more public gatherings at Parjang in Dhenkanal district, Keonjhar, and Lathipada in Nayagarh district. Jaipur, May 21 : As Rajasthan continues to reel under an intense heat wave, the maximum temperature breached the 45-degree Celsius mark in many parts of the state in the last 24 hours. Pilani recorded the highest temperature at 46.6-degree Celsius, followed by Ganganagar (46.3) Barmer (46.1), Phalodi (46), Dholpur (45.9), and Kota (45.8). R.C. Sharma, Director at the Jaipur Met Centre, said, aIn the next 4-5 days, the minimum temperature in some parts of the state will be 2-5 degrees Celsius above the average while the night temperature will also increase at some places. "The maximum temperature is likely to increase by 2-degree Celsius in the next 72 hours. There is a possibility of a severe heat wave in most parts of the state in the next two days. The temperature may shoot up to 48-degree Celsius in some parts of Jodhpur, Bikaner, Jaipur, Kota, and Bharatpur divisions." The Met office has advised kids and elderly people to stay indoors and avoid going out at noon. It also advised people to stay under shade and drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration. ORS, homemade drinks like lassi, lemonade, etc. can be used to keep the body hydrated, it said. Farmers are advised to take appropriate measures to protect their livestock from heat and irrigate crops regularly during the morning or evening hours. New Delhi: Actor Rajkummar Rao during an event for his induction as a National Icon by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Image Source: IANS News New Delhi, May 21 : Actor Rajkummar Rao skipped the promotions of his upcoming film 'Mr & Mrs Mahi' in the national capital as he is currently busy shooting for his other film. In a press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday, Janhvi said: "He (Rajkummar) wanted to come. We were in Varanasi. We promoted the film there but he's actually shooting for a film there. Whatever cities we go to he will try coming." She shared that Rajkummar was sad as he couldn't be a part of the promotions. "He got very sad yesterday because he said the fun of promoting a good film is something else. He really wanted to be here but he's got his film commitments. That's why I have got double energy here," Janhvi said. Talking about visiting Varanasi and doing Ganga aarti, the actress shared: "It was beautiful. Our promotions started on a divine note. Since childhood, there has been this different fascination for Varanasi. It is a historic place and the energy there is just beautiful." "I am very happy that we started our promotions from Varanasi and with Ganga aarti. I think it was a divine thing because we couldn't have asked for a better start of promotions," she said. The film is all set to release in theatres on May 31. Kolkata, May 21 : Three employees of the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata, who were booked on the charges of allegedly confining a woman contractual employee to stop her from filing an outrage of modesty complaint against West Bengal Governor C. V. Ananda Bose, on Tuesday secured bail. A lower court in Kolkata granted anticipatory bail against personal bond. The employees who have secured bail are Kusum Chhetri, SS Rajput and Sant Lal. The FIR was registered against the three employees, including a woman, based on an in-camera statement given by the complainant to a judicial magistrate where she had accused three Raj Bhavan employees of illegally detaining her within the Raj Bhavan. Kolkata Police had summoned these three employees twice before. All three of them, besides demanding copies of FIRs, sought time from the police to appear. However, the police refused to grant them the time and instead cautioned them of direct arrest if they did not answer the third summons. Thereafter, the three employees approached a lower court in Kolkata for anticipatory bail, which was granted on Tuesday. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Kolkata Police issued summons for the interrogation of four other employees of Raj Bhavan. The notice has been issued under Section 160 of the Indian Penal Code (punishment for committing affray). The Governor, since the beginning, had vehemently denied those allegations and said that the entire event was plotted with the sinister motive to malign him in the political interest of a political party. Recently, the video footage of two CCTV cameras installed at the North Gate of Raj Bhavan was screened for the public within the Governoras House premises. Recently, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said at a public meeting that she is scared to go to Raj Bhavan. Brussels, May 21 : EU ministers on Tuesday have unanimously given their final approval to the Artificial Intelligence Act, a major new law regulating the use of transformative technology in "high-risk" situations, such as law enforcement and employment. The European Union hopes that laying down strict AI rules relatively early in the technology's development will address the dangers in time and help shape the international agenda for regulating AI. Systems intended for use in "high-risk" situations, listed in the law's annexes, will have to meet various standards spanning transparency, accuracy, cybersecurity and quality of training data, among other things. Some uses, such as Chinese-style social credit scoring, will be banned outright. High-risk systems will have to obtain certification from approved bodies before they can be put on the EU market. A new "AI Office" will oversee enforcement at the EU level. There are also more basic rules for "general purpose" systems that may be used in various situations - some high-risk, others not. For example, providers of such systems will have to keep certain technical documents for audit. However, providers of especially powerful general-purpose AI systems will have to notify the European Commission if the system possesses certain technical capabilities. Unless the provider can prove that their system poses no serious risk, the commission could designate it as a "general-purpose AI model with systemic risk," after which stricter risk-mitigation rules would apply. Meanwhile, AI-generated content such as images, sound or text would have to be marked to protect against misleading deepfakes. The European Commission proposed the first draft of the AI Act in April 2021, having published a "white paper" outlining its plan for a risk-based approach in February 2020. The European Parliament pushed for much stricter rules - such as a blanket ban on police use of real-time facial recognition in live CCTV feeds. However, EU member states were reluctant to impose too many restrictions on law enforcement and border security and feared too much red tape would harm economic competitiveness. Negotiators for the parliament and the member state finally reached a compromise in December after several rounds of gruelling late-night talks. The final law does impose a general ban on real-time facial recognition in CCTV, however, there are exceptions for law enforcement uses, such as finding missing persons or victims of kidnapping, preventing human trafficking, or finding suspects in serious criminal cases. Now that the law has been finalised by unanimous vote among ministers, it must be signed by the presidents of the EU legislature and then published in the EU's statute book. It then technically becomes law 20 days later, but most of its provisions won't take effect until two years after that. --IANS/DPA sd/svn Kochi, May 21 : The Kerala High Court on Tuesday quashed proceedings against state Congress president K. Sudhakaran in an attempt to murder case involving CPI(M) leader P. Jayarajan. The incident, according to Jayarajan, the present Left convenor of the ruling CPI(M)-led Left, took place while he was travelling by train through Andhra Pradesh on April 12, 1995, when two people fired at him and injured him. Jayarajan was returning after attending a party meeting in Chandigarh. He had alleged that it was on the behest of Sudhakaran that a revolver was purchased and a group of people was sent to eliminate him. The case was handled at a lower court in the state capital and in 2016 it had ruled that Sudhakaran face trial. But Sudhakaran approached the High Court to quash the case and acquit him. On Tuesday, the court said, "In this case, I have already found that there is a legal bar in proceeding against the petitioners herein, in view of the fact that the FIR based on which the entire prosecution case is built, amounts to a second FIR in respect of the very same transactions covered by the FIR and final report in Crime No.14/1995 of Chirala Railway Police Station. Hence the invocation of the Revisional Powers of this Court is justified," stated the court. Reacting to the judgment, Jayarajan said he would request the Kerala government to appeal to the Supreme Court. "The real target was Pinarayi Vijayan, but on that day, he did not take the train and it was me who was travelling. I am also seeking legal advice if I can also approach the apex court. I will see if the evidence which we gave was enough and if it was due to the lack of it, the case was dismissed. At the time of the incident, the Congress was ruling at the Centre and in Andhra Pradesh, and hence the probe had its deficiencies," said Jayarajan. Over the years, especially after the shooting incident, both these veterans hailing from Kannur have been attacking each other on this. Reacting to his acquittal Sudhakaran said the CPI(M) has been trying their best to malign him by registering false cases and this is a classic example. " I will fight the case in the apex court as I did here," said Sudhakaran. New Delhi, May 21 : A man absconding for the past 20 years in connection with the abduction and murder of a Delhi-based businessman for ransom was arrested from near the Ramlila Maidan in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, where he was selling chole bhature after changing his identity, Delhi Police said on Tuesday. An official of Delhi Police's Crime Branch said that to track the movement of Sipahi Lal a.k.a Gurdayal, ASI Sonu Nain posed as a mango seller and put up a 'rehri' near the Ramlila Maidan in Mainpuri. Sharing details of the 20-year-old case, the police said that on October 31, 2004, a businessman named Ramesh Chand Gupta left his house in Delhi's Shakarpur area in his Santro car, but did not return home. His brother Jagdish Kumar lodged a case of abduction with the Shalimar Bagh police station. On November 2, 2004, Gupta's car was found deposited at the Bahadurgarh police station, but the man was still missing. Based on the suspicion of the family members, a person named Mukesh Vats was arrested. "On interrogation, Vats disclosed that he along with his associates Sipahi Lal, Shareef Khan, Kamlesh, and Rajesh abducted Gupta and later killed him," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime), Rakesh Pawariya. Vats ran a vegetable business at the Azadpur Mandi and Shareef Khan, Kamlesh, Rajesh, and Sipahi Lal were his employees. The accused put the body in a gunny bag and dumped the same in a drain near Karala village. During the investigation, Shareef Khan and Kamlesh were arrested from Karala where Gupta's body was also found. However, Sipahi Lal and Rajesh could not be arrested and were declared proclaimed offenders by the court. "Recently, the police got a tip-off that Sipahi Lal was selling chole bhature under a different name near the Ramlila Maidan in Mainpuri. To trace his movement and activities, ASI Sonu Nain was placed there in the disguise of a mango seller," the DCP said. After two days, the ASI came to know that Sipahi Lal was selling chole bhature under the name of Gurdayal. "When confronted, he tried to hoodwink the police by identifying himself as Gurdayal. But later he broke down and disclosed his real name and identity. The accused has been arrested under the appropriate sections of the law," the DCP added. Mumbai, May 21 : Actor Rohit Saraf, who is gearing up for his upcoming movie 'Ishq Vishk Rebound', has shared his idea of love. The actor attended the launch of the film's title track on Tuesday along with his co-actors at a multiplex in Mumbai's Juhu area. Talking to the media, Rohit said: "I believe in old school romance and monogamous relationships. I hear the new lingo of 'polygamy', 'polyamory', or a 'situationship', I respect it but, I won't like it for myself." The actor also mentioned that he would like to have the kind of love story that his parents have had. He said: "I love movies and like to be in them, I'm in one but, the thing about films is that it's born out of someone's imagination and are not necessarily real. But, having seen the love story of my parents up close, I would like to have that kind of love in my life." 'Ishq Vishk Rebound' also marks Rohit's return to the romantic genre. The actor, previously, rose to fame with his popular series 'Mismatched' in which he played Rishi Shekhawat. The film, directed by Nipun Avinash Dharmadhikari, is produced by Ramesh Taurani and Jaya Taurani. Astana, May 21 : Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) grouping met in Astana on Tuesday to discuss regional security issues and also finalise preparations for the upcoming Summit of the SCO Council of Heads of State, slated to be held in the Kazakh capital in July. India's delegation at the meeting, which was opened by Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, is led by Dammu Ravi, Secretary, Economic Relations, at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). "The cooperation programme agreed with you on the fight against terrorism, separatism, and extremism is a concrete step in this direction. In turn, the completion of work on the SCO's anti-narcotics strategy will strengthen mutual measures to combat the drug threat, including the blocking of terrorist financing channels," Tokayev said in his opening remarks. Foreign Ministers from Russia (Sergei Lavrov), China (Wang Yi), Kazakhstan (Murat Nurtileu), Kyrgyzstan (Jeenbek Kulubayev), Uzbekistan (Bakhtiyor Saidov), Belarus (Sergey Aleynik), Tajikistan (Sirojiddin Muhriddin), Pakistan (Ishaq Dar) along with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran (Mehdi Safari), Secretary General of the SCO Zhang Ming, Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure Ruslan Mirzayev also participated in the meeting. Meanwhile, Ravi has held a series of meetings, including with Russia's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Rudenko and senior officials of the Kazakhstan government since he arrived in the country on Monday. "An exchange of views took place on a wide range of bilateral and international issues, with an emphasis on interaction in the UN, BRICS and SCO. The focus on further strengthening the versatile India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership was confirmed," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement after the Astana meeting. Prayagraj : , May 21 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that the character of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress is anti-development and they have no respect for Sanatan Dharm. Addressing a rally in support of BJP candidates in Prayagraj and Phulpur, the Prime Minister said, "Inke liye, sushasan aur Sanatan ka 36 ka rishta hai." He said that the people of Prayagraj had been deprived of development till 2017 when the BJP came to power in Uttar Pradesh. "You have seen stampedes in the Kumbh Mela but now these events are organised on a huge level and peacefully. SP and Congress had no concern for Kumbh Melas -- they were more concerned about their vote bank. They are competing with each other in appeasing their vote banks. Their boycott on the Ram temple decision was a part of this," he said. The Prime Minister said that his mantra was "Virasat bhi, Vikas bhi' where development was done keeping the heritage intact. Listing the development works done in Prayagraj, PM Modi said that the SP and Congress 'princes' cannot think beyond their family. "The Congress gives the entire credit of Independence to one family. We built the world's tallest State of Unity as a tribute to Saradar Patel but the Congress family did not even visit it. The people of Prayagraj will never forgive those who insult Lord Shri Ram. I salute this holy land of Triveni," he said. He further said that Prayagraj was now touching new heights of development and the dreams of people are coming true. He said that many first-time voters do not know that in the INDIA bloc regime, women were unsafe. "There was extortion and bomb blasts on roads. Can the traders forget those days when the mafia would take away their money and land? The BJP government has taken back that land and built houses for the poor. These people had turned UPSC into Parivar Service Commission," the Prime Minister said. He further said that the Congress and SP had now started telling lies because their boat was now sinking. "They are telling lies about the Constitution. Everyone knows who tried to change the Constitution by imposing the Emergency. It was the Allahabad High court here that put brakes on the Congress misdeeds," he said, adding that it was Modi's guarantee that no one will be allowed to tamper with reservation and the Constitution. Taipei, May 21 : Thousands of people, on Tuesday, gathered outside the main building of Taiwan's Parliament to voice their worries about what they see as a dysfunctional legislature and the erosion of democracy by China-friendly parties. Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost its majority in the Parliament in the January elections and has faced major challenges in the current session, which started in February. On Friday, ruling and opposition lawmakers engaged in brawls over several controversial bills, including the expansion of the legislature's investigative powers. Several injured lawmakers required hospital treatment. The fear is that the power of the legislature is being expanded without the appropriate dialogue and procedures. The main reason behind the chaos is that the opposition parties - including the Chinese Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), and the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) - voted last month in committee, where bills are usually reviewed and discussed, to take their versions of the bills directly to a floor vote without clause-by-clause deliberation, and left out bills proposed by the independence-leaning DPP. On Tuesday, when lawmakers continued their meeting to vote on the contentious legislation, huge banners reading "Democracy is dead" and "Hong Kong-ization in Taiwan" were hung at the podiums in the conference hall. Ordinary people and activists from NGOs gathered outside the legislature to express their dissatisfaction, displaying banners reading "No discussion, No democracy," "I defy the parliament," and "Democracy overturns." "Are such bills (proposed by the opposition lawmakers) designed to expand their power or to let our sovereignty be asserted?" Citizen Congress Watch chairman Tseng Chien-yuan said at a news conference at the protest scene. "Taiwan is not a normal country. So I'm afraid that Taiwan's democracy could be easily taken away, just like that in Hong Kong," Amy Yang, a 45-year-old obstetrician, told dpa on the sideline of the protest. Yang, also a mother of an 11-year-old son, said she is worried about the erosion of democracy, which would leave a dim future for the next generations. --IANS/DPA sd/svn Chennai, May 21 : The Tamil Nadu Special Police commenced an investigation into an organ trading racket on Tuesday. All Superintendents of Police have been directed to investigate whether any people from the state were sent to Iran. This is following the arrest of Kerala native Sabith Naseer from Cochin International Airport following a tip-off from central agencies regarding his frequent travels to Iran from Kochi and other destinations. Sabith Naseer was arrested on Sunday and is now under judicial custody. According to his remand report, he has admitted to taking 20 people from various states of India to Iran to sell their kidneys. While Sabith Naseer has not named anyone from Tamil Nadu as being part of the racket, police are not taking any chances and have begun a probe. The Vigilance Department has asked all SPs to trace any missing persons cases or people who have recently gone to countries like Iran. Central Intelligence agencies are also assisting the Tamil Nadu Intelligence and providing inputs on the movement of people from the four international airports in the state, including Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchi and Madurai. According to information, the case is likely to be taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as this has international ramifications. Iran had in 1988, legalised Living Non-Related Donation (LNRD) of kidneys and is considered the only country to do so. This was reported in a 2008 study published by Rupert WL Major in the McGill Journal of Medicine. Compared to this, there are stringent laws in India for organ donation. The Transplantation of Human Organs Act (THOA) 1994 was enacted to provide a system of removal, storage, and transplantation of human organs for therapeutic purposes and for the prevention of commercial dealings in human organs. Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Act 2011 was enacted and the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules 2014 were notified in 2014. Sabith has admitted that he used to get Rs 5 lakh per kidney donor and each donor was paid anywhere between Rs 5 to Rs 10 lakh. He has also admitted that there is an organised network behind this. However, sources said that the kidneys fetched much more than has been admitted by Sabith Naseer and that this was only the tip of the iceberg. Jaipur, May 21 : The Army wives in Rajasthan and their kids will soon be able to narrate tales of valour, sacrifice, local culture, art and experiences as Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) Sapta Shakti Command has launched a skill-based three-month-long Media Masterclass Programme. The programme has been launched in association with Army Public School (APS), Jaipur and Saksham Sanchar Foundation. The skill-based course that was launched during the summer vacations will be attended by students and Army wives. "AWWA in association with APS and Saksham Sanchar Foundation, has launched the three month Media masterclass programme in which students and Army wives will be empowered to turn into entrepreneurs, influencers, mediapersons, and so on. "The idea is to train students to learn stories catering to art, craft, culture, tourism, historical assets and so on. The students have been using mobiles, however, if they learn the art of mobile journalism, they can do wonders. "The idea is to give them direction for using mobile phones cautiously and for a reason," said Ravindra Nagar, spokesperson Saksham Sanchar Foundation. Also, Army wives and war widows can turn into influencers and entrepreneurs at their native place and start earning without having to migrate, he added. Around 400 students on May 9 attended the career counseling session held in Sapta Shakti Auditorium in which Saksham Sanchar Foundation filtered around 60 students on Monday. In fact, 7 Army wives have also been registered for the programme. Speaking on the occasion, Geetanjali Bahl, Chairperson education, South Western Command said, "Media education by Saksham Sanchar Foundation will help students choose their desired career in multiple fields and build upon skills to shape their future." School principal Gayatri Kulshreshtha said, "The National Education Policy has been talking about skills, and skill-based education has become necessary in present times." Students will be taught script writing, video making, story writing by veterans from the media field, said Dimple Arora, course coordinator of Saksham Sanchar Foundation. "In the next phase, we will take this programme to the interiors where war widows and local students will be empowered by teaching them the art of storytelling," Arora said. New Delhi, May 21 : India is set to play a pivotal role in facilitating the first-ever focused discussions on regulating tourism in Antarctica at the ongoing 46th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) and 26th Meeting of the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP) in Kerala's Kochi, an official statement said on Tuesday. The annual high-level global meetings, being held from May 20-30 in Kochi, have been organised by the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Goa under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, and the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat. The meetings are based on the provisions of the Antarctic Treaty -- a multilateral agreement of 56 Contracting Parties signed in 1959 -- of which India has been a part since 1983. While discussions around regulating tourism have been ongoing in ATCMs since 1966, a dedicated working group for regulating tourism in Antarctica has been formulated for the first time at the 46th ATCM, hosted by India, said the ministry. "India is honoured to lead this crucial initiative at the 46th ATCM, which is expected to bring a series of actionable recommendations to be incorporated into the broader framework of the Antarctic Treaty System. Antarctica represents one of the last frontiers of wilderness and scientific discovery," Secretary, Earth Sciences, Dr M. Ravichandran, who is the head of the Indian delegation, said. Calling it a collective responsibility, he implored nations "to ensure that all activities, including research and tourism, are conducted in a manner that preserves its ecological integrity for future generations". The meeting, with over 350 participants from nearly 40 nations, stressed the need for comprehensive regulations for sustainable and responsible exploration amid increasing tourism activities in Antarctica over the past few years. Dr Ravichandran noted that "India has advocated for a comprehensive, proactive, and effective tourism policy anchored in precautionary principles". In the last 40 years, "India has established itself as a significant player in Antarctic research, environmental stewardship, and international cooperation within the framework of the Antarctic Treaty System", added Dr Vijay Kumar, Adviser, Ministry of Earth Sciences, and Head of the Host Country Secretariat. --IANS rvt/ssp/vd RSS chief to be in Udaipur on June 8-9. Image Source: IANS News Agartala, May 21 : Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) supremo Mohan Bhagwat will visit Tripura for five days from May 23 and attend a series of events. Sources said on Tuesday that Bhagwat would stay at Khayerpur Seva Dham in west Tripura and would attend a series of events before departing from the state on May 28. Chief Minister Manik Saha, senior BJP leaders and ministers would meet the RSS Sarsanghchalak and discuss the prevailing political issues of Tripura. He will meet with pracharaks of the northeastern region. Political observers felt that Bhagwat's visit to the northeastern state ahead of the counting of Lok Sabha votes on June 4 is significant as the RSS has been expanding its bases in the northeastern states. Security has been further tightened in the Khayerpur Seva Dham areas in west Tripura in view of the visit of RSS chief. Rohtak/Jind, May 21 : Taking a jibe at two-time Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, BJP President J.P. Nadda said on Tuesday that the Congress leader is only focused on making his son an MP, but Rohtak desires 'Teesri Baar, Modi Sarkar' (Modi government for a third term). The Congress has fielded Bhupinder Hooda's son Deepender Singh Hooda as its candidate from the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat. Conducting roadshows in Rohtak and Jind in support of BJP Lok Sabha candidates Arvind Sharma and Mohan Lal Badoli, respectively, amid slogans of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai', 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Modi-Modi', Nadda said, "Congress and the INDI Alliance are living examples of corruption, dynastic politics, and appeasement. "The massive public support for the roadshows clearly indicates that the BJP is receiving overwhelming public endorsement, and Narendra Modi will become the Prime Minister for the third consecutive time with more than 400 seats." He also said that along with Rohtak and Sonipat, the lotus will bloom with more than 50 per cent of vote share on the remaining eight Lok Sabha seats in the state as well. "The entire INDI Alliance, including the Congress, is attempting to divide people and the nation. While the previous Congress-led governments kept issues like 'One rank, One Pension' hanging for 40 years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi resolved them in his first term. "Congress leader Rahul Gandhi says they speak for the welfare of farmers, but the Congress insulted Jat farmer leader Jagdeep Dhankhar who sits in a constitutional position. Also, the Congress-led UPA government sent only Rs 41,000 crore to Haryana in 10 years, but the Modi government provided Haryana with Rs 2.70 lakh crore in the past 10 years," the BJP President said. He also said that despite the assault on an AAP MP at the residence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the entire INDI Alliance has chosen to remain silent on the issue. "Their silence has made it clear that while Congress raises slogans like 'Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon', when it comes to standing up for women, they choose to remain silent. This also indicates that for Congress, the leaders of the coalition are more valuable than the safety of the country's women. "Kejriwal, who talks about respecting women, allowed the assault on a female MP of his party inside his home. The true character of the Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal have been exposed before the public," the BJP chief said. As per the INDIA bloc's seat-sharing pact, the Congress is contesting nine seats in Haryana, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is in the fray from Kurukshetra. Both the BJP and its former coalition partner JJP are contesting 10 seats, while the INLD is in the fray on seven seats. Polling in all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana will take place in the sixth phase on May 25. The results will be out on June 4. Hyderabad, May 21 : The Telangana government on Tuesday assured paddy farmers that it will continue procurement of paddy till the last grain. Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said the government was procuring even the soaked and wet paddy. Addressing a news conference, he alleged that the opposition parties were running false propaganda against the government over the issue of paddy procurement, and uttering lies has become a habit of the leaders of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Vikramarka advised the opposition parties not to politicise paddy procurement for political mileage and accused them of troubling farmers for their political interests. He said the farmers need not worry as the government would procure even the last soaked and wet grain. Noting that the procurement started 15 days in advance, he said that more procurement centres were opened across the state. Stating that the government is committed to purchasing the entire crop, the Deputy Chief Minister remarked that perhaps this commitment is not digestible to the opposition parties, and recalled that the previous government had not procured soaked and sprouted paddy. He said when he undertook his padayatra, thousands of farmers lamented their plight. "Our government is procuring wet, soaked and sprouted paddy and also ensuring Minimum Support Price for farmers," he said. He said that the government was crediting the amount into farmersa bank accounts within three days, claiming that no government in the past paid the amount within three days. He also brushed aside the criticism by the opposition parties over the paddy bonus issue, saying that the government initiated the process to pay a bonus of R .500 per quintal with fine varieties of paddy. He recalled that former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had remarked that sowing paddy is like getting a noose around the neck. Meanwhile, a note on the status of Rabi paddy procurement shows that the government has so far procured 37.59 lakh tonnes so far, against 33.97 lakh tonnes procured during the Rabi season of 2022-23. Paddy procurement this year began on March 25 while it started on April 9 last year. This time the government has opened 7,171 paddy procurement centres against 6,889 last year. Sufficient tarpaulins were provided to every paddy purchase centre to protect the paddy from rain. An increased number of paddy cleaners and weighing machines were provided. Fans and blowers were used for quick drying of paddy. Technology was harnessed and Accuweather App was used for near-accurate forecasts of hourly weather. --IANS ms/vd Bengaluru, May 21 : Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Tuesday said that the Congress government came to power in Karnataka under his leadership. "In my four-year term as the President of Karnataka Congress, it is significant that the party came to power under my leadership," the Deputy Chief Minister said while being felicitated by the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) in Bengaluru. His statement has brought back the debate about the rift between the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister over the post of Chief Minister. Shivakumar added that although he is currently the President of KPCC, he is unsure how long he will hold this position. Lashing out at party workers for not working for the party at the grassroot, he said those who are not capable of getting votes for the party should not seek any position. "First, organise the party at booth level. Ensure a lead at the booth level, and then ask for leadership roles. Otherwise, you won't get the opportunity. Simply wearing white clothes and getting out of white cars does not qualify one for any position. Organise or vacate. New leadership will be groomed if you fail," Shivakumar told party workers during the function. He said that as per the directions of Sonia Gandhi, a granite stone from Kanakapura has been used at the site where the late PM Rajiv Gandhi lost his life in Tamil Nadu. "In Bengaluru, Rajiv Gandhi's statue has been replaced. t was inaugurated by AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge," he said. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was enraged during the oath-taking ceremony on the occasion of Anti-Terrorism Day to mark the occasion of 33rd death anniversary of former PM Rajiv Gandhi, organised at Vidhana Soudha after being asked to wait until Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar arrived. The Chief Minister arrived on time but Shivakumar was late. Chief Minister instructed Chief Secretary Rajneesh Goyal to begin the program and let Shivakumar join later. The Chief Minister lost his cool when his Personal Secretary Venkateshaiah also informed him of the same. Siddaramaiah insisted that the program begin while Shivakumar could join later. The Chief Minister went on to administer the oath to the staff and officers at Vidhana Soudha and then rushed to Mangaluru in Dakshina Kannada district to attend the memorial ceremony organised by the family of five-time MLA K. Vasantha Bangera. Mumbai, May 21 : Rattled by growing public outrage over the hit-and-run accident by a drunken minor driving a Porsche that left two techies dead, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday made a surprise visit to the Pune Police Commissionerate to take stock of the case status and said that the police had dealt correctly with the sensational matter. Fadnavis met the Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, Shailesh Balkawade and other officials who gave him a detailed briefing on the case which has snowballed into a political issue. Later, speaking to media persons, he said that the Pune police had correctly invoked the Indian Penal Code's Section 304, and urged the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) to treat the accused a" 17 years and 8 months old a" as an adult since he was involved in a heinous crime. "I examined the JJBas order and found it astonishing how they could treat such a serious case in this manner... we consider it shocking," Fadnavis said. He said that three accused a" owners and managers of the hotel and the pub a" who were arrested early on Tuesday in the case, have been sent to police custody till April 24 by a Pune court. Cosie Bar and Restaurant owner Prahlad Bhutada, manager Sachin Katkar, and bartender Sandeep Sangle were taken into custody for allegedly serving alcohol illegally to a minor customer and his friends, and the premises were raided and sealed by the Excise Department this afternoon. Fadnavis said that the police have challenged the JJB in a higher court which has sent the matter back for a review by the JJB and the latter is expected to reconsider its order in a day or so. "The police are very firm that they will go to all lengths to ensure justice in this matter that has resulted in the public outrage. They have already invoked IPC Section 304 at the beginning, there was no pressure or delay or afterthought," he said. On the allegations by the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders like Congressa Vijay Wadettiwar, Pune MLA Ravindra Dhangekar, and Shiv Sena-UBT MP Sanjay Raut that the accused was served pizzas after he was taken into detention when two bodies were lying outside, Fadnavis said that the police stationas CCTV footage will be scrutinised and anyone found guilty shall be punished. He said that the Pune Municipal Corporation, Pune Police and State Excise Department will also examine issues of public concern like the locations of bars and pubs in residential localities, no check on age or I-cards of customers, etc, and proceed against those flouting norms strictly, including shutting down such establishments. Chandigarh, May 21 : Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday called Narendra Modi 'Jhoothon Ka Sardar' (king of lies), as he accused the Prime Minister of abusing Rahul Gandhi to hide his failures of the last 10 years. He also alleged that PM Modi wants to "snatch the Constitution" and "destroy democracy". Speaking at a press conference here after addressing a public meeting in Haryana's Jagadhari, Kharge said, "He (PM Modi) claims that it is because of him that the nation is strengthened today. We had leaders like Indira Gandhi, who broke Pakistan into two and created a separate country (Bangladesh). "He is constantly saying 'I did this, I did that'. But will the country be strengthened? What Rajiv Gandhi did, what Indira Gandhi did, what Nehru-ji did -- those are called real work." He also said that Haryana, which was ruled by the Congress from 2004 to 2014, has always been the state to walk the path of development. "However, the current government has forgotten this. PM Modi always says that he has a double-engine government that can do anything. However, he never provides the records to back his claims. The only thing he does is abuse the Congress. "The Congress came to power with a historic majority of 414 seats in 1984 under the leadership of Rajiv Gandhi. During that time, Rajivji formulated 11 important policies considering every section of the society," the Congress chief said. Earlier, addressing the public meeting in Jagadhari, Kharge said the current fight is between the people of the country and PM Modi, because the public is "fed up with him". As per the INDIA bloc's seat-sharing pact, the Congress is contesting nine seats in Haryana, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is in the fray from Kurukshetra. Both the BJP and its former coalition partner JJP are contesting 10 seats, while the INLD is in the fray on seven seats. Polling in all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana will take place in the sixth phase on May 25. The results will be out on June 4. Kolkata, May 21 : The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday barred the West Bengal Police from initiating action against the BJP candidate from Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency, Rekha Patra, till June 14 on an FIR registered against her. The single-judge bench of Justice Jay Sengupta also put an interim stay on the FIR till the same period. On May 15, Patra, the face of the movement in Sandeshkhali against the alleged sexual harassment of women by a section of local Trinamool Congress leaders, approached the high court seeking protection from coercive action by the state police. She approached the court days after a video went viral wherein a local BJP leader from Sandeshkhali, Gangadhar Kayal, could be heard claiming that the movement in Sandeshkhali was plotted and orchestrated by the BJP. After the sting operation video surfaced, the West Bengal Police registered FIRs against both Patra and Kayal in the matter. The matter is scheduled for next hearing on May 12. New Delhi, May 21 : A 42-year-old man from Bengaluru has successfully achieved "durable remission" from a relapsed cancer via CAR T-cell therapy, said doctors on Tuesday hailing it as a revolutionary cancer treatment. The patient, Hamza Khan, was initially diagnosed with follicular lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph nodes, in 2020. His condition required multiple rounds of chemotherapy and maintenance with rituximab. Despite the efforts, his cancer relapsed in February 2022, leaving him with few viable treatment options. Standard chemotherapy and an autologous stem cell transplant proved ineffective, and his prognosis worsened following a severe Covid-19 infection. With traditional therapies failing and his disease progressing, doctors at Narayana Health City in September 2022, treated him with cutting-edge immunotherapy known as CAR T-cell therapy, initiated by IMMUNEEL in Bengaluru. "CAR T-Cell therapy has revolutionised the landscape of cancer treatment, offering a lifeline to patients who have exhausted conventional options," Dr Sharat Damodar, Senior Consultant Haematologist and Head of Adult BMT at Narayana Health City, told IANS. "This groundbreaking success heralds a new era in cancer treatment, providing hope to countless patients facing relapsed cancers," he added. CAR T-cell therapy, or Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell therapy, is a groundbreaking form of immunotherapy used primarily to treat certain types of cancer, particularly blood cancers like leukaemia and lymphoma. The therapy involves modifying a patient's T-cells, a type of white blood cell that plays a central role in the immune response, to better recognise and attack cancer cells. "The advancements ensure that world-class treatment options are accessible within India. This has a lot of potential, as immunotherapy has fewer side effects and hence can be given to more people and uses the patient's own cells," Dr Damodar said. "Hamza's case exemplifies the potential of CAR T-Cell therapy to provide durable remission in relapsed lymphoma," he said. The therapy was approved for commercial use by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) in October 2023. NexCAR19, jointly developed by scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and Tata Memorial Hospital in association with industry partner ImmunoACT, became the first CAR-T cell therapy to get approval in India. "The manufacturing process is different for different varieties of CAR-T cells and this will change potency and efficacy. Long-term cure rates are also different," Dr Damodar said. "Cancer is just like bacteria and viruses. You get cancer when your body's immune cells become dysfunctional. So in CAR T-cell therapy, we remove the immune cells from the patient and engineer them so that they become active against cancer again," Dr Vipul Sheth, Senior Consultant, Hemato Oncology department at Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre (RGCIRC), told IANS. He called the therapy a "living drug". Dr Sheth said that "the one-time treatment fights against and eliminates cancer, and remains in the body". "So next time if there is an exposure to the cancer, it can get activated and fight on its own. Because of this treatment, you can treat many refractory patients. So basically those that do not even respond to stem cell transplant or chemotherapy, in those patients you can give CAR T cell therapy," he said. New Delhi, May 21 : Amid the global furore over the alleged presence of a "cancer-causing substance" in certain spices from India, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has cleared more than a dozen samples of spices from MDH and Everest brands. According to the analysis report, the extensive testing found no traces of ethylene oxide (ETO) in the samples collected from several states. The rigorous process of testing for ethylene oxide was performed at NABL-accredited laboratories notified by the FSSAI. The food regulator also picked up 300 spice samples of other brands for testing and found "no presence of ETO". The testing process began after several countries started monitoring spice products manufactured by Indian spice giants MDH and Everest over the alleged presence of a acancer-causinga agent. Food regulators in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand warned against using certain products from MDH and Everest over the presence of ethylene oxide at " levels exceeding the permissible limit". The Spices Board, under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, had said that all spice consignments would be accompanied by a cleared analytical report for ETO issued by the Spices Board. Both MDH and Everest have said their products are safe for consumption. Chennai, May 21 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Tuesday called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi "not to denigrate Tamil Nadu and Tamil people for garnering votes" in north Indian and other states. Taking strong exception to a speech by the Prime Minister in which he said that the keys of the Puri Jagannath temple treasury were in Tamil Nadu, the Chief Minister said that the PMas statement had, apart from insulting crores of believers of Lord Jagannath, been offensive to the people of Tamil Nadu who maintain a cordial relationship with the people of Odisha. "Can Prime Minister Modi accuse the people of Tamil Nadu of stealing from the treasury of Lord Jagannath of Puri? Will calling the people of Tamil Nadu dishonest not amount to insulting the people of Tamil Nadu? Why does the PM harbour so much hatred towards the people of Tamil Nadu ?" Stalin, who is also the DMK chief, said in a statement. Hitting out at the Prime Minister, he said: "The Prime Minister who glorifies Tamil language and lauds the intellectual capacity of Tamils while he is in Tamil Nadu, projects the same people as 'thieves' and 'hate-mongers' while he is campaigning in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha." "People will understand his double standards, the Prime Minister must stop denigrating Tamil Nadu and Tamils for votes." Stalin also accused PM Modi "of promoting enmity between states and their peoples through his hate speeches instead of being a role model and highlighting his governmentas achievements and partyas ideology and levelling constructive criticism against the opposition during campaigns without violating political decorum". The Prime Ministeras speeches do not augur well for the country, he contended. Mumbai, May 21 : The Emirates airline confirmed that its Dubai-Mumbai flight EK-508 suffered a Flamingo hit late on Monday night near Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) minutes before it landed, here on Tuesday. According to an official spokesperson, the aircraft, a Boeing 777, with around 310 passengers landed safely without any casualties. The aircraft hit, in which a flock of 39 Flamingos were killed in the Pant Nagar area of Ghatkopar suburb according to the officials, forced Emirates to cancel its return Mumbai-Dubai service EK-509, last night. Owing to the cancellation, the Emirates arranged for an overnight stay for the passengers and crew and organised an alternative aircraft for the return flight which will depart tonight (Tuesday) at 9 pm. The Emirates spokesperson, terming the loss of the Flamingo flock as asada, said it is cooperating with the concerned authorities in the matter, besides apologising to the passengers for the inconvenience caused. It may be recalled that around 9.15 pm last night, the Emirates incoming flight suffered a hit by a flock of Flamingos over Ghatkopar, minutes before it touched down safely at CSMIA. The Forest Department said in a statement that a total of 39 of the majestic pink birds were killed in aircraft hit, and their carcasses have been sent for an autopsy to determine the causes of the tragedy. Kolkata, May 21 : Kartik Maharaj, a monk associated with the Bharat Sevashram Sangha's Beldanga unit in Murshidabad district, approached the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday seeking protection against a possible attack on the Ashram. On Monday, Kartik Maharaj sent a legal notice to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after she accused him at a public meeting of working on BJP's behalf to influence the voters to vote in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party. On Tuesday, Kartik Maharaj claimed before mediapersons that he received a threat call on Monday wherein the caller threatened to demolish the Bharat Sevashram Sangha's entire setup in Beldanga which he is heading. "I am a monk. I am not afraid of anything. But I am concerned about the outfit, especially the hospital attached to it and the residents of the Ashram. I have also informed the top officials of the state police about the threat call," he said. In the legal notice sent to the Chief Minister on Monday, Kartik Maharaj claimed that her comments were "baseless, false, and highly libelous". He also sought a reply from the Chief Minister within the next four days failing which he will initiate legal actions against Banerjee. Meanwhile, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) has called for a protest against the comments made by the Chief Minister, not just against the Bharat Sevashram, but also the Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission and ISKCON. The protest rally titled 'Sant Swabhiman Yatra' will start from the residence of Maa Sarada at Bagbazar in North Kolkata and end in front of the ancestral residence of Swami Vivekananda at Simla Street, also in North Kolkata. Guwahati, May 21 : Assam Congress President Bhupen Borah asserted that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is still relevant among the people of the state as he thought about bringing peace to the region by signing the Assam Accord. Borah told reporters here on Tuesday, "Rajiv Gandhi signed the Assam Accord with All Assam Students Union (AASU) to end six-year-long agitation in the state. The accord gave powers to the people of Assam." He claimed that at the present time when the BJP brought the CAA to undermine the provisions laid down in the Assam Accord to give safeguard to the indigenous community, Assamese people are fondly remembering former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The Congress leader alleged that BJP passed CAA in the parliament as the ruling party had a majority. But people have never accepted this "undemocratic" law. "Congress party's stand is very clear on CAA. We have been opposing this act since the beginning and we will continue to do so. CAA has killed the soul of the Assam Accord. As Rajiv Gandhi was one of the signatories of the accord, we can never accept the CAA," he added. Borah said that after the declaration of Lok Sabha poll results on June 4, the situation will change in the entire nation. Meanwhile, he also took a jibe at the BJP saying that the ruling party initially claimed to win 13 LS seats in Assam but now they have dropped their numbers. "BJP leaders went into a defensive mood and they have changed their numbers. I am sure that they have sensed the defeat. The poll results for the Congress party will come as a blow to the BJP," Borah claimed. New Delhi, May 21 : We first ran into Atsushi Suzuki in the elevator of a five-star hotel and mistook him for a student visiting India in his gap year, but moments later, we met again and realised that he's the celebrated bartender from Tokyo on his first visit to India. The presiding deity of The Bellwood, a bar rated among Asia's Top 50 in Tokyo's vibrant and trendy Shibuya district, Suzuki speaks about bar trends that seem to be straight out of some film set in the future. From cocktails on tap to drinks inspired by food (from your favourite pizza to mango sticky rice, as is being offered at New York's celebrated new bar, Double Chicken Please), the future meets the present in Suzuki's wondrous world. Suzuki, who has worked in such trend-setting bars as Angel's Share in New York, was in New Delhi for a Beam Suntory event, One Night in Toki-O, at Khi Khi, which is a favoured watering hole of the city's young and happening crowd. And it may not be a coincidence that he works closely with another celebrity bartender, Shingo Gokan, whom IANS had met when he was also in New Delhi not very long ago. Suzuki's bar, which has become quite a pilgrimage for cocktail lovers in Tokyo, is influenced by the culture of jazz cafes known as 'kissa' (a term familiar to us, but the meaning is quite different!) dating back to the era of Japanese history (1912-26) coinciding with the reign of Emperor Taisho. These upscale cafes were all about good food, creative cocktails and hip-swinging jazz. The Bellwood recreates this tradition with a seasonal menu of 18 cocktails, each one inspired by an element of the 'kaiseki' spread, the multi-course expression of Japanese haute cuisine, and Suzuki's own inspirations. His newest is his take on the classic Negroni (gin, sweet vermouth and Campari). Suzuki's 'New-groni' consists of, apart from gin and Campari, a cherry blossom vermouth, lacto-fermented strawberries and distilled Tabasco vinegar -- the sweetness of the Campari balanced by the tartness of the strawberries and Tabasco vinegar. Suzuki serves the New-groni with rice crackers and a dollop of jam. The drink reflects his love for gin-based classic cocktails, but, as in his bar, where the classical and the contemporary co-exist happily, he keeps experimenting -- his latest love being a Japanese BBQ-inspired martini. Even the high-end nigiri sushi served in one exclusive corner of The Bellwood has elements of the cultures Suzuki got to know in the course of a working life that took him to New York, Shanghai, Toronto and London. The nodoguro (Blackthroat seaperch) nigiri, for instance, comes with a topping of flakes of the famed New York cheesecake! On his first visit to India, Suzuki couldn't stop talking about the "super warm hospitality" of the people. It reminded him of the small town near Tokyo where he comes from -- Katsushika, where, contrary to what people believe the Japanese to be (formal and reserved), "every grownup was my mum and dad ... it was like one large and happy family, where all of us knew each other and about our affairs!" During his brief stay in Delhi, Suzuki visited four well-regarded bars -- Sidecar, Hoot, PCO and Rick's -- and met one of the city's most celebrated chefs, Yutaka Saito, a Japanese married to a Delhiite, at Home, an exclusive restaurant at the PVR Ambience Mall. Suzuki's most memorable meal in Delhi was at the Gulati restaurant, which has become an institution at Pandara Road, where he had biryani, butter chicken and fish tikka. Maybe Suzuki will be inspired by the meal to concoct a butter chicken-inspired gin cocktail! As our conversation progressed, I couldn't help but ask Suzuki about the Japanese Highball cocktail -- whisky, soda and ice (just like how Indians imbibe their whisky) -- a favourite at Japanese izakayas, or informal bars where drinks are served along with snacks. Has Highball been inspired by Indians? Suzuki smiled and said that is the only way you can imbibe whisky and not get drunk because the soda dilutes the alcohol content! At izakayas, Suzuki added on a more serious note, people have their whiskies along with food and the only way not to let your whisky overpower your food is to dilute it with soda. So the next time you have your whisky, splash it with soda topped up with ice, and forget the classicists, who insist that whisky tastes best when drunk only with a little water served at room temperature. Kochi, May 21 : Kerala High Court's Justice Devan Ramachandran, who heads the Arrears Committee, has asked the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association (KHCAA) for suggestions to tackle the pendency of cases. The Judge has written to the KHCAA to come up with their recommendations and suggestions on how best the pendency of cases in the High Court can be reduced and has also asked them to list out the details of infructuous cases so these can be disposed of on a particular day. The KHCAA on Tuesday asked its members to come up with ideas on how this issue can be tackled London, May 21 : The person who died in turbulence on board a plane that encountered severe turbulence over South-East Asia was a 73-year-old man from Britain who probably had a heart attack, the BBC reported on Tuesday. The Singapore Airlines flight heading from London Heathrow to Singapore was diverted to the Thai capital following the turbulence. Citing statements made during a press conference at Bangkok's international airport, the BBC reported seven people are in a critical condition. A total of 53 passengers were injured, including the wife of the victim and a crew member, the BBC reported, citing airport officials. The aircraft "suddenly dropped" and people who were not wearing seatbelts were thrown against the ceiling. Images shared in social media showed chaos inside the Boeing 777-300ER, with crockery and food strewn along the aisle of the cabin. --IANS/DPA int/as/dan Paris, May 21 : French President Emmanuel Macron is set to travel to the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, which has been rocked by serious unrest. A French government spokeswoman said Macron will leave late on Tuesday for the Pacific archipelago, which lies 1,500 kilometres east of Australia. France has deployed 2,700 police officers and some military units to New Caledonia in the wake of riots which have killed six people and seen over 200 detained. A state of emergency is also in effect in the territory, although the situation has improved in recent days, the spokeswoman said. Earlier on Tuesday, Australia and New Zealand dispatched aeroplanes to bring stranded citizens home from the violence-stricken region. The protests emerged in response to proposed electoral reforms which would give French nationals the right to vote in provincial elections after ten years of residency in the territory. The indigenous Kanak population of New Caledonia, which has long campaigned for independence, accused Paris of pushing ahead with the controversial reform without considering strong opposition among the majority of the territory's residents. The archipelago gained extensive autonomy through the NoumAa Agreement of 1998. Paris is currently trying to conclude a new agreement with political leaders in the territory, which is strategically located in the southern Pacific Ocean. --IANS/DPA int/as/dan Next chapter of the Great Game unfolds as terror outfits find new home in northern Afghanistan. Image Source: IANS News Islamabad, May 21 : The Taliban Supreme Court said on Tuesday that 10 people accused of robbery had been publicly whipped in two Afghan provinces. Eight convicts in the south-western province of Nimruz received between 15 and 30 lashes, the statement said. In the eastern province of Paktika, two convicts were sentenced to one year in prison and received 30 lashes each, according to a separate statement. The Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan has seen the reintroduction of corporal punishment, including execution and whipping, for crimes including murder, robbery and adultery. The United Nations has criticised the Talibanas use of corporal punishment, saying it violates the Convention against Torture, and has called for an end to the practice. The Taliban authorities rejected the criticism, saying this form of punishment is in line with the law and is necessary to ensure security and safety for the public. --IANS/DPA int/as/dan Kolkata, May 21 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday that she will visit Sandeshkhali only after Trinamool Congress wins the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat in North 24 Parganas district under which the Sandeshkhali Assembly segment falls. "I will visit Sandeshkhali soon after our party candidate from Basirhat, Haji Nurul Islam, gets elected. Nurul has always been my favourite. I like him because he never differentiates between people based on religion. He always has a smile on his face," the Chief Minister said while addressing an election meeting at Basirhat in support of Nurul Islam on Tuesday. Banerjee also accused the BJP of hatching a fresh plot to create tension in Sandeshkhali. After the 'fake' reports of sexual harassment of women in Sandeshkhali, the BJP is now trying to create tension over temples there, she claimed. "I have got some specific information about BJP's Plan B, which includes attempts to create tension over religious places. I request all of you not to get trapped in this plot," the Chief Minister said. Banerjee also claimed that the BJP will be ousted from power after the Lok Sabha elections. "They only know how to spread false propaganda. They are constantly saying that everyone in Trinamool Congress is a thief. But they are the most notorious thieves in the entire country," the Chief Minister said. Bengaluru, May 21 : Continuing his attacks on Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar regarding the alleged sex video scandal, former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Tuesday said that he should be sacked immediately or should be forced to resign from his post for conspiring to bring disrepute to former PM H.D. Deve Gowda's family. Kumaraswamy said that the audio clipping shows Shivakumar's involvement and he must resign. "People who misuse power cannot remain in power indefinitely. Everything will come to an end," he said. He said that it is unfortunate that the Chief Minister and the entire government are protecting him. He said that Karthik Gowda, the former driver of Prajwal Revanna, handed over the alleged videos to Shivakumar in the presence of the Hassan Lok Sabha candidate. He said that after the audio conversation between BJP leader G. Devaraje Gowda (jailed in a sexual harassment case) and former Congress MP L. Shivarame Gowda came out, Shivakumar has refrained from making statements. "The handling of the case by the government appears to be aimed at destroying former PM Deve Gowda's family," he said. He said that Congress is under the illusion of winning 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state against the JD-S and BJP alliance. "Their dream will be shattered. They are depressed about the results. To change the scenario, they attempted to bring this issue to the forefront and embarrassed the state," Kumaraswamy said. Responding to the allegations, Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar said Kumaraswamy is targeting him only because he is getting "restless" without power. "Kumaraswamy thought he would be a kingmaker but people gave him only 19 seats while people gave us 136 seats. Let him ask for my resignation, he is free to express his opinion," he said. Bhubaneswar, May 21 : The Congress on Tuesday dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to expel BJP spokesperson and Puri Lok Sabha candidate Sambit Patra from the party for his controversial remark on Lord Jagannath. Patra found himself in the middle of a political storm after he suggested on Monday that Lord Jagannath is a devotee of PM Modi, drawing sharp criticisms from different quarters. Patra later apologised for his comment, saying he "will observe a three-day fast as penance". Speaking to media persons in Puri, senior Congress leader Pawan Khera said, "PM Modi should show courage and sack Sambit Patra from the party to show respect to the faith of the devotees. The Prime Minister should have apologised to the devotees of Lord Jagannath across the world." He also said that had Patra been in Congress, he would have been expelled from the party immediately for insulting Lord Jagannath. New Delhi, May 21 : The Supreme Court has dismissed a batch of review pleas filed against the Constitution Bench verdict upholding the revocation of Article 370 as valid. "Having perused the review petitions, there is no error apparent on the face of the record. No case for review under Order XLVII, Rule 1 of the Supreme Court Rules 2013. The review petitions are, therefore, dismissed," a bench, headed by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud, said. Further, the 5-judge Bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B.R. Gavai, Surya Kant, and A.S. Boppana, dismissed the applications seeking listing of the review petition in open court and seeking permission to appear and argue in person. The review petition, filed under Article 137 of the Constitution, against the decision rendered on December 11, said that the impugned judgment should not have left open the question of whether the Parliament can extinguish the character of statehood by converting a state into one or more Union Territories. In its verdict delivered on December 11, a Constitution Bench, headed by CJI Chandrachud had upheld the status of Ladakh as a Union Territory under Article 3(a) read with Explanation I of the Constitution, which permits the formation of a Union Territory by separating a territory from any state. However, it did not deal with the question of whether the Parliament could extinguish the character of statehood by converting a state into one or more Union Territories. "In view of the submission made by the Solicitor General that statehood would be restored of Jammu and Kashmir, we do not find it necessary to determine whether the reorganisation of the State of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir is permissible under Article 3," the apex court had said. Further, the SC held that the President has the power to issue a notification declaring that Article 370 ceases to exist even after the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir. It added that Article 370 was a temporary provision, considering the historical context in which it was included in the Constitution of India. In its verdict, the top court had also asked the Election Commission of India to take steps to conduct elections to the Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir by September 30, 2024. Generally, review petitions are tested on very narrow grounds like mistakes of law, an error apparent on the face of the record, etc., and are often dismissed in chambers and are rarely given open court hearings. Chandigarh, May 21 : Manish Tewari, the INDIA bloc Lok Sabha candidate from Chandigarh, on Tuesday lashed out at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for his statements on Covid management and for describing the Congress leader as an 'Udan Khatola'. "It is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black," Tewari said, adding, "Uttar Pradesh under Yogi Adityanath was the most mismanaged state during the Covid pandemic with bodies overflowing in the Ganga river. Yet, that man has the audacity to question our Covid management." Reacting to Adityanath's 'Udan Khatola' remark, Tewari said, "I am not sure if he actually meant me or was targeting his own Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is from Gujarat and is fighting elections from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and with whom Adityanath does not enjoy a comfortable relationship." Reacting to the UP CM's election speech here on Monday, where he made claims on Covid management, Tewari said that not a single person from his previous parliamentary constituency (Anandpur Sahib) needed to move out or walk back home. He said as an MP, he ensured that everyone got proper food and care during the lockdown which the BJP had imposed arbitrarily. Tewari also asked his rival BJP candidate, Sanjay Tandon, to provide the balance sheet for 10 years of BJP government, in an apparent dig at Tandon for describing the Congress manifesto as a "bunch of lies". Stating that manifestoes are promises that cannot be dismissed instantly, Tewari said, "You need to wait and watch before being dismissive." The lone Lok Sabha seat in Chandigarh will go to the polls on June 1. Bengaluru, May 21 : The leader of opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, R. Ashoka, on Tuesday accused the Congress government in the state of being involved in phone tapping. "If this is not true, the matter should be immediately handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and taken to a logical conclusion," the BJP leader said. Speaking to reporters here, Ashoka said that former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy spoke about phone tapping and he must have been informed by some police officers. He also said that the equipment required for phone tapping can be purchased from China. "A probe should be carried out to find out how many such equipment were bought and where they were used. I have been informed by the police that the phones of opposition leaders are being tapped. The government should conduct a probe," Ashoka said. "Those involved in phone tapping must be sent to jail. The government should hand over the case to the CBI. If the government claims it is not tapping phones, then it should allow the CBI to investigate the matter," he added. On Monday, JD-S leader H.D. Kumaraswamy accused the state government of tapping the phones of the family members of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda in connection with the alleged sex video scandal involving the veteran JD-S chief's grandson Prajwal Revanna. "Our phones are being tapped. The phones of 40 people in my close circles are also being tapped. Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar knows everything about this. The new phones can also be tapped within 24 hours. The phones of all my family members are being tapped," Kumaraswamy claimed. Hyderabad, May 21 : The Telangana government will formulate six new policies for industrial development, including one for the MSME sector and one for exports, it was announced on Tuesday. A new life sciences policy, a revised policy for electric vehicles, a medical tourism policy, and a green energy policy will also be unveiled. This was decided at a review meeting that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy held on Tuesday with officials of the Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation. He suggested that the policies should be formulated to compete with other countries in industrial development, and also gave some proposals for the new industrial policy to be adopted by the state government. He asked them to study the best industrial policies in other countries. The officials apprised the CM of the decisions taken in the previous review meetings and the progress of the works. CM Revanth Reddy also advised the officials to formulate a new policy to benefit the power loom and handloom workers to promote the textile industry in the state. He directed the officials to finalise the industrial policies before the model code of conduct ends. Chennai, May 21 : Heavy to very heavy rains are expected in Tamil Nadu's Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, and Tenkasi districts on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the Regional Meteorological Centre forecast. It has also forecast the formation of a low-pressure area over the Southwest Bay of Bengal on Wednesday, and this is expected to move northeastwards initially and intensify into a depression over the central Bay of Bengal by Friday. The Tamil Nadu Revenue Department has deployed ten State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams, comprising 296 personnel, in Kanniyakumari, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, and Nilgiris districts. Heavy rains are lashing the southern and western regions of Tamil Nadu and the state Disaster Management Department has already issued an alert, warning tourists and others from travelling to the Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Dindigul, Coimbatore, the Nilgiris, Virudhunagar, and Theni districts till May 24. Chennai, May 21 : The Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu, Shiv Das Meena, has written to the Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, reiterating the state government's request for the release of four Tamil Nadu fishermen who were arrested by the Coast Guard in Kuwait in December last year. Chennai, May 21 (IANS) The Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu, Shiv Das Meena, has written to the Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, reiterating the state governmentas request for the release of four Tamil Nadu fishermen who were arrested by the Coast Guard in Kuwait in December last year. A statement issued by the state government said that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had on February 9 written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the arrest of four fishermen from Ramanathapuram by the Kuwait Coast Guard on December 5, 2023. Stalin had requested the Centre to secure their release through diplomatic channels. The statement also said that the Chief Secretary has sent a communication to the Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs as a reminder of the request. The four fishermen -- M. Karthik (22), J.Sesu (43), M. Chandru (23), and S. Vinodkumar(27) -- were working as labourers in Kuwait since 2023. They were recruited by a Kuwaiti boat owner on a contract basis. The four fishermen had gone into the sea for fishing in a vessel in which a narcotic substance was found, following which they were arrested and sent to judicial custody. Gurugram, May 21 : BJP candidate Rao Inderjit Singh held a roadshow in Gurugram on Tuesday ahead of the sixth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha election, which will see all 10 constituencies in Haryana exercise their franchise. BJP District President Kamal Yadav joined Rao in an open flower-bedecked vehicle as they acknowledged the enthusiastic supporters. Holding the party symbol 'lotus', Yadav waved at the cheering crowd which greeted the Ahir leaders with the slogans of 'Abki baar 400 paar' (400-plus seats for NDA this time), 'Har Har Modi' and 'Jai Shri Ram'. The roadshow started from the Prem Mandir located on the old Railway Road in Gurugram and culminated at the Maharaja Agrasen Chowk, covering a distance of nearly three km. Inderjit said that the power given by the people will be used only for the benefit of the public. "I never did politics of lies. Whatever has been said, that has been done. I am true to my words. 2019 was a trailer of the development that will take place in 2024. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has prepared a roadmap for development for the next five years. BJP is moving forward with the resolve to make India a developed nation by 2047. To fulfill this resolution, cooperation and support of the countrymen is necessary," he added. Rao said that the situation in the Gurgaon Lok Sabha constituency has changed completely in the last 10 years as commercial and business activities have received a new impetus. "The dreams of farmers, poor, industrialists, women, and youth have got new wings. Expressways, highways, AIIMS, Universities, and Medical Colleges are such gifts that were unimaginable for this region. Orbital Rail Corridor, dedicated Rail Freight Corridor, redevelopment of railway stations, doubling of railway lines, electrification. He never made false promises to the people of the area. He has shown by doing what he has said. He has lobbied strongly for projects like the Dedicated Rail Freight Corridor and AIIMS," he added. Rao said that whatever shortcomings have been there in the last 10 years will be addressed over the next five years and the infrastructure of the Gurgaon constituency will be strengthened. Ramallah, May 22 : The Palestinian presidency has slammed the US administration for its support of Israel amid the latter's ongoing attacks on Palestinians in both the Gaza Strip and West Bank. In a statement published by Palestine's official news agency WAFA, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for the presidency, said on Tuesday that the Israeli government and its army continued their "crimes" in Palestinian territories as a result of the "continued and unjustified support" provided by the US, Xinhua news agency reported. He said that the American support for Israel, including financial aid, weapons, and the shielding from accountability for its "crimes," "pushed Israeli leaders to commit more crimes in northern Gaza and Rafah". He also warned of the danger of ongoing Israeli attacks on the Palestinians from the southernmost city of Rafah to the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank. Earlier on Tuesday, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported that seven Palestinians were killed and 12 others were injured during an Israeli operation in Jenin. Among the injured, three were in critical condition and have been hospitalised. Palestinian security sources said that Israeli soldiers conducted a raid on Jenin and its refugee camp on Tuesday, resulting in an exchange of gunfire between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces in the refugee camp and several neighbourhoods of the city. Avichai Adraee, a spokesperson of the Israeli military, said in a post on the social media platform X that security forces carried out an operation to "thwart terrorism" in Jenin, where several gunmen were reportedly injured. Eyewitnesses told Xinhua that Israeli bulldozers continued to demolish infrastructure near Jenin Governmental Hospital and in the city's neighbourhoods. Since October 7, 2023, Israelis have killed 513 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 127 from Jenin, according to official Palestinian statistics. Tel Aviv, May 22 : The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) temporarily suspended food distribution in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, it wrote on the social media platform X. The reasons given were supply shortages and the security situation. The Israeli military operation was continuing in Rafah on the border with Egypt, particularly in the east of the city. A military spokesman reported on Tuesday that terrorist structures had once again been destroyed and underground weapons caches discovered. According to Israeli information, 403 lorries carrying aid arrived in the Gaza Strip on Monday. Since the beginning of the war, the Israeli authorities say more than 572,000 tons of aid have been delivered. The Gaza war was triggered by the massacre carried out by the Palestinian Islamist organisation Hamas and other groups on October 7. More than 1,200 people, including around 400 soldiers, were killed in the terrorist attack and more than 200 were taken hostage to the Gaza Strip. More than 35,000 people, mainly women and children, have been killed in the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, and around 80,000 injured. More than 80 per cent of dwellings are estimated to have been destroyed, and most of the territory has been rendered uninhabitable. --IANS/DPA khz Beirut, May 22 : A Hezbollah member was killed and three civilians injured in an Israeli airstrike on the village of Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon, Lebanese military sources told the media. Israeli drones conducted four airstrikes on villages and towns in southwest Lebanon, while its military airplanes carried out six raids in the eastern and central areas of the border region, Xinhua news agency reported. Meanwhile, Hezbollah said its fighters attacked several Israeli sites. Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on October 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by Hezbollah toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon. The confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel have killed 479 people on the Lebanese side, including 303 Hezbollah members and 89 civilians, according to Lebanese security sources. After more than 50 years in childrens publishing, most recently as SVP and publisher of Delacorte Press, Beverly Horowitz will retire on May 31. Under her leadership, Delacorte has established a sterling backlist of middle grade and YA novels and nonfiction titles, many of which have graced bestseller lists and award rosters. The robust roundup of celebrated authors whose work Horowitz has edited includes Rob Buyea, Caroline Cooney, Lois Duncan, S.E. Hinton, Daniel Kraus, E. Lockhart, Joan Lowery Nixon, Louis Sachar, and Adeline Yen Mah. Following Horowitzs departure, Wendy Loggia, VP and senior executive editor, will be promoted to VP and president and publisher of Delacorte Press. Krista Marino, VP and senior executive editor, will become VP and associate publisher. Horowitz launched her childrens publishing career in the editorial department at Little, Brown in 1973. Childrens books were having a new beginning and growth in the early 1970s, and I had the opportunity to apply for a job at Little, Brown in Boston, she told PW. The aspiring editor was hired by publisher John Keller, whom she called a dream-come-true boss. John said to me, You must work as hard as you can and try to get my job, so I can sit around and eat bonbons. He let me do so many things and he helped me realize that working for someone is a two-way street. When I first met him, I asked him a lot of questions, and he said, Wait, are you interviewing me? And I said, Yes, I am! John was one of my earliest mentors and I was enormously lucky to work for him. Finding a Professional Family After several years at Little, Brown, Horowitz moved on to publicity and marketing positions at various houses before returning to her passion: editorial. In 1979, she settled into new work digs as an editor at Dell in Manhattan, where she encountered other individuals who, like Keller, enriched her publishing knowledge and acumen. One was an older gentleman who appeared at her office door one day. Horowitz wasnt sure who he was but, she recalled, He had a kind smile and asked me if I had a stapler and some pens and pencils he could use. So, I gave him what he asked for and off he went. A few days later he was back at my door, and said, Now I need some padded envelopes. It turned out that man was Ian Ballantine, who was a giant in publishing. He was one of the people who brought paperbacks to the United States and had retired after being president of Bantam Books and starting Ballantine Books. At that time, he and his wife were doing special projects and had been given an office on the kids books floor. He was a font of knowledge and kindness and, although we only chatted a few times, he took the time to tell me the history of paperback publishing. It was fascinating. Another colleague who shared his extensive publishing expertise with young Horowitz was George Nicholson, for whom she worked for many years. George was the powerhouse who changed childrens books with the creation of Yearling Books, she noted. Paperbacks allowed kids, teens, teachers, families to have access to books at a reasonable price. I was so curious and eager to learn, and George, like Ian Ballantine, responded to that and passed along so much to me. They both left a big impression. Words of Wisdom With retirement on the horizon, Horowitz reflected on what sets childrens publishing apart from other branches of the business. Its important, as an editor in childrens books, to realize that the work you are doing is not about you, she said. Its about what you bring to kids, who are blank slates, and publishing books that have ideas and information that entertain children and help them on their intellectual journeys. Kids and teens may not know what it is they are looking for in a book, but they will find it in the best books. And that is what has always kept me going. Horowitz cited agency and hope as key components of optimal childrens books. Giving characters choices has always been important to me, she explained. I remember a book I read as a little girl, Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer. A girls parents go away and leave her with two guardians in New York City. They give her a pair of roller skates and she goes all over the city on her own exploring and befriends people on all rungs of the socioeconomic ladder. The story is about being independent and making decisions for yourself. I loved the novel, and it has stayed with me all this time. In many of the best books for young readers, including some of the titles she has published, Horowitz affirmed, characters do not always make the right decisions. People make mistakes, but they figure it out. Our obligation to readers is to give them a slice of hope, no matter how bleak life seems. We cant always give them a happy endingthat is not lifebut there is always some kind of hope and resilience. The theme of hope resurfaced as Horowitz discussed the element of risk involved in publishing for the protean childrens audience. Publishing books for young people is in some ways a powerful position, but you have to be humble and publish not just for yourself but for the kidsand hope it works, she said. Were optimistic gamblersbut were still gamblers. The final vote is cast by the reader, and sometimes it takes time to know if you got it right. In some cases, books skip a generation and then come back more popular than ever. As childrens publishers, we have to believe that time is on our side. Bright Skies Ahead And hope, in fact, is in the forefront of Horowitzs mind as she looks to the future. We cant go back, so its better to look ahead, and hope that you have been the best that you could have been and believe that what you have achieved has made a difference in childrens lives. This is a hopeful business and the new generations working in it are moving the industry forward. Discussing her retirement, Horowitz quibbled with that term. Actually, Im calling it a lifestyle change, she clarified. I am leaving corporate lifenot that I had any problems with corporate lifeor if I did, I learned to live with them. The thought popped into my head not long ago that it is time for a new challengetime to find something big or small that I might master. Im not sure exactly what that isI have a list that keeps changing. Barbara Marcus, president and publisher of Random House Childrens Books, who has worked with Horowitz for 12 years, paid tribute to her many contributions to the company and to the industry. Beverly was a pioneer in the early licensing of young adult and middle grade paperbacks from hardcover publishers, she told PW. She was part of the team that grew Dell Yearling, which remains one of the most recognized childrens paperback imprints today. Beverlys work on the development of paperback publishing is how authors such as Judy Blume, Lois Lowry, and iconic titles like Harriet the Spy and Holes and so many others reached young readers and teachers for the first time. Marcus said that Horowitz is leaving Delacorte in strong and capable hands under the direction of Loggia and Marino. There is no question that the team will work seamlessly together to continue the strong legacy Beverly created. Horowitz echoed Marcuss confidence, noting, Delacorte is in terrific shape. I feel as though all the puzzle pieces are in place, and I am happy to leave on my own terms. I have worked with Wendy and Krista for 20 years eachand weve been together as a team for a long time. Everyone has grown and we have challenged ourselves and each other. I know that the growth and energy of Delacorte will continue. Victorias most underrated travel destinations, towns and hidden places French Island Phillip Island might be Victorias best-known island, but its by no means the only island you can visit. French Island is located in Western Port Bay and is a haven for travellers looking for wildlife and outdoor adventures. There are no sealed roads on French Island, and the only cars youll see belong to the small number of permanent residents. There are however several scenic walking tracks (try the West Coast Walking track to the Pinnacles or stroll along Fairhaven Beach) as well as more than 500 species of native birds to spot. Amongst all the windswept nature and wildlife, youll also find a winery which is open for visitors during summer. Dont want to explore the island solo? You can also book a tour departing from the mainland covering all the main attractions. Limited accommodation, including camping, is available on the island though ferries to the island can be caught from either Phillip Island (near RACV Inverloch Resort) or Stony Point (close to RACV Cape Schanck Resort). Fun fact: There are more koalas on French Island than permanent residents. Clunes Tourisms big hitters in the Victorian Goldfields might be Bendigo and Ballarat, but Clunes is worth visiting too especially if you love books. This ex-goldmining town is now known as one of only 15 internationally recognised Booktowns in the entire world, and is home to the largest collection of books in regional Australia. Every year (visit the website for exact dates) Clunes brings dozens of booksellers to the small town offering new, secondhand and rare books for sale, in addition to hosting numerous literary events. Famous authors also often visit during this time, and in recent years Clunes Booktown festival has also started celebrating storytelling in all its forms, including film, music, theatre and the visual arts. You might also get a sense of deja vu walking around Clunes the town was used as a filming location for both Mad Max (1979) and Ned Kelly (2002). Fun fact: In 1850, Clunes became the first location in Victoria to register a gold discovery. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale Buy real estate. 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Photograph: ANI Photo The Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad arrested four Sri Lankan nationals from Ahmedabad airport on Sunday night after they landed here to carry out terrorist activities at the behest of Islamic State following the directions of their Pakistan-based handler. The ATS had also seized three pistols and cartridges abandoned at a location in Ahmedabad on the basis of geo coordinates found on a mobile phone seized from their possession. "So far during the interrogation, they have refused to reveal as to where exactly they were planning to carry out the terrorist attack," superintendent of police, ATS, Sunil Joshi told media persons. All they have said so far is that their handler was going to inform them about the exact location and time of the target after they collected the weapons," he said. The terrorists were taken into a 14-day police remand and were being questioned by the ATS officials regarding their plans. The investigating agency was also trying to find out about the persons who were supposed to help them in India in meeting their objectives, Joshi said. "Forensic extraction of data of their phone devices is underway. Details are being sought from the communication applications found on their mobile phones, through which they stayed in touch with their Pakistani handler," Joshi said. He said that drop points on their mobile phones were also being technically analysed and effort being made to find out if there were others who were supposed to help them carry out their objective. Joshi said that since the accused persons are from another country and arrived in Ahmedabad via Tamil Nadu, police of other states and central investigation and intelligence agencies have also joined the probe. The accused, identified as Mohammad Nusrat (35), Mohammad Faarukh (35), Mohammad Nafran (27) and Mohammad Rasdeen (43), had taken a flight from Colombo and reached Chennai on Sunday morning and took another flight to Ahmedabad, where they landed around 8 pm that day. Talking to reporters on Monday, director general of police Vikas Sahay said the men travelled to India to carry out terror activities at the behest of the Islamic State. He said the ATS team has also recovered three Pakistan-made pistols and 20 cartridges lying abandoned at a location in the city's Nana Chiloda area based on geo-coordinates and photographs found on the mobile phone seized from the accused. According to Sahay, it is suspected that the men were allegedly directed by their Pakistani handler to collect these weapons. The men told the investigators that they were earlier associated with the banned Sri Lankan radical militant outfit, National Thowheeth Jamath (NJT), and joined the IS after getting in touch with Pakistani handler Abu Bakr Al Bagdadi. The men were booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act. The police on Tuesday arrested the father of a 17-year-old boy, who in an inebriated state allegedly crashed his speeding high-end car into a motorcycle killing two software engineers in Pune, and four executives of restaurants for serving liquor to the minor, officials said. IMAGE: The Porsche car that hit a motorcycle at Kalyani Nagar in Pune on Sunday. Two people died in the accident. Photograph: ANI Photo he car, a Porsche, allegedly driven by the boy, who the police claim was drunk at the time of the accident, fatally knocked down two motorbike-borne IT engineers in Kalyani Nagar in the early hours of Sunday. The minor was granted bail by the Juvenile Justice Board hours after the crash. As the horrific crash caused a nationwide outrage, Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the home portfolio, expressed shock and surprise over the JJ Board taking a "lenient view" of the fatal car accident and granting bail to the accused, and pushed for trying the teenager as an adult. "The father of the teenager boy was placed under arrest on Tuesday evening hours after he was detained from Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar," said Amitesh Kumar, commissioner of police. The man, a real estate developer, will be produced before a court on Wednesday, he said. The police had registered a case against the teenager's father under sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code. Section 75 deals with "willful neglect of a child, or exposing a child to mental or physical illnesses," while section 77 deals with supplying a child with intoxicating liquor or drugs. A case has been registered against the boy under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder ) of the IPC and provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act. According to the FIR lodged in connection with the incident, the man, despite knowing his son did not have a valid driving license, gave him the car, thus endangering the latter's life. He also allowed him to party despite knowing he consumes liquor. The deceased were identified as Anish Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta, both 24-year-old IT professionals hailing from Madhya Pradesh and working in Pune Meanwhile, a Pune court on Tuesday remanded three accused - an owner and two managers of different restaurants -- where the boy consumed liquor along with his friends before getting behind the wheel of the car -- to police custody till May 24 in the case. The accused -- Naman Pralhad Bhutda, the son of Cosie restaurant owner, its manager Sachin Katkar, and the manager of Blak Club hotel Sandip Sangle - were produced before the court. While seeking their custody for seven days, the prosecution told the court that the establishments owned or managed by the accused served liquor to the boy and his friends without confirming his age (legal age of drinking is 21). Police told the court they have served a notice to Pralhad Bhutada, the owner of Cosie restaurant, asking him to make himself available for questioning as and when required. According to the police, though Pralhad Bhutda is the owner of the establishment, he does not look after day-to-day management of the hotel. The state excise department, on Pune district collector orders, has sealed the two establishments. Police commissioner Kumar said another accused, Jayesh Bonkar, is a staffer at Blak Club hotel and he was also arrested. Amid the slew of developments, deputy CM Fadnavis made a surprise visit to the Pune police commissionerate to take a review of the case, and later addressed the media. "I took a review of the case. I also discussed with officials what steps can be taken to prevent such incidents," he said. Fadnavis said after the crash, the police immediately invoked IPC section 304 along with relevant provisions and in its remand plea before the JJB, mentioned that since the teenager was 17 years and eight months old, he should be treated as adult. "After the (2012) Nirbhaya case (of Delhi), there was an amendment in the law stipulating that in heinous crimes, juveniles (accused) who are above 16 should be tried as adults. Taking this point, the Pune police sought permission to allow them to treat the juvenile (in Pune crash case) as an adult. However, the board took a different stand," Fadnavis maintained. He said the JJB took a "lenient view" on remand report filed by the police and granted bail to the boy on grounds he will do community work for 15 days and write an essay of 300 words on road safety." "The order (granting bail) passed by the JJB was shocking and surprising and it aggravated the public outrage," the deputy CM opined. The police moved an application in a higher court challenging the JJB order. "The court, however, asked the police to again approach the Board and file a petition for revision of the order. The court also said if the JJ Board does not review its order, then police can approach the higher court," he said. Fadnavis said the police have approached the JJB for a revision of its order and a decision is expected by Wednesday. He said the police will do whatever it takes to ensure justice in the case. "The police have taken the case seriously and they will not tolerate someone getting bail despite fatally knocking down two persons," Fadnavis asserted. Concerns have been raised regarding pubs and restaurants where age checking is lax, he said. "The police have been asked to enforce rules meant for liquor serving establishments. Instructions have also been given to curb drunken driving," said Fadnavis. Four times more liquor has been seized in the 2024 election than during the 2019 polls. Kindly note the images have only been published for representational purposes. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters Shahzad and Vinod (names changed), both illicit liquor traders, are delighted by the high demand to supply liquor in dry Bihar during the current Lok Sabha elections. "Demand for liquor was never so high as it is at this time. We are unable to meet the high demand. Unlike the last two elections (the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2020 assembly polls), there is unbelievable demand this time," says Shahzad. "We are likely to make a record profit," add Shahzad and Vinod who operate their illicit business from an upmarket area in Patna. There are scores of such liquor traders active across Bihar. Some of them smuggle liquor from outside the state, some manufacture hooch locally. Photograph: Reuters Despite total prohibition in the state, liquor is freely distributed in Bihar's villages and towns. Leaders across political parties use alcohol to woo voters and keep their workers and supporters active during the hectic campaigning, especially in heatwave conditions. Officials of Bihar's Prohibition and Excise Department and the state police have seized more than 450,000 litres of liquor in the state till May 15, after the Model Code of Conduct came into force in mid-March. The current seizure of liquor is more than four times the seizure of alcohol during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The excise department and police have also seized thousands of litres of desi mahua-made liquor during this period. The authorities have seized more than 80 liquor-laden trucks during this period. A senior police officer told this reporter that the liquor was smuggled to the state before the election and stored to meet the high demand during the polls. "The seized liquor is hardly 10 to 20 percent of what has been smuggled," the police officer says. "We have received reports that politicians have been distributing liquor bottles during the campaign and especially a day ahead of the polls on a large scale," says the police officer, adding, "But we cannot take action against anyone because it is election time." Photograph: ANI Photo This is the second Lok Sabha election in Bihar after total prohibition was imposed in April 2016, when the manufacture, storage, transportation, sale and consumption of alcohol was banned in the state. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who took credit for prohibition in Bihar during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls to reach out to women voters, is silent on the issue this election. The mention of 'sharab bandi' (prohibition) is missing from the Janata Dal-United president's election campaign. More than 200 people have died in a series of hooch tragedies in the last two years in the so-called dry state. Another reason for Nitish Kumar's silence on his prohibition policy is that his allies -- the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Hindustani Awam Morcha and the Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas -- have reservations against the liquor ban. The BJP, till early January 2024, used to attack Nitish Kumar for failed prohibition but after joining hands with him on January 28, 2024, the party has gone mum on the issue. The opposition Mahagathbandhan (comprising the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress and the Left parties) has repeatedly alleged that prohibition has failed in the state. Mahagathbandhan leaders allege that liquor is freely available in the state and the sale of alcohol is a lucrative trade in urban and rural areas. Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com The mother of an infant dramatically rescued recently from the sunshade of an apartment in Chennai, died by suicide as she was 'deeply disturbed' by the criticism over her alleged negligence. IMAGE: A screengrab from the rescue video that recently went viral on social media. Photograph: X According to police, the 33-year-old woman resorted to the extreme step at her parent's house in Karamadai. A case was registered under section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. "She has been deeply disturbed after her girl child accidentally slipped from her hands and fell onto the sunshade of the apartment where she was living with her husband in Thirumullaivoyal, Chennai," a senior police officer said on Tuesday. The woman was found lying unconscious at her parents' house on May 18 and was immediately rushed to a hospital by her parents but was declared brought dead at the hospital. Recently, a video of the eight-month-old child being rescued by the apartment residents holding a bedspread went viral in social media. While a group waited below the sunshade of the first floor, hoping to catch the girl unharmed, two men climbed onto the balcony and one of them grabbed the girl by her dress and brought her down safely, much to the relief of everyone The woman reportedly faced criticism from certain quarters on social media for her alleged negligence. Many praised the residents for rescuing the child. Following the incident on April 28, she came to her parents' house in Coimbatore, police added. Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested a 41-year-old man who allegedly assaulted and attacked with ink Congress' Lok Sabha candidate Kanhaiya Kumar last week, officials said. IMAGE: Congress candidate from North East Delhi, Kanhaiya Kumar addresses party workers' meeting, at Yamuna Vihar in New Delhi on May 15, 2024. Photograph: Amit Sharma/ANI Photo The police said the accused, Ajay Kumar, was arrested from his residence in New Usmanpur, the area where the incident occurred, adding that efforts are on to round up the other accused in the case. The incident took place on May 17 when Kanhaiya Kumar, Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) nominee from North East Delhi seat, was coming out from the Aam Aadmi Party office in New Usmanpur after a party meeting with local Councillor Chhaya Sharma when a group of people attacked him. According to the complaint by Sharma, "Some persons came and put garland around Kanhaiya Kumar. After garlanding him, some persons threw ink on Kanhaiya Kumar and tried to assault him." Sharma had added that when she tried to intervene, the group misbehaved with her and threatened her. Based on Sharma's complaint, an FIR was lodged against the accused under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 354 (assaults or uses criminal force), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, the police said. Ajay was arrested from his house in New Usmanpur on Tuesday morning, a senior police officer said. "Efforts are being made to round up the other accused," the officer added. An Emirates flight from Dubai struck a flock of flamingos, resulting in the death of around 40 birds in Mumbai, an official said on Tuesday. Image used for representational purpose only. Photograph: ANI Photo Emirates can confirm that EK508 from Dubai to Mumbai on May 20 was involved in a bird strike incident upon landing. The aircraft landed safely and all passengers and crew disembarked without injury, however sadly a number of flamingos were lost and Emirates is cooperating with the authorities on the matter, an Emirates spokesperson said. The aircraft was also damaged in the incident on Monday night and, as a result, the return flight EK509 scheduled to depart to Dubai Monday night was cancelled, the spokesperson said in a statement. All passengers and crew were accommodated overnight and a replacement aircraft is being arranged for all passengers, Emirates said. The flight is scheduled to depart Mumbai on Tuesday night, the airline added. Emirates apologises for any inconvenience caused. The safety of our passengers and crew is of the utmost importance and will not be compromised, the airline said. The bird strike, which happened closer to Laxmi Nagar in Ghatkopar East, claimed the lives of at least 36 flamingos, a forest official said. Environmental activists demanded a probe by DGCA, claiming urban planners had ignored warnings about such incidents. While a police official said the birds were hit by the aircraft before it landed, Emirates said its aircraft was involved in the bird strike incident upon landing. Stray dogs scavenged a few birds after they fell on the ground and some body parts were also spotted by locals, said Pawan Sharma, honorary wildlife warden with the forest department. The carcasses were sent for an autopsy and would later be disposed of as per the protocol, he said. Zoologist Chinmay Joshi said the Wildlife Conflict Mitigation and Management Plan needs to be reviewed by the airport authorities in coordination with the forest department and wildlife experts to avoid such incidents. BN Kumar, director of NatConnect Foundation, an environmental protection organization in Navi Mumbai, said he has written to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation seeking a high-level probe to ascertain how the Emirates aircraft hit the birds. Kumar wondered why the pilot could not notice the flock on his radar. "Had any passenger been affected due to the bird hit, it would have made global headlines, but the death of 40 flamingos does not seem to bother the authorities and urban planners in particular," Kumar said. Kumar cautioned that the upcoming international airport in neighbouring Navi Mumbai could also be prone to such incidents. This is because the wetlands and the flamingo abodes in Navi Mumbai are being systematically buried despite warnings from organisations such as BNHS, he said. The flamingos were apparently on way to Gujarat and their death is a warning on impending disasters, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) researcher Mrugank Prabhu said. Environmental activist D Stalin from NGO Vanshakti suggested that the new power lines through the sanctuary area might be causing disorientation among the birds, leading to Monday's incident. A 62-year-old polling booth agent of Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasabeh Thackeray was found dead inside the toilet of a polling booth in Mumbai's Worli area on May 20, said police on Tuesday. Image only for representation. Photograph: ANI Photo The deceased has been identified as Manohar Nalge. According to the police, the incident took place in the evening, when Manohar went to the toilet and didn't come out for quite some time. When his colleagues went to check, they found Manohar lying unconscious. They rushed him to the nearby hospital where the doctor declared him dead upon examination. Speaking about the incident in Worli, Mumbai police officers said that people present at the scene reported that Manohar was feeling uneasy and was struggling with the scorching heat and humidity. However, the police are waiting for the post-mortem report to determine the actual cause of death. The Mumbai Police have taken possession of the body and a case has also been registered at the NM Joshi Marg police station of Accidental Death Report (ADR). The dead body has been sent for a post-mortem examination to determine the cause of death. Authorities have stated that an investigation is currently underway to uncover the circumstances surrounding Nalge's death. "A 62-year-old polling booth agent of Shiv Sena (UBT), Manohar Nalge was found dead inside the toilet of a polling booth in Mumbai's Worli area. Mumbai's NM Joshi Marg police took possession of the body and sent it for post-mortem. A case has been registered ADR. Further investigation underway," Mumbai police said. Further details are awaited as the police continue to probe the incident. On May 18, 2024 night, terrorists struck at two places in Kashmir killing a former sarpanch, Aijaz Sheikh in Shopian and injuring a tourist couple from Rajasthan in Anantnag. The first attack took place on an open tourist camp near Pahalgam and the second on the former sarpanch at Hirpora in south Kashmir. Sheikh, who was associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party, was rushed to a hospital where he succumbed to injuries. The back-to-back attacks came at a time when campaigning for the parliamentary polls in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat was going on. As a result, on Tuesday, May 21, Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and workers led by BJP district president Ashok Bhat burnt Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's effigy during a protest against the killing of Sheikh and wounding tourists. All Photographs: Umar Ganie for Rediff.com IMAGE: BJP workers carry Shehbaz Sharif's terrorists. IMAGE: BJP workers raise slogans during the protest. IMAGE: The effigy is lit. IMAGE: BJP workers burn the effigy. WATCH: Bharatiya Protest Against Aijaz Sheikh's Killing Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook. BRATTLEBORO A new film by Vermont director Jay Craven that explores the stories of rebel schemer Ethan Allen and poet and activist Lucy Terry Prince premieres in Brattleboro this summer. "Lost Nation," with scenes filmed in Brattleboro and Marlboro in 2022, premieres at 7 p.m. July 10 and 11 at the Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro, followed by 7 p.m. July 12 and 13 at The Film House at the Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center in Burlington. These premiere events will include a Q&A with Craven and appearances by co-stars Eva Ndachi (Lucy Terry Prince) and Kevin Ryan (Ethan Allen). Then will also be screenings, with Q&As with Craven, on: July 26 and July 27: 7 p.m., Catamount Arts Center, St. Johnsbury Aug. 7: 7 p.m., Highland Center for the Arts, Greensboro Aug. 13: 7:30 p.m., Arlington Common, Arlington Aug. 14 and 15: 7 p.m., Bennington Museum, Bennington More dates, including one in Bellows Falls, TBA. To request a local screening, contact Craven: jcraven1590@gmail.com Lost Nation explores the parallel and intersecting journeys Vermont founding father Allen and Prince, a Guilford settler whose poem, Bars Fight, is the first known work of African-American literature. Craven, of Peacham, founded Kingdom County Productions with Bess OBrien in 1991. Lost Nation is Cravens 10th feature film, and he said it may be the last major project he oversees. This is a very ambitious film, and I sort of viewed it as my last big film, Craven said during a shoot in Marlboro in 2022. Its a story I wanted to tell before I stopped making films. Craven, having long held an interest in Allens life, learned about Prince through research for a previous film that connected him with Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina, author of Mr. and Mrs. Prince: How an Extraordinary 18th-Century Family Moved out of Slavery and into Legend. Ndachi, speaking with Vermont News & Media in 2022, said she was not familiar with Lucy Terry Prince before her role in Lost Nation. I was just kind of stunned, I think would be the word, at the enormity of the story, the character herself, Ndachi said, and remembers thinking, This is a woman larger than life and that telling her story would be no small feat. This monumental woman just kind of fell through the cracks. It could have been information destroyed on purpose, we dont know, she said, noting that Princes history remains fragmented. Jay has done a pretty good job of trying to cram a lot of things in 90 minutes. The film was produced through Kingdom County Productions Semester Cinema program, an intensive program through which professionals mentor and collaborate with students to make a feature film. The film was co-produced with Upper Valley Vermont resident Elena Greenlee and co-stars Vermont actors Rusty DeWees and Ariel Zevon. Patrick Kennedy, of Waterford, edited the film. For tickets to screenings and to keep track of new dates and locations, visit catamountarts.org/kcp-presents. Brattleboro, VT (05301) Today Abundant sunshine. High near 65F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 34F. Winds light and variable. Photos emerged in Korean-language social media posts that claim they show a Chinese man arrested in Seouls Daerim-dong area for heckling a conservative candidate during South Koreas April local election. But the claim is false. The photos were taken from a 2016 documentary. Keyword searches found no credible reports to show that there was an arrest of a Chinese citizen in Daerim-dong area during the April election. The claim was shared on South Koreas popular Band social media platform on April 24, 2024. A Joseonjok man was arrested after heckling a candidate from [conservative] Peoples Power Party in Daerim-dong, read one post. Joseonjok refers to ethnic Korean citizens of the Peoples Republic of China, one of its recognized ethnic minority groups. The claim was shared alongside three images that show South Korean police arresting a man whose face is blurred. Screenshot of the Band post, taken on May 14, 2024. Daerim-dong is a neighborhood-level subdistrict of Yeongdeungpo district in Seoul, where many Joseonjok immigrants live. Multiple South Korean media outlets report that Joseonjok immigrants are frequent targets of discrimination and are often stereotyped as contributing to a rise in violent crime. There have been claims that voters in areas with high Joseonjok populations in South Korea have a tendency to support political parties with pro-China and anti-U.S. stances, which has allegedly put the ruling Peoples Power Party at a disadvantage, given its pro-U.S. position. An identical claim that the photo shows a Joseonjok mans arrest in April was shared on another Band group. But the claim is false. The images were in fact taken from an old documentary. 2016 documentary Keyword and reverse image searches on Google found the images were included in the documentary series In the Line of Fire, aired by South Koreas public education broadcaster EBS. The images came from the episode Police Patrol Unit: Guardians of the Night, aired in 2016 and published on the broadcasters official YouTube channel. The images in the false posts were stills taken at the episodes 11:35, 11:30 and 21:35 marks. The episode followed the activities of a mobile police unit in Daerim-dong on an evening in September 2016. According to the documentary, the first two images show police subduing and arresting men involved in a fight, while the third image shows other officers detaining a man for carrying a knife. The documentary made no mention of elections or political candidates. Keyword searches found no credible reports to show that there was an arrest of a Chinese citizen in Daerim-dong area during the April election. Edited by Malcolm Foster and Eugene Whong. Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in todays complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X. Five Chinese vessels carrying hundreds of troops are on deployment in Cambodian waters. Two large Chinese warships have arrived in Cambodias Sihanoukville on the Gulf of Thailand on a goodwill visit, joining three vessels already operating in Cambodia. Chinas defense ministry announced the arrival of the training ship Qi Jiguang (Hull 83) at Sihanoukville Autonomous Port on Sunday. The Cambodian navy, meanwhile, disclosed that the Qi Jiguang was accompanied by a Type 071 amphibious landing dock, the Jinggangshan (Hull 999). During their four-day visit from May 19 to May 23, officers and crew from the two vessels are to pay a courtesy call on Cambodian navy leaders, visit military sites and conduct exchanges with Cambodian partners. There was no mention of the ships possible participation in the Golden Dragon exercise, involving Cambodian and Chinese forces, which began on May 16 and last until May 30. Three other Chinese vessels, including two corvettes and a landing dock, are already taking part in the exercise the sixth iteration of the annual bilateral wargames and the largest to date. From my memory, there werent that many Peoples Liberation Army Navys vessels at any one time in the country, said Collin Koh, a regional military analyst based in Singapore. Two Chinese warships, top left, are moored at the pier at Cambodias Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, May 18, 2024. (Planet Labs) Powerful presence Of the five Chinese vessels, the two corvettes have been stationed at Cambodias Ream naval base for nearly six months. The two Type 071 landing docks Jinggangshan and Qilianshan each have a displacement of 25,000 tons and can carry up to 800 troops, as well as 20 armored vehicles. The 9,000-ton Qi Jigang is one of the Chinese navys main training ships under the Dalian Naval Academy. Training ship Qi Jiguang arriving in Cambodia, May 19, 2024. (Chinese defense ministry) It seems that this unprecedented Chinese naval presence is going to presage a regular presence in Cambodia in the foreseeable future, said Koh, who is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. The Ream base surely has facilitated this greater presence, he said. Another analyst, Paul Chambers of the Center of ASEAN Community Studies at Naresuan University in Thailand, said that the level of Chinese-Cambodian military relations was unprecedented. And then there is a Chinese tourism resort in western Cambodia, which could be easily converted into a Chinese military airfield, Chambers told RFA, referring to the Dara Sakor resort in Koh Kong province. It appears that Cambodia has become a military and economic dependency of China, the analyst said. Cambodias defense ministry has praised joint activities with China for enhancing its militarys capabilities as well as its combat skills. Welcome ceremony for Chinese warships in Sihanoukville, May 19, 2024. (Chinese defense ministry) The Golden Dragon 2024 exercise is taking place in Kampong Chhnang and Sihanoukville provinces. The large number of Chinese vessels this time was not a game changer but a sign of ever-closer China-Cambodia cooperation given Chinas new base there, said Tom Shugart, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security in Washington. Edited by Mike Firn. Military-themed toys are meant to instill pride and possibly gain public support for arms development, experts say. KCTV (Korean Central TV) reported that the Changgwang fireworks store in Hwasong District, Pyongyang, North Korea, is now selling new fireworks, including models of the Hwasong ICBM, May 19 ,2024. A fireworks store in North Korea was featured in the countrys state media for its unique products, including fireworks shaped like intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs. Experts told Radio Free Asia that the fireworks, shaped like North Koreas Hwasong-17 ICBM, unveiled in 2020 and first test fired in 2022, are meant to instill national pride among children, and the parents who would buy them. Our store carries fireworks that everyone loves, and that teenagers and students enjoy, a worker at the Changgwang Fireworks Store said on the May 19 Korea Central Television broadcast. The report showed an entire section of the store with missile-themed fireworks, including a launcher in the shape of a transporter erector launcher vehicle, or TEL. The stores military-themed products are clearly aimed at children, as its interior includes colorful pictures of animals on the walls, and a small fenced-off play area for toddlers, flanked by two very large Hwasong-17 models and a mural depicting the missile being launched into a sky full of cartoon stars and bursting fireworks. Military themed-toys are very common in North Korea, but the country seems to want the people to be on board with dedicating resources and labor to missile and rocket development. KCTV (Korean Central TV) reported that the Changgwang fireworks store in Hwasong District, Pyongyang, North Korea, is now selling new fireworks, including models of the Hwasong ICBM, May 19 ,2024. (KCTV) In February 2023, North Korean leader Kim Jong Uns wife, Ri Sol Ju, was spotted wearing an ICBM-shaped necklace at a banquet commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Founding of the Korean Peoples Army. In February 2024, the country forced residents to buy laminated photos of a reconnaissance satellite rocket launch to display in their homes as a constant reminder of the countrys military achievements. Instilling pride The missile-themed displays are an attempt to foster national pride among the people, both through children and their parents, Bruce Klingner, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a former analyst at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, told RFA Korean. It reinforces the message that North Korea needs nuclear weapons and missiles because of the U.S. threat, he said. And it is a way of explaining away the dire economic conditions that North Korean people suffer from because it's being blamed on the United States. David Maxwell, vice president of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy, said the displays are an effort by the authorities to try to reinforce the legitimacy of North Korea as a military power to show off its nuclear and missile capabilities. It's an example of the prioritization of resources that the Kim family regime does, said Maxwell. It prioritizes enhancing the reputation of the regime over the welfare of the people, while the people suffer the worst lives of really any population in the world today. Such militaristic childrens toys were unheard of decades ago, said Kim Su-kyung, who escaped North Korea in 1998 and resettled in the United States. When I was young, there were no goods like this, she said. We used to play a military game called Kill the Yankee during field day at school, but it seems like that has now been upgraded and made into these types of toys. She said the public would not be receptive to these toys and would not appreciate the governments attempts to manipulate public opinion with useless toys. Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster. Three bombs were dropped while villagers were sleeping, residents said. The town of Buthidaung in Myanmars Rakhine state is seen May 29, 2023, left, and at right on May 21, 2024, after fire destroyed much of the town. (Planet Labs with RFA analysis) Updated May 21, 2024, 03:41 p.m. ET. A Myanmar junta airstrike near the border with Bangladesh on Tuesday killed one civilian and injured 11, residents told Radio Free Asia, the latest casualties in a region that has seen some of the countrys most intense fighting in recent weeks. Junta forces launched air attacks after insurgents from the Arakan Army assaulted the military regimes Border Guard Force near Maungdaw town on Monday. In response, aircraft dropped three bombs on two nearby villages in Rakhine States Maungdaw township. Since November, the Arakan Army has captured eight townships across Rakhine state and has launched several offensives in other areas. Fighter jets bombed Shwe Baho and Baw Di Kone villages at around 4 a.m., one resident, who declined to be identified in fear of reprisals, told RFA. A young woman died in Shwe Baho. She is a university student and was taking refuge in the village. The whole family was fleeing the battle but they were injured, he said. The Arakan Army is attacking Lay Miles Border Guard Force, so [the junta] bombarded all areas and surrounding villages. The dead woman, Pan Ei Pyu, 22, also worked at a social assistance group, residents said. The wounded ranged in age from 5 years to 71, residents said. Myanmars junta has yet to release any information on the attack. Rakhine states junta spokesperson, Hla Thein, did not answer calls from RFA. AA advances Forces of the junta, which seized power in an early 2021 coup, have lost territory in several parts of the country since late last year when militia groups, formed by pro-democracy activists and allied ethnic minority insurgent groups fighting for self-determination went on the offensive. Despite making advances, the juntas opponents have no air power, leaving them, and villages in areas in which they operate, vulnerable to airstrikes. Four civilians were killed and six were wounded between May 14 and 19 when the junta bombed villages in southern Maungdaw township, residents said. On Saturday, the Arakan Army announced it had captured all junta camps in Buthidaung, a township along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border. Hours earlier, the group was accused of attacking a school with a drone where members of the Rohingya minority, a mostly Muslim community that has faced persecution for decades, were sheltering. Eighteen people were killed and more than 200 were wounded, residents said. The Arakan Army, in its Saturday statement, did not mention the Rohingya deaths, but said its forces were aiming to capture Maungdaw town, about 16 km (10 miles) west of Buthidaung township, also near the Myanmar-Bangladesh border. A house destroyed by a junta airstrike in Maungdaw township, Rakhine state on May 21, 2024. (Citizen journalist) Stoking community conflict Two days later, the group released another statement, accusing junta troops and militiamen of setting fire to houses in the area "with the intention to create racial and religious conflict in Rakhine state." On Tuesday, Myanmar's shadow National Unity Government issued a similar statement, saying that junta forces in Buthidaung had set fire to the homes of Hindus and majority ethnic Rakhines "with the intention of causing community conflict," carried out airstrikes and shelling, destroyed public property and burned villages, and forced the displacement of township residents, including Rohingyas. The statement acknowledged what it called "distressing reports" of an unconfirmed number of civilian casualties. The junta has yet to issue any response to the statement and attempts by RFA to reach Rakhine state spokesperson Hla Thein for comment on the allegations went unanswered. Casualties in resort township Meanwhile, residents of the Rakhine state beach resort town of Thandwe told RFA on Tuesday that fierce fighting between the military and the AA there had left at least 23 civilians dead and five injured since the start of the month. On Monday, a junta navy vessel "opened fire with heavy weapons," killing a child and injuring another person in Thandwe's Kha Maung Tone village, a resident said. In one of the deadliest incidents this month, junta troops shelled Thandwe's Lin Thi and Shwe Hlay villages on May 14, killing 13 civilians. Four days later, a junta jet fighter dropped bombs into Thandwe's Nat Taung Maw village, killing nine and injuring another three. Clashes between the two sides in the Thandwe villages of Yae Kauk and Pu Yit since April 22 have forced around 10,000 people to flee, residents said. Amid the fighting, the military has cut off power to Thandwe township and increased the number of its troops at security checkpoints, they said. International aid groups and local residents in Buthidaung, Maungdaw and Thandwe townships were told to evacuate by the United League of Arakan, the political wing of the Arakan Army, after it issued a warning of more attacks on junta forces on Monday. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn. This report has been updated to include statements by the AA and the National Unity Government, as well as details of the situation in Thandwe township. Manila accuses Beijing of damaging environment, illegally harvesting giant clams and other species from the shoal. The Philippine Coast Guard shares a photo of a dead turtle allegedly caught by Chinese fishermen in Scarborough Shoal, May 20, 2024. The Philippines on Tuesday demanded an independent and international audit of Chinas alleged environmental destruction of Scarborough Shoal, including illegal fishing for giant clams, sea turtles and other species from those disputed waters. The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has provided incontrovertible proof of such activities by Chinese fishermen in the shoal, according to National Security Council spokesman Jonathan Malaya. The shoal lies within Manilas exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea, but Beijing has effectively controlled it since 2012. On Monday, the PCG said it had monitored Chinese fishermen illegally harvesting giant clams from the shoal, which Manila calls Bajo de Masinloc or Panatag Shoal. The agency also said it had underwater footage confirming harvesting activities that degraded the marine environment in the area. We call on China to open up Bajo de Masinloc to international inspection and we also call on 3rd-party inspectors from relevant United Nations bodies or respected environmental organizations to determine the true situation therein in order to protect the environment, Malaya said in a statement Tuesday. He said the PCG had already presented clear and convincing evidence that since 2016, China had been hauling away large quantities of giant clams, sea turtles, puffer fishes, stingrays, topshells, eels and other marine animals from the area. The Philippine Coast Guard shares a photo of giant clams allegedly caught by Chinese fishermen in Scarborough Shoal, May 20, 2024. [Jay Tarriela/Philippine Coast Guard] Chinese entities have been continuously engaged in large-scale harvesting of endangered species, unlawfully exploiting the vulnerable species with wild abandon, Malaya said. Chinas foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, did not categorically deny the allegations by the PCG, but reiterated Beijings indisputable control over the South China Sea, including the shoal. If any environmental degradation appears in those waters, it is the Philippines who needs to reflect on its behavior, instead of wrongly accusing China, he said on Monday. Giant clams are a declared protected species under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The Philippine Coast Guard shares a photo of giant clams allegedly caught by Chinese fishermen in Scarborough Shoal, May 20, 2024. [Jay Tarriela/Philippine Coast Guard] China has no legal rights over Bajo de Masinloc and all of its expansive claims over the entire South China Sea have been invalidated and nullified by the 2016 arbitral ruling, Malaya said. He was referring to a landmark decision by an international court that nullified Chinas claims to most of the South China Sea on historical grounds, after Manila took Beijing to court over their territorial dispute at Scarborough Shoal. The Tribunal found that Chinese fishermen have engaged in the harvesting of endangered sea turtles, coral, and giant clams on a substantial scale in the South China Sea, using methods that inflict severe damage on the coral reef environment. The Tribunal found that Chinese authorities were aware of these activities and failed to fulfill their due diligence obligations under the Convention to stop them, according to an excerpt from the arbitration ruling. Beijing rejected the ruling and launched a building spree in territories it controls in the sea. Commodore Jay Tarriela, the Philippine coast guard spokesman for the South China Sea, said suspected Chinese maritime militia had been harvesting giant clams from the shoal since 2016. On top of Chinas consistent harvesting activities, underwater footage as early as 2017 confirm that their presence and ecological footprint has led to the degradation of the marine environment in Bajo de Masinloc, Tarriela told reporters on Monday. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service. A Chinese Communist Party deputy secretary of Gonjo county visits a Tibetan household to persuade the residents to agree to the proposed relocation of their village, in Sa-ngen in western China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 2024. UPDATED at 9:35 P.M. ET on 05-28-2024 For the past seven years, Tashi and his once-nomadic family have been living in the outskirts of Tibets capital Lhasa after they were forcibly moved from their ancestral home in the grasslands of Tibet. They had made a living raising yaks and other livestock and engaging in sustainable farming in Damxung county, located two hours away by road from Lhasa, until they and others were forced to move to Lhasas Kuro Bridge area, promised improved living conditions by Chinese authorities. But in reality, they have faced joblessness, economic hardship and social exclusion ever since. All our farmlands in Damxung were confiscated by the government under the guise of development projects, said Tashi, whose name has been changed for safety reasons. Having grown up in the village without any education, it is extremely difficult for us to find jobs and make a living in the city. An official ceremony in August 2023 celebrates the mass relocation of 6,000 herders to Xiangheyuan, a multistory development where there is no available land for herders to use, in Nagqu in western China's Tibet Autonomous Region, August 2023. (Wumatang Township government, Dangxiong County, Nagqu, TAR via HRW) Their story exemplifies the forced relocation of more than 700,000 Tibetans since 2016 in the Tibetan Autonomous Region under supposed poverty-reduction measures, according to a 71-page report released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch. Of that total number uprooted, 567,000 people lived scattered across the region and another 140,000 people lived in 500 villages. The report,Educate the Masses to Change their Minds: Chinas Coercive Relocation of Rural Tibetans, is based on information from over 1,000 official Chinese media articles between 2016 and 2023, government publications and academic field studies. Threats and harassment According to official press reports, local officials used coercion and other extreme forms of persuasion to pressure villagers and nomads to agree to relocation. They claimed the moves were voluntary and would improve livelihoods and protect the environment. Their tactics included repeated home visits, disparaging the villagers intellectual capacity to make decisions, implicit threats of punishment and the cutoff of essential services such as electricity and water. A Tibetan villager makes a fingerprint on an official document, agreeing to be relocated to Sinpori, a mass resettlement site 60 kilometers (37 miles) southwest of Lhasa, capital of western China's Tibet Autonomous Region, in an undated photo. (Poverty Alleviation Office, Anduo County, Nagqu, TAR via HRW) The officials also provided misleading information that said the moves would offer employment opportunities and higher incomes, the report said. The Chinese government says that the relocation of Tibetan villages is voluntary, but official media reports contradict this claim, Maya Wang, HRWs acting China director, said in a statement. Those reports make clear that when a whole village is targeted for relocation, it is practically impossible for the residents to refuse to move without facing serious repercussions. The human rights group urged Beijing to suspend relocations in Tibet and conform with Chinese laws and standards and international law concerning relocations and forced evictions. Satellite imagery shows the Sinpori resettlement site 60 kilometers (37 miles) southwest of Lhasa, capital of western China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Dec. 25, 2020. (Google Earth via HRW) Senior authorities put pressure on local officials to carry out the relocations as non-negotiable policies, threatening disciplinary action against local officials who failed to meet targets, the report said. Labeled separatists Tashi, who was forcibly moved to Lhasa, said he told Chinese officials they didnt want to move. But Chinese authorities accused us of disobeying national orders and labeled us as separatists, he said. Many like Tashi were forced to sell their herd in a hurry after the Chinese government ordered the relocations. The order to relocate came so suddenly and we couldnt disobey, [so] we had to sell our herds in a rush, leaving us with nothing, a Tibetan nomad told Radio Free Asia. Ever since we moved to Lhasa, we have never been happy. Tibetan villagers demolish their former houses in Tanggu Xiang, Lhundrup, in western China's Tibet Autonomous Region, June 2021. (Tanggu township government, Linzhou County, Lhasa TAR via HRW) He said that the houses provided by the Chinese government are very small and crowded, with large families of 10 or so members living in only two to three rooms, forcing some to sleep in tents on verandas, he said. When the relocated Tibetans sought jobs in restaurants, they were told they were not hygienic enough, he said. Self-employment is out of reach, and we cant even get cleaning jobs in restaurants, he added. Rooted to the land Elaine Pearson, director of HRWs Asia Division, told RFA that relocations have occurred both across the Tibetan Autonomous Region and in Tibetan-populated areas in Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. Its important to note that forced relocations do happen across China, and they arent unique to Tibet, she said. Tibetans have a particular connection with the land and their livelihoods, and they lose that connection if they are forced to move, she added. County officials announce a relocation policy to Tibetans in Mindu township, Gonjo, in western China's Tibet Autonomous Region, December 2018. (WeChat account Internet Information Gongjue via HRW) The Chinese government says relocations are poverty alleviation measures and that the new locations are ecologically sound, so that affected Tibetans can improve their livelihoods by relocating, Pearson said. But in reality, that hasnt been the case because many of the people are pastoralists, and they live off the land, but when they move to more urban-like areas, the work options are different [and] they would need to speak Chinese rather than Tibetan, she added. Pearson also said the United Nations should be pushing for unfettered access to Tibetan regions, which has not occurred for many years. The rights group wants the U.N. Human Rights Council to set up an independent investigation into human rights violations across China, including these violations in Tibet, she said. Local officials visit a relocation site to check occupancy in Drubarong township, Markham county, in western China's Tibet Autonomous Region, September 2023. (WeChat account Zhubalong on the Jinsha River via HRW) Chinas coercive mass displacement of Tibetans destroys the Tibetan way of life and culture under the misleading policy labels of poverty alleviation and ecology protection, said Tencho Gyatso, president of Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet. Tibetans have lived on the Tibetan Plateau for thousands of years and have adapted genetically and socially to how best to live and protect the high-altitude environment. Chinas reckless relocation policy and programs are pulling apart Tibetan society, its ancient culture and its environmental best practices, Gyatso said. Additional reporting by Tashi Wangchuk, Tenzin Pema and Dolma Lhamo for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Tenzin Pema of RFA Tibetan and by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster. The story has been updated and corrected to show that "hundreds of thousands," not "more than 700,000" have been forced to relocate. But the UNHCR said Thailand has refused access to nearly 50 Uyghur asylum seekers. In this photo taken on September 30, 2022, an immigration detention center, where human rights activists believe that a group of Uyghurs are being detained, is pictured in the Sathorn area of Bangkok. The United Nations refugee agency has declined Thailands request to assist nearly 50 Uyghur asylum seekers held in the countrys detention centers for a decade because of fears of Chinese disapproval, an independent news agency reported, citing leaked internal documents. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, denied the allegation, while a senior Thai official said he could not immediately confirm whether the government had sought the assistance of the U.N. agency. The 48 Uyghurs were among more than 500 members of the mostly Muslim minority who fled from Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to Southeast Asian countries in 2013 and 2014, according to Thai officials and aid groups trying to help them. They hoped to be resettled in Turkey, where some of them eventually traveled. More than 100 were sent back to China. The New Humanitarian news agency, citing what it said were internal UNHCR documents dating back to 2020, said the Thai government had made an unofficial request to the refugee agency to help resolve the issue of the 48 detainees but the agency had advised against it. The Thai government began informally petitioning UNHCR almost five years ago to play a more active role in resolving the Uyghurs indefinite detention, and agency staff advised against doing this, the independent, nonprofit news agency said. The internal documents suggest that Chinas influence also extends to the U.N.s refugee agency, rights advocates who reviewed the documents said, it reported. A UNHCR spokesperson said the news agencys suggestion that his agency had declined to help the detainees would reflect a misunderstanding of what has transpired. UNHCR has and continues to proactively raise this issue with the Thai authorities, Babar Baloch, the UNHCR's Asia-Pacific spokesperson, told RFA. Despite requests, however, at no stage have we been permitted to access the group or engage with the caseload for the purpose of facilitating solutions. But John Quinley III, director of the group Fortify Rights in Bangkok, told RFA that after reviewing the documents cited by The New Humanitarian he had concluded that the UNHCR has been reluctant to actually react. We would say that the U.N. is not proactively trying to solve the indefinite detention of Uyghur refugees They are afraid of Beijing and the pushbacks that Beijing may have with UNHCR working to try to solve the Uyghur detention issue, Quinley told RFA. A Thai government spokesperson said he could not immediately confirm whether Thailand had approached the UNHCR for help to resolve the issue of the 48. I dont have the information about the Uyghur matter, including Thailands reported request for UNHCR assistance, Chai Watcharong told RFA. Chai said he did not know whether the government of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who replaced a former junta chief as premier after a general election last year, had addressed the Uyghur issue at all. Some rights workers have said they have been disappointed by the new governments lack of focus on human rights. Officials at the National Security Council, or NSC, which advises the government on refugee matters, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from RFA. Thailand, which is not a signatory of the 1951 Refugee Convention, has played host to hundreds of thousands of refugees from its Southeast Asian neighbors over the decades. The 48 Uyghurs, who are being held as illegal immigrants not refugees, are enduring poor living conditions and are unable to speak to outsiders, an adviser to Thailands National Human Rights Commission, Rattikul Chansuriya, told a recent seminar. She said the Uyghurs could be in danger if repatriated to China. The director of the Peoples Empowerment Foundation, a Thai non-governmental group that helps Uyghur refugees, said the NSC had declined to grant access to the detainees. The NSC is strict. No matter how much we urge them to allow visits to the Uyghur detainees, it doesnt happen due to Chinas pressure, said Chalida Tajaroensuk. She said Chinese embassy officials keep a close watch on Uyghur detainees in Thailand. The embassy did not respond to requests for comment on the Uyghur detainees. Edited by Mike Firn. Additional reporting by Pimuk Rakkanam. Authorities at Vietnams Xuan Phuoc prison have punished political prisoner Dang Dang Phuoc, putting him in solitary confinement for violating unspecified regulations, his wife told Radio Free Asia. Le Thi Ha said her husband may have been punished for asking her to forward his cellmates phone number to his family. When she visited Phuoc on May 9, her husband gave her a piece of paper with the number on, but prison officers confiscated it. She told RFA Vietnamese she received a notice from the prison on Sunday telling her Phuoc was being disciplined. The letter, dated May 10, said he had violated prison regulations but did not say what he had done. Phuoc was kept in solitary confinement in a disciplinary cell from May 10 to 20. In addition, visits from relatives will be cut to once every two months, from once a month, until his attitude improves, she said. According to the Law on Execution of Criminal Sentences, during detention in the disciplinary cell, prisoners can be chained to the spot but Ha said she didnt know whether her husband had been shackled. She said she was worried about the halving of family visits because prison rations lack nutrition, and she wanted to make sure her husband got enough decent food. Ha added she would apply to the Phu Yen Provincial Procuracy to complain about her husband being disciplined. An officer at Xuan Phuoc prison declined to comment on his behavior but said that prisoners who are disciplined are put in solitary confinement for 10 days. Phuoc, 62, is a former music lecturer at Dak Lak Pedagogical College. He was arrested on Sept. 8, 2022, on charges of anti-state propaganda. He was sentenced to eight years in prison and four years of probation at his trial in June 2023. After losing an appeal, he was sent to Xuan Phuoc prison in Phu Yen province. Phuoc is one of hundreds of activists being detained for peaceful activities. International organizations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have called on Vietnam to drop the charges and release him. Before being arrested, he had demanded that Vietnam ensure civil and political rights, including freedom of speech, expression, association, assembly and religion. He also publicly opposed Vietnams repressive 2018 Cyber Security law and spoke out against polluters such as Formosa Plastics, a Taiwanese company that dumped toxic waste along the central coast of Vietnam in 2016. Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang. Vu Minh Tiens arrest would be the second arrest of a union activist in a month. In this file photo, garment workers sew clothes at Pro Sports factory in Nam Dinh province, Vietnam. The country only has one state-affiliated union, despite international calls for it to allow workers to unionize freely. Updated May 21, 2024, 10:51 a.m. ET. Police in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi have arrested trade unionist Vu Minh Tien, according to The 88 Project, an international nonprofit that campaigns for freedom of speech in Vietnam. Tien is head of policy and legal affairs at the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor and director of the Institute for Workers and Trade Unions, the group said. Tien was being held under Article 337 of Vietnams criminal code, which covers deliberate disclosure of classified information; appropriation, trading [and] destruction of classified documents, the group said. Tien was last seen in public at a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on March 21, The 88 Project said. News of his arrest follows the detention on April 24 of Nguyen Van Binh, director general of the Labor Ministrys legal department. Binh was arrested for disclosing state secrets under Article 337, according to state broadcaster the Voice of Vietnam. Vietnam only has one state-affiliated union. The two unionists were working to bring labor law in line with international standards by ratifying International Labour Organization Convention 87 which allows workers to form unions, The 88 Project said. These arrests are yet another example of the failure of international organizations to say a mumbling word about the advocates and reformers they are so keen to champion until these people wind up in jail, said the groups co-director, Ben Swanton. He called on the International Labour Organization, the European Union and the United States to immediately issue public statements condemning Vietnam for arresting the trade unionists. Western governments that claim to care about human rights need to break their silence about Vietnams policy of violating those very same rights, Swanton said. Radio Free Asia phoned Vietnams Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ask about Tiens arrest but no one answered. A call to the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor was also not answered. International nonprofit CIVICUS joined calls for the unconditional release of Tien and Binh. These arrests highlight the systematic targeting of human rights defenders in country by the regime and makes a mockery of Vietnams membership of the Human Rights Council, said CIVICUS Asia researcher Josef Benedict referring to Vietnams place on the United Nations rights body for a three-year term. We call on the international community to speak up, especially the EU, and push for the release of the two union activists and for greater freedom for trade unions in the country. International naivety A human rights activist based in Hanoi, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons, told RFA that Vietnam's one-party government will never allow the establishment of independent trade unions or similar organizations outside their control. Consequently, they will seek to eliminate trade union advocates by any means necessary, the activist said. When participating in economic agreements, Hanoi initially pretends to comply with the terms. However, they soon find ways to arrest many activists, from environmentalists to civil society leaders, and now trade union advocates, he said. According to the activist, the international community was naive to believe that Vietnam would adhere to the agreements it signed. Hanoi will continue to strengthen its authoritarian regime and has no intention of empowering its citizens, he added. A senior university lecturer in Hanoi, who also declined to be named, noted that independent trade unions were "unlikely to have room to maneuver" in Vietnam at this time, as the "police force dominates the country's leadership." Five out of 16 Politburo members come from a police background, and the current Minister of Public Security, To Lam, has been nominated for the position of State President, the lecturer said. Phil Robertson, former deputy director for Human Rights Watch in Asia, told RFA that the latest arrests show that the Communist Party intends to "crack down hard on any sign of liberalization for workers." "Going after top [Labor Ministry] officials, and now the [Vietnam General Confederation of Labor], shows a degree of rights abusing paranoia that is truly astonishing," he said. "The EU needs to take action under the EU-Vietnam [Free Trade Agreement] to show that rights respecting labor reforms are not negotiable in Vietnam." Patti Gossman, associate director and senior editor of Human Rights Watch's Asia division, said the international community shouldn't assume Vietnam is going to honor its international agreements on labor rights. "Vietnamese authorities are trying to convince the world otherwise, but the truth is that there is simply no possibility for any independent organizations, particularly anything supporting independent labor unions or supporting labor rights in Vietnam," she said. Edited by Mike Firn and Joshua Lipes. RFA Vietnamese contributed reporting. This report has been updated to include comments from a Vietnamese activist and university lecturer, as well as from former Human Rights Watch officials. 4 A view over Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia The Pacific archipelago is populated by around 41 percent indigenous Kanaks, with some 24 percent of the residents being Europeans of mostly French heritage. Tensions between the two communities have previously erupted into deadly violence, most notably in 1984. However, in referendums on New Caledonias independence held in 2018, 2020, and 2021, voters chose to remain a French territory. At least 22 people were killed and 117 others injured in Israeli strikes on Beirut, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported on October 10 after an Israeli strike on a school sheltering Palestinians in Gaza killed dozens of people. Lebanon's state news agency NNA reported two evening air raids in central Beirut. The first targeted an eight-story building and the second a four-story building that completely collapsed as a result of the strike, NNA said. A Lebanese security source quoted by Reuters said at least one senior Hezbollah figure was targeted in the attacks, which were the third on Beirut since Israel started a military campaign in southern Lebanon last month targeting the Iran-allied Hezbollah militia and sparking fears of an all-out regional war. Hezbollahs Al Manar TV reported after the strikes that an attempt to kill Wafiq Safa, a top security official with the group, had failed. It said that Safa had not been inside of either of the targeted buildings. Hezbollah kept up rocket fire into Israel on October 10. The military said several drones heading toward Israel were intercepted. Earlier on October 10 an Israeli strike on a school in the Gaza Strip killed at least 27 people, Palestinian medical officials said, while a separate Israeli strike hit UN peacekeeper headquarters in southern Lebanon, prompting Italy to summon the Israeli ambassador. The Israeli military said it carried out a "precise strike on terrorists" who had a command and control center embedded in the school. "This is a further example of the Hamas terrorist organization's systematic abuse of civilian infrastructure in violation of international law," a military statement said. The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU, has denied such accusations. People who had been sheltering at the school said the strike hit a meeting of aid workers and injured 54 other people. Israel has continued to strike at what it says are militant targets across Gaza as it battles Hamas militants even as the war broadened to include Hezbollah in Lebanon amid rising tensions with Iran. In a separate incident on October 10 the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said an Israeli tank fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, hitting an observation tower and wounding two peacekeepers. The nationality of the injured peacekeepers was not released. The UN peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL said in a statement that Israeli forces also fired on a nearby bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, damaging vehicles and a communication system. The Italian Defense Ministry summoned Israel's ambassador in protest, and Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told a press conference that "hostile acts committed and repeated by Israeli forces against the base...could constitute war crimes." Crosetto added that Italy has asked for an official explanation "because it was not a mistake." The French Foreign Ministry said that while no French solider was injured in the incident, it also demanded an explanation. The Israeli military announced earlier on October 10 that it had eliminated another important Hezbollah member as it kept up its attacks against the Iran-backed group. Adham Jahout, a member of Hezbollah's Golan Terrorist Network was killed in an air strike in the area of Quneitra in Syria, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said. Jahout was relaying intelligence from Syrian regime sources to Hezbollah and facilitating operations against Israel in the Golan Heights, the IDF said. Israel annexed the Golan Heights after capturing them from Syria during the 1967 Middle East war. The annexation has not been recognized by most countries. Separately, the Israeli military said on October 10 that it had eliminated two Hezbollah commanders in southern Lebanon and its warplanes attacked munitions depots in the Beirut area and in southern Lebanon. It did not immediately reveal the identities of the two commanders. Hezbollah, a militant group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon, is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, while the European Union blacklists its armed wing but not its party, which has seats in the Lebanese parliament. The latest strikes came as the United States, Israel's main ally, warned against bombardments in Lebanon similar to those that caused large-scale destruction in Gaza as Israel retaliated against Hamas following the U.S.- and EU-designated terrorist group's deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, that left more than 1,100 people dead. Israel's bombardment of central and northern Gaza in recent days has killed dozens of people and trapped thousands in their homes, Palestinian officials say. "There should be no kind of military action in Lebanon that looks anything like Gaza and leaves a result anything like Gaza," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told journalists on October 9. The warning came after U.S. President Joe Biden emphasized in a call on October 9 with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the need for a diplomatic arrangement for the return of both Lebanese and Israeli civilians to their homes on both sides of the border. The United States warned Israel on October 9 against launching a military action in Lebanon like the one it has conducted in Gaza, and U.S. President Joe Biden emphasized in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the need for a diplomatic arrangement for the return of both Lebanese and Israeli civilians to their homes on both sides of the border. Biden also condemned Iran's ballistic-missile attack on Israel on October 1, a White House statement said. Biden "affirmed Israel's right to protect its citizens from Hezbollah, which has fired thousands of missiles and rockets into Israel over the past year alone, while emphasizing the need to minimize harm to civilians, in particular in the densely populated areas of Beirut," the statement said. U.S. tourist Bryan Bingham speaks with RFE/RL about being detained by Georgian security forces at a demonstration in Tbilisi against the so-called foreign agent law. He says he was beaten by police wearing black masks. A pro-government media channel has reported that he came to Georgia to create unrest, a claim he denies. During the same protests, a Russian activist who escaped a "foreign agent" law in her own country is now trying to help Georgians in their battle against the controversial legislation. 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. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has accused the the International Criminal Court (ICC) of trying to deny Israel the right to self defense after the court's chief prosecutor announced he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, including Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as senior figures in Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. "The attempt by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, to reverse the creation [of Israel] will not succeed -- the parallel of the prosecutor between the terrorist organization Hamas and the State of Israel is despicable and disgusting," Gallant said in a social media post on May 20, adding that any attempt "to deny the State of Israel the right to self-defense and to free its hostages must be rejected out of hand." ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said on May 19 that he has "reasonable grounds" to believe Netanyahu, Gallant, and three Hamas leaders -- Yehya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh -- are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel. Khan specifically noted the starvations of civilians as a method of warfare, willfully causing great suffering, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, and other inhumane acts as the grounds for the warrants. The three Hamas leaders were accused of responsibility for extermination, taking hostages, rape and other acts of sexual violence, torture, and other inhumane acts. The courts three pretrial judges will determine whether there is sufficient evidence to issue warrants. ICC spokesman Fadi Al-Abdallah told RFE/RL in an e-mail that the ICC judges "will issue their decision in due course" but did not offer a specific time frame. The latest conflict, which has consumed the Gaza Strip where some 2.3 million Palestinians live, was sparked by a cross-border raid Hamas carried out on October 7 that killed some 1,200 people, mainly Israeli civilians, including children. In addition, Hamas took about 240 Israeli hostages back to Gaza, many of whom are still being held. In response, Israel has launched a withering war against Hamas that has seen the devastating destruction of much of Gaza -- including the deaths of at least 35,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-led Health Ministry -- and the breakout of a massive humanitarian crisis in the tiny coastal area. Israel has denied committing war crimes during the seven-month-old conflict. The ICC decision has launched a wave of strong reactions around the world, both for and against the prosecutor's controversial move. France and Belgium released statements late on May 20 supporting the ICC decision, with the French Foreign Ministry saying it "supports the International Criminal Court, its independence, and the fight against impunity in all situations. "Crimes committed in Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of the perpetrators," Belgium's Foreign Affairs Minister Hadja Lahbib said. Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden condemned the courts bid to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders as an "outrageous" action. "And let me be clear: Whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence -- none -- between Israel and Hamas," Biden said in a statement. 'More Complicated Cases' David Bosco, a professor at Indiana University-Bloomington and an expert on the ICC, told RFE/RL that one thing that's important to note is that over the years that the ICC has been operating, the judges and the prosecutor do not always agree. So it's not a foregone conclusion that the prosecutor will get all the arrest warrants that he wants, or for the precise charges that he wants. I think the arrest warrants for Hamas are probably more straightforward in the sense that you have...the October 7 attack that seemed to be aimed primarily at civilians, he said. With Israel, he added, you've got a more complicated situation involving humanitarian aid and whether Israel has been allowing enough humanitarian aid in and has it actually been trying to use starvation as a weapon? Those are somewhat more complicated cases, I would say, from a legal perspective, he said. Israel is not a member of the ICC, and, even if the warrants are issued, it is unclear whether Netanyahu and Gallant would face prosecution. But Khans announcement does increase international pressure against Israel over its conduct of the conflict. The Rome Statute, a 1998 treaty establishing the International Criminal Court, has been signed by 124 countries. Sinwar and Dief are believed to be in Gaza, while Haniyeh is reportedly based in Qatar. "The Hamas movement strongly condemns the attempts of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to equate the victim with the executioner by issuing arrest warrants against a number of Palestinian resistance leaders," the group said in a statement on May 20. 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 Hundreds of Pakistani students have left Kyrgyzstan amid safety fears after mob attacks on South Asians last week left dozens injured in the capital, Bishkek. Many of the students' parents urged Islamabad to bring their children home and some students say they are unsure about ever returning to Kyrgyzstan to continue their studies. The violence also prompted some embassies in Bishkek, including the U.S. and Turkish ones, to advise their citizens to exercise caution in Kyrgyzstan due to safety concerns. The violent events in Bishkek have damaged Kyrgyzstan's image as a safe place for foreigners and could potentially deprive it of a major source of revenue. Kyrgyz authorities say foreign students studying in English-language universities bring in up to $180 million annually to the economy. Kyrgyzstan hosts about 28,000 students from countries outside the former Soviet Union, according to Deputy Education Minister Rasul Abazbek-uulu. The huge majority of the international students -- some 24,000 -- are from India and Pakistan and they mainly study medicine, paying about $3,000 in tuition per year. They collectively spend millions more dollars in Kyrgyzstan for room and board and living expenses. "The foreign students who live here spend money in our country by using services such as taxis, restaurants, and hair salons, to name a few," Abazbek-uulu said in Bishkek on May 20. "They bring in between $136 million and $181.4 million to our country every year, contributing to our economy," he added. The total number of foreign students in Kyrgyzstan is about 60,000 according to official statistics, with the bulk of them from former Soviet republics. That includes some 24,500 from Uzbekistan and more than 2,000 from both Russia and Kazakhstan. Students from neighboring countries study in Russian and Kyrgyz-language faculties that charge lower tuition than the English-language courses. Abazbek-uulu said the violent attacks on at least four different student hostels in the capital will tarnish Kyrgyzstan's reputation as an "education hub" for foreign students -- an image Bishkek had spent "many years building." The number of foreign students in Kyrgyzstan has significantly increased in the past decade. According to official statistics, there were about 11,300 foreigners studying in Kyrgyzstan in the 2012-13 academic year, including 4,457 from Kazakhstan and some 1,140 from India, and 778 from Pakistan. Abazbek-uulu mentioned the intense "competition" among countries trying to attract foreign students to boost their education sector and their economies. Medical schools in Kyrgyzstan and its Central Asian neighbors Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have become increasingly popular with Indian and Pakistani students due to their comparatively low tuition fees and living costs, as well as their relatively easy visa regimes. Jobs in the medical sector are highly regarded and well-paid in India and Pakistan. The tuition fees in other Asian countries are usually much higher and it costs tens of thousands of dollars to study medicine in the West. Most Kyrgyz Welcome Foreign Students Meerim Osmonalieva, the head of the Oasis Foundation in Kyrgyzstan, said it will take a "long time" for the country to rebuild its image after foreign students in Bishkek suffered "beatings, violence, and attacks on their dorms." "Kyrgyzstan is a hospitable country. It's a shame that the reputation of our country is suffering. Recovery will take a long time," she told RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service. A survey conducted by the International Organization for Migration in 2021 showed that most Kyrgyz were in favor of their country hosting foreign students and migrants, saying they have a positive impact on Kyrgyzstan. Between 80 and 90 percent of respondents said that foreigners bring money to the economy, increase peoples' interest in learning foreign languages and culture, while also creating new business and investment opportunities. Rebecca Black, PA A man has been arrested after a vehicle rammed into the front of a bank building in Derry. The incident took place in the Culmore Road area of Derry on Monday night and resulted in what police termed significant damage to a bank building. A police spokesperson said a 47-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of offences, including criminal damage and dangerous driving. Shortly after 11.40pm, officers responded to a report that a red-coloured vehicle had rammed the front of a bank on Culmore Road several times before making off from the scene and then returning, they said. The male driver was subsequently arrested at the scene on suspicion of driving with excess alcohol in breath, dangerous driving, criminal damage, and attempted theft. When inside the police vehicle, the man was verbally abusive to officers, and kicked the headrests of the car. He was further arrested on suspicion of disorderly behaviour and attempted criminal damage and remains in custody at this time, assisting police with inquiries. Police have appealed for any witnesses, including drivers, who were in the area at around 11.40pm or shortly before it, and captured footage of what happened to contact officers on 101. The Taoiseach visited Lough Funshinagh over the weekend for what was described as a private meeting with locals and politicians. The Tanaiste Micheal Martin is due to visit the lake tomorrow, Wednesday, May 22. At yesterdays meeting of the Athlone Municipal District, Cllr Laurence Fallon highlighted that Taoiseach Simon Harris was at the South Roscommon lake. He was shocked at what he saw, he said, adding that the visit was positive. He gave a commitment that he would go back and expedite the resolution as soon as possible. He added that what was needed now was action and action quickly. He also said that the leader of the Green party Eamon Ryan declined his invitation to visit. I have to say I had a letter from Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, who declined to come down. That makes very obvious his commitment to rural Ireland and I am disappointed that he has decided to decline. He added that the bottom line is that if we dont get a metre of water out of the lake between now and Christmas, the overflow pipe will be secondary because there will be so much damage done. Municipal Cathaoirleach Cllr Emer Kelly was also disappointed that Minister Ryan declined the invitation, especially given the gravity of the situation. While he welcomed the visit of the Taoiseach, Tony Ward said it was his understanding that there could be no work done until the High Court injunction was lifted. I would like to see the works done as quickly as possible, he said. This has dragged on for nine years. Cllr John Keogh agreed that the injunction had to be lifted and he appealed to the Friends of the Irish Environment to consider their position on it. Only the Friends of the Irish Environment are in a position to go into court and seek to vacate that, Cllr Keogh said. Cllr Donal Kilduff said it was very welcome that the Taoiseach came to view the lake but expressed concern that the visit might be electioneering. He said that the situation at Lough Funshinagh was a shining example of the impotence of the local government system. We have had the Taoiseach looking into the lake, MEPs, senators, TDs, all showing up in their wellies looking into the lake, he said. Cllr John Naughten said he understood the frustration of the councillors about the pace of finding a permanent solution, adding that families were being put in an unacceptable position. He said that the Taoiseachs meeting was private with no media present. On social media last night, Cllr Fallon posted the response he received on behalf of Minister Ryan, which said Unfortunately the minister currently has a very hectic schedule" and a meeting could not be organised. The Department of the Taoiseach also said that Taoiseach Simon Harris made a private visit to the area on Sunday to meet with the families affected. He wanted to see first-hand the situation and hear directly from homeowners. The Taoiseach is very grateful to local residents for their time and found the visit very helpful and informative, a spokesperson said. He greatly feels for those impacted and the stress and pressure they face on a daily basis. The Taoiseach continues to work with OPW Minister Kieran ODonnell and the Attorney General to find a path forward for the families involved and will keep in close contact with them. When contacted the Department of the Environment said that Lough Funshinagh and the resolving of the flooding is an important task that Minister Ryan "fully supports the OPW and Roscommon county councils efforts to resolve". However, the department has no direct role, other than the scientific advice provided by the Geological Survey Ireland. Chandigarh Announces Dry Day for 3 days Check Schedule for Dry Days in Chandigarh Ahead of Lok Sabha Election 2024. Chandigarh Dry Day on Lok Sabha Election 2024 Date news: In view of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, the Chief Electoral Officer, Chandigarh, in compliance with the directions from the Election Commission of India, has announced the schedule for Dry Days for Chandigarh Parliamentary Constituency. In accordance with Section 135-C of the Representation of People Act, 1951, and Rule 37(9) of the Punjab Liquor License Rules 1956 (applicable to U.T. Chandigarh), the Excise & Taxation Commissioner has ordered the closure of all liquor vends/shops in Union Territory of Chandigarh and specified areas along the inter-state borders as follows: Advertisement Schedule for Dry Days in Chandigarh Ahead of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Date: From: 30th May 2024 (6:00 PM) to 1st June 2024 (6:00 PM) On the counting day: 4th June 2024 (whole day) The orders will also be implemented in areas within 3 Km of inter-state borders with Haryana and Punjab. Advertisement During the specified dry days, no spirituous, fermented, or intoxicating liquors or substances of a similar nature shall be sold, given, or distributed in any hotels, restaurants, taverns, clubs, community centers, CSD canteens, shops, or any public or private places within U.T. Chandigarh and the specified border areas. Additionally, the storage of liquor by individuals will be strictly curtailed, and enforcement of restrictions on the storage of liquor in unlicensed premises will be rigorously implemented. Swiss drug major Roche Holding AG (RHHBY) and its U.S. Unit Genentech announced Tuesday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for inavolisib to treat advanced hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer with a PIK3CA mutation. The designation has been given to inavolisib, an investigational oral therapy, in combination with palbociclib (Ibrance) and fulvestrant. It is for the treatment of adult patients with PIK3CA-mutated, hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative, locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer, following recurrence on or within 12 months of completing adjuvant endocrine treatment. The designation is based on Phase III INAVO120 results, which showed that inavolisib-based regimen more than doubled progression-free survival compared with palbociclib and fulvestrant alone in the first-line setting. The companies noted that around 40% of people with HR-positive breast cancer have a PIK3CA mutation and often face poorer prognosis and resistance to endocrine treatment. Overall survival or OS data were immature at this time, but a clear positive trend has been observed. Follow-up for OS will continue to the next analysis. The FDA issues Breakthrough Therapy Designation to accelerate the development and regulatory review of medicines intended to treat serious or life-threatening conditions where preliminary clinical evidence has indicated they may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies. Roche's oncology portfolio so far has received 29 Breakthrough Therapy Designation, including the latest one. Levi Garraway, Roche's Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Product Development, said, "We are pleased that the FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for inavolisib in recognition of the substantial clinical benefit observed with this regimen. This promising inavolisib-based regimen could transform the PI3K inhibitor class, potentially becoming the standard of care for this patient population in the first-line setting." The company is also submitting the data from INAVO120 to other global authorities, including the European Medicines Agency. Inavolisib is currently being investigated in three company-sponsored Phase III clinical studies (INAVO120, INAVO121, INAVO122) in PIK3CA-mutated locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer in various combinations. For More Such Health News, visit rttnews.com For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Health News As Iran mourns the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, the White House described him as "a man who had a lot of blood on his hands". This remark was made by White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby while responding to a question during a routine briefing Monday if the U.S. will be sending a delegation to the Iranian president's funeral. "President Raisi was responsible for atrocious human rights in his own country the arrest and the physical violence against hundreds of protesters, for instance. And, of course, he was responsible for the support that Iran provided to terrorist networks throughout the region, which obviously led to the support that he'd given Hamas led to the slaughter of 1,200 innocent Israeli people on the 7th of October," Kirby told reporters. He dismissed Iranian officials' allegations that U.S. sanctions limiting aviation parts and supplies to Iran is partly to blame for the crash as "utterly baseless." Kirby added that every country has a responsibility to ensure the safety and reliability of its equipment, and that includes civil aviation. "And it's not surprising, sadly, but not surprising that the Iranian regime would once again find a way to try to blame the United States for problems of its own making." Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian died in a helicopter crash on Sunday. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News The FDA has given the Elon Musk-owned Neuralink approval to implant a chip in another patient for its early clinical trials, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. Neuralink intends to insert the device in a new patient in June and up to 10 individuals by the end of the year. The consent for the second person to receive a Neuralink chip followed the emotional account of the first patient, Noland Arbaugh in the US. The updated chip for the second recipient includes enhancements such as embedding some of the device's ultrathin wires further into the brain. In an exclusive interview with "Good Morning America," Arbaugh, who has quadriplegia, described how this groundbreaking device positively impacted his life. The device, about the size of a coin, was surgically placed under the skull and contained 64 small wires, or threads, with over 1,000 electrodes capable of interpreting brain neuron activity and connecting to a computer or smartphone, according to the company. Following his surgery, several of the fine threads from the device became detached from his brain, initially hindering the translation of his thoughts into actions. However, 15% of the threads that remained intact eventually stabilized, and software modifications helped restore many of the device's functions, as showcased in live broadcasts, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. Neuralink outlined the device modifications in a recent blog post, stating, "We adjusted the recording algorithm to enhance neural population signals, refined the methods to translate these signals into cursor movements, and improved the user interface." The ongoing trial participants are involved in the PRIME Study, which stands for Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface. Neuralink aims to assess the safety of the implant and surgical robot, as well as test the device's functionality. More than 100 quadriplegic individuals have registered to participate in the patient registry. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News [L-R] Dean of Science, Prof Joanna Dames; Distinguished Research Awardee, Prof Makaiko Chithambo; and DVC: Research, Innovation & Strategic Partnerships, Dr Kwezi Mzilikazi [PIC CREDIT: Andrea Cole] By Siyamthanda Hobo On 15 May 2024, Rhodes University hosted the 2019 Vice Chancellor's Distinguished Research Award lecture with recipient Professor Makaiko Chithambo, Head of the Department of Physics and Electronics. The Vice-Chancellor's Distinguished Senior Research Award is made annually to a staff member of Rhodes University, to recognise their indisputable academic status, engagement in research and general scholarly activity. Prof Chithambos lecture delved into the intriguing realm of materials science, specifically focusing on the significant role of imperfections in solid materials. Setting the stage, DVC of Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships, Dr Kwezi Mzilikazi introduced Prof Chithambo, emphasising the importance of the topic at hand and the insights that were about to be shared. Professor Chithambo commenced the lecture by presenting a fundamental concept: the idea that the characteristics of solid materials are defined by their imperfections rather than by their perceived perfection. To illustrate this concept, Professor Chithambo began by depicting a hypothetical perfect solid, characterised by a two-dimensional lattice of atoms arranged in a periodic and repetitive manner. However, such ideal structures do not exist. Instead, imperfections such as vacancies (missing atoms) and substitutional atoms (atoms replacing others) are prevalent and play a crucial role in determining the physical properties of materials. Going deeper into the necessity of imperfections, Prof Chithambo turned to the realm of thermodynamics to explain how the state of a material can be quantified through thermodynamic properties such as entropy, which is a measure of disorder. In the context of solids, the presence of vacancies contributes to a material attaining an equilibrium state, highlighting the natural and inevitable nature of imperfections in solid materials. Introducing the concept of Gibbs free energy, Professor Chithambo elaborated on the equilibrium of solids, emphasising that at equilibrium, the number of defects in a solid is not zero. This underscores the essential role of imperfections in maintaining equilibrium and further explains their significance in shaping material properties. Throughout the lecture, Professor Chithambo provided numerous practical examples to illustrate the importance of imperfections in solid materials. One such example was the alloying of copper, tin and zinc to produce bronze. While pure copper is soft and malleable, the introduction of imperfections through alloying elements significantly enhances its strength and durability, making bronze a highly valued material in various applications. Another example highlighted the role of imperfections in gemstones. The colour and value of gemstones such as rubies and tanzanite are often attributed to impurities within their structures. For instance, rubies derive their vibrant red colour from chromium impurities embedded within the aluminium oxide lattice. Furthermore, Professor Chithambo discussed the formation of amorphous materials, such as glass, which lack the long-range order characteristic of crystalline solids. Instead, glass is formed by rapidly cooling a liquid, resulting in a solid with a disordered structure. Despite their apparent imperfections, amorphous materials possess unique properties that make them invaluable in various industries. The lecture also touched upon the crucial role of imperfections in electronic devices. In semiconductor materials, imperfections facilitate the movement of electrons, which is essential for the operation of devices such as cell phones and credit card chips. By understanding and manipulating these imperfections, scientists can enhance the performance and efficiency of electronic devices, driving innovation in the field of electronics. Shifting focus to luminescence, Professor Chithambo discussed various methods used to study defects in solids, including thermoluminescence, which measures the light emitted by an irradiated material as it is heated at a controlled rate. This method provides valuable insights into the concentration of defects within a material and aids in understanding its solid-state dynamics. The lecture accentuated the beauty and necessity of imperfections in solid materials. By embracing these imperfections, scientists can better understand material properties and harness them for various practical applications. The event at Rhodes University served as a platform for advancing knowledge in the field of materials science and highlighted the intricate relationship between imperfections and material properties. As attendees departed with newfound insights, the significance of ongoing research in this area was reaffirmed, promising further discoveries and advancements in the future. The panel discusses the Carnegie Classification System in the South African context [PIC CREDIT: Andrea Cole] By Lance Myburgh On the first day of Rhodes University's 2024 Community Engagement Conference, an afternoon session focused on the evolving role of community engagement in university-society relationships. This three-day event provided a forum to discuss historical insights, current status, and future possibilities for community university initiatives. Participants delved into the complexities of community engagement, stressing the need for ongoing adaptation and responsiveness to the societal demands within the South African context. Mr Sakhe Ntlabezo, Programme Manager for Makhanda Circle of Unity and the session's facilitator, emphasised the value of the Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement of Higher Education Institutions as an independent, rigorous tool to evaluate a university's commitment to community engagement, particularly relevant to South Africa. Ms Diana Hornby, Director of Rhodes Universitys Community Engagement (RUCE) Division, discussed the Institution's strategic and targeted programmes. She emphasised the importance of reflective practices within programmes and jointly with community partner organisations. She also stressed the lack of a national framework to measure the effectiveness of community engagement in societal, community and university development in terms of fostering transformation and socio-economic progress. Ms Bibi Bowman, Director of Sustainability and Community Impact at North West University (NWU) delved into the complex task of assessing the impact of community-based efforts in community engagement. She presented NWUs multifaceted strategy, which combines high-level strategic goals and grassroots actions to evaluate the success of its community engagement efforts comprehensively. Dr Marisol Morales, Executive Director of Carnegie Elective Classifications, shed light on the Classification's goal, placing community engagement as central to universities' commitment to solving critical societal issues. Dr Morales noted the growing international interest in adopting the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification to improve practices worldwide, adapting it to local needs and promoting democratic interaction with the public. She stated, Interest in expansion beyond the US comes from international partners' desire to enhance their community engagement practices by utilising the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification. She elaborated that the set of values held by the Carnegie Foundation will adapt to the classification for the local context to promote democratic engagement with citizens. Prof Darren Lorton, Chairperson of both the South African Higher Education Community Engagement Forum and the International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement, acknowledged the classification's Western bias but encouraged adapting it to suit different national contexts. He cautioned South African universities against potential pitfalls while considering this framework. Should South African universities opt to participate in this framework study, these universities would need to exercise prudence and guard against the potential for southern colonial leaders, Prof Lorton said. Dr Phetiwe Matutu, CEO of Universities South Africa forum (USAf), spoke on the need for responsiveness to ensure sustainability. She highlighted the process undertaken to date, which was a feasibility study and the way forward with a task team to be established. The session concluded with a lively Q&A led by Mr Ntlabezo, where conference participants discussed the importance of knowing that community engagement was of benefit to communities, the cost-benefit analysis of this approach, and the importance of protecting communities from research fatigue, as mentioned by Dr Matutu. The discussion provided an insightful understanding of the potential changes and strategies within the South African context that could eventuate under the collaborative partnership with the Carnegie Classification Community Engagement framework. The panel was optimistic about using these tools and insights to foster broader impacts through cooperative efforts among communities and universities. Maruti Suzukis recent launch of the New Swift has generated considerable buzz However, its pricing is on the higher side compared to competitors like the Hyundai Grand i10 NIOS While the new Swift is well-equipped, it lacks certain features. Here are the top features that the Hyundai Grand i10 NIOS offers but are missing in the New Swift. 1 Smoother and More Refined 4-Cylinder Engine The New Swift comes with a 3-cylinder Z12E engine. In comparison, the 1.2L 4-cylinder Kappa engine in the Grand i10 NIOS is notably quieter and smoother. Hyundai i10 NIOS has among the lowest Noise, Vibration, and Harshness (NVH) in its segment. 2 More Power and Torque Both cars feature a 1.2-liter petrol engine, but the i10 NIOS delivers more power and torque. The i10 NIOS boasts 82 bhp at 6,000 rpm and 114 Nm at 4,000 rpm, whereas the Swift offers 80 bhp at 5700 rpm and 111.7 Nm at 4,300 rpm. 3 CNG Option The Hyundai Grand i10 NIOS is available with a CNG option, which the New Swift lacks. With rising fuel costs affecting purchase decisions, the availability of a CNG option is a significant advantage for the Grand i10 NIOS. 4 Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) The New Swift provides various metrics and real-time data on its MID but lacks a real-time tyre pressure reading feature. In contrast, the Grand i10 NIOS comes with a proper TPMS that displays tyre pressure readouts on the MID screen of its instrument cluster. 5 USB Type-C Port While the New Swift has improved its ports and connectivity compared to its predecessor, it lacks a Type-C port for front passengers, offering it only for rear passengers. The Grand i10 NIOS provides a Type-A port, a Type-C port, and a 12V socket for front passengers. 6 Cooled Glovebox Hyundai was one of the first brands in the mainstream car segment to introduce a cooled glovebox. This feature, which keeps water bottles, beverages, and chocolates cool on hot days, is available in the Grand i10 NIOS but not in the New Swift. 7 Shark Fin Antenna The Grand i10 NIOS comes with a shark fin antenna, unlike the New Swift. Traditional antennas can be problematic in tight parking spaces or when passing through areas with trees at lower height or while parking in tight spaces (malls, double stacking, etc). 8 Pricing Last but not the least. Pricing is one of the biggest factors when it comes to making a car buying decision. Maruti has increased prices of the new Swift substantially. It is priced in the range of Rs 6.49 lakh to Rs 9.65 lakh, ex-sh. In comparison, Hyundai Grand i10 NIOS is priced in the range of Rs 5.92 lakh to Rs 8.56 lakh, ex-sh. An Encinitas dancer is taking on her first big role as part of the cast in a Romeo and Juliet-based show that modernizes the classic Shakespearian tale with urban choreography. Noelle Franco, 20, is lending her dance skills as part of the ensemble of Beyond Babel, which was written by Carlsbad residents Keone Madrid and Mari Madrid, as well as the Hideaway Circus. The show, which opened in September, is currently running on select nights through Nov. 25 in a new immersive San Diego theater space called the Beyond Babel Theater, 2625 Imperial Avenue. Beyond Babel, which tells its story through West Coast Urban choreography, is based off the classic romance written by William Shakespeare where a town becomes split in half with rivalries and two lovers try to continue their affair despite all obstacles. The production with large crochet backdrops, art installations and yarn-based props created by artist London Kaye also includes an orchestra section that moves throughout the theater, immersing viewers into the show and offering multiple perspectives of the performers and the sets. Prior to being cast in the show, Franco who began taking ballet lessons as a tot before taking it seriously at age 9 danced with the Madrids at the now-defunct Studio 429 in Encinitas about five years ago. They are so talented and creatively genius, Franco said, referring to the Madrids. I definitely knew from the start that they were going to make something wonderful, and I wanted to be a part of that. While Franco had been dancing on a competitive team for about a decade, she considered Beyond Babel her biggest role. She said the show has been a learning experience for her, particularly in regard to balancing time. The 12 dancers and crew are regularly at the theater every day from early morning to midnight, she said. Its a really big time commitment, and it sounds exhausting it is but its also so beneficial, so much fun and so exciting to see it grow from the first day, not doing anything, to now and having a complete show, Franco said. While the performances close Nov. 25, ideally, she and her fellow castmates would like to see the show travel to other parts of the country. I just really want to meet amazing people, and I want to create amazing things, Franco said. I love to dance, so I hope I can do it for years to come. (Photo : Pixabay / Michelle_Raponi) According to a new study, ocean water is pushing miles under the Doomsday Glacier in Antarctica, fueling its vulnerability to melting. The study used space radar data to conduct an X-ray on the extremely important glacier. Antarctica's Doomsday Glacier West Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier, dubbed the Doomsday Glacier because its collapse could result in catastrophic sea level rises, is considered the widest glacier in the world. It is roughly as big as Florida. This glacier is also the most unstable and vulnerable in Antarctica. This is mainly because the land it sits on has a downward slope, enabling ocean waters to eat its ice away. The Doomsday glacier already accounts for 4% of the rise in sea level worldwide. It also contains sufficient ice for rising sea levels by over two feet. However, since it works as a natural dam to the ice that surrounds West Antarctica, its complete collapse has been estimated by scientists to lead to roughly 10 feet of sea level rise, which could be catastrophic for coastal communities worldwide. ALSO READ: 23-Foot Underwater Vehicle Exploring Doomsday Glacier Disappears Without a Trace Ocean Water Pushes Doomsday Glacier Several studies have noted the Thwaites' immense vulnerability. Based on a 2022 study, global warming driven by fossil fuel burning has left it hanging on its fingernails. Now, the latest study adds another alarming factor to its projections. As part of the study, a team of glaciologists, led by University of California, Irvine scientists, used high-resolution radar data from satellites from March to June 2023. They used the data to create an X-ray of the Doomsday Glacier. This enabled them to construct a picture of the changes in the Thwaites' grounding line, which is where the glacier rises from the seabed to become a floating ice shelf. Such grounding lines are crucial for ice sheet stability and are key to Thwaites' vulnerability. However, they have remained hard to study. Eric Rignot, a university Earth system science professor and study co-author, explains that previously, only sporadic data was available to examine this. With the new data set, they have strong observations of what is happening. The researchers observed seawater pushing under the glacier for several miles. It then moved out once more, following the tides' daily rhythm. When water flows, this will raise the glacier's surface by centimeters. Rignot suggests a "grounding zone" could be more apt than a grounding line. The seawater speed boosts glacier melt because when the ice melts, freshwater is washed out and replaced by warmer seawater. Such an intrusion will heighten sea level rise projections from Antarctica. Several mysteries remain regarding what the study's findings could mean for the Doomsday Glacier's future. It also remains unclear how widespread the process is across Antarctica. While sea ice melting does not directly impact the rise of sea level due to its float, it leaves glaciers and ice sheets on the coast exposed to warm ocean waters and waves, fueling their vulnerability towards breaking up and melting. The study adds to the evidence that a lasting regime shift has been happening throughout the region in the past few years. Findings were noted in the "Widespread seawater intrusions beneath the grounded ice of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica" study. RELATED ARTICLE: Antarctica Doomsday Glacier: What Places Will Be Affected When It Melts? Check out more news and information on Environment & Climate in Science Times. Autism Alliance of Michigan was founded with the vision that people with autism will lead lives that meet their greatest potential. We lead efforts to raise expectations and expand opportunities for people touched by autism across the lifespan. Connect with an AAoM Navigator at www.autismallianceofmichigan.org. depression Katie Oswald Communication with the autistic family member about their needs is paramount. AstraZeneca has unveiled medium-term growth targets to nearly double group revenues by the end of the decade as it predicts significant growth from existing oncology, biopharmaceuticals and rare disease portfolios. The pharma giant said it expects to total revenues to hit $80bn by 2030, helped by the launch of 20 new medicines over the year six years, compared with $45.8bn in 2023. To drive this growth, the company said it will continue to invest in disruptive innovation and new technologies "that will shape the future of medicine". "Today AstraZeneca announces a new era of growth," said chief executive Pascal Soriot. "In 2023 we delivered the ambitious $45bn revenue goal set a decade ago. With the exciting growth of our innovative pipeline, which has the potential to transform millions of lives, we are now aiming for $80bn by 2030." Soriot said that many of the 20 new medicines in the pipeline have the potential to generate more than $5bn in peak-year revenues. AstraZeneca also reiterated its commitment to decouple carbon emissions from its revenue growth. By 2026, it is targeting carbon zero for scope one and scope two emissions, having reduced both by 68% since 2015. By 2030, scope three emissions are expected to halve, and by 2045 at the latest the group will be "science-based net zero". Superdry is reportedly preparing to run an emergency four-week sale process if creditors block its founder's plans to inject up to 10m of his own money into the fashion chain in a bid to stave off insolvency. According to Sky News, the accelerated M&A process would be launched if a restructuring plan is not approved by creditors in the coming weeks. Under the proposed survival plan, Julian Dunkerton would stump up either 8m in an open offer available to other shareholders or 10m in a placing that would only be accessible to him. The share sale would precede Superdry's delisting from the London Stock Exchange. It was understood that the restructuring plan would need to be approved by creditors, including landlords, in the coming weeks. According to a document circulated to creditors in recent days and seen by Sky News, rejection of the restructuring plan would be followed by a four-week sale process for Superdry, with the likely outcome of a pre-pack administration deal. Sources told Sky that Dunkerton's willingness to inject such a substantial chunk of his own fortune into the company reflected his confidence in the company's turnaround prospects. Last month, Sky News revealed that M&G, the asset manager which owns Superdry's flagship store in central London, was weighing a challenge to its rescue plan. M&G is believed to have been alarmed by the absence of their participation in a mechanism to allow creditors to benefit from any future recovery in the retailer's performance. The restructuring plan will not entail immediate shop closures but will impose sizeable rent cuts on landlords of dozens of Superdry outlets. Sources told Sky the firm is also planning to pull out of a number of overseas markets, including the US. A Labour government would aim to announce the sites for a series of new towns within a year of taking office, with the promise that homes would be built in them by the end of a first term, Angela Rayner is to say in a speech. Giving more detail to a plan first outlined in Keir Starmers party conference speech in October, Rayner will tell a housing conference that Labour will strongly support private developers who create high-quality and affordable housing. Guardian The sectors of the global economy most heavily exposed to artificial intelligence (AI) are witnessing a marked productivity increase and command a significant wage premium, according to a report. Boosting hopes that AI might help lift the global economy out of a 15-year, low-growth trough, a PwC study found productivity growth was almost five times as rapid in parts of the economy where AI penetration was highest than in less exposed sectors. Guardian The decision to block a UAE-backed takeover of The Telegraph has damaged relations with the Gulf state, a former Cabinet minister has warned. Sir Brandon Lewis, the former Northern Ireland secretary, said that it would be logical if the handling of Redbird IMIs bid had contributed to a diplomatic breakdown between the UK and UAE that puts billions of investment at risk. Telegraph TalkTalk founder Sir Charles Dunstone is preparing to inject fresh funding into the debt-laden broadband provider, as looming repayment deadlines stoke fears over its future. Sir Charles and TalkTalks other main shareholders have offered to inject 150m into the company to stave off a potential debt crisis, sources said. Telegraph Mike Ashley is eyeing up a stake in Exeters Princesshay estate, The Times has learnt, in what would be the first joint venture between the retail mogul and the Kings property company. Frasers Group, the FTSE 100 retailer majority-owned by Ashley, is the frontrunner to buy a 50 per cent interest in the estate from Nuveen, a retail property source said. The Times The Bank of India is delighted to announce the Golden Jubilee celebration of its Paris Branch, marking 50 years of exceptional service since its establishment on May 17, 1974. The event, held in Paris, was a grand affair, attended by eminent guests and loyal customers, symbolizing the deep bonds and trust the Paris Branch has cultivated over the years. Since its inception in 1974, the Paris Branch of the Bank of India has been instrumental in enhancing economic and cultural ties between India and France. The branch offers a comprehensive range of financial services, including corporate banking, trade finance, and remittance services, catering to the diverse needs of its customers. Shri. Rajneesh Karnatak, Managing Director & CEO of Bank of India, graced the Golden Jubilee celebration. The event was further enriched by the presence of the Guest of Honour, Mr. Javed Ashraf, Indian Ambassador to France, and Mr. Prafullachandra Sharma, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India in France. Padma Shri Awardee and renowned Sanskrit scholar Dr. Pierre-Sylvain Filliozat was felicitated on this occasion, adding to the grandeur of the event. Several dignitaries, including Shri Nitin Deshpande, Chief General Manager, International Division, Shri. Manish Gupta, Chief Executive for Europe, and Shri. Sujan Salian, Country Head for France, were in attendance, alongside long-serving employees of the Paris Branch. The event was also attended by over 50 valued customers, highlighting the enduring partnerships and confidence the branch has built over the past five decades. "Marking 50 years of our Paris Branch is a testament to the strong relationships and trust we have built with our customers and the wider community in France", said Shri. Rajneesh Karnatak, MD & CEO of Bank of India. "We take pride in our legacy of excellence and innovation, and we are excited to continue this journey, building on the robust foundation laid over the past five decades", he added. US manufacturer Wabtec has officially inaugurated its new manufacturing campus in Rohtak, Haryana, on May 20. Built at a cost of Rs 1.5 billion ($18 million), the facility will produce components and subsystems for rolling stock, including metro cars, wagons, and locomotives for Indian Railways (IR). The 10,000 square meter plant's initial production will focus on the passenger market, manufacturing axle-mounted disc brake systems, distributor valves, brake calipers and actuators, and friction materials. Wabtec plans to extend its production to serve the mining and industrial sectors as well as the rail industry. The new facility underscores Wabtecs commitment to the Indian market and supports the governments Make in India initiative aimed at encouraging domestic production. Rohtak joins Wabtecs existing Transit business plant in Hosur, which produces brake systems, couplers, pantographs, relays, air-conditioning systems, and passenger doors. Wabtecs engineering presence in Hosur and Bengaluru further provides global engineering and service support. India is an important growth market for Wabtec, especially for the transit business, said Pascal Schweitzer, president of Wabtecs Transit business. The new site will further improve Wabtec's ability to deliver enhanced value through our diverse product offerings for both Indian and global customers. Sujatha Narayan, senior vice-president and India regional leader at Wabtec, announced plans for additional investment and growth. We intend to grow this site with plans to invest an additional Rs 800 million over the next few years, she said. We currently employ 300 people and as the business grows, we do intend to add another 200 employees with a keen focus on diversity hires. Wabtec is one of the largest rail equipment manufacturers in India, currently employing 3,000 people. The Rohtak plant reinforces Wabtecs position in the Indian market and its contribution to the global supply chain for rolling stock components and subsystems. A 2-year-old boy was found trapped in a makeshift cage covered in feces, according to Syracuse.com. Troopers responded to a home on Chadduck Avenue in Buffalo on Feb. 8 to arrest Naesha Lumpkin for a previous felony charge. It was during that visit authorities discovered the toddler soaked in urine and stuck inside of a cage. The boys mother had created the cage using a playpen with a piece of crib tied on top, the New York State Police told the publication. Troopers told the news outlet everything, including the walls surrounding the cage, bedding and the toddler found inside, was covered in feces. The cage was so small that the boy could not stand up while inside of it, according to the report. Doctors identified bruises on the boys face and body as well as two fractured ribs that were beginning to heal, according to Syracuse.com. Lumpkin was arrested and charged with child endangerment, according to the report. The woman told police her son had fallen down a staircase in either late December or early January, but she did not seek medical attention for his injuries, according to the outlet. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Under Gov. Kathy Hochuls direction, flags across the state are at half-staff today in honor of a fallen retired New York state police officer who died of a 9/11-related illness. Staff Sergeant Benedicto Albizu Jr. died on May 9 after contracting a sickness in the wake of his closeness to the World Trade Center after the terrorist attacks claimed thousands of lives, including 275 Staten Islanders. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As Staten Island mourns the loss of one the boroughs most tireless advocates, one of New Yorks top elected officials has joined in the grieving process. On Monday, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) issued a statement on the death of Lee Covino, a U.S. Army veteran turned tenacious advocate for veterans issues here on Staten Island and across the United States. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- St. George resident KC Hankins said while it has always been a scary world for LGBTQ+ people, recent threats of worldwide violence against the queer community is also right here in the United States, New York and on Staten Island. They [threats] are a direct result of the constant drumbeat of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric across the globe. Whether it is the Ugandan government legalizing the death penalty for homosexuals, or the over 500 anti-LGBTQI+ bills introduced across the United States, this rhetoric creates a breeding ground for hate against queer folk and inspires violence from hate groups from ISIS to the Proud Boys, Hankins, a New York City LGBTQ+ advocate, said. Pictured is KC Hankins speaking before the Staten Island St. Patrick's Parade for which LGBTQ+ groups are banned from marching under their own banner, on March 5, 2023. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) As we approach Pride Month, which is celebrated in June, the U.S. Department of State issued a worldwide travel alert on Friday for all LGBTQIA+ Americans. And it has many members of Staten Islands LGBTQ+ community fearful for their safety. Due to the potential for terrorist attacks, demonstrations, or violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests, the Department of State advises U.S. citizens overseas to exercise increased caution, the alert says. The Department of State is aware of the increased potential for foreign terrorist organization-inspired violence against LGBTQI+ persons and events and advises U.S. citizens overseas to exercise increased caution. IN OUR OWN BACKYARD But the caution level abroad is also felt here in the U.S. every day of many LGBTQ+ individuals lives. While the State Department is warning of foreign terrorist threats against LGBTQIA+ people, us queer folk know full well that we are in danger from domestic threats as well, said Hankins. Stapleton resident Chris Bauer, former president Lambda Associates of Staten Island, who has long been a driving force for LGBTQ+ rights on Staten Island, agreed. We are not only seeing this overseas, but its here as well, which is really sad, and its especially against the transgender community, he said. People feel embolden that they can lash out with violence. Stapleton resident Chris Bauer has long been a driving force for LGBTQ+ rights on Staten Island, and former president Lambda Associates of Staten Island, (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) And many Staten Island activists say its sad the State Department has to issue such a warning, and that widespread discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community continues. The good news is we have a government that actually cares about people, their safety and their well being. Tragically, we still need these advisories, said Richmond County Surrogate Court Judge Matthew J. Titone and former North Shore assemblyman, who was Staten Islands first openly gay elected official. The bad news is that here we are going 10 paces backwards, because people cant tolerate other people who are different from them. Its disheartening. And certainly, its frightening. ...But then I think we have to go to the root. Where is it coming from? And I think we need to look no further than in our own backyard, he added. Hon. Matthew J. Titone, Surrogate Judge with his dog Bari, who is a trained therapy dog. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) CAUTION TRAVELING ABROAD Because of the caution alert, many local elected officials urge their LGBTQ+ constituents traveling domestically and abroad to take the Department of State warning seriously. It is devastating that in 2024 people from the LGBTQ+ community are targets of hateful bigotry. This advisory should not be necessary, but the sad reality is that it is. I urge my friends to take caution while traveling and stay alert, said State Senator Jessica Scarcella-Spanton (D-Staten Island/Brooklyn). My heart is with you if you are feeling singled out and please stay safe. Said Councilman David Carr (R-Mid-Island), Staten Islands first openly gay Republican elected official: Frankly, it is alarming that conditions have reached the point where the State Department has to warn members of the LGBTQ community to be concerned about being victims of violence when they travel abroad, but it should underscore how truly fortunate we all are to be Americans and how misguided some people are for denigrating this country so often. I have travelled internationally with my husband, and I know how mindful we have to be with respect to these advisories. Councilman David Carr (R-Mid-Island) is Staten Islands first openly gay Republican elected official. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) When asked about the caution alert for LGBTQ+ individuals, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis said: All Americans are less safe, here and abroad, because of Joe Bidens policies of appeasement that have emboldened our adversaries. WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE? Activists say for there to be widespread acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals, allies and more members of the community need to have their voices heard. Theres strength in numbers and theres obviously education, said Carol Bullock, executive director of The Pride Center of Staten Island. There was a hate crime that happened last week against a transgender individual. So I think its about making people aware that this is going on. And its so crucial for allies to get involved because that makes us feel safer. And the more we can educate people and not have them be afraid of our differences, the better it will be. Theres strength in numbers and theres obviously education, said Carol Bullock, executive director of The Pride Center of Staten Island. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) In addition, those in the closet need to join activists in their fight for inclusion, said Bauer. When more people come out as gay, lesbian or transgender, more people realize that the stereotypes are false, he said. Some of the biggest enemies of gay people, are people in the closet who dont want to face it [discrimination] themselves. ...People need to be politically engaged if things are going to change. Said Hankins: But we know how to protect ourselves and keep each other safe. Will I still attend as many pride events as I can this June? You better believe it. These cowards threatening us for existing will not scare us back into the closets, but instead will spill us into the streets until we have fair and equal treatment under the law in every corner of this earth. STATE DEPARTMENT RECOMMENDATIONS The Department of State said U.S. citizens should: Stay alert in locations frequented by tourists, including Pride celebrations and venues frequented by LGBTQI+ persons. Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive information and alerts and make it easier to locate you in an emergency overseas. Follow the Department of State on Facebook and Twitter FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK and X NEW YORK, N.Y. Controversy broke out Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court as the prosecution rested and the defense began its case in the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump. Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan cleared the public courtroom of reporters, while leaving other members of the audience, to reprimand defense witness Robert Costello for antics during his testimony meant to refute that offered by the prosecutions star witness, Michael Cohen. Ive never seen anything like it in my life. A tyrant, and everyones talking about it, Trump said of Merchans actions. The press I imagine is not happy they just got thrown out of a courthouse. Nobodys ever seen anything like it. Costello is a former federal prosecutor turned defense attorney who sought to represent Cohen, Trumps former lawyer and longtime fixer, shortly after the FBIs 2018 raid of his Manhattan office and the hotel where he was staying at the time during which the agency sought business records and other documents related to a variety of topics, including his 2016 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels. Costello became testy with Merchan over a series of objections prosecutors made talking through the judges sustaining of the objections, and letting out an audible jeez at one point in apparent reaction to one of Merchans rulings. Merchan initially began a public admonishment of Costello telling him to stop rolling his eyes or making side eye at the judge, but cleared out reporters after saying that the witness was staring down the bench. Reporters had to clear the courtroom--including the Advance/SILive.com reporter who has been covering the trial--while members of Trumps entourage along with staff from the office of District Attorney Alvin Bragg were allowed to remain. Bragg charged Trump last year with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, which carries a maximum sentence of four years in jail, according to the state court system. Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan is overseeing the trial. The former president has denied wrongdoing. Prosecutors say Trump directed the falsification of the business records by characterizing 12 $35,000 payments in 2017 to Cohen as legal expenses and income for the former attorney. Prosecutors say those payments were actually Trumps refunding of Cohens hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Both Cohen and Daniels have testified that the $135,000 payment was ahead of the 2016 presidential election to keep Daniels quiet about a 2006 sexual encounter she claims to have had with Trump. On Monday, Merchans somewhat private talking to of Costello came towards the end of a drawn out day that saw proceedings start about 45 minutes early, and run past the usual end time of 4:30 p.m. Trumps lawyers put Costello on the stand to refute testimony offered by Cohen about his reaction to the FBIs raid. He testified before congress last week offering a similar rebuttal to Cohens story about why he turned against Trump. Cohen has said his decision to tell his current truth and turn against his former boss came after federal prosecutors threatened his wife with an indictment, but Costello offered a different version of events. He said during a Manhattan hotel meeting he and a colleague had with Cohen after the FBI raid that Trumps former fixer was beside himself. He was absolutely manic at the beginning and throughout the two hours of that meeting, Costello said Monday adding that Cohen was looking for an escape route from the legal trouble he was facing. Costello also said that he advised Cohen he was not the likely target of the investigation, with Trump at the top of the chain, and that his easiest way out of trouble was telling the truth about the former president. Costello has said multiple time that Cohen told him and his colleague repeatedly that he had nothing on Trump. Costellos testimony followed the end of Cohens time on the witness stand, which included a Monday revelation about Cohen stealing from the Trump Organization. The 12 $35,000 payments amounted to $420,000. It included the doubling of the initial $130,000 to Daniels in an effort to make Cohen whole after taxes, added $50,000 for technical services Cohen paid for, and added a $60,000 bonus to the former fixer. That $50,000 was for services provided by a company called RedFinch that helped sway online polls in favor of Trump, but Cohen said he only paid them back $20,000 effectively stealing $30,000 in the alleged repayment scheme. While Mondays proceedings ran long, Tuesdays look to be a short affair with Costellos testimony expected to end in the morning, and no other witnesses on deck for the defense. Merchan said Monday morning that he expects the trial to break for a week after Tuesdays portion with both sides offering closing arguments after Memorial Day, and deliberations to follow. NEW YORK, N.Y. Witness testimony in the Manhattan criminal trial of former President Donald Trump wrapped Tuesday, but jurors are looking at extended downtime thanks to scheduling conflicts. New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan told jurors he would see them again in a week for closing arguments May 28 with their deliberations to follow. Both sides finished presenting their evidence to the jury after defense witness Robert Costello finished his testimony. Costello is an attorney who tried to represent Michael Cohen in 2018 following an FBI raid on Trumps former personal lawyers office and the hotel in which he was staying. Following a contentious Monday, during which Merchan reprimanded Costello for antics on the witness stand, the attorney made it through the rest of his testimony without incident despite facing a crisp line of questioning from prosecutor Susan Hoffinger. The prosecutor, from the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, referenced several emails from Costello to Cohen and his colleague, Jeff Citron, when his firm hoped to represent Trumps former fixer following the FBI raid. Bragg charged Trump last year with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, which carries a maximum sentence of four years in jail, according to the state court system. The former president has denied wrongdoing. Braggs office is using some of the same evidence secured during the 2018 FBI raids. Prosecutors say Trump directed the falsification of the business records by characterizing 12 $35,000 payments in 2017 to Cohen as legal expenses and income for the former attorney. Prosecutors say those payments were actually Trumps refunding of Cohens hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Both Cohen and Daniels have testified that the $135,000 payment was ahead of the 2016 presidential election to keep Daniels quiet about a 2006 sexual encounter she claims to have had with Trump. The former presidents lawyers put Costello on the stand to refute testimony offered by Cohen about his reaction to the FBIs raid. He testified before congress last week offering a similar rebuttal to Cohens story about why he turned against Trump. Cohen has said his decision to tell his current truth and turn against his former boss came after federal prosecutors threatened his wife with an indictment, but Costello tried to offer a different version of events. He told defense lawyers Monday that Cohen was absolutely manic during a meeting he had with Cohen following the raid and that he suspected Cohen to be suicidal due to the pressure he faced from the federal government. Cohen, however, characterized Costello and his firm as loyal to Trump working to ensure Cohen maintained his loyalty. That was the reason, he said, why he never retained the firm as his representation or paid them for their services. Hoffinger bolstered Cohens position with the series of Costellos emails in which he offered a backchannel communication through former New York City Mayor and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to the then-president. Costello confirmed during his testimony that he has had a 50-year relationship with the former mayor dating from their time working together at the federal prosecutors office in Manhattan. Additionally, emails Hoffinger shared from Costello to Citron showed some of his behind-the-scenes opinions of his prospective client. What should I say to this a------? he wrote in reference to Cohen when it began to become clear he would not remain loyal to Trump. Hes playing with the most powerful man on the planet. Costellos testimony concluded around 10 a.m. after which Merchan dismissed the jury. The parties returned to the courtroom around 2 p.m. to discuss how the judge would present his instructions to the jury ahead of their deliberation. They are expected to reach a verdict next week. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. The 2023-2024 academic year for New York City public schools is winding down but there are still some days off for students. Each school year, the city Department of Education (DOE) academic calendar includes some two dozen days off between the first day and the last day of classes. The calendar gives time off for federal and religious holidays, as well as weeklong breaks for winter, mid-winter, and spring recess. Dates for parent-teacher conference days for elementary, middle schools and high schools are also posted in the calendar. The calendar is for all 3-K to 12th-grade DOE public schools. If your child attends a private, parochial, charter school, NYC Early Education Center (NYCEEC) or Family Childcare Program, please contact your childs school for information about the calendar. With just weeks left of the current school year, there will still be plenty of time off before the school year ends. The first is long three-day weekend when schools close on Monday, May 27, for Memorial Day. They return to classes on Tuesday, May 28. Students will not attend school on June 6 for Anniversary Day/Chancellors Conference Day for staff development. The day after, on June 7, is a clerical day. It means no classes for students attending 3K, Pre-K, elementary schools, middle schools, K-12 schools, and standalone D75 programs Schools are then closed on June 17 for Eid al-Adha, and on June 19 for Juneteenth. For those counting down the days to summer, the last day of school for New York City public schools is Wednesday, June 26. Ivan Boesky, who reached the pinnacle of fame and fortune as a high-flying Wall Street arbitrageur in the 1980s only to be exposed as a cheat in the insider-trading scandal that defined the era, has died. He was 87. The New York Times reported his death, citing his daughter, Marianne Boesky. No details were immediately available. Ivan Boesky leaves court in 1987. Credit: AP As junk bonds fuelled a wave of hostile acquisitions, Boesky became the archetype of the savvy speculator, reaping hundreds of millions of dollars in profits on takeover bets. Then, after admitting to insider trading, Boesky became the poster child for Wall Street greed, his elongated face and toothy smile on the cover of Time magazine with the headline, Ivan the Terrible. He spent two years in prison. Boeskys case set off shock waves not only on Wall Street but across the US, confirming some investors worst fears about how capital markets worked. He was believed to have been the model for the character of Gordon Gekko, the rapacious villain played by Michael Douglas in the 1987 film Wall Street. Gekkos speech in the movie, declaring that greed is good, echoed Boeskys own assessment. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 Donald Trumps Aussie catcher-and-killer Dylan Howard, fresh from many dishonourable mentions in the former US presidents hush-money trial in New York, is facing another spot of bother. Howards End: Qs digital comeback lasted just months. Credit: SMH For those living under a rock, the case has laid bare evidence about the Geelong-born Howards role as editor of US supermarket tabloid The National Enquirer in locating and burying negative stories about Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign. And while Howard, whos recently been spotted in the Victorian coastal hamlet of Lorne, hasnt been charged with anything, it wasnt a great look for the man who calls himself Americas most feared journalist and claims to have taken down the careers of Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen and Hulk Hogan. He hasnt done much either for the prospects of the six journalists on either side of the Atlantic who were clearing out their desks last week after the attempt by Howards company, Empire Media, to revive music magazine Q ended just five months in. This is a damning outlook of students life in Australian schools and suggests there is a long road to educational recovery for our school systems, Fahey said. The results follow a worrying PISA report into academic results in December, which found Australian teens had fallen almost two full academic years behind those who went to school in the early 2000s, with nearly half of pupils failing to reach national standards in maths and reading. The fresh analysis also underscores Australias growing equity gap. Students from advantaged backgrounds reported a more favourable disciplinary climate and feeling safer at school, while those from disadvantaged backgrounds and First Nations students reported higher levels of bullying and greater educational shortages. Students in Catholic and independent schools reported a more favourable disciplinary climate, less exposure to bullying and reported feeling safer than those in government schools. Students at public schools reported higher levels of perceived educational and instructional leadership than those at private schools. Loading Chronic teacher shortages have contributed to classroom disruptions, with 61 per cent of students attending schools where the principal reported a lack of teaching staff. Students in regional areas were more likely to report greater exposure to bullying, teacher shortages and a lack of educational material. As classrooms have become crowded with screens and states mull restricting social media usage for children, 15 per cent of Australian students said they felt nervous or anxious when they didnt have their digital devices nearby. One in 10 said they felt pressured to be online and answer messages when in class. Girls rated themselves worse than boys on every measure of stress resistance. Seventy-one per cent said they got nervous easily, compared to 39 per cent of boys, while 75 per cent said they felt nervous about approaching exams, compared to 49 per cent of boys. Exposure to bullying has decreased for all countries since the previous PISA testing in 2018 possibly because schools were still returning to normal after COVID in 2022 but Australian students reported higher levels than all comparison countries except Latvia. Australias reporting of disciplinary climate was one of the least favourable among the comparison countries. Students in NSW and Victoria reported a more favourable disciplinary climate than students in Tasmania, South Australia, the ACT and Queensland. Victoria, NSW and the ACT also reported the lowest levels of bullying. De Bortoli said students in high-performing countries had a far greater sense of belonging and less exposure to bullying, which could range from teasing to being threatened. The latest analysis also measured curiosity for the first time, with results showing students who have high levels of curiosity performed better in maths. Loading Australian students demonstrated moderate levels of perseverance, with 60 per cent of students saying they applied extra effort when work becomes challenging. One in four principals said parents discussed their childs progress with a teacher on their own initiative. The latest analysis is based on OECD testing and survey data taken by about 690,000 students aged 15 from 81 countries, including 13,437 from Australia. Fahey said it was now well accepted that Australias classrooms were among the most disruptive and disorderly in the world, highlighting the need to go back to basics to better prepare teachers with evidence-based strategies for managing rowdy classrooms. Countless students are suffering as a result of this and putting Australian students at an international disadvantage, he said. Indigenous children are tragically suffering from alarming levels of bullying and concerns for safety in school. Its jarring that so many children dont feel safe school, while some schools are compelled by feel-good wellbeing gurus to engage in well-meaning, but ultimately ineffective, practices, Fahey said. Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the government was investing in short courses and improving teacher training to ensure current and future teachers were taught how to manage disruptive classrooms. All students and staff should feel safe and be safe at school, he said. Disruptive and anti-social behaviour hurts everyone our students, our teachers and our principals. The 2024-25 Victorian budget allocated an additional $15.8 million to continue the School Wide Positive Behaviour Support program in more than 400 schools. A government spokesperson said Victorian students reported a high sense of belonging at school, among the lowest levels of bullying in Australia and a low rate of disruption due to teacher shortages. A NSW spokesperson said the PISA report highlighted the urgent need to tackle the teacher shortage. It also vindicated the NSW decision to ban mobile phones in all public schools. NSW has also overhauled its school behaviour policy since the 2022 PISA survey. Loading The policy now strikes the right balance in maintaining safe, positive and respectful classrooms for all students and staff, the spokesperson said. PISA is conducted every three years by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to test the knowledge of 15-year-olds. In addition to academic results, the latest survey collected contextual data on students background and school experience. In Australia, 743 schools participated in the survey in 2022. Each week, Dr Kirstin Ferguson tackles questions on the workplace, career and leadership in her advice column Got a Minute? This week: a workplace where complaining is not allowed, a lack of public holidays and a disappointing promotion. Its not unreasonable to be frustrated by toxic positivity at work. Credit: Dionne Gain My manager has created a workplace culture of toxic positivity. I feel like I am being gaslit unless Im spouting positivity regardless of what is going on with my job and in my workplace. What can I do? The research is clear that toxic positivity which demands happiness and denies other emotions can trigger shame, impact connection with others, reduce wellbeing and increase stress. Is your manager someone open to feedback? If so, in the first instance I would try talking to your manager about how you are feeling. You might be able to ask them for ways to support all employees and all aspects of the human experience. I am sure your manager thinks they are being empathetic but may not be aware they are, in fact, failing to show empathy by minimising feelings different from their own. If your organisation has an EAP service, you can also try and access their services to help manage your own mental health. You might also like to pick up a copy of Whitney Goodmans book called Toxic Positivity for further advice. Funds invest in a range of things such as Australian and international shares, residential and commercial property, cash, bonds and fixed-interest securities. How much of your super contributions are invested depends on your fund and how its super products are mixed. The main product mixes and their average returns are as follows: Growth: Typically 85 per cent invested in shares or property and 15 per cent in fixed interest or cash. According to super research provider Chant West, over the past 15 years, the median growth fund has returned 9.4 per cent per year on average. This is the option most Australians are invested in. Typically 85 per cent invested in shares or property and 15 per cent in fixed interest or cash. According to super research provider Chant West, over the past 15 years, the median growth fund has returned 9.4 per cent per year on average. This is the option most Australians are invested in. Balanced: Typically 70 per cent invested in shares or property and 30 per cent in fixed interest or cash. Over the past 15 years, balanced growth funds have returned 6.5 per cent per year on average. Typically 70 per cent invested in shares or property and 30 per cent in fixed interest or cash. Over the past 15 years, balanced growth funds have returned 6.5 per cent per year on average. Conservative: Typically 70 per cent invested in fixed interest and cash and 30 per cent in property and shares. Over the past 15 years, balanced growth funds have returned 5.3 per cent per year on average. On June 30 every year, your funds investment earnings are then paid into your super account. You have the power to look at your investment earnings via your funds online portal, compare performance with other funds and change if youre not happy. Quyen Truong has been in the finance industry for over 20 years. Shes worked in financial services at banks, super funds and is now a co-director at Bruining Partners, a Perth-based financial consultancy. She is passionate about people turning attention to their super. It was introduced as the government could foresee an ageing population and increased reliance on our pension system, says Truong. Super means youre not going to rely a hundred per cent on the aged pension and have another nest egg to draw upon. There are a few phases to super. The accumulation phase is when your contributions are going in. This includes employer contributions or extra personal contributions you might make (more on that later). When you retire, super then goes into a drawdown or a pension phase, which is when you start taking money from your super account to pay for your expenses and lifestyle. When it does enter that phase, super can actually still grow because its still invested. Why is it important to care about your super? Super performance is not naturally on everyones radar, especially at a younger age considering how far off and intangible retirement seems. But it is critical to give it some love as early as possible. For anyone rolling their eyes, youre going to turn more attention to it eventually, so you may as well start now and reap the rewards. This is a lesson well and truly in delayed gratification. Often, we hear of people starting to care about their super balance in their 50s when retirement is nearing. Sadly at this point, theyve already missed out on many years of compounding interest. Compound returns are earned on your total super account balance, meaning the more you have in your super account earlier in life, the greater your balance will be when you retire. Outside of a home, superannuation is the largest asset that most people would have in their lifetime. It can be quite a tax-effective vehicle, says Truong. During the accumulation phase, super contributions and earnings are taxed at 15 per cent. Outside of super, investments are taxed at your marginal tax rate. When you get to the draw-down or pension phase in retirement, super investment earnings are taxed at zero per cent. There is no other kind of investment you have, like an investment property or shares, that are taxed at zero per cent, says Truong. Its worth considering the time you might take away from the workforce at different stages of life and finding ways to bolster super to account for these absences. On average, women retire with 50 per cent less superannuation earnings than men. So its particularly important that women especially pay attention to their super. If youre currently 30, you should have $59,000 in your super for a comfortable retirement; $156,000 if youre 40 and $281,000 if youre 50. This is due to the motherhood penalty, where women still typically take more time off to care for a child. When they decide to go back to work, sometimes this is part-time. This reduces super earnings. Then, theres the other side of life, when people might take time off to care for elderly parents. That time out of the workforce means employers arent contributing to super. When can I access super, and how much do I need? Bruining Partners director Quyen Truong. Super is generally only accessible when someone reaches their preservation age. This age ranges between 55 and 60, depending on your day of birth. People born 1965 and after can start accessing their super at 60. For those born before 1965, it could be as young as 55. Take a look at the ATOs exact preservation dates of birth and age here. In terms of how much super you should have, this is a contentious question, and usually, it depends on what kind of retirement youre aiming for. The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australias (ASFA) super balance detective is a handy tool for advising what your current super balance should be, to ensure a comfortable retirement. According to the calculator, if you were 67 and to retire today, youd need close to $584,000 for a comfortable retirement. That means if youre currently 30, you should have $59,000 in your super for a comfortable retirement; $156,000 if youre 40 and $281,000 if youre 50. There are very limited circumstances when someone could access their super before retirement. These include if someone is experiencing severe financial hardship, incapacity to work or diagnosis of a terminal illness. What are some common super misconceptions? Truong says one of the biggest super falsehoods is people thinking they have plenty of time to look at their super and as such its not worth worrying about it now. It comes back to, do you want a modest retirement or a comfortable one? she says. The other misconception is thinking the Centrelink age pension will be enough. Its generally not. It provides a baseline standard of living. The amount someone can get from Centrelink is informed by their income (which includes super payments) and assets (including whether you own a home). The maximum pension for a single person is $1116.30 per fortnight and for a couple $1682.80. Loading For instance, if you dont own a home and might still be renting, $900 a fortnight will probably not be enough. Another misconception Truong says is that people feel they might not have enough money or be too young to seek financial advice. Its never too early to get financial advice. You can think about it as getting a health check on your super and finances. This is the first part in our six-week Super Fit series, covering everything you need to know to get your superannuation in its healthiest possible shape. Come back next week for our next piece on how to choose a good super fund. Examine, a free weekly newsletter covering science with a sceptical, evidence-based eye, is sent every Tuesday. Youre reading an excerpt Sign up to get the whole newsletter in your inbox. The fluoridation of water has been hailed as one of the great modern public health interventions, along with the proliferation of vaccines and the recognition of tobacco as a health hazard. But reports linking fluoride in water to lower IQ and other cognitive issues in children have fuelled speculation much of it conspiratorial that theres something sinister lurking in your Warragamba Slammer (a mocktail named after Australias largest dam that simply consists of a tall glass of tap water). A Warragamba Slammer: refreshing or making your kids dumb? Credit: iStock Even Erin Brockovich and the mayor of Port Macquarie have counted themselves among those who want fluoride ditched. Peter Dutton has flagged a coalition government could withdraw Australia from the worlds top criminal court over its stance on alleged Israeli war crimes. The International Criminal Courts chief prosecutor Karim Khan has sought arrest warrants for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. Khan said on Monday that he believed Netanyahu, his defence minister and three Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh were responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel. Dutton says the Albanese government should pressure the court to make sure that they reverse this terrible decision. The opposition leader says a coalition government could cut ties with the court if it failed to bow to pressure. I dont rule it out, he said on Wednesday. But I think the pressure at the moment needs to be for like-minded countries that share our values, to stand shoulder-to-shoulder ... to make sure that this anti-Semitic stance that theyve taken does not advance. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday said it would be inappropriate to comment on a matter before the court as the Department of Foreign Affairs defended the courts independence. A department spokesperson said: Australia respects the ICC and the important role it has in upholding international law. The spokesperson rejected any equivalence between Israel and Hamas, which is a designated terrorist organisation in Australia. They unequivocally condemned Hamas actions as they called for the release of hostages and a humanitarian ceasefire. Only a handful of state parties have withdrawn from the court and two of those countries rescinded their withdrawal before it came into effect. - with AAP Asked why Charlises mother would do that, Stein said Kallista Mutten was three days deep into the ice bender. Annemie Stein said she just cant work out the barrel, and why he had been travelling with it. Her son replied that it was Kallista Muttens doing, and his partner had put it on the back of his Holden Colorado utility. Justin Stein allegedly drove his red ute across Sydney with the body of Charlise Mutten in a barrel in the tray. Credit: NSW Police Im literally at Bunnings, and I get a phone call, and she says no, youve got Charlise with you, he said, according to the call. I was driving around with a f---ing kid on the back of my ute. The court heard Stein told his mother he had panicked. In another call, he said Kallista Mutten was going to get charged for everything, thats the truth. They cant even pin me for murder, he said. I know what happened, I saw it happen. In the calls, Stein said Kallista Mutten had paranoia and recalled her taking apart a suitcase handle thinking it was bugged. He said he didnt want contact with his partner, adding, I want to cut her f---ing head off. I ran back, and she shot her again The court also heard on Tuesday from two prison guards who spoke with Stein after he was charged. One female officer said that on January 19, 2022, she had asked Stein, Did you do it? and he said, No. She said Stein told her, Her mum shot her twice. Her mum was on ice all week, I heard a shot, then I heard her screaming out for me, then I ran back, and she shot her again, Stein said, according to the prison guard. I keep having flashbacks. Im not going down for this, I didnt do it, Im stuck here with these charges Im not going down for that bitch. Loading She said Stein said he had been trying to tell people this for days and no one will listen and thanked her for letting him vent. The jury has previously heard Stein was interviewed twice by police on January 14, the day Charlise was reported missing by her mother. A male prison officer said he spoke with Stein on January 20 and 21, and the accused said he was looking forward to clearing my name at court. I saw her mum shoot her, and I keep replaying it in my head, Stein said, according to the guard. The court heard the male guard told Stein he might serve jail time if he was involved, and Stein replied that he accepted that, but I dont understand why Im charged with murder. He said Stein, on a number of occasions, said, I didnt pull the trigger and I wasnt the one. Accused killers fingerprint found on gun The court heard police spoke with Steins mother on February 17, 2022, during which she was shown photographs of two firearms that had been excavated from a Mount Wilson fire trail. Police were alerted to the location after a wildflower enthusiast came across an area covered over with branches during a walk on January 30, and thought it was odd. Loading The officer in charge of the investigation, Detective Sergeant Bradley Gardiner, said police were able to identify the two firearms recovered as those stolen by Stein and Kallista Mutten from a Mount Wilson home in August 2021 due to the descriptions and serial numbers provided. He said Annemie Stein said she had not seen the guns and was informed they had been forensically examined, and her sons fingerprint was identified on the BSA .22 calibre bolt-action rifle. In a prison call on March 21, 2022, which was played to the jury, Justin Stein told his mother I need you to retrieve some stuff in the mountains. As far as political attack lines go, overseas travel is the lowest of the low-hanging fruit. So low, in fact, it can be considered a windfall in the traditional sense of the word to be hastily exploited lest it be claimed by ants. How can [insert minister here] jet off on an overseas junket while [insert current event] is happening here at home? Travel is an occupational hazard for politicians, not a perk. Credit: iStock That line, or a variation thereof, is wheeled out by all sides of politics (when theyre in opposition at least) with monotonous regularity. That politician from that other party? Theyre taking you for a ride, jet-setting around the world on a taxpayer-funded holiday. Teagen Fergusons smile is something her sister Courtney will always cherish. Shed always be laughing. Youd hiccup and shed laugh. Youd sneeze and shed laugh. Her smile and her laughter is the one thing I remember her by, Courtney said. Teagens family has now suffered for many years; from her father inflicting terrible brain injuries on her when she was a toddler, and now from her eventual death due to those injuries. Credit: 9 News Perth Next month marks four years since Teagen died from catastrophic injuries inflicted by her father Terrence Bice when she was just two years old. Bice lifted Teagan up and threw her violently to the floor of their home in the northern Perth suburb of Wanneroo after being unable to stop her crying. Each week, WAtoday reaches out to the Perth community to discover three things people love most about our coastal capital. Today features DJ Lee and his wife Emily Lee, who this July will mark their 10th year operating Le Vietnam in Perth citys Bon Marche Arcade. While performing as a DJ around the world, Lee ensured he tried each citys take on the traditional Vietnamese sandwich, and when settling in Perth decided to make use of this knowledge. Little Keanu joined the family in 2020 and has since become a well known mascot. Lee, Emily and Keanu. 1. I love Perth for its food adventures and how local businesses support each other. Our weekends are jam-packed recent Saturday mornings start about 7am at La Vista Coffee in Malaga (I need coffee to function); about 7.30am we would head out to Mings Bakery in Woodvale to grab some bakery goods (pies, sausage rolls and sweets), making sure to overstock to put some in the freezer for those unexpected craves. We would then drive down to Montello on Main in Osborne Park for some Italian gourmet goodies and cold cuts for spontaneous picnics. By this time, our lunch stomachs are almost ready, so we head into Kaze Bento in Mount Lawley for a casual Japanese meal before heading to Hyde Park to catch some fresh air while Keanu uses up his energy at the playgrounds. Here we might dig into some antipasto goodies we picked up earlier. As the sun goes down, we prepare ourselves to head over to Big Dons Smoked Meats in Bayswater to collect our barbecue tray (that we had ordered on Tuesday you need speedy fingers to secure your trays). Best to bring LV Rice Lager by Nowhereman, shelved at [specialist bottle shop] Mane Liquor. 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 Two years after the election of Anthony Albaneses government, the prime minister has not lost a single minister to scandal, retirement or incompetence. But it has also become clear that some ministers are more equal than others. Looking beyond their ministerial day jobs, here are the people Albanese turns to for advice and problem-solving and a couple who are running their own show. The brains trust Credit: Marija Ercegovac Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong is one of the governments best-performing ministers. She is loved by the Labor faithful and has carefully repaired connections with Pacific and South-East Asian neighbours while thawing relations with Beijing. Wongs handling of the Israel-Hamas war has not been perfect, however, and she has shown a distinct lack of interest in Europe. But her most important job is the one you dont see publicly the veteran South Australian senator is Albaneses closest political confidante and, often, the first person he turns to for advice. Katy Gallagher, the minister for finance, women and the public service, has perhaps the broadest portfolio responsibilities of anyone other than Albanese. After Wong, Gallagher has arguably the most in the room influence on the tone and direction of the government, and she has the ear of the PM. Dubbed the co-deputy prime ministers by some in the caucus, the pair sits on the powerful expenditure review and national security committees of cabinet (known as the ERC and NSC), wield covert influence and play an important role in taking the fight to the opposition. Treasurer Jim Chalmers is one of the governments best communicators. While he is not as tight with Albanese as Wong and Gallagher, he has formed a powerful duo with the finance minister and helped steer Labor towards consecutive budget surpluses. Albanese and Chalmers might go a couple of days without talking, but will then speak six times in one day to exchange notes. Chalmers sits on the ERC and NSC, too, and is viewed as the person most likely to succeed Albanese one day he is quietly biding his time and building his credentials. Importantly, he is the most senior Queenslander in a state where the party is desperate to win more seats. Advertisement Tony Burkes day job is minister for employment, workplace relations and the arts, but its his other job leader of the House that places him firmly in the governments brains trust. In this role, Burke plays a big role in determining when legislation is brought forward and votes are called, and ensuring the government has command of the House in question time. He works closely with Albanese, himself a former leader of the House, in ensuring parliament runs smoothly. And although Burke is not on the ERC, he has another important job that hes handled with aplomb so far delivering union-friendly industrial relations laws that keep the partys industrial base happy. Covert influencers Credit: Marija Ercegovac Trade Minister Don Farrell has played a big role in restoring trade with China, which is of major importance to Australian exporters. He failed to land a trade deal with the European Union, but for the right reasons: it wasnt good enough. But Farrells biggest influence is behind the scenes as a steady hand, advocate for policy focused on middle Australia and, most of all, as the head of the small states Right faction. He has MPs loyal to him in every state and territory and his support for Albanese is vital. Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles has been a solid performer and kept a low profile in what can be a tricky portfolio for Labor. Marles is closer to the PM than people realise and, along with Albanese, bedded down Australias commitment to the AUKUS submarine deal despite the objections of some Labor faithful. Marles is the only other MP who sits on the ERC and NSC and serves as a Right faction gatekeeper in Victoria for Albanese. Resources Minister Madeleine King, much like her former boss and predecessor in the West Australian seat of Brand, Gary Gray, is a low-profile cabinet minister. But she matters as she is the most senior WA MP, and Labor is desperate to hang on to the swag of seats it won in the state in 2022. King is a strong advocate in cabinet for the resources sector, which can sometimes be a lonely task in a Labor government, but its core business for her home state. As members of the ERC, ministers Michelle Rowland, Catherine King, Mark Butler and Stephen Jones all get an honourable mention, as do Mark Dreyfus and Chris Bowen as members of the NSC. Advertisement Running their own show Credit: Marija Ercegovac Bill Shorten has licence to roam across portfolios after six years leading the party, and hes an accomplished performer. His desire to reform the National Disability Insurance Scheme, which he championed as a junior minister in the Rudd and Gillard governments, is genuine. If he can pare back its rapid growth rate and put it on a sustainable footing, it will be a singular legacy item. Although Shortens in the cabinet, hell never be in the tent while Albanese is leader and as such is allowed to run his own show. Tanya Plibersek is a cut-through media performer and former deputy leader, so shes allowed more freedom to run her own race. Though she isnt in the inner circle of trust, she can land a killer blow on her political opponents. The difficult environment portfolio requires her to approve coal mines while representing one of the nations most left-wing, climate-friendly electorates. Attack dogs and shutdown merchants Credit: Marija Ercegovac Murray Watt is a close political ally of the PM and, along with ministers Pat Conroy and Andrew Giles and assistant minister Tim Ayres, is a member of Albaneses Left faction Praetorian Guard. Watt, the agriculture and emergency management minister, is often the man sent to speak outside his portfolio, put out political spot fires and shut down an issue. His input on Labors hunt for Queensland seats will be crucial if the party is to make gains up north. On track for promotion. Advertisement Education Minister Jason Clare had a spectacular 2022 election as the temporary face of the campaign when Albanese got COVID-19, but has since seemed to retreat into his shell. Juggling school funding deals with the states and an even bigger fight with universities over cuts to the number of foreign students, he is still sent occasionally to speak outside his portfolio such as the instant response to Opposition Leader Peter Duttons budget reply speech and take the fight to the opposition. Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth has a portfolio that can make news for the wrong reasons, such as problems with pension payments or the low rate of JobSeeker. A patient explainer in the media, Rishworth controls about one-third of the $700 billion federal budget and has delivered two successive rises in rent assistance and an increase in JobSeeker payments decisions that pleased the party faithful and the sector, even if they may have wanted more. Shes also the person the prime minister relies on to be the caring voice of government, anchoring the 10-year plan to tackle domestic violence. The lone wolf Credit: Marija Ercegovac Ed Husic is one of the governments best plain-speaking communicators and Labors Future Made in Australia agenda has made his industry and science portfolio more high-profile than usual. But while Husic is in the tent, unlike Shorten and Plibersek, he functions as a sort of pressure release valve for the backbench. Thats because he is not afraid to put a dissenting view in cabinet or speak out publicly on issues such as Gaza. This is a rare trait in a ministry, and a caucus, that has been well-behaved to the point of being supine for two years. Next into cabinet Credit: Marija Ercegovac Advertisement Kai Lohmann has teased at more goal celebrations but pledged to knuckle down, too, now the Brisbane Lions forward has carved out a role in the side. The 21-year-old kicked five goals and earned the latest Rising Star nomination in the Lions thumping of Richmond at the Gabba on Saturday. Kai Lohmann kicks a goal during the round 10 match between the Brisbane Lions and the Richmond Tigers at The Gabba on May 18. Credit: Getty Images And he celebrated them all with gusto, regardless of the swollen margin, in a graphic example of the enthusiasm he has brought since earning a regular spot in the team. I love celebrating, Lohmann said on Tuesday. Australian passengers started arriving home on Wednesday night after surviving severe turbulence on a Singapore Airlines flight that left one person dead, dozens injured and three Australians in intensive care. The shell-shocked passengers, some in tears, arrived to cheers and the embrace of family members at Sydney Airport after one Australian traveller recounted how she was hurled to the ceiling before landing on the floor among glass and breakfast food during the incident. The plane, whose passengers included 56 Australians, was about 10 hours into the London to Singapore flight on Tuesday night (AEST) when it hit turbulence over the Irrawaddy Basin in Myanmar, flinging passengers and crew around the cabin. The pilot requested an emergency landing and the plane was diverted to Bangkok, where it landed safely. Three Australians were among 20 passengers in intensive care on Wednesday, according to a statement from a network of Thai hospitals. Another 38 people, including nine Australians, were receiving treatment in inpatient departments at the Srinakarin and Sukhumvit hospitals. A retired British grandfather was killed and 70 others were injured after a flight from Heathrow to Singapore was hit by severe turbulence. Geoffrey Ralph Kitchen, 73, died after the aircraft suffered a dramatic drop, with those not wearing seatbelts launched immediately into the ceiling. Geoffrey Kitchen died on the Singapore Airlines flight. Credit: Facebook The Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-ER aircraft was forced to perform an emergency landing at Bangkoks Suvarnabhumi Airport, where Thai authorities described encountering a chaotic scene on board. Kittipong Kittikachorn, the general manager of the airport, said Kitchen, who has two grown-up children and two grandchildren, suffered a suspected heart attack. Zelensky called again for faster military aid from the United States and other partners. Weapons and ammunition from a recently passed US package are now arriving in Ukraine, but the package was delayed for months by internal political wrangling. Every decision to which we, then later everyone together, comes to is late by around one year, Zelensky said. But it is what it is: one big step forward, but before that two steps back. So we need to change the paradigm a little bit. Risk of escalation? Zelensky said he wanted his partners to be more directly involved in the war but understood they were wary of antagonising Russia. Its a question of will, he said. But everyone says a word that sounds the same in every language: everyone is scared of escalation. Everyone has gotten used to the fact that Ukrainians are dying thats not escalation for people. Loading He proposed that the armed forces of neighbouring NATO countries could intercept incoming Russian missiles over Ukrainian territory to help Kyiv protect itself. Russia has fired thousands of missiles and drones at Ukraine since the start of the wider conflict, and air defences are a priority for Kyiv. Russians are using 300 planes on the territory of Ukraine. We need at least 120, 130 planes to resist in the sky, he said. Ukraine is waiting for the delivery of US-designed F-16s which have yet to be used in anger. He said that if countries could not supply the planes straight away, they could still fly them from neighbouring NATO states and shoot down Russian missiles. The Ukrainian leader also said Kyiv was negotiating with international partners to use their weapons to strike Russian military hardware at the border and further inside Russian territory. So far, there is nothing positive, he said. Loading Russian President Vladimir Putin would likely view such developments as escalatory. He casts the war as part of an existential battle with a declining and decadent West which he says humiliated Russia after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 by encroaching on what he considers Moscows sphere of influence, including Ukraine. Ukraine and the West reject such an interpretation, calling the invasion an unprovoked land grab. Zelensky reiterated that he had not broken agreements with allies not to use their weapons inside Russia. We cant put the whole volume of weapons at risk. International stage Ukraine is gearing up for international talks in Switzerland next month that will exclude Russia and are aimed at trying to unify and harden opinion against Moscow. Putin has said he believes the talks may convert Ukrainian demands for a Russian withdrawal into an ultimatum for Russia, a strategy he said would fail. Zelensky said it was crucial to get as many countries around the table as possible. And then Russia will have to answer to the majority of the world, not Ukraine ... no one says that tomorrow Russia will agree, but it is important that we have the initiative. Loading Beijing has yet to say whether it will participate, although Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin met last week in China and pledged a new era of partnership between the two most powerful rivals of the United States. It is very important that they [China] are there, said Zelensky. Because in principle, after this summit, it becomes clear who wants to end the war, and who wants to remain in strong relations with the Russian Federation. On US politics, he sought to dampen concerns that any win for Republican candidate Donald Trump in November elections could spell trouble for Ukraine. Trump is a Ukraine aid sceptic who has stressed America First policies. I dont believe that Republicans are against support for Ukraine, but some messages that are coming from their side raise concerns. Zelensky, a former comedian, said he would let others judge his performance as leader of a country at war, but he expressed his gratitude to the Ukrainian people for their stoicism in the face of adversity. He also insisted that Ukraine could still win the war, despite the setbacks. I think we need to walk this path to the end, preferably a victorious one, he said. Even though today people look somewhat sceptically at the word victory I understand it is difficult because it is long. On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces shot down 28 out of 29 drones used by Russian forces in an early Tuesday attack on seven regions, Ukraines air force said. Loading The drone attack damaged four homes, 25 trucks and buses in Kharkiv, injuring five people, according to the regions governor, Oleh Syniehubov, and Ukrainian Internal Affairs Ministrys statements on the Telegram messaging app. A missile attack later in the morning targeted transport infrastructure and injured two more people in the city, the governor added. Two drones shot down in Dnipropetrovsk region damaged outbuildings, with no casualties reported by the regions governor. Three Shahed-type drones were shot down over the Kherson region, with 14 more shot down over the Odesa region, according to the Ukrainian military. The rest of the drones targeted the Mykolaiv, Cherkasy and Kirovohrad regions. Reuters could not independently verify the information on damage. Russia has stepped up drone and missile attacks around Ukraine this northern spring, dealing significant damage to its energy infrastructure. New York: In their three years in power, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his equally hard-line foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, did everything they could to consolidate the Axis of Resistance against the United States and Israel. They funded Hamas and Hezbollah. They armed the Houthis, feeding the militia intelligence that fuelled attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea. They cracked down on dissent at home; launched Irans first direct missile attacks on Israel, after Israel killed several Iranian generals; and turned Iran into a threshold nuclear state that could produce fuel for three or four bombs in short order. People hold up posters of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during a mourning ceremony for him in downtown Tehran, Iran. Credit: AP But for all those aggressive moves, the two men, both killed in a helicopter crash in the mountains near Azerbaijan on Sunday, were also careful. Last week, days before their deaths, they approved talks with the United States through intermediaries aimed at making sure the war in the Gaza Strip was not the prelude to a wider war in the Middle East. And they stopped just short of making those bombs, at least as far as US intelligence agencies and international inspectors can determine. PHILIPSBURG:--- The board of the Unified Resilient St. Maarten Movement (URSM) publicly expresses its profound disappointment following the decision by Member of Parliament, Mr. Kevin Maingrette, to withdraw his support from the governing coalition. Mr. Maingrettes recent actions starkly contradict his earlier public assurances, notably his commitment as outlined in his statements titled, "MP Elect Maingrette vows to remain steadfast in coalition. I will not be moved." This reversal not only undermines his credibility but also poses a direct threat to the stability and progress of our nation. Maingrette also informed the current coalition of the promises, offers, and gifts he claimed he would have received had he joined ranks with the opposition. These offers were seemingly made by wealthy businessmen in Sint Maarten who over the years have interfered with government formation. The interference in our political system is classified as "undermining" to say the least. The board views this move as motivated by personal interests rather than the collective welfare of St. Maarten, potentially stalling critical developmental initiatives. The formation of what appears to be a new coalition, based on this latest shift, seems to prioritize individual agendas over the urgent needs of our citizens. At a time when unified leadership is crucial, we find this development both troubling and regressive. URSM remains committed to its vision of advancing St. Maartens future through cooperative governance and integrity. We call on all members of Parliament to reaffirm their dedication to the electorate and to prioritize the nation's progress over personal gain. URSM will continue to advocate for transparent and accountable leadership that genuinely reflects the aspirations of the people of St. Maarten. Microsoft unveils 'AI-ready' PCs Redmond, United States, May 20 (AFP) May 20, 2024 Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella unveiled a new category of PC on Monday that features generative artificial intelligence tools built directly into Windows, the company's world leading operating system. The tech giant estimates that more than 50 million "AI PCs" will be sold over the next 12 months, given the appetite for devices powered by ChatGPT-style technology. "We are introducing an entirely new class of Windows PCs engineered to unleash the power" of on-device AI, Nadella said at a launch event in Redmond, Washington. "We call this new category 'Copilot Plus'...the fastest, most AI-ready Windows PCs ever built," he added. Of all the tech giants, Microsoft has pushed the most aggressively to infuse the powers of generative AI into its products, often leaving rival Google to play catch-up. ChatGPT-style AI, which is called Copilot at Microsoft, is available across the company's products, including Teams, Outlook and its Windows operating system. Microsoft even tried, so far unsuccessfully, to rejuvenate Bing, its poor-performing online search engine, with generative AI powers. "These improvements provide the most compelling reason to upgrade your PC in a long time," said Microsoft Vice President Yusuf Mehdi. Microsoft said Copilot Plus PCs, built with powerful AI-ready chips, are 58 percent faster than the M3 MacBook Air. Companies like Lenovo, Dell, Acer and HP said they would also release PCs that run on Microsoft's new Copilot Plus software. Microsoft said that the AI features will take place on the device, so you won't have to wait for data to get sent to and from remote data-centers or pay for a subscription. AI offerings will include live translation, image generation and a state-of-the-art ability to interact with your computer through chats and simple prompts instead of clicking on files or drop-down menus. Microsoft's pivot to AI has been celebrated by Wall Street, and the company is now the world's biggest company by market capitalization, after dethroning Apple. Microsoft is OpenAI's main investor and has injected some $13 billion in the form of cloud computing credits that fulfill the ChatGPT-maker's huge needs for computing. In return, Microsoft depends on OpenAI's models -- such as GPT-4 for text or Dall-E for images -- to feed AI to its products. Nadella's announcement on AI comes on the heels of those made by Google and ChatGPT-maker Open AI last week. They showcased updates to their chatbots, with even more human-like interactions and new abilities to understand their surroundings via video. Google also announced it was adding AI answers to its world-leading search engine, despite fears it may eat into its advertising revenues or starve web sites of traffic. - 'AI revolution' - Analysts believe that the hunger for AI products is helping buoy Microsoft and Google's cloud computing businesses, with clients ready to pay a premium to adopt ChatGPT-like capabilities. In a note to clients, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said that AI will add $25 billion-$30 billion to Microsoft's sales by 2025. "The spending on AI is unprecedented across the tech world and this is just the first phase of the AI Revolution playing out," Ives said. Microsoft's injection of AI into PC's came just ahead of an Apple event next month that is widely expected to see ChatGPT's abilities feature in a new iPhone. Media reports also suggest that Apple could announce a partnership between Apple and OpenAI. The tech giants are racing the products out the door despite worries that generative AI poses a threat to society. Authorities, including in the US, are drawing up ways to more closely track the developments in AI, and potentially put limits on its deployment. OpenAI to 'pause' voice linked to Scarlett Johansson San Francisco, May 20 (AFP) May 20, 2024 ChatGPT-maker OpenAI on Monday said it was working on temporarily muting a synthetic voice that sounds a lot like that of actress Scarlett Johansson. The artificial intelligence powerhouse said in a blog post that the "Sky" voice at issue was based on the natural speaking voice of a different professional actress and not meant to sound like Johansson. "We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity's distinctive voice," OpenAI said in the post. "Sky's voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson." OpenAI is working on a way to "pause" Sky as it addresses what appears to be confusion about who it sounds like, the company said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. "We've heard questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT, especially Sky," OpenAI said. The company explained that it worked with professional voice actors on synthetic voices it named Breeze, Cove, Ember, Juniper and Sky. But Sky became the focus of attention last week when OpenAI released a higher-performing and even more humanlike "GPT-4o" version of the artificial intelligence technology that underpins ChatGPT. In a demo, the new version of Sky was at times even flirtatious and funny, capable of seamlessly jumping from one topic to the next, unlike most existing chatbots. But several observers noted the resemblance with Johansson, who voiced the central character in the film "Her" -- a cautionary tale about the future in which a man falls in love with an AI chatbot. Adding to the confusion, on the day of the demo, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted a single word tweet on X: "Her." So far in the AI frenzy, most tech giants have been reluctant to overly humanize chatbots. Microsoft vice president Yusuf Mehdi told AFP his company, which has a partnership with OpenAI, sought to make sure that AI was not "a he or a she," but rather a "unique entity." "It should not be human. It shouldn't breathe. You should be able to...understand (it) is AI," he said. OpenAI said it was working to address the problem just days after confirming it disbanded a team devoted to mitigating the long-term dangers of artificial intelligence. OpenAI weeks ago began dissolving the so-called "superalignment" group, integrating members into other projects and research. Company co-founder Ilya Sutskever and superalignment team co-leader Jan Leike announced their departures from the San Francisco-based firm last week. Meta supreme court weighs posts calling ethnic groups criminals San Francisco, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2024 An independent board considered a top court for Meta content moderation said Tuesday it is taking on the issue of whether accusing entire nationalities of crimes violates hate speech rules. The Meta Oversight Board said it is tackling the question through three separate cases from Facebook, Instagram and Threads. "The Board selected these cases to consider how Meta should moderate allegations of criminality based on nationality, especially during times of crisis or conflict," it said in an email to AFP. One involves a comment on Threads in which Israelis were accused of taking part in genocide regarding the conflict between Israel and Hamas, according to the board. The other two posts involve Americans, Eastern Indians and Russians being accused of criminal behavior, the board said in a release. In each case, Meta removed the post for violating its ban on hate speech. Meta referred the cases for review because they represent the challenge of balancing attacks on ideas or institutions, which is allowed, with a ban on accusations aimed at people, according to the board. While Meta has agreed to be bound by specific content decisions by the independent oversight board, the tech titan considers policy recommendations advisory. 16 top AI firms make new safety commitments at Seoul summit Seoul, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2024 More than a dozen of the world's leading artificial intelligence firms made fresh safety commitments at a global summit in Seoul on Tuesday, the British government said in a statement. The agreement with 16 tech firms -- which include ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Anthropic -- builds on the consensus reached at the inaugural global AI safety summit at Bletchley Park in Britain last year. "These commitments ensure the world's leading AI companies will provide transparency and accountability on their plans to develop safe AI," UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement released by Britain's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Under the agreement, the AI firms that have not already shared how they assess the risks of their technology will publish those frameworks, according to the statement. These will include what risks are "deemed intolerable" and what the firms will do to ensure that these thresholds are not crossed. "In the most extreme circumstances, the companies have also committed to 'not develop or deploy a model or system at all' if mitigations cannot keep risks below the thresholds," the statement added. The definition of these thresholds will be decided ahead of the next AI summit, due to be hosted by France in 2025. The firms that have agreed on the safety rules also include US tech titans Microsoft, Amazon, IBM and Instagram parent Meta; France's Mistral AI; and Zhipu.ai from China. In his opening remarks, South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol flagged "growing concerns over potential risks and negative impacts of AI, including fake news through deepfake and the digital divide." "Since the digital space is hyper-connected and transcends national borders, we need digital norms at the global level," he added. - Danger of 'deepfakes' - The stratospheric success of ChatGPT soon after its 2022 release sparked a gold rush in generative AI, with tech firms around the world pouring billions of dollars into developing their own models. Generative AI models can generate text, photos, audio and even video from simple prompts, and its proponents have heralded them as a breakthrough that will improve lives and businesses around the world. But critics, rights activists and governments have warned that they can be misused in a wide variety of situations, including the manipulation of voters through fake news stories or so-called "deepfake" pictures and videos of politicians. Many have called for international standards to govern the development and use of AI, and have called for action at summits such as the two-day gathering in Seoul this week. In addition to safety, the Seoul summit will discuss how governments can help spur innovation, including into AI research at universities. Participants will also consider ways to ensure the technology is open to all and can aid in tackling issues such as climate change and poverty. The Seoul summit comes days after OpenAI confirmed that it had disbanded a team devoted to mitigating the long-term dangers of advanced AI. "The field of AI safety is quickly evolving and we are particularly glad to endorse the commitments' emphasis on refining approaches alongside the science," Anna Makanju, OpenAI's vice president of global affairs, said in the statement announcing the new commitments on Tuesday. The two-day summit will be partly virtual, with a mix of closed-door sessions and some open to the public in Seoul. qan/ceb/sn IBM Russian bid to counter weapons in space fails at UN Security Council United Nations, United States, May 20 (AFP) May 20, 2024 The UN Security Council on Monday rejected a Russian draft resolution to counter military activity in space, as countries questioned Moscow's sincerity after it vetoed an American text in April against nuclear proliferation in the final frontier. The Russian text called on all states to "take urgent measures to prevent for all time the placement of weapons in outer space and the threat or use of force in outer space." It received seven votes for -- including from China -- and seven against, including from the United States, United Kingdom and France, with Switzerland abstaining. US envoy Robert Wood said the move was "the culmination of Russia's campaign of diplomatic gaslighting." "Russia does not want the Security Council to focus on its dangerous actions in space," he said, citing US accusations that Moscow was attempting to put a nuclear weapon into orbit. Russia's UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya meanwhile said those on his side "on the whole are pleased with the results of the vote." "The vote has demonstrated a watershed -- a watershed between those who are striving towards peaceful use of outer space and those who are moving towards militarization of outer space," he said. "Western countries have today essentially turned out to be isolated at the Security Council." The text closely followed a draft resolution proposed by the United States and Japan in late April, which received 13 votes for but was vetoed by Russia, with China abstaining. UN Security Council proposals need nine votes in favor to be adopted, and no opposition from the five veto-wielding members. The American text called on "all states, in particular those with major space capabilities, to contribute actively to the objective of the peaceful use of outer space and of the prevention of an arms race in outer space." It affirmed "the obligation of all States Parties to fully comply with the Outer Space Treaty, including not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction." Nebenzya claimed after the vote in April that the text hid a "devious plan by our Western colleagues that has nothing to do with this noble objective." He charged that Washington and Tokyo had a "lack of interest" in banning all weapons from space, instead trying to put the focus solely on nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction. Questions swirl a day after DR Congo 'coup attempt' Kinshasa, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2024 A day after the army in DR Congo said it had thwarted an attempted coup involving several Americans and a British man, many in Kinshasa had questions on Monday about the attackers' motives and how they were able to access key government sites. The coup bid took place in the early hours of Sunday outside the residence of Economy Minister Vital Kamerhe in the capital's northern Gombe area. The group then went to the Palais de la Nation that houses President Felix Tshisekedi's offices, brandishing flags of Zaire, the name of the Democratic Republic of Congo under ex-dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who was overthrown in 1997. Shots were heard near the building, according to several sources. An army spokesman later announced in a message broadcast on national TV that defence and security forces had stopped "an attempted coup d'etat". Kamerhe, who is a candidate for National Assembly president, and his family were unharmed but two members of their security detail were killed. The attack "aimed to assassinate" the minister, his team said on Monday, showing reporters where the bullets had hit vehicles and his residence's walls, and broken windows. While daily activity resumed as normal in Gombe on Monday, many questions remained. "It (the government) is trying to divert our attention from social and security problems," Joel, a civil servant, told AFP. "I don't think that in the city centre of the capital, attackers could storm a minister's house or the Palais de la Nation without the authorities being informed." - 'Not afraid' - The group had planned to attack the home of new Prime Minister Judith Suminwa and the residence of Defence Minister Jean-Pierre Bemba, army spokesman General Sylvain Ekenge said late on Sunday. But they "could not identify the home" of Suminwa and had not been able to find Bemba at his residence, leading them to Kamerhe's home and the Palais de la Nation, he added. The ECiDe party of opposition figure Martin Fayulu pointed on Monday night to questions surrounding what they termed the "alleged attempted coup d'etat". People are "right to wonder what the next pretence will be", the party said in a statement signed by secretary general Devos Kitoko. "Politicians, stop distracting us, life is already very hard in this country," bread and avocado seller Maman Ndosi told AFP, sitting in front of her merchandise in Gombe district. "I'm not afraid, because I've already seen more than this joke!" added the mother who, like many Congolese people, is very sceptical of official information. The plot was led by Christian Malanga, a Congolese man who was a "naturalised American" and who was killed by security forces, Ekenge said. "We also have a naturalised British subject, the number two of the group," Ekenge said. But in Washington, the State Department said it had no record of Malanga being a US citizen. The State Department said it could not confirm the US citizenship of two purported Americans in custody due to privacy laws. The United States nonetheless said it would cooperate "to the fullest extent possible" in the investigation and again condemned the coup attempt. "We are extremely concerned by the reports of involvement by US citizens," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. - Condemnation - Ekenge, the army spokesman, said the attackers were made up of "several nationalities" and that around 40 were arrested, with another four -- including Malanga -- killed. Malanga's son, Marcel Malanga, was also among the assailants. But the exact motives of the group behind the coup bid remain unclear. The government said it condemned the "attempted destabilisation of the institutions". The Southern African Development Community (SADC) and African Union both condemned the attempted coup. African Union Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat was also following events with "great concern", the AU said in a statement. The coup attempt comes five months after Tshisekedi was reelected with more than 70 percent of votes in the first round. He became president in 2019 promising to improve living conditions in DRC -- which boasts mineral riches but has a largely impoverished population -- and to put an end to 25 years of bloodshed in the east. The parties backing Tshisekedi won around 90 percent of seats in parliamentary elections held the same day, but he has yet to form a government. US, Philippines to train Filipinos in nuclear power Manila, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2024 The Philippines and the United States agreed Tuesday to train Filipinos how to build and operate nuclear power plants, as the Southeast Asian country seeks to boost its electricity supply. The announcement comes after Manila and Washington struck a nuclear cooperation agreement in November that cleared a path for US investment to jumpstart atomic power in the energy-hungry Philippines. Under Tuesday's deal, the Philippine Department of Energy and the Philippine-American Educational Foundation will offer scholarships and exchange programs for Filipinos to learn about civil nuclear power and renewable energy. "This will help the Philippines develop the skilled workforce needed to build a clean energy infrastructure, including the ability to operate state of the art nuclear power plants," Daniel Kritenbrink, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told a trade forum in Manila. Philippine Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said the "advanced training" will ensure the country has the "human resources that are needed" for the sector. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos has signalled determination to adopt nuclear power in the country and has even flagged the possibility of reviving a mothballed $2.2 billion plant built during his father's dictatorship. The deal signed in November on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in San Francisco committed the Philippines to safeguards against the use of transferred nuclear material to produce nuclear weapons. Known as 123 agreements after their section in the US Atomic Energy Act, the pacts are critical for investment by US nuclear companies, which are wary of running afoul of laws related to proliferation. The United States also plans to set up a civil nuclear industry working group for Southeast Asia based in Manila. The group will "connect Philippine partners with US companies", helping to "accelerate the Philippines transition to clean and safe nuclear energy", Kritenbrink said. The Philippines -- regularly affected by electricity outages -- relies on imported carbon-belching coal for more than half of its power generation. It has some of the region's highest energy costs and faces a looming crisis as the Malampaya gas field, which supplies about 40 percent of power to the archipelago's main island Luzon, is expected to run dry within a few years. As part of its climate goals, the Philippines aims for renewable energy -- not including nuclear -- to make up 50 percent of its power generation by 2040. N Korea's Kim 'sincere' in Trump talks: Seoul's ex-president Moon Seoul, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2024 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offered to give up his nuclear arsenal if America guaranteed his regime would survive, former South Korean president Moon Jae-in said in a recently released memoir. Moon, who led South Korea for five years from 2017, was instrumental in brokering two high-profile summit meetings between Kim and then-United States president Donald Trump, aimed at securing Pyongyang's denuclearisation in return for sanctions relief. But after the second summit collapsed in 2019, diplomatic outreach was abandoned, with relations between the two Koreas now at one of their worst points in years, as Kim doubles down on weapons production and draws closer to ally Moscow. In the memoir released Friday, titled "From the Periphery to the Centre," former president Moon outlined in great detail his interactions with the North Korean leader. "Kim said he would forsake nuclear weapons if there was a guarantee of regime survival," Moon said in the book, adding that he felt the young North Korean leader was "very honest". According to Moon, Kim's reasoning was: "I have a daughter and I do not wish her generation to live with nuclear weapons... Why would we continue to live in difficulty, under sanctions, with nuclear weapons if our security can be guaranteed?" But the North Korean leader was "well aware of mistrust from the international community and the (belief from the) US that the North had been lying" about its commitments to denuclearisation, Moon said. Kim specifically asked him how the North could manage to "make Washington believe in our sincerity" to disarm. - No diplomacy - In five years since the Hanoi summit, Pyongyang has declared itself an "irreversible" nuclear weapons power, accelerated weapons development, branded Seoul its "principal enemy" and threatened war over "even 0.001 mm" of territorial infringement. It has also moved closer to Moscow, purportedly supplying it with arms in exchange for space technologies, something which would violate rafts of United Nations sanctions on both countries. Despite how things have played out, Moon said in his memoir that he still believed Kim was sincere in his plans to denuclearise, but that it was strongly contingent on "corresponding measures" from the US. Kim and Trump failed to strike a deal because Washington demanded complete denuclearisation before it would consider providing sanctions relief, Moon wrote. "In retrospect, I regret that (South Korea) did not mediate more effectively by listening to the North's demands and relaying them to Washington if deemed reasonable," he said. "Though there are negative views about Trump, he was a very good fit for me as a counterpart in alliance diplomacy," he said. "While there are assessments that he is rude and harsh, I liked him for his honesty. A person who has a smiling face but acts differently and thus can't be read is more difficult to deal with," he added. Trump was both apologetic and regretful that the Hanoi summit ended without a deal, Moon wrote. Trump was "willing to accept (the North Koreans' terms) but then-Security Advisor John Bolton fervently opposed it," Moon wrote. When Trump asked then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for a second opinion, he agreed with Bolton, leaving Trump no option but to walk away, Moon wrote. It is impossible to take Kim's words at face value now, Hong Min a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, told AFP. What was clear "is that Kim tried to change the status quo by expressing his intention to denuclearise," he told AFP. The only way to know if Kim was serious, would have been to strike a deal in Hanoi and "gauge how far the North would go towards denuclearisation," he added. Moon was succeeded by conservative Yoon Suk Yeol, who has taken a significantly more hawkish stance on North Korea. Yoon has not commented on the memoir but his minister for unification Kim Yung-ho said on Monday that taking Kim's words at face value could have lead to a security-related "miscalculation". "While ignoring North Korea's (nuclear) capability, if we only focus on the North's intentions, this could result in a miscalculation of the security situation," he said, according to the Yonhap news agency. Over 3,000 Ukrainian inmates seek to join military Kyiv, Ukraine, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2024 Thousands of Ukrainian inmates are seeking to join the military, Kyiv said Tuesday, following a decision by lawmakers enabling some categories of prisoners to join the armed forces. The move echoes a policy in Russia, where tens of thousands of prisoners have been sent to Ukraine with the promise of amnesty and were killed in gruelling battles that produced few gains. Ukraine is suffering critical ammunition and manpower shortages on the battlefield that have allowed Russian forces to advance on the eastern and northern front lines. "This is more than 3,000 people. We predicted this before the adoption of this law," Deputy Minister of Justice Olena Vysotska said, referring to the number of prisoners who have submitted applications to join the military. She said authorities had identified 20,000 eligible prisoners and that of them, 4,500 had "expressed interest" in joining. She added that the figure was likely to fluctuate. Only prisoners with fewer than three years left on their sentence can apply. Mobilised prisoners are granted parole rather than a pardon. Among those not eligible to serve include those found guilty of sexual violence, killing two or more people, serious corruption and former high-ranking officials. Russia has recruited prisoners to serve on the front lines since the first days of its invasion, initially offering presidential pardons for six months' service. Ukraine says allies should consider shooting down Russian missiles Kyiv, Ukraine, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2024 Ukraine on Tuesday called on the West to consider shooting down Russian missiles over Ukrainian territory to better protect its cities from Russian aerial barrages. Speaking in Kyiv alongside his German counterpart, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on Ukraine's Western backers not to see such a step as "escalatory." "There is no legal, security or moral argument that stands in the way of our partners shooting down Russian missiles over the territory of Ukraine from their territory," he said. Kuleba said he would like Ukraine's partners "to consider the possibility" of intercepting missiles from their territory. "If you don't want to do it, then just provide us with all the means necessary for this. We will deploy them on the territory of Ukraine and intercept these missiles ourselves," he added. Kuleba highlighted the provision of "air defence systems" and "combat aircraft with the appropriate technical capabilities." German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock acknowledged the importance of providing air defence systems and said delays in providing military support to Ukraine harmed the West's security. "It is clear that every hesitation and every delay in supporting Ukraine costs the lives of innocent people. And every hesitation in supporting Ukraine also jeopardises our own security," she said. Fighting in Niger kills 7 soldiers, dozens of 'terrorists' Niamey, Niger, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2024 Niger's military regime said Tuesday that seven soldiers and several dozen "terrorists" have been killed in fighting in a restive region plagued by insurgents linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. Suspected jihadists attacked a military position on Monday in Boni in the western Tillaberi region near Burkina Faso, the defence ministry said. Two people including a civilian were also wounded, the ministry said in a statement read out on state television. "Several dozen terrorists" were "neutralised" and their means of transport were destroyed, it added. Defence Minister General Salifou Modi in the statement also reassured people of the "unwavering determination of the defence and security forces to continue the fight against the terrorist threat". Tillaberi is in the vast and unstable "three borders" region between Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, where jihadist insurgents have carried out attacks for years despite the massive deployment of anti-jihadist forces. Seventeen Nigerien soldiers were killed in a "terrorist ambush" in the area between Boni and Torodi in August. Niger is ruled by military leaders who seized power in a July coup, citing a worsening security situation as justification for the power grab. The Niamey regime also faces violence by Boko Haram jihadists and their rivals Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) from the southeastern region of Diffa near Nigeria. Former UK marine in Hong Kong spy case found dead: police London, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2024 A former member of the UK's Royal Marines, bailed by a court last week over allegations of assisting Hong Kong's intelligence services in a Chinese-linked espionage case, has been found dead, British police said Tuesday. Matthew Trickett, 37, was found dead in a park in Maidenhead, west of London, on Sunday following a report by a member of the public, Thames Valley Police said. Trickett had more recently been employed as an immigration enforcement officer and private investigator, the UK's PA news agency reported. "An investigation is ongoing into the death, which is currently being treated as unexplained," the police force said in a statement. Trickett, from southeast England, was one of three men accused in the Hong Kong spy case. He was formerly employed by the UK Border Force at Heathrow Airport, before joining Home Office Immigration Enforcement on February 21, 2024, PA said. He was also the director of MTR Consultancy, a security firm formed in April 2021. He was released on bail along with Chi Leung Wai, 38, and Chung Biu Yuen, 63, pending their next court appearance, scheduled to take place on Friday. The three were charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service and with foreign interference, in violation of the 2023 National Security Act. The act came into force in December and is designed to bolster UK national security against "hostile activity" targeting the country's democratic institutions, economy and values. Police said earlier the "foreign intelligence service" in question was Hong Kong's. China's foreign affairs commissioner in its territory of Hong Kong "strongly condemned" Britain for "cooking up charges" and accused it of a "vicious intention to interfere" in Hong Kong's affairs. The office warned that Britain would receive "China's firm and strong retaliation". - China spying charges - The UK has been outspoken about the Hong Kong government's new national security law, which it views as eroding the territory's rights and freedoms. Britain has repeatedly denounced the treatment of pro-democracy campaigners in its former colony, and launched a visa scheme to allow Hong Kong residents to come to the UK. As a result, it has become a refuge for dissidents, including pro-democracy politician Nathan Law. Hong Kong police last year issued a wanted list of eight overseas activists that included Law. As part of the UK police investigation, 11 people were taken into custody this month. The case involving Trickett comes after two men, one of whom works in the UK parliament, were last month charged with spying for China. They are due to be tried next year. Former prime minister David Cameron, now foreign minister, in 2015 hailed a "Golden Age" of ties between London and Beijing, but relations have deteriorated significantly in recent years. As well as clashing over Hong Kong, the two countries have argued over the treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority in China's Xinjiang region and over human rights in Tibet. Amnesty International said in a recent report that China was targeting citizens studying abroad for their political activism, with some students reporting harassment of family members back home. Asked about the Amnesty report, Beijing's foreign ministry dismissed it as "purely malicious smears". Disclaimer: Please note that the views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpoilerTV. Greys Anatomy has been on the air for 20 seasons now and fans are used to jaw dropping moments. The show initially followed the life of surgical intern Meredith Grey and her fellow doctors at what is now Grey Sloan Hospital. The show currently does not have a main character that is the focus but an ensemble cast of characters that have fans invested in their stories. Greys provides stories that are full of passion, deep dives into dynamic relationships, trauma and tragedy. With so many amazing moments, it is hard to condense them all into a list but below check out 10 moments that left us shocked (in no particular order): 10. Active Shooter Gary Clark, a grieving widow is so distraught at the loss of his wife that he blames the hospital and any surgeon that he comes across but especially wants to confront Derek Shepherd (Chief of Surgery at the time). He shoots and kills Reed Adamson and wounds Dr. Alex Karev. He does eventually shoot Derek while April stands there in shock. Meredith and Cristina witness this and Meredith has a miscarriage due to the stress. Miranda Bailey has to treat Charles, another doctor that was shot while helping their patient Mary (Mandy Moore). The episode is often described as the best in the entire series. 9. April and Jackson Lose Their Baby Just when it seemed that April and Jackson finally made it through their difficult coming together and was going to have a baby, fans were devastated to learn that the baby was not going to survive. Their baby named Samuel was diagnosed with Type 2 Osteogenesis and would not survive should he be born to term. They made the sad decision to terminate. The scenes were beautifully acted and the repercussions were felt throughout later seasons. 8. Meredith is Attacked Meredith is fighting with Amelia who ignores her call for a consult on a patient that has had a seizure and later attacks Meredith. The attack seems to go on for an eternity before she is discovered and her friends and fellow doctors rush to save her life as well as her attackers. The attack leaves her temporarily unable to speak or hear. Directed by Denzel Washington, everyone brought their A game for this episode and left fans in shambles. 7. Cristina Yang Leaves We knew that cast members would leave the show but it hit different when Meredith (and our) person, Cristina Yang decided to leave and take Burke up on his offer to run his facility in Zurich our hearts broke. We did not know what that would mean for the show and who could fill that void that we desperately needed; Alex did beautifully. Meredith and Cristina danced it out one last time in an emotional scene that brought closure. 6. Denny Duquette Dies Before he was wreaking havoc on Walking Dead, he was breaking hearts on Greys Anatomy as Denny. Izzie and Denny were a fan favorite, even with fans wanting her and Alex to be together. You couldnt help but to love Denny and his positive outlook on life even though he was dying. Everything seemed to be fine as he got his transplant (Izzie may have broken the law to help him, but we let that slide) but he ended up having a clot after the transplant and died, breaking Izzie and our hearts. 5. Meredith and Derek Adopt Zola When Meredith and Derek decided that they wanted to adopt Zola, it definitely came as a surprise. Especially because Meredith can be indecisive at times and the pair were fighting in previous episodes. However, when Zola showed up at the end of an emotional rollercoaster of an episode fans were treated to a heartwarming scene and a brand new family. Plus baby Zola was so cute. 4. George O'Malley Dies When George O'Malley died it felt like someone punched us in the face. He didnt have much of a story in his final seasons but we all thought he was joining the military. So when a faceless patient showed up after an accident we were left with our mouths open when Meredith declared the John Doe patient was in fact George. Some of us still are not over this death. 3. Airplane Crash The airplane crash storyline is one of the best arcs in television. Not only was the acting spectacular but fans just did not know what would happen next. Arizona losing her leg led to some great stories for her as well as Derek having to break his hand to get free. The most gut wrenching moment from the episode is the death of Lexie Grey and her final moments with Mark Sloan who died the next season due to his injuries. This storyline always ranks high among fans. 2. Dereks Death When Derek is hit by a car, you just figured he would survive it and return to his family. No such luck, this is Greys Anatomy after all and they love to break our hearts. When Meredith visits Derek and tells him it's ok to go, the tears would not stop flowing. Meredith and Derek were put through the ringer and it was sad to see their story end this way. 1. Merediths Covid-19 Visions We would all like to forget the pandemic but it is hard for a medical show like Greys Anatomy to ignore. They have always tackled real life issues in their writing and the pandemic was not different. When Meredith contracted covid-19 it seemed that perhaps the show was ending and this was her send-off. We were treated to seeing all our favorite characters return to the show in Merediths dreams. We saw Derek, Lexie, Andrew, George and Mark after years of being off the show. It brought so much closure and was a surprise to fans. There you have Greys Anatomy fans. The top 10 moments that have shocked fans. Did your favorite moment make the list? Let me know in the comments and follow me on X @jereereviews to discuss more. The cap will apply from the three months from 1 July, and is down from 1,690 for the April-June period. The cap itself is set per unit of energy, and the figure used for the cap refers to the amount an average household would spend in a year with bills at that level. This means that some households annual bills will be higher than the cap figure. Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, was right last week to observe that a fundamental rewiring of the political system was required to correct this power imbalance. In the Kings Speech, the Government promised that the new office of Independent Public Advocate would be created to support and speak up for families in cases such as these. But it is far from clear that the necessary legislation will be passed before the election or that the new IPA will have the powers necessary to be more than a group therapist with an official crest. What I think is worth remembering this time round after all the other cuisines weve welcomed, embraced, and debauched is to not get carried away. I dont want to get into an appropriation debate, but lets respect bao a little more than some of the other dishes weve come to love. Dr. Oetker pizza and Yo! Sushi are prime examples. 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SIGN IN By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. After the trip, Harry and Meghan landed back in LA with a couple of rather bruising bumps. It has since been revealed that the couple were flown in Nigeria by Air Peace airline, whose CEO and chairman is Dr Allen Onyema, who is currently wanted in the US over an alleged 16 million money laundering and bank fraud racket allegations which he denies. The controversial Onyema was also part of the welcoming committee of dignitaries who met the Sussexes when they arrived in Nigeria. It was also revealed their Archewell Foundation had been sent a delinquency notice by Californian authorities for failing to file its annual report or related fees on time. It later emerged that Archewell had sent a $200 (158) cheque which had not been processed by the Attorney Generals office. A statement was then released by Californias Department of Justice on Tuesday night which said the delinquency notice had been removed and that the Archewell Foundation was current and in good standing. But despite the matter being resolved quickly, it remained an acute embarrassment for the Duke and Duchess. That would come as news to the 73 per cent of pupils who are not White British, to the 41 per cent whose first language is not English, and to the 4.1 per cent of pupils who have Education, Health and Care Plans (as opposed to a national average of 2.5 per cent). Patients were asked about the timing of 29 neurological and mental health symptoms such as depression, hallucinations and loss of balance, and were requested to list them in the order they appeared when the disease was flaring. One of the most common symptoms was disrupted dream sleep, experienced by three in five patients. A third of them said the symptom appeared a year before the onset of Lupus which Lupus UK believes 50,000 people in the UK currently have. Id ask him where he is and what hes doing, and he would always be somewhere with someone from some area of work, or hed be meeting friends from school. The Ministry of Health informed on Tuesday that 120 new cases of SARS-CoV-2 infected persons were registered during the week of May 13-19. According to the cited source, 39 of the new cases are in re-infected patients who tested positive more than 90 days after the first infection. To date, 3,530,604 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been recorded. The 14-day incidence rate is 0.01. In contrast to new cases, following re-testing of patients who were already positive, 12 people have been reconfirmed with COVID-19. In the last week, 734 RT-PCR tests and 6,991 rapid antigen tests were performed. To date, 14,014,913 RT-PCR tests and 14,802,192 rapid antigen tests have been processed nationwide. The Ministry of Health also informs on Tuesday that 18 people with COVID-19 are admitted to health units. Of the total number of patients admitted, three are minors, all of whom are being treated in wards. In the week 13 - 19 May five deaths (three men and two women) were reported by the National Institute of Public Health. Two deaths were recorded in the 70-79 age category and three in the over 80 age category. All patients had comorbidities and one was vaccinated against COVID. To date, 68,946 people diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection have died in Romania. A number of 60 artificial nests will be placed on high-voltage poles in the south of the country this year, announces the Romanian Ornithological Society. The first new nests were mounted on poles in mid-April, under a partnership with Transelectrica, in several locations in Dobrogea, Baragan and southern Muntenia. The measure is part of an international project for the conservation of the saker falcon (Falco Cherrug), an endangered species in both our country and Bulgaria. "This conservation measure is necessary because, from observations made in other parts of the areal occupied by Falco Cherrug, a major limiting factor to population growth is the availability of nesting sites, as these falcons do not build their own nest, but occupy the nests of other species," reads a press release posted on the SOR website. The nest is based on a model used in similar saker falcon conservation projects in Europe and is made of aluminium, with a volume of 0.2 cubic metres and a weight of about 8 kg. It has a metal mesh at the base to prevent rainwater from accumulating, over which a layer of gravel has been laid for protection. The artificial nest can also be occupied by other species of birds of prey, especially the common kestrel (Falco Tinnunculus) or the long-legged buzzard (Buteo Rufinus), the latter having its own nest made of branches inside the aluminium nest. Specialists have observed that these nests are also occupied by rooks (Corvus Frugilegus) and could also be occupied by the common ravens (Corvus corax), a species that lives in the Dobrogea area and whose nesting in such structures has been reported in Bulgaria by BSPB, partner in the Life for Falcons project. "One of the advantages of these constructions is that they provide a permanent nesting site, as opposed to natural nests, which are periodically removed to prevent potential damage to power lines, an activity carried out by electricity companies outside the nesting season," the source said. At the same time, power lines provide protection against nest poaching, a major threat to many species of birds of prey, including the saker falcon. In the coming months the action will continue in the same area, with artificial nest sites being placed both in and near Natura 2000 areas included in the LIFE for Falcons project. The project 'Securing the recovery of the endangered Saker Falcon in Bulgaria and Southern Romania' spans over 5 years and is co-financed by the LIFE Programme of the European Union. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu declared on Tuesday that there has been a long-standing relationship between the Turkish and Romanian secret services regarding the fight against terrorism. "Romania and Turkey are not competitors. They are two complementary states, in both fields: the aid to Ukraine and, for example, the demining project, which will start working very soon, between Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria, so important for the Black Sea, in the context of the war in Ukraine, there has been a relationship between the Turkish secret services and the Romanian secret services for a very long time, a relationship of substance, not one of form, as President Erdogan said, first and foremost, in what concerns terrorism", Marcel Ciolacu told a press conference held in Ankara. He mentioned that the High Level Strategic Cooperation Council, the equivalent of joint government meetings, demonstrates the interest of the two countries for a relationship at all levels and for ensuring stability in the region. "We decided to have a working group regarding the connectivity between Romania and Turkey, but also between Asia and the Caucasus and Europe, so that it is reconfirmed that the Port of Constanta becomes the main port on the Black Sea and a gateway to the European Union With certainty, in the coming period we will have several joint projects, including in the energy field, including in terms of connectivity and gas transit on the Vertical Corridors and the Southern Corridor," said Prime Minister Ciolacu. The President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stated on Tuesday, during a press conference held together with the Romanian Prime Minister, that the fight against terrorism was among the topics addressed. "We shared with the Prime Minister our expectations from Romania in the fight against terrorist organizations such as the PKK and FETO," Erdogan said. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, accompanied by a delegation of ministers, was in Ankara on an official visit on Tuesday, at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The first joint meeting of the Governments of Romania and Turkey represents a big step forward, a step that will bring the two states even closer strategically, economically and socially, said prime minister Marcel Ciolacu. "With certainty, today we are witnessing the most important moment in the relationship between Romania and Turkey since the establishment of the Strategic Partnership between our countries in 2011. And I say this because by formalizing the High Level Strategic Cooperation Council we were able, practically, to organize the first joint government meeting between Romania and Turkey. It is a big step forward, a step that will bring our states and nations even closer, strategically, economically and socially. I would like to congratulate Mr president Erdogan for this initiative!" said Marcel Ciolacu during the statements made together with president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the end of the official meetings that took place at the Presidential Palace in Ankara. He declared himself honored that thus Romania gets its well-deserved place and is officially recognized as "a country of main interest" for Turkey. In this context, the prime minister thanked President Erdogan for the "special gesture" he made towards the Romanian citizens regarding the travel regime. "Through today's decision, Romanians who want to travel to Turkey will be able to do so only with the ID, no longer needing a passport. We know very well that many Romanians prefer Turkey as a tourist destination and I think this will help a lot", stated Ciolacu. The prime minister also mentioned another very important decision agreed with the Turkish side, with impact for Romanian farmers, regarding the resumption of exports and transit of meat and live animals to Turkey. "Last year we surpassed $10 billion in trade, but together we set an ambitious goal of $15 billion to cross in the coming years. And we can only do this if we continue to we encourage the presence of Turkish companies on the Romanian market, mirroring a more solid representation of Romanian companies in Turkey", said Ciolacu. Queues of lorries up to 11 kilometres long have formed on Tuesday before the main border crossing points with Hungary in Arad county, after vehicles over 7.5 tonnes were prevented from entering the neighbouring country for two days, a restriction that was lifted on Monday evening at 11:00. According to the Traffic online app on the Border Police website, lorry drivers are waiting at least 350 minutes to exit the country via Varsand, where three lanes are open for heavy traffic. At Nadlac II border crossing point, the queue of lorries is 11 kilometres long on the motorway and the waiting time for entry formalities into Hungary is at least 200 minutes, although five lanes are open. At Nadlac I border crossing point, one lane is available and there is at least a 90-minute wait in the queue. Representatives of the Arad Border Police told AGERPRES that the congestion of trucks is generated by the two days of restrictions on heavy traffic on the territory of Hungary, namely Sunday and Monday between 07:00. and 11:00 (Romanian time). The restrictions did not concern the transport of dangerous goods, live animals, perishable foodstuffs or those subject to a certain temperature regime. Light and tourist traffic is normal at border crossing points at border crossing points in Arad county. Prime minister Marcel Ciolacu was received on Tuesday at the Presidential Palace in Ankara by president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during his official visit to Turkey, told Agerpres. The Turkish president welcomed the Romanian prime minister within a military ceremony with the guard of honour and the singing of the state anthems of Romania and Turkey. Also, 21 volleys of cannon were fired during the ceremony. The two high dignitaries will have a one-on-one meeting, followed by the signing of the Joint Declaration for the Establishment of the Council of High-Level Strategic Cooperation between Romania and the Republic of Turkey. Based on the said document, the first joint meeting of the two governments, Turkish and Romanian, will take place. The plenary reunion of the two delegations will be followed by a signing ceremony of several Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding on sectoral cooperation in several areas, such as social security, SMEs, tourism, functional aspects regarding the activity of diplomatic missions of the two countries, and urbanism. The meetings will be followed by joint press statements by PM Marcel Ciolacu and president Recep Erdogan. President Klaus Iohannis had a telephone conversation on Tuesday with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, about the upcoming NATO Summit and security consolidation at the Black Sea. "I just had a comprehensive telephone discussion with @ZelenskyyUa, focusing on our continued support for Ukraine, priorities for the upcoming #NATO Summit & consolidation of the overall security in the #BlackSea. Also expressed our commitment to Ukraine #PeaceFormula," Iohannis wrote on his X page. President Klaus Iohannis will visit Piatra Craiului National Park on Wednesday, on the occasion of the International Day of Biodiversity and on the sidelines of the European Day of National Parks, which will be marked on May 24, the Presidential Administration informs. "By participating in Wednesday's event, President Klaus Iohannis highlights the importance of preserving the natural heritage and the role of national parks for educational and awareness-raising activities, as well as for recreation, provided that a responsible behavior towards nature is adopted," the source says. During the visit, the president of Romania will have discussions with the relevant central authorities regarding environmental protection, biodiversity conservation and the promotion of environmental education and will also meet with the directors of national and natural parks from various regions of the country, gathered at the Piatra Craiului National Park. On the agenda of the discussions will be topics that require an approach and a coordinated effort at the national level, such as increasing the access of the general public to national and natural parks, the development of educational programs in the parks, such as the implementation of the National Junior Ranger Program, the source states. Other points of interest include the establishment of a national framework for the protection of biodiversity, for the preservation of the integrity of ecosystems and landscapes, as well as for the optimal management of national and natural parks. The President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, addressed the situation in the Gaza Strip in discussions with Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, emphasizing the responsibilities of the international community in terms of a "secure future" for Palestinians. The clarifications were made during a joint press conference held together with Marcel Ciolacu, who is on an official visit, at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "I exchanged ideas with the Prime Minister about the developments in our region and in the world. Of course, the most important of these was the Israeli oppression in the occupied Palestinian territories and especially in the Gaza Strip. The responsibilities of the international community are obvious in stopping Israeli atrocities and ensuring the safe future of our Palestinian brothers. I believe that our ally, Romania, will make the necessary contributions to international efforts on this issue," said Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He mentioned that the situation of the war in Ukraine, now in its third year, was also discussed. "Since the beginning of this war, Turkey has made significant contributions to ensuring global food security and ensuring the safety of navigation in the Black Sea and continues to do so," the leader in Ankara said. At the same time, he specified that the fight against terrorism was among the topics discussed with Prime Minister Ciolacu. "We shared with the Prime Minister our expectations from Romania in the fight against terrorist organizations such as the PKK and FETO. We note that the Turkish communities and the Tartar Turks living in Romania are a bridge of friendship between us. We are happy that these compatriots ours live in harmony with Romanian society. I want to thank the Romanian authorities for making this possible. On this occasion, I want to give you an update, saying that we have implemented the regulation that will allow Romanian citizens to travel to our country only with identity cards. Thanks to this fact, we believe that our human relations will grow", said Erdogan. The total value of real estate investments registered in Romania in the first quarter of this year was 202 million euros, up 69% compared to the same period in 2023, informs Colliers in its 'CEE Investment Scene Q1 2024' report, released on Tuesday. According to the cited source, Romania has thus demonstrated the best performance compared to the other five major economies (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Colliers' consultants believe that the outlook for the real estate market remains quite solid in the region, with environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria becoming increasingly relevant in the decision-making process of real estate investors, banks and tenants. Across the six CEE countries, total investment volumes fell, overall, by 15% compared to Q1 2023, to around 1.2 billion EUR. In this context, the Czech Republic became the new leader in the region, with investment volumes accounting for 46% of the region's total, surpassing Poland, which had a combined share of 30% of transaction volumes in Q1 2024. Overall, the expert report highlights that results varied significantly across the region, from a 94% drop in activity in Slovakia to a 69% increase in Romania. The first three months of 2024 brought Romania a 16% share of the region's total investment volume, compared to 5% - 7% in the years before the pandemic. In addition, the retail sector was dominant locally during the period under review in terms of trade activity, with around 66% of the total commercial real estate investment volume, followed by the hotel sector (around 21%). Moreover, retail is the new leader in the CEE region as well, accounting for 43% of transaction volumes in the period January - March 2024, followed by hotels (20% share) and industrial and logistics (I&L) - with 15%. On the other hand, office investment volumes continued to decline, accounting for just 13% of CEE volumes. Romania's capital has one of the highest investment returns in the region for the industrial and office building sectors (7.5% for prime assets), but also retail (7.25%), notes the report. Colliers is a leader in real estate services and investment management, with operations in 68 countries and 19,000 professionals. AGERPRES special correspondent Daniel Florea reports: Romanian citizens will be able to travel to Turkey only with their identity cards for a maximum period of 90 days, according to a decree signed by President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan. According to the presidential decree published on Tuesday in the Turkish Official Journal, Romanian citizens holding identity cards will be granted visa exemption for tourist travel and transit permits in Turkey for a maximum stay of 90 days every 180 days. The decision taken by President Erdogan comes in the context of the official visit that Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu will pay to Ankara on Tuesday. Why are three times as many Black women in Southern Illinois more likely to experience a pregnancy-related death than White or Hispanic women? Why do Black women also have the highest severe maternal morbidity (SMM) rate compared to White, Asian, or Hispanic women? Why do Black babies born to Black women die at rates more than double that of infants white, Hispanic, or Asian women in Illinois? The answer? Racism. That was one of the findings from an Illinois state health report late last year that pinpointed racism as a public health crisis while also noting the state needed to drastically improve in the areas of maternal and infant health, mental health and substance use disorders. The State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) is part of Healthy Illinois 2028- a five-year plan outlining major public health crises the state hopes to address in four years. The plan outlines goals, objectives, and recommends strategies to improve the health of Illinois residents and advance health equity in general. After two years of assessment and planning, SHIP prioritized five major public health issues: Racism as a public health crisis Maternal and infant health Mental health and substance use disorders Chronic disease COVID-19 and emerging diseases The report emphasized: There is an overwhelming volume of evidence highlighting how systemic racism throughout the health care system negatively impacts maternal morbidity and mortality for women of color. Data from another 2022 report, The Illinois Task Force on Infant and Maternal Mortality Among African Americans, stated that Black women in Illinois are about three times as likely to experience a pregnancy-related death as White and Hispanic women. Additionally,Black women have the highest severe maternal morbidity (SMM) rate at more than two times that of non-Hispanic white women and significantly higher than Asian and Hispanic women. For infants those born to non-Hispanic Black women the report states they die at rates more than double that of infants born to White, Hispanic, or Asian women in Illinois, according to the health report. The health improvement plan, for the first time, made a point of listing racism as an overarching public health crisis in Illinois. It is essential to emphasize that disparities in health outcomes according to race/ethnicity have nothing to do with biology and everything to do with inequitable distributions of money, power and resources, the plan stated. Illinois Public Health Institute (IPHI) senior program manager, Janece Gough added: Racism is both a cross-cutting issue and a standalone priority because it is at the root of many, if not all health issues. In a commentary published here last week, Bethany Johnson-Javois, pastorof Monument of Faith Church in Jennings and President & CEO of the Deaconess Foundation spoke to the dire health disparities in Illinois and Missouri. Deaconess is dedicated to improving the health of people living in Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois-which includes Alton, Centralia, Collinsville, Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Godfrey, Granite City, OFallon, and Carbondale. After reviewing several health studies on pregnancy-related deaths in Missouri Johnson-Javois stated that 84% were determined to be PREVENTABLE. Citing data from the Illinois Maternal and Mortality Report, she noted that of the 263 people who died while pregnant or within one year of giving birth from 2018 to 2020, 91% of pregnancy-related deaths might have been PREVENTABLE. Johnson-Javois said there is a serious lack of health data on the maternal health inequities in Southern Illinois compared to Missouri. Without this accountability and transparency, she said, skewed data will continue to paint an incomplete picture of maternal and infant health in Illinois. In Southern Illinois,I desire my community to receive even more activation and transparency around the issues that surround maternal and infant health that squander the potential of generations of its people, Johnson-Javois wrote in her commentary. During an open hearing on the SHIP plan last year, Creola Hampton, president of the Black Leadership Advocacy Coalition for Healthcare Equity, or BLACHE (pronounced black) a network of organizations from Chicago to East St. Louis, spoke to the need to address inadequate funding to combat racism in maternal morbidity. The unfortunate dilemma is the Illinois Department of Public Health funding is so highly racially inequitable that it perpetuates racism being a public health issue, Hampton toldCapitol News Illinois, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service. Hampton further stressed: If the state is going to be leading saying that racism is a public health issue, then, the state has to be actively involved and making sure that there is equitable funding going to African American-led organizations to do the work that needs to be done to negate the inequity of health. IPHI director Laurie Call said that eight Illinois entities including the Chicago Department of Public Health, the Peoria City/County Health Department, and a Champaign school board, have already issued a formal declaration of racism as a public health crisis. According to the American Public Health Association, 19 other states have also declared racism a public health crisis, including Michigan and Wisconsin. SHIPs Healthy Illinois 2028 plan includes the following recommendations aimed at addressing disproportionate pregnancy-related deaths among Black and Hispanic women: Improve accessibility, availability, and quality of equitable reproductive health and well-woman/person preventative health care services across the reproductive lifespan. Promote a comprehensive, cohesive, and equitable system of care and support services for all birthing persons to have a healthy pregnancy, labor and delivery, and through the first year postpartum. Promote a comprehensive, cohesive, and equitable system of care and services to improve birth outcomes and support infants healthy development in their first year. The plan states that it will be updated and refined as Illinois begins implementation. Its success, according to the document, is dependent on all health partners-navigating and implementing the goals, objectives, and recommended strategies to achieve better health outcomes for all (Illinois) residents. Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow Senior Airman Ayanna Dickerson embraces Senior Airman Roger Fortsons mother after singing the national anthem during a memorial service at Hurlburt Field, Fla., May 20, 2024. (Alex Stephens/U.S. Air Force) Senior Airman Collin Courtney stood in a packed Hurlburt Field aircraft hangar and told the audience his friend, fallen Senior Airman Roger Fortson, was made to be an AC-130 gunner. Fortson was confident, caring and an exceptionally fast learner, Courtney said Monday at a memorial service at the Air Force base in Florida to honor the late airman who was killed in a May 3 police shooting at his off-post apartment. While training to become a gunner on the AC-130J Ghostrider special operations gunship, Fortson once grabbed a fire extinguisher from the aircraft and handed it to his evaluator who was preparing to test him on a series of difficult questions about the aircrafts various weapons systems, Courtney recalled. The evaluator stared at Fortson confused. Roger, without missing a beat, said, Youre going to need this because Im going to be on fire answering these questions today, Courtney told the gathering of his fellow member of the Air Forces 4th Special Operations Squadron. Hundreds of friends, family and airmen gather for Senior Airman Roger Fortsons funeral service at Hurlburt Field, Fla., May 20, 2024. (Alex Stephens/U.S. Air Force) Fortson, 23, was respected by those who served alongside him and those who trained him, according to Capt. Malcom Lee, an AC-130J Ghostrider gunship evaluator pilot with the 4th SOS. Lee said the fallen special missions aviator scored the highest evaluation possible on his first AC-130 evaluation ride. He was a gifted athlete and student, Lee said. Roger can be summarized by the word exceptional, he told the crowd at Hurlburt, which included hundreds of uniformed airmen, Fortsons mother and father, and 14 other members of his family. Everything about him was exceptional and he was an exceptional special missions aviator. The Air Force service Monday came three days after Fortsons funeral service at a church in Stonecrest, Ga., just east of his hometown of Atlanta. Fortsons funeral, attended by hundreds, was described as a sea of Air Force blue, by Col. Patrick Dierig, who commands the Air Forces 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field. Dierig credited Fortsons family with producing a great person who would become a great air commando and a great aviator. If you want to be a great airman, be a great person first, Dierig said. And Senior Airman Fortson did just that. Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force David Flossi and Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, Air Force Special Operations commander, salute during the playing of the national anthem at Senior Airman Roger Fortsons memorial service at Hurlburt Field, Fla., May 20, 2024. (Alex Stephens/U.S. Air Force) Fortsons family was presented the Air and Space Commendation Medal, posthumously awarded to the late airman for meritorious service while serving with the 4th SOS. The Monday ceremony was the latest example of the Air Force and its special operations community standing up for Fortson, whose killing is being investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Fortsons family and lawyers representing them have described the shooting by an Okaloosa County sheriffs deputy as unwarranted. The police officer who shot Fortson has not been identified yet. A pastor who led Fortsons funeral went further describing the killing as murder of a Black man by a law enforcement officer. Weve got to call it as it is Roger died of murder, the Rev. Jamal Bryant said during the funeral. He died of stone-cold murder. And somebody has got to be held accountable. Roger was better to America than America was to Roger. Hundreds of friends, family and airmen gather for Senior Airman Roger Fortsons funeral service at Hurlburt Field, Fla., May 20, 2024. Senior Airman Fortson was 23 years old when he was shot and killed in an Okaloosa County Sheriffs Department deputy-involved shooting on May 3, 2024, at his off-base apartment. (Alex Stephens/U.S. Air Force) Body camera footage of Fortsons shooting released by the Okaloosa County Sheriffs Department shows the airman answered his Fort Walton Beach apartment door holding his legally owned handgun pointed down. The deputy shouted, Step back, and immediately fired six rounds into Fortson the moment the door opened, the footage showed. Only after firing those rounds did the deputy order Fortson to drop the gun, the video showed. An attorney for Fortsons family, Donald Crump, has said the deputy went to the wrong apartment to investigate a possible domestic disturbance before shooting Fortson. Crump told reporters earlier this month that Fortson was home alone when he was shot. He had been speaking with his girlfriend on the phone when he heard someone outside his apartment and grabbed his gun just before the shooting, Crump said. Officials for the Okaloosa County Sheriffs Department have said the deputy shot Fortson in self-defense. The deputy has been placed on administrative leave while the shooting is probed by state law enforcement and the State Attorneys Office, officials said. Children explore a classroom in the reopened Child Development Center at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, May 10, 2024. (Audree Campbell/U.S. Air Force) The Child Development Center at Andersen Air Force Base reopened this month, concluding one of the last major on-base repairs one year after a major typhoon struck Guam. The center closed two days before the eye of Typhoon Mawar, a Category 4 storm, passed just north of the U.S. territory on May 24, 2023, 36th Wing spokeswoman 1st Lt. Ariana Wilkinson said by email Tuesday. The center was significantly damaged by the storm, which brought heavy rain, flooding and wind gusts of up to 167 mph. Brig. Gen. Thomas Palenske, commander of Andersens 36th Wing, ceremoniously reopened the center May 10, several weeks ahead of schedule, Wilkinson said. It provides day care and enrichment programs for ages 6 weeks to 5 years old. Mawar damaged the centers interior walls, windows, heating, refrigeration, and ventilation and air conditioning system and left the building contaminated with mold and mildew, Wilkinson said. Most of the classroom furniture had to be replaced due to water damage. Airmen and their families attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the renewed Child Development Center at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, May 10, 2024. (Audree Campbell/U.S. Air Force) Airmen and their families walk through the renewed Child Development Center at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, May 10, 2024. (Audree Campbell/U.S. Air Force) The biggest setback for reopening was the challenge of operating the CDC while preparing for the move and necessary inspections, center director Ana Kosko said in a May 15 news release. Acquiring specific furniture and equipment which is not available in Guam, that had to be delivered through freight forwarders, also contributed to the delay. While the center was down for more than 11 months, its services werent entirely unavailable. Infant and pretoddler classrooms were moved to Andersens school-age care facility and were available to families with mission-essential personnel on June 26, Wilkinson said. Toddler and preschool classrooms relocated to Andersen Elementary School for mission-essential families on July 10, she added. The repair time, while inconvenient for many families, allowed for enhancements and major improvements, including new flooring, furniture and alarm system, according to the release. The renovations mark one of the last major projects to be completed following last years typhoon, but not the last. Repairs continue for Andersens passenger terminal. The terminal is operational, Wilkinson said, but its services have been moved to portable office buildings. Construction and renovation on the passenger terminal are expected to be completed by July 2026. Were rebuilding the base to make it more resistant and more resilient, she said in a follow-up phone call Tuesday. Lift Aircrafts Hexa aircraft, an Air Force Agility Prime project vehicle, demonstrates its abilities to U.S. airmen and civilian staffers at Hurlburt Field, Fla., May 3, 2022. Lawmakers are pushing for the rapid adoption of electric and hybrid aviation technologies in the military, aiming to enhance efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of defense operations. (Taylor Crul/U.S. Air Force) A U.S. military with flying cars may soon no longer be the stuff of science fiction, as House legislators seek to push the Defense Department to speed up integration of commercial electric and hybrid technology into aircraft. A House subcommittees section of the proposed 2025 National Defense Authorization Act directs the Air Force and the Pentagon to set up a working group made up of top-ranking defense officials to spur applications of a program called Agility Prime. The 4-year-old Air Force program explores the potential military applications for electric aircraft through industry partnerships. It involves testing of electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles, dubbed flying cars or flying taxis, with an eye toward using them for such tasks as search-and-rescue and carrying passengers or cargo. The aircraft can move people and things around in a more efficient and environmentally friendly way, according to an Air Force Research Lab news bulletin. Agility Prime which is run by the Air Forces innovation arm, known as AFWERX has contracts with a spate of manufacturers producing electric aircraft for the program. Among AFWERXs repertoire are aircraft from California-based Joby Aviation and at least one Alia plane from Beta Technologies that was delivered in October to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida to begin testing. In November, the Alia completed its first test flight. It flew 68 nautical miles round trip, making a pit stop to recharge its batteries at a DOD charging station, Air Force officials said. The Pentagon sees all-electric manned aircraft as a way to reduce its carbon footprint. If the new proposal becomes law, the working group will have to be set up within six months. It would be run by the Air Force secretary and would include the Army and Navy secretaries, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and representatives of U.S. Special Operations and Transportation commands, according to the proposal. The group would be tasked with identifying military applications for advanced aviation technologies and figuring out how to transition those from research and development to operational use across the services. Those capabilities include hybrid and electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, advanced air mobility platforms, and autonomous flight, test and evaluation software, according to the proposal by the subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee. The Air Force secretary would have to submit reports on the working groups preliminary progress to the House and Senate defense committees by the end of September 2025, followed by two more annual reports. (Tribune News Service) Threats in and from space were one focus of a gathering of national intelligence principals Monday and Tuesday at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. In recent months, U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R- Dayton, has aired concerns about suspected Russian development of satellite-destroying nuclear weapons, pressing leaders at the Pentagon and within the Biden administration to discuss or acknowledge the possible consequences of such weapons. A spokesman for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence which Turner leads as chairman agreed that Turner and others brought those concerns, among others, to Wright-Patterson, where they gathered for a two-day retreat beginning Monday. The reporting about Russia attempting to put a nuclear weapon in space, I definitely think that that is why space is a focus, said Jeff Naft, a spokesman for the Intelligence Committee. He emphasized, however, that the retreat is not being held solely in response to the perception of greater dangers in space. This gathering at Wright-Patterson has been planned for months, Naft noted. Other subjects drew attention. Late Monday, Turners office released a statement urging U.S. defense leaders to expedite the delivery of new weapons to Ukraine, a nation that has faced renewed Russian pressures in the countrys northeast. The letter was signed by members of both parties and urged the Biden administration to authorize the use of U.S. weapons within Russian territory. Ukrainians have been unable to defend themselves due to the administrations current policy, the letter said. It is essential the Biden administration allows Ukraines military leaders an ability to conduct a full spectrum of operations necessary to respond to Russias unprovoked attack on their sovereign land. Turner and fellow committee members are planning a press conference at Wright-Patterson Tuesday afternoon. This will be the second retreat for the Intelligence Committee at the Air Force base. This year, Turner expected his ranking committee member, Rep. Jim Himes, D- Conn., to join him, with other House members and their staffs. While Naft cautioned that itineraries can change, the CIA director, FBI Director Christopher Wray and others, including leaders of the U.S. Space Force, were expected to join them, Turner said at a ribbon-cutting last week for the new home of NASIC (the National Air and Space Intelligence Center) at the base. Naft has said that for safety purposes, he cannot share a complete list of the national security leaders who are expected to attend. Wright-Patterson is home to NASIC and the National Space Intelligence Center (NSIC). Those intelligence-gathering missions inform the work of other crucial Air Force missions at Wright-Patterson, such as the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Air Force Materiel Command, as well as policy leaders and national decision-makers. Last week, the House Intelligence Committee held an open panel with think tank experts to discuss threats facing the U.S. Rebeccah Heinrichs, senior fellow and director of Keystone Defense Initiative for the Hudson Institute, told the committee that satellite-destroying Russian space weapons would be a potential violation of the Outer Space Treaty, which is fitting with the pattern of the Russian systemic violations of treaties, from the INF Treaty to the Open Skies Treaty and then now they are not complying with the New Start Treaty. It would be a highly provocative, very dangerous and threatening problem for the United States for which the United States has no answer, Heinrichs added. Last week, the New York Times reported that the Pentagon is rushing to counter what leaders there see as advances by China and Russia in space-based operations. The Times quoted Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, the chief of space operations at the U.S. Space Force, who said in March: We must protect our space capabilities while also being able to deny an adversary the hostile use of its space capabilities. Because if we do not have space, we lose. And the Wall Street Journal recently reported that Russia launched a satellite in 2022 that is designed to test components for a potential antisatellite weapon that would carry a nuclear device. (c)2024 the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) Visit at www.daytondailynews.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. A casket holding the remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Robert Ferris Jr. is carried from a plane at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, N.C., May 16, 2024. (North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs) A U.S. Army Air Forces staff sergeant was laid to rest Monday in North Carolina, eight decades after he went missing when his bomber was shot down over France during World War II. Robert Ferris Jr., whose remains were accounted for last fall, was buried with full military honors at New Bern National Cemetery, according to a news release Monday from the states Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Bringing SSgt Ferris home will help his family find some measure of closure, Grier Martin, the departments secretary, said in the release. After eight decades, this coming Memorial Day will have additional meaning to SSgt Ferriss family. Ferris served in the 401st Bombardment Squadron, 91st Bombardment Group, Eighth Air Force, according to an online biography posted by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, which officially accounted for him on Sept. 22. The 91st had the highest losses of any Eighth Air Force bomb group, with 197 aircraft reported missing in action during the war, according to the American Air Museum in Britains website. The group suffered 887 killed and 123 missing in action, and claimed the most enemy aircraft destroyed, 420, according to the 91stBombGroup.com, a memorial website. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Robert Ferris Jr. was buried in North Carolina on May 20, 2024, after his remains were recovered and identified more than 80 years after his bomber was shot down over France during World War II. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency) On Dec. 20, 1942, Ferris was a gunner aboard a B-17 Flying Fortress that took off from Cambridgeshire, England, for a bombing mission against targets around Romilly-sur-Seine, France, the DPAA biography states. The bomber, with its nine-member crew, was shot down by a German fighter plane and crashed near the village of Bernieres-sur-Seine. One crew member bailed out before the crash and later reported the remaining crew had all died, DPAA said. After the war ended, the American Graves Registration Service disinterred four sets of remains from the city cemetery in Evreux, France. One set was identified as belonging to the B-17s top turret gunner, but the other three could not be identified, the DPAA states. Those remains were buried as unknowns at Normandy American Cemetery. Historians with the entity that preceded DPAA began reanalyzing the case in 2011 and determined there was enough evidence to pursue the case, DPAA said. In 2019, the Department of Defense and the American Battle Monuments Commission exhumed the three sets of unknown remains believed to be associated with the bomber crew, DPAA said. The remains were transferred to the DPAAs lab in Hawaii where Ferris was identified. The caisson platoon of the Armys 3rd Infantry Divison, also known as the Old Guard, leads a funeral procession in December 2016 at Arlington National Cemetery, Va. (Huey D. Younger Jr./U.S. Navy) WASHINGTON The yearlong suspension of horse-drawn funerals at Arlington National Cemetery is expected to extend for several more months as the Army faces obstacles in improving horse care, service officials said Tuesday. The Army pulled the 3rd Infantry Regiments Caisson Platoon from operations in May 2023 after several horses died from poor living conditions. A year later, the popular program is still struggling to restart, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said. Its surprisingly complex and challenging, she said during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing. We have quite a bit of work to do before we can operate that particular service, which is so important, safely and efficiently. The horses of the platoon, known as the Old Guard, provide gravesite escort to caskets of fallen service members on a caisson, which is a wagon once used to carry ammunition and bring dead soldiers off the battlefield. There were up to eight horse-drawn funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery per day until the Army paused the program over health concerns last year. Two of the platoons horses died within days of each other in 2022, both with gravel and sand in their digestive systems. An Army investigation showed horses were living in cramped and unsatisfactory conditions, grazing on fields littered with construction debris and manure, consuming low-quality hay and suffering from parasites. Officials blamed the poor conditions on mismanagement, lack of resources and poor training on how to care for horses. The Army had hoped to rehabilitate the horse program and slowly reintroduce horses into memorial services in late June, beginning with a riderless horse trailing a hearse. Full horse-drawn funerals were expected to return by the fall. But Wormuth said the platoon still needs to purchase 30 additional horses and find pastureland to support them. The stables at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Va., also need to be reconstructed to care properly for the horses, she said. Its going to be several more months before we can offer caisson funerals again, Wormuth said. The remains of the fallen have been carried in a hearse or a cemetery vehicle since the suspension. Arlington National Cemetery is the final resting place for more than 400,000 veterans and family members and conducts up to 30 funeral services each workday. Only higher ranks are eligible for full honors funerals that include the caisson platoon. The support we provide at Arlington National Cemetery is sacred to us and to all of our veterans, and were trying to stand up this capability [again], Gen. Randy George, the Army chief of staff, assured lawmakers on Tuesday. Army Pfc. Katia Duenas-Aguilar, 23, was found dead May 18, 2024, in a residence in Clarksville, Tenn., according to the Clarksville Police Department. (U.S. Army) Police are seeking the publics help as they investigate the death of a 23-year-old Fort Campbell, Ky., soldier in nearby Clarksville, Tenn. Clarksville police responded to ambulance call at about 8:33 p.m. Saturday on Tiny Town Road where they found Pfc. Katia Duenas-Aguilar dead inside a residence. Her death was ruled a homicide, and the Army Criminal Investigation Division is assisting in the investigation, according to the Clarksville Police Department. Information about the cause of death or the circumstances were not released Tuesday. We are stunned by the death of Pfc. Duenas-Aguilar, said Lt. Col. Tony Hoefler, spokesman for the 101st Airborne Division and Fort Campbell. In the meantime, we will continue to cooperate with Army and local investigative authorities on this matter. Duenas-Aguilar was a member of the divisions Combat Aviation Brigade from Mesquite, Texas, according to the division. She enlisted in 2018 as an information technology specialist and attended boot camp and advanced individual training at Fort Eisenhower in Georgia. She has been assigned to Fort Campbell since 2019. Duenas-Aguilars awards and commendations included two Army Achievement Medals, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon. Anyone with information regarding Duenas-Aguilars death is asked to call Detective Hofinga at 931-648-0656, ext. 5684. To remain anonymous and be eligible for a cash reward, please call the Clarksville Montgomery County Crime Stoppers Tips Line at 931-645-8477 or submit a tip online at https://P3tips.com/591. The gate sign at Fort Wainwright, Alaska. (U.S. Army) One soldier was killed and another injured Saturday in a single-vehicle crash near Fairbanks, Alaska, the Army said. Pfc. Cierra Nglias Truce, 19, of Koror City, Republic of Palau, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash on Parks Highway near Nenana. She was a passenger in the vehicle, the Army said. The driver was transported to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital where he was treated and released. Nenana is about 50 miles southwest of Fairbanks, where Truce was stationed at Fort Wainwright. Truce was a supply specialist with the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 11th Airborne Division. She joined the Army in March 2023 and trained at Fort Jackson, S.C., and Fort Gregg-Adams, Va., before arriving in Alaska in August 2023, the Army said. Pfc. Truce was a high-performing member of the Bobcat Battalion, and her loss is devastating across the formation, Lt. Col. Jon Doiron, 1-5 Infantry Battalion commander, said in a service news release. Her tragic death truly impacts the entire Bobcat family, and our support and prayers go out to all of those who considered Cierra friend or family. Truces death follows that of two soldiers who died in October near Fairbanks when the Light Medium Tactical Vehicle that they were riding in flipped on a dirt road. The two killed in the crash Spc. Jeremy Daniel Evans, 23, of Knoxville, Tenn., and Spc. Brian Joshua Snowden, 22, of Lonedell, Mo.were among 17 soldiers in the vehicle. Earlier this month, 1st Lt. Brandon Keyon Moultrie, 28, of Columbia, S.C., died at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital after being shot in the back of the head during an altercation outside a downtown Fairbanks bar. Moultrie was a bystander and not involved in the dispute. U.S. Army Spc. Brandon Lu shoots an M4A1 carbine during the weapons qualification event of the 2024 Georgia Army National Guard State Best Warrior Competition at the Catoosa Volunteer Training Site, Ringgold, Ga., March 13, 2024. (Alexandria Higgins/U.S. Army National Guard) (Tribune News Service) The U.S. Army has awarded West Hartford-based manufacturer Colts Manufacturing Co. a $57.2 million contract for M4 and M4A1 carbines, according to the U.S. Department of Defense Website. The contract, awarded on May 16, is scheduled to be completed by Sept. 18, with the location of the work yet to be determined. The Army Contracting Command in Newark, N.J., awarded the contract. Carbines, or long guns with shortened barrels, are used in military settings by troops including special operations soldiers and paratroopers. Colt developed the M4 platform in the 1980s and has since introduced the M5 and other carbine models. A Czech company, Ceska Zbrojovka Group SE, bought Colt in 2021 for $220 million in cash and 1.1 million shares of its stock. The parent company did not respond to requests for comment on the new contract. Czech President Petr Pavel visited the West Hartford plant last year, highlighting the gunmakers symbolic and economic importance. Colt sales were up 50 percent since the acquisition and the West Hartford location employed 340 people, company officials said at the time. Colts Manufacturing has secured several major Army deals in recent years, including a $26.7 million contract awarded on May 1 for M4A1 carbines, suppressors and flash suppressors, with the work to be done in West Hartford. Fiscal 2024 Foreign Military Sales (Israel) funds in the amount of $26,675,000 were obligated at the time of the award, reads the announcement on the Defense Department website. The Army awarded Colts Manufacturing a $41.9 million foreign military sales contract for M4 and M4A1 carbines in 2019, and two domestic carbine contracts for $88.6 million and $57.7 million in 2018. Colts gun sales to Israel drew protest to the companys West Hartford headquarters at 545 New Park Ave. last November, with picketers denouncing Israels actions in Gaza and demanding that Colt stop doing business with the country. Colts Manufacturing Co. is the modern incarnation of the pioneering firearms maker founded by Samuel Colt in Hartford in 1855. The historic Colt factory complex south of downtown Hartford has been redeveloped into housing and office space. (c)2024 the New Haven Register (New Haven, Conn.) Visit at www.nhregister.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Chaplain Cristiano DeSousa, then a lieutenant commander, delivers the invocation at a memorial service at Naval Station Mayport, Fla., in October 2015. (Timothy Schumaker/U.S. Navy) The Coast Guard on Tuesday fired a Miami-based chaplain, the second one to be dismissed in less than a month. Cmdr. Cristiano S. DeSousa, who had served as the Seventh District chaplain since July 2023, was relieved because of a loss of confidence in his abilities to fulfill the expectations of his position, according to service officials. Rear Adm. Douglas Schofield, the district commander, made the decision following an administrative investigation, said Lt. Cmdr. John William Beal, spokesman for the district. The Coast Guard found Cmdr. DeSousa demonstrated poor judgment and performance constituting a breach of trust with the workforce, Beal said. The Seventh Coast Guard District chaplain serves as a trusted command adviser and is charged with the pastoral care and spiritual needs of nearly 9,000 Coast Guard members throughout our 1.8 million square mile area of responsibility. His performance undermined his position of leadership and authority, and the Coast Guard has higher expectations of officers in these key leadership positions. DeSousa, a Presbyterian minister, was reassigned to the Navy, which provides chaplains to the Coast Guard. Capt. Daniel Mode, a Catholic priest who became the Coast Guards top chaplain in April 2022, was reassigned April 24 for failing to act appropriately when he learned of another chaplains sexual misconduct that predated military service. The Archdiocese for the Military Services refuted the Coast Guards investigation and argued Mode received documentation in 2022 of the incident that occurred in 2011 and reported it within hours. Mode provided the report to key Coast Guard personnel and chaplains responsible for advising and briefing their commanders with the assumption it would be more broadly communicated. The dismissals of DeSousa and Mode are not related, Beal said. DeSousa was commissioned as a naval officer in September 2006 and has served in Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard units, according to his official service record. Before moving to Miami with the Coast Guard, he served with the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force in Okinawa, Japan. His awards and decorations include two Meritorious Service Medals, three Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, the Coast Guard Commendation Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and two Sea Service Deployment Ribbons. USS Hershel "Woody" Williams transits the Gulf of Guinea on May 2, 2024. The expeditionary sea base includes a roughly 52,000-square-foot flight deck capable of accommodating up to four Chinook helicopters. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes) ABOARD THE USS HERSHEL WOODY WILLIAMS Shortly after docking in the west African country of Gabon earlier this month, sailors aboard this ship learned that no one would be allowed to disembark. It would be the next day before the necessary Gabonese approvals would allow shore leave, including to attend the opening ceremony of the 13th iteration of the U.S.-led Obangame Express exercise hosted this year by Gabon. It didnt get easier for the ship in the days ahead. Were pretty much a floating embassy. We go to countries almost no one goes to. Petty Officer 3rd Class Gabriel Gajda, a yeoman assigned to the USS Hershel Woody Williams The crews experiences during a recent exercise underscored the challenges the Woody Williams faces as one of the few U.S. military vessels to almost continually transit African waters, as part of collective U.S. government efforts to build and sustain partnerships in a region America considers vital to its national security interests. International terrorism, drug smuggling, Chinese interest in building an Atlantic naval port and a growing Russian military presence all come into play in this region. The sailors aboard the only Navy ship assigned to the U.S. Africa Command area of responsibility know that their role is unlike many others in the service. Were pretty much a floating embassy, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Gabriel Gajda, a yeoman assigned to the ship. We go to countries almost no one goes to. Chock-full of challenges The bridge of USS Hershel "Woody" Williams is visible from this photo taken May 1, 2024, from the ship's 50,000-square-foot mission deck below. The ship is manned by a hybrid crew of 100 Navy sailors who manage flight and other operations, and 50 civilian mariners responsible for navigation and maintenance. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes) Gold crew sailors gather on the mission deck of the USS Hershel "Woody" Williams for an evacuation drill on May 3, 2024. To sustain nearly constant operations in Africa, the ship is manned by two crews, dubbed blue and gold, which rotate five-month deployments aboard the ship to keep it at sea about 10 months a year. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes) The expeditionary sea base USS Hershel "Woody" Williams sails near the coast of Ghana on May 1, 2024. (U.S. Navy) The countries that most Navy ships regularly visit are well-practiced at hosting them. Its a different story in Africa. The ports dont have much capacity to handle a vessel like Woody Williams, which is a little smaller than an aircraft carrier. And the immature supply chain needed to restock and maintain the ship often requires MacGyver-like ingenuity and problem-solving, officials say. For example, an Expeditionary Resuscitative Surgical System team is aboard to offer lifesaving care if needed to U.S. forces operating in the region. The team also demonstrates the ships capabilities to African countries. But there isnt a way to sterilize the surgical equipment the team uses while at sea. Officials are considering alternatives, such as purchasing a sterilizer for the ship and training sailors in its use. The team also is working out the process of getting blood and other medical supplies regularly replenished. Our biggest hurdle is logistics in nature, said Cmdr. Ben Coyle, gold crew executive officer of Woody Williams. He noted that the lack of ports able to accommodate the ship limits engagement opportunities with government and military officials as well as citizens. Our greatest successes are in presence and interactions, Coyle said. To sustain its presence, the ship is manned by two separate crews, dubbed blue and gold, which rotate five-month deployments. Political pitfalls The crews also must negotiate the dynamics of instability and military coups, such as that of Gabon in August 2023, which can hamstring diplomatic efforts and limit training opportunities with African navies. Last year, conflict and government upheaval in Africa, particularly within the Gulf of Guinea region, kept Woody Williams sidelined for part of its deployment, said Capt. Lenard Mitchell, gold crew commanding officer of Woody Williams. We were not able to engage with local countries as much as we planned to and then we ended up being pulled for additional tasking later in the deployment, he said. The flight deck and operations center are visible in this photo of USS Hershel "Woody" Williams as it transits the Gulf of Guinea headed to Libreville, Gabon. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes) Cmdr. Martin Boese, assigned to an Expeditionary Resuscitative Surgical System team deployed on USS Hershel "Woody" Williams, supervises as Corpsman Kayle Newberry practices putting an IV into the hand of a sailor on May 3, 2024. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes) Meanwhile, U.S. efforts to gain influence in Africa through military relationships also are being tested by Chinas attempts to wield soft power, such as financing a fishing harbor in Accra, Ghana, set to open in August. And Russias work to create instability in countries, such as Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali, played parts in coups and opportunities for their forces, including the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group, to fill the void, U.S. officials said. Those challenges dont deter Woody Williams leadership or its crew. The ship can embark U.S. helicopter crews or Marine Corps units, or participate in a variety of military operations. But Woody Williams primary mission isnt warfare, Coyle said. Keeping a broader perspective The focus is on building relationships, with the desire to increase stability and create opportunities in a largely overlooked, underserved (area of responsibility), Coyle said. As one sailor said: We are in it for the long game, not the short wins. The Navy is seeing success in that regard with Gulf of Guinea countries, said Rear Adm. Michael Mattis, director of strategic effects for U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa. Our challenge is to meet our partners where they are at and not push our own agenda on them, Mattis said. This isnt about the (U.S.) military doing something. This is about our partners, and building capacity with them and building trust with them, because without trust no capacity is possible. That effort has included building operations centers, coastal radar systems and other infrastructure, and donating retired vessels and equipment to help African navies grow. The service also leads and participates in exercises, such as Obangame Express, often used to help train African forces in the fight against illegal fishing, drug smuggling, human trafficking, piracy and other illicit activities. For example, U.S. sailors, Coast Guardsmen and Marines embarked on Woody Williams worked with Cape Verde authorities to interdict about 13,228 pounds of cocaine from a Brazil-flagged ship in international waters near West Africa in April 2022. In September, two former U.S. Coast Guard cutters were commissioned into the Ghanaian navy, and the U.S. contributed an additional $6 million in equipment for maritime projects last year. Those contributions were part of $28 million in U.S. security assistance to Ghana in 2023, Virginia Palmer, the U.S. ambassador to Ghana, said while speaking at the African Maritime Forces Summit in Accra last month. Those and other efforts appear to be gaining ground, although U.S. presence and influence in west Africa is being challenged. Earlier this month, 1,000 U.S. troops were ordered to leave Niger and abandon a $110 million drone base opened just five years ago. That breakdown in relations followed a military coup in the central African country in July 2023. Last month, the U.S. temporarily pulled most of its roughly 100 special operations troops out of Chad in advance of a presidential election there, following three years of military rule. Junta leader Mahamat Deby Itno subsequently was declared winner of the May 6 election. Well come back for discussions within a month to see what ways and what they need to be able to build further in their security construct and also against terrorism, especially in the Lake Chad region, Gen. Michael Langley, commander of AFRICOM, told reporters in Accra on May 1. Successes and setbacks There are bright spots, however. African countries accounted for about 75% of 15,550 logins in March this year into a Navy-introduced software program that, among other capabilities, allows tracking of vessels at sea and unclassified communications between nations. West African countries accounted for 53% of that number, according to Navy data. The worldwide system also is used by the U.S. and some European and Black Sea countries. During Obangame, the Navy introduced new technology: a drone with surface and underwater capabilities that was eagerly anticipated by Gabon and other countries. But while the exercise served as a showcase, it also laid bare the difficulties of engagement. Woody Williams ran aground as it departed the port of Libreville, Gabons capital. It broke free a few hours later after high tide, ultimately being forced to anchor outside the port to wait for an inspection. USS Hershel "Woody" Williams enters the port at Libreville, Gabon, on May 5, 2024. The ship was in Libreville for the Obangame Express opening ceremony and other events related to the exercise. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes) A sailor aboard USS Hershel "Woody" Williams prepares lunch for a crew of about 100 Navy sailors in the Gulf of Guinea on May 3, 2024. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes) The ship, with its hybrid crew of about 100 sailors managing air and other operations and 50 civilian mariners responsible for navigation and maintenance, remained there for more than a week. It couldnt participate as planned in the Obangame exercise, which ended Friday. Still, the crew did what they could to make the trip productive. A limited test of a new drone with their Gabon counterparts showed promise. The partnership between the two navies is strong, said Rear Adm. Charles-Hubert Bekale Meyong, Gabonese chief of naval staff. Training together, the establishment of a maritime operations center built by Navy Seabees in Port Gentil and other new programs were some of the benefits, he said. The partnership has to stay in the real life more than just exercises and trainings, said Meyong, who added he is eager to see the Gabon fleet grow. This allows us to enhance our cooperation in the management of global maritime security. Military leaders like Meyong say theyre committed to building their capabilities and expertise in order to protect their resources, such as fish, and grow their economies. As one military leader recently shared with Mattis: We know we will have reached success with Obangame Express and these other exercises when the partner nations convene the exercise themselves and invite the U.S. in to participate. To me, that is exactly the right approach, Mattis said. A package of Oreo Sour Patch Kids cookies is shown on May 23 in Ann Arbor, Mich. They are one of about a dozen limited-edition Oreo flavors that Chicago-based food and beverage company Mondelez International plans to release this year. (Dee-Ann Durbin/AP) Van Leeuwen Ice Cream usually draws customers with gourmet takes on classics like vanilla and pistachio. But occasionally, the artisanal ice cream maker headquartered in New York slips in what it calls a shock flavor, like Hidden Valley Ranch or pizza. Surprising flavor combinations think gravy-flavored Jones Soda or Sour Patch Kids Oreos are showing up more frequently in grocery stores and restaurant chains. Hershey recently introduced pink lemonade-flavored Kit Kats, while IHOP and Lays brought out Rooty Tooty Fresh n Fruity potato chips, designed to taste like strawberry-topped pancakes with a hint of bacon. In the United Kingdom, Little Moons made fish-and-chips mochi ice cream in 2021, while potato chip brand Walkers is known to celebrate Christmas with a Brussels sprout-flavored edition. Usually, these are limited-time flavors, although occasionally theyre so popular they wind up on store shelves permanently, as Lays Flamin Hot Dill Pickle chips did in 2019. While its tempting to pass them off as social media stunts, experts say theres more to the story. Food companies are responding to the changing and expanding tastes of consumers while also trying to keep brands relevant and distinct to win space on crowded store shelves. Were in a really exciting time of flavor development where consumers are not just one thing. Youre not just a sour lover or a sweet lover. You want a little of this and a little of that, said Kristen Braun, the senior brand manager for Oreo innovation at Chicago-based food and beverage company Mondelez International. Companies are finding the freedom to explore a little bit more and get more creative. Sour Patch Kids Oreos vanilla cream-filled cookies speckled with colorful bites of the sour candies are one of about a dozen limited-edition Oreo flavors that Mondelez plans to release this year. Braun said it takes the company one or two years to develop such products, which stay on shelves for about nine weeks. Shes already thinking ahead to future flavors that blur the lines between sweet, salty and spicy. Oddball pairings arent entirely new in the food and beverage industry. Hubba Bubba released a bubble gum-flavored soda in the late 1980s, for example. But manufacturers and their suppliers have gotten more sophisticated and efficient, making it easier to experiment and put out limited-editions more frequently, said Mark Lang, a food marketing expert and associate professor of marketing at the University of Tampa. Kyle Shadix, who as the corporate executive research chef for PepsiCo, has worked on beverages like Pepsi Maple Syrup and a strawberry shortcake Pepsi sold in Japan, said the members of Generation Z are also fueling innovation. Theyre diverse, adventurous and pick up on food trends quickly through social media, he said. Theyre every chefs dream to design for, said Shadix, who is currently experimenting a lot with Mexican, Korean and Japanese flavors. Gen Z is going to drive us faster. Were going to start to see even more exploration quicker than in the past because theyre just so open to it. Toying with flavors can boost brands in several ways. Sometimes they bring new customers to a brand. They might also nudge buyers to pick up the original flavor, Russell Zwanka, director of the food marketing program at Western Michigan University, said. Sour Patch Oreos sound interesting, but nobody wants to risk buying Oreos that dont taste good, so people buy both, Zwanka said. When companies combine brands, theyre trying to build an association in consumers minds. Peeps-flavored Pepsi, which came out last year, sends the message that Pepsi is current and fun, Lang said. Mustard-flavored Skittles, which came out last summer, made the 104-year-old Frenchs brand seem playful. Enter Kraft Heinz, which approached Van Leeuwen Ice Cream a few years ago about macaroni and cheese-flavored ice cream. Ben Van Leeuwen, the companys co-founder and CEO, was doubtful at first but found that Krafts powder blended well with the Brooklyn-based companys ice cream. Van Leeuwens Kraft Macaroni and Cheese ice cream came out to rave reviews in 2021 and was re-released for a short time last fall. Ben Van Leeuwen scoops Kraft Mac & Cheese flavored ice cream, May 15, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Kraft Heinz approached New York-based artisanal ice cream maker Van Leeuwen a few years ago about macaroni and cheese-flavored ice cream. It came out to rave reviews in 2021 and was re-released for a short time last fall. (Frank Franklin II/AP) We will only do a shock flavor if we can make it good and distinct. We will not do a shock flavor where its just shock in name but taste like vanilla, Van Leeuwen said. But novel flavor combinations dont always work. Van Leeuwen couldnt eat more than a few bites of his companys Hidden Valley Ranch ice cream, which contained onion and garlic powders. And shock flavors typically dont end up on the permanent menu because of their lower eat-ability, he said. I think you would taste our mac and cheese and youd say, Oh, thats good, but do you want to take a pint of that mac and cheese from your freezer when youre watching whatever show on Netflix and eat the entire thing? Probably not, Van Leeuwen said. Candy brand Brachs ran into that issue with its Turkey Dinner Candy Corn, a 2021 limited-edition version of the fall staple that tasted like turkey, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, apple pie and coffee. Katie Duffy, vice president and general manager of seasonal at Ferrara Candy Co., which owns Brachs, acknowledged there was a gross-out factor. We have learned from consumers that we dont want to have something where they eat a few pieces of candy and then they toss it because theres some things that they dont want to repeat, Duffy said. We want it to be a delicious flavor journey. Brachs recently introduced Easter Brunch-flavored jelly beans, and they hit that mark, she said. The candy beans mimicked the flavors of blueberry maple pancakes, chocolate doughnuts, caramel cold brew, cinnamon rolls, berry smoothies and mimosa cocktails. A package of Brachs recently introduced Easter Brunch-flavored jelly beans is shown on May 13 in Ann Arbor, Mich. They mimic the flavors of blueberry maple pancakes, chocolate doughnuts, caramel cold brew, cinnamon rolls, berry smoothies and mimosas. (Dee-Ann Durbin/AP) Shannon Weiner, senior director of insights and analytics at Ferrara, said the company closely tracks social media to see what flavors are trending. People are increasingly looking for dessert and dairy-flavored candies, she said. Theyre also seeking more international flavors like Tajin, a brand of chile-lime spice from Mexico that recently did a collaboration with Pop Tarts. Lang thinks the more time people spend in restaurants or trying out new foods, the more they seek out unusual flavors. We are variety-seeking animals. We constantly are seeking something new and different; its in our wiring, he said. We like to experiment. Using IMAX-certified cameras mounted on a helicopter, The Blue Angels documentary filmmakers were granted unprecedented access to the U.S. Navys Flight Demonstration Squadron, both on the ground and in the box, the tightly guarded performance airspace. The film has no staged re-creations, second takes or computer-generated shots. (Amazon Prime/AP) If youre looking for a little bit of fresh Top Gun: Maverick spectacle and thrill this summer, youre in luck. A groundbreaking new documentary, The Blue Angels, is flying off of IMAX screens and onto Prime Video May 23. Using IMAX-certified cameras mounted on a helicopter, the filmmakers were granted unprecedented access to the U.S. Navys Flight Demonstration Squadron, both on the ground and in the box, the tightly guarded performance airspace. Unlike in a Hollywood movie, there were no staged re-creations, second takes or computer-generated shots. And they had about 5% of the budget Top Gun had, those involved estimated. The film was the brainchild of Rob Stone and Greg Boss Wooldridge, a former Blue Angel and subject of a 1994 film about one of their historic tours in Europe. COVID-19 derailed plans to follow their 75th anniversary season, but a silver lining would emerge in the delay. By that point, aerial coordinator Kevin LaRosa II had worked several times with actor Glen Powell, on Top Gun and Devotion. Powell, hed learned, had grown up with a Blue Angels lithograph in his childhood bedroom. (Powell) said, Ill hook you up with the Creative Artist Agency in Hollywood and well get this done, Wooldridge said in a recent interview. Soon, they were also talking to J.J. Abrams company Bad Robot and figuring out ways to collaborate with IMAX and show audiences things that no civilian has seen before, under the direction of filmmaker Paul Crowder. Abrams, who also produced, had grown up living across the street from a former Blue Angel pilot and wrote in an email that hed always been intrigued by their skill, bravery and heroism. This film would take that fascination to the next level. The footage was filmed especially for IMAX, Abrams continued. Watching these pilots do their thing in this format the jets literally inches apart is utterly bonkers. Truly spectacular to see. A scene from the documentary The Blue Angels. According to producer J.J. Abrams, The footage was filmed especially for IMAX. Watching these pilots do their thing in this format the jets literally inches apart is utterly bonkers. Truly spectacular to see. (Amazon Prime/AP) One of the craziest ideas was to put a helicopter with a camera mounted on it in the middle of a demonstration, in airspace where no civilian aircraft has ever been allowed. It would be during a practice demonstration, but Wooldridge is quick to remind that there is no real difference between a practice and the real show when it comes to execution, the level of excellence expected and the danger involved. When Kevin said lets do this, my eyes got as big as saucers, Wooldridge said. I led the (Blue Angels) on three occasions and I said, Im not sure I would allow this to happen. LaRosa had exhaustively studied how it might happen safely and ensured everyone was properly debriefed. Still, on the day, everyone was prepared to hear no maneuver (flight canceled) as everyone got used to the distraction of a helicopter in their airspace. Much to their surprise, the boss never called no maneuver. It all went according to plan. We researched every possible way to film that information, and everybodys done it different ways from the ground. But to get into the air with a wing-mounted camera and all the cameras in the cockpit? Wooldridge said. It was unbelievable. LaRosa had done such a good job flying the helicopter that they were able to inch even closer to the jets by the end of the shoot. Crowder also used a Phantom camera, which can shoot 1,000 frames per second (the standard is 24 fps), to get spectacular shots of the vapors coming off the jets. Beyond the spectacle, the film looks at the people in the jets as well, including the first woman to fly with the squadron as a pilot, Lt. Amanda Lee, of Mounds View, Minn. You can read all you want, but until youve spent time in Pensacola at the air base and really spend time with these guys, watching them do what they do and dedicated everything that they are to it, you dont really get it, Crowder said. What we were hoping to do in the film was to portray a lot of that. Crowder recommends ignoring moms advice and sitting as close to the television screen as possible for the best viewing experience. Wooldridge, who led the Blue Angels three times, said the experience of watching this film is better than being up there. Ive seen it from the cockpit, my cockpit, a bunch. Ive seen it from the ground as we debrief, he said. But Ive never seen it the way you see it in this movie. The perspective was so much better than I ever saw as a pilot. Im wowed and awed by it. A Marine Corps photo illustration depicts a 2010 advertisement for the Camp Pendleton Transition Assistance Management Program. (Michelle Brinn/U.S. Marine Corps) In October 2001, less than a month after the 9/11 attacks, the first American troops began combat operations in Afghanistan. Nearly two years later, the war in Iraq began. Over the next two decades, about two million American service members answered the call to serve in these conflicts. The wars may be over, but Americas duty to the veterans who returned is not. Transitioning from military to civilian life can often be a difficult challenge. This reality is especially true regarding their return to the civilian workforce, beginning a new career or resuming a former one, and building financial security. The good news is that there are real concrete actions that we as a society can take to ensure our nations veterans and their families are successful in this transition. The generation of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan looks quite different than previous generations of troops returning home. The post-9/11 wars were the first extended conflict to depend on an all-volunteer force, meaning many soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines deployed multiple times. The long duration of the conflict also meant that troops born after the war began later fought in it as young adults. Because military service is often a family tradition, some families even saw multiple generations parents and their children serving in the same conflict. The economy is also different from what earlier veterans experienced. Todays modern economy demands new and constantly evolving skill sets, often on highly technical issues. However, employers do not always understand how professional skills developed in the military can translate to the private sector. Often civilian hiring managers do not understand the unfamiliar terms and jargon used in the military. The irony is that many skills common in the military, such as engineering, IT and logistics, are in high demand by private sector employers. These effects are compounded for veterans with disabilities who face unique circumstances returning to the civilian workforce. The current generation of veterans has the highest level of reported disabilities compared to previous generations. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 39% of post-9/11 veterans have a service-connected disability, compared to 26% of Vietnam veterans and 14% of World War II veterans. The compounded effects are true for disabilities that are both apparent and not apparent; in fact, a recent survey of veterans found that mental health was often cited as a top barrier to employment. Many employers want to do more. They understand that Americas veterans possess expertise, talent, and leadership qualities that can enhance an organization. Well-intentioned programs to hire veterans have resulted in relatively lower unemployment rates compared to the population at large. However, this statistic overlooks the fact that many veterans are dealing with underemployment, are in jobs that are not in career paths they trained for, are making less money than they did while serving in uniform, or feel they lack opportunities for growth and development. These experiences have left many veterans, particularly disabled veterans, feeling uncertain about their long-term financial security and prospects for retirement. Additionally, many veterans cite dissatisfaction in their professional lives. A job isnt just about financial stability; as crucial as it is, having a fulfilling career that makes you happy improves your overall life satisfaction. Many veterans want their post military employment to match the satisfaction and fulfillment they enjoyed on active duty but find it difficult to identify and secure jobs that adequately utilize their skills and experience, are appropriately challenging and provide opportunties for growth. This can be disillusioning for veterans and their families. The good news is that there are steps that employers who want to do more can take to help ensure assimilation into the civilian workforce is smoother for veterans and military families. Even better, these steps should help all employees. Employers should consider the needs of veterans, especially disabled veterans, when designing their benefits packages. Benefits as simple as a tool to help coordinate employee benefits and VA benefits could go a long way in navigating complex, sometimes overlapping programs. Other benefits, such as emergency savings plans, retirement plans, or health savings accounts, can help with unforeseen expenses and better position employees for retirement. Specifically, providing education about mental health care and coverage and ensuring the information is easy to access can help employees take advantage of benefits they may not be aware of. Employers also should be proactive in creating a culture that is safe and inclusive for disabled veterans to disclose their situations and their needs. Concerns about stigma and bias are a common impediment that keeps many employees from using existing programs and benefits that they have earned. Fostering a supportive environment may include creating opportunities for confidential conversations about employer benefits, potentially through a trusted partner organization that can provide support or training for managers and employees to reduce bias and stigma around disabilities especially mental health. Finally, employers can work with nonprofit organizations as trusted partners. Easterseals has been supporting veterans since World War II, adapting for the needs of each new generation. Such support includes helping veterans navigate byzantine government benefits systems and running programs that offer skills training, job search assistance, employment preparation, and guidance. While these steps may not be a comprehensive solution to complicated generational issues, they are tangible actions that employers can take today. They are a small cost but could have a tremendous benefit in helping to serve those who have served us. Kendra Davenport is president and CEO of Easterseals, one of the largest and oldest disability service providers in the country. Although the primary goal of foster care is for the children to be reunited with their parents, in some cases this is not possible. (Pixabay) Military families make up a third of the approximately 80 foster families on Guam that take in children removed from their homes on account of neglect. Despite that contribution, foster care is still critically short of parents willing to accept at-risk children, according to the supervisor of the islands Division of Childrens Wellness. Unfortunately, the short tours typical of most military families also mean their foster experience is abbreviated, Pamela Brewster told Stars and Stripes by email Saturday. Military families offer our foster children unique experiences and opportunities, she said. The short tour of duty for some military families does have an impact on foster care in that some of our best foster families leave the island. The commander of Andersen Air Force base recently recognized his communitys reputation for providing homes to children in need. As many of you know, a lot of our Air Force families serve as foster families here on Guam, Brig. Gen. Thomas Palenske wrote on his Facebook page May 13, part of his promotion of a walk and fun run to raise money for foster families. May is National Foster Care Month and Palenskes shout-out highlights a drastic need for foster parents on Guam, Bethany Taylor, executive director of Harvest House, told Stars and Stripes by phone on Thursday. Harvest House is a Baptist ministry for foster children and families on Guam that acts as an emergency triage center for children in crisis entering the foster care system. Theres 675 foster children on Guam and theres only 80 licensed foster families, roughly, Taylor said. Twenty-five of those families are with the military. Guams severe shortage of foster homes creates a never-ending recruiting challenge to meet that need, Brewster said. The No. 1 reason that Guams Child Protective Services removes children from their families is neglect due to the parents drug abuse, Brewster said at a legislative committee on health on March 25, according to Pacific Daily News. Makayla and Senior Airman Joseph Carmichael were foster parents for two years to 10 children, three of whom they adopted while stationed on Guam. They became foster parents through Harvest House. The first time we had encountered this need for foster parents wasnt something that we really ever thought about doing until we went to Guam, Makayla Carmichael said by phone Thursday. The Carmichaels time as foster parents ended when Makayla and their children evacuated Guam for the United States following Typhoon Mawar last year, she said. We had a lot of damage, and our daughter needed another surgery, so we moved back to Kentucky temporarily, she said. Although the Guam foster care system loses out when a military foster family makes a permanent change of station, there is an upside, Brewster said by email. Many military families have been given the opportunity to become legal guardians, and in some cases, adoptive parents for the children in their care when they PCS out of Guam, she said. This offers our children an even greater opportunity stateside, especially if the child has special needs and requires services that are not readily available on Guam. Although the primary goal of foster care is for the children to be reunited with their parents, in some cases this is not possible, or the reunification time is delayed for various reasons, Brewster said. Carmichael said the community support at Anderson was a great help while being a foster parent, from navigating housing issues to answering questions about enrolling foster children into Defense Department schools and child care centers. Taylor said becoming a foster parent on Guam is much easier and quicker than in the States. If you ever wanted to foster, this is the best place, the best opportunity that you can get involved right away and make such a huge impact on the foster childs life, she said. Taiwans new President Lai Ching-te gives a speech at his inauguration ceremony on May 20, 2024 in Taipei, Taiwan. Lai urged China to stop its military threats against Taiwan in his inaugural address. China slammed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken for extending his congratulations to Lai. (Annabelle Chih, Getty Images/TNS) (Tribune News Service) China slammed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken for extending his congratulations to Taiwans new president and separately sanctioned a former U.S. congressman who supported Taipei, underscoring how the islands status divides the two superpowers. Its a serious violation of the political commitment made by the U.S. to maintain only cultural, commercial and other unofficial relations with the Taiwan region, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Tuesday in response to Blinkens comments at a regular press briefing in Beijing. The remarks by the U.S. top diplomat sent a seriously wrong signal to the Taiwan separatist forces, Wang said. He added that Beijing had filed a diplomatic complaint with Washington, and called on the U.S. to immediately correct their mistakes. Blinken congratulated Lai Ching-te on Monday shortly after he took over as Taiwans new president. The Biden administration official also said in a statement that his nation looked forward to working with Lai and others in the democratically run island of 23 million people to advance our shared interests and values. Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., addresses Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 29, 2024. Gallagher, a Marine veteran, was on Tuesday, May 21, sanctioned by China, which accused him of interfering in Chinas internal affairs and harming Chinese sovereignty. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes) Also on Tuesday, Beijing announced sanctions on former U.S. Congressman Mike Gallagher, accusing him of interfering in Chinas internal affairs and harming Chinese sovereignty, according to a statement on the Chinese Foreign Ministrys account on WeChat. The former chair of the House select committee on Chinas Communist Party led a delegation to Taiwan in February, when he met then President Tsai Ing-wen. Gallagher called on Washington to arm the island to the teeth against Chinese military intimidation in an op-ed in January. China opposes nations it has official ties with having contact with Taiwan, which it views as part of its territory to be brought under its control eventually, by force if necessary. The U.S. is Taiwans main political and military supporter, irking Beijing. U.S. President Joe Biden has repeatedly pledged to defend Taiwan if China attacks. Lai has signaled that during his four years in office he will follow many of the policies of his predecessor, Tsai, including embracing the U.S. That stance means ties between Taipei and Beijing will likely remain tense in the coming years. With assistance from Colum Murphy. 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. A memorial service for Humphreys West Elementary School teacher Eric Chipps is scheduled for Thursday, May 23, 2024, inside Freedom Chapel at Camp Humphreys, South Korea. (U.S. Army) CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea A memorial service for Humphreys West Elementary School teacher and Army veteran Eric Chipps is scheduled this week at the home of U.S. Forces Korea. All are welcome to say goodbye, especially former students, at 4 p.m. Thursday at Freedom Chapel, according to a Monday post on Humphreys official Facebook page. Chipps died May 11, according to the post. Officials from Humphreys West and Department of Defense Education Activity-Pacific did not respond to requests for further information by phone and email Tuesday. Chipps, 64, a native of Chesterville, Ohio, attended West Chester University in Pennsylvania, according to his Facebook page. His 24-year teaching career included stints at DODEA schools in Japan and Germany, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also served in the Army as an electronic intelligence analyst for over 20 years. Humphreys West is one of four schools on the base. The others are Humphreys Central Elementary School, Humphreys Middle School and Humphreys High School. European Union flags fly outside European Commission headquarters in Brussels in March 2023. (Johanna Geron/Reuters) BRUSSELS EU countries have formally adopted a plan to use windfall profits from Russian central bank assets frozen in the EU for Ukraines defense, Belgiums government said Tuesday. The text only needed a rubber-stamp by ministers after EU ambassadors reached the agreement in early May. Russia has repeatedly warned the West of consequences if its assets are touched and accused Washington of bullying Europe to take more radical steps to thwart it in Ukraine. Under the agreement, 90% of the proceeds will go into an EU-run fund for military aid for Ukraine against Russias invasion, with the other 10% going to support Kyiv in other ways. The EU expects the assets to yield about $16.30-$21.70 billion in profits by 2027. The assets are gaining exceptional interest, resulting in so-called windfall profits. Ukraine is expected to receive the first tranche in July, EU diplomats said. The Group of Seven countries (G7) froze around $300 billion worth of Russian financial assets soon after Moscows invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Since then, the EU and other G7 countries have debated how and whether to use the funds to help Ukraine. Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba thanked the EU for the decision on Tuesday but reiterated Ukraines ultimate goal of seizing Russian financial assets, not just benefiting from interest. With all our gratitude for this decision today, the amounts are not commensurate (with the amount of frozen assets), Kuleba told reporters. That is why the third step, which we have been talking about since the beginning of the year, should actually be the confiscation of the assets themselves, he added. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is pushing fellow G7 nations this week to agree a plan to use the profits as collateral to back a larger loan to help Ukraine. Reporting by Julia Payne, Yuliia Dysa, and Anastasiia Malenko. In this photo provided by Islamic Republic News Agency, IRNA, the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi takes off at the Iranian border with Azerbaijan, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (Ali Hamed Haghdoust/IRNA) The helicopter that crashed while carrying the Iranian president through mountainous fog was a U.S.-designed Bell 212, according to state media and photographs verified by The Washington Post. The Bell 212 aircraft is a widely used civilian version of the Vietnam-era Huey military helicopter, operated by armed forces and businesses around the globe. The model is a two-blade twin-engine medium helicopter with up to 15 seats that first flew in 1968, according to Skybrary, an aviation database. Authorities in Iran have provided little information about the circumstances of the crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and eight others but have attributed it to a technical failure. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters Monday that the United States had no part to play in the crash and that the Pentagon had no insight into the cause. Despite poor relations between Tehran and Washington, the Iranian air force maintains five of these U.S.-designed aircraft for its VIP squadron, including the one involved in the presidents crash, according to Scramble, a Dutch aviation website. Some may be decades old - data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, shows that the average age of the 15 Bell 212 aircraft registered in Iran was 35 years old with their maintenance complicated by international sanctions on Iran. Bell Helicopter, now Bell Textron, which developed the helicopter in the 1960s, said it had little information about the state of the helicopter. We can confirm that Bell does not conduct any business in Iran or support their helicopter fleet, and we do not have knowledge about the active state of the helicopter involved in this accident, Bell said in a statement to The Post on Monday. U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Monday denied accusations that U.S. sanctions may have led to the crash, calling any such claims utterly baseless. (The Washington Post) The helicopter crashed Sunday amid dense fog in the mountainous terrain of Irans East Azerbaijan province. Dozens of search teams worked into the night, struggling through the rugged landscape to reach the scene; word that the site had been found and all nine people aboard were dead came more than 12 hours after news first emerged of the helicopters disappearance. There has been no indication of foul play. John Cox, an American crash expert, said investigators are likely to also focus on the bad weather and poor visibility reported at the time of the crash. Mountainous terrain and bad weather is never a good combination for a helicopter flight, said Jeff Guzzetti, a former federal crash investigator. He described the Bell 212 as a stalwart. A database maintained by the Flight Safety Foundation lists about 430 Bell 212 accidents since 1972, including the Iranian presidents helicopter crash, with 162 of them just under 40% involving fatalities. Globally, there are 443 Bell 212 aircraft in service by 144 different operators, and their average age is 42 years old, according to Cirium. The last fatality involving a Bell 212 occurred in September, when a helicopter on a training flight crashed off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, according to the Flight Safety Foundation. Typically, overseas crash investigators call in the expertise of foreign aircraft manufacturers to help their probes, under a process overseen by the U.N. aviation agency. Its unclear whether Iran will seek that assistance, but, Cox said, It would be better if Bell aircraft were involved to assist the Iranians. Iranian authorities have blamed sanctions on U.S. aviation equipment for the crash. Cox said it would probably be difficult to operate the Bell helicopter inside Iran without a third-party source for parts or cannibalizing aircraft for spares. Iran has faced U.S. sanctions since 1979. The measures have broadened and deepened over the years and been complemented by European and U.N. sanctions, negatively affecting the Iranian aviation sector and other industries. There have been times when Iran was able to legally import entire aircraft and their parts from Western countries, said Farzan Sabet, a senior research associate at the Geneva Graduate Institute. Especially since sanctions and export controls have intensified in the last decade and a half, [Iran] has increasingly had much more trouble doing this, except for a brief period during the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal before the withdrawal of the United States under President Donald Trump. The United States sanctions block not only U.S.-manufactured aircraft that can be sold to Iran, but also aircraft that use sophisticated U.S. components, Sabet added. Sanctions also make international transactions involving Irans civil aviation sector and fleet much more difficult. John Hudson contributed to this report. The ruins of al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip, in Gaza City, taken by a photographer embedded with Israeli forces March 31. (Lorenzo Tugnoli for The Washington Post) Hayfa Charity Hospital in Gaza City had already been evacuated by the time projectiles plunged into the building on Dec. 27, a hospital project manager said. It was a terrifying day in which bombing was everywhere and random, Shaima Raafat said in a voice message. That strike was one of about 90 documented incidents involving hospitals in Gaza since the war between Israel and Hamas began on Oct. 7, according to information from sources including aid groups and hospitals analyzed by The Washington Post. Some, such as Israeli raids on al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, drew international headlines. Others such as the destruction of Hayfa, once a bustling six-floor facility serving about 9,000 patients a month have gone relatively unnoticed as the fighting rages on. Of the 36 hospitals in Gaza tracked by the U.N. humanitarians affairs office, only four have not been reported damaged by munitions, raided by the Israel Defense Forces or gone out of service over more than seven months of war, The Post found. Of those, two Kuwait and al-Helal al-Emirati hospitals are in Rafah. Earlier this month, al-Najjar Hospital, also in the southern city where Israel is expanding its assault, was the latest to be shuttered. Israel has made hospitals a key target of its military campaign in Gaza, damaging or destroying the Strips most important medical facilities after claiming Hamas used them for militant activity. (In the Hayfa attack, for instance, an IDF spokesperson said the strike was against a military target inside the building.) In other instances, hospitals and clinics were struck as part of the fighting between the Israeli military and Hamas. They have been damaged by Israeli ground and air bombardment, and also by munitions fired by Palestinian militant groups, including rockets falling back onto Gazas territory, as appeared to be the case at al-Ahli Hospital in October. The source of damage by munitions is often not possible to confirm because The Post and other media outlets are not able to enter the Strip. Israel has consistently said that when it raids or inflicts damage on hospitals, the attacks are justified because Hamas and other militant groups are embedded inside them. Hamas and staff at individual hospitals have rejected this. A central feature of Hamas strategy is the exploitation of civilian structures for terror purposes, the IDF said in an emailed statement. It should be clear that it is absolutely prohibited to misuse hospitals for military purposes, and turn patients into human shields. The IDF also accused Hamas of holding hostages within hospitals. It said its strikes were always an operational necessity. The evidence that Israel has publicly provided has at times fallen short of supporting its claims of hospitals being used for military purposes. The Post is unable to independently verify the accounts. Ravina Shamdasani, a U.N. Human Rights Office spokesperson, said in February that there appeared to be a pattern of attacks by Israeli forces striking essential lifesaving civilian infrastructure in Gaza, especially hospitals. As of May there were 15 hospitals partially functioning, according to the World Health Organization and communication from hospitals. Some have gone out of service after they were raided or damaged, but have later reopened, causing the number of operating hospitals to fluctuate throughout the war. Aid organizations have also set up field hospitals inside the Strip. Functioning hospitals are severely overcrowded and have faced shortages of important supplies such as anesthetics, antibiotics and gauze, relief groups have said. The maps in this story draw on information released over the course of the war by aid groups (U.N. agencies including the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the WHO, Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and the Palestine Red Crescent Society) as well as staff at hospitals and the organizations that run them, media reports, nonprofit research group Insecurity Insight, the IDF and the Gaza Health Ministry. The Post has not been able to independently verify some accounts. International law governing war prescribes that hospitals must not be attacked during conflicts. They only become viable targets if they are being used to commit harm and if the attacking force takes measures to protect civilians. Even if Israel contends that a medical facility has lost its protection as a result of being used for acts harmful to the Israeli forces, it must nevertheless comply with the principles of precautions and proportionality, Shamdasani said. But the facilities widespread destruction since Oct. 7 may reflect the overall rate of devastation in Gaza, where experts say housing has been destroyed at a rate of intensity unseen since World War II, almost 90 percent of school buildings have been damaged, and the rate of infrastructure loss in the early months of the war outstripped recent conflicts including in Aleppo, Syria, and Mosul, Iraq. Medical complexes in Gaza were damaged by bombardment at about the same rate as other buildings between Oct. 7 and Nov. 7, according to a Yale University-led analysis of satellite imagery published in April. Lead author Danielle Poole, an associate research scientist with Yales Humanitarian Research Lab, said in an interview that a follow-up study, which is undergoing peer review, found that over subsequent months there was a fourfold increase in hits to hospitals, which were damaged at a statistically significant higher rate than other buildings. Even one attack raises concerns about international humanitarian law, she said. After 1 month of war On Oct. 7, Hamas fighters broke through the barrier separating Gaza and southern Israel and carried out an attack that killed about 1,200 people, including more than 300 soldiers, according to Israel. More than 35,500 Palestinians have since been killed and almost 80,000 injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel says more than 280 of its soldiers have been killed since the launch of its military operation in Gaza. Hospitals in Gaza were drawn into the war from the very start. Indonesian Hospital in the Strips north was damaged by a strike in its vicinity on Oct. 7, according to Doctors Without Borders. On Oct. 17, an explosion at al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City killed at least 100 people and caused global condemnation. Hamas blamed Israel; Israel, backed by the United States, denied culpability. Israel said the source of the munition was a militant group operating in Gaza, Islamic Jihad. A Washington Post analysis found that fighters in Gaza launched a barrage of rockets toward Israel and in the direction of al-Ahli Hospital 44 seconds before the blast. The IDF launched its ground operation on Oct. 27. After 3 months of war In November, a pattern began that would be repeated against at least seven hospitals, according to The Posts analysis: the IDF surrounding the building, cutting off movement in and out including, in at least five examples, with sniper fire, according to aid agencies with staff on the ground and the Gaza Health Ministry; often facilitating an evacuation; and entering the hospital in a raid. The most high-profile example of this was at al-Shifa, Gazas largest medical facility, which was raided in November. At al-Nasr Childrens Hospital that month, staff were ordered by the IDF to evacuate and given assurances that babies left behind would be taken care of, they told The Post. Two weeks later, a Palestinian journalist returned to the empty building and found the decomposing bodies of four babies left behind. His video of the horrific scene was verified by The Post. An IDF spokesperson later cast doubt on the account during a question-and-answer session on social media. In December, an analysis of satellite imagery published by The Post found evidence of dozens of apparent craters near the majority of hospitals in northern Gaza, including 10 craters that suggested the use of bombs weighing 2,000 pounds, the largest in regular use. In early December, the IDFs ground operation, which began at the Strips northern border and moved through Gaza City and the central Strip, continued into Khan Younis, the biggest population center in the enclaves south. After 6 months of war Nasser Hospital, the most significant hospital in Gazas south, was raided and rendered nonfunctional for months in February after a siege lasting at least a week. Eight patients in intensive care died of lack of oxygen and some departments were flooded with sewage, the U.N. humanitarian affairs office said, citing the Gaza Health Ministry. The IDF detained about 70 staff members, the ministry said. Israel described its operation as precise and targeted. It added it had found weapons at the hospital as well as medicine marked with names of hostages. Al-Shifa Hospital, which had resumed providing limited services, was raided for a second time in March after the IDF said Hamas members returned to the building. After days of heavy fighting, it was left an empty shell with no patients, most buildings damaged or destroyed and most equipment unusable or reduced to ashes, according to the WHO. The IDF called its operation precise and said weapons, ammunition and fighters were found in the building. In May, Israel started ordering mass evacuations from Rafah, heightening fears for the two partially functioning hospitals in that city that have not been reported damaged or raided during the war. One of them, Kuwait Hospital, is within an evacuation zone. The WHO is extremely worried about the prospect of a full-scale Israeli military operation in Rafah, its representative for the region, Rik Peeperkorn, told the United Nations in Geneva this month. An incursion, he said, is something the ailing health system will not be able to withstand. Victoria Bisset and Meg Kelly contributed to this report. A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived a lawsuit by American Airlines pilots over the carriers failure to pay them for short-term military leave. (Mike Stone/Reuters) A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived a lawsuit by American Airlines pilots over the carriers failure to pay them for short-term military leave. In a 3-0 decision, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia said a reasonable jury could find short-term military leave comparable to jury duty leave or bereavement leave, for both of which American pays pilots. The court revived a class action by pilots who took short-term military leave, defined as 16 or fewer days, from January 2013 to October 2021. During that period, the leaves averaged 3.3 days, while jury duty and bereavement leaves averaged 1.8 days and 2.7 days respectively. But pilots took short-term military leave more often, averaging about 22 days annually, compared with about two days of jury duty leave and three days of bereavement leave. Without ruling on the merits, Circuit Judge Arianna Freeman said the leaves had similar lengths, and pilots had little or no control over when to take them. She also said jurors could find that military leave and jury duty leave shared a common purpose: civic duty. Pilots sued under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, which gives employees on military leave a right to the same benefits as other employees. The pilots were led by James Scanlan, a retired major general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, and Carla Riner, a brigadier general in the Delaware Air National Guard. American and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for the pilots had no immediate comment. The appeals court agreed with American that the Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier did not breach the pilots profit-sharing plan. It returned the case to U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III in Philadelphia, who had dismissed it in November 2022. The lawsuit began in 2018. The case is Scanlan et al v American Airlines Group Inc, 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 22-3294. An American service member in the Saudi Arabian desert in 1991 tends a burning trash pit. (Stars and Stripes) WASHINGTON The delivery of benefits to veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxins from military service reached a milestone Tuesday, with the Department of Veterans Affairs announcing 1 million claims totaling $5.7 billion have been awarded to former service members. More than 880,000 veterans and their survivors have received military service-connected services and benefits under the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act, known as the PACT Act, which was signed into law two years ago. The VA released a state-by-state list Tuesday showing the number of claims that the VA has paid to veterans since 2022. Texas led with more than 110,000, followed by Florida at 88,000 and California at 74,000. Veterans seeking benefits related to an illness or injury from military service are assigned a disability rating of 0-100% prior to an award decision. The average service-connected disability rating under the PACT Act is 70%, which results in $20,000 in yearly benefits, according to the VA. The toxic exposures fund for compensating disabled veterans is projected to provide more than $24.5 billion in benefits in fiscal 2025, up $4 billion from this year. The VA disability claim for Bradford Blodgett, a Vietnam War-era veteran exposed to Agent Orange, is among the one million approved. Blodgett, who was a sergeant in the Air Force from 1966-1970, worked on underground communication lines at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand during the war. He would watch U.S. military planes pass overhead spraying herbicide to clear the dense jungle, family members said. He suffered from multiple myeloma, a rare form of blood cancer, when he died in January in a nursing home in Connecticut at the age of 82, according to his daughter Grace Blodgett. Bradford Blodgett received compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs related to his diagnosis of advanced-stage multiple myeloma related to military service during the Vietnam War. Blodgett began receiving benefits under the PACT Act after filing for benefits in 2022. He is shown here in 1967 with his wife, Anne Blodgett. (Grace Blodgett) But his widow Anne Blodgett credits the PACT Act for enabling his disability claim to be processed quickly, according to her daughter. Blodgetts claim was approved in December 2022, four months after he applied. My fathers cancer went from a dormant category to an extremely aggressive cancer, really overnight, Grace Blodgett said. He loved the service and his country. But the use of Agent Orange and other defoliants made the last years of his life hell. Anne Blodgett is now receiving survivors benefits through the PACT Act. Prior to the laws passage more than 70% of disability claims for toxic exposures had been denied, according to the VA. Since the PACT Act was approved, qualifying veterans may be approved after providing information on their diagnosis, years of service and where they served. Veterans who had contact with a range of hazardous substances including radioactive materials, asbestos, Agent Orange and burn pits could qualify for benefits for specific medical conditions without having to prove the connection. The burden of proof required to receive disability benefits has been lowered under the PACT Act, the VA said in a statement announcing that a million claims were awarded. The approval rate in 2024 is more than 75%, according to the VA. Named after a combat medic who died from a rare form of lung cancer, the PACT Act requires the Department of Veterans Affairs presume that certain illnesses including cancers, skin conditions and respiratory diseases are connected to exposure. Veterans must have served at specific military installations and other identified locations in the U.S. and around the globe to qualify. Under the PACT Act, veterans also qualify for free health care at VA hospitals and clinics. President joe Biden also was expected to laud the milestone achievement of one million benefit claims awarded to veterans during a speech scheduled for Tuesday afternoon in Nashua, N.H. Biden has stated he believes carcinogens from burn-pit smoke resulted in the brain cancer diagnosis of his son, Beau Biden, a military veteran who died in 2015. Beau Biden was a major in the Delaware Army National Guard who served at military installations in Iraq where large burn pits were used. Vets and their survivors submitted over 2.4 million claims in 2023 an all-time record. And were processing those claims at the fastest rate in history, VA Secretary Denis McDonough said Monday. McDonough described the legislation as the most significant expansion of benefits for toxic-exposed veterans in decades. The VA now is following up with veterans whove filed forms expressing their intent to file for benefits to make them aware of assistance at veterans organizations for following through with their submissions. Service eras for eligible veterans span the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and any other combat zone post 9/11. But some Republican lawmakers have criticized spending from the toxic exposures fund as shifting resources away from basic VA functions. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, raised questions last month about whether the large allocations under the PACT Act are affecting the delivery of health care at the VA, which plans to cut full-time staff by 10,000 in fiscal 2025. We need to have a serious conversation on how the VA is managing taxpayer dollars. New hiring is cut back or frozen, the health care workforce is shrinking, and construction has flatlined to only two major projects, he said. Veterans will be able to get routine medical services at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., through a new partnership between the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs that gives former service members access to outpatient care at the military base hospital there. (David Kidd/U.S. Army) WASHINGTON Thousands of veterans soon will be able to receive routine medical services at Joint Base Langley-Eustis through a new partnership that gives former service members access to care at the military base in Virginia, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday. Services will include treatment for minor and chronic illnesses, mental health counseling, specialty womens health care and diagnostic lab tests. Veterans also will be able to make appointments for dental care at a separate clinic on the base, the VA said. The clinic opened to some veterans May 9 and will be fully available to veterans by the end of May, according to Marion Pierce, a VA spokeswoman. Virginia has one of the fastest-growing veteran populations in the nation, according to the VA, and there often are delays for appointments at VA hospitals and clinics in the state that vary depending on the site. The Hampton VA Medical Center has a 45-day wait to see a doctor, and the Portsmouth VA Clinic has a wait of two months, according to an online VA site that tracks waits at VA facilities across the nation. Up to 10,000 veterans are expected to obtain health care at the base each year, the VA said. The clinic will primarily offset delays patients are experiencing at Hampton VA Health Care System, which includes the Hampton VA Medical Center, less than 10 miles from the base. This sharing agreement [between the VA and the Defense Department] specifically allows the Hampton VA to leverage available space from U.S. Air Force Hospital Langley to make clinical services more easily accessible to local area veterans, Pierce said. But veterans in other parts of the state will be able to benefit as well. The VA will send veterans to non-VA doctors and dentists, when the same service is not readily available at VA clinics and hospitals. Richard Barnhart, a 73-year-old Vietnam War veteran who lives in Mineral, Va., said it was a challenge for him recently to find dental care for an emergency tooth extraction. He said he would have made the two-hour drive from his home in the Blue Ridge Mountains to Joint Base Langley-Eustis, if the services already were available to veterans. The dental clinic at the base probably would have gotten it done at my first visit or in a few days, said Barnhart, who experienced a lot of pain from an infection. Barnhart, a former sergeant who served in the Marines from 1969-1977, said he used a private dentist after waiting four months for a referral from the VA to see a non-VA provider. He had the tooth extraction on May 6. The VA, which has an aging network of hospitals and clinics, has signed more than 175 agreements with military installations to supplement the care provided at VA hospitals and clinics. The 633rd Medical Group, which has about 1,000 medical personnel, runs military health services at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, according to Arif Patani, a spokesman with the Defense Health Agency. Barnhart said he previously traveled from his home to Maguire VA Medical Center in Richmond. He said he stopped going to the Maguire VA because of the lack of security in and around the hospital campus, which has problems with crime. There also were delays for care. I wouldnt even consider going down to Maguire, Barnhart said. The average age of a VA hospital is 60 years old, and many VA facilities are in need of costly upgrades to update and meet a growing demand by veterans for services. More than 20,000 veterans across Virginia have enrolled in VA health care in the past year, a result of the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act. Adopted in 2022, the PACT Act enables veterans exposed to burn pits, herbicides and other toxins during military service to enroll in free and low-cost health care. Collaborations are critical at times like this, Shereef Elnahal, the VA undersecretary for health, said in reference to the added pressure on the VA system for care. Barnhart has been enrolled in VA health care for 40 years. He said he has been seeking referrals from the VA to see private doctors. While seeing a private doctor still requires a long drive to Charlotte or Richmond from his home in Mineral, Barnhart said he has no plans to return to the Maguire VA facility. But I would head over to the base at Langley for my care, he said. The mission of the Irreverent Warriors is to bring veterans together using humor and camaraderie to improve mental health and prevent suicide. (Irreverent Warriors/Facebook) PITTSBURGH (Tribune News Service) No one can throw a party like a group of veterans when they have time and a purpose, and especially when that purpose is saving their fellow soldiers. For the fourth annual Irreverent Warriors Pittsburgh Silkies Hike on May 18, about 140 veterans and currently enlisted military personnel mounted an 8-mile jaunt from Acrisure Stadium on the North Shore to the Strip District and Station Square on the South Side. Veterans wore short shorts known as silkies, many red, white and blue, as well as rucksacks and patriotic leis. Rock n roll anthems Bon Jovis, Wanted Dead or Alive, and Guns N Roses, Welcome to the Jungle blared while veterans joked and grabbed snacks before their eight-mile hike. The event promotes camaraderie and fun while fighting veteran suicide. Suicide rates track higher for military veterans than the general public, according to studies. On average, 16.8 veterans committed suicide daily in 2020, according to the 2022 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report. Lamar Hatchett, 35, of Washington, Pa., who served in the Marines, was decked out in American flag-inspired Chubberalls, a hybrid of overalls and shorts, and wore the Marine Corps flag as a cape. Hatchett said he has survived the loss of comrades. Im going to walk for them and to be with my brothers and sisters. Although some vets are years removed from combat, they are still haunted as civilians and grapple with unique mental and emotional challenges. We want to spread the word what we do, who we are and who we are there for veterans in need of mental health. Come and join us. We have fun, said Patricia Stuecklen, 59, of Plum, a Navy veteran and a hair stylist who is part of the leadership team for the Pittsburgh chapter of Irreverent Warriors. Back in the comfort of their military family, the veterans didnt flinch in the soggy aftermath of the strong storms and tornadoes that swept through the region the previous day. They walk in rain or shine because that is what they do. Irreverent Warriors, a national nonprofit, organized hikes in more than 120 cities around the world this year. Veterans share that special bond. When we come together, you dont feel so alone, Stuecklen said. Theres a new generation of veterans who have returned from the Middle East and many struggle with PTSD, she noted. For the hike, they are with people who are safe and they know what you are going through. We dress a little goofy. Its all about humor as we parade around the streets. Kaycee Kennedy, 33, of Franklin, Pa., served in the Army as a human intelligence collector. She wore U.S. flat-inspired silkies, a patriotic lei, oversized mirrored aviator sunglasses and her military-issued rucksack. Kennedy said she knows of many veterans who committed suicide. One was contemplating taking his own life but remembered promising a friend to walk in the Pittsburgh Silkies hike in 2022. That walk saved his life, she said. There was a point where I had contemplated and thought about it (suicide) often. That is why Im so passionate about this organization and to put on the best events possible. Transitioning from military to civilian life is difficult everything from finding a job to moving into a new home, Kennedy said. She experienced trauma unrelated to military service. Eight years after her time in the Army, she was starting over. I had moved to a new city and didnt have anyone and didnt feel that camaraderie. It can sneak up on you. The Pittsburgh chapters first Silkies hike in 2021 saved her, Kennedy said. It was like night and day. After that hike, I got involved and took a leadership role in the hike that year and now am part of the national team. Many veterans on the hikes are people who are broken from one thing or another, she said. On the hikes, they are connected with other veterans and dont feel so alone. I always explain to people that the hikes are magic. mthomas@post-gazette.com (c)2024 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Visit at www.post-gazette.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Aidan Grew is an alleged former IRA man who is believed to have been at the centre of cross-border smuggling for many years This is the notorious cigarette smuggler who now faces more tough questions about his ill-gotten gains. The UKs National Crime Agency (NCA) has secured an order forcing Aidan Grew, who was convicted in 2008 of smuggling millions of cigarettes across the border, to explain where he got the money for a 270,000 house in Co. Armagh. Grew, an alleged former IRA man who is believed to have been at the centre of cross-border smuggling for many years, was also forced in 2021 by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) to hand over a house and land in Monaghan. A court was previously told Grew claimed he has been unemployed since 2007 and living off sickness benefit. In the first Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) granted in Northern Ireland, the NCA case relates to a house built on land at Grange Blundel Road in the Co Armagh village of Loughgall. The crime-fighting agency is seeking to establish if proceedings from any criminal activity by 68-year-old Grew were used to help pay for the houses construction. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to evading duty on millions of cigarettes recovered during a police and customs operation three years earlier. In November 2005, police officers went to premises at Battleford Road near Armagh city. There they discovered 10 million cigarettes stored in two sheds. They also found five cigarettes loaded on a lorry, hidden among a consignment of peat moss. They arrested three people, including Grew, at the premises. Grew admitted evading duty of an estimated 2.5m on almost five million cigarettes. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment suspended for two years. Grew, formerly of Benburb Street in Blackwatertown, Co. Armagh but now believed to be living in Co. Monaghan, was also subject to a 500,000 confiscation order and warned he would be jailed if the money was not paid. It wasnt paid and Grew was jailed for three years in 2011. Introduced in Northern Ireland under the Criminal Finances Act, UWOs compel those suspected of involvement in serious criminality to explain the origin of assets which appear to be disproportionate to their known income. The NCA probe centred on the Grews alleged holding in the Loughgall property and unaccounted for construction costs of approximately 70,000. In an affidavit from 2015, Grew stated that he worked in the mining industry until becoming unemployed around 2007. His only declared source of income since 2008 was sickness benefit, the court heard. Ruling on the NCA application in Belfasts High Court on Friday, Mr Justice Rooney said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Grew and his wife Nuala retained a beneficial interest in the property. He agreed to grant the order after setting out the Agencys claims that Aidan Grew has been involved in serious criminal activity over many years. The aim of the measure, namely the application for a UWO, is intended to improve the States capability to combat, investigate and, where appropriate, to recover the proceeds of crime. This is clearly a legitimate aim, the judge said. In my view, the terms of the order are limited and proportionate and would enable the NCA to determine whether to commence civil recovery or other proceedings. Suzanne Foster, Head of Asset Denial at the NCA, said: This is a significant milestone in the fight against criminal finance in Northern Ireland. With the first Unexplained Wealth Order granted here, we continue to show that the NCA will use all the tools available to us to target those we believe are involved in serious crime, whoever and wherever they are. To get to this stage we have had to overcome significant legal challenges, and we can now continue to investigate the source of these funds. In 2021, Grew and his wife settled a 1 million case with CAB and agreed to hand over development lands and a house near the border. However, the couple were allowed keep their home in Glaslough, Co. Monaghan, and a Mercedes car. The settlement meant Grew did not contest a proceeds of crime case taken against him by CAB, who had identified a property portfolio they say he amassed through smuggling contraband cigarettes across the border. In 2019, when CAB officers raided properties connected to Grew they found a stash of Viagra tablets along with documents they hoped would unlock the secrets of his hidden property portfolio. A property at Drummans in Scotstown and development land at Glaslough and Mullaghmatt, all in Co. Monaghan, were subsequently handed over as part of the CAB deal. In the mid-1980s, Grew was jailed for 15 years for his part in an IRA landmine attack on UDR soldiers in Co Armagh. He had also been accused in a court in the Republic of being a member of the Real IRA, but the charge was withdrawn in 2004. Noeleen Coakley Hutch received 10k in damages after payout. The sister-in-law of Gerry the Monk Hutch who has received payouts for several personal injury claims has pointed out that all the claims were genuine and people wrongly believe she got more than she did in each case. Noeleen Coakley Hutch settled a damages claim for 10,000 at the Circuit Civil Court this week after she suffered injuries when a car crashed into the back of her before a third car crashed into the second car, causing a three-car pile-up. Ms Coakley Hutch told the Sunday World she didnt want people getting the wrong impression about the amount she had been awarded and pointed out that all her claims had been legitimate. People taking claims in the Circuit Civil Court can be awarded up to 60,000 and Ms Coakley Hutch said some people thought she had received 60,000. The award was 10,000, she told the Sunday World. I work very hard, Im just trying to get on with my little life and do my work. I work as a carer. I was coming from work that day when that accident happened. Gerry The Monk Hutch Ms Coakley Hutch told how she has been working as a carer to an elderly people in the community for the past 20 years and was out of work after the accident. I was out of work for four weeks, she said. She works as a carer for a number of clients and told how she gets on really well with them. Ms Coakley Hutch said had been on her way back from a supermarket to deliver groceries to an elderly woman when her car was crashed into from behind before another car then crashed into the vehicle, leading to a three car-pile up. I was getting a ladys messages. She couldnt come outside her door. She lives in the old folks home at Croke Park. I was coming from Tesco with the ladys shopping and on my way back to the old folks home and the two cars crashed into the back of me. A car came into the back of me and then a third car crashed into the back of the second car, which crashed into me again. Ms Coakley had sued Seamus Russell of Alderwood Park, Tallaght, and Robben Jeofrey Phili, Gateway Crescent, Ballymun, for damages arising out of a road traffic accident in April 2016 in which she alleged she had suffered soft tissue whiplash-type injuries. The court heard she was injured when the car in which she was travelling in was struck by another vehicle owned by one of the defendants and driven by the other. While the Circuit Court has the power to award up to a maximum of 60,000 in damage, in Ms Coakleys case it is understood she accepted a settlement of 10,000. Judge Michael Walsh was told that the settlement, together with a court order for costs, was to be recorded against both defendants, neither of whom was in court at the time. Ms Coakley Hutch was also not present when it was announced the case has settled. I wasnt even in the court and I wanted to be. People dont even hear that youre working as a carer, she said. Ms Coakley Hutch (52), of Upper Buckingham Street, Dublin 1, was previously awarded 28,000 damages arising from another traffic accident when someone crashed into her in Ballybough in 2014. However, she said she didnt actually get a 28,000 pay-out for that crash. It was appealed and I came out with 18,000, she said. The judge in the case described Ms Coakley Hutch as an entirely honest lady. She said this week that she didnt want people getting the wrong impression about her because she had taken personal injury claims. He [the judge] said youre a very honest woman, Ms Coakley Hutch said. At that previous hearing the court heard that Ms Coakley Hutch had been involved in six previous accidents and received compensation. Judge Raymond Groake said he believe she was a honest lady who had quite a history of accidents. He said insofar as she had described all the previous accidents to her, he accepted she was an entirely innocent party. He said: She seems to have an attraction for misfortune and the moral of the story is dont travel in a car with Ms Coakley. Ms Coakley Hutch told the Sunday World that she doesnt drive too much nowadays. I work. I hardly drive now. My back is in bits, she said. Aisling Kennedy (13) died at Childrens Health Ireland at Temple Street in Dublin on July 12, 2022 over three months after the incident A Waterford teenager suffered fatal injuries after being struck by the wing mirror of a van moments after getting off a school bus near her home two years ago, an inquest has heard. Aisling Kennedy (13) of Glasha, Ballymacarbry, Co Waterford, died at Childrens Health Ireland at Temple Street in Dublin on July 12, 2022 over three months after the incident. The 1st Year student at Presentation Convent in Clonmel never regained consciousness after being transported to the hospital by air ambulance following the accident a short distance from her home on April 7, 2022. The driver of the school bus, John OBrien, told an inquest into her death at Dublin District Coroners Court that he had pulled into the left-hand side of the road at a crossroads near Glasha. Mr OBrien said several vehicles overtook his bus while he had stopped to allow Aisling to get out. The bus driver said she was standing to the left of the bus as he moved off to continue his journey. Mr OBrien said neither he nor any of the remaining students on the bus witnessed the accident and he only learnt about what had happened when he was subsequently contacted by his employer. In reply to questions from the coroner, Crona Gallagher, the witness said students on the bus were generally advised to wait for the bus to move off before crossing a road. A motorist, John Fahy, said he was returning from working in Dungarvan, Co Waterford in a van with two of his employees when he saw the school bus stopped on the opposite side of the road to his direction of travel. Mr Fahy, who runs a construction firm based in Borris-in-Ossory, Co Laois, recalled that he had slowed down as a number of other vehicles coming towards him were overtaking the bus. The witness said that he just caught sight of a girl approaching his van from the right-hand side as he was driving past the bus before hearing a bang. Mr Fahy said he stopped the vehicle and got one of his employees to ring the emergency services after seeing the girl lying on the ground. He told the coroner that everything happened in an instant but he believed the girl had appeared from a car that was behind the bus. One of Mr Fahys passengers, Mark Kelly, also gave evidence of seeing a girl coming out onto the road and seeing the vans wing mirror move after hearing a bang. Mr Kelly recalled that Aisling had remained unresponsive while he held the girls head in a steady position until emergency services arrived. He estimated that the van had been travelling at around 40km/h at the time of the accident. Another eyewitness, Catherine Troy, who was travelling towards Ballymacarbry from Clonmel, said she had seen a girl waiting on the side of the road at the back of the bus. Ms Troy said she was looking in her rear-view mirror when she saw the teenager emerge from behind the bus in a split second straight into the side of the van. She told the inquest that she doubted that she had seen something fly up into the air until she checked again and saw the girl on the ground. Another motorist, Linda Skehan, who came on the scene and provided first aid to Aisling, said she knew from Mr Fahys demeanour with his head on his hands that something had happened. Ms Skehan recalled that he told her: She just ran straight out. She said they covered the victim with blankets and coats after detecting that she still had a pulse. The inquest heard that an examination of Mr Fahys Ford Transit van, which had a damaged wing mirror, found the vehicle to be otherwise in good roadworthy condition. A forensic collision investigator, Garda Maurice Mahon, said the incident had happened on a straight stretch on the R671 regional road between Clonmel and Ballymacarbry in dry, bright conditions. Garda Mahon said there was no evidence of pre-impact skidding by the van and it was impossible to determine the exact location of the impact. He said the damage to the vehicle was consistent with a van and a pedestrian glancing off each other but it was not possible to estimate the speed of the vehicle at the time. Garda Conor ODonovan confirmed that Mr Fahy had a full driving licence and had tested negative for alcohol and drugs. Garda ODonovan said he believed Aisling had come from a blind spot which left the van driver with no opportunity to react. The witness observed that if the victim had been an adult, they might only have been hit on the shoulder by the wing mirror. The inquest heard Aisling was placed in a medically induced coma by doctors at Temple Street but her condition never improved despite several operations. A post-mortem confirmed she died from traumatic brain injuries she had suffered from being struck by the wing mirror with bronchial pneumonia being a contributory factor. Aislings parents, Thomas and Louise Kennedy, attended the inquest but did not give evidence to the court. Ms Kennedy had previously told an earlier sitting of the case in June 2023 how she formally identified her daughters body to gardai. Dr Gallagher, was also informed on that occasion that the DPP had directed that no prosecution should arise from the circumstances of Aislings death after reviewing a Garda file on the case. Her parents also confirmed to the coroner that they were not appealing the DPPs decision. Aisling is also survived by her sisters, Eimear and Aoife. Returning a verdict of accidental death, Dr Gallagher said the incident had come out of the blue and could not have been predicted or prevented. The coroner said Aisling had been very unfortunate to have received the glancing blow from the vans wing mirror. On another occasion, it might just be a broken arm, she remarked. Offering her sincere sympathy to the teenagers parents, Dr Gallagher said she could not imagine what they had gone through over the months between the accident and her death. Im sure the shock is with you to this day, she added. Darren John Armstrong told to expect long prison sentence after he admits killing Ali Jayden Doyle Ali Jayden Doyle died from head injuries she sustained in a house in the Park Avenue area of the Co Tyrone town in August 2021. Darren John Armstrong initially blamed the toddler's one-year-old brother for causing the fatal wound by throwing a toy at her but today he admitted his guilt and was told to expect a long prison sentence. Armstrong who at the time of the child's death was in an on-off relationship with her mother Jade Dempsey appeared in the dock of Belfast Crown Court. At a previous court appearance Armstrong, whose address was given as HMP Maghaberry, pleaded 'not guilty' to the murder charge. He was back in court today where his barrister Brian McCartney KC told Mr Justice O'Hara "there is an application to have the defendant re-arraigned." After confirming his identity to a court clerk and with his head bowed throughout, Armstrong was then charged with murdering Ali Jayden Doyle on August 6, 2021. As relatives of the child sat in the public gallery, Armstrong was asked how he pleaded to the murder charge and he replied "guilty." The self-confessed child killer was then addressed by Mr Justice O'Hara who said: "Mr Armstrong, Ali Jayden Doyle was murdered on the 6th of August 2021. "Your trial was scheduled to start in two weeks' time. "Initially you blamed her one-year-old brother for throwing a toy which hit her and caused her to suffer fatal and terrible injuries to her head. "More recently you admitted that you yourself had thrown her so that she hit her head on the fireplace and claimed that when you did so you had lost your temper under the influence of drugs - yet you still denied murder. "You were not supposed to have any contact at all with Ali or her brother because Social Services knew you were such a risk to them both. Social Services were absolutely right. Darren Armstrong "For murder, the mandatory sentence in this jurisdiction is life imprisonment and I impose a life sentence on you. "At a later hearing, I will hear submissions about the minimum period you must serve in prison before the Parole Commissioners decide when you can be released. "You can expect a long minimum sentence for what you did to a defenceless two year old who should never have been left in your care." Mr McCartney confirmed he will be seeking reports ahead of sentencing and told the judge "the court might be assisted by a psychiatric report". The defence barrister said there have been "difficulties" arranging consultations in Maghaberry due to Armstrong's "safety status" within the prison - and revealed that earlier this month he was "the victim of a vicious beating in which he sustained facial injuries." Mr Justice O'Hara was then addressed by Gavan Duffy KC, the barrister representing Jade Dempsey. The 27-year-old, whose address is the subject of a reporting restriction, has been charged with two offences arising from her daughter's death. At a previous court hearing, Dempsey was charged with, and denied, causing the death of a child by an unlawful act on August 6, 2021 and wilfully neglecting and exposing Ali in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to health. Her barrister said that in light of today's developments, he asked that Dempsey's case be re-listed this Friday. Mr Justice O'Hara agreed to this request and told Armstrong's legal team that he hoped a date for the plea hearing in his case could be set on Friday. Armstrong was then led from the dock and returned back into custody by prison staff. Dublin District Court heard gardai on patrol at Westmoreland Street on September 18 last year saw the accused in what was believed to be a drugs transaction. A man caught with a knife on him in Dublin city centre had been using it when fishing earlier in the day and still had it on him when he went into town to buy drugs. Gary Dunne (31) also had five wraps of cocaine in his possession when gardai stopped and searched him. Judge Paula Murphy gave him a six-month suspended sentence. Dunne, of Landen Road, Ballyfermot, pleaded guilty to possession of a weapon and cocaine. Dublin District Court heard gardai on patrol at Westmoreland Street on September 18 last year saw the accused in what was believed to be a drugs transaction. They stopped and searched him and found a knife and five wraps of cocaine. He had no previous convictions. Dunne was a heavy drug user at the time and the knife was for fishing, his solicitor Donal Quigley said. He had been fishing earlier that day, as he did most days, and should not have still had the knife in his possession. He understood he should put knives away afterwards, especially if he goes into town to buy drugs. The accused suffered with his mental health and was medicating at the time with illicit substances, the court heard. A court heard Conor McLoughlin (28) had been stopped while driving in a bus lane when gardai discovered he was already banned. Conor McLoughlin was stopped while driving in a bus lane. A musician caught driving uninsured while already under disqualification for the same offence had made a youthful mistake, his defence said. A court heard Conor McLoughlin (28) had been stopped while driving in a bus lane when gardai discovered he was already banned. Judge Treasa Kelly banned him from driving for another four years and fined him 1,250. McLoughlin, of Woodstown Abbey, Ballycullen, pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to uninsured and unlicensed driving. Garda Aaron Ronayne said he was on patrol at Sarsfield Road, Inchicore at 5.50pm on March 27 this year when he stopped McLoughlin driving in the bus lane. It was established that he was serving a driving disqualification and he was arrested and brought to Kilmainham Garda Station. The court heard McLoughlin had five previous convictions, including two for driving without insurance. He had been banned from driving for two-and-a-half years at a court in June last year. McLoughlin understood it was completely unacceptable for him to be driving on the day, his solicitor Holly Laher said. He had taken a chance when he was stopped and it was a youthful mistake. McLoughlins work as a musician took him around the country and he was currently involved in some opportunities in the UK and would potentially be on television, Ms Laher said. The judge imposed a 1,000 fine for the no insurance charge and 250 for the other. The suspected scammers have been doing work that was likely not needed and overcharged for work that was not completed Three men have been arrested in California as part of an investigation into alleged roofing scammers with Irish accents. US police claim that elderly residents in San Mateo County in California have been targeted a group of men with "Irish accents" operating a fake construction company. According to police, the suspected scammers have been doing work that was likely not needed and overcharged for work that was not completed. It is claimed there are a number of victims in the area. On May 7, San Mateo police received a report from a man who believed the company he hired to fix the roof of his mother's home was scamming him. The man said after a "free" inspection, the roofers said only minor changes were needed but, once they began, they claimed that the entire roof needed replacement. Police claimed the suspects used fake names. All three suspects were contacted by police the next day and were arrested and booked into the San Mateo County Jail. The suspects are identified as Charlie Anderson (22), David Anderson (39) and Darren Temple (39). All three men are residents of Herndon, Virginia, a suburb in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Police said the suspects are facing charges of theft from an elder or dependent adult, obtaining money by false pretenses, fraudulent use of a contractor's license and conspiracy. Jail records show that all three men remain in the San Mateo County Jail as of Thursday, with their next court appearance set for May 22. Innocent plumber Anthony Campbell was brutally murdered by a gunman in 2006. You could see where the bullet had gone through his hand, like where he obviously put his hand up to try and protect himself or shield himself from what was coming. A new podcast series from Crime World called Caught in the Crossfire investigates how an apprentice plumber found himself caught in the crossfire of the murder of crime boss Martin Marlo Hyland. In December 2006, Anthony Campbell was working at a home in Dublin when he was brutally murdered by gunman who feared leaving a witness alive. An innocent bystander caught up in the brutal assassination of Hyland, Anthony Campbells senseless murder is still unsolved almost 20 years later Launching on Tuesday, Caught in the Crossfire speaks to the people most intimately affected by one of Irelands most shocking gangland killings. "It was a tough scene. It was really cruel, says former detective Brian Sherry of innocent apprentice plumber Anthony Campbells brutal murder 18 years ago. The 20-year-old was just doing an honest days work. On December 12, 2006, he was gunned down as he worked on radiators in a house owned by the niece of gang boss Martin Marlo Hyland in Finglas, north Dublin. But Anthony was not the target that day Hyland was. The notorious criminal was shot six times as he slept in a bedroom after two gunmen snuck inside and crept upstairs. Fearing Anthony would be able to identify them, one of the hitmen raised his gun and a single shot went straight through the young mans hand and hit him in the head, leaving his dead body lying slumped by the radiator hed been trying to fix. Innocent apprentice plumber Anthony Campbell Almost two decades later, the baby-faced plumbers senseless killing is still unsolved. The horrifying case is the focus of Crime Worlds latest podcast series, Caught In The Crossfire, an investigation into the events of that fateful day launching weekly from Tuesday, May 21. Across six episodes, Nicola Tallant speaks to those most intimately affected by one of the countrys most shocking killings, including Joey OCallaghan, the youngest person ever to enter the Witness Protection Programme in Ireland. Retired detective Brian Sherry was on the scene on the morning of the murders and describes it as one of the most devastating cases hes ever worked on. When I walked into the house that morning, I saw him on the floor with a hole in his head and he was lying just under the radiator, he recalls in episode one. Young Anthony was just left on the ground. He was a young man; he was 20 years of age, but he certainly didnt look 20. When I saw him, he looked like a young lad of 15 just lying curled on the ground. I have seen some horrendous scenes and Ive been in horrendous situations and things like that, and it never affected me. This was one murder of [several] murders that we didnt solve, obviously, but none of them affected me like this one. Gardai believe deceased mob boss and former Marlo Hyland gang member Eamon The Don Dunne was behind the hit and ordered the murder of his former boss. Anthony Campbell and his mum Christine In March 2012, journalist Paul Williams, in evidence given before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, alleged that the murder was carried out by imprisoned criminals Willie Hynes and John Mangan. He also alleged the late Eamon Dunne acted as the getaway driver in the hit. Dunne himself died in a hail of bullets when a gunman opened fire on him in a Cabra pub in April 2010. However, Sherry admits that while there was a lot of pressure on him and his investigations unit to get to the bottom of the murders, no one has ever served time for Anthony or Hylands deaths. Eamon The Don Dunne We put our backs and bones into it. The amount of work that went into it was just incredible. We didnt leave any stone unturned. It was horrendous. It was one that we all wanted to solve, every one of us. Anthonys mother, Christine Campbell, also tells her story in Caught In The Crossfire, detailing the horrific moment she learned her only child had been killed by criminals and the nightmare that followed. You associate gangsters with one another, not innocent people, but it was just like what way would I put it? your heads okay, but your body shuts down because youre just in shock, she tells Nicola in a later episode. As I always say, I wish God had taken me. I think for any mother to lose their child, its the worst feeling ever, no matter what way you lose them. Its your child. We shouldnt be losing kids, should we? Seeking justice for Anthony has always been the bereaved mums priority, but its taken her a long time to reconcile with the fact that whoever took his life wasnt caught and still walks free today. As a mum, I can be hard on myself because I dont feel I got the justice I should have for him... Im let down by that, she shares. After two years I thought, Well, Im getting nowhere here... I had to start protecting myself, saying to myself, dont wish. You get your hopes up, and then your hopes are crushed. As the years start going on, it does something to you. You cannot say you havent changed in all the grief, but youre still looking, but you feel like you havent done him proud because you didnt get justice. That will live with me. Crime World Presents: Caught In The Crossfire will be available on all podcast platforms from Tuesday, May 21, with new episodes dropping weekly. Listen on Apple Podcasts here Listen on Spotify here Two-year-old Maebhe has a genetic condition called MLD and her family is pleading with the government to screen newborns for this disorder to save other families from heartache. Two-year-old Maebhe has been in and out of hospital in her young life as the illness takes hold Maebhe Gorman is a little girl with a beautiful face and big, round eyes, but its her heart that truly wins people over. Despite being just two, she brings joy to everyone she encounters. Ive never met a child like her, says her proud aunt, Susan Gorman from Rathgar in Dublin. Maebhe lights up a room. Theres something about her, she just makes people happy. Shes always smiling, always kind, and rarely cries. It makes her diagnosis, last November, with a rare genetic condition called MLD (Metachromatic Leukodystrophy) all the more difficult to bear. Maebhe is dying, and it is a living nightmare for her family. Ironically, Maebhe appeared perfectly healthy when born, and it was only last year that her parents, John and Veronica Gorman, who live in Galway, realised something was wrong, as she wasnt hitting normal developmental milestones. Two-year-old Maebhe has been in and out of hospital in her young life as the illness takes hold Maebhe was sent for an x-ray, and then to a physiotherapist, explains Susan. She was then referred to a neurologist, who noticed an issue with her reflexes, and ordered genetic tests. The result came back as MLD. This is a highly unusual genetic condition, and Maebhe is unique in the British Isles in having not one but two different faulty genes. Its a disease that causes a toxic build up, which attacks the melanin sheath of the nerves, due to the lack of a protein, ultimately causing the nerves to die. As long as children with MLD are in their mums womb theyre safe, but as soon as theyre born, they start to deteriorate, says Susan. Its a deterioration that sneaks up on you and punches you in the face. John and Veronica were informed just last December that tragically there is no cure. The disorder is terminal, and they must bring their little girl home to die slowly, before their very eyes. They were also told that because of the nature of the disease, babies with this condition feel no pain, adds Susan. But this is simply not true, because Maebhe regularly screams with pain, as her nerves are dying. Whats more, all of the MLD families Ive spoken to say the same thing. Their babies are also in immense pain. Maebhes father John, who was born with a heart condition and survived against the odds, has an acquired brain injury, following an accident aged 24, and her mum Veronica is Brazilian and has little English. As a result, they both struggled to understand the diagnosis at first. Even after she was diagnosed, Maebhe continued to learn new words and games. We were all secretly hoping the doctors had got it wrong, says Susan. But then Maebhe started having little seizures and screaming with pain, and these became increasingly frequent. Maebhe with her mum Veronica, dad John and big sister Tina From last February on, they really ramped up and you could see the difference in her, says Susan. Every day, we lose a little more of our beautiful Maebhe. She was admitted to hospital last month with a bad infection. It was so bad the doctors had a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) discussion with her parents given expectations for Maebhes quality of life. Whats even more heart-breaking is that had she been tested for MLD when she was born, Maebhe could be treated for it. But unlike other parts of Europe, Ireland doesnt screen for this condition. Susan is angry as a result. Across the EU, they screen for 40 conditions in newborns, but in Ireland, they test for just 10, of which MLD is not one, she says. Shes and other members of Maebhes family are campaigning for the Irish Government to include MLD in the screening of all newborn children, because if its caught at birth, a child can be treated with stem cell therapy and effectively saved. Research shows it can completely halt the disease, she says. Currently the only newborns tested for MLD in Ireland are the ones who have a sibling who has already died from it. Theres another form, which presents around the age of four, which is juvenile onset. Theres an adult form of it too, which shows up in the late teens or early 20s. While the treatment can be given to the juvenile of adult-onset patients, it cant be given to someone as young as Maebhe. At this stage, it would only exacerbate her condition. Susan has emailed more than 60 politicians and received only two replies, with nobody willing to take responsibility for changing this situation. Maebhe with her big sister Tina Meanwhile, Maebhe is going downhill rapidly. Shes on a cocktail of pain-killing and anti-spasmodic drugs. Her movement is limited as her muscles dont work properly and shes being fed, through an nasogastric (NG) tube. Its a huge risk factor as the tube goes through her nose and down her throat and it could cause food to lodge in her lungs, says Susan. She cant cough and MLD children often pass away from lung complications. The tube has a tape which wraps around and takes up half of her face. Its dangerous as she can pull it out, when she has seizures. But its also highly distressing for her. It would break your heart to see her smile, as only one half moves. Maebhe needs a peg, a tube that goes through her stomach, but theres an HSE waiting list of 220 other children, and it could take nine months. The reality is she might not be alive in nine months, says Susan. As she can no longer lie on a mat, she spends every day on the kitchen floor on a baby cot mattress. She desperately needs a peg and a special cot, as well as an adapted vehicle and car seat to ferry her to and from for her numerous medical appointments, to make whats left of her life as comfortable as possible. The Gorman family have set up a GoFund me page to raise money for these necessities. Meanwhile Meabhes sister, Tina, is four and doesnt really understand whats happening. Maebhe will leave a massive hole in all our hearts when she dies, says Susan. We hope that her legacy will be that no other child ever has to go through this. Thats why were campaigning to have MLD tested at birth. Thomas Stokes (23) with an address at a halting site at Oldcastle Park Lawns, Clondalkin, Co Dublin, was found unresponsive in his cell A senior prison official has admitted that the death of a prisoner on enhanced status from a heroin overdose on a wing in Wheatfield Prison with no history of drug problems was unusual. Thomas Stokes (23) with an address at a halting site at Oldcastle Park Lawns, Clondalkin, Co Dublin, was found unresponsive in his cell in Wheatfield Prison on the morning of September 16, 2017. Mr Stokes, who was the youngest of a family of 11 children, was subsequently pronounced dead the following day at Tallaght University Hospital. The deceased inmate had been serving a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence for a series of robberies of shops and businesses over a 10-day period in the Clondalkin area in July 2016. A court heard that Mr Stokess crimes has been motivated out of his need to discharge a drug debt after his family had been threatened. The inquest heard that a postmortem confirmed that the prisoner died as a result of a lack of oxygen to the brain due to a heroin overdose. The assistant governor of Wheatfield, Joseph Hernon, told a sitting of Dublin District Coroners Court on Monday that drugs were a problem across all prisons in Ireland. However, Mr Hernon said there was no problem with drugs at the time on the landing where Mr Stokes had been kept within Wheatfield. He explained that the wing was used to house prisoners on enhanced status so that the death of an inmate from that area of the prison from a heroin overdose would have been unusual. The inquest heard no evidence of any drugs had been found in the deceaseds cell. However, Mr Hernon confirmed that daily searches would be carried out in all parts of the prison to check for drugs. In reply to questions from the coroner, Clare Keane, the assistant governor said he believed heroin was in less use in prisons now compared to seven years ago. Although he had no figures to substantiate his claim, Mr Hernon said he felt there was now more pill use by prisoners as they regarded heroin as a dirtier drug. He acknowledged that drugs remained a widespread problem across the prison population but added that the Irish Prison Service used a mix of tools to address the issue. Mr Hernon also revealed that fewer nighttime checks were now carried out on prisoners over which there were no concerns compared to at the time of Mr Stokes death. He explained there was a balance between the need to check on prisoners and their human right to privacy. Following a report by the Inspector of Prisons into Mr Stokes death, Mr Hernon confirmed that low lighting was now used on landings at nighttime to ensure staff conducting checks on cells could be seen clearly on CCTV. In reply to questions from jury members, Mr Hernon said he had no idea how the deceased had got access to heroin. Two of Mr Stokes brothers who attended the hearing left the inquest before a verdict was delivered. One of them, Martin Stokes, had earlier given evidence that his parents had visited his brother in prison the day before he was found unresponsive when he was in very good form and humour. Mr Stokes said his brother did a bit of drugs but he had not come across to us as taking drugs in prison. He claimed his family were shocked to be told by doctors in TUH that too much damage had been caused to his brothers organs before he had been brought to hospital by prison staff. The witness voiced claims, which the coroner classified as hearsay, that his family were told that his brother had been screaming in his cell for help and he was ignored. He questioned why no prisoner officer had attempted to directly check on his brother when he had remained in the same position on his bed during the night. A prison officer, Philip Neenan, said he had visibly checked on Mr Stokes once every hour during the night as required under IPS policy. Mr Neenan said he had no need to open the prisoners door as he appeared to be sleeping and he had not noticed any issue of concern. The prison officer said Mr Stokes personal call button in his cell had not been activated at any stage. Mr Neenan confirmed he would have heard screaming if Mr Stokes had been looking for help. The inquest heard evidence that the alarm was raised after the prisoner was unresponsive in his cell at 8.15am and he was brought to TUH by ambulance arriving at 9.33am. The coroner was also informed Mr Stokes began breathing again following intervention by nursing staff at Wheatfield. Counsel for the Irish Prison Service, Asim Sheikh BL, said he did not believe it could be said there had been any delay in attending to the prisoner. Prison officer, Andrew Fitzpatrick, said prison staff faced a constant battle to stop drugs getting into Wheatfield. Mr Fitzpatrick said drugs were either dropped by drones, thrown over the prison wall or smuggled into the prison. In reply to questions from Dr Keane, Mr Fitzpatrick said the first thing prison staff usually think about if they find a prisoner unresponsive is drugs. However, he said there had never been an issue in relation to drugs with Mr Stokes. Mr Fitzpatrick pointed out that prisoners on enhanced status, like the deceased, tended to avoid issues that would result in a loss of privileges. A jury of five females and one male returned a verdict of death by misadventure without making any recommendations. Fr Patsy Lynch left very disappointed and feels discriminated against after retirement plans scuppered A priest has been refused the state pension because he does not have enough PRSI contributions after spending 31 years working as a missionary in Ghana. Fr Patsy Lynch (75), who has been the parish priest in Ballinskelligs, Co Kerry, for the past 17 years after returning from more than three decades in Africa, said he is very disappointed. As far as the social welfare are concerned, before 2007, I did not exist, Fr Lynch said. It is deeply frustrating as it appears the department think I was doing nothing for the three decades I was in Ghana. Looking forward to his retirement when he turned 66 in 2015, Fr Lynch applied for the non-contributory pension. However, he was refused after a means test showed that he was over the threshold while still earning a priests salary of 32,500. Appealing is a waste of time. Im not bitter, it is as it is Last year, he applied for the state contributory pension but was refused again, as he did not have the required 500 fully paid social welfare contributions, coming up short with just 416. The Castleisland native, who will have reached 50 years of service in the priesthood next month after being ordained in 1974, said he is disappointed and feels discriminated against. Kerry priest Fr Patsy Lynch denied a pension due to missionary work In an attempt to appeal against last years decision, his provincial superior submitted a letter to the tax office detailing his work with the Society of African Missions (SMA group, which is involved in building schools, and working in healthcare and in the community. However, the appeal was rejected and any stamps since his 66th birthday do not count towards his social welfare contributions, meaning that he must continue to work or quit his parish. Fr Patsy Lynch planned to indulge his passion for drones during retirement. Photo: Don MacMonagle Under the rules, leaving his parish and returning to the Society of African Missions in Cork would mean he could retire and avail of the state pension. However, with two years left on his contract in the parish, he plans to honour his agreement and focus on his parishioners. Appealing is a waste of time. Im not bitter, it is as it is. I have put a lot of energy into trying to get this over the line. It is not fair, but it is what it is, he said. An avid cyclist, rugby enthusiast and a lover of drones and technology, Fr Lynch said he was looking forward to spending time on the things he loves while in retirement. I have tried but the system is the system I really feel let down He had plans to pursue his passion of landscape photography, as well as availing of his free TV, and even wanted to start a YouTube channel where he could post daily drone shots with spiritual reflections. I love it here. I was feeling very down about the whole thing but since I decided to put my focus on the people, I have felt the contentment start to come back into my life, he said. While remaining stoic, Fr Lynch said he still feels there should be some recognition for all of the years he spent in the west African country. I have tried but the system is the system I really feel let down, he added. The Department of Social Protection when queried, said it "does not comment on individual cases. They said the State pension (contributory) is a contributory pension based on the social insurance record of each recipient. "Those who have 40 years worth of contributions, paid or credited, or have an average of 48 contributions for each year since they entered the social insurance system, receive the maximum rate of payment. Those who have a lower average and do not qualify for the maximum rate of payment receive a payment aligned to their contributions, a spokesperson said. Ministers of Religion who were in employment (as a minister of religion) gained access to social insurance cover for the first time in 1974. However, this access was subject to an application to, and the agreement of, the then Minister for Social Welfare by an appropriate authority or body acting on behalf of the relevant ministers, they added. The provisions of the 1974 Act meant that all religious authorities or bodies had, if they so wished, the opportunity to apply for social insurance access for their employed members and, therefore, did not discriminate in any way against or in favour of any particular congregations. Only one such body, the Church of Ireland, applied and this group of ministers was accepted into social insurance cover. 1988 saw significant changes to the scope of the social insurance system. Ministers of Religion who were in employment became insurable in the same way as other employed workers. "Those who were not in an employment but had income for (income) tax purposes were brought into cover as self-employed contributors. These arrangements reflect the gradual extension of cover over the period 1974 to 1988. Religious missionaries outside Ireland do not pay PRSI into the Irish social insurance system but can pay voluntary contributions subject to fulfilling eligibility conditions. If they fulfil the eligibility criteria, they may qualify for a State pension contributory, they said. For those who do not qualify for the State pension (Contributory), they can apply for the State Pension (non-contributory) pension scheme. To qualify for State Pension (non-contributory) a person must satisfy the habitual residence condition, live in the State while getting this pension, be aged 66 or over, have a valid personal public service number, and satisfy a means test. Missionaries who have chosen to resettle in Ireland will be considered to have their main centre of interest in Ireland thereby satisfying the habitual residency clause. A person will, of course, have to be present in Ireland at the time of making an application for the State Pension (non-contributory) and will need to continue to reside in Ireland while in receipt of the payment, the department spokesperson added. Those affected will see heavy downpours and thunderstorms with the potential impacts of spot flooding, difficult travelling conditions and poor visibility. Met Eireann has issued two thunderstorm warnings for 25 counties as Ireland braces for heavy downpours with the possibility of flash floods. A Status Yellow warning came into effect at 1.16pm for all of Leinster as well as Cavan, Monaghan, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford. It will be in place until 10pm tonight. Meanwhile, an Orange alert has been issued for Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Tipperary and Waterford which came into effect at 1.44pm today and will last until 8pm tonight. A forecaster warned: Slow moving thunderstorms with very heavy downpours and hail. Those affected will see heavy downpours and thunderstorms with the potential impacts of spot flooding, difficult travelling conditions and poor visibility. Kerry is the only county in the Republic of Ireland to escape the weather warnings while the UK Met Office has also issued a Status Yellow thunderstorm warning for all of Northern Ireland which expires at 10pm tonight. A Met Office forecaster said: While some places will miss them, heavy showers and thunderstorms are likely again on Tuesday, potentially bringing disruption and flooding. This morning was cloudy and misty with more frequent showers developing in the morning, turning heavy this afternoon and evening. The best of the dry weather will be in Connacht as highest temperatures of between 15 and 19 degrees with light northerly or variable winds are forecast. A cloudy night with heavy showers and isolated thunderstorms continuing at first. The showers will ease and become less frequent overnight. Lowest temperatures of 7 to 11 degrees in light northwesterly winds. Met Eireann forecasts cloudy weather on Wednesday with scattered showers, though showers will be lighter than in previous days. Patchy light rain and drizzle will push into the northeast tomorrow evening. Highest temperatures of 13 to 17 degrees in moderate to fresh northwest winds. Turning mostly dry for the end of the working week with temperatures returning closer to average. Becoming wetter on Saturday. Wednesday night will be generally cloudy and dry apart from patchy light rain and drizzle in the northeast. A few clear spells will develop in the south. Lowest temperatures of six to nine degrees in moderate to fresh northwest winds. Thursday will be mainly dry and cloudy with scattered showers. Feeling fresher with highest temperatures of 11 to 15 degrees in moderate northerly winds. Thursday night will be dry overnight with long clear spells developing. Lowest temperatures of 5 to 9 degrees in light northwesterly winds. Friday will be another largely dry but cloudy day with the chance of isolated light showers. Highest temperatures of 12 to 15 degrees in light southwest to west winds. It will be overcast and wet on Saturday with a band of rain spreading across the country from the west. Highest temperatures of 14 to 17 degrees in moderate to fresh southwest winds. Current indications suggest that it will gradually turn drier and more settled for Sunday and the start of next week, Met Eireann added. The lifesaving emergency services officer with the National Ambulance Service died suddenly at Beaumont Hospital last Tuesday. Paramedic Ross Murphy received a guard of honour from members of the National Ambulance Service at his funeral on Monday afternoon. The lifesaving emergency services officer with the National Ambulance Service died suddenly at Beaumont Hospital last Tuesday. The Maynooth native previously studied Fire and Ambulance at Blackrock Further Education Institute (BFEI) and is survived by his parents Niall and Yvonne, sister Aoife, and grandparents Carmel, Elizabeth, and Jim. His funeral service took place at St Mary's Church, Maynooth at 1pm, followed by burial in Laraghbryan Cemetery. Today we were honoured to be able to celebrate the life and mourn the passing of Ross Murphy with his family. An exceptional young man. Rest easy Ross @AmbulanceNAS @AmbulanceDublin @NAS_HonourGuard @NAS_Swords @PeopleofHSE pic.twitter.com/KL1vQ7ZK3c NAS Education - East (@nas_training) May 20, 2024 Mr Murphy, a paramedic in Dublin South Central Ambulance Station, received a guard of honour from his colleagues at the National Ambulance Service in the town as the funeral procession made its way to the church. The organisation shared photos of the tribute online, including one picture of Mr Murphys coffin being lifted by colleagues in their formal dress uniforms. Today we were honoured to be able to celebrate the life and mourn the passing of Ross Murphy with his family. An exceptional young man. Rest easy Ross, they wrote. Morton Robert, Director of the National Ambulance Service, last week shared a message with staff about the paramedics tragic passing. He said it was with a sense of shock and disbelief that colleagues across the country learned of his sad and untimely death. The message said that in the words of those work colleagues closest to him, Ross was extremely well thought of both socially and professionally and was beloved by his many friends. "Ross excelled during his training and carried this knowledge out onto the road where he carried out his duties to the very highest standards. We have lost an exceptional man and Paramedic, whos values, beliefs and professionalism attest to the type of individual Ross was. Above all else we have lost a dear and honoured friend. The Director said that during his relatively short career with NAS, Ross changed the lives of the many patients and families he encountered in the course of his duties. NAS Dublin South Central Ambulance Station also stated: It is with the deepest ever regret that our colleague and friend Ross passed away today. "Our station and service will never be the same without you, my friend. You were our future. You were the epitome of everything we aim to be. We will miss you forever. Joe Mooney, advanced paramedic wrote: Ambulance NAS have lost a true gentleman yesterday. Ross will be sadly missed. I will miss our chats and also your huge level of knowledge. "If asked a question, I didn't know my expression was always hold on Ross will know' and he always did. I will really miss you pal. RIP Ross. I cant believe youre gone pal, Im honoured to have known you Tributes have been paid to the motorcyclist who was tragically killed on Dublins M50 last week ahead of his funeral this weekend. Derek Martin passed away following the collision on the motorway last Friday, May 17. On his death notice on RIP.ie it states that Derek, of Santry and the Irish Prison Service, who (died) following a tragic accident, was the beloved husband of Vanessa and adoring father of Caitlin and Reece. The notice reads: Very sadly missed by his heartbroken family, his parents Ethel and Derek, sisters Michelle, Jennifer and Helen, mother-in-law and father-in-law Marie and Brendan, brothers-in-law Neil, Brendan, Mark, Graham, Nigel and their partners, his aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, extended family from Liverpool, his best friend Noel, colleagues from the Irish Prison Service, and his many friends. Derek will be reposing at the Kirwan Funeral Home, Ballygall Road West on Sunday May 26 with a gathering of family and friends from 2pm to 4pm. All are welcome. His removal on Monday morning to the Church of Our Lady of Victories, Ballymun Road for 10am Requiem Mass will be followed by a funeral service at Dardistown Crematorium. The family has asked for donations, in lieu, to Crumlins Children Hospital, which was very close to Dereks heart. In the condolences section people have left numerous messages of sympathy including on that reads: Ethel, my dearest friend, I am so very sorry for the loss of your beautiful son, Derek. Taken too soon. And condolences to Dereks wife and children. May he rest in peace. Another adds: I cant believe youre gone pal, Im honoured to have known you. Condolences to your family who you never stopped telling me about. Ill always remember you. Another offered sincere condolences to all of Dereks family and large circle of friends and colleagues. He was a true character and will be missed by all. Rest in Peace, Derek. The Prison Officers' Association branch at Mountjoy also offered sincere condolences to Dereks family and work colleagues at this tragic time, may he rest in peace. Derek died after his motorbike was involved in a collision with a truck shortly after 10.15am on the northbound carriageway between Junction 7 (N4 Liffey Valley) and Junction 6 (N3 Castleknock). The 42-year-old, from Ballymun, was a prison officer at Wheatfield Prison. It has been reported that he had joined the Irish Prison Service in 2007 and was involved in raising money for the Irish Cancer Society. Helen Martin, his sister, later made an appeal online asking those who stopped to help Derek to get in touch. She said he had "the biggest heart ever" and "loved his work pals". She said in a post on X: "I've just been told that when my brother passed away on the M50 on Friday that several cars stopped and people sat around him until the ambulance came so he wasnt alone. "I really want to find them, if people can please share." Following the crash, the driver of the lorry, a man in his 50s, was taken to hospital for assessment. The scene was closed for several hours for a forensic examination on Friday. Gardai have appealed for witnesses to the tragedy to come forward. Noeleen Creen (38) carried the infant from a store inside the Park Centre before his mother managed to snatch him back The incident allegedly occurred at the Park Centre in west Belfast. A woman has been remanded into custody accused of abducting a one-year-old child at a busy west Belfast shopping centre. Noeleen Creen (38) carried the infant from a store inside the Park Centre before his mother managed to snatch him back, the citys Magistrates Court heard on Tuesday. Creen, of Bunbeg Park in Belfast, was arrested after the incident led to a temporary lockdown at the retail complex on Monday afternoon. She was refused bail on a charge of child abduction. An investigating detective said Creen allegedly picked up the infant and tried to leave one of the stores inside the Park Centre. The defendant was stopped about five to ten metres away by the childs mother, who snatched her child away, he told the court. Security staff were alerted and spotted Creen in a nearby seating area within the mall. Based on CCTV footage, police also disclosed that prior to the alleged abduction she approached and kissed the forehead of another child accompanied by its parents. That family left the shopping centre before the alert was raised. In interviews following her arrest Creen provided a disjointed account without a clear recollection of the incident, the court heard. She claimed to have drunk half a bottle of vodka the previous night, visited a friend in hospital and then attended the Park Centre. Asked to explain her actions, Creen suggested: Maybe the child was upset, I was comforting him. She denied trying to leave the mall with the infant. Opposing bail, the detective claimed: There is a serious risk to the public, this was a busy shopping centre where there are young parents and children around. Defence solicitor Philip Breen described it as a very, very strange incident all captured on 90 seconds of CCTV footage. He contended that the initial kiss on the forehead of the other child had been an act of friendship where no complaint was made by that family. Dealing with the alleged abduction, Mr Breen argued that his client was carrying the little boy towards the seating area and not towards the exit. She wasnt attempting to leave the scene, he insisted. Throughout the interview when she was shown the video she was adamant that she wouldnt harm children. The lawyer told the court Creen is a mother of four and self-described alcoholic. She is a pitiful (individual), he added. Bail was denied due to the risk of re-offending. Remanding Creen in custody until June 18, District Judge Steven Keown ordered that a mental health assessment should be carried out before she makes any future application for release. Discontent in ranks over installlation of Wee lad as comander UDA crime boss Gary Fisher is facing revolt as he moves to retake control of South East Antrim, a source has claimed. The Sunday World understands Fisher is back at the helm of the organised crime gang after his health scare and the imposition of a new command structure. According to well-placed sources, Fishers position as Brigadier of the breakaway UDA unit has been bolstered by the dissolution of a three-man committee which had been in place as he recovered from a suspected heart attack. A newly appointed Brigadier has also stood himself down as Fisher returns to centre stage. His return has divided opinion and his decision to appoint a man, who is in his early 20s, as Military Commander (MC) in the Rathcoole estate has drawn stinging criticism from veteran members. The young man now has the power to order punishment beatings and shootings and ultimately can call life or death. It is understood the new MC is a close associate of Fishers and it is being seen as an attempt by the Brigadier to extend his control over the organisation. One source told us his appointment is a kick in the teeth to many long-standing members. Hes only a wee lad who wouldnt know one end of a gun from the other, he said. Hes now in a position where he can order people who have been combatants in the struggle against republicanism he wasnt even born when the ceasefires were called. The youngster is believed to have already ordered a punishment beating. A source has said Fishers medium-term plan is to prepare the ground for his departure from Northern Ireland. There will be a new Brigadier, Gary has his own views about who that should be but he is cashing in his chips and getting ready to get out. Sources have told the Sunday World that Fishers preferred choice is to have long-term sidekick Clifford Trigger Irons installed as his successor. Clifford Trigger Irons It is understood Fisher intends to continue reaping a dividend from SEAs highly lucrative drugs operation and Irons provides the easiest opportunity for him to exert control from a distance. Convicted drug offender and mortgage fraudster Irons was Fishers closest ally in the days of SEAs total domination of the drugs trade in Carrickfergus. Irons was in charge of collecting the money which helped make Fisher a very wealthy man believed to be worth more than 1 million. Fishers descent into ill-health weakened his position as leader and when he suffered a near-fatal heart attack in 2022, he was replaced as Brigadier by a three-man committee. There was widespread speculation that Fisher was washed up and done but the Sunday World understands he has reasserted himself. But his plan is a temporary one. Fisher, who took over as SEA chief in the wake of the murder of John Grug Gregg in 2003 having worked as his driver, is planning his escape from Northern Ireland. The Sunday World understands he has been a frequent visitor to Liverpool where he has long established contacts with organised crime gangs. He is believed to have forged strong links there as a result of his involvement in the drugs trade. SEA has strong connections with organised crime gangs in Liverpool who have supplied SEA with drugs and guns. Fisher is relying on those connections to smooth his way out of Northern Ireland. It is a startling return to power for Fisher who was regarded as a dead duck after his heart scare and it heralds a huge shake-up for the organisation he headed for years. William Duck McTaggart The smart money is on William Duck McTaggart stepping in as Brigadier on his release from prison, according to sources. The SEA hardman has been running the gangs drug operation from behind bars where he is serving a sentence for possession of cocaine with intent to supply. He was due for release early this year which was delayed and is now scheduled to be back on the streets by the summer. He has already instigated a strict new code which has seen dealers independent of the UDA being taxed as much as 20,000 for dealing on SEA territory. It is an uneasy transition for SEA, with a number of veteran members who have said they are ready to make the move away from paramiltarism. SEA UDA is believed to command a membership of more than 2,500, the vast majority of whom are veterans who are no longer active but who are keen to step away from any association with criminality. The controversial Legacy Bill makes that easier, removing the prospect of prosecution for legacy crimes. Sources have told us Fisher is determined to get out and take his money with him. He has taken control back, but it is with a different purpose, its all a means of feathering his nest. The pair, who tied the knot in 2015, welcomed their first child - a baby girl named Blake - in September 2022. Artur Gourounlian has slammed trolls for sending vile messages about his family as he and his husband Brian Dowling prepare to become fathers for the second time. The pair, who tied the knot in 2015, welcomed their first child - a baby girl named Blake - in September 2022. Brians sister Aoife acted as surrogate for the couple at the time and is once again carrying their second child, who is due to arrive into the world on July 4. Speaking on Ireland AM this week, Arthur revealed that they decided to keep quiet about the pregnancy for as long as possible to avoid backlash from trolls after receiving dozens of hate-filled comments before Blake was born. Its homophobia, Im not going to lie. That were not allowed, two men, having a kid, the Dancing With the Stars judge said. People saying its wrong, why should we do surrogacy, its incest - educate yourself to understand whats happening. Its nothing to do with Aoife shes helping us. Shes not doing it for fame, for money. Shes doing it for her brother and brother-in-law, to help us. People know its her but at least she enjoys life, you know? Theres no need for [the hate]. The Armenian insisted he was strong-minded but said reading vile comments isnt nice. Those bad comments dont affect me. These people are not in my life. These people are not my friends, Arthur told hosts Muireann OConnell and Tommy Bowe. Ive said to Brian, If we cant handle it give up everything. Stop presenting, stop writing, stop posting. If I dont want to listen or hear those comments, stop doing it. He added that most of the hate comes from accounts that were created to attack them. Speaking about Aoife offering to act as surrogate again, Arthur admitted he never expected her to help them again. She always knew we wanted siblings for Blake but for the second time we cried. We were like, No, youre lying. Youre lying. This is not right. Its not going to happen. She said, No, no. I want to help you, but we have to do it now, he said. Brian revealed their second childs due date when accepting a gong for Irelands Most Stylish Man at this years Platinum VIP Style Awards, gushing: Arthur and I are technically pregnant with our second child, so Im going to dedicate this award to our second child whos due on Independence Day, July 4th! Speaking to the Sunday World about expanding their family, Brian admitted that his sister Aoife kept her pregnancy private as she got a bit of a hard time from online trolls before. We obviously went through a lot of it the last time, as in the negativity and the trolling, so this time Aoife made a conscious decision herself not to be so obvious on Instagram because she got a bit of a hard time and we got a bit of a hard time, he explained. So, this time Aoife said to us, listen, Id rather if I just stepped back a little bit, and we obviously have to respect that. Shes doing great, just really tired. Shes not been sick, which is amazing. The bump is so different. The pregnancy is so different. Blake moved around so much but this baby is a little shyer. Would they allow it? At a certain time of night? I dont want to get arrested for indecent exposure Irish glamour model and OnlyFans star Bridget Byrne aka Ava Van Rose will take to the portal The Irish and American OnlyFans stars whose tit-for-tat war erupted over the Dublin-New York portal have agreed to a boob off at the controversial sculpture. We revealed this weekend how Dublin glamour model Bridget Byrne, whose stage name is Ava Van Rose, defied knockers across the pond by claiming her breasts are bigger and better than those of American rival Ava Louise. Ava Louise gave Irish people an eyeful during the week when she lifted up her top to flash her naked breasts on the New York side of the portal. But the Dubliner promised to give the Americans a taste of bigger and better Irish potatoes now that the portal has re-opened. Now, both have met live on air and in an exclusive interview with host Gary Brennan on Night-time Talk on Irelands Classic Hits Radio theyve both agreed they are up for boob off at the portal. Irish glamour model and OnlyFans star Bridget Byrne aka Ava Van Rose will take to the portal However, Ava Van Rose said she wanted to know what she was officially allowed to do in public on the Irish side. Would they allow it? At a certain time of night? I dont want to get arrested for indecent exposure, she said. I am asking for an official okay. The American Ava said she was not afraid of the law on the NYC side. This would be awesome if we could do it, she declared. I know I am legally allowed to in New York City. Despite their rivalry both stars bonded over their experiences in making adult content. Ava Van Rose gave host a Gary a crash course in the notion of Pay Pigs, men who want to be abused. It is a term of financial domination, she explained. They want to pay me and buy me things to verbally humiliate them. That is my biggest request. Ava Louise confirmed that while this was a common occurrence stateside she hasnt had that many of them. Irish Ava is very lucky that she doesnt have to do much, she joked. Both women agreed that OnlyFans content is like therapy for some men. Ava Louise revealed how she had talked men down off the ledge while Ava Van Rose said: I think women dont understand that you can be happy and be in love with your wife but that doesnt mean that your fantasies and needs are being met. American OnlyFans star and adult model Ava Louise Since flashing her boobs at the portal in New York Ava Louise says her Only Fans subscribers have jumped from 50,000 to 114,000, many of whom are Irish men. About the portal, Ava Louise said: Everyone over here thinks its hysterical. No one is offended by anything that anyone did. I dont know why the organisers felt the need to shut it down. The American, who has over 400,000 followers on Instagram and also sells pictures of herself on OnlyFans, had boasted she thought the people of Dublin deserved to see my two New York homegrown potatoes. The portal was temporarily closed after not just Ava Louises carry-on, but also flareups on the Dublin side which included lads mooning as well as someone holding up a picture of the Twin Towers in flames during 9/11. Bridget, who has 160,000 followers on her Ava Van Rose Instagram account, has been waiting for the portal to re-open so she can give Americans a taste of her assets. I wouldnt be tacky enough to go nipple front but Id like to do it with nipple covers or nipple tassels, Bridget (34) told us. It would definitely be a tit-for-tat. My boobs are definitely bigger than hers mine wont really go with much larger than I have, but Id love to get larger. Im currently 32E and would like to go to 32GG. I think its great fun, added Bridget, who has been called Irelands answer to Jordan/Katie Price. I have been watching some of the stuff, and its very artistic. It gets to see different people on either side of the borders. I think its mad, a bit of craic and I think it does connect people. American OnlyFans star and adult model Ava Louise gave Irish people an eyeful on the portal Bridget recently took a break from social media, but still kept her OnlyFans account open, in which she claims she has a army of slaves. Im flying out to Turkey in two weeks to get my bum done. This will be my third time to get my bum done, adds the mum of four. Last year I graced the cover of 12 magazines in the space of six months all over the world and I still go to the dominatrix and fetish and glamour awards in the UK. I think there should be an Irish version, because Ireland has become more open to the European ideas on the concept of people who are genuinely and aesthetically themselves. Bridget, from Clondalkin, Dublin, has been a glamour model for the past 13 years and rose to fame through her modelling work and reality TV appearances on shows such as Rise of the Instababes and on MTVs Botched. She has been classed as Irelands most surgically enhanced woman, with two boob jobs, two bum lifts, a tummy tuck, abdominoplasty, liposuction, lip fillers and a designer vagina. She wants to focus on rebranding her makeup business and reveals she is single at the moment. Im business-focused and I want to get my surgery, so that will put me out for a while, she points out. Your Aerocool Rescue Helicopter carried out 47 life-saving missions within the Coastal Bay of Plenty region over the month of April. These missions included 29 inter-hospital transfers, 9 medical events, 2 rural/farm incidents, 1 motor vehicle accident, and 6 miscellaneous missions. Your Aerocool Rescue Helicopter was most often seen in Rotorua with 13 inter-hospital transfers, Whakatane with 7 inter-hospital transfers and Matakana Island with 2 missions. The month began with your Aerocool Rescue Helicopter being dispatched to Rotorua Hospital for a male in his 30s who was suffering from a serious medical event. The patient was quickly airlifted to Tauranga Hospital for further treatment. Later that day, April 1, your Aerocool Rescue Helicopter was dispatched to Rotorua Hospital for a man in his 30s who was experiencing a serious medical event. The patient was swiftly airlifted to Tauranga Hospital for urgent treatment. On Tuesday night, April 2, the Aerocool Rescue Helicopter was called to Rotorua Hospital for a woman in her 40s who was suffering from a severe medical emergency. The team wasted no time in transporting her to Tauranga Hospital for specialized care. Your Aerocool Rescue Helicopter. Photo supplied. On Sunday morning, April 7, the Aerocool Rescue Helicopter was dispatched to Tauranga for a female in her 30s who had slipped and fallen, sustaining serious injuries. The patient was flown to Tauranga Hospital for further treatment. On Tuesday morning, April 9, the Aerocool Rescue Helicopter was tasked with transferring a male in his 80s who was suffering from a medical condition from Waihau Bay to Whakatane Hospital. The patient was transported for further treatment. On Sunday night, April 14, the Aerocool Rescue Helicopter was dispatched to Rotorua Hospital for a male in his 30s who had been involved in a mountain bike accident and sustained serious injuries. The patient was flown to Middlemore Hospital for further treatment. On Tuesday afternoon, April 16, the Aerocool Rescue Helicopter was dispatched to Opotiki for a male in his 70s experiencing a serious medical event. The patient was transported to Tauranga Hospital for further treatment. On Monday morning, April 22, the Aerocool Rescue Helicopter was dispatched to Rotorua Hospital for a woman in her 30s experiencing pregnancy difficulties. The patient was transported to Auckland City Hospital for further treatment. That same day, the Aerocool Rescue Helicopter was dispatched to Matakana Island, due to its remote location, for a woman in her 90s experiencing a cardiac condition. The patient was transported to Tauranga Hospital for further treatment. Later that day, the Aerocool Rescue Helicopter was called to Rotorua for a male in his teens that was suffering from lower body injuries after being ejected from a vehicle. The patient was swiftly flown to Waikato Hospital for further treatment. On Thursday afternoon, April 25, the Aerocool Rescue Helicopter was tasked to Tokoroa Hospital for a male in 40s who was suffering from a serious cardiac condition. The patient was transported to Waikato Hospital for further treatment. The next morning, the Aerocool Rescue Helicopter was dispatched to Whakatane Hospital for a young female who was experiencing a serious medical event. The patient was transported to Auckland Starship Hospital for further treatment. Your Aerocool Rescue Helicopter. Photo supplied. On Saturday afternoon, April 27, the Aerocool Rescue Helicopter was called to Te Puia Springs for a male in his 20s who had sustained fracture injuries to his leg after a rugby related incident. The patient was transported to Gisborne Hospital for further treatment. On Monday morning, April 29, the Aerocool Rescue Helicopter was tasked to Te Kaha for a woman in her 60s who was experiencing a medical condition and subsequent breathing problems. The patient was transported to Whakatane Hospital for further treatment. The month ended with your Aerocool Rescue Helicopter being dispatched to Rotorua Hospital for a female in her teens who was experiencing a medical condition. The patient was transported to Auckland City Hospital for further treatment. The fast response of the rescue helicopter and its highly trained crew ensures the patients receive the best care as quickly as possible. These life-saving missions happen every day and its what happened next that makes the difference you make that difference. Donate to your Aerocool Rescue Helicopter at https://give.rescue.org.nz/event/aerocool-rescue-helicopter/donate State Highway 35 between Te Puia township and Tolaga Bay is closed, due to surface flooding. The stretch of road was closed just before 10.30 today following heavy and persistent rainfall, causing surface flooding and rising river levels. The road will remain closed until further notice. Metservice is warning of further rainfall in the area during the day. NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi System Manager Martin Colditz says the decision has been taken to close the road for the safety of all motorists and the local community. NZTA is advising road users to avoid travel if possible and drive to the conditions on other parts of the network. Crews are regularly assessing other parts of the network for any signs of flooding or safety risks. Please keep up to date by visiting NZTAs Journey Planner. Plan ahead for a safe, enjoyable journey. Keep up to date with: Emma Rawson-Te Patu will be welcomed by the World Federation of Public Health Associations in Geneva, Switzerland, next week as its new president. She will be the first New Zealander and first indigenous woman to head the organisation in its 57-year history. "It is a privilege to take up this Public Health leadership role as a wahine Maori and an indigenous leader," Emma says. "The United Nations and World Health Organisation have declared the importance of indigenous knowledge and traditions. Our federation is well positioned to show leadership globally by leaning into this responsibility." Emma says the immediate priority for her two-year tenure was decolonising public health globally. "Inequities for indigenous people are still as significant as they have ever been. Public health is about reducing inequities across the board. "This is an opportunity for the global public health community to authentically understand how they can implement solutions to address Indigenous inequities that will also support the health and wellbeing of the total population." Based at the University of Geneva, the WFPHA is made up of more than 100 national public health associations and represents five million academics, researchers, health promoters, doctors, epidemiologists, public health nurses and students. Public Health leaders from across the globe will attend the inauguration including indigenous leaders and members of the organisation's Indigenous Working Group. Dignitaries from New Zealand include whaea Martha Rodgers, past president of the Public Health Association of New Zealand and its first wahine Maori president. Director-General of Health and chief executive of the New Zealand Ministry of Health Dr Diana Sarfati, and Deputy Director-General of the Public Health Agency Dr Andrew Old will also attend. Emma Rawson-Te Patu (centre) speaks at the United Nations permanent forum on Indigenous issues as president elect of the World Federation of Public Health Associations. Photo: Supplied / LDR. Emma (Ngati Ranginui, Ngai Te Rangi, Raukawa, Ngati Haua) describes her appointment, following on from two years as vice president, as a "huge responsibility and a massive opportunity". "I'm excited about the possibilities but at the same time I'm very aware of the responsibilities as an indigenous woman, and what this means not just for our people in Aotearoa but for indigenous peoples across the planet." University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker MNZM says Emma's appointment was "very good news" for public health in Aotearoa and globally. "Emma brings huge mana and expertise that will enhance the work of the World Federation," Baker says. "At the same time, Aotearoa will benefit from the global perspective that Emma will be able to apply through her continuing work here." Next week's inauguration will take place during the WFPHA general assembly. The inauguration will for the first time include indigenous processes and protocols, including an acknowledgement of the past president, a tikanga Maori process in te reo Maori to formally deliver Emma into the presidency, and haka and waiata. Emma will then preside over the remainder of the general assembly. Later in the week, the new president and the Indigenous Working Group will host an event focusing on Indigenous determinants of health and decolonising public health globally. The workshop at the University of Geneva will include speakers from New Zealand, Australia and special guest Geoffrey Roth, expert member of the United Nations permanent forum on indigenous issues. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air. Eugenio Cabezas xarquia Tuesday, 21 May 2024, 13:38 Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace WhatsApp Facebook X (antes Twitter) LinkedIn Telegram Threads The Axarquia can boast a species of toad that is unique to the area in Malaga province. Specifically, it is the Iberian midwife toad, which is from the Sierras Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama Natural Park. This small amphibian, extremely endangered, is different from the one found in the rest of Spain. It was discovered on 16 May 1995, 29 years ago last Thursday. It was then that the first scientific work on the species was published, with Canillas de Aceituno responsible for the research. It was in this municipality in the Axarquia region the data was taken to determine this important discovery. On the occasion of the 29th anniversary of the discovery of Alytes Dickhilleni by the authors Arzten and Garcia-Paris, the environmental educator and resident of Canillas de Aceituno Lidia Jimenez, in collaboration with a group of scientists from the Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Madrid, the University of Oviedo and published by the Spanish Herpetological Association (AHE), released their new work as an ebook. It is called Emerging Diseases in Amphibians, and focuses on the diseases that are currently causing significant population declines worldwide. Canillas de Aceituno mayor Vicente Campos said: "from this local authority we echo the problem of emerging diseases that are impacting on amphibians worldwide and that particularly affects our herpetofauna, especially the species Alytes". "In this work presented by our local resident Lidia Jimenez, we can find out what they are, how they affect these animals and how we can prevent them," he said. Campos also said that next year, Canillas de Aceituno will host the meeting of scientists to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the discovery of the Betic midwife toad. Lidia Jimenez said: "these are fungi and viruses that do not affect humans, but we can be a vector of contamination if we do not know about them and act accordingly". "The aim of this work is to raise awareness of what they are, how they affect this animal group and what can be done to try to prevent humans from transmitting them," she added. The researcher from Canillas de Aceituno has given some guidelines to follow in order to protect the amphibian species in the area: "Keep the water bodies where there is aquatic life intact and do not intervene in them. Do not allow your pet to get into the water of fountains, troughs and ponds, as its paws can transmit fungi and pathogens to other places". Zoom Researcher Lidia Jimenez, in the sierra of Canillas de Aceituno. SUR The expert also advised owners to not to leave their pets in the area, as they can seriously harm the native fauna. "When hiking, do not empty your water bottles into the fountains, and if you want to renew the water, throw it away from the wetlands. The most important thing: know our natural enclave, conserve it, maintain it and, if possible, improve it," she said. For more information people can visit sosanfibios.org/ebook-enfermedades-emergentes/. Antonio Munoz, from Malaga, on the motorbike with which he is making the trip to Mongolia with Cristina Pinto Malaga Tuesday, 21 May 2024, 17:23 Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace WhatsApp Facebook X (antes Twitter) LinkedIn Telegram Threads He has lived in Canada, England, Mexico, Indonesia, Tanzania... and has travelled all over the world. But for his next destination, he plans to get there on just two wheels. Antonio Jesus Munoz Benitez from Malaga is setting off today (21 May) on his motorbike from Malaga to Mongolia: "I feel I have to do it. I'm about to turn 52 and I think it's the right time to do it because I still feel young, I don't know what will happen in a year's time. I don't have any children to tie me down, Cupid told me 'Antonio, I'm going to show you the world and you'll stay single'", he told SUR. Antonio estimated that by the end of July he will have reached Mongolia. "From 12 July I have the visa to enter Russia," said Antonio Munoz, who is taking his tent to sleep in campsites. "In Istanbul I know there are cheap hostels, but I'll be camping a lot because I like it, even if I have to spend more money in some places. In any case, in some cities I'll try to find a hotel and a bed to rest and clean myself in peace," he said. "If I go and do everything I want to do, it will be about 30,000 kilometres round trip because I will travel through Mongolia and in Kazakhstan. I want to visit many things as well. There is even the possibility of leaving the motorbike somewhere and continuing on to Indonesia, but that will depend on how the trip goes," said Antonio Munoz, who has had the help and collaboration of companies such as Le Grand Cafe, Matahambre Teatinos, Grupo YPH, Franesmu Construcciones, Vitrac Obra Publica, Motos Garrido, Alan Automatismos, Los Dolmenes, ClimaLimit and TransMarruecos. Zoom The man from Malaga estimates that he will cover about 30,000 kilometres. Antonio Carretero He is travelling on his 2005 Honda Transalp 650 and will document the whole story of his journey on social media @eltitoviajando. "I've been planning the trip for a year and a half and I'm really looking forward to it. I've been preparing the bike little by little, fixing things over the last few months and travelling around Andalucia a lot to check that everything was going well," said Antonio Munoz. "I want to feel the freedom of doing this on my own," he added. Five employees of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry were honored by Chancellor John B. King Jr. for outstanding service to the State University of New York. The awards pay tribute to those who are role models for students and their colleagues. Janine DeBaise, an instructor in the colleges writing program, was recognized for excellence in teaching. She joined the ESF faculty in 1992 and has more than 100 publications spanning poetry, essays, and fiction in esteemed journals. Her influence extends beyond the written word; she has actively contributed to both community initiatives and editorial endeavors for decades. As an instructor, she is noted by students for her engaging and inclusive teaching style, evident in both mandatory ESF courses and specialized electives focusing on environmental literature. Georgetown, N.Y. A wanted Central New York man Monday tried to get away from police on a farm tractor, driving it into an armored police car and running into woods, deputies said. On May 16, deputies went to the home of Michael S. DeBottis, 37, of Georgetown, to arrest him on a warrant, said Samantha Field, a spokesperson for Madison County. DeBottis was wanted for domestic-related offenses, out of Broome County. DeBottis managed to get in a car and flee, Field said. The Madison County Sheriffs Office asked the public for help finding DeBottis but also told the public not to approach him. On Monday, deputies from Broome County and Madison County went to his home. DeBottis ran to a farm tractor on the property and hopped in, starting the police chase, she said. During the pursuit he used the bucket on the tractor to hit an armored police car, damaging it, she said. Eventually, he managed to evade police by going into a wooded area, she said. The Onondaga County Sheriffs Office helicopter, Air 1, responded to help search the woods. DeBottis was found under a boat in the woods off Route 80, she said. He was then taken into custody and taken to Hamilton Hospital for dehydration, she said. Once he is released from the hospital, he will be arraigned in Madison County on: Three counts of first-degree attempted assault Three counts of attempted aggravated assault of a police officer Three counts of first-degree reckless endangerment One count of second-degree criminal mischief Three counts of second-degree menacing One count of obstructing governmental administration One count of resisting arrest These charges are not the first for DeBottis. In 2011, he was convicted of third-degree rape for having sex with a 16-year-old girl, according to the states sex offender registry. He was 23 years old at the time. He was sentenced to 308 days in a local jail. In 2015, DeBottis sent threatening text messages to a woman, sending police to his home and triggering a standoff. He escaped police overnight but eventually turned himself in. In 2018, he was charged with reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a weapon, menacing and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child after threatening two people with a gun. Michael S. DebottisProvided photo Staff writer Rylee Kirk covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, story idea, photo, question or comment? Reach her at 315-396-5961, on Twitter @kirk_rylee, or rkirk@syracuse.com. DeWitt, NY The DeWitt Town Board today approved finalizing a separation agreement with Chase Bilodeau, who has been DeWitts police chief since April 2020. The board unanimously agreed to direct the towns lawyers to finalize the agreement with Bilodeau by the end of the week. YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS. Mourning has been declared in at least eight countries of the world, including Iran, in connection with the death of President of the Islamic Republic Ebrahim Raisi and the accompanying delegation as a result of the helicopter crash. According to "Armenpress", the IRNA agency informs about it. Earlier it was reported that Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan and Syria declared mourning. India, Tajikistan and Turkey also joined these countries. One-day mourning has been declared in most countries, only in Syria and Lebanon it will last three days, and in Tajikistan - two days. Mourning events in the Islamic Republic will last five days. The helicopter carrying President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi crashed during landing in Iran's East Azerbaijan province. The incident occurred as the president was returning from the opening ceremony of a reservoir on the Iran-Azerbaijan border, accompanied by Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials. Tragically, none of the occupants survived the crash. The Taos News delivered to your Taos County address every week for a full year! We offer our lowest mail rates to zip codes in the county. Click Here to See if you Qualify. Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime. YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS. The "Yerevan Ballet Festival", which will be held on June 2-5 in the park named after Hovhannes Tumanyan, will give art lovers the opportunity to get acquainted with the performances of theater groups from different countries. The Municipality of Yerevan informs that Boris Eifman Saint Petersburg Academic Ballet Theater, Tbilisi Paliashvili Opera and Ballet Theater and Spendiaryan National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater will perform at the outdoor ballet festival. Performances start at 20:00, admission is free. New Teagasc study highlights the low environmental impact of small farms in Ireland A new Teagasc study investigates the economic, environmental and social sustainability of small farms, using data collected through the Teagasc National Farm Survey (NFS). While these small farms mainly produce cattle or sheep, there is also a third category of small farms where leasing out much of the farm is a revenue source. While there are over 135,000 farms in Ireland, over 48,000 of these farms are classified as being particularly small in economic terms. These small farms occupy about 15% of the agricultural land area in Ireland. The average small farm has an area of about 13 hectares, with a typical herd size of about 5 suckler cows or 20 ewes. These small farms are not included in the annual Teagasc National Farm Survey, but are surveyed every five years instead. In terms of economic performance, the results of the study confirm the very low levels of income earned on small farms, reflecting their low level of output per hectare and their high fixed costs of production relative to their size. In 2022, the average family farm income (FFI) on small cattle and sheep farms was just 2,638, compared to an average FFI for the rest of the cattle and sheep farm population of 15,082. While farming related income on small farms is particularly low, the study finds that over 80% of small farm households also have non-farm income sources, either through off-farm employment or through a pension. While small farms are not particularly significant in economic terms, due to their very extensive nature (low stocking rate) they differ from the rest of the farm population in terms of their environmental sustainability and contribution to biodiversity. The low level of chemical fertiliser use on small farms is reflected in lower nitrogen and phosphorus balances compared to the rest of the farm population. The low stocking rate on these farms also means that they have very low levels of Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with just 4% (less than 1 million tonnes of CO 2 equivalent) of the GHG emissions produced by Irish agriculture originating from these 48,000 small farms. However, while the low level of GHG emissions from these small farms is notable, the level of output from these farms is also low. Taking these factors into account, the study finds that small farms produce more GHG per kg of meat than is the case for the rest of the cattle and sheep farm population. This means that even though they produce very little GHG emissions in total, small farms are less GHG emissions efficient than the rest of the farm population. Due to their extremely extensive nature and minimal use of grassland management, small farms are likely to be an important repository for biodiversity, with ongoing Teagasc research developing ways of assessing their role in maintaining natural habitats. In terms of the social dimension, the study indicates that the age profile of small farm households is slightly higher than that of the rest of the farming population, with the average farmer aged 60 years. The survey found that the main farm operator on small farms has been in place for more than 20 years on about 60% of small farms. Almost 8 in 10 small farm households have access to the internet, with 7 in 10 farm operators using a smartphone. About 50% of small farm operators make use of either their smartphone or the internet for some farming related purpose. Looking ahead, given the large number of small farms in Ireland, the future intentions of small farm operators and the potential future trajectory of small farms is of real interest, since it may have implications for the overall sustainability of Irish agriculture. The study reveals that over the next 5 years, more than one-third (35%) of small farm operators intend to continue farming as is, with a further 27% intending to lease out their land. A further one fifth expect to have changed farm system, or to have scaled back their farming activity, while the remainder expect to be farming with a successor, or to have scaled up their farming activity to some extent. In the context of generational renewal, the study finds that a farm successor has been identified on more than half (56%) of the farms in the small farm population. The survey also finds that about half of current small farm operators would expect to transfer the farm to the successor in the next 5 to 10 years. Somewhat surprisingly, close to half of small farm operators did not expect the emerging potential of remote working to lead to an increase in the likelihood of farm succession. Among those who plan to continue to farm, more than 50% were interested in switching from a conventional system to organics, with 40% interested in further involvement in agri-environmental schemes. For the purposes of the study small farms are defined by the amount of output they produce rather than their farm area. Farms with a standard output of 8,000 or less were identified for inclusion in the study. The full report can be viewed at https://www.teagasc.ie ValarMorghulis BHPian Join Date: Apr 2019 Location: Bangalore Posts: 385 Thanked: 3,403 Times Re: Climate activists want airplanes grounded | Protest at Munich Airport leads to flight cancellati Quote: Jeroen Originally Posted by In most western countries the right to protest is guaranteed by law. And most jurisprudence will also show that society needs to accept a fair degree of inconvenience. ... Without disruption the impact of just any protest is very small. Think about the big protests in the world. Vietnam protests, East Germany wall, women equality etc etc. All of them had a very large part of disruption and inconvenience to the general public. ... You mentioned that right to protest is guaranteed by law. 100% agreed. As it should be. Everybody should be allowed to protest for whatever cause they wish for. I am conflicted with the second part of the statement. "...society needs to accept a fair degree of inconvenience. Without disruption the impact of just any protest is very small". -Why? Why should others be inconvenienced for what is clearly a "cause for a few" or even when isn't a cause for few? -And what is the degree of inconvenience one should tolerate? -And what are the causes that justify such inconveniences? -Is the inconvenience only acceptable to the affluent? (Caking the Monda Lisa. The poor don't go to the Louvre. Global Warming is much bigger cause). -Or blocking access to a hospital is OK as well? Say, only for a noble cause like "food for the poor" or is it OK even for "demanding the rich don't use their private jets"? -Is a cause by a town that demands better roads OK for them disrupting schools? I mean what is the "cause nobility" versus "disruption scale" that is acceptable? Obviously if 200 people demand free PS5s and block roads, they'd be sent to jail. But what is 100 people demand cleaner air and stop a train line? Why is the convenience of an innocent person on the road, who by the way has nothing to do or is a part of this protest, an acceptable sacrifice? This is really a genuine query. It might have come across as snide few lines, but I am genuinely curious. This is a genuine query. I agree with few points, but I am also struggling with few others. Would love to hear your thoughts and others'.You mentioned that right to protest is guaranteed by law.. As it should be. Everybody should be allowed to protest for whatever cause they wish for.I am conflicted with the second part of the statement.-Why? Why should others be inconvenienced for what is clearly a "cause for a few" or even when isn't a cause for few?-And what is the degree of inconvenience one should tolerate?-And what are the causes that justify such inconveniences?-Is the inconvenience only acceptable to the affluent? (Caking the Monda Lisa. The poor don't go to the Louvre. Global Warming is much bigger cause).-Or blocking access to a hospital is OK as well? Say, only for a noble cause like "food for the poor" or is it OK even for "demanding the rich don't use their private jets"?-Is a cause by a town that demands better roads OK for them disrupting schools?Obviously if 200 people demand free PS5s and block roads, they'd be sent to jail. But what is 100 people demand cleaner air and stop a train line?Why is the convenience of an innocent person on the road, who by the way has nothing to do or is a part of this protest, an acceptable sacrifice?This is really a genuine query. It might have come across as snide few lines, but I am genuinely curious. In brief: Assisting with various tasks is one of the primary proposed functions of generative AIs from companies like Microsoft, OpenAI, Google, and possibly soon Apple. At a recent unveiling of "AI PCs," Microsoft claimed that its AI, Copilot, can help players in certain video games in real time, but its effectiveness in real-world scenarios remains to be seen. While revealing its new AI-powered Surface laptops this week, Microsoft shared a demonstration where the device's Copilot onboard AI offered real-time tips in games like Minecraft and Sea of Thieves. The fully voiced digital assistant appeared to conduct a natural conversation and react to in-game events. In one video, a Minecraft player asks Copilot how to craft a sword. The AI can see what items are in the player's inventory and suggests that they still need to collect some wood or stone. Another video shows zombies attacking the player. Copilot quickly shifts to an alarmed tone of voice and advises the player to either find shelter or build a barrier to stay out of their reach. Real time conversations with your AI companion Copilot, powered by OpenAI's GPT-4o. pic.twitter.com/Ug7EWv2sah Microsoft Copilot (@MSFTCopilot) May 20, 2024 It isn't clear which games Copilot will support, but a screenshot from Windows Central suggests it can also help with Sea of Thieves. If the AI must be tailored on a per-game basis, it might debut for specific Microsoft-published titles. Stressing an emphasis on privacy, Microsoft stated that all of the information Copilot gathers for in-game assistance will remain on the device. The company won't upload data to the cloud or use it to train AI models. Real-time guides are somewhat different from other AI-based applications for video games. The most successful gaming-related uses for the technology have been machine-learning-assisted upscaling and frame generation features that dramatically improve performance. Meanwhile, Nvidia has proposed filling games with AI-controlled characters that can react to a wide range of player input. Conversely, in-game assistance would presumably be optional, and wouldn't directly affect a game's content. However, some might express concern over the feature's impact on hand-written guides. Hallucination is another risk to consider. So far, developers have been unsuccessful in stopping AI-based chatbots from confidently stating false information. The recently unveiled AI summaries for Google search were immediately caught hallucinating, so there's a good chance the same could happen to Copilot's game assistant. Microsoft's Surface Pro Copilot+ PC will begin shipping in mid-June, starting at $999.99. The PC uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite processor to run an Arm-based version of Windows. The Hexagon NPU performs AI workloads at 45 TOPs. What just happened? At Microsoft's Surface event this week, leading PC manufacturers, including Dell, HP, Acer, Asus, Samsung, and Lenovo, announced their first batch of laptops powered by the Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus processors. The new devices meet Microsoft's Copilot+ standard that requires laptops to include an NPU powerful enough to process 40+ trillion operations per second. Microsoft claims that all Copilot+ PCs will be 58 percent faster than the MacBook Air M3. Starting with Microsoft's own offerings, the new Surface Laptop can be configured with either the Snapdragon X Elite or Snapdragon X Plus. Available for pre-order starting at $999.99, it is offered with two display options, up to 64GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage. The Surface Pro is powered by the same two chips and features an OLED screen with HDR support. Microsoft is offering the device with up to 32GB of memory, up to 1TB of storage, and a new detachable keyboard called the Surface Pro Flex Keyboard. Pricing starts at $999 for the base model. Dell announced five laptops powered by Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus, including the XPS 13, Latitude 7455, and Inspiron 14 Plus. The XPS 13 is powered by the 12-core Snapdragon X Elite processor with Dual Core Boost, while the Latitude 7455 will be offered with both the Elite and Plus options. The Dell Inspiron 14 Plus will ship with only a 10-core Snapdragon X Plus processor. The XPS 13 and Inspiron 14 Plus are available to pre-order now at starting prices of $1,299 and $1,099, respectively. Samsung announced the Galaxy Book 4 Edge, powered by the Snapdragon X Elite. It comes with 14-inch and 16-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X displays and includes Galaxy AI features like Live Translate and Chat Assist. It will be available in select markets, including the US, from June 18. Lenovo is releasing the Yoga Slim 7x 14 and ThinkPad T14s with the Snapdragon X Elite chip. The former is aimed at creators and will start at $1,199, while the latter is designed for business users and has a starting price of $1,699. Both will go on sale next month. Finally, Taiwanese tech majors Asus and Acer also announced new Copilot+ PCs. The Asus Vivobook S 15 will ship with either the Snapdragon X Elite or X Plus, feature a 120Hz OLED display, and include up to 32GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage. It will go on sale June 18 at a starting price of $1,299. Then there's the Acer Swift 14 AI that will come with a 14.5-inch 120Hz display, a flexible 180-degree hinge, up to 32GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage. It will have a starting price of $1,099. The big picture: Desktop users will swear they've been in situations where they had to desperately search through emails, browser histories, and file folders trying to find that one thing they vaguely remember seeing or working on a few days prior. It's frustrating, but Microsoft may have cracked this problem with a new feature called Recall. Launching for the upcoming Copilot+ PCs powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chips, Recall is essentially an all-seeing eye that keeps tabs on everything you do on your computer. It then presents a scrollable timeline you can search through, using AI. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella described the feature as an upgrade over traditional keyword search, dubbing it was "semantic search over all your history." Satya Nadella says Windows PCs will have a photographic memory feature called Recall that will remember and understand everything you do on your computer by taking constant screenshots pic.twitter.com/Gubi4DGHcs Tsarathustra (@tsarnick) May 20, 2024 "It's not just about any document. We can recreate moments from the past," he said. He also provided a glimpse into what happens behind the scenes when the feature's turned on. Essentially, Windows takes screenshots of your screen constantly. It then uses a generative AI model right on the device along with the NPU to process all that data, including photos. As an example, a Microsoft executive used Recall during a demo at its preview event this week to instantly pull up her recent Pinterest searches for "blue dress" just by saying that phrase out loud. With a couple more details like "sequined lace" and "for Abuelita," Recall homed in on the exact item she'd been eyeing. As you can tell from the demo above, the level of data captured seems pretty vast. Recall's timeline lets you scroll through a visual recreation of everything you've done, seeing past browser sessions, video meetings, you name it. Meetings get automatically transcribed and translated too, thanks to Live Captions tech also integrated into Recall. All this does sound kind of similar to the Cortana-powered Timeline feature Microsoft abandoned in Windows 10 a few years back. Despite its promise, the feature never caught on. And with Cortana's looming deprecation, it probably made sense to axe the whole thing at the time. But cut to now, with Copilot's improved generative AI powers, Microsoft thought it would revive the feature in a new avatar. Of course, there may be some privacy implications here, too. Microsoft's laying those to rest by claiming all Recall data stays local and private on your PC, and you can pause or delete logging as needed. However, it added that Recall won't proactively hide sensitive stuff like passwords or payment details. "Your snapshots are yours; they stay locally on your PC. You can delete individual snapshots, adjust and delete ranges of time in Settings, or pause at any point right from the icon in the System Tray on your Taskbar. You can also filter apps and websites from ever being saved. You are always in control with privacy you can trust," notes Microsoft. There are some hardware limitations as well. Recall requires one of the freshly announced Copilot+ PCs with a special neural processing unit for the heavy AI lifting involved. And you'll need a decent chunk of storage too Microsoft recommends a minimum of 256GB of space, with 25GB allocated to Recall out of the box for roughly 3 months of snapshots. Performance is another open question. Could having an AI assistant perpetually logging all your activities affect battery life? We'll have to wait for real-world tests to know for certain. Identifying the main ideas and facts of a text takes less time and effort when using a summary tool. It can help anyone focus on the most important information without losing sight of its context. The best tools now leverage artificial intelligence to read and analyze text and generate accurate summaries in seconds. An AI summarizer uses intelligent algorithms to extract meaningful information from documents or text, including videos or audio files. It provides an overview of content anyone can digest easily without spending hours yet only retaining a fraction of the information consumed. Summaries make complex topics digestible and accessible to the average reader, especially when the source material requires subject expertise. Choose from the top 5 best AI summarizer software in 2024 to grasp the gist of any article, document, or video in minutes. #1 Wordtune Overview Wordtune leverages generative AI technology to streamline the writing process. It can summarize any academic paper, magazine article, or video content from YouTube. It generates summaries that sound human and easy to follow. The AI summarizer software supports Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Microsoft Word platforms. While its add-ons are free to use, it also has a dedicated mobile app for iOS devices. It also has an editor site where users can access its AI tools. Companies can also opt for its API to integrate its generative AI into their apps, platforms, and products. This summary tool also doubles as an AI-powered writing companion as it possesses a deep understanding of context and semantics to assist anyone in writing with confidence. It can offer suggestions that align with unique writing styles or create quality content from scratch at the press of a button, like emails, social media posts, headlines, and more. This AI writing assistant checks at least five sources before it gives suggestions to support the content of the draft. While it can rewrite or improve writing, Wordtune tends to change the meaning of a text. It may offer suggestions that slightly change what the user intends to convey. These suggestions may seem out of context only because its AI continually learns from all existing writing to offer phrases and ideas that fit into the topic or word choice. Wordtune can also source information from a personalized knowledge base. It offers a library where it finds answers based on the questions asked by the user. It can also translate multiple languages, making it ideal for non-native English speakers. Features Sectioning This summary tool automatically sections the content to make information easier to consume and understand. It presents the main topic of the article, magazine, or YouTube video and then lists the supporting details at the click of a button. Sectioning prevents overwhelming users with so much information. Wordtune effortlessly transforms any heavy course material into focused summaries that users can export anywhere. It cuts their reading or watching time in half, as they can only consume the parts they need to know. Library Wordtune lets users store and control all links, video files, summaries, etc., inside a personal library. It can understand and match the keywords used in a question to provide the answers needed, referencing the personalized knowledge base. AI Rewriter Students or professionals can spend less time on improvements and iterations with AI rewriter. Wordtune can instantly paraphrase emails, articles, messages, and more, so users can present written work confidently with options to expand the content, shorten it, and make it casual or formal. Even if they're non-English speakers, the AI summarizer software can translate up to 10 languages into English. Grammar Checker As an AI writing companion, Wordtune can check for grammatical errors, misuse of punctuation, and typos present in a written work. It offers nuanced suggestions to elevate the writing style. Coupled with AI-powered suggestions, anyone can improve their writing with alternative phrases and synonyms, enhancing the clarity and readability of the text. Reasons to consider: Discounts are available for customers in academic institutions and NGOs. Semantic search Dedicated mobile app (iOS) Enterprise-level security Reasons to avoid: Translation limited to 10 languages Unlimited features exclusive to more expensive subscription plans. #2 QuillBot Overview QuillBot leverages natural language processing to locate critical information to generate summaries while preserving the original context. It is a free-to-use AI summarizer software with extensions that work for Chrome, Word, and macOS. It takes minimal effort to use and learn due to its intuitiveness. It also integrates seamlessly with platforms like Gmail, Google Docs, LinkedIn, and Facebook. QuillBot contains multiple AI tools anyone across industries can utilize to improve fluency, vocabulary, tone, and style. It can also translate into 40+ languages with high accuracy. This AI translator can help users decipher idioms and other language quirks. It can also prevent accidental plagiarism as it offers a fast way to generate citations for various writing projects. Features Multiple Modes QuillBots can paraphrase texts in different ways, depending on the use case. It can improve the clarity and readability of a text with "fluency," make a text sound more technical and scholarly with "academic," etc. It offers multiple modes, ensuring anyone has the appropriate vocabulary, tone, and style for any occasion. Synonym Slider This AI summarizer software also lets users modify the words in the summary. Moving the synonym slider to the left gives them a more accurate rephrase while moving it to the right results in more options to customize the text. It can also show the list of suggested synonyms with a click. This summary tool can also provide information about citing different types of reference materials. It also stays up to date with the latest editions of citation styles. QuillBot can generate citations in APA, MLA, and Chicago style formats, ensuring all sentences lifted from books, research journals, or videos are correctly cited to avoid plagiarism. It also highlights any information missing for completeness. QuillBot can also search for the source if it's not available. The citation generator is verified by experts and PhDs, ensuring proper credit to the source material. AI Detector Using AI for generating content has its drawbacks, as AI tools sometimes fail to add proper flow to a piece of text or prioritize keywords over being informative to the reader, practices that cannot meet the quality standards of the Google search engine. QuillBot can identify content generated or paraphrased by AI to appear original. It understands the differences between human-written and AI-generated content. Hence, it can save users from losing credibility. Reasons to consider: Free and easy to use Affordable Built-in Citation tools Reasons to avoid: Manual intervention is needed. The free version has character limitations. Multiple modes are exclusive to paid plans. #3 Semrush AI Text Summarizer Overview Semrush AI text summarizer provides quick and concise summaries of text. It works by analyzing the content to identify the most important points in a lengthy text. Unlike other AI tools, it does not limit the amount of characters to be used as the basis for the summary. This summary tool can easily transform paragraphs, articles, and other textual content into a digestible and engaging copy. Besides paragraphs, it can also be summarized in bullet points. It works incredibly fast and offers the option to shorten or lengthen the summary so users can quickly access insights and better understand a text without thoroughly reading the source material. Based on its results, the summary tool understands the context, maintaining the quality and accuracy of the text. Features Fast Content Creation Semrush generates summaries in seconds for fast content creation. It does not require human intervention and only takes one click to produce the summary. The summary tool can save users hours of work without compromising the quality of the text. Dual Modes The AI text summarizer offers two modes: paragraph and bullet point list. Users can choose between the two to identify the main points in an article and remove unnecessary text. Customizable Length Semrush lets users decide whether they want a longer, medium-sized, or short summary. This feature applies to both "paragraph" and "bullet point list" modes. The summary tool keeps a straightforward and neutral tone so the text becomes more digestible and optimized for readers. Once the summary is generated, anyone can copy the result completely with one click of a button. Free AI Content Tools Semrush contains other AI tools for generating content, like a paraphrasing tool, sentence rewriter, and proofreader. These free content tools can improve anyone's writing for better readability. Reasons to consider: Completely free No character/word limit Straightforward functionality Reasons to avoid: Limited to English Limited to text Files cannot be uploaded. #4 AISEO Overview AISEO leverages AI technology to extract the most important information from any text. It understands the meaning of every sentence and rewrites each one from scratch while still optimizing for originality and readability. Any lengthy document gets converted into an easy-to-digest summary at a fast speed. Features Different Expressions for Similar Concepts AISEO can generate hundreds of different ways to summarize similar concepts, ensuring no duplicated content. This AI summarizer software can offer multiple alternatives based on the goals set by the user that cover narrative voice, emotion, formality, content focus, and variety. The summary tool can focus on conveying information when the content focus is set to information or focus on convincing the reader when it is set to persuasive. Users can balance the delivery by setting a neutral, fact-based tone. Custom Styles, Commands, and Tones AISEO lets users customize the style and tone of the summaries. The summary tool can also follow the command input, such as paraphrasing a text in a Shakespearean style or optimistic tone or summarizing a text like a copywriter. Show Similarity The AI summarizer software can also show the similarities between its summary and the original text. It highlights the words lifted from the source and displays the uniqueness of its summary for transparency. While it cannot always achieve 100% originality, AISEO only keeps the phrases integral to maintain the context and accuracy of information. Reasons to consider: Customizable Transparent Multi-language support Fairly priced Reasons to avoid: Free version is limited to 125 words. Premium features exclusive to paid plans No support for video/audio files #5 Video to Blog Overview Video to Blog transforms video content into publishable, SEO-optimized content. Powered by OpenAI, it leverages GPT 3.5 or GPT 4 AI models to generate summaries of any video taken from YouTube. This summary tool can also extract information from uploaded video and audio files. It excels in curating information to create a personalized AI summary. Features SEO-Driven Video to Blog boasts many SEO-driven features that optimize content, such as SEO metadata generation, table of contents, and primary keyphrase. Leveraging this AI summarizer software properly sections blogs or articles and informs search engines about their content. It breaks up large blocks of text to make the content easier to follow and understand, improving user's comprehension and retention without overwhelming them with information. Customizations This summary tool follows specific instructions like the tone, point of view, or language to be used before generating a summary. It can summarize in multiple languages and convey information in different tones that best match the objective of the text or branding of the company. Video to Blog can also convert videos to other formats like a product review, a news report, or an interview. Utilizing its customizations makes summaries more accessible to readers consuming media outside of their expertise. Email and Social Media Promotions Video to Blog also lets users generate email and social media promotions. This feature takes the mental work off marketers or sales teams to compose captions and emails that hook customers or improve engagement. AI Image Generator Video to Blog can also automatically add images into the blog by leveraging AI. Visual content can grab the reader's attention and make them understand the blog post better as pictures complement the text summarized by the summary tool. Moreover, it can also automatically add screenshots from the video where the summary is based on, which is beneficial for taking notes, learning visually, following instructions, or remembering specific information for future reference. Reasons to consider: SEO-friendly Customizable Multi-language support Built-in AI image generator Free to use Reasons to avoid: Premium features require paid credits. Limited to video and audio files Conclusion A summary tool can help anyone repurpose content and understand the source material better without spending hours reading text. Professionals, students, and even business owners can utilize its function to derive insights and increase awareness on topics outside their expertise. Summaries exist to highlight the key points and concepts so readers of all levels can easily digest information without feeling overwhelmed. Choose from the top 5 best AI summarizer software to conquer lengthy texts or video content. YEREVAN, 21 MAY, ARMENPRESS. On May 20 ARARAT legendary Armenian brandy, celebrated the centennial of Maestro Charles Aznavour with a special event ARARAT Charles Aznavour Signature Blend. Maestros Centennial. The event took place at the "One & Only" theater within the Seven Visions Hotel. In its unique form, the event was a heartfelt homage from ARARAT to the legacy of Charles Aznavour, commemorating his contributions as a musician, artist, philanthropist, and diplomat. The event served as a wonderful occasion to reveal Aznavours immense heritage and mastery. Upon entering the theatre, guests were invited to uncover the world of Aznavour filled with his songs, character, and warmth, which he generously shared throughout his creative path. A highlight of the event was an invitation to an immersive journey into the passionate realm of the Maestros world. Each guest, having shared their feelings and impressions, had the chance to create and capture their unique moment with the help of artificial intelligence within a few minutes. A special platform was created by ARARAT https://aznavourcentennial.araratbrandy.com/explore to extend the emotional journey of ARARAT and Maestro Charles Aznavour's collaborative project initiated in 2017, giving birth to the ARARAT Charles Aznavour Signature Blend. The unique blend includes rare vintage spirits, reflecting the significant milestones of Aznavours creative life. Notes of First Triumph Debut Performance at the Olympia in Paris 1960. Notes of Global Fame The launch of "Je mvoyais deja" song, Rise of International Recognition Notes of Eternal Passion. Creation of a classic hit "Une vie damour" Comprised of a unique bouquet of notes, ARARAT Charles Aznavour Signature Blend encapsulates the following rare spirits, echoing through decades. Guests of the event had the chance to reveal the brandy on the course of special tasting during the event. Presented in the main markets of ARARAT worldwide, ARARAT Charles Aznavour Signature Blend a bright member of ARARAT Ultra-Premium Range - stands out for its elegant packaging, personally confirmed by the Maestro. What makes it even more special is the Maestros signature, which in a form crowns the collaboration between two Legends. Commemorating the 100th anniversary, the packaging is now ornamented with a unique addition, marking this symbolic date. A Legend, who shaped an entire era, a symbol of Armenia and French chanson, "Artist of the Century" declared by "Times". An artist, and a humanist. Aznavour is beyond time yet remains timeless. He sang for all of us but had a personal conversation with each of us. While talking about himself, he always said that his duty and eternal desire is to share all his sincerity and tenderness. Today we remember Aznavour and pay homage to the eternal love, sincerity, and mastery with which he generously shared. I am infinitely glad that in this significant year, ARARAT Armenian Brandy, together with Aznavour Foundation, is supporting a whole series of events dedicated to the maestro. I am sure that the memory of the legend will always live on. And the joint story with ARARAT will continue to reveal new facets of Legends. noted Serge Khachatryan, Chief Operating Officer of Yerevan Brandy Company. OpenAI is reportedly in discussions with Scarlett Johansson regarding a ChatGPT voice that bears a striking resemblance to hers. The company is engaging with the actress's representatives to address concerns about the similarity between Johansson's voice and that of Sky, one of ChatGPT's personas. Speaking with Scarlett Johannson OpenAI has contacted Scarlett Johansson's representatives following the removal of a ChatGPT voice that closely resembled the actress. The company decided to withdraw Sky, one of ChatGPT's default voices after it drew attention for its striking similarity to Johansson's character in the film Her. As per The Verge, the company emphasized that the resemblance was unintended and is working to address the concerns raised. Joanne Jang, the model behavior lead at OpenAI, explained that the company has been in dialogue with Scarlett Johansson's representatives to address concerns and clear up any confusion. As she's involved in selecting actors for ChatGPT's voice roles, Jang noted that the resemblance to Johansson's character might be due to the limited number of realistic female voice assistants. Unlike Siri and Alexa, which often sound mechanical, the voice in question was crafted to sound more natural and lifelike. While ChatGPT has featured various voices since its inception last year, it was only recently that Sky's voice gained significant attention. This surge in popularity coincided with introducing more expressive voice capabilities through OpenAI's GPT-4o model. According to Jang, users now have the ability to customize their chosen voice to reflect a particular personality. Whether peppy, measured, or even somber, ChatGPT users can tailor their interactions based on the personality that resonates most with them. Jang underscores the significance of user comfort, highlighting that customization is pivotal in crafting a seamless user experience. She emphasizes the importance of offering a product that allows users to authentically express themselves without adopting a different persona. In September, OpenAI initiated discussions with Johannson about providing her voice. However, Johannson declined the offer "after much consideration and for personal reasons" and expressed being "shocked" upon hearing the demo released. The statement further indicates that Johannson felt compelled to seek legal representation and that OpenAI "reluctantly agreed" to alter the Sky voice. Amid widespread concerns surrounding deepfakes and safeguarding personal likeness, work, and identity, she stressed the importance of achieving clear answers to these pressing questions. She expressed anticipation for a resolution characterized by transparency and enacting relevant legislation, emphasizing the necessity of protecting individual rights. Removing Sky After Sky gained widespread attention last week for its resemblance to Johansson's portrayal of an intelligent voice assistant in the movie Her, OpenAI decided to remove it. OpenAI's CTO, Mira Murati, clarified that the company had no intention of replicating Johansson's character. OpenAI supports the creative community and has collaborated closely with the voice acting industry to meticulously cast ChatGPT's voices. Each actor receives compensation above top-of-market rates, a practice that will be upheld for as long as their voices are utilized in our products. Warnings regarding generative artificial intelligence only continue amidst the upcoming elections as reportedly seen by the most recent federal bulletin by the Department of Homeland Security. The research developed by the Department of Homeland Security and distributed to law enforcement partners nationally suggests that local and foreign actors could use technology to pose significant obstacles leading up to the 2024 election cycle. Federal bulletins are infrequent communications that alert law enforcement partners to particular threats and concerns. According to the warning, AI capabilities could aid efforts to sabotage the 2024 U.S. election cycle. A range of threat actors are expected to try to influence and sow unrest during this election cycle. Generative AI techniques will probably give foreign and domestic threat actors more opportunity to meddle in the 2024 election cycle by exacerbating emergent events, interfering with election procedures, or targeting election infrastructure. During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing last week, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines also cautioned Congress about the dangers of generative AI, stating that the technology can produce realistic "deepfakes" whose source can be hidden. Since refuting or countering the misleading information circulating online could take some time, the timing of AI-generated media related to an election can be just as important as the content itself, as stated in the bulletin. The report also mentioned the threat that still exists abroad, stating that in November 2023, an AI-generated video urged voters in a southern Indian state to support a certain candidate on election day, leaving officials with little time to refute the video. AI Giants Against AI Disinformation Microsoft and OpenAI have recently established a $2 million fund to fight deepfakes and fraudulent AI content in response to the threat posed by GenAI. Concerns over misinformation produced by AI have reached a critical mass as an unprecedented 2 billion voters prepare to cast ballots in 50 different countries this election year. Misinformation specifically targets vulnerable communities. With the advent of generative AI technologies, such as chatbots like ChatGPT, the amount of tools accessible for creating deepfakes has increased substantially. These open-source resources can be used to produce phony photographs, audio clips, and movies of public officials. An open-source deepfake detection tool has been made available to help scholars spot fraudulent content produced by the DALL-E image generator. The recently established "societal resilience fund" is essential to advancing the cause of ethical AI use. Teresa Hutson, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft for Technology and Corporate Responsibility, emphasized the value of the Societal Resilience Fund in AI-related community initiatives. To counter AI misinformation, she emphasized Microsoft and OpenAI's dedication to collaborating with other like-minded businesses. AI Deception Effectivity Even though the quality of the newest AI technology is remarkable, most deepfakes lose credibility very soon, especially those coming from China and Russia intended for global influence campaigns. Sources claim that experts have observed that AI-generated content is unlikely to alter most people's political opinions, regardless of how persuasive its images, videos, or audio samples may be. Generative AI has been widely used in recent elections in Pakistan and Indonesia, but there is no proof that it has unfairly favored any particular candidate. Social media releases a ton of content daily, making it difficult for AI-powered scamseven realistic onesto acquire traction. Artificial intelligence deepfakes cannot reportedly be fully prevented by the Australian Electoral Commission due to the limited legal powers of the commission regarding booming technology. According to Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers, deepfakes with a political bent are not currently illegal in Australia. He argues that if they were properly approved, the messages would not currently violate the Election Act. The AEC has little authority to interfere with political materials but can take action when false information regarding the election process is disseminated. According to Rogers, generative AI, the technology behind the majority of deepfakes, is becoming a bigger problem for elections domestically and globally. Senator David Shoebridge of the Greens stated that regulators needed more authority to remove deepfake content. He was worried voters could be duped by generative AI content that grows more lifelike by the month. He goes on to say that it is one thing to witness an unscrupulous player fabricating information about and disparaging their political rival; it is quite another to coerce a political rival into telling lies on their own and coming up with the lies being spread by that rival. Read Also : Senate Committee Passes Bills to Combat AI Misinformation Ahead of US Elections Global AI Deepfake Concerns Australia's deepfake concerns show the growing threat AI poses during the elections. A recent US study conducted by the Department of Homeland Security and shared with law enforcement partners across the country raises the possibility that foreign and local actors may utilize AI to create major barriers in the run-up to the 2024 election cycle. Federal bulletins are sporadic alerts sent to law enforcement partners about specific dangers and issues. This bulletin warns that AI capabilities may facilitate attempts to influence the US election cycle in 2024. During this election cycle, various threat actors are anticipated to attempt to exert influence and cause disruption. Thanks to generative AI approaches, the 2024 election cycle will likely be more vulnerable to manipulation by foreign and domestic threat actors. These approaches could intensify emerging events, tamper with election protocols, or target election infrastructure. Continuous Warnings on AI Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines also warned Congress about the risks associated with generative AI during a hearing by the Senate Intelligence Committee last week, pointing out that the technology can create realistic "deepfakes" whose source can be concealed. According to the bulletin, the timeliness of AI-generated media relevant to an election can be just as critical as the content itself because it may take some time to refute or contradict the erroneous material spreading online. In November 2023, an AI-generated video persuaded voters in a southern Indian state to favor a certain candidate on election day, giving officials little time to dispute the video. According to the research, this is just one example of the threat that still exists abroad. (Photo: Tech Times) Michigan is set to welcome a new Chinese electric vehicle factory that promises thousands of jobs, but citizens and legislators are reportedly criticizing the new factory due to the growing tensions between the US and China, among other reasons. The US company with Chinese ties setting up shop about 100 miles from a National Guard base angered the township's residents, who see the factory's construction as a reflection of the current state of U.S.-China relations. Additionally, rumors exist that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will have an office in the plant, which Thelen refuted last year at a meeting at a local high school. Gotion, the American arm of Gotion High Tech Co. Ltd., a Chinese battery manufacturer, was established on August 1. Green Charter Township granted it permission to establish a facility. The town's lawmakers even attempted to stop the factory from being built, but they were unsuccessful when US District Judge Jane Beckering decided on Friday to grant a preliminary injunction, upholding Gotion Inc.'s development agreement with the Green Charter Township board. June saw the U.S.'s acquisition of land by Gotion for an EV battery plant deemed unproblematic by the Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which examines foreign investments for potential threats to national security. Read Also : Republican Bill Threatens US EV Industry Leadership Amid China Concerns Water Supply Concerns Gotion filed a lawsuit after the township's newly elected board decided not to support the project and revoked an agreement allowing the city of Big Rapids to supply water to the plant site. Locals also voiced concerns last year about the 715,000 gallons of water per day that the plant would require to manufacture cathodes and anodes for electric vehicle batteries. Biden Tariffs on Chinese EVs US-China relations continue to intensify, most notably the Biden administration recently announced that China-made electric vehicles and goods will be subject to a new set of tariffs, quadrupling the Chinese EV tariff from 25% to 100%. Following a four-year assessment, the decision was made. Its goal was to avert low-priced, heavily subsidized Chinese goods from reaching the US market and impeding the growth of the nation's green technology sector. According to reports, tariffs on lithium batteries are expected to rise from 7.5% to 25%, semiconductors from 25% to 50%, critical minerals from 0% to 25%, and solar cells from 25% to 50%. Personal protective equipment, aluminum, and steel are currently subject to zero to 7.5% tariffs, which will rise to 25%. Despite Beijing's threat of retaliation, Biden argued that the higher levies were a fair response to China's excess capacity in the electric vehicle market. According to sources, China can only sell 22 to 23 million EVs domestically despite producing 30 million of them annually. Biden's auto tariffs are only symbolic because Donald Trump's tariffs during his administration nearly prevented Chinese electric automobiles from entering the US. Related Article : Chinese EV Maker Nio Introduces Cheaper Rival to Tesla's Model Y (Photo: Tech Times) Samsung looks to solve its ongoing chip crisis and compete in the ongoing chip race powering AI, by appointing a new chief in the company's semiconductor division. Young Hyun Jun was named the new leader of the South Korean technology conglomerate's semiconductor division on Tuesday. According to the Wall Street Journal, Jun used to be the CEO of Samsung Electronics' memory-chip division as well as the battery division of Samsung SDI. He will take over for Kyehyun Kyung, who is set to follow Jun as the head of future business, which is the department responsible for devising future company plans. In addition to being the biggest memory chip manufacturer in the world, Samsung is a significant participant in the foundry, or contract chip, industry. Along with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Intel, it is one of the few companies that can produce the most advanced logic chips in the market. Analysts reportedly stated that Samsung is presumably making this attempt to catch up in the market for high-end semiconductors used in AI, such as high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, where it has lagged behind competitors like SK Hynix. Analysts also noted that it is unusual for Samsung to replace a high-ranking job in the middle of the year, as most staff changes occur at the beginning of the year. Jun will be replaced as leader of the future business unit by Kye Hyun Kyung, the current chief of the chip division. Read Also : Samsung Set to Buy French AI Company as It Looks to Advance Medical Diagnostic Systems Samsung's Success amid the AI Race Following the receipt of a $6.4 billion U.S. government grant last month, Samsung is planning to expand its chip-making facilities in Texas as it competes with rivals to build cutting-edge high-bandwidth memory chips and other AI devices. As a result of its flagship semiconductor sector turning a profit due to increasing memory chip pricing, its net profit more than doubled in the first quarter. According to Samsung, there will be a significant market for HBM chips which power AI systems through the second half of 2024. HBM Chip Demand The competition for artificial intelligence continues to revolve around HBM chips, to the point where high-bandwidth memory chips from Micron and SK Hynix are reportedly almost sold out for the forthcoming year due to the increased demand for AI. Artificial intelligence adoption has surged due to the need for high-performance memory chips for training LLMs, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT. These chips must save data from past contacts with users along with their preferences for LLMs to react to queries in a manner akin to that of a person. In response to the surge in demand, SK Hynix intends to increase output. To do this, investments will be made in the Yongin semiconductor cluster in South Korea, the M15X fab in Cheongju, and state-of-the-art packaging facilities located in Indiana. According to CNBC, big tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are driving demand for AI processors by spending billions on LLM training to maintain their competitiveness. Related Article : Microsoft Looks to Remedy Nvidia H100's Constricted Supply With Alternative AMD AI Chips (Photo: Tech Times) NASA's James Webb Space Telescope may have unraveled the cosmic puzzle surrounding the inflated exoplanet WASP-107 b. An Exoplanet with Remarkable Puffiness The warm gas giant exoplanet WASP-107 b has long puzzled scientists with its remarkable puffiness and moderate temperature. In density, it resembles a microwaved marshmallow. However, two research teams' recent findings may shed light on this celestial mystery. Researchers discovered surprisingly little methane in the exoplanet's atmosphere by analyzing data collected from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and previous observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. According to NASA, this revelation suggests that the planet's interior is considerably hotter and its core more massive than initially presumed. The high temperatures are believed to result from tidal heating induced by the planet's slightly elliptical orbit, which stretches and heats the planet akin to silly putty. This newfound understanding explains how exoplanets like WASP-107 b can exhibit such extraordinary puffiness, potentially resolving a longstanding enigma in exoplanet science. Unlike the conventional expectations of a small rocky core surrounded by vast layers of hydrogen and helium, WASP-107 b appears to challenge these assumptions. The discrepancy between its observed characteristics and theoretical predictions has fueled speculation about its formation and evolution. Webb's remarkable sensitivity and capacity to analyze light passing through exoplanet atmospheres has provided invaluable insights into the nature of WASP-107 b and similar low-density exoplanets. WASP-107 b's Atmosphere Through transmission spectroscopy, researchers examined the composition of WASP-107 b's atmosphere, revealing a surprising absence of methane, a molecule typically expected in such environments. This scarcity of methane, coupled with the detection of other carbon-bearing molecules, suggests a vigorous mixing of hot gases from the planet's interior with cooler layers in the upper atmosphere. This internal heat is likely due to tidal heating resulting from the planet's eccentric orbit, which continuously varies the distance between the star and the planet, exerting gravitational forces that stretch and heat the planet. By leveraging these findings, researchers were able to refine their understanding of WASP-107 b's internal structure, revealing a core at least twice as massive as previously estimated. According to NASA, this revised model aligns more cohesively with established theories of planet formation, dispelling some of the mystery surrounding WASP-107 b. Webb's observations offer a compelling narrative of planetary evolution, suggesting that celestial bodies like WASP-107 b may not be as enigmatic as once perceived. Instead, they may represent a variation of familiar planetary compositions, albeit under extreme temperature and pressure conditions. "The Webb data tells us that planets like WASP-107 b didn't have to form in some odd way with a super small core and a huge gassy envelope," Mike Line from Arizona State University (ASU) said in an official statement. "Instead, we can take something more like Neptune, with a lot of rock and not as much gas, just dial up the temperature, and poof it up to look the way it does." The researchers' findings were published in the journal Nature. A 23-year-old individual from Taiwan has been arrested in New York for his alleged involvement in operating an illicit online narcotics marketplace known as the "Incognito Market" on the dark web. Incognito Market Founder Gets Arrested in New York Identified as Rui-Siang Lin, also known by aliases such as "Pharoah," Lin's arrest unfolded at John F. Kennedy Airport over the weekend, with a scheduled court appearance slated for the following Monday, as confirmed by the Justice Department. Attorney General Merrick Garland labeled Lin as the alleged orchestrator behind the illicit enterprise, boasting a staggering $100 million scheme that purportedly trafficked deadly drugs across international borders, including the United States. The incriminating details emerged from investigations into the "Incognito Market," an online dark web platform where users could anonymously buy and sell narcotics worldwide. Lin's alleged role as the brains behind this operation, operating under monikers like "Pharoah" or "faro," thrust him into the spotlight of a multimillion-dollar operation. Incognito Market was conceived in October 2020 and served as a clandestine hub for narcotics transactions, facilitating over $100 million in sales, including substantial quantities of cocaine and methamphetamines, before its closure in March, according to the US Department of Justice (DOJ). It operated within the concealed realms of the dark web, accessible globally via the Tor web browser. According to prosecutors, Lin exercised comprehensive control over Incognito Market's activities, overseeing its workforce, suppliers, and clientele, thus wielding authority over its multimillion-dollar dealings. Incognito Market's Modus Operandi The DOJ further noted that the modus operandi of Incognito Market mirrored that of legitimate e-commerce platforms, complete with branding, promotional activities, and customer support, aimed at streamlining the narcotics trade across international borders. Upon registration, users gained access to a plethora of listings featuring various narcotics, including heroin, cocaine, LSD, MDMA, and oxycodone, often advertised as authentic prescription medication despite being misbranded or counterfeit. The undercover operations unearthed alarming instances, such as the sale of purported oxycodone tablets, which subsequent testing revealed to be fentanyl pills. Vendors on Incognito Market reportedly paid the platform a commission for each sale, contributing to its operational expenses, including employee salaries and server maintenance. Lin allegedly amassed millions in profits from these transactions, facilitated by the platform's proprietary banking system. If found guilty, Lin could potentially receive a mandatory minimum sentence of life imprisonment for participating in an ongoing criminal enterprise and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for involvement in a narcotics conspiracy. Additionally, he could face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for money laundering and up to five years in prison for conspiracy to sell adulterated and misbranded medication. A federal district court judge will make the final sentencing decision, taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other relevant statutory factors. Underwater signals captured by hydrophones could prove instrumental in locating airplanes like MH370 following oceanic crashes, as research conducted at Cardiff University revealed. The study, emerging a decade after MH370's vanishing act, scrutinized over 100 hours of data gleaned from hydrophones after ten historical aircraft accidents and a submarine disappearance. These findings present a roadmap for future investigations into the last known whereabouts of aircraft like MH370 and establish a framework for addressing similar incidents in the future. How Oceanic Crashes Can Help Finding MH370 The researchers note that oceanic crashes, such as airplane crashes, create unique acoustic signatures that traverse extensive distances through water. Subsequently, these signatures are captured by hydrophone technology located across seabeds worldwide. Dr. Usama Kadri, a Reader at Cardiff University's School of Mathematics, underscored the significance of these findings, stating that distinct pressure signals from previous aircraft crashes were captured on hydrophones, even at distances surpassing 3,000km. Dr. Kadri emphasized the necessity for further analysis and future research to better understand the recorded signals and their potential impacts on MH370's disappearance, especially considering that official investigations concluded the aircraft likely crashed near the 7th arc. The study advocates conducting field experiments involving controlled explosions or airguns along the 7th arc while tracking the signals from surrounding hydroacoustic stations. According to the study, these experiments, mirroring the energy levels akin to the impact of MH370, could provide crucial insights into the missing aircraft's location and serve as a valuable tool for authorities in identifying potential crash sites in the future. Dr. Kadri pointed out that similar exercises were undertaken during the search and rescue mission for the ARA San Juan. This submarine went missing off the coast of Argentina in 2017. The researcher claimed that this precedent demonstrates the feasibility of such experiments and their potential utility in determining the relevance of signals to MH370 before embarking on another extensive search mission. The Mysterious Disappearance of MH370 The disappearance of MH370 on 8th March 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, spurred this research, raising pertinent questions about the detectability of aircraft crashes in the ocean and the viability of hydroacoustic technology in aiding search and rescue endeavors. Despite exhaustive multinational search endeavors, the fate of MH370 and the 239 individuals on board remains shrouded in uncertainty. The study primarily revolved around hydrophone data from the Southern Indian Ocean during the aircraft's final leg, seeking signals generated near the 7th arc in alignment with official search recommendations. Additionally, data about the aircraft's disappearance stage around its last communication in the Gulf of Thailand was scrutinized for strange signals, albeit yielding no conclusive findings. Dr. Kadri underscored that while the research hasn't unearthed definitive signals necessitating a new search for MH370, following the study's recommendations could potentially shed light on the aircraft's location if the observed signals are deemed relevant. "The disappearance of MH370 motivated this work because it raised questions about the detectability of aircraft crashes in the ocean and the potential use of hydroacoustic technology to aid in search and rescue efforts. Unfortunately, we've been unable to find a signal with the certainty needed to launch a new search for the missing aircraft," Dr. Kadri said in a press release statement. "However, if the recommendations are followed by the appropriate authorities, we can assess the relevance of the observed signals, potentially shedding light on the location of MH370." The findings of the study were published in Scientific Reports. Related Article : Malaysia Airlines: First Major Airline To Use Satellite Technology To Track Own Fleet Paris Graduate School Physics Professor, Dr. Rashad Richey, was recently granted provisional patent status by the United States Patent & Trademark Office for his latest invention, the Neurological Brain Entrainment Device, which is turning heads in the medical community as one of the most intriguing scientific advancements in recent years for human cognition. The device, set to begin clinical trials in 2024, seeks to revolutionize the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, potentially reversing its effects and enhancing cognitive functions. Currently, Alzheimer's has no known medical cure. During his keynote presentation at the 2023 National Society of Black Physicists Conference in Knoxville, Tennesseethe premier global forum for Black physicistsDr. Richey articulated his conviction that quantum physics is key to unlocking future medical breakthroughs. He emphasized the potential of quantum physics to revolutionize our approach to health and disease, underscoring his belief in its capacity to lead to significant advancements in medical research. This perspective highlights his approach to physics and neuroscience, positioning him as an emerging leader in the scientific community and an already established leader in the social sciences arena. Currently enrolled in science graduate studies at Dartmouth College, one of America's eight Ivy League higher education institutions, Dr. Richey holds multiple advanced degrees, including completing doctoral research studies in federal policy reform at Clark Atlanta University, a Doctor of Law in Immigration law from Azteca University, and a Doctor of Jurisprudence (JD) from Renaissance University (RU has an academic partnership with the Law Faculty at the University of Montreal, one of highest ranked law schools internationally). He also earned his Master of Science in Neuroscience at the University of Pacific, Master of Science in Agronomical Physics from the University of Renaissance d'Haiti, and finished his MBA studies at Beulah Heights University. He has peer-reviewed published research in science, policy, and social science fields. In addition to his studies at Dartmouth, Dr. Richey is also a doctoral research student studying quantum physics at the Paris Graduate School Innovative Knowledge Institute. PGS is a registered college with the French Ministry of Education, approved by Bureau de Certification International and Qualiopia mandatory quality standard accreditation created by the new public institution "France Competencies," harmonizing the practice and quality of training institutions in France. As a private higher education provider, the institution operates under the French Code Decree of January 25th, 1876, Articles L. 731-2, L. 731-3, and L. 731-4since June 25, 2013, under receipt No. E-13-09 to offer higher education awards. PGS's academic partners include Accord Ecole de Langues, the University of Liberia, the Global Counter-Terrorism Institute, and the SMS Higher Education Group. A leader in international education, PGS is an institutional member of ACUNSAcademic Council on the United Nations System. Dr. Richey's interest in human cognition and its complexities is deeply personal. "Watching my grandmother struggle with her memory and awareness was profoundly impactful," Dr. Richey says of a poignant childhood memory. "She was a nurturing soul, and to see her present yet absent was heart-wrenching. The acceptance that nothing could be done to help her was something I could never come to terms with." This early life experience planted the seeds of curiosity and determination that would later drive his latest scientific endeavor and serve as one of his motivations. Author of a best-selling physics-genre book titled, "Ancient Egyptian Mastery of Quantum Physics, Vibratory Frequency, and Geometric Sciences: An Overview of Complex Scientific Applications in Ancient Cultures," Dr. Richey traverses multiple arenas, including broadcast and academia. In addition to being on faculty at Paris Graduate School, he also serves as a professor at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, GA, and his lectures have included the University of Michigan, Reinhardt University, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Clark Atlanta University, to name a few. Dr. Richey was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award from Clark Atlanta University in 2023, and in 2021 was inducted into the extremely exclusive Black College Alumni Hall of Fame, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Oprah Winfrey, Supreme Court Justice Thrugood Marshall, and Ambassador Andrew Young are all honored past recipients. About the Groundbreaking Invention The Neurological Brain Entrainment Device harnesses the principles of brainwave synchronization to reverse the debilitating effects of Alzheimer's disease potentially. The device, which has received a provisional patent from the United States Patent & Trademark Office, is the culmination of years of interdisciplinary research, blending physics, neuroscience, and quantum mechanics. Dr. Richey's medically certified, double-blind, and peer-reviewed case study was published in the International Journal of Science and Research, titled "Reversing Alzheimer's: Efficacy of Non-Invasive Quantum Therapies on Human Physiology." "Our device aims to synchronize brainwave activity through non-invasive stimuli, potentially restoring cognitive functions in Alzheimer's patients," explains Dr. Richey. It emits synchronized light frequency and sound frequency, utilizing 40Hz along with a unique combination of other frequencies. MIT has shown in lab mice that 40Hz frequency may stimulate brain activity and possibly reduce amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer's. These findings are congruent with Dr. Richey's published research. The device is being engineered by ProtoType House in Florida, and the concept has been supported by various studies. However, Dr. Richey may be the first person to prove the concept in human physiology through a published case study. The device's development was informed by emerging research suggesting gamma frequency entrainment can significantly impact the neural mechanisms underlying memory and learning cortex, illuminating a potential path to duplicatable brain plasticity. The upcoming clinical trials will be crucial in validating the efficacy of this innovative approach. Understanding the Neurological Brain Entrainment Device Critics caution that, although the theory is promising, researchers have not yet thoroughly tested the practical application in human subjects. Dr. W. Carhee, the Chief Administrator at West Cascade Medical Center, where the clinical trials will be held, said, "What Dr. Richey is attempting to accomplish intersects so many sciences that having an American physicist, French research scientist, a chiropractor specializing in brain and spinal care, coupled with the medical center's resources and neurosurgeon, simply made sense." Dr. Richey's team also includes an auditory (sound frequency) engineering consultant, who's a former United States Army Major. Dr. Richey's Quest to Transform Alzheimer's Care As Dr. Richey prepares for the trials, his plan for the future remains clear and focused. "This is just the beginning. We hope to not only combat Alzheimer's, but also offer a new lease on life to those who believed their diagnosis was a final verdict," he reflects. This blend of optimism and scientific rigor sets Dr. Richey's work apart from his peers. Dr. Richey's role as an innovator in neuroscience and his invention's potential to revolutionize Alzheimer's disease treatment cannot be overstated. His work reinforces the notion that with the right combination of expertise and determination, the boundaries of medical science can be expanded in ways previously unimaginable. The implications of Dr. Richey's invention may even extend far beyond Alzheimer's disease. The principles underlying the Neurological Brain Entrainment Device could potentially be adapted to treat various neurological conditions, from Parkinson's disease to traumatic brain injury. As research progresses and the device's applications broaden, Dr. Richey's contribution to the field could redefine our approach to neurological care, making treatments more effective, less invasive, affordable, and more accessible to those in need. The Neurological Brain Entrainment Device could prove the power of human ingenuity to confront and overcome the challenges posed by some of the most complex diseases known to man. The world will be watching as the clinical trials unfold, and there's an obvious sense of hope that this could be the dawn of a new breakthrough in the treatment of Alzheimer's and our collective understanding of human brain health. About Dr. Rashad Richey Dr. Richey represents a new breed of scientists who are not just researchers but also versatile thinkers pushing the boundaries of what is scientifically possible. A multifaceted scholar and professional, Dr. Richey is also Managing Partner for the Law Office of Richey & Wilson The Fairness Firm LLP in Washington, D.C., with affiliate practices in Atlanta, GA, Spain, France, and Cape Town, South Africa and serves as President of Rolling Out, the largest free-print urban publication in America. He is a member of the board of directors for Piedmont Atlanta Hospital, Chairman of the Georgia Council for International Visitors (a United States Department of State-funded outfit), and a member in good standing with the National Society of Black Physicists, Delta Theta Phi Law Fraternity, American Association of University Professors, American Bar Association and the International Bar Association. His recent work in neurophysics and cognition has piqued the scientific community's interest and garnered attention from potential investors and healthcare providers keen on exploring new treatments for an aging global population increasingly affected by Alzheimer's and other cognitive disorders. Lenovo has unveiled its latest offerings in the realm of personal computing with the introduction of the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x and Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6, representing the brand's first foray into next-generation Copilot+ PCs. New Era of AI in the PC Industry These new devices, fueled by Snapdragon X Elite processors, aim to usher in a new era of artificial intelligence (AI) in the PC industry, promising enhanced personalization and productivity across Lenovo's PC lineup. Lenovo claims that these new laptops deliver unparalleled performance per watt, boasting the fastest AI NPU processing capabilities to date. With advancements from Microsoft and Copilot+, users can harness Large Language Model capabilities even offline, ensuring seamless productivity and creativity. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x and ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 grant users access to Copilot+'s extensive knowledge base. Leveraging generative AI and machine learning, Copilot+ aids in text composition, visual creation, and streamlining productivity tasks, all while seamlessly transitioning between offline and online modes. Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x promises creators a smarter way to unleash their creativity, with onboard access to advanced features such as text-to-image, photo and video editing functionalities, and text creation and editing feedback. Its Hexagon NPU ensures efficient processing with a multi-day battery life from its 70Wh battery. With a 14.5" OLED touch panel, advanced camera and call quality, and lossless high-definition audio, the Yoga Slim 7x promises a superior user experience, according to Lenovo. ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 The ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 caters to business users, offering an AI-powered experience for Windows laptops. Equipped with a Snapdragon X Elite processor and up to 64GB high-speed LPDDR5x memory, it promises exceptional performance and efficiency in a sleek 14" form factor. Lenovo asserts that users will enjoy exceptional video collaboration facilitated by the convenient communication bar, which houses an FHD+IR MIPI camera equipped with a physical camera shutter to uphold privacy. Furthermore, users can maintain connectivity through Wi-Fi 7 and optional 5G sub-6 capabilities, guaranteeing uninterrupted connection regardless of their location. Additionally, Lenovo emphasizes that users can capitalize on a 58Wh battery, enabling them to experience multi-day battery life with the aid of a more energy-efficient low-power display panel. Read Also : Motorola and Lenovo Face German Sales Ban After Patent Dispute Available Starting June Both the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x and ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 are slated for availability starting June 2024, with expected starting prices of $1,199 and $1,699, respectively. "As we enter the beginning of the AI PC era-a once-in-30-years inflection point in the market-we are proud to offer one of the widest portfolio of AI-ready devices, AI-enabled solutions, and AI-optimized experiences to customers worldwide and bring AI to all," Luca Rossi, President of Lenovo's Intelligent Devices Group, said in a press release statement. "The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x and ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 are the newest members of Lenovo's portfolio of devices that harness the new power of AI including multiday battery life and faster, more secure client-based processing that delivers to users the ultimate in personalization and control, unleashing their unlimited potential for creative expression and unparalleled productivity." Iran mourns President Raisi after tragic helicopter crash Xinhua) 08:13, May 21, 2024 TEHRAN, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was confirmed dead on Monday after his helicopter crashed in the country's mountainous northwestern region on Sunday. Iran's official news agency IRNA confirmed the deaths of Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Governor of East Azarbaijan Province Malek Rahmati, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's Representative to East Azerbaijan Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem and Raisi's bodyguard, all of whom were onboard the same helicopter. Khamenei announced on Monday five days of public mourning. This photo taken on May 19, 2024 shows a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on the footage of Iran's state-run IRIB TV. (Xinhua/Shadati) CRASH Pir-Hossein Kolivand, head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, told the semi-official Tasnim news agency early Monday that the crash site was located after hours of extensive search in the mountainous region of East Azerbaijan. An image released by the IRNA showed the wreckage of the helicopter scattered across a mountain peak. Rescuers faced harsh weather conditions and low temperatures during their search, which began immediately after the crash was reported on Sunday. The crash occurred as Raisi traveled from the Azerbaijani border following his attendance at a ceremony to inaugurate a storage dam with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev. In an interview with state TV IRIB on Sunday, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi attributed the helicopter's crash to bad weather conditions, which he said also hindered search and rescue efforts. Raisi, 63, was born in the city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran. Before being elected Iranian president in 2021, he held prominent positions, including judiciary chief and Tehran prosecutor. In a statement quoted by the IRNA on Monday, the Iranian cabinet said Raisi was an "indefatigable and hard-working president" who "made the ultimate sacrifice on the path of serving his nation." To mourn Raisi's death, the Iranian government has draped his seat with a black robe. Across various provinces, preparations are underway for mourning ceremonies, while events scheduled for National Cultural Heritage Week have been canceled, as reported by the IRNA. Raisi's death comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and Israel, marked by an exchange of attacks in April fueled by the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in October last year, while efforts to revive negotiations and salvage the Iran nuclear deal have hit a deadlock. Armed groups in the region like the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen have launched attacks on Israeli targets in a show of solidarity with the Palestinians. This photo taken on May 20, 2024 shows rescue workers arriving at a helicopter accident site in East Azarbaijan province of Iran on the footage of Iran's state-run IRIB TV. (Xinhua/Shadati) CONDOLENCES After Raisi's death, many world leaders and foreign governments expressed sorrow. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a message of condolence to Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, in which the Chinese leader expressed deep condolences and extended sincere sympathies to Mokhber, the family of President Raisi, and the Iranian government and people. Leaders from Russia, Turkiye, Egypt, the UAE, Jordan, Syria, Qatar, Pakistan, Venezuela and India, along with Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit and European Council President Charles Michel, have all sent messages of condolence after Raisi's death. "We extend our deepest condolences and sympathy to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ali Khamenei, and to the Iranian government and people," Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani said in a statement. Hamas, which has been in an escalating conflict with Israel since last October, expressed sympathy to the Iranian people for "this immense loss," lauding Raisi's support for the Palestinian cause and resistance against Israel. This photo taken on May 19, 2024 shows a poster of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on the footage of national Iranian television. (Xinhua/Shadati) IMPACT The Iranian Constitution stipulates that in case of the president's death or incapacity, the first vice president will assume the role until an election is conducted within a maximum of 50 days. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Monday appointed the country's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, 68, as interim president. Iran's Constitutional Council Spokesman Hadi Tahan Nazif said that with Khamenei's approval, a council consisting of the Iranian judiciary chief, parliament speaker and first vice president will take measures to organize elections within 50 days. Even though the death of high-ranking officials is a blow to Iran's political governance, analysts said the "shock" can be absorbed. Khamenei has told Iranian people not to worry, promising "no disruption" to the country's affairs. "Iran, since its Islamic revolution in 1979 ... has proved to be more than capable of taking all sorts of shots (against it), especially when it comes to political leaders," opined Marwan Bishara, a senior political analyst from Al Jazeera. On the diplomatic front, while the passing of the foreign minister is a significant loss for Iran, analysts said the country's foreign policy will not undergo substantial changes. Amir-Abdollahian "has been an extremely effective foreign minister, overseeing a successful reconciliation with Saudi Arabia and navigating a series of difficult crises," according to an analysis by the Times of Israel. But "Iran's broad foreign policy won't change," it noted. However, some analysts believe the incident will prompt Iran to shift its political focus toward domestic matters. The country can now be "a little more self-engaged, wrapped up in internal politics, as it sorts out the election for the next president," said Michael Makovsky, president and chief executive of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS. During March and April 2022, the whole amount gathered by "The Power of One Dram", AMD 10.757.867 was directed to the afforestation program of the "My Forest Armenia" NGO, 16.000 trees were planted, and the first of these trees were directly planted by the companies employees. Exactly two years later, representatives of IDBank and Idram visited Jrashen again to see the newly planted forest and to discuss the future activities. Let us remind you that the beneficiary of "The Power of One Dram" in March of this year was again "My Forest Armenia" NGO, and the directed amount was AMD 4.017.648. "Two years ago, we were here with the Idram team and with great enthusiasm planted the first trees of the forest named after Idram and IDBank. On the one hand, there was great enthusiasm, because the forest is a vital issue for Armenia, on the other hand, there was great concern whether the trees would survive in a deserted area. Today we already see the basis of the forest and we are sure that as a result of The Power of One Dram program and the investment of our employees, there will be a big forest here in the future and we will take a step forward in the fight against environmental issues. This year, the amount gathered by The Power of One Dram in March, more than AMD 4 million, will also serve the expansion of this forest," said Mane Gasparyan, an employee of Communications unit of IDBank. "We highly appreciate the consistency of Idram and IDBank. We have been planting a forest together for the third year in a row, and today, together with the representatives of the companies, we are at the Jrashen afforestation area, where we report with great joy that the trees not only withstood the heat of the first summer but also feel very well and have new shoots. After a few years, these trees will be 1-1.5 meters tall. We attach great importance to our partnership with IDBank and Idram, which, by participating in forest creation, show an example of long-term vision, and also involve their clients in building a stable and durable future of our country" - said Lilith Martirosyan, deputy director of My Forest Armenia. Do you want to do charity, but you think it demands a lot of money? This means you are still not aware that it is possible to do many important and good deeds with just one dram, even if that one dram will not be missing from your wallet. Just make all your payments with the Idram&IDBank application, the IDBanking.am online platform, Idram and IDBank terminals, and for each of your payments, the companies will donate one dram to the "The Power of One Dram" initiative. THE COMPANIES ARE SUPERVISED BY CBA Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have introduced a new framework to address the issues of artificial intelligence (AI) models mistakenly reproducing copyrighted images. These AI models, including DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion, can create realistic images from textual descriptions. However, these models have faced criticism and legal action from artists who allege that the AI-generated images closely replicate their original work. Introducing the Ambient Diffusion The research team from UT Austin aims to resolve this by training AI models using corrupted images that do not resemble the original data. The research introduces a framework called Ambient Diffusion, which trains AI models using images corrupted beyond recognition. The models are exposed to significantly altered data, making it impossible for them to memorize and replicate the original images. This method allows the AI to draw inspiration from the corrupted data rather than copying it directly. Training diffusion models with corrupted image data demonstrated the framework's effectiveness. Early results show that the AI can still generate high-quality images without having access to recognizable original images, according to the research team's claims. This approach was first presented at the NeurIPS machine-learning conference in 2023. Since then, the framework has been further developed, leading to a follow-up paper titled "Consistent Diffusion Meets Tweedie." The UT Austin team collaborated with Constantinos Daskalakis from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to expand the framework to include training models on larger datasets corrupted by various types of noise rather than merely masking pixels. Beyond AI-generated Art The new framework is a potential solution for scientific and medical applications where obtaining uncorrupted data is either costly or impossible. Adam Klivans, a computer science professor involved in the research, emphasized the potential applications of this framework beyond the realm of AI-generated art. He highlighted its usefulness in scientific fields where uncorrupted data is hard to come by. "The framework could prove useful for scientific and medical applications, too," Klivans said in an official statement. "That would be true for basically any research where it is expensive or impossible to have a full set of uncorrupted data, from black hole imaging to certain types of MRI scans." The researchers conducted experiments by training a diffusion model on a dataset of 3,000 celebrity images. Initially, the model trained on clean data blatantly copied the examples. However, when the training data was corrupted by randomly masking up to 90% of individual pixels, the model's generated samples were high quality. Still, according to the team, they looked distinctly different from the training images. The researchers noted that their framework controls the trade-off between memorization and performance. According to Giannis Daras, a computer science graduate student who led the work, increasing corruption during training decreases the model's tendency to memorize the training set, thus mitigating the risk of replicating original images. The findings of the research team were published in arXiv. South 8 Technologies' pressurized, liquefied gas electrolyte could cut lithium-ion battery prices by 30 percent. Porsche Ventures, which invested in South 8, saw this innovation. The car maker see's this as an important venture as cold weather makes electric car heaters use more electricity, and batteries charge slower as electrolytes thicken. Porsche hopes the South 8 can improve low-temperature performance of EVs, according to TechCrunch. South 8 CEO Tom Stepien said Porche wants Porsche wants to "keep their finger on the pulse" on the project's direction. How Does South 8's Tech Work? The South 8 technology shrinks expensive battery production components. Gas under pressure in the cell prevents electrolyte freezing until -100 degrees Celsius, lower than most solvents. According to Stephen, South 8's tech retains 75% of energy capacity at -40 degrees Celsius. "Everything else is brick." Pressurized electrolyte works exclusively with cylindrical cells like Teslas, Rivians, and Lucids, not prismatic or pouch cells like other OEMs. Future uses for prismatic cells are imaginable, but pouch cells are not. For cylindrical cells, South 8's electrolyte requires stronger end caps and a revised top cap with an injection valve. This necessitates new equipment, which can be a challenge for gigafactories. However, Stepien expects huge long-term savings. The tech startup's approach might accelerate coal production by decreasing the days-long forming cycle. Stepien claims a 90% time reduction, noting that their standard protocol is 100 hours for customer cells. He said they noticed no performance change beyond 10 hours. 2026 Porsche Cayenne EV Update; Charity Race Coming Up Separately, Porsche plans to launch an electric Cayenne alongside the updated combustion version in 2026. The Cayenne EV will share the PPE platform with Audi's Q6 and Q8 e-tron, offering crossover powertrains and a Macan Electric-inspired appearance. The Cayenne EV's engine is unknown; however, it may be based on the Macan, maybe with more power. The EV Cayenne might reach 60 mph in under 3 seconds with extreme power choices, but performance may suffer, per Carscoops. The electric Cayenne will have elegant lines and futuristic headlights, just like the Macan Electric. The V8-powered combustion Cayenne and the EV version will be displayed in showrooms by late 2026. Meanwhile, the Porsche Penske Motorsport works team will enter three Porsche 963 race cars in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2024, extending their tradition. On June 15 and 16, three hybrid cars will compete for sporting and charitable purposes. At the French endurance classic, Porsche will give 750 euros for each work car lap. 'Racing for Charity' sponsors three charities that assist severely ill children and their families, the car company stated in its media release. Porsche has historically prioritized social responsibility in sports, culture, environment, social affairs, science, and education. In 2023, the corporation funded 150 projects globally, and it continues this commitment through 'Racing for Charity' in racing. This year's Le Mans beneficiaries are Kinderherzen Retten e.V., Interplast Germany e.V., and the Ferry Porsche Foundation. Kinderherzen Retten e.V. assists Freiburg University Hospital perform life-saving heart surgery on 10 children from El Salvador, Syria, Albania, and Afghanistan. Interplast Germany e.V. provides vital medical assistance in Tanzania and Mozambique. The Ferry Porsche Foundation extends assistance to severely sick children with severe conditions and their families. A crowded hospital is never good for patients or doctors, as it can lead to treatment delays and, worse, more fatalities. Hospital crowding is a severe issue that healthcare experts seek to avoid daily by making critical decisions such as emergency room admissions. AI Enhances Emergency Room Decision-Making A new study by researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai aims to assist physicians in this life-or-death situation by using AI to analyze data and predict whether a patient visiting the emergency room should be admitted to the hospital (via Medical Xpress). With the United States having a ratio of 28.2 physicians to 10,000 patients, technologies like this promise to streamline hospital operations and ensure every patient is cared for. AI Models and Their Impact on Healthcare The researchers hope to lessen the burden on physicians by allowing advanced large language models like GPT-4 to help with these decisions accurately, even with limited data. To test this concept, the researchers used AI to analyze existing patient data, such as body temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and breathing rates, as well as notes made by attending healthcare professionals. They ensured no identifiable patient data was included. Read Also : LA Department of Mental Health Confirms Data Breach of Sensitive Patient Information After processing data from more than 864,000 emergency room visits, the AI produced a promising result: 159,857 patients, or a little more than 18 percent, were identified as needing admission. Dr. Eyal Klang, a co-author of the study and Director of the Generative AI Research Program at Icahn Mount Sinai, expressed confidence that AI models like GPT-4 could improve healthcare professionals' decision-making in high-volume settings like the emergency room. Dr. Klang added that the study's results were surprising, as the AI model was able to provide reasoning for such critical decisions. The study also noted that these findings open up other possibilities, such as scaling the AI models to include traditional machine-learning predictions, which promises to improve performance. Future of AI in Healthcare Operations The researchers explained that despite the promising results, using AI to determine admissions from emergency room patients will remain a tool to assist physicians and will not replace expert decision-making. Importantly, the researchers noted that the study demonstrates how large language models (LLMs) can be incorporated into healthcare operations. Due to their rapid training capabilities, they can provide valuable insights even in complex environments. Brendan Carr, MD, MA, MS, a study co-author and emergency room physician who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Mount Sinai Health System, added that this research lays the groundwork for further exploration of AI integration in healthcare, such as diagnostics, treatment, operational, and administrative tasks that require continuous optimization. Social media is an excellent tool for marketing certain businesses, but for others it is an inefficient time drain they wish to avoid. The smaller the business, the more difficult a time they have dealing with both monitoring social media and posting to it because they have fewer personnel resources. Here are some suggested ways to approach dealing with social media as an SME to make it more manageable. Choosing the Right Social Network When youre running a business that doesnt have a great deal of time available for social media, you must make it accessible. Its no good trying to manage 5-10 social media channels because a being everywhere, all the time strategy isnt something that a busy SME can realistically handle. In a sense, companies must pick their battles, so to speak. It is much better to post semi-regularly and be responsive to commenters and direct messages on one or two social platforms than attempt to cover all the major ones. Therefore, narrowing down which social media channels are the most useful for your company is the first step. One way to do this is to look at what your businesss peers are doing. If theres a consistent approach of focusing on one or 2 social channels while limiting activity on the others, its best to follow the same strategy unless your company has a strategic reason not to do so. Use software like HootSuite or SproutSocial to make managing multiple social accounts easier. Protecting the Brand A social media marketing agency is useful to advise about a content marketing strategy as it relates to social media. They have experts in this field who may even be experienced enough to specialize in a single social channel. Certainly, your business should have registered on all the other major social networks to protect the brand. If thats not been done, then an agency can help accomplish that to lock up the accounts before a competitor or someone else decides to register them. What to Post on Your Channels? Each social media channel has a different focus and tone. Since Facebook started off life as a social sharing site, it has more of a personal feel. Business pages were almost an afterthought for the company and it still feels that way. Therefore, posts on Facebook tend to have a factual yet friendly tone from companies. People dont respond well to a hard sell on the marketing front. With Pinterest, this suits companies with lots of visual things to share. Either they have someone taking interesting photographs or they have product images to use. Images and video are regularly shared on Pinterest. The most successful companies can be found pinning images 10-30 times a day which is obviously time-consuming, so getting help to manage this level of image sourcing and posting makes it more manageable. Posting Frequency vs Efficient Business Operations The level of posting frequency depends largely on what is normal or expected from active accounts on the social platform. Obviously, if a business doesnt have useful or interesting things to share five times a day, they should limit themselves to whats both possible and viable for them. But be aware what is normal for different platforms as posting too infrequently is close to not posting at all in terms of effectiveness. Getting your social media marketing plan to work is hard for most companies. Its a good idea to hire experts for the role, especially if youre Generation X and find the whole social thing a bit of a minefield. Founded in Budapest in 2003, LogMeIn has grown to become the 10th largest software-as-a-service (SaaS) company in the world. In this time the company has built up a roster of products that are focused on delivering remote connectivity services across three key areas: IT Management, collaboration, and customer engagement. LogMeIns most popular products include: LogMeIn Pro Remote desktop access software for small businesses and home users Logmein Central IT management software for businesses, including three key feature sets: remote control, background management, and automation Logmein Rescue Remote monitoring and management software for IT service desks and managed service providers Why do you need an alternative? In recent years, LogMeIn has been on a merger and acquisition spreeits most prominent purchases include Lastpass (2015), NanoRep (2017), Citrix GoToMeeting business (2017), Bold Software (2017), and Jive (2018). As a result, LogMeIn now owns more than 10 different software products (including GoToAssist, GoToMyPC, GoToMeeting, and join.me), and like any company that grows so quickly, it has struggled to integrate the operations of all these entities into its own corporate structure. These struggles have left the company facing criticism from its customers. The company failed to deliver some planned product enhancements in 2018 and has also been slow to address some product quality issues that have crept in on the back of its attempts to realign its disparate and rapidly expanding engineering teams. Additionally, the company has mishandled communications with customers. As a result, it is now restructuring, and its co-founder Michael Simon has resigned from the board of directors. LogMeIn User Frustration and Price Hikes Despite the question marks over product quality and operations, LogMeIn has still enforced a number of major price hikes on its users, which impacted most of its product offerings. This brought about serious affordability concerns for many of its users. One example of this is LogMeIn Central shifting from plan-based to menu-based pricing in December 2018. This resulted in LogMeIn Central Basic going from $50 per month to its new base plan, which starts at $80 per month for 25 computers. Meanwhile, the full package, which replaced the Central Premier plan and covers patch management, process automation, and IT reporting, went from $133/month to $219 per month for 25 computers. And its even worse if you manage more than 25 computers. Despite the companys attempts to restructure to manage its operational challenges, there are no reasons to believe that LogMeIn products for remote support, and in particular for IT Management, will ever go back to being affordable. Fortunately, there are a number of excellent alternatives to LogMeIn for companies looking for a remote support solution or video conferencing, that are both excellent value for money and include rich feature sets. In this article, weve set out the 10 best ones for you to check out. Best LogMeIn Alternatives for Remote Support & Remote Desktop Access Goverlan If youre in the market for a business solution for IT management, Goverlan Reach offers a great alternative to LogMeIn Central, Rescue, and GoToAssist/ RescueAssist. Goverlan Reach is designed to provide remote support in an environment where there is a wide mix of end-users, systems, devices, and unattended machines inside or outside the network using disparate operating systems including Windows, Mac OS, Linux, or even VDI machines. Goverlan Reach offers some powerful features for remote support, including Advanced Remote Control, Background System Management, IT Process Automation, Active Directory Management, Software & Patch Management, IT Reporting, IT Compliance & Global Configuration, and Service Desk Software Integrations. Goverlan provides the ability to share screens, record sessions, transfer files, and chat with users during a remote session. It is easy-to-deploy and its user interface is very intuitive. Goverlan Reach is not only the most versatile solution we found, but it is also the best value for money. While many of its competitors have been heavily hiking their prices up over the past few years, Goverlan has kept its price increases modest and its pricing practices straightforward, and continues to focus on adding value through a rich feature set. It comes in three different editions Standard, Pro, and Enterprise. Price: Goverlan Reach starts at $29 per month per concurrent technician and includes unlimited endpoints as well as no cap on the number of sessions. A free trial is available on the Goverlan website. Visit: goverlan Teamviewer Another of the big players in the Remote Access Software market is Teamviewer, and this is definitely worth considering if you are a business or home users looking for remote control, remote desktop sharing, online meetings, web conferencing, and file transfer between computers in one package. The TeamViewer remote access software is easy-to-use, scalable and allows you to connect to and monitor any device, anywhere in the world. From desktop-to-desktop, desktop-to-mobile, mobile-to-mobile, or to unattended devices like servers and IoT devices. It requires no pre-installed, IT-administered software to receive help, and supports Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Chrome OS, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry. It also offers seamless Integration with most of the top IT-enablement platforms, alongside bank-level security and multi-user remote support sessions. TeamViewer is free as long as its only for personal use. TeamViewers Remote Control for professional use costs $49 per month but is limited to 1 concurrent session. The corporate license starts at $199 per month for up to 3 concurrent sessions. Visit: Teamviewer Also Read- Best TeamViewer Alternatives BeyondTrust (formerly Bomgar) BeyondTrust, formerly known as Bomgar, allows cross-platform remote access, either via a cloud-based app or desktop software, depending on the package you choose. You can also take up a seven-day free trial to try out the services. Each plan allows unattended access, screen sharing, file sharing, and collaboration. Designed with security in mind it encrypts all data in transit using TLS 1.2, and data at rest allows for modified encryption. It also offers integration with key business software modules such as CRM, ITSM, SIEM and password tools. You also have the option to use BeyondTrusts open API to create custom integrations. One of the main benefits of BeyondTrust is its customization. The software permits extensive modifications to many features. You can also easily manage team users, roles, and session permission settings. BeyondTrust for remote support is priced at $1,995 per year for a concurrent license. Visit: beyondtrust Windows Remote Desktop Services Windows Remote Desktop Connection is a free feature built into the Microsoft Windows Operating System, Ultimate, and Business versions that give fast and complete access control over a remote PC. Supported by Windows and Mac OS X, the tool is simple, easy-to-use and easy to set up, making this tool a great fit for beginners and amateurs. Windows Remote Desktop Connection can be accessed from your PCs System settings, found in the control panel. The router of the remote PC needs to be routed on port 3389 to direct it to the PC you want to connect to. Note that this tool is not capable of controlling multiple PCs at a time. Visit: Microsoft RealVNC RealVNC provides both free and paid versions of its Remote Desktop Client. The software consists of a server and client application for the Virtual Network Computing (VNC) protocol to control another computers screen remotely. RealVNC offers the dependability and features like cross-platform remote control, VNC authentication, encryption, file transfer, collaboration tools, and chat, to ensure a good remote connection experience for the person on the other end of it. The cross-platform utility allows you to connect individually to a remote computer or also connect multiple PCs behind a public IP Address. The supported platforms for this software are Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, UNIX, Ubuntu, and Raspberry Pi. The software is free for private use, while it is $30 per desktop for Personal Commercial Use and $44 per desktop for Enterprise Use. Visit: RealVNC AnyDesk AnyDesk is another feature-rich alternative that allows users to access their devices from anywhere in the world. In areas like transfer speeds and reliability of connection, AnyDesk performs extremely well. Furthermore, AnyDesk offers high frame rates, even double that of competitors like TeamViewer. As for security, AnyDesk relies on TLS 1.2 technology along with RSA 2048 asymmetric encryption to verify every connection. The free version is perfectly fine for personal use while you have to pay for business or commercial use. Visit: www.anydesk.com Chrome Remote Desktop This remote desktop software is available as an extension for the Google Chrome browser. It is accessible on any operating system and is fully secured. Setting up is simple and the add-on costs nothing. Chrome Remote Desktop provides an easy-to-use setup for getting your remote desktop connection, allowing users to remotely access any desktop and its contents right from their browser. Its simplicity and versatility make it a great LogMeIn alternative for anyone looking to get up and running quickly with a basic remote connection. Visit: Chrome Remote Desktop Best LogMeIn Alternatives for Video Conferencing ezTalks ezTalks provides a reliable web conferencing and video conferencing solution for a wide range of scenariosfrom online meetings to webinars or training and sales presentations. It gives you the ability to host up to 100 participants in its free version and up to 500 in its pro version. ezTalks comes in both cloud and on-premise versions and includes powerful features such as HD video/ audio chat, IM, screen sharing, record, and whiteboard. It also offers mobile-friendly compatibility with iOS and Android platforms. Visit: www.eztalks.com Zoom Zoom is a cloud-based video conferencing platform, designed to offer HD-quality video conferencing as well as simple group messaging. Unlike other services that cater to larger organizations that can afford a premium video conferencing suite, Zoom provides an economical solution that focuses on supporting essential features, such as high-quality HD video and good audio quality. It also offers a wide range of subscription packages. Zoom performs well, and its rich set includes the ability to chat, share files, and invite contacts to a meeting. Zoom also supports phone-dial-in and H.323/SIP room systems that enable video conferencing with anyone you want no matter where they are. Zoom runs on Windows XP or later and on Mac OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) or later. Visit www.zoom.com WebEx Ciscos WebEx free and premium tool allows you to remotely connect with people based on different systems through free mobile or desktop applications. Meeting hosts can share their desktop and choose to pass over the control of mouse and keyboard to other presenters. Sharing files, chat and face-to-face live interaction, scheduling in Outlook, and password protected messaging are also possible with this tool. Supported by Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and Mobile Apps, Ciscos WebEx would be a great fit for your needs if you are looking for a premium business solution or to remotely access a desktop with an added bit of interaction to it. While it is free for 3 people, paid plans include Premium 8 ($24 per month for up to 8 attendees), Premium 25 ($49 per month for up to 25 attendees) and Premium 100 ($89 per month for up to 100 attendees). Visit www.webex.com Not only is the virus causing people to fall extremely ill, in some instances, travel insurance costs can soar into the tens of thousands. Model Emily Gurr contracted a severe case of dengue fever in Asia, and was hospitalised for 10 days before being air-evacuated back home to Australia for further treatment costing $52,000. Source: 1Cover Travel Insurance Aussies are on alert as dengue fever outbreaks continue to surge in several holiday hotspots like Bali and Thailand, with one insurance company claiming the number of cases claimed this year has at least doubled. A month after authorities urged travellers to cover up to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes, 1Cover Travel Insurance revealed on Tuesday it has seen a sharp increase in tourists catching the illness abroad. Not only is the virus causing people to fall extremely ill, in some instances, claim costs can soar into the tens of thousands. Contracting dengue fever overseas can have serious implications to both your health and finances, spokesperson Natalie Smith said. Even in moderate cases, the average cost to treat and assist travellers with dengue fever is about $7,000. Model with dengue fever rushed back to Australia Recently, the company helped a couple, aged in their 20s, with a $20,000 bill after they both fell sick with dengue fever, Natalie said. We also had a $52,000 claim involving model Emily Gurr, who had contracted a severe case of dengue fever during her travels throughout Asia, she added. Emily was in hospital for 10 days and had to be air-evacuated back home to Australia for further treatment. Emily told 1Cover she felt like shed been hit by a bus after waking up in Bali after a night out with friends, but initially thought it was a hangover. I didnt know what it was but by the night time it was excruciating. I couldn't move, I thought I was dying, she said. My recollection of it all is so vague as I was in so much pain. Its believed she contracted dengue fever after being bitten by a mosquito in Vietnam a week earlier. Sydney woman Marley spent eight days in a Bali hospital after contracting dengue fever at the end of last month. Source: Supplied Earlier this month, Yahoo News spoke with Marley, from Sydney, who spent eight days in a Bali hospital after contracting the virus while travelling solo. It was very scary. I have never been in an ambulance or anything before, I haven't really had any health problems when I've been overseas, she said. Dengue fever precautions The best method of prevention is to protect yourself against mosquito bites. According to 1Cover Travel Insurance, these measures include: Insect repellent : Insect repellents containing DEET tend to be more effective than herbal remedies. As aerosols are not permitted on flights, pack a roll-on in your suitcase for convenience. Covering up : Wear light coloured, long flowing pants and long-sleeved shirts to minimise skin exposure. Use mosquito nets when sleeping. Avoid peak mosquito periods : Mosquitos carrying dengue fever are usually more active after sunrise and before sunset. Take extra precautions during these times. Remove stagnant water sources: Mosquitos breed in stagnant water sources. Remove any vases or plants with water trays where possible. Aussie tourists travelling to dengue fever hotspots during the wet season are being urged to cover up and wear insect repellant. Source: EPA/AAP Risk of bleeding for people who catch dengue fever twice There has been over 62,000 cases of dengue fever reported in Indonesia so far in 2024. The WA Health Department has issued a warning to travellers heading overseas after 138 of the state's cases recorded this year were acquired in the country. While most people experience mild or no symptoms, one in 20 develop severe dengue which can result in shock, internal bleeding and even death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The biggest clinical risk is someone who catches dengue for a second time with the risk of a bleeding syndrome that needs hospital attention and can in a small percentage of cases be fatal, Infectious Diseases Professor Jill Carr said on Tuesday. There has been over 62,000 cases of dengue fever reported in Indonesia so far in 2024. Source: EPA via AAP There are no antiviral treatments for this, but there is a vaccine. The vaccine cannot be given to everyone and is only for adults and those who have had a dengue infection before, and the vaccine comes at the cost to the individual. For many years we have been seeing rises and outbreaks of dengue cases, and Australian travellers should guard themselves against dengue by protecting themselves from mosquito bites using clothing covering the arms and legs, and mosquito repellent. Anyone who develops a fever up to seven days after returning from a dengue endemic area, should consult their doctor. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. Trees have been bulldozed along an increasingly busy Australian road, to help service a new housing development. Appin Road is known as Australia's 'killing corridor' because of the large number of endangered koalas killed on the stretch. Source: Patrick Baric/Barry Durman Why did the koala cross the road? In the case of one increasingly busy Australian road, getting to the other side is no longer the answer. Increased traffic on south-west Sydney's Appin Road has resulted in 32 of the endangered marsupials being killed on the notorious stretch since July 2022 roughly half of all deaths in the district over the same period. Wildlife advocates have long referred to it as Australia's "killing corridor". Now a massive operation to widen the road is underway. The plan is contentious because it will create a 2.4km-long barrier in the middle of a habitat that supports Sydney's last growing population of koalas, and individuals either side will be prevented from crossing the road for months. The secretary of advocacy group Save Sydney's Koalas, Diana Pryde, described the clearing of large trees along Appin Road as "pretty horrific". But developer LendLease claims the works around it's $1.6 billion housing development will ultimately make the road safer for koalas and humans. Discover more of our environment coverage. Developer claims project will make road safer Video filmed last week shows how quickly the landscape along Appin Road has changed. Rows of trees that once provided safety for koalas along Appin road have been bulldozed. The plan is to increase capacity of the once quiet thoroughfare by upgrading it from two lanes to four, to help service a new 1700-dwelling housing project by LendLease, which it says will help tackle the NSW housing crisis. The developer has justified its road works by claiming they are an important safety measure. "Following approval from Transport for NSW this year, weve wasted no time in starting works to upgrade Appin Road to improve safety for motorists and koalas," LendLease told Yahoo. It argues the removal of the trees are in fact a necessary part of the preparation required before the eventual construction of exclusion fencing to keep koalas off the road, and the building of long-promised concrete underpasses to allow them to cross underneath. All construction works, including the phasing of works, are in accordance with relevant environmental safeguards, approvals and licenses, LendLease said in a statement, highlighting the NSW and Federal Governments are on board with its development. What's so special about these koalas? The koalas that live in the Cumberland Plain region are the only population in NSW that doesn't suffer from chlamydia which causes sterility and death. Their preservation is seen as critical if the state wants to avoid the extinction of koalas in the next 26 years. A parliamentary inquiry in 2020 concluded "urgent action" was needed to avoid the already endangered populations being wiped out, with development revealed as a key problem. But facing pressure to combat Australia's housing crisis, the state and federal governments have continued to green-light housing projects on land where koalas live. LendLease contractors have removed large habitat trees that once lined Appin Road. Source: Barry Durman But koalas aren't the only species in trouble. NSW has around 1,000 threatened species and around half are expected to be extinct in 100 years according to government figures, with development a key threat. Related: Fears NSW will 'panic log' proposed 315,000-hectare koala park Road widening works begin before underpasses are dug Surprisingly the works have begun before the underpasses were built. For years, LendLease waited on approval from the NSW Government of their final design. Transport said this was because it was required by law to engage with stakeholders about the underpass designs. Transport considered a broad range of views and conflicting expert opinions on the updated plans including the size, location, shape and type of crossings required for the road along with other koala measures before giving the developer approval, a department spokesperson told Yahoo. Wildlife advocates argue overpasses are more effective. But they are also more expensive. Source: Getty (File) Lendlease is required to build two underpasses within 12 months of completing its koala exclusion fencing. But both it and Transport for NSW did not respond directly to a question from Yahoo about when their construction is set to begin. Australias largest wildlife rescue group WIRES has expressed concerns about the design of the underpasses, calling them a dark choice. It has accused Transport for NSW of ignoring advice from WIRES, ecologists and the broader community. With the longest tunnel 53 metres in length, experts are concerned navigating them could prove scary for koalas. Although Transport for NSW said a light source will be placed in the centre of this longer tunnel, Stephanie Carrick from the Sydney Basin Koala Network has questioned its efficacy. "This is experimental and not based on any evidence," she said. Many favour building overpasses, which are believed to superior in meeting the species needs, but also more costly to build. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? Get our new newsletter showcasing the weeks best stories. Bratislava, May 21 (TASR) - Coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) leader Andrej Danko praised the fact that Parliament on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution condemning last week's assassination attempt on Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD). Danko told the media that he apologised at a parliamentary gremium meeting on behalf of his party for emotions that ruled them shortly after the attack on Fico. According to him, SNS will come up with proposals in the area of media and better overview of discussion forums and online platforms. Danko said that the legislative procedure will be started concerning registration of users on discussion forums. There's need to have an overview of those who, for example, contribute to discussions and approve of crimes. He also spoke about establishing the so-called national media office that would oversee the media and communicate with transnational online platforms. Danko also spoke about adjustment of relationship to the media. "We will come up with a very tough law on the right to the protection of personality in relation to the media. The mechanism will be set up so that a person whose rights have been touched knows which editorial desk to contact," stated Danko, adding that the deadlines for publishing a correction will be set. Danko claims that nobody wants to limit the media, but these must be able to defend their claims. Bratislava, May 21 (TASR) - Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party leader Branislav Groehling praised the fact that the parliamentary coalition and opposition have agreed on the adoption of a resolution condemning last week's assassination attempt on Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD). Groehling also highlighted the coalition's will to agree on an amending proposal. He said that the debate at the parliamentary gremium meeting on Tuesday morning was peaceful, with words of mutual apology being voiced as well. He sees it as a step towards a new political culture. "The whole debate within the gremium meeting was calm and constructive," stated Groehling. He believes that from now on, the House will function in a decent manner and without pointless quarrels. He praised the fact that the coalition and opposition were able to unite and agree on the adoption of the parliamentary resolution despite a failed attempt by President Zuzana Caputova and her successor Peter Pellegrini to organise a round table with the parliamentary parties in attendance. The SaS leader views the return of MPs to Parliament positively. "Parliament as a law-making body must function," he said, adding that the debate on bills in Parliament can be held in a matter-of-fact, constructive and at the same time critical manner. "This period has taught us that we'll probably consider some of our words a bit more," stated Groehling. Bratislava, May 21 (TASR) - Praising the adoption of Parliament's resolution on the assassination attempt of Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) by all MPs, leader of the 'Slovakia' party Igor Matovic wishes politicians to comply with it and to show that they want to be decent, TASR learnt on Tuesday. "I'd be very happy for all politicians involved to enter their conscience and for the Parliament to be what it should be from now on, a pedestal, a showcase of politics," said Matovic, adding that this also means that politicians shouldn't put forward proposals that want to turn public-service broadcaster RTVS into a "handmaiden of the government". He pointed out that a decent politician isn't only one who doesn't use indecent words, but one who doesn't submit and forcefully enforce "indecent laws", noting that he also considers the law to change RTVS to be such a law. As for the invitation of President Zuzana Caputova and her elected successor Peter Pellegrini to the round table, Matovic doesn't consider it to be a mistake. It's the other way round. However, he regrets that the politicians were looking for excuses not to sit down together. "The Slovak Parliament and Slovak politicians successfully completed their resit, agreed on a resolution and all those present voted in favour of it," he pointed out, adding that he'd like to believe that this will continue, but he isn't optimistic. Bratislava, May 21 (TASR) - President Zuzana Caputova praised the fact that Parliament on Tuesday adopted a resolution condemning last week's assassination attempt on Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) and MPs thus took a needful and important step towards calming down the atmosphere in society, TASR has learnt from the president's spokesman Martin Strizinec. "I appreciate the fact that the adoption of the resolution was backed by all MPs present for the vote. It is important that other public figures continue in steps like this and jointly contribute to reducing tension in society," stated Caputova. According to the head of the state, the past few days were extremely difficult for Slovakia. The president appreciates all the more that the leaders of the parliamentary parties managed to overcome differences between them and find a common path in this demanding situation. Parliament earlier on Tuesday approved a coalition-sponsored resolution condemning the attack on the premier and calling on people not to spread hatred. According to the resolution, people mustn't become targets of hatred because of their political opinions. Parliament at the same time called on all political parties, state officials, publicly active individuals, the media and NGOs to respect the results of the most recent general election and not to spread hatred against the legitimately elected government. According to Parliament, the aforementioned groups should contribute to social reconciliation, stability and peace in Slovakia and put an end to hateful rhetoric. Bratislava, May 21 (TASR) - The coalition Voice-SD party praises the adoption of a resolution condemning the attack on Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) in Parliament, expressing a belief that this is the beginning of a new political culture, Parliamentary Vice-chair Peter Ziga (Voice-SD), who has been temporarily entrusted with the powers of the House chair, said at a press conference on Tuesday. "Voice considers important not only the content of the resolution, but also the fact that it received unequivocal support from MPs across the political spectrum. The fact that parliamentary political parties were able to agree on a common position on the assassination attempt on democracy and to condemn it unequivocally gives Slovakia hope for the future that the political battle could return to the framework of basic political culture and bring more arguments than shallow hatred," he stated. The Voice-SD party highlighted that the resolution applies to political parties as well as representatives of the non-governmental sector and the media. "Easing tensions in Slovakia must be the goal and responsibility of all parts of social life," noted Ziga, also praising the calm discussion in Parliament. "It's a good example for the public that all political camps can agree in important moments," he added. Some pelicans are "repeat offenders" and will come into care again and again after eating discarded rubbish. WARNING - CONFRONTING IMAGES: Remember the limerick, A wonderful bird is the pelican. His bill will hold more than his belican? Comedian Dixon Lanier Merritts clever rhyme highlighted the birds ability to store ample food in its beak enough for a week. But that was in 1910 before the proliferation of plastic. More than a century on, Australias pelicans are routinely swallowing old wrappers, bottles and even nappies. Non-profit animal rehabilitation organisation WA Wildlife has shared shocking images with Yahoo News to highlight the devastation littering can have on these majestic waterbirds. One shows plastic bags and wrappers regurgitated by pelicans. Another highlights a separate case in which huge tears were inflicted on the soft lower pouch after a fish hook was swallowed. Even more depressing is the shot of a juvenile whose leg was slowly amputated by a piece of plastic twine. Sadly because pelicans require two legs to survive it was humanely euthanised. "We X-ray them and we've found bottles, we've found nappies, and we even found jewellery in one of them. They will ingest almost anything that they come across in the wild," WA Wildlife's Dean Huxley told Yahoo News. These pieces of plastic were all regurgitated from pelicans. Source: WA Wildlife Is plastic really such a problem for pelicans? Plastic can cause blockages inside pelicans and stop them from absorbing nutrients or even cause death. But there's an even more debilitating human impact waste problem that's impacting pelicans, according Huxley. And that's fish hooks. Of all the pelicans that his vets and rehabbers see, around 50 per cent have hooks in their flesh or guts. And if there's one hook in the wing then there's often another in the stomach, or the leg. Because individual birds can become quickly humanised and scavenge around piers and boats the team often encounters "repeat offenders". "We've had birds that we've released and two weeks later they've come back with more fishing hooks. There are some individuals who have come in five times," he told Yahoo News. "These sort of hook and line entanglements can be pretty intensive. The birds generally get X-rays to determine if the hooks have penetrated any bone, or any sort of deep muscle." Related: ANOTHER Aussie animal gets trapped in beer can This juvenile pelican had to be euthanised after its foot was cut off by twine. Source: WA Wildlife This pelican was discovered with extensive tearing to its pouch after it swallowed a fishing hook. Source: WA Wildlife More on wildlife ingesting stuff humans dump Is a fish hook injury easy to fix in a pelican? A bird admitted on April 29 with a lure entanglement in its wing required surgery due to significant tissue necrosis and a "nasty" abscess. It was captured by volunteers from Western Australian Seabird Rescue and then brought into care. "It's been on antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, just some basic sort of wound care along with some saline flushes," he Huxley said. "The next step for us is to move it out into pre-release, probably give it two or three weeks to really stretch its wings and exercise, get his fitness back and then we'll get a release it." This is the wing of the pelican you saw at the top of this page. Source: WA Wildlife Fortunately, this problem is almost entirely preventable. "We're trying to get the message out, particularly to recreational anglers not to cut their lines. They do this after they snag a rock, but then our water birds will see it sparkly and shiny, pick it up and ingest it," Huxley said. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? Get our new newsletter showcasing the weeks best stories. Howler monkeys drop dead during Mexico heat wave Mexico City, May 20 (AFP) May 20, 2024 Howler monkeys are dropping dead in Mexico and authorities said Monday that they were investigating whether extreme heat was killing the endangered species. According to the environment ministry, causes under consideration include "heat stroke, dehydration, malnutrition or fumigation of crops with pesticides." It said studies would be carried out to rule out a virus or disease. Temperatures of up to 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) have been recorded in the southern states of Chiapas and Tabasco, where the deaths have been reported. While the government did not say how many primates had perished, Tabasco-based wildlife preservation group COBIUS reported "mass deaths." "It's very likely due to climatic reasons but we cannot rule out other important causes," it said in a statement. "If you see monkeys that are weak and apparently suffering from heat or dehydration, please try to hoist a bucket of water by rope for them to drink," it added. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who hails from Tabasco, also pointed to extreme heat as the likely cause. "The heat is very strong. Since I've been visiting these states I've never felt it as much as I do now," he said at his regular news conference. Authorities and conservationists were carrying out patrols to provide water and food, mainly fruits, to help monkeys stay hydrated, the Tabasco civil protection institute said. In Darwin's footsteps: scientists recreate historic 1830s expedition Puerto Ayora, Ecuador, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2024 Like Charles Darwin did in 1831, a group of scientists and environmentalists last year set sail from the English port of Plymouth, headed for the Galapagos islands off the coast of Ecuador. But what they found on their arrival last month differed vastly from what naturalist Darwin saw while visiting the archipelago in 1835, in a trip key to developing his world-changing theory on natural selection. The Galapagos today is under protection, part of a marine reserve and classified a World Heritage Site. Yet the area faces more threats than ever, from pollution and illegal fishing to climate change. There to observe the challenges, with a well-thumbed copy of her great-great-grandfather's "On the Origin of Species" in hand, was botanist Sarah Darwin. "I think probably the main difference is that, you know, there are people working now to protect the islands," the 60-year-old told AFP, onboard the "Oosterschelde," a refurbished, three-mast schooner built more than 100 years ago. The ship has been on a scientific and awareness-raising expedition since last August, stopping so far in the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Brazil and Chile among other locales. - Darwin's 'heirs' - In colonial times, the islands -- located in one of the world's most biodiverse regions -- served as a pit stop for pirates who caught and ate the giant turtles that call it home. During World War II, the archipelago hosted a US military base. "I think if (Darwin) were able to come back now and see the efforts that everybody is making, both locally and globally, to protect these extraordinary islands and that biodiversity -- I think he'd be really, really excited and impressed," the naturalist's descendant told AFP. Sarah Darwin first visited the Galapagos in 1995, where she illustrated a guide to endemic plants. She then devoted herself to studying native tomatoes. She also mentors young people as part of a project to create a group of 200 Darwin "heirs" to raise the alarm about environmental and climate threats to the planet. Calling at several ports on the journey from Plymouth to the Galapagos, the Oosterschelde took on new groups of young scientists and activists at every stop, and dropped off others. One of them, Indian-born Laya Pothunuri, who joined the mission from Singapore, told AFP the Galapagos "has a very important place in scientific terms." She was there, she said, to improve the irrigation systems in the islands' coffee-growing regions. "I plan to do it using recycled plastic, which also, again, is a big problem over here," she said, noting that plastic waste ends up being consumed by wildlife. - Plastic peril - In the Galapagos, the expedition members worked with researchers from the private Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), the Charles Darwin Foundation and the NGO Conservation International on both confronting invasive species and protecting endemic ones. Last year, a study by the Charles Darwin Foundation found that giant turtles in the area were ingesting harmful materials due to human pollution. Samples revealed that nearly 90 percent of the waste consumed was plastic, eight percent was fabric and the rest metal, paper, cardboard, construction materials and glass. From Galapagos, the Oosterschelde set sail again on Sunday to continue its world tour, with stops expected in Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. Flurry of tremors detected at caldera in southern Italy Rome, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2024 A flurry of tremors of a strength not seen in decades was registered at a volcanic caldera near the southern Italian city of Naples on Monday night, sparking panic among residents but resulting in no major damage, authorities said. One 4.4-magnitude quake was registered shortly after 8 pm (1800 GMT) at a depth of 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles), according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV). It was preceded moments earlier by a 3.5-magnitude tremor and followed by dozens of aftershocks. The Campi Flegrei -- or Phlegraean Fields, as the caldera is known -- experienced about 150 earthquakes between 7:51 pm on Monday and 12:31 am on Tuesday, the INGV said in a report. According to the institute's Mauro Di Vito, "this is the most powerful seismic swarm in the last 40 years". Emergency services in the area reported cracks and pieces falling from buildings, while amateur video from a supermarket in the town of Pozzuoli showed bottles strewn across the floor after being shaken off shelves. Schools in the town will remain closed on Tuesday and temporary accommodation has been established to take in frightened residents, mayor Luigi Manzoni announced on Facebook. The INGV said it would continue to monitor the caldera and that "it cannot be ruled out that other seismic events may occur, also of similar energy". The Campi Flegrei is situated between Pozzuoli and Naples, which sits in the shadow of the much better-known Mount Vesuvius further to the east. The Campi Flegrei experienced an eruption 40,000 years ago that affected the planet's climate, and it has been a source of concern to residents and scientists more recently thanks to a resurgence of activity due to gases emitted by the magma. "We have to live with fear all the time," a Pozzuoli resident told the public channel Rainews. "How long will the buildings be able to hold out while experiencing all these shocks? That's what we wonder." Specialists, however, say a full-blown eruption in the near future remains unlikely. gab/jnd/smw/pbt Meta Demise of rangelands 'severely underestimated': report Paris, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2024 From camel drivers in the Sahara to nomads on the Mongolian steppe, traditional herders the world over rely on earth's wildest open spaces to support an ancient way of life. But the expansive plains, tundra and savanna they inhabit are in much greater peril than previously thought, researchers said Tuesday in a major reassessment of the health of these crucial environments. As much as half of all rangelands -- encompassing some of nature's most striking vistas from the Arctic to the tropics, deserts and mountains -- are believed to be degraded, the report said. Mostly natural grasslands used by livestock and wild animals to graze, they also include scrubland, mountain plateaus, deserts and wetlands. Climate change, urban expansion, population growth and the conversion of land for farming was fuelling their destruction, said the report by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Rangelands were grossly undervalued and their "silent demise" had passed mostly unnoticed despite what was at stake, said UNCCD executive secretary Ibrahim Thiaw. "We as humanity have to pay attention to this," he told AFP. The "persistent loss and deterioration" of rangelands would be felt beyond the pastoralist communities who have adapted to life in these environments over centuries, the report said. - Climate ally - Healthy rangelands are an asset in the fight against global warming, locking away carbon in soil and spurring the growth of vegetation that pulls planet-heating CO2 from the atmosphere. Traditional farming customs -- such as rotating grazing areas and conserving scarce resources in difficult times -- improved soil health and its capacity to store carbon, the report's lead author Pedro Maria Herrera Calvo told AFP. Poor policy, neglect and large-scale rangeland mismanagement had eroded soils, releasing carbon rather than storing it, and stripped the earth of the nutrients needed to support plant and animal life. Rangelands are biodiversity hotspots, providing habitats for Africa's most iconic wildlife, and pasture for one billion grazing animals, the report said. They account for one-sixth of the world's food production, it added, and underpin many national economies. They are also a cultural bedrock for half a billion pastoralist people in more than 100 countries, mostly poor and marginalised communities such as the Bedouin, Fulani and Saami. A quarter of the world's languages are spoken among pastoral groups who call these places home. "It is part of our heritage," said Thiaw. "Losing it would mean not only losing ecosystems and losing the economy, but losing our own culture." - 'Voiceless and powerless' - Yet they are barely studied, said Calvo. Rosier outlooks did not reflect reality, and this reassessment by dozens of experts was long overdue, he added. "We feel that the actual data estimating rangelands degradation around 25 percent is severely underestimated," he said. "We think that almost 35 -- even 50 percent -- of rangelands are already degraded." Rangelands cover 80 million square kilometres -- more than half the land surface of earth. Protecting them would require policy that better supports the pastoralists who understand them best, the report said. Instead of having a seat at the table however, nomadic communities were "voiceless and powerless", the report said. Ignoring their wisdom in sustainably managing these complex environments -- or, worse still, forcing them off the land -- would only condemn these wild places and their custodians to an even bleaker future, Thiaw argued. "It is important for this to be taken much more seriously." Schools, prison checked after quake 'swarm' near Naples Rome, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2024 Italian authorities were checking schools and a prison on Tuesday after 150 tremors, including the biggest for 40 years, hit the volcanic region near Naples overnight, causing no major damage or injuries but sparking widespread fear. "I'm scared. I opened this morning but there isn't anyone because people are scared," Gaetano Maddaluno, a 56-year-old hairdresser in the city of Pozzuoli, told AFP by telephone on Tuesday morning. One 4.4-magnitude quake was registered shortly after 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) on Monday evening at a depth of 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles), according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV). It was part of what the institute called a "seismic swarm" in which some 150 quakes were recorded, including the most powerful for four decades. Many residents of Pozzuoli rushed out of their homes into the street following the tremors. Local authorities set up tents and were organising around 400 temporary bunks for people too scared to go home. Seismic activity is nothing new in Pozzuoli, located on the Campi Flegrei (Phlegraean Fields), Europe's largest active caldera -- the hollow left after an eruption. But many of the 500,000 inhabitants living in the danger zone had already been spooked by a 4.2-magnitude quake last September. Some residents railed against what they saw as a lack of preventative action by authorities, including checking how buildings might withstand an even bigger shock. "My shop has never been checked," said a second hairdresser in Pozzuoli, Nella Aprea, 55. "Action plans are in place but there are still not enough resources." - Prisoners transferred - Emergency services reported cracks and pieces falling from buildings after Monday's quakes. Italy's Civil Protection Department said on Tuesday morning that 39 families had been evacuated from 13 buildings following the outcome of inspections. Schools were also closed in Pozzuoli for inspections, and 140 inmates of the women's prison were transferred to other institutions while damage to the jail was examined. "How long will the buildings be able to hold out while (there are) all these shocks? That's what we wonder," one resident told RAI News television. The mayor of Pozzuoli, Gigi Manzoni, had on Monday night urged people to remain calm but acknowledged it was a situation that was "stressing us all". The mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi, insisted on Tuesday the situation was "under control", adding: "There is currently no risk of eruption." The INGV said it would continue to monitor the caldera. "Other seismic events cannot be ruled out, including ones of a force similar to that which has already been recorded during the current swarm," it cautioned. The eruption of Campi Flegrei 40,000 years ago was the most powerful in the Mediterranean. A resurgence of seismic activity in the early 1980s led to a mass evacuation which reduced Pozzuoli to a ghost town. Specialists, however, say a full-blown eruption in the near future remains unlikely. The INGV recalled on Tuesday that in the 1980s, there were more than 1,300 seismic events a month and hydrothermal activity caused the ground to lift by nine centimetres (3.5 inches) a month. By contrast, around 450 seismic events have been recorded in the last month and the lifting speed remained steady at two centimetres a month. NGOs seek climate trial of French oil giant TotalEnergies Paris, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2024 NGOs filed a criminal complaint against French oil giant TotalEnergies and its top shareholders in Paris on Tuesday, seeking a trial for involuntary manslaughter and other consequences of climate change "chaos". The case targets the company's board, including chief executive Patrick Pouyanne, and major shareholders that backed its climate strategy, including US investment firm BlackRock and Norway's central bank, Norges Bank. In a statement, the three NGOs and eight individuals said they accused the group of "deliberately endangering the lives of others, involuntary manslaughter, neglecting to address a disaster, and damaging biodiversity". The complaint was filed at the Paris judicial court, which has environmental and health departments, three days before TotalEnergies holds its annual shareholders meeting. The prosecutor now has three months to decide whether to open a judicial investigation, the NGOs said. If it does not go ahead, the plaintiffs can take their case directly before an investigative judge. The offences carry prison sentences ranging between one year to five years and fines of as much as 150,000 euros ($163,000). "This legal action could set a precedent in the history of climate litigation as it opens the way to holding fossil fuel producers and shareholders responsible before criminal courts for the chaos caused by climate change," the NGOs said. The plaintiffs include "victims or survivors of climate-related disasters" in Australia, Belgium, France, Greece, Pakistan, the Philippines and Zimbabwe. TotalEnergies did not immediately return a request for comment. - 'Climate change kills' - Oil and gas companies, other corporations and governments are facing a growing number of legal cases related to the climate crisis worldwide. TotalEnergies is facing other legal cases in France related to climate change. Outside the Paris judicial court, the NGOs held a banner reading "climate change kills" and "let's put shareholders behind bars" -- with the "share" in shareholders crossed out and replaced by the "death". The latest complaint aims to "recognise the deadly consequences of their decisions, their stubbornness in voting for fossil projects which threaten the stability of the climate and therefore of all living things," Claire Nouvian, founding director of conservation group Bloom, said at a news conference. Fossil fuels -- oil, gas and coal -- are the biggest contributors to heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions. One of the plaintiffs in the Paris case is Benjamin Van Bunderen Robberechts, a 17-year-old Belgian whose friend Rosa died in flash floods in Belgium at the age of 15 in 2021. In Paris to file the complaint, he said he had come to "demand justice" against those "who choose profit over human lives and climate". In their statement, the plaintiffs said "TotalEnergies has known the direct link between its activities and climate change" since at least 1971. "TotalEnergies followed a climate sceptic line in order to waste time, delay decision-making and protect its increasing investments in fossil fuels," they added. They said they hope to set a legal precedent "whereby opening new fossil fuel projects would be considered criminal". While the case was filed on Tuesday, TotalEnergies announced a deepwater project off the coast of Angola, with production set to start in 2028 to extract 70,000 barrels per day. gd/bfa/lth/gv TotalEnergies Small island states win key climate case in UN court Berlin, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2024 The UN maritime court on Tuesday ruled in favour of nine small island states who brought a case to seek increased protection of the world's oceans from catastrophic climate change. Finding that carbon emissions can be considered a sea pollutant, the court said countries have an obligation to take measures to mitigate their effects on oceans. "Anthropogenic GHG emissions into the atmosphere constitute pollution of the marine environment" under the international treaty UNCLOS, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) ruled in an expert opinion. Polluting countries therefore have "the specific obligation to take all measures necessary to ensure that... emissions under their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage by pollution to other states and their environment", the court said. The case was brought in September by nine small countries disproportionately affected by climate change, including Antigua and Barbuda, Vanuatu and Tuvalu. They asked the Hamburg-based court to issue an opinion on whether carbon dioxide emissions absorbed by the oceans can be considered pollution, and if so, what obligations countries have to address the problem. The UNCLOS treaty binds countries to prevent pollution of the oceans, defining pollution as the introduction of "substances or energy into the marine environment" that harms marine life. But it does not spell out carbon emissions as a specific pollutant, and the plaintiffs had argued that these emissions should qualify. - 'Just a few years' - The case is seen as the first big international climate justice case involving the world's oceans and experts say it could have far-reaching implications for countries' future climate change obligations. Ahead of the ruling, the Center for International Environmental Law said the case was "particularly significant" because it will be the first of three key international court advisory opinions on climate change. The others are due to be given by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice. Ocean ecosystems create half the oxygen humans breathe and limit global warming by absorbing much of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activities. But increasing emissions can warm and acidify seawaters, harming marine life. Global sea surface temperatures hit a monthly record in April for the 13th month in a row, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service. Over two days of hearings in September, the leaders of the nine countries said the effects of climate change were threatening their nations' very existence. "Just a few years -- this is all we have before the ocean consumes everything my people built across centuries," Tuvalu's Prime Minister Kausea Natano told the court. "This is the opening chapter in the struggle to change the conduct of the international community by clarifying the obligation of states to protect the marine environment," said the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne. The other island states joining the ITLOS case were the Bahamas, Niue, Palau, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Small island states win 'historic' climate case at UN court Berlin, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2024 The UN maritime court on Tuesday ruled in favour of nine small island states that brought a case to seek increased protection of the world's oceans from catastrophic climate change. Finding that carbon emissions can be considered a sea pollutant, the court said countries had an obligation to take measures to mitigate their effects on oceans. The countries that brought the case called the court decision "historic", and experts said it could be influential in shaping the scope of future climate litigation involving greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. "Anthropogenic GHG emissions into the atmosphere constitute pollution of the marine environment" under the international UNCLOS treaty, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) ruled in an expert opinion. Polluting countries therefore have "the specific obligation to take all measures necessary to ensure that... emissions under their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage by pollution to other states and their environment", the court said. The case was brought in September by nine small countries disproportionately affected by climate change, including Antigua and Barbuda, Vanuatu and Tuvalu. They asked the Hamburg-based court to issue an opinion on whether carbon dioxide emissions absorbed by the oceans could be considered pollution, and if so, what obligations countries had to address the problem. The UNCLOS treaty binds countries to prevent pollution of the oceans, defining pollution as the introduction of "substances or energy into the marine environment" that harms marine life. But it does not spell out carbon emissions as a specific pollutant, which the plaintiffs had argued should qualify. - 'Fighting for survival' - The court's opinion is advisory and non-binding but will influence how the UN treaty is interpreted around the world. "This is the first-ever decision by an international tribunal on climate change and the oceans and clarifies the legally binding obligations of 169 countries that are party to the (UNCLOS treaty)," the nine plaintiff countries said in a statement. The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, said small island nations were "fighting for their survival". "Some will become uninhabitable in the near future because of the failure to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. We demand that the major polluters respect international law, and stop the catastrophic harm against us before it is too late," he said. The other island nations joining the ITLOS case were the Bahamas, Niue, Palau, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines. The case is seen as the first major international climate justice case involving the world's oceans, and experts say it could have far-reaching implications for countries' future climate change obligations. The Center for International Environmental Law said the case was "particularly significant" because it was the first of three key international court advisory opinions on climate change. "For the first time, an international court has recognised that the fates of two global commons -- the oceans and the atmosphere -- are intertwined and imperilled by the climate crisis," said CIEL attorney Joie Chowdhury. The other climate case rulings, by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), are due to be given in the coming months. - Rising temperatures - Mandi Mudarikwa, Amnesty International's head of strategic litigation, said the ruling was "likely to inform future climate justice cases in national, regional and international courts". Tom Mitchell, executive director at the International Institute for Environment and Development, told AFP the tribunal's opinion "is an important marker on the legal responsibility for the effects of climate change, which will doubtless be influential in shaping the scope and direction of future climate litigation". Ocean ecosystems create half the oxygen humans breathe and limit global warming by absorbing much of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activities. But increasing emissions can warm and acidify seawaters, harming marine life and ecosystems. Rising global sea temperatures are also accelerating the melting of polar ice caps and increasing sea levels, posing an existential threat for small island nations. Global sea surface temperatures hit a monthly record in April for the 13th month in a row, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service. Shell faces shareholder revolt over climate strategy London, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2024 More than a fifth of Shell investors have revolted against its climate strategy in a key vote, the British energy giant revealed Tuesday. Shell said in a statement that almost 22 percent of shareholders rejected its current climate plan, in a vote held at the group's annual general meeting. Management faced criticism from investors and environmental protestors alike during the AGM that was held in the British capital. Almost 19 percent of shareholder votes supported a proposal for stricter emissions reductions in line with goals of the landmark Paris climate accord. Tuesday's revolt mirrored a shareholder rebellion last year, where a similar proportion voted against the board's proposals. This week's meeting was the first time the shareholders met since the oil and gas giant scaled back several climate targets last year. Shell in March diluted its climate targets, including on "net carbon intensity", a measurement of emissions produced by each unit of energy sold. The group had said net carbon intensity would be cut 15-20 percent by 2030 compared to 2016 levels. That marked a dilution from its previous 20-percent target. Climate activists on Tuesday disrupted Shell's shareholder meeting, accusing the oil giant of "greenwashing" -- or making misleading climate-related statements to boost its reputation. Chairman Andrew MacKenzie was interrupted by Greenpeace activists, who stood up and started singing "Shell kills, Shell kills, Shell kills, Shell kills", to the tune of Dolly Parton's song 'Jolene'. MacKenzie however defended the company's stance, emphasising the goal to be net zero by 2050 and explaining how Shell believed the energy system will transition in the decades ahead. Chief Executive Wael Sawan meanwhile insisted Shell is "very much aligned with achieving a 2050 net zero outcome", when faced with questioning by environmentalists. Under the 2015 Paris deal, nations pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions by the middle of the century with the aspirational goal of limiting the increase in global temperatures to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels. str/rfj/rl Half of mangrove ecosystems at risk: conservationists Geneva, May 21 (AFP) May 21, 2024 Half of the world's mangrove ecosystems are at risk of collapse due to climate change, deforestation and pollution, according to a study published Wednesday. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), known for its red list of threatened species, has for the first time taken stock of the world's mangroves, evaluating 36 different regions. IUCN director general Grethel Aguilar said the assessment "highlights the urgent need for coordinated conservation of mangroves -- crucial habitats for millions in vulnerable communities worldwide". Mangroves are trees or shrubs that grow mainly in seawater or brackish water along coastlines and tidal rivers, in equatorial climes. Released on the International Day for Biodiversity, IUCN said its findings show that "50 percent of the mangrove ecosystems assessed are at risk of collapse" -- categorised as either vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. According to the assessment, 20 percent were at severe risk of collapse. Mangroves are threatened by deforestation, development, pollution, and dam construction. However, the risk is increasing due to sea-level rise and the greater frequency of severe storms associated with climate change. Around 15 percent of the world's coasts are covered by mangroves, covering about 150,000 square kilometres. - Disastrous disappearance - Climate change threatens a third of mangrove ecosystems assessed, due to rising sea levels. According to estimates, at the current rate, a quarter of the global area of mangroves is expected to be submerged in the next 50 years, IUCN said. The northwest Atlantic Ocean, the northern Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the South China Sea, and the Gulf of Aden coasts are expected to be particularly severely affected. "Mangrove ecosystems are exceptional in their ability to provide essential services to people, including coastal disaster risk reduction, carbon storage and sequestration, and support for fisheries," said Angela Andrade, chair of the IUCN commission on ecosystem management. "Their loss stands to be disastrous for nature and people across the globe." The study said looking after mangroves was essential for mitigating the effects of climate change, with healthy ecosystems coping better with sea level rise and providing inland protection from the effects of severe storms. Without significant improvement by 2050, climate change and rising sea levels will lead to the loss of 1.8 billion tonnes of carbon stored in mangroves. Mangroves currently store nearly 11 billion tons of carbon -- almost three times the amount of carbon stored by tropical forests of the same size. Maintaining good sediment circulation and allowing mangroves to expand inland will help them cope with sea level rise, IUCN said. It also called for the restoration of mangroves which have already disappeared. "A very good study of mangrove change globally that was published in 2022 indicates about 5,000 square kilometres of mangrove were lost" between 1996 and 2020, IUCN's Marco Valderrabano told AFP. Jasmin Stinger and a group of young women, including a 14-year-old, were allegedly targeted by a woman outside a Queensland shopping complex. Miss World Australia pageant winner Jasmin Stinger was an alleged victim in an unprovoked attack alongside a group of women. Source: Instagram Miss World Australia and a group of aspiring models have been involved in a "terrifying" incident outside a shopping centre, claiming they were set upon by a woman in a targeted and unprovoked attack. Jasmin Stinger, the current pageant winner, rushed outside the Southport Park shopping complex in Queensland on Friday after receiving a call from a distressed teen who'd just completed catwalk training with Stinger at the centre's gymnasium claiming a woman was physically and verbally attacking them. The 26-year-old said she too then found herself fending off the violent woman. It's alleged the group of females, which included a 14-year-old, were waiting for a taxi when the unknown woman approached them. Video taken at the scene shows punches being thrown and hair being pulled. Screaming and swearing can also be heard as the young girls, and a mother, defended themselves. "She came up and tried to hit me straight in the face. I managed to fend her off with my arms," Stinger told 7News on Monday. Stevie Hearl, 23, who was part of the group, claims she was attacked from behind before being "pulled to the ground by my hair". Stinger said the whole incident lasted over 20 minutes, describing it as "very, very terrifying". The women were allegedly targeted while waiting for a taxi outside the Southport Park shopping complex in Queensland. Source Woman charged over alleged shopping centre attack Queensland Police told media a 46-year-old Southport woman has been charged following the alleged disturbance. Police said they attended Ferry Road, Southport, on Friday following reports of a fight in a car park and located the woman who was taken into custody. She has been given a notice to appear for committing public nuisance and is due to appear in court next month. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. State Sen. John Mannion highlights his support for abortion rights and legislation that helped attract Micron to central New York in his first TV ad of the Democratic primary for the 22nd Congressional District seat. The ad, titled "Yearbooks," began airing Tuesday in central New York, according to Mannion's campaign. He is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Brandon Williams in the 22nd district, which includes Onondaga and Madison counties, plus parts of Cayuga, Cortland and Oneida counties. Mannion's ad provides details about his background he's a former public school teacher and his track record in the state Senate. One of Mannion's legislative achievements is the passage of the Green CHIPS legislation, which provides state incentives to chip manufacturers. Micron, which is planning to invest $100 billion over 20 years to build a massive manufacturing facility in Onondaga County, will benefit from the Green CHIPS program. "John Mannion passed a law bringing 50,000 new jobs to our area," the ad's narrator notes. Mannion, D-Geddes, also supported legislation that protects abortion access in New York, according to the ad. After the Supreme Court's ruling in 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade, the state Legislature passed an abortion rights package. Records show he voted for the six bills that were signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul. In the ad, Mannion pledges he will "work to guarantee abortion rights" in Congress. Mannion and Sarah Klee Hood, a DeWitt town councilor and Air Force veteran, are vying for the Democratic nomination in the 22nd district. Klee Hood also released her first TV ad, which focuses on abortion rights, on Tuesday. The Democratic primary election is Tuesday, June 25. Plans to create a St. George school district are on hold until the new city gets up on its feet, according to newly appointed Mayor Dustin Yates. Yates discussed the school district, among other topics, at a news conference Tuesday morning with St. George Police Chief Todd Morris at the St. George Fire Department headquarters on Airline Highway, which will serve as St. George's city hall for now. "Creating a new school system requires tremendous focus, energy and time," Yates said. "So for now, we're concentrating solely on the creation of our new city." Gov. Jeff Landry appointed Yates and Morris as the first mayor and police chief of St. George last week. The two will serve the city in interim roles until the next available municipal election likely next year when residents can vote on their new leadership. The third season of Netflixs juicy period drama Bridgerton dropped last week, once again immersing us in a world of feathered fans, coming-out ceremonies and torrid love affairs. But with the final half of the season yet to land, as the last four episodes are scheduled for June 13, fans have been left guessing what will become of Mayfairs high society. From The Great to Downton Abbey, there are plenty of period dramas to binge after Bridgerton. Credit: Compiled by Jamie Brown. If you, dearest gentle reader, simply cant wait or have had your fill of Bridgerton and want a different take on the corset and cravat genre worry not. Here are some other similarly scandalous period dramas to watch while Lady Whistledown refills her ink pots. Ive just spent the past two months living and working in New York. For at least the last 20 years, one of the first things I do each morning is check whats happened on the US stock markets overnight. For someone with a keen interest in investments and financial markets, New York is the centre of the universe. You might ask what a two-month sojourn in New York has to do with personal finance, but good planning goes well beyond just the numbers. Credit: Getty My wife and I have always enjoyed travel. Many years ago we tossed around ideas to experience a place by living there, rather than simply visiting and snapping the required photos. And so it was that as our plans for adventure coalesced, New York became destination number one. During our stay we saw Broadway musicals, beautiful art deco architecture, art of all varieties, ate lots of wonderful food, walked for miles and miles, and met some fantastic people. Thanks for joining us, and heres where well finish posting updates for the day. Our live blog will return on Thursday morning. Among the stories that mattered most today: Australian Teandra Tuhkunen hit the roof and was thrown to the floor during turbulence on her way to Melbourne. An Australian woman was hurled into the ceiling of a Singapore Airlines flight before smashing to the floor among glass and breakfast food during extreme turbulence that left one person dead and eight Australians in a Bangkok hospital. Closer to home, opposition MP Ros Bates yelled cross your legs across the floor of Queensland parliament this afternoon while Health Minister Shannon Fentiman was talking about cancelled maternity services. Both politicians sounded off on social media, with Fentiman posting a video of the exchange. Queenslands police minister has slammed unknown culprits making threats to a local MP and her staff in a regional town. Labor MP Brittany Lauga said two staff members in her office faced threats after she disclosed she was drugged and sexually assaulted while on a night out. And new details about the shootings of two police officers and others during the 2022 Wieambilla tragedy have been unveiled in the US case against an Arizona man who has pleaded not guilty to five charges. In sport, a Super Rugby players difficult decision to abandon his NRL dream could earn him a shock call-up, writes Brisbane Times sports journalist Nick Wright. Nundah by Night markets take place next to the station. Credit: Goodwill Projects And the season of night markets has returned in Brisbane. While youll have to mark your diary for each one-off annual night market, others occur monthly, weekly or more often. Heres our comprehensive guide. Donald Trumps Aussie catcher-and-killer Dylan Howard, fresh from many dishonourable mentions in the former US presidents hush-money trial in New York, is facing another spot of bother. For those living under a rock, evidence of the Geelong-born Howards role, as editor of US supermarket tabloid The National Enquirer, in locating and burying negative stories about Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign, has been laid bare in the case. Dylan Howard with then-president Donald Trump in the Oval Office in 2017. And while Howard hasnt been charged with anything, it wasnt a great look for the man who calls himself Americas most feared journalist and claims to have taken down the careers of Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen and Hulk Hogan. He hasnt done much either for the prospects of the six journalists on either side of the Atlantic who were clearing out their desks last week after the attempt by Howards company Empire Media to revive music magazine Q ended after just five months. Inflation options An excellent article from Richard Denniss (Money cant buy everything but ... 20/5) whose think tank The Australia Institute has produced a previous insightful paper on the topic of inflation. That paper showed that the inflationary surge over the last few years was predominantly the result of excess business profits, not consumer demand pressures. If these excess profits (resulting from higher prices) had not occurred (due to principled corporate decisions or government actions), inflation would have remained within the Reserve Bank target band of 2-3 per cent. The financial harm to millions of households as a result of the Reserve Banks interest rate rises would then have been avoided. There are many more policy levers specifically targeting inflation to be used before resorting to the sledgehammer of higher rates in the future. Peter Thomson, Brunswick Nice in theory Re Albanese has a vision splendid. Can Dutton the wrecker spoil it? (Comment, 17/5), who can remember when Australia manufactured cars? We all supported local car manufacturers right up until we drove our new car out of the dealership. It was invariably a foreign made Prado, Pajero or LandCruiser. The same thing will happen with Albaneses solar panels. Murray Horne, Cressy No cash to splash There is much discussion, including in your report by David Crowe (Most voters to resist rebate splurge, 21/5), on how people are going to spend the $300 federal electricity rebate. Many apparently dont realise they will never actually receive the cash. The money is to be given to the retailers to reduce their bill. Many people may not even realise that the money has been taken off the bill, particularly if they have direct debit applied to their bill. Alan Inchley, Frankston Allocation problem The gas industry of course wants us to solve any so called gas shortfalls by opening up new fields (Gas giants call for offshore permits fix to avert shortfalls, 21/5). Then they can continue to export our gas offshore for three times the price; while paying little tax. Australia has plenty of gas. We do not have a supply problem, we have an allocation problem. If we want to ensure the supply of gas on the east coast at a price that is affordable for people and business then lets just reserve it. It has worked for WA and every other gas exporting nation. Kieran Simpson, Blackburn North Failing regulation Up to 60 per cent of new apartments in Australia are riddled with construction flaws including cracked foundations, leaks, balcony defects and flammable cladding (The Age, 19/5). Is it really that hard, in 2024, to make dwellings that dont leak or catch fire? The industry, and its regulators, should be ashamed of themselves. Surely we can now all agree that self regulation is an abject failures, and get back to a system where designs are independently reviewed, and the construction process is monitored by independent inspectors. And directors of the shoddy companies responsible for problems need to be made accountable. David Nelson, Clayton South Value independence Your correspondent (Letters, 21/5) points out an important factor in falling building quality. Independent building inspectors are here to stay but rather than having their pet inspectors who are unlikely to keep working for a particular developer if they keep finding significant faults wouldnt it be more effective for developers to be randomly appointed a qualified inspector from a pool and have tougher compliance standards for all inspectors. David Brown, Armadale Embrace the vision The groundswell of action to save the Housing Commission towers across Melbourne over the past month has been encouraging. As an architect, I believe that saving the towers is about much more than preventing billions from being wasted by the proposed demolition and reconstruction. It should be seen as a social and humanitarian project, embracing and enriching already established and flourishing inner suburban communities. The towers are still useful and easily upgradable buildings, extraordinary examples of post-war architecture cutting edge precast load-bearing concrete panel technology or the tallest multi-storey load bearing brick buildings in the world at the time. Brutalism might not be to everyones taste, but these are excellent examples worth preserving. It is particularly pleasing that the architectural profession is getting involved, in particular the Institute of Architects Victorian Chapter. Various design solutions are already proposed. However, it is worrying that too many of these proposals resemble ego-driven re-imaginings, with fantastical exo-skeletons completely hiding the original structure that would be more at home in Dubai or Hong Kong than in Collingwood or Carlton. They completely miss the point of what saving the towers should be all about affordable and social housing. David Francis, Northcote Extraordinary machine A cow is a highly efficient factory, evolved over millions of years, that turns grass, inedible for humans, into highly nutritious human food. To grow beef cells in vats to the weight of just one cow (Developed in a lab and grown in vat: Its meat, but not as we know it, 21/5) requires hundreds of litres of a nutrient soup in factories. And hundreds of litres of depleted nutrient soup waste. Now think of scaling that up to millions of cows. I cant see the potential of an environmental net gain. Ralph Bohmer, St Kilda West Rogue leader So all Trumps legal troubles are a pile-on according to our former PM Scott Morrison (Scott Morrison explains why evangelical Christians love Trump, 21/5). How did Morrison manage to forget that after losing the more than 60 court actions Trump filed to claim the 2020 presidential election was rigged and stolen from him, the Republican attempted a coup to stay in power? Whats Morrisons agenda in supporting such a rogue leader? Rajend Naidu, Glenfield, NSW Trump mystery Scott Morrison gives a pretty good explanation as to why lots of Americans love Donald Trump. Nowhere, however, can I find an explanation as to why Morrison loves him as well. It is quite baffling. Graeme Rose, Wangaratta Offsets exploited Audits play a critical role in holding governments and corporations to account by exposing malfeasance and paving the way for remedial action. Thats exemplified by the first audit of Australias environmental offsets system (Enviro offsets scheme riddled with breaches, 20/5) that has exposed widespread abuse of the rules by developers. Environment Minister Tanya Pliberseks expressed outrage at their manipulation of the system must fuel her determination to tighten the rules and insist on their rigorous application. Its shocking that its taken 12 years for the audit to be conducted. We cannot afford another such period of environmental degradation under the guise of benefit to nature. Tom Knowles, Parkville Secret is out The beach at Aspendale is indeed one of the suburbs endearing features (Unassuming and all about lifestyle, 21/05). It has panoramic views. To the left is the view down to Arthurs Seat, to the right the view up to the Beaumaris Cliffs. The frontal view is just as enchanting, down to Portarlington and over to the You Yangs. All this over blue seas. The view is peaceful in both summer and winter. It is to be hoped that high rise development, of the type that was approved recently at Frankston, never threatens this environment. The suburb also blessed ample open space at the rear. There is the long beach bike trail meandering down to Frankston, adjacent wetlands, sporting grounds and a magnificent golf course. Aspendales anonymity is slowly disappearing as new residents recognise the suburb value and tastefully redevelop the area. Martin Newington, Aspendale Duty bound We are in our 80s and we have lived for 50 years in a large house. The children have left home and we would like to downsize so a young family could live in our home. Our problem is, if we move to a unit costing $1 million the stamp duty is $35,000. So we stay put. That $35,000 will adequately pay for Jims Mowing and other maintenance. The Victorian governments addiction to stamp duty is one of the reasons this state is not in the state it should be. Alastair Wright, Dandenong North Fashion police Re An Age Ago, and your correspondents letter about the 1980s case of the female barrister wearing trousers (Letters, 21/5). As a defence lawyer, I was wearing culottes, not trousers, when I appeared in the Magistrates Court in 1992. I was severely reprimanded for wearing trousers without the magistrates permission. Anyone have a more recent example? Bernadette Cheesman, Wendouree Village AND ANOTHER THING Credit: Matt Golding Art Re Dear Gina, I get it. I hate my Archibald portrait (21/5) Rembrandt notably turned to self portraits, as there was no need to flatter the sitter. Im disappointed that the Olympic swimmers, endowed by Gina Rineharts patronage, feel obliged to react on her behalf. Would she otherwise not sustain her support? Its hard to think like the richest person in Australia. Sue Parrington, Port Melbourne Protests Australia is a peace-loving, largely inclusive democracy. Palestine and Israels Australian supporters both want the same things end to war and resolution of the causes of the conflict. Why then, do they not march together? John Laurie, Riddells Creek When the suffragettes were agitating for womens voting rights they didnt tap meekly on the door at 10 Downing Street and suggest a cup of tea and a bit of a chat to sort out differences. Protests are inherently somewhat impolite. Jim Spithill, Glen Waverley Furthermore Hasnt Julian Assange spent enough time in prison and embassy refuge? Surely its time for his release even if it requires a commitment from him to lead a simple life with his family. Michael McKenna, Warragul Thats all from us today, thanks for joining us as we brought you the news from Perth and across WA. If youre about to drive home along Tonkin Highway, be aware that Main Roads has warned of a diesel spill at the Thomas Road intersection. Various lanes are affected, but there are no traffic delays. Some of the biggest news we brought you today included the latest development in the defamation fight between WA Senator Linda Reynolds and her former staffer Brittany Higgins and Higgins fiance David Sharaz. The trio went to mediation this morning, but the senator emerged several hours later with news that it looked as though the matter would proceed to trial. Meanwhile, down the road at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, the countrys biggest oil and gas producers have been gathering for their annual conference. Resources Minister Madeleine King labelled calls for no large new gas projects useless, while at the same time attempting to distance herself from the gas-led recovery proposed by the Coalition government three years ago. And the chief executive of Australias biggest oil and gas producer Woodside says energy markets will continue to be rocked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Just earlier we also brought you news of a former immigration detainee allowed to walk free on a suspended sentence for breaching his release conditions despite his lengthy rap sheet. Thank you again for joining us. Check back tomorrow as we continue to bring you the news you need to know. Read the full article on Motorious Good idea or bad idea? One of the worst-kept secrets in the auto industry is that BMW feels wildly jealous of Tesla and its success in the EV segment of the market. Some inside the German automaker feel the way to beat the American company is to become more like it. Considering its working to sell cars directly to consumers, cutting out dealerships, it sounds like that camp might be winning inside the halls of BMW. Read why BMW believes supply chains are stabilizing here. In an interview with German newspaper Muenchner Merkur, BMW CFO Nicolas Peter said his desire was to give customers the opportunity to order directly from us. This isnt exactly the kind of thing which will make dealers happy, so we sure hope theres a plan to address their grievances. Before just diving right into a direct sales model like what Tesla has, BMW will try things out with the Mini brand starting in 2024. If that works, the plan is to do the same with BMW in 2026. In the meantime, the Bavarians are in constructive talks with dealer networks, a characterization we wonder if the other side would agree with. ADVERTISEMENT Exactly how the direct sales model would work and what it would mean for dealers remains a mystery, for now. Some in the auto industry have theorized for years that Teslas way of selling cars would be the future, fundamentally changing the role of dealers. Such a move would also mean significant changes for car shoppers. Depending on how automakers do things, there might be no haggling but instead everyone gets to pay the same bloated price, which apparently is an introverts dream come true. Its unclear if test drives would still be conducted through dealerships as well as customer deliveries, or if automakers like BMW would copy Tesla and put stores in malls and other locations. One thing is for sure, the shape of the auto industry is changing in fundamental ways, creating plenty of uncertainty about the future. Story continues Source: Driving Images via BMW, Tesla Sign up for the Motorious Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Australia will ban replicas of blockbuster weight loss drugs such as Ozempic and Mounjaro in a move set to slash their availability and disrupt the businesses capitalising on ballooning demand. Health Minister Mark Butlers decision will limit access for at least 20,000 Australians who have been buying compounded weight loss injections meaning a pharmacist or healthcare practitioner has made the medicine themselves because they cannot get the branded products during massive global supply shortages. There has been overwhelming demand for Ozempic because of its weight-loss effects. Credit: Monique Westermann While pharmacists are allowed to compound medicine on a case-by-case basis for people with prescriptions, it is not supposed to happen at a commercial scale because their products have not been tested for safety or quality by the Therapeutic Goods Administration. But with global demand for the popular weight loss drugs far exceeding supply, Australian vendors have been mass-producing replica versions of Ozempic and Mounjaro, known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, despite the regulators warnings. The federal government is being urged to ban the use of generative AI in election materials, amid fears that deepfakes of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese or Opposition Leader Peter Dutton could be used to spread misinformation ahead of the next federal election. ACT independent senator David Pocock and teal independent MP Kate Chaney have written to government ministers to raise concerns about potential risks posed by artificial intelligence to Australian democracy, as a two-day Senate committee hearing into the adoption of the nascent technology wrapped up on Tuesday. Senator David Pocock has called for a ban on AI-generated election materials. Credit: SMH Australia is acutely vulnerable to misuse of generative AI, according to the independents, particularly compared with other jurisdictions such as South Korea, in which citizens face up to seven years in prison if convicted of using AI-generated deepfake content in political campaigning. The technology has already been used widely overseas. In India, politicians are using audio and video deepfakes of themselves to reach millions of voters, while in the US there are reports of robocalls featuring an AI-generated voice sounding like President Joe Biden telling voters to skip a primary vote. While Microsoft has thus far framed Copilot and AI tools in Windows as primarily enterprise tools, CoPilot+ PCs clearly target consumers as well. The company showed off several features that make use of AI models that run directly on the devices rather than in the cloud, including Recall, which is like a supercharged version of the abandoned Timeline that appeared in Windows 10. At any point you can use Recall to move back through the things youve been doing on your PC which Microsoft said remembers literally everything but organises information like a human to get back to a task you left unfinished before. Loading The company also showed off generative AI Windows tools including the ability to turn a scribble from Paint into a fully illustrated art piece, and new filters and styles for photo and video editing. Apps from Adobe, DaVinci and more were also shown processing AI tasks on CoPilot+ PCs. This is not the first time Microsoft has put Windows on a device powered by an ARM chip, which differs in its fundamental structure compared to the x86 chips made by Intel. It tried it with the Surface RT way back in 2012, but a major problem was that all Windows apps were designed for x86 and ran very poorly on the device. This time, the company is confident it can follow Apple in the transition to ARM. Many apps, including all of Microsofts own but also many browsers and creative suites, now have native ARM versions. That means a user spending most of their time in Office, Photoshop and Google Chrome for example will be able to make the most of the new hardware. For apps with no native ARM version, Microsoft uses a new emulation layer called Prism to make them work on the Snapdragon-powered Surfaces. It claims the results are just as efficient as Apples Rosetta 2, which is used to get apps designed for Intel Macs working on devices with M-series chips. To save face and to save expense, there has been a hiding of much of the truth, it said. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to pay further compensation to the victims families. Credit: AP More than 26,000 people were infected with hepatitis C through blood transfusions from 1970 to 1991, the report found. Among those who received tainted blood products, about 1250 people were infected with HIV, including about 380 children; an additional 5000 developed a chronic form of hepatitis C. This disaster was no accident, Brian Langstaff, a former High Court judge who led the inquiry, said at a news conference in London crowded with contamination victims and their families. They cheered and clapped as he laid bare what he said was a string of egregious failings by British health and government officials who did not put patient safety first. People put their trust in doctors and the government to keep them safe, and that trust was betrayed, Langstaff said. The NHS and successive governments compounded the agony by refusing to accept that wrong had been done. Victims of the blood contamination and their families expressed relief over the reports findings but also anger that it had taken so long. Some victims died before the inquiry ended or had even started as did some of the officials who might have been held accountable. Andy Evans, a longtime campaigner who was 13 when he discovered that a blood transfusion for his haemophilia had given him HIV, said he felt validated and vindicated. Weve been gaslit for generations, Evans said. This report puts an end to that. Some of the failings identified in the report occurred before Sunak was even born, but Langstaff said that governments until recently displayed institutional defensiveness by playing down or denying past wrongdoings, even as infected patients continued to die. In some cases, Langstaff said, documents were deliberately and wrongly destroyed in an attempt to make the truth more difficult to reveal. The inquiry did not have the authority to recommend criminal prosecutions, and it was not immediately clear whether the report would lead to any. If theres clear evidence and there is a pathway to that, then its obviously something the government will have to address, John Glen, a British government official who has been in charge of matters related to the infected blood inquiry, told LBC radio Monday. The scandal has its roots in the 1970s and 1980s, when thousands of patients were exposed to the contaminated blood. Some required transfusions after accidents, surgery or complications during childbirth. Many others were patients with haemophilia, a genetic condition that prevents blood from clotting properly. At the time, many of them were provided with a treatment derived from blood plasma called Factor VIII that provided the missing protein that haemophiliacs need for their blood to clot. The treatment was made using pools of plasma from thousands of donors, meaning that even a few tainted donations could contaminate an entire pool. (Later, synthetic clotting factor proteins were developed.) The NHS imported some of the Factor VIII from the United States, where many donations were from prisoners or drug users who had been paid to donate blood elevating the risk of contamination with HIV or hepatitis C. For years, British government and health authorities insisted that the infections were inadvertent, that patients received the best available care and that screening for hepatitis C could not have been introduced any earlier. But Langstaff said British authorities ignored early warning signs some stretching back to the 1940s that blood transfusions could transmit diseases such as hepatitis. They also failed to adequately screen high-risk donors, failed to inform patients of the risks and were slow to adopt new tests that were being used by other countries, he said. The World Health Organisation as early as 1952 had identified how to reduce the risk of transmitting hepatitis through blood transfusion and blood products, for instance by carefully selecting donors and avoiding large donor pools, he said. But British authorities followed little to none of that advice, he added. The report found that British authorities failed to secure a sufficient domestic supply of Factor VIII concentrates from the plasma of United Kingdom donors and, in 1973, authorised the import of blood products from the United States and from Austria even though those treatments were understood to be less safe than current domestic treatments for bleeding disorders. In some cases, victims were even used in medical trials without their consent. In others, diagnoses were delayed or withheld, leading patients to unknowingly infect their partners. The inquiry panel composed of legal professionals, investigators and civil servants heard from people who were infected and their relatives and loved ones, medical and ethics experts, government officials, and politicians. Previous inquiries and compensation offers had been deemed insufficient by victims and their families. In 2009, an independent report concluded that the tragedy could have been prevented if imports of blood from the United States had been halted but stopped short of blaming individual doctors or companies, and no one from the Department of Health was called to testify. In 2015, an inquiry in Scotland prompted an apology from David Cameron, prime minister at the time, but the investigation was deemed unsatisfactory by victims and their families because it was unable to call witnesses outside of Scotland. Other nations, including the US and Japan, have faced similar scandals. London: A man charged with helping Hong Kong authorities gather intelligence in the United Kingdom has died in unexplained circumstances, British police said on Tuesday. Matthew Trickett, 37, was one of three men charged earlier this month with agreeing to engage in information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception that were likely to materially assist the Hong Kong intelligence service from late 2023 to May 2. Prosecutors also alleged that the men forced entry into a UK residential address on May 1. Matthew Trickett. The men had all been bailed and were due to appear at Londons Central Criminal Court for a hearing on Friday. They havent yet entered pleas. AAA: Nearly 44 Million Travelers Leaving Town for Unofficial Start of Summer How To Prepare Your Car For A Smooth Road Trip With the unofficial start of summer in Memorial Day weekend just a week away, AAA said theyre expecting the number of people traveling to hit highs not seen since the beginning of the century. AAA is projecting approximately 43.8 million to travel at least 50 miles from their home this coming Memorial Day weekend, the second most since 2005 when a record 44 million people traveled for the holiday. Long holiday weekends like Memorial Day are the perfect way to kick off the summer travel season, and Americans will be traveling in record-breaking numbers this year, said Bevi Powell, senior vice president of AAA East Central. Whether its a family road trip, a luxury cruise, or a train trip across New England, travelers are making choices that will ensure they have the trip of a lifetime. By far, the leading way people are expected to travel is road trips. AAA is projecting a record-setting 38.4 million people to hit the road for the weekend, the most since they started tracking holiday travel in 2000 and a 4% increase from last year. In the Mid-Atlantic region which includes New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania AAA is projecting 4.6 million people to drive with planes and all other methods adding up to just over 500,000 estimated travelers. As far as gas costs, AAA said drivers can expect similar prices to last year despite the rise in prices lately, although they also said ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine could drive prices up. Drivers leaving Thursday or Friday are also being advised to hit the road early as travel times are expected to increase by 90% between getting mixed in with local commuters and the increase of other road travelers. Travel times are expected to be up to 90% longer than normal. Travelers should stay up to date on traffic apps, 511 services and local news stations to avoid sitting in traffic longer than necessary, said Bob Pishue, transportation analyst at INRIX. Before going on a long road trip, AAA said travelers should get their cars checked for any repairs needed along with other standard maintenance, plan their routes ahead with stops included and have everything ready to go the night before leaving among other travel tips. Travelers can also call 511 for up-to-date travel information or by checking out the 511 website of any state theyre in for a live map of the area and any hazards. Automaker shares plan for 200,000 square foot multi-purpose expansion project and future job opportunities in Coppell, Texas CAMDEN, N.J., May 20, 2024 -- Subaru of America, Inc. today shared plans to expand its operations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and grow its workforce by relocating its Central Region office and establishing a new customer support center in Coppell, Texas. The automaker's new Dallas Business Center will be co-located with its existing distribution and training facility as part of a 200,000-square-foot expansion project with Prologis, the leader in logistics real estate. Subaru anticipates this expansion to be completed in late 2024 and ready for occupancy by early 2025. The Dallas Business Center (DBC) will serve as a second location for the Subaru Customer Advocacy Department (CAD), allowing Subaru to dedicate more resources towards offering exemplary customer service to owners and retailers, which is critical to its business operations. The new CAD office will help support Subaru customers, tap into the metropolitan area's professional talent pool, and allow for greater collaboration across several business areas. Around 30,000 square feet of the project's office space will be dedicated to the automaker's Central Region sales and marketing operations, currently located in Itasca, Illinois, along with the Dallas-Fort Worth Zone office. With an estimated 100 employees, the new DBC will be one of the largest SOA team locations after its headquarters in Camden, New Jersey. Jeff Walters, President and Chief Operating Officer at Subaru of America, Inc.: "We are excited to expand our footprint and capabilities in the southern U.S., further supporting our customers and retailer network. Dallas is a vibrant area with diverse talent that will add fresh perspectives and further enhance our company culture." Upon completion, Subaru's multi-purpose expansion project will be LEED certified, offer EV charging for passenger vehicles, and be equipped with high-efficiency HVAC. The building will total 500,600 square feet, including a 170,000 square-foot expansion of its existing Regional Distribution Center, which stores and handles automotive parts and accessories. The automaker's existing Quality & Service Area Training Center, used to train Subaru retailers' technicians and Subaru field service personnel, will gain an additional classroom as part of the expansion to better support Subaru University (Subaru-U), and its local secondary and post-secondary automotive vocational initiatives. Representatives from Subaru of America will attend the Dallas Career Fair on Thursday, May 23 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Doubletree Hotel on Market Center Boulevard. Those interested in future career opportunities (see list below) can attend to learn more about Subaru's new and expanding operations. The company will ramp up recruiting efforts in the latter half of 2024. For updates on employment opportunities as they become available, register with the Subaru of America Careers Talent Community or visit Subaru.com/careers. Future Career Opportunities with Subaru of America: Office and Administrative Management Logistics Coordinators Market Sales & Development Leaders Operations and Distribution Associates Customer Service Professionals Automotive Service & Parts Specialists Automotive Tech Specialists Interns Subaru of America, Inc. is the U.S. sales and marketing subsidiary of Subaru Corporation of Japan and has been in the United States since 1968. The United States is Subaru's largest market worldwide. Last year, Subaru sold 632,086 vehicles in the U.S. through a network of more than 630 retailers. About Subaru of America, Inc. Subaru of America, Inc. (SOA) is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Subaru Corporation of Japan. Headquartered at a zero-landfill office in Camden, N.J., the company markets and distributes Subaru vehicles, parts, and accessories through a network of more than 630 retailers across the United States. All Subaru products are manufactured in zero-landfill plants and Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. is the only U.S. automobile manufacturing plant to be designated a backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. SOA is guided by the Subaru Love Promise, which is the company's vision to show love and respect to everyone, and to support its communities and customers nationwide. Over the past 20 years, SOA and the SOA Foundation have donated more than $300 million to causes the Subaru family cares about, and its employees have logged nearly 88,000 volunteer hours. As a company, Subaru believes it is important to do its part in making a positive impact in the world because it is the right thing to do. For additional information visit media.subaru.com. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Read the full story on The Auto Wire These Car Brands Will Snitch On You To Police Privacy is a hot topic these days, thanks in no small part to modern technology connecting us like never before. While you might be worried about TikTok or other apps on your phone tracking where you go and what you like to do, theres another privacy risk involving your car and the police. GM says its shutting down a controversial data collection tool. Two US Senators claim eight automakers Toyota, Nissan, Subaru, Volkswagen, BMW, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, and Kia have kept consumers in the dark about their willingness to provide cars locations to police without being served a warrant, reports Automotive News. ADVERTISEMENT Those Senators, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Edward Markey of Massachusetts, say the automakers didnt violate privacy laws, even though consumers might feel differently. Instead, they argue the companies are engaging in deceptive conduct, a practice forbidden by the FTC. All eight of the above listed automakers declared back in 2014 as part of the Consumer Privacy Protection Principles that they wouldnt hand over vehicle information, including location, to authorities without a warrant or court order. That no longer seems to be their disposition, meaning if local, state, or federal law enforcement were to contact them with a request, they apparently would just hand over whatever. After a damning report run by The New York Times on General Motors sharing drivers data with LexisNexis, which in turn sold the info to insurance companies, people have become more aware of their data privacy risks. Hearing that so many mainstream automakers will willingly hand over whatever police want without a court order is understandably concerning. But a spokesman for the Alliance for Automotive Innovation says sharing drivers location information is done under specific and limited circumstances, such as when the automaker is provided a warrant or court order or in situations where there is an imminent threat of serious bodily harm or death to an individual. Story continues Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Kia, Subaru, and Nissan all contacted Automotive News to clarify their stances. All of them seem to take issue with the simple statement that they will simply hand over drivers data without a warrant. But the big question is whether or not vehicle owners feel they can trust the car companies. In this day and age, it seems trust runs a little thin. Image via Toyota Join our Newsletter, subscribe to our YouTube page, and follow us on Facebook. Is Toyota's New Twin-Turbo V6 Really Less Reliable Than Its Old V8s? photo You don't have to be a car person to know that Toyota prizes quality, durability, and reliability in its vehicles. That said, if you are a car person, you'll know those three attributes are the first items people question when Toyota does something new. Such has been the case over the past two years with the V35A-FTS engine , the twin-turbo V6 that replaced nearly every V8 in the typically traditional automaker's lineup. It's still too early to say, but a swath of issues have called the QDR principles into question with no clear answers up to now. This is a topic I've wanted to investigate for a year at this point, but Tinkerer's Adventure on YouTube beat me to it. They did some serious legwork to reveal what's different about the V35A-FTS, talking with Lexus GX Chief Engineer Koji Tsukasaki as well as a 20-year Lexus tech while also poring over an extensive SAE report on the engine. Like I said, these power plants aren't old enough and haven't been driven long enough in the real world to reach clear conclusions, but this is the most insight we've had yet. Andrew P. Collins Toyotas are known to last forever because their components are usually overbuilt and under-stressed. On the surface, a 3.4-liter V6 that makes 479 lb-ft of torque seems like the antithesis of that. Turbos make a huge difference, of course, but that's still a lot going on inside a far smaller packagethere's more pressure, more fuel, more everything. When you compare it to the old 4.6-liter naturally aspirated V8 inside the Lexus GX460, displacement per cylinder is nearly identical, but there are other, more drastic differences in the engine's makeup. ADVERTISEMENT Notably, the V35A-FTS is under-square, with a 100-millimeter stroke that's bigger than its 86mm bore. This is widely believed to support better low-end torque than over-square engines like the 1UR-FE V8, which had an 83mm stroke and a 94mm bore. Tsukasaki says this is one factor since the V6 makes 479 lb-ft of torque compared to the V8's 329 lb-ft, a 46% advantage. Story continues Tinkerer's Adventure via YouTube There's an inherent concern that engines with high specific power output, or hp per liter, will suffer from poor thermal efficiency. And wouldn't you know it, poor reliability is oftentimes a direct result. Toyota claims to have beaten that, though, with a high-speed combustion process that utilizes optimized intake port angles to promote better tumble flow. That means a better air-fuel mixture and minimized energy losses. Essentially, Toyota promises that you can have your cake and eat it too with the V6 when it comes to specific power output and high thermal efficiency. https://www.reddit.com/r/Justrolledintotheshop/comments/16jgqck/my_2022_tundra/ None of this explains why some of the engines are suffering main bearing failures. Tinkerer's Adventure spoke with Chris Gonzales , a longtime Lexus technician who owns a 200-Series Toyota Land Cruiser with the old 5.7-liter V8. He explained that in his 20 years of working on Lexus cars and trucks, only three have had main bearing issuesall of them have been LX600s with the V35A-FTS. The issue has also reared its head on Toyota Tundra pickups, as Reddit user u/myoung34 experienced and others in the comments referenced. The SAE documents obtained by Tinkerer's Adventure show that the V35A-FTS features metal overlay bearing liners. In theory, this would be stronger than the previous V8's resin liners, and Toyota itself says the purpose of switching to metal is "to support high load and high-speed driving." And while the V8 had six-bolt main bearing caps, the V6 combines its four-bolt caps into what Toyota calls a ladder frame. This is done with the intent of increasing rigidity and durability. https://www.reddit.com/r/ToyotaTundra/comments/1aqrdj4/2022_tundra_with_15000_miles_burns_up_front_crank/ No common cause of bearing has been identified yet. No matter what's creating the problem, the job is an especially big headache for techs like Gonzales. In every case I've seen, Toyota instructs its dealers to replace the short block while reinstalling the parts from the factory package that aren't affected by the failures. Downtime is certainly a factor for owners to consider, and just looking at the engines in pieces is enough to induce some anxiety. There aren't enough examples to declare this a widespread problem. What's more, there's pertinent information we just don't have like owner driving habits that could contribute to these failures. But it's something that people are keeping their eyes on, whether they be technicians, owners, or shoppers. I'll keep an eye out for any advancements on this story, and if you have any insight to share, shoot me an email. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XdaccfMxn4 Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: caleb@thedrive.com Getty Dealerships have to adapt to electric vehicles just as much, if not more so, than customers. Not only do salespeople need to learn how to educate customers on EVs, but techs need to learn to repair them, and the dealers need to be able to charge them. Many dealers go through expensive overhauls to get themselves ready for upcoming EV models. However, as Ford dealerships are currently undergoing such changes, the Blue Oval is telling them to hold on just a minute. Ford is planning to meet with its dealer council in early June to update its requirements for EV retail, following feedback from previous meetings. "We don't want them to make any decisions between now and the middle of June when you can maybe have a more informed decision-making process based off what we work out with council in the next few weeks," Andrew Frick, president of Ford Blue, the automaker's EV division, told Automotive News . "There's a lot that we'll be reviewing." Getty Late last year, dealerships expressed their lack of trust in the brand's build quality and pricing, as well as the plateauing market for EVs at large. During the previous 11 meetings, all of which Ford CEO Jim Farley attended, breakout tables were set up for the dealers to rotate through, expressing their concerns with the brand openly. Everything from floorplan assistance to electric car standards, to Ford Credit changes were discussed, as Ford tries to regain its dealers' trust through open communication. ADVERTISEMENT "What was great is that we had candid conversations around every aspect of the business," said Frick. "Nothing was off limits." He also said 93 percent of dealers left the meetings with more trust in the brand than before. Dealers have been asked to invest tons of money into meeting the requirements for EV sales, with some paying up to $1.2 million. That's difficult to do without any indication that such an investment will bear fruit, and EV stock's piled up at times . After the upcoming meeting, perhaps dealers will walk away feeling better about making that call. Got tips? Send 'em to tips@thedrive.com Read the full story on The Auto Wire Oakland Is Eliminating Street Lights Thanks To Theft Its no secret crime in California has gone out of control in many areas. One of the worst is Oakland where the city has been struggling with abandoned, stripped, stolen cars dumped on city streets, among other pervasive criminal activity. But the latest sign of this trend is the elimination of some traffic lights. Watch ATM thieves in Oakland use a backhoe to pull off the heist. According to a report from KPIX, residents near one street intersection which now has stop signs instead of traffic lights blames the whole thing on a nearby homeless encampment. They claim the citys refusal to do something about the criminal activity centered in that encampment has led to rampant theft. ADVERTISEMENT Whats happening to street lights in Oakland, and weve seen in other cities like Las Vegas, is thieves ripping out copper wires. Its happened so much that it appears Oakland officials have decided to just replace the traffic lights with stop signs. One resident on camera told KPIX that Oakland leaders are giving up on us. The guy looked depressed as he said that. We cant imagine what kinds of emotions he and other people in the area are going through, realizing the city will just cede ground to criminals instead of standing up to them. But one man who spoke with KPIX expressed his praise for city leadership, saying he believes the stop signs are better than the lights. After all, the lights didnt work properly for months, if it all, thanks to the constant copper thieves. Weve seen similarly mixed opinions about other crimes in Oakland, including street takeovers and car thefts, even armed carjackings. While some think these problems are just a part of life, others believe stricter enforcement of laws would restore order. Ultimately, we think people are getting exactly what they voted for, and in a way thats sad as well as just. Image via KPIX CBS News Bay Area/YouTube Follow The Auto Wire on Google News. Join our Newsletter, subscribe to our YouTube page, and follow us on Facebook. SoGood Sake arrives in UK from California Californian brand SoGood Sake has launched its debut expression, a Junmai Daiginjo, in the UK. Founded in 2019, SoGood is made with rice grown in Sacramento, California and spring water from the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It is then made at the SakeOne brewery in Oregon. The producers say the ingredient combination and Californian climate give SoGood flavours of citrus, melon, honey, and apple. Ken LaGrande, co-founder of SoGood Sake, commented: Inspired by four generations of rice farming in California, SoGood Sake marks a new standard for sake and were extremely excited to launch this premium liquid in the UK. We hope that our modern take on this iconic drink will inspire consumers to break from tradition and enjoy sake as part of a cocktail or with their favourite foods. But however people choose to enjoy it, we follow one rule: dont pour your own. SoGood Sake (15.5% ABV, RRP 35.50 for 750ml) is available at various on-trade locations in London, online via SoGood Sake, and via select retailers. 21 May 2024 - Lucy Schofield Share this story 19 killed as van plunges into trench Our Correspondent KAWARDHA, IN a ghastly accident near Bahpani village under the Kukdoor police station limits, a pick-up van overturned and plunged into a trench, resulting in the deaths of nineteen villagers including 18 women and a man and injuries to eight others. Thirteen villagers died on the spot, while six others succumbed to their injuries in the hospital. Four critically injured villagers have been referred to a higher center for advanced medical care. On learning about the tragic incident Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai have expressed their condolences and pledged support for the affected families. According to reports, the villagers from Semhara village were engaged in collecting Tendupatta leaves. On Monday, while returning from the forest in a pick-up van after collecting the leaves, their vehicle overturned near Bahpani village and plunged into a deep trench. The broad- daylight incident resulted in the deaths of 19 villagers and left nearly a dozen others injured. On learning about the accident nearby villagers rushed to the scene, and a police team also arrived shortly thereafter and started rescue operations. The injured were promptly taken to the hospital for treatment. The mishap occurred on the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana road, which connects Neur and Rukmidadar via Kui. The site of the incident is a remote, forested, and hilly area that lacks mobile connectivity. Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallav informed that the pick-up truck fell into a trench near Bahpani village under the jurisdiction of the Kukdur police station. Approximately 25 people were in the vehicle, returning from plucking tendu leaves when the unfortunate accident occurred. On receiving information about the incident, the police immediately set out for the location. Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma expressed profound grief over the tragic accident in Kawardha which took the life of 19 people. After receiving news of the incident, the Deputy Chief Minister immediately left for Kawardha. He took to social media platform X to express his sorrow, stating, The incident is extremely painful. My condolences are with all the families who have lost their loved ones in this accident. He also wished a speedy recovery to all the injured and assured that the local administration, under the supervision of the State Government, is committed to providing all possible assistance to the victims and their families. Deputy Chief Minister Arun Sao stated that he had received information about the tragic accident in Kawardha district. He mentioned that everyone involved was returning home from the forest after plucking tendu leaves and expressed his condolences and prayers for the peace of the departed souls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, Speaker Dr Raman Singh, Member of Parliament Santosh Pandey, Durg Member of Parliament Vijay Baghel, Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee President Deepak Baij, former chief minister Bhupesh Bahel and MLA Bhawna Bohra expressed their grief over the incident. Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai wrote on X that 19 villagers had died and four others were injured after a pick-up truck overturned near Bahpani village in the Kukdur police station area of Kabirdham district. He assured that necessary instructions had been given to the district administration to ensure the injured receive the best possible treatment. The Chief Minister also prayed for the peace of the departed souls, extended his deepest condolences to the bereaved families, and wished a speedy recovery for the injured. Following the tragic incident, Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma promptly arrived at Pandaria Government Hospital in Kabirdham district to oversee the situation, including the medical treatment being extended to injured persons. He also interacted with relatives of the deceased as well as injured and assured for providing best possible assistance. Agniveers Not just soldiers but leaders, innovators, defenders of nations sovereignty: CDS BENGALURU, CHIEF of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan on Monday visited the Maratha Light Infantry Regimental Centre in Belagavi to address the Agniveers, as they embark on their military journey, an official said. In his address, he underscored the noble purpose of military service and its pivotal role within the military framework. He said the Agniveers are not only soldiers but also leaders, innovators and defenders of the nations sovereignty. In a statement, the Defence PRO said, Addressing the evolving nature of warfare, he underscored the complexity and unpredictability of future conflicts to include cyber warfare, Artificial Intelligence and asymmetric threats which are now an integral part of the battlefield. The CDS also spoke about technology integration and continuous learning and mentioned that in addition to staying abreast with the latest advancements, there is also a need to showcase innovative approach towards combat. He expressed his gratitude for the commitment made by Agniveers by choosing the Armed Forces as a profession which is a testament to their exceptional duty towards the nation. The CDS acknowledged the personal challenges faced by the soldiers and their families and the hardships they endure while operating in challenging environments. He assured that despite the challenges, the Agniveers will find their journey immensely rewarding and each step, will lead to their personal growth and deep sense of pride in serving the nation. The CDS lauded the Regimental Centre and the team of instructors for creating a conducive environment for training and ensuring that best of the training is being imparted to the Agniveers. He also emphasised the critical role of professional instructors in shaping the future of the Armed Forces. Chauhan also emphasised that the quality of training directly impacts the operational readiness and urged to be honest towards it. The CDS encouraged Agniveers to continue striving for excellence, to uphold the values of integrity and honour, and to serve as role models for their peers. AI Training Must By ANJAN ROY THERE are reports in the financial press that the International institutional investors are moving their funds out of the Indian technology scrip. The reason: there is the calculation that the Indian ITeS sector is not getting tuned to the new artificial intelligence tools and therefore likely to fall behind the market. The technology sector indeed is fast changing in the post generative artificial intelligence regime. The ChatGPT4 and its subsequent avatar ChatGPT4o are capable of revolutionising the entire technology sector. Some feel that the basic functions of a call centre the backbone of Indian business process outsourcing business can easily be performed by the generative artificial intelligence products. Thats huge stake for the Indian ITES sector. The industry provides employment to roughly fifty lakh young people in India, if not more. Besides, there are those who are working abroad on various assignments. Any further substitution of humans by machines in these areas could have disastrous impact on employment. Additionally, ITES exports are the principal backbone of Indias services sector. Entire services growth model of India will be threatened by the emergence of the more sophisticated generative artificial intelligence products. The five leading technology firms of America are actively investing on development of these artificial intelligence capabilities. It is not that the leading Indian technology companies are unaware of the threats to their existence. They are currently behind the curve. But if they are aware of the future challenges and take appropriate anticipatory steps, the situation in future may turn to their advantage. But begin they must and immediately. India should develop a broad two-pronged strategy to meet the new situation. First, of course, would be for a huge thrust and crash programme for developing Indian artificial intelligence capabilities. The stepped up generative AI products might just as well be from Indian firms. All we need to do is to attempt such a transformation in earnest. An old English song in the heydays of empire and colonialism was a jingoistic lyric: We dont want to fight/ But if we have to/ We have the ships/ we have the men/ And we have the money too. The current situation is nothing short of an war-time emergency. The developed countries, and China, are showing tearing hurry to augment their AI capabilities. So far, the major technology companies are really at the forefront and showed it. After all, the best and newest products are being released by their companies, like OpenAI. China is also a dominant player, as it did realise the importance of AI for the future and invested heavily in the sector. They have developed capability mainly on the back of their money power and availability of data, which is the fuel for development of these products. But apart from America and China, if anyone is placed to emerge as a major player in the sector, it is India. Three factors are favourable to us: we have the men capable of developing the artificial intelligence sector; admittedly we do not have as much money flowing into AI/ML development effort, though we have such big IT companies; but, the next hopeful sign is that we have the entrepreneurship in the form of ability to launch lean and sharp technology start-ups. India has close to half a million people who have AI and machine learning skills, after Americas count of around 800,000. The next biggest manpower pool is in China of 400,000. What is a more hopeful sign, based on a count of Linked In profiles adding AI/ML skills, India has the largest additions. That is, more people are learning and announcing they are AI/ML literate than anywhere else. In terms of investment, India is the seventh largest private investor in AL/ML. United States is, of course, way above the pack both in 2023 as well as cumulatively between 2013 and 2023. China comes a distant second, and United Kingdom, which is laggard otherwise in overall economic performance, is the third largest private investor in artificial intelligence sector. If you are not investing enough in the sector, you will have fewer new companies entering. India is the seventh largest in terms of newly established private AI companies. America has over 5,500 such new AI ventures. Against that, we have just 338. China is far ahead with 1,446 such new companies. Actions which are needed are clear from the data. We have to perk up our efforts in developing the AI/ML sector with alacrity. Private investment has to flow, for that the centre might evolve some special schemes and make available cheap venture capital, as China is doing. India has a bright future in AI/ML nonetheless, going by the prognostications of the one the leading player in the segment. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, owner of Google, observed in the companys annual conference, that India is the number one country in terms of its AI tools user base. This is what he said: for a lot of Googles Artificial Intelligence products India is the number one user base. He said he was committed to bringing the same AI tools that Google is offering in developed markets. Seeing a lot of development activity on Googles existing products base. India will be well positioned as the AI shift happens. China must stop military intimidation: Taiwans Lai TAIPEI, TAIWANS new President, Lai Ching-te, said in his inauguration speech on Monday that he wants peace with China and urged it to stop its military threats and intimidation of the self-governed island that Beijing claims as its own territory. I hope that China will face the reality of Taiwans existence, respect the choices of the people of Taiwan, and in good faith, choose dialogue over confrontation, Lai said after being sworn into office. Lai pledged to neither yield nor provoke Beijing and said he sought peace in relations with China. But he emphasised the island democracy is determined to defend itself in the face of the many threats and attempts at infiltration from China. Lais party doesnt seek independence from China but maintains that Taiwan is already a sovereign nation. Lai, 64, takes over from Tsai Ing-wen, who led Taiwan through eight years of economic and social development despite the COVID-19 pandemic and Chinas escalating military threats. DONNELLY, IdahoA small town public library in Idaho announced last week that it would no longer allow in minors under the age of 18 due to a controversial new law that allows parents or guardians to file lawsuits against public library districts for carrying content they would view as age-inappropriate. The Donnelly Public Library, a small library based in a literal log cabin in the village of Donnelly, Idaho, made the annoucement in a Facebook post after lawmakers adopted House Bill (HB) 710. "Donnelly Public Library was deeply saddened by the passing of HB 710," the public library posted to its official Facebook page on May 14. "Unfortunately, the ambiguous language in the legislation leaves us no options but to make some very drastic changes. ... Our size prohibits us from separating our grown-up books to be out of the accessible range of children. "In order to comply with the legislation, we will be transitioning our Library to be an adult-only library as of July 1," the post contined. "This change is painful and not what we had hoped for at all. We desire to comply with state and federal legislation, but because of size, we have to protect our staff, our library, and our taxpayer money." HB 710 creates a cause of action for parents or guardians to bring a lawsuit for actual damages and statutory damages of up to $250 for a school or public library carrying material that is considered "obscene." Language in the bill considers obscene material to be virtually anything that is sexual and has been criticized by opponents as being overly broad. The bill also provides a cause of action for any county prosecuting attorneys or the Idaho Attorney General to bring a lawsuit against any school or public library that supposedly violates the law. The library said it would continue to offer after-school programs and summer learning targeting local youth. This is the main source of income for the library. "After-school programming has become an essential part of the Library. It is our primary source of funding through both grants as well as tuition monies paid by participants," the library said. "It is imperative we continue to grow our programming offerings. Over half of our payroll is covered through programming and much of our current collection is also covered through programming costs." ED seeks custody for Kejriwal after he surrenders NEW DELHI, THE Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday sought extension of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals judicial custody after he surrenders on June 2 in an excise policy-linked money-laundering case. The ED moved the application before Special Judge for ED and CBI Kaveri Baweja, seeking 14-day judicial custody for Kejriwal when he surrenders on June 2, claiming that the period of judicial custody granted earlier ends on Monday. Kejriwal is out on interim bail till June 1 following an order of the Supreme Court, which has directed him to surrender on June 2. The ED, meanwhile, told the court that there is sufficient evidence against Kejriwal and co-accused, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha, to put them on trial in the case. The central probe agency made the submission in support of its supplementary charge sheets filed against both the politicians. The judge will continue hearing the EDs arguments on the point of taking cognisance of the charge sheets on Tuesday. The judge, meanwhile, also extended till June 2 Kavithas judicial custody in the money-laundering and corruption cases, lodged by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) respectively, in connection with the scam. The excise case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi governments now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22. European destinations gaining popularity among citizens By Vaishnavi Pillay Travel has long been considered a transformative experience, a way to gain exposure to different cultures and landscapes. Be it domestic tours or international ones, a distinct shift has been observed in travel preferences among families, youth, and senior citizens in recent years. People are now taking time out of their busy lives to travel, and are increasingly seeking experiential tours and services that cater to their interests. Social media is also playing a huge role in influencing travel decisions, discovering new destinations, informing about a places food and culture, and about activities to add to their itinerary. Nagpurs tours and travel company owners and representatives spoke to The Hitavada and shared a common statement that Europe is leading in international trips followed by South Africa, and Baku in Azerbaijan has witnessed a sudden attraction in recent months. Summer brings a surge in domestic travel to Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jammu and Kashmir. Prachi Shah, owner of a tours and travel company, says that destinations like Vietnam, Singapore, Dubai, and Malaysia are also witnessing a rise in bookings, and people are even asking for cruise vacations around Mumbai and Goa. The importance of tourism has risen particularly after the pandemic. Earlier, sightseeing was the main focus but now travellers are opting for locations to relax and enjoy the amenities of the property they are staying in, shared Shah. Staff Reporter The results of Higher Secondary Certificate Examination (HSC) will be declared on Tuesday at 1 pm. The result will be announced online. Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education had conducted examination in all its nine boards all over the State during March-April 2023. It will be announced online on the abovementioned websites. Students can get their result and statistical information on www.mahresult.nic.in . Junior colleges can take out result from www.mahahsscboard.in . After the declaration of results if students want to apply for retotalling or revaluation, those who want photocopies of answersheets, or those who want migration certificates can get it from http://verification.mh-hsc.ac.in. Students can submit their applications on this website on their own or through their institutions. The conditions and rules for applying are given on the website. Students should apply between May 22 and June 5, 2024 for retotaling, they should submit application to get photocopies of answersheets online. Students dont have to go physically anywhere. They can pay fees for the facilities online through debit card/credit card/UPI/Net Banking. Students if want to get revaluation done, they have to first procure photocopies of answersheet of that subject. They will apply for revaluation after five days of receipt of photocopies of answersheet. They will have to submit application to their divisional board online. Indian Coast Guard rescues 26 persons from tourist boat stranded off Goa coast PANAJI, THE Indian Coast Guard has rescued 24 passengers and two crew members from a tourist ferry boat which was caught in rough weather and faced fuel exhaustion near the Mormugao Harbour in Goa, an official said on Monday. The boat, Nerul Paradise, was caught in the rough weather with waves over three metres and was stranded due to fuel exhaustion off the Goa coast on Sunday, a spokesperson of the Coast Guard said in a statement. The marooned boat had sailed out from Panjim with tourists in the morning hours, he said. It was stranded about two kilometres away from the Mormugao Harbour, in the waters at some distance from the Cabo Palace (Raj Bhawan), an official from the Mormugao police station said. Personnel of the Coast Guard ship C-148, which was returning from patrol, felt the signs of distress amongst passengers and responded swiftly, the ICG spokesperson said. The ICG vessel, braving the rough seas, reached the distressed vessel. A team was sent to the boat and personnel on board the boat were calmed down, he said. The Coast Guard team stabilised the situation and brought the boat safely to the harbour, averting a potential disaster, the spokesperson said. On arrival, all the passengers and crew members were provided with medical aid, he added. Iran President, Foreign Minister, Governor, others killed in chopper crash By Jon Gambrell DUBAI : IRANIAN President Ebrahim Raisi, the countrys Foreign Minister and several other officials were found dead on Monday, hours after their helicopter crashed in a foggy, mountainous region of the countrys northwest, State media reported. The crash comes as the Middle East remains unsettled by the Israel-Hamas war, during which Raisi, who was 63, under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel just last month. During Raisis term in office, Iran enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels, further escalating tensions with the West as Tehran also supplied bomb-carrying drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine and armed militia groups across the region. Meanwhile, Iran has faced years of mass protests against its Shiite theocracy over its ailing economy and womens rights making the moment that much more sensitive for Tehran and the future of the country. Khamenei hours later announced Irans first Vice President, Mohammad Mokhber, would serve as the countrys acting President until elections are held. State TV gave no immediate cause for the crash that occurred in Irans East Azerbaijan province. Among the dead was Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, 60. The helicopter also carried the Governor of Irans East Azerbaijan province, other officials and bodyguards, the State-run IRNA news agency reported. Early Monday morning, Turkish authorities released what they described as drone footage showing what appeared to be a fire in the wilderness that they suspected to be wreckage of helicopter. The coordinates listed in the footage put the fire some 20 kilometres south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border on the side of a steep mountain. Footage released by the IRNA early Monday showed what the agency described as the crash site, across a steep valley in a green mountain range. Soldiers speaking in the local Azeri language said: There it is, we found it. Condolences started pouring in from neighbours and allies after Iran confirmed there were no survivors from the crash. Pakistan announced a day of mourning and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X that his country stands with Iran in this time of sorrow. Leaders of Egypt and Jordan also offered condolences, as did Syrian President Bashar Assad. Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev said he and his Government were deeply shocked Raisi was returning on Sunday after travelling to Irans border with Azerbaijan to inaugurate a dam with Aliyev when the crash happened. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan conveyed his condolences. Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a statement released by the Kremlin, described Raisi as a true friend of Russia. Khamenei, who had himself urged the public to pray on Sunday night, stressed the business of Irans Government would continue no matter what. Under the Iranian constitution, Irans vice first President takes over if the President dies, with Khameneis assent, and a new Presidential election would be called within 50 days. Khameneis condolence message on Monday over Raisis death, declared five days of public mourning and acknowledged Mokhber had taken the role of acting President. Mokhber had already begun receiving calls from officials and foreign Governments in Raisis absence, media reported. India stands with Iran in this time of sorrow: PM Modi on Iranian Presidents demise: PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Monday expressed shock and sadness at the demise of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, and said his contribution in strengthening India-Iran bilateral relationship will always be remembered. Iranian President Raisi, the countrys Foreign Minister and others have been found dead at the site of a helicopter crash Monday after an hours long search through a foggy, mountainous region of the countrys northwest, State media reported. Raisi was 63. Deeply saddened and shocked by the tragic demise of Dr. Seyed Ebrahim Raisi, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Modi said on X. His contribution to strengthening India-Iran bilateral relationship will always be remembered. My heartfelt condolences to his family and the people of Iran. India stands with Iran in this time of sorrow, the Prime Minister said. PM visits Sushil Modis residence in Patna PATNA, PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Monday arrived in Bihars capital Patna, on his second visit to the city within a week, in the thick of the Lok Sabha elections. Modi, who had last weekend held the city in thrall with a spectacular roadshow, was received at the airport by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy CMs Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha. Upon arriving in the city, the PM drove straight to the residence of Sushil Kumar Modi, a senior BJP leader, who died last week battling cancer. A short video footage of the PM paying floral tributes to a portrait of the former Deputy CM and offering condolences to the bereaved family members was shared by the BJPs Bihar unit on social media. Thereafter, Modi went to the partys state headquarters and held deliberations with key functionaries ahead of the last couple of phases of the Lok Sabha polls. Notably, the BJP is contesting altogether 17 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. Of these, eight will go to polls in the sixth and seventh phases of elections. Modi is scheduled to retire at the Raj Bhavan for the night and leave on Tuesday morning for election rallies in Siwan and East Champaran districts. Tight security arrangements, including traffic restrictions, were in place across the city. Prachanda wins 4th vote of confidence in Nepal Parlt KATHMANDU, NEPAL Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda on Monday won a vote of confidence in Parliament, the fourth within 18 months of taking office, amidst sloganeering by the main Opposition Nepali Congress that abstained from the voting. Prachanda, 69, a former guerrilla leader from the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) -- the third largest party in the House of Representatives (HoR) -- received 157 votes in the 275-member House of Representatives. In total, 158 lawmakers took part in the voting. The main Opposition Nepali Congress boycotted the voting process and chanted slogans against Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane, accused of misappropriation of cooperative funds, leading to the delay in the session. One HoR member remained neutral. Speaker Dev Raj Ghimire announced that Prachanda had won the floor test as he got a majority in the Parliament. The vote comes days after one of the coalition partners, Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP), withdrew its support last week for his Government while quitting the coalition Government. The Government required at least 138 votes to win the vote of trust. Earlier, the voting had to be delayed due to obstructions caused by the Nepali Congress, which has been demanding the formation of a Parliamentary probe committee to investigate Lamichhanes alleged involvement in the scam. This was the fourth time that Prachanda sought a vote of confidence in the House in less since he assumed Prime Ministership in December 2022. According to constitutional provisions, a Prime Minister has to take a vote of confidence after an ally withdraws support to the ruling coalition. Earlier on March 13, Prime Minister Dahal won his third consecutive vote of confidence. Prachanda faced a floor test after CPN-UML withdrew its support to the Government following a rift over backing. Property of Ramakrishna Mission vandalised in W Bengal; probe on KOLKATA, MISCREANTS have vandalised premises of the Ramakrishna Mission in West Bengals Jalpaiguri district and threatened monks and other employees at gunpoint to leave the place, an RKM official said Monday. The official said that a local land mafia was behind the early Sunday morning incident. Around 10 armed youths barged into our ashram at 3 am, went to the first floor and threatened the eight people present there - including senior monks at gunpoint to leave the premises, the RKM official told PTI. They then vandalised the premises, breaking CCTV cameras and locking the main gate before leaving, he said. Police later broke the locks and rescued the monks and staff who were stranded in the open after the attackers left. It was a matter of property dispute and our monks have already lodged a complaint at Bhaktinagar police station against a local tough and some of his associates. We have named him in the complaint, the RKM official said. The police have initiated a probe and promised security to them, the official said. We have full faith in the police and administration, he added. Condemning the attack on Ramakrishna Mission ashram in Jalpaiguri, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the TMC regime of letting loose a reign of terror on monks just to appease vote bank politics. It is shameful that the TMC has taken up the onus of hurting the religious faith of Hindus in Bengal. The CM is threatening the Ramakrishna Mission and Bharat Sevashram Ashram monks, Modi said while addressing an election rally at Jhargram in the State. Release of captured TATR tiger in limbo! By Kaushik Bhattacharya The decision to release the recently captured sub-adult tiger from Khadsangi forest range of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) is in limbo as the state level committee that decides the fate of captured tigers in Maharashtra has no plans to conduct any review meeting to decide the future of the big cat. As per Forest Department officials, the State-level committee which is headed by Additional Principal Chief Conservation of forest (Protection) takes the decision about the release of captured tigers in the wild. The committee guides the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) to issue orders to release the big cat in forest or to keep it in captivity. Normally the meeting should take place within 3-8 days of the capture of the tiger. The captured tiger, if it is fit to release in the wild, should be released within 10 days in forest, a senior official from the Forest Department told The Hitavada on condition of anonymity. Earlier, the process was quick and the committee took the decision of release of tigers within few days. However, in recent time it is taking too much time, said the official. According to a source, the last meeting of the committee took place around six months ago and since then no decision to release of any captured tiger in the wild has taken place. Nagpur-based Gorewada Rescue Centre, the only shelter for rescued wild animals in Maharashtra, currently has 30 tigers and 29 leopards. Among these 30 tigers there are some injured and some are old. Such tigers have to live in the rescue centre for their whole life. Whereas there are many tigers who were brought in the rescue centre due to man-animal conflict. Among them some are fit to be released into wild. The committee will decide the fate of these tigers but no meeting took place in last six months, which has increased the burden over the rescue centre, which already has excess tigers in their enclosures. Out of 30 tigers, 24 were sent to the Gorewada in last 5 years and many of them are waiting for their release into wild. Gorewada has 10 tiger enclosures. But, we are accommodating 30 tigers and 29 leopards in other herbivorous enclosures. Even, the rescue centre has already exhausted its carrying capacity and only one more tiger can be kept in the rescue centre, said a source. Restoration of J&K statehood is solemn promise we have made, will stand by it: PM Modi By Vijay Joshi and Kumar Rakesh BHUBANESWAR PRIME Minister Narendra Modi has said his Government has made a solemn promise for restoration of Jammu and Kashmirs statehood and will stand by it, adding the Centre was working very hard to create the right conditions. Noting that the record voter turnout in Srinagar is one of the most gratifying things he has seen in his tenure, Modi said people of Jammu and Kashmir have seen the NDA Governments commitment to democracy enhancement in the region, even at the cost of us sacrificing power for ourselves. The restoration of statehood is a solemn promise we have made and we stand by it. We are working very hard to create the right conditions so that it can be done expeditiously, he told PTI in an exclusive interview here Sunday night. The Modi Government had abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, in August 2019 and the erstwhile State was bifurcated into two Union Territories - Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Through the abrogation of Article 370, we today have witnessed not just the dreams and aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir coming into fruition but also their enthusiasm for participating in one of the biggest festivals in any democracy -elections, Modi said. He said the voting percentage in Srinagar, once a hotbed for all kinds of radical elements, witnessed the highest voter turnout in decades. Srinagar recorded a 36.7 per cent turnout--the highest since 1996--in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections on May 13. The world witnessed the growth and enthusiasm of the people in J&K when they welcomed the delegates from across the world during the G20 events, he added. The progress that Jammu and Kashmir has made in the last five years gives me immense hope that we are on the right path to restore statehood. We want to institutionalise the positive changes that have taken place and make the gains irreversible so that the people of the region have to never ever witness the torrid years that generations had to bear. NEW YORKIn the latest day of trial testimony, Manhattan prosecutors have officially rested their case against former President Donald Trump pertaining to felony charges of falsifying business records in an effort to cover up an affair with adult star Stormy Daniels and other allegations of infidelity against the controversial Republican frontrunner in the 2024 election. Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal attorney and fixer, finished testifying on cross-examination where lawyers representing Trump, particularly Todd Blanche, presented him as a liar, former felon and disgruntled former employee looking for revenge. Cohen lost his composure during the prosecution's case only a little, but has remained balanced. With the prosecution finished, the defense started presenting its case. According to court testimony, the defense called Robert Costello to the witness stand. Costello, also an attorney, served as a legal advisor for Cohen and was a "backchannel" for him in 2018 when the former Trump fixer was indicted, convicted and sentenced for some federal campaign finance violations and tax evasion. Before the defense took over, Cohen admitted he stole $30,000 from the Trump Organization when his real estate company owed technology company Red Finch $50,000. Cohen said that he only paid $20,000 and took the rest for himself. On redirect, the prosecution reminded the court that Cohen wasn't on trialDonald Trump is. The federal campaign finance violation Cohen was found guilty of included a payment of $130,000 to an "adult film star," per the U.S. Department of Justice indictment in 2018. The defense called Costello because he claimed that he could prove that Michael Cohen was lying about paying Daniels, being paid $420,000 for reimbursement and compensation, and other claims crucial to the prosecution's case against Trump. Costello testified for the defense that Cohen told him numerous times that Trump knew nothing about the payments made to Daniels through her former Los Angeles-based attorney, Keith Davidson. After just 14 minutes into testifying, Judge Juan Merchan cleared the courtroom over Costello's lack of "proper decorum." Costello could be overheard scoffing and mocking attorneys when they were held in a sidebar over objections. He glared and rolled his eyes at the judge. Merchan warned Costello not to roll his eyes and misbehave. After yet another sustained objection, Costello made an extremely audible sigh and rolled his eyes while side-glancing Judge Merchan. The defense counsel informed the court that Costello was the last witness for the defense. This could change, as some observers have speculated whether Trump himself will be called. The first witness called by the defense was a paralegal presenting evidence. After the jury was excused, the defense once again motioned for the case to be dismissed. Merchan will decide on the motion later. The defense could rest its case as soon as Tuesday, handing the trial off to the jury. RTO truck registration case: Court issues show-cause to officers of Navi Mumbai Police Staff Reporter In a significant setback for the Navi Mumbai Police, the Civil Judge, Senior Division, Nagpur, has issued a show cause notice to two police officers from the unit investigating a case involving stolen truck registrations. The court has questioned why a contempt of court petition filed by an Inspector of the Regional Transport Office (RTO) against the police officers should not be granted. The Navi Mumbai Police registered a First Information Report (FIR) recently which led leading to the arrest of three RTO officials from Amravati on allegations of involvement in registering and selling trucks using forged documents. RTO Inspector Udaysingh Patil filed a petition before the court of S B Pawar, Civil Judge, Senior Division, Nagpur, after receiving phone calls from the Navi Mumbai police to record his statement. Patil's counsel argued before the court that the defendants had violated the civil fundamental rights of the RTO officer which warranted urgent action. In an order issued on May 9, the court observed that various legal provisions dictate that during the investigation of any criminal case, the police cannot contact a persons by phone but must issue written notices under Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. However, in this case, the police made phone calls and sent messages. Finally, the court granted the applications on the condition that the defendants refrain from violating the plaintiff's civil fundamental rights, statutory provisions, constitutional provisions, and binding precedents of the Supreme Court of India and High Court. Despite the court's order, the police contacted the applicant again for investigation. As a result, Inspector Patil's counsel approached the court once more and filed a contempt petition. The court took cognisance of the matter and issued notices to the police officers. The next hearing is scheduled for June 28, with Adv Manoj Mendulkar and Adv Prashant Dharmare representing the applicant. Vayu Seva Sangharsha Samiti submits memo to MP Vivek Tankha Staff Reporter To garner support for the proposed No Flying Day on June 6, members of Vayu Seva Sangharsha Samiti, on Monday met with Vivek Krishna Tankha, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and handed over a memorandum to him. Himanshu Khare of the Samiti said they held detailed discussion with MP Tankha on their on-going efforts and protest for restoration of air services for Jabalpur. Khare said after lending a patient ear to their concerns, he assured them of all possible support in their on-going endeavours. He is also ready to meet with the Chairman of Airline companies in Delhi and Mumbai and urged them to restart flights from the city. Khare said they also held discussion on the possibility of extending the flights, which are stationed at Nagpur and Bhopal Hangers to Jabalpur. He said the Samiti members will soon also approach the Chief Minister to give needed strength to the ongoing efforts. Members of Vayu Seva Sangharsha Samiti said the expansion of Dumna Airport in Jabalpur was completed at a cost of Rs 450 crores. However, as the airport developed, the number of flights started decreasing. Previously, Jabalpur had 12 flights to various cities in the country, but now it has reduced to 5, with some flights also at risk of being suspended. In response, the citizens of Jabalpur have started a protest called Viman Roko Andolan. On June 6, traders, lawyers, doctors, students and many others from Jabalpur will come together to participate in "No Flying Day," where no one will undertake air travel unless it is absolutely necessary, on June 6. The Vayu Seva Sangharsha Samiti has called upon everyone to refrain from air travel from Jabalpur on the day. The demand is for the initiation of air services not only to Mumbai but also to Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bangalore from Jabalpur. All models were at least 18 years old at the time of their performance. 18 U.S.C. 2257 Record-Keeping Requirements Compliance Statement. A collage of NASCAR brawl photos from Davey Segal and Bob Pockrass on X/Twitter. One of the old adages in journalism is Dont become the story. Well, several NASCAR journalists wound up very much in the middle of a story Sunday, but thanks to a situation well out of their control. That came from Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who was clipped by Kyle Busch on the second lap and had his race end early. Stenhouse then came up to Busch afterward amidst Foxs interview with race winner Joey Logano and threw a punch. That led to a brawl that also involved both Buschs and Stenhouses pit crews. And that led to several journalists being caught in the middle, including SiriusXM NASCAR Radio host Davey Segal: Yup. Thats me. Youre probably wondering how I ended up in this situation. pic.twitter.com/BxhBTAC3tO Davey Segal (@DaveyCenter) May 20, 2024 Foxs Bob Pockrass, who previously got a quote from Stenhouse that hed handle it after the race, asked how and received a You just watch reply, was also in the middle of this. He put out a bunch of tweets on that: The fight start pic.twitter.com/B5gZYj4aWB Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) May 20, 2024 I was thinking that the microphone I really like with the pocket-sized stick gimbal camera I use just got knocked out of my hand and how was I going to get more sound? https://t.co/kV8xrqDeyW Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) May 20, 2024 And, as Pockrass Fox colleague Kaitlyn Vincie noted, Pockrass set a wide shot of all the media involved as his new X/Twitter profile header: not sure if anyone noticedbut @bobpockrasss new profile photo will allow us to live that fight reaction forever Kaitlyn Vincie (@kaitlynvincie) May 20, 2024 Heres that, for reference: Its still not clear all that will come of this fight. But it certainly led to a wild moment for many NASCAR media. Forum for Impact returns to Bahamas to help build future of blue economy Why commemorate Naga Plesbicite Day, 16th May, 1951 ? | Dr Phungchamnao Ranreiphi Kharei Nagas from across the world along with well-wishers like UNPO (Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization), Naga International Support Centre (NISC) joined hands in commemorating the Naga Plesbicite Day 16th May, 1951, on 16th May, 2024 after a gap of 73 years. It was a red-letter day in the history of Naga freedom struggle as Naga Plebiscite was conducted to reaffirm the declaration of Naga Independence that was announced before the world on 14th August, 1947. It was the day the Nagas portrayed themselves loud & clear with their thumb impressions in which 99.9% of the Nagas voted for Sovereign Naga Nation. It was the most powerful symbol of Naga People's inalienable right for sovereignty. It also represents the virtue of the Nagas and ignited the flame of irreversible political identity of the Nagas as a sovereign Nation. National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN GPRN), Naga People's Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR), Naga Hoho, Naga Students Federation (NSF), Naga Mothers' Association (NMA), Global Naga Forum (GNF), United Naga Council (UNC) Manipur, Tirap Changlang Longding People's Front (TCLPF) Arunachal Pradesh, Eastern Naga People's Organization (ENPO), Naga People's Organization (NPO) Myanmar, Naga Women Union (NWU), Tribe Hohos, All Naga Students Association Manipur, District Apex Bodies, Naga Churches, Politicians, Social Activists, intellectuals and well-wishers expressed in one voice to reaffirm the stand of Naga Nation. "Remembering with thanks to our ancestors," said Eno Gen Ningkhan Shimray, MC, VC Longvibu, Naga Army in his welcome address on the commemoration day at GHC. As the historical truth is told, Nagas under the banner of Naga National Council (NNC) took the crucial steps to conduct Naga Plebiscite. "We are here today to reaffirm the stand of our Naga Nation that we do not need India and we do not want her. We are here today, to prove to India and the world that Nagaland is United and that our Nation aspires the same conviction to continue to be independent as a distinct Nation as we have always been the sovereign National State of the Nagas," said AZ Phizo, President, NNC on the Naga Plesbicite Day, May 16, 1951. Brief Background of Nagas as a Nation and the Declaration of Naga Independence on August 14th, 1947 Nagas came into existence as a free Nation since time immemorial without any pressure from the outside world. Nagas are politically a distinct Nation with each village as a republic with sovereign authority. Naturally, Nagas were against any kind of intrusion/incursion and domination over the sovereign right. Nagas zealously guarded against the misadventure of alien forces like the Shans from the east and the Ahoms from the west. When the British intruded into the Naga territory, they went through horrible time in the hands of the ferocious Angami Warriors. This depicts the spirit of Naga Nationalism for the love of their mother country. It shocked the forces that dared to test the nerves of the Nagas. The Naga People's allegiance to the Naga Nationhood is the dynamism of the Naga culture. The passion for political freedom and independence are intrinsically linked and had been the motivating factor that drives the Naga political movement. The British ruler which established their authority over the small Naga area known as Naga Hills District in 1879 became more conscious of the Nagas political right and their concern for future political status. They could follow the burning desire of the Nagas who did not want their National identity be buried under the shadow of British India or British Burma. Thus, when JH Hutton, a British officer convened a meeting with the Naga Club to ascertain their wishes after the departure of the British, the Nagas expressed their desire to be left alone just as the British found them at first. When Simon Commision visited Kohima on January 10, 1929, the Naga Club exhibited remarkable political maturity by coming up with more organised system in their political approach towards their stand. They submitted a memorandum that the Nagas be left alone to decide their own future and their political status be reverted to the independence they enjoyed before the British came. The memorandum reads: "We pray that we should not be thrust on the mercy of the people who could never have conquered us themselves, and to whom we were never subjected; but to leave us alone to determine for ourselves as in ancient times." Ironically, things were not moving as desired by the Nagas as the British Government and British India Government showed no sign of withdrawing their hold on the Nagas. This compelled the Nagas to organise themselves under the banner of Naga National Council (NNC) and assert their rights in the manner that carried the weight of authority and credibility. Henceforth, NNC occupied the centre stage to lead the Naga political movement. The NNC submitted a memorandum to the British Government and British India Government on February 20, 1947 with the request for interim Government for themselves and proposed a 'Protected State Status' with India as a guardian power for an interim period of ten years, at the end of which the Nagas would be left to decide their political future. The copy of the memorandum was sent to Clement Atlee, the Prime Minister of England, Lord Simon, Member of the House of Lords and Winston Churchill. Part of the cover letter to Lord Simon, the House of the Lords reads: "No argument is needed to show that the Nagas are a separate people with their own customs, traditions and culture; and to say that the British Government has decided to hand- over to the Indian hands complete authority for governing over Nagaland, in complete inconsistence with the policy of administration hither followed in these Hills and in violation of implied but clear pledges in the past years, without even asking the opinion of the Nagas is not only unjust but immoral." Nevertheless, the Nagas decided to put up a good fight when it became very clear that the overriding geopolitics of the Indian Government was simply to make the Nagas as part of the Indian Union. This was made known when the Indian Constituent Assembly was established in 1946. T Aliba Imti, the first NNC President was made a part of the sub-committee. When this sub-committee met in Shillong over the issue of joining India, Nagas refused to be bogged down under any pressure and stoutly took the stand not to go along with the other princely States and walked away with the comment: "We the Nagas, cannot sign our names to be under India. We do not agree with it and we resign." Not willing to let his name go down in history as having led down the Nagas, Imti plainly told the sub-committee, "I cannot return to my people as a traitor." (To be contd) Anti-Terrorism Day | IMPHAL, May 21: Observing the Anti-Terrorism Day, the Congress party has pledged to stand firm against all forms of terrorism. As in the previous years, the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) observed the 33rd death anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as Anti-Terrorism Day at Congress Bhavan here today. Speaking on the occasion, former Chief Minister and CLP leader Okram Ibobi recalled how Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in the most vicious manner. A suicide bomber killed the former Prime Minister by pretending to be garlanding him, Ibobi said. Every year the people of India and the world observe the death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi as Anti-Terrorism Day, he said. When Rajiv Gandhi was serving as the Prime Minister of India, he formulated a number of foreign policies all aimed at fostering friendly relationships with all the neighbouring countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Nepal. Learn to look 10/20/30 years hence Wanted : Visionary leaders | Resolving the ongoing ethnic clash between the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zos should obviously be on top of the agenda of the Government, but yet at the same time it has increasingly become important for Manipur to have leaders who can look 10/20/30 or even 50 years ahead and accordingly take up the needed steps now. It is the failure to look into the future that Manipur today finds herself neck deep in all sorts of problems and troubles. Missing the bus is a three word term that may be used to aptly describe the Manipur of today. Look at the reality around and the answer should be clear. When the Nagas raised the banner of the continuous influx in the hills and served quit notices in the early part of the 1990s and which inevitably led to the Naga-Kuki clash, Manipur or rather the Meiteis failed to note the danger of unchecked influx and today it is now a case Thangjing metamorphosing into Thangting. Or look at the claims over Mount Koubru, a place deemed to be an abode of worship for the Meiteis, an annual ritual which is practised to this day. Look at the names of places which have been changed to give them an ethnic identity plumb in the heart of Imphal. It was only recently that Imphal woke up to this dangerously unhealthy practise and issued an official notification that no place can be christened as one pleases. Steps which ought to have been taken decades back. Looking back, the writings on the wall were clear but it is just that no Meitei leader or Meitei organisation had the far sightedness to look at what situation could be like 10 or 20 or 30 years down the line. A classic case was the refusal of the State Government and the machin tongba personalities from amongst the Meiteis who refused to let the Meiteis be included in the Scheduled Tribe list of the Constitution. Long before the idea of Nagalim was vocalised, the process of grouping the Naga folks under a single banner had been given shape and perhaps this is the primary reason why no Naga student from Manipur identified themselves with the Manipur student organisations in any of the major cities of the country which has a sizeable number of students from Manipur. It was more or less the same with the Kuki students, who preferred to align themselves with their own kindred and kith under the nomenclature of Kuki Students Organisation or KSO. It was the same when the SoO pact was inked with the Kuki armed groups and which the State Government was made to become a signatory in 2008. Imphal held back before the pact became a tripartite agreement, having been in force earlier between the Government of India and the Kuki armed groups in 2005. The point is, Imphal failed to convince New Delhi of the impending threat and danger in inking a peace pact with outfits which have never, ever trained their guns on the security forces. The State Government did reject, but it was farsightedness at work when the population strength of certain villages in Purul, Mao-Maram and Paomata sub-divisions of Senapati district saw an abnormal growth. This was detected in the 2001 Census, with the abnormal figure continuing to haunt even in the 2011 Census. Leaving aside the opposition from the State Government, Imphal should have noted that here is a mind with a far sighted vision at work. A spike in population would have meant an increase in the number of reserved Assembly seats when the next Delimitation exercise is held. This is where Manipur or rather the Meiteis need far sighted leaders who can look to the future and accordingly act. The War on Drugs campaign is far sighted, no doubt about that, for it is aimed at highlighting not only the extent and power of drug money, the vast scale deforestation, but also draw a link between the burgeoning drug trade and illegal immigration from across the border, and it is here that it becomes important to stress that far sightedness comes with the needed follow up steps. If there is a campaign against drugs, why have no ring leaders been arrested and their identities spelt out to the public so far ? As repeatedly asserted here, the couriers arrested on the Imphal-Moreh line or the dingy bylanes of Imphal are at best drug pushers, the small fishes. Who are those financing the drug trade ? Who are those financing the poppy cultivations ? No answer so far. Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) : In top 10 global health threats | Shobha Shukla, Bobby Ramakant CNS Youth, as key stakeholders in combating AMR, are not only raising the awareness of the public about AMR but also promoting structural and behavioural change in prescription and consumption of antimicrobials. They also have a role in sensitising national and global actors and decision-makers to invest more in tackling AMR, including in actions led by youth. The United Nations General Assembly High Level Meeting on AMR in 2024 is an opportunity to drive global change, as its resolutions might be crucial in shaping the future of health and AMR. It is in the interest of all that the voices of youth networks and organisations be included and amplified, as they can play a critical role in setting the global AMR agenda. "When I was implementing infection control in an isolation facility in Kenya during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic, it took me 2 years in service without fully knowing AMR. How it impacts human health, animal health, and the environment is important to understand," added Nahashon Gicheru. "National Action Plans on AMR and implementing them, including addressing risk factors of AMR like handwashing, is so key. Working with youth at local level is vital." Rhema Hooper, a student representative of College of Health, Lehigh University, said that "We are being an example of how to educate and engage young people especially students in AMR awareness campaign and advocacy." One positive outcome is that now young students use phones to alert patients on when to take their medicines to combat AMR. Rhema Hooper added that "We can equip university students to connect with local communities on issues like AMR. Schools can play an important role on AMR and food security, for example." Dr Salman Khan who is being trained at government-run Grant Medical College and JJ Hospital Mumbai in India, said that "Knowing grassroots reality (regarding danger of AMR), I had a constant urge to make a difference. This drove me to engage youth in AMR. I was involved and able to witness multiple activities done by medical students, including AMR stewardship, infection control, and a lot more." "Imagine if every region, sub-region, every country, every sub-national level, has a youth group engaged on AMR," what a difference it can make!" added Dr Khan. Listen to the people we serve "We have to keep AMR-affected communities in the centre," when it comes to responding to AMR, said Dr Salman Khan. As per the Youth Manifesto, 'An effective, sustainable response to AMR requires a whole-of-society approach, in which young people can play a crucial role now and in the future. Youth can help to increase awareness and change behaviour in society and to advocate for action on AMR in political and policy fora. Young people should have a seat at the table in shaping responses to global threats such as AMR. The ideas, perspectives and skills of youth must be harnessed to advance global, regional, national and subnational AMR plans and interventions. Meaningful engagement of youth should be a priority for the United Nations General Assembly High-level Meeting on AMR in 2024 and beyond'. Preamble to the Youth Manifesto * Ensure meaningful youth engagement in policy, advocacy and programme implementation to achieve integration of the priorities stated below into local and national action plans. * Foster multi-stakeholder collaboration to establish capacity-building initiatives and mentorship programmes to enable youth-led actions against AMR at national, regional and global levels. * Encourage countries and key stakeholders, such as civil society organizations and institutions, to address the priorities stated below and to include youth in co-creating their strategic plans on AMR. * Enable youth networks to use the AMR-related information provided by the Quadripartite Joint Secretariat on AMR and the Quadripartite organizations, which are the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), for producing educational materials and capacity-building for young people. Top priorities identified by youth include (i) Advocacy and engagement at various levels; (ii) Education and capacity-building and inclusion of AMR awareness and appropriate use of antimicrobials in the health curricula of primary, secondary and higher education institutions, among others; (iii) Equitable patient care, so that people across the world have access to effective, high-quality diagnosis and treatment for infectious diseases and the benefits of research and development reach everyone; and (iv) Addressing AMR with a One-Health approach. Election commission removed a central Armed police Force (CAPF) jawan from duty, who was alleged to have been involved in a molestation charge at Uluberia, Howrah. The ruling Trinamul Congress lodged a complaint with the CEO office of the Election Commission over alleged misconduct to get the jawan removed. The Uluberia police too launched an investigation into the alleged charge. A BSF spokesperson claimed that the jawan, who had allegedly been charged with molestation by a political party, was removed from poll duty and an investigation is underway. Advertisement According to reports, a woman of Chandipur area under Uluberia Lok Sabha constituency faced sexual harassment. The polling agent of Trinamul Congress Uluberia candidate Sajda Ahemed had moved the Election Commission and lodged a complaint on the alleged act against the jawan. In another incident at Jangipara, Hooghly, another central force jawan was allegedly charged with alleged molestation. He had to face an alleged assault by the villagers. The accused jawan was arrested by the police. Calcutta High Court today put an interim stay on the publication of contentious twin advertisements by the BJP on newspapers and also questioned the Election Commission for not taking any action swiftly on the alleged MCC violation after it was brought to their notice by the ruling party. The Bench of Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharya of Calcutta High Court during a hearing on the alleged advertisement restrained the BJP from putting the advertisements in any media. The advertisements allegedly accused the Trinamul Congress of corruption and projecting it as being anti-Hindu (Sanatan) on a newspaper and put an interim stay on its further publication till further orders regarding the case from the court. Advertisement The ruling Trinamul Congress had moved the Election Commission regarding the controversial advertisements. On the basis, The poll panel reacting late, issued a show cause notice to the BJP state president Suknata Majumdar and asked him to reply by 5 pm on Tuesday. Earlier, the ruling party had moved Calcutta High Court demanding stay on the alleged publication. Trinamul Congress national spokesperson and state minister for women and child development and social welfare Dr Shashi Panja thanked the people for the unflinching support to the party. Addressing a press conference at Trinamul Bhavan, she said the election was peaceful and in the past four phases, the presence of women voters was remarkable. She is hopeful of win of the party nominees in all the seven seats where election was held today. Coming down heavily on the BJP she said, They have understood that the party would not be able to do well in the ongoing general election, party leaders are trying to create trouble to disturb the election, she said adding, the nervousness of the BJP leaders is very clear as they have realised that ground below their feet is slipping away. Advertisement Without naming Locket Chatterjee, the incumbent BJP MP from Hooghly, she said, As she is a absentee MP, people had staged protest in front of her. If you do not visit your constituency, this is the fate you will have to face. People are awareness of their rights and expect the leader to work for the development of the area. Asked to comment on the criticism of the central forces by the BJP leaders, she said, This shows their nervousness. They thought that the central forces will act at their instruction and intimidate the voters. They must have been annoyed as the central forces did not follow their instruction. We thought the BJP leaders should have condemned the alleged abuse of women by the central forces jawans in two places. It is shocking that the leaders did not say a single word on the issue. She said it is amazing that the BJP leaders are criticizing the Election Commission of India. The leaders did not say anything when the BJP had manipulated the committee appointed to select the members of ECI. Asked to comment on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said that Trinamul is fast losing ground, she said, He is nervous. He knows that he is not coming back and so he is hitting out at the Congress. He should give a list of development projects which his government did in the past one decade. As he does not have anything to say on this issue, he is talking about religion and on issues that have exposed his nervousness. The number of domestic air travelers in India grew 2.42 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in April, reaching 132 million, according to the data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday. Notably, it is the slowest Y-o-Y growth in domestic air passenger traffic in at least 13 months. However, domestic air traffic fell very slightly in April when compared with March 2024s reading which stood at 133.68 lakh passengers. Advertisement The slow growth can be attributed to multiple factors. One of the key airlines, IndiGo, grounded over 70 planes due to issues with Pratt and Whitney (PW) engines. On the other hand, amid a cash crunch, SpiceJet consolidated its domestic services. Vistara canceled over 2 per cent of its flights in April as pilots went on sick leave over salary disputes. As per the DGCA data, Akasa Air was the most punctual airline operating in India for the second straight month in a row after overtaking AIX Connect in March. The airlines turned in an on-time performance of 89.2 per cent at the four metro airports: New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai. AIX Connect and Vistara were second and third, followed by IndiGo. In terms of domestic passengers, Vistara carried 1.218 million domestic passengers in April, a 5.14 per cent decline month-on-month. SpiceJet carried 6.17 million domestic passengers, marking a 12.1 per cent M-o-M drop. Vistara also canceled 2.4 per cent of its scheduled flights in April, the highest among all major carriers, according to the DGCA data. Air India was the only major carrier that had M-o-M growth in its domestic traffic with 18.8 million domestic passengers, marking a growth of 7.61per cent. The DGCA data also highlighted the cancellation rates of the airlines. In April 2024, the overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines stood at 0.80 per cent, around 17 basis points higher than the 0.63 per cent in March but lower than the 0.9 per cent seen in February and 3.67 per cent seen in January. Flybig, a regional airline based in Gurugram (Haryana), recorded the highest cancellation rate of 10 per cent, while the new airline Zoom was second with a cancellation rate of 9.55 per cent. During April 2024, a total of 774 passenger-related complaints were received by scheduled domestic airlines. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for April has been around 0.59, the data said. Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Tuesday said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals deafening silence on the alleged assault on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Swati Maliwal, speaks volumes of his stance on the safety of women. Maliwal had alleged CMs Personal Secretary Bibhav Kumar of abusing and physically assaulting her on 13th May at the CMs residence. In his first reaction on the alleged incident at the residence of the CM, the LG in a statement said, I have been deeply distressed over the unfolding media narrative over the last few days on the issue of alleged assault on AAP MP Swati Maliwal at the residence of CM, when she went there to meet him all alone. Yesterday, she called me out of sheer anguish, describing at length her traumatic experience, and the subsequent intimidation and shaming that she is being subjected to by her own colleagues. Advertisement He said Maliwal expressed concern over reported tampering of evidence and coercion against her. The LG noted that it was most disturbing to note that the alleged scene of crime was the drawing room of the CM and the same was carried out by his closest aide on a lady who was alone. Her fellow member of Rajya Sabha confirmed her narrative in full media glare, and assured that the CM would take firm action against the culprit CMs aide. Subsequently, a total U-turn was done in the matter, apparently at the behest of the highest functionary. This too is inexplicable and baffling. I would have expected that at least for the sake of propriety, my CM would have come clean, rather than being evasive and dodgy. His deafening silence speaks volumes of his stance on the safety of women, Saxena said, referring to AAP MP Sanjay Singhs statement on the alleged incident. Last week, Singh said what happened with her was highly condemnable and the CM took cognizance of the matter and would take a strict action in this regard. Stating that Delhi is the national capital and is home to the entire diplomatic community from around the world, the LG said, Such shameful incidents and the insensitive and conspiratorial contemptuous government response, on an issue of women safety, tarnishes Indias image worldwide. Had such an incident happened in any other Chief Ministers residence in the country, external forces with vested interests, inimical to India, would have unleashed a scathing global narrative around women safety in India. The absence of any outrage in this case leaves several questions unanswered,he said. Informing that Delhi Police is investigating the matter, Saxena said that the matter will be brought to its logical conclusion The Indian Youth Congress (IYC) organised a blood donation camp here on Tuesday to commemorate the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. At the blood donation camp held at the IYC office, IYC National President Srinivas BV recalled the contribution of the former prime minister, calling him a visionary leader. He said, The thinking of the former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi ji, was a revolutionary, which laid the foundation of Young India. The foundation of the digital revolution that we see today was laid by Rajiv Gandhi ji in the country. It was Rajiv ji who gave voting power to the youth by reducing the age limit. Advertisement He further said, During the freedom struggle, Mahatma Gandhi ji had dreamed of strengthening the villages, the dream was fulfilled by Rajiv Gandhi ji. Through Panchayati Raj, he brought rights and power to the doorstep of the villages. When there was an atmosphere of instability in the country, dissatisfaction grew from Punjab to Assam, Rajiv Gandhi ji followed the path of Bapu and kept the country united through peace agreements. Very few can do what Rajiv ji did for the country, he added. Noting that great men become immortal by laying down their lives for a cause, the IYC president said, Rajiv Gandhi ji is one of them. Despite knowing about all the dangers, he continued to work for the country without caring for his life. His contribution to nation-building is unforgettable. Congress leaders, Sandeep Dixit and Jebi Mather, and members of the Youth Congress also participated in the blood donation camp. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday criticised Union Home Minister Amit Shah for allegedly calling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporters as Pakistanis during a rally on Monday. The chief minister asked whether all those people who gave a mandate to the AAP in the Delhi and Punjab assembly elections were Pakistanis. In a video briefing, the AAPs national convener claimed that the rally in Delhi in which he alleged the home minister called the AAP supporters Pakistanis was attended by less than 500 people. Advertisement Addressing Shah, the AAP national convener said, You have so much arrogance about being chosen by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his successor that you are abusing and threatening people even before becoming the PM. However, he discounted Amit Shahs prospects of becoming a prime minister as, he claimed, the ruling BJP dispensation would be ousted on June 4 as the INDIA bloc is going to form a government at the Centre. Your enmity is with me, you can abuse me. But if you abuse the people of the country, no one will tolerate it, the Delhi CM warned the home minister. Pointing out that Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, who was in the city, also abused him; he said he would humbly tell him (Yogi) that his real enemies were within his party. After the polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Shah plan to remove him from the post of CM. Kejriwal said he wanted to bring three things to the notice of the people. First, going by the trend in the five phases of the Lok Sabha elections it is clear that on June 4 the Modi government is losing and the INDIA going to form a new government. Citing surveys and their findings, he said on June 4, the INDIA bloc is getting more than 300 seats. INDIA alliance is moving towards giving a clean and stable government to the country, the AAP chief added. On May 11, the day after he was released on interim bail, Kejriwal, while addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, said, These people ask the INDIA alliance who will be their prime minister. I asked the BJP who would be their prime minister. PM Modi is turning 75 next year on 17th September. He made a rule that leaders in the BJP would retire after 75 years of age. LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan, and Yashwant Sinha were retired and now PM Modi is going to retire on 17th September. The chief minister was granted bail by the Supreme Court in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi Liquor policy scam till June 1. PM Modi is seeking votes to make Amit Shah prime minister. Will Amit Shah fulfill Modis guarantee, the AAP chief had asked. He had even alleged that the BJP ended the political career of its veteran leaders like LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi. The next is Yogi Adityanath. If they win this election, they will change the CM of Uttar Pradesh within two months, he claimed. The Delhi Police arrested a man for allegedly throwing ink at the INDIA bloc candidate for the Lok Sabha elections from North-East Delhi, Kanhaiya Kumar, and misbehaving with an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councilor at the party office at 4th Pushta. According to Deputy Commissioner of Police North-East Delhi Dr Joy Tirkey, the accused was arrested on Monday while efforts are on to round up the others involved in the incident. According to the police, the arrested accused has been identified as 41-year-old Ajay Kumar alias Ranbir Bhatti, who hails from New Usmanpur, Delhi. Advertisement The incident took place on May 17 when Kanhaiya Kumar was about to leave the AAP office located at the 4th Pushta, Swami Satyanarain Bhawan after attending a meeting hosted by Chhaya Sharma, the councilor. When the councilor was about to see off Kumar after the meeting, some people came forward to garland Kumar and allegedly threw ink at him and attempted to assault him. As the councilor tried to intervene, the assailants misbehaved with the lady intimidating her, it was alleged. A complaint was filed by the AAP corporator in this connection based on which a case was registered by the police under relevant sections, and legal action is being taken against the culprit. Investigation into the case is in progress, the police added. Earlier, Kumar had alleged that the attackers were affiliated with the BJP. Addressing BJP MP Manoj Tiwari through social media platform X, he said, MP sir, no matter how many goons you send to attack me, I am not scared. I am a follower of Gandhi Ji and Baba Saheb Ambedkar, and I have the courage of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. I will not stop. In a scathing attack on the Congress on Tuesday, Bollywood actress and BJP candidate from the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency Kangana Ranaut asserted that the party neither has a leader nor policy. She accused the Congress of engaging solely in politics driven by appeasement and nepotism. INDI bloc leaders should clarify who will assume the role of Prime Minister in this purportedly arrogant alliance. Are the constituents of this alliance harbouring aspirations of rotating Prime Ministers in five years? The Congress party is not going to win even 50 seats, she claimed during her election campaign in Siraj on Tuesday. The country has witnessed transformation in the last one decade. Today, every person in the country aspires to be a part of Indias growth. The country has left a dark chapter behind and has taken a journey towards Amrit Kaal (the era of elixir) and every citizen of the country is dreaming of making a developed India on the completion of 100 years of Indias independence by 2047, she said. Advertisement It is due to the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the country has emerged from big challenges like Naxalism and terrorism. While, the central government has resolved to take back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), the leaders within the INDI alliance are delivering statements in favour of Pakistan, she claimed. The Congress is a party of loot and plunder, she alleged, stating that by voting for the party, the people of Mandi will not become partners of sin. Attacking Congress candidate, Vikramaditya Singh, she said that he is arrogant and a spoiled prince. It seems his mother Pratibha Singh has not taught him to respect women. Vikramaditya Singh described Dev Samaj and gods and goddesses as one level below the monarchy. Today his ego has risen to his head, she alleged. Stating that she is getting full blessings from the people as well as the gods and goddesses, she accused Vikramaditya Singh of instigating the religious sentiments of the people. On June 4, it will become clear who will get the blessings of the gods and goddesses and who will not, she said. Xem them ... Tin bai cuoi cung Khong con du lieu e load Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday attacked the Congress and the RJD on the reservation issue saying if Babasaheb Ambedkar was not there, Nehruji would not have allowed reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) and had written a letter to chief ministers to oppose it. Addressing a BJP election rally in Purvi Champaran, Bihar he said the jungle-raj parties are planning to subvert the reservation scheme and are speaking lies on the Constitution. From Nehruji to Rajiv Gandhi, all Prime Ministers of the Congress family opposed OBC reservation, he said. The Congress has been dishonest with the poor, SCs, STs, OBCs and women, and is now left with only one vote bank, the Prime Minister said. To appease it, the Congress wants to snatch the SC, ST, and OBC reservation on the basis of religion and wants to give it to the vote-jihad people. Since the Constitution does not allow it, the party wants to change the Constitution, he said. Advertisement You have seen Modis track record. Modi has in the last 10 years used the support of about 400 MPs to its government to strengthen the poor, Dalits, the backward and deprived sections of people. The NDA first made a Dalit son and then a tribal daughter President of the country, and gave constitutional status to the Backward Classes Commission, he said. Interests of the SCs, STs, and OBCs were never more protected than under the BJP and NDA, he said. The scope of reservation was extended to medical admissions and in schools. To ensure this level of social security continues, he told the crowds, You must ensure a strong government at the Centre under Modi. The prime minister told the people their affection and enthusiasm showed what would happen during the sixth and seventh rounds of polling. In the first round, the INDI alliance was defeated; it was destroyed in the following rounds, and in the fifth round on Monday, it was completely decimated, he said. Those who considered themselves rulers of people, are going to get such a defeat that the whole world will wonder, he said. The 4 June results will give a blow to corruption, politics of appeasement, tukde-tukde gang, the ideology that causes unrest in the society, the perverse mentality which abuses Sanatan, the criminal-mafia jungle-raj and the anti-woman mindset, Mr Modi said. He said the Congress and its allies wasted 60 years of Independence, and destroyed life of three to four generations. After 60-70 years of Independence, when you gave the son of a poor mother to serve the people, toilets came to every home. Modi is working day and night to provide water at every home, he said. The Congress and its allies like the RJD made people cry for amenities; the poor became poorer. In 60 years, the Congress built its palaces, opened accounts in Swiss banks and you did not have even enough food to fill your stomachs. Their almirahs were stuffed with money; mountains of currency notes, he said. I need a strong government at the Centre, not to make Modi or his family strong, but to make the bright future of your children and to realize your dreams. I have come from Gujarat, the birth place of Gandhi to this karmabhoomi of Gandhi, to seek your blessings, he said. Those born with a silver spoon do not know what is hard work, he said. Amidst shouts of Modi-Modi, the prime minister said somebody had said Modi would get bed rest after 4 June. I pray to God there should be no occasion for bed rest for any citizen in the country. Every citizen should be full of energy, and celebrate life. But what else can be expected from the inheritor of jungle-raj, he said. They are all like this, he said. Congress people say Modi, your grave will be dug. The party has a counterpart in Uttar Pradesh. The shehzada of Uttar Pradesh (Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav) says that Modi will spend his last days in Varanasi. In this election, these people have no issue but to abuse Modi, he said. Some say Modis grave will be dug, and some say he will be given a burial, Congress shehzada (Rahul Gandhi) wants to see tears in the eyes of Modi, the INDI people should know the country does not run according to their wishes, anymore. On 4 June, the INDI alliance is seeing defeat and getting restless. They are raising questions on Modis schemes. They know nothing about the country, he said. I give my report card wherever I go, I ask the INDI alliance for their record. They took land for jobs, can they think about the future of the youth? During their jungle raj only bombs, land mafia, and abductions business flourished, he said. His government removed Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir and ensured the construction of the Ram temple. What kind of people are they, they were given an invitation for Pran Pratishtha but they rejected it, he said. They will go to the house of a person who has served a jail term for theft, and have food there but have no time to go to Ram Lallas temple. Modi has resolved disputes for decades and given solutions. Modi is not like them to cheat the poor, he said. The Congress government in Telangana has come under fire from the Opposition BRS and BJP over its decision to provide a bonus of Rs 500 on MSP to farmers cultivating only the finer variety of rice. The Cabinets decision to invite Sonia Gandhi to the decennial celebrations of the states formation also was questioned by the BJP. Slamming the state governments decision, BRS leader KT Rama Rao pointed out that during the Assembly elections, the Congress had promised Rs 500 as a bonus over MSP on any variety of rice but now decided to extend the bonus to only fine variety of paddy. In the guarantee card (of Congress) announcing a bonus of Rs 500 for rice crop, now restricted only to the finer variety, Rao said, accusing the Congress of indulging in deceit and fraud. He went on to accuse it of being an anti-farmer government that denied water and power, leading to the drying up of crops and now refusing to buy the paddy which got wet due to unseasonal rains. Advertisement The BJP also lambasted the Congress government for its decision to give bonuses to farmers cultivating the finer variety. BJPs official spokesperson NV Subhash said that the cheating tactics and techniques of the Congress party were exposed once again with the cabinet deciding to extend the bonus only for fine variety paddy instead of all varieties. Subhash said that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had promised to extend a bonus for paddy without mentioning the variety and now offering to limit it to fine variety and wondered how long the government would cheat the farming community. He demanded that the bonus should be extended to all the farmers. Referring to the state Cabinets decision to invite AICC leader and Rajya Sabha member Sonia Gandhi to the decennial celebrations of Telangana formation, the BJP leader questioned why she was being invited to the event. The Bharatiya Janata Party has issued a show cause notice to its sitting MP from Jharkhands Hazaribagh for not taking interest in the poll campaign and the partys organisational work. The notice issued by BJPs Jharkhand general secretary Aditya Sahu said that Sinhas conduct has maligned the party image. You did not even feel proper to exercise your right of franchise. The partys image has been maligned due to your conduct, it said. Advertisement The notice said that Sinha stopped taking interest in organisational work and election campaigns ever since BJP replaced him with Manish Jaiswal as its candidate from Hazaribagh parliamentary constituency. You are not taking any interest in organisational work and election campaigning ever since the party declared Manish Jaiswal as the candidate from Hazaribagh LS seat, the notice said. The show cause notice to Sinha came days after his son attended Congress president Mallikarjun Kharges rally in Jharkhands Barhi in support of INDIA bloc candidate. Jayant Sinha is Yashwant Sinha, former Union Finance Minister under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who joined Trinamool Congress in 2021. Before the announcement of tickets, Jayant Sinha had written to BJP national president JP Nadda, expressing his desire not to contest the elections. He has said that he wanted to focus on combating climate change in India and around the world but asserted that he would continue to work with the party. Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Devender Yadav on Tuesday paid homage to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary. The Congress chief of the Delhi unit paid floral tributes at the portrait of Gandhi at the party office here. Remembering the former prime minister, Yadav said, Rajiv Gandhi sacrificed his life for the unity, integrity and progress of the country. The people of India will never forget his supreme sacrifice. Advertisement Recalling his contribution, the Delhi Congress president said, Rajiv Gandhi Ji was a visionary leader who brought in the telecom revolution and introduced the computer era to the country. The results of his visionary steps have borne fruits as Indian youths have emerged as a major force in the digital revolution. His decision to introduce Panchayati Raj for the devolution of power to the local panchayats for the overall progress and development of the country, had witnessed amazing results. It was Rajiv Jis vision to make India strong both economically and developmentally to set the process of making the country Atmanirbhar Bharat. This dream of Rajiv ji will be fully realised by Rahul Gandhi through Congress five Nyay and 25 guarantees given in the party manifesto when the INDIA bloc government comes to power at the Centre, he said. Referring to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, he said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is misleading the people with the 400 paar slogan. But Rajiv Gandhi had achieved this historic feat without indulging in theatrics or misleading the people with false promises, to become the youngest Prime Minister of the country, and the record still stands. Due to Rajiv Gandhis vision and action, India can stand confidently with the economic powers of the world, he added. Labeling the SP and Congress as the masters of terrorists and patrons of the mafia, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath alleged on Tuesday that before 2017, every criminal and mafia member exploited the public and extorted money posing a threat to the safety of daughters. Speaking at a public meeting at the Government Girls Inter College here in support of Dumariyaganj MP and Lok Sabha candidate Jagdambika Pal, Yogi said, Today, the SP feels pain as the mafia is punished severely for its wrongdoings. We should not allow the supporters of the mafia or the masters of terrorists to gain power. Calling the alliance between the SP and Congress a disaster, he said, When Congress was in power at the Center and the SP in the state, there were terrorist attacks on Shri Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya, Sankat Mochan in Kashi, and the courts in Ayodhya, Lucknow, and Varanasi. As soon as Akhilesh Yadav became CM, he tried to withdraw cases against terrorists. At that time, the court had remarked that the government should be ashamed of itself. Advertisement Pointing out that the public is aware of the close relationship between the SP and the mafia; the chief minister said the two cannot be separated. Every mafia member in the state is linked to the SP. SPs sympathies do not lie with the daughters and businessmen, but with the mafia. He continued, Because of their leniency towards the mafia, the public rejected them in 2014, 2017, 2019, and 2022. And now, the slogan of 400 paar worries the SP. Now that the SP is contesting elections on 63 seats they will lose their deposits. This is why the I.N.D.I alliance of the two boys (the SP and Congress) is spreading lies, rumours, and conspiracies to mislead the public. The CM said that the mafia that was driven out by the people of Gorakhpur and Sant Kabir Nagar wont be allowed to thrive in Siddharthnagar, the land of Mahatma Buddha. If this mafia prospers, it will seize the property of the poor. I protested in Dumariyaganj and Kapilvastu, and you received justice. Dont let such a situation arise again. This mafia is selfish; they will take over land and get it registered at gunpoint. We are determined to make life difficult for these mafias. But if they return, they will try to engage in hooliganism and extortion. The decision on both votes and choices is yours. CM Yogi stated that when his party had an opportunity, it enshrined Ram Lalla in Ayodhya. On the other hand, SP people used to open fire on Ram devotees. The SP general secretary even called the Ram temple useless. Lord Ram is the controller of the world and the Supreme Father. Ram ke bina humara koi kaam nahi, Jo Ram ka nahi woh humare kisi kaam ka nahi. The CM questioned the manifesto of the SP-Congress alliance, stating that they plan to allocate property to Muslims who entered India as infiltrators from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, whereas his administration opposes the imposition of inheritance tax in the country. Highlighting the infrastructural development during his tenure, he noted that earlier it used to take six to eight hours to travel from Gorakhpur to Balrampur via Siddharthnagar due to poor roads. However, after the road construction, connectivity across regions including Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Nepal, Basti, and Balrampur improved. Additionally, better flood prevention measures have been implemented. Yogi emphasised the governments efforts to address healthcare disparities, mentioning the establishment of a medical college named after Madhav Prasad Tripathi in Siddharthnagar. He highlighted the eradication of encephalitis, a disease that previously claimed the lives of innocent children in the region, likening the achievement to the elimination of mafia influence. The CM emphasised that individuals who praise Pakistan while residing in India should not burden the nation; rather, they should relocate to Pakistan. Members of the SP and Congress warn against discussing Pakistan citing its possession of an atom bomb. We said we also possess such a deterrent. Should Pakistan provoke India, it risks annihilation. Praising Jagdambika Pal for his unwavering dedication and commitment to attending Parliament sessions till ten in the morning and then reaching Dumariyaganj by four in the afternoon, he said noted that he travels thousand kilometers during these sessions. Regardless of day or night, winter or heat, rain or flood, Pal has remained steadfast in his commitment to serving the public, deserving another opportunity to continue his service, he stated. Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday that the BJP-led NDA had already crossed the 310-seat mark and was for towards 400-plus seats to ensure a third term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Amit Shah, who is regarded as the poll strategist of the BJP, predicted the fall of Naveen Patnaik Government in Odisha saying the lotus (BJPs symbol) would bloom in the state. Launching a frontal attack on the Patnaik-led BJD Government, the home minister said Odisha was set to see a double change with the BJP coming to power in the state also. Advertisement Invoking Odia asmita (pride) during an election meeting in Sambalpur, the BJP stalwart said, Naveen Babu (Odisha CM) has let loose Babu Shahi (bureaucracy-centric governance) in Odisha and throttled the culture and pride of the state. This has deeply hurt the pride of Odia people. Seeking votes for the BJP, he said his party would ensure the revival of Odias culture, tradition, and pride. In an indirect reference to Tamil Nadu-born bureaucrat-turned-politician VK Pandian groomed by CM Patnaik as his successor, he asked the people if they would like a Tamil babu to rule the state and asserted that a bhumiputra (son of the soil) would rule the state instead of a Tamil babu if they voted the BJP to power. Pandian, who has emerged as a star campaigner of the regional party after Patnaik, is found taking centre stage in election meetings across the state seeking votes in the name of Naveen Patnaik. The outsider tag attached to him has prompted the BJP to make it its principal poll plank by playing the Odia pride card to woo the voters. At a time when the entire country is celebrating the consecration of Ram Temple at Ayodhya, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is trying to prevent Odisha from doing so. The BJD Government has also conspired to halt the world-famous Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath, he said. Listing the corrupt practices under the BJD Government, he alleged, The rich mineral resources here are being plundered by the babus of Naveen Patnaik. It will be stopped if the BJP forms a government in Odisha. Referring to the large-scale migration of labour force from Odisha to other states, he said, We want to ensure that not a single youth from Odisha has to leave his family in search of livelihood. Odisha has everything right from a vast coastline, and natural resources to skilled manpower. The only thing it lacks is a hardworking chief minister at the helm, Shah pointed out referring to Patnaiks dependence on bureaucrats to rule the state. With just two phases of polling left in the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, political parties are now stepping up campaigns in 27 seats in the sixth and seventh phase, where polling is scheduled for May 25 and June 1 respectively. The last two phases of polling includes Prime Ministers parliamentary constituency Varanasi, Chief Ministers home district Gorakhpur and Azamgarh seat which is considered a Samajwadi Party stronghold. Apart from NDA and opposition alliance INDIA bloc, Mayawati -led Bahujan Samaj Party will put in full strength to win these seats. Advertisement In the sixth phase, elections are slated to be held in 14 seats which are: Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phulpur, Allahabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Shravasti, Dumariyaganj, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Lalganj, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Machlishahr and Bhadohi. The election campaign in the sixth phase will end at 6 pm on May 23. Political parties have only three more days to campaign for this phase. Similarly, in the seventh phase, voting would be held for Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Banggaon, Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur and Robertsganj Lok Sabha seats. Election campaigns in these constituencies will end on May 30 evening. The political parties now have 10 more days left to campaign for this phase. Of these 27 seats, in the 2019 election, the BJP had won 18 seats; Apna Dal, an ally of NDA had won two while the BJP had won Azamgarh seat in the by-election. The NDA will fight to retain 21 seats of the total 27 left now. The BSP has won six seats in the 2019 elections which it had contested in alliance with the SP. This time, BSP is contesting alone in the elections. Along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, all the big leaders of BJP including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath are putting in all-out efforts in Purvanchal. At the same time, SP President Akhilesh Yadav and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi are also making strategies to campaign in as many seats as possible. Today, the PM will address meetings in Prayagraj and Varanasi while CM Adityanath will hold six meetings in Purvanchal. Both the alliances have instructed their key leaders and workers to camp in Varanasi. Today, the SP chief will campaign in his stronghold Azamgarh. Akhilesh Yadav had won from Azamgarh in the last election but later BJP snatched this seat from it in the by-election held on the seat which became vacant when he resigned from the seat. This time Akhileshs cousin Dharmendra Yadav is contesting from Azamgarh. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals aide Bibhav Kumar, arrested for alleged misconduct with Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal, was taken to Mumbai on Tuesday. Its related to his phone which is said to have been formatted there, which the police team will try to retrieve and ascertain all the facts with regard to its formatting and its data, the sources said. The police have also taken statements from some of the staff working at the CM residence who were present there on May 13, the day when the alleged incident took place. Advertisement On Monday, the police team investigating the case had taken Kumar to CM house, in a bid to re- create the scene of crime, and on Sunday the police team had taken the Digital Video Recorder(DVR) from the CM residence. The digital devices taken into custody by the police are being analysed by the forensic experts, sources said. Kumar is presently under five days custodial remand of the Delhi Police, and then will be produced before a Delhi Court on the next date of hearing in the matter. Kejriwals close aide Kumar was arrested on Saturday and produced before a Delhi court later that night. Meanwhile, Maliwal has said that Delhi ministers were spreading rumours that an FIR has been filed against her for corruption, and she did all this on the instructions of the BJP. Taking to social media platform X on Monday, the RS MP wrote that the said FIR was lodged 8 years ago in 2016 after which both the CM and LG appointed her as the Chairperson of the Womens Commission two times. She further claimed that the said case is completely false on which the Honble High Court has put a stay for 1.5 years. Maliwal further took a dig at the AAP leaders, and said that according to them, until she filed a complaint against Kumar, she was Lady Singham and presently had become a BJP agent. She further said that the entire troll army was deployed against her just because she spoke the truth. I will take you to court for every lie you spread, Maliwal added. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar will pay a visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran on 22 May to attend the official ceremony to pay condolences on the tragic demise of President of Iran Dr Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Dr Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other Iranian officials, in an unfortunate helicopter crash on 19 May. President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have conveyed their condolences to the government and people of Iran. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in New Delhi on Tuesday to convey Indias condolences on the tragic loss. India observed a day of national mourning on Tuesday. Advertisement The death of Irans eighth President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in north-western Iran amid bad weather sent shockwaves across West Asia. Raisi and others were travelling to Tabriz after inaugurating a dam with Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev, on the two countries shared border when his chopper went down in Irans East Azerbaijan province. The conflict in Gaza has not only strained Israels military and economic resources but has also exposed deep rifts within its government. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus commitment to a total victory over Hamas, without a clear post-war strategy, has drawn criticism from both his defence establishment and political allies. The absence of a coherent plan for Gazas future governance risks prolonging instability and undermines Israels long-term security interests. Defense Minister Yoav Gallants recent demand for a concrete strategy underscores the urgent need for clarity. His refusal to support a permanent military government in Gaza highlights the immense costs and challenges associated with such an approach. Mr Gallants stance, supported by centrist former generals Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, contrasts sharply with the hardline views of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Internal Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. This division reflects broader tensions within the Israeli cabinet, where the military pragmatism of some members clashes with the ideological fervour of others. The financial burden of a potential military administration in Gaza, estimated at over $5 billion annually, is a significant concern. Such an undertaking would not only strain Israels economy but also divert crucial military resources from other strategic areas. Historical precedents, like Israels prolonged occupation of southern Lebanon, serve as cautionary tales about the high costs and limited effectiveness of military governance. Mr Netanyahus vision of a non-Hamas civilian administration under Israeli military oversight raises practical and ethical questions. The feasibility of identifying and empowering local leaders in Gaza who are both capable and willing to cooperate with Israel remains doubtful. Additionally, the absence of support from neighbouring Arab states for this plan further complicates its implementation. Without a viable governance structure, any attempt to stabilise Gaza post-Hamas is likely to falter. The broader Israeli publics waning support for the war, coupled with increasing prioritisation of hostage returns over Hamass destruction, indicates a shift in public sentiment. This change reflects a growing recognition of the human and economic toll of the conflict. The political and social divisions within Israel, exemplified by the contentious debate over conscripting ultra-Orthodox students, suggest that continued instability in Gaza could exacerbate internal fractures. A sustainable resolution to the Gaza conflict necessitates a comprehensive and inclusive strategy. Engaging with the Palestinian Authority, despite its imperfections, offers a more plausible path to stability than unilateral military solutions. Advertisement International legitimacy and cooperation are crucial for any long-term peace effort. Ignoring these realities risks entrenching a cycle of violence and instability that benefits neither Israelis nor Palestinians. Israels path forward in Gaza requires a departure from the current trajectory of indefinite military engagement and ideological entrenchment. A clear, pragmatic strategy that addresses both immediate security concerns and long-term governance issues is essential. The Israeli governments internal divisions, while challenging, present an opportunity to forge a more balanced and effective approach. Embracing dialogue and international collaboration could pave the way for a more stable and secure future for both Israelis and Palestinians. Recently India and Iran signed a ten-year contract to develop and operate the Iranian port of Chabahar. For India the port offers access to landlocked Central Asian republics as also Afghanistan, bypassing Pakistan which denies India use of its land routes. Located about 170 km west of Pakistans Gwadar, a port under development by China, Chabahar has major strategic significance. India and Iran first agreed to develop the port in 2003 but it was stalled due to sanctions imposed on Iran. In May 2016, India signed an agreement to develop one of the berths by constructing a container handling facility. It also dispatched equipment to enable the port to function. In October 2017, Indias first shipment of wheat was despatched to Afghanistan through this port. In December 2018, India took over the management of the port. The port has been handling containers and normal traffic. It has moved over 2.5 million tonnes of wheat and pulses for Afghanistan as also environmentfriendly pesticide for Iran. Indias shipping minister, Sarbananda Sonawal, mentioned after the signing ceremony, Chabahar Ports significance transcends its role as a mere conduit between India and Iran. It serves as a vital trade artery connecting India with Afghanistan and Central Asian countries. Irans urban development minister, Mehrdad Bazrpash, who also inked the agreement, mentioned, We are pleased with this agreement, and we have full trust in India. India is expected to invest $120 million and also offer Iran a $250 million line of credit. Chabahar will be connected to the INSTC (International North South Transport Corridor), emanating from Russia for onward connectivity with India. The initial agreement for the INSTC was signed between India, Russia and Iran and subsequently included ten other Central Asian nations including Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, Syria, Belarus, and Oman. It would be a mix of rail and sea transportation challenging the Chinese BRI (Belt Road Initiative) and CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor). If the US considers sanctions, it would be impacting multiple nations which have signed the project, an act it would seriously need to consider. Afghanistan, which was thus far dependent on Pakistan for all its trade, recently made an announcement to also invest $35 million in Chabahar. The investment includes the construction of an economic development zone in Chabahar for Afghanistan. Advertisement This investment would reshape regional dynamics as Kabul would largely eliminate its dependency on Pakistan, thereby reducing the little influence Islamabad has over it. It would counterbalance Chinas development of Gwadar. Chabahar would make the Chinese plan to extend the CPEC to Afghanistan partially redundant. Hence sanctioning of the port will need deliberation. Pakistan and Iran had signed an agreement to build an Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline in 2009. Iran has already completed the pipeline in its territory, while Pakistan has yet to commence. Failure to do so in the coming months would imply an $18 billion penalty on Pakistan. Islamabads delay rises from fear of imposition of US sanctions which could block funding from global institutions. Hence Pakistan has requested the US for a waiver. On its part, the US has warned Pak, we always advise everyone that doing business with Iran runs the risk of touching upon and coming in contact with our sanctions, and would advise everyone to consider that very carefully. Simultaneously, the US has been renewing quarterly sanction waivers enabling Iraq to import electricity from Iran. Payment for it is deposited in a bank account in Oman which Iran converts into Euros for essential procurements from Europe. The announcement of India signing the agreement also led to a possible warning of sanctions from the US. State depar tment spokesperson, Vedant Patel, when quizzed on the agreement mentioned, Any entity, anyone considering business deals with Iran, they need to be aware of the potential risk that they are opening themselves up to and the potential risk of sanctions. His statement was broad based. India had developed the port when sanctions were relaxed on Iran in 2016 post the Iran nuclear deal also termed as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action from which President Donald Trump withdrew in May 2018. Trump had exempted Indias development of Chabahar project due to its investments in Afghanistans reconstruction. There is no doubt that India was aware of on-going US sanctions as also downward spiral in US-Iran relations, over its support to its proxies currently targeting Israel, shipping in the Red Sea as also its providing drones and ammunition to Russia, when it signed the agreement. Delhi also knows that there could be a change in guard at the White House early next year. External Affairs minister Jaishankar appeared confident of handling US sanctions. In an interaction he mentioned, I think its a question of communicating, convincing, and getting people to understand that this is actually for everyones benefit. I dont think people should take a narrow view of it. They (US) have not done so in the past. He added, If you look at the US own attitude towards the port in Chabahar, the US has been appreciative of the fact that Chabahar has a larger relevancewe will work at it. Jaishankar was referring to the US not sanctioning India earlier as the port benefitted Afghanistan. Evidently, the US imposes sanctions based on a case-by-case basis. India has faced threats of sanctions on multiple occasions including on its procurements of S-400 missile systems as also oil from Russia. It was able to convince the US to ignore these procurements. Further, the US needs Indias support in multiple regions including its handling of Chinese aggression. As its spokesperson stated while commenting on Indian elections, (The US considers India as) the single most important country for it for the next 35 years. It cannot antagonize a major ally. India is also not Pakistan which can be compelled to bow down. Comments by the US spokesperson could be only a threat or a general warning to nations considering trade with Iran and not India specific. The US is aware that losing an ally like India could be disadvantageous in the long term. We need to wait and watch if diplomacy, partnerships and logic prevail over irrational decisions. Sanctions on Chabahar will impact many nations, including US allies. (The writer is a retired Major-General of the Indian Army.) In a poor country like India, public representatives had to appear poor to garner sympathy from their constituents. It was no accident that Mahatma Gandhi, a barrister from Inner Temple, after coming to India from South Africa, always wore only a dhoti. Jawaharlal Nehru, another barrister from Inner Temple, born with a golden spoon, and the other leading lights of the freedom movement preferred to live in austerity, in solidarity with their countrymen. With the rise in general prosperity, Indian politicians nowadays do not need to flaunt their poverty, but spouting propoor rhetoric is a must for vote gathering. The hypocrisy behind such posturing can be judged from an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which showed that 233 MPs i.e., 43 per cent of the 17th Lok Sabha MPs, faced criminal charges, and 83 per cent were crorepatis. Thus, the overwhelming majority of MPs are rich, with some also being on the wrong side of law. The composition of the 18th Lok Sabha is not likely to be any different; the percentage of candidates with criminal antecedents has not declined, and Lok Sabha aspirants include a number of individuals with a worth of more than one thousand crore rupees. Still, the favourite whipping boys for politicians of all hues are plutocrats ~ personified by Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani ~ conveniently shortened, and conflated into AmbaniAdani. At the beginning of the present elections, and in fact much before, the Congress went hammer and tongs against the duo, accusing them of profiteering at the cost of the common man, with the connivance of the present dispensation. But after the third phase of voting, we find the Prime Minister, an avowed votary of free enterprise, accusing the aforementioned gentlemen of delivering tempo loads of cash to the Congress. Probably, as Cicero had said much earlier, it is a case of o tempora, o mores (Oh the times! Oh the customs!). But are plutocrats really guilty of the crimes they are charged with, viz. amassing fortunes in an underhand manner? The charge does not stick, because in the recent past, not a single prominent Indian businessman has been accused of a serious crime, much less been found guilty by a court of law. Advertisement Agreed, Indian businessmen are sharp and selfish, but that does not make them criminals. Rather, with Government jobs drying up, and the public sector not doing very well, private enterprise has driven growth, and provided lakhs of youth with steady employment. On the other hand, there are innumerable instances where politicians have been caught with their hand in the till, and with Chief Ministers of Delhi and Jharkhand along with cabinet ministers of sundry States being jailed on corruption charges, the public perception of morality of politicians has touched rock bottom. Playing a double game, in good times, politicians consort with businessmen, but abandon them at the first hint of danger. Thus, Vijay Mallya became a Rajya Sabha MP, with the backing of a national party. Politicians, cutting across party lines, travelled in Mallyas private jet, and enjoyed his famed hospitality, but were the first to condemn him when he turned rogue. Similarly, Nirav Modi is said to have accompanied the Indian delegation to the World Economic Forum at Davos, in 2018. The Vohra Committee, set up in 1993, to probe the nexus between criminals, bureaucrats and politicians, concluded: The various crime Syndicates/ Mafia organisations have developed significant muscle and money power and established linkages with governmental functionaries, political leaders and others to be able to operate with impunity (as recently exemplified by the activities of the Memon Brothers and Dawood Ibrahim). The Vohra Committee suggested setting up of a nodal agency to which all existing intelligence and enforcement agencies (irrespective of the Department under which they were located) would promptly pass on all information in their possession, about crime syndicates. Pursuant to the Vohra Committees recommendation, the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB), was formed as a statutory agency to co-ordinate the working of myriad investigating agencies. Due to various reasons, mainly institutional resistance, lack of political will and legal hurdles, CEIB failed to achieve the purpose for which it was formed, and till today various investigative agencies continue to function in their respective silos. The case of gangster Vikas Dubey exemplifies the ineffectiveness of enforcement agencies to curb organised crime. To reiterate: Vikas Dubey, a notorious criminal and district-level politician, was involved in a string of murders, and other crimes but had always escaped punishment. Through his criminal activities, Dubey had amassed assets of around Rs.6,000 crore, both in India, and abroad. However, myriad enforcement agencies ~ Police, CBI, SFIO, NIA, NCB and IB, who enforce criminal laws like the IPC, NSA, UAPA, MCOCA etc and agencies like the Income-tax Department, Customs Department, ED, SFIO, DRI, and DGGI, which enforce financial laws like the Income-tax Act, Customs Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Black Money Act, Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act etc. failed to prevent Dubey from engaging in his nefarious activities, or even to ensure that he got his just desserts. In the end, to assuage resentment of the public, Dubey was encountered and some of his properties were bulldozed ~ a primitive way to deal with a criminal, when the country has so many sophisticated investigative agencies, as also a strong judiciary. The Electoral Bonds affair (2024) shows that the unholy nexus between criminals, bureaucrats, and politicians had strengthened and widened with time, with businessmen being coopted into the triad ~ sometimes reluctantly, for survival, but often willingly, with the expectation of reaping super-normal profits. To elucidate: Electoral Bonds data strongly suggests that some companies had donated money to political parties before or after award of lucrative government contracts. Surprisingly, some companies had donated money many times in excess of their net worth, pointing to those companies being fronts for others, indicating violation of both taxation and electoral laws. Other companies had donated money after the visit of enforcement agencies. Instead of initiating penal action against the erring corporates and political parties, the government and those running it, without any enquiry, denied any wrong-doing and wholeheartedly defended the Electoral Bonds scheme. The PM said that the Supreme Courts decision to scrap the Electoral Bonds scheme had pushed the country towards black money in elections, and that on honest reflection, everyone will regret it. One reason for the criminal, bureaucrat, politician and businessman nexus becoming almost impregnable is that political parties freely co-opt criminals and businessmen to their ranks, so much so, that it would appear that the three streams have merged. For political parties, businessmen are an inhouse source of cash, while criminals help them achieve dubious aims. In return, businessmen-turned-politicians corner lucrative contracts, while criminals get immunity from police action. The criminal-politicianbureaucrat nexus can be broken only by preventing the entry of criminals into politics, and ensuring the honesty of politicians and bureaucrats. Many methods have been tried to achieve this result, like establishing exclusive courts for trying public representatives and disqualifying convicted politicians from running for office. A host of agencies e.g., Lokpal, Lokayukta, CBI and State Anti-Corruption Bureaus try to ensure probity in public life, but with little success, mostly because of lack of political support. The main impediment to rooting out corruption is the public acceptance of corruption. There can be no end to corruption, till the public decides to boycott all kinds of corrupt public servants and not vote for criminals ~ even of their own caste. Institutionalised corruption has been the reason for the downfall of our ancient civilisation. As Salman Rushdie had observed: There are two things in Indian history ~ one is the incredible optimism and potential of the place, and the other is the betrayal of that potential ~ for example, corruption. Those two strands intertwine through the whole of Indian history, and maybe not just Indian history. It is for us to ensure that corruption does not become the bane of our present civilization also. (The writer is a retired Principal Chief Commissioner of Income-Tax) On a hot, sultry evening, in the midst of an intense heat wave, the clap of thunder and rumble of clouds, signalling impending rain, greeted the audience at the Ravindra Bharathi auditorium in Hyderabad. However, they were drenched not by rain but by the mesmerising music created by tabla maestro Bickram Ghosh and his fusion band Rhythmscape. Ghosh was accompanied by a stellar ensemble of musicians: V Suresh on ghatam, S Pranav Dath on drums, Abhisekh Mallick on sitar, Pulak Sarkar on keyboard, and Nirmalya Roy performing the vocals. The musical evening was organised by the Jadavpur University Alumni Association, Hyderabad Chapter, to raise funds for its philanthropic activities. Ghosh, who easily segues between the world of poor classical music and the genre of fusion music, formed his iconic band Rhythmscape about 22 years ago. But as he pointed out to the audience at the very beginning, no two shows were alike since a lot of it was pure improvisation on the part of the musicians. The first composition they chose for the evening was the Dance of Shiva (tandav), based on Raag Jog. And the edgy, energetic piece was the perfect opening for the concert, setting the very mood of the evening. The next composition, Zinc, was based on the musical experiences of listening to jazz performances at New Yorks Zinc Bar. Jazz subtly ran through the entire composition, which was based on Raag Megh, before moving on to Raag Malhar, producing an enchanting blend of musical genres. The audience was transported to a monsoon day complete with the ominous gathering of stormy clouds, the clap of thunder, and the pitter-patter of raindrops. The next one was also a cocktail as Ghosh described it, but of North and South Indian classical music. Since he had trained in Carnatic music and accompanied several renowned musicians, such as M. Balamuralikrishna, he incorporated certain Carnatic influences into his music. The raag chosen was Charukeshi, followed by tani avartam, or drum jamming, between Suresh, Pranav and Ghosh, with each of them displaying their technical and creative prowess and adaptability. Suresh was a treat to watch, and Ghosh, of course, went beyond his percussion instruments and tapped his cheeks to produce unique sounds. He thumped his chest to perfectly replicate the throbbing beat of the heart. Before the concert, Ghosh shared, I do a lot of stuff, which is simply crazy. I play my chest and my body, and I throw the tabla into the air. I was heavily criticised in the early days, and now, after so many days, when people say it is iconic, it is ironic for me. The audience got a glimpse of that iconic percussion wizard during the high-octane drum jam. Advertisement The trio then carried on a conversation between them in their unique drumming language, much to the delight of the audience. Pranav is from Bangalore. What is the traffic in Bangalore like? asked Ghosh. Pranavs reply in rapid beats perfectly captured the hustle and bustle of the citys chaotic traffic. While Pranav sat with his full set of drums and unleashed a storm of beats, Ghosh gave a pitiful look at the three clay pots and wondered aloud if Suresh could at all match up to that. The ghatam maestro had put on an equally sorry face, pointing at his own bald head and Pranavs thick curls before raising a storm of his own on the ghatam. The penultimate piece Ghosh chose for the evening was a composition created by the sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar while raising funds for Bangladesh in 1971. Although a great number of global artists, like George Harrison, participated in the concert, the mellifluous essence of the piece was truly Bengali. Fifty years later too, it struck a chord among the large section of probashi Bengalis in the audience. Sitarist Abhisek Mallick took the lead, but the goosebumps-raising moment of the concert was definitely when Roy sang a few lines of Jodi tor daak shune keu na ashe, the iconic song by Rabindranath Tagore composed during the Swadeshi period, followed by a kirtan Hari haraye namah Krishna and ending in a crescendo. Ghosh had accompanied Pandit Ravi Shankar for 12 years, and he described his first meeting with the maestro as a life-changing one. The last piece of the evening was a composition based on Raag Banjara, one of the ragas composed by Pandit Ravi Shankar. The virtuoso perhaps chose it not only as a tribute to the city of Hyderabad and its famed Banjaras but as one to his guru. Two American mystery thriller writers, Shirley Jackson and Patricia Highsmith, continue to enthral not just readers but also filmmakers who have adapted their stories for film and television series. What set these two writers apart from others before them was that they dived deep into human psychology and crime. Their stories are simply not in the whodunit mould. Patricia Highsmith, who is known for her work like Strangers on a Train, filmed by none other than Alfred Hitchcock, returns again and again on the screen. Her four books on The Talented Mr Ripley are currently packaged into an eight-part series on Netflix. Tom Ripley is an out-and-out con master, initially down and out in New York, resorting to small financial frauds. The older term for such men known to lie, kill, and cheat and yet not get caught was psychopath, until another description came along: sociopath. He is one who is suave and stylish and drinks wine and canapes in polite society with you and me. He is also an excellent conversationalist without giving anything away. But wait, he can also be up to several scams and crimes, including murder. He is the master of reinvention because he knows how to survive and well. Advertisement A scary thought, but such is his power and charm, especially over women. In the Netflix series, Andrew Scott of Sherlock fame is Tom Ripley, while Dickie Greenleaf is played by Johnny Flynn. Dickies rich father, who lives in New York, has sent Tom to look for his estranged son, who spent time on an island in Italy, not bothering to return home. Dakota Fanning is Marge Sherwood, who is with Dickie, working on her book. Shot in black and white, the series is very tightly knit, almost gothic, with long, languor paces almost matching the American droll of both New Yorkers. It captures the laid-back character of Dickie in a seaside town, with the vastness of the sea almost creeping into his spacious villa located next to it. Zaillian, who wrote the script for Spielbergs Schindlers List, is a brilliant scriptwriter known for the television series A Night Of. Little by little, the characteristics of the main characters are revealed, which many viewers may find a bit slow. But that is the unique charm of this series. The Ripley story in the 1999 version by Antony Minghella of The English Patient fame had cast Matt Demon as Ripley and Jude Law as Dickie Greenleaf. Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett featured as well. This film is available on Netflix, should you wish to compare the two. Comparisons are odious, but both Ripleys are up for comparison, and Minghellas version shows more happy moments in the seaside town. Steven Zaillians version sticks closer to the neo-noir of Highsmith, with a foreboding of something evil to come. We are first introduced to Tom, who is already established as doing small con jobs in New York; but his acceptance of the job to track down Mr Greenleafs vagabond son is the first step in the plot that involves deceit, fraud, and murder. It has a bit of love, but not too much of it. Giving away spoilers for those who have not read Highsmith would not be fair, but suffice to say that after a long pause, a good series is back on Netflix. It is a good sign because OTT channels are gradually losing out as more and more films are releasing in theatres. US President Joe Biden has termed as outrageous the application by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to have an arrest warrant issued against Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. The ICC prosecutors application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence none between Israel and Hamas, Biden said on Monday. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken termed the ICC prosecutors equivalence of Israel with Hamas shameful. Advertisement We reject the prosecutors equivalence of Israel with Hamas. It is shameful. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organisation that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and is still holding dozens of innocent people, hostage, including Americans, he said. The US had made clear before the current war that the ICC had no jurisdiction in this matter, Blinken said. He noted that Israel had cooperated with the prosecutor, even though it was not a member of the court. Fundamentally, this decision does nothing to help and could jeopardise, ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement that would get hostages out and surge humanitarian assistance in, which are the goals the US continues to pursue relentlessly, Blinken concluded. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor to apply for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders will bring shame down on the court and turn it into a farce. As the Prime Minister of Israel, I reject with disgust the prosecutors comparison between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas. This is a complete distortion of reality, Netanyahu said on Monday. The outrageous decision by the ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, to seek arrest warrants against the democratically-elected leaders of Israel is a moral outrage of historic proportions. It will cast an everlasting mark of shame on the international court, the Israeli Prime Minister said in a video message posted on X. Advertisement Israel was waging a just war against Hamas, Netanyahu said, describing Hamas as a genocidal terrorist organisation. He rejected any moral equivalence between Hamas and Israeli leaders as twisted and false. The warrant application was a travesty of justice and a disgrace, he said. It was an attempt to deny Israel the basic right of self-defence and would fail. Netanyahu accused Khan of pouring fuel on the fires of anti-Semitism and said his abuse of his authority would turn the ICC into nothing more than a farce. Photo taken on Oct 28, 2021 shows the White House in Washington, DC, the United States. [Photo/Xinhua] Global Times-China on Sunday started an anti-dumping investigation into polyformaldehyde copolymer imported from the EU, the US, China's Taiwan region, and Japan. This investigation is well-founded, reasonable and legal, yet some Western media outlets view it as China's "retaliation," claiming that it is suspected to be a "tit-for-tat action" against the recent US intensification of pressure on Chinese products such as electric vehicles. It seems that the latest trade protectionist measures deployed by the US against Chinese manufacturing have caused anxiety and unease among Americans before they could impact China. The anti-dumping investigation is based on a formal application submitted to the Ministry of Commerce on April 22 by six major Chinese polyformaldehyde copolymer producers. This application predates the US announcement of additional tariffs on Chinese goods by three weeks. Therefore, labeling this anti-dumping investigation as "retaliation" is clearly unfounded. Moreover, China's investigation into polyformaldehyde copolymer anti-dumping actually began in 2016, and in 2017, anti-dumping duties were imposed on this product from South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia. This current investigation simply expands the scope to include four more regions. So why has a regular and normal anti-dumping investigation led to such over-interpretation by Western media outlets? Before and after the US imposed additional tariffs on Chinese imports, some political figures and media outlets in Washington have been heavily focused on whether China would "retaliate." US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen previously stated, "Hopefully we will not see a significant Chinese response - but that's always a possibility." The Associated Press also quoted US government officials as saying they expected China to "explore ways to respond to the new taxes on its products." Washington is very worried about China taking countermeasures, which is why it is being so suspicious of China's anti-dumping investigations. In its editorial on May 14, The Wall Street Journal described the US government's imposition of tariffs on China's "new three" products as "the Sarajevo of the global green trade war," warning that this move is "certain to disrupt business supply chains and raise costs for US consumers and businesses," and will provoke Chinese retaliation. This sensitivity of the media to China's "countermeasures" suggests that they acknowledge their own government has made a "major mistake" in its trade decisions with China and believe that China will respond with similar "erroneous measures." In fact, the anti-dumping investigation conducted by China's Ministry of Commerce not only follows established practices but also complies with the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement, making it the "correct approach." The relevant information is transparent and openly available to stakeholders. The anti-dumping investigation is not targeted at any specific country or region, unlike the US that wields the stick of unilateralism, protectionism, and bullying against China, simply because it cannot tolerate China's manufacturing being stronger than its own. What we need to be vigilant about is that some Western media and politicians are taking this opportunity to hype up the notion of "China's retaliation." They aim to smear China's legitimate anti-dumping investigation by equating it with their own "trade protectionist" measures. In other words, they seek to justify their politicized trade protection policies by questioning the legitimacy of China's trade actions. In essence, they are using the murky waters of the "trade war" to confuse right and wrong, obscuring the truth, and shirking responsibility for the serious consequences their unilateral trade war has had on the global economy. This behavior of blaming China is truly contemptible. Since Washington announced additional tariffs on China, Western public opinion has been anxiously awaiting China's "retaliation." They have been speculating about what kinds of "retaliatory" actions are implied in the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson's statement that "China will take all measures necessary to defend its rights and interests." However, what deserves more attention is the preceding sentence from the spokesperson: "We urge the US to earnestly observe WTO rules and immediately cancel the additional tariffs on China." Although this anti-dumping investigation is not "retaliation," China does indeed have ample countermeasures at its disposal. China calls the shots on when this shoe will drop. Using trade protectionist measures to suppress China has not and will not hinder China's development and rejuvenation; instead, it will only motivate the Chinese people to work harder. We also advise some individuals in the US that, rather than worrying about whether China will "retaliate," it would be better to recognize their mistakes and change their trade protectionist practices. This is the right path to take. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded two $500,000 grants to corporations serving the Blackfeet Nation, Chippewa Cree Tribe and surrounding cities. The Bear Paw Development Corporation will use funds to examine environmental contamination in Havre and Box Elder. The Bullhook Community Health Center, a medical clinic in Havre, recently purchased vacant homes in the area to expand services. Grant funds will specifically be used to assess the presence of lead and asbestos before demolition and expansion of the center, according to a news release. The expansion is expected to create about 15 jobs. Funds will also help the Havre Senior Center assess the presence of petroleum prior to expansion. Women are currently unable to serve in the Havre Fire Department because the building does not have a womens locker room or dorm. The department has wanted to convert an unused shooting range for those purposes, but investigations revealed asbestos and lead. EPA funds will be used for extensive cleanup planning. Hill County owns an old landfill in Box Elder, and local leaders want to use the site for a solar farm to reduce energy costs for reservation residents. Grant funding will be used to examine contamination and determine if cleanup is needed. Executive Director of Bear Paw Development Corporation Paul Tuss said these clean-up efforts will help businesses and organizations redevelop properties to meet community needs. This is a big deal for our area, he said in a statement. The Sweetgrass Development Corporation in north central Montana also received $500,000 to assess potential contamination areas on the Blackfeet Reservation. Funds will go toward expanding the Coops Corner Conoco gas station at the junction of U.S. Highway 2 and U.S. Highway 89. Plans include expanding the stores inventory as well as adding laundry services and a car wash. The Cowboy Museum sits vacant in downtown Browning. Potential developers, according to a news release, are discouraged by the potential presence of asbestos and lead-based paint. EPA funds will be used to assess the site. The Sunburst Car Wash, east of the reservation, is for sale, but developers are concerned about contamination, as the site was once used as a lumber yard. EPA funds will be used to assess the property. The Glacier Village Restaurant and Glacier Park Village will also be examined for asbestos and lead-based paint. Funding for these projects was made possible through the EPAs Brownfields Program, which began in 1995 and has provided almost $2.7 billion for clean-up efforts. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law dramatically increased the yearly capacity of this grant. Sen. Jon Tester was the only member of Montana's delegation to support the law. He said the recent grants will "boost economic development and improve quality of life." For more information, visit epa.gov/brownfields. With days left for Delhi to vote in the Lok Sabha elections, the war of words between AAP and BJP has intensified, with the former alleging 'BJP conspiracy' in the Enforcement Directorate's charges that the party received foreign funds. Stating that the party has transparently accepted donations, AAP leaders Atishi and Sandeep Pathak said the BJP has "brought a new conspiracy via the ED." The Enforcement Directorate has written to the Union Home Ministry alleging the Aam Aadmi Party, which rules Delhi and Punjab, has received more than Rs 7 crore foreign funds in contravention of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), official sources said Monday. The federal probe agency sent the communication after it recovered some documents and emails during a drugs-linked money laundering probe against former Punjab AAP MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira and some others. Atishi and Pathak alleged that the BJP was trying to rake up an old issue to target the party and claimed that more such allegations will crop up with elections nearing in Delhi. "The BJP can make as many allegations as they want. The people of Delhi and Punjab will answer these allegations. This is a matter of many years and the AAP has already given answers to the CBI, IT, ED and the ECI," the leaders said. "These are baseless allegations. It is an old case where it is already proved that no illegal donation was taken. As the elections are going on, the BJP has hatched a new conspiracy to frame the AAP. They failed to frame us in the liquor scam and the Swati Maliwal issue. They also failed to keep Kejriwal ji behind the bars. That's why they have racked up this new issue now to target AAP," Atishi alleged. Meanwhile, Home Minister Amit Shah sharpened his attack on AAP convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, stating that he has "never seen a shameless person like Kejriwal, who doesn't resign even after going to jail". In a series of posts on X, Amit Shah hit out at Kejriwal. "I have never seen a shameless person like Kejriwal. Laluji (Former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav) went to jail after resigning due to corruption. Jayalalithaa went to jail after resigning and other ministers also went to jail after resigning. He is one such leader who went to jail but did not leave the post of Chief Minister." While campaigning for BJP's party candidate Ramvir Singh Bidhuri at a public rally in South Delhi, Shah said: "Kejriwal ji, you are sitting on the chair after sticking Fevicol on it. BJP is going to win all seven seats on the 4th. This Fevicol will come off." Attacking the Delhi government sarcastically, Shah said, "This Kejriwal government is a 3G government. The first G is for scams, the second G is for bribery, and the third G is for fraud. Kejriwal, who called himself a staunchly honest man, is today walking on the path of staunch dishonesty," Shah alleged. Retorting Home Minister Amit Shahs shameless remark against him, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the former has become arrogant even before becoming the prime minister. The Aam Aadmi Party leader asserted BJP is not going to form the government after the June 4 Lok Sabha poll results. "Yesterday Amit Shah ji came to Delhi and less than 500 people were present in his public meeting. After coming to Delhi, he started abusing the people of the country and said that the supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party are Pakistani. I want to ask him, the people of Delhi have formed our government by giving us 62 seats, 56 per cent vote share, are the people of Delhi Pakistanis?, Kejriwal said. The AAP leader asked, The people of Punjab have given us 92 seats out of 117 seats, are the people of Punjab Pakistanis? The people of Gujarat, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and in many parts of the country gave us love and trust, are all the people of this country Pakistanis? Kejriwal charged the Union home minister has become arrogant as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chosen him as his successor. PM Modi has chosen you as his successor. You have become so proud of this that you have started abusing and threatening people. You have not become PM, yet, you have become so arrogant, he said. The AAP leader claimed BJP will not form the government after June 4. For your information, let me tell you that you are not becoming the PM, because, people are not forming the BJP government on June 4." Campaigning in Delhi on Monday, Shah said, Kejriwal and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi have no support in India, their supporters are in Pakistan. Training guns at Kejriwal, Shah said he has not seen any leader who has taken more "U-turns" than the AAP national convener. "Kejriwal believes in the odd-even formula - on odd days he gives speeches against corruption and on even days he forms Ghamandiya (arrogant) alliance with the corrupt. On odd days, he becomes the owner of Delhi and on even days, the owner of the country. On odd days, he seeks the resignation of others and on even days, he goes to jail without resigning," Shah said. Alleging that there have been numerous scams under the Kejriwal government, the senior BJP leader said, "There has been a probe into the liquor scam only so far. Investigation into seven other scams remains to be conducted." Describing Kejriwal as "shameless", Shah said, "He is the only leader who has remained chief minister even after going to jail. After the BJP wins the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, the 'Fevicol' with which Kejriwal is sticking to the chair of the chief minister will come unstuck." -with inputs from ANI, PTI. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's personal aide Bibhav Kumar who is under a five-day judicial custody in connection with alleged assault on AAP MP Swati Maliwal, was taken to Mumbai on Tuesday to retrieve data from his formatted iPhone. His mobile phone was recovered after his arrest but he reportedly formatted that phone before transferring the data to some person or device in Mumbai. The iPhone is password-protected and the Delhi police are trying to retrive the deleted data with the help of experts. Earlier, police took Kumar to the chief minister's Civil Lines residence on May 20 to recreate the crime scene in the drawing room. They have documented Kumar's statements, mapped the sequence and took photographs of the crime scene. Kumar had also lodged a counter-complaint wherein he accused Maliwal of gaining "unauthorised entry" into the CM's residence and abusing him verbally. Over 36 flamingos died reportedly after an Emirates aircraft rammed into the flock of birds in the Mumbai Ghatkopar area. According to a wildlife welfare group representative, the carcasses of over 36 birds have been recovered from the Rasika Restaurant and Bar in Laxmi Nagar in the Pant Nagar area of Ghatkopar. The incident was confirmed by the Maharashtra Forest Department (MFD) and the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). "From the scene, it seemed that the cause of death was a hit by an aeroplane," BNHS Director Kishor Rithe told reporters. The incident came to light after calls from people who spotted the dead birds began to pour in at the Forest Department on Monday night and Tuesday morning. Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW) founder and honorary wildlife warden with the forest department Pawan Sharma said the forest department's mangrove cell, along with the RAWW team, launched a search operation during which the bloody remains of the birds were found in the area. "The carcasses were sent for an autopsy to find out the exact cause of the death," Sharma told reporters. Reports quoting airport sources said EK 508, an Emirates flight, reported a bird hit on arrival at 9.18 pm. The flight, which suffered damages, landed safely at Mumbai airport. However, the return flight - bound for Dubai - had to be cancelled. Meanwhile, the incident has triggered speculations about what might have caused the tragic incident. Environmentalist D Stalin on NGO Vanshakti told Hindustan Times that the new power lines through the Thane Creek Wildlife Sanctuary area could have caused disorientation to the birds. He added that authorities should have never permitted the power lines to pass through the sanctuary. "Alternate routes were many. While giving permissions for power lines (earlier, it was not allowed inside sanctuaries) the wildlife board meekly surrendered to the power company. Instead, the Thane Creek Wildlife Sanctuary was bulldozed and towers erected," Stalin alleged. Last week, the BNHS submitted a study report to the Maharastra government urging it to replace the Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights with Low-Pressure Sodium lights in the DPS Lake area of the satellite township of Navi Mumbai following the recent deaths of flamingos. They also called for the restoration of tidal water flow in the DPS Lake. Amidst the political and climatic heat during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, general observer of Anandpur Sahib in Punjab has taken up the mantle of making the polling in his constituency "eco-friendly". For this, the parliamentary segment is planning to hand out saplings to voters on the day of polling among other steps. This is in line with the directions of the Election Commission to ensure "environmentally sustainable elections" even though hardly any parliamentary seat on which the votes have been cast so far showed any signs of significantly adhering to the ECs environmental mandate. Election officials planting a saplings as part of the efforts to hold a green election at Anandpur Sahib constituency in Punjab Taking eco-friendly elections as seriously as other aspects of conducting elections, general observer of Anandpur constituency, Punjab, Dr Hira Lal is undertaking 'Green Planning' in his jurisdiction, as part of which 'Green booths' would be set up at the polling stations. "In consonance with the motto of Green Elections, we are urging the candidates of all political parties to plant a sapling every day before going for campaigning," Dr. Hira Lal told The WEEK. "We will be setting up Green Booths on polling stations where we will distribute saplings to people and encourage them to plant more and more trees to neutralise the carbon footprint generated due to the polling exercise." "They can take the saplings to their farms and houses and plant them," he said. Dr Lal, who is presently posted as the Special Secretary, Irrigation & Water Resources Department, Uttar Pradesh, said they will try to make the Anandpur Sahib constituency in Mohali the model of green elections in the country. On May 17, Dr. Lal held a meeting with all district election officers, police representatives, returning officers and others to chalk out the layout of green elections in his segment. "We have asked all involved to plant maximum trees and ensure minimum use of single-use plastic during training, dispatch and collection of EVMs," said Lal. "Our slogan is free, fair, transparent and environmentally-friendly election process. On our end, the government staff engaged in the election arrangements have been asked to be ambassadors of 'Green Elections'. Dr. Hira Lal gained popularity in 2019 after he played an instrumental role in increasing the voter turnout by 10.5 per cent in the Lok Sabha elections by using innovative methods as the district magistrate at Banda in Uttar Pradesh. "Efforts are on to identify the causes of higher voter turnouts from experiences of past elections and take the necessary steps to bring more and more people out of their homes to exercise their right," said Lal, who also received several accolades for bringing dry Bundelkhands Banda region out of water scarcity through various water conservation efforts. "I am not doing anything that has not been asked of me. It is in the ECs guidelines to make the elections eco-friendly. This should be done in other constituencies as well," adds Dr. Lal. For his derogatory remarks against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Election Commission of India (ECI) restricted Tamluk BJP candidate Abhijit Gangopadhyay from campaigning for 24 hours, starting from 5pm on Tuesday. The commissions decision was taken after Trinamool Congress (TMC) lodged a complaint alleging that the former Calcutta High Court justice had made blatant misogynistic comments against the only female chief minister of India. In a video from a rally in West Bengals Haldia on May 15, Gangopadhyay was seen reacting against the TMCs allegations that women protesters in Sandeshkhali were paid Rs 2,000 to speak against the states ruling party. Gangopadhyay said in the video, Today the Trinamool is telling all the lies, claiming that Rekha Patra was bought for Rs 2,000. Mamata Banerjee, what is your selling price then? You give a job if someone pays you Rs 8 lakh. Someone pays you Rs 10 lakh and sells rations to a foreign country. So is your price Rs 10 lakh because you get facials and make-up done. Rekha Patra is poor so she can be brought for Rs 2,000? Can a woman say such things about another woman? I doubt if Mamata Banerjee is at all a woman, he said. Gangopadhyay's comments led to a huge controversy with the TMC urging the ECI to intervene immediately. The commission had issued a show-cause notice to Gangopadhyay and asked him to reply to the TMCs complaint. The BJP candidate submitted his reply on Monday. After going through his reply, the ECI found his remarks against Mamata Banerjee to be low-level personal attack which violated the model code of conduct. The commission also said that Gangopadhyays abominable comments had brought damage to West Bengal which has a distinguished tradition of respecting women. The ECI also warned the former Calcutta High Court justice to refrain from repeating such comments in future public meetings. The Congress history is best reflected in its party office in Patna, Sadakat Ashram. Its foundation was laid by Mahatma Gandhi in 1921. Rajendra Prasad, the first president of India, made it his retirement home. The party office is now longing to see its glory days again. The WEEK caught up with Congress state president Akhilesh Singh, who earlier served as a minister of state in the Manmohan Singh government, and is now a Rajya Sabha member. Singh expressed his hope that results of the general elections from the state would lead to a revival of the Congress party. What is your assessment of the Bihar elections ? One will witness surprising results in Bihar. Those who thought that alliance between Nitish Kumar and BJP will secure majority like 2019 will be in for a surprise. We contested three seats in the second phase and we will win them. Candidates of our alliance partnersRJD and Leftwill also win their seats. You claim BJP will change Constitution after winning 400 seats. The BJP says Congress is misguiding the people. PM Modi has assured it wont be changed. When they can easily form government with 272 seats, they got 303 in 2019. If they dont want to change the Constitution, then why they are claiming to get over 400 seats. One needs 3/4 majority to change Constitution, thats why they are asking for 400 seats. But, let me tell you, no one is taking them seriously. People are now laughing at their claims, saying that if Modi comes to power then price of petrol and diesel will cross Rs 400. Congress has made certain promises in these elections. BJP relies on Modi guarantee. Is this election a contest between two guarantees ? Modis guarantee does not carry much weight. Congress and Rahul Gandhis guarantees are different from theirs. Rahul ji has travelled over 4,000 kilometers from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and then again from Imphal to Mumbai. He listened to people and their aspirations, which is reflected in the guarantees. Moreover, Rahul Gandhi is giving the guarantees by attesting them with his signature. Congress president Malikarjun Kharge has also given his signature. Our workers are taking it to the people and getting them to register their names for women and youth promises. Over Rs 16,000 crore have been written off by the Modi government for the rich. If they can do it for the rich, why cant others give money to the poor? Our Constitution was formed on the premise of a welfare state. Congress always stood for the poor and farmers. Caste census and reservation were the two issues that were highlighted when Nitish Kumar was with you. What will be the change now? It is his problem that he has changed sides, but we are where we are. The BJP didnt want the census. Even when we were not with Nitish, the Congress representative was there in the all-party meeting with the prime minister. Nitish Kumar has changed sides so many times, but none of the parties have found an alternative to him? Others may be thinking so, but I dont think so. Nitish Kumar is now history. He has finished his innings. This is the last election he is contesting. He will not be there, neither will be his party. How will the assembly elections, next year, be impacted? I am not a psephologist. But I can say, BJP alliance will lose badly. The 2019 gave a huge mandate to the NDA alliance. BJP says that duo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Nitish Kumar will repeat that mandate? Though we lost the 2019 elections, look at 2020 assembly elections. Same alliance existed then. The only difference between the two alliances was a gap of merely 12,000 votes. If we leave out the North Bihar, be it Seemanchal and Mithanchal, where we lost, the difference elsewhere was very less, only 6000 votes. RJD emerged as the biggest party. This is there for everyone to see. As the election is proceeding, the BJP factor is on the wane. If we look at the Congress, it has not been able to recover its ground since 1990s. How can the party be revived in the Hindi heartland? Wait for the election results, you see the change. Even the opinion polls have said that the Congress will gain. Rahul Gandhis leadership has been accepted by the youth, farmers, workers and women. The way Rahul Gandhi has campaigned from road to parliament, it shows he is the only leader in the country who is fighting Modi. He never gave up even when he was questioned in the ED office. His acceptance is going up, while Modis acceptance is coming down. I spoke to a Jat yesterday who came to meet me in my flat in Noida. He belongs to the western UP, and I asked him for whom Jats are likely to vote for in the present parliamentary elections. His reply was simplicity itself. He said: ''We will vote for the Jat candidate, to whichever party he may belong. I then asked for whom will they vote if there were several Jat candidates in a particular constituency. ''We will then vote for the most prominent Jat among them, came the reply. This conversation expresses and sums up the mindsets of not just Jats, but maybe 90 per cent of Indians. Their mindsets are largely feudal, full of casteism, communalism, and superstitions. When they go to vote, most Indians do not see the merit of the candidate, whether he is a good man or bad, educated or uneducated, having criminal antecedents or not (that is why there are so many members in our legislatures with criminal antecedents), but only see his caste or creed (or the caste and creed his/her party claims to represent). They vote in droves like sheep and cattle, skilfully manipulated by our political leaders who are experts in vote bank politics, polarisation of society, and inciting and spreading caste and communal hatred. As long as this situation and such feudal mindsets in the vast majority of our people remain, I do not see how India can progress. Is there a remedy for this? I believe there is, and that is a hard hit on the backsides of our people with a thick danda, which will awaken them, and bring them to their senses. Let me explain by givng some historical examples. There were revolutions in France in 1789, in Russia in 1917, and in China in 1949, which destroyed the feudal regimes in those countries, and brought those countries into the modern age. These revolutions could never have happened without people in those countries getting the danda, as they were steeped in medieval obscurantism and religion. In France, this danda was the acute financial crisis and shortage of bread in Paris and other cities, which made lives unbearable for the people. In Russia, it was World War I which resulted in the deaths of millions of Russian soldiers, and huge sufferings by the civilian people causing bread riots. In China, it was the Japanese invasion of 1937 that resulted in massacres in Nanjing, Shanghai and elsewhere, and a huge suffering of the Chinese people. These dandas woke up these people and brought them to their senses. Without them, they would never have woken up. Something similar happened in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (which Pakistanis call Azad Kashmir). Most people living there are Muslims, and earlier they were all Pakistan supporters since Pakistan was an Islamic state. But in the huge public demonstrations and agitations going on, these Kashmiri Muslims were heard (on YouTube) condemning and abusing Pakistan and hoisting the Indian flag (although India is mostly Hindu.) One needs food to eat, but with food and electricity prices skyrocketing, life for not just Kashmiris but people all over the Indian subcontinent has all but become unbearable. It is this economic danda which is waking up people in our entire subcontinent, and bringing them into touch with realities. I get no pleasure in anyone getting a danda. But sometimes, like bitter medicine, it is a cruel necessity. The Pune police have arrested the owner and staff of a liquor bar which served alcohol to the teenager involved in the fatal car accident. The legal age for alcohol consumption in Maharashtra is 25 years. According to police, hours before the crash, the 17-year-old was seen consuming alcohol at two local pubs, where he was celebrating his class 12 results. Pune Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar told NDTV, The legal drinking age in Maharashtra is 25, making it illegal for the establishment to serve him. Consequently, the bar owners are also facing charges for serving alcohol to a minor. Amitesh Kumar said the bar owner and the manager who served liquor to the minor have been arrested. The accident took place around 3.15 am on Sunday in Kalyani Nagar when the luxury car, reportedly at a speed of over 200 km per hour, hit the bike and crashed into the roadside pavement railings. The bike riders were flung into the air and fell hard, resulting in fatal injuries. Both of them died on the spot. The deceased have been identified as Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshtaboth engineers from Madhya Pradesh working in Pune. They were returning home along with other friends after a party at a restaurant in the area. Meanwhile, Suresh Koshta, father of Ashwini Koshta told ANI, As per rules, action should be taken (against the accused) so that people learn a lesson from this. She completed her studies in Pune and got a job there." The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a severe heatwave red alert for the states of Delhi Punjab, Haryana, and the capital, Chandigarh as temperatures soar across Northwest India. The weather agency forecasted continued heatwave to severe heatwave conditions over the next five days. "Heatwave to severe heatwave conditions is most likely to continue over plains of Northwest India and heatwave conditions over north Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat during the next five days," an IMD post read. This comes as the maximum temperature touching 47.4 degrees Celsius in Najafgarh in the national capital -- the highest in the country on Monday. The temperature continued above 45 degrees Celsius in large parts of Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh and Uttar Pradesh. Heatwave conditions are also expected over parts of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, Saurashtra, and Kutch on May 23. According to senior IMD scientist Naresh Kumar, the current situation will prevail for the next week. "Generally, May is considered the hottest month. If there is no rainfall activity in North India, then the temperature normally crosses 45 degrees Celsius. It is forecast that this situation will prevail for the next week. This scenario will continue for the next five days in Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana. We have issued a red alert. A heatwave situation will exist in UP for the next three to four days. Heatwaves will also prevail in North MP. We have issued an orange alert for the region," he said The heatwave threw life out of gear in the national capital and other states, with people staying indoors. Low-income households, which often have poor access to water and cooling, and outdoor workers toiling in the searing sun suffered as the temperature peaked. Schools shut Several state governments have asked schools to declare holidays for a few days. The Delhi government directed the schools that have not closed for summer vacations to do so with immediate effect. A circular issued by the state said the city government's Directorate of Education said all schools were directed to observe summer vacation from May 11 to June 30 for this academic year. The Punjab government announced summer holidays in all government, aided and private schools from May 21 to June 30 amid severe heatwave conditions. Rains in South While heat wave lashes North, the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu received heavy rains on Monday, an indication of the southwest monsoon's onset later this month. The IMD on Monday sounded an orange alert in Kerala's s Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram and Kozhikode districts. BJP national spokesperson and Puri Lok Sabha candidate Sambit Patra caught himself in the eye of a storm after remarking that Lord Jagannath is a devotee of Modi. The remarks have triggered sharp reactions from Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and leaders of other parties. Though Patra has clarified that the comment was a slip of tongue, the issue may be politically damaging for the BJP ahead of the two remaining phases of polls in the Odisha assembly and Lok Sabha. Other BJP leaders have not reacted on the issue. Patra's remarks about Odisha's most revered deity came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day campaigning in the eastern state. Modi had a darshan of Lord Jagannath in Puri on Monday morning followed by a roadshow on the citys Grand Road (Bada Danda) where three chariots were dragged by thousands of devotees during annual car festival. Then he addressed two election rallies at Angul and Cuttack where he reiterated that BJP will form government in the state this time. Patnaik condemned Patras remark, saying, Mahaprabhu Shri Jagannatha is the Lord of the Universe. Calling Mahaprabhu a bhakt of another human being is an insult to the Lord. This has hurt the sentiments and demeaned the faith of crores of Jagannatha bhaktas and Odias across the world." Further taking to X, Patnaik posted, The Lord is the greatest symbol of Odia Asmita. Calling Mahaprabhu a bhakt of another human being is totally condemnable. I strongly denounce the statement made by the BJP Puri loksabha candidate and I appeal to the BJP to keep the Lord above any political discourse. By this you have deeply hurt Odia Asmita and this will be remembered and condemned by people of Odisha for a very long time. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also condemned Patras remark while Jairam Ramesh dubbed it an outrageous statement, demanding the BJP leader should be immediately disqualified. Congress on its official handle posted, BJP leader Sambit Patra says that Mahaprabhu Lord Sri Jagannath is a devotee of Narendra Modi. This is a gross insult to Mahaprabhu. This statement has hurt the faith of crores of devotees. Mr Sambit Patra who is immersed in Modi Bhakti should not have committed this sin. Narendra Modi himself should apologise for this disturbing statement. Strongly condemning Patra's statement, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, They (BJP) have started thinking that they are above God. This is the height of arrogance. Calling God bhakt of Modi is an insult to God. On Monday, Odisha witnessed its second round of polls in five Lok Sabha seats and 35 assembly segments. In 2019, Patra had lost to BJDs Pinaki Mishra from Puri Lok Sabha seat. This time Patra is trying his luck again from Puri against BJDs Arup Patnaik, retired IPS officer and former Mumbai Commissioner of Police, and Congress candidate Jaynarayan Patnaik. Puri Lok Sabha seat and seven assembly constituencies under it will go to polls on May 25. Since the state has two more phases of polls in 12 more Lok Sabha constituencies and 84 assembly seats, Patra's remarks is likely to have a political bearing. The brutal impact of the war in Sudan continues to spread beyond its borders and has a catastrophic impact on children. Donors need to do more and act now, and the world needs to be compassionate. Adre, near the Chad-Sudan border, May 3rd week, 2024: When gun battle and violent mobs came closing in, I was left with no options, Aliya recollected. She fled from her home in Darfur to keep her family safe. It was a decision made in fear. One year after the conflict erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces on April 15, 2023, Sudan faces one of the fastest unfolding crises globally. Gun battles and violence have displaced nine million people, equivalent to the combined population of Singapore and Qatar, making Sudan the largest displacement crisis worldwide. By the end of last year, nearly five million children had been forcibly displaced, including two million from previous crises, making it the worlds largest internal displacement crisis for children. In recent days fighting has escalated in El Fasher region of North Darfur, resulting in additional loss of lives and displacement. Children never start wars, yet they bear the heaviest burden and pay the biggest price. Sudan conflict: A childrens crisis In Adre, near a nondescript stone which marks the border between Sudan and Chad, Aliya shared her harrowing journey with me. Aliya and her four young children have been on the move for the past eleven months, seeking refuge in several camps for displaced people and makeshift shelters, before finally crossing into Chad. She looked exhausted, having walked non-stop for 25 days guiding three of her children and carrying Yousef, her 4-month-old son, wrapped in a half-torn cloth sling on her back throughout the long journey. They walked only at night to avoid the scorching heat, and her children were severely dehydrated. The day I met Aliya and her children at the border, it was 42 degrees Celsius. The UN estimates that 88 per cent of Sudanese refugees who arrived in Chad in the past 13 months are children and women. Children are arriving hungry, dehydrated, malnourished, and sick. I met several Sudanese refugee children who were malnourished and suffering from severe exhaustion, they were too weak to play and spent most of their time sleeping. The impacts of the conflict on children are profound and far-reaching. In Sudan, nearly 7,00,000 children suffer from severe acute malnutrition, and 14 million children need aid. Thousands have been killed or injured, and many face grave protection risks. There are reports of children being recruited into armed groups. In Chad, young girls have testified to Plan International about sexual violence they have experienced or witnessed. About 25 million people in Sudan, approximately five times Irelands population, need humanitarian assistance. Disease outbreaks are rising due to disrupted public health services. In Sudan, the economy is in decline, with the International Monetary Fund projecting an 18.3% GDP contraction in 2024. Food prices have soared. UNs World Food Programme warns that staple grain prices are expected to rise over 200 per cent last year, leaving nearly eighteen million people, roughly the population of the Netherlands, facing acute food insecurity. Of these, 4.9 million people are on the brink of famine, experts at the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification initiative warned. The conflicts expansion into key agricultural regions has exacerbated food insecurity. A senior UN official has been quoted as saying that more than 1,000 people have crossed the border into Adre, on some days, and that 90 per cent of them say they left Sudan due to food insecurity. Hunger and violence make a deadly combination. While receiving dignity kits, which contain hygiene products and sanitary items, in the Abutenge refugee camp in Adre, Sudanese refugee girls told Plan International about experiencing brutal sexual violence. UN experts expressed alarm about the widespread use of gender-based violence, including sexual violence, as a tool of war to subjugate, terrorise, break and punish women and girls. Sudanese refugee children draw kites and do art in a Child Friendly Space run by Plan Internation in Adre, Chad | Plan International Only 12 per cent of the $2.7 billion being sought for Sudan by the UN and humanitarian agencies has been raised. Immediate action is crucial to alleviate this unprecedented crisis. Donors need to contribute more. The world needs to be more compassionate to the children of Sudans brutal war. There is no suffering left in hell; it is all in the daily lives and young minds of children in war and conflict zones. Chad- A relative comfort zone for refugees, amidst enduring hardships The suffering triggered by this brutal war is felt far beyond Sudans borders. 1.8 million people have sought refuge in neighbouring countries like the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Uganda in the past 13 months. Chad alone received 5,92,000 people from Sudan in the past 12 months. Aliya told me that two of her children scream non-stop and wake up in their sleep, often hugging her hard. They have painful memories of witnessing terrible things no child should see. Back home in Darfur, four of Aliyas family members were shot and killed by armed men. Her children have nightmares about gunshots and the killings they witnessed. With the trauma they have faced haunting them in their sleep, a cocktail of unkind weather and hunger adds to the childrens suffering. People in Chad and local authorities have received Sudanese refugees with open arms and open minds. Chad was already hosting over 5,00,000 Sudanese refugees from previous conflicts. There is only so much local communities can do in a place already under pressure for vital services. Refugees have lost everything. Aliya learned that her house was burnt to ashes. Her only possessions now are two sets of clothes, her four young children, and painful memories. While in Chad, refugees often walk long hours looking for food and water. In Chad, young women refugees told my colleagues in Plan International that their daily struggle for food meant hours of walking every day, increasing the risk of sexual violence. The expected seasonal rains amplify the risk of disease outbreaks. Time is running out to prevent an already severe humanitarian crisis from turning catastrophic. UN officials told me they expect another 2,50,000 Sudanese refugees in Chad in the coming months. Children first Everything is needed here-- clean water, sanitation, food and nutrition assistance and medical care. People also need cash. Cash and voucher assistance is a type of humanitarian aid that allows people to buy goods and services for themselves, based on their own needs and preferences, providing the flexibility that is needed in dynamic emergency settings. Most importantly, such an approach places the dignity of crisis-affected people by giving them choices. Cash and voucher assistance is emerging as a preferred form of humanitarian assistance. State of the Worlds Cash 2023 report says that in 2022, $7.9 billion was transferred as cash or vouchers to crisis-affected people, marking 21% of the international humanitarian assistance, globally. Supporting children who have witnessed horror, who are out of school or missing their education, who have lost their parents or been separated from friends and families and are at high risk is the first step. Plan International and local organisations are running learning and recreational activities to support children. In Temporary Learning Places, children learn the alphabet and arithmetic. Children equally benefit from a safe and supportive environment and the opportunity to continue their education and to develop essential skills. In Child-Friendly Spaces, children play and practise art, techniques to help distract them from painful memories and process traumatic experiences. There is only so much young minds can take. Temporary Learning Places and Child-Friendly Spaces are sanctuaries where children can heal, cope, and rediscover hope. These safe havens offer the invaluable gift of allowing a child to be simply a child. In a Child-Friendly Space in Adre, with a tiny smile on her face, four-year-old Lamia is putting her best effort into drawing a kite. Children in another conflict zone once told me that kites rise against the wind, not with ita simple truth that applies to kites and to the lives of refugee children trying to beat the odds. I come to the Child-Friendly Space to forget the killing I witnessed back home, said Zenab who at just seven years old registers the importance of such safe and play spaces for children who are survivors of wars and conflicts. Her friends remember her as a quiet and shy child when she first came to the play place. They have witnessed her becoming bolder and more talkative, Zenab has even started making plans for her future. She told me she wanted to be a doctor to help children. A decision made in hope. Some decisions are made in fear. Some decisions are made in hope. For Sudanese children, life is often a journey between fear and hope. Names have been changed to protect their privacy Dr Unni Krishnan is the Global Humanitarian Director, Plan International. As state mourning and processions began on Tuesday for Iran's late president Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others killed in a helicopter crash, there is still not much clarity on what exactly happened that led to the accident. According to an initial investigation by the Turkish rescue group that found the wreckage, the chopper either did not have a transponder fitted or had it turned off reported The Guardian. While talking to the reporters, Turkish transport minister, Abdulkadir Uraloglu said that the Turkish authorities had checked for a signal from the helicopter's transponder but they did not find any. The transponder broadcasts the height and location information. This puts the safety of the helicopters used by Iran to transport leaders and officials in question. Reportedly, Iran had sought to purchase two Russian helicopters for its leaders amid maintenance concerns. The helicopter involved in the crash on Sunday was a Bell 212, a two-blade aircraft capable of carrying 15 people. However, the rest two choppers accompanying the presidents helicopter made a safe return. Along with Iran, the Azerbaijan government is also conducting an investigation at the crash site to examine if weather checks were made before the decision to fly was taken. So far, there have been no serious allegations of sabotage and still weather is considered as the main villain. However, the crash amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and escalating tensions in the Middle East could not be overlooked. Five days of mourning A procession Tuesday morning led by a semi truck carrying the caskets of the dead slowly moved through the narrow streets of downtown Tabriz. Hundreds in black walked beside the coffins, some throwing flowers up to them as an emcee wept through a loudspeaker for men he described as martyrs. On Wednesday, a funeral presided over by Khamenei will then turn into a procession as well. The president's body will be buried at the Imam Reza shrine in the holy city of Mashhad on Thursday, the only imam of the Shiite faith buried in Iran. Iranian President Mohammad-Ali Rajai, the only other president to die in office when he was killed in a 1981 bombing, was buried in Tehran. With Raisi facing US sanctions, for his involvement in the 1988 mass executions, it is unclear whether any world leaders would attend the funeral. Under Raisi's rule, Iran also shipped bomb-carrying drones to Russia to be used in its war on Ukraine. The US has said that Raisi had "hands on his blood". Even UK Security Minister Tom Tugendhat wrote on X, "President Raisi's regime has murdered thousands at home, and targeted people here in Britain and across Europe. I will not mourn him." A Pakistani anti-terrorism court on Tuesday indicted three suspects allegedly involved in a gun attack on jailed former prime minister Imran Khan in 2022 during a protest rally in Punjab province. Naveed Mehr, the main accused, was allegedly involved in firing on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder in November 2022, while his accomplices Waqas and Tayyab had provided him arms. A PTI worker died and 14 others, including Khan, were injured in the gun attack in the Wazirabad area, some 150 km from Lahore, where the party's Haqeeqi Azadi (real freedom) march against the-then federal government led by Shehbaz Sharif had stopped on its way to Islamabad. Khan, 71, had reportedly suffered three bullets to his leg. The gun-toting prime suspect Mehr was overpowered by the PTI workers from the crime scene. "On Tuesday, the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Gujranwala held the hearing of the Imran Khan attack case in which charges were framed against three suspects. The suspects who were present in the court pleaded not guilty," a court official told PTI after the hearing. The official said according to the charges Mehr opened fire on the container where Khan had boarded along with other PTI leaders. Bullets hit Khan's leg. The other two suspects -- Waqas and Tayyab -- had provided Mehr with weapons. The court adjourned the hearing till May 25. Khan had termed the attack a "planned assassination attempt" and named Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)'s then Major-General Faisal Naseer behind it. He had also accused Naseer of killing Pakistani TV anchor Arshad Sharif in Kenya. Khan had also named Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and then Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah as co-plotters in the assassination attempt. "Two to three people were behind the plot to assassinate me. I know that the country's armed forces are giving sacrifices for the country but there are black sheep in every institution," Khan had said. Khan has been imprisoned in high-security Adiala jail in Rawalpindi since August last year in several cases. A Punjab police investigation into the case had claimed that shots were fired by three unknown shooters" from a considerable height other than the gun attack carried out by the prime suspect, Mehr, from the ground. The United Nations Security Council, including the United States, on Monday observed a minute of silence to mourn the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage who were killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday. The move irked Israel, which lashed out at the UN and called Raisi a "mass murderer." The silence was observed after Pedro Comissario Afonso, UN ambassador for Mozambique, asked the Security Council members to stand up and remain silent "in remembrance of the loss of life in a crash of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi". A profoundly shameful moment at the UN Security Council as the US ambassador stands for a moment of silence to honor the Butcher of Tehran pic.twitter.com/EA2U7oMmt0 Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) May 20, 2024 However, Israel's UN envoy Gilad Erdan hit out at the move, calling it a disgrace. In a post on X, Erdan said: "You saw correctly. The UN Security Council dedicated a moment of silence in memory of the mass murdering president of Iran, Raisi. What a disgrace," he said in a video message posted on X. "This body, which makes no effort to free our hostages, tipped their heads today to a man who was responsible for the deaths of thousands in Iran, in Israel, and around the world." "Whats next? A minute of silence on the anniversary of Hitlers death? Erdan asks, charging that the UN Security Council has become "a danger to world peace." US condolences The US on Monday condoled the death of Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and the other members of their delegation killed in a helicopter crash over the weekend. But, the statement also took a dig at Raisi, for what the US says is his poor track record regarding human rights. "As Iran selects a new president, we reaffirm our support for the Iranian people and their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms," US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. On the decision to offer official condolences, Miller said the US does not want to see anyone die under such circumstances. He added that the US believes Raisi was a "brutal participant in the repression of the Iranian people for nearly four decades." "Some of the worst human rights abuses occurred during his tenure as president," Miller added. Assets under management have increased by 211% from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024, 107 asset and fund managers operating in ADGM, currently managing 137 funds. The number of operational entities grew by 30%, and the workforce experienced a significant increase at the end of Q1 2024 compared to the same period last year. ABU DHABI, UAE, May 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- ADGM, the international financial centre (IFC) of the UAE's capital, continues its solid performance paving the way for another strong year as the fastest growing financial centre in the region, with a record-breaking start during the first quarter of 2024 marked by an increase of 211% in Assets Under Management (AUM) compared to the first quarter of the year 2023. The growth trajectory of ADGM in Assets Under Management, coupled with a significant increase during Q1 2024 in the number of operational entities, the size of workforce and other elements of the IFC ecosystem, underscore the concerted efforts and strategic initiatives undertaken to strengthen its standing as a leading international financial centre, and reaffirms Abu Dhabi's position as a global financial powerhouse and a destination of choice for regional and global entities. Commenting on ADGM's continued growth and strong performance, H.E. Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi, Chairman of ADGM said, "Abu Dhabi once again affirms its position as the leading financial powerhouse of the MEASA region. ADGM's unwavering commitment to excellence, demonstrated through its initiatives and achievements, continues to drive remarkable growth, attracting talent, businesses, and quality investments from across the globe. This year holds the promise of even greater growth for ADGM and its ecosystem, marking a significant stride towards achieving Abu Dhabi's economic goals and ambitions." Abu Dhabi: The Region's Premier Financial Hub for Asset Management ADGM's asset management sector began 2024 with vigour, witnessing an unprecedented influx of global asset managers establishing operations in the IFC, and pushing the surge in the size of Assets Under Management within ADGM during the first three months of the year 2024 to unprecedented figures reaching a growth of 211% compared to the same period of 2023. By the end of March 2024, the number of fund and asset managers operating in ADGM reached 107, managing 137 funds. The attractiveness of ADGM as a holistic financial hub which stands as the sole jurisdiction in the region to adopt the direct application of English common law, has resulted in ongoing increase in the number and diversity of prominent regional and global firms establishing in ADGM. By the end of March 2024, the total number of operational entities in ADGM increased by 30% compared to the same period last year, to reach 1950 including 291 financial services entities. Abu Dhabi's Liveability Sparks ADGM's Workforce Surge ADGM's workforce has grown to over 25 thousand individuals, working on Al Maryah Island, as more talented individuals choose Abu Dhabi as their destination to live, work, and thrive. Abu Dhabi's appeal extends beyond its business opportunities, it has been ranked as the best and safest city to live in the region offering a high quality of life with world-class amenities and infrastructure. Out of Abu Dhabi, ADGM is further enhancing its attractiveness as a preferred destination for professionals and investors alike. In its 2024 Outlook, a comprehensive survey conducted among the ADGM community provides insight into the promising prospects for ADGM as a preferred destination. A total of 70.81% of companies anticipate expanding their workforce in ADGM during 2024, with 29.93% expecting significant increases and 40.88% planning moderate growth in staffing. This collective optimism reflects Abu Dhabi's robust economic health and the strong confidence within the business community in the conducive business environment of the IFC. Managing a Seamless Migration of Reem Island Businesses 2024 is the year of transitioning businesses on Al Reem Island for ADGM, which is progressing smoothly and is well underway with several initiatives being announced and implemented during Q1 2024 to support the businesses migration process. In addition to a series of awareness sessions and focus group meetings organised by the RA of ADGM for representatives of businesses on Al Reem Island, ADGM launched its information centre in Shams Boutik Mall, in Al Reem Island. The launch of the centre was followed by ADGM's first community event on Al Reem Island. The community event provided a platform for ADGM to unveil a new incentive initiative tailored exclusively for businesses based on Al Reem Island, operating in non-financial and retail sectors. Under this incentive initiative, eligible businesses on the island will be relieved from any fees associated with acquiring an ADGM commercial licence until October 31, 2024. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1696045/AbuDhabiGlobalMarketLogo.jpg (Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with PRNewswire and PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.). PTI PWR PWR Tislelizumab is a novel anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody approved by NMPA, EMA and FDA for the treatment of advanced or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and broad development for the treatment of various types of cancers, and Zanubrutinib is a BTK inhibitor approved for the treatment of certain hematological malignancies, with results of several studies reinforcing its favorable efficacy and safety profile. Under this strategic collaboration, Glenmark will be responsible for locally required development, registration and distribution providing access to BeiGene's innovative oncology medicines for cancer patients across India. MUMBAI, India, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Glenmark Specialty S.A. (Glenmark), a subsidiary of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a research-led, global pharmaceutical company, today announced an exclusive marketing and distribution agreement with BeiGene, a global oncology company. Under this agreement, Glenmark will register and commercialize BeiGene's oncology medicines, Tislelizumab and Zanubrutinib in India. Speaking on this partnership, Alok Malik, President and Business Head - India Formulations, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. said, "We are excited about our partnership with BeiGene, signifying our commitment to advancing healthcare in India. The addition of Tislelizumab and Zanubrutinib to our oncology portfolio underscores our dedication to the cancer patients' community and our commitment to provide access to novel therapies across India" " This collaboration is a testament to our shared vision of enhancing healthcare access across Asia," said Adam Roach, Vice President, and Head of Asia-Pacific at BeiGene. " We take great pride in advancing mission-driven access, especially given the significant disease burden in India, where rising cancer rates require comprehensive healthcare solutions - a commitment we share with our partners at Glenmark," Mr. Roach said. With a population exceeding 1.43 billion, India stands as the world's most populous country and the largest lower-middle-income nation.1,2 This partnership is timely, as many low-and middle-income countries, including India, are experiencing an increasing cancer burden. Recent statistics indicate that India has the third highest number of cancer cases worldwide, with predictions suggesting this could reach 2.08 million cases by 2040 a 57.5 per cent increase from 2020.3 Currently, cancer claims approximately 900,000 lives annually in India.4 While solid tumors remain the majority of cancers diagnosed, of particular concern is the burgeoning prevalence of blood cancer, ranking third highest globally, following only the US and China.5 In India, a blood cancer diagnosis strikes every five minutes, claiming an estimated 70,000 lives each year.5 Amidst this grim reality, Glenmark envisions a future where affordable and effective therapies serve as a beacon of hope for those in need. About Tislelizumab Tislelizumab is a uniquely designed humanized immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4) anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) monoclonal antibody with high affinity and binding specificity against PD-1. It is designed to minimize binding to Fc-gamma (Fc) receptors on macrophages, helping to aid the body's immune cells to detect and fight tumors. About Zanubrutinib Zanubrutinib is a small molecule inhibitor of Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) designed to deliver complete and sustained inhibition of the BTK protein by optimizing bioavailability, half-life, and selectivity. With differentiated pharmacokinetics compared with other approved BTK inhibitors, zanubrutinib has been demonstrated to inhibit the proliferation of malignant B cells within a number of disease-relevant tissues. About Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (BSE: 532296) | (NSE: GLENMARK) is a researchled, global pharmaceutical company, having a presence across Branded, Generics, and OTC segments; with a focus on therapeutic areas of respiratory, dermatology and oncology. The company has 11 world-class manufacturing facilities spread across 4 continents, and operations in over 80 countries. In Vivo/Scrip 100 positions Glenmark amongst the Top 100 Companies Ranked by R&D and Pharmaceutical Sales, 2022; while Generics Bulletin/In Vivo places it in the Top 50 Generics and Biosimilars Companies Ranked by Sales, 2022. Glenmark's Green House Gas (GHG) emission reduction targets have been approved in 2023 by the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi), making it only the second pharmaceutical company in India to achieve this. The organization has impacted around 3 million lives over the last decade through its CSR interventions. For more information, visit www.glenmarkpharma.com. You can follow us on LinkedIn (Glenmark Pharmaceuticals) and Instagram (glenmarkpharma). About BeiGene BeiGene is a global oncology company that is discovering and developing innovative treatments that are more affordable and accessible to cancer patients worldwide. With a broad portfolio, we are expediting development of our diverse pipeline of novel therapeutics through our internal capabilities and collaborations. We are committed to radically improving access to medicines for far more patients who need them. Our growing global team of more than 10,000 colleagues spans five continents. To learn more about BeiGene, please visit www.beigene.com and follow us on LinkedIn, X (formerly known as Twitter) and Facebook. References: 1. Statista. Twenty countries with the largest population in 2024, https://www.statista.com/statistics/262879/countries-with-the-largest-population/ accessed April 2024. 2. Sharma G, Harvinder P, Challenges for Lower-Middle-Income Countries in Achieving Universal Healthcare: An Indian Perspective; 2023. Available from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36655151/#:~:text=India%20is%20the%20largest%20lower,18%25%20of%20the%20world's%20population accessed April 2024. 3. Ferlay J, Ervik M, Lam F, et al. Global Cancer Observatory: Cancer Today. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer; 2020. Available from https://gco.iarc.fr/today/ accessed April,2024. 4. Ferlay J, Ervik M, Lam F, Colombet M, Mery L, Pineros M, et al. Global cancer observatory: Cancer today. India Fact Sheet. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer; 2022. Available from https://gco.iarc.who.int/media/globocan/factsheets/populations/356-india-fact-sheet.pdf accessed April 2024. 5. Shalby Multi-Specialty Hospitals. Blood Cancer A growing burden to Indian Society, https://www.shalby.org/blood-cancer-a-growing-burden-to-indian-;society/#:~:text=According%20to%20various%20sources%2C%20India,year%20because%20of%20blood%20cancer accessed April 2024. Contact: From Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Udaykumar Murthy +91 9960377617 corpcomm@glenmarkpharma.com From BeiGene Louise Carter +61 474 231 049 louise.carter@beigene.com Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/451507/PRNEGlenmark_Logo.jpg (Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with PRNewswire and PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.). PTI PWR PWR New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) Domestic air passenger traffic rose by 3.88 per cent to 1.32 crore in April, according to official data released on Tuesday. The traffic stood at 128.88 lakh (1.28 crore) in April last year. As many as 1,370 passengers were affected due to denied boarding, with airlines spending Rs 136.23 lakh towards compensation and facilities in this regard, as per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data. The data showed there were a total of 32,314 flight cancellations in April and airlines spent Rs 89.26 lakh towards compensation and facilities. Last month, a total of 1,09,910 flights were delayed. Airlines shelled out Rs 135.42 lakh towards facilitation. In terms of On-Time Performance (OTP), Akasa Air topped the list at 89.2 per cent, followed by AIX Connect (79.5 per cent), Vistara (76.2 per cent), IndiGo (76.1 per cent), Air India (72.1 per cent), SpiceJet (64.2 per cent) and Alliance Air (49.5 per cent). IndiGo's market share inched up to 60.6 per cent last month while that of Air India rose to 14.2 per cent. However, the market share of Vistara and AIX Connect fell to 9.2 per cent and 5.4 per cent, respectively. Air India, Vistara and AIX Connect are part of the Tata Group. While Akasa Air's market share remained unchanged at 4.4 per cent in April, that of SpiceJet declined to 4.7 per cent. "Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January April 2024 were 523.46 lakh as against 503.93 lakh during the corresponding period of the previous year thereby registering an annual growth of 3.88 per cent and monthly growth of 2.42 per cent," the DGCA said. Mumbai, May 20 (PTI) Popular Hindi cinema stars Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Akshay Kumar, Farhan Akhtar and Tabu were among the celebrities who stepped out to exercise their right to vote for Lok Sabha Election 2024 here on Monday. Polling was underway since 7 am in 13 Lok Sabha constituencies of Maharashtra, including six in Mumbai. While Ranveer and Deepika cast their votes at a polling booth in Bandra, Dhawan and Kapoor took to their social media accounts to encourage others to vote. Kumar, who voted for the first time since receiving Indian citizenship, was one of the early voters. "I want my India to be developed and strong and Ive kept these things in my mind when I went to cast my vote, and all the Indians should think what is right for them and vote, Kumar said after voting at a polling station in Juhu. Akthar, who queued up at a polling station in Bandra West to cast his vote, told PTI: My vote is for good governance, the government that looks after all people, gives us a better city. The actor-filmmaker urged people, especially youngsters to step out and vote. "I just heard from somebody that young people are complaining that its too hot but it's not hot at all, so please do step out, do vote, Akhtar said. Tabu was also seen showing her inked finger to the paparazzi. Filmmaker Zoya Aktar and mother Honey Irani also accompanied Farhan to cast their votes. Actor Hema Malini, who's BJP candidate from Mathura Lok Sabha constituency, said she is hopeful that voters' turnout will be good. "We are very much concerned (about voter turn-out). Weve done maximum publicity for people to come and vote. Across India, celebrities have requested (people to vote). Im sure the voter turnout will be good, Malini, who was accompanied by daughter Esha, said after casting her vote in Mumbai. Malinis husband Dharmendra, 88, said, They (voters) know how to be a good Indian citizen. They know how to take India to great heights, and they know how and what to do for that. Other Bollywood celebrities, who have voted so far, include Sanya Malhotra, Govinda, Manoj Bajpayee, Anil Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, filmmakers Ashutosh Gowariker, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Subhash Ghai, noted poet and lyricist Gulzar, his filmmaker daughter Meghna Gulzar, Aamir Khans children Ira Khan and Junaid Khan. Bajpayee also urged people to cast their votes. "It is the biggest celebration of democracy, and you get this chance to elect your leader in five years. I appeal to everyone to use your rights because you will get this chance again after five years and for those five years, you will not have the right to complain," the actor told PTI. "Vote because you have a choice! Vote because you have a voice!! Vote because it is duty! Vote because it is your right! #Election2024 #LokSabhaElection2024 #Vote #Votingday," Gowariker wrote on X alongside a photo of himself. "There are hundreds of issues facing a nation but I am voting for positivity, development, unleashing the potential of this beautiful country, unleashing the potential of young, voting for equal distribution of wealth and not to be lopsided, and voting for a happier society which can take care old and children, Mehra said after casting his vote. Veteran actor Paresh Rawal said, Everyone should cast their vote no matter if it's hot or cold. You are voting for the country and Indias growth. Anil Kapoor said it his duty and right to vote. "I am proud to be a citizen of this country, there is no country like India. The voter turnout is terrific. Im sure more people will come (to vote), Kapoor said. Actor-filmmaker Pooja Bhatt, who along with her filmmaker father Mahesh Bhatt came to vote, also urged others to vote. "Please go out and cast your vote. Your voice matters! #MumbaiNorthCentral #Bandra #Mumbai, Pooja Bhatt wrote on X. Filmmaker Kunal Kohli, who cast his vote in Pali Hill, Bandra West, Mumbai, appealed to people to vote. "I appeal to people to vote because that's your right, and later you don't have the right to complain if you don't vote. So, you must vote and enjoy the rest of the day, Kohli told PTI. Actor Shriya Saran said voting is the easiest thing to do. "Voting is the biggest power that youve and with this you can have a better future. Voting is the easiest thing to do, it barely takes a minute or two to vote. It feels good to see how senior citizens have stepped out to vote, then the new generation can do it too, Saran, who cast her vote in Versova, told PTI. Veteran actor Shubha Khote and her actor daughter Bhavana Balsavar also cast their votes. "I've come here and want everyone to vote for the right person. Whatever is needed we should get that. I hope everyone gets inspired watching us and comes out to vote," Khote said after casting her vote at a polling booth in Juhu's Gandhigram school in Mumbai. Jerusalem, May 21 (AP) France and Belgium released statements supporting the world's top war crimes court's request for arrest warrants for leaders of Israel and Hamas, after Israel and the United States both harshly condemned the effort. The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders Yehya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel. While Netanyahu and Gallant do not face imminent arrest, the announcement Monday was a symbolic blow that deepened Israel's isolation over the war in Gaza. Israeli forces raided a militant stronghold Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, killing at least seven and wounding several, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The raid into Jenin is part of months of surging violence in the Palestinian territory. Sri Lanka announced a national day of mourning Tuesday after Iranian officials announced that President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were found dead Monday, hours after their helicopter crashed in fog, leaving the Islamic Republic without two key leaders. Iran backs Hamas, and the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah, also supported by Tehran, has fired rockets at Israel. In April, Iran launched its own an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel. Israel launched its offensive after Hamas' October 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed about 1,200 people mostly civilians and abducted about 250. At least 35,000 Palestinians have died in the war, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between combatants and civilians. Around 80 per cent of the population of 2.3 million Palestinians has been displaced within the territory, often multiple times. Currently: Iran's president and foreign minister die in a helicopter crash. ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrant for Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Netanyahu. These photos show Palestinians' quick exodus from Rafah after Israel issued evacuation orders. Israeli forces kill at least seven Palestinians in a West Bank raid. Here's the latest: ` ISRAELI FORCES KILL 7 IN A RAID ON A WEST BANK MILITANT STRONGHOLD, PALESTINIAN HEALTH MINISTRY SAYS JERUSALEM Israeli forces raided a militant stronghold Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, killing at least seven and wounding several, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Israeli military said it struck militants during an operation into the city. In addition to the seven fatalities, the Palestinian Health Ministry said nine people were injured. Among those killed was Dr. Ossayed Kamal Jabareen, the surgery specialist at Jenin Governmental Hospital who was killed on his way to his work, according to Dr. Wissam Abu Baker, the hospital's director. The raid was ongoing and the casualty numbers could rise. The raid into Jenin is part of months of surging violence in the Palestinian territory. Nearly 500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, part of an Israeli crackdown on militancy in the territory. Attacks by Palestinians against Israelis have also increased. Saraya al-Quds, the military arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, said its fighters battled Israeli forces raiding Jenin. Israel has arrested more than 3,000 Palestinians since the start of the war. FRANCE AND BELGIUM SUPPORT WAR CRIMES COURT'S REQUEST FOR ARREST WARRANTS France and Belgium each released statements supporting the world's top war crimes court's request for arrest warrants for leaders of Israel and Hamas. International Criminal Court top prosecutor Karim Khan accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders Yehya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel. While Netanyahu and Gallant do not face imminent arrest, the announcement Monday was a symbolic blow that deepened Israel's isolation over the war in Gaza. France supports the International Criminal Court, its independence, and the fight against impunity in all situations, its Foreign Ministry said in a statement late Monday, around the same time Belgium Minister of Foreign Affairs Hadja Lahbib posted on X, Crimes committed in Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of the perpetrators," along with a statement. Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders condemned the move as disgraceful and antisemitic. United States President Joe Biden also lambasted the prosecutor and supported Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas. SRI LANKA DECLARES NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING FOR IRANIAN PRESIDENT COLOMBO, Sri Lanka The Sri Lankan government declared Tuesday a national mourning day for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The government also ordered all state institutions to hoist the national flag at half-staff. Raisi visited Sri Lanka in April to inaugurate a long-delayed hydropower and irrigation project. The project, valued at USD 514 million, was started in 2010. It was scheduled for completion in 2015 but was delayed by the sanctions, technical issues and the COVID-19 pandemic. Raisi was the first Iranian leader to visit Sri Lanka since then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited in 2008. (AP) GSP Dubai, May 21 (AP) Mourners in black began gathering Tuesday for days of funerals and processions for Iran's late president, foreign minister and others killed in a helicopter crash, a government-led series of ceremonies aimed at both honouring the dead and projecting strength in an unsettled Middle East. For Iran's Shiite theocracy, mass demonstrations have been crucial since millions thronged the streets of Tehran to welcome Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 during the Islamic Revolution. An estimated 1 million turned out in 2020 for processions for the late Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was slain in a US drone strike in Baghdad. Whether President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others draw the same crowd remains in question, particularly as Raisi died in a helicopter crash, won his office in the lowest-turnout election in the country's history and presided over sweeping crackdowns on all dissent. Prosecutors already have warned people over showing any public signs of celebrating his death and a heavy security force presence has been seen on the streets of Tehran since the crash. But Raisi, 63, had been discussed as a possible successor for Iran's supreme leader, the 85-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His death now throws that selection into question, particularly as there is no heir-apparent cleric for the presidency ahead of planned June 28 elections. Raisi's death comes at a moment when the Islamist regime is consolidated, wrote Alex Vatanka, an Iran expert at the Middle East Institute. In short, there will be no power vacuum in Tehran; nonetheless, post-Khamenei Iran suddenly looks far less predictable than it did just a few days ago. A procession Tuesday morning led by a semitruck carrying the caskets of the dead slowly moved through the narrow streets of downtown Tabriz, the closest major city near the site of the crash Sunday. Thousands in black slowly walked beside the coffins, some throwing flowers up to them as an emcee wept through a loudspeaker for men he described as martyrs. The bodies will travel on to the holy Shiite seminary city of Qom before travelling to Tehran later Tuesday. On Wednesday, a funeral presided over by Khamenei will then turn into a procession as well. On Thursday, Raisi's hometown of Birjand will see a procession, followed by a funeral and burial at the Imam Reza shrine in the holy city of Mashhad, the only imam of the Shiite's faith buried in Iran. That shrine has long been a centre for pilgrims and sees millions visit each year. Over the centuries, its grounds have served as the final burial site for heroes in Persian history. It's an incredibly high, rare honour in the faith. Iranian President Mohammad-Ali Rajai, the only other president to die in office when he was killed in a 1981 bombing, was buried in Tehran. Iran's theocracy declared five days of mourning, encouraging people to attend the public mourning sessions. Typically, government employees and schoolchildren attend such events en masse, while others take part out of patriotism, curiosity or to witness historic events. Across Iran, its rural population often more closely embraces the Shiite faith and the government. However, Tehran has long held a far different view of Raisi and his government's policies as mass protests have roiled the capital for years. The most recent involved the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a woman detained over her allegedly loose headscarf, or hijab. The monthslong security crackdown that followed the demonstrations killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained. In March, a United Nations investigative panel found that Iran was responsible for the physical violence that led to Amini's death. On Sunday night, as news of the helicopter crash circulated, some offered anti-government chants in the night. Fireworks could be seen in some parts of the capital, though Sunday also marked a remembrance for Imam Reza, which can see them set off as well. Critical messages and dark jokes over the crash also circulated online. Iran's top prosecutor has already issued an order demanding cases be filed against those publishing false content, lies and insults against Raisi and others killed in the crash, according to the semiofficial ISNA news agency. Meanwhile Tuesday, Iran's new Assembly of Experts opened its first session after an election that decided the new assembly, a panel of which both Raisi and the late Tabriz Friday leader Mohammad Ali Ale-Heshem were members. Flowers sat on the seats they would have occupied at the meeting of the 88-member panel, which is tasked with selecting the country's next supreme leader. (AP) GRS GRS Cairo, May 21 (AP) The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed on Tuesday they shot down an American drone over the impoverished Arab county. The US military did not immediately acknowledge the claim. If confirmed, this would be the second MQ-9 Reaper drone downed by the Houthis over the past week as they press their campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Last Friday, the Houthis claimed downing an American drone over the province of Marib, hours after footage circulated online of what appeared to be the wreckage of an MQ-9 Reaper. And early Saturday, a vessel also came under attack in the Red Sea. Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said Tuesday the drone was shot down with a locally made surface-to-air missile. He did not say when it took place but alleged the drone was carrying out hostile missions over Yemen's southern province of Bayda. The US Mideast-based Central Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press regarding the incident. Since Yemen's civil war started in 2014, when the Houthis seized most of the country's north and its capital of Sanaa, the US military has lost at least five drones to the rebels. Reapers, which cost around USD 30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land. The Houthis have also stepped up attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, demanding Israel ends the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostage. The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sunk another since November, according to the US Maritime Administration. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. The rebels claimed last week that they fired a missile towards a US Navy destroyer in the Red Sea. However, the US military said the warship intercepted the anti-ship ballistic missile. (AP) GSP Dubai, May 21 (AP) Mourners in black began gathering on Tuesday for days of funerals and processions for Iran's late president, foreign minister and others killed in a helicopter crash, a government-led series of ceremonies aimed at both honouring the dead and projecting strength in an unsettled Middle East. For Iran's Shiite theocracy, mass demonstrations have been crucial since millions thronged the streets of Tehran to welcome Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 during the Islamic Revolution, and also attended his funeral 10 years later. An estimated 1 million turned out in 2020 for processions for the late Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was slain in a US drone strike in Baghdad. Whether President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others draw the same crowd remains in question, particularly as Raisi died in a helicopter crash, won his office in the lowest-turnout presidential election in the country's history and presided over sweeping crackdowns on all dissent. Prosecutors already have warned people over showing any public signs of celebrating his death and a heavy security force presence has been seen on the streets of Tehran since the crash. But Raisi, 63, had been discussed as a possible successor for Iran's supreme leader, the 85-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His death now throws that selection into question, particularly as there is no heir-apparent cleric for the presidency ahead of planned June 28 elections. Raisi's death comes at a moment when the Islamist regime is consolidated, wrote Alex Vatanka, an Iran expert at the Middle East Institute. In short, there will be no power vacuum in Tehran; nonetheless, post-Khamenei Iran suddenly looks far less predictable than it did just a few days ago. A procession on Tuesday morning led by a semitruck carrying the caskets of the dead slowly moved through the narrow streets of downtown Tabriz, the closest major city near the site of the crash Sunday. Thousands in black slowly walked beside the coffins, some throwing flowers up to them as an emcee wept through a loudspeaker for men he described as martyrs. The bodies will travel on to the holy Shiite seminary city of Qom before travelling to Tehran later Tuesday. On Wednesday, a funeral presided over by Khamenei will then turn into a procession as well. It remains unclear what international presence that funeral will draw, as Raisi faced US sanctions for his part in mass executions in 1988 and for abuses targeting protesters and dissidents while leading the country's judiciary. Iran under Raisi also shipped bomb-carrying drones to Russia to be used in its war on Ukraine. I don't feel comfortable sending condolences while Iran is sending drones that are used against civilians in Ukraine, wrote Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis on the social platform X. On Thursday, Raisi's hometown of Birjand will see a procession, followed by a funeral and burial at the Imam Reza shrine in the holy city of Mashhad, the only imam of the Shiite's faith buried in Iran. That shrine has long been a centre for pilgrims and sees millions visit each year. Over the centuries, its grounds have served as the final burial site for heroes in Persian history. It's an incredibly high, rare honour in the faith. Iranian President Mohammad-Ali Rajai, the only other president to die in office when he was killed in a 1981 bombing, was buried in Tehran. Iran's theocracy declared five days of mourning, encouraging people to attend the public mourning sessions. Typically, government employees and schoolchildren attend such events en masse, while others take part out of patriotism, curiosity or to witness historic events. Across Iran, its rural population often more closely embraces the Shiite faith and the government. However, Tehran has long held a far different view of Raisi and his government's policies as mass protests have roiled the capital for years. The most recent involved the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a woman detained over her allegedly loose headscarf, or hijab. The monthslong security crackdown that followed the demonstrations killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained. In March, a United Nations investigative panel found that Iran was responsible for the physical violence that led to Amini's death. Meanwhile, Iran's rial currency has cratered after the collapse of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers, destroying people's savings and pensions. On Sunday night, as news of the helicopter crash circulated, some offered anti-government chants in the night. Fireworks could be seen in some parts of the capital, though Sunday also marked a remembrance for Imam Reza, which can see them set off as well. Critical messages and dark jokes over the crash also circulated online. Iran's top prosecutor has already issued an order demanding cases be filed against those publishing false content, lies and insults against Raisi and others killed in the crash, according to the semiofficial ISNA news agency. No cause has yet been offered by Iran's government for the crash, which took place in a foggy mountain range in a decadesold helicopter. Iranian presidents including hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Abolhasan Banisadr both survived their own helicopter crashes while in office. Iran's military, not its civil aviation authority, will investigate and later offer a report, authorities say. Iran's civil air crash investigators faced widespread international criticism over their reports on the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane by an air defense battery in 2020 after Soleimani's killing. Meanwhile on Tuesday, Iran's new Assembly of Experts opened its first session after an election that decided the new assembly, a panel of which both Raisi and the late Tabriz Friday leader Mohammad Ali Ale-Heshem were members. A flower-ringed portrait sat on the seat Raisi would have occupied at the meeting of the 88-member panel, which is tasked with selecting the country's next supreme leader. Also attending was Iran's acting President Mohammad Mokhber. (AP) PY PY Dubai, May 21 (AP) Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the country's foreign minister were found dead Monday hours after their helicopter crashed in fog, leaving the Islamic Republic without two key leaders as extraordinary tensions grip the wider Middle East. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in the Shiite theocracy, quickly named a little-known vice president as caretaker and insisted the government was in control, but the deaths marked yet another blow to a country beset by pressures at home and abroad. Iran has offered no cause for the crash nor suggested sabotage brought down the helicopter, which fell in mountainous terrain in a sudden, intense fog. In Tehran, Iran's capital, businesses were open and children attended school Monday. However, there was a noticeable presence of both uniformed and plainclothes security forces. Later in the day, hundreds of mourners crowded into downtown Vali-e-Asr square holding posters of Raisi and waving Palestinian flags. Some men clutched prayer beads and were visibly crying. Women wearing black chadors gathered together holding photos of the dead leader. We were shocked that we lost such a character, a character that made Iran proud, and humiliated the enemies, said Mohammad Beheshti, 36. The crash comes as the Israel-Hamas war roils the region. Iran-backed Hamas led the attack that started the conflict, and Hezbollah, also supported by Tehran, has fired rockets at Israel. Last month, Iran launched its own unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel. A hard-liner who formerly led the country's judiciary, Raisi, 63, was viewed as a protege of Khamenei. During his tenure, relations continued to deteriorate with the West as Iran enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels and supplied bomb-carrying drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine. His government has also faced years of mass protests over the ailing economy and women's rights. The crash killed all eight people aboard a Bell 212 helicopter that Iran purchased in the early 2000s, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. Among the dead were Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran's East Azerbaijan province, a senior cleric from Tabriz, a Revolutionary Guard official and three crew members, IRNA said. Iran has flown Bell helicopters extensively since the shah's era. But aircraft in Iran face a shortage of parts because of Western sanctions, and often fly without safety checks. Against that backdrop, former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sought to blame the United States for the crash. One of the main culprits of yesterday's tragedy is the United States, which ... embargoed the sale of aircraft and aviation parts to Iran and does not allow the people of Iran to enjoy good aviation facilities, Zarif told The Associated Press. Ali Vaez, Iran project director with the International Crisis Group, said that while U.S. sanctions have deprived Iran of the ability to renew and repair its fleet for decades, "one can't overlook human error and the weather's role in this particular accident.'' Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst and consultant, said Iran likely is tapping the black market for parts, but questioned whether Iran has the maintenance skills to keep older helicopters flying safely. Black-market parts and whatever local maintenance capabilities they've got that's not a good combination, he said. There are 15 Bell 212 helicopters with an average age of 35 years currently registered in Iran that could be in active use or in storage, according to aviation data firm Cirium. State TV gave no immediate cause for the crash in Iran's East Azerbaijan province. Footage released by IRNA showed the crash site, across a steep valley in a green mountain range. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. continues to monitor the situation surrounding the very unfortunate helicopter crash but has no insight into the cause. I don't necessarily see any broader regional security impacts at this point in time, he said. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Raisi's death is not expected to have any substantive impact on difficult U.S.-Iran relations, or Iran's support of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Yemen-based Houthi rebels. We have to assume that the supreme leader is the one who makes these decisions and the supreme leader, as he did in the last so-called election, made sure to stack the deck with only candidates that met his mandates, Kirby said. He called the accusation that U.S. sanctions contributed to the crash baseless, adding: Every country, no matter who they are has a responsibility, their own responsibility to ensure the safety and reliability of its equipment. For now, Khamenei has named the first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, as caretaker, in line with the constitution. The election for a successor is to be held on June 28, IRNA said. Raisi's funeral will take place Thursday in Mashhad, the city where he was born, with other funerals to be held on Tuesday, state TV said. It said Ali Bagheri Kani, a nuclear negotiator for Iran, will serve as the country's acting foreign minister. Condolences poured in from allies after Iran confirmed there were no survivors. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on the social media platform X that his country stands with Iran in this time of sorrow." Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a statement released by the Kremlin, described Raisi as a true friend of Russia. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, China's Xi Jinping and Syrian President Bashar Assad also offered condolences. Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliyev, said he and his government were deeply shocked. Raisi was returning Sunday from Iran's border with Azerbaijan, where he had inaugurated a dam with Aliyev, when the crash happened. (AP) NB Rome, May 21 (AP) The Vatican made another big overture to China on Tuesday, reaffirming the Catholic Church poses no threat to Beijing's sovereignty and admitting that Western missionaries had made errors in past centuries in their zeal to convert the Chinese faithful. The Vatican hosted the head of China's bishops conference for an unprecedented, high-level commemoration of a landmark 1924 meeting in Shanghai that affirmed the need for foreign missionaries in China to give way to local church leaders. The presence of Shanghai Bishop Joseph Shen Bin alongside the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, at the Pontifical Urbaniana University was in itself noteworthy. It marked the first time in memory that a mainland bishop has been allowed by Beijing to participate in a public Vatican event as the keynote speaker. It was also significant given the controversy over Shen's 2023 appointment. Pope Francis in July was forced to recognize China's unilateral appointment of Shen as bishop of Shanghai. The appointment seemingly violated the Holy See's 2018 accord with Beijing over bishop appointments. Francis opened the conference with a video message in which he made no mention of recent troubles but instead pointed to the 1924 meeting in Shanghai as a turning point for Vatican-China relations. The first and only Chinese church council, he said, recognized that the church in China must increasingly have a Chinese face. But the Council of Shanghai did not only serve to forget the erroneous approaches that had prevailed in previous times, Francis said. The participants of the first Chinese Council looked to the future. And their future is our present. It was a reference to the French, Italian and other Western missionary religious orders that evangelized China over the centuries but refused to cede leadership authority to local Chinese clergy. Their attitudes helped fuel the anti-Western and anti-Christian sentiment behind the Boxer Rebellion, which aimed to rid China of foreign influences. Shen in his remarks referred to the superior" attitude of those Western missionaries and their work to protect foreign powers through unequal treaties that China signed with various European nations over the centuries. Speaking through an interpreter, Shen said the Catholic Church today must have a Chinese point of view, respect Chinese culture and develop alongside Chinese society. He also noted that the pope has underlined that being a good Christian is an integral part of being a good citizen. The Vatican has been working for years to try to improve relations with China that were officially severed over seven decades ago when the Communists came to power. The aim is to unite the country's estimated 12 million Catholics, who were divided into an official, state-recognized church and an underground church that stayed loyal to Rome. Relations had long been stymied over China's insistence on its exclusive right to name bishops as a matter of national sovereignty, while the Vatican insisted on the pope's exclusive right to name the successors of the original Apostles. The 2018 deal sought to find a middle ground, though the Vatican has flagged repeated violations and Rome has acknowledged it was a bad deal but the only one it could get. It was signed at a time when China was tightening controls on all religions, especially Christianity and Islam, which are viewed as foreign imports and potential challengers to Communist authority. Tuesday's conference provided a venue for the Holy See to publicly admit to certain errors of the past, reaffirm its respect for a fully Chinese Catholic Church and insist that the Vatican poses no threat to it. The Vatican secretary of state, Parolin, who played a big role in the 2018 deal, recalled in his remarks that it is the universal role of the papacy that guarantees that the Catholic faith is not piloted by one particular nation or another. The communion between the papacy and local churches, he said, is the best guarantee of a faith that is subtracted from foreign political interests and is rooted firmly in the local culture and society. Obedience to the pope not only doesn't harm the love that one owes one's country, but purifies it and renews it, he added. (AP) AMS Singapore/Bangkok, May 21 (PTI) There were at least three Indian nationals among the 229 people aboard the Singapore Airlines flight that encountered a "sudden extreme turbulence" over the Irrawaddy Basin at 37,000 feet, the flag carrier of Singapore said on Tuesday. The traumatic incident in which the aircraft descended 6,000 feet in about three minutes, left a 73-year-old British man dead and more than two dozen other passengers injured. The British man, who was not yet identified, "likely" died from a heart attack, the General Manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport Kittipong Kittikachorn said. Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight SQ321, operating from London (Heathrow) to Singapore on May 20 encountered "sudden extreme turbulence over the Irrawaddy Basin at 37,000 feet about 10 hours after departure," the carrier said. The pilot declared a medical emergency and diverted the aircraft to Bangkok, and landed on May 21. "We can confirm that there were multiple injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft," the carrier said in a Facebook post. A total of 18 individuals had been hospitalised. Another 12 were being treated in hospitals. The remaining passengers and crew were being examined and given treatment, where necessary, at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, Singapore Airlines said. There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board, it said. The nationalities of the passengers are as follows: 56 from Australia, 2 from Canada, 1 from Germany, 3 from India, 2 from Indonesia, 1 from Iceland, 4 from Ireland, 1 from Israel, 16 from Malaysia, 2 from Myanmar, 23 from New Zealand, 5 from the Philippines, 41 from Singapore, 1 from South Korea, 2 from Spain, 47 from the United Kingdom, and 4 from the United States of America. Authorities have not released details of the injured passengers and crew or their nationalities. "Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. We deeply apologise for the traumatic experience that our passengers and crew members suffered on this flight. "We are providing all necessary assistance during this difficult time. We are working with our colleagues and the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary assistance," it said. Singapore Airlines was using a 16-year-old 777 model for the SQ321 service hit by severe turbulence. A Singapore Airlines team is on its way to Bangkok to provide any additional assistance needed. SIA is working with the relevant authorities on the investigation into this incident. Relatives seeking information may call the Singapore Airlines hotlines at +65 6542 3311 (Singapore), 1800-845-313 (Australia), and 080-0066-8194 (the United Kingdom), the carrier said. Singapore's new Prime Minister Lawrence Wong extended his condolences to family members and loved ones of the deceased. Unfortunately, we are marking Vesak Day this year with news of the incident on the SQ321 flight earlier today. We are all saddened and shocked by what happened, he said in a Facebook post. He added that Singapore is working closely with the Thai authorities and doing everything we can to support the passengers and crew. We pray for their safe return and smooth recovery for those who are injured. We are still getting more information from Bangkok and will provide further updates in due course, he said. US aircraft manufacturer Boeing extended its condolences to the family of the British man who died aboard SQ321, a Boeing 777-300ER. We are in contact with Singapore Airlines regarding flight SQ321 and stand ready to support them, Boeing said on X. With light and moderate turbulence passengers might feel a strain against their seatbelt, and unsecured items could move around the cabin. But in severe cases turbulence can throw passengers around the cabin, causing severe injuries and occasionally death, CNN reported. Warsaw (Poland), May 21 (AP) Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Tuesday that three people were recently arrested on suspicion of links to foreign-sponsored sabotage, adding to nine others already under arrest. Tusk was speaking at a weekly news conference about what steps his government was taking to protect Poland against hostile activity, including incidents with suspected links to Russian intelligence services. Another three people were arrested on Monday night, Tusk said, as he praised the efficiency of Poland's national security services. That brings the number of those under arrest to 12. On Monday, Tusk said that nine people have been jailed on allegations of having engaged themselves directly into acts of sabotage in Poland, on commission from Russian (intelligence) services and described them as hired people, sometimes from the criminal world, and nationals of Ukraine, Belarus and Poland. He described these acts as beatings, arson and attempted arson. He said that also other nations in the region, especially Lithuania and Latvia, were threatened by sabotage and provocation. The two countries, along with Estonia, are in the Baltics, a region that neighbors Russia. The three Baltic states were once part of the Soviet Union, while Poland was a satellite state of the USSR before the 1990s. Moscow still regards the area as within its sphere of interests. However, Poland and the Baltic countries all support Ukraine in its efforts to repel Russia's full-scale invasion. Arrests were made last week in Lithuania following a fire at an IKEA warehouse in Vilnius, which was believed to be arson. Tusk has said the suspects could also be linked to sabotage in Poland, while an attempted factory arson early this year in Wroclaw, in the southwest, was without doubt the doing of Russia's secret services. That link was also being investigated in a recent fire of a major shopping mall in Warsaw. Russian authorities didn't immediately comment on the accusations, and they routinely deny such allegations. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on Tuesday appealed for people to remain vigilant to acts of sabotage in the face of the current political circumstances. Unfortunately, we have information that such acts of sabotage can happen again," Nauseda told public radio LRT. When our opponents, our enemies (...) will try to destabilize our internal political situation, we have to do everything we can to prevent them from doing so, he said. (AP) NPK NPK Officials are warning about potential traffic congestion during the North Dakota State High School Track and Field Meet at the MDU Resources Community Bowl in Bismarck this week. The event is Thursday through Saturday. The state meet typically brings thousands of people to the city. Traffic congestion is expected near Interstate 94's Exit 157, in the area of the Community Bowl, according to the Highway Patrol and the state Department of Transportation. The issue could be exacerbated by ongoing construction work on the Grant Marsh Bridge on I-94 between Bismarck and Mandan, where traffic flow is reduced because of lane closures, and bottlenecks occur during times of heavy traffic. The Patrol is urging local commuters to find alternate routes during the track meet. A portion of Canary Avenue in Bismarck near the Bowl will be closed for the track meet, starting at noon Wednesday and continuing through 6 p.m. Saturday, according to the city Engineering Department. The avenue will be closed from the main parking lot on the north side of the Bowl and then west and south to the parking lot on the southwest corner of the Bowl. No detour will be in place. Attendants will open the barricades for vehicles going to the North Dakota's Gateway to Science building west of the Bowl. Opening ceremonies for the state track meet are at 3 p.m. Thursday, with full days of action Friday and Saturday. Jerusalem, May 21 (AP) France, Belgium and Slovenia voiced support for the world's top war crimes court and its chief prosecutor's request for arrest warrants for leaders of Israel and Hamas, after Israel and the United States both harshly condemned the effort. The accusations center on war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel. Arrest warrants were requested for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh. Although Netanyahu and Gallant do not face imminent arrest, the announcement Monday was a symbolic blow that deepens Israel's isolation over the war in Gaza. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz headed to France on Tuesday in response. One of the main hospitals still operating in northern Gaza was forced to evacuate Tuesday after coming under fire from Israeli forces, while a second has been surrounded by troops, Palestinian Health Ministry said. And amid months of surging violence in the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces raided a militant stronghold in the city of Jenin, killing at least seven people and wounding several others, the Health Ministry said. Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed about 1,200 people mostly civilians and abducted about 250. At least 35,000 Palestinians have died in the war, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between combatants and civilians. Around 80% of the population of 2.3 million Palestinians has been displaced within the territory, often multiple times. Currently: Israel tries to contain the fallout after some allies support ICC prosecutor's request for warrants. Israeli forces kill at least seven Palestinians in a West Bank raid. These photos show Palestinians' rapid exodus from Rafah after Israel issued evacuation orders. Israeli officials seize AP equipment and take down live video shot of northern Gaza, citing new media law. Analysis: Iran's nuclear policy of pressure and talks likely to go on even after president's death. Yemen's Houthi rebels say they shot down another U.S. drone Here's the latest: HOSPITAL EVACUATED IN NORTHERN GAZA AFTER ISRAELI FORCES FIRE ON IT, AND A SECOND HOSPITAL IS SURROUNDED FOR 3 DAYS CAIRO The Palestinian Health Ministry says one of the main hospitals still operating in northern Gaza has been evacuated after coming under fire from Israeli forces, while a second has been surrounded by troops. The two hospitals, Kamal Adwan and Awda, are located in or near Jabalia refugee camp, where Israeli troops have been waging an intensified assault for days against Hamas fighters who the military says had regrouped there. The ministry said Tuesday that Kamal Adwan hospital was targeted by Israeli troops, forcing around 150 staff and dozens of patients to evacuate the facility, including intensive care patients and infants in incubators. The ministry did not elaborate but said they fled under fire from shelling. The Israeli military did not immediately reply to requests for comment. Awda hospital issued a statement Tuesday saying it had been surrounded by Israeli troops for the past three days and that an artillery shell had hit its fifth floor. On Monday, the international medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said Awda had run out of drinking water and was encircled by Israel tanks. Awda and Kamal Adwan Hospitals were besieged by Israeli troops for days in December, causing heavy damage to both and forcing them to shut down. They resumed partial operations since then. Israel has claimed in general that Hamas uses hospitals as bases or to keep weapons, an accusation hospital staff deny. Israel's 7-month-old offensive in Gaza, triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, has devastated the territory's health sector. Around two-thirds of Gaza's original 36 hospitals have been forced to shut down, and the rest only partially function. GERMANY OFFERS CONDOLENCES FOR THE DEATH OF IRAN'S PRESIDENT RAISI BERLIN The German government on Tuesday expressed its condolences for the death of Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash. German Chancellor Scholz said in a letter of condolence to Iran's vice president that we have received the news of the helicopter crash and the death of President Raisi. Our condolences go out to the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the families of those killed in the crash, Scholz added. ISRAEL'S GALLANT SLAMS ICC PROSECUTOR'S REQUEST FOR ARREST WARRANTS JERUSALEM Israel's defense minister on Tuesday slammed the international court prosecutor's request for arrest warrants against himself and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Hamas leaders. Yoav Gallant said prosecutor Karim Khan created a parallel between the militant group and Israel, calling that despicable and disgusting. He noted that Israel is not party to the International Criminal Court and does not recognize its authority, and stressed that Israel has a right to defend itself. Prosecutor Karim Khan's attempt to deny the state of Israel the right to defend herself and ensure the release of the hostages held in Gaza, must be rejected explicitly, he said. Khan accused Netanyahu, Gallant, and three Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh of warcrimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel. While Netanyahu and Gallant do not face imminent arrest, the announcement Monday was a symbolic blow that deepened Israel's isolation over the war in Gaza. ISRAELI FORCES KILL 7 IN A RAID ON A WEST BANK MILITANT STRONGHOLD, PALESTINIAN HEALTH MINISTRY SAYS JERUSALEM Israeli forces raided a militant stronghold Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, killing at least seven and wounding several, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Israeli military said it struck militants during an operation into the city. In addition to the seven fatalities, the Palestinian Health Ministry said nine people were injured. Among those killed was Dr. Ossayed Kamal Jabareen, the surgery specialist at Jenin Governmental Hospital who was killed on his way to his work, according to Dr. Wissam Abu Baker, the hospital's director. The raid was ongoing and the casualty numbers could rise. The raid into Jenin is part of months of surging violence in the Palestinian territory. Nearly 500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, part of an Israeli crackdown on militancy in the territory. Attacks by Palestinians against Israelis have also increased. Saraya al-Quds, the military arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, said its fighters battled Israeli forces raiding Jenin. Israel has arrested more than 3,000 Palestinians since the start of the war. FRANCE AND BELGIUM SUPPORT WAR CRIMES COURT'S REQUEST FOR ARREST WARRANTS France and Belgium each released statements supporting the world's top war crimes court and its chief prosecutor's request for arrest warrants for leaders of Israel and Hamas. International Criminal Court top prosecutor Karim Khan accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel. While Netanyahu and Gallant do not face imminent arrest, the announcement Monday was a symbolic blow that deepened Israel's isolation over the war in Gaza. France supports the International Criminal Court, its independence, and the fight against impunity in all situations, its Foreign Ministry said in a statement late Monday, around the same time Belgium Minister of Foreign Affairs Hadja Lahbib posted on X, Crimes committed in Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of the perpetrators," along with a statement. Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders condemned the move as disgraceful and antisemitic. United States President Joe Biden also lambasted the prosecutor and supported Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas. SRI LANKA DECLARES NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING FOR IRANIAN PRESIDENT COLOMBO, Sri Lanka The Sri Lankan government declared Tuesday a national mourning day for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The government also ordered all state institutions to hoist the national flag at half-staff. Raisi visited Sri Lanka in April to inaugurate a long-delayed hydropower and irrigation project. The project, valued at $514 million, was started in 2010. It was scheduled for completion in 2015 but was delayed by the sanctions, technical issues and the COVID-19 pandemic. Raisi was the first Iranian leader to visit Sri Lanka since then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited in 2008. (AP) AMS Jashpur (Chhattisgarh), May 21 (PTI) Two minor boys were killed and eight other persons injured when a truck collided with their auto-rickshaw in Chhattisgarh's Jashpur district in the wee hours of Tuesday, police said. The accident took place at around 2 am when the victims were returning home in Dumartoli village after catering work at a wedding event, an official said. The truck driver lost control over the wheels following which the vehicle collided head-on with the auto-rickshaw carrying 10 persons at Tehsil Chowk under Bagicha police station limits, he said. After being alerted, police reached the spot and the victims were taken to a hospital in Bagicha where doctors declared two boys, aged 11 and 14, brought dead, the official said. Out of the eight injured persons, five were critically hurt and they were shifted to a medical facility in Ambikapur city for better treatment, he said. The bodies were sent for post-mortem. A case was registered under relevant provisions against the truck driver, who fled from the spot, and efforts were on to nab him, the official said. New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar is likely to represent India at the funeral of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash, sources said on Tuesday. They said Dhankhar is likely to leave for Iran on Wednesday. A one-day state mourning is being observed across India on Tuesday as a mark of respect for Raisi. The Iranian president, the country's foreign minister and several other officials were found dead on Monday, hours after their helicopter crashed in a foggy, mountainous region in the northwestern part of the country, Iran state media reported. Raisi, 63, and his entourage were heading to the city of Tabriz after returning from a visit to a locality on the Azerbaijan-Iran border on Sunday. New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) Union minister Ajay Bhatt said Tuesday the strength of a country resides not only in its military might but also in its ability to adapt to changing circumstances and leverage its cultural heritage as a source of power. The minister of state for defence was addressing an event at the National Museum here to mark the culmination of Project Udbhav, which aims to promote indigenous discourse in the Army by integrating India's ancient strategic acumen into a contemporary military domain with a focus on making the force "future-ready". The project is a collaboration of the Indian Army and Delhi-based think-tank United Service Institution of India (USI). Praising the Army and USI, Bhatt said, "The aim of this project envisioned by USI is to find invaluable insights into our strategic culture by finding ancient texts and oral traditions... The geopolitical landscape is continuously evolving and it is necessary for our armed forces to be adaptive and innovative in their thinking." In his address, the minister also praised the ancient Indian philosophy of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam', which was part of the tagline used by India during its year-long presidency of the G20. "The ancient principle of 'Vasudhaiva Kutambakam'... has transcended cultural boundaries and become a guiding light in international diplomacy," Bhatt said. The Union minister said that in the last decade, the government of India has started a significant journey towards promoting indigenisation initiatives in various areas. From health to manufacturing and from basic infrastructure to defence, solid efforts have been made for a strong national commitment towards indigenisation, he added. "There is a need to honestly make efforts to imbibe Indian thoughts and values even in our works and decisions. The dream of 'Viksit Bharat' can only be realised when we fully understand the priceless wisdom of our ancient past and implement it contextually in shaping modern ambitions and policies," he said. The event was also attended by Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande and other senior officials of the force. Bhatt further said that by delving into India's ancient texts and traditions, Project Udbhav "not only enriches our understanding of strategic culture but also lends a valuable discerning thinking on unconventional war strategies, diplomatic traditions, and moral thoughts in a war". "As we delve into our history and understand it deeply, it is essential to identify that historical narratives are not limited to buildings and objects alone, there is a sea of knowledge beyond that. "In our ancient texts, there is a rich history, historians are well aware of this and it is a subject of continuous research, which the defence minister has earlier done," Bhatt said. Therefore, the minister said, it is important that "we continuously discuss our history, and reevaluate it so that we can ensure that our past is neither distorted nor oversimplified". The Army chief said in his address that the project was launched at the maiden edition of the Indian Military Heritage Festival last October by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Bhatt also said that India's history is an amalgamation of different thoughts and accomplishments which is a source of inspiration not only for Indians but also for people around the world. Today, through social media and other digital platforms, the dissemination of information has connected the world together, due to which curiosity towards India's ancient knowledge systems is growing in the world, the Union minister added. Bhatt also inaugurated an exhibition themed on the 'Evolution of Indian Military Systems, Warfighting, and Strategic Thought -- from Antiquity to Independence', which showcases the evolution of India's military systems and strategy. New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) Indian Youth Congress (IYC) on Tuesday organised a blood donation camp on the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and around 400 units of blood were donated to the camp, according to a statement. Delhi Congress chief Devendra Yadav, senior Congress leader Sandeep Dixit and Rajya Sabha MP Jebi Mather also took part in the blood donation camp, it said. Paying tribute to Rajiv Gandhi, IYC president Srinivas BV said that the former PM was revolutionary in his thinking. "The foundation of the digital revolution that we are in today was laid by Rajiv Gandhi in the country. He gave voting power to the youth by reducing the age limit," he said. The 61st constitutional amendment passed during the Rajiv Gandhi government reduced the voting age from 21 to 18. Srinivas said Rajiv Gandhi's contribution in nation-building and development is unforgettable. Delhi Congress chief Devendra Yadav also paid tribute to the former PM at the state office and garlanded his statue installed there. Many IYC workers also paid tribute to Rajiv Gandhi and participated in the camp. Speaking at the event, Yadav said that Rajiv Gandhi sacrificed his life for the unity, integrity and progress of the country and the people of India will never forget his supreme sacrifice. Kolkata, May 21 (PTI) Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday said he will lodge a complaint with the Election Commission, accusing the West Bengal Police of raiding his election office in Kolaghat in Purba Medinipur without any valid reason. The Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal assembly later went to Kolaghat Police Station and enquired about the reason behind the raid without any proper documents. The police neither took the permission of the EC nor the high court before raiding my election office. This must immediately stop. I will lodge a complaint with the poll panel, he said. The ruling Trinamool Congress, while reacting to his claims, wondered whether "Adhikari is above the law. "If the police raided his office or residence, there must be some valid reason behind it," TMC MP Santanu Sen said. Varanasi (UP), May 21 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday offered prayers at the Sankat Mochan temple here. He was accompanied by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. In a post on 'X' in Hindi, the prime minister said, "Today I had the good fortune of visiting and offering worship at the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple in Varanasi. I prayed for the happiness, prosperity and health of my family members across the country including Kashi." Modi was in Varanasi to address the 'Nari Shakti Samvaad' programme. The temple complex resonated with the chant 'Jai Shri Ram' upon the arrival of PM Modi and Adityanath and they greeted the devotees with folded hands. New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) The Congress on Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been indulging in polarisation throughout the election and preparing a "communal pitch", but it refused to play on that and pursued its 'paach nyay' agenda. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh's attack came over Modi's remarks in an interview with PTI in which he had said that he has never uttered a word against minorities, and the BJP has "not just today but never" acted against them. Ramesh claimed that Prime Minister Modi's entire campaign from April 19 has been based on "communalisation" with the Hindu-Muslim rhetoric throughout and "no talk of Viksit Bharat, Modi ki guarantee, or issues of the farmers, youth, women, workers, SCs, STs and OBCs". Asked about the remarks, Ramesh told PTI, "What nonsense is he talking about. This prime minister is fast losing his memory. He has never had any adherence to truth. He is 'jhoothjeevi', but now what he says today, he forgets tomorrow and says he never said it." "Of course he has been attacking the Congress party and has been talking of Hindu-Muslim," he said. Ramesh said the PM had raised the issue of 'Muslim League' imprint on the Congress manifesto, the mangalsutra remarks and the allegation that the Congress will give reservations on the basis of religion, which were all "bogus statements". "This is the prime minister who, when asked some years ago whether he had any remorse at the killings during the Gujarat riots, said even when a small puppy comes under a car, one feels bad. This is the language that he has used," Ramesh said. He alleged that the prime minister's entire campaign from April 19 has based on "communalisation and polarisation". "It has been Hindu-Muslim rhetoric all through, no talk of Viksit Bharat, no talk of Modi ki guarantee, no talk of issues of the farmers, youth, women, workers, of the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs...it has been a communal agenda," Ramesh said. The prime minister has been preparing a "communal pitch" and wants the Congress to play on that pitch but "we refused to play on that pitch", he said. "We have refused to do it because our agenda is the 'paanch nyay' -- yuva nyay, kisaan nyay, shramik nyay, naari nyay and hissedari nyay and the 25 guarantees we have given," the Congress leader said. On Prime Minister Modi remarks in the interview, asserting that even if one assumes he acts out of self-interest, his own welfare lies in the welfare of the Constitution, Ramesh said that on November 26, 1949, the Constitution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly and B R Ambedkar made a speech a day before in which he said that without the Congress, the Constitution would not have been made possible. "Four days after the Constitution was adopted, the Organiser, which is an RSS publication, says there is nothing Indian about the Constitution because there are no 'manuvadi values'. Subsequently M S Golwalkar, Deen Dayal Upadhyay, Mohan Bhagwat, Bibek Debroy, so many spokespersons have been attacking this Constitution, saying the time for this Constitution is over," Ramesh alleged. The Congress leader said the Constitution was a flexible document that can be amended but to do away with the document altogether "lock, stock and barrel" is another thing. Ramesh claimed that when Atal Bihari Vajapayee became the prime minister, "L K Advani and company" wanted a committee to review the basic structure of the Constitution. "They appointed justice JMNR Venkatachaliah, a very distinguished former chief justice, to head the panel but he said I am not going to be a party to doing away with the basic structure of this Constitution," he said. Subsequently, the BJP-led dispensation had to change the nature of the committee to one that would review the working of the Constitution, he said. "We (the Congress) of course boycotted that commission. So this has always been the objective of the BJP and the RSS. They are deeply uncomfortable and hostile to the idea of BR Ambedkar's Constitution because one of the pillars of this Constitution is social justice and the road to social justice is through reservation," he said. Ramesh asked why Prime Minister Modi is "silent" on the issue of caste census. He also asked the prime minister to clear his stance as to whether he will remove the 50 per cent cap on reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs. "Why has the PM not said a word on this, he is going around spreading an epidemic of lies that the Congress is giving reservations based on religion. Where have we given reservations based on religion? The 1994 reservations in Karnataka, which he keeps referring to, were given to minorities -- Muslims, Christians, Jains, Buddhists based on socio-economic criteria, and that is how they were introduced in the reservation law," he said. "Subsequently, the PM in an interview to a TV channel had said he himself given reservation to Muslims by adding them to OBC list. If PM does it, it is not religion-based reservation, if the Congress does it, even though it is based on socio-economic criteria, it is religion-based," Ramesh said. Asked about the prime minister's remark that his Adani-Ambani comments were validated by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's comments, Ramesh said he does not know what the context of Chowdhury's remarks was but Modi should be asked why action has not been taken against the two businessmen. Chandigarh/Amritsar, May 21 (PTI) For the traders and industry in Amritsar, resumption of trade with Pakistan through the Attari-Wagah land route is a key poll issue. They say reviving cross-border trade will also benefit farmers, transporters and labourers. The volume of trade between India and Pakistan through the land route used to be around Rs 5,000 crore per annum before the bilateral trade ties were suspended in 2019. Resuming trade with Pakistan will not only boost the economy of Amritsar but it will also create more employment opportunities, the traders said. The local industry has made it clear to the candidates of all major political parties that the revival of trade was necessary for the betterment and development of Amritsar. Amritsar along with 12 other parliamentary constituencies of Punjab will go to polls in the final round of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections on June 1. "The government must resume trade with Pakistan because in Amritsar there is no manufacturing industry," said Amritsar-based industrialist Rajdeep Uppal. "A pillar of Amritsar's economy was the Indo-Pak trade which benefitted not only economically but was the largest confidence-building measure for peace in the region," said Uppal, who is the former chairman of CII Amritsar Zone council. Trade between India and Pakistan through the Attari-Wagah land route has not been taking place since 2019. However, imports from Afghanistan still continue through the route. India imposed a 200 per cent customs duty on all products imported from Pakistan following the Pulwama attack in February 2019. Pakistan suspended bilateral trade with India in August 2019 in the wake of the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir. With the resumption of trade with Pakistan, there will be huge opportunities for work at the Integrated Check Post in the border district, Uppal told PTI. When there were no restrictions on trade, around 2,500 porters used to get work. Similarly, truck drivers used to get business supplying items for import and export, industry leaders said. Every day, 500 trucks would be engaged in importing and exporting duties, they said. India used to export vegetables, including potatoes, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and spices, cotton yarn, soybean extraction, dyes and tyres and used to import dry fruits, cement, gypsum and rock salt. Traders pointed out that the resumption of trade with Pakistan would prove to be beneficial not only for the trade and industry but also for the farmers as they would get back their market. "We speak about our farmers. Pakistan was one of the largest markets for our farmers. Potatoes, tomatoes, peas, and every kind of vegetable used to be exported. If there was any shortage of any vegetable, it used to be imported also. Consumers as well as farmers both were happy," said Uppal. It is in the interest of everyone, be it traders, transporters, farmers and labourers that the trade should be resumed, he asserted. Another Amritsar-based exporter also pitched for the revival of trade with Pakistan. He said Amritsar is the only city which has three gateways -- rail, road and air connectivity. "There is a huge potential for trade with Pakistan," he said, adding that there is also potential for trade with Central Asia through this route. India and Pakistan had agreed to start a cross-border movement of trucks in October 2007, after a gap of 60 years from the Attari Check post at Amritsar in India to the Wagah border in Pakistan to boost bilateral trade. An Integrated Check Post was set up at the Attari-Wagah border in 2012 for smooth movement of traffic between India and Pakistan. The BJP has fielded former US diplomat Taranjit Singh Sandhu, while the Congress has named Gurjit Singh Aujla and the Shiromani Akali Dal's candidate is former minister Anil Joshi. Aam Aadmi Party has fielded Kuldip Singh Dhaliwal. Jammu, May 21 (PTI) A special tribunal in Jammu has dismissed an appeal by a senior BJP leaders wife against the demolition of her illegally constructed palatial bungalow here and imposed Rs 10 lakh as costs on her for serious misconduct involving criminal contempt of court and perjury. Former deputy chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Nirmal Singh and his family had moved into the newly constructed house near the armys ammunition sub-depot at Ban village of Nagrota on July 23, 2020, and were subsequently served a demolition notice by Jammu Development Authority (JDA). The house in the name of Singhs wife Mamta was completed even though the High Court had in May 2018 directed the authorities to ensure strict implementation of a 2015 notification that barred the general public from undertaking constructions within 1,000 yards of defence works. Mamta moved the special tribunal, Jammu, against the demolition order and was granted interim relief on November 12, 2021. On April 13, 2023, after many hearings, the tribunal (bench-II) set aside the impugned demolition order and subsequently, the JDA initiated fresh proceedings for the demolition by serving a show cause notice on May 11, 2023, followed by a demolition order on July 28, 2023. After perusing the record, this tribunal is satisfied that the appellant has willfully suppressed the material facts and made false statements on oath... the construction of the residential house in question is a deliberate act of defiance of the rule of law. "The appeals filed before the tribunal thereafter on false grounds tantamount to abuse of the process of the court. It being so, this appeal is liable to be disposed of for having been rendered infructuous on the face of the order passed by the high court. In view of the above, the instant appeal sans merit. It entails dismissal and is, accordingly, dismissed, Member (Executive) bench-III, J&K Special Tribunal, Jammu Asif Hamid Khan said in his 27-page order. The order, passed on May 17, said the misconduct of the appellant was far more serious, involving criminal contempt of court and perjury. Despite positive directions passed by the High Court on May 7, 2018, against permitting any 'unlawful/impermissible activity in the area', the work on the under-construction building was going on in full swing on May 13, 2018, and continued thereafter, it said. For serious misconduct involving criminal contempt of court and perjury, it imposed Rs 10 lakh as costs on the appellant that shall be deposited in the advocates' welfare fund within a month. The BJP leader had earlier claimed it was a political conspiracy against him. The piece of 2,000 square metre land was bought in 2000 by the Himgiri Infrastructure Development Private Limited, whose shareholders included former deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta and BJP MP Jugal Kishore besides Singh. Gupta, however, had claimed that he resigned from the company. The construction work on the plot had started in 2017 prompting the Army to send a communication to Singh, who was then the deputy chief minister in the PDP-BJP coalition government, and ask him to stop the activity as it was in "violation of the Works of Defence Act (WoDA) 1903" which bars any construction activity upto 1000 yards (914 metres approx). The construction activity falls nearly 581 yards (531 metres approx) from the boundary of the depot. A contempt notice was moved by the central government in 2018 against Singh's wife for allegedly violating a 2015 order of the then deputy commissioner of Jammu Simrandeep Singh in which the Army depot was notified by the state government. The high court had on May 7, 2018, while hearing a contempt petition, asked various departments of the state to file their replies and directed Singh and others to "ensure" that the 2015 order is "strictly implemented with all provisions of law/rules and no unlawful/impermissible activity in the area is permitted". The 2015 order was clear that "no variation shall be made in the ground level and on building, wall, bank or other construction....erected, added to or altered otherwise than with the written approval of the General officer in Commanding..." "No wood, earth, stone, brick, gravel and or other material shall be stacked, stored or otherwise accumulated" and the order was applicable to all those living 1000 yards of the ammunition point at village ban. It said that any violation "shall be dealt with by the local Army commander under law and no compensation in respect of removal of such unauthorised structures shall be payable to the owners". The Defence Ministry filed a writ petition on May 3, 2018, when the local administration and police failed to implement the 2015 order. Despite the high court's directive for strict implementation of the order of the deputy commissioner, the construction work continued unabated prompting the Centre to move a contempt petition on May 16, 2018. Officials in the Defence Ministry had said that in view of the terrorist actions, concerns regarding the security of such sensitive defence installations have always assumed importance. Guidelines such as the Works of Defence Act are meant to deter such threats as well as cater for the safety of the civilians residing in the vicinity. However, such construction activity reduces the open area for surveillance and monitoring by the Army too. Haitis main international airport reopened Monday for the first time in nearly three months after relentless gang violence forced authorities to close it. The reopening of the Toussaint-Louverture airport in the capital of Port-au-Prince is expected to help ease a critical shortage of medications and other basic supplies. The countrys main seaport remains badly affected. Gangs control 80% of the capital. U.S.-based airlines are not expected to start using the airport until late May or early June. The first commercial passenger flight since March left for Miami nearly two hours behind schedule, with sweating passengers complaining to local carrier Sunrise Airways about the lack of air conditioning until takeoff. Before Monday, the sole airport operating in Haiti was located in the north coastal city of Cap-Haitien. It was out of reach for many seeking to flee the country, with roads leading from Port-au-Prince controlled by gangs that have opened fire on cars and buses passing through. The U.S. government had evacuated hundreds of citizens by helicopter out of a hilly neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, as did nonprofit organizations, as gangs laid siege to parts of the capital. The attacks began on Feb. 29, with gunmen seizing control of police stations, opening fire on the Port-au-Prince airport and storming Haitis two biggest prisons, freeing more than 4,000 inmates. Gangs since then have directed their attacks on previously peaceful communities, leaving thousands homeless. More than 2,500 people have been killed or injured in Haiti from January to March, a more than 50% increase compared to the same period last year, according to the United Nations. At the Couronne Bar near the sole airport gate operating on Monday, 43-year-old manager Klav-Dja Raphael welcomed her first clients. But her smile belied her fear. We are scared because they can still attack us here, she said. We must come in. Its our job, but were afraid. She recalled how bullets ricocheted through the airport the day it was attacked. While the airport provided workers a months wages, she was left unemployed for the rest of the time, relying on friends and family. She is anxious to join her 13-year-old son who lives in Florida with his father. Other workers, including those at immigration, were all smiles, content to be finally back at work. That was a long vacation! one immigration agent said. Dozens of people lined up hours before the flight. Im very happy, but it hurts that Im leaving my husband and my son, said Darling Antoine as her eyes began to water. She received a visa allowing her to live in the U.S., but the rest of her family is still waiting. They applied because gangs kept encroaching on their neighborhood. There are heavy gunshots every day, she said. Sometimes we have to hide under the bed. Jean Doovenskey, a 31-year-old accountant, left unemployed by the violence, said he was notified in early April that he was authorized to live in the U.S. He will live with his aunt in Florida but hopes to return to Haiti one day and live. I believe in a new Haiti, he said. The attack on the airport also left former Prime Minister Ariel Henry locked out of Haiti since he was on an official trip to Kenya. He has since resigned, and a transitional presidential council is seeking a new prime minister. It is also tasked with selecting a new Cabinet and organizing general elections. In recent weeks, U.S. military planes have landed at the Port-au-Prince airport with supplies as well as civilian contractors to help Haiti prepare for the arrival of foreign forces expected to help quell the gang violence. On Sunday, Kenyas foreign affairs principal secretary, Korir Singoei, said a plan to deploy police officers from the East African country was in final stages. I can tell you for sure that deployment will happen in the next few days, few weeks, he said. In March, Kenya and Haiti signed agreements to try to salvage a plan for the country to deploy 1,000 police officers to the troubled Caribbean nation. Other countries expected to back up Kenyan forces include the Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Bangladesh. It wasnt immediately clear when those would arrive. (AP) Hunter Biden pressed for a delay in his federal gun case on Monday, asking an appeals court to pause the Delaware trial set to begin next month. Defense attorneys for the presidents son argued there isnt an urgent need to start the trial on the June 3 date set by the federal judge overseeing the case. They also cite the short time between the Delaware trial and the start of another trial on tax charges in California. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to lying about his drug use in October 2018 on a form to buy a gun that he kept for about 11 days in Delaware. He has acknowledged an addiction to crack cocaine during that period, but his lawyers have said he didnt break the law. The lawyers are asking the full 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear a bid to dismiss the prosecution. It was rejected by a three-judge panel that did not rule on the merits of his claims, but said the court doesnt have jurisdiction to review the matter. The lawyers are also appealing a separate decision from U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika rejecting a claim that the case violates the Constitutions Second Amendment on firearm ownership. Those rulings paved the way for the Justice Department to bring President Joe Bidens son to trial in the midst of the presidents reelection campaign. Hunter Biden is separately charged in the tax case in California that is tentatively scheduled to go to trial in late June. The investigation had looked ready to wrap up with a plea deal last year, but the agreement imploded after a judge raised questions about it. Biden was subsequently indicted. Under the deal, he would have gotten two years probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor tax charges. He also would have avoided prosecution on the gun charge if he stayed out of trouble. His attorneys have argued that prosecutors bowed to political pressure to indict him amid heavy criticism of the plea deal from Donald Trump and other Republicans. They had also challenged the appointment of Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss as special counsel to lead the prosecution. Prosecutors countered the evidence against him was overwhelming, including cocaine residue found in the pouch where he stored his gun. Noreika, who was appointed to the bench by former President Trump, said that the defense had provided nothing credible to suggest that lawmakers or anyone else had any impact on the special counsel, adding: It is all speculation. The separate tax counts in Los Angeles allege Hunter Biden failed to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over three years while living an extravagant lifestyle, during his days of using drugs. He is separately challenging rulings rejecting his motions to dismiss those charges. (AP) China on Tuesday sanctioned Mike Gallagher, a former Republican member of Congress from Wisconsin who has shown support for Taiwan. Gallagher will be banned from entering China, any assets he holds in the country will be frozen and he will be barred from various exchanges with Chinese organizations and individuals, the countrys Foreign Ministry announced. The sanctions come a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken congratulated Taiwans new president, Lai Ching-te, on his inauguration Monday. China claims the self-ruled island of Taiwan as its own territory, to be annexed by force if necessary, and bristles at other countries exchanges with Taipei. Gallagher, who stepped down in April, led the House pushback against the Chinese government, including helping to pass a bill that could ban popular video app TikTok if its China-based owner doesnt sell its stake. In February, Gallagher led a Congressional delegation to Taiwan in a visit that sought to assure Taipei of Washingtons continued support. The United States, like most countries, doesnt recognize Taiwan as a country but is bound by its own laws to ensure the island can defend itself. (AP) The IDF has announced that approximately 950,000 Palestinians have evacuated the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip, as troops continue to operate in the eastern part of the city. According to reports, around 300,000 to 400,000 civilians remain in Rafah, primarily concentrated in the coastal area and parts of the city center. Earlier this month, the IDF issued an evacuation warning for the eastern part of Rafah, which was home to over a million Palestinians before the military push. However, only around 150,000 Palestinians were in the designated evacuation zone, indicating that many civilians from other areas of Rafah, where the IDF has not yet operated, chose to evacuate on their own accord. Currently, Palestinian civilians are largely gathered in the al-Mawasi area, designated by the IDF as a humanitarian zone, along the coastal strip, and in central Gaza, where ground forces have not yet operated. Additionally, a significant civilian population remains in the coastal part of Rafah and some areas of northern Gaza. The IDF says that it drew valuable lessons from past experiences in evacuating the population in Rafah, which was carried out much faster than predicted by the United States. The swift evacuation has likely helped minimize civilian casualties and alleviate humanitarian concerns. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) President Joe Biden strongly defended Israel on Monday, rejecting claims that its military campaign against Hamas terrorists in Gaza constitutes genocide. Whats happening in Gaza is not genocide. We reject that, Biden said at a Jewish American Heritage Month event at the White House. Biden has faced protests from pro-Palestinian advocates at many of his events, with some labeling him Genocide Joe due to his steadfast support for Israel. However, the President stressed that Israel is the victim, dating back to the October 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas terrorists that killed 1,200 people and took hundreds of hostages. We stand with Israel to take out [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar and the rest of the butchers of Hamas. We want Hamas defeated. Were working with Israel to make that happen, Biden said. He also vowed to continue efforts to secure the release of sick, elderly, and wounded hostages still held by Hamas, saying Were going to get them home, were going to get em home, come hell or high water. Biden has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, a position he reiterated in a commencement speech at Morehouse College on Sunday. He also rejected the International Criminal Courts prosecutors request for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense chief over alleged war crimes. Biden has faced growing political pressure from his own party over his handling of the Gaza conflict, as the Palestinian death toll has climbed to over 35,000 people and Israels siege has created dire humanitarian conditions in the territory. Despite this, Biden has maintained his support for Israel, emphasizing the importance of its safety and security. Our support for the safety and security of Israelis is ironclad, he said. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) Far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has thrown her support behind a New York state bill that aims to revoke tax-exempt status from nonprofit organizations that support Israeli yishuvim. It is more important now than ever to hold the Netanyahu government accountable for endorsing and, in fact, supporting some of this settler violence that prevents a lasting peace, Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement. The bill, which faces slim chances of passing in the New York legislature, seeks to ensure that the ongoing atrocities that we see happening in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as the ongoing enabling of armed militias to terrorize Palestinians in the West Bank, do not benefit from New York State charitable tax exemptions. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) Israeli President Yitzchak Herzog has called on his country to seriously consider normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia, a move he believes could be a game-changer. The US has been pushing for normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, with Sullivan telling Netanyahu that there is an opportunity for normalization if Jerusalem agrees to a pathway to a future Palestinian state. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected any deal that would require a commitment to Palestinian statehood a key sticking point in the negotiations with Riyadh. Speaking at a conference organized by the Israel Democracy Institute, Herzog revealed that he had met with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who announced an option for normalization with Saudi Arabia. This is a move that could bring about tremendous change, a historic game-changer that constitutes a victory over the empire of evil. I very much hope that this possibility is being seriously considered, as the empire of evil sought on October 7 to destroy the chance for normalization, Herzog said. Herzog stressed that the struggle is not just against Hamas, but a wider, strategic, global, and historic battle, and urged Israel to integrate into the grand vision of normalization. However, Netanyahu has maintained his stance, reiterating that he will not accept a Palestinian state, even if it comes with a Saudi normalization deal. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) The IDF says it has carried out a series of raids and airstrikes on terrorist infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, targeting military compounds, weapon storage sites, and terrorist cells. The operations, which took place in the areas of Jabaliya, Rafah, and Central Gaza, resulted in the elimination of several terrorists and the destruction of missiles, rocket launchers, and other military equipment. In Jabaliya, soldiers from the 460th Armored Brigade conducted raids on terrorist infrastructure, locating weapons and intelligence materials. Guided by intelligence, they arrived at a mosque where they found and destroyed missiles and rocket launchers. Over the past day, IDF troops have eliminated several terrorists in the area, including a cell that fired on them. In Rafah, IDF troops identified and eliminated a terrorist shooting mortar shells, and located rockets and additional military equipment. In Central Gaza, troops identified and eliminated a terrorist cell approaching them. In addition to the ground operations, Israeli Air Force (IAF) fighter jets and other aircraft struck and dismantled approximately 70 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip over the past day. These targets included military compounds, weapon storage sites and warehouses, missile launchers, observation posts, terrorist cells, and additional terror infrastructure. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) I work in London, live in Hertfordshire and get the train and then the tube to work. I usually walk or cycle to my local train station before getting public transport into the capital, but occasionally I have to drive. When I do this I usually take the family car but one day last October I had to take our second car instead, due to personal reasons. I was driving home from the station when I had a slow speed collision with a man walking down the middle of the road in the dark. The police said the man was 'clearly inebriated', and that it was not my fault, and that he escaped without serious injury. His family even wrote to me to say thank you for looking after him after the collision. So I was surprised to get contacted by my broker, Hastings, in February, saying the man had made a claim. Devil in the detail: The definition of just one word, 'commuting', lies at the heart of the problem Hastings told me I was not covered on my Advantage insurance policy, as my contract only covers 'social, domestic and pleasure' (SDP) use. Hastings contends that I was commuting home, and therefore I should have bought a 'social, domestic, pleasure and commuting' (SDP+C) policy. Surely 'commuting' would involve driving my car to and from work, not for a couple of miles of an 80-mile round trip to work and back? I checked my policy and it defines it as, 'travelling to and from one permanent place of business.' That is clearly not what I was doing and I had to drive that car to the station that day for personal reasons that changed my normal commuting pattern I am worried that I am facing a large legal bill and without insurance cover. Sam Barker of This is Money replies: This entire situation revolves around answering one question: what is commuting? To insurers, an SDP car insurance policy would cover use of the car for everyday driving trips, like visiting people, going to the shops, picking children up from school and so on. The upgraded, typically more expensive SDP+C policy also covers commuting. The reason insurance firms care about this is that there can be a higher risk to them with commuting, such as leaving a car parked and unattended in public for a long period of time, or covering more miles behind the wheel. The problem here is how 'commuting' is defined, which varies hugely between insurance firms. Some, such as Comparethemarket, LV, Confused.com and Admiral, explicitly say that driving to the train station and leaving your car there counts as commuting. Others, including your own broker, Hastings, are less clear. Your policy wording says: 'What's not covered: Travelling to and from one permanent place of business or study.' To me, and you, and no doubt many others, that sounds like you are not covered for using your car for an entire commute, all the way to your place of work. It does not clearly say you are not covered for part of it, ie driving to the station. But Hastings accused you, and said you had 'broken the terms of your policy agreement'. A Hastings employee told you: 'Your policy cover is for social use only, however we understand that at the time of the collision it was being used for commuting to Bishops Stortford train station for onward travel to London for work. 'Therefore the 'essential character' of the journey was to commute to/from your place of work.' Obviously this is incorrect on one thing - you were driving home from the train station at the end of the day, not heading towards it at the beginning. Regardless, Hastings stood firm and told you it would not cover the claim, if it was successful, which could have left you to foot a very large bill. This is Money approached Hastings asking the firm to reconsider and agree to cover you for any legal bill resulting from the claim, arguing that it was being both unclear and unfair. Hastings then agreed to fight the claim and cover the cost regardless, and said that it was going to clarify its wording around what 'commuting' meant. The broker said it had tried to contact you, which you deny. A Hastings spokesman said: 'We have continued to investigate the claim and tried to contact your reader to discuss this on a number of occasions, unfortunately as we were unable to reach her, a standard letter was sent. 'We would always prefer to discuss complex claims with our policyholders to confirm and clarify all aspects of the claim. 'We've now been able to speak with Jane and have discussed this fully with her, from this conversation we can now confirm that we intend to cover the cost of the claim. 'Generally, this approach is one we would take with all customers in this position, irrespective of the technical policy wording (clarity on the wording about commuting is already scheduled for an update), although as you can imagine, we would review each case on its own merit depending on its circumstances. 'It is our full intention to challenge and defend the case being brought by the 3rd party, and we do not expect Jane to cover any of those costs.' Jeremy Hunt is plain wrong when he keeps insisting a British Google should be the exemplar of our industrial success and why the UK should be the worlds next Silicon Valley. The Chancellor said it again at the Dorneywood summit he hosted last week in a bid to attract and keep more listings on the London Stock Exchange as well as boosting our capital markets. Id like to see a British Alphabet, Id like to see a British Microsoft a homegrown company with a trillion-dollar cap. That would reflect my ambition for the UK to be the worlds next Silicon Valley, he revealed. Hunt is wrong because we have a Google-type equivalent right under our noses its called AstraZeneca. It may not be a sexy high-tech creature, but its one of the most high-tech and innovative beasts in the life sciences world, and one of its most pioneering in terms of saving lives. Tech drive: Chancellor Jeremy Hunt insists that a British Google should be the exemplar of our industrial success Whats more, AZs global research HQ is on the booming Cambridge Biomedical Campus on the citys outskirts the UKs very own Silicon Fen and one of the worlds hottest bioscience hotspots. Its true the pharma giant may be a little shy of being a trillion dollar company its worth 192billion but give it time. It may get there yet if AZs ambitious chief executive, Sir Pascal Soriot, has his way. His latest target is to increase total revenue from a mere 36billion in 2023 to more than 60billion by 2030. Soriot hopes to achieve his grand ambition because AZ has another 20 new medicines in the pipeline, and many of them have the potential to reach 5billion or so each in annual sales. What is even more thrilling is that AZs latest crop of medicines are revolutionary, in the precise sense of the word, in the fields of oncology, biopharmaceuticals and rare diseases. Drugs for diabetes and metabolic diseases are also being worked on. And AZ is involved in the war on weight. It recently hooked up with Shanghai-based pharma group Eccogene for a weight-loss and cardio-metabolic drug, pitting itself against the heaviest weight-loss giant, Novo Nordisk, with its astonishing Wegovy and Ozempic drugs. But its the next generation of cancer treatments which are AZs holy grail. Speaking to CNBC in Cambridge yesterday, Dr Aradhana Sarin, its chief financial officer and a physician by training, explained that the most cutting edge of the new drugs are antibody drug conjugates ADCs aimed at replacing classic treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation. They are highly complex and work by delivering potent cancer-killing agents directly to cancer cells. They are also highly complex to manufacture and need end-to-end production, which is why AZ is investing 1.2billion in a new manufacturing facility in Singapore specifically for ADCs. The impressive CFO reckons these new drugs will eventually replace chemotherapy, which often has nasty side-effects for patients. But this will be evolutionary rather than immediate. Luckily, AZ is ahead of the curve in that cycle. Soriot may even pull off his ambitious target he has done so before, tripling the share price over the past decade. He has other new sites to explore. The big question is whether they might be in the UK, as AZ has already switched plans for a mega-new plant from Britain to Ireland because of high corporation tax and regulatory hurdles over clinical trials. Forget Google, Mr Hunt. Hop on the train to Cambridge its only an hour from London and listen to the scientists. Its not only the value of companies such as AZ that matters, but the value of what they do in saving lives and the prosperity they bring to their surrounding communities. Watertight Someone listening to the mood music is Susan Davy, boss of Pennon and parent of South West Water, along with Bournemouth and Bristol Water. The water supplies in her districts have been polluted with dangerous parasites, but normal service is back for most customers. Davy is paying out around 3.5million in compensation to customers affected by the outbreak. She has also trimmed back the dividend payment to shareholders to reflect fines on other incidents. Even so, the payment is going up, to 44.37p per share, at a total cost of 127million. That was a mistake. She should have stayed watertight. Put away the tatty nylon backpack. The leather briefcase is back as men embrace more formal dressing for the workplace. This new preference for a more structured accessory comes as Marks & Spencer plans to seize more of the 935million tailoring market, in response to a pick-up in demand spurred by the return to the office and more extravagant weddings. Ettinger, a family-owned London business, is reporting that sales of its luxury briefcases and elegant tote bags are now above their pre-Covid level. The need for such accessories fell when people were working from home. But there is now an interest in how to Harvey Specter or upgrade your office wardrobe, with a designer briefcase to accompany a perfectly fitted suit. Harvey Specter is the sharp-shooting lawyer in the hit drama series Suits, in which, as the name suggests, tailoring is a big thing. In the bag: Ettinger, a family-owned London business is reporting that sales of its luxury briefcases and elegant tote bags are now above their pre-Covid level Ettinger chief executive Robert Ettinger said: I think city workers are still spending big on buying briefcases for work because it is a fashion statement. He is the son of Gerry Ettinger who founded the company in 1934. The Royal Warrant-holding business still manufactures in the UK. But it is not only the 1,360 Ettinger Heritage Burlington briefcase, with its brass lock and the 550 Pursuits Wimbledon leather-trimmed canvas briefcase, that has won a new clientele. The use of paper money may have declined, but the well-dressed man still wants elegant accessories. Ettinger says: Despite being told that Britain is becoming a cashless society, our sales of wallets and credit card cases are still the same level as, again, pre-Covid. Maxwell-Scott, another family-run business which specialises in Italian-made leather goods, is also experiencing a boost. Eleanor Langan, the brand marketing manager, said: Turbulent economic situations dont seem to have deterred customers from investing in good quality luxury pieces. Suits star: Gabriel Macht as Harvey Specter Flexible working options may have become more prevalent, but City workers still want to look professional when they go to the office, attend meetings with clients, or work from shared spaces. The executive who spends some time in the office, other days in a funky shared office space and also picks up their emails in coffee shops may prefer a more casual leather bag. There has been a 103 per cent rise in sales of Maxwell-Scotts satchel bag. The desire for a more dressed-up look has been inspired not only by Suits, which is a Netflix series now also available on the BBC iPlayer, but also by the Netflix film The Gentlemen. The impeccably cut, but edgy, suits and other smart casual outfits worn by actor Theo James are much discussed on Instagram. The platform also features Savile Row tailors, including Davies & Son and Richard Anderson, explaining their craft. Such is the fascination with suiting that the posts on X by the American sartorial chronicler Derek Guy (@dieworkwear) have amassed him 874,000 followers. He debates the finer points of tailoring for those learning the importance of such elements as drape cut and high rise to the fit of a suit. He opines on the suits of politicians, noting, for example, that Keir Starmers jacket sleeves are always too long, while Rishi Sunaks cropped trousers are out-of-date. Against this resurgence of interest, M&S has designs on increasing its share of the market from the current 18.7 per cent by a mix of better service 200 suit fitters will be at hand in stores and more innovation in fabric and cut. These include the Italian linen miracle suit range and summer tweed. Richard Price, the M&S managing director for clothing, home and beauty, says that there is demand for more style, softer and less structured tailoring, as well as smart separates that offer desk-to- dinner versatility. M&S unveils its annual results tomorrow. Analysts at Deutsche Bank forecast an 8 per cent increase in group sales to 12.9billion and a 41 per cent rise in profits before tax to 680million. AstraZeneca is targeting $80billion in annual revenues by 2030, supported by the launch of 20 new medicines. Britain's largest pharmaceutical business achieved $45.8billion in turnover last year, in line with a goal set ten years ago, largely thanks to rising demand for its oncology and diabetes treatments. It now wants to boost annual turnover by an additional 75 per cent by the start of the next decade through continued growth in sales of its oncology, biopharmaceuticals and rare disease portfolio. Goal reached: AstraZeneca achieved $45.8billion in turnover last year, in line with a goal set ten years ago, largely thanks to rising demand for its oncology and diabetes treatments The London-listed company also expects to create 20 more drugs, some potentially generating over $5billion in revenue per year. Alongside this, AstraZeneca intends to lift its core operating margin to a 'mid-30s percentage' within two years by bolstering productivity, while still upholding its research and development commitments. By the same date, the firm hopes to be carbon-zero in its emissions from production and electricity purchased for its use. Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, said the group was entering 'a new era of growth', powered by an 'innovative pipeline, which has the potential to transform millions of lives'. He added: 'The breadth of our portfolio, together with continued investment in innovation, supports sustained growth well past the end of the decade.' Under Soriot's leadership, AstraZeneca has rebuilt its pipeline of new drugs and overtaken oil giant Shell to become the largest company by market capitalisation on the London Stock Exchange. On Monday, AstraZeneca unveiled plans to build a $1.5billion manufacturing facility in Singapore devoted to making antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). ADCs are drugs that use antibodies to deliver cancer-killing agents directly to cancer cells while sparing healthy cells and having fewer major side effects than traditional chemotherapy. AstraZeneca said the intended site in Singapore will start design and construction later this year and be 'operationally ready' by 2029. The announcement came about a fortnight after the business withdrew its Covid-19 vaccine from global circulation amid concerns that it caused a rare and dangerous side effect. The vaccine is widely credited with saving millions of lives since the pandemic began, and AstraZeneca said the decision to take it off the market was commercial. AstraZeneca shares were 0.7 per cent higher at 121.76 on Tuesday morning and have doubled over the past five years. CVS Group is in the process of selling its Dutch and Irish businesses for a nominal value of just 2 (1.71) as it refocuses efforts on its profitable UK and Australia operations. The veterinary services provider, which runs 500 practices across its four territories, told investors on Tuesday that it would divest from the Dutch and Irish businesses due to their 'sub-scale nature' and 'particular challenges' within each market. The Dutch and Irish units made combined pre-tax loss of 6.8million last year and CVS said they were on track to post another loss of 6million for 2024. CVS bets on more profitable UK and Australian businesses as it offloads Irish and Dutch units CVS added the 'significant management focus' needed to turn around the ailing Dutch and Irish units would be better spent on the group's growth strategy. Boss Richard Fairman said: 'Our Netherlands and Ireland practices no longer fit with our strategy of focusing on growth in the UK and Australian markets. 'We have exciting plans to expand in Australia and this disposal will free up working capital and management capacity to support our continued expansion.' The non-core businesses will be sold to Global Veterinary Excellence, whose owner James Cahill is a vet and former director of the units. CVS is also providing a 600,000 unsecured loan 'at a market rate' to Global Veterinary Excellence, the group said. Fairman added: 'We are delighted to have found a solution that enables our former colleagues to continue to deliver high quality veterinary care in the Netherlands and Republic of Ireland and wish James and Global Veterinary Excellence Limited well as an independent business.' CVS experienced 'considerable operational disruption' in April after it was struck by a cyber incident, forcing it to accelerate the roll-out of the transfer of its IT infrastructure and practice management system to the cloud. Analysts at Peel Hunt said CVS is 'yet to quantify the impact' of the cyber attacks, but the broker expects it to be 'greater than the benefit' provided by disposing of its Irish and Dutch businesses and a 'short-term' impact on like-for-like sales. Peel Hunt reiterated its 'Add' rating on Tuesday with a target share price of 1,500p CVS will also be focused on the outcome of the Competition and Markets Authority's probe into the veterinary sector launched in March, with an update expected soon. CMA concerns that British pet owners might be overpaying for medicines and prescriptions saw shares across the sector plummet, and CVS shares are yet to regain ground after the sell-off. CVS shares were down 1.3 per cent to 1,046p in early trading on Tuesday. Victims of the South West Water parasite outbreak will receive just 215 each while the companys investors share a 127million dividend bonanza. Hundreds of people have fallen ill from the water-born parasite cryptosporidiosis over the past week, with about 17,000 households in the Brixham area affected. Pennon Group, the stock market-listed parent company of the disgraced utility which also owns Bristol Water and Bournemouth Water, yesterday said it would hand affected households a total of 3.5million compensation. But this was dwarfed by the dividend payout to shareholders, which came despite racking up an annual loss of 9.1million. The move led to calls for Pennon chief executive Susan Davy (pictured) to resign. Washed out: Campaigners are now calling for Pennon chief exec Susan Davy (pictured) to resign Dan Coatsworth, an analyst at City investment platform AJ Bell, said: Customers affected by the Brixham parasite crisis will be peeved theyre only getting 215 compensation for considerable disruption, whereas Pennon shareholders are scooping up dividends. It implies that Pennons top brass are totally out of touch with how to behave as good corporate citizens. The row at Pennon comes less than a week after rival United Utilities handed its shareholders nearly 340million despite being accused of pumping millions of litres of sewage into Windermere in the Lake District. Environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey said yesterday: The water industry never ceases to surprise me with the level of utter incompetence, the shambles and the out of control industry it has become. The outbreak of cryptosporidiosis a contagious bug that causes vomiting, fever, cramps and diarrhoea was traced back to a South West Water reservoir. A total of 46 cases have been confirmed and two people have been hospitalised, but hundreds of people are thought to be suffering with symptoms that can last for around two weeks. The crisis is just the latest to hit the industry amid outrage over sewage being dumped in Britains rivers and lakes. There are also fears over the future of Thames Water as it struggles under the weight of its crippling 18billion debt pile. Pennon said investors will receive a dividend of 44.37p per share. The total of 126.9million had 2.4million knocked off to reflect a record sewage fine last year, but the payout was still 3.8 per cent higher than a year earlier. Parasite outbreak: Pennon Group, the stock market-listed parent company of South West Water said it would hand customers supplied dirty water a total of 3.5m Anthony Mangnall, the Conservative MP for Totnes and South Devon, said the dividend payout was completely unacceptable. He added: This tin-eared offering is a smack in the face to those who have been so badly impacted by South West Water. I suggest they either suspend the dividend offering or Susan Davy steps down. Its hugely disappointing, at a moment where the publics confidence in South West Water is at an all-time low, theyve decided to go ahead and pay dividends. Davy insisted that South West Water was working tirelessly around the clock to ensure customer health and safety. We wont stop until the local drinking water is returned to the quality all our customers expect and deserve, she said. Davy took home a salary of 543,000 last year after waiving her six-figure bonus due to public and political pressure over sewage spills. It comes as an annual survey found satisfaction with water companies has seen an unprecedented decline. The Consumer Council for Waters survey found just 35 per cent were happy with how they manage wastewater, down from 88 per cent a decade ago. And every water firm saw its trust score fall, with energy suppliers overtaking them for the first time as a more trusted utility. Shares in sandwich maker Greencore hit their highest level in three years after it unveiled plans to return 30million to investors following a profit upgrade. Having seen profits more than double to 28.3million in the first half to March 29, the FTSE 250 firm said its annual haul is now expected to be between 86million and 88million. Greencore, which produces everything from ready meals to frozen Yorkshire puddings to sandwiches for supermarkets and convenience stores, said the boost came despite revenues falling 6.4 per cent to 866.1million, thanks to ditching a number of low-margin contracts. The 30million share buyback, which Greencore wants to complete within six months, is part of plans to return 50million to investors over the next year. It also wants to pay an annual dividend if trading remains strong. Shares jumped 18.8 per cent, or 26.2p, to 165.6p its highest level since May 2021. Share buyback: Having seen profits more than double to 28.3m in the first half to March 29, Greencore said its annual haul is now expected to be between 86m and 88m Airport caterer SSP found itself at the other end of the FTSE 250 leaderboard as profits slumped 19 per cent to 13million due to industrial action on the railways in the UK, France and Germany. Shares fell 9 per cent, or 18.8p, to 190p. The FTSE 100 fell 0.1 per cent, or 7.75 points, to 8416.45 and the FTSE 250 was down 0.5 per cent, or 89.96 points, to 20783.37. Screwfix and B&Q owner Kingfisher said sales dipped 0.3 per cent to 3.3billion in the first quarter as a solid performance in the UK was overshadowed by a slump in its French businesses. Shares dipped 0.1 per cent, or 0.3p, to 264.4p. Headgear maker Avon Protection ended its first half with 157million of orders following contract wins from the Ministry of Defence and the German navy. Shares gained 3.3 per cent, or 44p, to 1372p. Stock Watch - Naked Wines Naked Wines said its situation may be improving after a tough year that led to job cuts. The wine seller said revenue for the year to April is about 290million down 13 per cent from the previous year but an improvement since it reported an 18 per cent drop over the first half. Naked Wines, which has 792,000 customers in the US, UK and Australia, is expecting to report a loss of between 13million and 18million for the year. Shares rose 9.6 per cent, or 5p, to 57p. Meat producer Cranswick warned that the Governments decision to raise the salary threshold for people arriving in the UK on skilled worker visas from 26,200 to 38,700 will affect its ability to recruit staff. The firm said a key part of its workforce is made up of more than 650 employees from the Philippines, but the change will considerably limit labour accessibility in the foreseeable future. The comments came as its revenues rose 11.9 per cent to 2.6billion in the year to March 30 while profits rose 13.5 per cent to 158.4million. Shares fell 0.9 per cent, or 40p, to 4385p. Self-storage firm Big Yellow Group said revenues rose 6 per cent to 199.6million in the year to March 31 while profits more than tripled to 241million. Shares gained 4.9 per cent, or 58p, to 1238p. GKN Automotive owner Dowlais warned of lower revenues as it faces increased volatility in electric vehicle production. Sales fell 1.9 per cent to 1.7billion in the four months to the end of April. It now expects revenues for 2024 to be slightly below last year. Shares sank 6.1 per cent, or 4.7p, to 72.15p. Shoe Zone shaved more than 1million off its profit forecast, knocking it down to 13.8million, as the retailer said it faces a higher salary bill due to the National Living Wage rise and shipping costs because of disruption in the Middle East. Shares sank 4.8 per cent, or 9p, to 176p. Outcry: Tesla boss Elon Musk is in line for a record 44bn pay package A group of Tesla investors are urging shareholders to reject a record 44billion pay package for chief executive Elon Musk. Shareholders in the electric car maker are due to vote on June 13 on what would be the biggest corporate pay day in history. But a coalition which includes New York City finance chief Brad Lander, SOC Investment Group and Amalgamated Bank said in a letter to investors that ratification of Musks pay package at the AGM would do nothing to promote Teslas long-term growth and stability. Shareholders should not pretend that this award has any kind of incentivising effect it does not, the group said. The letter also criticised Musk as a part-time chief executive, with his time increasingly being spent on other business commitments, and warned that if shareholders ratify the huge pay package it is possible that Musk will push for even more next year. This e-book provides a comprehensive guide on how to prepare for self-certification with the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, covering key principles like notice, choice, security, and more. It also details requirements and best practices like data mapping and opt-out options. Read on to learn how to comply and ensure data protection for EU-US data transfers. RTE 2FM today announced that the Drive It with The 2 Johnnies is to come to an end on May 31. Head of RTE 2Fm, Dan Healy said: "After two very successful years, The 2 Johnnies are leaving 2FM. Johnny B and Johnny Smacks have brought their original South Tipp humour and interesting music choices to 2FM audiences right across Ireland. "The listenership for the drivetime show has been very strong from the very start and the most recent listenership results continued that trend. They've been a great part of the 2FM family here and we'll be sad to see them go but wish them well as they continue their adventures". Johnny Smacks said, "Weve had unreal craic over the last two and half years working on 2FM. We came in with the idea to have a laugh on the afternoons and cheer people up and get more mad scones on the radio from every county in Ireland telling stories and auld yarns. After two and a half years my jaws need a rest from all the laughing. "Thank you to our unbelievable team who backed us and brought our crazy ideas to life with us, to our brother Aindriu de Paor, our producers/mammies Anita and Caroline and to our on-air sister Aifric O'Connell, the show wouldnt be what it is without you thank you so much. And the biggest thank you of all is for you the listeners, the show was all about ye, ye made it what it was. "So, to Bob in Waterford, geezer John, Mouse and the lads, Pip in Toronto and all our listeners, thanks for laughing along with us. Theres great people working in 2FM and we wish them all the success in the world. Who knows, we may be back on the radio someday, but for now as we say on the show Were out the gap!". Johnny B said: "Weve loved our time on the show. The team are legends, our sister Aifric O Connell, the great Aindriu de Paor, Producers Caroline, and Anita.Our listeners have been the funniest, maddest, soundest crowd alive. The stories theyve come on air to tell have been outrageous. "Its made me proud to be Irish to talk with the nation every evening. The Parish Quiz has thrown up some wild characters, weve tried to reach every inch of the island of Ireland. Well keep the mixer going and the ball pucked out". Dan Healy continued: "I want to acknowledge the great content created on the drivetime show by Aifric O'Connell, Aindriu De Paor and Emma Power who shared the airwaves with The 2 Johnnies over the period. Also, a very big thanks to the producers who worked on the show particularly Caroline Clarke and Anita Ward. "We are fortunate to have such great talent working at 2FM and with them the station will continue to prosper". RTE 2FM will announce its summer schedule in the coming weeks. Many tributes have been paid to Derek Martin who was tragically killed in a road crash on the M50 on Friday morning. In a heartfelt post on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday afternoon, Helen Martin said that she had been told that when her brother passed away, "several cars stopped and people sat around him until the ambulance came so he wasnt alone" Helen continued, saying that she "really wants to find them", and asked if people could share the post. Ive just been told that when my brother passed away on the M50 on Friday that several cars stopped and people sat around him until the ambulance came so he wasnt alone, i really want to find them if people can please share Helen (@_helenmartin_) May 20, 2024 Derek Martin was from the Ballymun area of Dublin 11, and worked as a prison officer at Wheatfield Prison in Cherry Orchard, Dublin. Martin joined the prison service in 2007, and had led charity drives with his coworkers including a sale for the Irish Cancer Society. A notice on RIP.IE reads: "Martin, Derek (late of Santry and the Irish Prison Service) 17th May 2024, following a tragic accident. Beloved husband of Vanessa and adoring father of Caitlin and Reece. Very sadly missed by his heartbroken family, his parents Ethel and Derek, sisters Michelle, Jennifer and Helen, mother-in-law and father-in-law Marie and Brendan, brothers-in-law Neil, Brendan, Mark, Graham, Nigel and their partners, his aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, extended family from Liverpool, his best friend Noel, colleagues from the Irish Prison Service, and his many friends. "Derek will be reposing at the Kirwan Funeral Home, Ballygall Road West on Sunday afternoon (26th May) with a Gathering of family and friends from 2pm to 4pm. All welcome. "Removal on Monday morning (27th May) to the Church of Our Lady of Victories, Ballymun Road, arriving for 10am Requiem Mass, which will be live-streamed via the link here. Funeral thereafter to Dardistown Crematorium". Donations, if wished, were requested to be made to Crumlin Children's Hospital, which was "very close to Derek's heart". In condolences on RIP.IE, Noreen Clarke wrote: "Deepest condolences to Dereks family at this very sad time. I had the pleasure of meeting Derek through Operation Transformation where he talked about how immensely proud he was of his family and especially his children". A Cork Colleague from the Irish Prison Service promised to "remember Derek on Monday". "Thinking of you and your family at this hard time. Derek was a great character and a pleasure to work with. RIP Derek," wrote Andrew Vigna. "Rest in Peace Derek. You were a larger than life character and always up for a laugh. You will be Sadly missed by all who worked with you. Sincere Condolences to Your Family at this Sad time," wrote Mark Bedford. For the mid-morning we're doubly inspired by model, actress, biz lady and hottie Lindsey as we take another peek at pop culture, community news and top headlines. Check TKC news gathering . . . Ladies Build Up Cowtown Habitat KC women embrace and support home ownership Women Build Kansas City, an initiative within Habitat for Humanity, is designed to break gender biases around construction and home ownership. Rolling With Developer Hype Bike shop owner says new development will make West Bottoms area more special A building demolished Sunday in Kansas City's historic West Bottoms means room for more development. KSHB 41's Caroline Hogan spoke with a business owner about keeping the current vibe in the area. Humorless KCUR Asks Hilarious Question Again Why is it so hard to find Black sperm donors? Black women hoping to conceive using donor sperm often have to choose a donor from a different race or put their fertility journey on hold because of a shortage of Black sperm donors. One woman tells us her story. Plus: Parts of Missouri, Kansas and other Midwest states are still in drought, despite recent rains. Campy Architecture Endures Overland Park's Campbell Dome House stands as a testament to family legacy The 'Campbell Dome House' in Overland Park continues to captivate onlookers with its unique design and enduring family legacy. Local Hero Launches Ed Dwight, KCK native and retired U.S. Air Force Captain, finally reaches space at age 90 After waiting 60 years for his shot, a 90-year-old Kansas City, Kansas, man is finally an astronaut. Deep End Advice Ahead of Memorial Day weekend, YMCA of Greater Kansas City reminds people to swim responsibly Drowning deaths are on the rise in America after years of decline, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Bittersweet Story . . . Chiefs' Andy Reid reveals why he loves KC (including a certain milkshake and burger) "Even though it's a big city, it's still got kind of a small-town presence," Andy Reid says. Smootchies For Many Fans Lindsey Pelas Sending Kisses In String Bikini Offers A Big 'Bang' Lindsey Pelas is thrilling fans in her snakeskin string bikini as she sends "kisses" outdoors and goes full Bang. Time Stamping White House Bill Maher swipes Biden's speech to Black graduates: 'We're not living in that world that he's talking about' Bill Maher called President Biden's remarks about racism at Morehouse College outdated, saying we should live in the present year during an appearance on Fox News. MAGA Keeps Quiet For Once Trump opts not to testify in hush money trial as defense rests Former President Trump will not take the stand in his own defense during his New York criminal trial, after his attorneys rested their case Tuesday, shortly after prosecutors did the same the day before. "We'll be resting pretty quickly - resting meaning resting the case. I won't be resting," Trump said outside the courtroom Tuesday... Supreme Flag Debate 'Not Good Judgment': GOP Senators Ding Samuel Alito Over Upside-Down Flag Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, chided Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to "think it through." Eastern Europe Re-imagined A Theory of Victory for Ukraine With the right support and approach, Kyiv can still win. Faux Tribunal Star Power Amal Clooney played key role in decision on war crimes charges in Israel-Hamas war Amal Clooney is one of the legal experts who recommended that the chief prosecutor of the world's top war crimes court seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leaders of the militant Hamas group. Latest Surrender France backs ICC after prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Israel's Netanyahu France backs the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the 'fight against impunity', its foreign ministry said after the court's prosecutor sought an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others for alleged war crimes. Second Fling Conclusion Ben Affleck has 'come to his senses' about 'fever dream' Jennifer Lopez marriage: 'There is just no way this is going to work' Ben Affleck has "come to his senses" about his marriage to Jennifer Lopez and realized "there is no way" their union will work, a source tells Page Six. Cinematic MAGA Outrage The Apprentice: Donald Trump film biopic causes a stir at Cannes Critics broadly praise The Apprentice, but the former president threatens to sue over its content. Trolls Stay Winning Grinding our bums, flashing our boobs: the internet is making juveniles of us all | Martha Gill When people were offered a window between New York and Dublin, puerile behaviour beat bridging worlds Home Team Win Streak Cont'd Search Concludes At Front Door 'Best person for the job': Independence names Jimmy Walker fire department chief Independence announced Monday the city's "vigorous nationwide search" for a new fire department chief is over after the candidate was found "just down the street." Celebrate Another Local Mudhole Jackson County lake beaches set to open May 25 Summer is around the corner and that means a lot more time spent outdoors at the lake in the Kansas City metro area. Better Amongst B-List Impractical Jokers and more join list of Big Slick celebrities Newest Big Slick celebrities announced, Impractical Jokers among them. Community Fabric Deets KC Cares: Sewing solidarity In this month's KC Cares column, we highlight Pioneer Women Quilting serving comfort to the Leavenworth community. Meth Town Veggies Discounted Independence store to bring fresh produce to location in 'food desert' Dollar General plans to add fresh produce at an location near MO-291 and East Truman Road in Independence to bring more options to people living there. Storm Danger Round II Alert Day: Damaging winds and large hail possible in the KMBC viewing area on Tuesday It's been a busy 24 hours for the Kansas City metro when it comes to weather. It could get even busier for some on Tuesday. Childish Gambino - Little Foot Big Foot is the song of the day and this is the OPEN THREAD for right now. This afternoon we share a preview of bad theater concocted by local politicos. Here's the hint that this mini-rally is mostly staged . . . The demands are carefully crafted and most of the hate speech so many of these activists have spread has been removed before a special guest appearance in council chambers. We're fairly certain that local activists might declare victory after their head pat from local politicos. In the meantime . . . Check the talking points dutifully written up by Mary Sanchez & carried by the local public radio outlet: "After marching through the Country Club Plaza over the weekend, protesters will gather Thursday in the Kansas City Council chambers. Theyre pressing for official recognition of the Palestinian American Medical Association and urging Mayor Quinton Lucas and the council to support a ceasefire." Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . . Kansas City protesters call on Council to support Gaza ceasefire, as states block college divestment After marching through the Country Club Plaza over the weekend, protesters will gather Thursday in the Kansas City Council chambers. They're pressing for official recognition of the Palestinian American Medical Association and urging Mayor Quinton Lucas and the council to support a ceasefire. A new report by Robert Gordon University (RGU) has revealed that the UK will fail to achieve a just and fair transition by 2030 unless there is urgent alignment across the political spectrum to sustain UK offshore energy industry jobs, supply chain investments and the economic contribution of the workforce. In Delivering our energy future, RGU analysed over 6,560 pathways for the UK offshore energy industry between now and 2030. The report concludes that UK and Scottish political decisions, rather than energy market economics, will determine the size of the workforce and supply chain. Of the thousands of pathways analysed, fewer than 15 or <0.3 per cent meet the just and fair transition principles. Even these limited scenarios require success by the renewables sector in achieving higher levels of ambition through billions of pounds of additional investment in the next six years. Professor Paul de Leeuw, Director of the Robert Gordon University Energy Transition Institute, said: The UK still has a unique opportunity to create a new energy future. Accelerating the re-purposing of the North Sea as a world-class, multi-energy basin will ensure the sector can power the country for decades to come. The prize for the UK to get this right is enormous. But to deliver this requires action and urgency, which means faster planning and consenting and access to the grid. We also need more flexible electricity pricing mechanisms to avoid project delays or cancellation and a proactive focus on building UK content so we can design, manufacture, install, commission and operate some of the critical new infrastructure required. This, as well as building and maintaining the world class skills and capabilities developed over the last few decades, will be crucial. While there is consensus across all stakeholders including governments, politicians, industry organisations and economic development bodies that we need to realise a just and fair transition, a far more agile and joined up approach is required to address how the country can best secure its energy ambitions, while addressing the cost-of-living crisis, managing energy security and delivering on the net zero agenda. The latest research reinforces the need for urgent alignment across the political spectrum to agree the short-term actions that will deliver a just and fair transition, maintaining the workforce to 2030 to deliver a long-term net zero future and the associated economic benefits for the country. If the UK is unable to deliver close to 40GW (from 15 GW at the end of 2023) of installed offshore wind capacity and UK content ambitions for the new activities by 2030, it is unlikely to retain the offshore energy workforce without additional activities. The ongoing decline in the oil and gas industry needs to be offset much more rapidly by identifiably greater levels of activity and higher UK content in renewables if any of the pathways to a just and fair transition are to remain open. Otherwise, interim steps will need to be taken to address the decline in activities, including oil and gas production - which is currently expected to reduce by more than 40 per cent by 2030. Professor de Leeuw added: To achieve this outcome, the UK offshore energy sector needs to deliver on spend of up to 200 billion over the remainder of this decade across offshore wind, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and oil and gas projects. Given the magnitude of change that is needed in the energy industry over the coming years, this report is highlighting that the UK, and devolved administrations must urgently pursue credible energy pathways, which deliver a just and fair transition for the sector and its workforce. For the purpose of its analysis, RGU used the United Nations definition of a just and fair transition ensuring that no one is left behind in the transition to low carbon and environmentally sustainable economies and societies and defined this further by linking it to sustaining the UKs 154,000 direct and indirect offshore energy industry jobs and by maintaining the supply chain and offshore workforce economic contribution at 2023 levels or better by the end of the decade. Other key findings from the report: To sustain the offshore energy workforce at 2023 levels, the UK has to deliver close to 40GW of installed offshore wind capacity (compared to c. 15 GW cumulative capacity in 2023) and up to 40 per cent of the investment needed to achieve this to be spent in the UK by 2030. To sustain the UK offshore energy supply chain activities and capacity at an average of 2023 level, the UK must deliver around 10 billion spend by 2030. If the UK is unsuccessful in delivering the offshore wind ambition and UK content targets by 2030, it is unlikely to be able to retain the offshore energy workforce without progressing additional activities, including oil and gas over the remainder of this decade. Significant levels of new operational capacity and capability will be required to deliver on the ambition of up to 40 per cent UK capex content for new offshore wind projects and up to 50 per cent for oil and gas decommissioning activities by 2030. Each additional 10 per cent of UK capex content for the offshore wind sector is estimated to yield between 3,000 (worst case) and 12,500 (best case) jobs by 2030. Between 50 per cent and 85 per cent of spend in renewables over the coming decade is likely to be capital expenditure related, requiring a shift toward a more capex focused workforce. RGU analysis highlights that every 10 per cent salary differential between oil and renewables may require up to 7 per cent more people to maintain economic contribution. c. 1 in 30 of the working population in Scotland are currently employed in or support the offshore energy industry versus 1 in 220 across the UK. If Scotland fails to capture a significant share of future renewables activities, selective oil and gas activities may need to be sustained until 2030 to retain the Scotland based offshore energy workforce, skills, supply chain and economic contribution. Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero & Energy Mairi McAllan said: Scotlands energy transition presents an era-defining opportunity for our economy and people: delivering on our climate obligations, safeguarding our energy security and ensuring a fair and just energy transition for our workforces and the communities they support. By working together, with absolute clarity of purpose, we will unlock the vast potential. Indeed, the transition is already happening with Scotland fast becoming a renewables powerhouse. In the past week alone - from ground-breaking on a 350 million high voltage cable manufacturing plant to a 100m investment at Ardersier Port - we have seen significant projects getting underway to drive forward the energy transition and kickstart significant economic and social benefits. The Scottish Government is determined to play its role in maximising these benefits - and negotiating the challenges not least through the publication of our Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, which will set out our vision for a future energy system that delivers affordable, secure, clean energy and delivers economic benefits to every part of the country. We will continue to work closely with industry, communities and other key partners to deliver this vision and ensure a just transition for our energy workforce and for everyone in Scotland. --OGN/TradeArabia News Service Much like the celebs who hit up its sunlit boulevards, Cannes is a hotspot of cool and glam. Every year, when the Cannes Film Festival rolls in, the city lights up, transforming into a playground for the biggest names in film. But the magic of Cannes goes way beyond film premieres and celebrity sightings. This city is a ticket to living large, offering a slice of the luxe life, star-studded or not. Think epic beachfronts, iconic palm-lined streets, and boutiques so fancy you might just bump into a Hollywood star. Cannes has been the go-to spot for the rich and famous way before movies were even a thing, attracting everyone from European royalty to today's big-screen legends. Here are the top spots in Cannes that will have you living like a star, blockbuster optional. La Croisette When you hit Cannes, your first stop has to be La Croisette. This legendary promenade is where the city's heart beats loudest, lined with palm trees and framed by the shimmering Mediterranean. Luxury shops, world-class hotels, and chic cafes dot this iconic strip. During the film festival, La Croisette transforms, buzzing with celebrities and film lovers alike, making it a prime spot for those who love to see and be seen. Le Suquet For a taste of Cannes before it became the background for international glitz, head to Le Suquet. This old quarter tells the tale of a small fishing village that grew into a celebrity haven. Wander through its narrow, winding streets and you will find yourself stepping back centuries. The area is crowned with a historic castle and church, offering stunning views over Cannes, perfect for those sunset photos that'll light up your Instagram feed. Marche Forville No visit to Cannes is complete without a morning at Marche Forville. Here, locals and chefs gather to shop for the freshest produce, from just-caught seafood to vegetables and fragrant herbs. Dive into the heart of French culinary culture and maybe even pick up a snack or two - the socca, a chickpea pancake, is a must-try. The place acts as a market and a community hub where you can soak up authentic Cannes vibes. Related Article : These 5 Breathtaking Spots in the South of France Are Calling Your Name Lerins Islands Just a short ferry ride from the bustling city lies the beautiful Lerins Islands. The contrast between the celebrity-packed streets of Cannes and the peaceful nature of these islands is striking. Explore Ile Sainte-Marguerite, where you can visit an ancient fort and perhaps uncover tales of the mysterious Man in the Iron Mask. Next, hop over to Ile Saint-Honorat to visit the Cistercian monks who make their home in a medieval abbey - they even produce their own wine! Nightlife at Medusa As the sun sets, the scene shifts to the vibrant nightlife for which Cannes is famous. Medusa, a stellar beachfront venue, offers more than just dinner. It morphs into one of the hottest clubs around as the night progresses. Here, you can enjoy a spectacular cabaret show featuring dancers in elaborate costumes, all while dining under the stars. It is a favorite spot for both locals and the international elite, ensuring an unforgettable night out. A trip to Lisbon will never be complete without visiting Praca do Comercio, one of the city's must-visit tourist destinations. The plaza, whose name translated to Commerce Plaza in English, is one of the biggest plazas in the whole of Portugal. While many travelers head to the plaza to look for a place to eat or take photos with the statue of Dom Joseph I (otherwise known as King Jose I the Reformer), it's also one of the best places to go to to admire the Tagus river. Specifically, there is a little pier with marble steps that lead to the plaza where locals and travelers alike head to for a view of the Tagus. This pier is known as Cais das Colunas. Cais das Colunas and Its Two Columns In English, Cais das Colunas translates to Column Pier. It gets its name from the two columns or pillars that are partly submerged in the water. Designed by architect Eugenio dos Santos, these columns are said to resemble the columns of King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. One column is believed to represent wisdom, and the other pier is meant to represent devotion. Cais das Colunas was part of the reconstruction plan after 1755 Lisbon earthquake and tsunami that ruined the city. Completed in the late 1700s, the columns were removed and brought back a few times throughout the decades. The last time they were taken down was in 1997, and they were eventually returned in 2008. Related Article : These are the Mistakes You Shouldn't Make When Visiting the Belem Tower A Welcome Point for Royalty, Heads of State While Cais das Colunas serves as one of the best places to enjoy the sunset in Lisbon, back in the day, it served a very important, regal purpose. The pier served as the welcome point for royalty, heads of state, and other important figures who visited Lisbon via the Tagus. A very famous example is the late Queen Elizabeth II, who visited Lisbon in 1957. You can watch her go through the columns of Cais das Colunas below. When the pier didn't serve as a welcome point for famous people, it also allowed access to ferries and boats hoping to reach Lisbon. A Buffalo man has pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge stemming from a fatal shooting last year in city's Kaisertown neighborhood, acting Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Keane announced. Ryan M. Crawford, 23, entered his plea to first-degree manslaughter, a Class B violent felony, before State Supreme Court Justice Debra Givens. He faces a maximum of 25 years in prison when he returns July 1 for sentencing. He continues to be held without bail. Prosecutors said Crawford used an illegal handgun to shoot Duryll Anderson, 38, in the 800 block of Bailey Avenue, near Dingens Street, about 2:30 a.m. on April 2, 2023. Anderson was taken to Erie County Medical Center, where he later died. - Dale Anderson Ukraine and Sweden have begun negotiations on a bilateral security agreement. The Presidential Office reports that the parties have started negotiations on a bilateral security agreement. Ukraine and Sweden have begun negotiations on a security cooperation agreement as instructed by President Volodymyr Zelensky and following his recent telephone conversation with Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson .According to the President of Ukraine's order, the Ukrainian negotiating delegation is headed by the Head of the Presidential Office Andrii Yermak. Today's round of talks was conducted by Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Ihor Zhovkva. We are grateful to Sweden for its significant support to Ukraine, including military support, in countering full-scale Russian aggression. It is important that today we are negotiating with Sweden as a new NATO member. We look forward to further deepening bilateral security cooperation with Sweden in all strategic areas, which will be reflected in our bilateral agreement, Zhovkva emphasized. The parties discussed the provisions of the draft document in detail and agreed on further steps to ensure its early finalization and subsequent signing. To date, Ukraine has already signed bilateral security agreements with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Denmark, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Finland, and Latvia. Ten Ukrainian servicemen underwent F-16 fighter jet maintenance training in the Netherlands. This was reported by Ukrinform with reference to the Dutch Ministry of Defense. "Ten Ukrainian servicemen have undergone training in the Netherlands in the maintenance of F-16 fighters. The Netherlands agreed to provide Ukraine with at least 24 F-16s. They also need to be maintained and serviced," the report reads. It is noted that the Ukrainians were trained in the maintenance of all parts critical for a fighter pilot. It is about the helmet, oxygen systems, and parachutes. The training also included assembling and testing an emergency rescue kit. This allows the pilot to survive for several days after the emergency landing. It includes, among other things, food and medicine. The training is to prepare for all possible risks while flying the F-16. Ultimately, it will also provide better protection for Ukrainian pilots. The training program was compiled by the Flight Safety Equipment Cluster (VVU). F-16 pilots are literally putting their lives in the hands of the servicemen who maintain the aircraft. As soon as they take off, they know that they can rely on the knowledge and skills of these people and that the plane is in good condition," the Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands stated. The Netherlands is also one of the initiators of the European F-16 Training Center (EFTC) in Romania. Eleven F-16 aircraft have already been placed at the disposal of the EFTC. As Ukrinform reported earlier, the Minister of Defense of the Netherlands, Kajsa Ollongren, said that already in the summer 2024, the Ukrainian Air Force will be reinforced with F-16 fighters. There is no legal, security or moral argument against our partners shooting down Russian missiles over Ukraine from their territory. The Ukrainian side asks our partners to consider this possibility or to provide us with the necessary air defence systems and combat aircraft with the appropriate technical capabilities. This was stated by Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba at a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "There is not a single legal, security or moral argument that stands in the way of our partners shooting down Russian missiles over the territory of Ukraine from their territory. Those who say that such actions would be an escalation are manipulating," Kuleba said. According to him, we have heard the argument about the need to avoid escalation many times. However, over the past two years, the only party involved in escalation has been the Russian Federation, the Foreign Minister said. "So the first thing is that we do ask our partners to consider the possibility of intercepting Russian missiles - not Russian planes with Russian pilots on board, but pieces of iron that carry death from Russia to Ukraine - from the territory of our partner countries. There is an alternative solution: if you do not want to do this, then simply provide us with all the means necessary for this, we will deploy them on the territory of Ukraine and intercept these missiles ourselves. These are air defence systems and combat aircraft with the appropriate technical capabilities. And to take a position where we will not transfer air defence systems and will not support the shooting down of Russian missiles from our territory over the territory of Ukraine is a position of appeasement of the aggressor," the head of Ukrainian diplomacy stressed. As reported, President Volodymyr Zelensky believes that the possible assistance of the North Atlantic Alliance in shooting down Russian missiles over the territory of Ukraine would help compensate for the deficit of Kyiv's air defence and would not mean NATO's involvement in the war. The Council of the European Union has endorsed a formal decision to use proceeds from the frozen assets of Russias central bank in support of Ukraine. The relevant statement was made by Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Jan Lipavsky on the social media platform X, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. We have approved in the EU using revenues from Russias central banks frozen assets to help Ukraine. Up to EUR 3B only this year, 90% goes for Ukraines military. Russia must pay for its war damages, the Czech official wrote. A reminder that, on May 8, 2024, EU Ambassadors endorsed a decision to use Russian immobilized assets in support of Ukraines recovery and military defense in the context of Russian aggression. Today, May 21, 2024, the above decision was finalized at the level of the Council of the EU. With the start of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, world democracies blocked Russian financial assets, totaling more than EUR 300 billion. Most of these assets are believed to be located in financial institutions within the European Union, namely in Belgium. According to the data from open sources, Euroclear currently has EUR 192 billion worth of the assets of Russias central bank on its balance sheet. The EU is looking for legal mechanisms to further deal with these immobilized resources, as well as the interest accrued on them, which has reached EUR 5 billion in the past two years. | By Laura Lee A sense of accomplishment, gratitude, and a commitment to compassionate patient care filled the air at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry's (UMSOD) Honors Convocation on May 17. Held at the Hippodrome Theatre, the ceremony celebrated the hard work and dedication of the newest class of dental and dental hygiene graduates. School of Dentistry graduates read the Convocation Oath. With the notes of Pomp and Circumstance filling the room, family and friends clutched colorful bouquets as they craned their necks trying to catch a glimpse of their graduate processing down the aisle robed in the lilac and black academic regalia of the dental profession. University of Maryland, Baltimore President Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, conferred the degrees and praised the graduates' accomplishments. I know you are each very proud of each other, and the faculty and staff are very proud of you, Jarrell said. But theres a whole lot of other people in this room that are even more proud of your accomplishments, he said, motioning to the packed theater. Samantha Vernet beamed while extolling her cousin Laurie France, who was one of four graduates to complete the Clinical Dental Hygiene Leader dual BS/MS degree. Its been a testament of her perseverance and endurance, Vernet said. There were some tough times and some good times, so seeing her being able to finish is really awesome. (See photo gallery below.) During welcoming remarks, UMSOD Dean Mark A. Reynolds, DDS, PhD, MA, praised the Class of 2024s technical skills while emphasizing the importance of connecting with patients. It is of utmost importance to strive for excellence in your clinical work, he said. But it is equally important to learn to treat patients with empathy and compassion. UMSOD graduates learn to work with patients by serving the oral health needs of Baltimore and other Maryland communities. During the last fiscal year, faculty, staff, and students provided clinical care on and off campus for more than 21,500 patients. The dental hygiene graduates were recognized first, with Suzanne Burgee, RDH, BS, MS, clinical instructor and academic director of the Dental Hygiene Program, commending their diverse backgrounds and their dedication to improving access to oral health care. This exceptional group has representation from Vietnam, Egypt, Thailand, the Philippines, Ecuador, Brazil, Italy, Haiti, and China, Burgee said. Julia Boras, president of the dental hygiene Class of 2024, encouraged her classmates to prioritize the human connection in their practice. We must remember that were not merely treating teeth. We are caring for individuals, each with their unique fears and aspirations and needs, Boras said. During the doctoral hooding ceremony, Justin Tabatabai, DDS, president of the dental Class of 2024, reflected on the ups and downs of the four-year journey, which started in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was all worth it, because here we are today at the end of our wild ride, he said. Soon-to-be dentists graduating from the world's first dental college. In all, 140 graduates walked across the Hippodrome stage eager to take the next step toward a fulfilling career improving lives through oral health. In her closing remarks, Burgee left the graduates with a powerful call to action: I ask you to be creative, be ethical, and be kind. Work together with other professionals outside of oral health to close the gaps in our health care systems so no one is left behind. Now its your turn to go make the world a better place. And tell them UMB sent you. Congratulations. Lawyers for the man who killed 10 people in a racist mass shooting at a Tops grocery store in 2022 called the governments death-penalty notice barebones, sketchy and vague, leaving them blind as to what facts prosecutors intend to prove about aggravating factors at his capital-sentencing hearing next year. In a federal court filing, Payton Gendrons defense lawyers say this prevents them from fully preparing to defend him during the sentencing phase. His lawyers, who face a Nov. 1 deadline to file pretrial motions, asked U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo to order prosecutors to turn over the governments evidentiary outline of aggravating factors by Aug. 2. For most of the aggravators, including the critical ones involving the crimes effects on the deceaseds relatives and on injured survivors, the indictment and governments death-penalty notice contain only barebones, vague allegations, lacking any information about the facts the government intends to rely upon, his lawyers said in a court filing. Among other criticisms, the defense lawyers said the government failed to identify which people were at grave risk and which of his acts created such a grave risk. Prosecutors scoffed at the notion Gendrons lawyers are not sufficiently informed about the aggravating factors. Plainly, in a situation such as this one where the defendant attacked a crowded grocery store in the middle of the day with ferocity and tactical precision, rapidly firing more than 60 shots from a high-powered rifle during the attack the defendant does not seek better notice of the governments aggravating factor, but rather seeks a roadmap of how the government intends to prove the factor at trial, something to which he is not entitled. Judge rules lawyers for May 14 killer can see his detention records before prosecutors Prosecutors are seeking six categories of records from the Erie County Holding Center and the Livingston County Jail. In their court filing, prosecutors urged Vilardo to deny the defense motion because he is not entitled to the governments litigation playbook. Although the indictment and death-penalty notice do not include evidentiary details, the government has made unprecedented efforts both in the scope and timing in expansive disclosures it has provided the defense team, far exceeding its obligations under federal criminal procedure rules, the prosecutors said. So there is no reason Gendron will be surprised by any facts presented at his trial, according to a filing from Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph Tripi and Brett A. Harvey, along with U.S. Justice Department trial attorneys Laura B. Gilson and Michael S. Warbel. The governments disclosures to the defense have included Gendrons video recordings of the attack, surveillance video footage, body camera recordings from responding officers and crime scene photos. Also disclosed were booking records and audio recordings of interviews of Gendron, investigative incident reports from the day of the attack, records of physical evidence recovered from the scene, photos of Gendrons weapon and tactical gear, Gendrons writings and digital evidence of his internet activities and summaries of eyewitness interviews. In addition, prosecutors have turned over Gendrons medical records, the autopsy and medical records of his victims, firearm transaction records, and search warrants and relating inventories from searches of his family residence. On May 14, 2022, Gendron targeted Black people at the Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue in a racist attack that he livestreamed on the internet. He fatally shot 10 Black people and wounded a Black person and two white people. A federal grand jury returned a 27-count indictment against Gendron, including 10 counts of committing hate crimes that resulted in death. The U.S. Justice Department announced in January that it will seek the death penalty. Gendron has already been sentenced by an Erie County judge to life in prison without parole on his guilty pleas to 10 state charges of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree attempted murder, among other charges. Judge sets September 2025 trial for racist gunman who killed 10: 'We're going to stay on pace' U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo on Friday set a trial date of Sept. 8, 2025, for the white supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket on May 14, 2022. Vilardo has set a federal trial date of Sept. 8, 2025. In their notice of intent to seek the death penalty, prosecutors cited nine aggravating factors, including that Gendrons murders were racially-motivated killings, showing his expressed bias, hatred, and contempt toward Black persons. Other factors cited included: Multiple killings and attempted killings. Killing several victims who were particularly vulnerable due to old age. Substantial planning and premeditation. Grave risk of death to others. Committing acts of violence to incite violent action by others. Selecting the Tops Markets on the East Side to maximize the number of Black victims. Victim impacts. Injuries to surviving victims. Families of 5/14 victims file lawsuit against social media companies The state Supreme Court lawsuit accuses the social media companies of feeding the shooter "a steady stream of racist and white supremacist propaganda and falsehoods." By Aug. 2, the government will have had more than two years to investigate and prepare its case and surely will be able to share with the court and the defense the essential facts underlying its aggravating factors, according to the filing from Assistant Federal Public Defender Sonya A. Zoghlin, Supervisory Assistant Federal Public Defender Anne M. Burger, Senior Litigator MaryBeth Covert and attorney Julie Brain. Given the September 2025 trial date, further delay in getting the governments evidentiary outline would interfere with the defenses ability to complete the time-consuming process of investigating and preparing to confront and rebut those factual allegations. In a concerted effort to bolster financial aid for students, a group of Democratic senators is urging Senate appropriators to increase funding for the Pell Grant program for fiscal year 2025. In a letter sent Monday, spearheaded by Senators Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and signed by 38 other Democratic senators, the lawmakers called on the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education subcommittee to raise the maximum Pell Grant award and safeguard the program's reserve funds from potential cuts. This push comes in the wake of concerns over a projected $1.3 billion shortfall in the program unless additional funding is secured. A Call for Increased Pell Grant Awards The Pell Grant program, which provides need-based grants to low-income undergraduate students, has seen several increases in the maximum award in recent years. However, Congress decided to keep the maximum award flat at $7,395 for fiscal year 2024. The senators' letter emphasizes the importance of continuing to increase the maximum award to ensure that higher education remains accessible to students from all backgrounds. Given the anticipated shortfalls in the Pell Grant program, it is crucial for the Subcommittee to safeguard all Pell Grant reserves from being reallocated, reduced, or eliminated, as this would accelerate any financial deficiencies. The funds should remain within the program to enhance the maximum award, restore previous eligibility cuts, and create new opportunities for historically underrepresented students to access higher education. President Biden's proposed budget, released in March, includes provisions to increase funding for the Pell Grant, proposing a $750 increase to the maximum award. This proposal aligns with the senators' advocacy and highlights a shared priority within the Democratic Party to address the financial barriers that many students face when pursuing higher education. Protecting Reserve Funds Amid Financial Uncertainty One of the critical points raised by the senators is the need to protect the Pell Grant program's reserve funds from any cuts. The letter stresses that reallocating or cutting these reserves would exacerbate the anticipated financial shortfall and limit the program's ability to support students in the future. The senators argue that maintaining and enhancing these reserves is essential to ensure the program's sustainability and effectiveness. The potential $1.3 billion shortfall identified in a federal analysis earlier this year underscores the urgency of this request. Without additional funding, the program could face significant challenges in meeting the needs of eligible students, potentially leaving many without the financial support necessary to pursue their educational goals. The senators' letter suggests that preserving these funds is not only about preventing shortfalls but also about expanding opportunities for historically underrepresented students. By protecting and increasing Pell Grant funds, the lawmakers hope to address disparities in higher education access and support a more equitable education system. The Legislative Path Forward The senators' call for increased Pell Grant funding and protection of reserve funds comes as Senate and House appropriators begin drafting bills to fund the government for FY 2025. This legislative process will determine the allocation of federal funds across various programs and agencies, making it a critical juncture for advocates of increased educational funding. With President Biden's budget proposal already prioritizing increased Pell Grant funding, the senators' letter adds momentum to this effort. However, the legislative path forward is not without challenges. Balancing budgetary constraints and competing priorities will require negotiations and compromises among lawmakers. The support of 41 Democratic senators, as evidenced by the signatories of the letter, signifies a strong backing within the party. Nevertheless, bipartisan support will be necessary to secure the proposed funding increases. Advocacy groups, educational institutions, and students themselves will likely play a role in influencing the legislative process through lobbying and public awareness campaigns. The push for increased Pell Grant funding reflects a broader commitment to making higher education more accessible and affordable for all students. By raising the maximum award and protecting reserve funds, lawmakers aim to address financial barriers and promote equity in education. As the legislative process unfolds, the outcomes will have significant implications for millions of students who rely on Pell Grants to achieve their educational aspirations. Philadelphia police detained 19 pro-Palestinian protesters, including seven students, at the University of Pennsylvania during a Friday night demonstration on campus. The protest, which escalated into an attempted occupation of Fisher-Bennett Hall, resulted in a tense confrontation and subsequent arrests. This incident follows a series of protests on campus, reflecting ongoing tensions and highlighting the complexities of balancing activism with campus safety. The Occupation Attempt On Friday night, pro-Palestinian protesters entered Fisher-Bennett Hall with the intention of occupying the building. The protesters secured exit doors with zip-ties and barbed wire, and barricaded them with metal chairs and desks. Windows were covered with newspaper and cardboard to obscure visibility. According to the university's Division of Public Safety (DPS), the protesters also blocked outside entrances with bike racks and additional metal chairs. Inside the nearly 100-year-old building, which houses the English, music, and cinema studies departments, protesters attempted to establish a stronghold. Police reported recovering lock-picking tools and homemade metal shields fashioned from oil drums, indicating a level of preparation and intent to maintain the occupation. The situation escalated when protesters refused to disperse and ignored police commands. This led to the arrest of 19 individuals, including seven students. Of these, 12 were issued citations for failure to disperse and failure to follow police commands and were subsequently released. However, seven protesters remain in custody, facing more serious charges, including one individual accused of assaulting a police officer. READ MORE : UT Austin Fires Lecturer Following Arrest At Pro-Palestinian Protest University's Response and Public Safety Measures The University of Pennsylvania has been navigating a challenging landscape of campus activism and safety concerns. In a statement, the university's Division of Public Safety detailed the measures taken to secure the campus and ensure the safety of all involved. The use of lock-picking tools and homemade metal shields by the protesters heightened the level of threat perceived by law enforcement and university officials. The interim president of the university, J. Larry Jameson, expressed frustration over the continued disruptions caused by the protests. He highlighted that the university had made attempts to engage with protesters through dialogue, aiming for peaceful resolutions. Despite these efforts, the situation culminated in the need for police intervention to maintain order on campus. The timing of the protest, occurring just before alumni weekend and days before the university's commencement ceremonies, added to the urgency of addressing the situation. James Wolf, a graduating senior, voiced the sentiments of many students, describing the events as a "frustrating distraction" from their academic achievements and celebrations. Ongoing Tensions and Future Implications The confrontation at Fisher-Bennett Hall is part of a broader pattern of campus protests and activism at the University of Pennsylvania. The previous week, the university, with the assistance of local law enforcement, cleared a protester encampment on College Green. This move followed two weeks of attempts by administrators to engage with the protesters. The ongoing protests are reflective of the larger, national conversation surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the role of universities as platforms for activism and free speech. The university faces the challenge of balancing the rights of students to protest with the need to maintain a safe and orderly campus environment. The arrests and charges resulting from Friday's protest will likely have legal and academic consequences for those involved. The university will need to navigate the aftermath, addressing the concerns of the student body, faculty, and alumni, while also reinforcing campus policies on protests and safety. Looking ahead, the University of Pennsylvania and other institutions may need to reevaluate their approaches to handling protests and engaging with student activists. Building channels for open dialogue and finding common ground could be key to preventing future escalations. Additionally, universities may need to enhance their public safety protocols to better respond to similar situations, ensuring the safety and well-being of all members of the campus community. The detention of 19 pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Pennsylvania highlights the ongoing challenges and complexities of campus activism. As the university addresses the immediate aftermath, it must also consider long-term strategies to foster a safe and inclusive environment where all voices can be heard and respected. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has come under scrutiny after suspending and evicting a second-year MBA student, Zeno, for participating in pro-Palestinian protests on campus. The interim suspension, effective immediately, has left Zeno and his daughter in a precarious housing situation, highlighting broader issues around student activism, due process, and university policies. Immediate Suspension and Housing Crisis Zeno, identified only by his surname for privacy reasons, received a notification on May 8 about his interim suspension, which barred him from campus and required him to vacate his on-campus housing. Initially, he and other suspended students were given a week to leave, but this short notice exacerbated an already difficult housing market in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment is over $4,000 per month. With his wife out of town and his disabled daughter dependent on a specialized education program nearby, Zeno faced significant challenges finding suitable accommodation on short notice. The situation became more dire when he realized that potential rentals within their price range were either too small or in poor condition. He expressed dissatisfaction with a $3,000-a-month apartment they found, describing it as affordable but in poor condition for his daughter. READ MORE : MIT President Sally Kornbluth Unveils Initiatives To Address Campus Challenges Amid Israel-Hamas Conflict Protest and Disciplinary Actions The suspension notice indicated that Zeno's conduct at the May 6 protest was under investigation. MIT administrators accused him of violating multiple policies, including those related to disorderly conduct, property damage, and misuse of campus facilities. Zeno admitted to participating in the rally but contended that the disciplinary measures were excessive and lacked due process. Zeno argued that the interim suspensions are having lasting effects, emphasizing the need for due process before imposing long-term punishments. MIT's actions are part of a broader trend as pro-Palestinian encampments have led to suspensions and expulsions at various universities across the United States. Notably, Barnard College evicted over 50 student protesters following a police sweep of an encampment on Columbia University's campus. Although Barnard later allowed most suspended students to return, the initial punitive measures raised questions about the balance between maintaining order and respecting students' rights. Legal and Institutional Responses The legal ramifications of MIT's decision to evict students without a court order have also come under scrutiny. Attorneys Lee D. Goldstein and Jeffrey M. Feuer, representing the National Lawyers Guild, argued that the university's actions violated tenant protection laws in Massachusetts. They asserted that MIT needed a court order to evict the students legally and demanded the suspension notices' eviction orders be rescinded. Meanwhile, MIT defended its decision, citing the need to maintain campus safety and order. In a FAQ on the university's website, administrators explained that the encampment infringed on others' rights and posed potential safety risks. The university emphasized that interim measures were necessary to prevent further misconduct and protect the community's well-being. However, critics argue that the university's response has been disproportionate and lacks transparency. Brian Glick, treasurer for the Association of Student Conduct Administration, stated that interim actions should be exceptions rather than the rule, used infrequently and only in extreme circumstances. He highlighted the importance of following institutional policies and ensuring that each case is considered individually. Looking Forward Zeno's hearing is scheduled for this week, and he hopes to contest the charges and mitigate the immediate consequences of his suspension. Meanwhile, other students, like first-year electrical engineering graduate student Prahlad Iyengar, have already been forced to leave their on-campus housing. Iyengar, who moved into a friend's basement, criticized the lack of support from MIT during the eviction process. He noted that no university officials reached out to help him find alternative housing or move his belongings. The controversy at MIT underscores the challenges universities face in balancing disciplinary actions with students' rights and needs. As institutions navigate the complexities of student activism and campus safety, the need for clear policies, due process, and compassionate responses becomes increasingly evident. For students like Zeno and Iyengar, the hope remains that their universities will uphold these principles while addressing the root causes of their protests. In recent weeks, pro-Palestinian campus protests in the United States have garnered attention for their tactics, which some have deemed controversial and alarming. While many of these protests have been peaceful, a series of incidents, including demonstrations at officials' homes and acts of property damage, have raised concerns about the escalation of tactics used by some demonstrators. Incidents at the University of Michigan One of the most prominent incidents occurred at the University of Michigan, where Regent Jordan Acker alleged threatening behavior by protesters who showed up at his private residence in the early hours of the morning. According to Acker, the protesters left a list of demands, including defunding the police. Similar incidents targeted other regents, with protesters demanding that colleges divest endowment funds from Israel, weapon manufacturers, and other companies profiting from the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Acker explained that on the same morning, over 30 student protesters conducted demonstrations at the private home of at least one U-M Board of Regents member, and they also visited several other residences. Their actions involved setting up tents, placing fake corpses wrapped in bloody sheets on the lawn, marching, chanting, and leaving demands on doors. While the protests were condemned by university officials, a coalition of Michigan student groups claimed responsibility for the actions, stating on social media that they were behind the protests. Acker expressed his concern on social media, stating that there are limits to freedom of speech, and showing up at someone's house at 4 a.m. in a threatening manner is not acceptable. He emphasized that this should not be seen as a complicated or controversial issue. READ MORE : Campus Free Speech And Academic Freedom Clash Amid Targeting Of Pro-Palestinian Expression Vandalism at the University of California President's Office In a separate incident, the University of California President's office in Oakland was vandalized, with a pro-Palestinian group taking credit for the damage. Local news outlet SFGATE reported that in addition to breaking windows, protesters claimed to have released 500 cockroaches in the office. According to protesters who wrote on the local website Indybay, the vandalism was an act of solidarity with the Palestinian resistance. The protesters stated that they vandalized the building by covering the facade and breaking seven windows with a fire extinguisher filled with red paint. They also released 500 cockroaches inside the building and used a second fire extinguisher on the interior. Additionally, they left a water jug inscribed with 'Bonk' at the scene as a tribute to the militants of Cal Poly Humboldt and the international student encampment movement. The vandalism has sparked debate and condemnation, with some criticizing the tactics as counterproductive and harmful to the Palestinian cause. University officials have pledged to investigate the incident and hold those responsible accountable. Debate Over Tactics and Freedom of Expression These incidents have reignited the debate over the appropriate tactics for protest and the boundaries of freedom of expression. While protesters argue that their actions are necessary to draw attention to the plight of the Palestinian people, critics contend that such tactics are counterproductive and undermine the credibility of their cause. In response to the incidents, some universities have reiterated their commitment to freedom of expression while condemning acts of intimidation and vandalism. They have also emphasized the importance of respectful dialogue and peaceful protest in advancing meaningful change. As the conflict in the Middle East continues to escalate, the debate over the tactics of pro-Palestinian protesters is likely to intensify. While there is broad support for the Palestinian cause, there is also a recognition that the tactics employed by some protesters may do more harm than good. Finding a balance between passionate advocacy and respectful dialogue is likely to be an ongoing challenge for those involved in the movement. The Biden administration's plan to forgive student loans has been met with both praise and criticism, highlighting the complexities of addressing the growing issue of student debt in the United States. The proposal, which aims to provide relief to millions of borrowers, has sparked a heated debate about fairness, personal responsibility, and the role of government in addressing economic inequality. The Promise of Relief For many borrowers, the prospect of student loan forgiveness offers a glimmer of hope in what has become a crushing financial burden. With nearly 28 million Americans expected to benefit from the plan, the relief could be life-changing for those struggling to make ends meet. Supporters argue that forgiving student loans is not only a compassionate response to a systemic problem but also a necessary step toward economic recovery. Suzanne Washington, a borrower in her sixties who owes over $70,000 from attending three universities, including one that has since closed, shared her hope for debt forgiveness. She described how the closure of the school dashed her dreams and expressed a desire to live without the burden of such high debt for the remainder of her life. READ MORE : Biden Administration Proposes Student Debt Relief Regulations The Debate Over Fairness However, not everyone is in favor of the plan. Critics contend that forgiving student loans would unjustly disadvantage individuals who have already settled their debts or opted against borrowing for education. Eric Nickles, who fully repaid his loans, characterized the plan as an insult to responsible borrowers, suggesting it is a political tactic to garner support. Jerry Scott and others argue against the use of taxpayer money by the federal government to assist individuals who they perceive as having made imprudent financial choices. Scott expressed his view that it is inappropriate for taxpayers to bear the burden of college students' financial decisions, particularly when those students willingly took out loans. Legal and Financial Challenges The plan also faces legal and financial challenges. While President Biden has expressed his intention to provide relief to borrowers by early fall, legal challenges could delay the implementation of the plan. Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, has criticized the plan as an unconstitutional wealth transfer, echoing concerns raised by Congressional Republicans. Financially, the plan is estimated to cost $147 billion over ten years, with forgiving interest alone costing about $62 billion. The Department of Education has justified the cost by arguing that it would save money by not servicing or trying to collect loans that are unlikely to be repaid in full. Looking Ahead As the Biden administration moves forward with its plan to forgive student loans, the debate over student debt relief is far from over. Advocates continue to push for more comprehensive relief measures, including the forgiveness of underlying balances rather than just accumulated interest. Critics, on the other hand, remain steadfast in their opposition, arguing that the plan sets a dangerous precedent and undermines personal responsibility. The outcome of this debate will have far-reaching implications for millions of borrowers and the future of higher education in the United States. As the Biden administration works to finalize the regulations and begin forgiving loans, the nation watches closely, eager to see how this bold proposal will reshape the landscape of student debt in America. It was an unlikely scene that concluded an unusual court case centered on the slaying of a 19-year-old in the Town of Tonawanda two years ago. Michael A. Atkinson had just received a sentence of seven years in prison on an illegal weapons charge less than half the maximum sentence sought by prosecutors on Tuesday from State Supreme Court Justice Suzanne Maxwell Barnes. Standing with his wrists handcuffed behind him, Atkinson turned toward the father of his victim, Harith M. Alkhalaf, and said he wanted to apologize for what happened that evening. I can only imagine what its like to lose a son, Atkinson told Mike Hamzah, who sat stoically in the courtrooms first row, adding, I hope you find peace one day. Hamzah didnt address the court Tuesday. Afterward, he told The Buffalo News he was indifferent to the length of Atkinsons sentence. Its not going to bring my son back, Hamzah said. Acting Erie County District Attorney Michael Keane declined to comment on the sentence. Alkhalaf was killed on April 20, 2022, after he went to Atkinsons home on James Avenue, near River Road in Tonawanda. Assistant District Attorney Ryan Haggerty and defense attorney Matthew Albert on Tuesday agreed that Alkhalaf and Atkinson exchanged a series of taunting, threatening messages in the days leading up to the fatal encounter. Haggerty said the two men mutually engaged in the vile digital communication, while Albert painted Alkhalaf as the aggressor who was upset over Atkinsons friendship with Alkhalafs ex-girlfriend. Those threats, Albert said, led Atkinson on April 19 to purchase a firearm for which he did not have a permit. The next day, as Atkinson sat in a car outside his home with Alkhalafs ex-girlfriend, Alkhalaf pulled up across the street, according to authorities. Atkinson, armed with his handgun, walked over to confront Alkhalaf. The two argued, and fought, before Atkinson pulled out his gun and shot Alkhalaf. The gunshot wounds did not stop Alkhalaf from taking out a knife and stabbing Atkinson, who then took away the knife and used it to stab Alkhalaf. Atkinson was taken to Kenmore Mercy Hospital for treatment of his wounds, while Alkhalaf called 911, but died at the scene before help arrived. No one was charged in the case for months afterward, a situation that frustrated Hamzah, Alkhalafs father. He previously told The News that he believed Atkinson should have been charged with murder in his sons slaying. But prosecutors had said the facts didnt support a charge of murder. In September, a State Supreme Court jury deliberated 3 hours before acquitting Atkinson, 24, of the manslaughter charge and convicting him of criminal possession of a weapon. Shortly before Tuesdays sentencing, Barnes ruled on a motion filed by Albert seeking to toss out Atkinsons illegal weapons conviction. Albert had argued that the state law behind the charge was unconstitutional, but Barnes rejected the motion. Haggerty, in arguing for the 15-year maximum sentence, contended that Alkhalaf would still be alive if not for Atkinsons decision to purchase the illegal firearm one day earlier. Atkinson had been too afraid to confront Alkhalaf until, Haggerty said, buying the weapon gave him the courage to bait Alkhalaf into showing up. The gun is everything about this case, Haggerty said. Albert, however, highlighted the unusual circumstances of the case. He said the jury found his client had a right to defend himself against Alkhalaf, but not to do so with an unlicensed handgun. Albert said Atkinson faced a looming danger and didnt have time to begin the process to register the firearm. The threat was coming, and it was coming now, said Albert, who also pointed out Atkinson doesnt have a prior criminal record. He said 15 years was unreasonable because previous discussions about a plea deal for Atkinson, conducted at a time when the manslaughter charge was still in play, had centered on a sentence of nine years. No plea deal was reached before the case went to trial, and Barnes questioned Alberts recall of the promised term. In issuing her sentence, Barnes noted the encounter forever changed the lives of the two men. She said she, too, was troubled by the circumstances of the case and joined in wondering how differently the evening would have gone if Atkinson did not possess a handgun. She also noted that the stab wounds, and not the gunshot wounds, killed Alkhalaf. Ultimately, she sentenced Atkinson to seven years in state prison and five years of post-release supervision. As court officers put handcuffs on Atkinson, he turned to his family and supporters and said, Ill talk to you soon. Love you, Michael, one replied. Barnes had to call Atkinson, the lawyers and the spectators back into the courtroom because she belatedly realized she hadnt given Atkinson the chance to speak on his own behalf prior to sentencing. Obviously, Im sorry and I regret everything, Atkinson told the court. Hamzah, speaking afterward, expressed annoyance with Alberts description of the parties interactions leading up to the night of his sons death. While he remains distressed by the manslaughter acquittal, he said he was glad to hear Atkinson offer remorse for what happened. Thats what Ive been looking for, Hamzah said. The truth. Coordinating efforts in combating transnational drug crime An International Practical meeting for the coordination of efforts in combating transnational drug crime, organized by UNODC RERH22 project and CARICC took place in Almaty, Kazakhstan on 8-9 June, 2010. The meeting was attended by the heads of operational departments of the law enforcement agencies of CARICC member states and its partners. Mr. Tofik Murshudlu, Sr. Coordinator of UNODC RERH22 project, and Mr. Beksultan Sarsekov, the Director of CARICC emphasized the role and potential of CARICC in the overall coordination of joint law enforcement activities in the region and exchange of intelligence, as well as the issue of better utilization of CARICC capacities and services on the operational level. The focus of the meeting was on the major threat posed by drug trafficking from Afghanistan, as well as on the exchange of intelligence and the organization of bilateral and multilateral operations in the region. Discussions were mainly concentrated on the recent drug trafficking trends in the region and merging criminal groups and organizations. Participants were encouraged to have separate (closed) meetings with interested parties on potential "targets" for possible joint operations and/or investigations. The meeting attracted delegates from all CARICC member-states, as well as representatives of LEA's from such countries as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ukraine, Romania, Belgium, Norway, US, Italy, Finland, France, Austria and others. Representatives from international agencies including Interpol, SECI Center, BOMCA and the Anti-Terrorist Center of the CIS took an active part in discussions and supported the idea regular meetings. Global Joint Initiative on Preventing Violent Extremism in Prisons Continues Support During COVID-19 The threat of violent extremism in prisons is an issue of growing concern to the international community, presenting complex challenges to Member States, which are much more complicated due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) continues its support to national prison officials to address these complex challenges and responds to new COVID requirements through a global project on preventing violent extremism in prisons. The project is being implemented jointly with the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre in coordination with the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (UNCTED) and co-funded the European Union, the Netherlands and the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism. Despite new coronavirus health restrictions, UNODC and the implementing partners continued supporting national officials in Kazakhstan, Tunisia and Uganda. In addition to providing equipment and supplies to allow national prison officials to operate during the COVID crisis safely, UNODC and the project team continued to deliver capacity-building activities on the management of violent extremist prisoners and developed a number of tailored training and resource materials. In Kazakhstan, UNODC worked with prison officials to establish a Prison Staff Training Centre on Preventing Violent Extremism in Prisons. In Kazakhstan and Uganda, officials pushed forward the development of critical frameworks for carrying out prison security audits and the classification of prisoners. Finally, in Uganda, six training modules on preventing and combating violent extremism were developed and integrated into the basic training curricula for the Prison Academy and Training School. Furthermore, in Tunisia, a country workplan of assistance was agreed, and the first project steering committee meeting held in September 2020, with the participation of UNODC Executive Director, Ms. Ghada Waly. At the meeting Ms. Waly thanked the Ministry of Justice of Tunisia for convening the high-level meeting, noting that A prison system managed in compliance with the Nelson Mandela Rules will offer powerful barriers against violent extremism taking root in prisons, and provide a strong foundation on which effective interventions can be built. Throughout the year, UNODC and the project team have also worked closely to build strategic relationships in the beneficiary countries, supporting national prison officials to engage with civil society organizations to support the rehabilitation and social reintegration of prisoners and to establish local stakeholder networks for preventing and combating violent extremism. With its unique knowledge of the needs of the prison environment, the project team also strengthened partnerships with governments and international partners in preventing the spread of violent extremism in prisons. Check out this video for an in-depth look at the recent achievements of the project: *** For more information, please contact Vasilina Brazhko (Mrs.) UNODC Communication and PR Specialist Whats app: +996775987817 E-mail: vasilina.brazhko[at]un.org Strengthen the law enforcement inter-agency and cross-border cooperation at the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border The State Border Service of the Kyrgyz Republic in cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and with the financial support of the Government of Japan.conducted joint simulation exercises at the border crossing-point "Dostuk" on the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border to intercept drugs and precursor chemicals in May. Real-life scenario at the border area aimed at improving coordination between the border guards, including BLO and other law enforcement representatives. In line with the scenario, Border Liaison Officer of border check-point "Bor-Dobo" (Kyrgyz- Tajik border) informed their BLO colleagues at "Dostuk" check-point on high risk of narcotics which might be trafficked from Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan approximately in mid-May 2017. In their turn, officers at "Dostuk" check-point shared respective information with their colleagues and suggested to strengthen the control. Aibek Kutmanov, Chief of the Main Operational Department of the State Border Service of the Kyrgyz Republic, said: "Joint work of law enforcement agencies involved in border control is one more step towards better coordination." He also expressed a hope that the UNODC's efforts will enable beneficiary countries to promote greater inter-agency and cross border cooperation, especially on operational level. Border Liaison Offices (BLOs) is considered to be one of the most sustainable system that can help developing mutual trust and intelligence information sharing system among law enforcement agencies responsible for border protection. Yusuf Kurbonov, UNODC Programme Coordinator, emphasized that communication, coordination and cooperation among law enforcement agencies are the key elements aimed at effectively combating illicit drug trafficking. Representatives of the Ministry of Interior, Border and Customs Services of the Kyrgyz Republic took part at the exercise. The UNODC representatives, Kyrgyz Border Guard Service under the National Security Committee and Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan attended the event as observers. The event was organized in the frame of the sub-programme 1 component Countering the trafficking of Afghan opiates via the northern route by enhancing the capacity of key border crossings points (BCPs) and through the establishment of Border Liaison Offices (BLOs) of the UNODC Programme for Central Asia 2015 -2019. Successful cooperation between UNODC and the Criminal Justice Task Force of Afghanistan The Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF) was established in January 2005 by the government of Afghanistan, with support from UNODC and donor countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada and Belgium. The aim was to bring offenders of drug related crimes to justice quickly. It was created to fast-track major drug cases within Afghanistan. The Task Force is made up of key investigators, prosecutors and judges. It is based in Kabul but is also operative in the provinces. The purpose is to strengthen the institutional capacity to arrest, investigate and detain criminal offenders suspected and convicted of drug related crimes. In 2012 the CJTF Prosecution Directorate successfully completed the investigation and prosecution of 588 serious narcotics and intoxicating drinks cases based on the Law Against Intoxicating Drinks and Narcotics, which they received from CJTF Investigation and Laboratory Department. Over the last few years the CJTF has worked in close cooperation with UNODC's project "Drug law enforcement systems for criminal intelligence collection, analysis and exchange", funded by the Canadian government. A number of intelligence analysis training courses of different levels for Task Forces staff were conducted by International Experts. IT equipment, including hardware, software and local area network were procured and installed. The project also provides continuous support and guidance to the Task Force members through a mentorship mechanism, which facilitates advisory services. The Ministry of Counter Narcotics of Afghanistan is the main governmental coordinating body for the CJTF program, and is implementing activities in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice, Supreme Court and Office of the Attorney General. One of the biggest challenges that the Ministry of Counter Narcotics has in developing the report is getting current and reliable data. The Ministry of Counter Narcotics currently recognizes that the CJTF is one of the best Afghan entities for providing reliable data/statistics that are coherent, current and useful for the Drug Report. Through this project, the CJTF's capacity is reinforced. It is encouraging that UNODC, with Canada's financial support, is reinforcing the work that is carried out under different activities of the CJTF. The Republic of Tajikistan strengthens the national system for combating money laundering and terrorism financing On 11 September UNODC conducted the first working meeting with national partners in Tajikistan on technical assistance within the project Enhancing the efficiency of parallel financial investigations. In 2020 UNODC held a meeting with national counterparts in the Republic of Tajikistan to discuss the project plan on technical assistance to the Republic of Tajikistan in implementing the recommendations of international experts, which were provided within the frame of the mutual assessment of the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG). UNODC expressed readiness to provide technical assistance in improving the effectiveness of parallel financial investigations by the countrys law enforcement authorities. The main objectives of this project are to improve the efficiency of the national system for countering money laundering and terrorism financing, and the implementation of the provisions of the UN conventions and the Recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF). The key partners of the project are the General Prosecutors Office and the Department of Financial Monitoring under the National Bank of Tajikistan. Among the participants of the meeting there were heads and experts of the profile departments of the General Prosecutors Office, State Committee of National Security, Anti-Corruption Agency, Drug Enforcement Agency, Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Department of Financial Monitoring under the National Bank of Tajikistan. Considering the current situation with the global spread of COVID-19 pandemic, the working meeting was held online. In his opening speech, UNODC GPML Advisor Mr. Oliver Gadney provided a successful example of parallel financial investigations. Mr. Gadney emphasized the importance of close inter-agency cooperation by terms of live communication. In international experts opinion, the provision of the financial information for operational actions is the key to a successful investigation. Mr. Yusuf Ruziev, the representative of the General Prosecutors Office, thanked UNODC for organizing the workshop and for the expert assistance. Mr. Ruziev noted that according to the outcomes of the 29th Plenary meeting of the EAG, the mutual assessment report of Tajikistan was approved, which contains the recommendation of international experts, including the recommendation on increasing the efficiency of parallel financial investigations. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Tajikistan approved the plan On Eliminating Technical Compliance Deficiencies and Improving the Effectiveness of the AML / CFT System. In this regard, the General Prosecutor's Office and other law enforcement agencies plan to establish a unified procedure for conducting parallel financial investigations. During the meeting, the Director of the Financial Monitoring Department under the National Bank of Tajikistan, Farhod Bilolov, expressed a high level of interest in cooperation with UNODC in developing a procedure for conducting parallel financial investigations, since the organization possesses significant expert capacity and has an integrated approach to work. Mr. Aliaksandr Vadziany, UNODC Regional Advisor on AML/CFT, emphasized that UNODC cooperates closely with the Republic of Tajikistan and provides technical assistance on an ongoing basis in strengthening the capacity of national AML/CFT partners. The main objectives of the project are to improve knowledge in conducting parallel financial investigations, strengthen inter-agency cooperation and, as a result, increase the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies and financial intelligence units in AML/CFT. During the meeting national partners expressed an interest in cooperation with UNODC within this project, the parties identified further steps in its implementation, and, as a result, a working group was established. This project is implemented within the framework of the UNODC Central Asia Program with the participation of the Global Program Against Money Laundering and with the financial support of the Bureau of the US Department of State on International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs in Kazakhstan. Additional information: . For any queries, please contact: Shakhnoza Zafari Communication and External Relations Officer at shakhnoza.zafari[at]un.org UNODC and partners discuss situation with New Psychoactive Substances in Kyrgyzstan New psychoactive substances (NPS) are spreading at an unprecedented rate and are becoming a serious health threat and a real problem in drug policy in Central Asian countries. Little is known about the negative impact of NPS on human health and the harm they cause to society, and this significantly complicates prevention and treatment. To effectively counter this new problem, it is necessary to ensure constant monitoring of the drug situation, exchange of information and raise awareness of the risks. In order to consider the possibility of multisectoral partnerships between government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions and research centers on studying the situation with NPS and improving the availability and efficiency of services for people who use NPS, the UNODC Program Office in the Kyrgyz Republic, together with the Harm Reduction Network Association, the Plus Center Public Foundation, the Institute for Global Research (GLORI) and financial support from UNAIDS Country Envelopes Fund held a conference Finding Effective Solutions to the Problem of New Psychoactive Substances in Kyrgyzstan: An Online Review of Multisectoral Partnerships of Communities, Scientists and Practitioners. Some 46 experts, specialists and representatives of international organizations of Central Asia countries learned on the NPS situation in the country and in region, and discussed issues on improving access to treatment and effective services for drug users. In the Kyrgyz Republic, first cases of synthetic drug use were recorded in 2013. Back then synthetic cannabinoids appeared on the market - smoking mixtures known as spice, the use of which was widespread, especially among young people. Only in 2015, Kyrgyzstan adopted a law prohibiting the abuse of synthetic drugs, including "spice" and other smoking mixtures. But the emergence of new synthetic drugs such as "salts", "bath salts" and "crystals" requires their inclusion into the list of illegal substances. In 2014, more than 400 NPS were identified, and in 2020 there are already more than 800. During the conference, I would like to focus on a very important point: the legality of NPS, said Mr. Timur Isakov, Executive Secretary of the State Coordination Committee for the control over narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursors (SCCDC). Currently, these substances exist in the form of new psychoactive substances, they are legal and cannot be withdrawn from a citizen or organization. Their distribution is legal. Let us, in legal terms, say not that they need to be seized, but that they need to be identified. " Taking into account the situation, in 2015 an interdepartmental working group under the SCCDC was established, which resulted in introducing additional substances into the prohibited lists. You can control the spread of NPS in a different way. First, at the global level. But this system is not fast. Therefore, a number of states have started to group NPS as forbidden substances. But in the country we do not adhere to this position, since in Kyrgyzstan there is a very strict law on NPS. In this regard, we form lists of analogues, now we are also doing such work in order to comply with the norms that are laid down in the Criminal Procedure Code and the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic. The main task is to identify new psychotropic substances, concluded Mr. Timur Isakov. The head of the Harm Reduction Network Association, Mr. Sergei Bessonov, raised the issue of the distribution of NPS in the territory of Kyrgyzstan. In his opinion, the appearance of NPS on the country's market was influenced by a number of factors: close borders with China and Afghanistan, their availability, contactless distribution through instant messengers: Telegrams and Internet resources. He is confident that traditional prevention programs will not work on people who abuses NPS. Provision of prevention services/treatment over the Internet is the future for a new generation of drug abusers, concluded Mr. Bessonov. To organize the provision of medical, psychological and social assistance to NPS abusers from the moment of suspicion or diagnosis, in 2019 UNODC initiated a study, which resulted in the development of the "Clinical Guidelines for Assisting Adult Abusers of New Psychoactive Substances" and a new Clinical Protocol on NPS, which in the near future will be introduced into the work of medical institutions. I hope this clinical guide will be a useful practical tool for our physicians. We launched all this on time, as I see alarming signals - young people in Central Asia are beginning to quite actively switch to new psychoactive substances, especially Mephedrone. This substance is a synthetic psychostimulant - an analogue of amphetamine. And the problem is that at the moment there is no way to help with such addiction, said Mr. Kubanychbek Ormushev, Coordinator of the Drug Prevention Program at the UNODC Program Office in the Kyrgyz Republic. Mr. Danil Nikitin, director of the Institute for Global Research (GLORI), said that during focus groups meetings, drug addicted girls and women complained that their relatives, friends did not notice that they had been addicted for a long time. When this happens, their relatives begin to treat them in every possible way. And sometimes this treatment can be attributed to domestic violence. In this regard, the WINGS model, which began to be applied back in New York, is indicative. There, drug addicted women themselves were able to mobilize and develop for themselves some kind of motivation and goal setting. The result of the conference was the conclusion that the trend of the spread of NPS in the Kyrgyz Republic and Central Asia, in general, continues to grow, overshadowing traditional drugs. However, this creates a problem of ineffectiveness of the existing prevention measures for drug dependence as well as their treatment. And these issues require a separate study. Reference NPS are sold on the market under the names "legal drugs", "herbal drugs", "bath salts" and "chemicals". For terminological clarity, UNODC uses the term new psychoactive substances (NPS), which is defined as substances of abuse, either pure or in the form of a preparation, which are not controlled under the 1961 Convention as amended under the 1972 Protocol, or the 1971 Convention, but may pose a threat to public health . The word "new" in the name indicates not so much the novelty of such substances - some were synthesized 40 years ago, but rather their recent appearance on the market. The use of NPS is often associated with health problems. In general, NPS can cause a wide variety of side effects - seizures, anxiety, aggressiveness, acute psychosis, and the potential for addiction. NPS users often end up in the hospital with severe poisoning. The event was conducted as part of the UNODC Program Office in the Kyrgyz Republic initiative "Assessment of the needs and accessibility of HIV prevention and treatment services for people in Kyrgyzstan who abuse new psychoactive substances and stimulants" implemented by subprogram 3: Prevention, treatment, reintegration and prevention of HIV infections of the UNODC Program for Central Asia for 2015-2021. Article in Russian language *** For more information, please contact Vasilina Brazhko (Mrs.) UNODC Communication and PR Specialist WhatsApp: +996775987817 E-mail: vasilina.brazhko[at]un.org UNODC and partners hold International Forum on Financial Investigations in Almaty Todays global agenda includes investigation of financial crimes, asset recovery, analytical tools and required pool of measures to conduct parallel financial investigation. UNODC jointly with the Academy of Law Enforcement Agencies under the General Prosecutors Office of Kazakhstan (Academy) and OSCE Programme office in Nur-Sultan organized an International Forum on Financial Investigations and Interaction of competent bodies for combating the legalization of criminal proceeds on 21-23 June in Almaty UN building. Over 40 representatives of more than 20 competent authorities of Central Asian Countries and Southern Caucasus took part in the Forum. The event gathered international speakers from Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Specialists in AML/CFT discussed issues of financial intelligence, search for foreign assets based on open and closed sources. The Academy of Law Enforcement Agencies Rector Mr. Suleimenov stated in him opening remarks: Currently, discussions are underway about conducting a financial investigation within the framework of criminal prosecution or its allocation outside the norms of the Code of Criminal Procedure.It must be admitted that there is no judicial and investigative practice to prove the criminality of the origin of financial assets and their legalization. And here, it is important and useful for us to hear the experience of our foreign colleagues. As a result of the forum, it is proposed to develop recommendations for improving investigative practices and developing informal cooperation on the return of capital. Mr. Yelemessov, Deputy Chair to the Agency on Financial Monitoring of Kazakhstan emphasized the importance of the financial investigations in combating money laundering: In September, our country will have to undergo a mutual assessment to compliance with FATF standards. The entire national anti-money laundering system, including law enforcement agencies, will be evaluated. Particular attention is paid to the effectiveness of the work of law enforcement agencies to identify and confiscate criminal proceeds. Mr. Aliaksandr Vadziany, one of the forum moderators, Regional Adviser to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, on Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, noted that in modern conditions, any rule of law state pays attention to the effectiveness of combating illegal financial flows, money laundering, terrorist financing. We are all aware that, in accordance with the standards of practice, it is necessary to implement elements of technical compliance. In this regard, very serious work has already been done in the Republic of Kazakhstan. At the same time, it is necessary to pay increased attention to the implementation of these provisions, to see how they work in life Mr. Vadziany said. The Forum brough to discussion important aspects of investigative and judicial practice and prosecutorial supervision in cases of this category, the interaction of interested bodies to counter the withdrawal of capital, instruments of international mutual legal assistance and the possibilities of informal networks. Based on the result of the Forum UNODC will unite discussed issues and develop a manual with recommendations on conducting parallel financial investigations, mutual legal assistance, asset recovery and financial intelligence. This project is carried out as part of UNODC programme in Central Asia and the framework of the UNODC Global Programme Against Money Laundering with financial support from the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the US. Department of State. Story in Russian Language *** For all inquiries, kindly contact Vasilina Brazhko Communication and PR Specialist at UNODC Criminal Justice and PVE Project in Central Asia +996775987817 WhatsApp vasilina.brazhko [at] un.org UNODC and Prison Service of Tajikistan co-operate to address Foreign Terrorist Fighters Threats in Prison Violent extremism is an affront to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. It undermines peace and security, human rights and sustainable development. No country or region is immune from its impact. Over 2000 Tajik men traveled to conflict zones to engage in terrorist acts, bringing their families women and children. Tajikistan increases efforts to counter violent extremism and terrorism, however, an associated challenge has gained importance and urgency: how to manage violent extremists in prison settings. In this context, the United States Department of State provided financial contribution to UNODC to implement the two-year Returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters Detention Programme. The programme serves the aim to provide technical assistance to the Prison Service of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Tajikistan, in order to address radicalization to violence and violent extremism in prison settings. Representatives of the UNODC and the Prison Service of Tajikistan attended the signing ceremony of the Programme Work Plan and discussed emerging threats posed by foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) and effective policies on management of violent extremism prisoners, prevention of progression to violent extremism in prisons and interventions. UNODC is pleased to launch the implementation of Returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters Detention Programme in cooperation with Prison Service of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Tajikistan with generous support of United States of America, CT Bureau of US Department of State. It is gratifying to note that the country work plan will address some of the significant areas enshrined in new national prison reform strategy, said Mr. Mustafa Erten, Head of the UNODC Programme office in Tajikistan. According to Mr. Mansur Umarov, Head of the Prison Service of the Republic of Tajikistan: Counter-extremism and rehabilitation programs have the best chance of succeeding when they are nested in a safe, secure, adequately resourced, and well operated custodial setting where the human rights of prisoners are respected. Prison Service of Tajikistan acknowledges the importance of addressing challenges posed by violent extremist prisoners in full compliance with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treat of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) and other relevant international standards and norms, including from a gender perspective. The Country Work Plan was designed based on scoping mission results which outlined challenges, needs and priorities of the penitentiary system of Tajikistan, including security and safety needs in terms of a refinement of security procedures, regulations and protocols, the implementation of tailored rehabilitation programmes, the training of prison officers on the management of terrorist and FTF prisoners and the introduction of required security upgrades and/or the procurement of equipment. This program will enhance the Republic of Tajikistan capacity to manage threats posed by foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) through technical assistance to law enforcement, corrections, and justice sector agencies and, by so doing, encourage partners cooperation in repatriating their FTF nationals in custody. UNODC seeks to enhance the Republic of Tajikistan capacity to manage and mitigate the threat of terrorist and FTF prisoners utilizing international corrections best practice including classification and case management, contraband control, access control between cells and prison buildings, and development of intake processes. The program will build on implementation of international commitments made through the adoption of resolution 2396 (2017), , consistent with the UN Minimum Standrad Rules on the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules), international humanitarian law and human rights law, as applicable and in accordance with relevant international law. The project seeks also to develop tailored and gender-sensitive strategies to address and counter terrorist narratives within the prison system. Head of the Prison Service of the Republic of Tajikistan and Head of UNODC Programme Office in Tajikistan endorsed the Country Work Plan that includes key areas of UNODCs assistance, including strengthening the capacity of prison staff, managing risks posed by violent extremist prisoners, enhancing the inter-agency and regional co-operation and implementing of prison-based disengagement interventions, and others. After the fall of the so-called Islamic State, camps contain of women and children from Tajikistan who are waiting for their chance to return home. Given the tribute to the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, they returned some 84 children from Iraq back in 2019. *** For all inquiries, contact Vasilina Brazhko (Ms.) Communication and PR Specialist UNODC in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan +(996) 775987817 WhatsApp / Cell phone vasilina.brazhko [at] un.org UNODC continues to strengthen the analytical capacities of Uzbek law enforcement officers Newly emerging drug trends and situation show the need for drug enforcement agencies to enhance their officers knowledge and skills in data analysis using open and professional software. UNODC continues to strengthen the analytical capacities of Uzbek law enforcement agencies to better respond to threats of cross-border organized crime, including illicit drug trafficking, and to ensure effective border control. In this effort, intelligence processing and analysis form a key component for effective and efficient law enforcement activities. On 6-11 June, UNODC conducted a national training course on the processing and analysis of information by using special and open programmes (including IBM i2) for 19 law enforcement officers-analysts representing all regions of Uzbekistan. The training was conducted at the premises of the Institute of Advanced Training of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (the Ministry) of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The training aimed to enhance the analytical capacities of law enforcement officers in gathering, compiling, and processing information using analytical software tools through practical exercises and case studies. The challenges related to making dashboards and diagrams and working with billing data and the ArcGIS geoinformation system were reviewed during the training. The training was delivered by the UNODC Paris Pact Liaison Officer and Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Centre for Combating Illicit Trafficking of Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and their Precursors (CARICC) experts. Intelligence analysis and intelligence-led policing are fundamental elements of law enforcement activities. The knowledge and skills acquired by law enforcement officials in these areas during the training will help them in the performance of their duties, said Mr. Shokhzodkhon Turakhonov, Special Operations Officer of the Ministrys Drug Enforcement Department, in his closing remarks. He highlighted the appropriateness of conducting more trainings and organizing Advanced Training Course on the Processing and Analysis of Information by Using Special and Open Programmes (including IBM i2) - Level 2 that will allow professionals to refresh and upgrade their skills and acquire new knowledge. Mr. Erkinjon Marupov, Head of the Information Technology Department of the Ministry's Institute of Advanced Training, encouraged UNODC to actively use the Institute's capacities when conducting similar trainings in the future. The training was organized under the UNODC regional project on Enhancing Capacity of Border Crossing Points and Improving Regional Cross-Border Cooperation by Promoting Border Liaison Offices Concept and Development of Information and Communication Networks for Border Agencies of Sub-programme 1 Countering transnational organized crime, illicit drug trafficking and preventing terrorism of the UNODC Programme for Central Asia 2022-2025. The project is funded by the Government of Japan. For further information, please contact: Nurangez Abdulhamidova Communication and External Relations Officer UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia Email: nurangez.abdulhamidova[at]un.org UNODC Education for Justice initiative engage teachers, school children and students on rule of law issues Crime, justice, and the rule of law are part of our lives and affect us on a daily basis. While it is possible to read up on these issues on your own, teaching these issues, including todays most crucial threats, to children at youth in a school settings is a tricky matter. In response to this challenge, UNODC Education for Justice (E4J) initiative has set out activities and generated educational resources surrounding crime, justice, and the rule of law for primary, secondary and tertiary education levels. The resources are developed for teachers to support their efforts to transmit knowledge and create a deeper understanding of the subject areas of crime prevention and criminal justice, anti-corruption, organized crime, trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants, firearms, cybercrime, wildlife crime, counter-terrorism as well as integrity and ethics. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan, along with one secondary school and three Universities, including the Turkmen State University expressed their interest back in summer of 2021 to use UNODC E4J teaching methodology and introducing these subjects into their curriculum. To proceed with the implementation, UNODC in partnership with Winrock International, the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) and United Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA) project Towards a comprehensive implementation of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (UNGCTS) in Central Asia Phase IV, USAID program "Safe Migration in Central Asia" and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan launched a series of training courses for school and university teachers of Turkmenistan. Over 30 teachers obtained knowledge and skills on how to present issues in the field of fighting trafficking in persons, combatting terrorism, cybercrime to the younger generation. Mr. Koen Marquering, International Manager of Criminal Justice Programme for UNODC in Central Asia outlined in his opening speech that education for children and young people plays an important role in shaping the values of future generations, creating a collective consciousness, restructuring public preferences, supplementing them with the necessary skills to form future generations respect for the law, promote the principles of the rule, and prevent and prevent crime. Our Education for Justice initiative is the most innovative and comprehensive educational tool to help achieve these goals, as the integration of crime prevention and criminal justice principles into the education system at all levels is critical in building long-term approaches in the fight against crime and violence, Mr. Marquering concluded. Speaking at the training, Ms. Karina Timshina, UNOCT Regional coordination officer emphasized that since 2011, the UNOCT and UNRCCA have been assisting the countries of Central Asia in the development of a Regional Strategy to Counter Terrorism and Violent Extremism, the so-called Joint Action Plan. And education is one of the key points in this paper. It calls on the countries of Central Asia to implement educational initiatives to counter these phenomena. The adoption of an updated version of this document is scheduled for March this year at a high-level conference to be held in Tashkent and representatives of Turkmenistan will also participate in it, she noted. The E4J resources have been created by UNODC and a variety of partners, ranging from governments to academic and non-governmental organizations, as well as in partnership with UNESCO, and involving above all the ultimate target audience: teachers and students. The UNODC, UNOCT programmes and the USAID programme "Safe Migration in Central Asia" in Turkmenistan are looking forward to long-term and systematic cooperation in incorporating these issues into the curricula of the universities and schools invited to participate in our event, stated Ms. Ellie Valentine, head of the Winrock International in Central Asia. The participants highly appreciated the training course, which provided a much-needed supporting materials for students and pupils to promote further a culture that supports the rule of law, crime prevention and criminal justice and expressed interest in future cooperation. It is planned that the group of trained instructors will be the first cohort teachers in Turkmenistan to receive Education4Justice certification, leading to further prospect of cascading the newly gained skills to other teachers and rolling-out of the training program to other educational establishment. *** For more information, contact Vasilina Brazhko Communication and PR Specialist at UNODC Criminal Justice Programme for Central Asia +996775987817 WhatsApp vasilina.brazhko [at] un.org On the eve of its vote on a city budget, Common Council members on Tuesday balked at Mayor Byron Browns proposed 9% increase in the tax levy and predicted a fiscal crisis will hit the city next year. Im hopeful between now and tomorrow we can find some cuts to reduce the tax burden on residents, Council Member David Rivera said at the Council Finance Committee meeting. A 9% increase is going to be devastating, said Council Member Rasheed Wyatt. Under the mayors budget, the owner of a home assessed at $100,000 would pay $78 a year more in city taxes. Homeowners also would pay $30 more for garbage collection. A commercial property assessed at $200,000 would see an increase of $464 a year in its taxes and a $40 hike in garbage collection. The Council is planning to vote on the mayors proposed budget during a special meeting at 2 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall. Wyatt said Brown and Buffalo Finance Commissioner Delano Dowell should have suggested spending cuts the Council can make before it votes on the budget. Its the administrations issue, said Wyatt, the University District member. You tell us where the cuts are. Council members who in June 2023 approved 12.63% salary hikes for the mayor, city comptroller and themselves said they have seen the fiscal problems developing for years. (Council Members Bryan Bollman, Joseph Golombek Jr. and Christopher Scanlon voted against the pay hikes.) But even with the proposed 9% tax levy hike the highest property tax increase ever during Browns 18 years as mayor Buffalo is going to be in even worse fiscal shape next year, Council members predicted. Mayor proposes record 9% hike in Buffalo property taxes as he rolls out budget and State of the City Mayor Byron Brown's proposed budget for 2024-25 would increase the city's property tax levy by 9%, the highest property tax increase ever under the Brown administration. That equates to an additional $14 million in property taxes collected by the city this next fiscal year. Thats because City Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams in her analysis of the proposed 2025 budget warned that it is built upon nearly $41 million in one-time revenue and $11 million in speculative revenue from the Seneca Nation casinos. The one-time revenue includes $25.8 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds and $14.9 million from the citys fund balance which will wipe out that fund. New York is negotiating a new Seneca gambling compact with the Nation and its not clear how much revenue will go to host communities like Buffalo. Miller-Williams said in her budget report that she was deeply concerned about how the city would fill that $41 million hole in future budgets. Rivera, the Niagara District member, predicted residents will be facing tax hikes in the 2026 budget that are even steeper than the 9% levy increase Brown proposed this year. We should cut all new positions that are not contractual, Rivera said of plans to hire new employees. We should cut all pay raises that are not contractual. Nine percent is too excessive, he said. Brown was not at the Finance Committee meeting, but Dowell defended the mayors proposed 9% tax levy hike as necessary to avoid cuts in services that residents will oppose. This 9% hike was not an easy decision, he said. If we dont do 9% now, it will be worse next year. He noted that the 9% tax levy increase will bring in an extra $14 million in revenue this year not enough to replace the $41 million in one-time revenue. UNODC Executive Director attends a roundtable meeting of representatives of Central Asian Border Services On 23 November, as part of her visit to Uzbekistan, Ms. Ghada Waly, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations/UNODC Executive Director, participated in a roundtable meeting of representatives of the border services of Central Asian states held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The meeting was organized by UNODC in partnership with the Border Troops of the State Security Service of the Republic of Uzbekistan to promote further integrated border management and ensure security around emerging trade and transit corridors. The event brought together senior officials from border and drug control agencies, foreign ministries across the region and UNODC. Ms. Ghada Waly commended the engagement and openness of the Central Asian governments in the region in cooperating with UNODC in implementing its integrated mandates addressing drugs, transnational organized crime, corruption and terrorism. Strengthening cross-border and regional cooperation has been an integral part of UNODCs work through the Programme for Central Asia 2015-2021 and will remain a key element of the next programme cycle. As regional integration increases, regional border management and collaboration must increase too - to stop transnational criminal groups from exploiting new connections, infrastructure, and networks, said Ms. Ghada Waly in her welcoming remarks. Close international cooperation and concerted efforts are key to countering emerging security challenges and threats effectively. In the present geopolitical realities, holding this event and providing a platform for a constructive dialogue will make a significant contribution to ensuring security, said Colonel Salimjon Khusanov, Commander of the Border Troops of the State Security Service of the Republic of Uzbekistan, in his welcoming speech. During the meeting, Ms. Ghada Waly held consultations with the roundtable participants to identify recommendations and prospects for developing programmes aimed to enhance integrated border management and cross-border cooperation and support capacity-building efforts in the border areas, including in the context of the recent developments in Afghanistan. Based on these consultations, the UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia will develop an integrated border management strategy encompassing all aspects of trafficking of drugs, small arms and light weapons, preventing trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants, illicit financial flows as well as preventing the movement of foreign terrorist fighters. UNODC in Central Asia utilizes a mechanism of an integrated response to drug-related challenges and border security issues. The organizations initiatives strengthen national and regional law enforcement interagency coordination and cooperation by establishing Border Liaison Offices, Port Control Units, border posts and outposts, and Interagency Mobile Teams in the Central Asian states. The roundtable meeting was conducted by the Cross-Border Cooperation Component of the UNODC Programme for Central Asia. The initiative focuses on enhancing the capacity of border crossing points and improving regional cross-border cooperation by promoting the Border Liaison Offices concept and the development of information and communication networks for border agencies. To date, UNODC has supported the establishment of 19 Border Liaison Offices in geographically remote and potentially vulnerable border crossing points on the Kazakh-Kyrgyz (2), Uzbek-Tajik (6), Kyrgyz-Tajik (4), Kyrgyz-Uzbek (2), Uzbek-Afghan (1), Tajik-Afghan (2) and Kazakh-Uzbek (2) borders. Six BLOs are being established along the Kazakh-Kyrgyz, Tajik-Uzbek and Turkmen-Uzbek borders. For further information, please contact: Nurangez Abdulhamidova Communication and External Relations Officer UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia (Dushanbe) Email: nurangez.abdulhamidova[at]un.org UNODC Presents Scoping Report on Management of Stolen Assets in Uzbekistan Reducing illicit financial flows and recovering stolen assets is a priority for Uzbekistan. According to estimates made by the General Prosecutors Office (GPO), damages from corruption amounted to approximately 172.3 billion sums in 2020. 66% of these illicit proceeds were recovered. To strengthen the asset recovery system in Uzbekistan, UNODC is currently working with the GPO and other national stakeholders to build their capacity in this area. Our joint work with Uzbek authorities on asset recovery and management is important because this can unlock new resources to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Uzbekistan, emphasizes Mr. Koen Marquering, Manager of UNODCs Criminal Justice Program in Central Asia. As a first step, UNODC and the GPO Academy completed a study to analyze the regulatory and policy framework, as well as the current situation, responses, and existing capacity of key national partners to manage and dispose of frozen, seized, and confiscated assets. On 6 October, the results were presented at an expert meeting with 14 staff of the GPO Academy, other national specialists and international experts joining online. According to Mr. Uygun Nigmatjanov, Deputy Head of the GPO Academy: UNODC supports the Government of Uzbekistan to optimize existing public finance flows for maximum impact on the SDGs. One way of doing this is by establishing an effective national asset recovery system and to use resources accumulated by recovering stolen assets for SDG investment. At the event, Mr. Paul Mylvaganam, UNODCs international consultant presented the report with key recommendations for further improvement of the national system of asset management and disposal. The initiative is part of a joint program implemented by UNODC together with UNDP, UNICEF and WHO for the establishment of an Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) for sustainable development in Uzbekistan. The program aims at accelerating the attainment of the SDGs in Uzbekistan through more efficient, transparent, and results-oriented use of public financial resources as well as better coordinated and integrated use of public and private resources in social sectors based on the specific needs of women and other groups. A key recommendation from the report is for Uzbekistan to establish an asset management body or unit to harmonize inter-agency asset management efforts, notes Koen Marquering. This also involves the creation of a central database of seized assets. Following the presentation of the report, work is set to continue to develop standard processes and organizational structures for Uzbek authorities to effectively deliver their functions on asset management, to promote inter-agency coordination and to enhance capacity of practitioners through training workshops and development of a manual on asset management procedures. UNODC supports these efforts to establish and INFF and improve the management and disposal of seized and confiscated assets for the achievement of the SDGs with financial support from the Joint SDG Fund, which is an innovative instrument to incentivize transformative policy shifts and stimulate the strategic investments required to get the world on track to meet the SDGs. Material in Russian language *** For more information, contact Vasilina Brazhko (Mrs.) UNODC Communication and PR Specialist +996775987817 WhatsApp vasilina.brazhko [at] un.org . UNODC supports the introduction of e-learning tools for police training in Kazakhstan On 29 November, UNODC supported an online expert meeting to launch two new e-Learning modules for police in Kazakhstan. These new e-Learning modules have been designed to complement the training that police already receive via the police training institutions in Kazakhstan. The modules are available in English, Russian and Kazakh languages. The new e-Learning courses form a part of the UNODCs Global e-Learning Programme and will serve as important tools for the digital delivery of expert training materials to police officers in Kazakhstan, said Ms. Wendy OBrian, UNODC Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer, Vienna, Austria. The first module covers the information that a law enforcement officer should know when responding to a crime scene, including a variety of techniques to document the crime scene and how to recognize, recover and package evidence. The second e-Learning module is tailored to complement the work of the police modernization agenda in Kazakhstan and covers good practices in police capacity-building, including the principles of specifying results-oriented learning objectives and the methodology for evaluating the impact of the police training. The launch of the UNODCs e-Learning modules were conducted as part of the UNODC project on support to police reform in Kazakhstan implemented with generous support from the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) of the U.S. Department of State. Story in Russian language *** For more information, contact Vasilina Brazhko (Ms.) Communication and PR Specialist at UNODC Criminal Justice &PVE Programmes in Central Asia UNODC PO in the Kyrgyz Republic +996775987817 WhatsApp or e-mail: vasilina.brazhko [at] un.org UNODC trains Turkmen law enforcement officers on cargo search techniques and examination of cargo documents On 25 29 July, UNODC conducted a training course on cargo search techniques and examination of cargo documents for officers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, State Customs Service and State Border Service of Turkmenistan in a hybrid format. The training aimed to enhance the knowledge and skills of the officers to effectively respond to challenges during an inspection at checkpoints and strengthen their capacity to combat cross-border crime. The training provided theoretical and practical sessions. It was delivered by Mr. Lauris Krivans, a customs expert from Latvia who has extensive experience in conducting search operations and training law enforcement officers. During the training, the participants learned about principles for effective control and inspection, assessment of risk indicators during the inspection, and search of vehicles and trucks, among others. In the course of the practical sessions, the participants prepared and delivered presentations on ways to carry out an inspection at the checkpoints effectively. They shared their experience in seizing contraband items and exchanged views on how to ameliorate their work. The training was conducted within the framework of the Cross-Border Cooperation Project of Sub-programme 1 Countering transnational organized crime, illicit drug trafficking and preventing terrorism of the UNODC Programme for Central Asia 2022-2025. The implementation of the project in Turkmenistan is funded by the U.S. Department of States Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). For further information, please contact: Ms. Nurangez Abdulhamidova Communication and External Relations Officer UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia Email: nurangez.abdulhamidova[at]un.org Victims not Villains - Tajik Prosecutors and Judges Discuss Good Practices in Investigation and Prosecution of Human Trafficking The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) partnered with the General Prosecutor's Office and the Supreme Court of Tajikistan to demonstrate 2 training films on the investigation and prosecution of human trafficking. Entitled "Victims not Villains", the series consists of 2 films, one focusing on good practices in relation to interviewing vulnerable victims and witnesses of human trafficking and another on the role of prosecutors, judges and lawyers in ensuring that court proceedings in which trafficked persons are involved, are not prejudicial to their rights, dignity, physical or psychological well-being. The second educational film "Victims not Villains: Prosecuting Cases of Trafficking in Persons in accordance with International Standards" also discusses commonly encountered defense strategies and how prosecutors can counter these when arguing the case. "Trafficking in Persons in all its forms is a transnational organized crime. The General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Tajikistan cooperates with anti-trafficking subjects and other authorized bodies, as well as with civil society and international organizations on anti-trafficking issues, on a regular basis by exchanging information and taking measures to detect, suppress and prevent cases of trafficking in persons, including assisting victims of trafficking", said Mr. Farrukh Raupov, Deputy Head of Preliminary Investigation Department in General Prosecutor's Office. Some 20 prosecutors and 60 trainee judges viewed and discussed the training films at the training centers of the General Prosecutor's Office and the Supreme Court in Dushanbe. UNODC also presented its Case Digest on evidential issues in trafficking in persons cases at a round table which gathered some 30 representatives of State bodies, international organizations, civil society and victim support providers. The Case Digest, which is due for publication in Russian this year, aims to assist criminal justice practitioners in addressing recurring evidential issues that are typical to trafficking in persons cases. It can help practitioners build a trafficking case; it can give them an arsenal of tools to deal with common evidential weaknesses; it analyzes cases in depth, thus showing how the interplay of different evidential patterns leads to a conviction or an exoneration. The Case Digest has analyzed 135 cases from 31 jurisdictions and provides the reader, based on these real cases tried, with a range of options and possibilities to deal with particular evidential challenges. Most cases are drawn from UNODC's Human Trafficking Case Law Database, set up within UNODC's SHERLOC knowledge management portal. "UNODC stands ready to assist the Tajik authorities to develop capacities of law enforcement and judicial bodies to investigate, prosecute and adjudicate trafficking in persons cases", Ms. Amelia Hannaford noted at the roundtable, which allowed for a frank discussion on the current situation with human trafficking in Tajikistan and the broader Central Asia region and related training needs, based on data recently published in the UNODC 2018 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons. As guardian of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants Protocols, UNODC supports efforts to strengthen law enforcement responses to trafficking in persons in Tajikistan within the framework of the 2015-2019 UNODC Program for Central Asia with generous financial support from the Government of the United States. For more information: UNODC ROCA on Twitter UNODC in Central Asia on Facebook *** For more information, please contact Vasilina Brazko (Ms.), National Communications and PR Officer, UNODC ROCA Tel. +996 775 98 78 17 e-mail: vasilina.brazhko[at]un.org May 21 2024 The grounds of a Kingussie hotel could host a newly built family home under new plans submitted on behalf of the owners. Jewitt and Wilkie Architects have been appointed by the owners of Ardselma, a Victorian villa converted to a hotel, to build a detached house with a garage and home office on an 865 sq/m woodland plot, close to the village centre. Ohana will adopt a contemporary rural style, segregating living spaces and sleeping quarters with two separate timber-clad blocks linked by a glazed entrance hall. A design report authored by the architects notes: "The design concept saw a separation in the function of the spaces, a living block with the kitchen, dining room and living area that maximised space and light, whilst taking full advantage of the southern views from the site. "This space was to be separated by a single storey overhanging canopy entrance, which provided an alternative muddy entrance for children, pets and working adults into a utility area before setting foot into the main house. The larger family block accommodated the bedrooms and snug, whilst also providing a home office above the garage space." Incorporated office space will support a growing game-keeping business. May 21 2024 Springfield Partnership has earned the go-ahead from Dundee City Council to deliver 131 affordable homes with elements of ground-floor retail at the former Hilltown Market site on Main Street, Dundee. Approval clears the way for the developer to transform the brownfield site with a range of energy-efficient gas-free apartments and houses. Springfield Partnerships managing director, Tom Leggeat, said: We are really pleased our plans to bring high quality, affordable homes to the area have been approved by Dundee City Council whilst transforming a neglected pocket of land in the city. With planning now in place, we expect to start work on the delivery of these homes in the coming months. Designed around a central communal space the homes will be managed by Hillcrest Housing Association with some flats customised for wheelchair users. Selected apartments will also have access to a private balcony. (@FahadShabbir) ASTANA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2024) Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Tuesday addressed the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) wherein he reiterated Pakistan's firm adherence to the SCO Charter and the Shanghai Spirit standing for mutual trust and respect for shared prosperity. In his statement, the deputy prime minister warned against bloc-based or confrontational geopolitics and advocated for a multipolar world firmly grounded in multilateralism. He explained Pakistans priorities as the current Chair of SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) which included promoting connectivity, transport links, youth empowerment, poverty alleviation, and enhanced practical cooperation among SCO member states. The deputy prime minister called for upholding international law and the UN Charter, emphasizing the peoples right to self-determination and peaceful settlement of longstanding disputes in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. He stressed the need to combat the menace of terrorism through collective and cooperative approaches including by addressing its root causes. He urged the rejection of myopic and self-serving interests to use the mantra of terrorism for political gains. Ishaq Dar strongly condemned the barbaric Israeli onslaught in Gaza, which had resulted in the killings of over 35,000 innocent civilians, mostly women and children. He reiterated Pakistans firm call for an unconditional and urgent ceasefire and unhindered provision of humanitarian assistance. He also emphasized the need to realize the two-state solution for durable peace and stability. On the Afghanistan situation, he called on the international community to meaningfully engage with the Interim Afghan Government (IAG) for the genuine economic and development needs of Afghanistan and urged the IAG to ensure that Afghan soil was not used for terrorism against any country. The deputy prime minister said that Pakistans geostrategic location offered an ideal trade and transit hub for the SCO region, and underlined the significance of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor for regional connectivity and economic integration. Highlighting the climate change, the deputy prime minister called for collective efforts to address the challenge as any failure in this regard would put global security at stake. He said despite contributing less than one percent of the global emissions, Pakistan suffered huge economic and life losses consequent to the climate change-induced floods which necessitated capacity building of developing countries to overcome the issue. Dar told the gathering that Pakistan fully supported the reform process in the SCO which should also feature an enhanced motoring and implementation capacity in the security and economic field. The deputy prime minister started his remarks with condolence over the sad demise of Iranian President Dr Ebrahim Raisi, the Iranian foreign minister and others sympathised with the bereaved families and Iranian people. He also paid tribute to their services for the promotion of regional cooperation and reinforcement of Pak-Iran relationships. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday discussed the growing bilateral understanding and cooperation between Pakistan and the Russian Federation and recent regional and global developments ASTANA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2024) Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday discussed the growing bilateral understanding and cooperation between Pakistan and the Russian Federation and recent regional and global developments. During a meeting on the sidelines of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting, the deputy prime minister and foreign minister congratulated his Russian counterpart on the peaceful and successful election process in Russia and expressed satisfaction over the positive trajectory of Pakistan-Russia relations. The two sides agreed to continue working towards further deepening and broadening of Pakistan-Russia bilateral ties by regularly holding meetings of institutional mechanisms and undertaking follow-up actions. They agreed to hold the ninth session of the Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) in Moscow this year. ASTANA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2024) Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Tuesday called on President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at the Presidential Palace Akorda, as part of SCO Foreign Ministers audience. The deputy prime minister conveyed sincere greetings and warm wishes from the president and the prime minister of Pakistan to the Kazakh president and reaffirmed Pakistans strong desire to further expand cooperation with Kazakhstan in all spheres. The deputy prime minister appreciated the role of the leadership of both countries in strengthening the mutually beneficial multifaceted ties and cooperation in multilateral forums. He highly appreciated Kazakhstans Presidency of SCO and reaffirmed Pakistans full support to the success of the Kazakh Summit to be held in July in Astana. News / National by Staff reporter ZIMBABWE was conspicuous by its absence at the recently held US-Africa Business Summit held in Houston, Texas, in stark contrast to last year's edition held in Botswana attended by President Emmerson Mnangagwa and several other regional leaders.Since taking over from long-time ruler Robert Mugabe in 2017, Mnangagwa under his "Zimbabwe is open for business" mantra undertook to anchor the country's foreign policy on economic diplomacy with the international community.The business summit, hosted by the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), enables leaders to connect with government and private sector decision-makers to drive US-Africa sustainable business partnerships.The CCA, established in 1993, is the premier US business organisation focused exclusively on promoting greater US-Africa trade, investment, and business partnerships.While President Mnangagwa attended the previous edition in 2023 hosted by Botswana, his name did not appear on the list of confirmed heads of state who were part of this year's edition held between 6-9 May in Texas, US.Zimbabwe, which has been taking every opportunity to attract foreign direct investment, did not send a delegation to the summit, with 16 countries sending ministerial delegations.The US-Africa Business Summit brings together US and African government and private sector leaders, including African heads of state, ministers, chief executive officers and senior executives of American and African companies, institutional investors, and international financial institution representatives, to explore and expand trade, investment, and business opportunities.Contacted for comment on why Zimbabwe was not represented at the highest level this time around, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Livit Mugejo, directed questions sent to another spokesperson, Micheal Mukura. He did not respond.Regional heads of state who attended were Liberian President Joseph Boakai, Malawian leader Lazarus Chakwera, Angolan President Joao Lourenco, Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi, Cabo Verde President Jose Maria Neves and Kashim Shettima, Vice-President of Nigeria.Also in attendance were Nthomeng Majara, Lesotho deputy prime minister and David Sengeh, chief minister of the Republic of Sierra Leone.The summit was also attended by Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US representative to the United Nations, Katherine Tai, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and Reta Jo Lewis, the president and chair of the board of the US Export Import-Bank (EXIM), among others.World Trade Organisation (WTO) director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was also in attendance, and Wamkele Mene, secretary-general of the African Continental Free Trade Area secretariat.According to the US-Africa factsheet, the US-Africa Summit is important for enhancing bilateral trade, investment, and commercial opportunities and promoting women's and youth entrepreneurship, among other outcomes.In 2022, Zimbabwe was for the first time invited to the US-Africa high-level meeting, attended by 49 heads of state, after Washington relaxed conditions for Zimbabwe. However, Harare was represented at a lower level by Foreign Minister Fredrick Shava because of travel restrictions slapped on Mnangagwa.Mnangagwa has remained sanctioned despite US President Joe Biden's termination of the US Zimbabwe sanctions programme, unblocking all individuals, entities and property that had been blocked under that authority.Mnangagwa and 11 other individuals, who include First Lady Auxillia, were in March targeted with fresh sanctions under the US Global Magnitsky (GloMag) sanctions programme.Three companies linked to Mnangagwa's ally and businessman Kuda Tagwireyi, were also sanctioned under the latest punitive measures. They were sanctioned for corruption and human rights violations.In July last year, presidential spokesperson George Charamba hinted that there were overtures to bar President Mnangagwa from attending the summit held in Gaborone."With host President Dr. Masisi, Botswana extended an invitation to Zimbabwe in spite of objections from some within Corporate Council for Africa and from elements within the American establishment," he revealed via his X handle Tinoedzazvimwe1 last year."Walking to the venue of the Conference in the company of the President of Niger. The US-Africa Business Summit follows up on decisions of the US-Africa Summit held towards end of last year in Washington."On the insistence of the US government, Zimbabwe was represented by Hon Dr. Shava, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. The US Government continues to pursue a policy of petty vindictiveness in spite of the fact that Zimbabwe under the Second Republic has avowed a policy of friendship to all and enmity to none. Africa, led by Sadc countries has adopted a policy of opposing US' ruinous policies towards Zimbabwe, an effort commemorated yearly on 25th October." ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2024) Acting President Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday paid a condolatory visit to the Iranian embassy here wherein he said that with the death of Iranian President Dr Ebrahim Raisi, the Islamic Ummah had lost a great leader. The acting president expressed deep grief on behalf of the government and people of Pakistan on the sad demise of Dr Raisi, the Iranian foreign minister and others in the helicopter accident, saying that the whole nation shared the grief of the Iranian brothers and sisters. Talking to the Iranian Ambassador Reza Amiri Moghadam, Acting President Gilani said that Pakistan and Iran enjoyed excellent relations based on historical, cultural, and literary linkages. He remarked that both countries needed to promote people-to-people contacts and parliamentary exchanges to bring the two brotherly countries further closer. He highlighted that President Raisi was a noble soul, a scholar and a great friend of Pakistan. The Iranian ambassador said that Pakistan and Iran enjoyed excellent relations and promotion of ties with Pakistan was a cornerstone of Irans foreign policy. He informed that the Supreme Leader of Iran placed special emphasis on promoting relations with Pakistan, adding that the recent visit of the late President Raisi took place in this context. The ambassador expressed gratitude to the people and government of Pakistan for their messages and sentiments sharing the grief of the Iranian people. The acting president also penned condolatory remarks in the visitors book at the Iranian embassy. Later, talking to the media persons, Gilani said that the whole Muslim world shared the grief of the Iranian people. Gilani recalled his representation of Pakistan in the funeral prayer of Imam Khomeini, his frequent travels to Iran, and his interaction with the country's leadership. Referring to his ancestors also coming from Iran, he said Pakistan and Iran shared many cultural and historical commonalities. Even our old Farman Namah in Multan - the 5,000-year-old living city - is also in Persian, he added. (@Abdulla99267510) Justice Kayani observes that no court, judge, lawyer, journalist, or parliament member objects to the agencies working according to the law; they only object to illegal actions. ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-May 21st, 2024) Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani remarked that it would be beneficial if the operational methods of the agencies are clarified. Justice Kayani gave these remarks while hearing a case concerning the recovery of missing Baloch students and the implementation of commission recommendations. The Attorney General appeared in court as per judicial orders, along with lawyers Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha representing the missing Baloch students. At the beginning of the hearing, the Attorney General presented the committee report on missing persons to the court. Justice Kayani inquired about the number of terrorism cases filed against Baloch students over the past 10 years, how many were arrested, went missing, or were harassed. The Attorney General responded that intelligence agencies do not harass anyone. Justice Kayani observed that no court, judge, lawyer, journalist, or parliament member objects to the agencies working according to the law; they only object to illegal actions. He suggested that it would be beneficial if the methods of operation for the agencies were made clear, noting that no Pakistani, whether a journalist or parliamentarian, supports terrorists. The Attorney General responded that unless this issue is resolved politically, it will not be resolved. Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani acknowledged that this means the issue is recognized as political and mentioned that this was the 21st hearing on the matter. He compared the situation to war, where a ceasefire is declared by raising a white flag and issues are resolved through dialogue. He emphasized that there is no objection to the work of the agencies, only to their illegal actions. He questioned if the allegations that many people are held by the agencies are true, asking about the costs and whether these expenses come from public funds. He also inquired if there is an annual audit of the agencies' funds. He stressed the need to strengthen the police, CTD, and FIA as they are the Primary investigation bodies, with other agencies supporting them. The Attorney General responded that significant work has been done on the cases of missing persons, and what remains will also be addressed, requesting some time. He also mentioned that a political solution is being sought. At this point, lawyer Imaan Mazari, representing the Baloch students, argued that the families of missing persons have been intimidated. She pointed out that a committee for missing persons was formed, but no one from the committee met with the families, and there has been no progress or information provided to the families. Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani asked Imaan Mazari if the information presented in court was inaccurate according to her. He acknowledged the efforts of the Attorney General in this matter. Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani noted that due to the Attorney General's efforts, many missing persons have returned home. He stated that the courts will continue to work on missing persons' cases as long as they keep coming. He mentioned that criticism is part of the process, and it does not matter who holds press conferences. He also acknowledged that Imaan Mazari might have faced criticism too. The Attorney General emphasized that the media should support the issue to avoid highlighting negative aspects. Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani mentioned another case related to missing persons and asked the Attorney General to be present for that case as well. The Attorney General assured his attendance. Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani remarked that the media is free and plays a crucial role in identifying issues, sometimes leading to the recovery of missing persons. He stressed the importance of standing with the people of Balochistan as they are also Pakistanis. The Attorney General responded that the issue of missing persons will be raised in the next two cabinet meetings. He suggested that the court make changes in the committee by including individuals below the level of DGs to facilitate coordination. He warned that if the issue is not resolved, problems will escalate. The court directed that responses to the questionnaire be submitted by the next hearing and adjourned the session until June 14. Minister for Defence and Defence Production, Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Tuesday said that it was absolutely saddening that counterfeit cigarette manufacturers were members of the assemblies and watch guard their business' interests through the legislature ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2024) Minister for Defence and Defence Production, Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Tuesday said that it was absolutely saddening that counterfeit cigarette manufacturers were members of the assemblies and watch guard their business' interests through the legislature. "Pakistan has a capacity to generate 27,000 billion rupees in terms of taxes and we will not need IMF support if we only collect half of this tax," this was stated by Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif at the launching session of the research report titled Illicit Cigarette Trade in Pakistan Current Situation and Way Forward, produced by the National University of Science & Technology (NUST), a news release said. "Two major cigarette manufacturers are contributing Rs170b in taxes while the share of all the other cigarette manufacturers is just 2 billion rupees," he added. Khawaja Asif quoted ex Chairman FBR Shabbar Zaidi that during his tenure when FBR planned to implement tax on the cigarette industry, at that time Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser pressurized Shabbar Zaidi not to implement taxes on the cigarette industry. The NUST research report on the tobacco sector revealed that Pakistan is losing 310 billion rupees annually due to tax evasion in the tobacco sector. During session, audience was briefed on the complex challenges in administration, revenue collection, policy coordination, and market dynamics, of the cigarette industry which are causing significant tax revenue losses for the national exchequer. Additionally, the inadequate enforcement of existing laws, rules, regulations, and policies has further bolstered the illicit sector. While quoting efficacy of the Track and Trace System (TTS) under the governments enforcement regime, the report mentioned that the TTS had been aimed at reducing the levels of illicit trade in the country. Contrary to that goal, the illicit trade had increased since its implementation. This increase of illicit cigarette trade is feared to cause the market shares of the illicit sector to exceed 63% of the total market in 2024, leaving a dwindling legitimate sector share. To counter the challenges faced by the legitimate tobacco industry, the report urged the government to come up with a well thought-out strategy including excise duty structure reforms, modified price threshold, increased enforcement of the law against sales of non-compliant brands, and extensive and consistent implementation of TTS. Increased law enforcement especially in the areas like AJK could help reduce infiltration of local tax-evaded brands into Pakistan, which is the main component of the illicit cigarette trade with a share of 90%, the report suggested. (@ChaudhryMAli88) ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2024) Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday highlighting immense potential of boosting German investment, said that Pakistan desired to enhance its bilateral trade and investment portfolio with Germany. He, talking to a delegation of a German NGO Global Bridges Berlin, said that his government was resolved to strengthen Pak-German cooperation in the fields of industry, alternative energy, mining, information technology, agriculture and others. The prime minister, who most of the time spoke in German with the delegation, said that Pakistan always greatly valued its relationship with Germany and considered it as its significant partner in Europe. The delegation members appreciated the prime minster's fluent conversation in their language and thanked him for the gesture. Prime Minister Shehbaz told the delegation that despite meager contribution to the carbon emission, Pakistan was among the countries most affected by the impacts of climate change. He told the delegation that Pakistan wanted to benefit from Germany's experiences in the field of alternative energy, agriculture, and food security. Besides, he said the capacity building of Pakistan's manpower was being done through quality skill training to make them employable abroad. The delegation members, which also included German Ambassador in Pakistan Alfred Grannas and German businessmen and investors, expressed their keen interest in investing in Pakistan's carbon credit market, as well as climate change and agriculture. Federal Ministers Jam Kamal Khan, Rana Tanveer Hussain and Attaullah Tarar, Minister of State Shaza Fatima Khawaja and relevant senior officers attended the meeting. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2024) Pilgrims coming to Saudi Arabia from Pakistan to perform Hajj rituals this year 1445H expressed happiness as they completed their travel procedures at Islamabad International Airport. They cited benefiting from the Makkah Route Initiative designed by Saudi Hajj authorities to serve the pilgrims in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to finalize their travel procedures at home, Saudi Press Agency reported. Saudi competent authorities have made great strides to provide the best services to the pilgrims during the Hajj season with the aim of facilitating the travel procedures for pilgrims from Pakistan and six other countries with ease and tranquility. The initiative was welcomed and praised by the pilgrims in Pakistan, who appreciated the great work provided by the Hajj host country to serve the pilgrims so that they could enjoy comfort while performing the Hajj rituals, as well as the keenness to provide them with the finest services from their arrival to the Kingdom until their departure back home. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Beijing, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2024) China said Tuesday it had complained to the United States over Secretary of State Antony Blinken congratulating self-ruled Taiwan's newly inaugurated president, Lai Ching-te. Beijing considers self-ruled Taiwan part of its territory and has branded Lai, who was sworn in on Monday, as a "dangerous separatist". On Tuesday, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Taiwan "separatists will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history", according to a statement published by the foreign ministry. "Lai Ching-te's betrayal of the nation and his ancestors is disgraceful," he said at a meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation foreign ministers. "But no matter what they do, they will not be able to stop China from eventually achieving complete reunification." Blinken said in his congratulations message that he looked forward to Washington and Taipei maintaining "peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait". Beijing said Tuesday his message "seriously violates the One China principle... and sends a wrong signal to separatist forces". "We are strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposed to this, and have lodged stern representations with the United States," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular news conference. "The Taiwan issue is the core of China's core interests and the first insurmountable red line in relations between China and the United States," he added. "We urge the United States to immediately correct its mistakes." Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 but it has remained Taiwan's most important partner and biggest arms supplier. Blinken's statement came as China said Monday it would sanction three US defence companies over their sales of arms to Taiwan. US President Joe Biden sent a delegation -- including former National Economic Council director, Brian Deese, and ex-deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage -- to Taipei for the inauguration. More than 40 other countries, including Japan and Canada, also sent delegations. China on Tuesday strongly condemned their attendance, calling it "crude interference in China's internal affairs" and saying it "endanger(ed) peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait". "We sternly demand that the relevant countries and politicians stop engaging in political manipulation on Taiwan-related issues, stop sending any mistaken signals to Taiwan independence separatist forces, and stop mistaken actions that go against international good faith," spokesman Wang said. Tuesday slammed the inauguration speech of new Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te as a "confession of Taiwan independence", and warned it would take "countermeasures" Beijing, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2024) China on Tuesday slammed the inauguration speech of new Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te as a "confession of Taiwan independence", and warned it would take "countermeasures". Earlier, Beijing said it had complained to the United States over Secretary of State Antony Blinken congratulating Taiwan on Lai's swearing-in. China considers self-ruled Taiwan part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to bring the island under its control. It has branded Lai, who was sworn in on Monday, as a "dangerous separatist". In his speech Monday, Lai said a "glorious era of Taiwan's democracy has arrived" and thanked citizens for "refusing to be swayed by external forces, for resolutely defending democracy". "Yesterday's speech... can be described as a downright confession of Taiwan independence", a statement from Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) released late Tuesday read. It added that (China) must take countermeasures and penalize the DPP authorities for colluding with external forces in their provocations for independence. The statement -- attributed to TAO spokesperson Chen Binhua -- did not specify what retaliatory measures from Beijing would entail. Chinese warplanes and naval vessels maintain a daily presence around the island, but in recent days, there has not been a significant uptick in the numbers. "I would like to emphasise that no matter what (Lai) says or how he says it, it will not change the status and fact that Taiwan is a part of China... The complete reunification of the motherland must be realised and can certainly be realised," Chen's statement added. Also on Tuesday, China's foreign minister Wang Yi said that Taiwan "separatists will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history", according to a statement published by the ministry. Taiwan has been self-governed since 1949, when nationalists fled to the island following their defeat by communist forces in the Chinese civil war on the mainland. Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, but it has remained Taiwan's most important partner and biggest arms supplier. Blinken said in his congratulations message that he looked forward to Washington and Taipei maintaining "peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait". Beijing said Tuesday his message "seriously violates the One China principle... and sends a wrong signal to separatist forces". "We are strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposed to this, and have lodged stern representations with the United States," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular news conference. "The Taiwan issue is the core of China's interests and the first insurmountable red line in relations between China and the United States," he added. "We urge the United States to immediately correct its mistakes." Blinken's statement came as China said Monday it would sanction three US defence companies over their sales of arms to Taiwan. US President Joe Biden sent a delegation -- including former National Economic Council director Brian Deese and ex-deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage -- to Taipei for the inauguration. More than 40 other countries, including Japan and Canada, also sent delegations. Eight heads of state from countries that recognise Taiwan were also present. China on Tuesday strongly condemned their attendance, calling it "crude interference in China's internal affairs" and saying it "endanger(ed) peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait". bur-pfc/reb/sst/ (@ChaudhryMAli88) After the conclusion of the SCO-Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Astana, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Tuesday departed for Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic on a working visit, where he would meet the Pakistani students ASTANA, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2024) After the conclusion of the SCO-Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Astana, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Tuesday departed for Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic on a working visit, where he would meet the Pakistani students. He is accompanying Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Zheenbek Kulubaev, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release. In Bishkek, the deputy prime minister would meet with Pakistani nationals, including the students who were under treatment for injuries as a result of the recent developments in the Kyrgyz Republic. He will discuss with the Kyrgyz Foreign Minister the concerns of Pakistani students, including issues pertaining to their continued education during their temporary stay in Pakistan, it was added. (@FahadShabbir) Rome, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2024) Authorities evacuated 39 families near the Italian city of Naples and schools were closed on Tuesday after a wave of tremors of a strength not seen for decades sparked panic but no injuries. One 4.4-magnitude quake was registered shortly after 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) on Monday evening at a depth of 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles), according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV). It was part of what the institute called a "seismic swarm" overnight in which some 150 quakes were recorded. The institute's Mauro Di Vito said: "This is the most powerful seismic swarm in the last 40 years." Many residents of Pozzuoli, a city near Naples, rushed out of their homes into the street following the tremors, which caused some damage to buildings but no casualties. Italy's Civil Protection Department said on Tuesday morning that 39 families had been evacuated from 13 buildings following the outcome of inspections. The mayor of Pozzuoli, Gigi Manzoni, urged people to remain calm but acknowledged it was a situation that was "stressing us all". Four reception centres were set up overnight for people who did not feel safe in their homes, while authorities in Naples arranged to send 400 temporary beds to the area. Schools were closed on Tuesday for inspections. Pozzuoli is on the Campi Flegrei (Phlegraean Fields), Europe's largest active caldera -- the hollow left after an eruption. Riyadh, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2024) The first day of the Future Aviation Forum 2024, held under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, organized by the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) in Riyadh on May 20-22, witnessed the announcement of 47 memoranda of understanding (MoUs), agreements, and deals worth $19 billion. These included aviation services, aircraft purchase orders, cargo and logistics services, advanced air navigation, human resources development, and information technology, in addition to agreements related to maintenance, repair, and renovation. The third annual forum is being held with the participation of over 30 ministers, 77 leaders of civil aviation authorities, CEOs of airlines worldwide, 5,000 aviation industry experts, and leaders from more than 120 countries. The forum discusses issues related to growth, investment, airports, air connectivity, supply-chain management, resilience, human capital, and sustainability. Minister of Transport and Logistic Services and Chairman of GACA board of Directors Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser stated during his opening speech at the forum that the Kingdom provides enormous opportunities for the private sector and is working to create thousands of jobs for its citizens. The forum brings together aviation leaders and experts from around the world to collaborate and develop innovative solutions that drive the sector towards a more prosperous future, the minister said. GACA President Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Duailej stated that the first day of the forum witnessed great success, with numerous commercial deals, initiatives, and agreements aimed at enhancing global connectivity. The agreements announced during the forum are a testament to the confidence in the growth and investment opportunities provided by the civil aviation sector in the Kingdom, reaffirming the Kingdom's leading position in the global aviation sector, the GACA president said. On the first day of the forum, the GACA signed multiple aviation services agreements with Mozambique, Eswatini, Cambodia, and Brunei Darussalam. Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) entered a deal with Airbus to purchase 105 aircraft of the A320-Neo and A321-Neo models to expand and modernize its fleet, enhancing global air connectivity with various countries. During the forum, the GACA also launched the first edition of the Kingdom's aviation sector report, which highlighted the civil aviation sector's contribution to the Kingdom's economy, amounting to $53 billion and providing 958,000 jobs across various regions. The GACA also issued a roadmap for general aviation, aiming to develop the business aviation and private aircraft sector in the Kingdom, with the goal of increasing its size tenfold by 2030. This plan involves allocating six airports for general aviation and 9 lounges in commercial airports, with an expected contribution of 35,000 new jobs. The National Union of Agricultural Cooperatives of Greece (ETHEAS) and the Latvian Dairy Committee (LDC) join forces to promote products of Greece and Latvia in Canada, Malaysia and South Korea TORONTO, May 21, 2024 /CNW/ -- The National Union of Agricultural Cooperatives of Greece (ETHEAS) and the Latvian Dairy Committee (LDC) are proud to announce the launch of the "Information Provision and Promotion Measures on European Added-Value Products" program. This initiative, conducted under the wider "Premium European Products" campaign, represents a significant milestone in the joint efforts of these two emblematic organizations to promote the most prestigious products of Greece and Latvia in key markets. Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. The ETHEAS, representing Greece, situated on the Mediterranean Sea, and the LDC, representing Latvia, on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, have formed a consortium to elevate the profile of European products in Canada, Malaysia, and South Korea. Spanning from January 2024 to December 2026, the program aims to raise awareness, enhance recognition among consumers, drive increased consumption, and ultimately, propel a surge in exports of European products to these vital markets under the brand name "Premium European Products." The "Premium European Products" campaign highlights a curated selection of exquisite added-value products, showcasing the rich culinary heritage and unmistakable tastes of Europe. From PDO olive oils, table olives, dried grapes, and saffron sourced from Greece to dairy products, candied fruits, chocolates, and salty snacks from Latvia, these offerings epitomize Europe's culture and history. Underpinning this campaign is the European Union's steadfast commitment to safety, quality, and animal welfare throughout food production. Stringent regulations ensure meticulous safety protocols, guaranteeing consumer trust in EU products. Renowned for their excellence, products like Greek olive oil and Latvian cheese consistently meet high standards, delivering a delightful culinary experience that embodies the essence of European gastronomy. Story continues The "Information Provision and Promotion Measures on European Added-Value Products" program is a cornerstone of this campaign, offering a comprehensive approach to showcase the high-quality offerings from Greece and Latvia. Through strategic measures, including educational initiatives, promotional campaigns, and market research, the program seeks to highlight the unique attributes and exquisite taste of European products to discerning consumers. For more information about the "Premium European Products" campaign and its associated programs, please visit https://premiumeuropeanproducts.eu/ or email us to info@premiumeuropeanproducts.eu . Pages dedicated to this program can be found on Instagram , Facebook and YouTube . About "PREMIUM EUROPEAN PRODUCTS" PROGRAM The campaign: "Premium European Products: Better Knowledge, Better Choices" is co-funded by the European Union and managed by the National Union of Agricultural Cooperatives of Greece (ETHEAS) and the Latvian Dairy Committee (LDC). It aims to promote exquisite added-value products in Canada, South Korea, and Malaysia, including PDO olive oils, table olives, dried grapes, saffron, hard cheese, gum, and gum oil from Greece, as well as dairy products, candied fruits, chocolates, confectionery, and salty snacks from Latvia. Spanning from 2024 to 2027, the program seeks to significantly elevate the profile of European products in these markets through a four-pronged approach: raising awareness, enhancing recognition among consumers, increasing consumption, and boosting exports to Canada, Malaysia, and South Korea. The beneficiaries: The National Union of Agricultural Cooperatives of Greece (ETHEAS), established by the Greek State Law, coordinates over 300 agricultural cooperatives across Greece, representing about 80% of the total turnover of such cooperatives. It focuses on rural and cooperative development, supports member activities domestically and internationally, issues opinions on agricultural matters, supervises cooperative promotion, and conducts educational activities. The Latvian Dairy Committee (LDC), established in 1995, represents Latvian milk producers and aims to protect their interests. It consists of 17 members producing approximately 80% of industrially produced milk in Latvia. Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. SOURCE Premium European Products Cision View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2024/21/c8512.html Rome, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2024) A flurry of tremors of a strength not seen in decades was registered at a volcanic caldera near the southern Italian city of Naples on Monday night, sparking panic among residents but resulting in no major damage, authorities said. One 4.4-magnitude quake was registered shortly after 8 pm (1800 GMT) at a depth of 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles), according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV). It was preceded moments earlier by a 3.5-magnitude tremor and followed by dozens of aftershocks. The Campi Flegrei -- or Phlegraean Fields, as the caldera is known -- experienced about 150 earthquakes between 7:51 pm on Monday and 12:31 am on Tuesday, the INGV said in a report. According to the institute's Mauro Di Vito, "this is the most powerful seismic swarm in the last 40 years". Emergency services in the area reported cracks and pieces falling from buildings, while amateur video from a supermarket in the town of Pozzuoli showed bottles strewn across the floor after being shaken off shelves. Schools in the town will remain closed on Tuesday and temporary accommodation has been established to take in frightened residents, mayor Luigi Manzoni announced on Facebook. The INGV said it would continue to monitor the caldera and that "it cannot be ruled out that other seismic events may occur, also of similar energy". The Campi Flegrei is situated between Pozzuoli and Naples, which sits in the shadow of the much better-known Mount Vesuvius further to the east. The Campi Flegrei experienced an eruption 40,000 years ago that affected the planet's climate, and it has been a source of concern to residents and scientists more recently thanks to a resurgence of activity due to gases emitted by the magma. "We have to live with fear all the time," a Pozzuoli resident told the public channel Rainews. "How long will the buildings be able to hold out while experiencing all these shocks? That's what we wonder." Specialists, however, say a full-blown eruption in the near future remains unlikely. (@FahadShabbir) Kalamata, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2024) The trial of nine accused smugglers opens on Tuesday, nearly a year after a derelict migrant trawler with hundreds on board sank off the coast of Greece in one of Europe's deadliest shipwrecks. Nine Egyptian men -- who were among the 104 survivors -- will appear before a court in Kalamata, southwestern Greece, to answer charges including negligent homicide, participation in a criminal organisation and facilitating illegal entry into the country. The men, aged 21 to 37 years old, have denied responsibility. Their lawyers say they are being scapegoated to obscure the responsibilities of the Greek coastguard, which failed to mount an effective rescue. The suspects, who have spent the past 11 months in pre-trial detention, face life imprisonment if convicted. As the sinking occurred in international waters, 47 nautical miles (87 kilometres) off the coast of Pylos, lawyers for the defendants say a Greek court is not competent to hear the case. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Puerto Ayora, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2024) Like Charles Darwin did in 1831, a group of scientists and environmentalists last year set sail from the English port of Plymouth, headed for the Galapagos islands off the coast of Ecuador. But what they found on their arrival last month differed vastly from what naturalist Darwin saw while visiting the archipelago in 1835, in a trip key to developing his world-changing theory on natural selection. The Galapagos today is under protection, part of a marine reserve and classified a World Heritage Site. Yet the area faces more threats than ever, from pollution and illegal fishing to climate change. There to observe the challenges, with a well-thumbed copy of her great-great-grandfather's "On the Origin of Species" in hand, was botanist Sarah Darwin. "I think probably the main difference is that, you know, there are people working now to protect the islands," the 60-year-old told AFP, onboard the "Oosterschelde," a refurbished, three-mast schooner built more than 100 years ago. The ship has been on a scientific and awareness-raising expedition since last August, stopping so far in the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Brazil and Chile among other locales. In colonial times, the islands -- located in one of the world's most biodiverse regions -- served as a pit stop for pirates who caught and ate the giant turtles that call it home. During World War II, the archipelago hosted a US military base. "I think if (Darwin) were able to come back now and see the efforts that everybody is making, both locally and globally, to protect these extraordinary islands and that biodiversity -- I think he'd be really, really excited and impressed," the naturalist's descendant told AFP. Sarah Darwin first visited the Galapagos in 1995, where she illustrated a guide to endemic plants. She then devoted herself to studying native tomatoes. She also mentors young people as part of a project to create a group of 200 Darwin "heirs" to raise the alarm about environmental and climate threats to the planet. Calling at several ports on the journey from Plymouth to the Galapagos, the Oosterschelde took on new groups of young scientists and activists at every stop, and dropped off others. One of them, Indian-born Laya Pothunuri, who joined the mission from Singapore, told AFP the Galapagos "has a very important place in scientific terms." She was there, she said, to improve the irrigation systems in the islands' coffee-growing regions. "I plan to do it using recycled plastic, which also, again, is a big problem over here," she said, noting that plastic waste ends up being consumed by wildlife. In the Galapagos, the expedition members worked with researchers from the private Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), the Charles Darwin Foundation and the NGO Conservation International on both confronting invasive species and protecting endemic ones. Last year, a study by the Charles Darwin Foundation found that giant turtles in the area were ingesting harmful materials due to human pollution. Samples revealed that nearly 90 percent of the waste consumed was plastic, eight percent was fabric and the rest metal, paper, cardboard, construction materials and glass. From Galapagos, the Oosterschelde set sail again on Sunday to continue its world tour, with stops expected in Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. (@FahadShabbir) JEDDAH, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2024) Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Chaudhry Salik Hussain praised Saudi Arabia for its exemplary arrangements for Hajj 2024 during a meeting with Saudi Minister for Hajj and Umrah Dr. Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah here on Tuesday. The meeting focused on bilateral matters and the meticulous preparations for the upcoming Hajj. Accompanying Chaudhry Salik were Additional Secretary Dr Ata-ur-Rehman and Director General (Hajj) and Head of the Pakistan Hajj Mission Abdul Wahab Soomro. Chaudhry Salik commended the Kingdom for its extensive and exemplary arrangements made for the millions of Hajj pilgrims, gathering in Makkah for a five-day communion with Allah Almighty to seek forgiveness for their sins and invoke His blessings, starting from the 8th of Zilhajj. The federal minister expressed gratitude for the Saudi government's excellent cooperation in providing services to Pakistani pilgrims. He also informed the Saudi minister about significant progress in establishing new Pakistan House buildings in Makkah and Madinah. However, he expressed concern over the delay in transportation contracts for 40,000 private Hajj pilgrims, which were still pending. In response, the Saudi minister assured that all contracts would be finalized within the next four days. Chaudhry Salik emphasized that Pakistani Hajj group operators must adhere to Saudi guidelines and complete the necessary formalities to prevent any inconvenience for the pilgrims. He warned that stern action would be taken against any private Hajj group operators who failed to fulfill their responsibilities. The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere, with both sides emphasizing the importance of cooperation and coordination to ensure a smooth and spiritually fulfilling Hajj experience for all pilgrims. Amid the bustling crowds and lively atmosphere of the 33rd Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair, also known as the 8th China-Russia Expo, which kicked off on May 16-21, Habib, an exhibitor of Pakistani handcraft products specially wool rugs, was struck by the overwhelming turnout BEIJING, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2024) Amid the bustling crowds and lively atmosphere of the 33rd Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair, also known as the 8th China-Russia Expo, which kicked off on May 16-21, Habib, an exhibitor of Pakistani handcraft products specially wool rugs, was struck by the overwhelming turnout. With over 5,000 overseas buyers registered and representatives from 44 countries and regions in attendance, the exhibition area spanning 388,000 square meters showcases more than 5,000 products across 20 major categories from 10 sectors. Joining over 10 other Pakistani exhibitors to present their products to a global audience, Habib made his debut this year. With a focus on retail, wholesale, and local distribution, Habib is aiming to achieve a sales target of $28,000 during the fair. Specializing in Pakistani handcraft wool rugs, he believes that the strong interest from buyers, both Chinese and international, is a testament to the quality and appeal of his products, Chinese media reported. Incredibly proud of our rugs and the craftsmanship that goes into making them, said Habib. Its rewarding to see people appreciate the beauty and quality of our work, and I'm looking forward to building long-lasting relationships with our new customers, especially from northern China. Ali, another Pakistani exhibitor, has been participating in the Harbin Fair since 2015 and has been showcasing Pakistani handicrafts for several years. He expressed his satisfaction with the products that have received overwhelming response of people, stating that the Harbin trade fair provides a valuable opportunity to promote his country's traditional handicrafts and establish business ties with potential buyers. He also praised the smooth transportation, excellent environment and especially the delicious lamb and beef in Harbin fair. The Harbin Fair, approved by the Chinese government, has been held annually since its inception in 1990. It has grown to become a renowned platform for economic and trade cooperation between China and Russia, as well as an important hub for trade cooperation in Northeast Asia. APP/asg/ New York, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2024) After approximately five weeks, 19 witnesses, reams of documents and a dash of salacious testimony, the prosecution against Donald Trump rested its case Monday, handing over to the defense before closing arguments expected next week. Trump's team immediately sought to undermine key testimony against the former president, who is accused of covering up hush money paid to a porn star over an alleged encounter that could have derailed his successful 2016 White House bid. His attorneys called lawyer Robert Costello -- who once advised star prosecution witness Michael Cohen before falling out with him -- in an apparent attempt to puncture Cohen's credibility. But Costello's start on the stand was shaky at best, as his dismissive tone provoked an angry response from Judge Juan Merchan. The judge ordered the jury out of the courtroom to admonish Costello, and, still unsatisfied, also ordered the press and others to briefly leave. Trump, speaking to reporters afterward, called the episode "an incredible display," branding the proceedings "a show trial" and the judge "a tyrant." Extended quibbling among the two legal teams, along with the upcoming holiday weekend, means closing arguments that the judge had hoped could start Tuesday are now anticipated for next week. It's unlikely and risky, but the door remains open for Trump to take the stand in the criminal trial, the first ever of a former US president. Experts doubt he will, as it would expose him to unnecessary legal jeopardy and forensic cross-examination by prosecutors -- but his lawyer Todd Blanche has raised the prospect. On Monday, Blanche finished his third day of questioning Cohen after hours of at times digressive, at other times bruising, exchanges. Cohen, Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer, recounted last week how he kept Trump informed about $130,000 paid to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence about an alleged affair ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump's lawyers set out to paint Cohen as a convicted criminal and habitual liar, recalling his time in prison for tax fraud and lying to Congress. Blanche also probed Cohen's loyalty to Trump and then to the prosecution, looking to show jurors that Cohen is self-serving and willing to go to great lengths to accomplish his aims. Blanche vied to goad Cohen, who has a reputation for a short temper that could have hurt him on the stand -- but the witness largely maintained his composure. Cohen's story generally lined up with Daniels and David Pecker, the tabloid boss who said he worked with Trump and Cohen to suppress negative coverage during the Republican's White House run. After Blanche finished with him, the prosecution returned for redirect, with prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asking Cohen what the whole experience has meant for him. "My entire life has been turned upside down," Cohen said, genuine emotion in his voice. "I lost my law license, my financial security... my family's happiness... just to name a few." Trump meanwhile has complained his 2024 election campaign for another White House term is being stymied by the weeks-long court proceedings, which he has to attend every day. He did so again Monday, complaining to journalists he's "not allowed to have anything to do with politics because I'm sitting in a very freezing cold, dark room for the last four weeks. It's very unfair." Calling the case politicized, a coterie of leading Republicans have stood in the wings behind him as he gives remarks to reporters outside the courtroom. The growing list includes several lawmakers eyeing Trump's vice presidential pick, including Ohio Senator JD Vance and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum. Yet despite the palace intrigue and courtroom drama, the charges ultimately hinge on financial records, and whether falsifying them was done with intent to sway the 2016 presidential vote. When the jury begins deliberating, the often juicy testimony will likely linger, but they will also have stacks of documents to consider. (@FahadShabbir) Washington, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2024) A US congressional investigation released Monday found that carmakers BMW, Jaguar Land Rover and Volkswagen had used components from a Chinese supplier banned in the United States over alleged forced labor ties. The report by the Senate Finance Committee said BMW had produced and imported vehicles with parts "presumptively made with forced labor," while Jaguar Land Rover imported parts with the same issues. VW made vehicles for the US market with such components too, and has "ongoing business ties" to manufacturing in China's northwestern Xinjiang region, the report said. Beijing has been accused of incarcerating over one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in a network of detention facilities in Xinjiang -- although officials strongly deny this. In the United States, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) bans the import of all goods from Xinjiang unless companies offer verifiable proof that production did not involve forced labor. "Automakers' self-policing is clearly not doing the job," said the Senate Finance Committee's Democratic chairman Ron Wyden at the end of the two-year probe. He called on US customs officials to boost enforcement and "crack down on companies that fuel the shameful use of forced labor in China." The latest report looks into components from Sichuan Jingweida Technology Group Co, a firm added to the UFLPA entity list in 2023 over participation in business practices said to target members of persecuted groups like Uyghurs in China. A supplier to the automakers was found to have sourced components indirectly from Jingweida, meaning these parts were barred from vehicles bound for the US market. Volkswagen disclosed earlier this year that a shipment of its vehicles for the United States included parts made by a blacklisted supplier, and arranged to replace the components before the cars entered the country. "We acted as quickly and responsibly as possible to replace the part," said a VW spokesperson in response to queries. The spokesperson added that VW is "committed to preventing the use of forced labor in our supply chain." BMW was also found to have "imported thousands of vehicles intended for the United States that included parts banned under UFLPA," the committee said. It added that BMW disclosed after questioning that at least 8,000 Mini Cooper cars containing such components were shipped to the country. "BMW continued to import products manufactured by JWD until at least April 2024," said the report, referring to Jingweida. In response to AFP queries, BMW said it has "taken steps to halt the importation of affected products and will be conducting a service action with customer and dealer notification for affected motor vehicles." The US embassy in London owes millions in unpaid congestion fees (Philip Toscano/PA) (PA Archive) Diplomats owe TfL more than 143million in unpaid congestion charges, new figures reveal - with the US racking up nearly 15m in fees. TfL data shows the US total of 14.6m is the highest among all the embassies in the capital. The Japanese embassy has the second highest debt at 10.1m, followed by the high commission of India at 8.6 million. Togo owes the least, at just 40, with around 40 countries of all the UN-recognised countries in the world not owing TfL money, according to the data. The figures relate to unpaid fees and fines accrued by diplomats between the launch of the congestion charge in 2003 and the end of last year. The scheme involves a 15 daily fee for driving within an area of central London between 7am and 6pm on weekdays, and between noon and 6pm on weekends and bank holidays. There are discounts and exemptions for various groups of people and vehicles, such as residents, taxis and fully electric cars. TfL said in a statement: We and the UK Government are clear that the congestion charge is a charge for a service and not a tax. "This means that diplomats are not exempt from paying it. "The majority of embassies in London do pay the charge, but there remains a stubborn minority who refuse to do so, despite our representations through diplomatic channels. "We will continue to pursue all unpaid congestion charge fees and related penalty charge notices, and are pushing for the matter to be taken up at the International Court of Justice." But a spokesperson for the US embassy in London, which moved from Grosvenor Square to Nine Elms in January 2018, said: "In accordance with international law as reflected in the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, our position is that the congestion charge is a tax from which diplomatic missions are exempt. "Our long-standing position is shared by many other diplomatic missions in London." In February 2020, then-foreign secretary Dominic Raab issued a written ministerial statement revealing that his officials have written to "a number of diplomatic missions and international organisations" to "press for payment" of money owed relating to the congestion charge, parking fines and business rates. Vietnam Briefing has developed into a premium source for insight on doing business in Vietnam. It publishes business news concerning foreign direct investment into Vietnam, including the most important tax, legal and accounting issues. The Vietnam Briefing Magazine was first published in 2009, and is contributed to by investment professionals based in Vietnam. The 12-month grace period for student loan borrowers ended on September 30. The "on-ramp" period helped borrowers who are struggling to make payments avoid the risk of defaulting and hurting their credit score. "The end of the on-ramp period means the beginning of the potentially harsh consequences for student loan borrowers who are not able to make payments," said Persis Yu, Deputy Executive Director at the Student Borrower Protection Center. Around 43 million Americans have student loan debt, amounting to $1.5 trillion. Around eight million of those borrowers had enrolled in the SAVE plan, the newest income-driven repayment plan that extended the eligibility for borrowers to have affordable monthly student loan payments. However, this plan is currently on hold due to legal challenges. With the on-ramp period and a separate program known as Fresh Start ending and the SAVE plan on hold, student loan borrowers who are struggling to afford their monthly payments have fewer options, added Yu. Student loan borrowers who haven't been able to afford their monthly payments must consider their options to avoid going into default. If you have student loans, here's what you need to know. What was the on-ramp period? The Education Department implemented this grace period to ease the borrower's transition to make payments after a three-year payment pause during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this year-long period, borrowers were encouraged to keep making payments since interest continued to accumulate. "Normally, loans will default if you fall about nine months behind on making payments, but during this on-ramp period, missed payments would not move people towards defaulting and then being subject to forced collections. However, if you missed payments, you still be falling behind ultimately on repaying your loans," said Abby Shaforth, director of National Consumer Law Center's Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project. Since this grace period has ended, student loan borrowers who don't make payments will go delinquent or, if their loans are not paid for nine months, go into default. Borrowers who cannot afford to make payments can apply for deferment or forbearance, which pause payments, though interest continues to accrue. What happens if I don't make my payments? Borrowers who can't or don't pay risk delinquency and eventually default. That can badly hurt your credit rating and make you ineligible for additional aid and government benefits. If a borrower missed one month's payment, they will start receiving email notifications, said Shaforth. Once the loan hasn't been paid for three months, loan servicers notify to the credit reporting agencies that the loan is delinquent, affecting your credit history. Once the borrower hasn't paid the loan for nine months, the loan goes into default. If you're struggling to pay, advisers first encourage you to check if you qualify for an income-driven repayment plan, which determines your payments by looking at your expenses. You can see whether you qualify by visiting the Federal Student Aid website. If you've worked for a government agency or a non-profit organization, you could also be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which forgives student debt after 10 years. What happens when a loan goes into default? When you fall behind on a loan by 270 days roughly nine months the loan appears on your credit report as being in default. Once a loan is in default, it goes into collections. This means the government can garnish wages (without a court order) to go towards paying back the loan, intercept tax refunds, and seize portions of Social Security checks and other benefit payments. What if I can't pay? If your budget doesn't allow you to resume payments, it's important to know how to navigate the possibility of default and delinquency on a student loan. Both can hurt your credit rating, which would make you ineligible for additional aid. If you're in a short-term financial bind, you may qualify for deferment or forbearance allowing you to temporarily suspend payment. To determine whether deferment or forbearance are good options for you, you can contact your loan servicer. One thing to note: interest still accrues during deferment or forbearance. Both can also impact potential loan forgiveness options. Depending on the conditions of your deferment or forbearance, it may make sense to continue paying the interest during the payment suspension. What is an income-driven repayment plan? The U.S. Education Department offers several plans for repaying federal student loans. Under the standard plan, borrowers are charged a fixed monthly amount that ensures all their debt will be repaid after 10 years. But if borrowers have difficulty paying that amount, they can enroll in one of several plans that offer lower monthly payments based on income and family size. Those are known as income-driven repayment plans. Income-driven options have been offered for years and generally cap monthly payments at 10% of a borrower's discretionary income. If a borrower's earnings are low enough, their bill is reduced to $0. And after 20 or 25 years, any remaining debt gets erased. What is the latest with the SAVE program? In August, the Supreme Court kept on hold the SAVE plan, the income-driven repayment plan that would have lowered payments for millions of borrowers, while lawsuits make their way through lower courts. Eight million borrowers who had already enrolled in the SAVE plan don't have to pay their monthly student loan bills until the court case is resolved. Debt that already had been forgiven under the plan was unaffected. The next court hearing about this case will be held on October 15. What happened with the Fresh Start program? The Fresh Start program, which gave benefits to borrowers who were delinquent prior to the pandemic payment pause, also closed on September 30. During this limited program, student loan borrowers who were in default prior to the pandemic were given the opportunity to remove their loans from default, allowing them to enroll in income-driven payment plans, or apply for deferment, among other benefits. Ahead of a trilateral summit involving South Korea, Japan, and China this weekend in Seoul, Washington said it expects the event to be an opportunity for its two allies to manage their relations with Beijing. The United States respects the ability of nations to make sovereign decisions in the best interests of their people, said a spokesperson for the State Department. Just as the United States takes steps to responsibly manage our relationship with the PRC, so do our partners and allies, the spokesperson continued in an email to VOAs Korean Service on May 15. The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) is Chinas official name. The summit would come amid a heightened tension between Washington and Beijing over trade and after China agreed with Russia to establish a new era partnership to create a multipolar world order during their summit last week. The three East Asian countries are expected to hold their summit from May 26 to 27, but the official dates have not been announced. Chinese Premier Li Qiang is expected to attend in place of Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The meeting would be their first trilateral summit since December 2019. Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA on May 14 that Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul should be main drivers responsible for regional stability and security. Pointing out what Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said after a trilateral foreign ministers meeting in November, Pengyu said the three countries need to address differences and disputes in peaceful ways and act as front runner of East Asia cooperation. Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing are planning to discuss trade and investment, peace and security, and science and technology, among other items and include in a joint statement their cooperation on economic issues and infectious diseases, according to the Japan Times, citing Japanese government sources Sunday. Former U.S. officials said while it will be important for the three countries to meet and talk at the summit, differences that Seoul and Tokyo have with Beijing on North Korea are unlikely to be resolved. With China determined to establish a new China-centric regional order and because of Beijings open-ended support for the DPRK, we should not expect progress on this issue, said Evans Revere, a State Department official with extensive experience negotiating with North Korea. North Koreas official name is the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK). Nevertheless, it is important for South Korea and Japan to use this summit to convey their strong concerns, Revere continued. At a bilateral summit last week, Beijing and Moscow criticized Washington and its allies for their intimidation in the military sphere against North Korea. Zhao Leji, who ranks third in the Chinese Communist Party, visited Pyongyang in April and agreed with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to boost cooperation on mutual concerns. It was the highest-level talks the two countries had held in years. The upcoming summit comes after trilateral cooperation was agreed among Washington, Seoul and Tokyo at their Camp David summit in August 2023 to strengthen their deterrence against North Korean threats and to defend a free and open Indo-Pacific against Chinese aggressions. Joseph DeTrani, who served as the U.S. special envoy for six-party denuclearization talks with North Korea from 2003 to 2006, said, China will ask that the ROK and Japan not to align with the U.S. against China, an issue that wasnt on the table in 2019. South Koreas official name is the Republic of Korea (ROK). DeTrani said Seoul and Tokyo will try to get China to convince North Korea to cease providing arms to Russia for its war in Ukraine and to use its leverage with Pyongyang to halt ballistic missile launches. Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of Kim Jong Un, denied Pyongyangs arms dealings with Moscow, according to state-run KCNA on Friday. The same day, North Korea launched a tactical ballistic missile, said KCNA. Gary Samore, who served as the White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction during the Obama administration, said the summit will become an opportunity for communication among Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing to avoid conflict, but the differences that grew among them since 2019 will not be resolved as South Korea and Japan leaned in the direction of cooperating with the U.S. Eunjung Cho contributed to this report. The International Criminal Court's prosecutor said on Monday he had requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defense chief and three Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes. We talk to Douglass Cassel who specializes in business and human rights, international human rights law, and international law at King & Spalding. Microsoft on Monday debuted a new category of personal computers with AI features. ChatGPT-maker OpenAI on Monday said it was working on temporarily muting a synthetic voice that sounds a lot like that of actress Scarlett Johansson. And a spoon that makes low salt food taste saltier. Chinas planned deployment of floating nuclear reactors to the disputed South China Sea may risk ramping up tensions with other claimants and undermining regional security, and claimants should work through a multilateral framework to counter China, say experts. China plans to send some 20 floating nuclear power plants to the islands it reclaimed in the South China Sea, where it has long-running territorial disputes with some regional countries, The Washington Post reported early this month. China claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea as its own despite a ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 which rejected the claim as having no legal basis. Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines also have rival claims to some island chains and parts of the sea. These claimants view Chinas planned operation of these reactors as a direct challenge to their sovereignty, Pratnashree Basu, associate fellow with the India-based Observer Research Foundations Strategic Studies Program, told VOA in an email exchange, if the reactors are deployed to islands, rocks, low-tide elevations, or man-made features they claim. Basu cited Vietnams 2008 Law on Atomic Energy, which requires nuclear-powered vessels in Vietnamese waters to be authorized by the countrys prime minister. Such regulations do not exist in the Philippines, she noted, but Manila can still assert its right to monitor [a] Chinese nuclear plant under its maritime laws. Since 2014, China has reclaimed land to build artificial islands on some features it controls in the Spratly archipelago which is also claimed by Hanoi and Manila. Given Beijings record of strengthening its foothold in the South China Sea regardless of international law, the planned deployment of nuclear power plant(s) would potentially bolster Beijings grip on the artificial islands it has built and militarized, she wrote to VOA. The move risks further ramping up tension in an already tense region, she warned. Ha Hoang Hop, an associate senior fellow with the Singapore-based ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, told VOA that it doesnt matter to other claimants if China just sails the floating nuclear plant around the South China Sea. However, if they dock at Spratly or Paracel [another island chain claimed by both Beijing and Hanoi but controlled by Beijing], Vietnam will certainly protest, Hop said. He argued that the deployment to islands Vietnam claims violates Vietnams sovereign rights, noting that such deployment will inevitably support Chinese military and patrol activities in the South China Sea. If the plants power Chinese military activities like electrical warfare, reconnaissance, airspace monitoring, drone warfare, among others, they would pose a serious threat to regional security, he added, warning that if the vessels carry nuclear warhead missiles to the South China Sea, it would constitute a breach of international law. Observer Research Foundations Basu noted that floating nuclear power plants can provide energy to Chinas offshore oil and gas exploration, and especially military bases. Reliable energy also enhances surveillance and rapid-response capabilities, she added. Asked what Vietnam and the Philippines can do to counter the Chinese move, Raymond Powell, a team leader at Stanford University's Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, told VOA in an email that he is not sure theres an avenue for contesting Chinas use of floating nuclear power plants in the South China Sea. China is unlikely to respond to outside pressure to hold off, and its not clear it would [be] violating any international law or regulation if it moves forward, he wrote in the email. ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institutes Hop said that other claimants may consider renting nuclear power plants built by Western countries or Russia to deploy in the South China Sea as part of a tit-for-tat strategy. Basu suggested that the claimants and the U.S. work through ASEAN and other regional forums to address concerns about the floating reactors to promote multilateral engagement over unilateral actions. Countries could challenge the deployment of floating nuclear power plants in disputed waters through international courts or tribunals, seeking rulings that could limit or regulate their operation, she wrote. The countries should also advocate for the application of existing international laws such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to floating nuclear facilities, she added. Additionally, according to Basu, building coalitions with global environmental and safety organizations to pressure for stricter regulations of floating nuclear power plants could be an option. A French government spokeswoman says President Emmanuel Macron will travel to the violence-wracked Pacific territory of New Caledonia later Tuesday. Macrons trip to the French-controlled archipelago comes a week after deadly riots broke out over a bill introduced in the French parliament that would allow French-born residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years to vote in local elections. Leaders of the islands pro-independence movement say the measure would dilute the voting power of the indigenous Kanak people, who have suffered under decades of discrimination. At least six people have been killed and hundreds more wounded in the violence. Scores of homes and businesses have been looted and burned in the capital, Noumea, prompting authorities to impose a dusk-to-dawn curfew and a ban on public gatherings. The violence has also prompted the closure of schools and businesses, as well as the islands airport, which left thousands of tourists unable to leave. Groups of Kanak protesters have set up roadblocks leading in and out of Noumea which has prevented deliveries of food and medicine to citizens and tourists trapped in their homes and resorts. Australia and New Zealand began sending planes to Noumea to evacuate their stranded citizens from the troubled island. The first of two Australian military transport planes arrived at the airport to begin evacuating 300 Australian tourists. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong posted on the social media platform X late Monday that Canberra has been cleared by France for two government assisted flights to evacuate Australians and other tourists from the archipelago. Wong added that passengers are being prioritized according to need, and that the government will continue to work on further flights. New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said the government there is sending a plane to Noumea to evacuate 50 of its nationals. Peters acknowledged that New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days and that bringing them home has been an urgent priority for Wellington. France has deployed more than 1,000 security personnel to help end the unrest, with hundreds more due to arrive Tuesday. At least 270 people have been arrested. France agreed in 1998 to grant New Caledonia more political power and autonomy and to hold three referendums over the islands status. Voters have rejected independence in all three referendums. Frances National Assembly approved the controversial measure last week by a vote of 351-153. The bill still must be approved in a special session of both houses of parliament next month. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse. Chinese President Xi Jinping is not known for public displays of affection. So Xis double embrace of his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, last week broadcast by Chinese and Russian state television was widely seen as a calculated signal to the world of a blossoming personal and geopolitical relationship. Putins visit to China underlined burgeoning economic ties between Moscow and Beijing as the two countries signed a series of agreements aimed at forging closer cooperation, even as the West tries to isolate Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine. Personal warmth The show of personal warmth was matched by a series of lavish state ceremonies, ostensibly marking the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations. It is a shared strategic choice of both countries to deepen strategic cooperation, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and follow the general historical trend of multipolarity in the world and economic globalization, Xi told Putin during the talks in Beijing on May 16. Putin praised increased bilateral trade between Russia and China, which had, he said, reached an annual $240 billion and touted his ambitions to sell more oil and gas to Beijing. Russia is ready and capable of uninterruptedly and reliably supplying the Chinese economy, enterprises, cities, towns with environmentally friendly, affordable energy, light and heat, Putin said following a visit to the northern Chinese city of Harbin. Deepened cooperation The Russian leaders visit to China achieved its aims, according to Liana Fix of the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations. (Coming) shortly after Putins inauguration, it had a legitimizing effect for his fifth term as president on the international stage, demonstrating that even if the West does not accept his elections as free and fair, China sees him as the legitimate leader. Second, it served the purpose of deepening defense cooperation between these two countries, especially by circumventing U.S. sanctions on Chinese financial institutions for financing Russias war effort, and by facilitating further Chinese deliveries to Russias war machine, Fix told VOA in an email. European snub Putins visit to China came days after Xi traveled to Europe, where EU leaders tried to persuade him to end support for Russias war on Ukraine. Its clear they failed, said analyst Velina Tchakarova, founder of the FACE geopolitical consultancy. China provides the main lifeline for Russia. But China also practically set the stage for Russia to not get internationally isolated. Russia officially has announced that it's going in the direction of a long war that it wants to win, and here we see clearly that China is taking the side of Russia, Tchakarova told VOA. That alliance what Tchakarova calls the DragonBear has ramifications beyond Ukraine. These kind of wars, as the one being waged right now in Europe [in Ukraine], and similarly the one in the Middle East [between Israel and Hamas], and obviously also the military tensions in the Indo-Pacific these are hotspots, military conflicts and wars that are to be seen in this context of emerging Cold War 2.0 between the United States on the one hand, and China and Russia, or the DragonBear on the other, Tchakarova told VOA. Democratic threat Xi and Putin are united by geopolitical aims, and their autocratic ideals threaten democratic societies, according to author Anne Applebaum, a staff writer at The Atlantic magazine. What they have in common is their dislike of the democratic world, their dislike of democratic language, and the ideals of freedom and justice and rule of law and transparency, Applebaum said. And they are willing to join together to fight against them. It's a full-on central challenge from the autocratic world to them, and it's attacking both their citizens and their allies around the world, and we need to face it. Unbalanced relations The relationship is tilted heavily in Chinas favor, Applebaum said. They may have an interest in weakening Russia. A weaker Russia has to sell them oil and gas at lower prices. A weaker Russia is a more pliable ally, is a weaker player on the stage. And maybe they're hoping for that. It's pretty clear already that Russia is the junior partner in this alliance, which isn't something that we would have thought possible a couple of decades ago, she told VOA. Putin is due to host Xi at the October BRICS summit in Russia, as both countries seek to galvanize global support for their vision of Beijing and Moscow as major players in a new, multipolar world. VOAs Russian Service contributed to this report. The worlds most prominent artificial intelligence companies promised to develop technology safely at the start of the two-day AI summit in South Korea. Companies also agreed to stop developing their technology if the most threatening risks cannot be avoided. The conference, co-hosted by Britain and South Korea, involves 16 AI companies, including Amazon, Microsoft, and China's Zhipu.ai. More specific agreements are expected to form as leaders gather to understand both the risks and the benefits of AI. Discussions are centered around accountable governance and transparency to the public. "These commitments ensure the world's leading AI companies will provide transparency and accountability on their plans to develop safe AI," U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement released by Britain's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. The leaders of the worlds seven largest democracies, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Britain, have been invited to the opening summit, along with the leaders of Australia and Singapore. South Koreas presidential office says China will send a representative to the in-person ministerial summit that will convene Wednesday. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and British Prime Minister Sunak will meet with other world leaders, industry leaders, and heads of international organizations virtually on Tuesday evening. Wang Yun-Jong, a deputy director of national security in South Korea, said to reporters on Monday that the recent conference agenda has been expanded beyond the first AI Safety Summit in Britain. Members will "discuss not only the risks posed by AI but also its positive aspects and how it can contribute to humanity in a balanced manner, he said. Six months ago, representatives from nearly 30 countries met at the first AI Safety Summit in Britains iconic Bletchley Park and pledged to cooperate on mitigating the risks posed by artificial intelligence. Bletchley Park was the base of Britains legendary program to break the secret codes of the Nazi armed forces during World War II. The current summit follows governments now trying to regulate AI, concerned by the threat of disinformation and decreased job security. Generative AI models can create deepfake images and videos of politicians that spread fake news stories to the public. "Since the digital space is hyper-connected and transcends national borders, we need digital norms at the global level," said South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse. Matthew Trickett, 37, was pronounced dead Sunday in a park in Maidenhead, an area of southern England west of London, according to a statement by Thames Valley Police. The police said they discovered Tricketts body after receiving a call from a member of the public. "An investigation is ongoing into the death, which is currently being treated as unexplained," the police said in their statement. Trickett was a former Royal Marine, and he owned a private security firm. After facing the charges of assisting a foreign intelligence service and foreign interference under Britains National Security Act, he was given bail on May 13. The foreign intelligence service referred to in the charges is that of Hong Kong. Trickett was one of three men accused of spying for China. The other men involved are Chi Leung Wai, 38, and Chung Biu Yuen, 63. The National Security Act, which was passed in December, targets threats from foreign countries. It is supposed to enhance UK security and protect the country's democratic institutions, economy and values. Their next court appearance was supposed to be this Friday. Tricketts lawyer expressed surprise at the death of his client and was unable to comment more. His family was "mourning the loss of a much-loved son, brother, and family member," the same statement said. The court case involving Trickett has created diplomatic tension between Britain and China. The British foreign ministry told the Chinese ambassador that espionage and cyberattacks were impermissible in the country. The Chinese Embassy in London accused Britain of fabricating the charges. It also said that Britian did not have the right to interfere with Hong Kong. This comes after Britain has denounced the treatment that pro-democracy figures face in Hong Kong, a former British colony. The country also developed a visa program that allow Hong Kong residents to come to the UK. Britain and China have also disagreed over the conditions of Uyghur Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, a region of China, as well as human rights in Tibet. Officials warned that Britain could face Chinas firm and strong retaliation. The tension follows a Golden Age of stronger relationship between London and Beijing, but those ties have considerably weakened in recent years. Nitte Institute of Architecture (NIA): Architects of a Sustainable Future New Delhi [India] Published : May 20, 2024 As India's urban landscape continues to evolve, the need for ethical and innovative architects has never been more pressing. Nitte Institute of Architecture (NIA), Mangalore, with its commitment to sustainability, innovation, and social responsibility, stands ready to shape the next generation of architects who will not only design buildings but also create a better, more equitable future for all. NIA was established in 2015 as a constituent college of Nitte (Deemed to be University). Nitte University has been ranked 65th in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2023 by the Ministry of Education, GoI and is accredited with A+ Grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council of India (NAAC). The University is renowned for its engagement in student exchange initiatives and has strong collaborations with global universities. The first step to a career in architecture is a BArch or Bachelor in Architecture degree. NIA offers a 5-year Bachelor in Architecture program, designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to thrive in the global architectural landscape, enabling them to register as a professional architect with the Council of Architecture (COA), India. The field of architecture is constantly evolving, offering a dynamic blend of creative expression, technical skill, and personal flair. Architects navigate a diverse landscape where creativity meets practicality, shaping spaces that combine design aesthetics with structural integrity. From conceptualization to construction, architects wear multiple hats, seamlessly transitioning between roles to bring visions to life. Architecture stands as a unique profession, offering students a global outlook and a multitude of career pathways. Whether pursuing entrepreneurship, establishing private practices, delving into urban design, or exploring allied fields like product and graphic design, architects have the opportunity to follow their passion and make meaningful contributions to the built environment. Here are a few of the unique features that set NIA apart: 1). Ethical Design: NIA emphasises innovation, sustainability, and context-responsive architecture, instilling in students a commitment to ethical practice and environmental stewardship. 2). Flexible Curriculum: NIA's curriculum is designed to be dynamic and adaptive, allowing students to tailor their learning experiences to suit their interests and career goals. This choice-based approach empowers students to explore diverse paths within the field of architecture. 3). Hands-On Learning: NIA believes in learning by doing. The institute's state-of-the-art workshops and fabrication labs provide students with hands-on experience in working with materials, experimenting with designs, and utilising cutting-edge technologies such as 3D printers and laser cutters. 4). Entrepreneurship: NIA goes beyond conventional education by nurturing entrepreneurial skills. From ideation to execution, students are mentored to realise their visions and establish successful practices. In line with its vision of building a humane society, Nitte University recognizes the pivotal role architects play in driving societal and environmental change. To attract and support the brightest minds, the university offers merit and excellence scholarships to aspiring architects. These scholarships are awarded based on academic performance in Class 12/Diploma and NATA, providing deserving students with the opportunity to pursue their passion for architecture. For more information regarding architecture scholarships. Find it Useful ? Help Others by Sharing Online Comments and Discussions A 23-year-old man from Taiwan is set to appear in a New York court Monday on charges of allowing the sale of more than $100 million worth of illegal drugs on a dark web website he allegedly founded. Rui-Siang Lin was arrested Saturday at New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport and will be presented in Manhattan federal court on Monday, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Lin is accused of being the architect of Incognito Market, a dark web scheme to traffic deadly drugs to the U.S. and around the world. The long arm of the law extends to the dark web, and we will bring to justice those who try to hide their crimes there, Garland said in the statement on Monday. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said the dark web is not a safe haven for those who seek to break the law. The dedicated prosecutors from the Southern District of New York and our law enforcement partners will pursue criminal actors regardless of whether they operate on street corners or in the dark corners of the internet, Williams said in the release. According to the complaint and indictment, hundreds of kilograms of narcotics, including cocaine and methamphetamines, have been sold on Incognito Market since it was launched in October 2020. James Smith, assistant director in charge of the FBIs New York field office, said Lin operated the site for nearly four years and promised anonymity to buyers and sellers of the lethal drugs. Lin is also alleged to have created a bank for drug dealers. Sellers paid a 5% charge for each sale to Incognito Market, providing Lin with millions of dollars in profits. If convicted, Lin faces life in prison for engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise or narcotics conspiracy. Some information for this story came from Agence France-Presse. Testimony ended Tuesday in the New York criminal trial of Donald Trump, the first ever for a U.S. president. But the 12-member jury will not hear closing arguments by one of his lawyers and a prosecutor until May 28. Deliberations on his guilt or innocence will begin a day later. Trump had long said he wanted to testify in his own defense, but in the end, did not. He walked out of court after his defense lawyers rested their case in the sixth week of the trial after calling just two witnesses. Trump raised his hand in a fist in the court entryway where he often has railed against the case but did not stop to answer reporters questions about why he did not testify. The crux of the case against Trump centers on prosecutors claims that he sanctioned his one-time political fixer Michael Cohen to pay $130,000 in hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels just ahead of the 2016 election. The aim, prosecutors have contended, was to influence the outcome of the election that Trump won to silence Daniels from talking about her claim of a one-night sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier. The 34-count indictment accuses the former president of falsifying business records at his Trump Organization real estate conglomerate to hide his 2017 reimbursement to Cohen for the hush money, by claiming it was money owed Cohen for his legal work, which Cohen said during four days of testimony was not the case. Trump has denied a liaison with Daniels and all the charges he faces. Because the trial has typically been recessed on Wednesdays and with the Memorial Day holiday next Monday, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan pushed off the conclusion of the case. "I think the best thing that we can do is to adjourn now until next Tuesday," he told the jurors. "At that time, you will hear summations from the attorneys. Probably Wednesday, Ill ask you to come in hear the jury charge and then I would expect that you will begin your deliberations hopefully at some point on Wednesday." Merchan ordered the jurors to not talk about or research the case, saying, "It might be tempting to think now that both sides have rested you can kind of let up a bit, but in fact these instructions take on even greater significance." After dismissing the jurors for a week, Merchan held a lengthy discussion with prosecutor Matthew Colangelo and Trump defense attorney Emil Bove about the details in the legal instructions he will read to the jury before it begins its deliberations. Merchan said he would complete a final version of his jury instructions by Thursday. In numerous instances, Bove sought to add language to the instructions that conceivably would make it more difficult for the jurors to find Trump guilty. But Merchan mostly sided with Colangelo to not deviate from standard jury instructions. In one instance, Bove wanted jurors instructed that they not only had to agree unanimously that Trump had falsified records to conceal a conspiracy to win the 2016 election by unlawful means but also had to agree unanimously on what the unlawful means were. Bove acknowledged such unanimity was not required by law but said Merchan could require it because of the importance of the case. Colangelo argued that Trump should be treated like any other defendant. Merchan agreed, saying, "There's no reason to rewrite the law for this case." In another instance, Bove wanted Merchan to tell the jurors that a hush money deal by itself is not illegal. Merchan said he would not make that statement to the jurors because there had been testimony several times in the case to that effect. After the hearing ended, Trump assailed Merchan as he often has, saying, "The judge is so biased, so corrupt. And he is so conflicted." "When you have a corrupt judge, lots of bad things happen," Trump said. Defendants in U.S. trials are not required to testify and when they do, often hurt their case more than help it. Trump was apparently talked out of testifying by his lawyers. Over years in the public eye, both as a real estate magnate and a politician, Trump has waxed and waned in his views on whether criminal defendants should testify. At times he has said they look guilty as hell if they dont take the witness stand to defend themselves, and at other times said they should exercise their constitutional right against self-incrimination. Trump, the countrys 45th president and now the presumptive Republican presidential candidate in the November election against President Joe Biden, would have faced a tough cross-examination by prosecutors about the details of the case and Cohens testimony implicating him. Merchan also had already ruled that prosecutors would have been allowed to ask Trump about two civil cases he lost in the last few months where he was ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. One involved business fraud at his Trump Organization real estate conglomerate and the other his defamation of a New York writer who had won a sexual assault decision against him. But Cohen was a flawed witness for the prosecution, acknowledging he has been a serial liar over the years and stole $60,000 from Trumps company. He also pleaded guilty to a campaign finance law violation linked to the hush money payment, perjury and other offenses and served 13 months in a federal prison. The last witness in the case called by the defense, New York lawyer Robert Costello, attempted to cast Cohen as a liar not to be believed. Costello had advised Cohen after federal agents raided Cohens then-residence, a New York hotel room, in April 2018, but was never hired as his attorney. Costello said Monday that Cohen told him, "'I swear to God, Bob, I dont have anything on Donald Trump. "Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments. That he did this on his own. He repeated that numerous times," Costello said. At the time, Trump and his allies worried that Cohen might turn against the president and implicate him in the hush money payment to Daniels but that only came months later. Costello indicated to Cohen that he, meaning Cohen, had friends in high places, a reference to Trump, but Cohen did not retain the lawyer and eventually turned against Trump, ending his years of tending to the future presidents every need. Evidence in the trial shows that Trump repaid the hush money to Cohen in 2017 after he became president, personally signing nine of the 11 checks. Cohen alleged that Trump twice approved the arrangement to pay him back, including once at his Trump Tower in New York and a second time in the Oval Office at the White House after he became president. Blanche never questioned Cohen about the two crucial conversations he claimed to have had with Trump about the reimbursement scheme. Since his release from prison, Cohen has often assailed Trump and testified last week he wants Trump convicted. If Trump is found guilty, he could be placed on probation or sentenced to up to four years in prison. The European Union on Tuesday slammed Kosovo after police closed six branches of a Serbian-licensed bank on Monday, following the countrys ban on the Serbian dinar currency. The bank closures resulted in the loss of all Serbian financial institutions in northern Kosovo. "In the continued absence of sustainable alternatives, this will have negative effects on the daily lives and living conditions of Kosovo Serbs and other communities eligible for financial transfers from Serbia," EU spokesperson Peter Stano said in a statement. Kosovo in February forced ethnic Serbian-dominated areas to adopt the euro, which is used in the rest of the country, heightening Serbia-Kosovo tensions. Many Serbs in the country rely on financial assistance from the Serbian government, which delivers its support in dinars. Serbia also funds health, education and social security systems for Serbs in Kosovo. Kosovos government said payments to ethnic Serbs are not prohibited and can be made in euros. Kosovo Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla said the closures uphold the "rule of law and order," which their government has repeatedly pledged. Stano said Mondays operation proves again that Kosovo authorities prioritize unilateral and uncoordinated actions rather than cooperation with its friends and allies. Kosovo was once a part of Serbia. It declared its independence in 2008, which Belgrade does not recognize. The two sides have previously held talks but have not reached an agreement. The EU urges Kosovo and Serbia to return to the negotiations table, Stano said. Some information for this story came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. Russian President Vladimir Putin used a two-day state visit to Beijing last week to decry the United States and portray Moscows actions as a stabilizing force in global affairs. Moscow and Beijing reaffirmed a "no limits friendship, including no forbidden areas of cooperation, which the two sides announced on February 4, 2022 weeks before Russias full-fledged military invasion of Ukraine. Despite Beijings diplomatic and material support for Moscows war, Putin claims Sino-Russian cooperation doesnt threaten other states. It is absolutely crucial that Russian-Chinese relations are not ad hoc contacts and are not aimed against anyone, Putin said. Our cooperation in world affairs is one of the main stabilizing factors on the international stage. Together, we defend the principles of fairness and the democratic world order based on the multipolar realities and international law. That is false. Russia and China are authoritarian states actively seeking to supplant the rule-based international order that U.S. and Western partners have maintained as the foundation for global peace and prosperity since the end of the Second World War. Both China and Russia have acted in defiance of international bodies to assert territorial claims against their neighbors. Russia has consistently violated international law to achieve its goals. Most notably, Russias February 2022 invasion of Ukraine violates the United Nations Charter, as U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council in April of that year. The Charter is the U.N.s founding document, enshrining principles of international law that bind member states. Article 2(4) of the Charter prohibits the threat or use of force in international relations and calls on all Members to respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of other States. The Kremlin tried justifying its latest war by claiming that Russian-speaking citizens and ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine faced genocide under Ukrainian authority. The International Court of Justice, or ICJ, the U.N.s top judicial body, has repeatedly dismissed those claims as baseless. The ICJ in March of 2022 called on Russia to immediately suspend all military operations in Ukraine. Only Russian and Chinese judges voted against the ruling. Russia rejected the ICJs ruling although it is legally binding. Russias 2014 seizure of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula. Along with the illegal September 2022 annexation of four Ukrainian territories, also violate international law. International Criminal Court (ICC), an international tribunal that tries individuals with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community, issued arrest warrants for Putin and children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova when it found them guilty of committing war crimes by illegally deporting Ukrainian children to Russia. The ICC in March charged two top Russian military officials for suspected war crimes in Ukraine. International investigators implicated Russian military forces in a litany of war crimes in Ukraine. Nearly 2,000 Ukrainian children have been killed or injured since the escalation of war in 2022, at least two children a day, UNICEF, the UNs children welfare agency, reported May 13. At least 30,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed or wounded by Russian airstrikes, while Ukraines military has seen some 130,000 killed or injured, according to a May 20 report by Council on Foreign Relations Global Conflict Tracker, which also says the war has left some 10 million Ukrainians displaced and nearly 15 million in need of humanitarian assistance. Despite Russias violations of international law, Beijing, in a joint statement with Moscow, claimed it "supports the efforts of the Russian side to ensure security and stability, national development and prosperity, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and opposes outside interference in Russia's internal affairs. On May 16, China accused the U.S. of hypocrisy for calling out China's normal trade with Russia while pouring unprecedented military aid into Ukraine. U.S. assistance for Ukraine, however, is allocated to fund Kyivs defense against an invading military, while Chinas aid benefits the aggressor. In March 2022, analysts at Just Security, an online analytical forum, argued that Chinas provision of military assistance to Russias operations in Ukraine would run afoul of the core obligations under Article 41 of the U.N. Charter. Article 41 prohibits provision of aid or assistance to support other states efforts to violate the highest legal norms, including wars of aggression sometimes called wars of conquest or wars of choice aggressive military conflicts waged without justification of self-defense. As Polygraph.info and others have reported, there is significant evidence that China has supplied weapons components to support Russias war of aggression. Although U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the BBC last month that China is not providing actual arms to Russia for use in Ukraine, he nonetheless argued the destabilizing influence of supplying technical components is clear. [Chinas] helping Russia perpetuate its aggression against Ukraine, but it's also creating a growing threat to Europe because of Russia's aggression," Blinken said, adding it was "helping to fuel the biggest threat to [Europe's] insecurity since the end of the Cold War. China has also helped dampen the effect of Western sanctions intended to deprive Russia of the means to wage its war of aggression. Beijing has been providing Moscow with the critical components needed to make weapons, while ramping up trade, especially in oil and gas imports, to help keep Russias economy afloat. Declassified U.S. intelligence estimates that China in 2023 accounted for 90% of Russias microelectronics imports needed to produce missiles, tanks and aircraft, and 70% of the machine tools likely used to manufacture ballistic missiles. Beijing has also provided the Kremlin a diplomatic backup for its war against Ukraine, regularly mirroring Russias vote at the U.N. Security Council and using its propaganda machine to boost the talking points intended to justify Russias illegal war. Like Russia, China has also been increasingly aggressive against its neighbors. Beijing has consistently ignored a key international court ruling and the U.N. Law of the Sea, which define territorial waters of Chinas neighbors. The Chinese coast guard routinely engages in malign activities in the Western Pacific Ocean, and beyond, to assert China's claims to territory and natural resources. China has also been increasingly forceful in asserting territorial claims, and has land disputes with many of its neighbors, sometimes resulting in minor skirmishes. More than half of the worlds population lives in a country where free expression is in crisis, according to a new report. The downturn comes as dozens of countries in 2024 are scheduled to hold elections, and where Article 19, which published the report, has already documented efforts to restrict access to information. Overall, about 4.2 billion people, or 53% of the global population, live in countries where freedom of expression is in crisis, according to the report. And just over a fifth 23% lives in a country that is considered open or less restricted. Its not just bad. Its literally the worst that you could get in half of the world, Article 19s executive director, Quinn McKew, told VOA from London. The Global Expression Report shows a marked change from the last annual report, when Article 19 found 34% of the global population lived in countries where free expression is in crisis. Over the past decade, the free expression group has documented a worsening situation in 78 countries. To make its assessment, Article 19 analyzes 25 indicators, including the freedom of media, religion and academia. It then ranks countries and territories under the categories of open, less restricted, restricted, highly restricted and crisis. Now more than any other time this century, more people are living in places where free expression is in crisis, McKew said. That is particularly challenging because we know that freedom of expression is a necessary precursor for actually having true, open democracies, McKew said. With elections underway in several countries already this year, Article 19 has observed an increase in internet shutdowns, as well as a rise in state-backed propaganda campaigns intended to influence elections, according to McKew. The latter is leading to an overall pollution of the information environment, McKew said. Being a savvy information consumer during elections is critically important. Assaults on free expression in India are of particular concern, according to McKew. The country is nearing the end of its six-week-long national election period in which Indias Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third term. The staggered election runs until June 1, with votes set to be counted on June 4. Since Modi became prime minister in 2014, India has declined in 24 out of the 25 factors that Article 19 analyzes in its annual report. This year, India is classed in the report as Crisis. Crackdowns on critical journalists and news outlets in India underscore broader threats to free expression in the country of 1.4 billion people, McKew says. Her findings are backed by data from other watchdogs. Since Indias last general election, in 2019, a record number of journalists have been arrested or faced criminal charges, and several critical outlets have been targeted with raids over alleged fraud or tax evasion, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. India talks about itself being the worlds largest democracy, McKew said. How much longer will it be a democracy if it keeps undermining the one thing that is necessary to truly be considered a democracy in the world? Indias Washington embassy did not immediately reply to VOAs email requesting comment. Other countries that marked a decline since last years report include Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Moldova, Mongolia, Senegal and Togo. On a global scale, free expression is stagnant, the report found. But elections can also bring about positive effects for free expression, as shown by improvements made in Brazil following former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvas win over right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. Since Lula da Silva assumed the Brazilian presidency at the beginning of 2023, Brazils free expression score increased 26 points, according to Article 19. Improvements to journalist safety, for instance, helped the countrys free expression categorization move from restricted to open. Brazils example gives us hope that change is possible, Maria Trajan, who works at Article 19 Brazil, said in a statement. But its also a reminder that rights and freedoms must never be taken for granted the work to guarantee, strengthen and improve rights must always continue, she said. Beyond Brazil, other countries that improved over the last year include Fiji, Sri Lanka and Thailand. A Greek court dropped charges against nine Egyptian men who allegedly caused a shipwreck that killed hundreds of migrants last year. The fishing boat the Adriana, traveling from Libya, included up to 700 Pakistani, Syrian and Egyptian migrants who were destined for Italy. The boat capsized off the coast of Greece on June 14. With only 104 survivors and 82 bodies found, the Adrianas case is one of the deadliest boat accidents found in the Mediterranean Sea. The reason for the trawlers wreck remains unclear. Survivors say that an attempt to tow the boat by the Greek coast guard caused the capsize. Both the defendants lawyers and human rights groups have argued that the coast guard should be investigated further. The coast guard has claimed that those on board the Adriana did not accept help and that the coast guard did not have a role in the capsize. The defendants were accused of migrant smuggling, causing a shipwreck and being involved in a criminal organization. They spent 11 months in detention before the trial. At the trial, the defendants claimed that they did not participate in wrongdoing and their lawyers argued that the defendants were simply aiding migrants. The case was dropped within a few hours by Presiding Judge Eftichia Kontaratou. Public prosecutor Ekaterini Tsiron encouraged the dismissal since the boat capsized outside the territorial waters of Greece. It is not yet clear if another court will hear the case. The judges decision on Tuesday was met with celebrations by some. "Nine innocent men are walking free. Finally, after a huge struggle and pain, justice has been served," said Spyros Pantazis, one of the defendants lawyers, to Reuters. "I'm so happy that I just want to hug him and take him with me, said Dalia Abdel-Magid, the aunt of defendant Mohammed Emad Abdel-Magid. Just a few weeks after Russias full invasion of Ukraine, Moscow started to promote a website that claims to tell the truth about the war. War On Fakes was presented as a fact-checking resource where experts and journalists debunk the most "egregious" statements about Russia and the unprecedented stream of fake news about the war. In reality, however, War on Fakes is one of the main groups that push and promote false narratives through fake fact-checking. The purpose, say analysts, is to dispel or distract criticism of Russian policy or action and to flood people with misleading content. Fake fact-checking is an effective way of spreading state propaganda and disinformation, according to Roman Osadchuk of the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab). "War on Fakes," he told VOA, is not only a key source of disinformation but a site that aims to counter credible fact-check initiatives. Hundreds of independent fact-check sites have started up in recent years. Among the most reliable in countering Kremlin propaganda are the American website PolitiFact, the British site FullFact, and Ukraine-based StopFake. VOA also has its own version: Polygraph. But as these sites spread, authoritarian regimes use the language of fact checking to try to discredit critics or justify repression. They are trying to undermine the basis of this tool as an objective presentation of information, said Osadchuk. This harms many media workers and researchers in the world, making their work more difficult. Osadchuk cited a fake analysis that sought to discredit photographic evidence of Russian war crimes in the Ukrainian city of Bucha as a classic example of how these sites seek to change the narrative. A 2022 U.N. report and multiple independent news groups in 2022 detailed the killings of civilians by Russian troops in Bucha, and a February 2024 UN report said more than 10,000 Ukrainian civilians were killed in the first two years of Russias full-scale invasion. War on Fakes seeks to discredit that evidence. They were publishing their forged analysis ... claiming that Russian troops left the city before bodies of the killed people appeared on the streets," said Osadchuk. Eva Maitland of the U.S.-based disinformation research site NewsGuard has also seen a growth in fake fact checks. She cites false narratives around an attack on the Moscow Crocus City Hall concert in March, when gunmen killed more than 140 people and set fire to the building. The militant group Islamic State, also known as IS, ISIS and ISIL, later claimed responsibility. Russia and Russian media said that the ISIS statement taking responsibility for the attack was false, and it was a fabricated ISIS statement, she told VOA. Martin Innes, director of Cardiff Universitys Crime and Security Research Institute, says authoritarian states have "a long tradition of using fact-checking methods as part of their propaganda efforts." When the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned in Britain in 2018, the Russian disinformation machine supported Moscow by reinforcing the governments denials and seeking to deflect attention from the allegations. But, says Innes, false fact-checking has been more institutionalized since February 2022. For example, War on Fakes became a brand, he said. Maitland believes the aim is to oversaturate the information space with contradictory information, so that audiences no longer know what to believe. And while the main audience is inside Russia, experts say that the number of languages in which fake fact checks appear are an indication that they also want to reach an international audience. War on Fakes, for example, started with a Russian Telegram channel, said Osadchuk, adding that it also posts in English, Spanish, German, French, Chinese and Arabic. So, they aim not only at the Russian audience, but also at a wider audience," said Osadchuk. Experts also say the Kremlin has developed a massive industry to debunk accusations against Russia. These false narratives are then shared by officials, ministries, embassies, state-run media outlets, and on social media. The Kremlin has dismissed claims it spreads disinformation, accusing the West instead of engaging in "information terrorism." Russia is competing for those people who are sympathetic to their worldview and their narratives and who might give their kind of version of reality some degree of credence, said Innes. Its efforts to undermine Western and credible fact-check sites, however, can run into problems. An August 2022 PolitiFact study found that "War on Fakes" publishes "so many false claims that they sometimes contradict each other." This story originated in VOA's Ukrainian Service. U.N. agencies report Russias escalating military offensive in Ukraines Kharkiv region over the past two weeks is causing an alarming spike in humanitarian needs as deaths and injuries grow and thousands flee in the wake of relentless aerial attacks on civilian and energy infrastructure. Over 14,000 people have been displaced in a matter of days, and nearly 189,000 more still reside within 25 kilometers of the border with the Russian Federation, facing significant risks due to the ongoing fighting, Jarno Habicht, World Health Organization representative in Ukraine said. Speaking from the capital Kyiv, he told journalists in Geneva Tuesday that Russias escalating hostilities are having widespread harmful ramifications throughout the country. Homes and civilian infrastructure are being badly damaged, and people across Ukraine, including here in Kyiv are facing electricity shortages as a result of attacks on critical power facilities, he said noting that a major missile strike Sunday on the outskirts of Kharkiv caused 11 deaths and many injuries, including a paramedic. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, reports that children, first responders and health personnel, are among the multiple casualties. Citing reports from authorities and humanitarian workers on the ground, OCHA said that Attacks in eastern and southern Ukraine over the weekend caused scores of civilian casualties and damage to homes and civilian infrastructure. The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, also expresses alarm about accelerating attacks by Russian forces in the northeastern Kharkiv region, which is prolonging and exacerbating an already dire situation. UNHCR spokesperson, Shabia Mantoo noted that in the past week, Ukrainian authorities with the help of volunteers and humanitarian organizations have evacuated more than 10,300 people from their villages in Kharkiv regions border areas. The majority of the evacuees, who had to escape their homes with only a few belongings, are already highly vulnerable and include mainly older people and those with low mobility or disabilities who were not able to flee earlier. Psychologists with whom UNHCR partners report that as a consequence, many are suffering from acute stress, she said noting that a transit center has been set up by authorities and humanitarian organizations in Kharkiv city to provide basic relief, psychosocial, legal, and other aid to the internally displaced. Mantoo adds that more people continue to flee from front-line communities in Donetsk, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson towards central and western regions. UNHCR is concerned that conditions in Kharkiv Ukraines second largest city, which is already hosting some 200,000 internally displaced people could become even more difficult if the ground offense and relentless aerial attacks continue, she said. The World Health Organization shares these concerns. Since Russias invasion more than two years ago, WHO has verified 1,682 attacks on health care in Ukraine, resulting in 128 deaths and 288 injuries of medical personnel and patients. It reports, on average, 200 ambulances per year are damaged or destroyed in shelling attacks. That is a tremendous loss, depriving the Ukrainian people of urgent care, said Habicht. With the worsening security situation, humanitarian needs in the region are growing exponentially. The conflict has significantly increased the number of trauma patients. We are currently funding critical care teams and ambulances to support emergency medical services, he said. Anticipating the possible escalation of hostilities, Habicht said the WHO has prepositioned more than 22 metric tons of medical supplies enough for 50,000 people for treatment of acute trauma, surgical interventions and chronic disease management. Additionally, he said the WHO has trained 120 medical professionals in Kharkiv region in mass casualty response, including the management of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear incidents. While saying that he personally did not believe that these dangerous substances are likely to be used or inadvertently discharged in the current conflict, he cautioned that In health, we have learned that we have to be ready for any risk. The bigger problem, he said, is that of funding. He noted that the United Nations $3.1 billion appeal to provide lifesaving humanitarian assistance for 8.5 million people inside Ukraine this year is only 23% funded. The UNHCR is running into a similar problem in that the agency has received only 16 percent of its $1.1. billion appeal targeting 2.3 million refugees and the five communities hosting them. The funding situation is very alarming. We are concerned about the levels of funding for this humanitarian crisis. The war is prolonging. So, we also know that the needs will accrue. We have got winter approaching. It seems far off, but we need to start planning now and make arrangements. More and more people are fleeing their homes that do not have shelter, she said. The UNHCR Official observed that the damage inflicted by Russian forces to Ukraines energy facilities will significantly increase the need for humanitarian assistance during the cold season. As Irans Islamist rulers observe five days of mourning for the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a Sunday helicopter crash in the countrys northwest, many Iranians who oppose the Islamic Republic have been celebrating Raisis demise at home, abroad and on social media. Raisi, who died in the crash at age 63, was reviled by opponents of Irans authoritarian Islamist government for his pivotal role as a prosecutor who ordered mass killings of political prisoners in 1988 and for using his presidential powers to violently suppress a womens rights protest movement that erupted nationwide in late 2022 and continued into 2023. Videos received by VOAs Persian service on Monday and deemed credible appear to show people in different regions of Iran sharing sweets and chocolates to celebrate Raisis death. In one video sent to VOA Persian TV host Masih Alinejad and published by her on social media, a woman whose face is not shown carries a tray of sweet pastries in a public park and offers them to another woman whom she approaches nearby. In the ensuing brief conversation, one woman jokes about wanting to know the occasion for the pastries, while the other says they both know the occasion, in an apparent cryptic reference to Raisis death. VOA cannot independently verify the circumstances of the celebratory videos as it is barred from reporting inside Iran. Iranian opponents of the Islamic Republic in the diaspora engaged in more open celebratory activities outside Iranian diplomatic missions in major European cities on Monday. Videos posted to social media and shared with VOA Persian showed Iranians dancing to music in London, Copenhagen, The Hague, and Hamburg. The Islamic Republics Iranian critics also flooded social media with sarcasm and mockery of Raisi and his allies, using the Persian hashtag helicotlet, a combination of the words helicopter and cutlet. Many Iranian social media users opposed to Islamist rule celebrated the 2020 killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. missile strike in Baghdad by referring to him as a cutlet. The head of Irans cyber police warned against that type of social media activity Monday, saying "we are carefully monitoring cyberspace" and advising citizens that "in the current sensitive situation" they should "refrain" from publishing content that "provokes" public sentiments. VOAs Persian service contributed to this report. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Joe Biden denounce ICC charges of war crimes against Israel. A look at the changing fortunes of Egypt following October 7th. The US and European allies pledge more military aid for Ukraine as humanitarian conditions worsen and the world reacts to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisis death. A rural Michigan community has lost its bid to block a major electric vehicle battery maker from building a factory in Michigan, a state that has welcomed Chinese investment for decades. Gotion Inc. had established a development deal with the board of Green Charter Township. U.S. District Judge Jane Beckering, in a preliminary injunction Friday, ruled that the townships agreement with Gotion remains valid. Chuck Thelen, Gotions vice president of North American manufacturing, told The Detroit News that Gotion is ready to work with the township to move the project forward. However, the board members who approved the arrangement have now been voted out of office and replaced by anti-Gotions. Were just disappointed at this time, Green Charter Township Supervisor Jason Kruse, told The Detroit News, adding that there has been no decision about filing an appeal. Gotions deal with the township is set to create 2,350 jobs generated by a $2.34 billion investment that many see as a way to secure the economic future of the township, a rural enclave just over a three-hour drive northwest from Detroit, the auto industry hub. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and other state officials support the agreement. The townships residents are objecting to a U.S. company with Chinese affiliations setting up shop some 100 miles from a National Guard base, a distrust that mirrors the current state of U.S.-China relations, and suspicions that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will have an office in the plant, a rumor that Thelen denied last year at an meeting at a local high school. In June, the U.S. Treasury Departments Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which reviews foreign investments for national security risks, concluded that Gotion's purchase of land for an EV battery plant wasnt a security issue. On Aug. 1, Gotion, the U.S. subsidiary of the Chinese battery company Gotion High Tech Co. Ltd., received authorization from Green Charter Township to set up a plant. Gotion filed suit after the townships new board rescinded an agreement that would extend water to the factory site from the city of Big Rapids and also voted to drop support for the project. Last year, residents also expressed concerns about the daily 715,000 gallons of water the plant would use in manufacturing to produce cathodes and anodes for EV batteries. The water that we use never even comes in contact with the materials we process. If you get these materials wet, you destroy the material, Thelen said at that meeting at the local high school, according to a news report. So, no, we will not be pumping materials, minerals or chemicals into the water. Green Charter Township is a self-governing entity of 3,000 people within the Michigan city of Big Rapids. The median household income for the township is $53,882, according to 2020 U.S. Census data, which is lower than Michigans median income of $64,392 and the U.S. national median of $76,521. VOAs Calla Yu contributed to this report. Airport officials in Bangkok said a 73-year-old British passenger died and at least 30 others were injured Tuesday when a London to Singapore flight experienced severe turbulence and was forced to land in Thailand. In a statement posted to social media, Singapore Airlines said flight SQ321 departed Londons Heathrow Airport late Monday. The flight encountered severe turbulence from thunderstorms and was diverted to Bangkok. The flight was carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members, the airline said. During a news conference at Bangkoks Suvarnabhumi Airport, General Manager Kittipong Kittikachorn told reporters 30 people were injured, seven critically, and 23 with what he described as medium injuries, including a flight attendant. The injured were taken to a Bangkok hospital. The official said the deceased man is believed to have died from a heart attack. His name was not immediately released. Singapore Airlines did not say at what point the injuries and death took place, but a passenger who spoke to Reuters news service said turbulence led to those not wearing seat belts hitting overhead cabins. Pictures and video taken by passengers on the aircraft shared with media show emergency oxygen masks deployed from the ceiling, and video monitors and parts of the plane's interior appear to be torn off. Data from the website FlightRadar 24 indicates roughly 11 hours into the flight, as it crossed the Andaman Sea and approached Thailand, the aircraft sharply dropped from an altitude of some 11,300 meters to about 9,400 meters in three to five minutes. The flight landed in Bangkok a short time later. The incident came as strong thunderstorms hit parts of Thailand as the regions rainy season gets under way. The airline said it is working with local authorities in Thailand to provide necessary medical assistance and is sending a team to Bangkok to provide additional help. In a statement on his Facebook page, Singapore's transport minister, Chee Hong Tat, said the government would provide assistance to passengers and their families. "I am deeply saddened to learn about the incident onboard Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London Heathrow to Singapore," he said. Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. The United Nations has suspended food distribution in Rafah, on the Gaza Strips southern border, due to depleted supplies and insecurity. Stephane Dujarric, a U.N. spokesperson, said Tuesday the distribution centers of the World Food Program and UNRWA, the agency for Palestinian refugees, are inaccessible because of the ongoing military operation in Rafah. About 1.1 million people face high levels of hunger, the U.N. said. The Rafah crossing into Egypt, once the main entrance for aid, has been closed since May 6, and no aid trucks have crossed the U.S.-built floating pier in two days, the U.N. said. A WFP spokesperson said the humanitarian operations in Gaza are near collapse. Abeer Etefa warned that if food and other supplies dont resume entering Gaza in massive quantities, famine-like conditions will spread. In addition, UNRWA said its health centers have not received medical supplies in 10 days, but its health care staff still conducts medical consultations at its centers that remain open. Meanwhile, the head of the World Health Organization said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza has been "under siege since 19 May, with no one allowed to leave or enter. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that 22 patients, their companions and 148 hospital staff are still trapped inside. The medical staff at al-Awda reported a sniper attack on the building Monday. An artillery rocket hit the fifth floor where the administration office is located, but there were no injuries. The WHO chief called for humanitarian access to the hospital and an immediate cease-fire. A senior Washington administration official briefing reporters on Tuesday said there are now multiple crossing points for aid to come into Gaza, including through the humanitarian sea corridor where aid is inspected in Cyprus and delivered straight to the Israeli port of Ashdod without additional inspection there. "We're looking to flood in [aid] as much as possible. And then it is up to a number of groups inside Gaza to do the distribution in various ways," the official said. He noted the need to coordinate deconfliction and convoys encountering armed elements that "self-distribute" humanitarian assistance. Seven killed in West Bank raid Israeli forces carried out a deadly raid Tuesday in the occupied West Bank and battled Hamas militants in the southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian health officials said Israeli forces killed seven people during the raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, and the head of the Jenin Governmental Hospital said one of those killed was a surgical doctor. The Israeli military reported an operation targeting militants and said its forces shot a number of fighters. Fighting in Gaza Israeli ground troops and aircraft were involved in fighting in Rafah, while troops also battled militants in central and northern Gaza, the military said. At least five people were killed in Rafah, residents said. International court seeks arrest warrants Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant rejected a move by the International Criminal Courts top prosecutor to seek arrest warrants for Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Gallant issued a statement Tuesday calling the application for arrest warrants against him and Netanyahu disgraceful. "The attempt by Prosecutor Karim Khan to deny the State of Israel the right to self-defense and to free its hostages must be rejected out of hand," Gallant said in a post on X. Khan announced Monday he is seeking the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, along with three Hamas leaders in Gaza, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the Israel-Hamas war. Netanyahu said Monday the prosecutors move was a moral outrage of historic proportions. U.S. President Joe Biden denounced what he called the ICC prosecutors decision to equate Hamas terror attacks and civilian abductions in southern Israel with Israels military practices in Gaza. The International Criminal Court prosecutor's application for arrest warrants for Israeli leaders is "outrageous," Biden said in a statement Monday. "And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence none between Israel and Hamas," Biden said. Hamas, which is designated by the U.S., the U.K. and other countries as a terrorist organization, also denounced the ICC prosecutor's decision and accused him of trying to equate the victim with the executioner. Israel's war in Gaza was triggered by the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of about 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials. Israels subsequent counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 35,500 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which includes civilians and combatants in its count but says most of the dead are women and children. Israel says it has killed more than 14,000 militants and around 16,000 civilians. More than 900,000 people about 40% of Gazas population have been displaced during the past two weeks, including some 812,000 people from Rafah and more than 100,000 others in northern Gaza, said U.N. spokesperson Dujarric during a news briefing Monday. He said that more than 75% of the Gaza Strip some 285 square kilometers (110 square miles) is under evacuation orders amid escalating hostilities. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. Colombian guerrilla fighters killed two police officers and two other people Monday in separate gun and bomb attacks that injured at least seven in the country's troubled southwest, officials said. Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez pinned an attack in the town of Morales, in the Cauca department, on Central General Staff (EMC) rebels who had rejected a peace deal the FARC Marxist guerrilla group signed with the government in 2016. EMC militants opened fire and set off cylinder bombs at a police station in Morales, killing two officers and two other people in the prison holding cells in what Velasquez labeled a "terrorist attack." Three other officers were injured. The army said it had sent 100 soldiers to the town, where Police Director William Salamanca said more explosive devices have been found in the streets. Agence France-Presse (AFP) observed the police station in ruins, with multiple bullet marks in its facade an image reminiscent of the deadly raids of the now-extinct FARC in the 1990s. "It was two hours of anguish," a Morales resident who asked not to be named, told AFP. Velasquez traveled at the request of President Gustavo Petro to Popayan, capital of the Cauca department, where he said officials had reported "harassment" by guerrillas in several other towns as well. Petro described the situation in Cauca as "unacceptable." "We will not tolerate the continued terrorization of the population with terrorist attacks," he wrote on X. In the neighboring department of Valle del Cauca to the north, a motorcycle loaded with explosives was detonated, injuring four people, including three children, officials there reported. The two departments are a hotbed of activity by EMC fighters under the control of guerrilla leader Ivan Mordisco, who quit the peace process in April after a split within the group, which had united some 3,500 combatants. The government has since launched an offensive against Mordisco's forces while continuing negotiations with the other faction. A Russian court on Monday opened the trial of a theater director and a playwright accused of advocating terrorism in a play, the latest step in an unrelenting crackdown on dissent in Russia that has reached new heights since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine. Zhenya Berkovich, a prominent independent theater director, and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk have been jailed for over a year. Authorities claim their play "Finist, the Brave Falcon" justifies terrorism, which is a criminal offense in Russia punishable by up to seven years in prison. Berkovich and Petriychuk have both repeatedly rejected the accusations against them. Berkovich told the court on Monday that she staged the play in order to prevent terrorism, and Petriychuk echoed her sentiment, saying that she wrote it in order to prevent events like those depicted in the play. The women's lawyers have pointed out at court hearings before the trial that the play was supported by the Russian Culture Ministry and won the Golden Mask award, Russia's most prestigious national theater award. In 2019, the play was read to inmates of a women's prison in Siberia, and Russia's state penitentiary service praised it on its website, Petriychuk's lawyer has said. Southern African leaders have launched a $5.5 billion humanitarian aid appeal as the region faces acute grain shortages due to El Nino-induced droughts. Leaders from the regions bloc, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), met Monday to deliberate on the crisis following widespread drought and flooding that has left millions without enough to eat. In a communique released after the virtual meeting, leaders from 15 SADC member states agreed to launch an appeal to help affected populations. The leaders said the SADC Regional Humanitarian Appeal will augment domestic resources in response to the impact of El Nino weather patterns. El Nino resulted in warmer and drier conditions, leading to record-breaking droughts across the region in 2023 and the beginning of 2024. SADC executive secretary Elias Magosi said the humanitarian appeal will be revised in August as more member states finalize their assessments on the impact of El Nino and look toward an expected change to the La Nina weather pattern later this year. "Summit called member states to be proactive and strengthen anticipatory action programs to mitigate climate risks such as the La Nina phenomenon, which is projected for the 2024-2025 season, Magosi said. Magosi said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Food and Agriculture Organization have pledged a combined $43 million toward the humanitarian appeal. Angolan President Joao Lourenco, who chaired the Monday meeting, appealed to the international community to respond. This is a very important step taken by the organization (SADC) by launching this humanitarian appeal and we hope that there will be good feedback on the part of the international community of support to help us overcome this difficult moment that the region is facing," Lourenco said. El Nino has resulted in widespread crop failure within Southern Africa and has resulted in national emergency declarations in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Spain has removed its ambassador to Buenos Aires, saying the action is permanent. The decision Tuesday followed a reported derogatory remark made by Argentine President Javier Milei about Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchezs wife. The right-wing libertarian Milei reportedly made comments about Sanchezs wife, Begona Gomez, at a rally in Madrid organized by Vox, a far-right political party. Gomez had faced a court investigation after accusations of influence peddling and business corruption were made by the activist group Manos Limpias for allegedly using her influence to obtain sponsors to pay for a university course. "We have no interest in nor desire for any escalation, but it's the government's obligation to defend the dignity and sovereignty of Spanish institutions, especially when the aggression occurs in the capital of Spain, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said to reporters on the decision to remove the ambassador. In addition to criticizing Gomez, Milei also criticized the Spanish governments socialist system at the rally, claiming that it could create levels of abuse. "What's happening is literally a folly typical of an arrogant socialist, who personally took a comment that didn't contain any names as an allusion and nonsensically decided to go for a diplomatic escalation, so it's Pedro Sanchez's problem," Milei said after the rally in an interview. The recent diplomatic tension could have a larger impact on the business world, particularly for Spanish companies that invest $15 billion a year in Argentina. Only surpassed by U.S. business investment, Spanish companies are Argentinas second largest investors. Some information in this report was provided by Reuters and AFP. The New York criminal trial of Donald Trump, the first ever of a U.S. president, is fast nearing its end, with one of his lawyers signaling Monday that Trump wouldn't take the witness stand to defend himself. The prosecution rested its case in the sixth week of the trial after the 12-member jury heard hours more testimony from its most significant witness, Trumps onetime political fixer, Michael Cohen. Cohen acknowledged over four days on the witness stand that he had been a serial liar and had stolen $60,000 from Trumps real estate conglomerate. Cohen also implicated Trump in the deal at the center of the allegations against the former president - a $130,000 hush money payment Cohen said he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels at Trumps behest just before the 2016 election. The objective of the payment, he said, was to hide her claim of a one-night sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier to keep it from voters as they headed to the polls. A short time after Cohens testimony ended, the Trump defense called Robert Costello, a New York lawyer, to the witness stand for testimony buttressing its contention that Cohen is not to be believed. Trump lawyer Emil Bove said the defense did not expect to call any more witnesses after Costello finishes testifying Tuesday morning. Closing arguments in the case could occur May 28, with the jury then deciding Trumps fate. Trump has long said he would testify but apparently was talked out of it by his lawyers. Trump has denied Daniels claim he had a liaison with her and the entirety of the 34-count indictment against him. Over years in the public eye, both as a real estate magnate and a politician, Trump has waxed and waned in his views about whether criminal defendants should testify, at times saying they look guilty as hell if they dont defend themselves, and at other times saying they should exercise their constitutional right against self-incrimination. Trump would have faced a tough cross-examination by prosecutors, who have accused him of falsifying business records about his repayment to Cohen for the hush money he paid to Daniels. The presiding judge, New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, had already ruled that prosecutors also would have been allowed to ask Trump about two civil cases he lost in the last few months in which he was ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. One involved business fraud at his Trump Organization real estate conglomerate and the other his defamation of a New York writer who had won a sexual assault decision against him. Meanwhile, as the court session ended Monday, in a routine request by defense attorneys at the end of the prosecutions case that's seldom granted, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche asked Merchan to dismiss the case altogether because of Cohens testimony. "You want me to take it out of the jurys hands and decide before it even gets to the jury, that as a matter of law, this person is so not worthy of belief?" Merchan asked Blanche. "We didn't just catch him in a lie, your honor, he came in here with a history of lying," Blanche responded. "You said his lies are irrefutable," Merchan said to the attorney. "But you think hes going to fool 12 New Yorkers?" The judge said he would rule Tuesday morning. Evidence in the trial shows that Trump repaid the money to Cohen in 2017 after he became president, personally signing nine of the checks. Trump is accused of falsifying his business records to claim that the repayment to Cohen was for his legal work. But Cohen said that was a fig leaf for the real purpose paying him back for the hush money to Daniels he paid out of his home equity line of credit. Cohen alleged that Trump twice approved the arrangement to pay him back, including once at his Trump Tower in New York and a second time in the Oval Office at the White House after he became president. Blanche never questioned Cohen about the two crucial conversations he claimed to have had with Trump about the reimbursement scheme. Costello, who advised Cohen in 2018 but was never hired after federal agents raided Cohen's home at the time, a New York hotel room, testified that Cohen was "absolutely manic" about his legal predicament, even suicidal. He said that Cohen swore to him that Trump was not involved in the hush money payments to Daniels. "I swear to God, Bob, I dont have anything on Donald Trump, Cohen said, according to Costello. "Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments. That he did this on his own. He repeated that numerous times," Costello said. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger objected frequently to the questions posed by Trumps defense, and Merchan sustained the objections, to Costellos annoyance. Costello said ridiculous after one objection was sustained, said Jesus! after another, and rolled his eyes and sighed at a third. Merchan finally had had enough of Costellos side comments from the witness stand and sent the jury and news reporters out of the courtroom while he lectured Costello on his lack of decorum. Earlier in the day, Cohen, under sharp questioning by Blanche, admitted to stealing $60,000 from the future presidents real estate conglomerate as part of the hush money reimbursement because he felt Trump had cheated him on the amount of his year-end bonus in 2016. In all, Cohen said the reimbursement deal with Trump came to $420,000 $130,000 for the money he paid Daniels; another $50,000 he was supposed to pay to Red Finch, a technology firm hired to rig a poll to show Trump was a highly rated businessman; a doubling of those amounts to $360,000 to cover his tax obligations; and a $60,000 year-end bonus for 2016. But Cohen acknowledged to Blanche that he paid only $20,000 to Red Finch in cash in a brown paper bag while claiming to a Trump company official he had paid $50,000. That amounted, he conceded, to a $30,000 theft, doubled to $60,000 by the time the company accounted for the taxes he would likely owe. "So, you stole from the Trump Organization?" Blanche asked. "Yes, sir, Cohen said. Cohen later explained to prosecutor Hoffinger, "I was angered because of the reduction in the [size of his normal] bonus, and so I just felt it was almost like self-help to stake his claim to the extra money as he worked out the terms of the overall $420,000 reimbursement with Allen Weisselberg, then the Trump Organizations chief financial officer. Weisselberg is now serving a five-month perjury sentence for lying in a previous Trump-related civil trial and is not expected to testify at the current criminal trial. But Cohen also again testified that the $420,000 he was paid had nothing to do with legal services for Trump, the crux of the criminal charges the former president is facing. Even as news of the hush money payment became public in early 2018, Cohen said he continued to lie it about to media outlets, saying that none of it came from the Trump Organization or the Trump campaign and that Trump did not know about it. The misleading statements were made to shield Trump personally, he said. The 57-year-old Cohen, however, is a flawed witness for the prosecution. He pleaded guilty to a campaign finance law violation in connection with the hush money payment to Daniels, perjury for lying to a congressional panel and tax offenses. He served 13 months in a federal prison and another year and a half in home confinement. Since then, he has often assailed Trump and testified last week he wanted Trump convicted. If Trump is found guilty, he could be placed on probation or sentenced to up to four years in prison. Britain's government said Tuesday that thousands of victims of the U.K.'s decades-long infected blood scandal will start receiving final compensation payments this year. The scandal, which lasted between the 1970s and the early 1990s, is seen as the deadliest episode to burden Britain's state-run National Health Service since its establishment in 1948. Around 3,000 people died after receiving contaminated blood products and being infected with HIV and hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver. More than 30,000 people were given blood treatments with contaminated blood. A final report on the U.K.'s infected blood inquiry was published Monday. It found civil servants and doctors exposed patients to "unacceptable risks" by giving them tainted blood and successive British governments attempted to cover up the scandal. British Cabinet Office Minister John Glen said Tuesday that many victims will receive a further interim compensation of $267,000 within three months. He added that family and friends who cared for infected victims are also eligible to claim compensation. "I know that time is of the essence, which is why I am also pleased to say that they will be delivered within 90 days, starting in the summer so that they can reach those who need it so urgently most," Glen told lawmakers. Officials made initial interim payments in 2022 of $127,000 to each victim and bereaved partner. Des Collins, a lawyer representing more than 1,500 victims, said many families have not received any payments and don't have information on how to claim the payments promised to the estates of victims who died. "We will pay comprehensive compensation to those infected and those affected by scandal," British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Monday in the House of Commons. Glen said there was "no restriction" on the total cost of the compensation package but did not confirm the total cost. "Whatever it costs to deliver this scheme, we will pay it," Sunak said. Some information for this story came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. In his nightly video address on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again made a plea for the immediate arrival of weapons as his country continues its battle to beat back Russia. While some countries, including the U.S., have promised weapons and other military equipment, their arrival in Ukraine has been slow. Zelenskyy, who met with his defense officials earlier in the day, said it is imperative that countries supporting Ukraine understand the means of destruction that are needed at the front right now, in these weeks, not sometime in the summer. Meanwhile, Russia has begun practical training in the preparation and use of nonstrategic nuclear weapons, its Defense Ministry said Tuesday. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the drills earlier this month in "response to provocative statements and threats by Western officials, the ministry said. French President Emmanuel Macron has said NATO should not rule out deploying troops to Ukraine, while British Foreign Minister David Cameron has said Ukraine has the right to fire Western missiles into Russian territory. The drills are being conducted in Russias southern military district, which borders Ukraine and also includes parts of Ukraine that Russia claims it has annexed. The Russian Defense Ministry said the training is designed to test the readiness of personnel and equipment of nonstrategic nuclear weapons combat units to respond and to unconditionally ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state. It was not immediately clear if any test firings have occurred. The West has accused Putin of irresponsible nuclear saber-rattling. Nonstrategic nuclear weapons, also known as tactical, are less powerful than strategic nuclear weapons, but they also have the capacity to wield devastating destruction. The governor of Ukraines Kharkiv region said Tuesday the area was under Russian bombardment all night, while Ukraines military said the countrys air defenses shot down 28 of 29 Russian drones launched at multiple Ukrainian regions. Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said falling debris from destroyed drones damaged several houses and injured at least three people. Serhiy Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said falling drone debris damaged commercial buildings. The latest attacks came after Zelenskyy again appealed to allies to better equip Ukraine with air defense systems and new combat aircraft. Unfortunately, the free world still lacks efficiency in these two tasks, Zelenskyy said. But we still have a perspective and promising work with several partners and we are doing everything to make sure that the day comes as soon as possible when we can add the power of Patriots [air-defense batteries] to our eastern regions, our cities such as Kharkiv, Sumy and others. Russias Defense Ministry said Tuesday its air defenses destroyed a guided missile and two aerial drones over the Belgorod region, and another drone over the Kursk region. Vyacheslav Gladkov, the regional governor of Belgorod, said a Ukrainian drone attack hit a car, killing at least one person. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and at least 50 other defense leaders from Europe and around the world met Monday to coordinate military support to Ukraine as it battles a renewed onslaught from Russia in the Kharkiv region. Austin said Mondays meeting came at a moment of challenge and promised to move U.S. weapons to Ukraine week after week. The U.S. Congress and President Joe Biden approved a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine in late April after political gridlock largely stalled shipments to help Ukraines military for months. Russia during that time intensified its invasion of Ukraine, especially with its campaign in Kharkiv. Austin said Monday the latest U.S. aid package would help Ukraine in Kharkiv and other areas facing Russian pressure. We've already delivered many of Ukraine's top-priority requirements, and much more assistance is on the way. That includes additional munitions for NASAMS and Patriot air-defense systems, more HIMARS systems and ammunition, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, and Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems, Austin said. This package also includes armored vehicles, and that's essential for Ukraine's work to reconstitute its arsenal. Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. A senior U.N. humanitarian official said Monday that more than 800,000 Palestinians have been displaced from the southern Gaza city of Rafah since Israel began its ground offensive there two weeks ago. Today, the once overcrowded camps and emergency shelters in Rafah have now largely emptied, with the majority of the displaced seeking refuge in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah, Edem Wosornu, U.N. director of operations and advocacy for the office of humanitarian affairs, told a meeting of the Security Council on the situation. She said the conditions at the displacement sites they are arriving at are horrendous, lacking adequate toilets, clean water, sewage and shelter. These appalling conditions leave serious doubt as to the compliance with these basic obligations. Wosornu said the United Nations and its partners are struggling to offer the displaced assistance, because they cannot get supplies into Gaza at the scale required. Israels envoy said it is truly terrible that civilians in Rafah have to be evacuated, but the move should be supported, not condemned. They have moved to a designated humanitarian zone that is being filled with aid, Ambassador Gilad Erdan told the council of the Israeli-designated sites. And our hope is for many more civilians to leave Rafah and move out of harms way. He said Israel is advancing its military operation in Gaza slowly and carefully to avoid civilian casualties, but that the operation must be done. Otherwise, he said, Israel would be granting immunity to the remaining Hamas terrorists in Rafah. The Palestinian envoy accused Israel of ignoring international calls to spare Rafah and of forcibly displacing its population. People were forcibly displaced time and time again in horrific conditions, Riyad Mansour said. They are being displaced yet again by the hundreds of thousands, with nowhere to go, nowhere to stay, nowhere to be safe dragging what remains of their lives, confronted with death all around them, abandoned to this terrifying fate. The Security Council, the United States and many other countries have urged Israel not to enter Rafah because of the likelihood of high civilian casualties. Ambassador Robert Wood reiterated Washingtons ironclad commitment to Israels security but said despite clear and consistent warnings from the U.S. and others, Israels preparations to meet the needs of the displaced are insufficient. Israel should take immediate and decisive actions to remedy this situation and ensure protection of civilians, Wood said. There must be no delay. Lives depend on it. Aid crossings Wood said that included immediately reopening the Rafah border crossing. As of Monday, the main humanitarian crossing at Rafah remained closed. The Israel Defense Forces took it over on May 7, a day after launching its ground operation into eastern Rafah, and no aid trucks have crossed it since. The U.N.s Wosornu said 82,000 metric tons of food and medical supplies are stranded and spoiling on the Egyptian side of the border, waiting to cross. The Kerem Shalom crossing is operational, but Wosornu said there is only limited access. While a new crossing into the north, known as Erez West or Zikim, is now being used for limited quantities of aid, humanitarians are not sure how much longer it can be used, since it falls within the vicinity of recent Israeli evacuation orders. Wosornu noted that 10 of 16 U.N.-supported bakeries will run out of stock and fuel within days if no additional supplies come in. She said another six in southern Gaza have stopped working, either because of fuel shortages or active fighting. Meanwhile, a $320 million U.S.-funded and -constructed floating pier off Gaza began receiving aid on Thursday, but only 10 truckloads have come through it since Saturday, a U.N. spokesperson said. Fuel supplies also remain dangerously low, limiting the movement of aid convoys. Humanitarian assistance into Gaza is particularly urgent, as the U.N. says 1.1 million Palestinians face catastrophic levels of hunger and parts of Gaza are on the brink of famine. The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. The United States reassured Ukraine on Monday that it would continue providing Kyiv with support to counter the Russian offensive. But on the ground, analysts warn the humanitarian crisis is deepening. Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday that U.S. and European leaders must address Chinas industrial policies that pose a threat to clean energy industries worldwide. Chinese industrial capacity is currently leading to production that significantly exceeds global demand in key sectors, including electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and solar, she said during a speech in Frankfurt. Yellen said she and U.S. President Joe Biden will take action to protect workers and firms in strategic sectors. China's industrial policy may seem remote as we sit here in this room, but if we do not respond strategically and in a united way, the viability of businesses in both our countries and around the world could be at risk, Yellen said in the German city. Yellen warned Chinese officials in April that the United States would not accept an excess production of underpriced goods flooding global markets. "We've seen this story before," Yellen told reporters last month. "Over a decade ago, massive PRC government support led to below-cost Chinese steel that flooded the global market and decimated industries across the world and in the United States." She added that Biden would not accept that reality again. The Biden administration announced last week new tariffs on Chinese strategic industries, including steel, solar, electric vehicles and battery parts. "We want to see healthy green technology sectors, from innovative start-ups to green manufacturing factories, in the United States, Europe and around the world, not just in China," Yellen said. Some information for this story came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stirred controversy with his anti-Muslim remarks since Indians began casting ballots in the country's parliamentary elections last month. But it's not just Modi trafficking in controversial rhetoric about Muslims; top members of his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been echoing similar sentiment as the party seeks a historic third term in power. In the four weeks since the polls opened on April 19, Hindutva Watch, a U.S.-based watchdog, has documented hundreds of campaign rallies featuring the BJP's "star campaigners" and candidates delivering incendiary speeches targeting Muslims. Hindutva Watch founder Raqib Hameed Naik said that in addition to Modi, the party's list of prominent campaigners includes Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP National President Jagat Prakash Nadda and the chief ministers of several large states. Hindutva refers to the BJP's Hindu nationalist ideology. "They're the ones at the core of the entire thing," Naik said in an interview with VOA. Largest election in world India's six-week election, considered the largest of its kind in the world, pits the BJP against a broad coalition of opposition parties. Voting runs until June 1, and the results will be announced on June 4. Modi sparked a firestorm on April 21 when he warned supporters that if the opposition Indian National Congress came to power, it would redistribute India's wealth among "infiltrators" and "those who have more children." The word "infiltrator," once used for Bengali refugees, is often employed by right-wing Hindu nationalists to label all of India's 200 million Muslims as outsiders. Muslims are sometimes called "child breeders," a baseless stereotype used to fan demographic fears. Understood in this context, Modi's comments were panned by opposition parties and civil rights groups. But in the weeks since, they've been picked up and echoed by other BJP politicians in what experts call the "elite effect." Naik, an exiled Kashmiri Muslim journalist, founded Hindutva Watch in 2021. In the years since, it has emerged as a respected repository of hate speech and hate crime in India, its work cited by mainstream news outlets. Though Hindutva has documented nearly 3,000 instances of hate speech and hate crime, Naik said the election-related vitriol seen this year is without precedent. "I have never seen this kind of inflammatory, hateful election campaign at the national level targeting Muslim minorities," Naik said. Spokespeople for the BJP in New Delhi and the Indian Embassy in Washington did not respond to repeated email requests for comment. VOA has reached out to the BJP's U.S. lobbying arm for comment. Last week, Modi sought to address the controversy over his "infiltrators" remark. Speaking with a local broadcaster, he denied saying "Muslims have more children." "I won't do Hindu Muslim," he told News18. "This is my pledge." To critics, the pledge rang hollow. The day he disavowed playing the Hindu-Muslim card, Modi warned supporters in the eastern state of Jharkhand, "Infiltrators with jihadi mindset are getting support from [the] opposition and putting our sisters in danger." In the days since, Hindutva Watch has documented at least 10 rallies where Modi has by turn warned voters about alleged plans by Congress to redistribute national wealth among Muslims, award minority quotas to them and shut down a revered Hindu temple built on his watch. Not all anti-Muslim statements documented by Hindutva Watch amount to hate speech, which is not a crime in India. Some are classified as inflammatory, dangerous or communal. What Indians call "communalism" has long colored the contentious electoral politics of India, a country of 1.4 billion people, eight major religions and 22 official languages. In 1984, the Congress Party, now in opposition, swept the polls, riding a wave of anti-Sikh furor created by the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said anti-Muslim rhetoric is "part and parcel" of the BJP's voter mobilization strategy. Founded in 1980 and in power since 2014, the BJP has long pursued two core objectives, Vaishnav said: improving the economic lot of the poor and creating a Hindu state. "I don't think that this rhetoric we've seen on the campaign [trail] particularly surprises me, because it is in a sense attached to every BJP campaign," Vaishnav said. As far back as 2002 when he served as Gujarat's chief minister, Modi didn't shy away from inflammatory rhetoric during violent Hindu-Muslim riots, Vaishnav said. More recently, the country's 2019 elections witnessed a surge in anti-Muslim rhetoric, he added. "In a sense, [the current rhetoric] is unprecedented in part because of the way this gets magnified. But this kind of mobilization is certainly not new," he said. 'Love jihad,' 'land jihad,' 'vote jihad' To mobilize voters, BJP candidates, along with other proponents of right-wing Hindu nationalists, have made frequent use of well-worn tropes and conspiracy theories about Muslims. One is known as "land jihad," a conspiracy theory that alleges Muslims are taking over public lands with unauthorized religious buildings. Another, called "love jihad," accuses Muslim men of marrying Hindu women to convert them, with the ultimate goal of transforming India into a Muslim country. Hindutva Watch has recorded dozens of instances of both conspiracy theories during the campaign. Earlier this month, a new variant of the phrase emerged: "vote jihad." After a local opposition leader called on Muslims to carry out a "jihad" of "votes" to oust Modi from power, the prime minister accused the Congress Party of announcing a "vote jihad" against the BJP. "I hope you all know what the meaning of jihad is and against whom it is waged," Modi said. The topic of jihad has routinely surfaced in campaign rallies. In a May 15 speech, independent candidate Sanjay Sharma warned supporters that "this jihadi mentality will keep spreading" if they "don't wake up now." "Vote for me if you want to stop cow slaughter completely," Sharma said, according to a translation provided by Hindutva Watch. "Vote for me if you want to stop love jihad." 'Fear speech' In a way, much of the rhetoric employed by BJP candidates is typical political strategy: politicians firing up supporters with exaggerated claims and fear-mongering. "Look at what House and Senate candidates are saying on the campaign trail," Vaishnav said. "Look at what Republican social media influencers are tweeting about." Rutgers University Professor Kiran Garimella described the campaign rhetoric suggesting a Muslim takeover through population growth as "fear speech," a term used by researchers. "We see a lot of cases where this kind of rhetoric is being used both in India and in the U.S.," Garimella said. But it's not just rhetoric that's worrisome, said veteran Indian journalist and civil rights activist Ajit Sahi. "In India, the rhetoric is part of a larger movement, which is organized, financed and has boots on the ground," said Sahi, now advocacy director for the Indian American Muslim Council. "If there was just rhetoric, that would be possibly tolerable, but the rhetoric is combined with an organized and deeply financed and widely penetrated movement." A proposal under consideration by some members of the G20 group of advanced economies that would place a worldwide tax on the assets of the ultrawealthy does not have the support of the Biden administration, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Monday. Yellen told The Wall Street Journal that the United States is in favor of progressive taxation, under which the wealthy pay a larger share of their income than those of lesser means. However, she said, the notion of some common global arrangement for taxing billionaires with proceeds redistributed in some way were not supportive of a process to try to achieve that. Thats something we cant sign on to. The plan will have limited chances of being implemented without U.S. support, even though it appears to have the backing of the leaders of some large economies such as France and Brazil. The U.S. position on a global tax on billionaires is in contrast to its support of a global minimum tax on international businesses, for which Yellen helped broker an agreement early in President Joe Bidens term in office. 2% tax would raise $250 billion The object of a global tax on the wealth of billionaires would be to prevent the ultrawealthy from avoiding taxation by moving their money across borders or into tax havens that their home-country tax authorities cannot reach. Taxing wealth instead of income, which is normally where levies are focused, would prevent billionaires from exploiting investment strategies that allow them to increase their wealth while generating little taxable income. In remarks at the G20 finance ministers meeting in February, economist Gabriel Zucman, director of the EU Tax Observatory, cited evidence demonstrating that the current global taxation of billionaires is regressive, meaning that the effective tax rate they pay is lower sometimes much lower than the rates paid by average taxpayers. Although there is a lot that can be done by countries acting individually, the best way to address this regressivity is by creating a common minimum standard through international coordination, Zucman said. This is because the main obstacle to taxing the very rich in practice is the risk that they may relocate to low-tax places. This international competition has exerted considerable pressure on the design of tax systems globally. But with international coordination, a binding floor can be put to the tax rates of the ultrawealthy. Zucmans organization has estimated that a 2% annual tax applied to the wealth of approximately 3,000 billionaires worldwide would generate some $250 billion in revenue each year. Moral debt Addressing a G20 meeting in Washington last month, MIT professor and Nobel Prize-winning economist Esther Duflo spoke in support of the 2% tax, as well as a global tax on international businesses, and argued that the proceeds should be directed toward assisting poor nations as they struggle to adapt to climate change. Rich people and rich corporations are making their income from selling their products everywhere in the world, including in poor countries, Duflo said. Their products also greatly contribute to climate change. She characterized wealthy nations obligation to help poor countries manage the climate transition as a moral debt and said demanding that the ultrawealthy pay more is only just. We are not talking about extortion, she said. We are talking about paying your fair share. Taxation a key concern At the same meeting, Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad defended the focus on international taxation of the wealthy as essential to economic justice. International taxation is not merely the favorite theme of progressive economists; it is an issue of key concern that is at the heart of the global macroeconomic issue, Haddad said. Inequality has been increasing, and the [United Nations] Sustainable Development Goals are becoming increasingly distant, he said. During Brazil's presidency of the G20, I have advocated for a new globalization based on social and environmental criteria. He added, Each country can go a long way individually. ... However, without international cooperation, there is a limit for national states to act. Without cooperation, those who are on the top will continue to evade our tax systems. France, IMF also in favor French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, at the same event, told Haddad, You can count on Frances absolute support. It is a matter of efficiency and justice, Le Maire said. The idea is that each one will pay with their fair share of contribution. Also in favor was International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, who said, In most countries, the rich pay fewer taxes than the middle class and even the poor. Our first choice is to close the loopholes and prevent tax evasion. We call on the international community to implement agreements that allow sharing of tax information. The White House says it chose Kenya for its first state visit by an African leader for many reasons not least because the East African powerhouse has stepped up on the global stage, offering to staff a United Nations peacekeeping mission to Haiti that could see boots on the ground as early as this week. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell sat down with Frances Brown, the newly appointed director for African affairs at the National Security Council, ahead of a state visit by Kenyan President William Ruto. They discussed a range of issues, including technology, climate management, debt relief, democracy, health and more. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. VOA: In a few days, President Joe Biden hosts Kenyan President William Ruto at the White House, his first African leader for a state visit. Why was Kenya chosen and what deliverables can we expect? Frances Brown, NSC director for African affairs: We chose Kenya for a few reasons. No. 1 is the Kenya-U.S. partnership has really grown from a regionally focused one to a globally focused one. ... and we see a lot of complementarities in terms of what we're trying to do on climate. What we're trying to do on debt for the developing world, and on security issues. The second reason we wanted to have this state visit with Kenya is that we are both democracies, and our bond is very deep as democracies, and our bond is very deep on people-to-people ties. The third reason is that Kenya and the U.S. really work similarly in terms of bringing in the private sector to solve global challenges. So, we'll be talking a lot about those. The deliverables you'll see are in the realms of technology, clean energy and climate transition, of debt relief, of democracy, of people-to-people ties and on health-related issues. VOA: Kenya hopes to soon have peacekeepers in Haiti. Why is this so important to the administration? Brown: We do really welcome the Kenyans raising their hand to help lead this multinational security support mission in Haiti, because it's kind of an example of what I just mentioned of Kenya raising its hand to solve problems even outside of its region. ... As you may know, there's been planning under way for a number of months. It has included policing experts from around the world working to develop a concept of operations. Kenya is not going it alone. The U.S. has provided $300 million towards this, so it's a big thing for us. VOA: Are there any other security agreements these two countries might come up with during the state visit? Brown: I would say watch this space, because I think security cooperation with Kenya is a really important plank. VOA: Is it going to be focused on threats from Somalia or from other parts of East Africa? Brown: The U.S. and Kenya have long cooperated on Somalia. I think you can look for security-related announcements that go beyond that. VOA: U.S. troops are pulling out of the Sahel and the so-called Coup Belt. What are the concerns the administration has about security in the Sahel region, especially as Russia expands its footprint there? Brown: As has been widely reported, we are making an orderly withdrawal from Niger. I will say that is pretty consistent with our administrations [counterterrorism] posture in general that we have made changes to our posture that are consistent with our CT policy. It is no secret that democracy is on the backfoot in a lot of places globally. If you talk to democracy scholars, democracy is on something like its 20th year of global decline. So, Africa is not alone in this regard. The Biden administration is focused on lifting up and partnering with democracies to help them deliver. You may have seen USAIDs initiative on democracy delivering. We're working with a few African countries on that. And I think this is, again, something that we'll be talking a lot to the Kenyans with, because President Ruto has talked about the imperative of democracy delivering. VOA: Regarding issues of trade and the African Growth and Opportunity Act obviously, this is going to be a decision made by Congress, but how does the administration feel about the benefits of trade and of barrier-free trade with the United States? Brown: President Biden has been really vocal that he sees AGOA reauthorization and AGOA modernization as a huge priority. It has been huge, I think from our perspective, but also from the perspective of the region. It's something we hear a lot about from our Kenyan partners. We do look to Congress for that. But as you know, reauthorization is due next year, and obviously we hope that things can get in motion before then. VOA: The Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief which has been a literal lifesaver for people around the African continent is up for renewal next year. How does the White House see this program as contributing to national security? Brown: We see PEPFAR as essential. And as you know, PEPFAR has been supported with bipartisan congressional support and across administrations since the George W. Bush initiative initially. We think PEPFAR is delivering for people across the continent, and we've been proud to support it, and we look for reauthorization. VOA: When is President Biden going to visit Africa, and where will he go? Brown: So, I cannot make news at this moment by announcing presidential travel. But what I will say is thus far, I think President Biden's commitment to the relationship with the continent is pretty clear. If you think about Kenya, it's the first state visit that we're giving to a non-G20 country this term. There's only been five other state visits. ... But then you just look at the steady stream of Cabinet official travels to the continent over the past two years by our count, there's 24 principals or Cabinet-level officials who've made that trip, all of them bringing their own agenda. I'd also say just in terms of the other ways President Biden has shown his commitment, advocating for AU [African Union] membership with the G20 has been huge. Advocating for more African seats and international financial institutions and all the other transformative investment. VOA: Youve just joined the NSC in this capacity. What priorities do you bring to this post? Brown: I think I see this post as moving forward on the affirmative agenda that President Biden laid out first, and the Sub-Saharan Africa Strategy, which was published at the end of 2021. Then the African Leaders Summit, which came at the end of 2022. There were a lot of initiatives launched by those two events. Now we are running forward on implementation. At the same time, of course, at the NSC, the urgent sometimes competes with the important, so of course, we're seized with managing crises. And we're really sobered by the crises that are happening in many parts of the continent. So, I see my role as a balance between those two, and I'm thrilled to be on board. As Botswana prepares for general elections in October, the number of women running for office remains low. Political parties have finalized their list of candidates for the 2024 vote, and the majority of contestants are male. In the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), out of nearly 200 candidates for the National Assembly, only 20 are women. In the last general election, only 5% of women were elected to the National Assembly. Gender activist Pamela Dube said the situation is concerning, especially given how few women were elected in 2019. "The pertaining state of affairs in womens political participation in Botswana is saddening. While statistically, women make [up] more than 50% of voters, womens representation in elected positions remains very low, Dube said. I have serious doubt that we will see an improvement in the upcoming October elections. Botswana falls short of the framework established by the regional bloc the Southern Africa Development Community for achieving gender parity. The groups policy advocates equal representation in political and decision-making positions. Dube said the governing BDP should create gender quotas in order to push for legislated seat allocation. Botswana has no such laws, or even constitutional provisions. It is even sadder that the constitution review bill that is before parliament is silent in this regard, Dube said. Spokesperson for opposition coalition the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), Moeti Mohwasa, said the countrys electoral laws do not favor women. Botswana uses the first-past-the-post system, where voters choose a single candidate, as opposed to a list. You cannot expect the very same set-up or situation that is patriarchal, conservative to allow women to rise and occupy positions of authority, Mohwasa said. Our position is that you need to have the mixed system, which will have the current first-past-the-post and also the list system. If you look at countries that have the list systems, you realize that women are much more empowered. Maputo-based Women in Political Participation (WPP) programs officer Sifisosami Dube said Botswana should have amended its electoral laws under a recent constitutional review process. There is a need to handhold women in political leadership from the time they are campaigning, or when they are thinking about campaigning, to the time they will be in elections and to the time they are in political leadership positions. Because once they are in political offices, it is quite cold out there; they need to be continuously motivated, WPPs Dube said. While Botswana struggles to get more women into politics, countries like Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe have more than 30% women representation in upper and lower houses of parliament. HARARE (Reuters) - Four lithium mining companies have tabled plans to produce battery-grade lithium in Zimbabwe, a government official said on Monday. Zimbabwe, Africa's top producer of lithium, which is used in electric vehicle batteries and to store renewable energy, is prodding miners to refine the mineral locally as it hopes to boost its economy. Currently, Chinese lithium miners, who dominate the sector in Zimbabwe, only produce lithium concentrates which they ship to China for further processing. Last November, Zimbabwe's finance minister Mthuli Ncube said the government had given miners up to March 2024 to submit plans on refining within the country. The government had extended the deadline by two months at the request of some miners, deputy mines minister Polite Kambamura told Reuters. "They are coming forward with plans but these are long term plans which we are receiving. We have four large scale producers who have come forward," Kambamura said Ezra Tshisa Sibanda Some Zimbabweans drink up to three or more cups of tea a day. Many tea drinkers believe that they cant live without taking a sip or two of the popular beverage per day. As the world marks International Tea Day, in Bulawayos second largest city, Bulawayo, locals held tea parties to discuss many issues facing them. This has become an annual ritual for these tea lovers. Fifty-six year-old Steven Switzman takes a sip of tea at a party in Zimbabwe's second largest city, organized to drink one of the most liked beverages in the world. He is among millions of people who love tea. "I wake up in the morning, lunch time l have a cup of tea about 11 o clock and then definitely at 4 o clock not necessarily with food but even a biscuit is fine, very refreshing and as you can see how l like my tea l boil it with milk for 3 minutes one sugar, Tanganda, Five roses or something like this." Hazel Ndlovu, another Bulawayo resident, takes three cups of tea everyday. She cant live without tea. "I find it very relaxing, everyday l have about 2 or 3 cups. If l don't take tea l actually feel something is not right. I love my tea very much." Some widows living in Bulawayo's Mzilikazi suburb regularly get together to drink tea to talk about issues affecting them. They have over the years held events to mark International Tea Day. Sakhile Mananike, an avid tea party attendant, is a 54-year-old widow who says drinking tea is her way of living. "I like tea because it keeps me healthy, it keeps me home. When it's cold like this l always take one litre of tea and l like one type of tea bags. And then tea with milk, l always boil my water and boil my milk then mix together it will be nice for me and it's called a milk tea. So lm having my rich tea and lm enjoying it. And today is our tea day so lm enjoying my tea." Remington Moyo is a 22-year-old student who says he inherited drinking tea from his parents. I like tea because l think it's an inheritance from our old parents as they to love tea so much so l also take it from them but also tea is very relaxing and also good for health. I drink tea once in the morning and probably sometime in the afternoon depending on the weather. It gives me the renewed energy; it tells me to refresh and to start afresh the day." Remington believes drinking tea can boost your health even if this has no scientific proof. I love it so much because it helps us with our health, it can help you with digestive systems. Continue drinking tea continue going for all types of teas, healthy tea. It will help you a lot, it will help you to keep on refreshing and to keep the legacy alive. Imagine the world without tea. How Will it be? May 21st was set aside by United Nations as International Tea Day for celebrating tea's long history, cultural significance, and its role in promoting sustainable development and fighting poverty in tea-growing regions. According to the UN, tea is the worlds most consumed drink, after water. It is believed that tea originated in northeast India, North Myanmar and southwest China. Tea production and processing constitutes a main source of livelihoods for millions of families in developing countries and is the main means of subsistence for poor families, who live in a number of least developed nations. The United Nations says tea can play a significant role in rural development, poverty reduction and food security in developing countries, being one of the most important cash crops. Some Zimbabweans drink up to three or more cups of tea a day. Many tea drinkers believe that they cant live without taking a sip or two of the popular beverage per day. As the world marks International Tea Day, in Bulawayo, locals held tea parties to discuss many issues. The Back to Black star on finding compassion for the late singers ex-husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. Photo: Olli Upton/Focus Features When Jack OConnells version of Blake Fielder-Civil is introduced in Back to Black, he is in OConnells own words a bit of a hellion. Hes celebrating a horse-race win in the middle of the day, knocking back beers with his friends and flirting unabashedly and constantly with Marisa Abelas up-and-coming Amy Winehouse. Of course, he has a girlfriend he doesnt tell Amy about, and of course he brings cocaine over to her apartment the first night they spend together. Hes exactly the kind of guy who seems appealing when youre looking for a bit of danger, so volcanically charming that you might not see how his cocky grin is fueled by equal parts self-destruction and confidence. The way director Sam Taylor-Johnson and screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh avoid re-creating certain on-the-record elements of Fielder-Civils relationship with Winehouse (like his admission that he introduced her to heroin) has divided critical responses to Back to Black. But OConnell, who spent an afternoon with Fielder-Civil to prepare for the film, defends its approach, saying the script blindsided him with its focus on the pairs connection. Taylor-Johnson has said OConnell was the only person she could think of for the role, which is indeed a showcase for elements of his previous performances. It requires a wiry physical presence, as seen in Starred Up and Godless; a rough-and-ready romantic appeal, as in Little Fish and Lady Chatterleys Lover; and a hidden core of self-critical vulnerability, as in Jungleland and The North Water. Were not pointing fingers. The easy narrative is to say, Look at this guy. Look what hes doing hes bad news. Why did she ever fall for him? But the reality is not that simple, OConnell says. Youve described this less as a biopic and more as a reimagination, and Im wondering if that twist is what appealed to you the most. Definitely. Much later from jumping on the project, I was made aware that a lot of the script was informed by her lyrics. And I just thought, What a perfect catalyst, to bring it back to the lyrics and to portray these people as theyre being described by Amy through her music. She was such an honest musician and an honest songwriter that it makes total sense. No ones trying to say this is how it happened, when it happened, beat by beat. I dont think, unless you were there, you can ever expect to know that entirely. So to be able to chat with Blake, who was there, and marry his version of events into this story for me, to get my end of it right that felt like a lovely couple of key ingredients. That meeting gave me certain license to go, Theres the guy who has been very, very heavily publicized. Then theres the guy I met, albeit several years on. But there was so much that was genuine about that interaction I had with him. Did you have elements of your performance already determined before meeting with him? A lot of it initially was feeling like I understood the period; I understood the I hate this cliche, but Zeitgeist of that period. I understood the attitudes of the time. I even understood the attitudes of tabloid media at that time through growing up in the U.K. amid the kind of immoral level of intrusion. We met up prior to the shoot; it was just an afternoon. I recognized in him exactly that type of fellow who was cutting about back then, a typical geezer. Someone fun to be around, quite a magnetic personality. He charges into the pub having just had a result on the horses. What a great fucking starting point. We meet him coming into this boozer, ready to splash the dosh. For me, that was the tagline, and I built it from there. Sam was totally game for all that playfulness and the silliness and the charm. Blake was constantly on hand if I had questions. We stayed in touch, even to the point of him seeing the film and his feedback, and its positive. Thats a really important review to me, his. Im not going to go into exactly what he said, but what he said was beyond what I could have ever expected. In early profiles of you, theres a focus on your childhood, your run-ins with the law, and your partying days. In one of them, you said, When I was younger, I got into a lot of trouble and was made to feel guilty for a long time. Im curious if that tendency for people to try to define you by your past was something you saw in common with Blake. If anything, youve made me aware of that link. It was not something Ive been conscious of until you said it. I feel a great degree of compassion for Blake and empathy. I think its always key to point out that these are people in their 20s. And with how that relates to me, where I was then, its very different to where I am now. Same goes for Blake. The same would apply to Amy if she were here. I think its all part and parcel of growing up, isnt it? Was there a lived experience that informed the role the most? The main element of that was just having some reckoning of this time and this period. Just being able to be fully nostalgic about this era, which is an era I am nostalgic about anyway. I think the music was great then, and I think Camden was brilliant. I think our U.K. music scene was, like, world-beating. [Laughs.] Some people might disagree, but I loved it. I loved being around London in this era. You could stumble across anything, step outside with no intentions and see amazing bands and be at amazing venues and hang around with amazing people. I was a kid at this time, so I definitely wanted to bring that into the role, and I thought it was important for the film to make you feel like you were there again, and I think it does. I was having the time of my life cause I was just pretending it was the noughties again. I got a massive buzz off that. When you got the script for the first time, do you remember the first scene you read that made you think, This has to be me? What was that moment? When I first read the Shangri-Las section, where he impromptu bursts out into a performance of Leader of the Pack. I had to read that about four times before I accepted that it was in the script. It wasnt a no-brainer before reading it. This story is fraught with all sorts of badness. By the time I finished reading it, it was clear that, no, were actually telling the very in-depth version, the very colorful version. Theres probably more emphasis on the joy in Amys life and celebrating that about her than the eventual end we all know so well, unfortunately. Can you talk to me about filming that scene? How did you prepare for that? The actual Shangri-Las piece, it was one thing on paper, but once I saw it, I thought, No, were going there. We are going there. I want at least a verse and a chorus, and Im gonna make it really difficult for Sam to cut it. I practiced in my bathroom in front of the mirror. I was listening to the tune over and over again, watching the music video over and over again. The spirit of the Shangri-Las, I wanted to bring all of that in. And I knew I had that as an ace up my sleeve, once Id worked enough on it. I was nervous about that initial meeting scene because we had to get it right; so much depended on it. Obviously with that, there comes an element of nervousness. Yeah, Im quite nervous in that scene. Do you feel like the nervousness helped? I think the nervousness helped. Im certainly less nervous once weve cracked it and we know the shape of the scene and then Im more available to play around. But Marisa shes just great, man. She is a powerhouse. I think this film has got every chance because of her. And that is also a testament to Sam as a director for cultivating that atmosphere. It helped that we were in a pub, which is a very comforting environment anyway. All the alcohol on set is zero percent, but even the act of supping a pretend beer just gives you these comforts and safety nets to be able to go in and say [of Blake and Amys first meeting], Okay. This is relatable. I feel like a dinosaur saying this, but that sort of charisma, that sensibility of that period, that backwards and forwards, not taking yourself too seriously, taking the piss out of yourself and out of the situation, shit-talking Amy definitely embodied that. You can see it in her interviews. She was an embodiment of Camden at that time. Later in the film, theres a scene in Miami, where Blake gives Amy a jewelry box, and inside of it are glowing crack rocks. It feels like the one surreal moment in a film that is otherwise very grounded. What were your reactions to that scene? I suppose with anything like that, to an extent, you cant be judgmental. When youre trying to understand the reality if youre trying to understand it you dont wanna be judgmental. Yeah, it is surreal. Were trying to make a massive point quite subtly. When you understand the naivete around drugs at the time and how young these people were and how readily accessible it must have been for both of them its such an evil concoction, especially when you throw in success. Thats wildfire. Were not pointing fingers. The easy narrative is to say, Look at this guy. Look what hes doing hes bad news. Why did she ever fall for him? But the reality is not that simple. What interested me about the morning-after cocaine scene and the honeymoon-in-Miami scene is that both are incredibly romantic moments between Blake and Amy, and drugs are also there. They fell for each other, and they cared for each other. But also, the drugs are there. Yeah, brilliant. I think addiction on the whole is an awful thing. Its an evil, and there comes a point where the only thing that matters is the drugs. They go from always being there to the only thing thats there and the only thing that really matters, and everything else takes a back seat. Youve played characters who have struggled with addiction over the course of your career: Skins, The North Water, now this film. Has your approach to playing someone with addiction changed over time? I think every circumstance is in a vacuum. There might be similarities, but each circumstance is unique. I find that I have a lot of empathy and a lot of compassion for addicts. And in a lot of cases, and in Amys case, you see these people that had so much to give, so much potential, and it was kind of contributing to the undoing of them. Theres a tragedy in that that really moves me as a storyteller, as an artist. Its something I wanna understand and wanna help people understand. I guess that is the motive. The North Water director and writer Andrew Haigh said of you as an actor, Jack wants to be hurled into the air without a crash mat. He is so deeply committed to finding the gnarly truth of a moment. Was there a moment while making Back to Black when it felt like you were being hurled into the air without a crash pad? Theres an element of that every day, do you know what I mean? With every scene, theres an element of that. [Pauses.] I like that analogy. Its very illustrative. The way that you talked about the Shangri-Las scene, it seemed like that might be in the running. Yeah, because you dont know if anybodys going to like it, either. You can hope for the best, but if its just met with dumbfounded glares after they call Cut, obviously that is soul-destroying. You gotta take risks and embrace the failure. Failure is your friend. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Tossing off a speech at his books New York Public Library event. Photo: Valerie Terranova Famous ad guy Lord Maurice Saatchi co-founded Saatchi & Saatchi, which for a while was one of the largest agencies in the world. So he really knows how to pitch. When I find him at a back table at Il Gattopardo, a quiet-luxury Italian restaurant in the bottom of a townhouse across from the Museum of Modern Art, on a recent Saturday, the elegantly soft-spoken 77-year-old is wearing his trademark Mr. Magoo glasses and a long white shirt that extends down below his knees. Its noon, and he has already ordered a glass of white wine and is prepared to tell me about or sell me on his saucily titled book, Orgasm, a large-format, large-print collection of his essays. Each is designed to rhetorically demolish what he apparently perceives as the readers preconceived notions. Chapter titles include Conservatives Are Cruel, Poetry Is for Wimps, Cocktail Parties Are Stressful, America Is Perfect, and Truth Is Good. He hopes to disabuse you of these beliefs, assuming that you hold them. He has priced Orgasm at $100. Assuming that I havent bothered to read it, he starts off with the big catchy idea. We know that a physical orgasm is the most blissful human experience, he says, the theme music from Succession actually playing in the background. This book claims that there is another kind of orgasm an orgasm of the mind. Which has nothing to do with sex. Which is even more pleasurable. The waiter arrives with an amuse-bouche, with compliments from the chef: arancini, a rice ball with sweet peas, mozzarella, and pear. This Saatchi is not as famous as Charles, his art-collecting older brother who helped invent the YBA and was once married to Nigella Lawson. They were born in Iraq, the children of a prosperous textile dealer, and immigrated to England in 1947 to flee antisemitism. At Saatchi & Saatchi, which the brothers founded in 1970, Maurice was the affable, business-minded Roger Sterling to his brothers volatile Don Draper. He has matured into an Establishment figure in the U.K., where he was a close friend and adviser to Margaret Thatcher and, for a time, co-chairman of the Conservative Party. The brothers were booted from Saatchi & Saatchi in the mid-90s over accusations of mismanagement, two years before Maurice was given his lifetime peerage. He went on to found another successful agency, M&C Saatchi, which he left in 2019 in a dispute over how to handle accounting problems. This isnt Saatchis first book. While at Saatchi & Saatchi, he wrote Brutal Simplicity of Thought: How It Changed the World, more or less an advert for his advertising agency. He is also an inveterate pamphleteer with works including The Science of Politics, about how taxes should be lower, and Happiness Cant Buy Money. In 2022, he published a memoirish book called Do Not Resuscitate: The Life and Afterlife of Maurice Saatchi, in which he imagines himself standing at the Gates of Heaven, trying to make a pitch to join his wife, Josephine Hart, who had died of cancer 11 years before and whom he clearly loved very much. The main question in the book that he had to account for was, Did you or did you not try to change the world for the better? The Times Literary Supplement called it a trauma memoir that reads like a movie script, a mad play. After he sends back our appetizers This wasnt what we were expecting. I think we made a mistake. Im really sorry, but we were expecting something completely different Saatchi attempts to describe how this book came together. Many of these essays had found their origins in musings that hed previously published for the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail or given in speeches before the House of Lords. Its a sort of best-of of what seem to be Saatchis most cherished brain-teasing topics. I tried to assemble over a period of time what I describe here as popular lies, he says in his plummy drawl. Then I present my version of the truth. The idea is that the reader will then be able to make up its mind whether something is true. Whats true, whats not true. Perhaps its all lies. Thats really the concept. This, he hopes, would lead the reader to the titular orgasm of the mind where the road ahead is straight and the destination is clear. The intense pleasure of knowing that the contradictions in your head have been resolved. To some extent. At which point, presumably, you could smoke a cigarette or just roll over and go to sleep. If this all seems a bit mental-masturbatory, Saatchi, at this time in his life, seems like a supremely indulged man. And frightfully well connected. Its clear that, on some basic level, Saatchi has not lived in the day-to-day world, with quotidian concerns, for many years perhaps ever. Even his wallet is a folded-up envelope with the logo of the House of Lords on its back. Two nights before, President and Secretary Clinton, Letitia James hed never met her before and was impressed Darren Walker, Laurene Powell Jobs, Lynn de Rothschild, and Don Lemon, among others of similarly high-value social status, had showed up at the New York Public Library to toast and take home a free copy of the black clothbound volume imprinted with a silver O on the cover. He was pleased with the books elite reception: There was also a party in Los Angeles, hosted by Sherry Lansing Mike Ovitz, Kathy and Rick Hilton, and Peter Guber were there as well as another, smaller party at Holly Petersons townhouse, here in New York, co-hosted by Tina Brown. Carl Bernstein and Diane Sawyer were present, too; Bernstein told him a story Saatchi quite liked about how when he was reporting on Watergate, they knew they were only going to be able to tell the closest available version of the truth. Thats good. I liked that a lot. Saatchi, it seems to me, is more a just-asking-questions person than a truth-teller. Everything is a bit airy and obscure. Hes far too ensconced in the Establishment to say anything too revealing. He was against Brexit but didnt vote against it Abstained, he tells me. When I ask him what was the last straw that made his fellow Tories force Boris Johnson to resign, he went off the record. Pretty much the only name he drops is Margaret Thatcher, telling a story about how disappointed she was with how big the countrys banks had gotten. This is one of his sort-of mea culpas: He bemoans how the globalized economy, which as an advertising mogul he worked hard to nurture, had evolved into a system of cartels. He gets into this in his book in the chapter that asks if Big Companies Are Wonderful. (The answer: Rubbish.) This book claims Saatchi has a habit of talking about its contents as if he himself had not written it that the end result of globalization is not at all what believers in free markets thought. It could be, the ghastly thought, that Karl Marx was right, because his exact statement was, after years of warfare amongst capitalism, there will be fewer and fewer capitalists controlling vaster and vaster empires. If that isnt whats happened, I dont know what is. As the entrees arrive, I ask him why the book costs so much. Im testing a hypothesis for the publishing world, he says, half-joking, half-relishing what he sees as his own daringly clever insight. Its obviously very expensive. But, for example, if a woman is prepared to pay $10,000 for an Hermes bag, it must come into her mind, I assume, that if a bag is $10,000, it must be good. If you try and apply that to the book-publishing world, well, that will be a tremendous revolution. In the future, people will be very happy to pay $100. If that doesnt pan out, he says, it will be the biggest flop of all time. My guess is that if it does flop, unlike many things he has done in his well-publicized life, it will do so rather quietly. Dining chat: A waiter gave our anniversary bubbly to the table next to us. What should we have done? Recipes What do you want to cook today? Yet ... he did have an image 20 years later of Eilis brother walking on a beach with two tall teenagers with dark eyes and hair who didnt look Irish. And someone stopped to say, oh my, who are they? Oh, theyre Eilis. And someone just says in that very Wexford way, are they? with all the meaning. In writing the book, however, that image didnt get in. Henry James says, have a dream, lose a reader, but once I got the opening, it was a new book, a different book rather than taking up where I left off. Some writers whose work has been successfully adapted for the screen often see their characters as the actors who played them. John le Carre, for example, could see only Alec Guinness when he wrote more about George Smiley. That wasnt the case with Toibin when he returned to Eilis; as a character she was so fixed for him. And anyway, Saoirse Ronans portrayal was so particular. Saoirse Ronan as Eilis in the film adaptation of Colm Toibins Brooklyn. The performance that did matter enormously to him was Domhnall Gleeson as Jim. Its hard to play a quiet, thoughtful man, he says, and whos ever written a quiet, thoughtful Irishman for the screen? Toibin says: The feeling about Jim is that his feelings are deep, that hes very controlled. I was really fascinated by it because it was a performance of something new and I found that very helpful. That fed into the characterisation of Jim, which is appropriate as Long Island is a novel about the secrets kept by various people. The other challenge for Toibin was to do something with Eilis mother as the events in Brooklyn had affected her significantly. The pact was broken in that world where it is agreed that one daughter will stay with the widowed mother. And when that doesnt happen theres shame; she feels that shame going out into the street. And over the 20 or whatever number of years, this eats at her the solitude, the shame and her dead daughter, her dead husband, and sons in England, and her daughter, who seems to have fled and left behind a sort of chaos. But the interest in the idea of homecoming is still there, particularly from America, a country that seemed so glamorous. Except, Toibin points out, to the person coming from America. Nancy feels she has to wear smarter clothes after seeing Eilis, and Jim says Eilis seems to have a quality of ease and confidence, all apparently through having been in America. And Eilis doesnt feel any of this. It isnt as though shes walking through the town as a proud American. She always has an effect on people without trying to have that effect. And so shes almost passive. Toibin knows about life in the US. He teaches a regular semester at Columbia University in New York, and his boyfriend of many years lives in Los Angeles. But he still has his house by the sea in Cush. I spend as much time in LA as I can, and then as much time in Ireland as I can. Loading So like Eilis he is familiar with the experience of moving into someone elses world where you dont know anyone and no one knows you. In Long Island, Tonys father cannot pronounce Eilis name. Its an experience Toibin is familiar with: Its absolutely out of my life. They just cant do it; they wont do it, and they dont even try. Whats lovely about Toibins novels set around the area where he comes from The Heather Blazing, The Blackwater Lightship, Brooklyn, Nora Webster and now Long Island is the way they talk to each other through characters and places reappearing, even if only briefly. In the new novel Eilis looks for directions to her brother Martins house and walks past the judges house, a reference back to Eamon Redmond from The Heather Blazing; in Brooklyn, Nancy spots Nora Webster in Enniscorthy and Martin bought Noras house after her husband died, while Lily Devereux from The Blackwater Lightship also pops up along the way. This is building up if you take all the other novels out to being not just a picture of a society, but a sort of fictional space that gets slightly bigger and more extended each time. I dont know why theres so much pleasure attached to just inserting the name of the characters. There is an emotion around it that anchors something. It suggests this world youre describing is closer to real than imaginary. Employers are voicing their alarm at Coalition plans to slash migration after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton vowed to make deeper cuts than Labor to the annual intake, sparking fears of a shortage of skilled workers. The concerns heighten the political dispute over population and housing after the federal government revealed plans to cut net overseas migration from 528,000 last year to 260,000 next year. Dutton said he would drive the number down to 160,000. From left: The Australian Industry Groups Innes Willox, Business Council of Australias Bran Black and Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry boss Andrew McKellar. Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief Andrew McKellar said the Coalition target could not be achieved without having a severe impact on the economy because of the need for skilled workers and overseas students. Its ringing alarm bells for business because we think it would be mathematically very difficult to achieve the sorts of numbers that theyve set out, McKellar said. Manila: The Philippine government will involve Australia in a potentially life-or-death decision about what to do with accused drug trafficker Gregor Haas, raising the prospect of a diplomatic solution that could spare him the worst of Indonesian justice. The father of Brisbane Broncos NRL star Payne Haas faces execution if he is extradited to Indonesia and convicted there. He is accused of sending five kilograms of methamphetamine from Mexico to Indonesia in a shipment of ceramic tiles, which was intercepted on December 11 last year. Haas was arrested in the Philippines last week in a dramatic and highly planned joint operation between local police and a contingent of Indonesian investigators who had travelled to Cebu City for the sting. In a possible high-stakes test for the Albanese government, the case has the makings of a diplomatic tangle between Indonesia, Australia and middleman the Philippines. With graduation comes reflection on lessons learned and work yet to be done. For Sophia Akujobi, a Black student at Carlisle High School, this transition also is a clarion call to elders to do more to act on behalf of minority students. When I look back at my seven years within the district, I only remember the few good moments when I was able to exist without the color of my skin being an issue, the senior told Carlisle Area School Board earlier this month. I remember every instance of racism, she said. Every single time that the people within my school chose to protect someone other than me. That will stick with me for the rest of my life. I graduate in June, so maybe nothing can be done about the racism, the individuals that I had to deal with, Akujobi said. However, other students of color will be here next year and will continue to attend the district years after. The next generation of these students deserve to be protected. Her words stung both board members and district administrators. Her story challenged the perception of Carlisle as a district proud of its diversity. In follow-up interviews, school officials acknowledged that the work against racism needs to continue. Students story Time and again, teachers and staff made excuses for bad behavior, and her concerns were dismissed as overreactions, Akujobi said. She cited an example from middle school: The first year I was in the district I experienced some of the worst racism I felt up to that point. I went to the principal after a supposed friend had made racist remarks to me on several occasions. The final straw for Akujobi came after she was made aware of postings on an online message board that included racist imagery and threats to harm Black people. The whole ordeal left me ridden with anxiety, she said. The student would continue to provoke me, including telling me to kill myself. I was made aware that this student had been spoken to and that the school had eyes watching, yet the following year, the student was still placed in my classes and had a locker beside me. It took two years and an incident in the eighth grade before school staff removed the student from her proximity. By then, the treatment convinced Akujobi to think again about reporting the abuse up the chain. I was given a break from racism in school due to the pandemic, she said. But that changed her sophomore year when a former friend told her there was nothing wrong with racial slurs and that white privilege had no effect on them. The student called Akujobi a Black puppet and attempts to correct the persons behavior didnt work. That friendship ended in March 2022. Admittedly I did not go to staff to report these incidents, she said. Much of what I described happened online and through text messages. A few weeks later, a staff member asked her what was wrong when they noticed that Akujobi was uncomfortable. She took the time to explain. I was met with an apology that was quickly followed by This student is a good kid. Im sure they have some growing to do, Akujobi said. Akujobi said her family had moved to Carlisle from Cumberland Valley to escape racism in that school district. Board reaction Board members commended her courage in coming forward. It truly hurts my heart, said George Stroud, the only Black member of the school board. You transferred here because you were moving away from that, hoping that coming here to Carlisle, you would not face those same issues. Unfortunately, it sounds like you faced the same issues and maybe even more, and, for that, I say I am sorry. It is these stories that you share that help us to move forward, Stroud said. Our district is made up of folks from different cultures, different backgrounds, different religions, different political ideologies, and that is a good thing, but we have to figure out a way to do better. We have to figure out a way to engage in civil discourse and be able to talk about our differences. Not to talk down to people because we are different. Bruce Clash said her comments were a wake-up call for everyone to do better. We cant tolerate people making excuses for bad behavior or protecting others over those who are being victimized. No one should ever feel that they are less than anyone else, David Miller told Akujobi. Thank you for saying the words you say. Continue to stand up for yourself and others. Board President Paula Bussard said she is heartbroken that the students reflection of being at Carlisle was tainted by the unacceptable behavior of other students. Since then, Bussard has done her own research, by inviting comments from district residents attending community events. Several people expressed concern that an attitude of mean-spiritedness toward those who are different is playing out in the Carlisle area, Bussard said. They just feel that were not immune to the divisiveness, that we need to focus and do some reflection to improve the culture. Protocols in place District Superintendent Colleen Friend said the words from Akujobi were difficult but necessary to hear. Im very sad that has been her experience, Friend said. Diversity is something we celebrate. We brag about it. We emphasize it. Its just something were very proud of. Carlisle enrolls about 5,200 children from a broad range of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. This includes a yearly influx of children whose parents are students at the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks. These families come in from throughout the U.S. and, in the case of International Fellows, from around the world. Our job is to make sure that the structure of our school system is as inclusive as it can be, Friend said. Theres not a one-shot fix for that. Its constant ongoing work when you talk about whats happening in our community and in our nation. Its a tough time. Our intention is to do what we can to make our kids feel welcome, included and valued. To help in that effort, the district has administrative protocols and a hierarchy of options to discipline students, Friend said. Under this system, students can report concerns through a chain of accountability that starts with the classroom teacher and ends with the superintendent, she said. While there have been some investigations tied to reports of racism, these are not incidents that happen on a regular basis, said Patricia Buffington, Carlisle High School principal. Prior to being appointed as director of secondary operations, Michael Black was the principal with experience at the high school going back to 2006. I would not say that racism would be pervasive, Black said. What I can say is, over the last 16 years or so, we take those situations seriously. There has been no vandalism or physical aggression, Friend said, adding most reports involve racial slurs or insensitive comments. Teaching students to be tolerant of diversity starts in elementary school with lessons on friendship, kindness and patience before moving to middle school and beyond with programs like Character Strong, she said. At the high school level, the district is gearing up to add a third section of an African-American history and cultures course, Friend said. The Black Student Union has achieved club status with its own bylaws, club officers and annual fund balance maintained by the district, she said. Every year, during professional development training, teachers and staff members review coursework that touch on the social aspects of public education, such as working with students from different backgrounds and with different needs, Assistant Superintendent Michael Gogoj said. From 7 to 10 May 2024, the Tunisian Customs (Direction Generale des Douanes (DGD)) hosted a national workshop on Customs laboratories, which was delivered within the framework of the EU-WCO Programme for the Harmonized System in Africa (HS-Africa Programme), funded by the European Union. The workshop was aimed at conducting a scoping mission for setting up a Customs Laboratory in the country. The implementation of a standard Customs Laboratory in Tunis would be the first step. The workshop was facilitated by two WCO recognised Customs chemists from the Belgian and the Spanish Customs Administrations. In his opening remarks, Mr. Bellara Monji, General Controller at the Control Department, on behalf of the Customs Commissioner, confirmed the commitment of the DGD in implementing a modern Customs Laboratory as another step in the modernisation of his Administration. He stressed the importance of Customs Laboratories for the purposes of revenue collection, drug enforcement, protection of the society and the environment as well as trade facilitation. Participants were informed of the structure and the functioning of the Customs Laboratory European Network (CLEN), a WCO Regional Customs Laboratory, and of the possibilities that the instruments developed by the CLEN might offer to the DGD. Discussions focused on the WCO Customs Laboratory Guide, sampling procedures, analysis of narcotics, security and safety issues, as well as laboratory information management systems (LIMS). The workshop was also an opportunity for participants to deepen their knowledge of the relevant technical standards with regard to the infrastructure, instruments and staff of a Customs Laboratory. Following comprehensive discussions of various aspects of the project, an assessment was made as to the way forward and concrete action for establishing a Customs Laboratory network in Tunis. In his closing remarks, Mr. Monji thanked the WCO and the European Union for the support and collaboration in this area of Customs work, and confirmed his Administrations interest in implementing a Customs Laboratory in the country. For further information, please contact wcoHSAfrica@wcoomd.org Defense contractor L3Harris Technologies has entered into an agreement with Orange County to fund a $41.2 million expansion and modernization of the companys Aerojet Rocketdyne facility there. The effort is intended to increase solid rocket motor production while growing the companys presence in the commonwealth, according to a joint statement from Orange County, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and L3Harris. The company plans to construct new facilities, purchase equipment and hire 80 people in Orange over the next three years. The majority of the investment will come from an cooperative agreement Aerojet Rocketdyne signed with the Department of Defense last year, according to the statement. L3Harris, a Florida-based defense contractor and technology company, purchased Aerojet, including its Orange County factory, last year, bringing on 5,000 employees at multiple locations around the country. The acquisition formed a fourth L3Harris business segment focused on missile defense systems and hypersonic and advanced rocket engines, according to reports at the time. L3Harris will contribute internal capital for the Orange plant expansion, alongside $2.18 million in incentives from the commonwealth of Virginia and Orange County to support site improvement and construction efforts. This agreement builds upon company and U.S. government investments in our solid rocket motor production capabilities for critical defense systems, Aerojet Rocketdyne President Ross Niebergall said in a statement. We have been a part of the Virginia community for decades and look forward to growing our talented workforce here as we produce the vital propulsion that helps protect our nation and its allies. An impetus for the expansion and new hires, Aerojet Rocketdyne is relocating manufacturing of Stinger and Javelin propulsion from Arkansas to the Orange County plant. Mark Farley, vice president of site operations and manufacturing, said the move will support a focus on medium and large solid rocket motors in Arkansas while concentrating on small motors in Virginia. Its part of a larger $215 million DOD contract signed last year to meet increased demand for weapons, according to the statement. Aerojet in Orange County is home to some of the most advanced defense and space propulsion research, development and manufacturing operations in the world, according to the company. It includes the Orange Altitude Test Facility, a fully equipped propellant lab and a state-of-the-art air-breathing test facility. The nations security depends on defense manufacturers like L3Harris, said Youngkin. We are proud that this long-term corporate partner continues to reinvest in Virginia, he said in the joint statement. The Commonwealths vibrant industrial and technological ecosystem provides an ideal home for the booming aerospace industry, underpinned by a top-notch workforce pipeline that draws from thousands of service members who exit the armed services in Virginia every year and our excellent schools that ensure a steady flow of new talent. Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman R. Mark Johnson called it an exciting announcement he said was supported by him and the rest of the board of supervisors and economic development team. L3Harris has been an important member of our business community for many years making their $41.2 million investment particularly gratifying, he said. In 2015, Aerojet Rocketdyne announced an $11 million expansion to add 50,000 square feet to its Orange facility, creating 100 jobs. Then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe attended the groundbreaking to announce a $300,000 contribution from the commonwealths Opportunity Fund. The large fenced-in facility has operated in Orange since the 1980s, near the southern county line of Culpeper, producing boosters for space missions, in addition to missile systems and other weapons and rocket components. On May 7, the company announced Aerojet Rocketdyne had also been awarded a $22 million DOD contract to develop a prototype solution for the Growing Additive Manufacturing Maturity for Airbreathing Hypersonics (GAMMA-H) challenge. The program is part of the DODs ongoing effort to expand current processes to manufacture hypersonic weapons components. Weber State helps military nurses step into new careers as educators May 21, 2024 OGDEN, Utah A new partnership at Weber State University is helping veterans seamlessly transition from military service to fulfilling civilian careers as nurse educators. The Annie Taylor Dee School of Nursing at Weber State is now an industry partner with the U.S. Department of Defenses SkillBridge program, which gives military personnel the opportunity to gain civilian work experience during their last six months of service. Weber State is known as a military-friendly school, and this shows our continued dedication, said London Draper Lowe, WSU nursing professor and SkillBridge program coordinator. We care about the military community and want them to be part of our school. Retiring or separating military nurses with a masters or doctoral degree can apply for a five-month internship at WSU, which involves working alongside instructors to learn and experience all aspects of nursing education. Weber States nursing program has 63 faculty members who teach and prepare students to meet the ever-changing demands of the industry. The school produces more nurses than any other institution in Utah, training hundreds per year to work in communities nationwide. Lowe describes the SkillBridge partnership as beneficial for all unlocking new career paths for veterans while also allowing WSU to tap into a highly trained, highly skilled workforce. Michael Humphrey, a womens health and family nurse practitioner who recently retired from a 22-year career with the U.S. Air Force, was the first intern to complete WSUs SkillBridge program this spring. The transition out of the military can be extremely stressful and overwhelming, Humphrey said. Thats where SkillBridge came in. It allowed me to try out being a nurse educator with no strings attached. Throughout Humphreys career, he has worked in labor and delivery, postpartum and newborn nurseries. His time in the military took him all over the country, and he served several deployments in the Middle East. Humphrey first discovered a passion for teaching while supervising and mentoring nursing students during their clinical rotations at Hill Air Force Base. Through WSUs SkillBridge program, he made important connections and further refined his skills as an educator. Starting this summer, hell get to continue sharing his experience and knowledge at WSU, where he was recently hired as a nursing instructor in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program. Military nurses interested in pursuing a new chapter of their career can ask their education or transition assistance office for more information. They can also learn more by contacting a SkillBridge program representative online. This partnership provided an avenue for me to share my distinct experience over the past two decades in the military, Humphrey said. Being given the opportunity to train the next generation of nurses is a true honor for me. Volkswagens ID. Buzz is a battery electric minibus inspired by the brands original Transporter van and built on the German carmakers dedicated battery-electric MEB platform which they use for all their various brands EV models. It is offered as an all-electric passenger car and cargo commercial van. The name Buzz was derived from the word bus, acknowledging its van origins. ID. Buzz is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face, particularly so in the optional two-tone white/yellow colour combination. My car looked a bit bland by comparison with its Candy White exterior. It was the Max 5-seater passenger car version that measures 1,937mm in height, 4,712 in length and 1,985mm in width so it is wider than Volkswagen's Transporter-based camper van. The wheelbase stretches to 2,988mm. This is a large, robust, well-built vehicle. Boxy in shape, with a flat roof and sliding side doors for easy access. You have to climb up high to access the drivers seat. The interior is extremely spacious, with huge head and legroom for all occupants. Its also bright and airy with so much glass front and rear while the cream, black and grey interior with very nice materials (recycled materials, so no animal leather), looked really welcoming. The interior is extremely spacious, with huge head and legroom for all occupants. The dash is dominated by a stand-alone 12-inch infotainment touchscreen display. Sliding side doors are power-operated and provide easy access to the rear seats. The power tailgate opens really high (which could be a problem for some not-so-tall people when they want to close it again) to reveal a boot capacity of a huge 1,121 litres which will swallow up multiple suitcases or fit camping gear even with middle seats still in use. Grades are Life, Family, Tech and Max which was my cars grade. A very good selection of useful features come as standard; dual-zone air conditioning, two C-USB small ports in the front and four in the rear, a leatherette-wrapped multifunction steering wheel that can be heated, set for for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (wired and wireless), and a good navigation system that includes a media and internet package. Driver Assistance systems include Blind Spot Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control, Park Assist, and Front Assist auto emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist monitoring. My car had a great reversing camera and parking sensors - all needed when trying to park this big un into an average-sized car park as it will extend way over the end line. The powertrain is a 77 kWh battery combined with a 204bhp motor that drives the rear axle, matched with a single-speed automatic transmission. Power consumption for my top Max grade is a claimed 21.3 kWh/100kms. I found the Buzz surprisingly easy to drive, offering a smooth, very quiet drive with good acceleration. It is capable of a 0-100km/h time of 10.2 secs. I liked the not too heavy nor too light steering which offered good feedback and the cars very impressive turning circle of just 12.5m. The official electric range is 417kms. The ID. Buzz was awarded a five-star rating in crash tests by Euro NCAP in 2022. PRICES: My car was priced at 65,584 exclusive of the SEAI grant of 3,500. With the optional trailer hitch, the total OTR price was 66,704 inclusive of VAT. Annual road tax is 120. Your local VW dealer is Connolly Motor Group. See their advertisement on Page 33. The infrastructural inequalities experienced by the West and North-West were laid bare at a major conference in Sligo. The conference, organised by West on Track and hosted by Sligo Chamber, heard calls for urgent infrastructural investment in the West including the completion of the final leg of the Western Rail Corridor project to Sligo More than 300 people attended the conference in the Raddison Blu Hotel in Sligo with a large cross-party attendance from TDs, MEPs, Senators, councillors and election candidates. More than 80 towns were represented and there was also strong representation from multi-national and indigenous businesses and freight interests. The conference was chaired by Paul Deering, Editor of the Sligo Champion newspaper. Welcoming the large attendance on behalf of Sligo Chamber, David Kiely noted that the North-West region had been downgraded to a Lagging Region by the European Commission when its GDP per head of population fell to 71% of the European average, and is now ranked 218th out of 234 in terms of infrastructural development with only 16 regions worse off in the European Union. In his official address, the Mayor of Sligo, Cllr Declan Bree, said that poor transport infrastructure has hindered the regions potential. If transport access infrastructure is not upgraded, there is far greater certainty that the North-West region and Sligo will continue to lag even further behind the more developed Eastern and Southern regions. IDA client companies, manufacturers, small and medium-sized enterprises and those involved in the agricultural and food production sector in Sligo and Mayo are all seeking the reopening of the Western Rail Corridor, he said. The conference heard presentations from Dr Orla Flynn, President of the Atlantic Technological University (ATU), economist Dr John Bradley, Joe Gilmore (Chief Executive, Ireland West Airport), Mike Devane (Atlantic Economic Corridor chambers group) and John Daly, economist with the Northern and Western Regional Assembly. Mr Daly provided put forward the case for positive discrimination for the region. Unless there is a significant intervention from central government, these trends are likely to worsen in the coming years, leading to underdevelopment in the Northern and Western Region of Ireland and overdevelopment in the Greater Dublin Area; an unsustainable trend which will undermine the quality of life of all citizens across Ireland. As such, it is clear that the revised National Planning Framework and the existing National Development Plan (2021-2030) need to adopt a new approach in tackling rising regional inequalities in Ireland, and this approach should focus on adopting a policy of 'Positive Discrimination' towards the Northern and Western Region of Ireland." Dr John Bradley, whose economic analysis has set out the strong business case for the Western Rail Corridor, eviscerated previous reports on rail transport and the regions. The report, All Island Strategic Rail Review, produced by Arup for the Department of Transport was so badly drafted that we struggled for months to deconstruct and understand it. It seems designed to beguile and confuse rather than to instruct and explain. It is a long-term strategy with no real strategic thinking behind it. It displays a worrying level of ignorance about the dynamic performance of the Irish economy in recent decades, while its treatment of the four major regions on the island is cursory and shallow. Our analysis showed that a rail journey time from Sligo to Galway would be approximately 2 hours 10 minutes. Such a journey, in comfort with the ability to work on the move, would certainly be a major attraction. The total cost of reopening of the line was estimated at 412 million, significantly less than the cost of a single kilometre of the proposed Dublin Metro, said Dr Bradley. Helen Rochford-Brennan, of West on Track, also contributed to proceedings, delivering an impassioned call for the completion of the Western Rail Corridor. The likelihood that the Galway line is soon to reopen as far north as Claremorris offers an important opportunity for Sligo, as it means that the Sligo-Galway line will then be more than 60% operational. Mayos industries will then be able to use the WRC line for moving raw materials and finished products southwards via Claremorris, saving time and money and reducing their carbon footprint. The same opportunity now needs to be afforded to the rest of Mayo and Sligo, said Ms Rochford-Brennan. Killala is the first town in Mayo to be chosen as one of 26 locations nationwide to develop a Town Centre First (TCF) Plan. The Town Centre First approach is an initiative of Government policy to build sustainable and resilient communities in rural towns. The approach supports the rejuvenation of Irish rural town centres and is a collaborative initiative, which focuses on developing plans to regenerate rural towns through tailored place-making, addressing dereliction and vacancy in town centres. Short, medium and long-term priorities are identified through public and community consultation. In mid-2023, Pennsylvania State University and University of Galway carried out an extensive community consultation with almost 60% of Killalas population responding. Mayo County Council appointed a multi-disciplinary design team led by land use consultants (LUC) to prepare the Town Centre First Plan for Killala. Meetings, open consultation events and feedback events took place in September, October and November in Killala and a consultation portal was opened for online feedback from September. Information boards listing the proposed projects were available for a month in Killala Community Centre, inviting people to vote on their priorities for the town. The results were generously shared with the Town Centre First team and the resulting Killala Town Centre First Plan is available to view at www.mayo.ie. The plan aims to support the enhancement and revitalisation of Killala and address the broad issues that emerged during the consultation process. Local town teams are essential for the development of Town Centre First Plans and to ensure their delivery. Killalas Town Team have begun working to activate identified priority projects through national funding programmes. However, the full potential of the plan can only be delivered through community action. To find out more and to meet the team, an information sharing evening is taking place in Killala Community Centre (upstairs) on Thursday, May 30, from 6 to 8pm. Abridged versions of the plan will be available, as will the opportunity to get involved and identify how to contribute. This is a drop-in event, so all are welcome to call by anytime that suits from 6pm to 8pm. A Dublin parish priest recently took exception to what he regarded as critical comments about priests by Pope Francis and Fr Tony Flannery in The Tablet, a weekly Catholic periodical. He concluded that both of them seemed "to hold the view that diocesan priests were into power and control" and concluded that both shared "a low opinion of diocesan priests". What was interesting was that the Dublin priest didnt attempt to respond to what Francis and Tony had actually written but dismissed it on the grounds that neither "had held an appointment as a parish priest". What seems to have irked the Dublin priest was the recent news that dioceses in the west of Ireland (Killala and Achonry) were to be merged, that both had 38 and 36 priests respectively, and that he and another priest were under great pressure in Dublin as they were struggling to serve 20,000 Catholics in their united parishes. The Tablet exchange comes at a time when theres a particular focus on priests, especially the challenge we face in adapting ourselves to a new way of being church. Up to now, ordination was the governing sacrament only the ordained were in charge now, with baptism as the fundamental sacrament, the new way of being church is a synodal way. Once the clergy priests, bishops, cardinals were in charge; now with synodality the baptised and the ordained work together. For instance, up to now, the parish priest made decisions for parish councils, which were merely consultative bodies. Now, priests and people will together follow a synodal pathway: together listening attentively to one another; together discussing issues; together discerning what God wants them to do; and together making decisions. Most priests, it seems, are struggling to make the transition from being in charge to becoming synodal. Hence the focus now on the role of the priest. And why, a few weeks ago, 200 parish priests were called to Rome two from each country to share their experiences of the transition to synodality. The main speaker was Fr Tomas Halik, an eminent philosopher, who described the transition to synodality as a conversion from the old and the present to the future God is preparing for us. We must, he suggested, have the courage to change much in the Church. Priesthood, he said, is going through a time of trial when a number of crises show us that we can no longer (as a church) continue on our current path in our thinking, living and working style. Halik repeated what has become a mantra of Pope Francis, the need to dismantle what he calls clericalism effectively, an elitist and exclusivist understanding of vocation, as a power to be exercised rather than a service to be given. Halik described it in direct terms: "We priests are not called to be the ruling class but the servants of all." There are still places, he writes, where the parish priest sees himself as the pope of his parish rather than part of a co-responsible community of equals. Haliks focus is on the need for change. We have to try new and fresh approaches, he argues. If the nets remain empty, is it because we remain in the shallows and havent the courage to push off from the shore, to go to the deep? Or because we are ignoring prophetic voices? Or is it a refusal to move from the unchanging certainties of the past? Or because we are not listening to the people? For Simone Weil, the French mystic, attention is the greatest form of generosity. In talking to the parish priests, Halik pointed out that adapting to the synodal way didnt just apply to them or to parishes but to the wider life of the Church. This surfaces a series of questions, for example, about how bishops will adapt their structures and their practices in becoming more synodal. What effect will the synodal pathway have on the present dynamics of operation that bishops take for granted? On the format and make-up of their meetings? On the way decisions are made and on who makes them? And on the culture of what a recent report from Durham University called hierarchicalism, which was defined as the exclusive power culture of the episcopacy. And indeed on the titles and practices that serve to confer an exaggerated and unreal status, station and rank, whether Your Eminence, Your Grace or the dreadful Americanism Your Excellency. Or the lesser titles of Monsignor, Canon and Archdeacon bishops distribute among priests often as a reward for unquestioning obedience and deference? Or distinctions like Reverend, Very Reverend and Most Reverend? While popes, cardinals, bishops and priests can see their lives as serving the people, an old comment from the late Enda McDonagh places that in context: "It is still very difficult for laypeople to recognise in the privileges and practices of priests, bishops and popes their proclaimed status as servants." But to get back to the Dublin parish priest I mentioned at the top of this column. I think he was very unfair to both Tony Flannery and Pope Francis. To Tony Flannery, by suggesting that because he has never been a parish priest he has no right to comment on diocesan matters even though he has spent over 40 years leading missions in parishes. To Francis, in suggesting that he has no right to challenge parish priests even though he is only the pope. I have every sympathy for the Dublin parish priests and their exhausting efforts to minister to huge numbers of Catholics practising and disinterested and for the increasing number of priests taking sick leave for stress-related illnesses. The real tragedy, of course, is that all of that need not be happening. If sensible decisions could be made to moderate mandatory celibacy and to allow women priests both of which now rest on increasingly unsettling foundations the present agonies and illnesses of priests would decline significantly. Even some parish priests are beginning to recognise the inevitable and are adding their voices to the gathering acclamation. Charitable gesture puts roof over head for patients who've traveled from out of town for treatment Chang Xiangyang (fifth from right in back row) celebrates Spring Festival earlier this year with some children and parents at Xinyu Home in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. [China Daily] A kindhearted woman in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, is providing a much-needed lifeline for out-of-town families with family members requiring treatment in the city, by putting them up free of charge. Xi'an native Chang Xiangyang struck upon the idea after an encounter with a grandmother who had been sleeping in the corridor at Xi'an Children's Hospital, where her 3-year-old grandchild was receiving treatment for leukemia. To pay for his treatment, the family had used all their savings and borrowed a significant amount of money, meaning the grandmother had to sleep on the hospital floor to save costs. As Chang was about to leave, she overheard the grandmother saying: "If there were any other way, I wouldn't be sleeping on the ground. Even the steamed buns in Xi'an are expensive, costing 0.6 yuan (8 cents) each." These words moved Chang deeply, revealing to her the great disparities there are in life. "I realized that while some people wouldn't even bother picking up a one-yuan coin from the ground, others find a 0.6-yuan bun expensive. There are still so many people in need of help in this world," she said. Chang asked the grandmother: "If there were free accommodation and meals available near the hospital, would you stay there?" The elderly woman looked at her with a puzzled expression for several seconds. Chang asked again. After a long silence, the grandmother replied: "If such a place existed, it would be in the next life." This experience stayed with Chang, and was a driving force behind her decision to set up the Xinyu Home. Xinyu means feather in the heart in Chinese. The home, established in 2017, is located just a stone's throw from the Xi'an Children's Hospital, and is capable of accommodating up to 13 families at any one time. To date, Xinyu Home has provided free accommodation and meals to the families of over 2,300 children with serious illnesses from all over the country. "This home does not charge a cent to the people staying here because I want these families in difficulty to know that Xi'an is a place full of kind people who will care for them," the 52-year-old said. Chang Xiangyang looks after sick children at Xinyu Home in Xi'an. [China Daily] Challenges Once everything was ready, Chang began visiting the hospital regularly in order to invite the impoverished families of seriously ill children to stay at the home, but many doubted such good fortune, suspecting it to be a scam. Determined, she sought help from doctors familiar with families in need to back her up and recommend the home. Within six months, Xinyu Home was filled with seriously ill children and their families. To assist those genuinely in need, each family staying at the home must provide a doctor's diagnosis and a poverty certificate issued by their hometown's local government. At first, Chang was able to fund the home herself with the help of her friends and family, but after a while the financial toll of renting and running the 200-square-meter property began to weigh heavily. Xinyu Home's monthly expenses, including daily necessities and utilities, amounted to about 20,000 yuan. Although the parents of the sick children can help with cooking and daily chores, running the home remained a significant challenge, quickly depleting Chang's savings and straining her father's financial support. At times, she even cried alone in her room, despairing at the prospect of having to close the home. "But after crying, and then seeing these lovely children, I had no reason to complain or abandon them," she said. As Xinyu Home's deeds became more widely known, like-minded people with a volunteering spirit started running fundraising campaigns to support it. The Xi'an government and local charitable associations also made donations. Since 2020, the Xi'an Charity Association has covered the annual rent of 50,000 yuan. The home's running expenses are now essentially covered, and its facilities and equipment have been improved, Chang said. In October last year, a social organization put up the money to renovate the home's rooms, including adding a reading corner, a walk-in wardrobe and a new kitchen, providing a better living environment for the children. Chang's compassionate work has had a distinct impression on not only patients and their families, but also the medical staff at Xi'an Children's Hospital. Liu Ansheng, director of the hematology and oncology department at the hospital, said: "The children's treatment is up to us, and their daily life is up to Chang. We can rest assured." Chang Xiangyang looks after sick children at Xinyu Home in Xi'an. [China Daily] Safe Harbor Most of the children and families that stay at Xinyu Home come from areas far from Xi'an, traveling to the city for treatment that can take long. The experience of running the home has been an emotional one for Chang, because although her endeavor is a noble pursuit, there are inevitable losses along the way. However, her warm interactions with the children and their parents have kept her heart warm and her resolve strong. "Everyone here relies on and loves each other," she said. Dealing with loss is never easy. In early March, a father who had once stayed at Xinyu Home shared in the home's WeChat group that his 2-year-old child "had become an angel", meaning that she had passed away, and expressed his gratitude for everyone's care. Chang had no idea how to respond at that time, noting that no one else in the group had replied either. After a while, she responded to the father with three hugging emojis. Following her lead, the rest of the group unanimously replied with hugging emojis as well. "It's not that everyone was indifferent to the father's message, but rather that we initially didn't know how to offer comfort," she said. "When everyone replied with hugs at almost the same time, it meant that we all saw his message, and that he was not alone," she said. "We provide mutual spiritual comfort." A mother surnamed Li from Yan'an, Shaanxi, and her 5-year-old son have been living at Xinyu Home since 2022. Chang Xiangyang looks after sick children at Xinyu Home in Xi'an. [China Daily] Over the past year, Li went from being highly stressed and reserved to opening up and being willing to share her child's experiences with others. In her view, every small family living there became part of a larger family, making their mutual aid flow like "a transmission of love". "When we first arrived, many experienced parents who had been living there for a while guided us," she said. "Gradually, as we gained experience, I began to proactively share our experiences with other newcomers." Thanks to this process, the children have also become more extroverted and cheerful and are willing to initiate conversations with others, with her son saying "good morning" and "good night" to everyone, Li said. Another mother, Minmin, said that all families in the "loving shelter" have been encouraging and comforting, overcoming many difficult moments together. "Our children are the apple of our eye. It's hard for us to comfort ourselves when we are alone, but because we live together with so many people in similar situations, we help and support each other," she said. "When everyone unites, our mental burden is greatly reduced." Chang, who is affectionately called "Momma Chang" by the kids at Xinyu Home, has received support and donations from all sectors of society, and she remains determined to continue this good cause indefinitely. "This is a place that provides confidence, strength and hope. I will keep going," she said. At the same time, she wants to say to families with seriously ill children: "We are not afraid of illness; as long as we persist in treatment, there will surely be good outcomes. "Do not abandon or give up on the children. Nothing can defeat us," Chang said. (Source: China Daily) He Yuqing livestreams a local event in Wuying Village on the border between south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and southwest China's Guizhou Province, Feb. 14, 2024. In 2007, Wu Xinren, a 28-year-old Miao ethnic youth, ended his ten-year working life in a city and returned, with his 22-year-old wife He Yuqing, to his hometown Wuying Village, a Miao ethnic-minority hamlet that nestles snugly in the towering mountains stretching across the border between south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guizhou Province. Since then, Wu and his wife have attempted to start there a business ranging from farming, transportation to running grocery and home-stay as well as selling local specialties. Their cultural life also flourished as their business gained them a better living condition. Over the years, they have witnessed the development of the village towards rural revitalization. [Xinhua/Huang Xiaobang] United Airlines travellers get honour of exclusive Wrexham AFC amenity kits and pyjamas This article is old - Published: Tuesday, May 21st, 2024 United Airlines today debuted new, limited-edition Wrexham AFC amenity kits and pyjamas that will be given to those flying in premium cabins. Starting June 1, travellers flying in Uniteds premium cabins on long-haul international routes will receive the complimentary Wrexham AFC inspired amenity kits filled with travel essentials like an eye mask, toothbrush and toothpaste as well as exclusive Therabody skincare products. United Polaris customers on flights 14 hours or longer will also receive pyjamas designed to resemble the teams uniforms, of which United is a front-of-jersey sponsor, including a long-sleeve Wrexham red shirt and gray pants. United and Wrexham AFC collaborated to design the amenity kits and pyjamas, drawing inspiration from the team crest, jerseys and overall look and feel. With our amenity kits, we always aim to provide customers with products that make their travel journey more comfortable as well as create one-of-a-kind keepsakes for them to enjoy well beyond their flight, said Peter Wolkowski, Director of Onboard Product Design at United Wrexhams story is one that has been documented and celebrated these last few years, so were thrilled to now give United customers team-branded gear they wont be able to find anywhere else. United say they are giving fans more access to Wrexham AFC during the clubs 2024-2025 season its second year partnering with the team. As the front-of-jersey sponsor for the mens and womens teams, the United name and logo emblazons the front of the Wrexham AFC shirts during games. The airline will also sponsor the clubs North American summer tour including flying the teams to games and providing MileagePlus members exclusive offerings. Ukrainian operator Kyivstar allocated US$90 million to defend against suspected Russian cyberattacks against its network, a move that affected growth said Kyivstar CEO Oleksandr Komarov. The chief executive told Interfax-Ukraine news agency, before a massive cyberattack we were moving with an increase of 11% - 12% quarter-on-quarter in 2023. The cyberattack ate up about 3% of annual growth." The chief executive did not detail exactly which financial metric he was referring to. The cyberattack in December damaged Kyivstars networks and cut mobile signal for millions of Ukrainians. The UAH 3.6 billion (US$90.4 million) was allocated to deal with the aftermath of the attack, repairing damages as well as bolstering defences and funding a loyalty programme for customers. Kyivstar is owned by Amsterdam-based Veon and has 24.3 million mobile subscribers in the country and 1.1 million broadband customers. The Ukrainian military pinned the attack on a Russian military cyberwarfare software called Sandworm. Two British judges today granted WikiLeaks journalist Julian Assange the right to appeal his extradition to the United States. He has spent the last five years resisting extradition to face charges under the Espionage Act, which carry a potential life sentence, while held in Londons Belmarsh maximum security prison. An original decision to bar extradition on mental health grounds, given January 2021, was overturned by the High Court in December that year. Assanges legal team then mounted an appeal on numerous points, including his rights to life, due process of law and freedom from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Julian Assange [AP Photo/Matt Dunham] These were whittled down by the High Court this March to risks that he might face the death penalty, be prejudiced at trial by his (non-American) nationality and denied recourse to his right to freedom of expressionall bars to extradition under UK law. The High Court gave the US government the opportunity to issue assurances alleviating these concerns, provided this April 16. In court today, Assanges lawyers accepted the assurance given that the death penalty would not be imposed as satisfactory, but challenged those relating to his right to invoke the First Amendment, guaranteeing free speech, in his defence. The lead US prosecutor Gordon Kromberg has indicated publicly that Assange could be denied this protection at trial in the US since he is not a US national. Representing Assange, Edward Fitzgerald KC noted of the blatantly inadequate assurance provided by the US that it does not commit the prosecution not to take the point which gave rise to this courts concerns, i.e., the point that as a foreign citizen he is not entitled to rely on the first amendment at least in relation to a national security matter. Simply a specific promise or undertaking by the prosecutor [Kromberg] would be a first step, but even that first step has not been undertaken. The real risk identified by the High Court in its previous judgment of a denial of Assanges rights survives the equivocal, at best, and downright inadequate assurance. Pinned to the weasel formulations of the assurances, the lawyer for the US, James Lewis KC, was forced to advance entirely new arguments, not raised in previous hearings in the case, that only served to make plain Washingtons intention to deny Assange any free speech protections. Unable to claim that the US assurance of free speech protections was anything of the sort, Lewis essentially argued that no such assurance was warranted in any case. He insisted that Assange would not be unfairly discriminated against by virtue of his nationality in being denied first amendment protections; he was simply, as a non-US citizen, not a person who, as a matter of law or scope, the First Amendment of the US Constitution covers. From this he concluded, He will not be discriminated against because of his nationality. He can and will be able to raise all those arguments [regarding freedom of speech] he will be able to rely on them. This is not true, as Fitzgerald later pointed out. The wording of the assurance only guarantees that Assange can seek to rely on first amendment protections, with a decision as to the applicability of the First Amendment left exclusively within the purview of the US Courts. Lewis then acknowledged and justified this fact by claiming that Assanges alleged conduct did not necessarily fall within the protection of the First Amendment, not by reason of his nationality but because, potentially, as a matter of law, he is a foreigner carrying out acts on foreign soil concerning national security. Here is US imperialisms case stripped bare: That it can use the Espionage Act to seize journalists it deems a threat to its national interests and try them without key legal and democratic protections. Summarising Assanges response to these arguments, Fitzgerald told the court: There are too many issues of fact which remain unanswered; what is the position of the prosecution? There are too many issues of law which have just been introduced for the first time, which are unresolved, to take the irrevocable step of refusing permission [for an appeal]. In a short ruling, Dame Victoria Sharp and Mr Justice Johnson sided with Assanges legal team, granting him the right to appeal. The judgement is a victory, both for blocking what could otherwise have been Assanges immediate transfer to the Americabarring any successful intervention by the European Court of Human Rightsand for further exposing the reactionary nature of the US prosecution. It was seized upon by campaigners for Assanges freedom to demand the Biden administration drop the charges entirely. Stella Assange speaks to the media and Julian Assange's supporters outside the High Court, May 20, 2024 Assanges wife Stella told reporters outside the court: The United States should read the situation and drop this case now Just abandon this shameful attack on journalists, on the press and the public that has been going on for 14 years. This case is shameful, and it is taking an enormous toll on Julian. He is under enormous pressure. He has been in Belmarsh prison for over five years This case should just be abandoned. The Biden administration should have dropped it from day one. This was echoed by WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson: It shouldnt have taken more than five minutes in this courtroom for the judges to see that the United States was not going to give Julian any assurances, and they would discriminate against him, they would not give him first amendment protections. WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson speaking outside the High Court, May 20, 2024 It took a couple of hours, but the judges did come to a just and right conclusion. Julian Assange now has the right to appeal. And that in itself should send the right message across the sea to the Biden administration. Youre on losing ground. Youre losing this case. If you want to save any form of face, drop the case against Julian Assange, drop it right now. The Biden administration should drop the case. But to ensure that it does so requires more than legal arguments and moral pressure. Careful political calculations are at work behind the scenes. The last time a decision went in Assanges favour against the grain of the case was the initial refusal of extradition on January 4, 2021. At that time, the future of the US government was in turmoil, with Bidens replacement of Donald Trump challenged by an attempted coup and the storming of the Capitol building just two days later. Another political crisis is raging now. Biden is haemorrhaging support over his backing of the Gaza genocide, ahead of another presidential election contest with Trump in November. There will be a faction of opinion in the White House happier to see a delay in proceedings against Assange rather than the rapid arrival of another potentially explosive political issue for the Democrats, as the WikiLeaks founder is dragged through the US courts. However, such considerations grant nothing more than a delayand a prolonged detention under intolerable conditions in Belmarsh. Nor are they a guarantee against sections of the US state as happy to trample publicly over Assanges democratic rights as they are the rights of students protesting the slaughter of the Palestinians. Securing Assanges freedom means coupling the powerful legal case mounted with a resolute mass movement of the working class in his defence in Britain, the United States and internationally. A date for the full appeal is yet to be decided. The time between then and now must be spent organising that movement. The takeover of Royal Mail by billionaire Daniel Kretinskys private equity firm EP Group moved a step closer Friday, with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt appearing to welcome a 3.5 billion buyout of Royal Mail shareholders. EP Groups takeover bid marks a new stage in the wrecking operation against Royal Mail since privatisation. It sets the stage for a further massive assault on jobs, employment terms, conditions and pensions. Daniel Kretinsky, Dave Ward, Royal Mail [Photo: Top left: EP Holding / Bottom left: WSWS / Right: CC BY 2.0] Hunt confirmed EP Groups bid to control Royal Mail and its parent company International Distribution Services (IDS) would be reviewed under the National Security and Investment Act (2022). EP Group is one of Europes largest private industrial groups, with major assets across energy, logistics and retail. But Hunt signalled in-principle support for a takeover: As a rule, we welcome international investment in British companies. One of the reasons we have attracted more greenfield, foreign direct investment than anywhere in the world apart from the US and China is because of our openness to companies from overseas and to the additional, not just capital they bring in, but also the expertise and the funding, so we will continue with that approach. Kretinsky raised his firms takeover bid by 16 percent last Wednesday to 3.70 per sharea downpayment on expected returns to be wrung from the workforce. His Vesa Equity is already the largest IDS/Royal Mail shareholder, with a 27 percent stake. IDS chair Keith Williams confirmed the board was minded to recommend EP Groups latest offer as a fair price, reflecting both the value of GLS (its international parcels division) and progress being made on change at Royal Mail to adapt the business to a significant fall in the demand for letters and growth in parcels. CWU engages with Kretinsky The Labour Party and Communication Workers Union (CWU) postal executive led by Dave Ward and Martin Walsh have made clear they will support a takeover if Kretinsky works with the CWU. On Wednesday, Labours Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds issued a Dear Daniel letter to Kretinsky, asking EP Group to commit that it will work closely with the Communication Workers Union to build a sustainable Royal Mail. As window dressing, the CWU is seeking worthless assurances from Kretinsky that the universal service obligation and postal workers jobs, conditions and pensions will be protected. An emergency motion passed at last months national conference claimed that in the event of any takeover CWU would oppose by all means possible any attempt to: Break up the company; Introduce franchising to Royal Mail; Introduce outsourcing into the company; Introduce a three or four-day USO or other severe USO cuts; Raid the pension surplus. But this is precisely Kretinskys agenda and the CWU will do nothing to oppose it. Ward told a CWU Live Q&A last Wednesday: The long-standing policy of the union is nationalisation, theres a general election coming up, but we have to realise that in the current political environment that will be difficult. The CWUs policy of nationalisation is pro forma only. The difficult climate is the most right-wing Labour Party in history. Starmer and his Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves have pledged theirs will be a government of fiscal responsibility in the national interest (i.e., the London Stock Exchange). Labour has not only ruled out bringing Royal Mail back into public ownership, it is deeply implicated in the Kretinsky takeover. Former Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna, now an investment banker at JP Morgan, has been the point man for EP Group with the senior Labour team. In place of nationalisation, Ward proposes: This is a moment where we can start to explore different models of ownership mutuals, not for profit, public benefit companies that weve been exploring with the Labour Party. But talk of alternative models giving customers and workers more say is political fantasy. It is a screen for the CWUs active collusion with Kretinsky. Ward and the CWU will work with Kretinsky just as they have colluded with the Royal Mail/IDS board, including joint authorship of last years surrender document that set fire to postal workers terms and conditions. The CWU has lectured postal workers to move on and forgive and forget that betrayal, but anger remains. This intruded on last weeks CWU Live Q&A in a torrent of hostile comments in the online chat, with CWU Head of Communications Chris Webb forced to ask Ward about a group of members who were taking the view that I gave up 18 days of strike action, you guys signed this agreement, and everything we said we were fighting against in terms of a takeover from Vesa, or a company like them, is now happening and those people are laying the blame for that at the doorstep of the trade union. Ward replied contemptuously: Thats just complete nonsense. It shows a lack of understanding of the way the world works, the way private companies work, the way billionaires operate. You cant just stop it. You have to get in there and engage with people. Ward declares there is no alternative to the dictates of the capitalist market. It is a re-run of his arguments last year in support of the negotiators agreement with Simon Thompson. He preaches acceptance of the agenda of the IDS board and private equity parasites like EP Group/Vesa in the interests of a trade union bureaucracy whose salary packages (Dave Ward: 142,485) and lavish expense accounts place them in the top 5 percent of income earners in the UK, with a direct stake in the exploitation of their own members. Walsh lashed-out at criticism from CWU members, backing Ward and claiming the choice last year was either accepting the company-union agreement or administration. He claimed no government can use public money to fund a private companydespite billions being funnelled by the government into corporate subsidies and other handouts since 2008. The alternative was thousands and thousands of job losses. i.e., the very outcome now staring Royal Mail workers in the face, courtesy of the CWU. Ward boasted that CWU HQ is now recognised by Kretinsky and Labour as having a pivotal role to play in helping to broker a new set of arrangements at Royal Mail. He concluded: the outcome of that will really depend on what the government says, what Labour says and on what Vesa says to us, and how strong the members are in getting behind the unions position. Webb, Ward and Walsh have repeatedly stated this past week that the unions realistic policy is one of engagement. This is a euphemism for corporatismthe active collusion between the bureaucracy, corporate management and the government. What postal workers need is not engagement but opposition! CWU head office has called for gate meetings as part of a bogus reconnecting in the workplace exercise. Postal workers must intervene and prepare their own emergency resolutions, demanding the removal of the CWU postal executive and a campaign of non-compliance with last years national agreement that was pushed through based on lies and disinformation. Gate meetings should adopt measures to protect postal workers from impossible workloads and company bullying through collective action, including a ban on overtime. Rank-and-file workplace committees should be set-up at every depot to draw up grievances and prepare for a rank-and-file conference to map out a strategy to fight back. An appeal for support should be made to workers at GLS, Amazon, DPD, UPS and other post and logistics workers in the UK and internationally. The Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee is holding an online meeting on Sunday June 9, at 7pm. Register here to attend. On May 15 the German cabinet approved a draft bill for a so-called hospital reform put forward by Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (Social Democrats, SPD). The new measure will initiate a nationwide closure of clinics, massively worsening healthcare provision for broad sections of the population. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach [Photo by Raimond Spekking vie wikimedia / CC BY-SA 4.0 The reform is due to take effect on January 1, 2025. Lauterbach himself has spoken of the biggest hospital reform in 20 years. In fact, the healthcare system in Germany has suffered greatly over the last 20 years due to austerity measures and privatisation. The latest reform bill will rapidly accelerate this process and aligns the healthcare system solely with the requirements of the federal budget and the profit interests of large corporations. It is no coincidence that the health minister recently announced a turning point in the healthcare system. What this means in reality is that healthcare spending is to be further sacrificed to free up funds for military armament and making the healthcare system fit for war. The reform paper deliberately lacks many key details. According to Lauterbach, the entire plan is to be implemented gradually over the next 10 years. This will ensure that spending can be tightened further and further. The draft bill essentially attempts to achieve this with a change in financing and the introduction of new forms of specialisation for the approximately 1,700 hospitals still operating nationwide. The bill provides for flat rates and the financing of specific services based on performance. The flat-rate payments for services will supplement the flat-rate payments per case that will continue to apply. In future, up to 60 percent of hospital funding will be provided via flat rates, the amount of which will be based on the hospitals capacities. To this end 65 service groups (e.g., cardiology, oncology) have been defined. Treatments can only be billed if the hospital has been allocated the corresponding service group and has the prescribed, usually very expensive, equipment and the correspondingly qualified staff. Flat rates per case will not be abolished, as Lauterbach has repeatedly promised in the past, but merely supplemented by reserve financing. The cost pressure on hospitals remains undiminished, as the flat rates per case continue to exist and the requirements for reserve funding must also be met. In addition, the reserve budget is calculated on the basis of previous years case numbers and there will be limits imposed on the reserve budget even if case numbers increase. This makes it clear that there will be no de-economisation of any kindthe officially stated aim of the reform. The chairwoman of the Marburger Bund doctors union, Susanne Johna, has confirmed that the reform will not relieve economic pressure. A reform that deliberately aims to reduce the number of clinics has complex consequences for patient care, Johna warned. A Hospital Transparency Act and online clinic atlas are also part of the hospital reform. The atlas has now been published, enabling patients to see which clinics carry out specific procedures and how often and how many staff are on site. In future, complication rates will also be published for selected procedures. It should also be possible to make specific comparisons between clinics and treatments. There are, however, many justified criticisms of this hospital atlas. Firstly, it does not publish any relevant data that is not already available. The German Hospital Directory has already been presenting all important information for some time. Patient associations also criticise the atlas as unsuitable for patients to obtain an overview of the quality of care. However, this is not the governments aim. While it is superficially about a public list of services, case numbers and the staffing of the clinics, the hospital atlas actually creates the basis for the reorganisation of the hospitals according to service groups and various levels. This means that more than 300 clinics will probably be downgraded to outpatient centres and thus lose their current status. Even before the cabinets decision, the reform was criticised from many sides. Above all, this is because the financing of the reform remains almost completely unclear and there are considerable differences between the federal government, federal states, local authorities and the statutory health insurance funds, to which a large proportion of the costs are to be passed on. The deputy head of the AOK health insurance association, Jens Martin Hoyer, explained that the reform would be very expensive for contributors and would lead to higher contribution rates if no changes were made. The CEO of the health insurance group Barmer, Professor Christoph Straub, also predicted that up to 25 billion would have to be raised from member contributions as a result of regulations on the transformation fund. There is general agreement that the reform will lead to the closure of numerous hospitals, particularly in rural regions, and that certain services will no longer be offered. This year alone 30 hospitals in Germany have closed or are about to close. According to a survey by the German Hospital Institute (DKI), 78 percent of hospitals are expecting a loss in their balance sheets for 2023. The survey also shows that large hospitals with more than 600 beds rate their current financial situation as especially poor. For 2024, three out of four hospitals of this size expect the situation to deteriorate. This situation means that hospitals are increasingly forced to cut costs. This no longer only affects material and energy costs, but increasingly personnel as well. In Berlin, the state-owned Vivantes clinics closed the 2023 financial year with a deficit of 131 million and are already threatening the workforce with drastic cost-cutting measures. Against this backdrop, Lauterbachs comments that the government is pulling the emergency brake with the reform are sheer cynicism. Without changing the structures of inpatient care, there is a threat of hospital insolvencies, poor treatment and long journeys, said the health minister. Despite differences of opinion on details, all of the countrys main parties are in favour of massive cuts to the healthcare system at the expense of patients and employees. Even the Left Party, despite issuing some public criticism, is fundamentally in favour of the reform by the German government (a coalition of the SPD, Greens and Free Democratic Party). Bremens health senator Claudia Bernhard (Left Party) praised the reform and welcomed the fact that Lauterbach is fearlessly forging ahead. The health workers union Verdi is also expressly in favour of the reform. Although improvements need to be made to the financing, explained Verdi health expert Grit Genster, Verdi declared its support in principle when the draft for the bill was presented. In recent years, Verdi has played a central role in suppressing the widespread anger of healthcare workers and leading the growing number of strikes and protests into a dead end. Apple Store employees in Towson, Md. [Photo: goiam.org] Workers at the Apple Store in Towson, Maryland voted May 11 to authorize a strike against the multibillion-dollar technology and retail giant almost two years after becoming the first Apple Store to unionize. Workers at the store, located in a mall in the suburbs north of Baltimore, voted in June 2022 to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (IAM CORE). The organization represents about 100 workers at the Towson store. So far, no date has been set for when the strike might take place. IAM said it has been negotiating a labor contract with Apple since January 2023, but no agreement has been reached on key issues to workers at the store such as scheduling, work-life balance, and pay commensurate with the areas high cost of living. Earlier in the year, IAM released the results of an independent survey of 161 current and former employees from 66 Apple stores in 60 cities across six countries, including the United States. The 38-page report found Apple is intensely hostile toward any effort to organize by workers and created conditions for retaliation against workers who attempted to do so. The IAM survey found Apple broke unfair labor practice laws in order to prevent workers from taking up any fight against the corporation, such as by withholding benefits for workers at the Towson location or by interrogating employees in New York. When workers at the Towson store first announced their intent to form a union, Apple hired Littler Mendelson, a company with a reputation for union-busting at Amazon, Starbucks, Nissan, and Delta Air Lines. Regarding contract negotiations for the Towson workers, the IAM report hinted at the lengths to which the company has gone to string workers along throughout negotiations. Kevin Gallagher, a worker at the Towson store, said in the survey, Apple has repeatedly done everything they can to delay negotiations as long as possible. They give lengthy presentations on irrelevant information, ask meticulous questions only to just respond no, and dedicate one or two days a month to bargain while insisting that we must submit proposals for every single benefit included at Apple. These have been clear attempts at delaying, a tactic they employed in every other legal battle they have ever undertaken. The potential strike by these workers comes amid an upswing in activism within the tech industry. As students and demonstrators at universities around the world face brutal police retaliation for speaking out against the genocide in Gaza, Google had several employees arrested last month and fired dozens more for protesting the companys contracts with the Israeli government. Apple is just as complicit in the ruling class policies of war and austerity. Under the guise of protecting children from exploitation, it has opened up its users photo libraries and data to law enforcement agencies in the United States. Last year, Apple censored remarks by Robert De Niro about former President Donald Trump the company considered too inflammatory for the Gotham Film and Media Institute awards. Apples ties to the US military intelligence industry run deep. The corporation has supplied its technology for troop training, enemy targeting and myriad of other applications for many years. Last year, the corporation acquired Mira, a California-based virtual reality technology company. According to Forbes, Apples purchase signaled it was attacking one of the most lucrative markets for high-end VR headsets: the military. The corporation has a revolving door with the military. Last year, the Pentagon appointed former Apple executive Douglas Beck to head the militarys Defense Innovation unit. The position would report directly to the Secretary of Defense, indicating the militarys ambition to access more cutting-edge technologies from the commercial sector, stated Fast Company. In December 2021, Apple employees at multiple stores walked out in protest of the companys pay and benefits during a wave of COVID-19 infections. Earlier this year, hundreds of workers at the Flex manufacturing plant in Chennai went on strike. The plant manufactures iPhone components. Workers must unite their struggles and expand them if they hope to take on Apple, a company valued at $2.91 trillion with over $170 billion in cash sitting in its bank accounts. The pro-capitalist and nationalist unions like the IAM are incapable of providing workers a way forward because more than anything they fear mobilizing the working class against the corporations. In its public statement on the vote to strike, IAM stated the date of a strike will be determined by IAM CORE. In other words, the initiative is being held back. The IAM was one of several unions that worked with Congress and the White House to block a threatened railroaders strike in 2022. For months, the coalition of unions active in the railroads delayed decisive action in order to not interfere with the electoral aspirations of the Democratic Party in the midterms. Once the elections were finished, the unions stood by and let both big business parties pass legislation, signed by Biden, to outlaw the railroad workers job action on the grounds it would impose unacceptable burdens on American families. In reality, corporate executives and the Biden administration were concerned that a mass struggle in a critical transport industry would not only decisively demonstrate the power of the working class, but it would weaken the US as it shifts its economy to a war footing against its rivals in China and Russia. In that struggle, the role of the Railroad Workers Rank-and-File Committee was crucial, debunking the propaganda of management and the government and exposing IAM and other unions collusion with the state. Technology workers at Apple and elsewhere should draw the conclusions from these struggles and take the initiative away from the IAM bureaucracy by forming their own rank-and-file committee to fight to expand their struggle as widely as possible. Vodacom and Orange are reportedly in talks to share infrastructure in Africa to cut network costs and deploy coverage in remote locations. Bloomberg reported, the companies are in talks to share infrastructure in Egypt and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Vodacom said in a statement to the news agency that a partnership between the operators could include network sharing and joint deployment in hard to reach rural locations. This would potentially alleviate costs and narrow the digital divide. An Orange spokesperson told Developing Telecoms it does not reply to market speculation, and Vodacom have yet to reply to our questions. Africa has been highlihted as a bright spot for the Orange Group with consecutive quarters of revenue growth. In its recent Q1 2024 results Orange reported double-digit revenue boosts in its Middle East and African operation. Revenue grew 11% to 1.8 billion year-on-year. Meanwhile, Vodacom revealed in its results net income dipped slightly by 2.8% to ZAR 16.3 billion, despite revenue being up by 26% to ZAR 150.6 billion. The passage of the North Carolina House Bill 237, also known as the Unmasking Mobs and Criminals Bill, in the state Senate on Wednesday brings the state one step closer to making it illegal to wear face masks in public, regardless of the threat posed by the COVID pandemic. Simone Hetherington, a speaker during public comment, urges lawmakers not to pass the masking bill during the state Senate Rules Committee in the Legislative Building in Raleigh, N.C., Wednesday, May 15, 2024. [AP Photo/Makiya Seminera] The legislation was voted on by a margin of 30 to 15 along party lines, with five abstentions. Revisions to the bill will mean the state House will vote on it again. But even if North Carolina Democratic Governor Roy Cooper vetoes the law, the Republican-majority state legislature will have sufficient votes to override him. Although the bill leaves a number of exemptions in place, it specifically deleted the exemption, Any person wearing a mask for the purpose of ensuring the physical health or safety of the wearer or others. Meanwhile, masks can be worn as part of traditional holiday costumes in season, or if the person is Engaged in trades and employment where a mask is worn for the purpose of ensuring the physical safety of the wearer, or because of the nature of the occupation, trade or profession. Public mask wearing has long been illegal in the state, but with many exemptions. The exemption for public health concerns was put into effect with the onset of the COVID pandemic. The measure to remove that exemption was introduced to the Senate Judiciary Committee by right-wing Republican Senator Buck Newton. Newton told reporters that the action was being taken in part because of recent demonstrations by students on college campuses who were protesting the genocidal Israel onslaught against Palestinians, which has completely devastated the Gaza enclave and its more than 2 million inhabitants. Newtons claims that students are attempting to cover up their identities and that this represents some form of criminal enterprise are simply preposterous. This isnt just about protests, Newton said. I think its clear that people are seizing the opportunity to do things theyre not supposed to do, to break the law, or to intimidate people, and to keep their identities hidden, and its time for that to stop. Republican supporters of the legislation openly admit that the purpose of the measure is to help law enforcement crack down on protesters wearing masks, arguing that they were abusing pandemic practices to hide their identities. In reality, students and protesters have, by all accounts, conducted themselves with considerable restraint. They have demonstrated exceptional courage in the face of attacks by the police and fascistic thugs. Police have carried out mass arrests of young people and faculty members who have come out in support. Many also take the ongoing pandemic as a serious reason to protect themselves and others from infection. In that, they represent an important development of conscious social awakening in response to the actions of Biden and company in shutting down all public health measures in addition to the rampant US militarism. The students oppose the governments and respective universities complicity and support for these war crimes, exercising their essential democratic rights laid down in the Constitution. In fact, the assured passage of the law will only strengthen the hand of the state and will be seen as a landmark action that will be mirrored across the country. Challenges to the North Carolina bill will assuredly reach the Supreme Court and find legal expression for state repression while potentially placing the lives and well-being of people in danger. One can even assume that those wearing respirators or who cover their heads and faces for religious and cultural reasons will face hostility and repression from the local police and fascistic mobs. Ohios Attorney General Dave Yosts warnings made in a recent letter to the presidents of Ohios 14 universities underscores the gravity of these developments. Yost wrote, In our society, there are few more significant career-wreckers than a felony charge. I write to you today to inform your student bodies of an [1953] Ohio law that, in the context of some behavior during the recent pro-Palestinian protests, could have that effect. That law states, No person shall unite with two or more others to commit misdemeanor while wearing white caps, masks, or other disguise. The breaking of the anti-disguise carries a fourth-degree felony charge and up to $5,000 fine and five years on community control, Yost reminded them. That the law has never been applied until now means it amounts to a state-sanctioned threat. These anti-mask laws Yost references were enacted in the 1940s and 1950s by states in response to the activities of the Ku Klux Klan, whose members hid their identities to perpetrate violence and terror on their victims. However, as historians have noted, these laws werent intended to protect the victims, but were rather employed to curb the public displays of the Klan which were discrediting Democratic Party efforts to defend Jim Crow segregation. They remain in place in 18 states including North Carolina. The COVID pandemic remains an ongoing public health concern. Despite the dismantling of all metrics that provide real-time information on the state of the pandemic, nearly 22,000 people died of COVID in the first four months of 2024. For the 2023/2024 influenza season, hospitalized COVID patients had a 35 percent higher rate of death than those admitted for the flu. Meanwhile, the Economist update on the impact of Long COVID estimates a prevalence of 2 to 7 percent or upwards of half a billion people worldwide with some level of ongoing impact from their infection. For the US, the magazine estimates a loss of $152.6 billion in GDP in 2024 alone from COVID. For those who have left the workforce, 953.6 million hours of work were lost. Those with reduced hours account for another 366.3 million hours and those who continue to work with their condition cost more than 177 million hours. One needs only to extrapolate these figures to the rest of the globe to understand the magnitude of the COVID pandemic atop the nearly 30 million that needlessly died because of the greed of the ruling elites that have placed profits over life every step of the way. The demand to free Ukrainian Trotskyist Bogdan Syrotiuk, imprisoned by the fascistic government of Ukraine on the baseless claim that he is a Russian agent, is receiving growing support by left-wing websites, artists, intellectuals, workers and youth throughout the world. On Saturday, David North, the chairperson of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site, provided a detailed refutation of the accusations leveled against Syrotiuk, explaining that they represent nothing less than a declaration of war against all left-wing and socialist opposition to the Zelensky regime and, specifically, the International Committee of the Fourth International and its public organ, the World Socialist Web Site. The WSWS has explained that support for the fight to release Bogdan Syrotiuk is an essential component of the fight against war and the defense of democratic rights. Bogdan Syrotiuk, April 2023 Already, significant support has been building up internationally. In Finland, the anti-war website Tyovaen Antimilitaristit, which opposes Finlands accession to NATO and the genocide in Gaza, published a report on the case. In Turkey, after initial press coverage by the daily newspaper of the Labour Party (EMEP), Evrensel Gazetesi, on the radio station Sputnik Turkiye and by the online outlet dokuz8HABER, the publication of the state capitalist organization DSIP, marksist.org, and the left-wing website direnisteyiz.org have also reported about the case. On Sunday, the Venezuelan left-wing website Aporrea, which is censored in Venezuela but remains the second-largest leftist website in the country, published the latest statement by David North on the case in Spanish translation. The website Prensa y Gente, which is based in the Dominican Republic, published an article on Sunday entitled Socialist militant opposed to war in Ukraine seeks release from prison. The original video statement in which the WSWS made the arrest of Bogdan Syrotiuk public and initiated the campaign to free him has now been viewed by well over 127,000 on Twitter/X alone. A petition demanding Bogdan Syrotiuks release has been signed by over 1,700 people, including from Finland, Taiwan, Turkey, Australia, the UK, Germany, Sri Lanka, the US, France, Switzerland and India. Among those who signed are Roger Waters, who also prominently endorsed the campaign on his Twitter/X account; Dr. Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, a deputy from the Kurdish nationalist DEM Party in Turkey; Professor Ariyaratne Herath from the Department of Economics at the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka; and German historian Christian Gerlach, a leading expert in the history of the Nazi war against the Soviet Union. International model and actress Andreja Pejic published a powerful statement on Instagram Monday, calling on her over 500,000 followers to support the campaign. Pejic, who was born in the former Yugoslavia and fled the region after the 1999 NATO bombing, wrote: Bogdan Syrotiuk is an extremely brave young man who has been imprisoned in Ukraine because of his highly principled opposition to the tragic war between Ukraine and Russia. Every time I read about this war it breaks my heart and reminds me of the Yugoslav wars because it is fratricidal. That is, people who lived together for decades and who share so many cultural and historical roots are destroying each other. It is estimated [that] 500,000 young Ukrainian men have been slaughtered and a 100,000 Russian men. How do their families feel about this war I wonder? In Russia I read that the government was giving families 600 dollars in cities and in poorer areas flour or livestock or fish to take their young boys. In Ukraine Zelenskys forces literally abduct young men in shopping centers and send them off to the front. The government has prohibited the taking of pictures at cemeteries to cover up the massive death toll. It is also cancelling the passports of those who have escaped Ukraine in order to force them back to serve on a front without any training where they will most likely die. Bogdan has tried to tell the truth about this war. He has stood up against the Putin regime as well as the Zelensky regime and especially the wretched imperialist policies threatening to devastate all of Eastern Europe. He has called for [the] unity of the Russian and Ukrainian working classes to end the war. Now he is being smeared as a supporter of Putin, charged with treason and faces life in prison because the Zelensky regime knows this war is becoming more and more unpopular with their population but the West wants this war to keep going forever as it completely serves their economic interests. How can this man be a Putin supporter? This is ridiculous. He is a socialist, a Trotskyist, which means he fights for workers. Putin is a nationalist and defends Russian capitalism. Putin hates Leon Trotsky, Vladimir Lenin, the Russian Revolution and the whole idea of multinational unity established by that revolution. Unsurprisingly, he has a soft spot for Stalin. Like all capitalists and like all nationalists he hates the working class of his own country and also of the world. He doesnt mind that his war of aggression has divided Russian and Ukrainian workers. The same can also be said about the Zelensky regime which links up with fascist Stepan Bandera glorifiers because they are the most reliable fighters in the country, to say nothing of the US ruling class which is more than happy to see all of Ukraine as well as all of Russia destroyed as long as their corporations get first rate access to all the delicious natural wealth spoils The people of both Russia and Ukraine have suffered so much and they deserve to hear Bogdans progressive ideas about unity and internationalism. This mans human rights have been stripped away from him just because his ideas are a threat to the status quo. He has done nothing wrong and he deserves freedom. Anyone who believes in freedom should stand by his side. FREE BOGDAN SYROTIUK! Resolutions supporting the fight to free Bogdan Syrotiuk have been passed by port workers in Sri Lanka, postal workers in Britain, rail workers in Germany and youth and educators in Australia. Mary from Australia wrote: Free Bogdan Syrotiuk, end the war in Ukraine, Workers of Russia and Ukraine unite to fight for world socialist revolution, for the united Socialist States of Europe. End all war. Stop the Genocide in Gaza. Oliver, also from Australia, supported the campaign with the words, Bogdans bravery to stand up for a better future for Ukrainians and Russians is inspiring. Free Bogdan today! Bob from the US wrote: The lie that billions must be given to Ukraine to fund a proxy war against a nuclear armed power in the name of defending democracy is an utter sham, and this proves it. The monstrous lies about Bogdan are simply absurd. To paint a revolutionary anti-war Marxist as being a Russian agent simply for writing and publishing is nothing less than a blatant attack on freedom of speech and thought. Zelensky is seeking to criminalize and slanderize any left-wing opposition to the bloodshed as he prepares to drag even more unwilling men to the front to die for him and his NATO masters. Ann, another reader in the US, commented, The Nazi regime [in Ukraine] has been backed by the West and US in a proxy war against Russia, a basic CIA strategy. Catherine in New Zealand submitted the following statement to the WSWS: How much I welcome the energy and motivation of principled young people everywhere calling out the violence and rank hypocrisy of our administrations, who will stop at nothing to silence the universal drive for equality and democracy. Start by calling for the immediate release of Bogdan Syrotiuk. His arrest by the Ukraine administration is being mirrored in hundreds of arrests of young people across US and other campuses across the world. Bogdan must know the fight he is committed to is shared by anyone willing to fight for the transition to a socialist future. Read everything you can. Donate to SEP. Find ways to step up support for leaders of our young people like Bogdan. And do it now, because Bogdans situation is a clear signal our response is required as never before. To get involved with the campaign, donate and sign the petition, go to wsws.org/freebogdan. On Monday, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan accused the Israeli leaders of presiding over the murder and extermination of Palestinians, as part of a common plan to use starvation as a method of war and other acts of violence against the Gazan civilian population as a means to collectively punish the civilian population of Gaza. Ruins in Gaza, December 2023. [Photo by Tasnim News Agency / CC BY-SA 4.0 In announcing the charges, the prosecutor accused Netanyahu and Gallant of the following war crimes and crimes against humanity: Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime; Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health or cruel treatment as a war crime; Willful killing or murder as a war crime; Extermination and/or murder including in the context of deaths caused by starvation. The prosecutor declared, We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy. These crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day. In addition to Netanyahu and Gallant, Khan also applied for arrest warrants against leaders of Hamas, which no doubt reflects pressure from the capitalist governments and supporters of Israel. However, the main political significance of the request for warrants is clear: The state of Israel is a criminal regime. The charges fully vindicate the global mass protests that have erupted over the past seven months, which have been subject to vicious slander from the ruling class and the media. Protesters have been beaten, arrested and accused of antisemitism for denouncing and seeking to halt one of the greatest war crimes of the modern period. Responding to the charges, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, With what audacity do you dare to compare the monsters of Hamas to the soldiers of the IDF, the most moral army in the world? This most moral army in the world has destroyed the majority of houses, schools and hospitals in Gaza, alongside every single university. Its leaders have referred to Gazas civilian population as animals, declaring, There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, and asserting their intent to carry out collective punishment against an entire nation. Indeed, it is the most moral army since Hitlers Wehrmacht. The Biden administration responded with its own furious denunciation of the ICC prosecutors charges. In a statement, Biden declared: The ICC prosecutors application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalencenonebetween Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security. Indeed, there is no equivalence. The Palestinians are living under horrifying conditions of oppression and illegal occupation by Israel. Even if one were to draw an equal sign between the oppressor, Israel, and the oppressed, the Palestininans, Israel has killed 40 Gazans for every Israeli killed in the October 7 attacks. Bidens condemnation of the International Criminal Court came less than 24 hours after he spoke at Morehouse College in Georgia, where he declared, Ive called for an immediate ceasefire to stop the fighting. But Bidens response to the prosecutors indictment makes it clear that his criticisms of the Netanyahu government are cynical exercises in damage control, aimed at facilitating and enabling the Gaza genocide. The Biden administrations efforts to refute the prosecutors indictment consist of one absurdity after another. The United States has been clear since well before the current conflict that the ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter, declared State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. This is not true. In 2021, the International Criminal Court ruled that the Court can exercise its criminal jurisdiction in the Situation in the State of Palestine, including both Gaza and the West Bank, following the adoption of the Rome Statute by Palestine in 2015. Notably, the White House supported ICC proceedings against Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine war, despite the fact that neither Ukraine nor Russia was a signatory of the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC. When pressed to answer who does have jurisdiction to say whether Israel is committing war crimes, Miller absurdly replied, Israel. That is, the criminals should adjudicate whether or not they are guilty of the crime. Miller declared that the indictment could jeopardize ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement that would get hostages out of Gaza and surge humanitarian assistance. But Hamas has already accepted the terms proposed by the United States for the release of hostages in exchange for a ceasefire, terms that were rejected by Israel. Biden was joined by leading officials in both the Democratic and Republican parties in denouncing the prosecutors actions. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson threatened to sanction the International Criminal Court, which would itself be a violation of international law. Aside from defending Israel, the response of US officials expresses the acknowledgement that they are guilty of aiding and supporting all the crimes the prosecutor detailed. Johnson stated this concern explicitly, warning, If the ICC is allowed to threaten Israeli leaders, ours could be next. Indeed, the entire political establishment in the United States, Johnson and Biden included, stands guilty of financing, arming and politically justifying a genocide. In concluding the indictment, the prosecutor declared: If we do not demonstrate our willingness to apply the law equally, if it is seen as being applied selectively, we will be creating the conditions for its collapse This state of affairs is not a distant hypothetical, but an actual fact. The imperialist powers murder and torture all over the world with impunity. They act as a law unto themselves, defying international law at every turn. While the ICC certainly carries moral weight, it will have no effect on the policies of the imperialist governments. It has been nearly five months since the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to stop killing and starving Palestinian civilians. Since that time, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been murdered, and the entire population has been denied food, water and medical care. Workers and young people should have no illusions in the United Nations or any other bourgeois institutions of international law to stop the Gaza genocide. That can only happen through the mass mobilization of the working class, together with young people all over the world, taking the lead in the fight against Zionism, imperialism and the capitalist system. Over the weekend, autoworkers at Stellantis in the industrial city of Kokomo, Indiana met to ratify the founding statement of the Stellantis Kokomo Rank-and-File Committee. Autoworkers in the city have been hard hit by nationwide layoffs under the new United Auto Workers (UAW) contract, falsely hailed as a historic victory by the union bureaucracy and the Biden White House. The decision to form the committee, to fight both management and the union apparatus, is all the more important because of the start of a strike by academic worker members of the UAW at the University of California. It is a further sign of growing organized opposition among autoworkers, who have formed rank-and-file committees across the country since the start of the year. These committees must unite with the growing movement against war and attacks on the right to protest. To join the Stellantis Kokomo Rank-and-File Committee, or for help starting a committee at your workplace, fill out the contact form at the bottom of this article. Kokomo Transmission Plant workers on July 19, 2023 We, the workers of Stellantis in Kokomo, Indiana, are forming the Stellantis Kokomo Rank-and-File Committee to unite workers across the city, the auto industry and workers internationally. Its now been six months since the end of the auto strike and the ratification of the new contract. We have been forced to make sacrifices, while bureaucrats like UAW President Shawn Fain and UAW Vice President Rich Boyer have continued making six-figure salaries. Like we have in other contract years, we all voted unanimously to strike. Instead, we got a stand-up strike which didnt put a dent in production. We never had oversight over our contract and negotiations that were behind closed doors! Now our brothers and sisters in UAW Local 4811 in California have launched a strike in opposition to police attacks. We support this wholeheartedly, but the UAW isnt doing anything to even alert autoworkers to what is happening. They are also limiting their strike to one campus, patterning it after the stand-up strike which was used to ram through the sellouts were dealing with now. Reality of the historic contract Temporary part-time and supplemental employees were promised top pay and pensions if they ratified the new contract last fall. But only two months later, our TPT and SE coworkers at Warren Truck, Rouge, Kokomo, Toledo, Lansing and Belvidere were fired. Just at Stellantis alone, weve had 2,400 people fired. At our plants, people found out they were fired when they came to the gatesTerminated without cause! There are indefinite layoffs coming to Kokomo Engine Plant, Kokomo Transmission Plant and Kokomo Casting. The UAW has no strategy to fight them. The flipped TPTs and SEs, like in the last round, will not be told until its too late. Instead, they keep us divided and isolated into different locals, tiers and pay scales. For many of us that were fired, the UAW gives us excuses like low performance or missed days. Some of us that still have jobs and were flipped, our seniority dates dont match our hire dates, meaning we have to wait longer to move up in dates. The UAW keeps using the phrase, They [management] can do that; or You voted it [the contract] in. But we only saw the highlights. Some of us that were temporary workers had high hopes, only to see during the standup strike which left most of the plants running that it was a sham. Now people that are flipped or have been here for over 10 years are on edge waiting for another mass layoff! The union is nowhere to be found when we have grievances. Meanwhile, HR with the UAW and Stellantis are bringing back fired workers for summer help, only to be fired again. Here are the abuses we face daily in the Kokomo plants: When theres a slowdown, managers blame TPTs and SEs for not being trainable. Then they complain that products are bad. They just want to push more parts out. Some of us dont get profit-sharing with these down weeks. We are not given breaks, as mandated in the contract. We have managers who have assaulted us and threatened our jobs. Theres no communication between the union and the rank and file. Were overworked and mandated overtime. Weve had full-timers who have lost time because of injuries. Our doctors ask us why our health is worsening. It is because our bodies are torn up. Were not supposed to continuously lift 30 pounds. We sometimes lift up to 50 pounds. Theres maybe one safety person on the line, a situation that the union works with management to enforce. People pass out on the line, and it takes the union, security and management 45 minutes to drive over and get the nurse. Medical is not allowed on the floor without security. Like our brother at Fords Rouge plant who died at work, if someone had a heart attack here, medical would not be able to help in time. The hero Shawn Fain We know first-hand how all of the claims that UAW President Shawn Fain is a great reformer are a lie, because Kokomo used to be his base of power. When Chrysler was bailed out by the Obama/Biden White House in 2009, the UAW bureaucracy helped create bottom-tier TPTs and SEs in our plants. Those of us that were here back then saw how Fain told us that we had to take it. Now theyre doing the same thing today. Since the layoffs, the UAW told some of us that there were grievances filed with the UAW International in Detroit. But nothing happened. They cant even prove there were ever grievances filed. Even if there were, it was only symbolic, like the recent petition which Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD) started here in Kokomo earlier this year. But UAWD is in power in the union with Fain. Theyre the same organization that sold us this contract. Our demands In order to fight against job cuts and further attacks on the line, we have to take this out of the hands of the UAW bureaucracy. Every contract, we hear about no more temps, no more concessions or no more corruption. It is all smoke and mirrors. Fain is no better than his predecessor Ray Curry. We still dont even have a local contract! We have had enough. We are calling on our coworkers to organize with us to fight for our own demands. These include the following: End mass firings and bring back fired workers. Abolish tiers and temporary positions! Our coworkers in Kokomo, nationally and internationally are facing mass layoffs to boost the companys bottom line and prepare for the shift to electric vehicles. If EVs require less labor to produce, then it should be used to make our lives better, not worse. We should have our hours reduced with no loss in take-home pay. Our coworkers in Kokomo, nationally and internationally are facing mass layoffs to boost the companys bottom line and prepare for the shift to electric vehicles. If EVs require less labor to produce, then it should be used to make our lives better, not worse. We should have our hours reduced with no loss in take-home pay. Workers control over production and safety. With job cuts come speedups. We face this after every contract. With speedups come more accidents, or worse. The UAW bureaucracy gives its blessing to this. Instead, the rank and file should have control over working conditions, including the authority to shut down production whenever it is unsafe. With job cuts come speedups. We face this after every contract. With speedups come more accidents, or worse. The UAW bureaucracy gives its blessing to this. Instead, the rank and file should have control over working conditions, including the authority to shut down production whenever it is unsafe. Support our UAW brothers and sisters at University of California and free Bogdan Syrotiuk! We do not want war or genocide. Our UAW brothers and sisters are using their First Amendment right to protest. While Fain and Biden shake hands and hug, Biden sends the police after students, including UAW members. Like our brother Will Lehman said: The campuses are not ivory towers, but centers of exploitation just like the auto factories. The graduate student workers voting to strike are treated as a bottom-tier workforce, just like the supplemental workers in the plants. We also demand the immediate release of Bogdan Syrotiuk from the Ukrainian prison. Bogdan is a socialist opponent of the fascist Ukrainian government and the US-NATO war against Russia. He was arrested for calling for the unity of Russian and Ukrainian workers against war. This is an attack on the rights of workers everywhere. Why we need the Stellantis Kokomo Rank-and-File Committee Our committee was formed against the contract betrayals by Fain and the bureaucracy, aided by their supporters in the Biden White House, the Unite All Workers for Democracy faction in the union and the Democratic Socialists of America. From Clarios, to the Big Three, Allison Transmission, Lear, General Dynamics, Daimler and now the academic workers, the UAW bureaucracy is working with Biden to make sure a larger struggle does not happen! With our brothers and sisters of the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC), we are for abolishing, not reforming, the UAW bureaucracy, to put power into the hands of the workers. Our committee, like the sister committees of the IWA-RFC, is needed for the fight to defend our standard of living against corporate attacks, as well as our democratic rights. Fain and the UAW work with Biden and the billionaires, offering us up as the new Arsenal of Democracy. This really means they want us to keep our heads down while they gear up for war. This is why our UC brothers and sisters voted to strike after students were attacked by riot cops for peacefully expressing their First Amendment rights. It is also why the the bureaucracy has only called out one campus. We create the billions for Stellantis and the Big Three. Like our brother in Italy told us, Only through the unity of all workers forces can a real fighting movement be created capable of countering the methods that companies use to exploit the proletariat and the working masses. If you agree with this, join us. Fill out the form below to join the Committee and get started fighting for rank-and-file control. An Anniversary of the Nakba and An Evening of Solidarity with the Palestinian people was held at Colombo Public Library Auditorium in Sri Lanka on May 14, followed by special screenings the following day. A section of the Nakba commemoration In Colombo, Sri Lanka, May 14, 2024. The 76th Nakba Day events in Colombo, which commemorated the original ethnic cleansing of 80 percent, or around 750,000 Palestinians from the newly founded state of Israel in 1948, was one of numerous protests, demonstrations and other events held around the world. Nakba means catastrophe in Arabic and is used to describe the violent displacement and dispossession of the land, property and belongings of the Palestinian people, and the destruction of their multi-ethnic society and democratic rights by the Zionist Israeli state. During the 1948 Nakba, over 500 Arab-majority towns and villages were depopulated with dozens of massacres. Some 78 percent of the total land area of Palestine was seized by Israel, with the backing of the UK, the US and other imperialist powers. These and other bloody atrocities targeting Palestinians have continued ever since, up to the current genocide in Gaza, which has killed over 35,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children. According to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), over five million Palestinian refugees are presently scattered throughout the Middle East. Around 250 people, including families with children, participated in the May 14 event in Colombo with over 150 attending the film festival the following day. The Evening of Solidarity consisted of exhibitions, speeches and videos, along with poetry, songs and drama performed by Sri Lankan children and adults commemorating the Nakba and expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. The events were organised by the newly formed Free Palestine Movement in Sri Lanka. One of the highlights of the evening was the launch and free distribution of Children of the Little Olive Park, a childrens book by Sri Lankan playwright, screenwriter and theatre director Ruwanthie de Chickera. As she explained to the media, This is not exclusively a childrens book. However, I wrote it in such a way that even a child could understand how the conflict was created in Palestine, and how it has been stoked throughout the years to bring about the terrible situation we are now in. Ruwanthie de Chickera [Photo: http://dechickera.com/] De Chickeras book is a commendable effort and one that clearly and simply describes the stark reality of the ongoing persecution of the Palestinian people. It will encourage readers to further study the complex historical and geopolitical issues behind Israels Gaza genocide. Speaking to the World Socialist Web Site, de Chickera said: As a human its impossible to watch what is happening in Palestine and not want to respond. I think it is the responsibility of every human being to try and do whatever they can to stop what is happening [in Palestine] I am using my tools as an artist. Asked to comment on the struggle being waged by the WSWS and the International Committee for coordinated global action by the international working class to stop the genocide, she said: I am a socialist Capitalism is imploding and its destroying the worldits destroying all of us, its destroying itself. Yes, I believe in the working class. They are the cogs who run the machines of this world, but mobilising the working class has always been a challenge. Its difficult, but I think this battle [to organise the working class], and what is happening right now, has to be fought on many, many different levels, she said. De Chickeras Children of the Little Olive Park was performed later that evening by the Stages Theatre Group. Another drama, titled Shattered DreamsUnbroken Spirits, was presented by the members of the Iman Academy. The performance, which involved actors whose ages ranged from 10 to 16 years, reflected the anguish and horror felt by young people confronted with the current plight of Palestinians, particularly women and children. Iman Academy drama director Rukshana Hassan told the WSWS that the drama was written entirely by the children involved in the performance. She said it was very difficult for children to deal with the struggles and the torture being inflicted against the Palestinians, which they saw on social media. They were feeling so helpless and so we basically needed to give them a platform, which they grabbed and embraced with their own words, Hassan said. The drama, she added, was a somewhat fulfilling answer for the children and their feelings, and how to deal with questions such as, What can we do now? How can we help? The next day the Colombo Palestine Film Festival screened two filmsFarha, a drama, and The Stones Cry Out, a documentaryboth about the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948. Made in 2021, Farha, is a coming-of-age drama based on a true story about a 14-year-old rural Palestinian girl during the Nakba. Written and directed by Darin J. Sallam, the movie, which was Jordans entry for the best foreign language category in the 2023 Oscars, has won several international awards. Farha (Karam Taher) [Photo: Farha] Farha (Karam Taher), who dreams of studying in a city school and becoming a teacher, is rebelling against a traditional marriage proposal suggested by her father. Her life and dreams are turned upside when her village comes under attack from armed Zionists and their threats that everyone must leave the village or be killed. She rejects an offer to leave in her friends automobile and decides to stay with her father, who was the village headman. As the Zionist forces approach the village, her father locks her in a storage space under their house to protect her, and promises to return. He is captured, however, by the Israeli military and then used by these forces as a hooded identifier of the village fighters. Farhas stay inside the dark storage space is nightmarish and she glimpses the brutality of the Zionists, including their cold-blooded murder of a Palestinian family and their children. The familys pregnant mother, who is murdered by the Zionists, gave birth a few minutes before the Israeli soldiers arrive in the village. The films concluding titles explain that Farha never met her father again but eventually made it to Syria, where she shared her story. Israels culture minister Hili Tropper publicly denounced the film in 2022, claiming it was full of lies and libels and a disgrace to screen it in Israeli cinemas. In fact, the murderous Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Gaza today are simply a continuation of the sort of horrors accurately dramatised in Farha. The Stones Cry Out, the second film screened, is about Palestinian Christians, who have lived side by side with Muslims and Jews for almost two thousand years, an integral part of Palestines multi-ethnic, multicultural society. In 1948 they were among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians driven from their land and village homes in the fertile hills and valleys of the Galilee by the Zionists Operation Broom. They were dispossessed to make way for settlers in the newly created state of Israel. Israeli troops expelled all the residents of the Palestinian Christian village of Kafr Birim during the operation, telling them that they would be allowed to return. This never happened and in 1953 the village was destroyed by the Israeli Air Force. Some of the expelled villagers lived in Israel, others became refugees in Lebanon and neighbouring Arab countries. All that is left of the ancient rural settlement is the crumbling remains of the abandoned church and its bell tower. Workers, students, organizations and anti-war groups: Send us your statements in support of spreading the strike! Fill out the form below. A banner at the picket line at University of California Santa Cruz, May 20, 2024 A strike by 2,000 academic workers began Monday at the University of California, Santa Cruz against the police repression of campus Gaza protests. The walkout at one of 10 University of California campuses follows an overwhelming statewide strike authorization vote of 48,000 academic workers in United Auto Workers Local 4811. The UC administration is continuing its attempts to ban the UC strike. On Friday, it filed an Unfair Labor Practice complaint with Californias Public Employee Relations Board (PERB). A ruling is expected at any time. In its filing, the administration makes the authoritarian argument that the strike must be banned because it sets a dangerous and far-reaching precedent that social, political and cultural issuesno matter how validthat are not labor-related can support a labor strike. The strike is a major development in the growing movement against the genocide and the nationwide attack on the right to protest by both capitalist parties. The use of class struggle methods objectively raises the need for the emergence of the working class as the basic social and political force against war. A protester waves a Palestinian flag near the picket line at University of California Santa Cruz, May 20, 2024 The strike must become the beginning of a broader class movement. In the first place, the entire membership of the United Auto Workers, including autoworkers and defense industry workers, must demand strike action against the war and in defense of the students. This requires a struggle against the union bureaucracy, which is deliberately limiting the strike to a single campus in order to isolate it and shut it down before it can spread. UAW President Shawn Fain, a close ally of Genocide Joe Biden, exemplifies the total integration of the pro-corporate union apparatus with the state. The union is using as a model the so-called standup strike in the auto industry last year, which did nothing to seriously impact production and was followed with mass layoffs. A number of groups active in the protests have issued important public statements denouncing the UAW bureaucracys limiting of the strike to one campus. Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) has issued a statement criticizing the limited standup strike, writing: The path forward is clear: UAW 4811 must immediately call a strike at all University of California campuses. ... UAW 4811 leadership must support the demands of their rank-and-file workers, and the broader grassroots movement for liberation. Any strike must demand disclosure, divestment, academic boycott, police abolition, amnesty and more. This must be a strike for Palestine. Winning our demands requires immediate strike action, we must not stop and we will not rest! A statement is also circulating among academic workers titled UAW members and students concerned by UCSC UAW leadership. It expresses alarm at the lack of a Cops Off Campus (COC) demand in the official demands of the union at UCSC, especially in the face of heightened police violence on UC campuses against student protesters. It continues, To our dismay, not only did the leadership refuse to address our concerns, they repeatedly attempted to intimidate us into silence. It concludes that the UCSC UAW leadership has [revealed] itself to be unfit to lead in this historical moment. We cannot rely on performative acts by an undemocratic union leadership to achieve justice in Palestine, nor can they keep us safe. These statements are welcome and important developments. They point to the growing potential for the movement to break out of the shackles the bureaucracy is trying to impose on it. As the World Socialist Web Site wrote last week: Academic workers must now impose their democratic will through the formation of rank-and-file strike committees to mobilize for immediate, system-wide work stoppages. Against the attempts by the bureaucracy to limit their struggle, they must turn out to the autoworkers and the entire working class for support, establishing lines of communication to prepare for joint actions. Academic workers at UCLA in particular are demanding to be called out on strike, after police allowed Zionists to brutally attack a protest encampment last month before the police cleared the encampment with rubber bullets and flashbangs and arrested 132 people. One UC Los Angeles academic worker told the WSWS: I was there [in the 2022 UC strike], and its almost exactly the same group of [officials] doing the same thing they always do. And theyve refused to tell us when theyll call us to strike. The rank and file are pressuring them now to back us. Pickets at UC Santa Cruz At UC Santa Cruz, several hundred strikers took part in a picket line at the base of campus. They were joined later by about 100 students, who marched a mile and a half from a university encampment at Quarry Plaza that has been held for more than a week. A section of the picket line at University of California Santa Cruz, May 20, 2024 Strikers who spoke with the World Socialist Web Site expressed a general distrust of the UAW bureaucracy, including UAW President Shawn Fain. One described Fain as a class traitor. Another said, we dont care about him or what he has to say. A third-year undergrad student who attended in support told the WSWS that he felt the genocide was all due to capitalism, and nothing short of ending it will address the issues. Another striker had participated in the 2020 wildcat strikes at UCSC over cost-of-living adjustments. He disagreed that the method of limiting the strike to a few campuses was appropriate and agreed with the need for a UC-wide strike. Sign calling for a general strike on the picket line at University of California Santa Cruz, May 20, 2024 An international student expressed puzzlement at the decision to call out just one campus and wondered whether this was just how strikes normally worked in the United States. He was shocked to learn how a similar standup strike was used to ram through a sellout contract last year in the auto industry, which is now being used to lay off thousands. Asked his opinion on the UC administrations argument before the Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) to get the strike banned, citing the danger of a precedent set by such a political strike, he paused for a moment and then said: This is a very good question. Because this means that if this is allowed, workers would demand systemic change. Protests grow in spite of continuing crackdown Demands for broader action are only growing as capitalist politicians, administrators and police double down on their assaults nationwide. Following a raid and arrests attacking the encampment at UC Irvine last week, on Friday night a dozen people were arrested at the UC Berkeley encampment. The SJP has said that bail for the students was set at a vindictive $120,000 each. This is only the tip of the iceberg. The SJP confirmed on social media Monday that despite an agreement with the arrested student protesters at Harvard, 12 students will be prevented from graduating. Meanwhile, protests and encampments are continuing to grow. On Sunday, 10,000 people rallied at the state Capitol in Austin, Texas despite attempts to de facto ban the protest by closing the Capitol grounds. On Monday, the erection of an encampment in Bucharest, Romania was celebrated globally on social media by tens of thousands. Healthcare workers speak out There is growing support for the protests in the working class. A healthcare worker at UC San Diego Health told the WSWS: I was in Afghanistan, and I saw what happened to women and children there. What is taking place in Gaza is absolutely horrible. Women and children under rubble, citizens constantly bombarded. Why cant they just stop this? I hate war and am opposed to what the US is supporting in Israel. He added: The students have every right to protest. They are exercising their First Amendment rights. There was no reason for the response by the university and police that they got. I defend their right to protest. Responding to the claim that opposing the genocide in Gaza is antisemitic, he said: No, I dont agree with that. These protesters are trying to express their opposition to war. They oppose genocide. Simple as that. Its very similar to Vietnam and the protests then. What this is is major opposition to war and US imperialism. Another healthcare worker said, Im disgusted with how the university has responded to the students. They have the right to protest. She added that she would support a broader strike among workers in their defense, but it would require that we all come out. Some 50,000 postal workers at Canada Post are currently working without a contract. Around 42,000 members of the urban postal operators (UPO) bargaining unit and 8,000 rural and suburban mail carriers (RSMC) are being blocked from waging a genuine struggle against Canada Posts sweeping concessions demands by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW). Despite both contracts having expired more than three months ago, CUPW has yet to even announce a strike ballot, let alone set a strike date. A Canada Post worker walks to his truck in Richmond, British Columbia [AP Photo/Ted S. Warren] The World Socialist Web Site has received numerous write-ins from angry postal workers determined to wage a fight against Canada Posts profit-driven management. In multiple discussions, they have outlined terrible working conditions, including unbearable workloads, workplace harassment and low wages and benefits. The following comments emerged from a discussion with a postal worker in Ontario that addressed many of these issues. We encourage other postal workers to speak out about working conditions and join the struggle to organize a rank-and-file committee independent of the CUPW bureaucracy by filling out the form at the end of this article. *** Management harassment When I transferred to the Pembroke depot, there was a preexisting conflict of interest to do with a supervisor in an intimate relationship with a subordinate, in breach of the employees code of conduct. The subordinate in the relationship also behaved inappropriately, monitored everybody and reported back to her supervisor-boyfriend. When COVID hit and our letter carriers were forced off of work, she would be monitoring who was outside picketing versus the ones that were put off of work, and she would be taking notes on that and also on workers leaving before 9:15. When I raised this issue that many of my colleagues had already expressed concerns about, I became a target. So when I brought up some of these facts and the conflict of interest with a union rep, CPC [Canada Post Corporation] tried to put it back on me like I was preventing that letter carrier from doing her job, when all along she was preventing everybody from doing their job. Everybody got targeted at one point. Even the superintendent of that building, theres nepotism with him too, hiring his own family to do the repairs on the building. I even took a photo of his last name on a sign of the construction company doing the work. So I can understand why hes siding with the supervisor even though its wrong. Hes protecting his own interests as well. So I was brought into the office a second time. And normally what happens is that you get issued a 24-hour notice of investigation of interrogation, and they issue a letter saying that youre going to be questioned. But I never got this letter. I was pretty much dragged into the office with the superintendent in question for nepotism, my manager, and union reps who were not selected by me. They were given to me. I didnt even have a chance to look at my work folder. The first time we went into the office, I requested to see my work file and it was completely clean. I got pulled into the office and they said, We believe that you were trying to prevent said letter carrier from doing her job, and weve also witnessed some strange behavior. But instead of doing an investigation, we would rather you go see your family doctor and get cleared to go back to work. The second false allegation was that somebody had seen me on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere, and they were concerned about my wellbeing. What I was doing was cleaning up cans on the side of the highway after work hours to raise money for Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. There was an article in the newspaper Pembroke Observer about that campaign. And the third allegation was that I was talking about spiritual connections with birds. I have a pet pigeon, and he laid an egg on my late sons birthday. Thats pretty spiritual for me. Well, whats wrong with that? If that makes somebody feel uncomfortable, then dont listen. I have two written statements of support from my coworkers at Pembroke, saying that I was a good employee and I wasnt preventing anybody from doing their job. Forced medical treatment Now, I want you to keep in mind that this is during COVID and Im also in Pembroke. There are no walk-in clinics, so I couldnt even see a walk-in clinic doctor because I dont have my own family doctor. The corporation hired a psychiatrist to have a discussion with me and I had my first appointment with a psychiatrist. I had asked the regional union rep from Ottawa to come to Pembroke. He was on board and understood that there was a conflict of interest in that office and a lot of toxicity. So he was coming to that appointment with me just to confirm that there is a problem in the office and I wasnt making things up. Well, the psychiatrist just shut us down and forced me on medication before treatment is what they called it. He deemed that I had psychosis and then put me off on olanzapine [antipsychotic medication]. And obviously that medication was making me feel sick. It was making me depressed. And I had a lot of side effects from it. I even felt suicidal at one point because I felt I shouldnt be on it in the first place. All I had done was bring up a concern that everybody else had at the depot as well. But they decided to shut me up with anti-psychotic medicine. My union rep, Doug Thomas, had told me in the meeting that there is a problem in the Pembroke office. But the doctor said there wasnt. They pretty much said that the issue was all in my head and I had to get back to work. The psychiatrist was basing his opinion on a report from the previous depot I worked at where I experienced hostilities from some of my co-workers. I had just gotten to that office and I opened up to the wrong people because Im such a friendly, bubbly person and Im very open about my life I went through a lot of that office, too. And so they told me to go see a doctor. I was given a psychiatrist there who said its all in my head but she was not really listening to what I was saying. I went through their treatment which was seeing a therapist who gave me cognitive behavioural therapy, and even she believed that it wasnt in my head. But she had to go based on what the CPC psychiatrist said. Moving forward to the Pembroke situation, the psychiatrist didnt even do his own evaluation on me. He just based it off of his colleague. Doug Thomas knew what happened to me in North Bay and he came with me to the appointment with the psychiatrist to just reaffirm that there was a lot of toxicity at this office. And they shut it down saying that psychosis is a hard thing to diagnose and that if I dont take the medication they would force injection on me. I feel we used to have one of the strongest unions, but now the union is sleeping in bed with management. Its awful. And theres no representation whatsoever. A coworker of mine in Pembroke wrote me a character reference letter to back up my grievance, saying that I was one of the most positive individuals she had ever met: At the time of her arrival, the Pembroke office was in the middle of dealing with a substantial conflict of interest revolving around an intimate relationship between a letter carrier and a supervisor. And although many individuals expressed concerns, [she] was the one that quickly became a target of hostility from both the letter carrier and management. Even though [she] faced a lot of unprofessional and unfriendly behaviour from individuals involved in the conflict of interest, she always kept a smile on her face and tried to never let the stress of the situation show. [She] is a very hard worker and took pride in doing her job well and in helping her customers however she could. You could tell from her excellent attitude she loved her job. She is compassionate, a very big heart. I was sad to see [her] leave Pembroke, but it was completely understandable why she felt she could not stay. I transferred out of Pembroke because after I got back to work, I felt extremely uncomfortable working there now because of the conflict of interest and what had happened to me. I made sure to apply for a transfer. Admail deliveries A few years ago we lost one of our local newspapers called the Northern Life, which had a lot of the fliers inside. Now what theyve done is that theyve married all of those fliers together and put them into a plastic bag. We get paid 1.5 cents per bag of fliers when there are four or five fliers in the bag, and there are 4 or 5 sets of fliers in each bag. Then well also have loose fliers that we have to deliver with those bag fliers that are 1.5 cents each. We are getting ripped off as the letter carrier. Its overburdening us. And all the corporation does is say theyre going to put in more grey boxes [boxes on the corner where the carriers load up their mail bags] for the overburden. No, thats not fair. Everybodys going through awful working conditions and I feel for nurses big time. Its awful how management is, theres so much favouritism at our office and I see certain people that are getting away with murder and other people that are struggling and trying to do their job, but theyre constantly bullied and its impacting their mental health. Workers must oppose war I dont agree with war. Why should we be paying for that? I live in Sudbury. I dont know if you know Sudburys background, but back in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, our mines were used to produce bullets and artillery for all sides. And the thing is that all of these miners from different nations were mining underground, fighting against each other on the other side. So, I dont agree with war whatsoever. One thing that I wish would change with our politics: We should be able to choose where our money goes with taxes. We know were getting taxed on our paychecks but I dont support war. Why should I be taxed and give money to that? I want to put my money towards education or healthcare and we should be able to pay like X percent. It should be the power of the people instead of the power of the government. Irans President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were among eight people killed in a Sunday afternoon helicopter crash in northwest Iran. Their deaths are a further destabilizing element in a Middle East already set ablaze by Israels imperialist-backed genocide against the Palestinians of Gaza and decades of US-instigated wars aimed at establishing Washingtons unbridled hegemony over the energy-rich region. Raisi, Irans president since 2021, and Amir-Abdollahian were returning from a brief visit to Azerbaijan when their helicopter went down in a mountainous, heavily forested region some 55 kilometers from their destination, Tabriz. Due to the inhospitable terrain, inclement weather and the helicopters lack of a functioning emergency signal, rescuers only reached the crash site as dawn broke Monday. Iranian state television has attributed the crash to an as of yet undetermined technical failure. The two other helicopters that returned from Azerbaijan along with that bearing the Iranian president did so without incident. The Chief of Staff of Irans Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri has named a high-level committee of military and aeronautic experts to carry out an on-site investigation of the crash. Since the disappearance of Raisis helicopter, Iranian authorities have sought to project a sense of stability and calm. They have referred to the crash as an incident but have not suggested that it was anything other than a terrible mishap. The weather, as had been forecast, was blustery, with the mountains that the three-helicopter convoy were supposed to traverse covered in dense fog. The downed helicopter was a US-manufactured, two-blade Bell 212, dating from before the 1979 revolution that overthrow the despotic US-backed regime of Shah Reza Pahlavi. People hold up posters of President Ebrahim Raisi during a mourning ceremony for him at Vali-e-Asr square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, May 20, 2024. [AP Photo/Vahid Salemi] For decades, punishing US sanctions have prevented Iran access to Western-made aircraft, whether commercial or military, and to spare parts. In an interview with Iranian state television, former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the US and its economic sanctionswhich under George W. Bush, Obama, Trump and now Biden have expanded to effectively deny Iran access to virtually all goods and technologies, including medical equipment and drugsbear responsibility for the crash. One of the culprits behind yesterdays tragedy, asserted Zarif, is the United States, because of its sanctions that bar Iran from procuring essential aviation parts. From the little that is currently known, it cannot be excluded that the crash that killed Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian was an act of sabotage, orchestrated by a dissident faction of the Islamic Republics ruling elite or, as is more likely, Israeli intelligence or the CIA. The Iranian investigation is at this point only hours old, as the first half-day was given over to a desperate search for the crash site and any survivors. Ultimately, the downed helicopter was located with the assistance of Turkish surveillance drones. Even if Tehran did have evidence to suggest Sundays crash was anything more than an accident, they would almost certainly want to scrutinize it at length and reflect on their response before making any public statement, given the explosive ramifications. Indeed, it cannot be excluded that their first impulse would be to cover up an assassination carried out through sabotage, so as not to lay bare a catastrophic security failure, that would undermine the regime and compel it to forcefully respond. Both Israel and the US have carried out brazen and patently illegal assassinations of Iranian officials in recent years. These include the Mossad-organized killings of Iranian scientists inside Iran and the January 2020 US Predator drone strike on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander Qasem Soleimani as he left Baghdad airport. On April 1, Israel dramatically upped the ante in its shadow war with Iran when it killed three senior IRGC commanders in a strike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus. Iran responded 12 days later with its first-ever direct attack on Israel. However, its drone and missile strike was telegraphed well in advance on the calculation that a US-defended Israel would counter it and further escalation could be avoided. The assassination of Irans president would be tantamount to a declaration of war, but given the crisis of the far-right Netanyahu regime and the Zionist state, it cannot be ruled out a priori. What is certain is that there was considerable gloating in both Jerusalem and Washington over the deaths of Raisi and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and that both powers will seek to exploit their fallout to advance their predatory objectives. The US extended official condolences over the death of Irans president, but both White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby and US State Department spokesman Matt Miller made clear that they did so through gritted teeth. Miller, who speaks for a government that has armed and politically covered for Israel as it starves and slaughters the Palestinians of Gaza and that supports tyrannical regimes across the Middle East, including those of General al-Sisi in Egypt and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, denounced Raisi for killing thousands. We regret any loss of life, said Miller. That doesnt change the record. ... He has blood on his hands. A New York Times article by the long-time CIA conduit David Sanger, purportedly on the choice facing Irans next leaders, indicated that Washington is at this point interested in continuing a secret dialogue it has been holding with the Iranian regime in Oman and in which the dead foreign ministers deputy, Ali Bagheri Kani, acted as the principal speaker for the Iranian side. Washingtons interest in this dialogue, which reportedly has involved multiple meetings over the past seven months as the US-backed Israeli war on Gaza has raged, has nothing to do with securing peace or even limiting tensions. At the very outset of the Gaza war, Washington deployed two aircraft carrier groups to the region to threaten Iran. It has supported Israel in striking out at Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iranian-backed forces and IRGC personnel in Syria, while carrying out its own strikes on Iranian allies in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Furthermore, Biden and Secretary of State Blinken, to say nothing of the Pentagon generals, have made clear that Washington is engaged in a multi-pronged drive to reassert US imperialist global dominance that includes the war in Russia, an all-sided economic and military-strategic offensive against China, and countering and effecting regime change in Tehran. Through economic sanctions and constant military pressure from its allies, particularly Britain and Israel, Washington is seeking to degrade Irans military capabilities, destabilize and exploit fissures within the regimeand all with the aim of placing itself in the best position to wage war on Iran at a time of its own choosing. Irans bourgeois clerical regime, meanwhile, finds its room for maneuver shrinking. It is being squeezed by the US and its imperialist allies, while having to contend with a restive working class, angered by mass joblessness, skyrocketing prices, political repression, acute social inequality and the targeting of the remnants of the social concessions made to toiling people in the immediate aftermath of the 1979 revolution. Even before Sundays crash, the Islamic Republic confronted an impending leadership crisis. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has served as the Supreme Leaderwielding ultimate authority over key decisions and regulating the factional squabbles within the clerical bourgeois establishmentfor more the three decades, is 85 years old and has long been in failing health. In all his statements since Sunday, Khamenei has emphasized the stability of the regime and its institutions. As per the constitution, the vice president, Mohammed Mokhber, has been elevated to acting president. Mokhber is said to be close to Khameneifor 14 years he headed the Supreme Leaders foundation, Setad, whose vast holdings serve to underpin a huge patronage networkand to be part of the so-called conservative faction upon which he has come to increasingly rely. That faction, of which Raisi was a leading member, was more reticent in seeking rapprochement with the Western imperialist powers through the 2016 nuclear accord or JCPOA, now scuttled by the US, and favors more religious restrictions in daily life. Amir-Abdollahian has been succeeded by his deputy Kani as foreign minister. This has been interpreted as a signal that Tehran wants to maintain a channel for dialogue with Washington. Soon after Mokhber held his first cabinet meeting, he fielded a call from Russian President Vladimir Putin. In their respective readouts of the conversation, both Moscow and Tehran called for the continued strengthening of bilateral ties. To the consternation of the US and its NATO allies, Iran has responded to the scuttling of the JCPOA by expanding its economic and strategic ties with both Russia and China. This has included supplying Russia with cheap drones to fight the Ukraine war instigated by the US and NATO. Under Irans constitution, if the president dies or becomes incapacitated, a new election must be held within 50 days. Late Monday, the IRNA news agency reported that the first round of a possible two-round Iranian presidential election will be held on Friday, June 28. In the last election held in 2021 and won by Raisi, the Guardians Council arbitrarily barred most prospective candidates from running, including former two-time President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Turnout was under 50 percent for the first time ever, and a further 13 percent of ballots were deemed spoiled or invalid. Kenyas President William Ruto will be arriving in Washington for a state visit to the US Wednesday. The Kenyan press is celebrating the visit, terming it the first state visit by an African leader in more than 15 years, a major milestone and investment opportunity and a historic moment that is putting Kenya on the map. Ruto is eating big things, wrote the Nation newspaper, adding, Kenya has to wear big-boy pants. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken meets with Kenyan President William Ruto, on the margins of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly High Level Week, in New York City on September 21, 2022. [Photo: Ron Przysucha] Far from this delirium, Kenya and the entire African continent are being drawn into the maelstrom of an expanding global war. The continents geostrategic position and vast mineral resources are viewed by Washington as critical in its conflicts with Russia, Iran and China. Ruto is the sixth head of state invited for a state visit by US President Joe Biden since he took office. The other five visits were related to Washingtons war theatres across the globe. Leaders of South Korea, India, Australia and Japan were invited to discuss military alliances against China. France was accorded a state visit to discuss NATOs war on Russia in Ukraine. It was not long ago that Washington viewed Ruto as a political thug threatening US interests in the region. Washington backed the International Criminal Court (ICC) charges against him over his involvement in Kenyas 2007-2008 post-election violence. Ruto played a crucial role in planning and organising violence that that left over 1,200 dead and over 600,000 internally displaced. The case was eventually dropped as witnesses disappeared and the US lost interest in backing Rutos prosecution after he become deputy president. Today, Ruto is given a red carpet to establish Kenya as Washingtons main military ally in the region. His visit coincides with the landing of 200 Kenyan police officers, the first batch of a thousand, in Haiti as part of a US-funded mission. The officers, mainly from the special forces, known for their brutality in anti-terror operations, will operate from US Army-built military barracks. They are tasked with terrorizing the Haitian population and ensuring months of gang warfare does not precipitate an outflow of refugees to the US and Canada and destabilize the Caribbean region. Countering Chinese influence The main issue on the agenda will be countering Chinas influence across the African continent. According to the White House press release, The leaders will discuss ways to bolster our cooperation in areas including people-to-people ties, trade and investment, technological innovation, climate and clean energy, health, and security. The visit will affirm our strategic partnership with Kenya and further the vision set forth at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. The US-Africa Leaders Summit was held in December 2022, with 49 African heads of government attending. It was a clear signal that Washington was not going to let Chinas influence grow unopposed in Africa. The Biden Administrations US Africa strategy states that China views Africa as an important arena to challenge the rules-based international order, advance its own narrow commercial and geopolitical interests, undermine transparency and openness, and weaken U.S. relations with African peoples and governments. The rules-based international order is the world order established by US imperialism in the aftermath of World War II, in which it sets the rules. The expansion of Chinese influence in Africa over the past 15 years directly threatens US and European imperialisms control over the lions share of Africas natural riches and disrupts Washingtons ability to encircle China and strangle it economically. At the same time, Western corporations and banks, eager to plunder Africas vast economic resources and its working masses, have been losing ground to China. In this conflict African governments and political establishments have been torn between their military-political ties to Washington and the economic gains from closer ties with Beijing, whose investments have dwarfed those of the US. Kenya is a clear example of this process. As part of its Look East policy, Nairobis relations with China intensified under the presidencies of Mwai Kibaki (20022013) and Uhuru Kenyatta (2013-2022). China-Kenya trade grew more than thirty-fold, from $106 million in 2000 to $6.55 billion in 2022. China is now Kenya's largest trading partner, with more than 16 percent of the total merchandise trade volume, followed by the European Union, India, and the United Arab Emirates. The US is relegated to fifth place. China has emerged as the preferred source country for electronic goods, textiles, cosmetics, vehicle accessories and machinery. It is responsible for major infrastructure projects in the country including the Thika Super-highway easing transportation of raw materials and finished products between Nairobi and the countrys second-most industrialised town of Thika, the Nairobi-Mombasa railway connecting Nairobi to the coast, and projects like the Kipevu Oil Terminal in Mombasa Port, Lamu Port, Liwatoni Floating Bridge and Thwake Dam. Last October, Ruto, despite his anti-Chinese rhetoric during the presidential elections in 2022, met with President Xi Jinping as part of a three-day state visit. Ruto asked for $1 billion in loans, adding to Kenyas $6.3 billion debt to China, to help complete infrastructure projects. Last week, Kenya secured commitment from Chinas Exim Bank for the funding of the standard gauge railway from Nairobi to the Ugandan border. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, second left, with Deputy president William Ruto, right, look at the SGR route maps during the unveiling of a cargo train at the Mombasa, Kenya, port containers depot, May 30, 2017. [AP Photo/Khalil Senosi] For years, the Kenyan ruling class hoped it could balance between Chinese loans and infrastructure projects and Washingtons political and military support. In 2020, then President Kenyatta told a conference hosted by the Atlantic Council in Washington, We dont want to be forced to choose. We want to work with everybody, and we think there is opportunity for everybody. Those days are over. With the politics of the entire continent on a knifes edge, Biden will demand Ruto to distance himself from China. A glimpse of the underlying threat was seen last December when the US State Department made the unfounded claim that Beijing was planning to set up military bases in Kenya as part of its pursuit of a global military logistics network to counter the US. It stated, China is seeking to expand its overseas logistics and basing infrastructure to allow the Peoples Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Party to project and sustain military power at greater distances. This was only weeks after US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Kenya and held a series of meetings with defence officials and Ruto. Kenya as the anchor state of US imperialism Rutos visit comes at a time when Washingtons influence across Africa is rapidly diminishing. South Africa, a traditional ally of the US, took its main Middle Eastern ally, Israel, to the International Court of Justice over its genocide in Gaza. Last year, the South African military participated in joint military exercises with Russia and China along South Africas east coast. Ethiopia, Washingtons previous preferred security partner in the Horn of Africa, is increasingly orientating towards China, following decades of authoritarian rule by the US-backed Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) since 1991. In 2020, a civil war erupted between forces aligned with the new Ethiopian federal government and the TPLF. In Niger, the new military junta booted US troops out of the country and handed over the US military bases, one of the largest US drone bases in Africa, to Russia. In Chad, the US has withdrawn its military after the country demanded they leave last month. As one US diplomat bemoaned in an article on International Crisis Group when asked why the Biden administration had invited the Kenyan leader to Washington: If not Ruto, who? Washington is hoping to transform Kenya, which has a track record as a satrap for US and European imperialism in maintaining their strategic grip over Eastern and Central Africa, into a strategic military partner against China and Russia in the Horn of Africa. Over the past 18 months since Ruto came to power, Washington high-ups have visited Nairobi, including CIA chief William Burns, Commander of United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) General Michael Langley, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, and anti-China hawks like US Senator Chris Coons and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai. In September, Austin signed a five-year defence deal with Nairobi providing US-led training of Kenya Defence Forces. In an increasingly complex and interconnected world, our ability to work seamlessly together is paramount, said Kenyan Defence Minister Aden Bare Duale. This cooperation will enable us to respond effectively to the ever-evolving security challenges in our region. These visits took place as Ruto backed US foreign policy. Kenya signed up to US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian, the military operation against the Houthi militias in Yemen that have attempted to disrupt supplies to the Israeli military, in solidarity with the Palestinians. Ruto endorsed airstrikes on the impoverished nation, after supporting Israels genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The US will likely request Ruto to expand its troop presence at its Camp Simba base in Manda Bay, which serves as host for US drones and surveillance to project its control across the Indian Ocean, the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, particularly over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a chokepoint critical to securing global energy. U.S. Army Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, commander, U.S. Africa Command, addresses force U.S. military service members at Camp Simba, Kenya, February 12, 2020. [Photo by US Africa Command / CC BY 4.0 The base has played a key role in the undeclared war on the Al-Shabaab insurgency in Somalia, where thousands of people have died in US drone strikes, and where Kenya continues to deploy thousands of troops as the US proxy since 2011. The US is also likely to use Kenyas army in proxy wars across Africa. It has already tested the countrys soldiers in its war in Somalia, and in eastern mineral-rich DR Congo, and is now using Kenyas US-trained special forces police in Haiti. Ruto is eager to play this role. In a country where malnutrition is rampant, defence spending grew by 38 percent between 2021 and 2024, from $925 million to $1.2 billion. Earlier this month, Nairobi announced it was acquiring a high-tech missile defense system from the genocidal regime of Israel using a $1 billion loan from Tel Aviv. The sophisticated system, which could have only been offered with Washingtons approval, offers protection against aircraft attacks, helicopters, cruise and ballistic missiles. Nairobi ludicrously claims growing security threats in the Gulf of Aden from Al-Shabaab in Somalia, which has no aircraft, and the Houthis in Yemen, who have a single fighter jet, an ancient F-5. Washington also hopes to use Kenya, the largest economy in the Eastern African Community economic bloc, and its growing influence in the African Union to steer African countries away from Russia and China. The US and Ruto are currently backing Kenyas main opposition leader, the millionaire Raila Odinga, nominated to lead the African Union (AU). Odinga is a longtime supporter of US and French imperialist interventions in Africa. Raila Odinga speaking at visit to Peace Corps, June 19, 2008 [Photo: US Government] Rutos war on the working class and rural masses The intensified orientation to the US and its war aims is not merely a political choice by Ruto. It is based on fundamental objective relations between the Kenyan ruling class and imperialism. In exchange for supporting the US, the Kenya Kwanza government of Ruto hopes to receive crumbs, in the forms of a trade deal and more US investment, which will be syphoned by the parasitical layer running the Kenyan state. The Ministry of Investment, Trade, and Industry plans to pitch over $20.5 billion in investment opportunities, showcasing more than 30 promising projects to potential American investors. Ruto is also hoping to conclude the US-Kenya Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership this October, to boost US investment and exports to the US. US companies such as Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger already profit out of the exploitation of cheap Kenyan labour in the Export Processing Zones across the country, which are exempted from paying taxes. In return for Rutos pledge to draw Kenya into wars across the continent and even around the planet, Ruto will seek Washingtons backing for his Kenya Kwanza alliance governments war against the working class and rural poor. Last year, the government imposed brutal International Monetary Fund (IMF)-dictated austerity measures that have decimated the living standards of Kenyan workers, including the introduction of a housing levy, doubling Value Added Tax on petroleum products from 8 per cent to 16 percent, tripling sales tax for small businesses from 1 percent to 3 percent, and introducing a new medical insurance tax of 2.5 percent. Rutos taxes have resulted in a skyrocketing cost of living, compounded by NATOs war in the Ukraine. This year, Ruto has vowed to escalate the class war. A Finance Bill will propose a battery of new taxes including motor vehicle tax, minimum top-up tax, economic presence tax, withholding tax, and digital content tax. Ordinary bread, a staple which was among the zero-rated items, will cost more following the imposition of 16 percent VAT. The Kenyan military and police are being prepared not only to support US-led wars abroad but also as shock troops at home. Last year, mass anti-austerity protests were savagely drowned in blood, leaving over 70 dead, most shot by the police. Widespread discontent is re-erupting. Earlier in the year, Ruto teargassed pro-Palestinian protests in Nairobi, and a pro-Palestinian gathering at a bookshop was dispersed and activists arrested. Last week, hundreds of interim teachers protested demanding permanent jobs, threatening to strike as the unions shut down a two-month nationwide doctors strike. The Kenyan opposition party, Azimio la Umoja, is threatening new countrywide protests, after Odinga called them off last year fearing they were breaking free of his partys control. All Kenyas parties, in government or opposition, support the alliance with the US, austerity and militarism. The only alternative is for workers to take matters into their own hands and fight for a socialist programme against war and to address the pressing social needs of working people. Representative Elise Stefanik, the fourth-ranking House Republican, as chair of the Republican Conference, spoke before a committee of the Israeli Knesset Sunday to deliver a strident defense of the Israeli genocide in Gaza. She condemned the Biden administration for its token gestures of restraining the Netanyahu government, including withholding some 2,000-pound bombs which can level an entire city block. Stefanik addressed her remarks to what the Wall Street Journal described as a handful of lawmakers in the Israeli Parliaments Caucus for Jewish and Pro-Israel Students on Campuses Around the World. She presented herself as a front-line defender of Jewish students in the United States, whom she claimed were under constant attack on the campuses. Elise Stefanik and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet in Israel, May 20, 2024. [Photo: Elise Stefanik] She glorified her own performance as the witch-hunter in chief at several recent hearings of the House Education Committee, where Democrats and Republicans grilled university presidents from Harvard, MIT, Penn and other colleges, as well as a panel of K-12 school system superintendents. They denounced the educators for insufficient efforts to suppress protests against the Gaza genocide, helping spark the current wave of heavy-handed repression, including suspensions, expulsions, and the arrest of more than 3,000 students and supporters. While declaring her support for wiping those responsible for October 7th off the face of the earth, she made clear in her remarks that she was really talking about all Palestinians, and perhaps even all Arabs. She denounced the many times forces of evil have tried to destroy Israel and the Jewish people, citing the 1948 Israeli-Arab war, the Fedayeen raids of the 1950s and 60s, in the 67 war, the 73 war, the successive wars against Hamas in Gaza, and again, on that dark day, October 7th, 2023. In order words, all armed resistance to the state of Israel is criminal and those involved should be treated as terrorists and murderers! She contrasted the mass mobilization of Israeli youth into the militarybased on compulsory servicewith what she called the pro-Hamas apologists on US college campuses protesting in a paroxysm of blood lust and calling for the destruction of Israel. Denouncing the Biden administration, saying there was no excuse for a policy of dither and hide, she called instead for crushing antisemitism at home, and supplying the State of Israel with what it needs, when it needs it, without conditions, to achieve total victory in the face of evil. Stefaniks trip to Jerusalem follows last Thursdays vote in the House for the Israel Security Act, a purely symbolic bill to countermand Bidens holding up delivery of the largest bombs to Israel. Sixteen Democrats joined a near-unanimous Republican caucus to pass the bill, which is unlikely to be taken up by the Senate and would certainly not survive a Biden veto. The trip was not only an effort to promote the lying claim that the Republican Partyinfested with white supremacists and neo-Nazisis an adamant opponent of antisemitism. It was also aimed at elevating Stefanik in the eyes of the fascist ex-president Donald Trump, who has put her on the short-list for potential vice-presidential running mate this year. While Stefanik began her fascistic diatribe by claiming to be a lifelong admirer, supporter, and true friend of Israel and the Jewish people, her own political record is nothing like that. Two years ago she came under attack from the Anti-Defamation League for echoing the antisemitic Great Replacement Theory, which claims that wealthy Jews are engineering and financing mass migration to the United States from Asia, Africa and Latin America to replace the white American population. This followed the mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket by 18-year-old Payton Gendron, who was a reader of the fascist Daily Stormer web site and an admirer of such fascist mass killers as Brenton Tarrant, who murdered more than 50 people at two mosques in New Zealand. Gendron issued a 180-page manifesto on the subject of racist hatred of African Americans and the Great Replacement Theory before heading to Buffalo to carry out the slaughter. The Anti-Defamation League criticized Stefanik, who represents a rural district in upstate New York, for a series of campaign ads in which she claimed that illegal immigrants were flooding the country because the Democratic Party regarded them as reliable future voters. Their plan to grant amnesty to 11 MILLION illegal immigrants will overthrow our current electorate and create a permanent liberal majority in Washington, the ad declared. Citing the openly racist version of the Great Replacement Theory advocated by fascist pundits like Tucker Carlson, the local newspaper, the Times Union of Albany, wrote that Stefanik isnt so brazen as to use the slogans themselves; rather, she couches the hate in alarmist anti-immigrant rhetoric thats become standard fare for the party of Donald Trump. Last week, on the second anniversary of the Buffalo supermarket massacre, 55 Jewish, civil rights and immigrants rights groups wrote to congressional leaders of both parties appealing for a halt to references to an invasion by peaceful migrants and to plans for replacement of white Americans by immigrants, both of which inspired the Buffalo gunman. They wrote: Two years later, this same false notion of replacement and invasion is leveraged regularly by Members of Congress to further political agendas related to immigration and national security. They echo false claims of an invasion, which, under the twisted logic of the conspiracy theory, is purposefully orchestrated by a powerful Jewish cabal to upend white political power structures. This bigoted, dangerous rhetoric and its related dog whistles dehumanize migrants and communities of color, positioning them as an existential threat that must be met with violence. Nothing will come of this appeal, however well intentioned. It is said that birds of a feather flock together. In the case of the fascistic Republican Stefanik and the fascistic Zionists who applauded her remarks, it is not difficult to see what brings them together: a virulent hatred of the oppressed and a determination to exterminate them and destroy their defenders. The Congolese capital Brazzaville is to house a data centre, supported by funding of 66.55 million (about US$72.2 million) including US$57 million from the African Development Bank (ADB) and US$15.70 million from the government of Congo. The ADB reports that 600 kilometres of fibre optic cable will be laid via the Congo River, with interconnecting routes to Cameroon and the Central African Republic, along with the building of the data centre itself, for which some US$15 million of the overall funding has been allocated to build and run. The three-level data centre will have server rooms, monitoring and supervision rooms, and meeting and conference rooms, as well as locations for the energy and air-conditioning equipment. The centre should be delivered by December 2024. There is, inevitably, a digital sovereignty angle to this development. At the moment much of the data produced in Congo has to be stored somewhere else. Once the data centre is built it is hoped it will host all public data, as well as that of telecoms operators, banks, insurance companies and other private firms that want to have it hosted in the country, along with back-ups of any primary storage sites they use. The Data Centre Dynamics website says that the operator of the data centre is still unknown; the ADB says it will be managed by a 'delegate' once the work is finished. Other specifications of the data centre have also not been shared. While some news services claim this is a first for the country or region, according to regulator ARPCEs website in 2021 Brazzaville had three data centres belonging to ARPCE, the Ministry of Finance and MTN Congo. There was also one data centre in Pointe-Noire. The Data Centre Dynamics website adds that earlier this year, the government launched a data centre in Pointe-Noire. It holds capacity for 54 racks across 156 square metres. Telkom Indonesias satellite services arm Telkomsat said on Friday that it has signed a cooperation agreement with LEO satellite operator Starlink to offer the latters satellite broadband services to enterprises in Indonesia. Under the agreement, Telkomsat will provide Starlink-based business services that are competitive and equivalent to business packages offered on Starlinks web site. The deal is the latest collaboration between the two operators. Telkomsat has been providing Starlink backhaul services since 2022 by utilizing anchoring rights granted by the government. "The backhaul infrastructure deployed by Telkomsat is able to provide quality satellite connectivity services while still guaranteeing national data sovereignty and security," said Telkomsats main director Lukman Hakim Abd. Rauf. According to Telkomsat, its latest agreement with Starlink was signed on Wednesday last week, ahead of the LEO satellite operators official service launch in Indonesia on Sunday. The momentum of this collaboration further strengthens Telkomsat's position as Starlink's first and main strategic partner in Indonesia, said Lukman. 15 Minutes of War is an action drama film written and directed by Fred Grivois. The story follows a school bus hijacked by a group of Somalian men. To rescue them, a special French unit of trained soldiers gets dispatched. They soon find it difficult to carry out the task and come up with a very risky plan. Heres how you can watch and stream 15 Minutes of War via streaming services such as Amazon Prime Video. Is 15 Minutes of War available to watch via streaming? Yes, 15 Minutes of War is available to watch via streaming on Amazon Prime Video. In the city of Djibouti, in February 1976, a group of Somalian rebels hijacked a school bus carrying 21 French children and their teacher. The group drive them into a no-mans land in between the French and Somalian territory. To rescue them, the French government dispatch a highly skilled and newly formed squad. When they arrive at the location of the hijacked bus, they learn that directly going for the bus could put the hostages in danger, risking their lives. Now they have no option but to enforce another risky plan involving five snipers. The film is based on a true story. 15 Minutes of War stars Olga Kurylenko as Jane Anderson and Alban Lenoir as Andre Gerval. We also see Sebastien Lalanne, Michael Abiteboul, and Vincent Perez, as Pierre Cazeneuve, Georges Campere, and General Favrart, respectively. Watch 15 Minutes of War streaming via Amazon Prime Video 15 Minutes of War is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video. It is a leading streaming service that offers a variety of on-demand content to choose from. It also features the latest titles to purchase or rent digitally. You can watch via Amazon Prime Video by following these steps: Go to Amazon Prime Video Select Sign in and Create your Amazon account Sign up for a Prime Video membership: $14.99 per month or $139 per year with an Amazon Prime membership $8.99 per month for a standalone Prime Video membership Amazon Prime is the online retailers paid service that provides fast shipping and exclusive sales on products, so the membership that includes both this service and Prime Video is the companys most popular offering. However, you can also opt to subscribe to Prime Video separately. 15 Minutes of Wars synopsis is as follows: February 1976. Somalian rebels hijack a school bus carrying 21 French children and their teacher in Djibouti City. When the terrorists drive it to a no-mans-land on the border between Somalia and French territory, the French Government sends out a newly formed elite squad to rescue the hostages. Within a few hours, the highly trained team arrives to the crisis area, where the Somalian National Army has taken position behind the barbed wire on the border. The French unit is left with very few options to rescue the hostages. As the volatile situation unravels, the French men quickly come up with a daring plan: carry out a simultaneous 5 men sniper attack to get the children and the teacher out safely. A true story. NOTE: The streaming services listed above are subject to change. The information provided was correct at the time of writing. The Killers Game, Flight Risk, and Den of Thieves: Pantera Release Dates Set Lionsgate has set the release dates for The Killers Game, Flight Risk, and Den of Thieves: Pantera, fleshing out its Movies Tyler Treese 2 hours ago Imaginary Friend Movies to Watch After John Krasinskis IF This weekend, John Krasinskis IF, a fantasy comedy about imaginary friends, was released. The concept itself is familiar as there Movies Jeff Ames 2 hours ago Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction Trailer Sets Crunchyroll Premiere Date Crunchyroll announced that they have acquired the streaming rights to the movie Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction, and will be Anime Anthony Nash 2 hours ago Yellowstone Season 5 Resumes Production on Final Series Episodes Paramount Networks has announced that production on the last five episodes of Yellowstone Season 5 has finally resumed in Montana. TV Maggie Dela Paz 3 hours ago Read more The post 15 Minutes of War Streaming: Watch & Stream Online via Amazon Prime Video appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. The Trump campaign issued a fiery response to the buzzy biopic "The Apprentice," which debuted at Cannes, but the director of the film isn't fazed. Following the Cannes Film Festival premiere of the movie "The Apprentice" on Monday, a spokesperson for the 45th president's campaign declared its intention to sue the filmmakers in a statement issued to multiple outlets. "We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers," Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, told Variety and Deadline. "This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked." Cheung added that the movie is "pure malicious defamation" and "should not see the light of day." Maria Bakalova, director Ali Abbasi and Sebastian Stan attend a photocall for "The Apprentice" at the Cannes Film Festival. Former President Donald Trump's campaign has threatened to take legal action over the film. USA TODAY has reached out to the Trump campaign and to representatives for "The Apprentice" director Ali Abbasi and screenwriter Gabriel Sherman for comment. Sebastian Stan stars in "The Apprentice" as Donald Trump, while Jeremy Strong plays Roy Cohn and Maria Bakalova plays Trump's first wife, Ivana Trump. The film includes a scene where Trump rapes Ivana Trump, according to The Washington Post and The New York Times. Ivana Trump once accused Donald Trump of rape during a divorce deposition but later walked her comments back. According to The Daily Beast, she said in a statement included in the 1993 book "Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump" that in 1989, "Mr. Trump and I had marital relations in which he behaved very differently toward me than he had during our marriage. As a woman, I felt violated, as the love and tenderness, which he normally exhibited towards me, was absent. I referred to this as a 'rape,' but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense." On Tuesday, the director of "The Apprentice" shrugged off the Trump campaign's lawsuit threat during a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival. Cannes 2024 to feature Donald Trump drama, Francis Ford Coppola's 'Megalopolis' and more "Everybody talks about (Trump) suing a lot of people," director Ali Abbasi said. "They don't talk about his success rate, though." Abbasi went on to say he understands why the former president might assume the movie is "demeaning" and a "conspiracy" but that he should watch it for himself. Kevin Costner gets epic standing ovation for 'Horizon' at Cannes, moved to tears "I don't necessarily think that this is a movie that he would dislike," the filmmaker said. "I don't necessarily think he would like it. I think he would be surprised. ... I would offer to go and meet him wherever he wants and talk about the context of the movie, have a screening and have a chat afterwards." He added, "Donald's team should wait (until) they watch the movie before they start suing us." During the press conference, Abbasi also said the film was motivated by a "humanist ideology," and he intended to evoke "understanding" and "sympathy" for people "who are icons, who are hated (and) loved." No release date for "The Apprentice" has been announced, but Abbasi jokingly described the November presidential election as a "promotional event" that will "help us with the movie," adding that he hopes it will come out around the time of Trump's September debate with President Joe Biden. Though Strong did not attend the Cannes press conference, Abbasi read a statement from the "Succession" actor describing "The Apprentice" as a "monster movie." "Obviously, we are completely non-partisan, so that's Jeremy's own soul," the director added to laughs. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'The Apprentice': Trump biopic director talks campaign's threat to sue Kehinde Wiley, the American artist best known for painting former US President Barack Obamas official portrait, has denied accusations of sexual assault. In an Instagram post shared Sunday, British-Ghanaian artist and curator Joseph Awuah-Darko alleged Wiley sexually assaulted him twice in 2021. Awuah-Darko said the first incident occurred on June 9, 2021, at a dinner held at the Noldor Artist Residency in Ghana, to celebrate Wileys work. Awuah-Darko is the founder and chairman of the Accra-based program. In the post, he claimed he was inappropriately groped by Wiley, in front of another guest, and that the action was unwelcome and unprovoked. He then described a second incident that day as much more severe and violent, without elaborating further. (In a subsequent interview with the New York Times, he claimed that a sexual encounter began consensually, but that it then moved to a bedroom, where Mr. Wiley forced himself on him after Mr. Awuah-Darko had said he did not want to go further.) The assaults almost destroyed me, Awuah-Darko wrote in the post, adding he hoped that others would feel empowered to come forward. Shortly after the post was published, Wiley denied the allegations, writing on his own Instagram that, Someone I had a brief, consensual relationship with almost three years ago is now making a false accusation about our time together. These claims are not true and are an affront to all victims of sexual abuse. I have no idea why he has decided to target me in this way particularly when there is a litany of evidence showing his claims are false but I hope he gets the help he needs for whatever he is going through, Wiley continued. I kindly ask for privacy as I work to clear my name. Kehinde Wiley and former President Barack Obama unveil his presidential portrait during a ceremony at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, on February 12, 2018 in Washington, DC. - Mark Wilson/Getty Images Representatives for Wiley provided CNN with a copy of a cease and desist letter they say was sent to Awuah-Darko demanding he immediately remove what they describe as categorically false and defamatory, Instagram posts. The letter frames Awuah-Darkos claims as malicious and intended to ruin (Wileys) reputation for financial gain and attention. CNN was also shown copies of messages between Awuah-Darko and Wiley which representatives for Wiley assert were sent in the months following the alleged assault. In some, Awuah-Darko appears to be making arrangements to attend a birthday party for Wiley in Nigeria; in another he asks if he could visit Wiley at his home in upstate New York. (It appears Wiley failed to respond to this message.) Awuah-Darko and his legal representative did not immediately respond to CNNs requests for further comment on his allegations, as well as Wileys response, however, in his Sunday statement on Instagram, he said he did not immediately confront the reality of my abuse as such, and that it took several months to reconcile with what had actually happened. I am aware Im not the perfect sexual assault victim, Awuah-Darko told the New York Times, but this is what happened to me. In an earlier Instagram video posted in March, Awuah-Darko had claimed he was sexually assaulted by someone who outranks me in privilege, power and that he was aiming to raise $200,000 for legal fees. Awuah-Darko said Monday that he planned on taking legal action in a post on his Instagram stories. Awuah-Darkos legal representative did not immediately respond to CNNs requests for further comment. In Sundays Instagram post, he wrote that reporting the assault in Ghana would have been problematic at best dangerous at worst, given the countrys broader attitudes towards LGBTQ people. In February, Ghanas parliament passed a controversial bill that criminalizes LGBTQ relationships and those who support LGBTQ rights. Wiley rose to international fame in 2017, when he was chosen to paint Obamas official portrait for the Smithsonians National Portrait Gallery. The result was a vibrant depiction of the 44th president against a backdrop of green foliage and symbolic flowers. Before that, the Yale University-trained painter had already built a career in portraiture and sculpture, depicting Black people posed in the style of Old Master paintings to bold, ornate effect. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Palouse Habitat for Humanity has selected two families for its next two homes in Moscow and Uniontown. The nonprofit will build homes for Jake Austin and his sons, and Kaylee Jones and her six children. Rungano Nyoni made her name in 2017 with her Directors Fortnight entry I am Not a Witch, a surreal comedy of sorts in which a young Zambian girl named Shula is forced to choose between being turned into a goat or confessing that she is a witch. Opting for the latter, Shula is sent to a witch camp and put to work in the service of the community, the source of some uncomfortable satire, creating a space for Nyoni to explore the points of conflict between superstition and civilization in modern African society. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, by its title alone, suggests something similar, but although the protagonist is also called Shula, Nyonis sophomore film is something darker and altogether more serious. This time, the focus is the rub between tradition and modernity, using the occasion of a family funeral as the jumping-off point for a slow-burn drama that builds, rather stealthily, to an unexpectedly emotional climax. More from Deadline It begins with Shula (Susan Chardy) driving down a country lane in her familys village, on the way back from a costume party. Shulas Afro-futurist outfit a silver headset and a baggy jumpsuit that makes her look like a giant blueberry is at odds with the rural surroundings, and even more conspicuous when she leaves the car to examine a body lying out in the road. Recognizing the body as her uncle Fred, she immediately calls her mother, who refuses to believe her. Fred cant die, she says. Just sprinkle some water on him. But Fred very much is dead, and a pickup truck comes to take him away. Like the Dogme film Festen, Freds subsequent funeral is where the story begins in earnest, and Nyoni takes us right into the custom and pageantry of a Zambian send-off. Death literally comes crawling to Shulas mothers home, as some of the familys womenfolk shuffle over the threshold on their hands and knees. Women, or aunties, feature almost exclusively from this moment on, grieving noisily and at length, in stark contrast to the reserved Shula, whose seemingly aloof behavior is regarded with suspicion by the others (Her eyes are so dry. She doesnt look like someone whos just seen a corpse). Shula watches the preparations with the detachment of an outsider, noting the increasing cruelty with which Freds widow is being treated. The woman is accused of being a bad wife who failed to cook for her husband, and Shula is alerted to an alarming fact about Fred: his predilection for young, younger and much, much younger women. She is soon to find, however, that her family either knows this, like the aunties do, or skeptical, like her lightly estranged father (Henry B.J. Phiri), who prefers to let sleeping dogs lie. Do you want to dig up the corpse and confront it? he asks, calling, drink in hand, from a swimming pool in a sparsely attended nightclub that appears to be located in a library. The dam doesnt ever break in Nyonis elegantly composed drama, which makes the surprise denouement all the more effective. Explaining two of the films key mysteries that baroque title, and a little girl Shula sees peering quizzically at Freds lifeless body On Becoming A Guinea Fowl wraps up with an ambiguous ending that makes perfect emotional sense while not effectively reconciling anything at all. For his family, Freds death is the end of this unsavory matter, but for Shula it just might be the start. Title: On Becoming A Guinea Fowl Festival: Cannes (Un Certain Regard) Distributor: A24 Director-screenwriter: Rungano Nyoni Cast: Susan Chardy, Henry B.J. Phiri, Elizabeth Chisela Running time: 1 hr 35 min Best of Deadline Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The Being (1983) is a horror movie wherein a monster is making the lives of people in the town of Idaho a living hell. In order to stop the monster from harming people, a police chief and scientist teams up. Jackie Kong wrote and helmed the movie. Heres how you can watch and stream The Being (1983) via streaming services such as Amazon Prime Video. Is The Being (1983) available to watch via streaming? Yes, The Being (1983) is available to watch via streaming on Amazon Prime Video. All of a sudden a lot of people in Pottsville start vanishing, making everyone worried. In order to dig into the matter, the mayor decides to recruit a chemical safety engineer to investigate. As he progresses on the case, he learns that an unstoppable monster is the cause behind the havoc. The cast members include Martin Landau as Garson Jones, Marianne Gordon as Laurie, Bill Osco as Detective Mortimer Lutz, and various others. Watch The Being (1983) streaming via Amazon Prime Video The Being (1983) is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video. Amazon Prime Video is a renowned streaming destination that showcases hit blockbusters, trendy shows, specials, documentaries, short films, and much more. You can watch via Amazon Prime Video by following these steps: Go to Amazon Prime Video Select Sign in and Create your Amazon account Sign up for a Prime Video membership: $14.99 per month or $139 per year with an Amazon Prime membership $8.99 per month for a standalone Prime Video membership Amazon Prime is the online retailers paid service that provides fast shipping and exclusive sales on products, so the membership that includes both this service and Prime Video is the companys most popular offering. However, you can also opt to subscribe to Prime Video separately. The Beings official synopsis is as follows: Toxic waste dumping in a small Idaho town turns a young boy into horrible mutant monster. The towns police chief and a government scientist team up to stop the monster, which is quickly killing off the towns citizenry. NOTE: The streaming services listed above are subject to change. The information provided was correct at the time of writing. The Killers Game, Flight Risk, and Den of Thieves: Pantera Release Dates Set Lionsgate has set the release dates for The Killers Game, Flight Risk, and Den of Thieves: Pantera, fleshing out its Movies Tyler Treese 7 hours ago Imaginary Friend Movies to Watch After John Krasinskis IF This weekend, John Krasinskis IF, a fantasy comedy about imaginary friends, was released. The concept itself is familiar as there Movies Jeff Ames 7 hours ago Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction Trailer Sets Crunchyroll Premiere Date Crunchyroll announced that they have acquired the streaming rights to the movie Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction, and will be Anime Anthony Nash 7 hours ago Yellowstone Season 5 Resumes Production on Final Series Episodes Paramount Networks has announced that production on the last five episodes of Yellowstone Season 5 has finally resumed in Montana. TV Maggie Dela Paz 8 hours ago Read more The post The Being (1983) Streaming: Watch & Stream Online via Amazon Prime Video appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. The Birdcatcher is a 2019 war thriller film. It tells the story of Esther, a Jewish girl who disguises herself as a boy to survive the Nazi occupation of Norway. She ends up on a Norwegian farm, where she must keep her true identity hidden while navigating the dangers of wartime. Heres how you can watch and stream The Birdcatcher via streaming services such as Amazon Prime Video. Is The Birdcatcher available to watch via streaming? Yes, The Birdcatcher is available to watch via streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Dreaming of Hollywood stardom, Esthers life takes a dramatic turn when the Nazis occupy Norway. Forced to flee, she finds herself alone and vulnerable. To survive, Esther makes a daring choice: disguise herself as a boy and seek refuge on a remote farm. But as she hides her true identity, a web of secrets and danger unfolds, testing her courage and resilience. The film stars Sarah-Sofie Boussnina as Esther. Arthur Hakalahti plays a character entangled with Esthers fate, while Jakob Cedergren rounds out the cast. Watch The Birdcatcher streaming via Prime Video The Birdcatcher is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video. Amazon Prime Video features several entertaining movies and shows that you can watch anytime on any device. You can watch via Amazon Prime Video by following these steps: Go to Amazon Prime Video Select Sign in and Create your Amazon account Sign up for a Prime Video membership: $14.99 per month or $139 per year with an Amazon Prime membership $8.99 per month for a standalone Prime Video membership Amazon Prime is the online retailers paid service that provides fast shipping and exclusive sales on products, so the membership that includes both this service and Prime Video is the companys most popular offering. However, you can also opt to subscribe to Prime Video separately. The Birdcatcher synopsis is as follows: Norway, 1942, during World War II. After being separated from her family, Esther, a young Jewish girl from Trondheim, arrives at an isolated farm where she must assume a new identity in order to survive the Nazi persecution. NOTE: The streaming services listed above are subject to change. The information provided was correct at the time of writing. The Killers Game, Flight Risk, and Den of Thieves: Pantera Release Dates Set Lionsgate has set the release dates for The Killers Game, Flight Risk, and Den of Thieves: Pantera, fleshing out its Movies Tyler Treese 10 hours ago Imaginary Friend Movies to Watch After John Krasinskis IF This weekend, John Krasinskis IF, a fantasy comedy about imaginary friends, was released. The concept itself is familiar as there Movies Jeff Ames 10 hours ago Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction Trailer Sets Crunchyroll Premiere Date Crunchyroll announced that they have acquired the streaming rights to the movie Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction, and will be Anime Anthony Nash 10 hours ago Yellowstone Season 5 Resumes Production on Final Series Episodes Paramount Networks has announced that production on the last five episodes of Yellowstone Season 5 has finally resumed in Montana. TV Maggie Dela Paz 11 hours ago Read more The post The Birdcatcher Streaming: Watch & Stream Online via Amazon Prime Video appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. Restaurants packed with guests who've come for a plate piled with unseasoned, boiled fish and potatoes? Only in Door County, Wisconsin. Well, thats not exactly true. Fish boils, a dinner-and-a-show tradition stemming from the states Scandinavian settlers, can be found in towns outside of Door County, like Bayfield, Genoa City and Trevor (in Southeast Wisconsin), but the picturesque peninsula between Green Bay and Lake Michigan is the epicenter of the curious food tradition that draws visitors for the fiery spectacle before dinner is served. Its difficult to understand the appeal of a fish boil until youve experienced it yourself. But what actually goes on at a fish boil that makes it such a hot ticket in the Cape Cod of Wisconsin? Heres what you should know about the Wisconsin fish boil, from how it started to the restaurants that do it best. Matthew Peterson, center, a master boiler, watches flames engulf a kettle with boiling water and Lake Michigan whitefish, caught that day, at a fish boil at Pelletier's Restaurant & Fish Boil in Fish Creek on Saturday, May 22, 2021. The flames cause the water to boil over the rim of the kettle, which is the end of the fish boil cooking process. What happens at a Door County fish boil? When you arrive at your fish boil destination (usually about half an hour before your reservation time so you can catch the spectacular boilover), youll be guided to an outdoor area with seating (or standing room) circled around a large fire pit in the center. There, the master boiler will likely be tending to a large metal pot, filled with water, a load of salt, baby red potatoes and whitefish steaks some caught from the nearby lake just hours before. Gather round as the master boiler regales the crowd with a history of the fish boil and how it became a Door County tradition as the fish bubbles away in the fire-heated pot. The salt about a pound or two for every gallon of water helps in the boiling process. It causes everything to float, like the fish oils and debris from the vegetables that we dont want to eat. Once it foams to the surface, its time for the show: The master boiler tosses kerosene onto the fire, which roars with a flare reaching roughly 20 feet high, and the water in the pot boils with a sizzle over the sides onto the coals below. With the water goes the unwanted oil and debris, and once the fish and potatoes are filtered out, its time to eat. Diners are ushered to their tables as dinner is servedthe fish from the boiling pot outside, plus simple sides, beverages and a slice of something sweet to finish. Lake Michigan whitefish, caught that day, is served at a fish boil with corn, potatoes and coleslaw at Pelletier's Restaurant & Fish Boil in Fish Creek. What kind of food is served at a fish boil? The highlight of the menu is fresh whitefish, usually caught the same day from the waters of Lake Michigan. It's cut into chunks before boiling, and some restaurants will serve the fish bones and all (look out for the teeny bones as you eat!), while others will de-bone the fish before bringing it to your table. The only seasoning is the salt used in the boiling process, but its typically served with melted butter and lemon to add some oomph. Baby red potatoes and sometimes onions are boiled and served with the fish, and, depending on the restaurant, sides such as coleslaw and fresh-baked rye bread are included with the meal. A fish boil dinner almost always concludes with a slice of cherry pie using locally grown Door County cherries, of course served plain or a la mode. If youre not big on fish, no worries! Most restaurants offer alternatives such as roasted chicken, fried chicken and barbecue ribs. Childrens menus are typically available, too, with options like chicken tenders, hot dogs and hamburgers. How did the fish boil tradition begin? Early European settlers of the Door peninsula were largely Scandinavian, with fishing as their main trade. Fish boils are said to have started out of necessity around the turn of the 20th century, when commercial fishermen turned to a quick meal that could feed a large crowd after they docked for the day. They'd throw their catch in large pots and boil them with vegetables to feed their whole crew. But the restaurant-centric fish boil tradition didnt catch on until the 1960s, when longstanding Door County restaurants The Viking Grill (which closed in 2022) and the White Gull Inn brought the tradition to their establishments. Since then, the fish boil has grown into a summertime tradition for Door County locals and tourists from Sturgeon Bay to Washington Island. Lake Michigan whitefish, caught that day, are ready to be boiled at a fish boil at Pelletier's Restaurant & Fish Boil in Fish Creek on Saturday, May 22, 2021. What are the best Door County fish boils? The White Gull Inn Restaurant (4225 Main St., Fish Creek) is one of the peninsulas oldest restaurants, and has been serving fish boils to the public since 1959. Today, the White Gull Inn hosts fish boils Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from May through October and Friday evenings year round, one of the only Door County restaurants that offers a fish boil in the winter months. In the quaint town of Ephraim, the Old Post Office Restaurant (10040 Water St.) hosts its fish boils in a historic building that once operated as you guessed it a post office and general store at the turn of the 20th century. The restaurant now hosts fish boils with indoor and outdoor seating Monday through Saturday and holiday Sundays from May through October. Pelletiers Restaurant (4199 Main St., Fish Creek) hosts fish boils in the heart of charming Fish Creek, and is one of the only Door County spots to hold a fish boil every day of the week. It offers four boil overs nightly from May through October. True to its name, Waterfront Marys Bar & Grill (3662 N. Duluth Ave., Sturgeon Bay) hosts their fish boil on the shore of Sturgeon Bay, with beautiful views of the water during the fish boil show. It offers fish boils Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays in May and Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays June through October. For all restaurants, reservations are highly recommended, with most asking guests to arrive 30 to 60 minutes prior to their reservation to allow for time to hear the history of the fish boil and watch the boil over in action. When is the best time to visit a fish boil? Most fish boils in Door County are served from May through October (much of the peninsula shuts down over the winter months) and are the busiest during summer from Memorial Day through Labor Day. If you want to snag an easy reservation, try to visit in May or October, when the fish is just as tasty but the crowds are smaller. Weeknights tend to have more availability, as well. But if youre visiting during the busy tourist season, call as far ahead as you can to secure your spot for Door Countys most famous dinner and a show tradition. Rachel Bernhard joined the Journal Sentinel as dining critic in June 2023. Shes been busy exploring the Milwaukee area food scene to share her favorite finds with readers along the way. Like all Journal Sentinel reporters, she buys all meals, accepts no gifts and is independent of all establishments she covers. What should she cover next? Contact her at rseis@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @rachelbernhard or on Instagram at @rach.eats.mke. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What to know about the Door County fish boil, a Wisconsin tradition British-born Ghanaian artist Joseph Awuah-Darko accused renowned painter Kehinde Wiley of sexually assaulting him twice in June 2021. In a Sunday Instagram post, Awuah-Darko said he met Wiley in Ghana at a dinner honoring Wiley at the Noldor Artist Residency, which Awuah-Darko founded. Wiley, a Los Angeles-born New York-based artist, is known for painting the official portrait of President Barack Obama. In the first instance of assault described in Awuah-Darkos post, he said that Wiley inappropriately groped him by grabbing his rear end and asking something to the effect of What is this thing? The second assault, according to Awuah-Darko, was much more severe and violent, but he did not go into details online. However, Awuah-Darko told The New York Times in an interview that the encounter began with consent until the two moved to a bedroom and Wiley allegedly forced himself onto Awuah-Darko. Former President Barack Obama and Artist Kehinde Wiley unveil Obama's official portrait on Feb. 12, 2018, at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington. Andrew Harnik/Associated Press Wiley seemingly addressed the accusation Sunday in a post on Instagram: Someone I had a brief, consensual relationship with almost three years ago is now making a false accusation about our time together. I kindly ask for privacy as I work to clear my name, he added. Attorneys for Wiley told The New York Times that they sent Awuah-Darko a cease-and-desist letter, but Awuah-Darko denied having seen it at the time. Awuah-Darko claimed in his Sunday post that the art world has been aware of Wileys predatory behavior, but he didnt specify for how long. Awuah-Darko added that he hopes his decision to come forward will shine a light on more truth to come. Awuah-Darko is not formally pressing charges. Given Kehindes self-described global recognition as a gay man, formally reporting this assault in a West African country like Ghana [where anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiments are prevalent] would have been problematic at best dangerous at worst, Awuah-Darko explained. I am aware Im not the perfect sexual assault victim, Awuah-Darko told The New York Times, but this is what happened to me. Im hoping other people come forward. Need help? Visit RAINNs National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Centers website. Related... Hollywood comes to Mississippi in new Carolyn Haines novel | DON NOBLE Its hard to believe, but Lights, Camera, Bones is the 27th in the Sarah Booth Delaney mysteries. Carolyn Haines, surely one of the most productive authors in the country, has used various techniques to keep the series fresh, most notably moving the characters, on vacation or business, or whatever, to other places. Once they were all in Costa Rica. More: Episodes from poets life are recounted in essays | DON NOBLE In this novel she keeps things fresh right there in the Mississippi Delta. Over In Greenville, a movie is being made. It will be a dramatization of the horrors and devastation of the 1927 Mississippi River flood, a flood that over-ran the levees, and drowned the town and thousands of acres of valuable farmland. Don Noble The writer, director and hero/star of this action movie is a handsome, affable young man, the improbably named Marlon Brandon. (Brandon was on his birth certificate; he adopted Marlon.) This fellow is the grandson of Sen. Brandon, Mississippi plantation owner and political powerhouse. No one but Marlon sees the entire script. He has secret surprises. The family was wealthy long before the flood and, oddly, while most people were bankrupted, their finances were not ruined by the devastation. Brandon's movie, many readers will remember, is modeled after "Lanterns on the Levee, by William Alexander Percy, a popular book which has since become very controversial. The wealthy landowners prevented the agricultural workers from running away to safety, sometimes at gunpoint, and forced them to work on reinforcing the levees, to protect land none of THEM owned. Percy also declared in Lanterns that "Share-cropping is one of the best systems ever devised to give security and a chance for profit to the simple and the unskilled." Many disagree. Sarah Booth and her detective partner, Tinkie, are touring the set, admiring the actors and enjoying the Hollywood ambiance when a young crew member goes missing, possibly drowned. Then his foot is discovered, having been bitten off by a shark. Yes, a bull shark can live in fresh water but how did this shark, named Betty, get to Greenville? By herself or was she transported? Sarah Booth, who is, remember, the creation of Carolyn Haines, who runs an enormous animal rescue and shelter in Semmes, wants divers to catch the shark and return it to the Gulf. The more environmentally sensitive characters, shark-huggers, repeat, several times, that the shark is just doing what sharks do. As with Percy's characterization of sharecropping, others disagree. Kill that shark right now! A crew member is shot no one suspects the shark and Marlon disappears, perhaps kidnapped, but by whom? It becomes clear that two mysteries need to be solved. One: Who is shooting and abducting people, right now? And Two: How was it that the Brandon family survived the Great Flood with more cash than before, able to buy up land at low, public auction, bankruptcy prices? Don Nobles newest book is Alabama Noir, a collection of original stories by Winston Groom, Ace Atkins, Carolyn Haines, Brad Watson, and eleven other Alabama authors. Lights, Camera, Bones Author: Carolyn Haines Publisher: Minotaur Books New York, 2024 Price: $28 (Hardcover) Pages: 337 This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Carolyn Haines publishes 27th novel in mystery series | DON NOBLE It sounds like presumptive third-time GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump got more than he bargained in exchange for a cameo in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York; the 1992 sequel to the popular Christmas comedy. In his forthcoming Simon & Schuster memoir, Home and Alone, star Daniel Stern recalls running up quite the bar tab after Trump offered to pick up his drinks. In an excerpt of the book obtained by Page Six, Stern writes that aside from Trump's cameo, "his real contribution was letting us film there, lending the luster of the [Trump Plaza] to the movie." The 66-year-old recalled that the producers of the film had asked him to meet Trump, who was supposedly a "huge" fan. However, Sterns notes that while Trump "was not a great conversationalist" and "kind of a nothing personality," that the meeting "paid off brilliantly" regardless. During production one night, The Wonder Years narrator recounted how he was having drinks with some crew members in the Plaza's famed Oak Room when Trump walked in with his wife at the time, the late Ivana Trump, and began "waving to the guests and wanting to have his picture taken." "Donald spotted us and proclaimed so everyone could hear that he would be picking up the tab at our table," Stern writes. He said that as Trump walked away, his table lifted their glasses and toasted to the future president so he would feeling like "the host-with-the-most." However, the group quickly abused the gesture, drinking "until there was no more booze left in that bar" and buying "round after round of drinks" for their fellow bar patrons. They then proceeded to shut the bar down, staying until 4 a.m. All in all, while there has been some confusion about exactly how much of Trump's money they spent, Stern estimates the figure to be at least $7 thousand. "We still feel really good about that," Stern added, given that Trump has since become a polarizing figure in American politics. In a 2020 interview with Business Insider, Home Alone director Chris Columbus claimed that fame-obsessed Trump actually "bullied" his way into a cameo in exchange for letting the crew film at the Plaza. (Trump has since denied the claim in a post on his Truth Social platform.) "We wanted to shoot in the lobby. We couldn't rebuild The Plaza on a soundstage," Columbus said at the time, and instead agreed to pay Trump a standard fee for filming in the Manhattan high-rise. "We paid the fee, but he also said, 'The only way you can use the Plaza is if I'm in the movie,'" he continued. "So we agreed to put him in the movie." It's unclear whether Columbus intended to leave the cameo in the finished film, but felt as though his hands were tied when a test audience reacted favorably. "People cheered when Trump showed up on-screen," Columbus added. "So I said to my editor, 'Leave him in the movie. It's a moment for the audience.' But he did bully his way into the movie." Perhaps he did, but apparently it was not without a cost. In any case, Home and Alone hits shelves on Tuesday, May 21. Dana Matheson (played by Ally Harris) has made the SHOCK discovery that abandoned baby Maia has gone missing from the hospital on Home and Away (1:45pm - see our TV Guide for listings)... Hospital nurse Dana now realises she made a BIG mistake sneaking Tane Parata (Ethan Browne) onto the hospital ward to say goodbye to the baby, he originally found abandoned on the beach. Unwilling to let Maia be put into the care of an EMERGENCY foster family, it looks like local gym boss Tane has done a runner with the baby! In a panic, Dana reports both Tane and Maia as missing to the Police. She's left reeling when Senior Sergeant Rose Delaney (Kirsty Marillier) blames Dana for what has happened... Rose races out to the farmhouse to see if she can catch Tane or find some clues as to where he could have gone. But there's an unexpected tense stand-off, when Rose's boyfriend, Mali Hudson (Kyle Shilling), refuses to let her search Tane's room unless she has a search warrant! Rose is shocked that Mali is siding with his mate Tane and interfering with her doing her job... Home and Away spoilers, Rose Delaney Home and Away spoilers, Mali Hudson, Rose Delaney Mackenzie Booth (Emily Weir) and her married lover, Levi Fowler (Tristan Gorey), attempt to reconnect following his wife Imogen's unexpected visit to Summer Bay. Mackenzie realises that she was playing with fire when she introduced herself to Imogen at Salt. But her insecurity got the better of her and she just wanted to find out more about the woman who Levi ultimately returns home to the city to live with. Levi tries to reassure Mackenzie that there is no competition with Imogen. But has Imogen's appearance just served as another reminder that Mackenzie is very much still "the other woman" in Levi's life? Home and Away spoilers, Levi Fowler, Mackenzie Booth Home and Away continues weekdays at 1:45pm on Channel 5 Switch over for FIRST LOOK episodes at 6:30pm on 5STAR The series is also available to stream on My5 Leah Patterson (played by Ada Nicodemou) and Justin Morgan's (James Stewart) BIG day finally arrives on Home and Away! (1:45pm - see our TV Guide for listings) For a while there, it looked like the couple might NOT be destined to make it down the aisle. But they got back on track and Leah is about to marry husband No.4! Just nobody talk to Justin about the fates of Leah's previous husbands! The day doesn't get off to a very good start when there's no sign of Leah's nephew, Theo Poulos (Matt Evans). Theo is supposed to be Justin's Best Man. Has he gone AWOL with bad influence girlfriend, Valerie Beaumont (Courtney Clark), again to score more party pills? Home and Away spoilers, Alf Stewart, Leah Patterson Home and Away spoilers, VJ Patterson, Leah Patterson After the mystery surrounding "The VJ Issue", Leah assumes that her grown son, VJ Patterson (played by Matt Little, last seen onscreen in 2018), won't be attending the wedding. But she gets a big SURPRISE when she is reunited with VJ, who has flown over from Cyprus to walk his mum down the aisle! And that's not the only family reunion. Watch out for the return of Justin's sister, Tori Morgan (played by Penny McNamee), who flies over from London for the celebration. Plus, Justin's teenage daughter, Ava Gilbert (Annabel Wolfe). Let's just hope Ava doesn't cause as much trouble as she did the last time she visited Summer Bay! Then it's all down to marriage celebrant, John Palmer (Shane Withington), to officially pronounce Leah and Justin as husband and wife. But will everything go off without a hitch? Home and Away spoilers, John Palmer, Leah Patterson, Justin Morgan, Theo Poulos Home and Away spoilers, VJ Patterson, Tori Morgan, Ava Gilbert However, it's not all sunshine and roses. Theo is alarmed when Valerie pulls out a baggie of pills. She's seriously ready to party! Unfortunately at that very moment, Justin catches 'em... Will it all kick-off on Leah and Justin's wedding day? Home and Away spoilers, Theo Poulos, Justin Morgan Home and Away continues weekdays at 1:45pm on Channel 5 Switch over for FIRST LOOK episodes at 6:30pm on 5STAR The series is also available to stream on My5 PULLMAN Some Washington State University employees will be receiving pay increases this year. Classified staff members will be the first to see raises, according to a news release on Friday by WSU. Their salaries will be increasing 3% effective July 1. The Washington State Legislature had agreed to provide funds for general wage increase for nonrepresented classified staff, according to the news release. Phil Weiler, vice president of University Marketing and Communications, said nonrepresented classified staff are hourly state employees including program coordinators, custodians and more. Their wages are determined at the state level. Increases for academic student employees as a part of the universitys first-ever collective bargaining agreement has also taken place. [Source] Kevin Kwan's latest novel, "Lies and Weddings," was released Tuesday. Key points: He plans to set the third book in Paris. Kwan, best known for " Crazy Rich Asians ," nearly abandoned the project while struggling with writer's block. "Lies and Weddings," Kwan 's second entry in the Cities trilogy, follows a nobleman's son as he seeks a wealthy woman to marry to save his family from financial ruin. The details: Kwan told Esquire that he basically abandoned his new book when he struggled to make it work after starting it in 2020. However, a six-week trip to Hawaii in late 2021 recaptured his imagination and helped his writing start flowing again. "Lies and Weddings" follows Rufus Leung Gresham, the son of a British earl and a Hong Kong supermodel who must find a wealthy bride after his family spent all of his inheritance. Kwan said it is inspired by English novelist Anthony Trollope's 1858 book Doctor Thorne. The story unfolds in England, Hawaii and Morocco, while providing economic and social commentary. But unlike "Crazy Rich Asians," it delves into mixed-race heritage and gender issues, marking a thematic shift for Kwan. Ive branched out. Im inspired by this new generation of Asians who are so much more comfortable in their own skin, he told the New York Times. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) One of the most infamous stories to come out of Albuquerque is now heading to the big screen. The movie, Boneyard, is inspired by and loosely follows the true events of the West Mesa murders when in 2009, police excavated the remains of 11 women on the West Mesa. Story continues below Vincent McDaniel co-wrote the film in 2020. He said he has a personal connection to this story. There was a time in my life when I was in the street, and I was involved in certain things. And I knew a lot of these girls, he said. McDaniel also plays a detective in the movie, alongside big names like Mel Gibson who plays a seasoned detective, and rapper Curtis 50 Cent Jackson as the Albuquerque Police Department chief. Filmed in Nevada, local audiences will still see familiar sights and logos. Theres some liberties taken of course and theres going to be some truth in there. I think we did it in good fashion, said McDaniel. He said he wants people to walk away from the film with a sense of awareness. Were not sure if the killer is dead or still out there. But the activities that allow these people to be predators, those things are still out there, he said. Boneyard will be released this summer. The film is directed by Asif Akbar and marks the first major production by McDaniels company, Dream Team Productions. He said his upcoming projects will also shed light on New Mexico stories. 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 KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos. One of the world's richest people just got a serious lesson in the 'Streisand effect' The Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart didn't want her portraits in the national gallery. She demanded they be taken down. Instead, they've garnered global headlines. It's a good example of the "Streisand effect" causing the opposite of what she wanted. Gina Rinehart, Australia's richest woman, did not want people to see her portrait. So she took the most direct route and demanded that the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra remove two paintings depicting her. But Rinehart has learned the hard way that trying to hide something relatively obscure can unintentionally draw far more attention to it. Australian media reported that the gallery refused to take down the paintings. Rinehart's portrait then made global headlines and sparked a debate over art and censorship. The portrait is a satirical work by the artist Vincent Namatjira, who is famed for his caricature style. Vincent Namatjira in front of his "Australia in Colour" series. National Gallery of Australia His "Australia in Colour" series is a satirical look at 21 influential people who have shaped Australia, including Rinehart, Queen Elizabeth II, and former Prime Minister Scott Morrison. With a fortune of $23.6 billion, Rinehart is the richest woman in Australia and the 81st richest person in the world, according to data from Bloomberg Billionaire's Index. She is the chair of Hancock Prospecting, a mining and agricultural business. Her father, Lang Hancock, was the company's founder and was criticized for racist comments he made about Indigenous Australians. He's been quoted as saying: "Nothing should be sacred from mining whether it's your ground, my ground, the black fellow's ground or anybody else's. So the question of Aboriginal land rights and things of this nature shouldn't exist." The National Gallery of Australia said in a statement shared with Business Insider that it "welcomes the public having a dialog" about its displays. Hancock Prospecting did not immediately reply to a request for comment from BI. The gallery also shared a statement from Namatjira, who said that he emphasizes painting wealthy and powerful people who have influenced Australia "whether for bad or for good." "People don't have to like my paintings, but I hope they take the time to look and think, 'Why has this Aboriginal bloke painted these powerful people?'" he wrote. "'What is he trying to say?'" "Some people might not like it, other people might find it funny, but I hope people look beneath the surface and see the serious side too." Reinhart's predicament is a good example of the phenomenon known as the "Streisand effect." The term was popularized after Barbra Streisand's attempt in 2003 to suppress the use of a photo showing her Malibu home in the California Coastal Records Project by suing the photographer. The case was dismissed; she had to pay $177,000 in legal fees and the photo ended up drawing far more attention than it would have sitting in the project's archives. Elon Musk was also a victim of the Streisand effect when he banned a Twitter account that was tracking the use and carbon emissions of his private jet, which drew scrutiny to his use of private jets. Read the original article on Business Insider Prince Harry Got 'Goosebumps' Over Project Supporting for Veterans and Service Personnel in Nigeria (Exclusive) The Duke of Sussex was shown plans for the proposed Invictus Centre in Abuja, Nigeria, when he and Meghan visited in May Defence Headquarters Abuja The proposed Invictus Centre in Abuja, Nigeria Prince Harry has "goosebumps." That's because he was shown the design for a groundbreaking new center that takes his worldwide help for veterans to a new level. The tranquil-looking facility, which is proposed for Abuja, Nigeria, will provide a haven of physical and mental rehabilitation for wounded service personnel, the center's architect and the Nigerian armed forces hope. The Duke of Sussex, 39, spoke with awe about the proposed center when computer-generated images were shown during a reception held by the Chief of Defense Staff General Christopher Musa while Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were visiting Nigeria earlier this month. Emmanuel Osodi/Anadolu via Getty Images Prince Harry at an event to highlight Nigerian Unconquered and Invictus Games in Abuja on May 11 In his address to the party where he and Meghan, 42, were given gifts of traditional clothing, entertained by dancers and heard from Nigerian veterans Harry said service personnel not being "defined by their injuries" was a growing belief among the wounded. "And that is what the new center youre building is all about. Seeing the plans for the new Invictus Centre gives me goosebumps," he told the reception. Prince Harry added that the Nigerian team had been a welcome addition to his Paralympic-style games. He said they "represented their service and this country, extraordinarily won medals and came back with smiles on their faces." Defence Headquarters Abuja The proposed Invictus Centre in Abujda, Nigeria Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more! During the three-day trip, Prince Harry visited a military hospital in Kanuda, meeting dozens of young soldiers who were recovering from gunshot and blast injuries. What this proved to me, what this reminds me of is the power of seeing what is possible, post-injury," he said. Defence Headquarters Abuja Another view of the planned Invictus Centre in Abuja, Nigeria Related: Prince Harry Channels Mom Princess Diana at Bedside of Wounded Nigerian Solider: 'Be Strong' (Exclusive Video) The architect of the new center, which will be a world first for the Invictus organization, Kobina Banning tells PEOPLE, This space will be a healing place for veterans. Banning, 45, met Harry and Meghan and traveled to some of the events with them during their visit to the country earlier this month. Nigeria has the largest army in Africa, and with everything that is happening, this will give more hope for those who are serving as they know that if something was to happen there is this facility to fall back on," he says. "It will help them heal but also is telling them they are not being left alone. Banning says the design for the pioneering institution was inspired by the rich architectural heritage of courtyard housing, the facility's design embodies the timeless beauty and functionality of traditional hollow squares, fostering a sense of unity, community, and openness. Here...soldiers embark on a transformative journey of healing, hope, and renewal." Emmanuel Osodi/Anadolu via Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Abuja, Nigeria on May 11, 2024 Related: Meghan Markle Has Sweet 'Auntie' Moment with Young Fan on Day Two in Nigeria It will have a series of interconnected compounds, inviting soldiers to embark on a holistic path to recovery, as he puts it in the design description. The courtyards will also enjoy panoramic views fostering connectivity between surrounding structures. Walkways will allow service personnel to relax as they recuperate, with allowance being made for visiting families and friends who can join in-patient meditation or at indoor and outdoor gyms. Every corner of the path beckons with the promise of connection, camaraderie, and renewal," Banning says. The description adds: The Invictus Centre stands as a testament to the unwavering courage and fortitude of wounded, injured or sick soldiers, offering them a sanctuary of healing, hope, and empowerment. Here, amidst the embrace of nature and community, lives are transformed, and the human spirit soars ever higher, undaunted by the challenges that lie ahead. Defence Headquarters Abuja The proposed Invictus Centre in Abuja, Nigeria Related: Behind-the-Scenes in Africa with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry: 'We're Really Happy' (Exclusive) Prince Harry is excited about Nigerias pioneering role in his Invictus Games as the first of what he hopes will be many African entrants. The next Invictus Games are set for February 2025 in Vancouver and Whistler, Canada. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Where Is YNW Melly Now? Heres Everything You Need To Know FT. LAUDERDALE, FL - FEBRUARY 13: In this handout photo provided by the Broward's Sheriff's Office, rapper YNW Melly, real name Jamell Demons, is seen in a police booking photo after being charged with two counts of murder in the first degree February 13, 2019 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Demons allegedly conspired with Cortlen Henry to fatally shot two other Florida based rappers, Christopher Thomas Jr and Anthony Williams, October 26. (Photo by Broward's Sheriff's Office via Getty Images) | Broward's Sheriff's Office via Getty Images Jamell Demons, better known by his stage name YNW Melly, is currently awaiting a new trial in a double murder case. Recently named dropped by Kendrick Lamar during his rap feud with Drake and J. Cole, YNW Melly is a rapper accused of shooting and killing fellow rappers, Christopher YNW Juvy Thomas and Anthony YNW Sakchaser Williams two years ago. The first trial was declared a mistrial by the judge on July 22 after the jury failed to deliver a unanimous verdict. Leading up to a second trial, the proceedings have been riddled with accusations from both sides. According to AP News, the prosecution accused the rapper of witness tampering. More recently, a judge denied a defense motion to have the case dismissed. The defense alleged that the prosecution had withheld vital information from the defense during the trial. As the rapper prepares for his next trial, here is a recap of where YNW Melly is now. YNW Mellys Journey From Rap Star to Incarceration Born on May 1, 1999, in Gifford, Florida, YNW Melly gained popularity for his unique rap style of telling captivating stories of street life, love and personal struggles. Like many aspiring artists in the 2010s, Melly utilized SoundCloud and various social media platforms to share his music. By uploading songs and sharing them with fans, he was able to reach a global audience. Mellys collaborations with other popular artists also helped boost his profile as a rapper. Working with artists like Kanye West on the song Mixed Personalities brought him recognition and expanded his fan base in the industry. YNW Mellys career began to take off in 2017 with the release of tracks like Murder on My Mind and Virtual (Blue Balenciagas), which garnered millions of views on YouTube and SoundCloud. And though Melly has garnered worldwide success for his music, his rising fame was overshadowed by legal troubles, resulting in his early life being marked by adversity and challenges. Despite facing difficult circumstances, he channeled his experiences into his music while crafting songs that resonate with his fans who have undergone similar struggles. What Happened to YNW Melly? In 2019, YNW Melly was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder for allegedly being involved in the deaths of his friends, YNW Sakchaser and YNW Juvy. Melly, now 24, allegedly shot two of his friends from inside a car driven by Cortlen Henry (a.k.a. YNW Bortlen). Prosecutors in the case argued that the two then exited and shot through the car to make it look like a drive-by shooting. The case drew significant media attention and sparked debates within the music industry and among his fans. Such things as the legitimacy of both the justice system and of Mellys criminal involvement were questioned. YNW Melly was incarcerated at the Broward County Jail in Florida in 2019 where he remains while awaiting a second trial in October. While Mellys defense previously has focused on the rappers friendship with the victims, along with the fact that a murder weapon was never recovered, Mellys first trial was ultimately declared a mistrial on July 22 after three days of deadlock from the jury. What Has Happened in the Case Since October 2023? Jury selection ended in October for Mellys retrial after the state appealed a Dec. 20 ruling by the judge that threw out evidence prosecutors have said corroborates Mellys involvement in the double murders case. If convicted, Melly could be sent to Floridas death row. Melly, and his childhood friend and recording partner Cortlen Henry who is also on trial, have pleaded not guilty to the two counts of first-degree murder with a firearm in the Oct. 26, 2018 shooting that resulted in the deaths of Christopher Thomas Jr. aka YNW Juvy and Anthony Williams aka YNW SakChaser, who were 19 and 21 years old respectively. Currently, there is no date for Mellys retrial. Still, prosecutors have turned to the Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach hoping to reverse the Dec. 20 ruling, which excluded pieces of evidence including some of Mellys phone records, emails and social media posts, as well as a promotional video he released shortly after the murders. Records show that the judge denied a request from the defense to lift a hold he ordered in the trial proceedings after the state signaled it would appeal his ruling. However, the judge is allowing the prosecution and the defense to conduct discovery activities, such as scheduling depositions while appeals are pending. The judge stands by his decision to issue a stay in the event of an appeal in order to prevent the state from having to go to trial without the benefit of materially helpful evidence. To complicate the case further, the defense claimed the state withheld the knowledge that their lead investigator Miramar Police detective Mark Moretti was previously accused of being willing to lie as he gathered evidence for the case. Because of this, lead prosecutor Kristine Bradley was ordered off the case on Oct. 12. Assistant State Attorney Alixandra Buckelew has replaced Bradley and hopes to bar from the retrial any juror with prior knowledge of Mellys first trial. Where Is He Now? Just as Demons October retrial was about to start, court filings revealed that prosecutors charged Melly with seven new felonies related to making sure a key witness didnt testify during his first trial. The new charges include tampering with a witness in a capital felony, directing the activities of a criminal gang, two counts of solicitation to commit tampering, conspiracy to commit tampering and two counts of unlawful use of a two-way communication device. Prosecutors have accused Melly of being a gang member of the Bloods. He reportedly used phone calls made by other incarcerated individuals at Mellys request and letters passed between them to get messages to Blood members outside of jail. Those members, according to prosecutors, successfully ensured that a key witness didnt testify in last years initial trial. Melly has pleaded not guilty to one count each of directing the activities of a criminal gang, criminal solicitation to commit murder and conspiracy to tamper with witness in a capital felony case. Melly could face up to life in prison if he is convicted of witness tampering in a capital case. As Melly awaits a new trial, his future in the music industry remains uncertain, though his music has certainly left a mark on the hip-hop landscape and serves as a cautionary tale about the complex interplay between artistry and the criminal justice system. You can buy luxury watches, clothing, jewelry, home goodsthe list goes on. And now you can snap up high-end fruit, too. A $400 pineapple is for sale via the California-based specialty fruit and vegetable seller Melissas Produce, CNN reported over the weekend. The Rubyglow pineapple, created by Fresh Del Monte, features a rare red exterior and a sweet flavor. Melissas markets the pineapple as the pinnacle of luxury fruit, and its hoping that gourmands see the items appeal. More from Robb Report Consumers are willing to pay for something thats special, Cindy van Rijswick, a fresh produce strategist for the global research team at Rabobank, told CNN. Theres always a small market for higher-end restaurants, or foodies, or certain online channels. Fresh Del Monte spent more than 15 years developing the Rubyglow pineapple, which finally came to market earlier this year in China. The company has experimented with the tropical fruit in the past, debuting in 2020 the Pinkglow pineapple (named such because of its pink flesh), which initially sold for $50. With the Rubyglow, though, Fresh Del Monte is reaching an even higher echelon when it comes to upscale fruit. Melissas Produce ordered just 50 Rubyglow pineapples, and its sold about half of those in one month, Robert Schueller, the companys PR director, told CNN. Some of those have gone to restaurants in Southern California and Las Vegas, where theyre being used in displays rather than on the menu. Theres a market for this, Schueller said. But he also acknowledged that this is not something for everybody. While $400 may seem steep for a single piece of fruit, high-priced produce has in the past been met with extreme demand in the United States. The most well-known instance may be the Oishii berry, a specialty strawberry that gourmands went crazy for when it became publicly available in 2018. Back then, a pack of eight berries would sell for $50. Now, though, thanks to funding and technological improvements, packs of Oishii berries sell for about $12, CNN noted. That price point is probably more palatable for the everyday consumer. But for those who want to ball out in the kitchen, the Rubyglow may be the perfect way to do it. For example, one influencer told CNN that the pineapple would make for a good centerpiece on charcuterie boards during the holidays. It sure beats those measly grapes and figs weve been seeingand eatingfor years. Best of Robb Report Sign up for Robb Report's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. Maybe five or six years ago, I happened to stop at a small, unassuming eatery about a half hour from my house because I was starved and thought I'd pick something up on the way home. Called Catchy, it doubles as both a storefront and a catering business. There was no one else there except for someone behind the counter (who turned out to be the owner) and a cook, so instead of automatically getting something to go, I opted to stay and dine in at one of the few white tables scattered in the small storefront, which had a set of white double doors that opened up into a tiny courtyard with a small, backyard wrought iron table. I perused the menu, dotted with soups, salads and sandwiches galore, as well as some additional options like pastas and grain bowls along with a towering refrigerator on the opposing wall stocked with tons of jams, jellies, sauces and the like. I ended up going pretty retro and unadorned, ordering a grilled cheese and fries, but the grilled cheese happened to have a bacon jam on it. I sat at the table closest to the counter, chitchatting with the owner, until my food came out. And I was blown away. It was served in one of those plastic "baskets" you might get from an amusement park food kiosk, lined with decorated wax paper, but the food itself was so far from pedestrian. The fries were, quite possibly, the single crispiest fry I've ever eaten and with just the right amount of salt. The grilled cheese was immensely gooey and rich, the bread perfectly crisped and with great structural integrity, with no bread slipping or overtly melted cheese causing an absolute mess. But the piece de resistance was most certainly the bacon jam. It was the most beguiling mixture of pork-y, fatty, miniscule pieces of uber-crisp bacon melded together with some sort of jammy-sweet-deeply savory amalgamation. I shoveled every bite of grilled cheese, bacon jam and french fries into my mouth as quickly as possible before fawning over the food to the owner and cook and running out the door, certain that I'd return again and again to get as much of that bacon jam as possible. Then COVID happened. Then I gave up pork. I haven't been back in quite a while. What I am sure of, though, is that that bacon jam was formative for me, so I took it upon myself to create another version, with turkey bacon instead of pork, that hit on all the same textural and flavor notes and so that I could eat it in every possible which way. And I then proceeded to do exactly that. Warning: There's no way this will last very long, but keep it in the fridge and pull it out whenever you want to slather some immensely delicious, wildly well-balanced flavor and texture on practically anything you eat. Turkey bacon & maple marmalade Yields 10 servings Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 45-55 minutes Ingredients 8 to 10 strips turkey bacon, finely chopped 1 large onion, peeled and finely minced 2 to 3 shallots, peeled and finely minced 5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced 1/4 to 1/3 cup maple syrup 2 to 3 tablespoons balsamic or Sherry vinegar Dash ground cinnamon Dash ground mustard A splash of coffee A splash of fruit juice, optional Dried herbs, optional Water Directions Add bacon to a deep pot over medium-low heat, adding a touch of oil to help move it along. Stir often until very, very crisp, about 15 minutes. Add onions and shallots, stir well, and cook for another 10 minutes. Add garlic and let toast for a minute until fragrant. Stir well, lowering the heat if anything is starting to scorch. Add syrup, vinegar, cinnamon and mustard, stirring well until well combined. Let syrup caramelize until slightly tacky and aromatic, about 5 minutes more. Add coffee and juice, if using. Turn heat to low and stir, cooking for another 5 minutes. Finish with dried herbs and a touch of water, if the mixture is getting too dry. Pardon my French, but you're going to really need to cook the s**t out of this to take it to its most flavorful capacity. Keep the heat very low, make sure there's enough liquid, stir frequently, but you want the end result to make the onion and the bacon almost indistinguishable from each other. The final product should be viscous, very thick and smell incredibly rich. Add water if the mixture gets too dry but still needs some cook-time. The whole cooking process shouldn't take more than an hour. Transfer to a jar or food storage container, let cool completely, then cover and refrigerate. Use within a week. Cook's Notes -If you're not into turkey bacon, you can also sub. in pork, beef, chicken, or plant-based, if you'd rather. -Do your darnedest to cut the onion and shallot as finely as possible, about the same size as the bacon pieces. -I've mainly been eating this on a ridiculously hard-seared Impossible burger topped with melted, plant-based Cheddar and a touch of some mayonnaise or aioli to help the jam "adhere" to the bun. It's exceptional. But it's also great as a topping for French fries, over a hot dog, as a spread on any sandwich imaginable, served with crudite or, or course, added liberally to a grilled cheese. -Feel free to swap in agave or molasses if you're not a fan of maple syrup, toss in some brown sugar if you're into that, or even add some dried herbs (like chives) at the very end to round it all out. -The depth of flavor here is genuinely bonkers, so don't use too much at once. A little goes a long way, truly. -In regards to the coffee, feel free to throw in a touch of whatever you have on hand; I literally just splashed in some leftover black Dunkin' Americano that I had on hand and the bitter notes were perfect. A drizzle of some cola could work, too. -The fruit component isn't necessary, but it helps to add another dimension of flavor. I'd go with a cherry or orange juice, not an extract. -Do not use regular mustard here; you'll need dry, or just omit it. A new food truck has rolled into town, bringing a unique twist to Charlottes barbecue scene. Union Barbecue, owned by Charlotte native Holden Sasser, has quickly become a hotspot for barbecue enthusiasts looking for something a little different. After a successful stint with pop-up events in San Francisco, where he worked by day in the food technology industry and spent nights and weekends smoking barbecue, Sasser decided to bring his culinary venture back to his roots in the Carolinas. With a family deeply entrenched in the food industry his father owns Burke Hospitality Group, which includes Harpers and Mimosa Grill Sassers return marks a continuation of a lifelong passion for food. I grew up in the food industry, working for my dad by age 15 washing dishes and doing prep work in the kitchen, Sasser said. When I was in San Francisco, I always found more satisfaction doing weekend cooks at home, smoking meats like my uncle and dad taught me growing up. Union Barbecue owner Holden Sasser. Union Barbecue offers a fresh take on traditional barbecue, infusing Tex-Mex flavors with authentic ingredients that reflect the true tastes found across the border. The name reflects a union of flavors, a type of new-school barbecue, said Sasser, who teamed up with chef Chase Young for the venture. We have some family recipes, including my grandmothers homemade pickles, and we created a lot from scratch after studying historical barbecue recipes and taking inspiration from people in Texas, Sasser said. Its really a great mix, and customers seem to be really happy with it. The food trucks menu rotates each weekend to keep the options fresh, but one thing youll always find on the menu is its signature Texas-style brisket, meticulously smoked for 12-14 hours and then rested for another 12 hours to soak in all the juices. This popular item sells out each weekend. USDA prime beef brisket with creamy guac and adobo barbecue sauce from Union Barbecue. Other menu highlights include beef cheek barbacoa, smoked for six hours and then cooked down for an additional five to six hours, resulting in fall-apart tender meat thats perfect for sandwiches or trays with various toppings. The truck also offers sliced turkey, pulled chicken and a couple styles of pulled pork, including a carnitas-style braise and a traditional shoulder with a salt and pepper rub. Beef cheek barbacoa with salsa taquera, onion, cilantro and lime. Vegetarians arent left out either, as the smoky sweet potato, an open-faced dish topped with smoked crema, pepitas, sunflower seeds and Tajin, offers a flavorful option. And those with a sweet tooth will love the Big Deborah, a homemade nod to the Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pie. I would follow this truck every day just for this cookie, one person told Charlotte foodie Asha Ellison of @Ashaeatsworld. Union Barbecues Big Deborah oatmeal cream pie. Looking ahead, Union Barbecue hopes to expand its service beyond weekends, aiming to meet growing demand and possibly increase its space and team. The team is overwhelmed by such positive welcome from the community. Vlogger Mirneezy of @Carolinalivin raved about Unions carnitas: A BBQ food truck in North Carolina is the last place I wouldve expected to find the finest carnitas in the state! Union Barbecue is responsible for this glorious, Mexican-style shredded pork topped with luscious Rajas con Crema (poblano peppers in cream) a literal match made in heaven! Food blogger Olivia Schmidt, who along with Anna Schoeck runs the Hungry Girls Club on Instagram, praised the food trucks quality and Sassers hands-on approach. Our experience at Union was amazing, Schmidt told CharlotteFive. The quality and creativity in the recipes are truly outstanding, especially for a food truck. (Sassers) creative blend of barbecue paired with Mexican flavors is different and much needed in the Charlotte food scene. The Union Barbecue food truck visits breweries around Charlotte. Where can I find Union Barbecue? The food truck will be at the following locations in the coming weeks: May 25, 1 p.m.: Middle James Brewing (Waxhaw) June 1, 1 p.m.: NoDa Brewing 5K June 2, 1 p.m.: Chamber at Wooden Robot June 7, 6 p.m.: Petty Thieves June 8, 1 p.m.: Vaulted Oak June 15, 1 p.m.: Hi-Wire Location: Varies Menu Cuisine: Barbecue, Tex-Mex Instagram: @union.barbecue Video: Owl boards Royal Caribbean cruise ship in Florida, takes 2-week Caribbean vacation TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) The newest Margaritaville at Sea ship has begun its journey to Tampa. The Margaritaville at Sea Islander left the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland over the weekend. The ship will take three weeks to cross the Atlantic and arrive at Port Tampa Bay. Florida roadside attraction named one of the best in the U.S. Margaritaville at Sea said the ship underwent extensive reimagining while docked in Ireland. The crew will finish the ships final flourishes along the way. (Margaritaville at Sea) The Islander will set sail on four and five-night cruises in June with stops in Key West, Cozumel and Progreso. It can hold 2,650 passengers and has 12 decks. The Islander is the companys second ship. The Margaritaville at Sea Paradise launched in 2022 and sails from the Port of Palm Beach. For more information about the ship and sailing, visit MargaritavilleAtSea.com . 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 WFLA. Key Points: ACTU proposes stronger right-to-disconnect clauses in workplace awards. Right to disconnect allows employees to refuse after-hours work communication. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) is stepping up its fight to solidify the right to disconnect for workers. They submitted a proposal to the Fair Work Commission advocating for stricter regulations within workplace awards. The right to disconnect, passed by Parliament in February 2024, allows employees to switch off from work communications outside of designated hours. It aims to promote work-life balance and ensure employees are compensated for any out-of-hours work. The ACTU argues for clear award clauses holding employers accountable for proper staffing and minimizing non-essential after-hours contact. They emphasize that employer disorganization shouldnt be an excuse to avoid paying workers for their time. The legislation is set to come into effect in August 2024 for larger businesses and August 2025 for smaller ones. However, the Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton, has pledged to abolish it entirely if the Coalition wins the next election. The ACTU President, Michele ONeil, strongly criticizes Duttons stance. She views the right to disconnect as crucial in the face of rising living costs. Unions are arguing that awards clearly set out workers rights to have a life outside work. Changes in technology and work arrangements cannot be used to undermine the right to be paid for the work you do and to have the right to disconnect. Peter Dutton wants Australians to work longer hours for lower wages while they face cost-of-living pressures. The right to disconnect is an important part of addressing cost-of-living, because people deserve to be paid wages for every hour they work. Peter Duttons promise to take away the right to disconnect shows just how out of touch he is with working Australians. Abolishing this right would worsen the work-life balance of families and create more burnout and stress in peoples lives. A healthier workplace is a more productive workplace. Establishing a clear separation between work and the rest of our lives is important for improving mental health and enabling all of us to spend quality time with our loved ones.Peter Dutton is more interested in appeasing big business than standing up for everyday Australians who are trying to juggle work and life with the wages they earn. Debate Heats Up Oliver Woolrych, from Fiverr, however, highlights the potential conflict between the right to disconnect and flexible work schedules. He suggests clear communication policies from employers, setting expectations for response times outside of regular hours. Transparency and dialogue between employers and employees are seen as key to navigating this new landscape. The right to disconnect law has the potential to make it harder for businesses to be adaptable and flexible, aspects which are crucial to ensure a business thrives. Small businesses, which typically operate with limited resources, may find it challenging to maintain operations with the same level of flexibility and efficiency as before the implementation of the bill. The main point of the right to disconnect is to ensure that employees arent always on and have sufficient time away from work. For employers, the first step should be establishing clear policies outlining expectations for after-hours communication and response times. While many business owners maintain online accessibility around the clock sending messages to employees as their schedules permit, its essential to clarify to staff that immediate responses are not mandatory and employees wont be penalised for only responding during work hours. Its worth noting that in certain circumstances some element of flexibility may be necessary, particularly during emergencies. Thats why continuous and transparent dialogue between employer and employee is crucial to ensure expectations are set and everyone is on the same page. If employees do express a willingness to be available for emergencies, perhaps in exchange for preferred working hours or more flexibility, such contact doesnt violate the new law. Keep up to date with our stories on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. After delays, Palo Pinto state park has a new target date to open. Heres a look inside. Inside Look stories give Star-Telegram subscribers exclusive sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes reporting. Story suggestion? Editors@star-telegram.com. The superintendent of Palo Pinto Mountains State Park gestures at the green landscape in front of him, pointing past a pavilion under construction to the rolling hills beyond. When he looks at the railroad tracks snaking around those hills, Superintendent James Adams imagines bandits on horseback chasing after a train like in an old Western movie. This place, so much of it is the Wild West still, Adams said. For years, hes described this future park as like the Hill Country, but in North Texas. It may be a slice of Hill Country heaven, but the state park still isnt open to visitors although, Adams said, more than a few have tried to drive past the construction signs, and the superintendents own house, to get a glimpse. This embedded content is not available in your region. Palo Pinto Mountains State Park in Strawn, a city of fewer than 1,000 people a little over an hour drive west of Fort Worth was supposed to open in 2023, during the state parks systems centennial year. Now, Adams says, he expects it to open in summer 2025. Barricades block the road into the future Palo Pinto Mountains State Park, located in Strawn, on Monday, April 1, 2024. When complete the park will provide 4,800 acres of outdoors recreational space for the metroplex. The much-anticipated opening will mark the first time in many years that the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has opened a new state park. The most recent was Resaca de la Palma, deep in South Texas, in 2008. North Texas hasnt seen a new state park open since Lake Tawakoni, east of Dallas, in 2002. Within easy driving distance of Fort Worth, Palo Pinto Mountains will be of particular interest to residents of the Metroplex. Some of those visitors may have gone previously to Fairfield Lake State Park, halfway between the Metroplex and Houston, which the state lost to a developer last year. [MORE: How Fairfield Lake's developer fought Texas on eminent domain and won] Planning and construction has been slowly chugging along at Palo Pinto Mountains for more than a decade. But, as trails and buildings begin to take shape, the vision for the Metroplexs playground is becoming clearer. Crews work to complete the headquarters of Palo Pinto Mountains State Park on Tuesday, May 14, 2024. Much of the infrastructure, such utilities and trails, are in place for as work continues to finish construction of the Metroplexs newest state park. This is our opportunity to get this right Park construction is a lengthy process, which is something the residents of Strawn have learned firsthand. The first land purchases for the nearly 5,000-acre park were completed in 2011, and the city of Strawn donated crucial land along the 90-acre Tucker Lake in 2014. But the property was undeveloped ranch land at the time. That meant that the park had to be built effectively from scratch everything from utilities, such as water and electricity, to new roads and trails, to the headquarters and maintenance buildings that will be park staffs homebase. [MORE: How a shooting at the Mule Lip Bar led to new state park in Texas] A Parks and Wildlife press release in 2014 said the park was still not expected to open to the general public for at least several years and the actual timeline has taken full advantage of that hedged phrasing. It took a while for it to sink in that this wasnt going to happen overnight, said Danny Miller, who is Strawns city administrator. A cut road that is in the process of being grades winds through Palo Pinto Mountains State Park on Monday, April 1, 2024. Much of the infrastructure, such utilities and trails, are in place for as work continues to finish construction of the metroplexs newest state park. As the state parks system headed into its centennial year in 2023, Parks and Wildlife officials began hyping the opening of Palo Pinto Mountains. In press releases, the department specifically tied the park opening to the centennial celebration. Officials also said that the event would mark the first in the departments plan to open a new state park every two years. JJ Fleury, the director of Texas State Parks planning and geospatial resources program, said that the department is learning from the construction of Palo Pinto Mountains, and will use those lessons to create a more streamlined process in the future. Its part of the parks systems shift into the modern era, Fleury said. That shift also includes a focus on building accessibility and sustainability into parks, starting with Palo Pinto Mountains. That includes, for instance, designing trails that are both easier to maintain and easier to access. Palo Pinto Mountains State Park Superintendent James Adams walks along an ADA-compliant trail on Monday, April 1, 2024. As much of the park as possible, including the walkways to scenic overlooks and down to the shore of Lake Tucker, have been designed to meet ADA standards. As much of the park as possible, including the walkways to scenic overlooks and down to the shore of Lake Tucker, have been designed to meet ADA standards. With accessibility baked into the design, Adams said, more people will be able to enjoy the core features of the park. We wanted this to be a park for everybody, Adams said. It adds a lot to the area and (theres) plenty for folks to come back to experience. The new state park also has what Fleury described as heavy front-country development, with development focused in a more confined area, leaving a light footprint on the back portion of the park. This is our opportunity to get this right, Fleury said. But getting it right has taken a lot of time, in the case of Palo Pinto Mountains. And while officials touted a 2023 opening, they never gave an official opening date. By mid-2023, Adams knew it wasnt going to happen. A crew works on the construction of a pavilion at Palo Pinto Mountains State Park on Monday, April 1, 2024. Its clearly taken longer than we thought Palo Pinto Mountains 2023 opening date quietly slipped out of official remarks, until the year came to a close without seeing the proverbial park gates open. Adams said construction has caused some delays some related to the pandemic and others because of unforeseen landscape challenges. But the other factor is that, he said, the 2023 opening was planned as a soft launch that wouldve given visitors access to only a small portion of the park. As 2023 moved along, it became clear that the layout would not have allowed visitors to safely access certain areas while others, including the main road, remained under construction, Adams said. Now, without the pressure of the centennial celebration, the park will open when its fully complete. Adams thinks thatll likely be around summer 2025. Its clearly taken longer than we thought it would, Adams said. Palo Pinto Mountains State Park Superintendent James Adams explains construction in process at the park on Monday, April 1, 2024. When the Star-Telegram toured the park in April, it was clear that a lot of work had been accomplished and that there was a lot more still to do. The maintenance building had just been completed, Adams said. The headquarters was mostly beams and joists, with no walls yet constructed. The main road had been built up enough to be passable in most weather, Adams said, with rocks and construction debris still piled alongside it. The sidewalks along the lake were taking clear shape, but the only signs of the planned fishing pier were a few posts jutting out from the lake. The park, while closed to visitors, was alive with activity. Construction on the fishing pier on Tucker Lake at Palo Pinto Mountains State Park has begun, as seen on Monday, April 1, 2024. At the lakeside, the sound of a saw grinding against stone filled the air. Adams pointed out the sites of long-gone lakefront cabins that belonged to a different era. He talked about the extra work thats gone into making the sidewalks and eventual boardwalk ADA-compliant, so that more people can access and enjoy the park. And when the grind saw pauses for a moment, you can hear the wind moving through the trees above and the water lapping against the shore below. After seven years as superintendent of an unopened state park, Adams is looking forward to sharing the park with visitors soon. It really is just such an awesome place For North Texas residents, Palo Pinto Mountains State Park will provide much-needed outdoor recreation opportunities. Compared to other states, Texas has a low percentage of publicly accessible land. The recent loss of Fairfield Lake State Park which was about a two-hour drive from Fort Worth and 90 minutes from Dallas has meant even fewer options. When the park opens, I think were going to be inundated with people, Adams said in a March interview. There are a lot of folks really interested in seeing this place open, and a lot of us here that are super excited about getting to share this place with everybody, because it really is just such an awesome place. The RV sites at Palo Pinto Mountains State Park will provide extra room for a second vehicle, as see from above on Tuesday, May 14, 2024. The park is expected to draw tens of thousands of annual visitors, who will have to drive through the city of Strawn on their way into and out of the parks only entrance. Miller, the city administrator, said that route was Strawns primary stipulation when it donated land for the park. For a city of fewer than 1,000 people, the prospect of so many passers-through will be a game-changer. Jeff Hinkson, the president of Strawns chamber of commerce, said he expects to see tourism become the major driver of the citys economy. Hinkson said that, historically, the citys economy was based on agriculture, especially ranching, as well as oil and gas. Miller said the school district is currently the largest employer. Russell Creek winds through Palo Pinto Mountains State Park on Monday, April 1, 2024. But the parks opening will bring a whole new range of possibilities, particularly for tourist-focused businesses such as restaurants and breweries, as well as outdoors outfitters. New staff at the park could also mean more kids for the school district, Miller said. Hinkson said its still not clear to Strawn residents what type of businesses will be most in demand. But the city is preparing to adapt to the new expectations that tourists will bring. For a small town of only 650 people, it is a town that has become very aware of the opportunities that lie ahead, Hinkson said. Hinkson said the city is also bracing to feel the impact of the Metroplexs rocketing growth, particularly as Fort Worth expands westward along the I-20 corridor. That growth, plus the park opening, will have a big impact on Strawn, Hinkson said. We feel like theres going to be a significant residual effect to the economy locally, Hinkson said. We think that tourism will quickly be the primary driver of the economy. Miller thinks local residents will use the park regularly, too. Some of those residents are a little skeptical of the opening timeline, given the delays. Still, Miller said, the city is looking forward to meeting its new neighbor in earnest. We had been a very sleepy community for many years without much change, Miller said. And when the park came along, people were like, Hey its time, weve got to take advantage of this. Dogs, Guinea Pigs, and Other Rescue Pets Get a Fancy Hotel Photoshoot to Help Them Find Homes A Boston animal shelter is working with a high-end hotel to show off some of their adoptable animals for National Rescue Dog Day Jen Hillenga/@thewaysofthedog Adoptable puppies from Animal Rescue League of Boston at the Fairmont Copley Plaza The Animal Rescue League of Boston (ARL) and the Fairmont Copley Plaza collaborated on an adorable photoshoot for adoptable animals The shoot, which took place at the high-end Boston hotel, was done to celebrate National Rescue Dog Day on May 20 The stunning photos will be used in the adoption profiles of ARL's available animals A high-end, pet-friendly hotel is helping shelter animals celebrate National Rescue Dog Day in style and find homes! The Fairmont Copley Plaza in Bostonknown for employing canine ambassadors to represent the hotelhas partnered with a local shelter, the Animal Rescue League of Boston (ARL), to help the rescue's dogs, cats, rabbits, and other creatures find homes for National Rescue Dog Day on Monday, May 20. Using some of the hotel's historic ballrooms as stunning backdrops, the Fairmont Copley Plaza and shelter worked together, along with photographer Jen Hillenga of @thewaysofthedog, to capture stunning new portraits of many of the ARL's adoptable animals. The fancy shots were taken in the hopes that they would help the pets find forever families. Jen Hillenga/@thewaysofthedog Akiro, a 4-year-old male pit bull mix up for adoption "As one of the country's most famous pet-friendly hotels, our team constantly thinks of ways we can extend our hospitality to not only human guests but also the animal community," the Fairmont Copley Plaza's general manager, Tabish Siddiquie, wrote in a press release. "Our magnificent ballrooms offer a picture-perfect backdrop for them to pose in, and we are delighted to open our gilded spaces to help shine a literal spotlight on these animals who deserve a forever home." The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now! Pet photographer Hillenga worked to capture many of the pets up for adoption (which also include a bearded dragon and a few guinea pigs) against the over 100-year-old hotel's gilded interiors, lush carpets, crystal chandeliers, and Italian marble columns. Jen Hillenga/@thewaysofthedog Drew the guinea pig "I know firsthand that a great portrait of a rescue dog goes a long way to helping them find their home," Hillenga said in the press release. "Part of my mission as a dog photographer is to volunteer my time and talent to help these dogs get adopted by showcasing their personalities and how they can make the most beautiful companions." Related: 29 Formerly 'Traumatized' Rescue Dogs Get a 'Second Life' Thanks to Charity Flight (Exclusive) Among the many pets that the ARL has remaining for adoption are Akiro, a 4-year-old male dog who the shelter says has had his adoption fee waived and is considered "very sweet but selective," andCorndog, a 9-year-old male Chihuahua who is "friendly, easy-going and very snuggly" and gets along with other dogs. There are also two 10-week-old golden retriever mix puppies, Goose and Poppy, and Bo Bo, a 4-month-old plott hound. Jen Hillenga/@thewaysofthedog Steven Spielberg, a rabbit up for adoption Two cats with Marvel superhero-inspired names, Tony Stark and Steve Rodgers, and two 11-year-old "stunningly handsome" male Bengals are up for adoption. The Bengal pair is bonded, and the ARL said the felines were surrendered due to allergies. Related: Mass. Man with Terminal Illness Wants to Find His Dog Best Friend a New Home Before His Death Guinea pigs Drew and Luke, both 9-month-old males, are also up for adoption and are both looking for homes with another guinea pig companion. Rabbits Steven Spielberg a 1-year-old male shorthaired rabbit and Persil an 8-month-old male shorthaired rabbit are looking for homes, and bearded dragon Crikey rounded out the photoshoot. The ARL said he was found as a stray and is perfect for "any exotic animal lover." Jen Hillenga/@thewaysofthedog Tony Stark the adoptable cat "ARL is extremely grateful to the Fairmont Copley Plaza and to Jen Hillenga for donating their time, facilities, and talents to highlight these wonderful rescue animals," ARL President and CEO Edward Schettino wrote in a statement. "The Fairmont Copley Plaza is well-known for being pet-friendly, and this is an amazing opportunity to show off the beauty and highlight the variety of adoptable animals that ARL offers to potential adopters." Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Those in Boston who want to adopt one of the ARL's animals can visit the rescue's website for adoption applications and more information. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. For generations, Space Coast roadways have jammed with idling vehicles when hundreds of thousands of spectators flock to watch high-profile launches like when up to 250,000 out-of-county visitors were predicted for NASA's historic SpaceX Crew-1 astronaut mission in November 2020. But by and large, the crush of motorists has diminished. Brevard County hosted a record-shattering 72 orbital launches last year. And that unprecedented pace has accelerated, with perhaps 90 launches or more on tap by year's end. "The launches are getting so frequent. You don't have that mad rush anymore. Because everybody's, 'Oh, there's another one in a couple days.' So that initial 40% to 55% (attendance) boost has definitely slimmed down a bit," said Therrin Protze, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex chief operating officer. Huge crowds of launch spectators on the A. Max Brewer Bridge in Titusville walk back to their vehicles in May 2020 after a scrub of the historic SpaceX Demo-2 flight, the first American crewed mission in nearly a decade. "Now obviously, when the New Glenn or Starship launches from here, then that's going to be an absolute madhouse. And of course, the Artemis crewed (mission) next year," Protze said. Regardless of the Cape's frequent launch schedule, Protze said a "huge" crowd descended on the KSC Visitor Complex for the March 28 initial liftoff attempt of United Launch Alliance's last Delta IV Heavy triple-core rocket. SpaceX Falcon Heavy launches have also drawn recent sellout viewing crowds. Cape Canaveral: Is there a launch today? Upcoming rocket launch schedule for SpaceX, ULA, NASA in Florida Elsewhere, Brevard's bountiful beachfront and riverfront coastlines offer tremendous viewing opportunities across dozens of miles "you don't have to be at the Space Center," Brevard County County Communications Director Don Walker said. But that still means traffic jams and overflowing parking areas can generate headaches from Titusville to Cocoa Beach southward to the Pineda Causeway. What to know before driving to see a rocket launch Walker recommends that motorists monitor Brevard Emergency Management social media pages, which are updated with traffic information hours prior to a launch. Brevard emergency officials work closely with the Florida Department of Transportation to alert motorists, should there be accidents or road closures, Walker said. For example, FDOT will occasionally make streets one-way corridors to control traffic before and after major launches. Brevard Emergency Management Facebook: facebook.com/BrevardEOC Brevard Emergency Management X (Twitter): twitter.com/BrevardEOC Advice: Bring 'patience' when driving to a launch "Patience," Walker replied when asked what motorists should bring. He urged people to arrive and find a viewing spot early. For spectators ambitious enough to venture close to KSC or Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Walker advises that they pack water and a lunch, as it is possible to get stuck in traffic for hours. "A good rule of thumb is the closer to the launch window, the more traffic there will be and fewer open spots to view the launch. So please plan accordingly," said Rachel Horst, Brevard County public information officer. "If youre behind the wheel, watch out for fellow space enthusiasts," Horst said. Thousands of spectators flock to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on March 28 hoping to see the final Delta IV Heavy launch. Brevard launch viewing hot spots Jetty Park Beach and Pier, 400 Jetty Park Road, Port Canaveral. Parking charges are collected. Playalinda Beach, 1000 Playalinda Beach Road, Canaveral National Seashore. Note, there's a charge to park, and access to Canaveral National Seashore isn't always granted depending on capacity and time of day. Max Brewer Bridge and Parrish Park, 1 A. Max Brewer Memorial Parkway, Titusville. Note, parking is available on both sides of Max Brewer Bridge. Space View Park, 8 Broad St., Titusville Sand Point Park, 10 E. Max Brewer Causeway, Titusville Rotary Riverfront Park, 4141 S. Washington Ave., Titusville Alan Shepard Park, 299 E. Cocoa Beach Causeway, Cocoa Beach. Note, there could be parking costs. Cocoa Beach Pier, 401 Meade Ave. Parking fee varies. Lori Wilson Park, 1400 N. Atlantic Ave., Cocoa Beach. Lori Wilson Park has a dog park, by the way. Sidney Fischer Park, 2200 N. Atlantic Ave., Cocoa Beach. Note, there could be parking costs. Sebastian Inlet Park, 9700 S. State Road A1A, Melbourne Beach (there is a cost to enter) The Space Coast Office of Tourism also maintains a rocket launch page featuring a searchable map of prime viewing locations. This page often includes parking and traffic information, Horst said. High-traffic areas to avoid if I'm not watching a launch "Generally speaking, the closer you are to the Kennedy Space Center, the greater the likelihood youll encounter some amount of launch traffic," Horst said. She warned of congestion at high-traffic areas such as the Max Brewer Bridge, NASA Causeway and State Road 528 causeway. Horst said traffic at those locales generally begins to thin about an hour post-launch. Elsewhere, South Brevard and Central Brevard are less likely to see such traffic increases. Artemis I in 2022: 'Bigger crowds!' Heavy traffic and massive crowds as NASA prepared to launch Artemis 1. For the latest news from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space. Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for FLORIDA TODAY. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars Space is important to us and that's why we're working to bring you top coverage of the industry and Florida launches. Journalism like this takes time and resources. Please support it with a subscription here. This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Florida rocket launches: Tips and tricks for drivers at Cape Canaveral AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) We are devoting this entire show to follow up with the little miracle child in Augusta. You first met her back in 2018. Her name is Elizabeth. Shes 7-years-old now, but before she was born, doctors doubted that she would live even 7 hours. Elizabeth was born with a rare condition called Caudal Regression Syndrome. It occurs once in about 100,000 newborns. Caudal regression syndrome is characterized by abnormal development of the lower spine of the developing fetus. Bones may be misshapen, even missing. Caudal regression impairs the lower half of the body and can cause abnormal development in certain organs. The rectum and anus and leg, joint and bones. This disorder commonly appears in infants who are born to mothers with diabetes. Watch Elizabeths first appearance on Jennie from 2018. Elizabeth has a really cool wheelchair. And now she has a new bike an Amtryke- youll learn about that a little later. Grandmother Krystina Carrion says its a complete circle. It really is. Shes wanted the bike. Well go to the park. It just makes my heart so happy that she can be included with other kids and what they do and know what it is. Elizabeth says she loves to go bike riding in the park. Elizabeth: And we, like, go down this hill. JENNIE: You go down the hill! Is it scary? Elizabeth: No. Its like I go uphill and when were done we go downhill. And then we go back in our car. Krystina says Elizabeth has come a long way since the days of her Bumbas chair, made for her in Webster, New York. Bellas Bumbas they custom made for her. And that chair was reproduced almost 45 times for other children with her condition who didnt have any clue about it. Because they didnt fit into the regular Bumbas chairs because of the way their legs are. So shes been a trailblazer when it comes to my dedication to find things for her that makes her that gives her some equality with other children. JENNIE: And I know one thing youve done probably way more than other children is travel. Can you tell me some of the cities youve been to and the countries. Elizabeth: Ive been to Paris, London, New York, Barcelona, the Bahamas It was my first time going on a cruise when we went to the Bahamas. Krystinas goal is to give her as many experiences as she can. Krystina: If Im going to continue living my life and she gets the benefit of going with me. Its been more challenging to find what is accessible for her. But I think I told you Im starting a blog that will, like Barcelona, was the most, most accessible place for us to be, from the busses to the trains to everything. London was second because every black cab has a wheelchair ramp. So getting around London was easy. You just had to hail a cab. New York is great to walk around because all the sidewalks have the know. You can go up and down them. But to try to handicap cab, theyll drive right past you in New York. But thats New Yorkers for you. But yeah, I mean, it is the cruising has been amazing because she can go anywhere on the boat with the wheelchair. AMBUCS Augusta is all about helping people with physical challenges gain mobility and independence. Matt Trainor is the president of the Augusta chapter and director of the Southern Region. I joined AMBUCS about 22 years ago, and that was primarily through my daughter, Virginia, who was who was severely handicapped. And so therapeutic equipment was a big part of our life. And when she passed away at the age of five, I decided I wanted to really get into giving back to the community. And so the equipment that the Amtryke was something that I felt like was a great way to serve the community. AMBUCS works with physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists. Carol Collica is the Amtryke coordinator for the Augusta area. She meets with the clients and gets them matched with therapists and helps facilitate adaptations or adjustments for the trikes. When we met Elizabeth, we had her on a trike and she fit perfectly. But we had that one problem: How are we going to support her legs? So I called our national Ambucs and worked with the engineer there, and he was kind of excited to get this challenge. So he built this platform that fit on her Amtryke perfectly. It fit so that when shes riding, her legs are totally supported. AMBUCS is made up of a nationwide network of volunteer chapters who work in partnership with physical, occupational and speech therapists to provide these and trike adaptive trikes. In the CSRA, they serve Richmond, Columbia and Burke Counties. For more information, go to augustaambucs.org or call 706-589-1211. Krystina is in the process of creating a blog for parents of children with special needs. She feels she has learned so much in the past 7 years, and navigated uncharted waters, and she wants to create and help be a resource for others. In the meantime, Elizabeth is looking forward to her summer vacation and a cruise to Alaska! I mean, her only limitation is she cant walk. Her playroom is on the second floor of the house. She will dove into the pool. She swims. You know, shes I do not treat her as if shes handicapped I make her do everything that she can possibly do when its time for dinner, she climbs up onto the chair herself. She gets out of the chair (and back) onto her (wheel)chair herself. JENNIE: Elizabeth, I wonder if you would tell a little story about something that happened to you. Remember when you were at the Kennedy Space Center and you met an astronaut? Do you remember his name? Elizabeth: Steven Swanson! JENNIE: And you told him that you wanted to be an astronaut, right? Elizabeth: He said I can go on the moon. JENNIE: He said you could be an astronaut because in space, you dont need what? You dont need legs! Elizabeth: Yeah. You walk upside down, but youre not falling off. JENNIE: Because theres no gravity. Elizabeth: Yeah. Like you can go upside down! JENNIE: You have so many things in store and so many adventures, and I cant wait to see what youre going to do. We have enjoyed spending time with you! 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 WJBF. Lost Mickey ears at Disney? Missing a souvenir you bought? It might be at this store Have you ever gone to Walt Disney World only to get home and realize you lost something at the parks? With a little pixie dust, theres still hope you can be reunited with the item. Youll just have to check some central Florida thrift shops. Walt Disney World keeps lost and found items for about three months and then everything is donated to local charities. Some of the charities, like the Boys & Girls Club of Central Florida, have thrift stores where they sell the goods. Everything from Mickey ears to stuffed animals to clothing is sold to the public once its gone unclaimed in Disneys lost and found. Even if you haven't lost an item, this is the place to go to stock up on Disney merch for a fraction of the price. Where is the Walt Disney World lost and found store? The Boys & Girls Club of Central Florida Thrift Store is located at 2054 State Road 436 in Winter Park. About every three months the store gets a shipment containing lost and found items from Walt Disney World. Theres usually lots of branded Disney items in there, but the shipment can contain anything park goers may have lost on property, which can include brand new items purchased from one of the Disney Springs stores. A lot of items are brand new things people purchased in Disney parks, they leave them somewhere in a bag and they dont claim them, said Betsy Owens, Vice President of Marketing & Community Relations for Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida. Weve gotten brand new Oakley sunglasses with the tags on them. Tips for shopping Disneys lost and found items Be ready. Most of the Disney-branded merchandise sells out quickly once it is brought to the Boys & Girls Club thrift store. The stores employees update a Facebook page regularly. They post when shipments arrive from Disney and when they have sales on certain items. Where does the money from purchased lost and found items go? The Boys & Girls Club of Central Florida Thrift Store in Winter Park. About once every three month the store gets a shipment of lost and found items from Walt Disney World. The Boys & Girls Club of Central Florida Thrift Store helps support 12,000 children in the area. That includes youth from Brevard, Seminole Osceola, Lake and Orange counties. Disney is a huge supporter of the Boys & Girls Club, Owens said. We are fortunate to be one of the local charities that they are extremely generous to. This is just a small fraction of their overall support. Spitzer is a Trending Reporter. She can be reached at MSpitzer@Floridatoday.com. This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Disney World's lost and found items go to central Florida thrift store Married 75 years, they stayed together at home to the end. How their 6 children did it QUINCY It's a love story with four generations and in their final days, there never was any other choice. From the time Merrell and Polly Leavens were married in their early 20s in 1948, they settled in Squantum, where she grew up, with a mission to always take care of one another and their families. "They just lived for their families," the oldest granddaughter, Betsey MacAllister Campbell, 54, of Saratoga Springs, New York, said. Seventy years later, as age and health conditions caught up with them, they wanted to stay together. Their six children four daughters and two sons made sure that happened. Merrill and Polly Leavens on their wedding day June 19, 1948 at the Star of the Sea Church in Squantum. The couple renewed their vows on their 75th anniversary in 2023. Five of the six still live in the area Deborah MacAllister and Nancy Skraback in Marshfield, Jane Estabrooks in Hanover and Carole Comeau in Norwell. Christopher, the youngest, moved back into their house with them; Merrill, the other son, isn't far away in Connecticut. They had the help of a small group of dedicated private caregivers and near-the-end, hospice, supported by 15 grandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren. "There was not one slacker," their daughter Jane Estabrooks said. "All six of us were pulling together, cooperatively. You need all six." 'He's so good-looking, he must be conceited' Polly Rupprecht grew up in Squantum and graduated from North Quincy High in 1944. Merrill Leavens was raised in the Port Norfolk section of Dorchester and attended Boston Mechanics High School. While he was serving in the Navy during WW II, his family moved to Squantum, then "the country." The two met in Squantum after the war ended when Polly went over to visit his sister. "He's so good-looking, he must be conceited," she thought. Instead, she found the opposite. They were married June 19, 1948, and moved into the house he and his father had built on Parke Avenue right behind his parents' home on Bellevue Avenue. They raised their children there and saw no reason to leave, except for summers spent at the family camps, first in Duxbury and then at the log cabin Merrill built in Waldoboro, Maine. Merrill and Polly Leavens of Squantum with their first-born child, Debby, in 1950. "The cabin was their getaway but it was also a place they could offer as a gift to the family," Betsey Campbell said. "It was a place for all of us to feel the importance of being together. That was their whole thing. They wanted us all to have a sanctuary." Betsey and her husband, Rob, spent their honeymoon there in 1996. Over the years, between Squantum and Maine, there were thousands of family parties, holiday get-togethers, neighborhood drop-ins and cookouts. Caring neighbors, incredibly kind firefighters Merrill Leavens, the boy on the right, works on a car in Dorchester with his father, also named Merrill. His neighbor Pat Carson took many family photographs. In the 1960s, they added "the new room" onto the house and it quickly had an antique flavor. The fireplace was an exact reproduction of the 1790 hearth at the Wayside Inn in Sudbury. Merrill was a self-taught connoisseur of early American furniture, antiques, art and old wagons and he filled the room with items from estate and barn sales. The final years are almost a fairy tale, a nostalgic reminder of the way things used to be. It is also a tribute to resilience and survival; in the end, from last summer to this winter, each simply "ran out of steam." The story also includes very caring neighbors and the "incredibly kind" Quincy firefighters at Engine 7 up the street. The medics came countless times to pick Merrill up when he began falling in his 90s, well after his knees first went bad. Merrill was the first to go, much as he didn't want to, after spending months in bed. He died Aug. 17, 2023, at age 99-and-a-half. A strong, determined "doer," a sheet metal worker who always had a fix-it project in his basement workshop, he left quite a cleaning-out challenge, now ongoing. Merrill and Polly Leavens in Squantum in 2013 on the Fourth of July. Back row: Noah, Nathan and Grace Campbell, and Wes Jones. Middle row: Guthrie Gatewood, Merrill with Adeline Gatewood on his lap, Posey Polly Jones, Polly with Tobey Heinrichsen on her lap. Toasting the departed with peanut-butter crackers just as he wished Merrill enjoyed nothing more than having his family around him. He was a man of simple tastes and on the day he died, his family gave him a farewell toast with his favorite snack, peanut butter and crackers, as his body left the house. Polly was her own strong presence, "a very exacting woman" also used to doing everything herself. "There was no way she was going to leave before him," Betsey Campbell said. A year ago, the couple had ended up convalescing together, sharing a room at the Pope Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Weymouth. Merrill might have settled in there, but Polly would hear none of it. Home they went. "Grandma was running that shop and her mission was to be there to care for him," Campbell said. Even though her children had a rotation of delivering meals, she insisted on cooking. After Merrill was gone, Polly was bewildered but hung on, the family network in place. Then, in January, she took to her bed as Merrill had, but while he had lasted many months, she died after just two weeks, on Jan. 14. She was 96. Caregivers who can share the load and want to be there In their final months, each experienced some confusion or dementia, but the family considered itself so lucky in that respect. It could have been for years. Friends have asked about what it takes to "be there" in this way for a loved one to have the fortitude to keep one parent, or both, at home for an extended time. "It takes a lot," Campbell said. "It wasn't easy." Merrill and Polly Leavens at their summer cabin in Maine with great-grandchildren. L to R: Noah Campbell, Polly, Merrill, Grace Campbell and Nathan Campbell. "They had such a wonderful full life," their daughter Jane Estabrooks said. "It wasn't easy, allowing them the comfort of being in their own home. But it was gratifying to make their wish come true and respect what they wanted." While the four daughters were "the glue," coordinating tasks like clockwork, the two sons were also essential. Each respected what the others did. "You have to have people you can communicate with, who can share the load and who are happy to be there," Jane said. 'Mom and Dad' caregivers also caring for their own grandchildren Each sibling had their own area of expertise and responsibility, and there were many. Planning menus, shopping for food, fixing and delivering meals, ordering takeout, keeping track of multiple prescriptions and ordering and picking them up, arranging and getting to doctor appointments, paying household bills, managing the books, coordinating the revolving door of private aides, even hiding Polly's car keys from her. The key family caregivers were themselves in their 70s, managing their own aging, with their own families, some caring for grandchildren as well. One bonus: the Leavens always had been frugal, saved their money, had a pension and were able to pay for their care. I met Merrill and Polly Leavens 10 years ago in 2014, near their 66th anniversary. I asked their secret. We have such a feeling for each other, Polly said. We get along so well. He has such a sweet temperament. Renew their vows after 75 years from a hospice bed Last June 19, they were able to renew their vows on their 75th wedding anniversary with Father Ray Selker from Beacon Hospice. By then, Merrill was bedridden; Polly sat in a chair beside him. Merrill Leavens rides his bike as a boy in Dorchester. He grew up in the Port Norfolk neighborhood of Neponset. Their children and grandchildren talk about how witnessing that bond may have brought them their own magic in marriage. So far, there have been no divorces among 50 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. "We say that we grew up in a happy home, maybe knowing what to look for in a spouse," Jane Estabrooks said. Merrill and Polly had a full array of health problems, including prostate cancer, skin cancer, COVID-19, a broken hip, a broken shoulder, infirmities of aging. Each time, their children and grandchildren were there for them. This spring, for the first time ever, the house that Merrill Leavens and his father built back in 1947, is being emptied out, rather than filled with more collectibles. Each Wednesday, family members are there, figuring out what to let go of and what to keep. Merrill George Leavens at age 12 in Dorchester on April 4, 1937. One of the best "finds" was a film made on June 19, 1948, of the wedding of Merrill and Polly. Betsey Campbell found it, digitized it and gave copies to other family members. It is less than four minutes long, but people are having such fun. The action begins at Polly's childhood home on Aberdeen Road (where a cousin now lives) and ends at the wedding at the former Star of the Sea Church in Squantum. "I think this is the most amazing thing ever!" Betsey said. Tom Bonomi's most exciting discovery The last name of Tom Bonomi was spelled incorrectly in last week's column about the Quincy Quarry and Granite Workers Museum. I apologize for the error. Bonomi is the museum historian and has given many valuable programs and walking tours. In 2019, he went up to Nahant to meet sculptor Reno Pisano, 95, and returned with the granite hammer used by John Horrigan in Quincy to sculpt the Titanic Memorial, now located in Washington, D.C. You can see this historic hammer in the museum shed. Bonomi describes his most exciting discovery as finding a description of how the Granite Railway inclined plane actually worked. He came across an 1832 Boston Courier news clipping of possibly the first railway death in America, when Thomas Backus was thrown from a Granite Railway car on a turn. The reporter gave a detailed explanation of how the railway operated. "I felt like I was opening King Tut's tomb," Bonomi said. Reach Sue Scheible at sscheible@patriotledger.com. This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: How their family kept Merrill, 99, and Polly, 96, Leavens together NHSPCA Paws Walk returns to Stratham Hill Park: Here's how you can help animals STRATHAM The New Hampshire SPCA will host its annual Paws Walk at Stratham Hill Park on Sunday, June 2. The dog-friendly event benefits homeless animals, providing lifesaving care, medical treatment, and other support services. With just a few weeks until event day, the NHSPCA is calling on the community to help them reach their $130,000 goal by fundraising or donating. The Paws Walk is the NHSPCAs event responsible for giving a second chance to thousands of unwanted, neglected, and abused pets each year. Organizers say the success of this event comes directly from generous, local animal lovers, who register to walk and raise critical funds through their own network. The New Hampshire SPCA will host its annual Paws Walk at Stratham Hill Park on Sunday, June 2. There will be plenty of fun to be had on Paws Walk day with MC Kelly Brown of iHeartMedias The Morning Buzz and music by DJ Lori D. In addition to the walk, participants can shop for local goods and enjoy food truck treats in the vendor village and watch talented dogs in action from the New England Agility Team, Working Dog Foundation and Heart Stone Farm. There will also be farm animals, kids activities, and adoptable dogs looking for their forever home. Paws Walk is so important for our day-to-day operations at the NHSPCA, said Sheila Ryan, director of development at the New Hampshire SPCA. Its an awesome event that brings out the best of our community, and most importantly, its a critical fundraiser. Ryan said the NHSPCA has seen a significant increase in animals coming to the facility this past year. Many are transported from overcrowded shelters down south, while others are rescued from heartbreaking neglect and cruelty situations, she said. The money raised at Paws Walk allows us to provide critical lifesaving services, including veterinary care, nourishing food, behavioral assessments, and much more. These animals are given a second chance because of our Paws Walk supporters. Every dollar raised is important, and we are so grateful for anyone who contributes to this event. To register for, learn more, or donate to Paws Walk, visit https://nhspca.org/paws-walk/. Adult Paws Walker registration is $35, and Youth Paws Walker registration is $25. Those interested are encouraged to create a team to fundraise and walk together. Additionally, participants can earn their Paws Walk T-Shirt by fundraising $29 or purchasing it at registration. The Paws Walk is presented by Top Dog sponsor Walmart Region 16 and Cool Cat sponsors ICL Autos and Murphy, Powers & Wilson CPAs. This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: NHSPCA Paws Walk returns to Stratham Hill Park: Here's how to sign up What every parent should know after a young child's tragic death and rising cases. This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Contact a qualified medical professional before engaging in any physical activity, or making any changes to your diet, medication or lifestyle. Measles has claimed the life of a Canadian child, after cases have been popping up in parts of the country amid a resurgence of the virus around the world. (Photo via Getty Images) Ontario has reported its first measles death since 1989. The victim, a child under five from Hamilton, was one of five unvaccinated children who contracted measles this year. Now, health officials are warning about the risks of being unvaccinated as measles cases in Canada rise. As of last week, Ontario has seen 22 measles cases in 2024, accounting for nearly a quarter of the total cases documented over the past decade, the CBC reported. Public Health Ontario revealed an increase in the proportion of seven-year-olds without any measles vaccine doses, up from less than four per cent to nearly 17 per cent between the 2019-2020 and 2022-2023 seasons. Dr. Allison McGeer, an infectious diseases specialist at Sinai Health System, told the CBC this tragedy was predictable, noting, "There's also a certain aspect of inevitability to it just because of how much ground we lost in measles vaccination around the world" . Measles is notoriously contagious, with the virus capable of lingering in the air for hours. Unvaccinated children are particularly vulnerable. "If you look at the data from any of the provinces," Dr. McGeer stated, "it's unvaccinated kids who are the problem." If you look at the data from any of the provinces... it's unvaccinated kids who are the problem.Dr. Allison McGeer, via CBC. Efforts to curb the spread of measles depend on improving vaccination rates. In Quebec, aggressive public health measures, including contact tracing and post-exposure vaccination, have helped stabilize the situation, despite initially low vaccination rates in some areas. The recent death in Ontario underscores the need to maintain high vaccination coverage to protect the most vulnerable members of society. Kids under 12 months are at highest risk for measles since routine measles vaccination starts at 1 year. Make sure you and your other family members are vaccinated to help protect them. Learn more : https://t.co/7iX6MdCjja pic.twitter.com/4i0kxeEw1Q Health Canada and PHAC (@GovCanHealth) March 13, 2024 A November report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control confirmed measles cases are rising worldwide and more people are dying from it. The report indicated there was an 18 per cent increase in estimated measles cases and a 43 per cent increase in estimated measles deaths in 2022 compared with 2021. Researchers said this is a result of millions of children missing measles vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Global coverage with measles-containing vaccine (MCV) declined during the COVID-19 pandemic to the lowest levels since 2008, and measles surveillance was suboptimal," the report said. Canadian infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch previously told Yahoo Canada he wasn't surprised by the report, adding it was clear there was "a breakdown of many public health programs throughout the course of the pandemic." Bogoch described the virus as the "canary in the coal mine" of public health, adding outbreaks are "visible, and they're explosive, and obviously, they can be devastating." Read on to learn everything you should know about measles and prevention. What is measles and what are its symptoms? Measles cases are rising worldwide, according to a recent report from the World Health Organization. (Photo via Getty Images) According to the WHO, measles is a "highly contagious disease" caused by a virus of the same name. It "spreads easily when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes," the agency explained, adding the virus attacks the respiratory system first, before spreading through the body. Measles symptoms can include: a high fever coughing a runny nose a rash all over the body red and watery eyes small white spots inside the cheeks Complications from measles are what causes the majority of deaths, including: blindness encephalitis (an infection causing brain swelling or damage) severe diarrhea and dehydration ear infections severe breathing problems These complications are most likely to occur in children under five years old and adults over 30, the WHO said. Bogoch added there's a misconception, "some people think measles is no big deal. ... It's important to note that it's associated with significant morbidity. You can get very, very sick from measles." How common is measles in Canada? Measles has seen a resurgence in Canada over recent years. As of 2024, Canada has reported a significant increase in measles cases compared to the previous year. Specifically, there have been 75 cases of measles reported so far in 2024, with 41 of these cases currently active. Some parts of the country are seeing a decline in vaccine uptake, including Alberta where vaccination rates in 2022 dropped from 2018. Bogoch noted the cases seen in Canada are predominantly imported or linked to travel. Health Canada's risk assessment from March stated there is a "high likelihood of infectious travellers with measles virus continuing to enter Canada and a high likelihood of multiple measles outbreaks." It added major impacts are "expected in health care settings, especially in pediatric facilities, as well as in un/under-vaccinated communities." Measles vaccine in Canada: What to know Two doses of a measles vaccine provides nearly 100 per cent protection from the virus. (Getty) Current recommendation for routine measles vaccines is two doses, the first administered at 12 to 15 months of age and the second dose at 18 months of age or after, but before school. It's also recommended to youth who missed the routine immunization, and susceptible adults born in or after 1970. In Canada, the measles vaccine is only available in combination with mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) or mumps, rubella and varicella vaccine (MMRV). According to Health Canada, a single dose of measles-containing vaccine given at 12 or 15 months of age is estimated to be 85 to 95 per cent effective. "With a second dose, efficacy in children approaches 100 per cent." But, because measles is so contagious, outbreaks have occurred despite high vaccination rates. That's why at least 95 per cent of the population "needs to be immunized to develop herd immunity." The vaccine is safe, effective, and does a remarkable job in preventing infection.Dr. Isaac Bogoch "Could we see the propagation of cases in Canada after we'd have an important case, if we do see lapses of vaccination?" Dr. Bogoch questioned, answering it wouldn't be surprising. "There's so little wiggle room with with measles." Bogoch said some individuals, despite being pro-vaccine, might not be up to date due to receiving only one dose, especially those born before the 1990s. He encouraged those in doubt to consult health-care providers, including physicians, nurse practitioners or pharmacists. "One dose provides pretty good protection against measles, but two doses is much better," he claimed. Let us know what you think by commenting below and tweeting @YahooStyleCA! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Oscar Mayer Wienermobile coming to Oshkosh this weekend. Here's where you can see it. 'Aioli Anna' (pitured), a University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh graduate, and 'BBQ Brady' will share stories from their year-long coast-to-coast tour and give guests a look inside of the 27-foot-long hotdog the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. OSHKOSH The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile is coming to town this weekend. Oshkosh will play host to at least three events from May 25-28 when the iconic Oscar Mayer Wienermobile mobile tour makes its way into the Fox Cities this weekend. Drivers Aioli Anna and BBQ Brady will take the tour to Menominee Park Zoo opening day on May 25 before taking part in the Sons of the American Legion Annual Memorial Day Brat Fry May 27 at 1332 Spruce St. Herd on the move?: Is the Milwaukee Bucks G League team the Wisconsin Herd leaving Oshkosh? Heres what we know. The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile then wraps up its Oshkosh leg of the tour May 28 at the Discover Oshkosh Hotel Appreciation Hotdog Party at 100 N. Main St. Aioli Anna, a University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh graduate, and BBQ Brady will share stories from their year-long coast-to-coast tour and give guests a look inside of the 27-foot-long hotdog. For more information, visit the tour online at https://khcmobiletour.com/wienermobile. Have a story tip or public interest concern? Contact Justin Marville at jmarville@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: Oscar Mayer Wienermobile to visit Oshkosh, Wisconsin Prince Harry, seen here greeting crowds outside the Invictus service in London earlier this month, did not see his father during his brief visit - Chris Jackson/Getty Images for Invictus Games Foundation The Duke of Sussex turned down an invitation from his father to stay at a royal residence earlier this month because of security concerns, The Telegraph understands. Prince Harry, 39, spent three nights in London when he flew from California to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games but did not see the King. He is said to have made several personal requests for a meeting but on arrival in the UK, issued a statement stating that he and his father would not meet. He suggested it was because the King was too busy. However, Charles, 75, did agree to a request from his younger son to stay at an undisclosed royal residence, aware that he no longer has an official UK home. Had the invitation been accepted, it may have provided an opportunity to spend some time together outside of their hectic schedules. The Duke declined because the offer did not come with any security provision, meaning he would have been staying in a visible location with public entrance and exit points and no police protection. Instead, he chose to stay at a hotel, as he has done on all recent visits, meaning he could come and go unseen. Royal residences are among the best protected properties in the country, with armed officers stationed at the gates. However, the Dukes primary concern is the level of security he is afforded outside. The Duke spent three nights in London when he flew from California to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games - Chris Jackson/Getty Images for The Invictus Games Foundation The Duke remains devastated about the withdrawal of his right to automatic police protection, which has become one of the biggest barriers to reconciliation with his father. He applied for a judicial review after the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) declared in February 2020 that he and his family were no longer entitled to the same degree of personal security when visiting Britain. Instead, a bespoke arrangement was created that involved assessing each visit on its merits. The Duke told the High Court he felt forced to step back from royal duties and leave the UK. He accused the Home Office of subjecting him to unlawful and unfair treatment by denying his family the right to automatic security and claimed he had been singled out and treated less favourably than others. He said he believed the decision was imposed upon him as some form of punishment for protecting my family and putting them first. The Duke offered to pay for his own security but was told the Metropolitan Police Service was not for hire. He lost the legal challenge in February, leaving him with an estimated legal bill of more than 1million. Mr Justice Lane insisted that Ravecs decision had not been irrational or procedurally unfair and rejected the Dukes inappropriate, formalist interpretation of the process. Harry is now required to give at least 28 days notice of his visits to the UK, including all details of his travel arrangements, to allow the committee to assess his security requirements. The King hosted a garden party while his son was a few miles up the road - Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire He has been denied almost every request, except for the odd occasion when he has travelled to or from a royal event, such as the Coronation. The Duke was given a police escort when he returned in February and was driven from Heathrow Airport to Clarence House for a meeting with the King, shortly after the monarch was diagnosed with cancer. However, when he left the residence for his hotel, he had no protection. The Duke feels he is currently unable to bring his wife or children to the UK as he cannot guarantee their safety. He is frustrated that his offer to pay for his own protection was turned down, it is understood. Similarly, given that his fathers principal private secretary, and other senior members of the royal household, sit on Ravec, he feels that if there was a desire to help him, things might be different. In announcing his intention to appeal the judicial review ruling in February, his spokesman said: The Duke is not asking for preferential treatment, but for a fair and lawful application of Ravecs own rules, ensuring that he receives the same consideration as others in accordance with Ravecs own written policy. He believes that when he stepped back from royal duties in January 2020, the committee failed to adhere to its own written policy by conducting a full risk analysis. The Dukes case is that the so-called bespoke process that applies to him, is no substitute for that risk analysis, the statement said. Australias dream of a thriving small business sector is being hampered by a government procurement system stacked against them, according to a scathing new report by the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO). The report paints a grim picture, revealing a system riddled with risk aversion that discourages small businesses from even attempting to compete for government contracts. This not only stifles the growth of small businesses, but also hurts taxpayers in the long run. The existing system is just not working the process involved in bidding is too complicated, not conducive to competition, opaque, inefficient, and incongruent with private-sector processes, ASBFEOs, Bruce Billson said. The Governments initial response to our inquiry is underwhelming several of the substantive recommendations and proposed reforms that have not been embraced, were rejected without any discussion at all. The report, which investigated the effectiveness of Commonwealth procurement rules for small businesses, found a system riddled with problems that leave small suppliers feeling excluded. The Ombudsmans inquiry wasnt just critical of the status quo, it also took aim at the governments initial response to its recommendations for reform, calling it underwhelming and failing to address the core issues. Its abundantly clear that the existing system isnt working as intended for many small businesses The steps already taken have not shifted the dial to achieve the Governments own stated objectives. Introducing retained economic value as the evaluation framework is a crucial recommendation that is too important to dismiss. What we need is real engagement and commitment to improving procurement outcomes Why wouldnt you create a Procurement Commissioner ? Billson calls for a more committed approach to improving the system and proposes the creation of a Procurement Commissioner. Moreover, the inquiry, investigating the effectiveness of Commonwealth procurement rules, found a system riddled with complexities that unfairly disadvantages smaller players. Not only did the ASBFEO criticize the current state of affairs, but it also slammed the governments initial response to its reform recommendations as underwhelming and failing to address core issues. Billson argues the government hasnt adequately addressed the core issues and dismissed valuable suggestions without proper consideration. The report highlights a significant gap between government spending on small businesses as suppliers (around 11%) and their overall representation in the Australian economy (97%). This translates to a missed opportunity for both economic growth and supporting local businesses. Broken system excludes SMEs The Ombudsmans investigation revealed a system riddled with problems: Overly Complex: The current procurement process is excessively complicated, deterring many small businesses from even attempting to participate. The current procurement process is excessively complicated, deterring many small businesses from even attempting to participate. Lack of Transparency: The systems opaqueness creates an uneven playing field, favoring established suppliers familiar with its intricacies. The systems opaqueness creates an uneven playing field, favoring established suppliers familiar with its intricacies. Stifling Competition: The existing rules are seen as hindering fair competition, potentially excluding qualified small businesses from consideration. The existing rules are seen as hindering fair competition, potentially excluding qualified small businesses from consideration. Inefficient Processes: Bureaucratic hurdles slow down the process, making it time-consuming and resource-intensive for smaller businesses. Bureaucratic hurdles slow down the process, making it time-consuming and resource-intensive for smaller businesses. Private Sector Disconnect: The procurement process is out of sync with typical private sector practices, further disadvantaging small businesses accustomed to those methods. Ombudsman proposes reform package Billsons report outlines a reform package that aims to create a more efficient, transparent, and small business-friendly procurement process. These reforms wouldnt require additional funding, but rather a shift in approach and focus on: Streamlining Processes: Simplifying the bidding process to make it more accessible for smaller businesses. Simplifying the bidding process to make it more accessible for smaller businesses. Transparency and Fairness: Ensuring a level playing field by increasing transparency in the evaluation process. Ensuring a level playing field by increasing transparency in the evaluation process. Focus on Value: Going beyond just price to consider broader economic benefits, such as supporting local businesses and innovation. Billson urges the government to seriously consider all the recommendations and their potential to improve the system. He emphasizes the need for a step-change in government procurement, advocating for a system that fosters a fair and competitive environment for small businesses to contribute meaningfully to the Australian economy. The report and recommendations are available at: www.asbfeo.gov.au/procurement Keep up to date with our stories on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Its a little-known fact that the Ralph Lauren store in Chicago is actually the largest in the fleet and was also the first to add an adjacent restaurant. And now, the company has completed a renovation of the 37,000-square-foot boutique on Michigan Avenue that houses the complete world of Ralph Lauren: all brands, an RL restaurant and a Ralphs Coffee shop. More from WWD The store, which opened more than 25 years ago, has been redesigned in the manner of a Gilded Age beaux-arts mansion reminiscent of the New York City flagship in the former Rhinelander Mansion on 72nd Street. The four-floor Chicago store carries a comprehensive assortment of the mens and womens high-end Collections, as well as Polo Ralph Lauren, childrenswear, Ralph Lauren Home and Double RL. The mens department. On the mens floor, there is a refurbished Purple Label suite, a new dedicated space for made-to-measure, a large Double RL shop with white bead-board details and vintage fixtures, and a Polo department with stained oak walls, antique brass hardware and vintage artwork. The womens floor features wood and crystal accents bathed in natural light. A new Salon offers select pieces from the home collection, custom plaster crown molding and hard-carved wall paneling and a bay window overlooking Michigan Avenue. In addition to new areas for tailoring, a womens VIP suite is designed with custom Ralph Lauren wall coverings and fabrics. The womens department is bright and airy. Shoppable digital displays have been installed throughout the store as well. The company said the renovation reflects its mission to elevate its stores and deliver a consistent experience around the world. To celebrate the renovation, the company will host a cocktail party in the store followed by a dinner on Tuesday. Inside the RL restaurant in Chicago. The Ralphs Coffee shop. Best of WWD SANTA ROSA COUNTY, Fla. (WKRG) Santa Rosa County residents will soon have an opportunity to take a step toward ensuring the health and safety of their community cats. On Wednesday, May 22, the Santa Rosa County Animal Services is hosting Community Cats Day at the Santa Rosa County Animal Shelter at 4451 Pine Forest Road in Milton, Florida. 2 arrested after $300,000 in jewelry stolen at Cordova Mall: Pensacola Police COMMUNITY CATS DAY LOCATION: This embedded content is not available in your region. 50 feral or stray cats will be accepted and administered free spay and neutering. In addition, the cats will also receive a rabies vaccination and ear tip. Participants are required to be residents of Santa Rosa County and provide proof upon arrival. They are permitted to bring up to three community cats, and it will run on a first-come, first-serve basis. Aniahs Law hearing for Tyquan French reveals new info in Stockton shooting Cats must also be heavier than 3 pounds, outdoor and unowned to be eligible for the program. Residents are also responsible for trapping and transporting cats to and from the shelter. Only one cat is allowed per trap, and every trap must be humane, and able to stand on its own. A limited number of traps are available to rent from the Santa Rosa County Animal Services. Cats are to be dropped off by 8 a.m. and picked up between 9 and 10 a.m. the following day, Thursday, May 23. Visit the Santa Rosa County pet help resources tab on the county website for additional resources. 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 WKRG News 5. Erin Austen Abbott and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this story. Pricing and availability subject to change. In the 4th grade, my classmates and I had to select one state to write a report on. I picked Maine, not because I'd been there, but because I read Blueberries for Sal on repeat as a younger child and was enchanted with the simplicity of the hunt for blueberries and the charm of doing so in mirrored form with a mama bear and her cub. I imagined the whole state full of solitude and wonder. Even as a child, that was the type of environment that I was seeking. A big part of me still does today. Rose Foods, Portland, Maine Photo by Erin Austen Abbott (Erin Austen Abbott) It wasn't until many more years later that I visited Maine and found that it's not all quiet and rambling; instead, it's home to the bustling city of Portland. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement I still suggest hunting for those tiny towns and the solitude of Maine, but spend a few days in Portland first. Here are my suggestions for a weekend in Maine's largest city. Great for some summer planning. Shop: Eat: Honey Paw, Portland, Maine Image by Erin Austen Abbott (Erin Austen Abbott) Stay: The Press Hotel AC Hotel Blind Tiger This Airbnb: My son and I stayed here last summer, and I loved it so much! It would be suitable for a family of four. More than that, it would be too small. Portland, Maine Air BNB Image by Erin Austen Abbott (Erin Austen Abbott) Do: Mackworth Island State Park, Portland, Maine, Image by Erin Austen Abbott (Erin Austen Abbott) Walking trails at Mackworth Island State Park, Portland, Maine (Erin Austen Abbott) Ok, with this round-up, you should be able to plan a great trip to Portland, Maine. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement **When planning, check to make sure places are open. A lot of Maine shuts down at different times, especially in the winter and on slower days of the week. As always, thanks for reading here. Follow on Instagram for more travel ideas, tips, and itineraries. - Erin Some cocktail recipes call for half a dozen elements and complex processes that can feel daunting, particularly in summer when we all want to work a little less hard at everything. This is why froccs a tipple that requires only two ingredients is a welcome addition to any warm-weather beverage toolbox. Parts of Hungary are famously hot in summer, and one of the best ways to beat the heat and simultaneously enjoy the country's famous wines is in the form of froccs (pronounced "frurtch"). This prototypical wine-and-fizzy-water drink may seem familiar to fans of an Aperol Spritz, but it is even more straightforward. The recipe here requires nothing more than wine and sparkling water it doesn't even call for ice cubes or garnishes. Froccs isn't new; in fact, it's a drink with quite a long history as part of Hungarian culture in the warmer months. But if it's new to you, you might soon find space for it on your cocktail menu in any season. Read more: The Ultimate Vodka Brands, Ranked Enjoying Froccs At Home Wine spritzers in glasses - Bhofack2/Getty Images Though it originated in Hungary, don't have to travel to Budapest to enjoy a refreshing froccs. You can make this in a snap from any location by combining a Hungarian wine like the white olaszrizling or a rose like kekfrankos with sparkling water. And while it may be fun to travel with Hungarian wine, you can easily find substitutes for these varietals just aim for lighter, crisp, less oaky, or sweet options (and don't worry; proponents of this practice suggest your wine will be enhanced, not ruined, by the addition of a little bubbly water). This drink is also open to interpretation in terms of ratio, as there isn't a standard. Different designations in Hungary exist to describe how strong or diluted you want your froccs, which can depend on your mood. For example, your wine-to-water ratio will determine whether you are a "Mayor" or a "Landlord." So start with a splash of seltzer and adjust from there. For your dinner party purposes, if you're going for a Hungarian theme, you can serve a one-pot goulash or sheet pan chicken paprikash with potatoes. Both of these benefit from the fizzy lift of sparkling water in your wine (as will a sweet treat like a Hungarian nut roll). The Culture And History Of Froccs Vintage seltzer siphons - tolobalaguer.com/Shutterstock Froccs may not seem like the wine spritzer would have any relation to electric model cars, but in fact, it was a Benedictine monk named Anyos Jedlik who made contributions to both of these important cultural creations. It was around the mid-19th century when Jedlik discovered a way to capture sparkling water in a bottle. When he decided to show off his new process (using a siphon) to some friends at a dinner party, he grabbed his wine and sprayed a bit of the bubbly liquid into the glass and a beloved new drink was born. The Austrian-German term "spritzer" loosely translates to "sparkling water," but one of Jedlik's distinguished guests preferred to tie this new invention more closely to its creator's national identity, suggesting "froccs" a reference to the Hungarian froccsen or "to splash." Given that it was allegedly created during a dinner party, it seems fitting that Jedlik's legacy is tied to what has become an integral part of Hungarian gathering customs. Today, you'll find froccs is common in many settings, be it a restaurant or bar, an outdoor market, or a casual picnic. The beauty of this bubbly drink is its adaptability, and froccs is on theme for any summery celebration. Read the original article on Daily Meal Top 10 baby names in SC for 2023 unveiled by Social Security Administration. Take a look The U.S. Social Security Administration recently released its most-frequently chosen baby names for 2023, and in South Carolina they are Noah for boys and Olivia for girls. The list is based on applications for Social Security cards. The most popular names across the country for last year are Liam and Olivia Noah is No. 2 as is Emma. Olivia has been the most popular name in the country for the past five years, Liam for seven. The most popular names are available on the Social Security website, which also includes searchable databases for popularity by year back to 1880, by decade, by state and trending names. You could spend some serious time on the website if so inclined and come up with information like Betty was No. 2 seven times in the 1920s-1930s and never could dethrone Mary. Betty hasnt been in the top 5 since 1940. In 1900, which is the first year the website lists individual names, John was the most popular and held a top 10 spot until 1986. In 2023, John was No. 26. The top girls name in 1880 was Mary. The website, which seems a bit glitchy when searching, did not come up with a timeline for Mary. But the website does say Mary has been ranked No. 1 32 times and Michael 44 times. The name Mary dropped off the top 10 list in 1987 and hasnt been seen since. Robert and James have also been popular through the years. The most popular names in South Carolina for boys in 2023 are: Noah William Liam James John Elijah Oliver Henry Hudson Lucas And for girls: Olivia Charlotte Amelia Emma Ava Elizabeth Sophia Harper Nova Evelyn In the United States, the most popular names for boys are: Liam Noah Oliver James Elijah Mateo Theodore Henry Lucas William And for girls: Olivia Emma Charlotte Amelia Sophia Mia Isabella Ava Evelyn Luna The top trending name in the U.S. in 2023 is Izael for boys and Kaeli for girls. Social Security cards are not required by law, but many government services are not available without one. The SSA says the easiest way to apply for a card is when the hospital in which a child is born registers a birth certificate. Built in 1881, the Dr. Joseph and Olivia Soper House in Sturgeon Bay was listed in May 2024 on the National Register of Historic Places, about two months after it was added to the Wisconsin State Register of Historic Places. STURGEON BAY - Special stone has led to a local home becoming a nationally historic place, two months after the state deemed it historic as well. The Wisconsin Historical Society announced May 17 that the 143-year-old Dr. Joseph and Olivia Soper House in Sturgeon Bay was listed earlier this month on the National Register of Historic Places. The house was added to the Wisconsin State Register of Historic Places in late February. What makes the house at 23 N. Fifth Ave. architecturally and historically significant, according to the historical society, is that its exterior is clad in locally produced Frear artificial stone. The society's webpage for the house says it is the only residential structure using this short-lived building material that remains standing in the city and one of just three properties using it in Wisconsin, including a commercial building with Frear stone at 40-44 N. Third Ave. in the city. Frear artificial stone was an early form of concrete, cast from sand or gravel. George Frear of Chicago earned a patent for it in 1868, and it was promoted as an affordable alternative to natural stone, claiming advantages of being both strong and versatile with a wide range of color tones and a nearly infinite variety of molds into which it could be cast. Frear Stone Manufacturing Co. was located in Chicago, but the cast stone used at the Soper House was manufactured in Sturgeon Bay by Giles Kirtland, a former superintendent at the Frear plant who purchased the rights to manufacture and sell the product locally. Frear stone was used at the Soper House for the smooth block veneer, the drip course above the foundation, window sills and decorative arched hoods over the windows. The rear dormer windows and existing garage are later additions, but the interior plan of the building remains largely as it was when built 143 years ago. Use of Frear stone was limited, and by the mid-1880s artificial stone was largely replaced by more modern forms of concrete, which the historical society said makes "Frear stone a short-lived but important chapter in the development of modern concrete construction." Also contributing to the house's historic status is its age, of course, and design. Built in 1881, the Italianate-style residence includes corner quoins, wide overhanging eaves with prominent gable ornamentation, tall and narrow double-hung windows, and a projecting bay window with tall and narrow stilted arch windows, overhanging eaves and decorative brackets, all in addition to the Frear stone features mentioned above. Another detail not necessarily relating to the house but in the same lot is the casting of street names on a flat concrete slab at the inside corner of the Louisiana Street and Fifth Avenue sidewalks. Here, the names of Church (now Fifth) and Cottage (now Louisiana) streets are visible. This detail can be found on many street corners within the older portions of the city and is of some urban design interest. As for the house's history, the Sopers sold it in 1886 to George Spear, a partner in Merchants Exchange Bank (whose building itself, at 10 N. Third Ave., also is on the state and national historic place registers). In the 20th century, the house was divided into two apartment units before serving as office space for a local nonprofit organization. The house is now a private residence that, according to the society, is undergoing restoration as part of a state historic tax credit project. The State Historic Preservation Office at the Wisconsin Historical Society administers both the State Register and National Register in Wisconsin. For more information on the registers, visit wisconsinhistory.org/hp/register; for more on the Soper House, visit wisconsinhistory.org/Records/NationalRegister/NR2795. Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com. MORE: A year-round coffee shop in Door County has new owners who plan to expand its summer hours MORE: A Door County shop specializing in quilted gifts is moving to a new, larger location FOR MORE DOOR COUNTY NEWS: Check out our website This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: 143-year-old Sturgeon Bay home is named a national historic place If you're living with a drug or mental health problem, here's where to look for help "Deaths of despair" caused by drug overdoses, suicide and liver disease due to alcoholism have risen among Americans of color. (Angelica Alzona / For The Times) Fatal overdoses in the U.S. fell for the first time in five years in 2023, according to preliminary estimates recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but UCLA researcher Joseph Friedman warns that the new findings should not be interpreted to mean that the nation's drug and mental health crises are abating. Friedman has analyzed "deaths of despair" that result from overdose, suicide and liver disease due to alcoholism and found that while death rates for white Americans have dipped, rates have risen in recent years among people of color in the U.S., especially among Native and Black Americans. Illegal opioids such as fentanyl have ravaged Black and low-income communities in Los Angeles. While it's difficult to pinpoint the exact reasons behind substance abuse or suicide, Friedman as well as other experts in addiction medicine and mental health say racial inequality, economic distress and historical trauma have aggravated those problems in marginalized communities. If you or someone you know needs immediate help for a mental health, substance-use or suicidal crisis, call or text 988, or chat online by visiting the suicide and crisis line's website. For mental health resources and referrals, call the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health's Help Line 24/7 at (800) 854-7771. Here are other organizations that offer information, counseling and support services: Read more: Are 'deaths of despair' really more common for white Americans? A UCLA report says no Nakeya Fields, a licensed clinical social worker in Pasadena, founded the Black Mental Health Task Force, a coalition that brings together mental health professionals, clients, nonprofits, community organizations, educators and others in California to raise awareness about mental wellness. Her Therapeutic Play Foundation offers activities designed to improve resilience and coping skills through creative arts, play and sports. It provides individual, couples, group and family therapy for Black, Latinx, LGBTQ+ and other members of marginalized populations. The American Indian Counseling Center, a division of the Los Angeles County Mental Health Department, offers crisis intervention, 24/7 intensive mental health services and counseling for all ages, as well as physician consultations for medications and referrals to culturally relevant support groups. Call (562) 402-0677 and ask to speak with the on-duty worker. United American Indian Involvement's behavioral health program provides outpatient substance use disorder treatment and mental health services to American Indians and Alaska Natives living throughout Los Angeles County. Visit the website or call (213) 202-3970. Melanin and Mental Health offers an online network of Black and brown mental healthcare providers that is searchable by geographic area, issue type and treatment sought. It's also possible to filter results by therapists' racial background and specialty, as well as by insurance carrier. The Black Mental Health Alliance offers confidential referrals to culturally competent mental health professionals who are in its database of licensed therapists. Painted Brain advocates for mental wellness in underserved L.A. communities by offering self-care, relaxation and therapeutic art and play sessions, support groups and trainings for mental health professionals. As part of its peer-led model, many of the staff have experienced mental health issues themselves. Its community center and art space is located at 5980 W. Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles LGBT Center offers individual, couples, family, group therapy and psychiatric care, as well as support for people struggling with substance use. The center has locations in West Hollywood, at Mi Centro in East L.A., at its Trans Wellness Center near MacArthur Park and in South L.A.'s Leimert Park neighborhood. The Community Health Project Los Angeles provides services to people who use drugs by way of a harm-reduction approach that emphasizes offering clean needles as well as education on how to respond to an overdose. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. One person died and dozens of others were left injured after a Singapore Airlines flight encountered "severe" turbulence, the airline said in a social media post. The Boeing 777-300ER departed London's Heathrow Airport on Monday with 221 passengers and 18 crew members on board, according to the airline. The flight, SQ 321, encountered turbulence about 90 minutes from its destination of Singapore and was diverted to Bangkok, the carrier said. Six people were critically injured, Kittipong Kittikachorn, general manager for Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, said. Dozens of other passengers suffered minor or moderate injuries, he said. PHOTO: The interior of Singapore Airline flight SQ321 is pictured after an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand, May 21, 2024. (Stringer/Reuters) MORE: Iowa governor declares disaster emergency as tornadoes rip through 15 counties Geoff Kitchen, a 73-year-old man from the U.K., died, according to authorities and a music theater group where he worked. The U.K.-based Thornbury Musical Theatre Group said in a Facebook post, "Geoff was always a gentleman with the utmost honesty and integrity and always did what was right for the group. His commitment to TMTG was unquestionable and he has served the group and the local community of Thornbury for over 35 years, holding various offices within the group, including Chairman, Treasurer and most recently Secretary. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife and the family at this difficult time, and we ask that you respect their privacy." Singapore Airlines offered its condolences to Kitchens family. "Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased," the airline said in a statement on Tuesday. "Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft." PHOTO: A Singapore airline aircraft is seen on tarmac after requesting an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand, May 21, 2024. (Pongsak Suksi via Reuters) The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to assist in the investigation. "Suddenly, the aircraft starts tilting up, and there was shaking, so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop, so everyone seated and not wearing a seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling," Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student on the flight, told ABC News. "Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it; they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it." MORE: Father, 2 siblings set to graduate from college killed after small plane crashes in Tennessee PHOTO: A worker wipes a Singapore Airlines logo at the International Tourism Trade Fair (ITB, Internationale Tourismusboerse) in Berlin on March 6, 2023. (John Macdougall/AFP via Getty Images) Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong addressed the SQ321 incident in a video. "We are deeply saddened by this incident, and are committed to providing all necessary support and assistance to the passengers and crew members who were on board SQ321, as well as their families and loved ones. Our deepest condolences go out to the family and loved ones of the passenger who passed away," Phong said. The airline said late Tuesday night that four of the passengers were American. Two of them were injured. The aircraft appeared to have encountered the turbulence in Thai airspace, somewhere over the Andaman Sea. The flight, which had been scheduled to arrive at Singapore Changi Airport, instead touched down in Thailand at about 3:45 p.m. local time, the carrier said. "We are in contact with Singapore Airlines regarding flight SQ321 and stand ready to support them," Boeing said in a statement. "We extend our deepest condolences to the family who lost a loved one, and our thoughts are with the passengers and crew." ABC News' Joe Simonetti, Will Gretsky and Helena Skinner contributed to this report. 1 dead, 6 critically injured amid 'severe' turbulence on Singapore Airlines flight, carrier says originally appeared on abcnews.go.com BANGKOK, Thailand (NewsNation) One person is dead and over two dozen others were injured after a Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore experienced severe turbulence Tuesday, forcing an emergency landing in Bangkok, Thailand. We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER. There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board, the airline posted to its social media accounts. The statement continued, Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. Authorities have identified the victim as a 73-year-old British man who may have suffered a heart attack, though that has not been confirmed, according to the Associated Press. Record Memorial Day travel set to launch busy summer season In a second update Tuesday, Singapore Airlines reported that 18 individuals had been hospitalized and 12 were being treated in hospitals. Others were examined and given treatment, where necessary at the airport. The majority of the passengers on board four of whom were from the United States were from Australia, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. Flight SQ321 reportedly flew through a region experiencing extreme tropical thunderstorms, which caused severe turbulence and prompted the emergency landing. Tracking data captured by FlightRadar24 and analyzed by The Associated Press show Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 cruising at an altitude of 37,000 feet. At one point, the Boeing 777-300ER suddenly and sharply plummeted to 31,000 feet over the span of some three minutes, the data shows. The aircraft then stayed at 31,000 feet for under 10 minutes before diverting and landing in Bangkok less than half an hour later. Researchers studying doomsday glacier make worrying discovery There have been multiple incidents of passengers being injured after planes encountered severe turbulence recently. In September, seven passengers and one crew member were hospitalized after their JetBlue flight from Ecuador to Florida experienced sudden severe turbulence, Nexstars WFLA reported. A month prior, 11 people were hospitalized after a Delta Air Lines flight encountered severe turbulence while flying from Italy to Atlanta. Last July, two passengers and two flight attendants were injured when their Florida-bound flight hit turbulence that caused the plane to drop roughly 5,000 feet in less than two minutes. One passenger on that flight told WFLA he saw several people hit the ceiling. As Nexstars KXAN explains, there are four causes for turbulence: mechanical, thermal, pressure fronts, and wind shear. To avoid injuries caused by unexpected turbulence, the Federal Aviation Administration recommends passengers remain seated during the entire flight with their safety belts buckled. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 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 Queen City News. Providing feedback to your team is an essential part of not only an individuals professional development, but the performance and engagement of an organisation. An effective and regular feedback process can be crucial to ensuring that you are on the same page with your teams, to discuss growth opportunities for the future and of course, to recognise and reward great work. New data from leading employment marketplace, SEEK, has revealed that 60% of Australian workers who have had a difficult conversation with their manager / employer have said it was a negative experience. According to this research, some of the most common reasons for this feedback experience being negative came down to how it was delivered with the feedback not being communicated well, or in the right environment, as well as feeling blindsided by the feedback, ranking highly among employee experiences. As we all know, there are always going to be trickier conversations that are harder to avoid, but there are ways to approach and deliver feedback to ensure the process is constructive and beneficial to both the employee and your organisation. Timeliness is key It can be easy to be swept up in the busyness of day-to-day working life, which may result in delivering feedback being deprioritised until a quieter moment arises. However, we all know that those moments can sometimes be few and far between! According to SEEK research, almost 70% of respondents would prefer to have a difficult conversation in real time, rather than in a more structured performance review. When possible, try to nip difficult conversations in the bud and share feedback with individuals in a timely manner. This not only allows for a discussion on the matter at hand when it is still fresh in both of your minds, but it also allows for it to be addressed and hopefully resolved for future instances. Some practical ways to introduce more regular opportunities for sharing feedback with your time could include scheduling a monthly or fortnightly check-in. On some occasions, you may decide that you can go without these check-ins, however, this means that they are always in the diary and provide a milestone to ensure that youre sharing feedback consistently. Alternatively, consider if there are relevant project milestones which could integrate a touchpoint for employee feedback. For instance, could a quarterly review with a client also serve as a reminder to discuss how a team member is working on a project and discuss how to work better together moving forward? With feeling blindsided being one of the top three reasons for an Australian worker to say theyve had a negative feedback experience, a regular feedback loop could help mitigate this and increase receptiveness to feedback. These regular feedback sessions dont need to be lengthy but brief 10-15 minute check-in conversations can be far more productive and motivating to employees then bi-annual formal performance reviews that usually have negative connotations for both sides. Be problem-focused and specific When sharing feedback, its important to also share the why with your employee. Your employee might not have all the background or context on an issue so, if necessary, give them a sense of how the issue affects the workflow, the business or the project. Providing the big picture and the flow-on effects of how problems or mistakes may affect others will provide greater context and understanding. This can help explain the importance of the feedback being passed along, and why there may be an issue particularly if an employee is not aware of the issue prior to the conversation. The more specific you can make your feedback, the more likely it will be well-received and actionable. Talk about the situation, not the individual Constructive feedback is focused on outcomes and impartial observations not the employees personal attributes. Wherever possible, focus on behaviour or situations, not people and personalities. Feedback centred on the individual could be taken as an attack motivated by personal feelings, rather than objective facts. By discussing the situation itself, youre showing youre most concerned about fixing the problem at hand and not criticising the employee. You are also able to remove emotion from the discussion and purely talk about the situation or observation. Give them a chance to have their say When giving feedback, make sure your employee has a chance to respond. It should always be a two-way conversation.. This shows youre prepared to listen to their concerns and their interpretation of events. Its also an opportunity for the employee to express their ideas to you and become part of the solution. This will help empower them and likely ensure they take on this feedback for the future. Give praise where its due Giving employees positive feedback helps empower them. Acknowledging positives among negatives can be a good way to reassure them that you havent lost perspective. This tells the employee that youre not criticising their overall performance; just that certain aspects of their job need attention. Its always worth keeping in mind that we all thrive on positive reinforcement, so dont assume employees will always know when theyre performing well come out and tell them. One of the biggest gripes with employees is that they dont feel appreciated for all the good work and effort that they put into their work and that feedback is only based on what they are not doing well. Check in with your employee after the conversation Sometimes, no matter the strength of your delivery, feedback wont always be received well. If you find a person has been distressed by the feedback, or reacted negatively, check in and ask them how they feel about the feedback and the process now that theyve had some further time to digest. This could also be an opportunity to ensure that they are clear on how best to resolve the issue at hand and if they need anything further to help with this. This could look like offering additional training or mentoring to help steer them in the right direction. And finally, as obvious as it may sound, always consider how youd like to receive the feedback that youre providing. This can be a valuable sense-check on your approach and delivery, and, while every individual is different, it can be a useful touchstone. If you dont feel confident delivering feedback, find a role model in your organisation who is particularly effective when delivering feedback or even seek out some external resources or training to build your confidence in this area. Many news managers find providing negative feedback challenging in the early days but over time this skill can most definitely be improved. While effectively delivering trickier feedback can take time and effort to master, the positive change it brings is well worth the effort. It is vital to promote personal and professional growth, enhance personal and organisational performance, strengthen relationships and foster a workplace culture of continuous improvement. Be it positive or negative, providing staff with ongoing feedback is one of the most important and powerful development tools at your disposal. For more advice on ways to provide feedback, and navigate tricky conversations, visit: https://www.seek.com.au/career-advice/ Keep up to date with our stories on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Ten Ukrainian servicemen have completed F-16 fighter jet maintenance training in the Netherlands. Source: European Pravda with reference to the Dutch Ministry of Defence Details: The Netherlands has agreed to provide Ukraine with at least 24 F-16 fighter jets, which also need maintenance. Ukrainian servicemen practised maintaining all the fighter jet's critical parts that are essential for the pilot, including helmets, oxygen systems and onboard parachutes. The training also involved assembling and checking the rescue emergency kit. This kit, which includes items such as food and medical supplies, enables a pilot to survive for several days after an emergency landing. The training prepares soldiers for all possible risks during F-16 flights, ultimately providing better protection for Ukrainian pilots. The course was developed by the Flight Safety Equipment (VVU) cluster. "F-16 pilots essentially put their lives in the hands of the soldiers maintaining the aircraft. Once they take off, they know they can rely on these people's knowledge and skills and that the aircraft will be in good condition," the Dutch Ministry of Defence noted. The Netherlands is also one of the initiators of the European F-16 Training Centre (EFTC) in Romania. The EFTC has been provided with 11 F-16 aircraft. Background: Dutch Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren announced the transfer of a batch of YPR-765 infantry fighting vehicles to Kyiv at the 22nd meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, also known as the Ramstein-format meeting. Margarita Robles, Minister of Defence of Spain, announced the delivery of the second batch of Leopard tanks and other military aid to Ukraine at the 22nd Ramstein-format meeting. Support UP or become our patron! 11 children taken to hospitals after 3 school buses crash in Will County, Illinois, police say CHICAGO Eleven children were transported to the hospital after three school buses from Reed-Custer Schools were involved in a crash Tuesday morning on I-55 in the Chicago suburbs, according to Illinois State Police. A multi-unit crash involving the buses happened around 8:35 a.m. at I-55 northbound at milepost 246 in Will County, police said Tuesday afternoon. Officials had initially reported the crash occurring in Grundy County. The buses were traveling northbound in the right line when traffic slowed to a stop, police said. One bus was unable to stop in time and struck the back of another bus, which then struck the rear of the third. No other vehicles were involved in the crash, police said. Eleven children were transported to local hospitals with minor injuries, police said. The Braidwood Police Department said the rest of the children were returned to Reed-Custer Middle School in Braidwood while state police investigate the crash. All lanes of traffic were reopened by Tuesday afternoon, police said. The driver of the bus that didnt stop in time was cited for failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash. ____ 14-year-old airlifted to hospital after crash in Mercer County A 14-year-old was airlifted to the hospital after a crash in Mercer County, Monday afternoon. Around 2:19 p.m. Monday, crews were dispatched to State Route 29, east of Fleetfoot Rd in Jefferson Township on reports of a crash. The initial investigation revealed that 16-year-old Wesley Greber of Celina, Ohio was driving a car westbound on SR 19. Gurpreet Puaar, 36, of Fresno, California was driving eastbound in a semi-tractor and trailer. >> 3 people with gunshot wounds walk into hospital after shooting in Trotwood Greber reportedly traveled left of center into the eastbound lane and struck Puaar. Puaar refused treatment at the scene. Greber was transported to Mercer Health ER for treatment. Grebers front-seat passenger, 14-year-old Benjamin Ly of Celina, Ohio was airlifted and taken to Dayton Childrens Hospital for treatment. The crash remains under investigation at this time. The 18th Airborne Corps published a memo over the weekend that says soldiers on staff duty have to sleep for at least four consecutive hours. The memo lays out the logistics for whos in charge of making sure soldiers clock out to take their slumber and explicitly states that units cant hold soldiers past their shift to sleep. Typically, during staff duty, soldiers man the front desk and conduct checks of unit headquarters within their units area of operation. Maj. David Nixon, an operations officer for the 18th Airborne Corps, recommended the sleep guidelines as part of his field officer of the day duties, according to Capt. Victoria Horn, an Army spokesperson. The duties require him to identify issues and recommend solutions. Nixon suggested signing a policy that would mandate strict sleep requirements for soldiers to improve their mental acuity and reduce the possibility of accidents while on the job. The memo was signed by Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue, the commanding general of the 18th Airborne Corps, on May 13 and will be implemented across the corps, said Horn. Nixon wrote an opinion column in Military Times in 2023 about the lack of sleep for service members. Sleep and the lack of it has been a constant thorn in the militarys side. Improper fatigue management was determined to have played a role in the fatal Fitzgerald and John S. McCain destroyer collisions in 2017, according to National Transportation Safety Board accident reports. The U.S. Government Accountability Office published a comprehensive report earlier this year identifying specific areas of sleep deprivation issues in the military. The report found that a majority of service members say they sleep 6 hours or less, which falls below the Department of Defenses recommended 7 or more hours of sleep each day. Fatigue caused by inadequate sleep can negatively affect a service members performance and has contributed to accidents resulting in deaths and hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to ships, vehicles, and aircraft, said the report, which also likened impairment from fatigue to alcohol intoxication The report, which Nixon referenced in his recommendation to the 18th Airborne, also called on the Department of Defense to delegate fatigue-solving responsibilities to specific departments within the services. The effects of sleep deprivation go beyond short-term repercussions, according to Vincent Mysliwiec, director of sleep medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. Mysliwiec spent 27 years as an Army doctor 10 of them focusing on sleep and sleep medicine and served as the sleep medicine consultant to the Surgeon General of the United States Army. I think we do see a higher rate of chronic medical disorders later in their career, Mysliwiec said of service members, citing physical ailments and mental disorders. Addressing sleep, said Mysliwiec, helps prevent problems such as these later down the line. Mysliwiec, who researches sleep and sleep disorders in service members and veterans, was effusive in his praise of the 18th Airborne Corps requirement, calling it the best policy hed seen regarding a structured framework for sleep requirements. There are three major hurdles to fixing sleep deprivation in the services, said Diana Maurer, director of the defense capabilities and management team for the U.S. Government Accountability Office. There are operational difficulties that are just a part of the job. A soldier, for instance, might be deployed near loud noises that make it difficult to sleep. Theres also a cultural tide thats hard to shift. A whole suck-it-up-buttercup approach, said Maurer. And there are organizational problems, like deciding who to put in charge of addressing sleep deprivation when the responsibilities cover so many troops and require so much oversight. Regarding the 18th Airborne Corps new sleep requirement, she confessed she didnt know enough to offer much of a comment. But she was optimistic. Four is a start. MILLCREEK, Utah (ABC4) A 19-year-old is facing several felony charges after a house party allegedly escalated into a shooting at a high school campus in Salt Lake City over the weekend. According to court documents, Javier Martinez, 19, fired multiple rounds during a fight at West High School on Sunday, May 19, injuring at least three people. He was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail and faces four second-degree felony charges of discharge of a firearm resulting in injury and five third-degree felony charges of discharge of a firearm. Police say Martinez and several friends attended a house party in Millcreek but were quickly kicked out because there were too many people at the party. As they were leaving the party, Martinez claimed someone was throwing up gang signs at him, prompting him to pull out a gun and fire several shots into the air. Martinez said he fired his gun in an attempt to get the person to back up, according to court documents. After leaving the party, Martinez met up with his friends at West High School. Martinez told investigators one friend was upset at him for firing his gun. As they were speaking, one friend began badmouthing Martinez, according to court documents. Unified Police Department involved in overnight shooting in Millcreek The two allegedly exchanged words before the friend squared up to fight Martinez. Martinez told police he hit his friend once in the face and then felt another friend hit him from behind. Martinez told police he felt threatened and pulled out his gun, firing several shots into the ground as he was falling backward. One victim who allegedly admitted to police he joined the fight was shot in the foot while running away from Martinez. He was taken to the hospital and underwent surgery. Another victim reported being grazed in the neck by a bullet. Meanwhile, the victims reported another friend received a graze on their back. Detectives were able to locate Martinez after the shooting and safely take him into custody. Martinez told investigators where the gun he used was located. Police say they found the gun along with several magazines and ammunition. Charges are allegations only. All arrested persons are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. 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 ABC4 Utah. 190,000 consumers in Kharkiv Oblast and 101 settlements in Donetsk Oblast left without electricity Consumers in seven oblasts of Ukraine have been left without electricity because of a Russian attack. Source: press service of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine Kharkiv Oblast. After todays morning attack, oblast power networks in Kharkiv had been turned off. To prevent technological issues in the city, about 190,000 consumers had been left without electricity; as of now, the power supply has been restored. Due to the fighting, 34,200 metering points remain without electricity. Donetsk Oblast. Over the past 24 hours, Russian attacks have left 3,500 consumers in two settlements without electricity. Power engineers have restored the supply of electricity to 4,600 consumers in six settlements. As of the morning of 21 May, 101 settlements and a total of 47,100 consumers remain without voltage. Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. A total of 557 metering points were de-energized due to hostilities. The power supply has been restored for most of them. Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Repair teams have repaired damage to the networks near the line of contact that had been caused by attacks, and the power supply has been restored to 157 consumers. As a result of the fighting, more than 3,700 consumers in 51 settlements remain without electricity. Sumy Oblast. More than 7,500 consumers in 87 settlements remain without electricity because of Russian attacks. Kherson Oblast. An attack left 131 metering points in Kherson without electricity. More than 3,000 consumers in the city have been left without electricity, and 25,800 consumers in 45 settlements in Kherson Oblast remain without voltage. Chernihiv Oblast. As a result of the fighting, 1,500 consumers in 27 settlements remain without electricity. Background: Due to attacks on Monday, 21 May, consumers in seven oblasts of Ukraine were left without electricity. Support UP or become our patron! $2.1M home listed on Redfin appears to be that of Google engineer who allegedly killed wife (KRON) Move-in ready, freshly painted inside and out, and conveniently close to everything are a few of the descriptors in a Redfin listing for a Santa Clara home listed for $2,120,000. The home, located at 714 Valley Way, appeared on Redfin earlier this week and was built in 1960. It has a two-car garage, air conditioning and is outfitted with exquisite cabinets and top-notch appliances. However, the listing fails to mention the homes unfortunate history. As first reported by SFGate, the home appears to be the same one previously occupied by a Google engineer who allegedly savagely beat his wife to death inside the home. Driverless Waymo car thwarts robbers during police chase On Jan. 16 of this year, Xuanyi Yu, who was also a software engineer at Google, was found dead inside a home that matches the address of the Redfin listing. According to the Santa Clara County District Attorney, police responded to the home around 11 a.m. for a welfare check. Yus husband, Liren Chen, refused to answer his phone or the door, an acquaintance told police. He said he could see Chen inside the home motionless on his knees, had his hands in the air and was staring blankly. Officers entered the home and took Chen into custody. The victim was located deceased on the floor with severe blunt force injuries to her head. Chen, the DA said, had an extremely swollen and purple right hand, blood on his clothing, legs, arms and hands, and scratches on his arms. Paramedics, according to court documents, asked Chen how he hurt his hand. I punched my wife, he replied. Chen, 27, was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife. The California Association of Realtors states that sellers must disclose any deaths on a property listed within the last three years. KRON4 has reached out to the listing agent for the property for clarification. We have yet to hear back. 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 KRON4. 2 arrested after $300,000 in jewelry stolen at Cordova Mall: Pensacola Police PENSACOLA, Fla. (WKRG) Two people have been arrested in connection to a theft of $300,000 worth of jewelry at a Cordova Mall kiosk, according to the Pensacola Police Department. Aniahs Law hearing for Tyquan French reveals new info in Stockton shooting Jorge Giovanni Escobar-Gonzalez, 41, and Linda Mayulay Salazar-Canon, 42, were arrested in Osceola County on Monday on a warrant obtained by Pensacola Police detectives, according to a PPD release. The release said authorities recovered several pieces of allegedly stolen jewelry. Escobar-Gonzalez is charged with burglary, grand theft and criminal mischief, the release said. Salazar-Canon is charged with conspiracy to burglary and conspiracy to criminal mischief. Mobile woman accused of pulling knife on gas station clerk, stealing items: MPD A PPD spokesperson said the investigation is ongoing, and more arrests could be made. Both Escobar-Gonzalez and Salazar-Canon will be returned to Escambia County soon, according to the release. 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 WKRG News 5. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) The Oregon Treasury is in charge of the states investments and debt programs while protecting public assets making the Office of the Treasurer a pivotal role in business and taxpayer money. And as current Treasurer Tobias Read, a Democrat, leaves his office behind to run for secretary of state, the position remains wide open for the three candidates interested in taking over his job. The primary election on Tuesday, May 21 will determine the candidate that will represent their party in the upcoming November election. Candidate Profiles Democrats Jeff Gudman A second-generation Oregonian who has served eight years on Lake Oswego City Council, Gudman has spent years building the citys infrastructure. He has also served as a treasurer for Clackamas Free Clinic and SAGE, a generational equity organization. In a questionnaire submitted to KOIN 6 News, Gudman said he hopes to provide an unvarnished, fact-based review of Oregons financial landscape to expand economic opportunity for Oregon families, use resources more efficiently in the state, and increase transparency in government funding. Elizabeth Steiner You may already recognize her name, because she has served as an Oregon senator representing District 17 for Northwest Portland and Beaverton since 2011. During that time, Steiner has acted as one of the states chief budget writers since 2018 leading billion-dollar investments in healthcare, education, housing, and economic development. Steiner wrote in her response to KOIN 6 News questionnaire that her top issues are protecting retirement funding for the many Oregonians whove served our state diligently, helping Oregonians achieve financial security, and building on savings plans to help Oregonians build intergenerational wealth. Republican Brian Boquist You may also recognize the name of Boquist as another Oregon senator who is currently serving District 12 representing rural Polk and Yamhill Counties. Last year, he was among several Republicans in a walkout that lasted six weeks. He is one of two senators running for different state offices after being barred from reelection for accruing 10 or more unexcused absences under voter-approved Measure 113. He is running uncontested in the Republican primary and did not respond to KOIN 6 News inquiry for a questionnaire. KOIN 6 News is Your Local Election Headquarters. Stay with us as we bring you up-to-date campaign coverage through Novembers General Election. 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 KOIN.com. For a very long time, it seemed that the wheels of justice had stopped spinning in Libya, that those who were accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity would once again escape with impunity. Back in February 2011, the United Nations International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for three accused war criminals. Two warrants were withdrawn due to the death of the accused, and one, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, remains at large. The second Libyan Civil War started in 2014, and the ICC threatened to prosecute anyone who directly committed or ordered war crimes. But again, the accused seemed to have gotten away with impunity. Indeed, said Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan, for too long I believed that the situations in Libya had been allowed to drift. Three years ago, the ICC breathed new life into the investigation. As part of a briefing before the UN Security Council on May 14, Prosecutor Khan announced that the ICCs investigation will have finished by the end of 2025 and the first trial will begin before that year ends. The United States commends the ICC on increasing the momentum of the investigation, on its new efforts for prioritization, seeking additional arrest warrants, and on intention to commence trial proceedings without delay, said United States Legal Adviser at the UN Mission Mark Simonoff. But success also depends on the cooperation of Libyan authorities. We call on Libyan authorities to do more to support and advance global accountability efforts and to enhance cooperation with the ICC, he said. Former senior officials of the Qaddafi regime, such as Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, who is still subject to an ICC arrest warrant on charges of crimes against humanity, must face justice. The United States welcomes the increased contact with victims and civil society organizations in Libya as crucial to the delivery of justice for victims who have waited far too long to be heard, said Mark Simonoff. Victims and survivors deserve justice, which can be a powerful, stabilizing force for Libyas future. We particularly appreciate the emphasis on empowering victims and survivors and on witness protection. We continue to believe that resolving political uncertainty and promoting accountability will go a long way towards addressing the chronic instability in Libya, said Mark Simonoff. Human rights violations and abuses will continue unless meaningful steps are taken to resolve these issues and promote accountability. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) Incumbent Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Democratic challenger Janelle Bynum have won their May primary races for Oregons Fifth District, as called by the Associated Press. As of 10:30 p.m., Rep. Chavez-DeRemer who went unchallenged in the Republican race garnered 98% of the vote with over 33,000 votes counted. Her Democratic challenger, Janelle Bynum secured over 69% of the vote, followed by Jamie McLeod-Skinner who garnered 30% of the vote with over 50,000 votes counted. In a statement celebrating her win, Chavez-DeRemer said, From my decades of experience in local government, I know effective leadership requires putting in the work on the ground. Ive crisscrossed the 5th District listening to constituents, bringing feedback with me directly to D.C. and taking action. Families are understandably concerned with high living expenses and want to feel safer in their communities. As an independent voice for Oregon, Ive worked across the aisle to lower costs, tackle the fentanyl crisis, and reduce crime. Im honored to have such a strong coalition of support from Oregonians of all backgrounds Republicans, Democrats, and Independents and Ill continue fighting tirelessly to grow our movement so we can keep building a better Oregon by advancing commonsense solutions. Celebrating her win on the Democratic nomination, Bynum said, I am beyond honored and grateful to be the Democratic nominee for Oregons 5th Congressional District. As a mother of four, Im running to make the future brighter for them and every child in Oregon for their education, their health, and their opportunities here at home. Im running because working families in Oregon who are struggling with rising costs need a fighter who will deliver for them, not special interests, and I have a proven track record of delivering solutions to the biggest challenges facing our community. There is so much at stake in this election and we have a choice between a democracy that works for folks here in Oregon, or the dysfunction in Congress that works for no one. Our district cannot afford two more years of an extreme enabler like Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who has gone along with the chaos of her far-right party and proven herself to be a part of the problem in DC at a time when our families need answers more than ever. In Congress, Ill work to address our growing housing crisis, create good-paying jobs, and bring federal resources home where they belong. And unlike Lori Chavez-Deremer, I will do everything I can to protect and expand abortion access for Oregon women. The fight for our families and our future starts now and Im ready to lead, Bynum continued. McLeod-Skinner released the following statement conceding the race: To my family, team, volunteers, and Oregonians, thank you for your support and hard work. Im so proud that our work has been driven by, and for, everyday Oregonians fighting for a better future for all of us! I would like to congratulate Janelle Bynum on becoming the Democratic nominee for Oregons 5th Congressional District. I also want to express my appreciation to our families, who sacrifice more than people realize when a loved one runs for office. Its now time for Democrats to unite behind our shared goal of defeating the MAGA extremist agenda and winning this seat in November, so we can take back the House of Representatives. Public service is a tremendous privilege. I have been honored to serve the people of Oregon in several capacities; I look forward to continuing my life of public service. Incumbent Lori Chavez-DeRemer narrowly won the seat by two points in 2022 against McLeod-Skinner. The District 5 seat includes Linn County, most of Clackamas and Deschutes counties, and parts of Multnomah, and Marion counties. Stay with KOIN 6 News for updates on primary election results. 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 KOIN.com. ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Ala. (WKRG) Two men were arrested after allegedly trespassing onto state property with contraband near the Holman Correctional Facility, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections. Wilmer woman arrested after driving under the influence: Semmes Police Matthew Cameron Jones and Richard Facison were arrested and taken to the Escambia County Jail following the incident, which officials say happened on Monday, May 20. According to an ADOC press release, two male trespassers, later identified as Jones and Facison, were found by the Alabama Department of Corrections Southern Region K-9 Unit on Monday, May 20. Thirteen packages of contraband were also located inside a perimeter fence, the release noted. Jones was charged with prohibited activities, first-degree promoting prison contraband, criminal trespassing, and second-degree possession of marijuana in connection with the incident. Facison was charged with prohibited activities, first-degree promoting prison contraband and criminal trespassing, according to the release. Authorities release arrest numbers for Hangout Fest 2024 The Law Enforcement Services Division is ongoing, and further charges may be pending, the release said. 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 WKRG News 5. Democratic state Rep. Janelle Bynum talks with a voter in Oregon's 5th Congressional District in March. National Democrats see her as the best contender to flip a seat that is critical to retaking the U.S. House. Matt Roth/Bynum Campaign Facebook Page Oregon Democrats are set to cast ballots in congressional primaries on Tuesday, where two competitive House races could affect both the partys chances of taking back the House and the relative strength of progressives and moderates inside the House Democratic Caucus. In Oregons 5th Congressional District, former Democratic nominee Jamie McLeod-Skinner is competing with state Rep. Janelle Bynum, the national Democrats pick, for the chance to take on Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer. And in Oregons 3rd Congressional District, a solid Democratic seat that contains most of Portland, Multnomah County Commissioner Susheela Jayapal is locked in a tight race with state Rep. Maxine Dexter, a physician favored by pro-Israel donors and deep-pocketed outside groups. A House Seat Democrats Cant Afford To Lose Last election cycle, McLeod-Skinner, a progressive small-business owner and former civil servant from central Oregon, unseated centrist Rep. Kurt Schrader in a contentious primary in Oregons 5th. Schrader, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and corporate-backed super PACs heavily outspent McLeod-Skinner and her backers, but McLeod-Skinner capitalized on the new makeup of the district and on Schraders obstruction of President Joe Bidens prescription drug price negotiations. But in November, McLeod-Skinner lost the seat to Chavez-DeRemer, a former mayor of Happy Valley. Chavez-DeRemer and national Republicans seized on McLeod-Skinners ties to progressive groups, such as the Working Families Party, and her government work in the San Francisco Bay Area to paint her as an anti-police radical at a moment of growing suburban backlash to Portlands influential activist left. The elections outcome in a district Biden carried by nearly 9 percentage points denied progressives an opportunity to show they could win a general election with a nominee they had propelled through a primary. Former aides to McLeod-Skinner accused her of being verbally abusive, as well as allegedly making her driver feel physically threatened. McLeod-Skinner has denied the accusations, saying instead that her campaign fired the driver because he was physically threatening her. Jamie McLeod-Skinner, Bynum's rival for the Democratic nomination, lost in the general election in 2022. Her supporters insist that she still has a better feel for Oregon's 5th Congressional District. Steve Dipaola/Associated Press This cycle, national Democrats, who would need to flip just a handful of seats to retake the House, were not going to take any chances. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) personally reached out to Bynum, who represents the Portland suburbs in the state legislature, to persuade her to run. Bynum, a mainstream liberal and restaurant owner, would be the first Black member of Congress from Oregon, where only 2% of the population is Black. Police were called on Bynum, the only Black member of the Oregon state House, while she was canvassing a white neighborhood in 2018. Bynums selling points as a more electable candidate are obvious. The Happy Valley resident defeated Chavez-DeRemer in two consecutive state House races, in 2016 and 2018. The DCCC, which has gotten pushback for wading into contentious Democratic primaries in the past, has gone all in for Bynum, using a campaign-finance loophole to co-bankroll TV ads with her campaign. Her list of endorsers is a whos who of important Democratic interest groups and elected officials, including the super PACs 314 Action Fund and Mainstream Democrats, which have jointly spent $1.2 million on her behalf. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.) flipped a seat in 2022 that President Joe Biden had won in 2020 by about 9 percentage points. Democrats are now targeting her for defeat. Andrew Harnik/Associated Press McLeod-Skinners only significant source of outside support is from Health Equity Now, which sprung up days ago, seemingly out of nowhere, to spend nearly $500,000 on promoting McLeod-Skinners support for Medicare for All and other progressive values. The groups funders are still unknown, but it has a Republican treasurer and purchased ad time using a Republican-affiliated firm. That has raised the prospect that national Republicans are trying to elevate McLeod-Skinner in the hopes of facing her in the general election. Bynums campaign manager, Blakely Wall, cited it as evidence that McLeod-Skinner is Republicans dream candidate. But McLeod-Skinner could still win this thing. A late April internal poll released by the Bynum campaign had her leading McLeod-Skinner by just 3 percentage points and that was before McLeod-Skinner had begun advertising on television. The handful of policy differences between Bynum and McLeod-Skinner could also be significant to a certain kind of discerning, left-leaning voter. Like other Democratic state lawmakers in Oregon, Bynum has accepted corporate donations; unlike McLeod-Skinner, she refuses to forswear contributions to her federal campaign from corporate PACs and does not support Medicare for All. Bynum is backed by the pro-Israel group Democratic Majority for Israel PAC and the business-friendly New Democrat Coalition. McLeod-Skinners campaign materials, meanwhile, emphasize both her commitment to Democratic priorities, such as abortion rights, and a populist commitment to fighting corruption and corporate abuses of power. More than any other issue, though, McLeod-Skinner has seized on Bynums lone opposition to a 2019 bill extending the statute of limitations on sexual assault survivors ability to sue their alleged attackers, from two years to seven years. Bynum, who cited the need to give the accused due process and to recognize the racial discrimination in the legal system, voted for a more moderate bill lengthening the statute of limitations to five years. Finally, some local Democrats have chafed at the DCCCs intervention in the race. The chairs of four county Democratic parties in the district expressed their objections to the national campaign arms involvement in a February letter. Judy Stiegler, a former Democratic state representative from Bend who is supporting McLeod-Skinner, said she was off-put by the national partys involvement. Asked about electability concerns, Stiegler said, Its going to be a tough race no matter who wins the primary. Susheela Jayapal, a Multnomah County commissioner and older sister to Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), is the left-wing favorite to represent an open Portland district. Susheela Jayapal Campaign/Facebook Portland Progressive Battles Pro-Israel Donors Rep. Earl Blumenauers impending retirement has created a rare opportunity for aspiring Democrats to represent Oregons solidly Democratic 3rd Congressional District. The seat, which includes most of Portland, its eastern suburbs and a constellation of rural communities below the Hood River, has historically been one of Congresss more liberal districts. The two most formidable contenders are Susheela Jayapal, who serves in county government and is an older sister to Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and state Rep. Maxine Dexter. Eddy Morales, a progressive organizer and Gresham City Council member, is also running but has raised fewer funds with which to communicate his message. Jayapal is the left-wing favorite in the race, having picked up the support of Congresss big-name progressives. Dexter, also a progressive by national standards, has benefited from a last-minute surge in outside spending on her behalf. The 314 Action Fund, which backs Democratic scientists or people from related professions, has spent more than $2.2 million boosting Dexters bid. And a super PAC of unknown origins and funding, Voters for Responsive Government, has arisen to spend more than $3.2 million blasting Jayapal. At about the same time, pro-Israel donors affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) have begun rushing donations directly to Dexters campaign, including $220,000 on May 7 alone, according to The Intercepts analysis of campaign finance records. I give all my contributions through AIPAC, donor Jone Dalezman told The Intercept. Whenever I am asked to give to their endorsed candidates, I give. Although Dexter has called for a negotiated cease-fire in Gaza and has criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, unlike Jayapal, she has not come out in favor of imposing stricter conditions on U.S. aid to the Jewish state. Dr. Maxine Dexter, a state representative, does not go as far as Jayapal in her criticism of Israel. She has the support of the majority of big-money groups. Maxine for Oregon/Facebook Jayapal and her allies have done their best to at least make the pro-Israel donors support for Dexters campaign a liability, noting that many of the AIPAC donors who have flocked to her are Republicans. One major example is Larry Mizel, the chair of a Denver-based home-building giant, who served as finance chair on former President Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign. Republican megadonors have spent millions to defeat my sister Susheela Jayapal all because she is a proud, effective progressive, Rep. Pramila Jayapal posted Sunday on X. The progressive super PAC cavalry has not come out in force for Susheela Jayapal, however, raising doubts about whether she can sound the alarm about Dexters backers in time for it to matter. The Impact Fund, a super PAC that supports Indian American candidates, has spent nearly $160,000 boosting Jayapal in direct mail and text messages. But despite Pramila Jayapals support, the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, which has spent six-figure sums in Democratic primaries in the past, has stayed out of the race. A spokesperson for the PAC declined to comment about why and whether an endorsement had been put to a membership vote. Related... BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) Two people have pleaded not guilty in connection to the death of a Genesee County Sheriffs Office sergeant in March. On Monday, Michael Elmore, 33, and Lyndsey Wilcox, 39, appeared in court with counsel. Elmore has been accused of the following: first-degree aggravated manslaughter aggravated criminally negligent homicide first-degree assault second-degree burglary (two counts) second-degree assault obstructing governmental administration Wilcox was indicted on the following charges: second-degree burglary second-degree assault obstructing governmental administration resisting arrest Son of fallen Genesee County sergeant: My dad wouldnt want threats against suspects Sgt. Thomas Sanfratello, 54, had been a member of the Sheriffs office since 1992. Earlier this year, he was working at Batavia Downs when he was notified of an alleged verbal confrontation. He and members of the facilitys security staff responded and began to escort Elmore and Wilcox out of the hotel, according to officials. During an alleged struggle with Elmore, officials said Sanfratello tried to use a stun gun, but suffered a fatal medical event. Prior to the medical event, Elmore allegedly hit Sanfratello in the head and face with a metal necklace. In court Monday, orders of protection were issued for the victims and witnesses, according to the Genesee County District Attorneys office. Elmores bail status of $150,000 was continued, while Wilcoxs was set at $20,000. Both are scheduled to appear in court again on July 31. Latest Local News Evan Anstey is an Associated Press Award, JANY Award and Emmy-nominated digital producer who has been part of the News 4 team since 2015. See more of his work here and follow him on Twitter. 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 News 4 Buffalo. Two South Carolina high school students bodies were recovered from a lake on the Georgia border after they jumped off a bridge, according to WJCL. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Rayan Al-nasser, 16, and Zakaria Chaar, 15, were found dead in 15 feet of water Monday morning after they jumped off a bridge into Lake Hartwell on Saturday night. TRENDING STORIES: Both boys were sophomores at D.W. Daniel High School in Central, SC. Lake Hartwell is on the border of Georgia and South Carolina. According to WJCL, the boys friends called 911 Saturday night around 10:30 p.m. when they couldnt find them. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] Officials told WJCL that the boys were among a group of teens involved in a group chat daring each other to jump off the bridge, which is near the Twelve Mile Boat Ramp. Deputies told WJCL that after the boys started jumping in the water, one landed awkwardly. Another student jumped in to help him and both boys became distressed. They both went under and didnt resurface. Another student had to be rescued after getting caught in the swift current under the bridge. The school district released a statement, writing: The School District of Pickens County (SDPC) is heartbroken to learn of the passing of two students from D.W. Daniel High School. Our deepest condolences and prayers go out to the families, friends, and the entire D.W. Daniel High School community. The loss of these young lives is a profound tragedy, impacting not only their families but also their classmates, teachers, and the broader community. In times like this, our priority is to provide the necessary support and care to our students, staff, and families. SDPC has a dedicated team of school counselors, psychologists, and mental health professionals ready to assist anyone in need during this difficult time. We are also grateful for the support of community organizations that are stepping in to help. We ask for privacy and respect for the families as they navigate through this unimaginable loss. Our thoughts are with everyone impacted by this tragedy. SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) Two suspects were arrested Friday in connection to a shoplifting incident at a San Francisco Walgreens, police said. According to the San Francisco Police Department, a third suspect is sought. SFPD Mission District officers responded to the Walgreens at 1333 Castro Street regarding shoplifters, police said. A description of the suspects was broadcast by dispatch. Walnut Creek BART Station reopened after person removed from tracks En route to the scene, officers observed three suspects who matched the description heading east on 24th Street from Valencia Street on foot. The suspects, police said, dropped two bags containing merchandise and fled. Officers were able to locate and detain one of the suspects within a few moments. A second suspect was located and detained near the 24th and Mission BART Plaza following a brief foot pursuit. Police were unable to locate the third suspect. Officers obtained surveillance footage from Walgreens and confirmed the detained suspects involvement. Both suspects were arrested and charged with second-degree burglary. The discarded merchandise was seized. 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 KRON4. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) is searching for two men allegedly posing as hotel guests while breaking into rooms and stealing peoples belongings. The MNPD said on Sunday, May 5, the victims reported several thousand dollars worth of their belongings had been stolen from their room at the Westin Hotel, located in the 800 block of Clark Place. North Nashville neighbors concerned for safety after gun battle in street One of the suspects has been identified as 53-year-old Ronald Fillinger Jr., while the identity of his accomplice was not released. Fillingers accomplice was seen with him on surveillance video during the burglary at the Westin Hotel, and police said they have issued warrants against Fillinger charging him with aggravated burglary and theft of property. Ronald Fillinger Jr. (Source: Metro Nashville Police Department) Fillingers accomplice (Source: Metro Nashville Police Department) According to investigators, two additional warrants charging Fillinger with aggravated burglary have been issued against him in two separate cases. Woman arrested for allegedly stabbing WeGo bus driver Police said on March 26, Fillinger is believed to have used an employees key card to get into a hotel room at the Courtyard by Marriot, located in the 1900 block of West End Avenue. Once inside, he allegedly took nearly $1,000 worth of items. Fillinger was in possession luggage and left the luggage behind at the Marriot. Police recovered the luggage and found Fillingers Davidson County Sheriffs Office issued prisoner ID card inside, according to authorities. On March 20, Fillinger allegedly stole multiple items from a room at the Wyndham Hotel, located in the 2400 block of McGavock Pike. Police said several of the belongings taken from the Wyndham Hotel were found in the luggage he left behind at the Courtyard by Marriot. CRIME TRACKER | Read the latest crime news from Middle Tennessee Records show Fillinger was last arrested on Jan. 31 after staff at Lea Avenues SoBro Apartments & Homesharing found him sleeping in an unoccupied room. Staff members had reportedly left the door to the room open for the room to be dehumidified. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463. 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 WKRN News 2. A man detained pretrial at the Shelby County Jail at 201 Poplar, who was allegedly assaulted by corrections officers while handcuffed in a medical room, has sued the county, and a number of jail personnel, for a minimum of $500,000 in damages. The lawsuit, filed in federal court Monday night, comes about six months after Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner and District Attorney Steve Mulroy announced that two deputies Reginald Wilkins, a 16-year veteran of the department, and Odell Underwood, a 25-year veteran of the department had been indicted in the alleged beating. That November press conference was the first mention of the incident publicly. This case concerns the reckless, even deliberately indifferent, conduct of the personnel at the Shelby County Mens Jail, who at best stood idly by, and at worst directed and helped facilitate, the common-law assault and battery of plaintiff Damien Florez-Ramirez, a pretrial detainee, by two members of the Shelby County Sheriffs Offices black-uniformed detention response team, the legal filing states. The lawsuit goes on to say that Shelby County government was negligent in hiring, training and retaining Underwood and Wilkins as corrections officers. The two corrections officers face felony official oppression, felony official misconduct and simple assault charges. Florez-Ramirez, the inmate who was allegedly beaten, has retained Sara McKinney and Jake Brown who have litigated a number of cases against the county over the jail conditions. The Shelby County Criminal Justice Center, located at 201 Poplar, is seen in Memphis, Tenn., on Tuesday, November 14, 2023. What happened to Damien Florez-Ramirez at 201 Poplar? According to the lawsuit, Florez-Ramirez was taken to the medical wing of 201 Poplar after getting in a fight with corrections officers. The lawsuit said he threw a chair and punched a corrections officer, identified as Sgt. Kendal Davis. Davis, the lawsuit said, then tackled and "repeatedly punched Florez-Ramirez." The lawsuit also said the inmate was sprayed with Freeze +P, an oil-based chemical irritant. At 1:51 p.m., on May 20, 2023, the lawsuit said Florez-Ramirez was taken to the medical wing at 201 Poplar. He had "no visible injuries" when he went into medical exam room 213 for treatment. The lawsuit also said there were no cameras in the medical exam rooms, and at the time the indictment was announced, Shelby County Deputy District Attorney Paul Hagerman told reporters that there was no footage of the actual assault, but cameras outside the room captured "critical, corroborative evidence as far as the actual assault." More: Attorney for inmate in latest Shelby County jail indictment outlines new beating details At 1:54 p.m., the lawsuit alleged Underwood and Wilkins entered medical room 213 where Florez-Ramirez was laying on an exam bed with his hands handcuffed behind his back and then "threatened" the inmate with physical harm. After the two left room 213, a nurse walked in and examined the inmate. She said, according to the lawsuit, that Florez-Ramirez had his "hands cuffed behind him, and no visible injuries, for the entire time she remained in room 213 with him." She also said she did not remember the "distinct odor" of the chemical irritant when she first examined him, and the room was not in disarray. When the nurse cleared him to be returned to his cell, Wilkins took his wristwatch off and gave it to a sergeant. Attorney Jake Brown, a co-counsel with Ben Crump and Brice Timmons for the Freeman family, speaks about Gershun Freemans death while in custody at Shelby County Jail during a press conference outside of the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center in Memphis, Tenn., on March 17, 2023. "Upon general information and belief, Sergeant Tamiko Swain knew Wilkins took off his wristwatch in anticipation of physically attacking Florez-Ramirez," the lawsuit said. "She did nothing to stop that from happening." At 1:58 p.m., after a lieutenant cleared corrections officers from the hallway, Underwood and Wilkins went back into the room. The lieutenant, the lawsuit said, seemed to be standing guard outside the exam room. The timing of the lieutenants dispersal order just prior to the assault and battery and the fact that the lieutenant remained directly outside room 213 while it happened, support the plausible inference that the lieutenant helped facilitate the assault and battery first by dispersing other personnel, then by standing watch, the lawsuit alleged. At the very least, the lieutenant would have heard everything happening inside room 213. He would do nothing to intervene. For about six minutes, the two corrections officers were alleged to have sprayed chemical irritants at Florez-Ramirez, kicked him and punched him with "handcuffs used as brass knuckles." Wilkins first struck Florez-Ramirez under the right eye, the lawsuit said. That blow knocked Florez-Ramirez still in handcuffs from the medical examination table to the floor, where the blackshirts repeatedly kicked and struck him. Underwood and Wilkins repeatedly kicked Florez-Ramirez in the face and torso while shouting, Get up, (b****)! Florez-Ramirez could not get up because he was trying to protect his head difficult to do with his hands cuffed behind his back while the two blakshirts continued to stomp him. The two blackshirts also struck Florez-Ramirez more than ten times in the head with their fists, handcuffs (used as brass knuckles) and metal Freeze +P canisters. The blows from the metal implements left permanent divots in the bony parts of Florez-Ramirezs forehead and left and right orbitals. More: Shelby County Jail inmates injured after objects in jail set on fire, cell doors broken More: More cell locks broken by inmates, building age in ongoing Memphis jail facility struggles When a nurse was asked to look at Florez-Ramirez by the officers, the chemical agent hung so thickly in the air that she could not breathe, and moved him to a neighboring room. Inside room 212, Florez-Ramirez told nurse (Ashlyn) Cunningham what the blackshirts did to him and pleaded for help, the lawsuit said. He also asked her to take pictures and document his injuries. She did not. Instead, nurse Cunningham pretended not to notice the young mans condition. She refused to report what Florez-Ramirez told her to jail administration, accurately document the facial injuries or summon other medical staff for help. She slapped a band-aid on the gash above Florez-Ramirezs right eye, then left him to the blackshirts while she went about her other work. The corrections officers then took Florez-Ramirez to an administrative segregation unit, and took, him to a room where inmates change clothes on the way to the unit. They told a corrections officer stationed there that they needed to search the inmate. There were no cameras inside the room, the lawsuit said. Inside the changing room, the lawsuit said, officers assaulted him again. Other officers told investigators that they saw Florez-Ramirez going in and out of consciousness, and heard him repeating Im hurting. Im hurting, the lawsuit said, after he was taken from the changing room to an administrative segregation cells. By 2:19 p.m., the lawsuit said Florez-Ramirez lost consciousness in an administrative segregation cell. At about that same time, the lawsuit said that nurses found room 213, where the inmate was allegedly beaten, in disarray. The lawsuit said the nurses said there were medical instruments knocked from the wall to the floor and recalled a moderate or concerning amount of blood pooled on the floor on both sides of the exam table. At 2:44 p.m., Florez-Ramirez was taken from the jail to an ambulance. He was then taken to Regional One Health, where the lawsuit said: he received treatment for a concussion, facial lacerations and blunt-force trauma to the head. The lawsuit also lists four other inmates who have alleged corrections officers used violence on inmates as punishment, asserting that this establishes a pattern of correctional staff maliciously and sadistically inflicting violence on inmates, usually pretrial detainees, for the purpose of punishment after the fact. Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, or (901)208-3922, and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @LucasFinton. This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Shelby County Jail inmate files $500k lawsuit after alleged beating 22-year-old on hike with friends falls 60 feet to her death, cops say. Heart is broken A 22-year-old was hiking with friends in a popular river canyon in Oregon when she fell 60 feet to her death, deputies said. Elisha Angelic Macias, of Hillsboro, was pronounced dead at about 4:35 p.m. May 19 in the Columbia River Gorge, the Multnomah County Sheriffs Office said in a news release. Macias and her friends were on the Oneonta Trail together, which is a popular day hike that takes visitors past waterfalls and has steep creek-weathered basalt cliffs, according to the U.S. Forest Service. At one point, deputies said she separated from the group, went off trail, and fell 50 to 60 feet off a cliff west of the Horsetail Falls Trailhead. Another hiker was performing CPR on Macias when deputies got to the scene, but medical responders pronounced her dead. Her body has been turned over to the Multnomah County Medical Examiner. You were a literal angel. Even your middle name is angelic, Marisa Waldo wrote on Facebook. You were such a special soul on this planet! My heart is broken and Im devastated.... god took you to early, Brittney Hernandez wrote. The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area is a spectacular river canyon that runs 80 miles long and is 4,000 feet deep, according to forest officials. Visitors can hike, look for waterfalls, backpack, mountain bike and camp in the forested area. Hiker missing after texting friend he reached stormy mountain peak, CO rangers say Hiker stranded on Utah hoodoo with sharp, catastrophic drop on all sides, photo shows Hiker falls during trek in canyon, spends night in cold with dead phone, rescuers say 22-Year-Old Woman Dead After Falling Off Cliff While Hiking with Friends: 'A Literal Angel' Elisha Angelic Macia, 22, became separated from the group, and she eventually fell 50 to 60 feet near the Oregon trail, authorities said Getty The Horsetail Falls at the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon A 22-year-old woman died over the weekend after she fell while hiking with friends near the Oneonta Trail in the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon, authorities said. The victim was identified as Elisha Angelic Macia, the Multnomah County Sheriffs Office said in a news release. On Sunday, May 19, 2024, at approximately 4:20 p.m., Multnomah County Sheriffs Office (MCSO) deputies responded to a call that a hiker had fallen from a cliff west of the Horsetail Falls trailhead. When deputies arrived, another hiker was performing CPR," the sheriff's office said. "Cascade Locks Fire & EMS personnel arrived and pronounced the hiker deceased at approximately 4:35 p.m." Related: Missing Hiker Found Dead After 1,000-Foot Fall from Mt. Whitney in California's Sequoia National Park Authorities said that during the hike, Macia became separated from her friends, and she eventually fell 50 to 60 feet. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. It remains unclear at this time how she plunged off the cliff. "No one in the group saw her fall, the MCSO's statement read. Related: Missing 22-Year-Old Hiker Found Dead in Calif. Wilderness Park: 'The Family Is Extremely Grieved' Deputy John Plock stressed the importance of staying with a group while hiking, according to NBC affiliate KGW. If you go off trail, it can be very dangerous," he said. "Unfortunately, thats what happened here. This young lady separated herself from her group, went off trail and ended up falling." Related: Hiker Rescued 12 Hours After His Knee Got Stuck in Crack of Cliff Following Macias death, a friend honored her in a post on Facebook, writing, "You were a literal angel." Even your middle name is 'angelic,' the woman added. "You were such a special soul on this planet! Your voice, personality etc! Ill never forget how much fun we had together in 5th grade. You will be oh so missed!! According to KGW, Macia is the second hiker to die due to a fall in the Columbia River Gorge, following a woman who fell to her death in March. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire. The United States continues working relentlessly to surge assistance through all available means to address the impacts of this crisis. The entire population of Gaza around 2.2 million people is facing acute food insecurity, meaning they require food assistance, and the threat of famine is looming, said USAID Response Director Dan Dieckhaus in a recent briefing. More than half of the population in northern Gaza is facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity, and nearly 30 percent of the children there are severely malnourished. In the south, in southern Gaza, nearly a quarter of the population is facing this type of food insecurity. The dire situation in Gaza is further complicated by Israeli forces going into Rafah, which has forced approximately 640,000 people to flee since May 6th, said Mr. Dieckhaus. Humanitarian actors are facing significant challenges getting aid into Rafah given the closure of critical border crossings as well as accessing warehouses and distributing aid due to the deteriorating situation. International efforts are under way to increase the flow of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza through all available routes, including by land, by air, and now by sea, said Vice Admiral Brad Cooper in a briefing: To date, the United States along with over a dozen partners has executed more than 38 humanitarian airdrop missions. These missions have focused on dropping humanitarian assistance from the air, predominantly into north Gaza. With our partners, we have cumulatively provided more than 3 million meals into Gaza by airdrops, more than 1 million of which have been from the United States. USAID is coordinating with the Department of Defense to establish a maritime corridor to augment ongoing efforts to scale the delivery of humanitarian aid by land, explained Mr. Dieckhaus: This maritime corridor includes the construction of a temporary pier ... in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Gaza and directly into Gaza to assist humanitarian organizations to receive and deliver lifesaving assistance in an independent, neutral, and impartial manner. We continue working to ensure lifesaving assistance reaches civilians in need through all avenues, said Response Director Dieckhaus, and we will continue to do everything we can to save lives and alleviate the suffering of those in greatest need. NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) A Norfolk man already convicted of two murders will soon find out if hes guilty of a third. Cola Beale admits to killing his cousin Downing McLean, but his attorney says this is a case of manslaughter and not murder. The jury saw the police interrogation of Beale, first by Virginia Beach detectives, and then Norfolk detectives. Beale was convicted two months ago in the March 2022 murders in Va. Beach of his girlfriend Czavier Hill and the man he considered his father, Clifton Baxter. Testimony in court indicated that McLean was present at both of those killings. Beale Told investigators he killed his cousin just days later during an argument at an apartment on Sewells Point Road. Beale claimed that McLean wanted Beale to kill someone on his behalf. But Beale refused and told McLean dont put me in the middle of your s***. Beale said McLean kept yelling and was acting crazy and belligerent. Thats when Beale shot McLean once in the mouth and then a second time in the back. The shot to the back would have been fatal according to a forensic pathologist who testified. He was talking to me like I was a b****, Beale told investigators. I killed him straight up. Evidence from the scene included 9 mm shell casings and a bullet that matched a gun that belonged to Beale, as well as several tooth fragments. The Commonwealth has rested, and the defense does not plan to call any witnesses meaning Beale will not testify on his own behalf. The defense tried to have the case converted to a manslaughter charge but was denied. The jury should get the case sometime before noon Wednesday. Cola Beale IV is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the fatal shooting of his cousin, Downing McLean. Beale could face up to life in prison if found guilty. The trial starts at 9:30 a.m. Downing McLean (Courtesy: Ashley McLean) On March 28, 2022, Norfolk Police found 32-year-old McLean dead inside a home on Sewells Point Road. Police said McLean had multiple gun shot wounds. After his death, 10 On Your Side spoke to McLeans sister, Ashley. They grew up together. My aunt, who is [Beales] mother, we would all have cookouts and gatherings, and things of that sort, they were always together, said Ashley in 2022. At the time, she said her brother never spoke to her about fearing Beale. He trusted him, just like a brother. Thats why its so hard to believe, and so shocking. Its just a hard burden to swallow, Ashley said in 2022. Days before McLeans death, Beale shot and killed his girlfriend, 31-year-old Czavier Hill, in Virginia Beach. He then set her home on fire with her and her dog inside. Just one day later, Beales father figure, 73-year-old Clifton Baxter, was found dead from a gunshot wound. New mugshot of Cola Beale released March 31, 2022 (Photo courtesy: Virginia Beach City Jail) Man accused in 3 homicides gives insight into weeks before killings In April 2022, in a jail interview, Beale admitted to the murders. At the time of the interview he said he had no remorse for what happened. Each person had a different reason why I did it. It wasnt like I just woke up and said Im going to kill my girlfriend, Beale said in 2022. In March 20, 2024, a Virginia Beach jury found Beale guilty of two counts of aggravated murder, two counts of arson, abduction, torturing an animal causing death and gun charges. It took the jury of six women and six men about an hour to deliberate before reaching that verdict. Man found guilty for murdering girlfriend and father figure in Virginia Beach Following that verdict, Beale did a second interview with 10 On Your Side. Justice was served: Cola Beale IV says he has remorse after verdict I definitely apologize for everything that happened, but I know what happened he said. The apology is not enough, he said. Justice was served. Beale is scheduled to be sentenced for the Virginia Beach murders on July 2. 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 WAVY.com. 3 arrested, drugs and guns seized in Clarke County raids Police seized cocaine, meth, fentanyl, heroin, and guns after serving several arrest warrants in Clarke County. On May 16, Athens-Clark County Police Department participated in a multi-agency drug investigation. During the searches, approximately 35 kilograms of cocaine, 5 pounds of methamphetamine, 1 kilogram of fentanyl, 1 kilogram of heroin, and 19 guns were seized. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Two of the guns were pistols modified with switches that enabled automatic fire. Luis Reyes-Juarez of Athens, GA, 23, Luis Angel Campuzano of Athens, GA, 22, and Edwin Rolando Chavez of Athens, GA, 22 were arrested and charged with trafficking illegal drugs. TRENDING STORIES: [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: A pack of pit-bull dogs has been caught and one killed after attacking an older man and a mother walking with her 12-year-old son in a Chatham County neighborhood. Chatham County sheriffs deputies responded to a 911 call around 6:30 p.m. Monday in the Firefly Overlook housing development near Jordan Lake, according to a news release. They found the woman and her son with multiple bite wounds to their legs and a bite to the womans left hand. Deputies worked to capture the dogs, while the victims were taken by ambulance to WakeMed Hospital in Wake County, the release said. During their investigation, deputies learned the dogs had also bitten a 66-year-old man from Cary around 2 p.m. Monday. The man drove himself to a Wake County urgent-care facility, where he was treated for several bites. Deputies captured three of the four pit bulls and took them to the Chatham County Sheriffs Office Animal Resource Center, where they are being held for the 10-day rabies observation period required under state law. The fourth pit bull got away but was found later Monday. A deputy tried to capture the dog and eventually shot and killed it to prevent further damage to the community, the release stated. That dog was sent to the state laboratory for rabies testing. The owner of the dogs has not yet been found, deputies said. What does state, local law say about aggressive dogs? The local health director can declare that a dog is vicious and a menace to public health when it attacks a person without provocation, causing injuries. The law allows the owner to appeal the decision within 10 days of the health directors decision. The health director can also order the owner to confine the dog to the owners property, unless the dog is leashed, muzzled and in the care of a person who is able to control the dog. The owner of the vicious dog can also be held liable in court for damages and face misdemeanor charges. The owner also can be charged for the cost of keeping the dog in the animal shelter. If the owner is not found, the health director can order the animal to be killed. Anyone with information can call the Chatham County Sheriffs Office at 919-542-2811. 3 local cities make US News Best Places to Live list Editors note: This story is available as a result of a content partnership between WFTV and the Orlando Business Journal. Three Central Florida cities are once again among the top 100 on U.S. News & World Reports 2024-2025 Best Places to Live list. Melbourne, Orlando and Daytona Beach which ranked No. 15, No. 49 and No. 52 on the list, respectively, on the 2023-2024 list have weighed in at No. 49 (Melbourne), No. 68 (Orlando) and No. 96 (Daytona Beach) for the 2024-2025 list. The publication ranked the cities according to several factors, including the local job market, cost of living and overall desirability. Read: 2 drown while trying to save 17-year-old friend struggling in Florida river 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. Tim McCloud, Brent Barker and Sen. Dennis Linthicum are running for Oregon secretary of state. State Sen. Dennis Linthicum is off to an early lead in the GOP race for secretary of state, according to initial election results. Three Republicans are vying for their party's nomination for Oregon secretary of state in Tuesday's primary election. The candidates are Brent Barker, a small business owner; Linthicum, a state senator representing Klamath County and portions of Deschutes and Jackson counties, and a former Klamath County commissioner; and Tim McCloud, elections chair for the Oregon Republican Party and an analyst in business development and information systems. "Things are looking pretty good in the Linthicum household," Linthicum said Tuesday evening. Diane Linthicum also was in the lead in her race for the nomination to fill her husband's state senate seat in District 28. Linthicum said he was grateful and excited to continue his campaign. He said the battle would be convincing non-registered voters and voters in other political parties that the "ideals that I bring to the table, I can actually keep." The winner of the Republican primary will face the winner of the Democrat primary in the November general election. Oregon Treasurer Tobias Read was in the lead Tuesday night for the Democrat nomination for Secretary of State. The secretary of state is responsible for overseeing Oregon's elections, guiding state audits and managing various records. The secretary of state also serves on the three-member State Land Board with the governor and treasurer and as chair of the Oregon Board of Sustainability and Environment. Barker said his plans include changing vote by mail to in-person voting that would require valid government-issued ID, implementing a statewide holiday for all election and introducing a tax credit to employers that provide half- and full-day paid holidays to employees for elections. He also said he would work to reset voter registration rolls and require equal observers of major parties at all voting stations. Linthicum is barred from running for reelection in the Legislature for accumulating more than 10 unexcused absences during GOP senators' walkout during the 2023 Legislature. He said his priorities include ending a contract with an AI vendor used to track and trace misinformation, disinformation and mal-information, which he referred to as evidence of the offices disenfranchisement of some voters. Linthicum also has advocated ending mail voting in the state. McCloud said he would update and change the secretary of state's complaints process and enhance the functionality of web features. He said he also would change a culture of perceived antagonism by the office into a collaborative one with the public. Dianne Lugo covers the Oregon Legislature and equity issues. Reach her at dlugo@statesmanjournal.com or on Twitter @DianneLugo This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Election results: 3 run in Oregon secretary of state GOP primary SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) A woman was arrested in connection to a fatal stabbing last week, the San Francisco Police Department announced Tuesday. SFPD officers responded on Wednesday, May 15 at 1:44 p.m. to a residence on the 700 block of Post Street on a report of a fight between two people. Arriving at the scene, officers found an adult victim lying on the ground with multiple stab wounds. Responding officers administered CPR and called for paramedics. The victim, however, was pronounced dead at the scene. Walnut Creek BART Station reopened after person removed from tracks Officers detained a woman at the scene. An investigation led to police developing probable cause to arrest the woman, 33-year-old Raymani Yuhashi of San Francisco. Yuhashi was booked into San Francisco County Jail on the charge of unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought. Although an arrest has been made, police say the investigation is active and open. The SFPD Homicide Detail is leading the investigation. 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 KRON4. "The patient is in stable condition and is expected to fully recover," officials confirmed in a news release Getty A stock photo of a grizzly bear. A 35-year-old man is recovering following a "surprise" bear attack in a Wyoming national park. On the afternoon of Sunday, May 19, the Teton Interagency Dispatch received a report of a male being injured during an encounter with two grizzly bears in Grand Teton National Park, a news release shared on the National Park Service website confirmed. The man, who was visiting from Massachusetts, was "seriously injured by a bear in the area of the Signal Mountain Summit Road," officials stated. "Grand Teton National Park rangers and Teton County Search and Rescue personnel responded to the scene to provide emergency medical care and airlifted the patient via helicopter to an awaiting ambulance where he was transported to St. Johns Hospital. The patient is in stable condition and is expected to fully recover," the release continued. Getty A 'Be Bear Aware Food Storage Required' sign in Grand Teton National Park. Related: Tourist Mauled After Rolling Down Window to Take Selfie with Bear Per the website, it's thought one of the two grizzly bears injured the man, who authorities have not named. "Based on initial reports from the injured visitor and preliminary information conducted as part of an ongoing investigation of the site, law enforcement rangers and park biologists believe the incident was a surprise encounter with two grizzly bears, with one of the bears contacting and injuring the visitor," the release added. The website confirmed that Signal Mountain Summit Road and the Signal Mountain Trail were currently closed to the public. Per the NPS website, visitors are reminded that they should never leave food unattended unless properly secured, as well as to keep their camp clean and store everything in a bear-resistant food locker/bear box or keep it in a hard-sided vehicle with the windows rolled up. Related: Mama Bear Attacks Driver Head-on, Smashes Truck Windshield - See the Video Getty A photo in Grand Teton National Park. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Officials also reminded visitors to only deposit garbage in a bear-resistant dumpster and not eat, cook or store food in their tents. "If you see a bear, please give it space. Always stay at least 100 yards away. If you choose to watch or photograph the bear, use a spotting scope, binoculars, or telephoto lens," the authorities stated. "Park in designated areas, and never block travel lanes. Follow the directions of staff in places where bears are sighted," Teton County Search and Rescue didn't immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. (DC News Now) Sheriffs deputies said they were investigating damage at Starbucks locations in Ashburn after someone or a group of people spray-painted anti-Israel/pro-Palestine messages and symbols on the businesses. The Loudoun County Sheriffs Office (LCSO) said Tuesday that the vandalism took place overnight at Starbucks in Ashbrook, Broadlands, Pipeline, and One Loudoun shopping centers. Person breaks Kwik Mart window, jumps throught it, steals Modelo beer, Stafford County deputies say LCSO said employees at each location found the damage when they arrived at work Tuesday morning. Workers either removed or covered the the words and symbols in the time that followed their reports to the sheriffs office. Hate speech and destruction of property will not be tolerated in Loudoun County, said Sheriff Mike Chapman. We are actively investigating these incidents as we do all similar acts and are determined to identify and charge whoever is responsible. The sheriffs office asked anyone who knows anything about the incidents to call (703) 777-1021. 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 DC News Now | Washington, DC. Michael Cohen may have directly transferred the funds, but he says it was at the behest and benefit of Donald Trump that he made the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels. After four days on the witness stand, the prosecutions key witness stepped down on Monday following a barrage of fast-paced questions and quick-shifting topics from Trumps defense team. Cohens testimony covered his various consulting gigs and legal work he did for the Trump family, as well as his actions leading up to the Daniels hush-money payment and how, with Trumps blessing, he allegedly falsified business records to pay himself back for the payment. With Trump unlikely to take the witness stand, the former self-described fixer provided the only inside look at what was happening before, during, and after Daniels story came to light. Trump is alleged to have not only known of but also directed Cohen and those below him to falsify 34 fraudulent business records intended to reimburse Cohen for his payment to Daniels. The Trump team has long contended Trump was unaware of Cohens actions and that the records a combination of invoices, checks, and ledgers were what he believed to be a retainer for Cohens legal services. Aided by Cohen, prosecutors have painted a picture of the internal chaos that besmirched the Trump campaign in the weeks leading up to the November 8, 2016 election from the Access Hollywood tape leaking in October to just four days before the election when news surfaced of the National Enquirers attempts to cover up former Playboy model Karen McDougals alleged affair with Trump. During this time, Daniels was in talks to sign a non-disclosure agreement and sell her story for $130,000 in an attempt to catch and kill her story. Cohen was tasked to punt payment to Daniels until it was no longer relevant. What he said to me is, What I want you to do is push it out as long as you can, just get it past the election because if I win, it would have no relevance because Im already president and if I lose, I dont really care, Cohen testified Trump told him. As closing arguments are expected to wrap up next week, heres every argument Trumps team put forth that Cohen deconstructed in his testimony. Trump didnt know about the payment Because Trump had his hands in everything, Cohen and everyone else had to get final confirmation from the boss before carrying out a task especially spending money. It was actually required, Cohen said of getting confirmation from Trump. When he would task you with something, he would then say, Keep me informed, let me know whats going on. And as soon as you had a result or answer you would go straight back, especially if it was a matter that he was worried about. If you didnt immediately provide him with information and he learned it in another manner, that wouldnt go over well for you, Cohen testified. As a result, when he first caught wind of Daniels story, he told Trump immediately. Take care of it. I thought you had this under control. Just take care of it, Trump responded, according to Cohen. When Daniels made clear she would go forward with the story should she not receive payment in the days preceding the election, Cohen testified to telling Trump they could no longer wait. Cohen says Trump directed him to speak with Trump Organization Chief Financial Allen Weisselberg, who said the two had to think of creative ways we can raise the funds to pay off Daniels without having Trumps name attached to the payment. What came next is at the crux of the trial: Cohen and Weisselberg, operating under the direction of Trump, thought of a scheme in which Cohen would transfer the funds from his personal bank account and Weisselberg would then authorize funds from the Trump Organization to repay Cohen for the payment, all in an attempt to remove Trumps name from the original payment to Daniels. Cohen explained that he had to get Trumps confirmation before transferring funds to Daniels.I wanted to ensure that once again he approved of what I was doing because I required approval from him about all of this, Cohen said. Cohen was acting alone Trumps defense argues Cohen acted alone to pay Daniels off. Multiple times during other witness testimony, prosecutors asked if it was plausible for Cohen to make the out-of-pocket payment out of his own volition and kindness of his heart. It would certainly be out of character for Michael, former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks said during her testimony. Cohen directly dismantled much of the defenses argument, saying he needed approval from Trump to make the payment not just because it was standard operating procedure but also to ensure he would be reimbursed. Everything requires Mr. Trumps sign-off, Cohen said on the first day of his testimony. On top of that, I wanted the money back. Cohen immediately squashed claims that he was acting alone, instead testifying he was doing everything I could and more in order to protect my boss but I would not have laid out the $130,000 needed for an NDA needed for somebody else. Perhaps Cohens greatest argument in response to Trumps defense is what he would do with Daniels story. I had no reason to own, no need to own the life rights, Cohen testified. What I was doing, I was doing at the direction and the benefit of Mr. Trump. The only reason Trump would have made the hush-money payment is to protect Melania Not straying from his public persona, Trumps defense team has argued Trump would have made the hush-money payments anyway to protect his personal brand and out of love for Melania Trump. The argument was supported by Hicks testimony, who said earlier in the trial that Trump was concerned how it would be viewed by his wife, and he wanted me to make sure that other newspapers werent going to deliver to their residence that morning. That was not the case, Cohen testified, saying it was he who had brought up Melanias feelings to Trump, who didnt seem too concerned with the fate of his marriage. I asked how are things gonna go upstairs, Cohen testified to asking Trump once news of the affair went public. He goes, Dont worry. How long do you think Ill be on the market for? Not long, Cohen answered. When asked to clarify what he thought Trump meant, Cohen testified: He wasnt thinking about Melania, this was all about the campaign. Daniels lawyer Keith Davidson corroborated Cohens testimony, saying his frequent attempts to reach Cohen left the impression that Trump truly did not care about Daniels story going public. It seems like he was trying to kick the can until after the election, Davidson testified earlier in the trial. Davidsons and Cohens testimony directly support one of the prosecutions key arguments: that the hush money payment was made to directly influence the election, and that is the reason why Trump allegedly hid the payment in the first place, knowing it was election interference and that he had to remove his name from the payment. Cohen was in it for the money and his vendetta against Trump Trump lawyer Todd Blanche attempted to discredit Cohen for holding a personal grudge against the former president, getting Cohen to testify he has amassed over $4.4 million since the fall of 2020, in part from the publication of two books and his podcast on his journey. Cohen described himself as an eager-to-please lawyer looking to protect the boss, as he often called Trump. I wanted to ensure that Mr. Trump was safe, Cohen testified early on. However, Blanches cross-examination left much to be desired in his attempts to discredit Cohen. In a telling moment at the end of Cohens recross-examination, Blanche asked the former fixer if he had a financial interest and wanted to see Trump convicted. The answer is no. Its better that hes not for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future, Cohen retorted, drawing laughter from the courtroom. Its up to the jury to decide whether they will accept Cohens testimony as someone speaking the truth to bring Trump to justice. Just before resting their case, prosecutors asked Cohen what he has gone through since coming forward about Trump, perhaps earning some sympathy with the jury. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result. I lost my law license, my businesses, my financial security, my familys happiness just to name a few things, Cohen concluded. After prosecutors rested their case on Monday, Blanche argued to the court for early dismissal, arguing the defense successfully caught Cohen in a series of lies. An unsatisfied Judge Merchan quashed the argument. You said his lies are irrefutable. You think hes going to fool 12 New Yorkers? I certainly hope he doesnt fool 12 jurors, Blanche responded. More from Rolling Stone Best of Rolling Stone 5 shot and killed in Columbus last weekend. What New York Times says about city sadly true. The premise of a recent New York Times article is sadly spot on if not at all surprising. More guns and deconstructed gun laws have made Columbus and other cities in Ohio and around the nation far more deadly in the years since the pandemic. This fact was clear even before a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg clapped back at House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan last year. The Ohio congressman rallied against violence in New York in hearings about Bragg's so-called "pro-crime, anti-victim policies." In D.A. Braggs first year in office, New York City had one of the lowest murder rates of major cities in the United States (5.2) nearly three times lower than Columbus, Ohio (15.4)," the aide wrote in a message posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. "If Chairman Jordan truly cared about public safety, he could take a short drive to Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Akron, or Toledo in his home state, instead of using taxpayer dollars to travel hundreds of miles out of his way," Diligently working for more gun violence Columbus police exchanged gunfire with a man who eventually turned a gun on himself and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the 6800 block of Georges Creek Drive in Canal Winchester May 16. Jordan, an Urbana Republican who represents Ohio's 4th District, including portions of Columbus, Dublin, and Westerville, hasn't heeded that advice to focus on violence in Ohio. Gun violence takes more than life. My cousin's heart was smashed when her son was killed. In fact, he and his counterparts in the Ohio Legislature have worked diligently to make gun violence worse. To the pleasure of the gun lobby and the chagrin of a long list of Ohioans (city leaders, Fraternal Order of Police, county prosecutors and mothers who lost children to gun violence included), Statehouse Republicans have systematically dismantled sensible gun control measures, including the concealed carry permit requirement. Gov. Mike DeWine signed the state's "stand your ground" law in 2021. A bill dropping the training hours a teacher needs to be armed in school from 728 hours to about 24 became law in 2022. Amelia Robinson: Americans don't have horns or fangs, but are we the real monsters? All this while gun violence and the threat of it looms in Columbus and other communities around the state. Just this weekend, five people died as a result of three fatal shootings. Three people have shot at Columbus officers this month and died as a result. Gun violence spreading With relaxed gun regulations and more guns, it is little surprise that the Times analysis found that gun violence is closer to more Americans. Of fatal shootings across the nation between 2020 and 2023, more than 47 million Americans lived within a five-minute walk of a deadly shooting, up from 39 million over the prior four years, the Times found. Forty-one percent of Columbus residents lived within a quarter mile of a fatal shooting, compared to 28 percent before the pandemic. What would be surprising is if Ohio lawmakers did something to address gun violence. 'I cry every day. Im so hurt.' Mother on horror of losing daughters to Columbus shooting. Even the idea of requiring guns be kept under lock and key to keep them out of kids' hands is a road lawmakers refused to travel. About 75% of Ohioans support a law requiring guns to be safely stored, according to a 2023 USA TODAY Network/Suffolk University survey. There have been 205 unintentional shootings by children since 2015, according to Everytown For Gun Safety. There is no shortage of things that can be done to reduce gun violence. There is a shortage of will to do anything about it. This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Is Columbus violence as bad as New York Times analysis claims The United States is engaging its partners to help tackle historically high migration in the Western Hemisphere, said National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan at the recent Washington Conference on the Americas. Two years ago, President Joe Biden launched the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection alongside 20 partners from across the hemisphere. And together, said Mr. Sullivan, we are working on three main pillars of that declaration: addressing the root causes of migration; expanding legal pathways to help replace irregular migration; and promoting stronger and humane enforcement of borders across the region. So far, we see our partners stepping up in unprecedented, unexpected ways, said Mr. Sullivan: For example, Latin American and Caribbean countries are hosting more than 80 percent of the nearly 8 million Venezuelan migrants that have fled the Maduro regime. ... The United States is also stepping up our secure and humane enforcement. Were implementing a new Rule to encourage migrants to use orderly processes for entering our country, including issuing restrictions on asylum eligibility for those who fail to do so. The U.S. has also stepped up its screening measures at the southern border and is quickly returning migrants who do not have valid protection claims. Following a recent conversation, President Biden and Mexican President Lopez Obrador agreed to take concrete steps to improve the migration situation, including responding to migrant surges before they reach the border, said Mr. Sullivan: They also agreed to measures that encourage migrants to stay in their communities of origin and dissuade the use of dangerous modes of transportation that expose migrants to violence on their way north. Our joint efforts, with Mexico and with other LA Declaration partners, contributed to around a 30 percent decrease in encounters with irregular migrants at the southwest border last month, compared to the same time last year. In spite of challenges, including migration, facing the Western Hemisphere, National Security Advisor Sullivan expressed optimism about the future. If you look at all the raw material that we have together as a hemisphere, there is no reason why the Americas should not be the most prosperous, democratic, secure region in the world. We have the capital and the capacity, said Mr. Sullivan. We have the will. And above all, we have each other. A 50,000-Year-Old Block of Ice Paints the Most Chilling Picture of the Future Ever Scientists from the Oregon State University conducted chemical analyses on air bubbles trapped within the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide ice core. They discovered that, in the last glacial period, Earth experienced its highest CO 2 increase: 14 parts per million in just 55 years. Not, our planet experiences that increase every five years. The mechanism of these natural CO 2 increases suggest that increasing westerly winds in the Southern hemisphere could weaken the Southern Oceans ability to absorb CO 2 . A favorite refrain among the dwindling number of climate deniers is that increases in temperature and carbon dioxide levels are a natural part of the Earths atmospheric cycle. And while the planet has certainly seen some rise and falls in both of those metrics over thousands (and even millions) of years, what the planet is currently experiencing far outstrips everything that has come before. In a new study published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), scientists from Oregon State University identified the fastest natural rates of CO 2 rise over the past 50,000 years. To do this, the research team tapped into bubbles of air trapped in West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide ice core that essentially preserved the delicate balance of gasses present in Earths atmosphere at the time of their icy entombment. The team had to drill some 2 miles deep to get enough ice to study a 50,000 year time span. After conducting an extensive chemical analysis, the researchers discovered just how extreme and outlier the current rising CO 2 levels fueling our current climate crisis are compared to the rest of Earths recent geologic history. Studying the past teaches us how today is different. The rate of CO2 change today really is unprecedented, OSUs Kathleen Wendt, the lead author of the study, said in a press statement. Our research identified the fastest rates of past natural CO2 rise ever observed, and the rate occurring today, largely driven by human emissions, is 10 times higher. During the most recent glacial period, CO 2 levels rose 14 parts per million in the span of roughly 55 yearstoday, a similar increase takes only 5 or 6 years. Usuallythat is, when humans arent sowing the seeds of own climate destructionthe Earth experiences periodic increases in CO 2 levels due to an effect known as Heinrich Events. Named after German marine geologist Hartmut Heinrich, these events coincide with a cold spell in the North Atlantic caused by icebergs breaking off from the Laurentide Ice Sheet. This causes a kind of chain reaction that leads to a change in global climate patterns. We think [Heinrich events] are caused by a dramatic collapse of the North American ice sheet, OSUs Christo Buizert, a co-author on the study, said in a press statement. This sets into motion a chain reaction that involves changes to the tropical monsoons, the Southern hemisphere westerly winds and these large burps of CO2 coming out of the oceans. This small bit about westerly winds is particularly bad news. Climate models suggest that these winds will only increase as the planet warms, meaning the Southern Ocean could lose a lot of its much-needed carbon dioxide-absorbing ability. While this news is all definitely one big climate bummer, maybe theres at least some hope that this last vestige of climate denialism will finally face oblivion, and humanity can focus on the hard and necessary work of cleaning up our mess. You Might Also Like TOPEKA (KSNT) A state official has announced its giving half a million dollars to 14 awardees to help develop tourism in the Sunflower State. Monday, the Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce David Toland announced it has awarded $500,000 in the latest round of funding for the Attraction Development Grant, according to a release from the Kansas Department of Commerce. This grant program helps build up tourism experiences across Kansas with the hopes of boosting the states economy. High-quality tourism attractions play a large role in the economic success our state has seen over the past five years, Toland said. By establishing and continuing to invest in quality attractions, we are improving the quality of life for current Kansans and creating more reasons for potential future residents to call Kansas home. Advisors Excel names firms to transform West Ridge Mall Fourteen new or existing tourist attractions across the state will receive a portion of funds from the Attraction Development Grant. According to the release, recipients will be matching the investments from the grant for approved projects. That matched total is almost $1.4 million. It is exciting to unveil new attractions that give travelers reasons to visit our great state, immerse themselves in our story, and really get to know Kansas, said Kansas Tourism Director Bridgette Jobe. With these grant awards, were not just building destinations, were crafting dreams and shaping the future of tourism in Kansas. Below is a list of the 2024 Attraction Development Grant awardees: Recipient County Amount A&H Farms Riley County $23,419.00 Atlas Ad Astra, LLC Ellsworth County $80,000.00 Legacy, A regional Community Foundation-Bartlett Arboretum Sumner County $2,200.00 Bronwick Farms, LLC Cheyenne County $18,777.00 Choose Ottawa County, Rock City Inc. Ottawa County $4,153.00 City of Garnett Anderson County $94,181.00 Gearhead Curios, LLC Cherokee County $12,500.00 Sollo Vineyards LLC/Grace Hill Winery Harvey County $20,600.00 Leavenworth County Historical Society Leavenworth County $16,000.00 OZ Museum/Columbian Theatre Pottawatomie County $40,000.00 Purple Meadows Lavender Farm, LLC Johnson County $16,000.00 Republic County Economic Development Republic County $20,441.00 Tanganyika Wildlife Park Sedgwick County $142,500.00 Gordon Parks Museum Foundation Bourbon County $9,229.00 To try and receive the Attraction Development Grant, applications will reopen August 1, 2024. For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. 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 KSNT 27 News. The San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department completed a week-long operation aimed at crime suppression, performing parole and probation checks that resulted in 51 felony arrests. Authorities say they targeted known gang members and people prohibited from owning firearms during Operation Consequences and seized 29 firearms, including six ghost guns. The San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department made 51 arrests and seized 29 firearms, including six ghost guns, during a week-long targeted operation. Deputies released these images on May 20, 2024. (SBCSD) The San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department made 51 arrests and seized 29 firearms, including six ghost guns, during a week-long targeted operation. Deputies released these images on May 20, 2024. (SBCSD) The San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department made 51 arrests and seized 29 firearms, including six ghost guns, during a week-long targeted operation. Deputies released these images on May 20, 2024. (SBCSD) The operation was spread throughout the High Desert, with 20 search warrants served in San Bernardino, Adelanto, Hesperia, Victorville and Apple Valley. Deputies conducted the operation between May 11 and 17 in the following locations: 1200 block of North F Street, San Bernardino 18600 block of Casaba Road, Adelanto 15500 block of Smoke Tree Street, Hesperia 2000 block of Fremontia Road, Hesperia 15000 block of Turner Road, Victorville 5900 block of Stanton Avenue, San Bernardino 3700 block of Ridgeline Drive, San Bernardino 15000 block of Comanche Road, Apple Valley The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors authorized funds to assist with county-wide crime suppression. 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 KTLA. JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) Dominic Hensley and Mandi Judy beamed, while Devin Babb flashed a peace sign and Jacob Taylor carefully signed his contract as his dad Jesse looked on proudly. Warrants served to remaining Westside Inn residents It was a new type of signing day at Science Hill High School as six students with disabilities inked one-year internship deals with Ballad Healths Niswonger Childrens Hospital the first Northeast Tennessee students to participate in Project SEARCH. The international network of work sites, headquartered at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital, focuses on helping people with disabilities secure competitive employment. Ultimately, the outcome is that were providing a very structured learning environment for our students with disabilities so that they can be employable and have additional opportunities once they graduate from Johnson City Schools, Allecia Frizzell, the school systems director of special education, said. So were really excited for this opportunity. Dominic Hensley used the same term, telling News Channel 11 hed be helping kids when his job starts Aug. 5. Allecia Frizzell, Johnson City Schools director of special education, pushed for the system to join the Project SEARCH program this year. (Photo: WJHL) Frizzell said Project SEARCH partners with Vocational Rehab, a state-run agency, employers (just Ballad so far) and the school system. Project SEARCH has been at work for 28 years with the primary goal of securing competitive employment for people with disabilities. What we would like to see is be able to provide very structured supports early on in the program and then as students progress be able to pull back on support so that by the time theyre finished, they would be have some competitive employment skills, Frizzell said. By competitive employment, Frizzell means jobs that arent specifically designed to give people with disabilities something to do, but rather those that companies and other employers need done and that could be filled by anyone. Frizzell said Project SEARCH has a track record of producing. About 80% of the students who participate in Project SEARCH, once they graduate, are employed in some form of competitive employment, so were really excited about that, Frizzell said. Project SEARCHs outcome summary on its website classifies competitive employment as occurring in an integrated setting (among co-workers with and without disabilities), year-round at the prevailing wage and at least 16 hours a week of work. ETSU Big Train Show set for May 31 June 1 Shawn Judy said the opportunity is a great next step for his daughter, Mandi, who graduates Saturday. Mandi was born with numerous physical challenges and is on the autism spectrum. Judy said hes seen local opportunities for his daughter both in health care and in education steadily improve through her lifetime. At nine and a half months old, she had to have open heart surgery and we couldnt get an operating room here because they didnt have one dedicated just for children, Judy said. Now theyve got dedicated hospital facilities where they can do surgeries, shes had casts on both feet, several other problems and we have the doctors and the facility to take her to have it done. Mandi Judy and her dad, Shawn, following her signing with Niswonger Childrens Hospital Tuesday. (Photo: WJHL) At the same time, Judys seen the level of inclusion for Mandi increase at school, where shes been learning important life skills for the past six or so years. Were just proud of our teachers that have been with her for years, pushed her to do better, he said. Ballad Health has helped us out a lot and gotten this program so Mandi can further her life skills, so were very proud of Ballad and Science Hill and Johnson City Schools and all of our teachers throughout the years. Frizzell learned about Project SEARCH mid-year after taking over her current role at the beginning of this school year. She said the opportunity sounded too good to pass up, even with some tight deadlines. Stone Castle renovation project on track for completion before football season She said interns will learn job-related skills like coming to work on time, wearing the appropriate uniform and communicating with managers and co-workers, along with the all-important hard skills. Attention to detail, making sure that you have people who are able to understand the task and then perform that task well. Frizzell hopes the current cohort of students begins a tradition of about five to eight interns per year. Eligible students will have met all their graduation requirements but will still have time to complete the internship because students with disabilities can continue being served by public schools until theyre 21. She said Project SEARCH is part of a growing trend of inclusivity for people with disabilities, which she said benefits everyone. Not only does the person whos gaining those skills have a greater opportunity, but I think that the worksite has an opportunity to have a great employee and offer those skills. I think too, just the opportunity to see people from diverse backgrounds in the workplace being able to see an increase in that is helpful to everyone in the community. 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 WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather. See an earlier report on the death of Rhonda Jones in the video player above. COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) A 70-year-old Columbus man was sentenced to over a decade in prison on Tuesday after pleading guilty to stabbing his sister to death. Michael Wright Michael Wright was accused in the May 2023 death of his sister, Rhonda Jones. Columbus police were called to a South Hilltop residence in the 1900 block of Vaughn Street and found Jones suffering from multiple stab wounds. She was taken to Grant Medical Center, where she died less than an hour later. She was 66 years old. A second person was hurt in the incident and treated at the scene. Wright was found nearby, arrested and charged with murder. He pleaded guilty to a felony charge of voluntary manslaughter, Franklin County Prosecutor Gary Tyack said in a news release. Judge Kim Brown approved a maximum sentence of 11-16 1/2 years that was mutually agreed upon by prosecutors and Wrights attorney. Columbus machete attack stemmed from fight over parking space, police say This embedded content is not available in your region. Wright will receive credit for his 380 days spent in jail. 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 NBC4 WCMH-TV. A 73-year-old South Jersey man charged with strangling his wife to death, prosecutor says Gerard Slavin, 73, showed no resistance at the time of his arrest. A 73-year-old man from Moorestown was charged with first-degree murder and second-degree aggravated assault after allegedly strangling his wife Monday, the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office said. Gerard Slavin showed no resistance upon his arrest and he is now detained at the Burlington County Jail pending a detention hearing at the Superior Court, the prosecutor office said in a news release. The investigation of Linda Slavin's murder began Monday afternoon after the police was called to the Slavin residence in the Moorestown Woods Apartment Homes in East Camden Avenue. Police said they found her body in the bedroom. An autopsy performed Tuesday by Burlington County Medical Examiner Dr. Ian Hood determined that Linda Slavin died from strangulation, the prosecutor's office said. This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Cops charge 73-year-old man with wife's murder in Moorestown, NJ At 91, hes one of the last surviving participants in a US program some described as legalized slavery Some of Sebastian Corrals memories have faded. But the 91-year-old remembers his 1953 arrival in the US as if it were yesterday. How workers like him were forced to strip naked and sprayed with insecticide. How their hands were inspected to make sure they were qualified for the hard labor that awaited them. How unwelcome he and so many others felt even though theyd been invited across the border by the US government. You felt humiliated. You felt like you were nothing, even though youd come to work and lift yourself up, Corral told CNN in a recent interview via Zoom from his home in Vado, New Mexico. Memories of those first moments in America came rushing back for Corral this month during a dramatically different visit to the place where he took his first steps in the country more than 70 years ago. This time, officials were unveiling plaques designating the former Rio Vista Bracero Reception Center in Socorro, Texas, as a National Historic Landmark. And Corral was a guest of honor. A long-overlooked chapter in US history is getting more attention Corral and millions of others who crossed the border like him between 1942 and 1964 were known as braceros, a term derived from the Spanish word for arm and referencing the grueling labor participants in the Mexican Farm Worker Program would be doing upon arrival. The partnership between the US and Mexico legally brought more than 4 million guest workers across the border to work largely in agriculture in 30 participating states across the country. The program purported to protect workers from discrimination. But the reality was much harsher for many braceros. This photo taken in Hidalgo, Texas, in 1956 shows a masked worker spraying braceros with DDT while others wait in line. - USCIS History Office and Library/Department of Homeland Security Years after the program ended, one of its former directors described it as legalized slavery in an interview with the Dallas Morning News. They were so fearful of being away from their homes and not sending money to their families that they felt pretty much in bondage, former Department of Labor official Lee G. Williams told the newspaper. The bracero program is an important chapter of US history thats long been overlooked, according to Yolanda Chavez Leyva, an associate professor at the University of Texas at El Paso. Many people arent aware of how significantly the program shaped immigration in the US, or the large number of families who can trace their roots in the US back to the initiative. Its coming to light more, but its still not taught very often. History textbooks might have a paragraph on it, Leyva says. Even within former braceros families, she says, sometimes the history has been hidden. What they have told me is that they didnt want to share their experiences with their families, because it was too painful, and they didnt want their children and grandchildren to know what they had gone through, says Leyva, whos spent years collecting hundreds of oral histories from former participants in the program. Blanca McCreary, one of Corrals 14 grandchildren, says she only learned about his experience as a bracero when she was studying World War II in a college course. I asked him, Do you know about this program? And from there is when he told me everything, McCreary says. And every time I hear him talk about it, I feel the same emotions. It makes me angry. I say, How is it possible that they treated my grandpa like this? How is it possible that they treated them, as my grandpa says, like animals? These are human beings. Patrol agents check the papers of agricultural workers in the 1950s. While the bracero program provided a legal pathway for guest workers, crackdowns on illegal immigration were also common during that period. - USCIS History Office and Library/Department of Homeland Security Leyva says Corral and his story immediately came to mind when officials were planning the event at Rio Vista, and looking for a bracero to invite. Hes one of the last known surviving braceros living in the region, Leyva says. Many have died in recent years, she says, especially during the pandemic. Why Rio Vista is so significant and rare The Rio Vista site, a key hub for the program, is about a 30-minute drive from El Paso, Texas. Its comprised of more than 20 buildings, including historic adobe barracks and wooden structures. And its the only one of five locations where braceros were processed thats still standing. According to a description on the National Trust for Historic Preservation website, more than 80,000 braceros passed annually through Rio Vista, where they were met with terrible food, humiliating medical and psychological examinations and fumigation. Aspiring braceros line up to undergo physical examinations by the US Public Health Service in South Texas in the 1950s. Their hats, bags and other belongings are piled nearby. - USCIS History Office and Library/Department of Homeland Security Corral says he was held at the site for several days before a rancher arrived and contracted him. Over the years, the facilities constructed in 1915 have served a variety of purposes. Before its role in the bracero program, the area known as Rio Vista Farm was a poor farm and an orphanage. After the bracero program, it became a law enforcement training area, began housing some city offices and a community center, and even served as a set for the 2000 film Traffic. Sehila Mota Casper, executive director of Latinos in Heritage Conservation, says she was amazed when she first discovered the site while working at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Traditionally our sites have been demolished. Theyve been overlooked. Theyve been displaced, erased, Mota Casper told reporters earlier this month. To find out this building still exists was incredible. Officials in Socorro plan to open the nations first Bracero History Museum at the Rio Vista site in 2027, with groundbreaking on the project slated for later this year. In the meantime, visitors can tour the site online or stop by in person to see the grounds with a visitor's pass from the city. - Courtesy Kip Malone/National Trust for Historic Preservation For years, Mota Casper, Leyva and city officials from Socorro pushed to get the Rio Vista site designated as a landmark. With that accomplished, now theyre working to turn it into the first Bracero History Museum in the United States. Construction is slated to begin at the site later this year, with plans for the museum to open in 2027. In Socorro, a small town outside El Paso, officials view the recent landmark designation as a major milestone. Its like Ellis Island or the Alamo, what we have here, and its so prudent that were good stewards to make sure that we protect it and that we preserve it so others can appreciate it, Victor Reta, the citys director of recreation and historic preservation, told reporters. The city also plans to open its first library at the site, and has been raising money for the project on its website. Once the museum opens, Corral says hes hoping many more Americans will visit Rio Vista and learn the legacy of the braceros. I want them to know that it wasnt easy, what we lived here, he says. What revisiting the site revealed But Corral says he and many others felt like they had no other choice. In an oral history interview last year with the University of Texas at El Paso, Corral noted that farmworkers where hed been living in Delicias, Mexico, made just 4 pesos a day. In the US, he could make eight times as much. So Corral began his first three-month contract picking cotton on a farm in New Mexico and never looked back, though he returned regularly to Mexico to visit family. Corral continued as a bracero for 11 years until the program ended, then did everything he could to stay in the US and keep working. Corral and his wife, Maria, married in Mexico in 1956. Three weeks later, he returned to the US to resume work as a bracero. - Courtesy Corral family Today, he describes the long journey that began at Rio Vista with pride: I came as a bracero. After being a bracero, then I was illegal for some years. After being illegal, then I was a permanent resident. Now I am a citizen. In some ways, Rio Vista wasnt like Corral remembered when he returned this month. The buildings were more worn-down some pure ruins, Corral says. But what Corral noticed most wasnt the buildings; it was how differently he felt being there. I was not the same person as before, he says. So much had changed since those first days when he was a young man waiting for a rancher to arrive at Rio Vista with work. Hed harvested cotton, and driven tractors, and picked beets and cucumbers as a bracero. Hed lived in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Texas during his years in the program. Once, an El Paso restaurant had refused to serve him because he was Mexican. Hed been an undocumented immigrant for decades. Hed washed dishes and prepped food in a Los Angeles restaurant. Hed worked at dairy farms in California. Hed become a legal resident after President Reagan signed a law granting him and millions of others amnesty. Hed finally brought his wife and children to the US after years of separation. Hed saved enough money to buy land for all of them to build homes nearby. Hed had 14 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. And just two years ago, hed finally become a US citizen after decades of knowing he was American, nearly 70 years after his first arrival in the United States. All of this went through Corrals mind as he revisited Rio Vista on May 11. And in the mix of emotions that hit him, he felt anger at some points, but also, contentment. Some of the buildings around him were in ruins as they awaited renovation. But Corral was standing in the Rio Vista courtyard with generations of his family beside him. And he saw something else: the life that he built. Four generations of the Corral family pose for a portrait at the Rio Vista site during a recent visit. Thinking back on his bracero experience, Corral says hes proud he was able to work hard and support his family. "Something good came out of the bad," he says. - Courtesy Fujiko Yamamoto For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com I-93 construction project worker arrested for DWI while driving a large dump truck in New Hampshire A dump truck operator working in a construction zone on Interstate 93 was arrested for driving a large dump truck while impaired, state police said. Michael R. Pellerin, 49, of Manchester, was charged with aggravated DWI, state police said. At approximately 11 p.m. Sunday, troopers were called to check the welfare of a commercial driver who was actively working at the construction project on I-93 in Hooksett. Troopers received a report that the driver was believed to be under the influence while driving a large dump truck, based on the way he was driving the vehicle in the construction zone, state police said. Trooper Noah Gooch responded to the area and met with the driver, later identified as Pellerin. Gooch spoke with Pellerin and observed indicators of impairment, state police said, adding that Pellerin agreed to a field sobriety test. He was arrested after the test and later released on personal recognizance. Pellerin is scheduled to appear in Hooksett District Court at a later date. Anyone with further information regarding this incident is asked to contact Trooper Noah Gooch at Noah.D.Gooch@dos.nh.gov or 603-223-4381. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW 96 dogs seized, 5 GA men sentenced to prison in dogfighting operation bust Five Georgia men have been sentenced to federal prison for being involved in a large-scale dogfighting operation. Deputies rescued 96 dogs from three locations Johnson County, and two other locations in Laurens and Washington Counties. Two of the men named in the dogfighting operation were also sentenced in connection with a drug trafficking conspiracy. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The five men each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the animal welfare act. Travis Martin, 43, of Wrightsville, was sentenced to 24 months in prison and fined $1,000. A judge ordered the new sentence to be served consecutively to the 200-month sentence Martin is serving as the leader of the drug trafficking conspiracy Sentell Carey, 41, of Wrightsville, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined $2,000. Carey is serving a sentence of probation in the drug trafficking conspiracy. Dennis Wilcher, 42, of Wrightsville, was sentenced to 30 months in prison and fined $3,000. Terry Gilmore, 28, of Sandersville, was sentenced to 23 months in prison and fined $2,500. Jonathan Linder, 35, of Rentz, was sentenced to 20 months in prison and fined $2,000. Each of the men is prohibited from owning dogs and is prohibited from participating in any activity involving dogs. TRENDING STORIES: [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) Parents of St. Johns Episcopal students met with members of the Abilene Police Department (APD) Monday to discuss a case against a former preschool employee Mark Eichorn, who is accused of possessing graphic media involving children. Abilene preschool employee accused of possessing child pornography Eichorn was a child care employee at St. Johns Episcopal who was investigated by APDs cybercrime unit, which led to his arrest on May 9 for felony Child Porn charges. The investigation first was initiated when a mother from another state said she discovered an unusually large balance in her 13-year-old sons bank account. When questioned about the balance, the son reportedly admitted to sending Eichorn photos and videos of an inappropriate nature. Abilene preschool employee accused of being a sugar daddy to children That law enforcement agency then contacted APD, where investigators were able to seize Eichorns phone and allegedly found the illicit photos, as well as others on his electronic devices. Parents and St. Johns school officials were invited to the Abilene Police Department on Monday to discuss the investigation and the state of the school moving forward. However, due to the sensitive nature of the meeting, the school and parents in attendance declined to comment publicly. APD told KTAB/KRBC, The case against Mr. Eichorn remains active, as detectives continue working on it. The families were invited to speak with the Detectives regarding any concerns they may have. We also attempted to contact St. Johns episcopal regarding their communication with parents, but as of this time we have received no reply. Mark Eichorn has since been released from the Taylor County Jail after posting a $50,000 bond. 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 KTAB - BigCountryHomepage.com. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene speaks at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 19, 2023. DelBene spoke to reporters Friday, May 17, 2024, about how abortion will affect U.S. House races in November. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) WASHINGTON Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene told reporters Friday that ballot questions on abortion access, which will go before voters in several states this November, can help vulnerable Democratic candidates in swing districts potentially increasing the odds the U.S. House flips from red to blue. Weve seen huge turnout as a result of that over and over in elections since November of 2022, DelBene said during a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. And I have no doubt were going to continue to see that all the way through. The Washington state Democrat, who was elected to Congress in 2012 and leads House Democrats campaign arm this election cycle, said that reproductive rights will also be a crucial issue for voters in swing districts that dont have a ballot question on access. Folks support womens reproductive rights across the country, DelBene said. And thats going to be a huge issue. And for some people, it is the issue. Democrats in Congress have been unable to restore nationwide abortion protections that existed for nearly 50 years under the U.S. Supreme Courts 1973 Roe v. Wade case and the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey ruling. Conservative Supreme Court justices voted to overturn those two rulings in the Dobbs decision that was released in 2022, writing that the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives. The court is expected to rule this summer on two additional cases related to abortion access, just months before voters head to the polls. One originally filed in Texas will determine whether access to mifepristone, one of two pharmaceuticals used in medication abortion, can remain available as it is now or revert to prescribing instructions in place before 2016. The court heard oral arguments in March. The second case, out of Idaho, has to do with whether doctors who provide abortion as stabilizing care when the pregnant patients life or health is at risk are protected from prosecution under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. Since the Supreme Court ended nationwide protections for abortion access, voters in several states including Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio have voted to keep or instill abortion access as a right. Voters in numerous other states, including Arizona, Florida and Montana, are likely to have the issue directly on their ballots later this year, as well as candidates from president on down. Federal legislation DelBene said Friday that Democrats will bring legislation to the floor to restore nationwide protections for abortion, should they retake the House. That will be one of our top priorities, to make sure that we pass the Womens Health Protection Act again, DelBene said. But Im also hopeful that we will keep the Senate and be able to move forward. The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter projects that Republicans are on track to pick up between one and four seats in the Senate, likely moving that chamber of Congress from blue to red. Should Democrats flip the House, that would mean a continuation of divided government, regardless of who wins the presidential contest. The Cook Political Report forecasts 203 seats are at least leaning toward Democratic control while 210 are rated as solid, likely or lean Republican. That leaves 22 seats in the toss up category, with a total of 218 needed for one party to control the chamber. Jessica Taylor, editor for U.S. Senate and governors at CPR, wrote in an update released Friday that the upper chamber remains beyond precarious for Democrats. There is no room for error and if President Joe Biden loses reelection, they will have already lost the majority whether they run the table in all the competitive seats or not, Taylor wrote. Young voters DelBene said during the breakfast at a hotel in Washington, D.C., that turnout will be critical and that Democrats will be especially focused on younger voters showing up at the polls. Traditionally, younger voters havent turned out as much, she said. So that absolutely is a top priority. DelBene took several questions about whether those younger voters would actually back Democratic candidates or Biden, given the increase in protests on college campuses and concern within the progressive wing about the increasing civilian death toll from the ongoing war in Gaza. The top issues for younger voters, DelBene said, are making sure that they are going to have economic opportunity going forward and that theyre going to be in a position where they can have the same opportunities that their parents said that theyre going to have, the same rights and freedoms that their parents did. Candidates in purple districts should speak authentically with voters when theyre asked about their stance on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, she said. My advice for candidates has always been, Its important for you to have an authentic voice and talk about what you would do, how you feel on issues. Because people can tell if someones scripted and not really talking about their feelings, DelBene said. And on such an important issue, I think, its really important that people talk authentically about their positions, what they think needs to happen. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Abortion ballot measures could lift Dems in U.S. House races, campaign chief says appeared first on Ohio Capital Journal. IT WAS JUNE 24, 2022, and Karen Musick was working at Little Rock Family Planning Services, the last abortion clinic in Arkansas. She was guiding patients into the clinic when she heard a protester scream out the news. Thats how she found out the Supreme Court had issued a ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson; the court determined that the Constitution doesnt protect the right to an abortion. We all knew it was coming, Musick says now, two years later. Shes sitting in the clinics old office, surrounded by boxes piled high. I dont know how you stop [the tears]. The whole day was tears. More from Rolling Stone The clinic was forced to shut down that day. Arkansas is one of several states that had near-total abortion bans triggered by the landmark ruling meaning no abortions were allowed in the state except to save the life of the mother in a medical emergency. For patients inside, doctors wrote down information for clinics in other states that were still open. Outside, one family with seven children danced in the street and sang praises to God while employees and clinic escorts on shift helped despondent patients to their cars. The doors shut for the last time. The protesters went home. But in the parking lot, a large group in rainbow-striped vests gathered. The escorts started showing up, says Musick, tears still fresh in her eyes. Soon, Little Rock Family Planning Services would no longer be a clinic but the clinic defenders were still there and determined to continue their fight for abortion access. And theyre not alone. A term first used by activist groups during clinic bombings after Roe v. Wade, clinic defenders physically block protesters from sight, try to drown them out, and in some cases, actively confront masses of anti-abortion activists. [Clinic-focused attacks] began [with] this idea of If we cant end abortion in the courts, we can punish people at the place where they have abortions, says Lauren Rankin, a former clinic escort and author of Bodies on the Line. Pro-choice activists, spearheaded by Black female leaders and queer-rights groups, quickly moved to defense, staging distractions in front of clinics, targeting demonstrators, and even taking punches meant for providers. In 2020, the advent of social media apps brought a fresh wave of support for clinic defense. Disillusioned by the idea of only using voting to fight for abortion access, many groups, once considered simple counterprotest forces, coordinated directly with clinics. Now, as a post-Dobbs world continues to see state legislation strip away abortion access and clinic doors close nationwide, clinic defenders face a brand-new challenge: anti-abortion activists emboldened by sweeping state bans. According to the National Abortion Federation, violence against clinics and abortion providers has continued to rise following the Roe reversal. In 2022, there were four arsons, 20 clinic invasions, and a 20 percent increase in death threats against abortion providers. Before Dobbs, the last reported anthrax scare involving abortion clinics was in 2011; in 2022, there were four. Stricter state abortion laws means increased attacks have concentrated on a dwindling number of clinics. But the select groups of abortion activists left arent letting the pressure get to them. And you know what they say about the best defense. That day in June, Musick left the clinic and joined the escorts, which included her daughter. Musick, 68, is a co-founder of the Arkansas Abortion Support Network, a nonprofit that began as a volunteer group for clinic defense in 2013 and expanded into Arkansas first abortion fund in 2016. The group provided defense services until 2022, when Dobbs closed its clinic doors. That day I didnt take off my vest until probably one in the morning, she says. We had a rally at the Capitol. A lot of people who were there, we went out to dinner, drank, cursed, swore, and decided Were not stopping. YOU NEVER KNOW what you might see outside the Orlando Womens Center in Florida. The one-story brick building blends in with its neighbors, except for the ever-rotating cast of characters who crowd the sidewalks around its entrance. Playing the latest Lil Wayne while youre about to go murder a baby? a protester yells, while a woman blocks him with a pink umbrella. Around him, others wave purple Do Not Murder signs. When Florida resident Tanya was scrolling on TikTok one day, it was a scene just like this one that persuaded her to become a clinic defender. I immediately shut off [the app] and said, OK, Im going down there, she says. The abortion defenders of the Orlando center refer to themselves as SWAN (Stand With Abortion Now). Even with mass reporting and constant attempts to ban its accounts, SWAN remains a staple on the app. Some days its work means putting bodies between people rushing to appointments. Other days, it means Tanya and others film viral TikTok dances on the lawn, place cameras near protesters, or sometimes just frolic around in a unicorn costume nicknamed Unibort a sort of unofficial mascot of the group. But while the group engages with protesters with a bit of silliness to poke holes in their messaging, the SWANs have noted the post-Dobbs world has only increased antagonism. What were now seeing is less of We care about both the woman and the child. It is now These women are harlots who are willfully committing murder, and they also need to go to prison, Tanya says. Theres a rise in this abolitionist kind of sect that is now very much focused on ensuring that anyone who is intent on obtaining an abortion is viewed as homicidal and is incarcerated. Any kind of state law that says they own you after six weeks is devastating to the general community. Its only steadied our resolve were going to keep standing strong and fighting it. For the past two years, Florida was a refuge for patients in the region who could still access care up to 15 weeks there, but on May 1, a new ban went into effect dramatically reducing access across the South. Today, Florida clinics like the Orlando Womens Center can only offer services up to six weeks of gestation before many women even know theyre pregnant. Any patient seeking an abortion beyond that point will now be referred to providers in other states. With more patients needing to travel post-Dobbs, the tension at the remaining clinics has been heightened. Once people started coming to us from other states, it only angered them further, says Shannon Bauerle, the executive director for the Charlotte for Choice advocacy group, about anti-abortion protesters in North Carolina. Like many volunteers, Bauerles work began after a scary encounter during her own abortion. I remember having a blanket over my head because I was so scared, Bauerle says. They were banging on my partners car when we were driving in, and it was absolutely terrifying. She says violent threats have only grown with each restriction. Clinic defenders often straddle a thin legal line while trying to protect patients. Most states allow protesting on public property, which can pack sidewalks outside of clinics. At North Carolinas A Preferred Womens Health Center, the divide is both ideological and physical, as protesters are split down the middle by a public road ever since an anti-abortion group purchased a plot of land next door. On one such day, a woman yelling about instruments of death heading for fetuses is only drowned out by the shouts of another protester almost prostrate on the sidewalk, wailing prayers and cries of Oh, Lord! Oh, Jesus! Harassment and doxing come with the territory, too. But they say posting online has become a major component of their work these days. Defenders film antagonists and use social media to connect with clinics across state lines and identify repeat offenders, especially those who get violent or cause disruptions. In Duluth, Minnesota, the We Health Clinic started using TikTok after the Dobbs ruling to give people a glimpse into the clinic-escort world. What they found was that even as a non-engagement clinic one with a policy not to acknowledge or antagonize protesters simply filming protesters changed their behavior. Our anti-abortion protesters outside film our patients coming into our clinic, and so we wanted to give them a little taste of their own medicine, says Paulina Briggs, executive director of We Health. Once the recordings started drawing shocked eyes on TikTok, we saw that they really reined in some of their more problematic tactics because they knew that they were being watched by a lot of people, Briggs adds. Not all clinic-defense programs have been able to adapt. The Jackson Womens Health Organization the abortion clinic at the heart of the landmark Supreme Court decision was for years the home of the Pink House Defenders, a volunteer program dedicated to helping the Mississippi clinic. Kim Gibson and Derenda Hancock co-founders of We Engage, the groups nonprofit face coordinated daily shifts at the height of the clinics activity in 2021, placing volunteer defenders as physical barriers in front of protesters. And once Jackson Womens became the center of the Supreme Court case, their jobs became even more important, as media attention made the driveway and sidewalks surrounding the Pink House a minefield for incoming patients. If the clinic was open, we were there, Gibson says. But days after Dobbs, the clinic closed its doors for good. Now, what was once the last abortion clinic in Mississippi is an upscale furniture consignment store. Struck by the defeat, the Pink House Defenders quietly disbanded. We had lost on many levels, and it was well-known by antis and such, so it was quite demoralizing, Gibson says. Were quote-unquote back to living normal lives. For Musick and the Arkansas Abortion Support Network, the fear was that the closure of their Little Rock clinic would prevent volunteers from continuing their work. But, in fact, its jump-started renewed interest in supporting it. We had so many people wanting to help initially after Dobbs that we didnt have jobs for them, Musick says. We couldnt figure out what to have them do. Their clinic defense has turned to a health-based offense. The group founded the YOU Center, a pregnancy resource center that operates in the same building as the old clinic. While it cant provide abortions, it offers free services, including contraceptives, pregnancy tests, and STI testing. Theres no blueprint for what the fight for abortion rights will look like next. As more clinics across the country close their doors, clinic defense groups will remain in flux. But the passion has never dissipated, Musick says. You would be hard-pressed to find any state that knew exactly what they were going to see. Im so proud of what weve done so far. All of us wish we could do more. Best of Rolling Stone FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) CBS47s month-long investigation into the impact fentanyl is having on the community and state continues. At the San Ysidro Port of Entry, one of three ports of entry along the border between California and Mexico, the United States Attorney General reports that more fentanyl is seized here than at any of the more than 300 ports of entry into the country. District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp is one part of that fight against fentanyl, both in Fresno County and at the border. She says fentanyl is unlike any other drug and it is most concerning for our youth. The State of Fentanyl: YourCentralValley.coms complete coverage Fentanyl is different from any other street drug that has ever been on the streets of the United States of America. It is an instant killer with alcohol, meth, heroin, cocaine, any drug that they may have any knowledge of. You know, it takes a period of time to from the use phase to the abuse phase to the addiction phase. And, with fentanyl, that happens literally overnight. And every single time that they experiment with one of these pills it is literally an opportunity that that pill has to kill them, said Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp. The Fresno County District Attorneys Office confirms more than 12,000 Californians died of a fentanyl overdose last year. Opiate overdoses in California now kill more people than car crashes, homicides, diabetes, and lung cancer. 'Absolutely mind-boggling': Fresno County's DA on the battle with fentanyl Smittcamp says the only way to end this crisis is through a community effort, holding Chinese and Mexican authorities responsible. Major General Matthew Beevers is with the California National Guard, which is stationed at the border working to stop fentanyl from making its way into California. There are soldiers positioned along the border assisting United States Border Patrol agents in seizing fentanyl pills and powder. There are also National Guard members on the other side of that border working through databases and characterizing information to be able to determine what vehicles are likely to have narcotics in them and the work we do on the border at the ports of entry enables CBP to be able to move those officers now in front of the kiosks to they can determine patterns of life, said Beevers. The process frees up border agents so they are able to focus on their task at hand, which is to visually examine documents and vehicles that cross the border into California. The California National Guard has assisted in the seizure of nearly 3.5 million fentanyl pills across the state and at the border since Jan. 1 and 7,100 pounds of fentanyl about the same weight as a limousine. Officials say seven out of 10 counterfeit pills are laced with fentanyl. So that pill that may look like oxycontin, percocet, hydrocodone, or xanax could actually be a fentanyl pill that could kill you in just 20 seconds. Smittcamp says she is doing her part, but there is only so much that officials in Fresno County can do. Its absolutely mind-boggling to me as a U.S. citizen, as an elected district attorney, as a mom, how our elected officials cannot do a better job at the border. I dont purport to understand the theories and politics, how we can have politicians that literally theyre just soundbites. You know, they pretend when something terrible happens and the media says, you know, pays attention to it. Theyll give a soundbite about how we need to be pro-law enforcement and how we have to protect our borders, said Smittcamp. Smittcamp wants more to be done to secure the border and stop fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into California. She says it should not be up to Governor Gavin Newsom and other border state governors to come up with border security policies and adds we must demand more from the Biden administration. We also need to take a really strong look at how we view people who are bringing drugs into this country because the way that weve gone in the last 10 years, drugs have become an insignificant thing in the big picture of public safety and we have watered down to any drug laws nationwide, not just in California, its not just California crazy its nationwide and we really have lost the moral fiber, Smittcamp said. Smittcamp has been focused on educating young people on the deadly dangers of fentanyl. She speaks to high school students all the time informing them that one pill can kill. She is also focused on litigation. In a first for Fresno County, she has filed murder charges in two cases, where a drug dealer is suspected of selling someone fentanyl pills that lead to their death. When asked what she thinks needs to be done here at the border, she tells me we need to strengthen our relationships in Mexico to get them to partner with us and do a better job on our side of the border when it comes to security. 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 YourCentralValley.com | KSEE24 and CBS47. Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony should be given a written reprimand, placed on an 18-month probationary period and ordered to complete ethics training after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement accused him of lying on at least seven occasions about previously having a suspended drivers license, a judge ruled Monday. Administrative Judge Robert Kilbride found that Tony failed to maintain good moral character because he knowingly provided incorrect and false answers when renewing his drivers license in 2019, court documents reveal. READ MORE: Broward sheriff accused of lying on drivers license applications. What does he face? The probe began in 2020 when Inspector Keith Riddick, who investigates corruption and crimes associated with public servants for FDLE, uncovered that Tonys license was suspended for not showing up to court in 1998, per court documents. Tony, who at the time lived in Pennsylvania, wasnt yet a police officer. His license was reinstated in 2001. The probe was launched at the request of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis office. DeSantis originally appointed Tony to the job in 2019 after he suspended former Sheriff Scott Israel in the aftermath of the Parkland school shooting. There can be no doubt that [Tonys] position as a law enforcement officer and Sheriff is also one of great public trust, Kilbride said in the recommended order. [Tonys] action on February 1, 2019, regrettably, has damaged that trust. Andrew Digby, assistant general counsel at FDLE, previously urged Kilbride to suspend Tonys law enforcement certification for six months. His recommendation came after the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission alleged that Tony unlawfully and knowingly lied on drivers license applications from 2002 to 2019. Tony has hinted that the investigation is an intended assault on his character and career. In a filing, attorney Stephen Webster asked Kilbride to dismiss the case. [FDLE] failed to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that [Tony] did unlawfully and knowingly make a false statement knowingly conceal a material fact, or otherwise commit fraud when the applications were processed, Webster said. Kilbride, however, said FDLE didnt prove that Tony knowingly lied on the applications before 2019. When applying for a drivers license, prospective motorists are asked under the penalty of perjury a series of questions, including if their license had previously been suspended. But Tony, in several applications from 2007 to 2019, responded that his driving privileges hadnt been revoked or suspended, the filing states. The applications in question were submitted when Tony was already a police officer. He became a certified law enforcement officer in 2005. Riddick, court records show, didnt investigate the applications from the period between 2007 to 2017 due to the statue of limitations. The investigator instead focused on the 2019 application, interviewing the drivers license examiner who issued Tony a license. READ MORE: FDLE probe finds Broward Sheriff Tony lied about past on forms. But state wont prosecute When interrogated, Tony admitted to knowing that his license was suspended, court documents indicate. Though the sheriff vehemently denied being asked the questions and didnt recall having to answer them. [Tony] denied that his license had ever been suspended, Digbys filing states. He attested to the information within his driver license replacement application, under penalty of perjury, by signing on the keypad... Heinrich XIII Prinz Reuss, seen here in court, is accused of being part of the plot that aimed at restoring the rule of the German Empire - Shutterstock/Boris Roessler A German aristocrat accused of plotting to overthrow the state and take over as a new Kaiser has been put on trial for high treason. Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, 72, appeared at a court on the western outskirts of Frankfurt on Tuesday morning under heavy security, as a dozen police officers and armed guards patrolled the grounds under barbed wire fences. The alleged coup-plotter was dressed in a dark suit and jumper as he took a seat among the other defendants and their lawyers. Prince Reuss, who claims to be a descendent of the 12th-century Reuss dynasty, and his co-conspirators are accused of plotting an armed coup against the German state. According to an indictment, the conspirators had discussed plans to march into the national parliament in Berlin with an armed group to arrest MPs, on what they dubbed Day X. An indictment suggests that the group discussed the death of Queen Elizabeth II as a possible omen that it was time for them to seize power. Also on trial was a former judge and MP for the far-Right AfD party, Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, who is accused of using her access to Germanys parliament to smuggle co-conspirators into the area as part of their coup plans. All eight suspects who appeared before the court in Frankfurt are members of the Reichsburger movement, which rejects the legitimacy of the modern German state and wishes to restore the rule of the German Empire established in 1871. The shadowy group is estimated to have around 23,000 members nationwide. Former far-Right MP Birgit Malsack-Winkemann (R) stands accused of wanting to overthrow the German state - AFP/Boris Roessler Defendant Maximilian Eder, a former army colonel, is one of the eight defendants at the Frankfurt court room accused of being part of the treasonous plot - AFP/Boris Roessler In addition to the hearings in Frankfurt, other key suspects are also on trial at courts in Stuttgart and in Munich, in Germanys biggest and most complex terrorism trial. The trial is expected to run until January 2025 but could last much longer due to its scale and complexity, with seven judges examining 700 folders of evidence in the Stuttgart proceedings alone. In April, nine men accused of being members of the coup-plotters armed wing appeared in court in Stuttgart, separated from judges by bullet-proof glass. The accused, whose faces were hidden from TV cameras by police, shook their heads as the charges were read out. Prince Reuss is a former wine producer, property developer and fan of conspiracy theories. His lawyers have insisted that he is not a violent criminal and suggest that he has been caught up in a fanciful plot which he did not fully understand. But the case is being taken extremely seriously by German authorities as the group possesses a massive arsenal of weapons and counted among its members both serving and ex-soldiers, including a veteran of the German equivalent of the SAS. The plot was foiled in a string of dramatic raids in 2022, as police commandos arrested dozens of alleged plotters across 16 German states. At one address in southern Germany a suspect, now on trial in Stuttgart, shot and injured a police officer. He is facing an attempted murder charge in addition to treason. Last years arrests followed the largest German police investigation in decades, with 300 detectives working on the case. The trial continues. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. A former Royal Marine arrested for allegedly working with the Hong Kong intelligence service was found dead over the weekend, according to U.K. authorities. Matthew Trickett, 37, was out on bail and awaiting trial when his body was discovered on Sunday evening in a park in Maidenhead, a market town about an hour outside of central London. His death is being treated as unexplained, Thames Valley police said, with an investigation underway and a post-mortem examination to be conducted in due course. In a statement, Tricketts family said they were mourning the loss of a much-loved son, brother, and family member. We would be grateful if the press would respect our privacy at this difficult time and refrain from intruding on our grief, they added. Trickett was arrested earlier this month as part of a larger operation that saw nine other men and a woman arrested. A neighbor told The Telegraph that police had broken down the door to Tricketts apartment with a battering ram on May 2. The neighbor added that theyd otherwise known Trickett as a nice and polite man, if one who was apparently frequently out of the country. While seven of the men and the woman were eventually released without being charged, Trickett was charged under the National Security Act for surveilling and harassing Hong Kong pro-democracy activists living in the U.K. Two other detainees, Chung Biu Yuen, 63 and Chi Leung Peter Wai, 38, were also charged. The trio appeared in court for an initial hearing last week, according to The Guardian. None entered a plea. But prosecutors told the court that Trickett had already made threats to take his own life. He told two separate custody sergeants when he is released he is going to kill himself because he has nothing to live for, one explained. How realistic that is, judge, we dont know, but that is a concern for us. District Judge Louisa Cieciora granted Trickett and his co-defendants bail on the condition they abide by a curfew and report weekly to police. Tricketts regular contact with the Thames Valley police requires that his death be investigated separately by the Independent Office for Police Conduct under British law. Trickett was a member of the Marines between 2007 and 2013, according to The Times of London. He previously worked for the U.K. Border Force at Heathrow Airport before joining Home Office Immigration Enforcement earlier this year. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Additional classified records were discovered in former President Trumps Mar-a-Lago bedroom after the FBI search of his Florida estate, court records filed Tuesday reveal. The detail is buried in filings stemming from a separate legal battle as Trump asks a judge to toss his indictment for prosecutorial misconduct, unsealing for the first time many of the records at play as prosecutors presented their case to a D.C. grand jury. That includes a decision from Judge Beryl Howell, who oversaw those proceedings, which indicates Trump was subpoenaed again in January of 2023, prompting his attorneys to later turn over a mostly empty folder marked Classified Evening Summary. She expressed disbelief at how Trump could be unaware of classified records still in his home well after the August 2022 search of his property. Notably, no excuse is provided as to how the former president could miss the classified-marked documents found in his own bedroom at Mar-a-Lago, Howell wrote. Its another remarkable detail in a case where classified records were found in numerous locations that alarmed prosecutors, including a ballroom stage and even a bathroom. The newly unsealed opinion follows a push by special counsel Jack Smith to secure further testimony from Trump attorney Evan Corcoran along with 88 pages of his own records he said were protected by attorney-client privilege. Howell spends ample time reviewing Trumps legal culpability, including the obstruction of justice charges that would accompany those for willfully retaining classified records. She also reflects on his role in concealing information from his attorney and encouraging his now co-defendant Walt Nauta to return to the storage room boxes they moved to hide them from Corcoran without being caught on camera. The government urged that this scramble to Mar-a-Lago in the wake of the June 24, 2022 phone call reflects the former presidents realization that the removal of the boxes from the storage room before search was captured on cameraand his attempts to ensure that any subsequent movement of the boxes back to the storage room could occur off-camera, she wrote. This theory draws support from the curious absence of any video footage showing the return of the remaining boxes to the storage room. In a superseding indictment, DOJ accused Trump of ordering the footage deleted, one of 41 different counts he faced in the case. Howell later notes Trumps role in encouraging Corcoran to submit a certification to the government that all records had been returned was a representation that the former president knew to be wrong. Howell also explained her rationale for lifting attorney-client privilege, noting the crime-fraud exception pierces the attorney-client privilege even when the attorney is an unknowing tool of his client. The opinion was shared as an exhibit from Trumps legal team, even as it seems to favor Smiths position, showing how Howell agreed prosecutors had demonstrated the former presidents conduct met the elements of each law he was later charged with violating. The matter is now before Judge Aileen Cannon, who is still weighing this motion and several others asking her to toss the case. In the meanwhile, she has indefinitely delayed Trumps trial, refusing to set a new trial date in an order earlier this month while detailing she needed more time to weigh each of the former presidents motions. Updated at 6:20 p.m. ET 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 The Hill. A new photo finally confirms the identity of the launch platform for Ukraines ADM-160 Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) the Soviet-era MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter. While we had seen sporadic evidence of the use of MALD a small cruise missile-like weapon designed to stimulate, confuse, and distract enemy air defenses, not attack them kinetically it had not, until now, been seen mounted on a Ukrainian Air Force aircraft. https://www.twitter.com/front_ukrainian/status/1792638096267231451 The photo in question provides a clear underside view of a single-seat MiG-29 as it performs a low pass. A single MALD is mounted on each of the two inner underwing pylons. Weighing around 300 pounds each, they are well within the payload capacity for the fighters underwing hardpoints. No other weapons are carried, although an external fuel tank is attached between the engine intakes. The date and location of the photo is not known. TWZ previously reported on the emergence of the first evidence of MALD being used by Ukraine in its war with Russia. The first confirmed MALD wreckage appeared in May 2023, following an apparent airstrike in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, as you can read about here . Remains of an ADM-160B MALD that were found in the aftermath of a Ukrainian airstrike on a Russian target in the city of Luhansk, in the region of the same name, in May 2023. via X In December 2023, more wreckage appeared , this time in a field reportedly somewhere in the Kherson region, in southern Ukraine. The wreckage of another MALD that reportedly came down in the Kherson region in December 2023. via X We have also explored in depth exactly what MALD brings to the Ukrainian war effort. Powered by a small turbojet, these weapons fly pre-programmed routes, including loitering over target areas. In this way, they can distract and confuse Russian air defenses, providing a better chance for Ukrainian missiles to reach their targets. In particular, MALD is primarily used in support of Ukrainian air-launched cruise missile strikes, which involve the Storm Shadow (supplied by the United Kingdom , and now Italy ) as well as its French equivalent, the SCALP EG . To support this mission, the MALD has a range of around 500 miles, which also gives it significant loiter time. A Ukrainian Air Force Su-24 Fencer carrying a pair of Storm Shadow or SCALP EG cruise missiles. via X ADM-160s first appeared just as Storm Shadow began being used and in similar areas as their targets, which makes perfect sense. These decoys can be equipped to have more prominent radar signatures than the missiles they are assisting, thus drawing away enemy air defenses. Storm Shadow and SCALP EG have low-observable characteristics, significantly reducing the range from which they can be detected by certain sensors. This, paired with careful route planning based on the latest intelligence on enemy air defense positions and capabilities, can drastically improve the chances of a successful cruise missile strike. The need for additional measures to ensure the protection of the Storm Shadow and SCALP EG was dramatically demonstrated over the weekend, when footage emerged of the apparent engagement of one of the latter weapons by Russian air defenses, over the Luhansk region. Intriguingly, while its by now no secret that Ukraine is using MALD, the supply of these weapons by the United States has never formally been disclosed. As we have observed in the past, however, not only does MALD offer an otherwise unique capability to Ukraine, but having the chance to field the weapon against some of the most advanced and densely layered air defenses ever assembled will feed back into the development of more advanced versions and other countermeasures. An ADM-160 MALD in flight. Raytheon Since MALD can be loaded with the appropriate target data before launch, integration onto the MiG-29 was likely not a major endeavor. With that in mind, its highly possible that examples can also be launched by Su-24 Fencer strike aircraft and Su-27 Flanker fighters, although the former type is prioritized for delivering the Storm Shadow and SCALP EG cruise missiles themselves. Once again, however, the MiG-29 demonstrates its remarkable versatility in Ukrainian hands. The Fulcrum remains the true workhorse of the Ukrainian Air Force combat fleet. Previously, this was the first Ukrainian platform on which we saw the AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile ( HARM ) and the Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Range ( JDAM-ER ). The Fulcrum has also been seen with a specially adapted underwing pylon, related to the employment of the JDAM-ER, which you can read about here. New cockpit displays may help expand the operational flexibility of these weapons, as well. Probably the best look so far at the distinctive pylon that Ukrainian MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters use to carry JDAM-ER precision-guided glide bombs. via X More recently, the MiG-29 emerged as the first known launch platform for the French-supplied Hammer precision-guided bomb . At this point, the appearance of new and additional stores on the Ukrainian MiG-29 would be far from surprising. Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com Mansfield City Council is scheduled to vote June 4 to impose a six-month moratorium on marijuana dispensaries. Several council members received more background on the issue during a Monday afternoon webinar by the Ohio Municipal League. "Our goal from the government side is to get the best information out there," said Andrew Makoski, an attorney for the Ohio Department of Commerce. In the Nov. 7 general election, the ballot measure called Issue 2 passed with 57% of the vote, making Ohio the 25th state to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use. Ohio's law on adult-use marijuana is now effective, and sales should begin between June and September throughout the state. The department of commerce's division of cannabis control is finalizing rules on implementation of the program. Ohio gives certain rights to local governments related to adult-use operators in their community. More: Madison trustees prohibit marijuana dispensaries in the township More: Commissioners OK proclamation warning of marijuana use At-Large Councilman David Falquette Several Mansfield City Council members attend marijuana webinar Council members Cheryl Meier, El Akuchie, Deborah Mount and David Falquette attended the webinar in council chambers. Makoski said there are 215 marijuana dispensaries in Ohio, with another 180 to 200 licenses pending. Existing medical marijuana medical facilities can apply for a dual-use license. For context, there are about 500 liquors stores in the state. Bonus licenses will be for additional dispensaries for adult-use marijuana that do not yet exist. Applications for dual licenses will open June 7, with approval likely to happen in late June or early July, Makoski said. There is no time frame for when they would open. Applications for bonus licenses are expected to be considered in September. "This is a serious process," Makoski said, noting several states had rollouts that did not go well. Dispensaries must be at least a mile from each other and 500 feet away from such places as schools and libraries. Joining Makoski on the webinar were John Oberle and Samuel Porter, partners in Ice Miller's Government Affairs and Regulatory Law. Oberle noted the firm was the lead author on Issue 2. "The premise was to regulate marijuana like alcohol," he said. Cheryl Meier Porter said local governments can limit the number of adult-use dispensaries. Regarding current medical operators, local officials can pass an ordinance within 120 days after such a facility has received a license for adult use. "We really are about giving governments some control," Oberle added. "We thought it made sense to give voters a chance as well." Porter said there will be a 10% state excise tax applied at the point of sale at adult-use facilities. Local government will receive 36% of that 10%. There are limits to what local governments can do. Oberle said if there is a university medical center that is doing research, such work will be allowed to continue without additional fees. Regarding home grow, there is a cap of 12 plants per house. At the same time, landlords can prohibit the use of marijuana or growth of the plant in a lease agreement. Private property and business owners can also prohibit the use. In addition, smoking prohibitions already in place in Ohio will remain. "It was interesting to hear what the different rules at the state were that I didn't really understand previously," Falquette said. "I'm still kind of up in the air about what the right thing to do is." Meier agreed with her colleague. "I don't know that it has swayed my opinion one way or the other, but it was informational," she said of the webinar. "I think it's our duty to get as much information as possible." mcaudill@gannett.com 419-521-7219 X: @MarkCau32059251 This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Mansfield City Council members attend webinar on marijuana * In an interview with state TV IRIB on Sunday, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi attributed the helicopter's crash to bad weather conditions, which he said also hindered search and rescue efforts. * After Raisi's death, many world leaders and foreign governments expressed sorrow. * Even though the death of high-ranking officials is a blow to Iran's political governance, analysts said the "shock" can be absorbed. TEHRAN, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was confirmed dead on Monday after his helicopter crashed in the country's mountainous northwestern region on Sunday. Iran's official news agency IRNA confirmed the deaths of Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Governor of East Azarbaijan Province Malek Rahmati, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's Representative to East Azerbaijan Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem and Raisi's bodyguard, all of whom were onboard the same helicopter. Khamenei announced on Monday five days of public mourning. This photo taken on May 19, 2024 shows a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on the footage of Iran's state-run IRIB TV. (Xinhua/Shadati) CRASH Pir-Hossein Kolivand, head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, told the semi-official Tasnim news agency early Monday that the crash site was located after hours of extensive search in the mountainous region of East Azerbaijan. An image released by the IRNA showed the wreckage of the helicopter scattered across a mountain peak. Rescuers faced harsh weather conditions and low temperatures during their search, which began immediately after the crash was reported on Sunday. The crash occurred as Raisi traveled from the Azerbaijani border following his attendance at a ceremony to inaugurate a storage dam with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev. In an interview with state TV IRIB on Sunday, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi attributed the helicopter's crash to bad weather conditions, which he said also hindered search and rescue efforts. Raisi, 63, was born in the city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran. Before being elected Iranian president in 2021, he held prominent positions, including judiciary chief and Tehran prosecutor. In a statement quoted by the IRNA on Monday, the Iranian cabinet said Raisi was an "indefatigable and hard-working president" who "made the ultimate sacrifice on the path of serving his nation." To mourn Raisi's death, the Iranian government has draped his seat with a black robe. Across various provinces, preparations are underway for mourning ceremonies, while events scheduled for National Cultural Heritage Week have been canceled, as reported by the IRNA. Raisi's death comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and Israel, marked by an exchange of attacks in April fueled by the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in October last year, while efforts to revive negotiations and salvage the Iran nuclear deal have hit a deadlock. Armed groups in the region like the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen have launched attacks on Israeli targets in a show of solidarity with the Palestinians. This photo taken on May 20, 2024 shows rescue workers arriving at a helicopter accident site in East Azarbaijan province of Iran on the footage of Iran's state-run IRIB TV. (Xinhua/Shadati) CONDOLENCES After Raisi's death, many world leaders and foreign governments expressed sorrow. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a message of condolence to Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, in which the Chinese leader expressed deep condolences and extended sincere sympathies to Mokhber, the family of President Raisi, and the Iranian government and people. Leaders from Russia, Turkiye, Egypt, the UAE, Jordan, Syria, Qatar, Pakistan, Venezuela and India, along with Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit and European Council President Charles Michel, have all sent messages of condolence after Raisi's death. "We extend our deepest condolences and sympathy to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ali Khamenei, and to the Iranian government and people," Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani said in a statement. Hamas, which has been in an escalating conflict with Israel since last October, expressed sympathy to the Iranian people for "this immense loss," lauding Raisi's support for the Palestinian cause and resistance against Israel. This photo taken on May 19, 2024 shows a poster of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on the footage of national Iranian television. (Xinhua/Shadati) IMPACT The Iranian Constitution stipulates that in case of the president's death or incapacity, the first vice president will assume the role until an election is conducted within a maximum of 50 days. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Monday appointed the country's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, 68, as interim president. Iran's Constitutional Council Spokesman Hadi Tahan Nazif said that with Khamenei's approval, a council consisting of the Iranian judiciary chief, parliament speaker and first vice president will take measures to organize elections within 50 days. Even though the death of high-ranking officials is a blow to Iran's political governance, analysts said the "shock" can be absorbed. Khamenei has told Iranian people not to worry, promising "no disruption" to the country's affairs. "Iran, since its Islamic revolution in 1979 ... has proved to be more than capable of taking all sorts of shots (against it), especially when it comes to political leaders," opined Marwan Bishara, a senior political analyst from Al Jazeera. On the diplomatic front, while the passing of the foreign minister is a significant loss for Iran, analysts said the country's foreign policy will not undergo substantial changes. Amir-Abdollahian "has been an extremely effective foreign minister, overseeing a successful reconciliation with Saudi Arabia and navigating a series of difficult crises," according to an analysis by the Times of Israel. But "Iran's broad foreign policy won't change," it noted. However, some analysts believe the incident will prompt Iran to shift its political focus toward domestic matters. The country can now be "a little more self-engaged, wrapped up in internal politics, as it sorts out the election for the next president," said Michael Makovsky, president and chief executive of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. (Video reporters: Sha Dati, Shi Xiaomeng, Dong Yue; video editors: Li Ziwei, Li Qin, Yin Le) Editor: WXY Ukrainian air defenses shot down 28 of the 29 Shahed-type attack drones launched during a Russian attack overnight on May 21, Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said. The drones were reportedly launched from the Russian port town of Primorsko-Akhtarsk, located on the coast of the Sea of Azov, from Cape Chauda in occupied Crimea, and from Russia's Kursk Oblast. Aircraft, missile and electronic warfare units, and mobile fire groups of the Ukrainian Air Force intercepted the drones over Odesa, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Kherson, and Kirovohrad oblasts, Oleshchuk said. The fragments of drones damaged two houses, a garage, and a mini-bus in the city of Kharkiv overnight, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. A 61-year-old man and two women aged 69 and 72 reportedly suffered from shock. A Russian morning missile attack on transport infrastructure in Kharkiv injured a 53-year-old man, according to the governor. Drone attacks are a daily occurrence in Ukraine, affecting various regions across the country. In recent months, Russia has intensified attacks against Ukraine's energy infrastructure, launching massive drone and missile strikes targeting critical facilities. Read also: Ukraine war latest: Ukrainian forces control 60% of Vovchansk; heavy battles continue in Kharkiv Oblast Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Air travel and turbulence have always gone hand in hand with many flights, especially long haul, experiencing spells of bumpiness. The severe episode on board a Singapore Airlines plane in which one passenger died raises concerns about how risky turbulence can be. Experts say it is extremely unlikely that most flights will result in injury or damage, but there have been numerous recent incidents in which this has occurred. Understanding what causes turbulence can help air crew and passengers mitigate its impact. Turbulence fatalities on commercial flights are fortunately very rare, but have sadly increased by one today, Paul Williams, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Reading in the UK, said in a statement released today. Heres how air turbulence can create problems for air travelers. What is turbulence and what causes it? There are four main levels of turbulence light, moderate, severe and extreme. In cases of light and moderate turbulence, passengers might feel a strain against their seatbelt, and unsecure items in the cabin may move around. However, in more serious cases, turbulence can result in passengers being thrown around the cabin, leading to severe injuries, or death. Turbulence on flights can be caused by storms, mountains, and strong air currents called jet streams, adds Williams. In this last case, it is called clear-air turbulence, and it can be difficult to avoid because it doesnt show up on the weather radar in the flight deck. Clear air turbulence is air movement created by atmospheric pressure, jet streams, air around mountains, cold or warm weather fronts or thunderstorms, according to the Federal Aviation Administration website. Pilots are sometimes warned of reports of turbulence by the Federal Aviation Administration, airline meteorology teams or even other pilots flying ahead of them in advance. However, turbulence can also occur without warning. How dangerous is it? According to the FAA, 30 passengers and 116 crew members were seriously injured due to turbulence from 2009 to 2021. Airline passenger numbers are currently estimated to be at around four billion a year, so such incidents are clearly still rare. The FAA cites turbulence as the leading cause of injuries to flight attendants and passengers in nonfatal accidents on commercial airlines. As airlines arent required to report more minor injuries, the total number of injuries is unclear. Fatalities, such as the Singapore Airlines incident, are also extremely uncommon. A December 1997 United Airlines flight from Tokyo to Honolulu also experienced turbulence that left one person dead. Turbulence makes flights bumpy and can occasionally be dangerous, says University of Reading meteorology researcher Mark Prosser. Airlines will need to start thinking about how they will manage the increased turbulence, as it costs the industry $150500m annually in the USA alone. Every additional minute spent traveling through turbulence increases wear-and-tear on the aircraft, as well as the risk of injuries to passengers and flight attendants. Is it getting worse? A study by the University of Reading reported that severe turbulence had increased by 55% in the past four decades due to the impact of climate change. The report, published in June 2023, found that at an average point over the North Atlantic, which is one of the worlds busiest flight routes the total yearly duration of severe turbulence had risen by 55% between 1979 and 2020. In 2022, Williams, who co-authored the study, told CNN that he believed that severe turbulence could double or triple in the coming decades. He went on to attribute this to clear air turbulence, a type of turbulence that strikes suddenly is very difficult to avoid. According to figures from the National Transportation Safety Board, the flight crew had no warning in about 28% of turbulence-related accidents from 2009 to 2018. Williams analysis predicted that clear-air turbulence would increase significantly across the world in the coming decades. Typically, on a transatlantic flight, you might expect 10 minutes of turbulence, he added. I think that in a few decades this may increase to 20 minutes or to half an hour. The seat belt sign will be switched on a lot more, unfortunately for passengers. Should I wear a seatbelt the entire flight unless Im going to the bathroom? The short answer to this is Yes. A 2021 report by the NTSB indicated that the majority of passengers who were injured in turbulence-related accidents were not wearing their seatbelt at the time. Since its sometimes impossible to anticipate when an aircraft will encounter clear air turbulence, the only way to be 100% safe is to keep strapped in for the whole ride. Does it damage aircraft? In cases of extreme turbulence, where the airplane is tossed violently about and is impossible to control structural damage can be caused to an aircraft, according to the US National Weather Service. Recent incidents, including the one affecting the Singapore Airlines flight, have also resulted to substantial damage to the airplane cabin. Are some routes worse than others? Turbulence can occur almost anywhere and at any height, but some areas are known for being more susceptible. The Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore, appears to encountered severe turbulence over Myanmar after crossing Southeast Asias Andaman Sea. After an analysis of around 150,000 different flight routes, turbulence prediction website Turbli found that the journey between Santiago, Chile and Viru Viru International airport in Bolivia to be the most bumpy, while the route between Almaty, Kazakhstan, and the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, came in second on the list, which was released last year. Nashville, Tennessee to Raleigh/Durham in North Carolina was ranked as the North American route with the highest average turbulence. Duarte Mendonca, Sophie Jeong, Jacopo Prisco and Katia Hetter contributed to this report For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Airbnbs are being advertised by fraudsters as long-term lets in order to steal deposits from unsuspecting would-be tenants. The flats are advertised at reduced rents to attract potential tenants, and official-looking documents are handed out at viewings to encourage them to pay large deposits. But once the deposit is paid, the fraudsters disappear, leaving the victims without their money and with no home to move into. One two-bedroom flat, on a leafy street minutes away from Harrods in Knightsbridge, had been advertised on property website On The Market as available for long-term sharers. It was advertised at the price of 2,350 a month, or 519 a week. The flat hunter told The Telegraph that she had arranged a viewing on May 2, with an agent supposedly working with a company called Real Estate Extravaganza Limited, which was incorporated in March this year, according to Companies House. She was told to message the firms Whatsapp account where she was introduced to a man called Edward who arranged to meet her at the property for a viewing. But when she got into the flat, she found the real owner, who said that the flat was not in fact available for long-term rent but he does let the property out through Airbnb. She picked up one of the 15-page rental agreements that had been left on tables around the flat. It stated that she would need to pay six months rent up front, a sum of more than 14,000, alongside a deposit of one months rent. The property owner said the scam had happened at another of his properties, which he also rents out on Airbnb, and so had become suspicious of a man taking the property for just one night. The owner said when he went to check out his other flat, he found would-be renters taking pictures of the outside of the building. There was also an agent carrying out viewings, who told him he had been hired through messaging platform Telegram, and was being paid by the hour. He said he had previously been paid to perpetrate a similar con on Baker Street. When The Telegraph approached the online agency on the messaging service Whatsapp, which advertises as Real Estate Extravaganza and was registered as a company in March, the messages were delivered but not responded to. One victim was a single father with an 11-year-old daughter Greg Tsuman, of ARLA Propertymark, the membership body for property agents, said that rental scams were becoming a lot more common. Weve seen it a couple of times with some properties [registered with Arla]. Unfortunately, what is contributing to it is the rising rents and the fact that tenants are struggling to find properties on the open market. All the fraudsters have to do is advertise it for a couple of hundred pounds a month less, and suddenly they are inundated with calls from desperate tenants, he said. In one case, Mr Tsuman said fraudsters had managed to take money from three different tenants, who all turned up to move in at the same time. He said: They all arrived at the same time, thinking they were moving in. Clearly, it was all a fraud. It was quite sad because there was a single father with an 11-year-old daughter, and they had nowhere to go. It was absolutely devastating. Mr Tsuman said other rental frauds that are common include tenants who are about to move out subletting the property and then disappearing with the deposit and advance rent payment; and those in council homes renting out their homes to private tenants for a higher rate than they pay themselves. Carry out checks before paying up He said: A Land Registry search costs about 5, and its available to everyone. If you are in doubt, before parting with any money, do a search, which will tell you who owns the property, their name and the address, everything you need to know. When youre being shown around, make sure you see a photo ID to confirm that the person in front of you is one on the title deeds, Mr Tsuman continued. An Airbnb spokesman said: We have zero tolerance for illegal activity and have banned this individual from the platform. With 1.5 billion guest stays to date, issues on Airbnb are exceptionally rare and we deploy strict measures and policies to protect our community, including removing bad actors. Dan Wilson Craw, of campaign group Generation Rent, said fraudsters are preying on desperate renters. We know that scams get more common when there is intense competition for homes, like there has been over the past couple of years, and in late summer as students look for accommodation before term starts, he said. Weve heard of Airbnbs being used for fake viewings, and sometimes scammers pretend to be legitimate letting agents. The government is introducing a landlord registration system which, if designed properly, will give would-be tenants one way of checking that the home theyre viewing is legal to let out. Mr Claw added: In the meantime, tenants should be vigilant about the possibility of scams. If youre being asked for a lot of money, try to contact the letting agent directly via their website to make sure you use correct payment details. And remember if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. A spokesman for On The Market said it is investigating the alleged fraud. The spokesman continued: Unfortunately, while rare, there are occasions when bad actors seek to take advantage of On The Markets site. When that occurs, On The Market acts swiftly to investigate the alleged fraud, as we are doing here. Have you been caught out by a similar scam? Tell us about it by emailing money@telegraph.co.uk Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. New airline flying out of Dulles; one-way fares start at $46 LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. (DC News Now) The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) said Tuesday that people looking to fly to New England will have another travel option come July. MWAA formally welcomed Avelo Airlines to the lineup at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) in a post on X, which included a link that provided more information about the airline and reservations. Avelos new nonstop service between IAD and Tweed-New Haven Airport (HVN) starts on July 12. The route will be offered twice weekly on Mondays and Fridays using Boeing next-generation 737 planes. Dulles International to get $35M in federal funding; BWI getting $14.5M Avelo already offered flights out of Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI). Air travel from there to Southern Connecticut is seasonal, according to the route map on Avelo Airlines website. Additionally, there is a regular route between BWI and Wilmington International Airport (ILM) in North Carolina. Avelo Airlines launched in 2021 and has bases at Los Angeles Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR), Orlando International Airport (MCO), the Delaware Valleys Wilmington Airport (ILG), Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU), and the Bay Areas Sonoma County Airport (STS), as well as Tweed-New Haven Airport (HVN). 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 DC News Now | Washington, DC. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) After a months-long investigation, the New Mexico Department of Justice has arrested an Albuquerque man accused of distributing child sexual abuse material. According to the NMDOJ, 36-year-old Jonathan Anzures was arrested late last week on accusations of distributing child pornography on a network called BitTorrent. Albuquerque police arrest man accused of weekend murder Anzures has been charged with possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material of children under the age of 13. He is currently booked in the Metropolitan Detention Center. 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 KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) Its been almost 12 years since the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would start investigating Albuquerque Police. Today, the APD says it has met all requirements in the Court-Approved Settlement Agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, and the reform process will come to an end. This week on the New Mexico News Podcast, APD Chief Harold Medina joins Chris & Gabby to discuss the key changes APD has adopted over the last decade. Are their new policies sustainable? How will APD police itself going forward? Those questions and more are addressed in the full discussion above, or you can listen to the latest episode wherever you get your podcasts. Chief Medina also answers questions about public trust during a federal investigation into APDs DWI unit, and officers resigning amid an internal probe. We are doing our best to hold individuals accountable, Medina said. Every time we hold somebody accountable, view it as a victory that we did something to clean the place up, and to make sure that there was integrity, he added. Story continues below Download new episodes of the New Mexico News Podcast every Tuesday, starting around 5:30 a.m., Mountain time. Episodes are available on most podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Podbean among others. Having trouble finding the show? Try searching your favorite podcast player with the term KRQE or New Mexico News Podcast (without the quotes). You can also use the links above to find the podcast on each respective service or listen to the audio player at the top of this post. If you have a question, comment, or suggestion as to who should be interviewed on the podcast, let us know! Email the hosts at chris.mckee@krqe.com or gabrielle.burkhart@krqe.com. 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 KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the flying of an upside-down flag outside Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alitos home casts doubt on the justices impartiality in handling legal questions connected to the criminal case against Trump for attempting to overturn the 2020 election results. Schumer, who called flying the upside-down flag \really the wrong thing to do, said he is consulting with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) about what steps to take next and is considering bringing a Supreme Court ethics bill to the Senate floor this week. I think what he did really was the wrong thing to do and it casts some doubt on impartiality and Im discussing with Sen. Durbin where we should go from here, Schumer told reporters Tuesday. We have a lot of bills we want to get on the floor but thats one of them in high consideration, he said of the ethics bill. Alito has come under intense criticism since The New York Times reported Friday that an upside-down American flag was displayed on the justices lawn after the 2020 election. The reversed flag has become a symbol of the Stop the Steal movement which claims without evidence that President Biden won the election because of widespread fraud. Alito told Fox News that his wife put the flag up on his property after getting into a dispute with a neighbor who posted an anti-Trump flag. Durbin on Friday called on Alito to recuse himself from a pending Supreme Court case on whether Trump should be immune from prosecution for acts committed while in office. Flying an upside-down American flaga symbol of the so-called Stop the Steal movementclearly creates the appearance of bias. Justice Alito should recuse himself immediately from cases related to the 2020 election and the January 6th insurrection, including the question of the former Presidents immunity in U.S. v. Donald Trump, which the Supreme Court is currently considering, Durbin said in a statement Friday. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Monday said that Alito showed poor judgment in allowing the flag to be displayed in a disrespectful manner on his property. Emotions are apparently high in that neighborhood. But no, its not good judgment to do that, Graham said. He said his wife was insulted and got mad. I assume that to be true, but hes still a Supreme Court justice, and people have to realize that [at] moments like that to think it through. But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday defended Alito and called on his critics to back off. It seems to me there are just non-stop attacks on the Supreme Court, week after week after week. So Im not going to dignify that with a response, he said when asked whether it was appropriate to display the flag in such a way at Alitos home and whether he should recuse himself from Jan. 6-related cases. We need to leave the Supreme Court alone, protect them from people who went into their neighborhoods and tried to do them harm, he said. 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 The Hill. The Alitos Let Their Freak Flag Fly High And No Ones Gonna Do A Thing About It A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPMs Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. Dont Let Sam Alito Fall Off Your Radar Senate Democrats? Fellow justices? Anyone? Is the Alito households protest of Joe Bidens election by flying an upside down American flag in the period between the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and Inauguration Day going to just recede into oblivion? Thats it? Were done with that? Time to move on? Have the Republican Partys sustained attacks on the court system and the rule of law become just more background noise to our national politics? Just par for the course here in 2024? Elected Republicans keep showing up to support the insurrectionist former president at his criminal trial as a defiant workaround to the gag order imposed on him. Its a jarring sight, but not as remarkable as a sitting Supreme Court justice sending out a distress signal that the government has been illegitimately taken over by Joe Biden: Brian Beutler: Heres a simple objective for Senate Democrats: Reveal to the public whatever behind-the-scenes roles Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas have played in the Supreme Courts corrupt effort to protect Donald Trump from the law. Jesse Wegman: In short, Justices Alito and Thomas appear to be breaking federal law, tanking what remains of the courts legitimacy in the process. The challenge is whether anyone is willing to do anything about it. Jamelle Bouie: Whether or not Justice Alito was part of the decision to fly the inverted flag, there is no question that he is a genuine Republican partisan who is more than willing to share views that echo narratives aired throughout conservative media. Alitos own admission to the episode was mere hand-wave toward his wife and their very political neighbors as if he knew it would all blow over soon enough. No Senate hearings. Not even a sustained drumbeat from Democratic electeds. Yesterdays Big Blow Up in Court Robert Costello looks to be the primary defense witness for Trump, and things did not go well, as he quickly ran afoul of the judge, who took the unusual step of throwing nearly everyone not a litigant out of the courtroom and closing it while he read Costello the riot act. We didnt know what was said behind closed doors until later in the day when the transcript was released: Heres *that* exchange between Justice Merchan and Robert Costello earlier today: JUSTICE MERCHAN to ROBERT COSTELLO: Are you staring me down right now?Im putting you on notice that your conduct is contemptuous pic.twitter.com/lNyfgRDxI5 Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) May 21, 2024 Live Trial Coverage TPMs Josh Kovensky is back at it this morning. Follow along on what could be another unpredictable day in court. What Comes Next? Today: Trumps defense case isnt expected to last long unless we get surprise testimony from Trump himself in his own defense. After testimony concludes, probably this morning, attention will shift this afternoon to preparing jury instructions and arguments to the judge about what they should say. Joyce Vance runs through that process so you can familiarize yourself. Wednesday: Off Day/No Trial Thursday: Partial trial day (if needed) Friday: Off Day/No Trial Monday: Memorial Day/No Trial Tuesday: Closing Arguments Trump Campaign Vid References Unified Reich AP: The word Reich is often largely associated with Nazi Germanys Third Reich, though the references in the video Trump shared appear to be a reference to the formation of the modern pan-German nation, unifying smaller states into a single Reich, or empire, in 1871. Reichsburger Plotters Go On Trial in Frankfurt The far-right coup plotters who wanted to violently overthrow the German government and install an obscure aristocrat as chancellor went on trial Tuesday in Frankfurt. The Real Danger If Trump Is Reelected Jacob Heilbrunn: Mr. Trumps economic and foreign policy nationalism would subvert the preponderance of power that America has enjoyed since 1945 and that he has promised to bolster. It has been threatened from without but never from within. As he vows to upend Americas relations with the rest of the globe, the danger is not that Mr. Trump would fail to live up to his principles. Its that he would. 2024 Ephemera Donald Trump out-raised Joe Biden in April, the first time this cycle that Trumps beaten Biden in fundraising. Biden still enjoys a significant cash-on-hand advantage. Election officials are increasingly targeting schools and other unconventional sources to address the rising shortage of election workers. Statewide referenda seeking to protect abortion rights in Florida and Arizona are polling extremely well. Youve Been Served WaPo: How Rudy Giuliani tried, and failed, to avoid his latest indictment More here: How Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes found Rudy Giualini to serve him, three weeks after he was indicted, which made him the last of the 18 defendants to be served. As you know, he does a lot of podcastingWe found him through his livestreams. pic.twitter.com/LuQhDnH0gD Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) May 21, 2024 Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know! Alliance City Council to cut four fireworks dates for residents In Alliance, O., residents on South Webb Avenue watch and record as a series of small red firecrackers that stretch half of a block explode on Monday, July 3, 2023. ALLIANCE Residents should prepare themselves for fewer permitted days to shoot off fireworks. City Council introduced legislation on Monday night that would greatly reduce private fireworks displays inside city limits. In 2022, Ohio enacted a state law that permitted state residents to shoot off fireworks on nine separate holidays througout the year. A loophole let municipalities decide whether they wanted to opt out of these permissions. The city proposal would permitted dates to just five. It also would prohibit anyone younger than 18 from discharging, igniting or exploding certain fireworks, and prohibit non-licensed sales of fireworks. Any violations could be subject to a fine or misdemeanor charge. It is expected City Council will vote on the proposal next month and, if it passes, have it enforced by Fourth of July. In 2022, Ohio law started to allow people to discharge fireworks on specific dates and times. However, municipalities could restrict or ban them outright. The city of Alliance is proposing to reduce displays to these dates and times. "We're trying to," said Councilwoman Cindy King, D-2, who sought the restrictions after a raucous 2023 Fourth of July weekend. "I feel we have enough time to do that. We have a whole month to get it done and let people know." The five holidays in the proposal are: July 4 (8 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.) Sunday immediately preceding Labor Day (8 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.) New Years Eve (8 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.) New Years Day (Midnight to 1 a.m.) Sunday immediately preceding Memorial Day (8 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.) All other dates and times allowed under state law would be prohibited unless an individual or group receives city permission. By contrast, current state law allows private fireworks on: July 3, 4, and 5, and the weekends immediately before and after (4 p.m. to 11 p.m.) Labor Day weekend (4 p.m. to 11 p.m.) Diwali (4 pm. to 11 p.m.) New Year's Eve (4: p.m. to 11:59 p.m.) New Year's Day (12 a.m. to 1 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.) Chinese New Year (4 p.m. to 11 p.m.) Cinco de Mayo (4 p.m. to 11 p.m.) Memorial Day weekend (4 p.m. to 11 p.m.) Juneteenth (4 p.m. to 11 p.m.) Mayor Andy Grove said he wanted to make sure the legislation allowed City Council to make more adjustments in the future, if necessary. The proposal does this. Reach Benjamin Duer at 330-580-8567 or ben.duer@cantonrep.com. On X (formerly Twitter): @bduerREP. This article originally appeared on The Repository: Alliance City Council hopes to curb fireworks by Fourth of July Mrs Clooney had been criticised on social media for not speaking out about Israel's war - Richard Shotwell/Invision Amal Clooney has revealed she played a key role in the decision to seek an international arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister on charges of war crimes in Gaza. The British human rights lawyer, who is married to the actor George Clooney, was on a panel advising International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan after she was criticised on social media for not speaking out about Israels war. Mr Khan had asked the panel of legal experts to review the evidence before he issued warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu, Israels prime minister, and Yoav Gallant, Israeli defence minister. Mrs Clooney said there was reasonable grounds to believe the Israeli politicians have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity including starvation as a method of warfare, murder, persecution and extermination. The panel also called for warrants against three Hamas leaders, agreeing that Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity including hostage-taking, murder and crimes of sexual violence. Necessary to protect civilian lives Mrs Clooney said the eight-person panel was unanimous in their decision in a post on her Clooney Foundation for Justice website on Monday. More than four months ago, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asked me to assist him with evaluating evidence of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and Gaza, she said. I served on this panel because I believe in the rule of law and the need to protect civilian lives. The law that protects civilians in war was developed more than 100 years ago and it applies in every country in the world regardless of the reasons for a conflict. The British human rights lawyer, who is married to the actor George Clooney, said the eight-person panel was unanimous in their decision - Alberto Pezzali/Invision The barrister at Doughty Street Chambers in London has represented Yazidi victims of ISIS and victims of atrocities in Darfur in Sudan. The panel also included Theodor Meron, former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and Lord Justice Fulford, a former ICC judge. ICC judges will now consider the arrest warrant applications, which have been criticised by Joe Biden, the US President. Mr Netanyahu said the warrant was outrageous and created a twisted and false moral equivalence between the leaders of Israel and the henchmen of Hamas. Neither the US or Israel are members of the ICC, which claims jurisdiction over Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank. Palestinian leaders agreed in 2015 to be bound by the ICCs founding principles. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- If you ask Gen Z what the current fashion craze in China is, "new Chinese style" will probably be a quick answer. After gaining immense popularity during this year's Spring Festival, the organic blend of traditional Chinese aesthetics and modern style continues to charm hearts during the spring and summer seasons, becoming a new buzzword in the domestic consumer market. New Chinese-style clothing is typically defined as attire that seamlessly integrates traditional Chinese elements with contemporary styling. It not only encapsulates traditional aesthetics and cultural heritage but also integrates materials, techniques, and technologies stemming from modern science. On social media platforms like Douyin and Xiaohongshu, the "new Chinese style" remains a fervent topic of discussion. E-commerce data from short video platform Kuaishou showed that in the first quarter of this year, orders for products of "new Chinese style" increased by 700 percent compared to the same period last year, while orders for Han Chinese clothing increased by nearly 300 percent. "Our orders are booked six months in advance, with a compound annual growth rate of over 100 percent in revenue," said Lin Qi, inheritor of the craftsmanship for making horse-faced skirts and the founder of a clothing brand. The horse-faced skirt is a type of Hanfu featuring a high and flat front and pleated sides that originated in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and prevailed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911). In 2016, Lin started creating unique horse-faced skirts, initially selling only a dozen pieces in a year. In just a few years, the annual sales volume of horse-faced skirts her company made has soared to an impressive 100,000 pieces. Reflecting on this remarkable growth, Lin said, "The market has undergone notable changes." Currently, a significant portion of her clientele are young people. Many post-95 said the inherent beauty of the new Chinese-style fashion touches their cultural genes when asked about the appeal of traditional Chinese clothing. In addition, what excites young people are the stunning designs that exude a stronger sense of style and contemporary vibes. A closer look at the prevailing trends of the "new Chinese style" reveals a captivating blend of trendiness and refinement. Whether it's the exquisitely crafted button designs or the embroidery artistry embodying intangible cultural heritage, this fusion always perfectly captures young individuals' aesthetic preferences when seamlessly integrating with contemporary clothing styles and silhouettes. For example, the horse-face skirt has evolved into a more diverse fashion item and has thus gained even greater versatility. To cater to different occasions, it now comes in various lengths, from full-length to midi and knee-length; to meet the demands of various seasons, the fabric has also seen improvements, transitioning from thick wool knits to lightweight cotton, linen, and silk. From the Qipao to Han Chinese clothing, almost every popular fashion item is a reinterpretation of tradition. "We have invested a significant amount of time and money in collecting hundreds of traditional Song brocade patterns, studying weaving techniques, and innovating to make them more in line with the modern aesthetic," said Wu Jianhua, president of a silk research and development company in Suzhou. Wu's company also researched and developed elastic Song brocade, aiming to enhance the fabric's wrinkle resistance, color vibrancy, and comfort to make it more suitable for modern wear. Xue Yadi, born in 2000, praised the "new Chinese style" clothing as "not merely visually appealing but also lightweight." She went on to say, "Wearing these clothes fills me with a sense of pride." "The popularity of traditional Chinese clothing is closely related to the growing interest in traditional culture. Consumers not only pay for the clothing itself but also appreciate the aesthetic significance and cultural value it carries. This phenomenon reflects a strong cultural confidence among the public," said Yang Xiaodong, vice president of the China National Garment Association. Editor: WXL A U.S. national has been mistakenly accused of involvement in last weekend's attempted coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Cole Patrick Ducey, an engineer living in Eswatini, told ABC News Monday that he was not involved, despite reports online and in the media. DRC government officials also confirmed to ABC News that Ducey was not involved in the coup attempt over the weekend. Ducey told ABC News he has been the subject of a "huge case of mistaken identity," with his name appearing in social media posts and news articles that erroneously suggest he was arrested Sunday in the DRC. "I learned of what happened yesterday on the news just as you did," he said. PHOTO: Congo (Samy Ntumba Shambuyi/AP) MORE: Trump posts social media video seemingly suggesting his victory will bring 'unified Reich' Authorities in the DRC told ABC News that the coup attempt was led by Christian Malanga, a DRC businessman and politician with U.S. ties. Malanga was killed in the coup attempt, the officials said. The officials also told ABC News that a U.S. national, Benjamin Zalman-Polun, had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the coup attempt. ABC News wasnt immediately able to locate a legal representative for Zalman-Polun. Ducey verified his identity by sending ABC News a video in which he displayed an identifying document. ABC News further verified Duceys identity by reviewing public records. Ducey told ABC News that he attended the University of Colorado with Zalman-Polun in 2006 and 2007. The two lost contact for many years, Ducey said, until Zalman-Polun contacted Ducey in 2020 about a business opportunity in the mining sector. At that time, Ducey said Zalman-Polun introduced him to Malanga in a phone call. In 2022, Ducey said, the trio met in Mozambique to review mining concessions. Ducey said they started a limited liability corporation but failed to find a viable spot to mine and did not continue working together. MORE: 'Are you staring me down?': Fiery moment between judge, defense witness in Trump hush money trial Zalman-Polun, Malanga and Ducey are listed as partners in that LLC, according to records from the government of Mozambique's official bulletin. Those records, which are publicly available, appear to have led to the case of mistaken identity. However, Ducey claims, and DRC government officials affirm, he was not a part of the attempted coup over the weekend in any capacity. American mistakenly accused of involvement in Democratic Republic of Congo coup attempt originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Analysis: Iran's nuclear policy of pressure and talks likely to go on even after president's death In this photo provided by Fars News Agency, mourners try to touch the coffins of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, top, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, left, and Raisi's chief bodyguard Gen. Mehdi Mousavi, who were killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday in a mountainous region of the country's northwest, during a funeral ceremony at the city of Tabriz, Iran, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Mourners in black began gathering Tuesday for days of funerals and processions for Iran's late president, foreign minister and others killed in a helicopter crash, a government-led series of ceremonies aimed at both honoring the dead and projecting strength in an unsettled Middle East. (Ata Dadashi, Fars News Agency via AP) DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) While Iran's nuclear program stands at the precipice of tipping over into enriching uranium at weapons-grade levels, Tehran has held quiet, indirect talks with the United States and invited the head of the United Nations' atomic watchdog into the country for negotiations. While seemingly contradictory, the move follows Iran's strategy since the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018. Tehran is attempting to exert its own version of Trump's maximum pressure on the international community to see the economic sanctions that have crippled the country's economy and currency lifted in exchange for slowing down its program. The Islamic Republic also appears to be trying to contain the risk it faces from the U.S. after launching an unprecedented attack on Israel amid its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The assault a response to a suspected Israeli strike on April 1 which killed two Guard generals and others in Damascus, Syria has pushed a yearslong shadow war between Israel and Tehran out into the open. All this is unlikely to change for the time being, even with the helicopter crash Sunday that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and other officials on a foggy mountain. That's largely due to the fact that all matters of state rest with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei, 85, has led Iran since 1989 as only its second supreme leader since the country's Islamic Revolution. Under Khamenei, Iran has seesawed between subtle outreach to outright hostility with the U.S. and other Western powers. Those cycles include reformist President Mohammad Khatami's Dialogue Among Civilizations efforts that hit a wall as the U.S. suffered the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 and soon began its decadeslong wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who came to power in 2005 cheered the country's nuclear program and defied the West. Relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani ultimately got the 2015 nuclear deal across the line, ending sanctions for greatly limiting its atomic program. Then came the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal. Iran in the waning days of the Rouhani administration began a series of attacks targeting shipping in the Middle East while dialing down its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s watchdog. It ultimately began enriching uranium up to 60% purity a step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Then Raisi, a protege of Khamenei, won the 2021 presidential election in a vote that saw his main rivals barred from running and a record-low turnout for the race. Those policies continued as did Iran's support for regional militias like Yemen's Houthi rebels, now attacking ships moving through the Red Sea over the Israel-Hamas war. Those groups have long provided Iran with a means to challenge its regional archenemy Israel, as well as the U.S., without a direct military confrontation. Through all of this turmoil, the one constant has been Khamenei. As the supreme leader, he's further empowered the country's Revolutionary Guard, whose all-volunteer Basij forces have been crucial in putting down widespread protests that have struck the nation in recent years. And by ensuring Raisi's election, he narrowed the country's political field to only hard-liners who have embraced that policy of pressure. The Israel-Hamas war, as well as the risk of it expanding into a regional confrontation, has changed some of this calculus, however. The survival of the nezam, or system as Iran's Shiite theocracy is known, remains the paramount concern. The risk of open warfare, as well as the economic pressure squeezing Iran and its people, have made efforts to try to restart the diplomacy or at least alleviate the risk of things getting even worse that much more important. The late Amirabdollahian, as well as the country's now-acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani, had been fierce critics of the negotiations as run under the Rouhani administration. But in the time since, they moved to reach a detente with Saudi Arabia last year. Then they've continued indirect talks with the U.S. in Oman, a sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula that's been a key interlocutor between Tehran and the West. The full extent of the talks remains unclear, as does what will come from them. However, Iran even reached out to the U.S. government after the helicopter crash for assistance, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told journalists Monday. We did make clear to them that we would offer assistance, as we would do in response to any request by a foreign government in this sort of situation," he said. "Ultimately, largely for logistical reasons, we werent able to provide that assistance. That help was finding the crash site, The Washington Post reported. And such an ask wouldn't have come without Khamenei's approval. ___ EDITORS NOTE Jon Gambrell, the news director for the Gulf and Iran for The Associated Press, has reported from each of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Iran and other locations across the world since joining the AP in 2006. Anas Sarwar: Ill stop deluge of new laws for landowners if I become first minister Mr Sarwar admitted that the landowners conference was 'not natural territory for a Scottish Labour politician in recent years' - TERRY MURDEN/ALAMY Anas Sarwar has pledged the Scottish government will stop handing down reams of new laws to landowners if he becomes first minister as they demanded a reset in relations. The Scottish Labour leader lamented the SNPs modus operandi of using different constant new legislation to try and solve problems in rural parts of the country. In a speech at the Scottish Land & Estates (SLE) annual conference in Edinburgh, he told the assembled landowners: The job of government is not to impose on you or to tell you how to run your businesses. Mr Sarwar instead promised to take a collaborative and strategic approach rather than chasing short-term headlines with a supposed quick fix. His intervention came as delegates to the conference repeatedly expressed concern about a deluge of new legislation going through Holyrood, including another land reform bill and rent controls. Jim Fairlie, the SNPs agriculture minister, admitted there had definitely been far too much of an urban-centric policy focus in the Scottish government in recent years. He insisted that the election of John Swinney as First Minister and Kate Forbes as his deputy represented a reset of the Scottish governments relationship with the countryside, noting that both represent rural constituencies. Road-tested to destruction But the conference was held the day after another poll found Labour ahead of the SNP in voting intentions for both the upcoming Westminster general election and the 2026 Holyrood poll. Senior SLE figures said it was the first time a senior Labour politician had delivered an address to the conference since the party lost power to the SNP in 2007. To laughter, Mr Sarwar admitted that the conference was not natural territory for a Scottish Labour politician in recent years, to come and speak to an audience like this. But he argued his speech showed he was leading a changed Labour Party that prioritised economic growth and that there were no no-go areas for us. I think for a lot of businesses across the country, a lot of landowners across the country, you will often feel like the policy is imposed on you and your community rather than designed in partnership. That has to change, he said. Mr Sarwar said any new laws proposed by a Labour-run Scottish Government for rural communities would be road-tested to destruction before being introduced. Estates generate an estimated 2.4 billion per year for the Scottish economy, support around 57,300 jobs and provide land for 14,000 rural enterprises, according to recent research. Outlining the principles of how he would seek to govern if he became first minister, he said he would pursue collaboration and partnership with landowners. Land reform He defended the SNPs controversial land reform legislation but agreed with a delegate that a crackdown on short-term lets was a problem that affected Edinburgh but wrongly became national policy. Mr Sarwar also described Scotlands planning system as an absolute disaster, saying the average wait for an application to be approved in Glasgow was 78 weeks compared to 16 weeks in Manchester. Mr Fairlie said: We absolutely have not got everything right by any stretch of the imagination. I think that the reset that were talking about has to be across everything that were doing and saying. Why are we doing this? What are we doing it for? Can we deliver it? And what are the benefits to the people of Scotland? Dee Ward, SLEs chairman, said: I believe that now is the moment for the Scottish Government to reset its relationship with rural Scotland, better understand the positive work we are undertaking to deliver benefits for everyone and create an evidence-based environment for legislation that supports our work to continue delivering these benefits now, and in the future. Recent years have seen the introduction of policies and legislation that fail to recognise the enormous contributions estates are making to our national outcomes. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) Democratic incumbent Andrea Salinas and Republican challenger Mike Erickson will face off in the November general election after winning their primary elections May 21, as called by the Associated Press. As of 10 p.m., Salinas secured over 87% of the vote with her Democratic primary challenger Cody Reynolds garnering over 11% of the vote with more than 37,000 votes counted. Republican Mike Erickson secured over 74% of the vote in the Republican primary, followed by David Russ with over 20%, David Burch over 2.9%, and Conrad J. Herold with 1.34% as of 10 p.m. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Salinas said she is honored to be the Democratic nominee. From addressing the fentanyl crisis to bringing down the cost of living, Im fighting for the issues that Oregonians care about most, Salinas said. Now lets win in November and continue to build on that progress. The Sixth District includes Polk and Yamhill counties, as well as parts of Marion, Clackamas, and Washington counties. Salinas won the seat during the 2022 midterm election for Oregons newly created District, defeating Republican Mike Erickson, a businessman. A population boom made Oregon one of just six states to gain a House seat following the 2020 census. The states population jumped by more than 10% in the past decade to more than 4.2 million people, giving it a new congressional district for the first time in 40 years. Salinas Democratic challenger, Cody Reynolds, is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, with a career background in military and finance. Republican challenger David Russ previously served as mayor of Dundee and was a city council member for the city. He also serves on the Yamhill County Parkway Committee, Dundees Urban Renewal Agency, and the Yamhill County Local Public Safety Coordinating Council. Ballots for Oregons primary election must be dropped off by 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 21, or postmarked by midnight. This is a developing story. Stay with KOIN 6 News for primary election updates. 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 KOIN.com. Britains third new nuclear power station to be built in Anglesey Anglesey's remoteness is likely to mean new chains of pylons will need to be built across the Welsh countryside - Edward Dyer/Alamy Stock Photo Britains third giant new nuclear power station will be built in North Wales, ministers have announced. Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho has designated Wylfa on Anglesey as the Governments preferred site for its planned third large nuclear power station, which it hopes will eventually generate 7pc of the UKs electricity. A number of other sites had been proposed including Bradwell in Essex, Sellafield in Cumbria, Hartlepool in County Durham and Heysham in Lancashire. However, Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, described Wylfa as the best site in Europe for a big nuclear project. He said: It has an existing grid connection, the hard bedrock ideal for a nuclear power station, superior cooling water access, and some work to clear the site for large-scale construction was already done by the previous developer. Wylfa was home to a much smaller nuclear power station which operated from 1972 to 2015 - Phil Noble/REUTERS Wylfa was home to a much smaller nuclear power station which operated from 1972 to 2015 with an output of one gigawatt (GW). Wylfa B, the new station, is expected to eventually generate 3.2 GW of electricity more than three times the output of its predecessor. Its output would likely be similar to Hinkley Point C in Somerset, which has been under construction for several years, and the Sizewell C power station where construction has just started. Construction of both plants is being overseen by EDF, the French state-owned power company, which this week confirmed it wanted to bid for Wylfa B too. The site could eventually also include one or more small modular reactors (SMRs), potentially creating the UKs biggest centre for nuclear power generation. A second site at Oldbury on Severn in Gloucestershire is expected to be designated for more nuclear developments, most likely based around SMRs, according to Whitehall sources. Ms Coutinho said: We are powering ahead with the biggest expansion of nuclear energy in 70 years. Anglesey has a proud nuclear history and it is only right that, once again, it can play a central role in boosting the UKs energy security. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Ms Coutinho announced ambitions to build a third large nuclear power plant in January as part of a new nuclear roadmap. The plans will see Britains nuclear power generating capacity increase up to fourfold by 2050. Mr Greatrex said: The Government is absolutely right to pursue more large-scale nuclear power. It is a proven technology that delivers clean, sovereign power and can transform communities with thousands of high quality, long-term jobs and apprenticeships. Angleseys relatively remote location is likely to mean new chains of pylons being built across the Welsh countryside to carry power from Wylfa B to Englands power-hungry cities. An EDF spokesman described Wylfa as a fantastic site and said it wanted to bid to build the new plant. However, it is expected to face competition from Westinghouse, an American company, and Kepco, South Koreas largest electrical utility firm. The costs of the new plant are uncertain. Hinkley Point C was originally costed at 18bn but overruns have already pushed that up to at least 46bn. With several more years of construction needed, final costs are expected to exceed 50bn equivalent to about 1,800 per UK home. Hinkley developer EDF is liable for the extra costs. The French state-owned power company is also overseeing construction of Sizewell C, a near replica of Hinkley, which it claims will cost only 20bn because of the lessons learnt at its predecessor. Wylfa B's output is expected to be similar to Hinkley Point C, which has been under construction for several years - Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images However, it has refused to take the risk of financing the scheme, which is instead being funded under the Regulated Asset Base (RAB) system. This allows companies to impose a charge on consumers before the power station has even started generating. The aim is to reduce borrowing and so cut the financing costs that have crippled Hinkley. The Wylfa B plant is also likely to be financed under the RAB system which means consumers will see bill increases for Wylfa B and Sizewell C before either generates any power. Alison Downes, of Stop Sizewell C, said: The Government seems determined to double down on gigawatt nuclear, the slowest most expensive energy source to build, which the British public in the form of taxpayers and consumers will be forced to pay for. We send our empathy to the people of Anglesey who will be forced to fight yet another inappropriate development. Our advice is to take very little of what is promised in the form of community benefits at face value. Andrew Bowie, the minister for nuclear energy, was on Wednesday scheduled to meet with the Nuclear Non-Governmental Organisation Forum to hear various groups concerns over the expansion of nuclear energy. However, he cancelled the meeting at short notice as news of the Wylfa plan emerged. 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. Annual Memorial Day Ceremony and Parade to shut down Rockville roads ROCKVILLE, Md. (DC News Now) The Annual Memorial Day Ceremony and Parade will close down several roads in Rockville Town Center on Monday, May 27. These roads will shut down from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.: (Photo courtesy of the City of Rockville) Maryland Ave. from Beall Ave. to E. Jefferson St. E. Montgomery Ave. from Maryland Ave. to Monroe St. Courthouse Square from Maryland Ave. to N. Washington St. Monroe St. from Middle Ln. to Monroe Place Middle Lane from Route 355 to N. Washington St Fairfax County police investigating fatal shooting These roads will shut down from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.: N. Washington St. from Route 355 to Middle Ln. Martins Lane from Mannakee St. to N. Washington St. Beall Ave. from Route 355 to N. Adams Street The Rockville City Police Department said bikes lanes along these roads will also be closed but residents will still have access to parking. For more information, click here. 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 DC News Now | Washington, DC. Another Downtown Disney store has closed as the revamp of the outdoor shopping district continues. California Sole, a shoe and sandal store, closed in early May. The owners, Wayne & Cate Heck, announced the stores closure on Instagram in late April. It is with mixed emotions that we bid farewell to California Sole Anaheim at the Downtown Disney District. While weve had a great ride and will never forget our loyal customers, its time for us to pursue some of our lifelong passions and interests, the Instagram post said. Downtown Disney restaurant closing after 20 years of operation We will certainly miss the fun and energy of the Downtown Disney District and want to express what a true pleasure it has been to serve you. Disneyland hasnt announced what would replace California Sole, but it could be the home to a future Nectar Bath Treats location, according to Mice Chat. Loungefly has apparently inked a deal for a Downtown Disney location, and so has Nectar Bath Treats (which also has a location at Universal CityWalk). Neither has been officially announced yet, so we still need to list this as a rumor, the blog reported. The chain, known for selling bath soap treats in the shape of donuts, milkshakes and cupcakes, also has locations in Costa Mesa, Las Vegas, Hawaii, New Jersey and Dubai. New rooftop bar, food hall coming to Downtown Disney Loungefly is a popular retailer known for selling mini backpacks, purses and wallets themed to characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars and more. Last year, resort Disneyland Resort President Ken Potrock said the Downtown Disney transformation would take 18 months to complete. The 18-month timeline means officials hope to complete construction shortly before Thanksgiving. 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 KTLA. The Associated Press brutally criticized the Israeli government on Tuesday after soldiers with the Israeli Defense Forces seized a camera, equipment, and cut its live feed in southern Israel, citing a new censorship law. The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government to shut down our longstanding live feed showing a view into Gaza and seize AP equipment, Lauren Easton, the wire's chief communications officer, said in a statement. The shutdown was not based on the content of the feed but rather an abusive use by the Israeli government of the countrys new foreign broadcaster law. The law, passed last month, allows Israel to shut down any foreign news outlet it believes to be a security risk. It was widely viewed as an effort to shut down the Israel operations of Qatar-based Al Jazeera, which an Israeli minister described as acting from within against us. The Israel government eventually shut down Al Jazeera in the country on May 5. The law was also viewed internationally as an attempt to limit coverage of Israeli military actions in Gaza, prompting a tempered rebuke by the Biden White House. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday that the White House was concerned by the news of Israels seizures and said journalists must have the right to do their jobs, according to Axios. Last month she noted the U.S. supports the critically important work journalists around the world, and that includes those who are reporting in the conflict in Gaza. The live feed showed an aerial view of northern Gaza, one accessible to the hundreds of outlets, including Al Jazeera, that access the wire services content. Israel asked the AP to take the transmission down on Thursday because of Al Jazeeras access to the feed, but the AP said it refused. That prompted the communications ministry to seize the wire services equipment on Tuesday. In accordance with the government decision and the instruction of the communications minister, the communications ministry will continue to take whatever enforcement action is required to limit broadcasts that harm the security of the state, the ministry told AP in a statement. The AP has abided by Israels military restrictions, which prevent news outlets from reporting on troop movements and similar military actions. However, the outlet said the seizure prevents news organizations across the world from having any view of Gaza, particularly as access to the region is severely limited. We urge the Israeli authorities to return our equipment and enable us to reinstate our live feed immediately so we can continue to provide this important visual journalism to thousands of media outlets around the world, the AP said in its statement. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Visitors attend the exhibition "Rising Visionaries" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the United States, May 19, 2024. The National Youth Visionaries Association (NYVA) hosted the second Annual Young Artists Award Ceremony and the exhibition "Rising Visionaries" showcasing more than 70 artworks by artists aged 5 to 18. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) Visitors attend the exhibition "Rising Visionaries" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the United States, May 19, 2024. The National Youth Visionaries Association (NYVA) hosted the second Annual Young Artists Award Ceremony and the exhibition "Rising Visionaries" showcasing more than 70 artworks by artists aged 5 to 18. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) Visitors attend the exhibition "Rising Visionaries" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the United States, May 19, 2024. The National Youth Visionaries Association (NYVA) hosted the second Annual Young Artists Award Ceremony and the exhibition "Rising Visionaries" showcasing more than 70 artworks by artists aged 5 to 18. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) Editor: WXL In recent months, the U.S. Department of Defense has accounted for dozens of missing airmen killed in combat and for each of them, there's a harrowing story of the their final moments. One servicemember from Michigan died on a World War II bombing mission in Southeast Asia when his plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire, causing its wing to catch fire. A 21-year-old from Pittsburgh was killed when his plane crashed during another bombing mission during that war against oil fields in Romania. A pilot from Florida disappeared during a solo spy mission during the Vietnam War. While most missing troops were identified primarily using DNA and dental records, the U.S. government is now turning to British archaeologists to help find a World War II pilot whose plane crashed in a dense English woodland in 1944. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has tasked Cotswold Archaeology with recovering the remains of the unnamed pilot, who was listed as missing in action after his B-17 went down, the company revealed this week. The crash site is in East Anglia, in eastern England, Cotsworld Archaeology told CBS News on Tuesday. That region, with its rural farmland and tiny villages, became the headquarters of the Allies' so-called "Bomber War" during the 1940s, according to the National WWII Museum. Cotswold Archaeology is working to recover the remains of a pilot who was listed as missing in action after his B-17 crashed in 1944. / Credit: Cotswold Archaeology The bomber, loaded with 12,000 pounds of explosives, crashed after its controls failed, and now Cotswold Archaeology plans to spend six weeks excavating the "exceptionally special site." "This excavation will not be easy the crash crater is waterlogged and filled with 80 years' worth of sediment, the trees and undergrowth are thick, and all soil must be meticulously sieved to hopefully recover plane ID numbers, personal effects, and any human remains," the company said in a social media post showing images of the site. Developed in 1935, the B-17 Flying Fortress is an American bomber that served in every combat zone, according to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. The bomber was mainly used in Europe during World War II and was best known for the strategic bombing of German industrial targets, the Air Force said. According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the remains of more than 1,500 Americans killed during World War II have been identified and returned to their families for burial with full military honors. More than 72,000 servicemembers from the war remain unaccounted for. While archaeologists will try to locate the remains of the missing B-17 pilot in England, a team from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency is in Normandy, France, searching for three other missing airmen whose aircraft was shot down by German anti-aircraft fire on D-Day, June 6, 1944. The team is combing the soil to find any bone fragments, as well as personal items such as uniforms, navigation protractors, watches and rings. "It's a real honor being here on this recovery mission. It's a humbling experience, and I'm happy to help bring the full accounting of the missing to their families," said Air Force Master Sgt. Raul Castillo, the team's lead support investigator on the mission in France. Pope Francis: The 60 Minutes Interview Saying goodbye to season 56 and to a man who made 60 Minutes better for 35 years The Dish: Spaghetti stir fry is a family favorite The government of Spain has recalled its ambassador in Buenos Aires after Argentine President Javier Milei publicly lambasted the wife of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. Speaking to a crowd at a right-wing rally in Madrid this weekend, the right-wing president took aim at Spains first lady, Begona Gomez, who has been at the center of a messy corruption scandal involving alleged influence peddling. The global elites dont realize how destructive it can be to implement the ideas of socialism, Milei said on Sunday. Even if you have a corrupt wife, lets say, it gets dirty, and you take five days to think about it, he added, referring to the five-day break the socialist Spanish prime minister took from his duties in the aftermath of the scandal. Javier Milei, Donald Trump of Argentina, Wins Presidential Election Spanish officials did not take well to Mileis remarks, with Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares vowing to explain to him the gravity of his offenses and demanding the Argentinian president apologize for the derogatory remarks. There is no precedent for a head of state who goes to another country's capital to insult its institutions and flagrantly interfere in its internal affairs, Albares said, adding in a video statement that Milei has brought the relationship between Spain and Argentina to its most serious state in recent history with his behavior. But no apology was made, and Milei instead doubled down on his remarks in comments to local media this week. I am not going to apologize from any point of view, he told the Argentine network Todo Noticias. Spains PM Announces Finale of Wild Political Soap Opera Spains decision to indefinitely recall its ambassador to Argentina comes after Prime Minister Sanchez threatened to resign over serious and coarse attacks against his wife by right-wing officials in the country. The first lady has not been charged in the probe, which was launched by Spains conservative Vox party. A federal prosecutor has since argued that the case should be tossed for lack of evidence Most of the time we forget that politicians are people, Sanchez said in a public letter after returning to his prime ministerial duties last month. And I do not blush to say it, but I am a man who is deeply in love with my wife, who is living with the feeling of impotence while being pelted with mud. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) revealed Monday how former New York Mayor Rudy Giulianis penchant for podcasting and livestreaming online was key to him being served during his 80th birthday party in Palm Beach, Florida, last week with an indictment over his alleged efforts to undermine the 2020 election result in the state. Arizona Attorney Generals Office agents had over a series of weeks unsuccessfully tried to serve the former Donald Trump lawyer on multiple occasions in multiple ways, Mayes told CNNs Kaitlan Collins. I think Rudy Giuliani knows how this works and obviously, as you know, he does a lot of podcasting. Its pretty easy to locate and to find but he was not accepting service and was dodging our agents, Mayes explained. Is that how you had to find him? asked Collins. Basically, you had to look at his livestreams and his podcasts to figure out where he was? Thats correct, replied Mayes. Wow, said Collins. We found out essentially through his livestreams, Mayes continued. Hes not that hard to find. And so we did that and our agents professionally served him after his birthday party, as the party was winding down and as he himself was leaving the house that he was in, we gave him a copy of the papers, and he went along his way. How Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes found Rudy Giualini to serve him, three weeks after he was indicted, which made him the last of the 18 defendants to be served. As you know, he does a lot of podcastingWe found him through his livestreams. pic.twitter.com/LuQhDnH0gD Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) May 21, 2024 Giuliani took the papers and proceeded to his car, said Mayes. I think he might have been a little bit surprised. But this is a serious case, we expect him to take it seriously. We expect him to be in court tomorrow. Mayes dismissed Giulianis claims to not know he was being sought and that hed told agents his location ahead of being served. He did not tell us where he was going to be except that he told the world where he was through his live cast, said Mayes. Its really hard to believe that he didnt know that we were looking for him given the number of times and the different ways we had tried. Collins called it remarkable. Giuliani, former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and 16 others were indicted in April by an Arizona grand jury over their alleged efforts to flip Trumps 2020 loss to President Joe Biden in the state. Giuliani was the last to be served. He is set to be arraigned Tuesday. He was also indicted in the Georgia case. Related... CNN Rudy Giulianis love for live streams allowed Arizona authorities to finally serve him, the states attorney general told CNN on Monday. The former New York mayor, who was indicted in the battleground last month for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election there, was served just after his 80th birthday party on Friday night in Palm Beach, Florida, following weeks of unsuccessful attempts. It was Giulianis live stream of the party that gave away his location, Kris Mayes told CNNs Kaitlan Collins on The Source. Mayes explained that Giulianiwho has also been indicted in Georgia for election interferencewas the last of 18 defendants in Arizonas sweeping indictment to be served. We had the attempted on multiple occasions in multiple ways to serve Mr. Giuliani, she said. Our agents had traveled to New York City to try to serve him. We were not allowed in his building there where he lives. We stayed there for two days. We mailed him a letter. We made phone calls, and ultimately we had to send agents down to Florida where he went most recently to serve him. Mayes suggested that Giuliani was purposely avoiding being served, which tracks with a since-deleted social media post he had made in which he gloats about authorities not being able to find him. I think Rudy Giuliani knows how this works and obviously, as you know, he does a lot of podcasting. Its pretty easy to locate and to find, but he was not accepting service and was dodging our agents, Mayes said. We found out [Giulianis location] essentially through his live stream, she went on. Hes not that hard to find. And so we did that and our agents professionally served him after his birthday party, as the party was winding down, and as he himself was leaving the house that he was in, we gave him a copy of the papers, and he went along his way. Mayes also refuted Giulianis claim that he told them where I would be prior to being served. He did not tell us where he was going to be, Mayes said with a chuckle, except that he told the world where he was through his live cast. A spokesperson earlier told The Daily Beast: The mayor was served after the party and as he was walking to the car. The spokesman described Giuliani as unfazed by the incident and enjoyed an incredible evening with hundreds of people, from all walks of life, who love and respect him for his contributions to society. We look forward to full vindication soon. Giuliani, who declared bankruptcy in December after being ordered to pay $148 million for defaming two Georgia poll workers, is expected in court in Arizona on Tuesday. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. ***Video above: How to report tips to U.S. Marshals.*** YAVAPAI COUNTY, Arizona (WJW) An Arizona man was sentenced to prison for the murder of his wife, who investigators say was buried alive in a hand-dug grave in 2017. On May 9, a Yavapai County judge sentenced 62-year-old David Michael Pagniano, of Prescott, to life in prison without parole, the Yavapai County Attorneys Office announced on Friday. David Michael Pagniano_mugshot (1) The investigation started in 2017, when his wife, Sandra Pagniano, disappeared under suspicious circumstances during their divorce, prosecutors say. Investigators say her body was found bound and gagged in packing tape inside a hand-dug grave north of Prescott. Mom charged with keeping toddler in cage A medical examiner determined that Sandra had been buried alive. Detectives learned through cell phone data that Pagniano was in the area of the gravesite in the days leading up to her death and the night she went missing, according to prosecutors. Through the investigation, detectives also looked into two notes supposedly written by Sandra, claiming she was leaving her husband the house, vehicles and custody of their children. Forensic scientists later revealed that he had actually written those notes, the attorneys office said. Pagniano pleaded guilty to her murder the day before his trial. Local police call this anti-choking device game changer In a statement on Friday, Yavapai County Attorney Dennis McGrane said his office was pursuing the death penalty in the case due to the horrific circumstances surrounding the abduction and murder of a young mother. The evidence revealed she vigorously struggled while she was in the grave, and was likely conscious for up to five minutes after being buried. I hope the life sentence brings some closure to the victims family, Attorney McGrane said in the release. I want to be clear that my office will vigorously prosecute anyone who commits a violent crime in Yavapai County and we will continue to pursue the death penalty in appropriate cases. Pagniano was also sentenced to another 16.5 years in prison for kidnapping, forgery and fraud schemes, prosecutors say. 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 Fox 8 Cleveland WJW. Organizers for a ballot initiative that would amend the Arizona Constitution to protect abortion rights set up outside the Arizona Capitol on April 9, 2024, shortly after the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that an 1864 near-total abortion ban is enforceable. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror An initiative to protect abortion access in Arizona has gathered more signatures than it needs to make the November ballot. If it passes, it wouldnt be the first time Arizonans have used direct democracy to enshrine rights directly relevant to women. A popular initiative gave Arizona women the right to vote in 1912, years before the 19th Amendment brought suffragists nationwide victory. Getting a measure on the ballot is expensive and onerous, says Dawn Penich, a spokesperson for Arizona for Abortion Access, the organization behind this years measure. But her group is determined to champion it to restore abortion rights and overcome restrictions put in place by Arizona Republicans. Theyve raised over $12 million to recruit hundreds of volunteers, train them, and send them out to canvas in high-traffic areas under the blazing desert sun. Their goal: get at least 383,923 Arizonans who are registered to vote to sign a petition so it qualifies for the ballot. This article was originally published by Bolts, which covers local politics and policy around voting rights and criminal justice, and is republished with permission. It is grueling work, Penich said. Im out in the field, on the streets, at trailheads with our volunteers many days a week. Its folks who are oftentimes retired, she added of the canvassers who are securing signatures. Its folks who are fitting this in before or after their full-time jobs. None of this is easy. The GOP is now pushing a separate constitutional amendment that would multiply those hurdles, and make future citizen-led initiatives prohibitively difficult. Republican lawmakers have placed a measure on the November ballot that would severely restrict direct democracy in Arizona by imposing strict geographic requirements on where organizers must gather signatures. Arizonans will vote on it this fall, likely alongside the abortion measure. Penich warns that the amendment would make organizing like hers tougher going forward. This is an effort to make it harder for regular people to engage in the process, she told Bolts. Right now, petitioners need to pass just one statewide test to qualify a measure: They need to gather more signatures than a minimum number defined in the state constitution, regardless of where the signatures come from. (The threshold is 10 or 15 percent of all votes cast in the most recent governors race, depending on whether the proposal would amend the constitution.) If the new measure passes, it would create 30 separate tests instead: Initiatives would need to meet that same threshold of signatures in each and every one of Arizonas 30 legislative districts. This would require tremendous logistical feats from any citizen-led effort. Canvassers would need to dramatically scale up their presence in the most remote parts of Arizona, unable to rely on high-traffic areas and denser population centers. The ruling minority doesnt want to share the power with the public. Pinny Sheoran, president of the League of Womens Voters of Arizona Arizonans who have experience working on signature-gathering told Bolts that this requirement could prove insurmountable to them given the resources and capacity it would call for. This is nothing but a backdoor way to shut down the initiative process, said Jim Barton, an election law attorney who has been involved in numerous legal fights over the rules of initiatives in Arizona. Proponents of this change say it is necessary to ensure rural Arizonans have a voice in the process; they say citizen-led initiatives are typically pushed by voters in Maricopa and Pima Counties, the states two most populous. It shows up on the ballot with very little buy-in from other parts of the state, Republican state Senator J.D. Mesnard, who sponsored the amendment, Senate Concurrent Resolution 1015, told Bolts. SCR 1015 passed both chambers of the legislature on party-line votes, with Republicans in support. Mesnard added that he wants to reel in out-of-state groups that have zeroed in on Arizona as a key battleground state. Weve been seeing an increased use of the initiative process by outside organizations that dont even exist in Arizona coming in and planting themselves in Maricopa County and gathering all the signatures they need, Mesnard said. Sarah Gonski, an Arizona-based lawyer who has represented Democrats in election litigation, predicts that the changes will have the opposite effect. Between the operational expenses of recruiting and training canvassers across every part of the state, and the legal expenses needed to defend the signatures in court, she told Bolts that only those with deep pockets could qualify a ballot initiative. Initiatives are going to be even more expensive. That means as a tool, it is even more inaccessible to actual citizens of Arizona, said Gonski, who also teaches election law at ASU and works as a policy advisor for the Institute for Responsive Government. It pretty much boxes out grassroots Arizona groups and ensures only well-monied special interests can come in and campaign. The geographic requirements in SCR 1015 would force organizers to deploy extensive resources to find thousands of supporters in regions that may be politically hostile to their agenda; while Arizona overall is closely divided, some areas skew very blue or red. (Joe Biden and Donald Trump each received more than 70 percent in at least one legislative district in the last presidential election.) Even when organizers believe theyve collected enough signatures, their opponents would simply have to show that they missed the mark in just one of the states 30 districts for the entire initiative to be scrapped. This would open more opportunities for legal mischief, and multiply courtroom battles. Pinny Sheoran, president of the League of Womens Voters of Arizona, which opposes the proposed changes to the initiative process, agrees that these changes would lock out most Arizonans from a process in which theyve grown used to participating. The ruling minority doesnt want to share the power with the public, Sheoran said. The left doesnt have a monopoly on popular initiatives, but in Arizona, where the state government has been run by Republicans for much of the last few decades, the direct democracy process has been a rare tool progressives can use to champion some of their most popular priorities. Voters approved a minimum wage increase in 2016, they legalized recreational marijuana in 2020, and they approved a hike in teachers salaries and education funding through raising taxes on top earners in 2020. (That last measure was eventually struck down by state courts.) All these measures were initiated by Arizona organizations looking to circumvent the legislature. Other citizen-led initiatives have fueled reforms to the political system. A 1998 initiative set up public campaign funding with an eye to diminishing the power of special interests. A ballot measure in 2000 stopped gerrymandering by setting up an independent redistricting commission. A 2022 measure required groups making independent expenditures to disclose the identity of major donors. Facing this string of victorious progressive campaigns, Republican politicians began chipping away at Arizonans right to put measures on the ballot. In 2017, a law adopted by the GOP over Democratic objections made it easier for signatures to be challenged in court. The law set a higher standard of strict compliance that a voters signature must meet when compared to voter registration files. This has made it more likely for signatures to be tossed or declared invalid based on technicalities like a voter using an shortened version of their name. It is a minority veto. Its allowing people from one part of the state to veto something the majority of the state cares enough about to put on the ballot. Sarah Gonski, Democratic election attorney Republicans said the requirement would protect against fraud, but Penich says the law unleashed a deluge of pricey legal battles to strike signatures on formatting issues, misspellings, illegible characters and other minor details on petitions. What most people would consider a really ridiculous detail could invalidate rows of signatures, Penich said. For instance, if somebodys signature touches the signature below it, that could be grounds to invalidate both signatures. As a result of the tightened standards, campaigns have to set aside more funds to defend the petitions in court, and they also have to invest more time in training circulators to minimize the number of signatures that may end up being tossed. Not only is it 110 degrees, not only is it after a full day of work while their families are at home, Penich said, we also have to be watching like a hawk while they sign that they stay inside the box, that they dont leave out the date. Mesnard, the state senator behind SCR 1015, also supported the strict compliance law back in 2017. If you are bypassing the normal process, it should be pretty strict, he told Bolts this month. If that means there should be fewer things on the ballot, then it might mean a healthier situation than what we had before. Another change that has made it harder to qualify initiatives is a provision tucked into a broad law that passed in 2014 with wide bipartisan support. It allows groups suing to challenge a petition to subpoena individual canvassers who sought out signatures for it; if a circulator does not show up to testify in court, all the signatures they collected are tossed out. In 2018, a group opposed to a clean energy initiative filed a string of subpoenas against roughly 1,400 canvassers as part of a lawsuit alleging that the petition violated Arizonas strict compliance standards. The petitions organizers have said it cost them over $1.3 million to bring all these circulators to court, including costs of flights, lodging, and missed wages. The court let them do it, even though you could never get testimony from so many witnesses, said Barton, the attorney who litigated the case. The clean energy initiative eventually did get enough signatures verified to qualify for the ballot, though it ultimately lost that year. Another petition drive didnt even make it that far: Organizers of an initiative to outlaw dark money were hit by mass subpoenas, and thousands of signatures were tossed because circulators did not show up in court. The Arizona supreme court blessed this subpoena rule in a 2018 ruling. If you are bypassing the normal process, it should be pretty strict. If that means there should be fewer things on the ballot, then it might mean a healthier situation than what we had before. Sen. J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, on why making it tougher for initiatives to qualify for the ballot Terry Goddard, a former Democratic attorney general who was behind the dark money initiative, warned that the ruling created a very high barrier of entry for direct democracy. You not only have to get valid signatures but then you have to keep the circulator around and have them appear at a hearing or all their signatures are going to be determined invalid, he said at the time. Critics of this system filed a federal lawsuit, but they eventually withdrew their claims after losing in court. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who at the time served as secretary of state, defended the subpoena system in a court filing, saying it did not pose an undue burden. These restrictions on direct democracythe strict compliance test, the subpoena rulesare still in place. And Barton warns they will get even harder to overcome if SCR 1015 passes this fall. A ballot petition is virtually certain to have less room for error in some individual districts than it does statewide, and opponents would target canvassers in the district where a petition gathered the fewest supporters. Organizers would need to invest in collecting extra signatures in each district, going far beyond the minimum threshold to create buffers in all 30 without exceptions. They dont need to knock off hundreds of thousands of signatures, Barton said. They just need to knock off a few thousand in one district. Arizona Republicans have also sought to close off other threats to their hold on power. In 2016, they expanded the Arizona supreme court, granting then-Governor Doug Ducey additional appointments that cemented a conservative majority. The maneuver helped lock in the right-wing majority that ruled in favor of abortion restrictions earlier this year. The bill to expand the court was sponsored by Mesnard, who at the time was in the state House. Democrats have gained power in recent years in Arizona. Hobbs narrowly flipped the governors mansion in 2022, breaking the GOPs trifecta. This year, Democrats are also aiming to flip control of the state legislature for the first time since 1966. In such a scenario, Gonski predicts, Republicans may end up regretting making it so hard to pass initiatives. In the not-too-distant future, conservative groups could be the ones turning to direct democracy measures, she said. And they would have made it very difficult and expensive for them. The political context is going to change probably in a way that makes this a boomerang theyre throwing into the wind that will come back and hit them in the face a couple years from now, she added. Arizona Republicans push to curtail direct democracy mirrors the partys current efforts in a string of other states to set up additional hurdles for citizen-led initiatives. This includes reforms in several states to create or toughen geographic requirements for signatures. Last year, Arkansas Republicans passed a law that required organizers to gather signatures in at least 50 of the states 75 countiesup from 15. Voters had rejected such a change when it was proposed to them as a referendum in 2022, but the legislature passed it through a regular bill anyway. The grassroots people are going to be screwed, David Crouch, an Arkansas attorney who had helped spearhead a medical marijuana referendum in the state, told Bolts at the time. In total, sixteen states impose some geographic requirements on petitions, but the scheme proposed in Arizona would be the strictest in the country, according to research compiled by Ballotpedia, a digital resource for elections information. In nearly all states with geographic mandates, the requirement is that signatures be gathered from some portion of counties or districtsnot from every single one. The only state that allows no exception, Colorado, applies that rule only for constitutional amendments; Arizonas would apply it to any initiative, including statutory changes. It is a minority veto, Gonski said of the proposed change in Arizona. Its allowing people from one part of the state to veto something the majority of the state cares enough about to put on the ballot. Arizona for Abortion Access says their abortion rights measure had collected more than 500,000 signatures as of early April, already far more than what itd need to qualify the item under current rules, and they were continuing to seek supporters. But if something goes wrong with their proposal this year while the GOP succeeds at restricting popular initiatives, abortion rights proponents warn that a redo would be exceedingly difficult. It has always been a very heavy lift, very hard work with ballot initiatives, said Sheoran of the League of Women Voters. But this is precisely why the Arizona Abortion Access campaign is so critical to have passed now. If this [geographic requirement] initiative passes, a second go-around of an abortion amendment would never happen, she added. Every woman knows that. We know how serious this is. The post Arizona Republicans set up a ballot measure to squash future ballot measures appeared first on Arizona Mirror. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin is ordering two out-of-state companies to stop advertising in the state. Griffin said in a Tuesday release that the two companies were in violation of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act related to abortion pill marketing and sales. Griffins office sent cease and desist letters to Choices Womens Medical Center, Inc. of New York and Aid Access of the Netherlands. Arkansas co-leads 17-state coalition suing federal pregnancy, abortion accommodation rule The attorney general said the companies were advertising being able to ship abortion pills to the state, the use of which in the state is prohibited. Abortions are prohibited in Arkansas except under very limited circumstances. As such, abortion pills may not be legally shipped to Arkansans or brought into the State for use by Arkansans, Griffin claimed. If the companies do not stop they would be subject to a lawsuit from his office, Griffin said. These companies must cease and desist advertising relating to the performance of abortion services in Arkansas immediately or face the possibility of lawsuits from my office, Griffin said. As Attorney General, I will continue fighting to enforce the laws of our state. Arkansas attorney general leads 23-state coalition supporting West Virginia abortion prohibition The Deceptive Trade Practices Act allows penalties of up to $10,000 per violation. The attorney general said the companies have 14 days to comply with the order. Arkansas enforced a trigger ban on June 24, 2022 that prohibits abortion at all stages of pregnancy. This ban was put in place after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization. Attorney General Tim Griffin certifies Arkansas Abortion Amendment ballot language A group is currently working to gather signatures for an abortion ballot question on the Arkansas November ballot. If they are successful, the right to abortion access would be part of the state constitution. 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 KARK. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. The number of reported overdose deaths in Arkansas has dropped faster than the national rate in the latest government report. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention preliminary data shows Arkansas drug overdose deaths declined 13.7% from 2023 compared to 2022. CDC data shows the national rate saw a 5.1% decline for the same period. Arkansas group introduces app to prevent opioid abuse, overdose In hard numbers, Arkansas had 510 deaths in 2023, compared to 591 overdose deaths in 2022, according to the CDC report. Nationally, in 2023 there were 103,793 overdose deaths compared to 109,413 in 2022. Officials with the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership believe this drop at least partially reflects the increasing emphasis on the overdose-reversing drug naloxone, commonly branded as Narcan. Partnership director Kirk Lane said the CDC number reflects the relative success of the partnerships program. This decrease marks a monumental step toward our goal of zero drug overdose deaths, Lane said. These numbers spur us on as we work to create a reality where no one else experiences the loss of a child or loved one to opioid misuse. Fewer US overdose deaths were reported last year, but experts are still cautious Partnership officials said it had contributed $2,675,000 toward Narcan distribution to date, with more than 50 community partners selected to distribute 39,384 kits. Still, agencies sound a cautionary note about the trend. CDC Chief Medical Officer Dr. De Houry said that despite the declining death rate, work remains. Todays data showing a decrease in drug overdoses over the 12-month period through December 2023 is heartening news for our nation and demonstrates we are making progress to prevent deaths from drug overdoses, Houry said, adding, The data show we still lost over 100,000 people last year; meaning, there are still families and friends losing their loved ones to drug overdoses at staggering numbers. Students train to use overdose reversal spray as part of new Arkansas law Other experts are cautioning, pointing out that a decline may not be sustainable. Brown University researcher Brandon Marshall told the Associated Press that despite the encouraging downturn, it was too early to draw any long-term conclusions. 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 KARK. Storm chances return to the Natural State tonight, Tuesday, May 21st, and continue through the next few days. Tonight the threat is mainly for northern, western, and parts of central Arkansas. This risk area is a low, level 2 out of 5, risk for severe storms. Even with a low risk for severe storms, its still important to be weather aware. Severe risk: Tuesday There is a Tornado Watch for NWA including: Benton, Carroll, Madison & Washington Counties. A watch does not guarantee a tornado will form, but does indicate the ingredients are present in the environment for development. Cities under the tornado watch until 10 p.m. cdt include: Bentonville, Fayetteville, Eureka Springs, Huntsville, Boston, Winslow, Bella Vista and Siloam Springs. These storms are expected to move in this evening and push through during the overnight hours. Large hail and heavy rain will be the main threats, however damaging wind gusts and an isolated tornado cannot be ruled out. Forecast track Tuesday Wednesday will bring a more widespread chance for strong to severe storms, with a level 3 out of 5 risk covering much of the state. Large hail and heavy rain will continue to be the main risks with any severe storms that develop on Wednesday. However, damaging wind gusts and a tornado or two will be possible, even with the lower risk for those. Severe risk: Wednesday Wednesdays storms are expected to come in two waves. One arriving late morning/ early afternoon, and one moving in during the evening hours. Forecast track Wednesday Thursday also brings us a low-end risk for severe weather with much of the state under a low, level 2 out of 5, risk for severe storms. Severe risk Thursday Thursday looks to have lots of dry time during the afternoon hours, with a cluster of storms moving into western Arkansas late Thursday night and into early Friday morning. Forecast track Thursday Some areas could see several inches of rainfall from Tuesday night through Friday morning. Those areas with the most thunderstorm activity will have the highest rainfall totals. Flash flooding could be an issue in those areas that see several thunderstorms. Rainfall forecast With an unsettled weather pattern expected over the next few days, stick with The Arkansas Storm Team for continued updates. One way to stay weather-aware is by downloading The Arkansas Storm Team App below. Download the Arkansas Storm Team app To make sure you are staying up-to-date with the forecast, download the Arkansas Storm Team app to get updates anywhere at any time. To watch the latest video updates from the Arkansas Storm Team, you can check them out here. The Arkansas Storm Team is a collaboration of two stations to bring you the largest weather team in the state when covering Arkansas weather. 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 KARK. An archaeologist observes a relic unearthed from the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province, May 20, 2024. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) An aerial drone photo taken on May 20, 2024 shows the excavation site of the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) An archaeologist shows a relic unearthed from the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province, May 20, 2024. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) Archaeologists inventory the relics unearthed from the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province, May 20, 2024. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) An archaeologist shows a relic unearthed from the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province, May 20, 2024. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) Archaeologists preserve the relics unearthed from the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province, May 20, 2024. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) An archaeologist preserves a relic unearthed from the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province, May 20, 2024. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) Archaeologists inventory the relics unearthed from the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province, May 20, 2024. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) An archaeologist measures a relic unearthed from the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province, May 20, 2024. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) An aerial drone photo taken on May 20, 2024 shows the excavation site of the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) An aerial drone photo taken on May 20, 2024 shows the excavation site of the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) Editor: WXY Theres an arms race in Haiti, and its fueled by Floridas pipeline of weapons of war While heavy gunfire was paralyzing Haitis capital in late February, a man using a fake name approached a 45-foot cargo container parked in a Fort Lauderdale lot. He asked if he could drop off three parcels two boxes and a folding casino table to ship to the besieged country. Anestin Predestin, a self-styled broker who was parceling out space in the container for Haitians looking to ship food and merchandise, asked what was inside the taped cardboard boxes. The man, who went by the single name Diamortino, lied. Clothes, he said. The following month, Predestins container left Port Everglades and arrived in Cap-Haitien, a coastal city north of the capital, as fighting raged in Port-au-Prince between police and armed gangs. In Cap-Haitien, the national police discovered that Diamortinos boxes contained more than two dozen illegally imported handguns and assault rifles, along with hundreds of rounds of ammunition all sent from South Florida and destined for criminal gangs in northern Haiti, according to a Haitian investigator. Predestin found out about the April 5 seizure over WhatsApp messages. He said he was shocked by the discovery, not only because it involved his shipment, but because it happened as a united front of gangs was attempting to topple the government. The gunmen launched launched deadly coordinated attacks on state institutions, including the capitals airport, main seaport and prisons. Can you imagine? Predestin, 48, said, sitting a week later in his sparsely furnished efficiency apartment in north Miami-Dade County. There can be a bad guy in front of you and you dont even know it. During a joint operation in the city of Cap-Haitien, Haitian police and customs inspectors discovered a cache of arms in two boxes that arrived in a container from South Florida. The choke point Federal officials readily admit that Florida is the main U.S. pipeline for weapons headed to the Caribbean and South America, fueled by the states easy access to firearms, a lucrative black market, the lack of export inspections at South Florida ports and the rising demands of criminal organizations in countries like Haiti. Those factors have caused a steep climb in illicit shipments of increasingly powerful firearms such as automatic rifles to hundreds of gangs in Haiti, contributing to the doubling of the countrys murder rate over the past two years. The weapons smuggling spike to Haiti began two years ago, U.S. authorities say, coinciding with the escalation of violence carried out by armed groups since the July 7, 2021, assassination of President Jovenel Moise. The gangs have forced thousands of people from their homes, paralyzed the economy and now has millions facing starvation. The ongoing insurgency succeeded in ousting the prime minister and shutting down the main airport and seaport for months. The choke point for this stuff is here, said Anthony Salisbury, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Miami, noting that .308-caliber sniper and military-grade rifles are being regularly smuggled in shipping containers to Haiti and other Caribbean countries. The old-fashioned practice of stashing one or two handguns in a bulk load or in checked luggage going to Haiti has become increasingly less common. A view of Toussaint Louverture International Airport, foreground, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Commercial flights in and out of the airport have been suspended since early March 2024 when armed groups targeted the facility and nearby domestic airport. Unlike luggage screened at airports, inspections of shipments exported through South Floridas ports are low, obviously, Salisbury acknowledged, because Customs and Border Protection agents are more focused on imports coming into the U.S. Instead, he said, customs agents rely on tips from informants about firearms and other contraband in export shipments before deciding whether to inspect them. Salisbury pointed out that, in order to keep much-needed food, medicine and other goods flowing to Haiti whether theyre packed as containerized cargo leaving major ports or in loose, bulk loads at the Miami River customs agents cant afford to check everything. They dont even require paperwork for export shipments valued at $2,500 or less. Theres a whole flow of commerce that we want to make sure is not slowing down, Salisbury said. No change in inspections A spokesman for Customs and Border Protection in Miami declined to address the agencys specific inspection policy on exports to Haiti, but noted that it hasnt changed since the escalation of weapons smuggling and the ongoing insurrection by heavily armed gangs. CBPs mission in regards to outbound inspections from South Florida to Haiti has remained steadfast throughout the years, said agency spokesman Alan Regalado, adding that local and national policy has not changed. Regalado said bulk shipments at the Miami River are the primary source of ocean exports to Haiti. But the Miami Herald has found that since 2022, most of the firearms seizures in the country trace back to container shipments that left Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, with the exception of a Miami River cargo load containing 120,000 high-power rounds later confiscated in Haiti. That reality weighs heavily on the Biden administration, which is leading the effort behind a Kenya-led security mission to help Haitian police take down powerful gangs that now control more than 80% of Port-au-Prince. Were doing more on our end with [key agencies] to figure out how we can detect more of whats leaving the United States, said Todd D. Robinson, assistant secretary of state in charge of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement. And were not just doing that for Haiti, were doing it for the entire region. Following an attack on the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince, a number of prisoners escaped. Even with Haiti cut off from the world, with its main international airport and government port shuttered since early March, and its border with the neighboring Dominican Republic sealed, weapons continue to flow in. There has been at least one other seizure in Cap-Haitien since the April 5 incident two 9mm pistols and 13 9mm-caliber cartridges were discovered in a blue drum in a container shipped from South Florida on April 29. Police say some of the gangs involved in the ongoing insurgency have also managed to acquire a fresh batch of assault rifles since late February. Amid the barrage of heavy gunfire in Port-au-Prince, a powerful 26-year-old gang leader and aspiring rapper, Johnson Andre, better known as Izo, released a video clip showing masked members of his 5 Segonn gang brandishing new Belgian-made FN FAL battle rifles and AK-47s, weapons that are popular in Venezuela and Colombia. In addition to carrying the new firearms, which until now had not been seen before in the hands of Haitian gangs, the uniformed gang members on the video moved with military-style precision. Jimmy Cherizier, a former police officer known as Barbecue, leads the G9 gang alliance. These are no longer kids running around with flip-flops and guns, said a security consultant who has been tracking firearms and international funding going into Haiti for years. This is a terrorist organization. This is an embedded insurgency in the country and its going to require military capabilities to dislodge or remove or control them. Romain Le Cour, senior expert at the Geneva-based Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, was in Haiti at the start of the gang rebellion in February. The general trend is to beef up, said Le Cour, co-author of Haitis Gang Crisis and International Responses. Theyve been evolving into a trained militia. They look like SWAT teams. Christopher Robinson, special agent in charge of the Miami office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, said there has been a stark increase in the number of criminals trying to acquire high-powered assault rifles and cartridges. More weapons come in [to the Caribbean] from the continental United States, Robinson said. The ATF agent declined to name the states linked to gun-involved crimes in Haiti. ATF agents, however, said in a recent report that 57% of the weapons recovered from crimes in the Caribbean between 2017 and 2021 were originally purchased from federally licensed firearms dealers in Florida. According to the National Firearms Commerce and Trafficking Assessment report, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Ohio and North Carolina, accounted for 80% of the guns recovered at crimes in the Caribbean and traced back to licensed U.S. dealers. The Commerce Departments Bureau of Industry and Security, which regulates weapons exports from the U.S. to foreign countries, says that since 2020 about half of all firearms-export investigations have been concentrated in the Caribbean region. Florida weapons pipeline Thanks to the South Florida pipeline, Haitian gangs have obtained more high-powered semi-automatic rifles like the highly-popular AR-15 using illicit funds from drug trafficking, kidnapping and other crimes. As a result, they have gained a significant edge in their clashes with the Haiti National Police, whose rank and file are carrying handguns like the 9mm Glock, although a few specialized units are armed with Israeli Galil rifles and U.S.-made M-4s. Youre looking at an arms race who can get their hands on the biggest guns and the most guns can do the most talking, Salisbury said. The Haitian police force has been so outgunned in violent confrontations with the gangs that the agency recently acquired weapons from the U.S. government, which has had a long-standing arms embargo against Haiti and bars firearms exports to the country. In 2022, the United Nations Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Haiti in hopes of stemming the flow of weapons and ammunition to gangs. But a U.N. panel of experts recently questioned its effectiveness, noting that armed groups and others continue to illegally get both. The gangs have managed to develop a network of supply lines stretching beyond the countrys seaports to other entry points and regions of Haiti. Weapons smuggled out of South Florida to Haiti are ending up in boxes among used clothes and other goods being sent by the diaspora for relatives or to be resold. This business in North Miami Dade is where Haitians pack trailers to ship items to Haiti. Officials with the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime have expressed fears gangs are diversifying routes beyond Florida and have begun using routes through the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. The U.N. agency, which issues quarterly reports, also cited flights of small planes containing weapons flying under radar systems from South Florida to at least 11 makeshift clandestine airstrips in Haiti that also used by South American drug traffickers. U.N. officials say Colombian drug cartels that use Haiti as a transshipment point for cocaine exports to the U.S. might also be supplying weapons to Haitian gang members, saying that prominent politicians and business operators sanctioned by the U.S., Canada and the Dominican Republic have been involved in the illicit trade. While the absolute quantity of drugs arriving in Haiti appears to have declined over the past year, both weapons and narcotics continue to be transported to southern Haiti by air and sea from Colombia, Jamaica and Venezuela, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime says in its latest report. It is frequently the case that drug shipments are paired with firearms and ammunition, the report continued. After firearms and ammunition arrive on the southern coast of Haiti, they are frequently transported directly to Port-au-Prince, where they are redistributed to armed groups. The ongoing gang insurgency in Port-au-Prince, Haiti has led to more container cargo going to the port in Cap-Haitien, where on April 5, 2024 police seized dozens of weapons including assault rifles shipped from South Florida. Diplomatic and police sources acknowledge some gangs are now involved in drug trafficking and have foreigners embedded in them. Theyre aware of the speculation that drug traffickers may be arming Haitian gangs, and saw the recent warning from Colombian President Gustavo Petro that stolen ammunition from the military may have ended up in Haiti. But despite the speculation, they do not have any evidence yet of this. U.S. authorities in South Florida said theyve also seen no proof to back up the speculation. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime found that Haitian gangs are using automatic and semi-automatic rifles as well as higher-caliber weapons, including the M60 machine gun. The gang attacks targeting key infrastructure were another reminder that the fire power available to gangs in Haiti has increased significantly, Ghada Fathi Waly, head of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, told the U.N. Security Council on April 22. Waly cited a U.S. criminal case in which the leader of the 400 Mawozo gang, Germine Joly was convicted earlier this year of running a weapons-smuggling operation from his cell in a Haitian prison. Using his cell phone, Joly ordered the transfer of funds from kidnapping ransoms of U.S. citizens to criminal associates in Florida, straw buyers who were instructed to use the money to purchase high-caliber weapons from federally licensed firearms shops. They then smuggled the weapons, along with ammunition capable of piercing police cars, in boxes and barrels stacked with used clothing, Gatorade and other goods. Predestins shipment seized Predestin ordered his cargo container on Feb. 22 from Alliance International Shipping in Doral. The company then transported it for him to the parking lot in Fort Lauderdale. Seven days later, Predestin, 48, charged the man who went by the name Diamortino $150 for his shipment of two cardboard boxes and the casino table, wrote the number 75 on the packages, and stacked them inside the container. The transaction happened on the same day that armed groups in the Haitian capital began attacking police stations, looting the seaport and targeting the airport. On March 25, Diamortinos boxes and table were among hundreds of packages of food and other merchandise transported on a King Ocean Services cargo ship that arrived in Cap-Haitien two days later. On April 5, as customs inspectors and anti-drug police began clearing the cargo at the port, a customs supervisor tried to elude the inspection by asking for Diamortinos merchandise. The Haitian customs inspectors and eight anti-drug trafficking cops ended up finding one box with weapons inside the container. The other box with firearms was sitting in a vehicle belonging to customs supervisor Jean Bernard Joseph, who was arrested a week later in connection with the weapons-smuggling operation. The boxes contained 12 automatic rifles, 14 pistols and 999 cartridges. Among the U.S.-made brands: Palmetto, Taurus and Smith & Wesson. The firearms had been disassembled and shipped in parts, according to a Haitian police investigator. Two other weapons-smuggling suspects are at large in Haiti: Rod Junior Barthold, the designated recipient of the firearms delivery, and Wilmane Jean, a customs broker, who was supposed to clear the shipment. Both men disappeared before police could make an arrest. A police source says they are part of a criminal network that intended to sell the guns to a gang in the Artibonite Valley. The coastal city of Cap-Haitien in northern Haiti is seeing its share of illegally imported weapons. After armed gangs launched an attack against state institutions on February 29, 2024, police made two seizures of weapons at the port. Haitian police say they believe all three suspects collaborated with the man who shipped the boxes through Predestin. Other suspects believed to be involved fled to South Florida, according to the Haiti national police. Meanwhile, since the April 5 firearms seizure, police have stepped up enforcement in Cap-Haitien. These people are evil, really evil. They are not human beings, said a police investigator on the front line of Haitis arms war. Once people want to make money, they dont consider the impact this is going to have, how many people can die because of these guns. And these arent just any weapons. They are weapons of war. Predestin said he has been leasing containers and renting out space to Haitis small traders, and Haitian Americans to send personal belongings, food and other necessities to their families in the country since 2008. He said this was the first time there was an illegal weapons shipment hidden in one of his containers. As a united front of armed gangs targeted key government institutions in Haiti, some Haitians in March of 2024 took to the streets in protest. Predestin acknowledged the business of shipping containers is risky because theres no way of knowing what customers might put inside their boxes bound for Haiti. He goes by what they tell him, he says, because it would be impractical to check every box to verify the contents. Its high risk and you take it, he said. It could happen to anyone. Now, Predestin said hes afraid its going to cost him a small fortune to get his container back from Haiti investigators because its considered a crime scene. Another problem: All of his customers legitimate shipments are still stuck in police custody. The Doral company that leased Predestin the cargo container is a dominant player in the business of shipping goods to Haiti. Gregory Moraille, president of Alliance International Shipping, said his company handles 52% of all container shipments from South Florida to Haiti. But he said he had no idea what was in Predestins container because his company was responsible only for leasing it and arranging for its shipment to Haiti. Moraille acknowledged this was not the first time his company has had to deal with weapons being smuggled in containers. He said Customs and Border Protection should inspect more shipments being exported to Haiti. We have to do more at this end to inspect the shipments, he said. His companys cargo containers were involved in another weapons seizure in Haiti, though Moraille said he had no clue about the contents in that shipment either. In mid-July 2022 Haitian customs seized 17 semi-automatic weapons, 12 shotguns and four pistols from containers addressed to the Episcopal Church and sent by a Florida-based company, Remy Multi Services, through Port Everglades. An assortment of ammunition and $50,000 in counterfeit bills were also discovered. Thousands of prisoners housed inside Haitis two largest prisons were freed after armed bandits stormed the facilities overnight on Saturday, March 2, 2024. Haitian authorities ordered the arrest of the churchs president, Father Jean Madoche Vil, on suspicion of arms and ammunition trafficking. Experts on weapons smuggling say theres no dispute that the U.S., and in particular Florida, are the main source of weapons being smuggled into the Caribbean and Haiti. We know in the cases that are brought for prosecution [in the U.S.] a lot of the weapons are obtained from federally licensed firearms dealers and acquired by straw buyers, said Matt Schroeder, senior researcher at Small Arms Survey, an independent research group based in Geneva, Switzerland. Schroeder said given how the weapons are transported with innocuous commodities and hidden inside boxes those doing the trafficking are not very sophisticated. The people who are getting caught are amateurs, he said. Its very simple, but because of the volume of trade that exists at U.S. ports, its very difficult to stop. Reginald Delva, a Haitian security consultant, said if Haiti hopes to make a dent in arms trafficking there needs to be greater collaboration from U.S. authorities, who recently signed an agreement with Haiti for the use of the web-based application eTrace to help track the source of weapons. Said Delva: I dont see where they are working together. Army officials said that early this summer they expect to release the results of their long-awaited investigations into mistakes leading up to the mass murder of 18 people by an Army reservist last fall. A report detailing the shooting spree by Sgt. 1st Class Robert Card was originally scheduled to be released in January, three months after the attack at a bar and bowling alley in Lewiston, Maine. On Tuesday, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said she expects the Army Reserve review to be completed in the next few weeks. There are over 3,000 pages of interviews with witnesses and other documents that theyve collected, which is partly why it has taken so long, she told members of the Senate Appropriations Committee during a hearing on the services operations Tuesday. And then there is a separate review being done by our Army Inspector General, which will follow shortly after that. Cards attack, which injured 13 people in addition to the 18 killed, was the deadliest mass shooting in Maine history. A separate report from a state commission released in March found multiple failures by authorities in preventing the attack, spurring calls for reforms from advocacy groups. Reservists say they warned of Maine killers decline before shootings In the months leading up to the shooting, Card was hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital, and the Army barred him from having weapons while on duty. Family members and fellow reservists alerted authorities that Card presented a potential threat to himself and others, but no action was taken by military or local police to confiscate his personal firearms. Card was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound two days after the shooting. In response to the shooting, the Maine Legislature approved sweeping gun safety legislation in April including background checks on private gun sales, waiting periods for gun purchases and criminalizing gun sales to prohibited people. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has vowed to craft federal rules requiring military officials to report potential threats among personnel to state and local authorities, but said her efforts have been stymied by the delays in the Army investigations. I want to ensure that were taking every action necessary to try to lessen or prevent the chances of such a tragedy ever happening again, she told Wormuth at the hearing. But to draft the most effective legislation, I very much need the results of the review that the Army Reserve has undertaken. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier this year publicly committed to working with Collins on that effort. Nearly two weeks since the May 8 ransomware attack that took down the computer network across the nation's biggest Catholic health system, employees at Ascension's Michigan hospitals told the Free Press they don't know when all of its tech systems will be restored. Patients are paying the price, two Ascension doctors and a registered nurse told the Free Press on the condition of anonymity out of fear that they could lose their jobs. "It's so, so dangerous," the nurse said. Medical orders for lab work, imaging tests and prescriptions still were being written on paper and faxed to various parts of the hospitals and to doctors' offices as of Monday, the workers said. Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit That has led to hourslong delays for testing even for the most critically ill patients and no results at all for some metro Detroit residents who have undergone outpatient testing at Ascension imaging centers. "We are waiting four hours for head CT (scan) results on somebody having a stroke or a brain bleed," the nurse said of Ascension St. John Hospital on Detroit's east side. "We are just waiting. I don't know why they haven't at least paused the ambulances and accepting transfers because we physically ... don't have the capacity to care for them right now." In some cases, what are supposed to be unique medical record numbers assigned to patients when they register in the emergency department at Ascension St. John have been given to more than one patient at a time. Because of that, the nurse told the Free Press she couldn't be confident that a patient's blood test results actually were his own. "If you have to come here, come," she said of St. John Hospital. But, she added, if there is any other option for medical care during the computer outage, "absolutely do not bring anybody here." The health care workers who spoke to the Free Press said the problems are widespread in the Ascension system. Nurses and physicians are using Google documents and text messages as an unofficial digital workaround, but still are losing track of patients, an emergency department doctor told the Free Press. "They are texting me to find out where the patient went," he said. "They don't even know where the patient is going or if they've been admitted. People are getting lost. "The pharmacy is getting requests for patient medications and they have no idea where the patient is in the hospital. Some of the attending physicians are putting in orders for medications, somewhat dangerous medications, and we have no idea if the medications are actually being administered. "It's a scary thing when your medical license is tied to this. ... If medication mistakes become lawsuits, they will follow us throughout our entire careers and that is not fair to us. It's not fair to patients." Ascension: 'Patient safety continues to be our utmost priority' St. Louis-based Ascension did not respond by email or phone to questions from the Free Press about the ongoing problems caused by the ransomware attack or concerns employees raised about patient care while its computer network is disrupted. A nonprofit health system, Ascension has 140 hospitals and 40 senior care facilities across 19 states and the District of Columbia and 134,000 employees. In Michigan, the health system operates 15 acute-care hospitals, but is in the midst of trying to close deals that would split off eight of its southeastern Michigan hospitals and combine them with Detroit-based Henry Ford Health. Additionally, three of its hospitals in mid-Michigan and northeastern Michigan, along with a stand-alone emergency center and nursing home, are to be acquired by Midland-based MyMichigan Health. Ascension said earlier it is working with Mandiant, a cybersecurity consulting company, to investigate and help determine what information, if any, was compromised in the cyberattack. More: Cyberattack hits Ascension hospitals' computer networks: 'It's affecting everything' More: Fallout from Ascension cyberattack continues: Michigan pharmacies can't fill prescriptions It launched a dedicated website last week to post updates about the cybersecurity breach, but as of Tuesday morning the most recent post about the Michigan region was dated May 15. In that update, the health system wrote: "All Ascension Michigan hospitals, physician offices, and care sites across the state remain open and operational. Despite the challenges posed by the recent ransomware incident, patient safety continues to be our utmost priority. Our dedicated doctors, nurses, and care teams are demonstrating incredible thoughtfulness and resilience as we utilize manual and paper based systems during the ongoing disruption to normal systems." However, during the disruption caused by the ransomware attack on the network's computer systems, the health system asked patients to: Bring notes on symptoms, health history and a list of current medications, including prescription numbers or bottles to any medical appointments, tests or hospital visits. Ask their doctors to send prescriptions to other pharmacies because "Ascension Rx retail pharmacies in Michigan cannot fill prescriptions." Be understanding that some diagnostic imaging and testing may be delayed and appointments may need to be rescheduled. Ascension pharmacies shut down Chris Short, a disabled veteran from Commerce Township, said he had to ration his medicine when Ascension shut down its pharmacy services last week as a result of the cybersecurity attack. He also had to cancel an out-of-town work trip to sort it out and get his prescriptions transferred. Short takes controlled substances to manage post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and chronic pain. "These are critical meds that I can't be without because of withdrawal problems and everything," said Short, who is 43 and served in the Air Force and other federal agencies. He has spinal damage, and also dealt with the trauma of losing colleagues to suicide when he was enlisted. "A lot of productivity was wasted because (I had to) try to find a new home for my medications," he said, "as well as cleaning up the mess of having to cancel travel and all the stress." His doctor had to revoke the existing prescriptions and write new ones. CVS and Walgreens didn't have his medicine in stock, he said, and "I couldn't rely on the Ascension pharmacy to do anything." Eventually, Short said he got his prescriptions filled at a nearby Meijer store. But now, he said he's worried about all of his care at Ascension properties. He has an MRI scheduled for later this week. When he tried to cancel it Monday afternoon, he said: "They couldn't cancel my appointment and told me to just not show. It's a real dumpster fire over there." Dearborn woman waits for ultrasound test results Catherine, 43, of Dearborn, who asked not to use her last name because of the personal nature of her medical information, told the Free Press on Monday that she is frustrated, too. She has had an array of symptoms that suggest she could have a form of gynecological cancer or an inflammatory disease. Her doctor ordered a pelvic ultrasound that could provide a diagnosis but the results of that ultrasound, which took place May 10 at Ascension Providence Hospital in Southfield, still aren't available. "We scheduled that pelvic ultrasound ... the week that the cyberattack happened," Catherine said. "It was completely surreal. At the ultrasound department, they had all the patients' names written on paper, and they're using highlighters across the columns. They called me the day before to tell me to bring the paper order. They said, 'We're not going to do this test for you unless you bring the paper order.' " It never occurred to her that the results wouldn't be available within a day or two. She checked her email messages, her online patient portal, called her doctor, and the imaging center, but no one knew the outcome. Everyone she talked to, Catherine said, had "a lot of sympathy, but no help because nobody knows when anything's going to be back online. Nobody knows. So I just waited, and I've just been sitting here, just trying not to think of the worst-case scenarios." Finally, she got word that she could pick up a CD at the Ascension Providence Hospital in Novi that includes the ultrasound images, but has no interpretation from a radiologist or a report of any kind that explains what those images mean. "They have not been viewed by a radiologist," she said. "They have not been read. ... I'm so appalled that they would do this to patients." Now, she has to find a radiology service that will look at the images on the CD and tell her what it shows. "An inflammatory cancer is the thing that I really would like to rule out," she said. Computer shutdown is 'like the Stone Ages' One physician told the Free Press that Ascension isn't being transparent enough about the depths of the problems this ransomware attack has caused, and patients don't understand the far-reaching implications. "They don't understand the magnitude with which this is affecting patient care," he said. "We have been told not to tell people this and it's angering me because it doesn't feel like it's the right thing for patients to not tell them." Another doctor said he doesn't know when patients like Catherine, who have undergone outpatient screening tests, such as ultrasounds, CT scans, MRIs and mammograms, will find out the results. That has the potential to delay cancer diagnoses and treatment, which could cost lives. "We're writing little preliminary notes on a paper and faxing it to the doctors," he said. For CT scan results, radiologists now have the ability to dictate their interpretations, but the readings can't be uploaded to any centralized system. Under U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules, results of screening mammograms must be mailed to patients within 30 days of the tests. But Ascension's radiologists are locked out of the health system's dedicated mammography computer program, which generates those patient letters. "It is a nightmare," the physician told the Free Press. "I don't know how they're going to get the letters out. "It's like the Stone Ages." Contact Kristen Shamus: kshamus@freepress.com. Subscribe to the Free Press. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ascension hospitals' ransomware hack affecting patient care Jersey faces an influx of death tourists if they vote for assisted dying, campaigners have warned. This week, politicians will vote on whether to establish an assisted dying service on the Channel island. Tom Binet, its health and social services minister, said that the proposals have been very much influenced and informed by the views of islanders. However, campaigners in England have warned that if the vote falls in favour of assisted dying, it could lead to increasing numbers of people moving to Jersey in order to end their lives. According to the current proposals, those wanting to end their own lives have to have been residents on the island for at least a year before making their first request. Ahead of the debate, and subsequent vote, Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern, said: The debates on assisted dying in Jersey should concern us all and the dangerous and harmful precedent they could set that could lead to death tourism in the UK. Some will feel pressured Support for assisted suicide and euthanasia is often found among those with least experience of the issues and among people who would be least affected by it. The idea that its compassionate to end another humans life has a corrosive effect on society: it leads to people with all kinds of conditions being treated with death rather than supporting them to live worthwhile lives. A spokesman for the campaign group, Care Not Killing, added: Its not a stretch of the imagination to think that some people will feel pressured to go to those places to end their lives because they become a care or financial burden on their loved ones. Dame Esther Rantzen is considering assisted dying if her cancer worsens - Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty However, Dame Esther Rantzen, the 83-year-old broadcaster and founder of the Childline, who last year revealed that she had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, has rejected their claims. In December, she revealed that she had joined Dignitas and was considering assisted dying if her condition does not improve following treatment. Assisted suicide is banned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. Dignitas is a Swiss organisation providing physician-assisted suicide to members. Dame Esther said: It is interesting that people are worried about death tourists. I wonder why? By definition, theyre not going to take much resources, are they? Id rather die in my own home Im terminally ill so Im counting myself in this, we wont take up many of your resources because we wont have time to. Secondly, it only becomes death tourism if England, for example, doesnt legalise assisted dying. Otherwise, everybody will be free to have the death we would all wish in our own homes. Much as I love Jersey, I would rather die in my own home surrounded by people I love. So I think what the people of Jersey need to bear in mind is that they will be the torch bearers. I think itll be very, very influential. If at the end of that debate, they do vote for a change in the law. I think it will mean that England and Wales will have to look very carefully [at policies here]. In 2021, just over three quarters (78 per cent) of the members on a citizens jury on the island in Jersey agreed assisted dying should be permitted, and later that year the States Assembly became the first parliament in the British Isles to decide in principle to allow assisted dying. The Jersey flag. The Channel island is voting on whether to back assisted dying - Mike Egerton/PA A debate is expected to begin on Tuesday, although voting may not begin until Wednesday. Five votes will take place, with the first on whether the island should establish an assisted dying service for adult residents who have made a voluntary and informed decision to die. Members of the States Assembly will also be asked to vote on limiting eligibility to people with a terminal illness with a life expectancy of six months, or 12 months if they have a neurodegenerative disease. This is known as route one. Elected representatives will also have a vote on whether the service should be open to someone with an incurable physical condition which might not be terminal but is causing them unbearable suffering, known as route two. Another vote offers an opt-out for health professionals, giving them a right to refuse to participate in assisted dying. A fifth vote asks members to agree on minimum time frames between the first formal request for an assisted death and the act itself 14 days for route one and 90 days under route two. Law limited to residents Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, said: Jersey is on the cusp of changing the law to ensure dying people are granted compassionate choice at the end of their lives. A change that the citizens of Jersey have long been in favour of. Right now, the blanket ban on assisted dying results in terminally ill people suffering, often leaving their families with awful memories of their final days. This law will be limited to residents similar to assisted dying laws in countries like Australia and New Zealand. If the proposals are voted through, it is expected the process for drafting a law could take around 18 months, with a debate then taking place by the end of 2025. If a law was approved, it is expected a further 18-month implementation period would begin, meaning the earliest for it to come into effect would be summer 2027. 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. icon Semafor Signals Supported by Microsoft logo Insights from The Committee to Protect Journalists, The Intercept, and Euronews Arrow Down Title icon The News Israels Ministry of Communications ordered the return of camera equipment to The Associated Press on Tuesday, after seizing the kit earlier in the day. The news agency had reportedly used it to provide a live feed of northern Gaza to Al Jazeera, which has been banned from operating in Israel under a new media law. We urge the Israeli authorities to return our equipment and enable us to reinstate our live feed immediately, the AP said after the equipment was confiscated. The AP provides photos, video, and written journalism to outlets all over the world. The White House said the incident was concerning and the administration would investigate. icon SIGNALS Semafor Signals: Global insights on today's biggest stories. Rights groups warn Israeli media under threat Source icon Sources: Committee to Protect Journalists, Foreign Policy Al Jazeera and the AP are subject to Israels draconian new foreign media law, but Israeli outlets are also targets: The Jerusalem Post has experienced cyberattacks, and the government has proposed banning cabinet members from speaking to Haaretz, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Netanyahus government has claimed it is motivated by security concerns, the actions are a signal of intent that show he will punish media critical of his administration, an Israeli media watchdog executive told Foreign Policy. Ukraines controversial media law brought to light Source icon Sources: The Kyiv Independent, Euronews Some journalists have used the AP incident to highlight press freedoms in Ukraine. In 2023, Kyiv passed a law expanding the media regulators powers, limiting which journalists get press credentials and shutting down news outlets if they dont register properly with the regulator, according to The Kyiv Independent. The laws reception has been mixed, according to Euronews: The Ukrainian project lead for Reporters without Borders said the development was a positive move that would help stifle Russian disinformation and propaganda, but the head of the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine doubted it would help with political independence because the regulators board is appointed by lawmakers. Semafor Logo ATHENS, Ala. (WHNT) Athens State University has named its 39th President of the University. The Athens State University Board of Trustees has named Dr. Catherine M. Wehlburg as the 39th president of Athens State University. The appointment marks the third woman to be named as a permanent president and the first in almost a century. Wehlburg succeeds Dr. Philip Way and has served as Interim President since January 2023. She originally joined the Athens State team in June 2021 as the Universitys Provost. Dr. Wehlburg received her B.S. in Psychology and her M.Ed. and Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Florida. She is an accomplished leader and has over three decades of experience in higher education. In addition to her faculty and administrative roles, she has also served as a Senior Fellow at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and at the American Association of Higher Education (AAHE). Man killed by Athens Police identified She is known nationally for her scholarly work in teaching, learning, and the assessment of student learning outcomes. She has been recognized for her work in outcomes assessment by being elected president of the Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education (AALHE) and has received their Outstanding Achievement Award. We are excited to officially begin the President Wehlburg era at Athens State University, said Senator Arthur Orr, Chair of the Athens State Board of Trustees. The Board believes Dr. Wehlburg has the willingness to make any needed changes and adjustments in the months ahead to take Athens State to heightened levels not previously seen. She is deeply committed to our University, and we have great confidence in her leadership. I am deeply honored to have this opportunity to work with the amazing faculty, staff, students, and alumni of Athens State University, and I thank the Athens State Board of Trustees for their confidence in me, stated Dr. Wehlburg. I look forward to partnering with all members of our community as we begin this new era at our historic and distinctive institution. Together we will continue to foster a spirit of innovation and academic achievement that has defined Athens State for over 200 years. Onward ever! 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 WHNT.com. Kouri Richins, a Utah mother of three, who wrote a children's book about coping with grief after her husband's death and was later accused of fatally poisoning him, looks on during a hearing Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, Pool) A team of attorneys has withdrawn from representing a Utah mother accused of killing her husband with fentanyl then publishing a children's book about loss and grief. Why Kouri Richins' private attorneys withdrew from the case was unclear; they cited only an irreconcilable and nonwaivable situation in a court filing asking to leave. Utah district court Judge Richard Mrazik in Salt Lake City granted the request after a closed hearing Monday. The move could slow the case against Richins, who has been adamant in maintaining her innocence. No new attorney had stepped forward to represent her as of Tuesday. Richins, 33, is accused of killing her husband, Eric Richins, with a lethal dose of fentanyl in a Moscow mule cocktail she made for him at their home near Park City in March 2022. Additional charges filed in March accuse Richins of trying to poison him with fentanyl in a sandwich a month earlier. Prosecutors accuse Richins of making secret financial arrangements and buying the illegal drug as her husband began to harbor suspicions about her. After her husband's death, Richins self-published an illustrated storybook about a father with angel wings watching over his young son titled, Are You With Me? The mother of three has repeatedly called her husbands death unexpected and many praised the book for helping children through the loss of a close relative. In the year since her arrest, the case of a once-beloved author accused of profiting off her own violent crime has captivated true-crime enthusiasts. Richins' lead attorney, Skye Lazaro, had argued that the evidence against her client is dubious and circumstantial. Lazaro and other attorneys for Richins did not return messages Tuesday seeking comment on their withdrawal from the case. Eric Richins, 39, died amid marital discord over a multimillion-dollar mansion his wife purchased as an investment. She also opened numerous life insurance policies on her husband without his knowledge, with benefits totaling nearly $2 million, prosecutors allege. Kouri Richins had a negative bank account balance, owed lenders more than $1.8 million and was being sued by a creditor at the time of her husband's death, according to court documents. AUBURN, Ala. (WRBL) -Auburn Junior High School teacher Kimberly Johnson has been recognized with the prestigious 2024 NEA Member Benefits Award for Teaching Excellence. The NEA Foundation announced Johnson, an interventionist and resource teacher at Auburn Junior High School, as the recipient of one of public educations top honors. The award was presented to her at the Salute to Excellence in Education Gala in Washington, D.C., on Friday, May 3, 2024. WRBL takes us inside the classroom of Alabamas 2022 Teacher of the Year, where advocacy and support are paramount. Reflecting on her journey, Johnson said, It was teachers seeing potential in me. Im about to get teared up just talking about it, but it was teachers who saw potential in me, nurtured it, and encouraged it, and here I am. Her advocacy focuses on individual growth, goal setting, fostering good work habits, and building confidence. Through every success and failure, Johnson is there, cheering her students on. The 2024 NEA Award for Teaching Excellence is a testament to her significant impact. Ive always just latched on to the kid that needed a little extraan extra hug, a mama, an auntie, Johnson shared. So I started working with kids who struggled while I was still teaching eighth-grade language arts, and it just morphed into this position where I started working with kids who needed extra support, which was my niche. Principal Ross Reed of Auburn Junior High School remarked, Kim Johnson is like our school mother, not only for the kids but also for the faculty. I sometimes call her our barometer. She gives us information. She knows the pulse of the school, the faculty, the kids, the parents. Shes an outstanding educator who works hard every day for all of our stakeholders here at Auburn Junior High School. After two decades with Auburn City Schools, Principal Reed acknowledged Johnson has guided thousands of students toward successful futures. Johnson emphasized, And just kids, knowing that you think that they can do anything and that education is super important because that supplies you with options. Johnsons dedication to creating meaningful outcomes in her students lives is evident in her approach. An eighth- and ninth-grade interventionist and study skills teacher at Auburn Junior High School, she has spent the last 23 years committed to student-centered learning. Johnson believes in the profound impact of positive teacher-student relationships. By connecting with each student and building trust, she aims to help them grow and have a lifetime of wonderful experiences. 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 WRBL. Auburndale woman has been missing a year. Now a man is accused of stealing from her Tonya Whipp of Auburndale has been missing for about a year. Her romantic partner, Russell Carroll, has been arrested and charged with using her bank account information to make multiple cash withdrawals. About a year after an Auburndale woman was last seen by family members, Tonya Whipps romantic partner has been arrested and charged with repeatedly stealing money from her bank accounts. Auburndale police arrested Russell Carroll last week, charging him with criminal use of personal identification information and grand theft, both felonies. Carroll, 37, was released on combined bond of $35,000, though a prosecutor has asked Polk County Judge Kevin Kohl to increase the bond amount. Auburndale police obtained a warrant last week to search the residence that Carroll and Whipp shared. Officers began the search Saturday and were continuing their efforts as of Monday, Auburndale PD spokesperson Jazmine Jaimes said. The agency has previously searched the home on Caroline Avenue but has not found any evidence tying Carroll to Whipps disappearance, according to news reports. Carroll served about 17 years in prison in two stretches after being convicted in 2004 of attempted first-degree murder in the stabbing of a previous girlfriend, according to court records. He left prison on Jan. 30, 2023. Whipp, 39, has been the subject of multiple searches since family members reported her mission on June 29, 2023. Her relatives said that they had not seen or heard from her in weeks, according to police records. Kohl ordered Carrolls release from custody last week under conditions, including a 9 p.m. curfew and GPS monitoring. In a court filing Thursday, Assistant State Attorney Paul Wallace of the 10th Judicial Circuit asked Kohl to increase Carrolls bond amounts. As of Monday afternoon, Carroll was being held at the South County Jail in Frostproof. In the motion, Wallace argued that Carroll is a flight risk, knowing that he is a suspect in a homicide investigation. Wallace wrote that Carroll has been unable or unwilling to conform to requirements of supervision, citing Carrolls arrest in 2013 on violating the terms of his release following nearly eight years in prison for the attempted murder conviction. Carroll subsequently served another nearly nine years, the motion said. Wallace also cited the strength of proof against Carroll for the two pending charges, which could result in sentence of up to 30 years as a habitual violent felony offender and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years. The prosecutor asked the judge to impose house arrest if Carroll proved unable to post an increased bond. Case now considered homicide Auburndale police initially investigated Whipps disappearance as a missing-person case. In October, the department obtained a search warrant based on probable cause that Whipp was the victim of a homicide, according to Carrolls arrest affidavit. The five-page arrest affidavit filed by the Auburndale Police Department last week indicates that Carroll repeatedly drew money from Whipps bank account between July 2023 and March 2024. When first interviewed in late June 2023, Carroll claimed that Whipp failed to return home from her job with a pool supply company on May 26, according to the affidavit. He told investigators that she had disappeared before for a couple of days and that he did not report her missing because he expected her to return. During a preliminary search, Auburndale police found most of Whipps possessions at the home, including her vehicle, purse and dog, though her driver license and cell phone were missing, the affidavit said. A private investigator hired by Whipps relatives found a receipt in her vehicle dated May 26 from an Advance Auto Parts in Auburndale, the affidavit said. Police obtained surveillance video that showed Carroll and Whipp entering and leaving the store together. Officers with the Auburndale Police Department began to search Saturday at a house on Caroline Avenue where Tonya Whipp previously lived with Russell Carroll. Police investigators found ATM receipts in Whipps purse with timestamps from June 26 for four withdrawals totaling $800. Investigators determined that Whipp had an active checking account with Chime Inc. that received monthly Supplemental Security Income deposits of $822.60, and deposits in March and April from her employer. Records also showed 10 electronic transfers to the account from Russell C. From March through May, the account showed regular debit withdrawals, including monthly payments to Geico, T-Mobile and Kikoff Lending, with electronic debit transactions at convenience stores, gas stations, grocery stores and restaurants, the affidavit said. Transactions made at Avenue G Pawn Shop in Winter Haven led investigators to interview an employee, who said that Whipp had made a downpayment on a set of engagement rings on April 28, 2023. The employee said that Carroll and Whipp came to the shop on May 25 to make a payment and pick up a ring for Carroll. Whipp and Carroll returned the next day to make another payment of $160 but did not obtain the other ring, the employee told investigators. May 26 was the day that Carroll told police Whipp had failed to return home from work. After the May 26 transaction at Advance Auto Parts, Whipps account showed four consecutive ATM withdrawals of $203 each on June 26, plus cash withdrawal fees, as well as a $7 transfer from Credit Builder and an SSI payment. Surveillance video showed that Carroll alone had made the ATM withdrawals on June 26, the affidavit said. The card he used was not one found in Whipps purse when it was given to police in July. The Polk County Sheriff's Office examined ATM receipts found in the purse and detected only Carrolls fingerprints, the affidavit said. On Aug. 29, an electronic transaction of $1,400 occurred with the notation Transfer to Russell C. Carroll did not approach law enforcement to report that Whipp might still be alive based on the transfer, the affidavit said. Searches fail to find body On Oct. 4, Auburndale police obtained a warrant, based on probable caused that Whipp was a homicide victim, and searched the residence. Police found a photo on Carrolls computer showing a photo of a cell phone screen displaying Whipps Chime username and password. A subpoena to Chime Inc. found additional withdrawals and transfers from Whipps account from September 2023 through March 2024. Those included three with notations of transfers from Tonya to Russell C., along with 14 ATM withdrawals in amounts as large as $400, the affidavit said. Police found video showing Carroll making three of those ATM withdrawals. 50-year-old cold case DNA evidence identifies victim in 1972 Eloise killing, Polk Sheriff's Office says The affidavit described all the transactions after May 26 as out of the usual pattern of activity for Whipp, with no transactions for food, gas, automotive insurance or other typical expenses conducted. What's happening near Driggers Road? Sheriff's Office looking for 21-year-old Lakeland man We Are the Essentials, a nonprofit group based in Central Florida, has carried out several searches for Whipp on behalf of her relatives, said Billy Lane, the organizations co-founder. The group consists of former law enforcement officers and military members now working as private investigators who conduct searches at no charge to family members, he said. Lane said the group helped in the search in Southwest Florida for the body of Brian Laundrie, suspected of killing his girlfriend, Gabby Petito, in 2021, and found the body of Kathleen Moore near the home of the Pasco County man later convicted for her murder. Lane, who lives in Polk County, said that We Are the Essentials has now searched thousands of acres in the Auburndale and Winter Haven areas but has not found any signs of Whipp. He said the group has been coordinating with family members since last summer. I think they started out, like most families, believing that Tanya, maybe, was clearing her head, maybe there was something not totally right, but they believed Tonya was still with us, Lane said. And I think that hope faded over time. I think they're in a position now, they believe Tanya is no longer with us. Whipps relatives have previously spoken with reporters, but Lane said they had been advised by Auburndale police to avoid public comments as the latest search continued. Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13. This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Man charged with stealing from missing girlfriend's bank account AUSTIN (KXAN) The Austin Police Department is looking for a man believed to be involved in the trafficking and sexual assault of a child. Police said the suspect took a child from the St. Johns neighborhood, near Duval Street and Interstate 35, and sexually assaulted the child at an unknown hotel on Aug. 2, 2023. APD released a sketch of the suspect Tuesday, describing him as a Hispanic man, possibly Honduran or El Salvadorian, in his late 30s or older. Police said he goes by Alex, has chest and arm tattoos and speaks Spanish. He drives a dark pickup truck and was last seen wearing an orange and blue Looney Tunes tank top. The motel is believed to be a two-story, yellow building with stairs on the outside. Additionally, police said the building is surrounded by trees and has a motel sign. Austin Police are looking for a man believed to be connected with a human trafficking investigation. Sketch provided by Austin Police Department Anyone with any information should call APDs Human Trafficking unit at 512-974-4786 or via email at HTU@austintexas.gov. You may be eligible for a $1,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest. Tips can be submitted anonymously through the Capital Area Crime Stoppers Program by visiting austincrimestoppers.org or calling 512-472-8477. 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 KXAN Austin. DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) Australia and Bangladesh on Tuesday said that the two countries would work to expand trade and cooperation on areas including security and the Rohingya refugee crisis. The statements came as Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong arrived in Bangladesh's capital on a two-day visit and held talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud. In a briefing with Mahmud after the talks, Wong said that Australia was eager to support Bangladesh as it graduates from least developed country status at the World Trade Organization to developing in 2026. We share a region. We share an ocean and we share a future ... we are determined to do what we can to work with you and other partners to make sure the region is peaceful, stable and prosperous, she said. Wongs visit, her first to Bangladesh, is aimed at enhancing Australias engagement with the Indian Ocean region, a press statement from the Australian Foreign Ministry said. Australia is working with Bangladesh to deepen our cooperation, including on trade and investment, and to find practical solutions to shared challenges such as climate change, regional maritime security and people smuggling, the statement said. Trade relations between Bangladesh and Australia are expanding. The two nations signed a Trade and Investment Framework Arrangement together in 2021, and two-way trade between Australia and Bangladesh now stands at more than $2.67 billion, up from about $200 million a decade back. Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Mahmud called the growing trade volume impressive and said that the ministers had discussed a number of issues including human trafficking. Wong said that the ongoing humanitarian crises in Bangladesh and Myanmar are the largest and most complex in the region. Australia often praises Bangladeshs generosity in hosting more than 1 million Rohingya refugees displaced from Myanmar. Australia will continue to complement our humanitarian assistance for the Rohingya crisis with our efforts in advocating for accountability for the atrocities in Rakhine State; and working with Myanmar, Bangladesh and other regional and international partners to find a durable solution to the crisis, the Australian Foreign Ministry said in the statement. Wong is scheduled to visit the sprawling Rohingya refugees camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district before she flies to Singapore on Wednesday. Australia, New Zealand send evacuation flights to New Caledonia after week of deadly riots Australia and New Zealand said they will send government planes to New Caledonia on Tuesday to evacuate nationals from the French territory which has experienced a week of deadly riots, sparked by electoral changes by the French government in Paris. Frances High Commission in New Caledonia said on Tuesday the airport remains closed for commercial flights, and it will deploy the military to protect public buildings. There were around 3,200 people waiting to leave or enter New Caledonia as commercial flights were canceled due to the unrest that broke out last week, the local government has said. Over 1,000 gendarmes and police from France were at work, and another 600 personnel would be added in coming hours, Frances High Commission said. Six people have been killed and the unrest has left a trail of burnt businesses and cars and looted shops, with road barricades restricting access to medicine and food. The business chamber said 150 companies had been looted and burnt. A burnt building is seen in the Normandy industrial zone in Noumea, France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia, on May 20, 2024. - Theo Rouby/AFP/Getty Images New Zealand, French and Australian foreign ministers held a call on Monday evening, after New Zealand and Australia said they were waiting for clearance from French authorities to send defense aircraft to evacuate tourists. A meeting of Frances defense council later agreed for arrangements to allow tourists to return home. New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days and bringing them home has been an urgent priority for the government, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said. We want to acknowledge the support of relevant authorities, both in Paris and Noumea, in facilitating this flight, he added. Further flights will be sent in coming days, he added. Australias Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a social media post on Tuesday that clearance had been received for two Australian government assisted-departure flights today for Australian and other tourists to depart New Caledonia. Protests erupted last week, sparked by anger among indigenous Kanak people over a constitutional amendment approved in France that would change who is allowed to participate in elections, which local leaders fear will dilute the Kanak vote. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com A Kanak flag waves next to a burning vehicle at an independantist roadblock at La Tamoa. The capital of the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia was rocked by riots after France's National Assembly approved contentious voting reforms to the territory that angered independence supporters. Delphine Mayeur/AFP/dpa The governments of Australia and New Zealand on Tuesday said they would send planes to New Caledonia to assist departures of their citizens after days of violent unrest in the French overseas territory. "We've received clearance for two Australian government assisted-departure flights today for Australian and other tourists to depart New Caledonia," Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on social media platform X. "Passengers are being prioritised based on need. We continue to work on further flights," Wong added. The New Zeland Foreign Ministry said that a government plane would be arriving in New Caledonia on Tuesday to carry 50 passengers most in need of assistance from Noumea to Auckland. "New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days - and bringing them home has been an urgent priority for the Government," Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement. "In cooperation with France and Australia, we are working on subsequent flights in coming days," Peters said. After days of serious unrest in New Caledonia, the situation appears to be easing. Six people have been killed so far in the riots on the island 1,500 kilometres east of Australia and over 200 people have been detained. The background to the protests by those in favour of independence for the archipelago are planned electoral reforms emanating from Paris. The changes would give French residents the right to vote in provincial elections if they have lived there for 10 years. However, the Kanak population group in particular - New Caledonia's Indigenous inhabitants - have long hoped for their own state. The national council of the Kanaks accused Paris of pushing ahead with the controversial reform without taking into account the resistance of the vast majority of the Indigenous population. The former French colony had already gained extensive autonomy through the Noumea Agreement of 1998. Paris is currently trying to conclude a new agreement with the political forces in the geopolitically and militarily significant territory. Australia and New Zealand begin evacuating nationals from unrest in New Caledonia A RNZAF Hercules C-130 takes off from Whenuapai airbase near Auckland, New Zealand, bound for Noumea, New Caledonia, on a mercy mission to rescue stranded New Zealand tourists, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The Australian and New Zealand governments say they are sending planes to evacuate their nationals from violence-scorched New Caledonia. (Michael Craig/NZ Herald via AP) NEWCASTLE, Australia (AP) Australia and New Zealand sent airplanes to New Caledonia on Tuesday to begin bringing home stranded citizens from the violence-wracked French South Pacific territory. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia had received clearance from French authorities for two flights to evacuate citizens from the archipelago, where indigenous people have long sought independence from France. Hours later, a Royal Australian Air Force C-130 Hercules touched down in Noumea, the capital. The plane can carry 124 passengers, according to the Defense Department. We continue to work on further flights, Wong wrote on the social media platform X on Tuesday. The Department of Foreign Affairs said 300 Australians were in New Caledonia. It did not immediately confirm whether the Australian-organized flights would also evacuate other stranded foreign nationals, believed to number in the thousands. New Zealand's government also announced that it had sent a plane to New Caledonia to begin evacuating about 50 of its citizens. New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days and bringing them home has been an urgent priority for the government, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said. In cooperation with France and Australia, we are working on subsequent flights in coming days. Noumeas international airport remains closed to commercial flights. Its reopening will be reassessed on Thursday. At least six people have died and hundreds more have been injured since violence erupted last week in New Caledonia following controversial electoral reforms passed in Paris. About 270 suspected rioters have been arrested as of Tuesday, and a 6 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew is in effect for the archipelago of about 270,000 people, which is a popular tourist destination with its idyllic beaches and climate. France has sent in over a thousand security personnel, with hundreds more due to arrive Tuesday, to try to quell the unrest and restore control. Armed clashes, looting, arson and other violence turned parts of Noumea into no-go zones. Columns of smoke billowed into the sky, hulks of burned cars littered roads, businesses and shops were ransacked and buildings became smoking ruins. There have been decades of tensions between indigenous Kanaks who are seeking independence and descendants of colonizers who want to remain part of France. The unrest erupted May 13 as the French legislature in Paris debated amending the French Constitution to make changes to New Caledonia voter lists. The National Assembly in Paris approved a bill that would, among other changes, allow residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years to cast ballots in provincial elections. Opponents fear the measure will benefit pro-France politicians in New Caledonia and further marginalize Kanaks who once suffered from strict segregation policies and widespread discrimination. Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles looks on during a welcome ceremony ahead of the Australia and South Korea Foreign and Defence Ministers meeting in Melbourne, Australia, May 1, 2024. Marles pledged support to the Solomon Islands during a visit to the archipelago nation on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, as Canberra intensifies efforts to counter China's growing influence in the South Pacific. (Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/Pool Photo via AP) NEWCASTLE, Australia (AP) Australia's deputy prime minister pledged support to the Solomon Islands during a visit to the archipelago nation on Tuesday, as Canberra intensifies efforts to counter China's growing influence in the South Pacific. Richard Marles trip to the capital, Honiara, was the first by an Australian government minister since Jeremiah Manele was elected Solomon Islands' new prime minister earlier this month. Marles pledged to provide healthcare and border control support to the island nation and said at a news conference his visit provided an opportunity to discuss Solomons' priorities and the way in which Australia can help and contribute. Australia sought to be the Solomons go-to security partner and had to work to earn that right. Hence, going to Solomon Islands quickly, said Marles, who is also Australia's defense minister. Marles said Australia had pledged 50 million Australian dollars ($33.3 million) for border management and a health center for mothers to access pre- and post-natal care. The high-level visit comes at a time of increased competition for influence in the South Pacific. The Solomons became the first regional nation to sign a major policing pact with China in July, sparking concern among the islands traditional partners including Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Solomon Islands lawmakers elected Manele as prime minister on May 2. The move was largely seen as a sign the country will maintain close ties with China that were developed under pro-Beijing former leader Manasseh Sogavare. Manele has indicated the pact would remain under his government and that as leader he would put his nations interests first. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (2nd L) with the Austria's Chancellor, Karl Nehammer (2nd R) during a meeting at the Federal Chancellery Ballhausplatz. Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire/dpa Austria will campaign in the European Union for a new migration policy in which asylum procedures would take place in African countries if necessary, Austria's Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on Tuesday. He made his comments after a working meeting in Vienna with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is behind a UK plan to send migrants without the required immigration papers to Rwanda and have them apply for asylum there. Nehammer said the British plan played an important and pioneering role in the discussion. "The United Kingdom is thus paving the way for this path, which will also be important for the European Union," said Nehammer. He pointed out that 15 states in the EU are now in favour of this approach. Sending migrants to Africa would destroy the business model of people smugglers and save human lives, said Nehammer, adding there is still a long way to go in the EU before this type of asylum procedure is actually implemented. Sunak delighted with the support. "It's increasingly clear that many other countries now agree that that is the approach that is required - bold, novel, looking at safe country partnerships," Sunak said. The UK leader called illegal migration "truly one of the defining issues of our time." "We face criminal gangs that are growing in strength across the European continent and beyond," he said. He called the business of migration a "vile trade." Commentators said Sunak's visit to Vienna is primarily intended to signal that EU states approve of the UK's controversial migration policy. A new parliament is due to be elected in the UK this year. In view of the large gap in the polls, Sunak wants to score political points with a tough crackdown on migration, according to analysts. In order to circumvent a judgement by the Supreme Court in London, Sunak's Conservative government had the East African country legally declared a safe third country. Opponents criticize the plan as a violation of international asylum agreements. Austria's Chancellor Karl Nehammer (R) welcomes British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Federal Chancellery Ballhausplatz. Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire/dpa Austria's Chancellor Karl Nehammer (L) welcomes British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Federal Chancellery Ballhausplatz. Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire/dpa Authorities in Fond du Lac investigating complex crime scheme where Nicaraguan national paid for time alone with someones daughter OAKFIELD, Wis. (WFRV) A Nicaraguan man who illegally entered the United States back in 2021 was taken into custody on Sunday after a 12-year-old girl broke free of his capture and sought help. According to the Fond du Lac County Sheriffs Office, on Sunday, May 19, shortly before 12:15 a.m., deputies were sent to a private residence in the town of Oakfield for a sexual assault complaint. Richard Sotka sentenced to life without parole for killing girlfriend and her friend The caller was a resident and reported a 12-year-old girl had just shown up at his doorstep and was seeking help. She had reportedly fled from a vehicle in the area where an adult man had bound and blindfolded her and was attempting to assault her. Bravely, she fought back, broke free from the suspect and vehicle, and ran to the house for help. Due to the nature of the allegations, detectives determined the suspects identity and location, and a tactical plan was developed to take him into custody. During a search warrant on Marquette Street on Monday night, a SWAT team arrested the alleged suspect. This investigation is complex and involves numerous serious potential crimes, including sexual assault of a child, false imprisonment, child human trafficking, failure to protect a child, and others, stated Sheriff Ryan Waldschmidt. It is alleged that the suspect paid the victims mother, whom he knew, in exchange for spending time alone with the victim. Sheriffs detectives have determined the suspect of the assault is a 30 or 31-year-old Nicaraguan man who entered the United States illegally from Mexico into Texas in October of 2021. At that time, he was apprehended by US Customs and Border Protection agents, processed at a federal facility, and released from their custody with instructions to follow per current federal immigration policy. Detectives are still working to determine the immigration status of the victims mother. She has been arrested for numerous crimes related to the incident and is currently in custody at the Fond du Lac County Jail. Authorities looking for Wisconsin man who fled crash scene after passenger died The juvenile victim and her siblings have all safely been taken into protective custody. Further details in this case will be released in a criminal complaint when the suspects are formally charged. No additional details were provided. 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 WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton. Update on May 21 DANVILLE, Ill. (WCIA) The search for a missing 23-year-old swimmer in Vermilion County has ended with the recovery of his body. Two hurt in overnight Springfield shooting: Police Jane McFadden, the Vermilion County Coroner, said the swimmer was found dead at 9:05 a.m. on Tuesday in the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River. She identified him as Jose Alberto Lopez-Fernandez of Champaign. His family has been notified, McFadden added, and an autopsy is scheduled. VERMILION COUNTY, Ill. (WCIA) Authorities are actively searching the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River for a swimmer who went missing in Kickapoo State Park over the weekend. Captain Michael Hartshorn, Chief Investigator of the Vermilion County Sheriffs Department, said a 23-year-old man went under the rivers surface Sunday afternoon and he hasnt been seen since. Sheriffs deputies and officers from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Police began a search Sunday evening that paused for the night and resumed Monday morning. The search went on all day and paused again for the night. Man arrested for first-degree murder in Newman Because of the search, the Middle Fork was closed to recreational water activities. Tom Monahan, owner of Kickapoo Adventures, told WCIA his company had to call those with reservations and either cancel or reschedule. He said the man who disappeared was not a customer of his business. The search comes days after Wes Kelley, reported missing from Danville on May 13, was found dead in Bar Lake on Friday. Hartshorn said divers will be on the river again Tuesday morning. 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 WCIA.com. Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is received by German Ambassador Martin Jaeger and a representative of the Ukrainian protocol on arrival at Kiev railroad station. Jorg Blank/dpa German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of targeted terror against the infrastructure and civilian population in Ukraine. "The fact that this terror against the infrastructure is continuing after this winter shows that the Russian president wants to destroy the country, wants to destroy people's lives here," she said on Tuesday during a visit to one of Ukraine's largest power stations. Baerbock had been briefed by Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko on the situation at the power plant, which was destroyed last month. Galushchenko said that Russia had fired a total of 11 missiles at the site. Of these, only six were shot down by the Ukrainian air defence system because there were no more anti-aircraft missiles available. In view of the air defence shortages in Ukraine, the German minister appealed "to international partners worldwide that we need more air defence to protect not only large cities, but also the infrastructure." Even in the warm spring days, the power supply in Ukraine had to be reduced because the central coal-fired power plants had been hit by targeted attacks, she said. Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is received by German Ambassador Martin Jaeger and a representative of the Ukrainian protocol on arrival at Kiev railroad station. Jorg Blank/dpa Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is received by German Ambassador Martin Jaeger and a representative of the Ukrainian protocol on arrival at Kiev railroad station. Jorg Blank/dpa Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is received by German Ambassador Martin Jaeger and a representative of the Ukrainian protocol on arrival at Kiev railroad station. Jorg Blank/dpa German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited a power plant in Ukraine on Tuesday that was destroyed by Russian missiles and received information about the attack's effect on Ukraine's energy supply. During a tour of the site of one of Ukraine's largest power stations, the minister was shown the damage to the plant. According to the Ukrainian operator, the plant was completely destroyed in a Russian attack in mid-April. Following the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky complained about a lack of air defence missiles. Only seven out of 11 Russian missiles were intercepted, he said. Ukraine had run out of all the missiles that could have protected the power plant. Russia is also said to have used Kinschal hypersonic missiles in the attack. Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is received by German Ambassador Martin Jaeger and a representative of the Ukrainian protocol on arrival at Kiev railroad station. Jorg Blank/dpa Multnomah County elections officials, shown here conducting a trial run in October 2022, expect votes to pour in through Tuesday night and beyond. (Jordan Gale/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Oregon voters have had their ballots for several weeks now, but relatively few seem to be motivated to pop them in a ballot box or in the mail. Turnout among Oregons more than 3 million registered voters has been slow this primary, but it picked up a bit Monday. Oregon Secretary of State data shows that, as of Monday, about 590,300 voters had cast their ballots less than 20%. That compares with nearly 38% who voted in the primary election in 2022. Oregon has closed primaries, so nonaffiliated voters, who make up the biggest bloc at 1.1 million, have few high-profile races to decide. But for people registered with a party, this is a presidential election year, and those tend to draw relatively high turnout rates, especially if the battle sizzles to the end. That was the case in 2008 for Democrats, with Hillary Clinton competing against Barack Obama. When Oregonians voted that year, the race was still up in the air, and the primary election turnout climbed past 58%, the highest in a primary in decades. But the situation is different this year, noted John Horvick, senior vice president for DHM Research, which conducts political polls and analysis. Former President Donald Trump seems certain to secure the Republican nomination, and President Joe Biden has effectively won the Democratic endorsement. Regardless how Oregonians vote, they wont be deciding those outcomes, and that, along with widespread voter disillusionment, Horvick said, has dampened the mood. I suspect the turnout is going to be low, maybe historically low, Horvick said. State data shows that more of the 721,000 Republican voters statewide have voted nearly 29% compared with more than 26% of the nearly 993,500 registered Democrats. Horvick said thats historically been the case at this point in the vote. But he stressed that late ballots could pour in. Late postmark rule This is the second election in which voting falls under the new postmark rule. Ballots dropped off by 8 p.m. on Tuesday or postmarked by then will count. In 2022, county election offices were flooded with stacks of ballots at the last minute. Its possible people are holding onto their ballots and mailing them in, Horvick said. We dont have experience with this in the presidential primary. The state is also not voting on a governor, which can be a draw. Gov. Tina Kotek has two more years to serve. But three statewide offices are up for grabs and all of them are open races. Ellen Rosenblum, who was first elected attorney general in 2012, is retiring; Tobias Read cannot run for another term as treasurer, so hes seeking to be secretary of state; and the current secretary of state, LaVonne Griffin-Valade, who was appointed in June by Kotek, is not seeking to be elected. And while there are no U.S. senator races on the ballot, all six of Oregons U.S. representatives are up for election, and two of those races are especially competitive. U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer is retiring from the largely Democratic 3rd Congressional District that spans Multnomah County, and two Democrats, Jamie McLeod-Skinner and state Rep. Janelle Bynum, are vying for the Democratic nomination in the 5th Congressional District, which includes Linn County, most of Clackamas and Deschutes counties and parts of Multnomah and Marion counties. Horvick and other analysts expect the winner of the 3rd District Democratic primary to go to Congress, with another Democrat replacing Blumenauer. But the November outcome in the 5th District could determine control of the U.S. House. Nevertheless, Horvick said that doesnt seem to be a big draw in the primary, at least not in Clackamas County. As of Monday, only 16% of Clackamas County ballots had been turned in the second lowest in the state while nearly 25% in Deschutes County had voted. Multnomah County surprise But the biggest surprise in this turnout, Horvick said, is in Multnomah County, where the district attorneys race between incumbent Mike Schmidt and deputy district attorney Nathan Vasquez is drawing big money and interest. But by Monday, only 18% of voters in Multnomah County had turned in their ballots, the fourth lowest rate statewide. That race affects the issues that are most important to local voters, namely homelessness, crime and drugs, Horvick said. Another driver of votes is likely to be the election of Portlands next government. But those races wont come up until November. Still, Tim Scott, Multnomah Countys elections director, said there is still plenty on the ballot to motivate voters and that typically in Multnomah County residents vote late. We anticipate getting a large turnout, Scott said. In May 2022, we ended up with just over 36.5% turnout overall so if we continue to mirror the turnout curve for that election, thats where well likely end up. In the county and across the state, with many late ballots expected, some races are not expected to be called on election night. That was also the case in 2022, the first election under the postmark rule. The post Ballots dribble into county election offices though turnout likely to pick up appeared first on Oregon Capital Chronicle. Ballys wants the state to double how much high rollers can borrow at its R.I. casinos. A roulette wheel inside the 40,000 square-foot gaming space and food hall Bally's opened at its Twin River Lincoln casino in 2023. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) A proposal that would double how much money high roller patrons at Ballys Twin River Lincoln and Tiverton casinos can borrow from the house has support from Rhode Island Senate President Dominick Ruggerio. The legislation introduced earlier this month to increase the maximum line of credit Ballys can offer its customers from $50,000 to $100,000 has also drawn no opposition from the head of the Substance Use and Mental Health Leadership Council of Rhode Island. But at least one researcher who studies gambling is worried about the companion bills sponsored in the House by Rep. Gregory Costantino, a Lincoln Democrat, and Sen. Frank Ciconne III, a Providence Democrat, in the Senate. The Senate Committee on Special Legislation and Veterans Affairs heard Ciccones bill on May 15. Costantinos bill is scheduled to be heard by the House Finance Committee Thursday afternoon. Since 2014, when table games were first introduced at Twin River, the maximum credit cap has been at $50,000. The state of Massachusetts has no limit on lines of credit. Connecticuts two tribal-run casinos, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods, also have no borrowing cap. Patrick Kelly, a professor of accountancy at Providence College who studies gambling, told Rhode Island Current that raising the credit limit to $100,000 might lead to an individual chasing losses, which could contribute to problem gambling. If that $50,000 is now at $100,000, they could just go through that original threshold without maybe reflecting or having that pause that might be helpful to them, Kelly said in an interview Monday. We can always argue whats an appropriate limit but the person doesnt pause gambling until they hit that limit. Ballys Vice President of Government Relations Elizabeth Suever told senators at the May 15 committee hearing that extending the credit limit would be an amenity for our players that play very high limits. They dont want to be carrying that amount of cash on their person as theyre coming and going from the casino, she said. To qualify for the proposed $100,000, Suever said patrons will have to file a credit application, provide two forms of identification, undergo bank account checks and credit history evaluations, and get their gaming history verified at all of the regional casinos. Obviously were not interested in extending lines of credit to those individuals who will not pay it back, Suever testified. Were in the business of providing revenue to the state of Rhode Island. Credit would not be issued for Ballys newly-operational iGaming offerings, Suever said. John Tassoni, Jr., a former state senator who now heads the Substance Use and Mental Health Leadership Council of Rhode Island, a nonprofit advocacy organization whose members provide addiction recovery and treatment services, supported Ballys request. He called the Providence-based casino giant a good corporate citizen and highlighted a $600,000 donation Ballys made in 2022 to the International Center for Responsible Gaming to support research on gambling among young adults. Yes theyre a corporation that needs to make money, but theyre also cognizant of people that get themselves in trouble, he said in an interview Tuesday. Tassoni, who also serves on the board of directors for the Rhode Island Council on Problem Gambling, said his concerns when it comes to increasing problem gambling are with third-party sportsbooks such as Draft Kings and FanDuel, which he said are meant to entice young men. Its like every other damn ad is their ad, he said. But its not young patrons Kelly is worried will go into debt if Ballys is allowed to increase its credit limit. What Im particularly concerned about are baby boomers, he said. Boomers, Kelly said, are the demographic most likely to have the kind of income to qualify for Ballys extended credit especially as more start to retire and have their homes paid off. Should the General Assembly approve the credit increase, he said retirees with gambling problems might take out a mortgage on their home or dip into their pension or 401(k) to qualify for more funds. And those people will survive any credit check, Kelly said. For me, in Rhode Island, I think $50,000s a good number actually $25,000 is a better number. Senate spokesperson Greg Pare said Ciccone and Ruggerios legislation was introduced at the request of Ballys to keep them on par with competition from casinos in Massachusetts. The Senate President supports the bill because it helps the casinos strengthen their position in a very competitive gaming industry, Pare added. It is unclear how many casino patrons have hit the $50,000 limit. Ballys does not disclose the number of players at various credit limits due to proprietary reasons, company spokesperson Patti Doyle told Rhode Island Current Tuesday. Ciccone and Ruggerios bill would also authorize the states Department of Business Regulation and Rhode Island Lottery to negotiate a new debt leverage ratio with Ballys something Suever said would allow the company to take out additional credit as it constructs a new casino in Chicago. Additionally, the legislation changes the way promotional points Ballys can utilize annually. The Senate committee held the bill for further study, as is standard practice when legislation is first heard. Ciccone and Ruggerios legislation received no written or additional verbal testimony during the May 15 committee hearing. The Rhode Island Lottery has no stance on the legislation, said spokesperson Paul Grimaldi. If you or somebody you know is dealing with gambling issues, contact Problem Gambling Services, which can be reached 24/7 at (401) 499-2472. The post Ballys wants the state to double how much high rollers can borrow at its R.I. casinos. appeared first on Rhode Island Current. The wait continues for several Baltimore City Council hopefuls this week as mail-in ballot counting inches forward in the city. As of Monday evening, the city still had about 8,300 mail-in ballots left to be counted, according to state records. The vast majority, about 8,100, were cast by Democrats in the overwhelmingly Democratic city. The Democratic primary typically determines the eventual winners of races in Baltimore. That 8,300 ballot figure does not include the roughly 6,300 provisional ballots cast by voters at city polling places which will be considered by the Baltimore City Board of Elections beginning Wednesday. Voters are asked to cast a provisional ballot when there are questions about their residency or eligibility to vote. Armstead Jones, the citys election director, said he does not expect to complete the provisional ballot count Wednesday due to the quantity received. Hanging in the balance are several tight races for City Council separated by thin margins. The contest for Baltimores District 11 City Council seat has remained the tightest matchup since the first results were released on election night. Returns that night showed Councilman Eric Costello had a 25-vote lead over challenger Zac Blanchard. On Thursday, that margin appeared to shrink to 17 votes, but city elections officials also corrected an overreporting error from Election Day on Thursday night which gave Costello an 87-vote lead. After mail-in ballot counting Monday and Tuesday, returns showed the lead had flipped with Blanchard now up by 28 votes. More than 6,400 votes have been counted so far from District 11 voters. The district covers the Baltimore Peninsula in South Baltimore and the Inner Harbor, and runs north to Bolton Hill. The City Councils District 8 seat also remains a close race. With adjusted Election Day totals, Paris Gray, a District 8 council liaison, led former state Del. Bilal Ali by 142 votes. That lead expanded to 211 votes on Tuesday. The West Baltimore district is currently represented by Councilman Kristerfer Burnett. Burnett announced last summer he would not seek reelection and named Gray as his chosen successor. More than 6,100 votes have been counted from District 8 voters. Jermaine Jones, a labor union official, challenging Councilman Robert Stokes for his District 12 seat, also expanded his lead with Monday and Tuesdays counting. As of Tuesday night, he led the race by 383 votes, or 54%. The challenge from Jones is the closest race Stokes has faced in the eight years hes represented his Central and East Baltimore district. He narrowly won his first term in 2016, topping a field of seven Democrats and beat back a well-funded challenger in 2020. While Baltimore counted around 15,000 ballots on Thursday, counting has been slowed this week by the processing of email-delivered ballots. Recipients of email-delivered ballots must print out their ballot and return it via mail or to a ballot drop box. Because the ballots are printed on standard-sized printer paper, they do not fit in the citys ballot scanning machines. They must first be hand-duplicated by teams of election staffers before they can be counted. City officials said last week that they received several thousand email ballots. The recreation of email ballots began Monday and has continued on Tuesday, said Deputy Election Director Abigail Goldman. BBC criticised for absurd article on Butcher of Tehran Raisi Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi who died in a helicopter crash - Mert Gokhan Koc/Dia Images via AP The BBC is facing criticism for saying Ebrahim Raisi, Irans hardline president who died in a helicopter crash, left a mixed legacy. An article published by the broadcaster described the former leader, who was confirmed dead on Monday, as a figure loved by hardliners of the Islamic Republic of Iran. President Ebrahim Raisis mixed legacy in Iran, the BBCs World Services social media post promoting the article read. Soldiers carry the body of Raisi at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran - Anadolu via Getty Raisi earned a fearsome reputation as the Butcher of Tehran for his role on the so-called death committee, which ordered the execution of thousands of political opponents of the Islamic Republics regime, in the 1980s. He was subsequently elected president in 2021 in a vote considered by many as rigged because moderates and reformists had been barred from taking part. The BBC described him as the president of the unprivileged and poor, citing depictions by Iranian state media. Security minister Tom Tugendhat said the piece was absurd. The senior Conservative MP had earlier criticised Charles Michel, the European Councils president, for offering Iran the EUs sincere condolences. I will not mourn him [Raisi], Mr Tugendhat wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Iranian citizens march from Shohada Square to Mosalla Square during the funeral ceremony - Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Gabriel Noronha, the US state departments former Iran adviser, said the BBC should receive the worst obituary award for noting Raisis leadership to reform in processing a backlog of court cases. Since 2021, when Raisi took office, the regime executed 1,844 Iranians, including huge numbers of dissidents and religious minorities, most in sham trials, he added. The satirical Sunday Sport newspaper joked that the BBC would likely describe Adolf Hitler as an often-controversial German statesman in modern-day reporting of the Nazi leaders death. The mountainous spot where Raisi was killed - Iranian Red Crescent/AFP via Getty X users also left community-generated notes on the BBCs social media post highlighting Raisis role in the mass murder and brutal torture of political dissidents. The BBCs coverage of Raisis death also included his role in enforcing Irans strict rules requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab or headscarf, as well as the brutal crackdown on demonstrations against the policy after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the morality police. 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. Belgium says it is 'committed' to starting Ukraine's EU accession negotiations in June Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib said on May 21 that Belgium is "committed" to beginning Ukraine's EU accession negotiations before the end of its rotating presidency at the beginning of July. In November 2023, the European Commissionthe EU's executive armrecommended launching accession talks with Ukraine. The European Council then agreed to open accession talks with Ukraine the following month. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced during a visit to Kyiv on May 9 that official negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU should begin before the end of the first half of 2024. Lahbib's comments followed reporting by Politico earlier on May 21 that officials from the EU and Ukraine are pushing to begin accession negotiations by June 25. Diplomats are reportedly trying to convince Hungary to drop its objections to Kyiv's membership in the bloc. Bucking attempts to create a unified front against Russia, Hungary has maintained close ties with the Kremlin since the launch of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Budapest has repeatedly opposed sanctions against Moscow and obstructed EU support for Kyiv. An unnamed EU diplomat told Politico that Hungary may be keen to get the issue resolved before it takes over the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in July. "As you know, the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the EU begins on July 1, so it is important to make the necessary decisions before that, during the Belgian presidency," Metsola said in May. Read also: EU Ambassador to Ukraine: Ukraine could join EU in 2030 Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) A Bella Vista man pleads guilty to possession a pipe bomb on May 20 after taking a plea agreement. Lawrence Hickman (Courtesy: Benton County Sheriffs Office) According to court documents, Lawrence Hickman pleaded guilty to possession of a destructive device and faces a maximum of 10 years in prison. Bella Vista man accused of making pipe bombs, trying to flee U.S. in kayak An affidavit says Hickman was arrested last year after police found pipe bombs at his home in Bella Vista. A neighbor told police he was planning to kayak to the Phillipines where his wife was and planned to travel to Alaska and through the Bering Sea. The neighbor said the pipe bombs were for sharks and pirates. Lawrence was arrested on December 13 at a pier with two inflatable kayaks and multiple weapons in Pacific County, Washington. 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 KNWA FOX24. The Cincinnati Bengals announced they are making a significant financial investment of $100-120 million to upgrade Paycor Stadium, the team announced on Tuesday. Updated video and audio systems, renovations to suites and club lounges and concession upgrades are a few areas the team is highlighting in the revamp at Paycor Stadium. "The Bengals are continuing to invest in our future here in Cincinnati," said Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn. "We are lucky to have a great stadium and we are proud to invest in this great asset to help make it a best-in-class facility. We love our fans and can think of no better way to celebrate our 25th season in Paycor Stadium than to announce these major improvements that will make the gameday experience even better." Williams: How Cincinnati Bengals could move to suburbs without leaving Paycor Stadium The Bengals say construction at Paycor Stadium is expected to run through 2026 and the projects are backed with unanimous support from the rest of the NFL owners and the leagues finance committee. After renovating the training rooms, locker room and getting the team an indoor training facility with a private investment of $40 million, the Bengals say theyve invested approximately $150 million over the past few seasons to Paycor Stadium. Paycor stadium readies the field for the 2024 Bengals season. Cincinnati is also in the midst of installing a new turf field at Paycor Stadium that will be ready ahead of the upcoming season. The county commissioners in December agreed to give the team $39 million in repairs and renovations to Paycor Stadium in 2024. Those repairs included the new playing surface, refurbished club seating and an expanded plaza to improve entering and leaving the stadium. The Bengals and Hamilton County are nearing the end of their current lease that runs through June of 2026. The Enquirer reported that talks between Hamilton County and the Bengals have not progressed as quickly as the team and county leaders have hoped. "In terms of moving forward on lease negotiations, there, we've seen no progress," Aaron Herzig, an attorney for the Bengals told The Enquirer in April. "And we're wondering, we really have genuine questions about what the county wants." The Bengals have a deadline of June 2025 to decide whether to exercise the first of five, two-year extensions allowed under the lease. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Paycor Stadium upgrade: Bengals announce they are making investment Bernheim Forest encompasses 16,000 acres in Jefferson and Bullitt counties. (Bernheim Forest) The Bernheim Forest and Arboretum is asking Kentuckys highest court to take up a legal battle over condemnation of some of its land to build a gas pipeline. In April, the Kentucky Court of Appeals affirmed a ruling last year from the Bullitt Circuit Court that said Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities (LG&E and KU) can exercise eminent domain to acquire land that is protected by conservation easements to build a natural gas pipeline. Now, an attorney working on behalf of the research forest in a Monday filing is asking the Kentucky Supreme Court to reverse the appeals court decision. Its the latest development in a years-long legal battle over LG&E and KUs push to build a gas pipeline through a 494-acre wildlife corridor originally put into conservation through state-purchased easements that restrict development and require the property to be used as habitat for wildlife. Environmental advocates have argued the ecological impacts havent been considered in developing the pipeline, while LG&E and KU representatives have argued the pipeline is needed for natural gas reliability. Louisville Public Media previously reported internal documents from the utility showed the gas pipeline would primarily benefit the Jim Beam distillery, though the chief operating officer for the utility has denied that. In the Monday filing, an attorney for Bernheim Forest argued one of the reasons justices should take up the case is that the appeals court interpretation of the law could extinguish the existence of state-owned conservation easements. The Kentucky Land Heritage Conservation Fund, a state board that invests funding across Kentucky toward preserving land, originally helped purchase the property for the wildlife corridor. Randal Strobo wrote in his filing that eminent domain use was limited to privately-owned lands and that publicly-owned conservation easements cant simply disappear when a party wishes to condemn the encumbered property without violating several constitutional limits on legislative acts. Only a small minority of requests made to the state Supreme Court to take up a case, known as a motion for discretionary review, are granted by justices. In the April appeals court ruling, Judge Christopher McNeil wrote that some of the arguments made by research forest attorneys were previously rejected by the appeals court in a different case brought forward by the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund. McNeil wrote LG&E and KU can seize the land because Kentucky law doesnt prevent land protected by conservation easements from being taken through eminent domain. An LG&E and KU spokesperson in a statement last week said the utility was pleased with the appeals court decision that reinforces the utilitys plans to enhance reliable natural gas service for customers and support continued growth and economic development within the region. A statement from Bernheim Forest in April said the nonprofits leaders were obviously disappointed with the appeals court decision. The more than 16,000-acre privately-owned research forest founded in the 20th century features an arboretum, educational programs and more than 40 miles of hiking trails. The post Bernheim Forest appeals to Kentucky Supreme Court to stop pipeline in conservation easement appeared first on Kentucky Lantern. The Biden administration fears Israel is disastrously squandering its opportunity for victory against Hamas, losing its best chance to eliminate the groups hold on Gaza and threat to the Israeli people. Top officials are publicly calling Israels strategy in Gaza self-defeating and likely to open the door to Hamas return a level of criticism of the Middle East ally not seen since the war began in October. The officials say Israels government has failed to hold parts of Gaza after clearing them, has turned the civilian population and the rest of the world against it with widespread bombing and inadequate humanitarian aid, and enabled Hamas to recruit more fighters. The U.S. for months kept any criticism private, quietly pushing Israel to shift how it retaliates against Hamas for its Oct. 7 attack that started the war. But the frustration of watching Israel refuse to change course has increasingly spilled into the open, each broadside a crowbar widening the rift between Washington and Jerusalem. We want to encourage a deeper focus on the connection between the ongoing military operations and, ultimately, the strategic endgame, said a senior administration official, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal discussions. We're going to keep pressing on that point. The official added that national security adviser Jake Sullivan used his visit with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel last week to discuss how their operation can lead to an achievable and durable success against Hamas. In a Tuesday interview with CNN, Netanyahu said we have to get rid of Hamas. Otherwise, there's no future for Gaza. But recent U.S. intelligence is fueling a growing concern that such an outcome isnt possible. Although Hamas communications and military abilities have been degraded, only 30 to 35 percent of its fighters those who were a part of Hamas before the Oct. 7 attack have been killed and about 65 percent of its tunnels are still intact, U.S. intelligence indicates. Biden officials have also become increasingly concerned that Hamas has been able to recruit during wartime thousands over the last several months. That has allowed the group to withstand months of Israeli offensives, according to a person familiar with U.S. intelligence. Those and other intelligence pieces have likely informed recent striking comments by senior administration officials. Last week, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said Israels total victory against Hamas was unlikely. Then on Monday, both Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. C.Q. Brown, the Joint Chiefs chair, chided Israel for failing to protect civilians in Gaza and to prevent Hamas from storming back to places it once controlled. Both Pentagon leaders are well-known as quiet professionals who arent prone to airing their grievances. Not only do you have to actually go in and clear out whatever adversary you are up against, you have to go in, hold the territory and then youve got to stabilize it, Brown told reporters. If that doesnt happen, it allows your adversary then to re-populate in areas if you're not there, and so that does make it more challenging for them as far as being able to meet their objective of being able to militarily destroy and defeat Hamas. Those comments followed others by Secretary of State Antony Blinken who last week predicted the eventual withdrawal of Israeli forces could leave a vacuum thats likely to be filled by chaos, by anarchy, and ultimately by Hamas again. Its a sentiment shared by former top officials with deep experience in similar campaigns. Everybody gets the fact that you have to destroy Hamas but then what? said retired Gen. Joseph Votel, who was the head of U.S. Central Command at the height of the fight against the Islamic State. Whats the plan to take care of the 2.5 million Palestinians that are left behind? Whats the plan to deal with the remainder of the Hamas fighters? It seems incomplete and I just dont think that they have communicated or have thought through that as well as I wouldve hoped they wouldve. Dana Stroul, a former top Middle East official in the Pentagon who stepped down in January, recently wrote that the U.S. shared lessons of its failures in Iraq with Israel namely how an insurgency grew out of the botched American occupation but that Israel has not heeded those warnings. Not only has Israel declined to learn from this body of knowledge and experience on the sequencing of activities to prevent worst outcomes for postconflict societies, but it also appears that Israel is on track to repeat the same mistakes, she lamented in a Foreign Affairs essay published Monday. Western officials believe that while Israel has degraded Hamas capabilities in Gaza, the militant group has been able to protect thousands of its fighters, many of whom operate and hide inside a sprawling tunnel network. Others are thought to be mixed in with the civilian population. The upshot is that Hamas still holds ground and maintains significant capabilities, even after Israels all-out war over nearly eight months. Israel has a right and responsibility to defeat Hamas, but its current strategy of large-scale, conventional military operations will backfire and undermine that goal, Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) said in an interview. The U.S. learned over decades that unless you center humanitarian needs and the protection of civilians in conflict that your military goals will fail. We are seeing this first hand as Hamas rapidly resurfaces after IDF operations and retains capabilities despite months of fighting. One reason is that not enough humanitarian aid has gotten into Gaza, spreading famine-like conditions throughout the enclave and angering Palestinians who have to consistently flee violence or risk getting killed like thousands of other civilians. Between worsening conditions and allegations that Israel has purposefully delayed assistance from getting assistance to people in need, the risk grows that Gaza residents will be driven into Hamas arms. This is part of the challenge, the operations and the conduct probably radicalized a lot more, certainly the youth are looking at this and wondering, whats going on? Votel said. The Israelis are not helping their cause here. The Israel Defense Forces' recent military activities have also confused Western officials. Israeli troops have moved into Rafah, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people an operation it said it needed to conduct in order to target Hamas leaders in the tunnels there. But the IDF has also had to send troops northward to strike militant targets in the Jabalia neighborhood. Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie, who led U.S. Central Command from 2019 to 2022, said Israel hasnt deployed a large enough force to clear, capture and hold dense urban areas inside Gaza. In those insecure areas, people are probably going to try to flow back in and Hamas will then move in and reestablish a presence there. Thats classic guerilla strategy, he said. A key part of the U.S. plan to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria was relying on a partner force to secure areas after the military operation was complete, said Votel, the other retired general. Unless you do that, you are going to find yourself going back into these areas and reclearing them and re-fighting them, Votel said. Finding a reliable partner force is not an easy feat, particularly in Gaza, but Votel criticized Israel for not reaching out to Arab nations to help with the day after scenario early on in the operation There shouldve been more deliberation upfront about how they were going to do that part of the campaign, and now they are where they are, he said. The Biden administration is releasing about 1 million barrels of reserve gasoline supplies, framing the move as part of an effort to bring down prices at the pump in the Northeastern U.S. In a statement on the announcement, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Tuesday described the effort as strategically releasing this reserve in between Memorial Day and July 4th. This is being done to make sure sufficient supply flows to the tri-state and northeast at a time hardworking Americans need it the most, she said. The Biden-Harris Administration is laser focused on lowering prices at the pump for American families, especially as drivers hit the road for summer driving season, Granholm added. Typically, gasoline prices rise in the summer as Americans hit the roads amid warm weather and summer vacations. Gasoline prices are often controlled by cyclical and global factors, while presidents have limited impacts. Nevertheless, the prices are often the subject of political scrutiny, especially in an election year. Congress mandated the sale of the gasoline in the Northeast reserve as part of a bill to keep the government open earlier this year. Once the barrels are sold, the legislation directs the administration to close the reserve, which was created after Superstorm Sandy. The administration said that the barrels will be sold in 100,000-barrel increments. Most will be sold from the gasoline storage site in Port Reading, N.J., while some will come from a site in South Portland, Maine. Gasoline prices are actually down currently from weeks prior, averaging about $3.60 nationwide, according to the American Automobile Institute (AAA). A week ago they averaged $3.61, and a month ago they were at $3.67, AAA said. When it separately released oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve to bring down prices in 2022, the administration received significant Republican backlash, as the GOP argued that the barrels should have been saved in case of an emergency. Updated at 5:59 p.m. 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 The Hill. Biden adviser demands Israel allow aid access to all of Gaza Strip US President Joe Biden's security adviser Jake Sullivan has insisted on access to humanitarian aid throughout the Gaza Strip in talks with the Israeli leadership. It is important that Israel and Egypt conclude their talks on the early reopening of the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, Sullivan stressed in talks with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Galant and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, the White House said on Monday. Humanitarian workers must be able to safely deliver aid to those in need throughout the Gaza Strip, Sullivan stressed. In order for aid to reach the coastal territory, all available border crossings must be used, he added. Galant and Halevi had informed Sullivan about "new alternative approaches" to fighting Palestinian militant organization Hamas in Rafah. The US has harshly criticized a major Israeli ground offensive in the southern Gaza Strip city, located on the border with Egypt. "Both sides agreed to continue talks," the White House said. Sullivan also met with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In his meetings with the ministers in the war cabinet, Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, Sullivan reiterated that the US wanted to see Hamas defeated and all Israeli hostages still in the group's hands released. He had made similar comments in talks with Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid. During his visit to the region, Sullivan also met with Hussein al-Sheikh, the Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), and newly appointed Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa of the Palestinian Authority (PA), it was reported. They had discussed ending the fighting through a hostage agreement. Israeli Defence Minister Joav Galant (R) shakes hands with Jack Sullivan, US security advisor, ahead of their meeting. Ariel Hermoni/GPO/dpa The PACT Act added 23 illnesses to the list of toxic-exposure-related ailments presumed to be connected to military service. Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images. WASHINGTON President Joe Biden is set to announce in New Hampshire on Tuesday that 1 million claims have been granted for benefits under the toxic exposure law that Congress approved less than two years ago, following the militarys use of open air burn pits in Afghanistan and Iraq. The law, approved with broad bipartisan support following years of advocacy by veterans, their families and service organizations, has also led to more than 145,000 people enrolling in health care provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough told reporters on a call ahead of the announcement that the law has made tangible, life-changing differences for veterans and their survivors. That has meant more than $5.7 billion in earned benefits for veterans as well as access to no-cost VA health care across all 50 states and the territories, McDonough said. White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden said during the call that the law, known as the PACT Act, represents the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic-exposed veterans, including veterans exposed to burn pits and certain veterans exposed to radiation and Agent Orange. This is truly personal for the president given his experiences as a military parent, Tanden said. Bidens son, Beau, died at 46 years old in 2015 from brain cancer. The approval rate for benefits under the PACT Act is about 75%, according to a senior administration official. Biden is set to make the announcement during a trip to Nashua, New Hampshire. Burn pit exposure Congress struggled for years before reaching a compromise on when and how to provide health care and benefits for veterans exposed to open air burn pits during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hazardous chemicals, medical waste, batteries and other toxic substances were disposed of in those burn pits, typically located on military bases. Service members had no choice but to live and work alongside the smoke, often breathing it in. The law added 23 illnesses to the list of conditions that the VA presumes are connected to military service, eliminating the arduous and complicated process that many veterans had to undergo to try to get health care and benefits for those diagnoses. Before the bill became law, veterans often had to prove to the VA that their illnesses were connected to their military service if they wanted to receive benefits or health care for those illnesses. The U.S. Senate voted 84-14 in June 2022 to send the legislation to the House, where it was delayed for weeks over a dispute about incentivizing health care providers to move to rural or very rural areas. The bill passed the House following a 342-88 vote in July, after that section was removed from the package. Senators voted 86-11 in August to send the bill to Bidens desk. The president signed the bill during a ceremony on Aug. 10. When they came home, many of the fittest and best warriors that we sent to war were not the same, Biden said during the event. Headaches, numbness, dizziness, cancer. My son Beau was one of them. The VA has an interactive dashboard that provides veterans with information about how to apply for health care and benefits under the PACT Act as well as how many claims have been submitted. The VA has a calendar of in-person events that can be found here. Veterans or their family members can also call the VA at 800-698-2411 to inquire about PACT Act benefits. The post Biden to announce 1 million claims granted for VA benefits under toxic exposure law appeared first on Minnesota Reformer. FILE PHOTO: Kenya's President William Ruto talks during a Reuters interview on the sidelines of the IDA for Africa Heads of State Summit in Nairobi FILE PHOTO: Kenya's President William Ruto talks during a Reuters interview on the sidelines of the IDA for Africa Heads of State Summit in Nairobi By Andrea Shalal, Trevor Hunnicutt and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will play host this week to Kenyan President William Ruto for wide-ranging talks expected to include debt relief for Kenya as well as the way forward for Haiti, Ukraine, Sudan and other areas. Kenya has been grappling with acute liquidity challenges, and a senior administration official told Reuters on Monday that the United States is urging big creditor countries like China, Kenya's biggest creditor, to offer debtor countries relief. "We think it's essential that responsible debtors provide reprieves for countries like Kenya, whether that's by debt service suspensions or via new grant assistance," the official said. Washington is also urging international financial institutions to offer low-cost financing to Kenya and other countries. The official said to expect some significant joint announcements about debt relief during the state visit this week "on how countries like Kenya can tackle this problem of debt." One of Washington's objectives in scheduling a high-profile visit by the Kenyan leader is countering China's rising influence in Africa. U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Jay Shambaugh last month warned China and other countries that have lent extensively to low-income countries against free-riding by collecting debt service payments and curtailing follow-on loans. The comments reflected growing frustration among Western countries and debtor nations about Beijing's foot-dragging on debt restructuring efforts and the slow pace of debt relief deals. Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA Network, an interfaith alliance of religious, development and advocacy organizations, said the Ruto visit would send important signals about U.S. policy toward the African continent. "When Ruto speaks, he's really speaking for Africa. And given that President Biden hasn't had the chance to visit Africa yet, this meeting is not only about Kenya, it's really about sub-Saharan Africa as a whole," LeCompte said. At a meeting Ruto hosted last month, African leaders called for rich countries to commit record contributions to the World Bank's International Development Association, a low-interest facility that developing nations rely on to help fund their development and combat climate change. The official said Biden and Ruto will also discuss security cooperation as the U.S.-Kenyan relationships expands from regional efforts to more of a global partnership. They will discuss Haiti, Ukraine, Sudan and other global hotspots, the official said. Kenya had reached an agreement with Haiti to fast-track a deployment of police officers to tackle spiraling violence in the Caribbean nation, but did an abrupt about-face in mid-March, saying it was pausing the deployment. Biden and Ruto are expected to hold a joint news conference after their talks on Thursday and then attend a state dinner. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Trevor Hunnicutt and Steve Holland; Editing by Leslie Adler) Morehouse College invited President Joe Biden to give this years commencement address, which he delivered on Sunday. Despite mixed feelings from students and faculty about the invitation due to the Biden administrations policy on the war in Gaza, the presidents appearance was not majorly disrupted or interrupted. However, the war factored into the ceremony. Calls for a ceasefire and protest, but no major disruption Before Biden delivered his speech, Morehouse valedictorian Deangelo Fletcher delivered his address, calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The declaration drew applause from the audience and Biden, who sat on stage as Fletcher delivered his words. #Morehouse valedictorian, Deangelo Fletcher, calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip met with applause from crowd and @POTUS behind him. pic.twitter.com/jlckIGES8C Garrison Hayes (@garrison_hayes) May 19, 2024 As Biden stood to give his address, he received a positive reaction from the crowd. ABC News senior White House correspondent Selina Wang noted that nearly all of the Morehouse alumni gave him a standing ovation, but almost none of the students stood to welcome him. When Biden is introduced to give Morehouse College commencement speech, almost all alumni standup, but almost none of the students stand pic.twitter.com/PUyB1GNxtO Selina Wang (@selinawangtv) May 19, 2024 Pictures and video from the event also show several students turning their backs to Biden as he delivered his speech. Morehouse College graduates turn their backs on Crooked Joe Biden pic.twitter.com/jf9d5bVQbF RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 19, 2024 Some students also reportedly walked out during the address, but Bidens speech had no significant interruption. Biden speaks on ceasefire, HBCU funding and more The president said during his speech that I support peaceful nonviolent protest and told the crowd that he was working on more than just a ceasefire but was also working to make sure we finally get a two-state solution. Biden to Morehouse grads: "I want to say this very clearly I support peaceful nonviolent protest I'm working for around the clock for more than just a ceasefire. I'm working to bring the region together I'm working to make sure we finally get a two state solution." pic.twitter.com/43MOpUTwvi Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 19, 2024 Biden, whos faced discontent among younger Black voters, acknowledged that the current graduates started college just as George Floyd was murdered, and there was a reckoning on race. He noted that many of them may wonder if the democracy you hear about actually works for you and might question, What is democracy if Black men are being killed in the street? President Biden to Morehouse graduates: The pandemic robbed you of so much. You started college just as George Floyd was murdered and there was a reckoning on race. It's natural to wonder if the democracy you hear about actually works for you. What is democracy if Black men are pic.twitter.com/8JfqMqEEXg Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) May 19, 2024 Additionally, Biden, whose administration has touted that it has contributed $16 billion to HBCUs, told the Morehouse crowd, Im investing 16 billion more dollars, the most in our history, because youre vital to our nation. Biden on HBCUs at Morehouses commencement: I'm investing 16 billion more dollars, the most in our history, because you're vital to our nation. philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) May 19, 2024 With Biden hoping to mobilize support among Black voters and young Americans who are dissatisfied with the war in Gaza and other policies, the presidents appearance at Morehouse was an attempt to acknowledge objections to his administration and appeal to critical parts of his base. This appearance likely went as well as the administration could have hoped, but it will take more for Biden to address the concerns entirely as he seeks reelection. President Joe Biden touted the PACT Act in front of about 100 people at the YMCA of Greater Nashua. (Annmarie Timmins | New Hampshire Bulletin) President Joe Biden was in New Hampshire Tuesday to talk up his efforts to expand health benefits for veterans, most notably the PACT Act, which he signed into law two years ago. We owe you big, Biden said of veterans during a stop at the YMCA of Greater Nashua, where he spoke for about 10 minutes. Ive long said that America has a lot of obligations, but only one truly sacred obligation. And thats to prepare those we send into harms way and to care for them and their families when they come home, and if they dont come home care for their families. Bidens stops also included a private meeting with veterans in Merrimack that was closed to the media. The White House press office said the Nashua stop, attended by about 100 lawmakers, veterans, and others, was open to the public though Biden did not take questions from the audience or media. The PACT Act legislation expands health care benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances. It adds more than 20 presumptive conditions that allow veterans to receive benefits without having to prove exposure during their military service caused their health condition. Its unclear how many of New Hampshires nearly 96,360 veterans are eligible for PACT Act benefits because all could apply but not all would meet the qualifying criteria. As of this week, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs had received 5,486 claims from New Hampshire veterans and granted about 3,305 of them. According to its PACT Act interactive dashboard, it has approved about 75 percent of claims received nationally. The dashboard also includes information about available benefits, how to apply, and where to find local informational sessions on benefits. Veterans or their family members can also call the VA at 800-698-2411 to inquire about PACT Act benefits. The post Biden touts PACT Act benefits for veterans in Nashua visit appeared first on New Hampshire Bulletin. President Biden and former President Trump are almost tied in a hypothetical three-way general election race in New Hampshire that includes independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to a new poll. In the latest NH Journal/Praecones Analytica poll, released Monday, Trump received 36.6 percent support, compared to Bidens 36.5 percent. Kennedy followed the presumptive party nominees in a not-so-distant third place, with 14.6 percent of the vote. Another 12.4 percent of the registered Granite State voters surveyed said they would vote for none of these candidates. Trump leads Biden in every designated age group in the survey, except for voters aged 65 and older 52 percent in this demographic said they support Biden, 27 percent support Trump and 9 percent support Kennedy. Trump maintains approximately a 10- to 12-point lead over Biden with younger voters, per the poll. Among undeclared voters in the state, support is roughly split between the three candidates, with Biden maintaining a narrow lead with 27.5 percent, followed by Trumps 24.2 percent, Kennedys 23.2 percent and 25.1 percent who said they support none of these candidates. The DDHQ polling average for New Hampshire has Biden beating Trump by 4 points, as of Tuesday. Praecones Analyticas Jonathan Klingler attributed these results to the incumbents poor showing among swing voters. Biden won the state in 2020 by 8 points. While registered voters of both parties are largely united around their nominee, independent/undeclared voters are splitting their support in four statistically indistinguishable ways: between Biden, Trump, Kennedy, and other unnamed candidates, Klingler told the NH Journal. In comparison to exit polls from the 2020 presidential election, independent/undeclared voters in New Hampshire demonstrate significantly lower support for Biden, as Biden won around 60 percent of these voters in 2020, compared to around a quarter if the election were held today, he added. Biden traveled to New Hampshire on Tuesday for an event about the PACT Act. This helps to put President Bidens visit this week into greater context, as that sound you hear is the 2024 battleground map expanding for Donald Trump, seemingly putting New Hampshire in play this fall, veteran New Hampshire GOP strategist Jim Merrill told the NH Journal. The poll, conducted Wednesday through Monday, included 862 registered New Hampshire voters and has a margin of error of 3.33 percentage points. Updated at 6:46 p.m. 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 The Hill. (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden urged the Republican leaders of the House and Senate in calls on Monday to revive a bipartisan immigration measure that failed after Donald Trump proclaimed his opposition. Most Read from Bloomberg In his conversations with Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Biden reiterated that congressional Republicans should stop playing politics and act quickly to pass this bipartisan border legislation that would add thousands of Border Patrol agents and personnel, invest in technology to catch fentanyl and combat drug trafficking, the White House said Monday night. That statement was released as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that he was putting the compromise legislation back on the floor, more than three months after Johnson declared it dead on arrival. Earlier: Trump, House GOP Leaders Reject Senate Border-Ukraine Deal The bill still stands almost no chance of passage, with Trump unyielding, Johnson presiding over a very narrow majority in the House and the election less than six months away. Yet with immigration and a crisis at the US-Mexico border still a concern for voters, the Democrats have been keen to seize the initiative on the issue and make the case that Republicans bear responsibility for the lack of progress. The legislation put forward in February would restrict illegal border crossings, make it harder to apply for asylum and speed up deportations of undocumented migrants but also make more visas for legal immigration available. Both Schumer and McConnell supported the bill, which was endorsed by the US Chamber of Commerce. But Trump, who has made criticism of Bidens border policies a centerpiece of his campaign, condemned the deal in a social media post as a great gift for Democrats and a Death Wish for The Republican Party. Biden, however, has also taken steps that dont require congressional approval to show a tougher stance on migration. Last week, the Homeland Security and Justice Departments announced that asylum reviews would be expedited to prevent migrants from waiting in the US for years while their claims are pending. Biden is weighing a broader executive action designed to constrain illegal migration if the legislative effort fails. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Biden to visit New Hampshire to announce 1 million benefit claims approved under PACT Act President Joe Biden will travel to New Hampshire on Tuesday to tout benefits awarded under the PACT Act to veterans exposed to toxic chemicals. Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI May 21 (UPI) -- The White House on Tuesday said more than 1 million claims for benefits for the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxins Act have been granted since the law was enacted in 2022. President Joe Biden will travel to Nashua, N.H., on Tuesday afternoon to detail the $5.7 billion in benefits earned by more than 888,000 veterans exposed to toxic chemicals during their time in the military. "President Biden believes that our nation has a sacred obligation to properly prepare and equip the troops we send into harm's way -- and to care for them and their families when they return home," the White House said. "Some military service can result in increased health risks for our veterans, and some injuries and illnesses like asthma, cancer and others can take years to manifest." The White House has processed more than 1.3 million clams since Aug. 10, 2022, and has prioritized claims involving terminal illnesses and veterans experiencing homelessness. The White House said the PACT Act has delivered $637 million in the processing of cancer claims for veterans. "Thanks to the PACT Act outreach campaign, veterans and survivors are applying for their earned benefits at record rates," the White House said. The PACT Act expands VA healthcare for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits, Agent Orange and other poison during their military service. The law expands those suffering from exposure from the Vietnam, Gulf War and post-9/11 eras. American troops might be pledged to defend Saudi territory soon. President Joe Biden is seeking a "mega-deal" that would bind the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Israel into a Middle Eastern military alliance. After Biden's National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman last week, both governments announced that they had a "near-final" version of a defense pact worked out. A group of 9/11 victims' families wants something very different. For years, they have been suing the Saudi government, based on alleged contacts between Saudi officials and 9/11 hijackers. Earlier this month, the Saudi government argued that its officials had nothing to do with the attacks and motioned for the case to be thrown out. The families' lawyers responded with a bombshell filing: They claim to have new evidence that the 9/11 hijackers were assisted by "a covert and illegal Saudi government platform" on American soil. The families' filing focuses on accused Saudi spy Omar Al Bayoumi, who hosted two of the future hijackers in southern California, and Saudi diplomat Fahad Al Thumairy, who allegedly sent an associate to help host them. The Saudi government argues that Bayoumi "had innocent motives: to help fellow Saudis who were new to the San Diego Muslim community and to get a referral fee from his apartment manager. Al Thumairy did not assist the hijackers at all." But the families cited several new pieces of evidence that have not been revealed to the public yetincluding FBI memos, home videos of Al Bayoumi, and phone surveillance recordsthat link Al Bayoumi and Al Thumairy to the hijackers. The families also have a "smoking gun" from British police, a notebook seized from Al Bayoumi that includes "a drawing of a plane, alongside a calculation used to discern the distance at which a target on the ground will be visible from a certain altitude." Former U.S. counterterrorism official Steve Simon, who assisted the families with their case and who was my colleague when I worked at the Quincy Institute two years ago, believes that support for the hijackers did not necessarily come from the top. Saudi government motives "won't be fully understood until the royal archives are opened, assuming that internal discussions were even recorded. But it does seem, in general, that the House of Saud ruled but did not govern; governance was typically for commoners," he wrote in The Atlantic. "Without inquiring closely into the day-to-day operations of the religious and foreign-affairs ministries, the royals could not have had a clear idea of what was being done in their name, including the deployment of Saudis with diplomatic visas for the purpose of attacking the kingdom's strongest, most reliable transactional partner." And the kingdom has changed a lot under bin Salman, who crushed the old Saudi religious establishment during his rise to power and now runs a much tighter ship. Still, the Saudi government does not seem keen to have U.S. courts dig up its past activities, especially since a majority of the American public already opposes a defense pact. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Israel seem to have very different ideas of what Biden's mega-deal would mean for them. Last year, the Israeli side was quite optimistic. Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer stated that a Saudi-Israeli deal would be a "reverse 9/11." But the war in Gaza has revived the Palestinian issue in Arab politics, and Saudi Arabia is now demanding Palestinian independence as a prerequisite to a deal with Israel. This weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implied that he would reject a Saudi deal because an independent Palestine "will inevitably be a terror state." At the same time, Saudi Arabia has been trying to do an end-run around Netanyahu, pushing for a "less-for-less model" that cuts Israel out of the pact. The Biden administration, however, believes that it can still get everyone on board. "The integrated vision is a bilateral understanding between the United States and Saudi Arabia combined with normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, combined with meaningful steps on behalf of the Palestinian people," Sullivan, the Biden adviser, said earlier this month. "All of that has to come togetheryou can't disentangle one piece from the others." The post Biden Wants a Defense Pact With Saudi Arabia While 9/11 Victims Are Suing the Kingdom appeared first on Reason.com. Billionaire rains cash on UMass graduates to tune of $1,000 each, but says they must give half away The clouds werent alone in making it rain at the commencement ceremony at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth last week. On stage, billionaire philanthropist Rob Hale surprised the graduating class of more than 1,000 by pointing to a nearby truck holding envelopes stuffed with cash. Huddling under ponchos and umbrellas at the soggy ceremony, the graduates yelled and cheered, their mouths agape, as Hale announced he was showering money upon them. Security guards then lugged the cash-filled duffel bags onto the stage. Hale told the students each would get $1,000. But there was a condition: They were to keep $500 and give the rest away. Hale said the greatest joy he and his wife Karen had experienced in their lives had come from the act of giving. In this photo provided by University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, graduate students hold their diplomas at the graduation ceremony Thursday, May 16, 2024, in Dartmouth, Mass. Billionaire Robert Hale gifted graduates at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth each with $1,000., with the condition that they give $500 away. Hale revealed the gift to more than 1,100 graduates. (Karl Christoff Dominey/University of Massachusetts Dartmouth via AP) We want to give you two gifts. The first is our gift to you, Hale told the students. The second is the gift of giving. These trying times have heightened the need for sharing, caring and giving. Our community needs you, and your generosity, more than ever. The founder and chief executive of Granite Telecommunications, Hale is estimated by Forbes to have a net worth of $5.4 billion. He owns a minority stake in the Boston Celtics. Its the fourth year in a row that he has given a similar gift to a group of graduating students. Last year it was to students at UMass Boston, and before that it was to students at Roxbury Community College and Quincy College. But the students at UMass Dartmouth had no idea in advance Hale would be speaking let alone giving away money. I was very surprised, said Joshua Bernadin, who graduated with a chemistry degree. Everybody around me was in shock for a few seconds, and then they were all so happy. Bernadin said he, too, was very happy to get the money. He hasnt yet decided what to do with his $500, although it could go toward paying down his student loans. He plans to donate the other $500 to the theater company and gospel choir he was involved in at the university. He said he liked the idea of being compelled to donate. I feel like a lot of people, especially in my generation, are very, like, I need to take this, I need to take that. He said that attitude was somewhat justified given the difficulty in getting established in todays world, but it was also important to remember those who had helped along the way and to give back. In this photo provided by University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, is billionaire Robert Hale, right, onstage with UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Mark Fuller, left, at the graduation ceremony Thursday, May 16, 2024, in Dartmouth, Mass. Hale gifted graduates at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth each with $1,000., with the condition that they give $500 away. Hale revealed the gift to more than 1,100 graduates. (Karl Christoff Dominey/University of Massachusetts Dartmouth via AP) Hale told students his path to success had been rocky, after his previous company Network Plus filed for bankruptcy in 2002, during the dotcom crash. Have you ever met someone who lost a billion dollars before? Hale said, as he joked about giving the students career advice. I may be the biggest loser you ever met, and you have to sit in the rain and listen to me. In an interview Monday with The Associated Press, Hale said part of the message he wanted to get across was that it was okay to take chances in life and fail. He said he and his wife had started the tradition of cash giveaways in the thick of the pandemic when students had little to celebrate. The most impactful part of it was hearing the heartfelt messages from those who had benefited from the students gifts, he said, from struggling local organizations to families that could suddenly afford Christmas gifts. Graduating students that didnt attend the ceremony missed out on the money. Hale said he hears from some afterward every year, with a variety of reasons for their absences. We say to them, one of the messages is, youve got to show up, Hale said. He said local elementary schools personalize the two envelopes given to each of the students. One says Gift and one says Give and each contains $500. He acknowledged there was no way to ensure the students give away half the money. But I believe that the vast majority do the right thing and then are joyful because of it, he said. Hale is unsurprisingly in hot demand as a commencement speaker, and he said he plans to give away more cash next year. But which commencement he will attend will again remain a surprise. Hale and his wife, Karen, gave a total of $52 million towards establishing endowments at grassroots organizations throughout the 52 weeks of the 2022 calendar year. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, on Tuesday said he wants to see Republicans go on the record with a vote on a bipartisan border bill. In this photo, he speaks with reporters in the basement of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON U.S. Senate Democrats are pushing for a second attempt to pass a bipartisan border security bill that failed in February after Republicans walked away from the very deal they helped craft, and its likely to fail again when the Senate votes on the legislation Thursday. So why are we bringing this bill up the second time? said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who was one of three negotiators of the measure. The answer is simple. Democrats care about border security. The expected vote comes as immigration has continued to rise as a top concern for voters in the polls and as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, has centered his reelection campaign on the issue, promising to reinstate his previous policies and carry out mass deportations. President Joe Biden called Republican leaders in both chambers Monday night to advocate for them to vote for passage of the bill that, among various things, would give Biden the executive authority to close the southern border when its overwhelmed. Mr. President, you caused this problem, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said he told Biden in their phone call. McConnell said he pushed for Biden to reinstate Trump-era policies such as the completion of the border wall and the so-called Remain in Mexico policy, which required asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while waiting for their cases. The president needs to step up to it, do everything he can do on his own, because legislation obviously is not going to clear this year, McConnell said. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, already said in a statement that should the bill pass the Senate, its dead on arrival in the House. Schumer says GOP must go on record Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he wanted Senate Republicans on the record for voting on the stand-alone bill. Republicans last year originally said they would only vote for vital aid to Ukraine if a border security bill was attached. Do Republicans want to improve the situation on the border, or not? Schumer said. Maybe theyre happy with the way things are. Schumer said that Republicans were on board with voting for the border security bill, until President Trump told them to make a U-turn. Murphy as well as Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent, and Republican James Lankford of Oklahoma spent months crafting a bipartisan border security bill that would overhaul U.S. immigration law. Senate Republicans walked away from the bill, eventually siding with their House colleagues and Trump. South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Republican, said Democrats are only holding Thursdays vote to protect vulnerable incumbents up for reelection this November such as Ohios Sherrod Brown and Montanas Jon Tester. Where we are right now, this has become a political liability, a political vulnerability for the Democrats, Thune said, adding all the charades and political theater the Democrats are trying are meant to protect incumbents. The sweeping border security bill would raise the bar for migrants claiming asylum, clarify the White Houses parole authority and end the practice of allowing migrants to live in U.S. communities as they await their asylum hearings, among other things. The Biden administration expressed frustration after Senate Republicans voted to kill the border security deal, frequently blaming Trump and Republicans for walking away. Every day between now and November, the American people are going to know that the only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends, Biden said in February. The post Bipartisan border bill likely doomed in approaching U.S. Senate vote appeared first on North Dakota Monitor. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, on Tuesday said he wants to see Republicans go on the record with a vote on a bipartisan border bill. In this photo, he speaks with reporters in the basement of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON U.S. Senate Democrats are pushing for a second attempt to pass a bipartisan border security bill that failed in February after Republicans walked away from the very deal they helped craft, and its likely to fail again when the Senate votes on the legislation Thursday. So why are we bringing this bill up the second time? said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who was one of three negotiators of the measure. The answer is simple. Democrats care about border security. The expected vote comes as immigration has continued to rise as a top concern for voters in the polls and as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, Donald Trump, has centered his reelection campaign on the issue, promising to reinstate his previous policies and carry out mass deportations. President Joe Biden called Republican leaders in both chambers Monday night to advocate for them to vote for passage of the bill that, among various things, would give Biden the executive authority to close the southern border when its overwhelmed. Mr. President, you caused this problem, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said he told Biden in their phone call. McConnell said he pushed for Biden to reinstate Trump-era policies such as the completion of the border wall and the so-called Remain in Mexico policy, which required asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while waiting for their cases. The president needs to step up to it, do everything he can do on his own, because legislation obviously is not going to clear this year, McConnell said. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, already said in a statement that should the bill pass the Senate, its dead on arrival in the House. Schumer says GOP must go on record Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he wanted Senate Republicans on the record for voting on the stand-alone bill. Republicans last year originally said they would only vote for vital aid to Ukraine if a border security bill was attached. Do Republicans want to improve the situation on the border, or not? Schumer said. Maybe theyre happy with the way things are. Schumer said Republicans were on board with voting for the border security bill, until President Trump told them to make a U-turn. Murphy as well as Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent, and Republican James Lankford of Oklahoma spent months crafting a bipartisan border security bill that would overhaul U.S. immigration law. Senate Republicans walked away from the bill, eventually siding with their House colleagues and Trump. South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Republican, said Democrats are only holding Thursdays vote to protect vulnerable incumbents up for reelection this November such as Ohios Sherrod Brown and Montanas Jon Tester. Where we are right now, this has become a political liability, a political vulnerability for the Democrats, Thune said, adding all the charades and political theater the Democrats are trying are meant to protect incumbents. The sweeping border security bill would raise the bar for migrants claiming asylum, clarify the White Houses parole authority and end the practice of allowing migrants to live in U.S. communities as they await their asylum hearings, among other things. The Biden administration expressed frustration after Senate Republicans voted to kill the border security deal, frequently blaming Trump and Republicans for walking away. Every day between now and November, the American people are going to know that the only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends, Biden said in February. The post Bipartisan border bill likely doomed in approaching U.S. Senate vote appeared first on Iowa Capital Dispatch. enate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, on Tuesday said he wants to see Republicans go on the record with a vote on a bipartisan border bill. In this photo, he speaks with reporters in the basement of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON U.S. Senate Democrats are pushing for a second attempt to pass a bipartisan border security bill that failed in February after Republicans walked away from the very deal they helped craft, and its likely to fail again when the Senate votes on the legislation Thursday. So why are we bringing this bill up the second time? said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who was one of three negotiators of the measure. The answer is simple. Democrats care about border security. The expected vote comes as immigration has continued to rise as a top concern for voters in the polls and as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, has centered his reelection campaign on the issue, promising to reinstate his previous policies and carry out mass deportations. President Joe Biden called Republican leaders in both chambers Monday night to advocate for them to vote for passage of the bill that, among various things, would give Biden the executive authority to close the southern border when its overwhelmed. Mr. President, you caused this problem, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said he told Biden in their phone call. McConnell said he pushed for Biden to reinstate Trump-era policies such as the completion of the border wall and the so-called Remain in Mexico policy, which required asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while waiting for their cases. The president needs to step up to it, do everything he can do on his own, because legislation obviously is not going to clear this year, McConnell said. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, already said in a statement that should the bill pass the Senate, its dead on arrival in the House. Schumer says GOP must go on record Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he wanted Senate Republicans on the record for voting on the stand-alone bill. Republicans last year originally said they would only vote for vital aid to Ukraine if a border security bill was attached. Do Republicans want to improve the situation on the border, or not? Schumer said. Maybe theyre happy with the way things are. Schumer said that Republicans were on board with voting for the border security bill, until President Trump told them to make a U-turn. Murphy as well as Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent, and Republican James Lankford of Oklahoma spent months crafting a bipartisan border security bill that would overhaul U.S. immigration law. Senate Republicans walked away from the bill, eventually siding with their House colleagues and Trump. South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Republican, said Democrats are only holding Thursdays vote to protect vulnerable incumbents up for reelection this November such as Ohios Sherrod Brown and Montanas Jon Tester. Where we are right now, this has become a political liability, a political vulnerability for the Democrats, Thune said, adding all the charades and political theater the Democrats are trying are meant to protect incumbents. The sweeping border security bill would raise the bar for migrants claiming asylum, clarify the White Houses parole authority and end the practice of allowing migrants to live in U.S. communities as they await their asylum hearings, among other things. The Biden administration expressed frustration after Senate Republicans voted to kill the border security deal, frequently blaming Trump and Republicans for walking away. Every day between now and November, the American people are going to know that the only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends, Biden said in February. The post Bipartisan border bill likely doomed in approaching U.S. Senate vote appeared first on Kentucky Lantern. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, on Tuesday said he wants to see Republicans go on the record with a vote on a bipartisan border bill. In this photo, he speaks with reporters in the basement of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON U.S. Senate Democrats are pushing for a second attempt to pass a bipartisan border security bill that failed in February after Republicans walked away from the very deal they helped craft, and its likely to fail again when the Senate votes on the legislation Thursday. So why are we bringing this bill up the second time? said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who was one of three negotiators of the measure. The answer is simple. Democrats care about border security. The expected vote comes as immigration has continued to rise as a top concern for voters in the polls and as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, has centered his reelection campaign on the issue, promising to reinstate his previous policies and carry out mass deportations. President Joe Biden called Republican leaders in both chambers Monday night to advocate for them to vote for passage of the bill that, among various things, would give Biden the executive authority to close the southern border when its overwhelmed. Mr. President, you caused this problem, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said he told Biden in their phone call. McConnell said he pushed for Biden to reinstate Trump-era policies such as the completion of the border wall and the so-called Remain in Mexico policy, which required asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while waiting for their cases. The president needs to step up to it, do everything he can do on his own, because legislation obviously is not going to clear this year, McConnell said. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, already said in a statement that should the bill pass the Senate, its dead on arrival in the House. Schumer says GOP must go on record Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he wanted Senate Republicans on the record for voting on the stand-alone bill. Republicans last year originally said they would only vote for vital aid to Ukraine if a border security bill was attached. Do Republicans want to improve the situation on the border, or not? Schumer said. Maybe theyre happy with the way things are. Schumer said that Republicans were on board with voting for the border security bill, until President Trump told them to make a U-turn. Murphy as well as Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent, and Republican James Lankford of Oklahoma spent months crafting a bipartisan border security bill that would overhaul U.S. immigration law. Senate Republicans walked away from the bill, eventually siding with their House colleagues and Trump. South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Republican, said Democrats are only holding Thursdays vote to protect vulnerable incumbents up for reelection this November such as Ohios Sherrod Brown and Montanas Jon Tester. Where we are right now, this has become a political liability, a political vulnerability for the Democrats, Thune said, adding all the charades and political theater the Democrats are trying are meant to protect incumbents. Clarify parole authority, raise bar for asylum The sweeping border security bill would raise the bar for migrants claiming asylum, clarify the White Houses parole authority and end the practice of allowing migrants to live in U.S. communities as they await their asylum hearings, among other things. The Biden administration expressed frustration after Senate Republicans voted to kill the border security deal, frequently blaming Trump and Republicans for walking away. Every day between now and November, the American people are going to know that the only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends, Biden said in February. The post Bipartisan border bill likely doomed in approaching U.S. Senate vote appeared first on Nebraska Examiner. A Black Teen Was Wrongly Executed Nearly 100 Years Ago. His Family is Still Seeking Justice. In 1931, 16-year-old Alexander McClay Williams was sentenced to death in Pennsylvania for the 1930 murder of his teacher. He was executed six months after his convictions. The victim, judge, and jury in his case were all white. In October 2022, 91 years after he was executed, Williams was posthumously exonerated after his family and their legal representatives were able to prove that he was never responsible for his teachers murder and that his case was an example of racial profiling. All the charges against him were dismissed. According to ABC 6, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said Williams was browbeaten into giving a confession and was executed before being given the chance to appeal. On Monday, the Williams family took another step to ensure that justice is served by filing a lawsuit against Delaware County and the estates of the detectives and prosecutors involved in the case, according to NBC News. The family is claiming that their conduct was outrageous, malicious, wanton, willful, reckless and intentionally designed to inflict harm. More from NBC News: Willams who was Black was convicted after 34-year-old Vida Robare who was white and was a house matron at the Glen Mills School for Boys was found murdered inside her cottage on the school grounds on October 3, 1930. Her body was discovered by her ex-husband Fred Robare, who was also an employee at the school. Williams was arrested and charged with stabbing Robare 47 times. However, there were no witnesses to the crime and Williams was never seen at the scene. Instead, prosecutors relied on confessions that were coerced out of the 16-year-old Williams. The Williams family is seeking compensatory and punitive damages along with a statement that the practices of the prosecution and detectives was unconstitutional. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland suggested Sunday that Russian bases should be fair game for Ukraine to target amid a larger debate over reversing a ban on firing U.S. weapons at targets inside of Russia. I think theres also a question of whether we, the United States and our allies, ought to give them more help in hitting Russian bases, which heretofore we have not been willing to do, Nuland said Sunday in an interview on ABC Newss This Week. When asked if she believes Ukraine should be hitting Russian bases, Nuland said, I think if the attacks are coming directly from over the line in Russia, that those bases ought to be fair game, whether they are where missiles are being launched from or where they are where troops are being supplied from. Russia recently launched its Kharkiv offensive from the neighboring Belgorod region, and some Ukrainian officials argued the attacks could have been prevented if they had been permitted to hit targets in the Russian province. Nuland, who retired in March, has often faced criticism for her views about Russia and its actions in Ukraine. She argued Sunday the attacks in Kharkiv have signaled it is time for the U.S. to be assisting Ukraine to hit Russian bases. I think its time for that, because Russia has obviously escalated this war, including, as you said, at the beginning, attacking Russias second city, Kharkiv, which is not on the front lines, and trying to decimate it without ever having to put a boot on the ground, Nuland said. So I think it is time to give the Ukrainians more help hitting these bases inside Russia. A delegation of five Ukrainian members of parliament traveled to Washington last week to meet with Biden administration officials and congressional lawmakers in an effort to push the U.S. to reverse the ban. Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly argued that their own weapons are not nearly as effective at attacking legitimate military targets in Russia as American-made arms, including the missile launcher weapon High Mobility Artillery Rocket System or valued long-range artillery like the Army Tactical Missile System. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during a trip to Kyiv last week, said the U.S. was committed to ensuring Ukraine can win the war against Russia but emphasized the embattled nation should focus on taking back Ukrainian territory. This Week co-anchor Martha Raddatz pressed Nuland on why she believes targeting Russian bases is a good idea, given the Biden administrations concern it will escalate things further with Moscow, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Because its Russia that has escalated this war. Russia has learned how to pull its forces back out of the range where we have allowed Ukraine to use our weapons and get our support, Nuland responded. So, they are getting a direct advantage in this war from our hesitation, and they have escalated massively. Nuland further contended the months-long delay of U.S. aid to Ukraine had a role to play in Russias recent advances. Following more than a year of stalemate in Congress, lawmakers passed a national security supplemental last month that sent $61 billion to Ukraine. I think [Ukraine] can certainly turn this around, Martha. But the six-month delay certainly made a difference. The front line for Ukraine needs the artillery that we are sending, Nuland said. They need more air defenses. They need to be able to stop these Russian attacks that are coming from bases inside Russia. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in the hot seat as he testified before the Senate and faced questions about U.S. policy toward Israel. It comes as tensions between the two countries remain high after the U.S. held a shipment of weapons over Israels plans to invade Rafah. There is also uncertainty following the death of Irans president. Police carried protestors out of a Senate hearing as Blinken faced pressure over the administrations handling of the war between Israel and Hamas. Were standing with Israel in its efforts to ensure that what happened on October 7th never happens again, as we do everything, we can to bring an end to the terrible human suffering in Gaza, said Blinken The protestors arent the only ones who are upset. Idaho Republican Senator James Risch criticized the administration for punishing Israel by pausing a weapons shipment. You must stop blaming Israel and let Israel remove Hamas from Gaza. That is the only way to move forward, said Risch. Democrats, like Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, are disappointed the administration does not acknowledge that the Israeli government failed to comply with international law. Mr. Secretary, that hurts our credibility around the world, and it sets a dangerously low bar for whats acceptable going forward, Van Hollen said. The international criminal court applied for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some Hamas leaders. Blinken says the U.S. stands against it. The shameful equivalence implied between Hamas and the leadership of Israel, I think that only complicates the prospects for getting such an agreement, said Blinken. Blinken was also asked by Texas Senator Ted Cruz if the world is better now that Irans president is dead. Blinken said yes and that the Iranian people are probably better off. 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 DC News Now | Washington, DC. Blinken says he'll work with US Congress on potential ICC sanctions Blinken says he'll work with US Congress on potential ICC sanctions By Simon Lewis, Humeyra Pamuk and Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Biden administration is willing to work with Congress to potentially impose sanctions against International Criminal Court officials over the prosecutor's request for arrest warrants for Israeli leaders over the Gaza war, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday. At a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told Blinken he wanted to see renewed U.S. sanctions on the court in response to the move announced by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan on Monday. "I want to take actions, not just words," Graham said to Blinken. "Will you support bipartisan effort to sanction the ICC, not only for the outrage against Israel but to protect in the future our own interest?" "I welcome working with you on that," Blinken responded. Khan said in his announcement that he had reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's defense chief and three Hamas leaders "bear criminal responsibility" for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Both President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and his political opponents have sharply criticized Khan's announcement, arguing the court does not have jurisdiction over the Gaza conflict and raising concerns over process. The United States is not a member of the court, but has supported past prosecutions, including the ICC's decision last year to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine. At an earlier hearing on Tuesday, Blinken said he would work with Congress on an appropriate response, calling the ICC's move "profoundly wrong-headed." It would complicate the prospects of reaching a hostage deal and a ceasefire in Israel's conflict with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Blinken said. Republican members of Congress have previously threatened legislation to impose sanctions on the ICC, but a measure cannot become law without support from President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats, who control the Senate. In 2020, then-President Donald Trump's administration accused the ICC of infringing on U.S. national sovereignty when it authorized an investigation into war crimes committed in Afghanistan. The U.S. targeted court staff, including then-prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, with asset freezes and travel bans. Biden lifted those sanctions in April 2021 shortly after assuming office. "These decisions reflect our assessment that the measures adopted were inappropriate and ineffective," Blinken said in a statement at the time. (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Patricia Zengerle and Simon Lewis; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Stephen Coates) Blinken says he wants to work with Congress to penalize International Criminal Court US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he wants to work with Congress on legislation to penalize the International Criminal Court after it applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Given the events of yesterday, I think we have to look at the appropriate steps to take to deal with again, what is a profoundly wrongheaded decision, Blinken said at a State Department budget hearing with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Blinkens comments were an early indication of the Biden administrations openness to taking action against the Netherlands-based court for its application for arrest warrants for the senior Israeli officials. The courts chief prosecutor Karim Khan also issued warrants for senior Hamas officials, including its leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar. Blinken was responding to questions by the ranking member of the committee, Republican Sen. James Risch, who asked if Blinken would work with him on legislation that includes the question of the ICC sticking its nose in the business of countries that have an independent legitimate, democratic judicial system. The devils in the details, so lets see what you got, and we can take from there, said Blinken in response, adding that he wants to work with the committee on a bipartisan basis. In a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Tuesday afternoon, Blinken said he would welcome working with Sen. Lindsey Graham on bipartisan sanctions against the ICC. The Biden administration came out forcefully against Khan on Monday for his decision to apply for the warrants against top Israel officials on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Its clear Israel wants to do all it can to ensure civilian protection, said Biden at a White House reception marking Jewish American Heritage Month. Let me be clear: Whats happening is not genocide. Lawmakers from both parties condemned the ICCs actions on Monday, and House Speaker Mike Johnson said that House Republicans are looking into sanctioning the ICC. In the absence of leadership from the White House, Congress is reviewing all options, including sanctions, to punish the ICC and ensure its leadership faces consequences if they proceed. If the ICC is allowed to threaten Israeli leaders, ours could be next, Johnson said in a statement Monday. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has faced questions about its condemnation of the ICCs actions while saying it continues to support the courts investigation into Russian war crimes during its invasion of Ukraine. Regarding the question of whether or not well continue to provide support to the ICC with respect to crimes that are committed in Ukraine, yes, we continue that work, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at a news conference after a virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on Monday. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a news conference on Monday that the ICC has done important work over the years to hold people accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity that the US still supports. Well have the time to look at it, to digest it and perhaps issue a more complete response, Miller said about the ICC applications. The Trump administration previously sanctioned ICC officials by executive order in 2020 over its investigation of possible war crimes by US military and intelligence officials in Afghanistan, sanctions that the Biden administration lifted the next year. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com By Patricia Zengerle, Humeyra Pamuk and Simon Lewis WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced criticism from the right and left over Israel policy in Congress on Tuesday, with Republicans accusing the Biden administration of failing Israel and Democrats saying it's doing too little to help civilians in Gaza. Furious protesters interrupted Blinken as he began his testimony before two committees in the Democratic-controlled Senate, calling him a war criminal and accusing him of involvement in genocide. At the first hearing, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Blinken flinched from a protester who approached him from behind, waving a sign that said "criminal," before security officers carried her out of the room. Blinken reiterated the support of President Joe Biden's administration for Israel, but insisted it was focused on easing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and opposed an Israeli assault on Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza where over 1 million displaced people had taken shelter. "When it comes to making sure that Israel has everything it needs to defend itself, no one has, no one will do more than President Biden," Blinken said, pushing back against Republican accusations that Washington's pause on a weapons shipment to Israel was weakening it in its war against the Hamas militant group that rules the enclave. "At the same time when it comes to Rafah we've been very clear in many conversations with Israeli leadership over the past months about our deep concerns about a major military operation in Rafah and the impact that that would have on civilians," he said. Blinken appeared later on Tuesday before the Senate appropriations subcommittee, which oversees diplomatic and foreign aid spending. He returns to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for two more rounds of testimony at hearings of the Republican-led House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and a House appropriations subcommittee. Republicans criticized Biden for saying this month that he would delay a shipment of bombs to Israel and consider withholding others if Israeli forces launched a major invasion of Rafah, a refugee-packed city in southern Gaza. Billions of dollars in U.S. military assistance remain in the pipeline for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. Republicans also called for action in response to the International Criminal Court prosecutor's announcement on Monday that he had requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his defense minister over alleged war crimes in the Gaza conflict. The prosecutor, Karim Khan, also sought arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders. Blinken said the Biden administration would be happy to work with Congress to formulate a response to what he called "a profoundly wrong-headed decision" regarding the warrants for the Israeli leaders. Democratic Senator Ben Cardin, who chairs the foreign relations panel, also criticized the ICC. "I see it as a step in the wrong direction," Cardin said. HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN GAZA Biden also faced criticism from some of his fellow Democrats, who want him to do more - including putting conditions on arms exports - to push Netanyahu's government to protect Palestinian civilians. Israel is fighting to wipe out Hamas, which attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Palestinian authorities say more than 35,000 people have been killed during Israel's campaign in Gaza, many of them women and children. Malnutrition is widespread and much of the coastal enclave's population has been left homeless and much of its infrastructure has been destroyed. "I've been especially concerned about the restrictions placed on the delivery of humanitarian assistance to two million Palestinians who have nothing to do with Hamas," Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said. Israel-related demonstrations have become a feature of congressional appearances by Biden administration officials. When Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin testified on Oct. 31 about Biden's request for security assistance for Ukraine and Israel, protesters repeatedly interrupted them. Protests over Gaza have intensified across the U.S. since then, including on college campuses where there have been dozens of arrests, raising concerns about how they might affect Biden's campaign for reelection against former Republican President Donald Trump. A $95 billion foreign aid package for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and humanitarian needs finally passed Congress in April after being stalled for months by Republicans unhappy about the billions of dollars in assistance Washington has sent Kyiv as it battles Russian invaders. The package only passed the House because a majority of Democrats supported it, and the parties remain divided over how much more help Washington should provide to Ukraine. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Humeyra Pamuk and Simon Lewis; editing by Jonathan Oatis) KANSAS CITY, Mo. The Independence Police Department and Community Blood Center (CBC) are hosting a blood drive Wednesday in honor of fallen Officer Cody Allen who was killed in the line of duty in February. Officer Allens family encourages Independence and Kansas City residents to donate and help other police officers who need blood transfusions after being injured on the job. Independence council approves sales tax, raising police wages Donating only takes one hour, and a single donation can save multiple lives. According to the CBC, almost one in seven hospital admissions require a blood transfusion, which typically goes to cancer patients, accident, burn or trauma victims, newborn babies, surgery patients, and many more who suffer from diseases or traumatic injuries. Blood donors can donate every 56 days, and platelet donors can donate twice a month. Recently, the Food and Drug Administration lifted many eligibility restrictions for people who lived in Europe over a specific period of time, allowing more people to donate and give back to those who serve their communities. To determine whether you are able to donate, visit savealifenow.org or call (800) 688-0900. Claude Monet painting sold at NYC Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art auction Here is all the information you need to know about the blood drive: WHEN: Wednesday, May 22nd from 10 a.m. 3 p.m. WHERE: Independence Police Department at 223 N. Memorial Dr., Independence, MO 64050 To make an appointment for the blood drive, click here. 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 FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. BOCA RATON Not sure what to do with the items in your pantry as you prepare to leave for summer? Boca Helping Hands might. The nonprofit is asking snowbirds and those who go away during the summer months to consider donating the nonperishables left in their pantries to them before they take off. "We know that many people wonder what to do with the food in their pantry when they get ready to leave for the summer, and we hope they will think of Boca Helping Hands," said Greg Hazle, Boca Helping Hands' executive director. Last year, the nonprofit served more than 103,000 hot meals and distributed more than 114,000 pantry bags of groceries to 10,075 families. What is Boca Helping Hands? Boca Helping Hands accepts donations of non-perishable items Monday through Saturday at 1500 NW 1st Court, Boca Raton, Florida, 33432. It's a community-based nonprofit providing food, medical and financial assistance to people in the area since 1998. It started off as a soup kitchen, and now serves as one of South Florida's largest nonprofit service providers, with 23 staff members and more than 300 volunteers. Through Boca Helping Hands, more than 35,000 South Floridia residents also have access to education, job training and guidance to help them become self-sufficient. In 2024, alone, more than 9,500 pantry bags have been distributed through Boca Helping Hands. Welcome back, snowbirds: Here's what you missed in South Florida How many snowbirds visit Florida each year? Florida gets an estimated 900,000 to one million seasonal residents who stay for at least a month each winter. These travelers, who've come to be known as "snowbirds," raise the state's population by about 5%. The figure, however, does not include the state's yearly 122 million tourists. In Palm Beach County, the number of snowbirds per year is around 145,000. They raise the county's population by about 11%, according to county figures. How to donate non-perishable items to Boca Helping Hands: Items to be donated can be dropped off at Boca Helping Hands, which is located at 1500 NW 1st Court, near the intersection of Dixie Highway and Glades Road. Hours of operation are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturdays. Boca Helping Hands is closed on Sundays. Jasmine Fernandez is a journalist covering Delray Beach and Boca Raton for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at jfernandez@pbpost.com and follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @jasminefernandz. Help support our work. Subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Boca Helping Hands asks snowbirds to donate non-perishable pantry items Boeing on Tuesday offered its deepest condolences after a flight heading for Singapore experienced severe turbulence, killing one passenger and injuring others. A Singapore Airlines flight was traveling on a Boeing 777-300ER from London on Monday when severe turbulence over the Indian Ocean forced the plane to suddenly divert to Bangkok, where it landed Tuesday, the carrier said Tuesday. The plane was carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members, according to officials at the Suvarnabhumi Airport. A British man died, and dozens of passengers were injured, according to airport officials, which Kittipong Kittikachorn, general manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport, confirmed. We are in contact with Singapore Airlines regarding flight SQ321 and stand ready to support them. We extend our deepest condolences to the family who lost a loved one, and our thoughts are with the passengers and crew, Boeing wrote in a statement on the social platform X on Tuesday. Singapore Airlines also offered its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. Seven passengers were severely injured, while 23 passengers and nine crew members suffered moderate injuries, Kittikachorn said during a press conference, per The Associated Press (AP). Sixteen passengers with less serious injuries went to the hospital, and 14 others were treated at the airport, he reportedly added. He said the man, 73, may have had a heart attack, though that was not confirmed, the AP added. A later statement from Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital said 71 people had been treated there, including six who were severely injured, the news wire added. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy in numbers. Data from FlightRadar24 and analyzed by the AP showed the flight at an altitude of 37,000 feet before it suddenly dropped to 31,000 feet over three minutes over the Andaman Sea. It stayed there for less than 10 minutes before diverting and landing in Bangkok less than 30 minutes later, the news wire added. Singapore Airlines said the nationalities of the passengers were 56 Australians, two Canadians, one German, three Indians, two Indonesians, one from Iceland, four from Ireland, one Israeli, 16 Malaysians, two from Myanmar, 23 from New Zealand, five Filipinos, 41 from Singapore, one South Korean, two Spaniards, 47 from the United Kingdom and four from the United States. The incident comes as Boeing is facing increased scrutiny following a series of high-profile accidents, including a midair blowout in January aboard an Alaska Airlines flight. The plane manufacturing company is facing numerous lawsuits over the blowout, along with investigations from the Justice Department, Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board. 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 The Hill. Border Guard: Russian offensive in Sumy Oblast can't be ruled out Russia has "certain units" on the border with Ukraine's Sumy Oblast, and an attack in this sector "can never be ruled out," State Border Guard Service spokesperson Andrii Demchenko told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's (RFE/RL) on May 21. Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine's military intelligence chief, suggested in mid-May that Russian forces may launch an offensive in Sumy Oblast similar to the ongoing one in Kharkiv Oblast when the conditions are more favorable. Russia may try to attack the region even if it lacks the forces, Demchenko said. "It is in order to stretch the front line, the line of active combat operations, and actually stretch (Ukraine's) defense forces," he added. "We also need to understand that the length of the border with our enemy is quite large. It is more than 560 kilometers (around 350 miles) in Sumy Oblast alone." Ukraine should be prepared for "any situations" and continue to build up its defense capabilities, Demchenko said. Since the Russian-occupied parts of Sumy Oblast were liberated in early April 2022, the region has been experiencing daily shelling and attacks from across the border, as it is located on Ukraine's northeastern border with Russia. Ukrainian authorities ordered further evacuations from the region amid intensified attacks. Read also: Kharkiv Oblast official: Ukraine controls around 60% of Vovchansk Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Foreign Affairs The United Nationss International Organization for Migration (IOM) hired Cornerstone Government Affairs to educate members on the IOM and lobby for consistent core funding in the FY 2025 appropriations cycle, according to a new disclosure. Congress barred funding to the U.N.s agency for Palestinian refugees as part of a foreign aid bill earlier this year, putting the agency responsible for humane and orderly migration on the defensive. To aid in that effort, the IOM has enlisted the help of Steve Marchese, who previously spent 21 years working for the House Appropriations Committee. Defense Lockheed Martin hired Cozen OConnor Public Strategies to lobby on issues related to defense policy and procurement. Lockheed Martin was the federal governments largest contractor in 2022, according to the most recent data available on SAM.gov, and was one of the top 20 spenders on federal lobbying last year, according to the money in politics tracking nonprofit OpenSecrets. Former Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) will work on the account. Telecommunications Comcast hired Miller Strategies to lobby on issues related to telecommunications, broadband policy, internet regulation, intellectual property and competition policy. One of the lobbyists on the account is Ashley Gunn, who was previously special assistant to the president and senior director of Cabinet affairs during the Trump administration. Trade The Canadian American Business Council hired Burke Consulting to lobby on issues related to U.S.-Canada trade and commerce. The lobbyist on the account is Elizabeth Burke, who previously worked for Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.). Education Atlanta Public Schools hired Holland & Knight to lobby on K-12 policy and federal grant funding. Robert Bradner, whose resume includes a stint as chief of staff and counsel to former Rep. John Porter (R-Ill.), former chair of a House Appropriations subcommittee For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. ST. LOUIS A kid who had his wish granted at FOX 2 last year is giving back to others this weekend. His mother says that he now has no more brain tumors. The family is setting up a lemonade stand to raise money for local cancer charities. Drew Patchin has been dealing with significant medical treatments this year, including a trip to Houston for surgery and chemotherapy, followed by a return home for further clinical trials. He spent a considerable part of the school year at St. Jude in Memphis, Tennessee, undergoing multiple brain surgeries. Cicadas reaching higher decibel levels than MetroLink, trucks, and more The good news is that Drews most recent surgery successfully removed the remaining tumor. His mother, Jennifer, says he currently has no brain tumors. Drew and his family are now spending more time at home, transitioning back to a sense of normalcy. Drew will be taking donations at a lemonade stand near Parkway Northeast Middle School Sunday. Proceeds will benefit the Bennett Project and St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, both of which have significantly helped Drew. The family is excited to give back to the organizations that have supported them. Patchin had one of his wishes granted a year ago at FOX 2 when he co-hosted FOX 2s 9:00 a.m. show with Tim Ezell. Drew enjoyed a red carpet treatment, signed autographs for the FOX 2 staff, and demonstrated his super ninja skills. Drews Crew Lemonade Stand Sunday 10:30 a.m.-noon 253 Coeur De Ville Lane 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 FOX 2. Brazilian Baby Reindeer accused of stalking doctor and sending him 1,300 emails after he saved her life A Brazilian woman arrested earlier this month is accused of displaying stalker behavior similar to that portrayed in the Netflix show Baby Reindeer over a doctor who she said saved her life. Kawara Welch, 23, allegedly called the doctor 500 times, and sent him 1,300 emails in one day. She also contacted his family and broke into his clinic prior to her arrest. Welch, a student studying nutrition at a university in the Uberlandia municipality, was arrested in Ituiutaba, Brazil, on May 8 after allegedly stalking the medical professional who treated her for depression six years ago. The charge of stalking carries a sentence of up to two years in jail, according to Brazilian news outlet Fantastico. Welch is also accused of theft, threats and extortion. She had been considered a fugitive since March 2023, the outlet reported. The doctor, who has not been identified, told Fantastico that after he had treated Welch, she would harass him nonstop, waiting behind corners for him to finish work before following him home. Kawara Welch, 23, alleged to have called the doctor 500 times in one day and broken into his clinic (@kawawelch/Instagram) She said that it wasnt a coincidence, that no one saves someone elses life so many times out of the blue, that there was something more to it, the doctor explained. He added that she broke into his practice and chased him several times. The case bears similiarities to the Netflix show Baby Reindeer, written by British comedian Richard Gadd, which retold the true story of his own experience with a stalker. The hit show drew backlash after social media sleuths, despite being warned off by Gadd, tracked down the supposedly anonymous woman depicted in the show Martha online. Journalist Piers Morgan later conducted a lengthy interview with the real-life Martha on his YouTube series, Piers Morgan Uncensored. In Brazil, the doctor said that Welchs messages had become threatening and he had attempted to cease contact with her, even asking a colleague to treat her instead. She had an incredible ability to track him down, he said. "She ended up sending me 1,300 messages in one day. And calls, she sent me more than 500 calls in one day, a single day, he told Fantastico. Piers Morgan interviewed Fiona Harvey, the real-life Martha, who was portrayed on the Netflix show Baby Reindeer (Piers Morgan/X) I changed my cell phone number three or four times, but I stopped changing because I saw it was completely useless. She had an incredible ability to find my new number. According to Fantastico, in the last five years, the doctor has registered 42 police reports against Welch. In one instance in 2022, she broke into his office and attacked his wife. In 2023, Welch stole the doctors wifes phone, leading to a warrant for her arrest. In March 2023, she was issued with a restraining order, but failed to comply with the terms. Earlier this month another woman, Rebeca Garcia, was dubbed The Venezuelan Baby Reindeer by Latin American media outlets. Dozens of Venezuelan women said that Garcia had been harassing, stalking and threatening them over multiple years. The case went viral on social media in Latin America, in part because of the overwhelming response to the victims accounts and pleas for justice in the country where officials claimed that harassment between women doesnt exist. Garcia allegedly sent hundreds of inappropriate emails to her victims, broke into their residences, and even published a book on Amazon detailing false encounters and fantasies with multiple women. Raymond Velazquez stood in the Asheville post office in a daze. Holding a letter from the blood bank in his hands, he read the lines of print over and over: HIV antibodies had been detected in his blood. He started to shake. Driving home, he fought to keep his grip steady on the steering wheel. There, his worried sister asked if he was okay. And I sat there at the table, and I told her. And I cried. Velazquez is one of 1.2 million people that are estimated to be living with HIV in America. Its been more than four decades since the first cases of AIDS were reported in New York City and Los Angeles. But the nations HIV epidemic is far from over especially in the South. In 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated 32,100 new HIV infections across the country. More than half of those infections (52%) occurred in the South. This disproportionate impact is clear in North Carolina. In 2022, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported that 36,581 people in the state were living with HIV. That year, 1,366 people were newly diagnosed. Many of those people live in rural areas where HIV support and healthcare arent around the corner. For them, a diagnosis can be isolating and frightening, and fear of repercussions can leave them feeling frozen. Facing an overwhelming combination of distance and emotion, taking the steps to care can feel nearly impossible. And the stakes are high: the longer care is delayed, the more sick they will become. Thats where regional agencies step in. They bridge the gap between individuals and their healthcare and give people living with HIV the chance for a long, healthy life long after their diagnosis. When Velazquez received his diagnosis four years ago, he knew about HIV from friends and partners living with the virus. Still, after receiving the blood banks letter, he was unsure where to turn. A Google search for HIV testing directed him to an organization called the Western North Carolina Aids Project (WNCAP). There, when a test confirmed what the letter reported, the staff helped him start medication. Less than two months later, Velazquez was undetectable the level of HIV in his body was so low that the virus could not be transmitted. Along with life-saving medication, Velazquez received something equally valuable that day: acceptance. Velazquez is still tearful when he remembers the kindness of the staff member who gave him his results. He says something very simple to me, but very profound, Velazquez recalled. Would you like a hug? Rise in HIV cases in the South A number of factors are driving the HIV epidemic in the South, according to the CDC. These include poverty and unemployment which are associated with poorer health outcomes lack of access to health insurance, lack of public transportation and stigma. And the impact of the epidemic is uneven; people of color are most affected. In North Carolina, Black adults and adolescents made up 56.7% of those newly diagnosed with HIV in 2022 even though just 22.2% of the states population is Black. Theres no singular reason for the disproportionate geographical impact of HIV in the South. So, for organizations like WNCAP working to end the epidemic on the ground, theres no singular solution. The effort spans across sectors: advancements in medicine, public education, funding, policy and tackling HIV stigma are interconnected, and equally critical to connecting life-saving care to the people that need it most. This work is not simple. It takes staff members driving thousands of miles down remote mountain roads to bring clients to their doctors. It takes distributing thousands of tests, and thousands more clean syringes to keep the community safe. It takes grueling emotional work challenging the deep-rooted fear and shame of HIV still entrenched in some communities. And it takes facing heart-wrenching loss. Not everyone survives. Its not because HIV is deadly anymore, said John Chaffin, WNCAPs community navigation coordinator. It is if its not treated. Its not treated because we face a population of individuals who are underserved. Adolfo Jimenez, Jody Cross and John Chaffin represented the Western North Carolina AIDS Project at the Black Family Wellness Expo in March. The Western North Carolina AIDS Project, based in Asheville, has developed HIV aid programs in four categories: case management, prevention education, harm reduction and pharmacy services. Serving the state The Western North Carolina AIDS Project is housed in a small beige building, tucked in a street corner of Asheville. From there, the headquarters offers a robust array of services to 18 largely rural counties across western North Carolina. The nonprofit was founded by a group of volunteers in 1986, during a decade that saw more than 100,000 AIDS-related deaths across the nation. Since its founding, the organization has developed HIV aid programs in four categories: case management, prevention education, harm reduction and pharmacy services. One of the WNCAPs friendliest faces belongs to Chaffin. He knows firsthand that seeking help after a diagnosis might be one of the most frightening moments of a persons life. Chaffin never pictured a career in public health. But his career path and his life changed the moment he was diagnosed with HIV. Years before his diagnosis, Chaffin worked in HIV education with the Peace Corps in Zambia. But the diagnosis still came as a shock and loaded with personal shame. Youd think for someone whos at least slightly educated in HIV, Chaffin said, that I would have dismantled all that stigma. Fortunately, Chaffin said, he had a connection at WNCAP. In 2019, he joined the team as a harm reduction specialist. Now, he oversees the nonprofits client case management services. The program provides many essential resources for HIV care. That includes housing advocacy, legal assistance, substance abuse services, behavioral health services, hospice care, food delivery, connections to medical providers and more. Making it personal In 2022, WNCAPs case management team provided personalized services to 340 individuals. Many of these clients are poor or are unhoused. Many are gender or sexual minorities. And the disproportionate racial impact of HIV that is reported in the states overall population is reflected in WNCAPs client population, too. We serve an underserved population of individuals, and a lot of the folks we serve are people of color, even though Appalachia is really white, Chaffin said. We know that HIV impacts people in poverty, impacts people of color a lot more heavily than it does other groups of people. Along with addressing physical health, WNCAP focuses heavily on each patients emotional wellness. Many clients struggle with feelings of shame about their diagnosis. This is especially common for those raised in rural areas lacking adequate HIV education, with families and communities hostile towards their identity and diagnosis. Fear of negative backlash often discourages people from seeking help, Chaffin said. And delaying care can have serious consequences; the CDC states that starting antiretroviral treatment as early as possible is crucial to long-term health. Chaffin manages a major part of WNCAPs effort to combat the impact of stigma. He connects the nonprofits high need clients, who might be fearful, lonely or intimidated by the healthcare system, to one of WNCAPs peer navigators. These peer navigators are responsible for developing personal relationships with their assigned clients. Checking in with phone calls or texts, and helping clients understand their medical needs are just some of the navigators daily tasks. For especially nervous clients, navigators will even join them at their medical appointments, offering a comforting hand to hold. At every step of the way, peer navigators personally understand exactly what their clients are going through they are all living with HIV, too. A big problem that we have, not just for people living with HIV, but in the United States in general, is not having health literacy, Chaffin said. Having someone there they know living with HIV, who theyve now built a relationship with theyre more likely to go into care and to stay in care. The case management team works to overcome another barrier for people living with HIV in the South: transportation. WNCAP covers an isolated region shaped by the thickly forested Appalachian Mountain range. Many clients dont own cars, and public transportation is scarce. If youre poor, and you dont have a car in this country, youre up the creek without a paddle, Chaffin said. Hes driven his Nissan Kicks up steep mountains and even through rivers to reach clients some of whom, he said, live in trailers and even tents in the remote woods. Getting clients to their appointments is a major responsibility for 78-year-old navigator Jody Cross. When shes not at WNCAPs office, she spends her days behind the wheel of her 2004 Chevy Blazer, driving through western North Carolina. And when shes not in her car, Cross is calling her clients to check in and chat. And theres a couple of them, if I dont call them, they call me, she said. Many days, Cross clients are emotional, confused or afraid all feelings Cross knows well from her own experience with HIV. A health department worker was the first to inform Cross about her own status. It was 2013 Cross knew little about HIV, and she was overwhelmed by shock. But she clearly remembers her treatment by the health departments representative. She was very condescending, she recalled. And it was almost like an accusation. Later that day, a neighbor found Cross sitting alone in her car, stuck in a daze. When Cross told him what had happened, he directed her to WNCAP. Without her friends guidance that day, Cross said, I cant imagine what might have happened to me. Raymond Velazquez visits Cleveland County with free HIV/HCV testing, Naloxone, and safer sex supplies. The Western North Carolina AIDS Project, based in Asheville, offers a services to 18 largely rural counties across western North Carolina. Prevention as a solution WNCAPs work doesnt stop at individual treatment the organization aims to reduce the spread of HIV throughout the region, overall. The nonprofits harm reduction program operates a free and confidential syringe service program, which replaces un-sterile syringes with sterile ones to decrease the transmission of blood-borne infections like HIV. It is one of the largest in the state, reaching thousands of North Carolinians, as well as people from neighboring South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. In 2020, Velazquez joined the organization as a harm reduction community navigator, providing one-on-one services for clients who use drugs. Today, he serves as WNCAPs director of prevention. The CDC reported that in 2021, one in eight of the 1.2 million people living with HIV in the U.S. did not know their status. Velazquezs prevention team combats this by providing free rapid testing for HIV, Hepatitis C and syphilis. In 2022, WNCAP distributed more than 1,000 of those tests. Education is another critical part of prevention. The team provides the community with safer sex education programming and distributes safer sex supplies like condoms. Velazquezs work also includes representing the nonprofit at local colleges, where he speaks with students pursuing healthcare careers. We bring this material to folks before they go into these settings, so they know how to humanize a person, he said. Not putting their disease or substance use before the person, it makes a difference. Progress and setbacks In the decades since 1981, when the first cases of HIV were reported in the U.S., major developments in prevention and treatment now offer people who are living with HIV hope for a long and healthy life. Prescription antiretroviral medication helps people living with HIV reach viral suppression, or undetectable status. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that in 2022, nine out of 10 individuals receiving medical care were virally suppressed, meaning they can live longer lives without fear of transmitting HIV. The Food and Drug Administration has also approved three different kinds of PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), medicine taken to prevent getting HIV. People who take PrEP reduce their risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99%. But where advancements in medicine have been considerable, progress in policy and funding has often lagged behind. In North Carolina, change has been slow, but significant. For decades, the states 1988 HIV control law made it illegal for people living with HIV to have sex without a condom, and required that they disclose their status with all their sexual partners. If those measures were violated, people living with HIV would be found guilty of a misdemeanor. After years of lobbying by HIV advocates, the policy was modernized in 2018. Now, if people living with HIV have been virally suppressed for six months or longer, they are not required to disclose their status to sexual partners or use a condom. In 2021, the ratification of House Bill 96, a law that allows pharmacists to administer post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) without a prescription, was another step forward. The medicine can prevent HIV after a possible exposure if taken within three days. Most recently, in December 2023, North Carolina became one of the last states to support expansion of Medicaid. As part of the expansion, North Carolina Medicaid also removed copayment requirements for HIV antiretroviral medications. The staff at the Western North Carolina AIDS Project is on the front lines lobbying for these changes and discovering lingering gaps in HIV education. In 2016, Cross met with a congressman on her third lobbying trip to D.C. Cross recalls the moment she told the representative that she was living with HIV. He was astounded. Until that moment, with Cross sitting in front of him, he said he had no idea that it was possible for women to contract HIV. He was just sitting there dumbfounded, she remembered. He just sort of fell back in his chair. Because he thought it was only for men and gay men at that! I felt like slapping him! Despite progress, North Carolina still has a way to go for making access to care entirely equal. Some policies have the potential to affect organizations like WNCAP directly. In 2021, Senate Bill 607 (the Substance Use Disorder Safety Act) was filed in the state Senate. If passed, the bill would have placed heavy restrictions on syringe exchange programs. It was having to do with where theyre located, proximity to schools, Velazquez said. It couldnt be mobile, it had to be fixed. For WNCAP, which is located less than a mile from an elementary school, and operates a mobile syringe service unit, that would shut down the majority of our services in harm reduction, Velazquez said. Recent GOP attacks on funding for HIV prevention programs also have WNCAP alarmed. Last year, in the neighboring state of Tennessee, the health department and Republican Gov. Bill Lee announced that the state would reject $8.8 million in federal grant money slated for HIV prevention-related services. The CDC, which was responsible for dispersing those federal grants to Tennessees health department, sidestepped the rejection. It sent $4 million less than half than the original grant total to a single Nashville nonprofit, which then dispersed the funding to other HIV organizations. If a similar decision happened in North Carolina, Velazquez and Chaffin fear the potential fallout at WNCAP. According to the nonprofits most recent annual report, government grants made up 20% of WNCAPs $6.1 million income. Were not a large organization. We have to rely on funding, applying to grants and things of that nature to receive the funding to do these services that really should be done by the state, or local health departments, Velazquez said. Healing from within The Western North Carolina AIDS Project is working hard to dismantle the stigma deeply embedded in its clients and community. And in the process, for many of the staff, the work has done the same for them. This is a family, Cross said. There is no separation. Reflecting on his career with WNCAP, Velazquez thinks back to his test years ago and the kindness, he said, that might have saved his life. Ive met people like me, who are queer and living with HIV, he said. I found family. Found community. Found love. Found work. And something Im passionate about. I never thought in a million years it could have started with that hug, he said. WNCAP cannot prevent every loss of life. And the grief is hard to shake. In this work when youre dealing with overdose deaths, or people that are not receiving care, you hear more bad or sad stories than you hear good ones, Velazquez said, barely holding back tears. Still, the positive impact is undeniable. When clients share the stories of how WNCAP has changed their lives whether they received an HIV test, sterile syringes or just a kind phone call Velazquez hangs onto every word. When you get that diamond, you grab it, he said. And thats what keeps me going. UNC Media Hub is a collection of students from the various concentrations in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media working together to create integrated multimedia packages covering stories from around North Carolina and beyond. (KRON) A Brentwood man was indicted by a federal grand jury after police found large collections of child pornography and guns in his possession, the Brentwood Police Department said Monday. The man was also busted for engaging in an online conversation with a BPD officer posing as a 13-year-old girl. In May 2023, the undercover officer chatted online with the suspect, 43-year-old Michael Patterson, and arranged a meetup to engage in sexual conduct. Patterson was arrested when he showed up at the meet-up spot. IMAGES: Man arrested for DUI after gnarly Petaluma crash Inside the suspects car, police found his phone and a loaded gun, BPD said. Police later discovered that Patterson possessed more than 600 videos and 1,200 images showing child sexual abuse materials on his electronic devices, BPD said. He also had dozens of guns, ammunition, gun manufacturing machines and more weaponry. Three of the guns were short-barreled rifles, and one was a fully automatic unregistered machine gun, per police. A federal judge indicted Patterson for receipt of child pornography and possession of an unregistered short-barreled rifle. He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted, the United States District Attorneys Office said. 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 KRON4. Welcome to a tasty mailbag! In this week's edition, I hit two of my favorite topics: downtown Indianapolis and fast-food chains. If you want to submit a question for a future mailbag, email james.briggs@indystar.com or use the Google form at the bottom of the online article page. Which fast-food chain do we need downtown, and why is it Popeyes? I'm not going to pooh-pooh the Popeyes suggestion, but it's not the fast-food joint we need downtown. That would be Dunkin'. To be clear, I'm not a huge Dunkin' fan. I prefer several local doughnut shops. Among the chains, I would take Krispy Kreme over Dunkin' any day. But, if you consider what downtown is lacking and which new option would stand the best chance of success, Dunkin' is the populist choice. There are several fast-food joints serving chicken sandwiches. There are not nearly enough places to find custard doughnuts or 460-calorie blueberry muffins. I'm not going to eat those every day. But I'm going to eat them sometimes. Plus, there's always room for more coffee downtown. I landed on Dunkin' based on three criteria: a chain that doesn't have another location within plausible walking distance from Monument Circle; a menu that is most likely to appeal to the average resident or worker; and a business that has proven durable in other downtowns. Dunkin' recently opened on Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit. Could downtown Indianapolis be next? Dunkin' is a lock. If you've traveled to many other cities, you've almost certainly seen a downtown Dunkin' somewhere else possibly with a line out the door. It appeals to city dwellers and commuters alike, serving up trusty, albeit regrettable, desserts-as-breakfasts that people can take on the go. Meanwhile, the nearest Dunkin' is on the east side, about four miles from Monument Circle. Downtown is a Dunkin' desert. Yes, it's true that Dunkin' already existed downtown and closed in 2017. But that out-of-the-way Gainbridge Fieldhouse space was not ideal to most people who'd want to visit. There are plenty of better locations, especially considering Dunkin' doesn't need much space. It is geared toward people in transit and operates within small real estate footprints. That's ideal for downtowns. Dunkin' is one of the most successful chains in America and it is perfectly aligned with Indianapolis' convention and tourism vibe. Mark my words: We will get another Dunkin'. If I'm choosing based on what I want without regard to viability, I'd bring back Penn Station or (even more niche) Pita Pit, both of which closed years ago on Washington Street. I'm not saying Popeyes is a terrible idea. It's just that Dunkin' is a (sigh) slam dunk. Indiana's best: Does this Indiana bakery chain have the best donuts in America? Voters said 'Yes'. John Davis: Will we ever see an actual party split again? I mean to the level of Whigs, AIP, etc. What would it realistically take for a schism in today's world? I'd put this in the category of possible desirable, even yet unlikely. Matthew Yglesias a few years ago laid out a pitch for how congressional moderates could leverage the power they wield in tightly divided chambers to form their own party. He suggested at the time that Sens. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, could join together and start a centrist party. Yglesias' theory was that if a few high-profile moderates took the plunge, they'd likely recruit many more members spanning crucial geographic swaths of the country, which would make it unlikely that the big two parties could quash them. Yglesias describes the opportunity as real, yet unappealing to the people best positioned to pull it off. "The opportunity for a cross-party group of moderates to seize control of the Senate has arisen repeatedly over the past 20 years and it never happens," he writes. "Moderate members just dont seem to think along these lines. The habits of partisanship are deeply ingrained, there doesnt appear to be much trust among members of Congress that would let them hatch schemes amongst themselves, and a lot of Americans are firmly convinced (against the international evidence) that multi-party politics is impossible with our electoral institutions." The most extreme members of Congress often love flexing their power to break systems. It'd be great if moderates felt similarly moved to use their power sometimes. I wish we would get rid of the straight-party option in the ballot box. Make people at least read the names of who they are voting for. Any chance that will ever go away? There's a very strong chance. Eliminating straight-party voting is such a mainstream idea that almost every state has already done it. Niki Kelly wrote a good column on this in 2022 for the Indiana Capital Chronicle, noting Indiana is among only six states that still give voters the chance to enter the booth, pick a party and call it a day. Two others, notably, are Michigan and Kentucky. You know how Indiana doesn't like to get out in front of its neighbors. The Indiana General Assembly can end the straight-ticket option any time it wants. Republicans (in Marion County) and Democrats (statewide) both have reasons for hating the practice. So far, though, the legislature hasn't been motivated to do anything about it. Chuck White: I am baffled by the press continuing to ask politicians if they will accept the results of an election. Doesn't this somehow validate their right to challenge an election even if it is only because they lost? Why is the press continuing to feed the idea that politicians can challenge the results? In defense of "the press," such as it is, I'd say there is value in putting supposedly responsible and upstanding government leaders like Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, on the record making it clear they feel more allegiance to Donald Trump than the U.S. Constitution. On a personal and more contrarian level, though, I don't like to ask interview questions with predictable answers, especially when a hundred other reporters are likely to ask the same question. Ambitious Republicans consider it more advantageous to stroke Trump's ego than to behave responsibly within the norms of American history. That would be clear even with fewer reporters asking questions about who's willing to accept the 2024 election results. Thank you for reading! Send your questions about restaurant chains, politics or anything else to james.briggs@indystar.com and they might show up in a future mailbag. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Does downtown Indianapolis have a Dunkin'? It should. Geoffrey Kitchen was a well-known member of the local community in Thornbury, Glos A retired British grandfather was killed and 60 others were injured after a flight from Heathrow to Singapore was hit by severe turbulence. Geoffrey Ralph Kitchen, 73, died after the aircraft suffered a dramatic drop, with those not wearing seat belts launched immediately into the ceiling. The Singapore Airlines flight was forced to perform an emergency landing at Bangkoks Suvarnabhumi Airport, where Thai authorities described encountering a chaotic scene. Kittipong Kittikachorn, the general manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport, said Mr Kitchen, who has two grown up children and two grandchildren, suffered a suspected heart attack. He was travelling with his wife of more than 50 years, Linda, who has been transferred to hospital for treatment. Severe turbulence that hit a London to Singapore flight left one man dead and many injured, with Bangkok emergency services tending to those affected - VIralPress Mr Kitchen was the trustee and the secretary of a musical theatre group in the market town of Thornbury in Glos. The couple lived at the semi-detached home they had purchased in 2009 and he was a well-known member of the local community. He had lived in the town for more than 30 years and last May stood in the Thornbury Town Council elections as an independent candidate for the North East Ward. During his campaign he described how his local town was a good place to bring up a family and it clearly still has that draw for new families and pledged to support the arts, the environment and young people. Mr Kittikachorn reported seven critical injuries, 23 immediate injuries, and a further 30 minor injuries. Images posted on social media showed damage to the cabins ceiling, and food, cutlery and other debris strewn across the floor. Andrew Davies, from Lewisham, said fellow passengers received very little warning to put on their seat belts. He described seeing many injured, some with head lacerations and bleeding ears. A lady was screaming in pain with a bad back, he said. Singapore Airlines said the Boeing 777-300ER took off from Londons Heathrow airport and encountered severe turbulence en route. We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board, a spokesman said, offering the airlines deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. There were 211 passengers and 18 crew on board Flight SQ321, which took off from Heathrow at 10.17pm on Monday. The Boeing jet diverted to Bangkok around 90 minutes prior to its intended arrival in Singapore, making an emergency landing in the Thai capital at around 4pm local time. Mr Kittikachorn said: We followed the protocol and went in and found lots of injuries and a fatality. Airport officials enacted an emergency action plan and evacuated the passengers right away, he said. The airports medical team rushed to the tarmac and tended to the injured, with waiting ambulances transferring them to a local hospital for further treatment. Passengers were in shock after a flight from London to Singapore was hit by severe turbulence Airport staff brace for the flight's arrival - ViralPress/ViralPress Around 100 passengers were preparing to board a new flight out of Bangkok on Tuesday. Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student on board the flight, described how the plane suddenly began tilting up and shaking. I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling, he said. Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it, they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it, he said. Mr Davies, a freelance project manager, said: Anyone who is injured was not wearing a seatbelt. People who kept them on (including me) are not (as far as I could tell). My heart goes out to the gentleman who lost his life and his poor wife. Awful experience, he said. He described how passengers with medical training tried to help as much as they could, including administering CPR to Mr Kitchen. Emergency responders give aid to passengers - UNPIXS/UNPIXS The aircraft encountered extreme turbulence over the Irrawaddy Basin about 10 hours after its departure from London. Flight tracking data showed the plane falling around 5,000ft from a cruising altitude of 37,000ft within minutes. Current aviation weather reports indicate thunderstorms reaching up to 51,000ft are spread across western Thailand and well down into the Gulf of Thailand, a distance of around 475 miles. Last week, a British Airways flight was forced to return to Singapore after encountering heavy turbulence. One crew member reportedly needed surgery to her ankle after she was injured during the flight. On June 28 last year, two British Airways cabin crew suffered broken legs when a flight from Singapore to Heathrow was affected by severe turbulence over the Bay of Bengal. 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. Armed plotters made their way inside the Palace of the Nation in Kinshasa during the attempted coup - REUTERS A British man accused of being a ringleader in a thwarted Congolese coup says he was duped by an eccentric former US car dealer who was leading the putsch. Congos military says a British national who acted as number two in the plot against President Felix Tshisekedi is among 50 suspects held, including three Americans. A video clip shared by the authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) shows a man identified as Ezangi Viatochir Youssouf who says he is from England. The Telegraph was unable to independently verify his identity, or whether he was speaking under duress. In the clip the man says that he followed Christian Malanga, an exiled opposition figure killed leading the brazen coup attempt in the early hours of Sunday. Mr Youssoff, described as the plots coordinator and recruiter, said he had followed Mr Malanga because he had been told the plot had American support. He said: Coming from England, where I had followed his movement, he assured us that if we succeeded, he would henceforth be called president of the republic. We were only following his ideology when he told us that he is going to seize power, because he has Americans behind him. There were no Americans. Mr Malanga had planned to rename the country New Zaire, he said. The DRC military has described the detained UK plotter as a naturalised British subject, the number two of the group. The Foreign Office confirmed it was investigating reports a British national was being held. DRC does not recognise dual nationals, meaning consular officials may be denied access to him. As more details of Sundays failed coup emerged, the alleged plotters increasingly appeared to be an amateurish and ragtag bunch. Short-lived uprising The short-lived uprising began when conspirators attacked the house of Vital Kamerhe, the former chief of staff and close ally of President Tshisekedi, sparking a brief gunfight. Mr Malanga was meanwhile live-streaming video from the presidential palace in which he was seen surrounded by several people in military uniforms wandering around in the middle of the night. He was later killed while resisting arrest. A total of six people were killed, including at least two police guards. Mr Malanga described himself on his website as a refugee who thrived after settling in Utah in the US with his family in the 1990s. He later described himself as the organiser of the United Congolese Party, aimed at organising emigres against the current Congolese dictatorship government regime and described himself as president of the New Zaire government-in-exile. He dabbled in gold mining and used cars before persuading his Utah-born son to join in the foiled coup, according to officials description of events. His 21-year-old son, Marcel, is now among those being held in DRC. In a Facebook post, Marcels mother, Brittney Sawyer, wrote that her son had followed his father. Congolese security forces secure the streets of Kinshasa - SAMY NTUMBA SHAMBUYI/AP She wrote: This was an innocent boy following his father. Im so tired of all the videos being posted all over and being sent to me. God will take care of you people! Court records showed Mr Malanga had faced a string of charges in America. In 2001, the year he turned 18, he was convicted in Utah in incidents including assault with a firearm that resulted in a 30-day jail sentence and three years of probation. The same year, he was charged with domestic violence assault in one incident and battery and disturbing the peace in another. He pleaded not guilty and all counts in both cases were dismissed. Later, in 2004, he was charged with domestic violence with threat of using a dangerous weapon, but the charges were again dismissed. Since 2004, records show several cases related to a custody dispute and a child support dispute. Congolese media showed the passport of another American alleged to have taken part in the coup, called Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun. The graduate from the University of Colorado later started a commodity trading business and worked as a courier and Uber driver. In 2015, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to ship 20kg of marijuana to customers across the United States. Details of the outlandish plot have been met with scepticism in the DRC. Dino Mahtani, an independent researcher into African issues, told Reuters that Mr Malanga may have been set up or betrayed in the weekend attack. He said: Somebody put him up to this. It could be external plotters, but given his previous close relationship with at least one of Tshiskedis current military commanders, theres some chance the plot was known about internally and this allowed them to move quickly. 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. British Markus Smith trekked the trip on foot from Budapest to Uzhhorod in order to enlist in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The story of the foreigner was revealed for the public in the Transcarpathian Regional Territorial Centre for Recruitment and Social Support (enlistment office ed.). Marcus travelled over 300 kilometres in 8 days, 6 hours, 36 minutes and 14 seconds. "For the past few years, the war in your country has been covered on television around the world. I believe that you deserve great respect and honour, because you are fighting for the peaceful life of your country. I came here to try to help you in this war," said the man from Manchester. According to Smith, Vladimir Putin may want to seize even more territories. "He will want more and more and that could lead to a Third World War in which he would be like Hitler. Putin will continue to go from country to country, saying: I want this and this! And these are my rules! Therefore, I am here: to fight for Ukrainians and, I hope, to prevent a world war," he added. Marcus also stated that the UK only survived and maintained its freedom thanks to the assistance of other countries during World War II. Thus, he wishes to do everything he can to stop the aggressor. Support UP or become our patron! Rudy Giulianis new coffee business must be grinding hard to hock its beans as the dirt-broke former mayor fills his cup with another debt: a $10,000 bond issued Tuesday by an Arizona state court after Giuliani unsuccessfully evaded a subpoena at his own birthday bash. During arraignment, Giuliani pleaded not guilty to nine counts of conspiracy, forgery, and fraud. Prosecutors sought to ensure his return to court by issuing the bond, which will be returned to him if he makes his court date, due to his prior efforts to avoid being served. On Friday night, hours before he was served, Giuliani posted a photo of himself at his birthday party mocking the Arizona attorney general. After he was served, he deleted the post. He has shown no intent to comply with the legal process in Arizona, prosecutor Nicholas Klingerman said of Giuliani when petitioning the court for bond. Giuliani has 30 days to appear in Arizona to be booked. The Arizona fake elector indictment is just the latest in a long series of predictable events for Giuliani, whos been largely left out in the cold by the man he sweat his hair off trying to support. Appearing remotely, Giuliani stated he didnt have a lawyer. When asked by the court if he wanted a public defender, he said, No, no, I think I am capable of handling it myself. At the time of his arraignment, an ad featuring the future convict touting his Rudy Coffee brand began getting double-roasted online. 100 % Arabica coffee beans roasted right here in America You will taste the difference! Order today at. https://t.co/9ZXtDxyWdg pic.twitter.com/ViXVvdn2A3 Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) May 19, 2024 Im obsessed with how he says chocoley, wrote one Twitter user. If rock bottom was a person, cracked another. This ad is giving Drag Race branding challenge where the queen ends up in the bottom, takes off her wig during the lip sync (only to reveal her wig cap), then goes home, wrote New York City Councilman Chi Osse. Giuliani is charged alongside 17 others for a harebrained fake elector scheme theyre alleged to have crafted in an effort to overturn the 2020 election results. The 18 defendants are all charged with nine counts of felony conspiracy, forgery, and fraud by the state of Arizona, where prosecutors allege the dozen and a half wise guys and gals submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring Trump won Arizona in the 2020 presidential election. According to AP, 11 people were arraigned alongside Giuliani on Tuesday, including Tyler Bowyer, an executive for white nationalistfueled group Turning Point USA, Arizona state Senator Anthony Kern, and miscellaneous leaders and chairs of Arizona state and local Republican organizations. Of the 18 indicted, seven are former Trump aides, including former chief of staff Mark Meadows, Trump attorney John Eastman, whos alleged to have cooked up the plan, and Jenna Ellis, another Trump attorney who tried persuading Arizona lawmakers to change the 2020 election results. Nebraska voters in the state's 2nd Congressional District will face a rematch between Democratic State Sen. Tony Vargas, left, and U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb. (Courtesy of the candidates; Capitol photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) OMAHA Nebraskas most competitive congressional race is set. Its the expected rematch of Democratic State Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha and Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon of Papillion. But unlike the first time Bacon and Vargas faced one another, the incumbent who built his reputation on catering to centrist voters is coming off a primary election that forced him to bank to the right. Bacon beat two-time GOP House candidate Dan Frei by 24 percentage points. But Frei made enough noise as a populist candidate with tea party roots to make Bacon work. Last weeks 2nd District race was the first meaningful primary campaign for Bacon since his first contest in May 2016, when he beat former State Sen. Chip Maxwell of Omaha 66%-34%. Bacon and his campaign this time around focused much of their advertising and social media messaging on the general election, but they were forced in spots to emphasize Bacons conservative stances, including on abortion. Freis campaign used guerrilla tactics to organize and energize GOP partisans unhappy with the status quo, including people demanding loyalty to former President Donald Trump. Frei criticized Bacon for waiting so long to endorse Trump. Bacon held off until after it was clear no other GOP candidate could win. Bacon endorsed Trump in 2016 and 2020. Much of the Frei campaign was waged on social media and through 25,000 door-to-door contacts, while Bacons campaign emphasized banking early voting ballots, calls, texts and knocking on 40,000 doors. Frei campaign tried energizing base For Frei, online organizing helped him grab some headlines as leadership teams were flipped in the Douglas, Sarpy and Saunders County GOPs, leading to the three county parties endorsements of Frei. Frei sought but did not receive Trumps endorsement or the backing of the House Freedom Caucus, a right-wing group that ousted former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, an ally of Bacons. Most political observers who spoke to the Examiner in recent days said low turnout in the primary about 24% in the 2nd District likely helped Frei, although Freis campaign disagreed. We were disappointed with the low turnout because we believed in our messaging, said Patrick Peterson, a campaign consultant for Frei. Several political observers argued that Bacons margin of victory showed that conservative populists arent reflective of the broader GOP primary electorate, although they are extremely active online and make up a sizable portion of the partys base. Others said Freis ability to motivate them could signal potential trouble generating enthusiasm from that group for Bacon. Dems spent to soften Bacon National Democratic-aligned groups have spent nearly $2 million on digital, TV and radio since early 2023 to criticize Bacon and drive up his negatives for the general election. Some laid groundwork for issues in November, criticizing Bacons support for income tax cuts for top earners and his willingness to discuss potential ways to shore up Social Security, including some changes ads have criticized as cuts. Most spots were paid for by Nebraska for Us and Unrig Our Economy, groups tied to the Hub Project. Others came from 314 Action, which backs Democrats focused on science and technology. Democratic donors were already watching the 2nd District race because the slightly right-leaning Omaha-based district is one of only a handful of swing districts nationally. Some perked up when they saw the new, more populist-led Nebraska Republican Party endorse Frei and send volunteers to Douglas, Sarpy and Saunders Counties to walk door-to-door. But that backing couldnt overcome incumbency, name recognition or campaign cash. Frei raised only $126,000 to Bacons $3.5 million, federal fundraising reports from late April show. GOP still backs Bacon Bacons campaign said it was clear voters knew who Bacon was and did not want a different candidate. Bacon criticized Freis campaign for misleading people about his votes. Bacon, a retired Air Force brigadier general, drew heat from some Republicans for backing military aid to Ukraine and for helping pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill. If you look around the country at Republican incumbents in swing House districts, we did better than most, said Matthew Zacher, Bacons campaign manager. Bacon got $673,000 in outside help from Big Red Leadership PAC, a group funded by U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., according to OpenSecrets.org, which tracks outside spending. Much of that money was spent on biographical TV and radio ads reminding voters about Bacon. Ricketts, the state GOPs top donor for years, also walloped a GOP-endorsed opponent in the primary. Paul Landow, a retired University of Nebraska at Omaha political scientist who has worked in Democratic campaigns, said he expects most Frei Republicans to find their way back to Bacon this fall. But Bacon beat Vargas by only about three percentage points in 2022, and since this is a presidential year, that will bring out more voters on all sides, Landow said, so marginal changes could matter. Some Frei supporters have suggested the possibility of mounting or supporting a third-party candidate to siphon support from Bacon. No one has yet filed paperwork to do so. Endorsement questions Frei has not endorsed Bacon. He waited until Friday to concede the race, and on Saturday he spoke against the state GOP making a blanket endorsement of the congressional delegation, which includes Bacon. The state GOP postponed a vote on whether to endorse the incumbent congressional delegates. Vargas faced no primary. His campaign team has spent the past several months raising money and criticizing Bacon, saying he talks centrist and votes conservative. At last check, Vargas had raised $2.4 million and had $1.6 million in campaign cash on hand. Bacons most recent report listed $1.7 million in cash on hand. Freis showed $41,268. Vargas, according to Open Secrets most recent database update, faced $10,000 in outside spending against him. His campaign said they did not see any primary ad spending against him. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Bruising Bacon-Frei GOP primary bleeds into Bacon-Vargas rematch this fall appeared first on Nebraska Examiner. BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) A Buffalo man has been arrested for an alleged burglary that occurred on May 18, two months after being arrested for four other burglaries, according to the Buffalo Police Department. 2 charged in Buffalo burglary, 1 of them charged for additional burglaries Police said shortly after 3 a.m. this past Saturday, 27-year-old Walter Dixon was allegedly found at a business on Clinton Street. Officers found burglar tools including screwdrivers, a wrench, and a utility bag in his work bag. He had allegedly caused hundreds of dollars in damage and had stolen around $1,000 in cash. Dixon was arrested in March and faced 12 felony charges at the time for the other burglaries he was allegedly involved in. For this incident, he was charged with: third-degree burglary fourth-degree grand larceny fourth-degree criminal mischief possession of burglar tools Dixon was arraigned and released on $15,000 bail. Latest Local News Kayleigh Hunter-Gasperini joined the News 4 team in 2024 as a Digital Video Producer. She is a graduate of Chatham University. 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 News 4 Buffalo. If the Supreme Court rules that bump stocks arent machine guns later this summer, it could quickly open an unfettered marketplace of newer, more powerful rapid-fire devices. The Trump administration, in a rare break from gun rights groups, quickly banned bump stocks after the 2017 mass shooting at a Las Vegas concert that was the deadliest in U.S. history. In the ensuing years, gun rights groups challenged the underlying rationale that bump stocks are effectively machine guns culminating in a legal fight now before the Supreme Court. Justices appeared divided on the issue during oral arguments in February, and they are on the clock to hand down a ruling by June. How they ultimately define machine guns will have a sweeping impact not only on bump stocks but a whole class of similar rapid-fire devices effectively banned in the U.S. David Pucino, legal director at Giffords Law Center, said lower courts are currently treating bump stocks and similar devices like machine guns, which are banned. The use case for new rapid-fire devices lower courts are considering is that somebody wants to have a machine gun, and the law wont let them have one, Pucino said. If the Supreme Court does overturn the ban, he said, it would be very, very dangerous for public safety. Bump stocks, which gained national attention after the shooter in Las Vegas used the devices to kill 60 and injure hundreds more, are inaccurate, sporadic and difficult to control, jolting a gun back and forth. Gun enthusiasts have created new rapid-fire devices without the jolting drawbacks of bump fire. The logic of legalization for all of the devices is basically the same: Its not technically a machine gun. And if its not named, its not banned. Circuit courts have come to different conclusions on whether a bump stock is legally a machine gun, and the Trump-era ban remains in place pending the Supreme Courts ruling in Cargill v. Garland, which pits a gun dealer, Michael Cargill, against the Department of Justice. The conservative majority of the 5th Circuit called the language of machine gun bans egregiously ambiguous, while the more liberal D.C. Circuit said it was the plaintiffs definition that was unworkable, internally inconsistent, and counterintuitive. If the Supreme Court undoes the bump stock ban, it would be up to Congress to decide how or whether to regulate rapid-fire devices, which have proliferated through the gray market since 2017. Some members of Congress are already pressing for action in advance of the Supreme Court decision. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and 67 members of Congress wrote a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in March calling for preemptive legislation against bump stocks and other rapid-fire accessories. This is particularly imperative given the case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, which could disrupt the current legal landscape, the lawmakers said in the letter. The Closing the Bump Stock Loophole Act would limit gun industry loopholes, as it applies to all parts and modifications that similarly increase the rate of fire by eliminating the need for each single function of the trigger. Speaker Johnson declined to comment on the letter from Spanberger or the GOPs willingness to regulate rapid-fire devices. Only one Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) signed onto Spanbergers letter, highlighting how the politics have shifted since 2017. At that time, even the influential National Rifle Association (NRA) was calling on federal agencies to review whether bump stocks were legal. The NRA has done an about-face on that position. Writing to the Supreme Court, the organization called the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosivess (ATF) ban of bump stocks arbitrary and capricious and said Congress defined machine gun clearly, and bump stocks clearly do not fit that definition. 900 rounds a minute and 100 percent legal In 2022, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) wrote to ATF Director Steven Dettelbach after authorities found the shooter at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, attempted to use a hellfire trigger to accelerate his AR-15s rate of fire. The hellfire trigger is an inexpensive, invisible addition to popular firearms such as the AR-15. The device creates guns with substantially the same rate of fire as fully automatic [rifles], Castro wrote. Authorities found that the device malfunctioned at Uvalde. Castro worried the haunting day at Uvalde when 19 students and two teachers were shot and killed could have been even worse. The outcome in Uvalde was already devastating, and a device that effectively functions as a bump stock should be explicitly prohibited under ATFs regulations, Castro said. Firequest International, which manufactures the hellfire products, currently boasts that its device allows you to pull your guns trigger at up to 900 [rounds per minute], legally. Firequest claims its products arrive with an ATF certificate of legality and that you can fire single, double, bursts or empty [magazines] and it is 100 percent legal. The ATF declined to comment on the legality of Firequests products or its claims about ATF certificates. But Firequest is one seller in a larger gun enthusiast community probing for weaknesses in machine gun bans, and hellfire triggers are just one example of the vague line between whats legal and what isnt. At the center of this debate is the forced-reset trigger (FRT). Unlike a semiautomatic firearm, which requires users to release the trigger to fire again, an FRT pushes itself back into the starting position automatically, as users are still pressing the trigger down with their pulling finger. Manufacturers of FRTs argue their products are not machine guns because the trigger still functions once for every round fired. However, a shooter using an FRT fires much faster than even the fastest speed shooters could ever hope to. So fast, in fact, that enthusiasts have made comparison videos between a real M16 machine gun and a semi-automatic AR-15 with an FRT. Both chew through a 30-round magazine at the exact same rate and are nearly indistinguishable unless you look inside the gun. The government argues that the continuous action of the shooter holding down the trigger effectively converts a semi-automatic gun into a machine gun. In 2022, the ATF released an open letter advising federally licensed gun dealers that some FRT devices are illegal under the 1968 Gun Control Act. The ATF would not comment on what some may mean. The letter hasnt stopped manufacturers from innovating new designs that achieve forced reset, with names including the wide open trigger, the super safety, the Alamo-15 or simply the FRT-15. This has led to a game of regulatory whack-a-mole, with an ongoing cycle of sale, sanction and then confiscation from buyers, forcing manufacturers to attempt a new workaround that may fall outside the some distinction. ATF spokesperson Ruth Clemens told The Hill that ATF has significant concerns about the public safety risks posed by forced reset triggers and similar devices. While ATF and the Department are taking appropriate actions consistent with the pending litigation, we cannot further comment at this time, she added. Spirit vs. letter of the law When Congress signed machine gun bans into law in the 1930s, it banned any gun that fires more than one round with a single function of the trigger. The Supreme Court will decide what Congress meant by single function almost 100 years ago. Though the courts decision will be specific to bump stocks, it will also inform fights over rapid-fire triggers that have been bubbling up at lower courts. In October, a federal district court in Texas ruled the ATFs ban on FRTs is likely unlawful after the National Association of Gun Rights (NAGR) challenged it. NAGR represents the company that created the first FRT design, Rare Breed Triggers, which has since been sanctioned by the Department of Justice. The gun rights group applied the same logic now being used to defend bump stocks at the Supreme Court, winning an injunction against government bans. In that case, Judge Reed OConnor said, the definition of machinegun utilizes a grammatical construction that ties the definition to the movement of the trigger itself, and not the movement of a trigger finger. The statute does not say by a single pull of the trigger finger. Nor does it say by single function of the trigger finger, OConnor said. Gun control advocates argue that a debate over single function misses the point of bans on machine guns. The Justices are aware theres a sort of forced nature to the other sides argument, Shira Feldman, director of constitutional litigation at Brady United Against Gun Violence, told The Hill. Brady, a gun-control advocacy group, has also filed a brief in Cargill. Is it really reasonable that Congress would have written the law such that we have to read these statutes in a way that we wouldnt normally parse language? Feldman said. According to Feldman and fellow legal experts at Brady, the gun industry has been disingenuous in calling rapid-fire accessories legal and has sold them as get them before [theyre] banned products. Weve seen the gun industry do everything they can do to skirt federal regulation to increase the lethality of the weapons that they can sell to civilians, whether its a hellfire [trigger], a bump stock or a host of other accessories, said Christian Heyne, chief programs officer at Brady. The main reason you have these is to kill as many people in this short amount of time as you can. And to victims, it isnt important exactly how the trigger mechanism works, added Douglas Letter, Bradys chief legal officer. The point is that what Congress was trying to do [when it passed machine gun bans] was make these unbelievably dangerous weapons not a part of our civilian society, he said. Cargill, the plaintiff in the bump stock case, is a Texas gun store owner who sued the government after it confiscated his two bump stocks in 2018. He argues the ATF took up powers meant for Congress when it started to treat bump stocks like machine guns. In a phone interview with The Hill, Cargill also said the question before the Supreme Court simply comes down to the letter of the law. Its not justification enough to say that it could be used in a particular crime, even if it was used in the worst shooting in the United States, he said. Its not about the rate of fire this is about the action in the trigger. If I pull the trigger and one round comes out, thats semiautomatic. 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 The Hill. ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. A man is accused of breaking into a neighborhood market in Jennings earlier this month and stealing more than $20,000 in cash and merchandise. According to the St. Louis County Police Departments probable cause statement, the break-ins took place in the early morning hours of May 9 on Hamilton Avenue. Just after 3 a.m., police received a call from a resident reporting that a group of men were trying to break into her attached garage on Hamilton. Officers arrived and found no one in the callers garage. However, officers noticed that the rear door of the nearby Lillian Market at 5200 Hamilton had been left open. Officers discovered that the door and security gate had been pried open, and an ice machine inside the business had been damaged. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News Investigators reviewed surveillance footage and saw three men enter the market, one of whom was carrying a pistol. The men took cash from the register, as well as cigarettes, alcohol, and other items. Police said the total value of stolen cash and property was $20,280. The owner of the market estimated the damage to the gate, rear door, and ice machine to be $6,100. Days later, police arrested Rodney A. Caston (age not provided) for an unrelated theft at the Family Dollar store in Jennings. Police claim Caston was identified via surveillance footage from Lillian Market. The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorneys Office charged Caston with first-degree burglary, stealing $750 or more, and first-degree property damage. Caston is being held on a $50,000 bond. Hes due in court next week for a bond reduction hearing. 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 FOX 2. Related video: Homes saved, property destroyed in 318-acre Highlands County brush fire TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) A burn ban is in effect in Highlands County due to weather conditions in the area, the Highlands County Sheriffs Office said Tuesday. No burning of any kind is allowed without a Florida Forest Service Permit, the sheriffs office said. This includes: Burning of yard trash, vegetation, grass, lumber, trees, household paper products and debris Bonfires, campfires, and outdoor fireplaces Outdoor pyrotechnic displays Open cook fires Cooking on a contained gas or charcoal grill is allowed. The Highlands County Sheriffs Office said the burn ban applies to unincorporated Highlands County, including Lorida and Venus, the special districts of Sun n Lake Improvement District and Spring Lake Improvement District, and the municipalities of Avon Park, Lake Placid, and Sebring. The ban is in effect until June 20. The Highlands County Fire Chief could terminate the ban sooner if conditions improve. Violations of the ban carry a fine of up to $500 and/or up to 60 days in the county jail. 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 WFLA. Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) revived a bill this week to provide mental health resources for families that have been affected by police violence. The Helping Families Heal Act would establish grant programs within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to expand communities ability to fund a range of mental health programs to support victims, families and students impacted by police violence. The legislation, first proposed by Bush in September 2022, was reintroduced on what would have been the 28th birthday of Michael Brown, a Black teenager who was killed by St. Louis police when he was 18. His death became the catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement. Though the white officer who killed Brown resigned from the department, a grand jury declined to indict him. Police violence steals precious lives like Mike Brown and so many others, Bush said in a statement. The trauma and grief that it leaves in its wake contributes to mental health crises and disproportionately harms surviving family members, Black and brown communities, and young people. The legislation, Bush added, was drafted with input from Browns mother, Lezley McSpadden. Mike Brown should still be alive, and today, on his 28th birthday, we are honoring him by reintroducing this vitally needed legislation, said Bush, who spent more than 400 days protesting on the Ferguson Frontlines as a nurse and clergy member prior to her time in Congress. The legislation would hire, train and dispatch mental health professionals and community health workers to provide services to anyone who suffered traumatic experiences or are in grief as a result of witnessing or experiencing law enforcement personnel violence. This violence includes those who have been personally affected or those who have lost a friend, colleague or neighbor from such violence. The legislation would also invest in programs to identify and treat intergenerational trauma as a result of witnessing or experiencing police violence. Cosponsors of this legislation include Democratic Reps. Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.), Bonnie Watson Coleman (N.J.), Jesus Chuy Garcia (Ill.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.). The Helping Families Heal Act will provide more resources to address the devastating mental health consequences of police violence in our communities, Bush said. As we continue to work to end police brutality, mass incarceration, and cycles of trauma, we must also invest in the health, safety, and well-being of our communities. Together, we can help our families heal. 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 The Hill. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced a grilling from both pro-Gaza protesters and Senators during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tuesday. Ostensibly, the hearing was supposed to be about the Biden administrations budget request for the 2025 fiscal year. But even before the hearing began, the committee room on the fourth floor of the Dirksen building had numerous opponents of Israels war in Gaza wearing keffiyehs with their hands up chastizing him. One woman in a hijab wore a shirt emblazoned with the words Bloody Blinken. Blinken, you will be remembered as the butcher of Gaza! one protester said as Capitol police officers threw him out of the hearing. You will be remembered for murdering innocent Palestinians. Other protesters would later be thrown out in just the same manner. Blinken faced aggressive grilling by Democrats and Republicans alike for the administrations policies and actions toward Israel, specifically its support for Israel throughout the war in Gaza. At the same time, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin, who is retiring this year, echoed Blinken and the Biden administrations condemnation of the International Criminal Court. The ICC on Monday asked for the issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and numerous Hamas leaders including Yahya Sinwar. I see it as a step in the wrong direction, Cardin said, of the ICCs decision. There's always been an understanding the ICC is there to deal with countries that don't have an independent judiciary. Israel has an independent judiciary. Almost all major US leaders from both parties condemned the ICC prosecutors decision, which Blinken also decried at the hearing. The Secretary of State added that the decision would make it more difficult to reach an end to hostilities between Israel and Hamas. But the agreements seemed to end there. Democrats proceeded to criticize the Biden administration for its unwillingess to hold Israel accountable, while Republicans said that the Biden administration had failed to sufficiently support Israel. Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, asked Blinken about reports that the United States and Saudi Arabia were close to making a defense and security deal, but asked why the plans did not include Israel. There's an entrepreneurial opportunity for Israel to become integrated into the region to get the security, fundamental security, Blinken said. But in order for that, to actually go forward, there has to be an end to Gaza. There has to be a credible pathway to Palestinian state. Murphy followed up, accusing Blinken of making an empty promise. I really just express worry at the phrase credible pathway to a Palestinian state, Murphy said. This is maybe, perhaps the final opportunity to actually cement the Palestinian state, which many of us believe is necessary predicate to peace in the region. The hearing about money for the State Department comes shortly after Congress approved a $95 billion security supplemental package that also included $26.38 billion in military aid for Israel. Senator Jeff Merkeley of Oregon, a Democrat who supports a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, asked Blinken about the State Departments recent National Security Memorandum, known as an NSM-20, which said that Israel likely violated international law with weapons that the United States supplied. Blinken said that investigations were ongoing and Israel itself was also conducting investigations. It's very difficult to make final determinations in the midst of a war when we do not have access on the ground, he told Merkeley. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) (C) is one of only a handful of senators who supports a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (Getty Images) Similarly, Senator Chris Van Hollen said he was concerned about the restrictions placed on the delivery of aid to civilian Palestinians. This issue does not require additional investigation, we've seen this play out in real time, he said. He also mentioned how the Netanyahu government had proven to be an obstacle to a two-state solution and added that he believes settlers in the West Bank are just part of a movement largely empowered by this current government. Blinken responded by saying a Palestinian state was in Israels interest. You've got five million Palestinians between the West Bank and Gaza, and seven million Israeli Jews, he said. Neither is going anywhere. Some Republicans criticised the Biden administration for its pausing of a weapons shipment earlier this month to Israel in response to the countrys plans to attack Rafah. Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska asked Blinken about the fact that British Foreign Secretary David Cameron opposes conditioning aid to Israel. In response, Blinken said that the United States deployed significant assets to the region to make sure that we can deter any further aggression and noted how the United States helped deter Irans recent strike on Israel. But he added that Israel using the 2,000-pound bombs that were in the paused shipments could have terrible consequences for civilians in Rafah. Similarly, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina criticized what he perceived as the Biden administrations weakness, which he warned invited further threats. Minutes after he finished his questioning, Scott, who is seen as a potential running mate for former president Donald Trump, was on the Senate train, having not listened to further questioning. Meanwhile, ahead of his own questioning, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who is up for re-election this year, was seen checking his phone. At the Senate Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken had to contend with protesters upset over the Biden administrations support for Israel during its brutal war on Gaza. Screams of war criminal and butcher of Gaza broke out on the Senate floor before protesters were forcibly removed. Blinken was called to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a review of the State Departments budget for the 2025 fiscal year, and later the Senate appropriations subcommittee. While Blinken was speaking during the first hearing, protesters who had red paint on their hands stood up and called him bloody Blinken, shouting that the blood of 40,000 Palestinians is on his hands. Blinken, you will be remembered as the butcher of Gaza! one protester yelled as Capitol Police officers removed him from the hearing. You will be remembered for murdering innocent Palestinians. NOW: @SecBlinken continues to be disrupted during his testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "Blinken is a war criminal! He is a war criminal! The blood of 40,000 Palestinians is on his hands!" pic.twitter.com/bmx0CTfkrJ CODEPINK (@codepink) May 21, 2024 The antiwar organization Code Pink posted video of the interruption to X (formerly Twitter) and also posted video of one protester being picked up and carried outside of the room by police. In a brief moment of levity, Senator Lindsey Graham warned in the hearing that if the ICC followed through on pursuing warrants for Israeli officials, were next. His statement drew applause from protesters, who welcomed the news. You can clap all you want to, Graham said. They tried to come after our soldiers in Afghanistan but reason prevailed. What I hope to happen is that we level sanctions against the ICC for this outrage. Blinken, Graham, and many other Biden officials and politicians from both parties have been confronted by protesters calling for a cease-fire in the war in Gaza. On Tuesday, though, Blinken seemed relatively unfazed, saying the administration is willing to work with a profoundly wrong-headed decision regarding possible warrants for Israeli leaders issued by the International Criminal Court. Meanwhile, Israels war has killed over 35,000 people, including at least 15,000 children. Israel has clamped down on press coverage of the war, including briefly shutting down an Associated Press camera on Tuesday. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees has had to shut down food distribution in the city of Rafah, where many Gazans have been displaced, due to the security situation and a lack of supplies. The Biden administration, after briefly pausing one weapons shipment to Israel, continues to send weapons to Israel, instead of listening to protesters and taking steps to end the war by stopping the flow of arms altogether. Blake Evans and Brooke Ann share a smoke and a meal at Irie, upstairs from Pleasure Med cannabis dispensary in West Hollywood. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) A bill that would allow Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes in California passed the state Assembly Monday afternoon on a 49-4 vote and is headed to the Senate. But even if the Legislature's upper chamber approves AB 1775, legalization remains far from a sure thing. Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a prior iteration of the bill in October, citing the state's long-standing smoke-free workplace protections. The bill would authorize local jurisdictions to allow licensed cannabis retailers to prepare and sell non-cannabis food and nonalcoholic beverages. The bill would also allow the cafes to host live music and other performances. Under current state law, consumers can consume cannabis at a dispensary, but dispensaries can't legally sell non-cannabis products like coffee and food, as is legal in Amsterdam. Read more: Bill to allow Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes in California goes up in smoke with Newsom veto California's symbolic position at the apex of weed culture has long been rivaled by the Dutch capital, where cannabis cafes have been legal since the 1970s. Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), who introduced the legislation, has framed it as a matter of fairness. He argues that the cafes would level the playing field for the state's highly taxed and regulated legal weed industry, allowing legitimate businesses to compete with black-market sellers who don't operate under the same constraints. "This is a bill that supports our legal small businesses that just want to diversify their businesses and do the right thing," Haney said Monday on the Assembly floor. "The illicit illegal market is continuing to grow and thrive, while our legal cannabis market is struggling." Haney cited the governor's prior veto, saying he had been working to address Newsom's concerns through amendments to the bill. The new version would prohibit cannabis smoking or vaping in "back of house" of lounges, where food is being prepared or stored, creating separation between where people are consuming cannabis and other work areas. Rather than taking a blunt statewide approach, the bill would put the decision to allow cannabis cafes in the hands of local jurisdictions. Should a jurisdiction decide to greenlight the lounges, it would have to hash out its own permitting process and regulations. West Hollywood put a licensing system in place several years ago, and a handful of cannabis lounges operate within the city's 1.89 square miles. The West Hollywood businesses operate with workarounds that separate the food businesses, The Times has previously reported. No such licensing system exists in the city of Los Angeles. Read more: L.A.'s original weed cafe reopens with birthday bongs and pub grub galore The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Heart Assn. and the American Lung Assn. have all opposed the bill, raising concerns about the health effects of secondhand marijuana smoke. They argue that the bill would undo hard-fought workplace protections "by re-creating the harmful work environments of the past. Marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access has argued that patrons and employees would face no health risks because of the highly regulated nature of such establishments. A Newsom spokesperson declined to comment on pending legislation. Staff writer Nathan Solis contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. A bill that would allow Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes in California passed the state Assembly on Monday after a third reading with a 56-6 vote. The bill, formally known as Assembly Bill 1775, would give local jurisdictions the authority to allow cannabis clubs to make and sell non-cannabis food and nonalcoholic drinks. The bill states that food and drinks will be stored and displayed away from cannabis products. The proposed legislation would also enable cannabis cafes to host live musical or other performances and add states that California bill could ban the sale of anti-aging skincare products to children Under current state law, customers can consume cannabis at a dispensary, but dispensaries cant legally sell non-cannabis products like food and coffee, which is legal to do in Amsterdam. This isnt the first time a bill related to cannabis cafes has reached Sacramento. Last October, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a similar bill, citing the states long-standing smoke-free protection for workers. However, this time around, Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), who introduced the bill in January, says the legislation Is all about fairness. Haney argues that cafes would be on a level playing field for the highly taxed and regulated legal cannabis industry that is being forced to compete in California with a thriving cannabis black market. California bill could change how third-party airport security vendors operate at state airports Its really about fairness and supporting businesses that follow the rules, Haney said in a statement. If we keep allowing unnecessary regulations to strangle Californias legal cannabis businesses, were just encouraging illegal drug sales and all of the problems that come with that. AB 1775 is now headed to the state Senate. It would need a signature from Newsom to be officially law. 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 KTLA. Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert! FIRST UP Please take a minute to fill out our newsletter reader survey. Thank you so much! CADEMS, CAGOP OFFER ENDORSEMENTS, ANTI-ENDORSEMENTS FOR BALLOT MEASURES Both the California Republican Party and the California Democratic Party decided this weekend on endorsements for the issues set to go before voters this November. Perhaps feeling a bit of bipartisan spirit, both parties opted to endorse measures that would require high schoolers to take a financial literacy course and to provide permanent funding for Medi-Cal services. But thats about where the bipartisanship ended. The Democratic Party endorsed measures to allow municipalities to enact taxes to further the construction of affordable housing, raise the minimum wage to $18 an hour, and allow local governments to enact rent control policies. Republicans voted to oppose each of those measures. Democrats voted to support an amendment to remove anti-same-sex-marriage language from the California Constitution. Republicans were neutral on that measure, perhaps in a bid to avoid alienating the LGBTQ community and its allies. Republicans also endorsed a measure to repeal Proposition 47, the 2014 voter-approved initiative that re-classified a number of drug- and theft-related offenses from felonies to misdemeanors. Democrats opposed the effort to repeal. Want the full list of endorsements? You can find the CADEM endorsements here. You can find the CAGOP endorsements here. CALIFORNIA FISH ARE DYING. WHY? Via Ari Plachta... Just east of the San Francisco Bay, Californias giant water delivery system on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta has received scrutiny for a spike in native fish deaths. Coming at a time when threatened and endangered fish populations are facing steep declines, the numbers drew ire from environmentalists. Farmers arent happy either, as the delta pumps deliver less water despite a second year of drought-busting storms. In this rare year of average rainfall, renewed attention on the system illuminates one of many perennial tensions of California water: The more thats pumped out of the delta, the harder the hit to beleaguered salmon and steelhead. A Sacramento Bee analysis of data from the Department of Fish and Wildlife shows that since 2002, state and federal water pumping from the delta killed an estimated 600,000 chinook salmon and 50,000 steelhead trout. This year has been historically bad. During February and March, pumps killed an estimated 3,600 winter-run chinook, the highest number killed in any two-month period in 20 years. About 3,200 steelhead died in February and March, the highest number since 2007. State leaders acknowledge this is a problem. To read more about what theyre doing to solve it, look out for our story this Sunday, May 26. QUOTE OF THE DAY The ICC announcement today is not only misguided and repugnant, it is also a terrible overreach of the bodys authority. To make a false equivalence between the actions of a democratically-elected government and those of Hamas a brutal terrorist organization is absurd. - Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, responding in a statement regarding news that an International Criminal Court war crimes prosecutor will seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders for their actions during the Israel-Hamas war. Best of The Bee: California gas prices are dropping, expert says. What can you expect at the pump this summer? Fueling up can be painful in California, where the average price of a gallon of regular gas costs nearly $2 more than the national average. Fortunately, theres some hope for drivers, according to AAA. Gas prices are on the decline, AAA spokesman John Treanor told The Sacramento Bee via phone on Monday afternoon. According to a May 16 news release from the automobile association, gas prices have been slowly decreasing due to weak domestic demand and oil costs. Right now, prices are down about 10 cents from a week ago and down 30 cents from one month ago, Treanor said. Heres what current gas prices look like in California and what you can expect to pay this summer: How much is gas in California? As of Monday, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in California was about $5.20, according to AAA. During this time last year, the statewide average was approximately $4.80. Here are the average prices per gallon for regular gas around Californias metropolitan areas: Bakersfield: $5.23 per gallon Chico-Paradise: $5.13 El Centro: $5.09 Fresno: $5.16 Hanford-Corcoran: $5.19 Los Angeles-Long Beach: $5.17 Madera-Chowchila: $5.26 Merced: $5.24 Modesto: $5.10 Napa: $5.53 Oakland: $5.32 Orange County: $5.08 Redding: $5.04 Riverside: $5.08 Sacramento: $5.24 Salinas: $5.43 San Bernardino: $5.07 San Diego: $5.20 San Francisco: $5.39 San Jose: $5.27 San Luis Obispo-Atascadero-Paso Robles: $5.39 San Rafael: $5.37 Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Lompoc: $5.18 Santa Cruz-Watsonville: $5.41 Santa Rosa: $5.44 Stockton-Lodi: $5.10 Vallejo-Fairfield: $5.27 Ventura: $5.25 Visalia-Tulare-Porterville: $5.25 Yolo: $5.17 Yuba City: $4.96 Will gas prices increase or decrease this summer? Were on a downward trajectory, Treanor said. We foresee this continuing into the summer. While the highest price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas in California was recorded in June 2022, with a gallon averaging $6.44, he said prices will likely not reach that high this summer. The current price of crude oil, which Treanor said is less than $80 per barrel, is a key factor driving down gas prices. About 60% of what you pay at the pump is dictated by how expensive crude oil is, he said. Right now, this price is typically low. However, he said prices can still fluctuate due to global events. A little over a month ago, we saw prices start to rise, because of what was happening in the Middle East and Russia, Treanor said. That is when prices for crude oil were on the rise. If the prices for crude oil continue to decline, he said, We should likely see gas prices plateau where they are or continue to decrease. A land parcel in Southern California with long-ago links to two notorious cults has listed for sale. A promotional video for this listed California property calls it Xanadu the fabled city built by Kublai Khan but its not what many may think. The massive parcel of wild land in Box Canyon in Southern Californias Simi Valley, which asks $6.2 million for sale, has a dark history. For starters, the Spahn Movie Ranch, a former cowboy movie set where many western films and TV favorites like Bonanza were shot, is a neighboring property. Spahn was infamously taken over by the Manson Family in the late 1960s. Krishna Venta (right) and his Fountain of the World cult operated on the now-for-sale land. Getty Images Charles Manson originally wanted to take over Krishna Ventas land. AP Members of the Manson Family are said to have fled to Box Canyons caves after their 1969 murders. AP It was from up there, about 25 miles northwest of Hollywood, that Charles Manson and his followers plotted two of the most brutal multiple slayings in American history. Collectively known as the Tate-LaBianca murders, the six victims included actress Sharon Tate and her unborn child, coffee heiress Abigail Folger and the LaBiancas, an elderly couple. Charles Manson and several Family members were eventually convicted of nine murders, including these, but they are suspected in at least 15 more. That certainly put the dilapidated Spahn Movie Ranch, owned by George Spahn, in the headlines. But it wasnt Mansons first choice as a place to hang his hat. Before moving a few miles west over to Spahn, Manson initially wanted to live on this plot of land in Box Canyon. Today, this property listed as 585 Box Canyon Road is a serene 17-acre spread within the hills around the well-to-do town of Chatsworth. The land has several rental homes built among shading old oak trees at its lower elevation. It is a very unique property huge, probably the largest in the area, listing representative Chris Johnson told The Post. Johnson and his partner Holly Hatch of Holly & Chris Luxury Homes Group, Coldwell Banker Calabasas are handling the sale. Its beautiful and peaceful, unspoiled. Its like the wild, wild west up there, he added. But youre very close to Calabasas and you can be in LA in 45 minutes. Those are the comforts of today. Even before Manson came along, bizarre events were already happening in Box Canyon. The land is already home to a number of structures. Holly & Chris Luxury Homes Group, Coldwell, Banker Calabasas Renovations will need to be made. Holly & Chris Luxury Homes Group, Coldwell, Banker Calabasas The listed spread spans 17 acres. Holly & Chris Luxury Homes Group, Coldwell, Banker Calabasas In 1948, a man calling himself Krishna Venta (real name Frank Pencovic) founded the Fountain of the World cult, aka the WKFL (Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith and Love), there. Its not entirely clear who owned the land at that time or how Venta acquired it. But smoke and mirrors was Ventas modus operandi as he spun his doctrine to blindly faithful followers one that said he came to Earth half a billion years before on a spaceship (he was born in San Francisco), and that he was the second coming of Jesus Christ. Venta also predicted that the human race would be all but obliterated after a black vs. white race war, also involving the Russians it was the Cold War era, after all. The eventual survivors would, of course, be the Fountain members, who would then rise victorious in an inheriting the Earth-type scenario. Venta wielded absolute power with his charismatic sermons from his pulpit in the Box Canyon compounds church. He would make grand declarations, then sometimes miraculously disappear from the pulpit. Theres a tunnel on the property, which leads from the pulpit, said Johnson with a laugh. Apparently, hed disappear and pop up and surprise people and say, See, its a miracle! I really am Jesus, he added. There are so many stories about this place its hard to keep up. One of them is especially tragic. Venta had a feud with a couple of men in the cult, who accused him of sexual interactions with their wives. Those men loaded up with explosives and blew up Venta in a suicide bombing, which also killed nine Fountain members including children. An aerial image of the offering. Holly & Chris Luxury Homes Group, Coldwell, Banker Calabasas There is investment opportunity for a prospective buyer, such as using the grounds for a resort. Holly & Chris Luxury Homes Group, Coldwell, Banker Calabasas Existing structures on the land come shaded by trees. Holly & Chris Luxury Homes Group, Coldwell, Banker Calabasas Apparently, according to UCLA records, Ventas right hand man, Bishop Asiaiah, became the cults new leader. Around 1968, the already much-troubled Manson and his followers moved in, and Manson tried to take over the cult. The already-mentally unstable Manson is thought to have admired Venta and is said to have wanted to emulate the way he had absolute control over his followers. Also, Ventas doctrine is eerily similar to Mansons rantings about a race war destroying the US, and it is widely thought that the cult leaders influence steered him onto his megalomaniacal path. Manson seems to have viewed Krisna Venta as a role model, Hatch agreed. The new leader tried to push Manson out of the way. Thats how Manson and his followers ended up at nearby Spahn Movie Ranch. Apparently, Bishop Asiaiah may have thought Manson a bit of a loser, and mocked him, saying Manson didnt hold absolute power over his followers like he and Venta did. According to local lore, to show Bishop Asiaiah who was boss, Manson challenged one of his own followers to prove his loyalty by tying himself to a pole on a nearby rock formation, telling him to stay there for two weeks. That cave-like rock, shaped like a wolfs skull, is called Skull Rock. Despite the apparent state, handsome features remain, such as stone walls and wood-beamed ceilings. Holly & Chris Luxury Homes Group, Coldwell, Banker Calabasas The exterior of an outbuilding that a buyer can scoop up. Holly & Chris Luxury Homes Group, Coldwell, Banker Calabasas The offering asks $6.2 million for sale. Holly & Chris Luxury Homes Group, Coldwell, Banker Calabasas Yes, Skull Rock is right there on the Box Canyon property, said Johnson, who had heard the story. The land has so many caves. I grew up in the area and would hike the hills with my father. The locals called the caves up there the Manson Caves, because the Manson Family members would use them. After the murders, he added, the Manson girls are said to have fled to the caves to hide out. They would certainly have known about them, so that story is quite likely. Hatch agreed: They knew where to hide up there because they had been there on the property so much. The property includes 11 parcels with several buildings, which date to the Fountains occupation, including the original main lodge. Nobody has done much with the buildings since then. They are lived in, but they need modernization, said Hatch. The land has three artisan wells, and there are waterfalls and seasonal creeks, added Johnson. Its really beautiful. An interior of one of the structures on the grounds. Holly & Chris Luxury Homes Group, Coldwell, Banker Calabasas The lot is also home to caves. Holly & Chris Luxury Homes Group, Coldwell, Banker Calabasas Spahn Movie Ranch burned to the ground in 1970. A couple years after, the Fountain began petering out with members dispersing to found or join other cults two members even died in Jim Jones Jonestown mass suicide in 1978 in Guyana. Only one member of the Manson Family murderers has been freed from prison; Manson himself died in prison in California in 2017 at age 83. After the Fountain folks moved on, the current family acquired the land and buildings, and its been happily inhabited ever since by many tenants. Hatch and Johnson are wary of oddballs being attracted to this listing, but neither thinks the controversy surrounding Box Canyon will harm the propertys sale. Theres so much more to this intricate property than that controversial side, Hatch said. Most people know it for its incredible landscape. Its magical; its very different. Nobody says anything negative about it. This would be perfect as a resort or wellness center with a focus on healing. I dont think its a big deal, the property speaks for itself, agreed Johnson. Its very creative and flowing. It would make a great resort or artist colony. Its similar to Topanga Canyon, but Topanga has become so oversubscribed. Box Canyon is still undiscovered. Its quiet, untouched and mountainous. Its the last frontier of LA. SACRAMENTO, Calif. A California bill aiming to help Arizona abortion seekers by allowing doctors from that state to operate across the border has landed on Gov. Gavin Newsons desk, just a month after he first floated the proposal. Once signed, Senate Bill 233 would offer an expedited pathway for licensed doctors in Arizona to get their credentials in California, with a nonprofit offering to pay the fees to do so. The state Senate held a final vote of 30-8 on Tuesday after it already passed the state Assembly. Newsom is expected to sign the bill when he returns to California from a trip to the Vatican this week and it would take effect immediately. "As much as we talk about women's rights, the decision over one's own body is still in question in the United States," said state Sen. Aisha Wahab. "California is a state where we try to provide for every single community, especially our neighbors who are suffering." Newsoms proposal came in direct response to a Civil War-era abortion ban that was recently upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court and later repealed by that states legislature. Nonetheless, the Arizona ban could still stay in place for weeks if not months due to legislative procedures, and Newsom argues California could fill a critical gap for abortion seekers looking for care during that time. Sacramento has been preparing for an increased demand from out-of-state patients since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortions in 2022. The California legislature has passed roughly two dozen laws to bolster abortion rights and care as well as set aside more than $200 million to shore up the states abortion infrastructure. But the state has also struggled to build new clinics and train new providers. The governors office believes allowing doctors from Arizona to treat patients across the border could help ease the strain. Planned Parenthood of California has pushed back on that narrative, saying the states network of abortion providers is strong enough to accommodate the nations abortion seekers. To be clear, Planned Parenthood in California has been preparing for and already absorbing more out-of-state patients for several years, spokesperson Shelby McMichael told POLITICO in a statement. PPAC welcomes any additional statewide tools that support abortion providers and our collective ability to serve patientsno matter the state they call home. Californias Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday on the constitutionality of Proposition 22, the voter-approved law that classified drivers working in the gig economy as independent contractors rather than full-fledged employees. The court must decide whether the law, which Uber, Lyft, Doordash and other app-based delivery companies pushed with a $200-million campaign in 2020, unlawfully interferes with the state Legislature's authority to provide workers compensation protections to those who are injured on the job. How the justices ultimately rule will have enormous implications for the delivery and ride-hail companies that have argued their ability to operate in California depends on the law's survival, as well as the million-plus people in in the state who drive for them. A victory for the group of drivers and unions that brought the lawsuit challenging Proposition 22 would leave Uber, Lyft and companies like them to decide whether to continue operating in California, one of their largest markets. Under the law, drivers are considered to be their own employers, a designation that frees the companies they drive for from having to provide benefits traditional employees in the state are entitled to, such as overtime, sick leave and a minimum wage. Proponents of the law argue it gives workers flexibility to set their own work schedules, while also providing some benefits not typically afforded to independent contractors, such as access to private insurance to cover on-the-job injuries and an earnings guarantee of 120% of the local minimum wage. The Service Employees International Union and a group of drivers first brought the lawsuit challenging Proposition 22 in January 2021, just after the law went into effect. They unsuccessfully sought to take the case directly to the California Supreme Court and were left to pursue the case in a lower court. In a sweeping decision, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch ruled in August 2021 that Proposition 22 was unconstitutional and unenforceable. The law failed to pass constitutional muster, Roesch wrote, because it infringed on the power of the Legislature explicitly granted by the state Constitution to regulate compensation for workers injuries. If the people wish to use their initiative power to restrict or qualify a plenary and unlimited power granted to the Legislature, they must first do so by initiative constitutional amendment, not by initiative statute, the judge wrote. In March 2023, a split three-judge panel from a state appeals court largely reversed that ruling, finding the law did not impede the Legislature's authority and upholding the legality of the law's provision classifying drivers as contractors. Supporters of the law celebrated the ruling as a historic victory for the nearly 1.4 million drivers who rely on the independence and flexibility of app-based work to earn income, and for the integrity of Californias initiative system. Proposition 22 has remained in effect throughout the appeals process. When they make their case Tuesday, attorneys for the drivers and the union are expected to press ahead with their assertion that the law improperly leaves gig economy drivers who suffer injuries while working without access to compensation enjoyed by traditional employees in the state. The state Constitution grants the Legislature unlimited power to protect workers with a complete workers' compensation system, said Scott A. Kronland, an attorney representing SEIU and the drivers. A group backed by Uber, Lyft and DoorDash, called the Protect App-Based Drivers & Services coalition, meanwhile counters that courts should respect the will of voters, who voted by a 58% margin to approve the law. In a statement Tuesday, Lyft spokesperson Shadawn Reddick-Smith said: "The Court of Appeal's decision to uphold Prop. 22 was the right one, and consistent with long-standing legal precedent upholding the voters' initiative power. If Prop. 22 is struck down, drivers could lose access to flexible earning opportunities and millions of Californians could face difficulties finding affordable transportation." The California Supreme Court will be required to issue its ruling within 90 days of Tuesday's hearing. Little would change if the court upholds Proposition 22, although a part of Roesch's ruling that the Supreme Court is not considering left open the possibility of drivers collectively bargaining over pay, benefits and working conditions though their right to do so would need to be decided by the courts. A victory for the drivers, however, could require Uber and the other ride-hailing and delivery companies to treat their drivers as employees, a sea change that would upend the companies' financial structures and raise the prospect of companies pulling out of California. Both Uber and Lyft threatened to leave Minnesota after the state announced a statewide minimum wage for drivers, although they retracted that threat after reaching a compromise with the state officials. Nicole Moore, president of Los Angeles-based driver group Rideshare Drivers United, said if Proposition 22 is upheld, it will be crushing. Provisions of the law make it extremely difficult if not impossible to advance policies that could help drivers, Moore said. We have literally been handcuffed by Prop. 22, Moore said. Drivers are driving more than theyve ever driven before to make the same or less money than they did a couple years ago. On Monday around 9 a.m., scores of drivers gathered outside the office of SEIU Local 721 in Westlake, preparing to travel as a car caravan up to San Francisco to rally outside the courthouse during oral arguments. They loaded into dozens of honking cars lined up along a nearby intersection, plastered with signs denouncing Proposition 22 as bad for workers, bad for the economy, bad for California. Jorge Vargas, 53, among drivers who joined the rally, said benefits drivers receive under Proposition 22 were close to useless. Its really not worth it. Youre stuck in the street with that kind of pay, he said. We hope judges will do the right thing and strike it down. A report released on Monday by researchers with the UC Berkeley Labor Center that analyzed data on driver earnings in January 2022 in major metro areas, including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, found drivers earned less than the local minimum wage. After expenses and excluding tips, drivers median net hourly earnings were found to be $7.12 in California and $10.64 in the other metro areas, the report found. The coalition backing Proposition 22 has commissioned several reports on driver earnings that conflict with such findings. Molly Weedn, a spokesperson for the coalition, pointed to a 2022 study commissioned by the coalition that found app-based drivers earn $34 an hour on average. Michael Reich, a co-author of the UC Berkeley Labor Center report, contends that drivers earn far less than what companies claim, particularly when factoring in gas and maintenance costs. Reich said that while the courts may choose to narrowly focus on technical legal arguments, the ruling could have a ripple effect for drivers and labor policies across the country. A decision to uphold Proposition 22 by the state court "would be a shot in the arm for Uber and Lyft" to redouble efforts in other states where they are pushing similar measures, such as Massachusetts, Reich said. Earlier this month, Massachusetts' highest court heard arguments over whether to allow a similar industry-backed ballot measure to go before voters in November. "Their decision is very consequential for drivers and the companies," Reich said. "Public policy issues are paramount." This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. California voters may decide if financial literacy should be required in school. Should they? Latoya DeLong, left, a member engagement specialist for SAFE Credit Union, helps Rancho Cordova High School student Justice Johnson Patterson, right, open a savings account as student Danielle Yeater, center, participates in the schools personal finance program on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Reality Check is a Bee series holding officials and organizations accountable and shining a light on their decisions. Have a tip? Email realitycheck@sacbee.com. California high school students may have an additional course added to the eight that are needed to graduate. These courses, such as the ethnic studies requirement passed in 2021, all entered the school curriculum at the direction of the State Board of Education. This proposed new requirement a financial literacy class may end up on high school schedules at the direction of voters. The effort to put financial literacy education into California high schools has been decades-long, with various lawmakers trying and failing to make the class a requirement. One nonprofit seeks success by placing the question on a ballot measure this November. If passed, it would be the first time that curriculum requirements were established at the direction of voters. Polls show overwhelming popular support for adding financial literacy to high school curriculum, but some educators and researchers are nervous about the implications of bypassing the existing process of deciding what and how things are taught in California classrooms. The two roads to financial literacy in schools There are two intertwined efforts to implement one semester of financial literacy in high schools statewide by 2030, requiring districts to start offering classes in fall 2026. The first is Assembly Bill 2927, recently introduced by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento. In the case that the bill does not make it through the Legislature, Californians may have the opportunity to approve the same curriculum via popular vote. The California Personal Finance Act received nearly 700,000 signatures of support, making it eligible to be placed on the ballot this year. Each effort seeks the same financial literacy graduation requirement. The class would teach students the basics of personal finance, including developing budgeting skills, understanding the tax system and managing loans and lines of credit. McCartys bill is not the first piece of legislation attempting to establish financial literacy as a requirement; over a dozen similar bills have died or been vetoed in the past couple decades. This is why McCarty is also supporting the ballot measure to put financial literacy in high school classrooms. If passed, Personal Finance Act would represent the first time California has established curriculum via popular. And what is done by a ballot measure can only be undone by a ballot measure. Its our hope that the bill will be the final deal and the measure will not have to go on the ballot, McCarty said. If the bill is not successful, financial literacy has a good chance of making it into classrooms anyway. The measure has no formal opposition; polls in support have proved overwhelmingly positive and California for Financial Education, the coalition supporting the measure, blew past their valid signature goal by nearly 100,000 signatures. Im optimistic that this is going to be law, McCarty said. Should California leave curriculum decisions to the experts? But some experts are concerned about the implementation of such a requirement, and even more so about passing off a complicated policy decision to the voters of California. Heather J. Hough, executive director of Policy Analysis for California Education, is skeptical both of increasing the number of state-mandated graduation requirements and of taking choices that would be made by experienced policymakers and putting them into the hands of voters, who may not consider the broader effects of approving specific curriculum. I think that decisions about what to teach and how to teach it are not ideal decisions that go to voters those are decisions, at least in the way its done in California, that are made locally and through policymaking bodies with professional knowledge, Hough said. Typically, the Instruction Quality Commission develops curriculum which is subject to a series of reviews, edits and public discussion and then goes to the State Board of Education for approval. Sometimes, curriculum changes are driven by the Legislature via Assembly bills, like the recent ethnic studies requirement. Local school districts also have the authority to develop their own curriculum and graduation requirements. Teaching financial literacy to high school students may be well-intentioned, but a policymaker must consider implementation. I think part of how I always come at questions of policy is not just is this policy a good idea, because many things we talk about are on their face good ideas, but how this policy is implemented and how this policy puts pressure on existing strains on the system, Hough said. In the case of adding financial literacy as a graduation requirement, Hough sees several potential snags. For one, with the recent addition of an ethnic studies graduation requirement and talks of a computer science graduation requirement, students could face increasingly bloated schedules that leave little room for electives, career technical education pathways or other programs that appeal to them personally. On a local level, districts must spend money and time coordinating master schedules, training or hiring staff to teach the course and possibly developing their own curriculum. This could be a major problem amid a statewide teacher shortage. Approving this curriculum also takes away flexibility from school districts in assessing what coursework would most engage and benefit their respective student populations. California is also facing a major chronic absenteeism problem, increasing twofold in under a decade. Constraining schools too much in terms of class requirements can make it difficult for them to be flexible enough to meet student needs, Hough said. Hough is not alone in her concern. Other education experts have pointed out that voters of California already have the civil power to support politicians who reflect their interests and to engage directly with school districts and curriculum. Its a very blunt instrument and Im not sure it will accomplish what people want it to, Hough said. Tim Ranzetta, the lead proponent of the ballot initiative, believes that the value of financial literacy for students is enough to justify such an unconventional method of implementation. Ranzetta is a co-founder of Next Gen Personal Finance, a nonprofit that provides free financial literacy curriculum and training to 100,000 educators nationwide. Next Gen isnt just seeking to establish a one-semester requirement in California by 2030, but in all 50 states as part of its Mission 2030 plan. For whatever reason, the legislature has considered financial education bills for upwards of two decades and yet here we stand as one of the worst in the nation, Ranzetta said. Its important to note that while the course will be required, the expectation is that local districts will decide where this fits within existing graduation requirements and will decide what curriculum to use. This initiative will not require a specific curriculum to be used which is an important point. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is experiencing what its calling unusually high call volume, according to our partners at WTVD. According to the National Network to End Domestic Violence, North Carolina domestic violence hotlines receive 575 calls a month and average nearly 24 calls an hour. Intimate partner violence affects more than 12 million people a year. 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men ages 18 and older have been victims of severe physical violence by an intimate partner, according to WTVD. Our services are needed. Were speaking to individuals who are at different parts of their journey. Some wonder if what they are experiencing abuse, said Associate Director of Interact Jasmine Peyton. Interact is the only organization in Wake County that offers domestic violence crisis lines, an emergency shelter, and a Solace Center. ALSO READ: Woman killed when Gastonia police return gunfire during domestic call They told WTVD, it starts with control. A lot of what abuse is is the offender attempting to gain control of the situation, and in order to do that, isolation is something our survivors experience, Payton explained. Somebody is feeling isolated. Somebody may be active and social, but no longer that way. An individual is constantly being monitored. Control is a tactic abusers use to keep victims silent. While getting them to come forward can be difficult, experts told WTVD thats changing. Individuals are realizing they can go seek help safely, Peyton elaborated. VIDEO: Woman killed when Gastonia police return gunfire during domestic call Amanda Haines succeeds former director Jeff Brindle, who retired last October after a spat with the governors office. (Photo by Mary Iuvone for the New Jersey Monitor) The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission has appointed Amanda Haines, its acting legal director, to head the campaign finance watchdog months after the retirement of its longtime executive director. Haines, who joined the commission in 2005 as assistant legal counsel, will be the first woman to head the commission in its 51-year history. Amanda Haines has dedicated 19 years to fulfilling the mission of the ELEC and we are pleased to advance her to this pinnacle role at the Agency, said Thomas Prol, the commissions chairman. Her credentials are impeccable, and her service has seen the organization through several significant milestone events and numerous changes. Haines succeeds Jeff Brindle, who retired last October after a spat with the governors office when it sought to oust him over an email the administration believed was discriminatory. Deputy Executive Director Joe Donohue has served as interim executive director since Brindles retirement. Haines took helm of the agency on May 4. She is the sixth person to lead the commissions daily operations since its creation in 1973. With Executive Director Haines at the helm, New Jersey voters can be confident that ELEC will continue to fulfill its transparency mandate and will vigorously monitor and enforce campaign financing laws with an eye toward protecting and lifting up vulnerable and historically disenfranchised communities, Prol said. The New Jersey Globe earlier reported Haines appointment. The post Campaign finance watchdog taps top lawyer to helm agency appeared first on New Jersey Monitor. Despite her cancer diagnosis, the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, has been doing a little work from homebut wont be returning to public life anytime soon. Her office said Tuesday that she had remained heavily involved and always on, as a landmark new report for the Early Childhood Center, one of her key causes, was published. However, the office added that her involvement should not be seen as a signal she was about to return to her public role, citing her need for space and privacy to recover. Kate has scarcely been seen at all in public this year. She was treated for cancer, which was discovered after abdominal surgery, and is now receiving preventive chemotherapy. She revealed her cancer diagnosis in an emotional first-person video in March, after the palace botched the release of a U.K. Mothers Day photograph that Kate herself had amateurishly edited. She personally apologized but the picture generated countless online conspiracy theories, which were resolved when she made the statement about having cancer. The Daily Telegraph said that a spokesman for the princess had emphasized that she was not returning to work as she convalesces at home. The report, published with the support of six leading U.K. businesses, looks at the benefits to business of making better provision for parents and young children. A spokesperson for her and Prince William said: The work of the prince and princess projects is always on early childhood is a huge priority for the princess and so she has been kept fully updated throughout the development of the taskforces work and she has seen the report. A source described as a senior royal aide told the Mail: The Princess of Wales was the driving force behind the business task force. She has been kept up to date since the inception of the task force and she has read the report and been briefed on it. This is a clear commitment she has made that throughout her life of public service that this will be focus. That will continue when she returns to work. But we have been really clear that she needs the space and the privacy to recover right now. She will return to work when she has had the green light from doctors. A spokesman for Kate told the Sun: This should not be seen as the Princess of Wales returning to work. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) It remains a tight race between Multnomah County Commissioner candidates Vadim Mozyrsky and Meghan Moyer, who are both vying for District 1. As of 10 p.m., Moyer leads Mozyrsky by 845 votes. The District 4 race between Brian Knotts and Vince Jones-Dixon is also somewhat close. Jones-Dixon currently leads Knotts 9,244 votes to 8,046. Winners will be announced following the May election in races where candidates receive more than 50% of the vote. If candidates for any race fail to reach the 50% threshold, runoff elections will be held in November. Shannon Singleton (District 2) and Julia Brim-Edwards (District 3) both have strong leads in their respective races. However, Singleton has not claimed 50% of the vote. KOIN 6 will continue to update the results as votes are counted throughout the night. See the latest results for each district in the charts below. Multnomah County voters will elect at least three new officials to the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners in 2024. Candidates are vying for seats in District 1, 2, 3 and 4. District 3 Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards is the only incumbent seeking reelection for the county commissioners race. COMPLETE 2024 PRIMARY COVERAGE District 1 With Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran reaching her term limit, citizens in District 1 will look to elect a new commissioner this May. There are five candidates on the ballot for District 1. Kenin Fitts : Executive Director of the Oregon Mental Health Consumers Association Chris Henry : Former chair of Oregons Progressive Party Chris Henry Vadim Mozyrsky : Administrative law judge and 2022 Portland City Council candidate Meghan Moyer : Policy Director for Disability Rights Oregon Margot Wheeler: Project Manager for the Multnomah County Treasury Investigating the unexplained: UFOs in Oregon and across the U.S. District 2 The Board of Commissioners declared a vacancy for the District 2 seat in November of 2023 after former Commissioner Susheela Jayapal stepped down to run for a seat in Oregons Third Congressional District. Rep. Earl Blumenauer announced that he will retire in January of 2025. Jayapal has served as Multnomah County Commissioner for five years and was scheduled to hold the position through the end of 2026 prior to her departure. Interim Commissioner Jesse Beason was sworn in as Jaypals temporary replacement in November. Citizens will now look to find an official replacement for the position. There are five candidates on the ballot for District 2. Jessie Burke : Owner of the Society Hotel in Old Town Sam Adams : Former mayor of Portland and city commissioner Carlos Jermaine Richard : Multnomah County Department of Human Services Equity and Inclusion Manager Nicholas Hara : Data consultant Shannon Singleton: Career social worker and former Interim Director of the Joint Office of Homeless Services for the City of Portland and Multnomah County. Portland, Maine outranks Portland, Oregon as summer travel destination District 3 The District 3 race features the smallest number of candidates. Incumbent Julia Brim-Edwards will face a single challenger in the May primary. Julia Brim-Edwards : Current Multnomah County Commissioner for District 3, Nike lobbyist, Portland Public Schools Board of Education member, Oregon State University Board of Trustees member TJ Noddings: Housing navigator for unhoused Oregonians District 4 Multnomah County Commissioner Lori Stegmann has reached her term limit and cannot seek reelection. There are three candidates on the ballot for District 4. Timothy Youker : Local resident Brian Knotts : Local business owner Vince Jones-Dixon: Gresham City Councilman 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 KOIN.com. (BCN) San Jose has opened its first ever retail storefront for cannabis in the heart of downtown. For years the city had strict rules on where dispensaries could operate, relegating them to industrial areas. Last year the City Council revised regulations on where dispensaries rent space and allowing one operator to have more than one location. Mark Ritchie, president of Ritchie Commercial and owner of a building two doors down, said Purple Lotus, at 66 W. Santa Clara St., has already brought a noticeable number of people to the street, including its staff. Our wonderful bagel lady at City Bagels is happy because their employees are regulars there, he said. Saby-Thai benefits, as will Fuji Sushi when it opens. McDonalds finally reveals flavor of Grandma McFlurry Purple Lotus founder Matt Krishnamachari said the community welcomed him to the neighborhood with gifts of cookies and ice cream. In return, Purple Lotus joined the San Jose Downtown Association, participates in downtown events, offers discounts to service-industry employees and meals to families each Christmas. Weve always been big supporters of the community, Krishnamachari said. Thats the secret to our success. Customer Lena Huynh appreciates having a conveniently located dispensary. Youre in the mecca of all the fun things that folks can do. All the food eateries are here, she told San Jose Spotlight. I like how everything is laid out, so I can see what Im shopping for. I feel very safe. These shops provide a healthy source of revenue to the city. San Joses 16 cannabis dispensaries contributed $16.6 million to San Jose in fiscal year 2022-23, city spokesperson Kia Xiong told San Jose Spotlight. She said the city estimates about $16 million in revenue for this year and the 2024-25 fiscal year. Krishnamachari said the industry is highly regulated and its costly to comply. San Jose receives about $200,000 a month in taxes from Purple Lotus, Krishnamachari told San Jose Spotlight. He said about 30% of gross profits go toward taxes, registration and licensing fees. The business license for the city costs $140,000 and $40,000 to $50,000 to the state, he said. Cannabis dispensaries are also required to have cameras and 24-hour security. City-issued badges cost $50 per year per employee, he added. Krishnamachari said the city should reevaluate regulations and reduce taxes. Hed like his store hours extended from 10 p.m. to midnight to serve customers still out on the town. He chose to open downtown because he sees it reviving through events, bars and restaurants. This is the second location for the family-owned business. The first opened about 14 years ago with a personal investment of about $20,000, he said, in an office building next to the Regional Medical Center before moving to Commercial Street, where it serves about 1,100 customers a day. But for many who operate legal dispensaries sustainability is tough. Sean Kali-rai, founder of the Silicon Valley Cannabis Alliance, said theres a 12% to 14% failure rate of cannabis dispensaries in San Jose and the majority are losing money. Driverless Waymo car thwarts robbers during police chase The profit isnt there and the challenges are too great, he told San Jose Spotlight. San Jose is not business friendly in general and absolutely not business friendly to cannabis. Customer Evgenia Z Waite said she spends hundreds of dollars at Purple Lotus almost daily. She once visited the store three times in one day because their joints were so good, she said. Waite appreciates the store being near her home and its friendly staff who ask how shes doing. The people are great. The environments great. They have deals, she said. Go on in and have a good time. Purple Lotus sells a wide selection of cannabis products including joints, vapes, edibles, flowers and topicals from brands such as Alien Labs, Cookies, Stiiizy and its own Blue Chip line. Chief Sales Officer Paul Rivera credits Purple Lotus success with catering to its customers and providing safe, tested inventory, regulated by the city and state. When you go to a street dealer, you have no clue what the hell theyre using because theres no regulation around it, he said. Purple Lotus is part of this community, Rivera said. It wants to help downtown thrive. This company was born and raised in San Jose, he said. Were not venturing out to other cities to find other licenses. Were doubling down on San Jose. We want to bring more access to San Jose residents. Copyright 2024 Bay City News, Inc. 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 KRON4. Carnival for individuals with developmental disabilities to return to Farmington Hills A community group serving individuals with developmental disabilities and sensory processing will host a free carnival featuring rides, games, music, entertainment, and quiet spaces. The event will be held on Sunday, June 9, from noon to 4 p.m. in the parking lot of Adat Shalom Synagogue at 29901 Middlebelt Road in Farmington Hills. More than 600 people are expected to attend the carnival. Jason and his caregiver enjoy a ride at the JARC carnival in 2023. We knew there was a demand for a community event like JARCs carnival, but when more than 500 people had attended last year, we realized this was an overwhelming need, said JARC Chief Executive Officer Shaindle Braunstein in a news release. Our accessible, sensory-friendly event is the opposite of what a carnival is often perceived to be crowded and overstimulating. We have incorporated spaces and opportunities to decompress and recenter while enjoying all the fun of a traditional carnival. This year, the carnival will feature vendors and partner agencies with products and services to assist families and caregivers in helping people with developmental disabilities and sensory sensitivities live their best lives. More: Detroit office helps metro Detroit Girl Scouts travel to California (freep.com) While the carnival is not open to the greater public, family members can purchase tickets to attend for $20 per individual or $50 per family. To buy tickets, visit jarc.org/carnival. Jodie and Josh Jacobs cheer on their daughter, Allie, as she plays a game of ring toss at JARC's carnival in 2023. Popcorn, snow cones, and water will be provided for free, and kosher hot dogs and other refreshments will be available for purchase. Proceeds from the carnival will fund JARC's important programs and services that help to enrich the lives of individuals with developmental disabilities. Dan smiles as he takes in all the fun around him at the carnival hosted by JARC in 2023. The carnival is part of JARC's summer-long Ellen Labes Festival Series, sponsored by the Ellen Labes Family, that also includes a sensory-friendly Detroit Symphony Orchestra concert, a picnic in the park with a sensory-friendly drumming activity, and a Motown Summer Concert later this summer. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Carnival for people with disabilities returning to Farmington Hills Carnival says cruise ship will return to Baltimore Sunday, two months after Key Bridge collapse Another cruise line says one of its ships will return to Baltimore next weekend. A Carnival Cruise Line ship that rerouted its departure to Norfolk, Virginia, will return to Baltimore on Sunday as scheduled, the company said in a news release. Last week, Royal Caribbean said a ship would be leaving Baltimore this coming Saturday as planned. The Dali cargo ship was refloated early last week, and the Key Bridge Response Unified Command said that a 50-feet deep, 400-feet wide channel will be open soon. The original 50-feet deep, 700-feet wide channel is expected to be fully restored by the end of the month. While the ship was stuck in the Patapsco River following its March 26 crash into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, cruise ships have been rerouted through Norfolk. We are extremely grateful to the officials and incredible first responders in Baltimore, whove shown great leadership and resolve in this difficult time, as well as our supportive partners in Norfolk, whose rapid response allowed us to continue to deliver our scheduled sailings for our guests, Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line, said in the release. Its been our goal to resume operations in Baltimore as soon as possible, and after working closely with local, state and federal agencies, we look forward to a successful return. In 2023, Maryland Port Administration spokesperson Richard Scher said, 444,000 passengers boarded cruises in the terminal, the highest total since 2012. Eight cruise ships are scheduled to depart in June. The cruise terminal primarily services ships from Carnival and Royal Caribbean cruise lines, and the Norwegian Cruise Line also occasionally uses it. The day after Chad Daybell held a rushed 2019 funeral for his wife of nearly 30 years, the Doomsday author introduced his grieving family to his secret paramour, Lori Vallow. Joseph Murray, who is married to Daybells daughter, told Ada County Court jurors on Tuesday that the surprising meeting took place at the familys Idaho homethe same place where his mother-in-law, Tammy Daybell, was found dead inside her bedroom on Oct. 19, 2019. He added that it was the only time he met Vallow. The shocking revelation of Daybells swift introduction came on the second day of the defenses case in the 59-year-old former grave diggers death-penalty trial. Prosecutors allege that Daybell and Vallow were driven by their extreme religious beliefs to murder Tammyand then Vallows two children, 7-year-old J.J. Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan, a month later. The children were buried in Daybells backyard before the couple fled to Hawaii to start their new life. Defense attorneys, however, insist there is no evidence directly tying Daybell to all three murders. Daybell has pleaded not guilty to several charges, including first-degree murder. Vallow is serving life in prison after she was convicted in July on similar charges. Doomsday Dad Chad Daybells Kids Take Stand in Murder Trial Throughout the trial, Daybells family and law enforcement have testified about his concerning behavior after Tammy diedand at the funeral. Fremont County Coroner Brenda Dye told jurors that Daybell said he found his wife frozen on the bedroom floor after she had spent the night coughing and vomiting. Dye said that despite her questions about Tammy, she respected Daybells wishes not to complete an autopsy, and determined that she died of natural causes. Heather Daybell previously testified that her brother-in-law pushed for a quick funeral because he didnt want to drag this out. His demeanor seemed strange to me, she added, saying that she believed Daybell was disingenuous at the Utah funeral and even showed up late for the luncheon afterward. Daybells daughter, however, came to her fathers defense on Tuesday and insisted his funeral behavior was typical for any grieving Latter-day Saint husband. Latter-day Saints believe we will be resurrected and with our families forever, Emma Murray testified on Tuesday, adding that she saw her father cry at the service. A funeral isnt saying goodbye foreverits a see you later. Its a break. Months later, amid a separate investigation into Vallows missing children, Tammys body was exhumed, and it was determined that she was a homicide victim who had died from asphyxiation. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) The City of Champaign is set to accept a $12 million grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to build a plaza along Neil Street. According to an agenda published online, the Champaign City Council is expected to vote to approve the measure at their meeting Tuesday night. The grant is for the second phase of reconstruction along Neil Street in downtown. The Hill and Neil intersection will be reconstructed to be a speed table. Map-Neil-Street-plaza-1Download The city would transform a surface level parking lot located at the intersection of Neil and Washington Streets into a plaza. Proposed amenities for the include a pop jet fountain, kiosks for local retailers and a public lawn. Champaigns Virginia Theatre closing for renovations next year The lot south of the Orpheum Theatre will also add art, seating, shade structures and plants. Rendering Map Neil Street PlazaDownload The city will hold a study session later this summer before finalizing the design. What could we do in this space that would attract you here, that would bring you here and help you feel welcome and comfortable? Through that process, we identified the community, Senior Planner Lacey Rains Lowe said, identified lots of ways that theyd like to use the space from simply, I just want a place to be. I want a place to enjoy some shade and some music and the vibrancy of downtown.' City officials estimate construction would start in 2026 and hope to be complete by 2027. The full resolution can be found here. 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 WCIA.com. Charlotte man arrested in murder of roommate in 2018 sentenced to life Charlotte man arrested in murder of roommate in 2018 sentenced to life CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) A Charlotte man will spend the rest of his life in prison after a Mecklenburg County jury found him guilty of first-degree murder on Tuesday. Dwayne Evans has been found guilty of killing his roommate, Eric Spells, 28, in 2018, and then reportedly dumping his body in York County, South Carolina. In 2018, authorities had received a missing persons call around 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 25 in the 100 block of South Smallwood Place. A woman reported that her boyfriend, identified as Spells, had been missing since the night before and had not shown up to work that day after an argument with his roommate, Evans. Quickly determined, based on evidence inside the house, that a crime had occurred, Capt. Chris Dozier with CMPD said in 2018. MORE FROM QUEEN CITY NEWS Crime & Public Safety Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police believed, based on evidence, that Evans murdered Spells during an argument and then disposed of his body with two others charged in the case. Evans trial began on April 24 and ended on Tuesday, May 21, with the jurys guilty verdict. The Mecklenburg County District Attorneys Homicide Team tried Evans for first-degree murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, concealment of death, and conspiracy to commit concealment of death. The jury found him guilty as charged. Judge Bell sentenced Evans to the mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Charges remain pending against the two co-defendants in this case, court officials said. 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 Queen City News. Fact checked by Nick BlackmerFact checked by Nick Blackmer Key Takeaways A new study on breast cancer in older women shows that chemotherapy can negatively impact physical functioning. Physical, social, and emotional support can improve functioning. Women should ask their doctor about a geriatric assessment before beginning chemotherapy to log their physical abilities, health conditions, and medications. This helps the provider and patient make decisions regarding the best treatment option. A multicenter clinical trial conducted at over a dozen academic medical centers in the U.S. found that chemotherapy can speed up physical decline in older women. However, the researchers say that interventions such as physical therapy and emotional and social support can help reduce the negative effects of the treatment. The study, published recently in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship, found many older women who had early-stage breast cancer and underwent chemotherapy experienced a significant decline in their ability to perform daily tasks like walking or climbing stairs compared to those who didnt have chemotherapy and women without cancer who were the same age. The clinical trial compared the changes in physical function over time in women aged 65 and older. Participants included 444 women with early-stage breast cancer receiving chemotherapy, 98 women with early-stage breast cancer not receiving chemotherapy, and 100 women who did not have cancer. Related: How to Determine a Breast Cancer Prognosis The researchers found that almost 35% of older adults who received chemotherapy for breast cancer had a significant decline in physical function, compared to 8% of those who didnt receive chemotherapy and 5% of those without cancer. In women who had a substantial decline, stair climbing, walking a mile, and moderate activity were especially difficult. The new study is important because doctors have known that older women can face physical challenges when treated for breast cancer, but they werent sure whether it was the cancer or the treatment that caused these issues. The new study is the first to compare functional decline in older adults receiving chemotherapy to older breast cancer patients not receiving chemo. This allowed the researchers to see that the physical challenges, in many cases, were linked to chemo. The study provides a lens on the impact of common cancer treatment on the health and well-being of our patients, and it raises awareness that we should be doing more to support outpatients so that we can improve both the quantity and quality of their survival, Mina Sedrak, MD, director of the Cancer and Aging Program at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA and the first author of the study, told Verywell. The findings dont necessarily mean you should avoid chemo after a certain age, especially since it can be an extremely effective treatment. The researchers were able to highlight certain interventions that could help improve the difficulties women experience during and after chemotherapy. A Note on Sex and Gender Terminology Verywell Health acknowledges that sex and gender are related concepts, but they are not the same. To reflect our sources accurately, this article uses terms like female, male, woman, and man as the sources use them. Geriatric Assessments Are a Crucial Tool for Older Cancer Patients As part of the trial, all of the participants completed questionnaires about demographics and health status. They also agreed to a geriatric assessment: an evaluation to look at a persons physical and mental functioning as well as medical conditions, medications, nutrition, and social support, Sedrak said. Another geriatric assessment was conducted 30 days after women finished chemotherapy and at established points during the study for women who were not having cancer treatment. Updated geriatric assessment guidelines were published by the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in July of 2023, which the researchers consider to be critical for older adults facing treatment for breast or any other kind of cancer. We know that there are significant survival advantages for patients who are evaluated with the geriatric assessment, which enables us to provide interventions to help prevent negative outcomes of cancer treatment, William Tew, MD, clinical director of the Gynecologic Medical Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, told Verywell. The study also noted that given the expected rise in the number of older survivors with breast cancerprojected to reach more than six million by 2040understanding the mechanisms of accelerated aging and finding ways to prevent it is critical. Tew said doctors should discuss the risk of decline with patients and family members and let them know what can be done to help alleviate it. Two examples of interventions include physical therapy and encouraging movement to help reduce the risk of neuropathy, or nerve pain. The research team is continuing their work by looking at the interaction between cancer treatment and the aging processes to identify mechanisms that can be targeted by drugs to potentially reverse these processes, Sedrak said. What Else Can Make Cancer Treatment Manageable? Breast cancer treatment is quite individualized these days, and may not require chemotherapy at all. A womans breast cancer may respond to a particular regimen which can make it harder to choose a less toxic therapy [than chemo], Tew said. But depending on the type of cancer, radiation or other medication may be just as effective, which can help reduce physical decline. A combination of physical, emotional, and social support can help keep older chemo patients in the best physical condition possible. Especially at an academic cancer center, your doctor is likely to refer you to specialists for social support and physical therapy of some kind. If they dont, ask them about it, Liz Farrell, LICSW, lead social worker at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, told Verywell. She added that a medical centers website should list a description of these types of services and a directory for accessing them. Miranda Zinn, LMSW, a breast care helpline specialist at the Susan G. Komen Foundation, told Verywell she advises women diagnosed with breast cancer to ask if they have access to a social worker or navigator. This person can help them determine what support is available to them, including help with medical costs and transportation. The researchers are committed to mitigating the physical decline that comes with chemotherapy treatment. There is a lot of work being done around the world on this topic, ranging from efforts to find chemotherapy agents that are tolerable to help with decision making around treatment, study author Rachel Freedman, MD, MPH, founder and director of the Program for Older Adults with Breast Cancer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, told Verywell. Were also exploring early interventions in those who are frail, test exercises in this population as a way to improve outcomes, and ways of making chemotherapy and other treatments more manageable. There is a lot of work being done as well to better understand who needs chemotherapy and who doesnt. What This Means For You Social, emotional, and physical support are paramount if youre being treated for cancer, especially if youre over the age of 65. Resources from the American Cancer Society include: Additionally, social workers staffing the Komen Help Line can help you find a slew of resources for cancer support, ranging from financial aid to online and in-person support groups. Read Next: 8 Things to Know Before Your First Chemo Treatment Read the original article on Verywell Health. CHESAPEAKE Some leaders in Chesapeake are pushing the possibility of transitioning to a district-based election system by posing the question to voters in the upcoming election. A potential change to the citys local election system could be up for discussion in the coming weeks following a request made by council member Don Carey at a meeting earlier this month. Carey asked for background information to be placed on the May 28 meeting agenda so that council members could consider beginning the process of putting a referendum on the ballot that would ask voters to weigh in on a single-member district voting system versus the current at-large system. City council, school board members and the mayor in Chesapeake are elected in an at-large system where the candidates with the most votes from voters across the city win open seats. In a single-member district system, representatives must live in their district and only residents who live in the district can vote for their representative. Some positions, like the mayor, could still be elected at-large. Some cities, like Norfolk, have a mix of wards and superwards for local elections. Its an issue Virginia Beach, which used the district system in 2022, has been grappling with for years as it currently works to make the change official in the city charter. Calls to contemplate a district-based voting system in Chesapeake have been made for years. But it most recently came up in a March 26 meeting when several residents and activists pushed council members to consider it. Proponents of the district system say it helps prevent the dilution of minority votes seen in at-large systems, especially in a city of Chesapeakes size and demographics. Chesapeake is the second most populous city in the commonwealth, measures more than 350 square miles and has a significant minority population. Carey said its an issue hes heard at least since his election to Council in 2020, and that sentiments are revving up. He also deems it an ideal time since the upcoming election is a presidential one, which often sees higher voter turnout. More and more interest is being garnished, and Im simply thinking when are we going to ever be able to have this many citizens gathering together to give feedback on an important issue like this, Carey told The Virginian-Pilot. And thats simply all Im aiming for here is to garnish feedback from citizens in the most effective way whether we go down this route or not. The process for getting a referendum on the ballot is carried out primarily through the Circuit Court. Council could approve a resolution that would authorize the city attorneys office to petition the court for a referendum order, according to City Attorney Catherine Lindley, who cited state code. A public hearing on the resolution would be advertised before the Council voted on it. Carey said he hopes to have the public hearing at the June 11 meeting. If approved, the petition and order must be entered by the court at least 81 days before the date of the Nov. 5 election. Carey said his request at this time is just to get the process started and allow opportunity for the public to weigh in. Council member Ella Ward voiced support for Careys pursuit. Mayor Rick West, however, expressed in the meeting and to The Pilot that he feels the move is premature since not enough information is known at this time. Though hes opposed to any agenda item that would initiate the process, West said he still wants to hear feedback from the general public on the issue. (I) think there are a lot of questions that have to be answered in terms of the process, West said. Should we decide to go to a ward system, what is that going to look like? Is it going to accomplish what the people who are supportive of it are trying to accomplish? Both West and Carey are vying for the mayors seat in the upcoming November election. Even if a referendum is placed on the ballot and voters approve, the measure would still have to get General Assembly approval to make it happen a process currently playing out in Virginia Beach. The at-large ward systems impact on minority voters was the gist of why Virginia Beachs election system was overhauled following a federal lawsuit filed in 2017. A federal judge in 2021 agreed Virginia Beachs at-large system diluted minority representation, and the court imposed a district-based election system on the city. The new system was used in the 2022 election and included 10 districts. The effects of the changes to the citys voter system were immediately evident, according to previous reporting by The Pilot. The Virginia Beach City Council that was sworn into office in 2023 was the most diverse and among the youngest in city history, with four Black representatives and four members under age 45. Virginia Beach, however, continues to grapple with officially changing its election process in its city charter, which was further complicated following a veto this week from Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The governor cited a pending lawsuit against Virginia Beach filed by a former council member and others, who allege the city illegally manipulated the Virginia Beach electoral system by eliminating three at-large seats that are expressly established under the City Charter, and deprived the rights of voters. As Chesapeake leaders consider the issue, some local groups that have previously voiced support for transitioning to single-member district voting system, including the New Chesapeake Men for Progress and Chesapeake branch of the NAACP, will host a town hall informational meeting for residents on Thursday at 7 p.m. at New Galilee Missionary Baptist Church. Natalie Anderson, 757-732-1133, natalie.anderson@virginiamedia.com Chicago police, city officials appear to miss goals on meeting requirement to report and review when officers point their weapons Five years after pledging to firm up recordkeeping on incidents where police officers point their weapons at people while performing their duties, the Chicago Police Department and other city officials appear to have fallen short of goals outlined in a federal consent decree guiding reform, the Tribune has found. That consent decree calls for CPD officers to notify the citys Office of Emergency Management and Communications each time they point a weapon at someone. OEMC is then required to notify the officers supervisor, and those records ostensibly are available to the public through the Freedom of Information Act. But in a response to a FOIA filed by the Tribune seeking those records during the five-year window since CPD agreed to the more stringent disclosure requirement, OEMC first provided records that indicated just 12 incidents where officers had made such a notification. Later, the office provided a spreadsheet with nearly 17,000 rows listing firearm-pointing incident reports, or FPIR notifications, made since early 2019. It is unclear though how many raw incidents there were since many data lines repeat, and OEMC did not provide associated police incident report numbers which would indicate the reports had been forwarded. The consent decree makes it clear how such information is supposed to move up the chain of command after it is gathered by OEMC, saying notified CPD supervisors will ensure that the investigatory stop or arrest documentation and the OEMC recordation of the pointing of a firearm are promptly reviewed in accordance with CPD policy. The consent-decree monitoring team in a recent progress report noted that internal CPD statistics showed thousands of such gun-pointing incidents in recent years. In fact, there were more than 2,000 just in the first six months of last year, the latest period available. And the lapse comes at a time when the number of those incidents is on the rise. Citing data provided, the monitoring teams report found 2,562 incidents during the entirety of 2021 and 2,925 in 2022. While gun-pointing incidents have increased, police shootings have not. Data from the Civilian Office of Police Accountability show agency investigators responded to 34 instances of CPD officers firing their guns in 2022. Last year, COPA responded to 19 shootings involving CPD officers. Answering questions about the reporting process, a police spokeswoman said all officers receive training. Training and supervision are vital to ensuring officers adhere to the firearm pointing incident policy, including promptly notifying OEMC after a firearm pointing incident has concluded, she said. Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling hasnt addressed gun-pointing incidents but has said CPD is committed to complying with the consent decree and enhancing transparency. In recent remarks on reform, but he has highlighted other areas where he sees success. Snelling has noted that traffic stops by CPD officers are down slightly year-over-year, while arrests for felony offenses and illegal gun seizures are up. Homicides and nonfatal shootings are trending down, too, even as the city grapples with a proliferation of automatic weapons. I dont think weve done a very good job of explaining what real constitutional, proactive police work looks like, Snelling told the Tribune last year. The way that we balance this is to, one, be transparent about what we do. Sometimes police work does not look good. But if we can explain the constitutionality of stops, of our interactions with individuals, I think itll be a lot more palatable for those who just dont understand what theyre looking at. Little follow up The independent monitoring team said CPD supervisors have, so far, rarely taken corrective action in gun-pointing incidents flagged by the departments tactical review and evaluation division. A 2022 year-end report, cited by the monitoring team, indicated that of the nearly 3,000 incidents reviewed, (The tactical review and evaluation division) made a training recommendation for 1,023 reviews (34%). In contrast, supervisors indicated that they took corrective action at the time of the incident in 1% of debriefings. The vast majority of those training recommendations from the tactical review division concerned officers activating their body-worn cameras a long-standing problem. Theoretically, an officer who has drawn a weapon during an interaction with a civilian should have activated their camera. During a June meeting with the CPD, the IMT expressed concerns about the ability to review use of force incidents when no body-worn camera footage was available 12% of the time, according to the tactical review divisions 2022 year-end Report, the monitoring team recently reported. The IMT requested that CPD come up with a game plan to address the continuing problems of late activation and no activation. CPDs slow compliance with the consent decree is not limited to shortcomings in reporting and assessing when officers point weapons. Staffing levels, along with data collection and retention, continue to plague the departments reform efforts, according to the monitoring team. Overall, the citys and the CPDs compliance efforts continue to lag and, after several reporting periods of minimal progress, bring into question the citys and the CPDs commitment to implementing reforms in community policing practices as required by the consent decree, the team wrote last year. For more than two years, the Police Department has maintained secondary compliance with the consent decree paragraph that requires notifications of drawing a weapon, according to the monitoring teams most recent report. Its next report is expected to be released some time this summer, and that will be the first to gauge the CPDs compliance efforts under Snelling. Slow to adopt reform The consent decree was ordered into effect in January 2019 after nearly a year of negotiations between the city and the Illinois attorney generals office perhaps the most consequential byproduct of the 2014 killing of Laquan McDonald by former CPD officer Jason Van Dyke. The guideline for reporting gun-pointing incidents to OEMC came after a standoff between then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and then-Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, and the provision was agreed upon a day after Emanuel announced he would not seek a third term as mayor. The independent monitors report and the CPD stats cited therein do not make clear where or under what circumstances the firearm-pointing incidents occurred. The monitoring team again pointed to the CPDs data collection, retention and analysis policies as hindrances to the citys overall compliance with the consent decree. Last week during a monthly consent-decree status hearing, Josh Levin, an ACLU attorney who represents a coalition of community groups, said lagging data collection is only a symptom of deeper issues at the department. Its just hard to take CPD seriously (when its said) that every officer is a community policing officer when we see what happens in our communities, when CPD is continuing to swarm Black and Latino neighborhoods with heavily armed, plainclothes tactical teams that jump out and terrorize our community members when theyre just simply trying to go about their day, Levin said. Thats what happens in communities particularly on the West and the South side of our city, and that is the fundamental break in trust that needs to be repaired. And no amount of data tracking or collection or analysis or surveys is going to solve that until the actual conduct of our police officers toward our community members changes. The bulk of the consent decree applies to CPD, but changes to policies in OEMC, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, the Chicago Police Board and Office of Inspector General are also required. The monitoring teams latest report gauged the Police Departments adherence to the consent decree between Jan. 1, 2023, and June 30, 2023, a period of transition that saw three superintendents lead the department for various lengths of time. Former Superintendent David Brown announced his resignation from CPD in March after Lori Lightfoot failed to qualify for the mayoral runoff election. After Brown left, Eric Carter, the first deputy superintendent, led the department on an interim basis until he retired in early May. Once Brandon Johnson was sworn in as mayor, he tapped retired CPD Chief of Patrol Fred Waller to helm the department. The City Council last September confirmed Snelling as permanent superintendent. Most recently, the monitoring team assessed CPDs compliance with each of the 552 consent decree paragraphs that apply to the department between January and June 2023. There are three levels of compliance: Preliminary, secondary and full. Preliminary compliance signifies CPD has developed a training curriculum; secondary compliance means training has been implemented; and full compliance means that the policy is fully part of the CPDs day-to-day operations. In the first half of 2023, the monitoring team found the department to be in preliminary compliance with 279 of the decrees 552 monitorable paragraphs. Secondary compliance was found in 160 paragraphs, while the CPD was in full compliance with 33 paragraphs. No compliance was reached in 74 paragraphs, while six more remain under assessment, according to the monitoring team. Director-General of the WHO Dr. Tedros attends an ACANU briefing in Geneva GENEVA (Reuters) -The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) called on Tuesday for Israel to lift restrictions on aid into Gaza, saying that the primary pipeline for emergency medical aid into the enclave from Egypt had been cut off. Israel seized and closed the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on May 7, disrupting a vital route for people and aid into and out of enclave. "At a time when the people of Gaza are facing starvation, we urge Israel to lift the blockade and let aid through," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference in Geneva, describing the situation in the Palestinian enclave as "beyond catastrophic". "Without more aid flowing into Gaza we cannot sustain our lifesaving support of hospitals and populations," he said. Israel says U.N. agencies are to blame for not distributing aid more efficiently within the enclave, creating backlogs of supplies. Tedros said Israel's move had impacted six hospitals and nine primary health centres and caused 70 shelters to lose their medical facilities. "Daily consultations have fallen by close to 40% and immunization by 50%," he said. "Approximately 700 seriously ill patients who would have otherwise been evacuated for medical care elsewhere are stuck in a war zone." Gaza's healthcare system has essentially collapsed since Israel began its military offensive there after the Oct. 7 cross-border attack on Israel by Palestinian Hamas militants. Tedros said that Gaza's Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza remained under siege since Sunday, with 148 hospital staff and 22 patients and the people accompanying them trapped inside. He said that fighting near Kamal Adwan Hospital, also in northern Gaza, had jeopardised its ability to care for patients. "These are the only two functional hospitals remaining in northern Gaza," Tedros said. "Ensuring their ability to deliver health services is imperative." (Reporting by Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber and Emma Farge; Editing by William Maclean and Gareth Jones) Child workers were again found working for a poultry plant company that saw a 16-year-old worker die last year after being pulled into a meat processing machine, federal authorities have alleged. A recent search of Mar-Jac Poultrys facility in Alabama found several teenagers deboning poultry and cutting carcasses on its kill floor, in violation of federal labor laws, the Labor Department said in a court filing against the company on May 6. The DOLs Wage and Hour Division found children younger than eighteen-years-old working on the killing floor hanging live chickens on hooks for slaughter and cutting meat from the carcasses, which is a prohibited hazardous occupation for minors, the DOL said in a court order demanding a temporary 30-day restraining order against the poultry company. Several underage workers were allegedly seen "hanging live chickens on hooks for slaughter and cutting meat from the carcasses, which is a prohibited hazardous occupation for minors, the Department of Labor said. Bloomberg Creative via Getty Images The underage workers had been employed there for months. All products produced at the facility, up until May 31, are therefore tainted by child labor and are hot goods under federal labor law, it said in seeking the restraint. The company, responding to the restraining order request in court filings, denied knowing that it had any employees less than 18 years of age, and said that the alleged underaged workers were immediately discharged from employment once the allegations were made. The companys attorneys further argued that none of the jobs performed by the workers involved power machinery or dangerous conditions though it acknowledged that one of the workers was tasked with cutting wings off of bird carcasses with a knife as they passed by on a conveyor. It offered to pull all goods produced at the facility during the work shift that federal inspectors said they saw the minors working, but it argued that putting a freeze on all production at the plant would have seismic economic consequences on the community. The U.S. Department of Labor has alleged that all products produced at the Alabama facility during the workers' employment are tainted by child labor and are hot goods under federal labor law. via Associated Press Mar-Jac estimates that a 30-day shutdown could likely cause approximately $63,000,000 of economic damage not just to Mar-Jac, but to its employees ($3,500,000), contractors, breeders, hatcheries, and feed mills, to name but a few of the potential casualties, it argued. The DOL cited the companys recent child labor law violations, including last years death of a 16-year-old sanitation worker at a Mar-Jac facility in Mississippi, as evidence that it was consistently and willfully not doing enough. Defendant has a lengthy history of very recent child labor violations in its poultry processing facilities, the DOL said in a May 14 court filing. Its past rampant employment of minor children should have incentivized the company to screen prospective employees better, it accused. The company last year had said that the child worker killed, Duvan Tomas Perez, should not have been hired, and that his age and identity were misrepresented on his hiring paperwork with an outside staffing company. The company is undertaking a thorough audit with the staffing companies to ensure that this kind of error never happens again, it told HuffPost back in July. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration in January said that it would fine Mar-Jac Poultry nearly $213,000 following the teens death. Representatives with Mar-Jac Poultry did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment on Tuesday. Related... (Bloomberg) -- China slammed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for extending his congratulations to Taiwans new president and separately sanctioned a former US congressman who supported Taipei, underscoring how the islands status divides the two superpowers. Most Read from Bloomberg Its a serious violation of the political commitment made by the US to maintain only cultural, commercial and other unofficial relations with the Taiwan region, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Tuesday in response to Blinkens comments at a regular press briefing in Beijing. The remarks by the US top diplomat sent a seriously wrong signal to the Taiwan separatist forces, Wang said. He added that Beijing had filed a diplomatic complaint with Washington, and called on the US to immediately correct their mistakes. Blinken congratulated Lai Ching-te on Monday shortly after he took over as Taiwans new president. The Biden administration official also said in a statement that his nation looked forward to working with Lai and others in the democratically run island of 23 million people to advance our shared interests and values. Read More: Taiwans New President Calls On China to End Threat of War Also on Tuesday, Beijing announced sanctions on former US Congressman Mike Gallagher, accusing him of interfering in Chinas internal affairs and harming Chinese sovereignty, according to a statement on the Chinese Foreign Ministrys account on WeChat. The former chair of the House select committee on Chinas Communist Party led a delegation to Taiwan in February, when he met then President Tsai Ing-wen. Gallagher called on Washington to arm the island to the teeth against Chinese military intimidation in an op-ed in January. China opposes nations it has official ties with having contact with Taiwan, which it views as part of its territory to be brought under its control eventually, by force if necessary. The US is Taiwans main political and military supporter, irking Beijing. US President Joe Biden has repeatedly pledged to defend Taiwan if China attacks. Lai has signaled that during his four years in office he will follow many of the policies of his predecessor, Tsai, including embracing the US. That stance means ties between Taipei and Beijing will likely remain tense in the coming years. Read More: Protest Erupts in Taiwan Over Plan to Curb New Presidents Power --With assistance from Colum Murphy. (Updates with Chinese sanction on Mike Gallagher) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Tuesday scolded South Korean and Japanese lawmakers for visiting Taiwan despite its strong opposition, chiding both neighbours for attending Taiwan's "so-called inauguration ceremony of the leader". Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te, regarded by China as a "separatist", was officially sworn in on Monday after winning a January election. China, claiming Taiwan as part of its territory, resolutely opposes the visits, its embassies in South Korea and Japan said, and has lodged solemn representations with the two northeast Asian countries. A spokesperson for the embassy in South Korea said the move runs counter to the China-South Korea strategic cooperative partnership, while to Japan, the embassy there said the visit seriously contravened the spirit of Sino-Japanese commitments. China urged South Korea to take "practical actions" to safeguard overall interests of bilateral relations while it seriously urged Japan to cease "provocative political manipulation" of the Taiwan issue. It also told Japan, which has joined the United States in congratulating Lai, to avoid causing further damage to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and to their bilateral relations. On Monday, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi called Taiwan "an extremely important partner and friend of our country", and that Japan's stance was to further deepen cooperation and exchanges at the non-governmental level. Ties between Japan and China have sagged in recent times, weighed down by a host of issues including clashes over mutual maritime claims in the East China Sea, as well as China's actions against Philippine claims in the South China Sea. China, South Korea and Japan are due a trilateral summit next week in Seoul. SEEKING STABLE TIES Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his South Korean counterpart who visited Beijing that both nations should seek stable ties despite their recent "difficulties" including tensions over Taiwan and other regional issues. South Korea's Cho Tae-yul told Wang both countries should work together and "even if there are difficulties, momentum of cooperation should be continued while carefully managing the relations". South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said last year that democratically governed Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory, was a "global issue", not just an issue between China and Taiwan. "Anyone who attempts to challenge the one-China principle will end in failure," Wang warned on Monday as Lai was sworn in. "There is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is part of China." (Reporting by Liz Lee and Beijing newsroom; Writing by Bernard Orr; Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo; Editing by Sonali Paul and Michael Perry) FILE - Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., speaks during a hearing at the Capitol in Washington on July 18, 2023. China on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, sanctioned Mike Gallagher, a former Republican member of Congress from Wisconsin who has shown support for Taiwan. Gallagher will be banned from entering China, any assets he holds in the country will be frozen and he will be barred from various exchanges with Chinese organizations and individuals, the country's Foreign Ministry announced. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) BEIJING (AP) China on Tuesday sanctioned Mike Gallagher, a former Republican member of Congress from Wisconsin who has shown support for Taiwan. Gallagher will be banned from entering China, any assets he holds in the country will be frozen and he will be barred from various exchanges with Chinese organizations and individuals, the countrys Foreign Ministry announced. The sanctions come a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken congratulated Taiwans new president, Lai Ching-te, on his inauguration Monday. China claims the self-ruled island as its own territory, to be annexed by force if necessary, and bristles at other countries contacts with Taipei. On Monday, China's Ministry of Commerce announced sanctions on Boeing and two other U.S. defense companies over arms sales to Taiwan. Gallagher, who stepped down in April, led the House pushback against the Chinese government, including helping to pass a bill that could ban popular video app TikTok if its China-based owner doesnt sell its stake. In February, Gallagher led a Congressional delegation to Taiwan in a visit that sought to assure Taipei of Washingtons continued support. The United States, like most countries, doesnt recognize Taiwan as a country but is bound by its own laws to ensure the island can defend itself. BEIJING (AP) China on Tuesday sanctioned Mike Gallagher, a former Republican member of Congress from Wisconsin who has shown support for Taiwan. Gallagher will be banned from entering China, any assets he holds in the country will be frozen and he will be barred from various exchanges with Chinese organizations and individuals, the countrys Foreign Ministry announced. Police searching for source of ketamine obtained by Matthew Perry The sanctions come a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken congratulated Taiwans new president, Lai Ching-te, on his inauguration Monday. China claims the self-ruled island as its own territory, to be annexed by force if necessary, and bristles at other countries contacts with Taipei. On Monday, Chinas Ministry of Commerce announced sanctions on Boeing and two other U.S. defense companies over arms sales to Taiwan. Gallagher, who stepped down in April, led the House pushback against the Chinese government, including helping to pass a bill that could ban popular video app TikTok if its China-based owner doesnt sell its stake. DNR: Cicadas have started to emerge in Wisconsin, will not appear again until 2041 In February, Gallagher led a Congressional delegation to Taiwan in a visit that sought to assure Taipei of Washingtons continued support. The United States, like most countries, doesnt recognize Taiwan as a country but is bound by its own laws to ensure the island can defend itself. 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 WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton. By Liz Lee BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called Taiwan's newly-inaugurated President Lai Ching-te "disgraceful" on Tuesday, stepping up Beijing's rhetoric just a day after he took office. China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, believes Lai to be a "separatist", and has rebuffed his offers of talks. China's government has generally avoided directly naming Lai since he won election in January, unlike in the run-up to the vote where they regularly denounced him by name and said the election was a choice between war and peace. Speaking at a foreign ministers meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Kazakhstan, Wang said Taiwan was the "core of core issues" for China, and independence activities the most destructive factor for peace in the Taiwan Strait. "The ugly acts of Lai Ching-te and others who betray the nation and their ancestors is disgraceful," China's foreign ministry cited Wang as saying. Nothing can stop China from achieving "reunification" and bringing Taiwan "back to the motherland", he added. "All Taiwan independence separatists will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history." Taiwan's foreign ministry said China's coercive practices would not sway the island. "Political coercion and diplomatic suppression by the authoritarian Chinese government will never change Taiwan's staunch democratic convictions," it said. Lai, like his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen, says only Taiwan's people can decide their future, rejecting Beijing's sovereignty claims. China on Tuesday also admonished the United States for sending its congratulations to Lai, after scolding South Korean and Japanese lawmakers for visiting Taiwan despite its strong opposition. In his inauguration address on Monday, Lai asked China to stop its military and political threats, saying that peace was the only choice and that Beijing had to respect the choice of the Taiwanese people. Lai received loud applause after reiterating that the Republic of China - Taiwan's formal name - and the People's Republic of China are "not subordinate to each other", a line Tsai also took. China views such wording as tantamount to saying China and Taiwan are different countries, a red line for Beijing. China says any move by Taiwan to declare formal independence would be grounds to attack the island. The government in Taipei says Taiwan is already an independent country, the Republic of China. The Republican government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists who set up the People's Republic of China. (Reporting by Liz Lee and Beijing newsroom; Writing and additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Andrew Heavens, William Maclean and Christina Fincher) FILE PHOTO: The skeleton of a Psittacosaurus dinosaur is displayed during the Collector Exhibition at the Grand Palais Museum in Paris FILE PHOTO: The skeleton of a Psittacosaurus dinosaur is displayed during the Collector Exhibition at the Grand Palais Museum in Paris By Will Dunham (Reuters) - A new fossil of the Cretaceous Period dinosaur Psittacosaurus, a dog-sized herbivore with a parrot-like beak, that was donated to a Chinese university came with a surprise - one revealed only after scientists viewed it under ultraviolet light. It retained large patches of beautifully preserved skin, down to its cellular structure, providing new insight into skin evolution in feathered dinosaurs. The fossil points to "zoned development" in the skin of these dinosaurs, researchers said, with Psittacosaurus and probably other feathered dinosaurs possessing scaly, reptile-like skin on body regions without feathers, with soft, bird-like skin on areas with feathers. "Initially we didn't really have much hope of finding any soft tissues because, to the naked eye, our specimen appears to preserve only the bones. We didn't give up, though, because we knew that during fossilization soft tissues can be replaced by minerals, which may blend in with the sediments," said Zixiao Yang, a postdoctoral researcher in paleontology at University College Cork in Ireland and lead author of the study published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. "When I turned on the UV light, I could feel my heart almost skip a beat. Large patches of scaly skin, covering the chest and belly, were glowing in a striking golden-yellow color under the UV. The fossil skin looked really exquisite, covered by tiny, rounded scales of about one millimeter wide," Yang said. Fossils of any soft tissues are rare. Skin fossils of this quality are rarer still. Unearthed in northeastern China, the nearly complete fossil, dating to roughly 130 million years ago, is of a juvenile Psittacosaurus (pronounced SIT-ak-oh-sawr-us), about 2-1/4 feet (66 cm) long and approximately 3 years old when it died. It was donated in 2021 to Nanjing University from a private collection. Psittacosaurus is an early member of the horned dinosaur lineage, called ceratopsians, that later produced large beasts like Triceratops. Psittacosaurus itself lacked horns. Its name means "parrot lizard" based on its protruding beak, adapted for eating plants. Many dinosaurs had feathers. In fact, birds evolved from small feathered dinosaurs. The first rudimentary feathers are thought to have evolved from reptilian scales nearly 250 million years ago in animals ancestral to dinosaurs and the flying reptiles called pterosaurs. Psittacosaurus had simple, bristle-like feathers atop its tail. The rest of its body was covered by scaly skin. The fossil did not have skin from the dinosaur's feathered regions, but the researchers think these areas had bird-like skin. "This discovery adds nuance to our understanding of feather evolution. The acquisition of modern, bird-like skin happened only locally on the body. Tough, reptile-style skin remained essential in body regions not protected by feathers," said University College Cork paleontology professor and study co-author Maria McNamara. The skin of birds exhibits multiple adaptations for feathers. Birds have a dermal network of microscopic muscles that encircles each feather and acts like a hydraulic system, including muscles that pull feathers in different directions. There also is a network of smooth muscles under the skin that keeps feathers separated, as well as deposits of fatty tissue anchored to the base of the skin that create an even skin surface and feather orientation. In addition, feathers are connected by a system of sensory nerve fibers. "Until now, we haven't known whether the skin of dinosaurs and their relatives evolved these skin adaptations first and feathers later, or whether they evolved at the same time, and in which parts of the body," McNamara said. The Psittacosaurus fossil "strongly suggests that evolution of feathers - and the new skin adaptations - happened at the same time," McNamara said. The dinosaur's scaly skin closely resembled the skin of today's reptiles. "They are similar in many aspects, including the shape, size, arrangement and composition of skin cells, and the way the skin produces color patterns," Yang said. (Reporting by Will Dunham in Washington; Editing by Daniel Wallis) Twenty-three acres of ancestral homeland in Southeastern Washington that used to house a juvenile detention center will soon be returned to the Chinook Indian Nation. Thats based on the April 25 vote from a Washington State Office of Financial Management task force convened in July to decide what to do with the land. The Naselle Youth Camp was closed in 2022 and has been vacant ever since. The task force selected Chinooks proposal among 30 others. In their proposal, the Chinook Indian Nation said theyd utilize the land for government office space, archival storage, and space for cultural classes, according to Underscore News + ICT reporting from a task force meeting in March. The Chinook Indian Nation is made up of the five western-most Chinookan-speaking tribes at the mouth of the Columbia River. The tribe was federally recognized by the Clinton Administration in 2001. However, 18 months later, the federal government rescinded the decision after another Washington Tribe protested that recognition. [The vote] does feel like something for the history books and something that our descendants will look back on as an awfully important moment, Chinook Indian Nation Chairman Tony Johnson told Underscore News + ICT. The land transfer came from a bill introduced in 2023 January by state senator Jeff Wilson that would have required the transfer of the property to the Chinook Indian Nation. But the bill was never heard, and instead Wilson added a budget provision to this years legislative budget proposal for a task force to make recommendations about the future of the Naselle property and facilities. 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 Christa Pike, Tennessee's only woman on death row, the subject of Investigation Discovery's 'Mean Girl Murders' Christa Pike, the only woman on death row in Tennessee, was recently featured on an episode of Investigation Discovery's TV series "Mean Girl Murders." Pike, 48, was convicted of murder for the 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer at the Job Corps campus in Knoxville. Pike is the last person in Tennessee sentenced to death for a crime they committed when they were 18. The episode featuring Pike, called "She-Devil," aired on ID on Monday. Minutes into the episode, one of the guests compares Pike to serial killers John Wayne Gacy and Jeffrey Dahmer. Here are some of the facts of Pike's case. Who is Christa Pike? Christa Pike was a student at the Knoxville Job Corps, a federal job training program, when she brutally killed fellow student Colleen Slemmer in 1995. Born in West Virginia in 1976, Pike had an extremely traumatic upbringing marked by violence, sexual abuse and substance abuse. Her attorneys say she developed severe mental illness as a result. Pike has been on death row at Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center in Nashville since she was convicted in 1996. While in prison in 2001, she attempted to kill another incarcerated woman, Patricia Jones, by strangling her with a shoestring. She was convicted of attempted murder in 2004. Christa Gail Pike and defense attorneys Catherine Brockenborough look at paperwork during a break in the hearing on Monday July 30, 2007. Christa Gail Pike's former lover came to her defense today as Pike's attorneys renewed their effort to get her off death row. Who was Colleen Slemmer? Colleen Slemmer was a 19-year-old student at the Knoxville Job Corps when Pike, Shadolla Peterson and Tadaryl Shipp lured her to a remote area of the University of Tennessee Agricultural campus to carry out the killing. What happened during the murder of Colleen Slemmer? When she was at Job Corps in Knoxville, Pike began dating fellow student Shipp. Prosecutors said Pike and her friend, Peterson, plotted to kill Slemmer when she suspected Slemmer was trying to steal her boyfriend. The three students killed Slemmer on Jan. 12, 1995. The killing involved a lengthy beating and torture during which the killers etched a pentagram into Slemmer's chest and Pike took a piece of her skull. Death row case: Christa Pike, who would be first Tennessee woman executed in 200 years, moves to reopen appeal When was Christa Pike sentenced? Christa Gail Pike is seen during her trial for the murder of Colleen A. Slemmer March 18, 1996, in Knox County Criminal Court. Pike confessed to the crime and was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder at trial on March 22, 1996. She was sentenced to death by electrocution on March 30, 1996. If she is executed, she would be the first woman put to death in Tennessee in more than 200 years. What happened to Shadolla Peterson and Tadaryl Shipp? Shadolla Peterson turned state witness and pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact. She received a six-year probationary sentence. Shipp was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to life. He becomes eligible for parole in 2026, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction. What has happened with Christa Pike's case? Christa Gail Pike in court during a bid for a new trial in 2008. Pike has not yet been executed. She has filed numerous appeals, and her most recent attempt to have a judge review her case was denied in October 2023. Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, has repeatedly called for Pike's execution and said that the piece of her daughter's skull that Pike was taken remains in state custody. Pike has since said that she was experiencing an acute mental health crisis during the killing. A psychologist told The Tennessean she believed Pike was not in touch with reality at the time. She has filed a federal lawsuit arguing that she is subject to de facto solitary confinement as the only woman on death row because those sentenced to death are housed separately from all other incarcerated people. She has been the only woman on Tennessee's death row since 2010, when then-Gov. Phil Bredesen commuted the death sentence of Gaile Owens, who died in 2010. Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EvanMealins. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Christa Pike: What to know about Tennessee's only woman on death row Christopher Parosa, left, and James Cleavenger are the candidates running for district attorney in Lane County. Early voting results released at 11 p.m. Tuesday indicate Christopher Parosa is leading the Lane County District Attorney's race by a sizeable margin. The first round of returns counted 75,784 of ballots county-wide, for about a 27% turnout. The last Lane County May election in a presidential year had about 47% turnout. Lane County was scheduled to post the next round of results at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. Tuesday's election could decide who will replace Lane County District Attorney Patty Perlow, who chose to retire from office after 34 years of working in Eugene. The district attorney is the county's lead prosecutor who is elected to a four-year term in office. They are charged with leading a team of deputy district attorneys to prosecute people suspected of crimes, direct investigations and recommend sentences. The two candidates running are Christopher Parosa, the chief deputy district attorney in Lane County, and James Cleavenger, who works as the Oakridge city administrator and a reserve Oakridge police officer. Cleavenger previously challenged Perlow for district attorney in 2020. Campaign contributions in Lane County district attorney primary election Cleavenger received less than $750 in total contributions to his campaign, according to the latest update from the Oregon campaign finance database. Incumbent and uncontested Lane County Sheriff Cliff Harold gave his campaign a $500 loan and received $401 in cash contributions. Parosa received a total of $63,742 in campaign contributions, with $60,058 of that total coming from cash contributions and $3,684 coming from non-monetary donations. Contributions of at least $2,000 included: $5,000 cash from Wildish Land Company $5,000 cash from Sierra Pacific Industries $5,000 cash from Olsson Industrial electric $5,000 cash from John Murphy, owner of Murphy Plywood $4,000 cash from Lane County Prosecuting Attorneys $3,684 non-monetary from Chuck Hare, owner of Delux Transportation $2,500 cash from Deborah Parosa, immediate family $2,500 cash from Giustina Resources $2,000 cash from Lane Professional Firefighters Association $2,000 cash from Aaron Thomas, owner of Thomas and sons Distributors Haleigh Kochanski is a breaking news and public safety reporter for The Register-Guard. You may reach her at HKochanski@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Election results: Parosa leads Cleavenger for Lane County DA CHICAGO A Cicero man accused of opening fire on a vehicle with five people inside on the citys West Side in early May is now facing a slew of felony Charges. 19-year-old Juan Loredo who was taken into custody on Monday, is facing 10 felony charges, including five counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of aggravated battery with the discharge of a firearm, and two counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm into an occupied vehicle. Read more: Latest Chicago news headlines The charges stem from an early-morning shooting that allegedly unfolded in Austin on Sunday, May 5. 19-year-old Juan Loredo is accused of opening fire on a vehicle with five people inside on the city's West Side in early May, according to Chicago police. Officers say just after 4 a.m., in the 1600 block of North Cicero Avenue, Loredo allegedly opened fire on a vehicle, leaving three of the five occupants injured. Currently, it is unclear what led to the shooting and authorities have not provided updates on the condition of the victims. LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland Authorities eventually caught up with Loredo in the 5600 block of Old Orchard Road in Skokie where he was taken into custody. On Tuesday, Loredo appeared in court for a detention hearing. 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 WGN-TV. Shauna Murphy will serve as interim superintendent of Cincinnati Public Schools while the board looks for a permanent replacement for outgoing leader Iranetta Wright. Alesia Smith will act as interim deputy superintendent. Both Murphy and Smith have worked in the district for years. Until now, Murphy was chief of student and family services and Smith was chief of schools. The school board voted to appoint Murphy as the interim leader and Smith as the interim deputy superintendent during a business meeting Monday evening. Wright handed in her resignation after six unions that contract with Cincinnati Public Schools voted no confidence in her. Shauna Murphy, left, and Alesia Smith, right, will be leading Cincinnati Public Schools after Iranetta Wright's departure. Murphy and Smith have worked in the district for years prior to the interim appointments. More: How Cincinnati 'star' superintendent became victim of district's 'fragmented culture' Murphy grew up in Bond Hill and still lives there. She said she's excited for the opportunity to serve the city's kids in this capacity. "Superintendent Wright is an amazing, brilliant woman who we definitely learned from," Murphy said. Now, she said, it's time to take what's been learned and move forward. That means addressing a now $26 million budget gap that may involve cutting staff, and restoring a broken culture among the district's workers. "We're gonna restore confidence in the community," Murphy said. Smith agreed that improving culture is a priority in the coming weeks. The board also officially accepted Wright's resignation during Monday's meeting by passing the treasurer's report. Board members Ben Lindy and Kendra Mapp voted against accepting Wright's resignation. Lindy abstained from appointing Murphy and Smith, and Mapp voted no to their appointments. "This transition is just reckless because there is no plan," Lindy said. When former superintendent Laura Mitchell left, Lindy said, the board spent six weeks selecting an interim leader. This time, the board spent six days looking for an interim, interviewed two candidates and those interviews lasted 10 minutes each. "There's been no effort to engage superintendent Wright on the transition process," Lindy said. "In fact, for reasons that I still don't understand, she was asked not to attend these discussions. The whole thing has been rushed and conducted behind closed doors in the middle of a budget crisis of our own making." The board announced Wright's decision to resign last week after the unions that contract with the district made votes of no confidence in her leadership. In the settlement agreement, the district agrees to pay Wright her salary of $270,400 through the end of her original contract, which is up at the end of July 2025. The district's last day of school for students is Thursday. The board's next business meeting will take place on June 3. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati school board announces interim superintendent City Council hears about critical staffing and pay needs for police and firefighters On the day the chief financial officer gave Wichita Falls City Council members a snapshot of budget projections for the coming year, representatives of the police and fire associations made pleas for more personnel and more money. Most of the citys revenue comes from property taxes or sales taxes. CFO Stephen Calvert said property tax revenue is controlled by complicated state-ordered rules that limit how much the city can raise tax rates without a public vote. WIchita Falls City Council members are beginning to think about next year's budget. How much residents pay in property taxes is also dependent on property appraisals, which are also restricted by state rules. In recent years, the city has been able to lower its property tax rate but still get more revenue because property values have increased. Calvert also projected sales tax revenue will be flat during the next budget period. At present, no figures have been plugged into a proposed budget. Related to revenue, Al Vitolo, president of the Wichita Falls Professional Firefighters Association, told councilors the fire department needs more personnel. In addition to needing a couple of key positions filled, Vitolo said the department is understaffed for actual firefighting. I am unapologetic about asking for extra staff. The national standard is four men per unit. We run three, he said. He said the department has seen a steady increase in the number of calls over 14,000 in 2023. We have seen no increase in staffing, Vitolo said He also said the Fire Marshals Office is overwhelmed. They do not have the staff to accomplish the required tasks, he said. Steve Ginger, president of the Wichita Falls Police Officers Association, spoke again to the councilors, reiterating his departments concerns. At a May 7 meeting, Ginger said the local police academy that produces new officers is getting fewer applicants, and larger cities are luring potential officers away from Wichita Falls. He warned that if something didn't change, services might have to be reduced. The problem were having is that nobody is applying, Ginger said Tuesday. Councilor Tom Taylor said the needs of the police and fire departments are critical and suggested the council might entertain the idea of a little bit perhaps of tax increase. Another City Council member expressed his concerns. What those guys are talking about is safety safety for our community, Councilor Bobby Whiteley said. What theyre talking about is being able to recruit and retain and do a job that keeps our community safe. They are not just talking about themselves. The council will tackle the 2024-2025 budget during the summer to have it ready for a final vote in September. This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: City Council hears critical staffing, pay needs from police and fire City Hall aide suspended during FBI probe of Adams campaign fundraising is cooperating with feds: sources A City Hall aide who was suspended for inappropriate conduct amid an FBI probe into Mayor Eric Adams campaign fundraising is cooperating with the feds, sources confirmed to The Post. The Adams staffer who turned on her boss has been identified by sources as Rana Abbasova, whose home was raided by the FBI as part of the federal corruption investigation into the mayors 2021 campaign. After Abbasovas New Jersey house was raided in November 2023, sources have said she urged fellow City Hall staffers to delete texts, leading to her suspension. Rana Abbasova was identified as the City Hall aide suspended for inappropriate conduct amid an FBI probe into Mayor Eric Adams campaign fundraising. twitter The improper behavior was reported to the feds, and City Hall placed her on leave. Federal investigators then obtained a court warrant to retrieve Adams mobile devices to determine if he had also received messages from Abbasova. The mayor did not receive a message, the source said. Its unclear when Abbasova the director of protocol in the Office for International Affairs began cooperating with the FBI and what information she may have shared. The FBI is probing whether Adams team conspired with the Turkish government to fuel his campaign with foreign donations and whether he urged the FDNY to fast-track permits for a new Turkish Consulate that had failed earlier safety inspection. Abbasovas New Jersey house was raided in November 2023. Facebook/Rena Abasova Neither Adams, Abbasova nor any member of his campaign has been accused of any wrongdoing. Abbasova, whose salary is listed as $80,651, performed advanced planning and logistics for mayoral events as part of her role, sources said. The Azerbaijan native also worked for Adams when he served as Brooklyn Borough President, serving as a liaison between him and the Turkish community. City Hall declined to comment, referring questions to the mayors 2021 campaign. Abbasova worked for Adams when he served as Brooklyn Borough President, serving as a liaison between him and the Turkish community. nyc.gov Brendan McGuire, Adams former chief counsel at City Hall who now represents him in the FBI investigation, told The New York Times that Abbasovas cooperation was not a new or meaningful development. It is our understanding that Ms. Abbasova has been talking to investigators since her improper conduct was reported by the administration in November, he said in a statement, noting that the Adams administration had reported her inappropriate behavior following the search of her home. City officials, lawmakers call for funding to be restored for libraries City officials, lawmakers call for funding to be restored for libraries NEW YORK (PIX11) Supporters of the New York Public Library system will rally outside City Hall on Tuesday to call for funding to be restored for libraries. Mayor Eric Adams $112 billion budget for next year has deep cuts, including cutting nearly $60 million in library spending. The cuts could push more branches to only offer five days a week of service and stonewall spending on materials and programs, library leaders said. NYC is a citadel of books in an age of censorship and bans: experts Brooklyn Public Library President Linda Johnson said the citys libraries need all the funding Adams is proposing to cut. Adams told PIX11 News last month that his door is open to compromise as the budget isnt due until the end of June. YouTube star Ms. Rachel calls out Mayor Adams cuts to early education Library officials are also being asked to cut from their $130 million capital plans for maintenance and renovations for the first time since 2008. Public libraries in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn were forced to close on Sundays after Adams announced the full list of proposed cuts to city funding in November 2023. Erin Pflaumer is a digital content producer from Long Island who has covered both local and national news since 2018. She joined PIX11 in 2023. See more of her work here. 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 PIX11. SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) The City of San Angelo City Council discussed a proposed amendment to the Code of Ordinance that would conditionally prohibit parking on front yards. Heres what the amendment looks like, why it came to be and what comes next. Though a mock-up version of the amendment was introduced at the May 21 City Council meeting, discussions about creating it had been underway for quite some time prior. The City Council met on Jan. 18 to discuss the matter, with multiple members citing their primary reason for wanting the ordinance amended as complaints raised by residents about unsightly vehicles located in their neighbors front yards. RELATED: COSA reviews parking ordinance The meeting These aesthetic complaints raised by locals have persisted throughout the months, leading the City Council to consider amending the Citys existing parking ordinances to prohibit parking in the front yard of residential-zoned areas. The amendments current state, as described in the May 21 City Council meeting agenda packet, would see all parking on unimproved surfaces prohibited with the following exceptions: On a driveway with an improved surface and curb cut On an area screened from public view by a solidly opaque privacy fence or wall at least six feet in height and which otherwise conforms to height limitations prescribed by the Citys zoning ordinance City staff also recommended implementing the following exceptions: The parking of RVs, trailers/semi-trailers used for recreational purposes, when excepted from parking prohibitions under section 10.04.065 Parking in the rear yard, so long as the rear boundary of said lot is not adjacent to a street right-of-way and the lot only has access to street(s) having an improved surface of 36 feet or less in width Vehicles with a valid handicapped license plate or mirror hanger These latter three exceptions, according to Neighborhood & Family Services Director Bob Salas, would limit the current list of additional exceptions. The current list can be found in Article 8.10 of the Code of Ordinance and consists of seven exceptions to the parking prohibition, including one that protects parking on a yard so long as said lot has access only to street(s) having an improved surface 36 feet or less in width. Neighborhood & Family Services Director Robert Salas told the City Council that San Angelos Code of Ordinance has permitted people to park vehicles in front yards, something that other cities in Texas have historically prohibited. Waco, Abilene and San Antonio specifically prohibit parking in residential yards, while other cities like El Paso, Denton, Garland, Amarillo and Lubbock dont address the parking issue specifically, but they do have their own issues they deal with, Salas said. Turns out that very few cities, if any, allow parking in the front yard like we do. The City Council members questioned Salas about whether the proposed amendment would address residents complaints. In response, Salas stated that the amendment is designed to prevent the unsightly situation caused by multiple cars being parked on a single front yard. If the street is 36 feet wide or less, they can park on the front yard, and thats whats causing the problem, Salas said. It becomes very chaotic youll have a house with four or five cars on the front yard in all kinds of directions, and it causes an unsightly situation. Thats the concern we have, and these changes would address that. The City Council chose not to take action on the amendment just yet, instead opting to send it back for further review and revision to answer questions raised during the meeting. The City Council expects at least two readings to occur regarding the amendment before a decision is made. 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 ConchoValleyHomepage.com. City Watch issued for 3-year-old boy last seen in Frayser UPDATE: MPD says the City Watch has been canceled; the child has been located safe. MEMPHIS, Tenn. Memphis Police are searching for a three-year-old boy who went missing from a Frayser neighborhood Monday night. Residents last saw King Williams in the 1800 block of Driftwood Avenue at around 7:30 p.m. He is described as being 30 tall and weighing 90 pounds. MPD says he has black locs. He was last seen wearing a pink shirt with a snake on the front, light blue jeans, and gray Nike shoes. Sign up for WREG newsletters and have the latest top stories sent right to your inbox. See more breaking news, local news and weather from WREG.com for Memphis and the Mid-South. If you see King Williams, call the Memphis Police Department. 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 WREG.com. City yet to pay for cars destroyed in massive Los Angeles garbage truck fire The owners of three cars burnt to scrap in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Harvard Heights during a massive city trash truck fire want to know why the cars have not been removed and when officials plan to reimburse them for their loss. The May 13 fire occurred at around 2:15 p.m. in the 1700 block of Westmoreland Boulevard when flames erupted inside the trash truck and spread to nearby cars parked at the curb. Firefighters quickly doused the flames with water and foam, but at least six parked vehicles caught fire, several of which appeared to be total losses. My Volkswagen Sport Wagon and my Smart Car are both total losses, Kelton Green told KTLA. A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (viewer photo) A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (Citizen) A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (Aliysa S.) A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (Aliysa S.) A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (Aliysa S.) A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (Aliysa S.) A Smart car destroyed after an L.A. city trash truck erupted in flames on May 13, 2024, in Harvard Heights. (KTLA) A Smart car destroyed after an L.A. city trash truck erupted in flames on May 13, 2024, in Harvard Heights. (KTLA) A Smart car destroyed after an L.A. city trash truck erupted in flames on May 13, 2024, in Harvard Heights. (KTLA) A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (Aliysa S.) A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (viewer photo) A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (Kelton Green) A trash truck and parked cars seen in flames on a street in L.A.s Harvard Heights neighborhood on May 13, 2024. (Kelton Green) With nothing to salvage and no vehicle to get around in, Green and others were hoping the city would act quickly to reimburse them for the extensive damage, but so far, the burnt-out vehicles remain on the residential street and at least one of the owners, who filed a claim with the city, said he has yet to hear from officials. 3 suspects tied to string of Southern California 7-Eleven robberies arrested Ive been waiting for the city to contact us, Alex De Leon, whose Lexus was destroyed in the fire, said. I filed a claim, and we went to the city office, but we still havent heard anything back. First responders said they did not know what exactly sparked the fire, but that it may have started from an electrical fire inside the truck that ignited the truck. 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 KTLA. What is CKM Syndrome? Report Finds Most Americans Meet Criteria For Early Stages Fact checked by Nick BlackmerFact checked by Nick Blackmer A study found about 90% of U.S. adults met the criteria for stage one or higher of cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome. CKM syndrome is broken into different stages; the overwhelming majority of study participants had either stage one or two of the condition. Experts urge people to talk to their doctors about CKM syndrome. Almost 90% of Americans meet the criteria for cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome, according to a new report. The JAMA study, published on May 8, looked at a population of over 10,000 adults between 2011 and 2020, and found that nearly nine in 10 people had at least stage one of CKM syndrome. About 15% had advanced CKM syndrome. The conditionjust classified by the American Heart Association in Octoberis defined as the intersection of heart disease, kidney disease, and the metabolic conditions type 2 diabetes and obesity. Though these four conditions are often diagnosed separately, having one can put a person at a higher risk for the other three. For example, people with heart disease have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, obesity, and kidney disease. CKM syndrome is broken into different stages, and earlier stages are generally defined by risk factors for the four conditions, including prediabetes or excess weight, rather than the conditions themselves. Were not saying that millions and millions of people have the disease. Were saying millions and millions of people are at risk, Clyde Yancy, MD, chief of cardiology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told Health. Heres what to know about CKM syndrome, how prevalent it is in the U.S., and how to manage your risk. Prostock-Studio / Getty Images How Many People Have CKM Syndrome? To investigate just how common CKM syndrome is in the U.S., the authors of the JAMA research letter looked at data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2011 and 2020. They included health information from 10,762 adults, who were 47 years old on average. This allowed the authors to sort participants into one of five different CKM syndrome stages. About 10% of people had stage zero CKM syndrome, which actually means they met no criteria for the condition. These participants had a normal body mass index (BMI), a normal waist circumference, and no other risk factors. Nearly 26% of people met the criteria for stage one, which meant they had elevated BMIs, a higher waist circumference, or prediabetes. These factors raise a persons risk of developing heart disease, kidney disease, obesity, and/or type 2 diabetes. Stage zero and one are similar in terms of risk, Ashish Verma, MD, assistant professor of nephrology at the Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, told Health. [They] are more risk stages than syndrome stages, as there is opportunity for prevention in these stages. The biggest proportion of participants49%had stage two CKM syndrome. They had kidney disease, and/or metabolic risk factors such as high blood pressure, high triglycerides, type 2 diabetes, or metabolic syndrome. Researchers found the final 15% of the participants had advanced-stage CKM syndrome. This includes stage three (about 6% of people), which is defined as very-high-risk kidney disease or a high risk for cardiovascular disease. About 9% of people had stage four, or established cardiovascular disease. Black Americans, men, and people over the age of 65 had an increased risk for these advanced stages of CKM syndrome. These prevalence statistics were consistent between 2011 and 2020. The fact that there is a high burden of CKM syndrome in the U.S. is not surprising, Sadiya Khan, MD, professor of cardiovascular epidemiology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told Health. However, this new research highlights just how common stage two CKM syndrome really is, she said. Related: How Worsening Metabolic SyndromeIncluding High Blood Sugar, Hypertension, and ObesityCan Impact Cancer Risk How Do You Prevent CKM Syndrome? With CKM syndrome being a newer concept, researchers are still learning more about how it progresses. There are many different risk factors and early warning signs associated with CKM syndrome, and we dont know what comes first, Yancy explained. Though obesity is a major driver for CKM syndrome in many people, thats not always the case. Some people are predisposed without being overweight, Matthew Weir, MD, division head of nephrology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, told Health. One person may first gain weight, and then go on to develop type 2 diabetes. Another may have kidney issues that lead to heart issues and weight gain. The relationship between all of these conditions is bidirectional, Verma said. Kidney disease is a risk factor for heart disease and vice versa, he explained. Metabolic disease is a risk factor for both kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. Because of this, there are a wide number of different CKM syndrome risk factors that doctors can address with their patientsusually lifestyle modifications can have a big impact. In some cases, medications, including Wegovy or Ozempic, might be necessary to help people manage obesity and diabetes, Weir said. As people reduce risks for one area, such as obesity, they may be able to modify risks for other aspects of CKM syndrome, like heart disease, said Yancy. Related: Weight-Loss Drug Wegovy Could Reduce Risk of Heart Attack, Stroke Raising Awareness to Reduce Prevalence of CKM Syndrome With evidence of just how common CKM syndrome is, experts hope the condition becomes more widely discussed, both among healthcare professionals and everyday people. Doctors often treat specific aspects of a patients health without addressing the bigger picture, Weir explained. For CKM syndrome in particular, many healthcare professionals may not even be familiar with it, he added. CKM [syndrome] is a brand new way of thinking, said Yancy. If we modify risk factors and target the entire cascade, might that not be better? More awareness and focus on the overlap between these conditions should have a big impact on health, and hopefully reduce the percentage of people who meet the criteria for CKM syndrome. This is especially important when it comes to reducing health disparities. The JAMA study found very few people who identify as Black were included in the stage zero category, Khan pointed out. This really highlights the importance of earlier intervention beginning in childhood, or perhaps even in the prenatal period, she said. Focusing on social determinants of health could be one way to ease these disparities, Yancy said. This might mean increasing access to nutritious foods, creating more areas to walk, or expanding access to health insurance. On an individual level, people should start a conversation with their healthcare provider about CKM syndrome if they think they fall into any of the stageseven stage one, said Yancy. Any type of clinician should be able to address CKM syndrome, and your primary care doctor can refer you to a specialist if necessary, said Weir. Its real, its comprehensive, and there are many, many people who really do fall into this category, said Yancy. Related: Understanding Racial Disparities in Heart Health For more Health.com news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on Health.com. KANSAS CITY, Mo. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri announced on Tuesday morning that the famous Mill at Limetz painting, created by Claude Monet in 1888, was sold at an auction last week. The painting was auctioned off for almost $22 million at Christies in New York on May 16. Prior to its sale, the painting was toured around the world and seen by a variety of prospective buyers in Hong Kong, London, Paris and more. Six beaches in Kansas City you can visit all summer long The buyer who purchased the painting remains anonymous, but the large global interest proves the paintings value and significance in the long history and impact of Monets art. Mill at Limetz was one of only two creations made in the summer of 1888 that showcased a view of the grain mill at Limetz on the River Epte about a mile from the artists Giverny, France home. The other painting was also sold at an auction in the fall of 2023. In 1986, the painting was given to the museum as a partial gift by Ethel B. Atha. However, after almost 40 years at the museum, Atha chose to sell the painting in September 2023 after her daughter, Ethelyn Atha Chase, died. Chase was known to hold a special interest in the painting. Even though the Mill at Limetz is no longer in Kansas City, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art continues to hold onto the legacy of Monet and the art he created over the span of his career. Some of the museums collections include his Boulevard de Capucines, signalizing the birth of the impressionist art movement, and the infamous Water Lilies painting. Nelson-Atkins Art Course opening Friday for the spring season The museum also owns two lyrical snowscapes, both realized in 1875 and, currently, a local Kansas City collector is lending Monets 1881 painting titled, Church at Vetheuil. This ensures the artists 1880s works will always be available and seen by the public. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is located at 4525 Oak Street in Kansas City, Missouri. It is open Saturday through Monday, 10 a.m. 5 p.m., Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. 9 p.m., and it is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Admission to the museum is free. 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 FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. BALTIMORE The 58-year-old woman couldnt bear to share the details of the sexual abuse she suffered as a child, but its effect on her came across loud and clear Monday in a Baltimore courtroom as she faced the leader of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Do you see me now? she cried toward Archbishop William Lori, who was seated across the courtroom from her. Do I matter to you now? I suffer from PTSD, from anxiety, from depression and panic attacks. Im on disability. It will take me days to recover from talking today. I hope youve heard my truth and feel the pain Ive struggled with. Her testimony as one of eight abuse survivors to speak Monday in the archdioceses bankruptcy case contributed to a chilling picture of children being tormented by Catholic clergy and a vivid portrait of the lives altered permanently by their experiences. Victims recounted being abused in schools, in church rectories and at priests homes. Many remembered feeling confused about what happened to them and being told by their abusers people they looked up to to keep it to themselves. Survivors said the abuse led them to develop substance disorders, to lose their faith and ability to trust, to live in isolation. Mondays was the second such hearing in the archdioceses case. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michelle M. Harner allowed the testimony, unusual in money-oriented bankruptcy cases, to bolster survivor participation and trust in the process. She booked the hearings at the request of a committee of survivors representing all victims in the case, and with the support of the church. Although, unlike others, the 58-year-old woman shared few details of her abuse, she was graphic about how the scars it left on her destroyed her ability to tell right from wrong and led to a life of horrible decisions, promiscuity, substance abuse, eating disorders, persistent nightmares and abusive relationships. At one point, she noted that she was directing her comments to the archdiocese because she was angry, particularly because the church did little when she came forward to report what shed been through after her abuser was exposed. Im sorry, she said at one point, beginning to sob. No, Im not. Im not sorry! A somber Lori maintained eye contact with her throughout her testimony, though he gave no spoken response, and said after court that as difficult as it was to hear, doing so is part of what he hopes is a healing process. Ive met many, many times as a bishop with victim survivors and some of those meetings have been like that, he told The Baltimore Sun. And when people share their raw emotions with me, it certainly brings home to me the horror of abuse. Mondays hearing comes less than two weeks ahead of the May 31 deadline for sex abuse survivors to file claims against the archdiocese in bankruptcy court. As of Monday, there were an estimated 320 such claims filed in the case, Paul Jan Zdunek, chair of the survivors committee, said after court. We also wanted to be sure people know that the process can be completely anonymous if they would like it to be, Zdunek said after court. Standing with other committee members, including two who testified, Zdunek called the hearing truly gut-wrenching. What has been very interesting is to not only understand the abuse but more importantly what has happened in the time since, and in many cases, what hasnt happened, Zdunek said. And that is their lives; they just stopped. Several survivors who testified Monday said they did so with hopes that their stories would inspire others. Among them was Mark Easley, who came from a family of devout Catholics. Easley, who is Black, said he found St. Vincent de Paul Church to be a safe haven during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The pastor of the church, Edmund Stroup, gained his mothers trust. So it was a privilege, when Stroup invited Easley, who was about 6 or 7, and his little brother to spend nights at the church with him, he testified. Stroup brought them to the rectory, where there was only one bed, and told the children to change into pajamas. The priest went to the bathroom and emerged naked. I viewed this man as one of Gods messengers. It was the first time I saw him with his collar off, Easley recalled. The Sun does not identify victims of sexual abuse without their consent. Easley said he was terrified to speak up. The abuse left him unable to finish high school. He said he struggled to make friends and never married. His terrible acts of sexual abuse sentenced me to a life of solitude, said Easley, recalling that he didnt share his story until he sat down with lawyers after Maryland enacted the Child Victims Act in April 2023. That law abolished time limits for people sexually abused as children to sue their abusers and the institutions that enabled their suffering. The church declared bankruptcy Sept. 29, two days before the child victims law took effect. By filing for bankruptcy, the archdiocese sought to protect its assets and limit its legal liability. The church also said it was doing so to be able to fairly compensate the estimated hundreds of survivors with civil claims rather than pay inordinate sums to only a few, allowing the archdiocese to carry forward with its mission. State lawmakers enacted the child victims law following the Maryland attorney generals release of a report that said 156 clergy and other Church officials tormented more than 600 children and young adults, dating to the 1940s. The abuse spanned the dioceses jurisdiction, which covers Baltimore and nine counties in the central and western parts of the state. Teresa Lancaster, a sexual abuse survivor who is now a lawyer and a victims advocate, said it was the Child Victims Act that gave survivors like those who spoke Monday the chance to seek redress. If the archdiocese truly empathized with those survivors, she said, it wouldnt be trying to impede their search for justice. They say they care? I dont believe it. I dont believe it for one minute, Lancaster told reporters. And this bankruptcy is a farce. They declared bankruptcy before any claims were filed. In court, a woman who asked only to be identified as Rebecca talked about how she loved reading and writing and earned As at St. Peter Claver Catholic School in Baltimore. That was until one frightening interaction altered the course of her life. One day he cornered me in the hallway when no one else was around, she said of an archdiocesan employee at the school. I think the first time he did this I was just 12. He was an adult and he was bigger than me. I had no idea what had just happened. There was a next time, and a next time. Rebecca, a member of the survivors committee, remembered the abuse intensifying until she thought she put an end to it by telling a seminarian what happened. She said the seminarian said he would take care of it, leading her to believe she could have some peace at school. Then one day after I had stayed after to help the teacher, and I was leaving the school. I heard this banging and it was him. He told me to come over to him. I was scared to go, but I was scared not to do what I was told. He scolded me. He asked me, Why did you tell on me? Rebecca said the school employee then took her into a bathroom and raped her. The abuse, she said, led her to switch schools. She struggled. She said she attempted to take her own life and that she was sent to a state psychiatric hospital. She began drinking at 19, developing alcohol and drug abuse problems, to drown out my fears and pain, she said. Decades after Catholic school, Rebecca said, she has maintained her passion for writing, an avocation that has helped her discover something she did not realize for many decades that the abuse she suffered was not her fault. She penned a poem titled To My Abuser and read it aloud in court. The verses tell of intense pain and lost innocence, of years of her life stolen by him, of how she worked up the courage to come forward. Its final lines echoed a thought many of the survivors shared as part of their stories. So now to my abuser, you put my life on hold, she wrote. But if my story can save at least one little child, then Im glad it has been told. _____ CLEVELAND, Ohio (WJW) Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and city safety officials have detailed a plan to combat crime in the coming summer months. The FOX 8 I-Team reported a few weeks ago the plan was in motion after a violent weekend in the city where police responded to several shootings that left three people dead. Man sentenced for burying wife alive in hand-dug grave During a Tuesday press conference, Deputy Chief of Police Ali Pillow said Operation Heat Wave began May 1 and will run through August 31. He said the police operation will include heavy traffic enforcement, at least one warrant sweep, focused patrols in identified hot spots, and violent crime reduction details at least 5-6 times per month. It is an ongoing and evolving project for law enforcement, we will adapt to whatever crime trends we see, said Pillow. Mayor Bibb said the safety plan builds on the success of the citys RISE initiative, Raising Investment and Safety for Everyone, with a three-pronged approach including historic investments in the citys police department, expanded partnerships with local, state, and federal law enforcement, and investments in technology. Results speak for themselves, as you know, we have seen nearly a 50% reduction in homicides over the spring season, said Bibb. And, we hope, we hope, we can continue that progress as we prepare for the summer. Bibb said what is unique about this years summer safety plan is that it recognizes every city department has a role to play in reducing violent crime. A covered stadium option for the Browns on the lakefront? Cleveland Safety Advisor Phillip McHugh previously explained to the I-Team, We are going to have all hands on deck, every city department is going to be engaged in some form or fashion. That means everything from making sure street lights are on, to trash being collected, abandoned autos being towed, high grass being mowed, everything that encompasses public safety is going to be the focus for this summer. This is a vibrant city, it has a lot to offer, McHugh said. We want to see people walking the streets and we want them to feel safe. 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 Fox 8 Cleveland WJW. Val Thomason, Democratic candidate in Assembly District 10 (Photo courtesy of Val Thomason) Policy, politics and progressive commentary A coalition of business organizations are behind an attack mailer attempting to tie a progressive state Assembly candidate to former President Donald Trump, whom the groups supported in 2020. A mailer recently received by voters in Nevada State Assembly District 10 in Las Vegas claims that Democratic candidate Valerie Thomason and Trump both hid campaign cash to influence an election and are both facing accusations of misleading Nevada voters. Can we trust Donald Trump or Valerie Thomason? it asks. Thomason is one of three Democrats running in the reliably blue district, which spans across the central part of the Las Vegas Valley. Venise Karris and Kyle Greenwood are the others. No Republicans filed for the seat, so the winner of the Democratic primary is expected to cruise to victory in the November general election, where they will face only Libertarian Sean Moore. The attack mailer was distributed by Nevadans for Economic Opportunity, which describes itself as a coalition of trade organizations standing together to oppose the progressive left and pro public union growth in Nevada that is pushing aggressively anti-business policies in our state legislature. The coalitions board is composed of leaders from the Associated Builders and Contractors, Nevada Trucking Association, Retail Association of Nevada, and Nevada Franchised Auto Dealers Association. Chris Daly, who as part of the Strong Public Schools Nevada PAC filed an election integrity report against Nevadans for Economic Opportunity over the mailer, said he isnt surprised the groups are opposed to Thomason, but he finds it ironic they are attempting to mar her campaign by tying her to a candidate they supported. Strong Public Schools Nevada, which is affiliated with the Nevada State Education Association, is supporting Thomason. ABC, NTA and RAN all endorsed Trump for president in 2020. Thomason works for Teamsters Local 14 and organized for Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020. She is a democratic socialist and active in the Las Vegas Democratic Socialists of America. She lists housing for all and universal free childcare her top issues. Trump is the antithesis of everything she stands for, she says. The allegation referred to in the mailer involves a PAC called Leftists United for Nevada Assembly, which Thomason says she set up to try and support progressive candidates running for office. The PAC received $3,262 in contributions but the majority of the candidates theyd hoped to back ultimately didnt file to run for office. Thomason transferred the majority of the funds $2,826 to her personal PAC. The rest was spent on Jovan Jackson, a progressive running for Assembly District 6, according to Thomason. Thomason had not received notice of any formal complaint filed against her campaign, as of Friday. She says the average donation amount to the Leftist PAC was $40 and all of the donations fell below the threshold required for reporting individual donor names. Im offended they did it, said Thomason of the mailer. I think its offensive to our democracy to send out a blatant lie. She continued, Truthfully, I think this is the biggest sign that I would be the strongest voice on (progressive) issues. If theres a person who will go against the corporations and the corporate lobbyists, its the person theyre attacking with full force. The transferred PAC money makes up the bulk of what Thomason has available for her campaign, according to her finance reports. Thomason has said she is not accepting any donations from corporate PACs or lobbyists. Daly alleges in his election integrity report that Nevadans for Economic Opportunity is the one violating state election law by distributing what is clearly campaign material without being appropriately registered to do so. Nevadans for Economic Opportunity is listed as an inactive PAC on the states campaign disclosure reporting portal and has filed no reports detailing contributions and expenses. Brian Wachter, the senior vice president for government and public affairs at the Retail Association of Nevada, is listed as the executive director of Nevadans for Economic Opportunity. He did not respond to the Currents request for comment on the mailer or the groups interest in the AD10 race. Wachter is a son-in-law to Venise Karris, Thomasons main competitor. Wachter, who unsuccessfully ran for Clark County School Board in 2020, was the first contributor to Karriss campaign, transferring $2,000 from his PAC to hers in October of last year. Karris is a retired union electrician and member of IBEW Local 367. She is endorsed by the Nevada Assembly Democratic Caucus, as well as multiple union and trades groups. Her campaign website lists no policy positions. Karris is not named on the Thomason attack mailer and has not been formally endorsed by any of the groups associated with the coalition. Karris did not return the Currents request for an interview or comment. Kyle Greenwood, the third Democrat in the primary, does not appear to be actively running a campaign. He has collected no campaign contributions and spent no money, according to his campaign finance report. The Current could not find any online campaign presence for him. AD10 is currently a vacant seat in the Nevada State Legislature. It was most recently represented by Democrat Sabra Smith Newby, who in August resigned in order to accept a job as deputy city manager of the City of Las Vegas. Editors Note: This article has been corrected to reflect Jovan Jacksons political affiliation. He is a progressive candidate but does not identify as a democratic socialist. The article has also been updated to reflect how the Leftist PAC was distributed. The post Coalition of Trump backers attacks Democrat running for state assembly by comparing her to Trump appeared first on Nevada Current. Cocktails with your pooch events kick off in Detroit on Tuesday; 8 events announced Get out the leash and get ready to enjoy cocktails with your pooch companion. Summer doesnt officially start until June 20, but the season for Canine to Fives Drinking with Dogs gatherings begins Tuesday. Now in its 17th season, Canine to Five, a local dog day care, boarding and grooming facility, kicks off the annual event Tuesday evening at the Dequindre Cut Freight Yard. Each event this year will also feature a local dog rescue organization. Drinking with Dogs, Canine to Five's annual event that invites owners to bring their dogs to local bars begins May 21 and runs through October. We are so excited to start this summer at The Freight Yard. It is a great space to bring your dog, have a drink and grab a bite, Liz Blondy, Canine to Five owner said in a news release. We are so excited to offer more locations and events for Drinking with Dogs this year. It is a great chance for dog lovers to get together and meet new people at a bunch of locations in southeast Michigan. This year, there are eight events at venues across metro Detroit starting in May and running through October. At each event, which takes place from 6-9 p.m., dogs are required to be on leash the whole time. The final October event features a Halloween costume party. Here is this seasons lineup: May 21: Dequindre Cut The Freight Yard, 3019 Orleans St., Detroit June 4: The Skip, Belt Alley, Detroit June 19: Library Pub West Bloomfield, 6363 Haggerty Road, West Bloomfield Township July 9: Ferndale Project, 567 Livernois, Ferndale July 24: Atwater in the Park, 1175 Lakepointe St, Grosse Pointe Park August 13: Hammer & Nail, 3800 Woodward Ave., Detroit September 24: The Congregation, 9321 Rosa Parks Blvd, Detroit October 22: Batch Brewing Company: Halloween Costume Contest: 1400 Porter St, Detroit Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news to: sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter. Subscribe to the Free Press. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Canine to Five's 'drinking with dogs' events lineup announced College Students Are Getting Blackout Drunk on 'BORG' Drinks Why the Gen-Z Trend Is So Dangerous Teens are bringing gallon-sized cocktails to parties containing up to 17 standard servings of alcohol and some of them are ending up in the hospital Getty Stock image of gallon bottles of juice. College students and sometimes even younger teens are getting blackout drunk on a concoction that has its own listing with Poison Control. A BORG, which is short for Blackout Rage Gallon, is an individual, gallon-sized mix of vodka (or another type of alcohol), water, and a flavored electrolyte powder. The drink is put into a plastic gallon jug and given a nickname usually some play on the word BORG, like Our Borg and Savior or Justin Bieborg and is intended to be consumed by one person. But theyre so loaded with alcohol that they can lead to potentially life-threatening consumption and alcohol poisoning, Anna Lembke, a professor of psychiatry and addiction medicine at Stanford University in California, told CNN. A quick TikTok search shows countless videos of what appears to be teens at crowded parties showing the names they've created for their gallons or college students sharing their drink recipes for a 'BORG Saturday" party. The trend has even caught the attention of older content creators, like Brian Moller, who made a video spoofing the trend. Others have jumped in to defend Gen Z, claiming the BORG isnt much worse than jungle juice a communal mix of alcohol and juice that was popular at college parties in the 90s and early 2000s, often mixed and served in a bathtub or trash can. Borg is WAY better than the stuff I drank out of bathtubs and lined trash cans , said The Holderness Familys TikTok account on a video by millennial creator Momma Cusses, who defended the trend. But its actually very dangerous, Lembke told CNN. A lot of people just pour vodka in and dont measure it, so it can actually be kind of dangerous as opposed to knowing you drank three cans of beer. Related: Women Who Drink More Than 8 Drinks a Week Have a Higher Risk of Heart Disease: Study Also, instead of having to wait in line to get a refill and take a break from drinking kids can continuously swig from their personal gallon-sized drink, which Lembke told CNN often contains a fifth (25.6 fluid ounces or 3.2 cups) of vodka or other hard alcohol, which is about 17 standard drinks, which is a massive amount of alcohol. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. And drinking that much alcohol can be deadly, the Mayo Clinic says. Alcohol poisoning is a serious and sometimes deadly result of drinking large amounts of alcohol in a short period of time. Drinking too much too quickly can affect breathing, heart rate, body temperature and gag reflex. In some cases, this can lead to a coma and death. Last March, 46 students from the University of Massachusetts Amherst were hospitalized from drinking BORGs, CBS News reported. A total of 28 ambulances were needed to take them to the hospital. Getty Stock image of gallon-sized bottles of juice. Related: Rice University Suspends Campus Parties After Annual Underwear-Themed Event Sends 7 to the Hospital And while kids on TikTok claim the water content or electrolytes in the flavoring packet keep them from getting alcohol poisoning, Lembke told CNN that isn't the case. It makes it more palatable, and people generally can drink more than they could of something like straight vodka, she told the outlet. But that doesnt increase the livers ability to metabolize alcohol better. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Colo. Man Pleads Guilty to Murdering Family of 5 in House Fire After Wrongfully Believing They Stole His Phone Djibril Diol, 29, Adja Diol, 23, and their 22-month-old daughter, Khadija Diol, were killed along with Djibril's sister and her infant daughter, Hawa Beye Hyoung Chang/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Djibril Diol (center) and other members of the Diol family who were killed in the August 2020 house fire. A Colorado man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with a 2020 fire that claimed the lives of a family of five, including two children, authorities said. Kevin Bui pleaded guilty on Friday, May 17, and will face 60 years in prison when he is sentenced on July 2, the Denver District Attorneys Office said in a post shared to X (formerly Twitter). Bui is one of three men who admitted to setting fire to a house in Green Valley Ranch and killing five people in August of 2020, the post reads. According to Buis arrest affidavit reviewed by PEOPLE, Bui, now 20, planned and started the Aug. 5, 2020 fire with help from two friends in order to seek revenge against the people he believed stole his iPhone during a purported drug transaction in July 2020. He mistook the people who had previously robbed him for residents of the Denver home after tracking his phone to the general area, the affidavit said. Related: Denver Police Seek Leads in Arson House Fire That Killed 5 Members of 'Thriving' Family The fire claimed the lives of Senegalese immigrants Djibril Diol, 29, his wife, Adja Diol, 23, and their 22-month-old daughter, Khadija Diol, according to the affidavit. Djibrils sister Hassan Diol and her infant daughter, Hawa Beye, also died in the blaze. Three other people who escaped from a window were injured, the affidavit states. AP Photo/Thomas Peiper Authorities stand outside the burned house where five members of the Diol family were found dead. At the time, Denver police released a photo of a masked trio in connection with the case, saying in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that the fire appeared to be deliberately set by three unknown individuals wearing dark hoodies and full-face masks ... who fled the area in a dark-colored 4-door sedan. Authorities had previously offered a $14,000 reward in hopes of identifying the three people. Related: Bui was arrested in January 2021 after investigators executed multiple search warrants and obtained surveillance video and other evidence that placed him and the two other suspects at or around the crime scene, per the affidavit. All were teenagers at the time. Denver District Attorney via AP Kevin Bui Bui was the last of the three suspects to be convicted in the case. According to the Associated Press, Gavin Seymour, 19, and Dillon Siebert, who was 14 at the time of the crime, also pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Seymour was sentenced to 40 years in prison while Siebert was sentenced to three years in juvenile detention and seven years in a state prison program for young inmates, the outlet reports. Following his death, Djibril was remembered by the University of Colorado, where he had obtained a bachelors degree in civil engineering. Denver Police Department Djibril Diol, his wife Adja, and their daughter, Khadija. Djibril Diol immigrated to the United States from Senegal to pursue college studies, and he fulfilled his goal at Colorado State University in December 2018, when he was recognized as an outstanding graduate of the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering, the university said in a statement at the time. He had considered pursuing a graduate degree and dreamed of one day using his engineering knowledge to improve infrastructure in rural Senegal, the statement added. Djibrils close friend and CSU alumnus Ousman Ba described him in the universitys statement as a loving, joyful person who just enjoyed life and was a really good friend, a leader, a brother. Loved ones also launched a GoFundMe campaign following the Diol family deaths. It raised more than $218,000 in donations to help with burial expenses. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Supporters of Colombia's President Petro march in support of reforms proposed by his government, in Bogota By Luis Jaime Acosta BOGOTA (Reuters) -Colombian President Gustavo Petro is weighing whether to fully suspend a ceasefire with the Estado Mayor Central (EMC) rebel group, Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez said on Tuesday, after two bombings attributed to the group in the southeastern province of Cauca. The explosions, in the towns of Jamundi and Morales, occurred on Monday. The Morales bomb killed four people, including two police officers. "It has been the subject of consideration, discussion and is still a subject of analysis," Velasquez told journalists. "The president is weighing all the elements that we provide and it is ultimately him who will determine when and where there is or is not a ceasefire." The 3,500-strong EMC are rebels who rejected a landmark 2016 peace deal between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), previously the country's largest guerrilla organization. Petro has promised to end the 60-year conflict, which has killed 450,000 people, through new peace deals, but he is confronting significant hurdles including fraught negotiations with the EMC begun last year. The EMC entered peace talks with the Petro government last year, but Petro partially suspended a ceasefire with them in three provinces in March because of violence. The group has constructed a pseudo-state in some of Colombia's south, building roads and schools, and further complicating the talks. (Reporting by Luis Jaime AcostaWriting by Julia Symmes Cobb) Colorado brewers group to join craft beer scene in SE Asia with federal grant to boost exports Soybeans being loaded from a grain bin onto a truck on June 13, 2018 in Dwight, Illinois. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is funding $300 million in grants to expand overseas U.S. agriculture. (Photo by Scott Olson / Getty Images) WASHINGTON The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday $300 million in funding for more than 60 groups seeking to diversify American agricultural exports. USDA is pleased to be able to provide the startup capital to tap into these opportunities, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on a call with reporters Monday night previewing the announcement. In total, 66 organizations will be funded under the new Regional Agricultural Promotion Program, or RAPP. The USDA launched the $1.4 billion program in October in order to develop new export markets for U.S. food and agricultural products beyond the traditional partnerships with Canada, Mexico, the European Union and China. What this program really provides is an opportunity for us not only to expand geographically the opportunities for trade, but also the products that can be made available, Vilsack said. Its a tremendous opportunity for us to diversify in a variety of different ways to grow market opportunity. The program focuses on tapping U.S. exports into new markets in regions such as South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. When you have the major markets, as weve had, where 60 to 65% of what we export goes into four or five markets, that can create a sense of complacency, Vilsack said. The riskiest business in the world Vilsack said the funding would be an important step in building wealth in rural areas of the United States. We want to make sure our foreign-market development programs and agricultural trade in general work for the full spectrum of American agricultural producers, regardless of their size, their location, their product or target market, he said. By investing in exports, were investing in the future of American agriculture and rural communities. Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who leads the Senate Committee on Agriculture, joined the call with reporters. She said that USDA investing in exports is crucial to growing American agriculture. The bottom line is (to) create new revenue for the folks that have the riskiest business in the world, Stabenow said. This is a really important way to support them. The USDA provided a partial list of organizations receiving funding, but did not specify dollar amounts for each grant. Some of the the organizations include: The Southern Forest Products Association, based in Louisiana, is expanding new market opportunities for Southern yellow pine products throughout the Caribbean region. The Hazelnut Marketing Board in Oregon and Washington state will conduct market research and trade missions in several countries in Africa. The U.S. Dairy Export Council, based in Virginia, plans to expand its presence in Africa by using the funds to study and develop dairy import regulations and regulatory frameworks in those markets. The U.S. Meat Export Federation based in Colorado plans to expand its export efforts to new markets throughout Africa. It will also expand its investment in the convenience-store industry in South Korea, Central America and Colombia. The Brewers Association in Colorado will partake in the craft beer scene in Southeast Asia, by participating in the regions premier brewing trade show and festival and bring buyers from that region to top trade shows in the US. The Cranberry Institute in Massachusetts plans to conduct trade education seminars and other events to identify opportunities in India, Brazil, Colombia and Southeast Asia. The post Colorado brewers group to join craft beer scene in SE Asia with federal grant to boost exports appeared first on Source New Mexico. UPDATE: Suspect charged in shooting on Fifth Ave. UPDATE The Columbus Police Department has identified the suspect believed to be involved in the shooting Tuesday afternoon. Kelvin Lee Oliver has been charged with aggravated assault, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) One person was injured in a shooting on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Columbus Police Department. Police say the shooting happened in the 1200 block of Fifth Avenue at about 3:42 p.m. A suspect has been taken into custody. The injuries are considered non-life-threatening. WRBL will keep you updated on this developing story. 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 WRBL. On Dec. 21, 2023, Gov. Janet Mills took a tour of the damage caused by the flooding of the Kennebec River in Skowhegan after a devastating wind and rain storm. (via Office of Gov. Janet Mills) Gov. Janet Mills signed an executive order on Tuesday to establish a commission to identify short-term priorities for infrastructure rebuilding following consecutive storms this winter as well as to create the first long-term infrastructure resiliency plan for the state. The Infrastructure Rebuilding and Resilience Commission will submit an interim report to the governor and Legislature on November 15 and a final report no later than May 15, 2025, evaluating Maines response to recent storms and recommending policy changes, building on the recommendations from the Maine Climate Council. We must ask the hard questions about what we can, and must, do to strengthen our ability to withstand storms that are increasingly more severe and dangerous and that pose a real threat to our infrastructure, our people, and our economy, Mills said on Tuesday. The time is now for these immediate steps and this commission will give us the foundation to do just that so we can protect the Maine we know, love and cherish for our children and grandchildren. In addition to assessing recovery resources, such as available funding and public-private partnerships, the commission will have preemptive responsibilities. It will be tasked to prepare a plan to boost the states ability to bounce back from future devastating weather events through improvements to state and local planning, permitting, engineering and financing. The 21-member commission will be composed of the heads of several state agencies, such as the Department of Environmental Protection and Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Membership will also include climate science and insurance experts, among others, as well as representatives from industries and municipalities specifically impacted by the storms. The governor also appointed two co-chairs, Linda Nelson of Deer Isle, the Director of Economic and Community Development for the Town of Stonington, and Dan Tishman of Port Clyde, a Principal and Chairman of Tishman Realty & Construction, who will set the groups agenda. These co-chairs and the members will not be compensated for their work. The forward-looking commission adds to monetary investments the state has made to aid current rebuilding efforts. The storms in December and January caused an estimated $90 million in public infrastructure damage, as well as millions of dollars in damage to private properties. Many people are still in the process of rebuilding, efforts compounded by the late-season noreaster that swept the coast in April and caused more than $3.5 million in damage. President Joe Biden issued major disaster declarations in response to the winter storms at the request of Mills, who also called for another such declaration for the noreaster on May 2 marking the eighth disaster declaration shes requested over the past two years. This legislative session, lawmakers also included $60 million for disaster relief in the supplemental budget, though the governor had initially asked for the relief to be funded outside the budget through emergency legislation. Part of this funding $10 million is going toward a Business Recovery and Resilience Fund, which the Department of Economic and Community Development started accepting applications for earlier this month. Also earlier in May, the Maine Department of Transportation opened applications for grants administered through the Maine Infrastructure Adaptation Fund for municipalities and tribal governments to improve storm, drinking and waste water infrastructure from flooding, rising sea levels and extreme weather. The governor launched this initiative in 2021. Editors Note: This story was updated to include comment from the governor. The post Commission to establish Maines first long-term infrastructure resilience plan appeared first on Maine Morning Star. Luke Dwenger accesses his coursework online from the parking lot of his local library while his dad Todd Dwenger waits with him in the car. (Photo by Mitchell Lierman) By Arnolt Center staff Mitchell Lierman, Yanai Levy, Ryan Murphy, Stephen Prager and Tyler Spence. Luke Dwenger checks his assignments over the public Wi-Fi connection at the Greensburg Decatur County Public Library while his dad Todd waits with him in the parking lot. The library closed four hours ago, but the Dwengers internet is down again. That Wednesday night isnt the only night the Dwengers have had to leave their home in search of stable internet. The family has visited the library, local parks and the McDonalds parking lot to make sure the kids can do their homework. Relying on the librarys Wi-Fi from the parking lot was far from the perfect alternative to the Dwengers unreliable internet speeds at home. But Tyler and Luke Dwenger still had homework to finish. Its kind of a luck thing because occasionally its on, occasionally its off, said Tyler Dwenger, a senior at Greensburg Community High School. The Dwengers pay Frontier Communications $50 for internet every month, but their connection is often too slow to accomplish basic tasks like sending emails. The family is not unique. Indiana Broadband Coverage When everyday activities like school and business meetings were moved online during the Covid-19 pandemic, millions of Americans from big cities to rural towns were left scrambling to find reliable high-speed internet. According to the consumer data monitor BroadbandNow, a third of Decatur County residents lack download speeds over 25 megabits, the amount considered fast enough to support streaming high definition video, loading webpages, and sending emails across one to three devices at the same time. Rural residents are more likely to not have service because low population densities make it more expensive for internet service providers (ISPs) to connect them with existing infrastructure, according to the Indiana Broadband Office. The return on investment is lower for a provider compared to in a city because there are fewer homes, so fewer customers, office spokeswoman Lela Sibley said in written responses. She noted costs can still be a barrier in urban areas too. Rural Indiana is far from alone. Communities around the United States have been struggling to receive adequate internet access for over 15 years. The U.S. government has attempted to remedy this divide for over 16 years and has thrown increasing amounts of money at the project of broadband access. Since 2009, federal programs have dedicated at least $92 billion to fixing this issue for families like the Dwengers. Reporters at the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism at Indiana University looked at three federal laws funding major broadband programs. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allocated $20.4 billion toward broadband development, while the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund of 2020 put $7.2 billion toward the cause. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 dedicated a mammoth $65 billion to access, mostly through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. Indiana got a whopping $868 million out of the program. The state is also using funding from the federal American Rescue Plan to invest more than $350 million in constructing new broadband infrastructure. In March, $500,000 was approved for underserved areas like Decatur County to improve service. In addition to these big-ticket bills, dozens of smaller programs across 15 federal agencies have poured millions more into improving digital equity, according to the Government Accountability Office. But some critique the funding structure. Todd Dwenger explains how his home internet often pushes him to drive his son Tyler Dwenger into town to use the wireless internet at the public library. (Photo by Mitchell Lierman) Historically speaking the approach has been: lets give money to the big ISPs, Chao Jun Liu, a legislative associate at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told the Arnolt Center. It sort of disappears into that black box. Indianas broadband office said the BEAD program requires states to award funds through subgrants to ISPs. Non-profits and local governments are eligible, but only after the state can reach every address with appropriate broadband infrastructure, Sibley, the offices spokeswoman wrote in comments to the Capital Chronicle. And she defended the process, adding, The Indiana Broadband Office believes that the subgrantee selection process that matches funding to internet service providers to connect every unserved and underserved location in the State is the most efficient use of this grant money. Partnering with internet service providers ensures that current infrastructure is expanded, and new development meets industry standards and practices in a timely manner. Theyre used to it. Sometimes, it just spins. Well, it spins and it goes out on you and itll say no internet connection, Todd said. These guys, I feel sorry for because, you know, thats their fun, he said, gesturing towards his sons who often try to play online games with their friends when their service lets them. The Dwengers have download speeds of only about two megabits, 50 times lower than what the Federal Communications Commission considers high-speed internet. Roughly half of the people who lacked high speed internet in 2009 still dont have it today, according to data from Arizona State University and the U.S. Census Bureau analyzed by the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism. In 2023, as many as 24 million Americans lacked access to adequate broadband internet speeds as defined by the FCC. Last month, when the FCC quadrupled the required speed to meet their definition of broadband, it found that this number had risen to 45 million. The problem is worst in rural areas. Internet companies have been slow to make progress in areas where potential profits might not justify the costs, especially in areas with few providers to choose from. Major broadband initiatives have received increasingly more funding over time. Dozens of smaller programs across 15 federal agencies have also poured funding into digital equity, according to the Government Accountability Office. (Graphic by Ryan Murphy and Yanai Levy) In Gary, one of Indianas largest cities, more than 31% of households lacked broadband of any kind as of 2019. That year, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance ranked it the 4th worst-connected city in America. Many other Indiana counties lag nationwide progress on broadband. In rural counties like Benton, Warren, and Union, the vast majority of residents lack high speed service. The broadband offices Sibley said the federal BEAD program requires it to connect every unserved and underserved location in the state. She said the office would begin the subgrantee selection process in the fall, and that all poorly connected areas throughout Indiana will be accounted for through the awards. ISPs must build out the projects and spend the grant money by the end of 2028, in accordance with BEAD program guidelines. For now, however, 11.2% of Indiana residents lack access to modern broadband internet. Thats no surprise to the Dwengers. Todd Dwenger and his children have shared the same issues. He said it once took him 15 hours to work through an eight-hour training class for a religious community service program. A half hour class took me almost an hour to do because it just buffered, Todd Dwenger said. For more demanding tasks like playing online games, the internet is essentially unusable. When Luke Dwengers friends play video games online, he often has to tell them he cant join. While video games are a hobby, they represent a great deal of how young people connect socially. Over 47% of teens play video games with their real life friends, and the inability to do so can make rural community living that much more isolating. They just kind of know by now because it happens all the time, Luke Dwenger said. Theyre used to it. Better service is always 5 years away While they have a rural address, the Dwengers dont live in the middle of nowhere. They live just six miles from the center of Greensburg, the largest town in Decatur County. However, their $50 monthly rural internet subscription struggles with simple tasks like sending emails and finding coupons for groceries. Frontiers website did not list connection speeds when enrolling new customers, despite pushing service add-ons to its basic internet package with flashy marketing images that some of their users might struggle to load. Indiana joined the FTC and five other states in a 2021 complaint against Frontier. In the complaint, Indianas Office of the Attorney General (OAG) wrote that Frontier committed unfair, abusive or deceptive acts by leading consumers to believe Frontier offered service quality it could not actually live up to. Indianas claims werent heard in court. Attorney General Todd Rokita and Frontier reached a $15 million settlement which requires Frontier to change their advertising efforts to accurately represent to Indiana consumers both the availability and reliability of their internet service according to an OAG news release. The settlement required Frontier to invest in internet infrastructure throughout Indiana over four years. The company has until September 2024 to spend the $7.5 million; its spent $7, 045,658 to date, the OAG said Friday. Frontier was also required to credit from September 2023 to September 2025 customers who pay for internet that doesnt live up to advertised speeds. So far, for September 2023, thats meant $6,153 in credits to 214 customers, per the OAG. Tyler Dwenger checks his grades for his final semester of high school on his school-issued laptop. (Photo by Mitchell Lierman) The company must also deliver two compliance reports annually to the state through September 2026. The OAG said its received two reports to date. (We) continue to review these reports and any consumer complaints we receive that may deal with the same issues to ensure continued compliance, an office spokesperson said in written responses to the Capital Chronicle. Frontier didnt return multiple requests for comment. But for customers like the Dwengers and thousands of others across Indiana, truth in advertising doesnt fix their slow internet. The Dwenger boys hope to continue living in Decatur County. Tyler graduates high school this year and wants to stay in Greensburg. He hopes to begin online classes within the next few years, but slow internet speeds in his hometown may serve as a barrier. Sometimes I do take tests at home from that and theyre only allowed a certain amount of time, Tyler Dwenger said. I start it and Im like, I hope the next 35 minutes of internet are good, because if theyre not, Im not going to be able to get in this test. If I was to get to do an online school, I would have to take that risk a lot more often. Todd says local politicians have campaigned on improving connectivity for Decatur residents for years. But I heard that would be five, 10 years down the road. Ive heard people talking about putting new towers in different places. Every time you hear about it, it goes away. The post Communities struggle to get connected, despite billions in broadband investment appeared first on Indiana Capital Chronicle. People gather in a safe area in the street on the seafront between Naples and Pozzuoli after an earthquake tremor. Salvatore Laporta/IPA via ZUMA Press/dpa The area surrounding the southern Italian city of Naples was rattled by an earthquake on Monday evening, the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) said, putting the magnitude at 4.4. The earthquake hit around 8:10 pm (1810 GMT). As has often been the case in recent months, the epicentre was said to be in the Phlegraean Fields, a highly volcanic area just a few kilometres from the centre of the southern city. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) put the magnitude at 4.2. According to media reports, it was not only clearly felt in the towns near the Phlegraean Fields, but also in Naples, including the harbour area. There were initially no reports of casualties or major damage. The fire brigade said residents reported cracks in some houses and pieces falling off building facades. Emergency services were on site to assess the situation. Some frightened residents ran into the streets as some houses, especially near the epicentre, were literally shaken to the core, the newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno reported. The short but violent earthquake was preceded by weaker tremors. The INGV registered several other weaker earth tremors in the hours that followed. At 9:45 pm, the institute recorded a 3.9-magnitude quake followed by a 3.6-magnitude one at 11 pm. In total some 150 tremors hit the area in under five hours starting at 7:50 pm on Monday. Some residents of villages around the Phlegraean Fields refused to return to their homes. According to the ANSA news agency, tents were set up for the night in four areas of Pozzuoli, the main city of the Phlegrean Peninsula. The Phlegraean Fields have been hit by many small earthquakes for some time. Mostly these are small and barely noticeable tremors that weaken the earth's crust in the area. Researchers have repeatedly warned of this phenomenon. For 11 years, the area has been on yellow alert, which calls for caution. People gather in a safe area in the street on the seafront between Naples and Pozzuoli after an earthquake tremor. Salvatore Laporta/IPA via ZUMA Press/dpa People gather in a safe area in the street on the seafront between Naples and Pozzuoli after an earthquake tremor. Salvatore Laporta/IPA via ZUMA Press/dpa NEW CONCORD Members of the East Muskingum school board, Superintendent Dave Adams, Mayor Jennifer Lyle and members of the New Concord Village Council met with community members Monday evening at the New Concord Elementary School to discuss the possible sale of the school and its surrounding property. More than 180 people attended a public informational meeting about the potential sale of New Concord Elementary and surrounding property. More that 180 people filled the small gymnasium to get answers about the future of the school and its students. School board president Renee Coll welcomed the crowd and said, "We as a board have a responsibility to make sure that we are being fiscally responsible with our taxpayer money. So regardless of whether we move forward with the sale of New Concord Elementary and this property, our configuration needs to change. We cannot continue to spend money on six buildings when we can be in fewer." A rendering of the changes that could occur if the district sells New Concord Elementary, as proposed by Connect Realty. Adams addressed the crowd next, followed by Bob Lamb, executive vice president of development of Connect Real Estate, based in Columbus. Adams spoke about the district's enrollment numbers and the issues the district has faced financially. "As we approached last May with an expiring levy, we also saw a significant increase in operational costs, post-COVID. We went to our community last May asking for a renewal and an increase to stay the same way we were. Let's operate these six buildings and in order for us to do that effectively we're going to need more money. I would assume that every person sitting in here today, your costs at home have risen over the last three to five years. We are seeing the same thing as a school district. So therefore we went for that request last May. That request was not met, so we as a district had to make a decision." East Muskingum Schools Superintendent Dave Adams addresses the large crowd at the informational meeting regarding the proposed sale of New Concord Elementary. A reduction in personnel and staffing reconfigurations were able to save the district roughly $150,000 in personnel costs, with most of that coming from the nutrition department. Adams continued to talk about the cost of renovating all of the buildings and how the district is looking to purchase two school buses, costing $122,000 each. "The new fair school funding formula, they call it fair. It's fair for some, it just wasn't fair for us," he added. The new formulation decreases the state funding the district would receive for open-enrolled students. Attendees at the informational meeting concerning the sale of New Concord Elementary looks over project renderings from Connect Realty. "In summary, here's what we have in a real simple business-mode. We have some aging facilities that are costing us more to operate and, in some regard, we're getting less funding because of that open-enrollment situation. That has enabled us to make some really difficult decisions," ended Adams. Connect shows interest In late fall of last year, Bob Lamb and Connect Realty Founder and Cambridge native Brad DeHays approached the district about purchasing the school. Connect was a part of the Appalachian Community Grant application which noted specifically how the building is set for adaptive reuse and will be used by the Village of New Concord for community events, leveraging nearby parks and parking lots." The $120 million grant request was for a New Concord revitalization project the included the school sale. Sherri Saling, an East Muskingum School bus driver, speaks to the crowd during the meeting. After waiting weeks and months to hear about the possible awarding of grant money, Adams said he couldn't wait any longer and asked Lamb how much interest there would be without the grant funding coming through. On May 9 the district received word the grant request would not receive any funding and the board decided the same day to schedule the public forum. "If we (the board of education) are going to move any further, we and the potential sale of public property require a public meeting in order for you to hear exactly what is going on from every aspect. I can assure you I do not have the authority to sell anything in East Muskingum Schools. It takes board of education action in order for that to happen and I can tell you that has not happened," said Adams. Lamb addressed the crowd next detailing the plans for the building. He touched on the ability to attract new restaurants to downtown New Concord and ensure they could serve alcohol. The proposed concept for the building includes a variety of uses. "We're talking about restaurant/hospitality uses, and then also apartments. Approximately 30 to 50 apartments going in to a mixed-use building. So we would have some additional retail on the first floor, and then the apartments up above," Lamb said. Roughly $20 to $25 million is what Connect is planning to invest in the project. The renovation would include 30 to 50 one and two bedroom apartments in the upper levels of the school. Lamb addressed concerns from the crowd about the proposed cost of renting the apartments, to which he replied that the rent would be based on the current market rate at the time of rental. Lamb continued to talk about past Connect Realty projects but did not provide a direct answer from the attendees about how many similar projects have been in a community the size of New Concord. He did point out that Connect Realty has a 100% success rate when it comes to community transformative projects like this, but didn't elaborate on how markers of success are measured. Connect and the district have tentatively agreed to a purchase price of the school and the surrounding properties for $1 million. The crowd had a chance to ask questions, and the group did not hold back. Lamb said the realty group would not be purchasing any private property, only publicly owned land. No bids were taken on the property because the district would be doing a direct sale with a nonprofit organization, the Community Improvement Corp (CIC). According to Lamb, the initial sale would be from the school district to the village. The village would then sell the property to the CIC, which would sell it to Connect, with the $1 million price tag staying constant. Community members spoke about the school and the handling of the sale with shaky voices and tear-filled eyes. When asked if the meeting was being held to fulfill a requirement about informing the public as to the sale of public property and how much the district would consider the public's opinion, Adams responded, "There was no requirement, and if the decision would have been made then the board would have just voted on it. They are absolutely taking what has been communicated seriously and that decision will ultimately rest with them." Adams later went on to say that "Our goal would be to get you a decision as soon as our next board meeting would take place. We have a regularly scheduled meeting in June but there would be an opportunity to have a special board meeting as well. It's a 48-hour notice." Following the informational meeting, a notice was sent out Tuesday morning to announce that the board has called a special meeting for Thursday morning at the middle school. Bussing and concerns about the overcrowding of classes were voiced and community members questioned how the village plans to manage the increased traffic, the increased toll on first responders, and many other issues. The placement of students was lightly touched on by the administration, with the addresses on either side of Ohio 83 determining where students will attend school next year either Perry Elementary or Pike Elementary. As Adams responded to concerns, the crowd became visibly more agitated and weary. Parents and community members spoke with tears in their eyes, demanding answers, with many saying they were leaving the meeting with more questions than when they arrived. People wishing to express their opinion about the matter can reach out to any village council member or school board member. The board will meet at 8 a.m. Thursday at East Muskingum Middle School in the conference room. According to the school board, the meeting will be held to make decisions on personnel, contracts and other operating decisions as needed. This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Proposed sale of New Concord Elementary School discussed at meeting The Senate is set to vote this week on whether to repeal the first major update to national standards for gas furnaces in four decades in a move experts say would save real estate developers and landlords a few hundred dollars but cost ratepayers and renters thousands in heating bills for wasted energy. At least a handful of Democrats are expected to break with the chambers majority and join Republicans to pass legislation revoking the Department of Energys regulation. Starting four years from now, the rule finalized last September requires manufacturers to make the least efficient gas furnaces on the market today waste 15% less energy, cutting back on more carbon dioxide than the entirety of France emits in a single year and saving ratepayers money. The vote could come as early as Tuesday evening, with the House of Representatives following soon after with a sister bill. While mostly symbolic President Joe Biden is almost certain to veto the legislation the vote represents yet another flex of fossil fuel companies political muscle ahead of the presidential election. The industry is heavily betting against a second term for Biden, even though the last four years have brought record production and exports of U.S. oil and gas. Drilling and sales of American fuel overseas may be up. But for the last two years, sales of heat pumps essentially two-way air conditioners that heat and cool nationwide have eclipsed gas furnaces, the gap growing in 2023. That poses a threat to gas utilities and the sector is fighting back on multiple fronts. Utilities have historically enjoyed monopolies over geographical areas, giving the companies a captive market of ratepayers whose monthly bills help pay to maintain the pipeline network. The nationwide shift toward electric appliances and heating systems threatens to throw gas utilities off balance, requiring companies to cut costs, decrease investor payouts and raise prices on loyal customers. Sen. Ted Cruz introduced legislation to revoke President Joe Bidens gas furnace rule under the Congressional Review Act. Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images Slashing the 13% of Americas planet-heating emissions that come directly from burning fossil fuels to heat and cook in homes and buildings means replacing gas furnaces and stovetops with electric alternatives. The landmark climate-spending laws Biden passed include billions in subsidies to support the transition. The regulation in question does almost nothing to nudge homeowners toward replacing fuel furnaces with electric heat pumps. Instead, the rule requires that gas furnaces sold after 2028 convert at least 95% of fuel into heat, up from 80% under the previous regulation. The mandate effectively banned what are called non-condensing or non-weatherized gas furnaces that, as a result of relying on just one heat exchanger instead of two, waste more energy. Contractors often recommend non-condensing furnaces to buyers looking to cut back on upfront expenses, since condensing models which have two heat exchangers need extra ductwork for venting. Renovating existing homes to include new exhaust vents can add hundreds of dollars to the cost of installing a new furnace. The rule does not require anyone to replace an existing furnace. Rather, the first major overhaul of furnace standards since Congress first gave the Energy Department the authority to do so in 1987 simply mandates that all models clear a higher bar. (The standards were last updated in 2007, but with only minor tweaks.) Manufacturers of both the old and new models of gas furnaces broadly supported the Biden administrations rule. In comments submitted to the Energy Department during the rulemaking process, Carrier, Trane and Daikin backed the agencys plans to set a 95% efficiency target for non-weatherized furnaces. Others, such as Rheem and the trade association AHRI, did not raise concerns about the 95% levels. Daikin stands ready to provide only condensing furnaces for U.S. consumers, similar to how such technology has been a minimum requirement in Canada since 2010, Daikin, the parent company of the Goodman brand, said in a statement after the rule was finalized. Some large utilities that sell both gas and electricity even supported the rule. But the nations two largest trade groups representing gas utilities only the American Gas Association and the American Public Gas Association sued in January to block the Energy Department from implementing the rule. The lawsuit is pending. To be clear, the new standards will not require anyone to replace their furnace; rather, they will ensure that all purchasers... have a wider range of efficient options that will result in energy bill savings.Energy efficiency advocates to Congress In the meantime, the APGA threw its weight behind Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who introduced legislation to revoke Bidens gas furnace rule under the Congressional Review Act. Im committed to doing everything in my power to push back against this rule that puts the radical lefts fringe climate agenda before the needs of the American people, Cruz said in a press release. The regulation certainly benefits the worldwide effort to cut planet-heating emissions. The Energy Departments analysis found that, as of 2022, gas furnaces in homes accounted for nearly one-fifth of all residential energy usage. By updating the standards, the agency estimated that U.S. emissions would drop by 332 million metric tons equal to the annual carbon pollution from 42 million homes, or roughly 34% of households in the U.S. over the next 30 years. At a time when Americans debt to utilities has swelled to a record $20.3 billion, with $2.5 billion added last year alone, the regulations benefits to cash-strapped ratepayers are likely the most urgent. With less energy going to waste, U.S. utility bills on the whole would drop by $1.5 billion per year, the Energy Department found. The average household that replaces an old furnace with a new condensing unit would see annual heating bills drop by about $50 per year, according to calculations from advocacy groups that called on Congress this week to vote against the rollback bill. Savings will be much higher for families that live in colder climates, especially if they live in an older, poorly insulated home, reads an open letter published this week and signed by a dozen environment and consumer watchdog groups. To be clear, the new standards will not require anyone to replace their furnace; rather, they will ensure that all purchasers including builders of new homes, owners of rental properties, and homeowners have a wider range of efficient options that will result in energy bill savings. The rule requires that gas furnaces sold after 2028 convert at least 95% of fuel into heat, up from 80% under the previous regulation. Smith Collection/Gado via Getty Images Renters in particular stand to benefit from the new rule, the groups said, because they rarely get to choose their own furnace but are stuck paying the energy bills and are disproportionately lower income households that need the bill savings the most. Momentum to decarbonize buildings started gathering in 2019 when Berkeley, California, became the first city to ban new construction from hooking up to the gas system. More than 140 cities and local governments followed suit, adopting similar policies. In response, more than half of U.S. states ultimately passed laws preempting the local prohibitions essentially banning the bans. Industry groups, meanwhile, filed suit with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruling against Berkeleys ban last year. Around the same time, local governments tried using their power to vote on what building codes made it into the third-party codebook used across the country as a model for construction guidelines. Yet even there the gas industry thwarted its opponents, lobbying the nonprofit International Code Council to strip provisions to make the wiring for electric appliances and car chargers standard in all new construction. When proponents of greener codes once again won widespread support for including similar pro-electrification measures in the latest update to the codebook this time using a new process that reduced the input from governments and gave industry more say gas utilities still managed to block the proposals from taking effect at the last minute. Critics, including a few progressive-leaning lawmakers in Congress, called the latest gutting of the nations building codes a scandal. To those same gas trade groups now backing Cruzs rollback bill, however, it was just the start. One week later, as part of a settlement to end the federal litigation it lost last year, the city of Berkeley agreed to repeal its gas ban. Related... EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) Community members were invited to explore the agriculture program at Coronado High School on Tuesday morning, May 21, according to the El Paso Independent School District (ISD). An open house was held Tuesday morning for attendees to tour the student project facility to gain insight into the program, according to the school district. Selected students from the Coronado feeder schools also attended the event and received hands-on experience surrounding program offerings at Coronado High School, according to the school district. Agricultural education programs in high schools, often referred to as AG programs, provide students with opportunities to learn about various aspects of agriculture, including crop production, animal science, agribusiness, agricultural mechanics, and natural resources management, El Paso ISD said. 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 KTSM 9 News. Starting college wasnt easy for Marcos Farias. After graduating from Tokay High School in Lodi, Farias went straight to community college, a path most high school graduates take on. But once he got to community college, he found himself unprepared. He didnt know how to schedule his time or how to prioritize assignments. Commuting from Lodi to Sacramento everyday was overwhelming. And as a first generation student, college was completely new to him and he didnt know where to turn. During his second semester, he failed two classes and dropped out. However, Farias wasnt giving up on college. I wanted to come back and get my degree, Farias said It was a now or never kind of thing. He took a break during the pandemic and later re-enrolled at Cosumnes River College. Now, Farias is set to graduate from there and transfer to California State University, Channel Islands. Farias wants to be a social worker to help foster youth like himself. During his moments of struggle, he confides in his social worker, who has known him for 12 years. While he cant guarantee he could replicate the same connection with someone else, he sees that support system as one of the most influential part in getting his degree, he said. Somebody always need somebody, Farias said. I want to be that person thats reliable and invested in taking care of other people. Farias was determined to make this go around different when he returned to Cosumnes River College. This was his second chance. Heres a second opportunity that a lot of people dont get, Farias said. I thought that taking advantage of those opportunities is a gift a lot of people dont get or give themselves. Graduate Marcos Farias wears his cap and gown outside Cosumnes River College on Thursday, May 16, 2024. He plans to transfer to California State University, Channel Islands as a psychology major. While adapting to college is confusing at first, asking for help and seeking community, made the difference for Farias. He sought out resources to help him academically. If he didnt understand something in class, he would ask questions during a professors office hours. Jose Gonzalez, director of the Multicultural Innovative Community Academic Success and Achievement Center, more commonly known as MI CASA, first met Farias when he came back to school in 2022. Every morning, Farias can be found studying or finishing up his school work in the center before 8 a.m., before Gonzalez arrives. When Gonzalez is ready to leave home for the day at 4:30 p.m., Farias is still working. Its a sign of his dedication and his resiliency, Gonzalez said. With Marcos, he never gave up. He never stopped. Looking back, Farias said he learned that in the face of failure, its important to be kind to yourself and learn from your mistakes. Sometimes failure is the best teacher. Its OK to mess up and fail, Farias said. Being empathetic to yourself after youre failing and feeling like maybe it wasnt the first go around that you can get it, but the second time, you pick up some skills. Ojo: According to Excellence in Education, 33% of Latinos in community college graduate in two years. That compares with 43% for white students. La Abeja, a newsletter written for and by California Latinos Sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter centered around Latino issues in California. Rejecting arguments by Florida and business groups, an appeals court Monday refused to put on hold a U.S. district judges ruling in a battle about permitting authority for projects that affect wetlands. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued an order that said Florida has not satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay while an appeal of U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss ruling plays out. The order did not provide further explanation. The case, which is closely watched by business and environmental groups, stems from a 2020 decision by the federal government to shift permitting authority to the state for projects that affect wetlands. Moss in February ruled that actions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in approving the shift violated the federal Endangered Species Act. Read: He was my person: Only Channel 9 spoke with the family of motorcyclist killed in Poinciana crash Moss vacated the approval of the transfer of authority and in April issued a final judgment that cleared the way for Florida to appeal. Also, the state asked for a stay of Moss ruling while the appeal moves forward. In a motion seeking the stay, Florida pointed to what it called irreparable injuries if Moss ruling was not put on hold. Vacatur (of the transfer of permitting authority) has also thrown Floridas regulators and regulated community into permitting chaos, deprived Florida of the benefits of years of effort and investment into a comprehensive state program, put over 1,000 pending permit applications into regulatory limbo, blocked Florida agencies from performing legal duties and deprived the state of significant permitting efficiencies obtained from consolidating federal and state wetlands-permitting requirements, the motion said. Read: The restaurants closed down the most for severe safety violations But attorneys for environmental groups that challenged the transfer and the federal government disputed the states arguments, in part because they said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had stepped in to handle permitting. The Army Corps reviewed permit applications before authority was shifted to Florida in 2020 and conducts such reviews in other states. Attorneys from the Earthjustice legal organization wrote in a May 6 brief that Floridas claims of economic loss are hyperbolic, unsupported, and unfounded. A stay would revert authority once again to a state program that does not comply with the ESA (Endangered Species Act), putting listed species at risk of irreparable harm, the brief said. Read: Orlando police officer wont return to force despite state not taking certification away Earthjustice filed the lawsuit in 2021 against the federal government on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, the Florida Wildlife Federation, Miami Waterkeeper and St. Johns Riverkeeper. The state later intervened to defend the transfer, and its arguments have been backed by groups such as the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Associated Industries of Florida and the Association of Florida Community Developers. Moss February ruling focused, in part, on whether the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service properly prepared a biological opinion and what is known as an incidental take statement as part of the process of approving the transfer. Incidental takes are situations in which threatened or endangered species could be killed or harmed as a result of what are allowed activities. Moss said a biological opinion and incidental take statement did not comply with the Endangered Species Act and another law known as the Administrative Procedure Act. He wrote that because the biological opinion and incidental take statement that the Fish and Wildlife Service issued in this case were facially and legally flawed, the EPA unreasonably relied on those documents in approving Floridas assumption application. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. 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. "Crazy haywire" are not words one usually hears from an official at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), yet that is how Derek Manzello recently described the record-high temperatures threatening to decimate the world's coral reefs. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, the coordinator of the NOAAs Coral Reef Watch Program said that more than three-fifths of the world's coral reefs (60.5%) had started bleaching due to high ocean temperatures. Coral reefs "bleach," or expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living with them, when they experience significant stress. This does not kill the coral, although it turns them white (hence the term "bleaching") and usually means the organisms are in poor health. We had to add additional bleaching alert levels to appropriately categorize just how hot it was, Manzello said. In December the NOAA updated their bleaching alert system to create categories for heat stress on a scale of 1 to 5. For an Alert Level 5, we are estimating that approximately 80% or more of corals on a particular reef may die, Manzello said. This is analogous to a Category 5 hurricane or cyclone. NOAA's Coral Reef Watch says that there are Bleaching Alert Level 5 reefs in the southern Atlantic and Bleaching Alert Level 4 reefs in the central Pacific Ocean and off the Atlantic coast of South America. Scientists have determined our "fingerprints" are over the rapidly heating oceans, and it is even changing its color to a more greenish shade. A Cuban government delegation toured Transportation Security Administration facilities at Miami International Airport on Monday as part of ongoing law-enforcement cooperation between the two countries, raising concerns from local politicians who said access to sensitive areas should not be granted to U.S. adversaries. Ralph Cutie, the Miami-Dade County Aviation Department director, said the Cuban delegation spent five hours at MIA on Monday. He said they were shown two areas in the airport: a security checkpoint that screens thousands of passengers daily, and a baggage-screen area thats not open to the public but has been shown to visitors, including members of the media, following a clearance process. Weve provided tours in the past, he said. But it has to be vetted. Cutie said federal authorities did not notify the county-run Aviation Department, which operates MIA, about the visit from a Cuban delegation to the facility. Nobody knew, he said. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the TSA, did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The visit, which coincided with the anniversary of Cubas independence day, caused an uproar among local politicians from both parties. But a State Department spokesperson said similar visits by Cuban officials have happened under previous administrations, including when Donald Trump was president. TSA has cooperated with Cuba on civil aviation security for many years and has facilitated multiple such visits over the years, the spokesperson said. TSA has conducted frequent airport assessments in Cuba as far back as 2003 and Cuba began sending occasional reciprocal visits to the United States in 2011, which continued through the Trump administration until today. The official said TSA members have inspected Cuban airports to certify their ability to host flights to the United States. The occasional reciprocal visits by the Cuban transportation ministry to U.S. airports intend to discuss best practices, the official added. Aviation security is clearly in the national interest, the spokesperson said. Given Cubas proximity and the existence of direct flights to and from our countries, U.S. and Cuban authorities must collaborate while each working to ensure the safety and security of travelers at airports. As we have noted repeatedly, we will engage with the Cuban government when it is in the U.S. national interest to do so. The spokesperson said TSA and the State Department coordinate these visits but did not say if Cuban officials have previously toured MIA facilities. A Cuban government official also said the visits have happened before. It is nothing new, said Abel Derivet, the spokesperson for the Cuban embassy in Washington. This visit is part of the historical bilateral cooperation between the Civil Aviation Institute of Cuba and the TSA on aviation safety matters. Derivet said TSA officials have also regularly toured Cuban airports. According to the MIA flights tracker, 10 flights were expected to arrive from Cuba on Tuesday afternoon. Cuba does not publish the number of Cuban Americans traveling from the United States to the island. But Cubas official statistics agency said 358,481 Cubans living abroad traveled to the country in 2023. Most of them are believed to have traveled from Miami. That number does not include Cuban Americans who were born in the United States and entered with their American passports. The agency said Cuba received 159,032 American visitors in 2023. A local protest In Miami, the visit elicited strong reactions from local officials and members of Congress. Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who is seeking reelection this year, said she was shocked to learn that a Cuban government delegation was invited to visit the airports TSA facilities. The mayor said she asked Homeland Security to include county officials in future discussions regarding granting foreign officials access to the airport. Miami-Dade County stands firmly with the Cuban people here in our community and on the island as they continue to fight to bring freedom to Cuba, and we are committed to ensuring the safety of our community and all those who travel through MIA, Levine Cavas statement said. Miami-Dade County Chief of Public Safety James Reyes said the decision to invite the Cuban delegation was offensive and done unilaterally by TSA and without any knowledge of County officials. The shocking move, on the day Cubans celebrate Cuban Independence Day, must never happen again. In an election year, the visit gave an opportunity for Florida Republicans, who favor tough sanctions on the islands communist government, to slam the Biden administration. Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio said on X: Only under the Biden administration would they allow a terrorist regime into our secure facilities at one of the busiest airports in America. Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez said he would use his seat as chairman of the House Homeland Security subcommittee on transportation and maritime security to hold the Biden administration accountable for its shameful & dangerous decision to grant Cuban officials access to sensitive TSA facilities at MIA. Last year, a similar visit by a delegation from the Cuban Border Guard that was supposed to tour U.S. ports was cut short after Rubio, Gimenez and other members of Congress complained about its implications for national security. But Biden administration officials have said the U.S. advances its national interests when establishing ways to cooperate with Cuban authorities, especially on law enforcement and migration issues. Commissioners weigh in The incident also upended the agenda of Tuesdays meeting of the Miami-Dade County Commission, which oversees MIA. Commissioners took a break from the regular schedule to unanimously approve a last-minute resolution condemning both the tour and the Biden administrations decision earlier in the month to remove Cuba from a list of countries not fully cooperating with counter-terrorism efforts. This is completely ridiculous and unacceptable, Vice Chair Anthony Rodriguez said after introducing the resolution. Several commissioners said they were convinced the Cuban government picked May 20 as a particularly offensive day to tour one of the largest government facilities in Miami-Dade, the heart of Americas Cuban exile community. They clearly played the TSA administration, said Commissioner Kevin Cabrera, one of five Cuban-Americans on the 13-member commission. They clearly played the State Department and all of these folks. They have no idea. Theyre asleep at the wheel. Cutie, the Aviation Department director, told commissioners the county had requested an apology from the Biden administration. As a Cuban-American and a native Miamian, he told commissioners, Im appalled that this took place. Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins, who is Jamaican-American, said she wanted details on how the federal government allowed the visit to take place. I want to know who green-lighted this, she said. I want names. Commissioner Raquel Regalado, who is also Cuban-American, said she assumes the decision was intentional to keep Miami-Dades government in the dark about the visit. I dont think they forgot to tell you. I think they didnt tell you, she said to Cutie. Because they knew you would lose your mind. Cuba on the list of states sponsoring terrorism The visit to MIA, first reported by Miami Spanish-language newspaper Diario Las Americas, happened just days after the State Department removed Cuba from its list of countries that do not cooperate fully with the United States on counterterrorism. A State Department spokesperson said some reasons for designating the Cuban government last year were no longer appropriate and that the two countries had resumed law enforcement cooperation in 2023, including on counterterrorism. Several members of Congress from Miami expressed concern that the removal was a first step toward eliminating Cuba from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, which carries greater financial restrictions. The Center for Engagement and Advocacy in the Americas, which organized a recent trip to Cuba by members of the progressive congressional caucus, praised the removal as an important step towards normalizing bilateral relations. The Washington-based organization urged the Biden administration to also eliminate Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, a designation that is unwarranted and hinders the delivery of humanitarian aid, and obstructs independent Cuban entrepreneurs and civil society groups from accessing international banking and funding, worsening economic hardship. Cuba has rejected its inclusion on the list, denying it supports terrorism. New curriculum on desegregation teaches elementary students the legacy of the Memphis 13 This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters. When elementary schoolers learn about Dwania Kyles, theyre struck by her bravery. When Kyles was in first grade, she and 12 others became the first Black students to walk into all-white classrooms in Memphis to begin desegregating the citys school system. Another thing the elementary students marvel at about those pioneers, Kyles says: Theyre still alive! The milestones of the Civil Rights Movement may seem like part of a long-ago history it was 70 years ago this month that the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education against forced segregation. But it took years of battles before the so-called Memphis 13 made it into the all-white schools, with all-Black schools persisting long after the ruling. And the battles didnt end there. Kyles, for her part, has been working to make sure that complete history is better understood, spearheading a new curriculum to teach the citys story of school desegregation. Taught in public elementary school classrooms in Memphis including the very ones the Memphis 13 desegregated the curriculums lessons localize themes of the Civil Rights Movement by encouraging students to make a difference in their own communities and learn from their elders. Dwania Kyles, one of three students who integrated Bruce Elementary in 1961, looks back at a mural painted of her by muralist Jamond Bullock at Bruce Elementary on Friday Jan. 17, 2020. The goal is for students and teachers to develop a richer understanding of Memphis pivotal role in American history, at a time when most Memphis schools have become segregated again, and state laws can make teachers feel uncomfortable helping students investigate racial issues. Curriculum architects Gina Tillis and Anna Falkner developed the community-focused lessons alongside surviving members of the Memphis 13 and other educators, with initial support of a grant from the Library of Congress. The curriculum is a product of the newly created Memphis 13 Foundation, which supports the first graders legacies in other ways including in towering murals of the students at the schools they desegregated. Another important aspect of the curriculum: Children get to learn about other important children, not just important adults, Tillis said. How often do children see themselves? Tillis asked. ... And children in your neighborhood, that went to your schools, that had a profound impact on society? Isnt that powerful? Curriculum connects students to neighborhood, family stories of desegregation Tillis said the professional development courses she leads on the curriculum leave teachers invigorated and eager to take the lessons back to their students and make them their own. One teacher who helped develop the curriculum wrote a play for her students to perform. Another who attended the training created a bulletin board that mixed historical photos and newspaper clippings with student responses. The second grade curriculum includes a picture book project. For fifth graders, students conduct oral-history interviews. As part of the lesson, students learn to develop interview questions, conduct their interviews, and then evaluate what they learned as a class. The three students who integrated Bruce Elementary (left to right) Harry Williams, Dwania Kyles and Menelik Fombi at a ceremony celebrating the legacy at Bruce Elementary on Friday Jan. 17, 2020. Students have returned to their Memphis-Shelby County Schools classrooms with stories from their own elders about school desegregation in Memphis and other American cities, as well as international ones, Tillis and Kyles said. If you are not connected to the Memphis 13, then you probably are connected to another elder that desegregated a school, Tillis said. Because every state, every district, every school, every classroom has its own school desegregation story. And school desegregation impacted everyone differently. Tillis has plans to eventually expand the curriculum to include older students. For Kyles, it is important that students learn how to listen well, and with compassion. What if, she wonders, there had been town halls and public-service ads after the Brown v. Board decision, to help society navigate the change? We can change all the laws. We can come up with all the policies in the world that we want to, Kyles said. Weve now got to really focus on: How do we change peoples hearts and their belief systems? How Tennessee prohibited concepts law affects discussions The Memphis curriculum is aligned with Tennessee social studies standards and focuses on the role of primary sources, like newspaper articles, interviews, and other original documents. The Memphis 13 Foundation has received funding from the state for its curriculum and other programming, which includes other community events. But race is still a sensitive topic for many Tennessee teachers, now that lawmakers have placed restrictions on what they can say. Tillis includes a discussion of the 2021 prohibited concepts law which Tennessee teachers are challenging in court in training teachers to use the new curriculum. Dwania Kyles, one of three students who integrated Bruce Elementary in 1961, stands in front of a mural painted of her by muralist Jamond Bullock at Bruce Elementary on Friday Jan. 17, 2020. The law restricts teachers from discussing 14 concepts that the Republican-controlled legislature deemed cynical or divisive, and the punishments can include stripping teachers of their licenses and cutting off funding to school districts. In practice, the law has made teachers more conscious about how they approach the material, Tillis said. And concerns about compliance have led to more scrutiny of reading lists associated with the curriculum as it has been implemented at MSCS, she said. MSCS declined to make its staff available for an interview in time for the publication of this story. While the curriculum falls within the law, student questions could push the boundaries. For instance, one of the prohibited concepts is inherent privilege based on race. Elementary school students who are just beginning to understand history may ask: Why couldnt they all go to school together? We dont have to say were talking about privilege, Tillis said, but its going to come up. Tillis has encouraged teachers to explain the law itself when prohibited concepts come up in classrooms. The students are so smart. They know when something is not fair, Tillis said. And theyre picking up on inequities in their own schools even small, simple things just like the Memphis 13 did when they began desegregating Memphis schools nearly 70 years ago. It reminded Kyles of Memphis 13 student Alvin Freeman, who desegregated the white Gordon Elementary in North Memphis. Ice cream at Gordon wasnt different from ice cream at Klondike, the neighborhoods Black school, an adult Freeman said in The Memphis 13, a documentary film thats part of the curriculum. Klondike didnt have ice cream. Laura Testino covers Memphis-Shelby County Schools for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Reach Laura at LTestino@chalkbeat.org. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education. This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Desegregation curriculum teaches kids the legacy of the Memphis 13 WORCESTER Parents aired concerns about plans to reduce staff during a public hearing Monday on a budget proposal for the Worcester Public Schools, with particular focus on staffing for dual language programs and special education classes. Last week, school administrators released their plans for cutting a $22 million shortfall in the budget for next fiscal year including cutting 86 classroom teaching positions, 70 student support positions, 22 administrative positions, as well as five vacant psychologist positions and two positions based out of the Chandler YMCA building. Some of the cuts will come from teacher retirements and others from layoffs. The budget would reallocate enough federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds to the general fund to preserve 10 secondary teaching positions. Still, 42 secondary teaching positions were eliminated in the proposal. The end of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding, a pandemic relief program, is a key factor driving the deficit. Dual language programs Lashana Fulton, a parent of two students at Chandler Magnet-LaFamilia School, said when the two schools merged, the administration "made promises" to staff and families that she feels have not been upheld. "One of those promises that were made to us was to expand the dual language education. When LaFamilia Dual Language School was first opened in the fall of 2021, the district had made a decision to add another dual language class and continue to expand a class each year," Fulton said. The initial cohort of students, Fulton said, will be fourth graders next school year. The budget does not fund an additional dual language teacher for fourth grade and Fulton said it directly impacts her son. "We would like to see the resources that were promised to us for a program allocated to our school and to the programs we have there," Fulton said. "We ask that our school committee share results of the multilingual audit specifically around the dual language programs, as well as the district's plans for these programs." While the merger of the two schools was successful this past year, Fulton said, that does not reduce the need for equitable resources. "Although it was two schools, we as a community and a family have made it one," Fulton said. "That doesn't take away the fact that we still need the resources that were present at the schools individually. The only thing that is changing is the number of students is increasing." Trevor Standish, a father of three daughters in Worcester Public Schools, also advocated for equitable funding of the dual language program, especially for Chandler Magnet-LaFamilia School. Standish said his family moved to Worcester two years ago. He said they had the choice of moving anywhere in the country and they chose Worcester because of the dual language program. "If you look across the state of Massachusetts, there was clearly (a dual language program) that was shining through, which is why we chose to move here," Standish said. "If you look at the dual-language students, they're about to have a radical change in curriculum. I think you need to ask yourselves, are you comfortable with the way those dual language classrooms are set up for next year?" Standish requested the committee reconsider the budget for the dual language program, emphasizing concern over class size. Special education Worcester Public Schools speech-language pathologist Jessica Bousquet raised concerns over cuts that would affect special education services. "I'm here to speak on behalf of my students with disabilities who cannot advocate for themselves," Bousquet said. "It seems like (the reductions are) almost targeted to students with disabilities, the students with autism and students that are struggling to read that are supported by the learning disabilities teachers." Bousquet said that even if this is a one-year shortfall, the staff reductions could have a lasting impact on students. Bousquet works in the Worcester Public School Transition Program, which is designed to prepare students with disabilities for adult life. To help close the deficit, the school budget plan would cut the coordinator of special education programs within the Transition Program. Bousquet said there is concern among families about this reduction. She said the district should prioritize special education and students with disabilities. "It really does improve climate and culture," Bousquet said. "I think in prioritizing climate and culture, we need to be preventative as opposed to reactive in responding to crisis." This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Hearing on Worcester school budget cuts: Parents voice concerns Nearly half of young adults do not know what D-Day is This year will mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings - Getty Images Nearly half of young adults do not know what D-Day is, a survey has found. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) found only 48 per cent of people aged 18 to 34 recognised D-Day as the date that Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944. This rose to 59 per cent when surveyed across all age groups. One in five (21 per cent) of young people said they did not know what D-Day was at all, while 12 per cent believed it was the day that Germany surrendered to the Allied Forces unconditionally. The survey of 2,000 people, which was conducted to coincide with the 80th anniversary of Normandy landings, also found that 22 per cent believe there is no need to commemorate it or similar memorial events. One in 10 young people said they find commemoration events boring and repetitive, adding that they think the money could be better spent elsewhere. However, 61 per cent of respondents across all age groups said the anniversary would provide an opportunity for reflection. It is hoped that this year's 80th anniversary of D-Day seen here as Allied troops land at Omaha Beach offers a chance for reflection - Getty Images Claire Horton, director-general of CWGC, has called for efforts to boost public engagement with the history of the two world wars. She said: We are at a turning point for the legacy of commemoration. Events such as these are vital to maintain connection and inspire interest in honouring those who came before. She added: There is clearly work to be done to better engage young people in commemoration efforts. Our research shows that young people are keen to see better educational programmes to support these efforts, and as a nation, we must come together to ensure that the next generation carries on the legacy of liberation passed down to us by those who gave their lives for our freedoms. Akshata Murty, wife of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, greets children at Downing Street as part of events to involve schools in the 80th anniversary of D-Day - i-images/Martyn Wheatley CWGC said apathy and ignorance of younger people has become a cause for concern as many veterans of the war near the end of their lives. The organisations torch roadshow aims to reach hundreds of thousands of young people in the hope of improving their engagement with similar historical events. At the launch of their events, a torch of remembrance was lit and symbolically handed by a veteran to a young person. The torch roadshow is part of a series of events called Lighting Their Legacy, which is touring Britain and Normandy. 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. David Covey and Dade Phelan. Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune Under attack from the right, House Speaker Dade Phelan and his allies are outpacing their primary opponents in fundraising going into a heated May 28 runoff thats pitting Republican incumbents against far-right challengers. The incumbents saw key support from politically connected business groups and megadonors in recent weeks capped by a surprise last-minute influx from Miriam Adelson, the owner of the Las Vegas Sands casino empire who is intent on legalizing her business in Texas. Phelan, R-Beaumont, was pushed into an overtime contest after he finished second to GOP activist David Covey in a three-way March primary. [With the Mavericks, Miriam Adelson is poised to be a Texas political powerhouse. Will it help her legalize casinos?] Covey raked in an impressive haul in his own right, raising some $1.7 million and spending nearly as much since late February, according to campaign finance reports due this week. Once dismissed as a longshot, the 34-year-old oil and gas trader has won the support of Phelans high-profile political rivals, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Midland oilman Tim Dunn, a billionaire megadonor who is funding an aggressive campaign to oust Phelan and rid the party of so-called moderates. Dunns new political group, Texans United for a Conservative Majority PAC, was one of Coveys biggest donors in recent weeks, kicking in more than $400,000 during the runoff. Patrick donated $100,000, while Amarillo businessman Alex Fairly contributed $500,000. Fairly is the father of Caroline Fairly, who is poised to join the House after winning her Panhandle-based Republican primary in March. The trio accounted for more than 60% of Coveys fundraising in his latest finance report, which covered all campaign activity from Feb. 25 through Saturday. That was not enough to match Phelan, who has raked in about $3.4 million and spent nearly $3.9 million over the same span, more than doubling up Covey. Phelans biggest backers included a whos-who of the states usual GOP donor crowd along with a significant boost from Adelsons newly formed group, Texas Defense PAC. All told, he received more than $660,000 from Adelson and Texas Sands PAC, another group linked to the casino empire. Adelson, who took the helm of Las Vegas Sands following the death of her husband, Sheldon Adelson, is among the wealthiest women in the country. She cut a $9 million check earlier this month for Texas Defense PAC the groups only source of funding. The PAC also kicked in more than $400,000 to endangered GOP state Reps. Frederick Frazier of McKinney, Justin Holland of Rockwall and John Kuempel of Seguin. All three easily outpaced their runoff foes in fundraising and spending in the latest finance reports, thanks in part to Adelsons support. Story continues Adelson has pushed for legalized casino gambling in Texas for years, but her efforts have largely been thwarted by the Senate, where Patrick has been cool to the measure. Phelan is more receptive to the idea, saying at the start of last years regular session that he wanted to see destination-style casinos that are high-quality and that create jobs. He also noted that his district, tucked in Texas southeast corner along the Louisiana border, is a stones throw from casinos that are legalized across state lines. Some of the GOP challengers on the other side of Adelsons spending were quick to frame it as a tainted source of funding from an industry that some in the party oppose over concerns that it would stoke gambling addictions and attract crime. Hollands opponent, former tea party leader and Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson, derided Holland for being funded by out of state billionaires. If youre a Republican, and youre taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from the casino lobby in the primary, youre NOT the good guy. Youre a useful idiot, tweeted Mitch Little, an attorney who recently ousted state Rep. Kronda Thimesch of Lewisville. Last spring, supporters failed to gather enough votes in the House to authorize "destination resort" casinos in large metros areas. The proposal must clear the high bar two-thirds support in both chambers required to amend the Texas Constitution. The chamber approved legislation last year to allow online sports betting, a key milestone in a state that has routinely shunned efforts to loosen its tight gambling restrictions, but Patrick swiftly shot down the proposal in his chamber. Pierson, for her part, got more than three-quarters of her funding in the latest reporting period from Abbott's campaign and Dunn's PAC. Holland has also taken swings at Pierson over her campaign's support from Jeff Yass, the Pennsylvania-based GOP megadonor and TikTok investor whose priority issues include school vouchers. Though Yass labeled in Holland's attack ads as a "TikTok billionaire" has not donated directly to Piersons campaign, he has contributed nearly $12 million to Abbott and a pro-voucher super PAC, AFC Victory Fund, that has also spent six figures backing Pierson. Through late April, the super PAC a political arm of the voucher advocacy group American Federation for Children had spent about $100,000 apiece on ads attacking the four anti-voucher GOP incumbents who were forced into runoffs: Holland, Kuempel, DeWayne Burns of Cleburne and Gary VanDeaver of New Boston. The full scope of pro-voucher spending remains unclear. AFC Victory Fund's latest finance report only goes through April 25, while another deep-pocketed voucher advocacy group, the Club for Growth, is a federal PAC that is not required to say how much it is spending on each race. The Club for Growth, also a recipient of Yass' multimillion-dollar largesse, previously announced it had reserved $4 million in TV and radio ads with plans to target the same four Republicans, plus Phelan. Yass kicked in another $400,000 to Patrick last month, pushing his political spending north of $12 million in Texas this cycle. He is outpaced only by Adelson, who has donated more than $4 million to the Texas Sands PAC on top of her other $9 million infusion. Thus, Texas' two biggest political donors this cycle are residents of Nevada and Pennsylvania who have collectively shelled out $25.5 million. That's more than the next four Dunn, Texans for Lawsuit Reform co-founder Dick Weekley, Democratic megadonor George Soros and H-E-B Chairman Charles Butt combined. Dunn was especially active in the latest reporting period, pumping more than $3.7 million into his PAC, which in turn spent more than $4 million targeting incumbents and backing Dunn's preferred candidates in open races. Its beneficiaries included Covey and Pierson, along with state Rep. Lynn Stucky's opponent, Andy Hopper; Helen Kerwin, who is challenging Burns; and Alan Schoolcraft, Kuempel's runoff foe. It appears to be one of Dunn's biggest ever investments in the House primaries, dwarfing his spending from comparable periods through the 2010s, when he gained his reputation for wielding outsize influence in Republican primaries. And yet, many of Dunn's targets in next week's runoffs reported bigger fundraising hauls than their far-right challengers underscoring the sheer scale of the spending in this year's House contests. Riding to the incumbents' defense was the powerful tort reform group, Texans for Lawsuit Reform, which reported $4.5 million in spending since late February; and Associated Republicans of Texas, a longtime defender of GOP incumbents that spent about $1.9 million in the most recent period. Early voting began Monday and ends Friday ahead of Election Day on May 28. The Texas Tribune answering reader questions about 2024 elections. To share your question or feedback with us, you can fill out this form. 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. The Daily T: How should protests be policed? Activists from the group Just Stop Oil block a road in London - Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Lord Walney, author of a new report on political violence and policing protests, joins Kamal Ahmed and Camilla Tominey in The Daily T studio today. He discusses his findings and the controversial recommendation that could force protest groups like Just Stop Oil to pay for disruptions. Plus Camilla and Kamal discuss the ChatGPT artificial intelligence assistant that has left Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson shocked and angered. Listen to The Daily T on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe to The Daily T newsletter for updates. 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. BALTIMORE Dwarfing the tugboats to which it was tethered, the container ship Dali returned to the Port of Baltimore Monday morning after crews freed the vessel that had been stranded in the Patapsco River since it struck and collapsed the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26. Crews had refloated the vessel around 6:40 a.m, and 20 minutes later, the ship started moving slowly, almost imperceptibly. By 8:40 a.m., tugboats had guided the 984-foot ship into the Seagirt Marine Terminal, still bearing on its lacerated bow a chunk of the pavement from the bridge. We took an enormous step forward in our mission to recover from the collapse, Gov. Wes Moore said in a statement. Moore, who watched the operation from a boat about 500 feet from the Dali, lauded those who have worked safely and speedily in the massive and ongoing recovery effort led by the Key Bridge Unified Command. Thats the multiagency effort led by the Coast Guard, Army Corps of Engineers, the Maryland Department of the Environment, the Maryland Transportation Authority and Maryland State Police. The Dalis slow-motion, 2.5-mile journey on Monday returned it to the port it had left 55 days earlier. Shortly after leaving the port, it lost power and careened into one of the bridges support pillars, plunging the span into the river. Six construction workers who were repairing potholes on the span died in the catastrophe. Darrell Wilson, a spokesman for the Synergy Marine Group that manages the ship, said the vessels return to port was a relief for all of us and a reflection of all of the hard work of Unified Command and all of the salvage workers. Crews had begun laborious preparations Sunday to free the Dali, targeting the operation to take advantage of high tide in the Patapsco River at 5:24 a.m. Monday. The ship remained immobile for the next 90 minutes, though, surrounded by salvage equipment, tugboats and a piece of the shattered bridge jutting from the water nearby as it has for nearly eight weeks. The Dali is expected to remain in port for a few weeks and eventually travel to Norfolk, Virginia, for repairs. Its original crew, 20 men from India and one from Sri Lanka, are expected to remain on board for now as the visas that they sail under are believed to have expired, Wilson said. Crew members generally travel on visas that, according to a Customs and Border Protection document, allow them landing privileges to remain in the U.S. as long as the vessel is here but that cant exceed 29 days. The Dali was stranded for 55 days. At a certain point, we will be working with the authorities to see if we can get some shore leave granted for them, he said. Our ultimate goal is to get the crew off the ship so they can get back to their families. That may take some time, though, as investigations in the the March 26 bridge strike continue and the crew may need to be questioned, Wilson said. The FBI and the National Transportation Safety Board are among the agencies investigating the collapse of the bridge. In April, the FBI boarded the vessel and confiscated the crew members phones and have yet to return them. The crew was given replacement phones, but still lack the personal data on their original devices, Wilson said. Unions representing the crew said the members had been experiencing distress, particularly after they gave up their phones and lost access to family photos and online banking information, and feared being criminalized over the incident. Two additional crew members were added to the ship previously to help with the extra workload, Wilson said, with the goal of eventually swapping out the original crew. Early Monday, the Dalis impending movement was signaled by a long blare of a horn. Viewed from the south, at Riviera Beach in Anne Arundel County, the vessel with its now-familiar stack of multicolored containers stirred around 7 a.m. Over the next hour, the freighter progressively moved faster as it was tugged backward into the Baltimore harbor. Then, the tugs pivoted the ship and towed it for roughly another hour toward Seagirt. The refloat operation also required crews to consider an underwater Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. gas line near where the ship had been stuck. BGE and Unified Command spokespersons said Monday that there was no damage to the line, although a Maryland Public Service Commission spokesperson said the condition of the pipeline is still being investigated as the ship has just been refloated. The utility company had released gas from a section of the pipe and is working with Unified Command to restore it, a process that could be done within a month, BGE spokesperson Ann Mooney said. Early Monday morning, Jim Shipp and Darryl Mason went to Riviera Beach to take drone shots of the Dalis refloating from outside of the No Drone Zone surrounding the collapse site. I felt a connection to that bridge, Shipp said, noting hes always enjoyed the tranquility near the bridge and the history of nearby Fort Armistead. The two hobbyists had flown their drones around Fort Armistead quite a bit before the collapse, taking plenty shots of the Key Bridge when it was still standing. Since March 26, theyve been taking drone shots of the wreckage, response efforts and the memorial for the six men who died in the collapse. Once en route to the port, the Dali was clocked at about 1.2 knots at one point, according to an online ship tracker. Just one week ago, crews used controlled explosives to break up a massive section of the bridge that had landed on the bow of the ship. They then had to ensure a clear path for the ship back to port, and, on Sunday, began the final preparations for it to be refloated. The removal of the ship, an action that drastically altered the silhouette of the bridge collapse site, was a large leap forward in crews efforts to clear the main shipping channel into the Port of Baltimore, which has received only limited vessel traffic over the past several weeks via temporary alternate channels. Around 20 vessels are scheduled to arrive within the next seven days at the Port of Baltimores public terminals roughly the same number as in a precollapse week, Maryland Port Administration spokesperson Richard Scher said Monday afternoon. Sometimes we would have more, sometimes we would have less, he said. But were right in that sweet spot. Before Monday, about half of the 50-foot deep, 700-foot wide federal channel was cleared. That channel is expected to fully reopen to commercial marine traffic by the end of the month. The Unified Command said in a news release Monday that it anticipates the federal channel will soon be 400 feet wide and 50 feet deep. The Dali's move also marked a pivotal moment in the Unified Commands daily operations. The agencies will now leave their emergency office at the Maryland Cruise Terminal, parting ways for their respective worksites as cruise ship traffic resumes, according to the release. Unified Command salvage crews will now resume their work of clearing bridge wreckage from the Fort McHenry Channel until its back to normal. The state agency responsible for the bridge, the Maryland Transportation Authority, is in charge of any wreckage outside of the federal channel. To clear the Fort McHenry Channel to its full depth, its likely at least some dredging will be required, Cynthia Mitchell, a spokesperson for the Baltimore district of the Army Corps of Engineers, said in an email. Crews will need to use digging buckets to scoop out an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 cubic yards of sediment from the bottom of the Patapsco River, Mitchell wrote. The sediment will be processed with 7% to 8% Portland cement until it solidifies, Mitchell wrote. Then, it will be loaded onto dump trucks and transported to disposal sites in New Jersey or Pennsylvania. _____ (Baltimore Sun reporters Christine Condon, Hayes Gardner and Dillon Mullan contributed to this article.) _____ Rebecca Wilcox is photographed with her mother Dame Esther Rantzen, who has signed up to Dignitas after being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer - David M. Benett/Getty Images Europe Dame Esther Rantzens daughter has said she is considering breaking the law to aid her mothers wish of assisted dying. The 83-year-old, who fronted the BBC show Thats Life!, is one of the leading advocates for assisted suicide in the UK after being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in January last year. Dame Esther revealed in December that she had signed up for Dignitas, the assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland. Rebecca Wilcox, daughter of the former television presenter, has since suggested that she would break the law to travel to the clinic with her mother to prevent her attending alone. The punishment for assisting another persons suicide is a maximum prison sentence of 14 years in England and Wales. In a piece for Saga magazine, Ms Wilcox wrote: If she goes at the moment it would be her only option for an assisted death she will have to go alone. It is against the law to accompany her. I would face prosecution for manslaughter and could receive up to 14 years in prison. Even if it doesnt go to trial, many people face a two-year investigation. I have a young family with two children, a busy home and a complex job. I shouldnt have to risk going to prison just to keep mum company, but Im not sure I could let her go alone. She added: Its an impossible decision to have to make: either risk possible prosecution at the worst time of my life, when I have just lost my adored mum, or do the unthinkable and let her die alone in a foreign country with no one she knows or loves to hold her hand. Dame Esther Rantzen with her husband Desmond Wilcox, who died of a heart attack in 2000, and children Miriam, Rebecca and Joshua in 1986 - Alpha Press The 44-year-old, who is also a television presenter, said the thought of her mother dying was abominable but conceded she was in poor health and suffering from an incurable illness. Ms Wilcox said she was proud of her mothers campaigning, adding: I dont understand the lack of action by our Government, which seems unable to commit to the subject. Its inhumane. The opportunity to have an assisted, comfortable death in countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland shows a level of compassion in the lawmakers that seems sadly absent from England today. Dame Esther is an outspoken advocate for the right of an individual to choose how they die. In an article for The Telegraph last year, she wrote that her dog had been granted a painless death after a diagnosis of inoperable cancer while she had been denied the same. The UK has a broken palliative care system In 2009, Sir Keir Starmer, then Director of Public Prosecutions, issued guidelines on aiding someone with assisted suicide. The guidelines state that an individual acting out of compassion to aid a terminally ill patient with a clear, settled and informed wish to die was unlikely to go to court. However, those persuading or pressuring someone to end their life, or in some way benefiting from their death, could face prosecution. Assisted dying was also debated in the House of Commons last month after Dame Esthers campaign. Dr Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of the campaign group Care Not Killing, said at the time: We should be talking about how to fix the UKs broken palliative care system so everyone can have a dignified death. The Crown Prosecution Service said that between April 2009 and March 2024, it received 187 referrals for cases of assisted suicide, with four cases of encouraging or assisting suicide being prosecuted. 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. Disclaimer: All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty. NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) The man accused of throwing his ankle monitor into Bayou Sauvage, escaping house arrest, has been captured. According to Assured Supervised Accountability Program (ASAP) Cofounder and Director of Enforcement Matthew Dennis, 25-year-old Darwin Gonzales-Munoz was captured in Austin, Texas after allegedly cutting off his ankle monitor on May 8. NOPD search underway in Bayou St. John after human remains found over weekend On that Wednesday, at 9:05 a.m., ASAP received an alert of Gonzales-Munoz traveling near 13565 Chef Menteur Highway. The last ping of his monitoring device showed his location at the Madere Marsh Boardwalk. ASAP officials report Gonzales-Munoz threw the monitor into the bayou and continued to travel. On Tuesday, May 21, Dennis said Gonzales-Munoz was taken into custody in Austin and will travel to Houston before being extradited to New Orleans. Separate shootings hours apart leave four people wounded in New Orleans He was originally charged with domestic abuse battery, domestic abuse battery strangulation, theft, simple criminal damage to property and domestic abuse battery aggravated assault. Gonzales-Munozs alleged victim, Ximena Michelle Hernandez, was also taken into custody. She will also be taken to Houston on a warrant, according to Dennis. Stay up to date with the latest news, weather and sports by downloading the WGNO app on the Apple or Google Play stores and by subscribing to the WGNO newsletter. Latest Posts 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 WGNO. WASHINGTON (DC News Now) New data shows increasing violence at D.C.s Youth Services Center. The D.C. Council is now hosting a public roundtable Tuesday on safety concerns at the juvenile detention center. Many parents are blaming staffing shortages and a lack of resources for the rise in violence, prompting District leaders to meet at the John A. Wilson building to address their concerns. DC police officer hurt in shooting in Northwest released from hospital; people of interest detained in Prince Georges County Data from the Office of Independent Juvenile Justice Facilities Oversight shows that there were 38 critical incidents as of April this year. It also shows there have been 34 youth-on-youth assaults at the center. Parents who have kids inside the facility are worried for their safety. After a brawl at the facility involving multiple youth, councilmember Trayon White even paid an emergency visit to the facility back in November of last year. The data shows the number of youth-on-youth assaults more than doubled from March to April. Its also the highest its been since October and November of last year. DC police: 2 men shot in Northwest; 1 dead Last year, juvenile justice experts raised also concerns about staffing issues impacting the violence. Staffing levels are down as the facility has reached capacity and at times been overcrowded, Georgetown University Law Center visiting professor, Eduardo Ferrer, said. Were going to see an increase in the number of incidents. The Committee also encourages the public to submit written testimony to be included and will close by Tuesday, June 4. To view the full report, click here. 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 DC News Now | Washington, DC. A 20-year-old man was arrested today for a double murder in Moline. On May 5, 2024 at approximately 4:35 a.m., the Moline Police Department responded to a 911 call of an unknown problem at a residence in the 1800 block of 31st Street, Moline. Inside the basement, police located two men Giovanni Flores, 17 and Zachary Meincke, 19, both of Moline dead from gunshot wounds. At 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, May 21, Moline Police executed two search warrants related to this investigation, according to a news release. One search warrant was executed in the 2300 block of 3rd Street in East Moline. Another search warrant was executed in the 1600 block of W. 14th Street in Davenport. Both residences were connected to each other and in the same lead that the Moline Police Department was pursuing in connection with this case. Israel Martinez (Scott County Jail) At the Davenport residence, the Moline Police Department arrested Israel S. Martinez, 20, of Davenport, for the murders of Flores and Meincke. Martinez is charged with seven counts including: Two counts of First Degree Murder Class M Felonies Two counts of Aggravated Battery with a Firearm Class X Felonies Two counts of Aggravated Discharge of a Firearm Class 1 Felonies One count Obstructing Justice Class 4 Felony Martinez is being held in the Scott County Jail pending extradition to Illinois. Chief Darren Gault (photo: Moline Police Department) I am proud of all of our officers work in the relentless pursuit of justice in this senseless tragedy, Moline Police Chief Darren Gault said. There are countless numbers of officers to thank, but Id also like to thank their families who understood the very long hours, weekends, sleepless nights, early mornings and missed time off while they pursued every lead to the end. This diligent and tireless dedication led to justice for the families of Giovanni Flores and Zachery Meincke. Id like to especially recognize Det. Mike Griffin and Det. Brett Kopf along with Sgt. Dan Beaudry who led this investigation, Chief Gault said. Today doesnt ease their pain in losing loved ones, but might give them a path to healing. Although it is not a moment for rejoicing, it is a moment of relief for our impacted families and friends and for our community, Moline Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati said. We are thankful for the diligent work of the Moline Police Department to bring us to this point. This is a moment where we can all examine how we can prevent senseless violence and bring our community closer together. The family of the murder victims were at a Moline Police press conference Tuesday afternoon, and Chief Gault read the following statement: The family of Giovanni Flores would like to thank everyone in the community for their support and dedication in bringing justice for Gio. We are grateful for every call, text, video and tip that assisted in this process. We would also like to thank the Moline Police Department for their tireless efforts in ensuring that this cruel act did not go unpunished. Our lives wont ever be the same without Giovanni as his love and friendship spread to all who knew him and although we know our fight for justice is far from over, we are confident that our community will stand strong behind us for the sake of our children and families. The family of Zachary Meincke also wanted to state that they are so grateful for the community support. Rock Island County States Attorney Dora Villareal will file a petition to keep Martinez in custody. 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 WHBF - OurQuadCities.com. Xi sends condolences over Raisi's death 08:24, May 21, 2024 By Mo Jingxi and Jan Yumul ( Chinadaily.com.cn President Xi Jinping expressed deep condolences on Monday over the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, saying that the Chinese people have lost a good friend who made positive efforts for consolidating and developing ties between Beijing and Teheran. Raisi and other officials were confirmed dead early Monday after a challenging overnight search amid bad weather in northwestern Iran's East Azerbaijan Province, according to Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency. Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei appointed First Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber as acting president, in line with Article 131 of the Iranian Constitution. In a message sent to Mokhber on behalf of the Chinese government and Chinese people, Xi expressed deep sorrow over the passing of Raisi and extended sympathies to Mokhber, Raisi's family and the Iranian government and people. Xi said that since Raisi took office as president, he had made important contributions to maintaining Iran's security and stability and promoting national development and prosperity. Raisi's unfortunate demise is a great loss for the Iranian people, the Chinese president said, adding that the Chinese people have lost a good friend. Xi also said the Chinese government and Chinese people highly value the country's traditional friendship with Iran, while expressing hope that the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership will continue to be consolidated and developed with joint efforts from both sides. The Chinese side also expressed deep condolences over the death of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who also was killed in the crash. Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani was appointed head of the international committee of Iran's Foreign Ministry, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported, citing an announcement by Iranian government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi. Raisi's helicopter crashed on Sunday in the Varzaqan region of Iran as he was returning from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam on Iran's border with Azerbaijan, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported. The bodies of those who had been aboard the helicopter were first transported to Tabriz in northwestern Iran before other arrangements were made, according to Pir Hossein Kolivand, head of the Red Crescent Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who oversaw the search. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters on Monday that after the crash, China provided active assistance with the search and rescue work. "We are willing to continue to provide all necessary support to the Iranian side and believe that the Iranian government and people have the capability to overcome this difficult time," he said. With condolences of other state leaders and heads of international organizations pouring into Teheran, Iran will observe five days of public mourning, as declared by Ali Khamenei on Monday morning. "In this bitter tragedy, the Iranian nation lost a warm-hearted, humble and valued servant," said Iran's supreme leader in a public message. Ali Khamenei expressed his "deep sorrow and regret" on social media platform X for what he called the "bitter news of the martyrdom of the people's President, the competent, hard-working Haj Sayyid Ebrahim Raisi, and his esteemed entourage". Ali Khamenei also honored others who were killed in the crash, including Tabriz Friday Prayer Leader Hujjat al-Islam Ale-Hashem and "the diligent, active Foreign Minister, Mr Amir-Abdollahian". Also expressing grief over the dead were former presidents Hassan Rouhani, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mohammad Khatami. Millions of Iranians had prayed for the safe return of Raisi from Sunday till Monday morning, only to sink in grief upon hearing of his death. "I've been grabbed by grief," a middle-aged man in Teheran told CGTN on Monday, saying he loved the president. Mokhber held an emergency meeting after rescue teams located the helicopter's wreckage, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported on Monday. The meeting was attended by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Iranian Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i. Mokhber said that as the country's system is well-established and strong, there will be no problem in the administration of the country. Ali Khamenei also tasked Mokhber, the Parliament speaker and the judiciary chief to prepare for elections to choose a new president within 50 days. Iran's Foreign Ministry also expressed gratitude to the international community for its concern and assistance since the helicopter went missing on Sunday afternoon. Neighboring Turkiye and Azerbaijan sent rescue teams with night-vision equipment, and Turkish drones located the site of the helicopter wreckage in mountainous forests on Monday morning amid heavy fog. More than 45 local teams were also sent to the region to help find the crash site. Mike Gu in Hong Kong and Xinhua contributed to this story. (Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun) On This Day, May 21: Clara Barton founds American Red Cross On May 21, 1881, Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross. File photo courtesy Everett Historical On this date in history: In 1832, the first Democratic Party national convention convened in Baltimore. In 1856, Lawrence, Kan., was burned by pro-slavery forces. In 1881, Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross. In 1924, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb kidnapped and killed Bobby Franks, 13, of Chicago, in a "thrill killing" that was often called "the crime of the century." They were given life sentences. Loeb was killed in prison; Leopold was paroled after serving 33 years. A series of earthquakes starting May 21, 1960, toppled houses in Valdivia, Chile. File Photo courtesy of Pierre St. Amand/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration In 1927, Charles Lindbergh landed the Spirit of St. Louis in Paris, completing the first non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic in 33 1/2 hours. File Photo by Library of Congress/UPI Aviator Amelia Earhart pictured sitting in the cockpit of her Electra airplane. On May 21, 1932, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, flying from Newfoundland, Canada, to Ireland. UPI File Photo In 1932, five years to the day after Charles Lindbergh ended his historic flight, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic from Newfoundland, Canada, to Ireland. She completed her flight in 13 1/2 hours. In 1960, the first of what would become a series of earthquakes that lasted through early June rattled just south of Santiago, Chile. The so-called Valdivia earthquake the next day was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded with a magnitude of between 9.4 and 9.6 on the richter scale. Up to 7,000 people died in the temblors. Red Cross volunteer Beatrice Abbot hugs Samantha Eskvowitz in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on January 16, 2010. Clara Barton founded the Red Cross on this day in 1881. Photo by Talia Frenkel/American Red Cross/UPI In 1988, Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev, in an effort to consolidate power, sacked the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan after bloody nationalist demonstrations over the disputed region of Nagorno Karabakh. File Photo by Maxim Marmur/UPI In 1991, former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated while campaigning. In 2003, an earthquake near Algiers, Algeria, killed more than 2,200 people and injured another 10,000. In 2019, Jokha Alharthi became the first Arabic writer to win the Man Booker International Prize for her novel Celestial Bodies. In 2020, actor Lori Loughlin and husband fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in connection with a college admissions cheating scandal. They each served jail time. File Photo by Matthew Healey/UPI WASHINGTON (DC News Now) D.C. police was investigating a double shooting that happened in Northwest Monday night. The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) said the shooting happened in the 7300 block of Blair Road. When officers arrived, they found two men who had been shot. MPD said one man died there and the other victim was conscious and taken to the hospital. DC police officer hurt in shooting in Northwest released from hospital; people of interest detained in Prince Georges County MPD said to look out for a man wearing black glasses, black jeans and a gray jacket. Anyone with information was asked to call 911 with the event number: I20240250371 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 DC News Now | Washington, DC. Matthew Perry arrives at the premiere of "The Invention of Lying" in Los Angeles on Sept. 21, 2009. The actor died in 2023 of the acute effects of ketamine, a drug sometimes used to treat depression. (Matt Sayles / Associated Press) Matthew Perry's death from acute effects of the prescription drug ketamine is the source of a criminal investigation, with authorities examining where the actor got the medication, LAPD officials told The Times. Perry was found dead Oct. 28 in the hot tub of his swimming pool at his Pacific Palisades home. Trace amounts of ketamine which is sometimes used to treat depression were found in Perrys stomach, according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner. But the level found in his blood was about the same quantity as would be used during general anesthesia, his autopsy showed. How Perry came to have so much ketamine is now the subject of a probe by the Los Angeles Police Department with the assistance of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Postal Service, Robbery-Homicide Division Capt. Scot Williams told The Times on Tuesday. TMZ first reported the investigation. The ketamine in Perry's system caused cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression, the medical examiner reported. Other contributing factors in the actor's death included drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, a medication used to treat opioid-use disorder. The actor was best known for playing the sarcastic and witty Chandler Bing on NBC's Friends" for 10 seasons, from 1994 to 2004. In his 2022 memoir, Perry said he began abusing substances at the age of 14 and landed the role on "Friends" a decade later. Fame increased his dependency on alcohol and drugs. At one point, he said in his book, he took nearly five dozen pills a day. According to the medical examiner, Perry was undergoing ketamine infusion therapy every other day for a period of time but had reduced that intake, and his last known infusion was a week and a half before his death. Read more: Full coverage: Matthew Perry dead at 54 The medical examiner said the ketamine found in Perry's system at the time of his death could not have been from that earlier infusion as it typically disappears in detectable amounts in three to four hours after intake. According to his autopsy report, Perry had been playing pickleball about 11 that morning, and his live-in assistant last saw him at 1:37 p.m. Upon returning to Perry's home on Blue Sail Drive, the assistant found him floating face-down. The assistant jumped in, pulled Perry's head out of the water and called 911. Paramedics arrived and moved Perry onto the grass, where he was pronounced dead. Read more: Appreciation: Matthew Perry was easy to love. And it went deeper than his acting A legal medication commonly used as an anesthetic, ketamine has been increasingly offered off label at private clinics to treat depression and other mental health disorders, according to Dr. David Goodman-Meza, an addiction-medicine and infectious-disease specialist at UCLA. Some people also snort or inject it recreationally to experience euphoric or dissociative effects that cause someone to feel separated from their own body, Goodman-Meza told The Times in December. At very high doses, it can make people feel immobilized and spur hallucinations, an experience called a K-hole. The drug can complicate breathing and increase demands on the heart. If someone already has coronary artery disease and is taking high doses of ketamine, that could then speed up your heart, create more demand, but then your arteries don't have the ability to supply that demand, the physician explained. Read more: Inside the investigation that will determine how Matthew Perry died The autopsy report noted that Perry had no other drugs in his system and had been 19 months sober at the time of his death. There was no evidence of illicit drugs or paraphernalia at his home. The medical examiner also noted that Perry, 54, had diabetes and suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which refers to a group of diseases that cause airflow blockage and breathing-related problems. He at one time had a two-pack-a-day cigarette habit. A coroner's investigator interviewed a person close to Perry who described him as in "good spirits" and said he had quit smoking two weeks prior to his death and was weaning himself off ketamine. In 2006, the National Institute of Mental Health concluded that an intravenous dose of ketamine had rapid antidepressant effects. About 300 clinical trials have been held, and they have broadly found that ketamine is extremely fast-acting compared with traditional antidepressants and can relieve depression for a period that can last days or weeks. Times staff writer Emily Alpert Reyes contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Ebrahim Raisi, known to many as the Butcher of Tehran, is being remembered for his brutality at home and belligerence abroad in his nearly three years as president. Raisi, 63, died on Sunday along with the countrys foreign minister when their delegations chopper went down in northwest Iran, state media confirmed after a 15-hour search and rescue operation concluded with the early morning discovery of the destroyed aircraft. The circumstances around the crash are still unknown. Within Iran, Raisi won the favor of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the ire of the Iranian people for a track record of crushing political dissent dating back to the earliest days of his career. Throughout the Middle East, he helped strengthen Irans network of loyal proxies, setting the stage for Hamas October 7 attack and, months later, a direct confrontation with Israel. Internationally, he oversaw a period of immense tension between Iran and the West. Raisi ascended the presidency in 2021, winning 62 percent of the vote in a contest pre-decided for Iranians through mass disqualifications and pressured withdrawals ahead of Election Day. Prior to taking office, Raisi rose through the ranks of Irans judicial system to eventually serve as chief justice of Iran between 2019 and 2021a position in which he expanded the countrys use of the death penalty to punish political dissidents and to target ethnic and religious minorities. The number of yearly executions have risen steadily since. Last year alone, according to Amnesty International figures, Iran executed 853 peoplethe highest number recorded since 2015. His career was spent in one of the most repressive institutions in the Islamic Republic: its judiciary, Jason Brodsky, the policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran, told The Dispatch. His career is drenched in the blood of the Iranian people, and thats why you saw many celebrating his demise with fireworks overnight. There is no love lost there. Raisis penchant for capital punishment dates back to the 1980s, when he oversaw the states arbitrary detention, torture, and mass killing of thousands of political prisoners. Among them was Farideh Goudarzi, who was arrested while in her third trimester of pregnancy and severely beaten by guards while Raisithen-prosecutor of the Hamedan provincewatched. Raisi is the true representation of the entire Islamic Republic, Goudarzi said in an interview ahead of Raisis election as president in 2021, urging Americans to stop looking for so-called moderates within this regime. Indeed, it was Raisis cutthroat reputation that endeared him to Islamic Republic leaders increasingly beset with domestic upheaval. The regimewhich faced mass anti-government protests in 2018, 2019, and 2020likely hoped the new presidents notoriety would have a chilling effect on future dissent. Not so. In 2022, morality police arrested 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for alleged hijab violations. Her eventual death at the hands of Iranian authorities set into motion the most significant wave of demonstrations in the countrys recent history, described by many as another revolution. Under Raisis leadership, the Women, Life, Freedom movement was met with a swift, severe government crackdown. Over the course of 2022 and 2023, security officials killed some 550 people and arrested more than 22,000 others. In the Middle East, Raisi served as an implementer of the supreme leaders vision of regional dominance. As president he often met with top officials from Irans various proxy groups, including Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as recently as late March. A day after the terror groups October 7 attack on Israel, Raisi hailed the courage, bravery, resistance, and initiative of its fighters, though denied that Iran had advance knowledge of the invasion. Their resistance in this glorious operation is exemplary. Hamas, accordingly, mourned Raisis death in a statement Monday. The late president supported the legitimate struggle of our people against the Zionist entity and provided valued support to the Palestinian resistance, the Iranian-backed militants declared. They werent the only global pariahs to praise Raisis legacy. Russian President Vladimir Putin remembered the Iranian president as a true friend and an outstanding politician whose entire life was dedicated to serving his homeland. Under Raisis leadership, Iran forged stronger ties than ever with Moscow, supporting Putin politically and materially in his 2022 invasion of Ukraine. When the Kremlin burned through munitions in the first months of the drawn-out war, Iran came to its aid by sellingand eventually helping co-producelethal attack drones to Russia. The explosive unmanned systems have been used on the battlefield in Ukraine to devastating effect. Putin called Irans interim president, Mohammad Mokhber, on Monday to assure him of Russias steadfast support. Raisi personally supported pushing his country further into the Russia-China axis, forgoing grudging cooperation with the West and another nuclear deal with the U.S. to chart an aggressive Iranian foreign policy. In a fiery speech before the United Nations in September, Raisi held up his Quran and declared the end of a U.S.-led world order. The global landscape is undergoing a paradigm shift toward an emerging international order, he said, a trajectory that is not reversible. With Raisi gone, the Iranian regimes confrontational approach to the U.S. and Israelultimately set by the supreme leader himselfis unlikely to change. But it could set off a leadership crisis as 85-year-old Khamenei contemplates his successor. Many analysts viewed Raisi as the top choice, and his sudden death opens the door for other contenders, like Khameneis son Mojtabaa shadowy figure with little popular support. Ebrahim Raisi was a leading contender to succeed Ayatollah Khamenei as supreme leader. He was the most experienced member of the Iranian establishment, having presided over two branches of government: the judiciary and the presidency, Brodsky said. It scrambles the politics of succession in the Islamic Republic. Read more at The Dispatch The Dispatch is a new digital media company providing engaged citizens with fact-based reporting and commentary, informed by conservative principles. Sign up for free. Are 'deaths of despair' really more common for white Americans? A UCLA report says no For the record: 11:57 a.m. May 21, 2024: An earlier version of this article said social worker Nakeya Fields is 32 years old. Fields is 44. Nakeya Fields has seen how the stresses that come with being Black racial injustice, financial strain, social isolation can leave people feeling hopeless and push some into substance abuse. It's one of the reasons the Pasadena social worker started offering "therapeutic play" gatherings for Black mothers like herself and children. "I'm trying to host more safe spaces for us to come and share that we're suffering," the 44-year-old said. "And honestly, the adults need play more than kids." Yet while Black and brown mental health practitioners such as Fields have labored to address these issues within their communities, a very different conversation has been occurring in the nation at large. For years, discussions about America's substance-abuse crisis have focused almost exclusively on the narrative that it is white, middle-age adults who face the greatest risk of dying from drug overdoses, alcoholic liver disease and suicide. Read more: If you're living with a drug or mental health problem, here's where to look for help The theory, which was presented by two Princeton economists in 2015 and based on data from 1999 to 2013, argued that despair was behind rising premature mortality rates among white Americans, especially those who were less educated. Virtually overnight, the "deaths of despair" concept began to drive the national discourse over populist far-right politics; the rise of Donald Trump; and deepening political polarization over such topics as addiction treatment, law enforcement and immigration. Read more: Chuckwalla National Monument would protect swath of California desert and preserve a sacred land But after roughly a decade, researchers at UCLA and elsewhere have begun to dismantle this idea. In a study published recently in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, authors found that rates of deaths of despair for middle-age Black and Native Americans have surged past those of white Americans as the overdose crisis moves from being driven by prescription opioids to illegal drugs such as fentanyl and heroin. While the opioid crisis did raise drug overdose deaths among white Americans for a time, it was an anomaly, said Joseph Friedman, a social medicine expert at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine who was the lead author of the journal analysis. In fact, by 2022, the rate for white Americans had started to dip. "What's really important is that now, with these three causes of death, the gap has closed, and it's moving in the other direction," Friedman said. Sandra Mims, who works for Community Health Project L.A., puts out boxes of Narcan a naloxone nasal spray that reverses the effects of opioid overdose at an event at MacArthur Park in Los Angeles in August. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) The analysis found that deaths of despair for Black Americans hit a rate of 103.81 per 100,000 people in 2022, compared with 102.63 for white Americans. The rate for Native American and Alaska Native populations was even higher at 241.7 per 100,000 people in 2022. The UCLA analysis doesn't specify the midlife personal issues that might have led to addiction or suicide. But the authors say that flaws in the methodology of the 2015 report skewed its conclusions about who was most at risk of deaths of despair. Specifically, Friedman said that it failed to give enough consideration to long-standing racial inequities that Black Americans experience in income, educational attainment, incarceration and access to quality medical care, all of which can contribute to drug use and poor mental health outcomes. And statistics for Native Americans weren't factored in at all. "It was burned into the American psyche that it was white people in the rural U.S.," Friedman said. "It was just a very small piece of the truth that was very interesting but was widely sold as something it wasn't." Another recent worrying sign, Friedman said: Deaths of despair among Latinos are starting to catch up to those among Black and Native Americans. Read more: This epic slice of Arizona feeds their souls but lacks a basic necessity: Water Princeton professors Anne Case and her husband, Angus Deaton, winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in economic sciences, were thrust into the media spotlight when their findings on deaths of despaire were first published. Deaton told NPR that during a visit to the White House, even President Obama asked him about the phenomenon. Their 2020 book, "Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism," was described by publisher Princeton University Press as "a troubling portrait of the American dream in decline." "For the white working class, todays America has become a land of broken families and few prospects. As the college educated become healthier and wealthier, adults without a degree are literally dying from pain and despair," the publisher said. Fields, who employs yoga and pottery in her therapy, said this framing was misleading and racially biased. "I'm actually flabbergasted that somebody has a term called 'deaths of despair,'" Fields said. "It's 'despair' when white people experience this suffering. But when we experience it, it's just what we have to deal with." Nakeya Fields said it's important to address mental wellness issues early, before people reach a crisis point and become another statistic. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times) Both Friedman and Fields said their critiques are not intended to minimize deaths among white Americans. Still, Friedman wonders: "How do we empower Black and Native American communities in a way that enables them to treat these problems?" Racism must be considered when trying to make sense of the crisis in premature deaths, said Dr. Helena Hansen, head of UCLA's Department of Psychiatry and a senior author on Friedman's analysis. Hansen, who is Black and specializes in addiction psychiatry, also co-wrote the book "Whiteout: How Racial Capitalism Changed the Color of Opioids in America." For years, pharmaceutical companies steered expensive prescription pain medications, such as the opioid OxyContin, as well as the most effective medications for opioid-use disorder, to white Americans with good access to healthcare, she said. But at the same time, Black and brown Americans were unfairly subjected to law enforcement policies that prioritized incarceration for illegal drug use over increasing access to more humane medical strategies to help them, further harming already vulnerable communities, Hansen said. Read more: Black farmer looks to ancestors to help Californians battle climate change "In our society, people with access to the new technologies and pharmaceuticals are more likely to be white," Hansen said. "None of this is by accident. All of this is the direct result of careful racially and class-segmented marketing strategies by pharmaceutical companies." This two-tiered system arose because drug manufacturers, doctors and policymakers have for too long failed to see people from historically marginalized communities who live with addiction and mental health crises as worthy of the same sympathy and treatments that many white Americans receive, Hansen said. Joseph Gone, a professor of anthropology at Harvard who has spent 25 years studying the intersection of colonialism, culture and mental health in Indigenous communities, agreed. "Deaths of despair have been a reality for Indigenous communities since conquest and dispossession," he said. "It's amazing how much grief our people contend with from early deaths there are not that many communities in America that bear it quite the way we do," said Gone, who is a member of the Aaniiih-Gros Ventre tribal nation of north-central Montana. "Until we acknowledge and take responsibility for the casualties of colonization, which endure to this day through deaths of despair, it's going to be very hard to turn this around." Gone, who has collaborated with Friedman on previous research, said the mental health crisis in tribal nations is aggravated by widespread joblessness and generational poverty, and a lack of healthcare resources to treat people in need of immediate or long-term treatment. Just one traveling psychiatrist serves reservations spread across both Montana and Wyoming a region covering more than 243,300 square miles mostly to manage patients' prescriptions, he said. And "for all of Indian country, we're talking about a very small number of in-patient psychiatric facilities," Gone said. General practitioners can serve as a first line of defense, but they are not necessarily equipped to address the ongoing life crises that can lead to excessive drug and alcohol use, Gone said. Fields said it's important to address mental wellness issues early, before people reach a crisis point and become another statistic. While her focus remains on Black women, she's developed additional programming for adults, families and children, such as developmental screenings that measure for high stress levels. In June, Fields will co-present "Rap 4 Peace," a conference and gala featuring hip-hop artists talking about mental health and reducing gun violence. "This 'tragedy of despair' lives in us," Fields said. "We breathe it. We go outside hoping that nobody will harm us or our children because they feel threatened by us. This is truly harmful to our bodies." This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Defense rests its case without Trump testifying in his hush money trial Defense rests its case without Trump testifying in his hush money trial Video above: Sen. Rick Scott speaks out after attending Trumps hush money trial NEW YORK (AP) The defense rested its case in Donald Trumps hush money trial on Tuesday morning without the former president taking the witness stand to testify, bringing proceedings one step closer to closing arguments. After more than four weeks of testimony, jurors were sent home with Judge Juan M. Merchan telling them they wouldnt be needed in court until closing arguments next Tuesday. Merchan suggested the court session may run late that day to accommodate summations from both sides the defense and prosecution. Merchan told jurors he then expects his instructions to them will take about an hour. Florida meteorologist goes after DeSantis over climate change rollback Jurors could begin deliberating as soon as next week to decide whether Trump is guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Prosecutors have accused Trump of a scheme to bury negative and often salacious stories that might have torpedoed his 2016 presidential campaign and then falsifying internal business records to cover up hush money payments associated with the alleged scheme. He has denied the allegations. Prosecutors rested their case Monday after star witness Michael Cohen concluded his testimony. Cohen spent nearly four full days on the witness stand, placing the former president directly at the center of the alleged scheme. The defense called just two witnesses following the conclusion of Cohens testimony paralegal Daniel Sitko and attorney Robert Costello. The trial is in its 20th day. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts. The case is the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president and the first of four prosecutions of Trump to reach a jury. Currently: Trump campaign calls Cannes film The Apprentice blatantly false, vows legal action Trumps social media account shares a campaign video with a headline about a unified Reich Trump hush money case: A timeline of key events Key players: Whos who at Trumps hush money criminal trial Hush money, catch and kill and more: A guide to unique terms used at Trumps trial Heres the latest:A REMINDER OF THE CHARGES, AND WHAT MUST BE PROVED FOR A CONVICTION Donald Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in his hush money case. The charge is a Class E felony in New York, the lowest tier of felony charges in the state. It is punishable by up to four years in prison, though there is no guarantee that a conviction would result in prison time. Rudy Giuliani pleads not guilty to felony charges in Arizona election interference case To convict Trump, prosecutors must convince jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that he not only falsified or caused business records to be entered falsely which would be a misdemeanor but also that he did so to conceal another crime, making the charges felonies. Prosecutors allege the other crimes included violations of campaign finance and election law. Any verdict must be unanimous. New York court records and newspaper archives show defendants convicted of felony falsifying business records charges are seldom sentenced to prison for that offense alone. Often, the charge is coupled with more serious felonies like grand larceny. Trumps case involves only charges of falsifying business records. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denies any wrongdoing. TRUMP HEADED BACK TO THE COURTHOUSE Donald Trumps motorcade has left Trump Tower and is on its way back to the courthouse where his hush money trial is being held. Attorneys on both sides will meet for a charge conference with the judge overseeing the case. The former president had returned to his residence during a midday break in court proceedings after the defense rested its case. WHO IS ON THE JURY? The jury in Donald Trumps hush money trial is comprised of 18 Manhattan residents. The main jury includes seven men and five women. Six alternate jurors have listened to the testimony, but wont join in the deliberations unless one of the main jurors needs to drop out or is removed. The jurors represent a diverse cross-section of the borough and come from various professional backgrounds, including a sales professional, a software engineer, a security engineer, a teacher, a speech therapist, several lawyers, an investment banker and a retired wealth manager. A RECAP OF THE TESTIMONY JURORS HEARD IN THE CASE Across more than four weeks of testimony in Donald Trumps hush money trial, prosecutors called 20 witnesses. The defense called just two. Among the prosecutions key witnesses: Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, porn actor Stormy Daniels, tabloid publisher David Pecker and lawyer Keith Davidson, who negotiated hush money deals for Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Cohen testified that he paid $130,000 in hush money to Daniels at Trumps behest weeks before the 2016 election to keep her quiet about her claims of a sexual encounter with him a decade earlier. He also said that Trump was involved in an arrangement to reimburse him and log the payments as legal expenses. Daniels gave an at-times graphic account of the alleged encounter. Pecker testified about agreeing to be the eyes and ears of Trumps campaign by tipping Cohen off to negative stories, including Daniels claim. Trump hush money jurors will be asked about QAnon, not political affiliation Davidson talked about negotiating the deals and what he said was Cohens frustration after the Daniels deal that Trump still hadnt repaid him. The defenses big witness was attorney Robert Costello, who testified Monday and Tuesday about negotiating to represent Cohen after the FBI raided Cohens properties in 2018. WHAT IS A CHARGING CONFERENCE? When court in Donald Trumps hush money trial resumes Tuesday afternoon, attorneys for both sides will return for a charging conference. The charging conference is an opportunity for prosecutors and the defense to weigh in on how they want the jury to be instructed in the law and what the verdict sheet will look like. At the conference, the parties may discuss how the charges are organized and the elements of a crime spelled out in the law that the prosecution needs to prove beyond a reasonable doubt to achieve a conviction. Theyll provide the judge with their versions of instructions and the verdict sheet a form the jury fills out listing each charge and the possible verdicts but itll ultimately be up to Judge Merchan to decide how to instruct the jury. Jury instructions are a roadmap to the sometimes complex legalities involved in the case. They are not designed to sway the jury one way or another, but rather to ensure that jurors have a good understanding of the charges theyre weighing and the laws involved. WHERE THINGS STAND NOW After more than four weeks of testimony, jurors in Donald Trumps hush money trial could begin deliberating as soon as next week to decide whether the former president is guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Trumps lawyers rested their defense Tuesday morning without him taking the witness stand, moving the case closer to the moment the jury would begin deciding his fate. After the defense rested, Judge Juan M. Merchan told jurors the court session could run late next Tuesday to accommodate both prosecution and defense summations the last time the jury will hear from either side. TRUMP POLITICAL ALLIES TURN OUT IN SHOW OF SUPPORT A group of Donald Trumps allies that included Republican state leaders, lawmakers, state attorney generals and his son Donald Trump Jr. held a news conference near the courthouse in Manhattan on Tuesday morning. We are here because we are friends of Donald Trump, the president of the United States, and when a friend has trouble, friends have his back, said Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. If they can go after the former president of the United States of America, who has the ability and the financial resources to fight back, what happens to the average American? U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas wore a tie with photographs of Trump hugging the American flag patterned on it. They dont want him on the ballot, Nehls said, before comparing Trumps ability to draw crowds to the pope. This is five weeks in a courtroom when he should be out reaching the American people and telling the American people what he would like to do for this country. After the news conference, Donald Trump Jr. was asked why his father did not testify. Thered be absolutely no reason- no justification to do that whatsoever, he said. Everyone sees it for the sham that it is. DEMONSTRATORS GATHER IN PARK NEAR COURTHOUSE As Donald Trumps allies held a press conference near the Manhattan courthouse where his hush money trial is being held, a small group of demonstrators gathered in a nearby park with things growing heated between pro- and anti-Trump contingents. Supporters shouted We love Trump! and waved American flags and a giant TRUMP 2024 SAVE AMERICA flag. Detractors shouted profanities. This St. Pete Beach bar is one of the best in Florida, according to Southern Living Police officers then went into Collect Pond Park, telling them to figure it out. Trumps entourage has been holding its press conferences in the park in recent days, but the group was often drowned out on Monday by protesters. COURT ON BREAK Court in Donald Trumps hush money trial will resume at 2:15 p.m., when prosecutors and the defense will discuss the instructions that will be given to jurors before they start deliberating. Judge Merchan has said he expects deliberations could begin as early as next Wednesday. Trump, meanwhile, has returned to Trump Tower and will be back in court this afternoon. TRUMP WILL NOT TESTIFY IN HIS TRIAL Donald Trump left the courtroom where his criminal trial is taking place without speaking to reporters. He ignored a question about why he wouldnt testify in the hush money case. The former president and presumptive GOP presidential nominee previously said he wanted to take the witness stand to defend himself against what he claims are politically motivated charges. DEFENSE RESTS ITS CASE WITHOUT TRUMP TESTIFYING The defense in Donald Trumps hush money trial rested its case Tuesday morning without the former president taking the stand in his own defense. Your honor, the defense rests, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche told the judge. After the defense rested, Judge Juan M. Merchan told jurors they wont be needed again in court until next Tuesday. Thats when he says both sides will give their closing arguments. He suggested the court session may run late that day to accommodate summations from both sides the defense and prosecution. Merchan told jurors he then expects his instructions to them will take about an hour, after which they can begin deliberating, possibly as early as next Wednesday. Merchan noted that normally summations would immediately follow the defense resting its case, but he expects summations in this case will take at least a day and given the impending Memorial Day holiday theres no way to do all thats needed to be done before then. Ill see you in a week, Merchan said. CROSS-EXAMINATION OF COSTELLO CONCLUDES Before finishing her cross-examination Tuesday morning, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger questioned Robert Costellos true intent in maneuvering to represent Michael Cohen, citing a June 22, 2018, email in which the lawyer complained that Cohen was continuing to slow play us and the president. Costello was in talks with Cohen to represent him in the wake of an April 2018 FBI raid on his apartment, office and hotel room, but Cohen has said he was wary of Costellos ties to the White House and never hired him. Is he totally nuts? Costello wrote in the email to his law partner, Jeffrey Citron In the email, he asked what he should say to Cohen, using an expletive. Hes playing with the most powerful man on the planet, Costello wrote. That email certainly speaks for itself, doesnt it, Mr. Costello? Hoffinger asked Costello, mimicking the witnesss earlier answers that emails he turned over to the prosecutors office speak for themselves. Yes, it does, Costello replied. Hoffinger then asked if, at that point, Costello had lost control of Michael Cohen for the president, did you not? Absolutely not, Costello bristled. COSTELLO STRAIGHTENS UP ON THE STAND SLIGHTLY Defense witness Robert Costello was on Tuesday morning behaving better in the courtroom than he was the previous day when Judge Juan M. Merchan scolded him for speaking out of turn and rolling his eyes. Still, Costello tried to tack on extra details to his answers to questions from the prosecution. At one point, Costello told prosecutor Susan Hoffinger that there was additional context around an email regarding Rudy Giuliani, which I would be delighted to tell you. Florida roadside attraction named one of the best in the U.S. Thats alright. Lets move on to the next one, Hoffinger said. Moments later, Hoffinger asked Costello if he felt like he was being played by Cohen, as he had written in another email. Costello said he did not. You want me to explain it? Costello asked. Again, Hoffinger told him that she did not. Costello huffed, adding: Now you do want me to explain. PROSECUTORS CONFRONT COSTELLO WITH EMAILS HE SENT TO MICHAEL COHEN As testimony in Donald Trumps hush money trial began for the day, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed defense witness Robert Costello an August 2018 email in which former Trump attorney Michael Cohen told him and one of his partners to stop contacting him because you do not and never have represented me and another lawyer did. Asked whether he was upset that Cohen hadnt paid him, Costello said he was and volunteered that he had replied to the message in an email that prosecutors didnt show. Hoffinger went a step further and confronted Costello with emails he sent to Cohen in which he repeatedly dangled his close ties to Trump-ally Rudy Giuliani in the aftermath of the FBI raid on Cohens property. In one email, Costello told Cohen: Sleep well tonight. You have friends in high places, and relayed that there were some very positive comments about you from the White House. Costello testified Tuesday that friends in high places definitely refers to President Trump. Hoffinger also showed Costello an email he sent to his law partner noting that Giuliani was joining Trumps legal team. All the more reason for Cohen to hire me, because of my connection to Giuliani, which I mentioned in our meeting, Costello wrote to law partner Jeffrey Citron in the April 19, 2018, email. Cohen says he never hired Costello. WITNESS TESTIMONY SET TO RESUME Attorney Robert Costello has returned to the witness stand in Donald Trumps hush money trial to resume his testimony. The defense witness turned to Judge Juan M. Merchan and spoke to him briefly as they waited for the jury to file in. Costellos words were inaudible to reporters. The judge acknowledged him, however, and nodded. The vibe in the courtroom was more cordial than it was during the drama that disrupted proceedings on Monday. While waiting for the jury, Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass asked the judge to poll jurors on their availability to work next Wednesday, a typical off day for the trial. According to the judge, closing arguments will be held next Tuesday, the day after Memorial Day, so he may want jurors to work Wednesday to receive instructions in the law or start deliberating. TRUMP ARRIVES IN COURT Donald Trump has arrived at the courthouse in lower Manhattan for the 20th day of his hush money trial. Before court, the former president said, Well be doing something in the morning and then probably coming back in the afternoon. And well be resting pretty quickly. He added, however, I wont be resting. I dont rest. WHO WILL BE IN COURT WITH TRUMP? Donald Trump will be joined Tuesday by an entourage including actor Joe Piscopo as well as his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., former acting attorney general Matt Whitaker and former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, according to his campaign. Hell also be accompanied by members of Congress including Sen. Eric Schmitt and Reps. Ronny Jackson, Troy Nehls and Maria Salazar. RULING ON MOTION TO DISMISS WAITING IN THE WINGS As witness testimony resumes in Donald Trumps criminal trial on Tuesday, a ruling on the defenses motion to dismiss the case is waiting in the wings. Defense attorneys asked Judge Juan M. Merchan to dismiss the case on Monday after court adjourned for the day, arguing that prosecutors had failed to prove their case and there was no evidence of falsified business records or an intent to defraud. Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo shot back that the trial evidence overwhelmingly supports each element of the alleged offenses, and the case should proceed to the jury. Colangelo argued that the jury has seen overwhelming evidence that the records of the payments to Michael Cohen were falsely categorized as payments for legal services instead of reimbursement and that there was ample evidence that the alleged fudging was done to deceive people including the voting public and government regulators. Merchan did not indicate when exactly he would make a decision on the motion. COSTELLO TO RETURN TO THE STAND Attorney Robert Costello will return to the witness stand on Tuesday as Donald Trumps hush money trial enters its 20th day. Costellos testimony was a source of discord on Monday between attorneys on both sides, with prosecutors arguing that he should not be allowed to testify at all. Before the attorney took the stand, Judge Juan M. Merchan ruled that he would allow the defense to question him about two allegedly inconsistent statements in Michael Cohens testimony and to offer some rebuttal to his testimony. Costello, a former federal prosecutor in New York, is relevant to Donald Trumps hush money case due to his role as a Michael Cohen antagonist and critic in the years since their professional relationship splintered. New cruise ship begins journey from Northern Ireland to Tampa The attorney had offered to represent Cohen soon after the lawyers hotel room, office and home were raided by the FBI in 2018 and as he faced a decision about whether to remain defiant in the face of a criminal investigation or to cooperate with investigators in hopes of securing more lenient treatment. Costello was invited last year to appear before the grand jury that indicted Trump after asserting that he had information that undermined Cohens credibility. CLOSING ARGUMENTS COULD BE THE TUESDAY AFTER MEMORIAL DAY Closing arguments in Donald Trumps criminal trial could take place the day after Memorial Day. Judge Juan M. Merchan said Monday that when the defense rests its case, he will send the jury home until closing arguments on the day after Memorial Day. Should that happen, jurors will spend a full week away from the trial. Merchan cited scheduling issues in giving the May 28 date. The defense is expected to rest its case on Tuesday after calling just a handfull of witnesses, including attorney Robert Costello. 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 WFLA. Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been accused of using excessive force on a woman months before George Floyd's murder. The aggrieved victim recently slammed the disgraced law enforcer with a $9 million lawsuit. She cited Chauvin, another Minneapolis cop, and the Minneapolis Police Department as the defendants responsible for her alleged injuries. Derek Chauvin's George Floyd Encounter Was Reportedly A Repeat Offense MEGA According to legal documents, a woman named Patricia "Patty" Dawn Welch Day alleged that two Minneapolis police officers Chauvin and Ellen Jensen used excessive force on her during a January 2020 arrest. She painted a horrific tale similar to the tragic death of Floyd, claiming Chauvin and Jensen "violently yanked" her from her vehicle without justification before throwing her to the ground. The impact allegedly resulted in multiple injuries, including a tooth fracture, injuries to her arm and shoulder, and more wounds. In Day's recollection, per TMZ, these injuries occurred before she was handcuffed, but that didn't stop Chauvin from using more force. Derek Chauvin Allegedly Used His Infamous 'Knee' On The Plaintiff MEGA Despite being forced to the ground, Day alleged that Chauvin continued to abuse his power. She claimed he pressed his knee into her back while she was restrained, comparing it to what "he would later do to snuff the life out of George Floyd." She also bashed the other cop, Jensen, for standing on the sidelines and failing to intervene during Chauvin's excessive use of force. As for why she was going after the Minneapolis Police Department, Day stressed that they didn't take necessary actions to rectify the alleged injustice. According to the plaintiff, there was body cam footage to support her claims. However, the Minneapolis Police Department allegedly ignored it, thereby allowing the cops to go on unchecked. The Alleged Victim Wants $9 Million In Damages Derek Chauvin accused of using excessive force months before murdering George Floyd https://t.co/kjjR4KQzqs WCCO | CBS News Minnesota (@WCCO) May 21, 2024 For the alleged injustices she suffered, Day wants $9 million in compensatory damages from Chauvin, Jensen, and the Minneapolis Police Department. She also wants them to pay an unspecified amount in punitive damages. It is unclear how the other parties will respond to the lawsuit, but for Chauvin, this legal drama may be a significant problem given his current circumstances. The disgraced cop is serving more than 22 years in prison. He was convicted of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in 2021 over Floyd's case. That same year, Chauvin took a plea deal on a separate federal charge of violating Floyd's civil rights and received another 21 years in prison. Chauvin Was Attacked In Prison Pexels Last year, The Blast reported that Chauvin had survived a brutal attack from a Mexican gangster named John Turscak. The inmate stabbed the former cop 22 times with an improvised knife in the prison library on November 24, 2023. Turscak claimed he chose this specific date because of its symbolic connection to the Black Lives Matter [BLM] movement, which originated from Floyd's murder. It also served as a tribute to the "Black Hand" symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia gang. The gangster, who is serving a decades-long sentence, claimed he would have killed Chauvin if not for the swift response of correctional officers who subdued him with pepper spray. As for the victim, he was transferred to a local hospital for treatment. The Former Cop's Family Vowed To Sue Prison Officials Following Chauvin's stabbing, his mother, Carolyn Pawlenty, slammed the prison for hiding his injuries. She expressed dissatisfaction about learning about the incident through the news, saying: "How the hell do these news agencies know, and his own mother doesn't even know?" According to Pawlenty, prison authorities had failed to inform her about the incident despite her being listed as an emergency contact. The matriarch added: "I can't even think what to say. I haven't been to bed and made a path in my kitchen and living room floor by pacing." The family's attorney, Gregory Erickson, stressed that they would sue prison officials if they continued to keep Chauvin's family oblivious to his condition. He noted they weren't confident in their system in a statement, claiming: "His family is very concerned about the facility's capacity to protect Derek from further harm. They remain unassured that any changes have been made to the faulty procedures that allowed Derek's attack to occur in the first place." DELTA, Colo. (KREX) The Delta County Sheriffs Office and Delta County Search and Rescue have suspended their search for a Cedaredge man who went missing in December 2023. On Dec. 20, 2023, the Cedaredge Police Department was contacted to perform a welfare check on 39-year-old Steven Volquardsen due to suicidal comments he made. When officers arrived at his home they were unable to find him. On Dec. 22, 2023, deputies with the Delta County Sheriffs Office responded to a report of an abandoned vehicle in the 28,000 block of Surface Creek Road that was left parked and running for two days. Deputies at the scene found a dark-colored SUV with Colorado plates registered to Volquardsen. The drivers side door was left open with the key in the ignition and the vehicle appeared to be out of gas. The Delta County Search and Rescue Team was requested to help search for Volquardsen based on the familys concern; they searched the immediate area for several hours but were unable to find him. Search and Rescue team members returned the following day and searched for him until extreme winter weather made conditions unsafe. Additional searches were conducted several times throughout the winter, but they were still unable to locate him. On May 18, the Delta County Search and Rescue Team, with the assistance of 27 searchers from other teams, performed an extensive search around the Spalding Mountain area Volquardsens last known direction of travel. The teams were unable to find any sign of him. Main search efforts have been suspended, but the Delta County Sheriffs Office and Delta County Search and Rescue will continue to look for him as new information is reported. Sheriff Taylor and Search and Rescue Team Commander Toltz encourage anyone exploring the area of the Surface Creek Round Corrals or Spalding Mountain on the Grand Mesa to keep an eye out for anything out of place and report it immediately to Delta County Dispatch at 970-874-2015. 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 WesternSlopeNow.com. Arizona's 11 fake electors sign a document in Phoenix on Dec. 14 2020, falsely claiming that they were the state's electors and that Donald Trump won the presidential election in Arizona. Screenshot via AZGOP The two GOP state senators who were indicted last month for being fake electors who tried to help Donald Trump steal the 2020 election in Arizona are now facing an ethics complaint. Democratic Sen. Brian Fernandez wants the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate Republican Sens. Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern. In a complaint filed Monday, Fernandez says the pair have broken the Senates rules by allegedly committing crimes. Not only do these allegations show shocking and horrifically bad judgment and conduct by Senators Hoffman and Kern, but if proven true, they also show criminal intent to defraud not only the U.S. Congress, the Archivist of the United State, the Chief Judge of the District Court of Arizona, the Arizona Secretary of State, the residents of Arizona and, of course the American people, Fernandez wrote in his complaint. This embedded content is not available in your region. Attorney General Kris Mayes investigation in the fake elector scheme led to a grand jury indictment of 18 people, including all 11 fake electors, for their actions related to the plot concocted by Trump attorneys to keep the former president in office after his loss to Joe Biden. All 18 of those indicted are charged with conspiracy, fraudulent schemes and artifices, fraudulent schemes and practices and forgery, all felonies. The grand jury indicted the fake electors for signing bogus documents claiming that they were Arizonas certified electors and that Trump won the 2020 election. Georgia, Michigan and Nevada have already brought charges against fake electors in their states with Wisconsin still investigating possible charges. In an interview with the Arizona Mirror, Fernandez said he wants the two men to be temporarily removed from committee assignments as the case works its way through the court. He said it is about maintaining the sanctity of the Senate. For me, it boils down to how we should act as senators, Fernandez said. If were indicted by a court, we should step down or be forced to step down from our committee posts. Both Hoffman and Kern are committee chairmen: Hoffman is the chair of both the Government Committee and the Director Nominations Committee, while Kern heads up the Judiciary Committee. Fernandezs 17-page complaint cites the Senate Ethics Committees own rules, which state that the committee has the obligation to conduct an investigation if a senators conduct is found to violate the law or adversely reflects upon the Senate. The committee hasnt met yet this year. The Ethics Committee is led by Trump-endorsed Sen. David Farnsworth, a Mesa Republican who has admitted to believing in the QAnon conspiracy theory. Fernandezs complaint details the election fraud lies spread by the Trump campaign in the lead up to and aftermath of the 2020 election, and claims that the senators should have known the presidents claims were not true. These were lies that any civic minded individual who was paying attention could have picked out, and they were lies that should have been recognized by a then sitting member and a newly elected member of the Arizona House of Representatives, the complaint says. However, both Kern and Hoffman were actively engaged in spreading those falsehoods after the 2020 election. In addition to being a fake elector, Hoffmans company, Rally Forge, played an active role in spreading election misinformation. Hoffman and Kern have both espoused their innocence and alleged that Mayes timed the grand jury indictments to help Bidens reelection campaign. Kern also leads a special committee aimed at investigating Mayes office for political prosecution of Republicans. Fernandez said he is hopeful that Senate President Warren Petersen will take the complaint seriously, even though Petersen pushed back against a previous written request by Fernandez to remove the two men from their committees citing due process. Give us the opportunity to air these issues, Fernandez said, adding that he hopes the complaint wont be dismissed outright. We are innocent until proven guilty, Fernadez acknowledged, but we should be held to a higher standard. Fernandez added that, if the two men are acquitted, then they should have their assignments back but until that point they should be removed to stymie any possible misuse of their positions to unjustly fight their indictment. This indictment was a huge procedural hurdle to be overcome and as such, the Ethics Committee should earnestly consider whether Senators Kern and Hoffman have violated a federal or state law, a Senate Ethics rule involving the conduct of a public office, or have violated the public trust, or engaged in any improper conduct that adversely reflects upon the Senate, the complaint says. Kern is expected to appear in court Tuesday for the first time in the fake elector case. Kern in a written statement accused Fernandez of playing politics again as usual and criticized him for supporting abortion rights. Hoffman did not respond to a request for comment. When reached via text message, Petersen said he had no comment. ***UPDATE: This story has been updated to include a comment from Sen. Anthony Kern. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Dem files ethics complaint against 2 GOP senators indicted as fake electors for Trump appeared first on Arizona Mirror. PORTLAND, Oregon The Keep Portland Weird! t-shirts are on sale and its still common to encounter employees wearing N-95 masks. Yet thats not what greets visitors at the iconic Powells Books downtown here. The first image is of the private security guard staged just past the entrance. With its ubiquitous hipster coffee and IPAs, enduring live-and-let-live ethos and a politics so deep blue that the homeless guy outside the Whole Foods in the Pearl District solicited patrons to buy him a beer by bearing a Fuck Trump cardboard sign, Portland is hardly ripe for a Republican takeover. But on Tuesday, the voters of Multnomah County, the surrounding jurisdiction and a county that has not voted Republican for president since 1960, could replace their incumbent district attorney, Mike Schmidt, with a man who was in the GOP until after Donald Trump became president. What I hear when Im knocking on doors, is Hey, I consider myself very liberal but this is out of step were not getting served well, said Nathan Vasquez, a longtime prosecutor in the county office and now unaffiliated voter whos challenging his boss, adding: People definitely want public safety. It doesnt mean people are wholly abandoning the idea of criminal justice reform. They just want it delivered in a pragmatic, practical way. Should Vasquez prevail, it would represent more than the rejection of a progressive prosecutor. It would be the culmination of simmering local frustration with crime, homelessness and drug abuse and a resounding correction to the shift left on criminal justice that took place here and in so many cities in 2020. It should also get the attention of Democratic lawmakers everywhere. Theyve mostly found success by elevating abortion and MAGA, the partys best one-two since Dobbs, but their vulnerabilities on quality-of-life issues remain and could prove particularly acute with the broader presidential electorate this fall. While San Franciscos recall of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin momentarily drew national attention two years ago, the prosecutor battles have raged on, overshadowed by the presidential race but offering a more revealing measure of how curdled many voters have become post-pandemic. In Chicago, home to the second-largest DAs office in the country, the progressive Kim Foxx did not run again and was replaced in March by a former judge who pledged to prosecute retail theft as a felony and said Foxx did not believe in accountability. And in Los Angeles, George Gascon, whos called himself the godfather of progressive prosecutors, is facing a challenge this November from a former Republican, whos decrying a culture of lawlessness and sounds a lot like a subscriber to the broken windows theory of law enforcement. It may start with smash-and-grab car theft but it then escalates into violent crimes, Nathan Hochman, the challenger in Los Angeles, told me. Hochman, now an independent, said hes up by double-digits in his polling for one straightforward reason: Angelenos feel less safe today than when Gascon came to office. In Portland, the backlash has arrived. Schmidt is on the ropes. His defeat would represent a full circle moment from 2020, when Portland exploded and Trump officials delighted in the images of Proud Boys and Antifa squaring off. A former assistant DA and legislative aide, the then-38-year-old Schmidt claimed 77 percent of the vote that year, and in that summer of demonstrations and riots said he wouldnt prosecute protestors charged with crimes like disorderly conduct or interference with a police officer. Yet the DA race here is hardly the first sign Portland voters want a shift back to the center. In 2022, Jo Ann Hardesty, a progressive activist and voice for police accountability, lost her city council seat after a single term at the hands of a moderate political novice from the business community, Rene Gonzalez, whos now running for mayor this fall. Then, last month, came the culmination of a revolt against the ballot measure passed in, yes, 2020, that decriminalized hard drugs such as heroin. The implementation of the referendum was malpractice, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) told me. We have one of the worst records in the country for addiction and Measure 110 was predicated on getting people those services and we didnt do it, said Blumenauer. Faced with voter fury over open-air drug dealing and usage along with spiraling deaths, Oregons Democratic governor and legislature approved a bill to recriminalize possession of even small amounts of such drugs. In a state that saw a surge in opioid overdoses in 2023 628 in the first six months of the year, compared to 280 in all of 2019 the repeal represented an admission of a failed policy change. A few weeks after Gov. Tina Kotek signed the recriminalization, The Oregonian went into the field with a poll and found 78 percent of voters in metro Portland believe homelessness is a very serious problem and over 60 percent said local governments should be allowed to fine or arrest anyone who refuses to leave public spaces. All of my lefty neighbors who want to do right thing are like, fuck it, this is not working, Dwight Holton, a Democrat and former U.S. attorney here, told me. Jeff Mapes, who has covered Oregon politics since the 1980s, said: Ive never seen anything like it, the extent of how upset people are. One prominent Oregon Democrat, speaking not for attribution, said Schmidt is effectively the fall guy for fed-up Portlanders eager to register a no-confidence vote on somebody. And in a city where displaying a MAGA sign would amount to a hate crime especially without a trigger warning the DA race is one of the few ballot lines where Democrats can vote guilt-free for change. Its not a mayoral election, let alone a statewide or federal contest. A Republican hasnt been elected Oregon governor since 1982, the GOPs second-longest losing streak in the country after next-door Washington, in no small part because of the Democratic vote trove Multnomah County reliably delivers. In 2022, when Kotek won by less than four points statewide, she took 73 percent of the countys votes. According to Kerry Tymchuk, who runs the Oregon Historical Society, no Republican has carried Multnomah since former Senator Bob Packwoods 1986 reelection. But those are just statistics. Its hard to overstate Portlands capacity for tolerance. It has long been a refuge for those from other parts of the country and the world seeking a fresh start and non-judgmental community. That includes the governor and her wife. This tradition has also meant a stream of homeless people. Portland always had a lot of transients back to the hobos riding the rails, said Mapes, who recalled the well-worn path to Baloney Joes, a homeless shelter by Burnside Bridge. But the camps, the drugs, the robberies it finally has reached a breaking point. And Schmidt is in part the target, Blumenauer explained, because hes the first major local figure up for reelection. It has galvanized a lot of crankiness and people are right to be cranky, said the congressman. Blumenauer has represented Portland since his election to the state house in 1972 and defends Schmidt, saying the DA has governed in a thoughtful way since taking over amid a time of crisis. But the congressman, the picture of Portlandia quirk with his bow ties and bicycle lapel pins, concedes voters here are not getting the performance they expected from their government, I agree. The private security guards always a sign of insufficient or ineffective policing are not just at Powells. Theyre at Nordstroms and inside that Whole Foods. And the CVS across from the Whole Foods doesnt have a single aisle without at least one locked enclosure to prevent theft. Just last week, Willamette Week reported the county signed a five-year, $40 million contract earlier this year with a California-based firm for armed and unarmed security at libraries, homeless shelters and county offices. People are risking their catalytic converter to come downtown for dinner, Betsy Johnson, a salty, Democrat-turned-independent former state senator told me. And now some of the rich people in the southwest and northwest hills [of Portland] have seen the chaos in downtown and theyre wondering: when do we have to get a guard for our community? Vasquez points to the declining size of police and a plunge in prosecutions since 2020 under Schmidt. Prior to him coming into office, we ranged somewhere between 12,000 to 20,000 cases a year, said the challenger. Under him, post-Covid, we were under 6,000. There is, though, a deeper anger thats easy to detect, especially among mainstream Democrats who resent the city becoming a soundstage for Fox News snuff clips of urban excess and blame it on outside progressive groups. The white left decided anarchists were better than cops, said Holton, faulting folks outside Portland treating us as a lab for policy experiments and what were clearly failed experiments. That includes groups such as the Drug Policy Alliance, a New York-based organization that helped bankroll the ballot measure decriminalizing hard drugs and is now a major funder of Schmidt. Not that he minds the race being nationalized. The district attorney is trying to fend off his challenger now the same way other local Democratic candidates, including successful candidates for mayor in Chicago and Los Angeles, did running against candidates to their right: by embracing their party label and painting the opposition as Trumpy or at least MAGA-adjacent. Schmidts allies have sent direct mail accusing Vasquez of pursuing policies deployed by disgraced Trump ally Rudy Giuliani and said hes controlled by MAGA & NRA puppet masters. (Vasquez called himself a moderate centrist and said hed vote for Biden but expressed dismay that he and Trump are our two best options.) Schmidts signs and advertising makes sure to identify him as a Democrat even though the DA race is technically non-partisan. Closer to home, Schmidt has linked Vasquez to Johnson, the former state senator who ran as an independent for governor in 2022, because they share a similar funding base from Oregons centrist business community. Im in half of his ads, Johnson exclaimed, youd think I was fucking Darth Vaders sister. (As a candidate for governor, Johnson called Portland the city of roaches, a play on its preferred nickname, the city of roses.) Schmidts right in the sense that there are moderates and Republicans conspiring against him. Dan Lavey, a longtime GOP strategist and Oregon power player, helped organize People for Portland, a group thats hounded the DA with ads and billboards decrying Portlands Schmidt Show. In a one-party city and state its pragmatic Democrats vs. progressive Democrats fighting it out, Lavey told me. I call it therapy vs. discipline. Thats the DAs challenge. His problem isnt Republicans and the business community money crowd its Portlands Democratic voters. Ben Johansen contributed to this report. Title icon The News Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is eager to put Republicans on defense with a vote on a bipartisan border bill. Not every Democrat is so excited. Schumer announced hed revive a border bill that died in the Senate last February after Donald Trump nixed what was shaping up to be a compromise for Democrats in exchange for funding for Ukraine. The measure would have made it harder to apply for asylum and easier for the government to impose new border restrictions, goals promoted by many conservatives. And yet, it failed at the time, rejected by all but four Republicans in a procedural vote. The White House and the bills backers accused Republicans of deliberately refusing to fix the border in response and are hoping a new vote on it will help make the contrast clear. Vulnerable Democrats up for reelection like Sen. Jon Tester in Montana and Sherrod Brown in Ohio have embraced it. But some Democrats are uneasy with making it their de facto border platform without the added context of getting an aid package over the line. Its...not lost on me that the last time we were here, a lot of people mentioned that this was a price they were willing to pay for the sake of Ukraine funding. Thats no longer the case, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif. told reporters Monday. The foreign aid package has been approved. So this should not be the Democratic starting point for security or immigration reform. Padilla, who also opposed the bill in February, is upset that the newly revived proposal doesnt address adding pathways to citizenship, especially for DREAMers, a component of prior bipartisan talks on major border changes. I agree, we need to address the border, he said. I wish we did it in a more thoughtful approach. But to think we could have something pass, that not one Dreamer is helped, no relief for a single farmworker or any essential worker, no long-term resident of the United States whos been here working hard and paying taxes, its unconscionable. House lawmakers arent thrilled the Senate is taking up the proposal either, which Speaker Mike Johnson has said is dead on arrival even if it somehow gets there. It doesnt include DREAM Act or any relief for people that have been residents for generations, Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif. told Semafor. Title icon Kadias view Theres no real dispute this is a political move. Schumer and the White House understand Senate Republicans will tank the bill. But the substantive stakes are high, especially for Democrats who see the party drifting right as increased border crossings and asylum claims since the pandemic have created new challenges for mayors and governors. In a matter of months, Democrats have gone from being asked to reluctantly embrace a conservative-tilted bill as a concession on Ukraine aid to embracing it as a core promise to voters. Thats especially true as the White House weighs executive orders to take further action on the border, even as they may face hurdles in the courts. The coming Senate vote is seen by many as a setup for Biden to announce a new crackdown just in time to tout the accomplishment at his first debate with Trump on June 27. The expected message: Biden is forced to act on his own because Trump sabotaged the best option. Title icon The View From The White House In a statement, the White House noted that Biden had recently met with Congressional leaders in both parties to discuss the issue. Its been over 100 days since Congressional Republicans blocked the bipartisan bill that included the toughest and fairest reforms to secure the border in decades, the statement read. In these calls, President Biden reiterated that Congressional Republicans should stop playing politics and act quickly to pass this bipartisan border legislation that would add thousands of Border Patrol agents and personnel, invest in technology to catch fentanyl and combat drug trafficking, and make our country safer. Title icon The View From A Republican Negotiator Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklah. was the top GOP negotiator and the bill and did not pull his punches in accusing members of his own party of killing it for political reasons at the time. But he also condemned the vote as a stunt. Its trying to score political points rather than actually trying to solve a problem, Lankford told reporters, according to NBC News. Theres been no attempt to sit down and say, OK, what went sideways last time? Lets figure this out. Title icon Notable Border crossings have dropped in recent months, thanks in part to renewed efforts by Mexican authorities to police their own southern border. Semafor Logo As Republicans gather in Greensboro this week and former President Donald Trump makes an appearance near Charlotte, Democrats are turning their focus to Eastern North Carolina. Beginning Thursday, Jaime Harrison, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is holding a two-day, six-city tour visiting Elizabeth City, Williamston, Rocky Mount, Greenville, Kinston and Smithfield. The path to the White House runs through North Carolina, and Im excited to join folks in Eastern North Carolina to talk about whats at stake in this election especially for rural voters, Harrison said in a written statement. Over the past year, North Carolina has been a large part of the Biden campaigns strategy to defeat Trump and retain the presidency. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and many other surrogates have made numerous stops throughout the state campaigning for Bidens reelection. Eastern North Carolina Eastern North Carolina, a rural area with large pockets of poverty, is often overlooked. But the region could have major impacts in the 2024 election. It is home to North Carolinas only competitive race for Congress. Rep. Don Davis, a moderate Democrat from Snow Hill, is trying to retain his seat against Army veteran Laurie Buckhout, a conservative who has aligned herself with Trump. Theyre both vying to represent 22 of the states far northeastern counties. For 18 years, the area had been represented by former Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Democrat from Wilson, but he retired on Dec. 30, 2022, saying Black voters in his district had their votes diluted by racial gerrymandering. Harrisons tour Harrisons two-day tour will focus on what Biden and Democrats have done for rural and Black voters and the threat Democrats say Trump would pose to the local communities. Simultaneously, the North Carolina Republican Party will kick off its state convention in Greensboro. On Sunday, Trump plans to attend the Coca-Cola 600, a NASCAR race, near Charlotte. Harrison plans to hone in, in his discussion with voters, on programs that Trump has threatened to end, like the Affordable Care Act The Obama-era law allowed for expansion of Medicaid, which North Carolina implemented last year after more than a decade of resistance. Harrison will also talk about ways Eastern North Carolina benefited from changes during the Biden administration. While President Biden and Vice President Harris have lowered costs, expanded access to health care, and created good-paying jobs all through the Tar Heel state, Donald Trump is pushing an agenda that hurts our rural communities, rips away affordable health care, and puts our farmers at risk, Harrison said. Harrison will also join the Biden-Harris campaign and the state Democratic Party in opening campaign offices in Rocky Mount and Smithfield, focused on reelecting Democrats up and down the ballot. These are the 11th and 12th offices opened by the Biden campaign in North Carolina, while the Trump campaign, as of last month, remains without, according to WSOC-TV. Mitch Landrieu, the Biden campaign co-chair and former mayor of New Orleans, will travel with Harrison on Thursday. Together were building a winning coalition including in North Carolina that will defeat Trump in the ballot box in November, Harrison said. Harrisons schedule Thursday, March 23 9:30 a.m in Elizabeth City: breakfast with local leaders. Noon in Williamston: tour of Providence Omnistructure. 2 p.m. in Rocky Mount: meeting with religious leaders and other residents after opening of a campaign field office. Friday, May 24 9 a.m. in Greenville: visiting an unnamed Black-owned business with local elected officials. 10:45 a.m. in Kinston: holding a community roundtable with Mayor Don Hardy. 2 p.m. in Smithfield: opening a campaign office. The backlash is mounting after The New York Times reported last week that an upside-down flag flew outside the house of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito ahead of President Bidens inauguration in January 2021. On Tuesday, a coalition of over 40 House Democrats sent a letter to Alito calling for the justice to recuse himself from cases pertaining to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. The letter was obtained by HuffPost. Even if you had no involvement in the display yourself, the fact of such a political statement at your home creates, at minimum, the appearance of improper political bias, reads the letter, which adds that reasonable people will doubt Alito can be impartial when ruling on cases about whether Mr. Trump should face criminal prosecution for his actions arising from the Stop the Steal movement. As the Times noted in its report, at the time an upside-down flag was a popular symbol of solidarity among Trumps supporters who believed the 2020 election was rigged. Alito has yet to provide a reasonable explanation for why the upside-down flag was flown outside of his house, telling the Times his wife put it up in response to a neighbors use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard sign. He further explained to Fox News that his wife had complained to neighbors who put out a Fuck Trump sign near a childrens bus stop, and one of those neighbors later called her the C-word and thats why she decided to hang the flag upside down. Supreme Court justices are currently weighing whether Trump should be immune from prosecution for his attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election, as he was president while the alleged crime was committed. During oral arguments last month, Alito seemed dubious that presidents shouldnt have immunity, and at one point brought up the hypothetical scenario of a president ordering the military to assassinate a political rival. Presidents have to make a lot of tough decisions about enforcing the law, Alito said. If he makes a mistake hes subject to the criminal laws like anybody else? Making a mistake is not what lands you in a criminal prosecution, replied Michael Dreeben, a lawyer for the Justice Department, which has charged Trump criminally for his role in the attempted insurrection. Democrats arent the only ones irked by the political display outside Alitos house. Emotions are apparently high in that neighborhood but no, its not good judgment to do that, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) told HuffPost on Monday. I dont know what role he said his wife was insulted and got mad I assume that to be true, but hes still a Supreme Court justice. And, you know, people have to realize in moments like that, to think it through. More from Rolling Stone Best of Rolling Stone Dallenis Martinez talks about her journey to American while waiting to attend an orientation session for recent immigrants Monday, May 20, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) DENVER (AP) In a hotel conference room in Denver, Dallenis Martinez attended orientation with hundreds of other migrants Monday for the city's new, ambitious migrant support program, which includes six month apartment stays and intensive job preparation for those who can't yet legally work. It's an about-face from strategies Denver, New York City and Chicago have used as the cities scrambled to support thousands of migrants and slashed budgets. The largely improvised support strategies have included days- to weeks-long shelter stays or bus tickets to send migrants elsewhere. Now, Martinez, 28, and her two young kids, along with some 650 others in Denver, are being set up with an apartment with six months of rental, food and utility assistance, a free computer, a prepaid cell phone and metro bus passes. Then, the city working in coordination with several nonprofits plan to provide courses on English language, computers, financial literacy, and workers rights, while also assisting migrants in getting credentialed in specific industries, like construction, retail, hospitality, healthcare and early childhood education. Martinez said she will take any job to support her kids. The support will also include help with the paperwork for asylum applications, and eventually work authorization. The goal of the new program is to act as a buffer for new arrivals who have to wait six months for a work permit after applying for asylum under federal law, using that time to prepare migrants for their new life. This is investing in people to set them up to be independent and thrive, said Sarah Plastino, whos overseeing the program. We know that when we set people up for success, people really do succeed. The city expects to enroll 800 migrants in the coming months, though only those who dont yet qualify for a work permit can enter this program. Martinez, who's from Venezuela but was living in Peru when she started her journey north, didn't know she'd end up in a program like this. She didn't even know what the orientation was about when she first took a seat. Martinez, who travelled with her 11-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter, arrived in the U.S. with nothing. On the border of Guatemala and Mexico, she was robbed of the little money she had. Then, it happened again, and she had to hide in a river with her kids for two nights. I was hungry, cold and scared, said Martinez, who turned herself in to U.S. immigration soon after crossing the border. I couldn't take it anymore. Halfway through the orientation, Martinez was excited. Faith is the last thing you lose, she said, a smile broadening on her face. I feel more hope with this program." The mood was upbeat in the Denver Quality Inn; where most who attended the orientation were staying. The city has rented out several hotels to support the some 42,000 migrants who've arrived since the beginning of 2023. Now, the hotels are shuttered or winding down as the number of new migrants drops. Over the last year, new arrivals strained the city's resources, as they did in Chicago and New York City, prompting the mayors to slash city budgets after unsuccessfully asking for more federal aid from President Joe Biden. We were hemorrhaging money. We had over 5,000 people a day in our shelter system, and it was completely financially unsustainable," said Plastino. "We knew we had to make a shift from reactive to proactive. New York City officials said 197,100 immigrants have made their way there. Some 65,500 are currently in shelters. Since a federally-sponsored Asylum Application Help Center started assisting with immigration applications, some 50,000 applications have been submitted, including for asylum, work permits and other forms of immigration relief. Even while Denver's new program is intensive, Plastino said it's still more cost effective. The citys costs for supporting migrants will be roughly half of what they had initially expected in January. Services like recreation centers will open once again after their funding was sliced to help afford the city's previous migrant housing strategy. Renting hotel rooms and paying for premade meals is more expensive than providing rental support for an apartment on the market and food assistance for grocery stores, Plastino said, adding, Its also just the right thing to do. ___ Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. JAMESTOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) Two Indiana men have been charged after deputies say they sold stolen boats to people in Ottawa County. Lance Holland, 42, and Ceandra Jackson, 29, both from Fort Wayne, Indiana, were each charged with receiving and concealing stolen property over $20,000 and false pretenses over $50,000. Holland was also charged with two counts of false pretenses over $20,000, according to the Ottawa County Sheriffs Office. The charges stem from early May, when a Jamestown Township resident unknowingly bought two pontoon boats that had been stolen from Kentucky and Alabama in an online transaction, deputies say. Investigators found that boats, trailers and motors totaling over $370,000 had been stolen from dealerships. Detectives learned that Holland and Jackson had two more boats that they planned to sell on Friday. Deputies found the pair with the stolen boats near Jamestown Township and arrested them. Holland was given a $150,000 cash surety bond and Jackson a $100,000 bond. They were both booked into the Ottawa County Jail. The boats will be returned to the dealerships they were stolen from, deputies say. Investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to call the Ottawa County Sheriffs Office at 616.738.4000 or Silent Observer at 877.887.4536. 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 WOODTV.com. Updated Soon after she had gone to jail for trying to get her children a better education, Kelley Williams-Bolars teenage daughter Jada confronted her mother with an accusation that will stick with her forever. Youre not there for me, said Jada, now 26. Like the rest of her family, Jada still struggles with her mothers 2011 felony conviction for sending Jada and her sister Kayla to a suburban school outside Akron, Ohio, using their grandfathers address. By the time Jada stood firmly in front of her, Williams-Bolger had spent nine days in jail, overwhelmed by how a felony could upend their lives, jeopardizing future housing and employment opportunities. She started to defend herself, then went silent. She knew Jada was right. Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter But you know, it was my mind that wasnt there. It wasnt there for years, conceded Williams-Bolar, a longtime educator and child care provider. Honestly, it destroyed me. It was a lot to deal with. I wasnt the same mom for my daughters. Years after their prosecutions and forced removal from districts, families across the country like Williams-Bolars are still paying the price, economically and emotionally, after being prosecuted for acting in the best interest of their children. In Pennsylvania, one family ultimately owed over $10,000 for tuition and amassed legal fees into the six figures for keeping their child enrolled in a suburban school after moving out of the district three months before the end of the school year. In Connecticut, Tanya McDowell, whose family was experiencing homelessness, used her babysitters address to enroll her five year old in a Norwalk school. She was convicted on larceny and unrelated drug charges, serving three years in prison. Outside of the legal ramifications, many families still struggle with depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress, their family relationships and work suffering as a result. Their children have felt at times like they had lost their parents and interest in school. Now seven decades after the Supreme Court outlawed sorting children by race and promised quality education for all in the landmark Brown v. Board decision, experts are beating the drum that continuing to exclude children from quality schools based on their home addresses perpetuates segregation. Advocates have also called for an end to the practice of prosecuting parents who, knowingly or unknowingly, disregard zone lines when enrolling their children. Related Report: In 24 States, Using False Address to Get Into a Better School is a Crime Williams-Bolars daughters were zoned for Akron Public Schools, 15 minutes but seemingly a world apart from Copley-Fairlawn, the predominantly white suburban district where her father lived and often cared for her daughters. Visiting Copleys schools, she saw acres of land, science fairs, a sprawling greenhouse, and a full computer room. Akrons schools at the time had rapidly decaying infrastructure. Styrofoam cups filled with dirt were the plants in her daughters science classes. Night and day, she said. She just couldnt have anticipated what the cost of enrolling her kids in Copley would be. Months later, her trial began. Intense scrutiny on the case made their family recipients of unwanted, international attention. A school district contractor showed up to their front door, looking inside their refrigerator, closets, bathrooms, counting each toothbrush. Teachers and students at her daughters school made snide remarks about their mothers jail time. Theyd catch neighbors side eyed, judgemental gazes. White men started driving slowly by their home at any time of day, never speaking, only staring. This would happen about a dozen separate times. Williams-Bolar sometimes stayed in her room crying for days, not knowing how much time was passing. Her depression lingered well after then-Governor John Kasich granted clemency and reduced her convictions to misdemeanors. Three years on probation also meant the family couldnt travel to see relatives in the south. She was also barred from visiting her father in prison for months. Though his involvement with her school enrollment case was dropped, soon after the state convicted him on fraud charges related to government benefits. Williams-Bolar maintains the case against her father would not have been pursued without the unprecedented spotlight on her family. Once you get in the lions den, theyre not just gonna let you go, she said. He served 11 months in prison, and died in its hospital one month before release. He loved going out barbecuing in the front yard. He loved all his grand babies coming over, always listening to music, said Kayla, now 30. I mean, the greatest grandpa a girl could ever ask for. Damn near like a father to me, and Id do anything to have him back. But here we are. Kelley Williams-Bolar with her two daughters, Jada and Kayla Investigations in St. Louis and Philadelphia recently confirmed districts still regularly confront families suspected of living outside of their boundaries. Today, their methods are usually less public, with districts hiring private investigators or threatening prosecution to get families to disenroll their children. The thousands known to be kicked out of their schools for address sharing are disproportionately Black and brown. In at least 24 states, parents can face criminal prosecution, fines and jail sentences for address sharing. Only one, Connecticut, has decriminalized the common practice. To reduce the scale of the issue and promote integration, districts could adopt county boundaries, encompassing more diversity and better reflecting work-life patterns, rather than neighborhood lines that mirror racist housing segregation. But they often lack the political will, to do so; quality schools remain scarce by design, said civil rights lawyer Erika Wilson. Related Q&A: Civil Rights Lawyer Erika Wilson on How to Reignite Desegregation Efforts And though Williams-Bolar knows a friend was similarly confronted by the district who believed her family lived outside the boundary, they never prosecuted her or asked her to remove her two children. The friend was related to a prominent leader in the NAACP. Williams-Bolar later met a former Copley student who alleged he lived in Akron, too, and that the school knew at the time, but let him stay because he was an athlete. I think its common at these, these selective schools. The problem is its very, very selectively enforced, said Tim DeRoche, author, researcher and founder of Available to All, a watchdog organization. Related Report: State by State, How Segregation Legally Continues 7 Decades Post Brown I remember my wife losing her hair Around the same time Williams-Bolar was navigating her trial, just one state over, six year old Fiorella Garcia pleaded with the governor of Pennsylvania to drop charges against her parents. Crying, she said she didnt want to go into foster care. In 2012, her parents Hamlet and Olesia Garcia faced up to seven years in prison, felony convictions, and losing custody of their daughter. The suburban Lower Moreland Township School District alleged Fiorella lived outside of its zone, in Philadelphia. Fiorella and Olesia lived temporarily with her grandparents in Lower Moreland, but failed to notify the district that they had moved out. In records reviewed by The 74, the Garcias repeatedly offered to pay the district the cost for Fiorella to finish the school year in Lower Moreland so as to not interrupt her schooling. Their requests were denied. Their mug shots headlined local news the night they were arrested, alongside headlines that alluded to tax fraud. Olesia, who owned a private insurance company, risked losing her license and business. Their address made its way into coverage, and soon after, their car was vandalized. This has never got off my head I remember my wife losing her hair, Hamlet Garcia said, trying to hold back tears. Losing so much sleep, he tried medication and experienced chest pains, which he attributes to the stress. Their tide only changed after leaving their public defender, who wanted them to settle for a guilty plea. The Garcias incurred close to $100,000 in debt to instead hire a high profile law team from Florida, money they say would have gone toward their daughters college education or family vacations. The Garcia family Ultimately, all charges against Olesia were dropped and Hamlet pled guilty to a lesser charge. The family paid $10,752 tuition to the district and a $100 fine. In the decade that has followed, Garcia has devoted most of his time to learning education law, organizing for school choice and Republican political campaigns, feeling betrayed by the Democrats he felt were responsible. Fiorella, now 17, is about to graduate from high school. Telling her story and becoming a parent advocate has been Williams-Bolars medicine. She feels shes a part of changing education policy to expand access to quality schools and leave a legacy for my dad because he didnt deserve none of that. He didnt deserve to die in jail. Today she works at one of Akron Public Schools high schools as a paraprofessional: the superintendent refused to fire her after the ordeal. Honestly, said Kayla, whos also considering going back to school to be an educator, Im still trying to heal. People attend a funeral procession for the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six other passengers and crew who were killed in a helicopter crash on a fog-shrouded mountainside in the northwest. Ahmad Zohrabi/dpa The first of several funeral ceremonies began in Iran for president Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and other victims of Sunday's helicopter crash, as details emerged of the final moments before the accident. Thousands of government supporters flocked to the ceremony in the north-western city of Tabriz on Tuesday to bid farewell, state media reported. Tabriz is the capital of East Azerbaijan province, where the accident occurred. Videos shared by Iranian news agencies showed crowds of people under cloudy skies and an open lorry carrying coffins adorned with flowers driving slowly through the streets. The crowds jostled around the lorry as people tried to lay their hands on the coffin belonging to Raisi and other victims. According to the Tasnim news agency, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi was in the crowd. Further mourning ceremonies are planned in the religious stronghold and pilgrimage city of Qom as well as in the capital Tehran. A military band played as the coffins arrived at Tehran airport for transfer to Qom, as could be seen in a video published by IRNA news agency. The bodies were carried over a red carpet. A number of traffic restrictions were imposed in the capital Tehran because of the funeral procession. Raisi and Amirabdollahian were killed in a helicopter crash with seven other occupants. They went down in dense cloud in the mountains while travelling back from a meeting with Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan. On Tuesday, an official flying in another aircraft who was part of the delegation described the conditions before the crash as clear. The helicopter that crashed was one of three heading back from the meeting and Raisi's chief of staff was travelling in one of the other ones. "The weather was cloudless, completely clear and bright," Gholam-Hossein Esmaili told the state broadcaster on Tuesday. But clouds emerged after around half an hour in the air and the pilot of the presidential helicopter, which was flying in the centre of the fleet, ordered the aircraft to rise higher into the air. Shortly afterwards, the pilot of Esmaili's helicopter realized that Raisi's helicopter was no longer among them. "Why are we turning back?" the chief of staff asked. The co-pilot replied that the president's helicopter was missing and that the crew assumed it had made an emergency landing. The two other helicopters spent several minutes circling over the area before their radio communications were interrupted. The two aircraft then landed near a copper mine shortly afterwards due to the poor visibility. Iran's religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered five days of national mourning. Tasnim reported that a nationwide holiday has been set for Wednesday. Another funeral procession is planned in Tehran, and a ceremony in honour of the crash victims is also to take place in the afternoon in the presence of high-ranking foreign dignitaries. Raisi is to be buried on Thursday in the Shiite centre of his home city of Mashhad, at the shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth imam of Shia Islam. In Iran and abroad, supporters of the government mourned Raisi's death, while critics spoke of his government's suppression. People attend a funeral procession for the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six other passengers and crew who were killed in a helicopter crash on a fog-shrouded mountainside in the northwest. Ahmad Zohrabi/dpa People attend a funeral procession for the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six other passengers and crew who were killed in a helicopter crash on a fog-shrouded mountainside in the northwest. Ahmad Zohrabi/dpa Detroit City Council approved changes to its fugitive dust ordinance to improve accountability and help ensure that operators comply with cleaner air regulations. Dozens of residents urged council members to pass the ordinance, which calls for further mitigation efforts to minimize fugitive dust, such as a 5% opacity limit on the operator's premises and requiring air monitors on certain sites to help with compliance. Opacity measures the level at which dust obscures an individual's view, according to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Fugitive dust is "particulate matter that enters the atmosphere without first passing through a stack or duct designed to direct or control its flow," according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 'The tools are there' to make the ordinance work Council member Gabriela Santiago-Romero said the ordinance is personal. "I live in southwest Detroit down the street from industry and developments. The wind blows and then so does the dust. It's very scary to know that the implications are really negative health issues," Santiago-Romero said. "The industry concerns are real and valid, and we made sure that we came up with something that could be enforceable that could make a change. So we'll continue to do that and continue to see what is needed to make it stronger in the future. But for now, I think we have something that's good that we can build off of." Detroit City Council member Gabriela Santiago-Romero.. Regulating fugitive dust has been an ongoing effort in Detroit since former council member Raquel Castaneda-Lopez introduced and passed an ordinance to regulate storage and transportation of carbon-containing materials and reduce dust nearly four years after piles of petroleum coke were stored along the Detroit River. Santiago-Romero further aimed to push for dust mitigation efforts after residents faced a series of issues, such as film and soot coating their homes, vehicles and causing respiratory problems. Santiago-Romero emphasized that the ordinance does not include typical dirt on organic grounds, rather it's aimed at targeting dust that carries dangerous particles. The city's Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department has trained certified inspectors to identify fugitive dust breaching opacity limits. "It's not impossible to do this work. When there's a will, there's a way. The tools are there. The education is there. We are putting those together to make sure that this works," Santiago-Romero said. Particulates sometimes force people to stay indoors Fugitive dust includes any solid particulate matter that becomes airborne or otherwise moves beyond the premises, or if transported by vehicle, moves beyond the confines of the vehicle, by natural or human-made activities, excluding engine combustion exhaust and particulate matter emitted from a properly permitted exhaust stack, according to the ordinance. Dozens of public commenters said changes to the fugitive dust laws are a "life and death matter" and that residents often stay inside their homes due to breathing issues from excess dust spreading across neighborhoods. Erin Stanley, director of climate equity for the Eastside Community Network, said the ordinance is a step toward a broader policy "that can prioritize health over profit and make sure we dont live in a city that doesnt poison its own people." Theresa Landrum, who has spoken out against dust affecting her neighborhood, urged officials to enforce changes that would protect the health of residents. "We would not need these amendments if the industries were not adding to our poor air quality. The protection of our children is paramount," Landrum said. "We continue to wash our houses down because of the dust coming from surrounding industries." Others like Sue Hanf, who works for Cadillac Asphalt, sought a partnership with organizations and companies in compliance to prevent penalizing them unfairly. "There are good operators, bad operators, there are some companies like ours that have been operating under the current fugitive dust that weve been in compliance with. I would just urge that there be some kind of partnership because theres some things in the new fugitive dust ordinance that might be hard to comply with, or at least be unreasonable for some opacity, the timing for correction action measures and some other things like high wind events," Hanf said. Superior Materials Holdings President Jeff Krupcale supports the ordinance but asked officials to ensure it's effective. Krupcale asked officials to reconsider the 5% opacity limit, and pointed out that a two-week window to correct any issues may force businesses to shut down on community projects. He asked officials to extend the timeline to correct potential violations. "Five percent is barely visible to the human eye. Vehicles establish opacity limits from fugitive dust sources from 5% to 20% levels," Krupcale said. "Every community establishment that has a car driven on a paved or unpaved area and parking areas will exceed 5% opacity. We should respectfully suggest the city review the science behind opacity." Dana Afana is the Detroit city hall reporter for the Free Press. Contact: dafana@freepress.com. Follow her: @DanaAfana. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit City Council approves fugitive dust ordinance Did Bob Ferguson go too far responding to fellow Fergusons? State Sen. Mark Mullet, left, and Attorney General Bob Ferguson, right, are both running as Democrats for governor in 2024. (Photos courtesy of Mullet and Ferguson campaigns) Democratic candidate Bob Ferguson pursued various hardball political and legal tactics to get two opponents who share his name out of the governors race including an option the secretary of state said Washington election law doesnt allow. Now, rival Democratic candidate Mark Mullet is accusing Ferguson of going too far, arguing that he pressed Secretary of State Steve Hobbs to break the law. At issue is Fergusons demand that Hobbs redo the order of candidates on the ballot. Mullets broadside, delivered Monday, renews attention on the brief firestorm ignited when Republican activist Glen Morgan recruited two other Bob Fergusons to file on May 10 as last-minute candidates in the race. The lesser-known Fergusons, one from Yakima and the other from Graham, did drop out amid threats from the frontrunning Ferguson who is the state attorney general to see them criminally prosecuted for trying to confuse and mislead voters with their candidacies. I completely condemn what those two Bobs did, Mullet said in an interview. That said, it is shocking to see the attorney general requesting other agencies to break the law. Thats how bad he wants this office. This speaks directly to Bob Fergusons character and that should matter to every voter in the state, Mullet added. Ferguson responded sharply, saying Mullet does not know the law and insisting there are provisions in state code providing Hobbs authority to do what is needed to alleviate voter confusion, including revising the order of candidates on the ballot. Its unfortunate Mullet does not support this simple act for election integrity, but perhaps the fact that he would have benefited from that confusion explains his anti-democratic position, Ferguson said in a statement. A spirited conversation When the other two Fergusons entered the race, Attorney General Ferguson called it a scheme to trick voters, dilute his vote, and prevent him from advancing past the primary. He and lawyers for the state Democratic Party spent the weekend following Friday, May 10 digging into the two Bobs backgrounds and delivering cease-and-desist letters to their homes, letting them know they could land in jail if they didnt withdraw. On May 13, Ferguson held a press conference in Seattle, vowing to see them prosecuted for violating an 81-year-old state law that makes it a felony to challenge someone with the same name and whose political reputation is widely known, with intent to confuse and mislead the electors. That same day, Zachary Pekelis, Fergusons attorney, sent a letter to Hobbs saying he must include occupations for all three and redo the ballot so the other Fergusons appeared behind the attorney general. The order set by state election officials had Bob Arthur Ferguson of Yakima appearing second, Bob Benjamin Ferguson of Graham third and Bob Ferguson of Seattle in the 13th spot. After getting the letter, Hobbs phoned Ferguson to let him know he would include occupations for each but not mess with the order of names on the ballot. I was surprised he was asking me to do something that I clearly cannot do because it is in the [law], Hobbs said. He was very upset. It was a spirited conversation. I think Glen Morgan and the Bobs broke the law, Hobbs said. So Ive got this bad criminal action going but at the same time I have to follow the law. Hobbs stressed state law, embodied in the Revised Code of Washington, or RCW, supersedes regulatory directives of the Washington Administrative Code, or WAC. It doesnt take a first-year law student to know that, he said. He said he followed RCW 29A.36.131 which says the election officer shall determine by lot the order in which the names of candidates will appear on ballots. But Ferguson contended a provision in the Washington Administrative Code, 434-215-060, gives Hobbs discretion to rearrange the ballot to lessen voter confusion. Washington state code specifically grants the Secretary of State authority to differentiate between the candidates by any other means which, in the judgment of the filing officer, fairly and impartially distinguishes the candidates, he said in a statement. To do anything less, Pekelis wrote in his letter, would represent a dereliction of duty, establish a dangerous precedent, and turn a blind eye to the criminal corruption of the democratic process. Ferguson said he was prepared to sue to force Hobbs hand. We would have won. A judge in Thurston County would not allow a ballot to proceed with a fraudulent Bob in one place and another Bob in another place, he said in an interview. Ferguson insinuated Hobbs reluctance might be tied to his endorsement of Mullet. Hobbs said the two never spoke about his decision. Zachary Pekelis Letter to Steve Hobbs -- May 13, 2024 A copy of the letter that Zachary Pekelis, Bob Fergusons attorney, sent to Secretary of State Steve Hobbs on May 13, 2024. The post Did Bob Ferguson go too far responding to fellow Fergusons? appeared first on Washington State Standard. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is among the countries facing a humanitarian crisis. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) reported that its not only experiencing one of the worlds longest humanitarian crises but also one of the most complex. A most prevalent issue in the DRC is child labor. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, nearly 25,000 children work in cobalt mines. Despite the alarming rate of exploitation, a case in the U.S. regarding the matter has ended with the defendants not found at fault. Previously, in 2022, Apple, Alphabet Inc. (Google), Dell, Microsoft, and Tesla were said to have been knowingly benefiting from and aiding and abetting the cruel and brutal use of young children in the Democratic Republic of Congo to mine cobalt, according to ABC News. However, in March 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia found the five tech giants not liable due to only having an ordinary buyer-seller transaction with DRC suppliers. Many actors in addition to the cobalt suppliers perpetuate labor trafficking, including labor brokers, other consumers of cobalt, and even the DRC government, the decision read, per the outlet. Issuing an injunction to the Tech Companies to stop the cobalt venture from using forced child labor would not bind the direct perpetrators of the unlawful labor, who are not before this court. The outlet detailed that the 2022 case was filed by 16 plaintiffs. Moreover, members of the group were legal representatives of child miners who lost their lives and suffered major injuries in cobalt mining operations in the DRC. One of the plaintiffs claims was that Apple, Alphabet Inc., Dell, Microsoft, and Tesla were aware of the human rights violations and had known for a long period of time. Expansion of cobalt mines many led by Chinese-owned companies has also continued, forcing many DRC residents from their homes and stripping them of their rights. In the midst of cases such as the aforementioned one, effective action has yet to be taken by the DRCs government to combat such exploitation. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, there isnt a national policy that addresses child labor. However, there are initiatives such as the COTECCO (Combatting Child Labor in the Democratic Republic of the Congos Cobalt Industry) project that are working with government to reduce child labor in the cobalt supply chain and push for laws and policies to improve conditions. Did Todd Chrisleys own daughter turn him into the feds? Heres what we know Shortly after oral arguments were heard in Todd and Julie Chrisleys appeal to have their federal fraud conviction overturned, Lindsie Chrisley, Todds daughter from a previous marriage, revealed she was told not to come to the hearing in downtown Atlanta. I was not there. I do feel that it was in the best interest for me and everyone else, Lindsie said during a recent episode of her podcast. My sister privately let the message get to us that she did not want us present at the hearing. And it was shared with me that if we were there, there would be issues and that we would be asked to leave. ... Its mind-blowing to me, the control and manipulation. It very much alarms me and Im just going to leave it at that. Savannah confirmed that she told her sister not to come during a Q&A on Instagram, but gave her side of things as well. I most certainly told her privately to not attend. I told her that she was not wanted, that my dad did not want her there, and that he didnt care to have a relationship with her, Savannah said. Savannah then brought up Lindsies alleged involvement in helping with their parents convictions, People Magazine reported. It hates [sic] me to even discuss this but the record has to be set straight, Savannah said. In an interview with Channel 2 Action News in 2019, Lindsie denied she had anything to do with her fathers conviction. Ive told my dad, I dont want you to go to jail, she said. Ive told my legal counsel, I dont want my parents to go to jail. I dont want to be involved in this. They brought me into this. This was not a choice that I made. She then made allegations that Todd and her stepbrother were threatening her, claiming to have purchased a sex tape she believed could exist. Lindsie said the pair wanted her to lie about an incident and if she refused to do so they were going to release the sex tape involving her. RELATED STORIES: The incident refers to what ultimately led to Todd and Julies conviction. Lindsie Chrisley and her attorney, Musa Ghanayem, said she was never involved with any investigation into the family. All of a sudden, they say shes the one out there, responsible for the federal indictment and at the point, I have to go out and say, Thats just not true, Ghanayem told Channel 2 Action News at the time. In a statement to Channel 2 Action News at the time, Todd Chrisley denied the extortion claims. As I said before, Im at a loss as to why Lindsie is saying these terrible untrue things about her brother and me, Todd Chrisleys statement read. But whatever she says, she is still my daughter. I have always loved her, I will always love her, and I am here for her. The feud between Lindsie and Savannah has been very public. Lindsie told People Magazine that their current relationship is nothing. I have realized that as an adult, its my responsibility to have healthy relationships and cut out unhealthy ones, Savannah has said on her podcast. Especially now with the two kids, its my job to protect them emotionally, physically, psychologically and I just dont have room for people that dont want to show up and show up in a healthy manner. Todd and Julie Chrisley, best known for the reality series Chrisley Knows Best, were found guilty of criminal bank fraud and tax evasion in June 2022. Channel 2 Action News first started investigating the Chrisleys in 2017, when we learned that Todd Chrisley had likely evaded paying Georgia state income taxes for several years. Court documents obtained by Channel 2 Action News showed that by 2018, the Chrisleys owed the state nearly $800,000 in liens. The couple eventually went to trial and a federal jury found them guilty of bank fraud and tax evasion. This Diverted Plane Shows Exactly Why You Shouldn't Retrieve a Lost Electronic While Flying A recent United Airlines flight recently diverted after a passenger's laptop got stuck in an inaccessible location. izusek/Getty Images A transatlantic United Airlines plane headed to the United States was diverted over the weekend after a laptop got stuck on board. Flight UA12 was headed from Zurich to Chicago on Sunday when the laptop got stuck in an inaccessible location, United confirmed to Travel + Leisure. The flight, operated on a Boeing 767 aircraft, was diverted to Shannon, Ireland, over the potential safety risk. The aircraft took off at 9:46 a.m. local time and flew across the British Isles and out over the Atlantic Ocean before making a u-turn and heading back to Ireland, landing about five hours later, according to flight tracker FlightAware. It was not immediately clear where on the aircraft the laptop got stuck. United told T+L the airline provided hotel accommodations for the 157 passengers on the flight and arranged for a new aircraft to take them to Chicago on Monday. Any item with a lithium battery including cell phones, laptops, tablets, or smart watches can be a potential fire hazard, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as the batteries are capable of overheating and ultimately catching fire. Moving a seat to try to access a stuck device could damage the battery and cause a potential fire. Which is why if an item does get stuck, the FAA recommends notifying the flight crew. Flight crews are trained to recognize and respond to lithium battery fires in the cabin, according to the FAA. Passengers should notify flight crew immediately if their lithium battery or device is overheating, expanding, smoking or burning. These lithium batteries must also be carried in carry-on luggage. In fact, airlines banned these types of batteries in smart luggage years ago. Overall, there have been more than 500 verified incidents involving lithium batteries and smoke, fire, or extreme heat from March 2006 to April 2024, according to the FAA. This year alone, there have been 22. For more Travel & Leisure news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on Travel & Leisure. Divestment from Israel roils universities. Would it work? Some are dubious Students, faculty members and supporters demonstrate at UC Irvine on May 15. Divestment from Israel has been a key demand of campus protests nationwide. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) For Ari Huffman, the case for divesting from Israel is clear-cut at least morally. The UC Merced student doesnt understand exactly how university endowments work. But as Israel continues its relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip, she knows she doesnt want her tuition fees funding a war that has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians. I dont want to be complicit, she said after the UC Board of Regents wrapped up a three-day meeting with student activists on her campus. Huffman, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine, welcomed five UC regents to her schools Gaza solidarity encampment last week for a meeting to discuss withdrawing funds from companies with ties to Israel. The University of California system has stated it will not divest from Israel. But one of its 26 regents told the activists he supported their goals. He warned, however, that it would be a long and difficult process, even if they could win over his fellow board members: 18% of UCs $175 billion in investments is indirectly tied to Israel, including $3.3 billion invested in weapons manufacturers and $12 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds. The obstacles of the current investments are that some of them are in a timed agreement. You cant just pull out, Regent Jose Hernandez told activists. Understand its hard not impossible but it has to take time to divest," he said. Ever since the Israel-Hamas war began last year, student protesters chanting, Disclose! Divest! from California to New York have vowed they will not rest until university administrators agree to their demands. But administrators say it is not so easy. Colleges have long resisted calls to divest, noting that such a move would be logistically complicated, morally tricky and politically divisive, and could open them up to fiduciary risks and legal challenges. Lets recognize that bringing morality into economics is hard, said Luigi Zingales, a University of Chicago professor of entrepreneurship and finance. George Washington University students walk out of a commencement event in support of Palestinians. (Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press) A substantial number of Jewish students, faculty, alumni and donors say that boycotts and divestment campaigns unfairly target Israel. And in recent years, 38 states, including California, have adopted laws or executive orders designed to discourage boycotts of Israel. Many university administrators and financial experts note that untangling endowment funds from Israel would take time and involve potential loss of money that helps subsidize student tuition, faculty salaries and critical research. When youre talking about a country with which the United States has such multiple and deep relationships, it would be quite difficult to identify everything that is connected to Israel, said Nicholas Dirks, former chancellor of UC Berkeley. Even if a board said, Yes, we want to disinvest,' I think it would be complex to identify and then very, very slow to enact without there being financial consequences." :: The campaign to punish Israel economically dates to long before Oct. 7. In 2005, a coalition of Palestinian groups inspired by the 1980s boycott of South African apartheid called for an international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. Their goal: to divest until Israel ended its "occupation and colonization of all Arab lands, recognized the equal rights of "Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel," and allowed Palestinian refugees to return to their ancestral homes. The Anti-Defamation League claims the boycott, divestment and sanctions movements founding goals are antisemitic, because they "reject or ignore the Jewish peoples right of self-determination and if implemented, would result in the eradication of the worlds only Jewish state. Nearly 20 years later, many critics ask: What is students' end goal? A cease-fire that will put an immediate stop to the current violence? The fall of Israel's right-wing government? A one-state solution? The demise of Israel? A sign left after a protest encampment was cleared from the campus of UC Irvine on May 15. (Eric Thayer/For The Times) Students' demands vary from campus to campus. UC protesters are urging the university system to withdraw investment assets from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation, apartheid, and genocide of the Palestinian people. At Columbia, they are pushing to divest from any company that funds the perpetuation of Israeli apartheid and war crimes a broad net they say ensnares Google, which contracts with Israels government to develop cloud infrastructure, and Airbnb, which allows listings in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. At Cornell, the focus is on weapons manufacturers, such as Boeing and Northrop Grumman. Some universities have ruled out any divestment from Israel. The University of Michigans Board of Regents reaffirmed its longstanding policy to shield the endowment from political pressures and base investment decisions on financial factors such as risk and return. But there are signs that pro-Palestinian activists are gaining momentum. Brown University agreed to invite activists to present their arguments to divest the Ivy League institution's $6.6-billion endowment from companies that facilitate the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territory before holding a vote in October. Over the last few weeks, institutions including Harvard University and Northwestern University have struck deals: Protesters agreed to dismantle camps in exchange for administrators commitment to answer questions about endowments or reconsider the schools investment in Israel. Columbia Universitys president said it will not divest from Israel, but offered to expedite its timeline to review new proposals from students. Some institutions, such as UC Berkeley, have ruled out broad divestment from Israel but pledged to consider withdrawing from a targeted list of companies due to their participation in weapons manufacturing, mass incarceration and/or surveillance." :: Financial experts say activists tend to misunderstand how endowments work. No student tuition is going towards the endowment, said Gary Sernovitz, an executive at a private equity firm and author of "The Counting House," a novel focusing on the chief investment officer of a prestigious university. The endowment is used to subsidize student tuition that doesnt fully cover the cost of an education in a modern university. The logistics of divesting depend on what students are demanding and how the endowment is set up. Divesting from publicly traded companies that are associated with Israel is relatively easy, said Zingales, the University of Chicago professor. If you are involving the private equity and venture capital component a big component of the portfolio of every endowment that is much more complicated. In fact, doing it immediately is impossible. The vast majority of universities hire third-party external investment companies to manage their endowments and give them broad mandates to make decisions, said Kevin Maloney, a professor of finance at Bryant University. Students camp in front of Sproul Hall on the UC Berkeley campus in protest of the war in Gaza on April 26. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) Typically, he said, endowment money is allocated to three groups: an index fund tethered to something like the S&P 500, which makes divesting from individual companies a challenge for managers running the same mandate for multiple clients; active managers of commingled trusts, which makes it hard for one client to impose a restriction on everyone else; and hedge funds that trade in long and short securities and are wary of transparency because they dont want competitors to mimic their trades. Some investment committees, Maloney said, are loath to give in to demands because they think of it as a slippery slope. "The more constraints you put on the process, the harder it is to generate investment performance," he said. "It goes against what they view as their fundamental mission." Still, some financial experts note that universities have divested in the past. Why, they ask, is Israel the exception? Its a bit arbitrary to say we should stop at divesting from oil and private prisons, but not Israel, because Israel is too complicated," Zingales said. Activists point out that during the 1980s, students successfully pressured colleges to cut their financial ties to South Africa over apartheid a system they argue has parallels with Israel. Financial experts, however, note that endowments have changed massively in the nearly 40 years since universities divested from South Africa. Back then, Maloney said, there wasn't as much private equity and hedge funds weren't as ubiquitous. And even if universities can agree that it is logistically possible to divest from Israel, some question whether boycotts have a practical effect. In the 1990s, UC economists studied the effects of the 1980s boycott movement against South Africa and found little discernible effect on South African financial markets or the valuation of banks and companies with South African operations. Despite the public significance of the boycott and the multitude of divesting companies, they argued, financial markets seem to have perceived the boycott to be merely a 'sideshow.'" In recent years, some colleges have divested from private prisons, tobacco firms and fossil fuels. Four years ago, UC became the nations largest educational system to ditch its portfolio of fossil fuels and invest in wind and solar power. But UCs chief investment officer, Jagdeep Singh Bachher, noted that it dumped fossil fuels primarily because they determined renewable energy was more profitable not because it was more moral. We believe," Bachher and a colleague wrote in 2019, "hanging on to fossil fuel assets is a financial risk. :: If universities decide to bring ethical considerations into financial decisions, Zingales said, they must ask difficult questions. Is an association with weapons manufacturers worth tuition discounts? If theres disagreement within the campus community, such as how Israel goes about defending itself, how do they decide? "Ethical investment doesn't always involve a straightforward choice between good and evil. If the endowment doesnt make as much profit, then it can harm the mission of the school, Sernovitz said. That can result in less funding for scholarships or medical research. At the heart of the conflict over Israel are fundamental disagreements about the nature of the war. Activists accuse Israel of perpetrating a genocide, but Israel and its supporters deny that charge, arguing its assault on Gaza is an act of self-defense, under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. With widespread disagreement on campus, some institutions, like Columbia, have argued that divestment from Israel is a political position that does not have broad consensus on campus, a nod to the fact that many Jewish students, faculty, alumni and donors question singling out Israel. UC maintains that divesting from Israel or taking part in academic and cultural boycotts would go against students' and facultys academic freedom and the unfettered exchange of ideas on our campuses. Many Jewish students, faculty and donors question why Israel is singled out. Many, perhaps most, Jewish people view BDS against Israel as a double standard, said Mark Yudof, a law professor at Berkeley and former president of UC, using an abbreviation for "boycott, divestment and sanctions." Russia, China, Venezuela, Iran and other countries get a pass; Israel, the only Jewish state, gets all of the attention on campuses. ... It makes us suspicious that its either antisemitism or just a pure form of anti-Zionism. Those who push for divestment say they focus on Israel rather than Russia, China or North Korea because of its special relationship with the U.S. If the United States had the same kind of relationship with China, where it was giving it billions of dollars a year and vetoing things in the United Nations and supporting atrocities, we would obviously say the same thing, said Jess Ghannam, a professor of psychiatry at UC San Francisco who is an activist with the UC Palestinian Solidarity Collective. For one college president who agreed with students, the political repercussions were severe. Last week, Sonoma State University President Ming-Tung Mike Lee came under criticism from Jewish students and alumni after cutting a deal with Students for Justice in Palestine to pursue divestment and an academic boycott of Israeli universities. None of us should be on the sidelines when human beings are subject to mass killing and destruction, he said. Within 24 hours, Lee was placed on administrative leave. California State University Chancellor Mildred Garcia accused him of insubordination. Lee apologized. In my attempt to find agreement with one group of students, I marginalized other members of our student population and community. By Thursday, Lee had retired. :: Amid fierce disagreement, there is one thing experts seem to agree on: Universities should encourage vigorous discussion of the financial, moral and political complexities of divestment. As UC regents met at the UC Merced encampment, Hernandez advised the pro-Palestinian protesters to engage directly with their local university administrators. You dont do it under these types of conditions, he told students as he sat in the sweltering heat under a shade canopy surrounded by Palestinian flags. You go into a conference room and hash it out. But Hernandez also offered the activists some words of encouragement: You are asking the right questions, he said. Huffman, the student activist, left the meeting feeling the regents probably counted on students not fully understanding the finer details of endowments. But the challenge, as she saw it, was ultimately not financial, but political. I do think its probably a complex process, Huffman said. But I guess the more will there is, the less complex it has to be. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) A 17-year-old boy is facing a murder charge after he allegedly shot and killed a man during a drug deal gone wrong last week in East El Paso, according to court documents obtained by KTSM. 17-year-old arrested, charged with murder in East El Paso shooting According to court documents, Aldo David Flores, 17, fatally shot Bryan Castillo, 21, on Tuesday night, May 14, at the Vista Village Apartments parking lot located on 10535 Montwood Dr. Aldo David Flores, 17. Photo: EPPD Two witnesses who were with Castillo on the night he was killed told police that Castillo had picked them up at the Ysleta Port of Entry. Castillo told the witnesses that he needed to stop somewhere and meet with someone to sell an item, according to court documents. Fight at Socorro ISD school going viral on social media The witnesses told police that Castillo parked in the parking lot of the apartments to meet with two male subjects who were inside a black vehicle that had front-end damage, according to court documents. Castillo then met with the male subjects by their vehicle while holding a shoe box and was shot by the driver of the vehicle, according to court documents. Docs: Woman arrested in fatal hit-and-run thought she hit pothole Castillo was then transported to a local hospital where he later died as a result of his injuries. After the shooting, the subjects began driving away and the driver of the vehicle pointed a handgun at one of the witnesses and threatened him, according to court documents. Detectives met with a juvenile witness who provided details on the incident and the witness said they were aware of a drug deal that was set up between Flores and Castillo, according to court documents. The witness told detectives that Castillo met with Flores that Tuesday to sell Flores dispos which are THC cartridges. Flores then called the juvenile witness after the incident, and told the witness that he shot Castillo and took dispos from him, according to court documents. The witness also provided detectives with a physical description of Flores and a social media account that belonged to Flores which were similar in description to what one of the witnesses provided who was with Castillo at the time of the shooting. An officer with El Paso Police Departments Gang Unit confirmed the physical description was Flores and the social media account that was provided belonged to Flores. Detectives then conducted surveillance at Flores last known address and saw a black vehicle with front-end damage parked in the front of the home, according to court docuemnts. Detectives executed a search warrant on Flores vehicle and found five black boxes that contained THC cartridges which were similar in description to what witnesses saw Castillo holding when he was shot, according to court documents. Flores was booked into the El Paso County Jail four days later on May 18 under a $500,000 cash or surety bond. 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 KTSM 9 News. On Tuesday, lawmakers in Louisiana voted 64-29 to reclassify drugs used in abortion as controlled dangerous substances. Its a move staunchly protested by hundreds of physicians in the state, who fear passing this bill will interfere with patient care given how commonly one of the pills, misoprostol, is used to save lives in pregnancy care. Misoprostol is such a literal life-saver, New Orleans OB-GYN Dr. Nicole Freehill tells Rolling Stone. Its disappointing this bill is moving forward, but I am still hopeful the Senate and/or the governor will listen to the hundreds of physicians who are opposed to this change and not pass or sign the bill. The floor debate for SB 276 was initially scheduled for Monday, but was deferred to Tuesday. State Rep. Mandie Landry sought to pass an amendment deleting the controversial amendments from the bill or recommit the bill to the health and welfare committee for more discussion, but her motions failed. Placing mifepristone and misoprostol on the controlled substances list is harmful and malicious, Landry says. It is purely the product of Louisiana Right to Life and their politics. Doctors and common sense are all against it. Toward the end of a heated debate, state Rep. Aimee Freeman got passionate. I understand that Right to Life runs some of your worlds, and Im sorry that you cant see what the doctors have come to us to tell us. If you believed in the right to life, you would believe in maternal outcomes being the best for the women of this state, she said. Landry, who spoke out against the mifepristone and misoprostol amendments multiple times throughout the debate, said of Right to Life: The amount of power they have in here is so insulting to me. Theyve abused this process so many times; theyve manipulated it. Everyone in here knows that; no ones denying it. And they hijacked a bill. Vice President Kamala Harris weighed in after the vote, posting on X: Absolutely unconscionable. The Louisiana House just passed a bill that would criminalize the possession of medication abortion, with penalties of up to several years of jail time. Lets be clear: Donald Trump did this. Now that the state House has voted to move SB 276 forward, it will head back to the state Senate for another vote, but the legislation is expected to become law. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry (no relation to Mandie) is firmly opposed to abortion rights. His spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Misoprostol and mifepristone both have other clinical uses, but they have come under increased scrutiny because the pills may be taken to induce an abortion. Louisiana has a near-total abortion ban which has been in place since August 2022, with no exceptions for rape or incest, and narrow exceptions for life of the pregnant person and medically futile pregnancies. Last-minute amendments added to the states bill would reclassify mifepristone and misoprostol as Schedule IV controlled dangerous substances under Louisiana law, an unprecedented move. OB-GYNs in the state argue that since abortion is illegal, they do not use the pills for this purpose and rarely use mifepristone at all. But they emphasize that misoprostol is used daily for miscarriage care, to induce labor, to stop postpartum hemorrhaging, and to prepare the cervix for medical procedures. Health care workers are deeply concerned reclassifying the medications will be harmful to their patients and potentially delay care in life-or-death situations. While the bill contains an exception for pregnant women who are found in possession of the medications, anyone else without a prescription can be sentenced to felonies, punishable with up to 10 years in jail. Reproductive health advocates and health care professionals are worried about what precedent this will set not only for Louisiana, but for other red states, where maternal health is already in peril, that might follow suit. This move to classify the misoprostol and mifepristone as dangerous controlled substances could signal the latest front in Republican-led states war on reproductive health. SB 276 STARTED OUT as a bill filed by state Sen. Thomas Pressly (R) with the intent of making coerced criminal abortion by means of fraud a crime. Presslys sister, Catherine Herring, was slipped abortion medication without her consent by her husband, who pleaded guilty to drugging her drinks in a plea deal. After the bill passed the state Senate, it went to the state House and while it was being discussed in a criminal justice committee hearing, Pressly surprised doctors, advocates, and legislators alike by adding amendments, co-written by Louisiana Right to Life, which would reclassify mifepristone and misoprostol. Doctors across the state were stunned and scrambled to put together a response before the revised bill came to a vote. More than 280 physicians, including OB-GYNs and emergency room doctors, signed a letter begging Pressly to reconsider his amendments, which they said create the false perceptions that these are dangerous drugs. Neither drug comes with a risk of addiction, which is generally what is meant by at risk of abuse, when determining whether a medication should be on the controlled substances list. Joe Fontenot, the executive director of the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy, confirmed to NPR that under Louisiana law, abuse refers to addiction. The doctors letter to Pressly states, Mischaracterizing misoprostol, a drug routinely and safely used on labor units throughout the state, as a dangerous drug of abuse creates confusion and misinformation, and harms women seeking high quality maternal care. Pressly responded by saying that since filing his bill, he has heard stories from additional victimized women who have experienced trauma due to misoprostol or mifepristone. He says this led him to believe the drugs were a public health risk, which is why he added the amendments. (Presslys office did not respond to a request for comment regarding these claims.) Pressly, who is not a doctor, said that the doctors he did consult with assured him the re-classification would not harm health care for women. Again, this is in direct opposition to 280 health care professionals who think otherwise. Last week, the states powerful anti-abortion organization Louisiana Right to Life defended Presslys amendments by releasing what they called an investigative report about the supposed rampant abuse of abortion pills. The organization does not use the word abuse in the same way doctors do; instead, they detail stories of women who posed as pregnant minors in order to show how easy it is to acquire abortion medication online. The groups report includes a claim from an anti-abortion pregnancy center about patients who have reached out after experiencing complications while self-medicating. Of course, one way to solve this issue would be to legalize abortion in the state again. Since the Supreme Court issued its Dobbs ruling allowing states to ban abortion, the U.S. has seen an increase in medication abortion as pregnant people attempt to seek care in red states by ordering pills online. On Monday, the president of the Louisiana Society of Addiction Medicine submitted a letter to the speaker of the state house, referring to SB276 as legislative overreach and voicing the organizations opposition to the legislation: This bill goes against the spirit of the drug scheduling system. The Louisiana bill has spurred an outcry from reproductive health advocates across the country, who worry that consequences could reverberate across states with restrictive abortion access. These politically motivated and cruel restrictions undermine the safety and autonomy of individuals seeking abortion care, during a time in our nations history when reproductive care is being used as a political issue, says Nourbese Flint, President of abortion justice organization All* Above All. Now more than ever, its crucial to ensure that medication abortion and all forms of reproductive health care are classified as lifesaving and essential medications and remain accessible and affordable for everyone, regardless of their circumstances. ALL THE HEALTH CARE professionals that Rolling Stone spoke with in recent weeks have stressed the same point: Misoprostol is much more than an abortion pill. Calling it an abortion drug is absurd, it is a very common pregnancy drug, says one health care professional who asked to remain anonymous. Misoprostol is used in many, many routine pregnancies; its use in abortion is the rarity and exception. Itd be like calling a speculum an abortion tool. Literally every single day on labor and delivery, someone, if not multiple people, is receiving misoprostol for induction of labor, says Freehill, the New Orleans OB-GYN. Its a very inexpensive medication and very effective at preventing hemorrhage, for IUD insertions, for endometrial biopsies, to prep a patients cervix when they have a miscarriage. Its utilized for so many things and on a very regular basis. She likens adding misoprostol to the controlled dangerous substance list to reclassifying Tylenol as dangerous. Misoprostol saves tens of thousands of lives every year because of its ability to prevent or stop postpartum hemorrhage, she says. It is just so commonly used and such a fantastic medication in all of these non-abortion uses, so for it to come under attack and go under Schedule IV, it was like What do you mean?! Postpartum hemorrhage is the third-leading cause of maternal mortality. Louisiana is already one of the states with the worst maternal mortality rates in the country, with rates even worse for women of color. Even before the abortion ban, four Black mothers were dying for every white mother. Freehill says that while advocates of the reclassification amendments claim doctors can keep using the medications as they did before, this only works in theory. Since Dobbs, shes had numerous problems getting misoprostol filled for patients and had multiple instances of pharmacists telling her they would not prescribe it under any circumstances. She worries this will only get worse if the medication becomes classified as a Schedule IV drug. Any delay in a patient receiving misoprostol could be life-threatening, adds Freehill. She poses a hypothetical of a patient who is heavily bleeding attempting to fill the prescription and getting denied by a pharmacy. I may or may not get that message right away, and hopefully quickly resolve that problem, she says. Depending on how long it takes the patient to get the medication, it could result in life-threatening hemorrhage or require surgery to fix what should have been resolved with prompt, evidence-based care. Any hoops added to the process create risk. Additionally, Freehill and fellow doctors are worried that patients will be confused about the medication in general. Even if there is an exception for pregnant women who use the drugs without a prescription, Freehill notes most patients dont read the detailed intricacies of legislation. She says she has already provided care to multiple patients who, in the midst of having a miscarriage, have asked her if they are going to be investigated for their medical emergencies. Dr. Jennifer Avegno is the director of New Orleans health department. She says that mischaracterizing misoprostol and mifepristone as dangerous is bad science, and none of her colleagues or the 280 health care professionals who signed the letter have identified any case of the drugs being abused like other Schedule IV drugs like Xanax and Valium. As an emergency physician, neither I nor my colleagues have encountered cases of overdose, intoxication, or withdrawal symptoms from either drug, Avegno tells Rolling Stone. These medications do not meet the medical standard for drugs of abuse, nor are they public health hazards no public health agency has defined or identified them as such. In a state with some of the worst outcomes for maternal health, why would we want to make childbirth and pregnancy care more dangerous through bad science and inappropriate use of the law? Avegno worries about what precedent this will set. What is to stop a legislator from being able to place any medication they might like or they might have some financial reason to decrease use on the list? she says. Freehill expresses a similar concern, wondering if birth control pills or IUDs could be future targets. She also worries that if pharmacies are scared to stock the medication, it would cause a shortage. In her opinion, Pressly should pass his legislation to criminalize coerced abortions by means of fraud, without his recent additions criminalizing mifepristone and misoprostol. I feel like thats appropriate, and right now thats enough, says Freehill. We need to do a lot more research. I dont think we have to go to this next step that could affect so many thousands of women across our state in a negative way that is not intended. More from Rolling Stone Best of Rolling Stone WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) Doctors with the group OnCall4Kids, a non-partisan coalition of medical advocates championing firearm safety legislation, held a press conference Tuesday to push for further legislative action to prevent the number one cause of death for children in America gun violence. Pediatric firearm injuries continue to rise, disproportionately impacting Black and Brown communities. Not only does Doctor Ashlee Jaffee treat gunshot patients, but on July 4th, 2022, she became a victim herself. Ive been hit. Get down, I screamed with uncertainty, Dr. Jaffee said. Dr. Jaffee was one of the dozens shot at the Highland Park, Illinois Fourth of July parade. Seven people were killed. The celebration had turned into a war zone as gunshots blazed overhead. Its a bullet, Dr. Jaffee said. Dozens of doctors did rounds on Capitol Hill to treat a disease they say is the number one killer of children. Its a bullet, Dr. Elliot Lieberman said. The group of doctors are calling on lawmakers to pass new gun laws that strengthen background checks and require safe storage of guns. The best way to treat a gunshot wound is to prevent it from happening, Dr. Sofia Chaudhary said. The call for action comes ahead of the two-year anniversary of the tragic mass shooting that claimed the lives of 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin says his party needs help to address this issue. He is calling on voters to elect people who want to pass legislation that would make it tougher to get high-powered guns. We have a sense of responsibility to change this once and for all, Durbin said. While speaking over the weekend to members of the NRA, former President Donald Trump said he wants to roll back the new gun laws that passed after Uvalde. And let there be no doubt: the survival of our second amendment is very much on the ballot, Trump said. The former president said he would stop any attempt to restrict gun ownership. 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 DC News Now | Washington, DC. Updated as of 6/20/2024 at 4:00 p.m. ET Last month, a dismembered arm washed up from Lake Michigan on the shore of Illinois. The Lake County, Michigan Coroners Office says the remains match the DNA of a Black girl whose body has been found in pieces since her disappearance. Sade Robinsons arm was found May 11 by someone walking along Waukegan Municipal Beach, the coroners office stated. The location is 50 miles from Milwaukee, where Robinson lived and was last seen. The office notified her family of the DNA test results Tuesday, per NBC. On behalf of the Lake County Coroners Office, I want to express our sincere condolences to Sades family and friends who continue to endure this tragic loss, Coroner Jennifer Banek said in a statement, via NBC. In response to the findings, family attorney Verona Swanigan said Robinsons mother, Sheena Scarbrough, feels like her heart is being cut out after every update in the investigation into her daughters murder. This latest development in the case led Scarbrough to take matters into her own hands, demanding more information as to how her daughter was found in pieces along the shores of Lake Michigan. Last month, Scarbroughs attorney informed FOX6 News she filed requests to the authorities to formally demand the truth of what happened to 19-year-old Sade Robinson. Specifically, theyre seeking answers to whether an arm that washed up on the Waukegan, Ill. side of Lake Michigan belongs to Robinson. Robinsons family told reporters authorities notified them last week of the floating remains. They wont know for sure if the arm belongs to Robinson until DNA tests are conducted. However, the attorney criticized the police investigation, saying the discovery of a body part potentially belonging to Robinson in a completely different state was entirely too much, the report says. Also, 6th Ward Alderman Keith Turner was slammed for allegedly posting a picture of the severed arm on his Facebook page. Scarbrough previously made a statement saying she wanted him to be held accountable or reprimanded. She wasnt the only one demanding accountability. Read Mayor Ann Taylors response via FOX6: Alderman Keith Turner at no time contacted the Waukegan Police command staff or anyone within Waukegan City government to ask about this incident before posting the photo of the remains on Facebook. The City did not provide Ald. Turner with the photograph, and he was never given permission to post the photo on his Facebook page. Individual Aldermen are not authorized to speak on behalf of the City, much less for the Police Department. On behalf of the City of Waukegan, I find the posting of an image of this type to be morally disgusting, socially irresponsible, and extremely cruel to the victims family. I hope all Waukeganites join me in prayer for the victim of this horrific crime and for the victims family. Previously, authorities confirmed that the other remains found on the Milwaukee side of Lake Michigan were indeed that of Robinsons. The man she was last seen with, 33-year-old Maxwell Anderson, was arrested and charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and arson, per FOX 32 Chicago. Anderson needs to confess, and his parents need to come out of the shadows and get him to stand up for the truth. I want my daughters remains! Sade should not have to spend eternity lost because of Andersons evil agenda, wrote attorney Swanigan on behalf of Robinsons mother per a statement. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I had already started writing this warm and sunny column about how great it was that the U.S. attorney for Kansas, Kate Brubacher, and Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, had actually agreed to listen no promises, but just listen to some people in Kansas City, Kansas, with stories to share about police abuse and misconduct there. But now both Brubacher and Clarke have backed out of a commitment to attend, via Zoom, a 6 p.m. Tuesday night field hearing at Grandview Park Presbyterian Church organized by the faith-based social justice group Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity, MORE2. After someone in the KCKPD expressed concern to Brubacher that one of the flyers for the event was anti-police, Brubacher told MORE2 board member David Grummon that she wouldnt attend after all, and neither would Clarke, Grummon told me. One flyer said, The people vs. the KCKPD. Someone from the KCKPD brought this to Ms. Brubachers attention, and she told Grummon that as a result, neither she nor Clarke could participate. Brubacher did not answer a message asking about their withdrawal from the event. The community has been pushing for a DOJ pattern and practice investigation into the KCKPD for years, and after President Joe Biden took office, there seemed reason to hope that it might finally happen. It hasnt, of course, and any glimmer of optimism that it still could has so far been made to look naive. This is a serious blow. Theyve stomped on the hopes of people who thought somebody in a position of power might finally listen, said Cheryl Pilate, the attorney whose client Lamonte McIntyre served 23 years in prison for a double murder he did not commit because of police and prosecutorial corruption in Wyandotte County. The Justice Department needs to hear this, and they are falling down on their responsibility. Who is this too risky for? Clarkes official DOJ bio says this: Throughout her career, Clarke has focused on work that seeks to strengthen our democracy by combating discrimination faced by African Americans and other marginalized communities. Her role involves ensuring civil liberties for all Americans. All, really? If people pushing for a DOJ investigation because of their own not-good experiences with police cant say that they have had not-good experiences with police without being labeled anti-police, then I dont know what else they can do to get the government to launch an investigation, or exactly how they should be labeling the event. Sending staff members, not officials who need to listen The way they did advertise it made it too scary, in any case. Not for victims, who have bravely stepped forward despite all kinds of threats, but for the officials who are failing them. Its disappointing, Grummon said, and a little hard to swallow that this was all over the name of the event. In some ways, it doesnt surprise me, but I was just hoping for something different from the DOJ under Biden. The runways getting a little short. I do have a sense of urgency. I understand theyve devoted resources to the prosecution of Roger Golubski, the former KCKPD detective charged with conspiracy in a sex trafficking ring and with federal civil rights violations involving rape and kidnapping. But Golubski could not have done any of what he is charged with on his own during his 35 years on the force, and its not clear that the conditions that made his behavior possible are in the past now, either. Tell me one substantive change hes made, MORE2 Executive Director Lora McDonald said of current KCKPD chief Karl Oakman. Everybodys keeping their jobs here, she said, by not doing anything. Im advised theyre going to have staff from DOJ sit in on the meeting instead of Clarke, Grummon said. Instead of anyone who could actually do anything, in other words. Instead of anyone who needs to hear these accounts firsthand. The lack of respect here is stunning. Im livid, McDonald said, because everyone is more worried about themselves than about these victims, or about righting a wrong. Though its not too late to change that, Im beginning to feel foolish for even thinking that could still happen. Federal prosecutors on Monday filed a lawsuit against two anti-abortion groups and seven of their members for violating the FACE Act. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI May 21 (UPI) -- The Justice Department is suing two Christian anti-abortion organizations and seven of its members on allegations of blocking access to two northeast Ohio reproductive health clinics in June 2021. Citizens for a Pro Life Society and Red Rose Rescue are accused of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, and federal prosecutors are seeking compensatory damages, monetary penalties and injunctive relief. "Obstructing people from accessing reproductive healthcare and physically obstructing providers from offering it are unlawful," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said in a statement Monday. Federal prosecutors said the defendants prevented two Ohio reproductive healthcare facilities from providing their patients with reproductive healthcare services because of the defendants. The two-count complaint filed Monday in the Northern District of Ohio accuses the defendants of planning and participating in two coordinated Red Rose Rescue events targeting Ohio reproductive healthcare facilities -- one on June 4, 2021, and the other the next day. Federal prosecutors said the June 4 incident targeted the Northeast Ohio Women's Center in Cuyahoga Falls. The document states defendants Laura Gies and Clara McDonald gained access to the facility's waiting room via a back door at about 11:26 a.m. and lied that they were seeking reproductive healthcare. Minuets later, defendants Christopher Moscinski and Audrey Whipple entered the facility's front entrance and the four of them began handing out roses to patients in the waiting room whom they instructed to not have abortions, the document states. When the defendants refused to leave, staff escorted the patients into a secured area of the facility, prosecutors said, adding that McDonald then "forcefully grabbed a patient's body and told her not to go through with the abortion." The defendants continued to refuse to leave even after Cuyahoga Falls police arrived on the scene, with Gies proclaiming to the staff that "your paychecks are from blood money of the children you're ripping to sheds," according to federal prosecutors. "Please stop killing babies," Gies said, the complaint states. "Please stop dismembering children!" Outside the facility was defendant Monica Miller, who said in an interview posted to Facebook that their tactic was to "stall as long as possible," as in her experience no abortions are performed as long as they remain on the premises. They were arrested and physically removed from the facility by police at about noon, the complaint states, adding that Gies, McDonald, Moscinski and Whipple were convicted of trespassing on the premises in August of 2021. On June 5, 2021, Miller, Lauren Handy and Jay Smith are accused of entering the Planned Parenthood facility and forcing its closure for the day. According to the document, Handy and Miller entered the facility's private fenced-in parking lot shortly before 9 a.m. and approached patients waiting in their cars, then followed some as they exited their vehicles, trying to force roses and anti-abortion brochures into their hands. At around the same time, Smith entered the facility's full waiting room and handed out brochures to the patients, the complaint said. "When a patient asked Smith to leave the facility, Smith used physical force against the patient by pushing him with his shoulder," the complaint said. According to federal prosecutors, staff was able to move patients to a secured area of the facility and get Smith to exit into the parking lot. When police arrived, Smith allegedly told officers that he entered the facility "because they're killing babies in there." After the officers instructed the defendants to leave, Handy knelt in front of the facility's door while Miller approached patients in their cars. Miller then used her body to prevent a patient from exiting their vehicle, and Handy "sprawled her body out on the ground in front of BHSC's entrance and refused to move." Then an unnamed RRR member in a mask entered the parking lot, followed by a second unnamed RRR member. A supervisor then asked the facility's management to close the facility for the day as there was only three officers on duty, including two who had arrested Handy and Miller and were transporting them to jail. The closure affected 24 patients, nine who had scheduled surgeries and 15 with consultation appointments, the document said. According to court records, several of the defendants have been arrested before for violating the FACE Act, including Handy, who was sentenced May 14 to 57 months in prison and three years' supervised release for being involved in a blockade of a Washington, D.C., reproductive healthcare clinic. "Individuals have the right to access facilities in Ohio to make decisions about their own bodies, health and futures, in consultation with health care providers, free from force, threats of force, intimidation or physical obstruction," U.S. Attorney Rebecca Lutzko for the Northern District of Ohio said. "We encourage anyone with information about potential FACE Act violations to contact our office." FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) A Visalia postal worker has pleaded guilty to stealing parcels he believed contained marijuana, according to the federal Department of Justice. Prosecutors say 34-year-old Nathan Vaughn Southard of Visalia pleaded guilty on Monday to theft of mail by a postal service employee. Southard was an employee at the Tulare Main Post Office. According to the Department of Justice, on Oct. 19, 2023, Southard stole a parcel from the post office because he believed it contained marijuana. He intended to sell it for a profit. Southard admitted that he had stolen parcels worth approximately $50,000 over the past seven years. Narcotics and theft offenses committed by Postal Service personnel are completely unacceptable, said U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, Western Pacific Area Field Office, Deputy Special Agent-in-Charge Christopher Paige. Southard is set to be sentenced on September 9 and faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 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 YourCentralValley.com | KSEE24 and CBS47. A rendering of EnerVenue's metal-hydrogen battery called Energy Storage Vessels that Dominion will pilot. (Courtesy of Dominion). State regulators approved Dominion Energys long-term energy storage proposals last week, as Appalachian Power Company is seeking bids for a swath of renewable electricity sources, marking the advancement of renewable energy projects at Virginias two largest electric utilities. The approval for Dominion is seen as a critical next step in supplying electricity to the grid in the coming years, when renewable sources like solar and wind wont be producing electricity through storage technology that is more capable than the traditional technology more widely used today. Appalachian Power Companys request for projects comes as the utility, which primarily serves the Southwest region of the state, continues its work to transition to renewable energy sources as part of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, a 2020 law that aims to decarbonize the electric grid by mid-century. Dominions approval Toward the end of last year, Dominion filed its application for approval of the three projects, one of which consists of a 5 megawatt iron-air battery and a 4 megawatt zinc-hybrid battery at the utilitys Darbytown Station in Henrico County. The other two projects consist of a 2 megawatt lithium-ion one at the utilitys training center in Chesterfield County and a 1.5 megawatt nickel-hydrogen one at Virginia State University. Altogether, the three projects would join 16 megawatts-worth of battery projects already approved under a pilot program, capped at 30 megawatts, to develop energy storage projects granted to Dominion through the 2018 Grid Transformation and Security Act, Virginias last major legislative overhaul to the electric grid prior to the VCEA. But whats different with the Darbytown and VSU projects is that they would dispatch energy for durations up to 100 hours for one and 16 for another in Henrico County, and 10 hours at the school, rather than the usual four-hour duration of lithium-ion batteries. Two of the pilots not only involve alternatives to lithium-ion batteries, but some of the new technology that will be tested could offer much longer battery discharge times, Dominion spokesperson Tim Eberly stated. Thats very important because we need to be able to store energy from solar and wind for when our customers need it the most. Regulators approved the projects after some questions from the Attorney Generals Office of Consumer Counsel, which is charged with advocating for ratepayer protections on behalf of the public. Assistant Attorney General John Farmer questioned Brandon Martin, Dominions manager of business development, during a hearing on the proposals on how the most expensive of the previously approved projects cost $26 million, and the 100-hour Darbytown one is estimated to be $70 million, despite materials for the latest projects being non-rare earth metals and sourced domestically. When you look at [a lithium-ion project], youre roughly 48 megawatt hours of [duration]. Its a four hour system, Martin said during the hearing. This is 510 megawatt hours [of duration]. So drastically different duration of a battery, and thats where your cost is drastically different. Regulators noted the projects would come with an economic impact for the state, the application stated, though specifics were not provided. The approval also came after regulators reviewed a report from the Department of Environmental Quality to implement environmental protections, such as delineating, or identifying, where wetlands are in relation to the projects. The projects would come online by 2026 in Henrico County, the third quarter of 2025 in Chesterfield and in 2027 at VSU. Reports on the effectiveness of the pilots would be due by March 31 annually. Appalachian Power Company seeking applications Appalachian Power is seeking bids for batteries and several different types of renewable energy technologies. The company has already met an 8% renewable requirement in 2023 and expects to make a 10% requirement in 2024. The first bid package Appalachian seeks is to develop 800 megawatts of wind and/or solar generation, co-located with stand alone battery sources. The utility wants to acquire projects, through a purchase and sale agreement, that are in Virginia or on an eligible site in West Virginia, in accordance with a recently passed law. Projects must be at least 50 megawatts in size for wind and solar, and 10 megawatts in size for battery storage, and be operational by the end of 2028. The second bid proposal is seeking up to 300 megawatts of solar and/or wind resources through a power purchase agreement, or PPA, a way to acquire electricity by buying it from a third party developer and then deliver it to customers without directly owning the generation facility. Environmental and ratepayer advocates have encouraged this business deal because of a lower-cost option it affords customers, rather than a utility building a new source on their own. The projects must be at least 50 megawatts in size for wind and 5 megawatts in size for solar, and also be operational by the end of 2028. The third set of bids Appalachian Power seeks are for renewable energy certificates, or RECs, that are created when one megawatt hour of electricity is generated and sent to the electric grid from that source. The REC is able to be sold from the generator to the receiver so that the company acquiring it can count it toward its renewable energy goals. Appalachian Power is allowed to acquire RECs for compliance with the VCEA. The advertised RFPs play an important role in helping us meet our clean energy commitments, said Aaron Walker, Appalachian Power president and chief operating officer, in a statement. These projects will also support local communities by generating jobs and [a] tax base. The proposals must be submitted by July 16. The utility currently owns one five megawatt solar project in Amherst, and has a PPA with five wind farms and three other solar farms, spokesperson Teresa Hall stated. Appalachian Power has a PPA contract with 10 other solar projects that are not yet in service. Two wind projects approved by the SCC but also not yet in service will be owned by Appalachian power, as well as a battery-energy storage project still needing approval from regulators. We are making steady progress with our projects, Hall said. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Dominion gets approval for battery pilots, Appalachian Power seeks bids for renewable projects appeared first on Virginia Mercury. 'Don't roll your eyes': Trump defense witness gets judge's warning. What you missed on Day 19 of the hush money trial. After days of trying to dismantle Donald Trump's former fixer Michael Cohens credibility, the defense began presenting its own case, calling two witnesses that may make up the totality of its presentation. It was during a defense witness' testimony that one of the most heated exchanges of the trial erupted. As attorney Robert Costello grumbled and groused, New York state Judge Juan Merchan grew increasingly irate, asking the jury to leave so he could admonish the witness and ultimately clearing the court in Manhattan of reporters and cutting off feeds to the overflow room where the media is assembled. trump hush money trial (AP) If you dont like my ruling, you dont give me side eye, and you dont roll your eyes, Merchan said before he asked, Are you staring me down? Merchan then ordered the room cleared. Later, Trump implied Merchan had done so to hand the prosecution a break, telling reporters that the highly political and conflicted judge just did something that nobodys ever seen after Costello began to impugn his highly political motive. Nobodys ever seen anything like this, Trump added. Heres what you missed on Day 19 of Trumps hush money trial: Trump's witnesses seek to undermine Cohen The defense's efforts to discredit Cohen didn't end when he left the stand. The second witness called after a paralegal for the defense team who testified about tracking phone calls made by Cohen was Robert Costello. He is an attorney who Cohen said had offered him a back channel to Trump after federal authorities searched Cohens home, office and safety deposit box in 2018. Costello testified that Cohen told him numerous times, I swear to God, Bob, I dont have anything on Donald Trump, and that he paid Stormy Daniels "on his own. It wasn't the first time Costello had provided testimony in this case. He also testified before the grand jury that indicted Trump, at the request of Trump's defense team. His testimony at that time didn't persuade the grand jury not to indict. On the stand Monday, Costello said Cohen appeared absolutely manic after the FBI searched his home and his hotel room. Cohen last week said that he believed he was under a pressure campaign by Trump and his allies and that he was being railroaded into working with Costello, an attorney he didn't trust and who would protect Trump at his expense. Trumps lawyers had told Merchan early Monday that they weren't sure they would call Costello, but they did, and fireworks ensued as he drew repeated objections from prosecutors and ruffled Merchan's typically calm demeanor. Im not going to allow this to become a trial within a trial about a pressure campaign and how it affected Cohen, Merchan swiped at one point. Visibly irritated at the interruptions, Costello grumbled at Merchan's instructions to control his response, drawing fiery blowback from him. Credibility Trump lawyer Todd Blanche's cross-examination of Cohen sometimes seemed to meander, but on Monday he appeared to land another blow in his effort to undermine the witness's credibility. Blanche pressed Cohen about how he lied to Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg about how much was owed to a third party when Cohen felt shortchanged on his bonus. Cohen admitted giving Weisselberg the wrong number. You stole from the Trump Organization, right? Blanche said. Yes, sir, Cohen replied. Cohen said felt he was owed money after his bonus was cut by two-thirds and embittered after he went out on a limb for Trump, personally and financially. It was very upsetting, to say the least, Cohen said of the slashed bonus. Prosecutors work to restore Cohens credibility Prosecutors used their re-direct examination to try to restore some of Cohen's credibility and offer long explanations to answers he gave under Blanche's questioning. Cohen repeated his testimony about Trump's role in the hush money scheme, saying he had no doubt that he discussed the matter with him. Trump told him to work it out with Weisselberg, he said, and he reiterated that he wouldn't have paid Daniels without such an assurance. The district attorneys office tried to end it on a personal note. But the stakes for Cohen today are nowhere as close, he said, suggesting there is no need for him to lie. My life was on the line, my liberty, Cohen said, as was his wifes. Here, Im just a nonparty witness. Scheduling confusion The schedule was in tumult at times Monday. When trial proceedings wrapped last week, Merchan told the lawyers to be prepared to deliver closing arguments Tuesday. But before testimony even resumed Monday morning, the end of the trial had already been delayed by another week. Thats because it wasnt clear whether witness testimony was going to be finished by the end of the day Monday and whether there would be enough time for closing arguments, jury instructions and then deliberations to begin before the long holiday weekend. So Merchan decided to let witness testimony conclude this week and then take off for the holiday. Then, another twist was added when the defense and the prosecution argued over entering a photo from a C-SPAN video. To be able to enter the photo, the prosecution asked to bring in another witness, requesting to do so Tuesday morning. But Trumps lawyers objected, saying they had two witnesses waiting and wanted to conclude by the end of the day. Eventually, they reached an agreement. But Costello's testimony lengthened by the courtroom clearing wasn't over by the end of the day, requiring all parties to return Tuesday morning. As it looks now, Merchan and lawyers will meet Thursday to discuss jury instructions. The trial will take Friday and Monday off for Memorial Day, and closing arguments will be next week. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com President Joe Bidens campaign accused Donald Trump of echoing Nazi Germany with a video that was shared on the former presidents account on his Truth Social platform Monday. The 30-second clip imagined newspaper articles reporting on a landslide Trump 2024 election win. One referred to the creation of a unified Reich under the headline of Whats Next For America? Reich is nowadays mostly used to refer to the Third Reich description that Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler gave to Germany during his despotic rule. Bidens campaign wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that the video foreshadowed a second Trump term. Trump posts a new ad foreshadowing a second Trump term that says he will create a UNIFIED REICH, echoing Nazi Germany pic.twitter.com/z4ZmMSWuRH Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) May 21, 2024 In a statement shared with multiple media outlets, Trumps campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said it was not a campaign video but created by a random account and reposted by a staffer who clearly did not see the word while Trump was attending his ongoing hush money trial in New York. The Trump accounts post of the video appeared to be removed on Tuesday morning. The presumptive GOP nominee has been accused of invoking Nazi-like rhetoric before. He has claimed undocumented immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country, reportedly praised Hitler during World War I commemorations in France and hosted Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago home. Related... A new social media post from Donald Trump has drawn flak from social media users and Joe Biden's team for containing a Nazi-related phrase. The former president was criticized for seemingly promoting Nazi rhetoric as part of his campaign toward a possible reelection to the White House. He also recently called for a termination of his hush money trial. Donald Trump's Video Post Draws Nazi Comparison MEGA Taking to his Truth Social platform, Trump shared a 30-second clip in which an unseen person is seen asking aloud, "What happens after" the billionaire mogul wins the upcoming presidential election? In the background of the clip, several shocking headlines from mocked-up newspapers came into view. However, one stood out due to its remark, which read, "Industrial strength significantly increased, driven by the creation of a unified Reich." The post quickly drew backlash on social media, as numerous individuals likened Trump's aspirations for the country to Nazism. This seemed to be because the word "Reich" is most often associated with the Third Reich, the former German state led by the Nazi regime from 1933 to 1945. However, it was unclear if that was what the former president was going for when the post was shared on his platform. Social Media Users Slam The Post As 'Un-American' And 'Despicable' MEGA Among those who criticized Trump was Joe Biden's campaign team. They warned that Trump's statements evoke echoes of Nazi Germany and hint at a concerning trajectory for a potential second term. The team posted on X(formerly Twitter), "Trump posts a new ad foreshadowing a second Trump term that says he will create a 'UNIFIED REICH,' echoing Nazi Germany." Another online user wrote, "This sickens me to my core. This is one bit of history that should never be repeated, yet here we are." Im gonna have to ask everyone who said comparing Trump to Hitler was an exaggeration to shut the fuck up now. https://t.co/KoXGYfH6zQ The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) May 21, 2024 A second person commented, "Trump's continued use of Nazi rhetoric is un-American and despicable. Yet too many Americans are brushing off the glaring red flags about what could happen if he returns to the White House. When someone shows you who they are, believe them." However, some individuals supported Trump, claiming he was not promoting Nazi sentiments. One user wrote, "That line 'unified Reich' is from a stock video called 'Newspaper Vintage History Headlines Promo' video. Bad look? Absolutely! Fair to give the Trump campaign some grief for it. But this looks like incompetence, not Nazi malice." Donald Trump's Rep Says The Footage Was 'Not A Campaign Video' MEGA While the former president has yet to comment personally on the issue, a rep has come out to clarify the situation. According to his campaign secretary, Karoline Leavitt, the footage was "not a campaign video," contrary to what many online have claimed it to be. "It was created by a random account online and reposted by a staffer who clearly did not see the word while the President was in court," Leavitt said in a statement to AP News, seemingly confirming that Trump did not approve the post. However, experts have countered this narrative, claiming that Trump's campaign team deliberately posted the video. "While the Trump campaign often seems less-than-discerning in the choice of material they amplify through Truth Social, they're always conscious of the content. The 'mistakes' they make are conscious and deliberate," American Politics teacher Mark Shanahan told Newsweek. The Former President Is Dealing With A Criminal Trial MEGA Trump is currently embroiled in a hush money trial that has lasted several weeks already. He stands accused of paying $130,000 to former adult star Stormy Daniels in 2016 for her to keep quiet about their one-night stand during his then-presidential campaign. Daniels and several other individuals associated with Trump have taken to the stand during court sessions, revealing never-before-heard details about the matter and the possible impact it had on the former president's 2016 campaign. Donald Trump Has Called For The 'Termination' Of His Hush Money Trial MEGA As the controversial case nears its anticipated conclusion and a verdict looms, Trump has demanded its immediate "termination." "I think this case is going very well. We've asked for a termination of the case," the 77-year-old said outside of the court as the trial resumed on Monday, per The Independent. He added, "This case should be terminated. It should not be going anywhere. It should be terminated right now." I don't need to be a Supreme Court justice. But Arizona needs the system that got me here Fifty years ago, Arizona voters adopted then-state legislator Sandra Day OConnors proposed judicial merit selection system. It is one of our states crown jewels, producing judges of great integrity, quality and fairness while providing the means to vote out those who fail to meet the highest standards. But partisan special-interest groups are hijacking the retention process through a campaign against Justice Kathryn King and me called Vote Them Out! a slogan that packs with venom what it lacks in substance. How we reached that abortion law ruling Extending an effort from 2022 that led to the ouster of two highly qualified judges for purely political reasons, these groups are cynically harnessing anger over our recent abortion decision to replace us with justices who will rubber-stamp their ideological agenda. They claim the abortion decision reflected the court majoritys policy preferences rather than the law. Nonsense. Serious commentators, liberal and conservative, who actually read the decision (which I encourage voters to do), agree it is solidly grounded in law. We had before us not a question of policy, or even of constitutionality, but simply whether the Legislature in 2022, following the U.S. Supreme Courts Dobbsdecision, restored an earlier abortion restriction. After careful analysis, we concluded it did. Arizona Supreme Court is guided by the law In a poignant historical moment, my legislator wife immediately joined the effort to overturn our ruling. That caused no marital disharmony because she is a policymaker and I am not. Shortly thereafter, the Maricopa County Republican Party executive committee censured my court for ruling incorrectly, in its view, on certain election challenges. They should debate with their Vote Them Out! counterparts over whether we are a right-wing or a left-wing court. Hint: we are neither. We rule based on the law. I cannot count the number of cases in which I have voted against my policy preferences. One example is when Gov. Doug Ducey vetoed nearly two dozen conservative bills over a budget dispute with the Legislature. They were passed again, then challenged by the Arizona School Boards Association. We struck them all down because they were passed unconstitutionally as part of the budget rather than as standalone bills. Progressive groups attack a progressive reform I am the only independent ever appointed to the Arizona Supreme Court. I have dissented more than any justice in the courts history, though I have also written dozens of unanimous decisions. I am especially passionate about our state constitution and have authored opinions vindicating its speech and privacy guarantees, among others. All my opinions are published at azjustice44.com pick out a few at random and judge for yourself whether I follow the law or my policy compass. That the groups challenging us call themselves progressive is ironic given the system they are attacking was a progressive reform. The liberal Brennan Center, much of whose work I greatly admire, remarked in a brief a decade ago that Arizonas merit selection system is widely regarded as succeeding in producing excellent judges. They warned that [f]or the judiciary to operate fairly and effectively, it is imperative that judges make appropriate decisions under the law, not based on political pressure. By contrast, political pressure is what Vote Them Out! is all about. Why Arizona merit selection works so well Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, the commission chair, talks during a Maricopa County Commission on Trial Court Appointments hearing on Feb. 13, 2023, at the Arizona Supreme Court building in Phoenix. Under merit selection, judges are nominated by bipartisan citizen commissions, appointed by the governor, regularly evaluated by a bipartisan citizen Judicial Performance Review (JPR) Commission and subject to voter retention. The process is rigorous. As I can attest from having practiced in 18 jurisdictions and chairing the Maricopa County Superior Court nominating commission, merit selection produces some of the best state judges in the nation. Once judges are appointed, the lawyers and parties who appear before them are surveyed, and JPR compiles and studies the results. Judges who perform poorly often retire or lose their retention elections. I am proud that my survey results were excellent and JPR voted unanimously in April that I meet the high standards for retention. Our system won't withstand political attacks For nearly 50 years, the system worked as intended: judges were appointed and retained on merit, not politics. Then two years ago, some of these same groups succeeded in ousting two judges who met retention standards but who they found politically objectionable. Now they are back for more. The system is not built to withstand political attacks, and judges seeking retention are at a massive disadvantage. We cannot ask people for money and funds raised on our behalf would (and should) be scrutinized. Our judicial ethics limit what we can talk about, and even prohibit us from endorsing each other. For those reasons, I will not have a campaign. By contrast, those trying to take us out have no financial limits and no ethics rules. Do we really want elections like other states? Weaponizing judicial retention will be a disaster. I recall that while litigating a case in Texas, where judges are elected, the lawyers assembled for a hearing were all discussing whether they were current in their contributions to the judge before whom we were about to appear. Is that the system we want in Arizona? Should the governor have to ask potential judicial nominees whether they can raise money for retention? Wisconsin recently had a state supreme court race in which more than $50 million was spent, much of it from out of state. Those are exactly the political toxins that merit selection was designed to prevent. I chose a career in law over politics in large part because it has rules and guardrails. I am proud that in more than 30 years as a litigator, I never once had an ethics complaint. As a judge I have never ruled on the basis of politics apparently, to my current detriment. I would rather go down in electoral flames than to compromise my constitutional oath. Arizona needs an independent judiciary The groups opposing us need a serious civics lesson about the role of the courts. Nowhere in their materials will you read about the importance of an independent judiciary in protecting our free society. Instead, they think we should decide cases based on the will of the people. Arizona judges make political rulings: Voters deserve to know How do we determine that? Commission a poll? Convene a focus group? Simply assume the Legislature always reflects the will of the people? We would never get decisions like Brown v. Board of Education or, for that matter, the Obergefelldecision protecting gay marriage if that was our mentality. As Justice OConnor put it following her retirement, the judiciary should not respond to public opinion in its individual decisions, but instead should be accountable to the public for its constitutional role of applying the law fairly and impartially. That is what the iconic image of the scales of justice is all about. Our court does a lot you don't hear about Justice OConnor warned of the danger that a retention election will be infected with issue-based politics. That is exactly what is happening, placing her precious legacy in grave jeopardy. In our state, the people have the ultimate lawmaking power, including the ability to overturn our decisions. But we cannot afford to have conscientious judges voted out for unpopular decisions. I am proud of our court for many reasons beyond our jurisprudence. Applying our regulatory authority over the legal profession, we created a new profession legal paraprofessionals who are extending low-cost legal services to many who previously could not afford them. We were the first court to heed Justice Thurgood Marshalls long-ago call to abolish peremptory jury strikes, which has led to more representative juries. I chaired a task force on no-knock warrants that led to the adoption of model national standards. If you are unaware of these important accomplishments, it is because they do not fit the media narrative and were hardly reported. It's game over if judges look over their shoulders Until recently, I was undecided whether to seek retention. After all, mandatory retirement means I am eligible to serve only three more years. But I cannot stand aside when our merit selection system is under attack. We cannot have judges looking over their shoulders to assess the political fallout of their decisions. If they do, it is game over for the rule of law. I am an unlikely judge. My dad was a welder with an eighth-grade education who died when I was 11, and I was raised by a single mom. I was the first person in my family to graduate from college and was still repaying my loans when my oldest son started college. I never aspired to being a lawyer, much less a judge on one of the finest courts in the country. I don't need this job, but Arizona needs this system That means I do not take a single moment for granted. I have paid it forward by mentoring hundreds of young women and men from high school to law school and beyond, some of whom are now themselves judges. I teach constitutional law every fall at Arizona State University. Every year I speak to dozens of student and community groups, and co-founded a mentoring group for young female professionals. My judicial assistant complains that I never say no, whether it is coffee meetings with aspiring judges, swearing-in officials and new lawyers, or performing weddings (my favorite part of the job, especially during COVID-19). Even though I love it and am honored to hold it, I do not need this job. But we do need this system. And I will do everything I can to pass it intact to future Arizonans. Clint Bolick is an Arizona Supreme Court justice. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Supreme Court could forever change if 'Vote Them Out!' works "I don't think he helped": Law professor says Trump witness may have badly backfired on defense Former federal prosecutor-turned-defense lawyer Robert Costello's testimony may have backfired on former President Donald Trump's team as the prosecution rested its case on Tuesday, a legal expert told Salon. Judge Juan Merchan sent the jury home for the week mid-day Tuesday. Jurors are set to return next Tuesday for closing arguments, with deliberations set for Wednesday, May 29. Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, with prosecutors saying that audio recordings, internal business records and witness testimony prove he was scheming to kill damaging stories about alleged extramarital sex ahead of his 2016 campaign and disguising reimbursements to Cohen as legal fees all in violation of state and federal election law and state tax law. Each count carries up to four years in prison, which Trump would likely serve concurrently if convicted. Trump denies the charges, as well as the alleged sexual encounters. Trump's defense team called just two witnesses Costello, and a paralegal, with Trump opting not to speak in his defense. On Tuesday, the prosecution continued their cross-examination of Costello, who has worked as Rudy Giuliani's lawyer. Costello on Monday lambasted the credibility of former Trump fixer Michael Cohen and also received a reprimand from Merchan, who told him to stop rolling his eyes, saying "jeez" and side-eyeing the judge. John Coffee, a law professor at Columbia Law School, said Costello "greatly antagonized" Merchan. "I don't think he helped," Coffee said. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Costello at length about his relationship with Giuliani, and whether he worked with others in Trump's camp to ensure Cohen would stay loyal following the 2018 raid at his home. According to The New York Times, Costello acknowledged that an email to Cohen talking about his support in the White House "definitely referred to President Trump." Prosecutors also asked Cohen about another email in which he described his goal in his communication with Cohen as getting him "on the right page without giving him the appearance that we are following instructions from Giuliani or the president. Another email directly used the phrase "back channel" a key part of prosecutors' argument about Costello's role. In that email, Costello told Cohen he spoke with Giuliani, who said thank you for opening this back channel of communication and asked me to keep in touch. Coffee said Costello didn't help the defense much overall as jurors weigh whether Trump played a role in the scheme to reimburse Cohen for payments to adult film star and director Stormy Daniels. Coffee called the references to back channels "harmful" to the defense. "They called Costello, but Costello basically told the jury again and again, that Trump had back channels to get information from and that's not what you want to emphasize," Coffee said. "Because the jury will say, 'Well, see? he gets everything from backchannels. He has Cohen tell somebody and somebody tells him. I'm sure that all those people told him about this.'" Costello repeatedly asked if he could provide additional "context" in response to Hoffinger's questions. Hoffinger declined, saying: "That's alright." Coffee said that's in line with court protocol. "Judges don't like witnesses to give speeches. They want a witness to answer the questions that have been asked," he said. "Costello was a cipher he didn't have the impact they wanted," he added. By Tuesday afternoon, prosecutors and the defense began hashing out the crucial wording of jury instructions. Prosecutors are elevating the falsification of business records charges to felonies because they allege Trump caused the falsification to conceal an underlying crime. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg alleged that Trump tried to conceal criminal activity, including attempts to violate state and federal election laws." New Yorks election conspiracy statute says its a misdemeanor to conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means. That means prosecutors not only have to prove to jurors that Trump led to the falsification of the business records with an intent to defraud they also have to prove he had a direct role in falsifying the records. Cohen testified about a key 2017 meeting at Trump Tower where he said Trump approved the reimbursement plan. Coffee said even if the jury has misgivings about Cohen's credibility, they could rely on the prosecution's overall evidence of Trump's role as a micro-manager boss who wanted to know about financial decisions. "I think the jury kind of overall sense that there was a conspiracy of interacting people and all of them reporting up to Trump," Coffee said. "He was the boss. No one doubted who was in command. And if you believe who's in command and you wouldn't dare go behind his back that suggests the jury is is likely to attribute things to him." Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course. Coffee said the jury instructions about how to weigh Trump's involvement will be crucial. "I'm sure the defense team is going to insist that you must find that witnesses told you that he had actual knowledge and they communicated to Donald Trump that there would be this repayment system," Coffee said. "And the government is going to want that they're going to say you can find this from all the facts and circumstances, et cetera. So the most important area of the jury instructions will be: what do you have to find?" Coffee added: "Cohen did testify several times that these payments were not for legal services. But that still is not quite enough. You want to know that he was aware that the system was mischaracterizing these payments, these payments for legal services." Coffee said Trump could have "constitutional arguments and some statutory arguments on the appeal." ""The Supreme Court doesn't like the idea that anything you omit in an election campaign can be seen as an attempt to subvert or cheat in that campaign," Coffee said. Coffee said Trump could also raise questions about whether a state prosecutor can charge him for charges related to a presidential election. The Doomsday Glacier is melting fast. How sea level rise could drench the world map. More unsettling news from the bottom of the world. Scientists have uncovered evidence of "vigorous melting" at Antarcticas Thwaites Glacier, (aka the "Doomsday Glacier") according to a new study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. And for the first time, there is visible evidence that shows warm seawater pumping underneath the glacier. The Thwaites Glacier, part of the vast West Antarctic Ice Sheet, is one of the world's fastest-changing and most unstable glaciers. At 74,000 square miles large, it's roughly the size of the state of Florida. What is the Doomsday Glacier? It's called the Doomsday Glacier because of its potential to dramatically raise sea levels in places such as Florida, and it has been studied for years as an indicator of human-caused climate change. Study results also suggest the Antarctic Ice Sheet is more vulnerable to a warming ocean than previously thought, and, worryingly, may "require a reassessment of sea-level rise projections." A 'most unstable place' Thwaites is the most unstable place in the Antarctic and contains the equivalent of 60 centimeters (2 feet) of sea-level rise," said study co-author Christine Dow of the University of Waterloo in Ontario. "The worry is that we are underestimating the speed that the glacier is changing, which would be devastating for coastal communities around the world." To conduct the study, scientists used high-resolution satellite radar data to find evidence of the intrusion of warm, high-pressure seawater many miles beneath the grounded ice of the Thwaites Glacier. Study lead author Eric Rignot of the University of California, Irvine told USA TODAY that there's much more seawater flowing into the glacier than had been previously thought. These "intrusions make the glacier more sensitive to ocean warming, and more likely to fall apart as the ocean gets warmer." Future projections of global sea-level rise will have to include this new data, Rignot said. "The projections will go up," he said. Scientists have uncovered evidence of "vigorous melting" at Antarcticas Thwaites Glacier, according to a new study published Monday. What happens if the Doomsday Glacier melts? As it melts, Thwaites could cause ocean levels to rise as much as 2 feet, researchers say. But the glacier is also a natural dam to other ice in West Antarctica. If that ice is released into the oceans, levels could rise 10 feet, researchers estimate. Such a rise would put many of the world's coastal cities underwater. According to the new study, it "will gravely impact populations in many low-lying areas like Vancouver, Florida, Bangladesh and low-lying Pacific islands, such as Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands." How many years (or centuries) will it take for the Thwaites Glacier to melt entirely? "It will take many decades, not centuries," Rignot told USA TODAY. "Part of the answer also depends on whether our climate keeps getting warmer or not which depends completely on us and how we manage the planet." The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: As Antarctica's Doomsday Glacier melts, threat of sea level rise looms CHESTER, S.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) Gene Alexzander Scott is awaiting his fate in the 2020 Chester County double-murder trial. Hes accused of killing his grandfather Gene Rogers and great-grandmother Billie Rogers. The prosecution has been laying out its evidence since last Tuesday. The states first witness Monday morning was Scotts former friend and coworker Evan Webb. Webb says Scott proposed a job offer while he was dealing with mental health issues and financial stress after he got out of the Marine Corps in 2019. MORE FROM QUEEN CITY NEWS CHESTER COUNTY GRANDPARENTS He eventually agreed to be Scotts alibi while he and another friend allegedly committed the murders for $10,000. The money would come from Rogerss life insurance policy payout of nearly $700,000. Webb says Scott gathered him and three other friends to their apartment and hashed out the plan to kill his grandfather. Since May 14, the prosecution has presented evidence that demonstrated all four participants were experiencing financial troubles. At least two had recently separated from the Marines. Webb testified the initial plan was to commit the crime on May 9, 2020. Webbs assignment was to stay at Scotts apartment with his phone, and the other friends phone, so it wouldnt ping off any towers and make it look like Scott was at his apartment with friends all day. At trial, Webb recalled Scotts plan on the day the killings were to happen, Driving up there he said that he was going to have a gas can, so he wouldnt have to stop at any gas stations so that no cameras would catch his car, Webb said on the witness stand. And then whenever he got there, he was going to park roughly a mile off of wherever the house was and basically just trek through the woods to get the rest of the way there, do what he was going to do and whenever he left he was going to change the tires on his car so that the tread didnt match up anymore. Scott planned to wear a weighted vest so any tracks left resembled a heavier person. Webb says he planned to take the murder weapon apart and throw it away in different places once they were done. The group tried to carry out the plot on May 9, 2020, but Webb says that Scott and the other friend were scared off by dogs barking and chasing them through the woods that night. Webb testified they went back on June 20, 2020, to try again. That day they succeeded. After the plan was foiled May 9, Webb returned home to Jacksonville, North Carolina. On June 20, he says Scott called him and asked if he was still willing to be his alibi for the plan. John Cravener, a former friend and Scotts roommate says Scott asked him if he needed work. It came after learning Cravener had separated from the Marines and was struggling mentally and financially. Prayer vigil held to honor fallen officers in York County Cravener says Scott told him the job would be working with his business as a bounty hunter and paramilitary work. Cravener moved to South Carolina with his wife and dog, and they slept on an air mattress in the living room of Scotts apartment. He also had one other roommate as well. Cravener testified Scott didnt include him in the plot because he had a wife. However, he was still in the room when the deadly plan was made. He told the jury Scott said he wanted to kill his grandfather because he wanted revenge for his grandfather killing his parents. The defendants uncle, Aaron Scott, testified Scotts mother Jessica passed away from a heroin overdose in November 2014. The family doesnt know where Scotts father is. Alex was named after Gene, if that tells you anything, Aaron Scott testified. My sister named her first child after Gene instead of our biological father. He says they treated Gene like a father, and he made them into the man he is today. Cravener says he hadnt seen or spoken to Scott after the murders. A few days later, he found Scott smoking a cigarette on the balcony. Just casual conversation like, Did you do it? Did you kill your grandparents? Cravener said. And he said yes after pulling my shirt aside and checking me for a wire and then told me never to ask again. Cravener says from that day on, he never told anyone about the plan, even his wife. Authorities called Cravener looking for information, and Cravener testified that he lied to investigators at least twice, saying at the time he was worried about the well-being of his wife. Once investigators detailed the severity of the case, he requested full immunity in exchange for the truth. A South Carolina Law Enforcement Division forensics agent testified that three weapons were examined, but none came back as being the weapon used during the alleged crime. 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 Queen City News. The Dover Area School Board heard public comment Tuesday, May 21 on a proposed policy developed by a Harrisburg-based religious law firm that would also address a lawsuit brought by another religious law firm earlier this month. The school district contracted in February with the Independence Law Center on a pro bono basis to review policies on student records, athletics and privacy, two months before a parent filed a lawsuit against the district over its ad hoc policy on student names and pronouns. The attorneys representing the parent in that case are from the Child & Parental Rights Campaign, a Georgia-based law firm that has played a prominent role in the parental rights movement nationally and seems at the very least politically aligned with the firm now guiding Dovers policy. Recent lawsuit between Dover and ILC The lawsuit filed in federal court on April 3, 2024, alleges the district violated the parents parental rights and religious beliefs, including that the natural created order regarding human sexual identity cannot be changed, when the district used a different name and gendered pronouns at one of her childrens requests without parental consent. The student, referred to as O.G. in the lawsuit, asked Dover faculty to refer to them as Caleb starting sometime in the 2021-2022 school year. In August 2022, the mother first learned the child was being affirmed as a boy at school by district staff after her son, then a student at Dover Area School District, was asked by a staff member, How is your brother doing?" The mother, represented by attorney Andrea Shaw, in addition to Ernest Trakas, Mary Elizabeth McAlister and Vernadette Ramirez Broyles on behalf of the Child & Parental Rights Campaign in Johns Creek, Georgia, sent a text message to the middle school principal, saying her child was to be addressed as a female. "There is NO room for discussion about this matter," the complaint read. Dover sued over 'ad hoc' pronoun policy: Dover Middle School parent sues district for using male pronouns to refer to her child Nearly two weeks later, the mother met with Hufnagel and other district personnel, where it was confirmed that during the 2021-2022 school year district staff had in fact affirmed the student as a boy and used a different name and male pronouns. Currently, the district doesnt have an official policy regarding transgender students and social transitioning; however, mental health organizations such as the American Psychological Association and the American School Counselors Association recommend only informing parents of a childs gender identity, sexual orientation and similar details if the child gives consent. The lawsuit is seeking an injunction preventing the school district from following what CRPC described as an internal directive and requiring parental consent and notification if a child appeared to be questioning their gender identity. Coincidentally, a policy on student records drafted by ILC was listed under discussion items at the school boards planning meeting last week. While there was no discussion among the board members in attendance board member Terry Emig was absent board President David Conley said the agenda items at that work session appear in this weeks meeting agenda. ILC expands through central PA: Religious firm known for anti-trans policies has foothold in 40% of York school districts The draft records policy is almost identical to one the ILC drafted in Beaver Countys South Side Area School District in February requiring parental consent before staff could use a students desired name or pronouns. When the policy comes for a vote, Dover officials will not just be voting on a new policy, but a new policy that could quash a lawsuit before it goes much further. Harrisburg attorney Joy Ramsingh, who specializes in government transparency issues, says the timing of the case, the policy vote and the fact the two law firms share more than a few political views should raise concerns for residents. Its important for the Districts board to understand that ILC, who seems to be aligned with CPRC, is now in a position to solve the problem that CPRCs lawsuit has created for the District, Ramsingh said. Its important for taxpayers to understand that outside forces may be influencing the policies of the Board. Ties between ILC and CRPC Theres no evidence to suggest the ILC and CPRC are working together to pass any particular policy through the Dover school district, but the two firms arent entirely disconnected either. As with other districts where ILC has worked, the policies suggested by the firm tend to be updated copies of policies theyve used in other districts. Dover is also poised to vote on an athletics policy adding sex-based distinctions to sports teams similar to one proposed in South Side. Similar versions of that athletics policy have been adopted or considered by several school districts in Pennsylvania, including in Penncrest School District, Crawford County; the Pennridge School and Central Bucks school districts in Bucks County; and Hempfield School District, Lancaster County. ILC policies across PA in 2023: Libraries to locker rooms: How a religious law firm is changing PA school policies Since the group was founded in 2019, CPRC has filed several similar lawsuits to the one against Dover, where parents argue their religious beliefs and constitutional rights have been violated when they were not notified that their children expressed confusion over their gender identities. The firm was founded to respond to a radical new ideology that was endangering children and threatening parents' rights to direct the upbringing of their children, according to the groups website. Children are being led to believe a powerful untruth about their bodies that they could be born in the wrong body, the website adds. One of CRPCs most notable cases is when it represented parents of children enrolled in the Leon County School District in Florida in 2021. The Leon County lawsuit helped state lawmakers crafting the Parental Rights in Education Bill, a bill that would more commonly be referred to as the Dont Say Gay Bill that prohibits Florida teachers from discussing gender and sexuality in public schools. Politico reported in 2022 that, while lawmakers denied suggestions that outside groups worked on the bill, CPRC founder Vernadette Broyles said her group helped tighten the language of the bill. CPRC also sued the Ludlow Public School District in Massachusetts in 2022 in a similar suit to the the ones in Leon County and in Dover. One noteworthy addition to that case, however, was that the initial complaint filed included the CRPC and the Massachusetts Family Institute. This embedded content is not available in your region. The Massachusetts Family Institute has described itself as a "sister organization" to the Pennsylvnia Family Institute, the parent organization of the ILC. Both the Massachusetts and Pennsylvania institutes appear to be part of the Family Research Council, a national biblical world view advocacy group thats also designated an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Family Research Council lists on its website the names of 36 state Family Policy Councils, or FPCs, that share common beliefs and accomplish at the state level what Family Research Council does at the national level - shape public debate and formulate public policy. Broyles was a guest on the Family Research Councils Washington Watch program in February discussing the erosion of parental rights in several cases and one she was about to file. While PA Family has maintained previously it has no affiliation with the national Family Research Council, the group in a 2011 post on www.patownhall.com, identified itself as a "sister organization" of the national organization. Broyles and PA Family Institute member Judge Cheryl Allen also spoke on separate nights during of an event hosted by the Christian Families Against Destructive Decisions national conference in 2023. One final connection between the CRPC and the ILC: Broyles is Facebook friends with Jeremey Samek, ILC senior counsel and often the author of the policies that ILC provides to school districts. A screen capture of Vernadette Broyles' Facebook profile shows Jeremy Samek, senior counsel of the Independence Law Center, included on her friends list. Image captured May 20, 2024. A possible remedy While all of these connections might not rise to an outright conflict of interest, Ramsingh said the apparent ties between the two are at the very least worth reporting on and some pointed questions from concerned citizens. In Pennsylvania, citizens have a platform of public comment at board meetings, where they can ask their elected officials for clarity on how these firms are influencing policy, whether a new policy is truly in the best interest of the local community, Ramsingh said. I would advise any citizen who is concerned about outside influence or conflicts of interest to take their concerns directly to their local board, which they have the right to do. The boards next meeting is May 21, at 7 p.m. in the Board Meeting Room on the first floor of the Dover Area School District Administrative Office Building, located at 101 Edgeway Road. Chris Ullery is the Philadelphia Hub Data Reporter for the USA Today Network. Reach him at cullery@couriertimes.com or find him on Twitter at @ulleryatinell. This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Firm suing Dover over policy may have ties to firm writing new rules A group of House Democrats on Tuesday called on Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself from all future cases related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol or the 2020 presidential election. In a letter addressed to the conservative justice, 45 Democrats pointed to recent New York Times reporting of a photograph taken less than two weeks after the Capitol attack in 2021 that showed an upside-down American flag on display outside Alitos home. At the time, this symbol was closely associated with the Stop the Steal movement, which tried to prevent the transfer of presidential power based on false claims of election fraud. Alito has said he had nothing to do with the upside-down flag and that his wife hung it amid a spat with neighbors. Your own public statement attempts to pass responsibility to your wife, but you nonetheless acknowledge that it was a political statement in support of Donald Trumps effort to overturn the 2020 election, they wrote in the letter. Even if you had no involvement in the display yourself, the fact of such a political statement at your home creates, at minimum, the appearance of improper political bias, they added. The letter, led by Reps. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), specifically calls for Alito to recuse himself from the upcoming decision involving whether former President Trump is immune from criminal prosecution for his actions related to the 2020 election and another decision related to the Jan. 6 rioters. It also follows a previous request from Democrats for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from Jan. 6-related cases because of his wifes involvement in the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential results. He has refused to do so. Sadly, you are now the second justice who has demonstrated at least an appearance of a conflict of interest related to the events surrounding the January 6 insurrection, the members wrote. They added that Thomass wife, Ginni Thomas, attended the Jan. 6 Stop the Steal rally and was actively strategizing with Trump allies about how to overturn the election results, which the Democrats said is precisely the same underlying conduct in both of the upcoming cases. Although Justice Thomas seemingly acknowledged this conflict of interest by recusing himself from the Courts case related to Trump attorney John Eastman, he has shockingly refused to recuse himself from Trump and Fischer, they added. The Hill has reached out to the Supreme Court for a response to the letter. News that the flag hung outside Alitos home in the days surrounding the Jan. 6 attack has spurred mounting criticism among Senate Democrats, who have similarly called on Alito to recuse himself from the upcoming cases. 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 The Hill. WASHINGTON Dozens of pro bono partners, legal counselors and chairs at top law firms and national organizations are backing President Joe Bidens court pick Adeel Mangi and warning that senators are damaging the legal profession itself with their poor treatment of Mangi in his confirmation process. We are gravely concerned about the attacks on Mr. Mangi, reads a letter delivered Friday to Senate party leaders, signed by 49 pro bono attorneys from around the country. However, our main concern is that while these attacks are on Mr. Mangi, they have wide-ranging impact: they serve to demonize, vilify, and ultimately discourage pro bono service by the legal profession. Biden last year tapped Mangi, a veteran civil litigator in New Jersey, for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. He checks all the boxes for a solid judicial candidate. He was unanimously rated as well qualified by the American Bar Association. Hes been hailed for his legal and pro bono work by groups ranging from the AFL-CIO to the Coalition of the Underrepresented Law Enforcement Associations to more than a dozen Jewish groups. Mangi also happens to be Muslim and, if confirmed, he would be the first Muslim U.S. appeals court judge in the country. His confirmation would also tip the ideological balance of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, giving it an even mix of Democrat- and GOP-appointed judges. Chalk it up to plain old Islamophobia or a willingness by the GOP to do whatever it takes to prevent Democrats from balancing out that court, but Mangi has become the target of one of the ugliest smear campaigns against a federal judicial nominee in recent history. Republican senators and dark money groups spent months baselessly trying to cast Mangi as an antisemitic terrorist sympathizer. When those attempts didnt seem to be working prominent Jewish organizations lined up in defense of Mangi the GOP pivoted to a new line of attack, now groundlessly trying to paint Mangi as someone who supports cop killers. Adeel Mangi testifies during his Senate confirmation hearing on Dec. 13, 2023. During the hearing, GOP Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas), Tom Cotton (Ark.) and Josh Hawley (Mo.) demanded that Mangi share his personal views on the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Oct. 7 attack in Israel and the Israeli-Hamas conflict in general. C-SPAN The attacks on Mangi are tied to his pro bono work with two groups: Rutgers Law Schools Center for Security, Race and Rights, and a New York City nonprofit called the Alliance of Families for Justice, which provides counseling to family members of people who have been incarcerated. In bothcases, the GOP has been attempting to tie Mangi to extreme views held by other people linked to those groups, but to whom he has no direct connection. In their Friday letter to Senate leaders, the pro bono attorneys warned of unintended consequences of some senators attacks on Mangi. They serve to disincentivize law firm lawyers from pursuing pro bono work or volunteer service, which could be seen as hindering future opportunities, including nomination to the federal judiciary, reads their letter. The attacks on Mr. Mangis service tell attorneys they must choose between either serving their communities through pro bono work or pursuing judicial nominations, when in fact, our judiciary is made richer when composed of judges with histories of meaningful pro bono service. Catherine Weiss, one of the signatories to the letter, told HuffPost that the attorneys sent it because they were concerned that people didnt realize the damage that certain senators are doing to the cause of pro bono service. Many of Mr. Mangis advocacy efforts stemmed from laudable pro bono practice, similar to that in many large law firms, said Weiss, a partner and chair of the Lowenstein Center for the Public Interest at Lowenstein Sandler LLP. Pillorying Mr. Mangi for these efforts threatens to discourage lawyers in private practice from engaging in the civil rights cases and other pro bono work that assists thousands of clients in accessing justice every year. Heres a copy of the attorneys letter: Adeel Mangi letter from pro bono attorneys by jen_bendery on Scribd This embedded content is not available in your region. Lawrence Lustberg, another signatory, told HuffPost that discouraging lawyers from giving back to their communities has the net effect of preventing already disadvantaged people from obtaining competent representation. Many times, these cases involve representation of those who are least popular in society, in very controversial matters, said Lustberg, the director of the John J. Gibbons Fellowship in Public Interest & Constitutional Law at the firm Gibbons P.C. Those who take on those kinds of cases should not have to face the kind of criticism and obloquy that Mr. Mangi has faced for cases that demonstrated his commitment to pro bono work and is much more appropriately viewed as a truly selfless credit to our profession. For the moment, Mangis nomination is hanging by a thread. Democrats hold a razor-thin majority in the Senate, and three have already said that they wont vote for Mangi. Thats enough to tank his nomination, in the event that the chamber votes when all senators are present. Nevada Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen straight-up caved to the pressure of the GOPs attacks. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), meanwhile, said that he wont support Mangi without at least one Republican also supporting him. But the White House hasnt rescinded Mangis nomination, and the Democratic senator who recommended him to the White House in the first place, Cory Booker of New Jersey, is vowing to keep fighting for him. One of the sadder chapters of my time in the Senate, Booker told HuffPost earlier this month when asked for any updates on Mangis nomination. Asked Monday about any plans for a potential confirmation vote for Mangi, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said only, Nothing new to report, unfortunately. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) will be increasing their enforcement efforts during the Memorial Day Weekend, encouraging safe driving. In the same data pool, over 1,360 individuals were not wearing a seat belt or had children not having their restraints. One hundred fifty Individuals were arrested for driving while intoxicated. DPS will be conducting its Click It or Ticket and its Crash Awareness Reduction Effort (CARE) campaigns from Monday, May 20 through Memorial Day, May 27. Memorial Day weekend is commonly recognized as the unofficial kickoff to summer, and it is important for drivers to remember that our roads will be a busier than usual. To keep yourself and your loved ones safe, DPS asks that motorists take a little extra time when driving, obey traffic laws and be mindful of others when sharing the road. When we remember to buckle up, be courteous of others and follow the traffic laws in place to keep drivers safe, Memorial Day and every day is safer for everyone in Texas, DPS Director Steven McCraw said. During the 2023 Memorial Day campaign, troopers issued more than 37,820 citations and warnings, including 13,920 for speeding; 1,547 for no insurance; and more than 890 for individuals without seat belts or child seat restraints. DPS also arrested 150 people on DWI charges, 129 fugitives and 316 people for other felony charges. DPS is asking drivers to follow these safety tips: Dont drink and drive. Make alternative plans if you are considering drinking alcohol. Move over or slow down for police, fire, first responders, Texas Department of Transportation vehicles and tow trucks. Buckle up everyone in the vehicle. Slow down, especially in bad weather, heavy traffic, unfamiliar areas or construction zones. Eliminate distractions while driving, including the use of phones. Drive defensively Use the left lane for passing only. Dont cut in front of large trucks and try not to brake quickly in front of them. Steer It, Clear It: if you are involved in a non-injury crash and your vehicle can be moved, clear the traffic lanes to minimize traffic. Keep the Texas Roadside Assistance number stored, it can also be found in the back of a Texas Drivers License. Check your vehicle to make sure its properly maintained and make sure your cargo is secure. Report road hazards or anything suspicious. Monitor weather and road conditions wherever you are traveling. 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 KTSM 9 News. FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) A driver crashed into a power pole Tuesday morning in Fresno County, according to the California Highway Patrol. The crash happened around 6 a.m. near American and Bethel avenues near Del Rey. A solo driver was treated at the scene and their condition is unknown. The crash did cause a power outage in the area, and sparked a grass fire. The cause of the crash is under investigation. 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 YourCentralValley.com | KSEE24 and CBS47. The Columbus City Council is providing a "lifeline" to the only domestic violence-focused shelter in Franklin County by following through with the second installment of a $1 million donation it announced last fall. The city's donation is helping fill the void of a precipitous drop in federal funding for domestic violence shelters and other support agencies assisting crime victims, said Rachel Lustig, president and CEO of Lutheran Social Services in Columbus, which operates the CHOICES for Victims of Domestic Violence program. Instances of domestic violence "are happening more and more as our community grows, as we're experiencing heightened instances of domestic violence, and violence in general," Lustig told the City Council at a meeting Monday evening. . . CHOICES has tripled in size in the last six years, to keep up with demand, and to provide a trauma-informed and effective solution to people who are fleeing violence." Rachel Lustig, president and CEO of Lutheran Social Services Just last week, the "daily census" of people at the shelter, a snapshot of demand on a given day, hit 160, of which about 60% were children, Lustig said. Lustig told The Dispatch outside the meeting that while its operation has grown substantially, federal funding through the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) has plummeted. The federal money, which is distributed by states to local agencies that assist crime victims, has been cut from 19% of the shelter's budget revenue to just 2% of total revenue, she said. Funding for the total federal victim-service grants is projected to be $700 million lower this fiscal year than in fiscal year 2023 a 41% decrease, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced in February, citing federal figures. "Without prompt action by Congress, many victim-service programs nationwide may be forced to close," Yost's office said, joining a bipartisan group of 40 other state attorneys general that urged the U.S. House and Senate to provide short-term funding to keep programs running. The VOCA Fund gets its revenues not from tax money, but from judgments and settlements in federal criminal court cases. According to the National Criminal Justice Association, those judgments have dropped "due mainly to a steady drop in federal white collar crime prosecutions." Such white-collar fines peaked in 2011, before steadily plunging to a record low in January 2019, the association said. "Even if the Biden Justice Department eventually files more white collar crime cases than did the Trump administration did, many prosecutions take years to develop and even longer to produce final convictions or settlements," the association said in a 2023 statement. In 2023, Yost's office said that VOCA funds went to 326 agencies statewide "domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, child advocacy centers and more" helping over 321,000 Ohioans. The Dispatch reported in November 2022 that not only had the number of domestic violence victims in Franklin County being sheltered gone up, but their average stay had increased from 53 days in 2021 to 117 days in 2022, forcing the shelter to convert common areas and offices into living spaces for families. Officials attributed the increased stay to a lack of available affordable housing. In other words, they have nowhere to go. The second $500,000 installment approved by City Council on Monday will fund CHOICES through the end of December. After that, the budget becomes uncertain again, Lustig said. "We are doing everything that we can to sustain this work in our community," including building capacity to bill Medicaid for services, said Lustig, who took over as president and CEO of Lutheran Social Services a year ago this month. "But there will still be a gap to keep up with this growth." In other business Monday, the City Council: Made a $75,000 emergency contribution to the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging to support senior housing stabilization efforts, which have spiked due to residents of major apartment complexes suddenly being given vacate notices by their owners. The focus is keeping older adults out of a shelter, as well as prevention, to keep from reaching a housing-affordability crisis. The funding supports Columbus residents 50 and older by providing limited rental assistance due to a hardship. The agency is assisting older residents in two recent mass-evictions, Peak Property Group's nine-building complex north of Ohio State University and Sandridge Apartments on the Northeast Side. Provided $974,250 in funding for Early Start Columbus, the pre-K initiative that collaborates with Columbus City Schools and community-based preschool providers to allow more children to improve their literacy, language, and math skills. wbush@gannett.com @ReporterBush This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: CHOICES domestic violence shelter gets aid from Columbus City Council Drowning in Southeast Kansas claims life of Coffeyville graduate LABETTE COUNTY, Kan. A teenager is dead after drowning in a Southeast Kansas lake. The incident happened on Saturday at Big Hill Lake in Labette County. The superintendent of Coffeyville Public Schools shared a GoFundMe page, for the victim, Alonzo Juan Juan, 17, from Guatemala. Other news agencies are also reporting the teen died at the lake just a few hours after graduating from Field Kindley Memorial High School in Coffeyville. The GoFundMe has been established to cover costs for returning his body to his parents in Guatemala. You can access it, by clicking here. 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 KSNF/KODE | FourStatesHomepage.com. EYEWITNESS NEWS (WBRE/WYOU) State police announced DUI checkpoints will be placed across various roadways in Pennsylvania for Memorial Day weekend. According to Pennsylvania State Police, sobriety checkpoints and roving patrols aim to deter drinking and driving. Police say they are operating with a zero-tolerance enforcement policy. Police say checkpoints and roving patrols will be placed on roadways for Memorial Day weekend from May 24-27 that are experiencing high rates of DUI-related traffic violations and DUI-related crashes. 91 arrested for DUI in Luzerne County The counties participating in the DUI checkpoints are as follows: Snyder County Lycoming County Monroe County Luzerne County PSP did not give details on the areas where the patrols will be conducted. State police encourage those who are out during the weekend and choose to consume alcohol to not drive a car. Officials warn drivers Pennsylvanias DUI laws issue a legal limit of .08% blood alcohol concentration (BAC). DUI offenses can range from a $300 fine with six months of probation, all the way up to fines of $5,000 with prison sentences of up to 5 years. 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 PAhomepage.com. Dr. Benjamin Gilmer, the longtime advocate of Virginia inmate Vince Gilmer (no relation) who is expected to be released from prison later this week, poses outside an Asheville, N.C., restaurant on April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Sarah Rankin) RICHMOND, Va. (AP) On paper, Vince Gilmer was granted freedom more than two years ago. Later this week, he may actually leave prison. The former small-town North Carolina doctor and convicted murderer whose medical mystery captured widespread attention after being documented in a popular radio program and a book, was conditionally pardoned in January 2022. But because of the strict terms attached to the pardon and what his advocates describe as delay or indifference from government officials and health care institutions, he's remained behind bars in a southwest Virginia prison as his health deteriorated. Gilmer, 61, has Huntington's disease, a rare, devastating and incurable disorder that attacks the brain and affects patients' cognition and physical abilities. His diagnosis unraveled after his conviction by the physician who took over his practice and oddly enough shares his last name was the basis of the pardon, which was granted after many years of advocacy. Vince Gilmer admitted to killing his father, whom he accused at trial of committing horrific acts of sexual abuse against him as a child, and he received a life sentence. Though no one claims Gilmer is innocent, his supporters argue that the outcome of his 2005 trial, where he insisted on representing himself and jurors rejected his insanity defense, would likely have been different if he had been properly diagnosed at the time. They argued that mercy, in the form of admission to a treatment center, was the more appropriate outcome. With the help of a North Carolina lawmaker, Gilmer's medical practice successor and now advocate and legal guardian, Dr. Benjamin Gilmer, has found a hospital willing to accept Vince Gilmer as a long-term patient, in line with the pardon terms. He received confirmation from Virginia officials that Vince Gilmer will be released Thursday, he said in an interview. Its such a beautiful moment. But at the same time, were all stressed and anxious because, you know, you never know what could happen in between ... the door to the prison, Benjamin Gilmer said. The Virginia Department of Corrections did not directly address a question about when Gilmer would be released but confirmed in a written statement that it was working through logistics to establish a release date as soon as possible. Benjamin Gilmer, who granted a series of interviews to discuss the case, recently visited the Marion Correctional Treatment Center where Vince Gilmer is in custody, to share the news. The two men are not related. He had a moment of joy and expressed that as best he could. But it was a little anti-climactic in a way because hes in such bad shape, Benjamin Gilmer said. Vince Gilmer is in the terminal phases of his illness, confined to a wheelchair and fairly close to being bedbound, struggling to eat, losing his cognitive abilities and at high risk for aspiration pneumonia, Benjamin Gilmer said. The hospital setting will provide more robust treatment and allow Vince Gilmer to experience a little bit of life and dignity, including more regular visits from his mother, said Benjamin Gilmer, who has arranged secure transportation for the transfer. I'm praying I can get there and just hold him again, said Vince Gilmer's 80-year-old mother, Gloria Hitt. Benjamin Gilmer wrote in his book, The Other Dr. Gilmer, that he became fascinated with Vince Gilmer's case after he joined the family medicine clinic just outside of Asheville, where Vince Gilmer used to work. Patients and former colleagues described Vince Gilmer as a beloved community member and dedicated clinician who made house calls, remembered birthdays and cared for patients regardless of their ability to pay. Benjamin Gilmer eventually wrote to Vince Gilmer and began the effort to try to square his reputation with the horrific crime for which he'd been convicted. His quest was documented by journalist Sarah Koenig, later the host of the wildly popular podcast Serial, on an episode of This American Life" titled Dr. Gilmer and Mr. Hyde. Vince Gilmer's father, Dalton Gilmer, was found dead in southwest Virginia near the North Carolina border in 2004, shortly after Vince Gilmer checked him out of a psychiatric hospital. He had been strangled and his fingers were severed. Vince Gilmer claimed at trial that his father made a sexual advance toward him and he snapped at a time when he was also hearing voices, the Richmond Times-Dispatch previously reported, citing trial transcripts. Two prosecutors involved in the trial could not be reached for comment. The judge who presided over it said through a spokeswoman at the firm where he now works that he is unable to comment on prior cases. Benjamin Gilmer's sleuthing eventually led to a Huntington's diagnosis confirmed by lab work. He began to connect with lawyers and other advocates who would assemble a strategy to free Vince Gilmer from prison by pursuing a clemency petition. Former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, denied the request. Then Gov. Ralph Northam, his Democratic successor, did too. But Northam, a physician, reconsidered and issued a conditional pardon on one of his final days in office. The terms said Vince Gilmer had to be accepted to a medical or psychiatric facility, remain on probation and parole as directed by the Virginia Parole Board and provide his own secure transportation. Efforts got underway to find Vince Gilmer a placement. Benjamin Gilmer wrote that he unsuccessfully petitioned every Virginia public mental health hospital, as well as appropriate public mental health facilities in North Carolina, but they required that Vince first be in a Virginia hospital for a state-to-state transfer. Vince was stuck in a bizarre no-man's-land, he wrote. Nobody cares that they have a man dying in their prison, Benjamin Gilmer said in an interview before hed received confirmation of a release date, adding that many private facilities were also reluctant to take in a convicted murderer. Efforts by North Carolina state Sen. Julie Mayfield led to a breakthrough. Mayfield said in an interview she found a western North Carolina hospital that by mid-2023 had agreed to take Vince Gilmer. If all goes according to plan, a welcome brigade along with a film crew working on a documentary about Vince Gilmer's story plans to meet him Thursday in Marion, with a special meal in hand: a Coke, Twinkies and a Whopper. Benjamin Gilmer said his advocacy for Vince Gilmer, which has now stretched over a decade, has convinced him that the United States incarcerates far too many mentally ill individuals in a way that's not compatible with ethics or humanity or the Hippocratic oath. We haven't had any trust in the Virginia carceral system over the years," he said. We're not going to celebrate until Thursday. A rendering shows a street proposed in Imagine East Bank, a draft plan by the Metro Nashville Planning Department released on Aug. 22, 2022, that envisions what a redeveloped neighborhood around the Titans stadium could look like. Driving from one end of Nashville's East Bank to the other currently means navigating a disjointed network of streets around parking lots and industrial properties. A north-south trip requires five turns, according to a vision plan adopted in October 2022. The approximately 550-acre strip of prime land lining the Cumberland River is today cut in half by the concrete wall of the James Robertson Parkway Bridge. Interstate 24 divides the East Bank from the more walkable streets of East Nashville. Plans to redevelop the underused area into Nashville's newest neighborhood focus heavily on transportation of all types: an improved vehicle grid, dedicated lanes for public transit, pedestrian corridors and bicycle lanes to name a few. A 2-acre plot of city-owned land is slated to become a hub for WeGo bus service, topped by 300 units of affordable housing. A main boulevard running parallel to the river would include extra-wide sidewalks, bus lanes and lanes for slow-moving vehicle traffic, according to the Imagine East Bank Vision Plan. The "blank slate" nature of the city's East Bank holdings offers unprecedented planning control, something Metro Planning Director Lucy Kempf celebrates. "Future transit" was one of the pillars around which the planning department made core decisions for the land's redesign, a process that took two years. "The way we've thought about the East Bank is that it is a major lynchpin to a number of different existing networks that need to be served, so I would say, firmly, that transit readiness was at the very front of our thinking in developing the plan," Kempf said. With a new Tennessee Titans stadium under construction and a public-private partnership in place with The Fallon Company to develop an initial 30 acres of city-owned land, a handful of factors and their timing will impact how transportation takes shape over the coming decades: The city's ability to acquire land it needs to build the north-to-south arterial boulevard Working with the state to bring the James Robertson Parkway Bridge to street level The removal of the current Nissan Stadium The relocation of the Juvenile Justice Center (planning for a new facility is underway) Exploring a reroute of CSX freight tracks A new grid for more than cars East Bank transportation plans include a wide multimodal boulevard, an extension of the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge and multiple projects designed to make the area more friendly to pedestrians and cyclists. East Bank boulevard The north-south boulevard is currently designed to be about 110 feet in width, featuring extra-wide sidewalks, vehicle lanes with a 25 mph speed limit and lanes dedicated to frequent bus service. "The boulevard has to be, first and foremost, a public place for people," Kempf said. Second Street, which will run parallel to the boulevard, will prioritize pedestrians and cyclists with protected bike lanes and sidewalks, as will Waterside Drive near the riverfront. A pedestrian- and cyclist-exclusive East Bank greenway will connect to Shelby Bottoms Greenway, River North and Frederick Douglass and McFerrin parks in East Nashville. The Fallon Company will develop the first portion of the East Bank boulevard: a quarter-mile stretch from Korean Veterans Boulevard to Victory Avenue. The segment could be complete by 2030, but the timeline for the remainder of the corridor remains fuzzy. The current Nissan Stadium, which will be razed soon after the new stadium opens in 2027, lies directly in the boulevard's path. The James Robertson Parkway Bridge will need to be lowered before boulevard construction can continue north. The city also needs to acquire several parcels of land to create the boulevard, an effort that has been underway since at least 2022. Land earmarked for the boulevard is the subject of a pending lawsuit filed by a developer claiming the city purposefully held up its permits to prevent building on that land. The Music City Mile An extension of the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge will connect Nashville's downtown to a plaza area abutting the new Nissan Stadium, with connections to a new Tennessee Performing Arts Center and street-level green space along the way. The "linear park," called the "Music City Mile" due to its one-mile distance between the west bank of the Cumberland River and the stadium, will feature retail along its edges. The pedestrian bridge will continue to be accessible to pedestrians and cyclists during construction, and no private event will completely shut down the bridge in the future, according to Metro Chief Development Officer Bob Mendes. Fallon President Brian Awe said the development firm's goal is to ensure the Music City Mile "is an inviting space that feels open and accessible for everybody." The pedestrian bridge extension will also serve as a key access point for patrons of TPAC and the new Nissan Stadium, offsetting the removal of about 3,700 parking spaces as the stadium's current lots are used for construction staging or put to other uses. How East Bank plans fit into proposed transit tax vote Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell's "Choose How You Move" transportation plan, which will be on the ballot in November, includes upgrades that touch the East Bank. Under the plan, the East Bank transit center would be one of 12 new hubs throughout the city. Along with WeGo Central and a new hub in South Broadway, the East Bank transit center would round out a trio of key transit connections in Nashville's downtown core. The proposal would upgrade 54 miles of Nashville's most traveled streets into "all-access corridors" that support high-frequency transit, smarter traffic signals and improved pedestrian infrastructure. Many of those corridors, which reach throughout the county, would connect to the East Bank: Gallatin Pike corridor: East Bank to Rivergate Walmart Dickerson Pike/East Bank corridor: Nissan Stadium to Skyline Walmart Downtown-East Bank: SoBro to East Bank Downtown-James Robertson: Elizabeth Duff Transit Center (WeGo Central) to East Bank If voters approve the plan (and the half-cent sales tax increase to pay for it) on Nov. 5, improvements to the Gallatin Pike corridor would begin immediately, with Downtown corridors connecting to the East Bank beginning construction around 2029 and upgrades to Dickerson Pike concluding around 2036, according to plan projections. O'Connell has described the referendum as a way to speed up the implementation of already-mapped concepts from a decade of city studies and plans. The half-cent sales tax increase, a dedicated funding source for transit improvements, would open greater opportunities for Nashville to receive federal grant funding to offset infrastructure costs, he said. Kempf said plans for the East Bank were in place long before plans for a referendum solidified. "What we want to do is make sure that we have the right urban design framework that can support the livability of the city, and all of those decisions about streets and sidewalks ... are so important in whatever neighborhood we're working in," she said. The Titans are also interested in the East Bank's transportation future, including potential transit opportunities. "We are certainly supportive of the city's efforts to expand transit, and we will be at the ready to help them identify how those specific plans can ultimately get people from around the city to and from the stadium for events and other things that happen around the stadium," Titans President and CEO Burke Nihill said. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville's East Bank: Why rethinking transit of all kinds will be key Eastern Iowa Community Colleges (EICC) is honoring six staff and faculty members with special awards. The Emeritus Awards were launched in 2015 and recognize retired and retiring employees for their dedicated service. Employees must have worked for EICC for at least 15 years and made significant contributions to the college and their profession to be considered for the award. Nominations are made by peers and supported with letters from colleagues, supervisors, students and members of the community. The nominations are reviewed by a selection committee which recommends recipients to the Chancellor. The award is bestowed by the EICC Board of Trustees. We celebrate this years Emeritus recipients who have not only excelled in their respective roles but have truly embodied the Professional Standards and Core Values of our college, said Robert H. Gallagher, Board of Trustees President. Their dedication and contributions have significantly enhanced our identity as The Communitys College, and we are grateful for their service. These staff members have been honored with the 2024 2024 Emeritus Awards: (left to right): Lisa Wiegel, Suteesh Tandon, Tina Solheim, Julie Aye, Honey Bedell (Eastern Iowa Community Colleges) Staff Emeritus Julie Aye made exceptional contributions and impact during her 30-year tenure at EICC. She previously served as the district office building manager and is now the Community Education accounting coordinator. Staff Emeritus Honey Bedell retired in 2023 as EICCs chief of staff and Board of Trustees secretary. During her 32-year career, she was a pivotal part in mobilizing voters to pass crucial levies and bonds. She served as a legislative liaison and created the Leaders for Engagement, Advocacy, and Development Institute. Staff Emeritus Ellen Bluth retired in 2023 as vice-chancellor for Workforce and Economic Development. During her 30-year career at EICC, she created the Advanced Technology Environment and Education Center (ATEEC), secured millions in grant funds to enhance programs and built numerous community and industry partnerships. Faculty Emeritus Tina Solheim worked in many roles throughout her 33-year career at EICC, including department coordinator and professor in the Administrative Office Professional (AOP) program. She was recognized twice with the Distinguished Faculty Award and in 2022, she was recognized with the Community Colleges for Iowa Faculty Award. Staff Emeritus Suteesh Tandon is retiring in June as the EICCs vice chancellor of administration/CFO. He oversees facilities, technology, and human resources, in addition to financial services roles. Tandon managed financial operations for the SCC Urban Campus, successfully navigated complex bond sales, invested $12 million in IT infrastructure updates and supported large expenditures during his tenure. Staff Emeritus Lisa Wiegel worked for EICC for 43 years and served as executive assistant to the Muscatine Community College (MCC) president, the dean of instruction, and the MCC Foundation. She also served as the campus liaison for the MCC Alumni Association when she retired last year. 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 WHBF - OurQuadCities.com. The American criminal justice system is decidedly imperfect. But despite a history of unfair convictions and acquittals rooted in racism and social and financial inequity, it has long been respected above its counterparts in more authoritarian nations for at least aspiring to even-handed treatment of the accused. Its goal is to absolve the innocent and punish the guilty regardless of which party or person holds political power. Confidence in American democracy rests in part on belief in the integrity and independence of the justice system. Texas Gov. Greg Abbotts May 16 pardon of convicted murderer Daniel Perry threatens that confidence. Read more: Editorial: As he leaves office, Trump abuses the pardon power again Perry was a 30-year-old U.S. Army sergeant and Uber driver angry over the protests that followed the May 25, 2020, police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. He was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas since renamed Fort Cavazos as part of a string of base renamings to remove connections with Confederate or racist leaders. On July 25 of that year, Perry ran a red light and drove into a street protest in Austin, about 70 miles from his base. He was confronted by demonstrators, including Air Force veteran Garrett Foster, 28, who held a military-style rifle, as is permitted under Texas open-carry laws. Read more: Editorial: Trumps vow to pardon Jan. 6 insurrectionists is itself an attack on the rule of law Foster motioned to Perry to roll down his window. Witness testimony and Perrys own statements reveal that Foster did not point the gun at him. But Perry said he wasnt going to give Foster the chance to do so. I believe he was going to aim it at me, Perry said in a police interview. I didnt want to give him a chance to aim it at me, you know. So Perry shot Foster with a handgun. Was it self defense? A Texas jury determined it was not, and found Perry guilty of murder. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Read more: Editorial: Trump is politicizing (and personalizing) the pardon process But right-wing commentators, including Tucker Carlson, and politicos who have no business butting into jury verdicts, immediately began pressing Abbott for a pardon because they wanted to push back against Black Lives Matter and the raucous and occasionally violent protests the organization inspired in the latter half of 2020. In Texas, a governor may only grant a pardon if a seven-member Board of Pardons and Paroles recommends one. But the governor appoints the members, who granted Abbotts request. Abbott in turn granted the pardon Thursday, and Perry was immediately set free and his gun rights restored. Pardons are a sort of relief valve, useful when the criminal justice system follows the letter of the law but nevertheless results in an injustice given the particular circumstances of the crime or the offender. But they can easily be abused by leaders to shield their supporters from accountability while leaving political opponents to suffer the full consequences of their crimes. Read more: Editorial: On brand, Trump throws America's reputation in the trash to wink at war crimes The most glaring examples in recent memory may be Donald Trumps pardons of political allies and members of his campaign team, including Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone and Steve Bannon. Trump has vowed to pardon rioters convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol who were intent on blocking certification of Joe Bidens election victory. And he has promised to use the Justice Department to pursue charges against his political enemies, including Biden, if he is elected in November. Abbotts pardon of Perry is not directly self-serving in the same sense, but it permits him to substitute his own judgment for that reached by the court system, and elevates his beliefs over the findings of a jury. By way of explanation, Abbott released a statement that Texas has one of the strongest stand your ground laws of self defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive district attorney. Read more: Editorial: Pardoning Manafort would be unambiguous grounds for impeachment. Take it off the table, Mr. President But the jury did not nullify anything. Its task was to wade through the evidence and determine the facts, including whether Foster aimed his gun at Perry and, if not, he could be deemed such an immediate threat as to justify Perry shooting him. Given that Perry himself acknowledged that Foster didnt aim at him, theres little room for doubt. Abbotts pardon, together with Texas ill-considered gun laws, could easily escalate any argument into a shooting. And it could transform any criminal proceeding into a political battle. Abbott has repeatedly asserted his unhappiness with Black Lives Matter protesters. Texans are unlikely to believe that Abbott would have similarly pardoned Foster if he had shot Perry, for fear that Perry might shoot him first without aiming at him. That leaves people with the nagging thought that the U.S. criminal justice system will treat people differently based on who they are and who they're allied with. That's not new, and the protests in the wake of the Floyd killing remind us we still have far to go to eliminate race, politics and other inappropriate factors from the system. As much of the nation works to diminish those things, though, it is confronted by political moves such as Abbott's, which push in the other direction. If its in the news right now, the L.A. Times Opinion section covers it. Sign up for our weekly opinion newsletter. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder and assault. Reader discretion is advised. Edward Edwards was an Ohio serial killer who murdered at least five people from 1977 to 1996. His victims included two couples who were found dead in 1977 and 1980, as well as his foster son, Dannie Boy, who was murdered in 1996. Over the years, several conspiracy theories have suggested that he may be the Zodiac killer. Some others have also suggested that he may be completely innocent and could have been framed. William Lavaco and Judith Straub were found dead in Silver Creek Park in Norton on August 8, 1977. They were 21 and 18 years old, respectively, at the time of death. The killer reportedly shot them at point-blank range with a 20-gauge shotgun, CNN reported. However, the case remained cold for the decades to come until Edwards was taken into custody concerning another case and admitted guilt in this case, too. In August 1980, what later came to be known as the Sweetheart Murders took place. Tim Hack and Kelly Drew were found dead in a cornfield in Wisconsin. Both the victims were 19 and were reportedly there to attend a wedding reception at Concord House, a dance hall in Sullivan. They were last seen leaving the reception and were reported missing on August 10, 1980, as per a report by NBC News. Months later, the couples decomposing bodies were found only a little distance away from the reception hall. Tim Hack was found to be stabbed and killed. Kelly Drew was sexually assaulted and strangled. Her bra, pants, and panties were found shredded on a road nearby. Edwards worked as a handyman in the building beside the wedding reception hall. How did the Ohio serial killer get caught? Investigators questioned the handymen in Edwardss building, but no leads were found. According to Oxygen, the serial killer then packed up the familys stuff and moved away from the area along with his family once the investigation around Kelly Drew and Tim Hacks murders began to elaborate. He reportedly tended to move the family to a different place every time he committed a murder. Edwards killed Dannie Boy, his foster son, when Boy was 25 years old in 1996. He reportedly told him he wanted him out of the army and claimed he would help him get out. When Boy believed him and followed him into the woods where he led him, Edwards shot him in the face and killed him. Cleveland.com reported that he also allegedly retrieved $250,000 of Boys insurance money after his death. More than a decade later, in 2008, the case of the Sweetheart Murders was reopened. With strong suspicion that the killer might have been questioned but not found, investigators reviewed the existing files. Edwards profile included that he was arrested in 1962 following his involvement in an armed bank robbery. He then spent five years in prison. Considering his history with crime, the police became suspicious of his involvement in the Sweetheart Murders. When detectives asked Edwards coworkers about him, they reportedly told them that he was a short-tempered man who likely physically abused his family. In July 2009, Edwards daughter, April Balascio, contacted authorities to reveal her suspicions about her father being a murderer. According to People Magazine, she also had doubts about him being involved in her mothers hospitalization in 1982. How did Edward Edwards die? NBC News reported Edwards was arrested in 2009. He then admitted to the murders of the couples and was convicted of those four murders only. He was sentenced to life in prison. However, after he was also found guilty of the murder of Dannie Boy, the court sentenced him to death. He was supposed to be given the lethal injection on August 31, 2011. However, he died earlier that year of natural causes. He was 77 when he died and had been suffering from diabetes and other complications. He was in a wheelchair at that time. According to The U.S Sun, his children, as well as many investigators and cold case experts, have suggested that Edwards might have been responsible for many more murders than those he was convicted of. Moreover, he told his family that the only reason they kept moving from place to place was because he had snitched on some criminals in jail and that they were after him. He allegedly told his family that he had completely reformed after his imprisonment for the robbery and hadnt engaged in crime since he met his wife. Edwards also wrote a book titled Metamorphosis of a Criminal, which explained how he allegedly rehabilitated himself. He reportedly went to churches, schools, and other community gatherings where he spoke about rehabilitation. It Was Him: The Many Murders of Ed Edwards is a documentary that follows the crimes of the Ohio serial killer and the similarities to other serial killers such as the Zodiac Killer and the Black Dahlia. It additionally explores various theories surrounding his crimes. The post Edward Edwards: Who Was the Serial Killer and How Many People Did He Kill? appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. Residents in Bryan and Effingham County are speaking up after learning Alex Long, who is running for Effingham County Chairman, may be linked to a proposed development in Pembroke. Lawrence Alexander Long is listed as the name of the organizer for GSL Cattle Company on multiple documents on the Georgia Corporations Division website. GSL Cattle Company is listed as the developer in the planned unit development application. Real estate attorney Stephen E. Jackson Jr. is listed as the registered agent. Long would not confirm if he is part of GSL Cattle Company and did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Long told the Savannah Morning News in a previous interview that he is not a developer but a custom-home builder. Pembroke Mayor Tiffany Zeigler poses in front of her campaign sign during last year's election. Long's potential affiliation with the development has raised some concerns among Bryan and Effingham residents, because Longs cousin, Sarah McCoy, is the sister-in-law of Pembroke Mayor Tiffany Zeigler and is listed as working in sales on Alex Long's business website. Ziegler said she is making every effort to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. I have spoken with our city attorney to verify that there is no conflict of interest in this case. As far as GSL Cattle Company is concerned, I do not know anything about the company other than it is on the PUD document and that is how it was submitted to the city. [Long] has met with both Chris and myself regarding the development as we meet with all developers in the planning process. "I have always pledged to live a life with the highest level of integrity and ethics. I will take it a step further and will ensure that I recuse myself from any vote on this matter should there be a tie, so as to prevent any appearance that there is something unethical about the situation. More: A Georgia Tech study on Coastal Georgia predicted population growth in 2006. Was it right? The proposed planned unit development proposed 2,000 residential units in a mix of homes, townhomes and apartments among retail and other commercial opportunities. The project was up for discussion at last Thursday's Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, but no vote was taken because a development of regional impact report needs to be completed. Rincon resident Nikki Carangelo questions whether Long would have time to tend to his duties as Effingham County chairman while constructing a massive development that could take a decade to build. This is a huge 7-10 year project, said Carangelo. It is essentially building a small city. Is Alex Long going to be able to juggle being a brand-new commission chairman and overseeing a mega housing development? He has never built anything of this size. Will Alex Long be overextending himself? I would ask the same questions of any candidate who is taking on this kind of project. Folks in the north end of Bryan County worry the development would disrupt their quality of life. We live outside the city for a reason, said Bryan County resident Shannon Floyd. My family has been out here for about 100 or more years, along with others. We did not ask for any of this. It's not worth the noise or trouble. Latrice Williams is a general assignment reporter covering Bryan and Effingham County. She can be reached at lwilliams6@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Effingham County candidate tied to proposed Pembroke development As Hamas and Israel continue to disagree over some of the finer details of a hostage and cease-fire deal for Gaza, theres one issue thats preventing the two parties from restarting formal negotiations: aid shipments. Since the Israel Defense Forces entered Rafah earlier this month shutting down Gazas southern border crossing with Egypt Cairo has reportedly refused to let fuel trucks pass through into the enclave. And two senior administration officials say Egypt has stopped all aid shipments through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Egyptian officials had for months pressed Jerusalem not to move forward with a Rafah ground invasion, claiming it would bring chaos too close to its border and threaten its security. It also pushed back against Israel taking over the Rafah border crossing. Israel went into Rafah anyway. And in response, Egypt restricted the aid shipments. Its all stopped, the official said, referring to Egypts shipments through the Kerem Shalom crossing. The move by Egypt has sparked tensions between Cairo and Jerusalem. The current cease-fire deal on the table hinges in part on the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, officials say. If Egypt were to restart the shipments, it would significantly improve the aid situation on the ground, defuse tensions, and potentially allow for talks to restart, according to the two senior administration officials and two other people familiar with the situation. Sources were granted anonymity to discuss the situation with Egypt in order to protect their ability to help get fuel and other much-needed aid into Gaza. Aid groups inside Gaza are in desperate need of this fuel, one of the senior officials said. Without it, they cant operate. And without the greater flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the deal cant get done. Top U.S. officials, including National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and USAID Administrator Samantha Power, have pressed Egyptian officials in recent days to restart fuel shipments. But Cairo has so far refused. The two people familiar with the situation and two other aid workers briefed on Egypts reasoning said Cairo is withholding the fuel in an effort to complicate Israels ability to aid the humanitarian effort inside Gaza during its Rafah operation. It's the blood of the response, said Scott Anderson, the director for Gaza for UNRWA, the main aid group operating in Gaza. The lack of fuel forces us to choose: Do you keep bakeries running or hospitals running or the sewage pumps running? And not doing any of those has different consequences, but they all have consequences to people. The decision by Cairo has severely undercut aid groups ability to not only transport aid into Gaza but also to prop up aid operations, including at hospitals, angering Biden officials. Because aid groups cannot buy discounted fuel from Egypt, they have to buy it at market price from Israel, Anderson said. The U.N. requires UNRWA to keep certain fuel levels in order to operate in Gaza and it is maintaining that level. But that does not leave much fuel for its other operations. CIA Director William Burns returned to Washington from Cairo on May 9, after Israels Rafah invasion halted the latest round of talks. The negotiations are still paused, and the director is not currently scheduled to travel to meet with his counterparts though that could change if Egypt agrees to change course. The aid restrictions from Egypt are not the only complicating factors to the talks. Hamas has claimed publicly that it decided to withdraw from the negotiations because of Israels invasion of Rafah. Other U.S. officials believe Hamas is attempting to pressure Israel to withdraw, which could lead to the resumption of conversations. But Israel has said it plans to continue and expand its operations inside Rafah in the coming weeks in order to expel Hamas from the area. Egyptian intelligence quietly changed the terms of a ceasefire proposal that Israel had already signed off on earlier this month, ultimately scuttling a deal that could have released Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and set a pathway to temporarily end the fighting in Gaza, according to three people familiar with the discussions. The ceasefire agreement that Hamas ended up announcing on May 6 was not what the Qataris or the Americans believed had been submitted to Hamas for a potential final review, the sources said. The changes made by Egyptian intelligence, the details of which have not been previously reported, led to a wave of anger and recrimination among officials from the US, Qatar and Israel, and left ceasefire talks at an impasse. We were all duped, one of those sources told CNN. CIA Director Bill Burns, who has spearheaded the American efforts to broker a ceasefire agreement, was in the region when word reached him that the Egyptians had changed the terms of the deal. Burns was angry and embarrassed, the same person said, believing it made him look like he wasnt in the loop or hadnt informed the Israelis of the changes. The soft-spoken and mild-mannered Burns almost blew a gasket, said the source. A CIA spokesperson declined to comment. The three sources familiar with the matter told CNN that a senior Egyptian intelligence official named Ahmed Abdel Khalek was responsible for making the changes. Abdel Khalek is a senior deputy to the Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, who has been Burns counterpart in leading Egypts mediation in the ceasefire talks. One source familiar with the negotiations said Abdel Khalek told the Israelis one thing and Hamas another. More of Hamas demands were inserted into the original framework that Israel had tacitly agreed to in order to secure Hamas approval, the source said. But the other mediators were not informed; nor, critically, were the Israelis. Hamas was telling their people, We will have a deal in place tomorrow, the first source said. All sides were under the assumption the Egyptians provided the same document that Israel had signed off on and the other mediators, the US and Qatar, were aware of, the person said. Instead, the second source said, the Egyptians sought to blur the lines between the original framework and Hamass response. In response to a request for comment from the Egyptian government, a senior Egyptian source told CNN after the story was published: Some parties play a game of accusing the mediators, blaming and accusing them of bias in order to evade making the required decisions. Egypt is surprised by the attempts of some parties to deliberately insult the Egyptian efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza. Diaa Rashwan, the head of Egypts State Information Services, then issued a lengthy response calling the story wrong and devoid of any information or facts, without offering specifics. The ongoing attempts to cast doubt and insult the Egyptian mediation efforts and roles, with allegations that contradict reality, will only lead to further complicating the situation in Gaza and the entire region, and may push the Egyptian side to take a decision to withdraw completely from their mediation role in the current conflict, Rashwan said in a statement. A deal was close at hand A Hamas document obtained by CNN outlining the version of the framework they agreed to included achieving a permanent ceasefire and a sustainable calm to be reached in the second phase of the three-stage deal. Israel has been averse to agreeing to discuss an end to the war before Hamas has been defeated and the remaining hostages are released from captivity. Now, three weeks later, with ceasefire talks stalled, those involved are raising questions about the motives of Egypt, which for years has served as a key intermediary between Israel and Hamas, particularly Hamas members inside Gaza. Asked by CNNs Jake Tapper on Tuesday if he was concerned about Egypt being involved with future ceasefire talks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel was not prepared to agree to terms that would allow Hamas to attack Israel again. I hope Egypt understands that we cant agree to something like that. Israeli army tanks are seen in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday, May 18, 2024. - Abdel Kareem Hana/AP The changes came more than a week after a team of Egyptian negotiators flew to Israel in late April to hammer out some of the final details of a framework to provide for the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for a pause in fighting and the return of Palestinian prisoners. Talks had been ongoing for months by then, since the last pause in the fighting fell apart in early December. With Israel agreeing for the most part to go farther than they previously had, there was a creeping sense of optimism taking hold that a deal was close at hand. Israel appeared willing to accept fewer hostages, release more Palestinian prisoners and allow Gazans in the southern part of the enclave to return home to the north unrestricted. US officials emphasized how extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel the framework was, in the words of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. After discovering the Egyptian freelancing, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani informed Israels intelligence service Mossad that Egypt had acted alone, two of the sources told CNN. Al Thani and CIA Director Burns got to work trying to salvage the proposal and re-balance it with elements they knew Israel would require. It doesnt make sense, a senior Biden administration official said of why Egyptian intelligence would try to push something through without the essential input from the others. Changes made to appeal to Hamas After the Egyptians came back from Israel and conferred with Hamas, it became clear the group wouldnt go along with what Israel was agreeing to, one of the sources said. So the Egyptian official made significant changes to get Hamas to agree. The day before Hamas made their May 6 public announcement agreeing to the proposal, an Egyptian source told CNN that Egypt had received Hamas response and relayed it to the Israeli side. Several alternatives and scenarios were proposed to overcome the main point of contention related to ending the war, said the source. The agreements language about ending the war has been perhaps the thorniest issue throughout the negotiations. But what Hamas sent back, Netanyahu said, was very far from Israels core demands. It wasnt long before the discussions stalled. Negotiators, including Burns, returned to Cairo for one more round of indirect talks with Hamas. Israel agreed to send a team, as did Qatar, but neither sent senior officials, an indication that despite earlier optimism a deal would not be as imminent as hoped. CIA Director Bill Burns - Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images Two days after Hamas response on May 6, Burns returned to Washington and sources told CNN the talks were paused. Mediators had hoped that a pause in the fighting would delay or even prevent a serious incursion into Rafah by Israel. Military operations by Israel in Rafah are now expanding despite protest by the Biden administration that they will threaten the hundreds of thousands of civilians who had fled there for safety. If talks resume, its expected that the Qataris would play a bigger role in the next round, the second source familiar with the negotiations said. A re-launch of the negotiations does not appear imminent but if it were to happen Egypt would still be expected to be central given their essential proximity to Hamas, as well as Israels preference of Egypt to Qatar. The discussions would still be expected to center on a broad framework that would include an initial stage in which up to 33 Israeli hostages would be released over at least 6 weeks. Hamas has been pushing to include the bodies of dead hostages in the initial release and also have the first phase flow into a second with no break. Both are positions Israel has resisted. US officials have argued that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar doesnt actually want a deal since he may think hes winning and the greater the Palestinian suffering the more the world turns on Israel. Critics of Netanyahu, including families of Israeli hostages, have accused him of being more concerned with removing Hamas from Gaza than getting his citizens home. This story has been updated with comments from Netanyahu and a response from the Egyptian government. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com A 17-year-old El Paso teen has been arrested in connection with a fatal shooting last week in the parking lot of an East Side apartment complex, police officials said. Aldo David Flores faces a murder charge in the shooting death of 21-year-old Bryan Castillo on the night of May 14 during an altercation between two groups in the parking lot of the Vista Village Apartment, 10535 Montwood Drive, officials said on Monday, May 20. The apartment complex is near Montwood Mall on Yarbrough Drive. Flores was arrested Friday evening after a murder charge warrant was issued as part of an ongoing homicide investigation by detectives with the Crimes Against Persons Unit, police officials said. Flores is being held under a $500,000 bond at the El Paso County Jail in Downtown, according to jail records. Aldo David Flores was arrested on a murder charge in connection with the shooting death of Bryan Castillo, 21, in the parking lot of the Vista Village Apartments, 10535 Montwood Drive in East El Paso on May 14. Under Texas law, persons 17 and older are considered adults in the state's criminal justice system. The shooting occurred during an argument in the parking lot involving a group consisting of two men, a woman and a child and a second group, police said. The reason for the argument has not been disclosed. Gun violence: El Paso shooting wounds one when driver shoots couple's car at far East Side gas station Jail records show that El Paso police had previously arrested Flores on a misdemeanor charge of unlawful carrying of a weapon on Jan. 13. He was released from jail three days later on a $1,500 personal recognizance bond requiring no cash. The weapon case is pending in court. There have been eight murder cases in El Paso this year compared with seven at this time last year, according to Police Department numbers. Anyone with information on any unsolved shootings, homicides and other gun violence may anonymously call Crime Stoppers of El Paso at 915-566-8477 (TIPS). This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso teen arrested on murder charge in deadly parking lot shooting Irvin Brown held a slight lead over Michael Hoselton in the race to represent Ward 5 on Salem City Council, according to initial election results posted 8 p.m. Tuesday. Sitting City Councilor Jose Gonzalez's decision to not seek reelection opened up the race for a council newcomer. Michael Hoselton, candidate for Salem City Council Ward 5, photographed on March 20. Hoselton, a lifelong Oregonian who grew up in Clackamas County, first moved to Salem in March 2020. He took a job as a litigation paralegal with the Oregon Department of Justice and found a home near Northgate Park, where he joined the Northgate Neighborhood Association. Hoselton said his desire to speak up for the residents of Ward 5 and his opposition to the payroll tax propelled him to run for office. "I'm running because the city isn't being run very well, frankly," he said. "We need to balance the budget without raising taxes because that's what the voters have told us, and I was one of those voters." Hoselton listed the budget, crime and homelessness as top issues for the city and is a supporter of the Siletz casino project in north Salem. On Tuesday night, Hoselton acknowledged that the vote was very close and could change with later ballot drops. After growing up as one of seven kids in Louisiana and joining the Navy at 17, Brown became the first African American to earn a doctorate in education from the University of Portland. He said his parents instilled in him a sense of service and work ethic. This drive led him to volunteer in Salem right after he moved here for work six years ago. Candidate for Salem City Council Ward 1 Irvin Brown reacts as initial results are released Tuesday evening. Brown is a policy advisor for DHS. His governmental experience includes being a Marion County Sheriff's Community Advisory Committee member, chair of the Salem Citizen Budget Committee, city Equity Round Table Committee member, Chemeketa Community College Criminal Justice Advisory Committee member, Chemeketa Community College President's Circle and Salem-Keizer School District Superintendent's Transition Committee. "I really wanted to be someone that could advocate for those voices that may not be being heard and faces that are not being seen," he said. Brown said collaboration, public safety and the budget will be critical issues in Salem. Hoselton recently drew criticism for his comments made to the Salem Reporter about Brown and the budget. "I want to keep the library open as much as possible, but if the budget committee chair puts a gun to my head and tells me I need to shoot a policeman, a firefighter or librarian, then I would rather shoot (the chair), but the library is unfortunately the one that gets cut," Hoselton told the Salem Reporter. Brown, his opponent, serves as the budget committee chair. Several people, including City Councilor Virginia Stapleton, City Councilor Trevor Phillips and budget committee member Stacey Vieyra-Braendle, denounced the comments. "This kind of violent rhetoric has no place in our political discourse," Stapleton said in social media post. "We need better from people running for public office. I'm calling on Michael Hoselton to publicly apologize to Dr. Brown for his violent and harmful speech." After people denounced the comments, Brown said Hoselton's words were hurtful. "Words do hurt, and words do leave a lasting mark," he said. "Regardless of what community you come from, we have to find a way to hold space and make sure that every voice is heard and every face is seen ... We have to call out wrong when we see it." When volunteers like him and elected officials meet to discuss things like the budget, they show up and represent the city, he added. Hoselton said advocates for Brown were trying to distract voters from his own scandal, referring to a report regarding a 2020 reprimand and yearlong probation from the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission that found Brown's misrepresentation of whether he participated in student sleepovers while employed at Westside Christian High School from 2008 to 2012 constituted gross neglect of duty. Brown told the Salem Reporter the events were Bible study groups with parental supervision and there were no allegations of child abuse. An investigation by the commission found no evidence of sexual misconduct but determined Brown gave conflicting answers about the sleepovers. Brown underwent training following the order and his license is in good standing. "I am not a fan of speaking negatively about anyone and from where I sit, I have chosen to focus on the concerns of Salem and moving forward," Brown said. Campaign funding in Salem City Council Ward 5 race As of May 10, Brown's campaign raised $16,123 in cash and in-kind donations. His biggest donations came from individuals including $3,000 from Nadine Lecheminant, $2,500 from Mitchell Canham and $2,000 from Frank Taussig. Hoselton's campaign has raised $12,834 in cash and in-kind donations. His biggest donations include $7,626 in-kind from the Oregon Realtors Political Action Committee, $2,000 from Margaret Hoselton and $1,000 from the Mid-Valley Association of Realtors. For questions, comments and news tips, email reporter Whitney Woodworth at wmwoodworth@statesmanjournal.com call 503-910-6616 or follow on Twitter at @wmwoodworth. This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Election results: North Salem voters pick new city councilor Elmsford Mayor Robert Williams was privately censured by the village's governing body in a closed-door session last month, after facing a complaint of harassment. The resolution of censure was initiated by Trustee Joseph Coffey in executive session and supported by Trustees Matthew Evans and Sydney Henry. Only Trustee Nelson Lopez voted no. The mayor recused himself from the Board of Trustees' vote. According to a copy of the censure resolution obtained through a public records request, the village had hired an outside investigator to look into the mayor's conduct after two village employees sent a letter outlining "various allegations against Mayor Robert Williams" and another individual who was employed by the village the time. Elmsford Mayor Robert Williams during a Board of Trustees work session at village hall Jan. 24, 2022. The outside investigator determined that Williams "retaliated against the two employees for their perceived disloyalty" after they had inadvertently livestreamed a discussion between themselves on social media concerning a potential political rival of the mayor, the resolution states. Because of this "perceived disloyalty," the outside investigator found that Williams denied the two employees certain benefits, such as the chance to accrue compensatory time. The investigator further determined that Williams began to treat the employees differently after the incident, including by reducing his level of communication and excluding them from some village meetings. This behavior was deemed to be "rude and unprofessional," according to the resolution. While some of the retaliation documented in the investigator's report was not violative of village policy, it was deemed to be improper. In an interview, Williams disputed the investigator's findings, expressing surprise that he was blamed for the falling-out between himself and the complainants, whom The Journal News/lohud is not naming in this story. "I don't know what people's schedules are," he remarked about the process for requesting compensatory time. "People come to me and say, 'Do you need help?' She (one of the complainants) never came to me to ask." Williams traces the bad blood to a meeting from three years ago where he discussed the use of compensatory time at an all-hands meeting with village staff. "Thats when they changed their attitude towards me," he said. Though the livestream incident may have reopened old wounds between himself and the complainants "I told them I was a little bit disappointed, as to you being one of my dearest friends, saying that" that was not the root cause of the deterioration of their relationship, Williams said. In adopting the resolution, the board expressed its "extreme displeasure" with Williams, calling his actions "inconsistent with the expectations that the board has for the position of mayor of the village of Elmsford." This is not the first time Williams has landed himself in hot water for his deportment towards village staff. In 2021, at the all-hands meeting, Williams was caught on tape articulating a loyalty demand to village employees. "So you're supposed to be loyal and working for me," he told the crowd at the time, according to a recording of his remarks later obtained by The Journal News/lohud. "Some of you have dropped the ball lately." In 2022, Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah opened a grand jury investigation into the village of Elmsford in connection with Williams' use of official resources. This followed an investigation by The Journal News/lohud which found that the mayor had, on occasion, appropriated village resources apparently for his personal benefit or otherwise misused the powers of his office. Do you work for the Village of Elmsford? You can send this reporter a confidential tip at astockler@lohud.com or asher.stockler@protonmail.com. This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Elmsford NY mayor censured by village board after harassment complaint Elvis Presley's granddaughter is trying to halt the sale of Graceland, accusing those involved of using forged signatures A composite image showing Elvis Presley outside Graceland and his granddaughter actor Riley Keough. Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP; Business Wire Riley Keough is fighting to stop the auction of Elvis Presley's Graceland estate. Lisa Marie Presley used Graceland as collateral when taking out a loan, per a public notice. But Keough claims the loan documents are forged. A court granted a temporary restraining order. Elvis Presley's granddaughter, the actor Riley Keough, is fighting to prevent the auction of his iconic Graceland estate. Last week, a public notice announced the foreclosure sale of the Memphis property. It claimed that the Promenade Trust, which operates Graceland, owes $3.8 million to Naussany Investments and Private Lending to repay a loan. According to the notice, the home was scheduled for a public auction on Thursday at the Shelby County Courthouse. However, Keough, a trustee of the Promenade Trust, filed a claim on May 15, alleging that the creditor used forged signatures. Media outlets, including USA Today, citing Keough's legal team, reported that a temporary restraining order had been granted, delaying the auction. Keough's lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. According to the lawsuit, Lisa Marie Presley, the late daughter of Elvis Presley, is accused of borrowing $3.8 million from Naussany Investments in May 2018, and giving a deed of trust related to Graceland as collateral. But Keough alleged in the lawsuit that the documents used were "fraudulent," claiming that her mother never borrowed the money nor gave the deed of trust. "While the documents bear signatures that look like the signatures of Lisa Marie Presley, Lisa Marie Presley did not in fact sign the documents," the lawsuit says. An injunction hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, according to USA Today. In a statement provided to BI, Elvis Presley Enterprises, which runs the assets of the Elvis Presley Trust, said: "Elvis Presley Enterprises can confirm that these claims are fraudulent. There is no foreclosure sale. Simply put, the counter lawsuit has been filed is to stop the fraud." Business Insider was unable to reach Naussany Investments for comment. Keough, who recently starred in "Daisy Jones and the Six," became the trustee of Graceland after her mother died in January 2023. The 13.8-acre estate was bought by Elvis Presley in 1957 for $102,500. After his death in 1977, Graceland became a National Historic Landmark and one of Tennessee's top tourist attractions. Elvis is buried there alongside several family members, including his daughter, his grandson, and his parents. Read the original article on Business Insider KANSAS (KSNT) A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) rule change that requires individuals to have background checks and federal firearms licenses before selling firearms for a profit took effect on Monday. Firearm owners are waiting to see if U.S. District Judge James Moody will place a temporary injunction on the ATFs rule change. The White House is touting the rule change as the only significant expansion of background check requirements since 1993. The ATF confirmed to 27 News early Wednesday morning that the rule is currently in effect in Kansas. The ATF says a temporary restraining order has halted the rule from being enforced against plaintiffs including the individual Jeffrey W. Tormey, the state of Texas, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, the Tennessee Firearms Association and Virginia Citizens Defense League. Can you openly carry a pistol in your hand in Topeka? Ive spent hours with families whove lost loved ones to gun violence, President Joe Biden said in a written statement. They all have the same message: Do something. Today, my Administration is taking action to make sure fewer guns are sold without background checks. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach joined 26 other Republican attorneys general in a lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of Arkansas challenging the ATF rule change that would broaden the definition of a person engaged in business as a firearms dealer. In the last three years, Mr. Bidens ATF has revoked the licenses of an unprecedented number of gun stores across the country for what amount to paperwork errors, Kobach said in a Washington Times op-ed. Eight of them are in my state of Kansas. What in the past would have resulted in a friendly phone call and updated paperwork now results in the ATF shutting down the store. On May 20, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk from Texas blocked the Biden administration from enforcing the rule change with a temporary restraining order (TRO). The TRO lasts until June 2. Some Kansans will pay more for internet starting next month Plaintiffs understandably fear that these presumptions will trigger civil or criminal penalties for conduct deemed lawful just yesterday, Kacsmaryk said in his ruling. Day said plaintiffs in the Kansas-led case filed in Arkansas have informed Judge Moody of the TRO ruling in Texas. Day said the action from Texas could be a factor in Moodys decision. For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. 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 KSNT 27 News. WASHINGTON, D.C. (WCIA) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded nearly $18 million in grants going to several Illinois communities. Of the 10 grants, three are going to Central Illinois to help upgrade contaminated waste sites. The sites, called brownfields, can be difficult to work on or improve due to potential exposure to hazardous materials and substances. The EPAs Brownfields Program grants has helped clean and redevelop these sites since 1995, particularly in disadvantaged areas. Cleaning up contaminated and underutilized sites helps protect the health of children and families, and it also helps spur development, job creation and economic growth for affected communities, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) said. As a co-founder of the Senates Environmental Justice caucus, Im relieved that this federal funding will help clean up polluted brownfields across Illinois and Ill keep working to ensure the health and safety of our communities is protected and upheld. Champaign City Council to vote on $12 million grant to fund downtown plaza Fellow member of the Senate Environmental Justice Caucus, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), echoed Duckworths sentiment. In addition to improving our environment, restoring Brownfields will provide new opportunities for jobs and economic development, he said. Ill continue to be a strong advocate for EPA investments like this that make our communities safer and healthier. The following communities and institutions will receive brownfield funding to benefit areas in Central Illinois: Decatur $500,000 Assessment Grant Why: To update and maintain a site inventory and conduct 12 environmental site assessments; to support community engagement; to develop reuse plans for Jasper Street and MLK Corridors. Priority sites include three former gas stations, the 21.5-acre former Prairie Farms Manufacturing campus, and the 9-acre former Tire One fuel transfer station and distribution center. Illinois Environmental Protection Agency $3,500,000 RLF Supplemental Grant Why: For 22 in-progress or completed cleanup projects in Springfield, North Chicago, and Waukegan; to help fund future cleanups in more areas. Moving Pillsbury Forward in Springfield $2,652,300 Cleanup Grant Why: To clean up Buildings B, C, D, and G of the Former Pillsbury Plant at 1525 E. Phillips Avenue; to develop fact sheets, provide website updates, and conduct public meetings. Other grant recipients include the Chicago Southwest Development Corporation, Cook County Department of Environment and Sustainability, Mendota, North Central Illinois Council of Governments, Rockford, South Beloit and the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission. 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 WCIA.com. State Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard leads a news conference at the Nebraska State Capitol on his EPIC Option tax proposals at the Nebraska State Capitol. May 21, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN Supporters of an effort to replace Nebraskas income, property and corporate taxes with a broader sales or consumption tax say they have cleared a key hurdle in seeking to place the issue on the fall ballot. State Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard said Tuesday that advocates of the EPIC consumption tax have gathered signatures from 5% of registered voters in 38 of the states counties. Erdman and other EPIC tax backers still need to gather a total of 123,000 signatures from registered voters by July 3, equal to 10% of registered voters. He wouldnt say how many signatures they had already gathered. Every signature counts, Erdman said. Weve got to figure out a way to fix this broken tax system, and I havent come up with another idea that makes any sense. Theres not another one that gives you the freedom of liberty. Erdman and Steve Jessen, president of the EPIC Option Consumption Tax initiative, said they have seen greater public interest in changing Nebraskas tax system after the Legislature failed this session to pass major property tax relief. Pillen, others oppose EPIC tax Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen has pledged to call state lawmakers back for a special session later this year to move toward his goal of substantive and structural changes that balance out what he calls the states over-reliance on property taxes. Pillen set a goal of reducing the property tax burden by 40%. His plan ran into trouble with senators who could not agree on how hard the caps on local spending on local government and schools should be and how to pay for property tax offsets. Pillen had originally proposed capping local government spending growth and earmarking up to a 2-cent increase in the state sales tax to pay for property tax relief. Lawmakers struggled to find support last session for that proposal or for a 1-cent sales tax increase. Pillen, joined by business leaders and representatives of local governments and school boards, opposes the EPIC tax. He and others criticize the potential loss of local control that could result, the risk of harming retail sales and the uncertainty of how high the tax rate would be. The EPIC tax is not a workable solution, he said Tuesday in a statement. It is not the solution that will save our ever-escalating property tax issue. We need to commit to broadening and balancing the base across property, income and sales tax. State Sen. Brett Lindstrom Former State Sen. Brett Lindstrom, an Omaha financial adviser and spokesman for the anti-EPIC tax group No New Taxes Nebraska, said voters arent ready to increase sales taxes on every item. He said it would create new taxes on health care, dental care, prescriptions, veterinary care and legal bills. Voters know you cant raise taxes to lower taxes, and they resoundingly oppose eliminating local control to give all funding power for local priorities to just a few people in Lincoln, he said. Supporters say drastic changes needed Erdman argued that something has to be done. He compared Nebraskas current tax system to communism, saying people who defend communism often argue it just hasnt been refined enough or implemented correctly. He said wholesale changes are needed in the states tax system. He said he would introduce an EPIC tax proposal during any special session the governor might call because he wants to have public discussions before people vote this fall about whether the tax should be collected and distributed. He and others who have discussed ways the tax might be implemented have said spending needs could be met with a 7.5% consumption tax. Some of the proposals critics disagree and say it could require as much as three times that rate to make it workable. Jessen said he had spoken about the proposal at more than 50 meetings across the state. Organizers said they had heard from wheat farmers, ranchers and senior citizens in lifelong homes who say they risk being forced to move because of high property taxes. EPIC, which would also eliminate the inheritance tax, has some organizational backing from the Nebraska Republican Party. The state GOP has sent supportive tweets, and the EPIC group helped sponsor the partys annual convention. The Nebraska Democratic Party, in a statement from party chair Jane Kleeb, said the EPIC tax would leave all Nebraskans paying more sales tax. She said it is not a solution to high property taxes but a sign of continued division among Republicans. Erdman said about 250 volunteer petition circulators had focused the past several weeks on getting signatures in counties with the lowest population. He said the group would soon be moving into more populous counties, as well. The EPIC option is the only solution, Erdman said. Its the only one that puts the taxpayer in first place. Our current system puts the tax collector in first place. The post EPIC tax backers say petition effort cleared 38-county hurdle appeared first on Nebraska Examiner. (EL PASO COUNTY, Colo.) A man is wanted for Attempted Murder after he allegedly shot his son and left the scene on Thursday, May 16, in the Cimarron Hills area. According to the El Paso County Sheriffs Office (EPSO), deputies responded shortly before 10:30 a.m. on Thursday to a reported shooting in the 6000 block of Chantilly Place, in Cimarron Hills. EPSO said multiple callers to the EPSO Communication Center reported hearing between six and 10 shots fired in the area. When deputies arrived, they provided medical assistance to the victim before he was taken to the hospital. EPSO said the suspect was identified as the victims father, 51-year-old Dan Medina. Medina left the scene and has not been found. Courtesy: El Paso County Sheriffs Office Medina is wanted for Attempted Murder and is considered armed and dangerous. If you see him, EPSO urged that you not approach, and instead call 911. If you have any information on the case or Medinas whereabouts, you are asked to contact the EPSO Communications Center at (719)390-5555. 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 FOX21 News Colorado. The Estonian National Defence Council will convene to discuss Russian sabotage and influence operations, as well as the upcoming Peace Summit in Switzerland, on Wednesday afternoon, 22 May, at the invitation of Estonian President Alar Karis. Source: Estonian daily newspaper Postimees, as reported by European Pravda Details: The National Defence Council is an advisory body to the president. It includes the speaker of the Riigikogu, the prime minister, the chair of the National Defence Committee, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defence, Finance, Internal Affairs, Justice and Economic Affairs and Infrastructure, as well as the commander of the Defence Forces. The council discusses and provides opinions on matters of significant importance to national defence. Background: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk reported that Polish security services arrested nine people who committed acts of sabotage within the country on the orders of Russian secret services. He noted that this concerned several countries in the region. Tusk did not mention Estonia, but Karis is likely convening the National Defence Council in light of these reports. There have been multiple large-scale arson attacks across Europe in recent weeks. A fire at an IKEA shopping centre in Vilnius was reported last week, and a huge fire recently broke out in a Warsaw shopping mall. Support UP or become our patron! Tens of thousands of migrants have been detained each year and pushed back into remote areas - David Rose for the Telegraph The European Union is funding units in North Africa which reportedly round up migrants trying to reach Europe and dump them in the desert. Tens of thousands of migrants have been detained each year and pushed back into remote areas including the Sahara. They faced kidnap, torture, sexual violence and death. Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania were accused of carrying out the desert dumps and other human rights abuses after an investigation by the Washington Post, Lighthouse Reports, and other international media. A report said migrants in Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia were 'apprehended based on the colour of their skin' - David Rose for the Telegraph The EU has struck deals with all three countries to curb migrants trying to go to Europe from Africa, which includes funding to drive down numbers. Tunisia has received about 128 million, Mauritania 179 million and Morocco 533 million from Brussels. This is a difficult situation. Its a fast-moving situation, and we will continue to work on it, the European Commission chief spokesman said on Tuesday. The report said 11 dumps of up to 90 migrants each, one as recently as this month, took place in the desert near Tunisias borders with Libya and Algeria. At least 29 people are believed to have died, with dozens more missing, after being expelled from Tunisia on the Libyan border. Tunisians protesters demand a solution to the African migrant crisis - Yassine Gaidi/Anadolu/Getty Images European funding was being used to train and buy equipment for units involved in the round-ups and desert dumps, the investigation found. Vehicles of the same make and model as ones provided by European countries to the three countries security forces were used to round up black migrants on the streets or transported them from detention centres, it was reported. Clandestine operations The report said: Europe supports, finances and is directly involved in clandestine operations in North African countries to dump tens of thousands of black people in the desert or remote areas each year to prevent them from coming to the EU. It described a system of mass displacement that was run thanks to money, vehicles, equipment, intelligence and security forces provided by the EU and European countries. The report said refugees and migrants in Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia were being apprehended based on the colour of their skin, loaded onto buses and driven to the middle of nowhere, often arid desert areas, without water or food. Others were taken to border areas where they were allegedly sold by the authorities to human traffickers and gangs who torture them for ransom. The report described a 'system of mass displacement' that was funded by 'the EU and European countries' - Yassine Gaidi/Anadolu/Getty Images The Lighthouse Reports said it interviewed more than 50 black migrants all of them from sub-Saharan Africa and West Africa who had been expelled from the three countries. The report also cited two EU sources who acknowledged it was impossible to fully account for how the funding from Brussels was being used. Sometimes the situation is challenging in our partner countries, a commission spokesman said, [but they] remain sovereign states and they continue to be in control of their national forces. They said the EU monitored programmes it provided funding for, and noted pledges from partner countries to uphold international law and human rights. European governments also came under scrutiny in the report, which said German police deployed 449 staff and spent more than 850,000 to train almost 4,000 Tunisian guards. As the dumps continued, a 7.7m border-management training centre, funded by Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands, opened in Tunisia. Security forces there have at least 143 Nissan Navara pick-up trucks, which were provided by Italy and Germany to fight human traffickers. In Mauritania, according to the report, embedded Spanish officials on the ground have enabled aggressive tactics, the Spanish authorities have funded new detention centres, and also appear to be complicit in desert dumps. 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. (Bloomberg) -- European Union member states on Tuesday approved a plan to use the profits generated by frozen Russian sovereign assets to support Ukraines recovery and military defense. Most Read from Bloomberg This move will provide Ukraine as much as 3 billion ($3.3 billion) this year, 90% of which will go to Ukraines military, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky wrote on the social media platform X. About $280 billion in assets have been immobilized by the Group of Seven nations since Russias 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with more than two-thirds of those held in the EU. The vast majority of the funds has been held through the Belgium-based settlement giant Euroclear, where they have generated about 3.9 billion in net profit since last year. The US has been pushing a separate plan that would leverage the future revenue of the frozen assets to back a $50 billion loan to Ukraine. Should the G-7 reach an agreement on this accord, it would replace the EU initiative. Bloomberg reported earlier Tuesday that Germany is now ready to support the American plan. Under the EUs plan, Ukraine would receive the net profits from Feb. 15 onwards. Some 159 billion of frozen Russian assets have generated a net profit of 557 million from that date, according to Euroclears first quarter financial results. Profits before the Feb. 15 date will be retained by Euroclear to handle any risks such as those deriving from legal action in Russia. The EU plan also includes a mechanism to allow the clearing house to retain more funds should those resources prove insufficient to manage any sudden and unexpected risks. The adoption of the proposal by EU affairs ministers in Brussels comes after months of haggling between member states amid worries about possible legal challenges, retaliation from Russia and risk to the stability of the euro. The assets are expected to generate about 5 billion a year, with Ukraine receiving the aid twice a year. --With assistance from Megan Howard. (Updates with details on a US plan in the fourth paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. EU Council approves confiscation of profits from Russian assets in favour of Ukraine On 21 May, the EU Council approved the transfer of proceeds from taxable excess profits of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine. Source: European Pravda; Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the EU on X (formerly Twitter). Most of the funds will go to military support for Ukraine. "The EU Council has confirmed its consent to using proceeds from the immobilised assets of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in favour of Ukraine. Annual revenues are expected to amount to approximately 2.5-3 billion. 90% of the expected revenues will be used for military purposes to support the defence of Ukraine," the report says. A smaller share, 10%, will go to the recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine. Permanent representatives of the European Union member states approved this initiative on 8 May. Background: In February, the EU agreed on another important stage in its plan to use Russia's frozen assets; it concerns the legal rules for storing excess profits from assets. EU top diplomat Josep Borrell proposed redirecting interest earned on frozen Russian assets to Ukraine in March. According to the plan, 90% of the funds should go to the fund used to cover the cost of weapons for Ukraine. Support UP or become our patron! The EU Council agreed to use profits from the frozen Russian sovereign assets to aid Ukraine, the Czech representation in the EU announced on May 21. According to the statement, the proceedings could amount to between 2.5 billion and 3 billion euros ($2.7-3.26 billion) annually, with most of it allocated to Kyiv's military needs. "Up to 3 billion euros ($3.26 billion) (could be raised) only this year, 90% goes for Ukraine's military. Russia must pay for its war damages," Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said. Ukraine's Western partners and other allies froze around $300 billion in Russian assets at the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Roughly two-thirds are held in the Belgium-based financial services company Euroclear. While the U.S. proposed seizing Russian assets outright, the EU has been more hesitant, fearing legal and fiscal pitfalls of confiscation. Instead, Brussels proposed to use windfall profits generated by the frozen assets and funnel them to Kyiv. In March, the European Commission submitted a proposal on using 90% of the generated funds to purchase weapons for Ukraine and allocate the remaining 10% to the EU budget to support the country's defense industry. After many weeks of debates, EU ambassadors reached a political agreement on the proposal on May 8. Ukraine's needs for foreign aid only grow as Russia ramps up pressure along the front and continues in aerial attacks against population centers and critical infrastructure. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly called for the confiscation of Russian assets as a path toward sustainable external financing that would not put pressure on partners' budgets. Read also: Bloomberg: Germany ready to back US plan to tap Russian assets revenue for funding Ukraine Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Brussels officials insist on starting official negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union as early as June. Source: European Pravda, citing Politico Details: Politico spoke with five diplomats on the condition of anonymity. They reported that intensive work is currently underway to persuade the Hungarian government to agree to start negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU. It is proposed to start official negotiations on Ukraine's accession on 25 June. Politicos sources believe that this will bring moral uplift to Ukraine, which is resisting Russian aggression. Reportedly, Ukraine and the EU are negotiating with Budapest to resolve the issues of Hungarian minorities in Ukraine. After the April talks between Andrii Yermak, Head of the Presidents Office, and Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, "the parties noted the positive dynamic of the dialogue." According to one of the diplomats, Kyiv has responded to the 11-point list outlined by Budapest and is awaiting Hungary's response. One EU diplomat suggested that Hungary might want to conclude the negotiations on Ukraine's EU accession before it takes over the rotating presidency of the EU Council in July. "There was a sense of not doing this before the [9 June European Parliament] election because it could become an election issue," said the EU diplomat, capturing the mood felt among many officials in Brussels. "Now were looking for this slot in June. If youre the Hungarians, you would rather have it [discussions around Ukraines membership] out of the way before the presidency." After EU leaders provided political support to Kyiv, the next step in the accession process is the start of official negotiations through an intergovernmental conference with Ukraine. This would mean the opening of membership negotiations. For this to happen, EU countries must agree on a so-called negotiation framework. The 27 capitals have been bargaining over this document since the European Commission sent it in March. So far, the technical-level negotiations are going well, according to two diplomats, and they expect a new draft to be sent to EU ambassadors in the coming weeks to resolve the most pressing issues. Ukraine and its supporters in the EU are calling for an intergovernmental conference between Brussels and Kyiv to be held before Hungary takes over the rotating presidency of the EU Council on 1 July. At the same time, Hungary is interested in a successful presidency of the EU Council, the diplomats say. The Belgians, who currently hold the presidency, are also trying to persuade Hungary that this is in their political interest, especially considering that Hungary could use one of several methods to block Ukraine's EU accession if it so wishes. Belgian officials have already scheduled an intergovernmental conference for 25 June, a few days before Budapest takes over the presidency of the EU on 1 July. But "as always, it is impossible to predict what Hungary will do until we hear from Orban himself," said one of the diplomats. Background: Katarina Mathernova, the EU Ambassador to Ukraine, believes that Ukraine is ready to start negotiations on joining the European Union and hopes these will begin by the end of June. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, during her last visit to Kyiv, also said that she expects the negotiations to begin by the end of the first half of 2024. Read more: Kyiv will take the Albanian path to EU membership: details of Ukraine's negotiating framework emerge Support UP or become our patron! As Vladimir Putin continues his assault on Ukraine, Russian aggression is tightening its grip on the region. Not only has the war in Ukraine dragged on, but Russia is deepening military integration with neighbouring Belarus, deploying dozens of tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil. Nearby Poland is now bracing for further Russian mobilisation, calling on a heavy brigade of European Union defences in response. Putins dream of a new Russian Empire is not to be taken lightly. But an aggressive Russia is hardly the only obstacle to peace and prosperity in the region. Lukashenkos regime is a relic of the Soviet era that, for millions of people, still stands in the way of democracy, the free market, and a functional rule of law. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarus' counterpart Alexander Lukashenko talk during the Eurasian Economic Union summit in Moscow's Kremlin, December 2014 - AP Photo/Maxim Shipenkov Thirty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, former Soviet republics and satellite countries are still grappling with the grave repercussions of the Soviet era. Take Belarus, where the dictator Alexander Lukashenko has remained in power since 1994 and stifles dissent with each passing year. During the countrys 2020 presidential election, Lukashenko falsified the results and awarded himself over 80% of the vote, inciting protests that lasted for months. His regime then responded to the post-election demonstrations with mass arrests and worse. (Belarusian opposition leader Maria Kalesnikava remains in jail today.) This was not the Kremlins doing, although Lukashenko and Putin are close allies. Lukashenkos regime is a relic of the Soviet era that, for millions of people, still stands in the way of democracy, the free market, and a functional rule of law. Freedom champions can bring about change Some are more fortunate. In Lithuania, it took 10 long years to re-establish a free market after the country regained independence from the Soviet Union. But it happened because of local, free-market organisations that pushed for change from the ground up. Because of the Lithuanian Free Market Institutes tireless efforts in particular, Lithuania rid itself of Soviet communism and embraced the concepts of private property, sound monetary policy, tax reform, and eventually a school voucher system. Lithuanias model for business taxation with taxes on profits deferred until the payment of dividends was exported to Estonia and other countries in the region. Fortune favoured the brave, and bravery spread. A woman shops vegetables at the bazar in Vilnius, July 2023 - AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis Between the 1990s and today, the average monthly income in Lithuania jumped from 17 to nearly 1,700. And others took note. Lithuanias model for business taxation with taxes on profits deferred until the payment of dividends was exported to Estonia and other countries in the region. Fortune favoured the brave, and bravery spread. Therein lies the only hope for Eastern European countries to shed their Soviet-era shackles for good: action at the local level. Only through local freedom champions those I call idea entrepreneurs who take action on the ground and inspire others to follow suit will change come to Eastern Europe en masse. You can't win a war from an ivory tower There are numerous examples of localisation at work. In Bulgaria, the Institute of Market Economics is reforming the countrys legal system to roll back much of what remains from Soviet domination of the judiciary. As a result, the Bulgarian National Assembly passed a constitutional amendment last December, reining in the Prosecutor General's previously unchecked power. The amendment reduced the length of the Prosecutor Generals term and removed the offices ability to meddle in the lives and businesses of law-abiding citizens, creating a system of oversight and accountability. In Ukraine, freedom champions are successfully teaching market economics and concepts like entrepreneurship to Ukrainian youth. Even amidst war, the Bendukidze Free Market Center published more than 50,000 economics textbooks in 2023 while also launching an Economic Olympiad that attracted nearly 400 schools and more than 4,300 students. This year, participation is expected to double to nearly 10,000 students. While the threat of authoritarianism is all too real, the likes of Putin and Lukashenko still fear the ever-beating heart of freedom and human dignity. The war for a free society will not be won from an ivory tower in Washington or Brussels, but only through the action taken by local leaders on the ground. Brad Lips serves as CEO of Atlas Network, which has nearly 600 independent partners in over 100 countries. At Euronews, we believe all views matter. Contact us at view@euronews.com to send pitches or submissions and be part of the conversation. European Commission says Ukraine will receive first payment of revenue from frozen Russian assets in July Ukraine will receive the first delivery of funds stemming from the revenue of frozen Russian assets in July, the European Commission said on May 21. Ukraine's Western partners and other allies froze around $300 billion in Russian assets at the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Roughly two-thirds are held in the Belgium-based financial services company Euroclear. In March, the European Commission submitted a proposal on using 90% of the generated funds to purchase weapons for Ukraine and allocate the remaining 10% to the EU budget to support the country's defense industry. After many weeks of debates, EU ambassadors reached a political agreement on the proposal on May 8. The EU Council finalized the agreement earlier on May 21, which would provide Ukraine with between 2.5 billion and 3 billion euros ($2.7-3.26 billion) annually, with most of it allocated to Kyiv's military needs. The European Commission then announced later in the day that the "resources will be available to support Ukraine starting from July 2024, with bi-annual payments." The distribution will be reviewed on an annual basis. "Speed remains of the essence and the Commission will continue making all efforts to allow the first payment to be made already in July," said European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis. While the U.S. proposed seizing Russian assets outright, the EU has been more hesitant, fearing legal and fiscal pitfalls of confiscation. Instead, Brussels proposed to use windfall profits generated by the frozen assets and funnel them to Kyiv. Read also: Opinion: The REPO Act hasnt won the war for Russian assets Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Eurostar passengers at St Pancras station will be forced to negotiate a five-step check-in process under strict new EU rules, providing their fingerprints and a mugshot twice and answering a series of questions on the nature of their trip. People planning to travel through the Channel Tunnel will be sent a guide to the new system as soon as they book, including a flow chart and checklist detailing each stage of the process and explaining why it is being implemented. Eurostar has spent 10m (8.5m) on dozens of new border kiosks, which it said on Tuesday will keep passengers moving once the so-called Entry/Exit System (EES) is finally introduced on October 6. Brussels says the EES, which will replace the physical stamping of passports, is aimed at enhancing border security. It will harvest data on EU entries and exits, calculate the number of times people cross the border, and record overstayers and refusals of entry. Implementation of the new post-Brexit system has been delayed several times, most recently to avoid the Paris Olympics, amid fears it could spark long delays at ports and train stations when it is first implemented. Eurostar has doubled the capacity of its departure system to ensure that check-in times remain within the current 45 to 90 minute range (or 20 minutes in first class), with an extra 1,000 square feet of space, 20 extra staff per shift and an app-based live map to show peoples progress. However, concerns remain as to how the uninitiated will cope with the process. A survey published by Coop Group last month suggested that almost two thirds of UK adults were unaware of the changes that the EES will bring, with one in five saying they would be put off travelling by the demands of the new system. Simon Lejeune, Eurostars chief stations and safety officer, said: Weve got a big job on our hands to educate our passengers, to start talking around EES publicly and to make sure there is an awareness there. We are investing in our passenger information processes and we are going to design a checklist that enables passengers to know exactly what to expect. Under the extended check-in process, non-EU passengers will be expected to read and digest emailed travel guidance on negotiating the EES system before they travel. On arrival at St Pancras theyll first encounter a row of automated kiosks, where they must have their passports scanned and fingerprints and a facial photograph taken. They must also answer questions about their trip, specifically how long they intend to stay, if they will be lodging in a hotel or private accommodation, if they have a return ticket, and whether they have sufficient funds to repatriate themselves. While France provided funding for 24 kiosks, Eurostars calculations showed that was insufficient to prevent potential logjams. It prompted Eurostar and High Speed 1, which owns the lease on St Pancras station, to pay for a further 25. After passing through the kiosks, passengers will wait in the departure area before being called to the security barrier for luggage scans. They will then clear the UK border at a further set of booths, much as before. On reaching the final barrier, representing the border with the EU, first-time travellers must provide their fingerprints for a second time and have a further photograph taken, this time by French border police. The number of staffed booths has been doubled to 18, and three new e-gates, which can be used by repeat travellers, have been added. Only then will people be able to ascend to platform level and board their train. Therell be no further checks on arrival, the same as today. Once Britons have made an initial journey their EES records will be stored for three years, though even then theyll have to have a facial scan taken at the kiosks before every trip. Mr Lejeune said he sees zero risk of delays come October, provided people take notice of the guidance and the check-in timings specified in their bookings. He said: Weve invested a huge amount of time in modelling passenger flows using a digital twin of the station to anticipate hundreds of scenarios. With our knowledge of passenger demographics when people arrive, what nationalities they are we know that this setup can cope with the challenges of EES. The Port of Dover and Eurotunnel, which also have French border officials stationed on UK soil, are working on their own responses to EES as they seek to avoid queues of vehicles seeking to cross to France. Airline passengers must negotiate the system once they land. 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. WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, Manhattan (PIX11) Family members of Shirley Rodriguez say she was on her way to work when she was stabbed. Sources close to the investigation are telling PIX11 News that the suspect, her ex-boyfriend, waited for her outside of the building where she lived and killed her. Suspect shot during robbery at Queens liquor store: NYPD Hours later, the superintendent washed the blood off the sidewalk where Rodriguez was killed on Monday morning. And neighbors told PIX11 they cannot stop thinking about the screams they heard from the 29-year-old woman as she was being stabbed multiple times. I have been thinking about it all day, how someone can take it to that level? asked Peter, a neighbor. A man who lives across from the building at 134 Haven Avenue described how he heard Rodriguez imploring for help. He said he came down from his apartment and saw the attacker dragging and stabbing Rodriguez at the same time. Then, the perpetrator then ran away leaving her agonizing, he said. Authorities said Rodriguez was taken to Harlem hospital. But it was too late. It has to be someone that is not ok in the head to respond like that, Valerie Reyes said. According to police, the violence started around 5:35 a.m. and the suspect is a man believed to be her ex-boyfriend. Unfortunately, this is very common. The only way to prevent it is to start looking at the red flags. He has a history of physical verbal violence, and he is a controlling guy, said Maria Camilo, intimate partner violence specialist. Police had not made any arrests Monday. Sources told PIX11 News that the man believed to be the killer ran-off towards nearby Fort Washington Park. A neighbor told PIX11 News that when she was leaving to work, she saw a man wearing all black hiding behind a vehicle minutes before Rodriguez was killed. 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 PIX11. A former Tacoma police officer who was acquitted in the death of Manuel Ellis and left his job with a $500,000 payout has filed multi-million dollar claims against city and state officials, alleging he was falsely accused of racially biased policing. Timothy Rankine was one of three officers put on trial last year for the March 3, 2020 death of Ellis. The 33-year-old man known as Manny was beaten, shocked with a Taser three times and pressed to the ground on his stomach with his limbs tied behind his back in a hogtie position while officers knelt or sat on him. The Pierce County medical examiner found he died of oxygen deprivation. Matthew Collins and Christopher Burbank, who first struggled with Ellis after he reportedly punched the window of their patrol car, were found not guilty of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter after jurors deliberated for about two days. Prosecutors from the Washington State Attorney Generals Office charged Rankine with solely first-degree manslaughter. Rankine arrived at the scene as backup and testified at the trial that he got on top of Ellis as Burbank was bucked off. He said he eventually put his knees on Ellis back to control him while the man thrashed on the ground. Rankine also testified that he twice put Ellis on his side so he could breathe better. Ellis last words were, I cant breathe. Manuel Ellis, 33, died March 3, 2020, while being restrained by Tacoma police. Rankine and his wife, Katherine Chinn, claim that Attorney General Bob Ferguson, his staff and contractors, as well as elected officials in Tacoma and city employees defamed Rankine by falsely accused him of criminal misconduct and that those accusations were politically motivated, according to copies of the tort claims, which were first reported by NPR station KNKX. The claims seek a total $47 million in damages. They allege that hes pretty much been forced out of position because of the discriminatory acts of leadership and creating a hostile workplace, Rankines attorney, Joan Mell, said Tuesday. That he cant even do his job safely there. The Attorney Generals Office said through a spokesperson that it didnt have a comment on the claims. Brionna Aho said she confirmed that the office has not received similar claims from Collins or Burbank. A City of Tacoma spokesperson said the city doesnt comment on pending litigation, and it hadnt received tort claims from Burbank, Collins or their spouses. Tort claims are generally precursors to lawsuits. Aho said claims are first submitted to the State Office of Risk Management, which can resolve the claim on its own or assign it to the Attorney Generals Office for investigation and handling. Once submitted, there is a 60-day period before a lawsuit can be filed. The Attorney Generals Office got the claims April 26, and Tacoma received them April 24. Chinns claim against the Attorney General and his staff alleged that they incited racially motivated hatred toward her husband and his work as a law enforcement officer, disrupting their marriage and their ability to live without fear of retaliation. She made similar allegations against the City of Tacoma. Rankines tort claim alleged that the state and city officials incited hatred, threats, and violence against me and my family. His attorney said Rankines family was completely uprooted, and that his wife had to hide out. Mell said its still unnerving for them to go out in public. The attorney said she doesnt know where Rankine and his wife are living. She said shes been working with them in Montana, where one of her law offices is based, but she doesnt think they live there. Rankine, Collins and Burbank each received $500,000 from the City of Tacoma in January for voluntarily separating from the city. Mell said that barely compensated Rankine for what he lost. As you can see in Washington, none of these guys can get jobs anywhere, Mell said. And theres such a lobbying interest against law enforcement officers like these guys, and they cant work in that field. Tacoma police officers Timothy Rankine (center) and Matthew Collins (right) in Pierce County Superior Court in Tacoma on Dec. 20, 2023. All three officers remained on paid leave for the duration of their criminal case, collectively making more than $1 million by the time their trial started in September. Burbank briefly found work at the Thurston County Sheriffs Office in April, but he resigned within two days after the community responded to the hiring decision with outrage. Sheriff Derek Sanders said Burbanks family received death threats. He later held a public meeting where Ellis sister, Monet Carter-Mixon, and other Thurston County residents questioned why Burbank was hired. Mell said she thinks its important that Rankine is pushing back against the vilification of law enforcement, which she said makes it impossible to know what their job is, how to do it or how to keep the public safe. The Ellis case is tragic, Mell said. Not only what happened to Manny but how hes been exploited and law enforcement have been exploited around that political issue. A federal review of the officers actions is ongoing by the office of Tessa Gorman, U.S. Attorney for Western Washington. The office is independently reviewing the states criminal case against Collins, Burbank and Rankine for any violations of federal criminal statutes. Ellis family settled with Pierce County in 2022 for $4 million as part of a federal wrongful death lawsuit, and they have an ongoing suit against Tacoma. Editors note: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported the amount of damages sought by Rankine and his wife. Days before Gov. Greg Abbott pardoned Daniel Perry for killing a Black Lives Matter protester, the Austin Police Department drafted a two-page letter to state officials advocating that Perry be freed. The document, on departmental letterhead, echoes the belief of the lead investigator in the case that the prosecution of Perry in the shooting death of Garrett Foster was based on conjecture, innuendo and a character assassination of Perry, who wrote racist and threatening social media posts. The draft, obtained by the American-Statesman and KVUE-TV on Tuesday, bears the signatory of interim police chief Robin Henderson. The letter rejects the guilty verdict of a Travis County jury a year earlier and reiterates the departments finding that the shooting was justified, adding Mr. Perry should have never been charged. The department was poised to send the document to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles a day before Gov. Greg Abbott granted clemency to Perry last week. But Henderson said in a statement Tuesday to the Statesman that "ultimately the drafted letter was not submitted. After discussions with city leadership, as is standard in certain situations, I decided not to submit the letter." More: Gov. Greg Abbott announces he will push to pardon Daniel Perry after murder conviction Still, the draft letter represents a highly unusual move by the department in a case marked by extraordinary developments. It offers a deeper insight, extending beyond that of the lead investigator in the case, into how the department more broadly views evidence in the shooting, which polarized much of the community and further splintered the relationship between police and prosecutors. It adds that although retired Detective David Fugitt, who has vigorously fought on Perrys behalf, determined that the June 2020 shooting was justified, the department as an organization supports that finding as well. Daniel Perry, center, walks to the courtroom last March in Austin where Perry was convicted for fatally shooting Garrett Foster during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. (Credit: Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman/File) As law enforcement officers, we are bestowed the honorable duty to investigate, collect and provide complete and honest unbiased facts to the citizens of this state, the letter stated. This unbiased collection and presentation of evidence must be conducted separate from political and emotional influence. This duty is not taken lightly and is essential for justice to occur in order for the public to maintain trust in a system that is designed to protect the innocent while at the same time holding those who violate the law accountable, the document stated. The letter concluded by saying that the departments homicide unit, including its supervisors, and Henderson believe that the shooting, which Perry contends happened when Foster raised an assault rifle at him, was a justifiable homicide. We collectively feel that for justice to be served, a full pardon and restoration of his firearm rights should be granted to Mr. Perry, the letter concluded. This embedded content is not available in your region. Draft letter sparks reaction In a statement, Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza said that during Perry's trial, a jury heard evidence that Perry's attack was "deliberate and premeditated." He added that Austin police did not investigate the certain facts of the case -- although his statement did not elaborate -- and he added that Henderson did not attend the trial. "Had she been at the trial, she would have known that Mr. Perry had a full and fair opportunity to argue the killing was in self-defense and that after deliberate consideration, the jury did not find that it was in self-defense," Garza said. He added: "I am grateful for the service of the jury members, and unlike the interim chief of police, I believe that jury service is a foundation of our criminal justice system, and their verdict should not be disturbed." Mayor Kirk Watson said in a statement that whether the department sent the letter is "irrelevant. "This is not an appropriate role for the Austin Police Department, and those words have no place on official letterhead," he said. Interim Assistant City Manager Bruce Mills said in a statement released by the city, "We support the chief's decision not to send the letter. Clearly, the draft letter is outside the police department's role." Whitney Mitchell, Foster's fiance, said in an interview with the Statesman on Tuesday that she has struggled repeatedly since the night of the shooting and that her feelings have been intensified by the lead-up and granting of the pardon. "I don't know how to really live with this," she said. "And it makes me feel like I don't feel safe. I don't feel safe being here." A case outside the norm The department began drafting the letter last week after receiving an inquiry from the pardons and parole board into whether it wished to provide input on Perrys proposed clemency. It is not clear who in the department authored the letter. The department typically does not advocate during a pending parole or pardon review. It is not unusual, however, for individual detectives to write letters concerning an inmate's possibility for parole, and generally, to argue against release. But Perrys case has tested norms in the law enforcement and criminal justice community from its earliest days. The shooting happened downtown after Perry, who was stationed at Fort Cavazos as an Army sergeant but was in Austin to drive for a ride-share company, turned his car into a street crowded with protesters. Foster, who was armed with an AK-47, saw himself as a protector of fellow protesters. The case centered on whether Perry shot in self-defense, a claim the jury rejected, or whether he provoked the shooting. The Austin police letter noted that the departmental investigation found that Perry had the right to be on a public roadway and did not provoke the armed encounter. In the months before trial, Perrys attorneys tried unsuccessfully to have the case dismissed, citing statements from Fugitt that prosecutors edited his presentation to a grand jury to exclude evidence supporting Perrys self-defense claims. By law, prosecutors do not have an obligation to present favorable evidence to a grand jury, state district Judge Cliff Brown ruled. Dismissing an indictment would require "egregious conduct," and Brown said he did not see. A day after the April 2023 verdict, following calls from far-right conservatives, Abbott said on social media that he would pardon Perry after receiving a legally required recommendation from the seven-member board he appoints. That week, Brown ordered a trove of social media posts that were excluded during trial to be unsealed. Those posts include messages that Perry might go to Dallas and shoot looters and it is official that I am racist because I do not believe in people acting like monkeys. The messages also show that he had on-line conversations with a 16-year-old girl in which he told her not to send nude photographs of herself until she was of age and to come up with a reason why I should be your boyfriend. The Austin Police Departments letter does not address Perrys social media posts. The Statesman reported in February that the board had begun a more extensive review of the case and had received a presentation from Fugitt. Editorial: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pardoned Daniel Perry and shifted the rule of law | Editorial The departments letter said that it consulted heavily with Fugitt, who it said is an expert in homicide investigations and has participated in hundreds of cases during his career, in writing the letter. In all fairness, the district attorneys office and the judge and the Travis County sheriffs office were all afforded the opportunity to write a letter, and it was my stance that APD should provide one as well, Fugitt, who now works in the prosecutor assistance unit handling capital murder cases for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, told the Statesman. Neither Brown nor the sheriffs office wrote a letter. The day after the department decided not to send the letter, the pardons board recommended Perrys clemency for Perry and a restoration of his gun rights. In a two-hour span, Abbott granted the pardon, and Perry was released from a prison near Houston. Perrys attorney, Doug OConnell, said in a statement that Daniel is optimistic about his future. He wishes that this tragic event never happened. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin police drafted letter advocating for Daniel Perry's pardon Exclusive-UAE and US to seal more AI deals, UAE minister says By Federico Maccioni DUBAI (Reuters) -The United Arab Emirates and United States will invest more in artificial intelligence as part of a strategic partnership, the UAE's state minister for AI Omar Sultan Al Olama said on Tuesday. The UAE, led by government-backed firm G42, is striving to become a global leader in AI, invested heavily in it to help the Gulf nation diversify away from oil. The stakes have risen as neighbouring Saudi Arabia has begun pitching itself as a prospective hub for AI activity outside the United States. "In terms of our investments, since the U.S. is now considering the UAE as a strategic partner, and the UAE is reciprocating that by considering the U.S. as a strategic partner, you will see more deals naturally," Al Olama told Reuters on the sidelines of an event in Dubai. Microsoft is investing $1.5 billion in G42, the two companies announced last month, giving the U.S. giant a minority stake and a board seat and allowing the two to deepen ties. As part of the deal, which the two companies said was backed by assurances to the U.S. and UAE governments over security, G42 would use Microsoft cloud services to run its AI applications. That partnership comes amid Washington's efforts to hobble Beijing's technological advances, with the United States adding four Chinese companies to an exports blacklist for seeking to acquire AI chips for China's military. Asked about further potential divestment of Chinese tech companies by the UAE, Al Olama said "government-to-government the UAE is a neutral country, and in that sense, we are going to be a country that allows the world to do business in the UAE". Al Olama said a diversified energy mix, including nuclear energy, was key for attracting AI investment to the tiny Gulf country. "We will have the ability to expand our energy infrastructure based on the need of the data centres," the minister said. This includes discussions about small modular nuclear reactors but there were no concrete plans yet, he said. The UAE has operated a South Korean-built nuclear plant since 2021. The country plans to also tender as soon as this year for four more nuclear reactors, Reuters reported last month, citing three sources. On Tuesday, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire flagged during a visit to Abu Dhabi that Paris was open to the UAE investing in its nuclear energy industry. He also said he the two countries would sign a strategic partnership on AI. (Reporting by Federico Maccioni; Editing by Nadine Awadalla, Bernadette Baum and Alison Williams) EXETER The Exeter Area Chamber of Commerce invites its members and the community to the 2024 State of the State with Governor Chris Sununu on Tuesday, June 25. The event, from 8:30 to 10 a.m., will be held at the Boulders at Riverwoods at 5 Timber Lane in Exeter. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu talks with attendees at a State of the State 2024 event Tuesday, March 12 at Atlantic Grill in Rye. He will host another State of the State in Exeter on June 25. Sununu will discuss the economic challenges and opportunities facing the state and the impact on the business community. He will also answer questions from attendees. "We look forward to hosting Governor Sununu for our State of the State program in person at Riverwoods," said Jennifer Wheeler, president of the Exeter Area Chamber of Commerce. This event is a great opportunity for chamber members and the community to connect with the governor to talk about the issues that are important to them." The 2024 State of the State is underwritten by Cambridge Trust, with additional support from Riverwoods at Exeter. Anyone is welcome to register online at www.exeterarea.org and attend this presentation. The fee to attend is $10 for chamber members, $20 for future members, and includes breakfast. Space is limited- any remaining tickets will be available the day of the event for an additional $5. For more information or to register, please contact the Exeter Area Chamber of Commerce at 603-772-2411 or visit exeterarea.org. This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Exeter Chamber hosts Gov. Chris Sununu for 2024 State of the State For more than 50 years, Asian American studies has been a recognized field at American colleges and universities. But outside of California, students who want to study it as a major or minor are usually out of luck. However, the tide is beginning to turn. Duke University created an academic minor in Asian American studies in 2022. Harvard University, long criticized for not offering enough courses in ethnic studies, hired two tenured faculty members in Asian American studies over the past two years. Vanderbilt University announced its new major and minor in the field in 2023. That same year, Williams College started its concentration, akin to a minor, and Fordham University started its minor. Amherst College, where I teach, recently created a major in Asian American and Pacific Islander studies, to start in the fall of 2024. Amherst will be the first liberal arts college in the country with its own major in the field. Southern Californias Claremont Colleges Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, Pomona and Scripps have collectively offered a shared major for 25 years. Public high schools across the country have similarly experienced growth in content on Asian Americans. Decades of lobbying These programs did not get going overnight. Students on these campuses and others campaigned for Asian American studies for years. Across the nation, student activists in the South, the Northeast and the Southwest continue to lobby for more courses and for majors or minors in the field. But if student activism and faculty interest were all it took to achieve curricular change, Asian American studies and related fields would have been popping up on campuses long ago. At Amherst, students had been pushing for greater attention to Asian American studies for 50 years. The recent commitment to teaching more courses and hiring permanent faculty as opposed to visiting faculty stems, in part, from tragedy. Programs began to grow as attacks on Asian Americans, including the 2021 murders of spa workers in Atlanta, increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Former President Donald Trumps repeated reference to COVID-19 as the Chinese virus added rhetorical fuel to racial animosity. Battles against discrimination inspire new programs Historically, ethnic studies programs have come into existence after protests against public discrimination. The establishment of Black, Native, Latino and Asian American studies in California followed the Civil Rights Movement and protests of the 1960s. The discriminatory attacks that increased during the pandemic inspired a rise in activism among Asian American students. They wanted to embrace their heritage and see their own histories and experiences represented in course offerings. The attacks also made university administrators recognize that contrary to their stereotype as problem-free, high achievers Asian Americans experience a unique kind of discrimination in which they are forever foreign. They deserve greater attention in the college curriculum. As more schools join the roster of colleges offering programs in Asian American studies, the material included within Asian American studies is also expanding. The most common subjects in the Asian American program are cultural studies, literary studies and other interdisciplinary areas in the humanities. The field also has drawn on history and sociology, subjects that similarly question popular views about which racial groups have been in authority and why. Now, prominent topics within Asian American studies include critical race theory and critiques of the United States as an empire and U.S. militarization. Proponents of Asian American studies may be more likely to hold political views such as support for Palestinians and for affirmative action that share the perspectives found in these topics. Given that Asian American studies started in the 1960s and 1970s because of student activism, political activism has remained central to the field. The fields foundation in the humanities and humanistic social sciences, however, has meant that other disciplines have been left out. This is also changing. In the past two years, for example, the Association for Asian American Studies, the largest professional association in the field, has stressed the need for more attention to the study of Asian America in social sciences such as political science, anthropology, economics and psychology. At an April 2024 symposium, the organization connected faculty from psychology, education, political science and other disciplines to the field and vice versa. It also provided a mentoring program for these faculty. The field will likely continue to add to its areas of representation as it expands on campuses. A more comprehensive look at Asian American experiences may lead to a better understanding of the recent conditions that caused the number of programs on college campuses to increase. Understanding the rise of violence against Asian Americans, for instance, requires knowledge of the U.S. wars in Asia and their connection to individual Americans social psychology. More than 50 years ago, Asian American studies were almost unheard of. In another 50 years, perhaps, programs that similarly combine subjects from multiple disciplines may become mainstream. 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: Pawan Dhingra, Amherst College Read more: Pawan Dhingra does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. In the face of a lawsuit and veto, Virginia Beachs election system still up in the air VIRGINIA BEACH A Circuit Court judge Monday denied a request that would have prevented district-based elections of Virginia Beach City Council members this fall and will issue an opinion soon on whether a lawsuit against the citys voting system can move forward. The 2024 election will continue as planned under the current ward-based system, said Deputy City Attorney Chris Boynton. Former Norfolk Judge Charles Poston presided over a hearing Monday on a lawsuit brought by former Councilman Linwood Branch and several other residents who contend that the city illegally manipulated the Virginia Beach electoral system by eliminating three at-large seats that are expressly established under the City Charter, and deprived the rights of voters. On Friday, Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed a bill that would have aligned Virginia Beachs city charter with its district-based election system, citing the pending lawsuit. SB189 and matching HB416 would have amended the citys charter to establish a city council with only single-member districts and a mayor. Youngkin had previously amended the bill to say it shall not become effective unless reenacted by the 2025 Session of the General Assembly. The senate rejected the amended bill and sent it back to the governor, who then vetoed it in its original form. Youngkin said in his veto statement that he wants the court to adjudicate the correctness of the implementation, and that the bill could be reintroduced at next years General Assembly session. Following the governors veto, state Sen. Aaron Rouse, a Virginia Beach Democrat and the bill sponsor, said in a statement that the governor has proven to the people of Virginia Beach that he is beholden to special interests that seek to take us back to an old system that was not representative of our city. Last year, the City Council formally adopted a redistricting plan and authorized a ward-based election system, the same method used in November 2022. The council used to have four members, including the mayor, who were elected at large. Those four could live anywhere in the city and were elected by residents across Virginia Beach. The remaining seven members represented districts but also were elected by the population at large. Virginia Beachs election system was overhauled as a result of a lawsuit filed in 2017 that alleged the at-large system that allowed residents from across the city to vote in every council race was illegal and diluted minority voting power. A federal judge agreed in 2021, and the court imposed a district-based election system on Virginia Beach and appointed a special master to draw 10 new voting district maps. The so-called 10-1 system was used in the 2022 election and includes 10 districts. Representatives must live in their district and only residents who live in the district can vote for their representative. The mayor is elected at-large. The General Assembly also approved legislation in 2022 that required candidates for City Council and School Board appear only on the ballots for the voters who reside within the bounds of their district. The effects of the changes to the citys voter system were immediately evident. The council sworn into office in 2023 was the most diverse and possibly the youngest in city history with four Black representatives and four members under 45. But the City Charter doesnt yet align with the election system overhaul, and an amendment requires General Assembly approval. Brandan Goodwin, the plaintiffs attorney, argued Monday state law doesnt allow the city to take away the at-large seats defined in the charter. He had asked to halt an election using the 10-1 system in November, but the judge denied that request Monday. Boynton said the 10-1 system complies with the Virginia Voting Rights Act and was the citys only viable option. We had no other choice, Boynton said. There was one path; we took that path. Poston said he will review the citys defenses and decide if the plaintiffs case can prevail. Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com Claim: King Charles III descends from "Count Dracula," also known as Vlad the Impaler. Rating: Rating: True When King Charles III of England unveiled his new portrait in May 2024, he set the internet aflame with controversy. The red portrait received passionate, but mixed, reactions. Some internet users took the opportunity to share the claim that the monarch supposedly was related to Vlad the Impaler, also known as Prince Dracula (or "Count Dracula" in fictional tales), and had bragged about it in the past: King Charles proudly admitted that his bloodline goes all the way back to Vlad the Impaler, better known as Dracula. Vlad the Impalers bloodlust and cruelty was said to have inspired the most famous vampire of literature. Vlad watched as his men cut off victims limbs while he pic.twitter.com/yPDIVBFgne Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) May 14, 2024 Others made the same claim about Dracula. Several social media accounts claimed not to be surprised by the bold some said bloody choice for the style of the painting: (Jonathan Yeo) As a result, we delved into the genealogy of the House of Windsor, and we found this rumor to be true. Vlad the Impaler Vlad III known as Vlad the Impaler or Voivode (Prince) Vlad Dracula was born in Wallachia (modern Romania) some time between 1428 and 1431, and he died either in 1476 or 1477. He was the son of Prince Vlad II Dracul ("Dracula" means "son of Dracul," son of the dragon, as King Sigismund of Hungary had knighted and inducted Vlad the Elder into the Order of the Dragon). Dracula's childhood was difficult as the Ottoman Empire kidnapped him and his brother to guarantee his father's loyalty. When Hungary invaded Wallachia, his father and older brother died at the hands of Wallachian boyars (nobles). This prompted Dracula to return to Wallachia, the first of many campaigns to reconquer his father's voivodate (principality). Dracula would go on to fight and punish the boyars for their rebellion, but also the Ottomans, to whom his younger brother had remained loyal, and the Hungarians. Assailed from all directions, Vlad III chose unqualified violence and became famous for it. Besides poisoning wells and sending people infected with the plague among his enemies, he is most known for impaling anyone who stood against his authority which is how he earned the "Impaler" nickname. Once, to deter the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet, Dracula left a battlefield, but not without having all dead bodies skewered, turning the field into a "forest of the impaled" some 20,000 bodies held up on spears. The prince's cruelty became the topic of books and pamphlets in Germany, which helped create his legend. King Charles' Ancestor In a 2011 documentary about the Carpathian mountains, King Charles, who was then the Prince of Wales, boasted about his notorious ancestor. "The genealogy shows I am descended from Vlad the Impaler, so I do have a bit of a stake in the country," he punned to the presenter. Using genealogy websites and other documents, we were able to follow his ancestry and confirm that he descends from the cruel 15th-century ruler through his maternal great-grandmother, Mary of Teck, Queen Consort, wife of King George V: (Public Domain) Mary's father was a German Duke. It's from his branch of the family that we were able to trace her roots to the violent prince of Wallachia. We first found Mary's family tree on the website of a self-proclaimed "unabashed royal watcher" based in California. To confirm the blog's claims, we used the website Geni.com, which allows users amateurs and professionals alike to collaborate as they research and establish famous and less-prominent genealogies. Starting with the Geni page of Mary of Teck and following the ancestry through her father and his forebears, we were able to arrive to Vlad Dracula through the two separate ways indicated on the blog's family tree. The claim that this might explain the blood-red portrait, however, is beyond our ability to verify. Sources: Analie, Land of. 'The Bloody Ancestors of the British Royal Family'. The Land of Analie, 6 Nov. 2012, https://landofanalie.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/the-bloody-ancestors-of-the-british-royal-family/. ---. 'The Bloody Ancestors of the British Royal Family'. The Land of Analie, 6 Nov. 2012, https://landofanalie.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/the-bloody-ancestors-of-the-british-royal-family/. Article, Holly Black ShareShare This. 'New King Charles Portrait Sparks Backlash for "Blood-Red" Palette'. Artnet News, 15 May 2024, https://news.artnet.com/art-world/king-charles-portrait-2487305. Family Tree & Family History at Geni.Com. https://www.geni.com/family-tree/html/start. Accessed 16 May 2024. Marie, Abbagail. 'The Dracula Book You've Never Heard Of'. Medium, 19 Nov. 2022, https://medium.com/@abbagailmarie/the-dracula-book-youve-never-heard-of-b2d72e8a0eb8. 'Mary of Teck'. Geni_family_tree, 26 Apr. 2022, https://www.geni.com/people/Mary-of-Teck/6000000001324056123. Oliver, Amy. 'Romanian Tourist Board to Use Alleged Links between British Royalty and DRACULA to Boost UK Visitor Numbers'. Mail Online, 5 Nov. 2012, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2228040/Prince-Charles-heir-Draculas-blood-line-link-used-boost-tourism-Romania.html. Stilwell, Blake. 'The Insane Way Vlad the Impaler Turned Back an Enemy Army'. Military.Com, 23 Mar. 2022, https://www.military.com/off-duty/2020/02/26/insane-way-vlad-impaler-turned-back-enemy-army.html. Team Wild Carpathia. Wild Carpathia 1. 2020. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoO0qxlfYrQ. 'Vlad Dracula, V, Tepelus of Dracula'. Geni_family_tree, 21 May 2022, https://www.geni.com/people/Vlad-Dracula-V-Tepelus-of-Dracula/6000000010575432214. 'Where Does The Word "Dracula" Come From?' Dictionary.Com, 22 Oct. 2020, https://www.dictionary.com/e/dracula-fish/. Vlad the Impaler | Biography, Dracula, Death, & Facts | Britannica. 30 Apr. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vlad-the-Impaler. Claim: Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson requested shots of whiskey on his deathbed but was denied them. Rating: Rating: True Various social media platforms, including Reddit and X, have long circulated the claim that Bill Wilson, one of the co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), was denied shots of whiskey on his deathbed. One Reddit user posting on the Today I Learned subreddit back in 2013 alleged that "Bill Wilson, the well known co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, demanded whiskey in the last days of his life and became belligerent when he was denied": (Reddit) The allegation spread to Instagram in 2023, with the additional claim that he "took lsd." Historical accounts and credible sources corroborate the online claim that Wilson, who was a New York stockbroker prior to getting sober and co-launching AA, did ask for whiskey but was denied his requests on several occasions in the final days of his life. Commonly known as Bill W. (as part of AA's tradition of anonymity), Wilson co-founded the abstinence-based recovery fellowship alongside Dr. Bob Smith in 1935. Having struggled with alcoholism until 1934, Wilson maintained his sobriety until his death in 1971 from pneumonia and emphysema caused by his decades-long smoking habit. According to a profile of author Susan Cheever in the The Washington Post in 2004, she was given access to the archives of Wilson's historic home, Stepping Stones, while researching her biography "My Name is Bill: Bill Wilson." The nursing records kept by the medical attendants who looked after Wilson prior to his death hid among the artifacts. These logs recounted that Wilson did request whiskey on his deathbed, but the medical staff denied him, as The Washington Post reported: Cheever came to the pages covering Christmas 1970. On the eve of the holiday, Bill Wilson passed a fitful night. A lifelong smoker, he had been fighting emphysema for years, and now he was losing the battle. Nurse James Dannenberg was on duty in the last hour before dawn. At 6:10 a.m. on Christmas morning, according to Dannenberg's notes, the man who sobered up millions "asked for three shots of whiskey." He was quite upset when he didn't get them, Cheever writes. Wilson asked for booze again about a week later, on Jan. 2, 1971. And on Jan. 8. And on Jan. 14. Cheever addressed this in her biography on Wilson, writing on page 249 that in his final days he asked Dannenberg for whiskey but "instead of complying, Dannenberg sat down and asked Bill if he wanted to talk." In another passage, Cheever noted that according to Dannenberg's log, "Wilson was quite upset when he couldn't have what he asked for" as there was "no whiskey at Stepping Stones," adding that "a few days later [Wilson] became belligerent and tried to punch the nurse." Cheever noted in her biography: By the fourteenth of January, Bill Wilson, a man who hadn't had a drink in almost thirty-seven years, a man who had discovered what is still the only successful way to treat alcoholism, was asking for whiskey again. He was an alcoholic. Alcoholics drink, they love to drink, and for a long time drinking works for them. Some discover, as Bill had, that it is almost impossible for them to stop drinking. Many never stopped wanting to drink. It's a measure of the power of alcohol that even in his last days alive, Bill Wilson still wanted a whiskey. Journalist Don Lattin also touched on this incident in his 2012 book "Distilled Spirits": Two male nurses cared for him at his home. On Christmas Day, one of the nurses noted in his log that Wilson "asked for three shots of whiskey" and became belligerent when told there was no liquor in the house. He continued to make this demand over the final couple of weeks of his life a testament to the enduring power of alcohol. Moreover, the recovery community has widely discussed the story of Wilson's deathbed request for whiskey, with posts on forums such as SoberRecovery.com and Medium's Illumination reflecting individuals' discussions about Wilson's final days and the significance of his request. Despite maintaining his sobriety for 36 years, we should note that Wilson experimented with LSD in his recovery. In 2012, The Guardian reported on his experiences with the potent psychedelic LSD, citing letters and documents that Lattin obtained for "Distilled Spirits." Beginning in the 1950s, about 20 years after getting sober and establishing AA, Wilson explored the idea that LSD could aid "cynical alcoholics" in finding spiritual enlightenment and overcoming addiction. He initially considered the substance as a means for individuals to understand the hallucinations induced by alcoholism, possibly motivating them to change their behavior. However, after his first LSD experience in 1956, Wilson shifted perspective, believing that LSD-induced insights could align with the spiritual principles of the Twelve Steps program. Although some within the recovery community acknowledged the potential spiritual benefits of LSD, many AA members opposed Wilson's experiments, leading to his eventual withdrawal from the AA governing body to pursue his psychedelics research freely. In sum, evidence presented from credible historical accounts and various books written about him supports the claim that despite his lifelong struggle with alcoholism, Wilson did indeed request whiskey several times on his deathbed, but was ultimately denied it. (While it's well-documented that he believed LSD had potential in treating alcoholism and achieving spiritual awakening, historical records do not indicate that he was high on psychedelics leading up to his death.) Snopes has previously written about alcohol and addiction, including how the federal government poisoned alcohol to curb consumption during Prohibition, and a false claim that booze is illegal in the U.S. unless it's radioactive. Sources: Cheever, Susan. "BILL W. : The Healer." Time, 14 June 1999. content.time.com, https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,991266-1,00.html. ---. My Name Is Bill: Bill WilsonHis Life and the Creation of Alcoholics Anonymous. Simon and Schuster, 2015. ---. My Name Is Bill: Bill WilsonHis Life and the Creation of Alcoholics Anonymous. Simon and Schuster, 2015. "Did Bill W Ask for a Drink on His Death Bed?" SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information, https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/newcomers-recovery/267301-did-bill-w-ask-drink-his-death-bed.html. Accessed 16 May 2024. Hill, Amelia. "LSD Could Help Alcoholics Stop Drinking, AA Founder Believed." The Guardian, 23 Aug. 2012. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/aug/23/lsd-help-alcoholics-theory. Kurtz, E. Drugs and the Spiritual: Bill W. Takes LSD. Chestnut.org, 1989, https://www.chestnut.org/resources/82882699-767e-4891-8309-e26fe18a6848/1989-percent-20Bill-percent-20W-percent-20takes-percent-20LSD.pdf. Lattin, Don. Distilled Spirits: Getting High, Then Sober, with a Famous Writer, a Forgotten Philosopher, and a Hopeless Drunk. 2012. "My Name Is Bill: Bill Wilson--His Life and the Creation." Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213610.My_Name_Is_Bill. Accessed 16 May 2024. "One Page At a Time." Washington Post, 29 Jan. 2024. www.washingtonpost.com, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2004/05/03/one-page-at-a-time/a44af9b9-a922-4c35-bfc1-a9d9fd1674f4/. Power, Liberty and. "No Friends of Bill W." History News Network, 9 May 2004, https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/blog/5088. Ralston, Bullseye with Matt. "The Founder of AA Asks for a Drink in His Dying Moments." Bullseye by Matt Ralston, 17 Mar. 2022, https://bullseye.substack.com/p/the-founder-of-aa-asks-for-a-drink. Stevens, John W. "Bill W. of Alcoholics Anonymous Dies." The New York Times, 26 Jan. 1971. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/1971/01/26/archives/bill-w-of-alcoholics-anonymous-dies-bill-w-oi-alcoholics-anonymous.html. Susan Cheever -. https://www.susancheever.com/my_name_is_bill__bill_wilson__his_life_and_the_creation_of_alcoholics_anonymous_87508.htm. Accessed 16 May 2024. The Start and Growth of A.A. | Alcoholics Anonymous. https://www.aa.org/the-start-and-growth-of-aa. Accessed 16 May 2024. Urbano, Rodolfo. "Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Almost Screwed Up on His Deathbed." ILLUMINATION, 22 Nov. 2022, https://medium.com/illumination/founder-of-alcoholics-anonymous-aa-almost-screwed-up-on-his-deathbed-e0388b8ef173. https://www.cato.org/commentary/bill-wilson-drug-war#:~:text=In%20Drehle's%20article%2C%20we%20learn,He%20was%20never%20given%20one. Accessed 16 May 2024. Claim: Peru classified transgender people as "mentally ill." Rating: Rating: True In May 2024, rumors spread that Peru had just passed a law that classified transgender and nonbinary people as "mentally ill": This post on Reddit had gained 29,000 votes as of this writing, as well as 2,600 comments. The claim also spread on X, with users expressing outrage and support. Looking closely at those claims, we found them to be true. On May 16, 2024, Peru's government sparked a backlash when its president, Dina Boluarte, ratified Supreme Decree 009-2024, which purported to expand access to mental health services for "transsexual" Peruvians. Standing for LGBTQ+ rights, several organizations and individuals accused Boluarte and her government of "pathologizing" trans people, however. Peru's authorities defended the decree, arguing that it was merely following a classification established by the World Health Organization (WHO) known as the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). They said they did so to allow for better health insurance coverage of mental health conditions related to gender identity, "fetishistic transvestism" and "egodystonic sexual orientation" (which means unhappiness with one's gender identity or sexual orientation paired with the desire to change it). Decree 009-2024 lists by name the following "disorders," pulled from the ICD: F64.0 Transexualism F64.1 Dual-role transvestism F64.2 Gender identity disorder of childhood F64.8 Other gender identity disorders F64.9 Gender identity disorder, unspecified F65.1 Fetishistic transvestism F66.1 Egodystonic sexual orientation However, the decree followed the classification used in the 10th revision of the ICD, which the WHO stopped using in 2022, rendering it obsolete. The difference in language between ICD-10 and ICD-11 is striking. For example, focusing on children who do not conform to the gender they were assigned at birth, ICD-10 read: F64.2 Gender identity disorder of childhood A disorder, usually first manifest during early childhood (and always well before puberty), characterized by a persistent and intense distress about assigned sex, together with a desire to be (or insistence that one is) of the other sex. There is a persistent preoccupation with the dress and activities of the opposite sex and repudiation of the individual's own sex. The diagnosis requires a profound disturbance of the normal gender identity; mere tomboyishness in girls or girlish behaviour in boys is not sufficient. Gender identity disorders in individuals who have reached or are entering puberty should not be classified here but in F66.-. ICD-11 considerably adjusted its approach. For starters, it nixed the term "disorder" and replaced it with "incongruence": HA61 Gender incongruence of childhood Gender incongruence of childhood is characterised by a marked incongruence between an individual's experienced/expressed gender and the assigned sex in pre-pubertal children. It includes a strong desire to be a different gender than the assigned sex; a strong dislike on the child's part of his or her sexual anatomy or anticipated secondary sex characteristics and/or a strong desire for the primary and/or anticipated secondary sex characteristics that match the experienced gender; and make-believe or fantasy play, toys, games, or activities and playmates that are typical of the experienced gender rather than the assigned sex. The incongruence must have persisted for about 2 years. Gender variant behaviour and preferences alone are not a basis for assigning the diagnosis. Organizations like Human Rights Watch warned that the Peruvian government's use of ICD-10 could make conversion therapy appear legitimate when the practices can be akin to torture and should be banned, according to a United Nations report. In response, government spokesman Carlos Alvarado told Agence France-Presse that "transexualism" is "not a mental health problem and we agree with that, to the point where various documents at the ministry that specify this." He added that while the only goal of the decree was to expand the number of conditions for which people should have access to care, "the idea is to make the transition to ICD-11 as soon as possible." He also said that changing the current classifications would once again restrict coverage of essential mental health care. Given that Peru does not allow same-sex marriage or even same-sex civil unions, and that it does not let its trans citizens change their gender identity on official identification documents, LGBTQ+ rights organizations expressed concern that this latest move would only set back progress for these groups in the country even more. Sources: 'Controversia en Peru por un decreto que describe la transexualidad como trastorno mental'. LA NACION, 17 May 2024, https://www.lanacion.com.ar/el-mundo/controversia-en-peru-por-un-decreto-que-describe-la-transexualidad-como-trastorno-mental-nid17052024/. Decreto Supremo que modifica el Decreto Supremo N 023-2021-SA, que aprueba la actualizacion del Plan Esencial de Aseguramiento en Salud - PEAS - DECRETO SUPREMO - N 009-2024-SA - SALUD. http://busquedas.elperuano.pe/dispositivo/NL/2287398-1. Accessed 17 May 2024. ICD-10 Version:2019. https://icd.who.int/browse10/2019/en. Accessed 17 May 2024. ICD-11. https://icd.who.int/en. Accessed 17 May 2024. Peru opta por la intolerancia en los servicios medicos | Human Rights Watch. 15 May 2024, https://www.hrw.org/es/news/2024/05/15/peru-opta-por-la-intolerancia-en-los-servicios-medicos. "Practices of So-Called "Conversion Therapy". Report of the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, A/HRC/44/53, 1 May 2020, https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/g20/108/68/pdf/g2010868.pdf?token=eFvh07FwFG3kuqes9k&fe=true. Fact Check: This Is Supposedly a Real Pic of Trump Serving in the Military. We Looked Into It Claim: An image shared in May 2024 authentically showed former U.S. President Donald Trump serving in the military. Rating: Rating: Fake In May 2024, a photograph was spread on social media, allegedly depicting former U.S. President Donald Trump while serving in the Army. "We as a nation are blessed to have such bravery, leadership, and a soldiers love of country to help Make America Great Again," one X post with the photograph read. The same photograph was also circulated online back in December 2023. "So grateful for Donald Trump who has led our troops to victories in every major war since our Nation's birth," one 2023 post on X captioned the viral image. Stollen valor, stollen lives, stollen documents and lies, lies, lies. America deserves better than this failure of a human as our POTUS. pic.twitter.com/isRAXOnl9D Paul Muad'Dib "Worm Boss" (@Paul_Is_Muadib) December 18, 2023 Some social media users suggested the photograph was generated using Artificial Intelligence (AI) software, while others claimed it was an example of "stolen valor." We used Google reverse-image search to investigate the photograph's origins. We found that the image was first shared online on July 5, 2023: President Trump is relentless in pursuit of our freedom. pic.twitter.com/HjJCc1fyPP Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) July 5, 2023 "So who is behind this Twitter account?" a post shared on July 6, 2023, asked, with three other clearly absurd images allegedly showing Trump in different eras of U.S. history. So who is behind this Twitter account? pic.twitter.com/mgeYNII4A8 Marina Medvin ?? (@MarinaMedvin) July 6, 2023 A screenshot of the X post with the image in-question was also shared on Reddit with a caption that read, "Ah yes, let's portray the man who was able to get out of the draft for Vietnam because of bone spurs, as a leader in 'freedom' and serving." Importantly, as Snopes reported back in 2016, Trump has never served in the military, as four times he received college draft deferments: 1964: Donald Trump became eligible for the draft on his 18th birthday (14 June 1964) and registered with the Selective Service System 10 days later. He received the first of four 2-S (college) deferments on 28 July 1964. 1965: Trump received his second college deferment on 14 December 1965. 1966: Trump's previous deferment expired and he was reclassified 1-A (available for military service) on 22 November 1966. His 2-S deferment was renewed on 13 December. 1967: No record. 1968: Trump received his fourth and final college deferment on 16 January 1968. After graduating from Wharton, he was reclassified 1-A on 9 July 1968. Trump underwent an Armed Forces physical examination (with a result listed only as "DISQ") on 19 September 1968 and was reclassified 1-Y (qualified for service only in time of war or national emergency) on 15 October 1968. Trump's fifth draft deferment, Snopes reported, was related to "bone spurs in both heels." According to a statement from the Trump campaign, the 1-Y classification stemmed from Trump's having bone spurs in both heels. [...] The details of that medical exemption remain unclear and controversial, and most draft-related government medical records from the Vietnam era were not preserved. 1972: Despite the supposedly "short-term" nature of Trump's disqualifying physical condition, on 17 February 1972 he was reclassified 4-F (not qualified for military service), presumably due to the abolishment of the 1-Y classification the previous year. The New York Times also published an article in 2016 saying as much, with the title, "Donald Trump's Draft Deferments: Four for College, One for Bad Feet." To confirm that the in-question photograph was fake, we used tools designed to detect AI-generated footage. AI or Not tool rated the photo as "likely AI," and Illuminarty tool indicated that the image's "AI Probability" equaled 97.2%. Finally, no reputable sources have ever shared the image allegedly showing Trump serving in the military. Because Trump did not serve in the military and the photograph had signs of being artificially created, we have rated the claim as "Fake." In September 2023, we investigated a similar image allegedly showing Trump dressed as a firefighter, as one of the first responders on the scene of the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York City. (X user @Trump_History45) If you don't want to be deceived by AI-generated images and videos in the future, read our tips here. Sources: Eder, Steve, and Dave Philipps. "Donald Trump's Draft Deferments: Four for College, One for Bad Feet." The New York Times, 2 Aug. 2016. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/us/politics/donald-trump-draft-record.html. Emery, David. "Donald Trump's Draft Deferments." Snopes, 2 Aug. 2016, https://www.snopes.com/news/2016/08/02/donald-trumps-draft-deferments/. Wrona, Aleksandra. "Viral Pic Captures Trump's 'Heroic Efforts' on 9/11?" Snopes, 11 Sept. 2023, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-wtc-photo/. "Interpretation: Commander in Chief Clause | Constitution Center." National Constitution Center Constitutioncenter.Org, https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/articles/article-ii/clauses/345. Accessed 26 Dec. 2023. NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India's capital, Delhi, has recorded its first heat-related death this year, media reported on Thursday, as India's northwest swelters in record high temperatures. The heat-related fatality was a 40-year-old labourer who died of heatstroke on Wednesday, The Indian Express newspaper reported. RECORD DELHI HEAT, READINGS UNDER REVIEW The temperature in Delhi reached a record high of 52.9 degrees Celsius (127.22F) in the Mungeshpur neighbourhood on Wednesday, while parts of northwest and central India have been experiencing heat wave to severe heat wave conditions for weeks. The reading for Mungeshpur may be revised however, as maximum temperatures in other parts of the city ranged from 45.2C to 49.1C. Delhi's lieutenant governor on Wednesday asked the government to ensure measures were taken to protect labourers by providing water and shaded areas at construction sites and granting them paid leave from noon to 3 p.m. WHY IS INDIA IS SEEING MORE HEAT WAVES? The India Meteorological Department has said a confluence of weather patterns has driven up temperatures. Summer temperatures often peak during May in India, but the IMD predicted 7-10 heat wave days in northwestern regions this month, compared with the usual 2-3 days. This was largely due to fewer non-monsoon thundershowers and an active but weakening El Nino, a climate pattern that typically leads to hot and dry weather in Asia and heavier rains in parts of the Americas, the IMD has said. Warm, westerly winds blowing in from Pakistan also contributed to the heat. Other parts of India have already seen summer temperatures climbing to record peaks, including eastern and southern India, where temperatures in April were among the highest on record. EXTREME HEAT A heat wave alert has been in place for large parts of India since last week. The IMD threshold for a heat wave is when the maximum temperature reaches 40C in the plains, 30C in hilly areas, 37C in coastal areas and when the departure from the normal maximum temperatures is at least 4.5 degrees. Rajasthan state has also been reeling under scorching heat, with mercury touching 50C in some districts. Government data shows four people have died since March with 451 cases of heat stroke reported on Wednesday itself. Asia has sweltered in a hotter summer this year - a trend scientists say has been worsened by human-driven climate change. NEAR TERM RELIEF Heat wave conditions will reduce over the next two to three days due to a gradual fall in temperature along with rainfall and southwesterly winds blowing from the Arabian Sea to northwest India, the IMD said on Wednesday. Late on Wednesday, some parts of Delhi received a spot of light rain. (Reporting by Chris Thomas in New DelhiEditing by Bernadette Baum and Gerry Doyle) (Reuters) - Russia has brought a string of treason cases against scientists researching super-high flight speeds, an area that underpins its development of hypersonic missiles. In the latest, physicist Anatoly Maslov was sentenced to 14 years on Tuesday. President Vladimir Putin has boasted of Russia's prowess in hypersonic missiles and Moscow has acknowledged using them in the Ukraine war. Here is a summary of the cases it has launched against scientists working in this sensitive field. ANATOLY MASLOV, ALEXANDER SHIPLYUK AND VALERY ZVEGINTSEV All three were top scientists at the Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ITAM) in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk. Maslov and Shiplyuk were arrested in 2022, and Zvegintsev the following year. In a rare open letter a year ago, colleagues said the three men were innocent and the cases against them were damaging Russian science. Details of the charges are secret, but two people familiar with Shiplyuk's case have told Reuters he is accused of betraying secrets to China by handing over classified material at a conference there in 2017. VLADISLAV GALKIN Galkin worked at another Siberian university and had co-authored papers with Zvegintsev and Shiplyuk. His arrest was reported in December 2023 but BBC Russian said he was actually detained in April of that year. It quoted his wife as saying she had told their grandchildren he was on a business trip. ALEXANDER KURANOV Kuranov was handed a seven-year jail sentence for treason last month, after being accused of passing state secrets to foreign nationals. Maslov's lawyer, without naming Kuranov, said the case against Maslov had been based on testimony against him from another person who got a seven-year term. At the time of his arrest in 2021, Kuranov was the general director of the St Petersburg-based Hypersonic Systems Research Facility, where he oversaw work on a new version of a Soviet-era hypersonic aircraft dubbed Ayaks. ANATOLY GUBANOV AND VALERY GOLUBKIN Both worked at TsAGI, the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute based in Zhukovsky, near Moscow, where Gubanov was Golubkin's boss. Gubanov, arrested in December 2020, had been working on an international project called HEXAFLY-INT to develop a hypersonic civil aircraft powered by hydrogen fuel. In October 2023 he was found guilty of handing over state secrets and sentenced to 12 years. Golubkin, arrested in April 2021, was jailed for 12 years in June 2023 after being found guilty of passing secrets to a NATO member state. However, the verdict was annulled last month and a new trial ordered. VIKTOR KUDRYAVTSEV, ROMAN KOVALYOV AND VLADIMIR LAPYGIN All three worked at TsNIIMash, a rocket and spacecraft centre near Moscow which is a scientific subsidiary of space agency Roscosmos. Kudryavtsev was arrested on a treason charge in 2018, suspected of transferring secret information to a Belgian institute. He died of lung cancer in 2021, before the case came to trial. Kovalyov, who worked with Kudryavtsev at TsNIIMash, was sentenced to seven years for treason in June 2020. He died of cancer in 2022. Lapygin was convicted of treason in 2016 and sentenced to seven years, but was freed early in 2020. (Reporting by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Tomasz Janowski) FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (DC News Now) Police said they were investigating a deadly shooting Tuesday morning. The Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) said the shooting happened in the 6200 block of Richmond Hwy. in Fair Haven at around 6 a.m. Stafford County Sheriffs Office looking for man who broke into store, stole beers When officers arrived, they found a man who was shot. He died there. FCPD said it was looking for a dark colored Ford SUV that had Virginia tags. The police deprtment asked anyone with information to call 911. 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 DC News Now | Washington, DC. FAIRMONT, WV (WVNS) Fairmont State University partnered with two other organizations to bring a new opportunity to West Virginia teens in foster care. Concord University Upward Bound students visit the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine The university, along with KVC West Virginia and the West Virginia Department of Education, will be offering the Middle College Program for teens 16 and older in foster care. The program allows them to earn a high school degree as well as a two-year associates degree. Brent Lemon, President of KVC West Virginia, said the opportunity will mean a lot to these kids. It will be a benefit to them entering the job market when they turn 18 and finish this program. Its a two year program and its 24-7, 365 days of the year. They can stay there, live therethis will be their home, said Lemon. The program is a no-cost program and foster students will stay on campus at Fairmont State University. The application deadline for the inaugural Middle College class is June 14, 2024. 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 WVNS. FALL RIVER As the state Legislature works to pass a new $58 billion fiscal year budget, state lawmakers, as they do every year, have put in earmarks for pet projects both in the public and private arenas. The Boston Globe took a deep dive into those earmarks brought by state representatives and senators. Heres a look at what some of the local leaders submitted to bring home the bacon to the Fall River area, according to The Globes database it created. State Sen. Michael Rodrigues has earmarked a little more than $1 million that will benefit the communities in his district of Fall River, Freetown, Lakeville and Bristol County. Battleship Cove gets earmark Rodrigues' earmarks include the Fall River Emergency Medical Services receiving $300,000, Freetowns Crystal Springs School will benefit from $250,000, Battleship Cove will get $250,000 and the Veterans Association of Bristol County will get an earmark of $150,000. The destroyer Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. sits in Battleship Cove alongside the submarine Lionfish and Battleship Massachusetts. State Rep. Carole Fiola has the biggest batch of earmarks by local leaders at $1.9 million, with $1.66 million going to the nonprofit Action for Boston Community Development. Fiola, who has regularly championed family health care, said she co-sponsored the request with a Boston representative. The appropriation will not be coming to the SouthCoast, however. Because it has the family planning language, said Fiola, who once worked a summer internship as a teenager at Reproductive Health Services at Citizens for Citizens' Family Planning. Animal shelter and new explosive detection vehicle get earmarks Fiola said she has several earmarks that will assist local community agencies, like $60,000 to the animal rescue organization, Forever Paws, which she called a no brainer. What I do over the course of the year is to keep my ears open as Im all over the district. What are things, but for a budget, that people could really use, said Fiola. State Rep. Carole Fiola has earmarked $60,000 in the state budget for Forever Paws Animal Shelter. Seen in this 2021 Herald News file photo are Board of Directors Chairwoman Gail Furtado and shelter Director Arianna Silva. What to know Fall River water and sewer rates rising significantly in 2025 budget. Here's how much. The Fall River Fire Department has $50,000 that will be used to upgrade its radio transmission equipment; $40,000 for youth programs; $30,000 to the volunteer organization, Angels Anonymous organization, which among its services organizes a monthly food pantry and clean-up drives around Fall River. Fiola has also earmarked $75,000 for the Fall River Police Department to purchase a K9 explosive detection vehicle. State Rep. Patricia Haddad earmarked $600,000 to assist her district. Both Somerset and Swansea will each receive $200,000 for water and sewer infrastructure upgrades. The Friends of Jack Foundation, which provides services to children facing health issues, will receive $100,000 State Rep. Steven Howitt, submitted $120,000 in earmarks, with $100,000 going to Swansea to upgrade and repair the crossing at Sharps Lot Road and Lewin Brook. State Rep. Paul Schmid, who is serving his last term this year and is a farmer from Westport, earmarked $150,000 for University of Massachusetts Amherst's Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment. Hes also earmarked $50,000 for Westport schools. With $125,000 in earmarks, State Rep. Alan Silvia has set aside $75,000 that will go toward Fall Rivers six senior centers. This article originally appeared on The Herald News: State local lawmakers bringing home the bacon in earmarks (FOX40.COM) One person was transported to a Northern California hospital on Sunday after falling from a horse in Nevada County, according to the CAL FIRE Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit. Crews from Smartsville and Penn Valley Fire were called to the remote area of southwest Nevada County for reports of a medical rescue. Northern California deputies search for mountain lion after second sighting When first responders located the rider, crews found the rider had significant injuries from the fall and determined them to be non-ambulatory. After providing the fallen rider with medical care, the fire crews carried out the patient with a stokes wheel gurney to a waiting ambulance. 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. A fallen NYPD detective gets the heros funeral he deserved 100 years later A fallen NYPD detective gets the heros funeral he deserved 100 years later GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY, Brooklyn (PIX11) He was a detective killed in the line of duty, but he was never given a proper burial. That changed on Monday morning, with a high honors funeral in Brooklyn for Detective Sgt. Bernardino Grottano, 100 years after he lost his life. The funeral, and the process of planning it, also transformed some strangers into family quite literally. Grottanos long-delayed funeral united relatives in the police force who would have been otherwise unknown to each other. Inside the cemetery, under a blue sky, there were rows of blue uniforms, including some with top brass. There were also relatives of Grottano from as far away as Michigan, as well as an honor guard, highly-decorated veteran officers, and even canine officers. They all come together to pay tribute to a fallen hero. NYPD officers rescue ducklings trapped in the sewer He got involved, said Paul DiGiacomo, the president of the detectives union, in a eulogy, to help another police officer. The Detectives Endowment Association president was referring to the fact that Grottano seized a robbery suspect who was fleeing from an officer in Brooklyn on May 19, 1924. When Grottano grabbed the man, the man shot him. The detective died days later and was buried in a mass grave inside Green-Wood. All that marked his final resting place was a small, numbered stone marker. It was an unmarked grave, said William Markowski, the fiance of Detective Grottanos great-niece Phyllis Kropacek. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now PIX11 News Headlines Markowski said that hed searched Ancestry.com and other genealogical aids online to find the detectives final resting place, as well as details about Grottanos biography, and more. We honor him finally, said Markowski, and now we open the door to all these new relatives and stuff, that never knew each other. He was referring to a sight in the front row at the graveside funeral service. There, two police officers one with Grottanos last name, the other with a grandmother whose maiden name was Grottano sat side by side. Its just crazy, one of them, Officer Robert Desena, said, in an interview after the ceremony. If you think about a hundred years ago, and to now be wearing the same uniform as well as his new-found cousin, he said, was remarkable. That cousin is Officer Dylan Grottano, a two-year NYPD veteran. It was through online messages among relatives leading up to Mondays burial that the two officers found each other. Desena, a six-year veteran in the evidence collection unit, and Grottano, a patrol officer in the 66th Precinct, met at their great-great uncles funeral service. If it wasnt for this, said Officer Grottano, I wouldnt know I had another family member on the job, as well. We couldve walked right by each other, he continued, and never have known. Kropacek, the great-niece of Detective Grottano, said that the officers reunion, as well as the full tribute and new headstone for her loved one, turned a somber occasion into one that was more sweet than bitter. Overall, theres mixed feeling, she said. But Im happy about the celebration. The day finally came, she continued. A happy day. 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 PIX11. The family of Alexander McClay Williams, a Black teen wrongfully executed by Pennsylvania in 1931 for murder, has filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified punitive damages nearly a century later. As reported by NBC Philadelphia on Monday (May 20), the 16-year-old, who remains the youngest person to be put to death by the state, was posthumously pardoned in 2022 when his conviction was vacated and a new trial was ordered. However, rather than retrying his case, the charges against him were formally dismissed. His criminal record was also expunged in 2017. Trending Williams' family has consistently maintained his innocence during and after his execution. Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer acknowledged that Williams should never have been charged, highlighting the need to publicly recognize and correct past injustices. Sadly, we cannot undo the past. We cannot rewrite history to erase the egregious wrongs of our forebearers, he stated after dismissing the case in 2022. However, when, as here, justice can be served by publicly acknowledging such a wrong, we must seize that opportunity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWoTa3eYLT8 Williams was convicted of the murder of 34-year-old Vida Robare, a white house matron at the Glen Mills School for Boys, who was found stabbed 47 times in her cottage on Oct. 3, 1930. Despite the lack of witnesses and Williams' absence from the crime scene, a conviction was secured based on coerced confessions from the teen. The lawsuit argued that prosecutors ignored critical evidence, including Robare's pending divorce from her husband, who discovered her body and had an alleged history of extreme cruelty toward her. Williams' execution took place on June 8, 1931. Decades later, Sam Lemon, the great-grandson of Williams trial attorney, uncovered evidence indicating that the case against Williams was fabricated. This new evidence led the Court of Common Pleas for Delaware County to vacate the conviction and order a new trial in 2022. It was after the court's decision that Stollsteimer dismissed the case, further supporting the claim of Williams' wrongful execution. You Might Also Like MEMPHIS, Tenn. Two families have complained that workers at a South Memphis Cemetery moved the remains of their loved ones. The allegations were made against New Park Cemetery on Horn Lake Road, although the cemeterys owner denies this happened. Im devastated. I dont have words because we tried to put our loved ones to rest and we think weve done the right thing and now I feel bad that I brought her out here, said Donna Spurlock Payne, daughter of the deceased buried at New Park Cemetery. Graceland set for foreclosure auction; Elvis heir claims fraud, fights sale Payne claims that workers at the cemetery moved her mother, Canary Hardin who was buried on March 29, remains. My mothers not there, she should have been here. Not way up there, because I know the distance that we had to walk and we didnt have to walk way out here, Payne said. New Park owner and president, Jeff Roberts, tells WREG he met the family of Canary Hardin on what he described as a new and active part of the cemetery, assuring them their mother has not been moved and promised to put sod on the gravesite. Within a few feet of Canary Hardins grave marker is that of Kentavion Dancy, who was buried on June 11, 2023. Sign up for WREG newsletters and have the latest top stories sent right to your inbox. See more breaking news, local news and weather from WREG.com for Memphis and the Mid-South. Him and his girlfriend were heinously murdered in the streets of Memphis, ten months ago, said Alana Copeland, grandmother of the deceased buried at New Park Cemetery. Copeland also claims her grandsons remains had been moved because she found that his gravestone had been re-arraigned. Now, I paid all my money and our family did to put our child in a safe spot and hes not there and theyre telling us he is and were wrong, Copeland said. Roberts says the gravestone was accidentally moved 18 inches sideways by grounds crews but says Dancys remains have not been moved. The Copeland family has yet to even notify our office and has apparently only talked to News Channel 3. Although she failed to properly register the headstone in question, we have properly aligned it to ensure it is in the correct location, Roberts said. The President, Jeff Roberts, of New Park Cemetery also issued the following statement, New Park Cemetery is saddened that two families mistakenly believe that their loved ones have been moved. We keep meticulous records as do all cemeteries, and are confident in their accuracy. The overwhelming majority of our families are pleased with our service and we hope to find a way to please these two families. 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 WREG.com. LAFAYETTE, Ind. Fionna McCoy threatened to sue Tippecanoe schools over allegations that Wea Ridge Elementary School failed to follow protocols after her child was injured at school. McCoy partnered with United as One, an advocacy group out of South Bend, Indiana, in hopes of having her concerns heard by the Tippecanoe School Corp. At a press event Monday morning outside of Wea Ridge Elementary, McCoy claimed her son was stabbed at school with a pencil in the arm by another student on May 15. Her son's teacher did not report the stabbing to school administrators and failed to contact McCoy about the incident after her child informed the teacher, McCoy said. Sue Scott, TSC director of communication, said Principal Tami Jacobs met with McCoy in person on Thursday the day after the stabbing, and Assistant Principal Joshua Frauhiger had a follow-up call with McCoy on Thursday. A photo of Wea Ridge Elementary School, on Monday, May 20, 2024, in Lafayette, Ind. McCoy learned her son had been stabbed when he returned home from school at 4 p.m., at which point she took him to urgent care to be checked. Jacobs sent a letter to Wea Ridge families on Monday afternoon. "I wanted to touch base with you after allegations were made regarding a student incident last week," Jacobs wrote. "A group called United as One has made a social media post and talked to local news media misrepresenting the facts. "The misinformation and allegations being made about what happened at our school are very disturbing and I wish I could share more information with you," Jacobs wrote. "As a school, we are restricted by federal privacy laws and cannot share details because she has threatened a lawsuit. "Please know that the TSC takes all matters of student safety and well-being seriously." McCoy, her family, and Vernado Malone, the activist from the United as One, believe school protocols were not followed because of her son's skin color. Scott said, The TSC takes all matters of student safety and well-being seriously. "Its unfortunate that this group is misrepresenting the facts about what occurred at Wea Ridge Elementary School. Because the group has threatened to file a lawsuit against the school, we are unable to provide additional information about this incident, Scott wrote. Correspondence shared with the Journal & Courier indicates McCoy emailed the teacher after the incident. The teacher replied to her email the following day, explaining that although they had been informed about the incident, they did not send the student to the nurses office because the child didnt seem bothered by the injury. The teacher then explained that they had informed the office about the incident and that the school administration would follow up with McCoy. McCoy claimed that she made several attempts to contact school administrators but was not able to get ahold of anyone until Monday morning after she and the United as One held an event on the sidewalk in front of the school. Before McCoy's news conference Monday morning, the Journal and Courier checked with the Tippecanoe County Sheriffs Office, asking if McCoy had filed a police report. As of 10:15 a.m. Monday, no report had been filed. When the Journal & Courier arrived at the school Monday morning, the Wea Ridge Elementary School resource office was taking a police report of the incident from McCoy. (This) would have been avoided," McCoy said. "I would not have went through none of this if they would have got in contact with me the first day, McCoy said. McCoy and United as One called upon the school district to put the teacher on administrative leave and investigate the pencil stabbing, including why it was not reported to the administrators or McCoy. This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Mother threatens to sue after her son is stabbed with pencil at school The engineering sign in front of the connector between the A and B buildings at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering in Tallahassee, Florida. Florida A&M University is taking steps to add new graduate degrees in aerospace engineering, which are expected to be offered in fall 2025. FAMU trustees met during a virtual Academic and Student Affairs Committee meeting Monday and approved both a masters degree and a Ph.D. program in aerospace engineering through the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. The joint college between Florida State University and FAMU, located in Innovation Park, is the only shared school of engineering in the nation. Currently, the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering has an Aerodynamics Certificate offering for students through its online graduate certificate program that consists of four courses. But the future graduate degree programs are expected to leverage the joint engineering schools existing faculty and resources while also supporting the Florida Board of Governors' goal of increasing degree offerings in the STEM field (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), according to the university. With these particular masters and Ph.D. programs, students are able to get their degree while being more qualified to get jobs in the aerospace engineering sector versus having a degree in mechanical engineering and only having done some aerospace work, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering Dean Suvranu De said during the meeting. That is the intent of this whole initiative to recognize students who are already working in aerospace engineering with our faculty and Innovation Park. Suvranu De Ph.D., Dean of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering in Tallahassee, Florida. Plans to add the new degree programs through the FSU-FAMU College of Engineering come after the universities recently requested a $13 million operating budget increase during the 2024 legislative session for the goal of becoming one of the top 50 engineering colleges in the nation within the next five years an achievement that would also make it the first HBCU engineering college to achieve the distinction. Although the operating budget increase request was rejected, the 2024 legislative budget included $21.2 million for the engineering school. The curricula for the future aerospace engineering programs will include topics such as fluid dynamics, gas dynamics, fluid-structure interactions and flow control. While the master's program will focus on experiential learning and industry collaboration, the doctoral program will foster research excellence within the aerospace engineering discipline and industry, according to a FAMU report. In addition, the master's program will have a 30-credit requirement and the doctoral degree will require 48 credits for those with a master's degree but 60 credits for those entering with a bachelor's degree. The tuition rate will be about $405 per credit hour for Florida resident students and $1,022 per credit hour for nonresident students. Last year, a Ph.D. in material sciences and engineering started being offered through the joint school, preparing graduates for occupations such as materials engineers or scientists, architectural managers, engineering managers and postsecondary faculty. More: FSU, FAMU to add doctoral degrees in 'hot,' in-demand fields beginning fall 2023 With the aerospace engineering programs, students will be prepared for careers in areas such as aerospace and defense, space missions, manufacturing, spacecraft operations and architectural designers. The universitys projected enrollment goal is to have 25 students in both programs combined during its first year of being implemented before growing to an expected 75 students in the programs by year five. FAMU's Board of Trustees Chair Kristin Harper and trustee Nicole Washington who also serves as chair of the Academic and Student Affairs Committee both agreed that the aerospace engineering programs will help FAMU in its push for Carnegie R1 classification (Very High Research Activity) by 2030 as the university is currently ranked Carnegie R2 (High Research Activity). The new degree additions await approval from the full board, with a vote set to take place during a May 29 meeting that will be held via Zoom while the trustees attend a retreat in Tampa. Contact Tarah Jean at tjean@tallahassee.com or follow her on X: @tarahjean_. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU to add graduate degrees in aerospace engineering in fall 2025 Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis went after House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Monday, as the lawmaker continues to investigate her over misconduct allegations as she prosecutes former President Trumps election interference case in Georgia. Jim Jordan has, time after time after time, attacked my office with no legitimate purpose, Willis said in an interview with MSNBCs Rachel Maddow. Anyone who knows Jim Jordans history knows that he only has the purpose of trying to interfere in a criminal investigation. Earlier this year, Jordan threatened to hold Willis in contempt of Congress if she did not cooperate with an investigation into her use of federal funds. She ultimately cooperated in the probe, which she labeled Monday as illegitimate, calling the Ohio Republicans actions disgusting. He has now turned his tricks to, hes going to look at grant programs, which I invite him to do. And we have complied with his subpoenas, but yet he continues his attacks to try to interfere in a criminal investigation, she said. All while his jurisdiction has one of the worst crime rates, has poverty issues. Willis who stands for reelection Tuesday in the Georgia Democratic primary also denounced a similar state-level investigation against her. I bring that up at the federal level because now at the state level, theyve decided to follow this clowns lead, and they want to now try to interfere in an investigation, she said. And its not legitimate either. And so, it shall fail, and its not going to go anywhere. But they are trying to attack me at every level, she added. The Georgia criminal case against Trump has been derailed by hearings about Williss conduct, specifically a romantic relationship between her and a prosecutor she assigned to the case. Nathan Wade stepped down from the case in March, after Judge Scott McAfee ruled that one of them had to recuse themselves. A trial date is still unknown for the case, though Willis targeted an August 2024 start, which now seems unlikely. 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 The Hill. Two key figures at the center of Donald Trumps Georgia election probe are vying for reelection on Tuesday. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) and Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee will face voters for the first time since Trumps election interference case thrust the two in the national spotlight. Any surprise upset in the race could throw another hurdle in the way of the election interference case, one of several that has drawn intense public interest. But even if Willis loses in an upset in the Tuesday primary, Republicans are unlikely to flip the office in the Democratic-leaning county. Fulton Countys a tough nut to crack, said Janelle King, a conservative media personality and former deputy state director for the Georgia GOP. Willis is running for reelection against Democrat Christian Wise Smith, a former prosecutor in the Fulton County District Attorneys office and the founder of the National Social Justice Alliance. Willis gained national notoriety in 2020 after ousting her former boss, former six-term Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, in the 2020 Democratic primary runoff. Howard had been mired in multiple controversies at the time, including receiving tens of thousands of dollars originally from the city of Atlanta from a nonprofit he ran, allegations of sexual harassment and criticism over how he handled charges around the shooting of a Black man by Atlanta police. Wise Smith also made an unsuccessful bid for Fulton County district attorney that cycle. Willis became a household name nationally in 2021 when she launched a probe into Trump and other Republicans over efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. Just months before, The Washington Post had reported that Trump had called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger (R) to change the election results in the state to overturn President Bidens narrow win in the Peach State. A Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump and allies of his on state racketeering charges, making false statements and solicitation of violation of oath, among other crimes. Yet revelations that Willis had a relationship with a fellow prosecutor, Nathan Wade prompted by one of the co-defendants in the Trump case roiled the case, prompting McAfee, whos overseeing the election probe case, to rule that Wade needed to remove himself from the case. Williss campaign declined to comment to The Hill for this story. Wise Smith is launching a longshot bid to oust Willis. He told The Hill in an interview that if he won, his priorities would include reallocating resources back toward violent crimes and other serious offenses, dismantling the school-to-prison pipelines and not going after marijuana convictions. Asked about her handling of the Georgia election interference case, Wise Smith argued that Willis should resign, saying he was concerned she could be removed from the probe and her role as Fulton County district attorney. That case continues to be in grave jeopardy with her as district attorney, he said. Shes also gained her fair share of Republican critics, most prominently Trump himself. Critics believe her case against Trump and his allies is too far-reaching and criticize her for not focusing on pertinent issues in the county like crime. Republican strategist Brian Robinson suggested Willis had multiple vulnerabilities that her Democratic challenger could have taken advantage of. When all this got started, we were still suffering from that post-COVID crime wave and Fulton had its hands full already without taking on what should be a federal case, he said. There are a lot of negatives that you could have gone after her on but that has not materialized. Despite the controversy, however, Democrats and Republicans alike expect Willis to sail through her primary. I personally admire her, said state Rep. Shea Roberts (D), whose seat includes portions of the DeKalb and Fulton counties. I appreciate her because I dont think there are a lot of folks who would withstand all of the distractions that Trump has tried to bring to this case, the death threats. She does it with grace and continues to do her job. Assuming Willis prevails in her Democratic primary, shes expected to take on Republican Courtney Kramer, a former legal intern during the Trump administration who also worked as a litigation consultant to the Trump campaign following the 2020 election. Kramer has accused Willis of politically persecuting Republicans in the state and criticized Williss job as the chief prosecutor for Fulton County. I feel like we dont have someone advocating for everybody collectively, Kramer told The Hill. Fani Willis is advocating for herself and fighting for herself and maybe her own political party, sure, but thats not what the job is, she added. The Republican attorney has said that given her past work with some of the defendants in the Georgia probe, shed recuse herself from the case if she won in November. Given Fulton Countys heavily Democratic leanings, which went for Biden by 46 points in 2020, itll be an uphill battle for Kramer. McAfee is also running against one challenger, Robert Patillo II, an attorney and executive director for of the Rainbow PUSH Coalitions Peachtree Street Project. Patillo considers himself a conservative Democrat who believes he has more experience than McAfee, whos in his mid-thirties, citing his time as a civil rights lawyer. Hes also suggested that the case has gone off the rails, which Patillo attributes in part to McAfees inexperience. McAfee campaign consultant Fredrick Hicks declined to comment to The Hill in an email, noting the ongoing nature of the cases before Judge McAfee and in the higher court, but noted that we are very optimistic about the outcome of [the] election and look forward to a full four year term. McAfee is also widely expected to win in his nonpartisan race on Tuesday and has earned support from both parties over his handling of the Trump case, particularly his decision to keep Willis on the case while ordering Wade to leave it. Some of those endorsements include Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and former Gov. Roy Barnes (D). I dont think his opponent has mounted a credible challenge, and I think that he threaded the needle in that ruling in a way that is not going to threaten him, Democratic strategist Amy Morton said regarding his Willis-Wade decision. 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 The Hill. MSNBC Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, in a rare television interview with MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow, expressed her determination not to let threats and pressure from Republicans at the local, state and federal level prevent her from doing her job, which at the moment includes leading a high-profile case against former President Donald Trump. With that Georgia criminal case having ground to a halt amid a Trump appeal, Willis explained the effect of having personal security measures in place for an extended period of time. Its been happening since about a month after I took officeI began to get threats, said Willis, whose term began in January 2021. Eventually, she said, the threats forced her to move out of her home. Willis explained that many of the threats are racial in nature due to some recent casesa likely allusion to last summers RICO indictment of Trump and 18 of his allies. Its a very interesting way to live, but its well worth it to have the honor of being the first female district attorney in Fulton County, Willis said. It pales in comparison to what my victims are going through. And the reality is, one of the reasons we are upsetting people is were so successful here in Fulton County. I have the third largest crime drop in America. We have it because were taking a balanced approach; both unapologetically going after gangs and violent criminals and anyone who should violate the law in my county, said Willis, who is campaigning for re-election and faces a Democratic primary on Tuesday. And were also doing programs. It has been a huge sacrifice, but its well worth it for my community, she added. Maddow spent part of her opening monologue not only on threats against Willis, but on how Georgia Republicans are suddenly passing legislation to make it easier to remove prosecutors like Willis from cases. Maddow was also skeptical of special prosecutor Nathan Wade stepping down from the case because he and Fallis had dated, citing how the Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that not even having married lawyers on opposing sides of litigation constituted a conflict of interest. Later in the interview, Willis seemed to allude to Republicans efforts to help out Trumps cause when she said they deserved pity. I cant explain to you how much I love the work that I do. I cant explain to you how loved I feel by my community. You really should feel sorry for those that are trying to deter me from my work. It doesnt do anything but motivate me to continue to work and to work hard, she said. And so Im not someone thats going to be broken. But certainly, it has caused me to get thicker skin or to be more resilient, to dig deeper, to work harder. But what it has not done is deter me from my work. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. The father of 5-year-old Elijah Lewis, who was found dead in a state park in Abington, Massachusetts in 2021, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against New Hampshires child protection agency over his death. Timothy Lewis claims in the lawsuit that New Hampshires Division for Children, Youth and Families was negligent and failed to keep his son safe while the boy lived with his mother, Danielle Dauphinais, who is charged with his murder. As a result of Defendants actions or Defendants inaction, Elijah suffered malnourishment, facial and scalp injuries, pressure ulcers, acute fentanyl intoxication, violence and neglect, that ultimately resulted in his death, according to the lawsuit filed May 15 in Merrimack Superior Court. Lewis, who is the administrator of his sons estate, seeks compensatory damages as allowed by New Hampshire law, in addition to enhanced compensatory damages, and demands a trial by jury in this matter, the lawsuit states. In a statement Tuesday, the New Hampshire Department of Justice said, We will review the complaint and respond as appropriate in due course. Abington holds vigil for 5-year-old Elijah Lewis Dauphinais was indicted by a grand jury on murder charges in connection with her sons death in April 2022. Dauphinais and her boyfriend, Joseph Stapf, were originally charged with witness tampering and child endangerment. Both remain in prison. Elijahs death was ruled a homicide after the boys body was found in a shallow grave in a state park in Abington on Oct. 23, 2021. An autopsy later determined he died of violence and neglect, including facial and scalp injuries, acute fentanyl intoxication, malnourishment and pressure ulcers. 2 people, including mother, arrested in connection to disappearance of NH 5-year-old boy His disappearance became known on Oct. 14, 2021 after a report to the Division for Children, Youth & Families in New Hampshire, which prompted an investigation by Merrimack and State Police. Elijah had not been reported missing prior to that date. Search for Elijah Lewis shifts to 3rd state as investigation now focused on Abington Crews searched for the boy for months before finding his body several miles away in Abington, Massachusetts. According to the lawsuit, Elijah was born in 2016 in Arizona. His parents, Dauphinais and Lewis, divorced a year later, in 2017. Dauphinais moved to New Hampshire, and initially, Elijah remained in Arizona with his father. In 2020, at his mothers request, the boy went to New Hampshire to stay with his mother. In September 2020, according to the lawsuit, Dauphinais asked Lewis to take the boy back to Arizona. The following month, Lewis called New Hampshires Division for Children, Youth and Families to get help for Elijah as he was concerned about Elijahs well-being in Danielles care. The lawsuit claims that the states child protection agency engaged in no additional investigation or intervention regarding the concerns raised about Elijahs safety, general care, living situation or his inadequate medical care no home visit, no investigation, no collateral interviews for the next two weeks, until the agency received another report of neglect about Elijah from a local hospital. The lawsuit claims that, for several months during 2021 and leading up to the boys death, Dauphinais, either by herself or along with her then-boyfriend Stapf, tortured Elijah several times. In graphic detail, the lawsuit claims that Dauphinais and Stapf, either independently or together, Pierced Elijahs face with a knitting needle, stabbed Elijahs face with a bent coat hanger, repeatedly hit Elijah with a shower rod, starved Elijah to the point that this 5 year-old boy weighed 19 pounds when he died - about the weight of a watermelon; left untreated rotting flesh on Elijahs back from a wound they caused; physically beat Elijah, forced Elijah to stand naked for hours in his room without blankets; cut Elijah; burned Elijah, allowed Elijah to be exposed to fentanyl; failed to provide medical care, caused Elijahs death. Missing NH boys uncles plead with their sister to come clean This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW Father, son charged in connection to Kansas City deadly shooting over missing vehicle KANSAS CITY, Mo. A father and son are facing charges in connection to a shooting over the weekend in Kansas City, Missouri that left one person dead. The Jackson County Prosecutors Office on Monday charged Charles Harrison Sr. and Charles Harrison Jr. with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. 1 dead, 2 people treated following Kansas City house fire Monday afternoon According to court documents, Kansas City police officers responded to a shooting just before 2 p.m. Saturday, May 18, near 34th Street and Wyoming Street. When officers arrived on scene they found a man suffering from gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene and identified as 22-year-old Kyiel Collins-Phillips. Harrison Jr. stated he was tracking a vehicle that had been reported stolen in Raytown. He had tracked it to the area of 34th and Wyoming, he said. Download the FOX4 News app on iPhone and Android Surveillance video showed the father and son in a black Toyota Camry. Video showed that vehicle accelerating toward the victim and shots were fired. The incident remains under investigation. 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 FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. Diana E. Murphy federal courthouse is shown in Minneapolis Friday, May 17, 2024. Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer. An FBI accountant testified Tuesday that the seven defendants connected to a Shakopee halal restaurant only spent a few million dollars on food out of the $49 million they got from the federal government to serve children free meals during the pandemic. FBI forensic accountant Pauline Roases job was to follow the money, and she has examined about 3,000 bank accounts so far in the sprawling federal case. She testified that the fraud started out small, with a nonprofit claiming to give out food at the Samaha Islamic Center in Shakopee in April 2020. The number of sites grew, spiking in January 2021 until the group ultimately claimed to have given out 18.8 million meals from 50 sites across the state, claiming $49 million in federal reimbursement dollars. Roase is expected to be one of the last witnesses to testify for the prosecution in the trial that is now on its 16th day. After that, defense attorneys say they will call multiple witnesses. The seven defendants Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, Mohamed Jama Ismail, Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, Said Shafii Farah, Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin, Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff, and Hayat Mohmed Nur are the first to go on trial out of 70 people charged so far. Federal prosecutors have said it was the nations largest pandemic relief fraud, in which $250 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture was misused. Defense attorneys say they actually did distribute meals, and were allowed to bundle and give out multiple meals at once, multiplying their numbers. Roase said she began her investigation by looking at the entities getting the most money. Safari Restaurant had already received $12 million in less than a year, claiming to feed thousands of meals per day from a busy, congested Lake Street location. It just didnt seem possible, Roase testified. The two nonprofits at the heart of the case Feeding Our Future and Partners in Nutrition were supposed to be monitoring over 700 distribution sites to make sure they were actually giving away food. But prosecutors allege they were middlemen and part of the fraud, taking cuts of 10 to 15% of the more than $100 million paid out in 2021. It was definitely very concerning, Roase said. It was alarming, actually. Roase said numerous LLCs were set up and money was funneled through them to hide the fact that they were not actually buying food. Instead, she said, defendants bought pricey cars, homes and property wiring money to build apartments in Kenya and hundreds of thousands of dollars to textile and tire companies in China. The state Department of Education also had an oversight role and officials there grew alarmed by the escalating number of sites and federal money flowing out. The agency stopped allowing restaurants to distribute meals directly in October 2020, so those restaurants pivoted to acting as vendors for nonprofits, and continued in the program. One of the biggest vendors was Empire Cuisine & Market, a small halal restaurant and market in a Shakopee strip mall. It had just been incorporated by defendants Abdiaziz Farah and Mohamed Ismail of Savage in April 2020, and soon was contracting with a couple dozen distribution sites to prepare meals. The restaurant received a total of nearly $30 million in federal funds, Roase said, and spent about $3 million of it on food. Some of that money appeared to be food for the Shakopee restaurant, because that type of food wasnt allowed in the USDA program such as goat meat, beef, lamb, camel and chicken but was on Empires menu. Before Empire started getting federal meal money, the restaurant averaged $1,500 in net sales per day; its most popular menu items were gyros, goat meat and beef steak, Roase said. One of the nonprofits it contracted with was ThinkTechAct, which opened a bank account in September 2018 that was largely dormant outside of $73,000 it received from the city of Minneapolis often holding less than $200 through September 2020. But in February 2021, money started pouring in. Not a dollar was spent on food from the account before the nonprofit began depositing thousands of dollars in checks, Roase said. ThinkTechAct would go on to get $18 million through Partners in Nutrition, and $3.8 million through Feeding Our Future. Most of the money $15.4 million went to Empire Cuisine & Market and an affiliated LLC. Just $66,500 was spent on food, Roase said. Prosecutors say they are nearly done presenting their case, before the defense gets its chance to counter with its own witnesses. The post FBI accountant says of Feeding Our Future defendants bank records: It was alarming appeared first on Minnesota Reformer. A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected the latest attempt by Hunter Biden to pause his upcoming gun trial while the presidents son pursues some long-shot appeals. The trial is scheduled to begin June 3 in Delaware. The quick decision came from the same three-judge panel that previously rejected one of Hunter Bidens attempts to throw out the indictment. The panel includes one Republican-appointed judge and two Democratic appointees, including one put on the bench by Hunter Bidens father, President Joe Biden. This is one of several bids by Hunter Biden to slow down or postpone his gun trial. So far, his efforts have fallen flat, and the trial judge hasnt shown any openness to delaying the case. Special counsel David Weiss has charged Hunter Biden with illegally purchasing and possessing a gun, in violation of federal law because he was addicted to illicit drugs at the time. He has pleaded not guilty to the three-count indictment and claims hes being politically targeted. To prove his case, Weiss intends to present intensely personal testimony from witnesses who can describe Hunter Bidens longtime crack cocaine abuse, including from three former romantic partners. They include Hunter Bidens ex-wife and the widow of his late brother, Beau Biden. Prosecutors also said in recent court filings that they plan to present text messages showing Hunter Bidens attempts to buy crack cocaine from drug dealers, as well as messages in which he fights with his family members about his inability to get sober. Much of the case revolves around Hunter Bidens addiction, which he has described as a lifelong struggle. To win a conviction, prosecutors will need to convince a jury that Hunter Biden was abusing illegal drugs while he bought and briefly owned the gun in 2018. Hunter Biden testified at a court hearing last year that he has been sober since 2019. The spate of filings and delay-attempts in the gun case comes as Hunter Biden is preparing for a separate tax trial in California, which was also brought by Weiss team. That trial is scheduled for late June, a few weeks after the gun case is expected to wrap up. There is a hearing set for Wednesday in Los Angeles, where the judge overseeing the tax case will weigh whether to put the proceedings on hold. Separately on Tuesday, Weiss team asked a judge to force Hallie Biden to testify in the California-based tax case. This spat pits the Justice Department against the widow of President Bidens first-born son, Beau, and the mother of two of his grandchildren. Prosecutors said in a court filing that they need a judge to compel Hallie Bidens testimony because her lawyers have made it clear that she would refuse to answer questions by invoking her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. In the judgment of the Special Counsel, the testimony of Hallie Biden may be necessary to the public interest, Weiss team wrote to the judge in the tax case. In the filing, Weiss said a top official from the Justice Departments tax division, Stuart Goldberg, gave him authorization to try to force Hallie Bidens testimony. This story has been updated with additional reporting. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Feds collected DNA from 1.5 million migrants in less than four years, report finds In nearly four years, a national DNA database which is shared with law enforcement agencies nationwide added more than 1.5 million noncitizen profiles. (Elana Marie / For De Los ) Routine collection of immigrants' DNA by federal authorities has ballooned since 2020, with a 50-fold spike in the number of samples held in a national database of the sensitive genetic information, according to a report released Tuesday. In nearly four years, the DNA database which is shared with law enforcement agencies nationwide added more than 1.5 million noncitizen profiles, according to the Georgetown Law Center on Privacy & Technology. That compares with about 30,000 total samples previously obtained since 2005, when Congress authorized DNA collection by federal immigration authorities, the study found. The center said the sharp rise raises questions about whether immigrants' privacy rights are being violated as well as the overall constitutionality of the program. DNA samples are routinely taken by immigration agents "without any of the procedural rules that police are supposed to follow before they can take a persons DNA," the center said in the report. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said caring for the privacy of vulnerable populations is of utmost importance. The agency's Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties has completed an investigation into the collection of DNA, and results and recommendations are under review. The agency was mostly exempt from regulations issued in 2008 that required federal agencies to collect DNA of detained individuals. The increase is attributed to a 2020 Department of Justice rule change instituted by the Trump administration that requires the Department of Homeland Security to collect DNA from nearly all people detained by agents at the border and inside the country. Read more: Appeals court upholds DNA testing of felony suspects After agents collect DNA, the samples are sent to the FBI for testing and inclusion in a federal database called the Combined DNA Index System. Those profiles are labeled "offender," and become indefinitely searchable by law enforcement nationwide, according to the report. The database, which was introduced in 1998, has 22 million total DNA profiles. In collecting the DNA, immigration agents don't need probable cause or judicial warrants that apply in the criminal justice context, the report states, though police use the data for criminal investigations. Georgetown researchers analyzed the legality of the program and argue it is unconstitutional because it violates the 4th Amendment. If Homeland Security agents continue collecting DNA at the rate the agency projects, one-third of the profiles in the federal database used for criminal investigations will be from migrants and immigrants, researchers projected. That's based on the Department of Justice's prediction that immigration agents would submit 748,000 samples per year. "The federal government is amassing a huge trove of DNA, starting with a racialized, often traumatized, and politically powerless group: noncitizens," the report states. "And it is using the federal agency that operates with the fewest practical constraints and least oversight the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to do it." In its 2024 fiscal year budget request, the FBI sought to nearly double its budget of $57 million for processing DNA samples, citing the need to process samples collected by Homeland Security agents. As part of a House appropriations hearing in April 2023, FBI Director Christopher Wray submitted a statement acknowledging the agency faced a backlog of 650,000 samples and that the addition of noncitizens' DNA had "created massive budget and personnel shortfalls." Researchers interviewed several people who said they were unaware their DNA had been collected, though internal policies stipulate that agents must inform people beforehand. Others said they submitted to a cheek swab under threat of criminal prosecution if they didn't comply. In response to a June 2022 email from the Georgetown center researcher, Valentina Seeley, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, said those who dont comply with DNA sampling are warned of consequences and subsequently referred for criminal prosecution if noncompliance persists. Stevie Glaberson, one of the report authors, said that regardless of whether immigration agents adequately inform people in their custody, the process is coercive. "Even when people know what's happening, they're terrified to ask questions, they're terrified to object, they're terrified to refuse," she said. Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter. Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond, in your inbox three times per week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The U.S Justice Department followed through Tuesday on its threat to sue Oklahoma over its new immigration law, saying it was a violation of the U.S. Constitution. Oklahoma cannot disregard the U.S. Constitution and settled Supreme Court precedent, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Departments Civil Division said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. We have brought this action to ensure that Oklahoma adheres to the Constitution and the framework adopted by Congress for regulation of immigration." The Justice Department had signaled its intention to file the lawsuit in a letter to state officials. Oklahoma Latino legislators have also said they plan to sue to stop enforcement of the new law. "House Bill 4156 is preempted by federal law and violates the United States Constitution. Indeed, the Oklahoma law is similar to Texass Senate Bill 4, which has been preliminarily enjoined," Boyton wrote in a May 15 warning letter to Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt. "The United States intends to file suit to enjoin the enforcement of HB 4156 unless Oklahoma agrees to refrain from enforcing the law. The United States is committed to the processing of noncitizens consistent with the Immigration and Nationality Act. HB 4156 is contrary to that goal." Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond before Gov. Kevin Stitt's State of the State speech during the first day of the Oklahoma Legislature Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. Under the Constitution, the federal government has the authority to regulate immigration and manage the country's international borders. Pursuant to this authority, Boyton said, Congress has established a comprehensive immigration framework governing noncitizens entry, reentry and presence. Because HB 4156 is preempted by federal law and violates the U.S. Constitution, Boyton said the Justice Department seeks a declaration that HB 4156 is invalid and an order preventing the state from enforcing the law. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond calls initial letter disingenuous The lawsuit drew a terse reaction by Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond. "I'm writing in response to your disingenuous letter of May 15," Drummond wrote in a May 17 letter, "where you falsely assert that the Biden Administration is 'committed to the processing of noncitizens consistent with the Immigration and Nationality Act." Drummond said his office and "the millions of law-abiding Oklahomans will not accept lectures or threats about immigration from this failed Administration." Oklahoma, the attorney general wrote, grapples daily with startling and significant economic, health and public safety issues because of an unprecedented immigration influx. More: Oklahoma Capitol protest over anti-immigration bill draws large crowd: 'Now make them hear you' "In short, Oklahoma has moved to protect its sovereignty," Drummond wrote. "Not in contriduction of federal law but in complete compliance with it." Echoing Drummond, Stitt said, "the Biden Administration refuses to do its job to secure our borders." "Not only that, but they stand in the way of states trying to protect their citizens. Had the Biden administration set aside politics and done their job, HB4156 wouldnt have been necessary," the governor said in a statement to The Oklahoman. "As governor, I will continue to do what is necessary to protect all four million Oklahomans. House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, said he found it laughable that in the Administration's letter to Gov. Stitt and Attorney General Drummond, the justice department claimed Oklahoma was interfering with the function of the federal government on immigration issues. "There has been nothing but disfunction at the federal level since President Biden took office," McCall said. "House Bill 4156 was a carefully crafted, well-thought-out piece of legislation designed to acknowledge the role of the federal government in immigration matters, while at the same time protect the sovereignty and security of our state's borders. I fully support the defense of this law by our state's attorney general, and look forward to seeing it upheld in court." Senate Pro Tempore Greg Treat's office declined to comment. A person holds a sign during a demonstration in support of the immigrant community before Hispanic Cultural Day at the Capitol in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Oklahoma Latino community protests immigration law Latino community members have rallied at the state Capitol in protest of the new law. State Sen. Michael Brooks and Rep. Arturo Alonso-Sandoval, both Democrats with districts in Oklahoma City, said they expected another lawsuit to be filed against the new law before it takes effect on July 1. Alonso-Sandoval said he agreed that the Oklahoma law is unconstitutional because it supersedes the federal government. He also pointed to the laws vague language, questioning how it would be enforced. Some law enforcement officials in Oklahoma have also expressed concern about enforcing the law in a fair and reasonable way. Opinion: Oklahoma Republicans passed a law that police chiefs don't want to enforce Oklahoma City Police Chief Wade Gourley said his department does not check immigration status and to do so for every person would be a huge burden. He said the department has spent years building relationships by attending community meetings, events, festivals and visiting schools, and the law could negatively impact those connections, setting them back at square one. A joint statement by the Oklahoma Association of Chiefs of Police and Metro Law Enforcement Agency Leaders released last week said the law conflicts with many existing directives over law enforcement practices. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: US Department of Justice files suit over Oklahoma immigration law A man was sentenced to life in prison, while two other men were each sentenced to 35 years in prison, in the 2017 killing of a Afghanistan war veteran during a drug robbery. Brandon Olsen was sentenced May 17 to life in prison on one count of murder in connection with the killing of Tyler Kaden Croke, 23, on May 7, 2017, during a drug robbery at the Cantera Apartments at 1501 Lomaland Drive in East El Paso. Brandon Olsen Olsen is the third defendant to be sentenced to life in prison in connection with Croke's death. Zachary Johnston pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in 2019, while Stephanie Fernandez was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison by a jury in 2018. Fernandez is the only defendant in the case to go to trial. The other defendants have all pleaded guilty as part of plea agreements. Tristan Hunter Chilton and Adam Acosta also were sentenced May 17. The men were each sentenced to 35 years in prison on one count of murder for their roles in the slaying. The sentencing was handed down by 168th District Court Judge Marcos Lizarraga at the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse in Downtown El Paso. Olsen, Chilton and Acosta were originally charged with capital murder, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of murder. More: Final suspect in killing of El Paso Army combat vet during drug deal pleads guilty Croke was killed during a drug robbery at his apartment. The defendants beat and cut Croke's throat while stealing three baggies of what appeared to be either cocaine or ketamine from Croke's apartment, a complaint affidavit states. They fled the apartment in a gateway car driven by Fernandez. Croke was left to die in the apartment. Croke was in the Army and had served a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Acosta, Johnston, and Olsen, who were stationed at Fort Bliss at the time of the killing, are former Fort Bliss soldiers. Victim's family frustrated it took 7 years for case to conclude Crokes mother and sister spoke at a news conference Friday to express their frustration with how long it took to get justice and the 35 year prison sentences handed down to two of the defendants. "It has been a long road," Tyler Crokes mother Kjersten Croke said. "It's been seven long and arduous years that we have fought for justice for my son. Today doesn't feel like closure because it won't bring my son back. We were devastated on May 7th, 2017 when we learned of the brutal killing of my son. It was horrific and I don't wish it on my worst enemies. It's a club that no parent ever wants to join." Kjersten Croke with her daughter, Rory Croke, at her side speaks May 17, 2024, at the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse in Downtown El Paso about the sentencing of the five defendants who killed her son, Tyler Croke, during a 2017 drug robbery. Rory Croke, Tyler Crokes sister, said she hopes no family has to experience such a long wait for justice. "I don't think there's any good feelings coming out of today," she said. "I don't know if you get much closure from what has happened and how long we've had to wait considering it's been seven years, but I do hope that with what has happened, and just the case entirely, that other families won't have to wait this long. God forbid they ever have to go through something like this." The 35 year prison sentences for Chilton and Acosta are disappointing, the family said. "DA (Bill) Hicks does know that we are not pleased with the 35 year plea deal offered to them," said Kjersten Croke as she stood next to El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks. "They've already served seven and in 10 and a half years from now we will have to fight when they go up for parole. So this doesn't end for us here today. This continues on for us." More: Former Fort Bliss veterans face prison sentences in drug robbery murder 'mission' Hicks said he understood Croke family's pain, but the facts of the case, including the "culpability of each of these individuals," led the district attorney's office to offer plea deals to Chilton and Acosta. "On behalf of the District Attorney's office, I have tremendous respect for the Croke family," Hicks said at the news conference. "Listen, if it had been my son, if it had been my brother, I absolutely would be in the same position that they were. I would not be satisfied with 35 years for anyone who had been involved in the death of a loved one. I absolutely understand where the family is coming from. Their son, their brother was murdered in a vicious and horrible way and most certainly did not deserve anything like what happened." Hicks added Fernandez was the "mastermind" of the drug-related killing, while Johnston and Olson were responsible for cutting Tyler Croke's throat. Chilton, who held Tyler Croke's legs down during the killing, provided key information on the slaying to police and was "really the only one who has shown any remorse," Hicks said. Acosta "did not participate in the actual killing. He did stand by with a gun (and) was the lookout person at the doorway," Hicks said. "We felt that that was justice and that would move those two cases out of the way in order to prepare us for trial on Brandon Olsen," Hicks said. "At the very last minute, he (Olsen) accepted a plea offer to life in prison with the possibility of parole. We feel that that was acceptable because if we had gone to trial, while we feel comfortable we would've gotten a guilty (verdict), a plea of guilty on a lesser charge of murder with possibility of parole does eliminate the ability of appeal. (They) waives their right to appeal on all of our pleas of guilty." More: Woman gets life in capital murder of Afghanistan war veteran during drug robbery Hicks said he will help the family fight the release of the defendants on parole. "While it most definitely is not going to bring their son, their brother back, it does add a sense of finality to the cases in that they're not coming back. There is parole and there are going to be parole issues. As long as I'm district attorney, I would be glad to stand with them to oppose their release on parole because this was a very brutal murder. I hope that they serve every day of their prison sentence and don't get parole, but that's ultimately up to the board of pardon and paroles." In the end, the family members said they will continue focusing on remembering Tyler Croke for the person he was. "We love Tyler," Kjersten Croke said. "He was a special person. He was loved. He was a loving father, a loving son, a loving grandson, and a loving brother. We want to remember and honor his memory, not the way that he was tortured and killed." Aaron Martinez may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on Twitter @AMartinezEPT. This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Afghanistan war veteran killers sentenced to prison HELSINKI Top Finnish defense officials are moving closer to finalizing proposals aimed at filling the countrys NATO membership with life. One key consideration, which may require amendments to Finlands constitution, relates to the hosting of alliance forces on Finnish soil. The Ministry of Defense here is currently reviewing proposals and reports from the military, the Finnish Defense Forces, that outline the challenges and investments associated with NATO integration. The MoD is expected to deliver a final report with recommendations to Finlands conservative-right government by the end of 2024. There are no decisions on this as of yet, Gen. Janne Jaakkola, the newly appointed commander of the FDF, said. We are considering different options regarding whether new collaboration should cover extended exercises, a rotational model, or some other type of activity. Finland has a 830 mile (1,340km) border with Russia, the longest of any NATO member state. The government here is examining what amendments to the constitution might be needed to allow a permanent presence by NATO allies on its territory. Given the pro-alliance nature of Finnish politics, any constitutional change needed will likely receive support from lawmakers. In drafting its proposals, the MoD and the FDF are being mindful of plans being formalized by NATO to upgrade and reorganize its command structure. The changes will impact how allied forces may operate in Finland in the future. For now, Helsinki appears in no hurry to request NATO troops while the country works on boosting its national defense capabilities and industries. The current system is optimized for national defense, said Jaakola. We will now take measures to coordinate it for common defense with our allies. This will take time. What happens next in Iran? Yesterday, I reported on the death of Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and President Ebrahim Raisiseen as the likely successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is 85in a helicopter crash near the border with Azerbaijan. Some of Tehran's residents, who live in opposition to the regime, celebrated with fireworks in the streets. Raisi's rival for succession had, up until the president's death this past weekend, been Mojtaba Khamenei, the ayatollah's 55-year-old son. This presents a bit of a crisis domestically. "With previous supreme leaders arguing that hereditary rule under the shah was illegitimate, 'they would be hard-pressed to sell hereditary leadership to the Iranian people now,'" Shay Khatiri, senior fellow at the Yorktown Institute, told The New York Times. In other words, the fact that Mojtaba is Ayatollah Khamenei's son is going to look mighty bad if he is indeed picked to be Raisi's successor. But it's not like Raisi (nicknamed the "butcher of Tehran" for his role in ordering executions following the Iran-Iraq war) had been a shoo-in: a notoriously uncharismatic man, who was perceived as merely a foot soldier of the ayatollah, was not particularly effective except insofar as he allowed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps lots of leeway to do whatever they wanted. New presidential elections will take place at the end of June. If past elections, in which the ayatollah has put his thumb on the scale to disqualify certain candidates (80 percent of candidates in a 2016 election and 50 percent in a 2020 election), are any indication, these one will be a sham, too. It's worth noting that the helicopter accident really does look like an accident. But also, Iran has quite a history of tech malfunctions that take powerful people out. "In previous years, at least two cabinet ministers and two leading military commanders have died in similar crashes," writes Arash Azizi at The Atlantic, adding that "suspicions will inevitably surround the crash" and for good reason: "Air incidents that killed high political officials in Northern Rhodesia (1961), China (1971), Pakistan (1988), and Poland (2010) are still often subject to speculation." Scenes from New York: The fascinating tale of why many of the Chasidic wives of New York City and Rockland County are on a sex strike right now. QUICK HITS "For more than two decades, through two wars and domestic upheaval, the idea that al-Qaeda acted alone on 9/11 has been the basis of U.S. policy," write Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon for The Atlantic. "A blue-ribbon commission concluded that Osama bin Laden had pioneered a new kind of terrorist groupcombining superior technological know-how, extensive resources, and a worldwide network so well coordinated that it could carry out operations of unprecedented magnitude. This vanguard of jihad, it seemed, was the first nonstate actor that rivaled nation-states in the damage it could wreak. That assessment now appears wrong." "Two years ago, Moscow was so confident of the world's hunger for its methane that it dumped its largest customer, the European Union, to pursue its invasion of Ukraine," reports Bloomberg. "Putin felt he could afford to be so reckless because a new buyer was waiting in the wings: China." "Actress Scarlett Johansson is threatening legal action against OpenAI for copying her voice for its latest AI model, accessible through ChatGPT," reports The Washington Post. Johansson "claimed that she received an offer from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in September to be the voice of its AI system," most likely due to the fact that she played the titular character in the AI-oriented movie Her, but she said no to Altman. Johansson is alleging that Altman went ahead and did it anywaysa theory which may be bolstered by Altman's recent cryptic tweet. I am 28 years old, but apparently very ancient, because this trend of sharing your location-tracking with basically everyone you've ever met sounds very foreign and bad to me. lol: The post Fireworks in Tehran appeared first on Reason.com. First Black astronaut completes his mission 63 years later, becomes oldest man to go to space Ed Dwight always dreamed of being an astronaut. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy selected the Air Force captain as the first Black astronaut candidate to go into space. But when Kennedy was assassinated, Dwights dreams were put on hold. Until now. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Blue Origin launched its New Shepard vehicle this weekend. Dwight was one of the six passengers on board. I thought I really didnt need this in my life, but now I need it in my life. I am ecstatic, he said. The Air Force test pilot made history at 90 years old as the oldest man to travel into space. The experience made 63-year wait worth it for Dwight. I wish I had gotten that then, but its great, thats all I can say. Absolutely fabulous, he said. TRENDING STORIES: Throughout the years, Dwight shifted his talents to another passion: Art. You can find his bronze sculptures all over the world and right here in Georgia. On the Morehouse campus, Dwight created the bronze statue of Dr. Benjamin Mays and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In 1982, Dwight created the statue honoring home run king Hank Aaron, which still stands outside Georgia State stadium and the former Turner Field. He was also commissioned to design the eight-foot bronze statue of civil rights icon Xernona Clayton in downtown Atlanta. With his many accomplishments as an author, artist and Air Force test pilot, Dwight convinced himself he didnt need to go into space. But the experience made 63-year wait worth it for Dwight. It was a life-changing experience. Everybody needs to do this. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS Taylor Niemeier, a student in the Kansas State University physician assistant studies program, practices examination skills on fellow student Swathi Punreddy. Students learn about and practice hands-on examination skills during the first 12 months of the 27-month program. Taylor Niemeier, a student in the Kansas State University physician assistant studies program, practices examination skills on fellow student Swathi Punreddy. Students learn about and practice hands-on examination skills during the first 12 months of the 27-month program. (Kansas State University) MANHATTAN The first graduates from Kansas State Universitys physician assistant masters program hope to help close health care gaps in the state. The inaugural cohort of more than 30 students received training for 12 months in the classroom and 15 months in clinical rotations at regional hospitals and clinics. Taylor Niemeier, a physician assistant student from Gove who graduated this spring, plans to return to northwest Kansas for a job with a local health care provider. As a class, we were able to help change and mold the program to fit the needs of students, Niemeier said. We worked with faculty to make this program successful, and we were able to make an impact by bettering the profession and helping it grow. Program director Gwen Ferdinand-Jacob said the first class set the standard for the program. Ferdinand-Jacob was hired by K-State administrators in 2018 to build the program from scratch, out of an observed need by university officials for more medical representation and access across Kansas. She told the Manhattan Mercury in 2022 that 95 of the states 105 counties dont have adequate rural access to health care, specifically behavioral health and medicinal psychology services. A physician assistant studies program was created and implemented to educate and prepare medical professionals who may not have the advanced knowledge of physicians but would still receive intense training to complete most medical tasks while under the supervision of a physician. Amy Fitzgerald, academic director of the program, said in a statement that a physician assistant, or PA, can help relieve, but not replace, the main doctor, especially following medical worker burnout from the COVID-19 pandemic and general physician shortages. Fitzgerald said the goal of PA programs like the one at K-State is to train broadly and teach responses to the common injuries and illnesses health care workers encounter, such as broken bones and blood sugar checks for diabetics. Ferdinand-Jacob told the Mercury in 2022 that she, along with other university officials, visited health care facilities across Kansas to find clinical sites for students to complete their second-year rotations. Students were able to receive hands-on training with trauma patient simulators in mock exam rooms and virtual 3D anatomical dissection tables. K-State instructors also focused on teaching students in the program to approach their jobs with empathy for their patients. Its easy to teach the science, because that is often either right or wrong, Ferdinand-Jacob said. It can be difficult to teach the compassion and care needed to excel as a PA, but this cohort has really developed and grown in those skills these past 27 months. Before moving to northeast Kansas in 2018, Ferdinand-Jacob lived in Tennessee and worked in family medicine. She served 22 years in the Army and retired with the rank of captain. She was a medic in Korea before hurting her knee and taking a visit to the emergency room. She met a physician assistant, which inspired her to pursue a career as a PA specific to Army airborne personnel. Out-of-state students are part of the inaugural class. Many are still completing their national certifications. Tavi Garcia, a PA student from the farm community of Jalisco, Mexico, said he appreciated the one-on-one opportunities he had with professors. Garcia is preparing to work at a rural health center in Idaho after helping underserved populations in Kansas. Through the program, I learned how to really work well with patients and recognize what I could do to help them medically, Garcia said. The post First graduates of Kansas State University physician assistant program aim to fill health care gaps appeared first on Kansas Reflector. A retired British grandfather was killed and around 70 people were injured after a flight from Heathrow to Singapore was hit by severe turbulence. Geoffrey Ralph Kitchen, 73, and his wife Linda, were among 47 British passengers aboard the Singapore Airlines flight when it plunged around 6,000ft within minutes amid extreme weather. Anna Proctor, Mr Kitchens daughter, paid tribute to her father describing him as an extremely kind, loving and gentle man. She told The Telegraph her father was a wonderful man and he had years ahead of him and obviously we are completely devastated, adding: He was a legend, he was. Passengers described awful screaming as the aircraft suffered a dramatic drop, with objects flying and people not wearing seat belts launched immediately into the ceiling, causing multiple head injuries. The Boeing 777 jet was forced to make an emergency landing at Bangkoks Suvarnabhumi Airport, where Thai authorities described responding to a chaotic scene. Kittipong Kittikachorn, the general manager of the airport, said Mr Kitchen, who has two adult children and two grandchildren, suffered a suspected heart attack. Friends of Mr and Mrs Kitchen, who were married for more than 50 years, said the couple left their semi-detached home in the market town of Thornbury, Gloucestershire, on Monday for what was to be a six-week holiday of a lifetime. Severe turbulence that hit a London to Singapore flight left one man dead and many injured, with Bangkok emergency services tending to those affected - VIralPress Mr Kitchen was the trustee and the secretary of an award-winning musical theatre group near Bristol, and neighbours said both he and his wife were actively involved in the areas amateur dramatics. He had lived in the town for more than 30 years and stood last May in the Thornbury Town Council elections as an independent candidate for the North East Ward. During his campaign, he described the area as a good place to bring up a family and pledged to support the arts, the environment and young people. Mr Kitchen had suffered heart problems in recent years but kept active, neighbours said. They were very adventurous and had been planning the holiday for a long time. They spent last weekend with their grandchildren because they wouldnt be seeing them for a while, Steve Dimond, 73, a close friend and neighbour told the Daily Mail. Mr Dimond and his wife Jill expressed concern for Mrs Kitchen, who was transferred to a nearby Thai hospital for treatment, and appeared to be unreachable. Her condition is unclear. Bangkoks Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital said a total of 71 people had been admitted for treatment, six of them severely injured. Along with the 47 Britons, there were 56 passengers from Australia, 41 from Singapore, 23 from New Zealand, 16 from Malaysia, five from the Philippines, four from Ireland, four from America, three from India, two from Canada, two from Indonesia, two from Spain, two from Burma, one from Iceland, one from Germany, one from Israel and one from South Korea. Singapore Airlines said it offered its deepest condolences to Mr Kitchens family. We deeply apologise for the traumatic experience that our passengers and crew members suffered on this flight. We are providing all necessary assistance during this difficult time, the airline said. The airline added it was working with the relevant authorities on the investigation into the incident. Passengers were in shock after a flight from London to Singapore was hit by severe turbulence Airport staff brace for the flight's arrival - ViralPress/ViralPress Images posted on social media showed damage to the cabins ceiling, and food, cutlery and other debris strewn across the floor. Cabin crew were serving breakfast when the aircraft, which was cruising at an altitude of roughly 37,000ft over the Irrawaddy Basin and around 10 hours into its journey, encountered turbulence. Andrew Davies, from Lewisham, said fellow passengers received very little warning to put on their seat belts. He described seeing many injured, some with head lacerations and bleeding ears. A lady was screaming in pain with a bad back, he said. There were 211 passengers and 18 crew on board Flight SQ321, which took off from Londons Heathrow Airport at 10.17pm on Monday. The Boeing jet diverted to Bangkok around 90 minutes prior to its intended arrival in Singapore, making an emergency landing in the Thai capital at around 4pm local time. One passenger said the plane was travelling smoothly when it suddenly plunged downwards. It was a long way, and so sudden. There was no warning at all, Jerry, from the UK, told the BBC. Jerry said he hit his head on the ceiling while others who were walking around ended up doing somersaults. It was absolutely terrible. Jerry was injured when the plane hit turbulence Mr Kittikachorn said: We followed the protocol and went in and found lots of injuries and a fatality. Airport officials enacted an emergency action plan and evacuated the passengers right away, he said. The airports medical team rushed to the tarmac and tended to the injured, with waiting ambulances transferring them to a local hospital for further treatment. Emergency responders give aid to passengers - UNPIXS/UNPIXS Around 100 passengers were preparing to board a new flight out of Bangkok on Tuesday. Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student on board the flight, described how the plane suddenly began tilting up and shaking. I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing seat belt was launched immediately into the ceiling, he said, Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it, they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it, he said. Mr Davies, a freelance project manager, described how passengers with medical training tried to help as much as they could, including administering CPR to Mr Kitchen. My heart goes out to the gentleman who lost his life and his poor wife, he said. Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live later, he said: The thing I remember the most is seeing objects and things flying through the air. During the few seconds of the plane dropping there was an awful [lot of] screaming and what sounded like a thud. A pair of police officers were seen on Tuesday outside Mr Kitchens semi-detached home that he shared with his wife Linda. Neighbours described Mr Kitchen as a friendly bloke who regularly busied himself with gardening and handiwork. One couple, who lived on the same quiet cul-de-sac in Thornbury, south Gloucestershire, said: They were very good neighbours, both he and his wife, always had a word to say if you went out and saw them anywhere. 06:53 PM BST Blog now closed - thanks for following We are now closing the blog as it approaches 1am in Thailand. This is what we have learnt so far: One person died and dozens were injured after a flight from London to Singapore hit an area of severe turbulence over Myanmar The flight was forced to land in Bangkok where photos showed the scale of mess and upheavel inside the cabin A retired British grandfather has been named as the person who died when a Heathrow to Singapore flight was hit by severe turbulence. Geoffrey Ralph Kitchen, 73, suffered a suspected heart attack as the plane embarked on a dramatic drop, with those not wearing seatbelts launched immediately into the ceiling. Experts say such violent turbulence is rare and that seatbelts would have likely reduced the scale of the injuries Singapores Transport Safety Investigation Bureau will be deploying investigators to Bangkok to look into the incident Singapore Airlines has offered its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased 47 passengers on board the flight were British 06:36 PM BST British passenger recalls people doing somersaults as plane plummeted One passenger on board the flight said the plane was travelling smoothly when it suddenly plunged downwards. It was a long way, and so sudden. There was no warning at all, Jerry, from the UK, told the BBC. Jerry said he hit his head on the ceiling while others who were walking around ended up doing somersaults. My daughter will be in [hospital] for a few days. My wife Im not so sure. But it could have been a lot worse, he said. 06:20 PM BST Watch: Passengers carried out by stretcher from diverted flight Footage shows emergency services carrying passengers from the Singapore Airlines flight out by stretcher after it was forced to make an emergency landing. Bangkoks Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital said a total of 71 people had been sent for treatment, six of them severely injured. 06:15 PM BST Plane fell into air pocket before entering turbulence over Myanmar The plane travelling from London to Singapore fell into an air pocket as the cabin were serving breakfast before entering an area of severe turbulence, the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport general manager Kittipong Kittikachorn told a press conference. The sudden turbulence occurred over the Irrawaddy Basin in Myanmar about 10 hours into the flight, the airline said. The pilot declared a medical emergency and diverted the aircraft to Bangkok, it said without giving further details. 06:03 PM BST Watch: Footage of the cabin after being hit by severe turbulence Footage of the cabin after the plane landed shows a mess of food, bottles, bags and masks dangling from the overhead compartment. One British man, Geoffrey Ralph Kitchen, died of a suspected heart attack during the chaos and dozens were injured. 05:46 PM BST Geoffrey Kitchen, 73, who died of a suspected heart attack on the flight Geoffrey Kitchen, 73, ran the Thornbury Musical Theatre Group in Bristol 05:38 PM BST British man who died on flight named The 73-year-old British man who died on board the London to Singapore flight has been named as Geoffrey Ralph Kitchen. Kitchen was travelling with his wife of more than 50 years, Linda, when he was suspected of having a heart attack amid severe turbulence on the Singapore Airlines flight. 05:26 PM BST Foreign office says it is in contact with authorities in Thailand Following the news that a British man died on the flight from London to Singapore, a spokesperson for the foreign office has said: We are responding to the emergency landing in Bangkok of a Singapore Airlines flight and are in contact with the local authorities. 05:08 PM BST Bangkok hospital says 71 people sent for treatment Bangkoks Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital said a total of 71 people had been sent for treatment, six of them severely injured. We deeply apologise for the traumatic experience that our passengers and crew members suffered on this flight. We are providing all necessary assistance during this difficult time, Singapore Airlines said. 05:06 PM BST Airline analyst says few defences against such turbulence other than a seatbelt Airline analyst John Strickand told the BBC that airlines have few measures to prevent such disasters except for ensuring passengers wear their seatbelts ahead of anticipated turbulence. There is no perfect way to respond. We just need to ensure - as the industry does - that it uses the maximum amount of information available at the time so that - first of all - turbulence can be avoided where possible and so that crews react quickly, he said. 04:39 PM BST Majority of passengers onboard from Australia, followed by Britain The majority of the 211 passengers onboard the flight from London to Singapore were from Australia followed by passengers from Britain, according to Singapore Airlines flight record. There were also 18 crew members. Here is a breakdown of the passenger list: 04:32 PM BST Boeing offers condolences after turbulence fatality on its aircraft Boeing expressed its condolences following a fatality on the Singapore Airlines flight. We extend our deepest condolences to the family who lost a loved one and our thoughts are with the passengers and crew, Boeing said after its 777 aircraft en route from London to Singapore made an emergency landing in Bangkok. 04:26 PM BST Boeing 777 fell into air pocket before encountering severe turbulence Just to recap following the press conference given by the general manger of Bangkoks main airport, the Boeing 777 had fallen into an air pocket in Thai air space before it encountered severe turbulence. One elderly British man has been killed, likely from a heart attack, though this has not been officially confirmed. Seven people are critically hurt with head injuries. 04:16 PM BST Singapore Airlines has released the nationalities of all 211 passengers on board They are as follows: 56 from Australia 2 from Canada 1 from Germany 3 from India 2 from Indonesia 1 from Iceland 4 from Ireland 1 from Israel 16 from Malaysia 2 from Myanmar 23 from New Zealand 5 from the Philippines 41 from Singapore 1 from South Korea 2 from Spain 47 from the United Kingdom 4 from the United States of America 03:59 PM BST Pictured: The aircrafts last hour Weve tracked the flights final hour as it plummeted 6,000ft in five seconds before making its way to land in Bangkok. One Singapore airlines crew told a passenger it was the worst turbulence she had experienced in her 3 years in the job. 03:53 PM BST Singapore to send investigators to Bangkok after flight incident, says transport ministry Singapore said it will send investigators to Bangkok after the Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 plane was forced to make an emergency landing in the Thai capital. The Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) is in touch with its Thai counterparts and will be deploying investigators to Bangkok, the transport ministry said in a statement. 03:48 PM BST Thailand enters monsoon season after weeks of extreme heat Thailand and the rest of Southeast Asia have entered the monsoon season, when daily storms rage and rain falls in buckets. It follows weeks of extreme heat that saw temperatures in Bangkok rise above 40c and 30 people die from heatstroke between January 1 and April 17. For the whole of 2023, 37 people died from heatstroke. In the Philippines, schools were forced to suspend classes while worshippers in Bangladesh prayed for rain. Speaking to the BBC, ex-pilot Terry Tozer said it is unusual for such turbulence to occur without any warning. Though in the Far East, sudden severe turbulence can occur at high altitude. Thats one of the reasons why we stress to wear your seatbelt even when the seatbelt sign is not illuminated. 03:40 PM BST Explained: The three main types of aviation turbulence 03:30 PM BST Watch: Carnage inside the plane after it landed 03:23 PM BST My heart goes out to man killed in accident, says fellow passenger Andrew Davies from Lewisham who was on the London to Singapore flight said his heart goes out to the gentleman who lost his life. Mr Davies, who describes himself as a freelance project manager in events said passengers with medical training tried to help as much as they could, but that the poor gentleman died after receiving CPR. Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, Mr Davies said: Anyone who is injured, was not wearing a seatbelt. People who kept them on (including me) are not (as far as I could tell). He claimed the deceased was a man who was travelling with his wife. My heart goes out to the gentleman who lost his life and his poor wife. Awful experience, he said. 03:17 PM BST Last time Singapore Airlines saw fatal accident The last Singapore Airlines fatalities were in October 2000 when a plane crashed on a closed runway during takeoff at Taiwan and 83 people died. Singapore Airlines has had seven accidents according to records by the Aviation Safety Network. 03:15 PM BST Pictured: The interior of the plane The interior of Singapore Airline flight SQ321 - REUTERS/Stringer 03:10 PM BST Here are more details released by Suvarnabhumi Airport: The airport says it has activated an emergency plan to provide medical services for passengers on board Flight SQ321. The flight, which was travelling from Londons Heathrow Airport to Singapore, was diverted to Bangkok due to bad weather and touched down at 15.51 p.m. local time on Tuesday at Suvarnabhumi Airport. The airport said its medical team rushed to the tarmac and tended to those injured before transporting them to hospitals for further treatment. For passengers with minor injuries or no injuries, the Suvarnabhumi Airport has set up a waiting area for passengers inside the concourse with personnel from the airport and SIA working together to take care of and facilitate passengers to help them reach Singapore. There were 211 passengers and 18 crew members on the flight. The airport confirmed that one person died and a number of those onboard were injured. 03:05 PM BST Turbulence severe across the region Singapore Airlines is yet to comment on what caused the turbulence, but the area around Thailand is currently suffering severe tropical storms. Current aviation weather reports indicate thunderstorms reaching up to 51,000ft are spread across western Thailand and well down into the Gulf of Thailand, a distance of around 475 miles. Last week, a British Airways flight was forced to return to Singapore after encountering heavy turbulence. One crew member reportedly needed surgery to her ankle after she was injured during the flight. The Singapore Airlines flight was cruising at 37,000ft before its diversion, according to Flight Radar 24 data. 02:58 PM BST The flight path Flight SQ321 took off from London Heathrow Airport on Monday evening at 22.17 local time, flight tracking data showed. The airliner diverted to Thailand around an hour and a halfs flying time from its intended destination of Singapore after reportedly encountering heavy turbulence. The pilots requested permission to make an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok and touched down shortly after 4pm local time. 02:52 PM BST Singapore Airlines offers deepest condolences A spokesperson for Singapore Airlines said: We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER. There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board. Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. 02:47 PM BST Plane took 90 minutes to evacuate, says passenger It took 90 minutes to evacuate the plane, said one passenger. Malaysian student Dzafran Azmir said he had fastened his seatbelt but many had not when the plane began to shake. The 28-year-old said ambulances later arrived and he saw at least 8 people on stretchers being pulled out of the emergency exits. It took 90 minutes to evacuate the plane, he said 02:44 PM BST Pictured: Scenes in Bangkok after the emergency landing Passengers receive treatment after the landing - PONGSAKORNR RODPHAI/BBC/UNPIXS 21/05/2024 The plane registered 9V-SWM was diverted to the Suvarnabhumi International Airport - The plane registered 9V-SWM was diverted to the Suvarnabhumi International Airport 02:41 PM BST Passengers were about to be served breakfast when turbulence hit The general manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport said passengers were likely about to eat breakfast when they were buffeted by turbulence. [The crew] probably were serving breakfast because it would take another 2 - 3 hours to reach Changi airport [in Singapore], Kittipong Kittikachorn said. 02:35 PM BST British man killed and 30 injured, say Thai authorities A British man was killed and 30 injured when a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 plane hit severe turbulence on a flight from London and was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok, Thai authorities said in a press conference. 02:34 PM BST We received little warning, says passenger on flight Andrew Davies from Lewisham wrote on social media that he was on the flight and that passengers received very little warning to put on their seatbelts. Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, Mr Davies said: Anyone who is injured, was not wearing a seatbelt. People who kept them on (including me) are not (as far as I could tell). He claimed the deceased was a man who was travelling with his wife. My heart goes out to the gentleman who lost his life and his poor wife. Awful experience, he said. Mr Davies, who describes himself as a freelance project manager in events and conferences said passengers with medical training tried to help as much as they could, adding that the poor gentlemen died after receiving CPR. He went on to say he saw another passenger laid flat in (the) aisle further behind me. Mr Davies described peoples belongings scattered, coffee and water splattered the ceiling. So many injured people. Head lacerations (sic), bleeding ears. A lady was screaming in pain with a bad back. I couldnt help her - just got her water. 02:31 PM BST If passengers were stapped in they should have been OK, says Tozer If youre not strapped in and youre standing then obviously if the aircraft drops suddenly you can hit the ceiling. 02:28 PM BST Tozer stresses importance of wearing seatbelt In the far east you get sudden severe turbulence at high altitude, the ex-pilot added Thats one of the reasons why we stress to wear your seatbelt even when the seatbelt sign is not illuminated. 02:26 PM BST Ex-airline pilot says such sudden turbulence is uncommon Terry Tozer, an ex-airline pilot, has told the BBC it is unusual for turbulence to occur without any warning. It is not that common for it to happen without any warning. Normally the crew would be passed information by aircraft ahead of them, he said. 02:19 PM BST An update on number injured from the GM of Bangkoks Suvarnabhumi Airport Kittipong Kittikachorn, General Manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport said: Seven people are crucially injured. Twenty-three people are moderately injured, including a crew member. Sixteen people are slightly injured and were sent to hospital. Fourteen people are also slightly injured and are in the holding area. 02:16 PM BST Singapore president says hope and pray injured flight passengers recover Singaporean President Tharman Shanmugaratnam said that we must hope and pray for the smooth recovery of 30 people injured in a turbulence-affected Singapore Airlines flight, which killed one person. The airlines Boeing 777 plane hit severe turbulence en-route to Singapore from London and was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok. My deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased, Mr Shanmugaratnam said on Facebook. 02:11 PM BST Pictured: The chaos inside the plane after the emergency landing The interior of Singapore Airline flight SG321 is pictured after an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand, May 21, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer The interior of Singapore Airline flight SG321 is pictured after an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand, May 21, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer 02:09 PM BST Plane dropped 6,000ft in five minutes Flight tracking data suggested the plane dropped more than 6,000ft in just five minutes over the Andaman Sea. The incident came as parts of Thailand were buffeted by thunderstorms as the countrys annual rainy season gets under way. At 3:35 pm the airport received a distress call from the Singapore Airlines flight saying there were passengers on board injured by turbulence, and requesting an emergency landing, Suvarnabhumi Airport said in a statement. 02:05 PM BST 18 people hospitalised The carrier said 18 individuals have been hospitalised. Another 12 are being treated in hospitals, without giving details of the nature and severity of the injuries. We deeply apologise for the traumatic experience that our passengers and crew members suffered on this flight. We are providing all necessary assistance during this difficult time, the airline said. 01:53 PM BST One person dies after Singapore Airlines flight encounters severe turbulence At least one person has died and dozens of others have been injured after a flight from London to Singapore encountered severe turbulence. A Singapore Airlines flight was forced to divert to Bangkok after a passenger was killed and 30 people were hurt, local media reported. We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER. There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board, a spokesperson for the airline said. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Fish with white only? Its time to toss out myths on wines, Modesto columnist says Are you ready to face facts? Are you ready to toss wine myths into the dump bucket and move on with your life? Dont we just want to enjoy the right wine, right here, right now? Heres my list of wine myths. if you think of any more dumb myths that we should dump, clue me in. Myth No. 1: All rose is sweet The White Zinfandel craze in the 1980s that converted the wine cooler fans to wine fans also made many consumers believe that all pink wine was sweet. Wrong! Real rose is dry and delicious with food. It is the beverage of choice in the summer months in southern Europe. Myth No. 2: Screw caps are for cheap wines Were not talking about Night Train or Thunderbird here. Were talking about quality closures for quality wines. Screw caps are the best seal for wine. Easy to open, no broken corks or gadgets needed. You can reseal the wine to save any leftover wine, or so Im told. Myth No. 3: Red wine with meat, white wine with fish Sure, this is the fail-safe equation but would you match a full blown-oaky-rich-buttery Chardonnay with a delicate dover sole? Would you pair a big young tannic Cabernet Sauvignon with veal marsala? I dont think so. Light reds like Pinot Noir or Beaujolais can work with seafood (salmon) and Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewurtztraminer and dry roses work well with light or cured meats. Myth No. 4: Pinot Noir good, merlot bad The movie Sideways is directly responsible for this myth. Miles love for Pinot Noir increased the demand, pushing up the price. Trying to cash in, many wineries flooded the market with weak, thin, schlocky and expensive Pinots. Merlot did take a dive but now theyre a great value, especially compared to $$$ Cabernets. Myth No. 5 The more expensive the wine, the better the wine I have to admit I spent $25(!!!) in a tasting of six 1974 Napa Cabernets in 1976 just after all the hype of the Paris tasting. I had to break into my piggy bank. It was great! My epiphany wine was a 1987 Caymus Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon. But we had to share it with our wine club partners! So yes, theyre good but many are way overpriced and over rated. The issue is affordability. I would rather have five bottles of sparkling Mumms than one of Veuve Cliquot Champagne. Insert your dump bucket bound wine myths here..!! Lodi region No. 1 takes five Best of California awards The 2024 California Commercial Wine Competition results are in. I noticed Region No. 1 did very well. Best of California Awards went to Acquiesce Winery and Vineyards 2022 Double Gold, 99 points, Bourboulenc and the 2023 Double Gold, 99 points, Grenache Rose, both from the Mokelumne River appellation. The next three Best of California Awards were from the San Joaquin Appellation. They are Macchias 2022 Double Gold, 99 points, Outrageous Zinfandel, St. Amant Winerys 2022 Double Gold, 98 points, Petite Sirah and Oak Farm Vineyards 2021 Double Gold Sangiovese. Also, the Best Value Wine in the competition went to Lodis Collier Creeks 2021 Double Gold, 98 points, Merlot. Well done Lodi! Whats on our table Heres another outstanding rose from the Grocery Outlet. The 2022 Terra Nostra CORSE from Corsica is 100% Sciaccarellu. Yes, I need to do some research. I bought one and I am going back for more. Just $5.99 and a delicious steal! Cheers! Questions? Comments? Find me on Facebook or at rgwinton@yahoo.com. When Sarah Harrison addressed the Texas Medical Board at a virtual hearing Monday, she added her name to the growing list of Texas women who have shared stories of being denied medically necessary abortions. Her testimony provided a timely example of exactly how confusing the states abortion laws can be in action, even to those tasked with enforcing them. Harrison, an Austin attorney, learned late last year that one of her twins was not going to survive outside the womb. Her doctors advised her to travel out of state for a selective reduction to terminate the nonviable fetus. On Monday, Harrison asked the medical board to more explicitly inform doctors they can perform selective reductions if continuing the pregnancy threatens the other fetus life. She pointed to the part of the law that says it is not an abortion if it is intended to save the life or preserve the health of an unborn child. Stephen Brint Carlton, the boards executive director, corrected her, saying that line applies to things like fetal surgeries and other interventions aimed at saving single pregnancies, not selective reductions of multiples. But then board chair Dr. Sherif Zaafran chimed in, saying that, in general, if a doctor feels a selective reduction is the standard of care and other expert physicians agree, it could potentially be allowed. Harrison pushed back, saying her doctors did believe a selective reduction to be the standard of care. Under threat of criminal prosecution and losing their license, they were not going to provide a reduction because they couldn't prove that I was at serious risk of losing my life or serious bodily function, she said. Later in the hearing, a retired OB/GYN said he didnt believe Harrison would have qualified for an abortion in Texas. Then, a health lawyer weighed in to say she agreed with Harrisons interpretation of the law. I thought that exception applied until I heard you today, Louise Joy, an attorney who advises Texas hospitals, said to Carlton. But thats the very confusion we have. This is but one example of the ongoing confusion among doctors and lawyers about how to interpret the new abortion laws. The medical board has proposed guidance to clarify some of that uncertainty, but five hours of testimony and hundreds of written comments later, its clear no one is particularly pleased with their first attempt including, it seems, the medical board itself. Zaafran said repeatedly that they would consider revisiting aspects of the proposal where doctors interpretations of the guidance was at odds with the boards intent. If the board was perfect, which were certainly not, then that would be it, Zaafran said. But having 1,000 sets of eyes [helps with] highlighting things that we may have overlooked and blind spots that we may not have been able to highlight. Guidance pushback The Texas Medical Board initially resisted calls to issue guidance to doctors on how to interpret the states new abortion laws. Even after the Texas Supreme Court called on the licensing agency to assess various hypothetical circumstances, provide best practices, identify red lines, and the like, the board averred. But after Steve and Amy Bresnen, Austin attorneys and health lobbyists, filed an official petition, the board conceded, issuing this first proposal in March. At Mondays stakeholder hearing, doctors, lawyers and advocates across the political spectrum testified that the guidance did not clarify when doctors can act and, in fact, adds additional confusion. In addition to gathering all the definitions from different abortion statutes in one place, the guidance primarily lists out what doctors are expected to document when deciding whether to perform an abortion. Unfortunately, the increased requirements for documentation are truly unworkable, testified Dr. Richard Todd Ivey, a Houston OB/GYN. The need for literature searches, attempts to transfer patients by any means available, documentation of how we determined a woman's danger of death or serious risks, the need for consultations or opinions of medical ethics committees, attempts at alternative treatments and determination of a woman's risk to support a particular method of termination. These are all incredibly cumbersome and time consuming. Several people raised concerns that the documentation could delay care in an emergency situation. A cesarean hysterectomy can lead to five liters of blood loss in three minutes, said Dr. Joseph Valenti, an OB/GYN who serves on the Texas Medical Associations Board of Trustees. We don't want to be documenting while we're having blood loss or a baby is dropping heart tones. Zaafran said it wasn't the boards intent to require a doctor to document all of these things, or to document anything before acting in an emergency situation. He said the board would work to clarify that language. Several speakers criticized the aspect of the guidance that tells doctors to document whether there was time to transfer a patient to another facility to avoid terminating the pregnancy. This provision sparked alarm among doctors and lawyers who felt it was adding an additional requirement that wasnt in the law. The requirement to determine when there was an adequate time to transfer the patient by any means available is so vague as to be unworkable, testified Molly Duane, senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights. Physicians need guidance on when they can provide abortions, not more reasons why they shouldn't. Duane said the board had an important role to play, and while some aspects of the guidance were useful, others were very confusing and will inevitably chill physicians reliance on the medical exemption. Dr. Ingrid Skop, a leading anti-abortion OB/GYN based in San Antonio, testified that she has seen firsthand what happens when doctors hesitate to act. Last week, she said, she treated a woman in the emergency room who was hemorrhaging from a miscarriage that had been diagnosed two weeks earlier. Her doctor required her to have a follow-up ultrasound before he would surgically remove the fetal tissue, she said. He could have intervened and spared the woman the emotionally and physically traumatic experience that she had in my emergency room, Skop testified. Stories like this abound in Texas not because of the laws but because of the failure of hospitals and medical industry organizations to provide guidance to physicians. Skop said her fellow doctors fears were irrational, but called on the medical board to clearly reassure them that they can rely on their reasonable medical judgment to decide when to perform an abortion. But with a potential for up to life in prison, a $100,000 fine and the loss of medical license for performing a prohibited abortion, some doctors testified that their fears are anything but irrational. These decisions should be made by a patient in consultation with their physicians, because that is the practice of medicine, Ivey testified. We as physicians want to work within the confines of the law, but we cannot do so if our hands are tied. Weighing imminence In addition to Harrison, several women who say they were denied medically necessary abortions testified at the hearing. Kate Cox, a 31-year-old Dallas mom who sued to terminate her pregnancy after a lethal fetal anomaly diagnosis, testified that this guidance would not have helped her doctors, who agreed that she needed an abortion. We should not force pregnant Texans to get sicker or to wait for an inevitable miscarriage and go through childbirth to deliver a baby that has died or will certainly die, Cox testified. It is medically reasonable to give mothers and families the best chance at building their families which may include terminating a non-viable pregnancy so they can have a chance at a viable one. I needed that chance. The Texas Supreme Court ruled that Cox did not qualify for an abortion, even as it clarified in that ruling that a medical emergency need not be imminent to justify performing the procedure. Several groups, including the anti-abortion Texas Alliance for Life, called on the board to add this language to the guidance, which Zaafran said they would consider. Zaafran said while it was clear doctors could act if there was an emergency situation, when theres a little bit more time to make a methodical judgment as to what should be done, it might require a doctor to take the additional steps listed in the guidance. Let me clarify here that this is not just like any other typical medical procedure, he said. Were talking about termination of a life here, and whether it is okay to do that. The board is considering testimony and written comments ahead of its June meeting, and will either put forward the existing guidance for a vote, or start the public comment process over again with revised guidance. Disclosure: Texas Medical Association has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. Weve got big things in store for you at The Texas Tribune Festival, happening Sept. 57 in downtown Austin. Join us for three days of big, bold conversations about politics, public policy and the days news. Correction, May 25, 2024 at 9:35 a.m. : A previous version of this story misspelled the name of Dr. Ingrid Skop. My five-year term is not over yet Zelenskyy on presidency Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, has stated while assessing his five years in the presidential office that his term has been extended due to martial law. Source: Zelenskyys interview for Reuters Details: Asked to assess his own work done within the span of the five years of presidency, Zelenskyy replied: "My five years are not over yet, they continue because of martial law". Quote: "I cannot assess my work. This is not ethical. I think that a view from the side is always more fair and I am not going to argue with this view. The truth is always somewhere in the middle." Details: Zelenskyy added that he was glad to be the president of a nation that did not turn tail, and accepted the challenges it faced. "Im proud that Im the president of Ukraine, this is my attitude towards these five years," he said. Background: On 20 May 2024 the five-year presidential term of Volodymyr Zelenskyy ended. Peter Stano, the spokesperson of the European Commission for Foreign Affairs, stressed that Ukraine cannot hold free elections because it is under attack by Russian missiles, drones and bombs, and millions of people have become displaced persons inside the country and outside its borders. Ukraines Minister of Justice Denys Maliuska believes that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not lose his legitimacy after his five-year term expires on 21 May 2024, and his powers will continue until the next head of state is elected. Support UP or become our patron! (WJW) A United Airlines flight to Chicago with 157 passengers on board was diverted to Ireland after a laptop became stuck in an inaccessible location. According to a statement to Fox 8 from United Airlines, United Flight 12 scheduled from Zurich landed safely in Shannon, Ireland, on Sunday. Local TGI Fridays permanently closed United went on to say: We provided hotel accommodations for customers and arranged for a new aircraft to take them to their destination on Monday. There were 10 crew members on board, according to United. According to FlightAware.com, the flight departed Zurich at 9:46 a.m. and was diverted to Shannon after about five hours. The flight to Chicago would have been just under 10 hours. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, lithium batteries are capable of overheating and, in some cases, fires. Spirit Airlines ends cancellation and change fees Flight crews are trained to recognize and respond to lithium battery fires in the cabin. Passengers should notify flight crew immediately if their lithium battery or device is overheating, expanding, smoking or burning, according to the FAA website. Lithium-ion and metal batteries must also be carried with passengers in the plane cabins only and can not be checked in luggage, according to the FAA. 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 Fox 8 Cleveland WJW. FLORENCE, S.C. (WBTW) The League of Women Voters of the Florence Area will host a Democratic forum next month for three candidates vying to be the citys next mayor. Mayor Teresa Myers Ervin, Councilwoman Lethonia Barnes and William Williams will go head-to-head in the forum scheduled for 6:30 p.m. June 4 at the Francis Marion University Carter Center for Health Sciences Haigh Porter Auditorium. The event is open to the public and people can email questions to the candidates by May 31. South Carolina primary elections are scheduled for June 11. Early voting starts on May 28 and continues through June 7. Early voting centers are open from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. Download the News13 app to stay updated on the go Sign up for WBTW email alerts to have breaking news sent to your inbox. Find todays top stories on WBTW.com for the Grand Strand and Pee Dee. In addition, the deadline to apply for an absentee ballot is 5 p.m. on May 31. Polling places are open on Election Day from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. * * * Taylor Ford is a digital journalist for News13. She joined the News13 team in January 2023. Taylor is a Florence native and covers the Pee Dee out of News13s Florence Bureau. Read more of Taylors work here. * * * Dennis Bright is a Digital Producer at News13. He joined the team in May 2021. Dennis is a West Virginia native and a graduate of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Follow Dennis on, Facebook, X, formerly Twitter, and read more of his work here. 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 WBTW. FLORENCE, Ala. (WHNT) A Lauderdale County Grand Jury cleared a Florence police officer involved in a deadly shooting on April 1. According to a press release from Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly, the case was presented to a grand jury this week and it returned a no bill, meaning no charges will be filed against the officer involved in the shooting. The person killed by police in the shooting was identified as 42-year-old Bart James Barcelou. Florence Police Chief Ron Tyler said at the time that officers responded to the 200 block of North Walnut Street to attempt to serve warrants to Barcelou, who had active warrants from Kane County, Utah for 3 counts of first-degree felony rape and one count of third-degree felony dealing in harmful materials to a minor by an adult. Lauderdale County Sheriff Joe Hamilton said the person had two knives in his hands during the incident. He added that officers attempted to use a less lethal taser option during the incident. Ultimately and unfortunately, the encounter resulted in a very violent end that involved shots fired from one of our police officers, Tyler stated during the news conference that afternoon. Barcelou died as a result of the shooting. After the shooting, Tyler asked the Lauderdale County Sheriffs Office to investigate since one of the departments officers were involved, and they presented their findings before the grand jury. Connolly said he also met with the widow of Barcelou to explain the grand jury process and allow her to review body cam footage before the grand jury met. 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 WHNT.com. The attorney who successfully argued two landmark medical privacy cases said he got a shot across the bow from The Florida Bar after he wrote a letter to the Florida Bar News that criticized by name three Florida Supreme Court justices for their comments and written opinions in high profile abortion cases. So George J. Felos of Dunedin returned fire with a public information request for the Bar's list of emails for licensed attorneys. He then directly sent the 1,260-word letter to the editor that its official house organ declined to publish to 77,000 Florida attorneys. Felos is perhaps best known for representing Michael Schiavo, husband of Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman in a 'persistent vegetative state' who was the focus of the right-to-die debate before her passing in 2005. Felos' letter expressed concerns about the politicization of the judiciary that he said has contributed to an increasing loss of faith among the public that the court is an independent, impartial decider of law. The Florida Bar News does not publish commentaries or opinion pieces but does accept letters. But the Bar News declined to publish his opinion piece or accept it as a paid advertisement. The rejection letter copied the language in the Bar's Professional Rules of Conduct prohibition against impugning the motive of a sitting judge, which suggests a rule violation. In this file photo, George Felos, then the attorney for Michael Schiavo, Terri Schiavo's husband, talks to the media after hearing the results of her autopsy report June 15, 2005 in Dunedin, Florida. The exchange between Felos and The Bar unfolds in advance of a November election when voters will decide a ballot initiative on whether to enshrine a right to an abortion in the state constitution. If supporters pass it, a Legislature proven hostile to abortion rights will surely test the limits of the new constitutional protection, resulting in legal challenges that will ultimately be decided by the Court. Felos and others wonder if the expected legal challenge will get a fair hearing. He was the winning attorney in two cases In re Browning (1990) and Bush v. Schiavo (2004) that resulted in rulings that established the right to make medical decisions in private and prohibited the governor from using executive authority to abolish that right. Now Felos fears those and other privacy rights are in jeopardy. In this file photo, George Felos, then the attorney for Michael Schiavo, listens to a question from a reporter during a news conference about the Terri Schiavo case, March 26, 2005 in Dunedin, Florida. In the statements justices made and the line of questions they pursued during oral arguments to uphold a 15-week abortion ban and to clear an abortion initiative for the ballot, Felos and others heard the machinations of a multi-year campaign by extreme partisans to capture the judiciary. Critics would argue that the Florida Supreme Court has been stacked with not just Republican judges, but with a certain kind of Republican justice, who in most circumstances you know how they're going to vote on an issue. Not all, but most, said University of Central Florida political scientist Aubrey Jewett in an interview about Gov. Ron DeSantis' and former President Donald Trump's judicial appointments. Felos wrote that as a lover of the rule of law it saddened him to watch our Supreme Court devolve into a third political branch of government, where decisions appear to be based upon the personal beliefs and political agendas of the justices and governor who appoints them. He quoted Chief Justice Carlos G. Muniz and Justices Jamie Grosshans and Meredith Sasso to support his conclusion that, by the justices expressing their beliefs about abortion, the public may reasonably perceive those beliefs are influencing their rulings. Aubrey Jewett, associate professor of political science at the University of Central Florida. "In his letter, Mr. Felos directly criticizes the justices by name, saying they have allowed personal beliefs to sway their decisions. We consider that a personal attack. According to our editorial policy, we do not publish letters or advertisements with personal attacks," Florida Bar spokesperson Jennifer Krell Davis said. The Supreme Court sets ethical standards for the legal profession, and The Florida Bar recommends discipline for violators. Felos took the rejection letter's use of language from the Bar's Rule of Conduct as an attempt to intimidate him. Some may conclude that (the Bar's bringing up the rule) was designed to create a chilling effect upon my constitutionally-protected, First Amendment right of freedom of expression, Felos told the USA TODAY Network-Florida. In a subtle jab at the Bar, Felos also said the rule in question encourages attorneys to speak out when they earnestly believe it is for the betterment of the judiciary. In this case, the need to protect the judiciary's independence. Im fulfilling my duty as an attorney to point out where the courts have gone astray, Felos said. "As the enforcer of these rules, I'm both sad and sorry to see that The Florida Bar is unable to facilitate the spirit of that rule." The Bar did not respond directly to a question about whether taking language from its Rule 4-8.2 to reject a letter to the editor was meant to intimidate Felos. Krell Davis said, however, The Florida Bar News' decision to reject Felos' piece adhered to an editorial policy to limit letters to 350 words and prohibit personal attacks. The dispute is a collision of competing values, according to Jewett, a co-author of Florida Politics, a several decade-long analysis of Florida's governors, legislature and judiciary. Jewett said judicial ethics requires Bar members not to do or say things that bring the judicial system into disrepute. Because the whole idea is that were supposed to encourage the average Floridian to respect the judiciary and have faith in the judiciary and believe that the judiciary is objective, and that it will seek justice for whoever comes before the bench, he added. But the crux of Felos argument, according to Jewett, is that the justices are saying and making rulings that lead people to lose faith that Florida has an objective, neutral judiciary. Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Carlos Muniz listens to arguments on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022 in a case concerning Marsy's Law. Felos outlined in the piece he submitted to the Bar News how both former Trump's and DeSantis' appointment of judges with known anti-abortion credentials has undermined the publics faith that court decisions are based upon underlying legal principles. That is not a subjective statement," Jewett said. Approval of the U.S. Supreme Court is at 41%, a historic low in Gallup polling. Jewett suspect numbers for the Florida Supreme Court would be in the same range. Critics can clearly point out how Republican President Trump and Republican Gov. DeSantis picked Federalist Society members who came with strong recommendations from conservative insiders that basically vouched that they would vote a certain way, Jewett said. The Federalist Society is a 42-year-old association of attorneys, professors and law students with a mission to challenge "a form of orthodox liberal ideology which advocates a centralized and uniform society." Florida Supreme Court Justice Meredith Sasso listens to arguments on the proposed abortion amendment on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. Muniz, Sasso, Grosshans and Justice Renatha Francis were all reported members of the Federalist Society when appointed by DeSantis and are named in Felos' opinion piece. Exhibit A in Felos argument that the Florida Supreme Court has gone astray are Muniz's and Grosshans' musings about a fetus and the section of the Florida Constitution that grants all "natural persons" an inalienable right "to enjoy life." In one opinion, Grosshans wrote that the court has yet to address whether the provision applies "to the unborn and, if so, what the scope of those rights could be. And during oral arguments in the challenge to the abortion rights initiative on Feb. 7, Muniz said, "I dont know that I could affirmatively say that the term natural person doesnt, as a matter of ordinary meaning, include the unborn. Such statements shocked Felos: Thats an expression of his personal beliefs. If you believe the unborn to be human beings, of course, youre going to extend legal rights to them. A court spokesman said members of the Supreme Court have the opportunity to speak in open court and through their opinions, but that judicial ethics limit their commentary beyond that. Florida Supreme Court Justice Jamie R. Grosshans listens to arguments in the 15-week abortion hearing on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023. "Justices must remain neutral on issues that may come before the court in the future," Paul Flemming said. "For these reasons it would be inappropriate for justices to comment or to provide a statement." Felos said he launched no personal attacks against any of the sitting justices, as the rejection letter from the Bar says he did. He maintains he only cited their words and drew conclusions from what had been said. Jewett added: I think a critic would say, if anybodys impugning (the justices') integrity, its their own rulings. Felos said he would have dropped the matter after the commentary was rejected if the Bar News hadnt suggested he committed a rules violation. When it did, Felos got the Bar's membership roster and entered it into an mass email sending service, which sent his letter to 77,000 Bar members, so they could decide who impugned who, he explained. Its (The Bar's) newspaper. They can choose to print what they want. But when they (said) theyre not (running it) because it impugns the motives of the justices by name, it does not. Thats false. Thats why I sent it out. This embedded content is not available in your region. James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com and is on X as @CallTallahassee. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FL Supreme Court abortion remarks spark debate between attorney, bar ORLANDO, Fla. An 11-year-old boy is charged with homicide after fatally shooting his aunt in their Ocoee home last week, according to the Ocoee Police Department. The child was taken into custody by Ocoee police officers who responded to a house on Idaho Court on Friday morning where the boy was said to have shot the woman, an agency spokesperson said. The victim was taken to a hospital in Apopka where she died. Its not clear what led to the shooting or how the child, who lived with the victim, had access to a gun. The Sentinel submitted a request for the arrest affidavit and reports detailing the shooting, which the Police Department denied citing an active investigation. An agency spokesperson on Friday said there were no other suspects. The Orange-Osceola State Attorneys Office has not said if prosecutors intend to charge the boy as an adult. A spokesperson said they could not comment, as the case is currently in juvenile court. The child appeared in court Saturday, where a woman claiming to be the victims daughter asked a judge to allow family to visit the him, which the judge granted, WFTV reported. That cousin, the TV station added, said the child had been living with the victim since he was 6 weeks old. The Orlando Sentinel is not publishing the name of the victim to protect the identity of the child. ------- Video above: Biden and Trump hit the campaign trail TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) A Florida man was indicted on several federal charges last week after he was accused of threatening to kill former Secretary of State and former First Lady Hillary Clinton. Eric Evan Brown, 57, posted a threatening message to his X account on April 7 that mentioned Clinton, according to a criminal complaint from the Department of Justice. Remember that Mr President Donald Trump I will kill this whole f****** country to get my f****** pedophiles that rape the children of God I will kill you Hillary and I will wipe this country Park to get it, Brown wrote, court documents stated. Browns IP address was traced to an RV park in White Springs, which is located north of Lake City. Park management confirmed that there was a man staying there with the name Eric Brown. He was accused of behaving aggressively toward Secret Service agents when they visited him at his home on May 9. According to the complaint, Brown, who had a knife clipped to his pants pocket, told agents, Get out of here. Ill f****** kill you! When agents told Brown they just wanted to talk about his concerning social media post, he said that his past actions were not illegal. The conversation deteriorated as Brown continued to become more enraged and yelled at agents to leave. Youre lucky I didnt shoot you, Brown said, according to the complaint. Agents reported Brown saying Hillary Clinton killed by family as they left the property. They later received a call from the RV park management accusing Brown of threatening to kill another resident who saw his interaction with federal agents. Brown was also accused of grabbing his dog by the collar and throwing it back into his RV while kicking it. He was indicted by a grand jury on May 15 on charges of transmission of a threat to kill or injure, threats against Secret Service protectees, two counts of forcibly assaulting a federal officer without the use of a deadly weapon, and two counts of threatening a federal official. Brown made his first appearance in federal court on Monday and was ordered to be detained until trial. If convicted, he faces 10 years in prison for each count of threatening a federal official, up to 8 years for each count of forcibly assaulting a federal officer, and up to 5 years for the transmission of a threat and threat against a U.S. Secret Service protectee. 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 WFLA. Children in the womb exposed to higher levels of fluoride later were more likely to experience temper tantrums, headaches, stomachaches, anxiety, and symptoms linked to autism, a new study finds. A new study suggests a link between greater fluoride intake in pregnancy and toddlers with behavioral problems. Children in the womb exposed to higher levels of fluoride a mineral found naturally in water in varying amounts later were more likely to experience temper tantrums, headaches, stomachaches, anxiety and symptoms linked to autism, according to research published Monday in JAMA Network Open. Children whose mothers had higher levels of fluoride were 83% more likely to show internalizing behavioral problems, the study authors said. Getty Images Exposure to fluoride during pregnancy does not mean that a child will experience greater neurobehavioral problems, senior study author Tracy Bastain, an associate professor of clinical population and public health sciences at the University of Southern Californias Keck School of Medicine, told The Post. We found an association between higher prenatal exposure and more neurobehavioral problems at age 3 but more studies are needed to establish a causal link, she explained. Data for the study came from USCs MADRES Center for Environmental Health Disparities. MADRES follows predominantly Hispanic families in Los Angeles from pregnancy throughout childhood. Researchers calculated fluoride exposure from urine samples collected from 229 pregnant moms during their third trimester. Children whose mothers had higher levels of fluoride were 83% more likely to show internalizing behavioral problems, the study authors said. No tie was found to externalizing behaviors such as aggression and attention problems. There are no known benefits to the fetus from ingesting fluoride, one of the study authors said. Getty Images/iStockphoto This is the first US-based study to examine this association, lead study author Ashley Malin, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Floridas College of Public Health and Health Professions and College of Medicine, said in a statement. Our findings are noteworthy, given that the women in this study were exposed to pretty low levels of fluoride levels that are typical of those living in fluoridated regions within North America, she added. Communities have been adding fluoride to their drinking water for decades to help prevent tooth decay. Fluoride has been shown to strengthen enamel, inhibit the growth of bacteria andreplenish lost minerals. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of 2020, more than 209 million people, or 72.7% of the US population, receive fluoridated water through public water systems. The researchers suggest pregnant women drink filtered tap water even some tabletop pitcher filters do a pretty good job of filtering fluoride. Getty Images However, the anti-fluoridation movement is hoping to reduce that number. Anti-fluoridationists say fluoridation violates their health freedom, with some even successfully pushing for bans in their cities. Others point to a 2019 Canadian study in the journal JAMA Pediatrics that tied higher levels of fluoride exposure during pregnancy to lower IQ scores for 3- and 4-year-olds. The authors of that study stopped short of recommending fluoridation bans but did say these findings indicate the possible need to reduce fluoride intake during pregnancy. The authors of the new study are also not saying that water should not be fluoridated, instead suggesting the need to establish recommendations for limiting fluoride exposure during the prenatal period. There are no known benefits to the fetus from ingesting fluoride, Malin said. And yet now we have several studies conducted in North America suggesting that there may be a pretty significant risk to the developing brain during that time. Bastain told The Post that studies conducted in North America over the last seven years have associated exposure to fluoride during pregnancy with adverse outcomes such as reduction in IQ, greater ADHD symptoms and altered executive function and cognition. Bastain and her colleagues plan to explore how exposure to fluoride during pregnancy affects brain development among infants. In the meantime, the research team suggests pregnant women drink filtered tap water even some tabletop pitcher filters do a pretty good job of filtering fluoride, Bastain said. Former aide to New York City mayor cooperating with federal authorities in corruption probe A former aide to New York City mayor Eric Adams is co-operating with federal authorities in a investigation into allegations of corruption against him (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) A former aide to Eric Adams is assisting federal authorities in an investigation into corruption allegations against the New York City mayor, according to a report. Rana Abbasova served as Mr Adams long-time liaison with the Turkish community, as well as acting as the director of protocol for the Mayors Office for International Affairs. Scrutiny of the mayor began last November when the Brooklyn home of his top fundraiser, Brianna Suggs, was raided by FBI agents. They were reportedly looking for evidence that his 2021 mayoral campaign had conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal donations. Ms Abbasovas cooperation was first reported on Monday by The New York Times, which cited three sources close to the matter, marking the latest development in the investigation. The outlet noted that it was not clear what information Ms Abbasova had provided to the federal authorities but that she has been involved in or has had knowledge of some of the mayors dealings with Turkish government officials and businessmen, per emails. Investigators are looking for evidence that Eric Adams 2021 mayoral campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal donations (Getty Images for Haute Living) She also helped coordinate events and meetings with members of the Turkish community in New York and abroad and arranged some of his travel, accompanying him on two official trips to Turkey, records cited by The Times have shown. Ms Abbasova, who worked for Mr Adams for around four years before he became mayor, has not been accused of wrongdoing. A spokesperson for Ms Abbasova declined to comment on the matter when contacted by The Independent. The Independent has also attempted to contact the FBI and US District Attorneys office by telephone. Following the raid on Ms Suggs residence on November 2 2023, Mr Adams cancelled meetings in Washington DC and returned to New York to deal with a matter, according to a spokesperson. The mayor later confirmed that he had hired legal counsel, but has not admitted to any wrongdoing. The federal investigation has since broadened to look into whether the mayor crossed any lines during his time as Brooklyn borough president when he intervened to help the Turkish consulate secure approval to open a 35-story skyscraper near the United Nations. One of the lawyers representing Mr Adams, Brendan R McGuire, said in a statement shared with The Times that Ms Abbasovas cooperation was not a new or meaningful development. It is our understanding that Ms Abbasova has been talking to investigators since her improper conduct was reported by the administration in November, the statement said. In November, the FBI raided the Brooklyn residence of the mayors top fundraiser, Brianna Suggs, as part of the investigation into corruption allegations against him (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) The warrant used to raid Ms Suggs residence was intended to find evidence that campaign staff allegedly conspired with a Brooklyn-based developer, KSK Construction, the Turkish government or Turkish nationals to violate campaign finance laws. Foreign nationals are prohibited from making campaign contributions, but investigators are trying to determine if foreign nationals used people in New Yorks Turkish-American communities to act as straw contributors. Straw contributors are those who use someone elses money to make a political contribution using their own name. Mr Adams has also been accused of working with FDNY officials to fast-track the building inspection process as favors to powerful real estate developers and political donors. In February, the FBI also raided two high-ranking New York fire chiefs homes as part of the corruption investigation, with questions raised as to whether Brian Cordasco and Anthony Saccavino had been paid $100,000 as part of a scheme to expedite building inspections. As with Mr Adams and Ms Abbasova, the two men have also not been charged with wrongdoing. A spokesperson for the Mayors Office previously told The Independent that the investigation into Mr Cordasco and Mr Saccavino was unrelated to Mr Adams. The mayor has longstanding ties with Turkish government officials and institutions as well as the Turkish-American community in New York. During a flag-raising ceremony just six days before the FBI raids, Mr Adams declared New York City is the Istanbul of America. Im probably the only mayor in the history of this city that has not only visited Turkey once, but I think Im on my sixth or seventh visit to Turkey, he boasted. Former gas station is an eyesore in Alliance. Will it ever come down? The property at 2021 W. State St. in Alliance, the site of an abandoned gas station, has been owned by Sunil Gulati and GGII Investments LLC since Sept. 6, 2011, according to Stark County Auditor's Office. ALLIANCE In the Kohl's parking lot, there's an abandoned gas station. It's an eyesore. You can't miss it. The station sticks out as you drive past along busy West State Street, the major thoroughfare in the city limits. We've heard plenty of questions will it ever come down; will the property ever be re-developed; why has it been left to sit unattended for so long? Here's what we've learned. The property at 2021 W. State St. has been owned since 2011 by Sunil "Sonny" Gulati of GGII Investments LLC, out of Tampa, Florida. Gulati also owns Florida Testing and Environmental Inc. in Lakeland, Fla. The station, built in 1979, has been condemned by the city of Alliance. It's unclear when the station permanently closed, but inspection labels on the pumps show the years 2010-2011. At that time, it was branded USA Gasoline. For awhile, this abandoned gas station at 2021 W. State St. in Alliance has been an eyesore in front of a retail plaza that includes Kohl's. Inspection labels on the pump stations were for years 2010-2011. The property is owned by a Florida investor. Multiple city officials, including Safety-Service Director Mike Dreger, and Rick Baxter, president of Alliance Area Chamber of Commerce, said they want the station cleaned up, removed and/or re-developed, but they can't get Gulati on-board. There have been some rumors that Gulati might be attempting to do something with the property, officials said. Multiple calls and emails to Gulati have not been returned. The last attempt by phone on Monday was met by a full voicemail. "While I and others from Alliance have talked to him in the past, he is very hard to reach and generally has been unresponsive," Dreger said. Reach Benjamin Duer at 330-580-8567 or ben.duer@cantonrep.com. On X (formerly Twitter): @bduerREP This article originally appeared on The Repository: Florida man owns abandoned gas station in Alliance that is an eyesore Former Manhattan mayor pleads not guilty to DUI charge after crashing into liquor store MANHATTAN (KSNT) After crashing into a liquor store and being arrested for a DUI, the former Manhattan Mayor entered a non guilty plea at his first court appearance. Former Manhattan Mayor Winfried Butler appeared in court for the first time Tuesday, May 21 after being arrested for driving under the influence and crashing into a local liquor store two weeks ago. According to Manhattan Municipal Courts, Butler entered a not guilty plea. Butlers next court appearance will be 4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 26. Around 8:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 8, Butler was arrested after crashing his car into Candlewood Liquor, according to the Riley County Police Department (RCPD). He was arrested for driving under the influence. According to the RCPD, there estimated total of loss to the liquor store is over $1,000. $500,000 to enhance tourism in Kansas have been awarded A spokesman with the City of Manhattan told 27 News Butler resigned effective Thursday morning, May 9. City Commissioner Susan Adamchak took on the role as mayor upon Butlers resignation. For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. 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 KSNT 27 News. Major General Ivan Popov, the former commander of Russia's 58th Army, was arrested on May 21 on suspicion of fraud, the state-run media outlet TASS reported. Several high-level Russian officials have been arrested in recent weeks on corruption-related charges. In what was likely the highest-profile corruption case in Russia since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was arrested in April on charges of bribery. Popov was arrested as part of a wider investigation involving large-scale fraud, TASS said. The military court and law enforcement agencies confirmed his arrest but did not provide any more details. Popov was dismissed from his position in July 2023 after he reportedly bypassed the command of Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov and attempted to directly appeal to the Kremlin over grievances about the lack of rotation of his troops and other poor conditions on the battlefield. Read also: Russian media: Russian official in Urals region arrested on suspicion of bribery Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Former Saline County librarian honored after months-long controversy regarding censorship SALINE COUNTY, Ark A former Saline County librarian is turning the page on a new story, hoping it will inspire others to stick up for what they believe in. Patty Hector was awarded the 2024 Lemony Snicket Prize from the American Library Association. The award is given out to noble librarians who are face with adversity. Former Saline County librarian to receive national award Hector first made headlines in 2023, when she became the center of a debate in Saline County. After a new county ordinance was passed, Hector was asked to relocate books from the childrens section that were deemed inappropriate by the Saline County Republican Party. At the time, Hector refused, claiming the removal was based on political beliefs and was targeting books based on LGBTQ and race. To me equal rights for people is the line that I will not cross, Hector said. Saline County library director fired Hector was ultimately fired from her position as Saline County Library Director. At the time, David Gibson with the Republican party told KARK 4, This move has everything to do with protecting children and has nothing to do with politics. Hector disagrees. Despite everything that happened, Hector said she doesnt regret sticking to her morals and beliefs. She said shes happy that someone is finally recognizing her efforts. People have the right to read whatever they want, Hector said. Saline County library director terminated after months of controversy The American Library Association said Hector was awarded the prize because of her unwavering commitment to intellectual freedom and her resilience in the face of adversity. Previous winners include librarians who endured natural disasters, fought through life altering illnesses, and against a community trying to censor books. Former Saline County Library Director runs for seat on County Quorum Court that allowed her to be fired after months of controversy After months of unfortunate events, Hector said she can finally rest easy, knowing her story has a happy ending. Her message to other librarians is to stand strong and stand up for what they believe. Stand strong. Follow your personal ethics and your professional ethics. You have to stand up to bullies, Hector stated. Hector will be honored at the American Library Association conference in June in San Diego, California. 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 KARK. Former SLO Cal Fire employee cannot withdraw guilty plea, must register as sex offender The former Cal Fire captain who is accused of groping a coworker cannot withdraw his guilty plea to sexual battery, a judge ruled Wednesday. Former Cal Fire Capt. James Peter Thomas, 59, was accused of assaulting his 37-year-old coworker, Carrie Young, on Dec. 20, 2020. He was charged with misdemeanor sexual battery in January 2021 and pleaded no contest to the crime on May 1. In a September court hearing that was originally scheduled to be his sentencing, Thomas claimed he did not know that his no-contest plea, which functions the same as a guilty plea without admitting direct fault, would require him to register as a sex offender for 10 years. San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Michael Frye ruled in favor of Thomas at the time, and a trial date was set. But later, the San Luis Obispo District Attorneys Office submitted a motion to reconsider the decision, and that ruling was vacated. Thomas attorney, Kevin Gres, then had to file a written motion to withdraw his clients plea. According to a Dec. 1 motion, Gres claims that there was no mention of adding his name to the sex offender registry at the time Thomas entered his plea. He said the judge instructed both parties in the case to discuss in their sentencing briefs whether the registration would be mandatory or discretionary. The motion said Thomas was notified about the sex offender registry requirement about a month after his plea. The judge, realizing that Mr. Thomas was possibly just informed of that, allowed defense counsel time to inquire whether a plea withdrawal was warranted. The motion says the court backtracked its September ruling and required to have a hearing on withdrawing the plea based solely on procedural defects and not the merits. San Luis Obispo County Deputy District Attorney Bianca Aguayo told Frye during the September hearing that Thomas had been advised on multiple occasions about the sex offender registration requirement, both before and after he entered his plea. Aguayo also noted that the probation department goes over the parameters of pleas with defendants, adding that withdrawing the plea the day Thomas is supposed to be sentenced does raise suspicion. According to the District Attorneys written response, Thomas did not have good cause to withdraw his plea and reiterated that Thomas had been advised about the sex offender registration. Aguayo called multiple attorneys, including Thomas past and present lawyers, as witnesses to the motion. The defense called attorneys and Thomas as well. Frye ultimately agreed with Aguayo and denied Thomas motion to withdraw his plea after hearing arguments from both sides. Thomas is now scheduled to be sentenced on June 5 and will have his name included on Californias sex offender registry for 10 years. His sentencing has been delayed by a month five separate times prior to Wednesdays hearing. Victim settled $1.75 million case with Cal Fire Young told The Tribune she was working as a chiefs assistant at the time of the assault. The trauma she endured, she said, eventually led to suicidal ideation, coping with substances and eventually homelessness. The legal process continued to retraumatize Young for the past three years, she told The Tribune. She was looking forward to putting the case behind her so she could focus on her emotional healing. She settled a $1.75 million negligence claim against Cal Fire for an undisclosed amount on Aug. 31 and now has a roof over her head for the first time in a year. A Virginia woman who was at the forefront of school desegregation is sharing her experiences, and the hatred she endured, 65 years later. In February 1959, then-14-year-old Betty Kilby stepped into the history books as one of the 21 Black students who first attended her formerly segregated local high school, responding to the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous Brown v. Board of Education decision fewer than five years earlier declaring "separate but equal" to be unconstitutional, paving the way for the racial integration of public schools in America. VIDEO: A look at the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education (ABCNews.com) On their radios and televisions at home, Kilby and her friends heard parents and governors say that what they were doing was wrong. James Lindsay Almond Jr., the governor of Virginia at the time, said that the integration and mixing of the races in Virginia would "absolutely destroy public education." Kilby, now a civil rights activist and author, remembers everything about that day in February nearly 70 years ago outside Warren County High School in northern Virginia. She recalls how tightly she held on to her clipboard, how cold it was, and how cold they were. "They told us not to look at the people, not to look at the crowd, to remain focused on going up the hill," Kilby recalled. "The memory of going up that hill will never cease from my brain. I could hear the racial slurs. We just thought that that would be the day that we died." During her senior year, Kilby said she was walking alone when a group of white students pulled her into a room. MORE: 70 years after Brown v. Board of Education, many schools remain segregated: Data analysis "And as I cross the auditorium one day, I was grabbed," Kilby said, becoming emotional at the memory. "And I was raped. And at that point I begged God to take me home." Yet Kilby told no one then about what had happened, saying that if she'd told her father, "he would have probably tried to kill somebody." Many people believe that the Supreme Court's May 17, 1954 decision to integrate American schools involved just one case from Topeka, Kansas. But it was actually a combination of fights from across the country including one from Virginia. Today, surviving students of what was then Moton High School, a segregated Black school in northern Virginia, celebrate their walkout that led to one of the lawsuits. "We had no library. We had no cafeteria, we had no science lab," said former student Joan Cobbs. "Also we had hand-me-down books from the white school. And they were tattered and torn. So, what happened is we went out on a strike for two weeks." Over 60 years later, their story caught the attention of a group of talented Virginia high school students, who produced an award-winning documentary about it. The students learned how the Black students stayed safe by organizing their schedules so they could walk together between classes. They also heard about the principals and teachers who refused to even say hello. "It's one thing to read about history in a textbook, but when that person who made that history is standing in front of you, that really just gives you a deeper passion to share that history," said student filmmaker Elizabeth Kidd. "We can't forget the lessons of the past if we want to make change for the future," added fellow student filmmaker Pria Dua. The former segregated Moton High School, where the students walked out in the 1950s, is now a museum. "Children paid the price. I paid the price," said Kilby, remembering that time, more than two generations ago. "I gave up my innocence to integrate these schools. Not because we wanted better. We wanted the same." Former student shares memories of school integration fight 70 years ago originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a ceremony marking Memorial Day for fallen soldiers of Israel's wars and victims of attacks at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl military cemetery Monday, May 13, 2024. (Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool Photo via AP) WASHINGTON (AP) Former national security adviser Robert OBrien on Tuesday said he and two U.S. ambassadors who served in the Trump administration met with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials from the country. John Rakolta, who served under Trump as ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, and Ed McMullen, who served as ambassador to Switzerland, participated in the meeting. Reuters reported first on the meeting. Former President Donald Trump is the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee challenging President Joe Bidens reelection. OBrien notified the Biden administration of the trip, as it is routine for former senior officials. The meeting happened as the United States-Israel relations hit a low point over Bidens decision to hold up the delivery of heavy bombs. He has warned other provisions may be suspended as well if Israel takes on a widescale operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. On Monday, however, both countries strongly condemned an effort by the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor to seek arrest warrants for Israeli officials in connection with the Gaza war. Biden said the U.S. would stand with Israel. The Gaza war has been a challenge for both leaders, whose political futures are at risk. Trump has criticized Biden, accusing him of abandoning a key ally. And Biden also faces pro-Palestinian protests in campuses. Netanyahu vowed to destroy Hamas after the Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and some 250 were taken hostage. His critics have blamed him for the failures of Oct. 7 and have accused him of prolonging the war for his political survival. The Trump administration advisers also met with Israel's opposition leader Yair Lapid and other officials. ______ Gomez Licon reported from Miami. FORT NOVOSEL, Ala. (WDHN)Amid online rumors that Fort Novosel could lose hundreds of millions of dollars, Alabama Congressman Barry Moore says the post will not have any funding pulled. Several general officers from the Army briefed Moore and his staff and assured Moores team that no funds would be diverted from Fort Novosel in the wake of the social media rumors. The Army also confirmed to Moore that no training programs have been disrupted or halted at Fort Novosel. I am pleased to hear that no funds have been diverted and no training programs will be disrupted at Fort Novosel, said Moore. Fort Novosel is vital to our national security and provides thousands of jobs to my constituents. I will continue to fight for accountability and transparency in how taxpayer dollars are used by the Army and other government agencies while also ensuring that our military is ready to meet the demands of an increasingly hostile world. RELATED: Moore questions Ft. Novosel cuts rumors, to meet with Army Those rumors began circulating after a post on X (formally known as Twitter) claimed that almost all of the funds for training at the Army Aviation Center at Fort Novosel were being taken away and allocated for Ukraine and other foreign aid. When the rumors first surfaced, Fort Novosel officials praised Moore and other congressional leaders for standing behind the post. 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 WDHN - wdhn.com. The Fort Worth City Council voted Tuesday to approve the transition from MedStar ambulance service to fire department-based EMS. MedStar has been the sole ambulance provider for Fort Worth and the surrounding area since 1986. The new EMS model will bring MedStar employees on board to serve as paramedics and emergency medical technicians on ambulances run by the Fort Worth Fire Department. MedStar serves over 1 million residents in Fort Worth and 13 surrounding cities, including Haltom City, Lake Worth, Saginaw, Westworth Village and White Settlement. Council member Carlos Flores said the landscape of emergency medical services has gone through major changes, and the current model isnt sustainable. I want to commend MedStar and its leadership and its rank and file for doing a tremendous job to date, Flores said before the vote. They have been fighting an uphill battle. They ran out of financial runway, but they did not run out of dedication. Were here to change the system to a sustainable model. MedStar received subsidies from Fort Worth and the other member cities until 2010. Expenses were low at that time, according to MedStar officials, and the income generated from insurance payments and a community paramedicine program made the ambulance service provider self-sustaining for a time. Rising costs prompted MedStar to request funding from the City Council for the 2024 fiscal year. In early August, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker formed an Ad Hoc Council Committee on Emergency Medical Response to assess MedStars services and review other EMS models. They city hired an independent consultant, Fitch and Associates, to do a deep dive into Fort Worths EMS system and give regular reports to the ad hoc committee. The committee considered four EMS models, including retaining MedStar in its current role but transferring governance to the Fort Worth City Council. In April, it recommended a fire department-based model incorporating current MedStar employees who would serve on ambulances but not work as firefighters. Michael Glynn, the president of the Fort Worth Professional Firefighters Association, told the City Council that the transition will be a big change for the fire department, but they are looking forward to it. I believe that the decision you are about to make is good for the citizens, is good for the employees of MedStar and is good for the Fort Worth Fire Department, Glynn said. Other North Texas cities, including Dallas, Irving, Lewisville, Flower Mound and Burleson use fire-based EMS. Burleson made the transition from MedStar to its own in-house fire-based ambulance service in October. Fort Worth officials have been working closely with the member cities during the assessment process, according to assistant city manager Valerie Washington. We want to make sure we understand their perspectives, she told the Star-Telegram during a March phone interview. The transition is expected to take anywhere from 12 to 18 months. Matt Zavadsky, MedStars former chief transformation officer, previously told the Star-Telegram that they would support whatever decision the council makes. Whatever its going to take to make a smooth transition and make sure that the new system is as operationally efficient, and clinically proficient as possible, we want to help facilitate that, Zavadsky said. More top stories from our newsroom: Palo Pinto state park opening delayed, but we got a sneak peek Tarrant inmate has mental capacity of a child. His mother is begging DA to get him care. Are those people selling puppies in parking lots breaking Texas law? [Get our breaking news alerts.] Pro-Palestinian protestors gathered outside 14-A District Court awaiting details on the four people arrested in Ann Arbor, May 24, 2024 | Jon King Four people were arrested after University of Michigan campus police began clearing out the encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters Tuesday morning from the Diag. Video posted to social media by the student-led TAHRIR Coalition show officers with shields and helmets using chemical spray to move the protestors of the Diag. Melissa Overton, a spokesperson for U of Ms Division of Public Safety and Security, said that the action occurred just before 6 a.m. Officers issued three verbal warnings over a 15-minute period, asking the approximately 50 people who were in the encampment to leave voluntarily before being subject to arrest, said Overton. A university spokesperson confirmed that four people were arrested, but had no other information as to what charges they face. However, Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit told the Michigan Advance that as of 11 a.m., his office had yet to receive any police reports or charge requests. In a statement issued Tuesday morning, University President Santa Ono said the decision to clear the encampment was made after a Friday inspection by the university fire marshal determined that were a fire to occur, a catastrophic loss of life was likely. [T]he fire marshal and Student Life leaders asked camp occupants to remove external camp barriers, refrain from overloading power sources, and stop using open flames, said Ono. The protesters refused to comply with these requests. That forced the university to take action and this morning, we removed the encampment. University of Michigan spokesperson Colleen Mastony said while the university recognizes the importance of free speech and expression, it also have a duty to protect students, faculty, staff and visitors to campus. The disregard for safety directives was the latest in a series of troubling events centered on the encampment. Individuals will continue to be welcome to protest as they always have at the University of Michigan, so long as those protests do not infringe on the rights of others, endanger our community, violate the law or disrupt university operations, said Mastony. By mid-morning, crews were power-washing the Diag where the encampment had been, which remained cordoned off by campus police. The protesters, meanwhile, had regrouped and gathered outside the 14-A District Court building several miles away, where they led a picket outside. Leading the group was Salma Hamamy, with the Students For Justice and Palestine chapter at the University of Michigan. She told the Advance that the rationale offered by Ono didnt ring true. The structure of the encampment has remained the same for the last 30 days, she said. I dont see how anything new has caused a fire hazard. People are very easily able to walk in and out of the encampment and we have gatherings in there all the time. Its a very open space. So I just genuinely feel like thats an excuse for him to justify raiding the encampment. Hamamy, who was present when the police showed up, said the situation escalated very quickly, and despite being given a 10-minute warning to leave, that was cut short and officers moved in. They had their batons out. They came prepared in riot gear with tear gas and pepper spray, and every inch that they took and stepped forward, they used that to push students back, said Hamamy. The tents have very long metal poles. Those were essentially flying around, almost hitting students in the face, with very little regard to what the equipment might potentially do to harm people. Hamamy called it a very unfortunate and frightening and traumatic experience, but not one that would deter them. The movement lies within the people, not necessarily the tents that we put up within the encampment itself. And its still going to carry on, and its still going to persist, especially with these felony charges that we see coming out against more and more student protesters, she said. Tuesdays arrests are just the latest escalation in the standoff between the university and protesters demanding a complete divestment from companies and institutions connected to Israel in light of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. On Thursday, Savits office announced charges had been filed against four individuals for assaulting police officers during a sit-in at Onos office. That announcement came a day after demonstrators appeared outside the homes of U of Ms Board of Regents, including Chair Sarah Hubbard and Regent Jordan Acker. This is a breaking story that will be updated. The post Four arrested as U of M sends in police to remove pro-Palestinian encampment appeared first on Michigan Advance. Four officer-involved shootings in the span of 3 weeks, what are the potential impacts? Four officer-involved shootings in the span of 3 weeks, what are the potential impacts? CHARLOTTE, NC (QUEEN CITY NEWS) Over the weekend, police in Gastonia got a call about a violent domestic situation on Saturday afternoon shortly after 1 p.m. on South King Street. When officers got to the home, they say a woman with multiple guns started shooting. Officers returned fire, said Gastonia Police Chief Trent Conard. Both of our officers returned fire. One of our officers was shot multiple times. Queen City News has confirmed the officer is stable. The suspect, who has yet to be identified by police, was shot and killed. Almost a week ago, an off-duty police sergeant shot and killed a suspected shoplifter at a Food Lion in Pineville. Investigators say the suspect got in a fight with officers after a brief foot chase to nearby apartments, and reached for one of their guns after he was unaffected by a police Taser. The name of the officer who fired the deadly shot hasnt been released. Gastonia woman charged after firing rounds in Walmart parking lot with kids in car The man killed was Dennis Bodden, who, according to police, was a chronic shoplifting suspect at that particular Food Lion with violent tendencies toward police and the public. Former CMPD officer Walter Bowers weighs in on how shooting circumstances can impact recruitment numbers in various ways. When you see a situation where the community turns against law enforcement, I think that has a more negative impact, Bowers said, in comparison to when officers give it all in service of the community. Back in Gastonia, police just announced the arrest of Tanez Sanders, who now faces 5 felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, and armed terror to the public. Shes accused of trying to shoot a good Samaritan on May 9th after she crashed her car into a tree in the Walmart parking lot on East Franklin Boulevard. The whole incident was perplexing to police. When officers got to the Walmart, they say Sanders just started shooting. Police shot back, hitting her resulting in minor injuries. She had three children in the car, ages 10, 7 and 1, all of them are okay. These three officer-involved shootings follow the tragic one that took the lives of four law enforcement officers on April 29th and left multiple other officers injured. Queen City News Shannon Park Shooting U.S. Marshals were serving a warrant in Shannon Park on Galway Drive in east Charlotte when they were met with gunfire. CMPD officer Joshua Eyer, Investigator Samuel Poloche, Investigator William Alden Elliott and U.S. Marshall Thomas Weeks Junior all lost their lives, and all left behind wives and children. The impact of their loss will likely be a heavyweight for law enforcement to carry. In my opinion, that can stick with an officer indefinitely, Bowers said. because, its like every day they show up to their assignment to go on patrol or whatever work day they do. They have to deal with that potential circumstance happening every every day. 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 Queen City News. FILE PHOTO: An exterior view of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. PARIS (Reuters) -France backs the International Criminal Court and the "fight against impunity", its foreign ministry said after the ICC prosecutor requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes. On Monday, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said he had requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his defence chief Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders, including its chief, Yahya Sinwar. If such warrants are issued, members of the court, which includes nearly all countries of the European Union, could be put in a diplomatically difficult position. "France supports the International Criminal Court, its independence and the fight against impunity in all situations," the foreign ministry said in a statement late on Monday. While U.S. President Joe Biden called the legal step against Israeli officials "outrageous", the French foreign ministry took a different stance. It reiterated both its condemnation of Hamas's 'anti-Semitic massacres' on Oct. 7 as well as its warnings over possible violations of international humanitarian law by Israel's invasion of the Gaza strip. "As far as Israel is concerned, it will be up to the court's pre-trial chamber to decide whether to issue these warrants, after examining the evidence put forward by the prosecutor," the ministry said. Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne told the National Assembly on Tuesday that the "simultaneous" warrant requests must not establish an "equivalency" between Hamas and Israel. "On one side you have a terrorist group that congratulated itself on the Oct. 7 attacks...and on the other side you have a democracy, Israel, that must respect international law while conducting a war it did not start," Sejourne said. (Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; additional reporting by Dominique Vidalon, Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Christina Fincher) The ICC said it had evidence to charge Benjamin Netanyahu with crimes against humanity - ABIR SULTAN/AFP France has backed the International Criminal Courts application for arrest warrants against Israeli officials, in stark contrast to British and American disapproval. The ICC said it had evidence to charge Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Yoav Gallant, his defence minister, with crimes against humanity, including using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. It also applied for the arrest of Hamas leaders on charges including torture and taking hostages. France said it supported the ICCs independence and the fight against impunity in all situations. The foreign ministry condemned the anti-Semitic massacres perpetrated by Hamas during the attack on Israel on Oct 7, which was accompanied by acts of torture and sexual violence. It said it had warned Israel of the need for strict compliance with international humanitarian law, and in particular of the unacceptable level of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip and inadequate humanitarian access. Belgium and Slovenia also backed the move. But Britain, America, Italy and the Czech Republic were among those who criticised the courts decision. Rishi Sunak described the application for arrest warrants as deeply unhelpful. Speaking in Vienna, the Prime Minister said that it would make no difference to getting aid into Gaza and reaching a sustainable ceasefire. Rishi Sunak said the ICC's arrest warrants would not help the aid effort or bring a ceasefire to fruition - ANADOLU This is a deeply unhelpful development, Mr Sunak said. Of course, it is still subject to a final decision, but it remains deeply unhelpful nonetheless. There is no moral equivalence between a democratic state exercising its lawful right to self-defence and the terrorist group Hamas. It is wrong to conflate and equivocate between those two different entities. The Prime Ministers remarks echoed those of Joe Biden, who condemned the ICCs effort to seek the arrest of Mr Netanyahu as outrageous. Unlike Israel and the United States, the UK Government is a signatory to the ICC and would be obliged to respect any warrant should its subject visit Britain. David Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, said that the ICC drawing a parallel between Israel and Hamas was plain wrong. Frankly I think this was a mistake in terms of position, in terms of timing, in terms of effect, he said. Other dominoes will fall Michael Gove, the cabinet minister, also slammed the decision, accusing the ICCs chief prosecutor of seeking to hold Israel to standards that we dont hold other countries to. You cannot equate Israel with Hamas, he told Times Radio. Hamas is a terrorist organisation, bent on slaughter. Israel is a state like all states: an imperfect one, but one thats trying to defend its people, and trying to equate the two is just nonsensical. Speaking later at the JW3 Jewish Community Centre in north-west London he warned, there can be no equivalence between them. And that moral position, I think, has to guide our response to the legal operation of the ICC. Mr Gove added that Russia, Iran and China were seeking to spread anti-Semitic and anti-Israel narratives. They know that if they undermine Israel, other dominoes will fall, he said. Germany both praised the ICC as a fundamental achievement of the international community and hit out at the inaccurate impression of an equivalence between Israel and Hamas. An Israeli government spokesman on Tuesday urged the civilised world to unite against the ICC. Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Youv Gallant, right, face allegations of 'wilful killing, starvation and murder' - POOL/REUTERS Karim Khan, the ICC prosecutor, said on Monday he had applied for arrest warrants for Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant for crimes including wilful killing, extermination and/or murder, and starvation during the war in Gaza. He said Israel had committed crimes against humanity and accused it of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population. Mr Khan also said Hamas leaders, including Qatar-based Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, the Gazan chief, bear criminal responsibility for actions committed during the Oct 7 attack. These included taking hostages, rape and other acts of sexual violence and torture, he said. International law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all, Mr Khan said. No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader, no one, can act with impunity. On Tuesday night, the ICC announced that one of the judges who will consider the arrest warrant had recused herself over impartiality concerns. Judge Maria del Socorro Flores Liera, who was set to rule on the arrest warrant, is married to Miguel Ruiz Cabanas, the Mexican human rights minister. The court noted that in January, Mexico backed Palestines referral over the war in Gaza in a separate case. Mexico has recognised the state of Palestine since 2012. In a statement, the court said Ms Flores Lieras marriage could affect [her] appearance of impartiality. The ICC said: While expressly noting that no issues arose in respect of any actual lack of impartiality on the part of Judge Flores, the presidency considered that the existence of a spousal relationship with a high-level government official of the ministry of foreign affairs of a states party involved in the referral of a situation to the office of the prosecutor was sufficient to create the potential appearance of a lack of impartiality. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. In this photo provided by the Australian Department of Defence, Australian and other tourists board an Australian Airforce Hercules as they prepare to depart from Magenta Airport in Noumea, New Caledonia, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Australia and New Zealand have sent airplanes to New Caledonia to begin bringing home stranded citizens from the violence-wracked French South Pacific territory. (LAC Adam Abela/Royal Australian Airfare via AP) PARIS (AP) French President Emmanuel Macron is making a surprise trip to New Caledonia, the French Pacific territory that has been gripped by days of deadly unrest and where indigenous people have long sought independence. He will go there tonight, government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot said after a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday where the president said he'd decided to make the more than 33,000-kilometer (20,000-mile) round trip himself to the archipelago east of Australia. Six people have been killed, including two gendarmes, and hundreds of others injured in New Caledonia during armed clashes, looting and arson, raising new questions about Macron's handling of France's colonial legacy. There have been decades of tensions between indigenous Kanaks who seek independence for the archipelago of 270,000 people, and descendants of colonizers and others who have settled on the island and who want to remain part of France. The unrest erupted May 13 as the French legislature in Paris debated amending the French Constitution to make changes to New Caledonia voter lists. Opponents fear the measure will benefit pro-France politicians in New Caledonia and further marginalize Kanaks who once suffered from strict segregation policies and widespread discrimination. The violence is the most severe to shake New Caledonia since the 1980s, when France also imposed emergency measures on the island that became French in 1853 under Emperor Napoleon III. Paris last Wednesday declared a 12-day minimum state of emergency on the island and rushed in 1,000 reinforcements to bolster security forces that lost control of parts of the capital, Noumea. Faced with the outbreak of violence, the priority is the return of order to allow dialogue to resume in New Caledonia," Thevenot, the government spokeswoman, said. We are clear: Much remains to be done before the return to normal. The government is fully mobilized." Leaving Tuesday night will, because of the distance and time difference, see Macron arrive Thursday morning in New Caledonia, his office said. It said he is expected to stay for one day. Macron will meet with political, business, civic and youth leaders and aim to renew the thread of dialogue" in search of a comprehensive political agreement, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal told parliament, where lawmakers stood for a moment of silence for the six people killed in the violence. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said he'll join Macron, along with the ministers for defense and for France's overseas territories. The visit will give Macron and his ministers a first-hand look at some of the destruction that turned parts of Noumea into no-go zones, with buildings torched, shops pillaged and barricades erected both by pro-independence supporters, some armed, and people banding together to protect livelihoods and homes. With police given emergency powers and a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew in effect, French authorities say security forces are starting to contain unrest. They announced another 22 arrests Tuesday for a total number near 300. The violence in New Caledonia has led to fresh discussion about Frances colonial past. Macrons efforts to address that have largely focused on Africa, where France had colonies and where local frustration in some countries has led to recent calls for French forces to get out. A priority for French authorities in New Caledonia since the weekend has been clearing the highway to Noumea's international airport of barricades and the burned hulks of vehicles, raising the prospect for stranded tourists of being able to leave. Australia and New Zealand sent planes to New Caledonia on Tuesday to begin bringing citizens home. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia received clearance from French authorities for two evacuation flights and would work on further ones. Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs said 300 Australians were in New Caledonia. It did not immediately confirm whether the flights would evacuate other stranded foreign nationals, believed to number in the thousands. New Zealands government announced an evacuation effort for about 50 citizens. New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days and bringing them home has been an urgent priority for the government, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said. In cooperation with France and Australia, we are working on subsequent flights in coming days. ___ Leicester reported from Le Pecq, France, and Smith from Newcastle, Australia. Emmanuel Macron, President of France, makes a press statement following a joint meeting at the Federal Chancellery. Macron is set to travel to the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, which has been rocked by serious unrest. Christoph Soeder/dpa French President Emmanuel Macron is set to travel to the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, which has been rocked by serious unrest. A French government spokeswoman said Macron will leave late on Tuesday for the Pacific archipelago, which lies 1,500 kilometres east of Australia. France has deployed 2,700 police officers and some military units to New Caledonia in the wake of riots which have killed six people and seen over 200 detained. A state of emergency is also in effect in the territory, although the situation has improved in recent days, the spokeswoman said. Earlier on Tuesday, Australia and New Zealand dispatched aeroplanes to bring stranded citizens home from the violence-stricken region. The protests emerged in response to proposed electoral reforms which would give French nationals the right to vote in provincial elections after ten years of residency in the territory. The indigenous Kanak population of New Caledonia, which has long campaigned for independence, accused Paris of pushing ahead with the controversial reform without considering strong opposition among the majority of the territory's residents. The archipelago gained extensive autonomy through the Noumea Agreement of 1998. Paris is currently trying to conclude a new agreement with political leaders in the territory, which is strategically located in the southern Pacific Ocean. A Frontier Airlines passenger refused to comply with exit row instructions from a cabin crew member forcing everyone on the flight to deboard. In a viral TikTok posted on 9 May, travel blogger Tia (@travelwithtia23) shared with viewers how an unidentified woman in glasses argued with airline employees. Meanwhile, her fellow passengers were pleading with her to deboard the plane for all of their sakes. This lady right here, when she first got on the plane and acknowledged the exit row, she said, Oh, Im not going to save anybody. If something happens, Im going to save myself, Tia explained. That was her attitude throughout the seating process. And I already knew something was about to pop off when she had that attitude. The video shows the woman arguing with a female flight attendant, gesturing to another flight attendant: Yeah, she talking to me - what is the problem? Cause she dont wanna tell us her name? she interrupted the airline worker as she set down her drink on the aircraft floor. The flight attendant attempted to finish her sentence, If its gonna be a problem- A problem? Whats the problem? the woman interrupted as the flight attendant continued to try to relay the exit row instructions mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). We aint got no problem with that. We understand we gotta help people get off the plane and help Betty White if something happens. Whats the problem? We agreed, she repeated as passengers began to laugh in the background and the flight attendant walked away. You wasting your breath. Is they gonna take this plane off the ground? The woman then set her phone on the ground female passenger and picked up a snack before turning to the other flight attendant, saying: Get out my damn face. Did you ask her to agree? You aint doing your job, she continued as the flight attendant employee put her hands in front of the passengers face. The passenger recoiled and opened up her snack. You better get out my face is what you need to do, Betty. After they exchanged a few more words, the flight attendant walked away, but as she began to eat her snack another employee came to her to deliver a piece of paper. Immediately, the passenger became upset, with the employee attempting to talk her down. The employee said, They said you were not listening- The woman tried to plead her case, saying that people witnessed her agreeing with the instructions, but the airline employee waved over another flight attendant. We all agreed. Everybody can witness that, the woman saying that she was flying to take care of her 4-year-old grandson while his mother was on vacation. And my grandson is getting off, out of school, and his mama took a flight to Mexico, and Im not getting off this plane. The captain then got involved, announcing to the passengers: Ladies and gentlemen, well be underway here shortly, we gotta take care of this issue. Law enforcement will be arriving. She was eventually escorted off the plane by police officers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, but unfortunately, all passengers had to deboard with her. The unidentified woman defied the FAA requirement that says that passengers seated in an exit row must not only read instructions but also verbally confirm that they will carry out the physical duties of assisting others in case of an emergency. Funding for people with disabilities in doubt as House takes stand against Senate Del. Amy Summers, R-Taylor, asked lawmakers to consider mandating that the Department of Human Services restore funding for services for people with disabilities during the Legislative special session on Monday, May 20, 2024. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography) The House of Delegates on Monday refused to accept a Senate bill regarding funding for people with disabilities, citing the legislations failure to mandate how the troubled Department of Human Services spend the money. Senate Bill 1001 would give the DoHS and the Department of Health $188 million in reserve funds to use as needed. The money is meant to make up for recent funding cuts to the states waiver program for people with disabilities. It was a leading reason Gov. Jim Justice called lawmakers into a May special session. While DoHS could spend the new money on services for people with disabilities, the Senates version of the bill doesnt require it. Del. Michael Hite, R-Berkeley, said that DoHS had proven over and over again that they dont do the right thing. DoHS leaders told lawmakers that they had money to fund a pay increase for direct care workers who help people with disabilities and others remain in their homes and out of institutions. The department spent the money elsewhere, including on items like in-home COVID-19 tests. Lawmakers, in response, criticized the departments murky spending. DoHS has faced additional recent scrutiny for its lack of information about a high-profile child death and troubled child welfare system. A DoHS spokesperson did not respond to an email inquiry for this story. Hite asked his colleagues to reject the Senates DoHS funding bill, saying, Were just supposed to roll over once again at the end of session Its time to say no. Del. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, said, This is a time we can stand up and fight for the things we say are important in this House. Earlier in the day, the House of Delegates amended the Senates bill to mandate that the department increase its Medicaid reimbursement rate that helps pay direct care workers. The Senate stripped that language out. The House rejected the Senates latest version of the bill. Senators, led by Senate Finance Chairman Eric Tarr, have maintained that their version will allow lawmakers to better track how the departments are spending money. The bill would require the department secretary to submit a monthly report to lawmakers starting on Aug. 1 about any transfers made from the reserves account. The special session will continue on Tuesday, where lawmakers will attempt to find a compromise. This is not a safe environment for someone with a disability West Virginia uses state and federal money from Medicaid to reimburse private companies that employ direct care workers. Money from that reimbursement rate can be used to fund their salaries. In West Virginia, care workers earn around $11 an hour. Through state waiver programs, the staff help people with disabilities, elderly residents and people with traumatic brain injuries live independently. Because of a lack of home-like settings, more people with intellectual disabilities have been confined at the states two psychiatric hospitals. The hospitals were never meant to house patients long term. That is not a safe environment for someone with a disability to be among sexual predators who cant be in jail because theyve been declared mentally ill, said Del. Amy Summers, R-Taylor. This isnt the right way the state should be heading. A 2023 survey paid for by state dollars said West Virginia needed to increase its rate of reimbursement and the worker salary range to $15.50-$18.60 per hour. Despite the results, DoHS earlier this year didnt ask Justice for money to fund the pay increase in its $279 million budget request. Department leaders said there were other funding priorities within the governors budget constraints. The inaction on a rate increase led one Cabell County-based company, which provides in-home senior caregiving, to lay off nurses and staff in in-state offices that rely on Medicaid dollars. Other staffing companies have warned lawmakers about more layoffs in a state that needs more direct care workers. Del. Evan Worrell, R-Cabell, owns a company that staffs in-home direct care workers. I know of agencies that are laying off people and have laid off people since session, which is what I warned about because the rate increases are not high enough, he said. Im hopeful. Worrell added, Im excited for a new administration next year. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Funding for people with disabilities in doubt as House takes stand against Senate appeared first on West Virginia Watch. People participate in a funeral procession of Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi and his seven aides who were killed in a helicopter crash on a fog-shrouded mountainside in the northwest. Mehrvarz Ahmadi/dpa Funeral ceremonies have begun in Iran for president Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and other victims of Sundays helicopter crash. Thousands of government supporters flocked to the start of the ceremony in the north-western city of Tabriz on Tuesday to bid farewell, state media reported. Further mourning ceremonies are planned in the religious stronghold and pilgrimage city of Qom as well as in the capital Tehran, according to the Tasnim news agency. Raisi is to be buried on Thursday in the Shiite centre of his home town of Mashhad, at the shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth iman of Shia Islam. Raisi and Amirabdollahian were killed in a helicopter crash with seven other occupants. They went down in dense fog in the mountains while travelling back from a meeting with the Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan. People participate in a funeral procession of Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi and his seven aides who were killed in a helicopter crash on a fog-shrouded mountainside in the northwest. Mehrvarz Ahmadi/dpa People participate in a funeral procession of Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi and his seven aides who were killed in a helicopter crash on a fog-shrouded mountainside in the northwest. Mehrvarz Ahmadi/dpa BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. The largest international airport in London, Heathrow, has shared a post on its Facebook page dedicated to Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), Trend reports. "With its blend of Western and Eastern influences, Azerbaijan is a uniquely fascinating country with tons to explore, and AZAL - Azerbaijan Airlines is ready to be your guide," the post says. The post notes that, with 3 direct flights from Heathrow, Azerbaijan Airlines' business class in their 787-8 combines efficiency, convenience, and comfort for a more relaxed trip. The Iranian government began funeral proceedings Tuesday for its late president, foreign minister and other officials killed in a helicopter crash, as the country attempts to regain footing after the deaths left the Islamic Republic with an uncertain future. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was killed when his helicopter crashed under heavy fog and severe weather in the mountainous northwest of Iran Saturday evening. Authorities took nearly a day to locate the crash site due to the difficult weather and terrain. The circumstances of the crash, which also killed Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, are under investigation by the countrys military. Raisi, 63, was viewed as a top candidate to succeed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His death now throws that succession into question, with no clear replacement. There is also no immediate front-runner to take over the presidency, with national elections just a month away. Raisis death comes at a moment when the Islamist regime is consolidated, wrote Alex Vatanka, an Iran expert at the Middle East Institute, for The Associated Press. In short, there will be no power vacuum in Tehran; nonetheless, post-Khamenei Iran suddenly looks far less predictable than it did just a few days ago. Thousands of mourners dressed in black walked a procession in Tabriz, the nearest major city to the crash site, Tuesday morning alongside the caskets of those killed. The bodies were then transported to Tehran and later to the holy city of Qom. Raisi, nicknamed the Butcher of Tehran for his role organizing mass executions of political prisoners in 1988, ascended to the presidency in 2021. He implemented a crackdown on dissent, despite a rise in protest against the Iranian regime in recent years. The countrys prosecutor has already ordered criminal investigations against those who were publishing false content, lies and insults against Raisi and others killed in the crash, according to the semiofficial ISNA news agency an attempt to stifle criticism. Fireworks could be seen around Tehran in apparent celebration of Raisis death after it was announced Sunday, while dark jokes and jubilation also spread online, per the APs reporting. The death was mourned by world leaders, with autocrats closely aligned with Iran giving especially kind words. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping all described Raisi as a friend. The State Department expressed its official condolences on Monday but the Biden administration did not hold back on criticism for the leader. President Raisi was responsible for atrocious human rights in his own country, White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters. The arrest and the physical violence against hundreds of protesters, for instance. And of course hes responsible for the support that Iran provided terrorist networks throughout the region. No question this was a man who had a lot of blood on his hands, Kirby added. That said, as we would in any other case, we certainly regret in general the loss of life and offered official condolences as appropriate. 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 The Hill. Defence Minister of Israel Yoav Gallant speaks during a memorial ceremony for Israel's fallen and victims of terrorism. Shachar Yurman/Defense Ministry/dpa Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday that it was "despicable" that the International Criminal Court (ICC) had drawn a parallel between the Israeli leadership and Hamas in filing war crimes charges against both. "The parallel he [Khan] has drawn between the Hamas terrorist organization and the State of Israel is despicable," Gallant said in a statement released by his office. On Monday, ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said he is seeking arrest warrants for Gallant, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and top leaders of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, including Yehya al-Sinwar, the Hamas chief in Gaza. Khan is seeking the warrants over war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Israel and the Gaza Strip. Other Hamas leaders named by Khan include Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, the head of the group's military wing, and Ismail Haniyeh, who sits atop Hamas' political wing and is seen as the group's overall leader. US President Joe Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized Khan's actions. Neither the US nor Israel are parties to the treaty that established the ICC. Netanyahu, in a video released in English on Monday evening, said Khan "takes his place among the great anti-Semites in modern times." He also accused Khan of "blood libel" - a term that refers to anti-Semitic false accusations against Jews since the Middle Ages. He said the ICC chief prosecutor "now stands alongside those infamous German judges who donned their robes and upheld laws that denied the Jewish people their most basic rights and enabled the Nazis to perpetrate the worst crime in history. " He said no amount of pressure and no decision would prevent Israel from defending itself against those that want to destroy it. "Eighty years ago, the Jewish people were totally defenceless against our enemies. Those days are over. Now the Jewish people have a state and we have an army to defend our state." The United States is questioning the "legitimacy and credibility" of the ICC's investigation, noting that the court cancelled a planned fact-finding visit to Israel. US Secretary of State Blinken, in a statement released on Monday, noted that Khan cancelled a planned visit to Israel shortly before seeking arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant. Blinken noted that Khan was scheduled to visit Israel "as early as next week to discuss the investigation and hear from the Israeli government." Khan's staff were due in Israel on Monday, Blinken said. Israel was then told that the staff did not board the flight about the same time that Khan went on camera in The Hague on Monday to announce the charges, the statement said. "These and other circumstances call into question the legitimacy and credibility of this investigation," Blinken said. He called the process "deeply troubling." Gallant said the Israeli army's operations are in accordance with international law "while taking unprecedented measures to facilitate humanitarian aid." Around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage in the Gaza Strip during the Hamas attacks in the Israeli border area on October 7. The terrorist attack was the trigger for Israel's military offensive in the Gaza, in which, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority, more than 35,500 people have been killed so far. Hamas does not distinguish between civilian and military casualties in its figures. Editors note: This story was updated May 21 8:26 p.m. E.T. to include further comment from Pentagon and U.N. officials. An effort involving the U.S. military to surge much-needed humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is off to a chaotic start, with aid trucks being overrun and at least one person feared dead over the weekend, prompting a pause in aid distribution. U.S. soldiers and sailors built a floating pier off Gaza and stabbed it into a Gaza beach on Friday with the help of Israeli forces. Militarys novel floating pier arrives in Gaza amid security concerns The plan, announced by President Biden in his State of the Union address and using a capability known as Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS, has been touted as another way to get food to Gazans caught between the Israeli military and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which attacked Israel on Oct. 7. It involves no U.S. troops on the ground in Gaza, as the U.S. militarys efforts have involved building the massive floating platform and pier that was installed last week. But aid trucks stopped trundling off the militarys floating pier on Saturday, and only resumed moving out into Gaza on Tuesday, according to Pentagon officials. The U.N. said it was not aware of any deliveries on Tuesday, however. Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday that the issues have arisen once the aid was loaded onto nongovernmental organization trucks, departed the marshaling area and headed toward distribution warehouses in Gaza. Over the weekend, some of those trucks were overtaken by Palestinians, according to U.N. officials. Only five of the 16 aid trucks that left the secured area on Saturday arrived at the intended warehouse with their cargo intact, U.N. World Food Program spokesperson Steve Taravella told The Associated Press. He said the other 11 trucks were waylaid by what became a crowd of people and arrived without their cargo. Authorities have offered few firm details of what transpired Saturday. Hamas has said the group will resist any foreign presence associated with the project, but it remains unclear whether the group was involved in the weekends aid disruption. However, Associated Press video shows Israeli armored vehicles on a beach road, then aid trucks moving down the road. Civilians watching from the roadside gradually start to clamber on top of the aid trucks, throwing aid down to people below. Numbers of people then appear to overrun the aid trucks and their goods. At one point, members of the crowd are shown carting a motionless man with a chest wound through the crowd. A local morgue later confirmed to the AP the man had been killed by a rifle shot. At another point, shots crackled, and some of the people in the crowd are shown apparently ducking behind aid boxes for cover. It was not clear who fired the shots. Asked about the shooting, the Israeli army told the AP, using the acronym for the Israel Defense Forces: The IDF is currently focused on eliminating the threat from the terrorist organization Hamas. Ryder said that as of Tuesday 569 metric tons of aid has been delivered to the secured area at the Gaza port. Some of it remains there, however, because distribution agencies are working to find alternative routes to warehouses in Gaza. Asked if any aid from the pier had yet reached Gaza residents in need, Ryder said, I do not believe so. He said aid had resumed moving Tuesday from the secured area into Gaza, after what had been a two-day halt following Saturdays disruption. He gave no immediate details. After the chaotic launch, WFP officials said Tuesday that the pier project may fail unless Israel starts providing the conditions that humanitarian groups need to operate safely. Ryder acknowledged the challenges involved in the effort and said that alternate routes were being examined. He also noted that Israeli forces ashore and at sea, as well as Navy destroyers, are patrolling to ensure the safety of the U.S. troops involved in the JLOTS effort. This is a combat zone, and this is a complex operation, he said Tuesday. And so weve been very clear from the beginning that were going to take a crawl-walk-run approach. The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces confirmed on May 21 that the Russian missile ship Tsiklon was struck in a Ukrainian attack in Sevastopol, occupied Crimea, on May 19. The ship was reportedly hit during an attack that the Ukrainian Navy previously said resulted in the destruction of the Russian minesweeper Kovrovets. Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk previously told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) on May 20 that there was a possibility the ship had been "lost," but could not confirm the news at the time. Pletenchuk added that if the Tsiklon was indeed sunk, it would mean the loss of Russia's last missile ship in the Black Sea. The General Staff did not specify the extent of the damage caused to the ship. The Tsiklon was launched into service in July 2023, the state-run media outlet TASS reported. It is a Karakurt-class missile ship armed with various weapons, including Kalibr missiles. The report comes amid Ukraine's ongoing campaign targeting the Russian Black Sea Fleet, inflicting damage on warships one after another. In April, Ukraines Navy said that it had struck the Kommuna, a salvage ship that was launched in 1915 and is the oldest ship still in service in the Russian Navy. Following Ukraine's successful attacks from afar, the Russian military has withdrawn nearly all its major ships from ports in occupied Crimea following successful Ukrainian strikes on the Black Sea Fleet, Pletenchuk said in March. Russia began redeploying the Black Sea Fleet to Novorossiysk last year after a series of devastating Ukrainian strikes, including a missile attack on its headquarters in Sevastopol on Sept. 22. Now, "the most valuable assets are all withdrawn," according to Pletenchuk. The Strategic Communications Center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (StratCom) recently reported that as of early February 2024, 33% of the Black Sea Fleets warships had been disabled, including 24 ships and one submarine. Russia has taken a number of steps to address the continuing threat, including replacing the commander of the Russian Navy in March. Read also: Opinion: Whats left of Russias Black Sea Fleet? Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. General Staff reports 37 combat clashes since start of day, most intense fighting on Pokrovsk front There have been 37 combat clashes with the Russians so far on 21 May. On the Kharkiv front, the Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled a Russian assault on Lyptsi. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Details: These figures were announced by the General Staff as of 10:30 on 21 May. Quote: "Today, there have already been 37 combat clashes. The invaders launched 514 attacks on our positions, including 21 using multiple launch rocket systems. The enemy carried out one airstrike using a guided bomb. Russian invaders also deployed 63 kamikaze drones." On the Kharkiv front, the Defence Forces are repelling a Russian attack towards the settlement of Lyptsi. The situation is under control, and no positions have been lost. Details: Meanwhile, the General Staff notes that the most intense situation is observed on the Pokrovsk front. There have been 11 Russian attacks there since the beginning of the day. Support UP or become our patron! For many Georgians, Tuesdays election will help determine who serves as their district attorney, county clerk, county commission and sheriff. Residents will also be able to vote on their state legislative races and elect a Georgia Supreme Court justice. Joe Raedle/Getty Images Georgians will have one last opportunity Tuesday to head to the polls to vote in state and congressional primaries and a host of nonpartisan races on ballots all across the state. During the three-week early voting period that concluded on Friday, more than 554,000 votes were cast, representing a statewide turnout of 8%. Thats a far cry from the nearly 800,000 votes cast during early voting in the 2022 primary. The 2022 primary featured high-profile Republican races including Herschel Walkers runaway win in the primary for U.S. Senate and ex-U.S. Sen. David Perdues failed effort to defeat Gov. Brian Kemp. While Tuesdays primary lacks such top-of-the-ballot headliners, Tuesdays election isnt lacking in important races, including a number of partisan contests where the winning candidates will be heavy favorites in the Nov. 5 general election. For many Georgians, Tuesdays election will help determine who serves as their district attorney, county clerk, county commission and sheriff. Residents will also be able to vote on their state legislative races and settle the one contested Georgia Supreme Court seat on the ballot. The League of Women Voters of Georgia sent an email urging the states 6.5 million registered voters to fill out the entire ballot Tuesday. A third of registered voters tend to skip down-ballot races, according to the U.S. Vote Foundation. Down ballot offices are the ones that keep communities on track and moving forward, the League of Women Voters of Georgias said to their followers. Most of governing happens far, far below president or governor or mayor. It happens at the school board, at the county commission, in the courts. If you think the office of coroner isnt important, think about what they had to do during the pandemic. When they say that all politics is local, this is who theyre talking about. Election day monitoring Several organizations will monitor hundreds of polling places throughout Georgia that will be open to voters from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Among those groups are Georgias Republican and Democratic parties, which will both have voter hotlines available for the public to report any election-related problems Tuesday. Lawyers will guide poll watchers through the appropriate election code and provide clarity on how various issue should be answered, resolved, or escalated, Georgia GOP Chairman Josh McKoon wrote in an email to supporters Monday. When escalation is necessary, HQ may contact the Secretary of State or the county election supervisors or take legal action. It was during the early voting period leading up to Tuesdays primary that the Democratic Partys trained volunteers gained first-hand experience with some of the issues that could become more prevalent in the November election. Nearly 80,000 calls were handled by the partys voter protection hotline in 2018, the year the hotline was established. The call centers volunteers are able to answer basic questions such as how to register to vote to responding to complaints about long voting lines and disputes with election staff over provisional ballots. The call center was open during a tumultuous 2020 presidential election and is still dealing with the fallout that continues to shape Georgia election law four years later. A host of election changes were signed into law by Kemp this month. The state Democratic Partys executive director, Tolulope Kevin Olasanoye, said the party is paying close attention to changes in rules that would make it easier for someone to challenge the eligibility of voters. Olasanoye said that under SB 189, thousands of voter challenges will likely be filed leading into the November election based on unreliable data provided by right-wing groups. We no longer have to have a basis in fact to be able to challenge a voters ability to vote and thats a real, real big problem, he said. As I often say to our team, you want to always be able to play offense on the things you can anticipate and only be reacting to the things that you never saw coming, Olasanoye said. This bill creates an environment where were all going to be reacting to stuff in real time because nobody has ever worked in this sort of environment and I think thats hugely problematic. Republican lawmakers contend that the new election law establishes clearer rules for contesting a voters status by defining the probable cause for filing a challenge, such as evidence of voting in two different states or having a nonresidential address listed as their primary residence. Whats on the ballot? Georgia is an open primary state that allows voters to choose either Republican, Democratic, or nonpartisan ballots when they arrive at the polls Tuesday. A crowded field of five Republicans are vying to replace outgoing Congressman Drew Ferguson in the conservative District 3 that extends from the southern suburbs of Atlanta to the northern suburbs of Columbus. Unless a candidate on Tuesday receives the 50% of votes needed to outright win the GOP primary, District 3 will be settled in a runoff on June 18. Another significant race Tuesday is for a seat on the Georgia Supreme Court in which the candidate with the most votes wins. Justice Andrew Pinson is being challenged by John Barrow, who has turned the race into a battle over abortion rights. Tuesdays ballot in Fulton County also features two of the central characters connected to the felony racketeering and conspiracy case as former President Donald Trump and 14 remaining co-defendants are accused of illegally conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. The embattled Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis faces Christian Wise Smith, who has served as Atlanta city solicitor and a Fulton County prosecutor, in the Democratic primary. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, the presiding judge in the Trump case, is being challenged by civil rights attorney Robert Patillo in the nonpartisan election. For more information: Georgia voters can call or text the Democratic Party of Georgias voter protection hotline anytime during voting hours Tuesday at 888-730-5816. The Georgia Republican Partys election integrity hotline can be reached Tuesday at 404-738-8393. Election related issues can also be reported at https://georgia.protectthevote.com/hc/en-us/requests/new. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Abortion is front and center in a high-stakes Georgia Supreme Court race pitting a Republican-appointed justice against a former Democratic lawmaker seeking to make a political comeback. Former Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.) has made abortion a centerpiece of his campaign against Justice Andrew Pinson, an appointee of Gov. Brian Kemp (R) who once clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Barrow has pointed to Pinsons record on abortion, including defending Georgias six-week abortion ban as solicitor general before Roe v. Wade was even overturned, drawing on an issue that has bolstered Democrats from coast to coast since Thomas and a conservative majority in 2022 overturned the historic decision. Im running for the Supreme Court of Georgia because I believe that women today have the same rights under the state constitution that they used to have under Roe vs. Wade, before it was overturned with the help of my opponent, and thats why Im running and thats why Im running against him, Barrow told The Hill in an interview. Pinson has alleged that Barrow is running a hyper-partisan campaign based on promising to defy the judicial oath, while some Republicans argue Barrows judicial campaign better resembles a congressional one. Members of the party say the Democratic candidate shouldnt be taking specific positions. I just dont think if youre running for the Supreme Court, you should be stating any particular positions because if you get elected, its going to make it difficult for you to be viewed objective, said Republican strategist Eric J. Tanenblatt. On his campaign website, Barrow says hes running because we need Justices on the Georgia Supreme Court who will protect the right of women and their families to make the most personal family and health care decisions theyll ever make. Hes also asserted that the Georgia state constitution protects abortion rights. In the interview with The Hill, Barrow, who served five terms in Congress before his defeat in 2014, noted Pinsons connection to Thomas and that he was once a member of the Federalist Society, the conservative group that has backed presidential candidates to nominate conservative jurists. Hes also hit Pinson over the issue, arguing the sitting justice cant be trusted to protect womens and families rights in making personal family and health care decisions. Hes the one who has the strongest record on the issue [of abortion], I think of greatest concern to the most number of people and that I think will have the greatest impact on the direction of Georgia law, Barrow said in explaining why he chose to challenge Pinson specifically. Four of the nine Georgia Supreme Court justices are on the ballot Tuesday, but only Pinson is facing a challenger in what are nonpartisan races. Pinson has bristled at the way Barrow has described his record. I can say at the outset, obviously, my opponent has misrepresented my record on a lot of things, Pinson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitutions Politically Georgia podcast earlier this month. Pinson pointed out on the podcast that his campaign steering committee is bipartisan and argued that Georgia judges are nonpartisan, and we take our oath very seriously to approach these issues and cases with an open mind in every case. Pinsons campaign has argued that Barrow is trying to politicize a nonpartisan race and is running afoul of Georgias judicial ethics code. That code bars candidates from saying how they would decide issues that the court could potentially take up. Unfortunately, John Barrow has decided to ignore Georgias judicial ethics code. His campaign makes it clear that his goal is to negatively politicize judicial races and destroy Georgians trust in fair and impartial courts, Heath Garrett, a strategist for Pinson, told The Hill in an email. A complaint initiated within the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission earlier this month has roiled the race. The complaint argued the Democrat had gone too far in his remarks on abortion as a candidate. The complaint alleged that Barrow was making commitments on issues that could come before the state Supreme Court and mischaracterized the role of a jurist as someone who should (or would, in your case) protect selected rights, which is misleading, among other concerns. Barrow filed a lawsuit in response arguing the complaint violated free speech rights. A federal judge rejected his lawsuit Thursday a move that will require him to file a new lawsuit or appeal his existing one, according to The Associated Press. Some Republicans are skeptical the issue of abortion will threaten Pinson. I dont think theyre so upset about this issue that they would oust an incumbent Supreme Court justice, conservative radio show host and former Kemp aide Martha Zoller said of Georgia voters. Barrow, for his part, has rebuffed the idea that hes politicizing a judicial race, asserting its a constitutional issue, that is not politicization. Others like LaTosha Brown, a co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund based in Atlanta, see it differently, saying Barrow has the courage and the clarity to actually respond to what his voters are demanding that he responds to. Though Georgia Supreme Court elections are nonpartisan, the GOP has greatly shaped the courts makeup. GOP governors have tapped eight of the courts nine members. Once sleepy affairs, judicial elections have grown in prominence as state Supreme Courts have become the final say on key issues like redistricting and abortion access. An election for a vacancy on the Wisconsin Supreme Court last year saw $40 million in spending. A liberal candidate who backed abortion rights won. Republicans argued the candidate went too far by supporting abortion rights on the campaign trail and in calling the states legislative maps rigged. The Wisconsin Judicial Commission tossed out several complaints against liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz. Neither Protasiewicz nor her conservative challenger during that campaign said how theyd rule on issues before the state court. Barrow faces an uphill battle in ousting Pinson. The election is not expected to have a heavy turnout, and sitting judges also rarely lose reelection. Many Republicans expect Pinson to win reelection next Tuesday easily. But some Democrats believe Barrow has a chance. Democratic strategist Amy Morton said polling on the issue shows surveyed men and women both think Georgias gone too far on abortion, which could help Barrow get a win. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. The next tasks were fulfilled during the EFES - 2024 multinational exercise, held in Turkiye with the involvement of servicemen from different countries, Trend reports via the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense. According to the exercises plan, servicemen of the participating countries performed practical shooting with the use of various caliber small arms. Moreover, tasks on conducting battle in human settlements, neutralizing an imaginary enemy, providing first aid to wounded serviceman and evacuation were successfully accomplished. The Azerbaijan Armys servicemen, along with other participants, successfully fulfilled the assigned tasks. To note, the international exercise, aimed at exchanging experience, organizing joint activities of the servicemen of the participating countries, improving the skills of staff officers in making decisions on the map, as well as further increasing their professionalism and training, will last until May 30. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel Georgia woman calls 911 to get raccoon tased, have deputies google restaurant hours for her A Columbia County woman was arrested on Sunday after sheriffs deputies said she was repeatedly calling 911 for non-emergency issues. The Columbia County Sheriffs office told The Augusta Chronicle that the 54-year-old woman had been calling 911 with more and more frequency over the last few months. According to an incident report, the woman called 911 on May 12 around 1:15 a.m. saying that she had a raccoon on her front porch, and she wanted a deputy to Tase it. She then called back about an hour later, asking to have a deputy come to her home to escort her to the dumpster. Around 5:30 p.m. that same day, she called 911 saying she needed a deputy to Google the hours of three businesses because she was hungry. On May 15, the woman called 911 and hung up. Operators tried calling her back, but the woman never picked up. 12 seconds later, she called 911 again but did not speak. A deputy eventually went to the womans house, and she told them she was fine. RELATED STORIES: On May 19, the woman called saying her head hurt and that she wanted a female deputy to come to her house but did not want the only female deputy available. They dispatched an ambulance to her home but when the medics went to the door, the woman refused to open the door. As one of the medics tried to talk to the woman, the woman continued to call 911 and then hung up the phone. After 25 minutes of trying to get the woman to answer the door, a deputy used a tool to open the door to make sure her medical issue hadnt gotten worse. Deputies said the woman was sitting on her couch, she then dropped her head and began shaking her legs and head as if she was having a seizure. Medics took her vitals and she was fine. She told them that she had pseudo seizures that turn into real seizures. She eventually refused to be taken to the hospital. Thats when deputies arrested her and took her to the Columbia County Detention Center. She was charged with unlawful conduct during a 911 call, the newspaper reported, which comes with a $500 fine and up to a year in jail. RELATED NEWS: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) speaks during a press conference at the Federal Chancellery. Scholz offered his condolences to the Iranian government and the families of the nine people who died in a helicopter crash, including president Ebrahim Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian. Fabian Sommer/dpa German Chancellor Olaf Scholz offered his condolences to the Iranian government and the families of the nine people who died in a helicopter crash, including president Ebrahim Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian. "We have received the news of the helicopter crash and the death of president Raisi. Our condolences go out to the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the families of those killed in the crash," read very brief of message addressed to Mohammad Mokhber, who has taken over the duties of president on an interim basis. Many world leaders had sent similar messages on Monday. Raisi and Amirabdollahian were killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday. There is as yet no reliable information on the cause of the crash, in which all seven other occupants of the helicopter also died. Boris Pistorius, Germany's Defence Minister, stands next to a hangar with an air force Eurofighter. Alexander Welscher/dpa German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius visited the Lielvarde airbase in Latvia on Tuesday. The minister and his delegation arrived early Tuesday at the airfield, which is being used by the German Air Force as a base for the NATO air policing mission in the Baltic states. Pistorius is expected to be updated on the deployment of German pilots to protect the airspace over the EU and NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which border Russia. He also plans meet his Latvian counterpart Andris Spruds for talks. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania do not have their own fighter jets. Their NATO allies have been on rotating deployments to secure Baltic airspace since the three former Soviet republics joined the alliance in 2004. Germany's latest deployment began in March. According to the German Air Force, its Eurofighters have since carried out 13 alert take-offs and have identified Russian military aircraft over the Baltic Sea. The air force has stationed five Eurofighters and around 200 soldiers at the military airfield, which is located around 60 kilometres south-east of the Latvian capital Riga, for deployment on NATO's eastern flank. This year marks the first use of the Lielvarde base for the air policing mission. A Eurofighter, a German Air Force fighter plane, parks in a hangar. Alexander Welscher/dpa Boris Pistorius (L), Germany's Defence Minister, and Swen Jacob, lieutenant colonel and German contingent commander, look at a hangar with an air force Eurofighter. Alexander Welscher/dpa German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (L) and Latvian Minister of Defense Andris Spruds speak during a press conference at the Latvian Air Force Base Lielvarde in front of a German Air Force Eurofighter. Alexander Welscher/dpa German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has assured NATO partner Latvia during a visit to the Baltic state of Germany's military support. "The security of the Baltic States is our security," the minister said on Tuesday at the Latvian Air Force base in the town of Lielvarde. There he was informed about the deployment of German pilots to protect the airspace over the European Union and NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which border Russian territory. "Our cooperation is strong. Germany will continue to be committed to air surveillance in the Baltic States," Pistorius said after a meeting with his Latvian counterpart Andris Spruds, who in turn thanked Germany for leading the mission. Earlier in the day, Pistorius observed two Eurofighters scrambling in Lielvarde, then disappearing into the sky for a training flight with a deafening noise. The jets are designed to protect NATO airspace from intruding aircraft and can take off within 15 minutes. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania do not have their own fighter jets. Their NATO allies have been on rotating deployments to secure Baltic airspace since the three former Soviet republics joined the alliance in 2004. Germany's latest deployment began in March. According to the German Air Force, its Eurofighters have since scrambled 13 times and have identified Russian military aircraft over the Baltic Sea. The air force has stationed five Eurofighters and around 200 soldiers at the military airfield, which is located some 60 kilometres south-east of the Latvian capital Riga, for deployment on NATO's eastern flank. This year marks the first use of the Lielvarde base for the air policing mission. "Today I have the opportunity to see how professionally and enthusiastically our pilots work together with you here in Latvia," Pistorius said. Latvia was the first stop on a two-day trip to the Baltic States, which will also take Pistorius to Lithuania, where he plans to meet his counterpart Laurynas Kasciunas later on Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday, the minister plans to meet German soldiers and visit a military exercise. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (L) and Latvian Minister of Defense Andris Spruds speak during a press conference at the Latvian Air Force Base Lielvarde in front of a German Air Force Eurofighter. Alexander Welscher/dpa German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Kyiv on 21 May on her seventh visit since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Source: European Pravda with reference to various German media outlets, such as n-tv Details: Baerbock arrived on the morning of 21 May on a visit that, as is usual for these matters, was not announced for security reasons. A video of her arrival was posted on Twitter (X) by Spiegel journalist Christoph Schult. Ankunft Auenministerin Baerbock in Kiew. Begruung durch Botschafter @MJaegerT Mehr auf @derspiegel pic.twitter.com/hPslpoI342 Christoph Schult (@schultchristoph) May 21, 2024 Baerbock called for increased international support for Ukraine in the area of air defence. "To protect Ukraine from Russia's many missiles and drones, it urgently needs more air defence," she said at the start of her seventh solidarity visit to Ukraine since the start of full-scale Russian aggression in February 2022. "We must now join forces to ensure that Ukraine can survive [...] and that Putin's troops do not soon find themselves at our own borders," Baerbock appealed to international partners. She said the global air defence initiative, which Baerbock launched together with German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, has raised almost 1 billion to provide additional support to Ukraine's air defence forces. "We are working intensively to increase this amount even further. We are turning over every stone several times and have moved forward with an additional Patriot system," she added. Several states expressed support for Germany's initiative to find air defence equipment for Kyiv at the 22nd meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (also known as the Ramstein format) on 20 May. Background: On 17 April, the German government launched an initiative to find additional air defence assets that could be sent to Ukraine. Berlin later reported that it was discussing financing the initiative with Denmark and the Netherlands. In April, Belgium also announced a 200 million contribution to the German initiative, and in May, Canada pledged more than US$55 million. Support UP or become our patron! Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Ukraine's capital on May 21 for a previously unannounced visit. Upon her arrival, Baerbock underscored Ukraine's need for air defenses to help repel Russian aerial attacks. "Russian missile terror, constant air alerts, permanent power outages, hardly any water: the situation in Ukraine has once again escalated dramatically with the massive Russian air strikes on the civilian infrastructure and the brutal Russian offensive in the Kharkiv area," the minister said. "That's why, together with Defense Minister (Boris) Pistorius, I launched a global initiative for more air defense. Almost a billion euros have now been raised to provide additional support for the Ukrainian air defense forces, and we are working intensively to ensure that there is even more." Berlin launched the initiative in April amid Kyiv's increasingly dire need for air defenses, facing heavy Russian aerial attacks against population centers and the energy grid. A number of countries have already backed the initiative since then, including Belgium, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, and others. Germany has also pledged to deliver its third Patriot air defense system to Ukraine. The German newspaper General-Anzeiger wrote that Baerbock was planning to visit Kharkiv but canceled the trip due to security reasons. Russian forces launched a new offensive in Kharkiv Oblast on May 10, accompanied by intensified strikes against regional cities and villages. This marks Baerbock's fifth visit to Ukraine's capital since the outbreak of the full-scale war in February 2022. The minister previously visited Kyiv on Sept. 11, 2023. Read also: Several countries support Germanys initiative to find air defense equipment for Ukraine Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is received by German Ambassador Martin Jaeger and a representative of the Ukrainian protocol on arrival at Kiev railroad station. Jorg Blank/dpa German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Kiev on Tuesday morning in a show of support for Ukraine, in a visit which had not been previously announced for security reasons. The German minister called for more international support for Ukraine's air defence in view of the current Russian offensive. This is Baerbock's seventh trip to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022. Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is received by German Ambassador Martin Jaeger and a representative of the Ukrainian protocol on arrival at Kiev railroad station. Jorg Blank/dpa German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and European Commission spokesperson Peter Stano voiced their support for President Volodymyr Zelensky's legitimacy on May 21. Zelensky's five-year term expired on May 20, but elections have been suspended due to martial law, so he will stay on as president. Critics and Russian propagandists have questioned the legitimacy of his rule, but elections are unlikely in the near future. "It is impossible to organize elections in such a situation," Stano said at a press conference, cited by Ukrainska Pravda. Under Ukrainian law, elections during martial law are forbidden. "We (in the EU) also have no doubts that the president of Ukraine is Volodymyr Zelensky," Stano said. The sentiment was reiterated by Baerbock, who said at a press conference in Kyiv with her counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, "It is clear that Volodymyr Zelensky is the rightful and legitimate president of Ukraine." Baerbock also criticized Russian officials who have said that Zelensky is an illegitimate president. "The very people who started this war and made the elections impossible are now bringing the narrative to the world about the alleged illegitimacy of the president because he was not re-elected," she said. Constitutional lawyers have said that the extension of Zelensky's term, under martial law conditions, is legal. Baerbock added that the constitutions of many countries, including Germany, forbid holding elections during martial law. Read also: Zelenskys term would have expired this month, but hes staying. Russia wants to use it Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. German Foreign Minister says Berlin has no concerns over Zelenskyy's legitimacy as president Annalena Baerbock, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany, has stressed that her government has no concerns over the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy even though Ukraine cannot hold presidential elections under martial law. Source: Annalena Baerbock during a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv on 21 May, as reported by European Pravda Details: Baerbock said that Ukraine does not want to have its territory occupied and wants to live freely, and the only person who opposes this is Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who has invaded Ukraine and is therefore making it impossible to hold the elections. "Its clear that Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the legitimate president of Ukraine. We will solve the challenges were facing together," Baerbock said and promised to support the reforms Ukraine is currently implementing. Baerbock also said that not just the Ukrainian Constitution, but the constitutions of many other countries, including Germany, stipulate that elections cannot be held under martial law. "Its a lowly game: those who have started this war and made elections impossible are now spreading the narrative that the president is not legitimate, because he has not been reelected," Baerbock said. Background: The European Commission has responded to the claims of Russian propaganda that Volodymyr Zelenskyys presidency is illegitimate since his five-year presidential term ends on 21 May 2024, saying that Ukraine cannot hold free elections because it is under attack by Russian missiles, drones and bombs, and millions of people have been displaced inside the country and outside its borders. American special services have said that Russia has intensified its efforts of disinformation over the past few months in order to discredit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and call his legitimacy into question. Support UP or become our patron! BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev visited the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the country to offer his condolences over the tragic death of Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and other accompanying individuals in a helicopter crash, Trend reports. Seyyed Jafar Aghaee, Charge d'Affaires of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Azerbaijan, welcomed the head of state. The President of Azerbaijan signed a book of condolence. Then, speaking with the Charge d'Affaires of the embassy, President Ilham Aliyev said: - The tragic death of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mr. Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, deeply shook us all. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hossein Amirabdollahian, and other individuals tragically died with him. May Allah rest their souls in peace. I express my condolences to the people of Iran. This is a huge loss. This is a loss not only for the people and state of Iran, but also for the entire Muslim world. Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi was a prominent statesman, an outstanding politician, and a great personality who had won the trust of the Iranian people. Our numerous meetings always left a great impression on me. My last meeting with him was a historic one. Both he and I described it as a historic meeting. Our joint participation in the opening of a large infrastructure project at the state border indicated how strong Iran-Azerbaijan relations are. It was a very clear message to both our peoples and the whole world that we are friends and brothers, and that we will continue to be together. After the opening ceremony, both the late President Raisi's and my official statements had very serious political implications. Both Presidents openly stated that the countries located in the region should actively participate in the future development of this region. This tragedy, of course, is a huge pain, both for his relatives and those who knew him. But what is comforting is that he dedicated his life to the development of the Iranian people. He played a special role in defending the national interests of the Iranian state. Both during his term as President and in the previous periods, he sought to improve the well-being of the Iranian people and played a major role in protecting national interests. As you are aware, we were together for more than two hours just before this tragedy occurred. During the bilateral meeting, which lasted more than an hour, many important issues were discussed. The future directions of the development of Iran-Azerbaijan relations were reaffirmed and the strong political will of both sides was demonstrated again. At the same time, we had a broad exchange of views on specific infrastructure projects and made important decisions. I am confident that those who participated in that meeting will convey this to the new leadership of Iran. I am sure that all the agreements reached will be implemented because they are based on the interests of the people of Iran and Azerbaijan. We expressed our firm determination during the conversation with the late President Raisi that from now on there would be a significant number of large projects, both bilaterally and multilaterally. Unfortunately, he was not lucky enough to see the implementation of future projects. Everyone has to accept fate. However, let me say again, the comforting factor is that he sacrificed his life for the development of Iran, and in our memory, in the memory of the people of Iran and the people of Azerbaijan, he will remain as a bright personality, a great statesman, and a great friend of the state and people of Azerbaijan. Please accept my condolences again. May Allah rest his soul in peace. x x x Seyyed Jafar Aghaee expressed his gratitude to the President of Azerbaijan for visiting the embassy and offering his condolences. A German initiative to strengthen Ukraine's air defence has raised almost a billion euros for this goal. Source: European Pravda; German Foreign Ministry on the occasion of a visit by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock to Kyiv. The German Foreign Ministry noted that Baerbock has arrived in Ukraine at a crucial moment, as a few days ago, the Russian Federation launched a new offensive on Kharkiv. The Foreign Minister's trip aims to ensure that, despite the deterioration of the situation in the combat zone, Germany and Europe will continue to stand firmly on Ukraine's side and will not stop supporting it. "In this context, we should also consider the global initiative to strengthen air defence, which the Foreign Minister recently launched with Defence Minister Pistorius. Almost one billion euros have already been raised to provide additional support to Ukrainian air defence," the report says. The foreign ministry noted that work within the framework of the initiative continues and added that this initiative also protects the security of EU countries from Russian aggression. "Our support is rooted in the deep conviction that Ukraine will win this war. Putin is speculating that we will eventually run out of steam, but we have staying power. Germany, along with many other countries worldwide, is standing rock-solid by Ukraine's side. The people of Ukraine can count on this in the long term," Baerbock said. Several states supported the German initiative to search for air defence equipment for Kyiv at the 22nd meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (Ramstein format) on 20 May. Background: On 17 April, the German government launched an initiative to find additional air defence equipment that could be sent to Ukraine. Berlin later reported discussing funding for the initiative with Denmark and the Netherlands . In April, Belgium also announced the allocation of 200 million to the German initiative, and in May, Canada promised to give more than US$55 million Support UP or become our patron! (Bloomberg) -- The number of politically motivated crimes in Germany rose to the highest level in almost a quarter of a century last year, driven by a surge in right-wing extremism and Antisemitism. Most Read from Bloomberg Authorities recorded 60,028 offenses in 2023, an increase of about 2%, according to figures published Tuesday by the interior ministry in Berlin. That was the most since the data set was created in 2001. Almost half the crimes were committed by people from the right of the political spectrum, with offenses surging by more than a fifth to nearly 29,000. Politically motivated crime has almost doubled in 10 years and continues to rise, Holger Muench, the president of the Federal Crime Office, told reporters. We must take this development very seriously, as it threatens our democracy and social peace, he added. The publication of the figures comes after a spate of recent attacks on politicians campaigning ahead of next months European Parliament elections. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other senior politicians have repeatedly warned about the threat to German democracy from extremism, with the far-right Alternative for Germany leading in the polls in three eastern German regions before elections there in September. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, a member of Scholzs Social Democrats, said that Antisemitic offenses had reached a new high since the attack by Hamas on Israel in October. There were 5,164 such crimes last year, up from 2,641 the previous year. Read More: Germany Inc. Steps Up Call Against Populist Poison Before Vote Germany is also experiencing an increase in aggression and intimidation against citizens who are politically active, perform voluntary work or who are members of the police and other emergency services, Faeser said, speaking alongside Muench. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. An aristocrat suspected of planning to overthrow the German government appeared in court on Tuesday, as part of a mammoth trial exposing an alleged far-right plan to storm the countrys parliament. Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, 72, is accused of leading the plot, which would have led to him becoming Germanys head of state. The prince appeared at a specially erected high-security courtroom in Frankfurt alongside eight other defendants, including former judge Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, who was allegedly ready to become minister of justice. In total, nine ringleaders accused of treason are believed to have planned the resurrection of the German Reich, or empire, through violence, by storming the Bundestag, the national parliament, and kidnapping President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Tuesday marks the opening of the second of the three trials across Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Munich, forming one of the biggest anti-terror cases in modern German history. Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, a former judge, attends the Frankfurt trial on Tuesday. The former lawmaker allegedly led co-defendants around the Reichstag parliament to scout the site for a coup plot. - Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters With 27 defendants in total, the case was split into three trials for logistical reasons. In addition to the five judges, two others will be on standby for the Frankfurt trial in the event of a long-term absence. Around 260 witnesses will be summoned and up to 45 officers will ensure security on site. Malsack-Winkemann, an ex-lawmaker for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, allegedly led several co-defendants around the Reichstag building scouting the location. The defendants also include former army officers Maximilian Eder and Ruediger von Pescatore, who allegedly shared a deep aversion to German state institutions and to the democratic basic order, the Hesse higher regional court said in a statement. The plot by the terror organization to overthrow the German government and install martial law was uncovered in 2022. The group had planned to replace the government with a cabinet-like council and a military wing since August 2021, according to the charges. The plotters amassed almost $550,000 in funds and had access to a massive armory, according to the Public Prosecutor. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Germany's Foreign Minister receives award in Ukraine and reveals she wanted to visit Kharkiv photo Annalena Baerbock and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine Annalena Baerbock, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany, has had to cancel her visit to the city of Kharkiv planned within her trip to Ukraine on 21 May due to the security situation. Source: Baerbock in a conversation with journalists in Kyiv, as reported by European Pravda with reference to Tagesspiegel Details: Due to Russian attacks and for security reasons, Baerbock had to cancel her visit to Kharkiv, planned for 21 May. She already visited the city in January 2023 and wanted to learn more about the situation of the civilian population. Nonetheless, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, decorated Baerbock with the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise For Merit during their meeting. The corresponding decree was signed at the beginning of the year. Baerbock and Zelenskyy Photo: Imago/Thomas Trutschel During Baerbocks visit to one of the largest power plants of Ukraine (it was not specified which) with Ukraines Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko, Baerbock accused Vladimir Putin of purposeful terror against Ukraines infrastructure and civilians. Baerbock repeated her call upon the international partners of Ukraine to supply Kyiv with more air defence systems to "not only protect big cities but also the infrastructure". Background: This is Annalena Baerbocks seventh visit to Ukraine since the Russian full-scale invasion. She had urged the international community to strengthen its support for Ukraine in the air defence sector ahead of the visit. At the 22nd meeting of the Contact Group for Ukraines Defence (Ramstein format), several states expressed their support for Germanys initiative of looking for air defence means for Kyiv. Support UP or become our patron! Photo illustration by Getty Images. About this profile The Daily Montanan sent candidates in this race a list of five questions prepared by staff members. Candidates who do not appear with the rest of the candidates in the race did not submit answers to the Daily Montanan. If you have any questions, please reach out to info@dailymontanan.com The primary for Montanas 1st Congressional District seat offers voters a couple of familiar names incumbent Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke and challenger Mary Todd, a small business owner and church leader. Democrat Monica Tranel, who faced off against Zinke in the 2022 general election, is running unopposed in the primary. In 2022, Zinke knocked out four primary challengers, but they collectively earned 58% of the GOP vote. Zinke, also former U.S. Secretary of the Interior and former Navy SEAL, won 35,601 votes, and the others together earned 49,768. Zinke was just two points ahead of Al Olszewski, who earned 33,927 votes. Libertarians Dennis Hayes and Ernie Noble filed for candidacy as well, but neither candidate reported any money raised in the most recent reporting period. The Cook Political Report rates the race as likely Republican but notes the absence of a primary challenger for Tranel this year compared to 2022 helps the lawyer and former Olympic rower gain traction, as does her fundraising ability. However, the most recent analysis also notes former President Donald Trump likely at the top of the ticket will help the GOP. Editors note: Republican candidate Ryan Zinke did not respond to the survey. Republican candidate Mary Todds campaign said it could not respond in the timeline allowed partly due to international travel. Libertarians Dennis Hayes and Ernie Noble also did not respond to questions. Democrat Monica Tranel What is the biggest issue facing Montanas western district? Housing. Students are worried about the high cost of rent, homeowners are worried about rising property taxes and seniors are unable to find space in nursing homes. We need to get a handle on the housing crisis and lower the cost of living for those of us who are fortunate enough to call this incredible place home. We have seen the climate and landscape of Montana affected due to climate change. What is the role of Montanas western Congressional representative in that discussion? To lead, and make sure that Montanas tremendous natural resources benefit Montanans. One example of the unique nature of western Montana is Triple Divide Peak a hydrological apex with waters that flow into three different oceans. We are facing decreased water, hotter summers, increased droughts, reduced snowpack, longer wildfire seasons and more wildfire smoke place our economy at risk. There are significant resources available to make the energy transition work for Montana we can invest in our economy, our future, and our communities by implementing more distributed generation, ensuring transmission gets electrons where the load is, and that we have a safe, stable, resilient and sustainable energy system. At the same time, we must protect our wild places. Western Montana has the resources and infrastructure to lead this economic growth. I have worked on water issues and with energy producers throughout my professional career. My experience advocating for farmers, ranchers, energy producers and everyday Montanans makes me a powerful voice for Montana in Congress, and a leader in water and energy policy. We can secure a livable future for all by investing in the energy transition and making sure Montanas resources benefit Montanans. As more people have moved to Montana, affordable housing and making a living have become harder for some people. How would you ease the financial burden on Montanans? Having held housing roundtables in all 16 counties in this district, I have heard numerous solutions from the people on the front line of the housing crisis. First and foremost, I will be an educated thought partner with state and local leaders who are working to ease this crisis in our communities. This issue is my issue I have children in school here, and my mom is in a nursing home when people say teachers are leaving and nursing homes are closing, that is personal for me. In terms of easing the financial burden of housing on Montanans, there are a number of different proposals to address this in the immediate, near and long term. Some of those solutions include adjusting the Area Media Income (AMI) requirements to qualify for housing built using tax credits; making sure that trailer parks are not sold out from under trailer home owners and stabilizing lot fees; investing in land trusts so that the land is not a part of the cost of a new home, making some more homes available; loosening the supply constraints by taxing second and third homes that are not lived in for a certain number of days per year; and reducing or eliminating tax deductions for second and third homes. Congress can help Montana families afford a place to live by providing more financing for housing construction, tax credits to help young families buy homes, and by changing the tax code to discourage housing speculation. Ill also work to bring down everyday costs for families by holding monopolies, giant corporate interests, and prescription drug manufacturers accountable for price gouging, stopping hedge funds from buying up houses here in Montana and driving up home costs, and holding utility companies accountable for raising rates to pay for their bad business decisions. What support are you lending, or would you lend, in Congress to priorities of Montanas tribal leaders? Tribal Nations have been leaders in protecting our environment, protecting instream water flow and fisheries. Here in Montana, we saw that leadership turn into action with the return of the Bison Range to the CSKT Nation a transfer that Ryan Zinke opposed and worked to defeat. Zinke also has voted to cut social security, defund law enforcement, force people to work longer before retiring, and to slash healthcare programs, disproportionately harming Native American communities. In contrast, I will work with our Tribal Nations to ensure that the programs needed to support our communities are put in place. I support legislation to codify the federal governments obligations to fulfill its treaty obligations with Tribal Nations. I support implementing laws to give Native Americans meaningful access to vote. I will work to implement programs to protect Indigenous women from violence. I will work to build out reliable internet access across Tribal Nations and rural areas in our state. Families with children are struggling in Montana. What should a child care tax credit look like? As the mother of three daughters, I live the challenge of working and raising kids. Families in Montana face the impossible dilemma of having to work but not being able to find affordable child care. Many Montanans live in childcare deserts. In rural areas, more than a quarter of the families who need child care cant find it. Congress must continue to support child care for working families, and particularly to extend the child tax credit, which lifted 3.4 million children out of poverty. The credit should be made fully refundable, so that low income families can benefit from it just like everyone else. The post Getting to know Montanas 1st Congressional District candidates appeared first on Daily Montanan. The Montana Office of the Commissioner of Securities and Insurance and State Auditor. (Photo by Blair Miller, Daily Montanan) (Photo by Will Newton | Getty Images) About this profile The Daily Montanan sent candidates in this race a list of five questions prepared by staff members. We have limited each response to 200 words. All candidates have been given the same opportunity to respond and the same word limit. Candidates who do not appear with the rest of the candidates in the race did not submit answers to the Daily Montanan. Answers that were longer than 200 words were trimmed to the nearest sentence. If you have any questions, please reach out to info@dailymontanan.com The Montana State Auditor seat is open this year because incumbent Republican State Auditor Troy Downing is running in the Republican primary for the also-open 2nd Congressional District seat. The state auditor acts as the Commissioner of Securities and Insurance in Montana, which is charged with protecting consumers, investigating and prosecuting fraud, and regulating insurance and securities companies. Three candidates will be on voters primary ballots for the race in June two Republicans and one Democrat. James Brown, currently the chairperson of the Montana Public Service Commission and a private practice attorney from Beaverhead County, will face John Jay Willoughby in the Republican primary. Willoughby sells insurance at his company based in Helena, founded a bail bonds company, and previously worked in law enforcement. There is only one Democrat running in the race this year, John Repke, a Whitefish business executive who ran unsuccessfully for the Public Service Commission in 2022. With absentee ballots already in the hands of voters, the Daily Montanan is profiling the candidates in most of the statewide primaries for voters to decide to whom they want to lend their support. Republicans James Brown signs his candidate filing paperwork. (Photo: James Brown campaign) James Brown The role of the Auditor and the Commissioner of Securities and Insurance is far-reaching. What is your top priority for the office? The role of the State Auditor is far reaching and multi-faceted. Consequently, it is hard to name just one important issue to address. But I absolutely will focus on key issues such as making Montana a place where people seeking insurance coverage have numerous policy choices and can find insurance at affordable rates due to a healthy regulatory environment and robust competition. I will also focus on protecting all Montanans from insurance fraud and scams. The underhanded criminals who perpetrate crimes against our seniors and other white-collar criminals will know that there is no place for them to operate in the Treasure State. What changes would you like to see at the office? Having grown up in rural Montana, I know how difficult it can be for Montana citizens to access resources offered by state agencies located in Helena. Therefore, I will continue the education efforts undertaken by the agency to get out and into to Montanas local communities, visit with stakeholders directly, and to be accessible on a one-on-one basis to all Montanans regardless of where they reside from Alzada to Libby such that rural areas are well represented. I will also strive to provide resources to Montana businesses to find investors to grow their companies and to employ more Montanans. With more scams happening electronically and through banks, how would you propose keeping Montanans safe? Once elected, I will focus the agencys investigatory branch on the securities sector in order to protect against bad actors. More needs to be done to shield Montanas most vulnerable citizens from the pervasive and exploding use of artificial intelligence to commit fraud. Do you have any plans to work with insurers to make sure that more child care facilities can obtain and keep their insurance, the cost of which has increased in recent years, according to providers? The posed question does not call out the specific line(s) of insurance, however, I believe the best way to protect against insurance companies leaving the state is by creating a regulatory environment that makes Montana attractive to do business in. Insurance agents can also be a tremendous asset in this regard because they are on the most local level and will most accessible to the consumer. Do you agree with the recommendations made in the 2023 financial compliance audit of the office, as the current auditor did? The current Auditor agreed with the finding of the audit and, likewise, agreed to implement the recommendations. I would continue the implementation of those recommendations. Editors note: Republican candidate John Jay Willoughby did not respond to the survey. Democrats Montana State Auditor candidate John Repke. (Courtesy campaign) John Repke The role of the Auditor and the Commissioner of Securities and Insurance is far-reaching. What is your top priority for the office? Hard working Montanans and their families are struggling with how expensive living in Montana has become. Along with jumps in property taxes and utility rates, the increasing cost of insurance is a big part of the growing affordability challenge we are all having. My top priorities are to shore up the healthcare marketplace and address coverages for catastrophic property loss. Inadequate medical insurance coverage due to loss of a job, loss of Medicaid, or any other reason, puts folks in a precarious financial situation and that puts our network of health care providers in a difficult position as well. We need to find ways to keep folks insured. Our system cant work if theyre not. Other forms of insurance are also under stress. Rates are rising significantly, and more and more folks are unable to find or renew their policies. Much of this is tied to how insurers are assessing risk in light of the rise of catastrophic events, including wildfires. This is a complex area, but we must find solutions or Montana families will be one event away from losing all they have. What changes would you like to see at the office? I will work to put in place more proactive/forward looking approaches to the challenges in the insurance markets and to the prevention of financial scams as they become increasingly sophisticated. I also will support an increased effort to promote the work of the agency. The staff does excellent work, but it still flies under the radar and a lot of Montanans are not aware of the services the agency has to offer. With more scams happening electronically and through banks, how would you propose keeping Montanans safe? Education and awareness are the key. Regardless of the platform used by the scammers, an informed individual is less likely to become a victim. I will work to find more creative ways to make Montanans resistant to fraud and aware of the resources available to them. Do you have any plans to work with insurers to make sure that more child care facilities can obtain and keep their insurance, the cost of which has increased in recent years, according to providers? As with many challenges in the insurance markets these days, understanding the risks and assessing them correctly is the key to solving the problem. I certainly will work with insurers to understand the underlying issues and find solutions. The best solutions would be ones that come out of the market and I will work with the insurers to find those, but I am not opposed to evaluating other solutions as well. Do you agree with the recommendations made in the 2023 financial compliance audit of the office, as the current auditor did? Yes, I agree. I applaud the detailed work of the Legislative Audit team. They play an important role in making sure our state government works as it should. The findings at the State Auditors office were accounting and administrative procedure related. It is always important that the accounting be done correctly and that procedures are followed. I am pleased that the current Commissioner agreed. The post Getting to know Montanas State Auditor candidates appeared first on Daily Montanan. Photo illustration by Getty Images. In a recent letter, Gov. Greg Gianforte said he is amenable to providing temporary financial relief to Lake County for as long as three years in the transition period following the countys withdrawal from handling law enforcement on the Flathead Indian Reservation. The financial burden in fulfilling the agreement, an estimated $4 million, was the countys biggest reason for withdrawing from a decades-long agreement, which commissioners officially did Monday. Commissioners are hoping the state will give $2.5 million to the county that was in legislation the governor vetoed last year. Lake County Commissioners are scheduled to meet with Gianforte on Tuesday afternoon to discuss a transition strategy, according to Commissioner Gale Decker. Decker said the county will still operate like PL-280 is in place until there is a transition plan. The state assumed criminal jurisdiction over the Flathead Reservation in 1963 under an agreement passed by Congress called Public Law 280, or PL-280. The county has provided law enforcement through the terms of this agreement for years but moved to withdraw due to cost. However, on the ground, Decker said, nothing changed as of Monday. Where we are right now is were going to continue to exercise jurisdiction, Lake County, just because the state and the feds have said they cant do it and somebody has to do it, Decker told the Daily Montanan. We are going to continue doing it in the interest of public safety. The Governors office and commissioners disagree on the status of the official withdrawal, but in his letter to commissioners, Gianforte also explained the reason he opposed having the state pay the entire bill. If the state were to fully and indefinitely fund the costs Lake County willingly undertook when it consented to the implementation of PL 280, it would create an unsustainable burden on the states general fund, be inconsistent with how law enforcement is funded in every other Montana county, and lead to requests from other counties who would legitimately seek financial assistance for their local expenses once the precedent has been set, Gianforte said. Gianforte said he would support limited financial assistance for a period up to three years as the county transitions to a long term solution that is consistent with how similar expenses are funded in all other local jurisdictions in Montana. If the county stops providing law enforcement services under PL-280 altogether, and if no other action is taken, the federal government would assume felony jurisdiction on the reservation. The Governors office also said the commission didnt send the necessary document to exit the agreement, so the governor was not in a position to issue a proclamation saying as much. According to statute, a governors proclamation follows the withdrawal letter. Commissioners said they did send it, and their withdrawal is effective Monday with or without the governors proclamation. The two parties will meet Tuesday in Helena to discuss what transitioning away from the agreement would look like, Decker said. He said the meeting would not be open to the public as it would involve litigation strategy. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have handled misdemeanor offenses on the Flathead Indian Reservation since the 1990s. The federal government oversees felonies on other reservations in the state. In 2023, Gianforte vetoed a bill that would have funded the effort, saying there should have been more restrictions on what the money could be used for. Last fall commissioners passed a resolution to withdraw the county from the agreement which they said became effective Monday. Gianforte told commissioners in March the only tool left for him to address the question over who is responsible for law enforcement is to pull the state out from the agreement entirely. Last week, Gianfortes office claimed the withdrawal by commissioners isnt technically official, and therefore the proclamation isnt required just yet. Last week Gianfortes legal counsel sent a letter to the commission claiming the governors office hadnt received the resolution needed to relinquish the county from PL-280. In November, the commission passed a resolution changing the date of delivery to the governor for a previous resolution requesting withdrawal from the agreement. In the letter sent Thursday, Attorney Anita Milanovich said the commission sent its resolution changing the date, but not the originally passed resolution to withdraw. As such, I must conclude that a proclamation from the Governor is improper at this time, Milanovich said. In a press release Friday, Lake County Commissioners said they are confident the county followed the statutory process for the governor to issue his proclamation. But Decker said Monday the countys withdrawal is effective today, with or without the governors proclamation. In a separate letter sent Thursday, Gianforte said he would be unable to issue a proclamation, citing Milanovichs reasoning in her letter, but also said local law enforcement is a local responsibility and not a state responsibility. U.S. Attorney for Montana Jesse Laslovich told commissioners last month that the feds would likely only pursue big fish cases, meaning fewer cases get prosecuted and more menace within the community. The CSKT issued a statement last week saying the tribe continues to monitor the situation and remain committed to local, state and federal partners. A spokesperson for the tribe gave no comment if there would be tribal representation in Tuesdays meeting between the county and governors office. Last month Attorney General Austin Knudsen met with Lake County Commissioners and said he would help foster communication between the commission and the governors office. However, Decker said Monday the commission hadnt heard from Knudsen since, but Decker says that doesnt mean Knudsen didnt say anything to the governors office. A spokesperson for the Attorney Generals office did not immediately respond to questions confirming Knudsens involvement. Decker said hes hoping for continued conversations on what the transition plan is going to be as the county and likely state withdraw from the agreement entirely. But in the meantime, although the county has formally withdrawn, it will still execute the agreement. We are going to continue to exercise jurisdiction, Decker said. We are going to keep the people in Lake County safe. The post Gianforte supports limited financial assistance for Flathead Reservation law enforcement appeared first on Daily Montanan. (NewsNation) Police served a search warrant Monday at the home of Rex Heuermann, the suspect in the deaths of four women whose bodies were found along Gilgo Beach, NewsNation has confirmed. No family members were present and Heuermanns estranged wife, Asa Ellerup, confirmed that the home had been searched. It isnt clear what prompted police to search the home or what specific information they were seeking. The medical examiner arrived at the home later in the morning, and NewsNations Laura Ingle saw very large evidence bags being carried out of the home. Graceland facing foreclosure auction; Elvis heir fights to block sale Retired NYPD Sergeant Joseph Giacalone told NewsNation in an interview that the use of heavy equipment could suggest officials found evidence for cases beyond the Gilgo killings. Since they already did this 10 months ago, they had to be able to prove to a judge that they had probable cause to go in there. The ME (medical examiner) showing up is really interesting. If we see the forensic anthropologist show up, that would be even more interesting and a bit of an eye-opener because they are the doctors that go out and determine what is a human bone or what is an animal bone, Giacalone explained. Last month, authorities conducted a multiday search of the woods in Manorville, New York, though its not clear if this second search is connected. Heuermann is currently awaiting trial, facing murder charges in the deaths of four women known as the Gilgo Four, whose bodies were all found along Gilgo Beach in Long Island, New York. Investigators previously searched the Heuermann home after he was arrested and charged with the deaths of Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman and Melissa Barthelemy. He was later charged with the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes. Researchers studying doomsday glacier make worrying discovery All four women were sex workers and their bodies, along with several others, were found along Gilgo Beach in 2010 and 2011. At this time, Heuermann has not been linked to any other of the deaths. In the initial search of Heuermanns home in summer 2023, police found what they described as a huge list of items, including more than 200 weapons. They also searched the backyard of the home as well, and Heuermanns family claimed investigators left the home in chaos. Ellerup filed for divorce after Heuermanns arrest. Her DNA was among the evidence used to eventually arrest Heuermann, as police used familial DNA to help identify a suspect. Lawyers for Heuermann and his family didnt respond to calls and emails seeking comment Monday but told local news outlets that his wife and two adult children were not home at the time. Heuermann has been in custody since his arrest last July and has maintained his innocence. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 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 Queen City News. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. Qualification diplomas of crew members of sea vessels will be mutually recognized between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, Trend reports. The Azerbaijani parliament's plenary meeting has discussed the Azerbaijani draft law on approval of the Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Diplomas of Specialization of Ship Crews between the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan and Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan. The discussion was followed by putting the document to a vote and its approval. To note, the above agreement was signed by the Minister of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan Rashad Nabiyev and Minister of Transport of Kazakhstan Marat Karabayev on March 11, 2024. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel Rudy Giuliani has agreed to never again publicly accuse two Georgia election workers of tampering with votes in the 2020 election, a false accusation that he has repeated frequently and that led to his bankruptcy. With the agreement, Giuliani is forfeiting a yearslong verbal and legal battle hes waged with the election workers, Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss. It also gives the women significant power to hold him accountable if Giuliani again publicly suggests they stole votes to hurt former President Donald Trump, which is not true. A draft of the agreement filed in court Tuesday says Giuliani would be permanently enjoined from publishing, causing others to publish, and/or assisting in others publication of any statements that suggest that Plaintiffs, whether mentioned directly, indirectly, or by implication, engaged in wrongdoing in connection with the 2020 presidential election. Attorneys for Freeman and Moss say the agreement would allow them to take Giuliani to court immediately if he repeats potentially defamatory statements. Today ends his efforts to profit off of lies about these two heroes of American democracy, the workers attorney Michael Gottlieb said in a statement. CNN has reached out to Giulianis spokesperson for comment. The agreement was formalized in a Wednesday night court order, setting Giuliani up for potentially severe and swift consequences in court if he breaks it. False statements he previously made that he can no longer reiterate include his belief that Freeman and Moss tampered with ballots in 2020 and that video captured fake ballots for Joe Biden flooding the counting process in Fulton County. Freeman and Moss previously sued Giuliani for defamation and won a $148 million judgment against him, which the former mayor of New York has not begun to pay off. The trial provided a searing glimpse into the harassment election workers suffered while prominent Trump supporters spread lies about the 2020 election. Giuliani is separately facing criminal charges in Georgia and Arizona for his efforts for Trump four years ago, and he has been suspended from practicing law. Giuliani has pleaded not guilty in both cases, with his arraignment in Arizona taking place earlier Tuesday. Giuliani is also in Chapter 11 personal bankruptcy, with Freeman, Moss and others pursuing everything he has of value. The agreement includes Freeman and Moss dropping a second lawsuit they filed against Giuliani on the same day they won the $150 million judgment against him in December, because he continued to make false statements about them. This story has been updated with additional reporting. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Giuliani, others plead not guilty to felony charges in Arizona election interference case Giuliani, others plead not guilty to felony charges in Arizona election interference case Rudy Giuliani pleaded not guilty Tuesday to nine charges he is facing in Arizona in relation to a case focused on efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in that state. Giuliani entered his not guilty plea remotely at an arraignment held in a courtroom in Phoenix. Numerous other individuals charged in the case, including former Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward, also entered not guilty pleas at their arraignments Tuesday. Giulianis trial is set to begin in October. Its the second criminal indictment he is facing after being charged in the fall in Georgia in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Williss probe into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in that state. He has pleaded not guilty to all those charges as well. In Arizona, Giuliani was charged along with other close Trump allies last month with nine felony charges, including counts of conspiracy, fraud and forgery. All 18 defendants in the case are accused of promoting false claims of voter fraud to try to convince state officials to reject President Bidens victory in Arizona. The other defendants in the case include the 11 individuals who signed documents asserting that they were the legitimate electors in the state and that Trump had won, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn and attorneys Jenna Ellis, John Eastman and Christina Bobb. Mike Roman, the director of Election Day operations for Trumps 2020 campaign, was also charged. Arizona officials had struggled to track down Giuliani for weeks after the charges were filed to serve him the summons to appear, but he was eventually served Friday following his 80th birthday celebration. The judge at the hearing Tuesday required Giuliani to post a bond of $10,000 and appear in Arizona for booking procedures within the next 30 days. Giuliani spokesperson Ted Goodman said in a statement that Giuliani looks forward to full vindication and baselessly accused Biden and his allies of weaponizing the justice system to prosecute Trump. These charges are essentially a cut and paste version of what theyre attempting to use to interfere with the 2024 Election and to take down President Trump and anyone willing to take on the permanent Washington political class, Goodman said. Prosecutors allege that Ward, who chaired the state party from 2019 to 2023, brought the fake electors together and pressured then-Vice President Pence to declare them the legitimate electors. Ward also pleaded not guilty Tuesday. Eastman was the first defendant to be arraigned in the case last week, also pleading not guilty. Most of the defendants were being arraigned on Tuesday, but Meadows, Epshteyn and two fake electors are scheduled to be arraigned in June. Arizona is the fourth state where charges have been brought in relation to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Trump has not been charged in Arizona but was referenced as an unindicted co-conspirator in the indictment. The Associated Press contributed to this reporting. Updated 3:33 p.m. ET. 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 The Hill. PHOENIX Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani pleaded not guilty Tuesday to nine felony charges stemming from his role in an effort to overturn Donald Trumps 2020 election loss in Arizona to Joe Biden. Ten others, including former Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward, also pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, forgery and fraud charges related to the case. Giuliani appeared remotely for the arraignment that was held in a Phoenix courtroom. His and Wards trials are scheduled for Oct. 17, about three weeks before the U.S. election. The indictment alleged Giuliani spread false claims of election fraud in Arizona after the 2020 election and presided over a downtown Phoenix gathering where he claimed officials made no effort to determine the accuracy of presidential election results. It also accused him of pressuring Maricopa County officials and state legislators to change the outcome of Arizonas results and encouraging Republican electors in the state to vote for Trump in mid-December 2020. During his remote appearance, Giuliani said he did not have an attorney, and that felt capable of handling the arraignment himself. Giuliani said he received a summons but did not have a copy of the indictment. He said he is familiar with the charges, though, by reading about them. Arizona authorities tried unsuccessfully over several weeks to serve Giuliani notice of the indictment against him. He was finally served Friday night as he was walking to a car after his 80th birthday celebration in Florida. On Tuesday, prosecutors requested a $10,000 cash bond after outlining efforts by Arizona authorities since April 23 and the difficulties they faced. The judge required Giuliani to post a secured appearance bond of $10,000 as well as appear in Arizona within the next 30 days for booking procedures. He has shown no intent to comply with the legal process in Arizona, prosecutor Nicholas Klingerman said in asking for the bond. Investigators werent allowed to go up to Giulianis residence, a doorman at the building refused to accept the documents and voicemails left for Giuliani werent returned, Klingerman said. The prosecutor said before the notice was delivered, Giuliani mentioned the Arizona case on a podcast, telling listeners he found it hilarious that Arizona investigators were having difficulty finding him. This is perfect evidence that if theyre so incompetent (that) they cant find me, they also cant count votes correctly, he said, according to Klingerman. Giuliani responded that he hadnt been hiding from Arizona authorities, saying he has strict rules about who can walk up to his residence given hes been the target of death threats and doesnt have security personnel. He also called the indictment political. I do consider the indictment to be a complete embarrassment to the American legal system, Giuliani said. Moments later Court Commissioner Shellie Smith, who was presiding over the hearing, tried to interrupt Giuliani but he kept talking. After Tuesdays arraignments, Giuliani spokesperson Ted Goodman said the former New York City mayor looks forward to being vindicated. These charges are essentially a cut and paste version of what theyre attempting to use to interfere with the 2024 Election and to take down President Trump and anyone willing to take on the permanent Washington political class, Goodman said. Arizona authorities unveiled the felony charges last month against Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring Trump, a Republican, had won Arizona. The defendants include five lawyers connected to the former president and two former Trump aides. Biden, a Democrat, won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes. The indictment alleges Ward, a former state senator who led the GOP in Arizona from 2019 until early 2023, organized the fake electors and urged then-Vice President Mike Pence to declare them to be the states true electors. It says Ward failed to withdraw her vote as a fake elector even though no legal challenges changed the outcome of the presidential race in Arizona. Last week, attorney John Eastman, who devised a strategy to try to persuade Congress not to certify the election, was the first defendant in the case to be arraigned, pleading not guilty to the charges. Trump himself was not charged in the Arizona case but was referred to as an unindicted co-conspirator. Arizona is the fourth state where allies of the former president have been charged with using false or unproven claims about voter fraud related to the election. The 11 people who claimed to be Arizonas Republican electors met in Phoenix on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign a certificate saying they were duly elected and qualified electors and asserting that Trump carried the state. A one-minute video of the signing ceremony was posted on social media by the Arizona Republican Party at the time. The document was later sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored. The other people who pleaded not guilty Tuesday included Tyler Bowyer, an executive of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA; state Sen. Anthony Kern; Greg Safsten, a former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party; Robert Montgomery, a former chairman of the Cochise County Republican Committee; Samuel Moorhead, a Republican precinct committee member in Gila County; Nancy Cottle, who in 2020 was the first vice president of the Arizona Federation of Republican Women; Loraine Pellegrino, past president of the Ahwatukee Republican Women; Michael Ward, an osteopathic physician who is married to Ward; and attorney Christina Bobb. Two other defendants attorney Jenna Ellis and and Michael Roman, who was Trumps 2020 director of Election Day operations were scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday, but ultimately didnt appear at the hearing. Their lawyers had requested postponements. Its unclear from the court record whether the judge had ruled on that request. Arraignments are scheduled for June 6 for state Sen. Jake Hoffman; on June 7 for former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows; and on June 18 for Trump attorney Boris Epshteyn and for James Lamon, another Republican who claimed Trump carried the state. FILE PHOTO: Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani departs defamation lawsuit at the District Courthouse in Washington By Andrew Goudsward (Reuters) - Former Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani was ordered to post a $10,000 bond in Arizona on Tuesday after allegedly eluding authorities' attempts to serve him court papers accusing the former New York mayor of trying to subvert the 2020 election. Appearing by phone at a court proceeding, Giuliani criticized what he called a "completely political case" as he pleaded not guilty to charges that he conspired to falsely claim Arizonas electoral votes for Trump following Trump's narrow loss to Democratic President Joe Biden. A Maricopa County judge, Shellie Smith, ordered Giuliani to travel to Arizona within 30 days to post the bond. Giuliani is one of 18 defendants in the case brought by Arizona's Democratic attorney general, Kris Mayes, and one of 11 who made their first court appearance on Tuesday. All pleaded not guilty. The other 10 defendants were released without bond, but prosecutors sought a different arrangement for Giuliani, saying they struggled to contact him after charges were filed. Prosecutors argued Giuliani was seeking to evade authorities, pointing to a since-deleted post on X in which Giuliani suggested prosecutors might have to drop the charges if they could not locate him. An agent from the Arizona attorneys general office finally served Giuliani on Friday as he was leaving his 80th birthday party in Florida. He has shown no intent to comply with legal process in Arizona in this case, prosecutor Nicholas Klingerman said. Giuliani, who does not yet have a lawyer in the case, disputed that he had been hiding from anyone. He said he limited access to his New York apartment over security concerns. "I do consider this indictment a complete embarrassment to the American legal system, but I've shown no tendency not to comply," Giuliani said, as the judge sought to cut him off. Giuliani and the other defendants are facing conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges over their efforts to assemble a slate of electors from Arizona pledged to support Trump, a bid to undermine certification of the 2020 election. Trump, a Republican, who will face off against Biden in the November presidential election, continues to falsely claim that his defeat was the result of fraud. Trump faces two upcoming criminal trials on election-subversion charges. Smith set an Oct. 17 trial date, just weeks before the Nov. 5 election. Trump is not charged in the Arizona case. Former Trump lawyer Christina Bobb and former Arizona Republican Chair Kelli Ward also appeared in court on Tuesday. John Eastman, who advised Trump on a plan to derail the Jan. 6, 2021 election certification, pleaded not guilty on Friday. (Reporting by Andrew Goudsward in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Leslie Adler) Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras testified on behalf of Senate Bill 140 that would eliminate the Judicial Nomination Commission and give the governor direct control over filling judicial vacancies on Feb. 9, 2021. (Photo courtesy of Montana Public Affairs Network). As part of a now ongoing lawsuit that has spanned both state and federal courts, a Glasgow couple has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Montana Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras, demanding that the second-highest ranking executive in the state stop making false statements and issue an apology letter to them. Todd and Krista Kolstads attorney, Matthew Monforton of Bozeman, sent the letter on Monday, the same day the Kolstads filed a case in federal district court in Billings alleging that social workers with the State of Montanas Child Protective Services deceived a state court judge in order to seize the Kolstads 14-year-old child without a warrant, and, in the process, ignored their religious freedoms. Need to get in touch? Have a news tip? CONTACT US The cease-and-desist letter asks Juras to apologize for comments she made during the state court hearings earlier in the year about the Kolstads, as well as preserving records that may come into play in the federal case. The Daily Montanan reached out the Juras office on Tuesday morning, but had received no response as of the time of publication. The court case involves a 14-year-old child who was removed from the Kolstads home last summer after threatening suicide. The Kolstads and the child were at odds about whether the 14-year-old should be allowed to transition from female to male. The Kolstads have maintained that their deeply held religious beliefs prohibit transgenderism, and that state officials disregarded that freedom. Meanwhile, state officials claimed that they were trying to find a psychiatric placement for the suicidal teenager when they took custody of the child, identified in court documents as H.K. The state sent H.K., to a Wyoming facility and later a Billings group home. Since then, H.K.s mother in Canada has been the custodian of the youth. However, the Kolstads have filed the federal suit against the states two social workers involved in the case, as well as sending a demand to Juras, who became involved in the case when Gov. Greg Gianforte appointed her to look into the matter after some degree of public concern when the Kolstads took their case to the media and social media. The Gianforte administration during the previous two legislative sessions has supported proposals to limit youth access to medical care, and has been seen as largely hostile to advancing LGBTQ+ rights. However, Juras, a former law school professor and conservative who once ran for the state Supreme Court in part on a platform of religious freedoms, told media that she had personally reviewed the details of the case, and supported the states social workers. You have said that CPSs seizure of the Kolstads daughter was lawful and have repeatedly accused the Kolstads of lying about their daughters seizure, said the letter sent to Juras by Monforton. You have it exactly backwards it is your statements about the Kolstads that are unfounded, malicious and slanderous under Montana law. The letter makes three requests of Juras including to stop defaming the Kolstads, apologize for slandering them, and preserve all written communications between Juras and any other person relating to the Kolstads. The letter goes on to state that the CPS social workers told the court that they needed to seize H.K., who was in immediate harm. However, at the time they told state court Judge Yvonne Laird that H.K., was in immediate danger, the child was already at a hospital, with round-the-clock, one-to-one observation, according to court documents. CPS workers instead seized the Kolstads daughter and took her to Wyoming against her parents will. CPS did this because they believed the Kolstads objections to transgenderism made them unfit parents. They told the Kolstads that their daughter would not be returned to them until they accepted her transgenderism. When the Kolstads refused to compromise their faith, CPS workers took their daughter to her biological mother in Canada, the letter said. On Jan. 29, Gianforte confirmed on social media that he was appointing Juras to look into the matter, and that she had, confirming that DPHHS followed state policy. The case documents, however, demonstrate precisely the opposite, the Kolstads letter said. You and Governor Gianforte could have stopped this injustice, but instead you allowed CPS to trample on the Kolstads civil rightsRather than respond to the Kolstads plea for help (or refrain from saying anything at all about the case), you have chosen to slander them for the past several months by calling them liars and claiming that CPS was justified in seizing their daughter. The case also demonstrates the interconnectedness of politics in a smaller state like Montana. Monforton, a former Republican lawmaker who has claimed a series of victories in state court, finds himself sending a letter to a former colleague, Juras a Republican and conservative attorney. Monforton and Juras both originally were co-counsel in one of the largest class-action lawsuits in the state when the City of Billings illegally charged franchise fees to water and wastewater bills. Juras and Monforton worked the case for the first two years until Juras left as co-counsel to campaign as Gianfortes running mate. At the conclusion of the franchise fees case, Monforton was the sole successful attorney. Juras Cease and Desist Letter The post Glasgow couple sends cease and desist letter to Montanas lieutenant governor appeared first on Daily Montanan. (Photo illustration by Getty Images.) The family of the teenager who was taken by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services Child Protective Service has sued in federal court, alleging several civil rights violations when the social workers placed the teen in a psychiatric facility in Wyoming, barring the parents from communicating with the child. Todd and Krista Kolstad of Glasgow have filed suit in Billings against DPHHS social workers Cyndi Baillargeon and Crystal Whitmore for taking their child without due process and a warrant and interfering with their religious freedoms. The Montana DPHHS was not immediately available for comment when the suit was filed late Monday afternoon. Kolstads child, who is identified as H.K. throughout the court documents, said he identifies as transgender and wanted to transition to a male. However, because of the Kolstads strong religious beliefs, they objected and refused to let their child transition, believing it was a sin. When their 14-year-old became suicidal, H.K., was taken to a hospital for in-patient psychiatric care, waiting for a more permanent bed in a psychiatric hospital. However, because of the Kolstads understanding of Montana law, they did not want their child to be placed out of state for fear that medical professionals elsewhere would allow the transitioning process to begin. They believed that Montana law barred medical support to youth who want to transition, an issue that is still being litigated in courts. However, the federal lawsuit says that the DPHHS, through Baillargeon and Whitmore, denied the Kolstads due process rights, and that the workers lied to the court. They also claim that state workers abused the law by not having a judge sign off on a warrant removing the child from their custody. Meanwhile, the state contends that it had the right to remove the child because of imminent harm and immediate danger. H.K. had originally been admitted to the hospital after claiming to have consumed an overdose of ibuprofen and toilet bowl cleaner. H.K.s hospital tests results showed neither were ingested. The State of Montana said it was concerned with the risk of suicide. Court documents filed Monday also allege that the Kolstads had been supportive of finding a hospital bed for H.K., in Montana, and believed the teen would be taken to Billings Clinic. However, they said with little notice, the state switched plans, sending H.K., to a psychiatric treatment center in Casper and then forbade contact. The Kolstads also maintain that both the in-patient Wyoming hospital and the youth group home in Billings allowed their child to be addressed by a male name, allowed male clothing and toiletries as well as provided chest binders all things to which they objected. The teens birth mother now lives in Canada, where H.K. resides. Attorney Matthew Monforton, who represents the Kolstads, argues in court filings that the child was not in any danger of serious bodily harm when CPS seized her. Moreover, according to the doctors notes in the court documents, H.K. was not an active threat of suicide or harm when moved to Wyoming. However, the lawsuit argued that CPS workers falsely testified in an affidavit that the teenager faced an imminent risk of physical harm. Monforton said that Child Protective Services was also silent about the Kolstads deeply held religious beliefs. This omission was material because, under Montana law, a finding of child neglect cannot occur for the sole reason that a parent or legal guardian, because of religious beliefs, does not provide adequate health care for a child, the court documents said. The Kolstads also claimed in the court filing that they were told by Child Protective Services that they would not regain custody of their daughter unless they accepted her transgenderism. According to documents filed as part of the case, the state described its concerns for the physical health of H.K.: The cause, as far as is possible to ascertain, are allegations of physical neglect the youth was suicidal and needed acute psychiatric care and the birthfather and stepmother refused to sign paperwork for the youth to receive the care that was recommended by the medical professionals. At the conclusion of the court case, though, Valley County District Court Judge Yvonne Laird was sharply critical of the Kolstads handling of the case, and questioned whether they truly had the best intentions for H.K. Unfortunately, during the pendency of this matter, the youths father and stepmother chose to focus on the youths struggle with gender identification rather than addressing the issues in the family home and ensuring a safe and supportive environment for the youths suicidal ideation, the judge wrote. The documents filed by Monforton said that statement, which the court relied on to make a determination, didnt tell the full story: That the Kolstads were supportive of some psychiatric care, but objected to transitioning because of their religious beliefs. He argued that federal law demands parental consent for medical procedures that are essential. Furthermore, he said that federal law only provides a narrow exception for seizing children without a warrant, and the burden wasnt met in the Kolstads case. Seizing a child without a warrant is excusable only when officials have reasonable cause to believe that the child is likely to experience serious bodily harm in the time that would be required to obtain a warrant, the complaint said. According to the case filing, at the time, H.K., was being held on 24-hour, one-on-one observation, making it unlikely it was a warrantless situation. (CPS) knew that H.K. was no facing an imminent substantial risk of serious harm when they seized her on Aug. 22, the filing said. Defendants deceit of the state court made the courts proceedings against the Kolstads a sham from start to finish. The post Glasgow couple sue Child Protective Services, accusing them of deceiving court appeared first on Daily Montanan. Goldberg: Trump and Biden agreed to debates. That's a lot less important than it was made out to be The Biden and Trump campaigns agreed to two presidential debates last week. Who among us can contain our excitement? Well, it depends on what you mean by us. In my corner of the professional world pundits, commentators, political junkies there was much rejoicing. Watching the Sunday shows, you could be forgiven for thinking church bells must have rung out to celebrate the news across the nation, as if some medieval queen had given birth to a male heir. The debates are happening! The debates are happening! Huzzah! Meanwhile, among normal people, that sound you didnt hear was the great mass of humanity shrugging. A smaller segment of the population likely let out an involuntary groan of the sort you make when you find out you got a middle seat on an airplane. Read more: Goldberg: Biden still trails Trump in the polls. His problem goes beyond inflation, Gaza and age I dont have polling to back this up, but I suspect most Americans would regard the prospect of Donald Trump and Joe Biden yelling at each other like two old men squabbling over the check at a Dennys with resigned exhaustion. Ugh, really? Were doing this again? Now, I understand why journalists and junkies are excited. For starters, presidential debates inflate the egos of journalists, giving them ample opportunity to talk grandly about the fourth estates important role in democracy. Theyre also great for ratings: The first, thoroughly awful 2020 debate was watched by 73 million people. The drama of politicians offering unscripted though often rehearsed answers to complicated questions has a Super Bowl-like quality for political nerds. That listening to either of the current presumptive nominees talk is like watching a race car driver behind the wheel of a vehicle without brakes just adds to the excitement. The prospect of a spectacular crash always has a certain dark appeal, and in a Trump-Biden matchup, crashes are assured. Read more: Goldberg: What happened to the Republican war on 'woke' and what we should have learned from it Lost amid the hoopla over the latest debate agreement is the fact that pretty much all presidential debates are tiresome and counterproductive spectacles. The arguments for debates are often somewhat tautological. We supposedly need to have presidential debates because weve always had presidential debates. But this isnt true. The first presidential debates, between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, were in 1960 (when Biden and Trump were, respectively, 17 and 14 years old). All anyone remembers about the Kennedy-Nixon debates is the first one, which Nixon lost, according to lore , because he was without makeup, unshaven and sweaty. Again, according to lore, people who listened to the debate on radio thought Nixon won, while people who watched it on television were so impressed by Kennedys suave style and good looks that they thought he won. Nixon, who was underweight and exhausted during his first appearance, got some rest and good makeup and won the next two debates , which nobody remembers. In other words, the lesson from the beginning was that style was more important than substance. It has ever been thus. We think, partly because we are told as much over and over again, that televised debates convey important information to voters. But television makes certain information seem more important than it is, often subliminally. For instance, in most presidential elections, the taller candidate wins . Does height in some way correlate with superior policies? Theres a reason FDR hid his wheelchair from public view. But while I have no end of substantive criticisms of Franklin D. Roosevelt, his having had polio is not among them. Obviously, television presence is part of modern presidents job description. But televised presidential debates magnify that qualification beyond all reason. Yes, yes, presidents need to be good communicators. But at no point during their actual presidencies are they ever expected to bicker with a political foe for 90 minutes in front of millions of people. The political skills we are testing for are not the political skills the job requires. The candidate who forcefully, confidently or amusingly lies is often rewarded by debates, while the candidate who tells the truth awkwardly, hesitantly or with appropriate complexity is often penalized. The debate highlight reels the networks routinely run are full of one-liners, gaffes and falsehoods often treated as true by sympathetic journalists. But Ive never seen a really thoughtful explanation of the national debt or another serious problem celebrated as a great moment in debate history. The prospect of a Biden-Trump rematch is especially deserving of an Ugh, really? But the truth is that all presidential debates deserve the same. @JonahDispatch If its in the news right now, the L.A. Times Opinion section covers it. Sign up for our weekly opinion newsletter. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The welcome ceremony for the Golden Boy statue in Bangkok on May 21, 2024. Credit - Manan VatsyayanamanAFP/Getty Images Thai and American officials celebrated the arrival of the so-called Golden Boya 4-ft. tall, about 900-year-old bronze statueto the National Museum in Bangkok on Tuesday, after years of negotiations to repatriate the sculpture along with other artifacts that had been misappropriated abroad. The return of the Golden Boy and the Kneeling Lady, another statue linked to the same alleged smuggler, was welcomed by Thai Minister of Culture Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol as well as U.S. Ambassador to Thailand Robert F. Godec, who described the pieces as symbols of Thailands rich heritage. They are evidence of the prosperity of the land of Thailand in the past and are extremely important national cultural heritage, Sudawan said on X. Amid a wave of scrutiny over the potentially illicit provenance of artifacts sitting in the worlds largest museums, Southeast Asian governments have been trying to retrieve as many as thousands of items that they believe were looted or trafficked from their lands, though the repatriation process is often stalled or blocked by legal and logistical hurdles. The return of the Golden Boy and the Kneeling Lady, which had spent the last three decades in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, has been hailed as a rare success story. Heres what to know. Why were the artifacts returned now? A woman in northeastern Buriram province claims to have discovered the Golden Boywhich is believed by some to represent Hindu god Shiva and others to be Khmer King Jayavarman VIabout 50 years ago while digging for sweet potatoes. She says that when she brought the statue to a local police station, officers took her to Bangkok, where they sold it to a foreigner for 1.2 million baht (about $33,000). When the Golden Boy was added to the Mets collection in 1988, it was described by the museum as certainly the most important gift of a Southeast Asian sculpture ever made to our collection. In December, the Met said that it would return the Golden Boy and the Kneeling Lady to Thailand, as well as 14 artifacts to Cambodia (including a metal sculpture of a sitting Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and a 7th-century stone Buddha head). The pieces were associated with late art dealer Douglas Latchford, who was indicted in 2019 for trafficking and selling looted Cambodian antiquities to auction houses and museums around the world since the 1970s. Until his death in 2020, Latchford had denied his involvement in smuggling, though his daughter agreed last year to forfeit $12 million from his estate to settle a civil lawsuit accusing him of profiting off stolen Cambodian artifacts. The Museum welcomes and takes very seriously any new information about objects in the collection and is dedicated to seeking resolutions as appropriate, says the Met, which previously returned artifacts to Nepal and India after acknowledging that they were taken from ancient sites. The Met agreeing to return the statue is not a common occurrence, Thai archaeologist Thanongsak Hanwong, a member of the government committee for the repatriation of stolen artifacts who says he spent more than three years working on the Golden Boys repatriation, told Benar News. The Thai government has formally requested the return of about 30 artifacts that are scattered around the world, and its embassies are negotiating the return of 10 more items, Thanongsak added, as some museums are reluctant to publicize these repatriations. What are other museums doing? In recent years, calls have grown for Western museumsfrom the U.S. to the U.K., Australia, and Europeto return artifacts that were allegedly looted from strife-torn regions across the world. According to prosecutors, Latchford started supplying major auction houses and museums with Cambodian antiquities during the countrys oppressive Khmer Rouge regimeand at times falsified the provenance of items to conceal the fact that they were illicitly obtained. A 1970 UNESCO Convention lays down the legal basis to repatriate illegally exported cultural objects. However, critics have noted that the convention, which does not apply retroactively to cases before 1970, fails to protect items looted at the height of colonialisma point that UNESCO has also acknowledged remains a source of tension between countries with rich museum collections and those that demand the return of objects that contribute to their identity. The British Museum, dubbed the worlds largest receivers of stolen property, has dealt with yearslong allegations of housing pilfered antiquities and questions over its apparent secretiveness over certain artifacts. In April, the museum returned dozens of artifacts looted 150 years ago from the region of modern-day Ghana. Museums across Europe, including the Netherlands, France, and Germany have also been repatriating stolen artifacts to their countries of origin in Southeast Asia. Observers say that the return of artifacts is a way for Europe to rehabilitate its controversial colonial legacy in the region. French President Emmanuel Macron, who has said that he would do everything possible to return the symbols of cultural heritage France has lootedfrom Asia to Africapledged in January to return more Khmer artifacts to Cambodia. But theres still a long way to go, as museums and officials chip away at verifying the sources of a vast body of artifacts. (Reports say that the Met contains more than 1,000 items that may have been looted or trafficked.) Its also not just museums that have come under scrutiny. When photos made the rounds on social media earlier this year of oriental furniture, which online sleuths suspected had been pillaged from China in the 19th century, in British aristocrat Rose Hanburys house, calls erupted demanding their return. We are continuing to investigate the wide-ranging trafficking networks that target Southeast Asian antiquities, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in April, while announcing that 30 pieces of looted artifacts that authorities seized from museums and private collectors, estimated to be worth $3 million, would be returned to Cambodia and Indonesia. There is clearly still much more work to do. Contact us at letters@time.com. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. I am sure that all the agreements reached will be implemented because they are based on the interests of the people of Iran and Azerbaijan, said President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, as he visited the Embassy of Iran today, Trend reports. "As you are aware, we were together for more than two hours just before this tragedy occurred. During the bilateral meeting, which lasted more than an hour, many important issues were discussed. The future directions of the development of Iran-Azerbaijan relations were reaffirmed and the strong political will of both sides was demonstrated again. At the same time, we had a broad exchange of views on specific infrastructure projects and made important decisions. I am confident that those who participated in that meeting will convey this to the new leadership of Iran. I am sure that all the agreements reached will be implemented because they are based on the interests of the people of Iran and Azerbaijan. We expressed our firm determination during the conversation with the late President Raisi that from now on there would be a significant number of large projects, both bilaterally and multilaterally," said President Ilham Aliyev. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey delivers the State of the State address on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024 in Montgomery, Ala. (Stew Milne for Alabama Reflector) State employees will be given Juneteenth as a holiday, according to a memo that Gov. Kay Ivey sent to state department leaders on Monday The memo identifies the state holidays for the remaining part of the year, including Juneteenth on June 19, a holiday marking the end of American slavery. All state offices will be closed on the above dates, except those in areas where it is essential to maintain personnel. If it is necessary for any employee to work on any of these holidays, they should be allowed time off as soon thereafter as possible, Ivey stated in the memo that she wrote. Other holidays include not only Thanksgiving Day, but also the Friday after Thanksgiving, as well as Christmas and New Years Day. Gina Maiola, communications director for Ivey, said Monday the memo did not list all the state holidays but that the governor added a couple of days, Juneteenth and the day after Thanksgiving. President Joe Biden in 2021 signed a law making Juneteenth a federal holiday. But efforts to declare Juneteenth a state holiday in Alabama where 435,000 men, women and children were held in slavery prior to the Civil War has been difficult. The Alabama House of Representatives in April approved HB 4, sponsored by Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, a measure that was amended to resemble HB 367, sponsored by Rep. Chris Sells, R-Greenville, The House-passed bill would have required state employees to take either Juneteenth off or Jefferson Davis Birthday on June 3, a state holiday honoring the former Confederate president and slaveholder. The choice was not in the original version of Givans bill. Sells said in an interview that employees already had 13 holidays and that he did not want to add another day, so his legislation would give state employees the option to choose which of those holidays they wanted off. The bill did not come to a vote in the Senate. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Gov. Kay Ivey makes Juneteenth Alabama state holiday for 2024 appeared first on Alabama Reflector. A legislative committee on state-tribal relations met for the first time of the year Monday to discuss tobacco tax compacts between the state and tribes. They also signed off on two car tag compacts between Oklahoma and the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations. Gov. Kevin Stitt and some Oklahoma legislative leaders want more tribes to let the state issue their license plates to gain direct access to tribal citizens car tag and registration information. But a Seminole Nation tax official cautioned the Legislatures Joint State Tribal Relations Committee that such arrangements arent realistic for every tribe. Compacts arent a one-size-fits-all for all tribal nations, said Sharon Scott, who directs the tribes Business and Corporate Regulatory Commission. We all have different needs. We all have different jurisdictions. Mondays hearing was the first time the tribal relations committee had met since Stitt ramped up his criticism of tribal tags, which he has framed as public safety nightmares. The governor has repeatedly claimed, as recently as Friday, that officers only have access to information about vehicles with Chickasaw Nation and Choctaw Nation plates, because the state issues those tags under the terms of current compacts. But Scott told lawmakers that Oklahoma police have access to most tribes plate information, even though the state does not print their plates or have active car tag compacts with them. Twenty-seven of the 33 tribes that issue plates share vehicle information every day with a statewide law enforcement database, said Scott, who also chairs a statewide intertribal tax group. At least two of the six tribes that arent part of the database make their vehicle information available to police in other ways, she said. Moving to a system where the state takes over issuing plates would not work for the Seminole Nation, Scott said. The rural tribe and many others rely on motor-vehicle revenues to provide programs and services for their citizens, including road improvements and school grants that help everyone in the community, she said. More: An Oklahoma trooper ticketed a driver over her tribal license plate. What happened next? Two tickets over Oklahoma tribal tags ignited controversy in November Stitt has mounted a public campaign for tribal officials to sign on to such arrangements since November, when he backed state troopers who had ticketed at least two drivers with tribal tags. Officers claimed the drivers lived outside of their tribes jurisdiction and should have had state plates. While those tickets were eventually dropped, they set off a whirlwind of controversy. Stitt has said compacts would be an easy way to clear up the confusion. He has also described tribal tags as revenue drains because the states toll pass readers can only read Chickasaw Nation and Choctaw Nation plates. Under the states agreements with those tribes, Chickasaw and Choctaw citizens purchase their plates and renew their registration through state tag offices, and Oklahoma eventually remits a portion of the fees back to the tribes. The Turnpike Authority can use tribal citizens plate information to collect tolls. Stitt agreed to renew the Chickasaw and Choctaw compacts earlier this year. The state tribal relations committee voted to formally approve the agreements Monday. Trevor Pemberton, Stitts general counsel, said at the hearing that the governors office had offered similar terms to other tribes but did not go into specifics. More: Oklahoma tribes need more money for policing, Cherokee, Muscogee officials tell Congress We like the compacts so much with the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations that we believe that these would make good model compacts for others moving forward, Pemberton said. Abegail Cave, a spokesperson for Stitt, did not respond to questions about when the offers were made or how the offers had been received. Sen. Brent Howard, R-Altus, who chairs the joint committee, said he believed similar agreements would benefit both the state and other tribes. I do somewhat agree that they are compacts that we would like to see all other nations enter into with the state, or at least some form or fashion of these, he said. The only other car tag compact Oklahoma currently has on the books is an agreement with the Cherokee Nation. That deal is set to expire at the end of the year. Pemberton said Monday that negotiations are ongoing. The Cherokee Nation operates its own tag agencies, and Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. has described retaining the current structure as essential to any future compact. Drivers with Cherokee plates have millions in unpaid tolls, Gov. Stitt says Stitt said during a press conference Friday that he wanted to reach an agreement, in large part because he wants to ensure the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority can begin charging drivers with Cherokee plates. Those drivers have racked up more than $5 million in unpaid tolls in the last eight months, he said. Scott said state and tribal officials met last fall to begin working through the toll reader issue. She said many tribal leaders supported sharing plate information in exchange for some portion of toll revenues, similar to deals that already exist between Oklahoma and other states, she said. However, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority said Tuesday that no such revenue-share deals exist. "OTA has direct agreements with some states to provide their vehicle registration information to the agency for the governmental purpose of collecting a toll," Lisa Shearer-Salim said in an email. "OTA also uses third-party vendors to gather this information from states." Talks between tribal leaders and turnpike officials broke down after state police began issuing tickets tied to tribal tags and have not resumed, Scott said. House Floor Leader Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, said he was disheartened to hear that no progress had been made in recent months and warned that lawmakers may consider a legislative fix next year if necessary. Echols terms out of office at the end of this year. The legislative hearing was the second discussion about state-tribal relations in the Capitol on Monday. The governor's One Oklahoma Task Force formed to improve public safety on tribal reservations met briefly to approve its final report. Public Safety Secretary Tricia Everest, who chairs the task force, declined to release a draft copy of the report after the meeting and said the final version would be released before the June 1 deadline handed down by the governor. It's unclear how much traction the recommendations outlined in the report will gain. No representative of a tribal nation has been involved in the task force, which met several times this spring. Editor's note: This story has been updated to add comments from the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority. Molly Young covers Indigenous affairs. Reach her at mollyyoung@gannett.com or 405-347-3534. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Controversy over tribal tags flares at Oklahoma legislative hearing TOPEKA (KSNT) The State of Kansas is distributing millions in cash towards innovative technology projects to improve road and school safety. Governor Laura Kelly announced on Tuesday, May 21 that $3.5 million is being awarded to more than a dozen projects in Kansas through the Kansas Department of Transportations (KDOT) Innovative Technology Program. A significant amount of these funds will go to improving safety for drivers and school children in northeast Kansas. My administration is delivering technological advancements to increase transportation safety in every corner of the state, Kelly said. Through collaboration with local entities, this investment supports innovative transportation improvements in rural and urban communities. Five projects will receive funds from the $3.5 million pot announced Tuesday. These include the following locations and projects: Replacement of school crossing lights and signage City of Rossville, Shawnee County $21,000 Digital speed sign City of Olsburg, Pottawatomie County $7,500 Radar speed sign City of Valley Falls, Jefferson County $6,217 School zone sign enhancement Pottawatomie County $6,000 Noninvasive barrier repair lightweight system Kansas State University, Riley County $18,682 What is your opinion on EV charging in Kansas? KDOTs Innovative Technology Program invests money into projects that improve safety, access or mobility and implement new transportation technology. Projects that are usually accepted by the program include aviation and rail upgrades, traffic engineering and school zone enhancements and truck simulators for commercial drivers license program expansion. New and emerging technologies offer the potential for a safer, more efficient transportation system, said Transportation Secretary Calvin Reed. This latest round of Innovative Technology projects demonstrates how Kansas communities are proactively turning to technology to improve operations for now and the future. For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf 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 KSNT 27 News. Gov. Scott signs bill into law to curb influence of insurance companies on VT health care Gov. Phil Scott has signed a bill into law that will streamline insurance requirements for health care in Vermont. The bill, H.766, reduces administrative delays and removes barriers to care for Vermont patients, according to legislators and health care providers who backed the legislation. "H.766 will stop insurance companies from coming between you and the care you need," Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden Southeast, said in a statement. "Vermonters who have struggled to access timely medical care and their practitioners will no longer be frustrated by administrative barriers that put health care on hold." Rep. Alyssa Black, D-Essex, lead sponsor of the bill, took the opportunity to once again reject the argument made by insurance companies that H.766 will ultimately drive up health care costs, saying she trusts health care providers to keep costs in check. A respiratory therapist at the University of Vermont Medical Center Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (ICU) cares for a COVID-19 positive child receiving care on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. "Primary care spends less, orders fewer tests, fewer unnecessary labs, and provides the most economic, best bang for your buck," Black said in a statement. "I am thrilled that Gov. Scott understands that our overstretched primary care workforce can no longer bear the brunt of this administrative burden." Insurance companies were telling doctors what they could and couldn't do, says family physician Dr. Katie Martin, a family physician at Lamoille Health Partners in Morrisville, said earlier this month that the situation had reached a point where "insurance companies can tell us what we can and can't do, even in life-threatening emergencies, and the victims are always the patients." The University of Vermont Health Care Network, the state's largest health care provider, pushed for the bill's passage, together with the Vermont Medical Society, Vermont Academy of Family Physicians and American Academy of Pediatrics Vermont Chapter. "Vermont patients are the winners today," Marvin said. Contact Dan DAmbrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosi@gannett.com. Follow him on X @DanDambrosioVT. This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Gov. Phil Scott signed bill to streamline VT health insurance Governor: Around 100 civilians remain in Vovchansk, Russians have threatened to shoot them Around 100 Ukrainian civilians remain in the embattled town of Vovchansk, but Russian forces refuse to allow them to leave and have threatened to shoot them, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on state television on May 21. Ukraine's Defense Ministry confirmed on May 15 that Russian troops had entered the northern parts of Vovchansk. The Ukrainian military said at the time it had prevented Russia from establishing a foothold deeper in the town. Syniehubov said on May 20 that more than 10,500 civilians had been evacuated from Kharkiv Oblast amid the renewed Russian onslaught. The governor said on May 21 that those who remained in Vovchansk would be evacuated at the soonest possible opportunity but that 100 civilians had been effectively "taken hostage" by Russian troops and could not leave. Serhii Bolvinov, the head of the investigative department of the police of Kharkiv Oblast, said on May 17 that Russian forces had captured at least 40 civilians, most of whom were elderly, and were using them as human shields. Similar allegations have been made by other Ukrainian officials since Russia's new offensive in Kharkiv Oblast. Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on May 16 that Russian forces were taking Ukrainian civilians captive and preventing their evacuation. "We know of the first cases of executions of civilians by the Russian military," Klymenko said on Telegram. Klymenko said that a Vovchansk resident was killed by Russian soldiers after he refused to obey their orders and attempted to escape on foot. Police investigators have opened a criminal case on the grounds of violations of rules of war. Read also: Russias new Kharkiv offensive pushes Vovchansk to the brink of annihilation Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. NEW MEXICO (KRQE) Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham will travel to the East Coast this week. The governor will be in New York on Wednesday for the Start City Expo USA where she will join a panel discussion on sustainable investments. New Mexico governor facing lawsuit from NRA over new gun waiting period law On Thursday, she will attend a state dinner at the White House for the President of Kenya. She is scheduled to be back in New Mexico on Friday. 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 KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos. Then state Rep. Valarie Hodges, R-Denham Springs, presents a bill on the Louisiana House floor on May 23, 2023. (Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator) A Louisiana House committee added controversial language back to a bill that would give the governor authority to directly select the presiding officer for hundreds of appointed boards. On a party-line 9-3 vote Tuesday, the House and Governmental Affairs Committee advanced the new version of Senate Bill 462 by Sen. Valarie Hodges, R-Denham Springs. It includes provisions that had been stripped out by a series of Senate amendments. In its current state, the governor would have the power to select the chair for most state boards and commissions, including the five higher education oversight boards and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. The bill would not apply to any board or commission that a statewide elected official chairs, such as the State Bond Commission. Hodges argued her bill does not give the governor any additional power, but rather moves up the timeline for the governors control of a board. Presently, most boards have staggered terms for their members. This design means a governor has to wait sometimes years before he or she has appointed every member of a particular board, which acts as a check on their power. Democrats on the committee disagreed with Hodges assessment, arguing the bill would make boards especially the education oversight boards more political. Rep. Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge, dubbed Hodges bill the King Landry bill, a reference to former Gov. Huey Long, nicknamed the Kingfish for the immense power he exercised over the state. After Longs tenure, the state eventually passed a series of reforms designed to temper the governors authority, though Louisianas chief executive still exerts more control over state government than governors in other states. The Legislature this year has advanced a series of bills that seek to give the governor more authority. In addition to Hodges bill, lawmakers are considering a proposal to give the governor more authority over the ethics board, which is currently seeking to discipline Landry. Another would allow the governor to assert more influence over the state Civil Service Commission, and legislation has been approved to take away outside oversight from the publicly-funded Governors Mansion. Because Hodges bill was amended by the House, it will need approval again from the Senate, which already stripped out the added language. It could mean an uphill battle for the revised measure when it returns. In an interview after the committee hearing, Hodges said she was not concerned about getting the needed votes in the Senate. Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, said he expected the Senate would reject the amendments and instead opt to send it to a conference committee, in which three legislators from each chamber meet behind closed doors to work out a compromise bill. The Senate passed a version of her bill that would change the terms of governor-appointed boards not in the Louisiana Constitution to run concurrently with their term, giving the governor immediate control over those positions. Language that aimed to limit the governors authority only to boards and commissions not in the constitution was designed to protect education-related boards, which is a primary point of contention with Hodges bill. The original version would have allowed the governor to directly hire university system presidents, which state law defines as officers. Hodges bill is supported by Gov. Jeff Landry, who has said higher education is the motivating factor behind the bill. This fight is all about universities, Landry said in an April interview with WAFB-TV. The people of this state are ready for these universities to start taking some responsibility for putting out students that are graduating with degrees that they cant even get a job for. Governors already appoint members of the four university and college system boards of supervisors. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), the accrediting body for Louisiana universities, requires that governing boards for its accredited schools are free from undue external influence. Critics have raised concerns that giving the governor additional authority over higher education governing boards could put the accreditation of state colleges and universities in jeopardy. Hodges told committee members the new language had been okayed by SACSCOC but later said she had not been on the call that a Senate staff attorney made to the organization. Steven Procopio, president of the good government advocacy group Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, cast doubt on Hodges claims. That is not something you can just call up SACS and get an answer for, Procopio said. They can probably give you the best answer, but theres a SACS commission and their representatives that will come and periodically review that accreditation. Janae Johnson, a spokesperson for SACSCOC, said in a statement that the bills language would not be a violation of the SACSCOC Principles of Accreditation. Regardless of the impact to accreditation, several Democrats on the committee raised concerns the bill would increase the politicization of education governing boards something Hodges did not deny. We need to align policy initiatives on the boards and commissions with the Republican governor that we elected to get the job done, Hodges said. Ryan Roberts, Landrys director of boards and commissions, pointed to states such as Texas and Florida, which give the governor more authority over higher education than Louisiana does. The comparison alarmed some on the committee, as higher education in those states has become increasingly politicized. If it becomes too political and we dont put the right person in leadership, were going to have a problem, Rep. Ed Larvadain, D-Alexandria, said. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has vowed to transform New College, a public university in Sarasota, into a conservative institution. His pledge has led to a loss of faculty, a flurry of First Amendment lawsuits and a board of trustees stacked with DeSantis allies who have rejected tenure recommendations. Hodges bill will next be discussed by the House of Representatives. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Governors power over boards restored in legislative proposal appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) urged Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to move forward with bipartisan legislation to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) after its prosecutor announced Monday he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli leaders. Graham praised Schumers condemnation of the ICCs move in a statement on the social platform X on Monday but called for further action to deter the courts threats in the future. I completely agree with Senator Schumers strong condemnation of the ICCs action against Israel today, he wrote. However, it is now time to follow strong words with strong deeds. It is imperative that the Senate, in a bipartisan way, comes up with crippling sanctions against the ICC, the senator continued. Not only to support Israel but to deter any future action against American personnel. The ICC threatened to come after Americans once. This farce at the ICC needs to end, Graham added, echoing his statement earlier Monday that recalled the international court once threatened to bring sanctions against U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, said Monday he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas officials for what he said he concluded were war crimes and crimes against humanity amid the war in Gaza. The announcement met broad condemnation from leaders of both parties Monday. Schumer, in remarks on the Senate floor, said the decision to seek warrants for Israeli leaders alongside Hamas terrorists is reprehensible and profoundly unfair, and he accused the ICC of harboring biases against Israel for decades. This decision suggesting an equivalency between Israel and Hamas is another glaring example of that bias against Israel, the New York Democrat said. As I have said many times, there has never been and there never can be any equivalency between Israels right to defend itself against terror and Hamass barbarity, Schumer added. The ICCs decision seeking warrants against Israeli leaders is not only shameful, but also fails to follow protocol and process in a country where it has zero jurisdiction. The Senate leader pledged to work with President Biden who also denounced the decision as outrageous and members on all sides to keep support for Israel strong and unwavering. The Hill has reached out to Schumers office for comment. 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 The Hill. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) slammed Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for an American flag that flew upside down at his Virginia home in 2021, saying that despite tensions reportedly running high in the neighborhood at the time, it was not good judgment on Alitos part. Emotions are apparently high in that neighborhood, Graham told reporters Monday. But no, its not good judgment to do that. He said his wife was insulted and got mad. I assume that to be true, but hes still a Supreme Court justice, and people have to realize that [at] moments like that to think it through. The Senate Judiciary Committees ranking member delivered the criticism of the conservative justice following a report from The New York Times last week, featuring a photo of the flag flying upside down outside Alitos home. Flying the American flag upside down is associated with the Stop the Steal movement, based on false claims of election of fraud in the 2020 election. The photo was taken outside of Alitos Alexandria, Va., home nearly two weeks after Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol building, and a few days ahead of President Bidens inauguration. Alito, in response to the Times, said the flag was put up by his wife, Martha-Ann, and he had no part in it. A day later, he told Fox News anchor Shannon Bream that he and his wife had an exchange with a neighbor. Alito says the man engaged in vulgar language, including the c-word, Bream reported Friday. Democrats in both chambers have criticized the conservative judge, with Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) calling for him to recuse himself from upcoming cases related to the Jan. 6 insurrection. An appointee of former President George W. Bush who was confirmed to the nations highest court in 2006, Alito has faced scrutiny from Democrats previously over reports he has received vacations and gifts from wealthy Republican donors. 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 The Hill. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 20. Latvia can take part in the restoration of Azerbaijan's Shusha city, Latvian Parliament Speaker Daiga Mierina said during today's briefing in Baku, Trend reports. During the visit to Azerbaijan, it was discussed how Latvia can take part in the restoration of the city of Shusha or otherwise help the region. Cooperation in the field of agriculture, logistics, tourism, exchange in the field of education and culture was discussed, she explained. Mierina pointed out that this is her first visit to Azerbaijan. I am really pleased to visit your beautiful country, and very glad that yesterday we had the opportunity to visit Karabakh and witness aftermath of this very harsh period in your country's history, the official also said. She added that Azerbaijan is an important partner of Latvia. To note, a delegation led by Mierina, arrived in Azerbaijan on an official visit on May 18. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel The Grapevile-Colleyville school board voted 6-0 Monday to go after former Colleyville Heritage High School principal James Whitfield for legal fees. Newly elected Place 2 trustee Dalia Begin abstained from the vote. It comes after Whitfield unsuccessfully sued the district and board member Tammy Nakamura for disparaging him during a June 2022 school board panel discussion sponsored by the Republican National Committee. He alleged her comments violated a November 2021 settlement agreement. Nakamura told the panel that Whitfields activism led to calls for his dismissal, citing accusations hed promoted so-called critical race theory. However, Nakamura, who was elected in May 2022, argued in court documents she wasnt bound by the settlement, because she wasnt a board member when it was signed. A Tarrant County court agreed, and dismissed the case against her in June 2023. The district then pushed to throw out the rest of the case, arguing Nakamuras comments didnt violate the agreement. The court dismissed that case on April 11. Now the district will try to get Whitfield to pay for its legal fees. Grapevine-Colleyville taxpayers should not have to pay for one mans political quest, Nakamura said after Mondays vote. She thanked her fellow board members for their vote, and said shes looking forward to moving past the lawsuit. Whitfield did not immediately respond to a text message requesting comment after the vote Monday night. Whitfield was the first Black principal at Colleyville Heritage High School when he was hired in 2020. In July 2021, a former school board candidate accused Whitfield of promotingcritical race theory, which led to calls for his firing. After a series of board meetings, the district and Whitfield reached a settlement where he would remain on administrative leave until August 2023 in exchange for not commenting on the dispute publicly. Whitfield took to social media Sunday to point out that Judge Megan Fahey, who presided over both cases, received a $5,000 political donation from lawyer and school board candidate Mike Alfred. The post noted Alfred had worked for board president Shannon Braun in 2021, and filed to run for school board roughly a month after making the donation. Alfred lost his race for Place 2 to Begin by 29 votes during the May 4 election. When asked if he believed Alfreds political donation influenced the outcome of his case, he said, Ill leave that for others to decide. I just want there to be a level of transparency surrounding these happenings, in an email to the Star-Telegram ahead of Mondays vote. Alfred vehemently denied the suggestion that his donation played any role in the case. He said hes been friends with Faheys husband for over 25 years, called her a very qualified judge, and said the county needs more like her. He also noted his donation was less than 10% of the total amount shes raised since 2020, and called the suggestion she would be swayed to by his donation stupid. Whitfield currently serves as the superintendent of Treetops School International in Euless. Greendale will host law enforcement's headquarters for the RNC. Here's what we know. Thousands of local, state and federal law enforcement officers who are coming to Milwaukee for the 2024 Republican National Convention will operate from a temporary headquarters in Greendale. The City of Milwaukee signed a contract in late February to pay $726,998 to occupy the building at 5400 S. 60th St. from March 4 to August 31, according to the contract between the city and owner. It was one of eight locations in the running to be the HQ. The convention itself is being held July 15-18 in Milwaukee. At the end of February, the City of Milwaukee signed a contract to occupy a building in Greendale at 5400 S. 60th St. between March 4 and August 31 to act as a headquarters for police during the 2024 Republican National Convention. The 164,800-square-foot building, which sits on 14.5 acres, is owned by Future1 LLC, a Pewaukee-based Reiman family investment group, which bought the property for $8.2 million in 2022. The facility was once headquarters to Greendale's Reiman Publications and most recently housed Milwaukee-area Goodwill operations until 2021. When Future1 bought the property in 2022, the facility fell again under the umbrella of Reiman ownership. Here's what we know about plans for the Greendale property during the RNC and beyond: Headquarters to serve as home base for thousands of state and federal law enforcement officers in town for RNC Why does the RNC need a headquarters or "emergency operation center," as it's been dubbed in other requests for proposals? Jeff Fleming, communication director for the Milwaukee mayor's office, said although he couldn't share specific details about the security arrangements, he put the number of incoming personnel in the thousands hence a separate request for proposals seeking 1,000 rooms for officers not from the immediate area. "Because of the security arrangements, existing Milwaukee Police facilities needed to be augmented to provide an additional resource," Fleming said. It's not just Milwaukee's police and fire departments or city and county offices of emergency management who will be prepared to respond during the convention. According to the city's FAQ on public safety for the RNC, local groups are working with state and federal law enforcement and emergency management entities, including the U.S. Secret Service. The convention is a designated National Special Security Event, or NSSE, meaning Secret Service members lead the security plan's design and implementation, according to the FAQ. Potential impacts to the public will be communicated once the security plan is fully established, according to the FAQ. RNC security costs, including the Greendale HQ, will be paid for with federal grant money, not local taxes The city expects all security operations to be paid for with Department of Justice grant money, through the event's status as an NSSE, according to the city's FAQ. Fleming said Milwaukee and Chicago (where the Democratic National Convention will be held in August) were the only ones applying for the grant, but they still had to receive approval from Congress. Why was the Greendale location selected for police headquarters during the RNC? When the Milwaukee Police Department first posted the request for proposal in April of 2023, Future1 wasn't the only interested contender. There were eight locations that submitted proposals according to a scoring summary that ranked them on a variety of factors, including one that would have placed the HQ in Glendale. But despite developer excitement and city involvement in the Glendale facility, it placed sixth in the scoring summary. Future1 scored the highest out of all applicants, receiving comparably higher marks on square footage and available space, as well as parking and loading dock access elements the Glendale facility, submitted through supplier Peak Development, didn't score well on. The facility, built in 1958 and remodeled in 2015, is at South 60th Street and West Loomis Road. It stands across from Greendale's police and fire departments as well as the entryway to the village's historic downtown area. That places it at a thoroughfare through the southwest suburbs of Milwaukee, according to promotional materials for the building, between 15 and 20 minutes from downtown Milwaukee depending on exact destination and traffic. Greendale Village Manager Mike Hawes said both 60th Street and Loomis Road provide easy access to Interstate 43 and the contiguous Interstates 41 and 94. Hawes said the location is "out of the way enough" to not pose too big of a nuisance for Greendale residents going about their lives during the convention. It is unclear whether or how the facility is currently being used, though a visit on May 14 showed landscaping taking place and the presence of one MPD vehicle. Greendale facility owner up to date on taxes Future1 LLC is up to date on its tax payments. Hawes said the company's tax payment had been delayed in the mail. Once the village received it, the postmark listed was prior to the due date, so the village updated public information to say the payment was timely. According to information gathered at the time this story was written, public records with the Milwaukee County Treasurer's Office showed that Future1 LLC had been delinquent on 2023 property taxes at that location by $80,719.78. At the time, Fleming had said, "Ordinarily, tax delinquency to another jurisdiction would not preclude the city of Milwaukee from entering into a contract with that entity," he said. What to know about the owner of the building: a Reiman family investment group Future1 is an affiliate of Hexagon Inc., a private investment firm with offices in Denver and Milwaukee founded by Scott Reiman, according to Wisconsin's Department of Financial Institutions. Scott Reiman is the son of Roy Reiman, who operated the largest subscription-supported publishing firm in the U.S. out of the building for around 30 years. He founded Reiman Publications in 1965 and moved it to the Greendale site in the 1970s, buying a former Allis-Chalmers Corp. nuclear power research facility. Reiman Publications produced magazines such as Taste of Home, Reminisce and Farm & Ranch Living. When Hexagon acquired the property in April of 2022, the firm's president Mike Hipp cited the Reiman family's previous ownership in the decision to buy it. Roy Reiman and his wife, Bobbi, still own a home near the former company headquarters, Hipp told the Journal Sentinel at the time. According the Federal Election Commission's political donations database, Roy Reiman has donated at least $327,550 to national and state Republican parties, candidates and SuperPACs between 2002 and 2022. That total includes at least $38,300 between 2016 and 2019 sent to fundraising entities for Donald Trump, particularly Trump Victory and Donald J. Trump For President, INC. Meanwhile, Scott Reiman, the current Hexagon CEO, has donated at least $550,000 to national and state parties, candidates and SuperPACs between 2002 and 2022, according to Open Secrets, a nonprofit organization that tracks campaign finance and lobbying data. Most of the donations, though not all, were to Republican entities, and he'd frequently donate to Democratic candidates prior to 2010. Hipp, Scott Reiman and Roy Reiman could not be reached by phone after calling each twice on Friday, May 17, and once on Monday, May 20. What are plans for the facility after the RNC? Since Future1 bought the property in 2022, the company has been in the process of searching for a long-term tenant, Hawes said. The website 5400headquarters.com provides photos of the facility, a virtual tour, floor plans and an offering summary. Though the contract for use of the space didn't require approval through village government channels, Hawes said the village has been kept in the loop during the process. Editor's note, 5/21/2024: This story has been updated to reflect that Future1 LLC is up to date on its property taxes. Contact Claudia Levens at clevens@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @levensc13. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Greendale location picked for RNC law enforcement headquarters A chimpanzee has been carrying around her dead baby for months, a heartbreaking sight for visitors at a zoo in Spain. The grieving chimp, named Natalia, gave birth to an infant ape about three months ago at Bioparc Valencia, but the baby died just days later, Miguel Casares, director general of the zoo, told Reuters. "She has been carrying her ever since," Casares said. "This behavior has been described in chimpanzees, not only in zoos, but also in the wild." Natalia, a chimpanzee that has carried her dead baby for months, looks on as she sits on a rock at Valencia's Bioparc in Spain. / Credit: Nacho Doce/REUTERS The ape has been seen hanging on to her child's body as she sits among the other chimpanzees. The sight of the dead animal can initially come as a shock to visitors, zoo officials said. "As soon as we explain to them why we have left it and why we are keeping it under observation, they understand it," Casares said. According to Reuters, Natalia also lost a baby in 2018. Zoo officials are closely monitoring her, saying that her grieving process must be respected. Natalia, a chimpanzee that has carried her dead baby for months, is comforted by Cala, the baby of Noelia (L), a chimpanzee at Valencia's Bioparc, Spain. / Credit: Nacho Doce/REUTERS Chimps grieve in similar ways to humans, who share about 98% of their genes with primates. Research published in 2010 found that the apes exhibit a "highly developed awareness of death." In one study, scientists observed chimpanzee mothers whose babies died continuing to carry and groom their children's lifeless bodies for nearly 70 days. Chimpanzees are considered to be an "endangered" species by the World Wildlife Foundation. Their population is estimated to be between 170,000 and 300,000, according to the wildlife organization. Poaching, loss of habitat and infants sold to wildlife traffickers are among the biggest threats to their existence. The Dish: Spaghetti stir fry is a family favorite Broadcast legend James Brown receives lifetime achievement award How the cicada phenomenon is capturing our collective attention Grieving Zoo Chimpanzee Continues to Cling to Her Late Child Three Months After Baby's Death Natalia the chimp has been carrying her dead baby since February when the newborn primate died a few days after their birth REUTERS/Nacho Doce Natalia the chimpanzee at BIOPARC Valencia A zoo chimpanzee's child died in February. Three months later, the grieving mother continues to carry the baby chimp's body. In February, a chimpanzee named Natalia gave birth at BIOPARC Valencia, a zoo park in Valencia, Spain. Several days later, the newborn primate died. Natalia has refused to part with the baby chimpanzee's body since, Reuters reported. According to the outlet, Natalia started holding her child's body to her chest shortly after the baby chimpanzee's death and has continued to cling to the body, walking around with it in the zoo's chimp enclosure since February. Recent photos of Natalia at the zoo show the ape interacting with other chimps while cradling the dead baby's body. Since Natalia has continued to carry her child's remains now in an advanced state of decomposition BIOPARC employees have had to explain her situation to zoo-goers who were initially unsettled by the sight, Miguel Casares, the head of the Spanish zoo, told Reuters. Related: Shock Twist at Columbus Zoo as 'Male' Gorilla Gives Birth to Surprise Baby Girl "Our visitors, who at first are quite shocked by the sight of a dead baby, understand as soon as we explain to them why we have left it and why we keep it under observation," he told Reuters. The zoo's reason? The chimpanzee is grieving the death of a loved one in her own way. And Natalia's choice to keep her child's body close is not unusual, according to Casares. "This is a conduct that has been previously observed in chimpanzees, not only in zoos but also in the wild," he told the outlet. Casares added that though Natalia's mourning process has lasted longer than expected, it should be respected, just as different grieving styles are among humans. The zoo has closely monitored Natalia, who lost a child in 2018 as well, since the death of her child in February, Reuters reported. BIOPARC did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories. A grieving animal mother keeping her late child close after death is a behavior that has been observed in orcas as well. In August 2018, a mother orca whale exhibited what scientists dubbed an "unprecedented" period of mourning, carrying her dead calf off the coast of Seattle for over two weeks. At the time, scientists worried for the grieving whale's health, as she not only carried her late offspring but also lost the desire to forage and feed, which put her in danger of losing her foraging abilities. But after 17 days, the whale finally parted with the body, the Center for Whale Research announced at the time, writing that the mom "vigorously chased a school of salmon with her pod-mates in mid-Haro Strait in front of the Center for Whale Research for a half mile no longer carrying the deceased baby that she had carried for at least seventeen days and 1,000 miles." "Her tour of grief is now over and her behavior is remarkably frisky." For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. The Fort Worth City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to contribute $37,500 to a Hispanic Chamber-led study of development on Panther Island. The money is part of a $230,000 study looking at ways to preserve neighborhoods while limiting displacement in neighborhoods surrounding the planned 338-acre man-made island north of downtown. Other funders include the Amon G. Carter Foundation, the North Texas Community Foundation and the urban planning nonprofit Urban Land Institutes national and Fort Worth district branches. In surveying residents about what kinds of business development they want to see, the conversations eventually work their way back to housing affordability, Hispanic Chamber President Annette Landeros told the City Council Tuesday. Its hard to ask what people want to see in 20 years when theyre not sure theyll be able to live there, she said. The study will look at development on the island along with the Historic Marine and north side neighborhoods directly to the north. Residents in those areas have expressed concern that rising property values will force out longtime residents and change the character of their neighborhoods. The chamber is also contracting with the community engagement firm DEI Consultants headed up by Lake Como resident and community leader Estrus Tucker. The team will hold a series of meetings between June and September to hear from residents about what theyd like to see from future development. Fort Worth cares about preserving the north side, said Mayor Mattie Parker. That is very important to me. The study is expected to wrap up by the end of the year and issue a report in December. Landeros acknowledged its a tight timeline, but argued time is of the essence as real estate speculation is already underway on the island. GROVETOWN, Ga. (WJBF) For months, Kelly Landrum has been increasingly calling the Columbia County Sheriff`s Office E-911 Communications Center for assistance. However, for the past two months Landrum has called 911 for issues that have not been emergency related. Although Landrum has been informed by several deputies to use the nonemergency number, she continued to call 911 for situations that did not require emergency assistance. On April 27th, she called requesting a welfare check on herself, but would only speak with one specific deputy. On May 12th, she called at 1:18 a.m. and indicated that a raccoon was on her front porch and she wanted a deputy to taze it. At 2:37 a.m., she called again requesting for a deputy to escort her to the dumpster. Later that same day at 5:21 p.m., the subject called 911 again stating that her cell phone was not working and she needed for a deputy to Google the hours of operation for three local businesses because she was hungry. Authorities explained to her that day that 911 is reserved for emergency calls. On May 14th, Ms. Landrum was upset that her estranged husband had her telephone number, though she could not prove to the responding deputy that he called her. On May 15th, she called 911 again and hung up. Columbia County Communications Operators attempted to call Landrum back, but did not get an answer; 12 seconds later she called 911 again, but did not speak. On May 19th at 2 a.m., Landrum called 911 again and requested for a female deputy and also told the dispatchers that her head was hurting so Gold Cross was notified to respond as well. A Sergeant with Grovetown P.D. arrived at 2:21 a.m. and attempted to speak with Landrum who refused to open the door for him. During the sergeants attempts to get her to open the door, she continued to call 911, however she would not respond to the dispatchers, nor would she hang up the telephone line. Dispatchers indicated that Ms. Landrum began yelling and asking for Gold Cross. After 25 minutes of trying to get the subject to the door, authorities used a tool to gain entry into the home to make sure she was in fact ok. As the door opened, Landrum dropped her head to her right shoulder and began shaking her legs and head as if she were having a seizure. She began fluttering her eyes and swallowing abruptly. Gold Cross responded to the scene, and immediately assessed her vital signs. When deputies and Gold Cross spoke about and questioned the validity of Ms. Landrum`s seizure, she opened her eyes disdainfully. Authorities say she told them about several of her previous police encounters very coherently and precisely. She tried tried to justify her behavior saying that she has pseudo seizures that turn into real seizures. After EMS determined that she was fine, they still offered her a ride to the hospital for treatment. Ms. Landrum only refused transportation when she believed that she was not going to be arrested. Reports say Ms. Landrum was confrontational, rude and belittling with all deputies, both EMS workers, all deputy jailers and the registered nurse who tried to complete the booking process. According to Columbia County Detention Center records, 54-year-old Landrum has been held at the detention center since Sunday on a secure bond of $1,100 Unlawful Conduct During a 911 Call is classified as a misdemeanor in Georgia. If convicted, Landrum could face a fine of $500 and 12 months in jail. 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 WJBF. GULF BREEZE, Fla. (WKRG) Gulf Island National Seashore is hosting programs for Memorial Day weekend across its various parks. Two special programs are being held at Fort Pickens during Memorial Day Weekend as well as their regular programs. National Rescue Dog Day raises awareness for shelter canines (feat. photos of the News 5 teams pets) Civil War Encampment allows visitors to see what it was like to live in Fort Pickens during the Civil War Era. The program is available from 9 a.m. through 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The second special program is Cannon Demonstrations where park rangers show visitors how to use Civil War cannons and learn how these weapons influenced soldiers. The program is available Sunday and Monday at 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Along with these special programs, regular programs are still being offered. In the Fort Pickens Park, Guardian on the Gulf is offered Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. where you can learn about the history of Fort Pickens. Secrets of the Seashore is offered Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 3 p.m. and discover the wonders of the Gulf of Mexico. In the Davis Bayou Park, Rangers Choice Hike is offered every day at 1 p.m. where you can hike the local area. Pensacola Civic Band to perform free concert for Memorial Day celebration In the Ship Island Park, Guardian of the Sound: The Story of Ship Island and Fort Massachusetts is offered Wednesday through Sunday at 10:15 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. where you can learn about the history of Ship Island. Twelve Miles to Freedom is offered on Thursdays at 11:30 a.m. where you can hear the story of eight men who journeyed in search of the most valued civil rights. The Pensacola City Bay Ferry Service is open and taking guests on round trips to Fort Pickens on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The Ship Island Excursions ferry summer service to Ship Island is open, operating Wednesday through Sunday. All programs are available on the Gulf Island National Seashore website, on their Facebook page and on the mobile app. 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 WKRG News 5. Law enforcement officers speak together outside of Robb Elementary School following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. As the two-year anniversary of the shooting approaches, gun control advocates are pushing for stricter laws. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) WASHINGTON U.S. Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin and a coalition of medical officers advocated Tuesday for Congress to pass stronger gun safety laws. Congress should build on the 2022 gun control law following high-profile mass shootings, Durbin, Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy and about 80 members of OnCall4Kids, a group of doctors and health care professionals that advocates for stricter gun laws, said at a Tuesday press conference. There is a constant in America, and one that Im very embarrassed to say we have allowed to transpire and to exist for too long a period of time, and that is gun violence, Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said. Speakers included Emily and Elliot Lieberman of Illinois and Ashlee Jaffe of Pennsylvania who survived the July 4, 2022, mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, where seven people were killed. It is unlikely that Ill ever be able to do my job again as a result of my injuries, Jaffe, a pediatric physiatrist, who was shot in the hand and sustained nerve damage, said. The speakers pushed for Congress to pass an assault weapons ban, universal background checks, legislation to regulate the storage of firearms and restrictions on the sale, transfer and receipt of gas-operated semi-automatic firearms and high capacity magazines. But in a divided Congress, with Democrats controlling the Senate and Republicans holding a majority in the House, any gun safety legislation is unlikely to pass. Durbin called for voters to elect candidates who would enact gun-safety legislation. What we need to do and say as American voters: Were going to the polls to elect women and men who have a sense of responsibility to change this once and for all, to take away these gun threats, Durbin said. The press conference came ahead of Fridays two-year anniversary of the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting where 19 children and two teachers were killed. We are losing a generation of children in this country to the trauma of gun violence, Murphy said. That mass shooting, coupled with another in Buffalo, New York, where a white supremacist targeted a predominantly Black neighborhood and killed 10 Black people, led to the passage of gun safety legislation in 2022. Murphy led the coalition of 20 bipartisan senators to pass the legislation. That law led to the creation of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, allocated $750 million for states to enact red flag laws, provided $11 billion in mental health services for schools and families and aimed to curb the illegal trafficking of guns known as straw purchases, in which a buyer can acquire a gun for someone else. Incremental progress While the legislation was historic it was the first time in 30 years Congress passed a comprehensive gun safety bill many Democrats noted that it did not ban assault weapons, a term that generally refers to semiautomatic rifles, or high-capacity magazines. Shooters used those weapons in seven of the most deadly mass shootings in the last decade, according to the Giffords Law Center, an organization that conducts research on gun violence and advocates to end it. Let us not judge the legislation for what it does not do, but for what it does, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, said at the time of the bills passage in the House. Several of the speakers from OnCall4Kids mentioned they were grateful for the gun safety legislation that Congress passed nearly two years ago, but that more needed to be done. Incremental progress is still progress, Emily Lieberman said. However, death rates from firearms continue to climb. Elliot Lieberman said the leading cause of death for children is firearms. If your child dies in this country, the most likely reason will not be a drowning accident. It wont be a car crash and not even cancer, Elliot Lieberman said. Its a bullet. Sofia Chaudhary, a pediatric emergency physician in Atlanta, advocated for laws to require safe storage of firearms. She said those kinds of laws could have saved the lives of several of her patients including a 1-month-old who were unintentionally shot by other children These patients haunt me, she said. Their needless, senseless loss haunts me. The piercing cries of their parents haunt me. The post Gun safety group, U.S. Senate architects of 2022 law call for stricter measures appeared first on Iowa Capital Dispatch. Law enforcement officers speak together outside of Robb Elementary School following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. As the two-year anniversary of the shooting approaches, gun control advocates are pushing for stricter laws. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) WASHINGTON U.S. Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin and a coalition of medical officers advocated Tuesday for Congress to pass stronger gun safety laws. Congress should build on the 2022 gun control law following high-profile mass shootings, Durbin, Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy and about 80 members of OnCall4Kids, a group of doctors and healthcare professionals that advocates for stricter gun laws, said at a Tuesday press conference. There is a constant in America, and one that Im very embarrassed to say we have allowed to transpire and to exist for too long a period of time, and that is gun violence, Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said. Speakers included Emily and Elliot Lieberman of Illinois and Ashlee Jaffe of Pennsylvania who survived the July 4, 2022, mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, where seven people were killed. It is unlikely that Ill ever be able to do my job again as a result of my injuries, Jaffe, a pediatric physiatrist, who was shot in the hand and sustained nerve damage, said. The speakers pushed for Congress to pass an assault weapons ban, universal background checks, legislation to regulate the storage of firearms and restrictions on the sale, transfer and receipt of gas-operated semi-automatic firearms and high capacity magazines. But in a divided Congress, with Democrats controlling the Senate and Republicans holding a majority in the House, any gun safety legislation is unlikely to pass. Durbin called for voters to elect candidates who would enact gun-safety legislation. What we need to do and say as American voters: Were going to the polls to elect women and men who have a sense of responsibility to change this once and for all, to take away these gun threats, Durbin said. The press conference came ahead of Fridays two-year anniversary of the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting where 19 children and two teachers were killed. We are losing a generation of children in this country to the trauma of gun violence, Murphy said. That mass shooting, coupled with another in Buffalo, New York, where a white supremacist targeted a predominantly Black neighborhood and killed 10 Black people, led to the passage of gun safety legislation in 2022. Murphy led the coalition of 20 bipartisan senators to pass the legislation. That law led to the creation of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, allocated $750 million for states to enact red flag laws, provided $11 billion in mental health services for schools and families and aimed to curb the illegal trafficking of guns known as straw purchases, in which a buyer can acquire a gun for someone else. Incremental progress While the legislation was historic it was the first time in 30 years Congress passed a comprehensive gun safety bill many Democrats noted that it did not ban assault weapons, a term that generally refers to semiautomatic rifles, or high-capacity magazines. Shooters used those weapons in seven of the most deadly mass shootings in the last decade, according to the Giffords Law Center, an organization that conducts research on gun violence and advocates to end it. Let us not judge the legislation for what it does not do, but for what it does, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, said at the time of the bills passage in the House. Several of the speakers from OnCall4Kids mentioned they were grateful for the gun safety legislation that Congress passed nearly two years ago, but that more needed to be done. Incremental progress is still progress, Emily Lieberman said. However, death rates from firearms continue to climb. Elliot Lieberman said that the leading cause of death for children is firearms. If your child dies in this country, the most likely reason will not be a drowning accident. It wont be a car crash and not even cancer, Elliot said. Its a bullet. Sofia Chaudhary, a pediatric emergency physician in Atlanta, advocated for laws to require safe storage of firearms. She said those kinds of laws could have saved the lives of several of her patients including a one-month-old who were unintentionally shot by other children These patients haunt me, she said. Their needless, senseless loss haunts me. The piercing cries of their parents haunt me. The post Gun safety group, U.S. Senate architects of 2022 law call for stricter measures appeared first on North Dakota Monitor. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov met with newly appointed Ukrainian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Yuriy Husyev on May 21, 2024, Trend reports. The meeting discussed the current agenda of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Ukraine, as well as regional security issues. The minister congratulated the ambassador on his appointment and wished him success in his activities. Furthermore, the sides expressed satisfaction with the development of a strategic partnership between the two countries in the spheres of economy, trade, energy security, transportation and communications, humanitarian, and other spheres. Referring to the preparatory works for the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), which will be held under the chairmanship of Azerbaijan, Minister Bayramov noted that COP29 may contribute to the development of relations between the countries with the inclusion of the issue of combating climate change in the agenda of cooperation. The Ambassador expressed gratitude for the warm reception and noted that he would spare no efforts to further develop relations between Azerbaijan and Ukraine. Additionally, gratitude was expressed during the meeting for the constant support of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and the humanitarian aid provided. The sides also exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel Law enforcement officers speak together outside of Robb Elementary School following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. As the two-year anniversary of the shooting approaches, gun control advocates are pushing for stricter laws. (Brandon Bell | Getty Images) WASHINGTON U.S. Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin and a coalition of medical officers advocated Tuesday for Congress to pass stronger gun safety laws. Congress should build on the 2022 gun control law following high-profile mass shootings, Durbin, Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy and about 80 members of OnCall4Kids, a group of doctors and health care professionals that advocates for stricter gun laws, said at a Tuesday press conference. There is a constant in America, and one that Im very embarrassed to say we have allowed to transpire and to exist for too long a period of time, and that is gun violence, Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said. Speakers included Emily and Elliot Lieberman of Illinois and Ashlee Jaffe of Pennsylvania who survived the July 4, 2022, mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, where seven people were killed. It is unlikely that Ill ever be able to do my job again as a result of my injuries, Jaffe, a pediatric physiatrist, who was shot in the hand and sustained nerve damage, said. The speakers pushed for Congress to pass an assault weapons ban, universal background checks, legislation to regulate the storage of firearms and restrictions on the sale, transfer and receipt of gas-operated semi-automatic firearms and high capacity magazines. But in a divided Congress, with Democrats controlling the Senate and Republicans holding a majority in the House, any gun safety legislation is unlikely to pass. Durbin called for voters to elect candidates who would enact gun-safety legislation. What we need to do and say as American voters: Were going to the polls to elect women and men who have a sense of responsibility to change this once and for all, to take away these gun threats, Durbin said. The press conference came ahead of Fridays two-year anniversary of the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting where 19 children and two teachers were killed. We are losing a generation of children in this country to the trauma of gun violence, Murphy said. That mass shooting, coupled with another in Buffalo, New York, where a white supremacist targeted a predominantly Black neighborhood and killed 10 Black people, led to the passage of gun safety legislation in 2022. Murphy led the coalition of 20 bipartisan senators to pass the legislation. That law led to the creation of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, allocated $750 million for states to enact red flag laws, provided $11 billion in mental health services for schools and families and aimed to curb the illegal trafficking of guns known as straw purchases, in which a buyer can acquire a gun for someone else. Incremental progress While the legislation was historic it was the first time in 30 years Congress passed a comprehensive gun safety bill many Democrats noted that it did not ban assault weapons, a term that generally refers to semiautomatic rifles, or high-capacity magazines. Shooters used those weapons in seven of the most deadly mass shootings in the last decade, according to the Giffords Law Center, an organization that conducts research on gun violence and advocates to end it. Let us not judge the legislation for what it does not do, but for what it does, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, said at the time of the bills passage in the House. Several of the speakers from OnCall4Kids mentioned they were grateful for the gun safety legislation that Congress passed nearly two years ago, but that more needed to be done. Incremental progress is still progress, Emily Lieberman said. However, death rates from firearms continue to climb. Elliot Lieberman said that the leading cause of death for children is firearms. If your child dies in this country, the most likely reason will not be a drowning accident. It wont be a car crash and not even cancer, Elliot said. Its a bullet. Sofia Chaudhary, a pediatric emergency physician in Atlanta, advocated for laws to require safe storage of firearms. She said those kinds of laws could have saved the lives of several of her patients including a one-month-old who were unintentionally shot by other children These patients haunt me, she said. Their needless, senseless loss haunts me. The piercing cries of their parents haunt me. The post Gun safety group, U.S. Senate architects of 2022 law call for stricter measures appeared first on West Virginia Watch. Law enforcement officers speak together outside of Robb Elementary School following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. As the two-year anniversary of the shooting approaches, gun control advocates are pushing for stricter laws. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) WASHINGTON U.S. Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin and a coalition of medical officers advocated Tuesday for Congress to pass stronger gun safety laws. Congress should build on the 2022 gun control law following high-profile mass shootings, Durbin, Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy and about 80 members of OnCall4Kids, a group of doctors and healthcare professionals that advocates for stricter gun laws, said at a Tuesday press conference. There is a constant in America, and one that Im very embarrassed to say we have allowed to transpire and to exist for too long a period of time, and that is gun violence, Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said. Speakers included Emily and Elliot Lieberman of Illinois and Ashlee Jaffe of Pennsylvania who survived the July 4, 2022, mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, where seven people were killed. It is unlikely that Ill ever be able to do my job again as a result of my injuries, Jaffe, a pediatric physiatrist, who was shot in the hand and sustained nerve damage, said. The speakers pushed for Congress to pass an assault weapons ban, universal background checks, legislation to regulate the storage of firearms and restrictions on the sale, transfer and receipt of gas-operated semi-automatic firearms and high capacity magazines. But in a divided Congress, with Democrats controlling the Senate and Republicans holding a majority in the House, any gun safety legislation is unlikely to pass. Durbin called for voters to elect candidates who would enact gun-safety legislation. What we need to do and say as American voters: Were going to the polls to elect women and men who have a sense of responsibility to change this once and for all, to take away these gun threats, Durbin said. The press conference came ahead of Fridays two-year anniversary of the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting where 19 children and two teachers were killed. We are losing a generation of children in this country to the trauma of gun violence, Murphy said. Their needless, senseless loss haunts me. The piercing cries of their parents haunt me. Dr. Sofia Chaudhary, pediatrician That mass shooting, coupled with another in Buffalo, New York, where a white supremacist targeted a predominantly Black neighborhood and killed 10 Black people, led to the passage of gun safety legislation in 2022. Murphy led the coalition of 20 bipartisan senators to pass the legislation. That law led to the creation of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, allocated $750 million for states to enact red flag laws, provided $11 billion in mental health services for schools and families and aimed to curb the illegal trafficking of guns known as straw purchases, in which a buyer can acquire a gun for someone else. Incremental progress While the legislation was historic it was the first time in 30 years Congress passed a comprehensive gun safety bill many Democrats noted that it did not ban assault weapons, a term that generally refers to semiautomatic rifles, or high-capacity magazines. Shooters used those weapons in seven of the most deadly mass shootings in the last decade, according to the Giffords Law Center, an organization that conducts research on gun violence and advocates to end it. Let us not judge the legislation for what it does not do, but for what it does, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, said at the time of the bills passage in the House. Several of the speakers from OnCall4Kids mentioned they were grateful for the gun safety legislation that Congress passed nearly two years ago, but that more needed to be done. Incremental progress is still progress, Emily Lieberman said. However, death rates from firearms continue to climb. Elliot Lieberman said that the leading cause of death for children is firearms. If your child dies in this country, the most likely reason will not be a drowning accident. It wont be a car crash and not even cancer, Elliot said. Its a bullet. Sofia Chaudhary, a pediatric emergency physician in Atlanta, advocated for laws to require safe storage of firearms. She said those kinds of laws could have saved the lives of several of her patients including a one-month-old who were unintentionally shot by other children These patients haunt me, she said. Their needless, senseless loss haunts me. The piercing cries of their parents haunt me. The post Gun safety group, U.S. Senate architects of 2022 law call for stricter measures appeared first on Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Law enforcement officers speak together outside of Robb Elementary School following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. As the two-year anniversary of the shooting approaches, gun control advocates are pushing for stricter laws. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) WASHINGTON U.S. Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin and a coalition of medical officers advocated Tuesday for Congress to pass stronger gun safety laws. Congress should build on the 2022 gun control law following high-profile mass shootings, Durbin, Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy and about 80 members of OnCall4Kids, a group of doctors and healthcare professionals that advocates for stricter gun laws, said at a Tuesday press conference. There is a constant in America, and one that Im very embarrassed to say we have allowed to transpire and to exist for too long a period of time, and that is gun violence, Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said. Speakers included Emily and Elliot Lieberman of Illinois and Ashlee Jaffe of Pennsylvania who survived the July 4, 2022, mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, where seven people were killed. It is unlikely that Ill ever be able to do my job again as a result of my injuries, Jaffe, a pediatric physiatrist, who was shot in the hand and sustained nerve damage, said. The speakers pushed for Congress to pass an assault weapons ban, universal background checks, legislation to regulate the storage of firearms and restrictions on the sale, transfer and receipt of gas-operated semi-automatic firearms and high capacity magazines. But in a divided Congress, with Democrats controlling the Senate and Republicans holding a majority in the House, any gun safety legislation is unlikely to pass. Durbin called for voters to elect candidates who would enact gun-safety legislation. What we need to do and say as American voters: Were going to the polls to elect women and men who have a sense of responsibility to change this once and for all, to take away these gun threats, Durbin said. The press conference came ahead of Fridays two-year anniversary of the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting where 19 children and two teachers were killed. We are losing a generation of children in this country to the trauma of gun violence, Murphy said. That mass shooting, coupled with another in Buffalo, New York, where a white supremacist targeted a predominantly Black neighborhood and killed 10 Black people, led to the passage of gun safety legislation in 2022. Murphy led the coalition of 20 bipartisan senators to pass the legislation. That law led to the creation of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, allocated $750 million for states to enact red flag laws, provided $11 billion in mental health services for schools and families and aimed to curb the illegal trafficking of guns known as straw purchases, in which a buyer can acquire a gun for someone else. Incremental progress While the legislation was historic it was the first time in 30 years Congress passed a comprehensive gun safety bill many Democrats noted that it did not ban assault weapons, a term that generally refers to semiautomatic rifles, or high-capacity magazines. Shooters used those weapons in seven of the most deadly mass shootings in the last decade, according to the Giffords Law Center, an organization that conducts research on gun violence and advocates to end it. Let us not judge the legislation for what it does not do, but for what it does, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, said at the time of the bills passage in the House. Several of the speakers from OnCall4Kids mentioned they were grateful for the gun safety legislation that Congress passed nearly two years ago, but that more needed to be done. Incremental progress is still progress, Emily Lieberman said. However, death rates from firearms continue to climb. Elliot Lieberman said that the leading cause of death for children is firearms. If your child dies in this country, the most likely reason will not be a drowning accident. It wont be a car crash and not even cancer, Elliot said. Its a bullet. Sofia Chaudhary, a pediatric emergency physician in Atlanta, advocated for laws to require safe storage of firearms. She said those kinds of laws could have saved the lives of several of her patients including a one-month-old who were unintentionally shot by other children These patients haunt me, she said. Their needless, senseless loss haunts me. The piercing cries of their parents haunt me. The post Gun safety group, U.S. Senate architects of 2022 law call for stricter measures appeared first on Kentucky Lantern. Law enforcement officers speak together outside of Robb Elementary School following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. Law enforcement officers speak together outside of Robb Elementary School following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. As the two-year anniversary of the shooting approaches, gun control advocates are pushing for stricter laws. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images) WASHINGTON U.S. Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin and a coalition of medical officers advocated Tuesday for Congress to pass stronger gun safety laws. Congress should build on the 2022 gun control law following high-profile mass shootings, Durbin, Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy and about 80 members of OnCall4Kids, a group of doctors and healthcare professionals that advocates for stricter gun laws, said at a Tuesday press conference. There is a constant in America, and one that Im very embarrassed to say we have allowed to transpire and to exist for too long a period of time, and that is gun violence, Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said. Speakers included Emily and Elliot Lieberman of Illinois and Ashlee Jaffe of Pennsylvania who survived the July 4, 2022, mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, where seven people were killed. It is unlikely that Ill ever be able to do my job again as a result of my injuries, Jaffe, a pediatric physiatrist, who was shot in the hand and sustained nerve damage, said. The speakers pushed for Congress to pass an assault weapons ban, universal background checks, legislation to regulate the storage of firearms and restrictions on the sale, transfer and receipt of gas-operated semi-automatic firearms and high capacity magazines. But in a divided Congress, with Democrats controlling the Senate and Republicans holding a majority in the House, any gun safety legislation is unlikely to pass. Durbin called for voters to elect candidates who would enact gun-safety legislation. What we need to do and say as American voters: Were going to the polls to elect women and men who have a sense of responsibility to change this once and for all, to take away these gun threats, Durbin said. The press conference came ahead of Fridays two-year anniversary of the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting where 19 children and two teachers were killed. We are losing a generation of children in this country to the trauma of gun violence, Murphy said. That mass shooting, coupled with another in Buffalo, New York, where a white supremacist targeted a predominantly Black neighborhood and killed 10 Black people, led to the passage of gun safety legislation in 2022. Murphy led the coalition of 20 bipartisan senators to pass the legislation. That law led to the creation of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, allocated $750 million for states to enact red flag laws, provided $11 billion in mental health services for schools and families and aimed to curb the illegal trafficking of guns known as straw purchases, in which a buyer can acquire a gun for someone else. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE Incremental progress While the legislation was historic it was the first time in 30 years Congress passed a comprehensive gun safety bill many Democrats noted that it did not ban assault weapons, a term that generally refers to semiautomatic rifles, or high-capacity magazines. Shooters used those weapons in seven of the most deadly mass shootings in the last decade, according to the Giffords Law Center, an organization that conducts research on gun violence and advocates to end it. Let us not judge the legislation for what it does not do, but for what it does, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, said at the time of the bills passage in the House. Several of the speakers from OnCall4Kids mentioned they were grateful for the gun safety legislation that Congress passed nearly two years ago, but that more needed to be done. Incremental progress is still progress, Emily Lieberman said. However, death rates from firearms continue to climb. Elliot Lieberman said that the leading cause of death for children is firearms. If your child dies in this country, the most likely reason will not be a drowning accident. It wont be a car crash and not even cancer, Elliot said. Its a bullet. Sofia Chaudhary, a pediatric emergency physician in Atlanta, advocated for laws to require safe storage of firearms. She said those kinds of laws could have saved the lives of several of her patients including a one-month-old who were unintentionally shot by other children These patients haunt me, she said. Their needless, senseless loss haunts me. The piercing cries of their parents haunt me. The post Gun safety group, U.S. Senate architects of 2022 law call for stricter measures appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator. Law enforcement officers speak together outside of Robb Elementary School following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. As the two-year anniversary of the shooting approaches, gun control advocates are pushing for stricter laws. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images) Law enforcement officers speak together outside of Robb Elementary School following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. As the two-year anniversary of the shooting approaches, gun control advocates are pushing for stricter laws. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images) WASHINGTON U.S. Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin and a coalition of medical officers are advocating for Congress to pass stronger gun safety laws. Congress should build on the 2022 gun control law following high-profile mass shootings, Durbin, Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy and about 80 members of OnCall4Kids, a group of doctors and health care professionals that advocates for stricter gun laws, said at a Tuesday press conference. There is a constant in America, and one that Im very embarrassed to say we have allowed to transpire and to exist for too long a period of time, and that is gun violence, Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said. Speakers included Emily and Elliot Lieberman of Illinois and Ashlee Jaffe of Pennsylvania who survived the July 4, 2022, mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, where seven people were killed. It is unlikely that Ill ever be able to do my job again as a result of my injuries, Jaffe, a pediatric physiatrist, who was shot in the hand and sustained nerve damage, said. The speakers pushed for Congress to pass an assault weapons ban, universal background checks, legislation to regulate the storage of firearms and restrictions on the sale, transfer and receipt of gas-operated semi-automatic firearms and high capacity magazines. But in a divided Congress, with Democrats controlling the Senate and Republicans holding a majority in the House, any gun safety legislation is unlikely to pass. Durbin called for voters to elect candidates who would enact gun-safety legislation. What we need to do and say as American voters: Were going to the polls to elect women and men who have a sense of responsibility to change this once and for all, to take away these gun threats, Durbin said. The press conference came ahead of Fridays two-year anniversary of the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting where 19 children and two teachers were killed. We are losing a generation of children in this country to the trauma of gun violence, Murphy said. That mass shooting, coupled with another in Buffalo, New York, where a white supremacist targeted a predominantly Black neighborhood and killed 10 Black people, led to the passage of gun safety legislation in 2022. Murphy led the coalition of 20 bipartisan senators to pass the legislation. That law led to the creation of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, allocated $750 million for states to enact red flag laws, provided $11 billion in mental health services for schools and families and aimed to curb the illegal trafficking of guns known as straw purchases, in which a buyer can acquire a gun for someone else. Incremental progress While the legislation was historic it was the first time in 30 years Congress passed a comprehensive gun safety bill many Democrats noted that it did not ban assault weapons, a term that generally refers to semiautomatic rifles, or high-capacity magazines. Shooters used those weapons in seven of the most deadly mass shootings in the last decade, according to the Giffords Law Center, an organization that conducts research on gun violence and advocates to end it. Let us not judge the legislation for what it does not do, but for what it does, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, said at the time of the bills passage in the House. Several of the speakers from OnCall4Kids mentioned they were grateful for the gun safety legislation that Congress passed nearly two years ago, but that more needed to be done. Incremental progress is still progress, Emily Lieberman said. However, death rates from firearms continue to climb. Elliot Lieberman said that the leading cause of death for children is firearms. If your child dies in this country, the most likely reason will not be a drowning accident. It wont be a car crash and not even cancer, Elliot said. Its a bullet. Sofia Chaudhary, a pediatric emergency physician in Atlanta, advocated for laws to require safe storage of firearms. She said those kinds of laws could have saved the lives of several of her patients including a one-month-old who were unintentionally shot by other children These patients haunt me, she said. Their needless, senseless loss haunts me. The piercing cries of their parents haunt me. The post Gun safety group, U.S. Senate architects of 2022 law call for stricter measures appeared first on Oregon Capital Chronicle. Law enforcement officers speak together outside of Robb Elementary School following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. As the two-year anniversary of the shooting approaches, gun control advocates are pushing for stricter laws. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) WASHINGTON U.S. Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin and a coalition of medical officers advocated Tuesday for Congress to pass stronger gun safety laws. Congress should build on the 2022 gun control law following high-profile mass shootings, Durbin, Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy and about 80 members of OnCall4Kids, a group of doctors and healthcare professionals that advocates for stricter gun laws, said at a Tuesday press conference. There is a constant in America, and one that Im very embarrassed to say we have allowed to transpire and to exist for too long a period of time, and that is gun violence, Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said. Speakers included Emily and Elliot Lieberman of Illinois and Ashlee Jaffe of Pennsylvania who survived the July 4, 2022, mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, where seven people were killed. It is unlikely that Ill ever be able to do my job again as a result of my injuries, Jaffe, a pediatric physiatrist, who was shot in the hand and sustained nerve damage, said. The speakers pushed for Congress to pass an assault weapons ban, universal background checks, legislation to regulate the storage of firearms and restrictions on the sale, transfer and receipt of gas-operated semi-automatic firearms and high capacity magazines. But in a divided Congress, with Democrats controlling the Senate and Republicans holding a majority in the House, any gun safety legislation is unlikely to pass. Durbin called for voters to elect candidates who would enact gun-safety legislation. What we need to do and say as American voters: Were going to the polls to elect women and men who have a sense of responsibility to change this once and for all, to take away these gun threats, Durbin said. The press conference came ahead of Fridays two-year anniversary of the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting where 19 children and two teachers were killed. We are losing a generation of children in this country to the trauma of gun violence, Murphy said. That mass shooting, coupled with another in Buffalo, New York, where a white supremacist targeted a predominantly Black neighborhood and killed 10 Black people, led to the passage of gun safety legislation in 2022. Murphy led the coalition of 20 bipartisan senators to pass the legislation. That law led to the creation of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, allocated $750 million for states to enact red flag laws, provided $11 billion in mental health services for schools and families and aimed to curb the illegal trafficking of guns known as straw purchases, in which a buyer can acquire a gun for someone else. Incremental progress While the legislation was historic it was the first time in 30 years Congress passed a comprehensive gun safety bill many Democrats noted that it did not ban assault weapons, a term that generally refers to semiautomatic rifles, or high-capacity magazines. Shooters used those weapons in seven of the most deadly mass shootings in the last decade, according to the Giffords Law Center, an organization that conducts research on gun violence and advocates to end it. Let us not judge the legislation for what it does not do, but for what it does, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, said at the time of the bills passage in the House. Several of the speakers from OnCall4Kids mentioned they were grateful for the gun safety legislation that Congress passed nearly two years ago, but that more needed to be done. Incremental progress is still progress, Emily Lieberman said. However, death rates from firearms continue to climb. Elliot Lieberman said that the leading cause of death for children is firearms. If your child dies in this country, the most likely reason will not be a drowning accident. It wont be a car crash and not even cancer, Elliot said. Its a bullet. Sofia Chaudhary, a pediatric emergency physician in Atlanta, advocated for laws to require safe storage of firearms. She said those kinds of laws could have saved the lives of several of her patients including a one-month-old who were unintentionally shot by other children These patients haunt me, she said. Their needless, senseless loss haunts me. The piercing cries of their parents haunt me. The post Gun safety group, U.S. Senate architects of 2022 law call for stricter measures appeared first on Rhode Island Current. Law enforcement officers speak together outside Robb Elementary School following the mass shooting there on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. As the two-year anniversary of the shooting approaches, gun control advocates are pushing for stricter laws. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images) WASHINGTON U.S. Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin and a coalition of medical officers advocated Tuesday for Congress to pass stronger gun safety laws. Congress should build on the 2022 gun control law following high-profile mass shootings, Durbin, Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy and about 80 members of OnCall4Kids, a group of doctors and health care professionals that advocates for stricter gun laws, said at a Tuesday press conference. There is a constant in America, and one that Im very embarrassed to say we have allowed to transpire and to exist for too long a period of time, and that is gun violence, Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said. Speakers included Emily and Elliot Lieberman of Illinois and Ashlee Jaffe of Pennsylvania, who survived the July 4, 2022, mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, where seven people were killed. It is unlikely that Ill ever be able to do my job again as a result of my injuries, said Jaffe, a pediatric physiatrist, who was shot in the hand and sustained nerve damage. Divided Congress dims chances The speakers pushed for Congress to pass an assault weapons ban, universal background checks, legislation to regulate the storage of firearms and restrictions on the sale, transfer and receipt of gas-operated semi-automatic firearms and high capacity magazines. But in a divided Congress, with Democrats controlling the Senate and Republicans holding a majority in the House, any gun safety legislation is unlikely to pass. Durbin called for voters to elect candidates who would enact gun-safety legislation. What we need to do and say as American voters: Were going to the polls to elect women and men who have a sense of responsibility to change this once and for all, to take away these gun threats, Durbin said. The press conference came ahead of Fridays two-year anniversary of the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting where 19 children and two teachers were killed. We are losing a generation of children in this country to the trauma of gun violence, Murphy said. That mass shooting, coupled with another in Buffalo, New York, where a white supremacist targeted a predominantly Black neighborhood and killed 10 Black people, led to the passage of gun safety legislation in 2022. Murphy led the coalition of 20 bipartisan senators to pass the legislation. That law led to the creation of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, allocated $750 million for states to enact red flag laws, provided $11 billion in mental health services for schools and families and aimed to curb the illegal trafficking of guns known as straw purchases, in which a buyer can acquire a gun for someone else. Incremental progress While the legislation was historic it was the first time in 30 years Congress passed a comprehensive gun safety bill many Democrats noted that it did not ban assault weapons, a term that generally refers to semiautomatic rifles, or high-capacity magazines. Shooters used those weapons in seven of the most deadly mass shootings in the last decade, according to the Giffords Law Center, an organization that conducts research on gun violence and advocates to end it. Let us not judge the legislation for what it does not do, but for what it does, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, said at the time of the bills passage in the House. Several of the speakers from OnCall4Kids mentioned they were grateful for the gun safety legislation that Congress passed nearly two years ago, but that more needed to be done. Incremental progress is still progress, Emily Lieberman said. However, death rates from firearms continue to climb. Elliot Lieberman said that the leading cause of death for children is firearms. If your child dies in this country, the most likely reason will not be a drowning accident. It wont be a car crash and not even cancer, Elliot said. Its a bullet. Sofia Chaudhary, a pediatric emergency physician in Atlanta, advocated for laws to require safe storage of firearms. She said those kinds of laws could have saved the lives of several of her patients including a one-month-old who were unintentionally shot by other children These patients haunt me, she said. Their needless, senseless loss haunts me. The piercing cries of their parents haunt me. The post Gun safety group, U.S. Senate architects of 2022 law call for stricter measures appeared first on Nebraska Examiner. As the Manhattan criminal trial of former President Donald Trump heads into the final stretch, a jury will soon deliver a verdict that could raise a series of unprecedented legal and political questions if Trump is convicted. The presumptive Republican nominee is currently facing trial on 34 felony counts over allegations that he falsified business records to conceal a $130,000 hush-money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Hes the first former President in the U.S. ever to be indicted, and while he faces three other criminal cases, the New York case will render the first verdict and may be the only case that gets to trial before the election. Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen testified during the trial that Trump personally approved the hush-money reimbursement plan central to the criminal allegations, but questions remain about Cohens credibility given his history of lying and committing crimes. Prosecutors will need to prove to jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump not only falsified or caused business records to be entered falsely, but that he did so with the intent to commit or conceal another crime related to violating federal and state election laws. Judge Juan Merchan said that he expects closing arguments on May 28. After the lawyers summarize their cases, the judge will read jury instructions and the jurors will deliberate. If the jurors cant reach an agreement, the judge would declare a mistrial. Whether declared guilty or not guilty, Trump has already laid the groundwork for his response and is poised to leverage either outcome to advance his narrative of victimhood and political persecution. But campaigning under the shadow of a criminal conviction is uncharted territory for presidential politics, and the legal issues only become more acute if he wins the presidency in November. Heres what would happen if Trump is convicted in the New York case. Can Trump still run for President? Yes. A felony conviction will not disqualify Trump from continuing his presidential campaign, even if he were jailed. Thats because under the Constitution, all natural born citizens who are at least 35 years old and have been a resident of the U.S. for 14 years can run for President. There is no constitutional bar on a felon running for office, Richard Hasen, an election law professor at UCLA Law School, told TIME after Trumps first indictment. And given that the U.S. Constitution sets presidential qualifications, it is not clear that states could add to them, such as by barring felons from running for office. At least two candidates with criminal convictions have run for President in the past, albeit unsuccessfully. About 100 years ago, Eugene Debs ran for President while in a federal prison in Atlanta as the nominee of the Socialist Party, and got close to a million votes without ever hitting the campaign trail. Another convicted presidential candidate, Lyndon LaRouche, ran for President in every election between 1976 and 2004including one campaign from prison in which he got over 26,000 votes. Will Trump go to jail? Trump could potentially face imprisonment if hes convicted, though most first-time offenders in non-violent cases are sentenced to probation and fines instead. The decision ultimately lies with Judge Merchan, who is not required to imprison Trump if hes convicted by a jury. The 34 charges Trump faces are all considered class E felonies in New York, the lowest tier of felony charges in the state, which carry a maximum sentence of four years each. Its expected that the judge would impose a concurrent sentence so that Trump would serve all prison time simultaneouslyfour years maximumif he goes that route. But given Trumps age, 77, lack of a prior conviction, the fact that hes the first former President to ever be criminally tried, and that he may become President again, legal experts say theres no guarantee that a conviction would result in jail time. Instead, its more likely that Trump is sentenced to pay a fine and serve a form of supervision time if hes found guilty, perhaps reporting regularly to a civil servant at the citys Probation Department. Under a probation sentence, he could be jailed immediately for committing any additional crimes. Convicted felons sentenced for less than a year are generally sent to New York Citys Rikers Island, where Trumps former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg is currently serving his sentence for crimes related to his work for Trump. Sentences beyond a year would generally be served in one of New Yorks 44 state prisons. Unlike his other criminal cases, if Trump is convicted in this trial and elected President again, he would not be able to try to pardon himself. Falsifying business records is a state crime and only the New York governor, a Democrat, could pardon him. (Even in the federal cases, its an untested legal question whether he could pardon himself.) Can Trump appeal? How long will an appeal take? If Trump is convicted, he will almost certainly appeal the verdicta process that could take months or longer to play out. He would likely first take the case to the Appellate Division in Manhattan, and ultimately seek review from the states highest court, the Court of Appeals in Albany, which has already ruled against Trumps multiple requests to delay the trial. The lengthy appeals process would be unlikely to wrap up before Election Day. Can Trump still vote? To be determined. For Trump to lose his voting rights, he would need to be incarcerated at the time of the November election, a scenario that is technically possible but unlikely given his anticipated appeal of any guilty verdict. While the Constitution does not explicitly address whether convicted felons have the right to vote, several states impose limitations on felons voting privileges. In Florida, where Trump lives and has voted since 2020, a felon's eligibility to vote depends on the laws of the state where the conviction occurredin this instance, New York, which only revokes a felon's voting rights while they are incarcerated. Therefore, if Trump receives a probationary sentence and resides in the community, he would maintain his eligibility to vote. Likewise, if his appeal of a jail sentence were to extend beyond the election, he would be able to vote. What does this mean for Trumps other cases? While a conviction in the hush-money trial would not directly impact Trumps other criminal cases, it could influence his strategy and alter the public perception of him and his legal troubles. For instance, a guilty verdict could bolster the prosecution's case in the eyes of the public and legal observers, potentially influencing jury perceptions and trial dynamics in the remaining cases. A conviction in the hush-money case also could impact Trump's willingness to negotiate plea deals or settlement agreements in his other criminal cases. Prosecutors may also try to use a conviction to undermine Trump's credibility in future trials, and the judges may take the conviction into consideration when determining sentencing. In addition to the hush-money case, Trump is facing 40 felony counts in Florida for allegedly hoarding classified documents and obstructing the governments efforts to retrieve them, four counts in Washington related to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and 13 felony counts in Georgia in connection to his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election result in that state. Write to Nik Popli at nik.popli@time.com. The Rhode Island State House. (Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) Big opposition to tiny houses last year took down a legislative attempt to make it easier to build in-law apartments, or accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Now in the home stretch of the 2024 legislative session, a compromise has emerged. Even municipal naysayers backed the amended legislation introduced by Sen. Victoria Gu, a Westerly Democrat, during a May 16 State House hearing. At first glance, Gus version of the ADU bill appears similar to one spearheaded by House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, which passed in the House earlier this year. But the tweaks to building and property size limits, alongside extra powers to cities and towns to set owner occupancy and minimum lease length requirements, have assuaged some of the harshest critics. Really, what we want to do is to keep as much local control as possible, giving municipalities the tools to expand ADUs based on their circumstances, Jane Weidman, Charlestown town planner and chair of the American Planning Association Rhode Island chapters legislative subcommittee testified before the Senate Committee on Housing and Municipal Government on May 16 in support of Gus legislation. Unlike the House version, which was put forth without input from town planners, Gus version sought their feedback well before a formal proposal was introduced, Weidman said. The effort began as soon as the 2023 legislative session ended, with monthly meetings among lawmakers, planners, housing advocates and other stakeholders. Its really a mindset that no one is your enemy, that we can work together to find compromise, Gu said in an interview on Wednesday. There has been broad support for an ADU bill generally so having that extra time to have many eyes on it and many opportunities to talk through things really helped us come together and put in a stronger bill. State law already allows ADUs, either within or detached from a single family home. But red tape in the form of vast and varied local zoning and building requirements have stifled their spread; in 2022 and 2023, 115 units were approved at the local permitting level, with 76 receiving a certificate of occupancy, according to written testimony from Housing Secretary Stefan Pryor. Prior is among a host of housing leaders and advocates who have championed these smaller, untraditional homes as a way to ease the states housing crisis, giving seniors and lower-income residents in particular an alternative and more affordable place to live. Yet cities and towns decried loss of municipal control, their concerns ultimately helping to block the bills passage in the Rhode Island Senate last year. The back-and-forth between housing advocates and local planners has played out again this year on Smith Hill. The legislation, part of a 15-bill housing package unveiled in March, sailed through the lower chamber in February, with a decisive 55-9 vote along party lines. In an interview on May 16, Shekarchi, a Warwick Democrat, said the legislation remains his top priority this year, despite continued pushback from municipal leaders. Its not surprising, he said. Change is never easy. He continued, I try to work from consensus, but some things people ask for, I refuse to compromise on. Read the bill Both Shekarchi and Rep. June Speakman, a Warren Democrat who sponsored the ADU legislation on Shekarchis behalf, said some of the criticism was uninformed. For example: questions on how ADUs would affect available water and sewer supply or compromise building safety codes. Shekarchis response to opponents: Read the bill. The legislation doesnt exempt property owners who want to build an ADU from any of those existing mandates, instead, it stops cities and towns from adding extra conditions around frontage and setbacks or infrastructure requirements beyond what is required by state law. This is, to me, one of the easier tools to use, Speakman said. Its gentle density. You dont even know they are there. They dont change the look and feel of the neighborhood. But they do create more work for town planners and zoning officers, Shekarchi acknowledged. The state has already relaxed building restrictions for ADUs twice in the last five years under laws passed in 2019 and 2022. The latest legislation aims to clarify some of the inconsistencies from prior policy changes, but it could also open the floodgates to new development that doesnt necessarily achieve its intended effects, Weidman warned lawmakers. Its deceptively complex legislation, she said of the House version. Sen. Victoria Gu, a Westerly Democrat, is shown during the Rhode Island Senate floor session on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) A plan to appease coastal towns Unlike the House bill, Gus version won Weidmans support, as well as the American Planning Associations Rhode Island chapter. The difference? Gus version takes municipal restrictions further, letting cities and towns impose provisions that properties with ADUs must be owner-occupied, and if the units are rented, the leases last up to one year. This is particularly important for coastal communities like South Kingstown, where seasonal student housing has taken over entire neighborhoods, Brian Wagner, the towns senior planner said. You need to be honest with yourself about why you are supporting this legislation, he told lawmakers on May 16. If you are in support of people maximizing their real estate return on investment, then be honest with yourself. But thats not supporting the real housing needs of the people of Rhode Island. Both House and Senate versions ban property owners from using ADUs as short-term rentals. Gus bill also differs from the House version in its property and unit size requirements. The House version allows ADUs by right on properties of at least 20,000 square feet, limiting the size of the accessory unit to either 900 square feet for a studio or one-bedroom or up to 1,200 square feet for a two-bedroom. (or 60% of the size of the main house, whichever is smaller.) Gus bill sets the by-right lot size to at least 6,000 square feet in certain zones, or 40,000 square feet in any zone, with a 900-square-foot unit cap, or 60% of the main building. Housing and senior care advocates lined up in general support for some kind of ADU legislation on May 16, though most did not specify which of the two versions they preferred. One exception: Melina Lodge, executive director for Housing Network of Rhode Island. Lodge opposed the owner-occupancy provision, warning that because banks are reluctant to approve home loans with those stipulations, the requirement inherently restricts lower income homeowners who cant self-finance from benefiting. We are more supportive of language that allows for the most flexible and expansive version, she said. Gu maintained that the Senate version was the stronger bill, both in technical clarifications and solutions to municipal concerns. Regarding restrictions on lending for owner-occupied properties, she said she spoke to two lenders who disagreed with Lodges claim, indicating the problem might only apply to certain financial institutions. Speakman said she was open to compromise between the two versions of the bill, but did not comment specifically on differences around owner occupancy and lot and unit size. Shekarchis take: The owner-occupancy requirement will not help to address the housing crisis, he said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. Rhode Island House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, shown at a press conference in East Providence on May 20, 2024, says his top priority remains passing a bill to ease restrictions on building accessory dwelling units. (Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) However, Shekarchi stressed the value of compromise in legislative negotiations generally, including the other bills within his 15-bill package. Shekarchi: I am always open to collaboration and to comment Fourteen of the 15, including the ADU bill, have already passed the House this year and are starting to be vetted by Senate committees. The 15th bill, creating a statewide, online GIS system including land information from all cities and towns, was scheduled to be voted out of the House Municipal Government and Housing Committee Tuesday afternoon. A majority of the bills, 12 of the 15, were amended from their original form, either during the committee vetting or floor debate prior to passage. Some of the changes were minor tweaks, but others reflected more substantive changes aimed at assuaging concerns or correcting unintended consequences revealed in public comments. We really only started working on housing policy three years ago, so there are a lot of wrinkles to iron out and doors to open, said Speakman, who also heads a legislative panel studying housing affordability. For that reason, it didnt make sense to focus on a single housing bill, even if the many pieces of Shekarchis package compete for attention, she said. Others in the package have also run into obstacles. One example: legislation meant to expand where housing can be built to include commercial districts. The bill sponsored by Rep. Joshua Giraldo, a Central Falls Democrat, originally required cities and towns to allow duplexes on 30% of their land, but was pulled back for revisions by Shekarchis own staff, The Providence Journal reported. The amended version, approved by the House on May 14, replaces the duplex requirement with one calling for at least one mixed residential and commercial zone within each city or town while relaxing the conditions required to build duplexes. Its not uncommon to see bills change, Shekarchi said. Very few bills pass exactly as written. I am always open to collaboration and to comment. The Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, which expressed concern with several bills within Shekarchis housing package, was unpersuaded despite these changes. The Leagues members have significant concerns about mandating residential uses in commercial zones which could eliminate commercial-only districts, and undermines home rule and local management rights, Ernie Almonte, executive director, said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. Giraldos bill is also one of two pieces of Shekarchis housing package still lacking a Senate companion. A House resolution calling for an 11-member panel to study how to improve the pipeline of town planners, does not require a Senate bill or even Senate approval because the commission falls solely under the Houses purview. David Bodah, associate director for the league, backed the study commission in a March 28 letter to lawmakers, noting the shortage of planning professionals and absence of a local educational program to fill these jobs when aging planners retire. Bodah also suggested expanding the study to include building officials. As for the ADU bill, the league backed the owner-occupancy provision in Gus version, while recommending lawmakers re-evaluate lot size requirements to ensure there is an appropriate room for the ADU on the property, Almonte said in an email. He did not specify what the league considers an appropriate lot size. Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, a North Providence Democrat, remained noncommittal. We will let the committee conduct its due diligence on these bills before making any determinations, Greg Pare, a spokesperson for Ruggerio, said in an email. Status check: Where does the Speakers Housing package stand? Heres an update on the 15 individual bills in House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchis housing package as of Tuesday, May 21 Updated to include comments from Sen. Victoria Gu, and to correct the square footage limits on ADU units in different versions of the legislation. The post Harshest critics of ADU bill have softened their stance. What changed? appeared first on Rhode Island Current. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov received the newly appointed ambassador of the Italian Republic to the country Luca Di Gianfrancesco, Trend reports. The ambassador presented copies of his credentials to Minister Bayramov. The Minister congratulated Ambassador Luca Di Gianfrancesco on his appointment and wished him success in his activities. Furthermore, the meeting discussed issues arising from the multi-dimensional relations of strategic partnership between the two countries, as well as the current regional situation. The sides noted that intensive contacts between the heads of state, government representatives, and parliaments play an important role in the development of strategic relations. The meeting emphasized the importance of using the mechanisms of strategic dialogue as well as political consultations in terms of discussing the prospects of multilateral cooperation in various fields, including economy, trade, energy security, humanities, education, etc. In particular, the role of the intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Italy was emphasized. It was emphasized that the Italy-Azerbaijan University will give additional impetus to the expanding cooperation in the field of education. The minister informed about the current situation and realities in the region in the post-conflict period, the large-scale reconstruction and construction works carried out in the territories liberated from occupation, as well as the process of normalizing relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The contribution of Italian companies to the reconstruction efforts was noted with satisfaction. Moreover, the issue of mine threat in the liberated lands was brought to attention, and possibilities of cooperation in the field of demining were assessed. Referring to the preparations for the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), as well as the negotiation process, Minister Bayramov noted that Azerbaijan will be glad to cooperate with Italy within the framework of its presidency in COP29. The ambassador expressed gratitude for the reception and noted that he was glad to be appointed ambassador to Azerbaijan, and in the course of his activity, he will work on the development of the existing multidimensional relations of strategic partnership. During the meeting, the sides also exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel CDC photo Children entering seventh grade or 12th grade will require meningitis vaccines under newly updated school and child care center vaccine requirements from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS). The agency has also reinstated a requirement that for a child to be exempt from the states chickenpox vaccine requirement in school, a previous chickenpox infection must be documented by a qualified medical professional. DHS announced the updated vaccine requirements Monday, saying that a block imposed in the state Legislature in 2023 has now ended because the Legislatures session has ended for the year. According to state health officials, the changes bring Wisconsin closer to following national guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its vaccination health advisory committee, as well as what neighboring states require for school children. Along with existing vaccine requirements, the new rules specify a child must have the meningitis vaccine to enter seventh grade and a meningitis booster to enter 12th grade. The rules also require that if a parent claims a waiver from the required chickenpox vaccine for a child who has previously had chickenpox, the parent must present documentation from a qualified medical professional of the childs prior infection. For child care centers the new requirements take effect immediately. For schools, they take effect with the 2024-25 school year. Parents are required to produce proof that their children have received the required shots, or must submit a signed waiver if they are invoking medical, religious or philosophical objections permitted under Wisconsin law. DHS is advising parents to consult with their family doctors to ensure that shots are up to date. DHS originally updated the requirements effective Feb. 1, 2023, but the Legislatures Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules (JCRAR) suspended the new rules five weeks later, on March 9. That suspension expired at the end of the legislative session on April 15, 2024, making these school and child care immunization requirements now fully in effect, the DHS announcement said. The chickenpox and meningitis vaccines have been in use for decades and found safe and effective, according to DHS. Updating the states requirements improves how we can protect children as well as their entire schools and communities from these vaccine-preventable illnesses, said DHS Secretary-designee Kirsten Johnson in a statement. According to the states most recent vaccination data, 89.2% of school-age students have met the minimum immunization requirements for the 2023-24 school year, a decrease of 0.7% from the year before. Increasing vaccination rates helps protect the broader community, said state Health Officer Paula Tran, and the more children who are vaccinated, the more protected an entire school and community is. The post Health department renews previously blocked vaccine requirements for school children appeared first on Wisconsin Examiner. Health experts have issued a warning on the dangerous BORG - also known as blackout rage gallons - drinking trend popularised by Gen Z college students. According to the National Capital Poison Center, BORG drinking typically takes place at day parties, popularly known as darties, with participants carrying around a gallon-sized plastic jug that has a powerful alcoholic concoction inside. Consisting of vodka or some other distilled alcohol as well as water, a flavor enhancer, and an electrolyte powder or drink, theres usually far more alcohol in the jugs than the other ingredients, so much so that experts have dubbed it life-threatening. Drinking one can lead to potentially life-threatening consumption and alcohol poisoning, Stanford psychiatry and addiction medicine professor Dr Anna Lembke explained to CNN. Unlike its long-reigning jungle juice counterpart, usually a party-sized mix meant for all, BORGs are meant for personal use. However, the end goal is ultimately the same - to get you extremely drunk. A BORG often contains a fifth [25.6 fluid ounces or 3.2 cups] of vodka or other hard alcohol, which is about 17 standard drinks, which is a massive amount of alcohol. Dr Lembke credits BORG drinkings rise with social contagion, made all the worse by the omnipresence of social media like TikTok. Kids see other kids doing it and want to try it themselves, she said. Thats another real danger here to take a dangerous deviant behavior and normalize it by spreading it on social media. The 24-year-old creator and editor-in-chief of The Zillennial Zine, Sabrina Grimaldi, noted she first heard of the trend when one of her interns - Kelly Xiong, 21 - pitched a story about the binge-drinking phenomenons popularity. As someone who hadnt been in the college party scene in five years, it baffled her just how much had changed in such a short time. She said, Even though Kelly and I are so close in age, its crazy how these microtrends pop up. Xiong discovered the burgeoning popularity of BORG drinking when she went to a St Patricks block darty, noting that nearly everyone carried around gallons filled with their own concoctions. She told the outlet that BORGs were especially popular during special occasion darties, typically celebrating holidays or outdoor events. The popularity of BORGs has become widespread, frequently making headlines for being linked to the hospitalization of hard-partying students. In 2023, dozens of University of Massachusetts Amherst students - who reportedly carried BORGs - were hospitalized after an off-campus event. BORGs have not only become popular with the college party scene but also have trickled down to the high school set, with students reportedly drawn to the creative aspect of making your own BORG. All over TikTok, BORG videos abound with various jugs bearing pun-inspired monikers including Captain Borgan, Borgan Donor and Borgan Wallen. You have to name your BORG and get creative by writing the name on it with a Sharpie, a high school senior named Virginia said. However, she noted that she was aware how it was more difficult to regulate your alcohol intake, especially since many freehand the amount of alcohol they put in. Nobody is really rationing how much theyre going to drink. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), the average drink in the US contains 1 to 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits, 5 ounces of wine or 12 ounces of beer. Men and women have different drinking standards, with experts saying its considered binge-drinking if a woman drinks more than four standard drinks and a man drinks more than five over a two-hour time frame. New Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax has already laid out his top priorities for the city's government. Just a few weeks into his new job, Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax has outlined his top priorities and started the process of hiring a permanent police chief. Under the council-manager form of government Austin has, Broadnax serves as the city's chief executive overseeing the daily operations of dozens of city departments, implementing policy changes passed by the mayor and Austin City Council, and overseeing the drafting of Austin's annual budget. He will be at the forefront of the city's response to ongoing issues Austin is facing, including police contract negotiations and officer shortages, homelessness and housing affordability. The American-Statesman spoke with Broadnax on Tuesday about how he plans to address some of the key issues the city is facing and more. Here's what he had to say: Hiring a permanent Austin police chief The top-most priorities Broadnax laid out on his first day in a news release centered around policing: hiring a permanent police chief and finalizing contract negotiations with the Austin Police Association. Austin has been without a permanent police chief since Joe Chacon resigned in 2023. Chacon's chief of staff, Robin Henderson, has been serving as the interim police chief since September. Mayor Kirk Watson speaks last Thursday during T.C. Broadnax's, left, first Austin City Council meeting as the city manager. Broadnax has previously said that hiring a permanent police chief is one of his top priorities. He told the Statesman on Tuesday he hopes to have finalists selected or a candidate identified in late July with a start date sometime in September at the latest. The City Council then must approve the appointment of a police chief. The application for the top law enforcement position opened May 15 and will close June 10. "I'm hopeful that the process allows me to get an idea of who's probably (the) best fit for the job, whether that's an internal person or an external person," Broadnax told the Statesman in an interview. Police contract negotiations and enforcing Austin Police Oversight Act The city is currently in ongoing contract negotiations with the Austin Police Association after more than a year without having a long-term contract. Broadnax told the Statesman he thinks the city is making progress and hopes to have a contract finalized by July. A sticking point in negotiations has been the enforcement of the Austin Police Oversight Act, which voters approved last year and, among other things, calls for the Police Department to end its use of a confidential personnel file on each of its officers known as the "G-file." Broadnax said he is committed to implementing the act, also known as Prop A. T.C. Broadnax hopes to have Austin police chief finalists selected or a candidate identified in late July and to have a police union contract finalized by July. "I think we just need to make sure that the language particularly as it relates to state law and any conflicts with the agreement that we work through those things and ensure that we can implement accordingly across the board as it relates to Prop A," Broadnax said. He said it was his understanding that the city is already implementing parts of Prop A that aren't in conflict with the contract. "Ultimately, when the contract gets approved, then that will feather right into the things that we're already doing in adherence to Prop A," Broadnax said. Addressing homelessness The total number of people experiencing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness in Austin has doubled since January 2022, the Statesman has previously reported. Though progress has been made on the matter, the city is short on shelter beds and permanent supportive housing units. "I think there needs to be, as I think was previously proposed, an assessment and a cataloging of where and what we're spending resources on to support our homeless ecosystem," Broadnax said. Prior to Broadnax's arrival, there was an attempt to conduct a joint audit of the city's spending on homeless services. The $2 million audit the City Council approved with the international consulting firm McKinsey & Company was slated to be a joint review with the other area homeless service providers including Central Health, Travis County and Integral Care, each of which would help foot the bill. But, after Travis County opted not to participate in the review, saying it didn't want to work with McKinsey, the city pulled the plug on the operation. Read More: Austin kills million dollar McKinsey & Company audit of homelessness contracts, programs Both Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and interim City Manager Jesus Garza said at the time they still supported conducting such a review with the same agencies. Projected budget deficits As city manager, Broadnax will be in charge of overseeing the drafting of the city's annual budget, which last year was approved by the City Council at $5.5 billion. The City Council must approve the annual budget and can amend it. The city's financial staff has predicted that, over the next five years, Austin is looking at a growing structural imbalance for its general fund, meaning the city's anticipated revenue is lower than expenses. T.C. Broadnax observes his first Austin City Council meeting as the new city manager on May 16. "The implementation of the tax (cap) really is going to hit this year," Broadnax said, referring to a state-imposed property tax cap that bars the city from adopting an annual rate 3.5% greater than that of the previous year without voter approval. "You have to line up the things that you just have to do," Broadnax said. "Then we begin to work through, with the various departments, the opportunities for more efficiencies to be realized." One of the changes he hopes to make this year is a transition to a two-year budgeting framework. Broadnax said one of his top priorities is "ensuring that our budget and our path forward financially is clear." Broadnax's exit from Dallas Broadnax declined to comment Tuesday on Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson's recent assertion that his leaving Dallas might not have been an involuntary separation that would trigger a clause in his employment contract for a lump sum payout equal to his annual base salary, which was around $423,000 at the time of his exit. Read More: Dallas mayor says Austin manager Broadnax's exit was 'questionable,' opposes severance pay Johnson made these assertions in a memo sent to Dallas City Attorney Tammy Palomino last week. He cited, in part, the timing of Broadnax's candidacy for the job in Austin and a report by Dallas news station WFAA-TV in which four unnamed Dallas City Council members said Broadnax had sought council members who would ask him to resign. "I'm focused on the city of Austin," Broadnax said. "Mayor Johnson can say what Mayor Johnson wants to say." This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin's new city manager plans to tackle policing, homelessness The chairman of the Herkimer County Legislature is facing alleged drug charges following an incident over the weekend, according to police. According to a representative of the Ilion Police Department, on Sunday, May 19, at around 7:44 p.m., Robert Hollum, 49, was issued two appearance tickets one for seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and another for having an open container. Robert Hollum When asked if the chairman had been pulled over, the representative declined to comment, saying [The Ilion Police Department] was called to the area and that they couldnt comment on the circumstances at this time. They added that the department would soon release more details in a statement. Hollum is set to appear before the Village of Ilion Court on Friday, May 24, at 10 a.m. On Tuesday, May 20, the Herkimer County Legislature issued a statement stating that it was aware of the incident concerning personnel within the county over the weekend. The statement added that they would be declining to comment. This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Herkimer County chairman facing alleged drug charges Heroic faith. Why this Catholic hermit decided to come out as transgender | Opinion Pentecost is a momentous day in the Christian calendar, commemorating the moment when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles of Jesus, leading them to speak in tongues and be bold in proclaiming the gospel. It is a fulfillment of a promise by the risen Jesus Christ that he would send his followers the Holy Spirit. This years Pentecost on May 19 was a momentous day for Brother Christian Matson, a Catholic hermit who lives a life of quiet devotion in Eastern Kentucky. Its when he fulfilled a promise to himself that he would celebrate his devotion to the Catholic Church by telling the world he was a transgender man, which he did with a long story in the Religion News Service. I picked Pentecost because of the connection to preaching the gospel, Matson told me in a phone interview. He spoke with permission from his diocesan leader, Lexington Bishop John Stowe, who accepted him as a hermit in the diocese three years ago. Matson had some other reasons, too. Hes about to turn 40. But most of all, he said, There are a number of laws getting passed around our country, including in Kentucky, as well as policies being published in the Church, that are making life more difficult for transgender people and are based on faulty assumptions about them. Catholic hermits are a centuries-old tradition, seen as living alone in the wilderness in a solitary life devoted to God. According to the Catholic Leader, they are known for a life devoted to the praise of God and salvation of the world through a stricter separation from the world, the silence of solitude, and assiduous prayer and penance. In an email to supporters last week, Matson said, I live in a hermitage at the top of a wooded hill, which I share with my German Shepherd rescue, Odie, and with the Blessed Sacrament, which was installed in my oratory shortly before Christmas. He did not disclose where he lives in Pikeville, but said he is well known in the community for his work with local theater groups. Most of his days are spent in quiet prayer, and afternoons and evenings are devoted to his theater work. Last year, he performed Every Brilliant Thing Duncan McMillan as part of the communitys suicide prevention work. Could not find religious home as trans man Matson grew up in Texas and Virginia as a Presbyterian. He attended college at New York University, where he transitioned. He went to graduate school at Loyola University Maryland. It was my first time in a Catholic environment I was very drawn to the beauty of the liturgy, but also to the Jesuit approach to education, which is care of the whole person, and the sense of Catholic education project in a rich intellectual history. Matson went to Oxford University in England to study theology, which is where he converted to Catholicism in 2010. But as an openly transgender man, he could not find a religious home. He was rejected by the Jesuits and other orders for being transgender. He became a Benedictine oblate, a lay person associated with a monastery. But he still wanted to work with other artists and LGBTQ people who wanted to practice their faith within the Church and could not find a path. Finally, a friend connected him to Bishop John Stowe, who was known for his outreach to the LGBTQ community. In a speech he gave in 2022, he said: I believe that my first words to you and to the LGBT community in the church must be the same: I love you. Stowe was unavailable to speak to the Herald-Leader. But he told Religion News Service: My willingness to be open to him is because its a sincere person seeking a way to serve the church. Hermits are a rarely used form of religious life but they can be either male or female. Because theres no pursuit of priesthood or engagement in sacramental ministry, and because the hermit is a relatively quiet and secluded type of vocation, I didnt see any harm in letting him live this vocation. Matson said that Stowe has been an inspiration to him as a religious leader. He wants to preach the Gospel regardless of consequences, Matson said. Hes trying to serve the church by saying things about care for creation, care for immigrants, care for the LGBTQ community. He preaches it whether or not its politically palatable. Im so inspired by his courage and his love for Christ and the church and the Gospel. Vatican allows baptism, becoming godparent Pope Francis has slowly created more tolerance for LGBTQ Catholics, although same-sex marriage is still forbidden. Last year, the Vatican said it was allowed under certain circumstances, for transgender people to be baptized as Catholics and serve as godparents. Matson believes he is the first openly transgender person in his position in the church. So, will there be consequences from the Vatican for Brother Christian and Bishop Stowe? I would hope not, said Stan JR Zerkowski, the director of the Lexington Dioceses LGBTQ ministry and the author of Coming Out and Coming Home: A Gay Catholic Mans Journey from Marginalization to Ministry, with a Few Miracles Along the Way. I think this is an incredibly positive step for dialogue in the church and for transgender people to witness to their faith in heroic ways, Zerkowski said. I think Brother Christian is heroic the church has neither spoken kindly nor been kind to transgender people, and he still views service to the Lord and to the church as something far greater than something that would cause most people to back down. Thats heroic faith. Zerkowski was thrilled Matson made his announcement on Pentecost. People said, The Apostles are drunk, theyre crazy, theyre speaking in languages people dont understand, he said. Its almost as if a new Pentecost is being called for in the Church. Brother Christian is asking them to speak a new language of love, and not just toward transgender people but a new language of love that transgender people have for the church. If thats not the Holy Spirit that has prompted this entire thing, then quite frankly, Im in the wrong business. Zerkowski believes Matsons story is a perfect example of how God works in incredibly powerful ways. One of the powerful ways is to see this humble servant of the Lord living in Eastern Kentucky, not looking for fanfare but wanting to say this is who I am, this is how the Lord inspired me, and this is my gift to the Church myself. And hes asking the church to do two things can you accept my gift, and can you accept the gift of people like me who want to gift themselves. Can the church understand this new language of love? Both trying to serve the Gospel Matson said he hopes that anyone who is concerned about him would come to him or Bishop Stowe and talk to them. Were both trying to serve the Gospel, he said. I hope they would say, lets see how we can incorporate your vocation and mission to the church in a way that helps witness all the children God has created in their complexity, he said. Most of all, he wants his story will resonate with others who have been rejected by the Church. My No. 1 hope is that other trans people in the church who want to have a relationship with it look at my story and say oh theres hope for someone in the church to understand me, he said. If Im correct that its OK to be trans and Catholic, then the church will come to that conclusion because it will be led by the Holy Spirit in all truth, he said. If Im wrong, then I pray God shows me Im wrong. I have confidence that God will continue to lead the church into the fullness of truth. If my theological position is true, then the church will eventually get there. HILLIARD, Ohio (WCMH) A female student at Hilliard Bradley High School was detained Tuesday after a potential safety threat locked down three schools in the area. In a note sent to families of Hilliard City Schools, the district said that at 10:30 a.m., administration at Bradley were notified of a potential safety threat in the school. Bradley, Hilliard Memorial Middle School, and Brown Elementary School were placed in lockdown as a result. Easton sues one of its restaurants, claiming unpaid rent Police determined that the threat was not credible with the district stating, It was a bad judgment call from a student thinking she was making a joke. Hilliard City Schools said those involved in the threat have been detained and that criminal charges are pending. When the threat was heard, a student promptly notified the appropriate adults, and the school was immediately placed on lockdown, the district wrote in a statement. Within a short time, dozens of first responders from the Hilliard Division of Police and Norwich Township Fire arrived on the scene. We are incredibly grateful to our first responders for their swift and thorough response. 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 NBC4 WCMH-TV. CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) A nearly 100-year-old landmark in a historically Black Charlotte neighborhood will remain in part thanks to a new development. City Council members unanimously approved Monday night rezoning plans to turn the historic Wilmore School into a mixed-use development with housing and retail. The school built in 1925 sits at the corner of West Boulevard and South Mint Street, just blocks from the ever-growing South End. Century-old school structure remains part of Charlottes Cherry neighborhood The 3.2-acre property is owned by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, but the rezoning petition was filed by Wilmore Preservation LLC. The approval also moves the property into the citys historic district overlay. Plans include creating up to 250 multi-family units, 3,500 square feet of retail and 4,300 square feet of office or community center-like uses. City leaders were pleased with the action taken to preserve the landmark. Im excited to see it finally come through, Councilwoman Victoria Watlington said. I know we were in conversations to create an intersection here thats cohesive and works with this rezoning and this development. I think itll be a great asset for the neighborhood. The housing will have 5 percent of units designated as affordable housing. Though the original structure will be preserved, there will be a building added to the property. Councilwoman LaWana Mayfield was relieved to see encroaching gentrification staved. Wilmore is one of the citys eight Local Historic Districts. The South Boulevard (transit-oriented development) is coming further and further into the community, she said. People who have been there for generations are being pushed further and further away. I appreciate the fact that they are preserving the school and the history of Wilmore. Wilmore is its own area. It is not LoSo or Hi-So or whatever new name. It is Wilmore. I appreciate that it is being maintained for future generations. The project also includes a 12-foot multi-use path along West Blvd., plus an 8-foot sidewalk along Mint Street and Kingston Avenue. 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 Queen City News. Bookshelves throughout Colorado will feature colorful artwork made by Centennial High School students thanks to the Bulldogs' big showing in the 2024 Colorado Kids Create art contest. Sixteen Centennial students had their artwork chosen for publication in the books "Bicycling in Colorado" and "Birds of Colorado" through the contest. Sponsored by the Colorado Education Association, all profits from the purchase of Colorado Kids Create books directly benefit Colorado art classrooms. Elorah Valdez, a sophomore at Centennial, won first place in this year's Colorado Kids Create high school contest. Bulldog junior Anna Garnett took third place in the contest and sophomore Viktorious Velasquez took fourth place. Student artists from Centennial High School were honored during a Pueblo School District 60 meeting on May 14, 2024 after having their work published in a pair of children's books. Other Centennial students to have artwork published through the contest include Emilyn Gallegos, Crystal Krall, Desiree Martinez, Leo Rejas Montes, Ivory Peralta, Ruby Rodrguez, Marcus Ruybal, Ciara Sanchez, Erin Toupal, Aubri Valdez, Valena Vargas, Avery Vigil and Kaydence Welsh. April Vickey is the art teacher for the Bulldogs. More information about Colorado Kids Create can be found at coloradokidscreate.org. Former Pueblo resident among 2024 U.S. Naval Academy graduates On May 24, a scholar with Pueblo ties will graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy with a bachelor of science in chemistry. Eva Torres is a Pueblo native who attended Corwin International Magnet School before graduating from Lewis Palmer High School in Monument. Her four years at the U.S. Naval Academy included "challenging academic, physical and professional military training," according to a news release from the U.S. Naval Academy. In addition to her bachelor's, Torres will graduate with a U.S. Marine Corps 2nd Lt. commission and accreditation from the American Chemical Society. While earning her degree, she was part of the Catholic Midshipmen Club, European Culture Club, German Club, Navy Medicine Club and Ultimate Frisbee Intramural Team. Colorado Teacher of the Year nominations due May 28 Know a teacher worthy of recognition? The Colorado Department of Education is accepting nominations for the 2025 Colorado Teacher of the Year award until May 28, 2024. Students, community members and fellow staff members can nominate an exceptional K-12 teacher through the quick completion of a nomination form at www.bit.ly/CO_TOY. Teachers nominated through the form will be notified by CDE and be encouraged to complete the 2025 Colorado Teacher of the Year application. While the nomination deadline is on May 28, teachers will have until 11:59 p.m. on June 19 to complete an application for Teacher of the Year. Additional information about the application can be found at cde.state.co.us/cdeawards/teacheroftheyear_applicationprocess. Pueblo D60 recognizes Class of '24 scholarship recipients Pueblo School District 60 recognized recipients of the Kane Family Foundation, Hurliman Scholarship Foundation, and Boettcher Foundation scholarships among others during a board meeting on May 14. Recipients of the Kane Family Foundation scholarship recognized at the May 14 meeting included Lluvia Alvarado of Central High School, Josiah Barela of Central High School and Sara DeHeart of Centennial High School. Ellianna High of South High School, Gianna Mirshamsi of South High School, Sean Cummings of Centennial High School, Joshua Sanchez of Central High School and Jacob Welte of Centennial High School were recognized as Hurliman recipients. Welte also was recognized as a Boettcher recipient. Pueblo D60 students recognized as receiving at least $100,000 worth of other "University and College Scholarships" at the May 14 meeting included Eli Schwartz of Centennial High School and Emilee Espinoza of South High School. Student of the Week: Who will be the next Pueblo Chieftain Student of the Week? Vote by May 23 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: Bulldog artists published in children's books and more education news GOP Maryland Senate candidate and former Gov. Larry Hogan (R-Md.) has launched a new advertisement in which he says he will codify Roe v. Wade, so every woman can make her own choice. As governor, I promised to uphold Maryland law on abortion, while providing over-the-counter birth control covered by insurance, Hogan says in the ad, first obtained by Politico. And I kept my word. Today, with Roe overturned, many have asked what Ill do in the United States Senate. Ill support legislation that makes Roe the law of the land, in every state, so every woman can make her own choice, Hogan continues. Im Larry Hogan, and I approve this message, because no one should come between a woman and her doctor. Hogan said he supports restoring Roe as the law of the land and called himself pro-choice in an interview published last Thursday in The New York Times. He argued a day later that his position on abortion really wasnt a major transformation, The Washington Post reported. The times have changed, Hogan said, according to the Post. Look, things have changed over the last couple of decades and over the last year or two. Back in March, Hogan didnt commit to being in favor of legislation codifying the right to abortion in federal law. At the time, Hogan said, Were going to have to take a look at that as we move forward. He continued, Whether its needed or not. The former Maryland governor said that his current position on abortion is clarifying and not new, according to WaPo. After the overturning of Roe, it really put us in a bad position, where we were having some crazy, unreasonable things taking place, Hogan said, also noting recent legal battles around reproductive health like those in Alabama and Arizona, according to WaPo. 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 The Hill. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. On May 21, the Azerbaijan Defense Minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov met with a delegation led by the Commander of the Turkish Land Forces, Army General Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, who is on an official visit to Azerbaijan, Trend reports. Before the meeting, the Turkish delegation visited the graves of the National Leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev and prominent ophthalmologist, academician Zarifa Aliyeva in the Alley of Honor, as well as the Alley of Shehids (Martyrs) and Turkish Martyrs' Cemetery. The guests laid wreaths and flowers and honored their blessed memory. The Defense Minister welcomed the guests and expressed his satisfaction with seeing them in Azerbaijan. The Minister noted that relations between Azerbaijan and Turkiye are based on friendly and fraternal relations. He spoke about the positive results of the reforms held in the Azerbaijani Army under the leadership of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev. Army General Bayraktaroglu expressed his gratitude for the hospitality shown. He emphasized that such meetings are important for the development of military cooperation between the two fraternal countries. The meeting also discussed the development prospects of cooperation in the military, the military-technical field, and regional security issues. Then the Turkish delegation met with the First Deputy Minister of Defense Chief of the General Staff of the Azerbaijan Army, Colonel General Karim Valiyev, and Advisor to the Minister of Defense, Colonel General Bakhtiyar Ersay. The meetings at the General Staff of the Azerbaijan Army expressed satisfaction with the current state of Azerbaijani-Turkish military cooperation based on mutual trust and support. During the official visit, the Turkish guests visited the headquarters of the Land Forces. The welcoming ceremony was held at the headquarters of the Land Forces. The visitors passed along the guard of honor. The national anthems of Azerbaijan and Turkiye were played, and the Book of Honor was signed following the protocol. The Deputy Minister of Defense Commander of the Land Forces, Lieutenant General Hikmat Mirzayev met with the Turkish delegation. At the meeting, the importance of conducting joint military exercises to increase the professionalism of the servicemen from both fraternal countries, as well as exchanging mutual experience, was emphasized, and detailed views were exchanged on a range of other issues. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel Homeless funding could be cut in Gavin Newsoms proposal. How would it affect Sacramento? Reality Check is a Bee series holding officials and organizations accountable and shining a light on their decisions. Have a tip? Email realitycheck@sacbee.com. Gov. Gavin Newsoms proposed cuts to homeless funding could mean the Sacramento City Council could next year decide to close shelters. Amid a looming state deficit, Newsom earlier this month proposed phasing out a program that funnels big checks to cities across California to help them get the homeless off the streets. The Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention program, or HHAP, has given tens of millions to the city of Sacramento since 2019. At that time, the city had less than 100 shelter beds. Thanks largely to the HHAP money, it now has 1,350. Its opened large shelters on X Street, in Meadowview, on Auburn Boulevard and on Roseville Road. The program will give the city of Sacramento $27 million for the fiscal year that starts July 1 over half the roughly $43 million in total the city spends on homelessness each year. The city of Sacramento is already facing a $66 million budget, forcing the council to make tough decisions about raising parking fees and cutting free programs starting July 1. In future years, if HHAP is cut, the citys existing deficit will grow and the council will need to look at making deeper cuts to programs. This year the council is able to close the budget gap without closing shelters of laying off employees. The city expects without HHAP it will face a $77 million deficit for fiscal year that starts July 1, 2025, city spokesmanTim Swanson said. That could cause the council to close shelter beds, even though theres a waiting list of over 2,400 and they are getting people housed. The citys shelter at X Street and Alhambra, since opening in 2021, has sheltered 986 people, according to Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency data. Of those, 342 have found housing, including 186 in permanent housing. That shelter has been expensive for the city to run about $10 million a year for 100 beds. Unlike the county and state, the city is not a social service agency. So it contracts with organizations such as Volunteers of America to run the shelter, provide meals, provide mental health and medical care, and provide help finding permanent housing. The citys Meadowview shelter for women and children also costs the city about the same per year. The county also operates about 1,000 shelter beds, mostly tiny home villages in south Sacramento. But it receives less money in HHAP than the city $8.5 million for the fiscal year that starts July 1 and is not facing a deficit. If the state cuts HHAP the county shelter funding wont be in jeopardy until the fiscal year that starts July 1, 2027, said county spokeswoman Janna Haynes. A different recent decision by Newsom may help the city budget. He last month announced state workers must return to the office for at least two days a week, ending the possibility of full-time telework that began during COVID. City officials have said the city is in a deficit partly due to parking revenue declining after thousands of state workers stopped working in downtown office buildings. (KRON) A homeless man who police say sexually assaulted a girl on her way home from school last month has been arrested, the San Jose Police Department said. Julian Salvador Martinez, 50, grabbed the victim, a female minor, when she was walking in the area of South 11th Street on April 9 at around 5:26 p.m. The victim was underneath the I-280 overpass when Martinez allegedly grabbed her and sexually assaulted her, police said. The suspect was riding a bicycle when he approached the victim. After the victim fought him off, Martinez fled the scene on the bicycle, according to San Jose PD spokesperson Stacie Shih. Affluent Bay Area community launches bait house program to combat burglaries An investigation into the assault was launched by the SJPD Sexual Assault Investigations Unit, leading to Martinez being identified as the suspect. Julian Salvador Martinez (SJPD) Martinez, according to police, is known to hang out at The Jungle, a sprawling homeless encampment along a creek adjacent to Senter Road and Keyes Street. On Thursday, May 16, SJPD patrol officers located and arrested Martinez in the City of San Jose after a member of the community who submitted a tip. He was booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail for multiple crimes, including sexual assault, police said. 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 KRON4. FILE - Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee speaks at a reception following a flag raising ceremony for the celebration of 74th National Day of the People's Republic of China at the Golden Bauhinia Square in Hong Kong on Oct. 1, 2023. Hong Kong's leader said Tuesday, May 21, 2024, his administration would keep monitoring for any non-compliance with a court order that bans a popular protest song, days after YouTube blocked access to dozens of videos of the tune in the city. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei, File) HONG KONG (AP) Hong Kong's leader said Tuesday his administration would keep monitoring for any non-compliance with a court order that bans a popular protest song, days after YouTube blocked access to dozens of videos of the tune in the city. The ban targets anyone who broadcasts or distributes Glory to Hong Kong popularly sung during huge anti-government protests in 2019 to advocate for the separation of the city from China. It also prohibits any actions that misrepresent the song as the national anthem with the intent to insult the anthem. In his weekly news briefing, Chief Executive John Lee said if the government found any instances of non-compliance, it would then notify the relevant internet platforms about the content of the injunction. I believe that operators in general operate within the law, so we will continue to monitor the situation, Lee said. The court ban sought by the government has raised concerns over a further decline in the city's freedom of expression and internet freedom. Critics have also warned it might disrupt the operation of tech giants and undermine the city's appeal as a global financial hub. Last week, YouTube blocked access to 32 videos of the song that were deemed to be prohibited publications under the injunction for viewers in the city. The tech company said it was disappointed by the court's decision and would continue to consider its options for an appeal. In the news briefing, Lee said there is no link relating to the song shown on any local platforms and Google's search doesn't show any link to the song in question. A government transcript of his comments later clarified Lee was referring to links specified in the injunction order. The Associated Press found videos of the song on YouTube on Tuesday morning. The song is also available on Spotify and Apple Music. It is unclear whether the tech giants will block access to more video or audio clips of the song for Hong Kong viewers. Google, Spotify and Apple did not immediately comment. Glory to Hong Kong is widely seen as the protest anthem of the 2019 movement, which was followed by a crackdown that has all but erased dissenting voices in the city. Instances where the song was mistakenly played as the citys anthem at international sporting events, instead of Chinas national anthem March of the Volunteers, also have angered city officials. The government went to the court last year after Google resisted pressure to display Chinas national anthem as the top result in searches for the citys anthem instead of the protest song. ___ Follow AP's Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific Something is rotten in the state of Britain. We all sense it, I think, in interactions with the authorities where every little thing becomes an anger-management ordeal. We glimpse it when a neighbour, giddy with triumph, reports that they used a public service and it actually worked (shout out to His Majestys Passport Office now issuing passports promptly, or so Im told). The rottenness is blatantly evident in the two fingers stuck up to the general public by allowing net immigration to rocket over 700,000. It is written on the face of the new mother who comes out of hospital after a bloody ordeal in which her baby was lucky to have survived (the birth invariably ends in an emergency C-section which should have been carried out 10 hours before but the midwife had a thing for natural deliveries). We see it in the way patients are treated (and increasingly not treated) by the NHS. A friends mother received a serious cancer diagnosis last week. Clare and her sister asked the doctor to talk them through other treatment options from the one he had just outlined. Youre getting a free service, said the doctor, loftily rebuking the frightened daughters. As though simply wondering what else might be available for their mum was somehow heretical, an insult to the all-powerful, magnanimous NHS, before whom we must prostrate ourselves like humble worshippers. You get what youre given and you like it or lump it, is how Clare described the doctors condescending attitude. Thats our rotten, second-world country in a nutshell. The major scandals which seem to come along with numbing frequency Hillsborough, BSE, Mid Staffs (where hundreds of patients died from poor care), Grenfell, Shrewsbury and Telford (maternity scandal), Windrush, Morecambe Bay NHS Trust (11 dead babies), East Kent maternity scandal, the ongoing Post Office horror show and now, maybe the worst, the infected blood calamity all spring fundamentally from that one attitude: ordinary people dont count. If people cause a fuss when, say, a young woman says its not right that both her parents died of Aids and she was orphaned because the UK imported blood donated by druggies and prisoners which ministers said was the best treatment available when that was a lie, then those nuisances must be shut down. Fobbed off. Requests for a public inquiry denied for as long as possible. So the people who do count, who privately run the show, can get away with it. Again. In a thrillingly good (in both senses; excellently composed and virtue-rich) speech on Monday to victims and relatives of the deceased, Sir Brian Langstaff, the chairman of the Infected Blood Inquiry, came up with a perfect example of that self-serving elite. He quoted one civil servants memo complaining that a health minister had started to be too sympathetic to the victims. Cant have that, can we? I mean, why would 30,000 people poisoned by their own health service, 3,000 of whom have died with two more dying every week merit any sympathy from the government that gave them their death sentence in the first place? (Strong echoes here of Mr Bates vs The Post Office. Sub-postmasters took the rap for the faulty system those in authority had given them, without adequate testing, and then management pretended not to know about its faults to save their skins until the postmasters were dead, in jail or the poor things merely thought theyd lost their minds.) A slight, almost dainty figure with soft silver hair, Sir Brian looks how vicars used to look when they still believed in God. Turns out he possesses in abundance what the British state lacks: moral courage and a conscience. It will be astonishing to anyone who reads this report that these events could have happened in the UK, Sir Brian writes. It may also be surprising that the questions why so many deaths and infections occurred have not had answers before now. Those answers cannot be as complete as they might have been 30 years ago I have no doubt, however, that the conclusion that wrongs were done on individual, collective and systemic levels is fully justified by the pages that follow; that a level of suffering which it is difficult to comprehend, still less understand, has been caused to so many, and that this harm has, for those who survived long enough to face it and for those who, infected and affected, are now able to read this, been compounded by the reaction of the government, NHS bodies, other public bodies, the medical professions and others. Listen to the appalled tenderness in the inquiry chairmans voice when he describes a one-year-old baby who was given HIV in a blood transfusion (a devastating fact revealed to his parents by the ever-caring NHS in a hospital corridor). The little boy went on to develop full-blown Aids, his father lost his job because of the stigma, the family had to move house after their car was scratched (Aids Dead, the graffiti said) until, finally, this fragile boy, wasting away, died at the age of seven. If you find yourself wondering what is the point of trying to get some of the bastards who allowed contaminated blood to be injected into trusting patients arrested and brought to trial, I suggest you keep re-reading Sir Brians description of that baby boy. Hopefully, somewhere in Whitehall, a Sir Tufton Bufton is right this minute banging his puce bonce up against the oak panelling because the Establishment thought Brian Langstaff, a former High Court judge, was one of them. A decent fellow who could be relied upon to deliver a toothless mistakes having been made, lessons will be learnt report that would not lift up the carpet under which all the corruption, the collusion, the shredding of medical records, and the experiments on children had been swept. Instead, Sir Brian gave them both barrels for a chilling cover-up that hid the truth for more than 40 years, a tragedy which, in large part, could have been avoided. No wonder he got a rapturous standing ovation from family members at the event of remembrance. I have read his entire 2,527-page report and the most shocking section, amid a gallery replete with horrors, focuses on Treloar College, which specialised in treating children with haemophilia. The Hampshire state schools on-site NHS centre gave children injections of different types of Factor VIII (plasma blood products), with clinicians being well aware of the risk of infecting them with HIV and hepatitis. The children, Sir Brian reports, were often regarded as objects for research rather than, first and foremost, as children whose treatment should be firmly focused on their individual best interests alone. This was unethical and wrong. There were multiple research projects during the 1970s and early 1980s when informed consent for participation was neither sought nor given. Surely, any clinician involved in those unauthorised experiments was, at the very least, in breach of the Nuremberg Code? Get police to track them down. One Treloar pupil, now a grown man, recalled that doctors let his class know who had contracted HIV by pointing at individual boys and saying You, not you, yes you are HIV positive et cetera Hard to think of a more grotesquely insensitive way to tell a child they have a fatal illness. Only 30 of the 122 pupils with haemophilia at Treloar in the Seventies and Eighties are still alive. It was a state-sponsored massacre. Meanwhile, as all that was about to be revealed like a never-ending Greek tragedy, on the BBCs Politics Live, a Conservative MP called Tom Hunt piped up in defence of the NHS. The British people love the NHS, this fool explained, and most staff working in the NHS are wonderful people. Are they really, Tom? Presumably, not the ones who injected kids with blood products they knew had a fair chance of giving them HIV and a shortened lifespan? On the very day that the NHS was declared guilty of indefensible and unconscionable behaviour and, furthermore, of not informing patients of the grave risks of a medical treatment, a politician was still defending our monstrously useless health service. Only when politicians like Hunt stop this craven, kneejerk deference and are prepared to hold a socialist bureaucracy (which gobbles up more than 160 billion annually) to account, will the public have a chance of being protected against further cover-ups and tragedies. I would go further. It is all very well the media celebrating interim compensation payments of 210,000 (potentially 2.7 million per person infected with HIV). While that is undoubtedly belated good news for the grieving families although not for the poor taxpayer who must foot the vast bill for the criminal stupidity and corruption of an elite, untouchable class we should not be deflected from considering whether there is evidence here for charges of corporate manslaughter, or misconduct in public office, to be brought. (The awful complacency of the ruling class when it comes to the suffering of ordinary people was revealed when Sir John Major told the inquiry that the infected blood scandal was incredibly bad luck. Thats one way of describing the deaths of 3,000 innocent people, John. Tory grandee and former health secretary Ken Clarke was even worse, angering Sir Brian with his unfairly dismissive and disparaging attitude towards many who had suffered. Lord Clarke saw no reason why he should give evidence and appeared unrepentant about a misleading statement in which he had claimed there was no conclusive proof that Aids could be spread through blood in 1983.) Other countries dealt with their contaminated blood scandals more than 20 years ago. In France, in 1999, the former socialist prime minister Laurent Fabius, former social affairs minister Georgina Dufoix, and former health minister Edmond Herve were charged with manslaughter. Herve was found guilty (although not jailed) while Fabius and Dufoix were acquitted. Dr M Garretta, the director of the National Blood Centre (Centre National de transfusion sanguine), was sentenced to four years in prison. Rishi Sunak said that Monday was a day of shame for the British state. But those were just words, Prime Minister. France proved that shame actually meant something by bringing criminal charges against key figures. That is what we need here, right now, in the UK. To begin to rebuild shattered public trust as well as putting the fear of God into the high priests of our disgraced national religion, the NHS. You know, there is only one sentence of Sir Brians superb, scathing summary I disagreed with. It will be astonishing to anyone who reads this report that these events could have happened in the UK, he wrote. Are we really surprised that such evil was allowed to happen here? Not anymore. As long as the elite gets away with parroting their Never again (until the next time) and the ordinary person doesnt count, there will be something rotten in the state of Britain. 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. HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) The mother of an Horry County teenager, who authorities say was beaten to death earlier this month with a piece of wood and a handgun, was denied bond during a court hearing Tuesday afternoon. Samantha Gaymes is charged with inflicting or allowing infliction of great bodily injury upon a child in the death of Isaiah Gaymes, 13, according to the 15th Circuit Solicitors Office. He died at about 1:30 a.m. May 11 at the Medical University of South Carolina, days after a May 8 assault in Longs. Samantha Gaymes and Ivy Contrell Jenerette, 40, were arrested on May 10. Jenerette was initially charged with abuse inflicting great bodily injury upon a child but the charge was upgraded to murder after Isaiahs death. Samantha initially was charged with unlawfully placing a child at risk of harm. Isaiah suffered multiple blunt force injuries to the side and back of his head along with several other injuries including broken bones, burns and permanent disfigurement to the face and body, according to an arrest warrant. A piece of wood and a handgun were recovered and tested for blood, which was consistent with the injury patterns on Isaiah. Family, friends and loved ones filled the Popular AME Church in Longs on Monday to celebrate Isaiahs life and share stories about the impact he had on others. He was so smart, so brilliant, and Im so sorry that he is no longer here, Riverside Elementary School Counselor Felecia Bellamy said. Jennerette and Gaymes remain in the J. Reuben Long Detention Center. * * * Dennis Bright is a Digital Producer at News13. He joined the team in May 2021. Dennis is a West Virginia native and a graduate of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Follow Dennis on, Facebook, X, formerly Twitter, and read more of his work here. 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 WBTW. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) The Hospitals of Providence (HOP) is showing their thanks to all Emergency Medical Services (EMS) during National EMS Week. The hospital is celebrating EMS first responders with meal deliveries across El Paso and the county for the whole week, according to the news release by HOP. National EMS Week is celebrated from Sunday, May 19 through Saturday, May 25 to show thanks and appreciation to EMS first responders who are first on the scene, according to HOP. 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 KTSM 9 News. It's so hot in Mexico that howler monkeys are falling dead from the trees A veterinarian feeds a young howler monkey rescued amid extremely high temperatures in Tecolutilla, Tabasco state, Mexico, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Dozens of howler monkeys were found dead in the Gulf coast state while others were rescued by residents who rushed them to a local veterinarian. (AP Photo/Luis Sanchez) MEXICO CITY (AP) Its so hot in Mexico that howler monkeys are falling dead from the trees. At least 138 of the midsize primates, who are known for their roaring vocal calls, were found dead in the Gulf Coast state of Tabasco since May 16, according to the Biodiversity Conservation of The Usumacinta group. Others were rescued by residents, including five that were rushed to a local veterinarian who battled to save them. They arrived in critical condition, with dehydration and fever, said Dr. Sergio Valenzuela. "They were as limp as rags. It was heatstroke. While Mexico's brutal heat wave has been linked to the deaths of at least 26 people since March, veterinarians and rescuers say it has killed dozens and perhaps hundreds of howler monkeys. Around a third of the country saw highs of 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday. In the town of Tecolutilla, Tabasco, the dead monkeys started appearing Friday, when a local volunteer fire-and-rescue squad showed up with five of the creatures in the bed of a truck. Normally quite intimidating, howler monkeys are muscular and some can be as tall as 90 centimeters (3 feet), with tails just as long. Some males weigh more than 13.5 kilograms (30 pounds) and can live up to 20 years. They are equipped with big jaws and a fearsome set of teeth and fangs. But mostly they're know for their lion-like roars, which bely their size. They (the volunteers) asked for help, they asked if I could examine some of the animals they had in their truck, Valenzuela said Monday. They said they didn't have any money, and asked if I could do it for free. The veterinarian put ice on their limp little hands and feet, and hooked them up to IV drips with electrolytes. So far, the monkeys appear to be on the mend. Once listless and easily handled, they are now in cages at Valenzuela's office. They're recovering. They're aggressive they're biting again, he said, noting that's a healthy sign for the usually furtive creatures. Most aren't so lucky. Wildlife biologist Gilberto Pozo counted about 138 of the animals dead or dying on the ground under trees. The die-off started around May 5 and hit its peak over the weekend. They were falling out of the trees like apples, Pozo said. They were in a state of severe dehydration, and they died within a matter of minutes. Already weakened, Pozo says, the falls from dozens of yards (meters) up inflict additional damage that often finishes the monkeys off. Pozo attributes the deaths to a synergy of factors, including high heat, drought, forest fires and logging that deprives the monkeys of water, shade and the fruit they eat, while noting that a pathogen, disease or other factor can't yet be ruled out. For people in the steamy, swampy, jungle-covered state of Tabasco, the howler monkey is a cherished, emblematic species; local people say the monkeys tell them the time of day by howling at dawn and dusk. Pozo said the local people who he knows through his work with the Biodiversity Conservation of The Usumacinta group have tried to help the monkeys they see around their farms. But he notes that could be a double-edged sword. They were falling out of the trees, and the people were moved, and they went to help the animals, they set out water and fruit for them, Pozo said. They want to care for them, mainly the baby monkeys, adopt them. But no, the truth is that babies are very delicate, they can't be in a house where there are dogs or cats, because they have pathogens that can potentially be fatal for howler monkeys, he said, stressing they must be rehabilitated and released into the wild. Pozo's group has set up a special recovery stations for monkeys it currently holds five monkeys, but birds and reptiles have also been affected and is trying to organize a team of specialized veterinarians to give the primates the care they need. Belatedly, the federal government acknowledged the problem Monday, with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador saying he had heard about it on social media. He congratulated Valenzuela on his efforts and said the government would seek to support the work. Lopez Obrador acknowledged the heat problem I have never felt it as bad as this but he has a lot of human problems to deal with as well. By May 9, at least nine cities in Mexico had set temperature records, with Ciudad Victoria in the border state of Tamaulipas clocking a broiling 47 C (117 F). With below-average rainfall throughout almost all the country so far this year, lakes and dams are drying up, and water supplies are running out. Authorities have had to truck in water for everything from hospitals to fire-fighting teams. Low levels at hydroelectric dams have contributed to power blackouts in some parts of the country. Consumers are feeling the heat as well. On Monday, the nationwide chain of OXXO convenience stores the nation's largest said it was limiting purchases of ice to just two or three bags per customer in some places. In a period of high temperatures, OXXO is taking measures to ensure supplies of products for our customers, parent company FEMSA said in a statement. Limits on the sale of bagged ice seek to ensure that a larger number of customers can buy this product. But for the monkeys, it's not a question of comfort, but of life or death. This is a sentinel species, Pozo said, referring to the canary-in-a-coal-mine effect where one species can say a lot about an ecosystem. It is telling us something about what is happening with climate change. ___ Follow APs coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america Hotline logs one report of Election Day vote buying or selling. More Kentuckians voted early. The entrance of a voting location at First Baptist Church in Bowling Green, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony) Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said his offices Election Integrity Command Center received one possible report of vote buying or selling among calls it took Tuesday morning. Coleman reported that in the first few hours of voting in Tuesdays primary, the center received 11 complaints from Barren, Boone, Boyd and Fayette counties. The calls have ranged from questions that inquired (about) voting procedures, legal questions, as well as an allegation of vote buying or vote selling, Coleman told reporters. Because the allegation may lead to an investigation, more details could not be made public Tuesday. Across Kentucky, voters are casting their ballots in Republican and Democratic primaries to decide nominees for president, Congress, the Kentucky General Assembly and local offices. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time. More Kentuckians took advantage of early voting last week than in last years primary. Secretary of State Michael Adams said in a Monday post on X, formerly Twitter, that more than 75,000 Kentuckians took part in no-excuse early voting in this primary election. That was about 2,500 more early voters than last years primary election. Like last year, most early voters were Republicans, but theres nothing political about choosing the voting method most convenient for you, said Adams, a Republican serving his second term as Secretary of State. Adams recently encouraged Kentuckians to use early voting in an interview with the Kentucky Lantern ahead of the primary. During the 2024 legislative session, a bill was introduced to end early voting, but it died in a Senate committee. The Office of the Attorney General maintains the Election Fraud Hotline each election. Kentuckians may report suspected election law violations by calling the hotline at (800) 328-VOTE or submitting a complaint online. Staff answer calls during early voting periods and on Election Days from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern. Tips are reviewed and allegations of election fraud are referred to the Department of Criminal Investigations in the Attorney Generals Office. Ahead of Tuesday morning, the hotline had received 35 pre-election day complaints. Coleman, a Republican elected last year, emphasized the work of the center, saying that a 2022 complaint submitted to the hotline about suspected election law violations in Monroe County resulted in the conviction of seven people. When the polls close and the winners are announced, I hope every Kentuckians can feel confident that our election is secure and our constitutional order has worked, Coleman said. The post Hotline logs one report of Election Day vote buying or selling. More Kentuckians voted early. appeared first on Kentucky Lantern. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. Azerbaijan has banned the use and circulation of 238 highly toxic substances, aligning with the best international practices to protect public health and the environment, chairman of the Food Security Agency of Azerbaijan Goshgar Tahmazli said during the Towards a Green World Plant Health Forum, Trend reports. He noted that the "Coordination Commission on the Coordination of Activities of State Bodies in Ensuring the Safe Operation of Potentially Hazardous Facilities," established by Presidential Order No. 3488 on September 24, 2022, based on studies and proposals by the Agency, approved the "Action Plan for Eliminating Existing Problems in Areas of Azerbaijan Contaminated with Unusable and Prohibited Pesticides and Agrochemicals." To implement the measures outlined in the plan, working groups composed of representatives from relevant structures conducted preliminary assessments to determine the residual amounts of unusable and banned pesticides and agrochemicals at 14 sites across 11 districts. Monitoring revealed approximately 5,088 cubic meters of unusable substances and contaminated soil at 11 sites. The work in this direction continues, the official added. To note, in line with the President of Azerbaijan's decree declaring 2024 as the Green World Solidarity Year and marking the International Day of Plant Health, the Plant Health Forum titled Towards a Green World kicked off in Baku. The forum, scheduled to take place on May 2122, aims to create a platform for collaboration on protecting plants and plant products from pests, promoting plant health through pest control, and expanding production. It also seeks to ensure the safe trade of plants and plant products, enhance global food security, and conserve biodiversity. Participants include national plant health institutions, regional and international organizations, government agencies, and experts. Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel A fight between the progressive and moderate wings of the Democratic Party in a battleground House seat is the headliner for Tuesdays primaries. Voters in five states are heading to the polls, with some presidential primaries still on the ballot. But the real action is down-ballot. In Oregon, both parties will be choosing their nominees for battleground contests that will help determine control of the House this fall. In Georgia, the district attorney prosecuting former President Donald Trump and the judge presiding over that case face challengers as does a state Supreme Court judge in a race that has been shaped by abortion messaging. In Idaho, a longtime House Republican is fighting to survive a primary, and in California, a successor to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy will finally be chosen. And even though both presidential primaries have long been locked up, voters in Kentucky and Oregon will have an opportunity to weigh in as well and could provide more warning signs for both presumptive nominees. Uncommitted appears as an option on the Kentucky ballot, where both presidential and congressional primaries are being held. Oregonians will also vote for president, though their options are just Trump on the Republican side and President Joe Biden and Marianne Williamson on the Democratic side. Here are the races to watch: Oregon: Two hotly contested Democratic primaries are attracting heavy outside spending. Democrats are hoping to flip the 5th District a Biden-won seat from Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer. National Democrats are banking on state Rep. Janelle Bynum, whos up against Jamie McLeod-Skinner in the primary. McLeod-Skinner unseated then-Democratic Rep. Kurt Schrader in the 2022 primary by running to his left, and then ultimately lost the race in the general election. Big money has been pouring into the race in support of Bynum. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in coordination with Bynum, has dropped more than $1 million on ads in the primary, according to ad tracker AdImpact. Mainstream Democrats PAC, a super PAC that played in a handful of House races last cycle thanks to LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffmans backing, has spent around $800,000 in support of Bynum. McLeod-Skinners biggest backer has been a pop-up super PAC which doesnt have to disclose its donors until after the primary called Health Equity Now, which Bynums campaign has accused Republicans of running. And in the safely blue 3rd District, there are three main contenders to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer: state Rep. Maxine Dexter; former county commissioner Susheela Jayapal, the sister of Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.); and Eddy Morales, a city councilor. Dexter, a physician, has benefited from more than $2 million in spending from 314 Action Fund, a super PAC that supports STEM candidates, and Jayapal has been the target of around $3 million in negative spending from a separate pop-up PAC, Voters for Responsive Government. The GOP primaries are a bit sleepier. Republicans are choosing between Monique DeSpain, a veteran, and former city council member Amy Ryan Courser to challenge Democratic Rep. Val Hoyle in the Democratic-leaning 4th District. DeSpain has a significant fundraising advantage over Ryan Courser. And in the 6th District, which would have voted for Biden by around 14 points in 2020, Republican Mike Erickson is looking for a rematch against Democratic Rep. Andrea Salinas. He lost to her by about three points in the midterms. Oregons primary is conducted primarily via mail-in ballots. Polls close at 11 p.m. EST. Georgia: Incumbents up and down the ballot are facing challenges today, though they are in strong positions to fend them off. Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath is running in an entirely new district the blue 6th District, which does not overlap with her current constituency after a court-ordered redistricting at the end of last year. Two local elected officials are also competing for the seat, though McBath has a strong financial advantage. In the 13th District, another deep-blue seat, a crowded field of Democrats are looking to unseat Rep. David Scott, the longtime Democratic member whose health had some concerned about his reelection bid. One of those contenders includes Marcus Flowers, who proved to be a strong fundraiser when he ran against Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in the midterms but lost by more than 30 points. Theres some overlap between Scotts old district and the new one, and his high name ID and hefty campaign coffers make him the favorite. Republicans are also jockeying for an open seat in the 3rd District, a safe GOP seat that Rep. Drew Ferguson is retiring from. Brian Jack, a former Trump staffer who has the backing of the former president, is the favorite here. Elsewhere on the ballot, former Democratic Rep. John Barrow is hoping that a campaign rooted in abortion-rights messaging can propel him to victory over incumbent state Supreme Court Justice Andrew Pinson, an appointee of Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, in the technically nonpartisan role. But Barrow has gotten into trouble for centering his campaign on promising to protect access to the procedure, with the states judicial watchdog urging him to change his message. Barrow filed a federal suit, claiming the organization is violating his right to free speech, which was denied last week meaning that he could face sanctions. Abortion rights was a winning message in the race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court last year, when a liberal candidate flipped ideological control of the court, as well as in last falls race for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The Georgia race has not attracted as much national attention as these other two contests, and incumbent justices in the Peach State are rarely unseated. Pinson is getting a boost from Kemp, who has cut an ad supporting him. And in Fulton County, District Attorney Fani Willis the lead prosecutor in the criminal case accusing Trump and more than a dozen Republican allies of a conspiracy to subvert Bidens 2020 victory in the state is facing a primary challenge from attorney Christian Wise Smith. Willis has been in the national spotlight when proceedings were delayed following allegations that she had committed ethical lapses stemming from a romantic relationship with a special prosecutor she hired. (The Georgia case is currently delayed and might not take place this year.) The winner will face off against Republican Courtney Kramer, a former Trump campaign lawyer, in the heavily Democratic county. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, the Kemp-appointed judge presiding over that criminal case, also faces a challenge, with two opponents on the ballot for the nonpartisan position. Polls close at 7 p.m. EST. Idaho: Thirteen-term Republican Rep. Mike Simpson a member of the pragmatic Republican Main Street Caucus is no stranger to a primary challenge. In 2022, he bested his closest competitor, who ran to his right, by more than 20 points. This time around, hes facing Scott Cleveland, a vice chair of a county GOP organization, and first-time candidate Sean Higgins. Simpson has a strong fundraising advantage over his competitors, but isnt taking the challenge lightly: The incumbent has put in more than $300,000 on the airwaves boosting his conservative credentials. Neither Cleveland nor Higgins has made such investments. Polls close at 10 p.m. EST in most of the state, with some closing at 11 p.m. EST. California: The monthslong process to pick McCarthys successor in the deep red 20th District is coming to an end. Republican state Assemblymember Vince Fong, who has the backing of McCarthy and Trump, is facing off in a special runoff against county sheriff Mike Boudreaux, a fellow Republican. Fong earned close to 20 points more than Boudreaux in the March special election. The winner of the special election will complete the rest of the term. Both men are also facing off in the November general election for a full term. Polls close at 11 p.m. EST. Kentucky: A handful of members of the delegation are facing primary challenges Republican Reps. Thomas Massie and Hal Rogers, along with Democratic Rep. Morgan McGarvey although most expect the incumbents to skate through. Polls close at 6 p.m. EST in most of the state, and the rest close at 7 p.m. EST. CAIRO The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed on Tuesday that they shot down an American drone over the country on the Arabian Peninsula. The U.S. military acknowledged reports about the downing but didnt comment. If confirmed, it would be the second MQ-9 Reaper drone downed by the Houthis over the past week as they press their campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Houthi rebels claim shooting down another US MQ-9 Reaper drone Last Friday, the Houthis claimed downing an American drone over the province of Marib, hours after footage circulated online of what appeared to be the wreckage of an MQ-9 Reaper. In a statement, Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the latest drone was shot down with a locally made surface-to-air missile. He alleged the drone was carrying out hostile missions over Yemens southern province of Bayda. Footage released by the Houthis purportedly showing the attack indicated that the downing took place Sunday. Responding to an Associated Press inquiry, the U.S. militarys Central Command acknowledged reports about the downing but declined to comment. Since Yemens civil war started in 2014, when the Houthis seized most of the countrys north and its capital of Sanaa, the U.S. military has lost at least five drones to the rebels. Reapers cost around $30 million apiece. They can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land. The Houthis in recent months have stepped up attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, demanding that Israel ends the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostage. The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sunk another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. The rebels claimed last week that they fired a missile towards a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Red Sea. However, the U.S. military said the warship intercepted the anti-ship ballistic missile. HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) Multiple tornadoes touched down across North Alabama on May 8th, 2024. One tornado, an EF-1, hit the Five Points neighborhood in Huntsville causing significant damage to Maple Hill Cemetery. The cemetery has since been reopened to the public, however, the public is still urged to be cautious because the damage is still evident. Multiple gravestones and monuments were broken or damaged, which came as a shock to the Huntsville Pilgrimage Association, the group that puts on the annual Maple Hill Cemetery Stroll. Our first thought was, you know, we were wondering how much damage there was, said Natasha Parker, the 2024 Cemetery Stroll Director. Parker told News 19 that while the Cemetery Stroll is still months away, the volunteer group is getting busy now on restoration efforts. We have board members that are coming out every day this week, she said. Theyre starting early in the morning before it gets too hot in the afternoon, and theyre just walking each of the sections here at the cemetery. The HPA focuses on the historical section of the cemetery. Parker said theyre still working to determine the extent of the tornado damage in that area. After that, they can begin restoration efforts. To help, the HPA has launched a donation portal on its website. No amount is too small, Parker said. All of those funds that we raise will go towards the restoration efforts here at Maple Hill. Olde Towne Coffee is also getting in on the effort with their Honey Bee Hill Latte. Its got Honey & Lavender in it, said Kaela Moran, with Olde Towne Coffee. Were doing that and then all of our proceeds go to the Maple Hill Cemetery she added. Olde Towne is open every day from 7 am to 6 pm and is located just a few blocks away from Maple Hill. Employees said they felt the need to help out after the tornado hit their neighborhood. The Huntsville Pilgrimage Association told News 19 that getting Maple Hill back to its pre-tornado state is important. Theres a lot of history here, and were hoping to continue to preserve that, Parker said. The cemetery itself is the final resting place of five Alabama governors, former U.S. Congressmen and U.S. Representatives as well as many other important historical figures. The cemetery in total has more than 80,000 burial sites. The City of Huntsville said it is still fully assessing the damage from the tornado and will be contacting affected families over the next few weeks. 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 WHNT.com. President Joe Biden swiftly condemned the Monday decision by the International Criminal Courts top war crimes prosecutor to seek arrest warrants for Israeli leaders over the U.S.-backed military offensive in Gaza doubling down on his administrations support for Israels war effort, despite growing anger from the international community and his own Democratic voter base. In a highly-anticipated announcement, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan requested warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over their siege on the Palestinian enclave that, almost eight months in, has killed more than 35,000 people and displaced 80% of the population. Khan is also seeking arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh over their role in the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw 250 taken hostage. Khan accused all five figures of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity both in Gaza and in Israel. Netanyahu has condemned the allegations as a disgrace and antisemitic. Hamas denounced the charges against its own leaders, saying the move equates the victim with the executioner and arguing the group has the right to resist Israels occupation. While Israel is not a member of the ICC, the ICC can still prosecute Israeli officials because the crimes were allegedly committed by Israeli forces on Palestinian territory, and the ICC recognizes Palestine as a member state. International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan speaks at the Cour d'Honneur of the Palais Royal in Paris on February 7, 2024. Khan announced on Monday, May 20, 2024, that he is seeking arrest warrants for leaders of Israel and Hamas for war crimes and crimes against humanity related to Gaza. Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images Without mentioning the arrest warrants for Hamas leaders, Biden called Khans efforts to seek warrants against Israeli leaders outrageous. Let me be clear: We reject the ICCs application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, the president said Monday at a Jewish American Heritage Month event at the White House. Whatever these warrants may imply, there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas. And its clear Israel wants to do all it can to ensure civilian protection. Biden is not the only U.S. official who has aggressively condemned the ICCs decision. Speaking before the Senate on Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Khans announcement an extremely wrongheaded decision that would complicate efforts to secure a cease-fire deal. During the hearing, a protestor shouted at Blinken, saying he will be remembered as the butcher of Gaza. On Monday, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller faced immediate pushback after suggesting that Israel and the U.S. have more jurisdiction in Gaza than the ICC to prosecute individuals for war crimes. We have jurisdiction with the use of our equipment, with the use of our military equipment that we have provided, Miller said, referring to the fact that Israel is using U.S. weapons in Gaza. Associated Press reporter Matt Lee corrected Miller, saying that supplying weapons to Israel does not give the U.S. jurisdiction over criminal law cases in the occupied Palestinian territories. Miller claimed he was referring to the Leahy law, which bars the U.S. from giving military aid to individuals and security forces that have committed gross human rights violations. A pro-Palestinian protester carrying a banner that says "War Criminal" is removed from the room as Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington, D.C., on May 21, 2024. Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images In January, current and former State Department officials told HuffPost that the U.S. has always given Israel special treatment with regard to potential violations of the Leahy law, and that Washington has declined to stop military assistance even to Israeli units with clear records of abuse. Since the Leahy law was passed, not a single Israeli security force unit has been deemed ineligible for U.S. aid, despite repeated, credible reports of gross violations of human rights and a pattern of failing to appropriately punish Israeli soldiers and police who violate the rights of Palestinians, former Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), for whom the 1997 law is named, wrote in a Washington Post op-ed published Tuesday. Applying the Leahy law to Israel would not suggest moral equivalence with Hamas. Nor will faithfully applying the Leahy law to Israel weaken its security, he continued. Our aid to Israel will continue to flow to Israeli units that respect human rights and international law. War crimes are war crimes, regardless of whether they are committed by so-called American allies.CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad The Biden administrations attacks against the ICC are particularly notable given the U.S. was supportive of the courts decision to put out an arrest warrant last year for Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, as journalists and pro-Palestinian groups have pointed out. War crimes are war crimes, regardless of whether they are committed by so-called American allies, Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement on Monday. President Biden should not interfere with the clear and credible arrest warrant applications that the ICC prosecutor is seeking against Israeli leaders responsible for genocidal war crimes in Gaza, nor should our nation continue to fund those war crimes, he continued. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in West Jerusalem, Israel on May 19, 2024. Kobi Gideon/GPO/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images A panel of three ICC judges will decide whether to grant Khans request for the arrest warrants, a process that usually takes about two months. The prosecutors decision has so far been supported by at least three European countries including France, a major U.S. ally revealing a deeper divide in the West about how to approach Israels actions. This is not a witch hunt, this is not some kind of emotional reaction to noise, Khan told CNNs Christiane Amanpour on Monday. Weve been criticized for going too slowly, criticized for going too fast. Its a forensic process that is expected of us as international prosecutors, as an independent court, to build evidence that is solid, that will not dissolve in the courtroom. And thats what weve done. Israel is also facing accusations from South Africa that it is committing genocide against Palestinians before the International Court of Justice, a separate court from the ICC. The ICJ is a civil court that focuses on cases between countries, whereas the ICC is a criminal court that focuses on cases against individuals accused of war crimes. On Monday, Biden said that Israels military campaign in Gaza is not genocide, going against the claims being made at the ICJ as well as in the U.N. special rapporteurs report earlier this year, which also concluded that Israel is committing genocidal acts toward Palestinians. International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor Karim Khan requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The ICC's request for arrest warrants also included Hamas leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity on Monday. Photo courtesy of International Criminal Court May 21 (UPI) -- The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court has requested that the court's judges issue arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders, stemming from Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israeli civilians and Israel's subsequent siege of Gaza. Karim A.A. Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, often known as the ICC, said in a statement that he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant -- as well as Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Muhammad Deif and Ismail Haniyeh. Khan said that both the Israeli and Hamas leaders "bear criminal responsibility" for "war crimes and crimes against humanity," which he detailed in the statement. The ICC's allegations against Hamas include extermination, murder, taking hostages, and committing rape and other acts of sexual violence. And the ICC allegations against the two Israeli leaders include starving Palestinians in Gaza, "intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population," as well as persecution and "willful killing." The ICC, an independent tribunal based in The Hague, Netherlands, prosecutes genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes -- the latter being a legal term that includes attacking civilians and committing other wartime violations, such as blocking humanitarian aid. Khan had announced an investigation in November 2023 to scrutinize Hamas and Israeli suspects in the aftermath of Hamas' attack in Israel that killed 1,200 people and kidnapped hundreds more, and Israel's subsequent war in Gaza, which has so far killed more than 34,000 Palestinians. The ICC's criminal investigation comes on the heels of the high-profile genocide case that South Africa brought against Israel in December 2023 in another international tribunal called the International Court of Justice. But these investigations and courts are distinct. While the ICC can hold trials of individuals allegedly responsible for criminal violations of international humanitarian law, the International Court of Justice is a part of the United Nations that rules on civil litigation and cannot charge individuals with crimes. As a scholar of human rights and international courts, I think it is important to emphasize that the ICC and other contemporary international criminal tribunals lack any enforcement powers of their own. That means in the Israel-Hamas situation, the ICC may never be able to arrest suspects or bring them to trial. These international courts therefore have a mixed record of holding senior political and military leaders accountable for their crimes. It's only if and when political leaders fall from power that there is any chance that their governments will arrest and hand them over to international courts for prosecution. The challenge for international courts Take the example of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who, since March 2023, has defied an ICC arrest warrant for allegedly committing war crimes during the Ukraine war. As long as Putin remains in power, there is practically no prospect of his arrest. International criminal tribunals such as the ICC have a twofold problem. First, these tribunals do not have an actual international police force to carry out arrests. Second, governments implicated in their leaders' alleged crimes often try to obstruct international tribunals by not turning over suspects and by seeking to attack the tribunals as biased. The enforcement problem, as my scholarship has shown, can allow the leaders of a powerful country such as Israel or an entity like Hamas to evade arrest warrants from international courts -- as long as the suspects remain within their country or territory. In this situation, Israel is not a party to the ICC, meaning it never agreed to abide by its rulings or arrest warrants and does not otherwise accept the court's jurisdiction. The U.S. and other countries, including Qatar, where at least one of the Hamas leaders named in Khan's arrest warrant request lives, are also not ICC members and do not face a legal obligation to make arrests. If the ICC pre-trial chamber approves Khan's request for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, they could travel to meet with U.S. leaders in Washington, D.C., without fear of arrest. But they will now likely avoid travel to European Union countries, all of which are part of the ICC and would be obliged to arrest Netanyahu. All of this may also contribute to Israel's further international isolation and pressure over its wartime conduct. Issuing arrest warrants for the Hamas leaders also threatens to stigmatize Hamas internationally. The U.S., which at times has strongly opposed the ICC but has also supported the court on an ad hoc basis, as has happened in the ICC's Ukraine war case, has warned that issuing arrest warrants for Israeli leaders could compromise a potential cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Milosevic's fall from power Not all arrest warrants fail. The trial of Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic in the mid-2000s illustrates how international tribunals might be able to prosecute alleged war criminals once they fall from power. In 1993, as the war in Bosnia was still being fought, the United Nations Security Council set up a special court, called the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, to address crimes committed during the regional wars. This court indicted Serbian nationalist leader Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes and crimes against humanity in 1999 during the ongoing Kosovo war. Milosevic's alleged crimes in Kosovo included a massive ethnic-cleansing campaign waged against Kosovar Albanians, the largest ethnic group there. Milosevic later faced additional charges for alleged crimes in Bosnia and Croatia. But Milosevic was still in power when the indictment was issued, and his government shielded him from arrest. Milosevic lost a presidential election in late September 2000 and, after widespread protests, stepped down. The U.S. promised the new democratic government in place in Serbia substantial economic assistance to speed its postwar recovery. This helped prompt the Serbian government to arrest Milosevic and then transfer him to the the international tribunal in June 2001. A potential playbook for Israeli and Hamas leaders Milosevic's trial was launched in February 2002, but he died in prison in 2006, shortly before the end of his trial. His trial still shows that under specific circumstances, international courts can overcome their lack of enforcement powers and bring high-level suspects to trial. International political pressure and incentives often serve an essential role in this process. As long as any political and military leaders facing potential arrest remain in power, it is likely that no amount of political pressure or promises will persuade Israel, Qatar or other countries to cooperate with an international court and turn over any leaders, if they are indicted. And history also shows that even if Hamas leaders are overthrown or Israeli leaders lose elections, there's no guarantee that potential suspects will ever stand trial at the ICC. There is broad public opposition to the ICC in Israel, with politicians across the political spectrum condemning Khan's request for arrest warrants. Despite the fact that Khan is also seeking to prosecute Hamas leaders, Israeli politicians have reacted to the ICC's arrest requests with outrage. Moreover, at least in the short term, it is highly unlikely that the U.S. will apply the type of pressure against its close ally, Israel, that it successfully applied on Serbia for Milosevic's arrest after his fall from power. The Conversation This story was updated from an article originally published on June 22, 2022. Victor Peskin is an associate professor of politics and global studies at Arizona State University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. Iconic Manchester Mall carousel has been unseen in Fresno for years. What happened? Reality Check is a Fresno Bee series holding those in power to account and shining a light on their decisions. Have a tip? Email tips@fresnobee.com. Fresnos Manchester Center has been a staple at Blackstone and Shields Avenues for nearly 70 years. It has a legacy and history that is front and center as the shopping mall navigates through its latest revitalization. A piece of that history that has been missing for the past seven years. But it hasnt been lost, says Roland Molimard, the director and general manager of the new One Fresno at Manchester Center. The carousel, Molimard says, its at the forefront of our mind. The carousel is an endeared and important artifact, not only to legacy of Manchester Center, but the generations of families that enjoyed and experienced it for decades, he says. We recognize that. And we aim to preserve those memories in some form form our community. Where is the Manchester Mall Carousel? The Manchester Carousel was purchased in 1998, and was one of several improvements made at the mall as part of a multi-year, multimillion-dollar expansion that linked the now-defunct Sears store to the rest of the center. The carousel became an attraction for parents and children, and the so-call carousel court was a centerpoint for the mall for years. During the early 2000s, it was the chosen spot for an annual black-tie fundraiser for the Fresno Philharmonic. According to an Ask Paula column in The Fresno Bee in 2010, the carousel was made by Chance Rides of Wichita, Kansas, as a a replica of an early-1900s carousel. The 36-foot-high carousel featured 30 horses carved in jumping poses plus two chariots on a revolving oak floor with beveled mirrors, spiral brass poles and a custom-made finial on the top. The history of the carousel was written out on a plaque near its entrance. This plaque was posted next to the carousel at Manchester Mall prior to it being disassembled in 2017. It remained open and operating in some form until June of 2017, when it was dismantled and put into storage, much to the shock of those who remembered the carousel fondly. Management said at the time it had plans to relocate the carousel someplace within the mall. They later said it would become part of an outdoor events plaza being built between the mall and the Regal Manchester Stadium 16 theater that was hoped to be finished in 2018. Neither of those occurred, though the carousel remains on site in storage, says Manchesters manager Molimard. It will eventually return to shopping center in some form, as part of revitalization, he says, though its too soon to say when or how. Until then, it is being staged neatly and protected. Idaho State Police investigating crash on U.S. 95 near Fruitland that left one dead A crash near Fruitland on Monday morning left one man dead and another injured, Idaho State Police said in a news release. Just after 10 a.m., a 55-year-old Caldwell man was northbound on U.S. 95 in Payette County in a 2006 Dodge Durango when the SUV veered left and collided with a 2022 Ford Maverick driven by a 53-year-old man, ISP said. Both men were transported to the hospital by ambulance, the driver of the Durango by air and the driver of the Maverick by vehicle, police said. The trucks driver died from his injuries. The highway was blocked off for roughly two hours as first responders assisted the drivers and cleared the scene, police said. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. The Heydar Aliyev Center is gearing up to unveil magnificent sculptural pieces with the opening of Italian sculptor Gianfranco Meggiato's personal exhibition, "Dare forma allinvisibile" (Shaping the invisible), on May 23, featuring approximately 40 of his works, some of which were specially created for the Baku exhibition, will be showcased to the public for the first time and will run until October 26, Trend reports. The exposition will span across the park area of the center, its foyer, and the exhibition hall. A towering sculpture, standing at 6 meters high and named "Germination," will hold a prominent position in front of the center, carrying profound symbolism. It conveys the idea that "Unless humanity embraces the concepts of unity and brotherhood to dissolve dualism, recognizing ourselves as leaves on a single tree, cells of one organism, and parts of one whole, peace and respect for our environment will remain unattainable." Gianfranco Meggiato, born in 1963 in Venice, a city renowned for hosting the prestigious International Art Exhibition Biennale, regarded as the global stage for contemporary art, has deep roots in this artistic milieu. Meggiato honed his craft in sculpture at the State Institute of Art in Venice, and at the tender age of 16, he began showcasing his creations. His sculptures are imbued with a profound sense of structure, mirroring the labyrinthine journey of self-discovery and exploration of the human psyche. Moreover, Meggiato's sculptures have graced exhibitions not only in Italy but also in numerous countries, including the US, Germany, Australia, Austria, Belgium, UAE, UK, China, Denmark, France, India, Switzerland, Spain, Kuwait, Monaco, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Ukraine, and others, adorning iconic locations worldwide. His works have found their way into stage productions, notably in Bizet's "Carmen" opera, staged at Italy's archaeological park Scolacium, where his sculptures formed the backdrop. Recognized for his adept fusion of antiquity and modernity in sculptural installations, Meggiato was honored with the ICOMOS-UNESCO prize for his creations, celebrated for their impactful performance and aesthetic allure. Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel Heinrich XIII (C), who goes under the title Prince Reuss of Greiz, is led by police officers to a police vehicle after arresting him while searching a house as part of a raid aginst so-called "Reich citizens". Boris Roessler/dpa A group of alleged so-called Reichsburger centred around Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss goes on trial in the German city of Frankfurt on Tuesday. They are accused of plotting to overthrow the state. Germany's Reichsburger scene is considered violent and steeped in conspiracy theories and far-right ideology. Reichsburger, or "Citizens of the Reich," claim the historical German Reich, founded in 1871 with an emperor at the head, continues to exist and did not end with Germany's defeat in the Second World War in 1945. They do not recognize the Federal Republic of Germany, or its constitutional structures such as parliament. They also do not believe they should pay taxes, fines or social security contributions. Germany's domestic intelligence service estimates there are around 23,000 people in the scene. However, the Reichsburger movement is not a monolith. Some see themselves as heads of state of their own little empires with their own ID cards and licence plates. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution calls these people "self-administrators". Anti-Semitism plays an important role in their extreme right-wing ideology. This includes the denial of the Holocaust and the promotion of the "Deep State" myth, according to which secret powers control world events. The false belief that Germany is still occupied by the four victorious powers of the Second World War - the US, the former USSR, France and Britain - is also widely held within the movement. An alleged defendant is brought into the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court building by SEK officers ahead of the second and highest-profile trial linked to a far-right coup plot in Germany, with the alleged 72-year-old ringleader, Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, going before the court. Andreas Arnold/dpa Police officers walk in front of the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court ahead of the second and highest-profile trial linked to a far-right coup plot in Germany, with the alleged 72-year-old ringleader, Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, going before the court. Helmut Fricke/dpa A bill, HB2900, making its way through the Illinois State Legislature would ban wildlife-killing contests in the state. The bill amends the Wildlife Code and prohibits contests or competitions with the objective of killing any fur-bearing mammal. At question are competitions over a specific period of time. People can win prizes for killing the most animals, like money or hunting equipment. The contests focus on animals like coyotes, foxes, raccoons and squirrels. For more information, click here. 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 WHBF - OurQuadCities.com. (KRON) A suspected DUI driver was arrested in a nearby creek after he was involved in a gnarly crash early Sunday morning, the Petaluma Police Department said. The crash left two vehicles with severe damage. Image from the Petaluma Police Department. Image from the Petaluma Police Department. Image from the Petaluma Police Department. Petalumas police and fire departments were called to the scene of the crash on the 1500 block of East Washington Street at about 1:17 a.m. One driver was seen running away from the scene. The suspect, later identified as Frank Powers Monachello, jumped over a fence into the backyard of a resident in the area. He was eventually found in a creek in the area of East Washington Street and Maria Drive and arrested without incident. Shelter-in-place lifted for Marin County neighborhood Two women in their 50s from Petaluma were in the other involved vehicle. Both of their injuries were described as minor. Police believe Monachello was driving at an unsafe and excessive speed when he rear-ended the other car. Monachello displayed objective signs of alcohol intoxication, and a police investigation confirmed he was driving drunk, PPD said. He was arrested for DUI (felony), hit-and-run (felony), reckless driving (misdemeanor), and resisting/obstructing a police officer (misdemeanor). 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 KRON4. WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) The City of Wichita is getting $2.1 million from the federal government to begin looking at ways to improve the Kellogg interchange near Eisenhower National Airport. Senator Jerry Moran announced the grant on Monday. This is a grant that has been appropriated to support the City of Wichitas efforts for preliminary design and ultimate construction of a new interchange on Kellogg as it takes you to the airport, he said. Im here to announce that we were successful in the appropriations process for a $2.1 million grant to accomplish that goal. The Wichita City Council authorized the grant application early in 2023: $2.4 million comes from the federal Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Grant Program $600,000 is a required local match Kansas to lower flags Wednesday for two first responders The Wichita Department of Public Works and Utilities said the obsolete design of the interchange and increased traffic are leading to operational inefficiency and safety issues. The interchange is used by travelers, the Postal Service, FedEx, UPS, several aviation businesses and manufacturers, and hotel, restaurant, and store customers. Wichita Mayor Lily Wu thanked Moran for his efforts. She pointed out that Kellogg brings a lot of traffic into Wichita as travelers use U.S. Highway 400 and U.S. Highway 54. Plus, she said the airport is a catalyst for economic development for all of Wichita. Man dies after being pulled from water at O.J. Watson Park It is an appropriate time and opportunity to study how a variety of improvements to the interchange at Kellogg and the airport parkway can continue that momentum, she said. The grant will be used to study and redesign the interchange for better traffic flow and safety. According to a project scope map from the City, it will go beyond the interchange to include adjacent surface streets. Project Scope Map for the Kellogg and airport interchange (Courtesy City of Wichita) The study will also look at drainage area enhancements, transit facilities, electric vehicle charging stations, multimodal opportunities, and recommendations for more development in the area. Moran said the grant money will become available this fall. The mayor said it will go toward the first phase of the design process. She does not have a timeframe for when any road construction would start or finish. 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 KSN-TV. A 23-year-old man from Taiwan has been arrested on charges of selling at least $100 million worth of illegal drugs online through a site on the dark web known as the "Incognito Market." Rui-Siang Lin, also known as "Pharoah," was arrested at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on Saturday and was to appear in court on Monday, the Justice Department said, calling it "one of the largest illegal narcotics marketplaces on the internet." "As alleged, Rui-Siang Lin was the architect of Incognito, a $100 million dark web scheme to traffic deadly drugs to the United States and around the world," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. Incognito Market, which was shut down in March, was an online dark web marketplace that allowed users to buy and sell illegal drugs anonymously, according to the Justice Department. Hundreds of pounds of cocaine, methamphetamines and other drugs were sold on Incognito Market since its launch in October 2020, it said. "Under the promise of anonymity, Lin's alleged operation offered the purchase of lethal drugs and fraudulent prescription medication on a global scale," said James Smith, an assistant director in the FBI's New York office. Users of Incognito Market were able to search thousands of listings for illegal narcotics, including heroin, cocaine, LSD, MDMA, oxycodone, methamphetamines, ketamine, and alprazolam. Incognito Market included "many features of legitimate e-commerce sites such as branding, advertising, and customer service," the Justice Department said. The indictment includes several images from the site, including its splash page. Vendors paid five percent of the purchase price of every sale to "Incognito Market," providing Lin with millions of dollars of profits, the Justice Department said. Lin faces up to life in prison if convicted of narcotics conspiracy. Taipei's foreign ministry spokesman Jeff Liu said during a regular briefing Tuesday that Lin had been working since November at Taiwan's embassy in St Lucia, an eastern Caribbean nation that is one of the Asian island's few allies. He had applied to work as part of the embassy's technical corps in lieu of military service -- mandatory for Taiwanese men -- and had "behaved normally." Expected to be discharged in July, Lin applied for leave and left St Lucia on May 18, Liu said. He "was scheduled to go to Singapore via New York when he was arrested by the police in New York," he said, adding that Taiwan was closely monitoring the case. "This arrest underscores the dedicated, ongoing efforts of law enforcement to identify and dismantle illicit drug networks operating from every shadowy recess of the marketplace," NYPD Commissioner Edward A. Caban said in a statement. Pope Francis: The 60 Minutes Interview Saying goodbye to season 56 and to a man who made 60 Minutes better for 35 years The Dish: Spaghetti stir fry is a family favorite A railway guard shows the signal for the train to start, on board the Thirukkural Express at Nizamuddin railway station in New Delhi, Saturday, April 20, 2024. The Thirukkural Express stretches from New Delhi, the heart of India, to Kanyakumari, India's southernmost tip. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) ABOARD THE THIRUKKURAL EXPRESS, India (AP) The 1,800-mile (2,900-kilometer) journey south from New Delhi to Kanyakumari is one of the longest train rides in India, passing through cities, villages, scrub forests and deep ravines. The 22-car Thirukkural Express is a microcosm of India, carrying passengers from different castes and religions and with wide-ranging ambitions and grievances from migrants crammed into sweltering no-frills cars to well-heeled families luxuriating in air-conditioned sleeper cabins, and everyone in between. Passengers can also be divided by their politics, a topic that is top of mind with a consequential election underway. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to win and reappoint Prime Minister Narendra Modi the leader for the past decade for another five years. Indias economy has grown rapidly under Modi, but the strong-arm tactics he has deployed to push his Hindu-nationalist agenda has sharpened religious divisions in the country of 1.4 billion people roughly 200 million of whom are Muslim and raised fears of a slide from secular democracy toward religious autocracy. The Associated Press recently made the 48-hour train journey to interview Indian voters about the election, whose results will be announced on June 4. Below are some highlights: THE GENERAL CLASS Many passengers who bought the cheapest tickets available are domestic migrants. Sitting on steel benches, standing in doorways, or lying on the floor, they traveled between the thriving capital and villages in the countryside, or to other cities, in search of work. Pardeep Kumar, a bespectacled man who runs a food stall in New Delhi, said the ruling Modi government isnt doing enough for the poor. Like millions of Indians scraping by in the informal economy, Kumar has felt the sting of rising food prices. He appreciates the 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of free grains he receives every month from the government, part of a program to alleviate poverty and help large numbers of unemployed. But he would prefer the government focus more on improving education, and providing better health care. We dont want free food, said Kumar, who traveled with his family to their village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. With better education, he said, we can then earn on our own and feed our families. Kumar is rooting for the opposition party, the Indian National Congress, which he knows faces an uphill battle against the ruling BJP. For ten years all (the BJP) did was talk about Hindus and Muslims, temples and mosques, Kumar said. And if you raise your voice against this, youll be arrested. A few berths down, Rishipal Chaudhary, wiry and goateed, disagreed. Chaudhary, a locomotive driver traveling to the southern city of Madurai for work, believes Modi has improved the country. For example, he said, crime against women is down, and schools are being given better teachers and facilities, changes that have benefitted his daughter. I love him from the beginning, Chaudhary said, an opinion shared by many passengers crowded around him. THE SLEEPER CLASS As the train cruised through the heartland of India, passing through Agra, a city famous for the 17th century Taj Mahal mausoleum, a man moved through the aisles, shouting: Tea! Tea! Get your tea! A notch up from basic service, the more comfortable and only slightly less affordable sleeper cars were filled with passengers sitting in its lower berths. Some were perched on top of the foldable bunks. They discussed politics to pass the time. The times have changed. Ten, twenty years ago we were one, but now we have been divided, Haji Abdul Subhan said, his flowing beard buried in the newspaper he was reading. Subhan, a 74-year-old former railway employee who is Muslim, was traveling to the city of Bhopal. Many Muslims have experienced discomfort since Modi took office, and Subhan enumerated some of the indignities carried out by the government: razing the homes and shops of Muslim activists as a form of punishment; banning Islamic schools in some states; and restricting the volume of loudspeakers at mosques. There is an effort to create problems for us. We cant even speak freely, he said. His voice is cut short by Santosh Kumar Aggarwal, a man in a cotton vest who sat cross-legged on the upper berth and listened to Subhans concerns. He is talking the language of Pakistan, said Aggarwal, taking a swipe at Muslims, who make up 14% of the population. The stinging suggestion: If youre unhappy with the government, move to Muslim-majority Pakistan. A Hindu, Aggarwal has been voting for the BJP for decades. Under Modi, he said, India is reaching new heights. What about Subhans concerns? You see, (Muslims) might be facing problems, Aggarwal said. We dont have any problems at all. And the razing of Muslim properties? They (Muslims) grabbed public land under previous governments. Thats why they are crying now, he said. THE AIR-CONDITIONED CLASS As the train chugged south, the terrain was greener, the farms bigger. The homes of the affluent stood out as the landscape rushed by. On board for a few hours more, the highest-paying passengers pulled freshly starched white bedding from brown paper bags delivered to their berths. Nikunj Garg, a medical officer, is worried about rising unemployment and trouble in the education system. She believes the quality of life should be improved for all Indians. It is the small things that matter the most, she said. A berth ahead, Samodhra Meena questioned the governments supposedly female-friendly policies, such as access to clean drinking water and cooking gas, that are a hallmark of Modi administration, saying they didnt benefit her family. I want a change in the government, she said. In the same carriage was Mahadev Prasad. Along with his family, Prasad was going to Madurai, one of the most ancient cities in India known for its Hindu temples. He carried with him holy water from the Ganges River as an offering for one of the temples. Prasad is confident Modi is coming back to power for a rare third term. He hailed the governments decision to revoke the semi-autonomy of Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region. And he supports Modis increased spending on infrastructure and the decision to build a Hindu temple on top of a razed mosque. Has his life as a businessman improved? All the industries have slowed down. Some are even getting closed in my area, he said. Yet, for Prasad, Modi has achieved something important. He draws on a widely accepted theory among Modi supporters to make his pitch: In the past, Indians didnt get much respect while travelling abroad. But now we are being respected. Vinoth Kumar, who was seated next to Prasad, didnt seem quite impressed. Kumar, a 32-year-old telecom engineer from the southern Indian city of Tiruchirappalli, is scathing of the Modi government. He said divisions based on language, ethnicity and religion are rising because of Modis Hindu-first agenda. Kumar predicts that if Modi wins another term the country will not be secular. At the end of another day, the clamor in the train gave way to quiet whispers. More passengers disembarked before the train made its final stop at Kanyakumaris sprawling beaches that were getting crowded with hundreds of men and women stepping into the waters edge. They looked to the east, hands pressed together, as the sun rose from the horizon. ___ Find more of AP's Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific By Tom Hals (Reuters) - Passengers injured by severe turbulence on a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday are likely eligible for compensation, but the amount each receives could differ dramatically even for identical injuries due to an international treaty. One passenger died and the airline said 30 passengers were treated for injuries after a flight from London to Singapore made an emergency landing in Bangkok on Tuesday. Samitivej Hospital said it was treating 71 passengers. Under the Montreal Convention, Singapore Airlines is liable for accidents, which can include turbulence, on international flights regardless of whether the airline was negligent, according to U.S. aviation lawyers. If passengers file a lawsuit, the airline cannot contest damages up to around $175,000. If a passenger seeks larger damages, Singapore Airlines can try to limit liability by proving it took all necessary measures to avoid the turbulence, said Mike Danko, a California attorney who represents passengers. He said airlines rarely prevail on such arguments. Danko said the airline can also limit their liability by showing the passenger bore some of the fault for the injury, such as by ignoring warnings to wear a seat belt. The size of damages often comes down to the country where the case is filed and how the legal system assesses the amount of compensation. "First and foremost what is the jurisdiction where you can bring a claim and how do they value injury claims," said Daniel Rose, a New York attorney with Kreindler & Kreindler, which represents passengers. For example, U.S. juries have awarded passengers more than $1 million for the emotional trauma of severe turbulence, while many courts in other countries award far less if anything for similar emotional distress. The Montreal Convention sets out various rules for determining where a claim can be brought, which can depend on the destination, where the ticket was purchased and the residence of the passenger. Tuesday's flight departed from London bound for Singapore and carried passengers from around the world. Aviation attorneys said British passengers on a round-trip ticket originating in London could file a claim in UK courts. Others might have been planning to catch a connecting flight to return home to Indonesia, where they would have to bring their claim. As a result, claims might differ widely in value for the same injury. Curtis Miner, a Florida attorney who represents passengers, said the 2013 crash of an Asiana Airlines plane in San Francisco resulted in injured passengers with widely varying compensation because many were flying round-trip originating from various East Asian cities. "The passengers were from all over the place," said Miner. "So people who may have had similar injuries, some could bring their case in San Francisco but others who were not able to." (Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Stephen Coates) "Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." In February 2021, a lawyer named Dan Schultz showed up as a guest on The War Room With Steve Bannon to promote a political strategy hed first learned about in seventh-grade civics. Local party precincts, the bottom rung of the Republican party structure, he argued, was where all the action was. Sounding a little breathless, he explained that if War Room listeners wanted to take over the Republican party, the place to do it was at the precinct level, by nominating themselves to be precinct committee chair-people. It was a fundamentally democratic, workaday notion. Almost a little boring. But it hit a nerve with listeners who were already sold on the Big Lie that the 2020 election had been stolen. Not by Democratsthat they were crooked was a givenbut by Republicans too lily-livered to take a stand for Trumps rightful victory. The party needed a MAGA takeover and it needed one fast. In Finish What We Started: The MAGA Movements Ground War to End Democracy, Isaac Arnsdorf tells the unnerving story of how the Republican party transformed itself so effectively and so quickly. In a swift, convincing 204 pages that are much more entertaining than they ought to be, Arnsdorf positions the Schultzs strategy as a key way Republicans did it. Along the way, Arnsdorf, a reporter at The Washington Post, introduces readers to a handful of true believers in the MAGA project, andwith a fairness they in no way deserveplots the course of their psychologies from January 6, 2021 to present as they sign up in droves to volunteer their time at the lowest rung of the Republican party. (We also meet a few old school Republicans who are baffled by the GOPs evolution.) Shop Now Finish What We Started: The MAGA Movements Ground War to End Democracy amazon.com $26.49 When the book showed up, I admit that I groaned. What could be more depressing than The Ground War to End Democracy? But read it I did because I am a good little seventh-grade civics student. Since then, Ive forced it on everyone I know who's struggling to make sense of how MAGA spread so far so fast. Its a book that resolves the apparent contradictions at the heart of MAGA Republicanism, and it'sI cant believe Im writing this about a book about the end of democracyactually pretty funny. Arnsdorf and I talked by phone when the book came out. Our interview has been edited for length and clarity. Esquire: There's a central irony to your account here: that the effort to elect a guy who wants to end democracy itself looks quite little-D democratic. How does that work? Isaac Arnsdorf: That's the most challenging part about it conceptuallycounterintuitively. Historically, this has actually more often been the case: democracy commits suicide at the hands of its own elected leaders, rather than at the hands of some kind of military coup. The core question of the book is: why would people choose that? Why would people of their own free will choose, through a democratic process, an undemocratic outcome? This was specifically the solution that Steve Bannon offered up to the MAGA movement in the aftermath of January 6th: the idea beingand there's a lot of truth to thisthat the reason Trump failed on January 6th was because of a few uncooperative Republicans. So, the answer that he offered to Trump supporters who were struggling to process that defeat was that what they needed to do was take over the party and purify the party and get rid of everyone like that so that wouldn't happen in the future. They called it "the precinct strategy". It's an idea of taking over the party organization. People are familiar with the Republican National Committee, but that's the top of a pyramid that goes all the way down a ladder to the state and districts and counties, and the lowest level is the precincts. How do rank-and-file Republican party members who are signing up to be precinct committee chair-people square their professed love and protectiveness of democracy with such an authoritarian candidate in Trump? I think the most common way that I hear it is in terms of feeling like democracy was lost when the 2020 election was stolen. Obviously, that's based on a falsehood, but something that is genuinely believed for a lot of people. I often hear it articulated as, Well, America was never supposed to be a democracy, it's supposed to be a republic. Those terms are not especially useful. You have to push hard to find out what people mean by that. What I think they mean is a feeling of who has power and who is represented, and a sense that participants in the [MAGA] movement feel that they are supposed to have some kind of power regardless of the electoral outcome. That's really deeply rooted on the American right. Looking all the way back to the rise of the modern conservative movement with Barry Goldwater, it's just a starting premise that America is a conservative country and any election outcome that is inconsistent with that is therefore illegitimate. There's a continuity from that fundamental conception of America as a conservative country coming all the way up through the attempt to delegitimize Obama through birtherism and finally, ultimately, the attempt to delegitimize Biden through the stolen election myth. Shop Now Finish What We Started: The Maga Movement's Ground War to End Democracy bookshop.org $27.90 You set two people up in the book up in contrast with each other: Kathy Petsas, an old school Republican, and Salleigh Grubbs, a MAGA Republican. How did you choose them and what do they represent to you? You're right, they're foils. Salleigh represents this new wave of MAGA party activists inspired by the stolen election myth to become more active in party politics and make the party a MAGA institution. Kathy, on the other hand calls herself an "OG Republican." She literally grew up in the party, was raised licking envelopes and she was a page on the floor of the 1980 convention. She puts a John McCain sign out on her lawn every year on his birthday. She represents the old guard that's been chased out and is now stranded by the two-party system. The MAGA party doesn't want her and she's not a Democrat. In order to tell a story about something that was happening with a lot of regular people who were not headline names, it was a challenge of: who to focus on? The reality is that over the course of years of reporting, I talked to a lot of people in different places and Kathy and Salleigh both stood out in their own ways for how they epitomized these two blocs in the party, but also how they individually had a lot of personality and were open with me and willing to engage with me about what their experiences were. So many people in the book are small-time activists like them, inspired very recently to become involved in the Republican Party. Do you think that any of them will become household names? Will we soon all know who Salleigh Grubbs is? Speaker of the House Salleigh Grubbs... There are times that I worried about that. That Salleigh was going to get too famous before the book came out and her story wasn't going to feel new anymore. That happens in politics. People stick around a long time and turn up in funny places. But part of what's hard about a book about non-famous people is appreciating the individuality and specificity of the characters and not extrapolating too far. But also, they do have to stand for something bigger. That was part of what I'm trying to do hereboth being respectful of their own individual lives and stories but also what larger findings we can draw from them. Bannon was a helpful guide in that respect. He provides that conceptual framework based on how he thinks about motivating people and forming the movement. We talked a lot about the philosophers and the thinkers who shaped him. You can kind of see him applying that and then you can see that working on the people in his audience. Did you find his enthusiasm for the precinct strategy genuine, or did you see it as a sort of like, cynical, just the best way to achieve the ends he desires? Bannon talks about a lot of things at any given moment, most of which turn out to be completely futile. The challenge is knowing which is which at any given moment, and I'm not sure that he knows either. The precinct strategy ended up being one that caught on and you could see him seizing on that momentum. There were any number of other things that he would be very excited about at one point and then it would kind of fizzle out and you would never hear about it again. So you think there was a little luck to it? It doesn't mean that he didn't believe in it at the outset, it's just that he stuck with it because it started showing some return. Is there anything about that effort that, on some level, as an American, you admireregardless of your feelings on MAGA? I think you're right that it's distinctly American. There's a long history of American politics that is not super democratic with a small-D. Back to that original, core question: the only answer that was ever satisfying to me for how MAGA could spread so far, so fast, and how the Republican party could radicalize against democracy itself in broad daylight and in such a short periodis that it picks up on something very deeply rooted in American political culture. And that what we call MAGA today has basically always been around in some form and just lacked a champion with the resources and charisma and talent, honestly, of Trump. How do you think it would have gone for the Tea Party if Trump had latched onto that? That's a great counterfactual because, if you remember, Trump was the guy on birtherism. It's not like Trump wasn't involved in the Tea Party. So that supports the argument of the book about tactical operations really mattering. The Tea Party was all about setting up these outside groups, it was like the Whatever County Tea Party, not the Republican Party. And actually, the guy who came up with the precinct strategy, this guy in Arizona named Dan Schultz was always going around to those Tea Party meetings and saying, Guys, why are you reinventing the wheel with these outside groups? Knock it off. You should be going to Republican party meetings because that's where the power is. Youre saying that the party structure helped MAGA succeed in a way that the Tea Party couldnt make work? Even though it did have this charismatic rising star in Trump? Exactly. And obviously the Tea Party helped changed Republican politicians leading up to Trump, and it helped Trump get to where he got in the primary. You could still argue that there wouldn't be MAGA without the Tea Party coming first, but the point is that MAGA is proving more durable than the Tea Party, and a big part of that is not just Trump himself, but the way that MAGA has gotten organized through the institution of the party. Ballot chasingis that a term our readers should be prepared to hear a lot more? It's funny, it means completely different things to Democrats and to Republicans. It is going to be a really important story of this election: how Republicans are trying to take advantage of the same methods of voting that Trump continues to insist without evidence are fraudulent. And Republicans are going around telling their voters that they need to vote by mail even though voting by mail is how elections are stolen. They really talk about voting by mail the way that some on the left talk about dark money. Yeah. The RNC insists that they can believe both things at the same time, and you hear a lot of Republicans who say, "absolutely I'm not going to vote by mail." They recognize that that is a problem they created for themselves in 2020 and 2022, but they can't get out of it by admitting they were lying so, they have to get out of it in these other more complicated ways. That's a real challenge that they have. And so is all the focus and attention that they put into monitoring voting, into poll watching. Which is both a genuine search for catching things that they think are wrong as much as it is trying to convince Trump supporters to trust the systemthat if they get involved in the system and watch the system then they'll be more likely to turn out and vote and have confidence in the outcome. Thats a tough needle to thread, but they seem to be doing it successfully. Well, they're trying. It struck me how unconcerned so much of the action in the book is with the Democrats. There's a great quote towards the end, where Steve Bannon's talking about Democratic Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, and says, "Our audience does not hate these people, they don't think they're Americans. But they hate the RINOs [Republicans In Name Only]." They're so worried about RINOs, they're so worried about McCain Republicansless than Joe Biden. Can you talk about that? I think that comes from what we were talking about who's to blame for the defeat of January 6. If you situate that squarely on the uncooperative Republicans, then you understand why they're really the obstacle. It's almost like the Democrats trying to steal the election is a given. It's like not even worth mentioning. The real problem is the stab in the back from the Republicans who knew better and let them get away with it. That's why the focus is there. And ultimately the strategy for Bannon is: well, if you've got a two-party system and you can completely capture one of the parties, then that's more important that what the other party is up to because at that point you're going to get some kind of power eventually. How do you evaluate the risk of the Republican party splitting into two? Or do you think it's more likely that it will transform wholesale into the MAGA party? I think that transformation is what has happened. We've always had a two-party system, we're going to continue to have a two-party system. It's so legally and operationally entrenched that there really is no way around it. But the parties are always changing and the coalitions constituencies and candidates are always evolving. For the foreseeable future we have a MAGA party and a Democratic party, which is the outcome that Bannon wants. It's going to be a product of leadership by politicians and change through organized political actionthrough campaigns and events and persuasionthats going to lead to how those parties win or lose. Will MAGA outlive Trump? Yeah, I think that that was the purpose of putting the movement into the institution of the party. First of all, we're nowhere close to being post-Trump right now. [Both laugh nervously.] I think that the people who have, already, for eight years now, been hoping for the fever to break, are probably going to continue to be disappointed. I talked to Democrats and Republicans who get excited about this being a very decisive election one way or the other, and I'm pretty skeptical of that. I think that we continue to have close elections, and I think we're going to continue in that kind of disequilibrium-equilibrium rather than getting some kind of cathartic release. There's this received wisdom I hear all the time that this is the most important election of our lifetime. Do you agree with that? That's a different question. It can also be true that every election is the most important because it's cumulative. The book has to have a beginning, middle, and end, but history doesn't, and there will never be a final, decisive end of the story of American politics. Did reporting this book change your views on how democracy worksor fails toin America? I think I was struggling with January 6th as the beginning rather than culmination of something. So, as much as I said that it only made sense in continuity with a long history of this anti-democratic streak in American political culture, it also was a really hard break. Once unthinkable things happen, they are no longer unthinkable or impossible, so it really does mark a dangerous new phase that I don't think you can unwind quickly. History may not have an end, but Trump clearly does have an end point in mind. "Finish what we started" is a quote from him. What does "finish" look like from the MAGA perspective? It means vindicating the defeat of January 6th and redeeming what they view as the stolen election. That's the revenge that they're talking about, but Trump has also been very explicit about how he wants to exercise power in a second term. My reporting has been that he wants to exercise presidential authority in a much more centralized way and a much more muscular way. The people who were acting as internal restraints in the White House and executive branch are not going to be invited back. When he says things like he said the first time about wanting to investigate and prosecute his critics or wanting to deploy the military against public demonstrations, he means it. Isaac Arnsdorf's Finish What We Started: The MAGA Movements Ground War to End Democracy is out now from Little, Brown. You Might Also Like BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. The Azerbaijani Parliament has approved the protocol for student exchange between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, Trend reports. This was reflected in the draft law "On Approval of "Protocol on Amendments to the Agreement between the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Cooperation in the Field of Education dated April 3, 2017", which was submitted for discussion at today's Parliament session. According to the project, an equal number of students will be exchanged annually between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on bachelor's degree programs - 3 persons, master's degree programs - 5 persons, doctoral degree programs - 2 persons, basic (or higher) medical education programs, and residency programs - 2 persons. The Azerbaijani side will organize training of three persons on the group of technical and technological specialties (bachelor's degree - 1, master's degree - 1, doctoral studies - 1), 3 persons on the group of humanitarian and social specialties (bachelor's degree - 1, master's degree - 1, doctoral studies - 1), 3 persons on the group of economic and managerial specialties (bachelor's degree - 1, master's degree - 2), one person on the group of natural specialties (master's degree), two persons on the group of specialties of basic (basic higher) medical education, and on the specialties, on which the following specialties are provided. The Kazakh side will organize training of 5 people in the field of information and communication technologies, mechanical engineering, processing, and construction industry (bachelor's degree - 1, master's degree - 3, doctoral degree - 1), 5 - in the field of agriculture and bioresources, arts and humanities, social sciences, journalism and information, business, management, and law (bachelor's degree - 2, master's degree - 2, doctoral degree - 1), in the field of health care and social security (medicine) - two people (a program of continuous integrated training), and in the field of health care and social security (doctoral degree - 1). Following the discussion, the document was put to a vote and approved. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel The Daily Beast has discovered previously unreported details behind the clandestine network that prosecutors say funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX). The networks sprawling roots stretch from a consulate at the edge of Los Angeles to the glittering capital of a despotic ex-Soviet regime, and from the D.C. foreign aid complex near Foggy Bottom to a hydroponic farm in Maryland that supplied Georgetowns leading bipartisan hangouts. The bribery indictment of the Texas congressman describes, among other things, how the congressman allegedly struck a deal for his wife to receive $360,000 in sham contracts from the state-owned oil company of autocratic Azerbaijan. The feds say these arrangements ran through an Azerbaijani-born, U.S.-based intermediarycalled Individual-2 in the criminal complaintand at times through his import-export business, referred to as U.S. Company-1. Cuellar and his wife have denied any wrongdoing. Based on details in the indictmentincluding that Individual-2 served as Azerbaijani vice consul in L.A. between March 2006 and April 2010, resides in Potomac, Maryland, and formed a shell entity in Texas on August 22, 2017The Daily Beast can identify Individual-2 as Elshan Baloghlanov, which the The Texas Observer has also reported. Rep. Cuellar Staring Down Decades Behind Bars as DOJ Indictment Arrives And U.S. Company-1which supplied $30,000 of the alleged bribe moneyfits the description of Baloghlanovs firm, WCC International, as the nonprofit transparency group OpenSecrets has also concluded. Now, The Daily Beast can reveal that Baloghlanovs relationships reach deeper than previously reported into the establishments of both D.C. and Baku, where Azerbaijans repressive President Ilham Aliyev reigns over an economy enriched by the nations vast energy reserves. And those establishments include some favorite haunts of the political elite. According to the indictment, Baloghlanov began the cash transfers to Cuellars wife in 2018, and his involvement in the claimed conspiracy lasted into at least 2021. It was at that same time, according to his LinkedIn, that the operative largely exited the import/export sector for a new, trendier venture. In 2018 somehow I ventured into a CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) business, which I strongly believe is the future of sustainable agriculture, aquaculture and food production, Baloghlanovs LinkedIn profile reads. Now, most of my time is spent on growing food rather than moving a 40 containers [sic] across the ocean. And that CEA looks to be Greenway Farms, an organic aquaponic operation raising greens and fish in the same water, located some 30 miles north of Washington, D.C. According to Maryland business filings, WCC Internationals principal office is at Greenways address in Gaithersburg. In addition, domain records reveal Baloghlanov registered the farms website in his own name and from his personal residence in Potomac, and using a WCC International email account as its contact point. Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife Imelda Cuellar return to their headquarters after reminding people to vote for him in the primaries in Laredo, Texas on March 2, 2020. Veronica Cardenas/Reuters Multiple posts online from people who have worked with Greenway Farms identify Baloghlanov as its leader and founder, and his name and signature appear on paperwork submitted in Maryland to form a limited liability company in the farms name. Meanwhile, a Russian-language page on WCCs website promotes aquaponics and lists Greenways name, address, and contact information. (Baloghlanov, WCC, and Greenway Farms did not respond to repeated calls and emails for comment.) FEEDING GROUNDS Whatever the reason WCC and Baloghlanov crossed over into boutique agribusiness at the same time the two allegedly directed payments to the congressman and his wife, Greenway Farms has forged its own relationships with Washington notables. And one such mainstay is the glitzy Georgetown Italian restaurant, Cafe Milano. At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in October 2020, Greenway posted a picture on Instagram showcasing bunches of fresh leafy greens with a caption directing onlookers to try them at Cafe Milano. It is unclear for how long Greenway supplied Cafe Milano with greens or how the establishment first connected with the farm. (Cafe Milano did not reply to multiple emails from The Daily Beast.) The restaurant is a staple of D.C. high society, proudlyand rightlypromoting itself as a gathering place for Washingtons glamorous set. President Joe Biden dined at the classy see-and-be-seen eatery last summer with his fashionable granddaughter, Naomi. As vice president in 2015, Biden took another jaunt to Cafe Milano with his son, Hunter, where he allegedly dined alongside Ukrainian executive Devon Archer and other associates. That fateful dinner has been at the center of the GOPs floundering inquiry into an alleged Biden influence-peddling scheme. Trumpworld officials also regularly convene at Cafe Milano, holding court and relishing the air of exclusivity that owner Franco Nuschese has spent decades fastidiously cultivating. The watering holes 30th anniversary party in 2022 featured appearances from the most powerful D.C. sophisticates, including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), media titan Bob Woodward, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, and former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA). But Cafe Milano isnt the only restaurant Greenway Farms boasted as a client. On Instagram, the farm also name-dropped fellow swanky Georgetown restaurants Martins Tavern and Il Canale. Both hot spots are also known for their star-studded list of patrons. According to D.C. lore, President John F. Kennedy proposed to Jackie O in a cozy back corner booth at Martins. Other chief executiveslike Harry Truman, George W. Bush, and Bill Clintonalso hit up the restaurant during their tenure in D.C. President Richard Nixon is said to have especially enjoyed the meatloaf. A Brief History of Political Podium Scandals Martins Tavern owner Billy Martin Jr. told The Daily Beast that to the best of his knowledge, the restaurant purchased Monte Carlo lettuce from Greenway Farms from October 2020 to June 2021, and received weekly deliveries. Greenway Farms is no longer a supplier to the restaurant. Martins Tavern has no knowledge of who Elshan Baloghlanov is, a spokesperson told The Daily Beast. Adding that, we were dealing with someone else who said they were the owner of Greenway Farms. Both Hillary Clinton and Ivanka Trump have stopped by Il Canale, another favorite Italian spot among Washingtons movers and shakers. The former selected white wine, pizza, and gnocchi. Il Canales spokesperson Amy Riolo told The Daily Beast in an email that Il Canale purchased basil (to make pesto sauce) from Greenway Farms from 2020-2021, after someone representing the farms stopped by the restaurant to promote the produce. She said the restaurant did not have any direct contact with the owner and always communicated via text with a lady. No other interactions occurred between the farm and restaurant, according to Riolo. The farm stopped delivering to Il Canale around March 2021, citing too much demand. THE ROAD TO AZERBAIJAN Baloghlanovs daughter comments frequently on Greenways Instagram posts, which also tout its products availability at a range of stores, including Whole Foods, and farmers markets in and around the District. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at a conference on March 14, 2023, in Berlin, Germany. Omer Messinger/Getty Images The parcel of land in Gaithersburg belongs to two other Azerbaijan natives, one of whose property records and social media posts indicate is a Baloghlanov relative, who also serves as registered agent of the farms LLC. The signature of the other appears on paperwork WCC International has filed in Maryland. Corporate records reveal yet more about Baloghlanovs personal and business connectionsand his political links in the dictatorial government of Azerbaijan. For instance, documents filed in Maryland show that WCC International is simply a rechristened version of West Coast Connections, which Baloghlanov formed while still serving as Azerbaijani vice consul in Los Angeles. In 2014, ex-Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-MA) reported to the Justice Department that he had lobbied the State Department and then-Ambassador Richard Morningstar for purpose of promoting positive bilateral relations between the U.S. and the Republic of Azerbaijan on behalf of representatives in Azerbaijan (through West Coast Connections Inc.). This demonstrates that Baloghlanovs company has functioned as a cut-out for Azerbaijani interests for at least a decade. Whats more, the firms business filings in Californiawhich Baloghlanov resubmitted in Marylandreveal that one of its directors is Gafar Gurbanov, a one-time Baku tax official known to manage the private assets of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevs daughters. Gurbanov has in past transactions acted as a representative of the cash-flush Azerbaijani state oil company, which allegedly paid bribes to Cuellars wife. This means that the man alleged to have bribed a U.S. congressman, and the company that prosecutors say handled some of the funds, is just a few degrees removed from the head of an authoritarian foreign power. FOREIGN ASSISTANCE But thats not the only government Baloghlanov, or WCC Internationalor Greenway Farmshas ties to. The Daily Beast further learned that Baloghlanov and his company have drawn down just under $400,000 in funding from the United States Agency for International Development, via a nonprofit called Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA). President Joe Biden leaves the Cafe Milano restaurant in Washington, D.C., on June 4, 2023. Joshua Roberts/Reuters CNFA, based on L Street a few blocks from the White House, told The Daily Beast it paid out these funds as part of two subcontracting arrangements with WCC that ran from March 2019two months after the company allegedly paid a $30,000 bribe to Cuellars wifeand September 2023. Its work involved helping CNFA in establishing agribusiness linkages and public-private partnerships and providing training, helping organize an agricultural forum, and facilitating participation in various exhibitions and events for key project stakeholders. The nonprofit told The Daily Beast it selected WCC as a partner through a competitive public tender, and had reimbursed its labor and travel costs, among other expenses. CNFA has no control over what any payee does with its proceeds once paid, spokeswoman Darshana Patel told The Daily Beast. Since at least 2021, and through today, Greenway Farms has touted a relationship with CNFA on its website. Founder of Trump Defense Firm Indicted in Somali Fraud Case We still teach farmers and food producers in the developing world about food safety and international trade in agriculture as part of our joint efforts with CNFA, a Washington D.C.-based international development organization promoting sustainable, climate-smart agricultural practices, the Our Story page on Greenways site reads. But Patel said CNFA has never had a direct relationship with the farm, and has strictly subcontracted with WCC International. This, combined with the domain and business records, indicates that Baloghlanov has for years run the farm and WCCthe alleged bribery vehicle and recipient of hundreds of thousands in foreign aid fundsas the same operation. WCC also boasts of its USAID connections on a website it operates promoting agricultural ties between the U.S. and the greater Caspian Region (of which Azerbaijan forms a part), and Baloghlanov and the company participated in a USAID-sponsored event in Baku. Baloghlanov has continued to engage with and promote USAID on his social media feedseven reposting a new initiative the agency launched in late 2022. The purpose of said initiative? Countering transnational corruption. Allison Quinn contributed reporting to this story. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. When they left Naval Station Mayport, Florida, on Sept. 27, Cmdr. Jeremy Robertson and the sailors he commanded aboard the destroyer Carney had no idea what was in store for them. But to hear Robertson tell it, they were ready to face the unknown, and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen would soon put them to the test. Carney and its crew would spend the coming months shooting down an at-times relentless salvo of Iran-backed Houthi missiles and drones from Yemen, fired at all types of vessels transiting the claustrophobic confines of the Red Sea. When the Houthis fired anti-ship ballistic missiles, Robertsons sailors had just a handful of breaths in which to decide if and how they would counter the attacks. From start to finish, its anywhere from nine to 20 seconds, Robertson told reporters on Monday, a day after the Carney returned home to Mayport. So very fast, very dynamic. And our systems are doing exactly what weve designed them to do. Countering these threats so swiftly required full confidence in the ships tactical action officers, the watch team, and all the systems aboard the vessel, Robertson added. We have learned some significant capabilities when it comes to speed, Robertson said. So an [anti-ship ballistic missile] is just way faster than anything else. And we have certain capabilities to be able to detect stuff like thatThese are certainly very dangerous areas. And every, every interaction is completely different from one another. The destroyer originally joined the Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group this fall in the European theater for a scheduled deployment, but headed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations in the Middle East on Oct. 18 amid concerns about a larger conflict emerging in the region at the onset of the Israel-Hamas war. The very next day, the vessel became the first confirmed U.S. warship to intercept a series of Houthi missiles and drones in the Red Sea on Oct. 19, an hours-long melee that would set Carneys course for months to come. None of us could have prepared for this, Robertson said. None of us could have known what was going to happenWe never had anyone that shied away from the moment. All the Houthi-US Navy incidents in the Middle East (that we know of) The Carney was joined by several other Navy destroyer that continue to strike down these Houthi threats on military and commercial vessels in the region since then. On top of intercepting Houthi missiles and drones, Carney also helped stop Irans missile and drone attack against Israel on April 14. The team was there, they were in the moment and it was amazing to see how quickly they transitioned into a battle mindset, Robertson said. Their responsibility and actions and follow up came very instinctual. We were doing all of our pre-planned responses, we were doing everything we could to make sure that we didnt make a mistake. No two days looked alike, Robertson said, adding that he wouldnt alter the ships training at all to prepare for operations in the Middle East except for possibly adding an additional exercise here or there for contingencies like the rescue and assistance missions that Carney took on to help commercial vessels stricken by Houthi attacks. It really validates the training and the preparedness that we have, Robertson said. Back on land Monday, Robertson expressed pride in his crews relentless pursuit of excellence, and said Carneys sailors will never forget their ships historic deployment. The crew was there for each other and they got through it together, built resiliency together, Robertson said. Their cohesion and connectedness is one of the major factors into why they made such an effective warfighting team. All told, the Carney conducted 51 engagements in the span of six months, according to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti. Franchetti, who greeted the ship during a quick stop in Norfolk, Va., this month, recognized 14 sailors for their accomplishments at sea. Additionally, the entire crew has also received recognition for its actions in the Red Sea in January when the Navy awarded the crew Combat Action Ribbons for an engagement in December where the Carney shot down 14 Houthi air drones. Upon arrival in Mayport on Sunday, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro presented the Navy Unit Commendation to the ship. The unit award, the second highest after the Presidential Unit Citation, is distributed to Navy and Marine Corps units that demonstrated outstanding heroism in action against enemy forces. Carney was deployed forward, deterring our adversaries, protecting our national interests, defending the rules-based international order, and promoting peace, Del Toro said, according to a Navy news release. I, and all Americans, am immensely proud of these Carney Sailors. They represent the best of the Department of the Navy and indeed our nation. The winner of the international Booker prize is 'Kairos' by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated from German by Michael Hofmann. Epenbeck is the first German writer to win the award. A tumultuous love story told to the backdrop of 1986 Berlin, it's about a young woman that meets an older, married man on a bus. They begin an intense and passionate affair - until she sleeps with someone else for a night, resulting in emotional fissures that echo the collapse of East Germany. Erpenbeck described it as: A private story of a big love and its decay, but its also a story of the dissolution of a whole political system. Simply put: How can something that seems right in the beginning, turn into something wrong? 'Kairos' - a tumultuous love story that mimics its political backdrop. - International Booker Prize It was chosen from a shortlist of six books representing six languages (Dutch, German, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish) across six countries (Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Netherlands, South Korea and Sweden) and three continents (Asia, Europe and South America). "I come from a family of writers. So, my grandparents were writers, my father used to write fiction as well, and my mum was a translator, from Arabic to German. She translated a Nobel Prize Winner," Erpenbeck said in her speech. "There was much writing in my family on all sides, and now I'm standing here, and I'm very honoured," she continued. "It's funny being the back half of a pantomime horse, or the brakeman on a bobsleigh team, but there is something exhilarating about translating, doing something in a big zigzag as quickly and finely as you can," Michael Hofmann said when accepting his award, the first male translator to win it. The ceremony was hosted at London's Tate Modern, with Eleanor Wachtel, Chair of the 2024 judges, announcing the 50,000 prize, which is split equally between author and translator. "What makes Kairos so unusual is that it is both beautiful and uncomfortable, personal and political," Wachtel said in a press release. "Erpenbeck invites you to make the connection between these generation-defining political developments and a devastating, even brutal love affair, questioning the nature of destiny and agency. Like the GDR, it starts with optimism and trust, then unravels." The International Booker Prize is also one of the few awards to honour the vital work of translators in particular. "Michael Hofmanns translation captures the eloquence and eccentricities of Erpenbecks writing, the rhythm of its run-on sentences, the expanse of her emotional vocabulary," Wachtel said. The judges included award-winning poet Natalie Diaz; Booker Prize-shortlisted novelist Romesh Gunesekera; visual artist William Kentridge and writer, editor and translator Aaron Robertson. Georgi Gospodinov was last year's winner with his book Time Shelter, about a psychiatrist that recreates specific decades of time in clinical rooms to treat Alzheimers patience - although healthy people looking for an escape from everyday life also start to seek it out. MASSAPEQUA PARK, N.Y. (PIX11) Helicopters were in the air, state police vehicles were on the ground, and reporters were standing by Monday in front of the Massapequa Park home owned by alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann. Its like living in Goodfellas. To live through this is insane. This is terrible, said neighbor Christine Brennan. The exact reason for the latest law enforcement search is unknown. Heuermann has so far been charged with murdering four of the Gilgo Beach victims; each of their bodies was found wrapped in burlap in 2010. Gilgo Beach murders: Inside the investigation that led to Rex Heuermanns arrest Seven other victims have yet to be linked to Heuermann, who remains in custody. The attorney of Heuermanns wife said she was out of state at the time of this latest search, but his daughter was home and left when officers showed up at the front door. They executed their warrant this morning. Whatever their warrant calls for, theyre going to go in and retrieve whatever is needed and then turn it back over to the court, said Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder. Its been almost a year since law enforcement descended on the quiet suburban community for the initial search of Heuermanns home. Mondays scene brought back painful memories of the case and what the victims families are going through. Massapequa Park resident Ricky Tavella said hes had enough. Its like reliving this whole tragedy all over again. I just wish they could put this to rest. Find something. Whatever they need to get, get it out of this house and put this to rest. Just get it out of our whole community. Its getting ridiculous now, searching back and forth, back and forth. Enough is enough already, said Tavella. The case is still in the discovery phase, and Mondays search is sure to add to what is already a lengthy evidence list. A trial date has not been set. Heuermann maintains his innocence. 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 PIX11. FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) The Fresno Fire Department released new images on Tuesday of a vehicle they believe could be linked to a fire in central Fresno on Monday. Investigators say the grass fire started on Monday afternoon near Shields and Bryant Avenues around 2:30 p.m. The suspect vehicle is pictured below. Fresno Fire Department Fresno Fire Department If you have any information on the vehicle pictured above you are asked to call (559) 621-2776 (ARSN). There were a total of seven apparatus and a total of 15 personnel on the scene. According to firefighters, the fire was a vegetation fire. None of the fire reached surrounding structures and there were no injuries to firefighters or civilians. The cause of the fire is under investigation. 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 YourCentralValley.com | KSEE24 and CBS47. The body of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has arrived in Tehran as part of funeral ceremonies scheduled to run over several days, according to state-run news agency IRNA. A video broadcast by state media shows the presidential plane arriving at Tehrans Mehrabad airport, carrying Raisis coffin. Government and military officials lined a red carpet, and many could be seen publicly weeping as a military escort carried the coffin. According to images published by state media, a seat on the presidential plane was left empty, covered only in black cloth and a picture of Raisi laid on it. Raisi, a 63-year-old ultraconservative cleric who had once been seen as a potential successor to current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, died in a helicopter crash alongside other high-ranking officials, including the countrys foreign minister, on Sunday morning. His death leaves the Islamic Republics hardline establishment facing an uncertain future as it navigates rising regional tensions and domestic discontent. Mourners during the funeral ceremony in the city of Tabriz on Tuesday. - WANA/Reuters Tuesday began with funeral prayers and a procession in the northwestern city of Tabriz, the largest city in the mountainous northwestern region of Iran where the chopper crashed. Images released by state media showed large crowds dressed in black lining Martyrs Square and surrounding streets in the rain as a large truck, adorned with flowers and draped in the Iranian flag, drove through the crowds carrying the coffins of Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and the others killed in Sundays helicopter crash. In a speech in Tabriz on Tuesday, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian set a model for brave service and diplomacy, pointing to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Who can forget Raisis heartfelt speeches in defense of Gaza? Vahidi said, IRNA reported. The bodies of the victims will then be transferred to the holy Shiite city of Qom, where many of the clerics who make up Irans theocratic elite are trained, for prayers scheduled at the Fatima Masumeh shrine. On Wednesday, large ceremonies are planned in Tehrans Grand Mosallah Mosque. Mansouri announced a public holiday and the closure of offices all over the country that day so that processions can take place. Raisis body will then be moved to the historic Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad where Ayatollah Khamenei will conduct prayers, according to Mehr News. There is no indication what might have caused the crash and why so many senior Iranian government officials were traveling in a single, decades-old helicopter. In the first moments after Raisis helicopter lost contact on Sunday night, Turkey said it monitored whether or not the aircraft gave a signal, but was unable to detect anything. Mourners gathered in Valiasr Square in central Tehran on Monday. - Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images A billboard in Tehran displaying a picture of Raisi. - Majid Asgaripour/WANA/Reuters We immediately contacted the Iranian side. They also contacted us, but unfortunately it was seen that the signal system was either turned off or the helicopter did not have the signal system, said Turkish Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu, according to Turkish state broadcaster TRT. It was not clear whether he was referring to the helicopters transponder, which the vast majority of aircraft are usually equipped with. A helicopter carrying Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi takes off on May 19, 2024, before the crash took place. - Ali Hamed Haghdoust/Wana News Agency/Reuters When asked whether there was a possibility of sabotage, Uraloglu said that it was too early to comment on this issue, and said initial indications looked like an accident due to foggy weather. On Monday, Iranian media reported that the countrys military chief had appointed a commission to investigate the cause of the crash, which includes military and technical experts. A high-ranking delegation will go to the crash site in Eastern Azerbaijan, according to Irans Tasnim news agency. Autocratic partners hail a lost friend The loss of Raisi a conservative hardliner and protege Ayatollah Khamenei is expected to sow further uncertainty in a country already buckling under significant economic and political strain, with tensions with nearby Israel at a dangerous high. His death triggered both domestic and international reactions with several of Irans autocratic partners sending both condolences and effusive praise. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and North Koreas Kim Jong Un all released statements praising Raisis legacy and hailing him as a friend. In his message Kim described Raisi as an outstanding statesman and a close friend of the (North Korean) people, adding that the leader had made a great contribution to the cause of the Iranian people for safeguarding the sovereignty, development and interests of their country, according to North Korean state media KCNA. A photo provided by Moj News Agency shows rescue team workers at the scene of the helicopter crash on May 20, 2024. - Azin Haghighi/Moj News Agency/AP Xi, whose government last year played a role in brokering a landmark rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, hailed Raisis important contributions to maintaining Irans security and stability and promoting national development and prosperity. Raisis tragic death is a great loss to the Iranian people, and the Chinese people also lost a good friend, Xi said in a statement released by Chinese state media, adding that the two countries would continue to consolidate and deepen their strategic partnership. Putin, who is believed by the US to be receiving support from Iran for his war in Ukraine, called the Iranian leader an outstanding politician and a true friend of Russia. Raisi made an invaluable personal contribution to the development of the countries relations, Putins statement released by the Kremlin said. The comments come as observers have pointed to a loose but growing coordination of interests between Iran, China, North Korea and Russia over their shared animosity toward a global system they see as dominated by the US and its values. Inside Iran, where many of the countrys restive youth population have grown tired of rule by conservative clerics, Raisi had a much more polarizing legacy. He was widely seen as a figure in which the Iranian hardline establishment had heavily invested in. But he also brutally quashed a youth-led uprising over repressive laws, such as the compulsory hijab, and continued to stamp out dissent in its aftermath. CNNs Nadeen Ebrahim, Negar Mahmoodi, and AnneClaire Stapleton contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Iranian President Ebrahim Raisis sudden death has thrown into question who will take the place as Tehrans next supreme leader. Raisi, 63, who was killed in a helicopter crash Sunday along with Irans foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, was widely considered a leading candidate to take the place of current Islamic Republic Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an ailing 85-year-old who has yet to endorse a successor. Raisis death now raises key questions as to who will step into the roles of not just president but the supreme leader as well, raising potential rivalries and injecting instability into a regime that has grown more unpopular in the past several years. The deaths create a void in the Islamic Republics leadership amid a deepening legitimacy crisis for the Islamic Republic, Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council, said in a statement. Attempting to tamp down any speculation of political chaos, Khamenei on Sunday wrote on the social platform X that The nation doesnt need to be worried or anxious, as the administration of the country will not be disrupted at all. And Hadi Tahan Nazif, the spokesperson for Irans Guardian Council a 12-member group that oversees Irans elections and legislation told Iranian state television that the affairs of the country will not be disrupted. Known as the Butcher of Tehran, Raisi was well known internationally for leading the brutal 2022 crackdowns on Iranian protesters who were demonstrating against the countrys conservative Islamic theocracy. In the violent crackdowns that followed, authorities killed more than 500 people and detained more than 22,000 others, according to human rights groups. Raisi was also involved in the mass execution of more than 5,000 political prisoners in the 1980s. Handpicked to be president in 2021, Raisi was seen as being groomed to potentially step in as the countrys next supreme leader when Khamenei died or stepped aside. Following Raisis death, Vice President Mohammad Mokhber has been named as acting president, with a new national election to be held within 50 days to elect a permanent replacement. Under the Iranian Constitution, the vice president, speaker of the parliament, and head of the judiciary the countrys three branches of government must arrange for and hold an election. But the process is seen as controlled by Irans hard-line clerical leaders, with popular participation in elections largely on the decline in recent years, according to Abdi. Most recently, this spring, the vast majority of Iranian voters stayed home in parliamentary elections where most moderate and reformist candidates were barred from running, he said. The state will now weigh its interest in mobilizing public participation in an unprecedented election at a time of great regional turmoil against its fears of popular challenges to its rule amid domestic unease. Top contenders for the next president and eventually the next supreme leader include Khameneis son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as well as Alireza Arafi, a member of the group in charge of selecting a new supreme leader known as the Assembly of Experts. Raisis death raises the prospect of renewed jockeying for the position, Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote of the situation. This does not guarantee the rise of the person seen as Raisis chief rival for the job, Khameneis son Mojtaba. There is deep resistance to the inheritance of power in Iran. The vote also comes at a turbulent time for Iran, with a regional conflict with Israel, rising economic struggles and public unrest among Iranian civilians who are unhappy with the regimes social and political restrictions. Alterman predicted that the most likely outcome in deciding on Raisis replacement is quiet competition within the states coercive apparatus, with elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and military and intelligence figures competing for advantage, and a possible marginalization of clerical leadership in the longer term. Such a trend has been underway in Iran for more than a decade, as hostility to the rule of clerics grows among Irans young and increasingly impoverished population, he said. The United States, meanwhile, offered official condolences for the deaths of Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian. As Iran selects a new president, we reaffirm our support for the Iranian people and their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms, the State Departments top spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. Biden administration officials defended the sentiment despite a decades-long adversarial relationship with Tehran, with a recent flare-up after Israel killed several high-ranking Iranian military commanders in Syria. Iran responded by launching more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel, an attack that President Biden had the U.S. military help to thwart. Following Sundays helicopter crash, analysts speculated whether Iran might accuse Israel or the U.S. of politically motivated sabotage, even as initial reports indicated the aircraft crashed due to foggy conditions as it flew through the mountains of northwestern Iran. But Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday staunchly denied that the U.S. had anything to do with the accident. The United States had no part to play in that crash, thats a fact plain and simple, he told reporters at the Pentagon. Irans army chief has since ordered an investigation into the cause of the helicopter crash. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Update at 8:17 p.m. CENTRAL ILLINOIS (WCIA) The Dust Storm Warning issued by the National Weather Service in Lincoln has now expired for Central Illinois. Until rain and winds settle, Illinois State Police said I-55 near McLean and I-74 near LeRoy will both remain closed. Drivers are urged to either stay vigilant or avoid traveling entirely to stay as safe as possible. Dust storm closes part of Interstate 55 Update at 6:30 p.m. CENTRAL ILLINOIS (WCIA) The National Weather Service in Lincoln has issued a dust storm warning for several Central Illinois counties until 8:15 p.m. This includes: Logan County Piatt County De Witt County Vermilion County Champaign County Macon County Cities like Champaign, Urbana, Decatur, Danville, Lincoln, Rantoul, Clinton, Monticello, Hoopeston, Savoy, Mahomet, and Mount Zion are all at moderate risk. Officials noted that travelling through these dust storms is dangerous and life-threatening travel. The most impacted roadways are currently: Interstate 155 between mile markers 0 and 31. Interstate 39 between mile markers 0 and 28. Interstate 474 between mile markers 10 and 14. Interstate 55 between mile markers 111 and 186. Interstate 57 between mile markers 218 and 257. Interstate 72 between mile markers 126 and 182. Interstate 74 between mile markers 94 and 219. Several people hurt in Route 54 car pileup: ISP Though drivers are urged to avoid traveling at this time, Illinois State Police are still diverting I-74 West traffic by Farmer City north onto US Highway 136 at Exit 152. Drivers will continue until Route 51 towards LeRoy. Traffic is also closed on part of Interstate 55. For more weather updates, visit out Weather Alerts page. Photo by Jolynn Finefield. Photo by Deb Basham. Taken between LeRoy and Bellflower Photo by Rebecca Phillips. Taken near Melvin. Photo by Rebecca Phillips. Taken near Melvin. Update at 5:45 p.m. CENTRAL ILLINOIS (WCIA) Illinois State Police are adjusting an I-74 West traffic diversion to Exit 152. Traffic was previously rerouted to Exit 159 to Farmer City. On account of the ongoing heavy dust storms in the area, ISP is now directing drivers north onto US Highway 136 at Exit 152 until Route 51 towards LeRoy. They continue to urge caution as the storms create an extreme lack of visibility. FARMER CITY, Ill. (WCIA) Illinois State Police are urging caution as a dust storm covers Interstate 74 West of Farmer City. They say the storm is causing zero visibility in the area. Traffic is currently being diverted at Exit 159 to Farmer City. Drivers can proceed along Route 150. Officials with ISP added that there is a large backup on the interstate, and ask drivers to either avoid the area or use an alternate route. 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 WCIA.com. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. Parliament in Azerbaijan has announced a minute of silence for the deaths of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hussein Amir Abdullahian, and other accompanying officials in a helicopter crash, Trend reports. The parliamentary speaker Sahiba Gafarova wished patience to the families and loved ones of the victims, as well as the friendly and brotherly Iranian people, in connection with their bereavement. She, on her own behalf and on behalf of the Azerbaijani MPs, expressed deep condolences to Iran. To note, on May 19, a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Tabriz Province Imam Ayatollah Ali Hashim, and East Azerbaijan Province Governor-General Malek Rahmati crashed while flying from Khudafarin to Tabriz. Following the crash, communication with the helicopter crew was established twice, but it was subsequently lost. The Iranian President and the entire accompanying delegation were confirmed dead. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel Israel intends to expand its military operation in the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip to defeat Hamas and to free the hostages the militant organization is still holding, despite US concerns, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday. Gallant was speaking during a meeting with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Tel Aviv, according to Israeli radio. Israeli Chief of the Defence Staff Herzi Halevi also attended the meeting. Gallant's office said he had briefed Sullivan "on developments in the war against the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza, as well as the various efforts made to ensure the return of 128 hostages held by Hamas." Gallant also presented humanitarian aid plans for the population of the Gaza Strip. "This includes significant efforts to evacuate the civilian population in Rafah, facilitating the provision of humanitarian services, and operating in a precise manner to avoid harm to uninvolved civilians," the statement said. The tensions on Israel's border with Lebanon were also discussed. Gallant accused the Lebanese Hezbollah militia of refusing to reach a diplomatic agreement on the withdrawal of its fighters from the border area, risking "a significant escalation." Sullivan stressed the importance of Israel and Egypt concluding their talks on the reopening of the Rafah border crossing. Humanitarian workers must be able to safely deliver aid to those in need throughout the Gaza Strip, Sullivan said. In order for aid to reach the coastal territory, all available border crossings must be used, he added. Sullivan had earlier reiterated that the United States continued to reject a widescale offensive in the overcrowded city of Rafah in talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem on Sunday. According to the White House, Sullivan nevertheless showed understanding for Israeli efforts to locate Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip. The White House said that Sullivan had reaffirmed "the need for Israel to connect its military operations to a political strategy that can ensure the lasting defeat of Hamas, the release of all the hostages, and a better future for Gaza." According to estimates from the United Nations, around 800,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah since the start of the operation two weeks ago. Many of them are refugees from other parts of the Gaza Strip who had sought refuge in its southernmost point. The White House said that Sullivan had provided information on discussions with Egypt to secure its border with Rafah and to secure the continued flow of humanitarian assistance through the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel into the southern Gaza Strip. Kerem Shalom has become key to supplying humanitarian aid following the closure of the Rafah crossing by Israeli forces at the start of the month. Hamas has recently attacked the crossing and Israeli settlements with rockets. According to media reports, Egypt has indicated it will not coordinate aid transports through Rafah until the Israeli forces withdraw. Talks on reopening the crossing are reported to be continuing. Following his talks with Sullivan in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said on social media platform X that the continuation of the war in Gaza, with an emphasis on Rafah, were discussed, along with "increasing the humanitarian effort in the Strip." Reflecting a rise in tensions within the Israeli government, Gallant has demanded the creation of a political alternative to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Benny Gantz, also a cabinet member, threatened over the weekend to resign if a plan was not in place by June 8 to set up a civilian administration to run the Gaza Strip. Israeli military operations continued in other parts of the Gaza Strip. The Hamas-controlled health authority reported the deaths on Sunday of at least 24 Palestinians in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the centre of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army confirmed that a senior Hamas police officer had been killed in a targeted attack and that another Hamas commander and five activists had been killed in a separate attack in Nuseirat. Tunnels on the border to Egypt had also been discovered and destroyed. A plane drops humanitarian aid loaded with food supplies to displaced Palestinians over the skies of the southern Gaza Strip, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa Smoke rises following Israeli air strikes on Al-Jeneina and Al-Salam neighbourhoods. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday that it killed an Islamic jihad commander, who is said to have been the logistics head in Rafah for the pro-Iranian militia allied with the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa The deadly war between Israel and Hamas, the political party that controls the Gaza Strip and which the U.S. State Department has designated a terrorist organization since 1997, has stretched into its seventh month. Over 1,000 Israelis and 10,00035,000 Palestinians have lost their lives (though the death toll in Gaza has been a point of contention). Ever since Hamas' October 7 surprise attack on Israel, in which raiders killed over 1,000 people and took another 240 hostage, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's stated goal has been to "destroy Hamas." But Netanyahu's government has taken steps that contradict the principles of a free society and undercut its reputation as the Middle East's only true democracy. "Israeli officials seized a camera and broadcasting equipment belonging to The Associated Press in southern Israel," the news organization reported on Tuesday, amid accusations of "violating a new media law by providing images to Al Jazeera." The A.P.'s live feed of Gaza went dead after the seizure. On April 1, Israeli lawmakers passed a law that would allow the government to shut down foreign news networks deemed a threat to national security. The Times of Israel reported that the law was specifically intended to target Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based news network that has often been accused of anti-Israel or pro-Hamas bias. "The terrorist channel Al Jazeera will no longer broadcast from Israel," Netanyahu pledged in an April 1 post on X (formerly Twitter). "I intend to act immediately in accordance with the new law to stop the channel's activity." Netanyahu charged that the network had "harmed Israel's security, actively participated in the October 7 massacre, and incited against [Israel Defense Forces] soldiers." The move was broadly denounced. "Such slanderous accusations will not deter us from continuing our bold and professional coverage," Al Jazeera said in a statement. "We think the work that the independent free press does is important everywhere in the world, and much of what we know about what has happened in Gaza is because of reporters who are there doing their jobs, including reporters from Al Jazeera," U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters after the law passed. "I think it's well known that we've not always agreed with all of Al Jazeera's coverage, but it's a media organization that we engage with." White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the move "concerning," adding that "the United States supports the critically important work journalists around the world do," including "those who are reporting [on] the conflict in Gaza." On May 5, Israel forcibly closed Al Jazeera's satellite office in Tel Aviv, seized its broadcast equipment, and blocked access to its websites and broadcasts from within the country, after the government unanimously approved a proposal to do so. Then on Tuesday, Israel did the same to the A.P. The country's communications ministry had ordered the A.P. to cease its live broadcast of footage from Gaza last week, which the outlet refused to do. As a result, officials seized broadcast equipment, saying in a statement that "the communications ministry will continue to take whatever enforcement action is required to limit broadcasts that harm the security of the state." "The AP complies with Israel's military censorship rules, which prohibit broadcasts of details like troops movements that could endanger soldiers," the outlet noted. "Al Jazeera is one of thousands of AP customers, and it receives live video from AP and other news organizations." "The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government to shut down our longstanding live feed showing a view into Gaza and seize AP equipment," said A.P. Vice President of Corporate Communications Lauren Easton in an earlier version of the article. "The shutdown was not based on the content of the feed but rather an abusive use by the Israeli government of the country's new foreign broadcaster law." Hours after the seizure, the A.P.'s story was updated to say that "Israel's communications minister ordered the government to return a camera and broadcasting equipment it had seized from The Associated Press, reversing course hours after blocking the news organization's live video of Gaza." It noted that this came after "the Biden administration, journalism organizations and an Israeli opposition leader condemned the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and pressured it to reverse the decision." While Israel has no constitution, its laws do recognize a general freedom of speech, including freedom of the press. Even if you fully support Israel's actions since October 7and polls show fewer and fewer Americans do, even though they find its cause to be righteousit's hard to justify such an egregious crackdown on a free press. Unfortunately, there is a trend even among nominally free nations to crack down on dissent in wartime. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has shown admirable force of will since Russian forces invaded his country in 2022. But he has also enacted repressive measures, using Russian aggression as justification: In 2021, Zelenskyy's government shuttered three pro-Russia news networks. Even though this act predated the invasion, Zelenskyy defended the move as "by no means an attack on freedom of speech" but rather "a well-founded decision to protect national security." The following year, after Russia's incursion into the country, Zelenskyy went even further: "With the declaration of martial law in February came a prohibition on male citizens aged 1860 leaving the country," Reason's Stephanie Slade wrote in July 2022. "Then in March, the government combined the country's national TV stations into a single state-approved broadcast and suspended 11 opposition political parties it described as 'pro-Russian.'" In fairness, during World War I, the U.S. prosecuted and convicted two socialists under the Espionage Act for handing out pamphlets that encouraged young men to oppose the draft. The Supreme Court later upheld the conviction in a unanimous decision that gave us the "fire in a crowded theater" canard. Again, it is difficult to look at the facts of Russia's invasion of Ukrainea large expansionist power undertaking a war of aggression against a nearby sovereign nation, with vague justifications like "de-Nazification"and see Russia as anything other than an authoritarian aggressor. But that doesn't excuse Ukraine's repressive actions, even if they were nominally taken with the intent to counter Russia. By the same token, even if you support Israel's conduct since October 7, there is no justification for cracking down on news organizations for doing nothing more than reporting the news. The post Israel Raids the Associated Press and Seizes Equipment Over War Coverage appeared first on Reason.com. UN halts all food distribution in Rafah after running out of supplies in the southern Gaza city FILE - Palestinians line up for free food during the ongoing Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Jan. 9, 2024. The United Nations said Tuesday, May 21, 2024, it suspended food distribution in the southern Gaza city of Rafah due to lack of supplies and insecurity. It also said no aid trucks entered in the past two days via a floating pier set up by the U.S. for sea deliveries. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali, File) CAIRO (AP) The United Nations suspended food distribution in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Tuesday due to a lack of supplies and an untenable security situation caused by Israels expanding military operation. The U.N. warned that humanitarian operations across the territory were nearing collapse. A senior United States official said Israel has addressed many of the Biden administration's concerns about a full-scale ground invasion of Rafah aimed at rooting out Hamas fighters there. U.S. President Joe Biden had previously opposed a total military assault on a city filled with displaced civilians if plans did not prioritize the safety of innocent Palestinians. The U.S. official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. The official said the administration stopped short of greenlighting the Israeli invasion plan, but said Israeli officials changes to the planning suggested they were taking the American administrations concerns seriously. Over the past two weeks, hundreds of thousands of people have fled Rafah in a chaotic exodus, seeking shelter in new tent camps or crowding into areas already devastated by previous Israeli offensives. Some 400,000 people are believed to still be in Rafah after around 900,000 rushed to escape, according to COGAT, the Israeli military office in charge of Palestinian civilian affairs. Getting aid to displaced civilians has been hampered by closed and chaotic land crossings, as well as problems plaguing the U.S. militarys new floating pier meant to provide an alternative sea route for aid into Gaza. Over the weekend, hungry Palestinians took aid from a U.N. vehicle convoy coming from the pier, and the U.N. said since then it had been unable to receive trucks there. Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters in Washington that for the past few days, forward movement of aid from the pier was paused but it resumed Tuesday. There was no confirmation from the U.N. The U.N.'s World Food Program said it was running out of food for central Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people are now living. Humanitarian operations in Gaza are near collapse, said Abeer Etefa, a WFP spokesperson. If food and other supplies dont resume entering Gaza in massive quantities, famine-like conditions will spread, she said. The warning came as Israel seeks to contain the international fallout from a request at the worlds top war crimes court for arrest warrants targeting both Israeli and Hamas leaders. The move garnered support from three European countries, including Israel's key ally France. Use of starvation as a method of warfare was among the accusations against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant by the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court charges they and other Israeli officials angrily deny. The prosecutor accused three Hamas leaders of war crimes over killings of civilians in the group's Oct. 7 attack. The U.N says some 1.1 million people in Gaza nearly half the population face catastrophic levels of hunger and that the territory is on the brink of famine. Throughout the war, Rafah has been filled with scenes of hungry children holding out pots and plastic containers at makeshift soup kitchens, with many families reduced to eating only one meal a day. The humanitarian crisis deepened after Israeli forces pushed into Rafah on May 6. Tanks and troops seized the vital Rafah crossing into Egypt, and it's been closed ever since. After May 10, only about three dozen trucks made it into Gaza via the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel because fighting made it dangerous for aid workers to reach it, the U.N. says. Israel insists it puts no restriction on the number of trucks entering Gaza. COGAT said 450 trucks entered Tuesday from its side to Kerem Shalom and a small crossing in northern Gaza. It said more than 650 trucks are waiting on the Gaza side of Kerem Shalom to be retrieved, blaming lack of logistical capabilities and manpower gaps among aid groups. For months, the U.N. has warned that an Israeli assault on Rafah could wreck the effort to get food, medicine and other supplies to Palestinians across Gaza. Asked about the ramifications of suspending aid, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said simply: People dont eat. Etefa said the WFP was still passing out hot meals and limited distributions of reduced food packages in central Gaza, but food parcel stocks will run out within days, she said. The U.S. touted the $320 million pier project as a route for accelerated deliveries. The first 10 trucks rolled off a ship onto the pier on Friday and were taken to a WFP warehouse. However, a second convoy on Saturday was met by Palestinian crowds who removed all the food from 11 trucks, and only five truckloads made it to the warehouse, Etefa said. No further deliveries came from the pier Sunday or Monday, Etefa said. The responsibility of ensuring aid reaches those in need does not end at the crossings and other points of entry into Gaza it extends throughout Gaza itself, she said. At the same time, battles have escalated in northern Gaza as Israeli troops conduct operations against Hamas fighters, who the military says regrouped in areas already captured in offensives months ago. One of the main hospitals still operating in the north, Kamal Adwan, was forced to evacuate after it was targeted by Israeli troops, the Gaza Health Ministry said. Around 150 staff and dozens of patients fled the facility, including intensive care patients and infants in incubators under fire from shelling, it said. The Israeli military did not immediately reply to requests for comment. The nearby Awda hospital has been surrounded by troops the past three days, and an artillery shell hit its fifth floor, the hospital administration said Tuesday. A day earlier, the international medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said Awda had run out of drinking water. The war between began on Oct. 7, when Hamas-led militants crossed into Israel and killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 hostage. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan accused Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh of crimes against humanity, including extermination, murder and sexual violence. Israel responded to the Oct. 7 with an offensive that has laid waste to Gaza and killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gazas Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between noncombatants and fighters in its count. Monday's call by Khan for arrest warrants deepens Israels global isolation at a time when it is facing growing criticism from even its closest allies over the war. France, Belgium, and Slovenia each said they backed Khan's decision. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz headed to France on Tuesday in response, urging it to declare loud and clear that the request for warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant "is unacceptable to you and to the French government. His meetings there could set the tone for how countries navigate the warrants if they are eventually issued and whether they could pose a threat to Israeli leaders. A panel of three ICC judges will decide whether to issue the arrest warrants and allow a case to proceed. The judges typically take two months to make such decisions. Israel still has the support of its top ally, the United States, as well as other Western countries that spoke out against the decision. But if the warrants are issued, they could complicate international travel for Netanyahu and his defense minister, even if they do not face any immediate risk of prosecution because Israel itself is not a member of the court. ___ Goldenberg reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press journalists Majdi Mohammed in the Jenin refugee camp, West Bank, Jack Jeffery in Jerusalem, Aamer Madhani in Washington, John Leicester in Paris, and Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report. Israeli government officials seized a camera and broadcasting equipment belonging to The Associated Press on Tuesday, shuttering the outlets live stream from Gaza, citing the nations new media law. Passed in April, the law allows the shuttering of outlets which the government deems a threat to national security. Officials from the Communications Ministry arrived at the AP location in Sderot on Tuesday, seizing equipment and handing over a piece of paper signed by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, alleging that the outlet was violating the new foreign broadcaster law, according to the AP. After the seizure took place, the AP released a statement condemning the move, in the strongest terms. The shutdown was not based on the content of the feed but rather an abusive use by the Israeli government of the countrys new foreign broadcaster law, AP spokesperson Lauren Easton wrote. We urge the Israeli authorities to return our equipment and enable us to reinstate our live feed immediately so we can continue to provide this important visual journalism to thousands of media outlets around the world, the statement concluded. The foreign broadcaster law was passed in Israel in April, with its first target being Al Jazeeras Israel operations. Israeli officials used the law to close down the offices of the Qatar-based broadcaster on May 5 and confiscated its equipment, banned the channels broadcasts, and blocked its websites. The post Israeli Government Shuts Down AP Live Feed From Gaza, Seizes Equipment as New Media Law Takes Effect appeared first on TheWrap. A screenshot taken from AP video showing a general view of northern Gaza as seen from Southern Israel, before it was seized by Israeli officials on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Israeli officials seized a camera and broadcasting equipment belonging to The Associated Press in southern Israel on Tuesday, accusing the news organization of violating the countrys new ban on Al Jazeera. Shortly before the equipment was seized, it was broadcasting a general view of northern Gaza. (AP Photo) NEW YORK (AP) Israel's shutdown and seizure of an Associated Press video camera that provided a live glimpse into Gaza alarmed many journalists, who worried Tuesday about wider implications for coverage of a war largely fought out of the world's sight to begin with. After widespread condemnation, including a call by the Biden administration for Israel to back off, authorities returned the AP's equipment late Tuesday. Israel had justified its move by saying the agency violated a new media law that bans Al Jazeera, since the Qatari satellite channel is one of thousands of customers that receive live AP video. By early Wednesday, the APs live video of Gaza was back up in Israel. The camera confiscated earlier, located in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, was not the only one the AP operated in Israel or Gaza the company would not say how many it uses regularly nor is the AP the only news organization to do so. Agence France-Presse confirmed it has frequently used such cameras in Israel and also sells its images to Al Jazeera. Israel's move to restrict AP's work today is extremely concerning and a clear attack on press freedom, said Phil Chetwynd, AFP's global news director. News organizations expressed worry about the potential ambiguity in how Israel's law could be enforced. What, they asked, prevents Israel from shutting down the news cooperative's operations in the country altogether? It also could allow Israel to block media coverage of virtually any news event on vague security grounds, Israel's Foreign Press Association said in a statement. OTHERS ARE LIKELY WATCHING ISRAEL'S ACTIONS Israel also denies foreign journalists entry into Gaza to cover a war that began following Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks inside the Jewish state, and has been criticized for not doing enough to protect Palestinian journalists and civilians. The country seems to be grasping at anything that hurts Al Jazeera, said Thomas Kent, former president and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and an international consultant on media ethics. Its latest step damages a reputable news organization at a time the country would seem to want independent news coverage, Kent said. A democracy acting in this way also sends a disturbing signal to authoritarian countries, he said. You have to look at the larger picture, said Kent, also a former standards editor and international correspondent at the AP. They're giving fuel to other countries that would love to seize equipment and shut down transmissions. The move against the AP set off a debate within Israel. Yair Lapid, opposition leader to the Netanyahu government, called it an act of madness. Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, who accused the AP of violating the countrys law, said it clearly states that any device used to deliver content to Al Jazeera could be seized. We will continue to act decisively against anyone who tries to harm our soldiers and the security of the state, even if you dont like it, Karhi responded to Lapid on X. The AP's camera in Sderot was operated 24 hours a day and was also attended by staff members. A staffer can be used to move or focus the camera to cover news that may be happening, and also to avoid capturing military moves. The AP says it complies with military censorship rules that prohibit the broadcast of troop movements that could endanger soldiers. STATIONARY CAMERAS ARE COMMON News organizations frequently place cameras that can operate remotely at various places around the globe, either in an area where news is happening or simply to provide a view of a city skyline. These shots have many uses providing a backdrop for a television station reporting on developments, or as a livestream feature on a website. Earlier in the Gaza war, footage from such cameras helped news organizations conduct forensic investigations into who was responsible for a military strike on a Palestinian hospital. The AP is the biggest supplier of live video news coverage to newsrooms across the world, said AP Vice President Paul Haven, the agency's head of news gathering. Our live video provides a window of what's happening around the world on any given day, allowing audiences to see events for themselves as they unfold, Haven said. The Committee to Protect Journalists said it was deeply disturbed by Israel's actions on Tuesday. Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ program director, said the country should allow all international media outlets, including Al Jazeera, to operate freely in the country. While Israel's return of the equipment is a positive development, the underlying issue has not disappeared. We remain concerned about the Israeli government's use of the foreign broadcaster law and the ability of independent journalists to operate freely in Israel, said AP spokeswoman Lauren Easton. ___ David Bauder writes about media for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://twitter.com/dbauder. FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Gallant hold a joint press conference at Israel's Ministry of Defense, in Tel Aviv By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel on Tuesday urged "nations of the civilised world" to oppose the International Criminal Court prosecutor's request for arrest warrants against its leaders, and to declare they would ignore the warrants. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who along with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was named in Monday's announcement at The Hague, called it a "disgraceful" bid to interfere in Israel's more than seven-month-old Gaza war against Hamas. Israel's anger is echoed in Washington, which condemned the impression of equivalence given by the fact that the prosecutor, Karim Khan, simultaneously sought warrants against leaders of the Palestinian Islamist group. "We call on the nations of the civilised, free world - nations who despise terrorists and anyone who supports them - to stand by Israel. You should outright condemn this step," government spokesperson Tal Heinrich said. "Make sure the ICC understands where you stand. Oppose the prosecutor's decision and declare that, even if warrants are issued, you do not intend to enforce them. Because this is not about our leaders. It's about our survival." In a post on X, Gallant said: "The attempt by Prosecutor Karim Khan to deny the State of Israel the right to self-defence and to free its hostages must be rejected out of hand." Hamas holds around 125 hostages seized during its cross-border rampage on Oct. 7, which killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and triggered the war. Gaza medical officials say more than 35,000 have been killed during the Israeli offensive. Khan said on Monday that Israel did have the right to defend its population but added: "That right, however, does not absolve Israel or any state of its obligation to comply with international humanitarian law." He said that, whatever Israel's military goals in Gaza, the prosecution believed its methods - "namely, intentionally causing death, starvation, great suffering, and serious injury to body or health of the civilian population" - were criminal. The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, said there was no comparing "actions taken by a democratic government here with the behaviour of a terrorist organisation that is fighting in a way that has created these conditions". "I don't think that a day has gone by that I haven't worked with either the prime minister or the defence minister or somebody in their immediate circle on how you get humanitarian assistance to starving people," he added, speaking at a conference. Asked if Netanyahu or Gallant would avoid travelling to ICC-signatory countries if arrest warrants were issued, Heinrich said: "Let's wait and see." (Writing by Dan Williams, additional reporting by Stephanie van den Berg in The Hague; editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Kevin Liffey) WASATCH COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) A semi-truck traveling southbound on U.S.-189 lost control and crashed into Deer Creek Reservoir on Monday night, according to the Utah Highway Patrol. Lieutenant Cameron Roden with UHP told ABC4.com that the semi-truck lost control before it jackknifed and hit the guard rail. After hitting the guard rail, the semi-truck went into the reservoir. READ NEXT: California car crash kills LDS senior missionary, hospitalizes companion The cab of the semi-truck was submerged and the trailer was protruding from the water. The Utah Department of Public Safety said the tank ruptured in the crash releasing propane gas into the air. Due to the hazmat situation, Utah Highway Patrol closed SR-189 in both directions. That closure lasted overnight while the trailer continued to vent off the gas. Hazmat crews eventually brought in equipment to remove the tanker from Deer Creek Reservoir once they deemed it was safe to do so. The Department of Public safety said the male driver of the semi-truck was found dead inside the cab of the truck as it was brought back up onto the roadway. The crash is currently under investigation to determine what may have caused the crash. There is no further information at this time. 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 ABC4 Utah. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. In line with the President of Azerbaijan's decree declaring 2024 as the Green World Solidarity Year and marking the International Day of Plant Health, the Plant Health Forum titled Towards a Green World has kicked off in Baku, Trend reports. The event, organized jointly by the Food Safety Agency of Azerbaijan (FSA) and the Ministry of Agriculture of Azerbaijan, is attended by representatives of a number of government agencies, foreign countries, international organizations, and experts. The forum, scheduled to take place on May 2122, aims to create a platform for collaboration on protecting plants and plant products from pests, promoting plant health through pest control, and expanding production. It also seeks to ensure the safe trade of plants and plant products, enhance global food security, and conserve biodiversity. Participants will include national plant health institutions, regional and international organizations, government agencies, and experts. Speaking at the event, Goshgar Tahmazli, chairman of the Food Security Agency of Azerbaijan, stated that the agency is implementing extensive measures to protect Azerbaijan from new dangerous plant diseases. "The Agency has expanded phytosanitary measures on the import of agricultural planting materials, such as tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes, to shield the country from viral and bacterial plant diseases spreading in neighboring regions and to safeguard the production and export of crop products. In 2023, 829 notifications regarding quarantine pests found in imported plants and plant products were sent to exporting countries, with 49 pests detected in planting and sowing materials. As part of phytosanitary control measures, the agency imposed temporary bans on imports from several importers due to detected non-compliance. Additionally, the agency developed and implemented the National Monitoring Plan to systematize observations and monitoring on primary production farms of major export-potential crops, including tomatoes, potatoes, onions, pomegranates, strawberries, and grapes. Under this plan, 1,380 crop farms were monitored in 2023. Laboratory tests revealed 176 quarantine pests in 172 farms, and necessary measures were taken," he said. The chairman also highlighted the agency's significant efforts to improve the legal framework in the field of plant health. Representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the Milli Majlis Committee on Agrarian Policy, the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, the Partnership and Coordination Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Azerbaijan, and the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision of Russia (Rosselkhoznadzor) also addressed the forum. The speakers discussed the agrarian reforms in Azerbaijan, the progress in crop production, and the achievements in this field. They praised the efforts of the relevant agencies to enhance the plant health system in Azerbaijan, addressing modern challenges. They expressed confidence that this forum would further contribute to ensuring plant health and food security both in Azerbaijan and the broader region. The event continued with sessions on "The Role of Sustainable Agricultural Practices in Pest Management Under Climate Change: In the Context of COP29" and "Research and Human Resource Capacity in Plant Health." During these sessions, participants engaged in discussions and answered questions. Additionally, a Panel of Phytosanitary Experts was established. Tomorrow, the forum will host sessions on "Pest Management Practices in Fruit Production Plots," "Pest Management Practices in Greenhouses," "Pest Management Practices in Annual Crops Production Plots," and "Proper Use of Plant Protection Products and Application of Biological Control Methods." Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel Jailed Guatemalan journalist to AP: 'I can defend myself, because I am innocent Police escort Guatemalan journalist Jose Ruben Zamora, founder of El Periodico newspaper, to court in handcuffs for a hearing in Guatemala City, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Zamora has served almost two years of his six-year sentence in a money laundering case that press freedom groups decry as political persecution aimed at silencing a critical voice. Zamora denies the charge and seeks his release. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) GUATEMALA CITY (AP) Jose Ruben Zamora has spent nearly two years locked in a dark 16- by 13-foot cell in a Guatemalan prison, allowed only one hour a day in the sunlight. The journalists money laundering conviction was tossed out, and last week a judge finally ordered his conditional release to await a new trial. But the 67-year-old founder of the newspaper El Periodico never made it out. Two more cases against him include detention orders. In a jail house interview Tuesday, Zamora told The Associated Press that he had heard he would be arrested in July 2022 a week before agents came for him. But, he said, it never crossed my mind to flee. I have to face justice because I can defend myself, because I am innocent. International press freedom organizations have labeled Zamoras arrest and detention a political prosecution. Zamora concurs. He contends his legal problems were engineered by former President Alejandro Giammattei, who appeared many times in the pages of El Periodico accused of corruption. Zamora said his treatment has improved somewhat since President Bernardo Arevalo took office in January, but the bar was low. His first day in prison in July 2022, he had only a towel his wife had given him, which he used to cover the bare mattress where he sleeps. He went two weeks without talking to another prisoner. His only outside contact was with his lawyers, a changing cast of more than 10, two of whom were eventually also charged with obstructing justice. Things always got worse for him before a hearing. There was one day when the head of the prison came to take me out of the cell every time I bathed or went to the bathroom, he wanted to search me, Zamora said. One night before a hearing, workers began installing bars near his cell starting at 6 p.m. and going to 5 a.m., he said. The long hours without daylight, the isolation and being awakened several times a night by guards amount to psychological torture, Zamora said. Listen to how it sounds when it closes, Zamora said of his steel cell door. Imagine that six times a night. Zamora constantly brings up details of his cases. The only one to earn him a sentence later thrown out was for money laundering. Zamora explained that a well-known painter friend of his had donated a painting, which he then sold to pay the newspapers debts. He believes his newspapers critical reporting on Giammatteis administration led to the prosecutions by Attorney General Consuelo Porras, who Giammattei put up for a second term before leaving office. The other cases revolve around alleged obstruction of justice and falsifying documents. There are no trial dates for any of the cases. That case just like this one is staged, Zamora said. There's nothing supporting it. It will collapse for them the same way. A JEA leader is denying that the series of events that led to an interim CEO at the utility was a coup, amid a City of Jacksonville Office of Inspector General investigation first reported Monday by Action News Jaxs Ben Becker. The JEA board of directors approved a one-year, $560,000 contract for interim CEO Vickie Cavey on Tuesday to replace former CEO Jay Stowe. Its as questions remain about the hiring process, including possible Sunshine Law violations and Charter interpretations. There are also separate questions about Caveys resume and her involvement with the troubled Plant Vogtle nuclear power plant. Becker first reported Monday that multiple sources told him the Inspector General is examining the actions of the JEA board. Ive spoken to people who describe this a coup, what do you say? Becker asked JEA Board Chair Joe DiSalvo. No completely false, DiSalvo said. Stowe did nothing wrong. We had a difference of opinion on capital projects, simple as that. You can make a big deal out of it, but it was as simple as that. RELATED: Sources: OIG investigating hiring of JEA CEO for possible state and local violations How did she become a candidate if there were no discussions beforehand? Becker asked. DiSalvo said he had no knowledge of prior talks before Cavey was first offered the position on April 15, but later, Cavey did admit board member Bobby Stein came to her to gauge her interest in the job. The Inspector General will delve into who knew what and when. Cavey spent 32 years at the utility, including as Director of Strategy Development and Execution, and came out of retirement in March to serve as a liaison to the board. RELATED: JEA CEO Jay Stowe resigns, Vickie Cavey selected as interim CEO Her resume from 2001-2012 said she was responsible for negotiation and management of all purchased power agreements for JEA. It would appear to include the Plant Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia. The contract did not have a cap and turned out to be seven years behind schedule and will cost JEA customers approximately $5 billion. Cavey: I did not negotiate Vogtle. Becker: According to your resume you did, is your resume not accurate? [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] Separately, the Inspector General will also examine her hiring as it relates to a city council ordinance that passed in 2020. It changed JEAs Charter requiring a Managing Director/CEO to have five years of executive experience with a utility. Caveys resume indicates she has never held an executive title at JEA like Vice President or Chief. A JEA organizational chart from 2016 shows she had no direct reports. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] She has the right experience to do this job, DiSalvo said. Becker pressed Cavey for answers as she was leaving the meeting. Vickie, I would like to know how you are eligible for this position if you have never had executive-level experience? Becker asked. Cavey never responded as she walked away into a restricted area. 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. (FOX40.COM) JetBlue will not be offering direct flights from the Sacramento International Airport to two cities on the East Coast later this year. A spokesperson from the airline told FOX40.com it will suspend direct flights from SMF to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and Logan International Airport in Boston for the winter season starting Oct. 27. JetBlue said the suspended service is part of a larger effort to refocus our network. JetBlue is constantly evaluating our routes to best serve our customers, return our airline to profitability, and find ways to improve our reliability, the airline said in a statement. Southwest Airlines offering new nonstop flights between Sacramento and Kansas City SMF officials told FOX40.com they were informed by JetBlue that its JFK service was only seasonal and a return date to service is not known at this time. The direct flight to Boston was the only nonstop destination to Massachusetts from SMF, according to the airports website. The next closest direct flight from Sacramento to New York is Newark, New Jersey, which is offered through United. 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. President Joe Bidens effort to improve voters view of his mental fitness took a hit when the White House corrected numerous errors from a recent speech. In his address to the NAACP on Sunday, the official transcript fixed several mistakes some of which conservative media jumped on, Mediaite reported. Polling has shown that voters are more concerned about Bidens acuity than Republican rival Donald Trump while both rack up blunders on the campaign trail. Theyll square off in a debate in June. In talking to the NAACP, Biden mistakenly implied he was vice president during the pandemic, which was crossed out while recession was added in brackets. He referred to insurrectionists as irrectionists, which was amended, and said his administration was cracking down on landlords who keep rents down. The who was crossed out and replaced by a to. Biden told the civil rights group he was humbled to receive this organization, when he meant award, the transcript showed. He also committed a double gaffe on the matter of insurance premiums. He said his administration saved families $800,000 a year, quickly changed it to $8,000 during the speech but the transcript altered it to $800. At one point he called the group the NAAC and collected other small errors on usage and spelling. Biden has talked about his battles with a stutter, which can cause missteps in speech, but its unclear whether the recent rash of blunders has anything to do with it. HuffPost has reached out to the White House for comment. Biden called out Trump to debate him last week after the former president repeatedly challenged him. The presidents former press secretary, Jen Psaki, applauded Biden for being proactive in aggressively initiating the two scheduled debates and the ground rules for them. Related... SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) The man who bludgeoned Nancy Pelosis husband with a hammer in 2022 will be given a chance to speak before he is resentenced by a federal judge next week. David DePape, 44, was given the maximum prison sentence on Friday: 20 years for attempting to kidnap Nancy Pelosi from her San Francisco home, and 30 years for beating Paul Pelosi with a hammer. The sentences will run concurrently. U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley made an error during Fridays hearing when she failed to ask DePape if he wanted to make a statement before she handed down his sentence. David DePape and Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley listen in court on May 17, 2024 at the federal courthouse in San Francisco. (Courtroom sketch by Vicki Behringer) The judge scheduled a new sentencing hearing for May 28 to correct her error in the high-profile case. God knows what hes going to say, with all of his mental issues, legal expert Michael Cardoza told KRON4. The judges blunder may or may not, shave time off DePapes 30-year sentence, Cardoza said. Judges make mistakes. You hate to see it happen on this large of a stage, he added. Cardoza said DePapes defense team could seize on the error to try to appeal his case. Under federal criminal procedure rules, the judge was required to address the defendant personally in order to permit the defendant to speak or present any information to mitigate the sentence. It was the Courts responsibility to personally ask Mr. DePape if he wanted to speak. As the Court did not do so, it committed clear error, Corley wrote in court documents filed Saturday. David DePape records a nude wedding outside San Francisco City Hall on Dec. 19, 2013. (AP Photo / Eric Risberg / File) For his federal trial, DePape testified in self-defense. He admitted that he broke into the Pelosis San Francisco home on Oct. 28, 2022, intending to hold the speaker hostage and video tape her admitting that the government was corrupt. Only four people were given a chance to speak in court at Fridays hearing: Angela Chuang, DePapes defense attorney; Laura Vartain, Assistant United States Attorney; Christine Pelosi, daughter of Nancy and Paul Pelosi; and Jacqueline Scott Corley, the judge who presided over the trial. Christine Pelosi read victim impact letters written by her parents to the courtroom. Christine Pelosi reads a letter written by her mother, Nancy Pelosi, in court on May 17, 2024 at the federal courthouse in San Francisco. (Courtroom sketch by Vicki Behringer) Vartain urged the judge to give DePape a stiff sentence. This is no patriot, this is a domestic terrorist. A lone wolf domestic terrorist, Vartain said. Chuang told the judge that in the months leading up to October of 2022, DePapes life had spiraled down to a very low point in his life. DePape was living alone in a garage in Richmond, spent his time watching YouTube videos filled with right-wing conspiracy theories, and he was estranged from his family, Chaung said. In rants posted online earlier in 2022, DePape echoed a baseless, right-wing QAnon conspiracy theory that claims devil-worshipping pedophiles run the U.S. government. David DePape testifies at his federal trial in San Francisco on Nov. 14, 2023 while a prosecutor holds the hammer. (Courtroom sketch courtesy Vicki Behringer) He was socially isolated. He spent every waking hour listening to conspiracy theories. These were conditions in which, all of that combined to create a perfect storm, Chaung told the judge. On Friday, Judge Corley had stern words for DePape for making an unprecedented decision to invade a politicians private home. The judge also admonished him for taunting America when he told a Bay Area TV station that he wished he had the chance to attack more political targets. Chuang told the judge to consider the prison terms being given to those who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The five most serious sentences for people who were convicted of seditious conspiracy, of literally conspiring to overthrow the government, range from 15 to 22 years, the defense attorney said. Judge Corley said the Jan. 6 analogy didnt reflect the seriousness of breaking into an elected officials private home. DePape will appear in court for his new sentencing hearing at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 28. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 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 KRON4. A federal judge will reopen the sentencing hearing for the man convicted of assaulting Paul Pelosi after the judge failed to let him speak during last weeks sentencing hearing. The decision comes just days after Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley sentenced David DePape to 30 years in prison for breaking into the California home of Pelosi. DePape was convicted in the attack on the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and was also sentenced to 20 years for trying to kidnap Pelosi. The two sentences are to run simultaneously, and DePape will receive credit for the 18 months he has already served. In a filing over the weekend, Corley said there was a clear error after she failed to allow DePape to speak during the Friday hearing. A new hearing was scheduled for May 28. While neither federal prosecutors nor DePapes defense team mentioned Corleys error in the hearing, prosecutors filed a motion hours later stating the court failed to give DePape the opportunity to speak or present any information to mitigate the sentencing, in violation of a federal rule. The prosecutors asked the court to reopen the sentencing hearing, noting the court has 14 days to correct the sentencing. The prosecutors noted, however, that DePapes defense team filed an appeal shortly after Fridays sentencing and opposed the motion to bring him back to court. The Hill has reached out to the prosecutors and DePapes attorney for comment. DePape, 44, was convicted last year for the 2022 assault, in which he attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer. In court last fall, he offered an apology for his actions. He told the court he went to the couples home to talk to the former Speaker about alleged Russian involvement in the 2016 election, and that he planned to wear a costume and post his interrogation of her online. DePape told police last year he believed there was evil in Washington and that he looked to harm Pelosi because she was second in line for the presidency, according to an Associated Press report, citing a San Francisco police investigator. He said he felt bad after hearing testimony from a neurosurgeon who operated on Pelosi after the attack and described Pelosis injuries on the stand. He was never my target, and Im sorry that he got hurt, DePape said at the time. The Department of Justice was seeking a 40-year sentence for DePape, demanding the maximum penalties for the counts. Before DePape was sentenced last week, Paul Pelosi detailed the challenges he faced following the incident in a filing to Corley. My head injuries continue to affect my life. My hair grew back but I have bumps on my head from the hammer blows and a metal plate from skull surgery. The dizziness has not gone away, Pelosi wrote to Corley. It has taken many months to reclaim my home and well-being. Even so, we do not answer our landline phone or our front door due to ongoing threats. I ask that you consider the premeditated kidnapping of my wife, the vicious assault on my life, and the ongoing physical and mental injuries caused by the defendant and sentence him to the fullest extent the law provides, he added in a victim impact statement filed last Friday. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. A man has been convicted for a 2021 high-speed police pursuit in which he fired a gun at officers while driving recklessly through a Sacramento neighborhood, prosecutors said. On Thursday, a jury found 23-year-old Ismael Herrera-Mondello guilty of five counts of attempted murder on a police officer, seven counts of assault on a police officer with a semi-automatic firearm and felony evasion of police, the Sacramento County District Attorneys Office announced Monday in a news release. Herrera-Mondello also was convicted of vehicle theft, three counts of shooting at an inhabited home and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Prosecutors said Herrera-Mondello ran into a home and hid inside, firing gunshots at police throughout the standoff until officers used tear gas to force him out and take him into custody about 8:30 p.m. that night. The police chase began a few hours earlier on July 7, 2021. Officers spotted a stolen vehicle shortly before 5 p.m. near 65th Street and Fruitridge Road, the Sacramento Police Department has said. The officers tried to pull over the stolen vehicle, but the driver later identified as Herrera-Mondello refused to stop. Prosecutors said Herrera-Mondello sped away and drove recklessly through the residential neighborhood, repeatedly firing a semiautomatic gun at officers during the police pursuit. One of the bullets struck a nearby home. The chase lasted about 10 minutes, before the fleeing stolen vehicle reached a dead end near 38th and Wallace avenues. Police said Herrera-Mondello then got out of the vehicle and ran into Sacramentos Avondale neighborhood. Prosecutors said Herrera-Mondello ran to the back of a home and tried to get inside by kicking the garage door and breaking a window, before he jumped over a fence into another backyard and broke into the home by firing a gunshot into the back door. Police said he fired a gunshot into a glass door. A Sacramento police officer on Lemon Hill Avenue mans a roadblock at Belleview Avenue in south Sacramento on July 7, 2021, after multiple law enforcement agencies responded to reports of a man who shot at police officers. Ismael Herrera-Mondello was found guilty Thursday on numerous charges including five counts of attempted murder. A resident inside heard an intruder enter and ran out of the homes front door. Police surrounded the home. The Police Departments SWAT team, crisis negotiators and aerial drone teams were called to the home. A few hours had gone by with little to no movement inside the surrounded house when several officers positioned outside the home reported shots fired at them. Prosecutors said Herrera-Mondello, who had positioned himself in the attic and was shooting at officers from a vent not visible to officers, continued to fire at officers and SWAT team members. Officers used armored vehicles to get closer to the home while facing gunfire. Shortly after the gunshots were fired at the officers, the SWAT team launched teargas into the home, according to the District Attorneys Office. Herrera-Mondello came out of the home and was taken into custody. Prosecutors said police did not return fire at any point. Police said no residents or officers were injured during the incident; Herrera-Mondello suffered minor injuries. Prosecutors said officers searched the home and found two semi-automatic handguns and two 9 mm handguns without serial numbers. The officers also found two empty 9 mm ammunition magazines capable of holding 21 and 10 bullets. All 16 shell casings collected along the path of the police pursuit, the stolen vehicle and affected homes were fired from one of the handguns found inside the home where Herrera-Mondello hid for more than three hours, according to the District Attorneys Office. Herrera-Mondello remained in custody Monday afternoon at the Sacramento County Jail. He is scheduled to return June 28 for his sentencing in Sacramento Superior Court. Prosecutors said Herrera-Mondello faces a maximum sentence of 195 years and 8 months to life in prison. Watch a previous report on the shooting in the video player above. COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) A Columbus man was found not guilty of all charges stemming from a fatal June 2023 shooting on the northeast side of the city. On Monday, a jury found Thomas N. Hampton, 32, not guilty of the seven charges he was facing. Thomas Hampton (Courtesy Franklin County Sheriffs Office) Hampton was arrested on June 26 in connection with a shooting on the 1600 block of East 26th Avenue in Columbus Argyle Park neighborhood. FBI most wanted suspect from Columbus to remain in federal custody on swatting charges The jury found Hampton not guilty of two murder charges, two felonious assault charges, and one charge each of attempted murder, discharge of a firearm on or near a prohibited premise, and tampering with evidence. James Cunningham, 31, died in the shooting. A second victim, a 32-year-old man, was hospitalized in critical condition. 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 NBC4 WCMH-TV. Just curious: This occasional feature in the Des Moines Register aims to answer your questions about Iowa. Is there some place, event, lore, history or cultural quirk you're just curious about? Email your question to the Des Moines Register's Bill Steiden at wsteiden@registermedia.com. It's been eight decades since America sent its troops across the oceans to fight in World War II, but many Iowa communities still remember their local service members from that war, and in particular, those who received the nation's highest military honor for going above and beyond the call of duty. Ten Iowa soldiers were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for their service in World War II, according to the Iowa Veterans Remembrance Project. They include a bomber pilot who went down with his plane so his crew could escape; a sergeant who fought off an attack despite an enemy tank blowing off his leg, and one of only seven Black soldiers from the war to receive the Medal of Honor. Here are their stories, based on historical records and their official medal citations. Vernon Baker, Clarinda Vernon Baker Vernon Baker was born in Wyoming but lived with family in Iowa as a child and graduated from Clarinda High School. In 1941, he enlisted in the Army and was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1943. In April 1945, Baker led his platoon in an assault on a medieval Italian castle fortified by Germany. Crawling through enemy fire, Baker destroyed several observation and machinegun posts and then, when his men were forced to retreat, he drew enemy fire onto himself to allow his surviving men to evacuate their wounded. In total 19 of the 25 men in the platoon were killed or wounded during the battle. More: This Black Iowan saved hundreds of soldiers in WWI. Should he have received a Medal of Honor? Baker, who was Black, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions at the time. In the 1990s, a military commission reviewed World War II service records, leading to determinations that seven Black service members should have been awarded the Medal of Honor but had been rejected because of their race. Of those seven, only Baker, who retired from the army in 1968, was still alive to see his award upgraded in 1994. He died in 2010. Arthur Beyer, Rock Township In January 1945, Cpl. Arthur Beyer was serving as gunner on a tank destroyer in Belgium when his unit came under fire from German infantry armed with machine guns and antitank weapons. Leaving his vehicle, Beyer advanced on foot and single-handedly fought his way down a quarter-mile length of enemy emplacements and foxholes, killing eight, capturing 18 and silencing four heavy weapons. Beyer lived in North Dakota after the war and died in 1965. Herschel Briles, Colfax Staff Sgt. Hershel Briles received his Medal of Honor for several actions in November 1944 as Allied forces pushed into Germany. A column of tank destroyers Briles was leading came under German artillery fire, suffering a direct hit on one vehicle. Briles and another soldier left their own vehicle, under fire, to rescue two badly wounded men from the stricken tank destroyer and extinguish the blaze. More: Freedom Rock honors Indianola Medal of Honor recipient The next morning, Briles engaged a German infantry attack with his vehicle machine gun, forcing 55 of them to surrender and breaking a hole in the enemy lines. And later that day, after another of his tank destroyers was hit by enemy fire, he again left his vehicle to rescue two wounded crew members and extinguish the fire before the tank destroyer's ammunition could explode. Briles survived the war and returned to Iowa, where he died in 1994. Dale Christensen, Cameron Township Dale Christensen joined the Army in 1940, and by July 1944 was a lieutenant leading a platoon with the 112th Cavalry Regiment in action in New Guinea. Over the course of three days, Christensen single-handedly attacked and destroyed a Japanese machine gun position and personally scouted and led an assault that overran a Japanese defensive work, capturing numerous weapons. At one point during the combat, Christensen's rifle was shot out of his hands. He continued his advance, assaulting enemy positions with grenades. On the third day of action, Christensen was killed leading an assault on another Japanese defensive post. Darrell Lindsey, Jefferson Darrell Lindsey enlisted as an aviation cadet barely a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor and trained as a bomber pilot. Throughout 1944, he flew 45 missions over France in B-26 medium bombers, before, during and after the D-Day invasion. During Lindsey's 46th mission, in August 1944, he piloted the lead plane in a formation of 30 bombers to attack a key railroad bridge. Although the aircraft was struck by ground fire, Lindsey finished his bombing run, then held the wounded plane in a steady glide so other crew members could bail out, refusing his bombardier's offer to help him bail out as well. Shortly after the last of his crew left the plane, its fuel tank exploded, sending the bomber, with Lindsey still aboard, to the earth in flames. Ralph Neppel, Willey Ralph Neppel enlisted in the Army in March 1943, and fought in France as part of the 83rd Infantry Division. In December 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge, Neppel was a sergeant leading a machine gun squad defending the village of Birgel when they were attacked by a German tank supported by 20 infantry. Neppel opened fire on the foot soldiers, killing several, but was then struck by an explosive round from the tank that wounded his entire squad. The blast severed one of his legs, damaged the other badly enough that it was later amputated, and knocked him back 10 yards. Neppel crawled back to his gun and resumed fire, killing the remaining infantry and forcing the tank to withdraw. Despite losing his legs, Neppel returned to Iowa to marry his fiancee, manage the family farm, and work for decades as a contact representative for the Veterans Administration. He died of cancer in 1987, and the VA named a new wing of its Iowa City hospital for him in 1989. Arlo Olson, Greenville Born in Greenville, Iowa, Arlo Olson moved with his family to South Dakota at age 10, and was commissioned as an Army officer after graduating from the University of South Dakota in 1940. In October 1943, serving as a captain with the 3rd Infantry Division in Italy, Olson led his troops across the chest-deep Volturno River through heavy enemy fire and eliminated several German machine gun nests. After two weeks of further combat, Olson led his soldiers in attacks on several German strongholds in the area of Mont San Nicola, capturing them, before finally being mortally wounded while scouting for further enemy positions. He died while being carried down the mountain. Francis Pierce, Earlville Francis Pierce turned 17 on Dec. 7, 1941 the day Pearl Harbor was attacked. He enlisted in the Navy a week later, eventually being trained as a medical corpsman with the U.S. Marines. He served in a number of campaigns in the Pacific, including the Battle of Iwo Jima. More: Medal of Honor winner: 'I am as ordinary as they come' There, in March 1945, Pierce was part of a medical party that was pinned down by enemy fire while transporting two casualties to an aid station, wounding a corpsman and two stretcher bearers. Pierce took charge of getting the group to shelter and repeatedly ran back to rescue the remaining wounded, fighting off attackers and carrying injured Marines on his back through enemy fire. The following day, Pierce was seriously wounded while leading a patrol but refused treatment and provided covering fire until other wounded were cared for. After the war, Pierce moved to Michigan and began a career in law enforcement, culminating in a 10-year term as deputy chief of the Grand Rapids Police Department. He died of cancer in 1986. Paul Riordan, Charles City Second Lt. Paul Riordan joined the army in 1940 and fought with the 34th Infantry Division during the invasion of Italy. In February 1944, Riordan led an assault that successfully dislodged a German defensive position outside the city of Cassino, exposing himself to enemy fire to do so. Five days later, during the assault on Cassino itself, Riordan's platoon was assigned to capture a German strongpoint. Riordan took the lead and was able to get past the outer ring of defenses, but his troops were cut off by the intense enemy fire. Knowing he was separated, Riordan assaulted the building by himself and slew several defenders before being killed. John Thorson, Armstrong The son of Norwegian immigrants, John Thorson graduated from Armstrong High School in 1941 and joined the Army the following year. Thorson served throughout the Pacific until October 1944, when he was killed while attacking a Japanese defensive position on Dagami Leyte in the Philippines. Moving ahead of his platoon, Thorson singlehandedly attacked a trench manned by several enemy riflemen and was badly wounded. When the rest of the platoon approached, an enemy grenade landed among them, and Thorson moved to smother the blast with his body, dying instantly. William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: How many Medal of Honor recipients from World War II are from Iowa? Chairman of parliament Shalva Papuashvili announced that Parliament will override the President's veto on the "Foreign Agents" law.According to Papuashvili, the motivated remarks will be submitted to the Legal Committee for consideration during the Bureau's meeting and will be presented at the plenary session next week.The Parliament Chairman stated that President Salome Zourabichvili closed the possibility for a discussion on the law by using the veto."I don't know where, or from whom, she receives her directives, but just as the hope and potential for meaningful discussion emerged, Salome Zourabichvili promptly shut it down. Now, we can question whose instructions she is following," he said.Papuashvili accused the President's decision to set a one-day validity period for the law in her veto of being a mockery of society."Ms. Salome used all methods to show that she does not consider herself a citizen of this country, and this constitution is not her constitution. She does not consider these people her people. She mocks the Georgian people by suggesting that we should adopt a law that is effective for only one day. This is a general mockery of the Georgian people. After violating the constitution, she started mocking the Georgian people.[...] Of course, the parliament will override this veto because it demonstrates the Georgian essence of this law," Papuashvili said.At the Finance and Budget Committee meeting, the committee did not support the President's veto on the "Offshore Law". The final decision will be made in a plenary session vote.In her motivated remarks, the President of Georgia completely removed the clause from the law that exempted assets registered in countries with preferential taxation (so-called offshore) from profit/income and import tax when transferred to a company registered in Georgia.The draft law also addressed tax amnesty, which remains unchanged in the President's motivational remarks.According to the Georgian President, these legislative changes contain serious political and economic risks. Zourachvili stated that it is unacceptable and inadmissible to adopt the law in an accelerated manner.The President wrote that this law creates a discriminatory environment for investors and their investments. Zourabichvili emphasized that it is important not to create the risk of bypassing the law in the fight against money laundering.The President also pointed out that the law did not provide financial justification.At the committee meeting, the majority deputies announced that they will override the veto. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Azerbaijani Mine Action Agency Samir Poladov held a meeting with a delegation headed by the head of the Azerbaijan Society Tarlan Ahmadov operating in Maine (USA), Trend reports via ANAMA. According to the delegation, the mission was to discuss the post-war mine threat. The Maine delegation, which included officials and public representatives, was briefed on the agency's history, general directions, the mine problem in liberated territories, the effects of mines on human life and the environment, as well as humanitarian demining operations. In addition to answering questions from the delegation, the meeting covered topics such as the coordinated reconstruction activities in liberated from occupation territories, the possibility of cooperation in combating mine threats, the role of local and international organizations in demining. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel More than 3,000 convicts have applied for conditional release to join Ukraine's Armed Forces, Deputy Justice Minister Olena Vysotska said on national television on May 21. President Volodymyr Zelensky last week signed into law a bill permitting citizens convicted under certain charges to serve in the military. The total number of recruited prisoners is affected by the law's restrictions on certain categories, their health, and the opinion of the commanders of the units where they can serve, Vysotska said. The list of convicted citizens who are allowed to join the military does not include those convicted of premeditated murder, sexual violence, drug trafficking or production, and crimes against national security. The measure will also exclude lawmakers and top officials imprisoned for corruption. "The desire of the convict, his motivation to sign a contract with the Armed Forces and then receive parole, is decisive in this law," Vysotska said. Currently, prisoners are undergoing examinations at military medical commissions and seek the approval of the commanders, after which the documents on a particular person are sent to the court, Vysotska said. "When we talk about 20,000 (recruited convicts), this is a very theoretical potential. In reality, it is 4,000-5,000. But we realized (that even this number) of motivated people... will help the Armed Forces. That is why we took this step," the deputy minister said, adding that all the figures are preliminary. The proposal was first submitted to the parliament in March as part of Ukraine's efforts to replenish the ranks of the Armed Forces amid the ongoing war with Russia. Ukraine recently updated the mobilization legal framework to ramp up draft efforts in 2024. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the new law on mobilization on April 16. Read also: Foreign Ministry to restore consular services for draft-aged men abroad on updated terms Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. MANHATTAN (KSNT) Kansas State University (K-State) announced it has received a gift that will expand the universitys music offerings. On Friday, May 17, K-State announced that Jerry A. Hall of Indianapolis, Indiana donated $375,000 to the QuVee Mock Master Class Series and $125,000 to support the Marilyn Sawin Arts Extension Across Kansas fund. The donation to the QuVee Mock Master Class Series will help K-State bring renowned artists to present at the University and provide exclusive classes. The Marilyn Sawin Arts Extension Across Kansas donation helps send K-State faculty to performing arts clinics in rural communities, according to K-State. What does it cost to be middle-class in Topeka? As a land-grant institution, K-State pledges to share knowledge and cultural enrichment with the people of Kansas, said Bryan Pinkall, director of the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance. When we bring up the topic of extension, what usually comes to mind are horticulture or nutrition programs. But the arts are equally vital to those efforts, and were grateful to Jerry for helping us elevate and extend our programs. Hall is a 1986 K-State graduate who received his bachelors degree in music and another in biochemistry and biophysics. Hall was awarded a doctoral degree in medicine by the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine in 1990. According to K-State, Hall developed analgesics as a clinical research physician at Lilly USA LLC, as medical director at Abbot and as a medical director for pain care at AbbVie. Consultant recommends new homeless shelter, tiny homes in Topeka Were incredibly grateful to Jerry Hall for ensuring his love of music will continue to positively impact countless students and Kansas residents for years to come, said Greg Willems, KSU Foundation president and CEO. The arts are an essential part of the student experience at K-State, and were excited to be able to spread music education of this caliber far and wide. For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. 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 KSNT 27 News. Some Kansans will pay more for internet starting next month TOPEKA (KSNT) Thousands of families across Kansas will see higher internet bills next month as a federal relief program comes to a close. Next month, the Federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), a program that gave nearly 23 million Americans a $30 monthly subsidy for internet services, is ending. The Federal Communications Commission says 132,015 households in Kansas could lose their internet access if Congress doesnt act to fund the program. Research shows a reliable broadband connection has significant positive impact on peoples lives, said Mark Greatrex, President of Cox Communications. Our work does not start or stop with the Affordable Connectivity Program, and we will continue providing access and affordable internet in the communities we serve. ACP will end on June 1, 2024, cutting subsidies to tens of thousands of Kansans. A resolution to provide $7 billion to extend ACP has been introduced to the House Committee on Appropriations. Engaged in business: ATF rule change takes effect To help customers adjust to higher internet bills this month, Cox is providing a partial ACP subsidy of $14 to regular households and $35 for households on tribal lands. If you are a Cox customer, you can learn more about Coxs affordable internet options which may provide internet relief by clicking here. For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. 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 KSNT 27 News. Kansas physicians are legally challenging a new state law that would require them to ask and publicly report patients' reasons for seeking abortion care as well as other personal information. A lawsuit claims the law "directly interferes with Kansans' bodily autonomy and their fundamental right to make their own decisions about health care," according the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing the physicians. The new law is lawmakers' latest attempt to regulate the procedure after Kansas voters, defying expectations, voted to protect abortion rights by upholding a state constitutional right to abortion -- with an overwhelming majority -- in a 2022 ballot initiative. MORE: Kansas voters preserve abortion access in high-turnout primary Abortion care is allowed in Kansas up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. The new legal challenge has been added to an ongoing lawsuit against the state attorney general and district attorneys over other abortion restrictions in the state, including state-mandated abortion counseling they claim is medically inaccurate; a law requiring physicians tell patients the "false and dangerous" claim that it is possible to reverse medication abortions; and a state-required 24-hour waiting period before patients can access care, according to the CRR. PHOTO: Abortion opponents Brittany Jones, left, and Lucrecia Nold, right, watch a state Senate session from the chamber's west gallery, April 30, 2024, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. (John Hanna/AP) Anti-abortion lawmakers in the state House and Senate bypassed a veto from Gov. Laura Kelly, advancing House Bill 2749 into law without her signature. "There is no valid medical reason to force a woman to disclose to the legislature if they have been a victim of abuse, rape, or incest prior to obtaining an abortion. There is no valid medical reason to force a woman to disclose to the legislature why she is seeking an abortion," Kelly said in a letter to the legislature. "I refuse to sign legislation that goes against the will of the majority of Kansans who spoke loudly on Aug. 2, 2022: Kansans don't want politicians involved in their private medical decisions," Kelly wrote. PHOTO: Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly participates in a ceremony honoring fallen law enforcement officers, May 3, 2024 outside the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. (John Hanna/AP) Kansas Right to Life, an anti-abortion group that requested the legislation be introduced, and the state attorney general did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment. What's in the new law? The law requires physicians to collect personal information about patients receiving abortion care and provide them to the state in a public report twice a year. While the report of abortions will not include the names of patients who sought or received the care, it requires other personal information including their age, marital status, state or country of residence, race and highest level of education. Under the new law, physicians are required to ask patients seeking abortion care what the most important factor was in determining why they sought care, except in cases of medical emergencies. PHOTO: Anti-abortion activists gather at the steps of the Kansas State Capitol, April 25, 2023, in Topeka, Kan. (Katie Bernard/The Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images, FILE) A list of factors for physicians to read patients include: "Having a baby would interfere with the patient's education, employment or career; the patient cannot provide for the child; the patient already has enough, or too many, children; the patient's husband or partner is abusive to such patient or such patient's children," according to the law. Other reasons include rape, incest, risk to the health of the mother and that the child would have a disability. The law requires "the reporting of the reasons for each abortion performed at a medical care facility or by a healthcare provider in the state," according to the law. MORE: What Kansas' abortion vote could mean for other states Medical facilities will have to keep written records of all "lawfully terminated" pregnancies and submit a written report twice a year to the secretary of health and environment, the law said. The reports must also include sworn statements by physicians who perform abortions. The reports will have to include the medical diagnosis and condition that would result in a "substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function or the medical diagnosis and condition that necessitated performance of an abortion to preserve the life of the patient," according to the law. PHOTO: In this June 24, 2022 file phoyo, Zoe Schell, from Topeka, Kan., stands on the steps of the Kansas Statehouse during a rally to protest the Supreme Court's ruling on abortion, June 24, 2022, in Topeka. (Charlie Riedel/AP, FILE) Other information physicians will need to fill out in the report include method of abortion care, whether the patient has received financial assistance from a nonprofit that supports pregnant women in the last 30 days, whether the patient has experienced domestic violence in the last 12 months and if the patient is living in a safe, stable and affordable place, according to the law. The identities of physicians and medical facilities who fill out the report are to remain confidential unless the secretary of health and environment finds reasonable cause that the law was violated, is requesting disciplinary action and reveals the information to the state board of healing arts or a state attorney general. Kansas physicians challenge law requiring public release of patients' reasons for abortions originally appeared on abcnews.go.com TOPEKA (KSNT) Kansas abortion providers have filed a legal challenge to a new law that would require providers to ask patients why theyre getting the procedure. The law is set to take effect July 1. While anti-abortion advocates say it would provide better understanding of the reasons people seek abortions, abortion rights advocates argue that it violates patient privacy and jeopardizes provider-patient relationships. The decision to have an abortion is deeply personalno one should be forced to tell the government why they are making that decision, Alice Wang, staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a press release on Monday. Its frankly frightening that the state of Kansas is attempting to collect this type of private information, and unclear how it will be used. We are committed to protecting the privacy and constitutional rights of Kansans and people fleeing states where abortion is banned. Kansans overwhelmingly voted to uphold abortion rights in 2022. However, a host of abortion-related legislation was introduced this year. Republican lawmakers passed House Bill 2749, overriding a veto from Governor Laura Kelly. In addition to asking patients why theyre getting an abortion, doctors would also be required to report the information to the state on a biannual basis. The concept of gathering data to better understand abortion is a worthwhile endeavor, Senator Mark Steffen, a Republican from Hutchinson, said during floor debates in the Senate in March. What we do know about abortion is that its not the pathway to convenience or the pursuit of happiness, because the pursuit of happiness is not convenient, but rife with difficulties, like all great accomplishments, such as motherhood. Abortion is the pathway to a life of regret and emptiness that I promise you. Former KU basketball player enters political race for Kansas Congressional seat The Center for Reproductive Rights and Planned Parenthood are asking the court to add this challenge to an ongoing case brought on behalf of Kansas abortion providers. This case was filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Arnold & Porter, Hunter Law Group, and Teresa Woody on behalf of plaintiffs Hodes & Nauser, M.D.s, P.A.; Traci Lynn Nauser, M.D.; Tristan Fowler, D.O.; and Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains. For more Capitol Bureau news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. 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 KSNT 27 News. Planned Parenthood Great Plains on Monday announced a lawsuit over an "abortion reasons" law, calling it medically unnecessary and stigmatizing. (Rachel Mipro/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA Kansas abortion providers have challenged an abortion survey law less than a month after lawmakers overrode Gov. Laura Kellys veto. Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said the law is meant to shame abortion seekers in a Monday announcement of the challenge. Kansans want their medical decisions to be their own, and we will not shame or stigmatize patients to satisfy the cruel whims of anti-abortion politicians, Wales said. This bill was never intended to improve the health of Kansans; it was meant to shame reproductive care and force patients to answer deeply personal questions that accomplish nothing beyond trauma and judgment. House Bill 2749 requires medical care facilities and providers to report womens reasons for their abortions. Kelly vetoed the bill, but the House overrode her 84-41 and the Senate completed the veto override with a 27-10 vote. Under HB 2749, abortion seekers will have to answer a series of questions before undergoing the procedure, including questions asking them if they have been raped, if they have an abusive partner, and if the pregnancy is the result of incest. The law also requires a report that includes the patients age, marital status, home state, race, education level, whether the patient received financial or social services from a nonprofit geared toward helping pregnant women, whether they experienced domestic violence the previous year, whether they live in a stable and affordable home, whether the patient was ever a reported victim of abuse and the abortion method. The Center for Reproductive Rights and Planned Parenthood are asking the court to add this challenge to an ongoing case. The groups, along with other reproductive rights groups, first filed a lawsuit in June with the Center for Reproductive Rights to ask for an injunction on several abortion requirements set out in the Womens Right to Know Act, a patchwork of legislation enacted over the past two decades that uses medically inaccurate information to dictate abortion restrictions. Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022, Kansas has become one of the few states left in the region that protects reproductive rights. As more travelers have come into the state seeking abortions, Republican lawmakers have attempted to chip away at these protections or add red tape. Lawmakers supporting the abortion reasons bill said this information was necessary to gain a sense of the abortion landscape in the state, although the state already releases a comprehensive annual abortion report. The bill was first introduced by Rep. Ron Bryce, R-Coffeyville, on behalf of the anti-abortion group Kansans for Life. During Senate debate about the law, lawmakers shared their feelings on abortion. Sen. Mark Steffen, a Hutchinson Republican, said abortion would lead to a life of regret and emptiness Every abortion kills an innocent child, Steffen said. Thats a fact. Every abortion kills an innocent child. KFL celebrated the veto override of the law, along with several other pieces of abortion legislation, in an April 29 news release. Each of these proposals will help address a truth that the vast majority of Kansans believe: that too many women feel abortion is their only choice, said Jeanne Gawdun, KFL director of government relations. Following the abortion providers lawsuit filing in June, a Johnson County district judge in October blocked a law requiring abortion providers to tell patients it might be possible to reverse a medication abortion. This supposed abortion reversal is based on junk science and has been known to cause hemorrhaging. He also blocked a mandate that anti-abortion information be given to patients in printed form, in specific typeface, font size and color, at least 24 hours in advance of an abortion, along with a section that required providers post inaccurate information on their websites and in clinics that abortions could increase risk of breast cancer and premature birth in the future a claim not supported by scientific research. The state has appealed over the decision. The decision to have an abortion is deeply personalno one should be forced to tell the government why they are making that decision, said Alice Wang, staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights. Its frankly frightening that the state of Kansas is attempting to collect this type of private information, and unclear how it will be used. The post Kansas providers challenge new abortion survey law in court appeared first on Kansas Reflector. LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (KSNW) A man sought in connection to the death of two women in California was arrested by the Kansas Highway Patrol. The Alameda County Sheriffs Office says 31-year-old Howard Reed was wanted in connection to the shooting deaths of his roommates Jingwei Melanie Zhang, 32, and Dorothy Mak, 38. Their bodies were discovered at the home they shared in the Oakland suburb of San Lorenzo. May 4, after their families requested a welfare check. An alert was put out for Reed as his vehicle a short time later. Gilgo Beach serial killings: Police return to search home of murder suspect The sheriffs office says the Kansas Highway Patrol received a hit from a license plate reader indicating Reed was in Kansas. Troopers took Reed into custody and booked him into the Leavenworth County Detention Center. Reed waived his extradition hearing and has been returned to California. The Alameda County Sheriffs Office thanked the Kansas Highway Patrol, the Leavenworth County Sheriffs Office, and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation for their assistance. Reed is charged with two counts of murder with special circumstances, which means he could face the death penalty or life without parole if he is found guilty. 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 KSN-TV. Karen Reads defense lawyers went scorched earth on a key prosecution witness on Tuesday, grilling her for hours about the 2022 evening that ended in Boston cop John OKeefes deathand her questionable actions after she discovered him in the snow. Prosecutors allege that Read, 44, fatally hit her boyfriend with her SUV and left him for dead in a blizzard after dropping him off at an afterparty at another cops house in the early hours of Jan. 29, 2022. Jennifer McCabe testified in Reads trial last week that she was a part of the boozy group night outand was with Read when she found OKeefe unresponsive with signs of hypothermia and a severe head injury. McCabe told jurors she called 911 while Read hysterically threw herself on top of OKeefe and screamed that the situation was all her fault. Did I hit him? Could I have hit him? Read allegedly asked Read, according to her testimony last week. She was just kind of all over the place. Just screaming. But in a blistering cross-examination on Tuesday, McCabe was forced to answer questions about her own actions after officers descended on the snowy scene, including her Google search about hos (sic) long to die in cold and her deleted phone conversations with OKeefe the day after he died. This Accused Murderer Has Superfans Bankrolling Her Defense Every single one of those calls was deleted from your phone, defense attorney Alan Jackson forcefully asked McCabe after showing the jury her phone records that showed she called OKeefe repeatedly around his estimated time of death. McCabe, however, chalked up the calls to butt dials and said she assumed her phone was in her back pocket at the time. She denied deleting calls to OKeefeonly personal conversations with her daughters with police permission, she saidbut admitted she did not hand her phone over until days after OKeefes death. You dont remember those incessant butt dials and those incessant hang-ups at all, correct? Jackson asked after McCabe conceded that butt dials usually go to voicemail. I honestly dont, she said. In another contentious moment last week, Jackson questioned McCabe about her eerie Google searchone she claims was only conducted at Reads direction. At that point, she grabbed my hands and she said, Google hypothermia, Google how long it takes to die in the cold, McCabe testified. The next thing I knew we were kind of moving because she wanted to see if they were working on him. Reads murder trial in Boston entered its third week on Monday. While prosecutors argue that Read hit her boyfriend and left him for dead in the cold, her legal team insists their client is being framed in an elaborate police cover-up. Defense attorneys have argued that evidence suggests that OKeefe was fatally beaten after she dropped him off and was then attacked by a dog and left outside. Read has pleaded not guilty to several charges, including second-degree murder, and faces life in prison. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Scottsdale attorney Bryan Blehm skipped his disciplinary hearing on May 21, 2024, and instead posted a response to the State Bar of Arizona's request that his license be suspended by flipping the middle finger at the Bar. Screenshots via X.com One of the lawyers who represented Kari Lake in her 2022 election challenge case skipped out on a disciplinary hearing Tuesday for making false claims to the Arizona Supreme Court that could leave him unable to practice law, instead literally throwing up a middle finger at the Arizona State Bar. Bryan Blehm, a Scottsdale divorce attorney, along with Kurt Olsen, a Washington, D.C., employment attorney, were both ordered to pay $2,000 in sanctions last year for writing in an appeal that it was an undisputed fact that more than 35,000 falsified ballots were illegally inserted into batches of legal ballots in Maricopa County when the November 2022 ballots were being sorted shortly after Election Day. The Supreme Court found that Olsen and Blehm provided no evidence of the claim and sanctioned Lake and her team for making false factual statements to the Court. Lawyers for the State Bar of Arizona told Presiding Disciplinary Judge Margaret Downie during a May 21 hearing that Blehms license should be suspended for six months and one day for lying to the Supreme Court, as well as for his refusal to take responsibility for his actions and to even show up for the hearing. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Blehm and Olsen are both facing disciplinary action for making the false claim about illegal ballots in Lakes failed challenge to the results of the 2022 governors race that she lost to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs by more than 17,000 votes. Lake, a Republican who is now running for U.S. Senate, never conceded the race, despite losing two trials and multiple appeals in her effort to get the results of the election overturned. Even though Blehm refused to show up, Downie decided to continue with the hearing because he had not officially informed the court that he wouldnt attend and didnt provide any real explanation for why he wouldnt be there. Instead, on Sunday evening, Blehm sent an email to the State Bar of Arizona, informing them that he needed to depart for Colorado on Monday and wouldnt be able to attend in person. Blehm did not inform the court directly through the email address that he was told to use for correspondence regarding the case, but instead copied a court employee who is currently on leave. The court only found out about his email from the State Bar, the day prior to the hearing, Downie said. During the hearing on Tuesday Senior Counsel for the Bar Hunter Perlmeter pointed to Blehms actions over the previous 10 days as evidence that he did not take responsibility for his actions or admit that he lied. He filed a counterclaim against the State Bar in this disciplinary matter without any legal authority, Perlmeter told Downie, adding that Blehm went on a talk show and called the Arizona Supreme Court order that serves as the basis for the disciplinary hearing some sort of political compromise. Because Blehm lied to the court, failed to show up for the hearing and has not taken responsibility or show remorse for his action, the State Bar recommended that his law license be suspended for six months and one day. The State Bar of Arizona seeks to use my own words against me, Blehm posted on the social media site X on May 20, the day before the hearing. They found me guilty without a trial and expect me to sit down and shut the fk up. At one time, the bar associations supported free speechThey do not like that I refuse to bend and kiss the ring. If it is my dignity they are after, they have knocked on the wrong door. Downie asked the State Bar attorneys to justify such a lengthy proposed suspension, and she contrasted it with the punishment given earlier this year to election attorney and Republican State Rep. Alexander Kolodin, who was only put on probation for his role in lawsuits challenging the 2020 election. Among other things, Kolodin was an attorney on the infamous kraken lawsuit that made implausible and evidence-free claims of massive election fraud. Perlmeter answered that, unlike Blehm, Kolodin was never accused of lying to the courts and that he was credited for having a cooperative attitude throughout the disciplinary proceedings. Kolodin also voluntarily entered into an agreement with the Bar, under which he accepted being put on probation, paid a fine and agreed to participate in continuing legal education ethics courses. Downie also cautioned the counsel for the State Bar that she wanted to ensure that the court did not impose more drastic punishment than it would in other cases only because the case in question involves elections. This case has nothing to do with politics, Perlmeter said, adding that the Bar was asking for the same punishment it would recommend for an attorney who knowingly lied to a judge in a family law or personal injury case. Perlmeter accused Blehm of engaging in bad faith obstruction of the disciplinary proceedings and highlighted his refusal to acknowledge the wrongful nature of his actions. Less than three hours after the disciplinary hearing ended, Blehm posted a video to X, saying he couldnt make the hearing and was on his way to take care of some personal business. In the video, which was filmed in his car as he was stopped alongside a highway, Blehm accused the State Bar of asking for a six month and one day suspension in an effort to isolate the most active MAGA attorney in the State of Arizona during the entirety of the 2024 election. In social media posts earlier this week, Blehm claimed that the State Bar was attempting to disbar him. Perlmeter insisted in the hearing that the claim was a lie, and while it isnt technically true, the way the suspension is structured could allow it to be much longer than just six months and possibly permanent. Phoenix criminal and constitutional lawyer Robert McWhirter explained that a suspension of six months and one day carried with it much more severe consequences than a suspension of only six months. After a suspension of six months or less, an attorneys license is reinstated automatically. A suspension for six months and a day is far worse than just six months, he said. As a member of the State Bars Board of Governors, McWhirter said he couldnt comment on Blehms case specifically. Any lawyer suspended for more than six months has to apply for reinstatement with the Presiding Disciplinary Judge and participate in an evidentiary hearing before a panel comprised of the the judge, a lawyer and a member of the public, according to Alberto Rodriguez, communications director for Arizona courts. The only thing worse is disbarment, McWhirter said. In the video he posted shortly after the disciplinary hearing had concluded, Blehm shared his thoughts on the Bars recommendation for a lengthy suspension. I have to go back to the State Bar and I have to grovel, Blehm said. I have to bend a knee and kiss their golden ring and get their permission to start practicing law again. Downie, along with a panel made up of attorney George Riemer and Marsha Morgan Sitterley, a member of the public, listened to the Bars arguments on Tuesday, and will ultimately decide what punishment Blehm will face. The court is required to issue a ruling within 30 days, but Downie said she did not expect to issue a ruling immediately. As Blehm concluded the video he posted to X following the hearing, he gestured at the camera with his middle finger. If Bryan wants to practice law, Bryan has to sit down and shut the fk up. Well, peace, Blehm said. ***CORRECTION: This article has been updated to reflect that a panel including the Presiding Disciplinary Judge decides whether to reinstate a lawyer who is suspended for more than six months, not the Committee on Character and Fitness. It has also been corrected to show that Perlmeter accused Blehm of engaging in bad faith obstruction of the disciplinary proceedings. DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST The post Kari Lake attorney skips disciplinary hearing as the AZ State Bar seeks to suspend his law license appeared first on Arizona Mirror. Back in March 2023, Kate Middleton established a Taskforce for businesses to inspire the corporate world to take action to improve early childhood. And today, the group has launched report which they say marks a milestone moment in their work and could provide a huge boost for the UK economy. Today, the Royal Foundation Business Taskforce for early childhood outlined an action plan and recommendations for businesses to play a bigger role in supporting family life. The Princess of Wales has been kept up to date with the announcement as she remains out of the public eye receiving treatment for a cancer. Kate is said to be excited by the developments; however, a Kensington Palace spokesperson was quick to point out to journalists that the milestone was not an indication that the Princess was returning to work. There was no update on her health. This should not be seen or reported on as Her Royal Highness returning to work, a Kensington Palace spokesperson told reporters early Monday. The work of The Prince and Princess projects is always on, and that has been no different for the Centre over the past five months with a great deal of progress being madeEarly childhood is a huge priority for the Princess and so she has been kept fully updated throughout the development of the Taskforces work and she has seen the report. Executive Director of the Royal Foundation for Early Childhood, Christian Guy, described the announcement as another crucial moment for HRHs early childhood work. Its impact, and the work of her Centre for Early Childhood, is rolling on as she recovers, he said. Shes excited by it. Shaping Us was about awareness, but also, for her, so important is action, so to have eight of the most significant businesses in Britain come forward and make the case to their fellow business leaders is vital, its exciting for her, Guy continued. When she launched it she really challenged businesses to go beyond the usual thinking. Thats why these five areas are set out including social and emotional skills, because we often hear businesses talk about why they are so important but we do wait a long time before we focus on them in our system. The science shows us they are crucial in those earliest years and so shes excited about that in particular. The Taskforce claimed today that investing in early childhood could generate 45.5 billion for the UK economy each year. The eight businesses that make up the Taskforce have committed to their own actions to improve outcomes for children and families as well as providing a blueprint for other businesses for how they can make improvements. I know, having briefed the Princess on this, that she is enormously grateful to the members of the Taskforce who have made such fantastic progress on this work over the past year, Guy said. She feels passionately about the transformational impact of getting this right together, both for the current generation and for many more to come. I know that she is keen to encourage all businesses, no matter what their size or purpose, to join us on this journey and is looking forward to seeing momentum grow in the coming months. The Centre for Early Childhood was founded in 2021 and is part of William and Kates Royal Foundation. Working to improve understanding of the importance of the early years has become a cornerstone of the public role that Kate, now 42, has carved out for herself since marrying Prince William in 2011. In a moving statement on March 22, the Princess of Wales told the world that cancer had been discovered following her major abdominal surgery in January. We hope that you will understand that, as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment, she said. "My work has always brought me a deep sense of joy and I look forward to being back when I am able, but for now I must focus on making a full recovery. Prince William has continued to carry out public engagements. Earlier this month he told a member of the public in the Isles of Scilly that his wife was doing well. You Might Also Like BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. The coordination and cooperation among all member states of the Middle Corridor are essential, Irakli Danelia, Central Asia and Caucasus Region Business Development Manager at Maerks, told Trend. "We welcome any initiative that promotes smooth coordination within the journey along the Middle Corridor. This will help streamline administrative and paper-based processes, reducing potential delays during cargo transit at border crossings and customs checkpoints in each country. As a multi-modal corridor, it is inherently complex. Therefore, any additional facilitation and simplification of processes will advance its development," he said. According to Danelia, simplifying these administrative procedures is crucial. "Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Georgia are actively working on improving the Middle Corridor. However, none of these countries can address issues independently. The Middle Corridor involves multiple countries, making coordination vital for achieving tangible results for the economic benefit of all," he pointed out. Maersk representative noted that the Middle Corridor will establish a strong position in the West-East and vice versa logistical system, facilitating seamless trade between regions. "As a global logistics company, we are dedicated to supporting digitalization worldwide. Over the past two years, we have been actively integrating digital solutions into our platforms across different regions. Currently, we are focused on developing end-to-end solutions, meaning that we will handle cargo delivery from the origin of a product, e.g. a factory or farm, to its final destination, be it in Kazakhstan or any other Central Asian country. As Maersk, our focus is exclusively on delivering containerized cargoes. Therefore, we collaborate with cargo owners, transport, and logistical companies locally to handle already containerized cargo. Additionally, we are actively encouraging exporters in the region to containerize and convert their bulk commodities, highlighting the advantages of containerization," he concluded. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has been putting in a lot of hours into trying to convince Texas voters, specifically Hispanic Texas voters, that theres much more to him than the trolly, argumentative, hard-right hysterical persona hes carefully crafted throughout his career in the Senate. As he prepares to go up against Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) in the fall, Cruz has been making the rounds, trying to message his way into appearing bipartisan. Allreds challenge appears to be one Cruz is taking seriously, despite Cruzs lead in the polls, as Allred has been out-raising him for weeks. During a recent Texas meeting of the U.S. Hispanic Business Council, Cruz announced a new Democrats for Cruz effort to try to reach more voters ahead of the 2024 election. He also has been recently touting his working relationships with Democrats like Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), Cory Booker (NJ) and Amy Klobuchar (MN). Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) obviously stands to do some image rehab herself, after freaking everyone out with her delivery of the Republican response to President Bidens State of the Union address. So the two have teamed up to introduce legislation that they claim would, if it passed the Senate, ensure federal protections for in-vitro fertilization, the extremely popular and highly common procedure used to help people facing fertility issues conceive. Both also represent states where the courts have either weighed in on IVF protections in recent months or soon will. In Texas, a pending court case involving a divorced couples dispute over frozen embryos could soon have implications on the accessibility of IVF in the state. And as TPM has previously reported, Republicans have been struggling for months to properly message on the procedure, after Alabamas Supreme Court issued a ruling that declared embryos to be children earlier this year. The decision came down as part of a wrongful death suit, but the fetal personhood ideology underlying the decision quickly became a stumbling block for Republicans who were quick to also vocalize their support for the idea that embryos are babies. But when it became clear that the ruling would have a chilling effect on the availability of the procedure in the state an extremely unpopular outcome that would affect voters across the political spectrum Republicans backtracked, grasping for a way to still claim that embryos were children while also declaring their support for the common fertility treatment. That heartburn manifested in the introduction of empty resolutions that proclaimed support for the procedure but that did little to actually protect IVF. Even worse, Senate Republicans blocked the advancement of a Democratic bill that wouldve codified federal protections for IVF, the same bill they blocked when Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) tried to introduce it in 2022, after the Supreme Courts Dobbs ruling. So Cruz and Britt, in their hour of need, are returning to the IVF well to try to garner some likability, given how widely supported protections are among voters. Their proposed legislation, they said, would clear up confusion after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling, though it doesnt directly address the ruling. An excerpt of the pairs op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Monday, announcing their bill: To address these concerns, we will introduce a bill on Monday to ensure IVF access is legally protected nationwide. The legislation would require, as a condition of receiving federal Medicaid funding, that states dont prohibit IVF. While the Alabama Legislature after the courts decision promptly reiterated that IVF is protected, federal legislation would eliminate any ambiguity that might arise from future state-level judicial interpretations. Our goal is to make sure that any familys path to bringing a child into the world isnt compromised by preventable legal confusion. But as the Daily Kos writer Joan McCarter and others noted throughout the day Monday, it appears the bill does not actually establish IVF as a right or include any actual legal protections for the procedure. It just raises the specter of access to Medicaid funds being cut off in red states where potential bans on IVF may arise. Biden is already seizing on the bill to remind voters Senate Republicans had the opportunity to support the procedure twice in the last two years and did nothing. Donald Trump and Senate Republicans had the chance to protect IVF nationwide, and they chose not to, Biden-Harris campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt told HuffPost Monday. By overturning Roe, Trump created the crisis that threatens IVF and he supports states that ban abortion and rip away IVF access. The Best Of TPM Today Catch up on Josh Kovenskys live coverage of the ongoing Trump trial here: Donald Trumps Lawyers Begin Their Defense Yesterdays Most Read Story The Fifth Circuit Is In For A Beatdown TPM Staff What We Are Reading A Different Way of Seeing Justice Alitos Blame-the-Wife Defense Jennifer Weiner Some Conservative Christians Are Stepping Away From the Gender Wars NYT New 9/11 Evidence Points to Deep Saudi Complicity The Atlantic The City of Austin recently passed a resolution underscoring its support for transgender residents in their quest to seek healthcare. After a particularly brutal year where the state of Texas continued attacking access to evidence-based, life-saving healthcare with a barrage of legislation that dismisses science, discounts medical experts, and effectively erases the experiences of transgender people, this resolution was a welcome change of pace for LGBTQIA+ Texans. After the resolution passed, Attorney General Ken Paxton and a cadre of Republican legislators immediately entered chest-pounding modea performance typical of firebrand conservatives. Paxton has now threatened to sue the city of Austin. As part of his statement, he insists that, municipalities do not have the authority to pick and choose which state laws they will or will not abide by. Thats rich coming from Ken Paxton who, only a week earlier was issuing statements declaring that Texas should defy the updates to Title IX issued by the Federal Department of Education because it includes updated protections for LGBTQIA+ students and faculty. Enforcement for SB14, Texas now infamous ban on health care for transgender youth, relies on the Attorney General and the Texas Medical Board. Neither of those are under the purview of the Austin City Council. So, when the council says that it will not use city resources to target transgender young people, they are neither skirting an obligation nor breaking the law. Just as any employee with a long to-do list knows, the longer the list, the more important it is to hash out priorities. Cities across the state regularly establish priorities for economic or public policy reasons. In this case, the City of Austin made that decision based on values. Attendees of a vigil for Monica Loera, a transgender victim in Austin's first homicide of 2016, write community resolutions in response to her death, at Alamo Park on Feb. 12, 2016 in Austin. (Credit: Erika Rich for the American-Statesman) The City of Austins resolution does not defy state law at all, which anyone can see if they bother to read the text of the resolution. Except to the extent required by law is repeated so many times it is almost monotonous. Paxtons statement on Title IX and Governor Abbotts subsequent direction to Texas agencies to defy it, if enacted into policy, would be a direct violation of the Constitution. Federal laws trump state lawstheres never been a question about that. The current leadership of Texas seems to have adopted the motto, Do as I say, not as I do. Texas defies Federal law, while declaring municipalities cannot defy Texas law. Texas falsely argues that its law on banning healthcare for transgender youth protects children while it continues to ignore the crisis impacting children within the Texas CPS system. Texas says its outright abortion ban is about saving lives while simultaneously rejecting Medicaid expansion that would provide healthcare to those in need. Texas spends its time attacking drag performers under the guise that they pose a risk to children, while we mourn mass shooting after mass shooting in our public schools without any serious policy proposals to stop it. Texas will decry government overreach while simultaneously passing laws that insert the state government into your private medical decisions. Texas will pass laws that uplift free speech on college campuses for conservative messengers and then send state police to those same college campuses to attack peaceful protesters because state leadership disagrees with their political positions. Texans deserve better than an attorney general who has spent more time in a courtroom supporting Donald Trump than he did at his own impeachment trial. Texans deserve better than a governor who spends all his time trying to elevate his national profile rather than leading one of the most diverse states in the country. In Texas, hypocrisy is what passes for leadership. Luckily, the residents of Austin are getting something better. Pritchett is deputy director of Equality Texas and a longtime advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights in Texas. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Ken Paxton says cities can't pick laws they'll abide by. That's rich. It's primary election day in Kentucky. Do you know where to vote? Did you kind of procrastinate checking out the ballot? We've got you covered. Remember, this is a primary election, so you have to be a registered Democrat or Republican to vote and you'll be voting on which candidate in your party should advance to the general election in November. (Aside from the Covington city commissioners race. Anyone can vote for those nonpartisan candidates.) The 2024 Kentucky primary election is on May 21. But what keeps things interesting here in Northern Kentucky is that many of the races are in either primarily red or blue districts. That means, in some cases, whoever wins the primary is almost certain to win the general election. The polls are open from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. As long as you're in line at 6 p.m., you can still cast a ballot when it's your turn. I answered some of the most common questions you might have about voting today and included a list of articles I've written about the primary at the bottom of this article. Did you see anything off at the polls today? If it's before lunch, contact reporter Haadiza Ogwude at HOgwude@enquirer.com. After lunch and all night, you can contact Northern Kentucky reporter Jolene Almendarez at jolenea@gannett.com or politics reporter Scott Wartman at swartman@enquirer.com. Who's on the ballot and where can I vote? You can see who's on the ballot from the presidential candidates to your state House candidate before you head to the polls. It helps to know what state House and Senate district you live in, but you might have a good idea already based on the campaign signs you've been seeing in your neighborhood and the political mailers that have been flooding your mailbox. You can check your district and polling location by inserting your name and date of birth on the Kentucky Voter Information Center webpage. Click on the links below to see who's on the ballot in your area: Northern Kentucky state Senate districts Northern Kentucky state house districts What do I need to bring with me? You need a photo ID to vote in Kentucky. The most common kinds of IDs accepted include a drivers license, passport, military ID, and college ID. But you can find a complete list of acceptable IDs here. Lose your ID right before the election? Don't worry, it happens. You can likely still vote. You'll need to fill out a form and show a Social Security card, EBT card, or credit or debit card with your name on it. Here's a quick video that might answer a few more of your questions about IDs: What if I can't make it to my polling site in time to vote? If you live in Boone or Campbell counties, you're out of luck. You have to vote in your precinct on election day. But Kenton County voters have an extra option called the ExpressVote. It lets you vote at any polling site in the county on election day as long as you are willing to use the ExpressVote touchscreen. It does NOT create a digital ballot. It just clearly marks your paper ballot for you and you can review it afterward twice once on the summary screen and again on the actual paper ballot. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Kentucky election: Where's my polling location? Who's on the ballot? Volkswagen automobile plant employee Kiara Hughes celebrates after employees voted to join the United Auto Workers union in April in Chattanooga, Tenn. Southern states, including Tennessee, are increasingly pushing back against the growing labor movement. George Walker IV/The Associated Press Just days before workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama began voting last week on whether to unionize, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed a new law that would claw back state incentives from companies that voluntarily recognize labor unions. Alabamas move follows similar efforts in Georgia and Tennessee, where GOP leaders also have passed laws pushing against a reinvigorated labor movement. The laws require that unions be formed only by secret ballots rather than the so-called card check process, in which employers can voluntarily recognize a union without a protracted election process. And under the laws, companies that voluntarily recognize unions risk losing state incentives, which amount to billions of dollars invested by governments to bring automakers to the region. These new laws speak to the growing push of labor unions into Southern states and the fierce opposition of pro-business GOP leaders there. For decades, the region has attracted investments from foreign automakers with lucrative tax breaks, low-cost labor and a lack of labor unions. Labor leaders hope that is changing now that workers at Volkswagens plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, overwhelmingly endorsed a union in April, becoming the first foreign auto plant in the South ever organized by the United Auto Workers. Unions such as the UAW argue their involvement can help boost wages and improve the work environment at auto plants. But GOP forces in the South view unions as an existential threat to their manufacturing economies of even more importance now that states are increasingly competing for electric vehicle and battery plants. Mercedes-Benz workers outside of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Friday voted against joining a union at their plant, in a setback for the labor movement. But more organizing drives are underway in Alabama and South Carolina, as well as in California. Many Southern states where unions have begun to focus already are less friendly to organizing. They are so-called right-to-work states, where each employee in a workplace can decide whether to join and pay union dues, though all workers are represented by the union. Seeking to capitalize on major contract wins it secured for workers last year at the nations Big Three automakers (GM, Ford and Stellantis), the United Auto Workers union announced plans to spend $40 million through 2026 to help organize workers at auto and battery plants across the country, with a particular focus on the South. The union did not respond to multiple Stateline requests for comment. A week before Aprils monumental vote at the Tennessee Volkswagen plant, six Southern Republican governors warned that unionization would jeopardize the regions auto jobs. In addition to Ivey in Alabama, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, as well as the governors of Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas also signed on. And Ivey continued to rally against organized labor in auto plants last week, as she announced she had signed the states bill regarding secret ballots. Alabama is not Michigan, Ivey said at a chamber of commerce event last week. We want to ensure that Alabama values, not Detroit values, continue to define the future of this great state. Its unclear how much impact the new laws will have. The vote in Chattanooga was conducted by secret ballot with nearly three-quarters of all workers who voted in the election choosing to join the UAW. Tennessee awarded Volkswagen more than $500 million in incentives to build its plant there in 2008. They thought that scare tactics would be the winning thing for them and the union workers demonstrated that they have a backbone. Tennessee state Rep. Yusuf Hakeem Its typical, in my view, for Southern states to have that kind of a mindset: to have less of a voice for workers as opposed to having an exchange between workers and employer, said Hakeem, a Democrat. Hakeem said the UAWs landslide win in his hometown of Chattanooga exposed a political miscalculation on the part of Republicans who view economic development prospects and union organizing as mutually exclusive. I thought it was huge, he said. They thought that scare tactics would be the winning thing for them and the union workers demonstrated that they have a backbone. Right-to-work states The American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative group known as ALEC that works with lawmakers across the country, introduced model legislation similar to the laws already passed in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. ALEC did not respond to a request for comment, but the organizations involvement could further push the legislative concept across red states, particularly in the South. That expansion is likely to happen, said Vincent Vernuccio, a senior fellow at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a conservative think tank that worked with Tennessee Republican lawmakers on their legislation. Were seeing a snowball effect, he said of the legislation. It is getting noticed and I fully expect it to spread. Vernuccio said most Southern employers had been protecting their employees by calling for secret ballot elections rather than the signing of union cards in the open. There could be peer pressure, there can be coercion and intimidation, he said, and probably even more common is the unions trying to make sure that employees are not receiving both sides of the story on what would happen if a union organized them. Billy Dycus, president of the Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council, viewed fierce GOP opposition to Chattanoogas union effort as a boon to the cause. I think that helped more than it hurt, he said. People say, You know what, were kind of tired of the government telling us how we should run our lives. Dycus, whose organization represents more than 60,000 union workers in the state, including teachers, steelworkers and nurses, said labor leaders have little incentive to mislead or pressure employees to join unions, especially in right-to-work states. Dycus said that because workers can choose whether to join unions, organizers must continually prove their worth to maintain membership and dues. They think that card check means we go in and twist arms and force people to sign cards. That doesnt make any sense because youre in a right-to-work state, he said. Opponents of the new union voting laws argue that pushing for elections through secret ballot run by the National Labor Relations Board as opposed to card check can subject workers to anti-union messaging from management. Such elections also might delay the inevitable, they argue, in cases where the union has identified a clear majority of support. But pro-business Republicans portray the new laws as ways to protect the privacy of individual workers, who might feel peer pressure to sign union authorization cards in a card-check scenario. Theres absolutely nothing in this bill that would stop anybody from being able to unionize, Georgia state Sen. Mike Hodges, a Republican who carried his states bill on the floor for Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, said in an interview. Hodges said the new law aims to ensure a level playing field in union decisions. He noted that his father, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Georgia, raised him and three siblings on union wages and benefits. We didnt say we dont want unions, Hodges said. Bless your heart, if you want to unionize, unionize. Alabama state Sen. Arthur Orr, a Republican who sponsored the legislation in his state, said the secret ballot process protects workers from both management and union leadership. Employees are caught in a tug of war, if you will, Orr said. Having the secret ballot provides the employees the ability to say what they want to, one side or the other. But when it comes to the ultimate voting, they can do it privately. Union expansion could hurt economic development prospects, Orr said, but workers always have the right to unionize. If companies are not taking care of their workers and you can define that as you will, whether its pay or whether its time, job flexibility, safety, whatever then that makes them vulnerable to an organization effort, he said. Legal challenges While some labor advocates have argued the state bills could be preempted by federal labor law, Orr said he consulted with several attorneys on Alabamas legislation. He noted that Tennessees law had not been challenged in court. Still, its a close question as to whether these laws would hold up to a legal challenge since federal laws govern most labor issues in the private sector, said Benjamin Sachs, a professor of labor and industry at Harvard Law School. Some labor advocates expect courts could strike down the state laws, finding them preempted by federal labor law. What I can say for sure is that if its not preempted, then we are really opening up the landscape to dramatically more state and city intervention into labor relations and the rules of union organizing, he said in an interview. In his blog, OnLabor, Sachs warned anti-union forces to be careful what they wished for: If the Southern GOP laws stand, he wrote, it could open the door to blue states passing a litany of bills with opposite aims. If red states are entitled to tie economic incentives to a ban on card check, then blue states presumably are entitled to tie economic incentives on a requirement for card check, he added in the interview. While the recent labor win in Tennessee shows unions in the South can still succeed with a secret ballot process, Sachs said the legislation could have a chilling effect on companies that would otherwise prefer to voluntarily recognize unions. If it werent a big deal, they wouldnt have enacted these laws, he said. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on Facebook and Twitter. The post As a key labor union pushes into the South, red states push back appeared first on SC Daily Gazette. Volkswagen automobile plant employee Kiara Hughes celebrates after employees voted to join the United Auto Workers union in April in Chattanooga, Tenn. Southern states, including Tennessee, are increasingly pushing back against the growing labor movement. (George Walker IV | The Associated Press) Just days before workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama began voting last week on whether to unionize, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed a new law that would claw back state incentives from companies that voluntarily recognize labor unions. Alabamas move follows similar efforts in Georgia and Tennessee, where GOP leaders also have passed laws pushing against a reinvigorated labor movement. The laws require that unions be formed only by secret ballots rather than the so-called card check process, in which employers can voluntarily recognize a union without a protracted election process. And under the laws, companies that voluntarily recognize unions risk losing state incentives, which amount to billions of dollars invested by governments to bring automakers to the region. These new laws speak to the growing push of labor unions into Southern states and the fierce opposition of pro-business GOP leaders there. For decades, the region has attracted investments from foreign automakers with lucrative tax breaks, low-cost labor and a lack of labor unions. Labor leaders hope that is changing now that workers at Volkswagens plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, overwhelmingly endorsed a union in April, becoming the first foreign auto plant in the South ever organized by the United Auto Workers. Unions such as the UAW argue their involvement can help boost wages and improve the work environment at auto plants. But GOP forces in the South view unions as an existential threat to their manufacturing economies of even more importance now that states are increasingly competing for electric vehicle and battery plants. Mercedes-Benz workers outside of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Friday voted against joining a union at their plant, in a setback for the labor movement. But more organizing drives are underway in Alabama and South Carolina, as well as in California. Many Southern states where unions have begun to focus already are less friendly to organizing. They are so-called right-to-work states, where each employee in a workplace can decide whether to join and pay union dues, though all workers are represented by the union. Seeking to capitalize on major contract wins it secured for workers last year at the nations Big Three automakers (GM, Ford and Stellantis), the United Auto Workers union announced plans to spend $40 million through 2026 to help organize workers at auto and battery plants across the country, with a particular focus on the South. The union did not respond to multiple Stateline requests for comment. A week before Aprils monumental vote at the Tennessee Volkswagen plant, six Southern Republican governors warned that unionization would jeopardize the regions auto jobs. In addition to Ivey in Alabama, the governors of Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas also signed on. And Ivey continued to rally against organized labor in auto plants last week, as she announced she had signed the states bill regarding secret ballots. Alabama is not Michigan, Ivey said at a chamber of commerce event last week. We want to ensure that Alabama values, not Detroit values, continue to define the future of this great state. Its unclear how much impact the new laws will have. The vote in Chattanooga was conducted by secret ballot with nearly three-quarters of all workers who voted in the election choosing to join the UAW. Tennessee awarded Volkswagen more than $500 million in incentives to build its plant there in 2008. They thought that scare tactics would be the winning thing for them and the union workers demonstrated that they have a backbone. Tennessee state Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, a Democrat, on the impact of workers unionizing at Volkswagens Chattanooga plant To Tennessee state Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, the 2023 law regarding union elections passed in his state was yet another GOP effort to blockade union power in the South. Its typical, in my view, for Southern states to have that kind of a mindset: to have less of a voice for workers as opposed to having an exchange between workers and employer, said Hakeem, a Democrat. Hakeem said the UAWs landslide win in his hometown of Chattanooga exposed a political miscalculation on the part of Republicans who view economic development prospects and union organizing as mutually exclusive. I thought it was huge, he said. They thought that scare tactics would be the winning thing for them and the union workers demonstrated that they have a backbone. Right-to-work states The American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative group known as ALEC that works with lawmakers across the country, introduced model legislation similar to the laws already passed in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. ALEC did not respond to a request for comment, but the organizations involvement could further push the legislative concept across red states, particularly in the South. That expansion is likely to happen, said Vincent Vernuccio, a senior fellow at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a conservative think tank that worked with Tennessee Republican lawmakers on their legislation. Were seeing a snowball effect, he said of the legislation. It is getting noticed and I fully expect it to spread. Vernuccio said most Southern employers had been protecting their employees by calling for secret ballot elections rather than the signing of union cards in the open. There could be peer pressure, there can be coercion and intimidation, he said, and probably even more common is the unions trying to make sure that employees are not receiving both sides of the story on what would happen if a union organized them. Billy Dycus, president of the Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council, viewed fierce GOP opposition to Chattanoogas union effort as a boon to the cause. I think that helped more than it hurt, he said. People say, You know what, were kind of tired of the government telling us how we should run our lives. Dycus, whose organization represents more than 60,000 union workers in the state, including teachers, steelworkers and nurses, said labor leaders have little incentive to mislead or pressure employees to join unions, especially in right-to-work states. Dycus said that because workers can choose whether to join unions, organizers must continually prove their worth to maintain membership and dues. They think that card check means we go in and twist arms and force people to sign cards. That doesnt make any sense because youre in a right-to-work state, he said. Opponents of the new union voting laws argue that pushing for elections through secret ballot run by the National Labor Relations Board as opposed to card check can subject workers to anti-union messaging from management. Such elections also might delay the inevitable, they argue, in cases where the union has identified a clear majority of support. But pro-business Republicans portray the new laws as ways to protect the privacy of individual workers, who might feel peer pressure to sign union authorization cards in a card-check scenario. Theres absolutely nothing in this bill that would stop anybody from being able to unionize, Georgia state Sen. Mike Hodges, a Republican who carried his states bill on the floor for Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, said in an interview. Hodges said the new law aims to ensure a level playing field in union decisions. He noted that his father, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Georgia, raised him and three siblings on union wages and benefits. We didnt say we dont want unions, Hodges said. Bless your heart, if you want to unionize, unionize. Alabama state Sen. Arthur Orr, a Republican who sponsored the legislation in his state, said the secret ballot process protects workers from both management and union leadership. Employees are caught in a tug of war, if you will, Orr said. Having the secret ballot provides the employees the ability to say what they want to, one side or the other. But when it comes to the ultimate voting, they can do it privately. Union expansion could hurt economic development prospects, Orr said, but workers always have the right to unionize. If companies are not taking care of their workers and you can define that as you will, whether its pay or whether its time, job flexibility, safety, whatever then that makes them vulnerable to an organization effort, he said. Legal challenges While some labor advocates have argued the state bills could be preempted by federal labor law, Orr said he consulted with several attorneys on Alabamas legislation. He noted that Tennessees law had not been challenged in court. Still, its a close question as to whether these laws would hold up to a legal challenge since federal laws govern most labor issues in the private sector, said Benjamin Sachs, a professor of labor and industry at Harvard Law School. Some labor advocates expect courts could strike down the state laws, finding them preempted by federal labor law. What I can say for sure is that if its not preempted, then we are really opening up the landscape to dramatically more state and city intervention into labor relations and the rules of union organizing, he said in an interview. In his blog, OnLabor, Sachs warned anti-union forces to be careful what they wished for: If the Southern GOP laws stand, he wrote, it could open the door to blue states passing a litany of bills with opposite aims. If red states are entitled to tie economic incentives to a ban on card check, then blue states presumably are entitled to tie economic incentives on a requirement for card check, he added in the interview. While the recent labor win in Tennessee shows unions in the South can still succeed with a secret ballot process, Sachs said the legislation could have a chilling effect on companies that would otherwise prefer to voluntarily recognize unions. If it werent a big deal, they wouldnt have enacted these laws, he said. Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on Facebook and Twitter. The post As a key labor union pushes into the South, red states push back appeared first on West Virginia Watch. Volkswagen automobile plant employee Kiara Hughes celebrates after employees voted to join the UAW union Friday, April 19, 2024, in Chattanooga, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) Just days before workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama began voting last week on whether to unionize, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed a new law that would claw back state incentives from companies that voluntarily recognize labor unions. Alabamas move follows similar efforts in Georgia and Tennessee, where GOP leaders also have passed laws pushing against a reinvigorated labor movement. The laws require that unions be formed only by secret ballots rather than the so-called card check process, in which employers can voluntarily recognize a union without a protracted election process. And under the laws, companies that voluntarily recognize unions risk losing state incentives, which amount to billions of dollars invested by governments to bring automakers to the region. These new laws speak to the growing push of labor unions into Southern states and the fierce opposition of pro-business GOP leaders there. For decades, the region has attracted investments from foreign automakers with lucrative tax breaks, low-cost labor and a lack of labor unions. Labor leaders hope that is changing now that workers at Volkswagens plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, overwhelmingly endorsed a union in April, becoming the first foreign auto plant in the South ever organized by the United Auto Workers. Unions such as the UAW argue their involvement can help boost wages and improve the work environment at auto plants. But GOP forces in the South view unions as an existential threat to their manufacturing economies of even more importance now that states are increasingly competing for electric vehicle and battery plants. Mercedes-Benz workers outside of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Friday voted against joining a union at their plant, in a setback for the labor movement. But more organizing drives are underway in Alabama and South Carolina, as well as in California. Many Southern states where unions have begun to focus already are less friendly to organizing. They are so-called right-to-work states, where each employee in a workplace can decide whether to join and pay union dues, though all workers are represented by the union. Seeking to capitalize on major contract wins it secured for workers last year at the nations Big Three automakers (GM, Ford and Stellantis), the United Auto Workers union announced plans to spend $40 million through 2026 to help organize workers at auto and battery plants across the country, with a particular focus on the South. The union did not respond to multiple Stateline requests for comment. A week before Aprils monumental vote at the Tennessee Volkswagen plant, six Southern Republican governors warned that unionization would jeopardize the regions auto jobs. In addition to Ivey in Alabama, the governors of Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas also signed on. And Ivey continued to rally against organized labor in auto plants last week, as she announced she had signed the states bill regarding secret ballots. Alabama is not Michigan, Ivey said at a chamber of commerce event last week. We want to ensure that Alabama values, not Detroit values, continue to define the future of this great state. Its unclear how much impact the new laws will have. The vote in Chattanooga was conducted by secret ballot with nearly three-quarters of all workers who voted in the election choosing to join the UAW. Tennessee awarded Volkswagen more than $500 million in incentives to build its plant there in 2008. They thought that scare tactics would be the winning thing for them and the union workers demonstrated that they have a backbone. Tennessee state Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, a Democrat, on the impact of unionizing at Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant To Tennessee state Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, the 2023 law regarding union elections passed in his state was yet another GOP effort to blockade union power in the South. Its typical, in my view, for Southern states to have that kind of a mindset: to have less of a voice for workers as opposed to having an exchange between workers and employer, said Hakeem, a Democrat. Hakeem said the UAWs landslide win in his hometown of Chattanooga exposed a political miscalculation on the part of Republicans who view economic development prospects and union organizing as mutually exclusive. I thought it was huge, he said. They thought that scare tactics would be the winning thing for them and the union workers demonstrated that they have a backbone. Right-to-work states The American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative group known as ALEC that works with lawmakers across the country, introduced model legislation similar to the laws already passed in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. ALEC did not respond to a request for comment, but the organizations involvement could further push the legislative concept across red states, particularly in the South. That expansion is likely to happen, said Vincent Vernuccio, a senior fellow at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a conservative think tank that worked with Tennessee Republican lawmakers on their legislation. Were seeing a snowball effect, he said of the legislation. It is getting noticed and I fully expect it to spread. Vernuccio said most Southern employers had been protecting their employees by calling for secret ballot elections rather than the signing of union cards in the open. There could be peer pressure, there can be coercion and intimidation, he said, and probably even more common is the unions trying to make sure that employees are not receiving both sides of the story on what would happen if a union organized them. Billy Dycus, president of the Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council, viewed fierce GOP opposition to Chattanoogas union effort as a boon to the cause. I think that helped more than it hurt, he said. People say, You know what, were kind of tired of the government telling us how we should run our lives. Dycus, whose organization represents more than 60,000 union workers in the state, including teachers, steelworkers and nurses, said labor leaders have little incentive to mislead or pressure employees to join unions, especially in right-to-work states. Dycus said that because workers can choose whether to join unions, organizers must continually prove their worth to maintain membership and dues. They think that card check means we go in and twist arms and force people to sign cards. That doesnt make any sense because youre in a right-to-work state, he said. Opponents of the new union voting laws argue that pushing for elections through secret ballot run by the National Labor Relations Board as opposed to card check can subject workers to anti-union messaging from management. Such elections also might delay the inevitable, they argue, in cases where the union has identified a clear majority of support. But pro-business Republicans portray the new laws as ways to protect the privacy of individual workers, who might feel peer pressure to sign union authorization cards in a card-check scenario. Theres absolutely nothing in this bill that would stop anybody from being able to unionize, Georgia state Sen. Mike Hodges, a Republican who carried his states bill on the floor for Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, said in an interview. Hodges said the new law aims to ensure a level playing field in union decisions. He noted that his father, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Georgia, raised him and three siblings on union wages and benefits. We didnt say we dont want unions, Hodges said. Bless your heart, if you want to unionize, unionize. Alabama state Sen. Arthur Orr, a Republican who sponsored the legislation in his state, said the secret ballot process protects workers from both management and union leadership. Employees are caught in a tug of war, if you will, Orr said. Having the secret ballot provides the employees the ability to say what they want to, one side or the other. But when it comes to the ultimate voting, they can do it privately. Union expansion could hurt economic development prospects, Orr said, but workers always have the right to unionize. If companies are not taking care of their workers and you can define that as you will, whether its pay or whether its time, job flexibility, safety, whatever then that makes them vulnerable to an organization effort, he said. Legal challenges While some labor advocates have argued the state bills could be preempted by federal labor law, Orr said he consulted with several attorneys on Alabamas legislation. He noted that Tennessees law had not been challenged in court. Still, its a close question as to whether these laws would hold up to a legal challenge since federal laws govern most labor issues in the private sector, said Benjamin Sachs, a professor of labor and industry at Harvard Law School. Some labor advocates expect courts could strike down the state laws, finding them preempted by federal labor law. What I can say for sure is that if its not preempted, then we are really opening up the landscape to dramatically more state and city intervention into labor relations and the rules of union organizing, he said in an interview. In his blog, OnLabor, Sachs warned anti-union forces to be careful what they wished for: If the Southern GOP laws stand, he wrote, it could open the door to blue states passing a litany of bills with opposite aims. If red states are entitled to tie economic incentives to a ban on card check, then blue states presumably are entitled to tie economic incentives on a requirement for card check, he added in the interview. While the recent labor win in Tennessee shows unions in the South can still succeed with a secret ballot process, Sachs said the legislation could have a chilling effect on companies that would otherwise prefer to voluntarily recognize unions. If it werent a big deal, they wouldnt have enacted these laws, he said. Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on Facebook and Twitter. The post As a key labor union pushes into the South, red states push back appeared first on Arkansas Advocate. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. The trade turnover between Georgia and Russia from January through April 2024 amounted to over $836 million, which is 1.5 percent less year-on-year, Trend reports. According to the National Statistics Office of Georgia, Russia is Georgia's second-largest trading partner. In these four months, Russia's share of Georgia's external trade was 12.7 percent. Exports from Georgia to Russia during this period exceeded $230 million, marking a 1.9-percent year-on-year rise, while imports from Russia totaled more than $606 million - down 2.7 percent. Turkiye was Georgia's top trading partner in the reporting period of 2024, with a trade volume of nearly $965 million, which is 3.6 percent higher compared to the same period last year. China ranked third, with trade turnover exceeding $497 million, up 0.5 percent. The US followed with nearly $480 million, Azerbaijan with over $400 million, and Germany with more than $336 million. Georgia's total foreign trade turnover from January through April 2024 exceeded $6.5 billion, a 2.7-percent decrease. Exports were over $1.7 billion, down 10.1 percent, while imports surpassed $4.8 billion, up 0.3 percent. The negative trade balance for the first four months of 2024 exceeded $3 billion. The Senate made a number of significant changes to the Houses cannabis bill, House Bill 1633. (Getty Images) When the New Hampshire Senate began its lengthy deliberations over marijuana legalization Thursday, sunlight spilled through the chambers high windows. By the end, night had fallen. The result was a threshold moment: After hours of debates and amendments, the New Hampshire Senate voted for the first time to legalize the possession, sale, and taxation of cannabis. But to reach that vote, the Senate made a number of significant changes to the Houses bill, House Bill 1633. Now, House lawmakers in both parties are voicing anger over the changes and indicating the House may kill the final bill entirely. I already know of 50 Democrats who are going to nonconcur, and I think thats the tip of the iceberg, said Rep. Anita Burroughs, a Bartlett Democrat and key sponsor of the bill, in an interview Monday. The latest legalization effort is a year in the making, following Gov. Chris Sununus announcement last May that he was open to signing a cannabis bill that met certain criteria. And the bill still has a ways to go: It will be heard in the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday and will receive a second vote by the full Senate on Thursday. At that point, if it passes, it will head back to the House, which can vote on its approval. Yet for stakeholders, advocates, lawmakers, and the governor, the final weeks of debate are more uncertain than ever. Public health advocates and the governor have welcomed the Senates bill, praising the amount of oversight it gives to the state over the cannabis products that would be sold, and its dedication of revenues to substance misuse efforts. Cannabis industry advocates have railed against it, arguing it would stifle the potential for a healthy market. And House lawmakers have expressed frustration that senators moved ahead with a final version they knew many representatives would oppose. Like the Houses version, the Senates version of the bill would legalize the use of cannabis for people in New Hampshire 21 years and older, would allow a limited number of retail operations to exist in the state, and would let state officials tax and regulate the products sold at those retail operations. But the Senates version asserts much more state control over how the products could be marketed or sold within those retail operations. The Senate bill would direct the Liquor Commission to grant licenses for up to 15 franchises in the state, and would empower the commission to control the layout, signage, and advertising of those locations. Those franchises would need to give 15 percent of profits back to the state, which would dedicate 30 percent to substance use treatment programs and give 6.6 percent back to the city or town that is hosting the outlet. The Senate bill would require voters in a city town to opt in to approve a retail cannabis outlet being established. And it would allow one single company or individual to buy up to three of the 15 total retail licenses distributed by the commission. Some public health advocates, like New Futures Vice President of Advocacy Kate Frey, have been encouraged by the Senates approach. New Futures generally opposes cannabis legalization and will not endorse the bill, Frey said. But the latest version of the legislation meets a number of minimum requirements that New Futures has set out for any cannabis bill: that it protects children, promotes social justice, protects public health, and includes funding to reduce harm. If the bill meets those criteria, New Futures will stay neutral on the bill and will not oppose it. Overall, the bill that came out of the Senate is the closest that weve seen of any piece of legislation to meeting most of our principles, Frey said. Sununu, too, has praised the approach of the latest bill, though he has not said whether he would sign it. Its a model which ensures that the retail sales are ultimately controlled by the state, he said at a May 15 press conference. When he released a statement in May 2023 indicating his potential support for a cannabis legalization bill, the governor outlined a number of priorities, which included efforts to keep cannabis outlets away from schools; prohibit marijuana miles, or areas where cannabis stores are concentrated; and ensure state control. He reiterated this month that he would stick to those priorities. But Burroughs identified a number of Senate changes she says have soured House legalization supporters on the bill. To start, the Senate bill gives the Liquor Commission broad enforcement powers over the entire statute, which Burroughs said would be basically establishing another police force. The bills franchise approach could squelch innovation among retail operations and dampen consumer interest, Burroughs argued. The bill would create a cannabis control commission, which would help craft the regulations that would apply to growers and sellers of cannabis, but Burroughs noted the Senates version would include sparse representation from the industry. And the Senate bill would also allow the retail stores to sell therapeutic cannabis, which could undercut the states existing alternative treatment centers, Burroughs said. Together, the changes represent too much of a departure from the House version for many members to stomach, Burroughs says. Ive been fighting for this for a lot of years, and I never imagined a day where I would vote against a bill that Ive been sponsoring and working on, she said. But its like a bridge too far. The prime sponsor of the bill, Derry Republican Rep. Erica Layon, was not available to comment Monday. But another Republican sponsor of the bill, Rep. J.R. Hoell, says hell also be voting against it when it returns to the House. Hoell, of Dunbarnton, says he is not a fan of the state control approach, arguing that franchise model would create a near monopoly on cannabis sales. And Hoell has other qualms. He doesnt like that the bill prohibits the option for residents to grow their own cannabis at home. And he opposes the 15-license limit across the state, noting that because one business owner can have up to three licenses, the entire states cannabis market could be run by five different companies. I voted against casinos for that same reason years ago, Hoell said. I think a free market does a better job of managing sales and cost distribution, and it solves problems that government cant even anticipate. And this is definitely not a free-market model at this point. The Senate may still make changes to the bill until midnight on Thursday. If the Senate passes the bill a second time on that day, the House will meet a week later to vote on whether to accept the changes. At that point, the 400-member chamber could choose to accept the changes and send the bill to Sununu, request a committee of conference to negotiate further, or reject the changes, killing the bill entirely. The Houses version of the bill passed the chamber by 103 votes in April, 239-136. But Burroughs said that margin of support may be dissolving already. Speaking to reporters, the governor pushed back at any opposition to the increased state control. Thats not a concern, thats an opportunity, he said. He argued other states that have legalized retail cannabis without that kind of state oversight had ended with frustrated local communities. Just to be clear, if they said were just going to have the stores run by state employees like they are with the liquor store, that would be fine, too, Sununu said, speaking of lawmakers. So our franchise model is an alternative to that that is also acceptable, as long as all the other stipulations of control are put in. And some legalization advocates have urged the House to support the bill despite any perceived flaws. Signing marijuana legalization into law would ensure that our state stops arresting Granite Staters for marijuana possession around a thousand per year, and who are disproportionately Black, said Devon Chaffee, executive director of the ACLU of New Hampshire, in a statement. This is not a perfect bill, but it remains critical to ensure this bill becomes law and there are still many steps in the legislative process to come. Tim Egan, an advisory board member of the New Hampshire Cannabis Association, a pro-cannabis industry group which has heavily criticized the Senates bill, has a similar view. I want to see this bill get passed, Egan said in an interview before the Senates May 16 vote. Do I like most of the things in it? No. he said. He later added: Do I want this bill to fail? No. But if it does, Im not going to cry about it. The post Key members of House threaten to vote against cannabis bill after Senate changes appeared first on New Hampshire Bulletin. Here are the key races to watch tonight in Georgia, Oregon and beyond Here are the key races to watch tonight in Georgia, Oregon and beyond Primaries in Oregon, Georgia, Kentucky and Idaho on Tuesday will decide general election matchups in a small handful of key House races, while voters in California will also pick the candidate to finish the rest of former Speaker Kevin McCarthys (R) term in the lower chamber. At the top of the ticket in Kentucky and Oregon, President Biden and former President Trump are set to rake in more delegates in their respective primaries, less than six months out from their Election Day rematch. Also in Oregon, two high-profile Democratic House primaries are pitting establishment-backed candidates against progressives in a test of the lefts strength. Polls will close in the various states between 6 and 11 p.m. Eastern time. Here are six of the key races to watch: Oregon 5th District Democratic primary Oregons 5th Congressional District flipped into Republican hands in the midterms, and Democrats this year are seeking to oust incumbent Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R) and snag back the seat, which could be among the key races that decide control of the House this fall. The House Democrats national campaign arm has backed state Rep. Janelle Bynum (D) in a blow to Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee in 2022 and is running again this year. McLeod-Skinner defeated then-Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) who had President Bidens backing in the midterm primary, but lost to Chavez-DeRemer by two points in the general. This time around, the party is hoping that Bynum, who has beaten Chavez-DeRemer before in two state legislature races, will have better luck. Strategists expect a close primary, as Bynum and McLeod-Skinner battle to take on the Republican incumbent. Extensive primary polling hasnt been conducted, but an April survey paid for by Bynums campaign shows the state lawmaker with a slight lead in the district, which spans from Bend in central Oregon to Multnomah and Clackamas counties just outside of Portland. Oregon 3rd District Democratic Primary Oregons 3rd Congressional District seat is solidly blue, but the race has still drawn national attention as Democrats vie to succeed retiring Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), whose exit opens up the seat for the first time in nearly three decades. Among the top contenders for the seat is Multnomah County Commissioner Susheela Jayapal, the sister of U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wa.). If she succeeds, the pair would become the second set of sisters to serve together in the lower chamber, after Loretta and Linda Sanchez made history as sister lawmakers from California. But state Rep. Maxine Dexter has given Jayapal a run for her money literally, as she has raked in more than half a million dollars over the last quarter. Dexters primary rivals, including Jayapal, have said that some of that money is coming from a PAC tied to the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC). And Jayapals allies have also asserted that Republican meddling has boosted Dexter. Republican megadonors have spent millions to defeat my sister @SusheelaJayapal all because she is a proud, effective progressive, Pramila Jayapal said in an Instagram post. Regardless of who wins, Democrats are almost certain to keep the seat in their hands come November, making the contest primarily a test for the establishment and progressive wings of the party. Progressive DA race in Portland The progressive district attorney who took office in Oregons Multnomah County amid 2020 social justice protests in Portland faces a primary challenge from a competitor promising to be tougher on crime. District Attorney Mike Schmidt was elected in a landslide amid the COVID-19 pandemic and a push for criminal justice reforms. During demonstrations that roiled Portland in the wake of George Floyds death at the hands of police, he announced back in 2020 that his office wouldnt go after many protestors who were arrested. But the Beaver State has since seen growing frustration over public safety amid drug decriminalization efforts, increasing homelessness. Schmidt is now being challenged by one of his own deputies, Nathan Vasquez, whose platform stresses that [even] petty crimes, like theft, vandalism, and littering, public use of illicit drugs and public highs, all contribute to the overall feeling of safety and wellbeing of a community. Fani Willis primary challenge in Georgia Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) is leading the prosecution of former President Trump in a case centered on efforts to interfere with Georgias 2020 election results. Shes also up for reelection and faces a primary challenge from attorney Christian Wise Smith, who ran and lost against Willis four years ago. Its the first time Willis has gone before voters since launching her probe into Trumps actions in the state. Revelations of a romantic relationship between Willis and one of Trumps top prosecutors tripped up the proceedings for weeks, but Willis was allowed to remain in her role. Willis is generally expected to prevail on Tuesday. With that said, if Smith were to score an upset, it could have notable ramifications on the high-profile case. Asked earlier this year whether he would continue pursuing Williss case against Trump, Smith said that issue is important to us here in Fulton County and a lot of people across the country. The winner of the Democratic primary is set to go against Republican candidate Courtney Kramer, an attorney who worked in the Office of the White House Counsel under Trump, in the fall. Georgia state Superior Court, Supreme Court races Another key player in Trumps Georgia case is up for reelection this year: Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAffee. A former prosecutor who was appointed to the bench by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp back in 2022, McAffee faces challenger Robert Patillo in the contest. If McAffee loses, his caseload could go to his successor. Meanwhile, Democratic former Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.) is hoping to flip a state Supreme Court race in a contest that has played out against the backdrop of the Peach States six-week ban. Barrow is running against state Supreme Court Justice Andrew Pinson, a Kemp appointee who once clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The Democrat believes the procedure is a right, while Pinson has argued the former lawmaker is running a hyper-partisan campaign. Special election to fill McCarthys seat in California Voters in California on Tuesday will weigh in on a special election to fill former Speaker Kevin McCarthys (R-Calif.) reliably red seat in the Golden States 20th District. McCarthy announced plans to leave the lower chamber after his historic removal ended a brief tenure in the top House role. He wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that he was stepping out of the House to serve America in new ways. I know my work is only getting started. Now, County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux (R) will face off on Tuesday against Republican state legislator Vince Fong in a runoff to claim McCarthys seat for the remainder of his term and then the pair will battle again to win a full term in November. Trump and McCarthy both have put their weight behind Fong, positioning him the favorite to win the seat. 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 The Hill. Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is received by German Ambassador Martin Jaeger and a representative of the Ukrainian protocol on arrival at Kiev railroad station. Jorg Blank/dpa German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Kiev on Tuesday morning and made a plea for more international support to protect the country's skies from Russian airstrikes. "To protect Ukraine from the hail of Russian missiles and drones, it urgently needs more air defence," she said at the start of her seventh visit to Ukraine since all-out war erupted in February 2022. Her trip had not been announced for security reasons. Baerbock said that Kiev's allies must "join forces" both for Ukraine's sake and to prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from sending troops to "our own borders." She noted that a German-led initiative aimed at building up Ukraine's air defences has raised almost 1 billion ($1 billion). "And we are working hard to ensure that this will be even more," the minister said. "We are turning over every stone several times and have even gone ahead with an additional Patriot unit." Ukraine has been on the back foot for months due to shortages of equipment, ammunition and soldiers in the war's third year. The large city of Kharkiv in the north-east of the country, not far from the Russian border, is being bombarded daily. Russian ground forces have also been advancing into the broader Kharkiv region. Baerbock had to cancel a planned visit to Kharkiv on Tuesday due to the Russian attacks. She had visited the city, which was heavily attacked by Russian troops at the beginning of the war, in January 2023. Shortly before Baerbock's visit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky once again stressed the urgency of getting air defence systems and Western fighter jets to his country. "Unfortunately, the free world lacks speed on these two issues," he said on Monday evening. Zelensky has repeatedly requested the delivery of two more Patriot air defence systems to protect Kharkiv. Ukraine reportedly has three of the powerful US-made air defence systems. Germany has provided two of them, and the German government recently promised a third unit. The other Patriot unit currently active in Ukraine comes from the US. Washington is considering the delivery of a further system. German attempts to procure Patriots from partner countries in Europe or overseas have so far not been successful. Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is received by German Ambassador Martin Jaeger and a representative of the Ukrainian protocol on arrival at Kiev railroad station. Jorg Blank/dpa German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (L) and her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba speaks during a press conference after their meeting. Jorg Blank/dpa German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Kiev on Tuesday morning and made a plea for more international support to protect the country's skies from Russian airstrikes. "To protect Ukraine from the hail of Russian missiles and drones, it urgently needs more air defence," she said at the start of her seventh visit to Ukraine since all-out war erupted in February 2022. Her trip had not been announced for security reasons. Baerbock: Putin 'destroys lives' During a visit to one of Ukraine's largest power stations which was destroyed by Russia last month, Baerbock accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of targeted terror against civilians. "The fact that this terror against the infrastructure is continuing after this winter shows that the Russian president wants to destroy the country, wants to destroy people's lives here," she said. Baerbock was briefed by Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko on the situation at the power plant in the Kiev region. Galushchenko said that Russia had fired a total of 11 missiles at the site. Of these, only six were shot down by the Ukrainian air defence system because there were no more anti-aircraft missiles available. In view of the air defence shortages in Ukraine, the German minister appealed "to international partners worldwide" for more air defence "to protect not only large cities, but also the infrastructure." Baerbock calls on Kiev's allies At the start of her visit, Baerbock said that Kiev's allies must "join forces" both for Ukraine's sake and to prevent Putin from sending troops to "our own borders." She noted that a German-led initiative aimed at building up Ukraine's air defences has raised almost 1 billion ($1.08 billion). "And we are working hard to ensure that this will be even more," the minister said. Ukraine has been on the back foot for months due to shortages of equipment, ammunition and soldiers in the war's third year. "Every hesitation and every delay in supporting Ukraine costs the lives of innocent people. And every hesitation in supporting Ukraine also jeopardizes our own security," Baerbock said at a joint appearance with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Kiev. Kuleba warned: "If Russia is not stopped here and now, its missiles will continue to fly at some point." Echoing Baerbock, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said while on a visit to NATO member Latvia that it was "crucial" that all "partners who can provide patriot systems or similar systems should do that as soon as possible." He said it would not only protect infrastructure, but also boost morale. Zelensky honours Baerbock with Order of Merit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky honoured Baerbock with an Order of Merit for her support for his country. Zelensky presented the politician with the third level of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise in the presidential office in the capital Kiev on Tuesday. Zelensky had already awarded Baerbock the honour by decree at the turn of the year. Kharkiv attacks injure seven Russian attacks on the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, not far from the Russian border, injured at least seven people overnight, the region's governor said. "The enemy has been attacking Kharkiv all night," Oleh Synyehubov said on Tuesday morning on Telegram. Debris from combat drones shot down by Ukrainian air defences fell in several parts of the city and caused damage to buildings and vehicles. Synyehubov said the injured include a 61-year-old man and two women aged 69 and 72. Other Ukrainian regions were also hit by Russian drones overnight, including Odessa, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk. The Ukrainian Air Force said 28 of 29 drones were shot down across the country. Moscow intensified its air and ground campaign in the Kharkiv region almost two weeks ago. Russian forces have since captured several Ukrainian border villages. According to observers, the offensive has slowed in recent days, but has not come to a standstill. Baerbock had to cancel a planned visit to Kharkiv on Tuesday due to the Russian attacks. She had visited the city, which was heavily attacked by Russian troops at the beginning of the war, in January 2023. Zelensky: 'Free world lacks speed' Shortly before Baerbock's visit, Zelensky again stressed the urgency of getting air defence systems and Western fighter jets to his country. "Unfortunately, the free world lacks speed on these two issues," he said on Monday evening. Zelensky has repeatedly requested the delivery of two more Patriot air defence systems to protect Kharkiv. Rep. Reed Ingram, R-Pike Road, sits on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on April 25, 2024 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) A bill to allow undocumented students to attend some of Alabamas public institutions of higher education died in the final days of the 2024 session amid attempts to limit the scope of the bill. HB 210, sponsored by Rep. Reed Ingram, R-Pike Road, would have allowed undocumented students to attend public colleges and universities as long as they met certain requirements, including making an application for legal status. If somebody comes over the border illegally, or are not wanting to contribute to society, then I dont have any use for them going to college, but as long as they really want to work and get a job and and give back to the community its those people that we were targeting, Ingram said on Monday. Alabamas HB 56, a 2011 law that attempted to criminalize the lives of undocumented immigrants in the state, barred immigrants without legal status from attending public colleges and universities. Federal courts gutted the law, but the higher education bar remained. Ingrams bill would have required a qualifying student to have attended high school in the state for three years and graduated from high school, earned a GED or completed another equivalent. Ingram said that an amendment from Sen. Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva, the chair of the Senate Education Policy committee, slowed the bill down. Chesteen said Monday that it would have set a specific timeframe for a student to apply for status. A copy of the proposed amendment provided to the Reflector by the Higher Education Partnership Monday said that a qualifying student had to have applied for lawful presence in the United States before or during the ninth grade of high school or three years prior to enrolling in a public post-secondary education institution. We just thought that that pathway would show their intent to go ahead and try to obtain legal status earlier, rather than at the completion of school and right into college, Chesteen said Monday. The senator said post-secondary and higher ed wanted that amendment on the bill. Boone Kinard, executive director of external affairs with the Alabama Community College System, said that they supported the amendment only as a way to get the broader legislation passed. We were not pushing for the amendment, but certainly in working with the lieutenant governor (and) our stakeholders, we were amenable to adding that amendment to the bill, he said. Kinard said that the bill would have also allowed high school students to participate in dual enrollment. He said that, currently, some students are crossing state lines to do so. It is an issue that several of our community colleges that border other states have dealt with, he said. Gordon Stone, executive director of the Higher Education Partnership of Alabama, was also part of the discussions. He said that they also supported the amendment as a way to help the bill pass. This bill that Representative Ingram had initially sponsored was great for us, because it just created more access points, and thats what weve always been about, accessibility for Alabamians across the board, he said. Kinard and Stone said they were in conversations with Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth during the process; Kinard said that Ainsworth had issues with the bill. Stone said that Ainsworth represented a voice and that the amendment was a change that legislative leaders wanted. An email was sent to Jesse Skaggs, Ainsworths chief of staff, Monday afternoon. Both Ingram and co-sponsor Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, said they expect to file the bill earlier. Chesteen said the bill could pass with the amendment. Were providing education for kindergarten through 12th grade, and to limit it after that, so that they cant move up into our workforce, which we have workforce needs, almost seems foolish, so I was hopeful that it was going to get through even the first year, but there are lots of things that dont get through the first year, Collins said. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post What killed Alabamas bill to open public colleges to some undocumented residents? appeared first on Alabama Reflector. Kim Jong Un reportedly made it clear that Pyongyang did not intend to use nuclear weapons - KCNA/REUTERS Kim Jong Un was desperate to get rid of his nuclear weapons and said he would only ever use them defensively, a former South Korean president has claimed. In a new memoir, Moon Jae-in, who oversaw the unprecedented summits between Kim and former US President Donald Trump, wrote that the North Korean leader repeatedly and desperately made clear that Pyongyang did not intend to use such weapons and was frustrated by international mistrust. Mr Moon wrote: He also mentioned that he has a daughter and doesnt want her generation to live with the burden of nuclear weapons. He sincerely explained his commitment to denuclearisation. But the memoir, released last week, provoked strong criticism from Kim Yung-ho, the Souths unification minister and top official on North Korea, who compared the recollection to Neville Chamberlains appeasement policy in the lead up to World War II. If South Korea relies only on North Koreas good faith, its people and national security could be at risk, said Mr Kim. He told a press conference: While ignoring North Koreas [nuclear] capability, if we only focus on the Norths intentions, this could result in a miscalculation of the security situation. Collapse of diplomatic talks Diplomatic efforts by South Korea and the United States to persuade Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme ultimately collapsed in a disagreement at the Hanoi summit in 2019 over the lifting of sanctions. The North Korean regime has since significantly stepped up its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons development and Kim has since declared that his country will never give up its nuclear firepower. In a further sign of his shift in direction, he revealed his beloved daughter Ju-ae to the world for the first time in 2022 at the launch of the Hwasong-17, an intercontinental ballistic missile. South Korea, under Yoon Suk Yeol, the current president, has also taken a more hardline stance towards the North, warning that if it attempts to use nuclear weapons it will face an immediate, overwhelming and decisive response. 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. Know a 2024 Fayette County graduate with a compelling story? Tell us about them Just in time for commencement season: The Herald-Leader is looking for 2024 Fayette County Public School graduates to celebrate in our print edition and on Kentucky.com. If you are or know of a high-achieving graduate, a student who has overcome obstacles, or an outgoing senior with a compelling story, contact Valarie Honeycutt Spears at vhoneycutt@herald-leader.com. We will need some information about the graduate and their contact information so we can reach out to them. From our Herald-Leader family to yours, happy graduation season! GUBA, Azerbaijan, May 21. Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan plan to establish a joint online commercial platform, Uzbek Minister of Investment, Industry, and Trade Laziz Kudratov said during the II Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan Interregional Forum in Guba today, Trend reports. This will be a commercial platform where businessmen can easily find each other, both in terms of making trade transactions and jointly initiating investment projects, he emphasized. According to him, by launching the online platform, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan will be able to create an additional tool allowing entrepreneurs from the two countries to find the right partners and generate new trade and economic cooperation projects. To note, trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan from January through March 2024 totaled $142 million. The two countries' economies have enough potential for mutual trade indicators to reach $1 billion in the coming years. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel What to know before casting your ballot for Oregons primary election PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) The primary election is upon us, which means registered Oregon voters have just a few hours remaining to cast their ballots. All mail-in ballots must be postmarked by Tuesday, May 21. For those who plan to use a drop box, ballots must be dropped off by 8 p.m. on election night. Find out which drop box is closest to you by typing in your address here. As of May 2, the Oregon Elections Division recorded 3,039,926 registered voters. Another PGE rate hike? Customers say its inhumane About 37.8% of voters statewide cast their ballots in the May 2022 primary election. Although Tuesdays election also serves as a presidential primary, Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott said he expects similar numbers this year. KOIN 6 News Political Director Ken Boddie has an update as of Tuesday afternoon on Oregons voter turnout for the May 2024 primary below. Learn more about the key state and local primary races by reading the stories below. KOIN 6 News is your local election headquarters. Tune in this evening as Political Director Ken Boddie covers live election results. 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 KOIN.com. What to know about Turks and Caicos' strict gun laws after US tourists charged with possessing ammunition The plight of multiple Americans charged with bringing ammunition to Turks and Caicos has drawn attention to the islands' strict gun laws. Those convicted under the firearms ordinance of possessing ammunition could face a minimum sentence of 12 years in prison -- unless a judge grants them leniency for "exceptional circumstances," Turks and Caicos officials said. Several American tourists who recently traveled to the popular tropical destination have been charged after inadvertently bringing ammunition, according to a coalition of U.S. Congress members advocating on their behalf. Here's what to know about the law and cases. PHOTO: Turks and Caicos officers stand outside a police station. (ABC News/Nightline) Turks and Caicos' strict gun laws Turks and Caicos prohibits anyone from keeping, carrying, discharging or using an unlicensed firearm or ammunition. There is no constitutional right to carry firearms. In the U.S., it is legal to fly with unloaded firearms and ammunition in checked baggage, according to the Transportation Security Administration. American tourists previously arrested in Turks and Caicos for possessing ammunition typically were briefly jailed and paid hefty fines before being able to return home. The British Overseas Territory -- which has its own legislature and government -- has strengthened its firearms ordinance over the years. Most recently in 2022, it passed an amendment that mandates a minimum 12-year prison sentence for those convicted of breaking the law. The harsher penalty followed an increase in gun-related violence and weapons trafficking. Turks and Caicos, where crime has been relatively low, saw a "marked increase" in homicides in 2020 and 2021 associated with "international crime, gangs, the availability of firearms, and drug dealing and trafficking," according to the U.K. Government. The amendment was one of 11 pieces of legislation the Turks and Caicos House of Assembly passed in November 2022 aimed at addressing rising crime and gang violence. For those convicted of possessing ammunition and firearms, exceptional circumstances may be considered during sentencing. The sentencing judge "has discretion to impose a custodial sentence (less than the twelve years) and a fine that are fair and just in the circumstances of each case," the Turks and Caicos attorney general said in a statement in April. To date, no U.S. national has received the mandatory minimum sentence of 12 years for the offense, the Governor's Office of Turks and Caicos said Wednesday. MORE: US delegation travels to Turks and Caicos after 5 tourists detained over ammunition The Americans charged In recent months, multiple Americans have been charged after ammunition was allegedly found in their luggage: Michael Grim The Indiana resident was arrested in August 2023 after one magazine containing 20 rounds of 9 mm ammunition was found in his luggage at Providenciales International Airport when it was screened during a security check, according to court documents. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to eight months in prison in September 2023 -- with the court finding there was no criminal intent though "the need to send a message to travelers to the Turks and Caicos Islands to exercise caution when packing suitcases and to ensure that items of this nature are brought to the attention of airport officials." He was released in February. Michael Lee Evans The Texas septuagenarian was arrested in December 2023 after seven rounds of 9 mm ammunition was found in his luggage, police said. He pleaded guilty to possession of ammunition and is out on bail. He was allowed to return to the U.S. due to medical reasons, police previously said. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 18. Bryan Hagerich PHOTO: Bryan Hagerich and his wife, Ashley, speak with ABC News. (ABC News) The Pennsylvania father of two was arrested in February while returning home from a family vacation after ammunition was found in his checked luggage. He pleaded guilty to possession of 20 rounds of ammunition. He told ABC News he forgot hunting ammunition was in his bag while he was traveling. His next hearing has been scheduled for Friday. "We're still steadfast in my goal to return home," he told ABC News earlier in May. He said he hopes the judge is lenient in the sentencing and that he doesn't want to be separated from his family for 12 years. "I'm a man of integrity, character," he said. "I did not have intent in this." Ryan Tyler Watson PHOTO: The booking photo for Ryan Watson. (Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force) The Oklahoma resident was returning with his wife from a trip to Turks and Caicos to celebrate several friends' 40th birthdays when he was arrested on April 12. Four rounds of ammunition were allegedly found in his carry-on bag at the Howard Hamilton International Airport, police said. Watson has since been released on $15,000 bond but remains on the islands as his court case continues, separated from his wife and two children. His next hearing has been scheduled for June 7. Watson, who is living with Hagerich amid the legal proceedings, told ABC News he didn't know the hunting ammunition was in the bag. "I stand behind Turks and Caicos and what they're trying to accomplish to get out in front of their gun violence that they are experiencing on the island," he said, though he added he doesn't feel that putting those like himself and Hagerich "makes this island any safer." "We both just made a mistake," he said. Tyler Scott Wenrich PHOTO: Tyler Scott Wenrich, 31, of Virginia, was charged with possession of ammunition in Turks and Caicos when trying to return to his cruise ship in April. (Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force) The Virginia resident traveled to Grand Turk on a cruise ship for a bachelor party in late April when ammunition was found in his possession while going through a security checkpoint, police said. The 911 operator and emergency medical technician, who has a young child, has remained on the island since being arrested and pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two counts of possession of ammunition, for two 9 mm rounds. The judge's sentence is expected within seven days. "I have a lot of fear and anxiety as to what's going to happen and I'm hoping that the judge finds some compassion and leniency in the situation that I'm in," Wenrich told ABC News. Wenrich had gone shooting at a gun range with friends and said he forgot he was carrying the ammunition. "I take a lot of responsibility for it because I have to," he said, though noted that the ammunition was overlooked by several entities before being found. "It could happen to anybody," he said. Defense attorney Sheena Mair said in court, in arguing for a more lenient sentence, "A mandatory minimum of 12 years in this case is not what Parliament intended with the firearm ordinance change in October 2022." "Tyler's sentencing will not fix the gun issue in this jurisdiction," she added. Mair detailed past cases of Americans in which lesser sentences were imposed, including Grim, as well as American Dave O'Connor. O'Connor was found to have 44 rounds of 9 mm ammunition, but received a $5,670 fine and no sentence. In both cases, the Court of Appeals defended the finding of exceptional circumstances. Sharitta Grier PHOTO: The booking photo for Sharitta Grier. (Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force) The Florida resident was visiting Turks and Caicos with her daughter for Mother's Day when, during a routine search at the Howard Hamilton International Airport on May 13, officials claim to have found two rounds of ammunition in her bag, police said. She told Orlando ABC affiliate WFTV she had no idea that two rounds were in the bottom of her duffel bag. Grier was charged with one count of possession of ammunition and released on $15,000 bail. She has been ordered to remain in the Caribbean territory until the completion of her case, police sources said. A hearing has been scheduled for July 5. She has been living with Hagerich and Watson while her case proceeds. "They are my forever family," she told ABC News. MORE: American woman charged after ammunition found in baggage in Turks and Caicos on Mother's Day trip: Police US response The American Embassy in the Bahamas, the nearest embassy to the islands, issued an alert in April urging all travelers to Turks and Caicos to "carefully check your luggage for stray ammunition or forgotten weapons before departing from the United States." Firearms, ammunition (including stray bullets) and other weapons are not permitted in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI)," the alert stated. " TCI authorities strictly enforce all firearms-and-ammunition-related laws. The penalty for traveling to TCI with a firearm, ammunition, or other weapon can result in a minimum custodial sentence of twelve (12) years." The alert said that TSA screening in the U.S. may not identify ammunition in your baggage and it is "your responsibility to ensure your baggage is free of ammunition and/or firearms." Turks and Caicos Islands: We urge all travelers to carefully check your luggage for stray ammunition or forgotten weapons before departing from the United States. Firearms, ammunition (including stray bullets), and other weapons are not permitted in the Turks and Caicos Islands pic.twitter.com/UtHZh6zRHW Travel - State Dept (@TravelGov) April 24, 2024 U.S. officials have been pressuring the Turks and Caicos government to release their constituents. In mid-May, the governors of Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Virginia sent a joint letter to Turks and Caicos Gov. Dileeni Daniel-Selvaratnam to release Watson, Hagerich and Wenrich. "This action will create the necessary recognition of your laws that will impact the future actions of travelers and continue our mutual interest in justice and goodwill between our jurisdictions," the letter read. PHOTO: A United States Congressional delegation meets with government officials in Turks and Caicos, May 20, 2024. (Turks and Caicos Islands, Governor's Office/Facebook) A bipartisan congressional delegation traveled to Turks and Caicos this week to address the fate of the five Americans charged. Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, one of the members of the delegation, told "Good Morning America" that he left the meetings feeling like they "didn't find a real path forward" and are considering next steps if they can't reach a solution. "We thought we could find some type of common ground to separate the two -- ones with the intent and one with no criminal intent," Mullin said. "We weren't able to get to that conclusion. So their whole point was that, let the system work." Mullin said the next step might be warning American citizens about traveling and doing business in Turks and Caicos. "I don't think we're to that point. But if we can't come to a solution, that's the next option for us," he said. Turks and Caicos' response The Turks and Caicos attorney general has said the firearms ordinance applies to all those on the islands, "regardless of status or origin." Following the meeting with the congressional delegation, the Turks and Caicos governor's office said in a statement that the government has "clear laws prohibiting the possession of firearms and/or ammunition and strict penalties are in place to serve and protect all who reside and visit the Turks and Caicos Islands." The office said the government officials "appreciated that the circumstances for U.S. nationals who find themselves in this position can be difficult but were aware that U.S. officials are providing consular support to each of the individuals." "Where the court finds there are exceptional circumstances, the sentencing judge does have discretion, under the law, to impose a custodial sentence and a fine that are fair and just in the circumstances of each case," the governor's office added. ABC News' Stefan Joyce contributed to this report. What to know about Turks and Caicos' strict gun laws after US tourists charged with possessing ammunition originally appeared on abcnews.go.com (Bloomberg) -- Kosovo police shut down the offices of the last Serbian bank on its territory as part of a currency crackdown, drawing a furious response from Serbian government officials. Most Read from Bloomberg Police carrying rifles and wearing bullet-proof vests on Monday entered six branches of Banka Postanska Stedionica in northern Kosovo, home to the biggest Serb community in the country. Its members rely on pension and other welfare payments in dinars delivered from Serbia. Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic denounced the raids, calling them another savage act that directly jeopardizes the survival of Serbs in Kosovo. Kosovo split from Serbia in 2008 and has been using the euro as the only currency acceptable in cash payments since 2002, with the dinar used exclusively in Serb municipalities. Xhelal Svecla, Kosovos interior minister, confirmed the police action against Banka Postanska Stedionica, which he described as an illegal financial institution. Read More: Currency Crackdown in Kosovo Turns the Screws on Ethnic Serbs Representatives from Kosovo and Serbia met with European Union mediators in Brussels last week in the latest attempt to resolve the currency row, but the talks ended in mutual recrimination. If the international community doesnt come to its senses, all this will lead to new conflicts in the Balkans, with unforeseeable consequences, Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said on Monday. The action comes a week after the central bank of Kosovo announced that the transitional period for its Feb. 1 regulation, which prohibits the use of the Serbian dinar for payments, had ended. It has licensed eight branches of financial institutions in municipalities with a Serb majority where people in Serbia can send money to citizens living in Kosovo. The authorities in Pristina intend to tax and register these transactions. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Political prisoner Rustem Seitmemetov has suffered a heart attack due to inadequate detention conditions in a Russian prison. Source: Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) Commissioner for Human Rights, on Telegram Details: He recalled that Seitmemetov was illegally detained by Russians in temporarily occupied Crimea and sentenced to 13 years in prison. Recently, it became known that he was moved for unknown reasons to a separate room that was not heated. Quote from Lubinets: "To keep warm, the prisoner was forced to constantly move and engage in physical activities. During the execution [of the physical activities], Rustem lost consciousness. After a medical examination, he was diagnosed with a myocardial infarction." Details: The ombudsman emphasised that the political prisoner is given medications he is not familiar with, and they do not provide information about his health condition or the results of medical tests. "The conditions of detention for any of the Ukrainian political prisoners do not comply with current norms of international law. This leads to a deterioration of the prisoner's health and can effectively be equated with torture. I urge the international community to pay attention to Russia's human rights violations!" Lubinets stressed. Background: In October 2021, a court in Russian Rostov-on-Don sentenced four Crimean Tatars to prison terms ranging from 12 to 17 years. Rustem Seitmemetov was given a 13-year prison sentence. Support UP or become our patron! The Kremlin propaganda machine has made Tucker Carlson its newest star television host, whether he likes it or not. The former Fox News host has gotten his own show on the state-run channel Rossiya 24except its not quite as new as the channel would have people believe. The program, called Tucker. Rossiya 24, treats viewers to days-old episodes of Carlsons own show posted on X and YouTube, but with a Russian voiceover. An episode was aired Monday night, for example, featuring Carlson discussing conspiracy theories about Lyme disease being used as a bioweapon under the title ticksnuclear weapons for the poor. The same episode, minus the Russian voiceover, was available to American social media users on May 10. The website of the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company features several other episodes of the supposedly new show, all of them featuring praise for Moscow, criticism of Ukraine, or grim predictions concerning the fate of the U.S. In a description of the program, the site notes that Carlson has actively criticized U.S. authorities for helping Ukraine since the start of the [war], and that he was added to a well-known database of enemies of Ukraine last summer. Carlson did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast but he told CNN that he knew nothing about the Russian programming move. Its all fake obviously, like most stories in American news media. Of course I have no partnership with Russia. The first I'd heard anything about this was (this) morning, he said. The CEO of Tucker Carlson Network, Neil Patel, said no deals had been done with Russia. The Tucker Carlson Network has not done any deals with state media in any country. Whoever is currently pretending to be the old Newsweek brand would know that if they had checked with us before printing like news companies are supposed to do, he said. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. KS abortion providers fighting law that requires asking women why theyre getting one Kansas abortion providers are challenging a new state law that requires them to ask patients their reasons for seeking an abortion. The law will take effect on July 1 unless blocked by a court. On Monday, attorneys for abortion providers filed court papers to add the survey requirements to an ongoing lawsuit in Johnson County District Court thats already led to the suspension of several Kansas abortion regulations. The legal fight has regional implications because of Kansas increasingly prominent role as an abortion access point in the Great Plains. Abortion is banned in several nearby states, including Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The Republican-controlled Legislature passed the law, known as HB 2749, in April over the veto of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. The measure represents another attempt by anti-abortion lawmakers to test the outer bounds of a 2019 Kansas Supreme Court decision that interpreted the state constitution to protect access to abortion. Voters in August 2022 strongly rejected an amendment to the state constitution that would have overturned the high courts decision, paving the way for an abortion ban. While the Legislature hasnt advanced severe restrictions on abortion since the vote, lawmakers have made new efforts to regulate what women are told and asked before the procedure. Were challenging this latest invasion into the private decisions of Kansans for one simple reason: unlike the legislature, we actually listened when the people voted in August 2022, Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said in a statement. Kansans want their medical decisions to be their own, and we will not shame or stigmatize patients to satisfy the cruel whims of anti-abortion politicians. The new law mandates abortion providers to survey women, asking them to choose the most important reason for getting an abortion. Those reasons include financial stress, rape, fetal disabilities, or the health of the mother as options. The survey does not include an other option, a point of contention for opponents. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment will compile the data into a report publicly released twice a year. In a motion filed Monday to add the new law to the ongoing Johnson County lawsuit, attorneys for the abortion providers called the requirements another legislative attempt to co-opt abortion providers to serve as the States conduitthis time to pry into patients personal medical decisionmaking via intrusive, government-scripted inquiries. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobachs office, which is defending Kansas abortion law in court, didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. When Kelly vetoed the bill, she called it invasive and unnecessary. She also referred to the August 2022 vote, saying voters dont want politicians interfering in private medical decisions. Top Republicans have described the measure as a data collection effort. House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, has emphasized that answering the survey questions is voluntary. He has also nodded to Kansas growing role as an abortion access point. By overriding the Governors veto of this bill, voluntary and anonymous abortion data will now be made available to KDHE so they can have up-to-date and relevant information. The Governors unreasonable fear of this data collection is nothing but a roadblock to helping serve these vulnerable women better, Hawkins said in an April statement. In 2022, the last year of data available, 12,318 abortions were performed in Kansas, according to an official state report, up from 7,849 in 2021 an increase of 57%. The growth occurred entirely in abortions among out-of-state residents, which grew by 4,563. At the same time, Kansas residents obtained fewer abortions in 2022 than the year before. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights, 46 states require some form of abortion reporting. Of those, 16 ask about a patients reason for obtaining an abortion with nine of them asking about reasons beyond rape, incest, fetal abnormalities and health of the mother. Johnson County District Court Judge Christopher Jayaram is overseeing the ongoing lawsuit against Kansas abortion restrictions. Its unclear how quickly he will act on the abortion providers challenge; Kobach will likely first argue against blocking the law. Jayaram has previously blocked existing abortion regulations, including some in place for decades. In October, the judge stopped officials from enforcing a 24-hour waiting period for abortions. He also halted enforcement of rules mandating abortion providers, without evidence, post information in clinics and online warning abortions can increase the risk of breast cancer and premature birth in future pregnancies. A bench trial in the lawsuit is currently scheduled for February 2025. Law enforcement has frequently been used by activists to support their causes. How often do we see vexatious complaints made to the police about this or that politicians behaviour, when its pretty clear that Plod has no role in whatever argument is being fought? As the worlds only Jewish state continues to frustrate its critics by refusing to be wiped off the map, anti-Israel activists have increasingly resorted to the same tactic. Until now, the attempted arrests of Israeli officials when they arrive in foreign countries has been little more than performative activism, aimed at generating publicity for the cause rather than serving the demands of international justice. But the International Criminal Courts decision to seek arrest warrants for both the Israeli prime minister and Hamas leaders has stepped up this tiresome little game to dangerous levels. As President Joe Biden has said, to draw any sort of moral equivalence between the Islamist terrorists, rapists and murderers of Hamas with the leader of a democratically-elected government in the midst of a war that was initiated by those self-same terrorists is outrageous. It is virtue-signalling on a global scale and it is utterly unjustified. So naturally, David Lammy has backed it. The shadow foreign secretary has not only supported the move by the ICC to seek arrest warrants, but he used his contribution in the House of Commons yesterday to score party political points over the government. This is itself a worrying departure; the international fight against terrorism has, until now, been a cross-party affair. Each side had its own priorities and emphasis, but there was a unified strategy, and the international community knew where Britain stood: against Islamist terrorists and in support of democracy. Lammy chose to make his points slowly perhaps to allow for applause? and with portentous solemnity, perhaps hoping that he was coming across as a serious-minded statesman. He hoped in vain. What came across instead was the culmination of the rather transparent political predicament into which the Labour Party appear to have fallen. Keir Starmer took the initial lead on behalf of his party when, in the wake of the October 7 massacre by Hamas terrorists, he struck an uncompromising stance in Israels favour. Naturally this infuriated much of his party, whose analysis of the Middle East has not moved on much since its senior common room days and its distillation of the historical and political complexities of the region into handy, bite-sized slogans to be repeated, loudly and with unwarranted confidence, at the weekly anti-Israel demonstrations we have been forced to witness since Israel dared to defend itself. The local elections earlier this month confirmed Labours fears that at least a section of the Muslim vote, on which the party could previously rely, had deserted it as a direct result of its support for Israel. Lammys absurd response to the ICCs actions must be interpreted in light of his partys response to this plight. It is, regrettably, a consequence of long-term opposition that political parties, on certain issues, forget that it is not necessary to pursue policies that are popular, only policies that are right. Indulging the anti-Israel sentiments of the kind of people who enjoy singing the genocidal ditty, From the river to the sea, may serve to blunt those peoples criticism of you for a time, but they will return they always return with more, and even less reasonable, demands which, if you reject them, will only intensify their hatred of you. It would have been possible for Lammy to concede the ICCs right to pursue its stated course of action while decrying its conclusions. He certainly should have taken issue with the courts implication that Hamas and the Israeli government are somehow equivalent in terms of moral culpability for the current conflict. For they are not. Criticise Israels military strategy by all means, but do not assume for even an instant that they are anything other than miles above the moral cesspit in which Hamas and its supporters dwell. Why didnt Lammy say any of this? We are left with the unappetising conclusion that he was playing to the gallery, appealing to his own party and to its supporters and, of course, its recently lost supporters. The man who aspires to be this countrys next foreign secretary was turning his back, not only on two of our closest international allies (for in failing to challenge the ICCs broken moral compass, he shunned President Biden too) but on a political consensus that has been integral to this nations fight against the evil of international Islamism. As prime minister, Keir Starmer will have to think seriously about who he puts in charge of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. There are many better and better qualified candidates than David Lammy. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Lake Effect: What changes scientists are seeing on Lake Michigan Editors Note: Lake Effect, a Storm Team 8 special, was disrupted by a tornado warning on Monday night. It will run its entirety on Saturday, May 25 at 7 p.m. on WOOD TV8 and Sunday, May 26 at 1 p.m. on WXSP. However, the first segment of it can be found above. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) Scientists have been discovering small changes on Lake Michigan that could lead to big impacts on fishing, tourism and those who make their livelihood on the water. A slightly warmer, windier and wetter climate has already begun to change the footprint of the lake and its impact on West Michigan. Heres how: Inside woodtv.com: Storm Team 8 forecast BIG WATER LEVEL CHANGES HARDER TO PREDICT Water level rises and falls are common in Lake Michigan. Accurate records beginning in 1918 reveal a fluctuating pattern of high water followed by spans of low water level years. The record highest water level occurred in October of 1986 on Lake Michigan, although the rise in 2020 caused many individual monthly records to be smashed. The rise in 2020 led to rapid erosion that damaged some properties and required costly repairs. The rise was followed by a sharp drop, leaving current levels near average. Inside woodtv.com: Rising waters in 2020 Lauren Fry, Ph.D., a physical scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said there havent been any clear trends indicating more frequent high water on Lakes Michigan and Huron, which function as a single lake. Over the long term (1918-2013), no discernible trend in lakewide averages has been observed, Fry said. Fry said that while Michigan has been trending wetter over the decades, water level rise has likely been countered by increased evaporation during winter months due to less lake ice coverage. Fry also noted the water level rises and falls have become harder to predict. SLOW WARMING TRENDING, FISHING AND ALGAL BLOOMS Research shows Lake Michigans deep water temperature has been warming at .11 degrees Farenheit per decade. The slow warming trend is expected to have an amplified reach on Lake Michigans ecosystems, especially the fishing industry. How is the warm weather affecting Michigans fish population? Surface water on Lake Michigan is also warming. According to Jay Wesley from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, fishermen will need to head farther from shore into the lake to catch valuable fish. Whitefish are also in decline due to a combination of invasive species effects and low lake ice in the winter. Inland lakes will continue to be the most susceptible to algae blooms compared to Lake Michigan. Mark Luttenton, Ph.D., the interim director at the Grand Valley State University Robert B. Annis Water Resources Institute, said thermoclines on inland lakes are noticeably deeper. A thermocline is the transition layer between the warmer mixed water at the surface and the cooler deep water below, NOAA explains. The depth of surface warm water is now extending at least 10 feet deeper than it used to in inland lakes. This has made algae blooms more common on inland lakes, especially those with a high phosphorus content due to excess fertilizer and road salt runoff. Just 15 years ago, we discovered a harmful cyanobacteria here that was never here before that normally occurs in Florida or in subtropical estuaries. Its the warmer waters and all the saltier conditions we are making from road salting and that gives it temporary refuge here, Bopaiah Biddanda, Ph.D., a professor of water resources at the Annis institute, said. Online: Michigan harmful algal bloom map Lake Michigan has a low nutrient content, making algae blooms more difficult to form. ICE COVERAGE ON SLOW DECLINE Lake ice records began in the 1970s. According to scientists at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, the Great Lakes are experiencing a downward trend in ice coverage each decade. Online: Track of ice coverage trends This past winter was the lowest Great Lakes ice coverage on record, likely at least in part due to a strong El Nino. Scientists who track lake ice say the Great Lakes ice season is 46 days shorter than it was 50 years ago. Early January and almost no ice on Lake Michigan STRONG SPRING STORMS REMAIN UNCHANGED During the spring, lower Michigan has historically seen some of its most powerful tornadoes and damaging wind events: In spring, storms are much less likely to interact with the surface waters of Lake Michigan. Instead of the cold water of the lake killing a storm, a system is more likely to become elevated. The strongest storms have so much upper-level support that they ride over the cold air dome produced by Lake Michigans waters and stay completely untouched. Sign up for the Storm Team 8 daily forecast newsletter A slightly warmer, wetter and windier trend will likely not change the climatology of West Michigan for spring storms. There is kind of a cold dome or a mini area of high pressure over the lake (that) forms and the storms dont feel it and ride right over the top, Bob Dukesherer, a meterologist with the National Weather Service, said of the spring storms. There could be changes in the summer, when storms riding over the lake may be slightly stronger and those forming in the lake shadow may be slightly weaker due to a lessened temperature difference between lake-to-land. In both seasons, the intensity and frequency of storms are not expected to change considerably with a warmer, wetter or windier trend. SWIM RISK MAY RISE Lake Michigan is the deadliest of all the Great Lakes. Data from the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project shows that over the last five years, between 40% and half of drownings across the Great Lakes have happened on Lake Michigan. The reason is Lake Michigans strong currents. It has the longest north-south shoreline of any of the Great Lakes. Storms in the Great Lakes usually come in from the west, which can quickly kick up currents along the shoreline and the east-west piers that jut out into the waters. Most water rescues happen when waves are around 3 feet. Dangerous Waters: Currents on Lake Michigan shores Bob Pratt, director of the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, said a trend toward warmer and windier weather might set the stage for more hazardous days. When we have the Cs cool, calm, cloudy days we tend to see less people at the beach and fewer drownings. When we get the warm, windy weekend, we get more people at the beach and more drownings, Pratt said. Invasive species are also changing Lake Michigan. Storm Team 8 looked at how zebra and quagga mussels are making the water clearer and, in many cases, accelerating the decay of shipwrecks. See that report when Lake Effect airs on WOOD TV8. 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 WOODTV.com. Los Angeles Police Department officers shot and killed a man in South L.A. on Sunday. The incident occurred around 6:40 p.m. near the 100 block of Colden Street. Officers were responding to a call about an assault with a deadly weapon in the area. When they arrived, they encountered a man armed with a knife. Officers instructed the male to drop the weapon, but he did not comply, police said. The man then advanced toward the officers, which resulted in them shooting the suspect, LAPD says. No information has been provided about the identity of the deceased man, and LAPD did not identify the officers involved in the shooting. The shooting will be investigated by detectives from the LAPD, as well as the District Attorneys Office. 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 KTLA. LAPD seeks help in finding driver in NoHo Arts District hit-and-run The Los Angeles Police Department is asking for the publics help in tracking down a driver who struck a pedestrian in the North Hollywood Arts District last month before fleeing the scene. The collision at about 11:30 p.m. on April 14 occurred on Magnolia Boulevard, just east of Lankershim Boulevard. According to police, a pedestrian was headed north across Magnolia outside of a marked crosswalk when they were hit by a blue SUV, which then fled from the scene without stopping, identifying [the driver] or attempting to render aid to the pedestrian who sustained severe injuries. A $25,000 reward is available for information that can help solve the case. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Martinez at 818-644-8033. During non-business hours or on weekends, call 1-877-LAPD-247. To report information anonymously, call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477). 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 KTLA. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. The rules of operation of the road bridge over the Samur River in the area of Samur - Yarag-Gazmalar checkpoints across the Russian-Azerbaijani state border have been approved, Trend reports. At today's session of the Azerbaijani Parliament, a draft law on approval of the agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the order of operation and maintenance of the road bridge across the Samur River in the area of Yarag-Gazmalar" (Russian Federation) - "Samur" (Republic of Azerbaijan) checkpoints across the Russian-Azerbaijani state border and approaches to it was submitted for discussion. Additionally, it was noted that the agreement will make an important contribution to developing relations between the two countries. Following the discussions, the document was put to a vote and approved. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel ST. LOUIS A large tree fell Tuesday afternoon on a busy street of the Central West End neighborhood, blocking traffic as crews work to remove it. Witnesses tell FOX 2 the tree fell just after the start of the noon hour Tuesday on Newstead Avenue, just south of Lindell Boulevard. REPORTS: Riverfront Times sold, staff members laid off No injuries have been reported from the fallen tree. It appears to be blocking traffic in both direction of Newstead Avenue. Its unclear what caused the tree to fall at this time. Crews are responding to the matter. This is a developing story. FOX 2 will update as more information becomes available. 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 FOX 2. Sister Mary Hardin and her husband, Elder Paul Hardin were involved in a traffic accident on Saturday evening, May 18, 2024, in Fresno County, California. Sister Hardin died at the scene on Saturday. Elder Hardin died Monday. | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Elder Paul Hardin died Monday of injuries sustained in the car crash that caused the death of his wife, Sister Mary Hardin, on Saturday in Fresno County, California. The Hardins had been serving as missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the California Fresno Mission since January 2024. It is with much sadness that we inform you of the passing of Elder Paul Hardin on Monday, May 20, 2024, in a Fresno, California, hospital, church spokesman Sam Penrod said in a statement released Tuesday morning. Elder Hardin had been hospitalized since Saturday evening after suffering critical injuries in an accident that claimed the life of his eternal companion, Sister Mary Hardin. Our deepest sympathies and condolences go to the Hardin family with the tragic loss of these faithful missionaries. We pray that all who are mourning will be blessed with strength and comforted in their faith in the Savior Jesus Christ. The couple were stopped at a red light when a Ford F250 pickup traveling north on Highway 41 at a high rate of speed rear-ended the Hardins Nissan Sentra just south of Manning Avenue. The force of the collision caused the Hardins vehicle to lurch forward and collide with a Chevrolet Camaro in front of it, the California Highway Patrol told YourCentralValley.com. Sister Hardin, who was 65, was driving the Sentra. She died at the scene. Elder Hardin, who was 69, initially was hospitalized with critical injuries. The sole occupant of the Camaro suffered minor injuries. The CHP arrested David Alvarado, 54, of Madera, California, and booked him into jail on suspicion of driving a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, YourCentralValley.com reported. The CHP said Alvarado was driving the Ford F250. He was transported to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries. Laura Kelly risks her legacy hoping the GOP will meet her in the middle on tax cuts | Opinion Its make-or-break time for Laura Kelly. The Kansas governor last week vetoed yet another tax cut plan from the GOP-controlled Legislature and announced that she will call a special session so that lawmakers can make one more smaller attempt at slashing taxes before the November election. If we all work together, Kelly said in a statement, an affordable, bipartisan tax plan can be passed in less than a day. Maybe. Its worth noting, though, that legislators just finished a 90-day session without producing a tax plan that meets the governors demands. Getting the final mile might take a bit longer yet if, indeed, a compromise can be found at all. So yeah, less than a day sounds wildly optimistic. Its not just tax cuts that are at stake in the coming special session, though. Its Kellys legacy as governor. Right now, that legacy is largely defined by two factors. First is her leadership in helping pull Kansas out of the budget disaster left behind by former Gov. Sam Brownbacks famously ill-advised tax experiment of a decade ago. The second is the meet me in the middle persona she used to win gubernatorial elections twice as a Democrat in a resoundingly Republican state. The special session pits those two elements against each other. Why? Because Kelly clearly sees the tax cut options offered so far this year a Republican-sponsored flat tax plan passed and vetoed during the early days of the session, then a pair of two-tier tax bills that passed on a bipartisan basis as threatening the fiscal responsibility part of her legacy. She wants to limit the tax cuts to $425 million a year. The most recent bill from the Legislature was projected to cost between $462 million and $472 million a year during the first five years. Too much, Kelly said in her veto statement. Cuts that size endanger all the progress weve made in restoring services for Kansans, funding our public schools, and investing in our infrastructure. No going back to the Brownbackian bad days, in other words. So shes putting her foot down. And maybe thats necessary. But its a hard thing to do while also meeting in the middle. Democrats worry about low-income Kansans Its also difficult for Kelly to continue claiming the middle ground when so many of her fellow Democrats in the Kansas House joined Republicans to pass the tax bill she just vetoed. Some of those Democrats are now openly fretting that shes passed on the best chance to deliver tax relief for the states lowest-income earners. Its to be expected that Kelly isnt on the same page as Republicans. But if shes also not on the same page as a critical mass of Democrats well, whats left? And where is the middle, exactly, in that scenario? Ive been through different governors and Ive been through different Houses and different speakers, Democratic state Rep. Barbara Ballard, a 30-year vet of the Legislature, told The Star last month. But Ive never seen the frustration as high. All this amounts to a high-stakes gamble for Kelly. Even with a special session in place, theres a risk that no deal at all gets done in a year where just about everybody was expecting tax cuts and extra money in their wallets come November. That would probably make voters cranky. Maybe thats a small risk, given the desire on all sides to finish the job. But its a risk nonetheless. More likely, though, is that Kelly gets the deal that shes aiming for Republicans arent going to give up on tax cuts just to make her look bad, are they? but does so at a steep cost to her image as a compromise-ready moderate. Kelly isnt up for election this fall, and she cant run for reelection two years from now. Maybe she doesnt need that middle-of-the-road reputation anymore. Or maybe maybe she figures its worth risking a key element of her political persona to keep her fiscal legacy intact. Joel Mathis is a regular Kansas City Star and Wichita Eagle Opinion correspondent. He lives in Lawrence. Formerly a writer and editor at Kansas newspapers, he served nine years as a syndicated columnist. Editor's note: The story is being updated. Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) are carrying out searches at the premises of the State Judicial Administration, the judicial body announced on May 21. The searches are connected to possible criminal conduct of the administration's Information Technologies Department employees during a tender process, according to the statement. "The State Judicial Administration has zero tolerance for corruption and will in every way support the work of law enforcement agencies to establish the truth and bring the guilty to justice," the news release said. NABU and the SBU made no public announcements at the time of the publication. No further details were provided at the moment. The State Judicial Administration mentioned in its press release that in February, the director of the administration's IT department was reprimanded over disciplinary offenses. The statement did not explicitly link the case to the May 21 searches. Read also: Top judicial official, previously accused of holding Russian citizenship, resigns Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. NEOSHO, Mo. The 2024 legislative session is over in Missouri and now, state lawmakers are talking to voters about what passed and what didnt. The Eggs and Issues legislative update series is wrapping up in Neosho. Five southwest Missouri lawmakers broke down bills they approved, including more than $700 million for I-44. Thats expansion of some on- and off-ramps at exit 18 and additional lanes of traffic. 49 thats all going to be improved. Its going to go up to six lane road both directions and theres also going to be some flyovers put in going north and south so be easier to get off on I-44 to access 49. And this is booming when it comes to trucking, said MO Rep. Bob Bromley, R. Lawmakers also approved a far-reaching education bill addressing everything from early childhood education to more money for scholarships. Whether its public education, or private school or homeschool, I think everybody wins in this. And by that I mean educating an excellent education for our kids. Teacher pay was another thing that we changed in that and raise teacher pay. So I think that was a huge win, said MO Rep. Ben Baker, R. Meanwhile, another measure would crack down on sludge from meatpacking plants with certain pollution requirements. 222 we have industrial wastewater. Thats been applied to our land without any testing and without any regulation. And so we want to just make sure that whatever is being applied to our farmland is safe not only for the farmer but also for the for the for our community, said Sen. Jill Carter, R. The Missouri legislature wrapped up its session on May 17. 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 KSNF/KODE | FourStatesHomepage.com. Lawmakers eye housing audit that says Utah needs 28K new homes a year to keep up with growth The Capitol in Salt Lake City is pictured on Monday, May 6, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) In November, a legislative audit warned time was running short for policymakers to tackle the states growing housing crisis, and auditors estimated Utah needs to see nearly 28,000 new housing units built a year to simply keep up with the states projected population growth. Using models based on Wasatch Front cities and counties existing general plans, auditors estimated those communities could begin to run out of space for housing in just 20 years. Auditors also reported if there continues to be a focus on single-family housing rather than higher-density housing, that could mean a recipe for trouble as Utah continues to grow. In their conclusion, legislative auditors called on Utah lawmakers to create a statewide strategic housing plan, noting there is currently no state-level forecast of housing needs, or efforts to set statewide housing strategy or measure progress toward a common goal. A panel of lawmakers reviewed that audit last week and took the first steps to follow legislative auditors recommendations. The Political Subdivisions Interim Committee on Wednesday unanimously voted to open a committee bill file to consider the audits recommendations. Meanwhile, Steve Waldrip, Gov. Spencer Coxs senior adviser for housing strategy and innovation, told lawmakers he and a team have begun working on drafting a proposed statewide plan a draft of which he hopes legislators can consider ahead of the 2025 legislative session. We are creating that statewide housing plan, which we should have to present to this committee hopefully before the next legislative session, Waldrip told the Political Subdivisions Interim Committee. Wed like to have something we can present, get feedback from the committee (and) make sure we come up with something that we can get behind as a state and have some concrete action items. The legislative audit will likely inform several bills expected for the 2025 general session what is sure to be another year of legislative action dealing with Utahs worsening housing crisis. The discussion comes after the Utah Legislature this year focused its energy on encouraging free market solutions by creating a new arsenal of tools cities and developers can use to pay for infrastructure or finance affordable housing developments, hoping to pave the way for more affordable, single-family starter homes across the state. It remains to be seen how much of an impact this new slate of tools will have, given it will take time for projects to take shape and require the cooperation of both cities and developers. Its still early, but Utah Gov. Spencer Cox who recently doubled down on his goal for Utah to build 35,000 new starter homes in five years told reporters on Thursday during his monthly PBS Utah press conference we do have several builders that have said, Were in, and he said some cities are already working to adopt some of the new project areas. Were getting some yeses, which is hopeful, Cox said. As for the next legislative session, a proposed statewide plan and the audits other recommendations? The question, of course, remains: what will Utah lawmakers do? The case for a statewide plan Jake Dinsdale, an audit supervisor within the Legislative Auditor Generals Office, briefed the Political Subdivisions Interim Committee on the audit last Wednesday, telling lawmakers, we see a need for some long-range strategic thinking when it comes to housing. Utah legislative auditors projections on how many homes need to be built in Utah to keep pace with growth. (Courtesy of Office of the Legislative Auditor General) We understand there is a difference between what (the) government can reasonably do and the economic forces at play, Dinsdale said. However, he added legislative auditors believe that accelerating housing production is a strategic imperative for the state. The primary problem facing our market, he said, is a shortage of housing units relative to population growth. We believe the Legislature is well-positioned to establish that state level housing strategy, and we believe without an overarching, unifying perspective and goal, there could be some opportunities lost to time as we continue to grow and as development proceeds without some orientating purpose, Dinsdale said. He cited research from the University of Utahs Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute that was included in the audit, which shows Utah is on track to see more than a million new households formed by the year 2060. Thats, for us, a staggering number, Dinsdale said. (Its) something definitely to consider. Auditors also compared residential units that have been permitted across the state per year since 1994 and estimated, based on those projections, Utah will need to build 27,900 housing units per year to keep up with forecasted population growth something Dinsdale also called a staggering number. Meanwhile, housing researchers at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute recently issued a report warning Utahs housing shortage is projected to increase to over 37,000 units in 2024 sure to aggravate the states ongoing affordability crisis. Projections by the University of Utahs Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute estimating Utahs growing housing shortage. (Courtesy of the Utah Office of the Legislative Auditor General). While looking at zoning and what land is left for housing particularly if single-family homes continue to be as pervasive as they are today legislative auditors collaborated with the Wasatch Front Regional Council to run a hypothetical model on what would happen if cities and counties built out their current general plans When you run that model and build those houses according to our general plan maps, Salt Lake County, within that models assumptions, begins to approach its capacity for homes in 2042, and Davis County begins to approach its capacity in 2048, Dinsdale said. Again, (this is) not a crystal ball, but it does suggest theres some conversations to be had about what path we are on relative to the growth that is forecasted coming to this state. He said the main reason this happens is because theres a lack of land-efficient housing options, or missing middle housing things like townhomes, duplexes, triplexes (homes) that are built on less land. Dinsdale acknowledged that some cities and counties have begun to adopt station area plans, or higher-density housing developments near transit stops and main thoroughfares, and if enough communities adopt those types of plans, those counties no longer run out of space by 2050. So this can have an impact on our trajectory, he said, though he noted not all cities have adopted these transit-oriented developments in their general plans. But to the extent that we can, it seems like it would be sensible to approve more areas like this so that we have more slack, more places to grow as people need housing options. Keeping all this in mind, Dinsdale said legislative auditors believe Utah should adopt some state-level measures and targets for housing needs and construction. We point out in the report that housing is a collective problem, but the regulatory decisions are made at the city and county level, and there is nothing orienting those in any unified direction, he said. The question being, is there a conductor in front of the orchestra? Policy changes on the table: Upzoning, benchmarks based on population growth In addition to crafting a statewide plan, legislative auditors encouraged lawmakers to explore policy changes like tying land use requirements to projected population growth (as seen in states like California and Oregon) and to consider upzoning, or requiring cities to allow more homes to be built on less land (as seen in Minnesota, Pennsylvania or, more aggressively, New Zealand). As far as Utah goes, we have quite a light touch relative to some states that are legislating in this housing space, Dinsdale said. He pointed to California, which has done what he called some heavy programs that use population growth forecasts to create targets for housing that they push down to cities. Leah Blevins, an audit manager within the Legislative Auditor Generals Office, noted that they usually avoid comparing Utah to California because the two states are so different, but she said California has been dealing with acute housing issues for three decades now, so we really wanted to look at it and see we can learn things from California but still implement it in a Utah way that works for us and avoid some missteps that have not helped. Dinsdale also pointed to Montana, which enacted legislation to allow apartments, accessory dwelling units and duplex construction in more areas. However, the laws are currently tied up in court after homeowners sued, with a judge blocking the laws from taking effect until the trials final outcome or the Montana Supreme Court rules differently. So well see what happens there, he said. Its possible the Utah Legislature could do something similar to Montana and change land use regulations more broadly to increase zoning density on a wide scale throughout the state, Dinsdale said, but pointing to Montana he added, Theres pros and cons to that approach. The Legislature could also consider linking population growth benchmarks to existing programs, like the states requirements that cities create moderate income housing plans and report back to the state on their implementation. In recent years, Dinsdale said some great bills have gone forward to encourage development around transit areas, but efforts havent been coordinated under a larger statewide vision. Where are we? Are we happy with where we are, are we on the right trajectory, or are we playing a good game but were still going to fall a mile short of the goal? he said. Those are the types of conversations that we do not see currently reflected in some of the great areas that are underway. An apartment building is under construction at 1000 West North Temple, in Salt Lake Citys Fairpark neighborhood, on Wednesday, January 3, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) Statewide planning Waldrip, while telling lawmakers he and a team are starting to work on drafting a plan for the Legislature to consider, said Utah has historically relied on the market to take care of market-rate housing plans. But now, given the states problems with housing, he said we have to be a little more thoughtful, more aggressive. One challenge, Waldrip said, is Utah has several different types of housing markets, from the rural to urban, to the luxury backcountry. The housing market on the Wasatch Front is not the same as Park City, as Washington County, as Moab, and as Santaquin, he said. We just have very different needs in different parts of our communities, so were going to address that as we go through that process. Waldrip said Utahs Commission on Housing Affordability is also studying the issue, including improving the states data collection so it has a more well-rounded understanding of the issue. We hope that by the end of this year we have a much better picture of what were facing in our state and how we can best attack it, Waldrip said. He added Utah isnt alone; states across the nation are grappling with housing. He said the National Governors Association has a task force where every three weeks we get on a call with executive housing departments from across the country and share ideas. Were all asking the same questions, he said. (It) doesnt matter what color the state is, everyones got the same problems. Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, chairman of the Political Subdivisions Interim Committee, told Waldrip the committee would love to look at any type of interim bill that you bring before us. Waldrip said Sen. Lincoln Fillmore and Rep. Stephen Whyte sponsors of the 2023 set of housing bills are likely to again open a suit of four to six bills that will be needed to tackle all of these issues. Rep. Paul Cutler motioned to open a committee bill file to consider the recommendations for the legislative audit and to coordinate efforts with Whyte and Fillmore. The motion passed unanimously. The post Lawmakers eye housing audit that says Utah needs 28K new homes a year to keep up with growth appeared first on Utah News Dispatch. Rep. Brent Siegrist, R-Council Bluffs, back row center, spoke Feb. 22, 2024 on a bill that would increase penalties for people who violate Iowa's open meetings law as well as require trainings on open records and open meetings laws for elected and appointed officials. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch) A bill meant to strengthen the states open meetings law that was vetoed by the governor last week will likely be reconsidered in the next legislative session without a last-minute amendment that undercut its purpose, said Rep. Brent Siegrist, R-Council Bluffs. Its something we need to do, he told the Iowa Capital Dispatch. I was disappointed it got messed up at the end. House File 2539 would have increased the penalties for violating transparency requirements for governmental bodies, with fines of up to $12,500 for the members of county and school boards and city councils, among others. But an amendment that was adopted in the Iowa Senate and approved by the House on the last day of this years legislative session had the potential to create an enormous loophole in the law, according to the Iowa Public Information Board. The amendment sought to clarify that a majority of a government body could attend a gathering hosted or organized by a political party, political candidate or civic organization without running afoul of the law, but the caveat was inserted into the bill in a manner that would allow official deliberations to be made in secret during those gatherings, Erika Eckley, IPIBs executive director, wrote in a letter to the governor before the veto. Those discussions are typically required to be public, with at least 24 hours of advance notice. Siegrist, who managed the bill in the House, said the late change created an unintended consequence that might have been corrected had the Senate acted more expeditiously. The House overwhelmingly approved it in late February nearly two months before the end of the session. Current law already allows the attendance of social events where official business isnt discussed. Sen. Scott Webster, R-Bettendorf, who managed the bill in the Senate and spoke in favor of the amendment, did not respond to requests to comment for this article. Although well-intentioned, the amendment to the definition is unnecessary and will cause confusion, Gov. Kim Reynolds wrote in her veto letter. She further lamented that the Senate removed a provision from the bill that would have required the members of governmental bodies to receive training about the states transparency requirements. That is something that will likely be included in future open-meetings legislation, Siegrist said. We preferred the House version, which calls for more training, he said. We absolutely need to go back to it next year. The post Lawmakers are likely to revisit open meetings bill next session appeared first on Iowa Capital Dispatch. Some researchers and lawmakers are calling to ban phones in schools and keep smartphones out of the hands of young people until high school. It comes amid concerning mental health trends and a look at how childhood has changed with technology. Eleventh-grader Ailen De Bonis told Channel 9s Elsa Gillis that in some ways, shes addicted to her phone. But she said she knows when its time to put it down. For example, I had my AP exams coming up, and I was like, Im deleting TikTok. Like, I need to focus on my AP exams, she said. ALSO READ: Cellphones banned from use in school in Rock Hill this year Meal times, studying, and nighttime are off limits. But she does enjoy it for entertainment. Would you mind telling us like what your average screen time is? Gillis asked. Yeah, mines five hours and three minutes, but I listen to a lot of music. So I think that accounts for a lot of it, De Bonis said. Teens average more than four hours a day on their smartphones, according to the nonprofit Common Sense Media, with some spending up to 16 hours a day. Its not just the older teens; Karter Mosely is an 11-year-old from Fort Mill who said all of his friends have phones. His mom, Latisha Jackson, said hes not allowed to have his phone in school, but most other places are fine. Karter and I have a really good relationship, Jackson said. He knows you have access to a phone, you dont have a phone. I can take that phone whenever I choose. Creating boundaries around phone use is critical, according to Zach Rausch, an associate research scientist at New York University and lead researcher for the new book The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. ALSO READ: Solicitor eyes jamming technology after inmate used illegal cellphone to hire hitman We see that there was a massive transformation of childhood between 2010 and 2015, Rausch said. Thats when smartphones overtook flip phones and social media really took off. Before 2010, rates of a lot of measures of mental health were relatively stable for teenagers, Rausch said. And then after 2010, things really start to change. Rates of depression, self-harm, and suicide changed. The book cites national studies that show since 2010, theres been a 145% increase in major depression among girls age 12 to 17 and 161% increase among boys. Suicide rates are similarly alarming. Rausch said its impossible to point to any one factor, but phones seem to play a role. We really do think that the mental health collapse is really driven and exacerbated by these two forces: The decline of the play-based childhood, the rise of the phone-based childhood, he said. ALSO READ: Students in Rock Hill, other SC districts return to school with new changes The Anxious Generation team recommends a new norm that includes phone-free schools, no smartphones before high school, and no social media before age 16. We need to take, I believe, a pause and a reset, rethink what we want these technologies to be in our lives, Rausch said. We agree that we need to adapt, but we have a lot of control, we have agency to decide how we want to adapt. And we can choose to create a norm together. I think just for teenagers, if you look at your phone and your screen time is like eight hours, just you know, taking a step back and thinking OK, no, is this eight hours productive time? De Bonis said. In South Carolina, lawmakers have added a provision to the 2025 state budget requiring school districts to restrict cellphone use in order to get certain funding from the state. The House and Senate committees still need to review the budget. Researchers recommend if you have a young child and have yet to introduce a phone, find a group of families to do this together. If you want to be able to be in touch with your child, use a flip phone or smart watch instead. If your child already has a phone, have lots of open conversations and create boundaries around when they can use it. (WATCH BELOW: CMS to ban student cellphone use during class this year) An Ann Arbor kindergarten teacher claims her school's principal stole her beloved dog Gracie after a series of missteps in trying to introduce a therapy dog program to the school and after the school PTO spent more than $12,000 for dog training, according to a lawsuit filed in Washtenaw County Circuit Court on May 14. Alexandria Fata said the school's Principal David DeYoung, aided by other district administrators, stole the Bernedoodle on April 29 after she informed DeYoung that she would be moving to New Jersey at the end of the school year, resigning her post as kindergarten teacher. Fata, on a GoFundMe page and in court, claims she was encouraged by DeYoung to adopt Gracie in December 2021 and introduce the animal as the school's therapy dog. Gracie became a part of Fata's family and a fixture in their lives: She lived with her and her partner, Fata walked Gracie daily and supplied her with prescription dog food. Alexandria "Lexi" Fata with Gracie, a Bernedoodle she says she adopted in order to become a therapy dog for Ann Arbor Public Schools. Fata is now suing after she claims Ann Arbor administrators stole Gracie from her in a battle over ownership. But suddenly, Gracie was gone one school day taken by the principal after they couldn't agree over how to handle Fata's move, she said and has yet to return to school. Her kindergartners miss Gracie. "It's heartbreaking," she said in an interview with the Detroit Free Press. "It's so hard to think about because she has lived with me for two years and I own her and she's my dog." The district claims in a letter addressed to Fata's attorney that Gracie is school district property and that Fata was just the doodle's primary handler. DeYoung did not respond to an email or voicemail from the Detroit Free Press seeking comment. Andrew Cluley, a spokesman for the district, declined to answer specific questions and instead wrote, "The Ann Arbor Public Schools does not comment on pending litigation." But Fata's suit claims DeYoung often reinforced the idea that the educator was Gracie's owner in text and email messages up until Fata indicated she might someday leave Wines Elementary. Fata in the suit is asking for Gracie to be returned to her and compensation for damages she has suffered. The district also implemented its therapy dog program haphazardly, Fata's suit claims. DeYoung used $12,500 from the school's parent-teacher organization for training only for Gracie to exhibit behavioral issues. Unlike other districts, the suit claims Ann Arbor's board never adopted a formal therapy dog policy, which might have helped clarify Gracie's ownership. A Free Press search could not find an official therapy dog policy. The calamity over therapy dog ownership comes in a tumultuous era for Ann Arbor Public Schools, facing a $25 million budget crisis and anticipated layoffs. Ann Arbor's school therapy dog program One fact in the case appears undisputed: Wines Elementary Principal David DeYoung likes dogs. It's noted on his online school district biography, which states he lives with his wife, two sons and two dogs, Wagner and Piper. "We clearly like dogs and spend lots of time outdoors as a family and with the dogs," he wrote. Fata's suit claims DeYoung asked Wines educators whether any would be open to volunteering to adopt a dog to become a part of the program in December 2021 after another district elementary, Abbot, added a therapy dog to its campus. DeYoung wrote to teachers that he was "very interested in bringing a dog to Wines," bolding the word "very" in a copy of the email included in Fata's complaint as an exhibit. According to the suit, Fata expressed interest and DeYoung was able to secure the donation of Gracie from a breeder and $12,500 in PTO funds to pay for Gracie's training with The Up'N'Up Pup, a training business based in Clinton Township run by Greg Lambart, another defendant listed on Fata's complaint. Fata's lawsuit claims DeYoung failed to use a competitive bid process and that Lambart used a shock collar to help train Gracie, which precluded her from being certified as a therapy dog by Therapy Dogs International, one of a handful of organizations that certifies therapy dogs. DeYoung wrote to members of the PTO in an email in February 2022 included in the complaint that Lambart's organization already had a relationship with the district. Lambart worked with three of the district's therapy dogs, according to a district news release. After six months with Lambart, Gracie came to live with Fata in November 2022. According to the lawsuit, Lambart signed a transfer of ownership to Fata. Alexandria "Lexi" Fata with Gracie, a Bernedoodle she says she adopted in order to become a therapy dog for Ann Arbor Public Schools. Fata is now suing after she claims Ann Arbor administrators stole Gracie from her in a battle over ownership. Gracie had behavioral issues, Fata quickly learned. She barked at strangers, was scared of noises, pulled on her leash and was reactive to other animals. When she told the principal she was struggling, according to screenshots of text messages included in the complaint, DeYoung wrote, "Gracie is YOUR dog and will be for many years," further affirming to Fata that she was Gracie's owner. Gracie was rambunctious and required a lot of work from Fata and her partner. They walked her three times a day sometimes to help drain her energy and they'd still sometimes see Gracie in the backyard excitedly playing fetch with herself. Both in and out of the classroom, Gracie was Fata's companion. When Fata was sad, Gracie came to cuddle her. She snuggled with Fata and her partner before bed. "It feels like a huge loss, our house has completely changed," Fata said. Who owns Gracie? Around August 2023, Fata wanted clarity and an official document around Gracie's ownership, according to the complaint. The contract Fata proposed made her the clear owner and made her rights to move away clear. When she brought up the idea of a contract, DeYoung wrote in an email that "Gracie is 'your' dog and not owned by the school or district." But added that the dog was a part of the school community and that Fata would need to transfer Gracie's ownership if she ever left Wines. This concerned Fata enough to call a meeting with DeYoung, who she claims in the suit backtracked and reassured her that if she were ever to leave, Gracie would stay with her. This March, however, when Fata informed DeYoung she would be moving and proposed a transition plan for Gracie, DeYoung became angry, according to the complaint. He implied that Fata would be on the hook to pay back Gracie's training costs as Fata became more and more emotional. And he told her that Gracie would have to stay at Wines, Fata could not keep her. Over the next month, Fata and DeYoung, with other district officials now involved, could not agree on Gracie's ownership. She offered to pay back some training costs and help find a new therapy dog, but DeYoung seemed adamant that Gracie needed to stay. As a part of her routine during the first few minutes of every school day, Fata crated Gracie in DeYoung's office because Gracie was apt to become anxious in the chaos. Then, Gracie would usually join Fata in her classroom for the day. On April 29, Gracie didn't come back to Fata's classroom and instead, the kindergarten teacher was pulled into a meeting in the middle of class time with DeYoung, Executive Director or Early Childhood and Elementary Education Melita Alston and Executive Director of Elementary Education Matthew Hilton. They told her, according to the lawsuit, that DeYoung had taken Gracie and would not give her back to Fata. "I was very, very, very sad, very emotional hysterical," she said. "I didn't understand." Fata had a substitute teacher cover her class for the rest of the day. Gracie wasn't in the office with her crate. Fata became more upset. No one asked about Gracie's food or medical condition, which requires her to have a certain type of food to minimize the risk of pancreatitis. According to the lawsuit, Fata was listed as Gracie's owner on veterinary and microchip documents. Therapy dogs are a booming program in Michigan schools, including in Walled Lake, Oxford and Brighton Area Schools. Ownership of therapy dogs appears to vary by district. In Brighton, a district policy states, "Therapy dogs are the personal property of the dog owner and are not owned by the District." In Walled Lake, however, the district writes that its program is unique because the animals are owned by individual schools rather than people. Fata and her attorneys believe Gracie is with Lambart, in Clinton Township, but have been unable to get her back. Lambart did not respond to a phone call and voicemail from the Detroit Free Press. In a letter from Ann Arbor Public Schools' attorney Anne-Marie Welch with the law firm Clark Hill to Fata's attorney, Welch wrote that the school's PTO "would have never provided $12,500 in training costs for a district staff member's dog" and listed multiple donors who have paid for Gracie's ongoing care, including grooming and vet care, as services for the district, not for Fata. Fata said she has wanted to figure this out in a fair way, instead of having to take drastic measures. "I just wish that we could have figured it out," she said. "Just by sitting down and having conversations and listening." Sam Estenson, with Doerr MacWilliams Howard, one of the law firms representing Fata, said the response from the district has been surprising given the current budget deficit and much larger issues facing Ann Arbor Public Schools. "Given everything that's going on, it's just shocking to me, it seems like a matter of priority and prioritization," he said. "I have two kids in the district, two young kids, and so they're gonna lose support staff and teachers at their school. And at some point, there's a room full of executives, who looked at the situation like, 'We have got to get Clark Hill, we've got to push back on this.' " Fata is worried about Gracie's well-being, unsure of how she is being treated or how she's faring without her favorite toys or familiar routines. "I'm worried for Gracie, because she hasn't seen me in three weeks," she said. "I know that, that has to be very stressful." Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that two law firms are representing Fata in this case. Sam Estenson is an attorney with Doerr MacWilliams Howard. Contact Lily Altavena: laltavena@freepress.com. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Kindergarten teacher claims Ann Arbor Schools' principal stole her dog GUBA, Azerbaijan, May 21. Uzbekistan plans to increase trade turnover with Azerbaijan, Uzbek Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade Laziz Kudratov told reporters during the 2nd Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan Interregional Forum in Guba, Trend reports. "Currently, a set of joint projects between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan is being actively developed, which is expected to boost trade turnover. These projects span various sectors, including textiles, silk, agriculture, household appliances, and construction materials," he said. Kudratov noted that Uzbekistan is also planning to increase its imports of polymer products from Azerbaijan. "Additionally, there is significant growth in cargo traffic through Azerbaijan, with Uzbekistan aiming to transport at least 1 million tons of cargo through the country," he added. To note, trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan from January through March 2024 totaled $142 million. Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel Lawsuit says ex-Officer Chauvin kneeled on woman's neck, just as he did when he killed George Floyd FILE - In this image taken from video, former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin addresses the court at the Hennepin County Courthouse, June 25, 2021, in Minneapolis. A former employee sued the city of Minneapolis on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, alleging Chauvin injured her when he hauled her from her minivan and pinned her to the ground with his knee for several minutes in January 2020, just as he would later do to snuff the life out of George Floyd. (Court TV via AP, Pool, File) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) A former employee sued the city of Minneapolis on Tuesday, alleging ex-police Officer Derek Chauvin hauled her from her minivan and pinned her to the ground with his knee in January 2020, just as he did four months later when he killed George Floyd. Patty Day, then employed by the Public Works Department, wants over $9 million in damages for her injuries, which included a broken tooth, a deep cut that left a scar on her hand, persistent arm and shoulder pain, and psychological issues including anxiety, depression and flashbacks. Chauvin is the most infamous police officer in Minnesota (if not United States) history," according to the complaint filed in federal court. This exacerbates Pattys emotional suffering and increases the frequency of her flashbacks, as Chauvins name is repeatedly in the news. Day's attorneys acknowledge she was drunk on the evening of Jan. 17, 2020, and depressed over her impending divorce and other difficulties, according to the complaint. Her minivan had been stuck in the snow for several hours when Chauvin and Officer Ellen Jensen arrived on the scene. Chauvin and Jensen violently yanked Patty from her vehicle and, without justification, threw her to the ground in the middle of a street, fracturing her tooth, injuring her arm and shoulder, and causing other significant injuries before handcuffing her," the complaint says. "Chauvin then assumed his signature pose, pressing his knee into the subdued and handcuffed Pattys back just as he would later do to snuff the life out of George Floyd and remaining that way well after Patty was controlled. Saturday will mark the fourth anniversary of Floyd's murder. Chauvin, who is white, kneeled on Floyd's neck for 9 1/2 minutes outside a convenience store where the Black man had tried to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. Bystander video captured Floyds fading cries of I cant breathe. Floyds death touched off protests worldwide, some violent, and forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism. Chauvin was convicted of murder in 2021. City spokespeople and an attorney who has represented Chauvin in unsuccessful appeals did not respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit. Day was charged with drunken driving. A judge ruled that the officers lacked probable cause to arrest her and granted her motion to suppress the evidence. The city attorney's office then dropped the changes, partly because of the way the officers treated her, the lawsuit says. According to the lawsuit, Assistant City Attorney Annalise Backstrom told the court then: I just want to make clear that my office and myself don't condone the way that the interaction went down in this particular case. Body camera video of the incident was admitted during Days evidentiary hearing, but her defense attorney at the time did not keep copies. Day's lawyers say they've been trying for over a year to get the city to release the videos, and accused the city of intentionally dragging its feet because it would prefer that video of the encounter remain out of public view. The lawsuit says Chauvin and his partner filed misleading reports that omitted the true extent of the force they used, did not note her injuries, and did not document Chauvin pinning Day to the ground with his knee. It accuses them of covering for each other, and says there's no evidence that either officer was disciplined. If Chauvin had been disciplined for that arrest or other excessive force cases, it says, history could have been stopped from repeating itself with George Floyd. The city has already paid out nearly $36 million to settle lawsuits involving civil rights violations by Chauvin, including $27 million to Floyds family. ___ This story has been updated to correct that former police Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder in 2021, not 2011. Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss (2nd R) stands in the courtroom for the second and most high-profile trial linked to a far-right coup plot in Germany. The alleged 72-year-old ringleader, Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, is now facing the court. Boris Roessler/dpa-Pool/dpa The second and highest-profile trial linked to a far-right coup plot in Germany began on Tuesday, with the alleged 72-year-old ringleader Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss going before a Frankfurt court. The prince is standing trial before the Higher Regional Court together with eight others. Federal prosecutors accuse them of having been members of or having supported a terrorist organization. They include former members of the German armed forces and a former member of parliament for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. A defence lawyer for Prince Reuss denied his client was the ringleader of the network. "He is not a leader, not a ringleader, and he is also not a member of a terrorist organization," said lawyer Roman von Alvensleben. The initial focus on the first day of the trial was clarifying procedural issues. The trial continued in the afternoon with the reading of the indictment. The trial got off to a rather bumpy start. The defence lawyers submitted numerous motions - which the court denied after breaks in deliberations. The reading of the indictment therefore only began after the lunch break. The defendants are accused of being members of the Reich Citzens, or Reichsburger, which prosecutors call a terrorist organization. So-called Reich Citizens believe that the modern German republic illegitimately replaced the German Reich that was founded in 1871 and continued under the Nazi regime until 1945. They reject the legitimacy of Germany's modern federal state and its laws. The plan, prosecutors allege, was for members of the group's paramilitary wing to raid parliament, arrest politicians and ultimately install Prince Reuss as Germany's new leader. The trial is the second of three mammoth trials surrounding the alleged coup attempt. A trial of alleged members of the group's military arm began in Stuttgart at the end of April. Other alleged members are due to stand trial in Munich from June 18. The plot was uncovered during a large-scale anti-terrorism raid in December 2022. According to the indictment, the group began planning and preparing for "Day X" - the date of the coup - starting in August 2021. Specifically, an armed group was supposed to infiltrate the parliament building in Berlin with the aim of arresting German politicians and then installing a new interim government with Reuss as head of state. They were said to have accepted they might have to sacrifice their lives to achieve their goals. According to the prosecutors, around 500,000 ($543,000) and a large arsenal of weapons had been made available to the conspirators. Concrete preparations such as the recruitment of military personnel had also taken place. The accused were united by a deep rejection of state institutions and the free democratic order, according to the federal prosecutor's office, which has described the group's ideology as "a conglomerate of conspiracy theories." The alleged leaders of the plot, Prince Reuss and Rudiger von Pescatore, a former solider who is said to have led the military arm of the group, are on trial in Frankfurt. Prince Reuss is a descendent of a noble family whose princely title carries no formal weight. Germany's monarchy was abolished more than a century ago. The outlines of structures for a separate state order are said to have been worked out, with Prince Reuss acting as head of state. The former Berlin judge and former AfD lawmaker Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, who is also one of the Frankfurt defendants, was supposed to have been the equivalent of justice minister. Strict security precautions are in place for the trial. A lightweight metal hall with an area of around 1,300 square metres has been specially erected on the outskirts of Frankfurt. According to the court, the defendants face up to 10 years in prison if they are found guilty on one charge. In the event of several guilty verdicts and a total sentence, they would face a maximum of 15 years in prison. The accused are presumed innocent until a judgement is reached. In addition to the trial in Frankfurt, other members of the group in Stuttgart and Munich must also stand trial before the respective higher regional courts. The trial in Frankfurt alone is of unprecedented dimensions for the Higher Regional Court, court spokeswoman Gundula Fehns-Boer said. The indictment comprises 617 pages. Nine defendants, five judges, two supplementary judges and no fewer than 25 defence lawyers will be present at the trial. Ten people were originally scheduled to stand trial, but one of them died in a hospital in March, the court spokeswoman said. Around 260 witnesses will be summoned and 40 to 45 police officers will provide security on each day of the trial, she explained. The court has scheduled 48 trial days until January. Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss stands in the courtroom for the second and most high-profile trial linked to a far-right coup plot in Germany. The alleged 72-year-old ringleader, Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, is now facing the court. Boris Roessler/dpa-Pool/dpa Four months after the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago estate, Donald Trumps attorneys discovered four documents marked classified in his personal bedroom. That revelation was among several cited by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in a newly unsealed 2023 opinion that found prosecutors had presented compelling evidence that Trump knowingly stashed national security documents in his home and then tried to conceal them when the Justice Department tried to retrieve them. In her 87-page opinion, Howell said the likelihood that Trump committed crimes was a basis to permit special counsel Jack Smith to question the former presidents attorney Evan Corcoran on topics that would normally be shielded by attorney-client privilege. Prosecutors, Howell said, had demonstrated that Trump knew Corcoran had been tasked in June 2022 with informing the government that all classified materials had been returned, a representation that the former president knew to be wrong. The FBIs August 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago confirmed that dozens of other classified documents remained on the property but as Howell notes, there were at least two more rounds of classified materials found on Trumps property following additional searches. Throughout the opinion, Howell who was chief judge of the Washington, D.C. federal district court at the time described with varying degrees of incredulity how four documents with classification markings could have been discovered in Trumps private quarters months after prosecutors had subpoenaed them and the FBI conducted its own exhaustive search of the property. Notably, no excuse is provided as to how the former president could miss the classified-marked documents found in his own bedroom at Mar-a-Lago, Howell, an Obama appointee, wrote. In a footnote, Howell also noted that another Trump adviser connected to his Save America PAC had acknowledged scanning the contents of the box that contained the classified materials in 2021 and storing them on a personal laptop provided by the PAC. Trumps office provided the box that contained the four records to the FBI in January 2023, Howell noted. Howells opinion was unsealed along with a large batch of other previously secret grand jury-related documents stemming from the investigation into Trump for withholding reams of classified documents after leaving office in 2021, including some of the nations most sensitive military secrets. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee based in South Florida, released the batch of documents Tuesday after lengthy negotiations with Smiths team and Trumps lawyers over redactions. Notably, it was Trump who had used Howells opinion despite its strong rebuke of his conduct to argue in support of an effort to dismiss the case against him over prosecutorial misconduct. That filing, also newly unsealed Tuesday, notes that Howell, in a footnote, scolded prosecutor Julie Edelstein for pressing another Trump attorney, Tim Parlatore, to reveal attorney-client protected information and for questioning whether Trumps refusal to waive the privilege was a sign of his recalcitrance. The former president is correct that [i]f a witness exercises some right or privilege, it is generally agreed that it is improper to suggest that adverse inferences should be drawn, Howell wrote, citing texts on standard grand jury practices. But she also said the exchange had limited relevance to the matter related to Corcoran. Cannon has a hearing scheduled in the case on Wednesday, though she recently signaled that the trial on the charges Trump is facing is unlikely to begin before late summer and possibly well beyond. Howell, who as chief judge presided over the initial grand jury proceedings that led to Trumps criminal charges in the classified documents case, wrote in her opinion that one of Trumps close aides, Walt Nauta, was clearly dissembling when he interviewed with the FBI about his own role in moving boxes later found to contain classified materials. Nauta was ultimately charged alongside Trump with attempting to obstruct government officials from reclaiming the classified documents. Howell also recounted in painstaking detail the battles between Smiths team and Trump over searches of his other properties and whether his attorneys had been attempting to frustrate the prosecutors efforts to enforce their subpoena for the remaining classified records at Trumps home. In addition to allowing Smiths team to question Corcoran, she agreed that 88 documents Corcoran had been attempting to withhold via attorney-client privilege must also be disclosed because they were sufficiently in furtherance of the former president's criminal scheme. At least one dead after 'severe turbulence' hits flight from London to Singapore At least one dead after 'severe turbulence' hits flight from London to Singapore At least one person died and several more were injured when a plane was hit by severe turbulence, Singapore Airlines said in a statement Tuesday. The London to Singapore flight was diverted to Thailand's capital, Bangkok, landing there at 3:45 p.m. local time (4:45 a.m. ET), said the statement published on Facebook. We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER, the statement added. The company said in a later statement that 30 people required hospital treatment. Other passengers with more minor injuries were treated at the airport, it said. Kittipong Kittikachorn, general manager of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, said Tuesday that the deceased was 73 years old. Without saying whether they were a man or a woman, he said the person had some medical problems that could have led to a fatal cardiac arrest. At least seven people were critically injured, he added at a news conference. Kittachorn said that an investigation would be carried out, but that the cause of the turbulence "was definitely air pockets." The interior of Singapore Airline flight SG321 is pictured after an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport (Reuters) Singapore Airlines offered its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased and said that it was working with Thai authorities to provide the necessary medical assistance, while also sending the companys own team to Bangkok to assist. After setting off at 10:38 p.m. London time (5:38 p.m. ET) Monday, the plane's journey appeared to be uneventful, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. But about 10 hours in, the plane experienced a sharp drop from a cruising altitude of 37,000 feet to 31,000 feet in just five minutes, the FlightAware data said. In one sudden lurch, it dropped almost 700 feet. Less than 10 minutes later, the plane began its descent into Bangkok. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Legal bill of 220,000 for sisters who challenged grandfathers will after he left them 50 each Frederick Ward Snr split almost all his estate between his children when he died in 2020 - Champion News Five sisters who challenged their grandfathers will, which handed them just 50 each, have been landed with 220,000 in legal bills. Frederick Ward Snr, a retired soldier, died in 2020, splitting almost all his estate between his children, Terry Ward and Susan Wiltshire. However, his late son Fred Jnrs five adult children received just 50 each as he claimed they didnt visit him often. The sisters, Carol Gowing, Angela St Marseille, Amanda Higginbotham, Christine Ward and Janet Pett, sued, claiming they should have got their late fathers one-third share of their grandfathers money. Their case was thrown out by the High Court in March. Angela St Marseille claimed along with her sisters that they should have got their late father's one-third share of the will - Champion News After a hearing, the five sisters have now been left facing a 220,000 bill to cover their aunt and uncles legal costs as well as their own lawyers bills. It means the sisters are set to pay more than what they would have received had they won the case. At the hearing last week, a judge decided that the cause of the legal battle had been the change in the relationship between the sisters and their grandfather and ordered them to pay the full amount. Ward, from South Ealing, west London, had been upset that his granddaughters had not visited when he was in hospital three times with a lung condition, a court heard during a trial last year. A shouting match broke out when his final will was read out after his death. From a fortune valued at around 500,000, his granddaughters were handed envelopes containing just 50 each in cash. The sisters sued, claiming that their grandfathers last will had been invalid, and that he had been coerced into making it by Terry Ward and Ms Wiltshire. Carol Gowing and her siblings claimed their grandfather's last will had been invalid - Champion News The case was dismissed in March by Master James Brightwell, a High Court judge, who ruled that it had been entirely rational for the disappointed grandfather to cut out his grandchildren because of their very limited contact with him in his latter years. The case returned to court last week for a decision on who would pay the lawyers bills for the case. Both sides blamed each other for starting the court fight. James McKean, a lawyer representing the sisters, said they had been compelled to issue proceedings after the reading of the will. Amanda Higginbotham and her sisters had been 'compelled to issue proceedings' - Champion News Maxwell Myers, for Terry Ward and Ms Wiltshire, said the pair had been forced to defend themselves given the allegations against them. The judge decided in favour of the pair and ordered the five sisters to pay 100,000 up front towards a total defence legal bill estimated at 136,470, with VAT to be added on. The sisters own legal costs were 85,688.50. 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. Interns Santino Bono (left) and Alanna Nguyen stand with legislative assistant Dustin Bax after receiving resolutions from the Missouri House of Resolutions to commemorate their service (courtesy of Santino Bono). In March, the phone in state Rep. Deb Lavenders office in Jefferson City started ringing constantly, but the calls werent for her. They were for her interns, Santino Bono and Alanna Nguyen. The interns, along with Dylan Powers Cody, who was interning for state Rep. Peter Merideth, had spent months cross-checking spreadsheets to pinpoint school districts who had not yet claimed pandemic-era federal funds for homeless students. Those federal dollars are part of the American Rescue Plan and must be budgeted by September. A large part of the interns project was calling districts to notify them that they had money that could expire if they didnt act quickly. The office got so many calls back from schools about the interns project that Lavenders legislative assistant needed to create a voicemail folder just for them. So far, they helped districts claim $1.15 million in funds in four months that can be used for a range of services for homeless students from buying washers and dryers to temporary hotel stays and transit cards. We had multiple school districts call back and say, We have twenty grand in the bank that we can use to help homeless students? No one really told us, Bono said in an interview with The Independent. Most of the districts the interns reached had no idea they had funding available, Nguyen said. Then, they wanted more information on it, she said. Once they got the information on it, they were able to kind of kickstart it up and get things moving along. Bono expected the internship might be more menial, including the intern trope of having to get coffee for people, he said. To know that I could have potentially a much bigger impact on actual students, as a student myself, Im really proud of that, Bono said. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE Missouri received an infusion of $9.6 million in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 for students experiencing homelessness, and schools were able to start using it in 2022. But many of those schools had never received federal dollars to support homeless students before. Tera Bock, director of homeless education for Missouris Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said the agency alerted school districts to the funding but that several challenges emerged. It is not funding that most districts are used to having, so they usually are supporting their students experiencing homelessness without any funding specific to that, she said. The extra funding creates the need for a shift in mindset as far as what they provide for those students. School districts have until the end of September to budget the remaining $6.1 million or lose out on it. Most schools received a few thousands dollars in federal aid for homeless students. The largest allocation, based on its homeless student population, went to St. Louis City which received $850,000. The funding is best used for one-time costs, Bock said, like a vehicle to transport students with housing insecurity or to meet emergency needs. The district should really consider how they can use it in a way that is not going to create a financial burden in the future whenever they dont have the funds anymore, Bock said. She said rural districts with a smaller population of students experiencing homelessness are the most likely to struggle to spend the money. Bock has been in her role for a couple months, and the position was vacant briefly. Part of her job is to contact each districts homeless liaison, a position every district is federally required to have. But sometimes, the liaisons have multiple positions in schools, and Bock doesnt hear back from them. Especially in the districts where they dont typically see a large population of homeless students, they get multiple roles, and it just gets lost in the shuffle, she said. We dont have very many (districts) here in Missouri where that person is completely designated as their entire job for the most part, she said. They are wearing lots of different hats. Bock said she sends lots of communication, so they should be aware of the funds but wonders if liaisons are properly connected to district administration to get the money budgeted. With more communication and activities planned, Bock is not concerned about being able to get more money claimed by districts. This is definitely a big piece of what Im working on right now, she said. And our sights are set on Sept. 30. Bock said the interns were super helpful in the process. There has been good communication whenever they need some backup information to support questions that are coming up, she said. So theyve been great to work with. The interns are hopeful schools will continue allocating the funds. Theres still a lot to be done by September and sessions ending, Bono said. Im going off to law school. I cant keep calling school districts. So were just hoping that more awareness can be given to school districts to kind of get them to keep working towards this. Lavender said the funds might look modest in terms of the states overall budget but the impact on students is large. In Webster Groves, she said, the schools got another $8,000 that I dont think they knew was sitting there. Lavenders legislative assistant Dustin Bax chimed in: And $8,000 of backpacks, non-perishable foods, fuel cards that goes a long way. The post Legislative interns help Missouri school districts claim over $1 million in federal funds appeared first on Missouri Independent. Less than 10% of bills on the Legislatures 2024 appropriations table became law Entrance to the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee room in the Maine State House in Augusta. Sept. 5, 2023. Entrance to the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee room in the Maine State House in Augusta. (Jim Neuger/Maine Morning Star) For the few ways a bill can become law, there are many more ways legislation can be killed. Sometimes the path to a bills demise is clear. Maybe it gets votes out of a legislative committee with members suggesting its passage, but it doesnt secure enough votes in either the Maine House of Representatives or Senate to advance, like a proposal for a data privacy law this session (though outcomes are also complicated by behind-the-scenes lobbying efforts). Other times a bill may pass both chambers but the governor vetoes it, and if the Legislature doesnt secure the support of two-thirds of those present in both chambers to override that opposition (which has yet to happen during Gov. Janet Mills tenure), the bill wont become law. Less publicized, however, is when a bill dies a quiet death after initially securing the approval of both chambers because it gets caught in the funding process. Less than 10% of bills that made it onto the appropriations table this year became law. Bills that land on the table have already passed the full Legislature, however if they arent explicitly funded in the state budget, they need to be paid for using remaining unappropriated money. At least 250 bills got put on the table this year with 140 of those carried over from last year, the first session of the two-year legislative cycle in Maine. The Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee, which oversees the table, moved to fund only a handful of bills before the deadline for the Legislature to conclude its work. These proposals subsequently became law, securing the enactment votes needed in the Legislature and avoiding the governors veto pen. They include increases to the cap on bonds issued by the Maine State Housing Authority to reflect current housing production needs and allowing for the treatment of human remains by natural organic reduction as an alternative to burial, among other measures. The long and ultimately unsuccessful path of one education bill However, lawmakers did not as swiftly decide most of the fates of the bills on the table this year. Take for example, LD 2001, a proposed African American and Wabanaki studies advisory council. When House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland) first presented the bill for consideration before the Legislatures Education Committee on Jan. 12, it was narrower in scope. The original bill proposed creating positions and training programs for educators to ensure African American studies is effectively and accurately added to school curricula, as it became a teaching requirement in 2021 through separate legislation also sponsored by Talbot Ross. Two days prior to hearing this bill, the Education Committee heard a separate proposal to establish a commission to ensure that the history of the Wabanaki Nations is included in Maines K-12 curricula. While required teaching since 2001, a 2022 report found that school districts have failed to consistently and appropriately include the course of study. Several people cautioned that African American studies could see the same fate without additional resources and accountability measures, and the bill sponsors agreed to combine the bills given the overlapping concerns. The Education Committee recommended in late January that the full Legislature pass the combined measure, and by the end of February, it did. However, lawmakers placed the bill on the appropriations table in early March, and it sat there past the legal deadline for the Legislature to conclude its work, April 17. Other bills on the table did see movement that day. The Appropriations Committee voted to fund 21 off the table, though fewer actually became law after several got left in limbo in the Senate. At that point however, the Legislature did not adjourn sine die, or finally. That would happen some weeks later on May 10 and, a few days prior, the Appropriations Committee took steps to fund the advisory council bill and 80 others off the table. Because the budget committee amended the bill to reduce its cost, LD 2001 still needed final approval from both chambers of the Legislature. While the Senate gave the go ahead, the House never took it up, sticking the plan back in a limbo status when the Legislature finally adjourned the night of May 10. Technically, the Legislature passed an order allowing for some unresolved bills, including LD 2001, to be carried over into a hypothetical special session though lawmakers say at this point that is highly unlikely. Tracking the table Essentially this means LD 2001 died, and the bill was not alone. In addition to LD 2001, the Appropriations Committee amended 49 of the other bills it took off the table the last week of session largely reducing or stripping their costs entirely. The Legislature also left these bills unresolved upon final adjournment, after the House did not take votes on the measures. However, 30 bills that the budget committee voted off the table without amendments did get approved by the Senate and were sent to the governor for final approval, as well as a few proposed studies. Still, they too did not become law, as Mills declined to sign any of the legislation sent to her desk on the final day of session, objecting to added spending and lawmakers taking action on measures aside from vetoes past the adjournment deadline. Throughout the session, the Legislature will produce point-in-time lists of bills on the table but does not publish a total list of all legislation that has landed on the table nor what the ultimate outcome of each of those pieces of legislation is upon adjournment. Maine Morning Star followed bills placed on the table throughout the 2024 session in an attempt to provide greater transparency into the appropriations process. Of note, there are a handful of bills left on the table that either in full or in part lawmakers incorporated into the state budget. For example, this includes proposals to raise the minimum wage of school support staff, add grandparents and great-grandparents with a serious health condition to the list of persons related to an employee for whom paid family medical leave may be taken, and expand crisis supports across the state. Youll see that these measures are still listed as on the table upon adjournment. Not counting measures incorporated into the budget, just 21 of the at least 250 bills that were placed on the table at some point this year ended up becoming law. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Less than 10% of bills on the Legislatures 2024 appropriations table became law appeared first on Maine Morning Star. Letters to the Editor: Does divestment work, or is it just protesters trying to 'do something'? Pro-Palestinians protesters camp in front of Sproul Hall at UC Berkeley on May 2. (Jeff Chiu / Associated Press) To the editor: Divestment is a delusion. It is a ritual cleansing with no financial consequences. Making investment decisions based on non-financial considerations just gives the self-satisfaction of believing that one has "done something." ("UC Berkeley to consider divesting from weapons makers as pro-Palestinian protesters break camp," May 14) Changing ownership of a share, a large quantity of stock or a mutual fund has no financial impact on the profitability of the underlying asset, the market price or the asset's ability to raise capital for expansion. Divestment from tobacco, arms manufacturing, oil extraction and other industries has shown no discernible impact on the consumption of these products. There's always a market for ownership of these industries. Investors are driven by the desire for a reasonable return at a reasonable risk. While the proceeds from selling undesirable shares can be used to buy more ethical assets, this shift has no financial impact whatsoever on these more ethical assets. Endowments exist primarily for the long-term financial support and stability of institutions. Narrowing the selection of assets for any political or ethical reason undercuts trustees' ability to make the best decisions in the interests of an endowment. Trustees should not indulge demands to make statements of disapproval on the subjects of current controversy, which are outside the scope of their responsibilities to the institution. Otherwise, demands for more purity and virtue signaling will continue. Stephen J. White, Culver City .. To the editor: The contention that the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement "impinges on ... academic freedom" and students' "rights" is an unquestioned aphorism of our university systems. What is ludicrously unquestioned by university leaders, the media and politicians, however, is the idea that higher education in this country can or must be funded in part by industries of death and disenfranchisement. Which students asked to have their college endowments "indirectly" tied up in weapons manufacturing and surveillance companies? And in such a way that its simply become the fact on the ground that this is how we as Americans fund our lives? Where is the freedom for anyone who believes in a world without constant war? That Israel has been a prime beneficiary of this militarist system is no reason to state that it's the right way to operate our schools. Matt Neel, Sherman Oaks .. To the editor: I've just returned from a weeklong trip to see and explore four Nazi concentration and death camps from the Holocaust in Poland. Prominent in my mind right now are the state of Israel and the hostages held by Hamas. As I look at my hometown newspaper's front page and see signs proclaiming "Long Live Intifada" and "Academic Boycott," both directed at a country whose citizens don't all agree with the government's policies, it reminds me of the 1930s and 40s, when Jews were shunned and ostracized. The slogan, "Never again is now," feels so real. That students are happy to shun Israel because of government policy is wrong. Jews will never again apologize for demanding a safe haven. Lise Spiegel, Encino This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Letters to the Editor: Gavin Newsom ignores voters on the death penalty. Isn't that a threat to democracy? Gov. Gavin Newsom is seen during a climate conference at the Vatican on Thursday. (Gregorio Borgia / Associated Press) To the editor: Gov. Gavin Newsom's suspension of the death penalty is not only an abuse of power and hurtful to the families of murder victims; it is also profoundly hypocritical. ("Newsom leaves the Vatican with pope's praise for refusing to impose the death penalty," May 19) Albeit cumbersome, the California proposition system is democracy in its purest form citizens voting directly on legislation. In 2016, Californians clearly expressed their views on capital punishment via Propositions 62 and 66, the former upholding the practice, and the latter speeding up the process for carrying out death sentences. Newsom, in halting executions, ignored and dismissed the will of the voters. This is a politician who routinely trumpets democracy and is quick to demonize conservatives for endangering it. And it's why I cringe when he positions himself as a proponent and protector of democracy. Can you imagine the outcry if California voters approved a proposition increasing gun control or protecting the rights of a marginalized group, and a Republican governor pulled a Newsom? Glenn Toth, Playa del Rey This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. GUBA, Azerbaijan, May 21. Azerbaijani-Uzbek Investment Company plans to realize more than 10 projects, Director General of Azerbaijan-Uzbek Investment Company Nazim Hajiyev told Trend on the sidelines of the II Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan Interregional Forum in Guba, Trend reports. There are both projects of Azerbaijani companies in Uzbekistan and projects of Uzbek companies in Azerbaijan, and we will start implementing some of them this year, Hajiyev said. According to Hajiyev, these projects are vital for import substitution, strategic industries, and societal impact. We are engaged in food production, textiles, financial leasing initiatives, and a private school project, he added. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel A Momentum Refresh mobile restroom was available to guests at this years LCBDD Summer Kickoff at the Canal Market District on May 4. Seven people were able to use the vehicle for personal care and more than 40 people took a tour to learn more. The Licking County Board of Developmental Disabilities is working to make restrooms more accessible to adults and children with disabilities by partnering with Momentum Refresh to create mobile restrooms. The vehicles, which are the size of a food truck, include a wheelchair lift, an adjustable changing table that can accommodate an adult, a ceiling hoist and an accessible toilet and sink. Trained staff members stay with the vehicle at all times to provide information and clean the space between uses, according to a news release from the board. "We know that this is a need in our community and offering this option has benefits that go far beyond the population that we support," Superintendent and CEO Jason Umstot said in the release. "We are thrilled that our partnership with Momentum Refresh will allow people who often face barriers to enjoy these fairs and festivals with family and friends." Each Momentum Refresh vehicle includes a wheelchair lift, a universal changing table that can accommodate adults, a build-in hoist and an accessible toilet and sink. For the first time, the Momentum Refresh vehicle will be available to the public at the following Licking County summer events during the following times: Utica Ice Cream Festival: Velvet Ice Creams Ye Olde Mill, 11324 Mount Vernon Road, Utica; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 25 and 26 and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 27, directly behind the main stage. Newark Strawberry Festival: Downtown Newark, 100 E. Main St., Newark; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. May 31 and June 1 and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 2 in the Wendys parking lot. Granville Fourth of July fireworks: Wildwood Park, 785 W. Broadway, Granville; 7 to 11 p.m. July 5. Pataskala Street Fair: South Main Street, Pataskala; noon to 11 p.m. Aug. 14-17 near the main portable restroom area. The Licking County Board of DD is using $117,450 in American Rescue Plan Act funds from the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities to contract with Momentum Refresh. The board also plans to partner with community events by sponsoring the vehicles rental fee as future funding allows, the release states. The board received more than $458,000 in ARPA funds and will be announcing more projects in the coming months that will increase inclusion and accessibility in Licking County, according to the release. This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Licking County Board of DD brings accessible restroom to summer events After The New York Times reported that the American flag outside Justice Samuel Alitos home was flown upside down in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham criticized the conservative judge for failing to think it through. Emotions are apparently high in that neighborhood but no, its not good judgment to do that, Graham told HuffPost on Monday. I dont know what role he said his wife was insulted and got mad I assume that be true, but hes still a Supreme Court justice. And, you know, people have to realize that moments like that, to think it through. In a photo obtained by the Times, the upside down flag was seen at Alitos Virginia home less than two weeks after the rioters attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election as lawmakers prepared to certify President Joe Bidens electoral victory. Neighbors told the publication that the flag remained that way for several days before being taken down. According to the U.S. flag code, the star-spangled banner should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property. When the Times reached out to Alito about the flag, he blamed his wife and said that he had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag. In 2020, following the Supreme Courts rejection of a Texas lawsuit that sought to overturn the results of the presidential election in four states Biden won Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin Alito, along with Justice Clarence Thomas, dissented. (Thomas has faced his own controversy following bombshell reports last year that conservative megadonor Harlan Crow funded the justices lavish lifestyle for decades.) Following the Times report, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) called on Alito to recuse himself from all cases concerning the 2020 election. Flying an upside-down American flag a symbol of the so-called Stop the Steal movement clearly creates the appearance of bias, Durbin said in a statement. Justice Alito should recuse himself immediately from cases related to the 2020 election and the January 6th insurrection. More from Rolling Stone Best of Rolling Stone Lithuanian FM: Ukraine 'must be allowed' to strike Russian territory with Western arms Ukraine must be allowed to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russian territory, Lithuania's foreign minister said on May 20. In an interview with French TV station LCI, Gabrielius Landsbergis said restrictions such as those imposed by the U.S. on using long-range ATACMS missiles inside Russia were a "mistake." "From the beginning, we have made the mistake of limiting the Ukrainians because it could be seen as an escalation," Landsbergis said. U.S. officials have repeatedly said that they do not support or encourage Kyiv's strikes with American weapons deep inside Russia, while Ukrainian officials are reportedly trying to convince Washington to lift this ban. Landsbergis said such decisions were "dominated by fear of Russia" and worries about escalating the conflict beyond Ukraine's borders. "The Ukrainians must be allowed to use the equipment provided to them so that they can achieve strategic objectives," he said. "They must be able to strike Russian territory, supply lines, and military units preparing to attack Ukraine. "Only one side has rules imposed on it. We must abandon these rules that we created." Join our community Support independent journalism in Ukraine. Join us in this fight. Support us Ukraine recently said that the Washington ban meant Ukraine was unable to attack Russian forces as they were building up before crossing the border into Kharkiv Oblast. "The main problem right now is the White House policy to limit our capability" to strike military targets inside Russia, David Arakhamia, the parliamentary leader of President Volodymyr Zelensky's party, the Servant of the People, said last week. "We saw their military sitting one or two kilometers from the border inside Russia, and there was nothing we could do about that," Oleksandra Ustinova, the head of the Ukraine's parliamentary commission on arms and ammunition, told Politico. In an interview with Reuters on May 20, President Volodymyr Zelensky said there is "nothing positive" in talks with Western partners about the usage of their weapons to strike Russian military facilities at the border and further inside Russian territory. Washington has not changed its position on potential Ukrainian strikes with U.S.-supplied weapons on Russian territory, even after Russia had launched its offensive in Kharkiv Oblast, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said on May 16. Read also: Every Western decision is late by a year, says Zelensky Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Lithuanian Foreign Minister supports allowing Ukraine to hit targets in Russia with Western weapons Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis believes that Ukraine's Western allies should allow the Ukrainian military to strike targets in Russia. Source: Landsbergis in an interview with the French television channel LCI, writes LRT, as reported by European Pravda Details: According to Landsbergis, the Ukrainians should be able to use the equipment provided to them to achieve their strategic goals. Quote: "They should be able to strike Russian territory, supply lines and troops preparing to attack Ukraine," he said. "Only one side obeys the rules. We must abandon these rules that we ourselves have created," said the Lithuanian Foreign Minister. Landsbergis feels Ukraines allies made a mistake in restraining the Ukrainians from the start because they were worried an escalation would occur. He also stated that Western military instructors who were in Ukraine prior to Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 should return to hasten the training of young Ukrainian troops. "Lithuania is ready to join, for example, a coalition led by France and train Ukrainian troops in Ukraine," Landsbergis said. Background: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed in an interview with Reuters that Ukraine is in talks with international partners about the possibility of using their weapons to strike targets in Russia. Ukraine is waging a defensive war and therefore should have the right to use partner-supplied weapons to strike places from which Russia launches its attacks, stated Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova. Support UP or become our patron! Two complaints involving campaign violations in Fayette County were reported to the Election Fraud Hotline this morning, according to Attorney General Russell Colemans office. Another five involving legal questions were also reported from Fayette County. No further information was immediately available on the complaints. Sign up for our Bluegrass Politics Newsletter A must-read newsletter for political junkies across the Bluegrass State with reporting and analysis from the Lexington Herald-Leader. Never miss a story! Sign up for our Bluegrass Politics newsletter to connect with our reporting team and get behind-the-scenes insights, plus previews of the biggest stories. Coleman declined to provide more detail on individual calls in order to protect potential investigations. By noon, 20 calls were received on the hotline, which operates year-round. The fraud hotline numbers will be updated throughout the day. Besides the seven calls from Fayette County, there was a call involving an absentee ballot in Barren County, calls involving an election official and a voting machine in Boone County and a call involving a party registration switch in Boyd County. A call also was received from Clay County involving vote buying/selling, according to the Attorney Generals office. Coleman held a news conference to tout the work of the Election Integrity Command Center in his office. The center brings together investigators and prosecutors from the Attorney Generals Office with the FBI and Kentucky State Police to guard against election fraud. Voters can cast their ballots at Lexington Public Librarys Northside Branch in Lexington, Ky., on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The office keeps close contact with the Kentucky Secretary of State, the Board of Elections and county clerks, Coleman said. You have everyone in government rowing together to protect the integrity of the ballot, Coleman said during the news conference. Kentucky has had an unfortunate history of election fraud, including vote buying, Coleman said. He noted that a call to the election hotline about suspected vote fraud in Monroe County in the 2022 primary resulted in an investigation and ultimately seven convictions. Polls close in less than an hour 5:15 p.m. Polls across Kentucky are scheduled to close at 6 p.m. local time, meaning polls in the far western part of the state will close an hour later than those on Eastern Standard Time. All voters in line by 6 p.m. will be able to cast their ballot. In addition, secure county dropboxes for mail-in ballots will also close at 6 p.m. Fayette County voters are able to cast a ballot at 135 polling locations or at all six Lexington Public Library locations. You can also visit govote.ky.gov to research your voter registration and polling place. Kentuckys longest-serving member of Congress ever, Hal Rogers votes U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, 86, voted Tuesday morning at a fire training center named for him. Rogers, a Republican, who was first elected to office in 1980, is seeking a 23rd term in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is the longest-serving member of Congress ever from Kentucky and in 2022 became Dean of the House, meaning he has more tenure than any other member. U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, a Republican who represents the 5th District in Southern and Eastern Kentucky, voted on May 21, 2024 at a fire training center in Somerset named for him. Rogers is seeking a 23rd term. Rogers said he is seeking another term because there is more work to be done for his district and the country. Rogers said the district he represents in Southern and Eastern Kentucky continues to deal with substance abuse, health disparity and a need for more jobs. Weve got problems. The country needs some direction, Rogers said. Issues with campaign signs? The Herald-Leader received an allegation that poll workers had been asked to remove candidate signs that were too close to a polling place. Meredit Watson, spokeswoman for Fayette County Clerk Susan Lamb, said the clerks office had not received any reports related to signs. Voters can cast their ballots at Lexington Public Librarys Northside Branch in Lexington, Ky., on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. A poll worker at Central Baptist Church on Wilson Downing, which serves as the polling place for three Fayette County precincts, declined to comment on the report that signs for a District 4 city council candidate and House District 93 candidate were removed from public rights of way. There were no campaign signs near the polls by 9 a.m., according to a Herald-Leader reporter. Early turnout in Lexington Early voting in Lexington is running smoothly as voters trickle in. A spokeswoman for Lamb said that by 8 a.m. more than 3,000 people had already voted on Primary Day. According to the Kentucky Board of Elections, there are 243,196 voters registered in Fayette County. Voters complete their ballots at Lexington Public Librarys Northside Branch in Lexington, Ky., on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The polls opened at 6 a.m. and there were minor hiccups at some locations but techs were dispatched across town and no problems were reported as of 8 a.m., according to Watson, spokeswoman for Lamb. Lamb said that early voting in-person voting on Thursday, Friday and Saturday was up significantly over last year. She did not give a specific number. Last year, primary turnout was 15%, Lamb said, and she hopes to exceed that this year. What Lexington poll workers were seeing Michael Krause, a volunteer at the Lexington Public Librarys Eastside Branch, said Tuesday mornings turnout had been slower than anticipated because voters arent used to having a centralized voting area compared to precincts. Most people can just go to their local precincts and vote, but all the libraries are open We can do all precincts, Krause said. John Lazzari, a first-year volunteer at Marksbury Family Public Library, said the people that have come have been very eager participants. Lazarri said he decided to be a volunteer because voting is so important to him. Hes not missed an election since he became an 18-year-old registered voter. I knew I was going to retire soon, and I wanted to do something where I could give back to the community, he said. Paul Louallen, a poll liaison at the Lexington Public Library Central Branch, said opening poll locations at public libraries this year has increased voters abilities to get to the polls on Primary Day. Everybody knows where the library is, he said. We have six libraries here that are accessible for voters. I think it was well worth the effort ... to open up the libraries for us. Louallen said the Central Branch location saw about 350 voters during early voting while about a dozen had been to the library early Tuesday morning. Voters were told to go to the second floor of Lexingtons Central Public Library in downtown Lexington, Ky. on May 21, 2024, Primary Day in Kentucky. Lazarri encouraged voters who have yet to cast ballots to find a polling spot before they close at 6 p.m. I think its important that everybody has a say in what goes on in their country or even locally, he said. So you really dont have a complaint if you dont vote or exercise that right that weve got. How to report a complaint about voting If you see issues related to voting, you can report them to the attorney generals election fraud hotline at 800-328-VOTE. Election integrity is foundational to our constitutional system, and we take our responsibility to protect the security of every Kentuckians vote seriously, Coleman said in a news release. Im proud of our dedicated team who is working around the clock so every voter can be confident in the result. 35 calls to fraud hotline before Primary Day Three days of early voting were held May 16 to 18 and the attorney generals hotline received 35 pre-election calls before Primary Day. Many calls were legal or procedural questions, but calls related to electioneering were reported in Fayette County and in Elliott County. Electioneering, which is prohibited, can include signs or campaigning too close to the poll. Six calls were received from Estill County, including three relating to campaign violations, one relating to vote buying/selling, one relating to voter assistance and one relating to campaign finance law. Estill County Clerk Kim Charles said on Monday she had not received any election-related complaints in her office and seemed surprised there had been a number of complaints to the Attorney Generals hotline. I dont know what that means, she said of the complaints. Estill County is part of House District 91, where there is a race in the Republican primacy between incumbent Rep. Bill Wesley of Ravenna and challenger Darrell Billings of Stanton. Charles, who has worked in the clerks office 21 years but was only appointed to the top job on April 2, said some of the complaints may have arisen from that race, though she said she didnt know for sure. Who can vote today, whats on the ballot Its Primary Day in Kentucky, which means Democrat and Republican voters have a chance to select candidates that will appear on the ballot for the General Election in November. Voters who are registered as Independents may not vote in party primaries under Kentucky law, only in nonpartisan races. With no statewide elections on the ballot, voters will be picking local government, judicial and legislative party candidates. Democrats and Republicans also can vote in the presidential primaries for the parties, although President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have already been named as nominees. What hours are Kentucky polls open and where? Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time; if you are in line at 6 p.m. you will be allowed to vote. To find your polling place, registered voters can go to govote.ky.gov. Voters can cast their ballots at Lexington Public Librarys Marksbury Family Branch in Lexington, Ky., on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. In addition to all regular Fayette County precinct voting locations, the six voting centers in the public libraries set up for early voting are remaining open on Primary Day. Any registered Lexington voter can use the voting centers. If you are voting by absentee ballot, you have until 6 p.m. local time to put it in drop boxes in your county. Prediction for voter turnout With no statewide races to draw out voters, turnout is expected to be low. We expect a light turnout .... I think the primaries are increasingly important, said Secretary of State Michael Adams last week when early voting started. As the state gets more polarized geographically, with Louisville and Lexington becoming more blue and rural areas become more red, increasingly the primary is the general election. If you have 10-15% turnout, those people are picking our leaders because you have a lot of uncontested elections in November. Adams said in 2022 the primary had 13% turnout with a Senate primary, last year the primary turnout was 14.5% with a gubernatorial race, this year were thinking its going to be in that range. ... Im frustrated that the turnouts not higher. Monday, Adams announced 75,204 Kentuckians had participated in the three days of no-excuse early voting, up from 72,754 in last year. 75,204 Kentuckians took advantage of no-excuse early voting in this primary election, up from 72,754 in May 2023. Like last year, most early voters were Republicans, but there's nothing political about choosing the voting method most convenient for you. Michael Adams, KY Secretary of State (@KYSecState) May 20, 2024 This story will be updated. Herald-Leader reporters Alexis Baker, Ali Costellow, Daniel Kehn and Maggie Phelps contributed to this report. Its Primary Election Day in Kentucky. Heres how voters can find their polling place How the GOP Liberty vs. mainstream GOP battle is playing out in 2024 KY primaries Who are the Liberty Republicans in Kentucky politics? What do they want? Need help picking primary candidates? Heres a roundup of Herald-Leader endorsements. Kentucky Voter Guide: Everything to know about the 2024 presidential primary, local races Donald Trump speaks to the media outside Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday. (Mark Peterson/Pool via Getty Images) The defense and prosecution have rested their cases, the jury has been dismissed for the week and closing arguments are set for next Tuesday. This is Yahoo News succinct update on the criminal and civil cases against Trump. Here are the latest developments. What happened today Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger resumed cross-examination of Robert Costello, a lawyer who had advised Michael Cohen (Trumps former lawyer and so-called fixer). Costello was reprimanded by Judge Juan Merchan on Monday for his disrespectful behavior on the witness stand. The prosecution on Tuesday sought to undercut Costellos previous testimony that he was only serving Cohens best interest not Trumps in 2018 after news of the Stormy Daniels hush money deal came out. Cohen previously testified he suspected Costello whom he said was close with Trumps then-lawyer Rudy Giuliani only contacted him in 2018 to make sure he wouldnt turn on Trump and cooperate with prosecutors at that time. Cohen testified he never had a retainer agreement with Costello, nor did he pay him for any legal services. On Tuesday the prosecution displayed a series of Costellos emails that aimed to show that he was manipulating Cohen at the direction of Trumps then-lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Trump. The defense rested its case after calling two witnesses. Trump did not testify, despite saying he would be willing to take the stand. The jury was then dismissed for the week. Merchan then met with attorneys from the defense and prosecution Tuesday afternoon to review what can be included in the jury instructions, which affects how the jury will reach its verdict. Prosecutors have charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records as felony charges because they claim those documents were used to conceal a second crime. That crime, the prosecution charges, is covering up the alleged reimbursement payments to Cohen as legal fees to suppress negative information to protect his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denies having an affair with Daniels in 2006. Zoom in Costellos emails: An email that Costello wrote to Cohen was entered into evidence by the prosecution in an effort to show the pressure campaign that they say he, Giuliani and Trump were putting on Cohen to discourage him from working with federal investigators after the hush money story broke. You are making a very big mistake if you believe the stories these journalists are writing about you, Costello wrote in the email, according to NBC News. They want you to cave. They want you to fail. They do not want you to persevere and succeed. If you really believe you are not being supported properly by your former boss, then you should make your opinion known. The prosecution says another email between Costello and his law partner from May 2018 shows that Costello was not acting in Cohens best interest, but rather Trumps. Our issue is to get Cohen on the right page without giving him the appearance that we are following instruction from Giuliani or the president, the email read, according to CNN. In my opinion, this is the clear correct strategy. Jury instructions: Known as a charge conference, the judge met with lawyers for the defense and prosecution Tuesday afternoon without the jury present to parse through what jurors should be advised before they begin deliberations. Its often a complex, in the weeds process. The New York Times reported, for example, that it took about five minutes for all parties to decide whether to pluralize the word crime. The judge will deliver these instructions to the jury next week after closing arguments. Trumps courthouse posse: Throughout the hush money trial, Trumps allies have shown up at the Manhattan courthouse in a show of support for him. On Tuesday, Trumps son Don Jr. attended the trial for the first time. Eric Trump has been the only other family member who has made an appearance at the trial. Trumps entourage on Tuesday included former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, Sen. Eric Schmitt, Reps. Daniel Webster, Dan Meuser, Ronny Jackson, Troy Nehls, Dale Strong and Maria Salazar. His former aide Sebastian Gorka, former leader of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang in New York Chuck Zito, actor Joe Piscopo, and businessman Bill White were also in attendance at the Manhattan courthouse. Whats next? Now that the defense and prosecution have rested their cases, Merchan said the best thing to do was let the jury adjourn and return next Tuesday, May 28, when closing arguments will begin, according to NBC News. Its possible the jury may reach a verdict by the end of next week. LIVE COVERAGE IS OVER 15 updates Merchan reserves judgment on several decisions about jury instruction language During the charge conference, Judge Juan Merchan reserved judgment on several requests by both sides regarding language lawyers want either included or removed from jury instructions. It's unclear when Merchan plans to rule on them. Former President Donald Trump sits at the defense table in Manhattan criminal court before the start of his hush money trial Tuesday. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool via Getty Images) "Well be resting pretty quickly, meaning resting the case. I wont be resting. I dont rest. Id like to rest sometimes, but I dont get to rest." Trump to reporters after arriving at the courthouse Tuesday, hours before his defense attorneys concluded presenting their case The 'charge conference' is underway Judge Juan Merchan convened with lawyers for both sides for a "charge conference" to go over the instructions Merchan will give the jury next week before deliberations can begin. The jury was sent home by Merchan after the defense rested its case earlier Tuesday and is not due back until next Tuesday, when closing arguments are scheduled to begin. Trump says he didn't want to testify because of the gag order After returning to the courthouse for a hearing on jury instructions, former President Donald Trump told reporters that he decided not to testify in his own defense because of the gag order preventing him from attacking witnesses and court staff. "I'm not allowed to say what I'd like to really say, you'd be very impressed, but I'm gagged," Trump explained. "So why would I take the chance?" He did not answer a shouted question about whether he was nervous about a conviction. What Donald Trump Jr. said outside the courthouse Donald Trump Jr. speaks to reporters outside the courthouse at his father's criminal hush money trial Tuesday. (Charly Triballeau/Pool via Getty Images) Speaking outside the courthouse at his father's criminal hush money trial Tuesday, Donald Trump Jr. railed against the case and criticized reporters for not standing up for the former president. "What's going on here is an absolute farce, and anyone in America should be embarrassed at the absolute miscarriage of justice," Trump Jr. told reporters. "If this was going on right now in a third world banana republic there would be people screaming about it. You people would be screaming about it. The media, instead, because I presume you're fine with whatever the results are as long as it's against Donald Trump your silence is deafening." Trump's hush money trial: By the numbers Former President Donald Trump sits inside the courtroom awaiting the start of his criminal hush money trial on Tuesday. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool via Getty Images) Total days of testimony: 20 Witnesses called by the prosecution: 20 Witnesses called by the defense: 2 Days Stormy Daniels spent on the witness stand: 2 Hours Stormy Daniels spent on the witness stand: 7.5 Days Michael Cohen spent on the witness stand: 4 Hours Michael Cohen spent on the witness stand: 17 Amount of money Cohen admitted stealing from the Trump Organization: $30,000 Number of times Trump was found in contempt for violating the gag order: 10 Amount of money Trump was fined for those violations: $10,000 What happens next Closing arguments are set for Tuesday, May 28. The jury was excused by Judge Juan Merchan until Tuesday. "Thank you, I'll see you in a week," Merchan told the panel. The judge will meet with lawyers from both sides this afternoon at 2:15 p.m. ET to discuss the charging instructions. Following closing arguments, Merchan said he expects jury deliberations to begin "hopefully at some point on Wednesday" of next week. Trump leaves courtroom without comment Trump departed the courtroom after his historic hush money trial adjourned, throwing up a fist pump without comment as he walked past cameras in the hallway. Defense rests its case without calling Trump to the witness stand Defense attorneys for Donald Trump finished questioning their last witness, attorney Robert Costello, and rested their case without calling the former president to testify. Costello calls suggestion that he was trying to intimidate Cohen 'ridiculous' Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger questioned Robert Costello, Cohen's former legal adviser, about testimony he provided to Congress last week, asking if it was an attempt to intimidate Cohen. "Thats ridiculous, no," Costello answered. Costello also told Hoffinger that he does not have animosity toward Cohen but doesn't think he's telling the truth. Don Jr. is in court to support Trump Donald Trump Jr. watches as his father speaks to reporters after arriving at Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday. (Curtis Means/Pool via Getty Images) Donald Trump Jr. was among those in his father's court entourage on Tuesday the first time the former president's eldest son has appeared at his criminal hush money trial. Eric Trump has appeared at the trial numerous times. Trump's other children have not. Also in court to support Trump today: Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, current Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Sebastian Gorka, Trumps former White House adviser. Read more: Here are all of the people who have shown up in court to support Trump at his hush money trial Prosecutor shows evidence of Costello touting his Giuliani connection in emails to Cohen With lawyer Robert Costello back on the witness stand, the jury was shown a series of emails from April 19, 2018, in which Costello, who once advised Michael Cohen, repeatedly mentioned Rudy Giuliani, who would become Trump's personal lawyer while he served as president. In his earlier testimony, Cohen said that Costello had advised him against speaking to Trump directly, offering to provide a back channel to the then president through Giuliani. "I am sure you saw the news that Rudy is joining the Trump legal team. I told you my relationship with Rudy which could be very very useful for you," Costello wrote in an email to Cohen, according to CNN. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger also presented Costello with another email he sent to Jeff Citron, Costello's partner, on the same day saying, "All the more reason for Cohen to hire me because of my connection to Giuliani, which I mentioned to him in our meeting." "That was your email, correct?" Hoffinger asked. "Correct," Costello replied. What Trump said when he arrived at the courthouse Former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool via Getty Images) Speaking to reporters after arriving at Manhattan criminal court for day 20 of his hush money trial, former President Donald Trump repeated his attacks against presiding Judge Juan Merchan and the three other criminal cases he is facing, in what he described as "kangaroo courts." He also complained, as he has throughout the trial, about the temperature inside the courtroom. "It's not that I like doing this sitting in an ice box all day for seven, eight, nine hours," Trump said. "It's a very cold room, I will tell you that. But I'm doing this because our country needs it." Court is in session Day 20 of Trump's hush money trial begins with Cohen's former legal adviser Robert Costello back on the witness stand. What to expect in court today Former President Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial is set to resume at 9:30 a.m. ET. The defense is expected to rest its case today, a day after the prosecution finished theirs. It's unclear whether Trump will testify in his own defense. Closing arguments are scheduled to begin on Tuesday, May 28. SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) A local artist and sculptor whose unique architectural designs can be found in and around San Diego County has died. James Hubbell, who started the Ilan-Lael Foundation with his wife, Anne, died in Chula Vista last Friday at the age of 92, his family confirmed in an emailed statement. Explore San Diego: Magical mountain playhouse is historical landmark Ilan-Lael means a tree that unites the physical and the spiritual, or also a tree that belongs to God in Hebrew. It is a fitting name for the legacy that Hubbell and his wife wanted to build with the intent of incorporating natural beauty and the environment in their work. The foundations 40-acre plus property in Santa Ysabel near Julian was once the familys home until they turned it over to the nonprofit in 2003. It includes bedrooms, a workshop, meditation space and more, adorned with mosaic designs, seashells, gemstones and stained-glass. Hubbell sometimes welcomed the public for tours, offering it as a space for people to find artistic inspiration. Not having him with us on Earth anymore is a tremendous loss, but we feel his wonderful spirit still guiding us daily, Hubbells family said in a statement. Anne is doing as well as can be expected, but this is very difficult for her. Your thoughts and prayers on her behalf are especially appreciated. This artist is being featured as part of a San Diego Public Library Exhibit The statement continued, To our fathers many friends around the world, thank you again for making his life such a fulfilling adventure. He always said that everything meaningful he accomplished was made possible through collaboration and friendships. James Hubbell According to FOX 5/KUSIs reporting partners at The San Diego Union-Tribune, Hubbell was known for hundreds of art installations spread out across the local region, including the Pacific Portal gazebo and Pacific Rim Parks Pearl of the Pacific on Shelter Island, as well as a mosaic fountain at Coronado Ferry Landing. His work can also be found at libraries and churches throughout the county. The Ilan-Lael Foundation said Pacific Rim Park was his most ambitious project, which consists of eight parks near the Pacific Ocean in seven different cities, including San Diego. The other parks are in Russia, Taiwan, China, South Korea, the Philippines and Mexico. Memorial Day: Here are the best and worst times to travel, according to AAA The artists works are currently on display as part of an exhibit called James Hubbell: Architecture of Jubilation at the following San Diego Public Library locations until Aug. 4: Central Library Art Gallery : Exhibit featuring Hubbells 70-plus-year career as a contemporary master who expresses himself through nature-inspired art, architecture and functional objects and spaces. Scripps Miramar Ranch Library: A Mountain Home & Studios exhibit features Hubbells studio and some of his most famous art. Mission Valley Library : The Pacific Rim Project tells the story of Hubbells vision that nations located on the Pacific Rim can find common ground through art. Otay MesaNestor Library: Lado a Lado focuses on Hubbells work in northern Baja California and his first experiment in community-built art parks. Hubbell is survived by his wife, Anne, sons Torrey (Sally) Hubbell, Drew (Pam) Hubbell, Lauren Hubbell, and Brennan (Ana) Hubbell, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild. His family said plans are being made for a public service to honor his life. 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 FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News. FILE - Britain's Prince Harry leaves after attending an Invictus Games Foundation 10th Anniversary Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral in London, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. A London judge said Tuesday, May 21, 2024, Prince Harry can't expand his privacy lawsuit against The Sun tabloid's publisher to include allegations that Rupert Murdoch and some other executives were part of an effort to conceal and destroy evidence of unlawful information gathering. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File) LONDON (AP) Prince Harry can't expand his privacy lawsuit against The Sun tabloid's publisher to add allegations that Rupert Murdoch and some other executives were part of an effort to conceal and destroy evidence of unlawful information gathering, a London judge ruled Tuesday. The decision by Judge Timothy Fancourt in the High Court was a mixed ruling for the Duke of Sussex in one of his three invasion of privacy lawsuits he has brought in his ongoing battles against British tabloids. Fancourt allowed the prince to include allegations that his phone was tapped and add claims against other journalists and private investigators that he and other claimants say used unlawful means to snoop on them for scoops. But he rejected Harry's efforts to expand the case beyond the period from 1996 to 2015 to include claims of eavesdropping on his mother, the late Princess Diana, in 1994-95, and digging up private information on his now-wife, actor Meghan Markle, in 2016. Fancourt said allegations that Murdoch turned a blind eye to wrongdoing added nothing material to claims made against News Group Newspapers, or NGN. The judge said those claims already include trusted lieutenants, naming Murdoch's younger son, James Murdoch, and Rebekah Brooks, who was editor at the defunct News of the World and The Sun. The judge said some of Harry's efforts to blame additional executives were to further a political agenda. There is a desire on the part of those running the litigation on the claimants side to shoot at trophy' targets, whether those are political issues or high-profile individuals, Fancourt wrote. Tempting though it no doubt is for the claimants team to attempt to inculpate the man at the very top, doing so will add nothing to a finding that Ms. Brooks and Mr. James Murdoch or other senior executives knew and were involved, if that is proved to be the case." Brooks is chief executive officer of News UK, a division of News Corp. media holdings that controls The Sun and The Times among other publications. James Murdoch resigned from News Corp. in 2020. Rupert Murdoch, 93, was executive chairman of News Corp. and director of its subsidiary, News International, now News UK, which was NGNs parent when News of the World folded. Murdoch stepped down last fall as leader of both Fox News parent company and his News Corp. Both sides claimed victory in the ruling that precedes a trial scheduled early next year. Fancourt said that it was a split victory with the defense gaining an edge on the issues argued. He ordered Harry and other claimants to pay a third of NGN's costs spent litigating the proposed amendments. News Group said it welcomed the decision, saying it vindicated its position that new wide-ranging" and irrelevant allegations be excluded from the case. The claimants said in a statement that they were pleased the judge allowed many of the amendments that had been vigorously opposed by NGN. The company issued an unreserved apology in 2011 to victims of voicemail interception by the News of the World, which closed its doors after a phone hacking scandal. NGN said it has settled 1,300 claims for its newspapers, though The Sun has never accepted liability. The three-day hearing in March included claims against NGN by others, including actor Hugh Grant, who accused The Sun of tapping his phone, bugging his car and breaking into his home to snoop on him. Since then, Grant said he had reluctantly agreed to accept "an enormous sum of money to settle his lawsuit. Grant said he had to settle because of a court policy that could have stuck him with a huge legal bill even if he prevailed at trial. A civil court rule intended to avoid jamming up the courts would have required Grant to pay legal fees to both sides if he won at trial but was awarded anything lower than the settlement offer. Attorney David Sherborne has suggested that Harry may have to settle for the same reason. Harry has a similar case pending against the owner of the Daily Mail. Last year, he won his first case to go to trial when Fancourt found phone hacking was widespread and habitual at Mirror Group Newspapers. In addition to a court judgment, he settled remaining allegations that included his legal fees. Subscription to paid content Gain access to all that Trend has to offer, as well as to premium, licensed content via subscription or direct purchase through a credit card. Youve heard of Elf on the Shelf. But how about the sup on the roof? Liberty Christian School Superintendent Jim Cochran pledged to spend 38 hours this week on top of the schools roof after a successful fundraising campaign. He climbed a ladder Monday afternoon as students cheered him on. The avid outdoorsman will spend two nights atop the building with a tent, stove, food and supplies. I operate with an open door policy in the office, so I guess this will be an open roof for those that need to connect, Cochran said in a statement. The commitment to spend time on top of the school came during their annual Patriot Auction fundraiser. Money raised keeps tuition accessible for families and benefits the schools capital campaign to renovate its fine arts wing. Corchran volunteered to stay on the roof for one hour for every $200 raised. In the end, the campaign raised $7,600. Liberty Christian School is a Richland-based, Christian private school that offers families a biblically-based education based in prayer and faith. Lord Stunell, who has died aged 81, was one of the most influential and respected Liberal Democrats during the period of the partys greatest successes, and a junior communities minister in David Camerons Coalition, whose formation he had helped negotiate. An architect by profession, Andrew Stunell was MP for Hazel Grove for 18 years, Lib Dem chief whip for five, and since 2015 an active life peer; he spoke in the House of Lords as recently as March 27, on leasehold reform. Paying tribute, his party leader Sir Ed Davey said: Andrew was famous for his clear-sightedness and humility whatever the pressure a real people person even before the term was invented. A great friend, colleague, and mentor to many of us his contribution to the cause over so many years was immeasurable. An active Methodist and former Baptist lay preacher, Stunell was a skilful campaigner, with his particular passion the environment. His legislative legacy is the Sustainable and Secure Buildings Act of 2004, a private members measure enabling homes to be built or renovated with security and energy saving features, to create greener and safer buildings. As Parliamentary Under Secretary for Communities and Local Government from 2010 to 2012 under the Conservative Eric Pickles, he had responsibility for community cohesion, racial equality, building regulations and the implementation of the Big Society with regard to housing and regeneration. The Lib Dem Coalition negotiators (L-R) David Laws, Andrew Stunell, Danny Alexander and Chris Huhne - AP Robert Andrew Stunell was born at Sutton, Surrey on November 24 1942, the son of Robert Stunell, a chartered mechanical engineer, and his wife Trixie, a teacher and musician. From Surbiton County Grammar School, he studied Architecture at Manchester University and Liverpool Polytechnic. Graduating in 1965, he joined the Co-Operative Wholesale Society in Manchester as an architectural assistant, then from 1967 worked for Runcorn New Town, being admitted to the RIBA in 1969. From 1981 until 1985 he had a freelance practice. Stunell was a Chester city councillor from 1979 to 1990, and from 1981 to 1991 led the Liberal/Lib Dem group on Cheshire county council. Moving to Stockport, he was a councillor there from 1994 to 2002. He fought Chester at the 1979 general election for the Liberals, and in 1983 and 1987 for the Liberal/SDP Alliance, finishing a strongish third each time. Up to 1997 he was political secretary of the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors. He first fought the Stockport commuter constituency of Hazel Grove in 1992, falling 929 votes short of ousting its Conservative MP Tom Arnold. As Tony Blair led New Labour to power in 1997, Stunell defeated a new Tory candidate by 11,814 votes to take the seat. He held Hazel Grove comfortably at the next three elections. Paddy Ashdown appointed Stunell an energy spokesman in a greatly expanded Lib Dem contingent. From 2001 he was chief whip; he was re-elected to the post in 2005 but stepped down the following year to be shadow secretary for communities and local government. He left the front bench in December 2007 when Nick Clegg asked him to chair the partys local election campaign team, also being vice-chair of the Lib Dems 2010 general election campaign. When that election resulted in deadlock, with Camerons Conservatives failing to secure an outright majority over Labour under Gordon Brown, Cleggs Lib Dems went into negotiations to form Britains first peacetime coalition government since the 1930s. Stunell, Danny Alexander, Chris Huhne and David Laws formed their negotiating team, with William Hague, Oliver Letwin, George Osborne and Edward Llewellyn acting for the Conservatives. A Coalition Agreement was reached, and Clegg became Deputy Prime Minister and Stunell a junior minister at the DCLG. He stayed there until Clegg shuffled his pack halfway through what had been agreed would be a fixed-term parliament. Having left the government, Stunell was appointed to the Privy Council in November 2012. The following year he was knighted for political and public services. He stood down from the Commons, aged 72, at the 2015 election. In it, the Lib Dems were routed, Hazel Grove falling to the Conservative William Wragg by 6,552 votes. Stunell received a life peerage in the dissolution honours, as Baron Stunell, of Hazel Grove in the County of Greater Manchester. He served for a time on the Committee on Standards in Public Life, and took an ongoing interest in housing standards, fittingly the subject of his final speech. In it, he regretted that with Michael Goves leasehold reform Bill, the promise is in the title but the delivery is not in the Bill, and the measure was suffering from a headlong rush by the Government to introduce new material into the Bill as it goes along. Stunell added: We have heard enough evidence today that the Government are spending an increasing amount of time chasing their tail, trying to make their legislation work. Nevertheless he welcomed the measure, despite some major flaws and missed opportunities for real reform, with the regulation of property agencies clearly right up there near the top, and the omission of flats from the creation of new leases just absurd. Overall, he said, the Bill was just a skirmish in a much bigger battle for fair property rights and access to decent housing for all, and he welcomed the Governments stated readiness to improve it. He was appointed OBE in 1995. Andrew Stunell married Gillian Chorley in 1967. She survives him, with their three sons and two daughters. Andrew Stunell, born November 24 1942, died April 29 2024 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. Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here. "Bonding year." It's been hard since Sunday night to even think of that label without a sardonic snort. "Bonding years" were what the Minnesota State Capitol crowd used to call the even-year legislative sessions that were instituted 50 years ago, in 1974. Job One in even-numbered years was supposed to be the authorization of public works financed by long-term bonds, which require the approval of a three-fifths supermajority in both the House and Senate. Job One was left undone this year when the deadline for passing bills arrived at midnight Sunday. And though I'm lamenting inaction on a number of other potential lawmaking prizes (the Equal Rights Amendment's collapse really stings), it's the no-bonding bummer that had me reaching out to Rep. Dean Urdahl, R-Grove City. For 20 of his 22 years in the state House, Urdahl has helped craft bonding bills. His assignment from his caucus was to put a Republican stamp on those bills. His personal goal was to get those bills passed on time and signed into law. He held that it's the duty of a state representative to maintain and improve the public property that meets public needs, throughout the entire state. More than once, Urdahl's caucus assignment and his personal goal were in conflict. More than once, bonding bills negotiated with DFLers died before reaching the governor's desk, stopped by his fellow Republicans. It happened in 2004, 2016, 2022 and again this year. (In 2007, the bonding bill died on the governor's desk, felled by Tim Pawlenty's veto.) Urdahl's disappointment about this year's outcome was evident as he bade farewell to his colleagues during Monday's customary round of retirement speeches. "It's just not that much fun anymore," Urdahl, 74, a Minnesota history author and educator, confessed. Leaving legislative service now feels like "an escape," he said. A few days earlier, amid packing boxes and memorabilia including photos of Abraham Lincoln (see: transcontinental railroad) and Dwight Eisenhower (see: interstate highway system), Urdahl told me how his bonding work changed through the years. After the Tea Party election of 2010, the typical billion-dollar "bonding year" bills became increasingly difficult to sell to the small-government crowd in his caucus, he said. His task was complicated further when Republicans slipped into the minority in 2019. Since then, GOP leaders have been keen to use their party's bonding votes as leverage to work their will on issues unrelated to building projects. That's what happened this year. Urdahl knew his hundreds of hours of work were likely to be for naught when GOP leaders announced on May 14 that they would insist on a steep price for bonding's requisite Republican votes. Their demands: No ERA. No safe storage requirement for guns. No eligibility expansion of MinnesotaCare. Plus a few other stray items none of which pertained to the wastewater treatment plants, roof replacements, bridge upgrades and similar projects traditionally included in an even-year bill. No deal, replied DFL Speaker Melissa Hortman. To cave to such far-reaching demands would be to "forgo our values and what we ran on," she said at a news conference in the wee hours Monday. Urdahl didn't fault Hortman for that decision. Rather, he told me, he objects to using a bill that's vitally important to Minnesota's well-being as a lever on unrelated matters. The health, safety, education and quality-of-life projects in the bonding bill deserve to rise or fall on their own merits, he argued. They should not be used as pawns in partisan chess games. Urdahl has paid a price within his caucus for that thinking. "I am a center-right conservative," Urdahl said in his retirement speech. "That hasn't always been good enough for my fellow Republicans." In eight of his 12 legislative elections, Urdahl faced an intraparty challenge, generally from the right. He would have had one this year, too, from Meeker County Commissioner Steve Schmitt. But that threat is not what pushed him into retirement, he insists. He's confident voters would have backed him, had he tried for one more term. Urdahl's chosen successor, Montevideo businessman Scott Van Binsbergen, won Republican endorsement on April 20. That result at the District 16A GOP convention makes me think Urdahl could be wrong when he describes himself "one of the last Eisenhower Republicans." To be sure, Eisenhower is out of vogue among Republicans now. In both character and policies, Ike was poles apart from the former president with whom today's Republicans are enthralled. But in the next decade, Minnesota is going to be grappling with the physical demands of a changing climate and aging post-World War II infrastructure. It's likely to face increasing pleas from local governments for state help with infrastructure costs as a decline in commercial real estate values pushes residential property taxes into politically uncomfortable territory. It's going to need the economic stimulus that adequate infrastructure provides. I think the highway-building president of the 1950s is due for fresh appreciation. And I know a retired history teacher and author who will be good at telling the Eisenhower story. Lori Sturdevant is a retired Star Tribune editorial writer. She is at lsturdevant@startribune.com. A federal appellate court this week refused to throw out a ban on housing incarcerated youth at Angola. (Photo credit: Jarvis DeBerry/Louisiana Illuminator) A legislative attempt to pull nitrogen hypoxia from Louisianas death penalty options failed Tuesday, despite pleas from the Jewish community that it would revisit the trauma their ancestors experienced during the Holocaust. Republicans on the House Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice rejected a proposal from Sen. Katrina Jackson-Andrews, D-Monroe, in a 3-8 vote. It would have eliminated a method of execution state lawmakers approved in January during a special session devoted to criminal justice. Death penalty advocates have pushed for the option to be added in Louisiana since January when Alabama became the first state to use it. Since Kenneth Eugene Smiths execution, a lawsuit has been filed against the state with claims that nitrogen hypoxia amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. Witnesses say Smith struggled and appeared to be in distress before dying at the Holman Correctional Center in Atmore, Alabama. The coalition Jews Against Gassing quickly assembled once nitrogen became an option in Louisiana. Mississippi and Oklahoma have also approved the method but have yet to execute anyone using it. Jackson-Andrews told the committee Tuesday the concerns of Jewish people over lethal gassing resonated with her. I agree with them, the senator said. My people were hung for a number of years throughout this state. And if the death penalty included the gallows of hanging, I would be here saying that invokes trauma because that was the method that was used to eradicate my ancestors. Rabbi David Cohen-Henriquez with the Shir Cadash Conservative Congregation in Metairie told lawmakers he was opposed to the use of poison for state-sanctioned murder. As a Jew, as a rabbi and as a human being, I cannot stand silent when such a depravity is proposed in our own backyard, Cohen-Henriquez said. I cannot remain silent against a method of execution that so deeply offends our people and displays such blatant disrespect for our collective trauma. John Sinquefield, senior counsel for Attorney General Liz Murrill, took issue with the characterization of nitrogen gas as poison. A former East Baton Rouge Parish prosecutor, he secured the conviction and death penalty for serial killer Derrick Todd Lee in 2004. Lee died in prison in 2016 of heart disease before he could be put to death. Sinquefueld maintained use of nitrogen gas in executions is humane and painted Jackson-Andrews proposal as a first step toward doing away with the death penalty entirely. This is anti-death penalty, Sinquefield said. Its a wolf in sheeps clothing meant to eat up the death penalty because they know we dont have the drugs for lethal injection, we dont have a workable electric chair, and its under litigation. Louisiana last put a condemned prisoner to death using lethal injection in 2010 when convicted murderer and child kidnapper Gerald James Bordelon. Prior to that, the same method was used to kill Leslie Dale Martin in 2002 for rape and murder. The electric chair hasnt been used in Louisiana since 1991. After Andrew Lee Jones was executed for murder, the device called Gruesome Gertie was retired when a lawsuit challenged whether its use constituted cruel and unusual punishment. Its now part of a museum display at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. State lawmakers also approved lethal injection in 1991, and it has been used eight times. In recent years, the prescription drugs needed to carry out such death sentences have been hard to obtain. Some of the pharmaceutical companies that make them have pulled their products over the resulting bad publicity. During the January special session, state lawmakers approved legislation to exclude records related to drugs used for lethal injections from public records law. It takes effect July 1. No executions have been scheduled in Louisiana as of yet. Five convicted killers have been executed in the United States so far this year. In addition to Alabama, convicted murderers have been put to death in Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas all through lethal injection. Ten other condemned men are under active death warrants with execution dates set for 2024 in Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas. Fourteen others have inactive death warrants because their deaths have been rescheduled or they await a new execution date, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. In Idaho, the lethal injection of Thomas Creech was halted Feb. 28 because medical personnel failed 10 times to access veins in his arms and legs to administer lethal drugs. Creech, who has confessed to 42 murders, remains on death row without a new execution date. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Louisiana lawmakers snub Jewish communitys plea to block nitrogen gas executions appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator. FILE - Death Row building at the Louisiana State Penitentiary Friday, Sept. 18, 2009, in Angola, La. An effort from Louisiana's Jewish community to remove the use of nitrogen gas from the list of possible methods to carry out the death penalty in the state was blocked by a conservative legislative committee on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Judi Bottoni, File) BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) An effort by Louisiana's Jewish community to bar nitrogen gas as an execution method was blocked by a conservative legislative committee on Tuesday. Alabama was the first state in the nation to use the gas earlier this year. Since then, several Republican-led states have added the method, prompting a backlash by opponents who say it is inhumane. Members of the Jewish community in Louisiana have another reason for rejecting it: They say it invokes trauma from the Holocaust, when the Nazis used lethal gas to kill millions of European Jews. I cannot remain silent against a method of execution that so deeply offends our people and displays blatant disrespect for our collective trauma, said Rabbi David Cohen-Henriquez of Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation in Metairie, Louisiana. While the bill to remove nitrogen hypoxia executions from state law advanced in the GOP-dominated Senate, it came to a screeching halt in a House legislative committee Tuesday. During the hearing, Republican committee members and others argued against the parallels presented by Jewish advocates, saying the execution of death row inmates is not comparable to the Holocaust. Were not talking about innocent children, men or women. ... Were talking about criminals who were convicted by a jury of 12, said Republican state Rep. Tony Bacala. The committee rejected the bill to eliminate the execution method by a vote of 8-3, along party lines. With less than two weeks left in legislative session, the measure is likely dead. It was no secret that the effort faced an uphill battle in Louisiana's reliably red legislature, which has overwhelmingly supported capital punishment. Under the direction of new, conservative Gov. Jeff Landry, lawmakers added both nitrogen gas and electrocution as allowable execution methods in February. The only previously allowed method was lethal injection, which had been paused in the state for 14 years because of a shortage of the necessary drugs. The shortage has forced Louisiana and other states to consider other methods, including firing squads. In January, Alabama performed the first execution using nitrogen gas, marking the first time a new execution method had been used in the United States since lethal injection, which was introduced in 1982. Kenneth Eugene Smith, convicted of murder, was outfitted with a face mask that forced him to breathe pure nitrogen and deprived him of oxygen. He shook and convulsed in seizure-like movements for several minutes on a gurney before his breathing stopped and he was declared dead. State officials maintain that it was a textbook execution. Alabama has scheduled a second execution using nitrogen gas, on Sept. 26, for Alan Eugene Miller, who was convicted of killing three men during a 1999 workplace shooting. Miller has an ongoing federal lawsuit challenging the execution method as a violation of the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, citing witness descriptions of Smiths death. About 60 people now sit on Louisiana's death row. There are currently no scheduled executions. A lab tech uses equipment employed for in vitro fertilization in this undated photo. (Getty Images) Louisiana lawmakers have added a restriction to receiving in vitro fertilization (IVF) services that doesnt exist in current law, but its not clear whether it can be enforced. Senators voted 28-10 Monday to block the transfer of embryos created through IVF to an out-of-state storage facility for the purpose of destruction. Afterwards, the chamber voted 36-1 for an overall bill to try and protect IVF providers from criminal charges and civil lawsuits under the states abortion ban. The future of the broader IVF legislation is up in the air with the Senates out-of-state storage amendment added onto it, according to Katie Bliss, an attorney that specializes in IVF contracts that has been working on the bill. We are meeting today and tomorrow to talk it all over and decide what we should do from here, she said in an interview Tuesday. Louisiana is the only state in the country that prevents IVF patients from disposing of embryos within its borders. As a result, three of the states four fertility clinics require their patients to store embryos outside the state, even though it drives up the cost of already expensive fertility treatments. Some anti-abortion advocates consider embryos the equivalent of human life, which is why the ban on embryo destruction has been baked into Louisiana law since IVF became legal in the 1980s, said Ellie Schilling, a reproductive rights lawyer in New Orleans, in The Washington Post earlier this year. Disposal of embryos is also a common part of IVF treatment in all other states. Patients produce embryos that arent viable, and some have many more embryos than they intend to use. Annual storage fees for keeping embryos frozen can reach several hundred dollars. Those who want to do away with their embryos or donate them to science have to place them outside of Louisiana first. Some people also feel more comfortable moving their embryos outside of the state to keep them out of the way of natural disasters that hit Louisiana, Bliss said. The Washington Post reported in March that three of Louisianas fertility clinics require out-of-state storage for embryos in response to the states restrictive laws. The fourth clinic gives people the option of keeping their embryos in Louisiana, but it also encourages patients to look for out-of-state storage after two years. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The new restriction from the Senate appears aimed at preventing clinics from transferring embryos to out-of-state facilities under certain circumstances, but it might not be legal. The legislations sponsor, Rep. Paula Davis, R-Baton Rouge, said last month that placing such restrictions into state law would be unconstitutional. You can currently store your embryos out of state. You dont put in a contract to destroy your embryos. You put in your contract to store your embryos out of state, Davis said. We cannot go to another state and tell them what they can and cannot do, she said. The Louisiana Family Forum, a conservative Christian advocacy organization, has pushed to block out-of-state embryo transfers for destruction since last month, in spite of opposing the broader legislation to protect IVF services. Sen. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, offered the amendment banning out-of-state embryo destruction after voting against the IVF proposal, House Bill 833, in committee last week. Seabaugh appears to be preparing for a potential constitutional challenge. At the same time he added the ban on out-of-state embryo transfers for destruction, he also inserted a provision into the bill saying the rest of the IVF legislation should take effect, even if the courts throw out part of it. IVF advocates have other concerns about the bill. Legislators have been unwilling to remove portions of existing state law that refer to embryos as human beings. Attorneys said this could lead to criminal charges for medical providers if embryos are accidentally lost. Davis initially brought the bill with the purpose of shoring up protections for IVF services after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling temporarily shut down fertility clinics in that state. With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, states have more leeway to classify embryos and fetuses as unborn children in state law. Davis bill must return to the Louisiana House for approval before it heads to Gov. Jeff Landrys desk for consideration. The post Louisiana Senate added a new restriction to IVF, but it might not be enforceable appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator. AUSTIN (KXAN) The latest Texas Republican leader to visit New York for former President Donald Trumps hush money trial is Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Patrick appeared Tuesday behind Trump and his attorney Todd Blanche ahead of them walking into the courtroom where the former president is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records. Trumps defense team rested its case Tuesday, and he opted not to testify. The charges stem from a payment that Trumps former attorney Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to keep her quiet about her alleged affair with Trump all claims that he denies. KXAN reached out Tuesday morning to Patricks office for comment about why he wanted to travel to New York and go to the court proceedings. A spokesperson shared a tweet Patrick posted on X, where he claimed there is no crime. The Biden Administration is trying to shut down President Trump because they know Biden cant beat him in November. The entire country knows it, Patrick wrote on X. During a news conference outside of the courthouse Tuesday, Patrick called for the indictment of Cohen and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office brought the case against Trump. We are here because we are friends of Donald Trump, the president of the United States. When a friend is in trouble, friends have his back, Patrick said to reporters. The way he has been treated, you would see in Russia. You would see in China. You would see in North Korea. You would see in every little tin pot dictatorship across the world, and thats what we have here in New York in America. Patricks spokesperson told KXAN that the lieutenant governor did not use state funds for his travel or lodging in New York. The expenses instead were covered by Texans for Dan Patrick, according to his press secretary. Three weeks ago, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also went to Trumps trial, which he called a travesty of justice in an X post announcing his trip. Trump recently said he would consider Paxton to become the next U.S. attorney general if he wins a second term in the White House. The judge in the trial scheduled closing statements for next Tuesday, with jury deliberations set to begin afterward. Photos showed Patrick was not the only Texan who went to the courthouse Tuesday. He could be seen standing next to two Republican lawmakers U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls of Richmond and U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson of Amarillo. During the news conference Tuesday, Jackson accused prosecutors of only bringing the charges to help Trumps opponents defeat him in the upcoming presidential election. They fear Donald Trump, and they fear whats going to happen if he becomes president again, Jackson said. And Ill tell you they should fear because he started draining the swamp. Hes gonna keep draining again, and all of these people are representative of the swamp. According to recent social media posts, Patrick shared he is again serving as chair of the Trump campaign in Texas for the third time. 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 KXAN Austin. Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised. Mackenzie Shirilla is an Ohio teenager who intentionally crashed a car into a brick building. It resulted in the deaths of her 20-year-old boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and his 19-year-old friend, Davion Flanagan. Prior to the crash, Shirilla, who was 17 at the time, reportedly threatened her boyfriend that she would crash the car. However, the argument ended at that time, and Russo was picked up by one of his friends. The crash happened early in the morning on July 31, 2022, in the Cleveland suburbs of Strongsville, as per a report by the Independent. Driving at 100 mph, Shirilla sped along a dead-end street in Strongsville before she slammed the car into the brick wall. The police arrived at the crime scene nearly 45 minutes after the crash. They found the vehicle with severe damage and full airbag deployment. As per NBC News, Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan were pronounced dead at the scene, while Mackenzie Shirilla was found unconscious in the vehicle. She was rushed to a hospital. CBS News reported that Mackenzie Shirilla was found guilty of murder, drug possession, possession of criminal tools, felonious assault, and vehicular homicide. She was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison and was to serve the sentences for the deaths of Russo and Flanagan concurrently. The court held Shirilla solely responsible for the killing. Her action was also called a selfish, intentional and crule decision. Her drivers license was suspended for life. Why did Mackenzie Shirilla kill her boyfriend Dominic Russo? NBC News reported that Mackenzie Shirilla was in a toxic relationship with her boyfriend, Dominic Russo. Her threats to crash the car reportedly came two weeks before the actual killings. A friend of Russos reportedly overheard her over a call when she was telling him she would crash the car. Later, several videos found on Russos phone showed Shirilla verbally abusing him, making threats, and damaging his property. In one instance, when he refused to let her into his home, she allegedly threatened to key his car and break off its handle. Shirilla and Russo had reportedly been dating for 3 to 4 years by then. She stayed over at Russos house for the most part. As per another report by NBC News, a forensic mechanic testified in court that the cars accelerator peddle was being pushed consistently before the crash. This suggests that it was an intentional crash. It was being pushed to full capacity, and no brakes were being applied. According to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office, the vehicle had no defects that could have led to the crash. Additionally, traces of psilocybin mushrooms were found on Mackenzie Shirilla. The report also said that the murder was premeditated. This was because Shirilla took the ride at 5:30 a.m. in the morning when witnesses to the crime would be unlikely. The road was allegedly one that she did not take frequently but visited once before. The court also noted Mackenzie Shirillas lack of remorse following the crash. She had been admitted to the hospital after the crash. After that, she was reportedly attempting to get a job with a Los Angeles-based model company. According to Fox 8, she also posted pictures celebrating Halloween and attending a concert in Clevelands Flats District. The post Mackenzie Shirilla Car Crash: What Did the Strongsville Teen Do? appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. Macron flying to New Caledonia in bid to end violent insurrection Pro-independence Kanaks voting reform is a form of colonisation by stealth and have taken to the streets to make their point - AFP/Delphine Mayeur Emmanuel Macron will fly to New Caledonia in an attempt to end the violent insurrection that has left six people dead and thousands of tourists stranded. The French president will go there tonight, according to a spokesman, adding that a return to calm is starting to arrive in the Pacific territory. Mr Macrons visit comes as an Australian Air Force transport aircraft evacuated trapped tourists from a small domestic airport in New Caledonias capital Noumea, as separatist roadblocks continued to hinder access to the main international airport which is closed to commercial flights until at least Saturday. More than 3,000 people are estimated to have been stranded by a week of unrest that has shuttered the Pacific archipelagos main international airport. Australia has estimated at least 300 of its nationals have registered for rescue. Passengers are being prioritised based on need. We continue to work on further flights, Australian foreign minister Penny Wong said on social media, announcing two initial flights. The first transport with evacuees landed in Brisbane in eastern Australia around 7pm on Tuesday. A New Zealand Defence Force plane has also been dispatched to pick up about 50 passengers with the most pressing needs, according to foreign minister Winston Peters. In cooperation with France and Australia, we are working on subsequent flights in coming days, he said. Australian Air Force transport aircraft has evacuated trapped tourists from the capital Noumea with more needed to be moved out from the country - AFP France is considering extending a 12-day state of emergency, which has led to a night-time curfew, house arrests of suspected ringleaders, as well as a ban on TikTok, the sale of alcohol, carrying weapons and gatherings. The French government last week sent 1,000 reinforcements to bolster security forces that lost control of some parts of Noumea. Mr Macron will launch a special mission aimed at reducing boiling tensions over a voting reform rejected by indigenous Kanaks, who make up 41 per cent of the archipelagos 270,000-strong population. The new law would extend voting rights to tens of thousands of non-indigenous residents who have lived in the territory for at least 10 years. Pro-independence Kanaks say the change is a form of colonisation by stealth. Those who support it point out that New Caledonia has now rejected independence three times in successive referendums, the latest in 2021, and that 20 per cent of the population are unable to vote despite paying taxes and contributing to the local economy. Burnt vehicles litter the road as protesters make their point - AFP/Delphine Mayeur Mr Macron has pledged to validate the contested electoral reform before the end of June by senators and deputies during a special congress but the executive is continuing ... to build a political solution for the territory, said a spokesman. Prominent French figures including former prime minister Manuel Valls, who followed the New Caledonia dossier closely while in office, have called for delay to the constitutional change. You cant make progress on the Caledonia file by issuing ultimatums, Mr Valls said on Sunday. But anti-independence representatives want it pushed through. Withdrawing would prove the wreckers, the looters and the rioters right, said Nicolas Metzdorf, a New Caledonia MP for Macrons Renaissance party. Violence cannot replace the ballot box in a democracy, he added. New Caledonia has been a French territory since the mid-1800s. But almost two centuries on, opinion is split roughly along ethnic lines over whether the islands should be part of France, autonomous or independent. 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. GUBA, Azerbaijan, May 21. Uzbekneftegaz, a state-owned holding company of Uzbekistan's oil and gas industry, may join the Shah Deniz gas condensate project on the Azerbaijani Caspian shelf, Uzbek Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade Laziz Kudratov told reporters on the sidelines of the 2nd Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan Interregional Forum in Guba, Trend reports. "We are inviting Socar (the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic) to participate in oil and gas production projects in Uzbekistan and are in discussions regarding this collaboration. Similarly, the issue of Uzbekneftegaz's involvement in gas production projects in Azerbaijan, specifically the Shah Deniz project, is now in its final stages. Shared participation is the subject of ongoing negotiations," he explained. Kurbatov expressed hope that the documents formalizing Uzbekneftegaz's entry into Shah Deniz will be signed in the coming months. "Our involvement in this project necessitates substantial financial and legal expertise, with assistance from a foreign consultant. We are committed to these prospects," he emphasized. To note, the Shah Deniz project has been active since 1996, with the field development deal renewed in 2013 to continue until 2046. The current participants in the project are bp (production operator with a 29.99 percent stake), Lukoil (19.99 percent), TPAO (19 percent), NIKO (10 percent), and SGC Upstream (representing Azerbaijan's interests with 21.02 percent). The Shah Deniz gas reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters, with roughly 20 percent extracted. Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) The mother of a young Cornelius girl missing since 2022 pled guilty Monday to a charge of failing to report the disappearance of a child. The missing persons case of Madalina Cojocari has had a great deal of attention, gaining national and international recognition. After the girl went missing in 2022, Cornelius Police said her mother, Diana Cojocari, and stepfather, Christopher Palmiter, failed to report her missing for weeks, and only after the girls school started questioning her whereabouts. Diana Cojocari has been jailed since December 2022. In a Mecklenburg County court hearing Monday, she was sentenced to time served for the over 500 days she was incarcerated. MORE FROM QUEEN CITY NEWS Continuing Coverage The judge said she had already served what would have been the maximum sentence for the failure to report charge. The plea comes as new details are coming out out of a filing from the lawyers for stepfather Christopher Palmiter. His trial, which was set to begin this week, has had a continuance motion filed by the defense, who noted recent filings on the case involving Madalinas disappearance in the form of conversations between Diana Cojocaris family members, and fears that Diana Cojocari had about a third party being involved in the Madalina Cojoari case. Newly released court documents detail a three hour long conversation on May 15 involving the FBI and Diana Cojocaris cousin Octavian Cebanu. During the interview, Octavian confirmed key details that Palmiter had told the police about Madalina. Cebanu says Diana contacted him, saying that she was in danger and needed help leaving Palmiter. He said Diana told him that Palmiter wasnt involved in her plans to leave and was worried about him listening to their phone conversation so she suggested using apps like Viber or Whats app. He apparently had contact with Dianas mother Rodica who was helping Diana to flee the country with Madalina. Last fall, Madalinas grandmother Rodica made some explosive comments outside a courtroom accusing Palmiter of trafficking her granddaughter. Diana confirms that she had made a plan with Palmiter to arrange a safe place for Diana and Madalina to stay with his family in Michigan but it never happened. Octavian urged Diana to call the police, which she refused. Diana told Octavian that she believes shes in danger from some 3rd party and had accumulated enough funds to live off of for two or three months. On May 14, the state provided the defenses with text messages from Dianas phone between her and Octavian and some of the call logs. Palmiters attorneys argue that this new information is relevant to this case and should not have been withheld. Madalina Cojocari remains missing to this day. She would now be 13 years old. 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 Queen City News. Plenty of Republicans have undergone unfortunate metamorphoses since Donald Trump took over the party Sen. Lindsey Graham, Im looking in your direction but few have changed more than House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik. In the not-too-distant past, the New York Republican encouraged voters to see her as one of Congress most bipartisan members, and in 2017, when nearly all GOP lawmakers rallied behind Trumps proposed tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations, Stefanik voted against them. That didnt last. As regular readers know, Stefanik eventually concluded that to get ahead in Republican politics, she would need to put her principles aside and start embracing partisan nonsense. By 2020, the congresswoman had adopted an entirely new persona as a hard-liner and Trump loyalist, and after the 2020 race, Stefanik joined with radicals and urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn election results she didnt like. Weeks later, she also voted against certifying election results. The dramatic shift appears to have put her on the shortlist of Trumps potential running mates causing her to take a variety of unfortunate steps in the hopes of impressing Mar-a-Lago. The problem for Stefanik, however, is that the recent past still exists, whether she wants to acknowledge it or not. Politico reported on the GOP leaders appearance on Fox News over the weekend. The host referenced this New York Times article from 2022, which highlighted Stefaniks earlier Trump criticisms, before the congresswomans sharp turn to the right. The guest was not pleased. Its a disgrace you would quote the New York Times with nameless and faceless people, Stefanik said, adding that she dismisses false smears. Yikes! Elise Stefanik gets big mad at Fox News Sunday's Shannon Bream when Bream asks her about calling Trump a "whack job" and "insulting to women" during the 2016 cycle: "Well Shannon, it's a disgrace that you would quote the New York Times with nameless, faceless--" "They're pic.twitter.com/1tf3s6ebOy Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 19, 2024 The trouble is, the Times didnt rely on nameless and faceless people. On the contrary, the newspaper obtained a message in which Stefanik actually referred to the former president as a whack job. Its also true that in 2016, Stefanik publicly rejected Trumps election conspiracy theories. This came on the heels of Stefanik also saying publicly that she believed Trump has been insulting to women. These arent behind-the-scenes quotes from anonymous sources. Rather, this is just the GOP congresswomans record. We are, after all, talking about a New York Republican who was reluctant to even say Trumps name out loud in 2016 for fear that voters might see her as a Trump ally. If Stefanik wants to argue that she was wrong about the former president, shes free to explain why she changed her mind. But the idea that the House Republican Conference chairs record from eight years ago is somehow off-limits is ridiculous. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com An employee of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service holds an Atlantic salmon. (Greg Thompson/USFWS) More than 2,000 Mainers signed a petition asking federal officials to think about endangered Atlantic salmon and other sea-run fish in the Kennebec River as regulators evaluate the licenses for four dams. Local residents, fishing groups and the Wabanaki Tribes have long called for the removal of the four river dams between Waterville and Skowhegan because they block access to prime spawning habitats. The petition comes as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is accepting public input on a draft analysis that shows how the dams affect migratory fish passage as part of the relicensing process, which occurs roughly every 30 years. The groups who would like to see the dams removed are opposed to the draft analysis because it proposes engineered fish passages that the Natural Resources Council of Maine said has failed in other parts of the U.S. including the Androscoggin River. These four dams provide very little power and do a lot of damage to an ecosystem that could be vibrant, said Steve Brooke, a Farmingdale resident and retired senior planner from the State Planning Office. Weve already lost fisheries on all the big rivers south of us including the Connecticut and Merrimack because of failed fish passage proposals. Our Kennebec deserves better. Currently, sustaining Atlantic salmon in the Kennebec requires human intervention, as the Natural Resources Council of Maine explained. The Department of Marine Resources captures salmon at the Lockwood Dam in Waterville and transports them to the spawning habitat in the Sandy River. In 2023, more than 160 salmon were captured and moved. Additionally, the department plants millions of salmon eggs in the Sandy River watershed. The public has until June 4 to submit written comments. Additionally, FERC is holding public hearings to get direct input from people who wish to comment. The first one is at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Thomas College in Waterville and the following day another meeting will be held at 10 a.m. at the Augusta Civic Center. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Mainers ask federal officials to consider sea-run fish in relicensing of Kennebec River dams appeared first on Maine Morning Star. Majority of combat clashes take place on Pokrovsk, Kharkiv, Siversk and Kramatorsk fronts General Staff The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported 86 combat clashes over the last 24 hours. Most of them took place on the Pokrovsk, Kharkiv, Siversk and Kramatorsk fronts. Source: General Staff report as of 20:00 on 21 May Quote: "There have been 12 combat clashes on the Kharkiv front since the beginning of the day. Fighting continues in the areas of Vovchansk and Starytsia. Russian aviation dropped guided aerial bombs on Vovchansk, Lyptsi and three at once on Bilyi Kolodiaz. The total enemy losses in this area now amount to 71 personnel and 14 pieces of weapons and military equipment. Among other things, a Russian BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher was damaged. On the Kupiansk front, Russian occupiers attacked Ukrainian defensive lines nine times. Fighting continues in the vicinity of Synkivka and Ivanivka. On the Siversk front, fighting continues in the area of Bilohorivka. The number of combat clashes on the Kramatorsk front increased to ten over the last day. Ukrainian troops continue to repel an enemy attack near Klishchiivka. The Russians failed to achieve their goals. On the Pokrovsk front, fighting continues in the areas of Kalynove, Novooleksandrivka, Sokil, Umanske and Prohres. In total, the Russians tried to improve their tactical position 33 times. Ukrainian defenders are offering fierce resistance to the Russian occupiers. On 21 May, the invaders lost a total of 47 Russian personnel and 14 pieces of weapons and military equipment. In particular, a Kub surface-to-air missile system and an MT-LB multi-purpose armoured fighting vehicle were destroyed, and one tank and one Russian TOS-1 heavy flamethrower system were damaged." Details: Ukrainian troops also repelled the sixth attack of the day near the village of Staromayorske village on the Vremivka front. On the Prydniprovske front, Russian troops conducted airstrikes in the areas of Novoberyslav and Vesele, dropping three aerial bombs on each. Since the beginning of the day, the Air Force aviation, army aviation, rocket and artillery units of Ukraine's Defence Forces have hit a total of 16 clusters of Russian personnel, two radar stations and one artillery system. Support UP or become our patron! Man accused of selling drugs to students in what CCSDPD calls Stash and Dash LAS VEGAS (KLAS) Clark County School District police arrested a man accused of selling drugs to children using social media, with these sales allegedly happening in public at schools, playgrounds, and parks. Christian Sambrano was taken into custody in March, according to court records. Hes facing two charges, including contributing to delinquency/neglect of a minor. Christian Sambrano (CCSDPD/KLAS) His public Instagram page shows him with guns and cash, and it was his social media activity that helped lead to his arrest, police said. Outlined in court documents, officers with the Clark County School District Police Department described what Sambrano was doing as a Stash and Dash. According to police, Sambrano would create a scavenger hunt, hiding marijuana or other drugs at several places and then make kids find it, advertising it on social media. Police identified nine locations, all within the same vicinity, where the alleged sales happened including: Essex Circle Park Rotary Park Clark High School Western High School Ed Fountain Park Lorenzi Park Meadows Mall Cashman Middle School Griffith Elementary School CCSDPD seized three guns from Sambrano and more than 200 rounds of ammo. Investigators executed a search warrant on Sambranos Instagram page and discovered at least four current CCSD students engaged in buying drugs from him, according to court documents. It is so important that we work as a community to keep our children safe, North Las Vegas Chief of Police Jacqueline Gravatt said. Last week, several law enforcement agencies discussed safety as kids head into summer break. Your local law enforcement agencies work together collaboratively by sharing information and resources, and its for the better good of this community because our number one priority number one priority is public safety, Gravatt said. The Las Vegas Metro Police Department has a gang unit that has a CCSDPD officer on staff, as they are all trying to crack down on this type of activity. As a parent, I understand its important to know what your children are doing, what theyre looking at on social media, and who they are hanging out with, LVMPD Deputy Chief Brenden Clarkson said. The main message law enforcement wanted to get across is if you see something, say something. Sambrano is scheduled to appear in court on July 15. 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 KLAS. Man arrested at Lancaster County McDonalds after trying to meet minor for sex; police LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) A man was arrested Sunday at a Lancaster County McDonalds after police say he agreed to meet up with a young girl to have sex with. Matthew Martinez, 30, of Lancaster, allegedly admitted that he was at the fast-food restaurant to have sex with the minor and he sent her sexual messages, according to the filed criminal complaint by Lancaster City Police. The charging documents say Martinez sent sexual messages to the girl on Facebook in April, even after she told him her age. Martinez also asked the girl to send multiple inappropriate photos of herself naked, police said. Thats fine with me I do want u to stay with me, Martinez messaged the girl after she told him she was 13, the complaint states. Police were called to the McDonalds on W King Street around 5 p.m. and saw Martinez standing outside waiting for the girl. He was then taken into custody. Carlisle woman arrested after man stabbed at local hotel When he was interviewed by police, Martinez admitted to sending sexual messages and police say they found the texts on his phone. Martinez faces multiple felony charges such as corruption of minors, unlawful contact with minor, photograph/film/depict on computer sex act, criminal use of a communication facility, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than 16 years of age and criminal solicitation. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now abc27 Evening Newsletter Martinez is in Lancaster County Prison on bail that is set at $100,000 and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 30. 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 ABC27. Man arrested for murder after shooting at large house party in Utah COALVILLE, Utah (ABC4) A man is facing a murder charge after a shooting at a large house party in Coalville, the Summit County Sheriffs Office said. Manuel A Pimentel Gonzales, 23, was arrested on suspicion of murder (first-degree felony); purchase, transfer, possess, use of a firearm by a restricted person (third-degree felony); and felony discharge of a firearm shoot in direction of person (third-degree felony), his affidavit states. READ NEXT: Body found near Snowbird resort after search for overdue skier In the affidavit, Summit County deputies said they were dispatched on reports of shots fired at a large house party on Lower Bowl Road. There were more than 300 people on the propertys 7,000 square feet over 444 acres of land, although deputies said many were leaving as they arrived because of the shooting. Multiple people were located in the vicinity and were hiding in a vehicle as rounds were flying through the air, the affidavit states. During initial investigations, authorities reportedly found more than 29 40mm and 9mm casings. Video surveillance was also located, which revealed a man later identified as Pimentel-Gonzales retrieve a firearm out of a white BMW SUV. The firearm looked like an AK-47 style rifle but smaller in size, the affidavit states. Pimentel-Gonzales allegedly pointed the firearm toward the side of the building and deputies said shots could be heard over the surveillance. When you hear shots on the video you can see Manuel retrieve back to the white BMW vehicle and walk up to the front of it. He then hands the firearm to another male as he walks away around the vehicle, the affidavit states. Detectives said Pimentel-Gonzales was struck by one of the bullets and was transported to an area hospital. 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 ABC4 Utah. Man arrested for throwing Molotov cocktail at neighbors home, barricading himself inside residence for hours MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) A man was arrested for throwing a Molotov cocktail at a neighbors home before barricading himself inside a home for hours. The Murfreesboro Police Department said the incident started at around 4 p.m. Monday, May 20, at a home on Evanback Court. North Nashville neighbors concerned for safety after gun battle in street Domonique Merriweather, 38, allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at a neighbors home and then assaulted two other neighbors before barricading himself inside a home, according to investigators. Evanback Court incident (Source: Murfreesboro Police Department) Evanback Court incident (Source: Murfreesboro Police Department) Evanback Court incident (Source: Murfreesboro Police Department) Domonique Merriweather (Source: Murfreesboro Police Department) When officers arrived at the home, they found a package on the front porch wrapped in duct tape and backed away as a precaution. Authorities eventually deployed tear gas to get Merriweather to come out of the home. | READ MORE | Latest headlines from Murfreesboro and Rutherford County Police said Merriweather walked out of the home with his hands in the air shortly before 8 p.m. He was arrested and is currently being held in the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center on a $210,000 bond. Merriweather is facing multiple charges, including felony reckless endangerment, coercion of a witness, prohibited weapons (explosive device) and two counts of assault. 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 WKRN News 2. Man charged with murdering woman in Columbus might have been romantically linked to victim A man charged with murder in the death of a 30-year-old woman in Columbus in April pleaded not guilty Tuesday morning in Columbus Recorders Court. Tobias Gibson has been charged with murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in the death of Jakesa Josey who was killed in a shooting on April 15 in the 800 block of Morris Road, according to police. Columbus Police Detective Chris Snipes told the court that responding officers found Josey in a camper trailer in a lot in the area dead from multiple gunshot wounds. Snipes said witnesses stated that Josey and Gibson had been involved in an intimate relationship but had recently broken up. Video retrieved from the lot showed a suspect approach Joseys bedroom window and look inside, walk away only to return a few moments later. Video showed the suspect firing approximately 14 rounds from outside the trailer and into the window, killing Josey, according to Snipes. Snipes said he was later able to locate a witness who saw Gibson at 800 Morris Road approximately three minutes prior to the time stamp on the video from the security camera from the lot. The witness said they saw Gibson with a pistol and saw him walking toward the lot where Joseys trailer was located, according to Snipes. Snipes said the witness identified Gibson in a six-person photo line-up and recognized the clothing from the security video as the same clothing he saw Gibson wearing prior to the shooting. Judge David Ranieri found probable cause and bound the case over to Superior Court. MIDDLE VILLAGE, Queens (PIX11) A man who spent several years in prison for the death of a 14-year-old girl before being exonerated and set free has now been charged in connection with the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old man in Queens, authorities said Tuesday. Dante Hunter, 25, and Shamel Capers, 26, have both been indicted in the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Joshua Taylor in Middle Village in July 2023, according to the Queens District Attorneys Office. Hunter was charged with murder, and Capers was charged with attempted murder in Taylors death, authorities said. Taylor was shot and killed at 79-28 Metropolitan Ave. on July 23. Before the shooting occurred, a friend of Taylors threw a drink toward Capers and Capers friend after they exited a nearby convenience store, which led to an argument, according to the Queens District Attorneys Office. Ty did this: Woman IDs ex-boyfriend as her killer before dying Hunter joined Capers, and the argument escalated after several minutes, authorities said. Hunter allegedly pulled out a gun and a four-way shootout occurred. Taylor was caught in the crossfire and fatally shot by Hunter, according to the Queens District Attorneys Office. A 21-year-old man was also shot and wounded in the arm, police said. Hunter, whos from Queens, was already in custody on a parole warrant when he was indicted in Taylors death, according to authorities. Capers, who lives in Hackensack, was arrested last Thursday in New Jersey and extradited to New York, authorities said. Police identified Capers using surveillance video and by tracking his credit and debit card use right before the shooting, according to the Queens District Attorneys Office. Capers was allegedly seen on surveillance video firing a gun, which his attorney denied in court Tuesday. Damone Miller, a 21-year-old from Brooklyn, has also been charged with attempted murder in connection with the shooting, according to the NYPD. Hunter faces up to 25 years to life in prison and Capers faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted, authorities said. Capers previously spent eight years in prison in connection with the 2013 murder of 14-year-old Daja Robinson before being exonerated in the case in 2022. Robinson was riding a bus home from a Sweet 16 party when she was shot and killed. Capers was one of two men who were convicted in Robinsons death, but evidence later proved that the other man was the sole shooter, prosecutors said. Capers mother said his family continues to stand by her son, who has been unjustly railroaded by the legal system before. A rush to judgment led to his previous wrongful conviction for a crime he did not commit resulting in his unjust imprisonment for over eight years, beginning when he was just a teenager. History is tragically repeating itself, Capers mother said in a statement. Shamel intends to vigorously defend himself in court and I pray he is given a fair chance this time to clear his name. Finn Hoogensen is a digital journalist who has covered local news for more than five years. He has been with PIX11 News since 2022. See more of his work here. 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 PIX11. Man gets 15 years in prison after Zanesville teacher was fatally hit with stolen truck ZANESVILLE, Ohio (WCMH) A 45-year-old man will serve at least 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing a Zanesville school teacher with a stolen truck. Colt Lightfoot pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, grand theft and grand theft of a motor vehicle, burglary, receiving stolen property, and breaking and entering, according to the Muskingum County Prosecutors Office. City Council enacts anti-violence ordinances after five killed over two days Lightfoot was sentenced to 15 years in prison and received a lifetime suspension of his drivers license in connection to the death of 71-year-old Gary Frey. The prosecutors office said that the incident occurred on May 13 when Lightfoot was driving a stolen truck on U.S. Route 40 and hit Frey as he was driving a motorcycle. Lightfoot is alleged to have not yielded to traffic while turning left and fleeing the scene. Medics arrived on the freeway and transported Frey who the prosecutors office said was a school teacher for more than 40 years to a local hospital. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. 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 NBC4 WCMH-TV. Man injured in Russian May 17 attack on Kharkiv Oblast dies in hospital A 53-year-old man injured in a Russian strike on the village of Lyptsi in Kharkiv Oblast on May 17 died in the hospital, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on May 21. Lyptsi, a village 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of the Russian border and around 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of the embattled town of Vovchansk, reportedly came under Russian attack amid Moscow's offensive in the region. The strike with a multiple rocket launcher damaged a house and injured the man, Syniehubov said. Russian forces launched new offensive operations in the north of Kharkiv Oblast on May 10, exposing Kharkiv and a number of border settlements in the region to heavy attacks. Seven people reportedly suffered from shock after Russia attacked Ukraine's second-largest city with drones and missiles on May 21. Russian troops also attacked a recreation center in a northern suburb of Kharkiv on May 19, killing seven civilians, including a pregnant woman, and wounding 28, the local authorities said. Read also: 48 hours in Kharkiv, Ukraines most-bombed major city Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. David Folker was convicted in 2013 for the second-degree murder of his former partner Ann Marie Shirran in 2010. (CBC - image credit) David Folker, a man who killed the mother of his child 14 years ago and hid her body in a wooded area in eastern Newfoundland, is allowed to leave prison temporarily on "extensive" escorted absences. The Parole Board of Canada said Folker has been granted three different types of escorted temporary absences when an inmate can leave a correctional institution accommodated by one or more escorts for family contact, personal development and community services. It is unclear how long the absences are, though the board says they are "of limited duration." In a decision dated May 14, the board said Folker can leave prison on 46 different occasions over the next year, but must report any intimate sexual and non-sexual relationships and friendships with females to his parole supervisor. Folker was convicted in 2013 for the second-degree murder of his common law partner, Ann Marie Shirran and sentenced to life in prison, without chance of parole for 15 years. Folker reported Shirran, 32, the mother of his young son, missing in July 2010, sparking a significant search and police investigation which would later focus on Folker himself. Shirran's remains were discovered two months later in an isolated area just outside of Cappahayden, on Newfoundland's Southern Shore. "She had expressed a desire to end the relationship, and you killed her following an argument," the parole board decision said. Folker admitted to killing Shirran on Day 1 of his highly-publicized trial three years later but argued for a conviction of manslaughter. He was sentenced to life in prison without chance of full parole for 15 years. Ann Marie Shirran is pictured in an undated photo. Ann Marie Shirran is pictured in an undated photo. (Facebook) Folker has undergone several assessments since his incarceration, including the most recent in November 2022 which found his risk for committing violent behaviours in his first year upon release is low, but risk of future spousal assault is elevated. A 2014 assessment indicated a "high imminent risk of violence toward a partner and a low imminent risk of violence toward others." The Correctional Service of Canada said Folker was "very resentful towards your spouse" and that "your offences were not impulsive, but were said to be planned and manipulative." The board wrote that Folker completed several programs while incarcerated and his "institutional behaviour is said to be impeccable." The board ultimately granted Folker, who was originally from Nova Scotia, four visits to his mother's home for up to 10 hours, including travel time, with a "non-security" escort. He was also granted 18 absences to attend a "positive lifestyle program in the community," and 12 personal development absences to attend Buddhist functions. He's also been granted six absences for "resocialization purposes through a variety of outings at shopping centres, charitable organizations, restaurants, and other locations," and two other community absences of 12 hours each. Speaking to high school students During these absences Folker will attend a positive lifestyles program offered by the Salvation Army and speak to high school students about his "experiences." "The board believes that all of these [escorted temporary absences] will further your ability to reintegrate the community via a gradual and structured release," the decision said. "They offer you the ability to make positive contacts in the community as you build towards an eventual day parole release." The board said Folker will be under close supervision and that they believe his risk is manageable under the proposed release plans. The board noted that Shirran's family members who presented victim impact statements are opposed to his conditional release. However, the board found he is a low risk for "violent recidivism." Folker also has convictions for causing death by criminal negligence when he drove drunk and caused the death of another person. He was later convicted of mischief. Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Click here to visit our landing page. At the invitation of Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council Ding Xuexiang, Malaysias Deputy Prime Minister I and Minister of Rural and Regional Development Dato Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid bin Hamidi will pay an official visit to China from May 22 to June 1. At the invitation of Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, Special Advisor to the President of Brazil Celso Amorim will visit China from May 22 to 29. At the invitation of Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sok Chenda Sophea will visit China from May 23 to 25. Peoples Daily: Lately, leaders of many countries and international organizations reaffirmed their commitment to the one-China principle and support for Chinas reunification. Can you give us more details and whats your comment? Wang Wenbin: Over the past few weeks, leaders of many countries and international organizations have reaffirmed the commitment to the just cause of upholding the one-China principle, which shows that upholding the one-China principle is where global opinion trends. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said that Kazakhstan is firmly committed to the one-China principle and this position will never change. President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted that the elections in the Taiwan region are Chinas internal affair and other countries have no right to interfere or point fingers at it. He stressed once again that Uzbekistans commitment to firmly upholding the one-China principle will never waver. President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov expressed firm support for China on issues concerning Taiwan, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Xizang. Pakistans President Asif Ali Zardari said Pakistan firmly upholds the one-China principle and Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinas territory, which is beyond any doubt. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro noted there is but one China in the world and in the UN-centered international system. This is a fact that is beyond doubt. Any attempt to undermine the one-China principle is doomed to failure. Kiribati President and Foreign Minister Taneti Maamau stated support for the right position that China upholds on ensuring national reunification, sovereignty and territorial integrity and Kiribatis commitment to UNGA Resolution 2758. The 33rd Ordinary Session of the Council of the League of Arab States at the Summit Level adopted a resolution reaffirming the commitment to the one-China principle. The Prime Minister of Guyana Mark Phillips noted he does not support Taiwan in joining any international organization that requires sovereign statehood or participating in international conferences. The Prime Minister of Tonga Huakavameiliku said Tonga is committed to the one-China principle and firmly supports UNGA Resolution 2758. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that on the Taiwan question, Russia supports China in realizing national reunification and this position is very clear. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Marko Djuric said Serbia has only one policy on the Taiwan question, that is the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the friendly and brotherly China is inviolable. Serbia firmly supports the one-China principle, recognizes China within its full borders and believes that how to resolve issues including the Taiwan question is Chinas own affair. Sri Lankas Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, Botswanas Speaker of the National Assembly Phandu Tombola Chaka Skelemani, Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Saleumxay Kommasith, Office of the Palestinian President, Irans Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization, Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Executive Director of the South Centre and Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization openly reaffirmed their commitment to upholding the one-China principle, following the UNGA Resolution 2758 and opposing all forms of Taiwan independence separatism. As Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi pointed out, the one-China principle cannot be violated, separatist attempts for Taiwan independence are doomed to fail and the general trend of Chinas reunification is irreversible. Each time Taiwan independence separatists make waves, it reinforces the global consensus that the one-China principle must be upheld and garners understanding and support for Chinas positiona good example of the old Chinese adage a just cause enjoys the support of many. The abiding commitment of the international community to the one-China principle is unshakable and the trend of the history of China realizing complete reunification is unstoppable. Anyone trying to challenge the one-China principle and hinder Chinas reunification is attempting the impossible and will only wreck their own reputation. AFP: A US congressional investigation released yesterday found that automakers including the BMW had purchased parts from a Chinese manufacturer that is accused of participating in forced labor in Xinjiang. Whats Chinas comment? Wang Wenbin: The so-called US Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act does not prevent forced labor, but creates forced unemployment. The act does not protect human rights, but undermines the right to subsistence, employment and development of people in Xinjiang in the name of human rights. The act might as well be called the most notorious and egregious law against human rights in the 21st century. This act not only imposes illegal sanctions on Chinese companies, but also forces companies around the world to join in the US attempt to contain and suppress China in the name of compliance and tries to create a coalition for economic coercion. This is a deliberate US action to serve its selfish agenda at the expense of international economic and trade rules and industrial and supply chains. This is bullying and double standard at its worst. This is an attempt to reverse human development. China strongly condemns and opposes it, and will resolutely defend the lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies. Bloomberg: China and the US held the first meeting of government talks on AI in Geneva last week. How were the talks on AI going? What are the next steps? Did the talks produce any ground-breaking outcome? Wang Wenbin: Both sides have released readouts on the talks. Let me stress that China upholds the principles of a people-centered approach and the development of AI for the good of humanity. We put equal emphasis on development and security, and work to ensure that AI is a force for good and ensure safety and fairness. We stand ready to work with the US to step up exchanges and cooperation on AI, explore ways to harness its benefits for sustainable development and have communication on risk mitigation. Hubei Media Group: We noted lawmakers and former political figures from a handful of countries that have diplomatic relations with China attended the inauguration ceremony of Lai Ching-te or sent congratulations to Lai. Whats Chinas comment? Wang Wenbin: China strongly opposes official interaction of any form between Chinas Taiwan region and countries that have diplomatic relations with China. This position is consistent and clear. The wrongful words and actions of a handful of countries and political figures violate the one-China principle and basic norms governing international relations, constitute blatant interference in Chinas internal affairs, undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China, and damage the peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. China strongly condemns those words and actions. The one-China principle is the political foundation and prerequisite for China to grow ties with other countries. The definition of the one-China principle is very clear, that is, there is but one China in the world, Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinas territory, and the Government of the Peoples Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. We ask relevant countries and politicians to stop their political manipulation on the Taiwan question, stop sending any wrong signal to the Taiwan independence separatists, and stop those wrongdoings that breach its credibility among the international community and hollow out the one-China principle. As I have said, over the past few days, political leaders and people from various sectors in many countries have reaffirmed their commitment to the one-China principle and firm support for Chinas just cause of opposing Taiwan independence separatism and striving for national reunification. The world has spoken up for justice. This once again demonstrates that the international communitys abiding commitment to the one-China principle is unshakable, the one-China principle must not be violated and the historical trend of Chinas reunification cannot be reversed. To use Taiwan to contain China is to play with fire and will definitely backfire. China will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard its interests. China News Service: China just announced the visit to China by Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sok Chenda Sophea. Can you share with us more on this visit? Whats Chinas expectation for this visit? Wang Wenbin: China and Cambodia have traditionally been close neighbors and iron-clad friends, and have stayed at the forefront of building a community with a shared future. Since last year, President Xi Jinping has met with King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Manet, and maintained strategic communication with Samdech Techo Hun Sen, ushering in a new era of building a high-quality, high-level and high-standard China-Cambodia community with a shared future. The two sides have signed the new action plan on building a community with a shared future, enriched the diamond hexagon bilateral cooperation framework, and made positive progress on the building of the industrial development corridor and the fish and rice corridor. Last month, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Cambodia and co-chaired the Seventh Meeting of the China-Cambodia Intergovernmental Coordination Committee. The two sides reached important consensus on deepening the building of a China-Cambodia community with a shared future. After becoming Cambodias Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sok Chenda Sophea has expressed his wish to choose China as the destination of his first outbound visit. China appreciates this. Chinese leader will meet with him. Foreign Minister Wang Yi will hold talks with him and the two of them will have exchange of views on implementing the consensus reached by leaders of the two countries, deepening China-Cambodia comprehensive strategic cooperation, and international and regional issues of mutual interest. China hopes that through this visit, the two sides will make more substantive and solid progress in the building of a China-Cambodia community with a shared future in the new era, bring more benefits to the two peoples, and contribute to the peace, stability and development of the region and the world. AFP: Yesterday, a prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) sought arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister and senior leaders of Hamas for alleged war crimes. Although China is not a member state of the ICC, whats Chinas comment on its decision? Wang Wenbin: We have noted relevant reports. We want to stress that the international community has overwhelming consensus on the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and ending the humanitarian crisis suffered by the Palestinians. The collective punishment of the Palestinian people should not continue any longer. On the question of Palestine, China always stands on the side of fairness and justice and on the side of international law. We support all efforts by the international community for a full, just and lasting settlement of the question of Palestine. We hope the ICC will maintain an objective and just position and lawfully perform its duties. CRI: Could you share more details on Foreign Minister Wang Yis visit to Kazakhstan? Wang Wenbin: On May 20, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi paid an official visit to Kazakhstan. Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Kazakhstans President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and held talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Murat Nurtleu. The two foreign ministers signed a protocol with revisions of and supplements to the agreement on establishing the China-Kazakhstan Cooperation Committee and met the press together. Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that under the personal guidance and efforts of President Xi Jinping and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, China and Kazakhstan forged a permanent comprehensive strategic partnership and, on that basis, decided to build a China-Kazakhstan community with a shared future, which have set the bar even higher, opened up new prospects and injected new impetus for bilateral relations. China stands ready to work with Kazakhstan to focus on implementing the common understandings reached by the two presidents, carry forward our traditional friendship, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, and bring benefits to the two countries and peoples. Kazakhstan firmly upholds the one-China principle and supports Chinas opposition to Taiwan independence separatism and effort to achieve national reunification as early as possible. This is much appreciated by China. China will, as always, support Kazakhstan in safeguarding national independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, and oppose any interference in Kazakhstans internal affairs. The Kazakhstan side noted that Kazakhstan is a good partner that China can always trust. Strengthening friendship with China is a priority in Kazakhstans foreign policy. The deep friendship between the two presidents is an engine for Kazakhstan-China friendship and cooperation, and has guided bilateral relations into another golden 30 years. Kazakhstan stands ready to work with China to strive for the sustained and fast growth of bilateral relations in the spirit of good-neighborliness, friendship and mutual respect. The Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative put forward by President Xi are conducive to global security and sustainable development. Kazakhstan commends and actively supports the three initiatives. Kazakhstan is firmly committed to the one-China principle and this position will never change. Both sides are of the view that the Kazakhstan-China relations have followed the prevailing trend of the times. Our ever-lasting friendship, high-level mutual trust, and commitment to sharing weal and woe together have come to define our bilateral relations. The two countries agreed to continue to draw on the complementarity of each others industrial and market advantages, conduct high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and create more favorable conditions to step up cooperation in China-Europe freight trains. Both sides believe that China-Kazakhstan people-to-people and cultural cooperation enjoys bright prospects and will make full use of Luban Workshop, Confucius Institute and other platforms, speed up the establishment of cultural centers in each others countries and build closer bonds and amity between the two peoples. Both sides commended the success of the China-Central Asia Summit in Xian. With the Secretariat of the China-Central Asia mechanism launched in Xian, we look to work with other Central Asian countries to strengthen the mechanism, make it a success, and provide a strong boost to building a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future. Both sides stressed the importance to uphold the international system with the UN at its core and the international order underpinned by international law, implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, unequivocally oppose unilateralism, hegemonism and bullying, and make global governance more just and equitable. Reuters: The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has congratulated Taiwans new leader. Does the Ministry have any comment on this? Wang Wenbin: What the US has done seriously violates the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, and breaches its political commitment to maintaining only cultural, commercial, and other unofficial relations with the Taiwan region. This sends a seriously wrong signal to Taiwan independence separatist forces. China deplores and opposes it, and has made serious protests to the US. There is but one China in the world. Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinas territory. The Taiwan question is at the very core of Chinas core interests and is the first red line that must not be crossed in China-US relations. China firmly opposes official interaction in any form between Taiwan and the US and opposes US interference in Taiwan affairs in any form or under any pretext. We urge the US to correct its wrongdoing at once, act on President Bidens commitment of not supporting Taiwan independence, two Chinas or one China, one Taiwan and not using Taiwan as a tool to contain China, stop fudging and hollowing out the one-China principle, stop emboldening and supporting Taiwan independence separatist forces in any form and stop disrupting peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan independence leads nowhere and anyone who connives at and supports Taiwan independence is doomed to failure. No external interference can hold back the trend toward Chinas reunification. Any attempt to challenge the one-China principle and endanger Chinas national sovereignty and territorial integrity will be met with Chinas resolute response. Beijing Youth Daily: Recently, Taiwans foreign affairs department issued a statement protesting the mainlands condemnation over the Taiwan authorities bribery of Guatemalan leaders and officials in exchange for political support. Whats your comment? Wang Wenbin: The facts and evidence on DPP authorities dollar diplomacy with Guatemala are clear and solid. Guatemalas former president openly admitted that when in office, he had received bribery from the Taiwan authorities in exchange for maintaining so-called diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Last year, Taiwans hospital project in Guatemala was involved in a corruption case. Relevant Guatemalan officials were put into jail. This is just one example of the Taiwan authorities dollar diplomacy. No matter how angrily they protest or try to deny it, the fact that they sought political support through dollar diplomacy will not change. Around the world, 183 countries have established diplomatic ties with China. That proves the DPP authorities reckless pursuit of Taiwan independence and secession to be futile and self-deceptive. Whatever the DPP authorities does, it will not shake the one-China principle, and will not hinder the unstoppable trend toward Chinas reunification. We hope that Guatemala and the very few other countries will come to recognize where the trend leads and make the right decision soon. Global Times: Last week, the 33rd Ordinary Session of the Council of the League of Arab States at the Summit Level was held in Bahrain. The session adopted the Bahrain Declaration and relevant statement with a focus on the Palestinian question which emphasized Arab states unified position on the Palestinian question, and commended China for supporting Arab states position on the question of Palestine. Whats Chinas comment? Wang Wenbin: China noted that the 33rd Ordinary Session of the Council of the League of Arab States focused on the Palestinian-Israeli issue and adopted relevant declaration and statement. The session called for implementing the two-State solution and convening an international peace conference, supported reconciliation among different factions of Palestine, and called on the international community and influential international powers to transcend political calculations and double standards in dealing with international crises. China commends the session for that. China supports the Arab states in strengthening solidarity and playing a bigger role on the Palestinian question. We stand ready to work with the Arab states to step up coordination and cooperation, and contribute to cooling down Palestinian-Israeli tensions and bringing the Palestinian question back to the right track of the two-State solution. Dragon TV: Its reported that the current Dominican President and candidate of the Modern Revolutionary Party Luis Abinader won the presidential election and is headed to a second term. Whats Chinas comment and expectation of the future of Chinas relations with the Dominican Republic? Wang Wenbin: China expresses hearty congratulations to President Abinader on his reelection. We believe under his leadership, the Dominican Republic will achieve new progress in socioeconomic development. Over the past six years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, China and the Dominican Republic have maintained positive momentum in growing bilateral relations, deepened friendship between the two peoples, and had fruitful practical cooperation in various fields. China highly values its friendship with the Dominican Republic and stands ready to work with the new Dominican government led by President Abinader to enhance political mutual trust, expand practical cooperation and let the relations between our two countries bear more fruitful results. CCTV: Its reported that on May 20, the UKs High Court ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can continue appealing his extradition. Whats your comment? Wang Wenbin: People care about the fate of Julian Assange, because his case tells the world what US-style press freedom actually meansrewarding those who disclose what other countries have done and punishing those who expose the US wrongdoings. Frankly speaking, for the US, freedom of pressjust like democracy and human rightsis just another tool to go after dissidents and perpetuate US supremacy. This is what the Assange case has taught us. Julian Assange may have won this round of battle against US hegemony. But will he win in the end? The world will be watching. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. Tax incentives will be applied in Azerbaijan in connection with the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), Trend reports via the proposed amendment to the Tax Code, discussed at a session of the Azerbaijani parliament. According to the amendment, based on a confirming document from the authority designated by the relevant executive authority, the income of non-resident individuals involved in the supply of goods, performance of work, and provision of services in connection with COP29 will be exempt from income tax for nine months starting on March 1, 2024. After the discussion, the amendment was put to a vote and passed in the third reading. To note, this November, Azerbaijan will host COP29. This decision was made at the COP28 plenary meeting held in Dubai on December 11 last year. Baku will become the center of the world and will receive about 7080,000 foreign guests. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an agreement signed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 to prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system. The COPthe Conference of the Partiesis the highest legislative body overseeing the implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change. There are 198 countries that are parties to the Convention. Unless the parties agree otherwise, the COP is held annually. The first COP event took place in March 1995 in Berlin, and its secretariat is located in Bonn. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel A man seeking revenge for his stolen iPhone set fire to the wrong house. He pleaded guilty to killing an innocent family of 5. The house where five immigrants from Senegal were found dead after an August 2020 fire in Denver. Thomas Peipert/AP Photo A Colorado man pleaded guilty to killing a family by setting their home on fire in 2020. He wanted revenge after his iPhone was stolen but targeted the wrong house, investigators said. Five people, including two young children, were killed in the blaze. A Colorado man set a house in Denver on fire in 2020, thinking he was avenging the theft of his iPhone. But he targeted the wrong house. He pleaded guilty last week to killing an uninvolved family who lived there. Kevin Bui, 20, pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of second-degree murder, Denver's district attorney's office said in a post on X. Bui, who was 16 at the time of the fire on August 5, 2020, was prosecuted as an adult. An arrest affidavit said Bui's iPhone was stolen during a drug deal. Investigators said in the affidavit that Bui intended to set fire to the house of those who robbed him. According to testimony in the trial, NBC News reported, Bui had used an app to track his stolen iPhone. However, investigators said in the affidavit that Bui somehow identified the wrong property and instead set alight the home of a Senegalese immigrant family. The fire resulted in the deaths of five people, including a 21-month-old child and a 6-month-old baby. NBC News reported that as part of a plea deal, Bui had 60 other charges against him, including first-degree murder and arson, dropped. He faces 60 years in prison, Denver's district attorney's office said, with sentencing scheduled for July 2. Bui is the last of three people to enter a plea in connection to the fire. Dillon Siebert, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder under a plea deal, was sentenced last year to three years in juvenile detention and seven years in a state prison program for young inmates. Gavin Seymour was sentenced to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty in March to a count of second-degree murder, The Denver Post reported. The Washington Post reported last year that while apps such as Find My can be incredibly accurate, they're not entirely reliable. In 2022, a SWAT team in Denver wrongly raided the home of a 77-year-old woman while searching for a truck with stolen guns and an iPhone. According to The Washington Post, a lawyer for the woman said that police relied on the Find My app, which ultimately led them to the wrong address. In March, the woman was awarded $3.76 million by a jury for the bungled raid. Read the original article on Business Insider GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) A Grand Haven man is headed to federal prison after sexually abusing a 4-year-old and recording it, prosecutors say. Brian Stefono, 55, was sentenced to 27 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release, the U.S. Attorneys Office said in a Monday release. Federal investigators say Stefono assaulted the child at a home in Grand Haven and produced multiple videos that depicted the sexual assaults. A cloud storage provider found child pornography on Stefonos accounts and flagged authorities, they say. When federal agents searched Stefonos home, they say, they found child porn and the videos he made. Stefono was charged in June of last year and ultimately pleaded guilty in the case. 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 WOODTV.com. EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. An East Alton, Illinois, man appeared in Madison County Circuit Court on Tuesday and was sentenced for orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot. In April, Lorenzo D. Miller, 42, was convicted of solicitation of murder and obstructing justice after a three-day trial. Prosecutors said Miller requested an acquaintance shoot his ex-girlfriend after she broke up with him. The shooting happened on March 26, 2023, on Brown Street in Alton. Several shots rang through the house. One bullet strafed a sweater worn by a friend of the victim, lightly grazing her torso. Days after the shooting, the ex-girlfriends van was torched outside her home. She feared someone was trying to lure her outside to kill her, prosecutors said. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Breaking News Alton police used license plate readers to identify a vehicle with Missouri license plates in the vicinity at both the time of the shooting and the fire. That vehicle belonged to Millers acquaintance, later identified as Vernon McIntosh, 38. Police also acquired phone data showing both Miller and McIntosh were communicating in the minutes before and after the shooting. Miller was sentenced to 29 years for solicitation of murder and three years for obstructing justice. The sentences will run concurrently. McIntosh was charged with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm, and arson. He is still awaiting trial. 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 FOX 2. BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) A man accused of leading deputies on a chase in a stolen Dodge Challenger was sentenced Tuesday to three years and eight months in prison, according to court records. Jelani Green, 19, pleaded no contest last month to carjacking and carrying a loaded gun without registration, records show. Five other felony counts were dismissed. Kern deputy pleads no contest to DUI, child endangerment In February, the Kern County Sheriffs Office was notified of a stolen vehicle spotted on Q and 34th streets. Deputies found the car a 2019 Dodge Challenger at the intersection of Union Avenue and Flower Street and tried to pull it over. The car fled and merged onto westbound Highway 178, according to sheriffs officials. A chase ensued. The Dodge hit another vehicle and a Kern County Public Works truck then struck a pole on 23rd and K streets, officials said. Two people Green and a juvenile bolted from the car but were arrested soon after. Officials said the two were suspected of crimes in the Los Angeles area. 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 KGET 17. Man shot and charged with assault after fight with neighbor in Atlanta A man was shot and charged after a fight involving a neighbor. Atlanta police said on Monday, officers were called out to Summit Creek Drive about a person shot. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] They arrived at the location and found a man in his 40s who had been shot. Police said he was taken to the hospital with a non-life-threatening injury. Police said he was involved in a confrontation with a neighbor before to the shooting. The shooter stayed at the scene and cooperated with investigators. TRENDING STORIES: Investigators determined the shooting was in self-defense. The shooter was released and the person who was shot has been charged with aggravated assault. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: Man shot by officer formally charged after point air rifle at Huber Heights police The man shot by a Huber Heights officer after pointing an AR15-style rifle at police has been formally charged. >>PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Charges approved for man shot by Huber Heights officer after pointing air rifle at police Kenneth Haught, 42, is facing one count each of felonious assault, failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, tampering with evidence, assault on a peace officer, and obstructing official business, according to the Montgomery County Prosecutors Office. He was indicted Monday by a Montgomery County Grand Jury. >>RELATED: Officer who shot man who pointed rifle at police was involved in shooting just over a year ago Haught was involved in a road rage incident and chased another vehicle, the prosecutors office said. He allegedly chased another vehicle to Huber Heights and shot out the window of that car. The vehicles ended up at a Shell Station where Haught is accused of ramming the other car, the prosecutors office stated. Huber Heights police responded, the defendant fled, and a pursuit began. >>RELATED: Police: Man points AR15-style rifle at officers before being shot in Huber Heights As News Center 7 previously reported, Haught was shot by Officer Shawn Waler on Sunday after being chased by police following a road rage incident. A victim accused Haught of firing shots at his car and ramming into his car. When stopped in a yard next to a home on Taylorsville Road, Haught was seen on police video getting out of his car and pointing an AR15-style rifle at officers. At that point, he was shot by Waler. >>ORIGINAL COVERAGE: Suspect hospitalized after being shot by officer in Huber Heights Police said that the weapon that he had was a DPMS Full Auto SBR Air Rifle. Waler, a 19-year veteran of the force, has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the investigations by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Huber Heights Police. Haught is in Montgomery County Jail on a $10 million bond, the prosecutors office said. His next court appearance is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. In April 2024, during Passover, a group of American rabbis approached a border crossing in Israel. Affiliated with Rabbis for Ceasefire, the group joined Jewish Israeli activists attempting to deliver food to Gazans. It had been seven months since Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attack and Israels subsequent assault on Gaza. One of the American rabbis told reporters at Democracy Now! that this was the only way she could imagine marking Passover, a holiday that celebrates the story of liberation from oppression and slavery. Marching to the gates of Gaza with food for starving Palestinians was consistent with Passovers imperative to invite the hungry to every table. As of April 2, 62% of American Jews believe Israel has responded to Hamas attack in an acceptable way. Yet that support drops to 52% among U.S. Jews ages 18-34, with 42% saying Israels response has been unacceptable, according to Pew Research Center polling. Many of those young people are involved in the variety of Jewish organizations that have mobilized for a cease-fire since October, such as IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace. Public attention has focused on campus protests, which included many Jewish students I am a member of Faculty for Justice in Palestine, which formed in response to concerns about freedom of speech for U.S. students mobilizing for Palestinian rights. But as a peace and religion scholar, I know that some U.S. Jews involvement in Palestinian solidarity movements began years before the current war. In my ethnographic research, which included in-depth interviews and participant observation work, activists emphasized that they were inspired to act because of their Jewish identity and values, not in spite of them. American and Israeli rabbis from Rabbis for Ceasefire march toward the Gaza Strip with food aid for civilians during Passover on April 26, 2024. AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo Journey toward activism Many interviewees came to activism for Palestinian rights after wrestling with how to square their beliefs and ideals with the reality of Israeli policies they do not support policies that they feel are often invoked in their name. My 2019 book, Days of Awe, examines American Jewish critics of Israeli policy and Zionism support for a Jewish state in the Middle East. Some activists focused on the Palestinian territories Israel has occupied since 1967, which they consider a departure from the countrys ideals as a Jewish democracy. Others found themselves in complete disagreement with the idea of Zionism, given how the creation of the new state necessitated Palestinian displacement. Their activism has taken different shapes: from protests in the West Bank against the occupation, to forming anti-Zionist synagogues in the U.S., to rewriting Jewish liturgy to reflect solidarity with Palestinians and other oppressed people. For example, one interviewee in his mid-20s shared an experience from a 2008 Birthright trip to Israel, a free tour designed to strengthen young Americans connection with the country. The trip coincided with Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, which lasted about three weeks and resulted in about a dozen Israeli deaths, approximately 1,400 Palestinian deaths and thousands of people displaced. A tour guide was reluctant to respond to the young mans questions about the conflict. This prompted the student, upon his return to campus in the U.S., to read about the Palestinian experiences of the Nakba meaning Catastrophe in Arabic of 1948, the year the state of Israel was established, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced off their lands or fled. This interviewee and others say their journeys toward activism began because their understanding of Jewish values was inconsistent with what Israel was doing in the name of Jews safety. It was also a journey of unlearning or critique challenging narratives that emphasize the concept of Jewish return to Israel or that downplay Palestinian displacement. They were tapping into Jewish tradition in new ways what I refer to as critical caretaking. IfNotNow protesting the American-Israel Political Action Committees 2017 conference in Washington, D.C. IfNotNow Movement/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA Take IfNotNow, an American Jewish group opposed to Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories. The movement was born during the 2014 Israel-Hamas War, when a group of young Jews organized a public recitation of the mourners kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead. By reciting both Jewish and Palestinian victims names, they hoped to use Jewish tradition to challenge the devaluation of Palestinian lives. When I asked Rebekah a pseudonym for a college student in the American South whom I interviewed for my book how she understood her Jewishness, she told me: I have always maintained that the basis for my activism was my Jewish ideals, the radical equality I had absorbed at home. Shadow of history For Rebekah and many other American Jews, the cultural memory of the Holocaust, and the common refrain Never Again, inspires their activism for Palestinian rights. Growing up in Hebrew schools, you grow up with the nightmarish Holocaust films, she stressed. The conclusion of this education should have been clear: You cant do it to another group of people! This lesson is reflected in the cry Never again to anyone, heard at demonstrations over the past few months. Another interviewee likewise asserted that her solidarity with Palestinians is grounded in the legacy of the Holocaust: For me, understanding the Holocaust was hard because of the enormity of it it happened because masses of people made a conscious decision to do nothing. I didnt want to do nothing. For these interviewees, discriminatory or violent policies contradict their understanding of Jewish values, which they assert by standing in solidarity with Palestinians. Protesters standing outside the Miami office of U.S. Sen. Rick Scott on Oct. 17, 2023, call for a cease-fire in Gaza. AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell Another interviewee told me: I consider myself a spiritual Jew. I am able to separate Zionism from Judaism and I believe in equality. Because I am Jewish, I protest I am informed by values of humanism, which is the main framework for organizing. The experience of doing solidarity work actually strengthened my Jewish identity. My Judaism translates into my commitment to uphold universal humanist values. Here and now In 2017, several dozen Americans gathered with other activists in the southern hills of Hebron, in the West Bank. They established what they called a sumud camp a Palestinian concept denoting steadfastness to protest the Israeli militarys decision to declare the area a closed military zone, meaning Palestinians must leave. The activists wore shirts exclaiming Occupation is Not My Judaism. Occupation, they say, dehumanizes Palestinians and Jews alike so they are seeking their own liberation, too. Therefore, their critical caretaking is not just about underscoring what Judaism is not. It is also about rewriting what they believe Judaism is. For example, many of these organizations decenter Zionisms role in Jewish texts and liturgies. Rather than emphasizing the idea that the Jewish home is in the historical region of Palestine and Israel, some emphasize doykayt, Yiddish for hereness: the concept that Jews true home is wherever they are in the world. Doykayt is just one example of how these activists embrace often-overlooked aspects of Jewish history, including marginalized voices such as Arab Jews and Ethiopian Jews, as they discover new ways to live their Jewish values. Through their activism, they are trying to convey their understanding that Jews cannot be free until Palestinians are free. 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: Atalia Omer, University of Notre Dame Read more: Atalia Omer is affiliated with the Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine at the University of Notre Dame and Tzedek Chicago. Marital status of former Houston Co. prosecutor could be at forefront of upcoming trial HOUSTON COUNTY, Ala (WDHN) The personal life and marital status of a former Houston County prosecutor accused of soliciting sexual favors and having an online relationship with a past defendant may be brought up during his trial. During Tuesdays hearing, state prosecutors with the Alabama Attorney Generals Office said it is vital that the jury hear about Johnsons marital status to show why he allegedly committed the crimes. However, Johnsons attorneys are fighting against this, saying the jury does not need to hear about Johnsons personal life and the case should focus on his status as an Assistant District Attorney. Assistant Attorney General Kyle Beckman fought against this, saying it would grossly misinform the jury if they did not discuss his marital status. Johnson was married when the alleged crimes occurred. Johnsons legal troubles began after a woman he once prosecuted on drug charges, Jamie Connolly, wrote a letter while she was in jail to a Houston County Judge in 2022, claiming the two had an online relationship the year before. The letter sparked an investigation, which resulted in Johnson being charged with six counts of ethics violations and fired from the Houston County DAs Office Prosecutors claim Connolly was not the only woman he solicited, saying there are multiple female witnesses or defendants with whom he traded favors. Some of those women are set to testify during Johnsons trial, expected to begin on August 19. 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 WDHN - wdhn.com. LEONARDTOWN, Md. (DC News Now) Maryland State Police (MSP) said it helped to rescue a hiker who was hurt Monday. Around 12 p.m., emergency workers in St. Marys County asked MSP to assist them in rescuing the person who was about three miles into St. Marys River State Park. Once the helicopter reached the hiker, a state trooper/flight paramedic assessed the hiker and prepared the hiker to be hoisted up. Men wanted for shooting at DC police officer charged with crimes in Prince Georges County The flight crew took the hiker to the University of Maryland Capital Regional Medical Center in Largo, Md. for treatment. 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 DC News Now | Washington, DC. GUBA, Azerbaijan, May 21. COP29, the next UN climate conference, will be held in Baku in November, and Azerbaijan is committed to protecting the environment Azerbaijan's choice to host COP29 demonstrates its active role in developing global discussions on climate change and sustainable development, Azerbaijani Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov said during the II Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan Interregional Forum in Guba, Trend reports. "We consider important the participation of our Uzbek colleagues at this unique platform in terms of significance, scale, and connection with this event; we once again invite them to Baku," the minister emphasized. To note, the decision to hold COP29 in Azerbaijan was officially announced in Dubai on December 11, 2023. Azerbaijan will host the event in November this year. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel A Massachusetts man known as Willy Wonka has been indicted on drug charges in New Hampshire, authorities announced Tuesday. William Willy Wonka Rodriguez, 53, of Lawrence, was indicted by a Hillsborough County grand jury on five counts of sale of a controlled drug, including three counts of selling suboxone to a confidential informant and two counts of selling fentanyl to a confidential informant, according to New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella. Formella said Rodriguez was nabbed after an investigation involving his office, the New Hampshire Department of Correction, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Rodriguez will be arraigned in Hillsborough County Superior Court at a later time. There were no additional details immediately available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW We may have just witnessed some of the strongest auroras in 500 years This month's ramped-up auroras may have been even more remarkable than we thought. The auroral displays that wowed observers around the world two weekends ago, including folks as far south as Florida in the U.S. and Ladakh in northern India, may have been among the strongest such light shows since record-keeping began. "With reports of auroras visible to as low as 26 degrees magnetic latitude, this recent storm may compete with some of the lowest-latitude aurora sightings on record over the past five centuries, though scientists are still assessing this ranking," NASA officials said in a statement . "It's a little hard to gauge storms over time because our technology is always changing," Delores Knipp, a research professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who focuses on space weather, added in the same statement. "Aurora visibility is not the perfect measure, but it allows us to compare over centuries." Related: Solar storm frenzy of May 2024 was strong enough to affect the deep sea The northern and southern lights are usually a spectacle only in high-latitude areas such as the Arctic and northern Canada. But the vivid colors migrated toward the equator on May 10 because of a rare G5 geomagnetic storm unleashed by our hyperactive sun a few days prior, the strongest to hit our planet since Halloween of 2003 . Between May 3 and May 9, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory cataloged 82 "notable" solar flares spawning from two active regions on the sun (3663 and 3664). These clusters of sunspots grew so complex that they erupted repeatedly during the week. Starting on May 7, at least seven coronal mass ejections , or CMES, charged toward Earth and began storming our planet on May 10, which was when the strongest auroras were seen. "The CMEs all arrived largely at once, and the conditions were just right to create a really historic storm," Elizabeth MacDonald, a space physicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said in the statement. This storm was so intense that the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which forecasts solar storms and their impact on our planet, issued a storm warning for the first time in nearly two decades. The warning prompted NASA to preemptively put at least one of its satellites, ICESat-2, into safe mode. Certain instruments onboard other missions were also powered down, the space agency noted in the statement. To better understand the full extent of the event, scientists are also studying reports submitted by citizen scientists to the NASA-funded effort known as Aurorasaurus , which tracks auroras around the world. Aurora-related tweets and reports are aggregated into a map and verified with the help of citizen scientists, according to the website. Each verified report then becomes a data point for scientists to study and potentially incorporate into space weather models. "We'll be studying this event for years," said Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla, acting director of NASA's Moon to Mars Space Weather Analysis Office. "It will help us test the limits of our models and understanding of solar storms." the purple and green glow of the northern lights in a dark night sky RELATED STORIES: Sun explodes in a flurry of powerful solar flares from hyperactive sunspots (video) When and where to see the northern lights Where and when to see the northern lights in 2024 The cluster of sunspots that sparked the historic dazzling display of lights has rotated out of our view, thanks to the sun's spin. However, scientists say it is now coming into view of Mars, which has already begun witnessing the impacts of AR3664s strongest flare yet, which was fired off last Tuesday (May 14), scientists say. "We're already starting to capture some data at Mars, so this story only continues," said Jamie Favors, director for the NASA Space Weather Program in Washington. Editor's Update 5/21: The two active regions on the sun are sunspots 3663 and 3664. This article has been updated to reflect that. COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) The future of Columbus was in the spotlight Tuesday evening when Mayor Andrew Ginther delivered the State of the City address, focusing on safety, housing and transit. We dont want to just get bigger; we want to get better and that means everybody out there needs to step up, Ginther said. The mayor said the city has had a successful year so far in slowing violence. Were leading the nation, along with Fort Worth, in reductions in homicides and violence, Ginther said. Easton sues one of its restaurants, claiming unpaid rent However, he said after last weeks violence where Columbus officers came under fire three times and five people were shot and killed over the past weekend, there is work to be done. Weve seen great progress and great momentum, but we cannot rest on what weve seen thus far and this weekend is the perfect example of that, Ginther said. We have to double down. We have to fight back. The future of this city is worth fighting for. He said another thing worth expanding is access to housing. Trapper Johns Canoe Livery closes after more than 50 years as owners look to sell This year the city has proposed changes to its 70-year-old zoning code. The plan would bring in not just more housing, but more affordable housing. The best way for us to deal with the supply crisis is zone in, you know, having a code that works, Ginther said. One that supports density and height, particularly in these key corridors. So, you think about it for a second. He said that in a little more than a month, hundreds of people have come by the citys Zone In Gallery to learn more about those plans. New central Ohio state-of-the-art sports park to open this fall The mayor said another thing that could be changing is transit. He said he plans to talk more about the Link-US program. The COTA board will be placing the issue on the ballot for this November for consideration for voters, Ginther said. This is going to be a transformational transit investment that we can make in ourselves as we grow. This bus rapid transit line will be 500 miles of, you know, everything from sidewalks to bikeways, connecting trails. The mayor said the top priority with all of these plans is to ensure it touches every part of the city. The decisions we make in the next ten years are going to impact this community for the next 50 to 100, so its critically important that everybody get engaged, involved and help us grow the right way, Ginther said. 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 NBC4 WCMH-TV. Marion councilman accused of raping girl under 15 gets $500,000 bond in first court hearing Marion City Council member Ayers Ratliff has been charged with raping a girl under 15 years old, Marion County Prosecutor Ray Grogan said. Grogan said in a video statement Tuesday that Ratliff had been charged with rape in the Marion Municipal Court. Grogan said he could not release details about the girl due to victim privacy laws but said the girl immediately reported the sexual abuse and the information was relayed to police. The Marion Police Department received the report at 12:42 p.m. Monday and arrested Ratliff at about 9 p.m., the report says. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation conducted a search warrant at Ratliff's home and recovered both physical and electronic evidence, Grogan said. Ratliff made his initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon where a judge set his bond at $500,000, according to court records. A spokesperson for the Marion County Prosecutor's Office said Ratliff was being held in the Multi-County Correctional Center, a jail in Marion serving Marion and Harding Counties. "Mr. Ratliff is a city councilman here in Marion, but like anyone else, he is not above the law," Grogan said. "His alleged crime has nothing to do with his elected position, and he will be treated the same as any other defendant." Marion City Councilman Ayers Ratliff, right, was arrested and booked in jail on a rape charge Monday, May 20, 2024, according to the city's mayor. Grogan said his office would seek a high bond for Ratliff, as the office would for any violent defendant. Mayor Bill Collins said the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation would handle the investigation into the allegations against Ratliff. He provided no additional comment on the arrest. A BCI spokesperson said Marion police requested the agency's assistance with a sexual assault investigation Monday, and the investigation is ongoing. Ratliff, a Democrat, has served on the Marion City Council since he was first elected in 2005. bagallion@dispatch.com This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Marion City Councilman Ayers Ratliff charged with raping girl under 15 Some McDonalds locations could begin charging for refills, reports say McDonalds customers may soon have to pay for drink refills as the company moves away from self-serve soda machines, according to multiple reports. Last September, the fast food giant announced that it would be transitioning away from self-serve beverage stations in dining rooms across the U.S. by 2032. Buffalo Wild Wings offering all-you-can-eat wings and fries deal for limited-time This change is intended to create a consistent experience for both customers and crew across all ordering points, whether thats McDelivery, the app, kiosk, drive-thru or in-restaurant, McDonalds said in a statement to KTLA. Now, customers may be charged for refills, depending on the location, reports say. Individual franchisees will decide whether their restaurant will charge for refills, McDonalds told USA Today in a statement. KTLA reached out to McDonalds but didnt receive a response in time for publication. McDonalds removes smile from Happy Meals at United Kingdom locations At some McDonalds locations nationwide, self-serve soda fountains have already been removed, while others plan to do the same. One McDonalds location has already removed its self-serve beverage station in Orange County. Customers that visit that store have to ask employees for refills at the counter, Insider reported. The news comes as the company considers adding a value meal to menus, as many think McDonalds is no longer affordable. 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 KTLA. The ceiling of the main Rotunda inside Pennsylvanias Capitol building. May 24, 2022. Harrisburg, Pa. (Photo by Amanda Berg, for the Capital-Star). The ceiling of the main Rotunda inside Pennsylvanias Capitol building. (Photo by Amanda Berg for the Capital-Star). Financial institutions that suspect a customer is a victim of financial exploitation would have the ability to alert trusted family members and authorities while halting suspicious transactions under legislation that cleared a Pennsylvania House committee on Tuesday. Rep. Joe Hogan (R-Bucks) held a hearing on fraud targeting seniors in March where the representatives of a Bucks County-based bank testified that tens of thousands of dollars are transferred fraudulently each week. We can try to raise awareness about these scams and these frauds. But we also have an opportunity here as legislators to provide some sort of protection as well, Hogan said during the House Commerce Committee meeting on Tuesday. Hogan is the prime sponsor of legislation that explicitly authorizes banks and fiduciaries to report suspicious activity involving an older adult or care dependent adults accounts to the local area agency on aging and law enforcement. The bill also allows financial institutions to provide information regarding the report with a person associated with the victim to assist in preventing or remedying the suspected exploitation. Under the bill, banks would be able to halt transfers or transactions to allow a determination whether they are legitimate or fraudulent and to seek a court order to extend the freeze if necessary. An amendment passed unanimously in the committee on Tuesday reduced the period banks could halt a transaction from 15 to 7 days and reduced the length of an extension from 25 to 15 days. It also eliminated the requirement for the Department of Aging to develop a training program. House Bill 2064 passed with a 24-1 vote and now goes to the full House for consideration. Without legislation that gives banks a role in preventing financial exploitation, financial institutions and fiduciaries must defer to the wishes of their clients, Teresa Osborne, the Pennsylvania advocacy director for the AARP, said. Although Osborne said the AARP and other senior organizations support the passage of such a law in Pennsylvania, the AARP has objected to the language of H.B. 2064 citing amendments that weakened the protections and conflicts with the states Older Adult Protective Services Act. For example, H.B. 2064s requirement for financial institutions to notify a trusted family member about reports of suspected fraud clashes with a provision of the Older Adult Protective Services Act that prohibits protective services agencies from disclosing reports of suspected abuse, Osborne said. Financial exploitation of older adults and those who depend on others for care has been a focus of state government and law enforcement in recent years. The state attorney generals office created a Senior Protection Unit in 2006 that investigates and prosecutes those who cheat, deceive or abuse older Pennsylvanians. The unit also educates the public on how to recognize fraud and avoid becoming a victim. Gov. Tom Wolf signed Act 48 in 2021 that criminalized financial exploitation by a family member or another person in a position of trust and created enhanced penalties of up to five years in prison for fraud of less than $2,000 and up to 20 years for fraud exceeding $500,000. The law also gives the attorney general jurisdiction to prosecute financial exploitation of more than $20,000. In 2022, the Department of Aging created a four-person Financial Abuse Specialist Team to identify, prevent and mitigate fraud against older adults. The team grew out of a pilot program that began in 2020, when the department hired a retired state trooper with expertise in financial exploitation investigations, to serve as a shared resource for Pennsylvanias 52 area agencies on aging. Hogans bill is similar to legislation introduced by Rep. Brian Munroe (D-Bucks), who said he personally experienced the frustration of financial exploitation when thousands of dollars were drained from his mothers bank account over the course of two years. And one phone call could have put a stop to it, Munroe said. With one phone call to law enforcement, to the area agency on aging, hopefully to me, and we would have saved her tens of thousands of dollars. Munroe said he was pleased to see Hogans bill advance but noted that similar legislation has been proposed for more than a decade without passing. Similar legislation like this has died a slow death of perfection, meaning that just a continuous attempt to get the perfect language has caused inaction, Munroe said. And every day seniors are being defrauded. Rep. Chris Rabb (D-Philadelphia), who cast the single vote in opposition to the bill, questioned Hogan about what organizations he had consulted, asking if local legal aid agencies had been involved. Hogan said he was aware of the AARPs concerns and he is working with the group to resolve them through amendments he expects to introduce on the House floor. Osborne said that in addition to concerns about the amendment eliminating the training requirement and shortening the time disbursements could be held, the AARP believes any Pennsylvania legislation should more closely track model legislation provided by the North American Securities Administrators Association. Laws based on the model bill have been enacted in 37 states, according to the association. Commerce Committee Chairperson Scott Conklin (D-Centre) said the bill has strong support from the banking community expressing their desire to have more influence over what they see as red flags and fraud taking place and their inability to actually take action on it fast enough. (This article was updated at 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, to include comments from AARP Pennsylvania advocacy director Teresa Osborne.) The post Measure to empower banks to fight financial exploitation of elders passes Pa. House panel appeared first on Pennsylvania Capital-Star. The two public universities that have held exclusive rights over medical marijuana farming in Louisiana could soon lose their duopoly after the Legislature approved a bill that will fully privatize cultivation in the state. (Canva image) The two public universities that have held exclusive rights over medical marijuana farming in Louisiana could soon lose their duopoly after the Legislature approved a bill that will fully privatize cultivation in the state. Senate Bill 228, sponsored by Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, sailed through the Legislature with little opposition and now awaits Gov. Jeff Landrys signature. Louisiana issues only two medical marijuana grower licenses each year. They are currently held by LSU and Southern University. Thats been required by law since the state enacted its medical marijuana program in 2015. They are the only two higher education systems in the country that are in the pot business right now, McMath said, and it is my belief that its time we get them out of that business and let them focus on higher education. To get their cannabis farms up and running, the colleges partnered with private contractors Good Day Farm and Ilera Holistic Healthcare. McMaths bill will transfer the cultivator licenses to those companies and allow them to keep them as long as they file for renewal each year. Good Day Farm, which has a much larger operation than Ilera, has close ties to the lawmakers who have given it a near-exclusive grip on a lucrative niche market. The companys primary shareholder is shipbuilding magnate Donald Boysie Bollinger, one of the wealthiest persons in Louisiana and a major Republican donor. The companys president is John Davis, husband of state Rep. Paula Davis, R-Baton Rouge. Good Day Farm did not respond to a request for comment Monday. Former state Rep. Joe Marino, who played an instrumental role in helping shape much of Louisianas medical marijuana policy, criticized the legislation, saying lawmakers are helping a single company dominate the market. Its a monopoly, Marino said in a phone interview. No other companies will get a chance to apply for a growers license unless either Good Day Farm or Ilera relinquishes theirs. While in office, Marino tried unsuccessfully to pass legislation that would have expanded the number of cultivation licenses, arguing that allowing more growers into the industry would help meet the high demand for medical marijuana and make it more affordable for patients at the states 10 licensed dispensaries. Good Day Farm, which has produced far more product than Ilera, will be well-positioned to corner the market by the time the federal government reclassifies marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug. Schedule I drugs are those with the highest potential to create dependency issues and are considered to have no currently accepted medical use. As it stands, marijuana is a Schedule I drug, along with heroin, LSD and ecstasy. The Biden administration has proposed moving it down to Schedule III, which includes drugs such as ketamine, testosterone and Tylenol with codeine. The U.S. Department of Justice has recently proposed the rescheduling plan, which is currently pending public review under a 60-day commenting period. During a March 20 committee hearing on his bill, McMath said the medical marijuana program was always supposed to be a private industry. The idea to involve the universities was attached to the 2015 legislation in a late-hour floor amendment, he said. It was never really their intention to be put into this bill, McMath said. A previous version of the bill would have allowed the universities to still receive a percentage of the companies gross sales from the medical marijuana program, but that provision was removed from the final version. While the bill awaits the governors signature, state lawmakers are also on track to dismantle a consumable hemp industry they created two years ago after unwittingly legalizing recreational THC products that can get people high. That legislation, Senate Bill 237, sponsored by Sen. Thomas Pressly, R-Shreveport, is pending final consideration on the House floor. Correction: The universities will no longer profit from the medical marijuana program. A previous version of this article reported on provisions that were removed from the final version of the legislation. The post Medical marijuana farming could move from Louisiana universities to private contractors appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. PwC Azerbaijan proudly contributed to the GSMA M360 Eurasia 2024 event by moderating the session on 'Securing the Interconnected World,' led by Farid Gattal, Head of Advisory Services. This session featured keynote speakers Dr. Emin Islam Tatli, CISO at Turkcell; Zhassulan Zhussupov, Malware Researcher & Threat Hunter at 7Generation; and Ksistof Ledichov, Sales Director at Mediafon Datapro. The session addressed the security challenges and opportunities presented by AI, quantum computing, and virtualized infrastructures. Discussions emphasized the need for unified cybersecurity strategies in our expanding digital ecosystem. The panel also included valuable insights from industry experts such as Vikas Dahiya, Head of Global Cybersecurity Sales at Nokia; Koji Kurushima, CEO of Mobicom Corporation; Murad Gurbanov, CISO at Unibank; and Babek Aghayev, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Prosol. These experts highlighted the importance of collaboration and innovation in building a secure and resilient digital future. By participating in these critical discussions, PwC Azerbaijan showcases its dedication to strengthening cybersecurity measures and encouraging synergy among industry stakeholders. Together, we are working towards a more secure and resilient digital future. The State opinion team interviewed more than 50 political candidates ahead of South Carolinas June 11, 2024, primary election, and we present Q&As with all five Richland County Council candidates below. Early voting begins May 28. This year there are two candidates on the ballot in each of Districts 3, 7 and 10 in the Democratic primary election, but Taneshia Horne has suspended her campaign in District 7. She said her name will still appear on the ballot but she stopped campaigning because she lives outside the district and could not serve if elected. The primary election winners will serve four-year terms starting in January because no Republican or other candidate filed to run for these seats. Every candidate was emailed five questions and given 250 words for each answer as part of our endorsement process. We are publishing these interviews first so readers can assess the candidates on their own. If you have questions about our interviews or eventual endorsements, email me. Find your polling place and council district here. View a map of all the districts here. If this public service helps, please consider supporting our journalism here. Richland County Council District 3: Little vs. Williams Tyra Little Tyra Little Q: What are your top three priorities and why? A: As a candidate for Richland County District 3, my top three priorities are: Community empowerment and engagement: I am committed to fostering transparency and community engagement in local governance. By increasing accessibility to government information, enhancing communication channels, and encouraging resident participation, we can ensure that the voices of all community members are heard and valued in decision-making processes. Economic opportunity and development: I will prioritize initiatives that promote economic growth and development in our district. This includes supporting small businesses, attracting new investment, and providing workforce development opportunities to equip residents with the skills needed for success in todays economy. Enhanced quality of life for seniors and youth: I recognize the importance of supporting our senior population and investing in the future of our youth. I will work to expand senior services, such as healthcare assistance and social programs, while also implementing comprehensive youth development programs that offer academic support, mentorship opportunities and recreational activities. Q: What would be your approach to growth and development? A: My approach to growth and development in Richland County District 3 is collaborative and sustainable. I will work closely with community stakeholders, including businesses, nonprofits and government agencies, to develop comprehensive growth strategies that prioritize economic progress while preserving our natural resources and enhancing the quality of life for residents. This includes investing in infrastructure projects that improve connectivity, efficiency and safety while promoting sustainable transportation options such as public transit and biking/walking pathways. Additionally, I will support initiatives that revitalize neighborhoods, attract new investment and create job opportunities for residents. Q: How would you improve transportation and infrastructure in the county? A: To improve transportation and infrastructure in the county, I will: Invest in infrastructure maintenance and repair to ensure safety and reliability. Expand public transit options to provide accessible, affordable and efficient transportation for residents. Implement sustainable transportation initiatives like bike lanes and pedestrian pathways to reduce congestion and promote environmental sustainability. Q: What specifically would you do to improve public safety? A: Implement community policing initiatives that foster trust and collaboration between law enforcement and residents. Support mental health services and initiatives that address underlying issues contributing to crime and social instability. Utilize data-driven approaches to identify trends, allocate resources effectively, and implement targeted interventions to address specific public safety challenges. Q: Why should voters choose you over your opponent in this election? A: Voters should choose me over my opponent in this election because of my proven community leadership and advocacy track record. I have a demonstrated commitment to serving the needs of our district, as evidenced by my work on initiatives such as South Carolina Bill H 3116, now Act No. 116, which provided property tax exemptions for disabled veterans and their spouses. With my background in criminal justice and legal studies and the ongoing pursuit of a masters degree in social work, I bring diverse skills and experiences to the table. I am dedicated to effecting positive change and improving the lives of all residents in Richland County District 3. Christa Williams Christa Williams Q: What are your top three priorities and why? A: My top three priorities are affordable housing opportunities, safety and improving the quality of life in our neighborhoods. Housing is a major concern around the country and in Richland County. Our senior citizens on fixed incomes make up a large portion of our voter base in the county. As a councilwoman, I want to ensure that we are working with developers, Realtors and property owners to ensure that we are maximizing the use of our housing inventory efficiently and affordably. The decisions around housing that are made today will affect our future generations. Richland County should be attractive to first-time home buyers and growing families. Safety in our communities is a major concern nationwide and in Richland County. We have an elected sheriff who is responsible for the boots on the ground in terms of safety within our county. As a councilwoman, I will support the sheriff through policies, procedures and ordinances to ensure that our communitie are safe, that our youth are productive, and that we are proactively working with lawmakers to ensure that Richland County is successful in terms of the laws of our state. As a councilwoman on Richland County Council, I will ensure that the county is promoting a good quality of life for our residents. I will ensure that our small business practices are fair and business friendly, our parks and after school programs are growing, our roads in our community are consistently maintained, and we are attracting job opportunities to Richland County. Q: What would be your approach to growth and development? A: As we grow as a county, I will ensure that the citizens who helped to build the county have an enriched quality of life through affordable living, have job and business opportunities, and have safe communities. I believe that growth in our county is important, and I will work hard to ensure the best outcomes for our citizens, I will also look at ways that we can utilize the talents within Richland County to produce revenue and promote tourism which can help to decrease the overall tax burden on our businesses and households. Q: How would you improve transportation and infrastructure in the county? A: As we know, the penny tax supports infrastructure projects, public transportation (i.e. the Comet), sidewalks, roads, etc. If the penny tax is on the ballot and the citizens of Richland County vote for this, I will ensure that the percentage that is allocated for District 3 and the referendums of how the money is being spent is available to taxpayers. I will ensure that these funds are used to make our communities cleaner and safer and that citizens have reliable public transportation to safely get back and forth to work, school, medical appointments and leisure travel. Q: What specifically would you do to improve public safety? A: Richland County is a government body that elects a sheriff to promote public safety. As a councilwoman on Richland County Council, I will support the sheriffs safety initiatives and ensure that his/her office has all of the tools and policy assistance that is needed to make our county safe and successful. I will also work with our state and city elected officials to ensure that we are promoting laws and ordinances that protect law enforcement, our business community and our neighborhoods. I believe it is important to support law enforcement initiatives that promote education for youth and rehabilitation of our ex-offenders. Q: Why should voters choose you over your opponent in this election? A: I, Christa Williams, will be the voice of the community on Richland County Council. I will not ignore you and will return your phone calls. I will work hard for you and the needs of your community. I would like you to know that I am a phone call away: 803-378-0182. As the owner of Uncle Willies Grocery Store, I am accessible and available, and everyday that I go to work, I am working to build relationships with the community. My experiences working in corrections and as a South Carolina National Guardsman have prepared me to fight for the everyday working person. As a small business owner, the business community in Richland County will have representation because our voices matter. Richland County Council District 7: Barron Gretchen Barron Incumbent Council member Gretchen Barron Q: What are your top three priorities and why? A: 1. Improve infrastructure Support and promote smart growth Repair roads and bridges 2. Economic and workforce development Attract and grow businesses that strengthen our local economy Create sustainable systems and partnerships Connect workforce development to economy development 3. Invest in and enhance public safety Support law enforcement Promote safer communities Work with law enforcement and community leaders to support programs that combat youth violence Q: What would be your approach to growth and development? A: From day one of my term, I have supported smart growth. I think it is critically important that residents know what is being proposed to be built in their communities and how it could possibly impact their day-to-day lives. I have done this by conducting town hall meetings for EVERY rezoning that has been proposed in District 7. These town hall meetings allow the applicant to share their intent with the neighbors and for the neighbors to ask questions. I take this information and use it for the basis of how I vote on the proposed project. This approach has been positively received both by the neighbors and applicants as I take into consideration the current comprehensive plan, future proposed plans for the district, and how the project may impact Richland County as whole. Q: How would you improve transportation and infrastructure in the county? A: Continuing to invest in our local transportation system is critical. Many depend on our transportation system on a daily basis and without it would not have the means to get to work, doctors appointments and even school in some cases. I also would like to continue to invest to improve our major roads, dirt roads and sidewalks, and bridges, many of which are in less than good condition and require significant repair. Keeping our infrastructure up-to-date is not only crucial, it is essential to our safety and security. We must continue our work to build the best transportation systems possible, and recommit to investing in infrastructure to improve safety and mobility. Because safer infrastructure systems foster economic growth and improve system efficiency. Q: What specifically would you do to improve public safety? A: While County Council does not govern the Sheriffs Department, I am a firm believer in ensuring that they have the resources needed to do their jobs effectively and efficiently. While I have been on County Council, we have increased the salaries of our law enforcement officers, funded the 911 Call Center and supported mental health programs, to name a few big items. However, as an individual member, I collaborate with and support organizations that are involved with the day-to-day operations of reducing gun violence. How have I done that over the past four years? By providing funding and partnering with organizations that are providing services and programs to address crime reduction, by providing youth activities that provide supplemental community activities, by creating a youth board to serve as an advisor to organizations that are addressing crime reduction, and by providing Safety Sundays that teach self-defense techniques and gun safety tips. Q: Why should voters choose you over your opponent in this election? A: It has been an honor to serve the residents of Richland County District 7 on County Council for the past four years. I would like to thank the residents for entrusting me with this responsibility. During my first term, we have: worked to regain the trust of the residents of Richland County and reshaped the narrative of our success while leading through transparency. Richland County Council experienced many successes. I encourage you to watch the 2023 Year In Review which highlights the accomplishments. continued to recover from COVID-19. Richland County Council invested $16 million back in our community by supporting local nonprofits and businesses. experienced economic development success. Our county brokered one of the largest economic development deals in our states history bringing over 4,000 jobs to our area. Richland County is changing the landscape of our community through our economic development projects. Theres more work to be done, but were positioned to continue to move Richland County forward. I would like to personally ask for your continued support. Richland County Council District 10: English vs. Reese Incumbent Council member Cheryl English Q: What are your top three priorities and why? A: Infrastructure: As we continue to work on paving roads, and the water and sewer systems, these structures are needed to expand and have any services in the area. Without clean running water and sewage, restaurants, hospitals and the like will not be able to operate. For continued growth to occur, there is a need to accommodate increasing traffic. Expansion of these systems and roads is essential to growth and development. Economic development: Economic development continues to remain at the forefront as sustainable employment is a great need for citizens to have improved quality of life. As growth occurs, economic development creates new job opportunities. I am extremely proud to be working with Cirba Solutions on the new battery plant. This plant will recycle batteries with no environmental harm to the surrounding area. In bringing this development in, we are also focusing on workforce development and ensuring sustainable employment. This company along with Scout Motors and others are working with colleges and high schools to train potential employees and provide opportunities. Workforce and affordable housing: We need to have affordable housing for individuals and provide options for those whose income would be entirely consumed by housing expenses. It is important for people to be able to work, have a positive quality of life and afford things they are working to attain. Being able to have a place to live, a sanctuary, gives people a feeling of accomplishment and provides a foundation to build their lives and grow their families. Q: What would be your approach to growth and development? A: My approach to growth is to create those needed services alongside residents, making sure families have access to transportation and services within reasonable distances. As a rural community, it is also important for agriculture to remain impactful as well as enhancement of wetlands. Smart growth takes into consideration the needs, citizen input and overall structure of the existing community. Q: How would you improve transportation and infrastructure in the county? A: Continue working with the Comet on its current plan to expand services to the rural communities. One major factor is the passing of the penny tax. This would ensure citizens have the ability to access needed services (hospitals, grocery stores, schools, doctors appointments, etc.) and are able to get to work. Q: What specifically would you do to improve public safety? A: Continue working with the Sheriffs Department on its plan to provide communities with improved services and visible access to its office. Currently working with neighborhood associations that have (and personally know) the officers who serve in their areas. The residents have their personal cellphone numbers, and officers have built positive relationships with them. At every monthly meeting, officers brief residents on trends, what to look out for, important things to do regarding safety, and overall vigilance required to remain safe. Also continue to include the Sheriffs office on growth, economic development and changes in the area. The Sheriffs office is in charge of protecting and serving, and making this relationship seamless is essential. Q: Why should voters choose you over your opponent in this election? A: Upon serving these past years, I have been able to turn negatives into positives and make important and needed changes to ensure the goals set for Richland County have been and are being attained. I have rebuilt relationships, improved services, been instrumental in securing economic development, listened to the voices of my many neighborhood communities, and worked tirelessly to ensure District 10 is moving forward. We have set council strategic goals and outlined specific plans. We are accomplishing our goals and the strategic plan can be tracked by residents. We have created a dashboard to follow those plans and for citizens to see what phase we are in. This council works well together, and we have the citizens as our first priority. Transparency is not just something we say, but what we do. I want to see District 10 continue to move forward and address the needs of the citizens. I have always worked in my community and now as a representative, I want to continue focusing on the needs of the residents I serve. I understand that we must continue working with existing services, such as the Sheriffs Department, the bus system, the city, the state, other legislators, school districts, agencies, organizations, etc. It is through these relationships that we not only achieve our goals, but build on and expand on needed services. DeAnta Reese DeAnta Reese Q: What are your top three priorities and why? A: Community engagement, economic/workforce development, and sustainable communities, including infrastructure needs, are vital areas of focus here in District 10, and reflect the core concerns and aspirations of its residents. Community engagement is crucial for fostering trust, collaboration and accountability in local governance. Actively involving residents in decision-making processes ensures that policies and initiatives reflect the diverse needs and perspectives of our community. This engagement leads to greater ownership of shared goals and fosters a sense of belonging and cohesion among residents here in District 10. Economic and workforce development are essential for driving prosperity and improving quality of life. Attracting and supporting businesses, promoting entrepreneurship and investing in workforce training and education will create opportunities for sustainable employment and economic growth. This will strengthen our local economy, enhancing individual livelihoods, while also generating revenue to support vital public services and infrastructure projects. Sustainable communities prioritize responsible stewardship of our natural resources and promote resilience in the face of environmental challenges, ensuring healthy and vibrant community for future generations. Infrastructure needs are fundamental to supporting the growth and development. It is essential for facilitating commerce, improving connectivity and safety and well-being of our residents. In sum, focusing on community engagement, economic/workforce development, sustainable communities, reflects our commitment to building a thriving, resilient and inclusive Richland County District 10. By addressing these key areas, together, we can create a stronger, more prosperous future for all residents here in Richland County. Q: What would be your approach to growth and development? A: The foundation of growth and development in District 10 should begin with a comprehensive strategic growth plan and also, updated evaluations of the neighborhood strategic growth plans in the Lower Richland, Olympia Mill and Woodfield communities. District 10 is a diverse district, and growth is necessary for sustainability. As a community, we understand that we can embrace growth, while not sacrificing the character of our communities. Growth and development should be rooted in balance, sustainability and preservation of the unique character of each neighborhood. In the rural communities of District 10, families are seeking strategic growth that respects their desire to maintain the charm and tranquility of rural living, while also providing essential infrastructure and economic development opportunities. I will continuously be an advocate for responsible development that prioritizes preserving green spaces as well as agricultural and natural habitats. This may involve incentivizing sustainable farming practices, including farm-to-table eateries. In areas of the district where growth may be more pronounced, an emphasis should be placed on smart growth principles that include walkable communities, mixed land use, and access to public transportation. Overall, I would take into account the diverse needs and aspirations of our residents. By fostering collaboration between stakeholders, implementing thoughtful planning policies and prioritizing infrastructure investments, we can achieve sustainable growth that enhances our quality of life while preserving the unique character of our community. Together we can build a better future today. Q: How would you improve transportation and infrastructure in the county? A: Improving transportation and infrastructure requires a strategic and comprehensive approach that addresses various needs across the county. If the penny tax is passed, funding allocations may need to be reevaluated. In the 21st century, and in a moment in which we tout the largest economic investment in Richland Countys history, we have families who on a good rainy day cant be accessed by emergency services, school buses or anyone else, due to road conditions. This is totally unacceptable. District 10 borders five other districts, with most, if not all, sharing resources with the city of Columbia. The residents of District 10 rely on 95% of their services coming from the county, resource distribution should reflect such. Eighty-seven-year-old constituents should not have their front yards flooding, due to the debris in the drainage. I am committed to prioritizing the paving of dirt roads while integrating smart surface practices, such as permeable pavements and cool pavements, to enhance energy efficiency, reduce heat island effects, and minimize stormwater runoff. This not only improves road quality but also contributes to environmental sustainability. In underserved communities, the lack of sidewalks presents safety and accessibility challenges. Therefore, I propose targeted initiatives to expand sidewalk networks, ensuring safe pathways for pedestrians, including children walking to school and residents accessing essential services. These efforts aim to promote enhanced community connectivity and improve public health and safety outcomes. I will advocate for strategic investments in public transit infrastructure, creating a more inclusive, sustainable and resilient Richland County. Q: What specifically would you do to improve public safety? A: When I envision public safety I envision a multifaceted and community-oriented approach. I think it is imperative that we are investing in holistic strategies that address root causes such as poverty, lack of access to financial resources and mental health care, along with other systemic inequalities. I pledge to be an advocate for increased and equitable funding for social services, affordable housing initiatives and community development programs. I will continue the work we are currently engaged in, building trust and being a part of facilitating purposeful engagement with public and private partners. We have to provide hope and purpose for our youth, as we see younger violent offenders here in Richland County. Its imperative that I recognize what each individual community aspires to be, through committed partnerships with grassroots organizations. Overall, my approach to improving public safety here in District 10 centers on proactive, community-driven, evidence-based solutions that address the underlying issues. I pledge to be a leader who is responsive and engaged, a model of success and growth. Together we can build a better future today. Q: Why should voters choose you over your opponent in this election? A: I certainly respect the work our council lady has done. It doesnt look like its been easy. As I speak to more of my community members, I am hearing a sentiment brewing thats thirsting for change they can believe in, hope, and a vision for OUR Future. With all due respect, there is a distinct difference in this race. If you are satisfied with the direction and growth in our community, I offer you a personal conversation. However, if you are like the many families I have spoken to recently, you, too, realize this is an absolutely important moment. Your childrens and your childrens childrens future is at stake. They are counting on you. I am equipped with innovative ideas, open ears, proven leadership and a deep commitment to serving the needs of this community. This is my community. I am indebted to you for what you have given to me. I know your frustrations. I live your daily struggles. Yet, I also understand your resilience and passion to see your community grow. I realize your desires to see your children have aspirations of building a family here because new opportunities exist for young professionals families. With a track record of grassroots advocacy and inclusive leadership, I pledge to prioritize innovative solutions to address the pressing issues facing our district. As a forward thinker, with a genuine passion for making a difference, I am ready to work tirelessly because I believe together we can build a better future today. COLUMBUS, OH MAY 08: Rep. Jodi Whitted, D-Madeira, speaks during the Ohio House session, May 8, 2024, at the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original article.) Earlier this month, the Ohio House voted to appoint Democrat Jodi Whitted to a vacant Hamilton County seat. The Madeira social worker and professor will serve until the end of this year. But due to a coincidence of redistricting, shell be living in a different district, already represented by a Democrat, in the coming term next year. Whitteds appointment is the last step after a tragic shuffling of seats and positions. Former Democratic state Rep. Brigid Kelly ran for Hamilton County auditor and won in 2022, but about a year into her term, revealed a cancer diagnosis. In March, she resigned to go into hospice care and died a few days later. Kelly was just 40 years old. In a letter to the county commission, Kelly recommended Rep. Jessica Miranda, D-Forest Park, as her replacement, and in May the commission appointed her to the office. But that left Mirandas seat vacant, and left Democrats looking for another replacement. There was a tweet, Whitted recalled, saying that they were accepting applications for the position. From there it was kind of like any other job opening. She submitted a cover letter and resume, did some interviews and crossed her fingers. The difference, of course, is she was waiting to hear back from a panel of Democratic state lawmakers rather than a future boss. Despite her caucus stamp of approval, Whitted isnt exactly getting comfortable. Her gig, she explained, is eight months and eight months only. She currently lives in the 28th state House district, but this Novembers elections will use a new map. Come January, Whitteds home will be part of the district currently represented by Rep. Rachel Baker, D-Cincinnati. To that end, Whitteds tenth floor office is sparse. When we met earlier this month she was still unpacking a table runner, to add some color, she explained as she pulled off its packaging, and a drug store folder of new prints ready for frames. Ill probably put some pictures over there, she said pointing to the empty bookcase looking forlorn next to her desk. She explained her aide asked if she wanted any other furniture, but Whitted turned her down. Just since this is such a short amount of time, she explained, I dont want to make more work. Whitteds background Whitted holds a doctorate in social work and shes an assistant professor at The University of Cincinnati leading the schools Bachelor of Social Work program. So, as we can obviously see the intelligence level of this particular body is going to ride a lot higher in the water over the next eight months with the addition of Jodi here, Rep. Daniel Troy joked during her introduction on the House floor. Whitted and her husband Caleb have two young girls, Mary Claire and Lindy, and they live in Madeira, a suburb northeast of Cincinnati. Previously, Whitted ran unsuccessfully for city council, and shes taken a leave of absence to serve in the House. Whitted has worn a lot of hats in the social work field before landing in academia. She has worked with children and families in the court system, as a therapist, in schools, in hospitals and even with an insurance company. As she describes it, social work offers the lens for how she views politics. For me, I think the piece of social work that so often gets put to the wayside is the larger macro policy related piece, she explained. At its root social work is a career focused on advocacy for people that are under underserved and vulnerable. Whitted described working at a hospital in Tennessee around the time the Affordable Care Act passed. States were making decisions if they were going to expand Medicaid or not, and Tennessee was the state that decided not to expand, she explained. And there were plenty of times where somebody was you know, like, just right on that threshold of being able to receive services or not receive services, she said. And thats really hard. Thats really hard to see when its life and death. Legislative plans and political future? In her introductory remarks, Whitted emphasized the challenge of carrying her predecessors legacy forward and sounded almost apologetic for taking over without first going to the ballot. To my constituents, she said, while you did not elect me, I promise to represent you with honesty and integrity for this short time and thank you for your faith in me. In terms of former Rep. Mirandas legacy, Whitted explained shes looking forward to taking up some of the legislation Miranda sponsored. Something thats really important to me is the Marriage Equality Act, Whitted described. I think, thats just a huge first step in regards to equality for Ohioans, and something that Im personally interested in. In terms of her districts needs more generally she points to housing policy to ensure newcomers have more affordable options and older residents can age in place. Younger families are moving in for the amazing schools, she explained. But then what does that mean for our older residents who have also invested in this community, sometimes their whole life. You know, I want to create places where everybody can thrive and live, she said. As a freshman lawmaker jumping in late Whitted acknowledges theres a ceiling on how much she can accomplish. But emphasized the positives: without a reelection campaign to worry about, for instance, she can keep her attention on policy. And although she wont be representing her district come 2025, shes not entirely closing the door on future public office. I wouldnt say that I am uninterested in politics in the future, Whitted said, noting her academic work focuses on the intersection of social work and the political process. So I think, like, bottom line for me, she said this is a great opportunity to show future social workers that if you say yes, and if you engage, who knows where it may lead you, and that social workers belong in positions like this. But as far as a solid plan for me, she said, I am not sure exactly. Follow OCJ Reporter Nick Evans on Twitter. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Meet state Rep. Jodi Whitted, the newest member of the Ohio House appeared first on Ohio Capital Journal. WASHINGTON (DC News Now) Memorial Day weekend brings a multitude of annual observances and ceremonies to honor the fallen. Heres a look at some of the events around the DMV to honor those who served the country along with other events. Observances: The Korean War Vetertans Memorial Foundation in Southwest D.C. will hold a ceremony and wreath-laying event. It will pay honor everyone who served the country along with those who sacrificed their lives during the Korean War. Guests are invited to attend in person or watch the ceremony live here. The ceremony will be held on Monday, May 27 from 4:15 p.m. to 5 p.m. Everyone is invited to the Arlington National Cemetery and have the opportunity to walk across the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier plaza. Flowers will be provided to visitors who are welcome to place one at headstones or columbarium niches around the cemetery. The event will be held on Sunday, May 26, from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. The City of Rockville will be hosting its annual Memorial Day Celebration and Parade. The parade will feature over 50 military units and community groups, marching units, dance troupes and more. The event will be held on Monday, May 27. A musical tribute will began at 9 a.m., followed by the ceremony at 9 a.m. and then the parade will start at 10:30 a.m. Annual Memorial Day Ceremony and Parade to shut down Rockville roads Events: The annual concert honors veterans, servicemen and women and military families. Concertgoers are invited to watch in person on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol in D.C. The program will also be livestreamed on PBS Youtube channel or its app. The concert will start on Sunday, May 26 at 8 p.m. and will end at 9:30 p.m. DC Black Pride is back to celebrate the African American LGBTQ+ community all weekend long. Enjoy some live music, social events and celebrations, attend educational workshops and more. The event will start on May 24 and end on May 27. This annual event, held in the Town of Vienna, is back again, offering attendees a fun-filled weekend full of rides, games, food and more. ViVa! Vienna! will be open from Saturday, May 25 until Monday, May 27. All proceeds will towards local charities. 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 DC News Now | Washington, DC. CHARLOTTE N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) The upcoming summer travel season is predicted to be one of the busiest ever at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Starting Thursday, more than 1 million people are expected to travel through Charlotte Douglas. Thats a 21% increase from 2023. Passenger numbers are projected to be 14% higher than the summer of 2023. Thursday, Friday and Monday are expected to be the peak travel days. The airport says it will have additional staff wearing yellow vests to help guide travelers and direct traffic. Charlotte Douglas is also working with law enforcement and the North Carolina and Charlotte Departments of Transportation to manage traffic flow, adding additional staff at the terminal curb front to keep traffic moving and providing alternate routes for Airport shuttle buses during peak travel periods. Airport officials say they are ready for the rush, but are urging people to plan ahead. TSA here can assure that we are fully staffed, Andrew Small, TSA Supervisory Analyst said. We will be deploying overtime as needed to make sure we are opening time strategically when we need to have those lines open. And as lines come in, as rushes come in, TSA will react and adopt to that. Despite the increase in airplane travelers, Gas Buddy reports 76% of Americans plan to drive for Memorial Day, which is up 18% from last year. AAA says the worst times to travel are between noon and 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday. The best time is anytime before 11 a.m. or after 7 p.m. 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 Queen City News. Memorial Day weekend in Southern California is looking gloomy. How long will this 'May gray' linger? "May gray" skies provide a gloomy background over the Los Angeles basin in a view from Echo Park toward downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times) Another cloudy, cool weekend is on tap for Southern California, with a strengthening marine layer expected to drop temperatures and possibly bring drizzles by the end of the week. Were definitely in that time of year, the 'May gray'/'June gloom' season," said Richard Thompson, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. Anyone headed to the beach to celebrate the Memorial Day weekend should bring a sweatshirt, he said. A strong onshore flow is driving clouds inland in the evenings and mornings, keeping the marine layer very deep and broad pushing it even into Los Angeles County's inland valleys by Thursday and Friday. While Tuesday is shaping up to see a bit more sunshine than the past few days, Thompson said, the rays aren't expected to last long. "It looks like its going to get more gloomy tomorrow and continue through the weekend," Thompson said Tuesday morning. It's a "continuation of the pattern weve seen the last few days." Read more: Summer heat won't last: Another cold, wet storm set to hit SoCal this weekend On Thursday and into the weekend, the deep marine layer isn't expected to burn off each day until late in the afternoon if at all while stretching into the Santa Clarita Valley and L.A. County foothills, Thompson said. That pattern will bring slightly cooler, below-normal temperatures, with highs remaining in the mid to upper 60s for most of the region. There's even a potential for patchy or light drizzling beginning Thursday, with the chance of rain increasing into the weekend, Thompson said. But by Monday, weather officials said a slight shift should begin, with the low clouds and fog no longer lingering into the afternoon. It will be getting nicer for Memorial Day itself, but the first half of the weekend will be [on the] gloomier side, said Brian Adams, a National Weather Service meteorologist in San Diego. Once we get through the cool weekend here, it does look like things will start to warm up early next week," Thompson said. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. MEMPHIS, Tenn. City Council on Tuesday approved an amnesty period from May 21 until June 30, allowing residents to pay off unpaid fines for half-price to help offset a proposed city property tax increase. The vote on the resolution sponsored by Jerri Green was 12-0. In return for the amnesty period, the city will waive half of the fees on unpaid parking tickets and traffic citations. What were asking is that during this amnesty period between now until the end of June, that you step up and do your part as Memphians, Green said before the vote. The city has more than $140 million in uncollected parking and traffic citations over the past 10 years, Green said, calling it an unmined revenue source. Mayor proposes city budget with 75-cent tax hike Collecting that money will help the city generate revenue, which council members hope can reduce or eliminate a 75-cent property tax increase proposed in the mayors budget. The increase, if its put in effect, could create a burden for property owners in the city. Lets be direct, a 75-cent tax increase is going to hurt us all, council chair JB Smiley said. For me, a 75-cent tax increase is me telling someones grandmother that they cant live here anymore. Mayor Paul Young proposed a 75-cent increase in city property taxes in his first budget presentation to the Memphis City Council last month. A 75-cent property tax increase would equate to an increase of about $188 in taxes on a $100,000 home, Young said. For more information about the fine amnesty period, contact the Memphis City Court Clerk at 901-636-3400. 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 WREG.com. MEMPHIS, Tenn. The Memphis Zoo has announced plans to improve the habitats for its African elephants, rhinos and giraffes. On Monday, the Memphis Zoo announced its comprehensive campus plan priorities through a statement from its public relations team. Over the next 20 years, they seek to invest upwards of $250 million to reimagine this home for wildlife to unlock opportunities for animal care and conservation and strengthen their position as a community amenity through guest education and enhancement. Graceland set for foreclosure auction; Elvis heir claims fraud, fights sale Each phase will address specific areas, ensuring a comprehensive approach to revitalizing the Zoo experience. The Memphis Zoo is currently focused on Phase One: Africa. As the first phase of the comprehensive campus plan, the Memphis Zoo plans to transform its Africa exhibit by improving the habitat for species such as the African elephant, rhinos and giraffes. Throughout the creation of the comprehensive campus plan, the Memphis Zoo identified the exhibit as a top opportunity zone for improvement. They admitted that the existing facilities are dated and the habitat provides insufficient space for new and improved levels of care for their elephants, giraffes, hyenas and mixed hoof stock. Memphis in May Champions crowned at World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest In addition to this phase, the Memphis Zoo said there are a series of key site priorities that they will be focused on. That process will begin with the demolition of the round barn and surrounding habitats. Once those are removed, the Memphis Zoo will be creating a Great Lawn, Stingray touch experience and Soaring Eagle ride experience. These new developments will begin on June 3, the zoo says. 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 WREG.com. (NewsNation) Two powerful Mexican drug cartels are not only operating fentanyl and other illicit drug markets in all 50 U.S. states, but have also successfully eliminated their drug-dealing competition using violence and other means, according to a report issued by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels are at the heart of the deadliest drug threat that the U.S. has ever faced, the federal report said. Federal officials have reported that 200 U.S. deaths are linked to fentanyl each day and that 38,000 deaths tied to the drug were reported in the first six months of 2023 alone. But the two transnational criminal organizations have not only infiltrated states along the U.S. southern border with drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine. They have also taken the major distribution of the dangerous substances from local drug dealers and gangs in states like Florida, Illinois and New York by manufacturing their product by the ton. More concerning, perhaps, is that the powerful cartels have taken a foothold in unexpected places like Mississippi, Montana and Wyoming, expanding the footprint of the two criminal organizations while taking charge of how fentanyl and other drugs are distributed. More women, children joining drug cartels: Reports Both organizations rely on major drug wholesalers and established trafficking routes to get into major U.S. cities. They also use smaller branches of the cartels to work with local drug trafficking groups and gangs along with social media channels like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to get drugs into the hands of users on the streets and into schools, the DEA report says. The cartels are here in the United States, and not only are they here, but theyre comfortable, Robert Almonte, a former U.S. Marshal and former El Paso Police Department narcotics detective, told NewsNation, adding he believes dealing with the cartels will only get worse for U.S. officials. He added, Theyre feeding Americas appetite for these drugs. The Sinaloa cartels US operation The Sinaloa cartel is credited with pioneering the deadliest drug threat in U.S. history, reaping billions in profits from the fentanyl trade alone, the DEA report says. It dominates the fentanyl market by its manipulation of the global supply chain. The organization, one of the oldest of its kind, has been producing fentanyl in bulk since 2012 and capitalizes on the cheap production and maintenance costs linked to synthetic drug operations as compared to more expensive plant-based drugs like heroin and cocaine. Cartels infiltrating native reservations with fentanyl: Tribal leader The DEA report says the cartel has a long history of skirting, defying and bribing its way around regulations on importing precursor chemicals needed to produce synthetic drugs. The cartel uses border tunnels in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to cross drugs into the U.S. undetected by taking advantage of pre-existing sewer and water systems built by the municipalities where the drugs are being sold. Making matters worse, Almonte said, is the open U.S. border that allows dangerous criminal drug traffickers and gang members to cross into the country and further enable cartel operations. How the Jalisco cartel operates The Jalisco cartel relies on vast financial resources along with violence, the bribery of corrupt public and port officials, and a franchise-based command structure to operate, the DEA said. The organization delivers fentanyl in pill and powder form, and although it cannot keep pace with the Sinaloa production rate, it has flooded the U.S. market by mixing its product with heroin, cocaine and xylazine, also known as tranq. The cartel is the main supplier of cocaine to the U.S., primarily on the East Coast, the DEA report indicates. But the organization also deals heavily in marijuana and heroin and uses some of its billions of dollars in profits to expand its global footprint. It operates distribution hubs in Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina. It typically relies on illegal ports of entry along the U.S. southwestern border and transports its products mainly by tractor-trailers and private vehicles. The criminal organization controls very little territory along the border, DEA officials said, but instead pays for the use of points of entry, tunnels and other smuggling channels to gain access to the U.S. market. How the DEA is cracking down DEA enforcement initiatives track drug distribution networks across the U.S. that are linked to the two cartels. The agency also operates three counterthreat teams to combat the drug crisis along with enforcement programs like Operation Overdrive and Operation OD Justice, which work to investigate fatal drug overdoses. Philadelphia cracks down on Kensingtons open-air drug market The report says that the DEAs Operation Last Mile partnered with federal, state and local law enforcement to make 3,337 arrests and seize almost 44 million fentanyl pills and more than 6,500 pounds of fentanyl powder between May 2022 and May 2023. In addition, more than 91,000 pounds of methamphetamine was seized, along with nearly 8,500 guns and more than $100 million, the report said. The DEA also works at a more local level to help provide more treatment and public awareness initiatives that warn about the dangers of synthetic drugs. Almonte said officials at all levels are overwhelmed with the fentanyl crisis and that more federal funding is paramount in combating the problem. Other agencies like the National Guard, which has programs to deal with the nations fight against illicit drugs, could also use support. But, Almonte said, Mexican cartels are here to stay. (Officials) need to keep the pressure on these Mexican cartels, stay on their heels and not let them catch their breath, he told NewsNation. Youre not going to eliminate the Mexican cartel activity, but the whole idea is to make them less comfortable. You want to send a message that (law enforcement) is going to make it as difficult as possible to operate in their communities. And I think thats going to make all the difference in the world. 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 Queen City News. Often called the Magic City, Miami is known for lots of things: its beautiful beaches, breathtaking skyline, vibrant nightlife and eclectic food scene, to name a few. It is not, however, known for being a particularly cheap place to visit. Factoring in flight prices, hotels, restaurants and activities, its easy to find yourself shelling out thousands of dollars on a single trip. But that doesnt mean you cant experience the magic of Miami without spending a fortune. As long as youve got an open mind, a bathing suit and some sunscreen, there are plenty of affordable activities to enjoy in the city. Here, we cover the basics of visiting Miami on a budget, from flights to bites to sights. Getting There First, youll want to pick the right time to visit Miami for the lowest rates on flights. According to Cheapflights.com, some of the least expensive months to book a Miami vacation are September and January, while some of the most expensive are April and May (due in part to the flocks of spring break visitors during those months). In many cases, you can save some cash by taking a train to Miami but keep in mind that this will lengthen your travel time exponentially. Whichever mode of travel you choose, the earlier you book, the cheaper your ticket will likely be. Where to Stay The Vagabond Hotel While hotel pricing can vary depending on the time of year that you decide to visit, there are quite a few accommodations you can find in Miami for budget-friendly rates. You can snag a room at upscale hotels like CitizenM Miami Worldcenter and Berkeley Park MGallery for around $200 per night, and you can find rooms at hotel chains such as Holiday Inn, Days Inn and Best Western for even less than that. We also recommend checking out the Hampton Inn & Suites, Aloft Miami, the Vagabond Hotel Miami or the Element for more great prices and deals. As with flights, the earlier you book your hotel, the better your chances are of getting an affordable rate. Where to Eat Miami is rife with tasty yet budget-friendly food across a range of cuisines. For a quintessential Miami food experience, head to Calle Ocho in Little Havana, where youll find everything from $4 al pastor tacos at The Taco Stand to $5 burgers at El Rey De Las Fritas. In the mood for pizza? You can get an enormous pepperoni slice for under $8 at Casolas Pizzeria. Swing by La Sandwicherie for a made-to-order, French-style sandwich on the crispiest baguette. And you can grab a few drinks on the low by taking advantage of happy hour specials at bars like Sweet Liberty, Baia Beach Club and Salty Flame. What to Do Theres nothing like spending a day relaxing on one of the many beaches Miami has to offer and it just so happens to be a low-cost activity, to boot. Grab your swimsuit, sunglasses, sunscreen and a towel and kick back on the sands of the South Beach shoreline. Art aficionados can take advantage of the free admission at the Institute of Contemporary Art and the Lowe Art Museum, as well as free entry at events like the South Miami Art Festival. You can catch views of the sunset and Miamis expansive skyline at green spaces such as South Pointe Park and Bayfront Park. And be sure to take a walk down Ocean Drive to take in the stunning architecture of the Art Deco Historic District. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. Students from the Heydar Aliyev Modern Educational Complex (MTK) participated in an engaging panel discussion with Bakcell, the biggest private telecommunication company in the country. The roundtable discussion on "The Role of Innovation and Artificial Intelligence in Education" was attended by Bakcell CEO Klaus Mueller, MTK CEO Aygun Mikayilova, and school students. An interesting discussion on the role of innovation and cutting-edge technologies in modern education was held. "I was delighted to meet here today with Azerbaijan's educated youth. As an organization that represents innovation, we are pleased to see students passionate about technology and innovation. We have many things in common with the younger generation, the most important of which is our commitment to innovation," said Klaus Mueller. "In addition to developing the academic potential of our students, we work to discover their talents in other areas. Receiving the latest technological innovations from a company like Bakcell is a great success for our investment-oriented students. On behalf of our school, I would like to thank the management of Bakcell for todays interesting panel discussion," said Aygun Mikayilova. Ardi, an AI-powered humanoid robot by Bakcell, also attended the meeting with the students. Following the panel discussion, students asked questions to Bakcell management and Ardi and discussed advanced technologies, artificial intelligence, and its application in the field of education. In the end, the management team of the company visited the school's STEAM laboratory. The projects prepared by the students using advanced technologies, along with the laboratory's state-of-the-art provisions, attracted the attention of Bakcell management. Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday that a bid by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes is deeply unhelpful to advancing peace in Gaza. There is no moral equivalence between a democratic state exercising its lawful right to self-defence and the terrorist group Hamas, the Prime Minister told reporters on a visit to Vienna. This is a deeply unhelpful development. Of course it is still subject to a final decision, but it remains deeply unhelpful nonetheless. Mr Sunak added: What I am very clear is that this will make absolutely no difference in getting a pause in the fighting, getting aid into the region, or indeed the hostages out. But Amnesty International accused the PM of undermining the court in The Hague, which was created to replace a series of ad hoc UN tribunals set up to investigate war crimes including the 1995 Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian War. What is actually deeply unhelpful is to have the Prime Minister undermining the International Criminal Court and effectively opposing the search for justice by Israeli and Palestinian victims of war crimes and other grave human rights violations, Amnesty UKs crisis response manager Kristyan Benedict said. Raising questions of supposed moral equivalence is disingenuous and deliberately misleading - this is a fundamental matter of the rule of law, justice and accountability, and the UK is placing itself on the wrong side of history in opposing the ICC on this. Unlike Israel and the United States, the UK is a signatory to the ICC and would be obliged to execute any arrest warrant should the targeted person visit Britain. But the Government is casting doubt on the ICCs jurisdiction over the case. Deputy Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell told MPs that the UK has not recognised Palestine as a state, while Israel is not a state party to the Rome Statute which founded the ICC in 2002. The UK did, however, support an ICC arrest warrant issued last year against President Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine, despite Russia also refusing to sign the Rome Statute. The Prime Ministers official spokesman said it was absurd to question the difference in approach, stressing that Israel was legitimately acting in self-defence against Hamas while Russia had illegally invaded a sovereign nation. The ICCs British chief prosecutor Karim Khan said he had "reasonable grounds to believe" that Mr Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar bore responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He also targeted Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant along with Hamas leaders Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh. A panel of three ICC judges will decide whether to issue the arrest warrants and allow a case to proceed. The judges typically take two months to make such decisions.But Michael Gove, the communities and levelling up secretary, insisted on Times Radio that there was a drive to hold Israel to standards that we don't hold other countries to. You cannot equate Israel with Hamas. Hamas is a terrorist organisation, bent on slaughter. Israel is a state - like all states, an imperfect one, but one thats trying to defend its people, and trying to equate the two is just nonsensical, he said. Echoing strong criticism from the White House, Mr Gove accused the ICC of failing to act over alleged war crimes in Syria, Myanmar, Sudan, Mali and Ethiopia. He said: The person currently alive whos killed more Muslims than anyone else is [Syrian president] Bashar al-Assad. So when the ICC go after him with the same energy they're going after Israel, then I'll feel reassured. Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron told peers that the ICC prosecutors step was a mistake and queried its timing. He said: On timing I would make the point that the ICC was about to embark on a visit to Israel, which some of us had helped to arrange, and at the last minute decided to cancel that visit and simply go ahead with its announcement. Its clearly thought about the timing, maybe it should also think about the effect, the former PM said. Its not going to help get the hostages out and it will probably make a change in Israel less likely. Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist introduces former Vice President Joe Biden in Detroit, March 9, 2020 | Ken Coleman photo President Joe Bidens reelection campaign will launch a series of Michigan events in Detroit on Wednesday. The first BBQ for Biden-Harris event will take place in Detroit and is set to be headlined by Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes. Other events will follow. Biden, a Democrat, is expected to face GOP former President Donald Trump who last visited Michigan on May 1. Biden was the keynote speaker at the Detroit Branch NAACP event in Detroit on Sunday where he spoke before thousands. The Michigan Republican Party did not return a request for comment. The Biden-Harris team in Michigan is committed to meeting with voters in every corner of the state, from our largest metropolitan areas to our smallest rural counties. BBQs for Biden-Harris is a chance to engage communities across Michigan on the stakes of this 2024 election, because our health care, economy, and democracy are all on the ballot, said Biden-Harris 2024 Michigan Press Secretary Tom Grandon. We know voters want to hear directly from us, and unlike Donald Trumps virtually nonexistent campaign, we arent taking a single Michigan voter for granted. The Biden-Harris campaign did not give any details about the time or event site. The campaign has opened 32 coordinated offices across the state including in Lansing, Flint, Saginaw, Grand Rapids, and three in Detroit to mobilize and train volunteers. The post Michigan Biden campaign to launch set of barbecue events on Wednesday appeared first on Michigan Advance. A Michigan economic development board Tuesday approved hundreds of millions of dollars in public funding to prepare a massive site for advanced manufacturing near Flint. It marks the biggest state grant to prepare a large industrial site approved by the board since the launch of Michigan site readiness program a few years ago. The Michigan Strategic Fund Board unanimously approved a $250 million strategic site readiness grant for the Flint and Genesee Group Foundation, a local economic development corporation that sought the money to acquire land and develop infrastructure at the "Advanced Manufacturing District of Genesee County" in Mundy Township. An aerial view of the propose site for the Advanced Manufacturing District of Genesee County in Mundy Township It's the state's last large available site of more than 1,000 acres, according to a memo from the state's economic development agency Tuesday. There exist few of these so-called megasites in the country, the agency wrote. "As Michigan continues to compete for transformational projects in critical industries supported by federal industrial policy ... strengthening our inventory of available greenfield sites, of all sizes, remains paramount," the memo states. The economic development agency didn't identify a specific industry or company considering the site, but indicated some "prospects" have their eyes on it. Possible projects could include sites for electric vehicle, battery, semiconductor, clean energy or defense production. Following the Michigan Strategic Fund's approval of public funds to subsidize development of the site, lawmakers serving on legislative appropriations committees will consider the funding request. The board previously approved a $9.25 million site readiness grant in April for the Mundy Township site. The $250 million grant would come on top of those previously approved funds and marks the largest site readiness grant approved by the Michigan Strategic Fund Board since the launch of the state's Strategic Site Readiness Program, according to projects listed by the Michigan Economic Development Corp. Michigan 2024 Election: 3 takeaways from Biden's first campaign visit to Detroit After Ford passed over Michigan for electric vehicle-related facilities in 2021, a bipartisan group of lawmakers came together to create the site readiness program championed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to use corporate subsidies to lure business and jobs to Michigan. But GOP lawmakers' support for the site readiness program along with another fund that provides direct cash grants to company has largely eroded. Meanwhile some Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns with the spending. Michigan senators recently passed legislation to overhaul both corporate subsidy programs. The legislation would divert hundreds of millions of funds from the programs to another development fund for public transportation, child care and other community investments. Whitmer opposes the Senate legislation, which would still need to pass the state House before landing on the governor's desk. Staff writer JC Reindl contributed to this report. Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, previously called Twitter, @clarajanehen. Looking for more on Michigans elections this year? Check out our voter guide, subscribe to our elections newsletter and always feel free to share your thoughts in a letter to the editor. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Genesee County megasite slated to receive $250M grant Microplastics were just found in testicles. That's alarming because testes, like brains, have a special blood barrier. Experts say to reduce your exposure to microplastics, avoid microwaving plastic, or plastic-coated containers. In 2024, microplastics are starting to look a lot like cigarettes did in the early 1960s: A poorly-understood health hazard in dire need of better study and regulation. The latest bad news on microplastics and human health emerged last week, when a study from researchers at the University of New Mexico examined 47 canine and 23 human testes, taken from neutering operations and cadavers, respectively. All of those testicles had microplastics inside there were 12 different kinds of microplastic inside the organs studied, including the common plastic making material that plastic silverware and plastic bottles are made from. "It does strike me as kind of 'eww,'" Tracey Woodruff, who directs the program on reproductive health and the environment at the University of California San Francisco, and who was not involved in the study, told Business Insider. Woodruff isn't exactly surprised that microplastics are showing up in testicles. They've already been found in our bloodstream, and in other human organs such as the liver, the heart, and the lungs. In March, a New England Journal of Medicine study even suggested microplastics lodged into blood vessels in our necks might be playing a role in heart attack and stroke risk. And microplastics had already been found in testes in one 2023 Chinese study. In fact, in a rapid, systematic review of 2,000 microplastic research papers that Woodruff did for California legislators last year, she and her team found that microplastics can harm the reproductive health of both men and women, while also upping cancer risk, and hurting lungs. But Dr. Ranjith Ramasamy, an expert in reproductive urology, says if it's true that microplastics are invading testicles, that's of extra concern. "The only two organs in the human body that are protected spaces are the testes and the brain," he told BI. "I think we need to first study the question of how microplastics even got there in the first place." The testicles, like the brain, have a special blood barrier that stuff isn't supposed to get through Jonathan Kitchen/Getty Images It makes sense that microplastics might flow into organs like the heart or the kidneys. Microplastics come from all kinds of things we consume and breathe in, including dust, food containers, makeup, and water bottles. Small particles consumed through your mouth flow to your gut, then enter your bloodstream, and invade all corners of the body, from the lungs to the liver. But getting into a woman's ovaries, which are "soaked in blood" and located inside the body should be easier than invading a man's testicle, Ramasamy said. "I am shocked," he said. To get into the brain or the testicles requires surmounting an extra tough hurdle, that special blood barrier. Early studies are starting to suggest that microplastics do have the capacity to penetrate the blood-brain barrier, though. And if the results of this new testicle study hold true in other labs, it would be a damning sign that the same is true for mens' testes. Still, Ramasamy cautions that we need to understand much more about what's really going on with all the microplastics in our bodies, and precisely how they are impacting our health, before we start pointing to plastic ingestion as the most important reason for fertility issues in modern-day society. "Before we start alarming everybody saying, 'you're drinking too much from plastics and that's why your fertility is going down.' I think we just need to be a little bit cautious," he said. "Do microplastics play a role as an environmental toxin? I 100% agree. But does it play a role by entering inside the testes and blocking sperm production? That I don't know." Scientists don't understand why microplastics are bad but they are urging regulators to step in BPA-free doesn't mean safe. Getty Images Scientists know that certain chemicals inside plastic disrupt our hormones. Chemicals like BPA are colloquially known as "hormone-disrupting" chemicals, and plastic makers are developing new ones all the time. In addition to the specific chemicals that are used to make a plastic, there may also be physical issues to worry about with plastic ingestion. In this study, men had three times the amount of microplastic in their testicles as dogs. Does that matter? We don't really know. "I don't think the amount is as important as the types that are found and the potential damage that it can cause," Ramasamy said. Is having plastic floating around in your bloodstream problematic because of the chemicals we're being exposed to within it, which can include known toxins like PFAS, or does it cause issues because it's getting stuck in places it shouldn't be? The answer to these scientific questions is probably pretty complicated, experts say. "What we're seeing now is that these microplastics are a vehicle for these chemicals, which we know are toxic, and they also themselves could be toxic," Woodruff said. This is why she is in favor of regulating plastics much like we do air pollutants. "We have a real opportunity here to address microplastics and plastics right now," she said. "Plastic production is projected to triple by 2060, but we don't have to do that we don't have to have more plastic." One thing experts agree on: you should stop microwaving your plastic It's not just TV dinners, most takeout boxes, even the paper ones, are coated in plastic. Tetra Images/Getty Images Experts BI spoke with all agreed that microwaving less plastic is a good idea. "Drinking from it is one thing, but heating them and eating from it or drinking from it, I think it's definitely wrong," Ramasamy said. The reason scientists get so bent out of shape about microwaving plastic is because when plastic gets heated up, it becomes much easier for the chemicals in the plastic to leech out and get absorbed by the body. Certainly, Ramasamy said, environmental pollutants including microplastics are one reason for declining fertility. "I always ask the question, did our parents use the amount of plastics that we do today?" he said. "The answer is absolutely not." Interestingly, men over the age of 55 in the new study didn't have as much microplastic in their system as younger men did. Even "greener" looking takeout containers these days, like cardboard boxes, are often built with a special plastic coating inside so liquid doesn't seep out. So, try to put your food on a ceramic or glass plate or in a real bowl when you can. Woodruff says trying to drink from fewer plastic bottles, washing your hands before you eat, and leaving your shoes at the door are all good practices for minimizing exposure too. Read the original article on Business Insider How MidAmerican Energy is gearing up for severe weather How MidAmerican Energy is gearing up for severe weather The very real possibility of severe weather brings a threat of widespread power outages to the QCA, and managers with MidAmerican Energy are monitoring the conditions to be ready to respond. Geoff Greenwood with MidAmerican Energy spoke with Our Quad Cities News about the companys approach. For more information, click here. 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 WHBF - OurQuadCities.com. Middle East expert breaks down the tensions in Rafah and what could happen next (KXAN) As the conflict in Rafah continues, senior Middle East analyst Ryan Bohl with RANE, explains when it may end and what happens next. The Rafah combat operations that are going on right now, and theyre relatively minor compared to what we saw in the earlier phase of the war, those seem like they could go on for a few more weeks, possibly a few more months, said Bohl. That doesnt necessarily mean the fighting will stop, he said. Actors like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran still have an incentive to carry out attacks on Israel out of solidarity with this insurgency in Gaza. So we dont go back to the status quo of before October 7. But we do shift over for the Israelis, the tension towards the north, towards Lebanon. Bohl said there is increasing pressure from high-ranking Israeli officials on Benjamin Netanyahu to come up with public strategy for managing Gaza, once the operations in Rafah wind down, while others demand a strategy for Lebanon. And that is the place we have to watch next as to whether or not there can be a diplomatic breakthrough, said Bohl. That allows for there to be de-escalation in the north or If Israel builds up the forces freed up from fighting in Gaza, on the northern frontier to prepare for a full scale invasion of Lebanon. 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 KXAN Austin. Argentina Has Really Fallen Out With Its No. 2 Foreign Investor (Bloomberg) -- What began with a Spanish suggestion that Javier Milei took drugs has rapidly descended into an all-out diplomatic brawl thats among the worst since the UK ambassador flew out of Buenos Aires over the Falkland Islands more than four decades ago. Most Read from Bloomberg From now on there wont be an ambassador in Buenos Aires, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced on Tuesday at a press conference. Spats come and go. France and Italy have traded barbs over the Mona Lisa and made up. Argentina has had its fair share of fights with arch-rival Brazil but also Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. This particular brawl, though, could be more serious and more consequential, partly because of domestic politics at play between two nations that share historic yet prickly ties. The fact is that within a space of mere weeks, Argentina has managed to have an epic fallout with its second-biggest foreign investor, and neither side seems to be seeking an off-ramp. Spain has a huge corporate footprint in a country known for its debt defaults, where the presence of Banco Santander SA and Telefonica SA are a key part of the social infrastructure. Spain also happens to be home to the largest Argentine community abroad. They share a common language and cultural references and tend to love each others football. What Sanchez has done is really inexplicable, Argentine Economy Minister Luis Caputo wrote on X. The only thing he has done by taking something personal to a state level is showing his political immaturity, because there must be few countries that love each other as much as Spain and Argentina. The tit-for-tat dates to the start of May, when Spains transport minister said Milei had ingested substances. The minister was referring to a TV interview Milei gave during last years presidential campaign, when he asked people to stop talking in his ear, apparently because his ear piece was malfunctioning. The reason why the two sides havent buried the hatchet probably comes down to two leaders who stand at opposite sides of the political spectrum and are happy and sufficiently media-savvy to know how to use this drama as a distraction from their problems back home. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez published a video during Argentinas campaign last year, endorsing Mileis rival, Sergio Massa so that didnt exactly endear him to the new power structure in Argentina. Milei then decided to make a point by attending a rally hosted by a far-right opposition party in the past weekend and saying Tuesday that Sanchez should get counseling for his inferiority complex and get a lawyer for his wife, who is under investigation for alleged influence peddling. Back in Madrid, the Socialist leader had been contemplating leaving office over the public scrutiny of his wifes affairs. In Buenos Aires, Milei himself is under scrutiny for being eccentric, with his countrys economy still a mess and his reforms a work in progress. This is exclusively for show, said Diego Guelar, a former Argentine ambassador to China and the US. Milei lent himself to this and this is Sanchezs chance to polarize and improve his electoral prospects for June 9 this circus ends in June. So who will blink first? Milei, speaking by phone to local television station LN+ after Spains announcement, signaled his government wouldnt retaliate. Pedro Sanchez is making a huge mistake. Im not going to be so stupid as to repeat the same mistake. --With assistance from Manuela Tobias. (Recasts story with historical context and possible political implications.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Service members who outrank their physicians are more likely to receive better quality care at military hospitals than lower-ranking troops, a new study found. The researchers, who published the findings in the journal Science on May 16, studied power dynamics in the physician-patient relationship. Specifically, those researchers from the University of Texas at Austin and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania used data from military hospital emergency departments where some patients outrank their physicians and vice versa and how that impacts the quality of patient care. We provide careful, rigorous evidence of the long shadow of power: the idea that power in one domain of life can spill over to unrelated domains (here, from the military to the clinical), causing distortions in behavior and resource allocation in both, researchers noted. We show that the powerful may unwittingly steal resources from less-powerful individuals, in line with other research showing negative spillovers from dominant to marginalized groups in shared spaces. Researchers used active-duty service members from the ages of 18 to 64, and they monitored physician effort and resource use. The study considered physician effort as a measure of total resources or effort expended by a physician when treating a patient. Resource use pertained to seven tangible measures used on patients during appointments with their physician: any opioid prescription, intensity of evaluation/management code used, number of diagnosis codes, number of treatment codes, any test ordered, any imaging order and any procedure performed. The study, using data from 1.5 million emergency department assignments, compared service member patients of the same rank with physicians whose rank was either higher or lower than them, otherwise considered higher-power or lower-power patients. Patients who outrank their physicians received 3.6% more effort by their physician and more resources expended, researchers found. Its good that its not huge, Stephen Schwab, a University of Texas at Austin Professor and retired Army veteran, told Military Times. Most physicians are trying to do everything they can for their patients within the bounds of the resources they have, the time they have those patients. We think that this was really an implicit bias rather than an explicit, although theres no way of testing that. Schwab said a chief of an emergency department told him it was a matter of human nature kicking into drive, where youre just a little bit more careful when the stakes are higher. How does that 3.6% difference materialize? In a little bit more time and effort, Schwab said. Physicians could spend more time talking about the problem that brought a service member into the emergency department in the first place, take more time to write up a more thorough family history or order one additional test. Those same patients who outranked their physicians also had better medical outcomes than their lower-ranked peers. Those patients were 15% less likely to be readmitted to the emergency department 30 days after their initial treatment. Findings when those high-power and low-power patients were simultaneously treated by a physician also showed negative correlations for patients whose physicians outrank them. Physicians exerted 1.9% less effort on patients they outranked than on patients who outranked them, and outranked patients had a 3.4% greater likelihood of visiting the emergency department within 30 days or being admitted to the hospital, researchers found. Researchers also looked into how race and gender determine physician effort among different ranks. Physician effort was greater for all higher-ranked service members than their outranked peers, regardless of race, according to the study. The study found Black physicians provide off the charts effort to Black service members that outrank them, and white physicians exerted less effort on Black patients. Schwab did note that the study wasnt indicative of whether civilian or military hospitals are necessarily better, rather it looked at the power that can be at play regardless. Were not comparing the military to civilian health care, because all of our, sort of, anecdotal evidence is that the military is probably more fair than the civilian sector, he said. What were showing is that even in this situation, theres still an issue and we can learn something about human behavior from this study. Schwab added that these sort of power differences play out in many ways throughout society, and sometimes people dont even realize the power that theyre wielding. Defense Health Agency spokesperson Peter Graves said the agency is reviewing the content of the study. The Defense Health Agency remains committed to delivering the highest quality of care to all of our patients, regardless of rank, race, color, sex, gender identity, religion, age or any other demographic, Grave told Military Times in an email. We always expect the same high standards to be applied to every patient in an exceptional way, anytime, anywhere, always. Researchers suggested a number of ways physicians could close disparities in treatment between high and low-power patients. Solutions include task shifting, algorithmic support, increasing diversity in the provider workforce, bias training and patient advocacy, in minimizing these disparities and ensuring a health system that provides equitable care to all, researchers wrote. Ukrainian troops have stabilized the military situation in Kharkiv Oblast, including the town of Vovchansk, but it remains "complex," Nazar Voloshyn, the spokesperson for the Khortytsia group of forces, said on television on May 21. Ukraine's Defense Ministry confirmed on May 15 that Russian units had entered the northern parts of Vovchansk. The Ukrainian military said at the time it had prevented Russia from establishing a foothold deeper in the town. Ukrainian forces had controlled about 60% of Vovchansk amid continuous Russian assaults as of May 20, according to local authorities. "Currently, the operational environment remains complex in Kharkiv Oblast; it is changing dynamically," Voloshyn said on national television. "But our Armed Forces and other involved units have managed to stabilize the situation, particularly in the town of Vovchansk," the spokesperson added. The Russian military continues its attempts to break through near Vovchansk, the villages of Lyptsi and Staritsia, according to Voloshyn. Read also: Russias new Kharkiv offensive pushes Vovchansk to the brink of annihilation "Invaders combine ground assaults with air strikes, of course," he said, adding that Russian troops use air force as well for carrying out bomb and missile attacks against Kharkiv Oblast, including its regional center. Russian forces conducted 83 assaults in Kharkiv Oblast over the past week, while five armed clashes were recorded since the beginning on May 21, Voloshyn said. The number of clashes has decreased nearly twice compared to the prior day, the spokesperson added. "The enemy continues to focus its efforts on the direction of Strilecha-Lyptsi and on capturing the town of Vovchansk, moving further to Bilyi Kolodiaz and deploying an assault in the rear of our troops." Russia launched a new offensive with a reported 30,000 troops on May 10, targeting Kharkiv Oblast, which is situated near the two countries' shared border in northeastern Ukraine. Moscow's forces had advanced as far as 10 kilometers (6 miles) in the region but had been halted by the first line of defense. Russia's offensive in Kharkiv Oblast in mid-May could be the first of several waves, and Russian forces may target the regional capital, Kharkiv, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with AFP on May 17. Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Minneapolis leaders on Monday announced they had selected a company to build a database designed to flag problems with police officers before they become problematic. The idea is a technological approach an "early intervention system" to both support officers in need of say, mental health services, while also preventing cops with patterns of potential misconduct from ascending the ranks unchecked. The latter was arguably the case for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who had pressed his knee against the necks of at least two men before he did the same maneuver to George Floyd in 2020. Floyd's murder by Chauvin was the impetus for state and federal legal interventions that will lead to years of court-approved police oversight. City officials see an early intervention system as satisfying one of a litany of changes mandated by those legal cases. "People say all the time, 'How could they not know that this officer would do that?'" Police Chief Brian O'Hara said at a news conference Monday. "This is the answer to that." On Monday, Mayor Jacob Frey, O'Hara and other officials announced that after a national bidding process, they had selected Benchmark Analytics, a Chicago-based firm that includes researchers at the University of Chicago and has implemented similar systems in several other major cities, to build the Minneapolis system. "It is not going to solve all our problems," O'Hara said. He emphasized that the system "is not discipline" but rather an "early-warning system" that can identify potential concerns for officers that go beyond traditional complaints around misconduct. O'Hara said the database will analyze information such as overtime, patterns of calling in sick, arrest records and off-duty work in search of outliers. The program can assist supervisors, who can intervene in an attempt to "correct officers' behavior" before actual problems arise, he said. Nick Barkley, a civilian member of a team implementing the program, said officer wellness was an essential part of it. "Happy, healthy humans produce the best work," he said. The five-year contract for $2.375 million needs approval from the City Council, which could take up the measure as soon as Thursday. The money would be paid in part by a $500,000 grant from the Pohlad Foundation. The rest of the funding would come from general fund spending from the city's police and information technology budgets. ASTANA, Kazakhstan, May 21. The Afghan situation requires close attention, the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said at a meeting with foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states, Trend reports via Akorda. The situation in Afghanistan requires close attention. It is crucial to continue efforts to avert a humanitarian crisis and create conditions for long-term stabilization. Supporting Kazakhstan's initiative to establish a UN Regional Center for Sustainable Development Goals for Central Asia and Afghanistan in Almaty is particularly relevant, he said. Tokayev emphasized the need for countries to pay special attention to the issue of climate change. Without urgent proactive measures, this problem could lead our planet into a dramatic period of global natural cataclysms. Extreme weather conditions are emerging as one of the world's major challenges. Therefore, it is essential to refine the SCO's approaches to combating natural disasters. This spring, Kazakhstan experienced the severe negative impacts of climate change firsthand. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to your countries for their solidarity and assistance during the unprecedented large-scale floods in Kazakhstan. We deeply appreciate this support, he added. Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel Dozens of Minnesotans have objected to Xcel Energy's plans to shift away from flat pricing, including a single parent working two jobs who realized she would have just one hour on weekdays to run her dishwasher or washing machine without incurring the spiked rate. "I will ... be penalized by paying higher prices," Marie Weekly wrote to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), "just because I have to work, and I am lower middle class," Weekly said. Weekly isn't alone in her criticism. State and nonprofit consumer advocates said Xcel's plan for higher Minnesota electric rates during evening hours and lower overnight costs is too aggressive, and several groups told the PUC last week Xcel's justification for the plan was flawed, based on a pilot project for "time of use" rates that arguably did not achieve the goal of reducing electricity use when demand is highest. Attorney General Keith Ellison's office said in a Friday letter the two-year pilot program of 10,000 customers in Minneapolis and Eden Prairie produced "meager" results that do not "instill confidence that moving [Xcel's] entire customer base to [time of use] will succeed at this time." Xcel spokesman Kevin Coss said Xcel is reviewing the feedback and could adopt some, but the criticism could influence the PUC's final word on approving, modifying or rejecting Xcel's rate design. Dynamic pricing for electric rates like a surcharge during busy hours for a rideshare service like Uber is becoming more common in the U.S., and many in Minnesota's energy sector support the concept. In theory, the rates incentivize people to shift when they use electricity, easing pressure on the grid when people are home from work in the evening and using the most power. Evening out that electric use can help Xcel tap into cheap wind power at night or even avoid building new power plants, which is important as electric need grows with the rise of heat pumps, electric vehicles, electric stoves and data centers. Coss said time of use rates aim "to give customers more control over their electric bill without reducing their energy usage." Some also argue higher prices during peak demand is more fair because it's more expensive to deliver that power, and thus people who impose fewer system costs could end up with cheaper bills. The company predicted the average residential customer would see a 17.8% jump in electric bills during its four summer months and a 10.6% decrease for the rest of the year, resulting in an extra $11.57 cost per year. Still, state officials are wary of shocking people, and say public buy-in is crucial because backlash in other places has stalled these types of rates. That's why they're urging caution about Xcel's plan, which Ahmad Faruqui, a California-based energy and rate design economist, said would be a national outlier for the wide price gap between the most expensive peak rates and cheaper off hours. The AG's office said Xcel should allow people to voluntarily subscribe to dynamic rates if the PUC approves them rather than automatically enrolling 1.2 million residential customers. Xcel's plan does allow customers to opt out, though. The Minnesota Department of Commerce, recommended Xcel have fewer hours at peak prices and a significantly smaller gap between rates. The Citizens Utility Board of Minnesota (CUB), a nonprofit ratepayer advocate organization, had similar suggestions. CUB and Commerce also asked for a more incremental roll out to better educate the public, as Xcel's plan would switch all Minnesota residential customers in 2025 after a phased transition in Colorado, another Xcel region, caused some headaches. The biggest spike in electric use comes during summer afternoons and evenings, when Minnesotans are running air conditioners. In general, Xcel's highest cost for energy use would be from 3-8 p.m. on weekdays, and it would charge its cheapest rates from midnight to 6 a.m. every day. There would be a middle "base" rate for all other hours, which would be more expensive than Xcel's current flat rate from June to September, but cheaper than the rest of the year. During those summer months, peak rates during weekday evenings would be seven times more expensive than overnight lows and nearly twice as expensive as all other hours. The Xcel pilot showed a slight bill decrease on average for low-income customers, and the AG's office said these households tend to use less electricity. However, that's not universal, and low-income people might have less flexibility in shifting their power use like Weekly, the single parent which is why the AG asked for bill protections. Duluth-based Minnesota Power started phasing in default time-of-use rates for residential customers in 2022. But the utility's plan applies to few customers now and ramps up through the course of several years. The gap between peak prices and base rates is also significantly smaller. Investigators allegedly again found minors working on the kill floor of a poultry plant owned by the company that was found responsible for the death of a teenager last year, according to court filings. Department of Labor investigators said they discovered on May 1 "oppressive child labor" at the poultry plant in Alabama, "namely children working on the kill floor deboning poultry and cutting carcasses," after obtaining a civil search warrant. "The children had been working at the facility for months," the filing said. According to court documents, the company, Mar-Jac Poultry, denied knowing it had any employees who were under 18 years. In a statement to ABC News, Mar-Jac said the minors were hired with documents "that showed they were over 18 years of age." "Mar-Jac will continue to vigorously defend itself and expects to prevail in this matter," the company said. "Mar-Jac is committed to complying with all relevant law." The Department of Labor is seeking a court order to stop the company from selling and shipping "poultry tainted by oppressive child labor" from the company's plant in Alabama, according to court filings. Federal regulators had earlier this year called the July 2023 death of Duvan Perez, a 16-year-old who died while cleaning a poultry processing machine at a Mar-Jac facility, "a preventable, dangerous situation" that no worker should have been in, "let alone a child." MORE: Despite hazardous working conditions, many states are rolling back child labor laws The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Mar-Jac Poultry with 14 serious and three "other than serious" violations and proposed $212,646 in penalties for Perez's death. The agency previously cited the company for an incident in 2021 in which an employee who was not a minor suffered fatal injuries while working. Perez's mother filed in January a wrongful death lawsuit against Mar-Jac and two of its employees, along with the agency that hired Perez. The lawsuit alleges that Perez was killed due to Mar-Jac ignoring safety regulations. The suit claims the defendants "acted intentionally, willfully, wantonly, knowingly, with malice and/or were grossly negligent and in reckless disregard to the rights and the safety of the decedent and others similarly situated." Court records reviewed by ABC News said the company's Hattiesburg plant was also sued twice in recent years by people who alleged they had sustained injuries at the plant. One of the lawsuits, filed in December 2022, is scheduled for a jury trial in August. In the other lawsuit, which was filed by a veterinarian for the Department of Agriculture who allegedly fell during an inspection, a jury found in favor of the defendant, Mar-Jac. The Alabama plant was cited in December by OSHA for a serious violation after an employee was injured. According to the Department of Labor, last year 5,800 children were employed in violation of child labor laws, representing an 88% increase since 2019. And of the 955 child labor cases that were investigated and closed by federal regulators in 2023, more than half involved minors employed in violation of hazardous occupation laws. Poultry company responsible for teen's 2023 death found to have 'oppressive child labor' at separate plant: DOL originally appeared on abcnews.go.com New Hampshire resident Kexin Cai was last seen in the area of Drake Lane on Wednesday, May 15, according to local police Lebanon Police Department/Facebook Kexin Cai A missing Dartmouth College student was found dead in the Connecticut River after a days-long search. Kexin Cai, 26, of West Lebanon, New Hampshire, was last seen in the area of Drake Lane on Wednesday, May 15, according to the Lebanon Police Department. Cai was officially reported missing on Friday, May 17, according to Boston.com. A fisherman told police he found a body along the Connecticut River in Windsor, Vermont, at about 4 p.m. on Monday, May 20, according to FOX affiliate WFXT and CBS affiliate WCAX. Related: Missing 3-Year-Old Boy Found Dead in Colorado Canal That Runs Behind His Home The body was brought to shore shortly after 5:30 p.m., and eventually identified as Cai, WFXT and ABC affiliate WMUR-TV reported. Police do not suspect foul play in connection with Cais death. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Cai was a graduate student in the Mutual Understanding Lab at Dartmouth College, according to the schools website. She was a second-year doctoral student in the psychological and brain sciences department, where she researched communications challenges for individuals with autism, Dean of the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies Jon Kull said in a campus-wide email on Sunday, May 19, according to The Dartmouth. Kull went on to remember her as "an exceptionally gifted and humble researcher" who "loved cats so much that she would sneak images of them into every poster or presentation." Related: Hat Leads Officials to Find Body of Missing 76-Year-Old Man, Who Died After Fall from California Cliff Kristian Droste, Cais partner, toldThe Dartmouth that his partner had admitted herself to Dicks House on Monday, May 13 for a mental health crisis." She was later transferred to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, which released her on May 15, the day she was last seen. Droste previously told WMUR-TV in a statement that Cai had an uninhibited laugh and would often sing in another language. He also praised Cai for her loyalty to her family and the ones she loves. If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. A Dartmouth College student reported missing last week has been found dead in the Connecticut River in Vermont, police said. Kexin Cai, 26, had been missing since Wednesday, and was last seen in the area of Drake Lane in West Lebanon. Surveillance video from local businesses captured her traveling on her E-bike. An extensive ground and air search for her began over the weekend after police were notified on Friday that she had been missing. At around 4 p.m. Monday, a fisherman alerted police that he saw a body along the Connecticut River in Windsor, Vermont. Emergency crews responded to the area and retrieved the body, later identified as Cai, by bringing her to shore at 5:36 p.m. A preliminary investigation suggests no foul play in her death. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW UNION COUNTY, NC (QUEEN CITY NEWS) The 82-year-old man from Union County who was reported missing was found safe Tuesday, according to the sheriffs office Officials say William Sossamon was last seen at Faith Baptist Church, located at 4220 Faith Church Road, Indian Trail. This is on the outskirts of Hemby Bridge and Indian Trail, close to the US-74 bypass. William Sossamon (NCDPS) Sossamon is described as a white man standing 6 feet tall and weighing 160 pounds. He has short gray hear and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans. Mr. Sossamon may be driving a silver or gray Chevrolet Silverado truck with an NC license plate number EHC6255. 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 Queen City News. MIT accused of discrimination for women of color scholars program in civil rights complaint MIT is first elite school to release admissions numbers since Supreme Court ruling (Getty Images) A federal civil rights complaint accuses the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of discrimination over a program that offers resources and mentorships to students who are women of color. The complaint, filed with the US Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights (OCR), alleges that MITs Creative Regal Women of Knowledge program (CRWN) discriminates on the basis of both sex and race by offering its resources to women of color. The mission of the CRWN program, according to its website, is to inspire undergraduate women of color to move confidently as visionaries, grounded in excellence, empathy, and support for one another. CRWN offers students networking, mentoring, social outings and financial assistance. The undergraduate program, the site notes, defines women of color as Black, Indigenous, Hispanic/Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islanders, and other minoritized ethnicities, and includes transgender women, cisgender women, and non-binary women. The complaint, from the Rhode Island-based conservative Legal Insurrection Foundation, alleges that the program violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars race and sex discrimination in federally-funded enterprises like education, as well as OCR guidance. Discrimination against white applicants is just as unlawful as discrimination against black or other non-white applicants, the complaint argues. The Independent has contacted the MIT Office of Minority Education, which runs the CRWN, for comment. Earlier this year, the US House of Representatives Education and the Workforce Committee launched an investigation into allegations of antisemitism at MIT, and students have also sued the school over allegations it allowed antisemitism on campus. The group bringing the complaint has challenged academic programs across the country offering specialized resources on the basis of a students identity. Such programs have frequently been the target of conservative groups. Last year, the US Supreme Court struck down the use of race as a factor in university admisssions, the building block of decades worth of affirmative action programs. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell apparently has no issue with Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alitos decision to fly a symbol of the insurrection shortly after the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Images published on Friday revealed that the conservative justice had flown the upside-down flaga symbol of Donald Trumps Stop the Steal effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election resultsat his home in Alexandria, Virginia, in the immediate aftermath of the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. The photographic evidence has since sparked questions about Alitos impartiality on the nations highest courtbut none of that seemed to bother McConnell, who appeared to suggest Tuesday that examining the courts ethics was an unnecessary attack on the judiciary. It seems to me there are nonstop attacks on the Supreme Court, week after week after week, so Im not going to dignify that with a response, McConnell said, responding to a direct question on the issue from CNNs Manu Raju. We need to leave the Supreme Court alone, protect them from people who went into their neighborhoods and tried to do them harm, look out for the Supreme Courtthats part of the job of the administration, McConnell added. But thats not the position McConnell took in the months following January 6. McConnell has privately and publicly criticized Trump for his role in the riots, including denying that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and saying that the mob was provoked by the president and other powerful people. Meanwhile, other conservative leaders in the upper chamber have had no problem shutting down Alitos symbolic declaration, including Senator Lindsey Graham, who described the flag choice as not good judgment. He said his wife was insulted and got madassume that to be truebut hes still a supreme court justice, Graham told HuffPosts Igor Bobic on Monday. And, you know, people have to realize that moments like that, to think it through. McConnell on Alito: We need to leave the Supreme Court alone. pic.twitter.com/OjSzROyhbj Acyn (@Acyn) May 21, 2024 For years, Missouri lawmakers have redirected millions from a federal grant program intended to help low-income families to a state program aimed at steering women away from receiving abortions despite the states strict ban on the procedure. Each year, the state receives millions in federal dollars through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or TANF. In recent years, roughly $6.3 million of that grant has been funneled to pregnancy centers that counsel women to consider alternatives to receiving an abortion. However, the continued practice of using federal funds for pregnancy centers in Missouri could run afoul of new federal guidelines. Some Democrats and abortion rights advocates said spending money intended to help low-income families through programs such as Alternatives to Abortion has largely fallen on deaf ears. Rep. Deb Lavender, a Manchester Democrat, said millions of state dollars are funding Alternatives to Abortion clinics that appear to be deceptive and truly lie to women. We have great concerns that Temporary Assistance for Needy Families is going to organizations that routinely lie to women, Lavender said. The expenditures were included in the budget before the state enacted one of the strictest abortion bans in the country and have been included since then. But supporters of the effort said pregnancy centers provide critical services to women in crisis. The Haven of Grace maternity shelter in St. Louis is among the agencies that receive state funding through the Alternatives to Abortion program. Patricia Bosman, the organizations executive director, said state funding enables the center to provide critical services to some pregnant mothers who may be at risk of becoming homeless. Other services include housing assistance, mental health counseling, and helping clients find jobs. By the time our moms get to us, theyve already made a decision, Bosman said. Theyve already made a decision and they are seeking support to make it through the pregnancy. Lawmakers passed a budget recently that includes money for the Alternatives to Abortion effort. That means that the money for the program is unlikely to be affected by the new rule this year. But lawmakers may be forced to remove the allocation from future state budgets as a result of a proposed federal rule that would effectively block states from sending federal money to pregnancy centers. Under the new rule, states would be required to explain how the grant expenditure supports efforts to help low-income families become less reliant on government assistance, prevent out-of-wedlock pregnancies, and encourage two-parent families to remain intact. The proposal specifically discourages federal grant money going to pregnancy centers because, according to the federal government, they do not support the federal programs intent to help needy families. Battling misinformation Whether pregnancy centers supported by Alternatives to Abortion fit within the TANF program largely depends on whether the services they offer do anything to accomplish the programs goals. Other nonprofits like food banks, fatherhood development programs, and domestic violence shelters could still receive grant money under the new federal guidelines, according to the Missouri Department of Social Services. Bosman said that a number of the services provided by the Haven of Grace maternity center meet TANFs goals in the same way that other nonprofits do, by providing stable housing, individual and group counseling, and sexual education. I think that there is a misnomer or misunderstanding of what those funds are for and whos getting them and whos using them and the benefit of them, she said. Somebody who is not in the trenches every day with unhoused women and children dont understand that it is just not for housing, but it is for all the other things that that individuals need to survive, to thrive to get back on their feet. Rep. Dirk Deaton, a Noel Republican and vice chair of the Houses budget-writing committee, said he was critical of the rule because the pregnancy centers provide important services to many low-income women. If that was not available if this program was not available, I mean, how is that going to ultimately affect the health and well-being of the mother and the family, but you know, the soon-to-be-born child as well, Deaton said. So that seems to me that that would have a very negative effect on families and women and babies across the state of Missouri, he said. However, abortion advocates painted a different picture of what the pregnancy centers are doing with the federal dollars. Maggie Olivia, a senior policy manager with Abortion Action Missouri, a reproductive rights advocacy group, said that Alternatives to Abortion providers often use the money to mislead women rather than serve them. I think weve seen that a lot of this money that is allocated to and even donated to these centers ends up being used on marketing, Olivia said. Confusion and fear in and of itself serve as a barrier to abortion care. So even if an anti-abortion fake clinic cant convince someone not to seek an abortion, they can confuse them and bombard them with misinformation, she said. The lack of transparency around how pregnancy centers spend federal funds was a part of the problem, said Katie Baylie, the director of legislative affairs and associate general counsel for Planned Parenthood Great Plains. Were not able to really see if the goals of the program, which are explicitly anti-abortion are even being met, Baylie said. Obviously abortion is not happening in Missouri, its been illegal. So its just not really clear, if the goal is stopping abortions in a state where abortion is illegal, what the funds are really being used for, she said. Bosman said her agency, the Haven of Grace does not spread misinformation about abortion care. Instead, they provide resources beyond what cash assistance could offer, which would be unfairly restricted if the new rule were enforced, she said. I think that many of the people that we serve need help, they need guidance, they need to be educated around how to use resources, Bosman said. If youve not had any type of exposure, which many dont, to money management, it will not be helpful. MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) A local man was arrested after he was accused of assaulting his mother during an argument, according to the Mobile Police Department. An MPD news release said officers were called to the 3000 block of Lacoste Road around 3 p.m. Saturday for a report of a domestic incident. Mobile woman accused of pulling knife on gas station clerk, stealing items: MPD When they arrived, officers heard that a womans son had assaulted her during an argument, according to the release. A mugshot of Christian Braun (Mobile County Sheriffs Office). Mobile Police arrested 31-year-old Christian Martin Braun. He is charged with domestic violence strangulation, domestic violence assault and unlawful imprisonment, according to the release. 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 WKRG News 5. ASTANA, Kazakhstan, May 21. The Omani airline Salam Air plans to launch flights to Kazakhstan on the Muscat-Almaty route, Trend reports, citing the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan. Slated to operate twice a week (Tuesdays and Fridays), the first flight will be performed on June 18 on an Airbus A320/A321 aircraft with a capacity of 180230 seats. According to the Ministry, the resumption of air traffic will contribute to the further development of trade, economic, business, and tourism cooperation between the two countries. Notably, the total number of international flights from Kazakhstan reached 567 per week on 121 air routes. Direct flights are available to 28 countries. Furthermore, the number of passengers transported by air in Kazakhstan amounted to 13.3 million from January through December 2023. This is 20.7 percent more than in the same period in 2022. At the same time, passenger turnover amounted to 25.9 billion p-km (increased by 28.8 percent compared to JanuaryDecember 2022). He moderated r/Ukraine, shaping how the world sees the war. Now he has to fight in it. Mykola Sokalskii, a Ukrainian film producer, is being enlisted to fight against Russia. He is also one of the powerful moderators of r/Ukraine a huge clearinghouse for news of the war. The subreddit grew more than tenfold during the war and gave Sokalskii a vivid insight into the fight he's joining. A man who spent two years moderating one of the internet's most influential sources of information on Ukraine is being called up to fight against Russia. Mykola Sokalskii, a 39-year-old film producer from Kyiv, started live-streaming on Reddit in 2020 after the pandemic began. Then, a few months before Russia invaded in February 2022, he joined r/Ukraine as a moderator, one of the users empowered to help shape the subreddit's conversation. Speaking to Business Insider, Sokalskii said the subreddit "skyrocketed" in popularity on Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, swelling from 80,000 members to 906,000. It became a key source of information on the war, often breaking news of major events and featuring gritty combat videos that mainstream journalists scrambled to confirm. It was also a community a strongly partisan one coordinating fundraising efforts to get equipment and aid to soldiers on the front line. Sokalskii who uses the username "JesterBoyd" said he uses Reddit to convey what he sees as "objective truth" about the war to its members, predominantly in the US, UK, and Germany. A shift in perspective His days as a moderator are filled with reviewing heartbreaking posts detailing the tragedies in his country. He monitors the responses giving him a unique perspective on how the West is viewing the invasion. He is often struck by how fickle the support can be, but also the huge power he has to show the reality of war to so many people. "We can see how the public opinion shifts and transforms based on the information they consume, and the responsibility we have is to give information that is objective," he told BI. "When you travel through a war-torn landscape, you will see one house that will be completely obliterated, and then the neighbor's house will be pretty much fine and it's kind of unfair in a way," he said. "But that's just the way things are, and that's also the way you can portray war. You can focus on one house, or you can focus on another, or you can try to give a wider, more general picture and try to convey some kind of objective truth." Ukraine's weakness One issue often discussed on the subreddit is Ukraine's need for more troops. Ukraine has recently stepped up its efforts to replenish soldiers. It lowered the conscription age from 27 to 25, eliminated some draft exemptions, and created an online registry for recruits. Ukraine's parliament also passed a bill earlier this month that would allow the country's military to recruit prisoners to fight . That effort now includes drafting Sokalskii. The need is clear US estimates have suggested Ukraine has already lost some 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers, The New York Times reported . Sokalskii knows it better than most. He said he had long been thinking about what would happen if he went to the frontline. Writing in a thread in April, Sokalskii said he'd been served a drafting notice, and was going through the process of getting ready to serve. One person asked: Wouldn't he be more valuable to Ukraine helping run the subreddit? "In a perfect world, I could do both more effectively by being in the army," he said. But the world isn't perfect. A memorial for fallen defenders of Ukraine at the Maidan Nezalezhnosti on May 14, 2024 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Global Images Ukraine/Getty Images "In reality, an army is an army and I expect it to be exceedingly difficult to post content regularly without endangering anyone and still being informative and engaging enough to make a difference," he said. Flaws in Ukraine's conscription process Sokalskii spent a long time thinking about the country's conscription process, which has been plagued by corruption. He said he believes it would work better as a lottery where "everybody has to suffer equally" with the option to trade with a family member or friend willing to take your place. In August, Zelenskyy fired all of Ukraine's military recruitment chiefs after an investigation revealed they were accepting up to $10,000 in bribes to help people avoid being drafted. "I think everyone should be equal I don't really care whether you are a CEO or a plumber," Sokalskii said. Sokalskii declined to share specifics on enlistment, citing that he was still going through the process. But he said working as a moderator helped to set basic expectations for war. Two Ukrainian soldiers of the 42th Brigade in training at an undisclosed location in Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast on February 27, 2024. Narciso Contreras/Anadolu via Getty Images "My mom is very worried and wouldn't want me to go. What can you do?" he said. Some Reddit users offered well-wishes, while others, who appeared to have military experience, offered advice on survival. "Keep a safe distance from your buddies when out in the open. And stay dry this is a survival thing: being miserable grinds people down mentally so they make stupid decisions," one person wrote in the thread he started. Another wrote: "If I might offer one piece of advice as a combat vet myself, make sure you have plenty of dry socks." "I know this may sound stupid to a lot of people, but it is arguably the most important piece of kit you'll have," they said. "It's hard to fight when the skin on your feet is rotten and falling off in chunks." Sokalskii said the support he has received from the subreddit community has made him "proud to be a part of it." Read the original article on Business Insider Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean and the European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, signed a Security and Defense Partnership on May 21, Borrell said on X. Moldova became the first country to sign such a document with the EU, which is designed to "enhance the country's resilience." Chisinau has moved closer to Europe amid worries that the Kremlin is attempting to carry out a destabilization campaign in the country. Russo-Moldovan relations have soured since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with fears that Russia's aggression may spill over via Transnistria, a Moldovan territory where Russian troops have been stationed since the early 1990s. "It (partnership) will allow to jointly address common security challenges, make our engagement more effective, and explore new areas of cooperation," Borrell said. The partnership will function as an umbrella mechanism for all interactions between Moldova and the EU, including the spheres of cybersecurity, countering disinformation, and defense, the Moldovan Foreign Ministry said. The document does not have the status of an international treaty and is based on political commitments. Moldova and France signed a bilateral defense deal in March, days after Moldova's intelligence agency warned that Russia would seek to destabilize the country as it prepares for a presidential election and a referendum on EU membership. President Maia Sandu will run for re-election in October. Sandu has put the country on a decisively pro-EU course, helping to secure Chisinau's membership candidacy and accession talks. Read also: US official: US deepening cooperation with Moldova amid potential threats from Russia Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Moldova has signed a security and defence partnership with the European Union, the first country to agree such a deal with the bloc, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday. Led by pro-European President Maia Sandu, Moldova, which lies between Ukraine and NATO and EU member Romania, hopes to join the European Union by 2030. It has strongly condemned Russia's full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine. "This partnership will enhance the country's resilience. It will allow (us) to jointly address common security challenges, make our engagement more effective and explore new areas of cooperation," Borrell wrote on X. Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean said on the X social media platform that EU accession would be the best "mechanism to ensure peace & stability for Moldova's citizens". "Until then, the signing of the EU-Moldova Security and Defence Partnership is a step forward, enhancing our peace, security, and prosperity," he wrote. In March, Sandu signed a defence cooperation accord with France, warning that Russia was renewing efforts to destabilise Moldova and that if President Vladimir Putin was not stopped in Ukraine he would keep going. Moldova gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and its relations with Moscow have deteriorated during Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The 28-point partnership plan takes account of "an increasingly challenging security environment" following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and calls for consultations in a wide range of sectors. These include cyber threats, disinformation, counter-terrorism and "enhancing Moldovas national security, stability and resilience in the defence sector". Cooperation is also to include border management, human trafficking and organised crime and cooperation in international forums. (Reporting by Alexander Tanas and Andrew Gray; writing by Tom BalmforthEditing by Ed Osmond, Gareth Jones, Ron Popeski) Mom noticed birthmark above her daughter's eye. It was sign of seizure-causing condition When Danielle Gourdeau first gazed at newborn Jasmine on October 1, 2021, she noticed a spot on her daughters eye. At first, she didnt worry about it. When Jasmine was first born, mom Danielle Gourdeau thought the mark above her eye was from a traumatic birth. (Courtesy Danielle Gourdeau) They thought that maybe the mark about her eye could have been a bruise due to the traumatic birth, Gourdeau, 36, of Massachusetts, tells TODAY.com. My first child, my son, was also a traumatic birth and he had some markings on his face. But the spot didnt go away and Gourdeau realized it was a birthmark. When she mentioned it to Jasmines pediatrician at her first visit, the doctor suggested something unexpected that Jasmine might have something called Sturge-Weber syndrome, a condition that can lead to seizures, migraines and other neurological troubles. I had never heard of it, Gourdeau says. I was undoubtedly terrified. I wanted to know if this was something that was genetically connected to me, like I gave it to her and then get her treated as soon as possible. When a birthmark is a sign of something else Before that visit to the doctor, Gourdeau thought little of the raised blush colored mark above Jasmines left eye. A home-visiting nurse said that it was likely a birthmark, which encouraged Gourdeau to mention it to Jasmines doctor. She was surprised when the doctor recommended she take Jasmine to the Surge-Weber Syndrome Clinic at Boston Childrens Hospital. "I just wanted to know if there was something wrong and if she needed to be treated, Gourdeau says. When Jasmine went to the clinic she met director, Dr. Anna Pinto, who recommended than Jasmine undergo an MRI. The results confirmed what the doctors suspected Jasmine had Sturge-Weber syndrome, a rare neurological condition accompanied by a port wine birthmark and seizures. Everything I (read about the syndrome) absolutely terrified me, Gourdeau says. The clinic offers treatments to address the aesthetic appearance of the birthmark, but Gourdeau was more concerned about the impact the condition would have on her daughters brain. (Dr. Pinto said) usually within the first year of life, we see seizures, Gourdeau recalls. I faded out. I didnt really absorb what she was saying. I must have asked her to repeat herself two or three times. After Gourdeau's shock wore off, Pinto explained that doctors can treat Sturge Weber syndrome with an anti-seizure medication and aspirin. Pinto who participated in a retrospective study of this protocol saw that this medication regimen could lessen or even stop babies with Sturge Weber from having seizures. The seizures themselves could possibly lead to irreparable damage to her brain, Gourdeau says. So why not avoid them? When her daughter was diagnosed with Sturge Weber syndrome, Danielle Gourdeau had no idea that a port wine birthmark could be associated with neurological symptoms. (Courtesy Danielle Gourdeau) After much thought, Gourdeau agreed to the treatment. It was scary being in the position that I was in, (wondering) am I making the right choice? she says. Sturge Weber syndrome Having a birthmark doesnt necessarily indicate a health problem. But when babies have port wine birthmarks located on the upper eyelid, in the forehead, it could be a sign of Sturge Weber syndrome, Pinto says. Those who have the condition develop too many capillaries in the skin and also have abnormal blood vessels on the brains surface, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke says. A port wine birthmark on the brow and forehead increases the chances of having the same vascular malformation inside the brain, in the area surrounding the brain tissue and this can lead to neurological symptoms (with) seizures being the most common, Pinto, an attending physician in the department of neurology, division of epilepsy at Boston Childrens Hospital, tells TODAY.com. Children with these birthmarks should be seen by a neurologist. Children with Sturge Weber syndrome often develop seizures and migraines, she notes. But symptoms can appear later. Some cases can be asymptomatic (for) a period of time, she says. We have very mild cases, or they have late onset neurological symptoms. Theres a large variation. For some children, early onset seizures can be devastating for their development, she says. To address that, children who have EEG or MRI results that indicate vascular abnormalities in the brain are treated with an anti-seizure medication and aspirin. What we have found is that by giving a seizure medication associated with aspirin before the seizures (begin) can decrease the amount of seizures, Pinto explains. It can delay the onset as well as decrease the magnitude of the epilepsy. Right now, it seems as if that they might not have to continue the medication throughout their lives, she says. But there are some variables. If the patient does not develop any symptoms when we repeat the MRI, if there is no progression of the disease (and) the brain is safe, we can offer to stop the treatment, she says. However, (with) some of the patients what happened is that we delayed the onset of the neurological symptoms, and they still can develop seizures. Pinto says there is a multi-center study examining the natural history of Sturge Weber syndrome so experts gain a better understanding of how the disease manifests across the population. Experts know that it can range from mild to severe and that it doesnt seem to contribute to increase mortality, she notes. But some people with it experienced a diminished quality of life, many with severe or frequent seizures being unable to drive, for example. Many who have epilepsy as a result of Sturge Weber take medication that impacts their memories and many also have ADHD, Pinto says. This condition is highly associated with depression (and) anxiety," she adds. Raising awareness Jasmine, now almost 3, is still taking the medications and Gourdeau believes the intervention had a tremendous impact on her daughter. They have saved my daughter, I truly believe, from having to suffer from any seizures, she says. The odds were stacked against her, and she has surpassed them. Every year, Jasmine undergoes an MRI and when shes 4 the doctors might re-evaluate her medications, either reducing or eliminating what she takes. Hopefully at her 4th birthday her MRI will show no signs of any damage, any seizure activity, Gourdeau says. Jasmine has a 'spicy' personality and her port wine birthmark turns redder when she angers. Still, mom Danielle Gourdeau feels grateful that Jasmine received a quick diagnosis and treatment for Sturge Weber syndrome. (Courtesy Danielle Gourdeau) Jasmine experienced some developmental delays where she was slow to hold up her head, sit and crawl. But she participated in early interventions, such as physical, speech and occupational therapy, and is doing well now. Every transition has been a little bit different and a little more difficult or a little bit (scary), Gourdeau says. In hindsight of it all, I would not have changed what I had done. (Boston Children's Hospital) absolutely made sure that she was going to be OK. Today, Jasmine is hitting milestones, and enjoying life. She loves music, dancing and running around the park. Shes very rambunctious, Gourdeau says. Nothing stops her. Shes spicy. When Jasmine angers, her birthmark becomes a darker red, a telltale sign for Gourdeau to be cautious. But her fury is fleeting. Shes very, very happy, she says. Gourdeau hopes that others learn from Jasmines story. If a child has a port wine birthmark above the eye or in the forehead, they should visit a doctor. Stick to your motherly instincts, stick to your fatherly instincts, she says. If you think there may be something wrong, dont overthink it (take) action. This article was originally published on TODAY.com Montanas chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers today announced that it raised a record $56,620 for mule deer conservation by raffling a single statewide deer tag. The winner is a Washington State hunter who bought five chances at $20 apiece. The total raised in the two-month campaign, which was heavily promoted on BHAs content channels, is 38 percent higher than the previous record of $41,000 raised at auction for Montanas statewide mule deer tag. The fundraising mechanism is an important point of divergence here. Montana is one of many Western states whose wildlife commissions donate highly coveted statewide big-game hunting tags to conservation groups to sell. Money from the transaction is plowed back into habitat and management efforts to benefit the respective species. Traditionally, these tags have been auctioned to the highest bidders, but the idea that opportunities to pursue public wildlife are being sold to wealthy hunters and highest bidders conflicts with an expectation that wildlife is available to all. Thats one of the seven pillars of whats come to be called the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. It means that every citizen has the freedom to view, hunt and fish, regardless of social or economic status, according to the Boone and Crockett Clubs explanation. Reconsidering Tag Auctions The auction-tag model is under consideration in a number of states. In March, shortly after the Western Hunting & Conservation Expo, where most Western big-game tags are auctioned, Arizonas Game and Fish Commission voted to abolish the states practice of auctioning big-game tags by 2026 as it considers more equable systems for raising funds important to trophy-species management. But some who testified in favor of keeping auction tags, and the eye-popping revenue they raise for the most desirable hunts, noted the trickle-down effect of allowing a single wealthy hunter to fund species-specific management. The Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society stressed that of the $9.6 million raised for wild sheep conservation in Arizona over the past 20 years, $6.8 million was generated through auctions, compared to $2.8 million raised through raffles. Funds from both sources are used to fund wildlife management and habitat projects that often create additional hunting opportunities that are democratically distributed in the states big-game draw. The fact that a handful of individuals stepped up to put and keep more wild sheep on the mountain for everyone, and one day put more sheep permits into the public draws, is the definition of paying it forward, says Gray Thornton, president and CEO of the Wild Sheep Foundation, which set an auction-tag record for conservation permits at its convention in January. Thats the backbone of conservation. Montanas statewide bighorn sheep license, it should be noted, sold at auction to the highest bidder at the Wild Sheep Foundations January Sheep Show for $380,000. That tag has raised $8.7 million for bighorn sheep management in Montana since 1986. A Gamble in Montana As it requested permission to raffle the Montana statewide mule deer tag, which allows the recipient to hunt in any unit in the state in archery, rifle, and muzzleloader seasons, BHAs regional policy manager Kevin Farron told Montanas Fish and Wildlife Commission that the opportunity to hunt shouldnt just be for the wealthy. The commission awarded BHA rights to broker the tag through a raffle. Its the first time that a Montana conservation group has hosted an open raffle for a trophy tag, which are also offered for bighorn sheep, mountain goat, moose, and elk. The tag was drawn last week (full disclosure: BHA asked me to assist in the drawing) and the ticket number corresponding to a hunter known only as Matt E. from Washington State was drawn. In all, 1,317 individuals bought $20 raffle tickets, according to BHAs Farron. A total of 2,831 tickets were sold, and the average buyer bought two tickets. Nearly 12 percent of ticket buyers were Montana residents. Over 60 percent of participants bought just one ticket; 76 percent bought two or fewer. Read Next: Auction vs. Raffle Tags: Should States Stop Selling Big-Game Tags to the Highest Bidder? We think that distribution is important, said Farron. There was a risk that a single buyer could come in and buy a huge number of tickets to swamp the pool, but that didnt happen, which I think helps make the case that chances were equitably distributed. In fact, many participants told us that they had no illusions of drawing the tag but simply wanted to support this more equitable model for special tags. The raffle, unlike an auction, wasnt driven by high rollers, continued Farron. Average, blue-collar hunters had a realistic shot. The statewide hunting tag wasnt the only prize on offer in the raffle. Matt E. will also receive $3,600 worth of gear donated by Mystery Ranch, Weatherby, and First Lite BHA corporate partners who support this equitable approach, says Farron. View comments After more than a year of heated community debate, its official the Delta Program is becoming a separate school. Fourteen months, one steering committee and several board discussions later, the State College Area school board unanimously approved a motion during its Monday meeting to make the program into a middle and high school. Started in 1974, Delta Program is a democratically run alternative schooling program students can opt into starting in sixth grade. In March 2023, the SCASD administration proposed making Delta into its own middle and high schools but faced heavy opposition from parents and students in the Delta community who feared that Delta becoming a school would radically change its culture. The motion also included the creation of a transition committee that would help create names for the middle and high school, create a branding plan, evaluate graduation requirements and decide if a separate ceremony would be wanted for future graduates. One of the major reasons for the administrations push to make Delta into separate schools is the need for more accurate state testing data. As a program, Delta students standardized test scores, demographics and climate studies are essentially a black hole to the district, being stored with the students home schools. As two schools, the future Delta middle and high schools PSSA, Keystone and state climate studies will be separate, allowing the district to better track scores and growth. Board member Jackie Huff said the transition to a school wouldnt change the way Delta operates, just help track the data the students already produce. I dont see this as something thats meant to change the direction of Delta, Huff said. This just kinda puts an AirTag on it. The focus on data has long been a sticking point between the Delta community and the administration. In previous community discussions, parents and students said they felt becoming a school could lead to an increased pressure on standardized testing. Others felt that becoming a school would be the first step to losing Deltas character. In April, the board approved a resolution recognizing the core tenets of Delta, a step to reassure the community that Delta would not fundamentally change if it became a school. Still, some members of the Delta community were unconvinced. Student representative to the board and senior at the Delta Program, Zofia Sullivan, shared the concerns many of her peers voiced during the months of discussion around Deltas transition to a school. I agree that data is important for a variety of reasons; my fear is that reducing Deltas essence to test scores oversimplifies its impact, Sullivan said. And a lot of students fear that the school board and the school district essentially do not understand what Delta is. Despite lingering concerns, board members, some whom are Delta parents and alumni, expressed their continued commitment to the community moving forward. I really hope that we can let go of fear board president Amy Bader said. As an anxious person, I understand that uncertainty is really difficult. But as Ive grown up, the biggest thing Ive tried to learn is how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable and thats not always easy. More protests at Harvard University worry some Jewish students that graduation will be interrupted Harvard Divinity School Graduate student Shabbos Kestenbaum worries that protests will mar Harvards graduation ceremony this week. Im concerned theyll disrupt commencement this week and also because they have admitted publicly plan on disrupting commencement this week, said Shabbos Kestenbaum, the President of the Divinity School Jewish Student Association who is graduating this week. On Sunday anti-Israel protesters marched from Harvard to the home of interim president Alan Garber for the second time. They are upset that students who participated in the three-week-long encampment are being disciplined. Harvards Administrative Board: Suspended 5 students Placed 20 on probation And prevented 14 seniors from receiving degrees In a Saturday Instagram post Harvard out of Palestine or HOOP, wrote that the rally on Sunday will: send Harvard a message: commencement will not proceed as normal while Harvard penalizes the students that speak against genocide. Jewish students like Shabbos are worried Harvard has no plan in place if protesters do follow through with that threat. We are all very concerned and apprehensive about inviting friend and family to participate in the ceremony, said Kestenbaum. Harvard sent Boston 25 a statement that says Harvard did not guarantee student protesters would be let off scot-free. It does not speak to the outcome of disciplinary processes, rather it indicates he would encourage disciplinary bodies to move their processes forward expeditiously, in line with their existing precedents and practices, says Jason Newton a university spokesperson Harvards graduation is on Thursday. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW More scholarship money offered to SC education majors in attempt to stem teacher shortage (File/Getty Images) COLUMBIA Education majors at South Carolina colleges can get additional scholarship aid starting this fall under a bill Gov. Henry McMaster signed into law Monday. The new law, which passed both the House and Senate unanimously, is meant to encourage more students to become teachers amid an ever-worsening teacher shortage, supporters said. It extends to education majors the same boost in lottery-backed scholarships that state law has offered students majoring in math and science since 2007. Students receiving the money must agree to teach at a public school in the state for as many years as they received the scholarship, which can be a maximum of four years. Im thrilled to death, said Senate Education Chairman Greg Hembree, the bills main sponsor. It was one of those no-brainer pieces of legislation to assist with trying to retain teachers. As of February, public K-12 schools in the state had 1,315 open positions for teachers, librarians, counselors, psychologists and speech therapists, according to the mid-year update from the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention & Advancement. The scholarships will be available this coming school year to college sophomores, juniors and seniors who went to high school in South Carolina and are already receiving LIFE or Palmetto Fellows scholarships, which are awarded to students who meet academic criteria. The money is meant to cover students remaining tuition after other scholarships are applied. LIFE Scholarship recipients can get up to $2,500 more on top of the $5,000 they already receive, and Palmetto Fellows Scholarship recipients can get up to $3,300 added to their $7,500. The money will come from lottery profits. If the number of students studying education in the state remains consistent this coming year, students will receive an additional $8 million in scholarships, the state Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office estimated. That number should increase if the program accomplishes its goal in enticing more students toward the teaching profession, Hembree said. Although offering scholarships wont solve the teacher shortage, it might draw in a few more students on the fence about pursuing education by offering more money for doing so, said the Little River Republican. What Im thinking about is the one (student) whos on the border, thinking, Maybe this, maybe that, Hembree said. Along with encouraging high school students to pursue teaching, the program will likely keep teachers in the profession by reducing how much student loan debt they have to pay, said Patrick Kelly, a lobbyist for the Palmetto State Teachers Association. We think this is one of the best actions taken by the General Assembly this session to help with teacher recruitment, said Kelly, who also teaches advanced government courses at Blythewood High School. Lawmakers also plan to increase the minimum teacher salary in the state from $42,500 to $47,000 in the coming year in part of the effort to reduce the teacher shortage. The budget process is not yet finished, but the House and Senate have agreed to the teacher salary numbers. Other efforts Several other bills meant to address a shortage of teachers did not make it to the finish line this year. One would have allowed teachers more time to back out of contracts. Another would have accounted for experience outside of the classroom in determining a teachers pay. Those wouldve really moved the needle, Kelly said. Advocates have been pushing for more flexibility in teacher contracts for years. Teachers must sign their contracts by mid-May, usually weeks before their local school board sets their pay. If a teacher breaks their contract after signing, they lose their certification for a year, beginning whenever the State Board of Education hears their case. The bill proposed this year would have allowed teachers to bow out of their contracts within 10 days of seeing their salaries. Anyone who withdrew from their contract between then and six months would also face reduced penalties. That could help teachers get back in the classroom more quickly if they need to leave the district for another reason, such as dealing with a family emergency or moving alongside a spouse, advocates have said. The House passed the bill, but the Senate did not take it up. Because teacher pay is decided based on how many years someone has been teaching, accounting for real-world experience in a field could draw in more teachers by making it more appealing for people to consider teaching when switching fields, Kelly said. Both the House and Senate passed their own versions of that proposal but failed to create a committee to work out the differences before the end of session. Im really disappointed to see that not make it to the finish line, Kelly said. Another of Hembrees bills that would have allowed people with at least five years of experience in their field to teach without getting certified did not become law this year. That bill faced significantly more opposition than other proposals, with Kelly and some lawmakers raising questions over whether people would have adequate training to handle classrooms full of students. The proposal is not likely to bring in many people, but it could help fill some of the classrooms with all-virtual teachers or long-term substitutes, Hembree said. He plans to reintroduce it next year. Its a game of inches, Hembree said. You just keep coming back and try again. Gov. Henry McMaster signed more than 50 bills into law this week. Others he signed: The post More scholarship money offered to SC education majors in attempt to stem teacher shortage appeared first on SC Daily Gazette. Mother clings to life at HCMC after driving her son, 2, to hospital when both wounded by gunfire A woman continues to fight for her life in a Minneapolis hospital after she drove herself and her toddler son to the hospital when both were severely wounded by gunfire. A spokeswoman for HCMC said late Tuesday afternoon that Lilian M. Polacin Perez, 35, of Minneapolis remains in critical condition after she and her 2-year-old were shot Sunday night while in a vehicle in an alley in the 2900 block of 18th Avenue S. Polacin Perez drove herself and her son about 1 miles to Children's Minnesota-Minneapolis while both were suffering from "potentially life-threatening gunshot wounds," a police statement read. Polacin Perez was later transferred to HCMC. In a statement, Police Chief Brian O'Hara called the shooting of a child "absolutely horrific. It is outrageous. I am most thankful that it appears this child will survive." Polacin Perez's brother-in-law, Jamie Chachipanta, told the Star Tribune that the boy is named Suriel, and "I think he is going to be OK. That is what the doctors said." Police said a male dressed in dark clothing shot the woman and her toddler. The gunfire hit the child in the face, police said. "MPD is investigating the sequence of events that led up to the shooting and is working to determine if this was a targeted shooting," the police statement read. There have been no arrests as of late Tuesday morning, police said. Police also said they have not yet made an arrest in a shooting about 20 minutes later and a few blocks away at a house in the 2800 block of 16th Avenue S. A 32-year-old man had been shot and was taken to HCMC. Preliminary information indicated the victim and the shooter knew each other, police said. The victim's identity has yet to be released. A search warrant affidavit filed Monday in Hennepin County District Court disclosed that the man was in critical condition after a being shot in the throat while he was in a first-floor bedroom. Witnesses told police that the man arrived at the home with a woman and two men, according to the filing. After the gunfire, the woman and the two men fled the home. After a judge read the affidavit and allowed police to search the home, investigators recovered two live rounds of ammunition, a $1 bill rolled up and containing "unknown contents," five cellphones, drug paraphernalia and one discharged cartridge casing. Sheena Scarbrough, left, mother of Sade Robinson; Carlos Robinson, center, father of Sade Robinson and Adrianna Reams, right, sister of Sade Robinson, hold doves to release in memory Sade Robinson at her public memorial service on May 10 at the Baird Center in Milwaukee. Sheena Scarbrough, the mother of slain Milwaukee teen Sade Robinson, is "pleading" with the parents of accused murderer Maxwell Anderson to convince him to confess to the killing and dismemberment of Robinson so that the rest of her body can be recovered. Scarbrough released the statement Monday night to media outlets, announcing she has hired an attorney, Verona Swanigan, to investigate the "heinous crime that was perpetuated on her daughter." After another body part possibly linked to Robinson was discovered along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Waukegan, Illinois last week, Scarbrough said she filed several Freedom of Information Act requests with the City of Waukegan and the Waukegan Police Department. Officials have said they are awaiting DNA results for the arm discovery. Robinson, 19, was reported missing April 2 following a first date with Anderson, 33. Prosecutors say after a short night out, the local bartender and Robinson went back to his house, where he killed her, dismembered her body and disposed of the body parts across Milwaukee County. Scarbrough has had to cope with various parts of her daughter being discovered, with the latest happening about 60 miles away. The family has not been able to have a proper funeral. Swanigan said in a statement on behalf of Scarbrough Monday night, "Sheena Scarbrough is pleading with the parents of Maxwell Anderson to convince him to be honest and do one thing right in his life by confessing where Sade Robinsons remains are located so Sade can be put to rest and this constant daily torture of new discoveries of her body can end." Anderson pleaded not guilty to the charges and remains in custody on $5 million bail. The Journal Sentinel reached out to the attorney for Anderson's father, Steven Anderson, and did not hear back Monday night. Swanigan also further addressed the posting of the arm discovery to social media by Waukegan Alderman Keith Turner. The action was criticized by Scarbrough and Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor. My daughter was tortured, and I am being tortured, but to have the first time that I get the chance to see a glimpse of my child again since Easter Sunday to be on Facebook because a Mayoral Candidate, an Alderman did not have the decency and professionalism to show a victims family compassion and tact is heart wrenching and agonizing," Scarbrough said in a statement. I have been longing for my child and that moment when I saw her body again should have been private, and only for my eyes and my family. This is not a movie, a television show, or a topic for public commentary. This is our lives and the life of my beautiful 19-year-old daughter. I speak for all victims because no matter who something like this happens to that shocking pain should never be put on display by a government official." Drake Bentley and David Clarey can be reached at dbentley1@gannett.com and dclarey@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Mother of Sade Robinson pleads for a confession from Maxwell Anderson BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) Mountain Heart Community Services is celebrating 60 years of the Community Action Network. Beckleys Mountain Heart location welcomed the community for a potluck as they read proclamations from the governor and Beckleys mayor. Two of Oak Hills city council members were also in attendance to express their gratitude. Biden touts milestone in veteran health care under PACT Act Oak Hill Councilman Terry Van Buskirk commented, Ive actually seen a lot of what Mountain Heart does for the community, as far as some of the elderly with the weatherization. I also have grandkids that are in the childcare part of it. So, to me, everything that they are doing for this state is a plus. The Community Action Network has been responsible for helping people in need with childcare, home weatherization, disaster relief, after school programs, and resources for new parents, among other services. Mountain Heart Supervisor Donna England told 59News, Childcare is very essential. Since Covid, its made it really hard to keep enough childcare providers to cover the people that needs services. We have waitlists at some of the childcare centers and family home providers. Our services, what we do is we help low-income families pay for the childcare services, so that they can work and go to school. New Yorks high court upholds requiring insurance to cover medically necessary abortions Another Oak Hill councilman Roger Evans also commented, I think that a lot of Oak Hill would struggle to have stuff that they need [without them]. Whatever we could do for a kid or a family is tremendous. The Community Action Network began in 1964 as part of Lyndon B. Johnsons War on Poverty. The celebration will continue, as Mountain Heart celebrates its 60th anniversary next year. Mountain Heart Community Services covers around half of the counties in West Virginia. 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 WVNS. WASHINGTON (DC News Now) The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) said two men were arrested after shooting at an off-duty police officer in Northwest D.C. on Monday afternoon. MPD said that on Monday at about 12:10 p.m., police received a call for a shooting in the 5800 block of 7th Street. Police said an off-duty MPD officer was driving in his personal car to work when he saw another car driving erratically in front of him. The car stopped, a suspect then got out, and shot at the officers car. MPD said the officer, who was injured, then drove his car to the Fourth District Station for help. He was transported to the hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries. The officer was able to remember part of the suspects car license plate number, and soon after police were able to find the car using a license plate reader technology near Bladensburg Road and New York Avenue in Northeast. MPD then pursued the suspected car to Landover where it was involved in a single-vehicle crash. The two suspects were taken into custody by the Prince Georges County Police Department. This is a reminder of the daily dangers we face and why I have immense appreciation for what our members do to protect others, said Chief of Police Pamela A. Smith. We are grateful that our officer has not sustained life-threatening injuries. I want to thank all the federal and local partners who have reached out today to provide support. Additionally, the community was very helpful in providing us with video and information to ensure we apprehended the suspect very quickly. 21-year-old Rasheed Thorne, of Northwest, D.C., and 21-year-old William Walker, of Upper Marlboro, Md. are currently wanted for Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (Gun). The suspects will go through the extradition process and will be returned to D.C. 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 DC News Now | Washington, DC. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) A new 5-year, $40 million contract was just signed with Inter-Con, a California company to provide security at Multnomah County buildings, parking area, health facilities and homeless shelters even guards stationed at ballot drop-box drive-up locations. There is also a video monitoring center of county facilities staffed around-the-clock under this deal. The past few years Multnomah County officials have boosted the number of security officers but at this point they are not armed guards. Though theyre not police officers, the county said the security staff is now required to have a higher level of training that in the past. The security staff must now complete State of Oregon Department of Public Standards and Training, take de-escalation training and trauma-informed training so they are better able to engage with people in a mental health crisis. Multnomah County COO Serena Cruz told KOIN 6 News the security staff has grown from 52 to 109 under the agreement with Inter-Con. Dozens more security personnel can be added if needed. Multnomah County Chief Operating Officer Serena Cruz, May 20, 2024 (KOIN) This contract lets us expand up to 170 should we need that, Cruz told KOIN 6 News. That would be if we needed to for particular security needs if we need to on a short-term basis for security for elections. The contract does include an option to add armed security guards but that is not happening right now. KOIN 6 News will continue to follow this story. 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 KOIN.com. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) One of the few primary races left undecided Tuesday night tightened a little bit Wednesday morning but challenger Nathan Vasquez still leads in the Multnomah County District Attorney race. As of 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, Vasquez is leading incumbent Mike Schmidt by 13,978 votes, 65,349 to 51,371, with 63% of precincts reporting. The last count Tuesday night at 10 p.m. showed Vasquez with a 14,121 vote lead. Vasquezs spoke to supporters and the media after those late Tuesday night results were released. Schmidt had issued a statement early Tuesday evening, shortly after the first vote totals were released, showing Vasquez with a large lead. COMPLETE 2024 PRIMARY COVERAGE This has been a hard-fought campaign, and while it is still too early to definitively call this race, right now we are down, Schmidt said. I look forward to seeing more results come in. Regardless of the outcome, I want to thank this community for the incredible support they have shown this campaign. Left: Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt; Right: Multnomah County Senior Deputy District Attorney Nathan Vasquez (Credit: KOIN/Eye on Northwest Politics) A winner will be announced following the May election if a candidate receives more than 50% of the vote. If neither candidate reaches the 50% threshold, a runoff election will be held in November. However, that result now seems unlikely. 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 KOIN.com. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) The Multnomah County Sheriffs Offices new comfort dog, Burton, was officially sworn in on Monday. Along with his handler, Kerri Oman, Burton, the three-year-old, long-haired German Shepherd, will respond to calls for service to relieve stress and anxiety for families, community members and first responders, attend community events, and be an overall support to our agency, MCSO said. Hillsboro woman falls to death hiking in Columbia River Gorge According to the sheriffs office, comfort dogs can lower blood pressure, have a calming effect and improve cardiovascular health. Burton is the Multnomah County Sheriffs Offices new comfort dog. (MCSO) Burton will be a valuable resource for alleviating stress and anxiety for our members and providing support during times of crisis, Sheriff Nicole Morrisey ODonnell said. I am also hopeful that Burton will help facilitate community trust and confidence by breaking down barriers and encouraging positive interactions between MCSO and our community. Burton was donated to the sheriffs office by the organization Working Dogs Oregon. 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 KOIN.com. Students visiting the Clarksville campus of Nashville State Community College should plan to add a few extra minutes to their commute times to accommodate construction. College administrators were joined by city, county and state officials on May 15 as they broke ground on a new expansion and renovation project on campus. The expansion and renovation project for the Nashville State Community College Clarksville campus includes a new building, total renovations on the existing. and expanding parking. The $34 million project will see the college's existing building completely renovated and add a second building and expanded parking to campus. Nashville State Community College President Shanna L. Jackson speaking at the groundbreaking of the renovation and expansion project at Nashville State's Clarksville campus. From design to the programs and supports offered, we are confident that the community will be very pleased with the expansion and renovation, said Clarksville campus Director Kathleen Akers. Between Tennessee Promise, Tennessee Reconnect, the numerous scholarships offered, and supports provided such as laptop, tutoring, and food and transportation assistance, Nashville State is here to support students from admissions to graduation and beyond. According to its website, the Clarksville campus has 422 students enrolled. About 35% of those students are nontraditional and 18% use VA benefits. Along with more student resources, the Clarksville campus is preparing for new academic programs in healthcare, information technology, secondary education and industrial process control. Additional resources for students, as outlined in the college's plans, include: Lounge dedicated to military veterans Student lounge Welcome Center A new bookstore Campus Cupboard food pantry Testing space for industry certifications ADA testing center Library and study area Tutoring support room Nashville State Foundation Executive Director Cecily Freeman, Nashville State Foundation Member Paula Harris, Nashville State Clarksville Campus Director Kathleen Akers, Montgomery County Chief of Staff Lee Harrell, Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts, Tennessee Board of Regents Vice President Jothany Reed, State Sen. Bill Powers, Nashville State President Shanna Jackson, TCAT Dickson & Clarksville Campus Vice President Levi Mayer, State Rep. Ronnie Glynn, members of the architecture and construction teams. "This magnificent new building will be a great addition to the campus of Nashville State Community College, which is already a prominent fixture along Wilma Rudolph Boulevard," Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts said at the groundbreaking. "Thank you to the Montgomery County delegation in the Tennessee General Assembly for securing funding from the state, and great thanks to the people of this community who have embraced the need to continue their education at a wonderful higher education institution like Nashville State." The project is expected to be complete by early 2027. Phase one, which includes construction of the new building, is expected to be complete by the end of 2025. Phase 2, which includes the total renovation of the existing building, is expected to be completed by the end of 2026. The project also includes new landscaping, grading and parking. Kenya Anderson is a reporter for The Leaf-Chronicle. She can be contacted at kanderson@gannett.com or on X at kenyaanderson32. Sign up for the Leaf-Chronicle to support local journalism at www.theleafchronicle.com. This article originally appeared on Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle: Nashville State begins work on Clarksville expansion, renovation William Marshall, commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, addresses lawmakers during a legislative interim meeting Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Charleston, W.Va. (Will Price | West Virginia Legislative Photography) Nearly two years after a state of emergency was issued over staffing levels in West Virginias correctional facilities, the West Virginia National Guard is no longer staffing the states jails and prisons, lawmakers were told Tuesday. The National Guard was out of the jail facilities as of May 10, said William Marshall, commissioner of the state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Marshall gave an update Tuesday to members of the Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facilities. West Virginias jails have long faced problems with understaffing and overcrowding and have some of the highest mortality rates in the country. In August 2022, Gov. Jim Justice issued a state of emergency to address critical staffing shortages in the states correctional facilities. The emergency declaration allowed the National Guard to support the jails by filling positions at the facilities. At the height of the state of emergency, about 350 guard members staffed the prisons and jails, Marshall said. In August, lawmakers approved legislation meant to address long-standing issues with the states jails and correctional facilities, including raising the pay scale for uniformed correctional officers and offering two bonuses for non-uniformed staff members. A bill that would have increased pay for non-uniformed jail staffers was introduced during the regular legislative session but died in committee. Marshall said the division now has a 20% staff vacancy rate for non-uniformed workers and 12% for uniformed positions. The divisions retention rate for employees has also improved with the help of the pay increase and the opportunity for on-the-job training, he said. I think it has a lot to do with obviously the pay to retain, but also with the ability to have the difference in training, where they dont have the obligation to be at the academy like they once were, Marshall said. He added that the change in training requirements is not eroding any training that they received. The training is good. Marshall said one jail is still overcapacity by about 200 but the division is working through all those issues. With the National Guard out of the facilities, Williams said he expects the state of emergency to be lifted anytime. Were working with the governors office and making sure that were able to continue to stand on our own and with the numbers that weve hired, the employees weve hired, it looks really good, Marshall said. This story has been updated to clarify Marshalls comments about on-the-job training contributing to increased retention rates. The post National Guard no longer staffing states jails and prisons, official says appeared first on West Virginia Watch. Don't miss out as Levi Rickert, Founder and Publisher of Native News Online, interviews former federal judge Kevin Sharp about Leonard Peltier's upcoming parole hearing on Monday, June 10. Sharp, an advocate for Peltier's release, will discuss Peltier's poor health at the age of 79 after decades of incarceration. He believes that Peltier will be at risk of death if kept in a maximum security prison. We will also learn about the historical context of the 1975 Pine Ridge murders and the turbulent period when Peltier was involved with the American Indian Movement. Sharp believes that Peltier's constitutional rights were violated in his trial and investigation. The parole hearing will consider testimony from Peltier's supporters and the government. Advocates hope that Peltier's release will help remedy past wrongs and allow for healing. Sharp is Co-Vice Chairman of Sanford Heisler Sharp and Co-Chair of the Public Interest Litigation Group. He served as a U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Tennessee from 2011 to 2017, including as Chief Judge from 2014 to 2017, handling over 4,000 cases and several high-profile ones like Young v. Giles County Board of Education and Rodriguez v. Providence Community Corrections, Inc. With nearly 30 years of experience, Sharp has litigated complex civil cases, including opioid litigation and significant employment and fiduciary breach settlements. He has received numerous accolades, including The American Lawyers South Trailblazers and Lawdragon 500. Since 2019, he has led a nationwide push to secure presidential clemency for Leonard Peltier, a 77-year-old Native American civil rights activist wrongly convicted in federal court and sentenced to two consecutive life terms for killing FBI agents at Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975. The U.S. Attorneys office has since admitted it doesnt know who killed the agents. Tune in to Native Bidaske LIVE this Friday, May 24th at 12 Noon ET on Native News Online's Facebook, X (Twitter), or YouTube channel. 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 This article was originally published in Source New Mexico. Graduation season is typically a time for celebrating the success of students making it through their education programs. For some Indigenous students, part of that celebration includes having tribal regalia or objects of cultural significance as part of their cap and gown during the graduation ceremony. In Arizona, Indigenous students are protected under state law. In 2021, then-Gov. Doug Ducey signed House Bill 2705 into law, barring public schools from preventing Indigenous students from wearing traditional tribal regalia or objects of cultural significance at graduation ceremonies. Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Not all states have similar laws to protect Indigenous students. New Mexicos lawmakers say they passed legislation to prevent incidents like this from occurring, but its now unclear if that applies to a case garnering attention in Farmington, New Mexico. On May 13, Genesis White Bull, a Hunkpapa Lakota of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, was standing for the national anthem alongside her graduating class at the Farmington High School graduation ceremony when two unidentified school faculty members approached her to confiscate her graduation cap. In video footage shared across social media, White Bull is seen being instructed to remove her graduation cap, which was embellished with an eagle plume and beaded around the rim. Brenda White Bull, Genesis mother, shared the experience with the Navajo Nation Council and reported that school officials later cut the plume from her daughters cap using scissors. The Navajo Nation Council stated in a press release that Brenda emphasized the sacred significance of the plume, which symbolizes achievement and cultural identity, marking Genesis transition into new phases of her life. The Arizona Mirror contacted the family for an interview, but the family did not respond before publication. Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley called Farmington High Schools actions belittling, humiliating, and demeaning to the student and her family. There is no place for this type of behavior in our educational systems, Curley said in a press release. The school officials owe an apology to the student and her family. Farmington Municipal Schools, which oversees Farmington High School, released a statement on May 15 in response to the incident. During the event, a students beaded cap was exchanged for a plain one. The feather was returned intact to the family during the ceremony, Farmington Municipal Schools wrote in the statement. The beaded cap was returned after graduation concluded. Farmington Municipal Schools referred to the districts protocols, which state that graduation caps and gowns can not be altered, per the 2023-2024 Student and Parent Handbook. The handbook does not contain policy language stating any exceptions to these rules. However, the schools statement noted that students could choose their clothing attire, which included traditional attire to be worn under the graduation cap and gown, regalia, stoles, and feathers in their tassels. Students were informed throughout the school year and immediately before graduation of the protocol, including that beaded caps were not allowed, the statement read. This standard process helps us set student attire during graduations. While the staff involved were following district guidelines, we acknowledge this could have been handled differently and better, the statement read. Moving forward, we will work to refine our processes at the school level. Farmington Municipal Schools stated that the district is also committed to exploring policies that allow for additional appropriate cultural elements in student attire. Indigenous students comprise nearly 34% of the school districts population. School officials across the country need to be reminded who the first Americans are and whose land they inhabit, Curley said in a press release. No student in any school should be prohibited from wearing regalia that signifies their cultural and spiritual beliefs. New Mexico passed an anti-discrimination law in 2021 that might protect students against the Farmington schools district policy. However, the legal pathway is unclear according to responses from spokespeople in the governors offices, state education department, and even lawmakers who wrote the recent law. Each acknowledged that they were reviewing the law and could only give an official opinion once that was completed. Requests for comment were made to the New Mexico Department of Justice but were not returned in time for publication. Sen. Harold Pope (D-Albuquerque), who co-sponsored the law, said the legislation stemmed from the national Crown Act push that targeted to stop policies that discriminate against hair style and texture, with a significant tilt against African Americans. New Mexicos version was written from the views of the Native American cultures present throughout the state, Pope said, and the bill included co-sponsors who are Dine and Jemez Pueblo. We wanted to make sure that we included cultural and religious headdresses to be even more inclusive than your hair alone, he said. And what I think is important in that language, when we look at Indigenous cultures, feathers are so cherished and protected and it is part of who they are. Its unclear now if the law will provide White Bull support for any legal action she could take against Farmington Municipal Schools District. It broke my heart After footage of White Bulls graduation experience spread on social media, it sparked an outpouring of support from Indigenous people and communities across the country. Navajo Nation leaders have voiced their support for White Bull and called for schools to support an Indigenous students right to wear regalia during their graduation ceremonies, saying denying it is a violation of their rights. It broke my heart, Navajo Nation Council Delegate Amber Crotty told the Arizona Mirror when she learned what happened to the student. Crotty said graduations are meant to be one of the happiest moments of a students life, and White Bulls experience was tarnished by having something so important taken away from her. Thats so traumatic and not the best way to approach these situations when it comes to our Native students, Crotty said. In a day of celebration, just for her to be attacked like that. Crotty said the incident has been reported to the Nation Human Rights Commission, which investigates discrimination within border towns. Farmington borders the Navajo Nation, and there is a documented history of racism against Indigenous people living or visiting the city. In April 1974, three white Farmington High School students brutally murdered four Navajo men as part of a practice locals called Indian rolling. In response to the murders, Navajo and other Indigenous people held protests in the city of Farmington denouncing the pervasive racism and bigotry of the community. Due to escalating tensions in Farmington, the New Mexico Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights launched a study of the relationships between the city, San Juan County and the Navajos living in the community and on the Navajo Nation. The committee concluded that Indigenous people in almost every area suffer from injustice and maltreatment, according to their report. They recommended that city officials and San Juan County officials, in conjunction with Navajo leaders, work together to develop a plan of action to improve the treatment of Navajos living in the border areas of northwestern New Mexico. The advisory committee conducted another report 30 years later and found that, while race relations may have somewhat improved in the area, racism is still an issue within the city of Farmington. There is a lack of understanding of how Native students identify themselves and celebrate themselves, Crotty said. She said that it is time to move beyond having conversations about cultural sensitivity for Native students, mainly because incidents like this keep occurring. Thats why we want to support mom and the family, Crotty said. She does want the school to be accountable, and she does want some sort of apology. Crotty said the staffs actions at Farmington High School were inappropriate, and immediate action is needed rather than the school trying to justify what happened. The cultural identity of all Native American students attending Farmington High School are protected under the New Mexico Indian Education Act, she said, adding that what happened was a clear violation of the students rights. As we move forward in addressing this issue, we will be meeting with the school board and administration, Crotty added. In New Mexico, the law passed in 2021 is directed specifically to local school districts, but it does not allow the New Mexico Public Education Department to issue any statewide order on local issues, such as what students can wear at graduation ceremonies. New Mexicos 89 school districts decide on those policies, which is why other Indigenous students across the state have different experiences with graduation attire. New Mexicos Public Education Secretary, Dr. Aresenio Romero, offered support for White Bull but noted that the issue is the responsibility of the local district. I expect the Farmington Superintendent and school district to reevaluate their graduation policies, Romero said. I remain committed to promulgating tribal sovereignty and to respecting tribal cultural customs and practices. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued a statement Friday saying that it was unacceptable that a student was reprimanded for representing their culture during a time of celebration. I appreciate that the Farmington schools acknowledge that they could have handled this situation better and that their policy may be too restrictive, she added. However, it shouldnt have required the student raising this issue for a school to recognize its lack of inclusivity. Navajo Nation First Lady Jasmine Blackwater-Nygren released a statement supporting Indigenous graduating students who wear their cultural and traditional regalia during graduation. We stand with our Native graduates this graduation season and their decision to wear their traditional tribal regalia or objects of cultural significance, including eagle feathers, eagle plumes, and beaded graduation caps, Blackwater-Nygren said in a statement she posted on her Facebook. Our graduates and families take immense pride in what they choose to wear on graduation day. Blackwater Nygren was a guest speaker at the Farmington High School graduation, but she said she was unaware of what occurred until after the graduation. I am deeply disappointed that this happened at a school where we have many Navajo and Native graduates, she said. I hope the school learns from this experience and can take corrective measures. Blackwater-Nygren said that, for many Indigenous students, deciding what to wear goes far beyond simply deciding what color dress or shoes to wear. For some Indigenous students, it is a day for them to wear their traditional regalia proudly. Our regalia reminds us of how far weve come as a people; it shows our pride in our culture and how we chose to identify ourselves as Native people, she said. Some graduates are the first in their families to graduate or are only one of a few high school graduates in the family. A beaded cap further signifies this symbol of achievement, accomplishment and Native resilience. Blackwater-Nygren is familiar with this issue because, as an Arizona State Representative, she helped pass House Bill 2705 through the legislature. As graduation season continues, I hope all schools will respect the decision of our Native students to wear their traditional regalia and objects of cultural significance, Blackwater-Nygren said. Source New Mexico is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Source New Mexico maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Shaun Griswold for questions: info@sourcenm.com. Follow Source New Mexico on Facebook and Twitter. A new proposal would reduce public access to autopsy reports in North Carolina. On Tuesday, state lawmakers tacked a slew of new provisions onto House Bill 250, which previously focused on reworking the offenses for distributing drugs. Changes include no longer allowing the public access to photographs, video or audio recordings in autopsy reports. Current law generally allows people to inspect and examine these under supervision. Only certain public officials are allowed to obtain copies. Written reports could be limited as well, by another section dealing with criminal investigation records. The change would expand the definition of those records, which are not typically public, to include autopsy records. A spokesperson for the state agency charged with investigating suspicious deaths said the proposal compromises the ability to conduct thousands of investigations and limits the ability to share information with families. The bill would also change the makeup of the states office tasked with providing help to indigent defendants. What is public now? Currently, North Carolina death certificates, autopsy, investigation and toxicology reports are public records and once finalized may be obtained from the states Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), part of the Department of Health and Human Services. This bill would designate records compiled by OCME as records of criminal investigation, which are not public under state law. Currently, records of criminal investigations conducted by public law enforcement agencies and by the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission are not public. These include records compiled by the North Carolina State Crime Laboratory. The bill would add to this definition records compiled by OCME. If the bill is passed, this would become effective July 1. Sen. Danny Britt, a Robeson County Republican, presented the bill on Tuesday. He said the bill clarifies that all photos and videos of autopsy shall not be released to the public while a crime is being investigated or prosecuted. There may be some concern for availability of these autopsy reports and photos being made available for press and things like that, Britt acknowledged. What this does is it ensures that these items are not released outside of the chain that may improperly influence the jury and, again, potentially lead to a case being overturned on appeal where a death is involved. He also said that the medical examiners records that the bill would treat as criminal investigation records would be accessible to the public at the conclusion of a criminal investigation and prosecution. The bill would apply just to those particular cases that are being prosecuted criminally, not to other cases, Britt said in response to a question from Democratic Sen. Sydney Batch. He also said these restrictions would apply to family members, though district attorneys could sit down with the family and show the records. Who performs autopsies? When someone dies in a violent, suspicious or unexpected way in North Carolina, part-time medical examiners inspect the bodies. If the cause of death is not clear, they request autopsies. An investigation by The Charlotte Observer and News & Observer found that it often takes many months and sometimes more than a year for autopsies to be completed. That can cause financial crises for families who need autopsies and death certificates to access life insurance and other assets theyre entitled to inherit. The system is backlogged chiefly because there are too many bodies and too few pathologists and toxicologists to perform autopsies, the newspapers investigation found. The medical examiner system faces challenges, and this bill as currently written, would make those challenges much, much more difficult, Mark Benton, chief deputy secretary for health with DHHS, told lawmakers Tuesday. Asked for further details on concerns with the bill, DHHS spokesperson Kelly Haight Connor wrote that the proposed language weakens the independent nature of North Carolinas medical examiner system, compromises the ability to conduct thousands of investigations and limits the ability to share information with families. In addition to the changes on public access, the bill adds continuing education training requirements for county medical examiners. It also details how examiners can request and obtain a deceased persons personal belongings. Haight Connor said DHHS had ongoing concerns with staff vacancies and high turnover at the OCME and any changes in process or caseloads needs to be thoughtfully considered given these staffing concerns. Autopsy reports from shootings and other violent incidents are often requested by the news media to glean details that otherwise may have not been released on what occurred in the incidents. South Carolina does not allow access to autopsy reports; its state Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that these reports are not public records and fall under privacy provisions of the states open records law. In 2020, a bill shielding some death investigation records from the public was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. The General Assembly currently is controlled by Republicans and has a veto-proof supermajority. Britt said the new bill was being worked on and should be ready by next Tuesday for votes. District attorneys want to narrow this down to a workable piece that involves just the pending criminal cases, said Chuck Spahos, a lobbyist for the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys. Indigent Defense Services rework The bill also cuts the membership of North Carolinas Commission on Indigent Defense Services from 13 members to nine. It also grants two new appointments to the commission to the chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court and four to House and Senate leaders. All of those offices are currently held by Republicans. It cuts the governors one appointment and that of various state associations. Gov. Roy Cooper is a Democrat. This embedded content is not available in your region. Ames Alexander of The Charlotte Observer contributed to this report. Weve got to do better: Lawmakers plan more funding to tackle NC autopsy crisis Whats needed to fix autopsy crisis? Money and a strategic plan, NC budget writers say A new proposal would reduce public access to autopsy reports in North Carolina. On Tuesday, state lawmakers tacked a slew of new provisions onto House Bill 250, which previously focused on reworking the offenses for distributing drugs. Changes include no longer allowing public access to photographs, video or audio recordings in autopsy reports. And written reports could be limited as well, by another section dealing with criminal investigation records. The change would expand the definition of those records, which are not typically public. The bill would also change the makeup of the states office tasked with providing help to indigent defendants. What is public now? Currently, North Carolina death certificates, autopsy, investigation and toxicology reports are public records and once finalized may be obtained from the states Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME). This bill would designate records compiled by OCME as records of criminal investigation, which are not public under state law. Currently, records of criminal investigations conducted by public law enforcement agencies and by the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission are not public. These include records compiled by the North Carolina State Crime Laboratory. The bill would add to this definition records compiled by OCME. If the bill is passed, this would become effective July 1. Sen. Danny Britt, a Robeson County Republican, presented the bill on Tuesday. He said the bill clarifies that all photos and videos of autopsy shall not be released to the public while a crime is being investigated or prosecuted. There may be some concern for availability of these autopsy reports and photos being made available for press and things like that, Britt acknowledged. What this does is it ensures that these items are not released outside of the chain that may improperly influence the jury and, again, potentially lead to a case being overturned on appeal where a death is involved. He also said that the medical examiners records that the bill would treat as criminal investigation records would be accessible to the public at the conclusion of a criminal investigation and prosecution. The bill would apply just to those particular cases that are being prosecuted criminally, not to other cases, Britt said in response to a question from Democratic Sen. Sydney Batch. He also said these restrictions would apply to family members, though district attorneys could sit down with the family and show the records. State performs autopsies When someone dies in a violent, suspicious or unexpected way in North Carolina, part-time medical examiners inspect the bodies. If the cause of death is not clear, they request autopsies. An investigation by The Charlotte Observer and News & Observer found that it often takes many months and sometimes more than a year for autopsies to be completed. That can cause financial crises for families who need autopsies and death certificates to access life insurance and other assets theyre entitled to inherit. The system is backlogged chiefly because there are too many bodies and too few pathologists and toxicologists to perform autopsies, the newspapers investigation found. The medical examiner system faces challenges, and this bill as currently written, would make those challenges much, much more difficult, Mark Benton, chief deputy secretary for health with the state Department of Health and Human Services, told lawmakers Tuesday. Autopsy reports from shootings and other violent incidents are often requested by the news media to glean details that otherwise may have not been released on what occurred in the incidents. South Carolina does not allow access to autopsy reports; its state Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that these reports are not public records and fall under privacy provisions of the states open records law. In 2020, a bill shielding some death investigation records from the public was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. The General Assembly currently is controlled by Republicans and has a veto-proof supermajority. Britt said the new bill was being worked on and should be ready by next Tuesday for votes. District attorneys want to narrow this down to a workable piece that involves just the pending criminal cases, said Chuck Spahos, a lobbyist for the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys. Indigent Defense Services rework The bill also cuts the membership of North Carolinas Commission on Indigent Defense Services from 13 members to nine. It also grants two new appointments to the commission to the chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court and four to House and Senate leaders. All of those offices are currently held by Republicans. It cuts the governors one appointment and that of various state associations. Gov. Roy Cooper is a Democrat. Weve got to do better: Lawmakers plan more funding to tackle NC autopsy crisis Whats needed to fix autopsy crisis? Money and a strategic plan, NC budget writers say RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) Many recent protesters on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill partially covered their faces with masks. Some of those were detained or arrested. The days-long events prompted the North Carolina State House to vote in favor of a new law to address the mask issue. The intent of the original bill was to ensure that people, criminals, who their intent is to go out and and commit a crime should not be concealing their identity with some sort of mask or hood. And I think thats the right thing to do, said State Representative Erin Pare. But Republicans in the Senate went even further by removing a provision that allowed public mask-wearing for medical purposes. Pare, a Republican who represents part of Wake County, said that goes too far. She believes people with health issues should be able to protect themselves and others. By removing those provisions, it is creating confusion and worry among good people that they will get in trouble with the law if they go out wearing a mask and we cant have that, especially in a post COVID world. I think that they have the absolute right and freedom to do that, and we should not be judging that or passing judgment on that. They should have every right to do that if they feel thats necessary to maintain their personal health and safety, Pare said. Duke Health infectious disease specialist Dr. Cameron Wolfe said the science backs up the effectiveness of masks and the pandemic proved it. He worries about legislation that would hinder the health of patients. My role normally would is to look after a lot of patients whove had transplants, chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants and those patients continue to be at risk of a lot of infections. Even today, even though the pandemic feels like its sort of long behind us. And we have data for the first time sort of built up over those four years that really sort of I think purely, show that. From a medical point of view I want things to continue to be as easy for patients of mine who are at risk to do things that help them and at the end of the day, this seems to provide a lot of barriers. What I dont want this to do is for this to sort of add fuel to the fire of folk in the general community who believe that masks were unhelpful, that this whole issue was politicized from the get go, and that it makes it harder for patients of mine who need to wear masks to feel comfortable, said Dr. Wolfe. A State Senator explained his position on the matter. Returning to this era of where we were pre-COVID is not jeopardizing anyones prosecution, said State Senator Buck Ward. Ward explained his rational behind the removal of the provision if someone goes into a store or whatever and theyre willing to show what their identity is and put the mask back on, those are things I trust people to be able to work out. But Representative Pare disagrees and will vote no on the Senates version, and she believes she will not be the only Republican to do so. I can tell you that there are several legislators that are part of my own caucus that have presented me with their concerns about this, and so I do think that we will probably not concur with the Senate changes and go back to the drawing board, so to speak, she said. 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 Queen City News. Police in Ohio are looking for women accused of stealing over $1,000 in Stanley cups. The Bulter County Sheriffs Office, which is located north of Cincinnati, said on May 9 three women walked into a Dicks Sporting Goods at a mall and stole 28 Stanley cups and 10 Bogg beach bags before running out of the store and leaving in a silver car. The moment the women left the store was caught on surveillance video and shared by police on social media. Police say the theft is valued at more than $2,000. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW TRENDING NOW: Vehicle crashes into UPMC Presbyterian Hospital 1 dead in crash involving motorcycle, garbage truck in Washington County Pickup truck crashes through roof of Butler County jewelry store, driver flown to hospital VIDEO: Spork Pit BBQ closing down, owner & developer looking to take their business out of Pittsburgh DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts A woman salvages items from a waste dump along a tent displacement camp west of Nuseirat in the Gaza Strip on May 21, 2024. The Biden administration is willing to work with Congress to respond to the International Criminal Court prosecutor's "profoundly wrong-headed" decision seeking to issue arrest warrants on Israeli leaders over the Gaza war, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan is also seeking warrants charging crimes against humanity and other war crimes against three Hamas leaders. Israel on Tuesday urged "nations of the civilized world" to reject the warrants sought against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Blinken, speaking at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, said Khan's decision to seek the warrants could complicate talks aimed at a cease-fire and hostage release. Some Republican members of Congress have threatened legislation to impose sanctions on the ICC. A bipartisan group of senators led by Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina issued a statement Tuesday accusing the ICC of jeopardizing efforts toward bringing home hostages, increasing humanitarian aid and creating sustainable peace in the Middle East. The application for arrest warrants also draws a false equivalence between Israel with its longstanding commitment to the rule of law, and Hamas theocratic, autocratic and unaccountable rule over Gaza," the statement said. "To state the obvious: Israel is a functioning democracy, while Hamas is a terrorist organization." Arrest warrants: Warrants sought for Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas leader Sinwar on war crimes charges Developments: Blinken's Senate testimony was interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters calling him a "butcher'' and a "war criminal.'' Palestinian health authorities said seven Palestinians were killed Tuesday during an Israeli raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, a hotspot of militant activity. The Israel Defense Forces said it was targeting armed militants. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said Tuesday that food distribution in Gaza's besieged southern city of Rafah was suspended because of a lack of supplies and security. Also Tuesday, the Pentagon said it has found new routes to transport aid after trucks carrying supplies from a U.S.-built pier on northern Gaza were intercepted and looted, prompting deliveries to be halted for the last three days. A women's Euro 2025 qualifying soccer match between Scotland and Israel in Glasgow on May 31 will be played without fans because of the potential for disruptive protests, the Scottish Football Association said Tuesday. Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said Tuesday that the Gaza cease-fire and hostage release talks between Israel and Hamas remain close to a stalemate." A woman salvages items from a waste dump along a tent displacement camp west of Nuseirat in the Gaza Strip on May 21, 2024. The ICC is seeking arrest warrants: What does that mean and what is next? The charges will go before a panel of 18 ICC judges to review the evidence. If the judges agree with the prosecutor's findings, warrants will be issued. The Biden administration claims the warrants could be a hurdle in ongoing U.S. efforts to secure a cease-fire, although talks have taken place for months with little progress. If the warrants are issued, the court has no arrest powers and must rely on member states to apprehend suspects. The ICC does not conduct trials without the accused being present. Neither Israel nor the U.S. nor Qatar home to some top Hamas leaders are members of the ICC, so practically speaking none of the accused face imminent arrest. However, the 124 member nations would be obligated to take those charged into custody. That could limit travel for Netanyahu and the other accused. Should the defendants ever be taken into custody, a trial could take place. A guilty verdict would allow judges to order restitution, compensation and rehabilitation to victims. The judges may also impose a prison sentence and fines. The maximum sentence is 30 years, but the court may impose a life sentence in extreme cases. Multiple allies back ICC on warrants Netanyahu dispatched an envoy to France on Tuesday in an attempt to shore up backing. France was among multiple European allies standing behind the ICC. "France supports the International Criminal Court, its independence and the fight against impunity in all situations," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Belgium Foreign Affairs Minister Hadja Lahbib called the warrants an important step in the investigation, saying "crimes committed in Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of the perpetrators." Slovenia's Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs issued a statement saying war crimes in Israel and in Gaza must be prosecuted "independently and impartially regardless of the perpetrators." Biden, however, railed against the Israeli warrants as outrageous and reiterated firm U.S. support for Israel in the war. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, former president of the European Council, on Tuesday agreed with Biden that "an attempt to show that the prime minister of Israel and the leaders of a terrorist organizations are the same ... is unacceptable." Netanyahu rips prosecutor's 'chutzpah' Khan said he has "reason to believe" Netanyahu and Gallant bear criminal responsibility for the starvation of Palestinians as a weapon of war, intentionally directing attacks on civilians and murder. Netanyahu accused Khan of a "new antisemitism" that the prime minister said has rolled across college campuses to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. With what chutzpah do you dare compare the monsters of Hamas to the soldiers of the IDF, the most moral army in the world? Netanyahu said in an address to the nation translated by the Times of Israel. With what audacity do you compare between the Hamas that murdered, burned, butchered, raped and kidnapped our brothers and sisters, and the IDF soldiers who are fighting a just war that is unparalleled, with a morality that is unmatched? Patients rushed out of Gaza hospital after missile strikes Patients in a northern Gaza hospital were rushed out onto the street on beds and stretchers Tuesday after Israeli missiles hit the facility's emergency department, Reuters reported. The news agency said video it obtained showed medical personnel taking the patients out of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Jabalia refugee neighborhood, where clashes with Israeli forces have restarted after months of relative calm as Hamas has tried to reestablish itself in the area. Hussam Abu Safia, who runs the hospital, said the first missile hit the emergency department entrance, followed by another strike that kept patients and medics from going back in, and then a third projectile smashed against a nearby building. "We really never imagined that one day the emergency department will be hit,'' he said. "The emergency department provides a service for children, the elderly and people inside the departments of the hospital. The Health Ministry said patients were being moved to other medical facilities in northern Gaza. The IDF told Reuters it was reviewing reports of the attack and "the possibility that it was IDFs stray fire that was not directed at the hospital. Israel reverses course after seizing Associated Press equipment Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said Tuesday he has rescinded the decision to seize camera equipment from The Associated Press and ordered that it be returned, pending a decision by the Ministry of Defense, which he said wished to examine the matter. The confiscation drew an outcry from media groups and a concerned reaction from the U.S. Israeli officials seized broadcasting equipment from AP earlier in the day and accused the news organization of violating a new media law by providing images to Qatar-based Al Jazeera, which was shut down in Israel this month. The new law grants the government power to temporarily ban broadcasts by international news outlets in Israel if they are deemed a threat to national security.Israeli officials warned AP last week to stop the live transmission, but the media outlet refused. The shutdown was not based on the content of the feed but rather an abusive use by the Israeli government of the countrys new foreign broadcaster law," AP spokesperson Lauren Easton said. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, asked about Israel's action, called it "concerning" and said the White House was looking into the matter. "We stand firm in our belief ... in making sure that journalists have ability and the right to do the job that's incredibly important for them to do," she said. Hamas says more Israelis should face criminal charges Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh are accused of extermination, murder and the taking of hostages as crimes against humanity or war crimes. They could also be held responsible for rape, sexual violence, torture and other cruel treatment against Israeli hostages. Hamas denounced in a statement the warrants against its leaders as an attempt to "equate the victim with the executioner." The statement claimed international conventions and resolutions provide the Palestinian people the "right to resist the occupation in all forms, including armed resistance." The statement supported the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant but said other Israeli leaders and soldiers should be similarly charged. All were proved to be involved in committing the "crimes of genocide, aggression and crimes against humanity," the statement said. It added that the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant "came seven months late, during which the Israeli occupation committed thousands of crimes against Palestinian civilians, including children, women, doctors and journalists, and destroyed private and public property, mosques, churches and hospitals." US envoy: Israel may need to consider 'Palestinian governance' Forging formal Israeli-Saudi relations would require a calming of the Gaza war and a discussion of prospects for "Palestinian governance," the U.S. envoy to Jerusalem said Tuesday. Ambassador Jack Lew, speaking at a conference hosted by the Israel Democracy Institute, said he believes the strategic benefit for Israel is worth the risk, "but that's a decision that the government of Israel will have to make and the people of Israel will have to make." A deal to normalize Saudi-Israeli relations appeared near in October before Hamas-led attackers stormed into Israel, killing almost 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages. Israel's ensuing military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and has refueled global demands for a free Palestinian state the so-called "two state solution." The Saudis issued a statement in February saying "there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognized." Netanyahu has said Israel must retain security control of Gaza after the war. Contributing: Reuters This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Israel war updates: Netanyahu says criminal charges 'new antisemitism' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor rogue in response to his Monday requests for arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas officials. In an interview Tuesday with MSNBCs Stephanie Ruhle, Netanyahu invoked President Bidens response when asked about the warrants. Well, I think my response is no different from what President Biden said: This is outrageous, and many people across the political spectrum in the United States and leaders of the democratic countries around the world have called it exactly that, Netanyahu said in the interview, which will air in full Tuesday night. Its a rogue prosecutor whos out to demonize the one and only Jewish state, he added. Netanyahu said the prosecutor, Karim Khan, is applying a false symmetry, echoing criticism levied by democratic leaders including Biden. Hes equating Israels democratically elected leaders with the terrorist tyrants of Hamas, Netanyahu continued. Thats like saying, Well, Im going to issue arrest warrants for after 9/11 Im issuing arrest warrants for George Bush, but also for Osama bin Laden. And in World War II, Im issuing arrest warrants for FDR but also for Hitler, thanks a lot, he added. Thats a false symmetry and its totally absurd. Its a travesty of justice. Netanyahu also refuted some of Khans false accusations, including that Israel is drying out Gaza and has a deliberate policy of starvation. Drying out Gaza? Were supplying before the war, 7 percent of Gazas water. Now, 45 percent of the water nearly half, to make sure they have water, he said. On the allegations of starvation as a deliberate policy, Netanyahu said, We supplied half a million tons of food and drug, 20,000 trucks so those trucks can go in. Biden has tried to walk a careful line with his approach to Israel, defending Israels right to respond to Hamas and repeatedly condemning antisemitism in the wake of the attack. At the same time, he has called for Israel to allow more aid into Gaza and has urged the country to do more to protect civilians even as his administration acknowledges the challenge of fighting an enemy that notoriously uses its own civilians as human shields. On Monday, Biden harshly criticized the ICCs request for arrest warrants as outrageous. Let me be clear: Whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence none between Israel and Hamas, Biden said in his statement. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security. 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 The Hill. A Netherlands man was arrested Monday after a woman told police he twice flew to State College with the intention of meeting her, despite her telling him she was not interested in a relationship with him. Tarik Hasan, 23, and the woman connected on the social network Reddit in the fall, Penn State police wrote in an affidavit of probable cause. By mid-December, she told Hasan she no longer wanted to speak with him. Hasan first flew to State College in January, which the woman said made her very uncomfortable, police wrote. She even purchased a ticket for Hasans return flight and again told him she did not want to have a relationship, police wrote. Hasan, police wrote, arrived back in State College on Friday. He went Monday to where the woman works, asked to meet with her and tried to push her door open as she locked it, police wrote. The woman told an officer she was extremely frightened and scared. He remained in the building for about 5 1/2 hours and sent her more than 50 messages on the instant messaging service WhatsApp, police wrote. Hasan told an officer he purchased a second cellphone so he could continue to message her because she blocked his primary number, police wrote. Hasan has no ties to the university, Penn State police spokeswoman Jackie Sheader wrote Tuesday in an email to the Centre Daily Times. The charging document said Hasan is not a U.S. citizen. No defense lawyer was listed. Hasan was charged with one felony count of criminal trespassing, three misdemeanor counts of harassment and one misdemeanor count of stalking. District Judge Allen Sinclair set bail Tuesday at $100,000, which Hasan did not post. He is incarcerated at the Centre County Correctional Facility. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 5. Nevada Group Says It Has Enough Signatures To Put Abortion Amendment On Ballot Reproductive rights activists in Nevada said Monday that theyve collected enough signatures to put an amendment on the November ballot to enshrine abortion rights in the states constitution. Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom, the group behind the effort, said it submitted more than 200,000 signatures, from all 17 of the states counties, in support of the potential ballot measure to the Nevada secretary of states office, which will now work on validating them. If approved, voters will have the chance to say the states constitution explicitly protects abortion, largely safeguarding reproductive care from legislative attacks. The submitted signatures amount to nearly double the 102,362 required to proceed with the ballot qualification process. The submission comes more than a month before the June 26 collection deadline. The number of signatures gathered in just over three months shows how deeply Nevadans believe in abortion rights and its importance to this moment in our nations history, Lindsey Harmon, president of Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom, said at a news conference announcing the achievement. Supporters of the amendment hold up signs at a Las Vegas news conference Monday. via Associated Press Under a law voters passed in 1990, the swing state currently allows abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, which is around the point of fetal viability outside the womb. But ensuring abortion access in Nevada is more vital than ever, Harmon said, given how lawmakers in neighboring states have put stricter limits on the procedure. Nevada is now surrounded by states with abortion bans, she said of the situation since the fall of Roe v. Wade. We know these attacks will continue. Constitutional amendments are the best bet to protect abortion rights from future attacks, a doctor who spoke at Mondays news conference said. We know that 30-year protections arent enough in a post-Roe world, which is why were ensuring that our freedoms are constitutionally protected, said Dr. Harpreet Tsui, an internal medicine physician. We cant leave our reproductive freedom up to any political whims, she added. Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom has been working to put the amendment on the ballot since last summer, following the leads of California, Michigan, Ohio and Vermont all states where voters have elected to enshrine abortion access in their constitutions following the U.S. Supreme Courts reversal of Roe v. Wade in June 2022. In Kansas and Kentucky, two deep-red states, voters have rejected recent efforts to say their constitutions dont protect the right to an abortion. if approved, the ballot initiative stands a good chance of passing in Nevada, where nearly 7 in 10 voters described themselves as pro-choice in a 2021 poll. Nationally, support for abortion access remains high despite GOP efforts to villainize it. Polling released last week from Pew Research found that 63% of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, increasing by 4 percentage points since 2021. That view is even shared by two-thirds of moderate and liberal Republicans, the survey found. Related... ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, May 21. Turkmenistan plans to put into operation new residential buildings as well as a water treatment facility in Ashgabat city, Trend reports. According to the official source, this was announced by Deputy Chairman of the Government of Turkmenistan Baymyrat Annamamedov at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers. "On the occasion of Ashgabat City Day, new buildings and facilities are planned to be inaugurated, including a water treatment plant with a capacity of 150,000 cubic meters of drinking water per day in Bagtyyarlyk district and 136 two-story residential buildings in the Choganli residential complex in the same area," he said. Meanwhile, as part of the strategy for developing building construction and infrastructure improvement in Turkmenistan, the focus is on comprehensive support for residential and commercial construction, as well as renovation of existing facilities. In this context, the emphasis is on the introduction of innovative technologies, the development of specialist skills in architecture, engineering, and construction, as well as attracting investments and establishing partnerships with international construction companies in order to ensure sustainable economic growth and increase the level of comfort for the population. Tensions are high between North Korea and South Korea, and it could soon erupt into a crisis. North Korea is expected to provoke conflict before the US election in November. An expert says that could drag the US into a clash on the peninsula. Tensions are flaring between North Korea and South Korea, and it could lead to conflict sooner rather than later. While there's no indication full-scale war is coming, a provocation from North Korea heightened in an election year for South Korea and the US could prompt retaliation from South Korea's hawkish president, an expert says. "The real nature of any forthcoming North Korean crisis is difficult to predict," Sue Mi Terry, a senior fellow for Korea studies with the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in an article for Foreign Affairs last week, adding that "nonlethal provocations," like cyberattacks against government and defense institutions, should be expected at a minimum. On the other end of the spectrum, North Korea could conduct more testing for its Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile or test a tactical nuclear weapon, or even go beyond "saber-rattling," as Terry described, launching "an actual, if limited, military attack against South Korea," not unlike incidents in 2010 when North Korea shelled Yeonpyeong and sank a South Korean naval vessel, killing 46 crew members. North Korea has many reasons to provoke. They could be to seize international attention and fear for negotiating leverage or to drive a wedge in the US-South Korea alliance; some provocations seem to be in defiance of US-South Korean military exercises, for example. Such a clash between North Korea and South Korea could quickly spiral into wider conflict. South Korea's president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has taken a tougher stance on North Korea since his election two years ago, strengthening ties with the US and Japan much to Pyongyang's disapproval. Yoon, as Terry wrote, "is an avowed hawk and has promised to respond forcefully to any North Korean attack." What that looks like remains unclear, but it sets the stage for growing pressure. A TV showing North Korea's firing of a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile on December 19. SOPA Images via Getty Images A notable shift came this year when North Korea declared South Korea "our principal enemy" and threatened to "thoroughly annihilate" it along with the US if provoked. While these may just seem like fighting words, North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, conducted a major shift in the background, removing any goal of unification between the two Koreas from the government's policies. This included the public demolition of the Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification, built by Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, as a symbol of peaceful Korean reunification. Government offices, documents, websites, and plans for reunification also went dark. The move was alarming and likely partially influenced by the Yoon administration's taking a harder stance against North Korea than Yoon's immediate predecessor, Moon Jae-in, took. Those larger issues are at play during an especially fraught time: a major election year for the US. South Korea also in April held legislative elections, in which Yoon's party lost seats; his domestic policies have often faced strong opposition. Military members saluting during a demonstration involving tank units in North Korea. KCNA via Reuters On a recent episode of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' show "The Capital Cable" focusing on the future of North Korean policy, Terry talked about the potential of a provocation coming before the US election, referring to CSIS research from this year that found that North Korea staged more than four times as many weapons tests in US election years as it did in other years. Commentary on the analysis by Victor Cha, the senior vice president for Asia and the Korea chair at CSIS, and Andy Lim, an associate fellow with the CSIS Korea chair, said: "North Korea exhibits a tendency to ramp up provocations during U.S. election years. While diplomacy could stave off some of the violence, Kim Jong-un has rejected all calls from the Biden administration to meet. Instead, the regime has more than doubled the number of tests since 2021, compared to under the previous U.S. administration." The election, shaping up to be a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, could be notable for North Korea, but that doesn't mean it's the only thing Kim is thinking about. Kim Jong Un at a launch ceremony for a new "tactical nuclear attack submarine" in early September. KCNA via REUTERS Things are quite different now than they were four years ago. Since talks in Hanoi with Trump failed in 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic further isolated the so-called Hermit Kingdom, Kim has taken a large step back from engagement with the US, instead turning toward the country's more traditional allies, Russia and China. Allison Hooker, a former deputy assistant to the president and senior director for Asia on the National Security Council, said on "The Capital Cable" that a lot was happening on the global stage for North Korea to exploit for its own gain, including the war in Ukraine, for which North Korea has contributed weapons to Russia, and tensions between China and Taiwan. There's a lot going on at home, too, including in missile and weapons testing and in North Korea's nuclear program. Hooker said Kim was hard at work in those areas and could be looking to reengage in foreign policy with the US and South Korea down the road. "The point is to reengage from a position of great strength," she said. Read the original article on Business Insider NHS hospital bosses are complicit in a culture of complacency, avoidance, denial and cover-up, a patient safety expert has told MPs. A government committee heard how inquiries into NHS failures were routinely hampered by foot-dragging tactics from NHS and hospital leaders just a day after the Infected Blood Inquiry report was published. Miles Sibley, the co-founder of the Patient Experience Library, which collates various surveys, reports and hospital data into one place, told the health select committee about the tactics leaders within the NHS employ to delay inquiries. When asked why he thought it took so long for patients and loved ones to get answers, he said: I cant talk for inquiry processes but in terms of the time it takes for these things to come to inquiries, I think partly its because of these cultures of complacency and avoidance and denial and cover-up. Copies of Sir Brian's report - Tracey Croggon/Infected Blood Inquiry/PA Foot-dragging is a tactic, and when you read inquiry reports, you see examples of this all the way through, he said. Things like case notes being mysteriously lost. Its a tactic. It goes back right to the start where people start to raise concerns and find theyre hitting a brick wall almost straight away. Such themes were central to the report into the infected blood scandal, which claimed the lives of 3,000 people who had received contaminated blood while under NHS care. Sir Brian Langstaffs report found there had been a chilling cover-up by officials. The NHS and successive governments compounded the agony by refusing to accept that wrong had been done, he said of the multitude of failings highlighted in his report. Theresa May, the former prime minister who established the inquiry, told the House of Commons, the report had highlighted what is a devastating and abject failure of the British state. Medical professionals, civil servants, politicians all of whom felt their job was to protect their own reputation rather than to serve and look after the public who they were there to serve, she said. Theresa May reacting to the statement by Rishi Sunak on the blood scandal - JESSICA TAYLOR/UK PARLIAMENT/AFP via Getty Mr Sibley told the health select committee how delay tactics, cover-ups and the dismissal of patient voices had been hallmarks of multiple inquiries into NHS scandals. In the last two decades, there have been several inquiries, including into maternity failings at Shrewsbury and Telford, and East Kent, the Francis Inquiry into the failings at Mid Staffordshire, where hundreds of patients died because of negligence, and there are ongoing inquiries into serial baby killer Lucy Letby and more maternity failings in Nottingham. Mr Sibley said patients were often the last to be listened to and their experiences dismissed as anecdotal evidence. When people talk about patient stories being anecdotal evidence thats a kind of shorthand for saying their subjective, emotional, irrational, unreliable and basically shouldnt be given too much credence. The term anecdotal evidence is not just dismissive, it is contemptuous of peoples experience. And I personally would like to see it never mentioned again in healthcare, he said. He said there had been multiple studies, including from Healthwatch England, into the muddled roots for finding a way through complaint systems with patients unsure who or where to turn to. And that after surmounting the dismissive attitudes, when things start to get really serious, [they] encounter denial and obstruction. This happens to regulators as well. When the CQC [Care Quality Commission] went into East Kent they were met with an aggressively hostile response, he said. CQC investigators were forced to sit in a corridor and wait for 45 minutes after the supposed start time of their meeting as a tactic. What we do see time and again, is patients and harmed families having to speak up sometimes for years before finally being heard, he added. Quoting from Baroness Cumberlege of Newicks 2020 review into medicines and medical devices safety, which looked at harms caused by pregnancy test drug Primodos, epilepsy drug sodium valproate and vaginal mesh, he said: The patient experience must no longer be considered anecdotal and weighted least in a hierarchy of evidence based medicine. Thats something that the whole of the NHS needs to hear and act on. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Nickelodeon star Danny Tamberelli on how his growing up both on set and off has shaped his parenting Danny Tamberelli starred in "The Adventures of Pete & Pete" and "All That," among others. More recently, he co-authored two romance novels with his wife, Kate. He says his parents were always there, and set a great example of how he wants to raise his kids. Recently Danny Tamberelli was dropping his 4-year-old son Alfie off at preschool when one of the teachers pulled him aside. She'd heard he was the voice of Arnold on "The Magic School Bus" series, which Alfie's preschool class would soon be watching. "We'll see what happens with that," Tamberelli told Business Insider, noting that so far Alfie has had little interest in watching shows that feature his dad, although he'll occasionally watch "The Mighty Ducks," the 1992 film that Tamberelli starred in. Although Alfie would rather watch PBS Kids or YouTube, his life has already been impacted by his dad's career in small ways. Tamberelli, 42, says he's occasionally stopped for photos while out with Alfie or his 1-year-old daughter, Penelope. Last year, Alfie came to 90s Con and was thoroughly confused about why people stood in line to take a picture with his dad. "He was like, 'I don't even like taking pictures with you,'" said Tamberelli. Yet Tamberelli's mom had taught him to always engage with fans, asking them about themselves and forming a genuine connection. Courtesy of Danny Tamberelli "I want to teach my children about fame through communication," Tamberelli said. "I care when someone cares. There's a level of empathy that goes along with it." He wants his kids to know "how to take something you're doing and bring people in." Tamberelli's mom was always on set with him Most recently, Tamberelli has done that by indulging in the nostalgia that his fellow 90s kids love so much. "The Road Trip Rewind," available May 21, is a romance Tamberelli cowrote with his wife, Kate. The duo dedicated every naptime for years to writing the book and its predecessor, "The First Date Prophecy," which draws on their love story. Courtesy of Peter Detweiler On the tough days, they wondered, "Are we wasting a year of nap times, which any parent knows is precious?" Kate said. The books are set in the late 90s, the same time as "Quiet on Set," a documentary series that details abuses tied to children's television shows in the 1990s and 2000s. Tamberelli declined to comment on the film but said his mother was always a protective force on set. When he was filming "The Mighty Ducks," one of the producers even commented on how fierce she was. "She was there to make sure everything was running smoothly," Tamberelli said. "I would voice any issues to her; she would voice them to production." His mom was the "kind of parent that could be there all the time but also gave me a lot of space to find myself and be creative," he said. "I'll hope I can be like that," he added. "Just being present and aware of your child's life is really important, coming from an industry where sometimes that doesn't always happen." Tamberelli worked at a bagel shop when he wasn't on TV Despite working on "All That" through his teens, Tamberelli's dad made him get a more normal job working at a bagel shop, where he stayed throughout high school and college. Sometimes, "All That" would be on the TV while he was working. "At the time, I was feeling a little weird about doing that, but in hindsight, it did ground me," he said. His dad wanted him to understand the value of a dollar, and also have job skills that he might need if his Hollywood career didn't pan out. As an actor who has auditioned for "tens of thousands" of roles and only secured a fraction of them, Tamberelli understood the value of that. "I didn't have to worry about other things child actors do when they put all their eggs in one basket," he said. "That can be traumatic and problematic" if it doesn't work out. "I'm very fortunate and lucky, that's not the case." Growing up, acting shaped Tamberelli's personality. The snarky character of Little Pete from "got into my brain," he said, while the show molded his tastes in music and cinematography. Transitioning from that character to the sketch comedy on "All That" was a bit jarring. "Being a teenager, I was confused," Tamberelli said. "That would have happened to anyone, but mine was a little more public." The pandemic project The books that the Tamberellis have co-authored draw on Danny's experience as a child star. Working through all those nap times brought the couple even closer, said Kate, a literary agent who has previously written young adult fiction on her own. Courtesy of Danny Tamberelli "It's a bizarre experience to share your headspace and meld your brains together," she said. I couldn't have done it with anyone but Danny." Oftentimes, Kate would help Danny rewrite the romance scenes. "It was funny to see the way Danny describes kissing," she said. "It's like getting a window into his head." While Kate was dedicated, making sure that Danny even wrote on holidays, the resulting books have been well worth it, he said. "I couldn't imagine a more fun creative project to have done together," he said. "It's a pandemic project that made good two times over." Read the original article on Business Insider Nine in Germany, accused of 'Reichsbuerger' coup plot, go on trial By Tom Sims and Thomas Escritt FRANKFURT/BERLIN (Reuters) -A would-be prince, a former judge and parliamentarian, and retired military officers were among nine alleged conspirators who went on trial on Tuesday for a suspected "Reichsbuerger" plot to overthrow Germany's democracy. Prosecutors say they were ringleaders in a terrorist conspiracy to topple the government and install property investor Heinrich XIII Prinz Reuss, scion of a now-throneless dynasty, as caretaker head of state. The plot, exposed in 2022, has both captivated and stunned Germany, which prides itself on its economic might, stable institutions and consensus-driven politics, despite recent inroads by the far right. The high-profile case, in a maximum-security courtroom on the outskirts of Frankfurt erected for the trial, is the second to open against members of a conspiracy suspected of involving at least 27 people. The defendants who took their seats on Tuesday constitute what prosecutors say would have been political and military leaders of a plot to storm parliament and detain legislators to initiate their seizure of power. "They knew their seizure of power would involve killing people," prosecutors wrote ahead of the trial. The defendants have denied charges of terrorism and high treason. Reuss, the central figure of the movement who prosecutors say hosted planning meetings at his hunting lodge in eastern Germany, entered court in a blue sweater and blue jacket over a white shirt and appeared to have lost weight since his arrest. MONARCHISTS Prosecutors say the defendants are adherents of the "Reichsbuerger" (Citizens of the Reich) belief system. It holds that today's German state is an illegitimate facade and that they are citizens of a monarchy which, they maintain, endured after Germany's defeat in World War One despite its formal abolition. Security services say the conspiracy theory, which has parallels to the QAnon movement that fuelled the 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol, has some 21,000 adherents nationwide. "It is not about harmless nut cases, but about dangerous terror suspects," said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser. Nine accomplices who prosecutors say would have imposed martial law after a putsch went on trial in Stuttgart last month. Tuesday's defendants included former army officers Maximilian Eder and Ruediger von Pescatore, and former judge and far-right ex-parliamentarian Birgit Malsack-Winkemann. Prosecutors say Malsack-Winkemann used parliamentary privileges to escort several co-conspirators around the Reichstag building in Berlin in a scoping exercise. Eder told Stern magazine in an interview from prison that the parliamentary tour had been intended to find suitable locations to accost lawmakers over what he believed was their involvement in a child molestation ring. The leading suspects are accused of seeking the backing of Russian officials, including during meetings at Russian consulates in Germany and in the Slovak capital Bratislava. This reflected their belief that an "Alliance" of victor countries, including Russia and the United States, stood ready to support the resurrection of the real, submerged Germany that would replace today's post-World War Two republic. The Russian embassy did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Prosecutors say the conspiracy had 500,000 euros in funds and had gathered over 100,000 rounds of ammunition. The trial's opening attracted dozens of spectators and journalists who lined up hours before the start. (Reporting by Thomas Escritt and Tom Sims; editing by Mark Heinrich and Bernadette Baum) The Polish government arrested nine people from a Russian spy ring in connection to alleged sabotage plots, Prime Minister Donald Tusk told Polish media outlet TVN24. "We currently have nine suspects detained and indicted, who have been directly implicated in the name of Russian (intelligence) services in acts of sabotage in Poland," Tusk said. The individuals were Polish, Ukrainian, and Belarusian citizens. Tusk also suggested they may have been recruited from criminal circles. Acts of alleged sabotage include "beatings, arson, and attempted arson," not just in Poland but also in Latvia, Lithuania, and possibly even Sweden. Tusk explained that the group planned, for example, to set fire to a paint factory in Wroclaw, western Poland, and an Ikea center in Lithuania. Earlier this year, a joint operation by Ukrainian and Polish law enforcement agencies led to the detention of a Polish citizen who allegedly offered to Russia to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky. On his own initiative, the suspect meant to spy on the security of the Rzeszow airport in Poland, with the intention of helping Russian intelligence services plan a potential assassination of Zelensky during the latter's visit to Poland. The Polish authorities detained the suspect and charged him with working for foreign intelligence services. The investigation is ongoing. Several other suspects have been arrested in recent months in Germany, Austria, and Estonia for allegedly spying for Russia or other forms of collaboration with Russian intelligence. Read also: Polish, Ukrainian authorities expose Pole who allegedly offered to assassinate Zelensky for Russia Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. 'Nip this in the bud.' North Canton looks to ban marijuana dispensaries in city NORTH CANTON Council is moving toward banning the sale of marijuana and cannabis in the city. Council members by voice vote approved placing legislation on its June 3 agenda that would prohibit the commercial "cultivation, processing and sale" of marijuana and cannabis whether for medical or recreational purposes within the city limits. A memo from the city administration to council said city officials intend to prohibit the establishment of adult-use cannabis dispensaries in the city. The memo notes that state law prohibits such dispensaries from being located within 500 feet of schools, parks or churches. And such dispensaries can't be less than a mile from another cannabis dispensary. The vote took place more than six months after the majority of Ohio and North Canton voters approved Issue 2, which legalized the recreational possession and use of marijuana but with limitations. The proposed legislation would not prohibit North Canton residents from growing marijuana plants in their homes to provide marijuana for their own use. The city's public policy analyst Benjamin Young said Issue 2 prohibits cities from restricting such activity. Mayor Stephan Wilder said North Canton has two CBD businesses that sell cannabidiol oil, an extract from cannabis, to help treat people's medical conditions. But he opposes allowing dispensaries into the city to sell cannabis or marijuana because the city is compact. "I just feel that if there's (going to be) a dispensary, it can be outside our city limits," Wilder, the city's former police chief, said at a council meeting Monday. "If you look at the map, there's not too many places I think that would be acceptable for a dispensary. But just flat out, just from my experience and where I come from, from my law enforcement background, from the opportunity I had to be our area's first DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) instructor. To try to educate our public, our young people about the pros and cons of drug use whether it's legal or illegal. I'm just not in favor of moving forward with this type of business in the city. ... I'd like to just try to nip this in the bud." Wilder said no marijuana pun was intended. Ward 1 council member Jamie McCleaster, at-large council member Christine Weyrick and council President Matthew Stroia indicated they agreed with the mayor. "Is our community a place that wants to have marijuana dispensaries?" asked Stroia. "Does that fit into the (fabric) of our society? I don't believe it does." $5-a-month sewage fee increase coming Separately, council approved a $5-a-month fee increase on residential water and storm sewer customers that takes effect Jan. 1, 2026, to fund drainage and storm sewer improvements. The city allowed a 1-mill storm sewer levy to expire, with the last collection of the levy being this summer. Young said if voters had approved a replacement levy, it would have raised more than $388,000 a year and cost the owner of a $177,000 home about $5.16 a month. The monthly fees, which do not require voter approval, are expected to raise $386,220 a year. Council continues debate on dispatch center Council also agreed to postpone until June 3 discussion on whether to end its own dispatch center and join a regional dispatch center. The administration is estimating joining a regional dispatch center would save about $350,000 a year if the city retains a couple of employees who would carry out responding to public record requests and handling non-emergency calls not done by the regional dispatch center. The city's current dispatch staff since May 12 and until June 1 will be logging all of their duties and how long the duties take. That's expected to help the administration estimate how many full-time employees it would have to retain to perform non-emergency dispatch tasks. The administration has presented a proposal that says if the city unwinds its dispatch center, the Regional Emergency Dispatch Center or RED Center would be the city's best option to join. The RED Center has the capacity to handle the city's emergency calls, and it's run by a board represented by all the communities the RED Center serves. The Stark County sheriff's dispatch center does not have a governing board. The sheriff and his staff run it while the Stark County commissioners oversee it through authorizing funding. City looks to rezone property in and adjoining the Hoover District Council also agreed to advance to the June 3 agenda a proposal by the city administration to rezone 15 parcels in and adjoining the Hoover District on the southwest corner of Hower Street NE and Taft Avenue NE. Some of the parcels are now zoned industrial and others are residential. They would be rezoned to Main Street Center. Young said the city wants to establish a transitional buffer zone between residential and industrial zones. It was once an entirely residential area, but the Hoover Co. and Hoover District over the decades acquired properties for industrial use. The Main Street Center zoning allows multi-family duplexes and some commercial businesses. But it does not permit single-family homes or certain industrial uses, Young said. Brian Foltz, who owns a duplex on Hower Street NE that he rents to tenants, appeared at the council meeting to express opposition to his parcel being rezoned. He did not give a reason. Council member McCleaster said he was inclined to grant Foltz's request. But Young said keeping the property residential west of Taft Avenue while rezoning the other parcels could create a spot zoning situation that the city is trying to avoid where certain uses are within more easily defined boundaries. Stroia argued that the rezoning proposal shouldn't be changed at this stage without first understanding the implications of excluding Foltz's property from the rezoning. Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. X formerly Twitter: @rwangREP. This article originally appeared on The Repository: North Canton council moving to ban marijuana dispensaries New Jersey joins at least 29 other states that allow pharmacists to dispense certain contraceptives without a prescription, according to the Guttmacher Institute. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) The state announced that a long-awaited law allowing people to obtain birth control without a prescription went into effect Monday. As for where women will need to go to take advantage of the law, thats unknown. Gov. Phil Murphys administration said it does not have a list of participating pharmacies, and only five pharmacists have certified that they have taken the necessary training. In a statement, Murphy called the move an important step forward in our efforts to expand access to reproductive health care. Since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 struck down the federal right to abortion, Democrats like Murphy have taken steps to codify abortion rights at the state level and enact other protections for womens reproductive rights. As we witness an attack on reproductive freedom across the country, New Jersey will continue to be a safe haven for women to access the care they need, Murphy said. Murphy signed the law allowing qualified pharmacists to dispense self-administered contraceptives like birth control pills, rings, or patches without a prescription in January 2023. It was set to take effect in May, but the state Board of Medical Examiners and the state Board of Pharmacy had to finalize rules before over-the-counter sales could start, leading to the slow implementation of the law. Now that those rules and protocols are adopted, authorized pharmacists can dole out those products without a prescription. Pharmacists had to complete the state-approved training program, and participation was optional. New Jersey joins at least 29 other states that allow pharmacists to dispense certain contraceptives without a prescription, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Pharmacy giant CVS applauded the states move in a statement and said it looks forward to bringing this service to the state. CVS says it already provides Opill, an FDA-approved contraceptive that consumers can purchase without a prescription. Opill contains only one hormone, progestin, compared to more common types of contraceptives that include estrogen and progestin. A Walgreens spokeswoman said the company is still determining its next steps. The state Division of Consumer Affairs said it would share a list of participating pharmacy locations once available. Since the Supreme Courts 2022 decision overturning Roe, New Jersey officials have taken numerous steps to protect reproductive rights: requiring health insurers to cover contraceptives for 12 months instead of six, mandating insurance coverage for abortion services, increasing funding for family planning services and abortion clinic security, allowing midwives to perform abortions, and launching a strike force to ensure compliance with patient confidentiality restrictions. The post No-prescription birth control comes to N.J., but where remains a question appeared first on New Jersey Monitor. Recon Marine Eddie Wright was on his second deployment to Iraq in April 2004 when he was caught in the kill zone of an insurgent ambush in Fallujah, Iraq. Later estimates put the attacker numbers at between 40 and 60. Enemy fire engulfed Wright and his fellow Marines. A rocket-propelled grenade struck him, taking both his hands and fracturing his femur. Soon after he spent three weeks in the intensive care unit in Maryland at Bethesda Naval Medical Center before being transferred to Walter Reed Army Medical Center for long-term recovery. His mother flew to the United States from Ireland where she lived to help him. One day as he walked with her back from a physical therapy appointment, a worker with the nonprofit Semper Fi & Americas Fund came to find them because they were giving grants to families supporting their wounded loved ones. Because a lot of families had to stop working and were paying out of pocket for food and other things as they tried to stay around their wounded veteran, Wright said. Semper Fi Fund director made honorary Marine He said the military medical system simply wasnt prepared for the large influx of wounded in the early years of the post-9/11 wars. The nonprofit provides direct assistance to injured, wounded and ill service members, veterans and their families. Initially founded to assist Marines and sailors, the organization expanded from its original name of the Semper Fi Fund to become the Semper Fi & Americas Fund in 2012 to meet the needs of troops from all military branches. Wright, 48, was one of its early beneficiaries. As the organization hits its 20th year in operation in May, it boasts of having distributed $330 million in assistance to more than 32,000 service members and their families. Wright was able to return to service and finish his enlistment, working as a martial arts instructor at The Basic School, which trains newly commissioned Marine officers. It was a great way to spend my last year in the Marine Corps, and kind of a way to go out on retirement on my own terms, go out with my boots on, Wright said. Marine Eddie Wright during his 2004 deployment to Fallujah with 1st Reconnaissance Battalion. (Eddie Wright) Christy Stover, who now oversees all the funds case managers on the West Coast, joined the fund in 2007 and became Wrights case manager. We were so busy, but in the best way possible, Stover told Marine Corps Times. In the early days, there were so many people who were in the hospital and there were catastrophically wounded service members like Eddie. From the outset, Stover said, the organization sought to fill gaps that others didnt. She remembers providing funding for a special water filtration system at the home of a veteran whod been severely burned. The fund also began a bed grant program to provide specialized beds for veterans with injuries to the spine, neck, lower body or even migraines. Over time as various health and other problems among veterans became more prevalent, the fund adapted. The fund paid his airfare a few years ago when he had to travel on short notice to Ireland when his mother had her own health problems, he said. It continues to offer a service member and family support program and has added a transition program for veterans leaving the service and an integrative wellness program to provide long-term health tools and therapies for veterans. In fiscal year 2023 the fund provided $29.5 million in assistance, adding 2,100 first-time recipients, according to fund data. The family service and support fund issued $21 million to 10,900 recipients during that period. Another $3.2 million was used for transition support to 1,800 individuals. Support extends beyond the initial contact, Stover said. Case managers check in with veterans for years beyond their first assistance. Some people here a long time have got several hundred cases theyre working on, Stover said. Marines with 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, mix concrete mixture and water, during a volunteer project supported by the Semper Fi Fund to help a Marine veteran at his home, Oct. 25, 2012. (Lance Cpl. Austin Long/Marine Corps) Wright has used a neurological fitness program through the fund that helps participants mitigate and ameliorate stress through breathing and other techniques. It helps you to heal the brain, rewire and produce new mechanisms of coping, Wright said. The fund operates through donations, it does not receive government financing, Stover said. Donations range from one-time or recurring monthly donations to more than $100 million in support throughout 12 years from the Bob and Renee Parsons Foundation, whose namesake Bob Parsons is a Marine veteran. Though the number of wounded returning home has decreased as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have ended, many of those who served still need help. Wright often recommends the fund to friends and veterans he meets. Theyve got 20 years experience of caring about us, relationships that are long lasting, Wright said. Theyve had the experience, theyve seen it all, whatever youre going through. Stover said that referrals such as Wrights help the fund continue to assist those in need. I think people forget with some of the individual invisible wounds that our service members endured, that it doesnt stop just because the war is over, Stover said. The need is still there. That commitment gives veterans such as Wright a measure of reassurance. Its relief, Wright said. If something happens, no matter what youre going to receive the care you need. Youre not going to be left behind. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) Access by the public and the media to North Carolina autopsy reports related to criminal investigations would be significantly restricted under a bill considered Tuesday by a legislative committee. The proposal was debated by senators but not voted upon. It would explicitly add written autopsy reports from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to the list of documents exempt from public records when they are part of an investigative file held by prosecutors trying to solve a crime. The written reports could be accessed after a probe or prosecution is complete, one of the bills proponents said. Those reports often provide the public with information about the details of a crime while a case is pending. The bill also would repeal a state law that had allowed people to inspect and review but not copy autopsy photos, videos and recordings under supervision. Those records also would be considered within a prosecutors private case file if part of a crime investigation. Robeson County Republican Sen. Danny Britt, a defense attorney and former prosecutor shepherding the bill, said the details were still being worked out between state health officials, a group representing district attorneys and others. An updated version was likely to emerge next week. But Britt said it was important that autopsy records of all kinds including written reports be kept out of the public sphere while a potential homicide crime was investigated or prosecuted in the interests of justice. Releasing autopsy details or obtaining any access to photos or videos from the death review could unfairly taint a case, he said. I think that due process in the courts is more important than the public knowing about what happened related to someones death, Britt told reporters after the committee meeting. I also think its more important for that person whos being prosecuted to have due process, and that due process not being potentially denied so that case gets overturned and then that victim doesnt receive the justice they deserve, or that victims family. When asked by Mecklenburg County Democrat Sen. Mujtaba Mohammed if the bill would also restrict a victims family access to the reports, Britt said they generally wouldnt have access as a way to prevent images and videos from being shared to social media. They could, however, sit down with a prosecutor to view the photos, he said. The North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys supports the autopsy record access changes, said Chuck Spahos, the conferences general counsel. Content in the prosecutors investigative file is already exempt from public records law but can be released later. We dont give the investigative file up during a prosecution, and we shouldnt be giving up the record of the autopsy during a prosecution, Spahos said. If all that stuff gets released in the public, a case gets tried in the public, and thats not fair to the criminal defendant. In addition to autopsy report provisions, the bill also would add training requirements for county medical examiners and further outline how examiners can request and obtain a deceased persons personal belongings as evidence. If changes arent made to the bill, it would make current challenges faced by medical examiners much, much more difficult, Mark Benton, chief deputy health secretary at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, said during public comments on the bill. The measure would have to pass the Senate and House to reach Gov. Roy Coopers desk. 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. A North Carolina Republican running to be the states attorney general dismissed a significant election fraud incident in 2018 that resulted in a new election as some fairly minor illegal ballot harvesting. Dan Bishop, a congressman whose district is based outside of Charlotte, made the comments in an 1 April episode of the Reclaiming America podcast. In 2018, Mark Harris, a Republican, won the race to represent North Carolinas ninth congressional district. But shortly after the election, the North Carolina state board of elections voted to overturn a congressional election and call a new one after an investigation revealed that a Harris operative was illegally collecting absentee ballots from voters. Harris decided not to run again and Bishop ultimately won the seat. The operative, Leslie McCrae Dowless, allegedly instructed those working for him to falsely sign as witnesses for voters though they had not witnessed the voter filling out the ballot and making it seem like the voter mailed back the ballot themselves when they had not. People working for Dowless said they collected hundreds of mail-in ballots and in some cases were directed to fill in votes for local candidates. In North Carolina, a voter must get two witnesses or a notary to sign an absentee ballot envelope and it is illegal for anyone other than the voter, a close relative, or a legal guardian to return the ballot. Dowless was charged with several felonies for the conduct in the 2016 and 2018 elections. He died in 2022, before the case went to trial. Several others involved in the scheme pleaded guilty to misdemeanors. Bishop said in the interview that the board of elections under Democrat control decided to overturn the election. While Democrats did have a 3-2 majority on the board at the time, the vote for a new election was unanimous. Mark Harris, the Republican candidate who won, also called for a new election, and the state Republican party supported Harriss decision not to run again. Harris, who won a Republican primary for Congress earlier this year, has since walked back his position, falsely accusing Democrats of stealing the election from him. A Bishop spokesperson did not return a request for comment. The type of fraud that took place in North Carolina which is extremely rare is exactly the type of activity that Republicans across the country have tried to crack down on, passing laws that make it harder for third parties and non-family members to return absentee ballots on a voters behalf. Bishop voted against certifying the 2020 election. During the same 1 April interview, he acknowledged the immense power he would have over election issues were he elected attorney general this fall. I will say that I believe the number one impact that an attorney general can have is in the area of election integrity, by seeing to it that the kind of mischief that has gone on in litigation concerning elections is being responded to appropriately, he said. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) A judge sentenced a North Las Vegas pastor to one year of probation on Monday, the result of a plea deal for a sex crimes case. Bobby Cornealius Smith will have to register as a sex offender and cannot be alone with children other than his biological children while he is on probation. Smith will continue his work as a pastor, according to defense attorney Robert Draskovich. Smith is the pastor of New Beginnings Ministries, according to the churchs website. Clark County District Court Judge Joe Hardy, Jr. referred to the plea deal reached between Smith and the Clark County District Attorneys office as he sentenced Smith. A grand jury previously indicted Smith for 11 felony charges, including nine counts of sexual assault, one count of attempted sexual assault, and one count of child abuse, neglect, or endangerment. Three women, one family member, and two women whom he referred to as God daughters, reported that he sexually assaulted them. A family member testified in front of the grand jury that Smith forced her to use sex toys multiple times starting when she was 17 years old and a senior in high school, according to transcripts obtained by the 8 News Now Investigators. She said that Smith told her, God is telling me that it is important for you to do this, and insisted that the sex toys would prevent her from ruining her life and giving into urges. Smith later showed her how to use the toy and would tell her to meet him at hotels, she said. North Las Vegas pastor accused of sexual assault, child abuse wanted to help teenage urges, police say The woman testified that she had reported what had happened to Smiths wife, Lashawn Nicole Smith, who failed to contact police. Another woman testified that her family became involved with New Beginnings Ministries when she was 16 years old. At 17, she said, Smith texted her a photo of a sex toy. She told him that she did not want to use it. Smith later brought up the sex toy again, telling her that sex toys are not a sin and that he wanted to show her how to use one, she said. Las Vegas pastor told victims God wanted them to use sex toys, women testified Bretaishe Stewart said that she was a member of the church when Smith begged her to perform oral sex on him. He blocked a stairway and dropped his pants, she said. She testified that she panicked and eventually pushed him off. Stewart showed up to the Regional Justice Center in downtown Las Vegas to give a victim impact statement at Smiths sentencing. After a communication issue involving a victim advocate, Stewart did not have the chance and said she wanted to share her story with 8 News Now. Stewart told the 8 News Now Investigators that she looked at Smith as a father figure. It was a traumatic experience from basically you finally get the family you always desired, you know not having a father or mother and even siblings, and then it being stripped away, Stewart said. Smith pleaded guilty through Alford, when a defendant does not admit guilt but believes there could be a harsher punishment without a plea deal, to open or gross lewdness and conspiracy to commit a crime. Both charges are gross misdemeanors. If Smith complies with probation and stays out of trouble, the gross lewdness charge will be dropped, according to Draskovich. Las Vegas pastor reaches plea deal, documents show He felt it was better to suffer a lesser of two evils by entering into the negotiations, Draskovich told the 8 News Now Investigators. North Las Vegas Police started investigating the allegations against the pastor after the first alleged victim made a report, according to Detective Ashley Bertschy. She had learned that the third alleged victim had reported what had happened in 2014 and that she had been examined by a nurse at University Medical Center who also collected a rape kit. Bertschy testified that Las Vegas Metro Police had closed the case and she reopened it. Police executed a search warrant at the Smiths home in North Las Vegas and found over 20 sex toys, according to Bertschy. Lashawn Nicole Smith was also arrested. The charges were dropped as a result of the negotiations. North Las Vegas pastor, wife indicted on charges of sexual assault, child abuse Smith served a total of 27 days in jail after his arrest while his wife served a total of 11 days in jail after her arrest, according to court records. At the end of the day, the truth will come out, Stewart said. The truth has come out. To reach the National Sexual Assault Hotline, call 1-800-656-4673. 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 KLAS. NORTH OGDEN, Utah (ABC4) Elementary school students in North Ogden reportedly felt ill after eating edible THC gummies a student allegedly brought from home earlier this year, according to the North Ogden Police Department. Det. Dezmond Perkins said an 11-year-old student at Green Acres Elementary School brought a bag of THC-infused gummy worms from home in March, believing they were candy. The student shared the gummy worms with four other children during recess. Perkins said each student ate between one to three gummy worms. One student reportedly told their parents what had happened, and the parent in turn alerted school staff. A Weber School District spokesperson told ABC4.com that once the issue was brought to their attention, the school immediately got the nurse involved and coordinated treatment with poison control. One parent told ABC4.com the students began wobbling, having slurred speech, and throwing up. However, both the North Ogden Police Department and the Weber School District could not confirm those symptoms. The North Ogden Police Department said the students felt ill while the school district said the students suffered only light-headed-like symptoms. Crews uncover history with construction in downtown Salt Lake City Due to student privacy laws, [we] cant provide specific details about each student, but we are not aware of any students being taken to the hospital and having their stomach pumped, said the Weber School District in a statement, With that being said, parents may have sought private medical care after checking their child from school, but we were not made aware of any serious concerns. Perkins said one child was checked out by a doctor and was told to sleep off the effects. Cannabis products are legal in Utah for medicinal purposes only and users are required to have a prescribed medical card. Under Utah state law, marijuana products are required to be clearly and unambiguously labeled as a cannabis product. The packaging can not appeal to children or mimic a candy container and must be in a tamper-resistant package. The labels must also include warnings clearing stating to keep out of reach children and that the product could have intoxicating or addictive effects. UDOT eyes ambitious projects including new freeway in Utah County According to the Poison Control Center, there are no federal regulations relating to packaging since cannabis is still illegal on the federal level. This could lead to product labels being inaccurate or confusing. In most cases, children who eat a cannabis-infused edible could experience dizziness, drowsiness, confusion, breathing difficulties, a rapid heart rate, and/or vomiting. In more severe cases, they could have hallucinations, an abnormally slow heart rate, and low blood pressure. These symptoms could last for hours and with more severe symptoms could require hospitalization. Since the incident, the Weber School District said it sent out a message to parents with a reminder to secure all medications in their homes to help prevent anything like this from happening again. Detective Perkins told ABC4.com the Department of Child and Family Services was contacted and a case was opened against the parent of the child who brought the edibles. The North Ogden Police Department also has a case open and charges against the parent are being screened by the prosecuting attorney. One parent issued the following statement to ABC4.com: My frustration with the situation was that the 5th graders at recess tried to let the principal know there was a problem and it wasnt addressed until one of the 5th graders contacted a parent. Once the administration noticed how serious the situation was they sprung into action. The principal at green acres needs to look into all claims even if they come from a 10 year old. From my perspective it wasnt handled seriously and they kept saying the students are fine. Its not about them being fine, its about drugs being at school and since no one was seriously ill it was ignored. Concerned parent of Green Acres Elementary School student 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 ABC4 Utah. Construction of the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington began in 1933 and was completed in 1942. It is the largest hydropower producer in the U.S. and also part of the Columbia Basin Project, irrigating more than 600,000 acres. (Bureau of Reclamation photo) Construction of the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington began in 1933 and was completed in 1942. It is the largest hydropower producer in the U.S. and also part of the Columbia Basin Project, irrigating more than 600,000 acres. (Bureau of Reclamation photo) Three Northwest tribes and federal agencies are getting closer to understanding how to revive Chinook and sockeye salmon runs on the upper Columbia River that were once among the most abundant in the world but were decimated by dams over the last century. Leaders from the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, the Coeur dAlene Tribe and the Spokane Tribe of Indians met with leaders from three federal agencies and the Northwest Power and Conservation Council in Portland on Wednesday to discuss progress on their historic agreement from last September. The 20-year plan, separate from a related deal signed in December, marked the culmination of decades of work by the tribes, who were deprived of salmon following the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam near Spokane in 1938 and Chief Joseph Dam in Bridgeport, Washington in 1955. The fish have historically been central to their way of life. Map of areas in the Columbia River Basin affected by dams. (Northwest Power and Conservation Council map) Both the tribal and federal agency leaders discussed a range of subjects, from acquiring the needed fish from hatcheries and moving them via truck to areas blocked by the dams. The Biden administration said it would allocate $200 million to the effort, but the parties agreed even more money would be needed. Officials and tribes face challenges working with Canadian dams and hatcheries as well as competing interests for the Columbias water from hydroelectric and agriculture. Caj Matheson, natural resources director for the Coeur dAlene Tribe, said getting the reintroduction work underway was exciting and long overdue. Members of the tribe have for decades been cut off from salmon that used to migrate to them on the Spokane River, a tributary of the Columbia. Salmon are gone from the river today due to Grand Coulee Dam. There were once at least 10 million salmon moving through the 13,000 miles of Columbia River Basin waters each year before the dams were built, according to the Columbia River Inter-tribal Fish Commission. Today, many of these salmon species are among the most endangered in the West. Over the years, weve sat in rooms with so many federal agencies, so many people, so many leaders across this region, he said, and so often weve seen people nodding their heads in agreement and even people saying: Yeah, its an injustice. Whats happening to you guys, whats happening with the Coeur dAlene Tribe, its an injustice. And yet the wherewithal to be able to make that change just wasnt followed through. Greg Abrahamson, chairman of the Spokane Tribe of Indians (left); Caj Matheson, natural resources director for the Coeur dAlene Tribe (center); and Jarred-Michael Erickson, chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (right) at a meeting to discuss salmon reintroduction in the upper Columbia River on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (Photo by Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Historic agreement The agreement was a long time coming. About 24 years ago, the tribes urged the federal government and the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, which works on power plans and fish conservation, to discuss reintroduction. In 2014, they undertook a feasibility study to explore that possibility, and in the fall of 2023, President Joe Biden acknowledged the years of injustice the tribes had experienced and committed a federal investment of at least $200 million to rectify it. The Bureau of Reclamation, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bonneville Power Administration are involved along with the council, which is made up of two governor-appointed representatives from Oregon, Washington, Montana and Idaho and is tasked with managing energy production in the Northwest along with the health of fish and wildlife in the Columbia River Basin. Progress and challenges So far, several hatcheries have provided researchers with tens of thousands of Chinook eggs to study as the fish grow into smolts and then adults and then study them over several generations. Researchers have begun tagging the fish to observe their migration patterns. Getting sockeye has been more difficult because one of the only hatcheries in the area that has them is in Canada. Scientists said procuring and tracking these fish across borders has been challenging because of bureaucratic procedures. To get the fish back into needed areas, scientists are evaluating the effects of moving them on trucks. The method called trap and haul requires capturing the salmon, putting them in a truck and then driving and releasing them back into water in the desired location. The idea would be to haul the fish directly to traditional tributaries where they would have spawned before the dams were built, such as the San Poil River on the Colville Reservation. This and other ideas to move fish via ladders are in their infancy, scientists said. Officials also need to study juvenile fish migration patterns, fish behavior, genetic resiliency and hydraulic modeling over the next two decades. Scientists are trying to understand how to move water through the Columbia both for the fish and to meet increased demand for water storage from agriculture and hydroelectric dams. Furthermore, a treaty between the U.S. and Canada that governs hydropower and flood control on the Columbia River is up for negotiation and renewal this summer. The treaty, originally implemented in 1964, did not take into account fish and river ecosystem health or tribal fishing rights and resources that are now protected. There are 15 Columbia Basin tribes working with the two federal governments to negotiate protections and benefits for tribal resources in future iterations of the treaty. A release of juvenile Chinook salmon near Keller Ferry, WA May 2, 2024. Staff from the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and the U.S. Geological Survey released juvenile Chinook in Lake Roosevelt to study. (Photos courtesy of James Reeves, Bureau of Reclamation) The lower Columbia River On the lower Columbia River, below Bonneville Dam in Cascade Locks, a decades-long battle over dams and fish restoration reached a turning point this year following a deal between the Biden administration and four tribes to restore 13 threatened and endangered fish runs and potentially breach four dams along the Snake River, the biggest tributary of the Columbia River. Such a move, however, would need to be approved by Congress. The agreement calls for a 10-year pause in legal fighting that dates back to the 1990s. It also includes a promise but not a guarantee of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds and other money for wild fish restoration in the Columbia River Basin over the next decade along with support for clean energy production by the tribes, according to a White House statement. Oregon Capital Chronicle originally published this article. Like the Alaska Beacon, Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. The post Northwest tribes, feds dive into work on salmon revival in upper Columbia River appeared first on Alaska Beacon. Theres nothing we can do: Convicted child predator to be released in Madera County Theres nothing we can do: Convicted child predator to be released in Madera County FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) Theres nothing we can do. We dont have a right to appeal. We dont have a right to change anything, Madera County District Attorney Sally Moreno said. She said Ciro Camacho, a convicted child sexual predator, is about to get released into Madera County. She says Judge Stephanie Jamieson, a Merced County Superior Court Judge, approved of the release, despite the Merced County DA and three doctors at the California state hospital voicing their opposition. This judge has decided unilaterally in the face that a ton of evidence that says this guy is still a danger to children, both of his priors are for child molest offenses, and shes decided to release him. You know interestingly shes not releasing him to her county- Merced- shes releasing him with a clear understanding that hes coming to our county, Morena said. Camacho was convicted of lewd acts with a child under the age of 14 back in 1993. Moreno said hes being released to Madera County because its where his family lives, and while he has to wear an ankle monitor and check in with a parole officer, other than that hes free. If they saw him at a park, at a library, at a school, talking to children, having a conversation with children, you know, make the call and get the sheriff out there, she said. They cant monitor him 24 seven. But if they get calls that hes at a local park, theyll be there in a heartbeat. Despite the backlash about this release in Madera County just months ago this year, it was residents and law enforcement officials in Merced County protesting the same thing. In February, the DA and sheriff in Merced County learned that Kevin Gray, a convicted child sex offender from Stanislaus County, was going to be released to Merced County. However, after objections from the community it was called off. 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 YourCentralValley.com | KSEE24 and CBS47. NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) Norfolk police are asking for the publics assistance with identifying the man who broke into a Ghent business. On Thursday, May 16 around 4:15 a.m. police responded to Video Game Heaven at 1911 Colonial Ave. for an alarm call. When officers arrived on the scene, they discovered that someone had broke a window entered the business. Surveillance video shows the man walking through the store stuffing items into a bag. In August of last year, two men walked into the same store and demanded money and merchandise. One of the men had a gun. Armed robbery at Video Game Heaven store in Norfolk; suspects sought Detectives are asking anyone who may recognize the man, or who has information about this incident to call the Norfolk Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP or submit a tip using the P3Tips mobile app. 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 WAVY.com. Children watch as rescue personnel carry a manatee to the water during a mass release of rehabilitated manatees at Blue Spring State Park in Orange City, Fla., in February 2023. The fast-growing state of Florida saw a relatively small birth rate decline of 1% from 2022 to 2023, according to a Stateline analysis. Phelan M. Ebenhack/The Associated Press Quality Journalism for Critical Times Births continued a historic slide in all but two states last year, making it clear that a brief post-pandemic uptick in the nations birth numbers was all about planned pregnancies that had been delayed temporarily by COVID-19. Only Tennessee and North Dakota had small increases in births from 2022 to 2023, according to a Stateline analysis of provisional federal data on births. In California, births dropped by 5%, or nearly 20,000, for the year. And as is the case in most other states, there will be repercussions now and later for schools and the workforce, said Hans Johnson, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California who follows birth trends. These effects are already being felt in a lot of school districts in California. Which schools are going to close? Thats a contentious issue, Johnson said. In the short term, having fewer births means lower state costs for services such as subsidized day care and public schools at a time when aging baby boomers are straining resources. But eventually, the lack of people could affect workforces needed both to pay taxes and to fuel economic growth. Nationally, births fell by 2% for the year, similar to drops before the pandemic, after rising slightly the previous two years and plummeting 4% in 2020. Mostly what these numbers show is [that] the long-term decline in births, aside from the COVID-19 downward spike and rebound, is continuing, said Phillip Levine, a Wellesley College economics professor. To keep population the same over the long term, the average woman needs to have 2.1 children over her lifetime a metric that is considered the replacement rate for a population. Even in 2022 every state fell below that rate, according to final data for 2022 released in April. The rate ranged from a high of 2.0 in South Dakota to less than 1.4 in Oregon and Vermont. Trends for Latina women The declines in births werent as steep in some heavily Hispanic states where abortion was restricted in 2022, including Texas and the election battleground state of Arizona. Births were down only 1% in Arizona and Texas. When health clinics closed, many women might have been unable to get reliable birth control or, if they became pregnant, to get an abortion. Hispanic births rose in states where abortion is most restricted, even as non-Hispanic births fell in the same states, according to the Stateline analysis. Its hard, however, to tell how much of a role abortion access played compared with immigration and people moving to growing states such as Texas and Florida. In states where abortion access is most protected, births fell for both Hispanic and non-Hispanic women. The big takeaway to me is the likely increase in poverty for all family members, including children, in families affected by lack of access [to abortion and birth control], said Elizabeth Gregory, director of the Institute for Research on Women, Gender & Sexuality at the University of Houston. Many of the nations most Hispanic states where abortion and birth control are more freely available saw the biggest decreases in births: about 5% in California, Maryland, Nevada and New Mexico. Hispanic women as a group are facing more challenges in accessing reproductive care, including both contraception and abortion, Gregory said in a university report earlier this year. Unplanned births often directly impact womens workforce participation and negatively affect the income levels of their families. Hispanic women on average have more children than Black or white women. Their fertility rates rose throughout much of the 1980s and 1990s, then fell in the late 2000s to near the same level as other groups. Thats because both abortion and more reliable birth control became more widely available, Gregory said. The fact that some of the steepest drops were in heavily Hispanic states outside of Arizona and Texas suggests that Latina women are continuing a path toward smaller and delayed families typical of other groups. Most of the decline in California has been associated with fewer babies born to Hispanic women, especially immigrants, said Johnson, of the Public Policy Institute of California. California has a high share of Latinos compared to other states, and so fertility declines in that group have a huge effect on the overall decline in California, he said. California was above replacement fertility as recently as 2008, he added, and would still be there if Hispanic fertility had not dropped. California is about 40% Hispanic, about the same as Texas and second only to New Mexico at 50%. Birth rates also declined steeply in heavily Hispanic Nevada and New Mexico, with each dropping about 4% from 2022 to 2023. But Arizona, Florida and Texas, also in the top 10 states for Hispanic population share but faster-growing, saw relatively small drops of about 1%. Texas banned almost all abortions after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. The state also requires parental consent for birth control, a rule thats included federally funded family planning centers since a lower court ruling that same year. Arizona also saw the number of abortions drop in 2022. After the high courts Dobbs v. Jackson decision, an Arizona judge revived enforcement of a near-total ban on the procedure that was enacted in the Civil War era. Many clinics closed and never reopened. Abortions in the state plummeted from more than 1,000 a month early in 2022 to 220 in July 2022, and never fully recovered, according to state records. The rate of abortions dropped 19% for the year. Births that year increased slightly, by 500, over 2021. In Texas, Gregorys research at the University of Houston research saw an effect on Hispanic births when an abortion ban took effect in 2021. Fertility rates rose 8% that year for Hispanic women 25 and older, according to the report. Both Texas and Arizona also are growing quickly, making the smaller decreases in births harder to interpret, Arizona State Demographer Jim Chang noted. Chang declined comment on the effect of abortion accessibility on state birth rates. Budget effects Overall, the continuing fall in birth numbers could have significant effects on state budgets in the future. The slide augurs more enrollment declines for state-funded public schools already facing more dropouts since the pandemic. The decline we see in enrollment since COVID-19 is a bigger problem than just the decline in birth rates, said Sofoklis Goulas, an economic studies fellow at the Brookings Institution. Rural schools and urban high schools have been particularly hard hit, according to a Brookings report Goulas authored this year. We dont have a clear answer. We suspect a lot of people are doing home education or going to charter schools and private schools but were not sure, Goulas told Stateline. Still, states need to recognize declining births as an emerging factor in state budgets to avoid future budget shortfalls, said Jeff Chapman, a research director who monitors the trend at The Pew Charitable Trusts. Nationally, births did increase slightly for women older than 40, indicating a continuing trend toward delayed parenthood, said William Frey, a demographer at Brookings. The last two post-pandemic years do not necessarily indicate longer-term trends, Frey said. Young adults are still getting used to a recovering economy, including childbearing. The post The number of births continues to fall, despite abortion bans appeared first on Florida Phoenix. NYC Museum of Natural History under fire for shuttering Native American exhibit then abandoning it to gather dust The American Museum of Natural Historys shuttered Native American exhibits are simply gathering dust four months after being shut and tribal groups say it is stonewalling over repatriating precious objects. In January, the Manhattan museums new director, Sean Decatur, shuttered the Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains exhibit halls that displayed artifacts from its Native American collections. At the time, the museum said it acted to comply with new federal regulations giving museums five years to comply with a 1990 law that ordered institutions to return human remains, sacred objects and cultural items to native groups. The American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan shut down its Native American displays in January, saying it was to comply with new Department of the Interior rules designed to speed the repatriation of tribal objects. J. Messerschmidt for NY Post The American Museum of Natural History closed these exhibits about Native Americans in January. But four months later, tribal groups say they have heard nothing from museum bosses about repatriating the objects. J. Messerschmidt for NY Post The displays, which stretched over 10,000 square feet and included spears, tools and mannequins sporting headdresses and traditional garments, had been a fixture for 57 years. Decatur said they did not respect the values, perspectives and indeed shared humanity of Indigenous peoples. The new rules from the US Department of the Interior tell museum directors to provide inventories of their artifacts and consult with native groups to either return the objects or seek permission to display them. That includes any human remains, which the museum acknowledges it has in storage and which may have been acquired through the looting of sacred burial sites. Other items had been acquired from private collectors. This is part of the now-shuttered Hall of the Great Plains, which the museums new boss closed in January. J. Messerschmidt for NY Post This is one of the exhibits from the Hall of Eastern Woodlands at the Manhattan Museum of Natural History which is now gathering dust. J. Messerschmidt for NY Post But Native American groups told The Post they have heard nothing from the museum about returning items not even a list of what the institution holds despite its Cultural Resources Office saying it has begun consulting the 574 federally recognized tribes, as well as Native Hawaiian groups, state-recognized tribes and bands and other Native American groups. The museum told The Post the objects that had been on display remain where they were, but with the doors on the galleries locked. According to the head of the Association of American Indian Affairs, a Maryland-based nonprofit that represents native groups across the country, the museum has 2,039 Native American human remains and 3,884 funerary objects that are considered sacred. They have been among the biggest, most horrible holdouts of all of the institutions, and they are still woefully out of compliance, said the associations chief executive and attorney Shannon OLoughlin. This diorama using original Native American costumes and objects was part of the Hall of the Great Plains exhibit. It is now shuttered, but tribes say they have not been told anything about a consultation on repatriation. J. Messerschmidt for NY Post The now-shuttered Hall of Eastern Woodlands focused on tribal groups from what is now the eastern US and Canada. J. Messerschmidt for NY Post Harvard University, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Chicagos Field Museum have also been slow to act, she said. I have yet to hear from them, said Crystal CBearing, deputy director of the Northern Arapaho Tribal Historic Preservation Office in Wyoming. We would like an updated inventory about what they have in their collection. We deal with a lot of museums, and they have been among the worst and really slow to respond. Were waiting. Max Bear, the tribal historic preservation officer of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes in Oklahoma, told The Post that he has been trying to get information from the American Museum of Natural History for at least a decade. The displays also included dioramas portraying Native American life, and items such as dolls. J. Messerschmidt for NY Post Under the new rules, we need to start a consultation process, said Bear. They have a lot of human remains in their collection, and they might not know where they came from. They might not know where most of their collection came from. I reached out regularly to the museum, asking for an inventory, said a member of the Kiowa Tribe in Oklahoma, who did not want to be identified. My feeling is that the museum just doesnt know where to start in compiling their inventory. The collection was in bad condition, undervalued and under-maintained. I refused to take my children to see it when I was in New York. One of the problems is that their egos are so large that they just wont admit that they have no idea about the artifacts in their collection, said the Kiowa Tribe member. Shannon OLaughlin, the head of the Association of American Indian Affairs, slammed the American Museum of Natural History for its noncompliance on repatriation issues in the past. LinkedIn OLoughlin, of the Association of American Indian Affairs, said they were starting to see a change with Decatur, a former president of Ohios Kenyon College and a chemistry professor, who took over from longtime museum president Ellen Futter, who had ruled over the institution since 1993. She took home nearly $12 million in her last year at the helm of the museum, which included deferred compensation, according to federal tax filings. The repatriation process began in 1990 with the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which established rules for museums across the country to return sacred objects and human remains to tribal nations. But the process has dragged on for decades, and in December, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland the first Native American to hold the role published the new rules to speed the process up. Sean Decatur, the new president of the American Museum of Natural History, has promised to consult with native groups about repatriation. He took over as the museums president in April 2023. Getty Images for the American Museum of Natural History Ellen Futter ruled the American Museum of Natural History for decades. She took home nearly $12 million in compensation in 2022, the last year she served as the museums president. Patrick McMullan via Getty Images Interior Department documents said museums and other institutions had fallen short in repatriating Native American items. A spokeswoman for the American Museum of Natural History told The Post, There are no updates at this point. The objects remain in the closed halls as next steps are decided on a case-by-case basis. In 2021, the museum said it gave back more than 120 items, including ceremonial objects, to the Tohono Oodham Nation in southwestern Arizona. UPDATE: Two days after publication the AMNH reached out to highlight that the last recorded repatriation had not been in 2021 and that there were 12 repatriations, including of human remains, between 2022 and 2024. Ulviyya Shahin On May 20, a train of 20 containers was sent to Georgia. Azernews reports that his was stated by Emil Ahmadov, head of the cargo transportation department of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC (ADY) Emil Ahmadov (ADY). He noted that the 184-kilometer section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line, which is considered an important segment of the Middle Corridor, has already been completed. From today (May 20), cargo transportation on the BTQ railway line will be started. "According to the relevant document signed between the governments of Azerbaijan and Georgia, a joint venture is about to be established for the purpose of managing the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. Currently, work is being done in the direction of preparing the business model of the joint enterprise with an international consulting company. The goal is to increase the cargo volume and develop the BTQ line," said E. Ahmadov. According to him, the main work of the joint venture is the implementation of all works related to the project, determination of tariffs for cargo transportation, transportation of cargo and solving of operational issues as a whole. The head of the department added that ADY regularly organizes on-site meetings with entrepreneurs for carrying out cargo transportation between Central Asian and European countries through the Middle Corridor, and establishes close cooperation with railway administrations and transport companies of the mentioned countries. At the same time, a close relationship is established with cargo operators in Europe for the transportation of cargo from European countries to Central Asia through the Middle Corridor. "In recent years, there has been a significant increase in transit cargo transportation by rail. For example, in 2019, 3.8 million tons of transit cargo was transported, and in 2023, this figure reached 6.8 million tons. Compared to the first four months of last year, the volume of transit cargo transported in January-April this year increased by 14 percent. In the first quarter of this year, we carried 10 percent more transit cargo on the East-West corridor, of which BTQ is a part," he stressed. ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, May 21. Turkmenistan and Russia discussed the deepening of inter-parliamentary ties and the intensification of joint work within the framework of various formats of cooperation, Trend reports. According to official information, these issues were discussed during a meeting between Turkmenistan's Ambassador to Russia Esen Aydogdyev and Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council of Russia Konstantin Kosachev. During the meeting, Konstantin Kosachev stressed Russia's interest in expanding contacts with Muslim states, including through participation in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). He expressed his intention to give additional momentum to regular meetings of the heads of parliaments of the two countries, as well as to intensify work within the framework of the 'Ashgabat format' - the interparliamentary platform of the countries of Central Asia and Russia. For his part, Ambassador Esen Aydogdyev noted that, on behalf of Chairman of the People's Council of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, the Turkmen side will actively contribute to the further development of interparliamentary relations with Russia. Meanwhile, interparliamentary cooperation between Turkmenistan and Russia is actively developing, which contributes to strengthening political, economic, and cultural ties between the two countries. Parliamentarians can effectively interact on various issues and harmonize legislative bases through regular delegation visits, joint meetings, and experience exchange, which improves conditions for mutually beneficial cooperation and strengthens friendly relations between Turkmenistan and Russia. NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) The MTA announced on Monday that all New York City school students will receive OMNY cards instead of Metrocards in the coming school year in September. The city agency is hoping to expand the contactless fare payment systems customer base including riders who use Reduced-Fare, Fair Fares, Access-a-Ride and pre-tax commuter benefits. Billions of taps prove that OMNY is the most cost-effective and easy way to pay your fare, said MTA Chief Customer Officer Shanifah Rieara. We have created a clear path towards a major expansion of OMNY this year to millions more customers including all New York City school students by the start of this upcoming 2024-2025 school year and more. More Local News The MTA successfully launched two pilot programs to extend OMNY cards to more New Yorkers. On May 1, the MTA unveiled the launch of the Fair Fares pilot on OMNY to collect feedback from participants before expanding it to the citys 330,00 Fair Fares members. The agency completed its OMNY Card Vending Machine program in late April, with 70 machines at 37 stations. OMNY vending machines are expected to be in every subway station by mid-2025, the agency shared. By treating OMNY as the megaproject that it is, we have turned a corner on delivering its benefits to all categories of customers, said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. The new approach is going to give users the sense of interoperability they expect, while limiting MTAs contractor risk and saving millions of dollars. Charline Charles is a digital journalist from Brooklyn who has covered local news along with culture and arts in the New York City area since 2019. She joined PIX11 News in 2022. See more of her work here. 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 PIX11. NEW YORK (PIX11) A trio of NYPD officers worked together to pull off a one-of-a-kind rescue, helping reunite a group of ducklings with their mother. The officers found the flock of ducklings trapped in the sewer after receiving a call for help on Staten Island. They were able to remove the ducklings from the sewer. A video of the family reunion was shared by the NYPD 123rd Precinct on X. The NYPD News account joked that they investigated the incident and determined there was no fowl play. 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 PIX11. The Orange County Sheriffs Office released body-worn camera video Tuesday of deputies shooting a man who they say was pointing a gun at residents of a Winter Park apartment complex last month. WATCH CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS Deputies said they responded to a 911 call around 10:30 p.m. on April 19 from the Indigo Winter Park Apartments on U.K. Circle, reporting a man armed with a gun. Deputies say the man, later identified as 47-year-old Jesse Santino Lewelling, was reported to be pointing the gun at several of the residents. READ: Shes running him over: Orlando woman accused of intentionally hitting man with car full of kids This dude has a flashlight attached to his gun, a resident can be heard saying in a 911 call released by the sheriffs office. Hes just pointing it at my facehes walking around. Theres a little girl that just ran screamingIm a little nervous. According to the sheriffs office, responding deputies heard a gunshot shortly after arriving at the complex but still didnt know exactly where Lewelling was at the time. Additional video from the sheriffs office helicopter shows Lewelling sitting under a gazebo near the complexs pool, still armed with the gun. According to the sheriffs office, as Lewelling sits under the gazebo, onlookers can be seen standing just feet away from him, posing a public safety issue. The video shows Lewelling eventually walking away from the gazebo as multiple deputies converged on him from different directions. At one point, deputies say Lewelling walked to a dumpster in the complex parking lot, temporarily out of view of the sheriffs office helicopter. READ: 1 killed, 1 injured in Daytona Beach shooting When he returns to view, Lewelling can be seen running through the complex with the gun in his hand as deputies close in on his position. Seconds later, the OCSO helicopter video shows Lewelling run around a corner, directly towards a deputy, with the gun still in his hand. In body-worn camera video released by the sheriffs office, the deputy can be heard ordering Lewelling to drop the gun before shooting him. Deputies say Lewelling dropped his gun after he was shot, but it remained within his reach. According to the sheriffs office, deputies eventually recovered the loaded gun and rendered medical aid to Lewelling until paramedics arrived. He was then taken to the hospital in critical condition. Lewelling has been charged with aggravated assault with a firearm, resisting an officer with violence, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of ammunition by a convicted felon. READ: Osceola deputies arrest man accused of taking inappropriate photo of young girl at Kissimmee Target Deputies say Lewelling also had an active warrant out of the state of California for larceny and weapons charges. The deputy who fired their service weapon has been placed on paid administrative leave pending a review of the shooting by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The sheriffs office will conduct its own internal investigation once FDLEs investigation is complete and reviewed by the State Attorneys Office. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. PORT CLINTON More than 50 people celebrated the dedication of the $11 million Gateway to the Islands project on Ohio 53 Monday. The Ohio Department of Transportation project that began after Labor Day 2023 includes two roundabouts adjacent to the Shores and Islands Welcome Center. The Gateway to the Islands project was dedicated Monday. Former Senate Majority Leader Randy Gardner, R-Bowling Green, is third from left, and to his right is Ohio Department of Transportation District 2 deputy director Pat McColley. State and local officials led the ceremony and ribbon cutting. Workers on the intersection safety improvement project constructed a roundabout at the westbound leg of Ohio 2/Ohio 53; built a second roundabout at the Ohio 53 and State Road intersection; widened Ohio 53 (S.E. Catawba Road) from the interchange to Ohio 163; added a two-way center turn lane throughout the corridor; added sidewalk, and upgraded curb ramps. The project was built by Miller Brothers Construction, Inc., Archbold. More Port Clinton: A daughter's promise is at the heart of Hopfinger Zimmerman Memorial Park Larry Fletcher, President of Shores and Islands Ohio, summed up the reason for the roundabouts. Larry Fletcher, president of Shores and Islands Ohio, speaks Monday in front of a display showing the double roundabout Gateway to the Islands construction project. "This has been a long time coming. I started my position here about 19 years ago and before I started there were people talking about the need for a safer and more efficient route heading north," Fletcher said. "What it will mean is that it will be much easier for people to make their way north. Those two roundabouts will make it easier to get off (Ohio 2) and safer." ODOT statistics show that on many summer weekends there will be five times as many vehicles using that intersection as in the tourist off-season. While Fridays and Sundays in Ohio typically have the least traffic, it's the opposite for Ottawa County. Former state Rep. Steve Arndt, R-Port Clinton, and former Ohio Senate Majority Leader Randy Gardner, R-Bowling Green, were on hand to explain the history of the project, which was 30 years in the making. Former Senate Majority Leader Randy Gardner, R-Bowling Green, left, and former state Rep. Steve Arndt, R-Port Clinton, were on hand for Monday's dedication of the Gateway to the Islands. In the 1990s, the intersection was found to be the second most dangerous in the state. A variety of solutions were proposed, but a lack of funding resulted in each previous proposal falling through. One of the keys to this project was actually designating tourism as an industry in the state. Urban areas had that advantage for many years, but tourism has such a profound impact on Ohios economy that we thought it was right. It was Rep. Arndt that was the sponsor of the amendment to change Ohio law and free up additional funds to make this project happen, Gardner said. The remainder of the project is on schedule to complete this summer. The roundabout at Ohio 53 and State Road opened this past November. The roundabout at Ohio 2 unofficially opened last weekend. Pat McColley, ODOT District 2 deputy director, talked about the timing and design for these roundabouts. Pat McColley, ODOT District 2 deputy director, talked Monday about the timing and design for the Gateway to the Islands roundabouts. "Anytime we do work close to (Lake Erie) we try to space closures between Labor Day and Memorial Day, usually it's harder to coordinate, because you can only lay asphalt at a certain temperature. In the summer is when you usually see construction. This is unique in that we are trying to do it off-season," McColley said. He also pointed out ways in which these will be different because of the type of use they will get. "With these roundabouts, our team worked very closely with the marinas and other businesses, but mostly the marinas, to make sure we had the right curb height and turning radius to accommodate the large trucks, specifically those hauling the large yachts and boats. These have only a one-inch curb, where most roundabouts around the state have between a 2-inch and 4-inch curb. So, it's a little bit lower, to make sure those larger vehicles can get through," McColley said. Ohio Department of Transportation construction in front of the Shores & Islands Visitor Center is nearing an end. McColley said that everything is already open, but there's some finishing on striping and manhole covers,to complete. There shouldn't be any more road closures in the project area after this past weekend, which was the goal. rlapointe@gannett.com 419-332-2674 This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Port Clinton's $11 million Gateway to the Islands project dedicated President Joe Biden. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images.) Ohio lawmakers are confident President Joe Biden will be on the November ballot, but how exactly that will happen remains the question. The fix wont happen through the legislature, said Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill, and Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, during separate gaggles Tuesday morning. Theres just not the will to do that from the legislature, Stephens said. Russo said she was skeptical the fix was ever going to happen in the legislature. Weve seen the dysfunction here in this place, she said. And I think weve seen that folks have not been able to put aside partisanship and hyper-partisanship and infighting. I think at this point, youre probably going to see either, you know, some sort of inner party effects or perhaps court action. However, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said the legislature needs to make the fix. I have every confidence that its going to get done, he said Tuesday. No one should worry, theyre going to be able to vote for the president or the former president, whoever they want to vote for. You know, this is not going to be a situation where the presidents name is not on the ballot. So its either going to be done by the court, or its going to be done by the legislature. Ohio law requires political parties certify their candidates with the Secretary of State on or before 90 days prior to an election. The issue is the Democratic National Convention where Biden will be officially nominated wont take place until Aug. 22 75 days before the election. Republican politicians at the statehouse made clear that they want to take away Ohioans ability to choose who they want to be President, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters said in a statement. Throughout this process, corrupt politicians in Columbus have politicized the process and used it to play political games with Ohioans ability to hold their government accountable. Bidens campaign is confident he will be on Ohios ballot. Joe Biden will be on the ballot in all 50 states, Charles Lutvak, spokesperson for the Biden campaign, said in an email. Election after election, states across the country have acted in line with the bipartisan consensus and taken the necessary steps to ensure the presidential nominees from both parties will be on the ballot. House and Senate bills Two weeks ago, the House and the Senate came up with different ways of going about making the fix that would push the deadline to 74 days before the election instead. The Senate bill put the ballot fix and amendments that would ban foreign nationals from contributing to political campaigns to House Bill 114, a campaign child care bill. The Senate passed their bill during the May 8 session. The House took Senate Bill 92 and stripped the bill of its previous language about last years special election and put it in the presidential nomination language making it a clean bill. But the House adjourned before voting to approve their bill. Alabama fix Alabama was facing a similar situation but lawmakers passed legislation and their Republican governor signed a bill into law to make sure Biden would be on the states November ballot earlier this month. The bill bumps back Alabamas certification deadline from 82 days before the election to 74 days. Even Alabama, their legislature was able to get this right, Russo said. Follow OCJ Reporter Megan Henry on Twitter. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Ohio legislative leaders say Biden ballot fix wont happen through lawmakers appeared first on Ohio Capital Journal. An electricity meter. Getty Images. Ohio utilities havent asked to increase electricity rates in more than a decade but that doesnt mean customers arent paying more. Instead, utilities have sidestepped the comprehensive and relatively transparent regulatory process for setting rates ever since a 2008 state law made it easier for companies to collect more money from customers by tacking on extra bill charges, known as riders. In one extreme example the Energy News Network reported on in 2019, the bill for a single lamppost maintained by a Cleveland neighborhood group had jumped from around $8 a month in 2008 to nearly $70 a month, primarily due to the new charges. Theres now widespread and bipartisan agreement from consumer advocates to conservative state lawmakers that the system needs to be fixed, but the debate around a recent legislative proposal shows theres still little consensus around what those reforms should include. The Republican-sponsored House Bill 260 would require utilities to file ratemaking cases with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio at least every five years. State Rep. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, one of the bills co-sponsors, told the House Public Utilities Committee earlier this year that the bill is really all aboutreturning to the days when there were more complete and full rate cases. Consumer, business, and some environmental advocates have long wanted to see that kind of change, but they oppose other provisions in the bill that could make it harder for some groups to participate as parties and dig into the facts. The legislation also wouldnt stop the practice of adding charges to customers bills. Its another step in the wrong direction in the same vein as House Bill 6, said state Rep. Casey Weinstein, D-Hudson, ranking minority member on the House Public Utilities Committee. HB 6 is the nuclear and coal bailout law at the heart of Ohios ongoing corruption scandal. Basically, full rate cases require electric utilities to document how much revenue they need to provide reliable service, maintain and repair equipment, and provide a reasonable rate of return on capital investments. The cases also consider how much electricity different classes of customers are expected to use, along with any differential costs in delivering that energy, the need to accommodate low-income programs and so forth. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio then determines what the price per kilowatt/hour should be. Charges set in rate cases reflect a moment in time, said Rob Kelter, a lawyer with the Environmental Law & Policy Center. Utilities have an incentive to maximize profits through technology, improved management and other mechanisms. So often, the reason a utility doesnt come in for a rate case is because theyre overearning. At the same time, Ohio utilities have added charges for costs not covered by their earlier rate cases. A 2008 law allowed utilities to file electric security plans instead, which let them add piecemeal charges. Unlike a full rate case, the plans focus on specific program costs. The PUCO considers if theyre warranted, but what it doesnt do is look at any of the utilitys other revenues and expenses, like you do in a rate case, Kelter said. For example, FirstEnergys last rate case was in 2007. Since then, the company has charged for dozens of riders, including some whose spending is at issue in regulatory cases linked to HB 6. The company plans to apply for new rates at the end of this month due to revision of a 2019 order in the aftermath of the HB 6 scandal. But various riders under the companys latest plan, approved with changes on May 15, would continue. Less transparency and participation Seitz said the proposed legislation would improve the process to make it less expensive and simpler for everybody. Among other things, HB 260 would limit prehearing fact-finding and change the rules for how stakeholders can participate. Local hearings would require only one notice and wouldnt need to say how much more revenue utilities want. Companies would be able to make their case completely based on projected costs rather than including some historical cost data. And companies would still be able to impose additional charges on customers in between full ratemaking cases. Comments by attorney Kim Bojko for the Ohio Manufacturers Association noted the bill eliminates due process rights for parties, including limits on the number of intervenors. Those are groups or individuals who can take part in a case as full parties, with the right to conduct fact-finding and present evidence in the case. Currently, intervenors in any PUCO case must show they could be adversely affected by the outcome of a case. HB 260 would require they be adversely and directly affected. Additional language calls for the PUCO to consider whether an intervenors interest is as a consumer, customer, or competitor, notably omitting environmental groups. Utilities have an outsized advantage in PUCO proceedings, often to the detriment of customers in terms of cost, air quality, control over our bills and more, said Tom Bullock, executive director for the Citizens Utility Board of Ohio. Closing the courtroom door to consumers and other stakeholders while limiting discovery for those in the room, perpetuates the problem. Those limits would allow no more than three rounds of written questions before and after filing of the staff report. And the PUCO staff would not be subject to any discovery. Seitz noted that various courts limit parties written discovery. That comparison misses the mark, said Ashley Brown, a former PUCO commissioner who has advised governments on energy markets and regulation. Anything involving rates is legislative, not judicial. So the standard should be very broad, he said. Ohio Consumers Counsel Maureen Willis told lawmakers the limits also are unfair because the utilities have most of the information that needs to be discovered. Instead, there ought to be a focus on protecting non-utility parties from utility delaying tactics and nonresponsive answers. HB 260 also would shift to fully forecasted rates, without even a few months of actual cost data. That will tilt the scales very heavily in favor of the utilities, David Proano, a lawyer for the Ohio Energy Leadership Council told lawmakers. Its much more difficult to seek discovery and challenge a forecast. Utilities could just say the forecasts are based on their business judgment, without providing details about their models, reasons for different judgment calls and so on. Riders by another name Under HB 260, lawmakers now propose to stack the deck in the utilities favor even more by limiting customers rights and further increasing customers costs, said Bojko. HB 260 proposes to add more above-market charges to customers bills through new distribution riders while thwarting challenges to rate increases. HB 260 calls the four new charges trackers instead of riders, although Ohio House Budget Analyst Michael Kerr found each term generally holds the same meaning. The bills current terms dont get rid of other existing charges on top of regular rates, although Seitz claimed previously approved riders would continue only if their need is demonstrated in the five-year rate case. Willis said the Office of the Ohio Consumers Counsel awaits an amendment clarifying that. Letting utilities seek new charges in between cases shifts risks and costs to consumers as utilities get to reap more benefits, Brown said. Other bill language states if the Ohio Supreme Court finds that any rider or other rate mechanism beyond base rates is unlawful, refunds will be made only for the period from the Ohio Supreme Courts order until the PUCOs order rescinding the charge. The refund provision wouldnt apply to funds already collected while an appeal was pending. That provision would still let utilities keep funds collected while an appeal was pending. FirstEnergy kept roughly $450 million collected for a distribution modernization rider, which was later ruled unlawful and now is at the heart of one of four PUCO cases linked to HB 6. Other provisions in the bill could let utilities earn interest on some operational expenses as if they were capital improvements. Still other terms might relax the reliability requirements for utilities. The House Public Utilities Committee likely will hold more hearings before the bill is reported out. Inasmuch as the bill is in its early stages, there will no doubt be additional issues that arise and will be dealt with in the normal process, Seitz said. Senate Bill 102, introduced last year, also would require regular rate cases, but still with extra charges and also with less fact-finding. For now, Weinstein said the provisions about hearings and other changes mean some stakeholders will no longer have a seat at the table if HB 260 passes. Its just another example of the legislature doing the bidding of their Big Energy overlords, he said. This article first appeared on Energy News Network and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Ohio ratemaking reform bill would give more favors to utilities, critics say appeared first on Ohio Capital Journal. Oklahoma included in Pedigree dog food recall. See if your pet's food is affected Pedigree's parent company, Mars Petcare US, has voluntarily recalled over 300 bags of 44-pound "Grilled Steak & Vegetable Flavor" dry dog food over concerns of loose metal pieces mixed into the food. Oklahoma is one of four states where certain bags of Pedigree dog food are being recalled from store shelves. Many Oklahomans consider their furry canine friends to be part of the family, so it's important to pay attention when there has been a recall that could affect your dog. Here's what we know. What kind of Pedigree dog food is being recalled? Pedigree's parent company, Mars Petcare, is recalling 315 bags of PEDIGREE Adult Complete Nutrition Grilled Steak & Vegetable Flavor Dry Dog Food, in the 44 lb. bag size only, according to a recall notice published by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. To see if your food is included in the recall, check the back of the bag for the best by date and lot code. The affected products have a best by date of March 4, 2025, and Lot Code 410B2TXT02. Why is Pedigree recalling dog food? The recall is "due to the potential presence of loose metal pieces in the bag," according to the company. Where are Pedigree dog food bags being recalled? The recall is limited to only 315 bags that were sold by Walmart stores in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. The company is working with Walmart to ensure the affected products are removed from shelves. If you purchased one of the affected bags and your pet has already consumed the product, the company says you should monitor them for any unusual behavior. If you have any concerns, contact a veterinarian. So far, the company said there have been no reports of pet injury or illness regarding the recalled product. You can contact Mars Petcare to initiate a return or with any questions at 800-525-5273. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Recall on Pedigree dog food impacts Oklahoma: What foods are included? In a war of words and threats of litigation, Oklahoma's new anti-immigration law faces two potential lawsuits. The U.S. Department of Justice addressed a May 15 letter to Gov. Kevin Stitt and Attorney General Gentner Drummond saying the federal government intends to file a lawsuit to stop the enforcement unless Oklahoma agrees in advance not to take such action. The departments letter says Oklahoma's state law is preempted by federal law and violates the U.S. Constitution. It also points out Oklahomas new law is like Senate Bill 4 in Texas. That state has been unable to enforce its law because of a federal appeals court. Since Oklahoma's law creates a new crime of impermissible occupation, which includes criminal penalties by the state, the law violates the federal prohibitions on unlawful entry and reentry, the Justice Department letter said. The state had five days to confirm it will not enforce the law. State leaders responded with sharp rebuttals. Drummond wrote that the Biden administration has only committed to subverting the immigration laws of this country. Your misguided demands ignore that Oklahoma has not only the sovereign right, but also the solemn legal obligation, to protect its own borders and its own citizens, he wrote. Martin Ramirez, right, and Michelle Solis hold signs during a demonstration in support of the immigrant community before the recent Hispanic Cultural Day at the state Capitol. He was adamant the laws purpose was a powerful tool to combat those foreign nationals who become involved in serious criminal activity such as illegal marijuana-grow operations, fentanyl distribution, sex trafficking, and labor trafficking. The law is not meant to racially profile, Drummond said in the response, noting that the practice is illegal in Oklahoma, To detain someone who looks, sounds or acts foreign is itself un-American and will never be tolerated by this office. Drummond requested the legislation to address illegal marijuana-grow operations. More: Oklahoma Capitol protest over anti-immigration bill draws large crowd: 'Now make them hear you' House Speaker Charles McCall said he found the letters claims laughable and pointed out, The Biden Administrations continued failures to address the illegal immigration crisis in our country are what necessitated the passage of House Bill 4156 in the first place. The Speaker added the bill was a carefully crafted, well-thought-out piece of legislation designed to acknowledge the role of the federal government in immigration matters, while at the same time protect the sovereignty and security of our states troopers. Latino Caucus also plans to file lawsuit over Oklahoma immigration law The state is facing another potential lawsuit initiated locally. Members of the Latino Caucus told The Oklahoman they also plan to work with national experts on filing a lawsuit against the law, citing similar points made in the Justice Department letter. Around 1,000 people rallied at the state Capitol in protest of the bill on May 15. Sen. Michael Brooks and Rep. Arturo Alonso-Sandoval, both Democrats with districts in Oklahoma City, said a lawsuit should be filed before the law takes effect on July 1. Alonso-Sandoval argued the Oklahoma law is unconstitutional because it supersedes the federal government. He also pointed to the laws vague language, questioning how it would be enforced. Opinion: Oklahoma Republicans passed a law that police chiefs don't want to enforce I dont walk my dog around my neighborhood with my passport, birth certificate and drivers license, he said. Theyre wanting to use immigration as something that can pretty much move them forward within their political aspirations but theyre directly impacting a community thats contributing in so many different ways to the state of Oklahoma, he added. Brooks said the law affects more people than just the Latino community. Its part of the pride of the United States that were a diverse country with people from all over the world and that fabric of the United States is made up of immigrants, he told The Oklahoman. Law enforcement response Despite Drummonds reassurances the law wont result in racial profiling, some law enforcement officials have said they aren't sure how enforcement could be managed in a reasonable way. Oklahoma City Police Chief Wade Gourley said his department does not check immigration status and to do so for every person would be a huge burden. He said the department has spent years building relationships by attending community meetings, events, festivals and visiting schools, and the law could negatively impact those connections, setting them back at square one. A joint statement by the Oklahoma Association of Chiefs of Police and Metro Law Enforcement Agency Leaders released on Tuesday via Facebook said the law conflicts with many existing directives over law enforcement practices. The release noted law enforcement leaders from state organizations and municipalities were not substantively involved during the process of drafting and signing the law. It said the law places crime victims at risk by increasing their fear of reporting to law enforcement and brings legal challenges in fair and impartial policing and anti-racial profiling. The new Oklahoma law makes "impermissible occupation" as a first offense a misdemeanor punishable by a year in county jail and/or a maximum $500 fine. Subsequent arrests would be felonies punishable by up to two years in prison and/or a maximum $1,000 fine. In both cases, offenders would be required to leave the state within 72 hours of their conviction or release from custody, whichever comes later. Stitt signed the bill on April 30 after it was passed by the House and Senate by wide margins with little discussion. Upon signing, he also created the Oklahoma State Work Permits and Visas Task Force to figure out how to match up the state's workforce with employers who need more workers. The task force hasnt met yet and its unclear if the meetings will be open to the public, a spokesperson from the governors office said. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma immigration law faces lawsuit from US DOJ, Latino Caucus CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) A high school teacher in Charlotte has been arrested for allegedly having sex with a student, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police. Olivia Dennis, 28, who is a teacher employed by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and worked at Olympic High School, was taken into custody on Monday, May 20. A School Resource Officer at the school was notified of the potentially inappropriate relationship on Monday between an 18-year-old student and a teacher at the school. Detectives with CMPDs Sexual Assault Unit were called to the high school and interviewed Dennis while at the property. Following the initial interview, she was placed under arrest and taken to CMPDs headquarters for further questioning. MORE FROM Crime & Public Safety Dennis has been charged with three counts of sexual activity with a student by a teacher. Shes being held at the Mecklenburg County Jail under a $75,000 bond. CMPD said none of the alleged acts are believed to have happened on school property. Dennis taught CTE HS Culinary Arts at Olympic High School and was hired by CMS in Nov. 2022. As of Monday, Dennis has been suspended with pay. Message CMS sent to families this week: Good afternoon Olympic High School families, this is Principal Jones reaching out with an important message. You may have heard about an alleged inappropriate relationship involving a staff member and a student. The school administration is aware, and we are fully cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation. Due to privacy laws, we are unable to share any details or information regarding this incident. Please know that the safety and well-being of our students is our top priority and we take this incident very seriously. Thank you for your continued support of Olympic High School. Message CMS sent to staff this week: Good Afternoon Olympic High School Staff, this is Principal Jones with an important message. We are aware of an alleged inappropriate relationship between a staff member and a student at Olympic. I am not able to disclose any specific details, but know that I am working with district leadership and law enforcement to ensure a resolution. Our students are the most important part of our school community, and any actions by staff that disrupts their learning or jeopardizes their well-being will not be tolerated. You will likely see reports on the news and hear rumors regarding this incident. Out of respect for the student and staff member involved, please refrain from repeating these rumors. Thank you for your understanding, support, and cooperation. The investigation into this case remains active and ongoing. 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 Queen City News. Title icon The News One person has been killed and dozens injured after a Singapore Airlines flight hit severe turbulence on its journey from London to Singapore on Tuesday. Authorities in Thailand said that a 73-year-old British man who was traveling with his wife died in the incident, likely of a heart attack. Seven people are in critical condition and 14 others have been taken to the hospital. In total, 23 passengers and nine crew members were injured, the authorities said. The Boeing 777-300ER, carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members, was diverted to Bangkok after it hit the stormy conditions while flying close to Myanmar. Flight tracking data suggests the airliner plunged 6,000 feet in a matter of minutes after it crossed the Bay of Bengal, the BBC reported. Title icon Know More One passenger on board the flight described what happened to Reuters: Suddenly the aircraft starts tilting up and there was shaking so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling, Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student, told the agency. Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it, they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it, he said. Fatalities and injuries from air turbulence are relatively rare, while experts say episodes of severe turbulence are likely to increase as a result of climate change. Singapore Airlines offered its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. We are working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance, and sending a team to Bangkok to provide any additional assistance needed, it said in a statement. Semafor Logo Photo: The official information portal of the 1st Vice President of Iran BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. A presidential election in Iran will be held on June 28, Trend reports. In this regard, a meeting was held the day before with Iran's First Vice President, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, and Parliament Chairman Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. The meeting discussed holding the presidential election following Article 131 of Iran's Constitution, which requires elections within 50 days. It was decided that candidate registration would occur from May 30 to June 3, with campaigning scheduled from June 12 to June 27. Additionally, Article 131 stipulates that if the president dies, is removed from office, resigns, or is incapacitated for more than two months, the first vice president temporarily assumes presidential duties with the Supreme Leader's approval, and a new president must be elected within 50 days. To note, on May 19, a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Tabriz Province Imam Ayatollah Ali Hashim, and East Azerbaijan Province Governor-General Malek Rahmati crashed while flying from Khudafarin to Tabriz. The Iranian President and the entire accompanying delegation were confirmed dead. Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) Police confirm one man is dead after a shooting in Elmira late Monday night that left a large police presence around one of the citys business districts. According to the Elmira Police Department, one man died at the hospital after being shot outside of a bar at 351 E Washington Ave, around 10:52 p.m. on Monday, May 21. Large police presence in Elmira Monday night Police said that the victim wasnt found at the scene, but learned that they were taken to a local hospital by a personal vehicle before police arrived. Police said that the victim died at the hospital no other information is being released about the victim at this time, and no suspect has been named. The investigation into the shooting is ongoing, and anyone with information is requested to contact the Elmira Police Department at 607-737-5626 or the anonymous tip line at 607-271-4258. 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 WETM - MyTwinTiers.com. One dead and at least 71 injured after severe turbulence hits Singapore Airlines flight One passenger died and 71 people were injured when their Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore encountered severe turbulence Tuesday, throwing passengers and crew around the cabin and forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in Bangkok. The Boeing 777-300ER was about 10 hours into its flight and midway through meal service when it hit turbulence while flying over Myanmars Irrawaddy Basin, according to the airline. Andrew Davies, a passenger onboard flight SQ321 who was traveling to New Zealand for business, told CNNs Erin Burnett that it had been a perfectly normal flight when the seatbelt sign came on and seconds later all hell broke loose. The plane just felt like it dropped. It probably only lasted a few seconds but I remember vividly seeing shoes and iPads and iPhones and cushions and blankets and cutlery and plates and cups flying through the air and crashing to the ceiling. The gentleman next to me had a cup of coffee, which went straight all over me and up to the ceiling, Davies said. Davies said he realized the gravity of the turbulence when he turned around, describing several passengers with gashes on their heads, including one with blood pouring down her face and an elderly passenger in severe shock. There was so much screaming, he said. Video and images from inside the aircraft showed the extent of the damage, with overhead compartments smashed open and emergency oxygen air masks hanging down from the ceiling. A photo of one galley showed a section of the ceiling open with parts of the planes interior hanging down. Trays, containers, plastic bottles and hot beverage pots can be seen strewn across the floor. A 73-year-old British man died in the incident from a suspected heart condition, the General Manager of Bangkoks Suvarnabhumi International Airport Kittipong Kittikachorn said Tuesday, adding that the autopsy process was still ongoing. The man was later identified as Geoff Kitchen, who was described as always a gentleman with the utmost honesty and integrity by the Thornbury Musical Theatre Group (TMTG), an establishment where he worked for over 35 years. The British Foreign Office told CNN it was supporting the family of a British passenger who died on a Singapore Airlines flight. Davies, who was seated toward the front of the plane, said he helped tend to Kitchen, who was seated behind him. Lots of people needed some help but we tended to this gentleman and I helped carry him, get him out of the seat, and we lay him on the floor so that some medical profession(als) could administer CPR, Davies said, adding the passenger was administered CPR for about 20 minutes. The Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital in Bangkok, which received the injured passengers, said at least 71 people were injured, with six severely. Those injured include citizens of Malaysia, the UK, New Zealand, Spain, the US and Ireland. Kittikachorn, who inspected the aircraft, said some injured passengers sustained broken arms. The flight, carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew, had left Londons Heathrow Airport around 10:30 p.m. local time, according to online flight trackers. It was bound for Singapores Changi Airport, however the aircraft was diverted to Bangkok where it landed at 3:45 p.m. local time, according to the airline. Video filmed after Singapore Airlines SQ321 was diverted to Bangkok shows a passenger being carried from the aircraft on a stretcher by emergency responders. Kittikachorn said that following the landing in Bangkok almost 200 travelers were waiting to take onward flights to their destinations. A Singapore Airlines plane carrying 131 of the 211 passengers later departed Bangkok for Singapore, he said. Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong said in a statement that the airline is providing all possible assistance and support to the passengers and their families. On behalf of Singapore Airlines, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased passenger. We also deeply apologize for the trauma experienced by all passengers and crew members on this flight, he said. Singapores Ministry of Transport said in a statement that it was investigating the situation involving flight SQ321 and the US National Transportation Safety Board is sending personnel to Singapore to help support the investigation. The interior of Singapore Airline flight SQ321 is pictured after an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand, on May 21. - Reuters Flight likely encountered rapidly developing thunderstorms Turbulence occurs when a plane flies through clashing bodies of air moving at widely different speeds. With light and moderate turbulence passengers might feel a strain against their seatbelt, and unsecured items could move around the cabin. But in severe cases turbulence can throw passengers around the cabin, causing severe injuries and occasionally death. A statement from the airline said the plane, encountered sudden extreme turbulence over the Irrawaddy Basin [a river in Myanmar] at 37,000 feet, about 10 hours after departure. Data from aviation tracking site FlightRadar24 shows the flight suddenly dipping then rapidly climbing a few hundred feet before dipping and climbing again and then finally settling back at its cruising altitude. The entire disruption took about 90 seconds, according to the data. The flight changes course about 14 minutes later. The airline said, The pilot declared a medical emergency and diverted the aircraft to Bangkok. The flight likely encountered rapidly developing thunderstorms over southern Myanmar on Tuesday during the time that extreme turbulence was reported, according to CNN Weather analysis. Tropical thunderstorms like these are typical for this time of year with moisture increasing in the region as the southwest monsoon season is beginning in South Asia. They can form quickly in the early afternoon as the land heats up, especially near the coastline. Budding thunderstorms like Tuesdays may not appear on radar in their earliest stages, even though the quick rising motion within them can still produce turbulence. The storm cells likely grew from 20,000-30,000 feet to well over 50,000 feet in less than an hour. Turbulence could become more frequent The interior of Singapore Airline flight SQ321 is pictured after an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand, on May 21. - Reuters About 65,000 aircraft suffer moderate turbulence every year in the US, and about 5,500 run into severe turbulence. These numbers, however, might be destined to grow as the climate crisis is modifying some types of turbulence, according to a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Reading in the UK. A September 2022 study predicts that clear-air turbulence will increase significantly around the globe by 2050-2080, in particular along the busiest flight routes, and the strongest type of turbulence will increase the most. In March 2023, violent movements on a private jet resulted in the death of a former White House official, though an investigation later found that weather was not involved in that incident. That incident came just days after seven people were transported to hospitals after a separate commercial flight hit significant turbulence. In July 2023, seven people were injured on a Hawaiian Airlines flight to Sydney, Australia, when the plane was buffeted by severe turbulence, and 36 people were injured on a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Arizona to Honolulu in December 2022, with 20 people taken to emergency rooms. Singapore Airlines is often considered one of the worlds safest carriers. Its only previous fatal accident was in October 2000 when flight SQ006 crashed when the Boeing 747-400 took off from a closed runway in Taiwan amid heavy rain, killing 83 on board. Singapore Airlines said later Tuesday that a dedicated team had arrived in Bangkok to support our colleagues and the local authorities on the ground in an update on its Facebook page. The flight operator expressed its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. We deeply apologize for the traumatic experience that our passengers and crew members suffered on this flight. Boeing has said it is in touch with the Singaporean carrier and is ready to support them. The manufacturer is deferring further questions to the airline and local authorities. This story and headline have been updated with additional developments. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described a March 2023 incident involving a private jet. The National Transportation Safety Board later ruled weather had not been involved in the violent movements of that plane. CNNs Jack Guy, Lauren Said-Moorhouse, Steven Jiang, Catherine Nicholls, Ross Levitt, Hamdi Alkhshali, Brandon Miller and Sharon Braithwaite contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) A months-long search ended across county lines earlier in May after one of Nashvilles Most Wanted fugitives was taken into custody. Officers with the Metro Nashville Police Department had been searching for 30-year-old Marques Diamond since Feb. 14, when he was added to the departments Top 10 Most Wanted list. Nashvilles Top 10 Most Wanted fugitives: Teen sought for rappers murder According to officials, the list is reserved for some of the citys most violent offenders. Diamond had outstanding warrants for five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Court records show he also has previously been convicted of a misdemeanor theft charge. (Courtesy: MNPD) Around three months after police began searching for Diamond in connection with the assault charges, officials said he was finally located nearly 30 miles away in Murfreesboro. According to police, Diamond was caught driving a stolen car on Sunday, May 5, and taken into custody. He will soon be transported back to Nashville to face his charges. CRIME TRACKER | Read the latest crime news from Middle Tennessee Diamond is among at least 110 Most Wanted fugitives who have been taken into custody since the program was launched in October 2022. Investigators have largely attributed the programs success to tips from the public. To see the most recent list of Most Wanted fugitives out of Nashville, click here. 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 WKRN News 2. Passenger killed and dozens injured by turbulence on London to Singapore flight A person is stretchered after severe turbulence against the Singapore Airlines flight left one passenger dead and more injured - ViralPress/ViralPress At least one person has died and dozens of others have been injured after a flight from London to Singapore encountered severe turbulence. A Singapore Airlines flight was forced to divert to Bangkok after a passenger was killed and 30 people were hurt, local media reported. We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER. There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board, a spokesperson for the airline said. Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. A passenger has died and dozens of others are injured after a flight from London to Singapore was hit by severe turbulence Flight SQ321 took off from London Heathrow Airport on Monday evening at 22.17 local time, flight tracking data showed. The airliner diverted to Thailand around an hour and a halfs flying time from its intended destination of Singapore after reportedly encountering heavy turbulence. The pilots requested permission to make an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok and touched down shortly after 4pm local time. Suddenly the aircraft starts tilting up and there was shaking so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling, Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student on board the flight told Reuters. Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it, they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it, he said. It was not immediately clear at what point of the flight the fatal injury occurred. Several ambulances were seen on the tarmac preparing to treat passengers as they disembarked. Airport staff brace for the flight's arrival - ViralPress/ViralPress Pictures from local news agencies showed what appeared to be food trays from the in-flight meal service scattered across the airliners floor. We are working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance, and sending a team to Bangkok to provide any additional assistance needed, the airline said. Singapore Airlines is yet to comment on what caused the turbulence, but the area around Thailand is currently suffering severe tropical storms. Current aviation weather reports indicate thunderstorms reaching up to 51,000ft are spread across western Thailand and well down into the Gulf of Thailand, a distance of around 475 miles. The flight had to divert to Thailand for an emergency landing - ViralPress/ViralPress Last week, a British Airways flight was forced to return to Singapore after encountering heavy turbulence. One crew member reportedly needed surgery to her ankle after she was injured during the flight. The Singapore Airlines flight was cruising at 37,000ft before its diversion, according to Flight Radar 24 data. Other high altitude weather phenomena such as clear air turbulence have been known to cause unexpected problems for airliner flights in the past. The last Singapore Airlines fatalities were in October 2000 when a plane crashed on a closed runway during takeoff at Taiwan and 83 people died. Singapore Airlines has had seven accidents according to records by the Aviation Safety Network. 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. Joe Kirby, head of South Dakota Open Primaries, signs a petition on April 19, 2023, in Sioux Falls that aims to allow all voters to cast a vote in the state's primary elections. Kirby is seated next to De Knudson of Sioux Falls, with Tom Dempster of Sioux Falls standing to her left. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) Joe Kirby, head of South Dakota Open Primaries, signs a petition on April 19, 2023, in Sioux Falls that aims to allow all voters to cast a vote in the state's primary elections. Kirby is seated next to De Knudson of Sioux Falls, with Tom Dempster of Sioux Falls standing to her left. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) A petition that would establish open primary elections in South Dakota has enough signatures from registered voters to be placed on the Nov. 5 ballot, according to the South Dakota Secretary of States Office. The office made the announcement Tuesday, triggering a 30-day window for challenges to the petitions validity. Its the third citizen-initiated measure to be validated for the Nov. 5 election, pending potential challenges. Additionally, the Legislature has exercised its authority to place two measures on the ballot, and at least two more measures from citizen groups are either pending validation or still circulating. More election coverage Visit the Election 2024 page. The open primaries measure would alter future elections in South Dakota. Currently, the state has traditional primary elections, in which Democrats and Republicans choose their nominees for the general election. In an open primary, all candidates for an elected office would run in one primary race, regardless of their party affiliation, and the top two winners would advance. The candidates advancing to the general election could be from different parties or the same party. The open primaries measure applies to races for governor, the Legislature, U.S. Senate, U.S. House and elected county offices. Supporters of the measure say the current system disenfranchises some voters, because Republicans only allow members of their own party to vote in Republican primary races. When theres no Democratic or independent candidate for an office, the winner is determined in a Republican primary that excludes Democratic and independent voters. Opponents of the measure say political parties should be allowed to choose their own nominees. Ballot question status update Measures placed on the Nov. 5 ballot by the Legislature: An amendment to the state constitution updating references to certain officeholders and people (replacing male-specific pronouns with neutral language). An amendment to the state constitution authorizing the state to impose work requirements on certain people who are eligible for expanded Medicaid. Citizen-proposed measures validated for the ballot, pending potential challenges: An initiated measure prohibiting state sales taxes on items sold for human consumption, specifically targeting state sales taxes on groceries. An initiated amendment to the state constitution re-establishing abortion rights. An initiated amendment to the state constitution establishing open primary elections. Citizen-proposed measure pending validation of the required number of petition signatures: An initiated measure legalizing adult recreational use, possession and distribution of marijuana. Petition still in circulation: A proposed referendum of a new law regulating carbon dioxide pipelines (the deadline to submit referendum petitions is June 25). SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Open primaries measure approved for the ballot appeared first on South Dakota Searchlight. OpenAI in the crosshairs: Scarlett Johansson's scathing statement, mass exodus of executives are among the companys latest woes OpenAI, the company known for developing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology, was the subject of a scathing statement by actress Scarlett Johansson this week, in which she expressed anger and disbelief to hear a voice eerily similar to her own used without her approval in a demo of the companys new speaking feature on its popular AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT. The Johansson controversy follows a string of high-profile resignations by OpenAI executives. The company previously has seen multiple employees quitting within weeks of each other. The most recent departure, Jan Leike, said in a May 17 post on X that he disagreed with OpenAIs leadership and core priorities, especially regarding safety. OpenAIs CEO, Sam Altman, was ousted from the company in November 2023 but rejoined the board of directors in March, following a legal review. Lets rewind. What exactly is OpenAI? OpenAI launched in 2015 with a promise to build safe and beneficial AI technology and policies. From 2020 to 2022, it launched a series of AI-powered models that could be used by the public, including DALL-E which could turn any text into digital images, inspiring many online memes and ChatGPT, its free AI chatbot that became one of the fastest-growing apps in history. ChatGPT is commonly credited with introducing AI to the general public and helping make OpenAI a household name. What to know about CEO Sam Altman Altman, 39, was one of the founders of OpenAI and has been the CEO since 2019. He has been called the Oppenheimer of AI by several publications, a reference to J. Robert Oppenheimer, who created the atomic bomb. Altman's ouster last was a surprise to many people in the AI industry. In a press release, OpenAI said, Mr. Altmans departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI. Following backlash from other OpenAI employees, which included an open letter to the board in which nearly half the companys staff threatened to quit, Altman was reinstated days after being fired. Read more about the chaos surrounding Altmans firing and rehiring from AP. Why are OpenAI executives quitting? In February, one of the founders of OpenAI, Andrej Karpathy, announced his departure. In early May, vice president of people Diane Yoon and head of nonprofit and strategic initiatives Chris Clark also announced that they were leaving the company. Weeks later, chief scientist Ilya Sutskever wrote in an X post that he would be leaving OpenAI for another project, which he didnt name. Sutskever had voted to remove Altman from the CEO position in 2023, citing concerns that Altman was advancing the companys AI technology too quickly. Hours after Sutskever resigned, Jan Leike, an executive who worked with Sutskever on projects regarding the safeguarding of AI, announced his resignation. In a series of posts on X, Leike described building smarter-than-human machines was an inherently dangerous endeavor that wasnt getting the crucial research and safety culture that it deserved at the company. Sutskevers and Leikes resignations came on the heels of the release of OpenAIs newest AI model, GPT-4o an AI-powered chatbot that now includes speaking capabilities, known as Sky. How is Scarlett Johansson involved? On May 20, actress Johansson published a statement saying she was shocked and angered to hear GPT-4os voice, referred to as Sky, after several close friends and family members pointed out that it sounded like her voice. Statement from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI situation. Wow: pic.twitter.com/8ibMeLfqP8 Bobby Allyn (@BobbyAllyn) May 20, 2024 In the post, Johansson revealed that she had met with Altman in September to discuss hiring her to voice Sky, not unlike her role in the 2013 Spike Jonze film, Her, one of Altmans favorite movies. Johansson says she ultimately declined the offer. In her statement, she called Skys voice eerily similar to her own and noted she had hired legal counsel to demand an explanation from OpenAI. In a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities, I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity, Johansson wrote. The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johanssons, and it was never intended to resemble hers. We cast the voice actor behind Skys voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson, Altman said in an email to the Washington Post. We are sorry to Ms. Johansson that we didnt communicate better. OpenAI said that it has since paused Sky and published a blog post saying it had used five voice actors to create the voices for its AI products. Other OpenAI lawsuits The latest backlash against Sky comes amid several other lawsuits and investigations involving OpenAI. They include: The U.S. has long had too many barriers that keep talented prospective teachers out of the classroom, including the cost of a degree, low pay and limited growth opportunities. But perhaps one of the biggest yet solvable impediments is the reliance on exams to determine candidates readiness for teacher licensure. Thousands of promising educators, who are otherwise qualified to teach, are kept out of classrooms solely because of test results and the lack of alternative ways for them to demonstrate their readiness for the profession. As the nation faces a teacher shortage that has reached an all-time high with at least 36,000 vacant teaching positions why not tap into a talented pool of educators who could help close that gap? The Mississippi Department of Education created a Performance-Based Licensure pilot to do just that, and the results are encouraging. Students assigned to teaching candidates participating in the pilot performed just as well on average as peers taught by traditionally certified teachers on state standardized tests, and even outperformed them in math. A few years ago, the department asked district leaders and principals how it could help them address teacher vacancies. School leaders lamented that they had outstanding paraprofessionals and other staffers who wanted to be teachers, wanted to continue to live and work in their communities and had fulfilled every prerequisite to becoming a teacher except the licensure test. If only there were a way for these educator candidates to demonstrate their subject matter knowledge and pedagogy in a performance-based manner. If only there were an alternative pathway to get them into teaching positions. Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Related Breaking Down the Walls to Teaching: Alternative Pipelines Boom The department responded by launching the three-year pilot in fall 2019. It was designed for school employees who had a bachelors degree and classroom experience as a long-term substitute, paraprofessional or emergency-licensed teacher. Nominated by their principals, 126 staff members from eight school districts participated, serving as teachers on a special, non-renewable license established specifically for the pilot. The program utilized performance-based measures to determine candidates readiness for licensure, including their students achievement and growth on standardized tests such as the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program. The department partnered with Mary Laski, a researcher at Harvard University, to conduct an external evaluation of the pilot. Laski examined how the candidates students performed on state standardized tests compared with students of traditionally certified teachers selected at the outset of the pilot; students of teachers in other classrooms in the same school, grade and subject; and students of teachers holding emergency licenses. The study was designed so observed differences in test scores between pilot candidates and teachers in the first and second groups could be attributed to the pilot candidates themselves, not simply to differences in student assignment. The third group was included because, if not for the pilot program, most of these vacancies would be filled with emergency-certified teachers. When looking at average scores across all standardized test subjects, students assigned to pilot group candidates performed just as well on state standardized tests as those taught by educators in each comparison group. And, in both the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, students assigned to pilot candidates scored roughly 0.2 standard deviations higher on the states standardized math tests than peers in the same grade and subject in their school. This translates to roughly six months of learning a significant and impressive increase. Additionally, and importantly, the research found that the pilot candidates were more likely to continue teaching in their district in subsequent years than teachers in comparison groups. Related Emergency-Hired Teachers Do Just as Well as Those Who Go Through Normal Training In November 2023, buoyed by these results and positive stakeholder feedback, the Mississippi State Board of Education approved the departments recommendation to officially create a Performance-Based Teacher License. This new pathway will initially be available to candidates teaching a state-tested subject in grades 5 through 8 so the department can continue to examine student academic growth data. As policymakers and state, district and school leaders explore ways to address teacher shortages, they should take note of Mississippis willingness to try something new and its methodical, phased approach. After all, the current reliance on licensure testing alone isnt cutting it. Students and schools would be better served by licensure pathways based on an individuals demonstrated ability to help students learn. The country has an enormous opportunity to tap a talented pipeline of educators who are being kept out of the classroom. What are we waiting for? Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a clear signal to the West last week: China stands firmly behind Russia. Putin made his first foreign trip since his inauguration to Beijing to meet with President Xi Jinping on May 16. The visit came after a cabinet reshuffle in Russia the week prior, the most significant move of which saw Russian economist Andrei Belousov replace Sergei Shoigu as Russian defense minister. Belousov's appointment signals that Putin now views the outcome of the war against Ukraine as being determined by which side can mobilize the most resources in a longer run battle of economic endurance. Putin's trip to Beijing signals that Putin is lining up the external component, with economic backing from China. Putin has a point in thinking that Russia's war against Ukraine will be determined by which side can outspend the other. At face value, one might think that Russia has little chance given its $1.8 trillion GDP is set against the West's $40 trillion plus. Add in China's $17 trillion powerhouse economy and the balance of economies begins to look a little different. Unfortunately, the West appears not to have realized that the war is now all about economy and resources. The data shows that Ukraine is being under-financed and under-resourced. Annual Western support to Ukraine is running at around $100 billion per year enough for Kyiv to hold the line, but not to push Russia back (as evidenced by recent weeks in Ukraine's Donetsk and Kharkiv oblasts). Read also: The Counteroffensive: Cutting-edge Ukrainian fashion goes beyond vyshyvankas And with U.S. support delayed by Congress, Western support for Ukraine has ebbed and flowed. It peaked at around $8.5 billion in the first half of 2023 to coincide with the much-touted Ukrainian counteroffensive, but then dropped back to just $3.7 billion per month between October 2023 to February 2024. This decline in Western funding came in parallel to Ukraine being pushed onto the back foot in its defense against Russia. No surprises there. Western funding to Ukraine is insufficient, poorly coordinated, and lacks long-term plan or strategy. It's ad hoc, drip fed. There is no comprehensive long-run funding strategy for Ukraine, and particularly not for a scenario where Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidential election. Putin has, by contrast, tried to deliver that long-term war resourcing vision for Russia. It's sad that the West does not really comprehend what's at stake here. Fortunately, China's support for Russia is hardly wholehearted. China is not providing direct military support and only giving limited equipment and munitions hence Russia's reliance on Iran and North Korea. Why isn't China going all in? Essentially, China isn't eager to damage its pre-eminent global relationship with the U.S. It isn't eager to intensify the trade war, and it's mindful of avoiding heavy Western sanctions. So while Moscow might view China as its main international counterparty, the feeling is not really reciprocated by Beijing. While Russia is useful to China for sure, it's something of a bit player for now. Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend an official welcoming ceremony in front of the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, on May 16, 2024, on the first day of Putin's state visit to China. (Sergei Bobylyov/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) China is instead trying to toe a line between Russia and the U.S. Where it can, Beijing is taking advantage of Moscow's weakness and increased dependency to buy cut-price Russian commodities, diverted from traditional markets for Russia in Europe, and increasingly selling non-military exports to Russia at top dollar or Yuan. As a result, bilateral trade between China and Russia increased by around a quarter in 2023 to a record $240 billion the balance being to China's advantage. The West has been nervous about the growth of this trade, and particularly by the increase in Chinese exports of dual-use technology to Russia. But China is mindful of not further damaging relations with key Western trade partners, and threats of secondary sanctions on Chinese entities are now showing signs of moderating this trade with Chinese exports to Russia falling year on year in March and April 2024. Xi's visit to Europe last week affirmed for Europe that Russia's war against Ukraine is a direct threat to European security. It also affirmed that, if China wants European allies on its side in the China-U.S. trade war, it will have to carefully manage its relations with Russia not to push Europe toward Washington. It's also important to recognize that China-Russia relations have their stress points. First, tensions and border disputes in eastern Russia remain. While the Xi-Putin meeting this week appeared to recognize the situation with a new agreement, the tensions run deep. Many Russians see China as the biggest long-term security threat to Russia. Second, while China's decision not to arm Russia has forced Moscow to look to North Korea, Beijing is increasingly nervous and irritated about this deepening bond in its backyard. China worries that the price of North Korea supplying munitions to Russia will be deeper cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang to further enhance the latter's nuclear and ballistic weapons programs. A more militarily potent North Korea that is less dependent on China is not in Beijing's interest. Read also: Opinion: Ukraines naval drones are taking over the Black Sea Third, Russia has signaled through its invasion of Ukraine that it's a global disrupter a literal loose canon that wants to change the global status quo and is willing to act in a rash manner that risks disrupting global markets. By contrast, China has long appreciated the rules-based international order that delivered globalization, free markets and trade, and what it saw as the inevitable accent to the global economic hegemony over the U.S. Notable also is that China appears to have set some guardrails for Russian actions in Ukraine, clearly signaling that it would not support the use of nuclear weapons, for example. See therein China's 12-point peace plan on Russia's war against Ukraine. But China, which was likely initially surprised by the onset of the full-scale war, now appears more comfortable with a longer war as long as the guardrails are kept in place by Russia. A long war ultimately weakens Russia, making it more dependent on China and allowing China to buy cheap commodities and charge top dollar for key exports to Russia. Russia's struggles in Ukraine underline where it might not have been clear in 2022 (for Putin, at least) that Moscow is the junior partner in the China-Russia relationship. China favors Russian weakness, but not defeat. So Xi gave Putin the visit he so desired and both signaled different points to the elephant in the room: Washington. Putin signaled that Russia is preparing for a long economic struggle for Ukraine; Xi signaled that, if the U.S. wants to avoid a bad outcome in Ukraine, it needs China to play ball and limit its support to Russia the price for which are concessions on issues such as trade. Editors Note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent. Submit an Opinion Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Editors Note: Norman Eisen is a CNN legal analyst and editor of Trying Trump: A Guide to His First Election Interference Criminal Trial. He served as counsel to the House Judiciary Committee for the first impeachment and trial of then-President Donald Trump. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion at CNN. The biggest drama in the trial of former President Donald Trump on Monday came not, as expected, in the cross-examination of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen. His testimony wrapped without any moments approaching the significance of last weeks defense hits on the star witness. Instead, the most dramatic moments of the day in Trumps Manhattan criminal trial came in a showdown with an ancillary witness Robert Costello, a lawyer who once advised Cohen who visibly and audibly confronted Judge Juan Merchan, leading to a dressing down in open court and then to the clearing of the courtroom for an even sterner reprimand. The drama began when Costello replied sarcastically to one of the judges rulings, Jeez. Merchan released the jury, then warned the witness to maintain decorum, cautioning him, You dont say jeez and then you dont say strike it and then if you dont like my ruling, you dont give me side eye and you dont roll your eyes. Do you understand that? Costello responded by staring the judge down. The judge called him out, angrily asking, Are you staring me down right now? He then cleared the courtroom of even those of us in the media. A transcript released Monday night shows Merchan told Costello in the emptied courtroom that your conduct is contemptuous right now. He warned Costello, If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand. Norm Eisen - Courtesy Norm Eisen But the Costello testimony and his back-and-forth with the judge was a sideshow. Cohen had already admitted that he lied to Costello, and indeed lied more broadly to protect Trump before cooperating with the government. And the judge chastising Costello was a sideshow within a sideshow because Costellos rudeness to the judge had nothing to do with the substance of his testimony or this case; it was simply ill manners of a kind that we have not seen from any witness yet across the 19 days of trial, even on the most contentious cross-examinations. The afternoon was punctuated by this moment of drama, but it had little to do with the central issues in the case. The defense had put Costello on the stand in the first place because he had multiple conversations with Cohen, and Trumps lawyers wanted to show that Cohen had told Costello that Trump didnt know about the $130,000 hush money payment crucial to the case. The payment was made to Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress who alleges that she had a sexual encounter with Trump (which Trump denies). This payment is at the center of the 34 felony counts of falsifying business documents faced by Trump, and key to proving Trumps guilt is evidence that he knew what the payment was for. But Cohen has already testified that he lied about Trumps knowledge of the payment to Daniels before cooperating with prosecutors. Most of the rest of the day was filled with Cohens cross-examination and redirect testimony. Those who were hoping for another major confrontation on cross of the kind that triggered so much debate Thursday were disappointed. Defense counsel Todd Blanche started off in his usual meandering way, asking about Cohens calls with reporters regarding his testimony here (a fishing expedition that caught no fish, since there were no calls of substance), meetings with prosecutors (resulting in inconsequential sparring about which questions from prosecutors on direct examination were also asked during Cohens preparation to testify) and Cohens taxi medallion business (causing several jurors to look at Blanche in obvious puzzlement). Blanche eventually worked his way around to a potentially consequential line of attack but it fell far short of the moment he achieved Thursday, when he confronted Cohen with evidence that the witness had not included in his testimony a key aspect of a phone call with Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller on October 24, 2016. Blanche was attempting to cast doubt on the veracity of Cohens statement that Schiller ultimately handed the phone to Trump so Cohen could talk to him about Stormy Daniels, establishing that Trump knew about the payment. On Monday, the defense counsel attempted to challenge Cohens recollections of two additional calls, which were direct calls Cohen says he made to Trump on October 26, 2016, to agree again on the $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels. These calls are actually more important than the challenged October 24 call because they were made directly to Trump, at least one of them was longer, and they both occurred at the most critical moment in the alleged scheme before Cohen paid Daniels on October 27, 2016. Blanche led with a line of questions about other things that had been going on at the time: Cohen helping Trumps youngest daughter respond to an extortion threat, Trumps real estate matters and a big Trump family press interview that day. He tried to get Cohen to say that those topics were discussed on those two October 26 calls, asking, With all that going on, why focus on Stormy Daniels? But Cohen refused to budge on the content of those calls, answering, I spoke to Trump about Stormy Daniels because that was what he tasked me to take care of, and thats what I had been working on. There were other glancing blows from Blanche: getting Cohen to acknowledge again that he stole from the Trump Organization; that he did some work for Trump in 2017, and therefore the payments to him, which the prosecution alleges were covered up in the falsified business documents at the heart of the charges, were not just for repaying the hush money; and that he initially lied to everyone about Trump not being involved in the hush money payment. But the sting had been drawn on all three, with Cohen admitting during his previous direct testimony that he stole, that the legal work had been minimal and that he had initially lied about Trumps involvement (including to Costello, who testified later in the day about this very point and got into the fiery clash with the judge). Assistant District Attorney Susan Hoffinger made those admissions and more clear on redirect, which was crisp. It culminated before the lunch break with a bit of razzle- dazzle to bolster Cohens testimony about what happened on that phone call with Schiller and Trump. The prosecution presented an image taken from C-SPAN video that showed Trump and Schiller had been together at 7:57 p.m. at the end of a rally in Tampa, Florida, just before that call. Merchan sent the jury to an early lunch break while he heard arguments on both sides about whether that latest evidence showing Trump was indeed with Schiller right before the contested phone call should be admitted. When we returned from the lunch break, the C-SPAN evidence was ultimately admitted, and Cohen was corroborated yet again, as he so often has been throughout this trial. It did not completely erase the points that were scored by the defense at this critical moment of the cross on Thursday, but it did take a few of them off the board. Yes, the defense had scored points, making this a closer case. But the prosecution was still leading even without the mini-Perry Mason moment with the C-SPAN video evidence. This case is theirs to lose though its possible (if unlikely) that the defense has sold themselves to one or two of the jurors sufficiently to get a hung jury. We will find out soon just not as soon as we hoped, with closing arguments set for Tuesday, May 28, with a pre-scheduled day off on Friday (due to a juror conflict) and Memorial Day an off day as well. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Three crosses, representing the cross that Christ was crucified on as well as the crosses thieves hung from on both sides of him, stand outside of the new Nephi Baptist Church in Nephi on Friday, Sept. 11, 2020. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News The role of faith in public life is often hotly contested, especially considering the discouraging number of people who view religion as having a negative, rather than positive, impact on society. But new research from Sutherland Institute provides overwhelming evidence for this key point: Religion fills essential roles that do tremendous good for individuals, families and communities and it is worthy of support from voters and policymakers. A recent survey conducted by the University of Birmingham (U.K.) asked people from seven countries about their perspectives on the impacts of religion on society. In five countries (Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, U.K.), the majority reported they think that religion often has more negative consequences for society than positive consequences. The lowest percentage holding this position was in Argentina (37%). The U.S. was a little more positive about the impacts of religion, with 40% reporting that they thought religions influence was more negative than positive. Is that fair? A new publication that I have written for Sutherland Institute, What Good Does Religion Do? shows the overwhelming evidence that religion is in fact a net positive for society. The first in a series of publications on the social benefits of religion, this paper describes how churches, other religious organizations and individual people of faith provide for the tangible needs of their neighbors. With Utah ranking first in the nation for the proportion of its population that consists of religious adherents, according to a recent Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute publication (76.1%), the broad set of social services that religion provides bodes well for the future of our state. For many people, terms like religion or faith conjure up images of ceremonial worship, but for believers, religious faith is likely to be understood not only as a vital aspect of personal identity but also of social responsibility. In fact, those who are not affiliated with a church are more likely to interact with religious organizations and people of faith through social services rather than worship services. Sutherlands new publication catalogs some important examples of how religious groups and those who belong to them provide important services not only to their own adherents but to their neighbors. Religious groups and people of faith actively provide emergency relief (including the recent pandemic response and assistance to homeless people and refugees), charitable giving, social services (particularly for the elderly, prisoners, vulnerable children, families in need, and the un- and underemployed), and medical care. Some of these contributions, such as those that people of faith and religious organizations provide to foster care, are possibly the most important private contributions to that particular service. People of faith tend to be more generous in charitable giving, and they have made foundational contributions to health care in the United States (contributions that continue today). This is not to mention disaster response, aid to refugees, prisoner assistance and many other contributions. While organized religion gets a bad rap in some circles, it provides distinct advantages for facilitating service and care for those in need. People of faith, motivated by the altruism they learn in their congregations and the encouragement they receive from the teachings of their faith, can easily join to magnify their efforts in caring for others. An individual who could do little alone to respond to the plight of prisoners or refugees, when combining their efforts with many others, can make an enormous difference. Those who do not share a particular faith often find it difficult to understand why the religious believe as they do. People of faith believe they are accountable to God and to one another for what they do. That motivation may seem strange and incomprehensible to those who do not share the faith; they may even dislike what believers are motivated to do or to teach. The examples shared in the report, however, help us understand one of the reasons why the framers of the U.S. Constitution might have singled out religious practice for protection. The deep motivations of religious faith are different from motivations of self-interest. When we protect religious liberty, we are protecting unique motivations and encouraging the religiously motivated sacrifices that many people in society especially vulnerable populations depend upon when times are difficult. Whether we agree with the underlying beliefs or not, it is good for all of us that many of our fellow citizens are motivated by a higher cause. Clearly, many people, based on their personal experiences or the way they see religion portrayed, have doubts about the value of religion for society. People of faith and religious organizations will continue to invite people to hear the music of faith. The portrayal of religion, too, needs attention. This report seeks to balance the portrayal of religious groups and people of faith by providing an introduction to the important benefits they contribute to the well-being of the people around them, particularly the most vulnerable. William C. Duncan, J.D., is the constitutional law and religious freedom fellow for Sutherland Institute Orange Countys Charter Review Commission is set to decide whether an effort to protect rural parts of Orange County will be on the November ballot. The Charter Review Commission will soon vote on a Rural Boundary Amendment. If the board advances the amendment, voters would ultimately decide whether or not to establish a rural boundary. The boundary covers large areas of unincorporated East and West Orange County. If approved, the countys governing charter amendment would make it more difficult to build on rural land. It would require county commissioners to support any future changes to density within the rural boundary with a super majority, as opposed to the simple majority currently in place. Read: East Orange County residents celebrate after commissioners preserve rural land Theyre beating us by one vote. Were losing by one vote. And that super majority tilts the tides in favor of the people as opposed to developers, said Kelly Semrad, Vice Chair of Save Orange County. Save Orange County has fought large developments in East Orange County for the last decade. Semrad says the rural boundary is needed to stop urban sprawl and honor the wishes of a community that wants to avoid mass development. Once you build luxury homes out in the rural service area, we lose this land for forever. So essentially, we grow bigger and bigger, but we cant support it. And we cant financially afford it, said Semrad. Read: 4,400 acres of Seminole, Osceola land now off-limits for development Over 100 residents are expected to address the Charter Review Commission Monday Night. Ahead of Mondays Charter Review Commission vote, lobbyist and attorneys for developers also weighed in and circulated various memos against the change. Attorney and lobbyist Jared Willis wrote a memo arguing that the rural boundary amendment violates current and future state law. Read: Universal buys land near convention center, proposed SunRail station The legislature realized that a citizen led charter review committee doesnt have all of the pieces in place that they need to adequately make this decision, said Willis, Its a group of well-meaning citizens, but at the end of the day, they dont have the expertise to kind of look at these large-scale changes. Willis believes the amendment would violate a comprehensive planning process outlined in Floridas Community Planning Act, which requires due process for landowners. The Charter Review Commission meeting is scheduled for 6:00 pm Monday night. Channel 9 will have updates on that vote. Meanwhile, commissioner Emily Bonilla has requested to discuss the amendment during Tuesdays regular Board of County Commissioners meeting. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) Ahead of Oregons May 21 primary, elections in Lincoln and Douglas counties are back on track after some ballot returns were delayed, according to the Oregon Secretary of States office. The week of May 13, county clerks alerted the Oregon Secretary of States office of the delays, as reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting. According to the secretary of states office, the delay appeared to be caused by a misunderstanding within USPS on how to process the ballots because the state picks up the tab for paid postage for mail-in ballots, a spokesperson for the secretary of states office told KOIN 6 News. Rare fish found near Cannon Beach, 1st time in Oregon We are in constant communication with USPS and county clerks to monitor for situations like these. USPS assured us during the Thursday meeting that the issue would be resolved by Friday; since then, everything appears to be back on track. After the election, well debrief with our partners to fully understand the scope of the issue and identify ways we can prevent this from happening in the future, the secretary of states office told KOIN 6 News on Monday. The office said this was a minor issue, noting the delay was hours-long, has since been resolved, and will not impact the timeliness of the primary election results. USPS explained that in Douglas County, a limited number of ballots were not immediately available to election officials but were made available later in the day. We are reviewing procedures with our employees and remain committed to the secure, timely delivery of the nations Election Mail, USPS said. Man arrested, accused of carrying shotgun in a guitar case in Portland park The Oregon Secretary of States office held a call on May 16 with USPS and the Oregon Association of County Clerks regarding the delay. The call came after Oregon House Republican Leader Jeff Helfrich (R-Hood River) sent a letter to Democratic House Speaker Julie Fahey and House Majority Leader Rep. Ben Bowman requesting a Rules Committee hearing with Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade on May 31 to answer questions about the chain of custody issues surrounding the return of completed ballots. In a May 17 statement, Rep. Helfrich said Oregonians deserve to have full faith and trust in our elections system, and it is the Secretary of States job to establish and maintain that faith and trust. He continued, However, as of this writing, the Secretary of States office has yet to share precise details of both the problems that occurred and the planned remedy. The people of Oregon deserve answers in full view of the public to these fundamental questions. KOIN 6 News reached out to Speaker Fahey and Leader Bowman for a response to the letter. KOIN 6 News will update this story if they respond. 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 KOIN.com. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) Every two years, every member of the US House of Representatives has to seek re-election. Oregon has six congressional districts, the second election since the census results provided Oregon with an extra congressional seat. Three of Oregons six congressional districts did not attract as much attention as the others because the primary races were largely viewed as not as competitive. Oregons 1st District In Oregons 1st District, Suzanne Bonamici is seeking re-election but had two Democratic challengers, Jamil Ahmad and Courtney Casgraux. It was no contest. Bonamici grabbed nearly 92% of the 8 p.m. votes counted and released. The Associated Press called the Democratic race for her. Bob Todd ran unopposed in the Republican primary. Todd has 97% of the 17,032 votes counted in the GOP primary. It will be Bonamici vs Todd in the November general election. Oregons 2nd District Oregons 2nd District the largest in terms of land size features Republican Cliff Bentz running for re-election. He faced Jason Beebe in the GOP primary. There are two Democrats facing off in the primary, Steve William Laible and Dan Ruby. Both Bentz and Ruby took very commanding leads as the 8 p.m. vote count was released. Within minutes, the Associated Press called the races for each man. The November match is set in Oregons 2nd District: GOP incumbent Cliff Bentz vs Democrat Dan Ruby. Oregons 4th District Incumbent Rep. Val Hoyle ran unopposed in the Democratic primary in the 4th Congressional District. She gathered 98.5% of the votes counted on Tuesday night. Republican Monique DeSpain, an Air Force veteran with endorsements from the GOP establishment, pushed through a strong challenge from former Keizer City Council member Amy Ryan Courser. The Associated Press called the race for DeSpain around 10:30 p.m. At that time she had a 58-41 lead. In November, Hoyle will face DeSpain in her battle for re-election. More Primary Info PRIMARY DAY Oregons all-mail primary was held on Tuesday. With the exception of Malheur County, all polls closed at 8 p.m. PT, which is 11 p.m. ET. Some of Malheur Countys polls fall in the Mountain time zone, meaning they closed an hour earlier, but the county doesnt release results until 11 p.m. ET. WHO GETS TO VOTE In Oregon, political parties can choose who can participate in their primaries, though the two major parties traditionally opt for closed primaries. That means that only voters registered with a political party may participate in that partys primary. Democrats may not vote in the Republican primary or vice versa. Independent or unaffiliated voters may not participate in either primary. DELEGATE ALLOCATION RULES Oregons 66 pledged Democratic delegates are allocated according to the national partys standard rules. Fifteen at-large delegates are allocated in proportion to the statewide vote, as are seven PLEO delegates, or party leaders and elected officials. The states six congressional districts have a combined 44 delegates at stake, which are allocated in proportion to the vote results in each district. Candidates must receive at least 15% of the statewide vote to qualify for any statewide delegates, and 15% of the vote in a congressional district to qualify for delegates in that district. There are 31 delegates at stake in the Republican presidential primary, all of which go to the winner of the primary. Because Trump is the only Republican on the ballot, he will receive all of the states GOP delegates. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 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 KOIN.com. Nurtured by passion and imagination, the Aeterna collection, which includes an exceptional selection of high-jewelry watches, celebrates Bvlgaris unique cultural heritage. By drawing inspiration from the Eternal City of Rome, the collection sublimates the magnificence of gems. Bulgari 2024 Fuochi d'Artificio High-Jewelry Manchette Bulgari With a constant eye towards the future, Bvlgari demonstrates its pioneering spirit by constantly exploring new materials, crafts, and techniques. Showing its ability to interpret the spirit of each era, Bvlgari seamlessly connects past, present and future, delivering the most outstanding creations, encompassing time, while exuding a profound sense of eternity and timeless beauty. Bvlgaris unparalleled creativity and craftsmanship, showcased in the Aeterna High-Jewelry collection, meets Swiss watchmaking expertise in a new line of High-Jewelry watches designed to amaze. Fabrizio Buonamassa Bulgari Bulgari 2024 Fuochi d'Artificio High-Jewelry Petite Watch Bulgari Bulgari 2024 Fenice High-Jewelry Watch Bulgari As a result of being immersed in frontline politics for 60 years, Winston Churchill appeared in more political cartoons than any other politician in history, British or otherwise. From early on, his continued efforts to make himself noticed, as well as the prominent and decisive role he played during the Second World War, attracted the attention of political cartoonists around the world. The young Churchill may have seemed initially uninspiring, but he encouraged them to draw him by at first wearing a multiplicity of different hats. Encouraged by the response to this, he continued to promote himself, most notably by regularly being seen chomping on a cigar. Despite his many political missteps, which cartoonists mercilessly satirised, Churchills prophetic warnings about the Nazis brought many of them back on side, after they had ignored him for much of the 1930s. In 1940, his speeches both inspired the nation and supplied cartoonists with endless material. Initially, after coming to office, he preferred the thumbs-up gesture, but in July 1941 he started using the iconic two-fingered V-sign. Churchill not only loved appearing in cartoons; he enjoyed collecting and learning from them. One might even say that never in the field of political caricature have so many cartoonists owed so much to so true a cartoon icon. Young Churchill, Westminster Gazette, 27 Oct 1904 Young Churchill Francis Carruthers Gould, Westminster Gazette, October 27 1904 The young Churchill suffered from a lack of distinctive features and a rather bland appearance. Cartoonist Francis Carruthers Gould said that Churchill did not have the features which lent themselves to easily recognisable conventional treatment as readily as his fathers. Gould bemoaned that his subject was a disappointment: Winston Churchills face is, from the caricaturists point of view, what I call an elusive one, by which I mean that the more you try to get it the more you lose it, and the likeness which appears with only a few strokes of the pen disappears with elaboration. However, he did think that Churchill was still worth watching with interest for the reason that he may one day have to be prominent on the pictorial stage. 'There be land-rats and water-rats.' Shakespeare There be land-rats and water-rats. Shakespeare / A sermon to the German from a firm un Matthew Sandford (Matt), Daily Dispatch, September 1 1914 Churchill had been appointed to the post of First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911, and played a pivotal role in readying the Royal Navy for conflict. When the First World War broke out in August 1914, the Navy utilised its overwhelming sea power to transport more than 120,000 troops to France and blockade Germanys North Sea ports. Addressing the crowd at a recruiting meeting at Liverpool, Churchill said: We hope a decision at sea will be a feature of this war. Our men, who are spending a tireless vigil, hope that they will have a chance to settle the question with the German fleet; and if they do not come out and fight they will be dug out like rats in a hole. 'Promising' (Mr. Churchill's Art is promising, but lacks something in execution. Vide Daily Press) Promising / Mr. Churchills Art is promising, but lacks something in execution. Vide Daily Press Charles Crombie, Passing Show, October 30 1915 Churchills reputation had sunk so low that even the British press mocked him for his optimistic, yet unsuccessful, ideas. The Hornet Swarm alludes to an early notion of Churchills that Zeppelins could be attacked by a swarm of hornets (aeroplanes armed with bombs and guns), although, at the time, aeroplanes could not reach the necessary altitude for this to work. The Ace refers to the fort at Kilid Bahr on the Dardanelles, which was known as Ace of Spades and is symbolic of the Gallipoli campaign. Study of Rats refers to Churchills earlier promise to dig out the German High Seas Fleet like rats in a hole, only to have U-boats destroy three Royal Navy ships a few weeks later. 'Superseded' Superseded Cecil Orr, Daily Record, November 8 1938 In his Reichstag speech on November 6 1938, Hitler said that Churchill has stated that the present regime in Germany ought to be destroyed with the aid of forces within Germany who would gladly co-operate. If Mr Churchill had less to do with wretched traitors who are paid by foreign agencies, and had more to do with Germans, he would see how mad his talk is As long as others only speak of disarmament whilst continuing to incite war, we do not believe them and think their only desire is to repeat 1918. In that case, my answer to Mr Churchill must be: that happens once only and it will not be repeated! 'Bring him back it's your last chance.' Bring him back its your last chance. Thomas Arthur Challen (Tac), Sunday Pictorial, April 23 1939 According to the Sunday Pictorial: Each time the nation hoped Mr Churchill would be called in to help, the nation was disappointed Churchill, more than any other politician, foretold the crises that Germanys re-armament would inflame While there gathers sullenly the hurricane that threatens to wreck our generation, this one man who could stem the dark forces, this one man whom Hitler fears, is thrust into the background and forced to endure a political impotence which is as shameful as it is premature. The shockers shocked! The shockers shocked! Harold Hodges, Western Mail, January 29 1940 On January 27 1940, Churchill gave a stirring speech at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester in which he urged: This is no time for ease and comfort, it is the time to dare and endure. Come then: let us to the task, to the battle and the toil; each to our part, each to our station. Fill the armies, rule the air, pour out the munitions, strangle the U-boats, sweep the mines, plough the land, build the ships, guard the streets, succour the wounded, uplift the downcast, and honour the brave There is not a week, nor a day, nor an hour to lose. That thrust is having its effect! That thrust is having its effect! Cecil Orr, Daily Record, December 27 1940 On the evening of December 23, Churchill broadcast directly to the Italian people. One man and one man alone has ranged the Italian people in deadly struggle against the British Empire, Churchill stated. After 18 years of unbridled power he has led your country to the horrid verge of ruin The people of Italy were never consulted Surely the time has come when the Italian monarchy and people should have a word to say upon these awe-inspiring issues. According to the Liverpool Echo: The sound of the Winston wedge being driven in between Mussolini and the Italian nation was welcomed by millions. Between two fires Between two fires Alexander Saroukhan, Akher Saa (Cairo, Egypt), November 22 1942 On November 8 1942, the Allies launched Operation Torch. Troops landed at three key ports in French North Africa Casablanca, Algiers and Oran with the aim of cutting off Rommels retreat and securing North Africa. After fierce fighting, all ports were taken. On November 10, the representative of the Vichy government, Admiral Darlan, concluded an armistice that confirmed the victory. There was also a successful Russian counter-offensive at Stalingrad on November 19. Soviet forces launched a two-pronged attack that overran the Axis flanks and cut off occupied Stalingrad. As Churchill had promised, the North African campaign had helped by diverting aircraft from the east. Churchill was convinced that this period marked the turning point in the war. As he wrote later: Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat. WIN WIN Gordon Minhinnick, New Zealand Herald (Auckland), May 11 1945 The surrender of the German armies was ratified on May 8 1945. At 3pm on May 8, almost five years to the day since he became Prime Minister, Churchill broadcast to the nation that the war with Germany was over. The day was to be known as Victory in Europe day. Churchill appeared on the balcony at Buckingham Palace with the Royal family before driving to Whitehall to address the crowd from the Ministry of Health balcony. To ecstatic crowds, he said: God bless you all. This is your victory. To which the crowds shouted back: No its yours. Dropping the pilot Dropping the pilot Cy Hungerford, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 27 1945 To Churchills astonishment, Labour won a landslide victory in the 1945 general election, earning 393 parliamentary seats in one of the biggest electoral swings of the 20th century. Clement Attlee was able to form the Labour Partys first ever majority government. Labours manifesto had emphasised social reform, including commitments to affordable housing, full employment and healthcare for all. The Conservative focus on lower taxation, defence spending and Churchills leadership was not enough to persuade an electorate eager for change and renewal in a post-war world. The title of this cartoon, Dropping the pilot, refers to Sir John Tenniels famous cartoon of the same name. That cartoon, published in Punch in March 1890 following the resignation of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, depicted the great statesman as a ships captain forced to disembark his vessel by Kaiser Wilhelm II. Two Churchills Two Churchills David Low, Evening Standard, July 31 1945 The British people rejected Churchill as a peacetime prime minister, yet lauded him as the man who had won the war. This cartoon fuses a popular view of Churchill, while at the same time making an acute historical judgement. It would be difficult to better this cartoon as a way of remembering the British electorates gratitude to Churchill in the war years, and its distrust of the Conservative Party and its policies. A 'savage attack' A savage attack Leslie Illingworth, Punch, February 3 1954 Churchill became prime minister once again in 1951, at the age of 76. In February 1954, Leslie Illingworth drew a cartoon of the PM, listless at his desk, the face registering the unmistakable effects of a partial paralysis he had suffered as the result of a stroke the preceding summer. Churchill was bitterly hurt. Yes, theres malice in it. Look at my hands I have beautiful hands Punch goes everywhere. I shall have to retire if this sort of thing goes on. Churchills doctor, Lord Moran, was also shocked. There was something un-English in this savage attack on his failing powers, he commented. The eyes were dull and lifeless. There was no tone in the flaccid muscles; the jowl sagged. It was the expressionless mask of extreme old age. Churchill would retire the following year. He died, aged 90, in 1965. Churchill: A Life in Cartoons, edited by Tim Benson, is published by Hutchinson Heinemann on Thursday (RRP 16.99). Text Tim Benson, 2024; Low image Herblock Foundation; Illingworth image Solo Syndication 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. Over 3,000 Ukrainian convicts have applied for conditional early release to participate in the defence of Ukraine. Source: Ukrinform citing Olena Vysotska, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine, on air during the national 24/7 news broadcast Quote: "It's more than 3,000 people. We predicted this before the adoption of the law. We cannot claim that all 20,000 people mentioned as potential candidates will join. Because during previous surveys, about 4,500 were willing to do this. Now, this number will vary..." Details: Vysotska said the Ministry of Justice understood "that there would be willing participants, but the law will restrict certain categories, so we cannot say all those who want it will get a conditional early release and sign a contract". She noted that military medical commissions will check convicts for socially dangerous diseases such as HIV infection, tuberculosis or hepatitis. These diseases are grounds for exclusion from the mobilisation project. Vysotska emphasised that the decisive factors in the law are the convicts desire and motivation to sign contracts with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and thus receive conditional early release. Meanwhile, she pointed out that the law includes precautions in case someone considers signing a contract with the Armed Forces an opportunity to gain freedom without intending to fight. Quote: "Therefore, when we talk about figures, about the number of those who would like to join, these are only preliminary. We'll see everything in practice We have started working on having those who expressed a desire to submit the relevant applications. Military medical commissions are now ongoing and they are meeting with commanders. After that, the military units commanders consent to a specific person, and we pass the materials to the court... Understanding that the law has certain precautions for such cases is vital. Evading a contract carries a penalty of 5 to 10 years of imprisonment. So, all those who want to speculate on this topic may face additional responsibility and may have up to 10 years of imprisonment added to their previous sentences. Background: On 13 March, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) registered a legislative initiative to amend the legislation governing parole to undergo military service under a contract during a specific period. On 8 May, the Verkhovna Rada backed a bill in the second reading that would allow the voluntary mobilisation of certain categories of prisoners. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the above-mentioned law on 17 May. Support UP or become our patron! Over 4 years of Wisconsin polling, Trump's popularity has declined with parts of his base Former president Donald Trump has seen his popularity decline among most segments of the Wisconsin electorate since he was defeated for re-election nearly four years ago. That includes big parts of his own political base, such as Republicans and rural men. It also includes Democratic-leaning groups that view him even more negatively in 2024 than they did in 2020, such as suburban women, college grads, young voters and non-religious voters, a polling analysis shows. Marquette University Law School, Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education logo But Trumps popularity ratings in this state have also improved among a handful of groups, such as voters of color and rural women. And overall, he has closed the popularity gap with President Joe Biden that existed in 2020. In their first contest, Trumps negatives were significantly higher than Bidens. That is no longer true. Both men have lost popularity since the last election, but Biden has lost more, leaving them with almost identical and poor polling numbers in Wisconsin. In a separate column, I looked at how Bidens popularity in Wisconsin this year compares to the fall of 2020, when he narrowly defeated Trump here. This column focuses on Trumps popularity in the state, and how it has changed among different kinds of voters. To get a sense of where the greatest shifts in Trumps standing have occurred in Wisconsin, Marquette Law School pollster Charles Franklin and I looked at polling trends since 2020 across many political, demographic and geographic segments of the electorate. We measured the popularity of both men based on net favorability: the percentage of registered voters who view them favorably minus the share who view them unfavorably. (If 45% are favorable and 50% are unfavorable, thats a rating of minus 5). To get meaningful samples of smaller groups of voters, we pooled multiple surveys. Trumps popularity in the fall of 2020 is based on three Marquette polls from September and October of that year. His current popularity is based on Marquettes three most recent surveys taken over the past six months. Overall, Trumps net favorability among registered voters in Wisconsin has dropped from minus 11 to minus 18 between these two time periods. Bidens decline has been larger (from plus 1 to minus 17), erasing the Democrats 2020 advantage in popularity. Marquettes polling shows that some of Trumps biggest declines have come from parts of his political and demographic base. For example, his rating among white men has gone from plus 8 to minus 14, a drop of 22 points. His rating among self-identified Republicans has gone from plus 71 to plus 51, a drop of 20 points. His biggest decline among any group we measured is with a segment of the electorate that has been very favorable to Trump: rural men, who make up about 19% of the states registered voters. His rating with this group has dropped from plus 29 in 2020 to plus 2 in the more recent polling, a drop of 27 points. There are some parallels in the Trump and Biden polling trends. Both have suffered some big declines in popularity among groups that supported them at the time of the 2020 election, especially among voters of their own party. Bidens declines have been sharpest among some fairly competitive segments of the electorate such a working-class women and suburbanites. Trumps declines have been a little more concentrated in his demographic and political base. That includes self-identified Republicans, rural men, and white non-college men, groups that overlap with each other a good deal. Trumps slippage with Republican-leaning groups is consistent with a pattern weve seen in the GOP primaries, where even after Trump wrapped up the nomination, a persistent minority of 10% to 20% of Republican primary voters has continued to cast ballots for his defeated rival, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. GOP voters are no longer as uniformly favorable to Trump as they were during his presidency. A big question for the fall is whether the softness in Trumps Republican base translates into depressed GOP turnout for Trump or into some 2020 Trump voters switching to Biden or a third-party choice. By the same token, will Trumps improved ratings among voters of color especially Hispanic voters translate into small but vital inroads with voters who backed Biden in 2020? These popularity ratings could change, of course. The campaign has more than five months to go. And measuring the candidates popularity is not the same as measuring vote choice. Trump has improved his ratings with some groups that are generally pro-Biden, and his ratings have declined among segments of the electorate that are generally pro-Trump. On top of all that, the two men have negative or declining ratings with some of the same groups. ANALYSIS: For Joe Biden, a steep dip in popularity has erased an advantage over Donald Trump Gauging Donald Trump's popularity across key voter groups Here is a look at changes in Trumps popularity in Wisconsin since the fall of 2020 across several broad categories that pollsters routinely track: Gender. Trump is much more popular with men than women, but his erosion in popularity has come almost entirely from male voters, not female voters. His overall favorability rating among men in Wisconsin has slipped from plus 4 to minus 12 since the 2020 election. Some of his biggest declines among male voters are among demographic groups we think of as being pretty Trumpy: rural men (from plus 29 to plus 2) and white men without college degrees (from plus 15 to minus 5). But Trumps ratings have also sagged among white college grads of both sexes less favorable groups for him. His favorability rating with white college men has gone from minus 5 to minus 28. Ideology. Trumps image has grown worse among liberals since 2020. But among conservatives, he remains almost as popular as he was. And his image among moderates is slightly less negative (minus 39) than it was four years ago (minus 43). Community type. The former presidents standing has declined the most among suburban voters (from minus 5 to minus 18) but changed very little among rural voters and urban voters. Region. Trumps biggest declines have occurred in the outer Milwaukee media market (the southeastern Wisconsin counties outside metro Milwaukee), followed by the Green Bay media market and the WOW counties of Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington. In these three suburban counties that border Milwaukee, the GOP has been consistently losing ground in the Trump Era. Trumps rating in the Republican-leaning WOW counties has dropped from plus 7 in 2020 to neutral in the recent polling (48% favorable, 48% unfavorable). Meanwhile, his rating in the very blue city of Milwaukee is not quite as bad now (minus 42) as it was in 2020 (minus 52). Age. Trump has lost the most ground among voters under 30, where his popularity rating has gone from minus 28 to minus 43. Religion. Trumps standing has improved slightly since 2020 among mainline Protestants as well as born-again Protestants. This last group of voters is one of the most pro-Trump in the state, giving him a plus 22 rating. By contrast, non-religious voters have grown even more negative toward Trump (from minus 43 to minus 62). Race and ethnicity. Trump has lost ground since the last election among whites, who make up more than 84 percent of registered voters in Wisconsin. But his ratings have improved among nonwhite voters, where his image is now a lot less negative (minus 18) than it was at the time of the last election (minus 43). Because voters of color make up a small share of the vote in Wisconsin, it is hard to get reliably large samples of black and Hispanic voters. Even combining three Marquette surveys in 2020 and three in 2023-24, those samples are still quite small (from 88 to 133 voters). But with that qualifier in mind, Blacks and Hispanics are the two demographic groups we measured where Trumps image has improved the most in the past four years. This is consistent with national polls showing smaller Biden margins against Trump with these voters. Partisanship. Trumps popularity ratings are virtually unchanged among Democrats and independents, but theyve declined significantly among Republican voters, from plus 71 to plus 51. He is still quite popular in his own party, but not as popular as he was during his presidency. When you step back from all these numbers, you can glean some patterns. As you might expect, Trumps image has grown more negative with some groups that have long disliked him, such as young voters and non-religious voters and suburban women. But many of his biggest declines have come from groups that viewed him favorably in 2020, such as rural men and non-college white men. In gender terms, Trumps decrease in popularity in Wisconsin has come entirely from men. In partisan terms, it has come entirely from Republicans. In education terms, it has come mostly from college grads. And in racial terms, it has come entirely from white voters. In effect, the gender and racial gaps over Trump have gotten a little smaller, and the education gap over Trump has gotten larger. What does all this mean for the battle for Wisconsin this fall? Because this is a rematch of the same candidates who ran in 2020, were unlikely to see huge changes in demographic or regional voting patterns in the state. While there have been big shifts in popularity for both men among different groups of voters, the shifts in how these groups vote will probably be a lot smaller. But this is a state so closely contested that even small changes in voting patterns can make a crucial difference. And one place to look for those changes is among segments of the electorate where Biden and Trump have either gained or lost popularity since the last election. Craig Gilbert provides Wisconsin political analysis as a fellow with Marquette University Law School's Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education. Prior to the fellowship, Gilbert reported on politics for 35 years at the Journal Sentinel, the last 25 in its Washington Bureau. His column continues that independent reporting tradition and goes through the established Journal Sentinel editing process. Follow him on Twitter: @Wisvoter. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Donald Trump sees polling declines with parts of his Wisconsin base There were once at least 180 York Steak House restaurants across the country. The last one left is on the West Side of Columbus, the city where it all began in 1966. The nation's last York Steak House, still serving up T-bones, burgers and baked fish almondine on the West Side of Columbus as restaurants around it have come and gone, is up for sale. After 44 years working for York and 35 years as its owner, Jay Bettin said he's ready to retire and wants to sell the business at 4220 W. Broad St. The restaurant "continues to have great success," he said, and he promised it will continue to operate as normal until a new owner is on board. Columbus Monthly feature: The Last Stand of York Steak House Bettin posted those comments on Facebook, which was founded 38 years after the first York Steak House opened in 1966 on Morse Road. The restaurant boomed as it began opening new locations inside shopping malls, and founders Berndt Gros and Eddie Grayson sold to General Mills in 1976. According to Bettin, there were 180 York Steak House restaurants at the chain's peak. Others say there were nearly 200 in 27 states from Maine to Texas. In 1984, the restaurant had locations in Eastland Mall, Northland Mall, on South Hamilton Road near I-70 and the still-standing West Broad Street outpost across from Westland Mall. "York Steak House is an institution on the West Side," said Jennie Keplar, a member of the city's Greater Hilltop Area Commission. "Most longtime Hilltoppers have at least one story they tell about it. It's where my mom and dad had their first date in 1973. I remember being eager to go to York when I was a kid because they gave away Strawberry-Shortcake figurines with kids' meals." The malls have all since shut down, and Northland and Westland have been torn down. Gone, too, are General Motors and Westinghouse factories whose workers used to frequent the West-Side restaurant. Keplar said York Steak House still has a "deeply personal, emotional place" in the lives of many, though. On his website, Bettin says, the last York Steak House "strives to maintain the same quality and atmosphere, where loyal guests continue to have that past nostalgic experience with a fresh, present-day appeal." Greg Hrabcak, who is handling the listing with Hanna Commercial Real Estate, said "When you're walking into it, you're walking into the past." Hrabcak said the restaurant business is for sale, not the leased land on which it sits. rvitale@dispatch.com Instagram: @dispatchdining This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: The last York Steak House in the country is for sale in Columbus a roll of dollar biills is seen on a bed of fanned out dollar bills (Getty Images) The House Housing and Community Development committee passed a bill that would allow Pennsylvanians to create tax deductible savings accounts meant for the purchase of their first home. Home ownership strengthens communities and provides stability for families, wrote Rep. Ryan Bizzarro (D-Erie) in a memo detailing why hes sponsoring the bill. A first-time homebuyers saving account can be a tool in helping people overcome financial obstacles to home ownership. The bill would allow individuals to deduct up to $5,000 a year from their state income tax and put that money in a savings account with the sole purpose of purchasing a first home. Joint filers would be able to claim up to $10,000 a year. Money in those accounts could only be used to pay for a down payment on a first home and any other costs associated with closing that deal. Similar programs have been introduced in a handful of other states, including Virginia, Colorado and Minnesota. The bill received bipartisan support. I think its a great proposal, said Rep. Thomas Kutz (R-Cumberland). I look forward to offering our support from our [Republican] caucus. The bill passed the House Housing and Community Development committee with a unanimous vote and must still pass both chambers of the statehouse and be signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro. The post Pa. House committee moves to create savings accounts for first-time homeowners appeared first on Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Neo-Nazis and other purveyors of hate speech may find it more difficult to spew their hate at future county commission meetings. The county's lawyer, Denise Coffman, was called on to determine what, if anything, could be done to prevent a reoccurrence of the racist and anti-Semitic remarks uttered by three speakers at an April 2 commission meeting. Two of the speakers ended their comments with Hitler Salutes. In response, the County Commission, at Coffmans request, amended its rules of procedure earlier this month to make it clear that the county mayor may cut off anyone who speaks about something over which the commission has no control. In addition, a speaker, who fills out a comment card, will now have to indicate what topic they will be speaking about. More: Antisemitic, extremist-group activity rose across Florida during 2021, ADL report finds Coffman explained that, for example, a speaker would be off-base if he or she began speaking about "Trump's cabinet," noting that the subject is something out of the jurisdiction of county government. The rules, though, she noted, must be consistently applied, and everyone must be treated the same way. The April 2 comments appeared to take the commissioners who were present off-guard. They came at the very end of a lengthy commission meeting. Jonathon Baldwin, the first of the three speakers, warned Commissioner Gregg Weiss that he might be offended over what he was going to say. Weiss is the only Jewish commissioner; Mack Bernard and Michael Barnett are both Black. Men wrapped their arm in Tefillin, a leather wrap, during a pro-Israel rally at The Great Lawn of West Palm Beach on October 15. Commissioner Marci Woodward noted that she was present "for that awful meeting" on April 2. "I'm all for hearing opinions about what we do no matter how painful it is," she said. "If people want to come and yell at us about decisions we make, by all means, but we need to try to prevent what happened last month from occurring again." The effort to address the issue comes at a time when the number of harassing and threatening acts against Jewish communities in Florida rose sharply in 2023, with Palm Beach County recording the highest number of incidents in the state, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The ADL said Florida had 463 documented acts of antisemitism in 2023, up from 269 reported in 2022. Three South Florida counties Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade accounted for just more than 200 of them. Palm Beach County reported 84 documented cases of antisemitism, up from 20 in 2022. 'We're not going to tolerate hate': West Palm reacts to swastika projected onto building One of the speakers on April 2 was Jon Minadeo II, 40, who was convicted of a misdemeanor for attempting to dump nearly 50 pounds of litter from the back of a U-Haul in March, 2023 onto lawns in West Palm Beach. The weighted plastic bags contained antisemitic literature. Minadeo was prosecuted under an anti-littering ordinance but since then, the state has passed a new law making acts carried out against either religious or ethnic groups for the purpose of threats or intimidation a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines. How will the Palm Beach County commission prevent future discussion of so-called 'off-topic' issues? 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. County Mayor Maria Sachs said she intends to use her ability to stop speech that does not comply with the new rules. Fellow commissioners would have the right to overrule her. Last month, the city of Delray Beach, aware of what occurred at the county commission meeting, also amended its rules to allow Mayor Tom Carney to shut down hate speech. Delray Beach Commissioner Rob Long proposed the city adopt rules similar to those adopted by the county. Freedom of speech is not an unfettered right, particularly if its threatening or inciting, Long said. Delray Beach City Attorney Lynn Gelin pledged to do further research to determine if more restrictions could be implemented without infringing on speakers' First Amendment rights. Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government and transportation. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County moves to rein in hate speech following Neo-Nazi rant Indiana University President Pamela Whitten told faculty she would not resign during two listening sessions with faculty leaders from the College of Arts and Sciences (COAS) last week. Whitten also defended IU and Indiana State Polices response to the Dunn Meadow encampments while stating there was no actual threat of violence. The listening sessions come after months of mounting opposition to Whitten's administration, manifesting most recently in a vote of no confidence by more than 800 faculty members in April and a growing number of faculty letters and votes calling for Whitten's termination following IU's response to protests in Dunn Meadow. An Indiana State Police officer stands in front of demonstrators at Dunn Meadow on Thursday, April 25, 2024. During a college-wide vote on May 1, 86% of COAS faculty voted to call on the IU board of trustees to terminate Whitten's and IU Provost Rahul Shrivastav's employment. The two listening sessions on May 14 and May 15 were closed to the public and consisted mostly of department chairs and notable faculty from the COAS, as well as COAS Dean Rick Van Kooten and IU trustees Donna Spears and Vivian Winston. The sessions were held in the Federal Room of the Indiana Memorial Union. Trustees agree to independent review after disagreements about events in Dunn Meadow A written summary of the two sessions compiled by Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Chair P. David Polly and incoming English Chair Purnima Bose, who both attended, says approximately 45 minutes of the May 14 session were devoted to discussing the protests in Dunn Meadow. Whitten was asked if she would lift the trespass bans for those who were arrested in Dunn Meadow and if she would repeal the change to IUs outdoor policy that was made the day before the encampment. The summary says Whitten ducked these and other questions about Dunn Meadow. A hand made sign sits in front of demonstrators as they gather and talk in Dunn Meadow on May 10, 2024. Elizabeth Housworth, the chair of the statistics department who attended the May 14 meeting, said Whitten declined to answer the questions because the faculty member who asked the questions admitted they were somewhat rhetorical. And she picked up on that and said, Well, those are rhetorical, so Im not going to respond, Housworth said. And he asked her to respond, and then she said, Some of those questions were based on fallacies. When asked about the violence and degree of police response to protesters at Dunn Meadow, Whitten said intelligence reports, including audiotape and pictures of pepper spray and creek rocks suggested to her that the campus community was at a risk of violence. Whitten said later in the session that there was "no actual threat of violence". Whitten said she also understood that police had attempted to de-escalate but were rebuffed by protestors. It was clear that President Whitten's understanding of the demonstrations at Dunn Meadow differs dramatically from the experiences of faculty and students who were present on the scene, the summary reads. At the end of the May 14 session, a faculty member asked the trustees in attendance to conduct an independent investigation of the events at Dunn Meadow, given the wildly divergent stories the President presented in contrast to the experiences of people on the ground, including several in the meeting, according to the report. On May 15, the Board of Trustees released a statement announcing an independent review into the campus climate, citing the issues and challenges on campus, though no specifics were mentioned. IU spokesperson Mark Bode said in a statement that, President Whitten and her team will work with members of the Board of Trustees to collaboratively select an independent entity to review campus climate. Faculty bring up laundry list of concerns, question Whittens leadership Following May 14s lengthy discussion about Dunn Meadow, COAS faculty agreed before the May 15 listening session to only discuss other issues at the second session. Indiana University President Pamela Whitten addresses the students during Indiana University's 195th undergraduate commencement proceedings at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, May 4, 2024. Topics from the May 15 session included the administrations handling of the Kinsey Institute, the cancellation of Samia Halabys exhibition, the lack of due process in the suspension of professor Abdulkader Sinno and feelings that Whitten had failed to defend faculty or IU with the passing of Senate Bill 202 in the state Legislature and Jim Banks recent letter in the Indy Star characterizing protesting faculty as pro-Hamas and loitering in the illegal encampment. Theres just a lot that people are upset about, Housworth said. Theres just so much going wrong, and theres enough people who are upset, that theyre all pulling in the same direction, which is absolutely opposite President Whitten. Cynthia Graham, a professor of gender studies and a senior scientist at the Kinsey Institute who attended the May 15 session, said Whitten frequently described the topics brought up as eye-opening, and asked faculty to be patient as she listened to their concerns. As someone who sat through that for almost two hours, I was just absolutely shocked at how little she answered, Graham said. I think the best thing that we felt was that the board of trustees members were there, and they were taking notes. Attendees at both the May 14 and 15 sessions asked Whitten to clarify questions about her vision for IU. Housworth and Graham both said Whitten repeatedly said she had big ideas, but didnt provide specifics. Whitten was asked for her vision three times during the meeting in three different ways her philosophy for decision making, her vision for what IU looks like in two to three years, what goals she wants to accomplish and each time she said she needed more time to develop major points, to come up with big ideas, and that she needs our patience, the summary reads. According to Graham and the written summary, Whitten encouraged faculty to contribute ideas to her and said, Lets pitch spaghetti at the wall together. Housworth said she and several faculty members at the meeting were confused by this comment. Its two years into your term; we shouldnt be throwing spaghetti at the wall, Housworth said. Prior to the COAS listening sessions, Whitten met with faculty from the ONeill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Whitten had planned meetings with faculty from the Kelley School of Business and School of Education on May 16, but these were postponed after she had to move up the date for an eye surgery procedure. The Kelley School listening session will be rescheduled to late summer or early fall. Graham said while shes optimistic about the independent review that was announced, she and faculty shes spoken to who attended the meeting were largely disappointed in Whittens responses throughout the two listening sessions. Nothing she said was at all reassuring, Graham said. Weve gotten to the point where listening sessions arent going to do anything, and we need some answers. Reach Brian Rosenzweig at brian@heraldt.com. Follow him on Twitter/X at @brianwritesnews. This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Pamela Whitten tells Indiana University faculty she won't resign (Reuters) -Israeli missiles struck the emergency department of a northern Gaza hospital on Tuesday, medics said, prompting panicked medical staff to rush patients on hospital beds and stretchers to the rubble-strewn street outside. Video obtained by Reuters showed medics in blue scrubs wheeling patients out of the hospital compound in Jabalia, shouting in fear and looking back as if expecting further strikes. "The first missile when it hit, it hit the entrance of the emergency department. We tried to enter, and then a second missile hit, and the third hit the building nearby," said Hussam Abu Safia, the head of Kamal Adwan Hospital. "We cannot go back inside to them. We really never imagined that one day the emergency department will be hit. The emergency department provides a service for children, the elderly and people inside the departments of the hospital." The Israeli military (IDF) said it had seen reports of the incident, which it said was under review. "The IDF is looking into the source of the hit and is reviewing the possibility that it was IDF's stray fire that was not directed at the hospital," it said in a written reply to a question on the incident. One man was filmed cradling what looked to be a newborn baby wrapped in blue cloth. An elderly man was bumped on a wheeled stretcher along shattered streets towards an ambulance. Others from the hospital, most of them women and some in scrubs or white coats, ran away in fear. "As you can see, (this is) the evacuation of the wounded and the team from inside the medical complex. The medical team has left under bombardment, fire and tanks from the Kamal Adwan medical complex," said Palestinian emergency worker Fares Afana. Reuters could not independently verify the accounts of the events. Israel said it has returned to Jabalia, where it had claimed to have dismantled Hamas military units months ago, to prevent the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza from regrouping. A Gaza health ministry spokesperson told Reuters patients were being evacuated to the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City and to other medical points set up in the northern part of the enclave. Gaza's healthcare system has essentially collapsed since Israel began its military offensive there after the Oct. 7 cross-border attacks by Palestinian Hamas militants on Israelis. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday that Al-Awda Hospital, also in northern Gaza, had been under siege since Sunday, with 148 hospital staff and 22 patients and the people accompanying them trapped inside. Fighting near Kamal Adwan Hospital had jeopardised its ability to care for patients, he told reporters in Geneva. "These are the only two functional hospitals remaining in northern Gaza," Tedros said. "Ensuring their ability to deliver health services is imperative." The Israeli military said it acted in accordance with international law and the special protections conferred on hospitals and made every effort to prevent harm to civilians. (Reporting by Osama Abu Rabee in Gaza; Additional reporting by Saleh Salem, Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber and Emma Farge; Writing by Ros Russell; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Sandra Maler) Parole delayed for former LA police detective convicted of killing her ex-boyfriend's wife in 1986 FILE - In this July 6, 2009 file photo, former Los Angeles detective Stephanie Lazarus appears in court in Los Angeles. A chance for parole has been delayed for Lazarus a former Los Angeles police detective serving a sentence of 27 years to life in the cold case slaying of her ex-boyfriend's new wife in 1986. Lazarus was convicted in 2012 of killing Sherri Rasmussen, a nurse who was bludgeoned and shot to death in the condo she shared with her husband of three months, John Ruetten. (AP Photo/Al Seib, Pool, File) LOS ANGELES (AP) A chance for parole was delayed this week for a former Los Angeles police detective serving a sentence of 27 years to life in the cold-case slaying of her ex-boyfriend's wife in 1986. Stephanie Lazarus was convicted in 2012 of killing Sherri Rasmussen, a 29-year-old nurse who was bludgeoned and shot to death in the condo she shared with her husband of three months, John Ruetten. A select committee of the state Board of Parole Hearings determined in November that Lazarus was eligible for parole. The full board took up her case on Monday and later voted to order a rescission hearing, referring the case to a lower panel to consider whether to rescind the earlier recommendation. Rasmussens sisters and widower gave emotional testimony during Monday's hearing about their pain and described Lazarus as a conniving criminal who used her police training to cover up the killing. Ruetten told the board he doesn't believe that Lazarus whom he referred to only as the inmate feels remorse. He said she engaged in skillful deception and only confessed to the crime during a hearing last year in order to gain parole. I dont think she comprehends the breadth and depth of the suffering she has caused, a tearful Ruetten said. Among those speaking on behalf of Lazarus was Erin Runions, a college professor who co-facilitates a writing workshop for incarcerated people inside the California Institution for Women. She spoke to Lazarus' spiritual growth and commitment to earning advanced degrees while behind bars so that she'll be ready to find a job and contribute to the community if she's released. Ive seen a person who is remorseful, who is caring, and who is very ready to reenter society," Runions said during the hearing. The governors office had asked the board in April to review the plan to parole Lazarus. John Taylor, an attorney for Rasmussen's family, said he was relieved by Monday's decision. We look forward to participating in the rescission hearing and hope that the parole grant is rescinded, Taylor said Tuesday. He said he expected the hearing to be scheduled within about four months. Lazarus did not appear before the board Monday. At her trial 12 years ago, prosecutors focused on the romantic relationship between Lazarus and Ruetten after they graduated from college. They claimed Lazarus was consumed with jealousy when Ruetten decided to marry Rasmussen. The case hinged on DNA from a bite mark prosecutors say Lazarus left on Rasmussens arm. Lazarus was not a suspect in 1986 because detectives then believed two robbers who had attacked another woman in the area were to blame for Rasmussens death. The case file, however, did mention Lazarus because of her relationship with Ruetten. No suspects were found and the case went cold until May 2009, when undercover officers followed Lazarus and obtained a sample of her saliva to compare with DNA left at the original crime scene, police said. Prosecutors suggested Lazarus knew to avoid leaving other evidence, such as fingerprints. The idea that saliva from a bite mark could be her undoing was inconceivable in 1986 when DNA wasnt used as a forensic tool. Lazarus rose in the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department, becoming a detective in charge of art forgeries and thefts. Misha Collins, star of the popular TV series Supernatural and ambassador of the UNITED24 presidential initiative, has arrived in Ukraine. He marked his arrival with a photo taken against the backdrop of broken military equipment. ADVERTISIMENT The reason for the trip was the desire to "explore the region" and discuss the topic of demining. In particular, in a video posted on UNITED24's Instagram, he confessed his love for Ukraine. "Good morning, Ukraine. The sun has just risen and I have arrived here in Kyiv. And I will be here to explore the region and talk about demining. Also, I want to say that I love you, Ukraine, and thank you so much for having me back. It's such an honor to be back here," said the actor of the TV series "All Women Are Witches". ADVERTISIMENT In particular, Collins posted on Instagram a photo taken against the backdrop of broken Russian equipment, which was exhibited in May 2022 in Kyiv's Mykhailivska Square. "I'm back in Kyiv, Ukraine," the actor wrote. In the comments, Ukrainians supported him and thanked him for his confident stance: "Thank you, Misha, for supporting Ukraine." "The only one who has not changed his convictions and supports Ukraine from the beginning to the present day." "Our Cossack!" "Thank you for doing what you do for Ukraine, take care of yourself, Misha." "Give a big hug to all Ukrainians, and please take care of yourself, Misha." ADVERTISIMENT Later, several more photos from Ukraine appeared on his page. In them, the actor poses near the central Kyiv railway station. "Arrived this morning at the Kyiv train station with my assistant," he captioned one of the photos. Misha Collins has been supporting Ukraine since the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion and has already visited the homeland of his ancestors who lived in the Kyiv region several times. He himself even studied Ukrainian politics and history in college, and by February 24, 2024, he had visited his "native" regions several times. Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! ADVERTISIMENT Missouri taxpayers will not cover the costs of damages that may result from defamation lawsuits filed against three state senators who incorrectly identified a Kansas man as the shooter at the Chiefs Super Bowl parade, Gov. Mike Parson said Monday. In a letter to the commissioner of the Office of Administration, the state agency that certifies payments from Missouris legal expense fund, Parson wrote that no payments related to the lawsuits should be certified without my approval or a court order. I cannot justify money spent in this way, Parson wrote. Missouri Governor Mike Parson speaks at a press conference establishing a Counter Human Trafficking Taskforce on Thursday, April 25, 2024. A spokesman for the Office of Administration said the agency will comply with the governors directive and Missouri law. Last month, Denton Loudermill filed a federal lawsuit against GOP state Sens. Rick Brattin, Denny Hoskins and Nick Schroer over posts they made on social media accusing him of being an undocumented immigrant and the shooter at the Kansas City Chiefs victory parade. Loudermill was born in Kansas and was not involved in the shooting. The three senators are being represented by Attorney General Andrew Bailey, whose office argues they were acting in their official capacity when they made their posts on social media. Parson, who appointed Bailey attorney general in 2022, decried Baileys decision to use taxpayer resources to defend the senators, telling reporters last week that you dont get a free pass just because youre a politician. In his Monday letter, Parson hammered that point home, writing that the senators falsely accused an American citizen of a heinous act and related it to his immigration status. More: Politician or the people's lawyer? How the role of Missouri Attorney General has evolved Missourians, Parson wrote, should not be held liable for legal expenses on judgments due to state senators falsely attacking a private citizen on social media. Madeline Sieren, Baileys spokesperson, said in an email to The Independent: Attorney General Bailey is following the law as written. Ultimately, the court will decide this issue. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey speaks at a press conference establishing a Counter Human Trafficking Taskforce on Thursday, April 25, 2024. Parsons refusal to pay any potential damages awarded to Loudermill would not be the first time the Office of Administration has blocked payment of a controversial legal expense. In 2018, shortly after then-Gov. Eric Greitens resigned from office, the agency refused to pay the $180,000 in fees to private attorneys who represented him during impeachment proceedings. The state argued the primary beneficiary of the lawyers work was Greitens individually and that the attorneys werent needed for the governors office itself. The latest legal saga began when an anonymous account on Twitter accused Loudermill of being the shooter at the Chiefs parade and in the country illegally. That post, with a seated photo of Loudermill in handcuffs, incorrectly identified him with a name associated with misinformation posted after other shootings, including an October mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, that left 18 dead. In reality, Loudermill was only detained briefly by police when violence broke out during the parade because he was too slow to leave the area. Soon after that initial post, the Missouri Freedom Caucus, Hoskins, Brattin and Schroer posted their own versions on Twitter. These are 3 people arrested at the paradeat least one of those arrested is an illegal immigrant. CLOSE OUR BORDERS! the Missouri Freedom Caucus posted. The post has since been deleted. The Missouri Freedom Caucus also sought to retract its mistake, linking to a KMBC post about Loudermills effort to clear his name. Denton is an Olathe native, a father of three & a proud @Chiefs fan, the post states. Hes not a mass shooter. Images of him being detained for being intoxicated & not moving away from the crime scene at the Chiefs rally have spread online. He just wants to clear his name. More: Republicans in Missouri Senate spend next-to-last day of session taking jabs at each other Hoskins version shared a screenshot of the initial anonymous post and blamed President Joe Biden and political leaders of Kansas City for making the shooting possible. Fact President Bidens open border policies & cities who promote themselves as Sanctuary Cities like #Kansas City invite illegal violent immigrants into the U.S., Hoskins posted. That post has been deleted, but in a Feb. 14 post without a photo, Hoskins wrote that information Ive seen states at least one of the alleged shooters is an illegal immigrant and all 3 arrested are repeat violent offenders. Hoskins hedged it with IF THIS IS ACCURATE and repetition of conservative rhetoric to stop immigration and restrain cities that help immigrants, blaming crime on catch and release policies of liberal cities. Brattins first post linking Loudermill to the shooting, since deleted, demanded #POTUS CLOSE THE BORDER and incorporated the deleted anonymous post that kicked everything off. Schroer was the least certain post about the immigration and arrest status of Loudermill among the three now being sued. Schroers post included a link to one from Burchett stating, over Loudermills photo, that One of the Kansas City Chiefs victory parade shooters has been identified as an illegal Alien. Can we get any confirmation or denial of this from local officials or law enforcement? Schroer wrote. Ive been sent videos or stills showing at least 6 different people arrested from yesterday but officially told only 3 still in custody. The people deserve answers. This story was first published at www.missouriindependent.com. This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Parson doesn't want to fund legal bills for lawmakers' defamation suit Pasadena man set off more than 150 explosions, police say A Pasadena man has been arrested in connection with over 150 unidentified explosions in the city over the past two years, police said. Art Leon Berian, 62, is accused of setting off the explosions, including 14 in the past two weeks alone near Allen Avenue and Washington Boulevard, the Pasadena Police Department said in a news release. Berian was identified as the suspect after investigators working on this case on May 16 stumbled upon another explosion. While obtaining video of a previous incident, detectives heard a loud explosion and observed a white cloud in front of them, the release said. While searching the area, detectives spotted Berians 2013 BMW, one of two vehicles registered to the same owner that had been spotted at previous incidents, police said. Berian was detained, and evidence was collected from his car related to that explosion, police said. He has been charged with three felony counts of explosions with intent to injure or intimidate, though as police noted, miraculously, there have been no reported injuries associated with these explosions. He was arrested and booked into Pasadena City Jail, where he was held on $1.5 million bail, police said. Jail records, however, say Berian is being held at Mens Central Jail in lieu of $2.02 million bail. Officials with the Pasadena Police Department later confirmed to KTLA that the 62-year-old is being held without bail and his arraignment was rescheduled for May 30. 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 KTLA. A passenger died, several were left in critical condition, and dozens were hurt after severe turbulence on a flight from London to Singapore A 73-year-old flying from London to Singapore has died after severe turbulence on board. The incident took place on Singapore Airlines flight SQ321, which left the UK Monday night. As many as 71 people were sent to hospital in Bangkok, where the flight was diverted. A Singapore Airlines passenger has died after a flight encountered severe turbulence, the carrier announced Tuesday. Flight SQ321 from London Heathrow to Singapore took off on Monday night local time, but the Boeing 777 diverted to Bangkok 11 hours into the journey, per Flightradar24. The deceased passenger was a 73-year-old British man with a heart condition, the general manager of Airports of Thailand, Kittipong Kittikachorn, said in a press conference. The man was later named as Geoff Kitchen, a theatre director from Gloucestershire in the southwest of England. The theatre group he worked with shared a tribute on its website, calling him "a gentleman with the utmost honesty and integrity." It is with a heavy heart that we learn of the devastating news of the passing of our esteemed colleague and friend Geoff Kitchen in the recent Singapore Air Incident. Rest In Peace Geoff. pic.twitter.com/HoCQUM53Kt Thornbury Musical Theatre Group (@ThornburyMTG) May 21, 2024 At the press conference, Kittikachorn, the airport manager, said that seven people were in a critical condition at the hospital. Sky News reported that 71 people were sent to Bangkok's Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital. 26 of them had minor injuries, while six were in a critical incident, it added. Two Americans are among the injured, per Sky News. The airline said 211 passengers and 18 crew were on board. It's the second fatal incident in the airline's 77-year history, after a plane attempted to take off on the wrong runway in 2000. Singapore Airlines is often regarded as one of the world's best carriers one of just 10 to be ranked five stars by Skytrax. "Suddenly the aircraft starts tilting up and there was shaking, so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling," Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student on board the flight told Reuters. "Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it, they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it," he added. Photos from the aftermath of the incident show damaged parts of the plane hanging from the ceiling, food strewn about the galley, and a bloodied passenger. The cabin of Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 was in chaos after the severe turbulence on the flight, which killed one person and injured dozens. Reuters/Stringer "Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased," the airline said in the statement. "Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft." Boeing said it is in contact with Singapore Airlines and "stand ready to support them." "We extend our deepest condolences to the family who lost a loved one, and our thoughts are with the passengers and crew," the planemaker added. Severe turbulence can often result in injuries but deaths are extremely rare. Last month, an Air New Zealand passenger said he broke his leg due to turbulence and had to endure the rest of the six-and-a-half hour flight in pain. And in December, 14 people received medical attention after severe turbulence on an Emirates Airbus A380. Were you on board Flight SQ321? Reach out to this reporter at psyme@businessinsider.com. Read the original article on Business Insider Passenger in vehicle that struck and killed ISP trooper pleads to resisting charge A 19-year-old man accused of riding in a stolen, fleeing vehicle that struck and killed an Indiana State Police trooper last summer pleaded guilty to resisting law enforcement on Monday. An auto theft charge filed against Demareon Curry will be dismissed as part of an agreement with Hendricks County prosecutors. The collision that killed Trooper Aaron N. Smith occurred in June 2023 on Ronald Reagan Parkway just outside of Indianapolis. Currys sentence will be decided by a Hendricks County judge at a hearing on June 17, according to the plea agreement. Indiana State Trooper Aaron N. Smith was killed June 28, 2023 while trying to stop a fleeing vehicle. Eddie Pernell Jones, 19, is the accused driver of the 2016 Chevrolet Traverse that struck the trooper. He is charged with murder, resisting law enforcement and auto theft in connection with Smiths death. A jury trial for Jones is set to begin in October, court records show. Previous coverage: Car that fatally struck Indiana trooper stolen days earlier, driver held without bond Six days before the deadly collision, Jones, Curry and a 15-year-old girl were at Jones mothers home in Sikeston, Mo., about 144 miles south of St. Louis. Jones mother fell asleep and the trio stole her Traverse, according to a probable cause affidavit for Jones arrest. Its unclear why they traveled to Indianapolis, but Jones told police they arrived on June 26 and slept in the car in a hotel parking lot. More: Trooper slain trying to stop fleeing car saved 2 lives in 2022, served in National Guard On June 28, 2023, the three were parked in the Traverse at a gas station/McDonalds on Kentucky Avenue near South High School Road on the southwest side of Indianapolis. Curry alerted the group to the police being behind them. Dash camera footage showed an Indiana State Police trooper pulling behind the Chevy Traverse. The trooper had received a notification from a nearby license-plate-reading camera that the car was stolen, according to the affidavit. The trooper activated his emergency lights and began giving verbal commands for the occupants of the car to stick their hands out the windows. As the trooper waited for backup, Jones, Curry and the girl initially complied, the dash camera footage showed. Investigators work the scene Thursday, June 29, 2023, where Indiana State Trooper Aaron N. Smith was struck by a fleeing vehicle and killed on Wednesday night in Hendricks County. Video showed the Traverse backing into one of the squad cars and then hitting another vehicle in the McDonalds parking lot before fleeing. Thats when two ISP troopers began pursuing in their squad cars. Jones later told police he was trying to get to the interstate because Curry believed troopers would stop the pursuit at that point, according to the affidavit. Jones told police his glasses slipped off so he couldnt see well while trying to escape police. He also said he saw Smith from about 100 yards away and he applied the brakes and lost control of the car before the collision, according to the affidavit. Video from a traffic camera reviewed by IndyStar showed the Chevrolet turning toward Smith as he was throwing stop sticks onto the road in front of the Traverse. More: Two Indiana troopers were killed by fleeing vehicles. Could their deaths prompt change? The probable cause affidavits in the case note Jones was driving almost two full travel lanes away from Smith shortly before the crash. Smith and the stolen vehicle landed in an embankment off the side of the road. Troopers drew their weapons and ordered the occupants of the Traverse to exit the car. Curry and the girl exited, while Jones was entrapped in the car. All three were taken to a hospital for evaluation. Smith was rushed to Eskenazi Hospital, where he died, according to state police. Investigators later found out the 15-year-old girl is a ward of the state of Missouri who had been reported missing. Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Passenger in crash that killed Trooper Aaron Smith agrees to plea Passengers on Singapore Airlines Flight Describe Being 'Launched' into Ceiling When Turbulence Hit: 'Very Scary' Singapore Airlines Flight SQ321 was about 10 hours into its journey from London to Singapore when the incident occurred, resulting in the death of one passenger REUTERS/Stringer Interior of Singapore Airline flight SQ321 Passengers on the Singapore Airlines flight that encountered sudden extreme turbulence are recounting the terrifying moment the plane fell about 6,000 feet, sending those without seatbelts into the air, and resulting in the death of one person. It was a very scary experience, Andrew Davies, a passenger on board Flight SQ321, tells PEOPLE. I fly a lot and never had an experience even close to that. Im glad to be on the ground. Davies and 210 other passengers, plus 18 crew members, were onboard the Boeing 777-300ER plane when it unexpectedly hit rough air at an altitude of 37,000 feet over Myanmar Tuesday morning, the BBC reported. The plane made an emergency landing in Bangkok at 9:45 a.m. local time, Singapore Airlines said in a statement. Related: 36 People Injured After 'Severe Turbulence' on Hawaiian Airlines Flight: 'There Was No Warning' As of 1950hrs Singapore time on 21 May 2024, 18 individuals had been hospitalized, the airlines said. Another 12 were being treated in hospitals. The remaining passengers and crew were being examined and given treatment, where necessary, at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok. Davies tells PEOPLE that crew members were among the injured. The Singapore Airlines staff were great, he says, but were badly injured too. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. REUTERS/Stringer Interior of Singapore Airline flight SQ321 Other passengers on the plane described a dramatic drop that had passengers screaming. "I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop, so everyone seated and not wearing a seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling," Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student, told Reuters. Azmir added, "Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it, they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it. Pictures of the cabin show dented overhead bins, scattered personal items, and food and beverages on the floor. Related: Over 35 People Injured After Air Canada Flight Hits Severe Turbulence on Its Way to Australia Davies said in a post on X that the incident occurred during breakfast service. Peoples belongings scattered, coffee and water splattered the ceiling. Surreal, he wrote. So many injured people. head lacerations, bleeding ears. A lady was screaming in pain with a bad back. I couldnt help her - just got her water. Passengers also said they tried desperately to help a 73-year-old British man, who died from what authorities believe to be a heart attack, according to the BBC. Shouted for a defibrillator, Davies wrote. Passengers with medical training helping as much as they could. CPR on the poor gentleman that passed. Another passenger laid flat in aisle further behind me. Not sure what happened with them. Wish I could have helped more. Related: Woman, 41, Who Died on Plane from Dominican Republic Seemed Healthy Before Flight, Says Friend Allison Barker told the BBC that she received a message from her son that he was on a "crazy flight" and that the plane was making an emergency landing. Later, after speaking with her son, she heard his firsthand account of the flight. "One minute he was just sitting down wearing a seatbelt, the next minute, he must have blacked out because he found himself on the floor with other people, she told the BBC. There was water everywhere, blood everywhere, people's belongings just strewn all over the plane." "He's in a lot of pain, I think he's got some broken teeth, injuries to his mouth," she added. "But I don't think there's anything more serious than that." Related: 14-Year-Old Boy Died After Mid-Flight Medical Emergency. Mom Alleges Airline Destroyed or 'Lost' Evidence At a press conference on Tuesday evening, Kittipong Kittikachorn, general manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, said medical authorities would confirm the mans cause of death. Kittikachorn added that seven passengers were severely injured, and 23 passengers and nine crew members had moderate injuries. Another 16 people were transported to the hospital with less serious injuries, and 14 others were treated at the airport, he said. A representative with Suvarnabhumi Airport did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for additional comment. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Patronis says his office has opened more than 900 investigations into ACA fraud Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis. March 22, 2023. Credit: Department of Financial Services Quality Journalism for Critical Times Responding to complaints from Floridians who have either had their health care coverage added to the Affordable Care Act or switched without their consent, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis has called upon Congress to crack down on allegedly fraudulent health insurance agents and brokers. The lack of security measures for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace is impacting Floridians, Patronis said in a statement on Tuesday, a day after he sent a letter to Vermont independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Kentucky GOP Congressman Brett Guthrie, committee chairs overseeing the U.S. Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS). Policyholders are getting plans they didnt want, or ask for, Patronis added. Thanks to the weak security measures of the Marketplace, Floridians are being signed up for health policies in different states, then getting penalized by the IRS because they made too much to qualify for plans. This fraud can only occur through a Marketplace thats got more holes in it than a cheap slice of Swiss cheese. Unauthorized enrollment or plan-switching by rogue insurance agents is emerging as a serious problem for individuals signed up with the ACA, KFF Health News reported last month. Licensed agents can access a policyholders coverage through the federal exchange simply by entering a persons name, date of birth, and state. CMS received approximately 40,000 complaints of unauthorized plan switches during the first three months of 2024, the agency said in a news release earlier this month, with more than 97% of those complaints being resolved. And the agency received approximately 50,000 complaints of unauthorized enrollments in the first three months of 2024. Approximately 44,000 of these cases, or 88%, have been resolved, officials say. My agency is receiving an increase in consumer complaints related to Affordable Care Act (ACA) fraud, Patronis wrote to Sanders and Guthrie. My office has opened over 900 investigations into unauthorized registration of consumers into ACA plans and instances where Florida consumers are switched from one ACA plan to another without their authorization, all so a bad actor can collect a commission. Consumers should never be surprised by their health coverage. While most businesses that offer online registration require two-factor authentication (2FA) to ensure consumers know what they are being signed up for, Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) does not. How is signing up for the Uber app a more secure process than obtaining health care through the federal government? Patronis wants CMS to immediately begin requiring two-factor authentications for all changes to ACA accounts. A simple text or email message could save thousands of consumers from the IRS coverage denials, he writes. This is to say nothing of the millions of dollars in tax credits the federal government is currently spending on phony ACA enrollments. Florida leads the entire nation in signups to the Affordable Care Act marketplace, with more than 4.2 million residents signed up for the program as of this January, according to CMS. The post Patronis says his office has opened more than 900 investigations into ACA fraud appeared first on Florida Phoenix. Paused for 2 years, will wiping clean some criminal records resume in North Carolina? In 2021 North Carolina legislators implemented a law intended to automatically erase arrest records in criminal cases where people were found not guilty or the charges were dismissed. But after discovering unintended consequences in its rollout, lawmakers twice hit pause on the promised slate cleaning. Now conservative groups and others want it up and running again, arguing it will help people tarred by arrest records to better find work and places to live. In March 2023, the state Senate unanimously passed fixes in a new bill based on recommendations by a group of 16 criminal justice leaders, including representatives from the state Conference of District Attorneys, the Second Chance Alliance and the State Bureau of Investigation. But the bill stalled. Recently it was added to a state House committee calendar and is expected to be heard there on Wednesday. Why were expunctions put on hold? Cases disappeared overnight When the law went into effect, court records started disappearing so fast it caused layers of problems, according to interviews with criminal justice officials. Numerous issues immediately surfaced that did not promote community safety or assist the individual who should have benefited from the expungement, wrote Kimberly Spahos, executive director for the NC Conference of District Attorneys. People lingered in jail after the system destroyed paperwork that sheriffs needed to release people after their charges were dismissed, according to North Carolina Sheriffs Association leader Eddie Caldwell. There were people who were still in jail whose cases had been disposed of, but nobody had told the jail, Caldwell said. Public defenders couldnt calculate their hours for payment, said District Attorney Lorrin Freeman. And acquitted defendants couldnt prove dismissed charges to immigration officials, potential employers or housing managers, Spahos wrote. Legislators paused the process twice, with current legislation that is set to expire on July 1. Proposed new law If the new legislation moves forward the automatic expunctions will resume on Dec. 1 but with recommended changes. The legislation shifts the process from destroying records to sealing them, granting access to a select few. If this or other legislation doesnt move forward by July 1, the old system will resume destroying the records. The North Carolina Administrative Office of Courts is opposed to another pause and requires operational certainly on the processing of automatic expunctions, spokesperson Graham Wilson wrote in an email. As it stands, there is already a backlog of about one million cases, he wrote. The Office of the Courts recommends action as soon as possible because high-volume court processes benefit from advanced preparations for technology and administrative requirements, Wilson wrote. History of NC Second Chance Act In 2020, a law known as Second Chance Act passed amid a bipartisan effort in North Carolina responding to a call for criminal justice reform across the United States after George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officers. The change included broadening and expediting chances to erase charges and convictions from peoples records. It called for officials to immediately expunge records related to criminal cases that were dismissed or a person was found not guilty. Prosecutors had expressed concern about the records being destroyed amid discussion about sealing versus destroying the records, Freeman said, but the law didnt address their concerns. People were excited about the prospect of enacting this as a forward thinking policy for the state, Freeman said. Unfortunately, [they] were not really thinking through or were not aware of all the collateral issues that might arrive. When the change went into effect, North Carolina went from processing merely 16,390 expunctions in the 2020-21 to 421,925, the next year according to the Office of the Courts. When the expunctions were first introduced, charges were dismissed during the day, through a judges ruling or a form signed by a prosecutor, and records got destroyed at night, Freeman said. But people still needed access to those records for a variety of reasons, Freeman said. eCourts may help At this point, the state court system has more capacity to deal with the records needs, officials say. Previous problems arose from the court systems longtime records system, which depended on physical files and paper documents for storage, according to an administrative office of courts May 3 memorandum by Deputy Director Joseph Kryzer. The new eCourts system, a fully digital court records platform being rolled out across the state, has drawn high-profile critics including the states district attorneys. But eCourts will allow help solve the previous problem with expunctions by allowing court officials to seal records, making them visible to approved officials such as prosecutors, state courts officials say. Freeman supports legislation that would seal records and not destroy them, she said. People need charges to be expunged so they move on with their lives, Freeman said, but criminal justice officials need access to the records as they investigate, prosecute and resolve cases. House Rep. Mujtaba Mohammed, a Charlotte Democrat and attorney, said he hopes the bill to restart expunctions moves forward because unless additional legislation is passed, the original law that caused all the problems would go back into effect on July 1. The proposed legislation would increase individuals chances of getting housing, employment and higher pay, Mohammed and others said. I mean, a job is the most effective form of crime prevention, he said. Conservatives for Criminal Justice Reform, a North Carolina-based effort that started in 2016 by Tarrah Callahan and others interested in establishing a conservative-led criminal justice reform group, is advocating that the legislation to resume expunctions move forward. The economy and public safety are top of mind for voters, said Callahan, the groups executive director. When people have access to good paying jobs and the ability to support themselves, theyre a heck of a lot less likely to get trapped back into the system, Callahan said. Virginia Bridges covers criminal justice in the Triangle and across North Carolina for The News & Observer. Her work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The N&O maintains full editorial control of its journalism. Lancaster officials passed an ordinance in February barring the city from coordinating with federal immigration authorities, a measure meant to make the city more welcoming to its large immigrant population. Rachel Wisniewski For HuffPost LANCASTER, Pa. Jaime Arroyo was surprised. The 35-year-old councilman from this small city less than two hours outside Philly hadnt expected this kind of response to a municipal ordinance, of all things. But the backlash to the Lancaster City Councils Trust Act, or welcoming city ordinance, came on quickly and intensely. The statute, passed in late February, codified Lancasters previously informal policy for cooperating with federal immigration authorities: essentially that it wont, unless compelled to under state or federal law, which generally happens in cases of active warrants or prosecution. Practically, it means that city officials, including cops, cant ask about a persons immigration status or hand over information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement that might lead to a deportation. Arroyo, a Democrat, viewed the Trust Act as just another functional measure, like any other thing the city council might work on. At the end of the day, when youre working in the city, youre making sure the water turns on. Human services, things like that. So I got caught off guard by some of the responses, Arroyo told me over Zoom last month, from a sunny office above the downtowns multicultural farmers market, the kind of place where for lunch you can enjoy both an empanada and an open-face Scandinavian sandwich. The market itself underscores the diversity of Lancaster, which proudly touts itself as the nations refugee capital. Besides being a councilman, Arroyo is the CEO of a local nonprofit that helps entrepreneurs who are women and people of color. His family, like lots of others, emigrated from Puerto Rico to Pennsylvanias Dutch Country in the 1960s to work in farming, so he understands what its like to end up here in search of work and a better life. And now, given his work spearheading the Trust Act, he gets how political that can be, too. Youre seeing this trend across the nation where local officials start to posture themselves with this national rhetoric, he said. Theres just been a lot of misinformation on that side that they were using intentionally, I think, because its an election year. Lancasters on-the-books policy for refusing cooperation with ICE and the blowback from GOP officials, including the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Senate, reveals, on a local scale, just how central immigration has become to the nations politics even in a landlocked mid-Atlantic state thats about as far as you can get in the country from the Mexico border. Voters here in Pennsylvania, the largest of the 2024 presidential swing states, care more than you might expect about immigration and border security a recent poll of voters over 50, the nations most reliable voting bloc, had it second only to personal economic issues like jobs and social security and this years election may very well hinge on whether President Joe Biden, who won Pennsylvania four years ago, can assuage voters who seem to prefer former President Donald Trumps hardline approach to immigration. Trump has vowed a likely unenforceable mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants using, he hopes, local law enforcement forces like the Lancaster Police Department. Biden, meanwhile, has proposed asylum changes that would speed up the process by more quickly identifying and deporting applicants who do not qualify. Earlier this year, the White House also backed a bipartisan border security deal that would have sharply cut down on border crossings but Trump, eager to deny Biden a victory, urged GOP lawmakers to oppose it. Welcoming City Versus Sanctuary City The proponents of Lancasters Trust Act, who happen to mostly be Democrats, say its designed to make undocumented residents and foreign-born residents in general feel more comfortable reporting crimes or accessing city services. The laws loudest detractors, who happen to mostly be Republicans, say it will turn Lancaster into a sanctuary city where illegal immigration goes unchecked, creating lawlessness and straining city services in a challenging economy. But interviews this month with nearly two dozen voters in Lancaster, both in the blue dot of a city and the red surrounding county, revealed more nuanced views, with many worried about mass immigration while acknowledging how it has benefited the area economically. In Lititz, a small town out in the country, Alicia Miller, an 85-year-old swing voter who leans right and hasnt decided yet whether shes picking Trump or Biden this year, says immigrants are vital to the area she would know, since her family runs a seven-acre poultry farm she says relies on migrant workers. Im for controlled immigration, Miller said. Im not for immigration to the point its uncontrolled. Friends Linda Dapcic (left), 71, and Alicia Miller, 85, sit together in Lititz, Pennsylvania. Miller said her family runs a poultry farm that employs migrants, but even so she doesn't want to see immigration get out of control. Rachel Wisniewski For HuffPost Millers more liberal friend even agreed. Thats a tough thing to do, because we do need workers, said Linda Dapcic, an elected official from Berks, the next county over. The women were sitting on a bench together in Lititzs charming downtown, where tourists flock for expensive chocolate and Amish-crafted wood furniture. (Former Vice President Mike Pence even campaigned here back in 2020 at a dairy farm.) The reality is 20, 30 years from now, America is no longer going to be white Americans, said Dapcic, describing a reality she seemed happy to embrace. But the response to the ordinance from beyond the city has been almost universally negative. A month after the Lancaster City Council passed the Trust Act, the Lancaster County Commission passed a resolution along party lines declaring Lancaster a non-sanctuary county and urging the city to repeal its ordinance, which the city has made clear it has no intention of doing. Joshua Parsons, one of the GOP commissioners who backed the resolution, acknowledged the county had long disapproved of the citys policy toward ICE. But the new ordinance is viewed as a step too far. There is a difference between having an informal policy, which we may not like, and taking a formal vote to authorize your police department to ignore the law, Parsons said following the March 20 vote. Lancaster Mayor Danene Sorace called this characterization of the Trust Act misguided and inaccurate. The county commissioners did not respond to multiple individual requests for interviews about the resolution and the immigration climate across the county. Everything Has Grown, Everything Is Going Up By April, the Trust Act had garnered the attention of GOP lawmakers in the Capitol. Pennsylvania Senate Republicans passed party-line legislation that would require local prosecutors to notify ICE if theyve arrested and charged someone with a crime who is undocumented, a messaging bill aimed at Lancaster. The bill died, as expected, in the House, which Pennsylvania Democrats managed to flip in 2022. State Rep. David Zimmerman, a Republican who represents parts of Lancaster County and has been outspoken against the city, said he found its actions on the Trust Act very troubling and timed politically to this years election. Im all about legal immigration. But what were doing here is creating a sanctuary city, or as theyre calling it, a welcoming city which is the same idea, really, to protect and kind of have it be almost a hideout for illegals, Zimmerman told me over the phone. The rest of us are asked to follow the law, and for a city to adopt something like that to encourage illegals to have a hideout is just unbelievable to me, really. Zimmerman cited the countys growth as a likely reason for the widening divide between the city and county on all sorts of political issues. Lancaster County added more than 35,000 people in the last census, although its impossible to know how many are undocumented. Most of the countys diversity is concentrated in the city: Roughly 40% of the population identifies as Hispanic or Latino, and nearly 13% of residents are foreign born. Mostly beyond the city limits, the county is home to an estimated 90,000 Pennsylvania Dutch who flocked here in the 18th century to escape persecution, and established a religiously-rooted legacy of resettling refugees and asylum seekers. Lou Ziegler, 70, said immigrants are vital to the local economy. "Everyone knows without immigrants you won't have jobs," he said. Rachel Wisniewski For HuffPost The religious influence in the county is very strong and the secular influence in the city is very strong, said Lou Ziegler, a 70-year-old personal-care assistant who was watching MSNBCs coverage of Trumps hush money trial on a tablet outside a downtown Lancaster coffee shop last week. Ziegler said even with eager foreign-born workers coming here in droves, its hard to find people to work certain jobs. Everyone knows without immigrants you wont have jobs, he said. Restaurants cant get a full staff. My job cant get a full staff. Theres also tension over what locals see as a tug-of-war between the desire for the city to be more accommodating to immigrants and a new wave of development and pricey housing designed to attract higher earners, like the young workers who walk around downtown with office badges clipped to their clothes. Jhoan Reynoso, 35, said people are generally more concerned about rising housing costs than ICE. Rachel Wisniewski For HuffPost Its a trend that makes the city less welcoming than even the threat of immigration enforcement, said Jhoan Reynoso, a 35-year-old barber whose family emigrated here from the Dominican Republic. Everything has grown, everything is going up, Reynoso said from the back of a quiet barbershop. I feel like Lancaster city is trying to push minorities out. Thats why the rent is going up. Thats why theyre making so many investments. A Tough Climate Arroyo, who has lived in Lancaster most of his life returning after college to start a family has experienced subtle moments that underscore the political changes taking root in his longtime home, like the startling moment last year when he passed a woman in a Confederate flag T-shirt on a running trail not far outside the city, something he never expected to encounter here. Its kind of wild that [it was] 20 minutes outside my home, where I have no fear at all, he said. Arroyo was initially hopeful that at least a few townships in the county would consider adopting their own versions of the Trust Act. Instead, theyve followed the county commissions lead. Earlier this month, officials in East Cocalico Township unanimously adopted a resolution declaring immigration a serious issue that strains resources, and directed local law enforcement to comply with any directives from ICE. A welcoming message is posted in the window of a business in Lancaster. Rachel Wisniewski For HuffPost It seems like it swung the other way, Arroyo said, laughing. But Im talking to more elected officials maybe if its not a welcoming ordinance, its more education and awareness around what these policies mean. Arroyo does not seem to relish all the attention on the city. And neither do some of the advocacy groups that serve the population here. CASA in Action, the group that pitched the Trust Act to Lancaster officials last year, did not respond to numerous requests for interviews. The Lancaster mayors office, over the course of the past month, twice cited a tight schedule that prevented her from speaking with me. Arroyo acknowledges that maybe he should have expected a tough reception, given the political climate. I think people come into 2024 with an opinion on immigration, he said, and I dont know if anything going on here is going to sway that one way or another. Arroyo sees only one real way to quell the tension, and its well beyond the purview of anyone in Lancaster: We need comprehensive reform around immigration, period, in order to move the needle in a way that everyone can feel good about, he said, with a hint of frustration but, he added, thats above my paygrade. Pennsylvanias elections office urged a judge Monday to dismiss a Republican challenge to the Centre County board of elections decision to count some mail-in ballots that were not dated properly. The Pennsylvania Department of State joined the countys elections board in asking Centre County Judge Julia Rater to dismiss the appeal as untimely. In a footnote, the agency wrote its brief was not authored or paid for by anyone outside of the office. This Court must swiftly dismiss the Petition filed in this case because the Election Code unquestionably requires dismissal and so Centre County and the Commonwealth can conclude the 2024 primary, an attorney for the agency wrote. Centre County is the only one in the state that has not yet certified any of its results from the primary election, a process that was supposed to be completed by May 13. It has also held up the certification of statewide primary elections. Centre County Republican Committee Chair Michelle Schellbergs appeal alleged 95 mail-in ballots were counted improperly by the countys elections board because they were not dated correctly. It did not claim fraud or that the votes would alter the outcome. Instead, attorney Louis Glantz has argued the boards decision could set a precedent that would make a big difference in what is expected to be a tightly contested presidential race in November. The elections board made up of the countys three commissioners, two Democrats and one Republican voted unanimously on April 25 to accept each of the ballots. The GOP appeal wasnt filed until May 7, which solicitor Betsy Dupuis argued was wholly deficient and filed at least 10 days late. In a brief filed Monday, Dupuis asked Rater to order Schellberg and voters who signed onto the appeal to pay for the cost of defending against it. Glantz, in response, argued the elections board was using procedural technicalities that would enable it to continue to violate Pennsylvania law. Rater said at a hearing last week that she hopes to issue her decision by Friday, though she did not guarantee it. A federal appeals court panel found in March that a requirement for Pennsylvania voters to put accurate handwritten dates on the outside envelopes of their mail-in ballots does not run afoul of a civil rights law. A divided 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled to uphold enforcement of the required date on return envelopes, a technical mandate that caused thousands of votes to be declared invalid in the 2022 election. The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which helped represent groups and voters who challenged the date mandate, told the Associated Press the ruling could mean thousands of votes wont be counted over what it believes is a meaningless error. In Pennsylvania, Democrats have been far more likely to vote by mail than Republicans under an expansion of mail-in ballots enacted in 2019. A Pennsylvania woman pleaded guilty Monday to shooting a county prosecutor after a confrontation about a property transfer and was sentenced to several years in prison. Porice Diamond Mincy pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for shooting Cameron County District Attorney Paul J. Malizia in the leg at Malizias law office last June. The 32-year-old Brookville woman was sentenced to four to eight years in prison. Malizia was released from a hospital the day he was shot. Attorney General Michelle Henry, whose office prosecuted Mincy, called it a brazen act of violence, and noted Malizia has remained in office since the attack. Henrys office said in a statement that Mincy showed up without an appointment at Malizias office in rural Emporium, about 130 miles (209 kilometers) east of Erie, and made some sort of demands concerning a property transfer, a matter he handled as a private practice lawyer, not as district attorney. Mincy became belligerent, Henrys office said, and shot him in the leg before leaving in a vehicle. She was arrested shortly afterward. Her lawyer, Lonny Fish, said Monday that the other charges against her were dismissed. She showed up in the office, she wasnt happy with the answers that the secretary gave, Fish said. So she went and trashed one of the other offices, and then he approached her in the waiting room. And he hit her. To be honest, I think he was probably within his rights to do that she was a trespasser. Fish said Mincy did not have a license to carry a concealed weapon so she was going to, most likely, be convicted of that, regardless. He described Mincy as a mother of small children who had not been in trouble before. She had moved to the area from New York and was home schooling her kids. Malizia said in a phone interview Monday that after Mincy confronted his office worker and threw office material on the ground, she sucker punched him, breaking his nose. He said he took a swing at her but missed. Fish produced a cellphone video Mincy that recorded that he argued shows Malizia did actually punch Mincy. Malizia, currently 70 years old and in his fourth term in office, said he grabbed Mincy around the waist and tried to get her down some stairs and out of the office. She stopped for a second and she turned her head and bit me on the thigh, on my left thigh, he said. The bite did not tear through his jeans but was strong enough that it caused a wound. After that, she pulled a .25 caliber automatic handgun out of, he thinks, a fanny pack, and shot him in the other leg, Malizia said. The barrel was against his leg and the bullet passed through the outside of his leg, ricocheted off a wall and landed about 35 feet (11 meters) down a hallway. Malizia was treated at a hospital and released that night and did not miss any work as a result. Mincy was upset about which names had been put on a deed when ownership was transferred, Malizia said. I wish her the best of luck, Malizia said. I mean that very sincerely. 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 ABC27. The German government has decided to support the US plan to use the proceeds of frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine, in particular, to provide a $50 billion loan. This could be a crucial step that will bring Washington and its allies closer to providing a new substantial aid package to the country that is under full-scale attack. ADVERTISIMENT This was reported by Bloomberg. It is noted that the G7 (Group of Seven) is expected to discuss the issue this week. However, the decision will not be made until mid-June. "German officials are ready to support the U.S. plan to use future proceeds from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine. ... What is at stake is whether the Ukrainian government will be able to remain financially viable until 2025," the statement said. It is emphasized that in this way, Ukraine's partners seek to ensure its medium-term financing. And also "to send a signal to Moscow that support for Kyiv among the G7 allies is not weakening." What preceded it For several months, the United States has been trying to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine. The proposals varied: from complete confiscation and transfer of the money to Ukraine to storing it for bonds or using it to secure some form of loan ADVERTISIMENT However, they were met with skepticism in a number of countries. In particular, Germany and France, which expressed concerns about: their legality the impact of such steps on the financial stability and attractiveness of the euro As reported earlier, U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine's Economic Recovery Penny Pritzker explained that the process of confiscating Russian assets would require a collective decision by all countries that have frozen Russian funds in their financial institutions. It will take time, so we should not expect it to happen quickly. At the same time, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has set the government the task of ensuring that Russian assets frozen in the West are transferred to Ukraine. That is why a separate subgroup is being set up to work on the issue. ADVERTISIMENT Only verified information is available on OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! The Defense Department is proposing legislation that would allow it to establish an Indo-Pacific Security Assistance Initiative to deliver weapons to Taiwan and other friendly militaries in the region, modeled after a similar program used to arm Ukraine. The proposal, submitted to Congress in April, asks for authorization to establish the initiative and requests $500 million in fiscal 2025 to arm Indo-Pacific partners either through the program or through Taiwan Presidential Drawdown Authority replenishment. This proposal would prioritize allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region that are at risk of invasion by revanchist powers, the Defense Department wrote in its proposal. This proposed authority is similar to the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) but focused on strengthening deterrence and bolstering partners self-defense capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region. The Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative has allowed the Pentagon to place weapons contracts for longer-term support to Kyiv. Its a key pillar of U.S. support for the war-torn country alongside Presidential Drawdown Authority, used to transfer weapons to Ukraine from U.S. stockpiles. The Defense Departments $500 million funding request in the proposal for fiscal year 2025 would provide money to arm Indo-Pacific partners, such as Taiwan and the Philippines, under both authorities. The current environment in the Indo-Pacific region requires new approaches beyond the authorities developed for countering violent extremist organizations, the Pentagon proposal states. USAI has proven an effective tool in bolstering partner capabilities by expanding or creating opportunities for additional procurement. But the Houses draft text of the FY25 defense policy bill does not include the requested authorization for an Indo-Pacific Security Assistance Initiative or the $500 million in funding to arm security partners in the region. The House Armed Services Committee is scheduled to mark up the legislation on Wednesday, when lawmakers will have the opportunity to add amendments to the legislation. The $95 foreign aid bill Congress passed in April included nearly $4 billion in military aid for Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific allies. That includes $1.9 billion in replenishment funds to send Taiwan weapons from U.S. stockpiles and another $2 billion in Foreign Military Financing for Taipei and other Indo-Pacific partners. The FY24 government funding bill, which Congress passed in March, included another $300 million in Foreign Military Financing for Taiwan. Defense officials this year are opening the Pentagons paid fellowship program to more spouses as the initiative expands its offerings to include entry-level jobs. The Military Spouse Career Accelerator Pilot will for the first time provide early-career opportunities for those younger spouses who might need to put their foot in the door and start the process of having employment and a career, Patricia Barron, deputy undersecretary of defense for military community and family policy, told reporters Monday. Thats in addition to the programs current career-ready fellowships for spouses with more education and experience to prepare them for the positions. In an earlier announcement, defense officials said the newly added entry-level fellowships could target specific career fields such as taxes or insurance. The fellowship program, now in its second year of a three-year test period, has been a rousing success, Barron said. Spouses of U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Space Force troops across the active duty, reserve and National Guard can apply for a 12-week position at 250 public- and private-sector employers. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundations Hiring Our Heroes program pairs applicants with fellowships as they become available, at employers like Equinix, a company that operates data centers, and Frog Street, an early childhood education curriculum company. The number of fellowships available depends on what employers decide to offer; the Defense Department pays fellows salaries through the Chamber. Applications are accepted throughout the year. The programs goal is to land fellows in permanent positions with their employers at the end of the 12-week run. More than 400 spouses were placed in fellowships in 2023, the programs first year. About 83% of the career-ready fellows have received offers for permanent jobs, Barron said, which is unheard of. Salaries for those jobs averaged about $60,000, defense officials said. Lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committees military quality-of-life panel have recommended that the program be made permanent. Its been a great program. To be able to sustain it throughout the years would be phenomenal, Barron said. Were getting an awful lot of really good feedback from the military spouses that are involved. The unemployment rate for military spouses has stubbornly hovered around 21% for the past decade, according to various surveys. The problem is exacerbated by the frequent moves military service requires, as well as state licensing rules for many professions and other bureaucratic hurdles. A number of advocates have asked for the Labor Department to officially track their unemployment rate, as it does for veterans. We do have a great relationship with the Department of Labor and have connected with them on various things. The tracking of unemployment for military spouses is something that weve both talked about, Barron said. I think its a little bit harder to track military spouse unemployment, because its not a protected group, so sometimes its hard to find the information you need. However, weve got new tools available to us now, through AI, through some of the analytics that a company like Google might provide, she said. Im not saying thats what were doing, but what Im saying is that we have new tools we can look at to help us get after that number. Online resources in May For years, military officials have worked to tackle the policy issues that keep the spouse unemployment rate from budging. Theyve also tried to open new opportunities to help military husbands and wives navigate the modern job market. This month, job seekers can learn from a lineup of speakers and breakout sessions on a range of spouse employment topics as part of a free, virtual career symposium and hiring fairs May 14-30. Participants can register to view the recorded events like Finding and Mastering Remote Employment and Know Your Worth: How to Negotiate Your Perfect Fit, and to participate in upcoming sessions, at Military OneSource. A series of webinars, one-on-one resume reviews and mock interviews from Tuesday to Thursday will prepare spouses for next weeks hiring fair. That fair, scheduled for May 29-30 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time, will connect spouses to hiring managers and representatives from more than 700 employers who have committed to recruiting, hiring, retaining and promoting military spouses through DODs Military Spouse Employment Partnership. People Who've Worked In Politics Are Spilling Secrets From Their Jobs That More People Should Know, And Some Of These Are Unsettling People Who've Worked In Politics Are Spilling Secrets From Their Jobs That More People Should Know, And Some Of These Are Unsettling We recently asked members of the BuzzFeed Community who've worked in politics to share behind-the-scenes secrets they think more people should know They did NOT hold back. Comedy Central / Via giphy.com Here are their most fascinating responses: 1."I've worked on Capitol Hill for almost a decade, and it's remarkable how many people don't realize that our government is largely staffed by underpaid, overworked 25-year-olds." "So when you meet with them or call into an office, be ready with a specific ask, whether to sponsor a bill or oppose one. Make it as easy as possible for those young people to communicate your message to their boss. And always, always be nice on the phone. Those interns and staff assistants aren't making policy decisions!"Anonymous Stefan Zaklin / Getty Images 2."In my state, the State General Assembly does much of its voting on motions and whatnot using a simple push-button system at its desks in the chamber. One button is for Yeay, and another for Nay, and you push nothing for Abstain. It's an open secret inside the room that state members will reach over and push another person's buttons, especially if they are not present at the vote." "If you get up to go to the bathroom, someone will reach over to your desk and vote for you, no matter how you were going to vote. Since there is so much legislation to get through, they don't go back if someone illegally pushes someone else's voting buttons because they don't have time to restart the vote." Anonymous 3."I worked at the United Nations for a little bit, and the whole organization is crumbling over the weight of its own bureaucracy. In most agencies and the Secretariat, senior staff tends to have amazing contracts with huge salaries and loads of benefits, and they tend to be much less academically and technically qualified than younger employees. Definitely not everyone, but a lot of people at the top are paid mostly to go to conferences or wine and dine diplomats but don't know how to use Excel or PowerPoint." "Meanwhile, the organizations no longer have enough money to offer good contracts to junior employees, so they are stuck in unpaid internships and short-term contracts with no healthcare. The process of actually approving new hires can take half a year or longer. The result is that a lot of people with new perspectives and up-to-date degrees are getting burnt out and demoralized. At the same time, senior employees are more interested in protecting their own cushy careers than they are in upholding their mandates or serving the international community."Anonymous 4."I interned on Capitol Hill in 2013. There's a rule for government workers and congressional members not to accept gifts over a certain amount because that could be considered a bribe. There are a few exceptions, and one of them is that members of Congress are allowed to accept massive amounts of free snacks/drinks from companies based in their home state." "So representatives from Georgia get free Coca-Cola products, NJ reps get Nabisco products, etc. But since some states got WAY better snacks than others, the staff assistants would organize trades between offices, and interns would be sent out with crates of random products to trade on slow days. It was honestly a lot of fun and one of the main things I remember from my time on the Hill."Alice Lahoda 5."Campaigns (even progressive ones) can be the most absolute blatant display of employee abuse. I've worked on campaigns where the higher-ups pushed their organizers to the point of hospitalization because they didn't have time/energy to eat, rest, and take care of themselves." "Most of these organizers tend to be college kids or recent grads so theyre sometimes more hesitant to say 'no' out of fear of losing their job (a real possibility given how petty some folks are). The burnout rate on campaigns/the burnout rate of political staffers in general is insanely high." Anonymous 6."I was a political advisor to gubernatorial and legislative campaigns in Florida. Two things made me leave the industry. First, money DOES change hands, especially for church endorsements. Paper money in paper lunch bags." "Second, everyone counts favors and calls them in. Friends, rivals, whatever, they never let go of who owes what to whom, and they will collect." Anonymous NanoStockk / Getty Images 7."I worked in politics for a member of Congress on Capitol Hill. Your calls and complaints go into an online pile of similar calls and complaints, and a form letter gets sent back to you. They rarely reach an actual member of Congress." "This made me pretty cynical about the prospect that people have a voice when they call in; it seems like theyre really not listened to. Also, a lot of the legislative assistants in the congressional offices (in my experience) were assholes and hated their jobs. My experience definitely confirmed that a career in politics was not for me, but the secret underground tunnel from the House to the Senate offices with a train car and its own operator was hella cool!"Anonymous 8."I worked as a legislative fellow on Capitol Hill in 2020 & 2021. These are actually things I try to tell people all the time, but they don't believe me." "If you aren't a constituent of the Congressperson/Senator you're calling, they are allowed to hang up on you or block you without listening to you. You'd be surprised how many Dems who have a public reputation of inclusivity and progressive values are some of the worst bosses. What you think of as 'going on vacation' when Congress is in recess is actually a time when the member is working directly with constituents in their district/state. If you call and threaten the member or their staff, you will receive a visit from your local police force, whom the Capitol police have called to investigate the threat."The Bnzr 9."I'm a Senate employee in a state office. Most people, when they think of Congress, think of DC. I don't think enough people realize that Senators and Representatives have field offices in their home states and districts. We provide key services for people who are having trouble getting through to federal agencies (VA, Social Security, IRS, Passports, etc.). We've been involved in a variety of issues, including helping repatriate Americans who were stuck in foreign countries." "The 'secret' that I would like people to know is that if you call the office to leave a message for the Senator and are horribly mean/rude and cursing at us, we most likely will not share your message or record it. It's a thankless job, and people whom I've never met have said the most disgusting and filthy things to me because they are angry with the Senator about certain topics."Anonymous 10."I'm a finance director for a congressional race, and let me tell you. Look closer at the finance reports that come out with each politician. See who's paying for the campaign and most directly influencing the candidate. Make the FEC your new bestie." Anonymous 11."People who you work with will take credit for your ideas. Not just other people at your level in a campaign but high-up people who aren't competing for low-level jobs. Also, people who are related to people with influence will get promotions over you all the time." Anonymous 12."Political reporter here! Most politicians absolutely hate the politicians that they back. I've seen so many representatives and senators sing Trump's praises on TV but trash him as soon as cameras aren't rolling." "It also always surprises me which politicians I actually like. People whose policies I support can be complete jerks when you meet them; people who pass horrible laws can be sweethearts."Anonymous Paul Bradbury / Getty Images 13."Campaign manager here. I dont know why they ask elected officials how they won because a good candidate leaves all those decisions to their campaign manager and focuses all their attention on talking to voters. Also, VEEP is absolutely the closest TV depiction of politics." Anonymous 14."Leadership PACs are vanity projects for the next campaign of whoever is running them. Donate to candidates directly, and dont fall for their scams." Anonymous 15."Too much of governmental services are being privatized. This means the loss of cheaper governmental workers (who don't get bonuses for cutting corners) and the eventual much more expensive work by private contractors, who are often awarded the contracts because of political donations. Our state awarded a $66 million contract to a private contractor and laid off 1200 state workers." Demon Copperhead 16."As a former federal employee, I was political-adjacent. Most people don't know that there are over 2000 non-Senate-approved presidential appointees, most of whom get their jobs as a favor for helping with the presidential election, with no qualifications required." "We had one guy whose father was a big wig state party official, in a state the president lost, get an appointment. He had no college education, and his only direct connection to the presidential campaign was as a security guard at two local events."Alchemist1342 17."The most vocal right-wing politicians don't believe an iota of what they're shilling to their constituents. They see their jobs as winning elections, and the easiest way to do that is to appeal to them about social justice issues and use small words and simple language that is easily memorable." sportycoyote73 And finally... 18."Most legislators are not particularly informed on the issues they advocate for. The policy staff in their office does the real heavy lifting." "So, if you have a technical issue you need fixed, just email the policy staff; if it fits, they will work it out. Lots of legislating is just tinkering with existing laws and trying to make them more functional."Anonymous People who've worked in politics What else should the general public know? Tell us in the comments below or in this anonymous Google form. Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity. The lead scientist for NASA's Perseverance Mars rover is excited about material that has been stored in the rover's sample tubes, both dropped on the surface of Mars and contained within the rover itself while wheeling about within Jezero Crater. Given the samples of Mars that Perseverance has collected so far, could one of those specimens be what the rover was sent to look for in the first place: evidence of past microbial life on the Red Planet? The preliminary finding heightens the need for returning these Mars samples to Earth, so that these prized collectibles from the Red Planet can be sent to laboratories for more rigorous analysis. Related: If life exists on Mars, don't count on sample-return missions to find it, scientists say Lively question Caltech's Kenneth Farley, project scientist for NASA's Perseverance Mars rover program, briefed the Extraterrestrial Materials Analysis Group (ExMAG) during a meeting held May 1315 in Houston, Texas. Tagged "Lefroy Bay," Farley called attention to this sample collected by the Perseverance rover, found to have hydrated silica. Here on Earth, that mineral has the highest potential to preserve signs of ancient life. So a lively question wanting of an answer arises: Perhaps Lefroy Bay carries preserved signs of ancient life on Mars? a close-up of a rock sample, showing flecks of minerals in different colors Paleoenvieonmental conditions "The Lefroy Bay sample and two other samples from the same unit the 'Margin Unit' are onboard Perseverance," Farley told Space.com. "The Margin Unit samples have abundant carbonate and silica, clearly indicating a dominant role for liquid water in their formation," he said. But whether that water was surface water in a lake or river, or groundwater, remains uncertain, Farley added. Either could constitute an ancient (greater than 3.4 billion years old), habitable Martian environment, he said. These samples host phases that on Earth are very useful for establishing "paleoenvieonmental" conditions, Farley noted, and they can also preserve biosignatures. "As such these samples are uniquely important for return to Earth for further study," said Farley. a satellite view of a reddish-brown landscape Objective: set in stone Perseverance is "just about to make a really fundamental transition in the exploration of the environment that we have been working in," Farley explained in his briefing to the ExMAG. "One of the challenges we face," he said, "this is not a great terrain for driving a rover across." So far, the Mars machinery has traversed some 17 miles (27 kilometers) after it was lowered to the area by skycrane on Feb. 18, 2021. The robot's objective is set in stone: "Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith for possible Earth return," explains NASA. But why was the 28 mile-wide (45-kilometer) Jezero Crater picked as the reconnoitering spot for the rover? a reddish-brown landscape of sand and rocks Scientists believe the area was once flooded with water and was home to an ancient river delta. The anticipation is that Jezero Crater is quite literally, "spilling" the beans about its on-again, off-again nature of the wet past of Mars. More than 3.5 billion years ago, river channels spilled over the crater wall and created a lake. What's possible is that microbial life could have lived in Jezero during one or more of those wet periods. If true, evidence of leftovers from those little critters might be discovered in lakebed or shoreline sediments. Rover challenges As for the overall health of the Perseverance rover, Farley noted a couple of issues: For one, loss of wind sensors that are part of the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA), built by an international team led by Spain's Centro de Astrobiologia. "We have largely lost the wind sensors. They are essentially not functioning anymore," he reported. Also, the spectroscopy parts of the robotic arm-mounted Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals, SHERLOC for short, are challenged. That's due to a lens cover no longer working properly. However, there's some preliminary work done suggesting scientists may be able to recover SHERLOC's spectroscopy abilities. "We'll know more about that in the coming months," Farley said. Three Forks depot The rover was dispatched to Mars with 38 tubes that could be used for rock, regolith, and even atmospheric sampling. "We're about two-thirds of the way through the sample collection," explained Farley. The on-duty robot has sampled igneous rocks, mudstone, sandstone/pebble conglomerate, carbonate-silica-olivine, as well as top side Mars sand and snagged a whiff of Martian atmosphere. Earlier in its trekking of Mars, Perseverance dropped 10 sealed sample tubes at a depot location dubbed "Three Forks" in Jezero Crater. The intent is that a Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission in the future would pick up sample tubes for rocketing those bits and pieces of Mars to Earth. However, that joint NASA and European Space Agency undertaking is now going through a detailed re-look due to a projected $11 billion price tag and an anticipated, but not satisfactory, time period to pull off such a complicated endeavor. silver metal tubes lying on reddish-orange dust and rocks Stay the course Farley told the ExMAG group that rover operators are working to qualify Perseverance to 55 miles (90 kilometers) of traverse, allowing it to make its way to enlivening landscape. RELATED STORIES: Handle Mars with care: Guidelines needed for responsible Red Planet exploration, experts say How NASA's Ingenuity helicopter opened the Mars skies to exploration NASA, ESA join forces on life-hunting ExoMars rover "There is obviously an enormous amount of uncertainty with what the MSR is going to be. We are waiting to hear how we are going to play a role in that on the Perseverance mission," Farley said. "But for now, we're going to stay the course. We are going to continue to behave essentially as we have so far, with a strong focus on sample collection." Now in the rover's travel itinerary is completing tasks at an area called Bright Angel, then move up onto the crater rim, where the rover can survey fundamentally different geology, added Farley. In ascending the rim, "we will expeditiously complete the sampling. The sooner we get the sampling done the sooner we can all rest easy that we have done our job," said Farley. What happens next for Perseverance is in TBD status. "Maybe we will return to the crater floor to rendezvous with MSR, maybe we won't. It will depend on what actually happens with MSR," Farley concluded. Editor's note: The original version of this story contained this sentence: "In reviewing the samples of Mars that Perseverance has collected, scientists say one tube appears to be packed with what the rover was looking for: evidence of past microbial life on the Red Planet." That is too strong a statement, however; the story was edited at 7:15 p.m. ET on May 20 to replace the above with the following: "Given the samples of Mars that Perseverance has collected so far, could one of those specimens be what the rover was sent to look for in the first place: evidence of past microbial life on the Red Planet?" (KLAS) The person who damaged a 113-year-old historic tower in Californias Death Valley contacted the National Park Service to accept responsibility for their actions. Last week, the National Park Service (NPS) had announced that a salt tram tower in Saline Valley had been damaged on April 19, 2024, after having been used by someone as an anchoring point for a winch, to pull their vehicle out of the mud. In the process, the tower was knocked down. Those with information into the incident were urged to contact NPS officials. The Saline Valley salt tram tower in Death Valley was damaged after someone used it as an anchor to pull out a vehicle stuck in the mud. (Credit: NPS) Several days later, the NPS announced that the person responsible for the incident had come forward via its tip line. We are grateful to the dozens of people who reached out to the park with information and for all the statements of support that we received from people who care about this place and its cultural resources, said acting Superintendent Elizabeth Ibanez in a press release. Although we would certainly prefer that this damage hadnt happened, we are glad that the person who did this ultimately took responsibility for their actions and came forward. Which was the most-visited national park in 2023? The NPS did not identify the person responsible. The agency did, however, explain the alleged circumstances surrounding the incident, saying the driver was stuck deeply in mud, and chose to hook a winch to the tower out of desperation. A photograph shows the Saline Valley salt tram tower in Death Valley before being damaged. (Credit: NPS) The park service is still assessing the damage and determining what restoration will be needed, and said no visitors should attempt to repair it. The latest NPS press release did not detail any penalties the driver might face, though a Death Valley official had previously made mention of possible restitution. Some students will have to pay up after senior prank goes too far, Tennessee school says The Saline Valley Salt Company built the 13-mile aerial tram to transport salt from Saline Valley to Owens Valley in 1911. The tramway, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, climbed more than 7,000 feet at steep vertical grades. 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 Queen City News. Peter Doocy Reacts On Fox News After Jen Psaki Says She Never 'Hated' Him There appears to be little bad blood between Jen Psaki and Peter Doocy despite their history of tense sparring in the White House briefing room. Psaki, President Joe Bidens former White House press secretary, discussed her relationship with the Fox News reporter in her new book, Say More. In a recent interview published by The Ankler, she was asked about how she had described him as a constant thorn in her side in the press room. People often ask me, How much did you hate that guy? And Im always like, No, I didnt hate him at all, Psaki replied. I feel like it would be a real mind-bend to work for Fox. It feels like a traumatizing experience he has to live through every day. On Fox & Friends Tuesday morning, Doocy was asked for his reaction to the statement from Psaki, who is now an MSNBC host. He told his colleagues he actually got along with her. When I think back to Jens time here, there were some moments of real tension in the briefing room because the issues of the day were really, really heavy, he said. He added that he was happy to hear her say that. I was raised to be a nice guy. I like to think Im pretty affable, but it goes to show she really liked to fight in the briefing room. She was there to fight for and go on offense for President Biden, he continued. She did her job very well, and it was great doing some briefing room combat with her from time to time. Though the two routinely engaged in headline-makingclashes while Psaki was press secretary, she spoke kindly of him ahead of her departure from the White House in May 2022. While she didnt agree with his line of questioning on most days, she said at the time, I think we have a very good professional relationship. Doocy, for his part, said she had been a good sport and he was sorry to see her go. Related... An imprisoned former senior Trump White House aide is already envisioning Donald Trumps second presidential termand it includes mass deportations. Peter Navarro is serving a four-month sentence in federal prison for refusing to respond to a congressional subpoena during the House Select Committees January 6 investigation. But time in the clink has helped Trumps self-described alter ego iron out the finer details of Trumps presidential politicsfrom international trade and alliances to border security, according to Semafor. The New MAGA Deal documents 100 actions in 100 days, Navarro said, referring to a new book hes working on behind bars. At the top of the agenda of unfinished business is a plan to bring private-sector supply chains and manufacturing back to U.S. soil. American multinational corporations naturally want to offshore American jobs in their search for cheap, sweatshop labor and pollution havens, Navarro said. Thats why God created tariffs. But tariffs and economic restrictions are only the beginning. Within those first 100 days, Navarro predicted that Trump will promise to close the border and force immigrant populations out of the country. Trump will also quickly seal the border and begin mass deportations, Navarro told Semafor, blaming President Joe Biden for importing a wave of crime and terrorism and an uneducated mass to the nation. And any former staff who even remotely opposed Trumps plans during his first term can forget about being invited back to serve the GOP presidential nominee again, according to Navarro. That includes Trumps former chief economic adviser Gary Cohn and former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who Navarro said did everything he could to soften Trumps economic agenda. Instead, only those completely loyal to Trumps vision will have a spot in the forthcoming term. PFAS bill was born in the hope of compromise. Then both sides dug in and it died. A PFAS advisory sign along Starkweather Creek. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner) A bill to create a number of programs aimed at spending $125 million set aside for PFAS cleanup across Wisconsin has died after a Republican effort to override Gov. Tony Evers veto failed to receive a vote in the Assembly last week. The legislation, authored by Green Bay-area Republican Sens. Robert Cowles and Eric Wimberger, was introduced with optimism from both environmental and business groups that a compromise could be reached and the money, included in the state budget passed last year, could get out the door to assist with cleaning up the harmful chemicals and improving the states research and testing capabilities. At the time of its introduction, environmental groups worried that the bill included language that would weaken the states spills law the mechanism that gives the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) the authority to hold polluters accountable while business groups worried that it might be too punitive to industry. But in the first hearings on the bill, both sides stated they believed a middle ground could be found. After a year of debate, the bill has failed as Evers calls for the Legislatures Joint Finance Committee to release the $125 million without the attached bill. Republicans call this a slush fund and object to giving the DNR so much power. Figures on both sides remain frustrated that the process ended in the current stalemate. For years, lawmakers have been working to address PFAS contamination, which has affected large communities including Madison and Wausau as well as thousands of individual homeowners who get their water from private wells such as in the town of Stella outside of Rhinelander, where the groundwater is contaminated by the forever chemicals. During that time, a number of legislative efforts have failed. PFAS are a family of man-made chemical compounds that do not break down in the environment. Theyve been used in household goods such as nonstick pans as well as certain kinds of firefighting foam and fast food wrappers. PFAS have been found to cause long term health defects including cancer. Loophole? Since the final version of the bill was passed last fall, Democrats and environmental groups have vehemently opposed the legislation, claiming its structure creates a loophole for polluting industries to avoid being held responsible while making taxpayers foot the bill for cleaning up that pollution. The section of the bill that opponents object to is its innocent landowner program, which Republicans say is designed to cover the costs for people who have PFAS contamination on their property through no fault of their own. But the way the bill is written, according to Midwest Environmental Advocates Executive Director Tony Wilkin Gibart, allows for polluters to be defined as innocent landowners. The bill includes a provision that states the DNR may not commence any enforcement action against any person that meets the eligibility criteria for an innocent landowner grant. The bill then makes any person that spread biosolids or wastewater residuals contaminated by PFAS in compliance with any applicable license or permit eligible for the grant. Corporations such as paper companies often have DNR permits allowing them to spread the waste they produce, also known as biosolids, on farm fields. A person also includes a corporate person, it doesnt just mean an individual, and we know that paper mills and other industrial facilities spread PFAS containing biosolids on farm fields, and that is most likely the source of contamination in the town of Stella, Wilkin Gibart tells the Examiner. This would mean that those entities are innocent landowners under the terms of the exemption, that theyre eligible for this grant program, and the DNR could not enforce the spills law against the entities that profited from PFAS that had the ability to know that it was harmful and spread it on farm fields regardless. Republicans disagree with this reading of the bill. Zachary Stollfus, Wimbergers chief of staff, says Democrats are intentionally trying to confuse people with their claims of what the bill would do. Stollfus says it generally isnt the corporate entity itself doing the spreading, but a third-party contractor who would be held responsible. Paper mills are not actually spreading this, biosolids are permitted by the state, then spread by certified spreaders, who haul human waste and paper waste and spread it on farm fields, he says. Its not a corporation or paper mill being let off the hook. Stollfus adds that numerous amendments were made to the bill after hours of discussions with the DNR and conservation groups such as MEA. During the legislative debate, Wimberger pointed to memos from the state Legislative Council that indicate the bill would not be applied in the way Wilkin Gibart alleges. You asked whether a company or other entity that manufactures PFAS would be likely to fall within any of the enumerated categories above, one memo states. The short answer is no. In general, the entities most likely to fall within the eligibility categories listed above include agricultural landowners, wastewater treatment facilities, solid waste facilities, municipal governments, and owners of property near to property on which a discharge occurred. Manufacturers of PFAS are unlikely to fall within any of those categories. But Wilkin Gibart disagrees with the memos on a number of points, First, Wilkin Gibart sees the possibility that a corporate polluter could argue that it owns or leases one piece of property that qualifies under the innocent landowner program and therefore is exempt from all DNR enforcement actions under the spills law. One of the memos states the bill should be interpreted as the exemption applying to only one property, but Wilkin Gibart says even though a judge is unlikely to grant a broader exemption, simply giving the opening for the argument could delay enforcement and cleanup for a long time. Just the ability to make the argument can allow a PFAS polluter to delay responsibility by years, he says. The bill also includes a provision that states for people not eligible for the innocent landowner grants, the department may not commence any enforcement action based on the results of PFAS testing unless the testing shows the PFAS levels exceed a state or federal standard. Wilkin Gibart also says he doesnt believe the memos deal with this broader part of the bill that restricts DNR authority even outside of the innocent landowner program. The questions were asked to perhaps refute specific objections, but not all of them, he said, contending that the memos fall short of addressing the issue. I think there would be no way to say that the provision doesnt restrict the departments enforcement authority against persons who are not innocent landowners. Marines fighting fires with foam But Stollfus questions the political logic of the allegation. Wimbergers district includes Peshtigo and Marinette parts of the state that have been heavily affected by PFAS pollution from giant corporations. Why, Stollfus asks, would a state lawmaker write a bill that would directly prevent his own constituents from accessing relief? Sen. Wimberger represents an area where giant multinational corporations have ruined the groundwater and ruined peoples lives, Stollfus says. The allegation is that somehow politicians, it would be a recipe for success, to let these corporations off the hook. Conservation groups, however, point to the close ties between Republican lawmakers and Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC), the states largest business lobby. WMC is currently fighting a lawsuit to prevent the DNR from using the spills law against PFAS polluters. Additionally, Senate Republicans acted to keep an appointee of former Republican Gov. Scott Walker on the states Natural Resources Board, which sets policy for the DNR. That appointee, while holding onto his seat for more than a year after his term expired, helped prevent the creation of a standard that would limit the amount of PFAS that is allowed in groundwater. The carve out for polluters would theoretically not apply if the pollution exceeds a promulgated standard under state or federal law, Wilkin Gibart says. However, we dont have those standards under state or federal law currently, and we dont know when we will have those standards. Groundwater contamination is the top concern of Wisconsin environmental advocates when it comes to PFAS, he adds. The federal government does not set standards for groundwater. The state does, Wilkin Gibart says. The reason that we dont have a promulgated standard under state law is because Senate Republicans stood in the way of that standard. PFAS-contaminated sites During the floor debate last week when Senate Republicans voted to override Evers veto, Wimberger referred to several cases in which he argued the innocent landowner program was needed to prevent the DNR from forcing people to pay for contamination they didnt cause or contamination that happened because the DNR approved the permit. At apartments in Ashwaubenon, the DNR discovered PFAS in the ground first put there in 1952, Wimberger said in a statement. Apartment owners who never even thought of checking for PFAS prior to purchasing the land now find themselves on notice from the DNR they are on the hook. A homeowner in Dodgeville was given notice in 2021 that her property emitted PFAS, likely due to foam extinguishing a fire. A man in Chilton was noticed in 2022 that his property emitted PFAS from an unknown source, yet hes on the hook for cleanup. There are many more, and the notices will likely be in the hundreds of thousands in the coming years. At the Ashwaubenon apartments, DNR records show, a paper mill now owned by Georgia Pacific had used the property to dump industrial waste as early as 1952. Since 2015, the DNR has been working on cleaning up the property for the contamination of PCBs, a different harmful chemical. During that cleanup effort, for which Georgia Pacific is being held responsible, PFAS were found. Wimbergers complaint is that if Georgia Pacific stopped complying or ran into financial problems and couldnt pay for the cleanup, the apartment owners would be on the hook. Similarly, in the Chilton case, Newell Brands is being held responsible for contamination that took place when cookware was made on the property. Right now, Newell is the responsible party, yet the current owner could be held responsible if Newell wasnt, Wimberger argues. Wilkin Gibart says he doesnt see how these examples show the DNR will enforce the spills law against small property owners. That situation doesnt support the idea that DNR is, you know, going out and enforcing the spills law against farmers, he says. Wilkin Gibart points to a report by MEA that found out of more than 100 PFAS cases, the agency rarely took enforcement actions against individual property owners and never against farmers who spread biosolids on their fields. The data suggest that DNR is appropriately exercising its enforcement discretion under the Spills Law, the report states. For example, DNR is not enforcing the Spills Law against farmers or farming operations that accepted biosolids contaminated with PFAS for landspreading on their fields, which has been pointed to as a potentially inappropriate application of the law. These findings undercut calls by legislators and other industry groups to limit DNRs authority to address PFAS under the Spills Law, particularly when such calls to limit DNRs authority have been overbroad and the Spills Law already contains multiple relevant exemptions. Wimbergers third example, the fire in Dodgeville, involves a case in which the attorney for the property owner says nobody will agree to do anything because theyre all afraid theyll get bit in the tuchus. The attorney, John Kassner, is representing the homeowner after a brush fire on her property was put out with PFAS-containing firefighting foam even though the foam is supposed to be used for chemical fires. The Dodgeville Fire Department reported its use of the foam to the DNR and the property owner was named the responsible party because it occurred on her land. The owners homeowners insurance wont pay for the cleanup, but the fire department is also refusing to clean it up. Meanwhile the DNR isnt forcing the owner into any action while a court case on the issue is pending. Kassner tells the Examiner that if the owner collects the foam and puts it in barrels, her property will become an unlicensed toxic waste facility, but theyre having trouble finding a site that will take it. We cant get rid of the stuff, cant collect the stuff and put it on site because were not licensed to have hazardous material on this old farm, and we cant afford the cost to clean up in any event, Kassner says. Were in court, everybody keeps waiting for the Legislature and Governor to agree on something, because it may or may not solve the problem. The problem, Wilkin Gibart says, is even though the fire is unfortunate, the owner doesnt fit any of the bills definitions of an innocent landowner anyway. Legal arguments and legislative strategy Wimberger has regularly argued that the law should not be set up to retroactively punish people for something the state said was allowed at the time. Evers and activists refuse to do what is right unless it holds polluters accountable, Wimberger said in his statement after the bill passed last November. But a law passed today to make something that happened yesterday illegal, is Ex Post Facto. To declare someone guilty through legislation is called a Bill of Attainder. Both are unconstitutional. Evers seemingly demands the unconstitutional in order to act on PFAS. Yet for Wilkin Gibart, this focus on legal theory and issues such as who technically qualifies as an emitter of pollution under state law shows Wimberger is less focused on finding solutions. SB 312 has resulted in a dead end because Sen. Wimberger has appeared to be more concerned with theoretical legal issues and with hypothetical landowners than he is in helping Wisconsinites who have PFAS their water, Wilkin Gibart says. The MEA lawyer also complains about the legislative structure the debate has taken place in. The money was passed in the budget, while the actual programs were introduced separately which he said was only done to avoid Evers line-item veto pen. But Stollfus says thats a complaint that could apply to most legislation especially in a state with divided government and the ability of the governor to line-item veto budget appropriations. Its common practice in states where the governor has a line-item veto pen, money is unattached from bills, he says. If thats their complaint, theres a problem with every bill. Theyre grabbing at straws to find flaws. The post PFAS bill was born in the hope of compromise. Then both sides dug in and it died. appeared first on Wisconsin Examiner. (Bloomberg) -- The Philippines is setting its sights on becoming the next manufacturing and logistics hub in Asia, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said, as Manila capitalizes on its growing ties with Washington. Most Read from Bloomberg Under Marcoss administration, the Southeast Asian nation has increased defense and economic engagements with Washington. The U.S. last month pledged to help accelerate investments in transport infrastructure, clean energy and semiconductor supply chains in the Philippines through the Luzon Economic Corridor. These initiatives will enhance freight transport services, mobility and access to key economic zones, ensuring business continuity and positioning the Philippines as a regional hub for agribusiness and logistics in the Asia Pacific, Marcos said at the 6th Indo-Pacific Business Forum in Manila on Tuesday. Marcos said the countrys infrastructure program that includes 185 priority projects worth 9.5 trillion pesos ($163 billion) would help the nation become the next logistics center in Asia. This aspiration puts the Philippines in competition with neighbors that have deepened their push in these areas like Vietnam and Indonesia. Southeast Asian countries, with its pool of skilled and affordable talent, are racing to get a slice of the billions of dollars of investment that may spread out in the region as part of de-risking efforts by the US and its allies away from China. While the Philippines, one of the fastest-growing economies in the region, has opened up more sectors to foreign investors, including renewable energy, it has lagged neighbors in attracting overseas funds to build more factories. Net inflows of foreign direct investments to the country dropped 7% to $8.9 billion last year from 2022. The business forum is part of Washingtons efforts to tighten economic relations with the Philippines, as the allies bolster defense ties amid growing tensions with Beijing over the disputed South China Sea. It comes after last months first-ever trilateral summit between the US, Philippines and Japan at the White House where the long-time allies pledged to grow investment partnerships after rekindling security ties. We believe fundamentally that the prosperity of everyday Americans is inextricably linked to the Indo-Pacific, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink said in the same forum. Marcos said the Philippines is seeking greater participation in global value chains and increased foreign direct investments to sustain economic growth. An economically strong Philippines will be a valuable ally in the region, he added. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. KANSAS CITY, Mo. Dallas police told FOX4 on Tuesday that the photographer who filed a police report against Rashee Rice has signed an affidavit of non-prosecution. The photographer previously alleged Rice punched him in the face in the early morning hours of Monday, May 6 at a Dallas club, but the affidavit signals he wishes to have the case dismissed. Kansas City residents share warning about car warranty company Dallas police said in the same statement that this is still an active investigation. Rice has not been arrested or charged. When the story initially broke, multiple media outlets in Dallas reported that he was being investigated for an incident that happened at Lit Kitchen. The Dallas Morning News said officers went to the nightclub at about 2:30 a.m. on May 6, where a man was sent to a hospital with a facial injury. FOX4 obtained the police report where the photographer told officers he received an Instagram message from Rice to return to the club shortly after leaving an after hours party. He said he was under the impression Rice wanted to hire him to take pictures, but alleged Rice punched him after asking him to look at Instagram messages on Rices phone. As this investigation continues, Rice is reportedly participating in organized team activities. Kansas City Chiefs: Read more stories from FOX4 This is all happening amid Rices ongoing legal trouble related to a six-vehicle crash where an arrest document said Rice was driving a Lamborghini at 119 mph seconds before the crash where hes facing aggravated assault, one count of a collision involving serious bodily injury and six counts of collision causing injury. Beyond the criminal counts, Rice and another crash suspect, Theodore Knox, are also facing multiple lawsuits totaling millions of dollars from victims involved in the other vehicles. 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 FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. During the unification fight between Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) and Tyson Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs), the former Ukrainian WBC welterweight champion Viktor Postol (31-5, 12 KOs) began to worry about the Crimean not because of the cut, but after a powerful uppercut by the Gypsy King. In addition, Postol compared the massive Englishman to King Kong. ADVERTISIMENT According to the former WBC belt holder, he was confident in Usyk's victory on points, but there was a moment during the fight when Viktor began to worry about Oleksandr. "I got excited when Sasha missed one of Tyson's powerful low blows. But the tension subsided a bit after Fury was counted out in the ninth round. Then Oleksandr had the advantage," said Postol. ADVERTISIMENT Not that the critical, but rather dangerous period for Usyk was in rounds five through seven. "Yes, yes. And it was obvious that it was difficult for Sasha to approach him, to get closer because of Fury's size. He's like King Kong, and Sasha looks small against him. It was obvious that he had a very hard time. But Oleksandr coped with everything," the famous boxer added. Earlier, in a conversation with OBOZ.UA, the former Ukrainian champion explained how the referee helped Tyson and why it will be easier for him in the second fight. ADVERTISIMENT It is known that Usyk was hospitalized after the fight with Tyson Fury. Promoter Oleksandr Krasiuk provided details of the boxer's jaw injury. Usyk defeated Fury by split decision 115:112, 113:114, 114:113. After the fight, the British fighter called the war in Ukraine one of the reasons for his defeat. Tyson also expressed his desire to visit Ukraine. It has become known that Usyk will lose the title of absolute world champion by the beginning of summer. This decision angered the British Tony Bellew. ADVERTISIMENT And in England, they started talking about the Gypsy King ending his career after the defeat. Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! The shop front sustained huge damage following the burglary A post office in east London has been partially destroyed after burglars reportedly drove a truck into the shop front and stole a cash machine. Petersfield Avenue Post Office in Romford, east London, was targeted by burglars in the early hours of Tuesday morning, police said. A video shows several masked men using a pick-up truck to pull an ATM machine out of the damaged shop. The Metropolitan Police said no arrests had been made. The shop front sustained huge damage following the burglary and goods were left scattered across the road. The road was partially blocked for much of the day and buses were rerouted while police investigated the scene. 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. Following the release of an investigation last week into her conduct at the state Legislature, Pierce County Rep. Melanie Morgan responded to the allegations in a news release sent out Friday afternoon. The investigation into Morgan, D-Parkland, was launched after her former legislative assistant expressed concerns about the work environment earlier this year, claiming that they were yelled at, mistreated and made to feel isolated after Morgan told them to trust no one at the Legislature. House of Representatives Chief Clerk Bernard Dean, who released the report to news outlets, told McClatchy in an email that pending the outcome of the investigation, he has removed Morgans legislative assistant, suspended administrative support from the House Democratic Caucus, and restricted access to communications staff. I will be working with the Executive Rules Committee over the next several days to determine the appropriate response to the findings outlined in the investigative report, Dean said. According to the news release from Morgan, the report primarily addresses communication challenges and gives context to conversations with the staffer as well as other legislative staff members during the short session earlier this year. Morgan said in the release that serving people in Washington is her highest honor and that she is committed to fostering a positive and respectful work environment for staff and colleagues. The recent report highlights the high-stress nature of our legislative environment and underscores the importance of continuous improvement and mutual understanding, Morgan said. The release also acknowledged Morgans direct communication style, but added that the straightforward approach ensures clarity and efficiency in a fast-paced legislative environment. Morgan also said in the release that she has consistently sought to provide guidance and support to her staff. The investigation into Morgans conduct also noted that the former assistant, who is a person of mixed race, found Morgans focus on their race unwelcome. Morgan allegedly called the assistant Starboy and said the only reason their colleagues accepted them was because of their proximity to whiteness. Morgans news release notes that she is a staunch advocate for dismantling racism and that her conversations about race and equity are part of her broader mission to promote social justice. Her efforts to empower staff members to embrace their identities align with her legislative priorities, the release said. This is the second time Morgans conduct has come into question at the Legislature. An investigation in 2022 found her to have engaged in abusive and bullying conduct. Two years ago, Billy Chemirmir was convicted of murdering two elderly women in Texas and accused of killing nearly two dozen others. The chilling story lies at the center of Paramount+s new true crime docuseries The Pillowcase Murders, which premiered May 14. According to the Associated Press, Chemirmir was accused of preying on older women so he could steal their jewelry and other valuables. A 91-year-old womans survival of an attack in 2018 had led to Chemirmirs arrest when she told police a man had forced his way into her apartment, tried to smother her, and taken her jewelry. Her report also led police to reexamine the deaths of older people across the Dallas area that had happened around that time. What happened to Billy Chemirmir? Chemirmir first faced a capital murder trial for the slaying of 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris, who was found dead in her bedroom with lipstick smeared on her pillow, but it ended in mistrial in 2021, NBC5 reported. He was later found guilty in 2022 of her murder in a retrial. That same year, he was convicted of a second killing in the death of Mary Brooks, 87, according to NBC5. After he was convicted in those two cases, prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty, according NBC5. Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot spoke to The Dallas Morning News about the decision not to seek the death penalty, saying he considers how long it takes to execute a person and costs of appeals. He added that Chemirmir was going to die in the penitentiary. According to the Associated Press, Chemirmir was found dead in September 2023 in his prison cell in East Texas, where he was serving a life sentence. Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson Hannah Haney said that he was killed by his cellmate, who was also serving a life sentence for murder. According to the Associated Press, Chemirmirs lawyer, Phillip Hayes, said his death was a horrible tragedy. Nobody deserves to be killed at any point, especially when you are in a place youre being held against your will, Hayes said. In October of that year, the Associated Press reported that the Office of the Inspector General had publicly identified Chemirmirs alleged killer as Wyatt Busby and that he had been killed with a knife/edged instrument. Its unclear if officials are seeking charges. Billy Chemirmir (Tom Fox / The Dallas Morning News via AP Pool) What did the alleged victims families say about Chemirmirs death? Chemirmir was convicted in the respective murders of Harris and Brooks, though he was charged with killing 22 women over a two-year span, NBC5 reported. In October 2022, prosecutors dismissed the remaining 20 cases, according to NBC5. Some family members and relatives of Chemirmirs alleged victims expressed both shock and relief at the news of his death. My first response was shock, chills running all over my body, Loren Smith, the daughter of Phyllis Payne, told NBC5 of the moment she found out about Chemirmirs death. Chemirmir was indicted on Paynes 2016 death three years later, according to Dallas Morning News. Grieving families of the alleged victims formed a nonprofit, Secure Our Seniors, to call for reform and new policies in independent living centers to better protect seniors. This was jailhouse justice, Dan Probst, nephew of Catherine Sinclair, said about Chemirmirs death, also according to NBC5. Chemirmir was accused of killing Sinclair, who lived in the same complex as Payne, CBS reported. I dont know if Im happy or sad because there is still so much that our families have been through. My mother died in fear, Shannon Dion, whose mother was another of Chemirmirs alleged victims, said at a news conference, according to the Associated Press. This man did not have a peaceful passing. Theres some relief in feeling that he didnt get off easily. This article was originally published on TODAY.com Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk takes part in a press statement after a joint meeting in the Federal Chancellery. Christoph Soeder/dpa Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Tuesday said he has set up a commission to investigate Russian and Belarusian secret service activities in Poland over the past 20 years. General Jarosaw Strozyk, head of military counter-intelligence, is set to chair the commission. Poland, a strong supporter of Ukraine and a logistical hub for Western military aid for Kiev, has been a regular target of Russian secret services. Tusk on Monday announced that nine suspects had been detained on charges of attempted sabotage. On Tuesday, he said three more arrests have been made, and added that a recent fire at a Warsaw shopping centre which destroyed more than 1,400 shops may have been caused by Russian secret services. Poland's previous government under the nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) had also sought to investigate the extent of Russian intelligence activities in the country with a commission of inquiry. The controversial commission was tasked with investigating whether officials had made decisions between 2007 and 2022 threatening Poland's security under Russian influence. Critics accused the PiS of using the commission to target opposition politicians for allegedly being Russia-friendly just months before parliamentary elections in autumn 2023. Polish media spoke of a "Lex Tusk" (Tusk law) aimed directly at Tusk, against which hundreds of thousands of Poles protested. Tusk eventually beat the PiS in the last elections. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) Two men are dead following a shooting in the central Las Vegas area, according to police. It happened on Sunday at 12:03 a.m. in the 700 block of West Owens Avenue near H Street. When officers arrived they found a man suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. A medical team arrived later and pronounced the man dead at the scene. Shortly after, Las Vegas Metro police dispatch received a report from an area hospital of an individual arriving there who was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. When officers arrived they determined that the man was related to the shooting in the 700 block of West Owens Avenue. The man was later pronounced deceased, police said. According to police, the investigation indicated that before the shooting several individuals were gathered in the parking lot of a business. A verbal altercation between the individuals occurred that quickly escalated into a shooting. Anyone with any information about this incident is urged to contact the LVMPD Homicide Section by phone at 702-828-3521, or by email at homicide@lvmpd.com. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 702-385-5555. 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 KLAS. Huber Heights city manager Richard Dzik was arrested on OVI charges while driving a city vehicle in central Ohio on Sunday, according to a Mount Vernon police report. Around 12:10 p.m., Mount Vernon police pulled Dzik over on Shalimar Drive due to a left-of-center violation, weaving within his lane, and no county sticker on the license plate. Ahead of the stop, a reckless operation BOLO (be on the lookout call) was placed for the City of Huber Heights Jeep driven by Dzik. >>PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Huber Heights city manager charged with OVI; Emergency council meeting called Monday While talking to an officer, Dzik said he had a couple of beers before leaving the Dayton area, according to the report. The officer noted that Dziks eyes were glassy and his speech was slow. Another Mount Vernon police officer arrived on scene and Dzik agreed to do field sobriety tests. One officer noted that they could smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from Dzik, according to the report. Newly obtained body camera footage shows Dzik struggling to follow test directions and maintain balance during the one-leg stand test. Shortly after, Dzik was arrested and transported to Knox County Jail on OVI and traffic violation charges. Officers found a can of twisted tea, a loaded magazine with 18 9mm bullets, and a 9mm unloaded handgun in the Jeep, according to the report. According to a previous News Center 7 report, Huber Heights mayor Jeff Gore called an emergency city council meeting in connection to Dziks arrest on Monday. News Center 7 went to the meeting and learned city council did not decide on any disciplinary action for Dzik. Court documents show that Dzik appeared in Mount Vernon Municipal Court on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty. A pretrial hearing has been scheduled for June 5 at 9:00 a.m. and the trial is scheduled for June 26 at 9 a.m. We will continue to follow this story. University of Michigan campus police block an area Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Ann Arbor, Mich., where a pro-Palestinian encampment had been set up since late April. Police removed the encampment earlier Tuesday. (AP Photo/Mike Householder) ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) Police broke up a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Michigan before dawn Tuesday, citing a threat to public safety and coming less than a week after demonstrators stepped up pressure by placing fake body bags on the lawn of a school official. Officers wearing helmets with face shields cleared approximately 50 people from the Diag, known for decades as a site for campus protests. Video posted online showed police using what appeared to be an irritant to spray people, who were forced to retreat. UM is not a campground, Sarah Hubbard, chair of the university's governing board, said on the social platform X. At least four people were arrested, which caused protesters to shift to the Washtenaw County jail where they marched outside in support of their allies. We will not stop, we will not rest, a coalition of pro-Palestinian student groups said on social media. The campus encampment was set up on April 22, near the end of the school year and just before families began arriving for spring commencement. Posters taunting President Santa Ono and other officials were also displayed. After the camp was cleared, nearby buildings including the undergraduate and graduate libraries were closed and police turned away students who showed up to study. Ono said in a statement that the encampment had become a threat to safety, with overloaded power sources and open flames. Organizers, he added, had refused to comply with requests to make changes following an inspection by a fire marshal. The disregard for safety directives was only the latest in a series of troubling events centered on an encampment that has always violated the rules that govern the Diag especially the rules that ensure the space is available to everyone, Ono said. Protesters have demanded that the schools endowment stop investing in companies with ties to Israel. But the university insists it has no direct investments and less than $15 million placed with funds that might include companies in Israel. Thats less than 0.1% of the total endowment. Theres nothing to talk about. That issue is settled, Hubbard said last week. A group of 30 protesters showed up at her house on May 15 and placed stuffed, red-stained sheets on her lawn to resemble body bags. They banged a drum and chanted slogans over a bullhorn. People wearing face coverings also posted demands at the doors of other board members. This conduct is where our failure to address antisemitism leads literally literally to the front door of my home, board member Mark Bernstein, a Detroit-area lawyer, said at a Regents meeting last Thursday. Whos next? When and where will this end? As a Jew, I know the answer to these questions because our experience is full of tragedies that we are at grave risk of repeating. Enough is enough. Students and others have set up tent encampments on campuses around the country to press colleges to cut financial ties with Israel. Tensions over the war have been high on campuses since the fall, but demonstrations spread quickly following an April 18 police crackdown on an encampment at Columbia University. Arrests at campuses have surpassed the 3,000 mark nationwide. An encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters at Philadelphias Drexel University persisted Tuesday despite an earlier threat by the schools president to have it cleared. University administrators tried to open a line of communication to the protesters but were rebuffed, Drexel President John Fry said in a statement Tuesday. He said city and campus police planned to monitor a rally at the encampment scheduled for Tuesday night. Lecture classes will remain virtual for a third day Wednesday because of the encampment, and some events will have to be rescheduled, Fry said. Many of you have expressed your frustration over our decision to scale back in-person classes and activities. I understand and share your frustration. But please rest assured that we are doing everything we can to return our campus safely to normal operations, he said. ___ White reported from Detroit. Associated Press reporter Michael Rubinkam in northeastern Pennsylvania contributed to this report. A pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Michigan was broken up by police early Tuesday morning, weeks after it was first set up. The school determined the encampment was becoming a safety threat, and students refused to comply and fix the problems, Michigan spokesperson Colleen Mastony said. Following a May 17 inspection by the university fire marshal, who determined that if a fire were to occur, a catastrophic loss of life was likely, and subsequent refusal by camp occupants to remove fire hazards, the university this morning removed the encampment on the Diag, an area that serves as our main quad, Mastony said. But the fire hazards were not the only instances the encampment presented a disruption to the campus, she added. The disregard for safety directives was the latest in a series of troubling events centered on the encampment. Individuals will continue to be welcome to protest as they always have at the University of Michigan, so long as those protests do not infringe on the rights of others, endanger our community, violate the law or disrupt university operations, Mastony said. Removing the encampment occurred a week after some protesters went to the home of a university official and placed fake body bags in their yard, The Associated Press reported. TAHRIR Coalition, a group of student organizations that organized the encampment, denounced the use of police force and said the university put its students safety in jeopardy. This morning @SantaJOno @JordanAckerMI @RegentHubbard used student safety as their reasoning to clear our encampment built in the name of 35,000+ Palestinian martyrs. Students have been hospitalized and arrested, a true sign of how much @UMich cares about student safety, the coalition posted on the social platform X. The coalition also posted videos from the scene of police using pepper spray on students to force them out of the area. The protesters have been demanding the school divest from Israel, but the school argues its endowment has no direct ties to the country. In recent days, encampment participants have also received numerous outreach attempts from U-M administrators and DPSS leadership, asking them to leave. The encampment posed safety risks, both to participants and the community at large, and its presence was in violation of policies and regulations. Its removal was important to help maintain the safety and security of the U-M campus community, said Melissa Overton, public information officer for the Division of Public Safety and Security at the school. 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 The Hill. A few years ago, astronomers announced the discovery of an unusual system called KIC 8145411. In it, a white dwarf orbits a Sun-like star every 450 days. ADVERTISIMENT This dwarf is nothing more than the dim, compact remnants of stars that have exhausted their nuclear fuel. The system is a rare example of a self-lensing binary, where the gravitational weight of a compact white dwarf increases the light of its companion star to a very small extent, allowing astronomers to measure the dwarf's mass, writes New Scientist. Scientists have found that it makes up only a fifth of the mass of our Sun. This is extremely small for such a star. This has previously been observed only in systems where a dwarf orbits closely around another star that sucks mass out of it. In KIC 8145411, the white dwarf orbits at a distance slightly greater than the distance between the Earth and our Sun (1 AU), which is too far for a larger star to chip away at the dwarf. Astronomers came to only one conclusion: this star must not exist. ADVERTISIMENT Now, Natsuko Yamaguchi of the California Institute of Technology and her colleagues have taken another look at the system using the Palomar Observatory in California and found a solution. The researchers found that the system contains another Sun-like star that orbits the other two at a distance of about 700 AU. By factoring this new star into the calculations, the team determined a more reasonable mass for the white dwarf - about half that of our Sun. Any planet in a system with three stars would potentially have wild and unusual seasons as it moves through its orbit. However, unfortunately, such worlds are unlikely to be found in KIC 8145411 because they would have been burned up during the formation of the white dwarf. ADVERTISIMENT "If the planet existed, it would probably have been destroyed," Yamaguchi said. Earlier, OBOZ.UA wrote that a team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology discovered the three oldest stars in the Universe. Scientists say they could have been born simultaneously with the first galaxies. Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! Police checked on party near Withrow hours before shooting, but didn't break it up About four hours before 18-year-old Lamon Wiggins was shot and killed at a gathering near Withrow High School early Saturday, police responded to the party but did not break up the crowd, Chief Teresa Theetge said Tuesday. The Cincinnati police chief spoke at a press conference Tuesday announcing summer initiatives to curb violence. She reported a 50% reduction in the number of juveniles shot compared to last year, a 5% reduction in overall shootings and a 30% reduction in the number of guns being reported stolen. Theetge also spoke about the party in Hyde Park. Wiggins was a senior at Withrow and had graduated earlier that day. Investigators said a crowd of about 50 people had gathered near the high school when gunfire exploded leaving Wiggins dead. No other injuries were reported and no arrests have been announced. Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge spoke Tuesday about the department's efforts to curb violence and crime this summer. The shooting occurred around 3:30 a.m. Theetge said police responded to the gathering around 11:30 p.m. after a 911 call. "At that moment, it was a party, a youth party. There was no need to break it up at that time," Theetge said. She said officers handle these situations on a case-by-case basis and when they had checked on the gathering earlier in the evening there was no indication of violence. The Enquirer has requested reports and recordings of the 911 calls related to the incident, but those have not yet been released. Summer safety Last year holds the record for the most teens between 13 and 17 shot in a single year. The city and police outlined their continuing efforts to curb this violence over the summer. Mayor Aftab Pureval said the city wants to ensure "every family has access to a peaceful and thriving community." All 24 city pools will be open this summer, and the Saturday hours will be extended to 11 p.m. at two recreation centers: the Hirsch Recreation Center in Avondale and the Lincoln Recreation Center in West End. The new schedule starts June 8. City Manager Sheryl Long also announced she was forming a youth manager's advisory group to give young Cincinnatians a direct line of communication with city government. The Cincinnati Police Department is holding its Citicamp, for children who have experienced trauma, and its cadet program for youth interested in law enforcement. This summer, the department is also holding a Safe Gun Storage Week in partnership with Whitney Austin who was wounded in the Fifth Third Center shooting in 2018. The city has set up a one-stop place to find resources and activities for kids called Summer in Cincy at www.cincinnati-oh.gov/summerincincy. "We have to keep our foot on the gas pedal," Theetge said. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Chief talks summer safety in wake of killing near Withrow High School Authorities are investigating the cause of a single-vehicle crash that left one man dead Monday night in Hartford. Jacob S. Werner, 24, of Bethalto was a front seat passenger in the vehicle and was pronounced deceased at the scene by a Madison County Coroners Office investigator, according to a news release from Hartford Police Chief Matt Asbury. The vehicle was driven by a 24-year-old Bethalto man, Asbury said in the news release. The crash occurred in the area of Illinois 3 and Rand Avenue in Hartford at about 7 p.m. Monday, Asbury said. Other details about the crash have not been released, and the crash remains under investigation by the Hartford Police Department, the Illinois State Police crash reconstruction unit and the Madison County Coroners Office. UPDATE 7:10 p.m.: A missing woman who was reported missing from the Springfield area has been found safe, JSO said. The Jacksonville Sheriffs Office is looking for 72-year-old Willie Pearl Austin. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< Austin has been described as a missing endangered adult from the Springfield area. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] She was reported missing on Mon., May 20, at around 3 p.m. She left the area of 600 W. 8th St. at around 9:30 a.m. and was last seen walking at the 3100 block of North Main St. at about 11:15 a.m. Austin was reported to be showing signs of memory loss and confusion. Austin is 5-foot-1 in height and weighs around 130 pounds. She has brown eyes and grey hair styled in a bun. She was wearing a grey sweatshirt, grey sweatpants, and grey and purple Nike sneakers. If you have information that could lead to the whereabouts of Willie Pearl Austin, you are asked to contact the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office at 904-630-0500 or 911. [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. Police lower the boom on Pasadena man accused of setting off over 150 explosions in two years A Pasadena man has been arrested and accused of setting off at least two explosions last week, and police say he may have been involved in more than 150 total explosions in a small area over the last two years. Art Leon Berian, 63, was charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorney with three counts of using an explosive device to destroy property. He was arraigned Monday, and his bail was set at $1.5 million. On Thursday, police were investigating one of the explosions and looking for video of the incident when they heard another detonation and saw a white cloud, authorities said. Police saw Berian's 2013 BMW pulling up to where the explosion occurred. He was taken into custody, and police said they took evidence from his car that was related to the explosion. While most of the explosions over the last two years were not reported to police, the incidents were identified through ShotSpotter technology or by neighbors, police said. There were 14 explosions in a small area near Allen Avenue and Washington Boulevard over the last two weeks. Read more: Police say driver fatally shot after fleeing, then crashing into Tesla: 'Mother of all booms' The manager of Universal Stop smoke shop on Washington Boulevard said the explosions seemed like firecrackers to him. He said he'd heard a few of them over a couple months, and they shocked the clientele of the shop. He thought the explosions were set of by teens driving by. "I hadn't seen the guy. I just heard them," said the manager, who identified himself as Sam B. "Everyone thought it was a gunshot, but I saw it and it looked like a firework." Authorities identified two cars involved in the explosions. Both were registered to Berian, police said. "Miraculously. there have been no reported injuries associated with these explosions," the Pasadena Police Department said in a news release. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Police to get powers to ban disruptive protests under new plans Protest groups that regularly break the law, such as Palestine Action, could face restrictions on their ability to raise funds - MARTIN POPE/SOPA IMAGES/SHUTTERSTOCK Police are to get new powers to ban protests that are likely to intimidate and disrupt communities under plans being considered by ministers. Chief constables would be able to block marches due to the cumulative disruption and persistent threats to public order caused by protests under changes to laws proposed in a report on political violence. Police forces would be allowed to impose conditions on protests and limit their frequency under changes to public order legislation if they judged that it was diverting too many officers away from fighting crime in local communities. Protest groups that regularly broke the law such as Palestine Action and Just Stop Oil could also face restrictions on their ability to raise funds and their right to assembly under a new system modelled on the Governments list of proscribed terrorist organisations. The proposals are among 41 recommendations drawn up by Lord Walney, the Governments independent adviser on political violence and disruption, in a 291-page report presented to Parliament on Tuesday. It follows complaints that the frequent pro-Palestinian marches through central London have turned it into a no-go zone for Jewish people and fuelled anti-Semitism in the wake of the Hamas terror attack on Israel on Oct 7. James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, welcomed the report, which he said ministers would now consider implementing. It is vital that we take action to manage and limit the impact of protests that descend into violence and disruption, he said. Vile anti-Semitism In recent months, we have seen too often vile displays of anti-Semitism on our streets and aggressive, disruptive tactics deployed by some protesters. Thats why, over the coming weeks, the Government will look at Lord Walneys recommendations on public order and changing the thresholds for imposing conditions on protests and the way in which they are applied. In his report, Lord Walney said the Government should amend the Public Order Act 1986 to expand the grounds on which a police force could recommend a march be banned beyond the current narrow grounds that it risked public disorder. Forces would be able to block a protest where police reasonably believe the procession will likely result in intimidation from threatening or abusive conduct, or where there is a demonstrable cumulative impact on serious disruption. Police would have to take account of the persistence of arrests at protests for stirring up hatred, causing harassment, alarm or distress or support for terrorism. Assessing the cumulative impact would focus on the frequency of repeated demonstrations and failure of organisers to limit disruption to acceptable levels. Changes to the act would also allow police to balance the cost of policing protests with the right to protest and place limits on their frequency if they were judged to disproportionately impact other policing priorities. The report was published as the Governments previous legislation lowering the threshold for police intervention in protest was ruled unlawful in the High Court after a legal challenge by the civil liberties group Liberty. Lowered threshold The Home Office regulations lowered the threshold for what is considered serious disruption to community life, from significant and prolonged to more than minor. The Government is appealing and could rewrite the legislation if it loses alongside any new Bill that it presents as a result of Lord Walneys review. His report also recommended that the Government introduce a mechanism to restrict the activities of protest groups which had a policy to break the law through the destruction of property or deliberately caused serious disruption or injury to the public. Lord Walney said the system would be distinct from the list of proscribed terrorist groups but would sanction organisations which persistently interfered with the rights of others or impeded the proper functioning of democratic institutions or businesses. Sanctions attached to this restriction would include restricting the groups right to assembly and its ability to fundraise, said the report. Central and local government should also commit not to fund, work with or consult groups that advocated illegal action or facilitated intimidation or harassment, it added. It confirmed the Government should develop a mechanism to allow individuals and businesses who could evidence significant personal harm or economic damage from illegal disruptive protest to claim damages from protest organisers. Ministers should also consider the viability of requiring protest organisers to contribute to the policing costs when they held a significant number of large demonstrations which caused serious disruption or law-breaking. Police could get wider powers to use covert surveillance on extreme protest groups that broke the law. Lord Walney also suggested there should be buffer zones around MPs constituency offices, council chambers and defence company sites to protect them from intimidation and threats by protesters, similar to those applied to abortion clinics. We must place liberal principles at the heart of how we protect democracy from coercion Lord Walney Britain's public framework is being severely tested by the weekly drumbeat of marches demanding a ceasefire in Gaza - MARTIN POPE When ambulances and thousands of people are stopped from going about their work by illegal roadblocks, we expect the perpetrators to be met with the full force of the law, writes Lord Walney. When businesses are attacked and employees terrorised in their offices by activists, our social contract dictates that they are treated as criminals. And when protest movements spill out on to our streets in orgies of hatred or intimidation of our elected representatives, we know they must be deterred. It is our failure to, so far, meet those challenges posed by criminal activism which provides the alarming context for the publication of my review into political violence and disruption yesterday. I began my work in the autumn of 2020, after being commissioned by then-prime minister Boris Johnson, and was asked to pay particular attention to the status of far-Right groups, but also the extreme Left, through the prism of the effectiveness of governments understanding and responses to political violence. Over three years I engaged widely with government and law enforcement authorities, including our security agencies, with international partners, academia, civil society, and those impacted by extreme protest movements, lawbreaking, and disruption. I also commissioned polling and focus groups, carried out a formal call for evidence, extensively analysed primary open-source material from extreme organisations and commissioned a new piece of analysis on the ecosystem of the far-Left. There are more than 100,000 words and 41 recommendations, but it is worth me reiterating that the right to peaceful protest is one of the bedrocks of our nation state. Whether its the civil rights movement here in the UK during the 1950s and 1960s, or the 2003 march against the Iraq War, those demonstrations brought dignity, power, and sometimes success, to their causes. We must hold true to those values. Which means we cannot allow chaos to be condoned, intimidation to be tolerated and brute force to win the argument. Noble causes Noble causes such as the battle against climate change have been hijacked by extremist groups determined to bypass democratic norms and cause maximum disruption to society. At the same time hostile states have been emboldened, seeking to sow division in our communities by stoking hatred on our streets. The lack of a sufficient deterrent effect to extreme protest through the courts has been exposed by the actions of militant groups such as Just Stop Oil and Palestine Action, who have seized on criminal sabotage and illegal disruption as their method of forcing their way into the conversation on their chosen causes. During my review I found the influence of far-Right organisations at a relative low ebb, thanks in part to the Governments policy of actively proscribing those who meet the terrorist threshold. Still, while relatively limited in comparison to Islamist terrorism, the violent threat from the far-Right is significantly greater than that from the far-Left - with a Left-wing, anarchist and single-issue terror attack in the UK judged highly unlikely. Nevertheless, I found a serious blind spot in the states understanding of, and focus on, the wider ways in which extreme Left-wing ideology can undermine our democracy. Britains strengthened public framework is also being severely tested by the weekly drumbeat of marches demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. Even more seriously, there has been a level of disorder, anti-Semitic hate crime and support for proscribed terrorist groups at the marches which the police have, at times, appeared unable fully to control. This trajectory should alarm us all and act as a wake-up call to the political establishment particularly those of us on the centre and Left of politics, who tend to have been brought up in and around an environment of lively protest ourselves. The current legal balance is leaving many deeply dissatisfied. Public opinion Polling carried out for this review shows that the Government is out of step with public opinion when it comes to the type of powers needed to maintain order versus the widespread disapproval of protesters using guerilla tactics. By margins of two to one, those polled thought it was unacceptable for protestors to occupy public spaces such as buildings and public transport. By a margin of three to one, they believed it was unacceptable to disrupt peoples journeys by blocking roads and public transport. And defacing public buildings and property was opposed by 93 per cent of those surveyed. It is time for the political world to catch up with the real world and see extreme protest movements as an unacceptable threat to our democracy, not an extension to it. So, what to do. Among my recommendations, one of the key proposals is to give police greater powers to refuse protests where they are causing high levels of cumulative negative impact in a particular area, not simply if they cause substantial risk of a riot on the day the current bar for a ban. I also recommend that government creates a mechanism to restrict the activities of organisations which have a policy of breaking the law to influence government and coerce the public. It would be for a future home secretary to determine which organisations fit those criteria, but I note in my report the extensive ways in which Just Stop Oil and Palestine Action, and other splinter groups, deploy criminal disruption or sabotage in this regard. The Prime Minister should call on the speaker of the House of Commons to convene a process to examine what it will take to enable MPs to go about their work without threat of violence or intimidation. And we should consider strengthening the ability of law enforcement agencies to deploy covert surveillance to detect and stop serious illegal disruption. A sensitive but important area. But changes in the balance of protections must form part of a bigger change of attitude. Those who are lucky enough to play a role in our parliamentary democracy need to be stronger champions of it. That means government and mainstream political parties placing liberal first principles at the heart of how they seek to protect our democracy from coercion. These principles must include upholding parliamentary democracy and the rule of law, defending free expression and the free press, and not supporting or advocating for hostile states and non-state actors. Its now time for action. The integrity of our democracy depends on it. Lord Walney is the governments independent adviser on political violence and disruption 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. Do police receive more calls during Spring Bike Rally or Black Bike Week? What we learned Reality Check is a new Sun News series holding those in power accountable, shining a light on local issues, and answering readers essential questions. Have a question or concern we can answer? Email online@thesunnews.com. When Black bikers roll into the Myrtle Beach area over Memorial Day weekend, it has been suggested that an increase in crime comes in with them. Atlantic Beach Bike Fest, also known as Black Bike Week, is one of two motorcycle rallies in May. Spring Bike Rally, which just wrapped up on May 19, 2024, happens for 10 days, while Black Bike Week happens Memorial Day weekend. But with the two rallies, do police respond to more calls at one than the other? The Sun News requested the number of police calls made during the two motorcycle rallies during 2022 and 2023 by Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach and Horry County police departments using a Freedom of Information Act request. The Sun News was unable to get the number of calls during that time from Horry County. It would have cost $200 to receive that information, according to Horry County FOIA manager Aaron Spelbring. There were more police calls made per day during the Atlantic Beach Bike Fest than during the Spring Bike Rally in both 2022 and 2023, according to the numbers from Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach. But there are a few explanations as to why. While one motorcycle rally did receive more police calls than the other, that does not automatically mean there is more crime. In addition, calls for police service does not mean that a crime was committed. Police could have been called for something as serious as a shooting or as minor as someone was being too loud. Many of the Spring Bike Rally motorcyclists congregate in unincorporated Horry County near Murrells Inlet, while Black Bike Week attendees spend time in North Myrtle Beach. Black Bike Week is during Memorial Day weekend, May 24 through May 27, which is the start of the summer season along the Grand Strand and there are many more people than just bikers coming into the area. The Myrtle Beach Spring Bike Rally is held over the course of 10 days in 2024, it ran from May 10 through May 19 so attendees may be more spread out and not congregated the same way. Some people on social media have suggested that theres more crime or police calls made during Black Bike Week. There have also been problems with Myrtle Beachs police strategies during the Memorial Day weekend motorcycle rally. Myrtle Beach NAACP president Tiffany Andrews said peoples unconscious biases, or implicit biases or stereotypes can lead them to call police. There is an unconscious bias and that is not just in Myrtle Beach, not just in South Carolina, but in America, Andrews said. There is an unconscious bias when it comes to calls that come into any police station. While it is unclear how many motorcyclists and attendees are at each rally, it is know that the rallies draw thousands to the Myrtle Beach area. Police presence is high at both, but in past years, more police tend to be at Black Bike Week than other rallies. Horry County Public Safety decides how many police officers to send out based on several factors, including anticipated attendance, expected hotel occupancy rate, the number of calls for service made the previous year and the amount of traffic based on numbers from South Carolina Department of Transportation, South Carolina Department of Public Safety, and license plate readers, said Horry County Police spokesperson Mikayla Moskov. How many calls were made in previous years? Myrtle Beach: 2022 Myrtle Beach Spring Bike Rally, May 13 through May 22: 3,761 calls, average is 376 a day (over 10 days) 2022 Atlantic Beach Bike Fest, May 27 through May 30: 2,241 calls, average is 560 a day (over four days) 2023 Myrtle Beach Spring Bike Rally, May 12 through May 21: 3,491 calls, average is 349 a day (over 10 days) 2023 Atlantic Beach Bike Fest, May 26 through May 29: 2,109 calls, average is 527 a day (over four days). North Myrtle Beach: 2022 Myrtle Beach Spring Bike Rally, May 13 through May 22: 1,157 calls, average is 116 a day (over 10 days) 2022 Atlantic Beach Bike Fest, May 27 through May 30: 1,152 calls, average is 288 a day (over four days) 2023 Myrtle Beach Spring Bike Rally, May 12 through 22: 1,379 calls, average is 125 a day (over 11 days) 2023 Atlantic Beach Spring Bike Rally, May 26 through May 29: 1,020 calls, average is 255 a day (over four days). Myrtle Beachs lawsuit for over-policing The city of Myrtle Beach has faced off with the NAACP in court over the number of officers Myrtle Beach has during Black Bike Week. The civil rights group filed a lawsuit against the city alleging racial discrimination in 2018, The Sun News reported. The NAACP said Myrtle Beach used additional police and a traffic detour during Memorial Day weekend, which is when Black Bike Week is held, to deter Black riders from coming to Myrtle Beach. In 2020, a split federal jury ruled that Myrtle Beach was guilty of racial discrimination, but the city also would have eventually started using these tactics even if race wasnt a factor. Myrtle Beach paid a $50,000 settlement to the NAACP. Police release photos of man wanted in home invasion that led to school lockdowns The Milton Police Department has released surveillance photos of the man wanted in a home invasion that led to two schools being put on lockdown miles away in Alpharetta. Police said the home invasion happened around 11:40 a.m. Monday when a man, armed with a gun, broke into a house on Highgrove Club Drive and stole the homeowners Escalade. Two people were home, police said, and one of them suffered minor injuries. Alpharetta police picked up the SUV near Haynes Bridge Middle School and started a chase that ended at the school parking lot. It triggered a lockdown at Haynes Bridge Middle and later at nearby New Prospect Elementary. Police say the suspect never ran toward the school and instead ran toward Big Creek Greenway. The home invasion happened three weeks after a burglary on the same street in Milton. Police are now working to determine if the same suspect was involved in both incidents. TRENDING STORIES: Neighbor Will Virgo grew up in the neighborhood and always considered it a super-safe and close-knit neighborhood. Its unnerving. Its always been a safe neighborhood. Its unsettling, he said. Mike Makuch has lived in the neighborhood for eight years. He says until the recent incidents, he had never seen crime in the area. The first thing I think of is that its not as safe as I thought it once was, because I havent heard of any incidents like that since Ive been here, he said. He now plans to lock his doors and keep watch. Im going to be a lot more careful from now on, Makuch said. Milton police released photos of that man wanted in the home invasion. Anyone who recognizes the man or knows of his whereabouts is asked to call Milton police at 678-242-2614 or call Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477. RELATED NEWS: Police removed on Tuesday a tent encampment protesting Israel on campus at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, ending one of the longest-running university encampments in the country this year. In a statement, university president Santa Ono said that officials were forced to take action after the protesters refused to remove fire hazards discovered during an inspection last week by a fire marshal. In the early morning hours on Tuesday, May 21, police cleared a tent encampment set up by University of Michigan students who were demanding the university divest from Israel. "The protesters refused to comply with these requests," Ono said. "That forced the university to take action and this morning, we removed the encampment." Just before 6 a.m., university police and security began clearing the encampment, Melissa Overton, a spokeswoman for University of Michigan police, told the Free Press. Overton said that before the action was taken, "officers provided a handout and issued three warnings over a 15-minute period, asking participants to leave voluntarily before being subject to arrest." She did not specify whether there were any arrests or detainments. The Washtenaw County Sheriffs Office said there were some arrests and removals of people, which they did not take part in. While other protest sites across the U.S. were shut down by police or ended voluntarily in recent weeks, the encampment on the Diag kept on going, attracting protesters, some counterprotesters, guests and curious onlookers. That ended this morning. Posts on X, formerly Twitter, by the TAHRIR Coalition, a group of student organizations who helped set up the encampment, show police on-site at the Diag in the center of campus, claiming that pepper spray had been used at one point. The coalition said there were three arrests. An email sent to the coalition was not immediately returned. Overton said university police had repeatedly asked the protesters to leave. "In recent days, encampment participants have also received numerous outreach attempts from U-M administrators and DPSS (Division of Public Safety and Security) leadership, asking them to leave," she said. "The encampment posed safety risks, both to participants and the community at large, and its presence was in violation of multiple policies and regulations. Its removal was important to help maintain the safety and security of the U-M campus community." The tent encampment was set up four weeks ago on April 22 calling upon the university to divest from Israel. It echoed a tent encampment at Columbia University in New York City. While police soon shut down the Columbia encampment and similar protest sites at other universities, police in Michigan initially took a hands-off approach to the encampment in Ann Arbor. But tensions started to escalate after some protesters recently demonstrated outside the homes of some regents, including their chair. Ono said they had no choice but to shut down the encampment. "Ensuring that the campus is safe for students, faculty, employees, university visitors, and protesters is a paramount concern, which is why the university has provided 24-hour security for the encampment over the past four weeks," he said. "Following a May 17 inspection by the university fire marshal, who determined that were a fire to occur, a catastrophic loss of life was likely, the fire marshal and Student Life leaders asked camp occupants to remove external camp barriers, refrain from overloading power sources, and stop using open flames." U-M students chant Occupation No More and Israel Is a Terrorist State as they rally during the encampment for Gaza at the Diag in Ann Arbor on Monday, April 22, 2024. Construction equipment could be seen after 8 a.m. removing parts of the encampment. There was a U-Haul truck at the Diag, with at least one officer with a helmet, face shield and baton standing near a police vehicle parked nearby. More: University of Michigan students set up tent encampment, demand divestment from Israel You can see construction equipment tearing up and removing some of the encampment pieces pic.twitter.com/QI7USAwlaN Dave Boucher (@Dave_Boucher1) May 21, 2024 In his statement, Ono listed other disruptions to campus life caused by the protesters in recent weeks, such as at a ceremony for honors students. "The disregard for safety directives was only the latest in a series of troubling events centered on an encampment that has always violated the rules that govern the Diag especially the rules that ensure the space is available to everyone," Ono said. U-M students set up encampment for Gaza at the Diag in Ann Arbor on Monday, April 22, 2024. Protesters compared their struggle for divestment to the struggles for divestment from South Africa in the 1980s, when demonstrators set up a shanty on campus in Ann Arbor to symbolize the sufferings of Black people under apartheid rule. The state of Michigan passed a law in 1983 calling upon all public universities and colleges in Michigan to divest from South Africa, but the university initially fought the law in court. Divesting from Israel would be challenging since Michigan has a law prohibiting state contracts with anyone who supports divesting from or boycotting Israel. Supporters of Israel have criticized the tent encampment as being unfairly hostile to Israel and at times antisemitic. The regents have said they have no plans to divest from Israel. Some banners at the site read: "Encampment For Gaza! Divest Now!" and "Long Live The Intifada." One banner strung up between branches on a tree read: "Liberated Zone." More: Campus protests against Gaza attacks continue in Michigan amid national crackdown Muslims and Jews conducted prayers at the site and guest lecturers, such as Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, visited the site to speak to protesters. By 8 a.m., police blocked off an area hundreds of yards away from the Diag. At least three large garbage trucks were visible at the Diag, presumably moving away detritus of the encampment. Police and security vigilantly monitored the edges of the area, marked by yellow caution tape. Michigan State Police Lt. Rene Gonzalez referred inquires to university police. State troopers have been seen on campus around the encampment in recent weeks. Today's police action is the latest crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters in southeastern Michigan. Last month, Detroit police ticketed 38 people who took part in a pro-Palestinian caravan, impounded five cars, and arrested four people. On Sunday, police said they detained 10 people protesting against President Joe Biden. U-M students set up encampment for Gaza at the Diag in Ann Arbor on Monday, April 22, 2024. Ono said the university respects free speech, but added: "The university can and must regulate the time, place, and manner of expression to ensure one groups right to protest does not infringe on the rights of others, endanger our community or disrupt the operations of the university." Ono said the protests at the regents' homes on May 15 "went well beyond the lawful exercise of free speech." But some criticized the police raid. It was "absolutely shameful and unnecessary violence," said Sean Johnson, an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Michigan in a post on X. In the early morning hours on Tuesday, May 21, police cleared a tent encampment set up by University of Michigan students who were demanding the university divest from Israel. Ono called for productive dialogue that doesn't violate the rights of others. "Moving forward, individuals will be welcome to protest as they always have at the University of Michigan, so long as those protests dont violate the rights of others and are consistent with university policies meant to ensure the safety of our community," Ono said. "To be clear, there is no place for violence or intimidation at the University of Michigan. Such behavior will not be tolerated, and individuals will be held accountable." Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com or X @nwarikoo This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: University of Michigan encampment protest removed by police (NewsNation) Police are investigating how actor Matthew Perry obtained the ketamine that ultimately killed the Friends star last year, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to NewsNation. A bystander found Perry, 54, dead in a hot tub Oct. 28 at his Pacific Palisades residence. Perry died before first responders arrived. Toxicology and autopsy results showed the actor died from acute effects of ketamine. Courteney Cox reveals belief about Friends co-star Matthew Perry Drowning, coronary artery disease and buprenorphine effects were contributing factors, according to the report. Buprenorphine is used to treat opioid use disorder. Perry was reported to be receiving ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety. According to the medical examiners report released in December, high levels of ketamine were found in Perrys blood specimens. However, the report noted his last known treatment as almost two weeks prior to his death, meaning the ketamine could not be from that infusion therapy, since ketamines half-life is three to four hours, or less. What to know about ketamine Officials, however, are attempting to trace the origin of the ketamine that medical examiners found in Perrys system from the night he died. The police department did not provide further details about the investigation. 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 Queen City News. The EU Council has approved the confiscation of profits from Russia's assets in favor of Ukraine. It is expected that this will allow the country to receive 2.5-3 billion euros in 2024 alone, 90% of which will go to the needs of the army. ADVERTISIMENT This was reported by the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the EU. They noted that the remaining 10% will be used to rebuild Ukraine. "The EU Council has approved an agreement on the use of profits from the frozen assets of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in favor of Ukraine. The annual income is expected to be between 2.5 and 3 billion euros," the statement said. For its part, Bloomberg reminded that after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the G7 countries froze about $280 billion worth of Russian assets. Moreover, more than two-thirds of the assets are in the EU, in particular in the Belgian depository Euroclear, "where they have brought about 3.9 billion euros in net profit since last year." ADVERTISIMENT Germany agrees to use Russia's frozen assets in favor of Ukraine At the same time, the German authorities have decided to support the US plan to use the profits from frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine, in particular, to provide a $50 billion loan. This could be a decisive step that will bring Washington and its allies closer to providing a new substantial aid package to the country that is under full-scale attack. According to Bloomberg, the G7 is expected to discuss the issue this week. However, the decision will not be made until mid-June. "German officials are ready to support the U.S. plan to use future proceeds from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine. ... What is at stake is whether the Ukrainian government will be able to remain financially viable until 2025," the statement said. ADVERTISIMENT It is emphasized that in this way, supporters of Ukraine seek to ensure its medium-term financing and "to send a signal to Moscow that support for Kyiv among the G7 allies is not weakening." As reported, US Special Representative for Ukraine's Economic Recovery Penny Pritzker explained that the process of confiscating Russian assets will require a collective decision of all countries that have frozen Russian funds in their financial institutions. It will take time, so we should not expect it to happen quickly. Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! Police seek help in search for missing woman last seen months ago at Boston hospital Police are turning to the public for help tracking down a missing woman last seen nearly five months ago at a hospital in Boston. Jillian Ann Woods, of Boston, was last seen on Saturday, Jan. 22, at Tufts Medical Center, the Boston Police Department announced Tuesday. Woods is described as about 5 feet, 6 inches tall, about 117 pounds, with brown hair shoulder-length hair. Police noted that Woods could be in Concord or Leominster and that she suffers from mental health and substance abuse issues. Anyone with information on Woods whereabouts is urged to contact 911 or detectives at 617-343-4328. Anonymous tips can also be shared by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1-800-494 or by texting the word TIP to CRIME (27463). Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has conceded that Russian special forces could be responsible for the burning of a retail mall in Warsaw earlier this month, but urged people not to speculate until the investigation was completed. Source: Tusk at a press conference on 21 May, writes TVN24, as reported by European Pravda Details: Commenting on the status of the investigation into the fire in the Warsaw shopping centre, the president of the Polish government encouraged people not to speculate "about which of the incidents in Poland are possibly the result of the activities of foreign services, in particular Russian and Belarusian." However, he notes, "the activity of Russian services, especially those that collaborate with Belarusians, is high, and one should not delude oneself." "Today, we have the right to assume this may be the wrong word, but we are following the strings that the Russian services are tied to the higlh-profile fire on Marywilska Street, and the investigation is ongoing," Tusk emphasised. The Prime Minister of Poland committed to keep the public updated on the investigation's progress, and he also announced state support for entrepreneurs affected by the fire. On 12 May, a massive fire broke out at Warsaw's shopping centre. Tusk previously stressed that no evidence suggested a foreign involvement in this occurrence. It should be noted that this is not the only case of arson in European countries, and some states, particularly Lithuania and Estonia, have publicly presumed that Russia is responsible in similar cases. Support UP or become our patron! Political notes: New adventure for DeMarco, new chief at energy agency and a message in the mud Jamie DeMarco, right, pictured earlier this year with sponsors and advocates of a bill that would have forced polluters to pay for climate damage. DeMarco is about to take a new direction in his advocacy career. Photo by Josh Kurtz. Jamie DeMarco, the Maryland director of the regional Chesapeake Climate Action Network and a second-generation Annapolis lobbyist, is about to embark on a new, adjacent professional journey. Beginning Aug. 1, DeMarco will move over to the environmental groups advocacy organization, the CCAN Action Fund, to simultaneously work on two independent expenditure campaigns this election season: one to defeat former Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and elect Prince Georges County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) in Marylands U.S. Senate race, the other to bolster President Joe Bidens reelection in Pennsylvania. Ill be spending the entire fall working to get them elected, DeMarco said. Im really looking forward to it. Organizing is at my core. Then, shortly after Election Day, DeMarco will step away from CCAN to launch his own State House-focused lobbying shop, DeMarco Advocacy. He has already lined up his current employer, CCAN, as a lobbying client, and hopes to land a few others before the 2025 General Assembly session. Three or four clients from nonprofits is really what Im looking for, especially in year one, DeMarco said. Im really excited to live and breathe Annapolis. Ill be working on the same issues, representing some of the same people, but in a new role. DeMarco has been with CCAN since 2020 and has also done climate advocacy with a national group, the Citizens Climate Lobby. He has also worked for the Maryland Clean Energy Jobs Initiative and with the Friends Committee on National Legislation. DeMarcos dad is the legendary Vincent DeMarco, the longtime health care and gun safety advocate in Maryland. CCAN is sifting through applications to replace DeMarco as its Maryland director. More energy personnel news The Maryland Energy Administration has a new chief of staff. The state agency that promotes clean energy development has hired a veteran government administrator and environmental advocate Jennifer Aiosa to replace Christopher Rice in the top staff job. Jenn Aiosa will bring to the Maryland Energy Administration a rare blend of experience and understanding on issues relevant to the mission of this agency, said Maryland Energy Administration Director Paul G. Pinsky. Her deep knowledge as an administrator and a scientist position her remarkably well to help keep us on path as we charge toward our mission. Aiosa most recently served as director of government affairs for Baltimore County, where she previously was the chief sustainability officer. She also was the executive director of the nonprofit organization Bluewater Baltimore; director of conservation programs for the Chesapeake Conservancy; and senior scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Aiosa has served at the Maryland Department of Planning as director of policy and planning research and worked for the Department of Natural Resources. The Maryland Energy Administration provides exceptional policy expertise and critical financial tools necessary for meaningful statewide impact in the fight against climate pollution. I am truly excited to be joining this dynamic and growing team working toward such important goals, Aiosa said. Rice, who has been with MEA in various capacities for 19 years, including the past five as chief of staff, is moving to Sustainable Energy Advantage, a renewable-energy market, policy, strategic and financial analysis consulting firm. A message only a mudder could love For the second year in a row, a group of Maryland state legislators and friends competed in the annual Tough Mudder competition last weekend in Philadelphia, which may best be described as a series of difficult athletic challenges and obstacle courses, including a 5K race, through mud. A message T-shirt worn by members of the Maryland General Assemblys team that competed this past weekend at the Tough Mudder competition outside Philadelphia before the shirts encountered any mud. Photo courtesy of Del. Lorig Charkoudian. This years team was led by Del. Lorig Charkoudian (D-Montgomery) and included Dels. Elizabeth Embry (D-Baltimore City) and Caylin Young (D-Baltimore City), in addition to an assortment of other state officials and advocates. This year, the Maryland team wore message T-shirts, in case any Pennsylvania legislators or other Keystone State policymakers were on hand. The shirt described the combatants as Relentless, Gritty, Graceful, Intense. Underneath that, the message read, Join us in RGGI! That was, it turned out, a subtle policy plea. RGGI, for the uninitiated, stands for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a program that enables participating mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states to auction off carbon credits every three months to power plants powered by fossil fuels, to compensate for the plants pollution. Maryland uses the auction proceeds to fund clean energy initiatives, which are funneled through the Maryland Energy Administration. But Pennsylvania officials have wavered about whether to join the regional alliance, and a court there threw out an RGGI rule late last year which is why Maryland officials decided to use the Tough Mudder to apply a little pressure. We cheered about RGGI as often as we could, Charkoudian reported in a text Monday. She said it was tongue-in-cheek but leaving all the good RGGI energy in PA, if you will. Asked how people responded to the T-shirts, Charkoudian conceded that shes not sure anyone other than the Maryland mudders understood it. The post Political notes: New adventure for DeMarco, new chief at energy agency and a message in the mud appeared first on Maryland Matters. Officials from the EU and Ukraine are pushing to begin formal accession negotiations as early as June 25, Politico reported on May 21, citing its undisclosed sources. According to the news outlet, intense diplomacy is being undertaken aimed at convincing the Hungarian government to drop their objections to Kyiv's membership in the bloc. Hungary is the only EU country to have maintained close ties with the Kremlin since the launch of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Budapest has repeatedly opposed sanctions against Moscow and obstructed EU support for Kyiv. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban claimed last November that Ukraine was "light years" away from joining the EU, despite the fact that the European Commission published its official recommendation on Nov. 8, 2023, that Ukraine was ready for talks to begin. An unnamed EU diplomat told Politico that Hungary may be keen to get the issue resolved before it takes over the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in July. Earlier this month, President Volodymyr Zelensky said he expects to begin accession negotiations to start in June. "We are actively preparing the next stage of rapprochement with the European Union for June - we anticipate the adoption of the negotiating framework and the actual start of the negotiations on Ukraine's accession," Zelensky said in his evening address on May 9. "Our country, our people deserve this," Zelensky added. "It is the lifeblood of the European Union to be a European project that leaves no one outside the EU, no one who truly professes European values." Also on May 9, Katarina Mathernova, the EU ambassador to Ukraine, said 2030 is a very real date for Ukraine to join the European Union. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola also announced during a visit to Kyiv on May 9 that official negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU should begin before the end of the first half of 2024. "Introductory negotiations must begin as quickly as possible and I am optimistic that EU member states can approve the negotiating framework in June," Metsola said. "As you know, the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the EU begins on July 1, so it is important to make the necessary decisions before that, during the Belgian presidency." Read also: Hungary vetoes Council of Europe resolution supporting Ukraines peace formula Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Politico: US may announce new military aid package for Ukraine this week The U.S. may announce a new military aid package for Ukraine later this week, Politico reported on May 20, citing two unnamed American officials. Neither the value of the aid package nor the weapons it could include were disclosed. After six months of delays, the U.S. Congress approved a $61 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine in April. The Pentagon announced on April 26 that it was ready to move forward with sending $1 billion worth of weapons to Kyiv from U.S. stockpiles. Another defense aid package for Kyiv worth $400 million was authorized on May 10. The Pentagon said that it will likely take some time before new aid effects are felt on the battlefield. In the meantime, Russia launched a new offensive with 30,000 troops on May 10, targeting Kharkiv Oblast, which is situated at the border with Russia in northeastern Ukraine. Moscow's forces had managed to advance as far as 10 kilometers (6 miles) in the region but had been halted by the first line of defense, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Over the winter months, Ukraine suffered a critical shortage of artillery shells, in large part due to delays in U.S. military aid. Russia has taken advantage of this, taking the city of Avdiivka in February. "Every decision to which we, then later everyone together, comes to is late by around one year," Zelensky told Reuters on May 20, adding that Western partners have been deliberating key decisions on military aid for Ukraine for "too long." Read also: Austin at Ramstein: US has already delivered many of Ukraines top priority requirements Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. James Elliot Davis II, of Ponte Vedra Beach, is being indicted for a fraud scheme involving COVID-19 Personal Protective Equipment, the United States Attorneys Office announced in a news release Monday. Davis faces bank fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and mail theft charges. From March 2018 through 2022, Davis ran an alleged medical supply company called Medisale, Inc., according to court documents. The United States Attorneys Office said Davis managed to get more than $7 million invested into the company by falsely representing significant profits from the sale of COVID-19 Personal Protective Equipment. He also falsely claimed to have contracts with hospital CEOs and hospitals to sell large amounts of N95 masks and other Personal Protective Equipment, according to the news release. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] There were no such contracts, and the company made no true revenue from the sale of Personal Protective Equipment. Davis used the money to pay off debts and for personal expenses, like a membership at a Ponte Vedra Beach luxury club and $27,000 in custom clothing. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] The 35-year-old faces years in federal prison, including up to 30 years for each count of bank fraud. 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. Pope Francis remarked that climate change is a road to death and has gotten to a point of no return during an interview aired Monday evening. Unfortunately, we have gotten to a point of no return. Its sad, but thats what it is. Global warming is a serious problem, Francis said in a CBS Evening News interview with Norah ODonnell. Climate change at this moment is a road to death. Francis said countries with the highest fossil fuel emissions are the greatest contributors to the worlds climate problems, urging action and brushing off the promised progress from international climate treaties. They are the countries that can make the most difference, given their industry and all, arent they? But it is very difficult to create an awareness of this, he said. They hold a conference, everybody is in agreement, they all sign, and then bye-bye. But we have to be very clear, global warming is alarming. The pope has repeatedly warned world leaders over the threat of climate change. Last year, he said the U.S. is irresponsible due to its excess carbon emissions. We can state that a broad change in the irresponsible lifestyle connected with the Western model would have a significant long-term impact, he said in October. He also planned to address the COP28 climate conference in Dubai last year, but he had to cancel due to health concerns. 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 The Hill. Pope Francis says the climate crisis has "gotten to the point of no return" as the planet continues to see the effects of global warming and world leaders have an even greater responsibility to take action. "How worried are you about climate change?" CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell asked Francis during a historic interview in Vatican City. "Unfortunately, we have gotten to a point of no return. It's sad, but that's what it is. Global warming is a serious problem," Francis replied. "Climate change at this moment is a road to death." Francis said wealthy countries reliant on fossil fuels are contributing to the problem. "They are the countries that can make the most difference, given their industry and all, aren't they? But it is very difficult to create an awareness of this. They hold a conference, everybody is in agreement, they all sign, and then bye-bye. But we have to be very clear, global warming is alarming," Francis said. Climate change is a topic Francis has been vocal about, from denouncing climate change skeptics to urging politicians to make "radical decisions" to protect the planet for future generations. In 2015, Francis became the first pontiff to address a joint meeting of Congress in Washington, D.C., where he called on U.S. lawmakers to take "an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature." Francis was scheduled to speak at the COP28 climate summit in November but had to cancel due to illness. He became the first pope to issue official Vatican documents on climate change, warning in 2023 that the world in which we live "is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point." On Earth Day this year, Francis wrote a message on social media saying, "Our generation has bequeathed many riches, but we have failed to protect the planet and we are not safeguarding peace. We are called to become artisans and caretakers of our common home, the Earth which is 'falling into ruin.'" Watch more of the pope's in-depth discussion on climate change and other topics in the CBS prime-time special "Pope Francis: The First," in the video above and streaming on Paramount+. Pope Francis: The 60 Minutes Interview Saying goodbye to season 56 and to a man who made 60 Minutes better for 35 years Martha Stewart on how to throw a garden tea party Pope Francis on his health and whether he'd ever retire Pope Francis' predecessor was the first pontiff in about 600 years to retire, but Francis says he has no plans to resign, and is even considering a possible trip to the U.S. In a historic Vatican City interview with CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell, the 87-year-old leader of the world's nearly 1.4 billion Catholics said the idea of stepping down has never occurred to him. "Maybe if the day comes when my health can go no further," Francis said. "Perhaps because the only infirmity I have is in my knee, and that is getting much better. But it never occurred to me." Francis, who took on the papacy in 2013 at the age of 76, now uses a wheelchair, but he described his health as "fine." Past health problems for Pope Francis As one of the oldest popes in the Church's history, Francis has dealt with several health issues, including the flu and two rounds of intestinal surgery. The pope also only has one full lung. Francis, who is from Argentina, had "a good part" of an infected lung removed when he was younger, according to his authorized biographer, Sergio Rubin. In "Life: My Story Through History," a memoir released earlier this year, Francis wrote about hospital stays and medical treatments, saying he knows that people speculate about the next conclave and a new pope. "Relax. It's human. There's nothing shocking about it," he writes. Last year, the pope was hospitalized for three days for what the Vatican called bronchitis, but the pope later described it as a case of pneumonia. Pope Francis also had abdominal surgery last June to repair a hernia and remove painful scarring. Benedict XVI, the pope who retired in 2013, cited his declining health before stepping down. He died in 2022 at age 95. No plans to slow down, with a possible U.S. trip in the future Pope Francis has kept a busy schedule over the past decade, traveling to more than 60 countries. He has trips scheduled to the Far East and Belgium. In September, Francis is scheduled to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. The Belgium trip is also scheduled for September. Francis said he may also visit the United States, "depending on whether I have to go and speak at the United Nations." He added, "It's a possibility. I'm not certain." O'Donnell asked what he would want to talk about there, and Francis replied, "If I go, it is to talk about peace." The possible trip is one of the many topics the pontiff addressed in the CBS prime-time special "Pope Francis: The First," in the video above and streaming on Paramount+. Pope Francis: The 60 Minutes Interview Saying goodbye to season 56 and to a man who made 60 Minutes better for 35 years Martha Stewart on how to throw a garden tea party Three restaurants in South Mississippi scored a failing C on their health inspections since May 11 for having no certified manager to oversee kitchen safety or for other violations. Restaurant owners in Mississippi must provide a copy of the food safety managers certificate, showing they received the necessary training. The restaurants cited are: Churchs Chicken at 2321 Pass Road, Gulfport, had a corrective follow-up inspection May 16. It was cited for: No certified manager Food not separated and protected Plumbing not installed with proper backflow devices This is the sixth C at the restaurant since 2020. 5 Stars Fast Mart, 11617 Three Rivers Road, Gulfport was inspected May 14 for a permit renewal. It was cited for: No certified manager No person present who demonstrates knowledge and performs duty Corrected during the inspection were: Adequate hand washing facilities supplied and accessible Food contact surface cleaned and sanitized This was the first C dating back to 2022. Big Daddys Soul Food to Go at 2605 25th Ave., Gulfport, had a scheduled inspection May 17. It was cited for: Improper cold holding temperatures A corrective follow-up inspection held May 18 showed the violation corrected and the restaurant received a B. This is the second C since 2021. Restaurants and other food service establishments in Mississippi are rated A if they pass the health department inspection, B if all violations are corrected during the inspection and C if the violations are critical. Most restaurants, kitchens and food trucks inspected since May 1 in South Mississippi had no violations, with 169 scoring an A, 38 a B and 8 a C. Belgian officials insist that official talks on Ukraine's accession to the European Union begin in June. Behind the scenes, EU and Kyiv diplomats are working intensively to persuade the Hungarian government to agree to start negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the bloc. ADVERTISIMENT The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the goal is to start official talks as early as June 25. This was reported by Politico. Belgium is confident that the start of negotiations will strengthen the morale of Ukraine, which has been fighting a full-scale Russian invasion for more than two years and has long sought to join the European bloc. To date, both Brussels and Kyiv have continued intensive bilateral diplomacy with Budapest to resolve the issue of Hungarian minorities in Ukraine. After the April talks between the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andrii Yermak, and Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, the parties noted the positive dynamics of the dialogue. In particular, Kyiv responded to the 11-point list presented by Budapest and is awaiting Hungary's reaction. ADVERTISIMENT The European Union fears that Hungary will interfere with the negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU before it assumes the six-month rotating presidency of the EU Council in July. Therefore, Belgian diplomats are eager to start negotiations on Ukraine's EU membership before Hungary takes over. For this to happen, EU countries must agree on a so-called negotiation framework. The two diplomats said that so far, talks on the technical level are going well, and they expect a new draft to be sent to EU ambassadors in the coming weeks so they can address the most pressing issues. Belgian officials have already scheduled an intergovernmental conference for June 25, just days before Budapest takes over the six-month EU Council presidency. However, one diplomat warned that it is not yet possible to predict whether the talks will take place in June. ADVERTISIMENT As a reminder, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that our country has now done everything possible to ensure Ukraine's accession to the European Union and NATO. He predicts that the talks in June should be productive. As previously reported, the agreement on Ukraine's membership in the European Union should not have any territorial restrictions, just as the Association Agreement with the EU did not. The European Commission has a special procedure that provides for a recommendation regarding countries where part of the territory is not under state control. Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) Portland Public Schools has narrowed down its search for a new superintendent. On Tuesday, the school district announced that its Board of Education had cut the number of candidates from five to just three. What to know before casting your ballot for Oregons primary election District officials named Vancouver resident Kimberlee Armstrong as one semifinalist. She has more than 25 years of experience in public education, as the current deputy superintendent for Evergreen Public Schools and former chief academic officer for PPS. Additionally, Armstrong previously held associate superintendent and assistant superintendent positions with school districts in Santa Rosa and Marin County, Calif. PPS reported she has a doctorate of education from the University of Washington and two masters degrees in business administration and teaching from the City University of Seattle. (L-R) PPS Superintendent finalists Paul Cruz, Kimberlee Armstrong, Iton Udosenata, May 21, 2024 (PPS) Salem-Keizer Public Schools Deputy Superintendent Iton Udosenata is another candidate who is still in the running. Before becoming the Salem districts deputy superintendent, he worked as its assistant superintendent of secondary education from 2020 to 2023. MultCo commissioners views diverge over scathing EMS audit Udosenata was also a principal for North Eugene High School and Cottage Grove High School. The University of Oregon graduate has a doctorate in educational leadership and a masters in education. According to PPS, he has worked in public education for 20 years. The only non-local candidate remaining, Paul Cruz, is based in Texas. He formerly served as Austin Independent School Districts chief of schools, and later became its superintendent. His resume also includes a superintendent position with Laredo Independent School District. Cruz now holds two positions at the University of Texas at Austin, as a professor of practice and co-director of the cooperative superintendency program. He has a doctorate of philosophy in educational administration from the university, as well as a masters in science educational administration from Corpus Christi State University. PPS said Cruz has worked in public education for over three decades. Man dies after early morning Southeast Portland shooting The district is hosting an event at Grant High School on Tuesday, May 28, in which the semifinalists will present opening remarks and respond to questions from the community. Interested attendees can RSVP or submit questions online. The chosen candidate will replace Sandy Husk, who was appointed as interim superintendent in early January after former Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero announced his departure in December 2023. 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 KOIN.com. DENVER (KDVR) Poudre School Districts board voted unanimously Monday to drop a plan that would have led to the closure or consolidation of several campuses. Cheers erupted from the audience after the 7-0 vote, which ends any planned school closures or consolidations for the 2025-26 school year. The Board of Education called an emergency meeting to address the issue. Colfax Marathon runners almost hit by high-speed driver fleeing police Ive heard the community say, and Im trusting the wisdom of this community, that we will work together to find solutions to keep all of our schools open, Board of Education President Kristen Draper said before the vote. So, I am very hopeful that this community will stand by that promise and if the district were to ask for a mill levy override, that our community will deliver for all of our students. There are all different types of tools in the toolbox that we can use so that we dont have to lay off teachers and custodial staff and paraprofessionals. None of them. Weve got many different alternatives to doing that, Director Conor Duffy said. Blevins Middle School students, whose campus was among three slated for certain closure under the plan, led a walkout on Monday afternoon in protest. Middle school student protesters with signs Poudre School District leaders and the Board of Education have said the closures and consolidations were necessary because of declining enrollment and budget reductions in per-pupil funding from the state. The proposal sparked pushback from parents across the school community of 30,000 students. Beattie Elementary, Johnson Elementary and Blevins Middle were set to close under the proposal, with several other schools under consideration for the same, but all proposals are off the table after Mondays vote. 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 FOX31 Denver. NAPERVILLE, Ill. A West Chicago man accused of selling cocaine to an undercover police officer in Naperville has been denied pre-trial release. 29-year-old Jeremy Soto, who has been charged with three counts of manufacturing or delivering a controlled substance and one count of possession of a controlled substance, made his first court appearance on Tuesday morning, according to DuPage County States Attorney Robert Berlin. Cicero man accused of opening fire on car with 5 people inside During his court appearance, Judge Joshua Dieden granted the States motion to detain Soto pre-trial. Pre-trial release has been denied for 29-year-old Jeremy Soto who allegedly sold cocaine to an undercover police officer in Naperville on two separate occasions. According to prosecutors, Soto allegedly sold cocaine to undercover officers on two separate occasions in downtown Naperville. Prosecutors say the first sale allegedly occurred on May 6, when Soto sold 2.5 grams of cocaine to an undercover officer. Two weeks later, on May 20, Soto allegedly sold 27.9 grams of cocaine to another undercover officer. LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland Soto was taken into custody following the second sale and during his arrest, prosecutors say he was allegedly found to be in possession of 21 individually wrapped baggies, which contained about 20 grams of cocaine. Any day we are able to get a suspected drug dealer off the streets is a good day for DuPage County, Berlin said in a press release. Durg dealers care nothing for their victims, society or the rule of law. They care only about lining their pockets at the expense of others. Soro is set to appear before Judge Daniel Guerin for arraignment on June 10. 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 WGN-TV. President Joe Biden will be stopping in New England on Tuesday, with a pair of visits scheduled in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. White House officials said in a statement that Bident will travel first to Nashua, New Hampshire where he will deliver remarks on the PACT Act at the Westwood Park YMCA. The president will then travel to Boston and participate in two campaign receptions. The two events in Boston are scheduled for 5:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The president is scheduled to fly out of Boston just after 8:00 p.m. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW Roughly 20 per cent of people in the Solomon Islands are infected with scabies - SAEED KHAN/AFP via Getty Images In Britains primary schools, nits are the infestation everyone worries about. But in the Solomon Islands they are fighting a very different microscopic mite. The Pacific nation has one of the worlds highest rates of scabies, a parasitic infestation caused when tiny mites burrow into the skin and lay their eggs. At best, the neglected disease triggers itching and a distinct, bumpy rash. At worst, it can lead to secondary bacterial infections, septicemia, heart disease and kidney problems. Across the lush archipelago, roughly 20 per cent of people are infected. But it is children that are the worst hit. Weve been to schools and found that 50 per cent of kids have scabies, in some places, said Dr Susanna Lake, a manager at the World Scabies Program, adding that it stops children sleeping at night or concentrating in the classroom. Its just incredibly itchy it has a significant impact on quality of life. But there is mounting optimism that the Solomons may soon knock out the disease. Children are the worst-hit by scabies across the archipelago - SAEED KHAN/AFP via Getty Images In June 2022 the government, in partnership with the World Scabies Program, launched an ambitious initiative to roll out the antiparasitic drug ivermectin to the entire country just over 700,00 people across hundreds of islands and atolls. Now, the Solomons is in the throes of the second round of mass-treatment. These programs, known as mass drug administration (MDA) in global health parlance, are not uncommon; the approach has been used to tackle conditions from elephantiasis to trachoma, dubbed the disease of thorns. But the Solomon Islands was the first to embark on a nationwide scabies MDA, building on the success of smaller trials across the Pacific, where the disease is extremely common. We conducted a survey in 2021, and found scabies is so prevalent its endemic, Oliver Sokana, a member of the tropical diseases unit at the Solomon Islands Ministry of Health and Medical Services, told the Telegraph. MDA is the first stage to controlling the spread of the infection. He added that the disease is linked to poverty and overcrowded living conditions, plus poor hygiene and sanitation issues that have persisted for generations. I can recall when I was a boy, I had many times scabies, Mr Sokana said. Now, it is a priority for the government to tackle this. An infamous pandemic drug In the first round, it took six months and hundreds of healthcare workers to deliver two tablets, one week apart, to people across all 10 provinces. In some places, health workers brought together close-knit communities in a single space to hand out the drugs, in others they went door to door. In March, a second round of MDA was launched to ensure coverage is as high as possible; the target is to squash scabies prevalence to less than five per cent. The aim is to get to a manageable level, so that if someone does get scabies they can go and get treated and stay treated, said Dr Lake. She added that the mite which spreads through prolonged skin contact thrives in packed classrooms and playgrounds. At the moment, if youre a child in a remote village and your parents make the effort to take you to the nearest clinic you can get treatment, come home, go back to school. Then the next day they could easily get scabies again from their classmates. Thats why we want to treat everyone at the same time, to knock it out completely, Dr Lake said. The program uses ivermectin a drug that became infamous after it was proposed as an alternative coronavirus treatment during the pandemic. But while it is not at all effective for Covid-19, it is extremely good at killing parasites; after two tablets, it wipes out the mites and their eggs. The tiny creatures cannot survive without a human host, which means the program is effectively wiping out the reservoir of disease. The initial dose kills the mites, said Dr Lake. But it doesnt penetrate the eggs and so seven days later, once those eggs hatch, we give a second treatment to make sure none are leftover. The disease is linked to poverty and overcrowded living conditions, plus poor hygiene and sanitation - SAEED KHAN/AFP via Getty Images Previous clinical trials have shown the potential of this approach. In one study published in Lancet Infectious Diseases in 2019, which distributed ivermectin to 26,000 people in Choiseul province on the Solomons, rabies cases fell from 19 per cent to just two per cent a year after MDA. But the region achieved extremely high coverage, which is much harder to do when rolling out a drug to nationwide, 700,000 people on well over 100 islands. We have already noted benefits [of the nationwide rollout], there has been a slight drop in the prevalence of scabies, said Mr Sokana. There are all sorts of local challenges, we need a lot of planning and to mobilise resources. But the government has made this a priority. Were doing the second round [of MDA] now, and we hope that decline will become very significant, he said, adding that they will pause to assess the outlook and determine whether more rounds are required. But Mr Sakana is optimistic that the childhood scrooge, thought of as a Victorian disease in Britain, will soon be history in the Solomons too. Scabies affects the younger population it affects their education, it affects their health, it affects their social mobility. Once we complete the scabies MDA, the benefits are going to be huge for people, he said. We anticipate that this will be quite transformative for our country, for our health system, and for individual futures. Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security 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. MOBILE COUNTY, Ala. (WKRG) A Prichard man pleaded guilty Monday to a charge of second-degree rape, according to court documents. Aniahs Law hearing for Tyquan French reveals new info in Stockton shooting Mobile County Circuit Court documents show Dammon Raphael Jones, 35, pleaded guilty to the raping of a child less than 16 years of age and more than 12 years of age. Dammon Raphael Jones (Photo courtesy of the Mobile County Sheriffs Office). Defendant waived trial by jury, withdrew plea of not guilty and entered a plea of guilty to the charge of Count 2 Rape 2nd Degree Child less than sixteen years of age and more than twelve years of age, the court document said. Jones was also facing a charge of first-degree rape, which will no longer be prosecuted following the guilty plea, documents said. Jones will serve five years in a jail-like facility, followed by five years of formal probation, News 5 has learned. Theodore meth dealer receives prison sentence: USDOJ Pending good behavior, his sentence will expire at the end of his probation, or he will have to serve another 15 years in prison to meet the 20 years recommended by the state. 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 WKRG News 5. Amid the flurry of Joe Biden versus Donald Trump headlines, one could be forgiven for forgetting Kentucky has its own consequential primary election with candidates for state, federal and local offices on the ballot. The period for early in-person, no excuse absentee voting began Thursday and wrapped up Saturday, and the state portal to request an absentee ballot by mail is closed. If you havent taken advantage of either of those options, and still want to vote in the primary, you have until polls close at 6 p.m. local time Tuesday, May 21. To get caught up on the candidates, look back on the Herald-Leaders coverage of the primary, including candidates profiles and a guide to finding your sample ballot. One additional thing of note, Kentucky is a closed primary state, which means you must be registered with a particular political party to vote in that partys respective primary election. If you are not, you can still vote in nonpartisan races if you are eligible. If you need help finding your polling place, weve got you covered with a step-by-step guide below. Sign up for our Bluegrass Politics Newsletter A must-read newsletter for political junkies across the Bluegrass State with reporting and analysis from the Lexington Herald-Leader. Never miss a story! Sign up for our Bluegrass Politics newsletter to connect with our reporting team and get behind-the-scenes insights, plus previews of the biggest stories. How do I find my polling place in Kentucky on Primary Election Day? The easiest and quickest way to figure out where you vote is to visit the states Voter Information Center at vrsws.sos.ky.gov/VIC/. At that state website, and youll be asked to submit some personal information, including your first and last legal name and your date of birth. The address you have on your voter registration determines your polling location. If your address is out of date maybe youve moved to Fayette County from somewhere else in the state or you just havent updated your registration you should speak with an election official. In addition to precinct locations, Fayette County voters can cast their ballot at any of the Lexington Public Library branches, which are serving as voting centers Tuesday. Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. local time. If you are in line by the time polls close, you will be allowed to cast your vote. Remember to bring your photo identification. Do you have a question about the 2024 election in Kentucky for our service journalism team? Send us an email or submit your question with the Know Your Kentucky form below. The prince and the coup plot: How German 'Reichsburger' came to trial Heinrich XIII, who goes under the title Prince Reuss of Greiz, is led by police officers to a police vehicle after arresting him while searching a house as part of a raid aginst so-called "Reich citizens". Boris Roessler/dpa A high-profile trial linked to a far-right coup plot in Germany is set to begin on Tuesday, with nine people, including alleged ringleader Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, standing trial in Frankfurt. They are accused of having been members of or having supported a terrorist organization that had been preparing to topple Germany's democratically elected government. Here's a chronology of events and the prosecutors' case against them, from the organization's beginnings to the alleged plans to storm the parliament building in Berlin and the current major terrorist trials. July 2021 A terrorist organization is founded by suspected members of the "Reichsburger" network. So-called "Reich Citizens" believe that the modern German republic illegitimately replaced the German Reich that was founded in 1871 and continued under the Nazi regime until 1945. They reject the legitimacy of Germany's modern federal state and its laws. The new group's aim is to violently replace the current state order with its own form of government. The alleged ringleader is 72-year-old Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss. August 2021 The organization starts planning the coup, including storming the parliament building in Berlin with an armed group to arrest German lawmakers. The group also begins recruiting military personnel, procuring equipment and organizing weapons training. From mid-April 2022, a smaller circle of the group continues with the coup preparations. September 2022 The terrorist group's plan is to storm the parliament building with up to 16 people. The former Berlin judge and former lawmaker from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, shows some of her fellow coup plotters around the government district, according to documents from the Federal Court of Justice (BGH). One of the participants takes photos and videos of the Paul Lobe building - which houses the offices and meeting rooms of lawmakers - as well as underground tunnels leading to other buildings, including the parliament, and the interior of the plenary chamber of the Bundestag. December 2022 In one of the largest police operations against extremists in Germany, a total of 25 suspected Reichsburger are arrested on December 7. The federal prosecutor's office accuses them of having formed a terrorist organization. In addition to ringleader Prince Reuss, the detainees include Malsack-Winkemann and a soldier from the Special Forces Command (KSK) of the German Armed Forces. May 2023 The number of suspects rises to 63. Twenty-six men and women suspected of having been part of the group around Reuss are held in custody. August 2023 Security authorities seize weapons and ammunition amid the investigations into the group, including 362 firearms, 347 cutting and stabbing weapons and tens of thousands of pieces of ammunition. December 2023 On December 11, 2023, the federal prosecutor's office brings charges against 18 people before the Higher Regional Courts of Frankfurt and Munich. The accusations include membership of or support for a terrorist organization and preparation of a highly treasonous enterprise. In addition, charges of attempted murder are brought against nine other people before the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court. March 2024 One defendant from the group, only named as Norbert G. under Germany's strict privacy laws, dies in hospital ahead of the start of the trial. He was arrested on December 7, 2022, but had been spared detention since the beginning of January 2024, reportedly due to illness. April 2024 The first trial against alleged conspirators surrounding Reuss begins in Stuttgart. It is the first of three mammoth trials involving members of the group and one of the largest terror trials in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. The trial starting on Tuesday and involving Reuss himself is the second, and another is due to begin in Munich. An alleged defendant is brought into the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court building by SEK officers ahead of the second and highest-profile trial linked to a far-right coup plot in Germany, with the alleged 72-year-old ringleader, Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, going before the court. Andreas Arnold/dpa A London judge has denied Prince Harry's request to expand his phone hacking lawsuit against The Sun's publisher. The recent ruling prevented Harry from including allegations against Rupert Murdoch and Piers Morgan, as well as claims involving Meghan Markle and Princess Diana. However, Harry was allowed to add other allegations. The expanded case will proceed to trial in January 2025. Other claimants' requests were largely denied. UK Judge Denies Prince Harry's Bid To Expand His Lawsuit MEGA A UK Judge has denied Harry's request to expand his lawsuit against The Sun's publisher, barring him from including allegations against media mogul Murdoch and presenter Morgan. Before the ruling, Harry's legal team sought to sue over claims that Murdoch and other top executives were involved in concealing and destroying evidence of illegal information gathered by journalists and private investigators working for News Group Newspapers (NGN). According to The Hollywood Reporter, the proposed amendments aimed to include allegations that The Sun ordered private investigators to target Markle in 2016. Additionally, the Duke of Sussex's bid to extend the case's timeline to 1994 and 1995 to encompass allegations involving his late mother, Princess Diana, was also rejected by Judge Timothy Fancourt of the High Court, who deemed it "too late." The Judge Gave Prince Harry Permission To Include Other Allegations MEGA Although Judge Fancourt's decision denied Harry several of his requested amendments in his continued legal battles against British tabloids, he permitted the royal to add allegations against others allegedly involved in using unlawful methods to obtain royal information. However, Fancourt dismissed claims that Murdoch "turned a blind eye" to misconduct, stating they didn't significantly contribute to the existing claims against NGN. He noted that the claims already encompassed individuals like James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks, former editors at News of the World and The Sun, respectively. UK Tabloid Says Its Position Has Been 'Thoroughly Vindicated' By Court Ruling MEGA The now-defunct NGN has refuted any claims of illegal activities occurring at The Sun, and following Judge Fancourt's decision, an NGN representative stated that the court's ruling "thoroughly vindicated" their stance. "At a hearing in March 2024, the Claimants sought to introduce wide-ranging allegations into their pleadings. NGN argued that a number of these were irrelevant to the fair and just determination of claims and had nothing to do with seeking compensation for victims of phone hacking or unlawful information gathering," the statement read, per THR. It continued, "The Court in its Judgment today has thoroughly vindicated NGN's position and did not give permission to introduce large and significant portions of the amendments." UK Tabloid Suggests Claimants Make Allegations To Grab Headlines MEGA NGN attorneys have previously accused certain claimants of using the case to launch attacks on the press, suggesting that some of the proposed changes were intended "to grab headlines and not to progress the individual claims." In a statement, NGN commented: "Lawyers for the claimants work with convicted phone hackers and employ anti-press campaigners and activists who seek to use the claims to make allegations within the protection of open justice principles." Since The Guardian revealed the phone-hacking scandal that resulted in the 2011 shutdown of the News of the World, NGN has settled more than 1,300 claims but has continually denied any unlawful information gathering at The Sun. Prince Harry's Court Battle With UK Tabloid To Go To Trial In January 2025 MEGA According to The Guardian, After the ruling, claimants expressed satisfaction that the court had "granted them permission to amend their case in relation to a number of significant issues vigorously opposed by NGN." These included the "lies told by its senior executives to the Leveson inquiry [and] NGN's deliberation concealment and destruction of evidence with the knowledge of its most senior executives, including Rupert Murdoch's own 'trusted lieutenants.'" The expanded case is scheduled to go to trial in January 2025. The recent court development involving Harry comes after the duke and his wife, Meghan Markle, returned to the US following a three-day tour of Nigeria. The West African country's Chief of Defense Staff, Christopher Gwabin Musa, invited them to the country, and they were treated to a somewhat royal reception, including a military parade and exquisite dinner reception attended by the who's who in Nigerian society. Nazrin Abdul Azerbaijan's Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov extended an invitation to his Uzbek colleagues to attend the COP29 event in Baku, Azernews reports. Minister Jabbarov emphasised the importance of Uzbekistan's participation in this significant event, extending a cordial invitation to join the discussions in Baku. "We consider important the participation of our Uzbek colleagues at this unique platform in terms of significance, scale, and connection with this event; we once again invite them to Baku," the minister noted. "In November, the COP29 event - the next UN climate conference, will be held in Baku. Our country is committed to protecting the environment. Azerbaijan's selection as the host of COP29 demonstrates our active role in the development of global discussions on climate change and sustainable development." The minister also emphasised this commitment at the forum. Azerbaijani Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov highlighted Azerbaijan's active engagement in global dialogues concerning climate change and sustainable development during the II Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan Interregional Forum. The possibility of Russia launching an offensive on Sumy region after Kharkiv is not completely ruled out. First of all, the occupiers may take this step to distract Ukrainian forces from other areas. ADVERTISIMENT The defense forces in the Sumy region are ready for such a development, and the defense in the area is being further strengthened. This was stated by the spokesman for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, Andrii Demchenko, on Radio Liberty. He is convinced that, as in the north of Kharkiv region, the invaders may become more active and launch an offensive on Sumy region. "We can never rule out the possibility, and I emphasized that this includes the Sumy direction. The enemy can attackat any time even though it does not have sufficient forces, to try to do something similar to what is happening now in the Kharkiv direction. It is done in order to stretch the front line, the line of active hostilities, and to distract the defense forces of our country," Demchenko emphasized. ADVERTISIMENT According to the SBGSU spokesperson, each component of the defense forces has its own area of responsibility in the Sumy sector, they all act in a coordinated manner, and defense in this area should be further strengthened. "As long as we have such a neighbor, of course, we need to be prepared for any situation. And we must continue to build up our defense capabilities... We must also understand that the length of the border with our enemy is quite large. It is more than 560 kilometers in the Sumy region alone. And, in fact, even involving the forces we have, which we can involve there, we must keep our defense strong because the enemy is superior in terms of equipment, munitions, and personnel, unfortunately," Demchenko emphasized. Earlier, ISW assessed what is behind Russia's massing of forces on the border with Sumy region: in the Kursk region, understaffed and scattered units totaling about 10,000 occupants have been assembled. The analysts believe that even such a grouping will probably achieve the desired effect of attracting and entrenching the Ukrainian Defense Forces in another area of the international border. ADVERTISIMENT Only verified information on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber . Do not fall for fakes! Prince Harrys bid to include claims against media mogul Rupert Murdoch and broadcaster Piers Morgan has been rejected by Londons High Court. Harry along with more than 40 other plaintiffs is suing Murdochs U.K. newspaper business News Group Newspapers over claims of phone hacking and unlawful news gathering. More from Variety The plaintiffs had applied to amend their lawsuit to include new claims against Murdoch and Morgan, who worked for the now-defunct NGN newspaper News of the World in the mid-1990s, claiming Murdoch new about unlawful activity at his newspapers as far back as 2004. NGN has vociferously disputed this. Now a judge has said claims against Murdoch would effectively amount to a new lawsuit and cannot be folded into the current litigation. Prince Harry was also denied permission to include allegations dating back before 1996 and after 2011 (the period for which many of the phone hacking claims have already been dealt with in either criminal or civil courts). According to Reuters, Harry wanted to widen the timespan of his suit to include articles about his mother, Princess Diana, published in the mid-1990s as well as those from 2016 when he began dating his now-wife Meghan Markle. Harry has claimed NGN newspaper The Sun hired private investigators to target Meghan. Judge Fancourt, who is presiding over the case, did allow Harry to make some amendments to his claims, however, including adding allegations about bugging and accusations against more individuals. At a hearing in March 2024, the Claimants sought to introduce wide ranging allegations into their pleadings, a rep for NGN said following the judgment. NGN argued that a number of these were irrelevant to the fair and just determination of claims and had nothing to do with seeking compensation for victims of phone hacking or unlawful information gathering. The Court in its judgment today has thoroughly vindicated NGNs position and did not give permission to introduce large and significant portions of the amendments. Reps for Prince Harry didnt respond by press time. The case is scheduled to go to trial in Jan. 2025. Best of Variety Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Title icon The Scene Federal prison consultant Sam Mangel regularly fields requests from Peter Navarro, his client and former economic adviser to ex-President Donald Trump, to help other inmates navigate the legalities of their incarceration. Its part of Mangels job advising mainly white-collar criminals on how to deal with life behind bars. He spent 20 months in prison after being charged in 2016 in an insurance fraud scheme, and now uses his knowledge of the prison bureaucracy to help inmates get into certain facilities, obtain coveted jobs while they are there, and nab spots in programs that can shave time off their sentence. Navarro was sentenced to four months in prison for defying subpoenas in the congressional probe of the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol, and is serving time at a minimum-security facility in Miami. Given Navarro is 74, Mangel found him work at the air-conditioned law library there. Peter is constantly sending me questions to answer for other inmates, said Mangel, whose clients include politicians, high-profile crypto executives whom he declined to name, and doctors. He is also teaching them about economics and politics. Mangel, who is based in Florida, talked about his unusual job and how he helps the well-heeled try to make the best of their time in prison in the edited conversation below. Title icon The View From Sam Mangel Gina Chon: How would you explain what you do? Sam Mangel: People have called me a prison concierge. I bifurcate what I do into two parts. The first part is pre-sentencing, and thats trying to help my clients understand what theyre going to be facing. Clients who are very, very high profile, theyre the most challenging. When theyre first charged, they feel they didnt do anything wrong, or that the big bad government doesnt have a case against them. And a lot of egos tend to get in the way. Denial is the biggest problem to overcome. I explain that 98% of all government charges in federal matters lead to a conviction, including through a plea. Would you walk into a casino where you know those are the odds against you? They need to understand what is going to happen to their life. Youre going to get fired from your banks, youre going to get fired from the credit card companies, from your private banking relationships. If you are a father and a husband, you have responsibilities to your family. And you need to start preparing now. The second part is after they have pled or been found guilty, explaining certain programs to them that can take time off their sentence, what kind of facility would be best for them. And then Im with them until they get out, whether thats in a few months or 10 years. Q: You are seeing high flying CEOs and politicians at one of the lowest points of their life. How do you help them deal with that aspect of it? A: Its about removing the fear. I always tell a defendant, its a lot easier on you going into prison. Youre going to get three meals a day, a place to sleep. Youre going to have a lot of time to work out and take care of yourself. Its much more difficult on the family, the loved ones you leave behind. They have the financial responsibility. They have the social responsibility, and the stigma. Q: How are business or political celebrities treated in prison and what do they do with their time? A: Theyre looked up to. A lot of the younger inmates put them up on a pedestal. They want to hear their stories. If you were in crypto, inmates want to learn as much bitcoin and finance. With Peter Navarro, a lot of people want to know about Trump and politics. White-collar individuals tend to write a lot of business plans when theyre in prison. People dream. Semafor Logo Private equity ownership of behavioral health providers is growing nationwide, though Oregon is below the average, an Oregon Health & Science University study found. (Getty Images) Private equity firms now own up to a quarter of behavioral health practices in some states, according to a new national study by researchers from Oregon Health & Science University, the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University. But private equity ownership of outpatient and residential behavioral health facilities in Oregon is lower than the national average, the study found. In the big picture, private equity investors are showing an increased interest in behavioral health, even though this health care sector is notorious for low profit margins. Private equity firms invest other peoples money, usually with an incentive to make large profits on a short term basis akin to flipping a house. In the health care industry, the growth of private equity has raised eyebrows, as policymakers worry that physicians and their patients will lose the ability to make the best choices possible in a push for short-term gains. The study makes no determination about whether private equity ownership affects a patients access to care or its quality. It all comes down to what kind of care theyre providing, said Dr. Jane Zhu, the studys lead author and associate professor of medicine in the OHSU School of Medicine. If these firms are expanding to increase access for people who otherwise wouldnt be able to receive behavioral health treatment, that could be positive. Some studies have shown that when corporations or private equity investors buy out a health care company that patient care suffers. As an example in Oregon, officials at Oregon Medical Group in Lane County, told patients this spring they had to go elsewhere because their doctors had left the practice. As The Oregonian/OregonLive reported, that followed the purchase of the practice by Optum, Inc. in 2020. For the university study, researchers combed financial databases to identify behavioral health practices acquired by private equity investors between Jan. 1, 2012 and July 31, 2023. They found 6.2% of mental health facilities were acquired by private equity investors and 7.1% of addiction treatment facilities were nationwide. That translates to 642 mental health clinics and 1,152 addiction treatment clinics nationwide with private equity ownership. The states with the highest private equity ownership rates were Colorado, Texas and North Carolina, where private equity investors owned about a quarter of all mental health treatment practices. Oregon is on the low end: Just 2.3% of the states mental health outpatient and residential facilities were private equity-acquired as of July 2023, the study said. And 4.6% of the states addiction treatment facilities were private equity-owned, the study said. Thats three mental health facilities and 11 addiction treatment facilities statewide. The differences in states is partly because of factors like the regulatory systems and demand for services, Zhu said. The findings point to a trend happening in health care overall, she said. Its sort of a microcosm of whats happening more broadly in the health care system, Zhu said. Theres an increase in investors that are sort of managing health care services and that has a lot of unknown impacts, not only on the care delivery and the prices that patients bear but also on the providers themselves. Policymakers continue to keep an eye on the issue and monitor the role that private equity plays in health care, Zhu said. That all sort of comes to a head in behavioral health because were currently in a behavioral health crisis, particularly in Oregon, Zhu said. We have such an access gap in Oregon, and so its going to be very, very important for us to understand how these pressures investor pressures are affecting long-term outcomes in this state and elsewhere. Private equity bill in Legislature Private equity in health care has attracted attention in the Legislature. In the last session, House lawmakers passed House Bill 4130, which would have prevented private equity firms from controlling medical practices and dictating patient treatment or hiring decisions. That bill, which stalled and died when it failed to advance in the Senate, would have excluded behavioral health providers, telemedicine providers, hospitals and long-term care facilities. The bills chief sponsor, Rep. Ben Bowman, D-Tigard, said he plans to bring the bill back in the 2025 session. In an interview, Bowman said legislators would likely need a separate bill if they wanted to pass a proposal that would apply to behavioral health providers. Not all private equity is bad, but it poses problems if physicians and patients are hampered in their care and decision-making, he said. It is part of a larger national private equity pouring into the health care space, he said. To me, the important question is: What is being bought in exchange for that investment of capital? And if that investment leads to boardrooms controlling physicians and controlling patient care, that is incredibly alarming. The post Private equity investment in Oregon behavioral health lags national average, study finds appeared first on Oregon Capital Chronicle. UC Santa Cruz workers and pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate in front of campus Monday. Academic workers walked off the job in protest of the UC's handling of pro-Palestinian demonstrations. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images) As hundreds of striking academic workers walked a picket line at UC Santa Cruz on Monday, alleging the University of California's response to pro-Palestinian demonstrators has been hostile, a group of protesters moved their encampment across campus. Protesters relocated their days-old encampment including tents and sleeping bags to the entrance of the university along High Street to be closer to the striking academic workers, who allege their free speech rights were violated when peaceful demonstrations at other campuses were met with violence. "Long live the people's university," read some of the signs erected near more than two dozen tents erected near the campus entrance. Another read, "No one is free until we are all free." The strike, which was announced Friday, is the first in a potential series of labor actions at colleges across the UC system. Union leaders claim the response to campus protests amounted to unfair labor practices and are demanding that UC officials negotiate with pro-Palestinian demonstrators. The strike was voted on by members of United Auto Workers Local 4811, which represents about 48,000 graduate student teacher assistants, tutors, researchers and other academic workers. Read more: UC academic workers' strike begins as pro-Palestinian activism enters new phase On Monday, students and other pro-Palestinian supporters moved their encampment across campus, joining striking workers along the main road to UC Santa Cruz where they would be more visible. A large pile of pillows and sleeping bags, moved from the old encampment, sat atop a tarp that had been placed on the ground Monday afternoon at the new location. "We want to put more pressure on the UC," said a media liaison for protesters known as Shiv, a first-year politics major at the university. "Now we're ready to move and to force them to pay attention to us." Striking academic workers picket at UC Santa Cruz on Monday. (Jessica Garrison / Los Angeles Times) UC officials have called the job action illegal, arguing that academic workers have a valid contract with a no-strike clause. They have filed an unfair practice charge against the union. The strike comes amid an onslaught of campus encampments set up by students and other demonstrators, who have, at times, occupied college buildings while calling for an end to Israel's military attacks in Gaza. In California, some of those encampments have been cleared with a significant police presence. At UCLA, more than 200 people were arrested in a smoke-filled clash with police that spanned two days. At UC Irvine, law enforcement agencies from across Orange County wearing riot gear dismantled a camp and arrested 47 protesters. Police also were called to take down encampments at UC San Diego, Cal Poly Humboldt and USC. By contrast, demonstrators at UC Riverside and UC Berkeley reached agreements with university officials to take down the camps without any police interaction. Read more: Photos: Tensions grow as pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses continue Students at UC Davis have managed to keep their encampment up for nearly two weeks without any clashes with the university. Protesters at UC Santa Cruz have remained on campus for about three weeks. "I am appalled by what Israel is doing to Palestine," Shiv said Monday. Some student groups that have taken part in the encampment applauded the strike and noted on social media they would join workers on the picket line. One of them, Justice in Palestine, called on the union to authorize more strikes. "The path forward is clear: UAW 4811 must immediately call a strike at all University of California campuses," the student group posted Monday on Instagram. Group members called for a divestment from Israel and amnesty for those involved in negotiations. "This must be a strike for Palestine," they wrote. Striking workers are demanding that UC officials negotiate with pro-Palestinian demonstrators and grant amnesty to those who might face disciplinary action. As part of their reason for the strike, the union cited an attack on demonstrators at the UCLA encampment and the arrest of union members there. Union officials called the incident "an assault on our fundamental right to free expression." Posts on social media suggest that the strike might spread to other UC campuses, including UCLA, UC Irvine, UC Davis and UC San Diego. Read more: UC officials charge that academic workers' strike over pro-Palestinian protests is illegal On campus, some students said the climate has been "a bit tense." "It can be a little frustrating or stressful not having the [teaching assistants] there and the uncertainty of not knowing what our grades are going to be," said Lux Morgan, 18, an art and design games and playable media major. "I am in full support of what they are striking for. The use of police violence is really not OK." Jesse Johnson, 19, a marine biology major, said he also supports the protests even with the uncertainty about his grades. "I think it will work out in the end," he said. "I can't imagine they would necessarily punish students." Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Your procrastinators guide to voting in the 2024 primary election in Kentucky Forgot there was a primary election in Kentucky today? You might not be alone. Though this years no-excuse early voting period drew more voters than 2023, Secretary of State Michael Adams said recently he doesnt expect a strong turnout for the May 21 primary. Early voting concluded across Kentucky Saturday, May 18, and election officials processed more voters during the three-day period than last year, according to Adams. In a tweet, he reported 75,204 Kentuckians voted during the in-person, no-excuse period, a total that doesnt account for excused early voting and mail-in balloting. 75,204 Kentuckians took advantage of no-excuse early voting in this primary election, up from 72,754 in May 2023. Like last year, most early voters were Republicans, but there's nothing political about choosing the voting method most convenient for you. Michael Adams, KY Secretary of State (@KYSecState) May 20, 2024 Adams has encouraged widespread use of the early voting period as it faced potential legislative repeal this year, though the bill attempting to do so was defeated. The light turnout expected Tuesday will likely mirror equally low participation in past primaries, but should lend itself to short wait times at the polls, Adams said. In Fayette County, fewer voters requested mail-in ballots for this primary than last year, County Clerk Susan Lamb told the Herald-Leader last week. Around 1,800 county residents made plans to vote that way this year, down from more than 1,900 in May 2023. If you still need to cast your ballot, or you simply prefer to do so on Election Day, heres what you need to know to make sure your vote is counted. When are polls open on Primary Election Day in Kentucky? Polls in Kentucky are open statewide from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time, meaning polls in the far western part of the state will close an hour later than those on Eastern Standard Time. All voters in line by 6 p.m. will be able to cast their ballot. In addition, secure county dropboxes for mail-in ballots will also close at 6 p.m. How do I find my polling place in Kentucky? On Election Day, voters must generally visit their assigned precinct to cast a ballot. Counties that offer vote centers offer an exception, however. If your county offers a vote center or centers, any registered voter in that county can also cast a ballot at one of those locations. You can use the states online polling place locator tool to see voting locations by county. In addition to 135 polling places, Fayette County is offering vote centers this year at all six Lexington Public Library locations. The vote centers will be open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., just like regular precinct locations. You can also visit govote.ky.gov to research your voter registration and polling place. Do I need to be registered to vote in Kentucky to cast a ballot? Yes, to vote in the primary, you must have been registered in the state no later than April 22. Additionally, the state conducts closed primaries, so you can only vote in the primary of the party you are registered with. You cannot change your party affiliation on Election Day and must have been registered with the party as of Dec. 31, 2023. Can I still vote early? Can I still return my mail-in ballot? Early voting has ended in Kentucky and you cannot get an absentee-by-mail ballot at this point. However, if you already requested a mail-in ballot, you still have time to return it. It must be postmarked or delivered to your countys dropbox by 6 p.m. Tuesday. You can also return it in person at your clerks office or a polling place if necessary. Do I need a photo ID to vote in Kentucky? Yes, you need photo identification to vote in Kentucky. The states voter ID law has been in place for several election cycles, and there are a variety of IDs that qualify. If you do not have a valid photo ID, visit your polling place and speak with an election official about your options. Does Kentucky have accommodations for voters at polling places? Yes. Under Kentucky law, voters with a disability, those who are blind or visually impaired and those who cannot read or write English have the right to assistance when casting a ballot. If you require assistance to fill out your ballot or another accommodation to fulfill your right to vote, you or your representative should speak with an election official or contact your county clerks office. Those in need of assistance at the ballot box are entitled under the law to assistance from an individual of their choice or two election judges working the polling place. What is on the ballot May 21? Where can I research the candidates? A slew of primary races are on Tuesdays ballot, including congressional, state house and senate, judicial and other local primaries. If you need to get caught up, be sure to check out the Herald-Leaders comprehensive Voter Guide, our candidate endorsements or this how-to on finding candidate information and sample ballots. Whats the weather going to be like for Primary Election Day in Central Kentucky? Tuesday is expected to be warm and sunny in Lexington, according to the latest seven-day forecast from the National Weather Service. The high is expected to be near 88 degrees Fahrenheit, with winds around 7 to 9 mph. A chance of rain doesnt return to the forecast until Wednesday. Dry and sunny weather is expected today and Tuesday. Daytime highs in the upper 80s with overnight lows in the 60s. #kywx #inwx pic.twitter.com/K4TMs2UvTq NWS Louisville (@NWSLouisville) May 20, 2024 Where can I find race results Tuesday night? The Herald-Leader will be following Primary Election Day across the state all day online at kentucky.com and its various social channels. Starting at 6 p.m. EST, we will offer live election results from the first returns. Do you have a question about the 2024 election in Kentucky for our service journalism team? Wed like to hear from you. Fill out our Know Your Kentucky form or email ask@herald-leader.com. A dog smells a voting dropbox after its owner dropped off a mail-in-voting ballot during primary voting on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane) PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) A centrist candidate who has vowed to be tough on crime was leading in the race for top prosecutor in Oregons Multnomah County, home to Portland, in a contest that was seen as a referendum on voter concerns over homelessness, public drug use and disorder. Nathan Vasquez led incumbent District Attorney Mike Schmidt in early returns Tuesday night. The progressive Schmidt took office during the social justice movement of 2020. Schmidts term began as the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota sparked nightly protests in Portland and a larger national conversation about criminal justice reform. But in the past four years, progressive DAs and candidates in liberal bastions ranging from the San Francisco Bay Area to Seattle have faced setbacks as frustrations over public safety and homelessness have risen. Now, political experts are looking to Portland to see whether such issues could spur a similar shift in the electorate. Schmidt is being challenged by Vasquez, one of his own deputies who has been a prosecutor in that office for over 20 years. Beginning in about 2020, you see this rise of the progressive prosecutor, said Todd Lochner, associate professor in Lewis & Clark College's department of political science. But some of those candidates were essentially replaced or recalled, and I think whats going on now in the DAs race has something to do with this backlash to what is perceived, correctly or incorrectly, as prosecutors who are not as zealous in convicting people as some might prefer. Generally, progressive district attorneys such as Schmidt support finding alternatives to imprisonment and refraining from prosecuting low-level crimes to reduce incarceration rates and address social inequities in the criminal justice system. Shortly after taking office in summer 2020, as racial justice demonstrations gripped Portland, Schmidt announced that his office wouldnt prosecute protesters unless they were arrested for deliberate property damage, theft, or the use or threat of force against another person. Interfering with a police officer, disorderly conduct and criminal trespass were cited as examples of cases his office would decline. Schmidt also decided that any charge of resisting arrest or assaulting a public safety officer would be subjected to the highest level of scrutiny. During his term, he also created a unit in his office tasked with reviewing prison sentences and wrongful convictions. Vasquez, endorsed by several police groups, denounced the protester policy, as well as Schmidts past support of Measure 110, a ballot measure approved by voters in 2020 that decriminalized the possession of small amounts of drugs. Amid one of the nation's largest spikes in overdose fatalities, state lawmakers this year ended up rolling back the first-in-the-nation law and restoring criminal penalties for so-called personal use possession. Schmidt supported reinstating the penalties. This race is a test of the voters tolerance coming out of the challenges of Measure 110 and the protests, said Paul Manson, a research assistant professor at Portland State University's Center for Public Service. Is there an appetite thats gone after years of some of these challenges? Voter support for progressive prosecutors has been tested elsewhere in the U.S. Pamela Price, the district attorney in Californias Alameda County, which includes Oakland and Berkeley, is facing a recall in November two years after San Francisco voters ousted progressive prosecutor Chesa Boudin. Seattle voters in 2021 elected Republican Ann Davison as city attorney over Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, who called for abolishing jails and police. But in other major cities, efforts to recall progressive prosecutors have faltered. Two attempts to recall Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon, who was elected in 2020, failed to make it to the ballot. The state House in Pennsylvania voted to impeach Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner in 2022. However, a state court ruled that the impeachment articles didnt meet the constitutionally required standard, a decision that's currently on appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and the state Senate voted to indefinitely postpone the trial. Krasner and Gascon are still in their roles. In an April poll, substantial shares of Portland voters said that homelessness or issues related to drug use and addiction were among the most important problems facing the city. Encampments and public drug use have become increasingly visible, particularly in the downtown. Safety, crime, or lack of police presence was also among the most frequently cited problems, despite provisional FBI statistics showing that U.S. violent crime decreased last year, continuing a downward trend after a pandemic-era spike. Homicides in Portland hit a record 96 in 2022, but decreased to 74 in 2023, and shootings fell by nearly 22% over the same period, a Portland police spokesperson said in an email. Generally speaking, tough on crime sells well, said Lochner. Most voters routinely say that crime is important to them. We know that homelessness is a very important issue. And I would expect that if people perceive those problems are not materially getting better, then they would vote for the challenger under the premise that, well, lets just let someone else give it a try. Schmidt and Vasquez are the only two candidates in Tuesdays nonpartisan primary. The winner will be elected if they get more than 50% of the vote, which is likely because the only other option is to write in a candidate. ___ This story has been corrected to show that a Pennsylvania state court, not the state Supreme Court, ruled on the constitutionality of the impeachment articles against Philadelphias district attorney. It has also corrected the homicide totals in Portland in 2022 and 2023 and the spelling of Todd Lochner's last name. Photo: Getty Images Autopsy results would be kept secret from the public in cases under criminal investigation, under a proposed change to North Carolina law discussed Tuesday. Autopsy results in cases that could be homicides would not be released until criminal charges are filed, said Sen. Danny Britt, a Robeson County Republican. Family members would not have access to autopsy reports, but district attorneys would be able to describe their contents to family members of the deceased. Under current law, the text of official autopsy reports are public records. Preventing the public from seeing autopsy reports is important to due process and to defendants and victims rights, Britt said. Publicly released autopsy results have tainted jury pools, said Britt, though he could not recall specific instances. Cases in which law enforcement officers are involved in the death of members of the public would be included in the prohibition on making autopsy reports public, he said. As far as the autopsy reports and any information the medical examiners office has, it would delay information they get from the medical examiners office, yes, Britt said. I think its in the public interest for cases to be prosecuted adequately. I think its in the public interest for defendants to receive their due process more so than the public to know what happened. Kerwin Pittman of Emancipate NC said Britt and other gatekeepers of the criminal justice system are preventing the public from obtaining information it has the right to know. To shield those things from individuals shows a lack of compassion for the citizens hes supposed to serve, Pittman said. The proposal would also restrict access to autopsy photographs, video, and audio recordings while criminal investigations are ongoing. Current law allows members of the public to inspect photos and recordings, though members of the public cannot obtain copies. Over the years, the legislature has been drawing a tighter curtain over what had been public records, reducing government transparency. Last year, the legislature exempted itself from public records law. In 2020, the legislature passed a bill that would have kept death investigation records in the medical examiners possession secret. After widespread criticism, Gov. Roy Cooper successfully vetoed the bill. The Senate Judiciary Committee discussed but did not vote on the expanded limits to public records that were added to House Bill 250, which originally modified the death by distribution law. Death by distribution allows charges against those who supply drugs to people who use them and die. Autopsies are required in those cases. A change to the House bill would give district attorneys 72 hours to tell a medical examiner that an autopsy is needed. The state Department of Health and Human Services and the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys have been working to refine the bills language. The medical examiner system is facing challenges, said Mark Benton, DHHS chief deputy secretary. This bill as currently written would make those challenges much more difficult, he said. The post A proposed NC law would limit family and public access to death records appeared first on NC Newsline. The Economist published the "attack plan" of the Russian army in the Kharkiv region. The Russian army was testing whether it could partially encircle Kharkiv and put pressure on the Ukrainian Armed Forces east of the Pechenihy Reservoir. ADVERTISIMENT The article was published on the publication's website. Ten days after the start of the Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region, its pace has slowed. Ukraine is now holding the occupiers about halfway through Vovchansk, a city just 5 km from the border that is now turning to ash, and in positions about 9 km inside Ukraine further west, near Lyptsi. With about 48,000 troops on standby, Russia does not have the forces to perform a major attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city. But the military insists that the situation remains volatile and could change quickly. The Russian convoys were stopped only after several experienced brigades were redeployed and came to the rescue. According to the defenders, Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin will "certainly" try his luck by launching a new attack in other parts of the region. ADVERTISIMENT A Russian convoy is already forming on the other side of the border from Sumy. The Ukrainian army is also preparing for a new attack east of Vovchansk. Fighting has also resumed near Kupiansk, a railroad junction, and on May 17, Ukraine lost control of the village of Berestove. It is too early to say for sure what the ultimate goals of the Russian operation are. Also on May 17, Putin said that his "only intention was to create a buffer zone between Ukraine and the border city of Belgorod," insisting that "there is no plan to capture Kharkiv itself." But this may reflect the evolving realities of the battlefield rather than intentions. The revealed military plans, details of which were shared by The Economist, suggest that the Russians were trying to see if they could partially encircle Kharkiv and put pressure on Ukrainian forces east of the Pechenihy Reservoir. The operation was probably scheduled for May 15-16, but for unknown reasons was postponed for almost a week. ADVERTISIMENT According to this plan, Russia identified two attack directions: on both sides of the reservoir. On the western side, it was planned to reach the borders of Kharkiv's artillery range near the village of Borshchova within 72 hours, but they were stopped by the 92nd Brigade. Meanwhile, on the eastern side, the plan was to break through Vovchansk as far as the village of Pechenihy. It is worth reminding that there is intense fighting in Vovchansk, Kharkiv region, and the battle is going on for almost every street. At the same time, the front line in the north of the region has been stabilized. The Ukrainian Defense Forces prevented the enemy from advancing towards the village of Lyptsi and in the Slobozhans direction. ADVERTISIMENT ISW reported that street fighting continued in Vovchansk on May 19 and the enemy was able to advance in the northeastern part of the city. Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! Petition circulators are working in Nebraska to crowd the November ballot. (Montinique Monroe/Getty Images) LINCOLN Signature gatherers for and against Nebraskas abortion restrictions soon will have company from circulators of a third ballot initiative on the issue. With six weeks until signatures are due, a group of anti-abortion activists is circulating petitions for a state constitutional amendment outlawing elective abortions. The Now Choose Life petition would grant separate personhood under the law to embryos and fetuses in a mothers womb. The law would treat them like a child that has been born. Organizers, including Rose Kohl of Omaha, said many abortion opponents were upset with voters likely options on the November ballot. They want neither a full nor partial embrace of abortion rights. Protect Our Rights, Protect Women and Children Kohl describes the first effort, the Protect Our Rights push to enshrine abortion rights in the Nebraska Constitution, as radical because it prohibits even existing restrictions. The group supporting that proposal advocates for reproductive rights and has said it wants to leave medical decisions between women and their doctors. Kohl describes the petition by Protect Women and Children, which has been funded largely by U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., as an effort aimed at protecting abortion in the first trimester. The group proposing that amendment opposes abortion. It has said its amendment would ensure that abortions could not take place later in a pregnancy than current law allows. It has acknowledged that its language leaves room for the Legislature to restrict abortion further. I think the middle one is terrible, Kohl said. Instead, her group proposed language that mirrors personhood laws adopted in Alabama, Georgia and Missouri, including some that have put in vitro fertilization at risk. Kohl said more than 93% of abortions take place in the first trimester. Life starts at conception Ours says life starts at conception, she said. It would make elective abortions 100 percent banned by recognizing what was already true, that a preborn person is a person. The petition language includes no exceptions for rape, incest or medical emergencies to protect the life of a mother. She said such language isnt needed because a mother is a person. The Secretary of States Office approved the petition language late last week. The group has six weeks to gather the 123,000 signatures, or 10 percent, of registered voters required to place the measure on the November ballot. The Secretary of State said it has never been done in six weeks, Kohl said. If we do it, its an act of God. Allie Berry of Protect Our Rights said the latest petition effort is the end goal for anti-abortion groups and politicians: totally banning abortion care. Nothing about this new effort changes our plans and our goal, she said. We are staying focused on getting our initiative in front of voters so that Nebraskans can make their own decisions about pregnancy and abortion with compassion and privacy, without political interference. The post Proposed personhood amendment would outlaw almost all abortions in Nebraska appeared first on Nebraska Examiner. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images) (This image cannot be republished unless you have a Getty subscription.) NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on Oklahoma Voice. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial (Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images). NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week. The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on Missouri Independent. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images) Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images) NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week. The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on Oregon Capital Chronicle. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Steven Hirsch-Pool | Getty Images) NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not [guilty] for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week. The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on West Virginia Watch. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Pool photo by Steven Hirsch/Getty Images) NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week. The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on Kansas Reflector. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images) Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images) NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. Tennessee Congressional District 5 U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles. (Photo: John Partipilo) North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week. The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on Tennessee Lookout. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images. NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross-examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week. The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on Minnesota Reformer. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images) NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week. The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on Wisconsin Examiner. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled ormer President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool / Getty Images) NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week. The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on Source New Mexico. No legal, security, or moral arguments will and cannot prevent Western partners from shooting down Russian missiles over Ukraine from their territory. Anyone who claims otherwise and talks about the threat of escalation is engaged in manipulation. ADVERTISIMENT That is why Kyiv is asking its allies to either consider this possibility or help Ukraine with the necessary air defense systems and combat aircraft that could shoot down air targets. This was stated by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on May 21 during a joint briefing with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Kyiv, Ukrinform reports. "There is not a single legal, security, or moral argument that stands in the way of our partners shooting down Russian missiles over the territory of Ukraine from their territory. Those who say that such actions would be an escalation are manipulating," Kuleba emphasized. He added that the claims about the need to avoid escalation against the backdrop of more than two years of Russia's full-scale unprovoked and aggressive war against Ukraine look strange, to say the least. ADVERTISIMENT There is no legal, security, or moral argument against our partners shooting down Russian missiles over Ukraine from their territory. And by working together, we can put an end to this. "So the first thing is that we do ask our partners to consider the possibility of intercepting Russian missiles not Russian planes with Russian pilots on board, but pieces of iron that carry death from Russia to Ukraine from the territory of our partner countries. There is an alternative solution: if you do not want to do this, then simply provide us with all the means necessary for this, and we will deploy them on the territory of Ukraine and intercept these missiles ourselves. These are air defense systems and combat aircraft with the appropriate technical capabilities. And to take a position where we will not transfer air defense systems and will not support the shooting down of Russian missiles from our territory over the territory of Ukraine is a position of appeasement of the aggressor," the head of Ukrainian diplomacy emphasized. ADVERTISIMENT As a reminder, on May 21, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived on an official visit to Kyiv. She visited one of the Ukrainian thermal power plants destroyed by the occupiers and called on the world to help Ukraine with air defense. It was also reported that on the same day, Zelenskyy discussed the situation on the battlefield and the need for air defense with the Romanian president. Only verified information on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber . Do not fall for fakes! Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images) New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on Maine Morning Star. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024 in New York City. Former U.S. President Donald Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. | Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week. The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on Michigan Advance. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images) NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images) NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week. The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on Iowa Capital Dispatch. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. (Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images) Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. (Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images) NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on South Dakota Searchlight. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images) NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on Rhode Island Current. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images) Policy, politics and progressive commentary NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week. The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on Nevada Current. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Steven Hirsch | Pool-Getty Images) NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross-examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer, and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast. Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week. The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on New Hampshire Bulletin. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images) NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week. The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on Kentucky Lantern. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Steven Hirsch/Getty Images-Pool) NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended in the week. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator. The United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that Ukraine's partners will continue to ensure that the country has control in its skies. This is necessary to protect the Ukrainian people from Russian missile and drone attacks. ADVERTISIMENT He said this at a press conference following the 22nd meeting in the Ramstein format. The Pentagon chief emphasized the unity of all members of the Contact Group on Ukraine's defense and stressed their determination to counter threats from Russia. According to him, the meeting focused on helping Ukraine with additional air defense systems. "We will continue to ensure that Ukraine has control over its skies and can protect its citizens and civilian infrastructure far from the front lines," Austin emphasized. The U.S. Secretary of Defense added that Washington is aware of a new offensive by Russian occupiers in the north of the Kharkiv region. He called today's moment "difficult" for Ukraine and added that although the Ukrainian Armed Forces are fighting hard, Russian troops are "paying a high price for Putin's aggression." ADVERTISIMENT "Ukraine is fighting for its life, which gives it a huge strategic advantage in a just cause. Meanwhile, Putin is trying to wage a nineteenth-century imperial war of aggression in the world of 2024. This is a terrible idea and a terrible strategy," he said. As reported earlier, Austin said that the United States steadfastly stands with Ukraine and will continue to support it with military assistance so that the Armed Forces receive everything they need in the war against the aggressor Russia. The top priorities for arms supplies from the United States are now air defense systems and ammunition. Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images) NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case Monday against Donald Trump after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast. Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself has been indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week. The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on Nebraska Examiner. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images) NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week. The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on Utah News Dispatch. Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 20: Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024 in New York City. Former U.S. President Donald Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images) NEW YORK New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar. The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted. Cohens earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecutions case. Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts. Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May. Mondays proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defenses second witness, Robert Costello, Cohens legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBIs thumb in 2018. The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying hed issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well. Closing arguments are expected after the holiday. On a journey Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money hes made since breaking ties with the former president. Cohen testified that hes made millions of dollars on his books Disloyal and Revenge, and his podcast Mea Culpa, all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier. Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed hes mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled The Fixer and is considering a run for Congress because he has the best name recognition out there. When Blanche suggested Cohens name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed. I wouldnt characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey Ive been on, Cohen said. Well the journey youve been on has included daily attacks on Trump, Blanche responded. Through the course of Blanches questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen. Minutes later, Blanche asked, Do you have a financial interest in this case? Yes, sir, Cohen responded. When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohens preferred outcome, Cohen responded, The answer is no. Its better if hes not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanches doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohens testimony that Trumps hand was behind the hush money reimbursements. Theyve asked you a lot of questions about how youve made money and (your) podcast Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life? Hoffinger asked. My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, Cohen responded. Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it. Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohens claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels. Trumps support inside the courtroom A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOPs presumed 2024 presidential nominee. Mondays supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York Citys Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s. Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the sham trial and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail. The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a travesty of justice. Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia. Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes, accusing the prosecution of combining things that did not belong together. Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, after former fixer Cohen is grilled appeared first on New Jersey Monitor. Two men who were convicted in the 1978 killing of a Cincinnati police officer will go before the state's parole board at the end of the month, seeking to be released. Wayne Reed, 72, and Russell Bell, 71, have each sought parole multiple times over the last two decades. Their last parole hearings were in 2019. The board has repeatedly denied their requests. Enquirer story from July 16, 1978 about arrest in the fatal shooting of Cincinnati police Officer Charles Burdsall. Hamilton County Prosecutor Melissa Powers said in an interview that justice demands Reed and Bell spend the rest of their lives behind bars. "These two are cold-blooded killers," Powers said. "But for a glitch in the law, they would be on death row." Months before the men were convicted of aggravated murder in 1978, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Ohio's death penalty law. Despite that, a Hamilton County judge sentenced both to death. But in 1979, a state appeals court overturned their death sentences, citing the Supreme Court's ruling. At the time, a sentence of life without the possibility of parole was not an option. Reed, who fired the gun that killed Officer Charles Burdsall, was sentenced to 22 years to life. Bell was sentenced to 20 years to life. Powers said keeping the men in prison will serve as a deterrent to others. She said anyone convicted of killing a police officer needs to "face the full weight of justice." What happened The shooting happened the night of July 14, 1978. Reed and Bell planned to rob a convenience store in Camp Washington, but an off-duty Cincinnati police officer, who went to the store that night, prevented it from happening. Reed and Bell fled in a car. According to news reports at the time, Burdsall spotted Reed and Bell's car soon after and pulled them over on West McMicken Avenue. A 19-year-old citizen, David Mellon, was doing a ride-along with Burdsall that night. As Burdsall walked toward the car, he ordered Reed and Bell out of the car. After both men got out, Reed shot Burdsall in the face, and he fell to the pavement. Reed fired more shots, striking the officer in the back. Mellon told The Enquirer in 1978 that he also had gotten out of the police car and that several shots were fired at him as he tried to take cover. A bullet grazed his back. Mellon, whose father was a police officer, picked up Burdsall's gun and fired six times at the car as Reed and Bell drove away. He then picked up Burdsall's police radio and called for help. Burdsall, who was 29, left behind a wife and three children. Powers is asking the public to go to her office's website and submit letters electronically to the parole board, opposing the release of Reed and Bell. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Prosecutor opposes parole in 1978 killing of Cincinnati officer Wael "Will" Hana, right, and his attorney Ricardo Solano walk into the Daniel Patrick Moynihan federal courthouse in Manhattan on Monday, May 20, 2024. Hana is charged alongside New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez in a wide-ranging corruption scheme dating back to 2018. (Dana DiFilippo | New Jersey Monitor) A few months after prosecutors allege Sen. Bob Menendez helped his friend Wael Will Hana snag a lucrative monopoly on U.S. halal beef exports to Egypt, the businessmans attorney paid more than $20,000 to help the senators wife avoid foreclosure on her Englewood Cliffs home, the attorney testified Monday. John Moldovan, who briefly worked as in-house counsel for IS EG Halal after Hana launched the company in 2019, also told jurors that the company became profitable quickly, raking in $311,400 in its first month alone. Business was so good that Hana quickly expanded to several other countries, securing monopolies there, too, by telling officials in at least one country, Uruguay, that IS EG was a government agency and Egypt had exclusively authorized it to certify halal beef for export there, Moldovan said. As the second week of Menendezs bribery trial started Monday in Manhattan, prosecutors continued to focus on Hanas role in the wide-ranging scheme that landed New Jerseys senior senator at the defense table on corruption charges for the second time in the past decade. His first trial in 2017 ended in a hung jury. Prosecutors who indicted Menendez last fall say the Democrat, who helmed the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee until shortly after his indictment, put U.S. security at risk and acted as a foreign agent for Egypt. They say he and his wife, Nadine, accepted bribes of cash and gold bars to help Hana secure the monopoly, release military aid and arms to Egypt, and do other favors for both Hana and various Egyptian officials. Under questioning by prosecutor Eli Mark, Moldovan told jurors he first met Hana in the spring of 2019 through his best friend, Rony Daibes, an information technology professional who also worked for Hana and is a cousin of real estate developer Fred Daibes, one of Menendezs co-defendants. Moldovan told jurors they lived in the same Edgewater apartment building and became friends who partied, exercised, and worked together in a new office Fred Daibes built on River Road, which stretches along an upscale stretch of the Hudson River thats known as the Gold Coast. Though he had just three or four employees at the time, Hana seemed worldly, telling Moldovan he had met Egypts president, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and had daily calls with an Egyptian general about the exports, Moldovan said. Moldovan said he accompanied Hana to Uruguay in 2019 to set up halal certification operations there and rebuffed a Uruguayan official who asked if a local company could do the job, telling her IS EG Halal was a government agency the Egyptian government exclusively authorized to certify halal products for export to Egypt and the Middle East. IS EG Halal has since expanded to Brazil, New Zealand, Dubai, and India, according to James Bret Tate, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official who testified Friday and Monday. Moldovan met Nadine Menendez around that time, and while she was Hanas longtime friend, he introduced her to Moldovan as a new client who needed help in a foreclosure issue, the lawyer testified. She said that the bank was essentially going to foreclose on her house and essentially that Will was going to pay her outstanding debt, he said. Hana wired Moldovan money from a business account, and the attorney paid $23,000 to $24,000 from his personal account to stop foreclosure proceedings, he testified. By the end of the summer, Hana fired Moldovan. He didnt explain why, but Mark is expected to continue questioning him Tuesday. Defense attorneys said during their opening statements last week that the money and gold Hana gave the Menendezes were gifts and accused prosecutors of criminalizing gift-giving. Alicia Menendez, the senators daughter who works as an MSNBC anchor, sat in the first row of spectator seats behind the defendants all day Monday and listened to testimony but declined to talk to the press. The love email U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein bookended the days proceedings Monday with two rulings that dont bode well for Menendez. He denied defense attorneys motion to bar what he called the love email, a text full of heart emojis Menendez sent his wife that reads: Tell Will I am going to sign off this sale to Egypt today. Defense attorney Adam Fee had argued the communication was protected under the constitutions speech and debate clause, which is essentially an immunity that protects lawmakers from being prosecuted for official legislative acts. Stein rejected that. Tell Will I am going to sign off this sale to Egypt today is a promise, Stein said. Promises to perform acts are not legislative acts. Stein also denied the defenses request to call psychiatrist Karen Rosenbaum, who they aimed to ask about the senators mental health. The defense team has said that Menendez has untreated post-traumatic stress disorder from his fathers suicide and his experience as the son of refugees who fled Cuba with nothing. Rosenbaum would have testified that his mental disorder created a fear of scarcity that led Menendez to cope by hoarding cash at home. But Stein said he saw nothing in Rosenbaums resume showing she is an expert in PTSD or coping mechanisms, nor any evaluations or justifications she made for her conclusions. Her proffered testimony bears a startlingly strong resemblance to comments Menendez made in September about stockpiling cash at home, he said. Dr. Rosenbaum, were she permitted to testify, would essentially be reciting to the jury the same background, details, and conclusions that Menendez will be able to tell the jury himself if he so chooses to testify in his defense, the judge said. To be sure, Mr. Menendez is under absolutely no obligation whatsoever to testify, but the proposed expert testimony is an effort to transmit the defendants story to the jury without his deciding to take the stand and be subject to cross-examination, while at the same time adding a patina of expert opinion to his lay testimony. Earlier Monday, Stein scolded attorneys for filing a frenzied flurry of documents over the weekend and told them such midnight-express submissions must end. I simply cannot do my job if I get motions that need immediate attention at 1 a.m. in the morning, he said. I dont know if the parties are engaging in games here. If so, they should stop. The post Menendez co-defendant ordered lawyer to pay mortgage for senators wife, witness testifies appeared first on New Jersey Monitor. NEW YORK Manhattan prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump on Monday more than five years after they began investigating him and a month after the hush money trial began during a dramatic day that saw both jurors and journalists booted from the courtroom amid a tense exchange between the judge and a witness for the ex-president. That witness, Robert Costello, elicited a highly unusual rebuke from Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan when Costello mouthed off about the judges rulings in real time. After asking jurors to step out, Merchan gave Costello a tensely worded warning about muttering geez and ridiculous under his breath. When the judge was met with more sass, he ordered his court officers to eject everyone else from the room. Are you staring me down right now? Merchan at one point asked Costello. Clear the courtroom! he then ordered. Costello, a New York City attorney who advised Michael Cohen after the feds began investigating him in 2018 for issuing a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, was called as the second and potentially last witness to testify in Trumps defense in a bid to discredit Trumps former fixer. Reporters, members of the public and a slew of Republicans and Trump associates who accompanied the defendant to court in his largest entourage yet including disgraced former NYPD Commissioner Bernie Kerik and convicted former leader of the Hells Angels Chuck Zito were out of the courtroom for about five minutes. If you try to stare me down one more time, Im removing you from the stand, Merchan warned Costello once everyone was out of the room, according to a transcript. Before Costello took the stand, the defense wound down its cross-examination of Cohen, Trumps former fixer. Trump lawyer Todd Blanche peppered him with questions about his communications with Trump regarding the $130,000 payoff to Daniels and the profits hes made during his bitter feud with the former president eliciting an admission he stole from Trumps company. Cohen acknowledged that he effectively stole from the Trump Organization by requesting reimbursement for a $50,000 expense he paid out of pocket to rig an opinion poll in Trumps favor when he had spent only $20,000. That reimbursement came up during the same January 2017 conversation he had with Trumps convicted former finance chief Allen Weisselberg regarding his expenses for paying Daniels, Cohen said. So you stole from the Trump Organization, right? Blanche asked. Yes, sir, Cohen replied. Later, on redirect with prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, Cohen said he padded up the expense as he was upset at his diminished Christmas bonus cut down to $50,000 from the usual $150,000 and that fact he still hadnt been paid back for dealing with Daniels. I was angered because of the reduction in the bonus, and so I just felt it was almost like self-help, Cohen testified. Cohen, 57, defied expectations hed lose his cool with Trumps lawyers. Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass announced prosecutors had finished presenting their case after calling 20 witnesses and presenting a mountain of documents when Cohen stepped down from the stand about 3:15 p.m. In addition to Costello, Trumps defense team called a paralegal from Blanches firm to verify phone records between Cohen and Costello. Toward the end of the day, Merchan asked Blanche if the defense was planning to call more witnesses and he shook his head no after shooting a glance at Trump, all but confirming the former president wont take the stand after previously asserting otherwise. The judge will confirm with Trump before his lawyers rest their case. Under questioning by Trumps lawyer Emil Bove, Costello described meeting with a suicidal Cohen after the FBI swept through his office and hotel room in April 2018. Cohen previously told jurors that the attorney, a longtime associate of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, dangled a back channel to the White House in trying to pin him down as a client and that he didnt trust him. Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments, that he did this on his own and he repeated this numerous times, Costello testified, saying he considered Cohen his client. Under a grilling from Hoffinger on redirect, the prosecutor asked Costello about his many media appearances and what might have motivated him to retain Cohen. If you could land him as a client, that would be a big case for your firm, right? Hoffinger asked. I suppose so, Costello said. And would get you public exposure? I guess it would. Trump, 77, has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsification of business records, each tied to his alleged reimbursement to Cohen for hush money that prosecutors say he masked as compensation for legal services to disguise an underlying scheme to defraud the 2016 electorate. During the mornings testimony, he was spotted conked out at the defense table, his face pointed toward the ceiling. In lengthy comments to reporters outside the courtroom, Trump decried Merchans admonishment of his witness and again called the case as a sham. We paid a legal expense. You know what its marked down as? A legal expense, Trump fumed. During four days on the stand, Cohen, Trumps former executive vice president at the Trump Organization and right-hand man for around 11 years, said he paid off Daniels less than two weeks out from the 2016 election as part of a conspiracy to win Trump the White House and was paid back the following year in monthly installments, fraudulently billing Trump for a retainer, as dictated by Weisselberg. Later, Blanche who sought to portray Cohen as a liar driven by money, fame and hatred of Trump focused on how much money Cohen made between pleading guilty to breaking federal campaign finance laws in 2018 and publishing his first book, Disloyal. Cohen said that came to around $4 million. Still, Cohen told Blanche he wasnt financially motivated by a potential Trump conviction. Its better if hes not because it gives me more to talk about in the future, he wryly said. After a jam-packed five weeks, jurors are expected to get a weeklong break from the historic trial, partly due to the upcoming holiday weekend. The judge said he wanted to avoid a large gap between the panelists hearing closing arguments and starting to deliberate, estimating earlier Monday that summations would occur after Memorial Day. Before adjourning for the day, Trumps attorneys asked the judge to find him not guilty and Cohen not credible as a matter of law. There is no way that the court should let this case go to the jury relying on Cohens testimony, Blanche said as Trump looked on intently. You said his lies are irrefutable, Merchan said, reserving his decision. But you think hes going to fool 12 New Yorkers into believing this lie? _____ A person protesting against the Biden administrations response to the Israel-Hamas war was lifted out of a Senate Foreign Relations hearing on Tuesday after interrupting Secretary of State Antony Blinkens testimony. The protester, a young woman wearing a T-shirt that read invest in life, held two signs reading war criminal, referring to Blinken. She was quickly subdued by Capitol Police as she approached Blinken and was lifted off her feet and taken out of the hearing room. Protesters have increasingly become a common sight at hearings featuring Blinken because the secretary has become the face of the Biden administrations response to the Israel-Hamas war. A rising number of Democrats, mostly progressives, have hammered Biden over his ardent support for Israel in the conflict despite mass civilian casualties and a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Blinken and Biden have consistently warned Israel to limit civilian casualties and increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, though the words have been criticized as not enough. Biden said earlier this month that he would pause military aid shipments to Israel if its military invaded Rafah, the strongest yet rebuke of the countrys leadership. That move came under fire from a bipartisan group of Israels closest allies in Congress, who said even the threat was going too far against Israel. Protesters have repeatedly interrupted Blinken and other Biden administration officials during similar Senate hearings. Last month, activists painted their hands red to signify blood in protest while Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin gave testimony. In October, a string of protesters interrupted Blinken one at a time, taking minutes out of a hearing. The protests add to concerns for the Biden campaign, amid fears that younger, more progressive voters unhappy with the presidents policy on the Israel-Hamas war could sit out of the November election. 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 The Hill. Pro-Palestinian protestors gathered outside 14-A District Court awaiting details on the four people arrested in Ann Arbor, May 24, 2024 | Jon King Four people who were arrested by University of Michigan campus police early Tuesday have been released, although they may still be charged. The four were taken into custody after officers began clearing out the encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters from the Diag just before 6 a.m. Melissa Overton, a spokesperson for U of Ms Division of Public Safety and Security, confirmed for the Michigan Advance that all four were released, but indicated charges are still pending. Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit told the Advance that his office had not received any police reports or charge requests. Overton said officers issued three verbal warnings over a 15-minute period, asking the approximately 50 people who were in the encampment to leave voluntarily before being subject to arrest. Protestors now in front of Washtenaw County District Court https://t.co/3gBZ4TaNpZ pic.twitter.com/RSA71cW5mQ Jon King (@JonKingNews) May 21, 2024 In a statement issued Tuesday morning, University President Santa Ono said the decision to clear the encampment was made after a Friday inspection by the university fire marshal determined that were a fire to occur, a catastrophic loss of life was likely. [T]he fire marshal and Student Life leaders asked camp occupants to remove external camp barriers, refrain from overloading power sources, and stop using open flames, said Ono. The protesters refused to comply with these requests. That forced the university to take action and this morning, we removed the encampment. University of Michigan spokesperson Colleen Mastony said while the university recognizes the importance of free speech and expression, it also have a duty to protect students, faculty, staff and visitors to campus. The disregard for safety directives was the latest in a series of troubling events centered on the encampment. Individuals will continue to be welcome to protest as they always have at the University of Michigan, so long as those protests do not infringe on the rights of others, endanger our community, violate the law or disrupt university operations, said Mastony. By mid-morning, crews were power-washing the Diag where the encampment had been, which remained cordoned off by campus police. The protesters, meanwhile, had regrouped and gathered outside the 14-A District Court building several miles away, where they led a picket outside. Leading the group was Salma Hamamy, with the Students For Justice and Palestine chapter at the University of Michigan. She told the Advance that the rationale offered by Ono didnt ring true. The structure of the encampment has remained the same for the last 30 days, she said. I dont see how anything new has caused a fire hazard. People are very easily able to walk in and out of the encampment and we have gatherings in there all the time. Its a very open space. So I just genuinely feel like thats an excuse for him to justify raiding the encampment. Cleaning crews power washing the Diag after the pro-Palestinian encampment was cleared out at the University of Michigan, May 21, 2024 | Jon King Pro-Palestinian protestors gathered outside 14-A District Court awaiting details on the four people arrested in Ann Arbor, May 24, 2024 | Jon King Pro-Palestinian protestors gathered outside 14-A District Court awaiting details on the four people arrested in Ann Arbor, May 24, 2024 | Jon King Spots where some of the tents used to be located after the pro-Palestinian encampment was cleared out at the University of Michigan, May 21, 2024 | Jon King Pro-Palestinian protestors gathered outside 14-A District Court awaiting details on the four people arrested in Ann Arbor, May 24, 2024 | Jon King Hamamy, who was present when the police showed up, said the situation escalated very quickly, and despite being given a 10-minute warning to leave, that was cut short and officers moved in. They had their batons out. They came prepared in riot gear with tear gas and pepper spray, and every inch that they took and stepped forward, they used that to push students back, said Hamamy. The tents have very long metal poles. Those were essentially flying around, almost hitting students in the face, with very little regard to what the equipment might potentially do to harm people. Hamamy called it a very unfortunate and frightening and traumatic experience, but not one that would deter them. The movement lies within the people, not necessarily the tents that we put up within the encampment itself. And its still going to carry on, and its still going to persist, especially with these felony charges that we see coming out against more and more student protesters, she said. Tuesdays arrests are just the latest escalation in the standoff between the university and protesters demanding a complete divestment from companies and institutions connected to Israel in light of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. On Thursday, Savits office announced charges had been filed against four individuals for assaulting police officers during a sit-in at Onos office. That announcement came a day after demonstrators appeared outside the homes of U of Ms Board of Regents, including Chair Sarah Hubbard and Regent Jordan Acker. Hubbard, meanwhile, took to social media to say that the decision to remove the encampment came after protesters fortified their position on campus with chicken wire and brought in piles of plywood. They called upon others to join them to resist removal. The Fire Marshall indicated this created significant fire risk, said Hubbard. We have supported their rights to free speech and diversity of thought even though they were violating numerous university policies. We provided electricity, security and access to the protesters. We look forward to ongoing dialogue with all parties regarding this topic, she said. The post Protesters released, pending charges, after U of M police remove pro-Palestinian encampment appeared first on Michigan Advance. Since sounding the alarm in March on the Biden Administrations efforts (Executive Order 14019) to turn federal agencies into get-out-the-vote arms to bolster voter registration and participation via unlawful means, many other conservative leaders around the country have joined our fight to push back against federal overreach in elections. Just this week, citing my letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability penned their own letter to the Office of Management and Budget expressing concerns about EO 14019. The Committees letter notes the lack of constitutional and statutory authority for federal agencies to engage in any activity outside the agencys authorized mission and the lack of transparency from federal agencies and the White House regarding the implementation of this executive order. Further, the Committee has requested documentation and communications regarding the creation and implementation of the order. Michael Watson As we see the increased call for transparency and accountability from the Biden Administrations attempts to infiltrate state-run elections, I think it is important to provide Mississippians with the same clarity about what we are doing in Mississippi to preserve the integrity of our elections. While the Biden Administration is working to overstep and inflate voter rolls, our office has taken numerous steps to push our election commissioners to clean and better maintain Mississippis voter rolls. Though many counties do a great job, we wanted to empower Mississippians to hold their local election officials accountable in counties where improvements are needed. Since January 2021, we have published active voter counts on our website for all 82 counties. This information allows Mississippi voters to track the progress of the voter roll maintenance conducted by those who run our elections-- circuit clerks and election commissioners. While these officials are required to meet a minimum of four times per year to conduct voter roll maintenance, we have trained and encouraged them to meet more frequently. Through their work, we have seen a solid decrease in bloated voter rolls. At the state level, we have increased the number of tools election commissioners and circuit clerks have to better maintain voter rolls. Through Memorandums of Understanding with neighboring states and collaboration with the Department of Public Safety, we are working to address those moving across state lines by comparing voter rolls with other states and receiving information anytime a voter surrenders his/her drivers license to another state. In partnership with the state legislature, we have codified voter roll maintenance practices to ensure inactive voters not voting in two consecutive federal general elections are purged from the voter roll, and any persons who do not cast a ballot from 2024 to 2028 will be moved to inactive status. We are continuously thinking through and working on ways to help encourage, support, and hold accountable our local election officials. Cleaning Mississippis voter rolls is just one of the active measures we have taken to ensure honest and fair elections. It does not convey the steps taken to ensure only U.S. citizens are voting in our elections, preventing private money from funding election administration, increasing the Election Support Fund disbursement to counties from 50% to 100%, requiring every county to use machines with voter-verifiable paper ballots and no wireless communication, codifying penalties for fraudulently requesting absentee ballots and ballot harvesting, and implementing post-election audits. As you can see, at the Secretary of States Office, we dont just talk about restoring confidence to Mississippi voters, we are actively doing it. Should you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to my office. Additionally, I encourage you to contact your federal delegation and encourage them to join us in pushing back against the Biden Administrations efforts to undermine Mississippis elections. Michael Watson is secretary of state for Mississippi. This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Preserving the integrity of Mississippi elections The wiry-looking economist with no military experience who Vladimir Putin has chosen to serve as his new defense minister is apparently a lot closer to the murky underworld of Russian security services than was originally thought. Andrei Belousov was close to the late Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhinso close, according to a new report by opposition investigative reporting group Dossier Center, that the two were sometimes spotted sitting with their arms around each other. A source told the outlet Belousov, who served as first deputy prime minister prior to his rise to defense minister, oversaw Prigozhins activities. The two are said to have spoken to each other like friends and their work meetings were reminiscent of family get-togethers with tea; they informally discussed all the issues, then nodded to the junior employees, who then compiled everything into a real report. Meetings between Belousov and the mercenary boss were also noted in Prigozhins calendar, according to Dossier Center. The newly appointed defense minister is said to have taken an interest in the use of private military companies, having reviewed a report on the development prospects of PMCs in 2018, when he was serving as a special assistant to Putin in economic affairs. The report touted private military companies like Wagner as a crucial new way to take on America and the U.K. as more and more of the world is marked by gray zones, areas where the report notes international law doesnt fully work anymore. Putins Private Army Accused of Massacring Dozens to Seize Gold Mine It was not immediately clear who had written the report, or what Belousovs ultimate role in reviewing it was. But the Kremlins growing empire of private military companies has been well-documented in recent years, with an explosion of little-known outfits secretly doing Moscows bidding while at the same time denying any government links. The war against Ukraine has only spawned more such units, with state corporations and regional leaders setting up their own private armies that ultimately answer to the Kremlin. Belousovs apparent interest in the topic perhaps comes as no surprise, as his grandfather, Pavel Travnikov, served in in the Soviet secret police under Josef Stalin, and hes spoken openly about his grandfather at one point being a member of Stalins security detail. In the wake of his appointment as defense minister, a former correspondent for the state-run TV channel Rossiya 24 recalled a sit-down with Belousov years ago in which a joke about Stalin taking revenge on a sound engineer whod messed up his speech got a sour reaction from Belousov, who shot back that Stalin had better things to do than punish a sound engineer. Belousov is also described as deeply religious, with one source quoted saying he begins every meeting with a prayer. That may help him spread Vladimir Putins message that Russia is a bastion of traditional values and religious faith that is engaged in a civilizational clash with the supposedly deviant West. Documents cited by Dossier Center, however, suggest the new defense boss had real estate interests in Italy as recently as 2018, when he enlisted help to sell a villa in the town of Forte dei Marmi on the Mediterranean coast. In a strange twist, one of the interested buyers was a British citizen who shared a passport number with a bogus passport used by Mossad agents to carry out the assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai in 2013. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that the country's security services had detained nine people who had committed sabotage. The head of government emphasized that the attackers acted on the orders of the special services of the aggressor country Russia. ADVERTISIMENT In addition, he said that the investigation concerns, in particular, former Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz, who held the post in 2015-2018. Tusk said this on TVN24. According to him, the authorities are now seeking to fully regain control over what is happening on the territory of the Polish state. He noted that suspects who acted in favor of the Russian Federation have already been detained. "We have nine suspects arrested and accused of direct participation in sabotage in Poland on behalf of Russian services. The loop of information we are collecting is tightening around Antoni Macierewicz," Tusk said. He also emphasized that an investigation is underway into the influence of Russian agents or the Kremlin in general on what is happening in Poland, including at various levels of government and administration. According to his estimates, this will require a commission, the creation of which he has already announced. ADVERTISIMENT As a reminder, Poland's Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk said that his country would carry out a significant modernization of fortifications. The defense ministry representative emphasized that Poland is ready to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on these measures. Earlier it was reported that Poland had begun construction of fortifications on the border with Belarus. According to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, this decision was made due to pressure from the regime of dictator Alexander Lukashenko. As reported by OBOZ.UA, earlier Polish President Andrzej Duda said that Russia intends to attack NATO in 2026-2027. According to him, there is evidence that this is why Russian dictator Putin is doubling the pace of Russia's transition to a military economy. Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber . Do not fall for fakes! ADVERTISIMENT Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, has stated that dialogue with Vladimir Putin is impossible at the moment since Putin is not an independent figure, and he lives in a vacuum of hate towards Ukraine supported by his inner circle. Source: Zelenskyy in an interview for Reuters Details: The journalists recalled that at the beginning of the full-scale war Zelenskyy sought dialogue with Putin, and asked him whether Ukraines president would like to have such a dialogue now. Zelenskyy explained that at the moment it doesn't make sense because Putin is not an independent figure. "This is the problem, hes brainwashed people, and he has been brainwashed himself. He is in an information bubble, and he wants to destroy us. You cannot sit down at the negotiation table with a person whose only goal is to destroy you. And you cannot establish a just dialogue in such conditions," Zelenskyy stated. Zelenskyy believes that the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland is one of the formats where the basis with "a powerful agreement and more pressure on Russia" should be prepared. Quote: "He [Putin ed.] will not always be strong, he is getting old and will die in any case. Its not that we should specifically wait for this moment. It will come sooner or laterWe just mustnt give away our state now. It will be hard to have it back later. Like it was with Crimea and Donbas after 2014. It was extremely hard, and we did not manage to defend themDonbas, Crimeaand people began to forget. The world will not think about Ukraine for so long, everyone has their own internal struggles. We managed to raise this information wave and to not be alonebut not everyone in the West is as strong now as they were at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. But we still have strength, and we mustnt give up. He [Putin ed.] is not an independent figure as of today, he has this wave of narratives that Ukraine is led by the US, while his main tool is big money He will only leave the Kremlin over his dead body. His circle keeps him in this system. We need to find a weak spot in this system. If you look for it daily and keep fighting, you will surely win." Support UP or become our patron! Questions and scrutiny continue at community meeting over proposed Chick-fil-A in Oceanway Dozens of people joined Jacksonville city leaders in a community meeting to learn more about a proposed Chick-fil-A in the Oceanway neighborhood. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< Many neighbors came with questions and scrutiny over the citys traffic study. They voiced their concerns about the potential traffic problems the proposed restaurant might bring. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] This was after the city published a 658-page traffic study on the proposed site set to be at the intersection of Bradley Cove Road and Lady Lake Road. Validated my opinion -- way too much traffic that will be coming through, its going to make it even worse for the community and worse for the high schoolers, Erin Grier, an Oceanway resident said. There was a lot of tension in the meeting. The community is frustrated, Council Member Reggie Gaffney said. They have every right to be upset. The popular restaurant would be across from First Coast High School and at an entrance to a residential neighborhood, which many said will be a problem. Its just going to be a nightmare, Szilvia Smith, an Oceanway resident said. Lady Lake Road and Bradley Cove Road is not a commercial road; its a residential road and our zoning is [for] low-intensity traffic. RELATED: Residents simulate traffic jam to protest proposed Chick-fil-A in Oceanway City leaders, the developers attorney, the citys traffic engineer and Chick-Fil-A representatives all sat down to listen and share their updates. We try to make sure upfront that these studies are accurate, but at the same time we want to allow people to develop their properties, just like youre allowed to develop your properties, Jacksonvilles Chief Traffic Engineer Chris LeDew said during the meeting. After reviewing the traffic study, LeDew said he found a traffic signal is warranted and a right turn deceleration lane is necessary at each driveway of the site. If they want to put in a light, all theyre going to do is drive more traffic down on Lady Lake Road in front of the houses to exit out on Summer Beach Drive, Smith said. People asked about everything from property values to the safety of the high schoolers. Some also questioned the accuracy of the study. RELATED: Oceanway community voices concerns against proposed location of new Chick-fil-A Chick-Fil-A representative listened and responded to many people asking why here? This after all things considered, this is the ideal spot for us to be, a Chick-Fil-A representative said at the meeting. One rep also explained how during peak hours across their entire chain, they see about 25 cars. But she said in this proposed site, the drive-thru will fit 39 cars. So, she added saying, the likelihood of it affecting traffic is minimal. Chick-Fil-A sent Action News Jax an emailed statement saying, We recognize the challenges encountered in this project, including issues with the initial traffic study. When discussion begins around building a Chick-fil-A restaurant, one of our main goals is to positively impact the communities we serve. We remain committed to ongoing dialogue and value the feedback received. The next Land Use and Zoning meeting is scheduled for June 4th. There will be a public hearing to discuss the traffic study and there will also a vote. Then, city council is set to vote on the proposal on June 11. This embedded content is not available in your region. [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. icon Semafor Signals Supported by Microsoft logo Insights from Bloomberg, Iran International, and the Financial Times Arrow Down Title icon The News The cause of a helicopter crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has not been determined but Irans former foreign minister blamed US sanctions on aviation parts for the incident, allegations the US rejected as utterly baseless. One of the culprits behind yesterdays tragedy is the United States, because of its sanctions that bar Iran from procuring essential aviation parts, Mohammad Javad Zarif told Iranian state media. [This] will be recorded in the list of US crimes against the Iranian people. icon SIGNALS Semafor Signals: Global insights on today's biggest stories. Irans aging fleet difficult to maintain under sanctions Source icon Source: Bloomberg Iran has been effectively barred from purchasing new aircraft or aviation equipment from Western suppliers because of sanctions, some of which date back to its 1979 revolution. Its planes and helicopters have an average age of about 25 years, while repairs often rely on old parts from previous models, Bloomberg reported. As a result, Iran flies some of the oldest and most basic helicopters still in use and relies on the skills of its engineers to find ways to keep them in operation with limited access to new materials, the outlet noted. While it is possible for Tehran to buy equipment from Russia and China, it is typically blocked from accessing more up-to-date technology. Questions over why helicopter was cleared for takeoff Source icon Source: The Financial Times The helicopter that carried Raisi and other top officials took off in thick fog in an area with difficult terrain and it remains unclear why the flight was given the all-clear. The old age of the fleet and Irans inability to secure new parts means that the helicopter likely encountered technical malfunctions, the Financial Times noted. Irans air fleet is a metaphor for the regime as a whole, Ali Ansari, an Iran expert from the University of St Andrews, told the paper. Its old, should not be able to keep flying, and yet does until it doesnt. Iranians poised to believe conspiracy theories Source icon Source: Iran International Analysts have said it is unsurprising that Iranian regime loyalists have placed blame on the US for the crash. It certainly fits with Iranian style, Patrick Clawson, a research counselor at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told the UK-based outlet Iran International. Iranians are prone to believe in conspiracy theories [in] personal life, business life, and political life, he said. Iran has suffered several deadly air disasters in recent decades, but not all of the aircraft involved were US-made, he noted: Several crashes occurred in Russian- and European-designed aircraft that would not be subject to the same sanctions. Semafor Logo The Stars recent coverage about Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas reckless welcome mat for migrants illegally entering the country has barely touched on the Biden administrations elastic contortions of immigration law. The actual law bears closer consideration, since the mayors entire idea rests on Bidens interpretation and that interpretation, via administrative discretion, disrespects the years of hard work put in by naturalized citizens to earn the honor of United States citizenship. I am one of those proud citizens. I was born in India, but my dream was to earn a masters degree in business administration in America. I entered the U.S. legally on a student visa in August 2001 to attend Southeast Missouri State University. One month after moving to Cape Girardeau, I watched in horror on TV as terrorists crashed jets into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field on the way to the White House. Amid the horror of 9/11, I was comforted by the powerful experience of Americans coming together in common cause against terror. This immersion in patriotic unity inspired me to earn my way to U.S. citizenship. The process took me 16 years. I did it the right way the legal way. I followed the law in transitioning to a work visa, then to a legal permanent resident status, and only then to proudly taking an oath of allegiance as a naturalized citizen. So this subject is deeply personal to me. But my story is not unusual among immigrants who have earned citizenship, nor is the disdain expressed by those who worked so hard for actual legal status when it comes to the Lucas-Biden notion of effectively open-ended sanctuary. The mayor has bought into President Joe Bidens definition of lawfully present, which does not convey a legal status when you read the actual law. It is Biden waiving the law to grant people here illegally an unearned, undeserved privilege with an indefinite sunset. The key question is: Did these migrants enter the United States legally or illegally, irrespective of their contrived status endowed by Bidens order? The answer is that too many entered illegally, and that fact should frame this discussion, not Lucas and Biden pretending the actual law doesnt matter. The Kansas City Star Editorial Board recently referenced this fact with a passing, dismissive acknowledgment: The permitting system itself is admittedly controversial. Migrants who have applied for asylum can apply for authorization to work after 180 days in the country. If you think the asylum system is too permissive (as many anti-immigrant Republicans do) then the permitting system is also problematic. I take issue with The Star editorial characterizing those who feel the Lucas-Biden system is too permissive as anti-immigrant. There are many who are pro-legal immigration, but correctly call out cynical shortcuts. The mayor and I each earned law degrees, so we both know that words in law have particular meaning. The meaning that he and Biden want to wring from the law simply doesnt make sense. As U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said in 2016: How can it be lawful to work here but not lawful to be here? The Lucas-Biden spin doesnt change the fact that some these individuals entered the United States illegally and remain illegally under terms of the actual law until their case is individually decided, which can take years. I know this because I put my law degree to work over two decades helping immigrants dedicating themselves to hard work in completing the long legal path to U.S. citizenship. A Star reporter recently asked me if I believe the mayor is pushing to accept undocumented immigrants. I replied that people who are entering the United States illegally are by definition undocumented. The document is given to them under Lucas-Bidens expansive and questionable amnesty shortcut. The Star reporter also asked whether I a naturalized citizen and Missouris first non-white statewide officeholder believe that some politicians are twisting Lucas comments? I replied (though you never saw it in the newspaper), that I believe quite the opposite. It is Lucas and Biden who are twisting words with their outrageous expansion of the term legal presence to suggest it means legal status. That is flat wrong if you start with the basic question, did the migrant enter the United States legally? Welcoming those who entered the country illegally sends a message around the world that not only is the U.S. southern border open, but so is Kansas City no need to apply for a visa the right way. Just walk across the border and you can stay. And Missouri taxpayers will foot the bill for law enforcement, health care, education and other public services facing vast new costs. It is the wrong message for those who actually respect the law. Vivek Malek is Missouri State Treasurer. Race to win 2024 Battle of the Badges in Topeka ends with narrow victory Race to win 2024 Battle of the Badges in Topeka ends with narrow victory TOPEKA (KSNT) Local first responders rolled up their sleeves Monday for a good cause and a little friendly competition! The 7th annual blood drive competition, Battle of the Badges, had the Topeka Police Department (TPD) and the Topeka Fire Department (TFD) racing to see which agency could get the most donations. Each blood donor got to vote on who they thought should win the competition. The winner by just one vote- was the TFD. While the competition is all fun and games, the annual event carries one important message. Its absolutely critical that people donate blood, said Alan Stahl, fire marshal for the City of Topeka. So that we can keep those blood supply levels up in our hospitals and right now we are in a shortage situation. Kansas awards $80,000 to missile silo tourist attraction All of the blood donated Monday will go to patients in the Topeka area thanks to the American Red Cross. For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. 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 KSNT 27 News. The Texas-based radio host detailed his wife's harrowing experience on X, formerly known as Twitter Ryan Hamilton/X Ryan Hamilton and wife Ryan Hamilton is speaking out after he and his wife experienced a distressing situation at a Texas hospital. The Texas-based radio DJ shared his story on X, formally known as Twitter, recounting his pregnant wife's harrowing experience after they went to the emergency room to discover why she had "severe pains & bleeding." "There, it was discovered that our baby no longer had a heartbeat. Devastated doesn't come close to what that feels like," Hamilton wrote. "Unfortunately for people like us, because of the current laws in the state of Texas, that was only the beginning of this nightmare." "Jess (my wife) had an 'incomplete miscarriage', and what needed to happen, what was best for HER, and her health, was to terminate the pregnancy, and get the baby out," he continued. "The doctor gave her a medication that would move this process along, and sent her home. Where, apparently we would be handling it ourselves. We were told it might take a couple of attempts before it worked." Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. My heart is broken: As friends & family know, my wife was pregnant with our 2nd child, & about to begin her 2nd trimester. A few days ago she had severe pains, & bleeding, and had to go to the emergency room. There, it was discovered that our baby no longer had a heartbeat. pic.twitter.com/k1INqq94c0 Ryan Hamilton (@TheRyanHamilton) May 20, 2024 Related: Intended Parents Demand Surrogate Terminate Healthy Pregnancy But She Decided to Have the Baby Anyway Hamilton shared that after a long, painful night that he equated to "early labor," the baby was still with her. The couple decided to return to the emergency room for a second dose, where a new doctor an older man was on call. "You could hear him in the hallway as he said, 'I'm not giving her a pill so she can go home and have an ab*rtion!' Being well aware that our baby no longer had a heartbeat," Hamilton continued. "Then, he came into the room to say, and I quote: 'Considering the current stance. I'm not going to prescribe you this pill.' Then, just sent us on our way." "No one should ever have to hear their wife say: 'Get this dead baby out of me!' " the radio personality wrote. "Can you even imagine how that must feel?" Jess' pain and bleeding continued, so the couple decided to go to another hospital, which Hamilton notes was about an hour away. The doctor on call was a woman, which the two hoped would give them better luck. "So we get to the next hospital. They take Jess in, ask her a bunch of questions, do a new scan... confirm that the baby is still there, with no heartbeat, and then disappear... for hours," Hamilton shared. Getty Stock image of woman in hospital. "Only to come back in and keep asking the same questions over and over. It's becoming clear that they're [sic] primary concern is NOT my wife's health. Instead, they seem to be worried about the legalities involved." "So, they decide it is not 'enough of an emergency' to perform the D & C," he said, referring to a procedure called dilatation and curettage. "They do, however, prescribe another, stronger, final dose of the medication for us to try again... at home." "So, we go home to try again. Another long day/night of early labor pains. Only to discover my wife UNCONSCIOUS in the bathroom," Hamilton recalled. "Having to pick my wife's cold, limp body off of that bathroom floor, not sure if I was about to lose her, is something I will NEVER forget." Jess had to be rushed to the hospital. Because she had lost so much blood and bodily fluid, her body gave out. Luckily, the doctors were able to stabilize her, and give her the fluids she needed, and the two were allowed to return home. The doctors also confirmed that the baby was no longer with her. Getty Stock image of woman in hospital. "Now, not only do we have to live with the loss of our baby... we have to live with the nightmare of what we just experienced because of political and religious beliefs," Hamilton wrote. "MY WIFE'S HEALTH SHOULD HAVE COME FIRST. PERIOD!" In the thread on X, several people voiced their concern and outrage at the situation, including actor Mark Hamill, who wrote, "Tragic news. I know your pain from personal experience, so hang in there, Ryan, it will get better." Mia Farrow also commented, writing, "Im so very sorry for the loss of your baby and for the nightmare you and your wife were put through at an already terrible time ." For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. NEW YORK An aide to Mayor Adams whose home was raided amid an FBI probe into his 2021 campaign is cooperating with federal authorities, a source with knowledge of the matter said Monday. The aide, Rana Abbasova, is one of several people whose residence was raided as the feds probe allegations that the Turkish government funneled illegal cash into Adams campaign through straw donors. The mayor has not been accused of any wrongdoing and strongly denies any suggestion of impropriety in connection with the investigation. Its unclear what Abbasova may have discussed with the feds, though her cooperation pertains to the general allegation of illegal Turkish government-financed contributions to the mayors campaign, according to The New York Times, which first reported her cooperation. Her lawyer Rachel Maimin declined to comment. Brendan McGuire, the mayors former chief counsel at City Hall who now represents him and his 2021 campaign in the FBI investigation, confirmed Abbasovas cooperation, but said its not a new or meaningful development. Abbasova, the director of protocol in Adams International Affairs Office and the mayors unofficial liaison to the local Turkish community, was put on unpaid leave days after her home was raided in November, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter. She remains on unpaid leave, and her position at City Hall has not been filled, they added. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the Adams campaign probe, which burst into the headlines when the home of the mayors chief campaign fundraiser, Brianna Suggs, was raided in November. Days later, Adams had his own electronic devices seized by the feds. Abbasova received three tickets in New Jersey in January for offenses linked to driving a for-hire vehicle, the New York Daily News previously reported. While shes been on unpaid leave, another Adams aide targeted by the feds in a separate matter went on paid sick leave after her Bronx homes were raided in February. That aide, Winnie Greco, has since returned to work at City Hall, receiving a raise earlier this month. McGuire noted the mayors administration reported to investigators late last year that Abbasova had engaged in improper conduct. Sources confirmed at the time that the conduct in question was Abbasova instructing other Adams staffers to delete text messages theyd exchanged with her. It is our understanding that Ms. Abbasova has been talking to investigators since her improper conduct was reported by the administration in November, McGuire said in a Monday night statement. _____ Among the 150,000 soldiers who landed on and fought across the hostile beaches of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, were 1,000 members of a new, specially trained unit the U.S. Army Rangers. Most of them fought across the German beachfront defenses, supported by nearly 7,000 naval vessels and 11,000 Allied aircraft. More than 200 Rangers fought vertically up the sheer cliff face of Pointe du Hoc, a craggy outcropping overlooking the two American landing beaches in an effort to capture what was thought to be a key location of German artillery. As a military historian of what I call the American Ranger tradition, Ive traced this martial phenomenon from the colonial period to the 21st century. Their pathway to Normandy and their exploits that fateful morning represent a core component of the modern U.S. Armys culture and evolution in the decades since. Ranger rebirth The idea for the U.S. Army Rangers was inspired by British Prime Minister Winston Churchills idea for what he called a butcher and bolt force small teams that would conduct surprise attacks, kill or destroy key enemy targets, and escape undetected. The Commandos, as these British units were called, conducted high-profile and daring raids into occupied Europe from 1940 to the end of the war. Their sudden and shocking assaults along the French and Norwegian coastlines provided a boost in British morale during the dark early days of the war. In spring 1942, Gen. George C. Marshall, the U.S. Armys chief of staff, agreed to send a small detachment of Americans to train with the British commandos to gain combat experience. These American troops were then supposed to be sent to units across the United States rapidly growing army to share their expertise as new recruits prepared to go to war. Gen. Lucian Truscott Jr., who had made the initial pitch to Marshall, believed the term commando was too British and instead argued that these men should be called Rangers. Truscott recalled the tenacity, flexibility and aggressive nature of colonial forces like Rogers Rangers, famous for daring raids during the French and Indian War in the 1750s and 1760s. Truscott believed that few words have a more glamorous connotation in American military history than the word ranger. The 1st Ranger Battalion was trained by the British Commandos. A select few of them joined the British and Canadians in an August 1942 raid across the English Channel into Dieppe, France, which resulted in catastrophic losses and hard-learned lessons for the eventual landings at Normandy. Those Rangers were the first U.S. troops to fight in Europe during World War II. The U.S. Army Rangers fought in several locations in North Africa during World War II. U.S. Army Special Operations in World War II, Center for Military History In November 1942, the 1st Ranger Battalion took part in Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of northern Africa. They captured the port town of Arzew, Algeria, without firing a shot during the invasions opening hours. They conducted daring nighttime raids, like the one on the Italian military outpost at the Sened Station in Tunisia, and were essential to Gen. George Pattons breakout at Tunisias Djebel el Ank in 1943. The unit was so successful that the Army created additional Ranger battalions for the invasions of Italy and France, which were still being planned and would be undertaken in 1943 and 1944, respectively. As these new battalions were forming and training, two in Africa and two in Tennessee, there was some confusion among Army commanders about how they would be used in combat. Were they specialized raiding forces like the commandos, or elite infantry meant to spearhead beach landings and other large-scale offensives? The 1st Rangers had done both in Africa, and these new Rangers would be asked to do so as well. U.S. Army Rangers train with British Commandos. United States Office of War Information via Library of Congress These new Ranger battalions were less heavily armed than their conventional counterparts. While they fit under the same organizational framework, they lacked the heavier weapons and internal artillery capabilities of a standard American infantry battalion. As the Allied campaign pushed across northern Africa and into Italy, the Rangers found themselves consistently on the front lines of the Allied advance, where they suffered disastrous casualties fighting in prolonged conventional battles they were neither designed nor equipped for. The cliffs at Pointe du Hoc, seen here in 2019, are a steep climb from the waters edge. AP Photo/Virginia Mayo Rangers for D-Day Like the rest of the D-Day force, the Rangers prepared for the operation without knowing when or where it would take place. The newly organized 2nd and 5th Ranger battalions arrived in England in January 1944 and, alongside the more than 2 million other Allied soldiers on the British Isles, started preparing for the Normandy landings. The Rangers completed the murderous Commando training course in Scotland, famous for its grueling hill runs and use of live ammunition, spent weeks practicing amphibious landings along the English coastline, and scaled the towering seaside cliffs near Swanage more times than they could count. A map shows the Army Rangers assignments during the D-Day invasion. U.S. Army On the fateful morning of the Normandy landings, the Ranger battalions were split into three groups with two distinct assignments. Task Force A, three companies led by Lt. Col. James Rudder, was assigned the most difficult mission: Pointe du Hoc. Using rocket-propelled grappling guns, rope and specialty fire ladders, the Rangers needed to climb 90 feet of sheer rock face under German fire, take the cliff top and destroy a group of 155 mm German guns overlooking the landing beaches. Task Forces B and C, the remaining Rangers, were insurance. Depending on what happened at the cliffs, these Rangers had to land and fight across Omaha Beach and either rescue a faltering cliff assault or support the 29th Infantry Division in clearing the beach and taking the critical town of Vierville. Just days after D-Day, U.S. Army Rangers show the ladders they used to storm the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc. U.S. Navy via National Archives The fight at Pointe du Hoc Rudders Task Force A had a rough start: A wrong turn in their landing craft put them 30 minutes behind schedule. The 225 Rangers finally started their climb well after sunrise and were met with intense German fire from above. Many of the first men to reach the top only did so with their hands and knives their ropes had been cut. But 30 minutes after they started climbing, the Rangers had reached the craggy and blasted top of Pointe du Hoc. Numbering barely 70, they found no functional German guns, which had either been destroyed in pre-invasion bombardments or moved by the Germans just days before. Landing on Omaha Beach By the time the 800-plus Rangers of Task Forces B and C landed on Omaha Beach, they had not yet heard from the delayed cliff assault team amid the chaos of the mornings fight. Within minutes, concentrated German machine gun fire devastated the men struggling up the beach. Nearly half of Lt. Col. Max Schneiders force were killed or wounded as they made their way onto the beach. The rest hid behind a low seawall. Brig. Gen. Norman Cota approached the gathered troops. After a short and heated discussion with Schneider, the Rangers heard Cota yell something about needing to get troops off the exposed beach. His order became the current 75th Ranger Regiments motto: Rangers, Lead the Way! Using explosives specially designed for clearing obstacles, the Rangers cleared a pathway through the German barbed wire, and the assault up the beach began anew. Famously reenacted by Tom Hanks and his fellow on-screen Rangers in 1998s World War II epic Saving Private Ryan, the Ranger attack kick-started one of the first major breakthroughs of the morning. Before long, American soldiers were face to face with German defenders and opening large gaps in the defenses on their way to taking the beach and pushing inland. A few among many Like most of the troops on D-Day, the men of the 2nd and 5th Rangers experienced combat for the first time on those beaches and cliffsides. They paid a heavy price for the Allied victory: Nearly 400 of the original 1,000 Rangers who set out for Normandy were killed, wounded or missing. Overall, 4,000-plus Allied soldiers were killed on the day of the invasion, with 5,000 more wounded. The Rangers were a small part of the overall operation, but they epitomize the strength, adaptability and determination of every service member who stepped foot on those beaches, piloted those landing craft, flew air support or toiled on an off-shore warship. U.S. President Ronald Reagan addresses the surviving Ranger veterans and the media in 1984 on the 40th anniversary of the Normandy landings. AP Photo Four decades after D-Day, U.S. President Ronald Reagan visited Pointe du Hoc and paid his respects to the 62 surviving members of the 2nd Rangers who had climbed the cliffs. He honored them and every other young man who stormed the beaches of Normandy: These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war. 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: James Sandy, University of Texas at Arlington Read more: James Sandy receives funding from the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center at Carlisle Barracks, PA. Even before he landed in Spain, before he opened his mouth and triggered a spat with the Spanish government, Javier Mileis trip was already involved in controversy back home in Argentina. Since taking office over five months ago, the president has made six trips abroad, but in most of them he did not develop a state agenda or hold meetings with national authorities; instead, he participated in activities with more ties to his own personal interests than to national ones. Opposition leaders are questioning the fact that, while the president proclaims that there is no money and implements severe cuts to public spending with the chainsaw as an emblem Milei and his entourage are using the presidential plane and spending public funds to go on what they say amounts to publicity tours around the world. Mileis visit to Madrid last weekend had been confirmed by the Argentine president on March 29, when he announced on his social media accounts that he would participate in a far-right political summit in Madrid hosted by Spains ultranationalist party Vox, whose leader Santiago Abascal was described by Milei as his dear friend. After the first questions began to emerge regarding the private nature of the trip, the government responded that Milei would have an official agenda and that he would be meeting with business leaders in Spain. It was a full 45 days after the trip was announced that the meeting and its participants were confirmed. In the presidents first three trips abroad, the government reported having spent a total of 168 million pesos (about $168,000 at the current exchange rate). There is still no official data on the last three trips. The opposition group Hacemos Coalion Federal has requested information from the government regarding Mileis trips to the United States, Switzerland, Israel, Italy and Spain. This group has asked for an account of itineraries, activities, costs and the origin of the funds that were used to cover these expenses. We want to know if these were [official] state visits or trips with a private agenda. From whats been posted on social media and the spokespersons statements, it would seem that in general these were trips of a private nature, said the lawmaker Oscar Agost Carreno, one of the signatories of the request for information. Meanwhile the Left Front lawmaker Gabriel Solano has filed a complaint in court against Milei for using public funds and property, including the presidential plane, to travel to Spain in order to participate in Voxs party activities. The cost to the State will exceed $500,000. In his five months and 10 days as president, Milei has made five visits to different parts of Argentina, in addition to those made abroad. In January he went to Switzerland to participate in the Davos Forum. In February he traveled to Israel, Italy and the Vatican, where he did maintain state activities. At the end of the same month, Milei made his first visit to the United States: he met with another icon of the global right, former president Donald Trump, and later spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). He traveled to the United States again in April, to be distinguished as an international ambassador of light by the Jewish organization Chabad Lubavitch and to meet with Elon Musk. He would meet the millionaire of South African origin again at the beginning of May, on his third visit to the United States. On that occasion, he also spoke to business leaders, bankers and representatives of investment funds at the Global Conference of the Milken Institute. Criticism of the waste of public funds has hit a sensitive spot for the government. Milei built a large part of his victory on the basis of attacking the privileges of the political caste and he is now being accused of engaging in the same behavior that he previously reviled. They are not private trips, defended the presidential spokesperson, Manuel Adorni. We do not make any self-criticism in terms of expenses because I can assure you that, if there is an austere government that spends the bare minimum, it is this one, he insisted last week. Former House Speaker Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis, was leading in early returns Tuesday night in the Democratic primary for Oregon attorney general against nonprofit executive director Shaina Pomerantz. Former Oregon House Speaker Dan Rayfield was leading in the race for the Democratic nomination for Oregon's attorney general, according to initial primary election results Tuesday. Rayfield sent a celebratory statement based on the initial results thanking his opponent, Shaina Maxey Pomerantz for a "respectful campaign" and the "opportunity to debate important issues." He said he would continue to discuss his "proven track record" and vision. "This election has been a great opportunity to talk with people in communities across the state about our shared values and the most important priorities for the next Attorney General," Rayfield said. "As we move to the general election, I will continue to offer a clear vision of keeping Oregonians safe, strengthening our justice system to make it more accountable and fair, standing up for consumers, seniors and children, and protecting our rights from national threats, including on reproductive health and abortion rights." The winner of the primary election will face the winner of the Republican primary either Michael Cross or Will Lathrop in the November general election to replace Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum. She announced in September that she would not see a fourth term. Rayfield announced he was running for attorney general in October Pomerantz filed on the last day allowed. Rayfield, a Willamette University College of Law graduate, was elected to the Oregon House in 2014. Before being elected to the Oregon Legislature, he worked for 18 years as a private attorney. If elected as attorney general, he said he would prioritize supporting working families, protecting Oregonians values and policies from national threats, and keeping communities safe. Pomerantz graduated from Southern University Law Center and was a former civil rights investigator for the Oregon Bureau of Labor & Industries. She received a $425,000 settlement from BOLI in December from a racial discrimination lawsuit. She now works as executive director of RACE TALKS, a Portland-based nonprofit. In her voter's pamphlet, she described herself as the peoples champion who believes every Oregonian deserves equal opportunity and representation that is community-based and consumer friendly. She did not respond to questions from the Statesman Journal. Dianne Lugo covers the Oregon Legislature and equity issues. Reach her at dlugo@statesmanjournal.com or on Twitter @DianneLugo This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Rayfield leading in Oregon attorney general Democratic race Donald Trump solidified his hold over the Republican Party for a third presidential election cycle on March 5. But the refusal of many GOP voters that night, and in primary elections since, to back the quasi-incumbent sparked the creation of a group that intends to try to pull the party from his grasp. Less than a week after Super Tuesday results rolled in, a new independent political action committee, the Reagan Caucus, filed a statement of organization with the Federal Election Commission, followed nine days later by the formation of a separate state PAC, the Utah Reagan Caucus, which is actively seeking donations and issuing endorsements in the states highest profile races. The two groups, joined by at least 11 other legally separate but closely affiliated state chapters, have the goal of influencing down-ballot Republican primaries away from Trump and toward the GOP policies and optimistic politics of Ronald Reagan. Over the past decade, they argue, the party of social conservatism, fiscal restraint and national defense has strayed from its roots and from its most popular president in 50 years. Some party activists say the opposite is true; under Trump the party has returned to the bold, conservative message of Reagan after years of losing to Democrats in culture war showdowns. The Reagan Caucus has co-opted the 40th presidents name to push for a watered-down conservatism, critics say. But Utah Reagan Caucus director Justin Stapley believes that many Republican voters in Utah, where Trump experienced his worst results of any red state this primary season, have a pent up desire for the big tent appeal of Reaganism now that Trumps Grand Old Party has, itself, gotten old. What is the Utah Reagan Caucus? There is a sizable part of the Republican Party ... that wants something different from the direction the party has been going in for the last decade, Stapley told the Deseret News. In 1980 and 1984, Reagan was able to capitalize on national discontent to win in huge landslide elections, Stapley said, because of his happy warrior attitude, promises of trustworthy spending and a projection of American confidence on the world stage. And I think on each of those aspects you see the Republican Party experiencing a serious departure from those things, Stapley said. Former President Gerald R. Ford, left, lends his support to fellow Republican and then-presidential candidate Ronald Reagan and running mate George Bush, seen here on the final day of campaigning in Peoria, Ill., in this Nov. 3, 1980, file photo. | Associated Press Stapley, who served in the National Guard and Salt Lake County Sheriffs Office before entering a masters program with Utah Valley Universitys Center for Constitutional Studies, said his party now appears to expend more energy tearing itself apart than advancing the conservative cause. It almost seems like this growing faction that was kind of built over the last 10 years in the Republican Party, they are more motivated to go after fellow Republicans than they are to go after Democrats at times, he said. And this has completely disrupted the traditional big tent Republicanism that Reagan championed so well. The Utah Reagan Caucus aims to influence Beehive State politics in the same way the national Reagan Caucus aims to do so in the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential primaries by endorsing principled non-MAGA Republicans and mobilizing voters who have signed their pledge to vote in GOP primaries. Part of what I feel the Reagan caucus is trying to do is to make a more visible, Reaganite faction within the Republican Party, because thats part of the problem that we observed through the primaries is that there wasnt really an organizing principle even though there was this desire, Stapley said. In the 2024 GOP primary, the Utah Reagan Caucus has endorsed Gov. Spencer Cox against his challenger, state Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding; Rep. Blake Moore against Paul Miller in the 1st Congressional District; Rep. Celeste Maloy against her 2nd District opponent, Colby Jenkins; Rep. John Curtis in the race to fill Sen. Mitt Romneys open seat; State Auditor John Dougall in the race to replace Curtis in the 3rd District; and a number of state and municipal candidates. Moving forward, the national Reagan Caucus, working in concert with state branches like Utahs, will be sparse with its endorsements, according to Reagan Caucus founder Thomas Howes, the editor-in-chief of The Vital Center journal and a politics lecturer at Princeton University. The main focus will be to commit Republican voters across the country to participate in primary elections, which are usually low-turnout affairs that can be decided by the most activist portion of the base, Howes said. The caucus plans to advertise their pledge with the donations they started receiving last week. The primary electorate itself is only a small portion of the total population, Howes said. It takes a few million people getting informed and committed to voting in primaries and you could substantially change the primary electorate. Is there a place for the Reagan Caucus in the Utah GOP? Fewer than 10% of registered Utah Republicans participated in the caucus night presidential preference poll on Super Tuesday. Trump beat his lone remaining challenger, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, 56% to 43% among the narrow slice of GOP primary voters who participated in Utah. But Haley defeated Trump in two of the states most populous counties in Salt Lake County, 52%-47%, and in Davis County, 51%-48%. She narrowly lost to Trump in the highest turn-out region, Utah County, 47%-52%. While it is hard to pin down through public opinion polling, Utah Republicans seem roughly split into three camps, said Quin Monson, a political science professor at Brigham Young University and the co-author of Seeking the Promised Land: Mormons and American Politics. There is a group of ardent Trump supporters who have supported the 45th president from the beginning, another group of voters who have opposed Trump from the beginning and a group that may have liked Trumps policies but have grown tired of his antics, Monson said. I think that group is pretty substantial, that maybe will even vote for him again in 2024, and maybe would even express support for him in a poll, but is just kind of fatigued and wishes that there was another option, Monson said. I think thats probably the largest group. A SNF Agora Institute poll conducted by Gallup in March asked self-identified Utah Republicans to select any label they would use to describe themselves ideologically. The poll found that 31% of Utah Republicans feel comfortable with the label moderate Republicans, 28% describe themselves as Trump Republicans, 25% identify as Reagan Republicans, 16% as America First Republicans, 15% as Romney Republicans, 12% as MAGA Republicans and 9% as Never Trump Republicans. Monson said one of the central divides within the Utah GOP is loyalty to Donald Trump. His own data suggests that there are somewhere between 40%-50% of Utah Republicans who are fairly sympathetic to Donald Trump. But a substantial group of those remaining likely wishes that there was a different nominee (and) is tired of things the way they are. For this reason, Monson sees an unmet demand for what the Reagan Caucus has to offer, but not if it becomes synonymous with Never-Trumpers. I think theres hunger for it, Monson said. I think its a difficult needle to thread, though, because if they get identified purely in terms of Donald Trump then I think thats difficult because now theyre basically fighting against the Republican nominee for president. And thats a tough position to be in. Where do Utah Republican leaders stand? Salt Lake County Republican Party Chairman Chris Null thinks the Utah Reagan Caucus is something of a Trojan horse, using pleasant-sounding Reagan-isms to dilute the conservative vote in Utah. When they say big tent, they mean well take anyone and everyone despite their values and their principles; and thats not what Reagan was, Null said. When theyre co-opting a name like Reagan, it really waters down who the Republican Party are, and its going to be very bad for Utah if we continue down this path. The Republican Party hasnt strayed from Reagan-style conservatism under Trump, that is the exact opposite to the truth, Null said. Trump channeled Reagan by promoting a strong defense, strong economy and a strong stance on social issues during his presidency, Null said. Washington County GOP chair Lesa Sandberg also denies that the party has forgotten Reagans political philosophy. The state party platform has remained constant since 2009 and even the more MAGA conservatives are likely to list Reagan as one of their favorite presidents after Trump, she said. With party processes, like caucus night, largely dominated by Trump supporters, Sandberg said, she understands why some Republicans feel like they dont have any power and why they would be interested in something like the Utah Reagan Caucus to recruit a different style of GOP candidate. So if thats their intent, yes, they have an audience to address for sure, Sandberg said. But, Sandberg said weve forgotten what Reagans big tent is supposed to mean. Shes seen very conservative Republicans and right-leaning moderate Republicans both express the opinion that the party would be better without the other side of the spectrum. Even though its a big ol circus underneath this tent, and we have a wide variety of characters in it, we all need to get together and support our Republican candidates when they come out of the primaries, Sandberg said. Was there really a nuclear explosion in Rhode Island? Here's the story of Wood River Junction Wood River Junction, a village in Richmond, is the sort of place where you might want live if you were looking for a quiet life. Its home to a sizeable turf farm if you want to watch grass grow. It has several hiking trails to explore. But mostly its known for something that happened 60 years ago. A What and Why RI reader wrote in, asking, Was there really a nuclear explosion in Rhode Island years and years ago? There was, and Wood River Junction is where it happened. The United Nuclear Corporation in Wood River Junction This United Nuclear Corp. uranium-recycling plant was the site of a small-scale nuclear blast in 1964 that killed an employee, Robert D. Peabody. In 1961, ads started to appear in The Providence Journal for an unusual opportunity the chance to work just over the border in Connecticut with United Nuclear Corporation. The company was one of the nations major providers of nuclear fuels. Two years later, it announced it was opening a multimillion-dollar facility in Rhode Island, which was heralded by politcos as a tremendously exciting thing for the state, bringing good-paying jobs and launching Rhode Island into the future. The company finalized an agreement with the state within two months of the announcement, broke ground just a couple of months after that, and in just over a year opened its facility in March 1964, the states first entry in the atomic industry. The 1964 nuclear accident Robert Peabody, 37, must have been one of the first people to get a job at the facility. A father of nine children, from 16 years old to five months old, Peabody was a graduate of Stonington High School and had worked as an auto mechanic up until he took the job at United Nuclear. With nine kids, he needed the money, so when he heard about the job, he decided to take an evening shift as a technician, according to the New England Historical Society. By day, he worked as a mechanic. The job of United Nuclear was to take uranium scraps and process them to recover any enriched uranium they contained. The substance was dangerous, but the work was technically simple, so it didnt matter when hiring Peabody that he wasnt a chemist. But its the kind of work that goes smoothly only if all the bottles are correctly labeled. And on July 24, 1964, they werent. See, there had been a problem at the facility: a strange black goo was appearing around some of the equipment, according to reporting by Yankee Magazine. It necessitated a complicated cleanup that threw the whole facility into chaos, with any bottle that could be grabbed being used to contain liquids, labels falling off and long to-do lists of unfamiliar tasks for workers. Even so, when Peabody started his shift that Friday and grabbed an all safe bottle of solution to bring upstairs to clean, it didnt ring any alarm bells. Until he poured the solution into an 18-inch by 25-inch tank, according to United Nuclears report, and actual alarm bells started to screech through the building. The bottle contained a highly radioactive solution, and when it hit the tank, a nuclear chain reaction started. The Providence Journal headline described what happened as a blast and nuclear explosion the next day. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission called it a criticality accident in a report several months later. But the bottom line is that when that solution hit the tank, Peabody was splashed with radioactive liquid, a dose that doctors later said was 10 times what it would take to kill a man. What and Why RI: Are any of the rides from Rocky Point still in use at other amusement parks? We found out. When the alarms started going off, he ran stripping his clothes off as he went. He made it out of the building before he collapsed, showing the brutal signs of radiation poisoning. He was brought to Rhode Island Hospital, and put in the old x-ray room, where doctors and nurses tended to him with lead-lined gloves. His condition was initially described as fair but he died about 48 hours after the blast. Given the state of his body, the Providence Roman Catholic Diocese issued special dispensation so he could be cremated, but his wife believed she never got her husband's true ashes back, as they werent radioactive, according to the New England Historical Society. What happened to United Nuclear Corporation? In the wake of the accident, the facility at Wood River Junction was closed for weeks as a cleanup happened. While it was closed, the governor offered his support that United Nuclear was doing everything they could to make sure the area was safe. In December, they were given the green light from the Atomic Energy Commission to reopen as the plant had rectified the 14 items in noncompliance the NRC had found. At the end of the month, the $1-million plant resumed operations. What and Why RI: About 100 buildings in RI are built from bricks made in Barrington. What's the history? No fines were ever levied. Following a lawsuit, Peabody's wife was paid a settlement of $22,000 to raise her nine children with. Once reopened, the plant continued to operate until it was closed in 1981 because it was no longer profitable. Today, the area is part of the popular Francis C. Carter Nature Preserve. What and Why RI is a weekly feature by The Providence Journal to explore our readers' curiosity. If you have a question about Rhode Island, big or small, email it to klandeck@gannett.com. She loves a good question. This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Was there really a nuclear explosion in RI? Here's the history Recently rebuilt segment of South Robert Street could receive additional safety improvements; residents invited to weigh in West St. Paul residents are invited to a public meeting next month to discuss safety and connectivity improvements for South Robert Street. The retail-heavy stretch between Mendota Road and Annapolis Street has been under the microscope for close to a decade and received a $42.5 million reconstruction that wrapped up in 2017 with the goal of improving mobility and safety. Despite those improvements, the section of roadway has seen continued safety concerns for users, according to a news release from the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Where South Robert Street intersects with east Wentworth Avenue and east Butler Avenue has drawn attention for its transit and walking issues, according to an online comment map that is open to the public. Other concerns from West St. Paul residents date to the 2017 reconstruction, which added medians and reduced left-turn options to increase safety. With fewer left turn opportunities, motorists are making more U-turns at traffic lights. More U-turns are an expected result of more medians, Derek Leuer, a traffic safety engineer for MnDOT, told the Pioneer Press after the 2017 reconstruction. For a road like South Robert, which has lots of access points to businesses, medians reduce conflict points by restricting left-hand turns, which are generally considered unsafe, Leuer said. Before the reconstruction, MnDOT had deemed it a high-crash corridor due to the number of crashes and their severity. Between 2005 and 2014, the corridors 23 intersections were the site of 1,025 crashes. Between 2018 and 2022, there were 462 crashes at intersections located along the corridor, according to MnDOT, and an additional 146 crashes at other locations along South Robert Street. Additional improvements sought The latest study of the corridor, conducted by MnDOT, runs from February 2024 to February 2025 to identify possible improvements to safety and connectivity for people who walk, bike, use transit and drive, per the release. The study, which costs $175,000, will coordinate with Metro Transit to prepare the corridor for the upcoming G Line arterial Bus Rapid Transit service as it will include new on-street transit stations. The G Line is planned to run from Little Canada through downtown St. Paul and to the Dakota County Northern Service Center in West St. Paul, primarily along Rice and Robert Streets. Construction of the G Line project is planned for 2026-28, with a goal of completing all work on Robert Street within the G Line corridor by the end of 2028, according to the G Line project page. South Robert Street information meeting The public is invited to share their feedback at 6 p.m. June 4 at the Wentworth Library, located at 199 E. Wentworth Ave. For those unable to attend the meeting, the online comment map will be open until June 9 at mndothwy3srobertststudy.com. Related Articles WYOMING, Mich. (WOOD) The death certificate for 17-year-old Riley Doggett, who was struck by a sheriffs patrol car while running from police, lists the manner of death as accident. Doggett died on May 9 at Helen DeVos Childrens Hospital, more than a month after he was struck by a vehicle driven by a Kent County sheriffs deputy. He suffered craniocerbral trauma, or traumatic brain injury, according to the death certificate. Kent County Medical Examiner Dr. Stephen Cohle, who performed the autopsy, said its common to list the manner of death involving cars as accidents, though he said a police investigation could lead him to change that. He said its a matter of intent, and there was no evidence that he saw that showed the deputy intended to hit Doggett. If he had intended to hit him, Cohle said he would have listed the manner of death as homicide. He likened it to a hunter firing a shot at movement in the woods and accidentally hitting another hunter. That would also be listed as an accident because there was no intent. Reports: Police watched group before teen hit by cruiser during chase He said Doggett suffered a fractured skull and a fractured hip. The Doggett family attorney, Ven Johnson, questioned how the medical examiner reached that conclusion. Cohle said he based his finding on reports from his medical examiner investigator, who spoke to police. He said he did not see any videos. What do you expect the cops to say, attorney Johnson said. Their determination has nothing to do with anything in court. None of it is binding on any jury. The state police investigated the death and have turned the case over to Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker, who will determine whether the deputy will face criminal charges. Becker on Tuesday said he was working on it, but he wouldnt say when he expects to issue a ruling. Police: Chase was second of night for suspected car thieves Doggett was in a stolen Range Rover fled from police on April 8. His attorney said he was a passenger. The Kent County deputy who struck Doggett with his patrol car had first spotted the Range Rover minutes earlier at US-131 and 44th Street in Wyoming, according to reports. That was less than an hour after the same vehicle and a stolen Nissan were chased by Holland police a pursuit that reached 120 mph and was terminated on I-196 near the Kent-Ottawa line. The chase in Kent County, which reached speeds of 80 mph, ended when Doggett and his alleged accomplice jumped from the Range Rover, which crashed into parked cars at 32nd Street and South Division Avenue. Dogget was running away when the deputy struck him with his cruiser. There was no indication Doggett was armed. The Kent County sheriffs office has said Doggett was unintentionally struck and that it was a direct result of the inherent risk accompanying the serious criminal activity that Riley was engaged in during the weeks and months leading up to this incident. Police arrested the 17-year-old driver. He is charged as a juvenile with fleeing a police officer, receiving and concealing the stolen Range Rover and resisting police. Ven Johnson, the attorney for Doggetts family, has argued the death was the result of improper use of deadly force. He has criticized the Kent County Sheriffs Department for refusing to release dashboard cam video. Family of teen hit by deputy: No reason video isnt out A memorial service for Doggett will be held at 5 p.m. Friday at Stroo Funeral Home on 68th Street SE in Gaines Township. Visitation will precede the service, starting at 3 p.m. The death of 25-year-old Samuel Sterling, who was struck by a state police sergeants car while running from police on April 17, also was listed as an accident on his death certificate. Sterling, who was wanted on warrants for violating probation, died hours after the crash. State police released dash and body camera videos that show the chase and their response after Sterling was struck. The sergeant, through his attorney Marc Curtis, has said he had no intention of purposely harming Mr. Sterling, and that he was heartbroken by the death. The investigation into that death is pending. The state police sergeant was placed on unpaid leave and the governor has called for his firing if hes criminally charged. 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 WOODTV.com. For an 18-year-old, one mistake can have drastic consequences. Our criminal justice system functions so that impulsive or poor decision making can follow you for the rest of your life impacting your ability to get a job and ultimately your future. However, a recent push has swept certain parts of the country, arguing that those aged 17-25 should not be tried as adults but as a separate demographic entirely. Taking off around 2015 in San Francisco, there has been a slow spread of youth adult court programs looking to reduce recidivism and enable young adults to succeed in adulthood despite mistakes of their past. After researching the success of these programs and the reason they are so needed, I believe that this specific type of program is the type of criminal justice reform our system needs. Madeline Myers For those struggling to get a job or get into school/stay in school, a young adult program could benefit them to ensure they stay on the right track instead of recommitting offenses. In fact, certain programs already enacted around the country, like Orange Countys, work to assist those who have completed the program in finding stable employment or getting into college. They also help with parenting classes for those who might be young and/or single parents. This type of court is necessary in modern day. There is far too much incarceration and lasting effect for young adults who commit impulsive, non-violent crimes. From the neuropsychological perspective, Harvard Medical Department adds that the prefrontal cortex the part of the brain that dictates decision-making and impulse control isnt fully developed until the mid-20s. It doesnt seem rational to expect those whose brains are not yet of an adults, particularly the regions of the brain that assist in decision-making, to still be tried as adults. Interestingly enough, the most common crimes committed of those aged 17-25 are related to impulse control issues, demonstrating that these sorts of crimes might do better and be fairer if they were tried in a young adult court. A young adult court could also benefit those incarcerated but struggling with mental health issues that could increase the likelihood of recommitting an offense. Many of the young adult courts have instituted programs involving required treatment and therapy sessions to assist in helping those who struggle with these issues in learning how to manage and make better decisions. A court specialized to 1725-year-olds would take a unique perspective that allows people whove made mistakes the opportunity to overcome, learn from their ways, and still succeed in the future. There are so many young adults who have found their futures in education or employment ruined as a result of drug charges, open container laws, underage drinking charges, and even DUIs where no one was harmed. Those charged with these crimes and other nonviolent felonies would, however, benefit from courts with specially trained prosecutors, knowledgeable judges, and less of a mandate to incarcerate. Since 2015, other areas in the country have recognize this problem within our criminal justice system and worked to implement these courts as a solution. One of the first of its kind was located in San Francisco. Started in August 2015, this court system and program has seen general success with 150 of 371 participants completing the program. Out of those who have graduated in 2021, 73% have avoided re-arrest. In Pennington County in South Dakota, their young adult court has over 1,000 individuals involved in diversion programs where over half have made it 18 months without breaking a law, meaning theyre eligible for their charges to be cleared. The Brown County Young Adult Court Program in California just had its first graduate as well, with news sources covering the story of twenty-year-old Kassandra Nooyen who underwent meetings, drug tests, and 21 hours of addiction treatment to graduate sober and without jail time. If counties like York were to institute this court, I would recommend a specialized court focused on limitation where the court has the discretion to choose which cases are heard based on whether it aligns with the principles of it or not. This would put greater emphasis on rehabilitation. Certain strategies that assist young adults in overcoming their felony charges include dropping the felony status to a misdemeanor or dismissing it based on completion of the young adult court program. There are also instances where completing the program can be supplemented in the process of jail time, allowing these young adults to still pay the price without having to undergo the often mentally strenuous and sometimes traumatizing experience of prison that can affect their emotional state for far longer than the time served. Our criminal justice system is flawed. The consequences of a fateful mistake can follow this young adult on to grad school applications and into job interviews. It perpetuates the ongoing problem of crowded prisons and fails to meet the goals of our system to rehabilitate. There are more benefits than drawbacks in instituting a flexible version of a young adult case focused only on non-violent crimes and rehabilitation of young adults. With the right resources, planning, and execution, this could actually broaden the criminal justice systems abilities to rehabilitate and reduce recidivism for this age demographic that seems neither juvenile nor adult. Madeline Myers is a resident of York and a student at McDaniel College. This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Why we need a young adults court Peter Bystron, member of the AfD parliamentary group in the 19th legislative period of the German Bundestag. picture alliance / Michael Kappeler/dpa Police have found the serial numbers of several gold bars in a Berlin home of a far-right politician suspected of having ties to pro-Russian platforms, newspaper Die Welt reported on Tuesday. Peter Bystron, a member of parliament for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), is currently being investigated on suspicion of money laundering and bribing. Police also found cash in envelopes and bank statements from the Czech Republic and Liechtenstein, the newspaper reported. Bystron is said to have confirmed the finds to the newspaper, however, Die Welt reported most valuables belong to his mother. Dpa asked Bystron for a statement in writing on Monday evening. However, this enquiry remained unanswered until Tuesday morning. Bystron is the second candidate on the party's ticket for the European elections on June 9. Bystron and another leading AfD politician, Maximilian Krah, have come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks for alleged links to pro-Russian networks. A Czech newspaper had reported that Bystron may have received money from the pro-Russian internet platform "Voices of Europe" (VoE). Bystron denies this. During a search of Bystron's home, documents containing the serial numbers of gold bars - one weighing 500 grams and another weighing 1 kilo were discovered - according to Die Welt. "I keep the documents relating to the physical gold and my mother's accounts because I have been appointed her guardian by the court," Bystron told the paper. "My mother was the owner of a dental clinic in Switzerland for many years, acquired everything legally, and I keep the evidence. This also includes the old statements from the Liechtenstein account, even though it has been closed for some time." Only the account in the Czech Republic, for which statements were also found, is attributed to Bystron himself: "The account movements on my Czech account are also all completely transparent, as they relate to rental income and expenses from properties in the Czech Republic that have belonged to me and my wife for over 20 years," he told Die Welt. A protestor holds a sign at an April 14, 2024, protest in favor of reproductive rights and abortion access in Scottsdale. Photo by Gloria Rebecca Gomez | Arizona Mirror When all but five Republican legislators fought tooth and nail to protect a near-total abortion ban written while Abraham Lincoln was still president, it was patently obvious that they werent doing the bidding of Arizonans, who broadly are supportive of abortion rights and access to other reproductive health care. Fighting to keep that law on the books also puts them at loggerheads with most Arizona Republican voters, according to new polling. In fact, 60% of Arizona Republican voters in a new poll from CBS News and YouGov say that 1864 law should have been repealed. And in a slightly larger pool of voters who identify as conservative, 56% said the law needed to be scrapped. Just 28% of the 1,200 or so voters surveyed think that law, which was written at a time when doctors didnt even understand how pregnancies happened, should have been left in place. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX While opposing abortion has become orthodoxy over the past 50 years for Republican candidates and activists, it absolutely isnt for rank-and-file GOP voters something the CBS/YouGov polling lays bare. For instance, more than 1 in 3 Republican voters think the U.S. Supreme Court got it wrong when it overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, as do more than 1 in 4 conservative voters. Ultimately, it might be that GOP support for reproductive rights that enshrines abortion access in the Arizona Constitution: A plurality of Republicans, 43%, said they would vote in favor of the Arizona Abortion Access Act if the election were today. Fewer than 40% of Republicans said they opposed giving Arizonans a constitutional right to abortion. Overall, two-thirds of Arizona voters 65% of those polled say theyre ready to vote for the ballot initiative, which appears poised to easily qualify for the November election. As one Republican gentleman told us, he doesnt want the government telling him what to do with his guns, what vaccines to get or what women should do with their bodies. Dawn Penich, spokeswoman for Arizona for Abortion Access None of that surprises Dawn Penich, the spokeswoman for the Arizona for Abortion Access campaign hoping to put the constitutional amendment before voters. Polling has long shown that Arizonans support abortion access, but she said that the ballot measure campaign has driven home just how the issue crosses partisan lines. We run into those Republicans all the time, she said, explaining that, for many, the issue is driven by a commitment to small government and getting the government out of our personal spaces. As one Republican gentleman told us, he doesnt want the government telling him what to do with his guns, what vaccines to get or what women should do with their bodies, Penich said. Women and younger voters (those of us born between 1980 and 2006) see the constitutional amendment is critical for ensuring reproductive rights dont get stripped away. More than two-thirds of those younger voters and 64% of women say that womens access to reproductive health care will get harder if the constitution isnt amended. If Democrats hope to hold Arizona for Joe Biden polling so far generally shows him trailing by about four or five points here, but with the gap narrowing and win down-ballot races, including control of the state legislature, they need to turn that drive to protect abortion into votes for Democratic candidates. The CBS/YouGov poll sheds some light on just how that could happen. For starters, women and younger voters are furious at the Supreme Courts decision to strip away the constitutional right to abortion that Americans had for nearly 50 years: 44% of Arizona women and 40% of voters under the age of 45 say they are angry about that ruling. Who do they hold responsible? Donald Trump, who appointed the conservative supermajority to the court. More than 2 in 5 women 42% of them and 45% of under-45 voters say Trump should be blamed for Roe being overturned, demonstrably more than men (just 36%) or older voters (37% in Gen X and 34% among Boomers and older). And that anger about abortion is pushing women and younger voters to the polls this year: 48% percent of women and 54% of Millenial and Gen Z voters say abortion is making them more motivated to vote in November. Likewise, 54% of Latino voters say theyre more eager to cast a ballot this year because of whats happened on abortion since 2022. The biggest reason for that is these are the same demographic groups who believe correctly, as Trumps allies have made frighteningly clear that a second Trump administration will lead to a national ban on abortion. A plurality of young voters (42%) think Trump will pursue some kind of nationwide effort to end abortion, compared to just 29% of Gen X and 26% of older voters. Likewise, 40% of Latino voters say the same thing, a stark difference to white voters, among whom just 30% think Trump will work on a nationwide ban. Recent history shows just how powerful abortion rights can be for Democratic candidates. We saw it in the 2022 midterms, when a predicted red wave was little more than a puddle and Democrats across the board including in Arizona, where Democrats won all the top statewide offices won races that many thought were out of reach. That has continued into 2023 and 2024, where Democrats have won elections, even in red districts in red states, on the strength of abortion rights. DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST The post Republican lawmakers fought to keep the 1864 abortion ban. Even GOP voters thought it was awful. appeared first on Arizona Mirror. Republicans in Congress are full of BS if they reject a border security bill again Every Republican and Democrat in Congress must have the guts to vote on border security legislation or drop their pretense that they care once and for all. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York on Thursday will take up the border legislation that Donald Trump helped kill in his bid for the White House. The bipartisan proposal is a sharp turn to the right for President Biden, who instead of legalizing millions of undocumented immigrants already here is willing to shut down the border when certain triggers are met. The bill makes it harder to qualify for asylum, adds nearly 5,000 asylum officers, triggers expedited deportation, and targets money laundering and fentanyl traffickers. This bill does everything the GOP wants In other words, it does everything immigrant advocates fear and what anti-immigration hardliners keep clamoring for during their constant parade to the U.S.-Mexico border. Yet, the same Republicans pointing to the border chaos and who blame Biden for it killed the legislation a few months ago and are vowing to do it again this week. Why? Because their concern about border security and drug trafficking, which is killing too many Americans, is insincere and dishonest. Its time to put every Republican and Democrat on record about border security and not let them hide behind their BS aimed at fooling voters. Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema are on board. The now-independent Sinema helped negotiate the legislation. Where do Republican members stand? What about the rest of the Arizona Congressional delegation? We already know the House Freedom Caucus, including Reps. Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar and Debbie Lesko, doesnt move a finger without Trumps blessing. Democratic Reps. Greg Stanton and Ruben Gallego, whos seeking Sinemas seat, have previously indicated their support for it. What about Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani, the Mexican-born proud immigrant who has turned out to be nothing but empty talk when it comes to border security? While insisting that the border is in complete chaos, Ciscomani told the Tucson Sentinel in February that he couldnt support the bipartisan bill. We need a much tougher approach to stop this crisis, he said, referring to the massive number of asylum seekers. Tougher? Like what? That's no excuse to let Ciscomani, others slide U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani (at left) and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (right) answer questions from reporters during a news conference in front of the U.S.-Mexico border south of Sierra Vista on Feb. 16, 2023, in Hereford. Ciscomani did push for H.R. 3602, a rehash of previous failed attempts to reinstate Trumps immigration policies, such as constructing the border wall and requiring asylum seekers to remain in Mexico. It was the kind of a bill that even hardliners like Biggs called a show vote. Weve yet to hear from Ciscomani on this weeks Senate vote, and if he is serious about fixing the border, he should support the bipartisan legislation. Even if the bill is likely to fail and not even get to the House, thats no excuse to let Ciscomani and House members hide, especially since theyre ramping up their border security rhetoric. 1 lawmaker can stop: AZ GOP from deporting 'Dreamers' Ciscomani, whos seeking reelection from his southern Arizona district, hasnt exactly been the tough-on-immigration crusader he wants to portray himself among Republican voters. Not with real and substantive legislation such as this, anyway. Last month, Ciscomani and Stanton partnered to push the Data for a Secured Border Act to improve communication within the Department of Homeland Security and provide Congress with data to better inform decision-making. Of course, it is good to have reliable data, but this will do nothing to fix border chaos now. Either pass this bill or shut up about the border Talk is cheap. If Ciscomani and fellow Republicans truly believe the border is a real threat to America, then this is their chance to set politics aside and join Democrats to finally do something. I dont particularly like this legislation because it effectively guts the asylum system and gives the president any president the power to shut down the border, practically on a whim. Thats why Id think Republicans like Ciscomani and others would be tripping over each other to pass it. But no. Instead, theyve declared this substantive bipartisan legislation dead on arrival. Like it or not, this is a real and tangible bill that will add much needed resources to the border. It would put the brakes on border crossers substantially. Ive lost patience with lawmakers, even with those I personally respected, including Ciscomani. Either pass this legislation or stop pretending once and for all that you care about securing the border. 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: Republicans' border security talk is BS if they reject this bill again The dogs fleeing from Vovchansk are nervous and trembling. Watching them is a way to understand that in this town in the north of the Ukrainian province of Kharkiv, on the border with Russia, the gates of hell have opened. The pets are evacuated with their owners to a shelter a few miles outside of town. They are humble people from an area that is facing the second major Russian offensive in more than two years of war. A resident gets out of a van with blood in his ears and nose, which is broken. An explosion a few meters away has left him scarred, perhaps for life. Vovchansk is the main target of a new Russian lightning military campaign launched on May 10. It is of particular strategic interest to the Kremlin because its urban center would be ideal for concentrating troops for a future advance towards Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city. Last Thursday there were only around 300 inhabitants remaining in Vovchansk, from a pre-war population of some 17,000. There is now only room for death in the town, and in the neighboring villages. The esplanade where rescued civilians were arriving was attacked on the evening of May 16 with Russian cluster munitions: five people were wounded, including the mayor, Tamaz Gambarashvili. The Ukrainian town of Vovchansk under Russian shelling, May 16. Cristian Segura It was not the first multiple explosion heard bearing the characteristic sound of cluster bombs, a weapon banned in over 100 countries because of its lethality in urban areas with civilian populations. The EL PAIS team and other journalists had had to leave the same place on Wednesday because the Ukrainian army intercepted a radio communication from Russian forces transmitting the coordinates of the location to be bombed. The attack took place the following day. Columns of smoke rise on the horizon from multiple villages, but it is in Vovchansk where the clatter of rifles, the roar of artillery, fire and ash forebode the complete destruction of the municipality, as was the case previously in Bakhmut, Chasiv Yar, and in so many other Ukrainian towns and villages. The families evacuating cry, their fate uncertain, while the police identify them and provide them with food from the NGO World Central Kitchen. Desperation is also evident in a man arrested while being evacuated carrying four large bags in which he was hiding dozens of products stolen from abandoned stores. The police inform him that he will be transferred to the military recruiting office to be enlisted into the army. Oleksi Kharkivskii, head of a Ukrainian police special operations unit, prepares the next civilian extraction mission. With the help of local residents he locates two houses on a map, where an elderly man and a married couple and their child live. Together with Kharkivskii and his men, the Kharkiv Media Hub and the special envoy of EL PAIS enter Vovchansk. Before the convoy departs, an SUV carrying four members of the Ukrainian military assault forces bursts onto the scene. On the access road to Vovchansk, the same one that Kharkivskiis team will take moments later, the soldiers were targeted by a Russian drone bomb, which exploded in front of the vehicle, damaging the radiator. The four soldiers get out of the vehicle, adrenaline pumping, check each other for wounds two of them have superficial grazes and then hug each other: they have escaped death by a whisker. The two evacuation vehicles speed their way along a country road toward Vovchansk at 100 miles per hour. The main access road to the village is blocked by a burnt-out Ukrainian tank. Next to it lies a destroyed U.S.-produced infantry vehicle. The houses and flowerbeds along the street are smoking from recent shelling. Rounding a bend where the Russian army knows that vehicles must slow down a howitzer round hits within 50 meters of the two cars. A Ukrainian policeman helps to evacuate an elderly man in Vovchansk, May 16. Cristian Segura Discussion under the bombs The Nikolin family refuses to leave Vovchansk. Their house is modest and the interior is a mess. On the kitchen table are the remains of a frugal breakfast, the last meal they will have at home. The mother confronts Kharkivskii because they dont want to be evacuated. She says her 14-year-old son doesnt want to leave. At the same time, a few hundred meters away in an adjacent field, several Russian grad rockets explode. Fresh plumes of smoke rise above the row of trees in the street outside and after 15 minutes of discussion, the Nikolins agree to leave. A member of the rescue party would later explain to this newspaper that the family is pro-Russian, like many others who decide to remain in the region: The police have been told that if they leave, the city will be occupied by the banderistas, he says, using a common expression in Russia to refer to followers of the 1930s Ukrainian ultranationalist leader Stepan Bandera. A woman refuses to be evacuated from Vovchansk, May 16. Cristian Segura Loading up the familys belongings, including caged barnyard animals, does not take more than 15 minutes. The main problem is trying to control two of the Nikolins dogs who have been driven mad by the explosions and the presence of armed strangers to get them into the vehicles. One of them repeatedly bit this newspapers correspondent, who was later treated by the medical services. One of Kharkivskiis men watches from the street for the possible appearance of Russian drones. Hearing one of these devices approaching, the police issue the order to evacuate immediately. The escape from Vovchansk was the same as the arrival: a race at breakneck speed, accompanied by more explosions, the panting of dogs, the mothers screams and the teenagers sobs. Once out of their village, the Nikolins unloaded their possessions and their animals at the evacuee reception point. Disoriented by the experience, they said they did not know where they would live from now on. A van was waiting to take them 15 miles away to the city of Kharkiv. (NEXSTAR) Antarcticas doomsday glacier, referred to as such for its potential to dramatically raise global sea levels, is melting faster than we thought thanks to warmer sea water passing below it, according to a new study. The researchers, led by glaciologists with the University of California, Irvine (UCI), said in a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that the Thwaites Glacier may be breaking apart much faster than previously believed. The Florida-sized glacier, which faces the Amundsen Sea, has gotten the nickname the doomsday glacier because of how much ice it has and how much seas could rise if it all melts more than two feet (65 centimeters) over hundreds of years. Thwaites is on Antarcticas western half, east of the jutting Antarctic Peninsula, which used to be the area scientists worried most about. Do you live in one of Americas 15 fastest-growing cities? For years, experts have worried about the possible demise of the Thwaites Glacier, whether by ocean water melting it from below, the glacier unmooring from its attachment to the seabed or the ice mass cracking and breaking apart. Using satellites and a technique called radar interferometry to track changes in surface elevation, the team found that the glacier appeared to be lifting several centimeters as pressurized tide water moved below the glacier across many miles, further inland than previously thought. There are places where the water is almost at the pressure of the overlying ice, so just a little more pressure is needed to push up the ice, lead author and UCI Professor Eric Rignot said. The water is then squeezed enough to jack up a column of more than half a mile of ice. Warmer seawater working its way under the glacier may help explain the rapid, past, and present changes in ice sheet mass and the slower changes replicated by ice sheet models, the study noted, adding that the pressurized seawater will create a vigorous melt that will further imperil the glacier. Abnormally hot summer even more likely in latest NOAA forecast: Heres where Thwaites is the most unstable place in the Antarctic and contains the equivalent of 60 centimeters of sea level rise, co-author Christine Dow, professor in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, told UCI News. The worry is that we are underestimating the speed that the glacier is changing, which would be devastating for coastal communities around the world. Dow said its still not clear how much time is left before the ocean waters damage to the glacier is irreversible, but she is hopeful the discovery will lead to more accurate models. It will take many decades, not centuries for the Thwaites Glacier to fully melt, Rignot told USA Today. Part of the answer also depends on whether our climate keeps getting warmer or not, which depends completely on us and how we manage the planet. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 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 Queen City News. An 80-unit cabin village in San Luis Obispo that would help homeless residents transition into permanent housing has drawn backlash from neighbors, who fear a range of damaging impacts to their neighborhood. But how founded are their claims? San Luis Obispo Countys Welcome Home Village project is slated to appear before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, where residents of the nearby neighborhoods intend to voice their opposition to the project planned at Johnson Avenue and Bishop Street. Its hardly the first time that a transitional homeless project intended for a residential neighborhood has faced objections from neighbors. Just last year, the city of San Luis Obispos plans for a rotating overnight safe parking program ground to a halt after residents voiced concerns about the projects impact on the health and safety of the surrounding neighborhood. The project has already been delayed and relocated once from its original proposed location at the county Department of Social Services lot at the corner of South Higuera Street and Prado Road after a combination of zoning issues and nearby business and resident backlash delayed the project for several months. Now, the relocated project faces similar opposition, with a group of residents claiming in a May 15 statement to media that the county is fast-tracking the project and ignoring questions about drug use, curfew regulations, parking, flood risk, fire risk, water use, sanitation, density, the safety of this often-used corridor, fiscal sustainability, environmental issues, zoning, and efficacy, neighbors said in an email statement. The issue has proven contentious within the neighborhood, with neighbors in opposition planning and subsequently canceling a rally about the project for March 18 after a counter-protest was announced using flyers in the neighborhood. But what does the data and track record of existing projects similar in size and goals to the Welcome Home Village have to say about neighbors concerns? The Tribune took a look at the dispute as part of its Reality Check series. The Welcome Home Village project which could break ground as soon as this fall and open in 2025 calls for 80 cabins of homeless transitional shelter space to be built on the San Luis Obispo County Health Agency Campus at the intersection of Bishop Street and Johnson Avenue. Why are residents concerned about the project? Since the Board of Supervisors accepted a $13.4 million state Encampment Resolution Fund grant in July 2023, the Welcome Home Village has undergone several changes, with the biggest being its move across town. At public comment and in their statement, neighbors have repeatedly asked the county why a residential neighborhood was the right fit for a project of this kind. Originally, the site was considered for the county Department of Social Services lot on the end of Higuera Street and Prado Road, but switched to its current location because that site conflicted with both the citys 1997 Specific Plan for the Higuera Commerce Park and the countys Airport Land Use Plan, according to county homeless services division communications manager Suzie Freeman. In the statement, neighbors claimed the move was made because of legal action from a group of residents and business owners, but Freeman said the county has not seen any legal action around the previous location. Cabin village to provide shelter for 80 homeless residents in SLO. Heres the plan Freeman said the county considered four eligible project sites in San Luis Obispo that met the criteria of being near an encampment and settled on the Bishop Street location due to its access to multiple county and private medical practices, including Medi-Cal services at the San Luis Obispo County Health Agency and several providers within the Bishop Medical Center. In the statement, residents also took issue with the relatively short month-long lead-up between the initial announcement of the site on April 16 and the community meeting in early May, but Freeman said the county could have elected to move forward without noticing neighbors at all. For this project at this location, there was no notification requirement, Freeman said in an email. All community outreach done by either the county or the project partners has been elective. Why pick a residential neighborhood? In its current location, the site would be developed by DignityMoves and managed by Santa Marias Good Samaritan Shelter, which currently maintains 500 supportive housing units in Santa Barbara County. By comparison, the Welcome Home Village dwarfs the pair of 20- and 30-unit cabin programs built by DignityMoves in collaboration with the 5Cities Homeless Coalition in Grover Beach, which some residents objected to at the community meeting. The developer currently operates in seven California communities, including three villages opened in Santa Barbara County in recent years, Freeman said A larger, 94-unit DignityMoves project opened in March, and another 80-unit project debuted in April, according to the organizations website. DignityMoves said its methods have proved effective enough to warrant an agreement with the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors to add 300 more rooms of interim housing to fill the countys gap. By comparison, at the community meeting in San Luis Obispo, Freeman said the countys 2021 assessment of homeless needs indicate a shortage of around 300 more interim shelter beds to reach a capacity of 525, and said there are only 245 such beds in the county when accounting for all Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo, El Camino Homeless Organization and 5CHC beds. Neighbors have criticized the projects proximity to residential homes, parks and commonly used paths between nearby schools such as Sinsheimer Elementary. Some residents also said the project doesnt fall within its intended use of being placed near an encampment in this case the Bob Jones Trail which is around two miles from the village on the other side of town. In fast-tracking Welcome Home Village project, SLO County doesnt play fair | Opinion In public agenda correspondence to the Board of Supervisors, residents Christa and Kevin King said the project is being pushed through the approval process by meeting the specific criteria of the Encampment Resolution Fund grant attached to the project. The lack of time for input feels (to the community) like an attempt to thwart public participation, the Kinds said in a letter to the board. Due process and public comment are being short-circuited. The rushed process means that no meaningful discussion has occurred about other locations that may be better for the unhoused population. Resident Kelda Wilson said in agenda correspondence the project does not scale well with existing transitional housing projects such as Cabins for Change, and said she was worried it would make the neighborhood more dangerous. My kids play in the Sinsheimer neighborhood regularly, and I have concerns about what changes this project could have that would impact their ability to use the area the way they do, she said. There are much better locations within SLO for the Welcome Home Village, and it is prudent that those be figured out and the project scaled proportionately to that location. Freeman said despite the distance from the encampments, the project still conforms with the grant requirements. The integration of the Welcome Home Village into the county Health Campus was an opportunity to add supportive housing services to the community resources already offered at this location, Freeman said in an email. The projects proximity to outpatient behavioral health services, the sobering center, and other county services also promotes timely and convenient access for those living at the Welcome Home Village who may need those services as part of their case plan. Should residents have concerns about who will live at the project? In emails shared with The Tribune, multiple neighbors said they believed drug use and crime would rise in their neighborhood if the village was allowed to open. Neighbors said theyre also concerned about fire risk and whether the project and its residents will impact the value of property in the area. Freeman said the county will work with the San Luis Obispo Fire Department and Cal Fire to ensure that the project fully meets fire code. She also said the village will operate under a zero-tolerance drug and alcohol policy, meaning clients found using banned substances will immediately be referred to an off-site substance abuse disorder treatment facility. At a site of comparable size in downtown Santa Barbara, 25% of clients have used services related to substance abuse disorder treatment, Freeman said. Cabin village proposed on Johnson Avenue gets mixed reaction from SLO neighbors When the county originally applied its Encampment Resolution Fund grant in early 2023, two similar interim supportive projects the 20-unit Cabins for Change project in Grover Beach and a 34-unit project in downtown Santa Barbara were used as benchmarks for setting program expectations. Those two programs have graduated around 70% of their clients into stable housing, Freeman said. Since then, more village-style tiny homes at a similar size to the Welcome Home Village have opened on the Central Coast, Freeman said. She also cited a 2020 study from the Health Services Research journal that analyzed the outcomes of Santa Clara Countys 130 units of permanent supportive housing as a potential goal for the Welcome Home Village. By providing people considered to be high-users of publicly funded services with access to subsidized housing with integrated case management, 86.4% of program enrollees became housed and 169 of the 172 program enrollees were able to maintain housing for the 28 month follow-up period, the study read. In comparison, only 36.2% of those in the study who received usual care entered housing. Residents of San Luis Obispo neighborhoods near the planned Welcome Home Village fill Renovate Church for a community meeting Wednesday, May 2, 2024. Many residents asked questions related to project site security, parking and the projects location in a residential neighborhood. Can organized backlash kill projects? The Welcome Home Village is far from the only project in recent years to face community backlash that has threatened to derail or doom it entirely. Last year, the city of San Luis Obispos two proposed locations for a rotating overnight safe parking program drew sharp criticism from neighbors of the programs planned sites at Palm Street and SLO Naz Church. Since the most recent community meeting on that project attended by around 200 people who largely opposed the project in their neighborhood no further updates have been given by the city on the rotating program. With one delay already behind it, the Welcome Home Villages clock is ticking. The project must spend 50% of its grant funds by June 30, Freeman said. Krista Jeffries, lead organizer of SLO County YIMBY, said its not uncommon for developments of every type from transitional homelessness projects like the Welcome Home Village to traditional housing projects to fail because of vocal arguments that arent always founded in fact. Just asking questions is something that always sounds innocuous, reasonable, and expected from intelligent people, she said. In their desire to curry as much public support as possible for controversial projects like this one, staff and elected officials will often provide as many public meetings as possible, both official and unofficial, in the hopes that everyone will have their questions answered, with the hope that they will move from opponent to supporter. She said in this process, its not uncommon for people who oppose a project to argue in bad faith in an attempt to wear the project down by attrition, by continuing to raise concerns and claim they are just asking questions about the data on which the project is based, even when evidence-based answers have already been provided. When it comes time for the rubber to meet the road on a project, opponents still claim that their questions have not been answered, when they have, Jeffries said. They just havent been given answers that they like. Resident Patricia Frey expressed a similar opinion in public agenda correspondence. Too often, we are so certain that as laypersons we know the right way to address homelessness, that we refuse to listen to the experts who spend their professional lives doing just that, Frey said. They are the ones who have spent years studying the dynamics leading to homelessness, and they are the ones who have the expertise that create successful solutions. Jeffries said the moment is not coming in which community members will feel their questions or concerns have been satisfied to the point where the project can go forward with their support. Ultimately, I dont believe it is a good exercise of democracy to give current residents veto power over who moves in after them, Jeffries said in an email. None of my neighbors demanded my psychological or criminal history when we bought our house. We just handed the bank a check and moved in. But somehow, once somebody has been described as categorically poor, they have to be scrutinized within an inch of their life before they can find safe shelter in one of the wealthiest states in the wealthiest country in the world. Whats next? There are still outstanding questions about how the project will be maintained long-term, with operational costs expected to cost $1.84 million per year. The county has yet to allocate funds for this continued cost, which could continue for a minimum of 20 years if the 80 climate-controlled cabin units last as long as advertised, Freeman said. The projects design is also not finalized, with several specific details of the project site yet to be completed. The Welcome Home Village has completed the preliminary site design and test fit to confirm the projects feasibility at the location, Freeman said. Assuming the project location and funding to the developer are approved by the Board of Supervisors, then the more detailed site planning work can begin. The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors will hold a final approval hearing for the project Tuesday. The German government plans to up its military aid to Ukraine by another 3.8 billion euros ($4.13 billion) in 2024, Reuters reported on May 21, citing its undisclosed source. The news agency confirmed an earlier article by the tabloid Bild, which also said that the sum of over 7 billion euros, previously approved by Germany's parliament for this year, has been almost entirely allocated to various projects. As only around 300 million euros (roughly $325 million) are left for additional weapons or ammunition purchases, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius had requested the additional funds with the backing of Finance Minister Christian Lindner, Bild reported. Final approval will be required by the parliament in June. Initially criticized for its sluggish delivery of military aid to Ukraine following the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Germany has become the second-largest provider of military equipment after the U.S. Also on May 21, Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Ukraine's capital for a previously unannounced visit. Upon her arrival, Baerbock underscored Ukraine's need for air defenses to help repel Russian aerial attacks. "Russian missile terror, constant air alerts, permanent power outages, hardly any water: the situation in Ukraine has once again escalated dramatically with the massive Russian air strikes on the civilian infrastructure and the brutal Russian offensive in the Kharkiv area," the minister said. "That's why, together with Defense Minister (Boris) Pistorius, I launched a global initiative for more air defense. Almost a billion euros have now been raised to provide additional support for the Ukrainian air defense forces, and we are working intensively to ensure that there is even more." Berlin launched the initiative in April amid Kyiv's increasingly dire need for air defenses, facing heavy Russian aerial attacks against population centers and the energy grid. A number of countries have already backed the initiative since then, including Belgium, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, and others. Germany has also pledged to deliver its third Patriot air defense system to Ukraine. Read also: German FM in Kyiv: Germanys air defense initiative collects close to 1 billion euros Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Reward offered for information leading to arrest of suspect in New Castle credit union robbery A credit union in New Castle was robbed at gunpoint last week. Family 1st Federal Credit Union was robbed at 4:38 p.m. on Friday, May 17, New Castle police said. Surveillance photos of the suspect were shared on social media on Monday. The credit union is offering a $500 reward for information. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW TRENDING NOW: Jackpot-winning lottery ticket worth over $469K sold at Beaver County convenience store Crews called to chemical fire at Consol Energy plant in Washington County Woman was drunk, speeding in fatal Churchill crash, police say VIDEO: Same-sex marriage legalization marks 10 years in PA, local lawmaker works to remove threats DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts AUGUSTA, Ga (WJBF)- Tuesday, May 21 is Georgias Primary Election Day and in Richmond County voters have several major decisions to make. One of those decisions is whether or not to vote the Democratic or Republican ticket. There are two major races on the Democratic ballot that many Republicans want a say in. The races for Richmond County Sheriff and District Attorney are only on the Democratic ballot. Thats because only Democrats are running for the office. In Georgia you do not have to register with a political party when you vote. This means you can vote for whichever party you want to. But you will only be voting for candidates who are running under the party you choose. Aiken County parents upset at rumored school closings This does not mean you have to vote for that party in Novembers General Election. But, if Tuesdays election results in a runoff, people who voted Democrat WILL have to vote Democrat again in that special election. This has caused some upset and confusion among Richmond County Republican voters who want to vote in the races for Sheriff and D.A. Because it is a primary, the people who are running are being nominated. Theyre not being elected. Theyre being nominated by that party to then go on to the November ballot, the general election ballot. And thats when they will be elected. What people are unhappy about, is because theres not candidates on both sides, explained Travis Doss, Richmond County Board of Elections Director. Voters also have referendums and questions to answer. The big one is Should Augustas mayor get a vote at commission meetings? Hometown History: Burke Countys two battles of the American Revolution As of right now, the mayor only gets a vote on issues as a tie breaker. Mayor Garnett Johnson recently asked state law makers to add a referendum to the ballot giving him a vote. Many commissioners are not happy about it, but now its in the hands of the voters. Mayor Johnson wants people to give him that vote and believes having one will allow him to get more done for Augusta. This is not an added power grab by the mayor. This is not an added expansion of power or duties of the mayor. This is simply an equal vote that was granted to the mayor under the original intent of our charter, said Mayor Johnson. Mayor Johnsons request is supported by several former Augusta mayors including Bob Young, Hardie Davis and Deke Copenhaver. Polls are open today from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Photojournalist: Dania Alawir. 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 WJBF. An early morning road rage escalated into a cross-town police pursuit Tuesday and Jacksonville police shooting the suspect who survived, according to the Sheriff's Office. It started with a motorist calling 911 shortly before 1 a.m. reporting that another driver pointed a gun at him in the area of the Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and Interstate 95. The man had gotten in front of him in a pickup truck and was putting on his brakes, then pointed a gun and threatened to kill him as he pulled alongside the truck, Chief Alan Parker said. After calling 911 and providing the trucks tag information, he saw some officers on the side of the road and reported it to them. The officers attempted to pull the truck over, but the driver kept going and a chase ensued, Parker said. It lasted for about 25 to 30 miles across the city from the Eastside to the Westside exceeding 100 mph. The Florida Highway Patrol also joined the pursuit and attempted to jam the suspect, but his vehicle was too large. Parker said sheriffs officers set up stop sticks around Interstate 295 and Commonwealth Avenue that flattened the trucks tires. A pickup truck is towed away after its driver was involved in a road rage and ensuing police chase across Jacksonville early Tuesday that ended with an officer wounding him with gunfire. He was able to continue on with the tires deflating, Parker said. He continued over here to West Beaver Street. He got to about the 11000 block of Beaver, and one of our officers was able to successfully pit the vehicle at that point. At the termination point of the pursuit, the suspect jumped out of the vehicle to flee. One of the officers engaged him and fired multiple rounds. The man, identified as 45-year-old Charles Curtis Guernsey of Glen St. Mary, was wounded but not life-threatening, the chief said. A weapon hadnt been recovered at the time of the briefing, but Parker said investigators were waiting to obtain a warrant to search the vehicle. Guernsey has no Jacksonville criminal history but extensive troubles with the law in Alachua and Baker counties. The officer was Stephen Hicks, and it was his second shooting in three years. This was Jacksonvilles second police shooting this year. This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville police shoot road rage suspect after lengthy pursuit Who is Robert Costello, the Trump witness accused of staring down judge? Who is Robert Costello, the Trump witness accused of staring down judge? All eyes turned to Robert Costello on Monday after he was called to the witness stand in former President Trumps hush money trial and was quickly admonished by the judge for his courtroom behavior. Minutes after Costello, a former legal adviser to ex-Trump fixer Michael Cohen, took the witness stand Monday, Judge Juan Merchan asked the jurors to leave the courtroom so he could admonish Costello over his behavior on the stand. Costello and Merchan shared a tense exchange, and reporters were abruptly asked to leave the courtroom. At one point, Merchan demanded to know if he was being stared down by Costello. The jury and reporters were permitted back inside minutes later without explanation, and Trumps legal team began questioning Costello. Costello is a former federal prosecutor turned defense lawyer who spent decades in New Yorks legal sphere. In 2018, Costello briefly served as an adviser to Cohen as federal prosecutors criminally investigated him and his work on Trumps behalf. Costello allegedly offered to set up a back channel between Trump and Cohen via former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who had just joined Trumps legal team. Taking the stand last week, Cohen told a New York jury that Costello continued to pressure Cohen with constant calls and lengthy emails. Costello was apparently angry when Cohen told him he was speaking to a boutique law firm instead, Cohen testified. Cohen referred to this as a pressure campaign from Costello and other Trump allies to remain loyal to the former president amid the FBI investigation. This was part of the pressure campaign, Cohen said, that anyone is lying to you, that you are still regarded, the president still supports you, do not speak, do not listen to what any of the journalists are saying. Dont flip. Dont speak. Dont cooperate, Cohen added. Following the back-and-forth between Costello and Cohen, the two had a falling out, partly due to alleged outstanding legal bills. Costello and the law firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron also sued Giuliani last year for an outstanding legal bill balance of more than $1.3 million. Costello and the firm served as Giulianis representation on numerous occasions, including during the investigations by both Congress and special counsel Jack Smith into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, as well as by Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis into an alleged scheme to overturn Georgias election results. Smith and Willis have since brought two separate election interference cases against Trump and some of his allies. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Rochester Field Of Honor returns Rochester Field Of Honor will have 550 full size American Flags on display at the Rochester common May 25-28, 2024. ROCHESTER Vouchers for Veterans and the city announce that they will once again be putting heroism on display this Memorial Day weekend. This event will be held at the Rochester common with 550 full-size American flags on display around and within the 1/3-mile oval park. The Field of Honor is free to the public and will open in the morning on Saturday, May 25, remaining in place until early Tuesday morning, May 28. Each night at 7 p.m. a bugler will play taps and John Greenleaf will walk among the flags playing the bagpipes to commemorate the memory of members of all branches of the armed forces. The multi-day event expects to draw thousands of visitors who will come and pay their respects to the men and women who have served our country, with many making the ultimate sacrifice. On Memorial Day May 27, the Rochester Memorial Day Parade will begin at 10:30 a.m. and march from Holy Rosary Church to the bridge on North Main Street where there will be a short ceremony on the bridge. The parade will then continue and culminate at the Rochester common at approximately 11 a.m. The Rochester Veterans Council and American Legion Post 7 will perform the reading of President Joe Biden's proclamation and the laying of the wreath ceremony followed by the playing of taps and a gun salute. Mayor Paul Callaghan and keynote speaker ret. Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc will address the attendees. New Hampshire SPCA calls on community to support fundraising event On Sunday, June 2, 2024, the New Hampshire SPCA will host their annual Paws Walk at Stratham Hill Park. STRATHAM On Sunday, June 2, the New Hampshire SPCA will host their annual Paws Walk at Stratham Hill Park. This dog-friendly event, presented by Top Dog Sponsor Walmart Region 16, and Cool Cat Sponsors ICL Autos and Murphy, Powers & Wilson CPAs, directly benefits homeless animals, providing lifesaving care, medical treatment, and other support services. With just a few weeks until event day, the NHSPCA is urgently calling on the community to help them reach their $130,000 goal by fundraising or donating. Paws Walk is the NHSPCAs most important community fundraiser, responsible for giving a second chance to thousands of unwanted, neglected, and abused pets each year. The success of this event comes directly from generous, local animal-lovers, who register to walk and raise critical funds through their own network. To help with fundraising and to generate even more support, a generous donor, Dr. Peter Gray in memory of Ellen Gray, has pledged to match donations dollar-for-dollar, which can double every gift made to Paws Walk from Thursday, May 16 through National Rescue Dog Day on Monday, May 20. Participants can shop for local goods and enjoy food truck treats in the vendor village, watch talented dogs in action from the New England Agility Team, Working Dog Foundation and Heart Stone Farm, and experience the best of the NHSPCA - therell be farm animals, kids activities, and adoptable dogs. To registe: nhspca.org/paws-walk. Rochester, NH Elks Lodge holds annual Kids Fishing Derby ROCHESTER At 7:30 a.m., on Saturday, May 11, at the Farmington Fish and Game Club in New Durham, N.H., young fishing enthusiasts descended upon this beautiful site for the Rochester Elks Kids Fishing Derby. The derby is an annual event for the children and grand-children of Rochester Elks No. 1393 members. Chairperson for the event this year was Jeff Rasmussen. Children pose for group pictures at the conclusion of the Elks Fishing Derby. There were 30 children registered. In addition 15 Elks volunteered to run the derby. A light lunch was also served by the Elks to all in attendance. Door prizes (various fishing gear items) were also awarded to contestants. Volunteers pose for group pictures at the conclusion of the Elks Fishing Derby. The Elks are dedicated to various programs and endeavors, including youth activities. The Rochester Elks Fishing Derby has been conducted for decades by Lodge volunteers. To learn more about the Elks, please visit www.elks.org This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Rochester Field of Honor returns, NHSPCA Paws Walk: Community news It took hours for the United States to issue an official reaction to the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage. When it did so, it was to offer official condolences in the coldest possible terms, and to categorically reject accusations from Tehran that the U.S. might have had any responsibility for the helicopter crash. With the Middle East in the midst of serious tensions due to the war in Gaza, and as it finalizes a defense agreement with Saudi Arabia that would protect Riyadh from its great regional adversary, Washington does not expect major changes in the transition process in Tehran, but remains very attentive to any factor that could trigger an escalation in tensions. The United States expresses its official condolences for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, and other members of their delegation in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran. As Iran selects a new president, we reaffirm our support for the Iranian people and their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms, said the State Department in a statement. The succinct document was signed not by the head of U.S. diplomacy, but by his spokesman, Matthew Miller. The U.S. government does not consider that the disappearance of Raisi and Absollahian will have major effects on Iranian foreign policy. The ultra-conservative president, who was responsible for the deaths of thousands of political opponents in the 1980s, was considered a likely candidate to succeed the spiritual leader of the regime, Ali Khamenei in power since 1989 but he did not play a great role in internal politics or the external affairs of government. His authority was constrained by the Iranian supreme leader, who has the highest command in the Islamic Republic, recalls Jonathan Panikoff, of the Atlantic Council think tank. The United States insists that, for now, everything remains as it was. Were going to continue to hold Iran accountable for all their destabilizing behavior in the region, which continues to this day, the White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby promised this Monday. The two countries are irreconcilable adversariesover Irans nuclear program, Tehrans support for radical Islamic militias, human rights violations in Iran, and the regimes growing closeness to Russia and China, among other thingsbut they share an interest in ensuring that the volatile situation in the Middle East does not get even more complicated. Both already experienced a moment on the brink of the abyss in April, when Iran tried to hit Israel with hundreds of drones and missiles in retaliation for that countrys attack on its consulate in Damascus, and American planes came out in Israels support to shoot down most of those projectiles. Washington and Tehran have maintained informal contacts since then to try to avoid new escalations that could spark a regional conflict with unpredictable consequences. Last week both governments held indirect talks in Oman, the first since January. At these talks, the United States was represented by its envoy for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, and its representative for Iran, Adam Palley. Under Omans intermediation, Washington tried to convince its antagonist of the need to control the militias that Iran helps in the region with weapons, financing and training, and which since the beginning of the war in Gaza have increased their hostile actions against U.S. troops in the Red Sea, Iraq and Syria. In a conciliatory gesture, and after voices in Iran accused the United States of responsibility in the helicopter crash due to its harsh sanctions that prevent the supply of adequate spare aviation parts, Iran pointed to a technical failure as the cause of the accident. The American-made aircraft had been in circulation for more than half a century. Washington, for its part, has stated time and time again that it had nothing to do with the accident. We continue to monitor the situation, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters after a virtual meeting of Ukraines allies. But we dont have any insights into the cause of the accident at this point. The incident does serve as a warning to the government in Washington, said Brian Katsulis, from the Middle East Institute think tank, in a video conference on Monday. It is another wake-up call for American foreign policy about the challenges that Iran presents today and the challenges that it will pose in the near-term future, not only to the security interests of the United States, but also to the broader regional security. Raisis death comes at a key moment for the United States in the region. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, touring the area, had just completed a visit to Riyadh to try to close negotiations for a defense pact with its Arab ally. Riyadh aspires to an agreement to collaborate on a civil nuclear energy program and a mutual defense agreement. This pact would be part of a broader agreement, by which the United States hopes that Israel and Saudi Arabia will approve the normalization of their diplomatic relations. Such a step would consolidate a protection network against Iran, and Washington hopes it would also pave the way for the future implementation of a Palestinian State. The frontal opposition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government to any type of Palestinian sovereignty is blocking, at least for the moment, a more ambitious trilateral project, which is why Washington has chosen to focus on the bilateral agreement with Riyadh. Jake was able to make significant progress on the bilateral elements of what we believe would be a truly historic deal that would lead to a more integrated region, Kirby noted on Monday. The agreement is already near-final, according to the spokesperson, who, however, declined to give a date for when the finalized deal might be announced. CLOVIS, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) Two people from Romania found with counterfeit goods were arrested on Friday, leading to an international operation involving fake Apple products, according to the Clovis Police Department. Officers say a Clovis Police taskforce was working undercover at two shopping centers in Clovis: one team at Willow Avenue and Herndon Avenue and the other at Clovis Avenue and Shaw Avenue. Employees at the Target store at Willow Avenue and Herndon Avenue reported a shoplifting in progress and officers responded and arrested a female juvenile and an 18-year-old man. Arrest made after woman found dead in Hanford closet, police say The officers making that arrest then discovered counterfeit Apple products with the two suspects leading to a hotel room in Fresno where over $12,000 worth of counterfeit Apple products were found. Officers described fake Air Pods and i-Watches among the products seized. The products were made in China and shipped to the United States through Europe. Counterfeit items confiscated by Clovis Police Department. Counterfeit items confiscated by Clovis Police Department. Officers say the two suspects were both from Romania and knew each other. One suspect has been named as 18-year-old Vasile Stoian and the other, a female juvenile, has not been identified. Both suspects have been cited and released for misdemeanor theft and conspiracy. 18-year-old Vasile Stoian (image courtesy of the Clovis Police Department) As well as the two suspects arrested, detectives continue to search for others involved. Officers say the arrest is a reminder to check products are genuine before purchasing them. 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 YourCentralValley.com | KSEE24 and CBS47. AUSTIN (KXAN) The medical license of a Round Rock doctor was temporarily suspended after a Texas Medical Board panel found evidence that his continuation in the practice of medicine poses a continuing threat to public welfare, the board said Monday. The board suspended the medical license for Dr. Willard James Davis, II following a Thursday disciplinary panel. The temporary suspension was effective immediately, the board said. KXAN Investigates: Preventing Disaster The board said a panel found evidence that Davis was impaired while working at the St. Davids Georgetown Hospital. St. Davids HealthCare provided a statement to KXAN, writing that Davis is no longer working at their facilities. The last time Dr. Will Davis worked at any St. Davids HealthCare facility was on January 24, 2024 at St. Davids Georgetown Hospital. He is no longer providing medical services at any of our facilities. St. Davids HealthCare statement KXAN contacted an attorney representing Davis in an unrelated Williamson County case for comment. This article will be updated if a statement is received. The panel also found Davis engaged in inappropriate behavior with a patient when he worked in the emergency department at the Medical Center Hospital in Odessa, Texas. The board said Davis also left the emergency department unattended for long periods of time. A temporary suspension hearing will be held within 10 business days notice to Davis, the board said. According to his medical license information, Davis has 22 years of active practice including 18 years of practice in Texas. 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 KXAN Austin. Keeping up with Donald Trumps court schedule is a dizzying task, since he faces two federal trials, a criminal trial in Georgia, and two separate civil and criminal trials in New York. (Oh, and hes running for president.) To make it easier to follow along, each Monday well be looking back at all the Trump trialrelated developments you might have missed the previous week. Programming note: In observance of the Memorial Day holiday, Keeping Up With the Trump Trials will return Tuesday next week. Rudy Giuliani had quite the birthday weekendArizona Attorney General Kris Mayes surprised him with another criminal indictment as he was leaving his 80th birthday party. Meanwhile, down in Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis campaigned for reelection while her criminal indictment of Donald Trump remains in limbo. And former Trump attorney Michael Cohen retook the witness stand to finish out his testimony in the ongoing hush money trial. The former New York mayor was down in Florida to ring in his 80th birthday, but he received an unexpected gift as he was leaving: a notice of his indictment by the office of Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes for illegally trying to overturn the states 2020 election results. Giuliani was served around 11 p.m. as he was leaving his party. His spokesman told the New York Times it happened after guests had left and he was walking to the car and that Giuliani was unfazed and enjoyed an incredible evening with hundreds of people, from all walks of his life. A spokesman for the AGs office said they had been trying to serve Giuliani for weeks now, but he had managed to evade their attempts. However, agents for the AGs office were tipped off about Giulianis Florida party because of livestreams from his home there, according to the Times. A few hours before his party in Florida, Giuliani taunted prosecutors on X, posting a now-deleted photo of himself with partygoers: If Arizona authorities cant find me by tomorrow morning: 1. They must dismiss the indictment; 2. They must concede they cant count votes. In the end, Arizona authorities did find Giuliani, and he was the last of 18 defendants to be served in Mayes indictment after she announced it a month ago. Now Giuliani will have to appear in court; a tentative trial has been set for mid-October. Meanwhile, on Friday, former Trump attorney John Eastman pleaded not guilty to his charges in the Arizona indictment. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been busy campaigning to keep her job, while the defining case of her legal careerthe election interference indictment that charges Trump and 18 others with feloniesremains uncertain. Im just getting started, Willis said in a campaign ad, which makes no mention of her Trump case. Georgias party primary is on Tuesday, and Willis is facing Democrat Christian Wise Smith, a former Fulton County prosecutor who ran against Willis in 2020; whoever wins will face Republican Courtney Kramer in November. Willis is considered a favorite to win the DA race, as Fulton County leans heavily Democratic, but a shadow is looming over her campaign. A few weeks ago, a Georgia appeals court agreed to hear an appeal filed by Trumps attorney that seeks to disqualify Willis from prosecuting the former president in her 35-count indictment. The decision came after Judge Scott McAfee ruled that Willis could stay on her criminal election interference case, the conclusion of a lengthy hearing that laid out how Willis had hired special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she began to date while the two worked together. (Wade resigned so Willis could remain on the case; McAfee is, incidentally, also running for reelection). Willis is also under investigation by the House Judiciary Committee. Other threats to Willis could also be waiting in the wingsthe Georgia Legislature passed a law last year that allows a state commission to investigate and remove elected prosecutors. Trumps former attorney and infamous personal fixer took the witness stand in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs ongoing criminal trial over alleged hush money payments made ahead of the 2016 election. Cohen testified for more than 10 hours, with far less bravado than he has shown in the past. This is the second time Cohen has testified against Trump in the past yearhe was also summoned to the witness stand in New York Attorney General Letitia James civil fraud trial. But this time, Cohens demeanor reflected the manner of an accountant more than a Roy Cohn, Slates Jeremy Stahl wrote in his courtroom dispatch. Cohen addressed how he lied in previous congressional testimony about the 2016 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2020 election, apologizing for violating his moral compass out of loyalty to Trump. Stahl observed that Trumps defense seemed more focused on impressing Trump than on convincing the jury. For instance, Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked Cohen if he previously described the former president as generous, passionate, principled, empathetic, kind, honest, humble and genuine. Cohen responded yes and confirmed that he was in fact speaking the truth at the time he said those words in September 2016. This distinction between how Cohen felt about Donald Trump at various times in his life and the truth about Trump the human seemed ludicrous, but the purpose also seemed clear: Lavish Trump with praise in a way that would him happy, wrote Stahl, in another dispatch from last weeks testimony. This week, Trumps attorneys will present their defense. According to New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, closing arguments will happen next week. Was Rudy Giuliani Peeing During His Arraignment? You Be the Judge! The steady drip, drip, drip of the justice system comes for us all. Especially in the case of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Joined by ten co-defendants, the former Trump attorney entered a plea of not guilty on Tuesday at his arraignment. Giuliani faces nine felony charges for his alleged involvement in the attempt to overturn Donald Trumps 2020 electoral defeat in Arizona. During his remote appearance in the Phoenix courtroom via Zoom, Giuliani revealed that he did not currently have a lawyer representing him but that he should at a later date. Asked by the judge whether hed need a court-appointed attorney, Giuliani responded: No, I think I am capable of handling it myself. Giuliani seemed to leave his Zoom mic on while on hold for his AZ arraignment... and his mic appeared to pick up some... water sounds? Sounds like something you'd hear in a bathroom. Is that me, Rudy Giuliani? Giuliani said as judge called his case. Audio in question: pic.twitter.com/bPH2y2DNwW Will Steakin (@wsteaks) May 21, 2024 At one point in the proceedings, the sound of water slowly streaming and splashing could be heard directly from Giulianis microphone. While Giuliani appeared to be preoccupied, the judge interrupted by calling the ex-mayors case number. Is that me, Rudy Giuliani? Giuliani asked as the dripping stopped. It didnt take long for the clip of Giulianis arraignment to go viral on social media on Tuesday, with many making the obvious comparison to a gag featured in an iconic 1980s comedy flick. Great reminder that I haven't watched Naked Gun in a long time, and should probably rectify that ASAP, Discourse co-owner Rafi Schwartz tweeted. For those inside the courtroom, the question of whether Giuliani was pulling a Frank Drebin left many of them holding back the urge to laugh. We were all trying to hold our composure in the courtroom while trying to figure out what it was, reporter Cameron Arcand noted. Whether the man who at one point earned the nickname Americas Mayor decided to engage in a literal pissing match with the court or not, hes not the first MAGA figure to find himself embarrassed by a hot mic in the bathroom. During a Twitter Space livestream with a host of far-right internet personalities last year, former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy decided to do some personal streaming of his own while forgetting to mute his microphone. It was also Giulianis love of live streams (no pun intended) that led to him finally being served by Arizona authorities in the fake electors case after he had avoided process servers for weeks. According to the Arizona attorney general, Giuliani was finally handed his notice to appear shortly after his Florida birthday party last week. Just hours earlier, he boasted to his audience via an online stream where hed be that evening, inadvertently tipping off authorities to his whereabouts. A spokesman for Giuliani did not immediately respond to a request for comment on The Daily Beasts leak investigation. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Rudy Giuliani pleads not guilty to Arizona fake electors plot after being served at 80th birthday party Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has pleaded not guilty to election interference charges in Arizona after being served at his 80th birthday party. Mr Giuliani, former lawyer to Donald Trump, faces nine felony charges for his alleged role in a 2020 presidential election interference plot. The former mayor has been charged alongside 17 others in the scheme. He appeared virtually at his arraignment on Tuesday in Phoenix, Arizona, according to the Associated Press, where he was required to post a $10,000 bond. His trial will begin in October. The Arizona indictment accuses the defendants of interfering with the lawful transfer of the presidency of the United States, keeping President Donald J Trump in office against the will of Arizona voters, and depriving Arizona voters of their right to vote and have their votes counted. Prosecutors say that one month after the 2020 election, 11 Republicans supporting Mr Trump convened at the states GOP headquarters to sign certificates claiming the states electoral college votes. Rudy Giuliani, pictured speaking to reporters in January, pleaded not guilty after prosecutors say he participated in the 2020 Arizona fake electors scheme (Getty Images) The additional seven people charged, including Mr Giuliani, were included for their alleged roles in the scheme. Arizona officials served the indictment to Mr Giuliani after his 80th birthday bash in Palm Beach, Florida on Friday. At the party, the former New York mayor served cake and belted out a rendition of Frank Sinatras New York, New York. He was unfazed and enjoyed an incredible evening with hundreds of people, from all walks of life, who love and respect him for his contributions to society, Ted Goodman, a spokesperson for Mr Giuliani, said in a statement to The Independent. We look forward to full vindication soon. Rudy Giuliani sings 'New York, New York' at his birthday party in Palm Beach this past weekend. He was later served an indictment (Rudy W. Giuliani/America's Mayor Live (E410)) Others charged in the case include Mr Trumps former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows; the main election security lawyer for the Republican National Committee (RNC) Christina Bobb; and former Arizona Republican Party chair Kelli Ward. Ms Ward pleaded not guilty on Tuesday. Mr Giuliani was the last defendant to be served after officials said it was difficult to locate him. A spokesperson for Mr Giuliani previously told The Independent: We are LIVE every night, where we regularly announce our specific location, in reference to the ex-mayors live broadcasts on YouTube. His legal woes in Arizona comes as he struggles with bankruptcy and $148m in debt. The former New York mayor declared bankruptcy in December after being ordered to pay two election workers after he pushed a baseless conspiracy over their part in the 2020 election. He has subsequently missed deadlines to file financial disclosures. The judge in charge of his bankruptcy case said that he was disturbed that so little progress had been achieved in sorting out his finances earlier this month. Last week, the judge also blocked Mr Giuliani from appealing a $148m defamation judgment against him. The Independent has contacted Mr Giulianis spokesperson for comment. Rudy Giuliani has pleaded not guilty to nine felony charges related to his efforts to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election. Giuliani made his plea Tuesday, just days after he was served with an indictment while celebrating his upcoming 80th birthday. In April, the former New York City mayor and longtime ally of ex-President Donald Trump was indicted by a grand jury, along with more than a dozen others, over an alleged scheme to have fake electors claim that Trump won Arizona in the 2020 election. The indictment names several Republican officials alleged to have sent a document to Congress that falsely declared Trump had won Arizona. (Joe Biden won the state by more than 10,000 votes.) Giuliani, who was the last to be served the indictment, taunted officials just hours before the law caught up to him. If Arizona authorities cant find me by tomorrow morning: 1. They must dismiss the indictment; 2. They must concede they cant count votes, Giuliani wrote in a now-deleted post on X, formerly called Twitter. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) told CNNs Kaitlan Collins on Monday that Giulianis livestreams helped lead authorities to him. We found out essentially through his livestreams, Mayes said. Hes not that hard to find. And so we did that and our agents professionally served him after his birthday party, as the party was winding down and as he himself was leaving the house that he was in, we gave him a copy of the papers, and he went along his way. During his remote arraignment on Tuesday, Giuliani said he did not yet have an attorney to represent him but plans to hire one. Related... Rudy Giuliani denied charges of illegally trying to keep Donald Trump in power after his 2020 election defeat as he was arraigned to appear before a court in Arizona along with 10 other defendants on Tuesday. Giulianis not guilty plea to nine felony charges came days after he was served an indictment as he left a party to celebrate his 80th birthday last Friday. Giuliani was the last of the 12 defendants to receive a summons to Tuesdays hearing after the Arizona attorney generals office said he had evaded efforts to serve him with a notice for several days. Related: Rudy Giuliani complains Arizona indictment not served stylishly Reflecting the difficulties in tracking him down, the attorney generals office requested a $10,000 cash bond for Giuliani, citing the problems it had serving him with an indictment and a general lack of cooperation, according to reports. No such request was made of other defendants. The AGs Office is asking for a $10k cash bond for Giuliani due to the difficulties they had in serving him with notice of his indictment and his lack of cooperation. They didnt seek bond for any of the other defendants. Jeremy Duda (@jeremyduda) May 21, 2024 Others charged over their roles as false electors include two sitting lawmakers, state senators Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern. The former Arizona Republican party chair Kelli Ward and her husband, Michael Ward, have been charged, as has Tyler Bowyer, a Republican national committeeman, and Turning Point USA executive, and Jim Lamon, who ran for US Senate in 2022. The others charged in the fake electors scheme are Nancy Cottle, Robert Montgomery, Samuel Moorhead, Lorraine Pellegrino and Gregory Safsten. Further defendants are expected to be arraigned next month, including Boris Epshteyn, a lawyer for Trump, and Mark Meadows, a former White House chief of staff. Trump himself is listed as un-indicted co-conspirator 1 in the case but has not been charged. Before receiving the indictment, Giuliani, the former New York mayor and the legal spearhead of Trumps lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, had taunted the Arizona officials by posting a picture of himself on X challenging them to drop the case. If Arizona authorities cant find me by tomorrow morning: 1. They must dismiss the indictment; 2. They must concede they cant count votes, he captioned the post, which has since been deleted. After being served his indictment, Giuliani posted on Facebook that he did not know that Arizona officials were looking for him until somebody told me there was a news article saying they were having a hard time finding me. The indictment alleged that Giuliani pressured Arizona legislators and the Maricopa county board of supervisors to change the election result in the state, which Joe Biden won by more than 10,000 votes. He is also accused of urging Republican electors in Arizona to vote for Trump, in the face of the popular vote counts showing a victory for Biden. According to the testimony of Rusty Bowers, a former speaker of the Arizona house of representatives, Giuliani, in his efforts to persuade the state legislature to overturn the 2020 vote, told him and legislators that we dont have the evidence but we have lots of theories. The case is the latest in a spate of legal woes to beset Giuliani a former federal prosecutor once renowned for fighting mafia organised crime bosses over his attempts to help Trump overturn the 2020 poll. He has filed for bankruptcy after being ordered to pay $148m in damages to two election workers in Georgia after they successfully sued for defamation. RAINELLE, WV (WVNS) In honor of veterans and to remember those that have lost their lives in war, veterans, along with others, are riding motorcycles across the country this Memorial Day. Mountain Music Festival returns in 2024 The event, Run for the Wall, will have participants riding motorcycles on three different routes and will be passing through Rainelle, WV. Todd Taylor, the West Virginia State Coordinator for Run for the Wall, explained the tradition and why it is so important to the area. The kids are absolutely just, if you ever walk into Rainelle [Elementary], their hallways are lined with Run for the Wall stuff. Year-round they teach patriotism. They teach what it is to be a veteran and how to honor everybody. When we get there, all these kids are out there just screaming and hollering at us, said Taylor. The mission is to reach the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. on Memorial Day so riders can reflect and heal after their journey. The hope is to return home to a new beginning. Cathedral Cafe showcases a new look Taylor also mentioned that this event shows how much veterans are valued by the community. He also said that this ride will soon include a fourth route for riders. 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 WVNS. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) Its been a year since the last elected Oregon Secretary of State resigned from office, giving Democrat Tobias Read and Republican Dennis Linthicum a chance to go head to head for the role in November. As of 10:45 p.m. Tuesday, current Oregon Treasurer Tobias Read won the Democratic primary with 205,315 votes (70.89%) while Senator Dennis Linthicum (District 28) took the top Republican spot with 139,142 votes (65.2%). Click here to view up-to-date Oregon 2024 Primary Election results Two years into her term, former secretary Shemia Fagan stepped down from the office amid scandal in May 2023 as her recusal from a state audit on the cannabis industry earlier in the year spurred an investigation. The investigation followed ethics concerns for her paid consulting work with Veride Holding LLC, an affiliate of cannabis company La Mota. Her contract was active as her office audited the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission and concluded that Oregon laws were hindering cannabis businesses. Deputy Secretary Cheryl Myers oversaw the agency until Gov. Tina Kotek appointed LaVonne Griffin-Valade to the position in June 2023. Since then, eight candidates five Democrats and three Republicans have stepped forward. The primary election on Tuesday, May 21 will determine the candidate that will represent their party in the upcoming November election. Tobias Read headshot, courtesy Tobias Read campaign Senator Dennis Linthicum Oregon 04092019 Candidate Profiles Democrat Tobias Read Leaving behind his role as Oregon Treasurer (which he has served since 2017), Read claims to be the only candidate for Secretary of State who checks the boxes for strong leadership with successful experience in running a statewide agency with varied responsibilities. Read addressed the changes he would make to the office in his questionnaire with KOIN 6 News, stating he plans to build on Oregons legacy as a national leader in elections policy by pushing for programs like satellite voting centers and services that alert voters that their ballots have been received and counted can help boost turnout and improve public trust in state government. Republican Dennis Linthicum A current Oregon Senator for District 28 covering parts of Northeastern Jackson County, Southern Deschutes, and all of Klamath County, Linthicum claims his background as a government official and trained economist uniquely positions [him] to unlock the full potential of the Secretary of States office. Linthicum, in his response to a KOIN 6 News questionnaire, said his focus would be on election integrity as well as departments and agencies that have a statewide impact. He said he will perform regular audits to identify areas for improvement, ensure compliance with regulations, and optimize resource allocation. KOIN 6 News is Your Local Election Headquarters. Stay with us as we bring you up-to-date campaign coverage through Novembers General Election. 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 KOIN.com. The Russian Ministry of Justice has added the Come Back Alive foundation, which helps the Ukrainian military, and Stop the Occupation of Karelia, a movement advocating for Karelias independence, to the list of foreign and international non-governmental organisations whose activities are deemed "undesirable" in Russia. Source: Meduza, a Latvian-based Russian news outlet, citing OVD-Info, an independent Russian media and human rights defence group Details: Meduza reported that both organisations were entered into the Ministry of Justice register of undesirable organisations. The Prosecutor Generals Office handed down the decision at the end of April, but did not inform the public about it. The human rights organisation Freedom House was also added to the register, having been declared "undesirable" on 7 May. Previously: On 11 April, Taras Chmut, the head of the Come Back Alive foundation, in an extensive interview told Ukrainska Pravda about the situation on the front, assessed the Russian forces preparations for a new offensive, and criticised the mobilisation campaign in Ukraine. Support UP or become our patron! On Monday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague announced that it will seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant. In addition, the court has also called for the arrest of three key Hamas leaders. The ICC accuses them all of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The order comes from the chief prosecutor, 53-year-old British lawyer Karim Khan, but he has not made the decision alone. He has had a series of high-level criminal lawyers who have advised him with extensive reports prepared over the course of several months. And one of those key lawyers has been Amal Clooney. The 46-year-old Briton was known in her work circle for years for her high-level lawsuits, although at that time she was known by her maiden name, Alamuddin. She stepped into the international limelight when she began a relationship with the well-known actor George Clooney in 2013, and her own celebrity status increased after their wedding, held in Venice with great fanfare in September 2014. The couple have twins, Ella and Alexander, who are almost seven years old. Both Amal and George Clooney have always been positioned on the side of the Democrats with frequent and harsh criticism against former President Donald Trump and have been involved in different political and humanitarian causes. But not many people knew that the lawyer reached such levels of influence. For months now there are those who had been wondering where the couple was, and why it had not spoken out about the war between Israel and Hamas that started on October 6 especially Amal, because of her profession and the fact that she is Lebanese by birth, although she was raised in the United Kingdom (she studied law at Oxford). The couple has a foundation, the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ), and has shown commitment to the victims of the war in Ukraine, but has remained silent regarding the Middle East conflict. It is only now that it has emerged that during all these months the jurist was focusing on an expert report for the ICC. In the statement that accompanies the report, released by her foundation, the lawyer explains that more than four months ago, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asked me to assist him with evaluating evidence of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and Gaza. I agreed and joined a panel of international legal experts to undertake this task. Together we have engaged in an extensive process of evidence review and legal analysis including at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. George and Amal Clooney, at a premiere in December 2023 in London. Alberto Pezzali (Alberto Pezzali/Invision/AP) Despite our diverse personal backgrounds, our legal findings are unanimous. We have unanimously determined that the Court has jurisdiction over crimes committed in Palestine and by Palestinian nationals. We unanimously conclude that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including hostage-taking, murder and crimes of sexual violence. We unanimously conclude that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity including starvation as a method of warfare, murder, persecution and extermination, reads the statement. The lawyer explains that she made the decision to serve on this panel because she firmly believes in the law and in the need to protect civilian lives. She notes that the law that protects civilians in war was developed more than 100 years ago and it applies in every country in the world regardless of the reasons for a conflict. As a human rights lawyer, I will never accept that one childs life has less value than anothers. I do not accept that any conflict should be beyond the reach of the law, nor that any perpetrator should be above the law. So I support the historic step that the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has taken to bring justice to victims of atrocities in Israel and Palestine. She also says that my approach is not to provide a running commentary of my work but to let the work speak for itself. I hope that witnesses will cooperate with the ongoing investigation. And I hope that justice will prevail in a region that has already suffered too much. For more than 20 years, Clooney has been involved in a number of diverse causes. She works at a prestigious London law firm specializing in human rights called Doughty Street Chambers and is also an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School in New York. She has been collaborating with Prosecutor Khan for three years, when he asked her to act as special advisor to observe the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region. In addition to creating the foundation that bears their names in 2016, the couple have made numerous donations through it, such as the $1 million they gave in 2017 to fight against racism and hate crimes in the United States, the aid project to provide schooling to 3,000 Syrian refugee children in Lebanon, arms control or hosting an Iraqi refugee fleeing the Islamic State in their own home. The lawyer has also worked on international cases, such as the long border dispute between Vietnam and Cambodia, on the return of Greek sculptures from the British Museum to Greece; and on the recognition of the Armenian genocide. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Russia says after Raisi crash that U.S. undermined aviation safety with sanctions MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, commenting on the helicopter crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, said on Tuesday that U.S. sanctions had worsened aviation safety. Iranian media reported that images from the site showed the U.S.-made Bell 212 helicopter on which Raisi was travelling slammed into a mountain peak, although there was no official word on the cause of the crash. Iran was a major buyer of Bell helicopters under the Shah before the 1979 Islamic revolution, though the exact origin of the aircraft that crashed was not clear. Decades of sanctions have made it hard for Iran to obtain parts or upgrade its aircraft. "The Americans disown this, but the truth is that other countries against which the United States announced sanctions do not receive spare parts for American equipment, including aviation," Lavrov said about the crash. "We are talking about deliberately causing damage to ordinary citizens who use these vehicles, and when spare parts are not supplied, this is directly related to a decrease in the level of safety." (Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Mark Trevelyan) Today, we discuss the latest reports from the battlefront as Russia seemingly focuses its attention on the Ukrainian city of Sumy. Then, we consider the complex threads of geopolitics after a spate of shock deaths and assassination attempts. And we hear about the military and humanitarian situation in Kharkiv. Listen to Ukraine: the Latest, The Telegraphs daily podcast, using the audio player at the top of this article or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast app. War in Ukraine is reshaping our world. Every weekday The Telegraphs top journalists analyse the invasion from all angles - military, humanitarian, political, economic, historical - and tell you what you need to know to stay updated. With over 70 million listens, our Ukraine: The Latest podcast is your go-to source for all the latest analysis, live reaction and correspondents reporting on the ground. We have been broadcasting ever since the full-scale invasion began. Ukraine: The Latests regular contributors are: David Knowles David is Head of Audio Development at The Telegraph, where he has worked for over three years. He has reported from across Ukraine during the full-scale invasion. Dominic Nicholls Dom is Associate Editor (Defence) at The Telegraph, having joined in 2018. He previously served for 23 years in the British Army, in tank and helicopter units. He had operational deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland. Francis Dearnley Francis is Assistant Comment Editor at The Telegraph. Prior to working as a journalist, he was chief of staff to the Chair of the Prime Ministers Policy Board at the Houses of Parliament in London. He studied History at Cambridge University and on the podcast explores how the past shines a light on the latest diplomatic, political, and strategic developments. They are also regularly joined by Telegraph reporters and correspondents around the world, including Joe Barnes (Brussels Correspondent), James Kilner, (Foreign Correspondent and Editor of the Central Asia & the South Caucasus Bulletin), Sophia Yan (Senior Foreign Correspondent), Nataliya Vasilyeva (Middle East Correspondent), Roland Oliphant (Senior Foreign Correspondent), Colin Freeman (Foreign Correspondent), Danielle Sheridan (Defence Editor), and Tony Diver (US Editor). 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. Russian forces carried out an air strike on May 21 on the city of Kherson, injuring three people, Kherson Oblast Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported. Russian troops launched the attack around 4 p.m. local time, targeting the Shumenskyi district and damaging a high-rise building. Three people were confirmed injured as of 5 p.m. local time, according to Prokudin. The youngest victim is a 15-year-old boy who was hospitalized. A 50-year-old woman was hospitalized in serious condition. A 71-year-old woman was another victim of the attack. She sustained a leg injury and received medical help at the scene. Ukraine's Armed Forces liberated Kherson and other settlements on the west bank of the Dnipro River during a counteroffensive in in the fall of 2022. Russian troops were pushed to the river's east bank, from where they have since been firing at the liberated territories, regularly resulting in civilian deaths, as well as large-scale destruction of homes and infrastructure. Earlier in the day, a Russian drone dropped explosives on the village of Antonivka, injuring three elderly women. Read also: Glide bombs help Russia gain land in Ukraine. What makes them so effective? Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. A Russian court on May 21 convicted a 77-year-old physicist of treason and sentenced him to 14 years in a penal colony. Anatoly Maslov was accused of sharing top secret information on Russia's hypersonic missile program with Germany. He had maintained he was innocent. The case is the latest in a string of investigations against scientists involved in Russia's hypersonic missile program, responsible for developing such weapons as the Kinzhal and Zircon. Despite being touted by the Kremlin as "super weapons," they have had limited success against Western-supplied air defense systems in Ukraine, particularly Patriot systems. Maslov and two of his colleagues at the same institute Alexander Shiplyuk and Valery Zvegintsev were arrested in 2022. Shiplyuk and Zvegintsev are awaiting trial. The institute previously said the scientific papers the men had presented at international conferences had been vetted to ensure they gave away no secret information but the Kremlin at the time said it was a matter for the security services. Last year, the Moscow City Court sentenced Anatoly Gubanov, a 66-year-old physicist who worked on hypersonic development, to 12 years imprisonment on treason charges. Gubanov is the former head of the aircraft and rockets department at the Central Aerodynamics and Hydrodynamics Institute (TsAGI) in Zhukovsky, Moscow Oblast. He was arrested in 2020 on suspicions that he was providing secret hypersonic development documents to his Dutch colleagues, with whom he collaborated in a civil hypersonic airliner project, HEXAFLY-INT. Gubanov pleaded guilty, asking judges to take into account all mitigating circumstances and issue a sentence below the minimum threshold of 12 years, which the court rejected. The physicist's Russian colleague in the project, 70-year-old Valery Golubkin, was detained in 2021 and also sentenced to 12 years imprisonment this year in June. Golubkin rejected the charges raised against him. Human rights organization Perviy Otdel said that the materials passed by Gubanov and Golubkin to their Dutch colleagues had been examined by three specialized commissions prior to the submission. The reviews discovered no classified content in the documents, the group said. Read also: What we know about hypersonic Zircon missiles Russias latest threat Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. LONDON (Reuters) - A Moscow court ruled on Tuesday that Russia's Investigative Committee is not obliged to investigate two attempts on the life of jailed dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, independent news outlet Mediazona reported. Moscow-born Kara-Murza, who has both Russian and British passports, was jailed last April for 25 years on treason charges after he repeatedly condemned Russia's war in Ukraine and lobbied for Western sanctions against Moscow. His appeal against the sentence was rejected this month. The 42-year-old politician and former journalist has survived two poisoning attempts. He became ill and was hospitalised in Moscow in 2015, a few months after his colleague, opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, was gunned down while walking across a bridge near the Kremlin walls. In 2017, Kara-Murza was placed in a medically induced coma and put on life support after the onset of similar symptoms. A joint investigation led by the Bellingcat outlet subsequently found that Kara-Murza was trailed by the same unit of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) that allegedly poisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2020. Navalny died in an Arctic prison in February. Kara-Murza's wife Evgenia says the poison attempts have left him with a nerve disorder and she fears for his life in prison. His lawyer sent requests to the Investigative Committee to investigate the poisonings, which were denied. The Moscow City Court on Tuesday rejected Kara-Murza's appeal against those decisions, said Mediazona, which reports on human rights and court cases in Russia. Kara-Murza called investigators' claims that they had looked into the murders and interviewed witnesses "a direct, documented lie" in court, speaking via video link from the Siberian prison where he is incarcerated, Mediazona reported. He also spoke out in support of Zhenya Berkovich and Svetlana Petriychuk, a Russian theatre director and playwright whose trial began on Monday in Moscow, according to the report. (Reporting and writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Christina Fincher) A Russian delegation arrived in Pyongyang on May 20, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported, citing North Korean state media. The delegation is headed by Grigoriy Rapota, a member of the International Affairs Committee of Russia's Federation Council and chairman of the Russia-North Korea friendship parliamentary group, the Korean Central News Agency said in a one-line dispatch. With Russia's military stocks running low and domestic production capacity simultaneously hampered by Western sanctions, North Korea has been shaping up as Russia's leading weapons supplier, reportedly providing Moscow with extensive military packages, including ballistic missiles and over 3 million artillery shells. According to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, these military ties are increasingly a "two-way street," in which North Korea provides Russia with military equipment to use in Ukraine. According to the Russian Embassy in North Korea, the delegation will stay until May 24 and discuss "issues of parliamentary interaction and outline plans for future contacts." They did not announce a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un but will meet the chairperson of the Supreme National Assembly, North Korea's legislature. South Korea's intelligence service is conducting a review into suspicions that North Korea has provided Russia with artillery shells and other weaponry manufactured in the 1970s, the country's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said on May 12. The NIS' remarks come in response to recent South Korean media reports that allege 122 mm artillery shells manufactured in North Korea in the 1970s were used on Ukraine's eastern front. Both Ukrainian and U.S. officials have previously confirmed that Russia has been using North Korean-produced weaponry to attack Ukraine. "The NIS is analyzing the relevant circumstance in detail and also continues to track overall military cooperation between North Korea and Russia," the intelligence agency said, amid concern that North Korea is procuring older weapons to develop new ones. Read also: Reuters: Half of North Korean missiles fired by Russia blow up in mid-air, Ukraines top prosecutor says Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. A Russian drone dropped explosives on the village of Antonivka in Kherson Oblast on May 21, injuring three people, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. Women aged 69, 75, and 76 were reportedly hospitalized with mine-blast and shrapnel injuries. No further details were provided at the moment. Ukraine's Armed Forces liberated Antonivka and other Kharkiv Oblast's settlements on the west bank of the Dnipro River in the fall 2022 counteroffensive. Russian troops were pushed to the river's east bank, from where they have since been firing at the liberated territories, regularly resulting in civilian deaths as well as large-scale destruction of homes and infrastructure. Russian attacks killed one person and three others in the region over the past day, according to Prokudin. Read also: Man injured in Russian May 17 attack on Kharkiv Oblast dies in hospital Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Russian drone attacks police officer's car as he evacuates people from Vovchansk, Kharkiv Oblast photos Russian drones hit a police officer's car as he was evacuating people from Vovchansk hromada on 21 May. The officer suffered a contusion. (A hromada is an administrative unit designating a town, village or several villages and their adjacent territories ed.) Source: Prosecutor Generals Office of Ukraine; Volodymyr Tymoshko, the Chief of Kharkiv Oblast branch of the National Police, on Facebook Quote: "The investigation found that a hostile FPV drone hit a police officer's car in the border hromada of Vovchansk, when he was on his way to evacuate people on 21 May (a hromada is an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories ed.). The policeman suffered a contusion." Photo: Volodymyr Tymoshko, Kharkiv National Police Chief Details: Tymoshko noted that they managed to evacuate people anyway. Law enforcement officers also documented the aftermath of Russian airstrikes on civilian infrastructure in the city of Zolochiv. Prosecutor Generals Office of Ukraine reported that the Russian invaders damaged three high-rise apartment buildings, a kindergarten, a school, administrative buildings, and a cafe. Photo: Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office At least 22 shops were completely destroyed. Previously, the Russian Armed Forces attacked the town using four aerial munitions. Photo: Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office In addition, the Russians damaged households in the village of Myrne, Kupiansk district, and civilian infrastructure in the central part of the village of Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi. Support UP or become our patron! Before generative artificial intelligence turned his world on its head, Guillermo Prado did a PhD in molecular biology in the oncology department of La Paz, a public hospital in Madrid. He then started working in a company related to the healthcare sector, but he didnt enjoy it. It was late 2022, and the first versions of ChatGPT and Midjourney, an application capable of creating images from text, were released at the same time. I started going crazy with it, Prado says. Now he is an expert in the new skill known as prompts engineering. Salaries in the field can reach six figures in the United States. I thought that was the future, so every day when I came home from work, I started researching it, Prado says, embarking on a path of no return that has led him, two years later, to create Externia, his own events company driven by generative artificial intelligence technology capable of creating text, images, music, or videos from written instructions. In the face of the caution and general lack of knowledge that still dominates public conversation, Prado believes that the revolution led by this technology will be transversal, affecting all jobs and opening the door of innovation to professions that have historically been left out of technological progress. Why would a humanities profile work as a prompts engineer? asks Prado. Prompts are the instructions or requests received by the machine. The prompts engineer is the expert professional, for example in ChatGPT, who knows how to get the most out of the tool by making use of language. The profiles that are coming in now are usually computer scientists, and thats fine and it works, theyre going to be needed. But the most important part of a prompts engineer is to be creative, and there I think humanities profiles [such as philosophy, marketing, or linguistics] can have a lot of potential. When it comes down to it, you are communicating with a natural language, and a profile that has studied that will have a huge advantage, Prado tells EL PAIS in a telephone conversation. The connection between the humanities and generative AI seems minimal, but more and more voices are pointing in that direction. Marco Argenti, the CIO of Goldman Sachs, wrote about the subject in the Harvard Business Review: The quality of the output of a Large Language Model [like ChatGPT] is very sensitive to the quality of the prompt [] Because of that, one would have to first and foremost master reasoning, logic, and first-principles thinking to get the most out of AI. Artificial intelligence could alter almost 40% of global employment, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In advanced economies, that figure rises to 60%, because the number of jobs performing replaceable tasks is higher than in other economies. However, a recent article in The Economist asserts that those with humanities degrees are well positioned to take advantage of the new opportunities. Promotion agencies and online courses purporting to teach this skill are flourishing. Graduates with a background in languages or the humanities are popular candidates, the text states. Momentum in marketing Ruth Falquina, CEO of the marketing agency Estado Latente, studied marketing at the Complutense University of Madrid before entering the world of artificial intelligence. She now uses that technology throughout the productive and creative process of her company. Humanities profiles bring critical thinking and creativity based on a deep knowledge of culture. This background serves to generate better prompts, better instructions, she explains. Falquina, like many other experts, says that prompts engineer is not going to become a job per se, but a skill that many people will have to develop for their jobs. At her marketing company, employees use tools like ChatGPT on a daily basis. Its part of the production process they go through when they have a new assignment. Falquina notes co-creation between human and machine is essential. We integrate AI as part of our team, she says. They have used it for smaller things, from producing the first AI-based cover in Spain (it was for the first issue of Yorokobu magazine), to creating a drink wrapper thanks to machine design. For the Jaume I scientific awards, for example, they have created an AI that helps the user to lose fear of the AI itself. They have also generated a ChatGPT model to help strategists around the world develop their own brand. It improves work processes and inspires us to be better creatives, says Falquina. Another project was the main stage designer for the Mobile World Congress. They had two and a half weeks to complete the final product. In that case, the AI allowed us the speed we needed to deliver everything we were asked for. Hermagoras Abecia, a digital marketing specialist at Actahotels, has also been tinkering with ChatGPT for some time, so much so that he has already given himself the prompts engineer skill on his LinkedIn profile. He says he has been developing his own tools since October last year, and that his AI has become a sort of companion with whom he converses most of the day. You have to know how to give instruction It helps you from doing a context analysis for a marketing campaign to a Google positioning strategy. I do it with ChatGPT and we pull it off, he says. Another fan, Cristina Aranda Gutierrez, earned a PhD in Hispanic philology before entering the world of AI, and launches a staunch defense of the humanities in this sector. Anyone can choose to work in this, because it is something as non-technical as giving an instruction to the machine. But linguists and philosophers are going to know how to do that better than others. In addition, you have to know how to give the instruction, because the context and the precision of the command are important, she says. Nico Bour, co-founder of Joppy, a Spanish startup that connects companies with tech workers, says they have not yet seen a huge demand for instructional engineers. Were not seeing massive offers for that position. There are some, but no one can tell you yet that they are senior specialists in the field. In many cases whats happening is that a lot of developers are practicing in their spare time. Bour believes that the ideal profile for this type of work are data analyst engineers, because they understand better how an AI works from the inside. As for the rest of the engineers, if they dont learn how to incorporate AI into their work, they are going to be very inefficient a few years from now. At Christmas 2022, with the intention of announcing to his family that he was leaving healthcare work to devote himself fully to generative AI, Prado arranged a surprise. I gave my family an AI-generated painting. It had a QR that took you to a website with a video narrating an AI-generated story read by an artificial voice. They were quite impressed. Then came the discussion. Prado wanted to return to the family event company to implement everything he had learned, but they didnt want him to leave the job he had worked so hard to get. In the end he managed to convince them, stayed with the family business for another year, and then set up his own. The small project is focused on offering customers different experiences based on AI. The end product is better, and he is able to get it done faster and for a lower price than his familys company. Thats whats going to make the difference. Major General Ivan Popov, a former commander of the 58th Army of the Russian Armed Forces, has been detained and arrested in Russia. Source: TASS, citing Russian law enforcement; RBC, a Russian news outlet Details: Popov was detained in relation to a case of "fraud on a particularly large scale". On 17 May 2024, Popov was sentenced to two months in custody as a preventive measure, the press service of the 235th Garrison Military Court confirmed to RBC. In July 2023, Popov, in an audio address to his subordinates and the military, said that he had a "difficult situation with his senior officers". He said he "laid out all the issues" that existed in the Russian army, including the lack of counter-battery weapons and artillery reconnaissance bases, as well as "mass deaths and casualties" among Russian soldiers. Popov said he was dismissed a day after delivering his report. Andrei Gurulyov, a State Duma deputy and former 58th Army commander, shared Popovs address online. The Russian Defence Ministry has not officially commented on this information. During the war in Ukraine, Popov had been the commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army, which fought on the Zaporizhzhia front. Support UP or become our patron! Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov says the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi should really be viewed as a potential political murderbecause have you seen the reports that the pilot was a Mossad agent named Eli Copter? In an episode of his show on Rossiya 1 late Monday, Solovyov raged against those who celebrated the death of Ebrahim Raisi and took on a stern tone as he fell for a viral internet meme that exploded in the wake of the Iranian leaders death. Citing a French channel, Solovyov aired a clip from a French-language segment of an Israeli TV network in which the anchor told viewers that Hamas claims the helicopter pilot was a Mossad agent named Eli Copter. The anchor, Daniel Haik, has already been widely mocked for taking the internet joke at face value and reciting it on-air. AF - The IDF Mourns The Loss Of Their Undercover Agent, Eli Copter pic.twitter.com/G0tok0TFyV Associated Fress (@AssociatedFress) May 19, 2024 Solovyov has apparently become the second TV host to fall for it, and he was not immediately corrected by any of his studio guests after repeating the absurd claim. Instead, he used it to sow doubt about an Israeli officials statement that the country was not involved in the chopper crash. When Israel says, No, no, it was not us. If it was you, would you confess? Solovyov said. They want us to believe them? In #Russia, state TV host Vladimir Solovyov is blaming for Iran's President Raisi's helicopter crash on Israel and the agent Eli Copter. pic.twitter.com/rTVZpEJetC Hanna Liubakova (@HannaLiubakova) May 21, 2024 Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Russian troops are concentrating limited, understaffed and disjointed forces on the Sumy front, but even this Russian grouping of forces will be able to achieve the likely desired effect of drawing back and fixing Ukrainian forces near the border. Source: Institute for the Study of War (ISW) Details: The deputy commander of a Ukrainian brigade operating in northern Kharkiv Oblast reported on 20 May that Russian troops, including Chechens, are amassing on the Sumy front, but the limited number of Russian personnel suggests that Russia's goal is to draw back and entrench Ukrainian forces near the border. Ukrainian military observer Kostiantyn Mashovets said that the Russian group in Kursk Oblast numbers 9,000-10,000 people. Mashovets believes that this grouping consists of three undermanned motorised rifle regiments (each lacking one or two battalions); eight motorised rifle, tank and infantry battalions; one airborne battalion, transferred from various units, formations and military districts; and at least two assault units at the level of a reinforced company or undermanned battalion. ISW continues to assess that even limited Russian activity in other parts of the border below the threshold for Russian offensive operations could stretch Ukrainian forces along a wide front. Russian forces will be able to stretch and anchor Ukrainian forces to the border as long as Russia threatens to penetrate other border areas beyond northern Kharkiv Oblast. To quote ISW's Key Takeaways on 20 May: Ukrainian sources indicated that Russian forces are concentrating limited, understaffed, and incohesive forces on the Sumy front, but even such a Russian grouping of forces will be able to achieve the likely desired effect of drawing and fixing Ukrainian forces in the international border area. Kremlin officials expressed their condolences to senior Iranian officials following the announcement of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's and Foreign Affairs Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian's deaths on 20 May. Russian leader Vladimir Putin fired Russian Deputy Defence Minister Colonel General Yury Sadovenko on 20 May, replacing him with former Deputy Economic Minister and current Federation Council Accounts Chamber Auditor Oleg Savelyev. Putin also dismissed Presidential Advisor Alexandra Levitskaya on 20 May, but the reason for Levitskayas dismissal is unclear. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reiterated the White House's unwillingness to approve Ukraine's use of US-provided weapons in strikes against military targets in Russia following a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (also known as the Ramstein format) on 20 May. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas stated that some unspecified countries, presumably NATO member states, have already sent personnel to train Ukrainian soldiers "on the ground." Russian Security Council Deputy Chairperson Dmitry Medvedev amplified a known Russian information operation aimed at directly undermining Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's legitimacy as president. Russian forces recently made confirmed advances near Vovchansk, Chasiv Yar, Avdiivka, and Donetsk City and in western Zaporizhzhia Oblast and the Dnipro River Delta. Russian opposition outlet Vazhnye Istorii (iStories) reported that Russian military authorities and Kazakh law enforcement acting on Russian orders detained at least two more servicemen in Kazakhstan who had deserted from the Russian military. Support UP or become our patron! Several explosions have rung out in Kharkiv overnight on 20-21 May. The Russians have hit one of the favourite recreational areas of the city. Four people have been injured. Source: Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov on Telegram; Oleh Syniehubov, Head of Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration; Suspilne Quote from Terekhov: "An explosion has rung out in Kharkiv. Shaheds over the city, be careful". Details: Syniehubov also warned of a drone attack. Eyewitnesses said that a fire had broken out in Kharkiv due to an attack by Russian drones. Updated: Terekhov said that private houses had been damaged as a result of the Shahed attack on Kharkiv. Fires broke out. Information on those killed and injured is being confirmed. Terekhov said that there are currently three injured, all of whom have already received medical assistance. All relevant services and volunteers are working at the scene of the fires. He said that there is preliminary information about a Shahed strike on one of the citizens favourite recreational areas. Syniehubov wrote that the number of injured had increased to four. All of them have an acute stress reaction. There are fires in houses and garages. Support UP or become our patron! According to the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces, the Russians are still conducting offensive operations throughout the majority of the combat zone. The highest number of clashes has occurred in Donetsk Oblast. In particular, on the Pokrovsk front, the Russians attempted to break through the Ukrainian defence lines 23 times. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, information as of 14:00 on 21 May Quote: "The majority of combat clashes are taking place on the Pokrovsk front. Since the start of the day, the enemy has attempted to breach our lines of defence 23 times. Ukrainian troops repelled attacks near the settlements of Yevhenivka, Novoselivka Persha, Sievierne, Netailove, Yasnobrodivka, and Nevelske, while fighting continues in Kalynove, Novooleksandrivka, Sokol, and Umanske. The situation is difficult yet manageable." Details: The General Staff also stated that since the start of the day, the number of clashes on the entire front has increased to 55. On the Kharkiv front, the Russians attacked twice near the settlement of Liptsy. The situation here is under control. Six clashes occurred on the Kupiansk front during the day. Ukrainian forces repulsed Russian attacks in the vicinity of Ivanivka and Berestove. The battle in Synkivka continues. On the Lyman front, one Russian assault was repelled near Terny. On the Siversk front, Russian troops made four attempts to attack in and around Bilohorivka, Klishchiivka, Vyimka and Rozdolivka On the Kramatorsk front, Russian soldiers have carried out nine attacks so far. Their assaults are directed at Chasiv Yar, Ivanove, Klishchiivka, and Andriivka. Three combat clashes are still ongoing in the last two settlements. On the Kurakhiv front, the Russians attempted to suppress Ukrainian forces twice, particularly in the vicinity of Heorhiivka and Krasnohorivka, where fighting continues. On the Vremivka front, the Ukrainian military repulsed five failed Russian attempts to advance towards Staromaiorske. The Russian forces withdrew after receiving a worthy rebuff. On the Orikhiv front, Russian aircraft struck in the vicinity of Novoandriivka. On the Prydniprovske front, Russian forces attempted two unsuccessful attacks on Ukrainian positions near Krynky, where the Ukrainians had established a bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnipro River. In other sectors of the front, the situation remains stable. Support UP or become our patron! Russia's fearsome S-400 air-defense system isn't quite living up to the hype in Ukraine Russia's S-400 air-defense system is feared. But Ukraine has been able to destroy some, including, it seems, with older weapons. Experts say it's still a formidable system, but the West could learn from Ukraine's wins. The performance of the Russian military's top air-defense system in Ukraine has shown it's vulnerable to even some older Western missiles, and wins against it could give the West new ideas on how to defeat it, experts say. The Russian S-400 is considered one of the world's most advanced air-defense systems, but in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, multiple units have been destroyed, including by older Western weapons the system should be able to handle. Russian S-400 surface-to-missile systems in the Victory Day parade in Moscow's Red Square on i in May 2023. Contributor/Getty Images Experts told Business Insider the system is clearly very capable, but it does have some weak points that Ukraine has been able to exploit. Fredrik Mertens, an analyst at the Hague Center for Strategic Studies, said "we clearly know that Ukrainian missiles are getting through and at rates that they really pose a problem for the Russians." A flagship system Russia's S-400 Triumf, known to NATO as the SA-21 Growler, is a long-range, road-mobile surface-to-air missile system and the successor to the older S-300 system. It was designed to target missiles and aircraft, but it can also be used for surface-to-surface strikes. Russia has used it to hit Ukrainian cities. Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the International Institute for Strategic Studies called this weapon "one of the world's more sophisticated" air-defense systems. It first became operational in 2007 and is considered Russia's equivalent of the US Patriot system. The head of Rosoboronexport, the Russian state-owned military company that oversees most of Russia's military exports, in February called it the "best long-range air defense system in the world." Russian S-400 Triumph/SA-21 Growler medium-range and long-range surface-to-air missile systems drive during the Victory Day parade at Red Square in Moscow, Russia, in 2015. Reuters While losses have been relatively rare, especially compared to other systems like Russian tanks and armored vehicles, the system has not always lived up to the hype. John Hoehn, a researcher at the RAND Corporation with a specialism in air warfare, told BI its international popularity shows that it's seen as "one of the best air defenses that was available." "Overall," he said, "I think the Ukrainian Air Force has viewed it as a substantial threat." But, Hoehn added, Ukraine has also found ways to counter S-400s and even destroy some of them. Ukraine is hitting S-400s Ukraine has destroyed multiple S-400 systems in its fight. Ukraine in September said it destroyed two Russian S-400 batteries in Crimea, a region annexed by Russia in 2014. There were only five S-400s there before Russia invaded, Forbes reported. Ukraine shared a video of one of the hits. A video captures the moment an S-400 explodes in Crimea. Screengrab/Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine It said that one of these attacks used a modified Neptune anti-ship missile, a Ukrainian-made missile derived from an older, Soviet missile. The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, said the attack may signal Russia's air defenses in Crimea may suffer from "systemic tactical failures." Ukrainian intelligence also said that an S-400 system was damaged within Russia's borders in a September drone attack, and in April this year, Ukraine said that it destroyed or at least critically damaged four S-400 launchers in Crimea. Some of Ukraine's hits have been by weapons older than the S-400s that should be in its threat envelope. Foiled by older weapons The British defense ministry said in a November intelligence update that Ukraine likely destroyed at least four of the systems in a week, with Russian media saying three of them were in Ukraine's Luhansk region. Russian Telegram channel VChK-OGPU, which claims sources in Russia's police and military agencies, said that ATACMS were used in the attack. ATACMS, tactical ballistic missiles developed by the US, have been in service since 1986. An ATACMS missile is fired during a joint military drill between the US and South Korea in October 2022. South Korea Defense Ministry via AP Mertens said the S-400s appear to have "troubles in intercepting ballistic missile targets," something that the US-made Patriots have proved they can do, even against advanced missiles like Russia's overhyped Kinzhals. A video in February also shows what Ukraine said was a Storm Shadow missile, also known as a SCALP missile, flying unimpeded over an S-400 in Crimea. Mertens described it as "incredible footage" that likely serves as a "terrible indictment" of the system. He said that Russia may have been unlucky with the system being passive at that moment, saying if so, "it can be forgiven, but still it's painful for Russia." He said Ukrainians "have been hitting targets in the Crimea with depressing regularity for the Russians." Hoehn said it was possible the system hadn't been set up, so its radar was not properly functioning yet, or that Ukraine used electronic warfare against it. Ian Williams, formerly the deputy director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said last year the S-400s "seem to have struggled against Storm Shadows, but without better insight into intercepts, it's hard to assess with certainty." Ukraine's wins come, as with most of this war's developments, with the caveat that there is no objective proof of how many systems Ukraine has hit compared to how many it has targeted or how many times the S-400 has been successful. Mattias Eken, a missile defense expert at the RAND Corporation, noted Russia has kept much about the system a secret, and neither country has been fully open about their loss rates. Rajan Menon, the director of the Grand Strategy program at the US think tank Defense Priorities, described the S-400 as Russia's "top-of-the-line air defense system." Russian troops S-400 systems at a military base in Kaliningrad in March 2019. REUTERS/Vitaly Nevar But, he said, "the performance of the S-400 has been mixed in the sense that although it's talked up as this super air defense system, the Ukrainians have been able to take out not a few of them." Ukraine has figured out how to hit some Mick Ryan, a retired major general in the Australian Army and a military strategist, described the S-400 as a "very capable system," but one that Ukraine has figured out how to sometimes foil. "The way you take down these highly capable systems is you take a systems approach. It's not 'just fire a weapon against it,' you've got to unpick all the things that defend it, whether it's sensors or other weapons systems, other air and missile and drone defense systems." Doing that "is very hard. It's expensive, and it's a big targeting challenge." A rocket launches from a S-400 missile system at the Ashuluk military base in Southern Russia in September 2020. DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images But Ukraine has repeatedly been able to do it, something Ryan described as "a very impressive feat." He said Ukrainians, aided by help from NATO nations and the alliance's joint targeting doctrine, have "become far more systematic and sophisticated in how they undertake the very complex and systemic taking down of highly capable Russian systems." And he said Ukraine has been better at protecting its own missile systems than Russia has. "They use deception, they move them frequently, they use dummies," he said. "There's a whole range of operating modalities around having their sensors on and off. And the Russians haven't been as good at this." Air-defense systems typically work as part of a layered network rather than in isolation, with different systems working to detect an incoming attack and neutralize it, as well as protect the most valuable systems in the network, like the S-400. Hoehn said Ukraine may be able to hit some S-400s because of flaws in Russia's network, with it perhaps not being set up adequately, creating gaps because other systems like the Pantsir missile system, which hasn't really lived up to expectations either, are not playing enough of a role to protect and support the S-400s. Russian S-400 missile air defence systems parade through Red Square during the general rehearsal of the Victory Day military parade in Moscow in May 2022. KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images Hoehn said that Ukraine has been able to "come up with some very creative tactics to be able to engage and destroy some of these sophisticated Russian systems." "I don't know if this is higher or lower than what expectations might've been, but certainly they've changed how they have gone and tried to attack these systems before the war versus what we're seeing now." Eken described the S-400 as "highly capable but not impervious to attack." He said "the Ukrainian air force is still cautious and keeps a safe distance from the front lines due to the threat of the S-400 and other Russian SAM systems." But, he said, it "is not invulnerable, particularly if it is not adequately protected. Ukraine has demonstrated its ability to destroy S-400 systems farther away from the front lines, such as in Crimea." Older Western weapons seem to be performing better Some of the experts said the S-400's performance, its troubles in particular, stands out compared to the Patriot, the system it was built to rival. Patriots are older and had a somewhat chequered record before being used in Ukraine. But they have been hailed as a huge success in this war, and none of these have been confirmed lost, though there have been claims and rumors. A Patriot air defense system test-fired during a training in Chania, Greece, on November 8, 2017. Anthony Sweeney/US Army Menon said of the S-400 systems defending Crimea, "if you compare it to the Patriot, for example, it doesn't seem to have worked as quite as well." But Ukraine has been running low on Patriot and other air defense missiles, as well as the long-range missiles it uses to target Russian equipment like the S-400, after support from the US stopped for six months. And the S-400s remain a threat. Hoehn said any F-16s Ukraine is due to get from allies this summer that get into the range of S-400s will be targets. He said trying to destroy Russia's air defense systems could be a priority for Ukraine's F-16 pilots, but doing so against S-400s will be a big challenge as those are the jets' "most capable" threat. Mertens said that while the S-400s should not be underestimated, it seems they "have a few potentially glaring deficiencies that could make them vulnerable against a capable and advanced opponent like the United States or NATO, which will be a very serious cause for concern for the Russians." Ryan said that Ukraine's success against some S-400s helps its allies in the West and NATO learn how to defeat the system in the future, explaining that "the reality is this is a significant opportunity for Western military and intelligence organizations to collect on the capability of the Russian military across the board." Read the original article on Business Insider By Ulviyya Shahin During the January-April months of 2024, the total number of Azerbaijani citizens travelling to foreign countries increased by 29.4% compared to the same period last year, reaching 638.2 thousand people, Azernews reports, citing the State Statistics Committee. According to the data, the number of citizens travelling to Iran increased by 43.8%, to Turkey by 27.0%, to Georgia by 25.2%, and to Russia by 16.7%. Azerbaijani citizens travelled to Turkey 38.2% of the time, to Russia 21.7%, to Georgia 9.1%, to Iran 8.7%, and to other countries 22.3%. Of those travelling, 67.5% were male and 32.5% were female. During the 4-month period, 67.6% of Azerbaijani citizens travelling to foreign countries used air transportation, 30.0% used railways and automobiles, and 2.4% used sea transportation. It's noteworthy that in January-March 2024, the number of Azerbaijani citizens travelling abroad increased by 31.7% compared to the first quarter of 2023, reaching 472,300 people. The number of people travelling to Iran rose by 40.6%, to Georgia by 29%, to Turkey by 28.1%, and to Russia by 20.1%. Consequently, 38.3% of Azerbaijani citizens travelled to Turkey, 20.8% to Russia, 9.4% to Georgia, 8.6% to Iran, and 22.9% to other countries. Of these travellers, 67.2% were men, and 32.8% were women. Over the course of three months, 67.4% of Azerbaijani citizens travelled by air, 30.3% by rail and road, and 2.3% by sea. Railroads rely on trackside detectors like this one along a Union Pacific line in western Iowa, seen Dec. 15, 2023, to help spot mechanical problems on trains before they can cause derailments. The Federal Railroad Administration finalized new rules Monday, May 20, 2024, that will establish training and certification standards for the workers who install and maintain these detectors and other signals along the railroads. (AP Photo/Josh Funk) OMAHA, Neb. (AP) New federal certification rules finalized Monday for train dispatchers and signal repairmen will set minimum standards to counteract the investor pressure on railroads to continually cut costs while making sure those employees have the skills they need to operate all the high-tech systems on todays trains. The new Federal Railroad Administration rules are the latest steps in the agencys broad efforts to improve rail safety since the disastrous East Palestine derailment in Ohio last year although these rules were in the works years before that train crash. FRA Administrator Amit Bose said in an interview with The Associated Press that both these crafts of workers are responsible for some of the advanced technology railroads rely on like the assortment of trackside detectors that help spot mechanical problems before they can cause derailments, so it made sense to set certification standards for them. Heres the bottom line for me, we want to make sure that qualified workers are doing the jobs that they are specialists in to do, Bose said. And even though technology can help railroads improve safety, he said the FRA wants to make sure that it supplements but doesn't replace existing efforts like visual inspections. Bose said dispatchers play a key role in operating the automatic braking system known as Positive Train Control that Congress required the railroads to install. Plus, modern dispatching centers are filled with banks of massive monitors at each desk that dispatchers use to keep track of the trains moving across their territories. Bose said the railroads are concerned about safety, but too often they only do the minimum required as they try to control costs to boost profits. The industry has, learned a lot, since East Palestine and has implemented and redoubled, its efforts on safety, Bose said. We have to remain vigilant on safety 24 hours, seven days a week. Im encouraged by some of the efforts, from the railroad companies, but again, theres always more, to do. But the changes railroads announced after that Ohio derailment focused attention nationwide on railroad safety haven't made a major difference in safety statistics. And larger reforms have stalled in Congress because Republicans want to wait until after the National Transportation Safety Board issues its final report on the derailment next month before considering changes. The Association of American Railroads trade group said in a statement that the new dispatcher and signalmen rules aren't likely to make a significant improvement in safety because the railroads already train their employees. Ensuring all employees are well-trained and qualified to safely execute their duties is essential," AAR spokeswoman Jessica Kahanek said. "This is why railroads invest heavily to ensure our people have the necessary skills and knowledge to maintain safe operations and successfully perform their work." But the American Train Dispatchers Association union praised the new rule because it should prevent the common practices of forcing dispatchers to work assignments they aren't adequately trained for and keep managers from working in a dispatcher role if they're not properly certified. And both the union and federal regulators will get a chance to review railroads' certification plans before they take effect. JESSUP, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) The annual race of the Saints is this Saturday in Lackawanna County. Its a unique celebration that only takes place in Jessup and Gubbio, Italy to honor Saint Ubaldo Baldassini but, why? Saint Ubaldo is the Patron Saint of the City of Gubbio because of his heroism. During the race of the saints, wearing the color yellow represents Saint Ubaldo Baldassini. The Festa Dei Ceri is in honor of the Patron Saint of Gubbio Saint Ubaldo, said Tom Fiorelli Saint Ubaldo participant from Jessup. According to tradition Saint Ubaldo was the Bishop of Gubbio during a time when a barbarian named Fredrick the first Barbarossa attacked Italian cities. He set up an encampment outside the city of Gubbio, the townspeople of course were very concerned about this, and Ubaldo, the bishop, went to meet with Barbarossa, says Fiorelli. New outdoor classroom opens in Luzerne County Ubaldo had one request, he wanted Barbarossa to spare Gubbio. The townspeople fearing something very bad happened to Ubaldo, were very concerned, and when he came back it was widely accepted that he saved the city of Gubbio and thats considered one of his miracles, explained Fiorelli. A miracle that has been celebrated ever since in both Gubbio Italy and here in Jessup. Its a very rich cultural celebration, its a regionalized cultural celebration. Its really a great honor to participate along with the other members of the other families to carry on the tradition the best we can, stated Fiorelli. The race not only honors Saint Ubaldo Baldassinis heroic actions but also represents the spirit of the community Right there shows you the community that the man brought to his town and thats what were trying to recreate here in Jessup, get everybody back, build the community, get it stronger, and just make sure those traditions stay where it is and keep growing and flourishing, added Ronald Augelli Saint Ubaldo participant from Jessup. Viva San Ubaldo!, says Fiorelli. While it is technically a race between three teams. Team Saint Ubaldo will always win because is a day in his honor. That race will take place this Saturday in Jessup 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 PAhomepage.com. (BCN) Beginning in late 2025, San Jose will place 33 cameras in high-collision areas throughout the city and mail tickets to speeding drivers. Officials anticipate spending about a third of the $10.6 million budget for the project on data collection to show whether the cameras help reduce speeding collisions and to ensure that the project is equitable to communities of color and low-income neighborhoods. Prior to the passage of Assembly Bill 645 in 2023, advocacy organizations like Human Rights Watch expressed concerns that surveillance infrastructure would generate fines on a massive scale and disproportionately impact communities of color without any commitments to decreasing traditional policing. AB 645 authorizes only six cities San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco, along with the Southern California cities of Los Angeles, Glendale and Long Beach to establish such speed safety pilots until 2032. With annual traffic deaths in San Jose having more than doubled from 29 in 2012 to a peak of 65 in 2022, providing safe and secure transportation systems is one of our top service priorities, said City Manager Jennifer Maguire. Most of the funding came from an $8.5 million grant from the Safe Streets and Roads for All program for a five-year pilot that will entail the acquisition, testing and evaluation of technology that detects speed and issues citations, as allowed under Assembly Bill 645. To cover the entire $10.625 million budget, Colin Heyne, San Jose Department of Transportation public information manager, said the city is allocating its own matching funds to the tune of $2.125 million. He explained that the city is still determining what fund will provide the local match. The issue is being pushed through the ongoing budget process and will be voted on by the city council in June. The estimated cost of camera and backend equipment is $7 million, he said, with the remaining $3.625 million to cover costs associated with data collection, public engagement and a racial equity analysis. Heyne said the racial equity analysis will ensure that the cameras are established in high-injury areas in an equitable way. We cant cluster all our cameras in any neighborhood, and thats to avoid putting them all in low-income neighborhoods, Heyne said. This is going to let us work with a consultant or perhaps a university to study the impacts of these automatic citations. The citys transportation team has already begun outreach to racial, social and environmental justice groups to discuss how to implement the project equitably, Heyne explained. We will learn if the program is disproportionately affecting communities of color or low-income households, and if so, how can we adjust the program so its not doing that anymore, he continued. After analyzing speed and safety data and consulting with community groups, city staff will finalize a list of possible locations. That data will be presented to the San Jose City Council in fall before it issues requests for proposals to acquire the equipment and services for the project. Were expecting to turn the program on, flip the switch and get those cameras working by the end of 2025, Heyne said. Tickets wont start rolling in right away, though. For the first 60 days of the program, drivers flagged as speeding over the posted speed limit will receive a warning. And low-income drivers who have received a fine will have the option to provide community service hours instead of payment, Heyne said. State law requires any dollars generated from citations to be used for traffic calming measures, or methods designed to slow speeding traffic. Overall data will be critical to seeing the program continue beyond the five-year pilot phase. The city is technically leasing the camera systems and must prove to the federal government through its final report that it achieved a 50% reduction in speeding during the pilot. At that point, its going to be back in the hands of the California Legislature to decide if theyre going to open up the use of speed cameras to more cities, make it statewide, allow us to enter a second pilot period whatever they do but we will no longer be able to under the current law to operate our speed cameras system after 2032, Heyne said. Thats why theres so much importance in collecting data and making sure we agree with community members and advocates on what were measuring and where were measuring it to show clearly the impact of these cameras, Heyne continued. Heyne confirmed that local law enforcement will not have access to the camera footage to support criminal investigations, noting that AB 645 set regulations that strictly prohibits the use of the cameras for anything but enforcing speed limits. Theres a very, very tight definition of how these cameras can be used who has access to the data. That will be outlined in the reports that we circulate to the public long before any of these cameras get installed, he said, noting that opponents such as the ACLU were concerned about public privacy. We hear those concerns, and we intend to fully comply with these data privacy provisions in the law. Copyright 2024 Bay City News, Inc 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 KRON4. Sarah Jane Weaver, who has been named Editor of the Deseret News, is pictured. Weaver joins Executive Editor Doug Wilks and Publisher Burke Olsen in top leadership positions of the nearly 174-year-old publication. Longtime journalist and editor Sarah Jane Weaver has been named Editor of the Deseret News, joining Executive Editor Doug Wilks and Publisher Burke Olsen in top leadership positions of the nearly 174-year-old publication. The announcement was made Tuesday in a meeting with staff members by Sheri Dew, executive vice president and chief content officer of Deseret Management Corp., the parent company of the Deseret News. Jeff Simpson, DMCs chief executive officer, said about the new appointment: Sarah has a keen journalistic instinct and a tireless work ethic. She has the leadership ability to mobilize a team to do great work. She is always on the hunt for the best ideas at the right time, and that quality is vital in todays media environment. Weaver, who will transition from her current position as Executive Editor of Church News, replaces Hal Boyd, who earlier this month accepted a position as chief of staff at Brigham Young University. Boyd will maintain his position as Executive Editor of Deseret Magazine. Weaver becomes the first female editor of the Deseret News since its founding in June 1850. She was appointed the top editor of Church News in 2017, expanding its reach and influence to Latter-day Saints more than tenfold. She also began translation of its content into Spanish and Portuguese, established a video team, and led podcasting efforts. Sarah has been part of our executive leadership teams for years and has a seasoned understanding of what it takes to be a strong journalist in todays fractured media landscape, Dew said. She has also shown a great ability to create successful media products. Were excited to have her expertise focused on the Deseret News. Sarah Jane Weaver speaks to the staff after being announced as the new editor of the Deseret News during a staff meeting, Tuesday, May 21, 2024 in Salt Lake City. Weaver is the first female editor of the News. Doug Wilks, remains as executive editor. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News Weaver was honored by Editor and Publisher magazine last year in its 20 over 50 issue, recognizing journalists nominated for their strong work ethic, transformational mindsets, commitment to journalistic and publishing excellence and ability to lead during challenging times, E&P said. I am honored to continue building on the strong foundation laid by many previous Deseret News editors and look forward to working with talented Deseret News writers, editors, photographers and designers to take the trusted voice of the Deseret News to a growing audience in Utah, the West and across the nation, Weaver said. Weaver graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in journalism and history, serving as editor-in-chief of the BYU Daily Universe. She later completed graduate studies in executive leadership at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Her journalism career extended to Arizona, where she was a Pulliam Fellow at the Arizona Republic, before returning to Utah as a reporter with the Standard-Examiner in Ogden, Utah. Since 1995, she has traveled the world covering news pertinent to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in various capacities with Church News. Ryan Jensen, Editor of Church News, will assume leadership of the print and website publication with Weavers appointment to Deseret News. Deseret News is Utahs oldest continuously operating business, founded in 1850 by Latter-day Saint pioneers. Deseret News is one of several media properties operated by the Deseret Management Corp., which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Lois M. Collins, facing, hugs Sarah Jane Weaver after Weavers naming as Editor of the Deseret News at the Deseret News office in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News From left, Publisher Burke Olsen, Sarah Jane Weaver, the new Editor of the Deseret News, Executive Editor Doug Wilks, and Sheri Dew, executive vice president and chief content officer of Deseret Management Corporation, smile for a photo after the announcement of Weaver as the new Editor at the Deseret News office in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News Executive Editor Doug Wilks speaks at the announcement of Sarah Jane Weaver as the new Editor of the Deseret News at the Deseret News office in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News From left, Publisher Burke Olsen and Executive Editor Doug Wilks applaud after the naming of Sarah Jane Weaver as the new Editor of the Deseret News at the Deseret News office in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News Members of the Deseret News applaud after the announcement of Sarah Jane Weaver as the new Editor of the Deseret News at the Deseret News office in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News Sarah Jane Weaver speaks after being named Editor of the Deseret News at the Deseret News office in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News Saudi Arabia snubbed Boeing with a huge Airbus order, the biggest aircraft deal in the country's history Saudi Arabia snubbed Boeing with a huge Airbus order, the biggest aircraft deal in the country's history The Saudia Group announced an order for 105 Airbus jets on Monday. It comes as a reported Boeing order from Riyadh Air, also government-owned, has yet to materialize. Its CEO blamed negative media coverage as to why he hasn't yet announced the deal. The Saudia Group announced Monday a huge Airbus order in a blow to Boeing. 105 narrowbody jets a mix of A320neo and A321neo models will be distributed between the flag carrier Saudia and its subsidiary low-cost-carrier flyadeal. In a press release, the Saudia Group called it "the largest aircraft deal in Saudi aviation history." Saudia is owned by the country's government, and the airline's chairman is also the transport minister. The deal suggests Boeing's reputation is worsening around the world because the planemaker has formerly won big orders from the kingdom. Last March, Saudi Arabia founded a second national airline, Riyadh Air, which placed an order for up to 72 Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Boeing also looked set to win the deal for Riyadh Air's narrowbody jets. Shortly before last November's Dubai Air Show, Bloomberg reported that Riyadh Air was eyeing up an order for as many as 100 Boeing 737 Max jets. However, that order has yet to materialize. Tony Douglas, the Riyadh Air CEO, blamed negative media coverage during an interview with Reuters on Monday. "What happened was the media three weeks later spent every hour of every day writing negative stories about commercial aviation," he said. Douglas told Reuters he wasn't referring to January's blowout, in which an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max lost a door plug in midair. "The last thing I want to do is present my good news and have it in a context of things that are going on elsewhere, which are not quite as positive," he added. "Be it Airbus can't deliver on time [or] Boeing is having some technical problem." Read the original article on Business Insider Thousands of truck-sized 30-ton shipping containers are stacked aboard the Hanjin Oslo freighter in the Port of Los Angeles March 29, 2002 in Los Angeles, California. (File/David McNew/Getty Images) CHARLESTON An unspecified software malfunction disrupted traffic for a second day at South Carolinas port, a major economic driver for the state, before reopening Tuesday afternoon. The economic impact of the temporary closure is unknown. The port discovered the software problem Saturday night. The port typically closes its gate to trucks on Sundays. It notified customers Sunday evening that it would delay the opening of its terminals the next morning, according to posts on the state Ports Authoritys website. The gate normally opens at 5 a.m. weekdays. But the issue dragged on throughout Monday, as posted re-opening times were repeatedly moved until the port ultimately took the rare step of closing for the day. Typically, any closures are weather-related. We understand the impact that this issue is having on our partners in the industry, the Ports Authority wrote, adding that it was working diligently to fix the lingering issue. The port did not suspect any cybersecurity problems. Meanwhile, trucks lined stretches of highway near the port Monday and electronic signs along interstates alerted drivers to the delay. It would take crews util 2:30 p.m. Tuesday to solve the malfunction that impacted a port server and left truckers who depend on the port for their livelihood in the lurch. Port employees resumed loading and unloading ships several hours earlier, around 11 a.m. The Ports Authority did not respond to messages left by the SC Daily Gazette. This is just another day in the supply chain jungle, said Rick Todd, president of the state Trucking Association. Thats particularly the case when it comes to trucking companies that transport maritime freight, he said. The workload for hauling shipping containers fluctuates, creating some days where half a trucking fleet is left without work and others where companies struggle to keep up. And once a truck is loaded down with a container, the driver does not have many options for picking up another job. You may have a yard where you can drop it and pick up another load, but more than likely youre just stuck, Todd said. Plus, there are only so many containers in need of hauling and most freight is already booked with another driver. Sometimes this is just the cost of doing business, Todd added. I dont mean to dismiss it and say its ok. It just is what it is. The port typically sees upwards of 6,000 truckloads coming in or out of its terminals each day. The fourth-busiest port for container imports on the East Coast, Charleston handled 2.48 million 20-foot containers in 2023, including 204,481 vehicles assembled by the states major automotive manufacturers. Manufacturers in the state did not report any supply disruptions, according to the South Carolina Manufacturers Association. Port operations have a direct annual economic impact of $1.8 billion, according to a study by the University of South Carolina. South Carolina, and exports $19.3 billion worth of goods made by South Carolina companies. Those companies that use the port for shipping and receiving goods directly contribute an additional $57.5 billion to the economy. Todd estimates about a quarter of the state trucking associations 600 member companies are connected in some form or fashion to the port. And the port supports the careers of an estimated 3,525 drivers, according to the USC study. Todd said its hard to pin down a dollar amount on how much the delay cost drivers and trucking outfits due to the varying size of companies. And companies pay drivers in a variety of ways by the load is more common with self-employed contract drivers; by the mile is more common for long haul drivers; or by the hour. Smaller operations, which make up the vast majority of the trucking industry, tend to be most heavily impacted by delays. To help drivers catch up, the port extended hours until 7 p.m. Tuesday, two hours past normal closing. The post SC commerce disrupted by multi-day Port of Charleston shutdown, financial impact unknown appeared first on SC Daily Gazette. Warning: This article contains descriptions of sexual abuse. South Carolina officials responsible for the welfare of vulnerable children misled a family when they placed a teenage girl in the home of a Midlands photographer who later plied her with drugs, recorded her on hidden cameras and encouraged her to perform sex acts, according to two lawsuits and statements made in court. During the five weeks in February and March 2022 that the girl was in photographer Greg Martins home, Department of Social Services caseworkers failed to check on the 16-year-old victim and disregarded her parents fears that something was wrong. This comes according to a pair lawsuits filed in state and federal court in March against DSS and four caseworkers by attorneys Robert and Deborah Butcher on behalf of the victim and her parents. South Carolina DSS removed the child from her home and then turned their back on her, leaving her in the hands of a monster. The child was told not to trust her parents by DSS and then she was abandoned and left to fend for herself, attorney Deborah Butcher wrote in a statement to The State Media Co. Martin, 56, of Blythewood, faces multiple charges of sex crimes involving the girl and four other victims in South Carolina and Georgia. The charges include neglect of a child by a custodian, engaging a child for sexual performance, criminal sexual conduct, exploitation of minors, kidnapping and promoting prostitution. In April, his bond on the South Carolina charges was revoked after Georgia authorities accused him of sending obscene images to a 13-year-old girl and attempting to solicit her. For the family named in the lawsuit, the nightmare began on Feb. 7, 2022, when DSS was alerted that the girl accused her father of abuse, according to court documents. That same day, the teen was removed from the home and sent to live with the Martins. But this move was not initiated by law enforcement taking the child into emergency custody or by court order after a judge reviewed the facts of the case. Instead, the teens family alleges DSS caseworkers strong-armed them into signing a little-known instrument called a safety plan, which placed their daughter with the Martins. The name of the teen and her family are not being published by The State Media Co. because she is an alleged victim of sexual assault. While safety plans are meant to be voluntary agreements between DSS and parents, the family named in the lawsuit said that caseworkers told them their daughter could end up in foster care if they did not agree. The family did not believe they had a choice or the ability to say no, according to court documents. The standard form the parents signed, available on DSSs website, warns that if parents do not agree to the safety plan their child could be placed in foster care for the childs protection. When contacted by The State Media Co. with a detailed list of questions, DSS said it does not comment on pending litigation. Experts told The State that safety plans can be an important tool to protect children during an investigation into allegations of abuse or neglect. Unlike when a child is removed from a home by law enforcement or a judges order, safety plans offer flexibility, keeping children out of foster care and families out of court. But lawyers and advocates also cautioned that it was all too common for parents to sign safety plans after feeling pressured by the threat of their childs removal. And once a plan is in place, their cases do not necessarily receive the same oversight as children in the foster care system or those removed by court order, as they are not assigned court guardians, parents do not receive lawyers, and the case is never reviewed by a judge. When you dont give parents lawyers and you dont give parents due process protections, you should expect parents to get railroaded by DSS, said Josh Gupta-Kagan, a professor at New Yorks Columbia Law School, formerly a professor at the University of South Carolina and author of Americas Hidden Foster Care System, a Stanford Law Review article. You shouldnt expect DSS to get it right every time. Cameras, pills and pornography When this all started, I was 16 years old, the teen placed in Martins home by DSS told a Richland County court in April. He (Martin) was the father of my very best friend in the whole wide world. And when things got hard, I decided to stay with him and his family. The teen came to know Martin through his daughter, whom she befriended when schools shifted to online education during the COVID pandemic. Over two years, the teen grew closer to the Martins as she spent time with their family. In February, a fight between the teen and her father over cleaning the house escalated into a struggle and led to him restraining her, holding her down and leaving marks on her arms and legs. At school, the teen then made a complaint to DSS about her father and told caseworkers that she wanted to stay with the Martins. Her mother testified in court that she believed this decision was the product of a campaign of grooming by Martin a common tactic in sex abuse cases where abusers establish a pattern of trust as they slowly desensitize the victim to sexual contact. Once the teen was inside the Martins home, the grooming escalated and the abuse began, according to court records and statements from prosecutors. Inside the handsome, two-story brick house at the end of a leafy cul-de-sac in Blythewood, Martin had sexually explicit conversations with the teen and plied her with gummies and pills containing THC, the main psychoactive component of marijuana. He also encouraged her to watch porn, gave her lingerie and sex toys and encouraged her to perform sex acts, according to the lawsuit. All the while, Martin spied on the teen through cameras he placed in her bedroom and the bathroom, as well as through an iPad that he gave her, the lawsuit alleges. In the past decade Gregg Martin has shot photos and been photographed with Nikki Haley, Gov. Henry McMaster, George Rogers and other ex-Gamecock athletes. He faces numerous charges related to sexually abusing minors. Martin drove the victim to her boyfriends house and encouraged her to have sex with him while Martin waited outside in his car, according to Assistant S.C. Attorney General Bethany Miles. When she returned, Martin asked about specific details, Miles said. As the abuse continued, the victim started skipping school and her grades plummeted, alarming her parents, who alerted caseworkers, according to the lawsuit. But the parents fears were never investigated. In fact, the lawsuit alleges that no caseworkers ever visited the Martin home or interviewed the teen while she stayed there. This is despite DSSs commitment, stated on kinship caregiver forms, to make monthly visits to the homes of caregivers. Over the next five weeks, the child suffered abuse at the hands of Mr. Martin as SCDSS failed to conduct mandatory visits with the child in the Martin home. All the while, the mother was continuously asking for the child to be placed with family or otherwise moved from the Martin home, attorney Deborah Butcher wrote in her email to The State. Meanwhile, caseworkers moved forward with the investigation against the teens father. Around March 3, 2022, before a forensic interview was conducted, caseworkers indicated a case against him, meaning there was a finding of abuse by DSS, according to the lawsuit. A later forensic interview with the teen would find no evidence of abuse by her father, according to the lawsuit. At the time of publishing, DSS has not dismissed its case against the teens father. But as a result of the March 3 finding, the familys case was moved to a DSS unit known as Family Preservation, and a new caseworker was assigned. When the teens mother brought up her concerns to the new caseworker, they agreed to move their daughter out of Martins home. On March 18, after her mother picked up her daughter from the Martins home, the teen broke down and told her mother what she had suffered. The next day her mother called sheriffs department investigators, and an investigation was opened by the Richland County Sheriffs Department. I have lost every single one of my friends who was in my life at the time. I have changed immensely because of what has happened to me, the victim, now 18, said in court. He is honestly the worst. A shadow system When DSS became involved on Feb. 7, 2022, the teens parents told caseworkers that they did not want their daughter to stay with the Martins. While their daughters were friends, they didnt personally know the parents, according to the familys lawyers. But DSS granted the Martins the status of kin, a classification DSS uses for a childs extended family or close community, according to the familys attorneys. The family offered alternatives that would have been possible under a safety plan, according to the lawsuit. They proposed placing their daughter with relatives and family friends, having her stay with her mother somewhere else or even having her father move out of the house while DSS conducted its investigation. These options were rejected by caseworkers in this case, according to the lawsuit. Knowing that the parents did not approve, South Carolina DSS placed the child in the Martin home against the mothers wishes, who still had full legal rights to her child, Deborah Butcher told The State Media Co. What the teens parents didnt understand at the time was that they still had legal rights to their child. In South Carolina, parents only lose their legal rights when law enforcement puts a child in emergency protective custody or DSS obtains a court order from a judge. Foster care should be a last resort, said Michelle Dhunjishah, director of the Childrens Law Center at the University of South Carolina School of Law. But when that happens, the process is highly structured and subject to checks and balances. If a child is removed by law enforcement or a court order, a hearing must be held in front of a family court judge within 72 hours to show there was probable cause to remove the child. DSS is then given 45 days to investigate the case. A hearing on the merits of the case is required within 35 days. Children are assigned a court-appointed guardian ad litem, parents can qualify for a court-appointed lawyer, and judges can order regular reviews of the case. Theres a lot of oversight, whether its by the judicial branch, by the Department of Social Services or by lawyers. It involves a lot of people, and theres a lot of eyes on the case when it goes through the court process, said Dhunjishah. But none of that occurs when a child is removed from a home through a safety plan. The goal of safety plans, said Dhunjishah, is to lessen the trauma to the child and help the family as a whole without having to get the court system involved. But right now the downside is there arent the same due process protections for parents. On its website, DSS describes South Carolina as a Kin First State where the priority is placing children with kin. This means family, extended family and even so-called fictive kin, who can include family friends, teachers or members of the familys church. Since 2019, the percentage of children in the child welfare system placed with kinship caregivers has risen from the single digits to 27.2%, a department spokesperson told TV station WLTX in January. But as placements with kin through safety plans have grown, some have raised concerns about the lack of oversight in the system. We recognize safety plans and kinship care can be misused. When theyre used simply to relieve workloads or keep children out of the visible foster care system, thats a terrible thing, said Jed Dews, the executive director of HALOS, a Charleston nonprofit that supports guardians in kinship care. While DSS tracks and publishes data on the number of children in foster care and the number of investigations, similar data is not published about safety plans or the number of children placed with kinship caregivers. SCDSS hides under a statutory veil of confidentiality. There is no way to obtain an agency-wide look at how often children and families are harmed through SCDSSs abuse of safety plans, said Deborah Butcher. I hear his voice and feel his hands On April 14, 2022, almost a month after the teens mom rescued her from the Martins home, the sheriffs department charged Martin with neglect of a child by a custodian and engaging a child for a sexual performance. After the first set of public charges were brought against Martin, the floodgates opened. By May, the sheriffs department had filed 12 more charges against Martin that accused him of abusing three other victims. The State Media Co. is not publishing their names because they are alleged victims of sexual abuse and were minors when the abuse happened. Figuring out that Im not the only one has been one of the hardest realizations of my life, the teen said in court. During a bond revocation hearing in April, prosecutors described how Martin lured two of the other victims, one who was under the age of 18, to his house under the pretext of performing a neon paint photo shoot. After the shoot was done, Martin encouraged them to get cleaned up using a bathroom where he had hidden a camera that recorded the victims, prosecutors said. A fourth victim, the daughter of a family friend who had attended cookouts with Martin as a child, was underage when he allegedly sexually assaulted her inside a hotel room, according to prosecutors. After meeting her at the hotel for a photo shoot, Martin allegedly brought out sex toys and began asking questions about her sex life. Martin said, you know I cant let you leave here, until they engaged in sex acts, according to prosecutors. Martin then allegedly assaulted her. I hear his voice and feel his hands, that victim said in court during Martins recent bond hearing. I have been stopping since I was 17. I stopped feeling, I stopped wanting things for myself. I stopped thinking people were who they said they were. But I started doing other things. I started hiding when cameras came out. I started lying to my mom and just started pretending. Following his arrests in 2022, Martin was released on a $250,000 bond. He was arrested again on March 3, 2024, and charged by the Richland County Sheriffs Department with unlawful carrying of a pistol before being extradited to Gwinnett County, Georgia, where he faces three charges relating to attempting to solicit sex from a 13-year-old girl. We still plan on defending his case and preserving his dignity as a human being in the face of these matters, his attorney, Alex Postic, told The State Media Co. Since his arrests in 2022, Martin had been unemployed and working for delivery apps, Postic said. Martins wife had kicked him out of the house, and he had largely been sleeping in his car, with his wife only allowing him inside the house during the day. His wife, I guess understandably, broke apart that connection with him, Postic said. I dont know if he was really enjoying freedom out on bond, but he was out. Martin pretty much lost everything when he got arrested for this, Postic said during his bond revocation hearing. But he said his client was seeking treatment for his sex addiction through Sex Addicts Anonymous. How the victims described Martin in court is what he is, and theres just really no other way to put it, Postic said. Its a sickness like any other addiction. Martin remains in Gwinnett County jail. Records do not indicate whether a bond amount has been set. Were he to be released on bond in Georgia, he would be taken into custody in Richland County. (Martin) was given the privilege of enjoying two years of undeserved freedom while his victims battle with the aftermath of trauma and face a very uncertain future of recovery, said the mother of the teen in court. He has abused the system with the same disregard he has abused his child victims. SC man killed when pinned between school bus and van, Lexington police say A Lexington man was killed Monday when the motorcycle he was riding was hit from behind by a van and he was pinned against a school bus, South Carolina officials said. Jon Douglas Ratcliffe, 45, died in what Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher called an accident. At about 7:15 a.m. Monday, officers responded to the three-vehicle collision in the 100 block of Industrial Drive, according to the Lexington Police Department. Thats near Exit 55 on Interstate 20. Officers learned a van crashed into a motorcycle and a Lexington 1 school district school bus that had stopped to pick up bus-riding students, police said. An investigation showed that the school bus slowed to a stop and the motorcycle stopped behind it, according to police. The van driver did not see the stopped vehicles and collided first with the motorcycle, sending Ratcliffe into the back of the bus and pushing the motorcycle a distance away from the scene, police said. The van then collided with the back of the bus, pinning Ratcliffe between the van and the bus, according to police. A school bus and work van were involved in a fatal crash with a motorcycle, police said. Ratcliffe, who was wearing a helmet, died at the scene, Fisher said. There were seven students and a driver on the bus, and one student suffered a cut on his arm, according to police. EMS took the injured student to an area hospital, police said. All of the other students were reunified with their parents and guardians away from the collision scene, according to police. The van driver, later identified as 20-year-old West Columbia resident Giovani Mendoza-Jimenez, also was injured and taken to the hospital with what police called minor injuries. Police said Mendoza-Jimenez was at fault for the collision and he has been charged with driving without a drivers license. He was taken to the Lexington County Detention Center, where he was also charged with driving vehicle at greater speed than is reasonable as well as failure to stop when meeting or passing stopped school bus, jail records show. Additional charges could be pending, police said. No bond has been set for Mendoza-Jimenez, who remains behind bars, according to jail records. In addition to police and the coroners office, other agencies that responded to the scene and assisted in the investigation included the South Carolina Highway Patrol, Lexington County Sheriffs Department, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, and the Town of Lexington Transportation Department. Police said that Industrial Drive, from S.C. 6/South Lake Drive to Zenker Road, was closed for several hours because of the investigation. Through Sunday, 346 people had died on South Carolina roads in 2024, according to the state Department of Public Safety. Last year, 1,030 people died in crashes in South Carolina, DPS reported. At least 21 people have died in Lexington County crashes in 2024, according to DPS data. There were 45 deaths reported in the county in 2023, DPS said. After several tumultuous months due to a labor dispute with nonacademic workers and on-campus pro-Palestinian protests, The New School has tapped a new president Joel Towers, who has a 20-year tie to the university. As the university professor of architecture and sustainable design and the former executive dean of Parsons School of Design at The New School, Towers knows The New School well. He will become the 10th president of the university on Aug. 1, succeeding Donna Shalala, who has served as interim president since August 2023. More from WWD In June of 2023, Dwight McBride said that his decision to wrap up being the schools ninth president was prompted by having been invited to become the Gerald Early distinguished professor and senior adviser to the chancellor at Washington University in St. Louis. Towers will soon head up an institution with more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students and 126 degree programs. The New Schools colleges and graduate schools include Parsons School of Design, Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, the College of Performing Arts, The New School for Social Research, the Schools of Public Engagement, and Parsons Paris. Towers is also the codirector of The Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School, where his work focuses on sustainability, resilience and the development of policy and design-based solutions to climate change and the construction of healthy environments. While heading up Parsons School of Design for a decade, Parsons debuted new graduate and undergraduate programs, and built an integrated 26,000-square-foot cross-disciplinary Making Center facility. Announcing Towers appointment, Linda Rappaport, chair of the board of trustees and co-chair of the presidential search committee, cited his track record of success in sound financial stewardship and consensus-building, as well as a clear understanding of both the complexities and possibilities for our storied and unique academic institution. In this pivotal moment for The New School and for higher education more broadly, he inspires enthusiasm and critical thinking for what our university can do as we build on our mission and many achievements, said Rappaport. Earlier this month, one day after The New Schools Students for Justice in Palestine called for an emergency vote by the schools board of trustees to divest from companies with ties to Israel, 43 protesters were taken into police custody at its downtown campus. The New Schools Students for Justice in Palestine led the protests. After the police action was taken, the NYPD and Shalala said that the student protesters had been given the option to leave before the arrests were made. The majority who had been taken into police custody were later released without any charges. The New York Police Department had been called in by The New School to clear an encampment. In a statement released after the student protesters arrests, Shalala said that some of the student protesters had blocked the entrance to Kerrey Hall, which houses 600 residents. By her account, after hours of negotiations with representatives of the student protesters, they would not budge. She also claimed that three offers for a meeting between some of the student protesters and representatives from the schools investment committee were declined. She also claimed that student protesters had escalated the situation and set up a second encampment. A week later a faculty-led encampment was set up on campus. Like TNS SJP, the faculty protesters are calling on The New School to divest from companies that had ties to Israel. Organizers spread the word about the new encampment, which they said is composed of autonomous faculty. In March, academic student workers at The New School reached an agreement with the university for a successor contract following months of negotiations and a three-day strike. The news of Towers leadership was released in advance of Tuesday nights annual Parsons benefit. Designer Thom Browne, advocate and luxury brand consultant Bethann Hardison and the J.Crew Groups chief executive officer Libby Wadle are the guests of honor at this years event at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. Just as Parsons specializes in interdisciplinary design and collaboration, this years honorees excel across different platforms. Each one is also being recognized for contributing to design, retail, fashion, philanthropy and social justice. As has been the case with other recent celebrations like the Met Gala and FITs annual awards gala, security was ramped up ahead of the benefit. In advance of Tuesday nights event, an email from nearly 60 TNS SJP supporters said the board of trustees has agreed to a vote by mid-June to consider divesting from funds with ties to Israel. Asked for comment, a New School spokesperson referenced an online statement that had been shared with its community Monday. The statement said the call was based on resolutions by the Gaza Solidarity Encampments; the University Faculty Senate; University Student Senate; University Staff Senate; as well as the faculty councils of Eugene Lang College, The New School for Social Research, Schools of Public Engagement, Parsons School of Design, and the AAUP chapter. They call for complete divestment from industries implicated in military and police violence in Gaza and the West Bank, and all global militarized conflict such as companies or subsidiaries involved in weapons manufacturing, military supplies and equipment, military communication, and public surveillance technology. the statement read. The supporters also said a picket was planned outside of the Parsons benefit as a reminder that clearing the student protesters encampment does not mean an end to TNS activism. Editors note: This article was updated at 7:35 p.m. EST. Best of WWD Incident at Nashville school prompts lockdown as authorities search for suspect NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) A South Nashville school was placed on lockdown early Tuesday morning as authorities searched for a suspect, officials said. According to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD), a man ran through the gates of STEM Preparatory Academy on Tuesday, May 21. Have breaking come to you: Subscribe to News 2 email alerts Officials said the man who is not affiliated with the school ran across the property and hopped a fence on the other side. (Photo: WKRN) (Photo: WKRN) (Photo: WKRN) The incident led to the school issuing a lockdown as the Metro Nashville Police Department and Tennessee Highway Patrol searched for him in the immediate area. Although the school is not part of the Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) system, a spokesperson confirmed that the school was on lockdown due to the incident. Read todays top stories on wkrn.com Official told News 2 that the man is no longer believed to be in the area and they are working with his family to locate him. The lockdown has since been lifted. News 2 has reached out to school officials and law enforcement to learn more about the incident. 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. 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 WKRN News 2. Subterranean Stash The pyramids at Giza continue to yield ancient secrets. But this time, they come not from those towering wonders up above, but what's being described as an "anomaly" interred in the desert sands below. Using ground penetrating radar in combination with a technique known as electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), a team of researchers from Egypt and Japan has discovered two underground structures located below a cemetery on the west side of the Great Pyramid. Something and it's not quite clear what is buried even below those those forbidding pyramidal tombs. As detailed in a new study published in the journal Archaeological Prospection, the structures appear to be stacked atop one another. The shallowest is L-shaped and only around six feet underground, and measures 33 feet by 49 feet. The lower structure is a tad smaller with an area of 33 feet by 33 feet, but is considerably deeper, reaching up to and there's that number again 33 feet below the surface. Dig-Free The site of the discovery, the Western Cemetery, has long fascinated archaeologists. It's tightly dotted with rectangular mud brick and limestone tombs called mastabas. One area of the cemetery, however, is conspicuously flat and empty, which has led experts to wonder if that patch's barren surface belies underground secrets. This is where ground penetrating radar and ERT came to fruition. The techniques, both staples of modern archaeology, allow scientists to see beneath the surface without disturbing the archaeological site. The former technique sends pulses of radio waves into the ground, measuring how they return to reveal the densities and compositions of materials they encountered. A similar principle is applied with ERT, using the resistance of electrical currents to determine those same properties. Pyramid Scheme Those ground surveys veritably exhumed our curious structures, which appeared as an "anomaly" due to their sharply different densities compared to the surrounding earth. Their distinct shapes mean they're almost certainly human-made, the researchers said. Moreover, the shallow structure appears to be packed with homogenous sand, suggesting it was deliberately backfilled after construction, perhaps serving as an entrance to the deeper structure. That deeper structure shows up as a "highly resistive anomaly," meaning it could be sand, or even more tantalizingly, a void indicative of an empty, man-made chamber. "We believe that the continuity of the shallow structure and the deep large structure is important," they wrote in the study. For now, they can't precisely determine the materials causing the anomaly, but future ground surveys could change that. More on: Archeologists Say They've Found Ancient Underground "Pathways for the Dead" An Asian hornet photographed in Loue, northwestern France: efforts are being made to prevent them from settling in Britain - Jean-Francois Monier A stones throw from the White Cliffs of Dover, a specialist team of operatives struck out in search of invaders. The only way to follow their trail on this overgrown site on the Kentish coast last year was to chop a path across the terrain with hedge trimmers. Watching ones footing was crucial: at any point, vegetation could conceal a deep drop beneath. The teams mission was important and potentially dangerous. It wasnt about stopping the boats. It was about stopping a group of stowaways that sometimes arrives by ferry, sometimes hides in lorries or cars and sometimes simply flies across the English Channel on a strong southerly wind. The Asian hornet is a non-native species; an adaptable apex predator capable of killing humans if they attack in great enough numbers (which usually they dont). Theyre a threat to native species, as well as to rural economies. The insects can damage the crops of fruit farmers and vineyard owners. This week, the Government urged the public to keep watch for the distinctive hornets (Vespa velutina) after last summer marked a record year for sightings of the invasive species. A total of 72 Asian hornet nests were found and destroyed in the UK in 2023, with the majority located in Kent. Before this, only one or two nests a year had been discovered here. At more than three centimetres long, they dwarf our wasps and honey bees, though theyre smaller than our native hornet and pose no greater risk to human health than either these or native wasps. But experts fear they could become established in Britain if temperatures are warm enough for them to survive in the country during winter. By ensuring we are alerted to possible sightings as early as possible, the public can help us take swift and effective action to stamp out the threat posed by Asian hornets, said Nicola Spence, Defras chief plant and bee health officer. Dr Peter Kennedy, a behavioural ecologist at the University of Exeter, accompanied one such effort to stamp out the threat when he joined the National Bee Units (NBU) hunt for a nest on the Kent coast last year. It took half a day to cut a path through to go in the [right] direction, he says. And the hornet isnt waiting [when you do get through]. The nest was eventually located that day, after repeated observations and much hacking away. The search near the White Cliffs was aided by a new method of Asian hornet tracking using electronic radio tags, which Kennedy and his team are pioneering. The hornet is lured by bait and then captured when it comes to feed. It is put in a tube and buried in ice for eight to 10 minutes, to chill it without killing it. Using radio tags and an antenna to follow Asian hornet is relatively expensive - Karla Salp In essence you put her to sleep so you can tie the radio tag around her waist in such a manner that she cant reach the thread to chew through it, says Kennedy. When the hornet is then released, directional information on where it has flown is transmitted to a radio receiver, and eventually the unwitting insect leads the search team to the area where the nest is. The final bit is still down to a person spotting the nest, says Kennedy. If its high in a tree, then [theyll look] through binoculars, in the canopy. It can take 15 to 30 minutes just searching in the leaf canopy trying to spot it. At that point you can call in whoever is responsible for destroying it. This is typically done by delivering insecticide into the nest via an extendable pipe. The radio tagging system is relatively expensive and still in its infancy. More often, members of the 60-strong NBU (part of the Governments Animal and Plant Health Agency) will use a more old-fashioned track and trace approach to locate the nests. After a sighting is correctly reported, a team is dispatched to the site and the hornets are lured to a bait, caught and marked with colours. The NBU has been involved in the management and control of bee pests and diseases, along with training and dissemination of information to beekeepers, for over 60 years - Crown We time them and get a compass bearing on which way theyre heading and how long they take, says Peter Davies, the NBU field delivery manager with responsibility for managing the Asian hornet incursion. From that we can work out how far away the nest is and in what direction, then do triangulation to pinpoint the nest. Does he anticipate finding even more nests this year than last? How long is a piece of string? Jersey had a record year last year, with 450 nests. This year theyre about half what they were in previous years. But that doesnt necessarily translate to the mainland. Well see. The weather will play a part in determining how big a problem Asian hornets pose in Britain this year. A lot of it is, has it been a nice dry warm spring, or has it been raining and cold through March and April? says Davies. The story of how Asian hornets arrived in Europe starts in France in 2004. The insect was first confirmed in Lot-et-Garonne in the South West of the country. Its believed to have arrived in an imported consignment of pottery from China. Before long it became established, spreading to many other regions of France and altering the biodiversity in some. France sadly didnt recognise the scale of the issue for a couple of years so was a bit slow off the mark, says Ian Campbell, a spokesman for the British Beekeepers Association. They estimate there are about 500,000 nests in France. In some areas theyre talking about a density of 10 to 15 nests per square kilometre. Thats what were slightly concerned about. Spence seems to share this concern. It would be nice if France was doing a bit more, she says. But France isnt the only country with a problem. The Asian hornet is now established in Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland and Germany. It wasnt sighted in Britain until 2016, when a nest was found and destroyed near Tetbury in Gloucestershire, following 10 days of intensive searching. The authorities had been waiting for this moment. As a result, their response was little short of emergency-grade. A three-mile surveillance zone around Tetbury was set up and a local control centre opened. Eight years on, there is still no firm evidence the Asian hornet has become established in Britain. But it may be a matter of time. Theres a concern the number could grow, and if we look at evidence from other countries, we can see this can happen rapidly, warns Campbell. In northern Spain, it went from a handful to more than 10,000 nests in about four years. Once a non-native species is established, it is very hard to get rid of, he says. Theres a real question as to whether they can take hold, says Charles Tyler, a professor of environmental biology at the University of Exeter. They might do in the future, because of the warming climate. The queens cant currently survive in winter because its too cold. So were talking about a potential future issue or problem for the UK. Even if you've used a radio tracker to find a nest, it can still take 30 minutes of looking in the tree to actually find it - Peter Kennedy Defra has a highly detailed 36-page contingency plan to tackle any outbreaks. Were currently in the eradication phase, says Campbell. Traps have been set at locations across Kent, East Sussex, Devon and North Yorkshire. If it all sounds rather extreme, the consequences of failing to eradicate the insect would be severe. They pose a risk to honeybees and insect pollinators, and more than 11kg of insects a year can be taken down by each nest, according to Campbell. It does have an impact on biodiversity. Prof Tyler, who has been studying what they feed off, says they eat up to 1,300 species. The focus on honeybees has been a bit myopic, he suggests. As for the danger to humans, the public is cautioned to avoid approaching or disturbing a nest. Any suspected sighting should be reported via the Asian Hornet Watch app, says Defra. An individual hornet isnt that aggressive or dangerous, but I wouldnt advise anyone to go and cuddle it, says Campbell. They defend their nest. And thats when people get hurt. Additional reporting by Emma Gatten 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. Search for kayaker Bren Orton ongoing after he went missing on a river in Switzerland British kayaker Bren Orton is missing after an accident on the Melezza River in Switzerland last week. The 29-year-old was kayaking with a group close to the Swiss-Italian border when he became trapped in a recirculating feature and did not resurface, Pyranha, the manufacturer of Ortons kayaks, said in a statement. Authorities and friends are tirelessly continuing their search efforts, and at this time, Bren is considered missing, the statement added. We kindly ask that everyone respects the privacy of Brens family and friends during this difficult time by refraining from speculation or posting about the incident. In a statement, Ticino Police said that a man was reported missing while kayaking in the Melezza River shortly before 2:45 p.m. local time on Thursday. The search currently unsuccessful but still ongoing began immediately and involves agents from the Cantonal Police supported by the Ascona Police, as well as rescuers from the Locarnese and Valli Ambulance Service (Salva) and REGA [Swiss search and rescue]. When contacted by CNN, a spokesperson for Ticino Police said that the search continues at the mouth of the Maggia River, to which the Melezza is a tributary, and Lake Maggiore. Orton has kayaked in some of the most remote and extreme locations in the world and set the British record for the longest drop in a kayak (128 feet) at Mexicos Big Banana Falls. In an interview with Paddling Life last year, he said that his biggest goal is to be the smoothest, sickest kayaker that I can be, adding that hes not preoccupied with competing or winning medals. Former competitive kayaker James Reeves paid tribute to Ortons life and career, writing on Facebook: Every few years we seem to lose a friend to our sport. Each loss is tough, and this one cuts deep. Bren Orton was an incredible human. From his teenage years, his warm smile and friendly nature shone as brightly as his kayaking skills I was privileged to briefly mentor Bren in his early years, and then watched in awe as he rose to became one of the greatest whitewater kayakers ever. CNNs Barbie Nadeau contributed to reporting. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Authorities conducted court-authorized search warrants in a New Hampshire town on Tuesday in connection to a cold case. The New Hampshire Attorney Generals Office says there will be search activity for physical evidence in Newport throughout the day, and that there is no threat to the public. The AGs Office did not provide any details as to the case itself, but said members of the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit, in conjunction with New Hampshire Department of Justice investigators, the New Hampshire State Police Major Crime Unit, the Claremont Police Department, and the Newport Police Department, will all be assisting with Tuesdays investigation. To preserve the integrity of these investigations, no additional information will be released at this time, Attorney General John M. Formella said in a statement. Officials ask that the public respect the privacy of residents in the area and stay off private properties in and around the search activity as the investigation continues. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW Searcy police looking for black bear seen in town SEARCY, Ark. Theres a bear on the loose and Searcy police are searching everywhere for it. According to a Facebook post by the Searcy Police Department, a black bear has been spotted near the bike trails off of North Main Street. WATCH: Bear visits Virginia home, caught on doorbell camera Police say that the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has been made aware of the bear. Officers are asking people in the community that if they see the bear do not approach and call 501-268-3531 to alert them of the bears location. 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 KARK. BALTIMORE The family of Henrietta Lacks can proceed with a lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company that uses the Baltimore County womans immortal cell line to develop medical treatments, a federal judge ruled Monday. U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman rejected a motion to dismiss the complaint against Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical, the second company to face a lawsuit for its use of the HeLa cell line named for Lacks. Her cells can reproduce endlessly in a lab, making them important tools for researchers. But the tissue samples that produced the cell line were taken without Lacks knowledge or consent when she sought treatment for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital over 70 years ago. Lacks died in 1951, but her cells lived on, contributing to extraordinary medical breakthroughs and profits for the companies that used them for research purposes, according to the lawsuits brought by her family. The unjust enrichment suits seek compensation for her surviving family members, led by grandson Ron Lacks, and to halt the use of Henrietta Lacks cells without her estates permission. Mondays ruling in the case against Ultragenyx is notable because it is the first Lacks family lawsuit to survive a motion to dismiss. The familys previous suit against a company called Thermo Fisher Scientific settled for an undisclosed amount in August. That case, which Boardman also adjudicated, ended before the judge ruled on a motion to dismiss. Boardman emphasized that her decision Monday is just a first step in a case that is still in the early stages of litigation: Today, the court reaches one modest conclusion about this dispute: If what (Ron) Lacks alleges is true, it is plausible that Ultragenyx is liable to Lacks for unjust enrichment, she wrote. The judge did not decide whether the Lacks family waited too long to file their lawsuit, which was a key point of disagreement in the Thermo Fisher lawsuit. Under Maryland law, a person has to sue for unjust enrichment within three years of first learning of something that might be grounds for a lawsuit. Boardman determined that it is too early for Ultragenyx to use the statute of limitations as a defense against the Lacks familys claims, but the issue likely will come up again later. In a statement Monday, attorneys for the family applauded Boardmans ruling. For too long, pharmaceutical companies like Ultragenyx have profited from Henrietta Lacks cells taken without her knowledge or consent, reaping enormous profits while her family received nothing, said Christoper Seeger and Christopher Ayers, partners at Seeger Weiss, in a joint statement. This case is about more than financial restitution; it is about restoring dignity to Henrietta Lacks, delivering long overdue justice, and preventing such exploitation from happening again. A lawyer for Ultragenyx could not be reached immediately for comment Monday afternoon. _____ SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) The husband of a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sister missionary who died in a car crash over the weekend has also passed away due to his injuries, church officials confirmed on Tuesday, May 21. Elder Paul Hardin was with his wife, Sister Mary Hardin, when the two were involved in a car crash near Fresno, Calif. on May 18. Mary was killed in the crash while Paul was taken to the hospital with critical injuries. A church spokesperson confirmed Paul Hardin died on Monday, May 20. PREVIOUS: California car crash kills LDS senior missionary, hospitalizes companion Our deepest sympathies and condolences go to the Hardin family with the tragic loss of these faithful missionaries, the Church said in a statement. We pray that all who are mourning will be blessed with strength and comforted in their faith in the Savior Jesus Christ. Originally from San Antonio, Texas, the Hardins began their service mission as a couple in the California Fresno Mission in January 2024. The two were serving as senior missionaries. Senior missionary companionships are often married couples but any member with a current temple recommend can serve a senior mission even if they are not married, according to the church. 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 ABC4 Utah. KYODO NEWS - Apr 25, 2024 - 18:40 | Sports, All, Japan Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi flew 291 meters in Iceland on Wednesday for an unofficial world record touted by organizer Red Bull as "the longest ski jump in history." The 2022 Beijing Olympics individual normal hill gold medalist took off on a special hill set up on a slope in Akureyri and landed successfully. "I've always wanted to fly further than anyone ever has. I've been hoping to keep pushing the boundary of ski jumping," said Kobayashi, who had set out with a goal of 300 meters. "It's a dream come true." The International Ski and Snowboard Federation acknowledged the jump on its website while stressing it was not performed under official conditions necessary to be recognized as a world record. Stefan Kraft of Austria holds the official ski jumping distance world record of 253.5 meters marked at Vikersund, Norway, in 2017. Related coverage: Ski jumping: Ryoyu Kobayashi flies to 2nd World Cup win of season in Norway Ski jumping: 51-yr-old Kasai savors 1st World Cup abroad in 4 seasons Ski jumping: Kobayashi finishes 2nd, Kasai 30th at World Cup meet Second teen charged with homicide for North Nashville apartment shooting NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) A second teenager has been arrested on a homicide charge for a March shooting at a North Nashville apartment complex. According to the Metro Nashville Police Department, Dazmane Moore, 17, is charged as a co-defendant in the March 8 murder of Gregory Manning II, 20, inside an apartment at Villas of Metro Center on Ponder Place. Dazmane Moore (Courtesy: Metro Nashville Police Department) Homicide investigation after man shot in North Nashville apartment Moore and Marickus Ladd, 18, are alleged to have pulled guns during an argument with Manning, shooting and killing him. Police said the investigation shows Manning went to the apartment at Ladds request. Ladd was arrested March 19 on a criminal homicide charge. Moore was booked at the juvenile detention center. 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 WKRN News 2. "Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Fresh research on an ancientand now lostbranch of the Nile River shows how Egyptians could have constructed pyramids. The largest pyramid field is now clustered along a narrow desert strip, but an extinct Nile branch likely once fed the area. The Ahramat Branch allowed for easier construction of Old and Middle Kingdom pyramids. Just how did a stand of 31 pyramids with such robust construction materials get built on a strip of desert in Egypt? It turns out that desert strip once had a powerful, 39-mile branch of the Nile River flowing right by itperfect for ancient people to ferry materials down. In a new study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, researchers used radar satellite imagery and geophysical data with deep soil coring to investigate the subsurface and sedimentology in the Nile Valley near the pyramids. The team found a major extinct Nile branch, which they named the Ahramat Branch (meaning pyramids in Arabic) once ran right along where the pyramids now sit. The Ahramat Branch played a role in the monuments construction and that it was simultaneously active and used as a transportation waterway for workmen and building materials to the pyramids sites, the authors wrote. The size and longitudinal continuity of the Ahramat Branch and its proximity to all the pyramids in the study area implies a functional waterway of great significance. The long-lost branchwhich varied in width between 656 and 2,296 feetwas large enough to carry a significant volume of Nile discharge over 4,000 years ago during the periods of the Old and Middle Kingdoms. That means the river was functioning during the time of pyramid construction. The pyramids in question include the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Khafre, Cheops, and Mykerinos pyramids, along with a mix of other prominent constructions. The study notes that the pyramids from the Middle Kingdom were built farther east than that from the Old Kingdom, and on lower altitudes compared to the floodplain. This paradox might be explained by the fact that the Ahramat Branch migrated eastward sightly away from the Western Desert escarpment, prior to the construction of the Middle Kingdom pyramids, they wrote, resulting in the pyramids being built eastward so that they could be near the waterway. By using radar, the team was able to look deep below the sand surface and search for features in the land that gave clues to buried rivers. Once in the field, the team drilled sediment cores to confirm the rivers former location. The scientists believe that shortly after the construction of the pyramids, a major draught led to the branch getting inundated with sand. According to the new data, the Giza pyramids were built on a plateau maybe just half a mile from the bank of the river. Eman Ghoneim, lead author from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, told AFP, that a ceremonial raised walkway likely ran alongside the river at the Valley Temps, serving as a river harbor. Not only would the river have allowed the movement of heavy stones and construction materials, but also the workers needed to build the site. Suzanne Onstine of the University of Memphis told the AFP the river harbors could also have served as a key location for funeral entourages of pharaohs to gather before moving the bodies within the temples. Our finding has filled a much-needed knowledge gap related to the dominant waterscape in ancient Egypt, the authors wrote, which could help inform and educate a wide array of global audiences about how earlier inhabitants were living and in what ways shift in their landscape drove human activity in such an iconic region. You Might Also Like Watching the wildlife is a highlight of any visit to a US National Park, but sometimes you spot something you weren't expecting. On a recent visit to Yellowstone, one hiker filming a herd of moose in Round Prairie was surprised to spot two of the huge animals chasing after a park visitor who had chosen to get a little too close, and was sprinting to escape. Moose attacks are rare, but the animals can charge if they or their young are threatened, and are particularly likely to lash out if dogs are nearby since they cannot differentiate between a domestic dog and a wolf. This particular incident was captured by Leah Hilton and shared this week via Instagram account TouronsOfYellowstone, which calls out careless behavior at US National Parks, often involving wildlife. Other close calls have included people taunting elk, harassing bison, and even chasing bears, all of which are federal crimes punishable by a hefty fine or even jail time. A post shared by TouronsOfYellowstone (@touronsofyellowstone) A photo posted by on The National Park Service (NPS) warns visitors that animals at Yellowstone are wild and can be unpredictable, no matter how calm they may seem in the moment. The best and safest place to view them is from within a car, and you should always stay at least 25 yards (23 meters) away from bison, moose and elk. Stay safe around moose Moose are naturally more inclined to be inquisitive rather than aggressive, but they can attack people if they feel threatened, with serious consequences. They tend to react particularly strongly around dogs, which they see as wolves. Last year, a woman was charged and knocked down by a cow moose while walking her dog in the Rocky Mountains. As Associated Press reported, the animal headbutted and trampled her as she walked her pet on a wooded trail. She was taken to hospital for treatment, having been stomped on "several times". "If a moose thinks a dog is a threat its going to react to it, and thats normal for a moose," said Kara Van Hoose, a spokesperson for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The best binoculars: enjoy wildlife from a safe distance Andrew Burton/Getty Images Stringent anti-crime laws the Louisiana Legislature approved in a February special session will put more people in prison and keep them there longer. But thats apparently not tough enough on crime for Sen. Blake Miguez, who is intent on placing not just his thumb but an entire fist on the scales of justice. The Republican from New Iberia, best known for his sharpshooting prowess, is taking the fish-in-a-barrel approach with his amendment to a GOP-backed bill that otherwise would be progressive. Rep. Paula Davis, R-Baton Rouge, wrote House Bill 748 to expand the number of people who could benefit from the M.J. Foster Promise Program, which covers tuition for qualifying students at the states two-year community colleges and technical schools. Her proposal lowers the age to take part in the program from 21 to 17, and she also intended to end a prohibition against convicted violent offenders who have paid their debt to society. Trey Godfrey, policy director for the Baton Rouge Area Chamber (BRAC), helped Davis craft the proposal with the intent of addressing workforce shortages. The legislation also has the support of the powerful Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI). What this bill does is it builds pathways toward opportunity towards high-wage, high-demand employment for out-of-school youth and (the) formerly incarcerated, Godfrey told the House Committee on Education in March. (With) this bill, we expect to have a really good or significant impact on recidivism. Republicans and Democrats in the House overwhelmingly approved Davis bill with a 96-4 House vote, but major changes were in store once it landed in the Senate Committee on Education. It was there that Miguez offered an amendment to keep violent ex-offenders out of the program. At the mid-April hearing, Miguez mentioned a ban on rapists, murderers, child molestors and terrorists specifically, but he failed to note other crimes of violence that would cause someone to be excluded from the program. Such offenses include purse snatching, simple robbery and simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling. Remember, all these offenders still have to serve time and pay any fines and restitution that are part of their sentences, regardless of whether they have any post-prison career aspirations. Miguezs amendment crushes any such opportunity for these ex-offenders before they can even take their first steps back into society. It continues to punish them even after they meet their obligations to the criminal justice system. The added punitive measure also confirms the dwindling rehabilitative capacity of Louisianas correctional system. Miguezs move sends the message to violent offenders that not only does the state believe they are beyond help, but that the Legislature will take the extra step to ensure they will never be productive citizens. In doing so, lawmakers also increase the likelihood ex-offenders must rely on the government for some form of sustenance or, worse yet, become repeat offenders. Unfortunately, Godfrey and LABI remained silent when Miguezs amendment was added to the Davis bill last month, and the bill was quickly advanced without discussion among members of the Senate education committee. Could this have been an indication that a deal had been struck behind the scenes to make the change? Another vetting of the proposal will take place when the Senate Committee on Finance considers its financial impact. Its members are expected to meet at least once more before the legislative session ends. The legislative fiscal staff calculates the cost will land somewhere between $7.1 million and $13.3 million based on averages for the current number of scholarship recipients and two-year college enrollment. Whatever additional expense the formerly incarcerated would add to the program is negligible, especially considering that lawmakers have approved a measure to lift the spending cap on the Foster Promise Program from $10 million to $40 million annually. The proposal awaits the governors signature. The finance committee hearing provides perhaps the last best chance for lawmakers to rectify the short-sightedness of Miguezs Draconian stance. If they are worried about appearing soft on violent criminals, they can easily justify the return on a minimal investment in workforce training against the much higher price of repeat incarceration and lifelong government dependence. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Sen. Blake Miguez wants permanent punishment for ex-offenders by denying them workforce training appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator. NEW YORK The price of halal meat in Egypt took center stage at the trial of Sen. Bob Menendez Monday, as defense lawyers tried to chip away at prosecutors allegations that the veteran lawmaker helped broker a sweetheart monopoly for a U.S. businessman in exchange for bribes. The 70-year-old Democrats trial entered its second week in Manhattan Federal Court Monday, after jurors last week saw multiple photographs of the cash and gold bars the FBI found in Menendezs New Jersey home. Menendezs defense team is laying the blame for the suspicious gifts on his wife, Nadine, who they say was acting without the senators knowledge when she got gold and other goodies from N.J. businessmen she counted as longtime friends. Two of those businessmen, Wael Will Hana and Fred Daibes, are also on trial. On Monday, jurors again heard from James Bret Tate, a U.S. diplomat based in Cairo for several years. Tate testified that he became concerned in 2019 when Hanas company, IS EG Hala, was picked as the only company Egypt would allow to certify meat exported from the U.S. Previously, the process was handled by four other U.S. companies. We knew that the price had increased because the companies had to pay more money, but we didnt know by how much, he said. He became concerned enough to write a report and to request a financial audit, but got word from Washington to not make any more noise about this issue, to let the dust settle. Hanas lawyer, Lawrence Lustberg, pointed out that the decision to choose only Hanas company came from Egypt alone. My concern was that IS EG had in some way influenced Egyptian officials to give them the contract, Tate said. Lustberg also pushed back on Tates contention that the exports were disrupted by the change-over, saying, As it turned out, you are aware, IS EG worked with the slaughterhouses in the U.S. and got pretty quickly up to speed. Prosecutors contend that Hana, who has connections to the Egyptian government, got the business after bribing Menendez to leak nonpublic information about the U.S. embassy, to secretly ghostwrite a letter addressing concerns about human rights abuses and to help approve the sale of almost $100 million of tank ammunition to Egypt. The trial continues on Tuesday. _____ Jason Flechsing, a senior at Boise State University, does class work in Boise on Sept. 22, 2022. Sen. Mitt Romney is urging President Joe Biden to halt the latest plan for student debt relief. | Ben B. Braun, Deseret News Utah Sen. Mitt Romney is urging President Joe Biden to halt the latest plan for student debt relief. He and other lawmakers say its the latest in a string of reckless attempts to transfer as much as $1 trillion of student loan debt from those who willingly borrowed to those who did not or have already repaid their loans. Alongside fellow Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Katie Britt, R-Ala., and others, Romney opposed the plan in a bicameral letter addressed to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, saying it would punt the burden onto taxpayers who didnt take out loans. Ninety lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives also signed the letter. This is even broader than the Departments first attempt: at an estimated price tag of $147 billion, taxpayers are being forced to take on the debt of nearly 28 million borrowers, wrote the lawmakers. The Biden administration formally published its latest draft rules for student loan forgiveness on April 17. The plan includes forgiving student debt for borrowers who started paying back their loans 20 years ago (25 years for graduate school) and also providing relief for interest under certain conditions. Republican lawmakers criticized the draft rules, saying it was outside the purview of the Department of Education. The lawmakers also pointed toward outside assessments showing how a significant group of borrowers with incomes over $300,000 will benefit from the proposal. In addition to the fiscally irresponsible nature of this backdoor attempt to enact free college, the administration continues to use borrowers as political pawns knowing full well these proposed actions are illegal, wrote the lawmakers. The Supreme Court has made it abundantly clear that there is zero authority to write-off federal student loans en masse last June when the Departments Plan A was ruled unconstitutional. The letter also criticized the Department of Education for rolling out this proposal while it simultaneously failed to competently implement the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA. Lawmakers said without FAFSA available to students on time, many of them will have to grapple with consequences. The Biden administrations plan has also faced opposition from attorneys general. Attorneys General Andrew Bailey of Missouri and Kris Kobach of Kansas wrote a letter to Cardona on Thursday criticizing the department for attempting to shift the expense of student loans from those who willingly took them out to the American taxpayers. Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes signed onto the effort. Everyone from the Supreme Court to former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has told you that you do not have the authority to forgive debt except in the limited ways Congress clearly outlined, said the attorneys general. You must adhere to these warnings and follow the law. The attorneys general argued that the policy goes beyond the authority the Department of Education secretary has and called it bad public policy. Further, across-the-board student loan forgiveness results in a transfer of wealth from those who have the least to those have the most, wrote the attorneys general. About 750,000 households making an average household income of $312,000 would be eligible for debt cancellation under this Proposed Rule. Democratic lawmakers have led an effort to support the Biden administration policy. Reps. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., James P. Clyburn, D-S.C., and Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., wrote a letter with 55 lawmakers signatures urging the Department of Education to cancel as much debt of borrowers possible. While millions of student loan borrowers and their families have been able to benefit from the Administrations debt relief efforts thus far, the unjust decision by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court to strike down President Bidens original debt relief plan has forced millions of Americans to wait for much-needed relief, wrote the lawmakers. The proposed NPRM marks a long-awaited opportunity to alleviate the burden of student debt for millions of borrowers and provide much-needed economic breathing room for working families. Romney has previously spoken out against student loan forgiveness. In April 2022, the Utah senator posted on social media criticizing the policy. Desperate polls call for desperate measures: Dems consider forgiving trillions in student loans, said Romney. Other bribe suggestions: Forgive auto loans? Forgive credit card debt? Forgive mortgages? And put a wealth tax on the super-rich to pay for it all. What could possibly go wrong? U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is on a mission to strengthen cybersecurity job training opportunities for metro Atlanta students. On Monday, Sen. Ossoff announced that he is delivering Federal resources to strengthen the Cybersecurity Leadership Center at Clark Atlanta University. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] This is hopes of increasing the number of career opportunities in the cybersecurity field and boosting opportunities for HBCU students. Ive appropriated funds to strengthen the Cybersecurity Leadership Center at Clark Atlanta University, helping Clark Atlanta students prepare for rewarding and good-paying cybersecurity careers, Sen. Ossoff said. I thank Clark Atlanta President Dr. George T. French, Jr., Ph.D. for bringing this proposal to my office and for his leadership in the community. With the Federal funding, Ossoffs office said CAU plans to enhance its current cybersecurity curriculum and offer students and faculty greater access to cybersecurity software and training programs. Republicans and Democrats came together to deliver $500,000 for the project through this years bipartisan government funding package, working alongside Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock. We thank Senator Ossoff for the continued support of his office, said President French. Through collaboration with IBM, Clark Atlanta University pioneers the establishment of the Cybersecurity Leadership Center, fortifying students for burgeoning career paths in cybersecurity across Georgia. Our joint endeavor not only amplifies diversity in the cyber workforce but also enhances curriculum and equips individuals with cutting-edge tools to combat cyber threats. Together, we extend our reach beyond academia to empower communities far and wide. TRENDING STORIES: CAUs Cybersecurity Leader Center partnered with IBM to prepare students for the increasing number of career opportunities in the cybersecurity field in Georgia and to meet IBMs goal of increasing a more diverse cyber workforce within the United States. According to labor market information from the State of Georgia, the demand for cybersecurity employees will increase over the years with a projection of 11.8 percent, it is imperative that we prepare our students majoring in Cybersecurity to enter the cyber workforce within the United States and to excel in this field. said Dr. Olugbemiga Olatidoye, Professor/Coordinator, Dual Degree Engineering Program (DDEP). [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: Tim Sheehy, the Navy SEAL running to unseat Democratic Montana Sen. Jon Tester, has repeatedly told voters he was discharged from the military for medical reasons, owing to wounds sustained in service. But the Republicans own autobiography, published just last year, says otherwise; he wrote that he became disillusioned with military personnel policies and left of his own accord after being injured in a training accident. This line of inquiry is disgusting, Sheehys campaign said in a statement, claiming there was no inconsistency. But the discrepancy is the latest to dog Sheehy, 38, who has described himself as a war hero on the campaign trail. Audio obtained by The Daily Beast reveals that in February, at a Bozeman Public Library event to promote his autobiography, Sheehy said: After I got wounded the final time, I got discharged. In March, he told a podcast host he proudly served multiple tours overseas, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, and got wounded and injured a handful of times, so eventually was medically discharged from the military. And in a November episode of the First Class Fatherhood podcast, Sheehy said: So finally, they said, Hey, youre at the end of the road, you know, youve got shrapnel in you, youve got a bullet in you, youve had a head injury, you know, youre out of here. GOP Star Tim Sheehy Forgot to Mention the Family Money in His Self-Made Success Story But in the pages of Mudslingers: A True Story of Aerial Firefighting, his memoir, theres a different narrative. Published as An American Origins Story by Permuted Press, Mudslingers focuses mainly on how Sheehy started and ran Bridger Aerospace, his company based in Montana. But it also recounts his military career, from the U.S. Naval Academy to his years as a SEAL. I had been shot and wounded by shrapnel and IEDs, Sheehy wrote, also describing a firefight in Afghanistan in which he was shot in the arm and other violent incidents including a mistaken U.S. Hellfire missile strike on his SEALs team. But Sheehy also described an accident while training on submarines off Hawaii in late 2013 in which, he says, he suffered a case of decompression sickness, commonly known as the bends. As it turned out, Sheehy wrote, the decompression sickness had left me with a tiny hole in my heart. It could have been much worse. I felt fine. I was alive, healthy, and seemingly unencumbered by any long-term injury. But I was, in the eyes of the Navy, damaged goods. Tim Sheehy published his memoir last year. jbsmitty/Wikimedia Commons According to Sheehy, he was told he would need a period of recovery and evaluation before I could return to active duty, a period that could last a year, two years or more, after which it was possible he might not return to active duty. Given the option of a staff tourmeaning desk jobs, possibly at the Pentagon, White House or U.S. Naval War CollegeSheehy decided he was no longer interested in following that path if I could not know I could return to operational status. If I couldnt be out in the field, leading from the front, then it was time to consider doing something else. I had put in my time: I was free to go if I wanted. Sheehy added that he and his wife, Carmen, a U.S. Marine, were disillusioned with the American campaign in Afghanistan and had kind of grown frustrated with the military. What we hated was the militarys constriction of your life and your path, Sheehy wrote. The fact that the trajectory of your career was not determined by your merit, but rather by a giant 1950s-era corporate promotion system by all sorts of other extraneous shitall the garrison crap and ass kissing. GOP Star Recruit Brags About Rural Upbringing. He Grew Up 15 Minutes From the City. Sheehy also cited frustration with social initiatives under the Obama administration and a dislike of corporate analysis of the military. And so, after sustaining combat injuries and a heart problem sustained in training, but having by his own description been told a return to combat was possible, Sheehy quit the SEALs. If its possible for a life-threatening injury to be considered a blessing, he wroteclearly referring to his submarine accident and heart problem and not combat woundsthen maybe thats what this was: a forcing of our hand, an opportunity to reexamine our lives. And so he left to set up Bridger Aerospace, the company that fueled his entry to Republican politics. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., whom Tim Sheehy is trying to unseat. Tom Williams/Getty In April, as Sheehys campaign to unseat Tester warmed up, The Washington Post reported that the version of Sheehys departure from the Navy in his autobiography differed from a resume he submitted to the Montana legislature in 2021 that said he was medically separated from active duty due to wounds received in Afghanistan. A spokesperson for Sheehy told the paper: Sheehy was honorably discharged from the Navy after being declared medically unfit to continue to serve as a Navy SEAL. But that statement is also contradicted by Sheehys own written account: He says he chose to leave the Navy rather than complete a spell of desk jobs before a possible return to active duty. Sheehy has mentioned his submarine accident while campaigning but the account does not quite square with what he writes in his book. Last November, Sheehy told the Pursuit, a Montana podcast, Id been wounded a couple times overseas and then on one of our dive missions there we had a malfunction with our mini-submarine and I got the bends pretty seriously and it popped a hole in my heart and I had to go in the chamber for about 10 days and get recompressed. And that that was kind of the final injury after getting shot, getting shrapnel and IEDs and everything. Youve got one too many holes in your body now, youre done. Time to move on. In its statement to The Daily Beast, Sheehys campaign did not explain the discrepancies between what he has said on the trail and what he wrote in the book, but insisted there is no discrepancy in how Tim describes his military career finally coming to an end after almost a decade serving in some of the most dangerous places in the world like Afghanistan and Iraq. Tim Sheehy served our country as a Navy SEALearning the Bronze Star and a Purple Heart in the process. Tim was honorably discharged from the Navy after being declared medically unfit to continue to serve as a Navy SEAL, the statement continues. While we understand liberal reporters at The Daily Beast may not understand what its like to put a uniform on and risk their lives to take out the bad guys who wish to harm America, Tim Sheehy knows what it means to put service and sacrifice first. The Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sheehys discharge. The truth of why Sheehy left the military is not the only mystery his move into politics has raised. As The Daily Beast reported in April, Sheehys claims to have grown up in rural Minnesota do not square with his actual childhood in a multi-million-dollar lake house in Shoreview, Minnesota, a quiet Twin Cities suburb just north of St. Paul with a population of roughly 27,000. The Daily Beast has also called into question Sheehys claims to have bootstrapped his company from meager beginnings by noting that in Mudslingers, he disclosed a $100,000 loan from his parents. GOP Campaign Aides X Account Shared and Liked Racist Posts In campaign appearances, and in his autobiography, Sheehy has discussed the wound to his right arm which he says he suffered in a firefight in 2012. At one December event, in footage posted to social media and first reported by the Post, he said: I got thick skinthough its not thick enough. I have a bullet stuck in this arm still from Afghanistan. He retired in October 2014. The following year, he was awarded a Bronze Star for valor and a Purple Heart for sustaining a combat wound. But in April the Post published a baffling story of how in 2015, Sheehy told a ranger in Glacier National Park that he accidentally shot himselfand was fined $525 for illegally discharging a weapon. Sheehy told the Post he fell while hiking then made up the story about accidentally firing his gun because he wanted to protect old service mates from possible investigation over the wound suffered three years earlier, possibly from friendly fire, but not reported to superiors then. I guess the only thing Im guilty of is admitting to doing something I never did, Sheehy told the Post. He also said the fine he paid was a small price to pay to make sure that a whole team of really great Americans didnt get dragged through the mud over this. The Post subsequently obtained a statement in which Sheehy asked the National Parks Service for leniency with any charges related to this unfortunate accident, because of his ongoing security clearance and involvement with national defense related contracts. As the November elections approach, Republicans hoping to retake the Senate have put considerable faith in Sheehys challenge to Tester, 67, a farmer-politician in office since 2007 but a rare Democratic senator from a western state. Polling shows a tight race between Tester, a political moderate, and Sheehy, who describes himself as a strong conservative who believes Americas best days are ahead. Sheehys differing versions of why he left the military stand to add to issues on which he will face tough questions. In its own recent report, The New York Times chose a headline that pointed to Sheehys biggest challenge: Montanas Senate Race Could Come Down to One Question: Do I Trust You? With reporting by Riley Rogerson Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Senate Republicans are nervously anticipating the verdict in former President Trumps Manhattan hush money trial and warn it could have a significant impact on the election. GOP lawmakers say a failure to secure a conviction would be a major embarrassment for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg that would strengthen Trump. But they admit they dont know how a conviction would play out, given that between 20 percent and 30 percent of GOP primary voters said they would not see Trump as fit for office if convicted of a felony. GOP senators say Trumps campaign faces a high degree of uncertainty about any fallout resulting from the embarrassing trial. A conviction or acquittal may have more impact on the campaign than either of the two debates Trump and President Biden have agreed to for late June and early September. Some Republican senators fear a guilty verdict will further hurt Trumps limited appeal with swing voters, particularly college-educated and suburban women, who shifted away from Trump in 2020. I think for his strong supporters, I think theyre just simply going to look at that and say, See? Its not fair. On the other side, theres people in the middle, there are independents, that are probably looking at this saying, I wasnt sure whether I could support him again or not. I dont like what President Biden is doing. They may have second thoughts about voting for Trump, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said ordinarily she would think that any candidate convicted of a felony would be essentially knocked out of a race but acknowledged that Trump has defied past predictions of his political demise. I would have thought that we didnt even need to go into the trial, we wouldnt even need to get to a guilty verdict the fact that the Republican nominee would be subject of a trial such as this would have had an impact, she said. Exit polls of Republican voters in multiple state primaries show that a significant portion of the electorate, including Republican voters, would not view Trump as fit for office if convicted of a felony crime. Well see. I dont know what to believe anymore, Murkowski said. Im still trying to wrap my head around the fact that so many Republicans still feel that Biden was not properly elected. Well see if those numbers hold true or whether people feel that its just not important. I think it would be unfortunate if that were the case, she said of polls showing many voters would consider a criminal conviction a serious factor in weighing the candidates. A nationwide survey by the University of North Floridas Public Opinion Research Lab last month found that Trump could lose 10 percent of his supporters if he is convicted. The poll of likely voters conducted from April 8-20 found that 9 percent of Trump voters would be less likely to vote for him if convicted. It reflects several exit polls from earlier this year showing that many voters including Republicans would view a criminal conviction as disqualifying Trump from returning to the Oval Office. In March, more than 3 in 10 North Carolina Republican primary voters and 37 percent of GOP primary voters in Virginia said they would view Trump as unfit to serve as president if convicted of a crime. Those responses were in line with 31 percent of Republican Iowa caucusgoers, 42 percent of New Hampshire GOP primary voters and 36 percent of South Carolina Republican primary voters who said Trump would not be fit for office if convicted. Those numbers are giving Democrats hope at a time when theyre running into the political headwinds of Bidens low poll numbers and voters concerns about the current presidents age and ability to handle the economy. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) said voters certainly do care if Trump is a potential felon. Two out of 3 [voters] say that if he is convicted of a felony that would affect the way theyre going to vote, he said of the broad electorate. I can understand that. Of course it would be shameful situation, the first time in the history of the United States a president [is] convicted of a felony, he said. The judge in the trial, Juan Merchan, announced Monday that the trial will take a few days longer than expected to wrap up and that prosecutors and defense lawyers will likely present their closing arguments next week. While Trumps legal team was able to punch holes in the credibility of former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, one of the prosecutions star witnesses, legal experts still think prosecutors have a good chance of winning. The evidence against Trump includes a voice recording of him directing Cohen to pay in cash, as well as 18 witnesses and records of text messages and emails. Some Republicans argue Trump will get a big political boost if Bragg fails to convict the nations highest-profile defendant. Their big attempt to knock Trump out of the presidential campaign is going to be a big belly-flop. They basically staked their whole case on a couple of confirmed liars, said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, referring to the testimony of Cohen and adult film actor Stormy Daniels. Cornyn said if Bragg fails to get a conviction, it absolutely will help Trumps presidential campaign. What the Department of Justice and the Biden administration dont understand is every time you keep coming after President Trump in what looks like [a] two-tiered system of justice youre helping him make his case, which is he is a victim, Cornyn added. So I think its a high-risk proposition. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) predicted Trump could win the election in a landslide if convicted because the public backlash would be so strong. It looks so awful, and no fair-minded person believes that Trump deserves to be convicted of a felony over charges combining the offenses of falsifying business records with campaign finance violations, he said. This truly is lawfare, and I think its really bad. I think actually if Trump is convicted it might actually help him, he added. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) declared, I would be willing to state with metaphysical certainty that Donald J. Trump is not going to get convicted in that trial. And some Republicans think voters views of Trump are already so fixed that either a guilty verdict or acquittal may be forgotten by Election Day in November. I think that case most people view as a trumped-up case, which the Justice Department and the U.S. attorneys office passed on prosecuting a long time ago, and I just think thats the way people view it. However it comes out, I just dont think its going to move the needle much, Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) said. But other Republicans acknowledge it could be a wild card in the presidential race. How people are going to vote in November? Ask me sometime then, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said. Al Weaver contributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) The U.S. Senate plans to vote again this week on a bipartisan border security bill. Republicans blocked the measure earlier this year when it was part of a larger package that also included funding for Israel and Ukraine. Now, Democrats want to force votes to challenge the GOP rhetoric about the southern border. All those who say we need to act on the border will get a chance this week to show theyre serious about fixing the problem, said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, (D-N.Y.). Schumer took action Tuesday to tee up a floor vote Thursday. The bill would make it more difficult to gain asylum in the U.S. and increase detentions and deportations of illegal migrants. It is strong and realistic and most importantly, a bipartisan proposal, Schumer said. U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, (D-Conn.) was one of the negotiators and said the measure would also allow the president to shut down the border if migrant encounters get too high. Our bill doesnt stop the ability of people to come to the United States, Murphy said. It just puts in place a more orderly system. Senate Republicans blocked the legislation in February at the urging of former president Donald Trump. I think its safe to say going to a border bill right now is just a gimmick, said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, (R-Ky.). McConnell said President Biden should instead revert to Trump-era policies, like Remain in Mexico and the construction of the border wall. Do everything he can do on his own because legislation obviously is not going to clear this year, McConnell said. House Speaker Mike Johnson, (R-La.), all but guaranteed that when he called the bill dead on arrival in the House. President Biden called Johnson and McConnell Monday night to urge them to support the bill. McConnell summed up the conversation with one comment he made: Mr. President, you caused this problem. White House officials prefer legislation to executive action because they argue it can better withstand different administrations and court challenges. 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 DC News Now | Washington, DC. KYODO NEWS - May 21, 2024 - 09:35 | Arts, All, Japan, World Japanese animation giant Studio Ghibli on Monday received an honorary Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes film festival for contributing to the genre's creativity through global hits such as "Spirited Away," marking the first time an institution was awarded rather than an individual. "Alongside the Hollywood greats, the Japanese studio embodied by two superb storytellers, Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, and a host of cult characters, has unleashed a fresh wind on animated film over the past four decades," the organizer said in a statement. The studio was launched by the pair in 1985, following the success the previous year of "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind," directed by Miyazaki -- who would go on to win two Oscars, including for "Spirited Away" -- and produced by Takahata, his confidant and rival. "We've received this award thanks to fans all over the world who love our works," Goro Miyazaki, Hayao's oldest son, said on stage in Cannes, accepting the festival award along with a standing ovation from the crowd. "We've taken this award as a message to us, 'Do a good job in the coming 40 years, too,'" said the younger Miyazaki, himself a film director. Hayao appeared in a video message that was played during the ceremony, saying, "Thank you very much." The festival screened four short animation pieces written and directed by the elder Miyazaki that are shown at the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka in western Tokyo, including "Mei and the Baby Cat Bus" and "Boro the Caterpillar." Goro Miyazaki told reporters after the ceremony, "I presume that the studio has been recognized as a group of craftspersons rather than a business." He said he has been surprised to see Ghibli films gain such a remarkable following outside Japan since streaming services like Netflix began distributing them in 2020. "We didn't expect our films to be that popular," he said. Ghibli's latest anime, "The Boy and the Heron," received a U.S. Academy award this year, the elder Miyazaki's second. Although the studio co-founder had announced his retirement in 2013, he began his latest work in 2017. "We have no idea" what will happen to Ghibli in the future, Goro said. As Hayao, 83, and the studio's 75-year-old producer Toshio Suzuki still have the final say on important decisions, Goro said jokingly, "We can think about the matter (of Ghibli's fate) from scratch after they are gone." Related coverage: Play based on Japan anime "Spirited Away" bursts onto London stage Studio Ghibli to receive honorary Palme d'Or at Cannes Oscar-winning Miyazaki film leads China box office days after debut CEDAR CREEK, Texas (KXAN) A planned prank at Cedar Creek High School turned into damages and vandalism far beyond a senior prank, the Bastrop Independent School District said in a statement. A district spokesperson said campus administration worked with the senior students for a fun senior prank that would be monitored by school staff. The district said a group of students took it beyond a senior prank. The actions of this small group of students do not represent the Cedar Creek High School Class of 2024, and we do not want this incident to overshadow the excitement and celebration of their achievements as they graduate later this week, a district statement said. The district did not share an estimated damage cost or what the damages included. Photos and videos shared with KXAN showed classroom furniture damaged, students on the roof of the school and spray paint on the band truck. Viewers also said there was damage to teachers personal items, soap and baby powder spread on the floors, fire extinguishers sprayed and copies of finals destroyed. The district said the senior class shared a statement with faculty apologizing for the prank. They said the prank was blown out of proportion and was never expected to get to that level. We as a whole would like to apologize for all the inappropriate behavior fellow classmates have shown. This behavior does not represent the rest of the class of 2024 that did not participate in these actions, the seniors statement read in part. The Bastrop ISD Police Department and high school administration are investigating the incident. The district said students involved in damages will be held accountable. This story came from a ReportIt story tip. Send your own story ideas to Reportit@kxan.com or through KXANs contact page. 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 KXAN Austin. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala, speaks during a December 2023 press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. This common-sense piece of legislation affirms both life and liberty -- family and freedom, Britt said in a joint news release with Cruz. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI May 20 (UPI) -- Two conservative Republican senators on Monday introduced a bill that seeks to protect access to in vitro fertilization, known as IVF, after a past effort by Senate Democrats failed in February. The three-page bill introduced Monday, styled as the "IVF Protection Act," was sponsored by Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. "This common-sense piece of legislation affirms both life and liberty -- family and freedom," Britt said in a joint news release with Cruz, who commented he was "proud" to partner with Britt while saying IVF "has given miraculous hope to millions of Americans, and it has given families across the country the gift of children." With the bill's language, states would be ineligible to receive Medicaid funding if an outright IVF ban has been enacted and as written says states "shall not prohibit in vitro fertilization (as defined in section 4(b) of the IVF Protection Act) services," and ''shall ensure that no unit of local government in the State prohibits such services." This bill comes as Republicans have been scrambling to coalesce around a consistent message regarding abortion, and after a February ruling by Alabama's Supreme Court that said frozen fertilized embryos are children under state law. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks to the press after weekly Senate caucus luncheons at the U.S. Capitol on May 8. On social media Monday afternoon, Cruz claimed how after the Alabama IVF ruling, Democrats and the media callously manipulated the ruling to attack Republicans over IVF. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI The Alabama IVF ruling attracted deep nationwide criticism and worry over the potential consequences from civil rights and medical organizations. It prompted the Republican-controlled legislature to quickly act on an IVF protection bill which was swiftly signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey, a pro-life Republican. The Britt-Cruz legislation builds upon efforts taken in February by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who first introduced a bill to protect IVF treatments nationwide after the Alabama ruling, which quickly got blocked by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (R), D-Ill., speaks during a press conference to highlight Reproductive rights issues ahead President Joe Biden's 2024 State Of The Union Address in March. The Britt-Cruz legislation builds upon Duckworth's effort in February to protect IVF treatments nationwide after the Alabama ruling, which quickly got blocked by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss. Photo by Jemal Countess/UPI But on a Monday television appearance, Cruz said Duckworth's bill did not pass muster because, he claimed, "it really seeks to backdoor in broader abortion legislation," adding how his and Britt's bill is simply "designed to protect IVF" as he pointed out how in the bill it says that 2% of live births in the United States are via IVF. Duckworth's IVF bill, Cruz said, was "very broad. There's a reason that no Republican supported it," as he claimed it was written to give the federal government authority over abortion. As for the Alabama ruling, Cruz said there was "a lot of confusion, there was a lot of fear, there was a lot of misunderstanding" surrounding the February decision and the eventual political fallout. Cruz went on to state how the variety of opinions of abortion in general is proof that it should be a state issue, which is consistent with what former President Donald Trump has been saying about abortion being a state issue in one of his multiple takes on the issue over the years. "[The IVF bill] should be overwhelmingly bipartisan," the Texas Republican said about the possibility his senate colleagues on both sides will voting in favor of his bill with Britt. On social media Monday afternoon, Cruz claimed that after the Alabama IVF ruling, "Democrats and the media callously manipulated the ruling to attack Republicans over IVF." "There are 100 senators," Cruz said on NewsMax, "to the best of my knowledge all 100 senators support IVF. So this should be a bipartisan bill." Sawyer Hackett, a Democratic strategist, said the bill as proposed by Cruz and Britt has two catches: "It does *nothing* to protect IVF from courts enforcing 'personhood' laws (see Alabama ruling)," he posted on X, and "it explicitly allows states to push 'health and safety standards' for IVF." "Let's be clear," Cruz's 2024 Democratic senate opponent, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, said Monday on X. "Ted Cruz's long-standing support for an extreme ban on abortion is what is putting IVF at risk for Texas families." Separate investigations underway after 2 fatally shot in homes on Southwest, Far South sides Separate investigations underway after 2 fatally shot in homes on Southwest, Far South sides CHICAGO Two separate investigations are underway after Chicago police say two people were fatally shot while inside homes on Monday afternoon. Officers say the deadly shootings unfolded just over an hour apart on the citys Southwest and Far South sides. Police are conducting a homicide investigation after a person was found shot to death inside a home in the 7700 block of South Throop Street, in Auburn Gresham, just before 2 p.m. Read more: Latest Chicago news headlines Officers have not provided details on the age of the victim but said they were a male who was found with at least one gunshot wound to his head. A little over a mile away, in West Englewood, a separate death investigation is underway after a 17-year-old boy was fatally shot while inside a home in the 7100 block of South Winchester Avenue. Officers say the deadly shooting unfolded just before 3 p.m. and the victim, who had been shot in the head, was pronounced dead on the scene. Police say a handgun was later recovered on the scene. LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland Officers were not able to confirm whether the deadly shootings are connected and separate investigations into the incidents are ongoing. Anyone with information on the Auburn Gresham shooting is asked to contact CPD Area Two Detectives at 312-747-8273 and those with information on the West Englewood shooting are asked to contact CPD Area One detectives at 312-747-8380. Those with information that could help authorities in their investigations can also dial 911 or leave a tip at CPDtip.com. Tips can be filed anonymously. 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 WGN-TV. A Canadian serial killer who brought victims to his pig farm is hospitalized after a prison assault This artist's sketch shows accused serial killer Robert Pickton taking notes during the second day of his trial in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, British Columbia, Jan. 31, 2006. Convicted Canadian serial killer Pickton has been hospitalized and is in a life-threatening condition after an assault at a Quebec prison, authorities said Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (Jane Wolsack/The Canadian Press via AP) MONTREAL (AP) Convicted Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton, who brought female victims to his pig farm during a crime spree near Vancouver in the 1990s and early 2000s, was assaulted in prison and has been hospitalized in life-threatening condition, authorities said Tuesday. A 51-year-old inmate was in custody for the assault Sunday at a prison in Quebec, police spokesman Hugues Beaulieu said. The 74-year-old Pickton was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2007, with the maximum parole ineligibility period of 25 years, after being charged with the murders of 26 women. Police began searching the Pickton farm in the Vancouver suburb of Port Coquitlam more than 22 years ago in what would be a years-long investigation into the disappearances of dozens of women. The remains or DNA of 33 women, many picked up from Vancouvers Downtown Eastside, were found on Picktons pig farm in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. He once bragged to an undercover police officer that he killed a total of 49 women. Cynthia Cardinal, whose sister Georgina Papin was murdered by Pickton, said she was overwhelmed with happiness when she received a text message Monday with the news that he had been attacked. She called it karma. The text came from a cousin of Tanya Holyk, another missing woman whose DNA was found at Picktons pig farm. I dont think anybody that evil should be walking on Earth, as far as Im concerned, Cardinal said Tuesday. I have happy tears. Very happy tears. Federal Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said he was informed of the attack late Sunday and his thoughts immediately turned to the families of Picktons victims in British Columbia. LeBlanc called Pickton one of the most dangerous criminals in the country but said he could provide no further details about the incident or Picktons condition due to privacy laws. Vancouver police were criticized for not taking the cases seriously because many of the missing were sex workers or drug users. The Correctional Service Canada first announced Monday that an inmate had been sent to a hospital after a serious assault at the maximum security Port-Cartier Institution, about 480 kilometers (about 300 miles) northeast of Quebec City. On Tuesday, the correctional service confirmed that Pickton was the inmate injured in Sunday's assault. It said none of its staff were involved in the attack. Quebec provincial police said the sentenced killer's injuries were considered life-threatening. Picktons confirmed victims were six: Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe, Papin and Marnie Frey. At the time of Picktons sentencing, British Columbia Supreme Court Justice James Williams said it was a rare case that properly warrants the maximum period of parole ineligibility available to the court. Convicted Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton is in life-threatening condition after being attacked in a Quebec prison. He is reportedly undergoing surgery after being airlifted to a hospital. No other details about his injuries were released, but the Vancouver Sun reported Tuesday he was speared in the head with a broken broom-like handle. Pickton, 74, was convicted in 2007 of six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for at least 25 years. He had been charged in the murders of 26 women. Remains and DNA from at least 33 women were discovered at Picktons pig farm in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, before his conviction. He once claimed to have killed 49 women, many of whom were sex workers, drug addicts or otherwise from vulnerable communities. It took police more than 20 years to zero in on Pickton while investigating the disappearances of dozens of women, leading to criticism of the long investigation. The assault occurred sometime Sunday afternoon at the maximum security Port-Cartier Institution, about 300 miles northeast of Quebec City, Correctional Service Canada confirmed on Tuesday. The Surete du Quebec, the provincial police, said a suspect, a 51-year-old fellow inmate, was in custody for the assault and had been moved to solitary confinement. The attackers identity was not released. The alleged assailant has a history of attacking other inmates, according to the Vancouver Sun. A source told the newspaper Pickton was taken to Hospital of the Child Jesus in Quebec City. We are not able to disclose any additional details, including medical information, the correctional service said in a statement. The safety and security of institutions is paramount and an investigation into what occurred is currently underway. _____ A number of countries backed Germany's initiative to find air defense equipment for Kyiv at the 22nd Ramstein-format summit of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) on May 20. The initiative to find air defense systems for Ukraine will be funded by Belgium, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands, and Norway, Germany's Defense Ministry said in its post on X (formerly Twitter). Other countries, including, Belgium, France, the U.K., Lithuania, Romania, Spain, the United States have promised to help with "equipment and missiles"while and Latvia has expressed a desire to join the initiative. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin delivered the opening remarks at the summit, emphasizing that the new Russian offensive in Kharkiv Oblast has added to the urgency of the West's support for Ukraine. The summit includes defense ministers and officials from nearly 50 countries to continue coordinating military support for Ukraine. Austin described the ongoing defense against the Russian offensive in Kharkiv Oblast as a "hard and dangerous fight." He added that it "just underscores the importance" of the summit. The secretary concluded that "the weeks and months again are crucial" and urged Ukraine's Western allies to increase their support. Read also: Ukraine war latest: Ukrainian forces control 60% of Vovchansk; heavy battles continue in Kharkiv Oblast Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Several states expressed support for Germany's initiative to find air defence systems for Kyiv at the 22nd meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (Ramstein format) on 20 May. Source: German Ministry of Defence on Twitter (X), European Pravda Details: The tweet indicates that the initiative to search for air defence systems for Ukraine will be funded by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway. Additionally, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Spain, Lithuania, Romania, the United States and France have promised to help with "equipment and missiles" (probably not necessarily within the framework of the German initiative), and Latvia has expressed a desire to join the initiative. Background: Earlier it became known that Germany's Finance Ministry has unofficially approved a request from Germany's Defence Ministry to allocate an additional 3.8 billion to help Ukraine in addition to the already announced 7.1 billion. The German government launched an initiative on 17 April to find additional air defence equipment that could be sent to Ukraine. Berlin later reported that it was discussing funding for the initiative with Denmark and the Netherlands. In April, Belgium also announced a 200 million contribution to the German initiative, and in May, Canada pledged more than US$55 million. Support UP or become our patron! Research shows that the phenomenon of turbulence is becoming more and more common, especially in its most extreme forms. What causes it - and could it ever damage the plane? Arne Dedert/dpa A Singapore Airlines flight from London Heathrow to Singapore has become the latest to make headlines from severe turbulence, after the carrier said on Tuesday that one passenger was killed and others injured by severe in-flight turbulence. Unexpected heavy turbulence is not only a threat to passengers and crew, but also to the long-term safety of planes carrying them, according to researchers who say this phenomenon is on the rise. Although you may have never encountered a case of severe turbulence during a flight, one study projects that air travellers are likely to face more hazardous turbulence in the coming years due to climate change. What is severe turbulence? Most cases of turbulence are experienced only as a mild shaking in the aircraft and a slight loss of elevation. In rarer, more severe cases, passengers and crew members can be injured, however. Especially dangerous is what's known as "clear air turbulence" since this often occurs without any advanced warning - in other words without any chance to fasten your seat belt. This form of turbulence "is hazardous to aircraft and is projected to intensify in response to future climate change," say the authors of a 2023 study from Reading University in the UK. In 1979 clear air turbulence totalled 467 hours over the North Atlantic, while in 2020 the figure was 547 hours, the researchers say. Turbulence not only poses a risk of injury to passengers, but also to the plane itself. "Every additional minute spent traversing turbulence causes fatigue and increases wear-and-tear on the airframe," the study authors write. According to figures from the US Federal Aviation Administration, 163 people suffered "serious turbulence injuries" on flights to or from US airports between 2009 and 2022. What creates air turbulence? There can be different causes, and one major one is the jet stream, says Jens Heider, an aeronautical engineer and pilot with the German aviation and space centre (DLR). "These are strong fields of wind in the upper troposphere, 8-12 kilometres high and which, depending on the region and season, can vary greatly in strength." Jet streams emerge from horizontal temperature differences in the atmosphere. Turbulence can be created in and around thunderstorm areas with their rising warm air and sinking cold air. When possible, pilots try to fly around them. Topography can also play a role. "Mountain chains can raise the entire air package," Heider explains. Research shows that the most turbulent air routes are located above mountains. "Regions over western ocean basins are hot spots for diagnosed clear air turbulence," the Reading University study authors write. "This is partly because jet streams tend to be fastest over the ocean, due to the low surface roughness compared to the land." The researchers also said it also partly came down to there being a "large zonal temperature contrast" between the ocean and continent. And what is clear air turbulence? And air pockets? This is turbulence that can't be seen with the naked eye, since it is located in cloud-free air. It is caused by the collision of significantly different air masses travelling at very different speeds. Heider says that in technical jargon, these are actually associated with jet streams. "But it's a question of definition." An air pocket is a rather scary moment when the airplane suddenly drops, Heider explains. "The plane is flying in an area where all around it, the air is sinking - and so the plane also sinks." Can an airplane withstand such stresses? The wings bend and the fuselage is shaken up. You might think that an airplane could break apart in strong turbulence. But Heider is reassuring on this, saying that in view of the strict and extremely security-driven construction regulations for modern planes, it is extremely unlikely. "According to everything we know so far about the forces that occur during turbulence, this can even be ruled out," the aeronautical engineer says. Can turbulence be avoided? The weather forecasts that pilots receive while preparing a flight, mean they know where possible turbulence can be expected. But, while thunderstorms and cloud formations with their expected strong winds can often be seen with control systems, this is not always the case with clear-air turbulence. New apps might help in this area. If the sheer thought of turbulence is triggering panic and nausea in you, then you can look up your flight's turbulence forecast on Turbli.com. You enter your departure and destination airports and see how rough the flight is likely to be. The website, which is completely free, gives you a graph of the flight's predicted turbulence from take-off to landing, while also giving a forecast of any delays that headwinds might cause. The site has a map of turbulence around the world and where they occur depending on altitude. According to the website's operator, fluid mechanics engineer Ignacio Gallego-Marcos, the forecasts are based on weather models from the US weather agency NOAA and the UK's Met Office weather service. How do pilots respond to turbulence? Pilots are trained in handling turbulence, and they can at any time - even if the plane is on autopilot - intervene manually. Other cockpit crews flying the same air space can then react, and as far as possible and coordinating with air traffic control, try to fly around critical areas. This can mean flying higher or lower, or even choosing a different route, according to the Federal Association of the German Air Transport Industry. And what if the plane still flies into turbulence? If pilots are expecting turbulence, they will turn on the fasten seatbelt signs. They might also ask the cabin crew to interrupt their service. "If you have flown into turbulence and people are still standing in the aisle, it is too late," Heider says. That means that prevention is the best measure for pilots and crew to take - but also passengers. Because turbulence sometimes is heavy and comes without any warning, the general rule is, except when getting up to stretch one's legs or go to the toilet, always to remain seated with the seatbelt fastened - even when the seatbelt sign is off. Bumpy terrain means a bumpy flight: Research shows that the most turbulent air routes are located above mountains. Jan Woitas/dpa Should I bring sick bags? Turbli.com gives a turbulence forecast for your flight. Turbli.com/dpa NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) While the heat is the dominating weather headline right now, storm chances return to our region starting Wednesday and lasting well into the holiday weekend. At times, some severe thunderstorms will be possible. Wednesday, the Storm Prediction Center has issued a Marginal Risk (level 1/5) for Murfreesboro and areas north and west, and a Slight Risk (level 2/5) for portions of Tennessees Benton, Carroll, Henry, & Stewart counties, along with Kentuckys Christian, Logan, Muhlenberg, Simpson, Todd, Trigg, & Warren counties. The biggest threats with these storms are heavy rain and wind. There is a low end hail threat, and the tornado threat, although very low, is not zero. Abnormally hot summer even more likely in latest NOAA forecast: Does that include Tennessee? Several waves of showers and storms look to develop. The first wave is overnight into Wednesday morning. At this time, we expect this round of rain & storms to weaken. If rain holds, it would be possible west of I-65. Then, in the afternoon, storms start to fire up again and a few of these could be on the stronger side and impact the ride home from work. By early evening, the storms will weaken. Want the forecast delivered directly to your inbox? Sign up for the News 2 Forecast Newsletter Rainfall amounts from the storms on Wednesday and early Thursday morning will be highest further west. Amounts will range from 0.5 near the Plateau to up to 2 for our far western counties. 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. 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 WKRN News 2. KYODO NEWS - May 21, 2024 - 22:39 | All, Japan, World At least four Japanese nationals in New Caledonia have evacuated with support from Australia, a Japanese government source said Tuesday, as deadly violence has continued in the French Pacific territory for more than a week. Earlier in the day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a press conference that the government will respond "appropriately" to the New Caledonia crisis while considering the wishes of Japanese nationals who intend to stay there. Around 300 Japanese citizens, including about 50 temporary visitors, are in New Caledonia, according to a Foreign Ministry official. A government source said it is likely that all those who departed aboard an Australian airplane were tourists. Earlier Tuesday, Australia and New Zealand pledged to evacuate their nationals in New Caledonia after France declared an emergency in the territory last week. The riots broke out in the capital Noumea on May 13 as lawmakers in Paris debated constitutional changes that would expand the electorate in New Caledonia's provincial elections to French residents who have lived in the archipelago for 10 years. Opponents fear the move would strengthen the position of pro-France politicians by diluting the vote of the indigenous Kanak Melanesian population. The unrest has resulted in numerous fires and widespread looting of businesses and public property. (KRON) An alleged thief is facing theft and drug charges, according to the Colma Police Department. At 9:19 p.m. on Saturday, while Colma police were conducting a foot patrol in a business on Colma Boulevard, the officers noticed a man leaving without paying for the merchandise he was carrying. Photo: Colma Police Department Pixar layoffs to impact 175 employees, reports say According to police, the loss prevention officers attempted to stop the suspect. The suspect continued to flee on foot. Officers subsequently left the store to detain the suspect. Despite the suspect trying to escape, officers soon detained him. Suspected methamphetamine was located, police said. The suspect was identified as 28-year-old San Francisco resident Enrique Miranda. He reportedly stole approximately $57.94 worth of merchandise, according to police. Miranda was arrested and booked into the San Mateo County Jail for resisting arrest, being in possession of a controlled substance and petty theft. 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 KRON4. Shelter pup hours away from being euthanized gets a new life with the bomb squad One lucky pup is getting a second chance to live a bountiful life helping others after being rescued from a Maryland shelter mere hours before he was supposed to be euthanized. His name is Boomer, and thanks to the Anne Arundel County Police, he is now a good boy who is training to detect explosives in suspicious packages. From the shelter to servicemeet Boomer, Prince Georges County Fire/EMS Departments newest member of our Office of the Fire Marshal! Boomer, a two-year old German Shepherd, was rescued from an Anne Arundel County Animal Shelter and adopted into our Explosive Detection K9 Unit, the Official Prince Georges County Fire/EMS Department Facebook page captioned in a video May 19 featuring the dog. According to WRAL News, while the Anne Arundel County Police Department is responsible for rescuing Boomer, they didnt have room for him so Prince George County stepped in and secured a spot for him with its bomb squad. The police saw something special in Boomer, NBC reported, and thought he would make a good addition to their K-9 unit after first meeting him. The pup has been training with the department the past three months. Anne Arundel County is about a 30-mile drive south of Baltimore. Loving dog destroys own tail while stressed at shelter. Sandor needs a new home fast Man given six months to live has dying wish: To find a loving home for his dog Senior dog was confused after longtime owners surrendered her. Then came good news Sheriff transfer of immigrants to ICE doubled, Fresno report says. Heres what we know The number of people transferred by the Fresno County Sheriffs Office to immigration officers more than doubled in 2023 over the previous year, according to numbers presented on Tuesday. Sheriff John Zanoni said deputies transferred 39 people during 2023, when his office received a total of 204 holds requested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, commonly called ICE. There were 25,810 bookings in all of last year. There were 18 transfers to ICE in 2022, according to last years report to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors. Zanoni said no interviews by ICE were conducted within any sheriffs office facilities in 2023, but the Sheriffs Office has drawn scrutiny in recent years by critics who say law enforcement officials have reported misleading numbers. Zanoni stressed 13 of the 39 people transferred were accused of felonies, including sex crimes and drug offenses. Thirty of the alleged crimes were against people, his report said. That totals the 39 that were turned over to make our community safer, Zanoni said Tuesday as he spoke to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors. County law enforcement agencies across the state have been required since 2018 to annually report how they interact with ICE under the TRUTH Act. Critics of the sheriffs department argued the Fresno County law enforcement agency has not been forthcoming with all of its dealings with ICE. Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni, center, answers question during a press conference along the Kings River as the Fresno County Sheriffs Office reinforces the closure of recreation along local rivers due to flood water Thurday afternoon, May 25, 2023 near Centerville. The Sheriffs Office has failed to respond to requests in a timely manner from the ACLU of Northern California, according to Maria Romani, director of that branch of the ACLUs Immigrants Rights Program. The ACLU has waited for three years for records it requested from the Sheriffs Office in March 2021, Romani said. This lack of complete transparency is unacceptable, she said. The community deserves to know the full scope of the Fresno County Sheriffs Offices interactions with ICE to ensure that it is complying with the state sanctuary law. The sheriffs office should be responding promptly to records request, according to Romani, as well as reporting how many emails it exchanged with ICE, any changes the office has made to its policies around the sanctuary law and the amount of money allocated to immigration enforcement. Other San Joaquin Valley counties last reported fewer transfers to ICE than Fresno County. Kern reported one transfer to ICE in 2022, while Tulare and Kings each reported six. Madera, Merced, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties all reported zero transfers in 2022. It has been common for San Joaquin Valley sheriffs offices to under-report the number of transfers to ICE, according to a report by the ACLU of Northern California in 2022. More than 1,000 immigrants in the San Joaquin Valley have been transferred to ICE since state law has prohibited local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration agents. Controversy on past reported ICE transfers Former Sheriff Margaret Mims said her office transferred 44 people to ICE in 2021 and 47 in 2020, which was a significant increase in the numbers previously reported to the public and to the California Attorney Generals Office. The higher numbers followed accusations that law enforcement around the Valley had been under-reporting their interactions with ICE. Officials with the Fresno County Sheriffs Office said they transferred four people to federal immigration officials in 2018. A Fresno Bee story later revealed figures from ICE showed agents arrested more than 100 at Fresno County Jail. Another Fresno Bee story found the Sheriffs Office allowed federal immigration agents to enter a secure room at the county jail to make arrests, which were not reported as transfers. The Fresno County Sheriffs Department at 2200 Fresno St. is shown in a photo dated March 2, 2021. Sheriff Waybourn says Tarrant doesnt need jailers in SWAT-like gear to keep inmates safe Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn, right, and Public Safety Regional Director Jeremy Sherrod stand by while the media is shown the video of events leading up to Anthony Johnson Jr.s death while in custody. Two employees were fired earlier in the day for a technique used thats not allowed and violates training protocols. Read the latest in our coverage of the death of Anthony Johnson Jr. and other issues in Tarrant County jail. Sheriff Bill Waybourn responded to questions Tuesday from Tarrant County commissioners about why the jail does not have a special response team of officers with tactical gear who could respond to emergency situations. The topic was raised by Democratic Commissioner Alisa Simmons, who has been a critic of Waybourn and conditions at the jail. The April 21 death of inmate Anthony Johnson Jr. has brought further scrutiny to jail operations and policies. Waybourn told the commissioners that his department focuses on deescalating emergency situations in the jail rather than using heavily armored officers like those who respond to riots. The sheriff gave a presentation that showed an example of a jailer in Bexar County who is part of a special response team with tactical uniforms. Waybourn said that if officers dressed this way, it would intimidate inmates. Waybourn said he used Bexar as an example because it is similar size to Tarrant. There have been over 80 deaths at the Bexar jail since 2017, and 64 in Tarrant over the same period. More top stories from our newsroom: Palo Pinto state park opening delayed, but we got a sneak peek Tarrant inmate has mental capacity of a child. His mother is begging DA to get him care. Are those people selling puppies in parking lots breaking Texas law? [Get our breaking news alerts.] Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, a Democrat, could not be immediately reached for comment. Waybourn then showed photos of two officers from his department who do not wear tactical gear. He called the pictured jailers superheros and said that they were the inmates advocate. Waybourn said the jail is ahead of best practices by focusing on deescalation tactics. He showed footage of a skirmish at the jail where he said inmates rushed to defend the jailer. Democratic Commissioner Roy Brooks agreed with Waybourn that he did not want officers dressed like stormtroopers in the jail. But, he said, Tarrants model of deescalation requires training on techniques. Brooks also called on the Sheriffs Office to stop using pepper spray. One death related to pepper spray is one too many. Weve had more than one, Brooks said. Waybourn said nobody has died from pepper spray. In 2022, a Star-Telegram investigation found that inmate Robert Miller was pepper-sprayed at least three times by jailers at close range before he died. His cause of death was listed as natural due to a sickle cell crisis, which his family and several experts told the Star-Telegram was impossible. Johnsons death in April remains under investigation, including the autopsy, but the Sheriffs Office has released video showing what happened in the jail. The 31-year-old former Marine fought jailers during a routine inspection and was pepper sprayed. Two jailers were fired last week for violating policies in restraining a handcuffed Johnson on the ground with a knee on his back. Simmons, the commissioner who questioned Waybourn about the lack of a special response team, said Tarrant should establish one like in Dallas Countys jail. She said a commissioner in Dallas County told her their team has reduced jail deaths. Simmons also asked if a crisis intervention unit responded to the altercation with Johnson. Waybourn responded that every one of those jailers was trained in crisis intervention. Republican Commissioner Manny Ramirez thanked Waybourn for the presentation and said he was implementing a 21st century model of policing. County Judge Tim OHare said he has never known an elected official with as much integrity as Waybourn. Waybourn added during the presentation that the jail passed a Texas Commission on Jail Standards inspection with flying colors. An eastbound lane of the Sherman Minton Bridge is open as of Tuesday morning after delays in an ongoing renovation project, local officials say. The Sherman Minton Bridge undergoes repairs. Tuesday, March 12, 2024 Sherman Minton Bridge: Louisville Sherman Minton Bridge reopening delayed until Friday, officials say The bridge was originally set to reopen on Monday after all eastbound lanes were closed for repairs to the lower bridge approaches on May 6. The Indiana Department of Transportation posted an update on Sunday night saying that a portion of eastbound Interstate 64 would remain closed until 5 a.m. Friday. The Sherman Minton Renewal Project announced Monday afternoon that delays were due to "required maintenance of traffic adjustments" and one lane would reopen overnight. Danny Corbin, INDOT Project Manager, said, "We regret any inconvenience to drivers caused by the delay of the reopening. Crews are working to open the single lane as soon as possible. The remaining two lanes will be opened Friday morning providing three open lanes for eastbound traffic through Memorial Day weekend. Traffic backs on up the ramp from I-264 to the I-64 west bound near the Sherman Minton Bridge early Monday afternoon. The bridge had been shut down for nearly a week before reopening early Aug. 7, 2023 The bridge was the first interstate bridge in Louisville when it opened in 1962 and carries about 70,000 vehicles each day. The five-phase renovation process which began in 2021 is intended to create "long-term repairs needed to extend the life of the bridge" up to 30 years, according to the project website. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Sherman Minton Bridge reopens one eastbound lane I will shoot this school up: Tyrone Middle School student sends mass shooting threats to teachers, deputies say TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) A 13-year-old boy was arrested Monday after he send multiple mass shooting threats to teachers in Pinellas County, according to deputies. The Pinellas County Sheriffs Office said the boy was a student at Tyrone Middle School who used another students FOCUS account to send threats to several teachers. Ex-UFC fighter Geane Herrera killed in Gandy motorcycle crash: reports Deputies said these threats were laced with profanities while saying, I will shoot this school up I got 5 glocks and ak-47. When detectives found the student, he admitted to sending the messages but said he was just joking. WFLA The detectives, who didnt share the teenagers sense of humor, took him into custody on one count of written threats to kill or conduct a mass shooting and one count of aggravated stalking of a minor child. The sheriffs office said if you know of any threats to school safety, you can call 727-582-6200 or use the FortifyFL app to send information. 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 WFLA. The desperate supporters of the embattled ShotSpotter gunshot detection system have clung to one last argument in the hopes of keeping the expensive technology online in Chicago. As they push back against Mayor Brandon Johnsons plan to rid the city of the around $9-million-a-year policing tool and aldermen prepare Wednesday to vote on whether to take some control of the program they repeatedly argue ShotSpotter helps keep gunshot victims alive by getting them critical aid more quickly, even when no one calls 911. The real measure of ShotSpotters value is in the stories of lives saved, wrote Ralph Clark, CEO of ShotSpotters parent company, SoundThinking, in a Chicago Defender op-ed. This focus on how many people ShotSpotter has helped is a recent emphasis for backers of the technology, who long concentrated mainly on it helping police lock up offenders and reduce crime. Both arguments have relied largely on anecdotal evidence, and high-profile studies have called into question the crimefighting aspect. But as the City Council decides if it will take the power to cancel ShotSpotter out of Johnsons hands, new Chicago Police Department data paints a clearer picture of how often the sensors get gunshot victims potentially life-saving help. Since January 2021, police have rendered aid to 103 gunshot victims after receiving a ShotSpotter alert and no related 911 calls, according to data compiled by the Police Department and shared with aldermen. Rendered aid refers to a wide range of first-aid from wound dressing to tourniquets and chest seals but does not mean the victim ultimately survived their wounds. Still, for ShotSpotters City Council champion, Ald. David Moore, 17th, the people who got help from police after a ShotSpotter alert justify the technologys steep cost. What price is somebodys life worth? Moore said when asked about the data Monday. The Auburn Gresham alderman flagged other data not being captured to explain his support for ShotSpotter, such as the number of retaliatory crimes he said are headed off by police responding to shooting scenes. In addition to giving council members a vote over whether or not ShotSpotter should be canceled, Moores order would compel police to collect more data on the technologys utility. The order is set to finally face a vote Wednesday after being delayed by parliamentary maneuvers. CPDs analysis also determined police arrive at the scene quicker to ShotSpotter calls. Since 2018, officers responded on average in about eight minutes when alerted by ShotSpotter and 10 minutes when alerted by both ShotSpotter and a 911 call. When no ShotSpotter alert was made, police responded in 10 1/2 minutes, according to CPD. The measures rely on on-scene timestamps made by police, a metric that could be affected by officers marking their arrivals to scenes too early or too late. The numbers are not surprising to Ald. William Hall, 6th, a vocal backer of Johnsons plan to cancel ShotSpotter. More lives would be saved if the city instead invested the ShotSpotter money on addressing the root causes of violence and used technology that leads to more convictions of criminal shooters, he said. We need justice technology. We dont just need something-has-gone-wrong technology, Hall said, adding that he fears ShotSpotter leads people to communicate less with police. Do we want to be alerted when something goes wrong? Or do we want to invest in preventing things to get it right? According to CPDs recent analysis, during police responses prompted only by ShotSpotter alerts since 2018, officers have recovered 1,688 guns, made 1,645 arrests and collected 62,824 shell casings. Officers were far more likely to render aid, find shell casings, recover guns and make arrests when making responses that were prompted by both ShotSpotter alerts and 911 calls, the data showed. Hall, whose South Side ward had the most shooting victimizations of any through mid-April, is an outlier among the council leaders of high-shooting areas. Aldermen representing 14 of the 17 wards where people are most likely to be shot have said they want ShotSpotter to stay. ShotSpotters council supporters said they felt blindsided by Johnsons February announcement that the technology will cease operating in late September, despite ShotSpotter cancellation being a key campaign promise of his. The technology had long been in the crosshairs of activists in Chicago and other cities who linked it to over-policing and community profiling. But even amid the staunch pushback from allies and foes alike in an increasingly independent City Council, Johnson has stood firm behind his decision. Most aldermen supporting ShotSpotter say the mayor has not reached out to discuss why they want to keep the technology or work toward a compromise. I have been very clear, Johnson said at a mid-April news conference with CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling, who has previously voiced his support of ShotSpotter. What I have said repeatedly is it is going to take more than just technology. Investing in community is what my vision is for the people of Chicago. When technology works, we give strong consideration to it. When it misses the mark, then we have to reassess it, Johnson said. I did that. We made that decision. Johnson has gestured to a series of noteworthy studies questioning ShotSpotters effectiveness. A blistering and oft-cited 2021 report issued by the citys Office of Inspector General found ShotSpotter rarely leads to evidence of crimes, investigatory steps and gun recoveries. It also found the software tainted officers interactions with residents of neighborhoods most affected by gun violence and called for better data on the technology. The MacArthur Justice Center, currently suing the city to stop its use of ShotSpotter, called the tool inaccurate, expensive and dangerous in another 2021 study that showed many alerts turn up no evidence, but fruitlessly send police into Black and Latino communities while taking them away from other crimes. In February, a report by Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxxs office found ShotSpotter provides a minimal return on investment to the prosecution of gun violence. Of the over 160,000 ShotSpotter alerts sent over five years, just 1% resulted in an arrest, the report determined. If the order does pass Wednesday, it could face a legal challenge pitting Johnson against a council majority. Johnson said in April the order does not have legal standing, apparently because it violates his power over city contracts by requiring any decision to remove ShotSpotter face a full City Council vote. Theres no process by which you govern through a la carte. It just does not exist, he said. The Johnson administration did not immediately respond when asked to explain the legal reasoning Tuesday. jsheridan@chicagotribune.com AUSTIN (KXAN) Several weeks after starting as Austins next city manager, T.C. Broadnax sat down with KXAN to talk about his time in the role so far and what to expect from him in his first 100 days. Overall priorities Broadnax put out a memo with some of his priorities earlier this month, which included hiring a new police chief, getting a contract signed with the Austin Police Association and addressing Austins homelessness issues. Austin city manager prioritizes police chief hiring, new police contract I think that a city manager gleans from the council. And so understanding those priorities, whether its hiring a police chief, whether its really trying to figure out how we get better at our homelessness response systems, or get many of our capital projects moving, and understanding the gaps in other service delivery issues and challenges that the city has had thats how I came about that list, Broadnax said. Working with APD To address one of those priorities, the city recently launched its search for a new Chief of Police for the Austin Police Department. Applications will be accepted until June 10, unless the hiring agency sees a need to extend that deadline. We asked Broadnax what he wants from a permanent police chief and what the public engagement process will look like: Were going to be having a community survey that will ask the public, Hey, what do you want to see in your new police chief? What should their priorities be? Whats important to you? I think, going even further and to drill down, were actually doing a similar survey internally to the police department, Broadnax said. As for what Broadnax himself hopes to see: transparency, an understanding of the department and working to get the best out of the men and women in the police force. That includes improving morale which will go hand-in-hand with incentivizing recruitment and retention, Broadnax said. We also asked the city manager what his conversations with union leaders, including the Austin Police Association, have been like so far: Well, they want whats best for the people that they represent. And oddly, those things marry up with what I expect and what I would want from the people that work for me in the city. And so I have a vested interest in every employee, whether sworn or civilian. And so I think we want the same things, Broadnax said. Staff changes The city manager announced Monday, he is bringing two executives from Dallas to Austin to fill available positions. We asked about those appointments and if there would be any further staff changes: Im excited about both of those appointments, Broadnax said. Were going through a few more processes. Obviously, there are some vacant positions at many levels in the organization, so I dont have any specific individuals that I am looking to or for as it relates to any new positions that are coming about. But I am still learning and understanding the team that Ive got and finding a way to assess that talent as well as assess what were doing, and Ill make those decisions as I see fit in the future. First Austin City Council meeting Hundreds of speakers showed up to Thursdays Austin City Council meeting as the body looked to make major Land Development Code changes. Council listened to the public from 10 a.m. Thursday until early the following morning. After 14 hours of public comment, Austin City Council passes HOME part 2 We asked Broadnax about his first meeting on the dais with the Austin City Council: It was interesting. I will tell you, I think not having been here as it relates to all of the breadcrumbs that led to that meeting, for me it was telling just one how engaged the residents are and two how important the issues particularly around land use and zoning are, he said. Overall, what have you heard from the public so far? Broadnax says hes met with city council members, unions and city staff and heard from the public both in his hiring process and in some of his early days as city manager. All the conversations have been forward-looking, not looking in the rearview mirror about what hasnt happened, what didnt happen the correct way. Its really about how do we find ways to get where we all want to go and bring people along? Broadnax said. Im just looking forward to continually working in that type of environment and working with the community and then working with my team to figure out how we execute many of the things weve heard outside of City Hall, he said. 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 KXAN Austin. The International Criminal Court was founded on the notions of impartiality and independence. Karim Khan, its chief prosecutor, might therefore have been expected to move particularly cautiously in appointing a panel of experts as he weighed what action to take against Hamas and Israel over the October 7 attacks and Israels retaliatory bombing of Gaza. His subsequent decision to pursue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leaders, has proved explosive. The move has attracted a barrage of disapproval led by Joe Biden and pressing questions about the courts processes and future, triggered in part by concerns over whether the experts Khan called on were truly impartial. Those concerns may be given succour by the revelation that several members of the panel, which is populated by a gaggle of British human rights lawyers including Amal Clooney, have publicly spoken out against Israel in the past. This, claim the courts critics, indicates a verdict first way of working, in which at least some of those involved in the process were already convinced that Israel has been guilty of war crimes. Among those whose remarks have raised eyebrows is Baroness Helena Kennedy KC, a founding member of Doughty Street Chambers renowned for her expertise in criminal law. Karim Khan is the chief prosecutor of the ICC - Reuters Within weeks of Hamas murderous onslaught last October, Kennedy warned Israel was overstepping in its response, accusing it of breaching international law by cutting off critical water supplies to Gaza as part of its complete siege of the coastal enclave.Water is a basic human right and its denial violates international law. It is a war crime, she told Prospect Magazine on October 24. Israel has a right to self-defence. But it has to be proportionate and in accordance with international law, Kennedy added, defending her stance as neither pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian, but instead pro-human rights. Shortly afterwards, another member of Khans advisory panel spoke out against Israels offensive and called for an immediate ceasefire. In an open letter published on November 18, Danny Friedman KC accused the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) of having run roughshod over the laws of war. Israels response to the attack on its territory has involved catastrophic mass fatality and untold human suffering of Palestinians not only as a result of aerial and ground bombardment, but through, among other features, cessation of basic sustenance and amenities, destruction of medical facilities, and forced movement of populations within the blockaded geography of the Gaza strip, he said. These are also grave war crimes. They must be characterised as such notwithstanding any continuing other crimes upon Israelis, foremost of which is the continuing and agonising incommunicado detention of Israeli hostages. Friedman, of Matrix Chambers, added: I make the case for a ceasefire not because I am against Israel. I am pro-Israel, but I am also pro-Palestine. The pairs remarks came months before the International Court Of Justice ruled in January that there was not enough evidence to substantiate such weighty charges, stopping short of ordering Israel to halt its offensive but demanding its leaders act to prevent genocide unfolding in Gaza. While other members of Khans panel such as American-Israeli Judge Theodor Meron CMG and Clooney have not been similarly outspoken on the war, the ICCs critics have highlighted their past positions on issues concerning Israel as problematic when considered against the courts clearly stated aim of impartiality. Meron, 94, has for years disputed the legality of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. A Holocaust survivor, he was born in Poland before moving to what was then known as British Mandate Palestine aged 15 in 1945. Some 20 years later, while serving as a legal adviser to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1967, Meron counselled against allowing the construction of settlements in territories taken by Israel during the Six-Day War. He has remained publicly opposed to settlement building since. Clooney, meanwhile, is known to have in 2014 turned down a UN offer to investigate possible war crimes by Israel in Gaza, saying she was too busy to take on the work. She did, however, issue a statement which appeared to prejudge the investigation by calling for accountability for crimes that have been committed. Amal Clooney turned down an offer in 2014 from the UN to investigate potential war crimes committed by Israel - AFP The incidents have led observers to question Khans decision-making in calling on the experts he did. One senior international lawyer said: Khan said this was an impartial, independent and objective panel set up to review the evidence. So why did he include in the panel at least two people who had already expressed a very clear view on the issues to which the evidence relates? Since when do independent and impartial experts assisting a judicial authority do their own comms with op-eds and press releases? Kennedy was giving interviews about Gaza while sitting on this panel. The problem is that campaigners are not the right people to do impartial, independent and objective reviews of potentially criminal evidence. Some of these people should have never been asked and, if asked, they should have declined. The whole thing is doing huge damage to the ICC. The Telegraph contacted the panel, which was supported by two academic advisers, but it refused to comment. However, in an op-ed published in the Financial Times on Monday, the panels members, which also include Sir Adrian Fulford PC, a former ICC judge, and Elizabeth Wilmshurst CMG KC, who resigned from the Foreign Office on the eve of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, defended their credentials and findings. As lawyers specialised in international law hailing from diverse personal backgrounds, we felt we had a duty to accept the invitation to provide an impartial and independent legal opinion based on evidence, they said. We were selected because of our expertise in public international law, international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law, and, in the case of two of us, experience as former judges of international criminal tribunals, they added. Our common goal is advancing accountability and we have reached our conclusions based on an assessment of the warrant applications against an objective legal standard. We have reached these conclusions unanimously. And we believe it is important to publish them given the extent to which discourse has been politicised, disinformation has been rife and international media has been denied access to the front lines. Khan himself said on Monday that he had applied for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for crimes including wilful killing, extermination and/or murder, and starvation during the war in Gaza. He accused Israel of having committed crimes against humanity, and said it had carried out a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population. Benjamin Netanyahu Khan also said the leaders of Hamas, including Qatar-based Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, its Gaza chief, bear criminal responsibility for atrocities committed by the terror group during its deadly October 7 rampage, including the taking of hostages, rape and torture.International law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all, he said, adding no one can act with impunity. A panel of judges at the ICC now will consider whether to issue the arrest warrants he has requested. While the US and Israel are not signatories to the courts Rome Statute, many Western nations are, meaning the outcome could yet have profound implications for Netanyahu and Gallant by effectively rendering them unable to visit allies without risking arrest. The backlash from several such countries has been fierce, with Biden condemning Khans move as outrageous, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak branding it deeply unhelpful and Germanys foreign ministry warning of a false impression of equivalence created by the simultaneous application for arrest warrants for Hamas leaders and Israeli officials.Let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence none between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security, Biden said. Brett D. Schaefer, a senior research fellow in international regulatory affairs at the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at The Heritage Foundation, said the furore was a sign of a failing court. The ICC seems to be better at making a splash than actually making demonstrable achievements, he told The Telegraph. For instance, it made a splash about announcing a warrant against [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. But Putin does not seem to be deterred. The court does not seem to be all that instrumental or influential in dissuading countries like China from committing crimes against humanity, genocide, or war crimes. And I think that there is now ample reason to question whether the court is actually fit for purpose. It hasnt proven to be very effective, but it has been very expensive Its [now] trying to justify its mandate and justify its existence. 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. KANSAS CITY, Mo. In honor of National Barbecue Month and Small Business Month, Slaps BBQ in Kansas City, Kansas will be hosting a free barbecue giveaway this week. Heres everything you need to know: KCK Taco Trail unveiled its new mascot, and they want your name ideas: Slaps BBQ is partnering with Verizon on Wednesday to offer the first 100 customers a free barbecue plate from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., and no purchases are necessary. The Kansas City-based restaurant was founded in 2013 by brothers Mike and Joe Pearce who found their success on the reality TV cooking show BBQ Pitmasters. This exposure paved the way for the two brothers who officially opened in June 2014, and ever since, they have quickly gained popularity, often selling out each day due to their commitment to serving fresh barbecue. Thirty Seconds to Mars announced July tour stop at Azura Amphitheater Slaps BBQ is located at 553 Central Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas. For more information about business hours or menu options, go to the website at slapsbbqkc.com. 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 FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. KYODO NEWS - May 21, 2024 - 19:42 | World, All, Japan China expressed Tuesday its "firm opposition" to Japan and the United States congratulating Taiwan President Lai Ching-te on his inauguration, with Beijing's envoy to Tokyo earlier warning that Japanese supporters of the island's independence would be "led into a pit of fire." In response, Japan has protested to China through diplomatic channels over the comments made by Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Jianghao following Lai's swearing-in ceremony on Monday, calling them "extremely inappropriate," according to a government source. China, which regards the self-ruled island as its own, also lodged complaints with Britain and South Korea for congratulating Lai. Lawmakers and others from Japan, the United States, Britain and South Korea were among over 500 foreign guests who attended the inauguration ceremony. China strongly opposes countries with which it has diplomatic relations conducting official exchanges with Taiwan. It has particularly condemned Lai, who heads the island's ruling, independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, as a "die-hard secessionist" and "troublemaker." A total of 31 Japanese lawmakers took part in the ceremony, one of the largest delegations from Tokyo to have attended such an event, with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi expressing hope to further deepen Japan-Taiwan friendship at a press conference. Wu claimed in a meeting Monday at the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo that Japan "openly supported" Taiwan separatist forces with the dispatch of the lawmakers, which sent "an extremely wrong political signal," according to the embassy. "If Japan ties itself onto the chariot of splitting China, the Japanese people will be led into a pit of fire," he said. In April last year, Wu similarly told a press conference that if Japan linked Taiwan to its own security, the Japanese people "would be dragged into the fire." His remarks at that time also triggered Tokyo's protest. On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Beijing has made "a serious protest" to the United States over Secretary of State Antony Blinken's congratulatory message sent to Lai as it was a "severe violation" of the one-China principle. Any attempt to endanger Beijing's sovereignty and territorial integrity "will be met with China's resolute response," Wang warned. In the message, Blinken said Washington looks forward to working with Lai to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. Communist-led China and Taiwan have been governed separately since they split as the result of a civil war in 1949. Beijing aims to bring the island into its fold, by force if necessary. Related coverage: China says Taiwan leader's inaugural speech sent "dangerous signal" (Bloomberg) -- Lawmakers in Slovakia unanimously backed a parliamentary resolution condemning the shooting of Prime Minister Robert Fico, an effort to dial back political recriminations in the country after the May 15 assassination attempt. Most Read from Bloomberg The united vote on Tuesday offered a signal of reconciliation after leaders of Ficos coalition lashed out at the opposition and media, while the nations incoming and outgoing presidents failed to a convene a roundtable that would include all political parties. The resolution calls on political players and media not to spread hatred toward the government as well as toward other legitimately elected constitutional officials and public figures, as the outcome can be such hateful criminal acts. Fico is conscious and communicative as he recovers from several gunshot wounds in an intensive-care unit in the central Slovak city of Banska Bystrica, his office said Tuesday. The premier, 59, underwent a CT scan and further action is being taken to improve his health condition, the statement said. The first such attempt on a European leaders life in more than two decades, the attack at close range by a 71-year-old assailant left Fico with life-threatening injuries. The Slovak leader was shot as he approached a crowd of people in the town of Handlova northeast of the capital Bratislava after a government meeting. Read More: Slovaks Probe Possible Broader Plot Behind Premiers Shooting Beyond the resolution, ruling party lawmakers and ministers have continued to point the blame at critical coverage by media, whom they blame for the suspects political radicalization. Defense Minister Robert Kalinak, a close ally whom Fico entrusted with leading the government temporarily, repeatedly accused the media of vilifying the premier. A day after the shooting, Interior Minister Matus Sutaj-Estok said the suspect was responding to critical coverage of Ficos decision to halt military aid to Ukraine, overhaul public media and abolish a special prosecutors office. The shooter was interested in politics he followed news you wrote, the minister told reporters in Bratislava. Since taking office in October, Fico has drawn protests nationwide from thousands who accuse him of steering the country away from the European mainstream. For his part, the premier has made a habit of attacking the media proposing legislation to wrest control over public broadcasting and radio and criticizing migration and LGBTQ rights. Opposition leaders have warned the government not to exploit the attack to target criticism and cement control over Slovakias institutions. But Tuesdays resolution was at least a first step toward de-escalation, as President-elect Peter Pellegrini and the outgoing head of state, Zuzana Caputova, work to bring politicians together. This sets the stage for the outgoing and newly-elected presidents to once again reach out to the leaders of parliamentary parties to meet at the Presidential Palace, Branislav Grohling, chairman of opposition party Freedom and Solidarity, told journalists in parliament. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. People arrive with flowers outside the F. D. Roosevelt University Hospital, where Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot and injured, is being treated, in Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, Saturday, May 18, 2024. The man accused of attempting to assassinate Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico made his first court appearance Saturday as the nation's leader remained in serious condition recovering from surgery after surviving multiple gunshots, Slovak state media said. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) Slovakias Parliament voted unanimously on Tuesday to condemn politically motivated violence following an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico, who is recovering from multiple wounds from last weeks shooting, hospital officials said. Fico remains conscious and communicative" and "further actions are being taken to improve his health condition," said the hospital treating him in the central city of Banska Bystrica. The hospital says that Fico, 59, is no longer in life-threating condition after being shot in the abdomen as he greeted supporters last Wednesday in the town of Handlova, about 140 kilometers (85 miles) northeast of the capital, Bratislava. Fico underwent five-hour surgery immediately after the shooting, followed by another two-hour operation last Friday. Ficos populist government has pursued policies that prompted thousands of people to take to the streets to protest, including efforts to overhaul public broadcasting, a move critics said would give the government full control of public television and radio. That, and plans to amend the penal code to eliminate a special anti-graft prosecutor, have led opponents to worry that Fico would lead Slovakia down a more autocratic path. All 130 lawmakers present in Parliament on Tuesday voted to approve a resolution that calls on political parties, civic organizations and media to respect the results of parliamentary elections and refrain from spreading hatred against the democratically elected government. A court in the town of Pezinok on Saturday ordered the suspect in the attack, who is charged with attempted murder, to remain behind bars. Government officials originally said they believed it was a politically motivated attack committed by a lone wolf, but announced on Sunday that a third party might have been involved in acting for the benefit of the perpetrator. Suspect accused mua J.C. is of attempting to assasinate Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico is getting transported to the specialised criminal court (TS) in Pezinok. The prosecutor is proposing detention for the suspect. The TS will decide on the motion to take the accused into custody. Martin Baumann/TASR/dpa Slovakian lawmakers on Tuesday voted unanimously to support a declaration condemning political violence, six days after an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico. All 130 members of the National Council of Slovakia present in the chamber approved the statement, which said the attack was "obviously committed for political motives and deserves the strongest condemnation." Fico was severely wounded in the shooting on Wednesday, which was carried out by a 71-year-old identified as Juraj C. On Monday, the hospital in the city of Banska Bystrica where Fico was recovering said his life was no longer in danger but that he could not yet be moved back to Bratislava. While government figures praised the unanimous vote on Tuesday, signs of political tensions also started to re-emerge. A round table planned for Tuesday featuring all parliamentary parties planned by outgoing President Zuzana Caputova and her successor Peter Pellegrini was cancelled. Caputova and Pellegrini, who is due to take office in mid-June after winning the presidential run-off election on April 6, had sought to use the meeting to reduce political tensions between the governing and opposition parties. Pellegrini said in a video message that "the time is apparently not yet ripe for this," and added that some politicians had "shown that they are not capable of self-reflection even after such a tragedy." Defence Minister Robert Kalinak, who is currently standing in for Fico as first deputy prime minister, also made a gesture of reconciliation to his political rivals, apologizing for using inappropriate language. Video above: Massive alligator blocks MacDill Air Force plane, fights with FWC officers TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) A small airplane was forced to make an emergency landing on a Florida beach Monday evening. According to the Walton County Sheriffs Office, the Cessna aircraft landed near Beach Drive East on Miramar Beach after reporting engine failure. This St. Pete Beach bar is one of the best in Florida, according to Southern Living No injuries were reported on the beach or in the aircraft. It is unknown how many passengers were aboard the plane when it landed. A photo posted to the sheriffs offices Facebook shows beachgoers crowding the plane as it sits on the sandy white beach. Credit: Walton County Sheriffs Office 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. 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 WFLA. Well give it to Bridget Ziegler: It takes a lot of guts yet little intellectual candor to continue to push anti-LGBTQ stances while recently released police records describe her sending her husband to bars to secretly take photos of women the couple might be interested in. Ziegler is a member of the Sarasota County School Board and co-founder of Moms for Liberty the parental rights organization that egged on lawmakers to pass laws like the one critics call Dont say gay banning classroom instructions on sexual orientation and gender identity. Her husband, a former Florida GOP chair, was accused last year of raping a woman with whom the Zieglers previously had consensual sex with, according to police records. The Sarasota Police Department opted against filing charges against Christian Ziegler, but more notes from their investigation were released last week. The Zieglers are suing to block the release of additional records. Those notes arent just salacious details about a couples private sex life. They describe behavior that, if true, appears to be downright creepy, especially coming from people who purport to uphold high moral standards by pushing policies that target people who dont fall in line with their world view. A memo written by a police investigator states numerous text messages exchanged between Bridget and Christian Ziegler show they were on prowl for a female. Bridget Ziegler directed her husband to go to different bars to find a woman they would both like. During these conversations Christian is secretly taking photographs of women in the bars and sending them to Bridget asking her if she wants this one or that one, the memo states. Bridget is telling him to pretend to take pictures of his beer, so they dont see him taking pictures of them. She tells him Dont come home until your dk is wet. There is nothing wrong with Bridget Ziegler having sex with women or engaging in sexual threesomes, as long as they are consensual. The Ziegler debacle should serve as a lesson to the self-appointed guardians of traditional values in Florida that peoples sexuality often falls outside the norm, no matter how much they try to push that simple fact of life out of public education. Despite all this, Bridget Ziegler has continued to soldier on the faithful cultural warrior that she is. Just earlier this month, she sponsored, and the Sarasota School Board adopted, a resolution to reject new federal protections against gender identity discrimination, putting the district at risk of losing about $50 million in federal funding, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported. Her profile on X, formerly known as Twitter, is also filled with anti-transgender rhetoric from her rants about a gender ideology cult to a photo of her posing in a T-shirt that reads, Real women arent men. Could Bridget Ziegler engage in sex with other women while also being opposed to giving transgender people visibility and rights? Sure. But its how she has used her very public platform to demonize a group of people that puts into question how much she and other politicians who jumped on the parental rights wagon truly believe their own cause. How much of their zealotry is genuine and how much of it is borne in this instance out of political expediency, a calculated move to stay relevant and pander to Gov. Ron DeSantis? DeSantis too was quick to latch onto the parental rights movement when it began gaining steam during the pandemic. Bridget Ziegler has faced calls to resign from her position on the Sarasota School Board. The Herald Editorial Board in December disagreed with the pressure campaign to make her leave her post given that she never faced criminal charges and that being a hypocrite doesnt necessarily disqualify one from holding elected office. If she chose to leave on her own volition, that would give DeSantis the opportunity to appoint her replacement. In a democracy, voters, not the governor, should decide the fate of her election office. Voters also should signal to the states Republican leaders that the vitriol and bigotry disguised as parental rights has run its course in Florida. Click here to send the letter. FILE - South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster answers questions about the 2024 General Assembly's session at a news conference on Monday, May 13, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed into law Tuesday the bill that bans gender-affirming care for transgender minors. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins, file) COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on Tuesday signed into law a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors. When the ink dried, South Carolina became the 25th state to restrict or ban such care for minors. The governor announced the signing on social media and said he would hold a ceremonial bill signing next week. The law bars health professionals from performing gender-transition surgeries, prescribing puberty blockers and overseeing hormone treatments for patients under 18. School principals or vice principals would have to notify parents or guardians if a child wanted to use a name other than their legal one, or a nickname or pronouns that did not match their sex assigned at birth. Groups that support LGBTQ+ rights said Tuesday that they are considering a lawsuit against the state. The bill was changed in the Senate to allow mental health counselors to talk about banned treatments and even suggest a place where they are legal. Doctors can also prescribe puberty blockers for some conditions for which they are prescribed such as when a child begins what is called precocious puberty as young as age 4. Groups including the Campaign for Southern Equality noted that the law takes effect immediately. The group is gathering resources to help families find any help they might need outside of South Carolina and most of the Southeast, which have similar bans. Healthcare is a human right and it breaks my heart to see lawmakers rip away life-affirming and often life-saving medical care from transgender youth in South Carolina. No one should be forced to leave their home state to access the care that they need and deserve," Uplift Outreach Center Executive Director Raymond Velazquez said in a statement after lawmakers passed the ban. Earlier this year, McMaster said he supported the proposal to keep our young people safe and healthy. If they want to make those decisions later when theyre adults, then thats a different story, but we must protect our young people from irreversible decisions," the governor said. As the bill advanced in the General Assembly, doctors and parents testified before House and Senate committees that people younger than 18 do not receive gender-transition surgeries in South Carolina and that hormone treatments begin only after extensive consultation with health professionals. They said the treatments can be lifesaving, allowing young transgender people to live more fulfilling lives. Research has shown that transgender youth and adults are prone to stress, depression and suicidal behavior when forced to live as the sex they were assigned at birth. Supporters of the bill have cited their own unpublished evidence that puberty blockers increase self-harm and can be irreversible. Groups that help transgender people promised to keep working even with the new law. To all of the young people in South Carolina and their parents who are reading this news and feeling fear for the future, please know: No law can change the fact that you are worthy of dignity, equality, joy, and respect," said Cristina Picozzi, executive director of the Harriet Hancock Center, an LGBTQ+ advocacy nonprofit. The Soviet Union's leading newspaper only mentioned D-Day in small print at the very top of its front page on June 7, 1944. Pravda When Russian President Vladimir Putin was not invited to participate in the 75th anniversary commemorations of D-Day held in France in 2019, he claimed it was not a problem because the Allied invasion of France on June 6, 1944, was not a game changer. As the United States, Britain, Canada, France and other nations commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day this year, Putin again will not attend, this time because of the aggressive war he has waged in Ukraine. But its worth recalling the actual history of how Soviet media reported on the Normandy invasion, in which masses of Allied troops stormed the beaches and began the process of retaking Europe from the Nazis. I study media and propaganda in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union in the 19th and 20th centuries. What Soviet citizens learned about D-Day was part of a carefully controlled media system. Soviet newspaper articles, political caricatures and radio reports recognized the significance of the opening of a second front in Europe, but downplayed its importance in the broader context of the war. They also reminded Soviet citizens that the invasion was long overdue. Not front-page news On the morning of June 7, 1944, the front page of the official Soviet Communist Party newspaper, called Pravda, meaning truth in Russian, only mentioned the D-Day invasion news in a small text box on the front page. Its main front-page articles were about improvements made to Soviet cities in the wake of Red Army victories and the ongoing military campaigns near Kishinev and Jassy now known as Chisinau, Moldova, and Iasi, Romania. Page two contained telegrams thanking Soviet dictator Josef Stalin for his support of children of front-line soldiers. That page also included the fifth installment of an ongoing series entitled The Road of Victory, about Red Army victories. Pravdas map of northern France, published on June 7, 1944. Pravda On page three came D-Day, in an article with the headline The Invasion of Europe Has Begun. The correspondent, Maj. Gen. Mikhail Galaktionov, reported that the Allies had undertaken a massive operation designed to liberate Western Europe from the Nazis, and concluded that the invasion of Europe is now taking place under unprecedented conditions in the history of warfare. The article was accompanied by a map of northern France complete with names that American readers would also soon learn: Cherbourg, Carentan, Arromanches and others. Pravdas report accurately linked the Normandy landings to the ongoing liberation of Italy and stated that the main concentration of Germanys army now found itself trying to defend Western Europe. Of course, as the newspaper report also correctly noted, the German army had been vastly depleted after three years of war on the Soviet-German front. A photo of Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was on page four, alongside other coverage of the second front in Europe. For Pravda, Allied forces attacking the defenses of Hitlers Atlantic Wall on the French coast was just one among many moments in a war Soviet readers knew all too well, from years of fighting on their own soil. The June 7, 1944, front page of the English-language Moscow News included a headline and a large article announcing the Allied invasion of Normandy. The Moscow News For the English-reading audience In the Moscow News, the Soviet governments English-language paper, D-Day figured much more prominently, though it had to share the limelight. A front-page article included a photo of Eisenhower. Allied Troops Land in Northern France, Take Invasion Beachheads was the boldest headline in the June 7, 1944. But it was printed alongside an article on the major Red Army victory at Jassy, Romania. Other front-page articles covered the successes of Soviet industry in winning the war, and how the capture of Rome by Allied forces represented a major military and political victory. A page-three article in the English-language paper stated that June 6, 1944, will go down in the history of World War II as a memorable date. K. Hofman, the reporter, cited Winston Churchills announcement of the operation, described how news of the assault flashed around the globe with the speed of lightning, and particularly praised Eisenhowers leadership. D-Day as reported in the Moscow News meant that German armies now faced a mortal threat of combined crushing blows by the Red Army from the East and the Allied armies from the West. A Meeting of War Experts, by Boris Efimov, published in Pravda, Oct. 6, 1942. Ne boltai! Collection, Prague A shift in tone The Soviet medias praise for both Churchill and Eisenhower might have taken some readers by surprise. The USSRs leaders, journalists and propagandists had been lambasting the Allies for their failure to open a second front against the Nazis in Europe ever since the Allies promised to do so in 1942. In an October 1942 issue of Pravda, the Soviet political caricaturist Boris Efimov published his cartoon A Meeting of War Experts about the Discussion on the Second Front in Europe. In it, General Brave and General Determined are trying to convince a group of older generals seated at a table: They are labeled as General What-If-We-Lose, General Is-It-Worth-Risking, General Let-Us-Not-Rush-This, General Let-Us-Wait and General What-If-Something-Goes-Wrong. In other cartoons published in 1942 and 1943, Efimov specifically identified Churchill and Eisenhower as the architects of the delay. The caricaturists Preparations to Open the Second Front, for example, sees the British prime minister and American general sitting on a floor sewing buttons on uniforms while they listen to a radio broadcast about the fierce battles on the Soviet-German front. The implied message is that the British and Americans were deliberately stalling in order to allow the USSR to bear the brunt of Hitlers violence. Rather than relieve the pressure, as Efimov and other press reports charged, Churchill and Eisenhower sat, smiled and listened to the radio. Preparations to Open the Second Front, by Boris Efimov, 1943. Ne boltai! Collection, Prague After June 6, and in keeping with other Soviet press reports, Efimov published two cartoons highlighting D-Day. On the Beaches of Normandy is dominated by a tank bearing the British and American flags. As it crushes the German fortifications beneath its wheels, the tank also sends a beastlike Joseph Goebbels scrambling away, his speech on the unbreakable Atlantic Wall torn apart while Hitler crouches glumly in a corner. On the Beaches of Normandy, by Boris Efimov, 1944. Ne boltai! Collection, Prague In another cartoon, On Walls and Falls, published on June 12, 1944, Efimov reminded Soviet readers of their nations contributions to the war effort. Goebbels, Gen. Erwin Rommel, Hitler and Hermann Goering stand atop a wall still emblazoned with a sign warning of the Impregnable Atlantic Wall. Behind his back, however, Hitler clutches a list of other impregnable fortresses, which had all been captured by the Red Army in 1943. D-Day was an important event, Efimovs cartoon illustrates, but it suggests the most important destruction of the Nazi war machine had been accomplished by the Soviets. On Walls and Falls by Boris Efimov, published in Ogonek June 12, 1944. Ne boltai! Collection, Prague Prelude to the Cold War Memories of the delay in opening a second front would linger for a long time in the USSR, growing into Cold War grievances. After Churchill delivered the famous March 1946 speech in which he labeled Soviet influence an iron curtain across Europe, Efimov would mock him relentlessly as the same nefarious type who had sewn buttons while Soviet soldiers and citizens suffered. Soviet propaganda transformed Eisenhower, who was the U.S. president from 1953 to 1961, into a stereotypical warmonger. As the decades passed, Soviet media outlets downplayed or ignored D-Day. Instead, they highlighted the sacrifices Soviet citizens made fighting the Germans, the anti-Soviet feelings that delayed the opening of the Second Front, the victories won at Stalingrad and other Soviet-centric perspectives. D-Day remained page three news at best, not a game changer then or, for Putin now. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Stephen Norris, Miami University. Read more: Stephen Norris does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs Jose Manuel Albares leaves after a meeting with the Argentinian Ambassador to Spain at the headquarters of the Spain's Foreign Ministry. Albares has summoned the Argentinian ambassador in Madrid after Argentinian President Javier Milei verbally attacked Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his wife, Albares said on Monday. Diego Radames/EUROPA PRESS/dpa The Spanish government withdrew its ambassador in Buenos Aires amid a deepening diplomatic scandal unleashed during Argentinian President Javier Milei's visit to Madrid at the weekend. "The situation has not changed and I am therefore announcing that we are withdrawing our ambassador in Buenos Aires. The ambassador will definitely remain in Madrid," Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told journalists on Tuesday. The step came after Argentina's ultra-liberal leader Milei attended an election rally organized by the Spanish right-wing populist party Vox for the European elections in Madrid on Sunday, where he sharply criticized Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's left-wing government and described the premier's wife, Begona Gomez, as "corrupt." In response, Sanchez recalled the ambassador to Madrid for consultations and demanded a "public apology" from the Argentinian president. Milei not only refused to apologize but made further dismissive statements. "The Socialists are capable of anything. This is diplomatic nonsense," he told La Nacion newspaper on Tuesday. But Argentina is not going to recall its ambassador, he said. "If Pedro Sanchez makes a huge mistake, I won't be stupid enough to make the same mistake. You have to explain to Mr Sanchez that he is not the state, that he is not Spain and that his wife is even less so." Spain accuses Milei of interfering in Madrid's internal affairs and a "frontal attack" on its democracy, institutions and on Spain. Sanchez also warned of the danger that the global far-right gathering poses "to societies like [Spain's], in which democracy is based on the pillars of economic progress, social justice and coexistence," and said that "respect is indispensable." Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs Jose Manuel Albares leaves after a meeting with the Argentinian Ambassador to Spain at the headquarters of the Spain's Foreign Ministry. Albares has summoned the Argentinian ambassador in Madrid after Argentinian President Javier Milei verbally attacked Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his wife, Albares said on Monday. Diego Radames/EUROPA PRESS/dpa KYODO NEWS - May 21, 2024 - 13:28 | All, Japan, Travel/Tourism A Japanese town on Tuesday set up a large black screen to block a scenic view of Mt. Fuji in response to what it calls unruly behavior from tourists after the photo spot went viral online. The 2.5-meter high, 20-meter wide screen now blocks the sight of Japan's highest mountain towering over a Lawson convenience store in Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, which could previously be photographed from across a road, making the area a popular destination for foreign tourists. The surge in visitors drew complaints from local residents due to an uptick in people jaywalking and illegally parking vehicles in the area. The town began stationing security guards and posting warnings in English to manage the crowds, but the measures did little to improve the situation. Judy Lee, a 60-year-old tourist from Taiwan, lamented the installation, saying that other ways of preventing people from crossing the road should have been considered. "It's unavoidable," said a 74-year-old resident. "It was frightening because many tourists would jump out onto the road," she said. Related coverage: Online reservations begin for Mt. Fuji climbers to ease congestion Another Japanese prefecture to restrict night climbing on Mt. Fuji Mt. Fuji climbers to face 2,000 yen fees amid overtourism concerns Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs Jose Manuel Albares leaves after a meeting with the Argentinian Ambassador to Spain at the headquarters of the Spain's Foreign Ministry. Albares has summoned the Argentinian ambassador in Madrid after Argentinian President Javier Milei verbally attacked Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his wife, Albares said on Monday. Diego Radames/EUROPA PRESS/dpa The Spanish government withdrew its ambassador in Buenos Aires amid a deepening diplomatic scandal unleashed during Argentinian President Javier Milei's visit to Madrid at the weekend. "The situation has not changed and I am therefore announcing that we are withdrawing our ambassador in Buenos Aires. The ambassador will definitely remain in Madrid," Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told journalists on Tuesday. The step came after Argentina's ultra-liberal leader Milei attended an election rally organized by the Spanish right-wing populist party Vox for the European elections in Madrid on Sunday, where he sharply criticized Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's left-wing government and described the premier's wife, Begona Gomez, as "corrupt." In response, Sanchez recalled the ambassador to Madrid for consultations and demanded a "public apology" from the Argentinian president. Milei not only refused to apologize but made further dismissive statements. "The Socialists are capable of anything. This is diplomatic nonsense," he told La Nacion newspaper on Tuesday. But Argentina is not going to recall its ambassador, he said. "If Pedro Sanchez makes a huge mistake, I won't be stupid enough to make the same mistake. You have to explain to Mr Sanchez that he is not the state, that he is not Spain and that his wife is even less so." Spain accuses Milei of interfering in Madrid's internal affairs and a "frontal attack" on its democracy, institutions and on Spain. Sanchez also warned of the danger that the global far-right gathering poses "to societies like [Spain's], in which democracy is based on the pillars of economic progress, social justice and coexistence," and said that "respect is indispensable." At the rally in Madrid, attended by around 11,000 participants from Europe, the United States and Latin America, Milei was celebrated like a "rock star," according to El Mundo newspaper and other media. During his speech, the Argentinian president, who describes himself as an "anarcho-capitalist," said that the world must say "no more to damned and cancerous socialism." He also claimed that socialism leads "to slavery or death," and that social justice is "always unjust." The meeting was also attended by leading far-right, right-wing populist and nationalist conservative politicians from abroad, including Marine Le Pen from the French party National Rally, Portugal's Andre Ventura from the right-wing populist Enough (Chega) party and the Israeli minister for social equality, Amichai Chikli. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni joined by video link and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban sent a message in which he described the European Parliament elections from June 6 to 9 as "a great common fight" against a Europe that promotes "mass illegal migration." FILE - Argentina's president Javier Milei gestures as he delivers a speech on stage during the Spanish far-right wing party Vox's rally "Europa Viva 24" in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A diplomatic crisis between historic allies Spain and Argentina expanded Tuesday, May 21, 2024, as Spain pulled its ambassador from Buenos Aires and Argentine President Javier Milei lambasted the move as nonsense typical of an arrogant socialist. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File) BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) A diplomatic crisis between historic allies Spain and Argentina expanded Tuesday as Spain announced the official withdrawal of its ambassador from Buenos Aires and Argentine President Javier Milei lambasted the move as nonsense typical of an arrogant socialist. Spain said its ambassador to Argentina would remain indefinitely in Madrid, where she had been recalled for consultations Sunday in response to comments made by President Milei during a contentious weekend visit he made to the Spanish capital. In a fiery speech defending free market capitalism at a far-right rally in Madrid, Milei accused the Spanish prime ministers wife of corruption and described socialism as cursed and carcinogenic." Following Milei's refusal to apologize, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters Tuesday that Argentina will continue without an ambassador," speaking with a measure of incredulity that Milei would treat Spain this way. We are facing a unique case, not only unique for this government, but unique in the history of international relations, Albares said. There is no precedent for a head of state going to the capital of another country to insult its institutions. Milei who has found himself embroiled in diplomatic quarrels across the region and has referred to his opponents as human excrement has never been seen as the most tactful occupant of Argentina's highest office. He continued lashing out at Spain on Tuesday, telling the local La Nacion news channel that the Spanish decision was nonsense typical of an arrogant socialist." Socialists are capable of doing anything, he added. But he did not immediately retaliate. When asked whether Argentina would do the same, Milei said: I am not going to be such an idiot. The surprise move escalates a long-running diplomatic spat between the socialist government of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Milei's libertarian administration. Sanchez first incurred Milei's wrath when he backed his left-wing opponent in last year's presidential election and declined to congratulate Milei on his victory. Tensions mounted amid a barrage of insults in recent weeks as Sanchez's Cabinet ministers alleged Milei had taken narcotics during a TV appearance and Milei accused Sanchez of pursuing policies that only bring poverty and death. Defying the norms of presidential behavior, Milei snubbed all Spanish government officials on his first visit to Spain as head of state last week and instead met only Sanchez's fiercest critics, members of the hard-right, anti-immigrant Vox party that hopes to make gains in Junes European parliamentary elections. Analysts said that Milei's diplomatic saber-rattling serves a bigger political agenda. Milei might be sensing that the socialist party has short legs, and so he's trying to prepare Argentina to get a really close ally when Spain gets a right-wing government, in the same way he's betting on Trump, said Sebastian Mazzuca, an Argentine political scientist at Johns Hopkins University. Milei is taking gambles, taking risks. The foreign minister, Albares, complained Milei had used his visit to poke Spain in the eye, breaking diplomatic protocol that Latin American countries and their former colonizer have long observed. At the Vox party rally Sunday, Milei delivered his typical anti-socialism talking points and mocked Sanchez for taking a break from public view last month over corruption allegations brought by an activist group against his wife, Begona Gomez. The private group, which files lawsuits to promote far-right causes, accused Gomez of using her position to influence business deals. Gomez has not been indicted or called in for questioning. Spanish prosecutors have recommended the case be thrown out. The fallout with Spain, a significant investment partner for Argentina, could have lasting political and economic consequences for President Milei, who has promised to rescue the country's long-troubled economy through austerity. Spain is Argentinas second-biggest foreign investor after the United States, with Spanish companies investing 140 million euros ($152 million) in the country in 2022. Some 495,000 Spaniards live in Argentina, according to Spanish government statistics, while 97,000 Argentines reside in Spain. Over the weekend, Milei also met with Spanish business executives. One of them, Antonio Garamendi, president of the main Spanish business council, said he profoundly rejected Milei's off-key remarks about the Spanish government in an interview with major local radio station Ser. Milei is trying to prove that commercial relations are a market issue that goes on one track and political issues are on another track, said Mazzuca, the political scientist. I don't know if that's going to work. ___ Associated Press writer Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain, contributed to this report. Speaker Johnson moving ahead on Netanyahu invite to address Congress in wake of possible ICC warrant House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Tuesday that he's moving ahead with an invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress despite an International Criminal Court prosecutor saying he would apply for a warrant to arrest Netanyahu for war crimes. Johnson said that an invitation hasn't been sent out yet because he was awaiting word from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to join the invitation. PHOTO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in Jerusalem, Feb. 18, 2024. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson at the Capitol, Feb. 29, 2024 in Washington. (Reuters/AP, FILE) Schumer told reporters Tuesday he is open to the idea. "I'm discussing that now with the speaker of the House, and as I've always said, our relationship with Israel is ironclad and transcends any one prime minister or president," Schumer said. MORE: 'Hit Job': ICC prosecutor seeking arrest warrants for Israeli leaders is 'absurd,' Netanyahu says Johnson said that if Schumer did not agree to sign the letter, "We were going to proceed and invite Netanyahu just to the House." The speaker, who has been a staunch supporter of Netanyahu, first floated the idea of inviting the prime minister to Congress in March. It was around this time that Schumer called for new elections in Israel calling Netanyahu an "obstacle to peace." "I will always respect his extraordinary bravery for Israel on the battlefield as a younger man. I believe in his heart his highest priority is the security of Israel," Schumer said on the Senate floor on March 14. "However, I also believe Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel." Netanyahu last addressed Congress in March 2015. Johnson's plan comes on the heels of the ICC prosecutor's announcement Monday that he planned to seek warrants against the prime minister, other Israeli leaders and Hamas leaders. ICC prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan alleged the Israeli leaders bear "criminal responsibility" for "war crimes and crimes against humanity" in Gaza through the starvation of civilians, willfully causing great suffering and other "inhumane acts." Netanyahu told ABC's "Good Morning America" Tuesday that the ICC's plan was "absurd" and a "hit job." President Joe Biden called the prosecutor's decision to seek arrest warrants for the Israeli leaders "outrageous." MORE: Israel-Gaza live updates While many members of Congress also echoed this statement, some Democrats were wary of inviting Netanyahu to Washington. PHOTO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) poses for photographs with senators at the U.S. Capitol Nov. 10, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, FILE) Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin warned that if Netanyahu addresses a joint session of Congress, he'd help the ICC serve the warrant to Netanyahu in the House chamber. "If Netanyahu comes to address Congress, I would be more than glad to show the ICC the way to the House floor to issue that warrant," Pocan posted on X Monday. "Ditto for Hamas leader. Ceasefire. No offensive weapons. Food, water, & medicine must get through." The U.S. and Israel are not signatories to the Rome Statute, which institutionalized the international court and empowers it to prosecute individuals for war crimes. Unlike other countries that are signatories, the U.S. would not be obligated to arrest Netanyahu should he travel to Washington. Johnson flatly dismissed Pocan's warning shot as "patently absurd." In the meantime, the speaker is considering legislation to respond to the ICC's plan with possible sanctions. Speaker Johnson moving ahead on Netanyahu invite to address Congress in wake of possible ICC warrant originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Special counsel in Hunter Biden case plans to call his ex-wife, brother's widow as witnesses in upcoming trial Special counsel in Hunter Biden case plans to call his ex-wife, brother's widow as witnesses in upcoming trial In court papers filed ahead of a June 3 trial, special counsel David Weiss office suggested they would call multiple women who had relationships with Hunter Biden to testify in his felony gun case, including his ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, and the widow of his late brother Beau Biden, Hallie Biden. The revelations emerged late Monday in a trial brief filed by the government. The 97-page document includes the law and evidence prosecutors plan to use to prove that Hunter Biden committed three felonies when he procured a firearm in 2018 while under the influence of drugs. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty. The filing does not name Buhle or Hallie Biden. But the descriptions make their identities clear. Witness 1 was previously married to the defendant, prosecutors wrote in the filing. They divorced in April 2017, but through 2018 she would check his vehicle from time to time because she did not want their children in a vehicle with drugs. PHOTO: Hunter Biden attends the House Oversight and Accountability Committee markup titled 'Resolution Recommending That The House Of Representatives Find Robert Hunter Biden In Contempt Of Congress,' Jan. 10, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images, FILE) MORE: 'Are you staring me down?': Fiery moment between judge, defense witness in Trump hush money trial Prosecutors described Witness 3 as a woman who "was in a romantic relationship with the defendant in October 2018, and before and after." "Witness 3 will also establish that the defendant possessed the gun and she discarded it in an outdoor trash receptacle at the Janssens Market in Wilmington, Delaware after removing it from his vehicle," prosecutors wrote. ABC News has previously reported that Hallie Biden found the Cobra 38SPL revolver and discarded it in a garbage bin. A third unidentified woman prosecutors plan to call "was previously in a romantic relationship" with Biden and "observed the defendant using crack cocaine frequentlyevery 20 minutes except when he slept." Prosecutors in Weiss office also indicated that they intend to draw heavily from passages in Hunter Bidens 2021 memoir, "Beautiful Things," in which Biden addressed his addiction. They also plan to enter into evidence several messages that demonstrate his addiction at the time of his gun purchase, on Oct. 12, 2018. MORE: Tennessee professor swept away by wave during Brazil study-abroad trip has died The trial is scheduled to begin on June 3 in Wilmington, Delaware, before Judge Maryellen Noreika. Earlier on Monday, Hunter Biden appealed Noreikas denial of his motion to dismiss the charges. A panel of federal appellate judges has already turned down a similar effort. Noreika has repeatedly blocked Bidens efforts to delay the trial. Prosecutors say Biden lied on a federal form about his drug use when he obtained a Colt Cobra 38SPL revolver in 2018, after he later acknowledged in his memoir, "Beautiful Things," that he was addicted to drugs around that time. He owned the firearm for 11 days and never fired it, his attorneys have said. Biden was indicted by special counsel Weiss last September. Special counsel in Hunter Biden case plans to call his ex-wife, brother's widow as witnesses in upcoming trial originally appeared on abcnews.go.com The Lake County Board of Elections and Registration reviewed two election complaints regarding St. John Precinct 14 Committeeman candidate Rudy Bambic who is accused of giving away free ice cream for votes during the primary election. The board voted 3-1, with board chairman Kevin Smith recusing himself, to send the complaint against Bambic to the prosecutor and to review a possible fine the board could issue him. Both of the complaints cite the Indiana Code addressing inducing votes by gift or offer to compensate. The code states that anyone who during an election gives, offers or promises any person any money or other property commits a Level 6 felony. Charles Kallas filed a complaint against Bambic who ran as a Republican candidate for St. John 14 precinct committeeman in the primary election and lost for inducing voters to vote for him by the promise of free ice cream which can also be classified as a gift or offer, according to the complaint. Bambic said he wasnt giving away ice cream for votes, but he said he put the political signs on the truck. Was I in an ice cream truck? Yes. I mean we were giving ice cream away to kids. Its not like I was intentionally or doing anything where I was trying to buy votes for a position that Im not even getting paid for, Bambic said. Gerald Bromely filed a complaint against Michael Bouvat, current St. John Council president, with a picture showing Bouvat inside the ice cream truck. Bouvat was supporting the effort to secure vote for Mr. Bambic, according to the complaint. I did ride with Rudy. I was there to support him. Didnt hand out any ice cream, but I was there with him, Bouvat said. The board voted 5-0 to dismiss the complaint against Bouvat. Smith said the case against Bouvat isnt strong after Bouvat testified that he did not hand out any ice cream. Kallas filed a complaint May 3 against Bambic with photos Bambic posted on Facebook of himself standing outside an ice cream truck with a sign that said Free!! Free!!! Ice cream Vote Rudy Bambic St #14 Kallas requested in his complaint that the board issue a cease and desist to Bambic to ensure he didnt use the truck on election day. Kallas gave the board a photograph posted on Facebook that the ice cream truck was outside Clark Middle School in St. John, a polling location, on Election Day. Republican board member Michael Mellon said board attorney Carly Brandenburg called Bambic on May 4 to tell him to cease and desist using an ice cream truck. Bouvat said he was not aware of the cease and desist order given May 4. You were giving out ice cream in hopes of getting votes, Mellon said. You branded this ice cream truck, this activity with yourself. Then on Election Day, when that ice cream truck pulled up again, in essence, you were flaunting the instructions of Ms. Brandenburg. Lake County Clerk Michael Brown said the photo Kallas gave the board showed the ice cream truck didnt have election signs after the cease and desist was issued. Mellon said a violation doesnt have to be repeated to be a violation, and the violation had already occurred when the ice cream truck was out in the community with political signs. In the campaigning process, they were branding this ice cream to this candidate. This candidate correlated with free ice cream, Mellon said. On election day, you can take that sign off, but hes still branded with the free ice cream. Republican board member John Reed said the case rises to an election law violation given that, among other facts, the board issued a cease and desist and then the ice cream truck was used on Election Day. There seems to be something going on where the giving of gifts while supporting a candidate is becoming more and more active, and I think it really needs to be nipped in the bud, Mellon said. akukulka@chicagotribune.com ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. A St. Louis County man is accused of attacking his roommate with a sword over the weekend. According to the St. Louis County Police Departments probable cause statement, the attack happened on May 19 at a home in the 2000 block of Penncross Court. Police claim Angelus Scott (age not provided) made statements about slicing his roommates head before grabbing a sword and swinging it at him. The roommate was able to defend himself and avoid being cut or stabbed. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News Police arrived a short time later, took Scott into custody, and confiscated the sword. A motive for the attack was not mentioned. The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorneys Office charged Scott with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. At present, Scott is being hospitalized for a mental health evaluation. Upon his release, hell be jailed on a $200,000 cash-only bond. 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 FOX 2. TAMPA, Fla. (WLFA) A missing, endangered St. Pete man was found safe on Tuesday. Livio Antonio Mota walked away from his home in the 3400 block of 37th Street South in St. Pete at 11:40 a.m. He was found safe on Tuesday afternoon. 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 WFLA. 'Are you staring me down?': Fiery moment between judge, defense witness in Trump hush money trial In a fiery moment in court on Monday, Judge Juan Merchan reprimanded a key defense witness testifying in former President Donald Trump's hush money trial. Robert Costello -- an attorney and longtime Trump ally -- took the stand Monday afternoon to testify about a meeting he had with Michael Cohen in April 2018 after the FBI raided Cohen's home and office. As Merchan sustained a string of objections by the prosecution on procedural matters, Costello could be heard sighing loudly and uttering the words "ridiculous" or "jeez" from the witness stand. Less than 15 minutes into Costello's testimony, the typically even-tempered judge appeared fed up with Costellos behavior and sent the jury out of the courtroom. PHOTO: Justice Juan Merchan scolds witness Robert Costello as he momentarily clears the courtroom during former U.S. President Donald Trump's criminal trial in Manhattan state court in New York City, May 20, 2024, in this courtroom sketch. (Jane Rosenberg/Reuters) "I'd like to discuss proper decorum in my courtroom," he said. "If you don't like my ruling, you don't say 'Jeez,' you don't say 'Strike it,' because I'm the only one who can strike testimony in the court. If you don't like my ruling, you don't give me side-eye, and you don't roll your eyes." Costello replied, saying he understood. But then, in an abrupt comment, Merchan addressed Costello again. "Are you staring me down?" he asked, visibly angry. MORE: 5 big takeaways from Day 19 of Trump's hush money trial A furious Merchan then ordered all 60 reporters to clear out of the courtroom, sending the confused crowd into the hallway. A few minutes later, both jurors and reporters were allowed back inside, and Merchan continued proceedings without addressing things with Costello any further. PHOTO: Reporters return to the courtroom after being made to briefly leave during the ongoing trial of former President Donald Trump at Manhattan Criminal Court, in New York City, May 20, 2024. (Dave Sanders/Pool via Reuters) According to a court transcript obtained by ABC News obtained after Mondays proceedings, Merchan accused Costello of exhibiting "contemptuous" conduct on the stand. "Your conduct is contemptuous right now. I'm putting you on notice that your conduct is contemptuous. If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand. I will strike his entire testimony; do you understand me?" Merchan asked Costello. Defense attorney Emil Bove said he understood. Costello asked if he could "say something," to which the judge refused, saying, "This is not a conversation," to which Costello replied OK. Costello's time on the witness stand continued without incident as he testified about his April 2018 meeting with Cohen. Costello said Cohen was acting "manic" at the meeting after the FBI raid and kept "pacing back and forth." Costello testified that Cohen told him he didn't "have anything on Donald Trump," and he said he asked what his "escape route" would be. "[Cohen said], 'My life is shattered, my family's life is shattered,'" Costello testified. According to Costello, Cohen was "suicidal" that day. He was putting on quite a show, and he explained to us that two nights before, he was on the roof of the Regency Hotel, and he was going to jump off and kill himself because he couldnt handle the pressure" of the situation, Costello testified. Last week, Cohen testified that he "didn't trust" Costello, who he said was "incredibly close to Rudy Giuliani," adding that he feared anything he told him would get back to Trump. On the stand, Cohen said their relationship took a turn in June 2018, when he said he began considering other attorneys to represent him. MORE: Trump trial: Drama sweeps courtroom as defense tries to get case tossed In March 2023, Costello testified before the grand jury as an exculpatory witness at the request of Trump's attorneys. He also told reporters last year that Cohen is on the revenge tour and cannot provide reliable testimony. Cohen, in his testimony, accused Costello of spearheading a "pressure campaign" to keep him from flipping on Trump. (Trump has denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to the charges in the case.) 'Are you staring me down?': Fiery moment between judge, defense witness in Trump hush money trial originally appeared on abcnews.go.com "Are you staring me down right now?": Trump witness' fight with judge won't "play well" with jury One reason Donald Trumps lawyers probably are telling him not to testify in his own defense is because they and everyone else in a certain Manhattan courtroom on Monday have now seen what happens when a defiant witness takes the stand and has a tantrum in front of the jury. Robert Costello, an attorney who briefly advised Michael Cohen after the FBI raided his home in 2018, is the first person the defense team has called to provide substantive testimony. Firmly on Team MAGA, Costello was asked to counter the former presidents ex-fixer, who had told the court that Trump called him after the raid and told him to stay tough. According to Costello, Cohen was distraught after the raid but adamant, at the time, that he had no dirt on his boss that he could share with law enforcement in hopes of softer treatment. He said, I swear to God, Bob, I dont have anything on Donald Trump, Costello said, purportedly quoting his former client. But that was far from the highlight. What drew the most attention from Costellos brief time on the stand was the way he acted toward Judge Juan Merchan, who had sustained multiple prosecutions objections to the apparent annoyance of the defense witness. Jeez, Costello muttered in response to one such ruling, whose sarcasm extended to his body language and prompted the judge to clear out the jury to remind the witness how to behave in a courtroom. I want to discuss proper decorum in my courtroom, Merchan said. You dont give me a side eye and you dont roll your eyes, he continued. If you dont like my ruling, you dont say, jeez. Costello responded with what CNN described as a long glare, further setting off the judge. Are you staring me down? a visibly upset Merchan asked Costello. The scene ended with the judge threatening to strike Costellos testimony altogether if he didnt learn how to control himself. Your conduct is contemptuous right now, he said. If you stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand. CNN legal analyst Paula Reid said she was shocked by the performance, which she believes was intended to please one man the defendant but could jeopardize the entire Trump defense. This is unbelievable, Reid said Monday night. I know Bob Costello quite well. I talked to him for about a decade. The fact that he would allow this to happen on the stand, it suggests in many ways that he is probably posturing for the defendant. Remember, its the defendant that overrode his own defense attorneys they said this is not a good idea, do not put Costello on the stand. He overrode them. As attorney and Brookings Institution senior fellow Norm Eisen commented, Costellos performance was what might call an own goal: he added nothing that jurors would not have already gathered from Cohen himself the former presidents ex-fixer told jurors he repeatedly lied to protect his boss while needlessly antagonizing the judge. Even if the jury had left the room for the talking down, jurors could likely figure out the reason they had to get up and go: ill manners of a kind we have not seen from any witness yet across the 19 days of trial, even on the most contentious cross-examinations. Whether the former presidents desire to testify is real or just public relations, defense lawyers Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and Susan Necheles are unlikely to be urging their client to do so after watching Costellos best Trump impression. The question, according to Rebecca Roiphe, a law professor at New York University, is whether Costellos in-court petulance will be remembered when jurors begin to deliberate as soon as next week. I wonder how the jury is going to react to the part it saw, Roiphe told The New Republic. I cant imagine that helps the defense to have somebody treat the authority figure, whos been pretty evenhanded, that way. I dont think thatll play well. In this photo illustration, packages of Mifepristone tablets are displayed at a family planning clinic in Rockville, Maryland. (Photo illustration by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) (Photo illustration by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin sent cease and desist letters Tuesday to two companies, one in New York and one in the Netherlands, that have advertised their ability to provide abortion medication to Arkansans. Abortion is illegal in Arkansas with a narrow exception to save a pregnant persons life. The 2019 trigger law went into effect in June 2022 upon the U.S. Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Griffin said in a Tuesday news release that this law makes it illegal for companies outside Arkansas to sell and ship abortion medication to residents. 2024-05-21-Aid-Access-Cease-and-Desist-Letter These companies must cease and desist advertising relating to the performance of abortion services in Arkansas immediately or face the possibility of lawsuits from my office, Griffin said. New York City-based Choices Womens Medical Center has a page on its website stating that it serves clients from Little Rock. New York state allows abortions up to 24 weeks of pregnancy. Aid Access, started in 2018 by Dutch physician Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, is an online-only medication abortion provider that aims to serve people in countries such as the U.S. where abortion access is limited or banned. The general counsel of the anti-abortion National Right to Life Committee told NBC News in 2022 that federal action would be necessary to stop Aid Access and other groups from selling abortion pills in states with abortion restrictions because state laws have limited extraterritorial effects. However, Griffins letters to each entity state that his office would sue them under the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act if they continue to advertise and sell their products in the state. Those found liable for violating the ADTPA can be fined up to $10,000 per violation. The cease and desist letters clearly state the statutory basis for our warning to these companies, said Jeff LeMaster, a spokesman for Griffins office. Both companies have 14 days to contact Griffins office in writing with the steps [they] have taken to remedy this situation, according to the letters. Medication abortion involves taking mifepristone first followed by misoprostol. The two-drug regimen accounted for about 63% of abortions within the United States in 2023 a 10% increase since 2020 according to a report from the Guttmacher Institute. In April 2023, a federal judge in Texas issued a ruling ordering mifepristone to be pulled from the market and its federal Food and Drug Administration approval reversed. A federal appeals court ruled in August that the drug could remain available for the foreseeable future. The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case in March, with justices indicating skepticism toward the arguments of the anti-abortion organizations who are plaintiffs in the case. Here in Arkansas, Rep. Wayne Long, R-Bradford, introduced two bills meant to restrict medication-induced abortion during the 2023 legislative session. One would have banned chemical abortions and the other would have increased the criminal penalties for violating state law regarding abortion-inducing drugs. Neither bill was heard in committee, but Act 702 of 2023 allows revocation of physicians medical licenses if they are found to have violated Arkansas abortion-inducing drugs law. Supporters of abortion access have until July 5 to collect signatures for a proposed ballot measure, with language approved by Griffin, that would create a constitutional right to abortion within 18 weeks of fertilization and include exceptions for rape, incest, a fatal fetal anomaly or to protect the pregnant females life or physical health. Griffins move to end the marketing and sale of abortion pills in Arkansas makes it even more critical that the Arkansas Abortion Amendment is on the ballot in November, Arkansans for Limited Government, a ballot question committee advocating for the passage of the amendment, said in a statement Tuesday. The state government is working every angle at its disposal to ensure that Arkansas women in need of abortion care have no options for accessing it, which, as research shows, puts their lives at risk, the committee wrote. Arkansans who believe that the government should not have the power to interfere in their healthcare decision-making need to work the angles at our disposal to fight back. That means leveraging the most effective tool we have: direct democracy. The post Out-of-state abortion pill providers must stop advertising and sales in Arkansas, AG orders appeared first on Arkansas Advocate. KYODO NEWS - May 21, 2024 - 08:05 | All, Japan A research team at Kyoto University in western Japan has succeeded in mass-generating cells capable of turning into sperm or eggs by using human induced pluripotent cells, with the achievement expected to boost studies in reproductive medicine. The research, published in the online edition of the British science journal Nature on Monday, amplified the number of male and female primitive germ cells over 10 billion times from their initial culture stage. Obtaining human cells at the earliest developmental stage had been technologically challenging. "(The findings) will expedite the pace of research," said Michinori Saito, a professor at Kyoto University and one of the research team members, noting at the same time that they still need to clear hurdles in several areas to achieve such a goal. The scientists hope their findings will eventually lead to the production of eggs and sperm that are generated from "primordial germ cells" through "pro-spermatogonia" and "oogonia." The team had already developed a scheme to generate reproductive cells by using somatic cells of mice and culturing oogonia, but it was deemed inefficient. This time, the team succeeded in developing oogonia and pro-spermatogonia in two months by using primordial germ cell-like cells and adding bone morphogenetic protein signaling. During a cultural period of about four months, the number of cells rose 10 billion times, and the generation process was relatively simple, the researchers said. When germ cells divide, they undergo a process called epigenetic reprogramming, which resets parental epigenetic memories and leads to the formation of multiplying pro-spermatogonia or oogonia. While recreating epigenetic reprogramming in humans in a laboratory setting remains a fundamental challenge, the research provided insights into this process by generating abundant pro-spermatogonia and oogonia cells, elucidating the framework of epigenetic reprogramming in humans, the research team said. Related coverage: Scientists breed 1st pigs for human organ transplants in Japan Smart glasses-using university entrance exam cheat referred to prosecutors Criteria shift raises U.S. subcritical nuclear test count: peace NPO State board targets six prescription drugs to review for affordability for Marylanders A Maryland board tasked with constraining prescription drug costs officially named six medications Monday for cost review, to determine if the drugs pose affordability challenges for Marylanders on the states health care plan. Drugs treating attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and HIV/AIDS did not make the list for now. The Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB) finalized the selected drugs for review at an in-person meeting that followed years of virtual meetings, a holdover from COVID-era social distancing precautions. Its nice to see our board members and our new employees, said board Chair Van T. Mitchell from the William Amoss meeting room in the Miller Senate Office Building. We finally, I think, are moving in the right direction with a lot of momentum. Virtual meetings are just one hurdle the board has faced. Created by the General Assembly in 2019, the board was slow to begin operating, due in part to a veto from former Gov. Larry Hogan (R) amid pandemic-induced economic uncertainty in 2020. Gov. Wes Moore (D) signed legislation in 2023 reaffirming the boards authority to issue upper payment limits as a potential cost-reduction tool and extended deadlines from the earlier law. Its been taking us a while to get to where we need to, board member Stephen Rockower, a retired orthopedic surgeon, said after Mondays meeting. Some of it was us getting ourselves organized and getting the funding from the state to be able to do what we needed to do. But now that weve done that were making progress, he added. After the slow start, Mondays meeting marks the first time a handful of drugs will officially undergo cost review, in which board staff will seek public comments, additional information and data over the next 60 days to determine if Marylanders struggle to afford treatments for diabetes, moderate-to-severe eczema and other diseases treated by the targeted medications. The board is still months away from potential cost-reduction efforts. Prescription Drug Affordability Board Executive Director Andrew York on May 20, 2024. Photo by Danielle J. Brown Andrew York, the boards executive director, reminded members that selection is not a declaration that a particular medication is unaffordable. It merely gives the board the opportunity to gather more information on out-of-pocket costs for patients, as well as other financial considerations to determine the affordability of a drug. Four drugs treating Type 2 diabetes were prioritized by the board for cost-review analysis: Ozempic, Trulicity, Farxiga and Jardiance. The latter two are also used to treat heart and kidney disease. Ozempic is also being used as a weight-loss treatment for certain patients. Skyrizi, used to treat plaque psoriasis and Crohns disease, was also selected for the first round of review. Dupixent, used to treat moderate-to-severe eczema, was selected for cost review as a lower priority, meaning the board will conduct its analysis of Dupixent after the other five drugs. Initially, there were eight prescription drugs being eyed for review, but two were removed from consideration for now: Biktarvy and Vyvanse. Biktarvy is a single-pill treatment that manages the symptoms of HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus. PDAB member Gerard Anderson argued that federal assistance programs to help low-income patients afford Biktarvy could complicate the boards ability to collect data on whether the drug is affordable. We would essentially have to figure out how to deal with the many different components of the federal and state government and local governments, Anderson advised. That, to me, is the real challenge here, dealing with Biktarvy. The ADHD treatment Vyvanse did not make the cost-review cut for similar reasons. Board member Joseph Levy said that moving away from more complicated drugs would be OK, since its the first round of cost review, but those drugs can be considered by the board in the future. Vincent DeMarco, a health care advocate who has been a long time supporter of the board, called Mondays meeting historic. In that they actually identified some drugs, he said after the meeting. Theyre making some substantial progress. We understand that this is not an easy thing. York said the board has a team of five staffers to gather any additional information now that the cost review process is underway. We very much have to prioritize resources, but I think what the board sent to us, I think is completely reasonable, York said. The next PDAB meeting is scheduled for July 22 and should be in-person again, according to Mitchell. The board hopes to discuss the findings of the cost review study at that meeting. The post State board targets six prescription drugs to review for affordability for Marylanders appeared first on Maryland Matters. State and county law enforcement shut down Afton marijuana grow AFTON, Okla. Oklahoma narcotic investigators seized more than 8.5 million dollars in illegal marijuana at a rural Afton growing operation on Monday. Brothers fined more than $30K in mega Ottawa County marijuana bust Multiple law enforcement agencies descended upon Lucky Group, LLC at 450271 S. Highway 85 in Delaware County. Wenzuo Mei is the registered agent. Man under the influence of marijuana charged with manslaughter for a 2021 triple fatality crash A man who said he didnt know English answered telephone calls to the registered agents telephone number. The telephone number is a Chicago area code. According to the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, the businesss grow license expired Sept. 30. Delaware County Sheriff James Beck said no one was taken into custody today but arrests are pending. Photographs provided by the Delaware County Sheriffs Office Also seized was an undisclosed amount of cash. Mark Woodward, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics spokesman said the raid is part is part of an ongoing investigation. Beck said Delaware County Commissioners David Poindexter and David Beck provided dump trucks and heavy equipment to remove the marijuana offsite to a disposal location where it was destroyed. 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 KSNF/KODE | FourStatesHomepage.com. A new Florida law is putting outdoor workers' lives in danger by prohibiting cities and towns from passing heat protections. What happened? In April 2024, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law that will bar municipalities from enacting heat protections for workers. The move was an apparent response to efforts from farmworkers in Miami-Dade County that sought to pass heat protections like required rest breaks and access to water and shade, the Guardian reported. "It's incomprehensible that people who live in Florida, and are supposed to represent the people of Florida, can vote against the health and safety of the workers that make this economy run, who were considered essential workers just a couple years ago and given PPE, are now treated like this, and not giving protection from extreme heat," Jeannie Economos, an organizer with the Farmworker Association of Florida, told the publication. "That makes no sense, and it's unconscionable." Why is this law concerning? Up to 2,000 U.S. workers die each year because of heat stress, according to the Guardian, which cited a 2023 Public Citizen report. Heat stress can also cause an additional 170,000 injuries and cost the U.S. economy almost $100 billion annually because of lost productivity, according to the group. Plus, hot days are expected to become more common as the climate crisis worsens this will no doubt make heat waves more dangerous in the coming years. For instance, El Nino, coupled with rising global temperatures led to a number of deadly heat waves across the globe in 2023 and 2024. This included an abnormally high combination of temperatures and humidity in Texas in June 2023 that led to the death of a postal worker. What's being done about the law? So far, there are no nationwide laws protecting workers from heat, but states like California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and Minnesota have individually passed heat protections for workers. Plus, Phoenix, which suffered more than 600 heat-related deaths during 2023's summer heatwave, has passed an ordinance that requires employers to provide cool drinking water, regular and necessary breaks, access to shaded areas and/or air conditioning, and training for all city contractors and employees. Meanwhile, a number of business groups are lobbying against heat protections for workers at the federal level and lobbied aggressively for the Florida heat exemption bill, per the Guardian. Economos told the news site that worker advocacy groups in Florida are regrouping and hope to find a way to override the new law. They also continue to advocate for federal heat protections for workers and conduct heat stress training for outdoor workers. If you're caught in a heat wave, it's important to take precautions to protect yourself. These include staying indoors if possible, drinking water even if you're not feeling thirsty, avoiding strenuous exercise, finding a local cooling center if you lose power or don't have air conditioning, avoiding alcohol and drinks with caffeine, and avoiding the use of your oven/stove as much as possible. Join our free newsletter for cool news and actionable info that makes it easy to help yourself while helping the planet. State panel recommends St. Johns County over Eatonville for site of Floridas Black History Museum A state panel on Tuesday afternoon recommended St. Johns County as the site of Floridas Black History Museum. The task force met for several hours before announcing the recommendation shortly after 4 p.m. The town of Eatonville had also been vying for the $100 million project. The projects architect revealed Tuesday that the St. Johns County delegation seeks to build the museum on undeveloped land far from a highway or St. Augustine -- Floridas historic capital and the county seat. The task forces recommendation will be sent to the Florida Legislature, which can either abide by it or ignore it. Read: Black history museum task force member accused of tanking score against Orange County Orange County wanted to build a facility that included a performing arts center and a hotel off Interstate 4 and argued the former Hungerford School site was best positioned for success. St. Johns County leaned heavily on its history and the heavily weighted scoring to rise above concerns that its rural location was far from anything else and wouldnt be able to sustain a major museum. Watch Channel 9 Eyewitness News for the latest on this story. See our other coverage below: Eatonville makes pitch to host Floridas black history museum New bill could derail plans for African American history museum in Eatonville Eatonville makes pitch to host Floridas black history museum Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. FILE - Supreme Court Justice Andrew Pinson poses, April 17, 2024, in Atlanta. Voters are deciding the race between Pinson and Democratic former congressman John Barrow in a nonpartisan general election on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File) ATLANTA (AP) A Georgia state Supreme Court incumbent has won an election that was unusually heated by the standards of the state's nonpartisan judicial elections, while voters in the state also advanced a former Donald Trump aide and a former state Senate majority leader to a GOP runoff for an open seat in the strongly Republican 3rd Congressional District. Two Democratic congressional incumbents U.S. Reps. David Scott and Lucy McBath defeated primary challengers in metro Atlanta districts that were redrawn by Republicans after redistricting lawsuits. Parties were also choosing their nominees for other congressional and state legislative seats and local offices including sheriffs, district attorneys and county commissioners. Runoffs will be held June 18 in races where candidates didn't win a majority. Here's a look at key races: STATE SUPREME COURT Georgia state Supreme Court Justice Andrew Pinson defeated a challenge from former U.S. Rep. John Barrow in the general election for judicial candidates, who run without party labels. The 37-year-old Pinson won a six-year term after Gov. Brian Kemp appointed him to the nine-member court in 2022. The 69-year-old Barrow made support for abortion rights central to his campaign. Pinson said discussing issues would weaken confidence that he could judge fairly, and he warned of making judicial campaigns too political. Tonight the voters of Georgia voiced their desire for a fair and impartial judiciary, Pinson said in a statement. Kemp and other conservatives intervened to aid Pinson in a race that grew heated by the usually sleepy standards of Georgias judicial elections. Barrow unsuccessfully sued in federal court, saying a state judicial agency was violating his free-speech rights. The agency warned Barrow his claim that Georgians have a right to abortion under the state constitution might be violating judicial ethics. Barrow, in a statement after his loss, said he remains committed to his view that the Georgia Constitution protects abortion rights. The people who have spoken up on the issue of abortion rights agree with me, and so the issue remains to be decided, first by the Supreme Court and ultimately by the people, Barrow said in a statement. Justices Michael Boggs, John Ellington and Nels Peterson were unopposed. Six judges on the Georgia Court of Appeals are also unopposed, while Jeff Davis beat Tabitha Ponder for an open seat on the court. 3RD CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT Former Donald Trump aide Brian Jack and Mike Dugan, the former Georgia state Senate majority leader, advanced to a runoff for the GOP nomination in Georgias 3rd Congressional District south and west of Atlanta. Jack also worked for former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. He parlayed Trumps endorsement and his Washington contacts into a fundraising lead in his first run for office. On the stump, Jack emphasized his close ties to Trump at every opportunity. We're excited to share our message and grow our campaign even more over the next few weeks, Jack said in a statement. Dugan emphasized Republican legislative achievements when he was in the post, including cutting taxes, imposing sharp restrictions on abortion, shortening the period to request an absentee ballot and limiting ballot drop boxes. Mike is all in, said spokesperson Jen Talaber Ryan. His proven track record and deep roots in the community make him the best voice and strongest choice for west Georgians. The seat is open because Republican U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson is stepping down after four terms. The Republican nominee will be the favorite in a strongly GOP district south and west of Atlanta in November, facing the winner of the Democratic primary, Maura Keller. 13TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT Scott beat six Democratic primary opponents to advance to the general election as he seeks a 12th congressional term in Georgias 13th Congressional District that was significantly reconfigured in a new map. Challengers attacked the 78-year-old Scott as too old and out of touch, but those claims never gained traction with voters. Scott said in March that hes seeking another term to enhance funding for historically Black colleges such as Fort Valley State University, and to provide more assistance to struggling homeowners. Among Scotts primary opponents were Marcus Flowers, who raised $17 million to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in another district in 2022, and former East Point City Councilmember Karen Rene. Scott will face the winner of the Republican primary, Jonathan Chavez, in November. 6TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT McBath beat two Democratic primary opponents to clinch the nomination in her second new district in two years. She overcame Cobb County Commissioner Jerica Richardson and state Rep. Mandisha Thomas, who both claimed they could better represent the new 6th District. Republican lawmakers drew the district, which wraps around the west side of metro Atlanta, after a court ordered new maps to remedy discrimination against Black voters. Republican Jeff Criswell will oppose her in November. McBath was first elected in 2018 in a district that covered Atlantas inner northern suburbs. After a new map in 2022 added more Republicans to that district, McBath jumped to a district that included parts of Gwinnett and Fulton counties. There, she defeated fellow Democratic incumbent Carolyn Bourdeaux in a primary. McBath, whose son was shot to death, has made gun control and reducing gun violence her primary focus. She also says she wants to work on reducing health care disparities in another term. Twice, extremist Georgia Republicans tried to bend the rules and draw me out of Congress, McBath said in a statement. Twice, Georgians have stood with me and resoundingly voted to send me back to Congress. 2ND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT Two years ago, Republicans had hoped they had a chance to defeat 16-term Democratic incumbent Sanford Bishop Jr. in southwest Georgia's 2nd District. But Bishop won that election easily. Now two more Republicans will go to a runoff hoping to take a shot a Bishop, who was unopposed on the Democratic ballot. Advancing to the runoff are Wayne Johnson, of Macon, and Chuck Hand, of Butler. Johnson was an official in the U.S. Education Department under Trump and finished third in the Republican primary two years ago, Hand is a Taylor County Republican Party official and construction superintendent who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for illegally demonstrating in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He was sentenced to 20 days in federal prison and six months of probation. Johnson and Hand beat Michael Nixon, of Thomasville, a hospital purchasing director and Air Force veteran, and Regina Reggie Liparoto, of Columbus, a longtime conservative activist. 14TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT Two Democrats in northwest Georgia's 14th District will compete in a runoff for the right to challenge Republican incumbent Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has no GOP opposition. Advancing to the runoff are consultant Clarence Blalock, of Hiram, and retired Army general Shawn Harris, of Cedartown. They beat sales manager Deric Houston, of Dallas, and business manager Joseph Leigh, of Rossville. Harris has by far raised the most money of the four. For most candidates, their top issue is their distaste for Greene, a top ally of Trump who recently failed in an effort to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson. The winner will have an uphill fight in a heavily Republican district. Two years ago, Democrat Marcus Flowers raised more than $16 million in his challenge to Greene but still lost badly. OTHER RACES Republican U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, the only other incumbent facing a primary challenge, beat retired banker and longtime Republican activist Lori Marie Pesta and retired airline pilot Mike Pons in the 11th Congressional District northwest of Atlanta. Kate Stamper won the Democratic nomination against Antonio Daza. Democrats chose Darrius Butler to challenge Republican incumbent Austin Scott in south and middle Georgia's 8th District. In northeast Georgia's 10th District, they chose Lexy Doherty to challenge incumbent Mike Collins. And Democrat Elizabeth Johnson will face incumbent Republican Rick Allen for a third time in the 12th District around Augusta. Which states could have abortion on the ballot in 2024? Which states could have abortion on the ballot in 2024? Election officials in Nevada are reviewing signatures to see if there are enough to put an abortion rights constitutional amendment before voters in November, part of a national push to pose abortion rights questions to voters since the U.S. Supreme Court removed the nationwide right to abortion. Since the courts 2022 ruling, most Republican-controlled states have new abortion restrictions in effect, including 14 that ban it at every stage of pregnancy. Most Democratic-led states have laws or executive orders to protect access. Floridas 6-week abortion ban takes effect as doctors worry women will lose access to health care Additionally, voters in seven states California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Ohio and Vermont have sided with abortion rights supporters on ballot measures. Its not clear yet how many states will vote on measures to enshrine abortion access in November. In some, the question is whether amendment supporters can get enough valid signatures. In others, its up to the legislature. And theres legal wrangling in some states. Some efforts that sought to restrict or ban abortion have also failed to reach ballots. In Wisconsin, the House approved a measure asking voters to ban abortion after 14 weeks, but the legislative session ended without a vote from the state Senate. Likewise, Iowa lawmakers ended their session without approving a measure asking voters to find that theres no constitutional right to abortion. Pennsylvania lawmakers previously pursued a similar amendment, but its not expected to be added to the ballot this year. A Louisiana measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution died in committee, one in Maine effectively died when it fell short of receiving the approval of two-thirds of the House and a Minnesota measure was not passed by lawmakers, either. WHATS NOW ON 2024 BALLOTS? COLORADO Colorados top election official confirmed Friday that a measure to enshrine abortion protections into the state constitution, including requirements that Medicaid and private health insurers cover it, made the ballot for the fall election. Supporters said they gathered over 225,000 signatures, nearly double the requirement of over 124,000 signatures. Amending the state constitution requires the support of 55% of voters. Those backing a dueling measure a law to ban abortion did not turn in signatures, and the measure will not go before voters. Abortion is legal at all stages of pregnancy in Colorado. FLORIDA The state Supreme Court ruled in April that a ballot measure to legalize abortion until viability could go on the ballot despite a legal challenge from state Attorney General Ashley Moody, who argued that there are differing views on the meaning of viability and that some key terms in the proposed measure are not properly defined. Advocates collected nearly a million signatures to put a state constitutional amendment to legalize abortion until viability on the ballot, surpassing the nearly 892,000 required. Sixty percent of voters would have to agree for it to take effect. Abortion is currently illegal in Florida after the first six weeks of pregnancy under a law that took effect May 1. MARYLAND Maryland voters also will be asked this year to enshrine the right to abortion in the states constitution. The state already protects the right to abortion under state law and Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1. Abortion is allowed in Maryland until viability. SOUTH DAKOTA South Dakota voters will decide this fall on a measure that would ban any restrictions on abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. It would allow the state in the second trimester to regulate the pregnant womans abortion decision and its effectuation only in ways that are reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman. An abortion ban would be allowed in the third trimester, as long as it included exceptions for the life and health of the woman. The states top election official announced May 16 that about 85% of the more than 55,000 signatures submitted in support of the ballot initiative are valid, exceeding the required 35,017 signatures. Opponents still have until June 17 to file a challenge with the secretary of states office.WHERE ELSE COULD ABORTION BE ON THE BALLOT IN 2024? ARIZONA A signature drive is underway to add a constitutional right to abortion in Arizona. Under the measure, the state would not be able to ban abortion until the fetus is viable, with later abortions allowed to protect a womans physical or mental health. Supporters must gather nearly 384,000 valid signatures by July 4. Florida meteorologist goes after DeSantis over climate change rollback Abortion is currently legal for the first 15 weeks of pregnancy in Arizona. An Arizona Supreme Court ruling in April said enforcement could begin soon for a near-total ban that was already on the books. The governor has since signed a bill repealing that law. It is still expected to be in effect for a time, however. ARKANSAS Proponents of an amendment to allow abortion in many cases must gather nearly 91,000 signatures by July 5 for it to get it on the Nov. 5 ballot. The measure would bar laws banning abortion in the first 20 weeks of gestation and allow abortion later in pregnancy in cases of rape, incest, threats to the womans health or life, or if the fetus would be unlikely to survive birth. Because it allows abortion to be banned 20 weeks into pregnancy, the proposal does not have the support of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which includes Arkansas. The state currently bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with narrow exceptions. MISSOURI Missouri abortion rights advocates turned in more than 380,000 signatures more than twice the required 171,000 for a measure asking voters to approve a constitutional amendment to guarantee abortion until viability. Local election officials have until July 30 to verify the signatures, then its up to the secretary of state to declare whether there were enough. A group of moderate Republicans have for this year abandoned efforts for an alternate amendment that would have allowed abortion up to 12 weeks, with limited exceptions after that. Abortion is currently banned in Missouri at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions. MONTANA Abortion rights proponents in Montana have proposed a constitutional amendment that would bar the government from denying the right to abortion before viability or when its necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant person. After a legal battle over the ballot language, the Montana Supreme Court in April wrote its version of the language that would appear on the ballot if supporters gather more than 60,000 signatures by June 21. Abortion is legal until viability in Montana, under a 1999 Montana Supreme Court opinion. NEBRASKA Advocates are trying to collect about 125,000 signatures needed by July 5 to put a constitutional amendment before voters to protect abortion rights until fetal viability. A competing petition effort would add a constitutional amendment mirroring a law adopted last year that bans abortion after 12 weeks, with some exceptions. NEVADA Organizers on Monday said they turned in almost twice as many signatures as needed to put an abortion rights measure on Nevadas ballot in November. Under the amendment, abortion access for the first 24 weeks of pregnancy or later to protect the health of the pregnant person would be enshrined in the state constitution. Such access is already ensured under a 1990 law. More than 102,000 valid signatures are required to place the measure on the ballot, and organizers said they submitted more than 200,000. Now, county election officials must verify signatures by early June. To change the constitution, voters would need to approve it in both 2024 and 2026. NEW YORK Earlier this month, a judge removed an equal protection amendment involving reproductive health care from the November ballot, finding lawmakers missed a procedural step when they put it there. Attorney General Letitia James said she would appeal the ruling. The measure would bar discrimination based on pregnancy outcomes and reproductive healthcare, along with sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin and disability. The language does not explicitly preserve a right to abortion in New York, where its currently allowed until viability. 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 WFLA. States need to keep PFAS forever chemicals out of the water. It wont be cheap. Jackson Quinn brings PFAS water samples into a temperature-controlled room at a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lab in Cincinnati in April. In the coming years, states will need to enforce new federal rules that require drinking water systems to test for PFAS and clean up their water if contamination is found. Joshua A. Bickel/The Associated Press In recent years, Michigan has spent tens of millions of dollars to limit residents exposure to the harmful forever chemicals called PFAS. And some cities there have spent millions of their own to filter contaminated drinking water or connect to new, less-polluted sources. Weve made significant investments to get up to speed, said Abigail Hendershott, executive director of the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team, which serves as a coordinating group for the states testing, cleanup and public education efforts. Theres still a good chunk of the country that hasnt taken on anything. Thats about to change. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued new standards last month for PFAS levels in drinking water, giving water systems three years to conduct testing, and another two years to install treatment systems if contaminants are detected. State officials and utilities say its going to be difficult and costly to meet the requirements. This is going to take a lot more investment at the state level, said Alan Roberson, executive director of the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators, a group that convenes leaders in state health and environmental agencies. It creates a big workload for everybody. PFAS chemicals are widespread, found in a host of everyday products and industrial uses, and they dont break down naturally, meaning they stay in human bodies and the environment indefinitely. Exposure has been shown to increase the risk of cancer, decrease fertility, cause metabolic disorders and damage the immune system. To date, 11 states have set limits for PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, in drinking water. Several others have pending rules or levels that require public notice. While the federal rule builds on those efforts, it also sets limits that are stricter than the state-issued rules. We really have looked to the states as leaders in setting standards and doing some of the foundational science, said Zach Schafer, director of policy and special projects for the EPAs Office of Water. The state agencies are the ones who will be playing the point role [in implementing the national rule]. Schafer said the agency estimates that 6% to 10% of water systems nationwide will need to take steps to reduce PFAS contamination, at a cost averaging $1.5 billion per year over an 80-year span. Public health advocates say the EPAs rule is an important step to ensure all Americans have access to safe water. They say state actions show that such efforts can work. But some state regulators and water suppliers even in states that already have their own rules say the strict thresholds and timelines imposed by the feds will be difficult for many utilities to achieve. While the Biden administration has dedicated billions in funding to help clean up water supplies, experts say the costs will far exceed the available money. It's going to have a significant impact nationally on water rates and affordability of water, said Chris Moody, regulatory technical manager with the American Water Works Association, a group that includes more than 4,000 utilities. An estimate, conducted on behalf of the association, pegs the national cost of cleaning up contaminated water at nearly $4 billion each year. The report found that some households could face thousands of dollars in increased rates to cover the costs of treatment. Theres a lot of concern New Jersey in 2018 became the first state to issue standards for PFAS in drinking water. While the states regulations given New Jersey a head start, officials say they still have a difficult task ahead to meet the stricter thresholds. When we bring in the EPA number, the number of noncompliant systems goes up dramatically, said Shawn LaTourette, the states commissioner of environmental protection. Theres a lot of concern about cost and implementation. LaTourette said state leaders are working to analyze which water systems may fall out of compliance when the federal thresholds take effect. And hes calling on lawmakers to provide more money to communities that cant afford the upgrades. In Washington state, utilities have begun testing for PFAS under state standards passed by regulators in 2021. Officials say that roughly 2% of the water systems tested so far arent in compliance, but that number would jump to 10% when factoring in the stricter federal limits. State leaders say theyll be able to grandfather in the data theyve been collecting to meet EPAs testing requirements. The agency may ask state lawmakers for a substantial increase in staffing to implement the new rules, said Mike Means, capacity development and policy manager with the Washington State Department of Health. Michigan has had its drinking water standards for PFAS since 2020. Hendershott said state officials are well prepared to incorporate the EPAs thresholds. But the strict new limits could quadruple the number of water systems that fall out of compliance. Sarah Doll, national director of Safer States, an alliance of environmental health groups focused on toxic chemicals, said state efforts were key to bringing about the federal rule. They created the urgency for the feds to bring these standards, she said. States that already have regulatory standards absolutely are in a better position. Its very expensive While many states have not enacted their own standards, some have conducted testing or taken other steps to address residents exposure. This is going to take a lot more investment at the state level. Alan Roberson, executive director of the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators Missouri has been testing water systems for PFAS for more than a decade and created maps to notify residents of potential exposure. Of the 400 systems its sampled, 11 may have trouble complying with the EPA rule, said Eric Medlock, an environmental specialist with the state Department of Natural Resources. The agency aims to bring on a chemist and laboratory equipment to conduct more testing in-house. Medlock expressed concern that the federal limits are so strict that theyre near the threshold of what can be detected. When you get down to these really low detection levels that are right at the regulatory limit, that poses a problem, he said. We're going to have to enforce and regulate what EPA proposed. It is going to be an issue. Medlock and others noted that states will face longer-term issues with the storage of the waste products filtered from the water, which carry their own PFAS contamination risk. The infrastructure bill passed by Congress in 2021 includes $5 billion over five years to help communities treat PFAS and other emerging contaminants. More funding for cleanup may come from state lawsuits filed against chemical manufacturers. Thirty attorneys general have filed litigation against polluters, and Minnesota settled its case against 3M Company for $850 million. But leaders say such settlements arent a predictable funding source. In addition to the upfront cost of installing treatment systems, utilities face ongoing expenses, such as replacing filters and disposing of waste, that are less likely to benefit from federal grants and loans. Meanwhile, some water system leaders say the federal compliance timelines may not be long enough. It takes time to design and build a major capital project, said Erica Brown, chief policy and strategy officer for the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, a policy group that advocates for public water utilities. Its not one of those things that you say, You have to do this, and next year, and you can just turn it on. And some officials fear the drinking water limits could lead to more state regulations on wastewater plants and other entities whose discharges may affect drinking water sources. It seems like it's going to be problematic, because [treatment] is very expensive, said Sharon Green, manager of legislative and regulatory programs with the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, an agency whose members operate 11 wastewater treatment plants. Both state regulators and regulated utilities say state leaders need a broader approach to the PFAS problem than just treating the water that comes out of the tap. Officials need to stop pollution at the source, regulate industrial operations and limit products that contain the chemicals. If we keep it out of the river in the first place, [the utility] doesnt have to spend millions of dollars for treatment, said Jean Zhuang, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, an advocacy group focused on the South. While Southern states have not adopted drinking water standards for PFAS, Zhuang said South Carolinas requirement that polluters disclose their discharges of PFAS is a good model to begin cutting off contamination sources. As states face down the expenses of fixing the PFAS problem, some advocates also want them to remember the public health costs of inaction. People will ultimately be consuming less of these chemicals and getting sick less often, said Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, a public health advocacy nonprofit. Editors note: This story has been updated to correct Erica Browns title. DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST On the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic and with growing skepticism around vaccinations and government requirements, some state lawmakers want to end state vaccine mandates for children.(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Louisiana Republican state Rep. Kathy Edmonston believes no one ought to be required to vaccinate their children. So, she wants schools to proactively tell parents that its their right under Louisiana law to seek an exemption. Its not the vaccine itself, it is the mandate, Edmonston told Stateline. The law is the law. And it already says you can opt out if you dont want it. If you do want it, you can go anywhere and get it. Although Louisiana scores among the bottom states in most health indicators, nearly 90% of kindergarten children statewide have complete vaccination records, according to data from the Louisiana Department of Health from last school year. Thats even as Louisiana maintains some of the broadest exemptions for personal, religious and moral reasons. The state only requires a written notice from parents to schools. Edmonston has sponsored legislation that would require schools to provide parents with information about the exemptions. The bill is intended to ensure parents arent denied medically necessary information, she said. Vaccines protect not only the patient, but also those around them. Science has shown that a population can reach community immunity, also known as herd immunity, once a certain percentage of the group is vaccinated. That herd immunity can protect people who cant get vaccinated, such as those with weakened immune systems or serious allergies, by reducing their chances of infection. In the past few years, however, COVID-19 vaccines have terrified some people who oppose requirements to get the shot, even though research shows the vaccines are far safer than getting the disease. Some lawmakers across the country are working to sidestep vaccine mandates, not just for COVID-19, but also for measles, polio and meningitis. Public health experts worry the renewed opposition to childhood immunizations will reverse state gains in vaccination rates. Meanwhile, cases of some diseases, including measles, have increased across the country. Were against the government telling us what to do with our own bodies. Louisiana Republican state Rep. Kathy Edmonston Edmonstons bill is one of dozens this session that aim to relax vaccine requirements, according to a database maintained by the National Conference of State Legislatures, a nonpartisan research organization that serves lawmakers and their staffs. Most of the bills have either died in committee or failed to advance, but a few have become law. Idaho enacted a law, effective in July, that allows students of majority age 18 in Idaho to submit their own immunization waivers to schools and universities, both public and private. And Tennessee passed a law, which took effect in April, that prohibits the state from requiring immunizations as a condition of either adoption or foster care if the family taking in a child has a religious or moral objection to vaccines. Conservatives have really moved towards that medical freedom position of where people need to be really educated about whatever vaccine that they are taking, said Tennessee state Sen. Bo Watson, who sponsored his states legislation. I think the public health community has really lost credibility during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Watson, a Republican. And theyre going to have to work really hard to restore some of that credibility. Other bills that would have allowed some exemptions passed legislatures but were stopped short by governors. In West Virginia, Republican Gov. Jim Justice vetoed legislation that would have allowed full-time virtual public school students, along with private and parochial schools, to avoid mandatory vaccine requirements. Justice said in his veto message that he heard constant, strong opposition to this legislation from our States medical community. Similarly, Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed legislation that would have required public colleges and universities to allow immunization waivers for health, religious or personal reasons. Edmonston said shes tried before with her legislation in Louisiana; it either died or got vetoed by former Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards. But now, with Republican Gov. Jeff Landry in charge, Edmonston is confident the bill will get signed into law. Its already passed the House and is being debated in the Senate. Both she and Watson said the push to relax requirements or create broader exemptions for immunizations is not tied to vaccines themselves. The debate tends to be centered around what many conservatives call an overreach of government. Were against the government telling us what to do with our own bodies, Edmonston said. Greater momentum after COVID-19 The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends numerous vaccinations for infants as a standard regimen. And shots protecting against measles, mumps and rubella, chickenpox and hepatitis B, among others, are typically required to attend K-12 schools. States set their own requirements and exemptions, however, and there are variations. Pushback against vaccine mandates goes back more than a century to the early 1900s, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court in 1905 ruled that states could require parents to vaccinate their children, according to Simon Haeder, an associate professor of public health at Texas A&M University, who has been tracking vaccine hesitancy for several years. Although the opposition tends to exist mostly along partisan lines, with Republicans more likely to support vaccine exemptions, Haeder noted that far-left groups which may tend to be skeptical of medicines in general also support the loosening of vaccination requirements. The scientific skepticism and opposition to state interference and the partisan nature of this issue has really escalated, starting during the COVID years, Haeder told Stateline. Its very hard for states right now wanting to increase vaccination requirements, he said. Among kindergartners, national coverage dropped from about 95% for all vaccines in the 2019-2020 school year to about 93% for all vaccines in both the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years, according to the CDC. Nonmedical exemptions account for more than 90% of all approved vaccination exemptions and are allowed in all but five states. Exemptions increased from 2.2% among kindergartners in the 2019-2020 school year to 3% in 2022-2023, and 10 states reported that more than 5% of kindergartners had an exemption from at least one vaccine. Jennifer Herricks, a microbiologist and founder of Louisiana Families for Vaccines, an advocacy organization in support of vaccines, has been tracking efforts to relax vaccine mandates since 2015. I became a mom. And then it became even more personal for me, especially having those little infants who are too young to get a lot of the vaccines, Herricks said. And then you realize that they are vulnerable to these diseases and that they are depending on the people around them to be vaccinated so that they dont get sick. But Jill Hines, co-director of Health Freedom Louisiana, a group that opposes vaccine mandates, said some parents just want the chance to opt out. Believe it or not, my children are fully vaccinated. We were never informed of the states exemption law, Hines told Stateline. She added that some in her group feel that vaccine reporting requirements are an invasion of privacy. We should not be denied access to society, access to a job, access to an education, simply because weve refused medical intervention, she said. Growing concern among health professionals Mississippi, which sits near the bottom of state rankings on most health indicators such as obesity and heart disease, hasnt had a measles case since 1992. We have pushed back all the potentially fatal childhood infections from being commonplace in Mississippi to being extremely rare, Dr. Daniel Edney, the state health officer, said in an interview. Immunizations against childhood diseases have been required by state law since 1979 for entry into K-12 schools and day care centers. The mandate has helped Mississippi lead the nation with some of the highest rates of childhood vaccinations, including a vaccination rate of nearly 99% among kindergarteners. But last year, a federal judge ordered Mississippi to begin accepting religious exemptions after an interest group, Texas-based Informed Consent Action Network, sued the state in federal court. Since then, thousands of exemption requests have poured in. Mississippi is approaching the approval of more than 2,800 religious exemptions, Edney said. He expects other states also will see more exemptions as lawmakers elsewhere find success with legislation to relax vaccine mandates or increase requirements on opt-out information. If youre going to be against good, sound childhood vaccine policy the vaccinations that have been proven safe and effective for decades you need to be against clean water and against proper sewage and food protection, Edney said. Dr. John Gaudet, a Mississippi pediatrician for about three decades, said he worried the COVID-19 vaccine controversy would spill into the nations ongoing childhood vaccine debate. I think there was a point where you would go to the doctor, and you would just kind of take it almost as, Well, this is what the doctor recommended, he said. And so theres now more of a consumer mentality: Well, the doctor may say this, but maybe that doctor is not trustworthy. Across the country, meanwhile, measles has surged, with at least 132 measles cases reported so far this year, according to the CDC. Two-thirds of those cases are among people under the age of 19, and over half of them have resulted in hospitalizations. The cases have spread to 20 states. But not, so far, to Mississippi. This report was first published by Stateline, which like NC Newsline, is part of the States Newsroom network. The post As states loosen childhood vaccine requirements, health experts worries grow appeared first on NC Newsline. Democrats Elizabeth Steiner and Jeff Gudman are running for their party's nomination to run for state treasurer in the November general election. State Sen. Elizabeth Steiner had a significant lead against former Lake Oswego City Councilor Jeff Gudman in the initial primary election results for the Democrat nomination for Oregon treasurer. The winner will advance to the November general election against Republican Brian Boquist, a state senator from Dallas who is barred from running for reelection in the Legislature because he had 10 or more unexcused floor absences during 10 senators' walkouts during the 2023 session. Tobias Read, who has been treasurer since 2017, is barred from running again due to term limits. He is running for secretary of state and was in the lead for that nomination on Tuesday evening. Steiner said she was "immensely grateful for the outpouring of support" her campaign received around the state and thanked her friends, family, staff, and volunteers. She said she was "honored" to be the nominee in the general election. "Tonight's result is a statement on the strength of the movement we have built together over the past nine months," she said. "I launched this campaign because I know there's more we can do to help Oregonians save for their financial goals, boost the financial health of our state, and invest in our shared priorities: healthcare, education, housing, jobs, and a secure retirement." Gudman previously ran against Read in the 2020 and 2016 elections as a Republican. He was a city councilor in Lake Oswego from 2011 to 2018 and chaired the city's budget committee. He said he was committed to diversifying voices and experiences at the treasurer's office by formalizing a transparent advisor process. Gudman also said his platform included defending pension commitments, taking meaningful steps on climate change through corporate governance, and establishing a bipartisan plan around the redirection of kicker revenues. "Senator Steiner will do a good job as our next state Treasurer," Gudman wrote in an email Tuesday evening. "I am pleased to support her in November." Steiner has been a lawmaker since 2011 and co-chair of the legislature's Ways and Means committee since 2018. She said she would continue Read's net zero plan, follow through on the COAL Act introduced during the 2024 legislative session, and expand and grow existing programs including the implementation of a baby bond program. Steiner also said she would bring together savings programs offered by the State Treasurers Office into one platform such as a website or app to increase their use and accessibility. Dianne Lugo covers the Oregon Legislature and equity issues. Reach her at dlugo@statesmanjournal.com or on Twitter @DianneLugo This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Steiner leading Gudman for Democrat nomination for Oregon treasurer KYODO NEWS - May 21, 2024 - 23:00 | All, World, Japan The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News. ---------- Japan lower house OKs bill to secure foreign trainees as society ages TOKYO - Japan's House of Representatives on Tuesday cleared a bill to reform the controversial foreign trainee program to encourage workers from abroad to stay longer through a new system amid a serious labor shortage in the aging country. As the new system would help increase the number of permanent residence permits, the bill includes provisions to revoke such status if the residents deliberately avoid paying taxes or social insurance premiums, drawing opposition from some supporters of foreign workers. ---------- Japan ranks 3rd among top world travel destinations: report BRUSSELS - Japan ranked third in a list of destinations in a travel and tourism development report by the World Economic Forum released Tuesday, scoring highly for its natural and cultural resources and transport infrastructure. The United States topped the list, with Spain coming second. Japan was the highest-ranking country in the Asia-Pacific region. ---------- China rebukes Japan, U.S. for congratulating new Taiwan leader BEIJING - China expressed Tuesday its "firm opposition" to Japan and the United States congratulating Taiwan President Lai Ching-te on his inauguration, with Beijing's envoy to Tokyo earlier warning that Japanese supporters of the island's independence would be "led into a pit of fire." In response, Japan has protested to China through diplomatic channels over the comments made by Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Jianghao following Lai's swearing-in ceremony on Monday, calling them "extremely inappropriate," according to a government source. ---------- 4 Japanese in New Caledonia evacuate with support from Australia TOKYO - At least four Japanese nationals in New Caledonia have evacuated with support from Australia, a Japanese government source said Tuesday, as deadly violence has continued in the French Pacific territory for more than a week. Earlier in the day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a press conference that the government will respond "appropriately" to the New Caledonia crisis while considering the wishes of Japanese nationals who intend to stay there. . ---------- Japanese town installs barrier to block viral Mt. Fuji photo spot KOFU, Japan - A Japanese town on Tuesday set up a large black screen to block a scenic view of Mt. Fuji that saw a surge in tourists coming to photograph it after going viral online. The 2.5-meter high, 20-meter wide screen now blocks the sight of Japan's highest mountain towering over a Lawson convenience store in Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, which could previously be photographed from across a road, making the area a popular destination for foreign tourists. ---------- Japanese doll artisan, national treasure Hayashi dies at 87 OSAKA - Komao Hayashi, a celebrated doll artisan recognized during his lifetime as a living national treasure and known for his elegant expressions of Japanese culture featuring Noh performances and court costumes, has died, an industry body said Tuesday. He was 87. Hayashi, a Kyoto native, died last Wednesday, the Japan Kogei Association said. He was named a living national treasure in 2002 for his "Toso" dolls, crafted by adding glue to paulownia powder, kneading it, and coloring it after drying. ---------- Japan, S. Korea police to boost cooperation over cross-border crime TOKYO - The police chiefs of Japan and South Korea agreed on Tuesday to enhance their joint efforts in combating cross-border crime, including organized fraud. The meeting in Tokyo between Japan's National Police Agency Commissioner General Yasuhiro Tsuyuki and his South Korean counterpart Yoon Hee Keun was the first by the two countries' police chiefs in 14 years. ---------- Bear attack suspected after 4 calves found dead at Hokkaido ranch KUSHIRO, Japan - Four calves were found dead Tuesday morning at a ranch in Hokkaido, northern Japan, with local authorities suspecting a brown bear attack due to the discovery of what appears to be bear paw prints in the vicinity. An additional four calves were found injured at the ranch in the Nakashumbetsu district of Betsukai town, with police urging caution in the area. Concern that the bear may return to the site has prompted local officials to set up traps. Video: Tulips bloom at Kamiyubetsu Tulip Park in Hokkaido Storms rolling into the Carolinas from the Mississippi River Valley threaten Sunday nights Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR race and outdoor plans in the Charlotte area on Memorial Day, a National Weather Service meteorologist said Tuesday. Its still early in the week, and the forecast could always change, but Sunday and Mondays Charlotte-area weather is not looking too good, NWS forecaster Doug Outlaw said. If the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord were postponed to Monday, chances of showers and thunderstorms that day are even higher , at 60%, Outlaw said. The latest weather models showed a 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms at 6 p.m. Sunday, the scheduled start of the race, Outlaw said. That same chance continues into the evening, he said. But the buildup of showers and thunderstorms should be at their peak at 5 p.m. and decrease to a 40% chance by 8 p.m., Outlaw said. Dreary Memorial Day forecast Charlotte faces a 35% chance of showers and thunderstorms at noon Monday, and a 60% chance in the afternoon, Outlaw said. So it doesnt really diminish a whole lot from Sunday into Monday, he said about the prospects for rain. And some of the rain could be heavy at times, especially with approaching thunderstorms, Outlaw said. The low-pressure weather system from the Mississippi River Valley could merge with a high-pressure system from the coast, increasing the chances of showers and thunderstorms this weekend, Outlaw said. Showers and thunderstorms are likely on Monday, according to the NWS Charlotte forecast at 11 a.m. Tuesday. Charlotte forecast Charlotte should be sunny to mostly sunny through Thursday, with predicted highs of 85 on Tuesday, 88 on Wednesday and 89 on Thursday, the NWS forecast at noon Tuesday showed. Friday could turn mostly cloudy, with a high near 88 degrees, while storm chances are expected to increase to 40% on Saturday and Sunday, according to the forecast. Showers and thunderstorms are likely on Monday, with a high of 86, the forecast showed. Monday, nearly 50 mayors, village presidents and other municipal leaders representing nearly 4.5 million suburban Chicago residents, gathered outside the quad of Elmhurst University to call on the Illinois General Assembly to raise the Local Government Distributive Fund and roll back on a myriad of unfunded mandates passed in the last decade. The Local Government Distributive Fund (LGDF), is a partnership between Illinois and its local governments created to distribute a portion of the state income tax, established in 1969; between 1993-2011, 10% of the total income tax collected was dedicated to the LGDF, by 2017 the rate had been reduced to 6.06%. For decades local government leaders knew they could rely on LGDF as a predictable and sustainable source of funding, even as other revenue fluctuated from month to month, Palos Hills Mayor Jerry Bennett said. Due to instability caused by the 2008 financial crisis, the state reduced LGDF income promising the reduction would be temporary, Bennett said. Income tax represents nearly 30% of the state budgets expected total revenue in 2024, roughly $33 billion; last year the state increased the LGDF income tax rate to 6.47%, meaning local governments could expect to split about $2.13 billion in individual and corporate income tax. In 2025, the state of Illinois expects to bring in $109.7 billion in appropriated funds, with income tax once again representing nearly 30% of total revenue; if increased to 10% the LGDF would receive $3.29 billion, $1 billion more than the current rate. My community of Hazel Crest has lost over $10M in LGDF since 2011, while at the same time, weve faced over 1,600 unfunded mandates since I was elected in 2013, Hazel Crest Mayor Vernard Alsberry said Monday. As of March, 155 bills were introduced by the 103rd Illinois General Assembly that would create new unfunded mandates, according to a March 19 report by the Illinois Municipal League (IML), a government sector lobbying group representing municipal leaders. Unfunded mandates enacted into law cumulatively increase municipal operating costs, Illinois Municipal League CEO Brad Cole said in the report. As members of all political parties continue to campaign on reducing property tax costs statewide, the costs of unfunded mandates must be recognized as a direct and significant contributor to the growing property tax burden in Illinois To supplement the reduced income from the LGDF and increased burden of unfunded mandates, municipalities fill the gap by increasing property tax rates, Alsberry said. In 2023 the median residential tax bill in Cook County increased by 15.7%, the largest percentage increase in the last 30 years, according to the county treasurers office. Each one of us here, and every other citizen in the State of Illinois, relies on the critical services provided by local governments, Wheaton Mayor Phil Suess said Monday. We are here this morning to reach out to our partners in the General Assembly and urge them to work with us to prioritize continued investment in our communities. ____ Columbia University students participate in a pro-Palestinian encampment on their campus last month. (Stephanie Keith | Getty Images) It is warm, and college students are off from classes. Restlessness from the winter lends itself to gathering outside at an annual high. Summer presents the perfect protest conditions for individuals who feel disaffected or passionate about a political cause. This trend is true historically and has played out over the past few summers in America. Summer 2024 is poised for protests given recent riots on college campuses, and a contentious presidential election around the corner. There is a chance that these protests will devolve into violent riots and potential insurrection. Most Americans do not want a summer of roiling protests that quickly turn into riots chock-full of damage to homes, businesses, public parks, and government buildings. These Americans support peaceful protests that adhere to time, place, and manner restrictions. Additionally, these Americans grow increasingly concerned with the vitriolic nature of our political rhetoric. To act as a bulwark against the potential prevalence of these riots, it would behoove these Americans to brush up on the fundamental rights and responsibilities they have under the Constitution. Therefore, they can effectively access the constitutional means to end the riotous behavior that comes at the expense of meaningful political progress. The same type of progress that was once the result of nonviolent protests like the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Below are a couple pertinent civic concepts to brush up on as spring gives way to summer. Democracy is a work in progress Until 1776, the standard practice for political rule was monarchy. The reason is simple. Monarchies are easy to facilitate for those in power. Listen to what this person says or it is off to the dungeon or worse. Yes, this is a strawman summation of monarchical rule, and there are several historical examples of benevolent monarchs. However, compared to the intricate moving parts of democracy, monarchies pale in comparison to the level of precision needed to make governance work. Democracies are complex. It is a modern attempt to solve the oldest political problem how do governments balance the public good with the good of the individual? The framers of the Constitution were astutely aware of this problem. When drafting the Constitution in the Philadelphia summer heat of 1787, they debated several plans of government that reflected a capacious knowledge of 2000 years of political history. Democracy is not completely modern. It had been tried several times in the ancient world, each time resulting in failure. These failures occurred because it was applied too excessively or too deficiently. In its excesses, democracy devolved into mob rule where the majority tyrannically abused the minority. In its deficiencies, democracy morphed into tyrannical rule by demagogues. To illustrate the potential faults of democracy, the Federalist Papers enumerated several examples of individuals and the public good being subsumed by tyranny in the ancient world. Noting these historical outcomes, George Mason of Virginia proposed the Bill of Rights to guarantee the foundations of democratic rule in the modern world individual liberty to stifle the excesses and deficiencies of government. These rights are the foundation upon which America has been held accountable throughout its history. Every time a generation has violated the rights of a specific group, the next generation has been willing to declare these violations as wrong and demand that we strive toward a more perfect union. President Barack Obama underlined this asymptotic approach to American justice during his farewell address when he stated, thats what we mean when we say America is exceptional not that our nation has been flawless from the start, but that we have shown the capacity to change and make life better for [all]. What is a right? The Bill of Rights outlines the basic package of protections each American has from a tyrannical government. These rights set limits as to what the government can and cannot do to its citizens. While this might seem like the establishment of immutable no trespass zones, the practical implementation of these rights is far more complex and limited than one might think. An individuals rights do not exist within a vacuum. As George Costanza would say, Were living in a society! Consequently, democracies are constantly trying to balance where the rights of one individual end and the safety of another individual or the public begins. There are a near infinite number of scenarios that help illustrate this delicate balance. What is most helpful when trying to understand this balancing is to examine the language of the Bill of Rights. This language acknowledges the balancing act existing within stark limits. Consider the The First Amendment. It reads: Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech. Prima facie, it would appear that the First Amendment guarantees unlimited speech. After all, it literally states that the government cannot abridge freedom of speech. However, if this is the case, why did James Madison not write the First Amendment as abridging speech? Why did he condition speech with the adjective of freedom? This was done by Madison to indicate that only certain types of speech qualify as free speech. Chief among these free types are political speech and the ability to criticize the government. Two hundred and thirty years of laws and constitutional interpretation bear out Madisons conditionalizing of speech. This is why you are not legally allowed to use free speech to threaten government employees, or harass someone based on his or her race or religion under Title Six of the Civil Rights Act. Will a civics refresher help? Acutely, a civics refresher will have little to no impact on the individuals who are locked in the recalcitrant tribalism of contemporary American politics. This brand of politics dismisses and even cheers illegal behavior as long as said behavior advances a particular tribes viewpoint. This allows those who demand law and order to fail at calling out their own supporters when they act violently or illegally. Both sides of the American political spectrum are rife with examples of this selective cognitive dissonance. In the long run, cooler heads on both sides of the political spectrum must engage in a recommitment to the study of civics for the sake of future generations. A study of civics that not only incorporates institutional knowledge about the structures of American government, but the examination of constitution language. Language that reflects the virtues and vices of human nature, and the safeguards needed to balance the oldest political problem. Generations Z and Alpha are watching how we speak and act towards each other. These observations will become their behaviors and form their character. If all they witness is a society that engages in virulent language, castigating individuals with different political opinions as evil, what will their character be? What will democracy become? After all, the character of a democratic nation is the character of its citizens. The post This summer promises protests so spring is a good time to brush up on civics appeared first on New Hampshire Bulletin. Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, said Israel was 'exercising its lawful right to self-defence' - Simon Dawson/No 10 Downing Street Rishi Sunak has described the application for arrest warrants at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Israeli officials as deeply unhelpful. Speaking in Vienna, the Prime Minister said that the application for arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Yoav Gallant, his defence minister, would make no difference to getting aid into Gaza and reaching a ceasefire. The ICC said it had evidence to charge the Israeli leaders with crimes against humanity, including using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. It also applied for the arrest of Hamas leaders on charges including torture and taking hostages. This is a deeply unhelpful development, Mr Sunak said. Of course, it is still subject to a final decision, but it remains deeply unhelpful nonetheless. There is no moral equivalence between a democratic state exercising its lawful right to self-defence and the terrorist group Hamas. It is wrong to conflate and equivocate between those two different entities. Mr Sunaks remarks followed Joe Biden condemning the ICCs effort to seek the arrest of Mr Netanyahu as outrageous. On Tuesday, an Israeli government spokesman urged the civilised world to unite against the ICC. Unlike Israel and the United States, the UK Government is a signatory to the ICC and would be obliged to respect any warrant should its subject visit Britain. On Monday, France said it supported the ICCs independence and the fight against impunity in all situations. The foreign ministry condemned the anti-Semitic massacres perpetrated by Hamas during the groups attack on Israel on Oct 7, which was accompanied by acts of torture and sexual violence. But it said it had warned Israel of the need for strict compliance with international humanitarian law, and in particular of the unacceptable level of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip and inadequate humanitarian access. Italy, on the other hand, backed the UK position, saying that it was unacceptable and absurd to compare Israel and Hamas. Hamas bent on slaughter Michael Gove, the Cabinet minister, also criticised the decision, accusing the ICCs chief prosecutor of seeking to hold Israel to standards that we dont hold other countries to. You cannot equate Israel with Hamas. Hamas is a terrorist organisation, bent on slaughter. Israel is a state like all states, an imperfect one, but one thats trying to defend its people, and trying to equate the two is just nonsensical, he told Times Radio. Speaking at the JW3 Jewish Community Centre in north-west London on Tuesday morning, Mr Gove added: Of course, it is the case that Israel and the Israeli government have and will make mistakes and they need to be held accountable for those errors. But there is a difference between a state attempting to defend its own citizens against a terrorist attack and a terrorist organisation that has made it clear that it will act with the utmost ruthlessness and absolutely no discrimination in its effort to eliminate the Jewish people in Israel. So there can be no equivalence between them. And that moral position, I think, has to guide our response to the legal operation of the ICC. Mr Gove added that Russia, Iran and China were seeking to spread anti-Semitic and anti-Israel narratives. They know that if they undermine Israel, other dominoes will fall, he said. Wilful killing On Monday, Karim Khan, ICC prosecutor, said he had applied for arrest warrants for Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant for crimes including wilful killing, extermination and/or murder, and starvation during the war in Gaza. He said Israel had committed crimes against humanity, and accused it of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population. Mr Khan also said the leaders of Hamas, including Qatar-based Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, its Gaza chief, bear criminal responsibility for actions committed during Oct 7. These included taking hostages, rape and other acts of sexual violence, and torture. International law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all, Mr Khan said. No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader no one can act with impunity. 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. Most of the Held v. Montana plaintiffs and their attorneys pose outside the courtroom for photos halfway through the trial. Most of the Held v. Montana plaintiffs and their attorneys pose outside the courtroom for photos halfway through the trial. (Photo by Blair Miller, Daily Montanan) The Montana Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on July 10 in the states appeal of the Held v. Montana case, after which the court will decide whether the State of Montana is indeed violating its citizens rights to a clean and healthful environment through its greenhouse gas emissions policies. Oral arguments will start at 9:30 a.m. on that Wednesday in the Old Supreme Court Chambers, Room 303, inside the Montana State Capitol. The attorneys for the 16 youth plaintiffs will get 30 minutes to argue in front of the court, while the state, governor, and multiple state agencies will get 40 minutes total to do so. The highly anticipated arguments will come nearly 11 months after Lewis and Clark District Court Judge Kathy Seeley sided with the plaintiffs in what they and other environmental groups called a landmark decision in their effort to fight against climate change in Montana. Last August, Seeley permanently enjoined the 2023 version of what the court called the limitation to the Montana Environmental Policy Act, which prohibited the state from considering greenhouse gas emissions and climate impacts when considering permits for energy and mining projects, saying it violated Montanans rights to a clean and healthful environment for current and future generations. She also enjoined as unconstitutional a portion of another bill passed by the 2023 Legislature, Senate Bill 557, which said that permits approved by state agencies that did not include a greenhouse gas emissions evaluation could not be vacated, voided or delayed unless Congress starts to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the federal Clean Air Act. Both pieces of legislation were written directly in response to a Yellowstone County District Court judges ruling that temporarily paused ongoing construction on a NorthWestern Energy power plant in Laurel because the Department of Environmental Quality failed to consider the impact of emissions from the plant in approving permits. That judge later vacated the order after the Legislature passed the two laws, and the Montana Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week on the appeals in that case, noting that part of the high courts decision in that case regarding the plants emissions hinged on the outcome of the Held appeal. The courts concurrent consideration of these two cases allows for a fulsome consideration of the very broad impacts and harm, constitutional infringement, from the climate limitation, and the very specific practical application of that climate limitation to a single large fossil fuel project, Earthjustice attorney Jenny Harbine, representing the plaintiffs in that case, told the court last Wednesday. The appeal in the Held case has been fully briefed for three weeks after the state, Gov. Greg Gianforte, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, and Department of Transportation filed their reply briefs in late April. The state has argued in its briefs before the Supreme Court that invalidating the MEPA limitation would not fix the injuries the youth plaintiffs claim because climate change is a global problem and Montanas greenhouse gas emissions are a tiny fraction of the global contribution. The state also wants the court to clarify that Seeleys district court ruling does not require the state to perform climate analyses, only allows it to do so. The youth plaintiffs want the court to uphold Seeleys order, saying the 1972 state constitutional framers put the sections about the environment in specifically to keep the state from degrading the environment through mining and pollution. They say the state has been purposefully avoiding analyzing emissions and climate impacts to further its financial relationship with energy and mining companies. The Supreme Court previously declined to pause Seeleys August order pending the appeal by the state, governor and agencies. Several dozen environmental groups, lawyers groups, states, chambers of commerce, energy groups, and others have filed amicus curiae friend of the court briefs on behalf of both sides, showing the broad stakes of the case, which is unique because of the environmental protection provisions contained within Montanas constitution. We are grateful to have the opportunity for the 16 Held plaintiffs to present their case to the Montana Supreme Court and remain confident in our legal arguments and in the compelling evidentiary record the Court will review, said Our Childrens Trust attorney Nate Bellinger, one of the attorneys representing the youth plaintiffs. We are optimistic that together, we can secure the just outcome that these incredible young leaders, and generations to come, deserve. The post Supreme Court oral arguments set for July 10 in Held v. Montana case appeared first on Daily Montanan. Public outrage continues this week in response to the disturbing New York Times report that, in the days after the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021, a symbol of support for the insurrection was displayed at the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. The justice has half-heartedly tried to deflect blame onto his wife with some convoluted tale involving her bickering with the neighbors, but in the end, there's no real evading the conclusion: The Alitos publicly hat-tipped the fascist effort to overthrow democracy because they backed Donald Trump's attempted coup. Now there's a growing chorus of people, including Senate Democrats, calling on Alito to recuse himself from all coup-related cases, including one involving Trump's claims to be "immune" from prosecution for his attempts to steal the 2020 election. Like Justice Clarence Thomas, whose own wife was intimately involved in the attempted coup plot, Alito is almost certainly going to blow off all the criticism. Chief Justice John Roberts, for his part, will likely allow it. This is for one simple reason: The entire GOP majority on the court is complicit with Trump's designs to end democracy. The other Republican-appointed justices on the Supreme Court may not all be as loud and proud about it as Alito and Thomas, but that's more of an aesthetic difference than a material one. When it gets down to brass tacks, the Republican majority is cooperating fully these days with Trump's seditious plans. We know this for two reasons: First, the supposedly "originalist" conservative justices ignored the plain text of the Constitution which explicitly forbids politicians who have "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" from holding future office to rule that Trump can still run for president. Second, they are currently blocking Trump from being tried for his efforts to steal the 2020 election, using transparently disingenuous methods. Want more Amanda Marcotte on politics? Subscribe to her newsletter Standing Room Only. The timing is especially telling here. The justices were practically tripping over their robes in their haste to issue their illegitimate decision in the ballot case. They heard oral arguments on February 8 and issued their unconstitutional, pro-Trump ruling less than a month later. But on the immunity claims, they are taking a luxurious amount of time. They pushed oral arguments nearly two months after Trump's trial in his Jan. 6 case was supposed to start. It's been nearly a month since then, and still no sign of a ruling. And that's despite every good faith legal scholar pointing out that this case should have never even made it to the Supreme Court. The D.C. circuit already issued a rock solid, common sense ruling that presidents don't get to just attempt coups without consequences. Even if some conservative justices, as they seemed to indicate during arguments, aren't keen on ruling that a president is forever above the law, it may not matter. By taking up the case in the first place and taking their sweet time ruling on it, they likely doomed any chance that special prosecutor Jack Smith could actually bring Trump to court to answer to a jury before the election. And that's assuming the court issues a straightforward affirmation of the D.C. decision. Odds are they create a bunch of new, nonsense legal tests, forcing the lower courts to tinker with this case for months, if not years and if Trump wins the election, he will kill the case anyway. If the Supreme Court continues to delay Trump's Jan. 6 trial, Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post writes, it's proof that the fascist sympathies of Alito and Thomas "have thoroughly corrupted the court." Sure, it's possible Roberts hears her and, within a week, we have a Supreme Court ruling that allows the federal trial to start this summer. It's also possible, theoretically, that a massive asteroid decimates planet Earth and ends our collective misery in one glorious swoop. But neither will realistically happen. The latter we know because NASA would have detected such an anomaly. The former we know because the Roberts court is run by a bunch of partisan hacks. If it weren't, they would have already kicked Trump off the ballot, as the Constitution requires, while also inviting the Justice Department to try him with the swiftness the public deserves. Because Alito and Thomas are especially bad at hiding the petty spite that fuels their authoritarian ideology, they get most of the public's negative attention. But if it were just two of them, it wouldn't really matter so much on a nine-person court. The reason they are so powerful is that they have the quiet support of the other four Republicans on the bench, who have demonstrated in the past few months that they are fine with what happened on January 6, so much so that they are happy to torch the reputation of the Supreme Court to shield Trump from consequences. This is all happening while elected Republican officials are lining up to exalt Trump's criminality. Last week, Republican politicians by the bucketful made the pilgrimage to New York City to speak out for Trump in a campaign fraud case where the overwhelming documentary evidence points to his guilt. This is after he's been found liable in two other cases for committing decades of business fraud and for sexually assaulting journalist E. Jean Carroll so brutally that the judge repeatedly said it was basically rape. To stand by him now is not really about believing he is innocent of these various crimes so much as it's championing an explicitly fascist principle: Dear Leader should not have to obey the law. Not only are Republicans venerating Trump's past crimes, but they are actively encouraging him to commit more in the future, especially concerning election fraud. When reporters ask Republican politicians if they will accept the results of the 2024 election, almost to a person they find their way to say "only if Trump wins." This isn't just political tapdancing around the easily miffed feelings of Trump and MAGA voters who want to believe elections are "rigged" if they lose. Every politician who backs the Big Lie is, whether they admit it to themselves or not, justifying political violence and future criminal conspiracies to steal the next election. When he was actually in the process of attempting to steal the 2020 election, the court was less accommodating of Trump's fascist impulses than they are now. They rejected his lawsuits attempting to throw out the electoral college votes of states that backed President Joe Biden. So it's understandable that the punditry is surprised to see the justices grow more protective of Trump's aspirations to be a dictator. But the justices are part of this larger Republican drift away from being opposed or even just ambivalent to January 6. Nowadays, most Republicans openly embrace Trump's Big Lie and any crimes committed to seize control of government illegally. Alito has revealed he was one of the hardcore fascists who was with the insurrectionists from day one. But, like many Republicans, the rest of the conservative justices on the court look to have moved in his direction. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) A suspect who was arrested in Utah for the ambush robbery and killing of a Las Vegas 16-year-old is now at the Clark County Detention Center facing murder and robbery charges. DeAjai DeVon Guaydacan, 18, of Las Vegas was arrested in Utah on charges of murder and robbery in the death of a Las Vegas teen. (Credit: LVMPD) DeAjai DeVon Guaydacan, 18, was booked into the detention center on Saturday, May 18 after being arrested in Utah on April 23. Lennix Dockery, 18, was arrested in Idaho on April 27 and another suspect, Jordan DaSharp Brown, 17, was arrested in Las Vegas following the deadly shooting of AhShioni Henderson on April 9 at an apartment complex located off Buffalo Drive near Lake Mead Boulevard. Lennix M. Dockery, 18, of Las Vegas was arrested in Idaho on charges related to a deadly Las Vegas shooting that left a 16-year-old dead. (Courtesy of the Kootenai County Sheriffs Office) According to the arrest report, Brown, who was friends with the victim, conspired with Dockery and Guaydacan to steal a gun from Henderson. Brown posted a photo on his Instagram account of Henderson with a Glock-style handgun for sale. The report said, that on the evening of the shooting, a witness told police they were at a gathering in an apartment in the complex where the shooting occurred and witnessed Brown put a gun he was carrying into Hendersons pants pocket. As Brown and Henderson left the apartment, Guaydacan and Dockery, hid outside of the apartment under some stairs and ambushed Henderson as he left the apartment. Guaydacan shot Henderson two times from behind and all three suspects fled the shooting scene in the same vehicle, police documents stated. The report said apartment surveillance video and video found on Browns cellphone revealed the pre-planning of the robbery and shooting that left Henderson dead. Guaydacan is scheduled to be in court Wednesday morning. 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 KLAS. DENVER (KDVR) A man who allegedly stole a car owned by Arapahoe County and was wanted in other jurisdictions, including Denver and Broomfield, was arrested on Tuesday. Paris Shannon, 35, was wanted on counts of burglary, motor vehicle theft, stalking, domestic violence and harassment, according to the Broomfield Police Department. He was arrested on Tuesday afternoon in Broomfield, a day after authorities had been trying to take him into custody. The Arapahoe County Sheriffs Office said deputies established a perimeter Tuesday in the 8900 block of East Florida Avenue, where they were looking for a man who allegedly stole a parks and recreation car and crashed it into other vehicles. FOX31s Alliyah Sims spoke to the department and was told the alleged theft happened at the Cheyenne-Arapaho Park, near the initial perimeter. FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up to get breaking news sent to your inbox A neighbor who lived feet away from the park where the vehicle was allegedly stolen told Sims that the incident was very scary. I have seen those white pickup trucks, the neighbor, who did not want to provide her name, told Sims. I see about three of them, but I didnt happen to see anything yesterday. It is kind of unnerving. This is not the first time deputies tried to locate the suspect. Arapahoe County said deputies tracked the man to the same area on Monday but were unsuccessful in detaining him. The sheriffs office said they were unsuccessful a second time and could not initially locate the man on Tuesday, but there was no threat to the 8900 block of East Florida Avenue. The neighbor said the park is always full with little kids, and said shes keeping a lookout for the suspect, now in custody. It scared me, because I have never gotten anything like that here. I thought who is this, what is he up to, what is he going to do? I mean you dont know. Suspect allegedly involved in Denver crash According to deputies, the man was wanted for other crimes in Denver and Broomfield on a crash and violation of a protection order. The department said the Denver crash happened at around 12:30 p.m. on Monday in the area of 22nd and Blake streets. Officers were called to a hit-and-run crash that involved two cars. 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 FOX31 Denver. SWANSEA Installation of business district sewers got a thumbs up from voters while the Preserved Gardner House was likely issued a death sentence during a town meeting doubleheader on Monday night at the Joseph Case High School auditorium. The four-plus-hour gathering consisted of the annual town meeting preceded, in part, by special town meeting that addressed transfers and appropriations to be performed before the end of Fiscal Year 2024 on June 30. There were actually three articles, involving both meetings, pertaining to the sewers. The article for a proposed renovation and restoration of the nearby Preserved Gardner House at Swansea Memorial Park was part of the annual town meeting. It was rejected 227-111 on a ballot after a voice vote was deemed inconclusive. Citizens immediately thereafter approved 204-92 by stand-up vote an article to spend $85,000 for demolition of the boarded-up 213-year-old house in need of costly renovations. Swansea residents Roger and Maureen Bombardaer look at the proposed sewer map before the Swansea special and annual town meeting Monday, May 20 at Joseph Case High School. Special town meeting extends into town meeting Special town meeting started at 7 p.m. and the first four of its six articles were approved before moderator Paul Burke, noting that town meeting was supposed to start at 7:30 p.m., called for a special town meeting recess, at 7:36 p.m., with a sewer article not yet addressed. In the next-to-last article at town meeting, voters approved by a 241-26 ballot vote to appropriate $21,600,000 for the purpose of financing the construction of Phase 1A of the Route 6 Corridor and Route 118 wastewater collection system throughout the town. Before that vote, Sewer Commission Chairman Jim Pelletier said that Swansea's business district very much needs a wastewater collection system and that now is the time to act because the Massachusetts DOT will be soon be performing reconstruction of that Route 6 corridor, roughly from the Venus de Milo to Swansea Mall Drive. That construction will facilitate the installation of sewer infrastructure. He said passing on this opportunity would close the sewer installation window for five years. Swansea and Somerset have agreed to have Swansea tie into Somerset's wastewater treatment system. How Swansea plans to fund sewers Pelletier said the vast majority of citizens, fearing increased taxes, need not be concerned by the $21.6 million price tag. He said loan payments will be covered by the betterment fees, paid only by those (mostly businesses) who tie into the sewers. He said failed septic systems regularly plague Swansea businesses, noting that Target, along the corridor, is on at least its third system. The installation of sewers, he said, will not only be a plus for existing businesses but will also attract new businesses. That would translate into increased tax revenue to a town which boasts, he said, the lowest business tax rate in the area yet struggles to attract businesses. Pelletier said there is extensive room for new businesses in the corridor. The area, he said, has 54 undeveloped acres and more than a half million square feet of unrented storefront. Votes are collected at Swansea's special and annual town meeting Monday, May 20. This is going to help bring restaurants. It's going to help bring economic development to Swansea, he said. Swansea Town Administrator Mallory Aronstein said the town will borrow the money from the Massachusetts Cleanwater Trust, which provides low-interest and no-interest loans. This is a critical, critical, critical project, she said, and I'm really happy to see that we a focus on economic development, the next chapter for us. This also allows us to ease up the burden on the residential side of things. It allows us to kind of share those costs a little bit more how the split tax rate is designed to go. This is a great day for Swansea. They did a good job for their community. The following and final town meeting article, approved by voice vote, was for establishing Sewer Services as an enterprise fund effective Fiscal Year 2025. Special Town Meeting reconvened at 11:04 p.m. The last article of the night, approved by voice vote, green lighted the transfer of $1,678,384 to fund the sewer infrastructure installation in conjunction with the DOT's work. The Preserved Gardner House in Swansea. Debate on the Preserved Gardner House The Preserved Gardner House article prompted extensive citizen input, from both sides of the debate. Cheryl Bogle, chairman of the Swansea Historical Commission, said that while the addition portion of the Gardner House is in poor shape, the original house is structurally sound, its walls and roof straight. She said the plan would be to secure $1.5 million in grant money . We're not asking for $2 million, she said. This is what we had to do to get here. Opponents of the article questioned whether the repair/restoration price tag would ultimately be greater, possibly far greater, than the $2 million. What was rejected at Swansea town meeting Town Meeting consisted of 39 articles. Among those that were rejected were: $110,000 mechanical barriers to address flooding hazards along Old Providence Road. $130,000 for a skid steer for the Highway Department. $372,000 for the Highway Department to purchase a Western Star truck, chassis, swap loader system and related equipment. $250,000 for field study, permitting and design of intersection improvements for Gardners Neck Road and New Gardners Neck Road at Route 103. This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Swansea sewers in business district get ok at town meeting KYODO NEWS - May 21, 2024 - 23:46 | All, World One person died and dozens were injured, some seriously, after a Singapore Airlines flight from London hit severe turbulence, forcing it to make an emergency landing at an airport in Bangkok on Tuesday, the airline said. The Boeing 777-300ER, carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members, was en route to Singapore when the incident occurred, according to a statement from the airline. The aircraft was diverted to Bangkok and landed at 3:45 p.m. at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Kittipong Kittikachorn, director of the airport, identified the fatality as a 73-year-old British man who suffered a heart attack. Seven other people sustained severe injuries, he told reporters. According to the airline, around 30 passengers and crew were either hospitalized or treated in hospitals. The airline posted on Facebook that it is cooperating with local authorities in Thailand to provide necessary medical assistance and has dispatched a team to Bangkok to offer additional support. A woman holds a sign reading "Withdraw the bill - stop the vote" as thousands of people gather outside the main building of Taiwan's parliament to voice their worries about what they see as a dysfunctional legislature and the erosion of democracy by China-friendly parties. Taiwan's parliament is currently debating several controversial bills proposed by the opposition. Opponents of the initiatives fear a dismantling of democracy in Taiwan. Johannes Neudecker/dpa Thousands of people on Tuesday gathered outside the main building of Taiwan's parliament to voice their worries about what they see as a dysfunctional legislature and the erosion of democracy by China-friendly parties. Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost its majority in parliament in January elections and has faced major challenges in the current session, which started in February. On Friday, ruling and opposition lawmakers engaged in brawls over several controversial bills, including the expansion of the legislature's investigative powers. Several injured lawmakers required hospital treatment. The fear is that the power of the legislature is being expanded without the appropriate dialogue and procedures. The main reason behind the chaos is that the opposition parties - including the Chinese Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), and the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) - voted last month in committee, where bills are usually reviewed and discussed, to take their versions of the bills directly to a floor vote without clause-by-clause deliberation, and left out bills proposed by the independence-leaning DPP. On Tuesday, when lawmakers continued their meeting to vote on the contentious legislation, huge banners reading "Democracy is dead" and "Hong Kong-ization in Taiwan" were hung at the podiums in the conference hall. Ordinary people and activists from NGOs gathered outside the legislature to express their dissatisfaction, displaying banners reading "No discussion, No democracy," "I defy the parliament," and "Democracy overturns." "Are such bills (proposed by the opposition lawmakers) designed to expand their power or to let our sovereignty be asserted?" Citizen Congress Watch chairman Tseng Chien-yuan said at a news conference at the protest scene. "Taiwan is not a normal country. So I'm afraid that Taiwan's democracy could be easily taken away, just like that in Hong Kong," Amy Yang, a 45-year-old obstetrician, told dpa on the sideline of the protest. Yang, also a mother of an 11-year-old son, said she is worried about the erosion of democracy, which would leave a dim future for next generations. The protest came one day after the inauguration of Taiwan's new president Lai Ching-te. A man holds a sign reading "There is no democracy without Discussion" as thousands of people gather outside the main building of Taiwan's parliament to voice their worries about what they see as a dysfunctional legislature and the erosion of democracy by China-friendly parties. Taiwan's parliament is currently debating several controversial bills proposed by the opposition. Opponents of the initiatives fear a dismantling of democracy in Taiwan. Johannes Neudecker/dpa [Source] New Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te has urged China to cease military and political threats, advocating for peace and stability through dialogue rather than confrontation. Key points: Aside from strengthening Taiwans defenses, Lai pledged to address economic challenges, enhance the social safety net and help advance key fields, including artificial intelligence . China criticized Lais speech as promoting separatism, insisting that Taiwan belongs to it and that Taiwan independence is a dead end. Lai, who was sworn into office on Monday, emphasized Taiwan s sovereignty in his inauguration speech and reiterated the islands commitment to defend its democracy and freedom. The details: Lai, 64, who previously served as vice president, succeeded former President Tsai Ing-wen after winning a three-way race in January. He and new Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim took their oath of office on Monday, becoming Taiwans fifth pair of elected leaders. In his inauguration speech, Lai called on China to cease their political and military intimidation against Taiwan and expressed hope that Beijing will face the reality of the Republic of China's [Taiwans] existence. Still, he maintained that his government will uphold the Four Commitments, neither yield nor provoke and maintain the status quo. China, which sees Taiwan as a renegade province, has long expressed its intent to reunite with the island, using force if necessary. On the eve of Lai's inauguration, seven Chinese aircraft and seven naval vessels were reportedly detected around Taiwan. While he called for dialogue over confrontation, Lai reiterated Taiwans resolve to defend itself in the face of the many threats and attempts of infiltration from China. In response, China slammed Lais speech as promoting the fallacy of separatism. Chen Binhua, a spokesperson from the Taiwan Affairs Office of Chinas State Council, said Beijing will never tolerate or condone any form of Taiwan independence separatist activities and that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one China regardless of who governs Taiwan. The defense rested its case in Donald Trumps criminal hush money trial on Tuesday after roughly 90 minutes of testimony and without the former president taking the stand. Trumps attorneys called two witnesses: a paralegal who entered phone records into evidence and Robert Costello, an attorney who was in talks with Michael Cohen to represent him after the FBI raided his home and office in 2018. Publicly, Trump left open the prospect that he could testify in his own defense, but his attorneys had always seemed to discount the possibility. Ultimately, the most important witness for the defense was Cohen, who testified in the prosecutions case but was subject to cross-examination that stretched across three days for more than eight hours in all. Now the jury will get a week off thanks to the Memorial Day holiday, with closing arguments set for next Tuesday. A verdict is possible by the end of next week. Here are takeaways from the final day of testimony in the Trump hush money trial: Trump doesnt take the stand Over the last several months, Trump repeatedly teased that he would take the stand in his own defense. Well, I would if its necessary, Trump said in an April 25 interview on Newsmax. Probably so, I would like to, I mean I think so, Trump told a Wisconsin television station on May 7. But on Tuesday, the opportunity for Trump to testify came and went quickly, with attorney Todd Blanche telling the judge once Costello was off the stand, The defense rests. Ultimately, there was little suspense in the decision: the lawyers and the judge have been gaming out the trials end-game schedule for the past week as though Trump would not testify. Part of the reason Trump was never expected to take the stand was the scope of the cross-examination. Prosecutors asked the judge to allow them to question the former president about a litany of his misdeeds related to other cases in order to impeach Trumps credibility as a witness. Following a routine hearing on what would be allowed known as a Sandoval hearing the judge ruled that prosecutors would have been allowed to question Trump about the $464 civil fraud verdict from last falls case brought by the New York attorney general, Trumps two violations of the judges gag order in that case, the verdicts against Trump in the two E. Jean Carroll defamation cases and the settlement Trump reached with the New York attorney general that led to the dissolution of the Donald J. Trump foundation. In addition, Trump would have been subjected to questions related to the case, of course, including his alleged affairs with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. It all added up to the calculation from Trump and his attorneys that he was better staying off the witness stand. The most important defense was the Cohen cross-examination The cross-examination of Cohen, the prosecutions final witness, lasted eight hours roughly four times as long as the entire defense presentation. The difference underscored the importance of Cohen both for the prosecutions case against Trump as well as how the defenses efforts to discredit Trumps former fixer as a witness could be key to an acquittal or hung jury. Blanche tried to undercut Cohens credibility, accusing him of making up his conversations with Trump, stealing from his former boss and continuing to lie even after pleading guilty to perjury in 2018. The most dramatic moment in the cross-examination came when Blanche confronted Cohen about an October 24, 2016, call he had with Trumps bodyguard, Keith Schiller, at 8:02 p.m., in which Cohen testified that Schiller put Trump on the phone and Cohen told him he was going ahead with the payment to Daniels. But Blanche showed Cohen text messages he exchanged with Schiller before and after that call, showing he was dealing with a teenager prank calling him and asking Schiller for help. That was a lie, Blanche alleged of Cohens testimony he spoke to Trump about moving forward with the hush money deal. You were actually talking to Mr. Schiller about the fact that you were getting harassing phone calls from a 14-year-old; correct? Part of it was the 14-year-old, but I know that Keith was with Mr. Trump at the time and there was more than potentially just this. Thats what I recall based upon the documents that I reviewed, Cohen responded. Prosecutors tried to rehabilitate Cohens testimony, introducing a screengrab from C-SPAN showing Trump leaving a Florida rally stage with Schiller five minutes before the call. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger also tried to remind jurors that it was Trump not Cohen who was on trial in this case. Now, I know it may feel like you are on trial here after cross-examination. Are you actually on trial here? Hoffinger asked Cohen. No maam, Cohen said. After prosecutors rested, Blanche made a motion for Judge Juan Merchan to dismiss the case a typical motion filed by defendants that rarely succeeds. Blanche argued that Cohen had lied in his testimony in this case and it should be tossed out. So, you want me to take it out of the jurys hands and decide before it even gets to the jury that, as a matter of law, this person is so not worthy of belief that it shouldnt be considered by the jury? Thats what youre asking? Merchan asked. That his entire testimony should not be considered by the jury. Absolutely. Thats exactly what were asking the court to do, Blanche responded. Merchan was skeptical, later asking Blanche: You said his lies are irrefutable, but you think hes going to fool 12 New Yorkers into believing this lie? Costello had a bumpy ride Arguing against prosecutors efforts to block Costello from testifying, Trumps attorneys said that Costello would rebut prosecutors suggestion that Trump put on a pressure campaign to intimidate Cohen to keep quiet in 2018. Merchan ruled Costello could testify but said he wouldnt allow the testimony to become a mini-trial about whether there was in fact a pressure campaign on Cohen and how it affected Trumps former fixer at the time. Trump attorney Emil Bove sought to show Cohen used Costellos legal services and as a backchannel to Trump though he never signed a retainer agreement and ultimately went with another lawyer to handle his federal case. In their first meeting, Costello said Cohen was absolutely manic and suicidal after the FBI raid on his properties. According to Costello, Cohen said 10-12 times during the meeting, I swear to God, Bob, I dont have anything on Donald Trump. Costellos testimony in front of the jury Monday quickly devolved into tension between Costello and the judge. Merchan cleared the courtroom to scold Costello for eye rolls and mutterings about the judges rulings that limited what he could say on the stand. On cross-examination, Hoffinger sought to discredit Costello, suggesting he was more aligned with Trumps interests than Cohen when he was advising him in the spring of 2018. Hoffinger suggested Costello, who was in frequent contact with his close friend Rudy Giuliani, was a part of the pressure campaign to keep Cohen in line. Costello acknowledged he offered Cohen a backchannel to Trump through Giuliani but said that was for Cohens benefit. Closing arguments set for Tuesday Both sides are back in court Tuesday afternoon without jurors present in order to discuss the instructions that the judge will give to the jury before deliberations next week. Then the court will be dark for a week, a scheduling decision Merchan chose so the final stages of the trial werent broken up by a four-day Memorial Day weekend. Merchan told jurors they will return next Tuesday for closing arguments, which are expected to take the whole day. Once the jury gets its instructions, Trumps fate will be in its hands. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Tampa, FL (BLOOM) John Couris, President and CEO of Tampa General Hospital, has been appointed to Floridas Health Care Innovation Council. This appointment by Senate President Kathleen Passidomo is part of the Senates Live Healthy initiative, aiming to bring innovative solutions to Floridas health care challenges. Couris expressed his enthusiasm for the role, stating, Florida can serve as a national model in delivering high-quality health care to all Floridians. With support from Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and other leaders on the state level, we can make strategic investments in innovation that have the potential to revolutionize the way we deliver care in the Sunshine State. Im honored to be a part of the new Health Care Innovation Council, where we will focus on dynamic and strategic solutions that can increase access, cut costs, and improve patient outcomes. The Live Healthy Innovation Council was established through Senate Bill 7018, sponsored by the Senate Health Policy Committee and co-sponsored by Senator Gayle Harrell. Representative Karen Gonzalez Pittman sponsored the bills House companion. The legislation, signed into law by the Governor on March 21, aims to collaborate with entrepreneurs and businesses to transform health care delivery and improve the quality of care in Florida. Senate President Passidomo praised Couris for his visionary contributions to the initiative, saying, John Couris was instrumental in the development of the Live Healthy initiative. His transformational vision for our health care system is increasing access, improving care, and reducing costs for patients. I am pleased to appoint him to the Live Healthy Innovation Council. The Health Care Innovation Council consists of 15 members who will engage with innovators and stakeholders to create best practice recommendations. Their focus areas include increasing efficiency, reducing workforce strain, improving patient access and outcomes, and cutting costs without compromising care quality. The Council will also oversee a revolving loan program to support the implementation of innovative health care solutions. Under Couriss leadership, Tampa General has become a leading academic health system. Notably, the hospital established the Tampa Medical and Research District in partnership with the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine. Couris also led the creation of the CareComm command center at Tampa General, which uses data and analytics to improve patient outcomes and reduce health care costs. Additionally, he spearheaded the TGH at Home program, providing top-tier hospital care to patients in their homes. As a member of the Health Care Innovation Council, Couris will continue to advocate for science-driven solutions to meet Floridas growing health care needs. About Tampa General Hospital: Tampa General Hospital, a 981-bed, not-for-profit academic health system, is one of the largest hospitals in America. It is the regions only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care and is highly ranked in several specialties by U.S. News & World Report. Tampa General is also a leading institution in organ transplants and a primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With a network of medical facilities and services across the region, Tampa General is dedicated to providing world-class care and advancing health care innovation. For more information, visit www.tgh.org. 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 WFLA. TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) The groundbreaking ceremony for phase one of an affordable housing and workforce community in Tampa is at 2 p.m. on Tuesday. Weve seen the redevelopment underway at North Rome Avenue in the West River community, and now its time to start redeveloping further down the road in Old West Tampa. This new affordable housing community will be called The Gallery at Rome Yards. Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars will be poured into the community transformation in the area just south of Columbus Drive between Rome Avenue and the Hillsborough River. This is a City of Tampa utility laydown yard and its just been very underutilized for many years, said Project Developer Peter Van Warner. He said their master plan includes transforming 18 acres into a community to house over 1,000 people and families within the next six to seven years. Especially given the affordable housing crisis, theres such a great demand right now, Van Warner said. This is the perfect piece of property to address that issue and were happy to be a part of the solution. Project developers, the Tampa Housing Authority, and Mayor Jane Castor are all expected to join in on the groundbreaking for phase one of the project, which will bring 234 apartment units. Granite countertops, stainless steel appliances when you walk into these units, people really are astonished, said the developer. Eighty percent of the units will be reserved for people at or below 80% of the area median income, and the rest will be workforce housing. Similar to the Canopy at West River, there will be several perks to living at Rome Yards. Were also going to provide a workforce training center, a small business success center, a wide variety of amenities, and really an area where people can work live and play. Phase one is expected to be complete by the end of 2026. 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 WFLA. Before Frederick Bergmann joined a South Florida plot to overthrow Haitis president, he was a prosperous business owner and family man by all accounts. Bergmann, who graduated from the University of Florida with honors and became a CPA, founded a diagnostic imaging business and a laboratory testing company. With his success, he started donating money to charitable causes in Haiti and came to know Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Haitian physician who asked Bergmann to ship some bullet-proof vests to a security team that was protecting Sanon in his quest to become Haitis next president. By doing the favor for his friend, Bergmann was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in prison for breaking federal laws meant to keep the U.S. out of overseas conflict. A Miami federal judge overseeing the assassination case of Haitis president, Jovenel Moise, sentenced Bergmann to a year less than the maximum sentence. Moise was killed on July 7, 2021, at his hillside home outside Port-au-Prince by Colombian commandos wearing the ballistic vests that Bergmann had shipped to Haiti one month before the deadly assault. Bergmann, 65, had no idea the vests were going to be used in the conspiracy to kill Haitis president, according to federal prosecutors and his defense attorney. Thats why he wasnt charged with the murder conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison like five other defendants who have pleaded guilty to that higher offense in Miami federal court. Five other defendants, including Sanon, now face trial on the charge of conspiring to kill Haitis president and related counts next January. Instead, Bergmann pleaded guilty to two lower conspiracy charges: backing a military expedition against a friendly nation and violating export laws by smuggling 20 ballistic vests in a shipment to the Colombian security team in Haiti. Bergmann falsified the shipping labels by saying the contents were medical x-ray vests and school supplies. Just before his sentencing, Bergman apologized to the judge, the people of Haiti and his family, lamenting the stupid sequence of events and his poor judgment. I wish I could roll the clock back, said Bergmann, who faced up to 10 years for the two conspiracy offenses under federal sentencing guidelines. MADE IN MIAMI: Read the Miami Herald investigation into the assassination of Jovenel Moise U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez gave him a small break after Bergmanns attorney, Henry Bell, argued that his client was a minor player who had devoted his life to caring for his wife and family in the Tampa area while doing charitable acts for his employees and the poor in Haiti. Bell also pointed out that Bergmann and other family members have a history of mental health illnesses. He spent a lot of time and money doing good things in Haiti in the areas of healthcare and education, Bell said, citing several letters of support for Bergmann. I think theres a record for leniency in this case. Bell argued for a sentence in the range of six to eight years. Martinez said he believed that Bergmann had already received a substantial benefit when he was only charged with the Neutrality Act and export violations, suggesting he deserved the maximum 10 years for both offenses. But then, without explanation, Martinez decided to give Bergmann the nine-year sentence and allowed him to surrender to prison authorities in August. He remains free on bond. Martinez, known as a tough sentencing judge, had already given out five life terms to five prior defendants in the Haiti assassination case, which is now at a crossroads. The remaining five defendants are charged with conspiring in South Florida to kill Haitis leader and related charges, including a local security firm accused of recruiting the Colombian commandos to carry out the deadly attack. The conspiracy charge carries up to life in prison. The defendants facing trial are: Antonio Intriago, the head of a Miami-area security firm, CTU; Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, a former FBI informant who joined Intriago at CTU; Walter Veintemilla, a Broward County financier; James Solages, a Haitian American; and Sanon, the Haitian physician who was initially seen by the group as a successor to Moise as Haitis president. In February, Sanon was charged with the others for the first time with conspiring to kill Haitis leader, after first being accused of trying to carry out a military expedition against a foreign country. It was the fifth superseding indictment filed by prosecutors Andrea Goldbarg, Monica Castro and Frank Russo. Before Frederick Bergmann joined a South Florida plot to overthrow Haitis president, he was a prosperous business owner and family man by all accounts. Bergmann, who graduated from the University of Florida with honors and became a CPA, founded a diagnostic imaging business and a laboratory testing company. With his success, he started donating money to charitable causes in Haiti and came to know Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Haitian physician who asked Bergmann to ship some bullet-proof vests to a security team that was protecting Sanon in his quest to become Haitis next president. By doing the favor for his friend, Bergmann was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in prison for breaking federal laws meant to keep the U.S. out of overseas conflict. A Miami federal judge overseeing the assassination case of Haitis president, Jovenel Moise, sentenced Bergmann to a year less than the maximum sentence. Moise was killed on July 7, 2021, at his hillside home outside Port-au-Prince by Colombian commandos wearing the ballistic vests that Bergmann had shipped to Haiti one month before the deadly assault. Bergmann, 65, had no idea the vests were going to be used in the conspiracy to kill Haitis president, according to federal prosecutors and his defense attorney. Thats why he wasnt charged with the murder conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison like five other defendants who have pleaded guilty to that higher offense in Miami federal court. Five other defendants, including Sanon, now face trial on the charge of conspiring to kill Haitis president and related counts next January. Instead, Bergmann pleaded guilty to two lower conspiracy charges: backing a military expedition against a friendly nation and violating export laws by smuggling 20 ballistic vests in a shipment to the Colombian security team in Haiti. Bergmann falsified the shipping labels by saying the contents were medical x-ray vests and school supplies. Just before his sentencing, Bergman apologized to the judge, the people of Haiti and his family, lamenting the stupid sequence of events and his poor judgment. I wish I could roll the clock back, said Bergmann, who faced up to 10 years for the two conspiracy offenses under federal sentencing guidelines. MADE IN MIAMI: Read the Miami Herald investigation into the assassination of Jovenel Moise U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez gave him a small break after Bergmanns attorney, Henry Bell, argued that his client was a minor player who had devoted his life to caring for his wife and family in the Tampa area while doing charitable acts for his employees and the poor in Haiti. Bell also pointed out that Bergmann and other family members have a history of mental health illnesses. He spent a lot of time and money doing good things in Haiti in the areas of healthcare and education, Bell said, citing several letters of support for Bergmann. I think theres a record for leniency in this case. Bell argued for a sentence in the range of six to eight years. Martinez said he believed that Bergmann had already received a substantial benefit when he was only charged with the Neutrality Act and export violations, suggesting he deserved the maximum 10 years for both offenses. Federal prosecutors recommended that he receive the maximum. But then, without explanation, Martinez decided to give Bergmann the nine-year sentence and allowed him to surrender to prison authorities in August. He remains free on bond. Martinez, known as a tough sentencing judge, had already given out five life terms to five prior defendants in the Haiti assassination case, which is now at a crossroads. The remaining five defendants are charged with conspiring in South Florida to kill Haitis leader and related charges, including a local security firm accused of recruiting the Colombian commandos to carry out the deadly attack. The conspiracy charge carries up to life in prison. The defendants facing trial are: Antonio Intriago, the head of a Miami-area security firm, CTU; Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, a former FBI informant who joined Intriago at CTU; Walter Veintemilla, a Broward County financier; James Solages, a Haitian American; and Sanon, the Haitian physician who was initially seen by the group as a successor to Moise as Haitis president. In February, Sanon was charged with the others for the first time with conspiring to kill Haitis leader, after first being accused of trying to carry out a military expedition against a foreign country. It was the fifth superseding indictment filed by prosecutors Andrea Goldbarg, Monica Castro and Frank Russo. Tarrant County commissioners discussed a media policy for the sheriffs office on Tuesday, following calls for transparency after the death of an inmate. But only Sheriff Bill Waybourn can establish such a policy as he is the elected official in charge of his department. The proposed policy was put forth by Republican Commissioner Manny Ramirez, a former Fort Worth police officer, in response to the sheriffs office handling of information related to the April 21 death Anthony Johnson Jr. Ramirez said the most recent critical incidents at the jail made it clear the sheriffs office needed a policy on when and how information is released. We dont need to reinvent the wheel here we just need to implement something that provides a bridge of trust, Ramirez said. We need to have clear, consistent policies so that the public can hold us accountable to those policies. Jennifer Gabbert, chief of staff for the Tarrant County sheriffs office, acknowledged that the sheriffs office has been slow to catch up but said that the department policy is dictated by Texas Government Code on how information is released during investigations. Gabbert also said the sheriffs office just recently added a communications team and that was part of the reason there isnt a clear policy in place. Democratic Commissioner Alisa Simmons spoke in support of the policy. It is a common sense practice, Simmons said. Im not sure it requires a tragedy the magnitude of Anthony Johnson Jr.s death in our jail, eight years into Sheriff Waybourns term, to be considered, but were here now. Simmons cited her 20 plus years of experience as a the spokesperson for the Tarrant County 911 District. She said a communications team is not necessary to start and follow a policy. Simmons used the discussion to ask the office to release the full video of Johnsons death. She also repeated a request from the last commissioners meeting to see the video in closed session. Last week the sheriffs office, in a joint press conference with the Texas Rangers, showed partial footage of the moments leading up to Johnsons death. The video cut off when Johnson appeared to be unresponsive. Since then multiple calls have come asking for the full release of the video, including from an attorney representing the jail supervisor who recorded Johnsons death with his phone. Tarrant County settles lawsuit with woman whose child died after she gave birth in jail Tarrant County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a $1.2 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of a woman whose 10-day-old baby died after she gave birth in the jail. The woman, Chasity Congious, was nonverbal at the time of the birth in May of 2020, according to the lawsuit. She had been arrested on a probation violation in January 2020 after her family called Fort Worth police because she was mentally distressed. They wanted to have her involuntarily committed at John Peter Smith Hospital, according Jarrett Adams, a New York-based civil rights attorney who filed the lawsuit. The woman was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and had developmental disabilities that sometimes affected her ability to communicate, according to the lawsuit. Prosecutors filed a motion to drop the charges against the woman a month after she gave birth, and she was taken to JPS for inpatient care. Following the babys death, the sheriffs office said Congious was seen several times by mental health professionals and that state-required checks had been conducted every 30 minutes. Before the vote to approve the settlement, Commissioner Alisa Simmons said given the circumstances of this case, $1.2 million was too low because it can never address the trauma Congious will have to live with the rest of her life. She also said it is sickening to her to have her name on the check. She said she anticipated more lawsuits related to jail deaths, referring to the case of Anthony Johnson Jr., who died in custody April 21 after he was arrested during schizophrenic episode. The lawsuit was filed in February 2022 in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth. Adams said the family is thankful the settlement was approved. Lawsuits remain against the city of Fort Worth, the officer who arrested Congious and Sheriff Bill Waybourn, Adams said. Adams said he and the family pray that this resolution institutes change at the Tarrant County jail and other entities responsible for the mentally ill so this never happens again. Josh Lucas of the Justice Network of Tarrant County, a group of church-goers who speak at nearly every Commissioners Court meeting in support of jail reform, said the county needs to make changes at the jail to avoid these issues. History is watching you all, God is watching you all, Lucas said. By Nazrin Abdul Uzbekistan is working to improve the status of bilateral cooperation with Azerbaijan, Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade of Uzbekistan Laziz Kudratov said at the opening of the Second Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan Interregional Forum in Guba, Azernews reports. Kudratov mentioned, "Preparations are underway for a state visit to Uzbekistan by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in August. This visit is expected to yield significant outcomes, elevating our relations to a higher level." He further assured that Uzbekistan's government will maintain favorable conditions for Azerbaijani companies operating in the country. Kudratov highlighted the significance of establishing a joint Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan investment company in 2023, describing it as "a crucial mechanism to support various initiatives." Regarding transportation cooperation, he noted, "Collaboration in the transport sector is another key aspect of Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan relations. We've initiated direct air routes and are substantially increasing transportation via Azerbaijan's infrastructure. This year, we anticipate transporting over 1 million tons of Uzbek cargo through this route, compared to 300,000 tons in the first quarter. We appreciate the benefits and preferences extended by Azerbaijan to Uzbek companies, facilitating our increased utilization of this route. Further the speeches at the forum, Zafarkhodja Tursunov, the Deputy Head of Tashkent (Republic of Uzbekistan), said that the number of enterprises with Azerbaijani capital in Tashkent has reached 180. He noted that Azerbaijani entrepreneurs are particularly interested in projects within the construction, service, and industrial sectors. "Tashkent's mutual trade turnover with Azerbaijan exceeded $80 million last year and surpassed $25 million in the first quarter of this year. In 2023, over 8,000 tourists from Azerbaijan visited Tashkent. However, we acknowledge that these results align with our potential. Therefore, we should seize the opportunities available to expand our trade and economic cooperation," stated Z. Tursunov. According to the State Customs Committee, trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan amounted to $178.8 million last year and reached $35.8 million in January-March 2024. KYODO NEWS - May 21, 2024 - 14:07 | All, World The U.N. Security Council on Monday rejected a resolution proposed by Russia on banning all weapons in space, with the United States saying Moscow is trying to mislead the world from its true intention. Seven members of the 15-seat council including China backed the resolution, short of the nine required for adoption. The United States, Japan and five other countries opposed it while Switzerland abstained. The United States said Russia launched a satellite on May 16 that could be a weapon capable of attacking other satellites, and that Russia launched similar satellites in 2019 and 2022. "We are here today because Russia seeks to distract global attention from its development of a new satellite carrying a nuclear device," U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood said ahead of the vote. Vassily Nebenzia, Russia's U.N. ambassador, responded by saying, "I didn't even fully understand what he was talking about. But that's not what is important." In April, the United States and Japan submitted a resolution to the council to reaffirm a ban on nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction in space. Russia vetoed the resolution and then said it would propose its own resolution. Related coverage: U.S. sanctions Russian firms over North Korea-linked arms transfers North Korea tested rocket engine in late April, U.S. think tank says FOCUS: U.N. watchdog panel's fate uncertain as Russia favors North Korea When she was diagnosed, she told me it was like the part of her brain that she enjoyed the most wasnt her own anymore, the actor tells PEOPLE Michael Simon Taye Diggs and his sister Christian Taye Diggs reveals his younger sister Christian was diagnosed with schizophrenia in her late 20s The actor says he initially had a lot of misconceptions about schizophrenia, only knowing about the mental illness through stereotypes portrayed on TV The siblings are now launching the Live Your PosSCZible campaign to raise awareness about schizophrenia and create possibilities for those living with the condition Taye Diggs revealed that his younger sister Christian Diggs, 48, was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE about launching the Live Your PosSCZible campaign, the 53-year-old actor opened up for the first time about his sister learning she had the mental illness in her late 20s and how that diagnosis impacted both of their lives. Schizophrenia, which impacts 2.4 million adults in the United States, is a serious mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally, according to the Mayo Clinic. It is associated with hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior that impairs daily functioning, and can be disabling. As you can imagine, we were all very surprised and scared and curious, Diggs tells PEOPLE of Chirstians diagnosis. I didn't know anything about it. Like most people, the only reference I had was what was portrayed on television and a whole bunch of stereotypes. My sister's very, very smart, and she loves to use her brain. And when she was diagnosed, she told me it was like the part of her brain that she enjoyed the most wasnt her own anymore, he explains. And that's what was very frustrating for her. Related: Schizophrenia Caused Eric Smith to Threaten His Mother's Life, but He Refused to Get Help Here's Why Michael Simon Taye Diggs Related: Kyleigh Leddy Paints Vivid Portrait of Sister's Schizophrenia: 'She Became Another Person' As her big brother, Diggs was eager to step in as a caretaker and help Christian in any way he could. But the star quickly realized that the most help he and his family could give was to stay on the sidelines of her mental health journey and simply support her as she found treatments that she says helped piece my life back together. Diggs explains, I was frustrated because it felt like I couldn't help her out in any way because I'm not a doctor. But once I put my ego aside and just kind of listened to the therapist, that was the role that meant the most to her. The most I could do, and the best I could do was be as supportive and patient as possible. He continues, Now, when I speak to my sister, she lets me know how important that was, even though it seemed like I wasn't doing much. She let me know that it meant a lot and that put me at ease. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Although there is no cure for schizophrenia, lifelong treatment with medicines and psychosocial therapy can help manage symptoms. And once Christian was able to commit to therapy and receive proper medications, Diggs says she hasnt been held back by her schizophrenia in the slightest. Once she started getting on the right medication and had a certain amount of therapy, then it started to click for her. It was night and day, the All American star says. We were just there to say, Keep going. Don't lose hope. Everything's going to be fine. And then she came out of the clouds and we were all very thankful and grateful. And we felt lucky. Christian helped me uncover the fact that there's hope. It's not like it's the end of the world, he explains. I could see her being able to make decisions and live out her ambitions and do all this stuff that I thought was not going to be within her grasp. Diggs admits that looking back, his previous stereotypical perspective about schizophrenia seems foolish now after seeing his sisters experience firsthand. It's really easy to just make a judgment. It's so easy to just kind of put people in a certain box, he says of the mental illness. I feel silly because I thought it was so black and white. But now I know better. I'm almost embarrassed to admit what I thought of her when we first heard this news, but she's such an inspiration, the actor adds. People just need support. They need a team around them that knows what they're doing, and they can literally achieve whatever they want. And I didn't realize this at the time. Michael Simon Taye Diggs and his sister Christian Related: Author Grace Cho Shares Her Mother's Story of Developing Schizophrenia at 45: 'I Was Terrified' Now, the siblings are teaming up with Bristol Myers Squibb to launch the Live Your PosSCZible (LYP) campaign, telling their story and raising awareness about schizophrenia and the reality of whats possible for those living it with the disorder. Although they were nervous to go public with Christians diagnosis, Diggs admits that it was a no- brainer," hoping it will help people change their mindset about the mental disorder just like he did. When you're faced with a situation like this, it's important to realize it's not the end of the world, that you can do whatever you want to do. You just have to make certain adjustments. And so many people don't realize that, the Rent star says. I encourage people to not make judgements. To not fall into the trap of, Oh, what's going to happen? She'll never be able to do this again. Try to avoid that and know that it's the exact opposite. Nowadays Christian is thriving, her brother says. Living independently, working as a carpenter in construction and being a part of this initiative as an advocate, shes making me proud, Diggs adds. She's doing really great, he says. And she's so happy that she did this. It wasn't about her being embarrassed or not wanting people to know what she is challenged with. It was more about letting people know that you can do so much more than what people assume. Shes really proud. And as a brother, that makes me feel good first, Diggs tells PEOPLE. But then it's also nice to know that we're hopefully changing people's opinions and perspectives, because that's what's important. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Taylor ISD investigates after students give each other tattoos at school TAYLOR, Texas (KXAN) The Taylor Independent School District is investigating after some students gave each other tattoos at Taylor High School without school staff knowing, the district said. A district spokesperson said Taylor ISD is aware of a May 13 incident where students gave each other tattoos. The statement said school staff didnt give consent or have knowledge of the tattoos. The district said school officials are investigating the incident. District tattoo policies Taylor ISDs handbook and student code of conduct do not have specific tattoo policies. However, the THS parent and student handbook says tattoos with pictures, emblems or writing with lewd, vulgar, obscene or offensive words must be covered. Self-tattooing risks Tattoo infections are possible anytime someone receives a tattoo, including when someone goes to an experienced tattoo artist whose shop looks clean and sterile, according to the Cleveland Clinic. But it also said there is a risk of infection with at-home tattoo kits. Self-tattooing and unsafe practices have risks of infections, rashes, allergic reactions, hepatitis, MRSA, HIV and nontuberculous mycobacterial skin infections, according to the Cleveland Clinic. To prevent tattoo infections, the clinic encourages finding services from a licensed tattoo shop and checking with the state health department for complaints against the shop. People can also ask their artist about their sterilization practices and what kind of ink they use. This story came from a ReportIt story tip. Send your own story ideas to Reportit@kxan.com or through KXANs contact page. 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 KXAN Austin. SACRAMENTO, California One of the nations largest teachers unions is escalating its pressure campaign against Gov. Gavin Newsom, unveiling TV ads that swipe at a loyal ally over education spending cuts amid a massive budget shortfall. The California Teachers Association on Tuesday released a spot that features Newsom himself, in 2021, promising not to let the education system backslide. The ad is set to begin running on TV in Sacramento later this week. Tell lawmakers and Governor Newsom to pass a state budget that protects public schools for our students and communities, the unions ad urges, after ticking through a bleak picture of crowded classrooms, teacher layoffs and cutbacks on nurses and counselors. While the ads challenge Newsom in far less personal terms than the union has unleashed on past adversaries like former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the very fact that it green-lighted the incursion represents a surprising and sudden rebuke of the Democratic governor from within his own party. The 310,000-member union is a dominant force in Democratic politics and a key Newsom ally that endorsed his last two campaigns for governor, helped him fend off a recall effort and donated to a mental health ballot initiative he championed. Its incoming advertising bombardment places Newsom, who is widely expected to run for president in 2028, in unfamiliar territory. The governor has defended his leaner budget proposal as the most prudent way to dig the state out of two consecutive $28 billion shortfalls, while acknowledging that the proposed cuts are difficult. To avoid clawing back more than $8 billion in school spending, he has outlined a complicated accounting maneuver that would largely spare education funding now but reduce the amount of money guaranteed to schools by nearly $12 billion in the future. We have a math problem, he conceded earlier this month when presenting his updated budget proposal to reporters in Sacramento. Is this what I want to do? No. But the alternative [is] we can eliminate our expansion of health care. We can eliminate wages, we can do furloughs, we can do layoffs, we can do a lot of things. I dont want to do those things. Newsoms office was notified ahead of the teachers unions ad campaign launch. A spokesperson for the governor declined to specifically comment on the blitz. An official from Newsoms Department of Finance, H.D. Palmer, told POLITICO the plan is actually meant to shield the education system from cuts. "This budget proposal is not only legal and constitutional in our view, but is designed to provide predictable and stable support for K-12 schools and community colleges in the wake of last years unprecedented disruption in revenue projections," Palmer said in a statement. The total size of the buy remains unknown, with the ad-tracking service AdImpact showing an initial investment in the Sacramento media market. The public backlash against Newsoms efforts to address what is by one measure the largest budget shortfall in state history has extended to other longtime boosters, including Planned Parenthood and the heavyweight Service Employees International Union California which has planned a rally at the Capitol Wednesday to blast cuts. The teachers union frames the governors plans as an immediate issue. But the CTAs posture is as much about fighting what the school lobby deems a dangerous precedent in a state that has experienced turbulent swings from deficit to surplus, and back again. The union has even threatened to sue the state, a tactic it has employed against other governors in education funding fights. Litigation would not be resolved before the state budget is due in June, but blocking future governors from using the same accounting gimmick as Newsom during revenue declines may be worth it for the labor group. This is a clear violation of the Constitution, CTA President David Goldberg said at a Friday news conference. When you have clear violations of the Constitution, often you go to legal remedies, so that is definitely one of the tools in our toolbox. The nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office also warned the proposal would set a problematic precedent, calling it bad fiscal policy. Asked earlier this month about that assessment, Newsom defended his plan as an effort to leave core education programs intact. We respectfully disagree with that position, Newsom said, I want to maintain the commitments in terms of the investments we've made, which I think are incredibly important. I don't want to see thousands and thousands of pink slips go out. I don't want to see the disruption in the system. The teachers union rarely criticizes Newsom so publicly. It spent handily to help him defeat charter school proponent and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in 2018 and the recall election three years later. The union also donated $250,000 to a signature Newsom mental health initiative campaign that squeaked out a victory this spring. In 2021, it launched ads warning that schools should not reopen without a focus on safety protocols as Newsom pushed for a return to in-person instruction. But most ads from that time did not mention the governor or Legislature, except for one warning of education spending cuts from a pandemic-era recession that never materialized. For the moment, the union needs Newsom more than he needs them. Hell oversee two more budgets before he terms out in 2026, and the union wants him to sign legislation its sponsoring including a bill that would grant paid parental leave to teachers who become pregnant. But Newsom could certainly benefit from a repaired alliance with the largest state-level teachers union in the country should he run for president. The union downplayed the rift in a statement Tuesday about the ads, calling Newsom a steadfast ally and noting previous ad campaigns that called attention to the Capitol. We have a fundamental disagreement with his approach to the education budget this year and the long term impact on Proposition 98, Goldberg said in the statement. We have disagreed on things in the past and worked through them. The states next-largest education union, the CFT, also opposes Newsoms education budget proposal, along with proposed cuts to social services but its president, Jeff Freitas, suggested the dispute hasnt irreparably harmed the governors relationship with education labor groups more broadly. I wouldn't say the honeymoon is over, said Freitas. He's worked with partners very closely, but also has to make tough decisions at the same time. The California Teachers Association has battled dwindling numbers in recent years and its influence in Sacramento is now rivaled, if not surpassed, by SEIU. Yet it remains formidable on the election trail, in the halls of the Capitol in Sacramento and, once again, on the airwaves. The ad is reminiscent of a tactic teachers have long used to carpet-bomb partisan rivals, including former Republican governors Schwarzenegger and Pete Wilson. Despite donating hundreds of millions to Democrats and their initiatives, the teachers union also has been willing to split with Californias ruling party during periodic revenue downturns that have not only slashed school funding but made bargaining more difficult for local affiliates. If you look back to the Great Recession, CTA took ads out against Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg in Sacramento, a Democrat, said Freitas. When there is a limited amount of financing, and things are looking to be cut, we fight to protect the systems that we work in. The school lobbying drive has divided state legislators, who are faced with accepting Newsoms proposal or forwarding deeper immediate spending cuts to other programs. Democratic Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a Democrat who is exploring a run for state schools superintendent in 2026, has publicly sided with the union on the issue. The union has frequently played kingmaker in that race, most recently helping Superintendent Tony Thurmond defeat charter school backer Marshall Tuck in 2018 and then coast to reelection four years later. The governor has clearly stated his desire to protect classroom funding, Muratsuchi said in an interview. But the bottom line is: We have to be concerned not just about classroom funding for this budget year, but for future budget years. And that's why it's so important to defend Proposition 98. Legislators have debated alternatives to Newsoms budget proposal, but some are undecided on how to proceed. Newsoms plan would reduce per-pupil spending by around $160 this year after California provided years of large funding increases to schools. There's points to be noted on both sides, said state Sen. John Laird, chair of his chambers education budget panel. He pointed out that if the Legislature rejects Newsoms proposal which would have the state effectively take out a zero-interest loan from itself and pay back the money later it would need to find nearly $9 billion somewhere else in the budget to insulate schools from massive spending reductions. It's the governor's call on how to handle this with the education interests, Laird added. Rachel Bluth and Christopher Cadelago contributed to this report. Ted Cruz's 'Come Together' Message After Storm Prompts Scathing Reminder From Critics Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tried to earn political capital from the cleanup operation for the deadly storm that struck Houston last week. But the Donald Trump-boosting senator simply received a stark reminder of that time in February 2021 when he ditched his state in the middle of a historic winter storm for the sunnier climes of Cancun. In a video shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, Cruz detailed his visit to the emergency operation center, sit-downs with officials, and conversations with people helping to repair the damage in Houston. High winds and a tornado killed at least seven people, reported CNN. On Thursday, Houston was hit by a terrible storm. I've been working with community leaders, firefighters, and police officers to help the city rebuild. Whenever we have a natural disaster, Texans come together.#HoustonStrongpic.twitter.com/FEJOnpaL3o Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 20, 2024 Whenever we have a natural disaster, Texans come together, Cruz captioned the clip. But the overwhelming majority of commenters just recalled his infamous trip to Mexico as the record cold hit: Couldn't catch a flight to Cancun? Donatra (@groeblbubble) May 21, 2024 Whenever we have a natural disaster, Texans come together. pic.twitter.com/2tFwjHOW1N Artie Vandelay (@ArtieVandelay1) May 20, 2024 Why did the flights to Cancun get cancelled? John Temporal Investigations (@johnnyjets1) May 20, 2024 That last line is classic... I don't think many Texans have forgotten the 2021 Winter storm disaster, and how you "came together" with them -- from the beaches of Cancun. Nice try. UnderDog (@NoFear_DogHere) May 20, 2024 How was Cancun? pic.twitter.com/Wfss2mRQjC Just a dad doing and saying dad things (@CgrBkr) May 20, 2024 Cancun Cruz is trying to clean up his image. CB (@ConservBlue2020) May 20, 2024 Texans come together. You head to Cancun Clare Morgan (@Clarling) May 20, 2024 All the way from Cancun?!?!? Your work ethic is admirable. The Giant Ginger (@GGGiantGinger) May 20, 2024 Aka I was in Cancun. Master_Strix (@MasterStrix) May 20, 2024 Greetings from Cancun. Robert A. Koch (@RobertAKoch001) May 20, 2024 Cruz might have been in Cancun when this happened! anguillaman2 (@anguillaman2) May 20, 2024 Surprised you did not run to Cancun. Terry (@MICHTERRY2) May 20, 2024 Thanks for recording this message from Cancun. Rene Herrera (@thebigren1) May 20, 2024 Related... Teen, 13, with 'Beautiful Soul' Protected His Sister. But Police Say Mom Looked On as Man Killed Him Isaiah Gaymes died after suffering blunt force trauma Ocean View Funeral Home Isaiah Gaymes A 13-year-old boy died after suffering severe beatings, authorities say. Two adults, including his mother, have been charged in connection with his death. Isaiah Gaymes was taken to the hospital in South Carolina after suffering blunt force trauma, according to reports from WPDE, WMBF and WBTW, citing authorities. Isaiah died early on the morning of Saturday, May 11. Ivy Jenerette, was charged with murder and abuse inflicting great bodily injury upon a child, Horry County jail records indicate. Samantha Gaymes was charged with unlawfully placing a child at risk, according to court records. Court records indicate that both have filed applications for a public defender, though there is no record of either having entered a plea yet. Citing police reports and arrest warrants, the outlets all reported that Jenerette is accused of beating Isaiah, who suffered multiple broken bones, burns and body disfigurement. The outlets reported that police alleged in a warrant that a piece of wood and a handgun were found at the scene, both of which were tested for blood and found to be consistent with Isaiahs injury patterns. Horry County Sheriff's Office (2) Ivy Jenerette, left, and Samantha Gaymes WMBF reported that Samantha is accused by authorities of allowing the abuse to continue. Felecia Bellamy, a counselor at Isaiahs school, told WMBF that Isaiah would look out for his little sister. Although he didnt get protected, he spent a lot of his time making sure his sister was protected, she told the station. 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. Isaiah was called a beautiful soul in his obituary. Isaiah had an incredible gift for drawing, using colors and lines to create masterpieces that captivated his imagination, the obituary reads. He possessed an innate ability to bring images to life on paper, expressing his thoughts, emotions, and dreams through his artistic creations. Isaiah's artistic talent was matched only by his kind and compassionate nature, the obituary continues. He used his art as a means of connecting with others, often creating thoughtful and personalized pieces for friends and loved ones. His creations served as a reflection of his generous spirit and the love he carried within his heart. If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. MEMPHIS, Tenn. Tennessee will be the first state to help families cover the cost of diapers. According to the National Diaper Bank Network, 92% of families receiving diapers in Tennessee are working and still are unable to afford diapers. TennCare said effective in August, it will become the first Medicaid agency in the nation to cover the cost of up to 100 diapers per month for TennCare and CoverKids members under two. Now, tons of fifty-count newborn diapers are sitting in a box at the Bare Needs Bank ready to be given to families in need. Memphis Zoo announces $250M plan to improve exhibits Nicole Willis, the marketing and communication manager for Mid-South Food Bank says as prices spike for almost everything for families, so too has demand at the bank. So, of course, as we see an increase in food, people needing food, we are going to see an increase in people needing diapers, said Willis. Willis says this will help families in need, the Bare Needs Bank, and most importantly babies. This allows us to ease the load so we can help hand and hand to make sure those families and babies are provided for to keep the diaper rash away, Willis said. Parents and legal guardians will soon be able to collect diapers directly through the point of sale at pharmacies in the pharmacy benefit manager network. TennCare will provide further information on how to sign up for the program once the initiative is ready to launch. 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 WREG.com. Tennessee Professor Dead After Being Swept Away by Wave in Brazil: 'Tragic Accident' Tennessee's Columbia State Community College said they received confirmation on May 20 that Clifford Gordon's body had been located Columbia State Community College Clifford Gordon. The body of a Tennessee community college professor has been found after he was swept away by an wave in Brazil, his university said. Clifford Gordon, an associate professor of art who was part of a study abroad program in Brazil, was "walking along an oceanside road and stopped to take their photographs along either boulders or a wall when a wave hit" him and three students, Columbia State Community College said in a news release on Monday, May 20. "The three students are safe and were not seriously injured when the wave struck," the university added. After being swept away, "rescue operations were launched immediately by Brazilian authorities," the school shared. The university said they received confirmation on Monday that his body was located and was "positively identified." Related: 3-Year-Old Boy Dies After Getting Swept Away While Trying to Cross the Rio Grande with Family The university said the three victims were among a group of 12 Tennessee community college students all taking part in the program. "Two of the three students are from Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville and the third is from Walters State Community College in Morristown, TN," according to CSCC. Currently, the school said the students "are being provided counseling, and early transportation home has been arranged." They are scheduled to be back in Tennessee on Tuesday, The Tennessean reported. Related: Search Ends for 9-Month-Old Boy Swept Away by Pennsylvania Flood that Killed His Sister and Mom We were heartbroken to hear of this tragic accident, said Dr. Janet F. Smith, Columbia State Community College president. We are thankful that no students were seriously injured. Our college family mourns the loss of Clifford, who was a talented artist and greatly loved by his students. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and students. Clifford began working for Columbia State in 2008 as an adjunct professor and then started working full-time in 2013, according to the college. Related: 4-Year-Old Boy Found Dead After Being Swept Away by Floodwaters in Texas: He Just Went Under' Along with an Associate's Degree in art from Chattanooga State Community College, Clifford had a Bachelor of Science Degree in art from Tennessee State University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in studio art from the Memphis College of Art. "He was also a talented artist and had numerous exhibitions throughout the state," read a statement from the college. "Clifford was known for producing amazing works of collage and painting to draw the viewer into a world informed by various ideas, traditions and modern discourses. In addition, Clifford traveled to Brazil many summers and taught himself how to speak Portuguese." For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Rodney and RowVaughn Wells, parents of Tyre Nichols, talk to reporters in the Tennessee Capitol on March 14, 2024. (Photo: John Partipilo) Rodney and RowVaughn Wells, parents of Tyre Nichols, talk to reporters in the Tennessee Capitol on March 14, 2024. (Photo: John Partipilo) A Memphis state representative is calling a preemption bill signed into law by the governor more than a case of overreach as it turns back efforts to stop pretextual traffic stops such as those that led to the 2023 death of motorist Tyre Nichols. The majority once again is more concerned with being patriarchal and telling us poor folks in Memphis and Shelby County how to live and taking the authority thats been vested by the voters and really making it moot, Democratic state Rep. G.A. Hardaway said Monday. The Republican-controlled General Assembly passed legislation this year prohibiting a Memphis City Council ban on pretextual stops, including those for a bad tail light. Only stops for primary offenses were to be allowed. The Legislatures move came after Nichols parents, RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, worked with Memphis officials to end stereotyping that can turn into violent incidents. Nichols died in January 2023 after being pulled over for reckless driving, then was beaten by police officers. The death led to local requests for a federal investigation of Memphis police policies. The majority once again is more concerned with being patriarchal and telling us poor folks in Memphis and Shelby County how to live and taking the authority thats been vested by the voters and really making it moot. Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis Gov. Bill Lee said last week he spoke with Mrs. Wells during this years session as she lobbied against the bill. He noted he appreciated her ability to express her views passionately without being disrespectful and even found her approach inspirational. Yet he signed the bill she opposed anyway, pointing out he disagreed with her views on the legislation. Five police officers were charged in connection with Nichols death, and one pleaded guilty in November 2023 to federal and state charges. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation into Memphis Police practices continues, according to Hardaway, who sought the federal probe of police policy after helping lead a local group that put together police statistics. The Wells family could not be reached for comment on the governors decision to sign the bill into law. But during the 2023 session, Mrs. Wells said she felt police were harassing the Black citizens of Memphis. Her husband contended police are discriminating against people of color, and, as a result, too many parents are going through what were going through senselessly. The legislation reversing Memphis traffic stop ordinance was sponsored by Republican Sen. Brent Taylor of Memphis and Republican Rep. John Gillespie of Memphis. Rep. John Gillespie called for a vote on a measure limiting local officials' ability to monitor police traffic stops. (Photo: John Partipilo) Gillespie also spoke with the Wells family during this years session but moved ahead with his bill when they werent present and said those who oppose state traffic laws should change them instead of enacting local ordinances that are in conflict with state law. Gillespie came under criticism for bringing the bill up for a House vote several days after the Wells family visited the State Capitol to lobby against the measure. Taylor also was adamantly opposed to the Memphis ordinance and backed several law-and-order measures in hopes of curbing crime in urban Shelby County. Hardaway argues that most Shelby County residents supported the local ordinance and added he is suspicious that the bills passage had more to do with political contributions than good law enforcement policy. He was unaware the governor had spoken with the Wells family but said, Theyre very gracious in the way they accommodate individuals who think like they think and those who dont. They know that theres a certain level of sensitivity that some people are gonna express but it wont be followed up by any real serious work to prevent the circumstances that caused Tyre Nichols death. Local research presented to the U.S. Department of Justice verified there was enough evidence to show patterns of discriminatory police work, Hardaway said. He was uncertain when the federal report would be finished. The post Tennessee rep calls Memphis preemption bill worse than overreach appeared first on Tennessee Lookout. PHNOM PENH, May 21 (Xinhua) -- A Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) expert team has discovered another war-left U.S.-made MK-82 aerial bomb in southeast Svay Rieng province, a mine clearance chief said on Tuesday. CMAC director-general Heng Ratana said the MK-82 aerial bomb, weighing around 230 kg, had been spotted while workers were digging a pond in Romeas Hek district. "Today, the CMAC's Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team cleared aerial bomb type MK-82, which were buried around 5 meters deep," he wrote on social media. According to the official, since the start of the year, the EOD team had unearthed and safely removed nine MK-82 aerial bombs and one 350-kg M117 aerial bomb in different provinces including Kampong Cham, Kampong Speu, Kandal, Preah Sihanouk and Svay Rieng. Ratana wrote on social media in February that an estimated more than 4 million tonnes of aerial bombs and 27 million cluster bombs had been dropped on some 115,273 locations throughout Cambodia by more than 500,000 U.S. bombing missions between mid-1965 and 1973. Cambodia is one of the world's worst countries suffering from mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) as a result of three decades of war and internal conflict from the mid-1960s until 1998. An estimated 4 to 6 million land mines and other munitions were left over from the conflicts. From 1979 to February 2024, landmine and UXO explosions claimed 19,822 human lives and either injured or amputated 45,221 others in the Southeast Asian country, according to an official report. Tennessee 'tough on crime' bill will not make us safer and take away from rehabilitation When our state lawmakers propose laws that aim to be tough on crime, everyone deserves to know the facts about those laws and what is and isnt actually tough on crime. While it may seem that longer sentences behind Senate Bill 2044 contribute to public safety, the facts show a different story: This bill disincentivizes rehabilitation, making Tennessee prisons and our communities less safe. The unfortunate truth about SB 2044 is that it will spur the consequences that excessive sentencing laws are known to create: bloated public spending, wasted law enforcement resources, and higher recidivism rates. Legislation like SB 2044 do not make Tennessee safer. Rather than addressing the causes of crime or improving the ability to close cases, this bill simply disincentivizes rehabilitation in Tennessee prisons. Tennessees earned time credits and their opportunity to shorten a sentence for eligible people serve as a vital incentive for incarcerated people to improve their behavior and learn from educational, vocational, and rehabilitative programs, which help the Department of Corrections and improve public safety by encouraging incarcerated people to change their lives. Public safety is at risk when incentives are weakened Earned time credits are redirected away from the expiration of a persons sentence, and instead apply to the persons parole eligibility date. This amounts to an empty incentive as Tennessees parole board denies nearly three-fourths of all applicants, and SB 2044 has given no guarantee for parole grants and no mechanisms for early termination of parole supervision. Caps and Gowns are placed near the phones following a graduation ceremony of an addiction program at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center in Trousdale County, Tenn., Friday, May 10, 2024. Simply put, weakening incentives is bad for public safety. When Arizona eliminated parole and earned time credits in 1993, prison rule violations increased by 50%, enrollment in educational programs dropped by 20%, and the reoffending rate jumped 4.8 percentage points. Tennessees prisons are currently severely understaffed. The last thing we should do make Tennessee prisons less safe and make life harder for those who live and work in them. For the roughly 25% of people who do get an earlier parole, they will still need to spend the remainder of their sentence under parole supervision. That means expending additional resources from Tennessees parole officers and numerous pitfalls for returning citizens to manage as they try to successfully reintegrate to their communities and the workforce. Research shows that most reoffending occurs within the first two years of parole supervision -- leaving periods of supervision beyond that more an hindrance than a meaningful public safety policy. Requiring someone who has shown a commitment to reentry and successful adherence to the rules should be able to earn their way off of supervision. SB 2044 prevents that. More: Incarcerated men find 'new beginning' at Tennessee prison's first addiction program Tennessee lawmakers knew this bill would cost a lot in the future SB 2044 is especially tough on taxpayers. Outside of Medicaid, incarceration costs have been the second-fastest growing budget item for most states in recent years, and this bill adds to those costs. The fiscal note for this bill indicates significant increases in state expenditures to accommodate longer incarceration times and parolees being supervised for longer periods of time. The Fiscal Review Committee reiterated the substantial cost at the Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee Hearing last month. While the exact future cost from this bill is unknown, it amounts to a signed invoice to taxpayers to fund something that will have enormous cost and will negatively impact Tennessee prisons with no proven benefit to public safety. Public safety should be a top priority for Tennessee, along with proper treatment of law enforcement and of taxpayers. We must incentivize rehabilitation. While SB 2044 aims to provide public benefit, it fails to meet the mark. Matthew Charles Matthew Charles, of Nashville, is a criminal justice expert and Senior Policy Advisor of FAMM. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee will not be any safer with 'tough on crime' bill Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat, left, and Majority Floor Leader Greg McCortney talk with Sen. Julie Daniels, assistant majority whip of the Senate, in 2023 before the session at the start of the 59th Oklahoma Legislature at the state Capitol. The head of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety said Monday he was concerned the final version of the state's FY 25 budget would not include funding to finish a tactical law enforcement training facility. Public Safety Commissioner Tim Tipton said Monday that last week's budget summit left him concerned that the state would reduce or eliminate the funding needed to complete the facility. Last year, state lawmakers earmarked $59 million for the first phase of a tactical training facility that would be used to train Oklahoma Highway Patrol officers, officers from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and those from the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. Total cost for the project would be more than $133 million. On Monday, Tipton told The Oklahoman he was concerned by statements made by Senate Majority Leader Greg McCortney. During a budget hearing last week, McCortney said he believed lawmakers "need to put a pause on the entire thing (the Department of Public Safety training center)." "It's not too late to adjust from a bad decision," said McCortney, a Republican from Ada. "I believe it was presented in two phases because no one would have approved the amount of spending that was actually going to be proposed." The more eyes that review the project, McCortney said, "the more questions there are about this being a wise use of state funding." "We're doubling a workload, we're doubling FTEs that could be combined together," he said. "We have assets in the state that can do many of these things." Oklahoma Public Safety Secretary Tim Tipton, left, speaks during a meeting of the One Oklahoma Task Force in March as Jack Thorp, District 27 district attorney, and Justin Wolf, a deputy attorney general, listen. The task force was launched by Gov. Kevin Stitt to discuss law enforcement issues and solutions on tribal reservations. Tipton said on Monday he was surprised McCortney wanted to pause the entire project. "I've never seen political posturing in my time that has to do with posturing on the side of defunding law enforcement on a project that's already been funded," he said. Tipton said the department currently trains new troopers at various spots across the state including on a runway in Burns Flat. "It's really not set up to be a driving course," he said. "It's a runway." Tipton said work has already begun on the first phase of the project. He said the land purchase was completed in May and an architectural and engineering firm had been hired to begin the preliminary drawings which should be completed by late July. "The project is ahead of schedule," he said. "It's staged to be completed in 24 to 36 months. Things are on track." Tense budget negotiations have meant uncertainty for funding for projects Tipton's concern appears to be well founded. For several weeks, budget negotiations between the House, Senate and the governor's office have been terse and, at times, difficult. Often projects are placed on hold, later removed and even later restored to the budget during the process. "The budget process is always fluid, always changing," state Rep. Mark McBride, a Moore Republican, said earlier this year. Still, even with the ongoing process, Tipton said he was astonished by the idea of clawing back a project that had already cleared both Houses of the Legislature and was signed by governor. More: Oklahoma's budget-making process now open to public view has proven contentious, with some progress "It is astonishing to me that the soon-to-be pro tempore of the Oklahoma Senate would take a position to not only stop this critical training need, but to go back and defund what has already been done," he said. For his part, McCortney said he was "not anywhere close to believing there is not a need for some facilities to be built." "But I think there can be a significantly better plan," he said. "The more this plan comes out from the darkness, I believe we can do better than this." This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma budget summit leaves leaders concerned projects may be left out Teriyaki restaurant chain known for big flavors is expanding in Sacramento area. See where A fast-casual restaurant chain known for its teriyaki dishes is expanding in the Sacramento area. Teriyaki Madness plans to open a new location at 5975 Birdcage Centre Lane in Citrus Heights, according to its website. Another restaurant is planned in El Dorado Hills at 4060 Town Center Blvd. Teriyaki Madness already has one restaurant in the Sacramento region, at 289 Third St. in West Sacramento. In an email to The Sacramento Bee, Teriyaki Madness spokeswoman Cassidy Small said the franchise is bringing its big bowls and big flavors to California, with a special eye on the northern and central portions of the state. What is Teriyaki Madness? Founded in Las Vegas in 2003, Teriyaki Madness offers made-to-order dishes packed with fresh flavors. The chain specializes in Seattle-style teriyaki, which is slightly different from the traditional Japanese dish. Seattle-style teriyaki is sweeter, thicker, and more heavily spiced than what youd find in Japan, Eater Seattle writers Leonardo David Raymundo and Harry Cheadle explained in a 2023 story, 10 Spots to Eat Teriyaki, Seattles Comfort Classic. Marketed as a health-conscious chain, Teriyaki Madness said its meals are made with high-quality ingredients that wont leave you with a gut bomb. We believe you should have a home-cooked meal, even if its not cooked in your home, the chain said. But our home is your home, so well keep the wok fired up. Some people call us crazy. We say anything less would be madness. As of Monday morning, Teriyaki Madness representatives werent available to confirm opening dates for its new Citrus Heights and El Dorado Hills locations. Whats on the menu? Teriyaki Madnesss menu features teriyaki made with a variety of proteins, such as chicken, tofu, steak and salmon. Also available are large bowls of orange chicken, chicken katsu, deep-fried chicken cutlets and stir-fried noodles. Smaller portions can be found on the appetizer list, which is limited to chicken eggrolls, edamame, crab rangoon and chicken potstickers. Where are restaurant locations? Small said Teriyaki Madness has at least 150 locations across the United States. The chain currently has 17 restaurants in California, including locations in San Jose, San Diego, Los Angeles and Bakersfield. What do you want to know about life in Sacramento? Ask our service journalism team your top-of-mind questions in the module below or email servicejournalists@sacbee.com. When Gov. Greg Abbott pardoned Daniel Perry last Thursday, the decision was predictable. It was no surprise that Abbott wished to pardon Perry, convicted for murdering a Black Lives Matter protester during a 2020 rally in downtown Austin. Abbott had announced his intent on social media less than 24 hours after Perry was convicted in 2023. But for a governor who uses his bully pulpit to target woke politics and rogue district attorneys for cherry-picking laws to prosecute, Abbotts interventions in this case have been chilling. In pardoning Perry, Abbott further shifted the rule of law in Texas to a frightening point where the test of whether one goes to prison is not whether a jury rules you did the crime, but whether the governor agrees with your politics. Its fair to note that this case was complex. Two men, both legally carrying firearms, confronted each other with fatal results in a state with a strong Stand Your Ground law. What is clear is that an elected DA, Jose Garza, prosecuted the case after a grand jury heard arguments and found enough evidence to bring Perry to trial. Next, a trial jury heard the evidence and delivered a verdict jurors sentenced Perry to 25 years in prison. Whatever your opinions of the case and there are many in Texas who support Abbott's decision we should all respect the painstaking work that the trial jury did in sitting through eight days of testimony, hearing from nearly 40 witnesses, reviewing the full picture of the evidence and reaching a verdict and applying the law. And if the defense had a problem with the jury's verdict our legal system provides for an appeals process. Abbott didn't even allow for this possibility, announcing his wish for a pardon less than 24 hours after Perry was convicted. Letters to the Editor: Add Abbott's pardon of Perry to his long and indefensible list The jury took far longer to weigh the facts. On July 25, 2020, Perry, a former Army sergeant, killed Garrett Foster, a 28-year-old Air Force veteran marching in an Austin protest against police violence. Foster was legally carrying an AK-47-style rifle. His goal, he had said, was to protect marchers. Perry, driving an Uber, ran a red light and drove into the crowd. He, too, was legally carrying a firearm. When Foster approached, Perry shot and killed him. Daniel Perry, center, walks to the courtroom last March in Austin where he was convicted for fatally shooting Garrett Foster during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. (Credit: Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman/File) Perry later claimed self-defense. But no witness ever stated that Foster aimed his weapon. Records later released by the courts showed that Perry had texted numerous racist fantasies about killing minorities and Black Lives Matter protesters. I might go to Dallas to shoot looters, Perry wrote in one text. After the conviction, conservative commentators, including former Fox host Tucker Carlson, mocked Abbott as being soft on crime. The next day, Abbott pledged to pardon Perry if advised to do so by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. He directed members to expedite a study of the case. Typically, legal experts say, cases are reviewed for pardon only after the appeals process ends. This was an unusual situation from the start, said David Kwok, director of the University of Houstons Criminal Justice Institute. Even before this defendant was sentenced, the governor made public his interest in pardoning him the case was tried, but it technically was not completed at the point when he first spoke about it. The pardons and paroles board, whose members are all appointed by Abbott, stated that their unanimous recommendation came after a thorough examination of the amassed information. This too, is highly unorthodox, attorney Gary Cohen told the Washington Post. The parole board in Texas is not supposed to be a judicial body. They dont engage in relitigating the facts of the case. Thats not the boards job and never has been. It is also normally the offender not the governor who initiates a pardon request. Typically, Cohen said, offenders try to show some level of personal remorse and change. But in this case, Perry's attorney and Abbott made little mention of the loss of Garrett Foster's life. Instead, they complained about the toll taken on Perry, his career, and Stand Your Ground laws. Daniel Perry was imprisoned for 372 days and lost the military career that he loved, his lawyer stated. We intend to fight to get Daniel's military service characterization upgraded to an Honorable Discharge. More: Mixed reactions on X to Gov. Abbott's pardon of Daniel Perry: 'Excellent,' 'all-time low' Abbott directed blame at Garza and the jury and invoked politics. In his pardon, issued immediately after the board's recommendation, Abbott said, Texas has one of the strongest Stand Your Ground laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney. It was one of the most peculiar features of a pardon riddled with unorthodoxies. Jose Garza, whom Abbott has targeted for removal from office, of course neither served on the jury or delivered the verdict or sentence. His office presented its case. The jurors performed their duty. Their only transgression seems to have been exercising their conscience after hearing the totality of evidence in the case. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Gov. Abbott pardoned Daniel Perry and shifted the rule of law in Texas Dr. Sherif Zaafran, president of the Texas Medical Board, said he intends for the rules to address confusion and fear among Texas doctors. Texas women, OB-GYNs and representatives of some of the state's largest medical associations slammed the Texas Medical Board on Monday over proposed abortion ban rules they say create additional burdens on doctors and could endanger pregnant women. The Texas Medical Board on March 22 announced its new proposed rules, which would require physicians to document whether they tried to transfer a patient to another doctor or facility to avoid performing an abortion, a rule that several speakers at a stakeholders meeting Monday said goes beyond the requirements set out in the state statute and could delay life-saving care. The guidelines would also mandate that physicians list alternative treatment options that they tried before an abortion was considered. "As a lawyer who has represented Texas physicians for years, I wouldnt even know how to advise a physician client on how to comply with some of these requirements," said Molly Duane, an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, an abortion rights group. "The requirement to determine whether there was adequate time to transfer the patient by any means available is so vague as to be unworkable." Duane added that the proposed rules "exceed the board's statutory rulemaking authority" and add to confusion about the laws, rather than clarifying them. Texas' abortion ban allows physicians to terminate a pregnancy only to save the life of a pregnant patient or if the patient is at risk of substantial impairment of major bodily function. The ban makes no exception for rape, incest or fatal fetal diagnoses. Over nearly five hours of public commentary and discussion Monday, several dozen speakers shared their thoughts on the board's proposed rules, with the vast majority saying they oppose them as currently written. Only two of 16 board members Dr. Sherif Zaafran, the chair, and Dr. Jason Tibbels attended the stakeholder meeting, board spokesperson Taurie Sloan confirmed to the American-Statesman, adding that the meeting will be posted on YouTube for board members to access "if that is their desire." The board consists of 11 doctors and five others appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott; three-fourths of its members are men. More: Abortion foes, supporters say Texas maternal death task force should review abortion cases Amy Bresnen discusses the abortion ban at a Texas Medical Board meeting in March. Kate Cox, a Dallas mother of two who became known across the nation after the Texas Supreme Court ruled against her request to legally terminate a nonviable pregnancy, which threatened her ability to have a healthy child, made a rare public appearance to tell the board that "the new rules will create additional hurdles for patients like me." Many of the speakers, including a representative for anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life, emphasized that the rules should incorporate a statement from the Texas Supreme Court that a woman need not face imminent death to qualify for an abortion. One of the most striking sets of comments came from the Texas Medical Association, which represents more than 57,000 doctors and medical students across the state and has historically been reluctant to make strong statements on topics related to abortion. Speaking on behalf of the group, OB-GYN Dr. Joseph Valenti said the draft guidelines made the situation more confusing and dangerous rather than clearer for physicians. "We're very concerned with the documentation and administrative requirements and the proposed rule potentially hindering our Hippocratic oath, limiting the use of our reasonable medical judgment and delaying much-needed lifesaving and fertility-saving measures," he said. He closed his comments by saying, "Remember: Dead mothers do not lead to live babies." More: What is the Texas Medical Board and how will it consider abortion ban guidelines? Dr. Ingrid Skop speaks at a Texas Medical Board meeting about the abortion ban in March. Speakers for groups that oppose abortion were generally less critical of the board's proposed rules. Texas Right to Life was "overall pleased" with the guidelines, paralegal Miranda Willborg said on the group's behalf. A spokesperson for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Katie Daniel, suggested the medical board create an online landing page with resources such as information on Columbia University's Neonatal Comfort Care program, a facility that provides palliative care for newborns that have fatal diagnoses and bereavement support and counseling for families. Daniel said she believes that "abortion has become the default option for a variety of diagnoses, both lethal and nonlethal." It is illegal in Texas, however, to terminate pregnancies in either case. A main theme of the meeting seemed to be whether the medical board truly has the power to address what speakers largely agreed is a crisis of confusion and fear among Texas doctors trying to navigate the state's near-total abortion ban. Anyone convicted of violating the law could face up to 99 years in prison and fines of no less than $100,000. Doctors can be prosecuted criminally or sued by private citizens if they are suspected of violating the abortion bans. "I don't think most people understand just how severe the abortion laws are in Texas," Cox said. "By denying me the abortion care I needed, the state, my state, was cruel to my family and I." Scott Simpson, who identified himself as a retired OB-GYN, urged the board to use its position to advocate for legislative change, a role the board said it cannot take as a government body. "The problem is the law," he said. "Rule modifications may ease the problem, but I doubt they can completely resolve it." Zaafran repeatedly said he intends for the rules to address confusion and fear among Texas doctors and, in doing so, prevent women from having medically necessary abortions delayed or denied. But at many points, he and board director Stephen Brint Carlton felt it necessary to tell attendees that they did not have the power to change the legislation their rules are intended to clarify. "We as a medical board are trying as best we can to stay within the constraints of the law, while hoping to give clarity to the physicians as to how they can navigate these issues," Zaafran said in closing remarks. Zaafran and Carlton suggested at the end of the meeting that they see their work as far from done. The board might discuss or propose new guidelines at its June 20-21 meeting in Austin and, "if changes are substantive," it will start the process over at step one, Carlton said. He said the board is likely to hold another stakeholder meeting after substantive changes and before a final vote, which could take place anytime from late June to early next year or beyond. More: 'Confused and frightened': Texas Medical Board guidance on abortion ban exceptions unveiled Texas Medical Board members, from left, Sharon Barnes, Dr. Manuel Quinones, Executive Director Brint Carlton and Dr. Sherif Zaafran listen to public comments about guidance on exceptions to the states abortion ban in March. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas medical, hospital associations slam proposed abortion guidelines Dade Phelan addresses the floor after being elected for his second term as House speaker on on Jan 10, 2023. Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune In mid-April, some of Texas most prolific Republican donors convened at the palatial and secluded mansion of Dallas pipeline mogul Kelcy Warren. The RSVP list counted the likes of legendary GOP strategist Karl Rove, real estate billionaire Harlan Crow and Texans for Lawsuit Reform co-founder Dick Weekley. It also included several erstwhile Republican leaders, including Texas longest serving governor, Rick Perry; former U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison; and two former Texas House speakers, Dennis Bonnen and Joe Straus. Their mission: Save Dade Phelan. It was a dramatic show of force from the states most influential GOP power brokers or at least, it would have been a decade ago. Today, the once-gilded group of Republican kingmakers, who shaped Texas and national conservative politics across the Bush era, are locked in a power struggle with the partys far-right, socially conservative wing the very forces that pushed Phelan, the Republican Texas House speaker, into a career-threatening runoff five weeks earlier. These conservative establishment players, whose own reputations have been under attack in recent months as theyve been recast as RINOs, are going to bat for Phelan in a May 28 runoff that, by one account, is the most expensive state House race in history. They hope to prevent Texas lower chamber from falling under the control of hardline conservatives like their longtime rival, Tim Dunn, a Midland oilman and billionaire megadonor. Dunn and his sprawling political network have funded an aggressive campaign to oust Phelan, attack his allies and scrub so-called moderates from the party. If you have 100 issues, and you agree with them 99 times, youre their enemy, said Alan Hassenflu, a Houston real estate magnate who was on the host committee for Phelans April fundraiser. Hassenflu, a board member of the powerful tort reform group Texans for Lawsuit Reform, added that the interests of the Dunn cohort frequently diverge from fiscal conservative orthodoxy. Often that purity isnt conservative, he said. Theyd be just fine having the government tell businesses they cant have unisex bathrooms or mandate vaccines Thats not limited governance. Phelans primary against GOP activist David Covey has emerged as a last stand for the Republican Partys business-minded old guard against an insurgency, primarily motivated by social and cultural issues, that aims to reshape the House in the mold of the more conservative Senate and its leader, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. That movement landed a major victory in the March primaries, when nine House GOP incumbents were unseated by far-right challengers and eight others, including Phelan, were pushed into runoffs. David Covey talks on the phone in Beaumont on Jan. 26, 2024. Covey is running against House Speaker Dade Phelan in the Republican primary. Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune The ouster of Phelan, R-Beaumont, would give Dunns cohort its best chance yet to elect a speaker who is aligned with Patrick and the Senate, likely clearing the way for unfinished priorities like private school vouchers, expanded state control of elections in Democrat-run counties and various measures aimed at infusing more Christianity into public life. This is not the party of George Herbert Walker Bush or [former Sen.] John Tower or Kay Bailey Hutchison or George W. Bush, said Jon Taylor, a political science professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. It is a party that is decidedly more conservative, much less interested in the kind of approach that Texas Republicans took for decades, which was working strongly and closely with the business community but not pushing very hard on social stuff. Some hardline conservatives reject the notion that they have abandoned their pro-business principles, arguing its possible to focus on things like loosening the regulatory environment while also restricting abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. I don't think anybody has a better voting record than I do when it comes to alleviating and fighting against problematic regulations that we're putting on small businesses, said state Rep. Steve Toth, a Republican from The Woodlands who owns a pool service business. Toth, one of Phelans most outspoken critics in the House, has endorsed Covey and joined with a group of lawmakers and candidates who want to upend the Houses rules to further diminish the influence of Democrats and weaken the speakers power. The fourth-term Republican blamed the intra-party tension on an element of our party working against social conservatives, singling out one of the most prolific pro-Phelan groups this cycle, the Associated Republicans of Texas. The group, known as ART, spent around $3 million defending House incumbents in the first round and likely millions more in the runoffs. State Rep. Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, right, speaks with state Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress, on the House floor at the state Capitol on April 6, 2023. Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune If we try and take out someone that is moderate, we're seen as extreme, and we're the problem with the Republican Party, said Toth, who was opposed in his own primary by ART, making him the groups only GOP incumbent target this year. Added Toth, who was backed by Dunns PAC and easily fended off a moderate challenger in March: They dont want you to be socially conservative, they only want you to be moderate on those issues, and to get along and go along with the Democrats. And we're just not willing to do it. The old guard Phelans high-profile backers include some of the states wealthiest business executives who have benefited from the states boom years and industry-friendly approach to governing. One member of the Dallas fundraisers host committee was Jeanne Tower Cox, daughter of former U.S. Sen. John Tower. Tower, the first Republican Texan elected to the Senate since Reconstruction, helped launch Associated Republicans of Texas in 1974 when the party held fewer than two dozen seats in the Legislature. Phelans backers also include Robert Rowling, the billionaire owner of Omni hotels; energy titan Ray Hunt; and beverage distribution magnate John Nau, who serves as co-chair of ARTs board. Each is also among Gov. Greg Abbotts top donors, contributing at least a million dollars to the governors campaigns. Abbott, for his part, has remained neutral in Phelan's race. The wave of anti-establishment energy this cycle has not only threatened Phelans career, but also raised the prospect that his supporters in the Republican old guard already considered pariahs among a large segment of the GOP could become full-on outcasts in the party they helped create decades ago. Among them is Rove, who masterminded the Texas GOPs rise in the 1980s and 1990s, engineering some of the partys earliest statewide wins, including the 1990 campaigns of Perry for agriculture commissioner and Hutchison for state treasurer, followed by George W. Bushs election as governor in 1994. Rove, who declined comment for this story, has been in the crosshairs of the GOP grassroots since he penned an essay last year suggesting Attorney General Ken Paxton was likely to be convicted at his impeachment trial. Rove continued to blast Paxton after he was acquitted by the state Senate, arguing the attorney general bore full responsibility for the impeachment because of his arrogance. Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff under President George W. Bush and Republican political consultant Karl Rove speaks on a panel at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022. Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune Perry, once praised for deftly changing his political stripes to become a tea party darling, has also fallen out of favor with much of the GOP grassroots after penning his own opinion piece calling for Paxtons impeachment trial to go forward, and more recently emerging as Phelans most high-profile defender on the campaign trail. Perry, a former Trump cabinet member, has leaned into the criticism, joking at a Phelan rally that the derisive term RINO is kind of sexy, frankly. He has also defended Phelans willingness to work with Democrats, noting that he often did so himself on the vast range of issues that transcend partisan politics. The speakers role is not to be a dictator, Perry said at a Phelan rally in February. He later added that he was worried about the magnitude of intra-party fighting among Republicans, telling the Tribune, if we continue down this path, pointing our guns inside the tent, that is the definition of suicide. Former Gov. Rick Perry attends a get out the vote rally in support of Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan on Feb. 29, 2024, in Vidor. Credit: Callaghan O'Hare for The Texas Tribune Former state Sen. Don Huffines, a wealthy businessman who has also championed social conservative causes, argued that much of Phelans support is coming from groups like Texans for Lawsuit Reform that are interested in preserving their access to House leadership. You've got these people that are used to that environment in Austin, and they want to keep the levers of power, said Huffines, who challenged Abbott in the 2022 primary with the financial backing of Dunn and fellow West Texas oil billionaire Farris Wilks. Texans for Lawsuit Reform, known as TLR, is a major force in state politics, with a war chest of more than $29 million at last count and a reputation as the business communitys leading bellwether. Once heralded on the right for helping Republicans flip Texas, TLR has been recently vilified by Paxton and his hardline allies, who believe the group worked behind the scenes to orchestrate his impeachment. TLR, which spent more than $3 million trying to oust Paxton in the 2022 primary, has insisted it had nothing to do with the effort. Lucy Nashed, a spokesperson for Texans for Lawsuit Reform, said the group backs incumbents who support TLRs legislative agenda though she suggested other factors also play a role in endorsement decisions. TLRPACs primary consideration is whether a candidate is philosophically aligned on civil justice issues, but we also seek to support men and women of integrity who we expect will be constructive members of the Legislature, Nashed said in an email. Fire-breathing conservatives Since winning control of the speakers gavel in 2021, Phelan has shepherded the passage of numerous conservative priorities once seen as a bridge too far for some Republicans, including laws banning abortion, allowing the permitless carry of handguns, restricting transgender rights and vastly expanding Texas role in immigration law enforcement. At the same time, Phelan, a real estate developer, has overseen a number of key wins for the Texas business community, including the revival of a corporate tax break program, a new law aimed at speeding up permitting for developers and a sweeping limit on city and county ordinances a priority of business groups that complained of a growing patchwork of local regulations. The Legislature also created a new court, filled with governor-appointed judges, to hear business cases involving large transactions. Hassenflu, who founded the Houston firm Fidelis Realty Partners and has long been involved in local Republican politics, said he appreciates that Phelan has supported business-friendly policies that promote growth and limit government. He described Phelan as more conservative than his two predecessors as speaker, fellow Republicans Bonnen and Straus, and said Dunn and his allies used outright lies to distort the records of Phelan and other incumbents in this years ugly Republican primary campaign, which is nearing its conclusion with early voting underway this week. Theres no integrity in that, Hassenflu said of the anti-Phelan tactics. Dunn and Phelan did not respond to requests for comment. The far-right faction of Texas Republicans have cast Phelan as a feckless capitulator to Democrats who has slow-walked conservative priorities approved by the Senate. A 2023 documentary by Texas Scorecard a conservative media organization funded by Dunn made the bold and specious claim that the House is actually controlled by Democrats. That wing of the GOP has increasingly pushed Phelan to stop appointing Democratic committee chairs, a longstanding practice in the House that has sought to foster bipartisanship by rewarding the minority party with minor positions in leadership. What got Phelan in trouble with the far right last year were two issues: the Houses rejection of Abbotts school voucher bill after it sailed through the Senate and Phelans full-throated support for impeaching Paxton one of Dunns key political allies on corruption and bribery charges. Phelan did not take a public stance on the voucher measure at the time, but he later told the Tribune he would have preferred a modest version of it to pass; his critics say he didnt do enough to whip his caucus in line. The speakers political foes have pointed to a handful of other conservative priorities that did not make it through the House, including a proposal to bar the sale of Texas farmland to citizens and entities associated with China and several other countries. Covey has also blamed Phelan for allowing Democrats to sink a bill that would have created a Border Protection Unit, staffed by deputized everyday residents and licensed peace officers, with authority to deter and repel migrants between ports of entry. Phelan and his allies point to his record overseeing an eightfold spike in border security spending and passage of landmark immigration laws. The opposing factions in Phelans primary have been on divergent paths since Straus, a San Antonio Republican, first became speaker a decade and a half ago. Straus rose to power in 2009, assembling a coalition of around a dozen Republicans and most Democrats in the House. Straus reliance on the minority party made him a frequent punching bag in GOP primaries the following year, when the tea party wave swept out part of his moderate coalition, making his position seem tenuous. But the threat never materialized. Straus easily held onto the speakers gavel, with only 15 members voting to oppose him in 2011. Straus said this years crop of fire-breathing, I'm-gonna-change-everything conservatives reminds him of the freshman class he faced in 2011. Many of them changed their tune, Straus said, once they actually met him and learned about the give-and-take needed to pass legislation. It was always gratifying to see how many of those who came in with that disposition learned about the institution of the House, and learned that if they were just respectful of others, and respectful of the rules and of the institution, they could be leaders too, Straus said. Former House Speaker Joe Straus at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin on Sept. 24, 2022. Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune Still, there are important differences this year that could point to more enduring changes in the House next session. For one, Phelan is in jeopardy of becoming the first speaker in 52 years to lose reelection, while Straus was never truly threatened in his district. The in-House challenges to Straus speakership were even less serious; in contrast, the first challenger out of the gate against Phelan is one of his own committee chairmen. These people have a taste for blood in the water, and they're going after him, said Taylor, the political scientist, noting that the anti-Phelan insurgents are not only pushing a really strong conservative agenda like in 2011, but also outlining a specific list of demands aimed at kneecapping Phelan. The resurgence of the partys rightmost faction comes after Dunn and his cohort spent the last several years struggling to make a dent in the primaries including in 2022, when candidates supported by Dunns network lost every head-to-head matchup against Phelan-backed incumbents. The group seemed to reach its nadir in late 2023, when its leader was caught hosting Nick Fuentes, a prominent antisemite and white supremacist, at his consulting firms office. But Dunn went on to notch a number of key wins in the March 5 primaries. Tim Dunn, CEO of CrownQuest Operating and chairman of Empower Texans, speaks during The Texas Tribune Festival on Sept. 24, 2016. Credit: Brett Buchanan for The Texas Tribune Nick Fuentes (middle) is seen exiting the offices of Pale Horse strategies with Chris Russo, founder and president of Texans for Strong Borders (right) in Fort Worth on Oct. 6, 2023. Credit: Azul Sordo for the Texas Tribune Unlike in previous years, hardline candidates are getting a major boost from Abbott and deep-pocketed groups looking to oust GOP lawmakers who oppose private school vouchers. While the governor has stayed out of Phelans primary, he is going after four of the speakers anti-voucher allies in the May runoffs and one of the pro-voucher groups, Club For Growth, has targeted the speaker directly with a TV ad that calls him unwaveringly liberal and a Democrat in disguise. A fundamental shift Democrats, meanwhile, are determined to fight to preserve the limited power they have in the lower chamber. Their caucus leader, Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio, said Republicans should not discount the fact that Democrats currently control 64 of 150 seats in the House and could pick up more in November. And Republicans, no matter what they may say in campaign speeches about stamping out the last vestiges of Democratic influence in the chamber, need the minority party for certain votes. Passing the budget, establishing a daily quorum and approving constitutional amendments each require 100 ayes a threshold Republicans, currently with 86 members, lack on their own. Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, speaks at a press conference prior to the start of the 3rd-called special session of the 88th Legislature on Oct. 9, 2023. Credit: Bob Daemmrich for the Texas Tribune Martinez Fischer said with Republicans fighting among themselves, the possibility exists for a more moderate conservative to successfully attain the gavel through a bipartisan coalition, much as Straus did to begin his five-term reign that ended in 2019. But if House Republicans attempt to further cut the minority party out of the legislative process, the Democratic leader said they will fight back. House Democrats will show up and work hard every day, Martinez Fischer said. You show us what the rules are and well find a way to elevate the discussion thats just who we are. Beyond ending the tradition of bipartisan committee chairs, Phelans critics have also called for the next speaker to only solicit support from Republican members, a demand aimed at forestalling another Straus-type coalition. The hardline faction also wants the next speaker to ensure all GOP legislative priorities receive a floor vote before any Democrat bills. Sylvester Turner, a Democrat who spent 27 years in the Texas House before his recent stint as Houston mayor, said the proposed changes would produce a fundamental shift, and in the end, quite frankly, I think everybody loses. Turner, a key ally of Straus predecessor, GOP speaker Tom Craddick, served as speaker pro tempore for all three of Craddicks terms leading the chamber. Phelans critics are also calling for an end to that tradition, which has often been used as an olive branch by Republicans to fill a largely ceremonial role. The Houses bipartisan culture, Turner said, has long prevented the chamber from devolving into outright gridlock, while allowing members of both parties to prevent a lot of bad shit from reaching the House floor. If one side is going to play this partisan hardball sort of system, it forces the other side to do the same, Turner said. So, you gotta be careful what you ask for. Disclosure: Texans for Lawsuit Reform and University of Texas at San Antonio have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. House Speaker Dade Phelan presides over the House during Sine Die, the last day of the 88th Texas Legislative Session, at the Capitol in Austin on May 29, 2023. Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune 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. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) Texas Tech Health El Paso cloaked students entering the nursing program on Tuesday, May 21. The White Coat Ceremony for the Hunt School of Nursing Summer Cohort was on Tuesday at the Medical Sciences Building II auditorium. According to the news release from Texas Tech, the summer cohort is made up of 12 students and they are a part of the accelerated B.S.N program, one of its kind in the region. The ceremony marks the students entry into the profession and the 12 students will also be given the Hunt School of Nursing seal, according to Texas Tech. 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 KTSM 9 News. Whats in it for them? This outside lobbying group is top spender in Idaho GOP primary Ahead of the Tuesday GOP primary, Nampa voters received a provocative mailer about a legislative candidate. The mailer featured a photo of a young girl standing behind rusted bars, frowning, wearing a yellow backpack and holding a notebook. Kenny Wroten voted to leave students trapped in the wrong schools! the attack ad read. The mailer slammed Wroten, an Idaho House member running for reelection, as a liberal legislator who rejected tax credits for families to send their children to private schools. Paid for by the Idaho Federation for Children political action committee, it was one of many mailers and ads the American Federation for Children has run and distributed in Idaho over the past few weeks. The federation, a Dallas, Texas-based lobbying group focused on school choice, has spent $400,000 this election cycle, primarily to target three Republican candidates over school choice around double the amount the group spent during the 2022 election, according to previous campaign reports first reported by the Idaho Capital Sun. It is also listed as the second-highest spender on lobbying in Idaho this year, according to the secretary of states office second only to Young Americans for Liberty, a libertarian group that lobbied for a bill to subsidize private education last year. The debate over school choice, often centered around providing funding for families who dont send their kids to public school, has become a touch point this election cycle as groups have thrown hundreds of thousands of dollars into the races in hopes of getting their preferred candidates elected. The federations other targets, in addition to Wroten, are Rep. Melissa Durrant, R-Kuna, and Rep. Richard Cheatum, R-Pocatello, all of whom opposed a bill that would have provided $50 million in tax rebates and grants for families whose children attend private schools or are home-schooled. The bill ultimately failed to make it through the Legislature. Ads that have run over the past few weeks accused the candidates of raising fees on Idaho families, siding with radical liberal unions and killing school choice. The federation has also launched ads in support of Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, one of the sponsors of the tax credit bill this session, Rep. Julie VanOrden, R-Pingree, and Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Boise. Nathan Cunneen, a communications strategist for the group, told the Idaho Statesman that the Idaho Federation for Children PAC supports candidates fighting to create school choice opportunities in Idaho. Its obvious that we need a broader coalition to pass school choice in Idaho, he said in an email. Regardless of ideology or position on other issues, we focus on legislators who do the hard work to advance and pass school choice for Idaho families. Wroten said he believes he has been heavily targeted because he was vocal this past legislative session against the parental tax credit bill. Parents are welcome to make choices that work best for their families, but the Idaho Constitution requires the Legislature to guarantee a general, uniform and thorough system of public, free common schools. Wrotens opponents are Amy Henry, a former educator and homeschool parent, and Steve Tanner, who has spoken out against allegations of critical race theory in schools and has advocated against school bonds, according to his election website. If you ... feel like your child needs something different, that is fine. But I dont think that taxpayers should have to subsidize that, Wroten told the Statesman. He said lawmakers have rejected many proposals that would subsidize private education, and yet the lobbying groups seem to think that this issue hasnt been hasnt been addressed. It has. They just keep pushing. Idaho has long history of school choice legislation Spending from the American Federation for Children doesnt cover all of the money involved to push for funding private education this primary election. Though the federation focuses specifically on school choice, other top spenders this election cycle included Citizens Alliance of Idaho, which has also made expanding education freedom a top priority. Idaho legislators over the past several years have introduced bills that would offer tax credits or provide educational savings accounts for families who choose private school or homeschooling for their kids, but they havent yet been successful. During the 2023 session, legislators introduced a bill that would have created education savings accounts to let families who send their kids to private schools or those who home school their kids get state funding for tuition and other expenses. It failed in the Senate. The year before, lawmakers introduced a bill that would have created a similar program. That was narrowly rejected in a House committee. Each year, sponsors vow to bring back bills using taxpayer money to help families fund private education, arguing that education isnt one size fits all and the state should fund students, not systems. But the bills are always met with considerable opposition, including from education stakeholder groups, such as the teachers union and school boards association, over fears it would take money away from public schools. Sponsors often deny that characterization. The influx of money around school choice has the potential to have a significant influence, experts said. In Idaho and other states, critics have often referred to the proposals as vouchers, though proponents have pushed back against that characterization. Supporters of school choice distinguish vouchers as state money that goes directly to private school tuition, while education savings accounts or tax credits are given to a family to provide additional resources, which can include private school tuition. The Idaho Federation for Children PAC, a state project of the American Federation for Children has spent nearly all of the $400,000 donation it received from American Federation for Childrens victory fund this election cycle, according to the most recent reports filed with the secretary of states office. The vast majority of that spending was on independent expenditures, such as ads, mailers and brochures, and not given directly to candidates. A website called the Education Voter Guide that says its paid for by the Idaho Federation for Children PAC also compares candidates opinions on school choice measures, and supports those that have voted to fund private education. The group was also among the top-four spenders on Facebook ads in Idaho over the past 90 days leading up to the election, according to Metas spending tracker. It has spent over $13,000 of its funding over the past 90 days on Meta, as of May 17. The American Federation for Children has had significant successes in its previous campaigns in other states, Cunneen said, and the movement for school choice legislation is growing across the country and, he believes, in Idaho. Cunneen said the group is hopeful its work this election cycle will help move the needle in Idaho even more. We fell short in Idaho this year, but the work were doing right now is helping to push us towards another shift in the status-quo to benefit students, he said. Wroten said he believes the negative campaign ads against him and other candidates provide little context and could sway newer voters. He said the ads dont explain the reasons he opposed the tax credit bill. The ads say Wroten is a candidate who doesnt care about Idaho students or families. He said he fully supports parents who send their kids to private school or home-school their children, but that these bills are not the avenue to fund that. Idaho group combats out-of-state money An Idaho-based group has jumped into the race to fight against the rise in outside money focused on pushing private or home-school funding. Right 2 Learn, a political action committee created in part by a former Idaho school superintendent and Idaho Association of Counties employee, has raised about $150,000 this election cycle. It has run a series of ads targeting Horman and supporting her opponent, Ammon Mayor Sean Coletti. It has also advocated for other Republican candidates who opposed the parental tax credit legislation, including Rep. Julie Yamamoto, R-Caldwell, who chaired the House Education Committee. Horman said shes long championed school choice efforts and finding the best educational opportunities for children and will continue to do so. She said she is focused on her campaign, not on what third parties are doing. Her legislative district knows what her priorities are, she told the Statesman. I have a history of serving children in this county for over 31 years, she said. Right 2 Learns organizers said the PAC began because they saw out-of-state special interests targeting Idaho with taxpayer-subsidized private school voucher schemes. Those programs, they said, are a drain on local school funding and provide funds to wealthy families. As Republicans and parents who have had family members in both public and private schools, we believe Idaho can and should provide excellent educational opportunities for Idahos students while being fiscally responsible, Chair Kerry Ellen Elliott and Treasurer Teresa Fabricius said in an email to the Statesman. But private school vouchers fail the sniff test on achieving these goals. Weve made the choice to support candidates who stand with us in these values. The group is largely supported by the Idaho Education Association, the teachers union, as first reported by IdahoEdNews. IEA spokesperson Mike Journee said Idaho families want local money to stay in their public schools and went after out-of-state groups for trying to influence Idaho elections. These shadowy, out-of-state interest groups with deep pockets come here to divide our communities, kill our public schools and line their own pockets at the expense of Idaho students and taxpayers, he said in an email to the Statesman. IEA members and their communities are fighting back, and as long as real Idahoans stand up for Idaho values, we will win. Whats in it for them? Similar groups have invested heavily in Idaho politics these past several years. Last year, the states top-spending lobbyists included the American Federation for Children and Young Americans for Liberty, according to previous Statesman reporting. Ideological groups in particular are pouring in out-of-state money in elections across the country to advance their agendas, and often opting to spend the money on campaign ads instead of donating to the candidates directly, said Jaclyn Kettler, a political science associate professor at Boise State University. Campaign advertising can have an influence on voters, assessments of candidates and their decision making, she said. Not necessarily a huge effect, but if you move enough people, that could be pretty impactful. Across the country, many other states have passed laws that create voucher programs or education savings accounts for families who dont attend public school. Nearly 30 states have at least some kind of private school choice option, which can include tax credits, ESAs and vouchers, according to an analysis from Education Week. Some of the programs are targeted toward students with disabilities or low-income students, but other states, such as Utah and Arizona, have recently expanded or created options available to all students, regardless of income. In some cases, those programs have quickly ballooned. Idaho is one where, again, there hasnt been success yet in actually passing through the Legislature, but theyre getting close in some ways, Kettler said. So I think theres a perceived opportunity that probably is attracting more focus and attention at this point, perhaps compared to some other states. Wroten said voters who see negative ads from out-of-state groups should be skeptical of their material. Dont believe those negative ads, Wroten said. You really should be asking yourself as a voter here in District 13: Why would groups from Dallas, Texas, be interested in Idaho and in my school? Whats in it for them? BERLIN, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Up to 50 percent of the world's rangelands are degraded, endangering food security and the wellbeing of billions, warned the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in a report on Tuesday. Rangelands constitute 54 percent of Earth's land cover, account for one sixth of global food production and represent nearly one third of the planet's carbon reservoir, according to the Global Land Outlook Thematic Report on Rangelands and Pastoralists. The report highlighted issues such as soil erosion, salinization, and biodiversity loss due to overuse, misuse, and climate change, while pointing out that converting rangelands to cropland and urban areas exacerbates these problems. "When we cut down a forest, when we see a 100-year-old tree fall, it rightly evokes an emotional response in many of us. The conversion of ancient rangelands, on the other hand, happens in 'silence' and generates little public reaction," said UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw. "Despite numbering an estimated half a billion individuals worldwide, pastoralist communities are frequently overlooked, lack a voice in policy-making that directly affects their livelihoods, are marginalised, and are even often seen as outsiders in their own lands," Thiaw added. "Imbalance between the supply of and demand for animal forage lands leads to overgrazing, invasive species, and the increased risk of drought and wildfires -- all of which accelerate desertification and land degradation trends around the world," said Maryam Niamir-Fuller, co-chair of the International Support Group for the UN's International Year for Rangelands and Pastoralists 2026. "For the sake of future generations and economic stability, we need to improve awareness of and safeguard the immense value of rangelands," said Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, CEO and chairperson of the Global Environment Facility. "Managers require authoritative insights into the response of rangelands to different disturbances and management approaches, including policy tools that better capture the broad social importance of rangelands," he added. The report recommends integrating climate strategies, reducing land conversion, and supporting pastoralism to restore rangeland health. "The meaningful participation of all stakeholders is key to responsible rangeland governance, which fosters collective action, improves access to land and integrates traditional knowledge and practical skills," said Pedro Maria Herrera Calvo, the report's lead author. SMYRNA, Tenn. (WKRN) Smyrna police are looking for thieves who drove a car through a gun shop and made off with weapons and ammo. The security video of the burglary is from The Southern Bunker, where the crime happened Saturday morning. Christopher and Kelsey Alford run the gun shop. Man arrested for throwing Molotov cocktail at neighbors home, barricading himself inside residence for hours In the security footage, we could tell they had handfuls of items. So we knew if they got away, the cases would be demolished and we would be missing quite a few items, Kelsey said. Shattered glass everywhere in the first 15 feet of our shop, Christopher added. Displays knocked over, too. It was a sight they didnt expect to see. There was a car parked right in front with the engine running, trunk popped, and a crushed front end, Christopher said. They just left the vehicle. The car was apparently a Hyundai sedan. North Nashville neighbors concerned for safety after gun battle in street Christopher said the men stole several guns and ammo from the shop, leaving his new business with a big challenge to overcome. They didnt get everything and it could have been worse, Christopher said. But as a new business, its a big hurdle to jump through. The couple said theyve put their heart and soul into opening this business 13 months ago. The damage is expected to be about $50,000. (Photo: WKRN) (Photo: WKRN) (Photo: WKRN) (Photo: WKRN) (Photo: WKRN) (Photo: WKRN) Seeing someone in the community wanting to do harm to the business is an impact emotionally, physically and monetarily, Kelsey said. The couple said they dont recognize the suspects in the video. The Southern Bunker plans to reopen for business soon. If you want to help with reopening expenses, click here. The Southern Bunker is also hosting a 3P Bunker Bash at Sam Davis home at 1399 Sam Davis Road in Smyrna on Aug. 24, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. CRIME TRACKER | Read the latest crime news from Middle Tennessee Organizers said the event is to help people gain knowledge about personal safety. Anyone with information on the crime at The Southern Bunker is asked to call Smyrna police at 615-459-6644. 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 WKRN News 2. Iranians are taking to the streets of Tabriz to observe the funeral rites of President Ebrahim Raisi, who died along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six others in a helicopter crash on Sunday, as others celebrated the hardline leaders death. Funeral rites will take place until Thursday across Tabrizthe largest city close to the crash site near the Iranian-Azerbaijani borderand Qom, Tehran, and Birjand, before Raisi is buried at the Imam Reza Shrine in his birthplace of Mashhad. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei announced Monday that five days of mourning would be observed across Iran. Video footage shows Iranians lining the streets, some holding photographs of Raisi, and awaiting the procession of eight coffins containing the deceased. Among the crowds was Mohammad Mokhber, Irans Acting President, according to Tasnim, a local news agency. Read More: Why Some Iranians Refuse to Mourn President Ebrahim Raisi Mokhber was swiftly named alongside interim foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani and presidential elections were set for June 28. Most shops remain open in what was a relatively muted atmosphere following the death of a senior Iranian leader. Opponents of Raisi also shared videos on social media of people celebrating his death. One student in Tehran told Reuters that she was not saddened by Raisis death, because he ordered the crackdown on women for hijab. Raisi was nicknamed the Butcher of Tehran for his role in the mass executions of thousands of political prisoners in the 1980s, and was considered a protege of Khamanei. Ahead of the funeral rites, Iranian Prosecutor General Mohammad Kazem Movahhedi Azad ordered an online crackdown for social media posts criticizing the late President. Read More: World Leaders React to Death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi An investigation to determine the cause of Sundays helicopter crash is underway. Raisi was returning from a visit to Irans border with Azerbaijan to inaugurate a dam with President Ilham Aliyev. The crash took place in the Dizmar forest in Irans East Azerbaijan province, where weather conditions made search efforts difficult. Following the release of drone footage by the Islamic Republic News Agency, all eight passengers aboard the helicopter were declared dead. The circumstances surrounding the crash have given rise to suspicion amid longrunning jockeying over who could eventually replace Khamanei, who is 85 and in poor health, and as Iran remains on tense footing with Israel and the U.S. Write to Armani Syed at armani.syed@time.com. A picture of the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is seen on a street in Tehran in Iran on Tuesday evening. Photo by Islamic Republic News Agency IRNA/UPI KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait, May 21 (UPI) -- Funeral events for Iran's president and foreign minister got underway Tuesday with a procession on the streets of the northwestern city of Tabriz as investigators launched a probe into the helicopter crash that killed them. President Ebrahim Raisi was killed Sunday in the crash in mountainous terrain near the Azerbaijan border along with eight other people, including Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian. Thousands of mourners lined the streets of Tabriz, the closest large city to the site of the crash, to kick off a three-day funeral for the 63-year-old hardline cleric who had been seen as a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Khamenei announced five days of mourning for the fallen president. Iran's official IRNA news agency showed footage of black-clad mourners surrounding a truck carrying the flag-draped coffins of Raisi and the other victims. Iranian mourners pay their respects to late President Ebrahim Raisi during a funeral procession in Tabriz, northwestern Iran, on Tuesday. Photo by Stringer/EPA-EFE Interior Minister Ahmad Vahdidi spoke at a ceremony before the procession, state-owned Mers news agency reported, saying the country mourned the death of a "beloved, popular and humble president." "We had a bad landing in this matter, but we will have a brilliant rise," Vahidi said. Iranian officials and security officers mourn as an honor guard carries the coffin of late President Ebrahim Raisi during a funeral procession at Mehrabbad Airport in Tehran on Tuesday. Photo by Islamic Republic News Agency IRNA/UPI On Tuesday afternoon, the bodies of the victims will be moved to Qom, a pilgrimage site and holy city for Shiite Muslims, and then on to Tehran in the evening. Public prayers and a procession will be held in Tehran on Wednesday, which has been declared a public holiday. Foreign dignitaries will be on hand for a ceremony honoring the victims in the afternoon, according to IRNA, although a list of attendees has not yet been released. Mourners gather around the coffins during a funeral procession for President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six others in Tabriz, the capital of Iran's East Azerbaijan province, on Tuesday. Photo by Islamic Republic News Agency IRNA/UPI Raisi's funeral and burial will take place on Thursday in his home city of Mashhad. State media has said the crash of the decades-old Bell 212 helicopter was due to "technical failure," while the Iranian military announced that it had launched an investigation and sent a team to the site. Mourners gather around the coffins of President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six others in Tabriz, the capital of Iran's East Azerbaijan province, on Tuesday after search and rescue teams found their crashed helicopter in a fog-shrouded mountain region in Iran's East Azerbaijan province. Photo by Islamic Republic News Agency IRNA/UPI Most of the Iranian military's helicopters date to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and international sanctions make it difficult for the government to acquire parts for them. Raisi was known by his critics as the Butcher of Tehran for his involvement in Iran's mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988. The conservative cleric led Iran since winning office in a 2021 election marked by a record-low voter turnout. Honor guards carry the coffin of late-President Ebrahim Raisi during a funeral procession at Mehrabbad Airport in Tehran on Tuesday after search and rescue teams found a crashed helicopter carrying Raisi and others in a fog-shrouded mountain region in Iran's East Azerbaijan province. Photo by Islamic Republic News Agency IRNA/UPI During his tenure, Raisi oversaw a brutal crackdown on dissent that included the September 2022 police killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being beaten by authorities over violating the country's draconian hijab laws. His death comes during a fraught period of domestic discontent and regional tensions. Vice President Mohammad Mokhber will serve as Iran's interim leader until an election, set for June 28, is held. An honor guard carries the coffin of late-President Ebrahim Raisi during a funeral procession at Mehrabbad Airport in Tehran on Tuesday after Raisi was confirmed dead along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six others on Monday. Photo by Islamic Republic News Agency IRNA/UPI Several world leaders sent condolences to Iran, including authoritarian partners such as Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and North Korea's Kim Jong Un. Putin called Raisi a "true friend of Russia," while Kim praised him as "an outstanding statesman and a close friend" in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. Honor guards carry the coffin of late president Ebrahim Raisi during a funeral procession at Mehrabbad Airport in Tehran, Iran, on Tuesday. Photo by Islamic Republic News Agency IRNA/UPI The United States, meanwhile, offered terse "official condolences" while expressing "support for the Iranian people and their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms." Three Quincy teens charged in brutal attack of Duxbury teens at MBTA station, DA says Three teens from a high school in Quincy were arraigned last week, accused of an unprovoked attack on several victims inside an MBTA station earlier this month. 18-year-old Aidan McGuinness was charged with unarmed robbery and assault and battery causing serious bodily injury at his arraignment in Roxbury Boston Municipal Court on Friday. Two 17-year-old juveniles were arraigned in Suffolk Juvenile Court on Thursday. One of them was charged with two counts of assault by means of a dangerous weapon (knife), one count of assault and battery causing serious bodily injury, one count of unarmed robbery, and one count of assault and battery. The other teen was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (cement floor), assault and battery causing serious bodily injury, and unarmed robbery. According to Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden, on May 10, four teenage victims from Duxbury were found at Kenmore Station around 10:15 p.m., claiming they had been attacked and robbed by a group of people they didnt know. Three of the victims were reportedly bleeding from their mouths while the fourth victim had blood on his clothes and knuckles. The victims allegedly told Transit Police one of the three assailants flashed a knife with a black handle in his waistband before attacking them. The suspects punched the victims and threw them to the cement floor before stealing a jacket and a pair of sneakers, according to authorities. Police say they found the victims jacket destroyed near the scene. The reason for the attack remains unclear. After reviewing surveillance and Snapchat video of the assault, the DAs office says McGuinness and the other suspects were positively identified as high school students from Quincy. School officials also helped confirm the identity of the assailants, according to investigators. All three were apprehended shortly thereafter. These individuals may have thought they could launch a brutal and unprovoked attack on a group of young people and get away clean, but the tenacity of transit police combined with help from the victims, the public, and video and social media evidence proved them wrong, Hayden said. Judge Maureen Flaherty imposed a $1,500 bail and ordered McGuinness to stay away from the victims. He will return to court on June 24 for a probable cause hearing. The other two juveniles were held on $200 bail and also ordered to stay away from the victims and Kenmore Station by Judge Peter Coyne. They will both be back in court on June 24 for a probable cause hearing. These victims endured a terrifying experience and suffered serious injuries while doing nothing more than enjoying an evening in Boston, Hayden said. Their attackers will answer for their actions. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW Three West Allis Catholic churches will merge into one parish, the latest instance of Milwaukee-area churches reorganizing because of declining membership and tight budgets. Holy Assumption Parish, 7109 W. Orchard St.; St. Augustine, 6768 W. Rogers St.; and St. Rita, 2318 S. 61st St., will merge into one parish with a new name, which is yet to be announced. The parishes already share a priest as well as some operations. Since 2021, the parishes have established a joint pastoral council, merged some committees, rebranded their website and bulletin as "West Allis Catholic," and held joint events. Holy Assumption Parish, 7109 W. Orchard St., is one of three West Allis Catholic churches that will merge in July. Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki recently approved the merger, setting into motion a larger process of combining operations. The merger is effective July 1. "Across all three parishes, our efforts are too focused on buildings, roofs and boilers," trustees of the parishes wrote in a March letter to Listecki. "Our financial resources are being funneled to repair and maintain older buildings that are underutilized." As one parish, leaders hope to direct more attention to reaching young adults, single-parent families, older people and the city's Latino population, the trustees said in the letter. A group of parishioners are undertaking a review of all the buildings "to determine how to best use our facilities," according to a document on the parishes' website. No decisions have been made yet about what to do with the buildings, said Dave Grunwaldt, director of administrative services for the three parishes. Holy Assumption was established in 1901 to serve workers of Allis Chalmers, according to a news release. St. Augustine was established in 1928 to serve the Croatian community. St. Rita was established in 1924 for the residents of what was then the growing community of southeast West Allis. Less than a year ago, St. Florian, 1233 S. 45th St., West Milwaukee, closed and merged with Holy Assumption. The St. Florian building is now used by Notre Dame School of Milwaukee as its boys' middle school. Notre Dame is part of the Milwaukee Parental Choice program, which provides tax-funded vouchers for lower-income families to attend private schools. Three other West Allis Catholic churches merged into one parish in 2018. They were Mary Queen of Heaven, 2322 S. 106th St.; Immaculate Heart of Mary, 1121 S. 116th St.; and St. Aloysius, 1435 S. 92nd St. They now operate under the name Mother of Perpetual Help Congregation. St. Aloysius closed its doors in 2021, and the Mary Queen of Heaven building is now the main worship site, with the Immaculate Heart of Mary building as a secondary location. More: Wisconsin's oldest Methodist congregation closes due to high bills, low turnout. It's a familiar story nationwide. The mergers reflect what is happening to scores of houses of worship nationwide facing existential threats such as declining membership, aging congregations and an unwinnable financial situation. The trend is decades-long: Catholic institutions were at their peak in the 1950s and 60s, and a downturn began in the 1970s. Nearby, Wauwatosa Catholic parishioners are experiencing the same belt-tightening. In March, St. Bernard Parish announced it would close and merge with its sister parish, Christ King. It followed the shuttering at the end of the last school year of the adjoining Wauwatosa Catholic School because of a financial deficit and low student enrollment. More: Aging orders of Catholic sisters face tough decisions on what to do with property holdings. Now, they're getting help. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: West Allis Catholic churches to merge in latest sign of trend DOTHAN, Ala (WDHN) The Wiregrass is keeping the title of Alabamas peanut capital with a new statewide report. On May 15, the United States Department of Agriculture released a report detailing estimates of the number of crops produced in each Alabama county in 2023. This report included the production of corn, cotton, soybeans, peanuts, and cattle. According to the USDA report, Houston County was the number one producer of peanuts in the state in 2023, yielding 89,640,000 pounds. Geneva County came in second, with 65,750,000 pounds produced, and Henry County was ranked fourth, producing 49,750,000 pounds. These three counties produced a combined 205,140,000 pounds of peanuts in one year. Baldwin County produced 55,960,000 pounds, and Mobile County had an impressive yield of 35,860,000 pounds, netting those counties the number 3 and 5 spots, respectively. It is no surprise that Houston County was the top producer in the state. It is often called the peanut capital of the world. It is home to the famous National Peanut Festival, which draws a massive crowd every November. While Houston Countys yield in 2023 may seem large, it was significantly less than its production of 105,770,000 pounds in 2022. Houston County was also named one of the top cotton producers in the state, shipping out 47,300 bales last year. Geneva County and Henry County were also in the top seven cotton-producing counties, yielding over 30,000 bales. 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 WDHN - wdhn.com. Tiffany partially correct on the claim that gray wolves have recovered Gray wolves bring mixed feelings in Wisconsin and other places where the animals have repopulated over the last several decades. While advocates support strong protections for the animals, many farmers see them as a nuisance. And for hunters, a wolf can be the ultimate prize. No matter where the debate falls, in Wisconsin gray wolves are under the federal protections of the endangered species list, meaning they cant be hunted or killed for any reason. The animals were relisted in February 2022, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report from Feb. 10, 2022. U.S Representative Tom Tiffany for the Seventh Congressional District speaks on a Federal Legislator panel during the 2024 Republican Party Of Wisconsin State Convention on Saturday May 18, 2024 at the Fox Cities Exhibition Center in Appleton, Wis. U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Republican from Minocqua, and others strongly disagree with the recent relisting of the wolves. In an April 30, 2024 post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the representative pushed for delisting. The science is clear the gray wolf has met and exceeded recovery goals, he said. Whats up with gray wolves? In Wisconsin, wolves have become a bitter topic, resulting in hours of testimony over the Department of Natural Resources proposal to maintain a flexible number of animals in the state. Most recently, the Republican-controlled Legislature tried to overrule the agency, but failed, according to a Sept. 22, 2023 report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. As of late 2022, Wisconsin had 972 wolves in 288 packs. Elsewhere, there has also been a struggle over what to do with wolves, and how large of a population needs to be maintained. In 2020, the federal government under former President Donald Trump removed wolves from the endangered species list, allowing for the animals to be hunted for the first time in decades, according to a Feb. 12, 2022 report from CNN. As a result, states like Wisconsin opened hunting for the first time in years. For the Badger state, the uncoordinated season resulted in hunters killing more than 215 gray wolves, nearly double the states quota for the hunt. But in 2022, under President Joe Biden, gray wolves were once again listed as endangered, meaning they could no longer be hunted. While the number of wolves in Wisconsin and Michigan have rebounded in recent years under protections, other states are still working to reestablish a population. According to CNN, without the protections, wolf populations on the West Coast and in the Southern Rocky Mountains would be particularly vulnerable, and there would be a risk of losing wolves forever in those areas. So have populations rebounded enough to delist gray wolves? When we asked Tiffanys office about the claim, Communications Director Caroline Briscoe responded with several documents based on information from the U.S. Department of the Interior. They all included a variation of the same message, that wolves had recovered in the two main regions of the country where repopulation efforts were focused, the Great Lakes and the Rocky Mountains. One of the documents shared, a 2022 op-ed in USA TODAY by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland even uses similar language to Tiffanys post: gray wolves recovered from near extinction. And information from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service upheld that conclusion too. In total, the gray wolf population in the lower 48 states is more than 6,000 wolves, greatly exceeding the combined recovery goals for the Northern Rocky Mountains and Western Great Lakes populations, said an Oct. 29, 2020 release from the agency. The release notes that the wolf population in the Western Great Lakes is the largest outside of Alaska, a testament to the species recovery, and says it was up to individual states to now craft their own strong protections. But not all researchers and experts agree that the population has recovered. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, an activist organization that aims to protect endangered species, wolves have made a recovery, but not enough to no longer need some kind of protection and management. Despite these substantial gains amid extreme challenges, the job of wolf recovery is far from over, the Center website said. Wolves need connected populations for genetic sustainability, and natural ecosystems need wolves to maintain a healthy balance of species. Yet today wolves occupy less than 10% of their historic range and continue to face persecution. Other researchers have also pointed out that there are not wolves in many of the states they once roamed outside of the federally designated zones, meaning the population is not yet fully recovered. Half true Our ruling Tiffany claimed science has shown that the gray wolf has met and exceeded recovery goals. Gray wolves have seen significant population growth in two areas: the Great Lakes region and the Northern Rockies region, the two designated recovery regions for the animals. But while wolves are thriving in those areas, environmental organizations argue that wolves are not seen across all of the lower 48 states they once roamed meaning the population is not fully recovered. And removing protections from the animals could lead to overhunting, which could prevent populations from spreading, or limit the gene pool for the animals. We rate this claim Half True. Sources Tom Tiffany, Post on X, April 30, 2024 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Judge orders federal protection for gray wolves be restored, Feb. 10, 2022 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wolf fight continues in Legislature with hearing for population quota for gray wolves, Sept. 22, 2023 CNN, Federal judge reverses Trump era wildlife decision, restoring protections for the gray wolf, Feb. 12, 2022 Department of the Interior, Management of Wolves, Sept. 21, 2016 Department of the Interior, Secretary Haaland: Wolves have walked with us for centuries. States are weakening their protections, Feb. 2, 2022 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Trump administration returns management and protection of gray wolves to states and tribes following successful recovery efforts, Oct. 29, 2020 Committee on Natural Resources, Legislative oversight field hearing on wolf management, April 20, 2024 The Center for Biological Diversity, Americas Gray Wolves, May 10, 2024 The Natural Resources Defense Council, Americas gray wolves get another real chance at recovery, April 21, 2022 Email conversation with Timothy Van Deelen, a professor in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin - Madison and chair of the Environmental Conservation profession Masters Degree, May 10, 2024 This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wolf populations have recovered in some parts of the country, but not all As a combat veteran with 14 years of military service, I have experienced conflict up close. I know it intimately -- determined adversaries using a multitude of tactics, techniques, and procedures on unpredictable terrain, accomplishing tactical and strategic objectives by leveraging years of training. While Ive closed that chapter of my life and begun a new one serving my country in the House of Representatives, I remain committed to defending our nation. I want to ensure that our military can meet any adversary in any space. However, since coming to Congress, Ive grown concerned that we are not postured to overwhelm and out maneuver our enemies in arguably the most dynamic domain: cyberspace. All the elements of conflict that I prepared for and operated within not only exist in cyberspace, but its also where our nation is engaged with multiple adversaries every single day. Its a warfighting domain more complex and far more active than I could ever have appreciated before. Despite the volume of adversarial activity, the military seems to consistently underappreciate the cyber domain. President Bidens defense budget request for 2025 reduced funding for cyber operations by $1 billion, or almost 15 percent, compared to last year. In total, there are fewer than 6,500 positions on the nations operational teams for cyberspace, a diminutive size when considering the breadth and scope of the responsibilities they are assigned. More concerning, is how many of these positions are unfilled. From ransomware to protecting critical defense infrastructure to supporting the cybersecurity of our partners and allies, demand is only growing for the service members and civilian cyber experts operating in this space. Frustratingly, the size of the collective force has grown by less than 6.5% since they were conceived almost fifteen years ago. In the military, special warfare operators are the ones on the ground performing direct action missions, special reconnaissance, and other specialized operations. For operators to accomplish their objectives, they are supported by an innumerable collection of analysts, targeters, armorers, intelligence collectors, communications professionals, maintainers, and logisticians, among many others. Our teams of cyber operators are essentially asked to perform the equivalent work that I did in the Navy, along with all the support and enabling functions performed by countless others. Theres nowhere else in the military where this occurs. In an aviation context, this would be equivalent to having the pilots forecast the weather, repair their own aircraft, pick their own targets, load their munitions, fuel up their jets, conduct their mission, fly back, and debrief themselves. For the last ten years, weve relied on U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM), a Combatant Command pulling personnel from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. In that time, CYBERCOM has performed extremely well, however the organization remains limited by what the military services provide. Much in the same way that the Armys failures around aviation in the 1920s and 1930s necessitated the establishment of the Air Force, and the shortcomings of the Air Force in prioritizing space necessitated the creation of the Space Force, we see the same scenario playing out today with cyberspace. The only difference is the problems we face in cyberspace are found across four military services instead of one. In the early 2010s, both the Defense Department and Congress were thinking through how to leverage cyberspace militarily. At the outset, there were seemingly two paths, either leverage existing capability that had been developed within the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps in support of a joint command, or build a entire new service. Given how new the concept of military operations in cyberspace was, the choice between the two options was obvious. Once the initial question was settled, Congress provided the Department of Defense with ample time and resources required to develop the joint, multi-service approach. Beyond legislative patience, Congress supported the Pentagons multi-service approach with every authority, legislative tool, and legal mechanism available, spanning control of budgets, personnel, and training. Despite the best efforts of the Department and Congress, the issues around building capability, capacity, and talent for cyber operations remain the most intractable facing the Department. After so much time, effort, and attention, we must reconsider whether it makes sense to allow four independent military services to perform the functions of one service. This is not an indictment of the immense effort expended by CYBERCOM leadership over the years. In fact, quite the opposite. CYBERCOM has been an incredibly well-led organization that has made the best of the hand its dealt. But the limitations of the current structure with cyber officers and enlisted personnel spread across the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps are more apparent and the implications are more dangerous than ever before. Cyber warfare requires a unique approach to recruiting, retaining, and compensating service members. It requires a robust research and development apparatus and an exemplary ability to train personnel. These tasks are difficult, and theyre only made harder when fragmented across multiple services, which are already challenged with wider recruitment and modernization objectives. When the Chief of Naval Operations is struggling to recruit the numbers required to fill crews for the surface fleet, its understandable that Navy isnt prioritizing its requirements for cyber operations. To succeed, there must be a single entity that can be held accountable and responsible for the Organize, Train, and Equip functions that are performed by the uniformed services today. No different from the Army for ground combat or the Navy for global maritime operations. It would be a mistake to believe that a Combatant Command can perform the functions of both a Combatant Command and a Service. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Department of Defenses recognition of cyberspace as a warfighting domain, on par with air, sea, land, and space. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I am working with colleagues to ensure that the National Defense Authorization Act we are debating this week puts the nation on the right path when it comes to defending the nation in cyberspace. We simply cant afford to wait any longer. Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas, is a military veteran and has represented Texas 8th congressional district since 2023. Ryan Watson, pictured with his wife Valerie, was arrested by airport security who found four rounds of ammunition in his duffel bag when the couple were departing the islands - CBS News A tiny British island territory is embroiled in a diplomatic row with the United States after refusing to release five Americans arrested for carrying ammunition in their holiday luggage. The Turks and Caicos Islands have refused a request to release several tourists who are accused of bringing bullets into the country illegally over the last five months. The island chain is home to less than 50,000 people and known primarily as a holiday destination and tax haven. Under its strict anti-firearms laws, passed in 2022 to deter gang crime, all five American tourists face 12 years in prison if they are convicted. The holidaymakers all live in states where guns can be used legally and claim the rounds were inadvertently left in their bags. An American delegation met with Dileeni Daniel-Selvaratnam, the territorys governor and a former Whitehall civil servant, and an official from the Foreign Office on Monday to demand the Americans be released, arguing that their imprisonment is an unintended consequence of the gun law. But the islands, which are not part of the UK but are classed as British sovereign territory, have refused to comply with the request because of the constitutional separation of the executive and legal branches. The detained Americans include Ryan Watson, who travelled to the islands with his wife and other couples for a joint 40th birthday celebration. As he was leaving the territory, airport security found four rounds of ammunition in a duffel bag he had previously used for a hunting trip. Bryan Hagerich (left) and Ryan Watson are among the detained tourists - NewsNationNow A second tourist, Sharitta Shanise Grier, was visiting the islands for a Mothers Day trip with her daughter when she was arrested on Thursday. The others have been identified as Michael Evans, of Texas, Bryan Hagerich, of Pennsylvania, and Tyler Wenrich, of Virginia. Mr Wenrich appeared in court on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to the offence. He will be sentenced on May 28. Michael Evans of Texas - SIGforum Sharitta Shinese Grier of Florida Markwayne Mullin, the Republican senator from Oklahoma who led the delegation, said he hoped to find common ground with Ms Daniel-Selvaratnam but was not able to find a path forward. At this point, well-intentioned American citizens are facing a dozen years in prison all for unknowingly having one or two bullets in their luggage, he said. The unintended consequences of [Turks and Caicoss] law have been at the expense of well-intentioned American tourists, including a grandmother, who had no intention of breaking the law. Should they receive a prison sentence, we will need to consider additional actions to safeguard American citizens. The delegation included one other senator, John Fetterman, three members of the US House of Representatives and an official from the US State Department. Interference of US politicians condemned The UK Foreign Office, which is responsible for the islands foreign policy, declined to comment, citing ongoing legal action. But Alicia Kearns, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, defended the prosecutions and condemned the interference of American politicians in the islands legal affairs. I think its pretty outrageous that US congressmen think its acceptable to fly to a British territory and essentially suggest that they disregard their own laws, she told The Telegraph. I dont think it is unrealistic to expect that when people fly, they should make sure theyre not carrying live ammunition. Quite frankly, this isnt some small territory that congressmen can think they can intimidate and threaten. This is part of the British family. Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson, a former elected premier of Turks and Caicos and president of the Friends of the British Overseas Territory charity, said the islands judiciary should not be weakened by interference or intimidation. Turks and Caicos Islands should be admired for its strong system of governance and separation of powers which protects the legitimacy of the Institutions, she said. It is a sad situation that seems to be continuing when an easy fix would simply be for travellers to thoroughly check their bags. 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. Title icon The Scene BEAUMONT, Texas In three years as speaker of the Texas House, Dade Phelan passed laws that banned abortion, prevented public universities from teaching critical race theory, let local police arrest illegal migrants, and allowed any Texan to carry a firearm without a permit. Now hes battling for his job, after angering Donald Trump with a failed impeachment against MAGA-aligned Attorney General Ken Paxton on corruption charges. Next week, Republican voters here will decide whether to stand with President Trump by ousting Phelan and electing a real Republican, as one campaign ad puts it. The May 28 runoff in southeast Texas, where Phelan had won easily for a decade, is at the center of a broader campaign to remake the state Republican Party a mass replacement of business-friendly conservatives by MAGA-branded conservatives. One week out, its already the most expensive state legislative race in Texas history, with $6.9 million spent on behalf of Phelan or challenger David Covey. Millions more was spent to oust six House Republicans who opposed Gov. Greg Abbotts school choice reforms, force four more Republicans into runoffs, and replace judges whod crossed Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton, denying him the ability to unilaterally pursue voter fraud cases. Trump personally endorsed Covey in January; Paxton is the challengers next best-known advocate. A 34-year-old energy consultant and former congressional aide, whod donated to Republicans but never sought office before, Covey and his wife prayed about their decision, then jumped in. The establishment leaders told me I didnt have a chance, he said, but the voters kept saying, No, we actually want a conservative. The money came immediately nearly half a million from a new PAC supported by oil billionaire Tim Dunn, nearly a million from the political arm of the Club for Growth. Covey and his allies blamed Phelan for every stalled conservative goal; Phelan said wealthy interlopers were lying about him, for mysterious reasons. You wanna talk about the Second Amendment? You wanna talk about pro-life issues? You wanna talk about border security? You wanna talk about election integrity? Phelan asked the crowd at a Monday night rally here, wearing a camo version of his campaign T-shirt. No ones done more than Dade Phelan has. No one! Zero! Title icon Know More David Weigel/Semafor In an interview, Covey identified a few areas where Phelan wasnt giving conservatives everything they might expect in a red state legislature. He let Democrats hold some committee chairmanships, a tradition in Austin; he kept a new Border Protection Unit out of border control legislation; he didnt stop Republicans from nixing Abbotts school voucher plan. Sometimes he does the right thing on local issues, Covey said. Well, thats the bare minimum, but the huge failure to represent the conservative voice on the state level is just tremendous, and really, really does damage to our district. Those werent the reasons why Trump intervened a huge moment in the race, commemorated in Coveys ads, mail, and campaign signs. Trump was moved after Phelan presided over the impeachment of Paxton, which ended with his acquittal by the Texas Senate. The Republican Party of Texas voted to censure Phelan for his role in that, and with early voting underway, Phelans expected to skip the state convention this week. According to Covey, the president cited border security and election integrity when he phoned to endorse him; Trump emphasized the latter issue in Dallas last week, when he called out Covey from the stage of the NRAs annual convention. David is leading, very substantially, an absolutely terrible speaker of the House who didnt want to go into voter fraud, Trump said. We have to get your speaker out of there so we can go into voter fraud. Covey didnt go into detail about what election changes were needed. I do think that we have voter fraud in Texas, he told Semafor, before addressing supporters at a meet-and-greet held in a supporters Beaumont firearms store and shooting range. I think that were doing some things to close that gap. Phelans been dismissive about the demands from Trump and his allies. They got Hunter Biden doing these terrible things, well, why cant our guy do terrible things, he told Politico in March, explaining why Paxtons supporters shrugged off his bribery and corruption charges. But the rebellion is about more than Paxton and Trump. Last week, Covey campaigned with a team of conservatives who were crisscrossing Texas, in a bus sponsored by Gun Owners of America, to help other insurgents win their primaries. Theyd endorsed a Contract With Texas, a 12-point plan to increase conservative power in Austin replacing the current liberal Parliamentarians, taking the remaining chairmanships away from Democrats, ensuring that no Democrat bills got floor votes before Republican priorities did. Hes the reason we havent banned COVID vaccine mandates, said state Rep. Brian Harrison, referring to Phelan, after jumping off the GOA bus. Its why we dont have stronger border security; why we havent banned taxpayer-funded lobbying; why we havent passed school choice; why seven of eight [Republican Party of Texas] priorities couldnt even get a vote or, quote, debate, unquote. Phelan has defended his record, stood by the Paxton impeachment, and asked southeast Texas Republicans to think about it: How much clout would they lose if he did? On Monday, he stood by as former Gov. Rick Perry asked why local Republicans would ever want to eject the only speaker youve ever had, counting off the projects hed brought to the district, speculating that the billionaires funding negative ads against him wanted the regions water rights. If this was the most conservative session in Texas history, why are we going through this process to get rid of one of the three legs of that most conservative session? Perry asked. Something else is going on here. Title icon Davids view A victory for Covey next week not assured, though his supporters talk like it is would be a triumph for a GOP faction thats moved from the fringe to real power in a couple of years. The Paxton impeachment will have sped that up, with no consequences for the attorney generals allies. Tim Dunns millions had gone to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick while he presided over the impeachment trial; the same millions were going to elect Dunn-aligned Republicans this year, as Patrick talked about the expiration date on Dade Phelans speakership. Voters Id talked to were not motivated by a particular bill, or particular Phelan decision in Austin. The Paxton impeachment came up occasionally; the Trump endorsement came up far more often. While not everyone was aware of the disputes over what could and could make it into the GOPs border bill, they were open to the idea that Republicans, perhaps to make nice with Democrats, had weakened it and put them at risk. How many of you know what happened on Oct. 7 in Israel? state Rep. Steve Toth asked Coveys supporters in Beaumont. Are we so foolish as to believe that theyre not planning the same thing for us? In March, with Super Tuesday turnout helping bring out more voters, Phelan won just 43% of the vote here, to 46% for Covey; the rest went to another conservative activist, who immediately got behind the challenger. Phelan could turn this around. If he does, hell enter the 2025 session with fewer allies, in a party whose state and local leadership vocally want him gone, with conservative media outlets and wealthy donors whove learned how to win. On Tuesday, ahead of the state convention, the RPTs rules committee voted to keep candidates off the ballot if the party had censured them within two years of the election they sought to run in. Had that rule been in place this year, Phelan couldnt have run at all. Title icon The View From Democrats Deep in the minority in Austin, Democrats are watching the GOP primaries unfold uneasily. Some of the Republicans whod already lost to conservative challengers represented seats that Democrats might win. But most of the victors would slide into safe red districts. Its not right versus left, said state Rep. James Talarico, who represents a Democratic-trending seat in Austins exurbs. Its about these West Texas billionaires trying to take over, and their takeover will be complete if theyre able to oust this very conservative speaker. Theyve bought our LG, theyve bought our governor, and they want to buy the House. Title icon Notable In the Texas Tribune, Jasper Scherer and Zach Despart profiled the longtime GOP mega-donors working to rescue Phelan, making his race a last stand for the Republican Partys business-minded old guard against an insurgency, primarily motivated by social and cultural issues, that aims to reshape the House. In the Dallas Morning News, Philip Jankowski looks at how Patrick is seizing an opportunity against a speaker weakened by an unsuccessful attempt to remove Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from office. Semafor Logo TOKYO, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Local authorities suspected a brown bear attack after four calves were found dead Tuesday morning at a ranch in Hokkaido, northern Japan, local media reported. The bodies of three calves were found outside their cages after being dragged out, while one was found inside its cage at the ranch in Nakashumbetsu district of Betsukai town, Kyodo News reported. The discovery of what appears to be bear paw prints in the vicinity has prompted police to urge caution in the area. Local officials have set up traps on concern that the bear may return to the site, the report said. An additional four calves, still in their cages, were found injured, it added. According to the police, a total of 12 calves were being kept in individual cages at the specialized ranch, which raises calves entrusted from nearby farms. Last July, authorities put down a brown bear codenamed OSO18, which had attacked 66 cows in the eastern Hokkaido area since 2019. Unlike the recent incident, OSO18 had been eating the cows it preyed upon. TOPEKA (KSNT) Between NOTO, the riverfront, Downtown Topeka and the development of the Polk-Quincy viaduct, community stakeholders got together Monday, May 20, for a bus tour to better understand projects, developments and visions for the Capital City. These include the Story of Noto in Art, discussing efforts on the east side of downtown, vacancies and more. This really takes four different projects, put them all as one and frames them as something much more palatable and achievable when we look at it as a whole, President of Downtown Topeka Ashley Gilfillan said. TPAC honors high school students at the 2024 Young Artists Awards As for continuing to develop NOTO and other parts of the citys core area, NOTO Executive Director Thomas Underwood said one vision he has is more places to live. Where should that housing be, Underwood said. What kind of housing? What are the possibilities? When Im looking wearing my NOTO hat, I look at this area like gosh theres a half block of empty space here. What could that be, how would that complement about the things we want to do in NOTO? Topeka Councilman Marcus Miller told 27 News that being able to set his eyes on areas that need to be developed helped him better understand why it needs to be developed. Ive been in North Topeka, Ive been in Topeka my whole life, but being in North Topeka and looking at it from the standpoint of here is the development, here is the things were trying to do, but being able to actually take the time to just stand there and actually look at that space is extremely important for peoples education to be able to truly get a grasp of whats going on, Miller said. Officials discuss wind and solar energy farms in Shawnee County But it was the riverfront that stood out most to Miller. Being in that space of where things would go, that allowed me to really be able to wrap my head around the opportunity that lays right there right in the middle of our town to be able to truly develop and bring a lot of money and jobs into this economy, Miller said. You can go to the Great Overland Station Tuesday, May 21, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. for a public engagement event with Topekas riverfront advisory council. For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. 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 KSNT 27 News. TOPEKA (KSNT) Police arrested a woman following a stabbing in the Oakland neighborhood over the weekend. Right before 5 p.m. on May 19, the Topeka Police Department (TPD) responded to a call in the 700 block of NE Poplar Street on reports of a stabbing. Kerry Connell with the TPD said one man was escorted to a local hospital via AMR with a non-life threatening injury. Following an investigation into the incident, a 50-year-old woman from Topeka was arrested and taken to the Shawnee County Department of Corrections. Both the suspect and the victim are known to each other. The woman was arrested on the following charges: Aggravated battery; Knowingly use of a weapon to cause great body harm/discharge/death Interference with LEO; obstruct/resist/oppose felony warrant search or execution. NWS confirms 2 tornadoes hit northeast Kansas For more crime news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. 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 KSNT 27 News. Rishi Sunak and Tata Steel have been accused of abandoning Welsh steelworkers after the Government failed to deploy a single penny of a 100m rescue fund that was set aside to help those made redundant find new jobs. Labour and union bosses have launched a withering attack on the record of the transition board, an advisory council that was set up in the wake of Tata Steels controversial plans to close two blast furnaces in Port Talbot, south Wales. The board, chaired by David Davies, the Welsh Secretary, was tasked with ensuring that the money set aside would be invested in skills and regeneration programmes in the area. The funding includes 80m from the Government and 20m from Tata Steel. However, the Opposition has dismissed the board as nothing more than a talking shop. Tatas restructuring part of a sweeping cost-cutting exercise that the Indian industrial giant insists is necessary to meet its environmental goals will lead to 2,800 job losses among the workforce. Many thousands more are expected to disappear within the surrounding supply chain, according to a report commissioned by the transition board itself. Yet nearly seven months after the board was set up, none of the money provided has been spent. Tata Steel's plans to close two blast furnaces in Port Talbot, south Wales have attracted controversy - Ben Birchall/PA Wire Thousands of jobs are at risk in Port Talbot and steel communities across south Wales because Conservative ministers have failed to act. The Welsh Secretarys transition board looks more like a talking shop, Jo Stevens, Labours shadow Welsh secretary, said. Labour said the transition board had met five times and formed two sub-committees since it was formed but achieved little else. The Community trade union has backed Labours calls to speed up the process. It wants to see an employment guarantee that provides wage support until those made redundant re-enter employment. Labour has also committed to an additional 2.5bn of investment if it wins the general election and party figures have repeatedly urged Tata not to make any irreversible decisions about the future of Port Talbot prior to a general election. A UK government spokesman said: This government is supporting the steel industry more than any before it ... with a 500m grant as part of the 1.25bn commitment by Tata Steel to secure 5,000 jobs across the UK. This includes the 100m awarded to the Port Talbot transition board, which is investing directly in skills, training and job creation for the workers affected. A Tory source also pointed out that there were Labour officials on the board, including Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock. The shadow secretary of state is criticising a board that is packed with senior Labour figures, the source said. Her statement shows a lack of understanding about what the transition board is there to do, what it has been doing and who is on it. 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. It's so tough to pay cash in China that the government had to fine a KFC for not accepting banknotes It's so tough to pay cash in China that the government had to fine a KFC for not accepting banknotes China recently fined several businesses, including a KFC, for refusing to accept cash. These are some of the most established companies in China, showing just how quickly cash has fallen from favor there. It's a problem for a China hoping to attract foreign tourists who aren't part of the cashless system. China's central bank fined seven businesses last week including a KFC and branches of state-owned corporations for rejecting cash payments, all as Beijing pushes to make spending more accessible for foreign tourists. The People's Bank of China has meted out such punishments for years. But the employees caught this time worked for some of the country's largest and most established businesses, showing how cashless payments have grown so ubiquitous there. The bank said it fined a KFC in Wuxi, Jiangsu, about $4,140 for refusing to take cash from a customer who ordered breakfast. The employee responsible was fined about $410. According to the latest government data, the average wage in Wuxi is about $18,000 annually. Other fined businesses include branches for state-run conglomerates such as an Inner Mongolia branch of China Post, an office in Gansu for New China Life Insurance, and a Jiangsu office for insurance firm PICC Property and Casualty. China has mandated that local businesses leave the door open for cash payments as it tries to attract foreign investment and tourism after the pandemic. People in the country already relied heavily on cashless and QR code payments before the pandemic, and the practice accelerated in popularity during the country's lockdown years. By the end of 2023, 86% of all payments in China were made through mobile phones, per state media. That's become an issue for outsiders arriving in a newly reopened China, where they struggled to find vendors who would accept cash or even credit cards. Hungry for foreign business, China has rushed to bridge the gap. Major payment platforms Alipay and WePay started allowing visitors to link their international bank cards to their Chinese accounts. Single-transaction limits for foreigners were also raised from $1,000 to $5,000. This year, Beijing has been telling businesses such as three-star hotels and cab companies to start accepting international credit cards. The wider transition has so far been slow a taxi company in Shanghai, for example, announced in April that it would arrange for 50 taxis to accept foreign credit cards. Travel companies say there are over 50,000 licensed taxis in the city. Tourism is a major source of revenue for China, with state-affiliated researchers predicting the sector will bring in about $800 billion in 2024. But international arrivals have been lagging. Only about 35 million foreign visitors traveled to China in 2023, or around 30% of pre-pandemic levels. China's cashless wave has also prompted concerns for the elderly, with a central bank survey finding that 75% of the country's seniors still use banknotes. It's illegal in China to reject cash for purchases, and the central government's crackdown has intensified in the last several years. Regulators have been fining companies such as car dealerships that refuse cash, while state media promotes the paper bill as the "most basic instrument of payment." A spokesperson for Yum China, which operates KFC in China, declined to comment when reached by Business Insider. Read the original article on Business Insider TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) Design work will soon be underway to help repair some of the worst roads in Travis County. Travis County Commissioners Court approved Tuesday a substandard roads improvement package thatll address 44 road sections and 17.1 miles of substandard roads across the county. It marks the first county investment in upgrading dilapidated roadways since 2017. Task members said $6.3 million previously allocated in the countys fiscal year 2023-24 budget will go toward the improvements, as well as $15 million approved by county voters in the November 2023 bond election. It is going to be a very challenging process, said Cynthia McDonald, Travis Countys county executive of transportation and natural resources. Nonetheless, I think this is very doable. This embedded content is not available in your region. The list of roadways to be treated is broken down as follows: Deer Creek package: 1.1 miles Park Drive Lake Park Drive Creekwood Drive Lake Ridgeview Circle Glenview Circle Westlake Drive Parkwood Drive Deer Creek II package: 1 mile Deer Creek Skyview + Deer Creek Skyview (connector to adjacent) Village Drive Cardinal Hills area package: 1 mile Scott Drive Richerson Drive Kinsey Court Julie Lane San Antonio (partial) La Paloma area package: 2.94 miles Dos Amigos Drive Pecos Drive Blanco Drive Blanco Circle Agua Frio Drive Sierra Vista Drive Individual road segments: Lawrence Drive Kellywood/Stormy Ridge Road Hillmoore Drive Summit Drive Thomas Sinclair Boulevard Gilbert Road Grant Street Century Street Storm Drive (including Dexler and Scott) Underhill Road Readily acceptable roads: These roads havent yet been accepted by Travis County but due to their existing conditions, the county will justify accepting them into the county road system, per county documents. Auger Lane Skillet Cove Noon Day Cove Commissioners are also looking to update Chapter 384 of county code to remove cost-sharing requirements currently in place, which some task force members said could disproportionately impact which roads are serviced. Thatll kickstart a later code change process down the road. 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 KXAN Austin. Police officers walk in front of the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court ahead of the second and highest-profile trial linked to a far-right coup plot in Germany, with the alleged 72-year-old ringleader, Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, going before the court. Helmut Fricke/dpa The second and highest-profile trial linked to a far-right coup plot in Germany begins on Tuesday, with the alleged 72-year-old ringleader Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss going before a Frankfurt court. The prince will stand trial before the Higher Regional Court together with eight others. Federal prosecutors accuse them of having been members of or having supported a terrorist organization. They include former members of the German armed forces and a former member of parliament for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. They are accused belonging to the "Reichsburger" network. So-called "Citizens of the Reich" believe that the modern German republic illegitimately replaced the German Reich that was founded in 1871 and continued under the Nazi regime until 1945. They reject the legitimacy of Germany's modern federal state and its laws. The trial is the second of three mammoth trials surrounding the alleged coup attempt. A trial against alleged members of the group's military arm began in Stuttgart at the end of April. Other alleged members will stand trial in Munich from June 18. The plot was uncovered during a large-scale anti-terror raid in December 2022. According to the indictment, the group began planning and preparing for "Day X" - the date of the coup - starting in August 2021. Specifically, an armed group was supposed to infiltrate the parliament building in Berlin with the aim of arresting German politicians and then installing a new interim government with Reuss as head of state. They were said to have accepted they might have to sacrifice their lives to achieve their goals. According to the prosecutors, around 500,000 ($543,000) and a large arsenal of weapons had been made available to the conspirators. Concrete preparations such as the recruitment of military personnel had also taken place. The accused were united by a deep rejection of state institutions and the free democratic order, according to the federal prosecutor's office, which has described the group's ideology as "a conglomerate of conspiracy theories." Heinrich XIII (C), who goes under the title Prince Reuss of Greiz, is led by police officers to a police vehicle after arresting him while searching a house as part of a raid aginst so-called "Reich citizens". Boris Roessler/dpa An alleged defendant is brought into the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court building by SEK officers ahead of the second and highest-profile trial linked to a far-right coup plot in Germany, with the alleged 72-year-old ringleader, Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, going before the court. Andreas Arnold/dpa An alleged defendant is brought into the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court building by SEK officers ahead of the second and highest-profile trial linked to a far-right coup plot in Germany, with the alleged 72-year-old ringleader, Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, going before the court. Andreas Arnold/dpa The second and highest-profile trial linked to a far-right coup plot in Germany begins on Tuesday, with the alleged 72-year-old ringleader Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss going before a Frankfurt court. The prince will stand trial before the Higher Regional Court together with eight others. Federal prosecutors accuse them of having been members of or having supported a terrorist organization. They include former members of the German armed forces and a former member of parliament for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. They are accused belonging to the "Reichsburger" network. So-called "Citizens of the Reich" believe that the modern German republic illegitimately replaced the German Reich that was founded in 1871 and continued under the Nazi regime until 1945. They reject the legitimacy of Germany's modern federal state and its laws. The trial is the second of three mammoth trials surrounding the alleged coup attempt. A trial against alleged members of the group's military arm began in Stuttgart at the end of April. Other alleged members will stand trial in Munich from June 18. The plot was uncovered during a large-scale anti-terror raid in December 2022. According to the indictment, the group began planning and preparing for "Day X" - the date of the coup - starting in August 2021. Specifically, an armed group was supposed to infiltrate the parliament building in Berlin with the aim of arresting German politicians and then installing a new interim government with Reuss as head of state. They were said to have accepted they might have to sacrifice their lives to achieve their goals. According to the prosecutors, around 500,000 ($543,000) and a large arsenal of weapons had been made available to the conspirators. Concrete preparations such as the recruitment of military personnel had also taken place. The accused were united by a deep rejection of state institutions and the free democratic order, according to the federal prosecutor's office, which has described the group's ideology as "a conglomerate of conspiracy theories." The alleged leaders of the plot, Prince Reuss and Rudiger von Pescatore, a former solider who is said to have led the military arm of the group, are on trial in Frankfurt. Reuss is a descendent of a noble family whose princely title carries no formal weight. Germany's monarchy was abolished more than a century ago. The outlines of structures for a separate state order are said to have been worked out, with Prince Reuss acting as head of state. The former Berlin judge and former AfD lawmaker Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, who is also one of the Frankfurt defendants, was supposed to have been the equivalent of justice minister. Strict security precautions are in place for the trial. A lightweight metal hall with an area of around 1,300 square metres has been specially erected on the outskirts of Frankfurt. According to the court, the defendants face up to 10 years in prison if they are found guilty on one charge. In the event of several guilty verdicts and a total sentence, they would face a maximum of 15 years in prison. The accused are presumed innocent until a judgment is reached. In addition to the trial in Frankfurt, other members of the group in Stuttgart and Munich must also stand trial before the respective higher regional courts. The trial in Frankfurt alone is of unprecedented dimensions for the Higher Regional Court, court spokeswoman Gundula Fehns-Boer said. The indictment comprises 617 pages. Nine defendants, five judges, two supplementary judges and no fewer than 25 defence lawyers will be present at the trial. Ten people were originally scheduled to stand trial, but one of them died in a hospital in March, the court spokeswoman said. Around 260 witnesses will be summoned and 40 to 45 police officers will provide security on each day of the trial. The court has scheduled 48 trial days through January. Heinrich XIII (C), who goes under the title Prince Reuss of Greiz, is led by police officers to a police vehicle after arresting him while searching a house as part of a raid aginst so-called "Reich citizens". Boris Roessler/dpa Police officers walk in front of the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court ahead of the second and highest-profile trial linked to a far-right coup plot in Germany, with the alleged 72-year-old ringleader, Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, going before the court. Helmut Fricke/dpa An alleged defendant is brought into the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court building by SEK officers ahead of the second and highest-profile trial linked to a far-right coup plot in Germany, with the alleged 72-year-old ringleader, Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, going before the court. Helmut Fricke/dpa The second and highest-profile trial of nine people linked to a far-right coup plot in Germany, including alleged ringleader Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, began on Tuesday after a delay. Originally scheduled to start at 9:30 am, the trial only started about 45 minutes later. A spokeswoman for the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court said the lawyers needed to speak to their clients. The alleged ringleaders of the "Reichsburger" (Reich Citizens) group, Prince Reuss and Rudiger von Pescatore, who is said to have led the military arm of the group, are on trial along with seven others. Federal prosecutors accuse them of having been members of or having supported a terrorist organization. They include former members of the German armed forces and a former member of parliament for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. The trial is the second of three mammoth trials surrounding the alleged coup attempt. An alleged defendant is brought into the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court building by SEK officers ahead of the second and highest-profile trial linked to a far-right coup plot in Germany, with the alleged 72-year-old ringleader, Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, going before the court. Andreas Arnold/dpa Police officers walk in front of the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court ahead of the second and highest-profile trial linked to a far-right coup plot in Germany, with the alleged 72-year-old ringleader, Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, going before the court. Andreas Arnold/dpa Heinrich XIII, who goes under the title Prince Reuss of Greiz, is led by police officers to a police vehicle after arresting him while searching a house as part of a raid aginst so-called "Reich citizens". Boris Roessler/dpa Sharon Scott, president of the Oklahoma Intertribal Tax Association, testifies at a joint tribal relations committee hearing on Monday at the Oklahoma Capitol. (Photo by Janelle Stecklein/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY A handful of Oklahoma-based tribes are refusing to share their tag information with law enforcement amid ongoing anger and frustration over an abrupt change in how state law enforcement is enforcing license plate policies for Indigenous residents. The Department of Public Safetys sudden decision to ticket Oklahoma drivers with tribal vehicle tags but reside outside their tribes official boundaries also helped derail negotiations with the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, said Sharon Scott, president of the Oklahoma Intertribal Tax Association. Some tribal leaders are frustrated over a combative relationship with the Turnpike Authority, Scott said. The agency has struggled to bill some Indigenous motorists that have tribal tags because it cannot access vehicle registration information. Some smaller tribes, meanwhile, dont view the one-size-fits-all model vehicle compacts being pushed by the governor as a solution to solve the information-sharing problem. The loss of tax commission revenue would be harmful to smaller tribes as it is one of the largest revenue streams. Compacts arent a one-size fits all for all tribal nations, said Scott, who also serves as executive director of the Seminole Nation Business and Corporate Regulatory Commission, which is essentially the tax commission for the tribe. Scott made the remarks at the Joint Committee on State-Tribal Relations meeting Monday where lawmakers approved new motor vehicle registration and license tag compacts with the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations. Trevor Pemberton, an attorney for Gov. Kevin Stitt, said the three tribes are the only ones to have motor vehicle compacts, though Stitts office has offered to enter into model compacts with a number of others. The Cherokee Nations existing compact is set to expire at the end of the year and is currently being renegotiated. Scott said 27 of the 33 tribes that issue their own tags currently share their information with the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, also known as OLETS. She did not name the six tribes that are not participating in the statewide system that facilitates a formal exchange of information between law enforcement agencies. It contains information like driving records and criminal histories. She said when news broke in November that DPS had started enforcing the plate violations, the six tribes no longer wanted to discuss participating in the statewide database. Scott said two tribes fundamentally do not want to share their information with law enforcement, but do have a mechanism in place to allow their information to be accessed. The tribes utilize the Bureau of Indian Affairs. There are some tribes that have pulled back and said, You know, were going to think about the combative nature of the Turnpike Authority. Were going to pull back. Were not going to share information with OLETS anymore. And, Ive cautioned against that because then youre creating a public safety issue that wasnt there prior to November of last year, Scott said Scotts remarks come as Stitt continues to ramp up pressure on tribal nations to enter into compacts and ensure Indigenous citizens are paying their fair share to use the states cashless turnpike network. Five Indigenous residents have been ticketed in recent months for possessing tribal vehicle tags while residing outside their tribes official boundaries, Scott said. Its an extremely small percentage of those who have tribal plates, but it was enough to significantly ramp up tensions between state and tribal leaders. House Majority Leader Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, said refusal to participate in OLETS is dangerous, scary and disrespectful to tribal and nontribal law enforcement alike. He warned that lawmakers may have to intervene with legislation next year if tribal leaders arent willing to come to the table and have conversations to resolve the situation. He said he respects that compacting is a sovereign decision, but refusing to share registration information is a real public safety issue for all Oklahomans. It seems to me that the majority of our sovereign nations agree with my concern that not letting law enforcement know who theyre pulling over is disrespectful to our men and women in law enforcement and very, very dangerous, Echols said. OTA dispute Scott said when she first heard that OTA was struggling to access plate information, she set up a meeting with the agency and 19 tribes to discuss the issue. She said the participating tribes told OTA that they freely give their information to law enforcement as part of a public safety measure to ensure that their members and law enforcement are safe. But Scott said OTA is a separate entity which generates revenue. She said when OTA shares data with other states, they get a portion of the proceeds. Tribes do not. If were going to share our information then we need to talk about sharing revenue, a portion, Scott said. Were not saying 100% of the income of the proceeds you get from our tribal tags should come back to us, were just saying a revenue share because they do that with other governments, other state governments. She said many tribal citizens have Pikepasses that allow them to use Oklahoma turnpikes. She said OTA officials realized last year that they couldnt read tribal tags, and that there was no mechanism to match the Pikepass with their plates until September of last year. The feedback that Ive gotten is that because of OTAs poor planning, theyve lost out on revenue, Scott said. She said of OTAs uncollectible revenue, only 35% is from tribal tags. Lisa Shearer-Salim, a spokesperson for OTA, said the agency put an emphasis on converting to cashless tolling in a much shorter timespan due to motorist and worker safety concerns. Weve known that we would need to work through billing those who previously paid in cash and that would include conversations with tribal nations, she said. When the agency met with tribal leaders last year, OTA was encouraged by those leaders to seek a legislative solution to gain access to the information that the tribes were already providing to the Department of Public Safety through the OLETS system. OTA cannot statutorily access tribal tag information provided to OLETS because that information is limited to law enforcement use only. She said they worked to pass Senate Bill 1907, which didnt advance. OTA remains open to ongoing dialogue with tribes. Any customers with a PikePass receive monthly statements for tolls owed, and no revenue has been lost in that way. Nearly 90% of all turnpike users pay tolls online. Of the remaining 10% the largest loss of revenue is due to obscured license plates, temporary tags or not having registered vehicle owner information, mainly because of tribal tags. OTA cannot access the registered vehicle information for any tribes except the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes, she said. OTA has agreements with 48 states to access vehicle registration information, but does not share toll revenue with any other states, Shearer-Salim said. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Some tribes arent sharing information with Oklahoma law enforcement amid license plate dust up appeared first on Oklahoma Voice. * In an interview with state TV IRIB on Sunday, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi attributed the helicopter's crash to bad weather conditions, which he said also hindered search and rescue efforts. * After Raisi's death, many world leaders and foreign governments expressed sorrow. * Even though the death of high-ranking officials is a blow to Iran's political governance, analysts said the "shock" can be absorbed. TEHRAN, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was confirmed dead on Monday after his helicopter crashed in the country's mountainous northwestern region on Sunday. Iran's official news agency IRNA confirmed the deaths of Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Governor of East Azarbaijan Province Malek Rahmati, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's Representative to East Azerbaijan Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem and Raisi's bodyguard, all of whom were onboard the same helicopter. Khamenei announced on Monday five days of public mourning. This photo taken on May 19, 2024 shows a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on the footage of Iran's state-run IRIB TV. (Xinhua/Shadati) CRASH Pir-Hossein Kolivand, head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, told the semi-official Tasnim news agency early Monday that the crash site was located after hours of extensive search in the mountainous region of East Azerbaijan. An image released by the IRNA showed the wreckage of the helicopter scattered across a mountain peak. Rescuers faced harsh weather conditions and low temperatures during their search, which began immediately after the crash was reported on Sunday. The crash occurred as Raisi traveled from the Azerbaijani border following his attendance at a ceremony to inaugurate a storage dam with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev. In an interview with state TV IRIB on Sunday, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi attributed the helicopter's crash to bad weather conditions, which he said also hindered search and rescue efforts. Raisi, 63, was born in the city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran. Before being elected Iranian president in 2021, he held prominent positions, including judiciary chief and Tehran prosecutor. In a statement quoted by the IRNA on Monday, the Iranian cabinet said Raisi was an "indefatigable and hard-working president" who "made the ultimate sacrifice on the path of serving his nation." To mourn Raisi's death, the Iranian government has draped his seat with a black robe. Across various provinces, preparations are underway for mourning ceremonies, while events scheduled for National Cultural Heritage Week have been canceled, as reported by the IRNA. Raisi's death comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and Israel, marked by an exchange of attacks in April fueled by the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in October last year, while efforts to revive negotiations and salvage the Iran nuclear deal have hit a deadlock. Armed groups in the region like the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen have launched attacks on Israeli targets in a show of solidarity with the Palestinians. This photo taken on May 20, 2024 shows rescue workers arriving at a helicopter accident site in East Azarbaijan province of Iran on the footage of Iran's state-run IRIB TV. (Xinhua/Shadati) CONDOLENCES After Raisi's death, many world leaders and foreign governments expressed sorrow. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a message of condolence to Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, in which the Chinese leader expressed deep condolences and extended sincere sympathies to Mokhber, the family of President Raisi, and the Iranian government and people. Leaders from Russia, Turkiye, Egypt, the UAE, Jordan, Syria, Qatar, Pakistan, Venezuela and India, along with Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit and European Council President Charles Michel, have all sent messages of condolence after Raisi's death. "We extend our deepest condolences and sympathy to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ali Khamenei, and to the Iranian government and people," Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani said in a statement. Hamas, which has been in an escalating conflict with Israel since last October, expressed sympathy to the Iranian people for "this immense loss," lauding Raisi's support for the Palestinian cause and resistance against Israel. This photo taken on May 19, 2024 shows a poster of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on the footage of national Iranian television. (Xinhua/Shadati) IMPACT The Iranian Constitution stipulates that in case of the president's death or incapacity, the first vice president will assume the role until an election is conducted within a maximum of 50 days. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Monday appointed the country's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, 68, as interim president. Iran's Constitutional Council Spokesman Hadi Tahan Nazif said that with Khamenei's approval, a council consisting of the Iranian judiciary chief, parliament speaker and first vice president will take measures to organize elections within 50 days. Even though the death of high-ranking officials is a blow to Iran's political governance, analysts said the "shock" can be absorbed. Khamenei has told Iranian people not to worry, promising "no disruption" to the country's affairs. "Iran, since its Islamic revolution in 1979 ... has proved to be more than capable of taking all sorts of shots (against it), especially when it comes to political leaders," opined Marwan Bishara, a senior political analyst from Al Jazeera. On the diplomatic front, while the passing of the foreign minister is a significant loss for Iran, analysts said the country's foreign policy will not undergo substantial changes. Amir-Abdollahian "has been an extremely effective foreign minister, overseeing a successful reconciliation with Saudi Arabia and navigating a series of difficult crises," according to an analysis by the Times of Israel. But "Iran's broad foreign policy won't change," it noted. However, some analysts believe the incident will prompt Iran to shift its political focus toward domestic matters. The country can now be "a little more self-engaged, wrapped up in internal politics, as it sorts out the election for the next president," said Michael Makovsky, president and chief executive of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. (Video reporters: Sha Dati, Shi Xiaomeng, Dong Yue; video editors: Li Ziwei, Li Qin, Yin Le) TROUP COUNTY, Ga. (WRBL) The Troup County Sheriffs Office (TCSO) shared through a press release on Monday detailing the success of a special investigation into areas of recent gun violence resulting in 11 arrests. TCSO says from May 6 through May 18, the sheriffs office narcotics/K9 division, LaGrange Police Department Special Investigations Unit, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, GBI West Metro Regional Drug Enforcement Office along with the Georgia Department of Community Supervision conducted the investigations and arrested the following people: Markevis Daeshawn Brown, 21, LaGrange, Georgia Possession of marijuana with intent to distribute Possession of a firearm during certain felonies Jalen Deshaun Parham, 20, LaGrange, Georgia Possession of marijuana with intent to distribute Possession of a firearm during certain felonies Jaquadrian Hardy, 26, LaGrange, Georgia Possession of marijuana with intent to distribute Possession of schedule II narcotic with intent to distribute Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon Possession of a firearm during certain felonies Theft by receiving stolen property Adarius Dijuan Reese, 26, LaGrange, Georgia Trafficking in fentanyl Henry Bradford, 33, LaGrange, Georgia Probation violation Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon Corithian Newton, 27, LaGrange, Georgia Possession of marijuana with intent to distribute Santerio Bailey, 34, LaGrange, Georgia Probation Violation Possession of a schedule I narcotic Possession of a schedule II narcotic Tudorus Henderson, 45, LaGrange, Georgia Probation violation Sale of cocaine Keymarious Davidson, 25, West Point, Georgia Probation violations (superior and state) Possession of firearm by a convicted felon Possession of marijuana Jamichael Williams, 18, LaGrange, Georgia Felony possession of marijuana Possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime Ankevious Moore, 18, LaGrange, Georgia Possession of machine gun Possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime Felony possession of marijuana Obstruction of an officer 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 WRBL. One of the five Troup County High School students involved in a car crash last week has died. The Troup County Coroners Office confirmed that Mary Joy Moosman, 17, died just before noon on Monday. Her family posted about the teens death on social media. Im bringing my baby home. Thank you Lord for the greatest blessing this momma couldve ever been given the privilege to have on this side of Heaven. HE gave us an angel. She was living and walking amongst us the whole time, Amber Robinson-Moosman posted. I'm bringing my baby home. Thank you Lord for the greatest blessing this momma could've ever been given the privilege to... Posted by Amber Robinson-Moosman on Monday, May 20, 2024 [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The crash happened Thursday around 12:39 p.m. off Whitfield Road and Hogansville Road. Georgia State Patrol says the students were turning but didnt yield to a school district maintenance truck. The impact sent the car crashing into the grass and ejected Moosman and another student, who had to be airlifted to Grady Memorial Hospital. The other students have not been identified. TRENDING STORIES: [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: Donald Trumps defense rested on Tuesday, which means the former president will not be testifying in his criminal hush-money trial. Few would have begrudged Trump for declining to testify, but he promised he would take the stand while suggesting the only thing that prevented him from doing so was his gag order which is false. Regardless of Trumps bloviating about testifying and proving everyone wrong, his allies thought it would have been a horrendous idea. Four people close to the former president recently told Rolling Stone that there would have been essentially no upside in taking the stand. The jury would hate him, if they dont all already, and would kill whatever chances he has left of a not-guilty verdict, a GOP lawmaker said. The sources also stressed that Trump testifying at this trial would have been a humongous gift to prosecutors, who likely could have, among other things, easily baited Trump into lying under oath. Some of these sources said that Trump has repeatedly asked confidants in recent months if they thought him taking the stand in this case would be a good idea; those sources each said they unequivocally advised the former president that he should not testify. Hell, no, said one lawyer close to Trump whos known him for years, responding to a question about whether Trump should demand to testify in the Manhattan criminal trial. Why? Did someone say thatd be a good idea? Well, in a way, yes. Donald Trump did. Yeah, I would testify, absolutely, Trump told reporters in April ahead of the trial. Im testifying. I tell the truth, I mean, all I can do is tell the truth and the truth is that there is no case. Trump later tempered expectations that he will take the stand claiming its not his fault, though. Im under a gag order, he told reporters gathered outside of the courtroom earlier this month. Im not allowed to testify because this judge is totally conflicted has me under an institutional gag order. Nobodys ever had that before, and we dont like it, its not fair. Judge Juan Merchan clarified in court that the gag order in no way prevented Trump from testifying, and a day later Trump seemed to forget he suggested it did. No, it wont stop me from testifying, he told reporters. The gag order is not for testifying. Trumps wishy-washy approach to testifying is at least partially due to his ego. One person close to Trump says that even if he didnt actually want to testify, he wants everyone to know he isnt scared of doing so. Recently, this source adds, Trump has privately complained about idiots who claim hes fearful of testifying at his Manhattan trial, and has insisted he isnt afraid to take the stand in this case or others. The prosecution rested its case on Monday, and Trump indicated Tuesday morning that his team was about to wrap it up, as well. Well be resting pretty quickly, meaning resting the case, he told reporters. I wont be resting. I dont rest. Id like to rest sometimes, but I dont get to rest. Trumps defense minutes later. More from Rolling Stone Best of Rolling Stone The top U.S. general in Afghanistan during Americas 2021 withdrawal said he repeatedly warned the Trump and Biden administrations that pulling out all troops would make the security situation in the country very bad, very fast, but officials failed to grasp the danger. Retired Army Gen. Austin Scott Miller, the former U.S. Forces Afghanistan commander, said he advised both administrations that cutting troop presence to zero would have left the U.S.-backed Afghan Security Forces vulnerable to being overrun by the Taliban, according to his April 15 interview with the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released Monday. My view was that going to zero things would go very bad, very fast, Miller said in the closed-door testimony. And of course, [I] define that [as] not prepared for a political or a security collapse while were still present, just wouldnt be prepared. Instead, Miller recommended that the U.S. keep at least 2,500 forces on the ground in bases in Kabul and at Bagram Airfield once the largest U.S. military base in the country that was abandoned by the U.S. military in July 2021, a month before the fall of Kabul and the full U.S. evacuation. My recommendation was that we retain a footprint, Miller said. You leave something here that keeps the Afghan Security Forces in the fight, keeps the Afghan Air Force in the fight, and you move forward. So that was my recommendation and it stayed consistent. Still, both President Trump and President Biden took steps to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan, with Trump initiating the withdrawal through a February 2020 deal with the Taliban known as the Doha Agreement, and Biden ultimately completing the effort in August 2021, to disastrous results. In the chaos of the exit, during which tens of thousands of Afghan civilians desperately tried to leave the country via the Hamid Karzai International Airport, an ISIS-K suicide bomber blew himself up outside airports Abbey Gate, killing 13 U.S. service members and nearly 200 Afghans. Miller said that after the Doha Agreement, the Taliban launched a handful of indirect fire attacks, which he saw as a warning of what was to come. But in April 2021, after Biden announced his decision to fully withdraw U.S. troops and diplomats from Afghanistan, Miller said he predicted a full Taliban takeover of the country. Though he later attempted to advocate for the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, State Department officials seemed to have a lack of understanding of the risk. Millersaid that he became so worried by the administrations failure to grasp how dangerous the withdrawal would be, he warned the Marine Corps commander in charge of planning for a possible evacuation to prepare for some really adverse conditions. After Kabul swiftly fell to the Taliban in August 2021, the State Department finally requested a non-combatant evacuation operation for their employees but it was too late, a situation that put U.S. troops in a strained position, Miller said. If the buildings already on fire before you start evacuating it, its a much more challenging evacuation, he told lawmakers. At that point, my focus was, how do I get these guys out of here without hurting somebody? he continued. I dont usually get scared. I dont. I was scared. And you know what I was afraid of? I was afraid I was going to lose somebody. Miller also lamented that he did not foresee a good future for Afghanistan as I was departing, and that he tried to make sure officials had a good understanding of what was happening in Afghanistan. The interview is likely to recharge critics of Bidens foreign policy decisions ahead of the November presidential election, with House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) leading the charge on an investigation into the Afghanistan withdrawal. The administration and its supporters, meanwhile, have criticized McCauls investigation as ignoring key decisions made by Trump while he was in the White House including the Doha Agreement, a deal that imposed a May 2021 deadline for a full U.S. military pullout that left Biden with little control and no plan for how to achieve it. 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 The Hill. Donald Trumps campaign deleted a video shared on his Truth Social account that included the phrase unified reich amid blowback from the Biden administration and a handful of Republicans. On Monday afternoon, Trumps Truth Social account posted a 30-second video that described a vision of America if he wins in 2024, and included fake newspaper headlines that said Trump Wins! and Whats next for America? At first glance, the video seemed like typical campaign media except that the background included text about the creation of a unified reich, and German industrial strength. The phrase the creation of a unified reich, which appeared multiple times in the background, drew heavy criticism. The German term reich means empire but is often associated with Nazi Germany. The Trump campaign said that the video was reposted by an unwitting staffer on Monday afternoon, although the video remained on the former presidents social media account overnight. This was not a campaign video, it was created by a random account online and reposted by a staffer who clearly did not see the word, while the President was in court, Karoline Leavitt, a campaign spokesperson, said in a statement. The real extremist is Joe Biden. The video was met with immediate condemnation by both the Biden campaign and Republicans on Capitol Hill, including some of Trumps staunchest allies like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). I dont know why you would say such a thing, said Graham, who told POLITICO that the staffer who posted the video "should be dealt with. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) also called out the video, saying, "to use that term in this day and age is simply inappropriate, and it's got to be corrected." President Joe Biden on Tuesday night condemned the former presidents comments at a 300-person fundraiser in Boston's Seaport district. "A unified Reich? Thats not the language of an American president, thats not the language of any American. It's the language of Hitlers Germany, he said. And Biden called the Trump campaign's explanation that an unwitting staffer reposted the video a "lame excuse" since "we already know Trump personally controls his social media account because hes bragged so much about his control. Bidens campaign on Tuesday also moved to raise money off the video, sending an email with the subject line Unified Reich and a statement that this is serious stuff. And it's not like Trump's echoes of Nazi Germany are a one-time thing. Trumps Truth Social account has circulated and then deleted controversial posts before. In 2022, for example, his account shared and then removed conspiratorial messages from a Q-Anon message board. That same year, Trump was widely condemned after he had dinner at his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort with white nationalist and antisemite Nick Fuentes, who frequently posts racist comments and is a Holocaust revisionist. Also at the dinner was Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, who has also made antisemitic comments. The Republican National Committee passed a resolution condemning antisemitism following Trumps dinner. Jim Demers, a longtime New Hampshire Democratic strategist who is backing Biden and was at his event in New Hampshire on Tuesday, said its important for the president to draw contrast with Trumps scary rhetoric on democracy. Donald Trump has talked about Hitler all too often and Donald Trump has talked about being a dictator, and so that is an important contrast to what Joe Biden believes as a protector of our democracy, Demers said. Donald Trump is giving us plenty of warning about how he would govern as president, and it is frightening. Lisa Kashinsky contributed to this report. Donald Trump speaks to reporters Thursday at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York. Court documents unsealed Tuesday in Trump's classified documents case reveal his lawyers found four documents in the former president's Mar-a-Lago bedroom four months after the FBI's search in August 2022. Pool Photo by Steven Hirsch/UPI May 21 (UPI) -- Donald Trump's lawyers found four classified documents in the former president's bedroom months after the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago estate, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell's 2023 opinion revealed an empty folder and "another mostly empty folder marked 'Classified Evening Summary'" were discovered by Trump's lawyers four months after prosecutors had subpoenaed them, and four months after the FBI had conducted a thorough search of the property in August 2022, according to the 87-page document. "Notably, no excuse is provided as to how the former president could miss the classified-marked documents found in his bedroom at Mar-a-Lago," Howell, an Obama appointee, wrote. Trump's office turned over the box of documents to the FBI in January 2023, Howell said. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, released the documents Tuesday following redaction negotiations with special counsel Jack Smith and Trump's lawyers. The opinion was released, in addition to other filings, as Trump's lawyers work to have the case dismissed. Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 criminal counts last June related to his handling of classified documents after he left the White House. Two hearings are scheduled for Wednesday as Trump aide Walt Nauta tries to dismiss obstruction and false statement charges against him. Earlier this month, Cannon indefinitely postponed Trump's trial -- which had been scheduled to start this week -- due to the large number of outstanding pre-trial motions. Cannon said she had "eight substantive pretrial motions" to rule on, including litigation on CIPA, which will determine how classified information should be presented at the trial. The delay could push the trial until after the 2024 election. Prosecutors have pursued a previously undisclosed theory of steps they allege Trump and his associates took to obstruct the documents investigation. Last year, prosecutors compelled testimony from one of Trump's attorneys, Evan Corcoran, alleging that aides moved boxes without being caught on camera after Trump was informed of a government subpoena for video footage. "The government urged that this scramble to Mar-a-Lago in the wake of the June 24, 2022, phone call reflects the former president's realization that the removal of the boxes from the storage room before the search was captured on camera -- and his attempts to ensure that any subsequent movement of the boxes back to the storage room could occur off camera," Howell wrote. The government has alleged in the indictment that Nauta and Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker Carlos De Oliveira allegedly conspired to try to delete surveillance footage. "This theory draws support from the curious absence of any video footage showing the return of the remaining boxes to the storage room, which necessarily occurred at some point between June 3, 2022 -- when the room had approximately [redacted] boxes, according to FBI agents -- and the execution of the search warrant on Aug. 8, 2022 -- when agents counted 73 boxes," the judge wrote. Senators J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) listen as former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media at his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 13, 2024 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) While writing on Sunday night about the truly remarkable week surrounding a criminal trial in New York, I was captivated by the final story on 60 Minutes. It was titled, The Album, with Anderson Cooper reporting. The subject was an album of 116 photos discovered in 2007 that were collected by a Nazi leader at Auschwitz. Here There Are Blueberries, is the new Broadway play that attempts to make sense of the pictures by those connected to the victims there. Importantly though, it also provides context of the horrific events as seen through the eyes of those committing the crimes. The pictures make the killers appear happy to be there. One particular photo showed a large group of young German girls happily eating blueberries at an apparent party, while outside the frame, death surrounded them. Its the source of the title of the play. How did these once normal, average people become the monsters we now know them to be? Last week in New York, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared outside the courthouse where the criminal trial of Donald Trump is nearing its end. He was there to hold a press conference to support his leader and to label the trial election interference and declare the justice system corrupt. The appearances at the trial of the most sycophantic members of the GOP, as Dylan Stableford writes for Yahoo! News, began with a trickle, then became a steady stream. Members of the U.S. Senate, former presidential candidates, and of course, a litany of House members have appeared there the past two weeks of the six-week trial. Their uniform reason to appear is to suck up to the boss, and to fan the irrational flames of the bosss support network. The theatrics accomplish other things though, whether intentional or not. Most importantly is that it communicates that loyalty to this criminal is more important, more valuable, than the American judicial system itself. A large swath of the nations citizenry has arrived at a place where justice only exists in their eyes when it aligns with their loyalties, regardless of reality. It is that singleness of vision and commitment that allows the madness to grow. To answer the question above, this is exactly how average people become monsters. Say the truth The word verdict comes from the Latin word, veredictum, which literally means to say the truth. That is the goal of judicial processes in the American system: to reach a verdict, or to say the truth. For those with an interest in the outcome, sometimes the truth is uncomfortable or inconvenient, but that doesnt make it less truthful. Sadly, gestures like the ones being made by this cadre of hangers on outside the Trump trial, is a monstrous way to solidify the post-truth reality of the era in which we now live. Much like 1930s and 1940s Germany, nothing is to be trusted by the cult unless the cult leader says it should be. In 2020s America, it started with a now embedded alternative truth to a presidential election. That makes purposely diminishing truths like the ones being established in the New York criminal court seem small. Objecting before the inevitable and inarguable truth before it is reached is now a repetitive strategy. To listen to a podcast version of this column, go here. Donald Trump is headed for a conviction on 34 counts of false business reporting for the purposes of withholding information from voters in 2016. Yes, the illicit affair with Stormy Daniels occurred. Yes, he paid her through his lawyer and fixer to keep her quiet. Yes, he illegally reported the payment. Yes, he reported it illegally to conceal its purpose: to get him elected. In all of history, there has never been a politician or government representative who I would have chosen over the ongoing legitimacy of our judicial processes. Zero. Not George Washington nor Abraham Lincoln. Not John Kennedy nor Barack Obama. The courts, in their entirety, are far more important than any one person. When they no longer are, they cease to credibly exist. Amanda Gronich, one of the cowriters of Blueberries, told 60 Minutes, the Nazis at Auschwitz didnt wake up each morning thinking Im an evil monster, Im going to do evil, monstrous things. They woke up each day and lived their lives, filled with justifications and beliefs in what they were doing. Speaker Johnson and his caucus members displayed the same mindset when showing up to support their criminal, political leader over the court. Worse yet, it is definitely the mindset of millions of MAGA devotees. Supporting their leader trumps the third branch of government. Its unlikely they will believe the conviction as the truth. And history will see our own season of blueberries as evil and monstrous too. The post The Trump cult is choosing blueberries over the judicial branch appeared first on Indiana Capital Chronicle. Joseph W. Polisi, president emeritus and chief China officer of the Juilliard School in the United States, gestures at a donation ceremony in north China's Tianjin, May 20, 2024. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo) TIANJIN, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Joseph W. Polisi, president emeritus and chief China officer of the Juilliard School in the United States, donated his entire 300,000 yuan (about 42,212 U.S. dollars) Orchid Awards prize money to the Tianjin Juilliard School Education Development Foundation on Monday. This donation aims to support the arts and teaching programs of the Tianjin Juilliard School. "We try to use the funds in support of student and faculty activities, special programs, perhaps a tour or certain activities, that ordinarily would not be able to take place because of a lack of financial support," said Polisi, also chairman of the board of directors of the Tianjin Juilliard School. In September 2023, Polisi was awarded the Lifetime Honorary Prize at China's inaugural Orchid Awards in recognition of his contributions and achievements in Sino-U.S. music exchange and education over the years. The Orchid Awards, initiated by the China International Communications Group, aims to honor non-Chinese nationals and organizations around the world that have made significant contributions to cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world, and to promote mutual learning between Chinese and other civilizations. Founded in October 2021, the Tianjin Juilliard School, located in north China's Tianjin Municipality, is the first and so far the only branch campus of the Juilliard School in the world, with music students enrolled from all over the world. Joseph W. Polisi (C), president emeritus and chief China officer of the Juilliard School in the United States, gestures at a donation ceremony in north China's Tianjin, May 20, 2024. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo) Former President Donald Trump sits in court during the final day of testimony in his New York trial. Trump, the first former U.S. president to face trial on criminal charges, is accused of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments. (Photo by Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images) WASHINGTON The end of the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president is in sight as Donald Trumps defense team rested its case Tuesday in Manhattan, where jurors have heard weeks of testimony from nearly two dozen witnesses about Trumps alleged reimbursement of hush money meant to silence a porn star before the 2016 presidential election. Trump did not take the stand after his team called just two witnesses. The former president is accused of 34 felonies for falsifying business records. New York prosecutors allege that Trump covered up reimbursing his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels just before Election Day in 2016 to silence her about a tryst with Trump. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican candidate for president, denies the affair and maintains that he was paying Cohen for routine legal work. The case will not resume until after the Memorial Day holiday, when closing arguments are expected. A back channel to Trump Trumps defense teams second and final witness, former federal prosecutor and longtime New York-based attorney Robert Costello, stepped down from the witness stand Tuesday morning. His brief but tense appearance began Monday afternoon and included an admonishment from Justice Juan Merchan for contemptuous conduct. Costello testified to meeting a panicked and suicidal Cohen in April 2018 after the FBI had raided Cohens New York City hotel room as part of an investigation of his $130,000 payment to Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. After Merchan sustained a series of objections from the prosecution Monday, Costello exclaimed, jeez and ridiculous on the mic and at one point rolled his eyes at Merchan. Merchan cleared the courtroom, including the press, to address Costello and Trumps defense team. Costellos testimony confirmed that he offered a back channel for Cohen to communicate with then-President Trump through Costellos close contact and Trumps former legal counsel Rudy Giuliani as Cohen was under investigation, according to reporters at the courthouse. New York does not allow recording in the courtroom but provides public transcripts of the proceedings. During cross examination, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed a series of Costellos emails in an attempt to convince jurors that Costello was actively working to assure Trump that Cohen would not turn against him during the federal investigation. In one email between Costello and his law partner, he asks, What should I say to this (expletive)? He is playing with the most powerful man on the planet, according to reporters at the courthouse. Hoffinger also established from Costello during her final series of questions that Cohen never officially retained him for legal help reinforcing that Costello showed up in Cohens life only after the FBI raid. Trumps multiple indictments Costello has been publicly critical of the hush money trial against Trump, and of Cohen, as recently as May 15, when he testified before the GOP-led U.S. House Committee on the Judiciarys Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. There, Costello told lawmakers that the cases brought against Trump during this election year are politically motivated. Trump, who faces dozens of criminal charges in four separate cases, was indicted in New York in April 2023. Three other criminal cases were also brought against Trump in 2023. They all remain on hold. The former president was indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida in June 2023 on charges related to the mishandling of classified information. Federal District Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely postponed proceedings, making a trial before the November election unlikely. Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in August 2023. A four-count indictment accused him of knowingly spreading falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election results and scheming to overturn them. Trump claimed presidential immunity from the criminal charges in October 2023, which both the federal trial and appeals courts denied. Trump is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. Weeks after the federal election interference indictment, Trump was indicted on state charges in Fulton County, Georgia, for allegedly interfering in the states 2020 presidential election results. The Georgia case has been mired in pretrial disputes over alleged misconduct by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Courtroom conditions In the dim, tightly secured hallway just feet from the courtroom at the New York County Supreme Court, Trump again criticized the trial Monday and accused prosecutors of wanting to keep him off the campaign trail. Were here an hour early today. I was supposed to be making a speech for political purposes. Im not allowed to have anything to do with politics because Im sitting in a very freezing cold courtroom for the last four weeks. Its very unfair. They have no case, they have no crime, he said before the news cameras that hes stopped to speak in front of every day during the trial. Trump told the cameras that outside the courtroom was like Fort Knox. He complained that there are more police than Ive ever seen anywhere, and said theres not a civilian within three blocks of the courthouse. That statement is false. States Newsroom attended the trial Monday and witnessed the scene outside the courthouse during the morning, mid-afternoon and late afternoon. Just as dawn broke, people standing in the general-public line vying for the few public seats in the courtroom squabbled over who was in front of whom. About an hour later, a woman with a bullhorn showed up in the adjacent Collect Pond Park to read the Bible and amplify contemporary Christian music played from her phone. A man paced the park holding a sign that read, Trump 2 Terrified 2 Testify. Several people sat outside eating and talking at tables in Collect Pond Park during the 1 p.m. hour, as witnessed by reporters who left the courtroom after Merchan dismissed the jury for lunch. By late afternoon, a small handful of protesters holding Trump flags and signs shouted that he was innocent. The post Trump declines witness stand as testimony in his first trial concludes appeared first on Kentucky Lantern. Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom for his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 21, 2024, in New York City. (Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images) Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom for his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 21, 2024, in New York City. (Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images) WASHINGTON The end of the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president is in sight as Donald Trumps defense team rested its case Tuesday in Manhattan, where jurors have heard weeks of testimony from nearly two dozen witnesses about Trumps alleged reimbursement of hush money meant to silence a porn star before the 2016 presidential election. Trump did not take the stand after his team called just two witnesses. The former president is accused of 34 felonies for falsifying business records. New York prosecutors allege that Trump covered up reimbursing his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels just before Election Day in 2016 to silence her about a tryst with Trump. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican candidate for president, denies the affair and maintains that he was paying Cohen for routine legal work. The case will not resume until after the Memorial Day holiday, when closing arguments are expected. A back channel to Trump Trumps defense teams second and final witness, former federal prosecutor and longtime New York-based attorney Robert Costello, stepped down from the witness stand Tuesday morning. His brief but tense appearance began Monday afternoon and included an admonishment from Justice Juan Merchan for contemptuous conduct. Costello testified to meeting a panicked and suicidal Cohen in April 2018 after the FBI had raided Cohens New York City hotel room as part of an investigation of his $130,000 payment to Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. After Merchan sustained a series of objections from the prosecution Monday, Costello exclaimed, jeez and ridiculous on the mic and at one point rolled his eyes at Merchan. Merchan cleared the courtroom, including the press, to address Costello and Trumps defense team. Costellos testimony confirmed that he offered a back channel for Cohen to communicate with then-President Trump through Costellos close contact and Trumps former legal counsel Rudy Giuliani as Cohen was under investigation, according to reporters at the courthouse. New York does not allow recording in the courtroom but provides public transcripts of the proceedings. During cross examination, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed a series of Costellos emails in an attempt to convince jurors that Costello was actively working to assure Trump that Cohen would not turn against him during the federal investigation. In one email between Costello and his law partner, he asks, What should I say to this (expletive)? He is playing with the most powerful man on the planet, according to reporters at the courthouse. Hoffinger also established from Costello during her final series of questions that Cohen never officially retained him for legal help reinforcing that Costello showed up in Cohens life only after the FBI raid. Trumps multiple indictments Costello has been publicly critical of the hush money trial against Trump, and of Cohen, as recently as May 15, when he testified before the GOP-led U.S. House Committee on the Judiciarys Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. There, Costello told lawmakers that the cases brought against Trump during this election year are politically motivated. Trump, who faces dozens of criminal charges in four separate cases, was indicted in New York in April 2023. Three other criminal cases were also brought against Trump in 2023. They all remain on hold. The former president was indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida in June 2023 on charges related to the mishandling of classified information. Federal District Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely postponed proceedings, making a trial before the November election unlikely. Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in August 2023. A four-count indictment accused him of knowingly spreading falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election results and scheming to overturn them. Trump claimed presidential immunity from the criminal charges in October 2023, which both the federal trial and appeals courts denied. Trump is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. Weeks after the federal election interference indictment, Trump was indicted on state charges in Fulton County, Georgia, for allegedly interfering in the states 2020 presidential election results. The Georgia case has been mired in pretrial disputes over alleged misconduct by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Courtroom conditions In the dim, tightly secured hallway just feet from the courtroom at the New York County Supreme Court, Trump again criticized the trial Monday and accused prosecutors of wanting to keep him off the campaign trail. Were here an hour early today. I was supposed to be making a speech for political purposes. Im not allowed to have anything to do with politics because Im sitting in a very freezing cold courtroom for the last four weeks. Its very unfair. They have no case, they have no crime, he said before the news cameras that hes stopped to speak in front of every day during the trial. Trump told the cameras that outside the courtroom was like Fort Knox. He complained that there are more police than Ive ever seen anywhere, and said theres not a civilian within three blocks of the courthouse. That statement is false. States Newsroom attended the trial Monday and witnessed the scene outside the courthouse during the morning, mid-afternoon and late afternoon. Just as dawn broke, people standing in the general-public line vying for the few public seats in the courtroom squabbled over who was in front of whom. About an hour later, a woman with a bullhorn showed up in the adjacent Collect Pond Park to read the Bible and amplify contemporary Christian music played from her phone. A man paced the park holding a sign that read, Trump 2 Terrified 2 Testify. Several people sat outside eating and talking at tables in Collect Pond Park during the 1 p.m. hour, as witnessed by reporters who left the courtroom after Merchan dismissed the jury for lunch. By late afternoon, a small handful of protesters holding Trump flags and signs shouted that he was innocent. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Trump declines witness stand as testimony in his first trial concludes appeared first on South Dakota Searchlight. Former President Donald Trump sits in court during the final day of testimony in his New York trial. Trump, the first former U.S. president to face trial on criminal charges, is accused of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments (Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images). WASHINGTON The end of the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president is in sight as Donald Trumps defense team rested its case Tuesday in Manhattan, where jurors have heard weeks of testimony from nearly two dozen witnesses about Trumps alleged reimbursement of hush money meant to silence a porn star before the 2016 presidential election. Trump did not take the stand after his team called just two witnesses. The former president is accused of 34 felonies for falsifying business records. New York prosecutors allege that Trump covered up reimbursing his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels just before Election Day in 2016 to silence her about a tryst with Trump. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican candidate for president, denies the affair and maintains that he was paying Cohen for routine legal work. The case will not resume until after the Memorial Day holiday, when closing arguments are expected. A back channel to Trump Trumps defense teams second and final witness, former federal prosecutor and longtime New York-based attorney Robert Costello, stepped down from the witness stand Tuesday morning. His brief but tense appearance began Monday afternoon and included an admonishment from Justice Juan Merchan for contemptuous conduct. Costello testified to meeting a panicked and suicidal Cohen in April 2018 after the FBI had raided Cohens New York City hotel room as part of an investigation of his $130,000 payment to Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. After Merchan sustained a series of objections from the prosecution Monday, Costello exclaimed, jeez and ridiculous on the mic and at one point rolled his eyes at Merchan. Merchan cleared the courtroom, including the press, to address Costello and Trumps defense team. Costellos testimony confirmed that he offered a back channel for Cohen to communicate with then-President Trump through Costellos close contact and Trumps former legal counsel Rudy Giuliani as Cohen was under investigation, according to reporters at the courthouse. New York does not allow recording in the courtroom but provides public transcripts of the proceedings. During cross examination, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed a series of Costellos emails in an attempt to convince jurors that Costello was actively working to assure Trump that Cohen would not turn against him during the federal investigation. In one email between Costello and his law partner, he asks, What should I say to this (expletive)? He is playing with the most powerful man on the planet, according to reporters at the courthouse. Hoffinger also established from Costello during her final series of questions that Cohen never officially retained him for legal help reinforcing that Costello showed up in Cohens life only after the FBI raid. Trumps multiple indictments Costello has been publicly critical of the hush money trial against Trump, and of Cohen, as recently as May 15, when he testified before the GOP-led U.S. House Committee on the Judiciarys Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. There, Costello told lawmakers that the cases brought against Trump during this election year are politically motivated. Trump, who faces dozens of criminal charges in four separate cases, was indicted in New York in April 2023. Three other criminal cases were also brought against Trump in 2023. They all remain on hold. The former president was indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida in June 2023 on charges related to the mishandling of classified information. Federal District Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely postponed proceedings, making a trial before the November election unlikely. Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in August 2023. A four-count indictment accused him of knowingly spreading falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election results and scheming to overturn them. Trump claimed presidential immunity from the criminal charges in October 2023, which both the federal trial and appeals courts denied. Trump is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. Weeks after the federal election interference indictment, Trump was indicted on state charges in Fulton County, Georgia, for allegedly interfering in the states 2020 presidential election results. The Georgia case has been mired in pretrial disputes over alleged misconduct by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Courtroom conditions In the dim, tightly secured hallway just feet from the courtroom at the New York County Supreme Court, Trump again criticized the trial Monday and accused prosecutors of wanting to keep him off the campaign trail. Were here an hour early today. I was supposed to be making a speech for political purposes. Im not allowed to have anything to do with politics because Im sitting in a very freezing cold courtroom for the last four weeks. Its very unfair. They have no case, they have no crime, he said before the news cameras that hes stopped to speak in front of every day during the trial. Trump told the cameras that outside the courtroom was like Fort Knox. He complained that there are more police than Ive ever seen anywhere, and said theres not a civilian within three blocks of the courthouse. That statement is false. States Newsroom attended the trial Monday and witnessed the scene outside the courthouse during the morning, mid-afternoon and late afternoon. Just as dawn broke, people standing in the general-public line vying for the few public seats in the courtroom squabbled over who was in front of whom. About an hour later, a woman with a bullhorn showed up in the adjacent Collect Pond Park to read the Bible and amplify contemporary Christian music played from her phone. A man paced the park holding a sign that read, Trump 2 Terrified 2 Testify. Several people sat outside eating and talking at tables in Collect Pond Park during the 1 p.m. hour, as witnessed by reporters who left the courtroom after Merchan dismissed the jury for lunch. By late afternoon, a small handful of protesters holding Trump flags and signs shouted that he was innocent. The post Trump declines witness stand as testimony in his first trial concludes appeared first on Missouri Independent. Former President Donald Trump sits in court during the final day of testimony in his New York trial. Trump, the first former U.S. president to face trial on criminal charges, is accused of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments. (Photo by Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images) WASHINGTON The end of the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president is in sight as Donald Trumps defense team rested its case Tuesday in Manhattan, where jurors have heard weeks of testimony from nearly two dozen witnesses about Trumps alleged reimbursement of hush money meant to silence a porn star before the 2016 presidential election. Trump did not take the stand after his team called just two witnesses. The former president is accused of 34 felonies for falsifying business records. New York prosecutors allege that Trump covered up reimbursing his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels just before Election Day in 2016 to silence her about a tryst with Trump. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican candidate for president, denies the affair and maintains that he was paying Cohen for routine legal work. The case will not resume until after the Memorial Day holiday, when closing arguments are expected. A back channel to Trump Trumps defense teams second and final witness, former federal prosecutor and longtime New York-based attorney Robert Costello, stepped down from the witness stand Tuesday morning. His brief but tense appearance began Monday afternoon and included an admonishment from Justice Juan Merchan for contemptuous conduct. Costello testified to meeting a panicked and suicidal Cohen in April 2018 after the FBI had raided Cohens New York City hotel room as part of an investigation of his $130,000 payment to Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. After Merchan sustained a series of objections from the prosecution Monday, Costello exclaimed, jeez and ridiculous on the mic and at one point rolled his eyes at Merchan. Merchan cleared the courtroom, including the press, to address Costello and Trumps defense team. Costellos testimony confirmed that he offered a back channel for Cohen to communicate with then-President Trump through Costellos close contact and Trumps former legal counsel Rudy Giuliani as Cohen was under investigation, according to reporters at the courthouse. New York does not allow recording in the courtroom but provides public transcripts of the proceedings. During cross examination, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed a series of Costellos emails in an attempt to convince jurors that Costello was actively working to assure Trump that Cohen would not turn against him during the federal investigation. In one email between Costello and his law partner, he asks, What should I say to this (expletive)? He is playing with the most powerful man on the planet, according to reporters at the courthouse. Hoffinger also established from Costello during her final series of questions that Cohen never officially retained him for legal help reinforcing that Costello showed up in Cohens life only after the FBI raid. Trumps multiple indictments Costello has been publicly critical of the hush money trial against Trump, and of Cohen, as recently as May 15, when he testified before the GOP-led U.S. House Committee on the Judiciarys Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. There, Costello told lawmakers that the cases brought against Trump during this election year are politically motivated. Trump, who faces dozens of criminal charges in four separate cases, was indicted in New York in April 2023. Three other criminal cases were also brought against Trump in 2023. They all remain on hold. The former president was indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida in June 2023 on charges related to the mishandling of classified information. Federal District Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely postponed proceedings, making a trial before the November election unlikely. Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in August 2023. A four-count indictment accused him of knowingly spreading falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election results and scheming to overturn them. Trump claimed presidential immunity from the criminal charges in October 2023, which both the federal trial and appeals courts denied. Trump is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. Weeks after the federal election interference indictment, Trump was indicted on state charges in Fulton County, Georgia, for allegedly interfering in the states 2020 presidential election results. The Georgia case has been mired in pretrial disputes over alleged misconduct by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Courtroom conditions In the dim, tightly secured hallway just feet from the courtroom at the New York County Supreme Court, Trump again criticized the trial Monday and accused prosecutors of wanting to keep him off the campaign trail. Were here an hour early today. I was supposed to be making a speech for political purposes. Im not allowed to have anything to do with politics because Im sitting in a very freezing cold courtroom for the last four weeks. Its very unfair. They have no case, they have no crime, he said before the news cameras that hes stopped to speak in front of every day during the trial. Trump told the cameras that outside the courtroom was like Fort Knox. He complained that there are more police than Ive ever seen anywhere, and said theres not a civilian within three blocks of the courthouse. That statement is false. States Newsroom attended the trial Monday and witnessed the scene outside the courthouse during the morning, mid-afternoon and late afternoon. Just as dawn broke, people standing in the general-public line vying for the few public seats in the courtroom squabbled over who was in front of whom. About an hour later, a woman with a bullhorn showed up in the adjacent Collect Pond Park to read the Bible and amplify contemporary Christian music played from her phone. A man paced the park holding a sign that read, Trump 2 Terrified 2 Testify. Several people sat outside eating and talking at tables in Collect Pond Park during the 1 p.m. hour, as witnessed by reporters who left the courtroom after Merchan dismissed the jury for lunch. By late afternoon, a small handful of protesters holding Trump flags and signs shouted that he was innocent. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Trump declines witness stand as testimony in his first trial concludes appeared first on Oklahoma Voice. Former President Donald Trump sits in court during the final day of testimony in his New York trial. Trump, the first former U.S. president to face trial on criminal charges, is accused of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments. (Photo by Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images) Policy, politics and progressive commentary WASHINGTON The end of the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president is in sight as Donald Trumps defense team rested its case Tuesday in Manhattan, where jurors have heard weeks of testimony from nearly two dozen witnesses about Trumps alleged reimbursement of hush money meant to silence a porn star before the 2016 presidential election. Trump did not take the stand after his team called just two witnesses. The former president is accused of 34 felonies for falsifying business records. New York prosecutors allege that Trump covered up reimbursing his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels just before Election Day in 2016 to silence her about a tryst with Trump. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican candidate for president, denies the affair and maintains that he was paying Cohen for routine legal work. The case will not resume until after the Memorial Day holiday, when closing arguments are expected. A back channel to Trump Trumps defense teams second and final witness, former federal prosecutor and longtime New York-based attorney Robert Costello, stepped down from the witness stand Tuesday morning. His brief but tense appearance began Monday afternoon and included an admonishment from Justice Juan Merchan for contemptuous conduct. Costello testified to meeting a panicked and suicidal Cohen in April 2018 after the FBI had raided Cohens New York City hotel room as part of an investigation of his $130,000 payment to Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. After Merchan sustained a series of objections from the prosecution Monday, Costello exclaimed, jeez and ridiculous on the mic and at one point rolled his eyes at Merchan. Merchan cleared the courtroom, including the press, to address Costello and Trumps defense team. Costellos testimony confirmed that he offered a back channel for Cohen to communicate with then-President Trump through Costellos close contact and Trumps former legal counsel Rudy Giuliani as Cohen was under investigation, according to reporters at the courthouse. New York does not allow recording in the courtroom but provides public transcripts of the proceedings. During cross examination, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed a series of Costellos emails in an attempt to convince jurors that Costello was actively working to assure Trump that Cohen would not turn against him during the federal investigation. In one email between Costello and his law partner, he asks, What should I say to this (expletive)? He is playing with the most powerful man on the planet, according to reporters at the courthouse. Hoffinger also established from Costello during her final series of questions that Cohen never officially retained him for legal help reinforcing that Costello showed up in Cohens life only after the FBI raid. Trumps multiple indictments Costello has been publicly critical of the hush money trial against Trump, and of Cohen, as recently as May 15, when he testified before the GOP-led U.S. House Committee on the Judiciarys Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. There, Costello told lawmakers that the cases brought against Trump during this election year are politically motivated. Trump, who faces dozens of criminal charges in four separate cases, was indicted in New York in April 2023. Three other criminal cases were also brought against Trump in 2023. They all remain on hold. The former president was indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida in June 2023 on charges related to the mishandling of classified information. Federal District Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely postponed proceedings, making a trial before the November election unlikely. Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in August 2023. A four-count indictment accused him of knowingly spreading falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election results and scheming to overturn them. Trump claimed presidential immunity from the criminal charges in October 2023, which both the federal trial and appeals courts denied. Trump is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. Weeks after the federal election interference indictment, Trump was indicted on state charges in Fulton County, Georgia, for allegedly interfering in the states 2020 presidential election results. The Georgia case has been mired in pretrial disputes over alleged misconduct by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Courtroom conditions In the dim, tightly secured hallway just feet from the courtroom at the New York County Supreme Court, Trump again criticized the trial Monday and accused prosecutors of wanting to keep him off the campaign trail. Were here an hour early today. I was supposed to be making a speech for political purposes. Im not allowed to have anything to do with politics because Im sitting in a very freezing cold courtroom for the last four weeks. Its very unfair. They have no case, they have no crime, he said before the news cameras that hes stopped to speak in front of every day during the trial. Trump told the cameras that outside the courtroom was like Fort Knox. He complained that there are more police than Ive ever seen anywhere, and said theres not a civilian within three blocks of the courthouse. That statement is false. States Newsroom attended the trial Monday and witnessed the scene outside the courthouse during the morning, mid-afternoon and late afternoon. Just as dawn broke, people standing in the general-public line vying for the few public seats in the courtroom squabbled over who was in front of whom. About an hour later, a woman with a bullhorn showed up in the adjacent Collect Pond Park to read the Bible and amplify contemporary Christian music played from her phone. A man paced the park holding a sign that read, Trump 2 Terrified 2 Testify. Several people sat outside eating and talking at tables in Collect Pond Park during the 1 p.m. hour, as witnessed by reporters who left the courtroom after Merchan dismissed the jury for lunch. By late afternoon, a small handful of protesters holding Trump flags and signs shouted that he was innocent. The post Trump declines witness stand as testimony in his first trial concludes appeared first on Nevada Current. Former President Donald Trump sits in court during the final day of testimony in his New York trial. Trump, the first former U.S. president to face trial on criminal charges, is accused of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments. (Photo by Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images) WASHINGTON The end of the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president is in sight as Donald Trumps defense team rested its case Tuesday in Manhattan, where jurors have heard weeks of testimony from nearly two dozen witnesses about Trumps alleged reimbursement of hush money meant to silence a porn star before the 2016 presidential election. Trump did not take the stand after his team called just two witnesses. The former president is accused of 34 felonies for falsifying business records. New York prosecutors allege that Trump covered up reimbursing his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels just before Election Day in 2016 to silence her about a tryst with Trump. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican candidate for president, denies the affair and maintains that he was paying Cohen for routine legal work. The case will not resume until after the Memorial Day holiday, when closing arguments are expected. A back channel to Trump Trumps defense teams second and final witness, former federal prosecutor and longtime New York-based attorney Robert Costello, stepped down from the witness stand Tuesday morning. His brief but tense appearance began Monday afternoon and included an admonishment from Justice Juan Merchan for contemptuous conduct. Costello testified to meeting a panicked and suicidal Cohen in April 2018 after the FBI had raided Cohens New York City hotel room as part of an investigation of his $130,000 payment to Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. After Merchan sustained a series of objections from the prosecution Monday, Costello exclaimed, jeez and ridiculous on the mic and at one point rolled his eyes at Merchan. Merchan cleared the courtroom, including the press, to address Costello and Trumps defense team. Costellos testimony confirmed that he offered a back channel for Cohen to communicate with then-President Trump through Costellos close contact and Trumps former legal counsel Rudy Giuliani as Cohen was under investigation, according to reporters at the courthouse. New York does not allow recording in the courtroom but provides public transcripts of the proceedings. During cross examination, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed a series of Costellos emails in an attempt to convince jurors that Costello was actively working to assure Trump that Cohen would not turn against him during the federal investigation. In one email between Costello and his law partner, he asks, What should I say to this (expletive)? He is playing with the most powerful man on the planet, according to reporters at the courthouse. Hoffinger also established from Costello during her final series of questions that Cohen never officially retained him for legal help reinforcing that Costello showed up in Cohens life only after the FBI raid. Trumps multiple indictments Costello has been publicly critical of the hush money trial against Trump, and of Cohen, as recently as May 15, when he testified before the GOP-led U.S. House Committee on the Judiciarys Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. There, Costello told lawmakers that the cases brought against Trump during this election year are politically motivated. Trump, who faces dozens of criminal charges in four separate cases, was indicted in New York in April 2023. Three other criminal cases were also brought against Trump in 2023. They all remain on hold. The former president was indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida in June 2023 on charges related to the mishandling of classified information. Federal District Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely postponed proceedings, making a trial before the November election unlikely. Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in August 2023. A four-count indictment accused him of knowingly spreading falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election results and scheming to overturn them. Trump claimed presidential immunity from the criminal charges in October 2023, which both the federal trial and appeals courts denied. Trump is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. Weeks after the federal election interference indictment, Trump was indicted on state charges in Fulton County, Georgia, for allegedly interfering in the states 2020 presidential election results. The Georgia case has been mired in pretrial disputes over alleged misconduct by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Courtroom conditions In the dim, tightly secured hallway just feet from the courtroom at the New York County Supreme Court, Trump again criticized the trial Monday and accused prosecutors of wanting to keep him off the campaign trail. Were here an hour early today. I was supposed to be making a speech for political purposes. Im not allowed to have anything to do with politics because Im sitting in a very freezing cold courtroom for the last four weeks. Its very unfair. They have no case, they have no crime, he said before the news cameras that hes stopped to speak in front of every day during the trial. Trump told the cameras that outside the courtroom was like Fort Knox. He complained that there are more police than Ive ever seen anywhere, and said theres not a civilian within three blocks of the courthouse. That statement is false. States Newsroom attended the trial Monday and witnessed the scene outside the courthouse during the morning, mid-afternoon and late afternoon. Just as dawn broke, people standing in the general-public line vying for the few public seats in the courtroom squabbled over who was in front of whom. About an hour later, a woman with a bullhorn showed up in the adjacent Collect Pond Park to read the Bible and amplify contemporary Christian music played from her phone. A man paced the park holding a sign that read, Trump 2 Terrified 2 Testify. Several people sat outside eating and talking at tables in Collect Pond Park during the 1 p.m. hour, as witnessed by reporters who left the courtroom after Merchan dismissed the jury for lunch. By late afternoon, a small handful of protesters holding Trump flags and signs shouted that he was innocent. The post Trump declines witness stand as testimony in his first trial concludes appeared first on Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Former President Donald Trump sits in court during the final day of testimony in his New York trial. Trump, the first former U.S. president to face trial on criminal charges, is accused of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments. (Justin Lane | Pool-Getty Images) WASHINGTON The end of the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president is in sight as Donald Trumps defense team rested its case Tuesday in Manhattan, where jurors have heard weeks of testimony from nearly two dozen witnesses about Trumps alleged reimbursement of hush money meant to silence a porn star before the 2016 presidential election. Trump did not take the stand after his team called just two witnesses. The former president is accused of 34 felonies for falsifying business records. New York prosecutors allege that Trump covered up reimbursing his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels just before Election Day in 2016 to silence her about a tryst with Trump. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican candidate for president, denies the affair and maintains that he was paying Cohen for routine legal work. The case will not resume until after the Memorial Day holiday, when closing arguments are expected. A back channel to Trump Trumps defense teams second and final witness, former federal prosecutor and longtime New York-based attorney Robert Costello, stepped down from the witness stand Tuesday morning. His brief but tense appearance began Monday afternoon and included an admonishment from Justice Juan Merchan for contemptuous conduct. Costello testified to meeting a panicked and suicidal Cohen in April 2018 after the FBI had raided Cohens New York City hotel room as part of an investigation of his $130,000 payment to Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. After Merchan sustained a series of objections from the prosecution Monday, Costello exclaimed, jeez and ridiculous on the mic and at one point rolled his eyes at Merchan. Merchan cleared the courtroom, including the press, to address Costello and Trumps defense team. Costellos testimony confirmed that he offered a back channel for Cohen to communicate with then-President Trump through Costellos close contact and Trumps former legal counsel Rudy Giuliani as Cohen was under investigation, according to reporters at the courthouse. New York does not allow recording in the courtroom but provides public transcripts of the proceedings. During cross examination, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed a series of Costellos emails in an attempt to convince jurors that Costello was actively working to assure Trump that Cohen would not turn against him during the federal investigation. In one email between Costello and his law partner, he asks, What should I say to this (expletive)? He is playing with the most powerful man on the planet, according to reporters at the courthouse. Hoffinger also established from Costello during her final series of questions that Cohen never officially retained him for legal help reinforcing that Costello showed up in Cohens life only after the FBI raid. Trumps multiple indictments Costello has been publicly critical of the hush money trial against Trump, and of Cohen, as recently as May 15, when he testified before the GOP-led U.S. House Committee on the Judiciarys Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. There, Costello told lawmakers that the cases brought against Trump during this election year are politically motivated. Trump, who faces dozens of criminal charges in four separate cases, was indicted in New York in April 2023. Three other criminal cases were also brought against Trump in 2023. They all remain on hold. The former president was indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida in June 2023 on charges related to the mishandling of classified information. Federal District Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely postponed proceedings, making a trial before the November election unlikely. Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in August 2023. A four-count indictment accused him of knowingly spreading falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election results and scheming to overturn them. Trump claimed presidential immunity from the criminal charges in October 2023, which both the federal trial and appeals courts denied. Trump is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. Weeks after the federal election interference indictment, Trump was indicted on state charges in Fulton County, Georgia, for allegedly interfering in the states 2020 presidential election results. The Georgia case has been mired in pretrial disputes over alleged misconduct by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Courtroom conditions In the dim, tightly secured hallway just feet from the courtroom at the New York County Supreme Court, Trump again criticized the trial Monday and accused prosecutors of wanting to keep him off the campaign trail. Were here an hour early today. I was supposed to be making a speech for political purposes. Im not allowed to have anything to do with politics because Im sitting in a very freezing cold courtroom for the last four weeks. Its very unfair. They have no case, they have no crime, he said before the news cameras that hes stopped to speak in front of every day during the trial. Trump told the cameras that outside the courtroom was like Fort Knox. He complained that there are more police than Ive ever seen anywhere, and said theres not a civilian within three blocks of the courthouse. That statement is false. States Newsroom attended the trial Monday and witnessed the scene outside the courthouse during the morning, mid-afternoon, and late afternoon. Just as dawn broke, people standing in the general-public line vying for the few public seats in the courtroom squabbled over who was in front of whom. About an hour later, a woman with a bullhorn showed up in the adjacent Collect Pond Park to read the Bible and amplify contemporary Christian music played from her phone. A man paced the park holding a sign that read, Trump 2 Terrified 2 Testify. Several people sat outside eating and talking at tables in Collect Pond Park during the 1 p.m. hour, as witnessed by reporters who left the courtroom after Merchan dismissed the jury for lunch. By late afternoon, a small handful of protesters holding Trump flags and signs shouted that he was innocent. The post Trump declines witness stand as testimony in his first trial concludes appeared first on New Hampshire Bulletin. Former President Donald Trump sits in court during the final day of testimony in his New York trial. Trump, the first former U.S. president to face trial on criminal charges, is accused of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments. (Photo by Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images) WASHINGTON The end of the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president is in sight as Donald Trumps defense team rested its case Tuesday in Manhattan, where jurors have heard weeks of testimony from nearly two dozen witnesses about Trumps alleged reimbursement of hush money meant to silence a porn star before the 2016 presidential election. Trump did not take the stand after his team called just two witnesses. The former president is accused of 34 felonies for falsifying business records. New York prosecutors allege that Trump covered up reimbursing his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels just before Election Day in 2016 to silence her about a tryst with Trump. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican candidate for president, denies the affair and maintains that he was paying Cohen for routine legal work. The case will not resume until after the Memorial Day holiday, when closing arguments are expected. A back channel to Trump Trumps defense teams second and final witness, former federal prosecutor and longtime New York-based attorney Robert Costello, stepped down from the witness stand Tuesday morning. His brief but tense appearance began Monday afternoon and included an admonishment from Justice Juan Merchan for contemptuous conduct. Costello testified to meeting a panicked and suicidal Cohen in April 2018 after the FBI had raided Cohens New York City hotel room as part of an investigation of his $130,000 payment to Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. After Merchan sustained a series of objections from the prosecution Monday, Costello exclaimed, jeez and ridiculous on the mic and at one point rolled his eyes at Merchan. Merchan cleared the courtroom, including the press, to address Costello and Trumps defense team. Costellos testimony confirmed that he offered a back channel for Cohen to communicate with then-President Trump through Costellos close contact and Trumps former legal counsel Rudy Giuliani as Cohen was under investigation, according to reporters at the courthouse. New York does not allow recording in the courtroom but provides public transcripts of the proceedings. During cross examination, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed a series of Costellos emails in an attempt to convince jurors that Costello was actively working to assure Trump that Cohen would not turn against him during the federal investigation. In one email between Costello and his law partner, he asks, What should I say to this (expletive)? He is playing with the most powerful man on the planet, according to reporters at the courthouse. Hoffinger also established from Costello during her final series of questions that Cohen never officially retained him for legal help reinforcing that Costello showed up in Cohens life only after the FBI raid. Trumps multiple indictments Costello has been publicly critical of the hush money trial against Trump, and of Cohen, as recently as May 15, when he testified before the GOP-led U.S. House Committee on the Judiciarys Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. There, Costello told lawmakers that the cases brought against Trump during this election year are politically motivated. Trump, who faces dozens of criminal charges in four separate cases, was indicted in New York in April 2023. Three other criminal cases were also brought against Trump in 2023. They all remain on hold. The former president was indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida in June 2023 on charges related to the mishandling of classified information. Federal District Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely postponed proceedings, making a trial before the November election unlikely. Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in August 2023. A four-count indictment accused him of knowingly spreading falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election results and scheming to overturn them. Trump claimed presidential immunity from the criminal charges in October 2023, which both the federal trial and appeals courts denied. Trump is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. Weeks after the federal election interference indictment, Trump was indicted on state charges in Fulton County, Georgia, for allegedly interfering in the states 2020 presidential election results. The Georgia case has been mired in pretrial disputes over alleged misconduct by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Courtroom conditions In the dim, tightly secured hallway just feet from the courtroom at the New York County Supreme Court, Trump again criticized the trial Monday and accused prosecutors of wanting to keep him off the campaign trail. Were here an hour early today. I was supposed to be making a speech for political purposes. Im not allowed to have anything to do with politics because Im sitting in a very freezing cold courtroom for the last four weeks. Its very unfair. They have no case, they have no crime, he said before the news cameras that hes stopped to speak in front of every day during the trial. Trump told the cameras that outside the courtroom was like Fort Knox. He complained that there are more police than Ive ever seen anywhere, and said theres not a civilian within three blocks of the courthouse. That statement is false. States Newsroom attended the trial Monday and witnessed the scene outside the courthouse during the morning, mid-afternoon and late afternoon. Just as dawn broke, people standing in the general-public line vying for the few public seats in the courtroom squabbled over who was in front of whom. About an hour later, a woman with a bullhorn showed up in the adjacent Collect Pond Park to read the Bible and amplify contemporary Christian music played from her phone. A man paced the park holding a sign that read, Trump 2 Terrified 2 Testify. Several people sat outside eating and talking at tables in Collect Pond Park during the 1 p.m. hour, as witnessed by reporters who left the courtroom after Merchan dismissed the jury for lunch. By late afternoon, a small handful of protesters holding Trump flags and signs shouted that he was innocent. The post Trump declines witness stand as testimony in his first trial concludes appeared first on North Dakota Monitor. Former President Donald Trump sits in court during the final day of testimony in his New York trial. Trump, the first former U.S. president to face trial on criminal charges, is accused of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments. (Justin Lane-Pool | Getty Images) WASHINGTON The end of the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president is in sight as Donald Trumps defense team rested its case Tuesday in Manhattan, where jurors have heard weeks of testimony from nearly two dozen witnesses about Trumps alleged reimbursement of hush money meant to silence a porn star before the 2016 presidential election. Trump did not take the stand after his team called just two witnesses. The former president is accused of 34 felonies for falsifying business records. New York prosecutors allege that Trump covered up reimbursing his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels just before Election Day in 2016 to silence her about a tryst with Trump. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican candidate for president, denies the affair and maintains that he was paying Cohen for routine legal work. The case will not resume until after the Memorial Day holiday, when closing arguments are expected. A back channel to Trump Trumps defense teams second and final witness, former federal prosecutor and longtime New York-based attorney Robert Costello, stepped down from the witness stand Tuesday morning. His brief but tense appearance began Monday afternoon and included an admonishment from Justice Juan Merchan for contemptuous conduct. Costello testified to meeting a panicked and suicidal Cohen in April 2018 after the FBI had raided Cohens New York City hotel room as part of an investigation of his $130,000 payment to Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. After Merchan sustained a series of objections from the prosecution Monday, Costello exclaimed, jeez and ridiculous on the mic and at one point rolled his eyes at Merchan. Merchan cleared the courtroom, including the press, to address Costello and Trumps defense team. Costellos testimony confirmed that he offered a back channel for Cohen to communicate with then-President Trump through Costellos close contact and Trumps former legal counsel Rudy Giuliani as Cohen was under investigation, according to reporters at the courthouse. New York does not allow recording in the courtroom but provides public transcripts of the proceedings. During cross examination, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed a series of Costellos emails in an attempt to convince jurors that Costello was actively working to assure Trump that Cohen would not turn against him during the federal investigation. In one email between Costello and his law partner, he asks, What should I say to this (expletive)? He is playing with the most powerful man on the planet, according to reporters at the courthouse. Hoffinger also established from Costello during her final series of questions that Cohen never officially retained him for legal help reinforcing that Costello showed up in Cohens life only after the FBI raid. Trumps multiple indictments Costello has been publicly critical of the hush money trial against Trump, and of Cohen, as recently as May 15, when he testified before the GOP-led U.S. House Committee on the Judiciarys Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. There, Costello told lawmakers that the cases brought against Trump during this election year are politically motivated. Trump, who faces dozens of criminal charges in four separate cases, was indicted in New York in April 2023. Three other criminal cases were also brought against Trump in 2023. They all remain on hold. The former president was indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida in June 2023 on charges related to the mishandling of classified information. Federal District Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely postponed proceedings, making a trial before the November election unlikely. Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in August 2023. A four-count indictment accused him of knowingly spreading falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election results and scheming to overturn them. Trump claimed presidential immunity from the criminal charges in October 2023, which both the federal trial and appeals courts denied. Trump is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. Weeks after the federal election interference indictment, Trump was indicted on state charges in Fulton County, Georgia, for allegedly interfering in the states 2020 presidential election results. The Georgia case has been mired in pretrial disputes over alleged misconduct by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Courtroom conditions In the dim, tightly secured hallway just feet from the courtroom at the New York County Supreme Court, Trump again criticized the trial Monday and accused prosecutors of wanting to keep him off the campaign trail. Were here an hour early today. I was supposed to be making a speech for political purposes. Im not allowed to have anything to do with politics because Im sitting in a very freezing cold courtroom for the last four weeks. Its very unfair. They have no case, they have no crime, he said before the news cameras that hes stopped to speak in front of every day during the trial. Trump told the cameras that outside the courtroom was like Fort Knox. He complained that there are more police than Ive ever seen anywhere, and said theres not a civilian within three blocks of the courthouse. That statement is false. States Newsroom attended the trial Monday and witnessed the scene outside the courthouse during the morning, mid-afternoon and late afternoon. Just as dawn broke, people standing in the general-public line vying for the few public seats in the courtroom squabbled over who was in front of whom. About an hour later, a woman with a bullhorn showed up in the adjacent Collect Pond Park to read the Bible and amplify contemporary Christian music played from her phone. A man paced the park holding a sign that read, Trump 2 Terrified 2 Testify. Several people sat outside eating and talking at tables in Collect Pond Park during the 1 p.m. hour, as witnessed by reporters who left the courtroom after Merchan dismissed the jury for lunch. By late afternoon, a small handful of protesters holding Trump flags and signs shouted that he was innocent. The post Trump declines witness stand as testimony in his first trial concludes appeared first on West Virginia Watch. Former U.S. President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom for his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 21, 2024 in New York City. Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records last year, which prosecutors say was an effort to hide a potential sex scandal, both before and after the 2016 presidential election. Trump is the first former U.S. president to face trial on criminal charges. | Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images WASHINGTON The end of the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president is in sight as Donald Trumps defense team rested its case Tuesday in Manhattan, where jurors have heard weeks of testimony from nearly two dozen witnesses about Trumps alleged reimbursement of hush money meant to silence a porn star before the 2016 presidential election. Trump did not take the stand after his team called just two witnesses. The former president is accused of 34 felonies for falsifying business records. New York prosecutors allege that Trump covered up reimbursing his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels just before Election Day in 2016 to silence her about a tryst with Trump. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican candidate for president, denies the affair and maintains that he was paying Cohen for routine legal work. The case will not resume until after the Memorial Day holiday, when closing arguments are expected. A back channel to Trump Trumps defense teams second and final witness, former federal prosecutor and longtime New York-based attorney Robert Costello, stepped down from the witness stand Tuesday morning. His brief but tense appearance began Monday afternoon and included an admonishment from Justice Juan Merchan for contemptuous conduct. Costello testified to meeting a panicked and suicidal Cohen in April 2018 after the FBI had raided Cohens New York City hotel room as part of an investigation of his $130,000 payment to Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. After Merchan sustained a series of objections from the prosecution Monday, Costello exclaimed, jeez and ridiculous on the mic and at one point rolled his eyes at Merchan. Merchan cleared the courtroom, including the press, to address Costello and Trumps defense team. Costellos testimony confirmed that he offered a back channel for Cohen to communicate with then-President Trump through Costellos close contact and Trumps former legal counsel Rudy Giuliani as Cohen was under investigation, according to reporters at the courthouse. New York does not allow recording in the courtroom but provides public transcripts of the proceedings. During cross examination, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed a series of Costellos emails in an attempt to convince jurors that Costello was actively working to assure Trump that Cohen would not turn against him during the federal investigation. In one email between Costello and his law partner, he asks, What should I say to this (expletive)? He is playing with the most powerful man on the planet, according to reporters at the courthouse. Hoffinger also established from Costello during her final series of questions that Cohen never officially retained him for legal help reinforcing that Costello showed up in Cohens life only after the FBI raid. Trumps multiple indictments Costello has been publicly critical of the hush money trial against Trump, and of Cohen, as recently as May 15, when he testified before the GOP-led U.S. House Committee on the Judiciarys Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. There, Costello told lawmakers that the cases brought against Trump during this election year are politically motivated. Trump, who faces dozens of criminal charges in four separate cases, was indicted in New York in April 2023. Three other criminal cases were also brought against Trump in 2023. They all remain on hold: The former president was indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida in June 2023 on charges related to the mishandling of classified information. Federal District Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely postponed proceedings, making a trial before the November election unlikely. Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in August 2023. A four-count indictment accused him of knowingly spreading falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election results and scheming to overturn them. Trump claimed presidential immunity from the criminal charges in October 2023, which both the federal trial and appeals courts denied. Trump is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. Weeks after the federal election interference indictment, Trump was indicted on state charges in Fulton County, Georgia, for allegedly interfering in the states 2020 presidential election results. The Georgia case has been mired in pretrial disputes over alleged misconduct by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Courtroom conditions In the dim, tightly secured hallway just feet from the courtroom at the New York County Supreme Court, Trump again criticized the trial Monday and accused prosecutors of wanting to keep him off the campaign trail. Were here an hour early today. I was supposed to be making a speech for political purposes. Im not allowed to have anything to do with politics because Im sitting in a very freezing cold courtroom for the last four weeks. Its very unfair. They have no case, they have no crime, he said before the news cameras that hes stopped to speak in front of every day during the trial. Trump told the cameras that outside the courtroom was like Fort Knox. He complained that there are more police than Ive ever seen anywhere, and said theres not a civilian within three blocks of the courthouse. That statement is false. States Newsroom attended the trial Monday and witnessed the scene outside the courthouse during the morning, mid-afternoon and late afternoon. Just as dawn broke, people standing in the general-public line vying for the few public seats in the courtroom squabbled over who was in front of whom. About an hour later, a woman with a bullhorn showed up in the adjacent Collect Pond Park to read the Bible and amplify contemporary Christian music played from her phone. A man paced the park holding a sign that read, Trump 2 Terrified 2 Testify. Several people sat outside eating and talking at tables in Collect Pond Park during the 1 p.m. hour, as witnessed by reporters who left the courtroom after Merchan dismissed the jury for lunch. By late afternoon, a small handful of protesters holding Trump flags and signs shouted that he was innocent. The post Trump declines witness stand as testimony in his first trial concludes appeared first on Michigan Advance. BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- China's service outsourcing industry saw robust expansion in the first four months of this year, the Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday. Chinese firms inked services outsourcing contracts worth a total of nearly 781.43 billion yuan (about 110 billion U.S. dollars) in the four-month period, up 14.4 percent year on year, according to the ministry. The executed contract value stood at 520.51 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.9 percent. Of the total, the value of offshore service outsourcing contracts rose 8.6 percent year on year to 419.04 billion yuan. In the January-April period, the industry welcomed about 301,000 new hires, with 84.7 percent of these individuals holding a university degree or above. Outsourcing refers to hiring an outside party to carry out services or produce goods typically undertaken by in-house employees. Former President Donald Trump sits in court during the final day of testimony in his New York trial on May 21, 2024. Trump, the first former U.S. president to face trial on criminal charges, is accused of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments. (Photo by Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images) WASHINGTON The end of the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president is in sight as Donald Trumps defense team rested its case Tuesday in Manhattan, where jurors have heard weeks of testimony from nearly two dozen witnesses about Trumps alleged reimbursement of hush money meant to silence a porn star before the 2016 presidential election. Trump did not take the stand after his team called just two witnesses. The former president is accused of 34 felonies for falsifying business records. New York prosecutors allege that Trump covered up reimbursing his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels just before Election Day in 2016 to silence her about a tryst with Trump. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican candidate for president, denies the affair and maintains that he was paying Cohen for routine legal work. The case will not resume until after the Memorial Day holiday, when closing arguments are expected. A back channel to Trump Trumps defense teams second and final witness, former federal prosecutor and longtime New York-based attorney Robert Costello, stepped down from the witness stand Tuesday morning. His brief but tense appearance began Monday afternoon and included an admonishment from Justice Juan Merchan for contemptuous conduct. Costello testified to meeting a panicked and suicidal Cohen in April 2018 after the FBI had raided Cohens New York City hotel room as part of an investigation of his $130,000 payment to Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. After Merchan sustained a series of objections from the prosecution Monday, Costello exclaimed, jeez and ridiculous on the mic and at one point rolled his eyes at Merchan. Merchan cleared the courtroom, including the press, to address Costello and Trumps defense team. Costellos testimony confirmed that he offered a back channel for Cohen to communicate with then-President Trump through Costellos close contact and Trumps former legal counsel Rudy Giuliani as Cohen was under investigation, according to reporters at the courthouse. New York does not allow recording in the courtroom but provides public transcripts of the proceedings. During cross examination, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed a series of Costellos emails in an attempt to convince jurors that Costello was actively working to assure Trump that Cohen would not turn against him during the federal investigation. In one email between Costello and his law partner, he asks, What should I say to this (expletive)? He is playing with the most powerful man on the planet, according to reporters at the courthouse. Hoffinger also established from Costello during her final series of questions that Cohen never officially retained him for legal help reinforcing that Costello showed up in Cohens life only after the FBI raid. Trumps multiple indictments Costello has been publicly critical of the hush money trial against Trump, and of Cohen, as recently as May 15, when he testified before the GOP-led U.S. House Committee on the Judiciarys Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. There, Costello told lawmakers that the cases brought against Trump during this election year are politically motivated. Trump, who faces dozens of criminal charges in four separate cases, was indicted in New York in April 2023. Three other criminal cases were also brought against Trump in 2023. They all remain on hold. The former president was indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida in June 2023 on charges related to the mishandling of classified information. Federal District Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely postponed proceedings, making a trial before the November election unlikely. Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in August 2023. A four-count indictment accused him of knowingly spreading falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election results and scheming to overturn them. Trump claimed presidential immunity from the criminal charges in October 2023, which both the federal trial and appeals courts denied. Trump is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. Weeks after the federal election interference indictment, Trump was indicted on state charges in Fulton County, Georgia, for allegedly interfering in the states 2020 presidential election results. The Georgia case has been mired in pretrial disputes over alleged misconduct by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Courtroom conditions In the dim, tightly secured hallway just feet from the courtroom at the New York County Supreme Court, Trump again criticized the trial Monday and accused prosecutors of wanting to keep him off the campaign trail. Were here an hour early today. I was supposed to be making a speech for political purposes. Im not allowed to have anything to do with politics because Im sitting in a very freezing cold courtroom for the last four weeks. Its very unfair. They have no case, they have no crime, he said before the news cameras that hes stopped to speak in front of every day during the trial. Trump told the cameras that outside the courtroom was like Fort Knox. He complained that there are more police than Ive ever seen anywhere, and said theres not a civilian within three blocks of the courthouse. That statement is false. States Newsroom attended the trial Monday and witnessed the scene outside the courthouse during the morning, mid-afternoon and late afternoon. Just as dawn broke, people standing in the general-public line vying for the few public seats in the courtroom squabbled over who was in front of whom. About an hour later, a woman with a bullhorn showed up in the adjacent Collect Pond Park to read the Bible and amplify contemporary Christian music played from her phone. A man paced the park holding a sign that read, Trump 2 Terrified 2 Testify. Several people sat outside eating and talking at tables in Collect Pond Park during the 1 p.m. hour, as witnessed by reporters who left the courtroom after Merchan dismissed the jury for lunch. By late afternoon, a small handful of protesters holding Trump flags and signs shouted that he was innocent. The post Trump declines witness stand as testimony in his first trial concludes appeared first on Iowa Capital Dispatch. Former President Donald Trump sits in court during the final day of testimony in his New York trial. Trump, the first former U.S. president to face trial on criminal charges, is accused of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments. (Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images) WASHINGTON The end of the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president is in sight as Donald Trumps defense team rested its case Tuesday in Manhattan, where jurors have heard weeks of testimony from nearly two dozen witnesses about Trumps alleged reimbursement of hush money meant to silence a porn star before the 2016 presidential election. Trump did not take the stand after his team called just two witnesses. The former president is accused of 34 felonies for falsifying business records. New York prosecutors allege that Trump covered up reimbursing his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels just before Election Day in 2016 to silence her about a tryst with Trump. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican candidate for president, denies the affair and maintains that he was paying Cohen for routine legal work. The case will not resume until after the Memorial Day holiday, when closing arguments are expected. A back channel to Trump Trumps defense teams second and final witness, former federal prosecutor and longtime New York-based attorney Robert Costello, stepped down from the witness stand Tuesday morning. His brief but tense appearance began Monday afternoon and included an admonishment from Justice Juan Merchan for contemptuous conduct. Costello testified to meeting a panicked and suicidal Cohen in April 2018 after the FBI had raided Cohens New York City hotel room as part of an investigation of his $130,000 payment to Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. After Merchan sustained a series of objections from the prosecution Monday, Costello exclaimed, jeez and ridiculous on the mic and at one point rolled his eyes at Merchan. Merchan cleared the courtroom, including the press, to address Costello and Trumps defense team. Costellos testimony confirmed that he offered a back channel for Cohen to communicate with then-President Trump through Costellos close contact and Trumps former legal counsel Rudy Giuliani as Cohen was under investigation, according to reporters at the courthouse. New York does not allow recording in the courtroom but provides public transcripts of the proceedings. During cross examination, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed a series of Costellos emails in an attempt to convince jurors that Costello was actively working to assure Trump that Cohen would not turn against him during the federal investigation. In one email between Costello and his law partner, he asks, What should I say to this (expletive)? He is playing with the most powerful man on the planet, according to reporters at the courthouse. Hoffinger also established from Costello during her final series of questions that Cohen never officially retained him for legal help reinforcing that Costello showed up in Cohens life only after the FBI raid. Trumps multiple indictments Costello has been publicly critical of the hush money trial against Trump, and of Cohen, as recently as May 15, when he testified before the GOP-led U.S. House Committee on the Judiciarys Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. There, Costello told lawmakers that the cases brought against Trump during this election year are politically motivated. Trump, who faces dozens of criminal charges in four separate cases, was indicted in New York in April 2023. Three other criminal cases were also brought against Trump in 2023. They all remain on hold. The former president was indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida in June 2023 on charges related to the mishandling of classified information. Federal District Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely postponed proceedings, making a trial before the November election unlikely. Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in August 2023. A four-count indictment accused him of knowingly spreading falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election results and scheming to overturn them. Trump claimed presidential immunity from the criminal charges in October 2023, which both the federal trial and appeals courts denied. Trump is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. Weeks after the federal election interference indictment, Trump was indicted on state charges in Fulton County, Georgia, for allegedly interfering in the states 2020 presidential election results. The Georgia case has been mired in pretrial disputes over alleged misconduct by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Courtroom conditions In the dim, tightly secured hallway just feet from the courtroom at the New York County Supreme Court, Trump again criticized the trial Monday and accused prosecutors of wanting to keep him off the campaign trail. Were here an hour early today. I was supposed to be making a speech for political purposes. Im not allowed to have anything to do with politics because Im sitting in a very freezing cold courtroom for the last four weeks. Its very unfair. They have no case, they have no crime, he said before the news cameras that hes stopped to speak in front of every day during the trial. Trump told the cameras that outside the courtroom was like Fort Knox. He complained that there are more police than Ive ever seen anywhere, and said theres not a civilian within three blocks of the courthouse. That statement is false. States Newsroom attended the trial Monday and witnessed the scene outside the courthouse during the morning, mid-afternoon and late afternoon. Just as dawn broke, people standing in the general-public line vying for the few public seats in the courtroom squabbled over who was in front of whom. About an hour later, a woman with a bullhorn showed up in the adjacent Collect Pond Park to read the Bible and amplify contemporary Christian music played from her phone. A man paced the park holding a sign that read, Trump 2 Terrified 2 Testify. Several people sat outside eating and talking at tables in Collect Pond Park during the 1 p.m. hour, as witnessed by reporters who left the courtroom after Merchan dismissed the jury for lunch. By late afternoon, a small handful of protesters holding Trump flags and signs shouted that he was innocent. The post Trump declines witness stand as testimony in his first trial concludes appeared first on Nebraska Examiner. Former U.S. President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom for his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 21, 2024 in New York City. Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records last year, which prosecutors say was an effort to hide a potential sex scandal, both before and after the 2016 presidential election. Trump is the first former U.S. president to face trial on criminal charges. (Photo by Justin Lane-Pool | Getty Images) WASHINGTON The end of the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president is in sight as Donald Trumps defense team rested its case Tuesday in Manhattan, where jurors have heard weeks of testimony from nearly two dozen witnesses about Trumps alleged reimbursement of hush money meant to silence a porn star before the 2016 presidential election. Trump did not take the stand after his team called just two witnesses. The former president is accused of 34 felonies for falsifying business records. New York prosecutors allege that Trump covered up reimbursing his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels just before Election Day in 2016 to silence her about a tryst with Trump. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican candidate for president, denies the affair and maintains that he was paying Cohen for routine legal work. The case will not resume until after the Memorial Day holiday, when closing arguments are expected. A back channel to Trump Trumps defense teams second and final witness, former federal prosecutor and longtime New York-based attorney Robert Costello, stepped down from the witness stand Tuesday morning. His brief but tense appearance began Monday afternoon and included an admonishment from Justice Juan Merchan for contemptuous conduct. Costello testified to meeting a panicked and suicidal Cohen in April 2018 after the FBI had raided Cohens New York City hotel room as part of an investigation of his $130,000 payment to Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. After Merchan sustained a series of objections from the prosecution Monday, Costello exclaimed, jeez and ridiculous on the mic and at one point rolled his eyes at Merchan. Merchan cleared the courtroom, including the press, to address Costello and Trumps defense team. Costellos testimony confirmed that he offered a back channel for Cohen to communicate with then-President Trump through Costellos close contact and Trumps former legal counsel Rudy Giuliani as Cohen was under investigation, according to reporters at the courthouse. New York does not allow recording in the courtroom but provides public transcripts of the proceedings. During cross examination, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed a series of Costellos emails in an attempt to convince jurors that Costello was actively working to assure Trump that Cohen would not turn against him during the federal investigation. In one email between Costello and his law partner, he asks, What should I say to this (expletive)? He is playing with the most powerful man on the planet, according to reporters at the courthouse. Hoffinger also established from Costello during her final series of questions that Cohen never officially retained him for legal help reinforcing that Costello showed up in Cohens life only after the FBI raid. Trumps multiple indictments Costello has been publicly critical of the hush money trial against Trump, and of Cohen, as recently as May 15, when he testified before the GOP-led U.S. House Committee on the Judiciarys Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. There, Costello told lawmakers that the cases brought against Trump during this election year are politically motivated. Trump, who faces dozens of criminal charges in four separate cases, was indicted in New York in April 2023. Three other criminal cases were also brought against Trump in 2023. They all remain on hold. The former president was indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida in June 2023 on charges related to the mishandling of classified information. Federal District Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely postponed proceedings, making a trial before the November election unlikely. Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in August 2023. A four-count indictment accused him of knowingly spreading falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election results and scheming to overturn them. Trump claimed presidential immunity from the criminal charges in October 2023, which both the federal trial and appeals courts denied. Trump is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. Weeks after the federal election interference indictment, Trump was indicted on state charges in Fulton County, Georgia, for allegedly interfering in the states 2020 presidential election results. The Georgia case has been mired in pretrial disputes over alleged misconduct by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Courtroom conditions In the dim, tightly secured hallway just feet from the courtroom at the New York County Supreme Court, Trump again criticized the trial Monday and accused prosecutors of wanting to keep him off the campaign trail. Were here an hour early today. I was supposed to be making a speech for political purposes. Im not allowed to have anything to do with politics because Im sitting in a very freezing cold courtroom for the last four weeks. Its very unfair. They have no case, they have no crime, he said before the news cameras that hes stopped to speak in front of every day during the trial. Trump told the cameras that outside the courtroom was like Fort Knox. He complained that there are more police than Ive ever seen anywhere, and said theres not a civilian within three blocks of the courthouse. That statement is false. States Newsroom attended the trial Monday and witnessed the scene outside the courthouse during the morning, mid-afternoon and late afternoon. Just as dawn broke, people standing in the general-public line vying for the few public seats in the courtroom squabbled over who was in front of whom. About an hour later, a woman with a bullhorn showed up in the adjacent Collect Pond Park to read the Bible and amplify contemporary Christian music played from her phone. A man paced the park holding a sign that read, Trump 2 Terrified 2 Testify. Several people sat outside eating and talking at tables in Collect Pond Park during the 1 p.m. hour, as witnessed by reporters who left the courtroom after Merchan dismissed the jury for lunch. By late afternoon, a small handful of protesters holding Trump flags and signs shouted that he was innocent. The post Trump declines witness stand as testimony in his first trial concludes appeared first on Daily Montanan. Former President Donald Trump sits in court during the final day of testimony in his New York trial. Trump, the first former U.S. president to face trial on criminal charges, is accused of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments. (Photo by Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images) WASHINGTON The end of the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president is in sight as Donald Trumps defense team rested its case Tuesday in Manhattan, where jurors have heard weeks of testimony from nearly two dozen witnesses about Trumps alleged reimbursement of hush money meant to silence a porn star before the 2016 presidential election. Trump did not take the stand after his team called just two witnesses. The former president is accused of 34 felonies for falsifying business records. New York prosecutors allege that Trump covered up reimbursing his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels just before Election Day in 2016 to silence her about a tryst with Trump. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican candidate for president, denies the affair and maintains that he was paying Cohen for routine legal work. The case will not resume until after the Memorial Day holiday, when closing arguments are expected. A back channel to Trump Trumps defense teams second and final witness, former federal prosecutor and longtime New York-based attorney Robert Costello, stepped down from the witness stand Tuesday morning. His brief but tense appearance began Monday afternoon and included an admonishment from Justice Juan Merchan for contemptuous conduct. Costello testified to meeting a panicked and suicidal Cohen in April 2018 after the FBI had raided Cohens New York City hotel room as part of an investigation of his $130,000 payment to Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. After Merchan sustained a series of objections from the prosecution Monday, Costello exclaimed, jeez and ridiculous on the mic and at one point rolled his eyes at Merchan. Merchan cleared the courtroom, including the press, to address Costello and Trumps defense team. Costellos testimony confirmed that he offered a back channel for Cohen to communicate with then-President Trump through Costellos close contact and Trumps former legal counsel Rudy Giuliani as Cohen was under investigation, according to reporters at the courthouse. New York does not allow recording in the courtroom but provides public transcripts of the proceedings. During cross examination, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed a series of Costellos emails in an attempt to convince jurors that Costello was actively working to assure Trump that Cohen would not turn against him during the federal investigation. In one email between Costello and his law partner, he asks, What should I say to this (expletive)? He is playing with the most powerful man on the planet, according to reporters at the courthouse. Hoffinger also established from Costello during her final series of questions that Cohen never officially retained him for legal help reinforcing that Costello showed up in Cohens life only after the FBI raid. Trumps multiple indictments Costello has been publicly critical of the hush money trial against Trump, and of Cohen, as recently as May 15, when he testified before the GOP-led U.S. House Committee on the Judiciarys Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. There, Costello told lawmakers that the cases brought against Trump during this election year are politically motivated. Trump, who faces dozens of criminal charges in four separate cases, was indicted in New York in April 2023. Three other criminal cases were also brought against Trump in 2023. They all remain on hold. The former president was indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida in June 2023 on charges related to the mishandling of classified information. Federal District Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely postponed proceedings, making a trial before the November election unlikely. Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in August 2023. A four-count indictment accused him of knowingly spreading falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election results and scheming to overturn them. Trump claimed presidential immunity from the criminal charges in October 2023, which both the federal trial and appeals courts denied. Trump is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. Weeks after the federal election interference indictment, Trump was indicted on state charges in Fulton County, Georgia, for allegedly interfering in the states 2020 presidential election results. The Georgia case has been mired in pretrial disputes over alleged misconduct by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Courtroom conditions In the dim, tightly secured hallway just feet from the courtroom at the New York County Supreme Court, Trump again criticized the trial Monday and accused prosecutors of wanting to keep him off the campaign trail. Were here an hour early today. I was supposed to be making a speech for political purposes. Im not allowed to have anything to do with politics because Im sitting in a very freezing cold courtroom for the last four weeks. Its very unfair. They have no case, they have no crime, he said before the news cameras that hes stopped to speak in front of every day during the trial. Trump told the cameras that outside the courtroom was like Fort Knox. He complained that there are more police than Ive ever seen anywhere, and said theres not a civilian within three blocks of the courthouse. That statement is false. States Newsroom attended the trial Monday and witnessed the scene outside the courthouse during the morning, mid-afternoon and late afternoon. Just as dawn broke, people standing in the general-public line vying for the few public seats in the courtroom squabbled over who was in front of whom. About an hour later, a woman with a bullhorn showed up in the adjacent Collect Pond Park to read the Bible and amplify contemporary Christian music played from her phone. A man paced the park holding a sign that read, Trump 2 Terrified 2 Testify. Several people sat outside eating and talking at tables in Collect Pond Park during the 1 p.m. hour, as witnessed by reporters who left the courtroom after Merchan dismissed the jury for lunch. By late afternoon, a small handful of protesters holding Trump flags and signs shouted that he was innocent. The post Trump declines witness stand as testimony in his first trial concludes appeared first on Wisconsin Examiner. Former President Donald Trump sits in court during the final day of testimony in his New York trial. Trump, the first former U.S. president to face trial on criminal charges, is accused of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments. Former President Donald Trump sits in court during the final day of testimony in his New York trial. Trump, the first former U.S. president to face trial on criminal charges, is accused of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments. (Pool photo by Justin Lane/Getty Images) WASHINGTON The end of the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president is in sight as Donald Trumps defense team rested its case Tuesday in Manhattan, where jurors have heard weeks of testimony from nearly two dozen witnesses about Trumps alleged reimbursement of hush money meant to silence a porn star before the 2016 presidential election. Trump did not take the stand after his team called just two witnesses. The former president is accused of 34 felonies for falsifying business records. New York prosecutors allege that Trump covered up reimbursing his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels just before Election Day in 2016 to silence her about a tryst with Trump. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican candidate for president, denies the affair and maintains that he was paying Cohen for routine legal work. The case will not resume until after the Memorial Day holiday, when closing arguments are expected. A back channel to Trump Trumps defense teams second and final witness, former federal prosecutor and longtime New York-based attorney Robert Costello, stepped down from the witness stand Tuesday morning. His brief but tense appearance began Monday afternoon and included an admonishment from Justice Juan Merchan for contemptuous conduct. Costello testified to meeting a panicked and suicidal Cohen in April 2018 after the FBI had raided Cohens New York City hotel room as part of an investigation of his $130,000 payment to Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. After Merchan sustained a series of objections from the prosecution Monday, Costello exclaimed, jeez and ridiculous on the mic and at one point rolled his eyes at Merchan. Merchan cleared the courtroom, including the press, to address Costello and Trumps defense team. Costellos testimony confirmed that he offered a back channel for Cohen to communicate with then-President Trump through Costellos close contact and Trumps former legal counsel Rudy Giuliani as Cohen was under investigation, according to reporters at the courthouse. New York does not allow recording in the courtroom but provides public transcripts of the proceedings. During cross examination, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed a series of Costellos emails in an attempt to convince jurors that Costello was actively working to assure Trump that Cohen would not turn against him during the federal investigation. In one email between Costello and his law partner, he asks, What should I say to this (expletive)? He is playing with the most powerful man on the planet, according to reporters at the courthouse. Hoffinger also established from Costello during her final series of questions that Cohen never officially retained him for legal help reinforcing that Costello showed up in Cohens life only after the FBI raid. Trumps multiple indictments Costello has been publicly critical of the hush money trial against Trump, and of Cohen, as recently as May 15, when he testified before the GOP-led U.S. House Committee on the Judiciarys Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. There, Costello told lawmakers that the cases brought against Trump during this election year are politically motivated. Trump, who faces dozens of criminal charges in four separate cases, was indicted in New York in April 2023. Three other criminal cases were also brought against Trump in 2023. They all remain on hold. The former president was indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida in June 2023 on charges related to the mishandling of classified information. Federal District Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely postponed proceedings, making a trial before the November election unlikely. Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in August 2023. A four-count indictment accused him of knowingly spreading falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election results and scheming to overturn them. Trump claimed presidential immunity from the criminal charges in October 2023, which both the federal trial and appeals courts denied. Trump is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. Weeks after the federal election interference indictment, Trump was indicted on state charges in Fulton County, Georgia, for allegedly interfering in the states 2020 presidential election results. The Georgia case has been mired in pretrial disputes over alleged misconduct by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Courtroom conditions In the dim, tightly secured hallway just feet from the courtroom at the New York County Supreme Court, Trump again criticized the trial Monday and accused prosecutors of wanting to keep him off the campaign trail. Were here an hour early today. I was supposed to be making a speech for political purposes. Im not allowed to have anything to do with politics because Im sitting in a very freezing cold courtroom for the last four weeks. Its very unfair. They have no case, they have no crime, he said before the news cameras that hes stopped to speak in front of every day during the trial. Trump told the cameras that outside the courtroom was like Fort Knox. He complained that there are more police than Ive ever seen anywhere, and said theres not a civilian within three blocks of the courthouse. That statement is false. States Newsroom attended the trial Monday and witnessed the scene outside the courthouse during the morning, mid-afternoon and late afternoon. Just as dawn broke, people standing in the general-public line vying for the few public seats in the courtroom squabbled over who was in front of whom. About an hour later, a woman with a bullhorn showed up in the adjacent Collect Pond Park to read the Bible and amplify contemporary Christian music played from her phone. A man paced the park holding a sign that read, Trump 2 Terrified 2 Testify. Several people sat outside eating and talking at tables in Collect Pond Park during the 1 p.m. hour, as witnessed by reporters who left the courtroom after Merchan dismissed the jury for lunch. By late afternoon, a small handful of protesters holding Trump flags and signs shouted that he was innocent. The post Trump declines witness stand as testimony in his first trial concludes appeared first on Kansas Reflector. Former President Donald Trump sits in a courtroom next to his lawyer Todd Blanche before the start of the day's proceedings in the Manhattan Criminal court, Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in New York. | Dave Sanders The defense team in former President Donald Trumps criminal trial rested its case Tuesday after hearing from its last witness, attorney Robert Costello. Costellos questioning began Monday afternoon following testimony from Trumps former attorney, Michael Cohen, and continued into Tuesday morning. In his testimony, Costello, a former legal adviser to Cohen, told the court that in a phone call in 2018, Cohen admitted to him that Trump knew nothing about payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, per The New York Times. The hush money payments are central to the 34-count criminal case against Trump. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case, is accusing Trump of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to Daniels to keep her quiet over an alleged affair they had in 2006. Cohen apparently made the payment leading up to the 2016 presidential election. The case against Trump is the first time a former president has been criminally charged in American history. In a video posted on his Truth Social account, Trump addressed the crowd outside the courtroom Tuesday, echoing that this case is unlike anything this country has witnessed. Its a kangaroo court. Theres never been anything like this that Ive ever seen, Trump said. New York is really on trial itself. The whole world is watching to see whats happening. Trump did not testify Although Trump had previously hinted that he would represent himself in the case by taking the stand, he ultimately decided against it. It is not common for defendants to take the stand in their own cases, but he might have sought to personally convince a panel of 12 jurors and six alternates that his aim was to protect his family from embarrassment, not bury a story about an alleged sexual encounter damaging to his political prospects, according to Reuters. However, Trumps eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was present in court supporting his dad on Tuesday, and as he was exiting the courtroom, reporters flooded him with questions about why Trump had decided against testifying before the court. How do you justify this insanity? Look at the clowns that they put on there, Trump Jr. said in a video posted on X. You dont subject yourself to that nonsense. .@DonaldJTrumpJr outside the courthouse in Manhattan on why his dad didnt testify: How do you justify this insanity? Look at the clowns that they put on there. You don't subject yourself to that nonsense. pic.twitter.com/Ch0exT51Rt jake rosen (@JakeMRosen) May 21, 2024 Trump and his supporters have repeatedly accused the New York court system of being biased, the judge of being conflicted and all of the indictments surrounding the presumptive presidential nominee to be politically motivated. Closing arguments to begin next week With both parties having rested their case, Judge Juan Merchan released the jury from the courtroom with news that they did not need to return until next Tuesday. Rather than begin closing arguments on Wednesday, Merchan recommended starting after the three-day weekend to avoid breaks in the summation. After a brief recess, the defense and prosecution returned to court to discuss the instructions Merchan should give the jury. Both parties debated what language should be granted or omitted in the judges jury instructions. The instructions ultimately explain to the 12 jurors on what they must do to reach a verdict. The prosecutors proposed instructions, among other things, ask the judge to give the jury what legal experts said was unusual flexibility in determining whether Mr. Trump had a role in the creation of the false records at the center of the charges, per The New York Times. On the other hand, Trumps lawyers asked the judge to remind jurors that Mr. Cohen had served as a lawyer for Mr. Trump while he worked at the Trump Organization. That could suggest to jurors that the former fixers role as Mr. Trumps lawyer should affect the way they view the case as a whole. The prosecution also wants members of the jury to be aware that they can convict Trump of three possible crimes: manipulating business records, a tax crime or a federal election law violation. Trump has to disavow his COVID vaccine to keep voters from RFK Jr. and his anti-vax clout Picture yourself as a politician, holding the nation's highest office during a generational emergency. You're the president. You take action. You issue executive orders and put $18 billion into play. And it works! The crisis is met. The goal is accomplished. Lives are saved, and Americans start hoping the country is about to bounce back. Sounds like a great victory to trumpet when you seek another term in office, right? Not if you're Donald Trump, the former president who oversaw the Operation Warp Speed development of COVID-19 vaccines. Trump's base despises the vaccines, one of the most significant accomplishments of his one term as president. And now Trump sees Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Democrat-turned-independent candidate for president with a long history of spreading vaccine misinformation, chipping away at that base. Picture yourself as Trump. What do you do now? Trump has to target vaccine remarks from RJK Jr. Former President Donald Trump speaks during the NRA ILA Leadership Forum at the National Rifle Association Annual Meeting & Exhibits at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center on May 18, 2024 in Dallas. Trump, of course, goes on the attack. And, being Trump, he tries to flip the script. The former president, who once hailed the COVID-19 vaccines he ordered into existence as the height of American achievement, now attacks the country's best-known vaccine critic as not hating vaccines enough. Speaking Saturday at a National Rifle Association convention in Dallas, Trump warned the crowd against backing Kennedy, calling him a member of the "radical left" while noting that the independent candidate has at times walked back his criticism of vaccines. The audacity of RFK Jr.: Calling for Biden to drop out of the race shows his enormous sense of entitlement "Don't think about it. Don't waste your vote," Trump told the NRA. "Somebody said, well, they like his policy on vaccines. The other day he said, 'No, no, he'll go for the vaccine.' He's got no policy on anything." Trump, in a May 9 video posted to his social media site Truth Social, also went after Kennedy for maybe not being so anti-vaccine after all. "He said it on a television show that vaccines are fine, and he's all for them," Trump said in his video. "And for those of you that want to vote (for Kennedy) because you think he's anti-vaccine, he's not really an anti-vaxxer." Trump appeared to be describing an April interview Kennedy did on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," where Kennedy was pushed on his vaccine misinformation and said, "I believe if people want the vaccine that they should be able to get it. I'm not anti-vaccine." Trump has to betray one of his presidency's biggest accomplishments It's no shock that Kennedy is slippery when questioned about the thing he's best known for pushing vaccine misinformation. But there was a time when Trump was happy to have the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy in the race, which was expected to draw votes from President Joe Biden in November. Trump's tactics shift with the polling. New numbers from Siena College, The New York Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer last week showed Kennedy drawing a similar number of votes from Biden and Trump. A pharmacist gives a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot in Chicago. Trump on Saturday claimed in his NRA speech that Kennedy draws more Biden supporters than Trump fans. If that were true, why go after Kennedy? Trump made clear he sees the independent as a threat. "We can't waste any votes," Trump said. "We have to win." His problem here is that his "Make America Great Again" base has embraced anti-science nonsense about the very vaccines he pushed the government to create. Will Trump testify? History shows us he is his own worst enemy under oath. KFF, a nonpartisan health policy nonprofit formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation, released a poll in September showing that 84% of Democrats and 54% of independents were very or somewhat confident the COVID-19 vaccines were safe while just 36% of Republicans felt that way. In March, the Pew Research Center reported that, as fears of the pandemic subsided, 42% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said they've received updated COVID-19 boosters while just 15% of Republicans and GOP leaners had. Trump used to be proud of what he achieved with the vaccine That's why we rarely hear Trump brag about his administration's achievement with the vaccines anymore. He doesn't mention them during speeches and rallies, as he often did as president and while seeking a second term in 2020. President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order during the Operation Warp Speed Vaccine Summit in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 8, 2020. Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump's campaign, responded to my questions about that in an email calling the vaccine program "a once-in-a-lifetime initiative that gave people the option of utilizing therapeutics if they wished to do so." Cheung also noted that more people have died from COVID-19 during Biden's first term than during Trump's one term. While Trump doesn't talk about all that, the one-termer left us a long paper trail of archived accolades he awarded to himself and his administration before and after he lost the 2020 election, thanks to the National Archives. The day before he left the White House in January 2021, he claimed in a farewell address that another president might have taken as long as a decade to get vaccines developed. "They said it couldnt be done but we did it," Trump said then. "They call it a medical miracle, and thats what theyre calling it right now: a medical miracle." On Dec. 27, 2020, he called the vaccine program "a tremendous success." Earlier that month, he called it "a monumental national achievement." Trump, speaking 10 days after the 2020 election, touted "the single greatest mobilization in U.S. history." And he said this 17 days after the election: "You wouldn't have a vaccine if it weren't for me." Now, Trump is campaigning on promises to limit vaccine access Trump now campaigns for another term as president by vowing to deny federal funding for any school with a vaccine mandate, as he did Saturday in his NRA speech. This "I will not give one penny" pledge is a standard part of his campaign rally speech. That line usually draws cheers. And it puts Trump's ignorance on full display for crowds that really seem to dig it. Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store. States have long required some vaccinations for students who attend public schools, with some offering medical or religious exemptions. If you went to a public school and cheered Trump's not-one-penny line, there's a solid chance your parents had you vaccinated for polio, measles, chicken pox and other maladies before you ever walked into a classroom. But, hey, who cares about all that when Trump is feeding his fans the toxic stew of culture war conflict they crave? Trump clearly doesn't care. He only stops bragging about accomplishments, like the COVID-19 vaccines, when they no longer prompt applause. Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump targets RFK Jr. in an attempt to keep anti-vax MAGA voters After Tuesday nights runoff, politicians, candidates and campaign advisers across the state agree on one thing: former President Donald Trumps endorsement is the gold standard to get elected as a Republican in North Carolina. So is his influence, coupled with state lawmakers ability to hand-draw congressional districts, leaving voters with less of a true say on who is representing them? On the surface, it seems that way. Ten of North Carolinas 14 congressional districts are drawn to favor Republicans, with five of those 10 having incumbents. Only two of the remaining districts drew in large crowds of candidates this year. And once voters chose their top two candidates, Trump got involved. In the 13th Congressional District, Trumps endorsement of one candidate led the other to drop out as voters were casting ballots in the runoff. In the 6th district, Trump had endorsed the top vote-getter in the primary, and once the second-place candidate was able to ask for a runoff, Trump instead hired him, allowing his candidate to win. But GOP leaders tend to agree that even though it seems like Trumps influence has stripped voters of some of their role in choosing their representatives, Trumps views align with what a Republican voter wants. Jonathan Felts, a campaign adviser for both of those Trump-endorsed primary winners, said he does not believe Trumps influence is diluting voters choice at the polls. The Trump endorsement is without question the best asset any Republican primary candidate can have, but its misleading to suggest voters are not the ones determining winners and losers in primaries, Felts told McClatchy in a written statement. Voters support Trump-endorsed candidates because those candidates most closely align with primary voters and President Trump on policy. To be clear, the Trump endorsement is the bonafide voters care most about, but thats because President Trumps MAGA agenda most closely aligns with where GOP primary voters are on policy. Both candidates won Trump endorsements on their own merits, Felts said, although he acknowledged another factor played a role: the intervention of Sen. Ted Budd, who vouched for McDowell to Trump and helped broker a meeting between Trump and Knott. Trumps endorsement On March 5, 13th district Republican voters selected Johnston County attorney Kelly Daughtry as their nominee, ahead of 13 other candidates. But with so many people in the race, she wasnt able to secure the more than 30% needed to stop the second-place candidate from asking for a runoff election. Enter Brad Knott. Knott, a former federal prosecutor, finished more than 7,000 votes and 9 points behind Daughtry, but was allowed to request a runoff. And he did. He then hired Felts and Michael Luethy as campaign advisers. Felts and Luethy have become campaign mainstays in North Carolina with connections to both traditional national Republican figures and the Trump world that have helped their candidates succeed. It happened in 2022, when then-Rep. Ted Budd chose to take on former Gov. Pat McCrory and former Rep. Mark Walker to run for Senate. McCrory had statewide name recognition that many thought would make him a shoo-in for the job. But when Budd was able to pull off a surprise Trump endorsement, followed by funding from Republican super-PAC Club for Growth Action, everything changed. Former President Trumps endorsement has now become the most important factor for House and Senate candidates in primaries throughout the nation, McCrory told McClatchy Wednesday. Ted Budd and (Sen.) J.D. Vance were the initial major national beneficiaries of this post-January 6 endorsement trend which clearly has had a continued impact on future elections over old-school factors including candidate experience, conservative track record, qualifications, name ID, debates, consultants and fundraising. Nothing else but the Trump endorsement really matters in Republican primaries. He added that it has become apparent that the majority of the Republican primary voters base their vote on Trumps endorsement. The endorsement is skipping the formality of actual voting, similar to wasting time voting in general elections in already predetermined gerrymandered districts, McCrory said. I wish I would have foreseen this new political norm in my 2022 primary Senate race. Its disconcerting but political reality. Daughtrys campaign The Trump factor and its effect was obvious to the Daughtry campaign. On April 5, exactly one month after the primary and 39 days before her runoff, Trump posted on his own social media site his endorsement of Knott, with an attack against Daughtry to boot. Brad Knott is a strong patriot who is running for Congress in North Carolinas 13th Congressional District against a RINO, Kelly Daughtry, who has given money to Far Left Democrats, pledged to vote for Obama, and is no friend to MAGA, Trump posted on Truth Social, with his complete and total endorsement. Susan Roberts, a political science professor at Davidson College, said it is unusual for Trump to attack a candidate in his endorsements, though he has been known to call a candidate weak. She added that calling someone a RINO, which means Republican in name only, seemingly has an impact on voters. Luke Stancil, Daughtrys senior advisor, told McClatchy that that impact was immediately clear. Daughtrys internal polling went from 20 points ahead to 30 points behind. And, he said, Trumps words made it increasingly difficult for Daughtry on the grassroots level. Any campaign event she attended, she would have to answer for whether she was a real Republican. It was kind of her word, against the presidents, Stancil said. Stancil, who was an administration official for McCrory, said he saw this play out when McCrory ran for Senate. Its disheartening that a good conservative governor like Pat McCrory can have his image nearly tarnished with Republicans because of the Trump endorsement, Stancil said. We should be about ideas, we should be about results, but were a party of what one man says now. With just a week left in the race, Daughtry walked away from her campaign. But since there wasnt an official way to end a runoff after ballots had already been cast, she had to witness the actual damage Trump did to her campaign. Knott finished 17,590 votes ahead of Daughtry, who only took in 1,991. Knott secured more than 90% of the vote. However, its not clear what Daughtrys total would have been had she not announced she was withdrawing. This race was a high-profile juggernaut race and if the president stayed out, Kelly Daughtry wins, Stancil said. That does not diminish the value and the type of campaign that Brad Knott ran. They ran the long game. They knew what they needed to do to secure the victory and they followed their game plan and they won. Redistricting State Republican lawmakers redrew North Carolinas 13th district to favor a Republican to win, so while Knott still has to face off against his Democratic opponent, Frank Pierce, Knott is likely the next member of Congress to represent the district. Rep. Wiley Nickel, a Democrat from Cary who currently represents the Triangle district, chose not to run for reelection, knowing his chances of winning, based on the new district, were slim to none. And watching Trump change the outcome of an election frustrated him even more. Voters in the 13th District had absolutely no say in this election, Nickel said. The winning Republican candidate is someone whos totally loyal to Donald Trump and is going to Washington to work for Donald Trump, not for the majority of the constituents in this new 13th District. The districts, which are currently split evenly between seven Democrats and seven Republicans, are likely to be represented next year by at least 10 Republicans and at least three Democrats, with one spot up for grabs. The 1st Congressional District in the states far northeast is the only true swing district. Besides Nickel, both Reps. Jeff Jackson and Kathy Manning, Democrats from Charlotte and Greensboro, respectively, announced their retirements, knowing it was impossible to win reelection. House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican from Cleveland County, is likely to replace Jackson. Addison McDowell, a Republican and former lobbyist living in Davidson County, will replace Manning. Both have been endorsed by Trump. Hes also endorsed Reps. Virginia Foxx and Richard Hudson, as well as Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson for governor and Rep. Dan Bishop for attorney general. Roberts said voters often look to the party for a cue on who to vote for, but it used to be that parties would infrequently endorse candidates in primaries. She said in researching primaries, she has found that has happened more frequently, especially under Trump. She added that its typically based not on ideology, but on what Trump does. Roberts said primaries have become more expensive, more competitive and more contentious in recent years, and when you add Trump in as a factor, thats a challenge for party leadership. 6th District North Carolina was set to have another runoff, before Trump got involved. In the 6th district, based in the Triad, McDowell finished first with 26% of the vote. Walker finished behind him with 24%. Trump has a history of snubbing Walker, most recently endorsing McDowell over Walker and their four other opponents ahead of the March 5 primary. And Walker has been known to publicly attack the former president, despite regularly seeking his endorsement during campaigns. But within days of Walker asking for a runoff against McDowell, Trump hired Walker to serve on his campaign as director of faith groups and minority communities. Walker accepted the position and Trump prevented a runoff. President Trumps endorsements still matter and help turn out the electorate, said Jonathan Bridges, Walkers campaign spokesman. Primary Republican voters want members of Congress who will work with Trump to secure the border and fix the economy. The Ted Budd effect But Bridges honed in on something else he believes helped both Knott and McDowell, other than Trump. Another driving force behind McDowells and Knotts victories was the support from Senator Budd, Bridges said. McDowell worked as a district director for Budd when Budd was a House member. His brother, a lobbyist, is friends with Donald Trump Jr. Knotts brother, Tucker, is chief of staff for Budd. Bridges pointed to the political influence they share and the connections they have to Budd. Stancil agreed, characterizing it more succinctly. Ted Budd is Donald Trumps man in North Carolina, Stancil said. And his chief of staff is Brad Knotts brother, and thats totally fine, thats politics. Im not vindictive towards Ted Budd, or you know, saying anything bad against him. Im just saying he has the presidents ear. Knott and McDowells political connections opened up their abilities to get meetings with Trump. Budd is playing kingmaker right now with a Trump endorsement because he has the presidents ear, Stancil said. Felts did not deny Budds involvement in the races, but said it was his candidates who got the endorsements over the finish line. Ted Budd was helpful but the candidates have to do the heavy-lifting to win a Trump endorsement and win the election, said Felts, who also advised Budds Senate campaign. Ted vouched for Addison McDowell to Trump but it was Addison who had to meet with the President and make his case. Ted helped secure a meeting for Brad, but it was Brad and Brads record that secured the Trump endorsement. Felts said candidates need to be viewed as authentic, both to Trump and the voter. President Trumps authenticity is a big part of his appeal, Felts said. Voters believe what he says in public is what he says in private. If voters think a candidate is not authentic, their support is going to be soft at best. He said both Walker and Daughtry came off as inauthentic. Felts said Walker spent the past two years dismissing the Trump endorsement and criticizing the former president but his campaign was all Trump all the time. And Daughtrys campaign was dinged for a Facebook comment she made about her support of former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and for giving donations to Democratic candidates in the past. Her campaign theme was, Im one of you, Felts said. I grew up here! You know me! MAGA! MAGA! MAGA! And voters thought, We do know you. And this is not who you are. Stancil said such attacks didnt take into account the tens of thousands she gave to Republicans across the nation, or the hundreds of thousands her family has given to Republicans. Felts said Trump endorsed McDowell because he had an authentic motivation for running voters could relate to, and he endorsed Knott because he spent most of his career prosecuting illegal aliens, drug dealers, and other hardened criminals. When Brad Knott discusses law and order, a key pillar of the Trump agenda, he sounds authentic. Roberts said that though Knotts immigration stances work in a primary election, they might not work in the general election, where he has to win over both parties. She said another factor that voters pay attention to in primaries is electability going into the general election. People may say its ideology or policy positions, but I think its also who can best beat the Democrat because if you dont win, you cant play, Roberts said. Asking for an endorsement Stancil told McClatchy that Daughtrys campaign did not reach out to Trump for an endorsement. They were under the false belief he was staying out of the race due to his pending litigation, Stancil said. Stancil also said he heard from opponents campaigns that they had unsuccessfully sought meetings with the former president for that same purpose and that Trump would not be getting involved. In hindsight, that our opponent did (ask for an endorsement), there should have been a stronger push, but we were trying to make it about the issues of our district, Stancil said. NC Reality Check is an N&O series holding those in power accountable and shining a light on public issues that affect the Triangle or North Carolina. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@newsobserver.com Members of the UN Security Council on Monday observed a minute of silence to mourn the deaths of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other passengers in Sunday's helicopter crash. #XinhuaNews Former President Trump suggested Tuesday that he was open to letting states restrict access to birth control and that his campaign would be releasing a very comprehensive policy shortly. When asked during an interview with Pittsburghs KDKA whether he supported restricting a persons right to birth control, Trump did not rule it out. Were looking at that, and Im going to have a policy on that very shortly, and I think its something that youll find interesting, he said. When pressed about whether that meant he was open to states banning specific types of birth control such as Plan B, the morning-after pill, Trump indicated he supported leaving the decision to the states. Things really do have a lot to do with the states, and some states are going to have different policies than others, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee said, adding that more details would be coming within a week or so. Trump has a history of punting uncomfortable questions by saying a plan will be coming in two weeks. In an interview with Time magazine last month, Trump said a big statement on mailing abortion pills and enforcement of the Comstock Act was coming over the next 14 days. When the reporter followed up with a phone call two weeks later, Trump again said a statement would be coming over the next week or two. Trump has long avoided directly commenting on hot-button policy topics such as abortion and contraception that have been tripping up Republicans ever since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Still, Trump regularly takes credit for the decision, and he did so again Tuesday. We did something that everybody wanted: We got rid of Roe v. Wade, Trump said. But the former president has avoided saying just how much hell limit abortion rights if he returns to the White House next year. He dodged a question Tuesday about whether he would veto a national abortion ban, saying, I dont think thered be any reason for it. In a Tuesday post on his Truth Social platform, Trump emphasized he WILL NEVER ADVOCATE IMPOSING RESTRICTIONS ON BIRTH CONTROL. Trump has taken the position that abortion policy should be left up to the states. But that, too, has prompted attacks, including from some on the right who expressed disappointment the former president was not embracing a federal minimum standard for abortion. President Biden and his campaign team have been sounding the alarm on what a second Trump term will mean for women and reproductive rights, and a Biden-Harris campaign spokesperson said Trumps comments show Republicans are clearly targeting birth control. Women across the country are already suffering from Donald Trumps post-Roe nightmare, and if he wins a second term, its clear he wants to go even further by restricting access to birth control and emergency contraceptives, Sarafina Chitika said in a statement. Its not enough for Trump that womens lives are being put at risk, doctors are being threatened with jail time, and extreme bans are being enacted with no exceptions for rape or incest. He wants to rip away our freedom to access birth control too, Chitika said. Updated at 2:16 p.m. ET 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 The Hill. Trump lashes out after DOJ reveals classified documents were found in ex-presidents bedroom at Mar-a-Lago Former President Donald Trump has furiously reacted after an unsealed opinion revealed that classified documents were found in his bedroom during a raid of his Mar-a-Lago property (AP) Donald Trump has lashed out once again at Joe Biden and the US Department of Justice after classified documents were found in his bedroom at Mar-a-Lago. The former president, in a typically loud post on his social media platform Truth Social, claimed that FBI agents had been authorized to use deadly force during the unconstitutional raid of his Florida property. Four documents marked classified were found in Mr Trumps personal bedroom, according to a newly unsealed opinion by by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell. The 87-page document found prosecutors had presented compelling evidence that the former president had knowingly stashed national security documents in his home and then tried to conceal them when the DOJ tried to retrieve them. In his online post, Mr Trump wrote: WOW! I just came out of the Biden Witch Hunt Trial in Manhattan, the Icebox, and was shown Reports that Crooked Joe Bidens DOJ, in their Illegal and UnConstitutional Raid of Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE. NOW WE KNOW, FOR SURE, THAT JOE BIDEN IS A SERIOUS THREAT TO DEMOCRACY. HE IS MENTALLY UNFIT TO HOLD OFFICE 25TH AMENDMENT. The FBIs August 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago confirmed that dozens of other classified documents remained on the property. In her opinion Judge Howell noted there were at least two more rounds of classified materials found at Mar-a-Lago following additional searches. Two months after the former president yielded 38 unique classified documents to the government on June 3, 2022, the government discovered over 100 additional classified documents stored in Mar-a-Lago during execution of the August 8, 2022 search warrant that the former president had failed to deliver, the opinion stated. The documents were classified to levels as high as TOP SECRET, with some documents bearing additional sensitive compartment indications; undoubtedly, these documents contained national defense information. It went on: More classified-marked documents still were uncovered in November 2022 in a leased storage unit, in December 2022 in the Office at Mar-a-Lago, and apparently sometime thereafter in the former presidents own bedroom at Mar-a-Lago. Judge Howells opinion was unsealed along with a large batch of other previously secret grand jury-related documents stemming from the investigation into Mr Trump for withholding reams of classified documents after leaving office in 2021, including some of the nations most sensitive military secrets. US District Judge Aileen Cannon released the batch of documents on Tuesday after lengthy negotiations with special counsel Jack Smiths team and the former presidents lawyers. In her opinion Judge Howell later wrote that: Notably, no excuse is provided as to how the former president could miss the classified-marked documents found in his own bedroom at Mar-a-Lago. (Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump raised more money last month than Joe Biden for the first time in this election cycle, but the presidents campaign still holds a wide financial edge over his Republican rival. Most Read from Bloomberg Biden and the Democratic Party raised $51 million in April, compared to the $76 million Trump and the Republican National Committee amassed, according to federal filings. The president entered May with $192 million cash on hand, more than double what his opponent reported having in the bank. Trumps fundraising boost comes on the heels of attending several high-dollar fundraisers, including a Palm Beach event hosted by billionaire John Paulson, and garnering support from major donors in the oil and gas sector. The campaigns, political parties and key super political action committees supporting them filed their monthly reports to the Federal Election Commission. Heres how they stack up: Joe Biden Biden and the Democratic National Committee raised $51 million in April and ended the month with $192 million cash on hand Future Forward PAC, Bidens designated super PAC, raised $16 million and had $57 million cash on hand Bidens reelection effort has amassed a record amount for a Democratic nominee at this point in the election season. While his April fundraising haul was eclipsed by Trumps, he still has a sizable advantage in cash on hand. Unlike Trump, who faced an expensive primary campaign, Biden faced only token opposition and has been able to stockpile cash for November. His major fundraisers in April included an event hosted by Michael Douglas, the actor and film producer who played Gordon Gekko in the 1987 film Wall Street, but the campaigns small-dollar donors accounted for the majority of the haul. Bigger contributors include Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, Bain Capitals Josh Bekenstein and hedge fund manager Tom Steyer. Biden also got donations from Chuck Lorre, co-creator of The Big Bang Theory, producer Lee Daniels and actress Dana Delany. The campaign added one million supporters to its email list in the month. Recurring donors accounted for $5.5 million of the total, and there are 225,000 donors who have committed to contributing every month. Biden and the DNC are tapping into the record war chest that his campaign and the Democratic Party have built. Theyve opened 150 field offices in battleground states to get out the vote. The Biden campaign has bought $34 million worth of media since Trump clinched the GOP nomination in March, while the former president has spent less than $70,000 on advertising, according to AdImpact. Outside groups supporting Biden, led by his main super political action committee, the Future Forward PAC, have pledged more than $1 billion to back him. LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman gave Future Forward PAC $7 million, while GitHub co-founder Chris Wanstrath gave $500,000. Pro-Biden super PAC American Bridge 21st Century raised $7.1 million and ended April with $12 million cash on hand. The group, which has pledged to spend $140 million focusing on women and working class voters using research conducted in swing states, received donations of $4.8 million from venture capitalist Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital and $2.6 million from hedge fund manager George Soros Democracy PAC. Donald Trump Trump raised $76 million in April for his campaign and the GOP. His campaign and the Republican National Committee ended the month with $89 million cash on hand His designated super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. raised $12.8 million and started May with $34.5 million Trumps first full month of raising money as his partys presumptive nominee resulted in large donations from prominent donors. Among those writing big checks were Continental Resourcess Harold Hamm, Syed Anwar of Midland Energy and Cantor Fitzgeralds Howard Lutnick. Other big donors include investment banker Warren Stephens, real estate and aerospace entrepreneur Robert Bigelow and TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts. Hes increasingly relying on wealthy donors to narrow the gap with Biden, though his campaign said half of his haul in April came from small-dollar contributors. Make America Great Again Inc., Trumps allied super PAC, got a $10 million contribution from investor Timothy Mellon and $1 million from Hamms Continental Resources. The Republican Jewish Coalition raised another $1 million for the super PAC. Hamm is co-hosting a fundraiser Wednesday for the super PAC in Texas. Save America, the leadership PAC that pays most of Trumps legal bills, took in $9 million, $6 million of which was transferred from an entity that raises money from small-dollar donors. It spent $4.3 million, including $3.3 million for legal fees. It ended April with $8.8 million in the bank. Trump has been sidelined from the campaign trail in a criminal trial in Manhattan that entered its sixth week on Monday. Prosecutors accuse him of falsifying business records related to hush money payments made in the 2016 election, allegations that he denies. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy raised $10.7 million in April and started May with $10.1 million cash on hand. His allied super political action committee raised $6.2 million and had $20.9 million in the bank. Picking Nicole Shanahan, the ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, as his running mate has paid big dividends for Kennedys longshot independent effort. She donated $8 million to his campaign in April, funding his effort to secure ballot access as he mounts an independent challenge to Biden and Trump. American Values 2024, Kennedys allied super PAC, received a $5 million contribution from Mellon, who has also donated to Trumps super PAC, and $1 million from Mark Gorton, founder of high-frequency trading giant Tower Research Capital. (Updates with more Biden donors in the seventh paragraph) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. As Donald Trumps New York City criminal trial comes to a close, the former president has been increasingly surrounded by loyalists and defenders who decry what they see as a grave miscarriage of justice: a witch hunt aimed at undercutting a wildly popular leader; a show trial out of Stalinist Russia. On Tuesday, as his defense rested without Trump taking the stand, his political posse once more gathered outside the Manhattan courthouse. This time, however, their argument was slightly different: Trump isnt just a victimhes a regular guy being beaten down and persecuted by a vast cabal of venomous elites. What happens to any of you if the courts in New York come after any of you because of something you said? Because you said something that the ruling class didnt like? Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said Tuesday. Thats what these other countries are all about. They shut down the ruling class. They want to be sure that anyone that speaks up against the ruling class disappears. They want Donald Trump to disappear, they want to send him to jail, they want to take him off the main stage, because they know hes their biggest danger to taking the ruling class, Patrick continued before being cut off by a reporter, who asked if he didnt consider Trump to be a member of that ruling class. No! the Texas politician squeaked, turning toward the reporter. Donald Trump is not a member of the ruling class. As Patrick folded back into the sycophantic crowd, former deputy assistant to the president Sebastian Gorka attempted to further shut down the idea that Trumpwho served as president from 2016 to 2020, claims a net worth in the billions, and is currently running to reclaim the highest position in the American governmentis a member of the ruling class. Would a member of the ruling class be facing 730 years in prison? What a pathetic question, Gorka mocked while clad in Trumps signature courtroom combo of blue suit, white shirt, and extra-long red tie. And hes a member of the elite? Thats pathetic. Youre not a journalist. Last year, Trump and his namesake company were found guilty of vastly inflating the worth of their assets by at least $812 million. Trumps actual net worth is unclearand it has recently taken a sizable hit as a result of numerous multimillion-dollar damagesbut he is undoubtedly a millionaire several times over and owns a number of lavish properties. He has recently seen a windfall thanks to his ownership of Truth Social, a media and technology company that lost more than $300 million in the first quarter of 2024 but is nevertheless worth billions thanks to an overinflated stock market valuation. Trump is accused of using his former fixer Michael Cohen to sweep an affair with porn star Stormy Daniels under the rug ahead of the 2016 presidential election. He faces 34 felony charges in this case for allegedly falsifying business records with the intent to further an underlying crime. Trump has pleaded not guilty on all counts. Patrick: What happens when the courts come after you because you said something that the ruling class didnt like? Thats what these other countries are all about. They shut down the ruling class. They want to be sure that anyone who speaks up against ruling class disappears pic.twitter.com/YGYXUlr6Q5 Acyn (@Acyn) May 21, 2024 icon Semafor Signals Supported by Microsoft logo Insights from Politico, CNN, and The Atlantic Arrow Down Title icon The News Donald Trump declined to testify Tuesday as his hush-money trial in New York entered its final phase. Closing arguments are expected to begin next week in the first ever criminal trial of a former US president and the only one of Trumps four criminal cases to be prosecuted before Novembers presidential election. The prosecutions star witness and Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen testified that Trump was directly involved in falsifying business records to reimburse him for a $130,000 payment made to keep adult film star Stormy Daniels quiet about her alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump and protect him ahead of the 2016 election. Trump faces 34 felony charges in the case. icon SIGNALS Semafor Signals: Global insights on today's biggest stories. Trump could be angling for a mistrial Source icon Sources: Politico, Semafor, The Atlantic For Trump, a mistrial might be nearly as good as an acquittal, Politico wrote. The judge would be forced to declare a mistrial if the jury cant reach a unanimous decision, and the prosecution could opt to try Trump again. But that would introduce significant delays that benefit Trumps team, which has sought to stall his legal troubles until after the November presidential election, when Trump if reelected would be in an unprecedented position to terminate the federal cases against him. Trumps conviction hinges on Cohens credibility Source icon Source: CNN Trumps defense did score some points while cross-examining Michael Cohen, the prosecutions primary witness whose testimony is key to the case. Cohen was always deemed a problematic witness, given that he is a disbarred attorney and a convicted perjurer, and Trumps lawyers need to create reasonable doubt in the minds of just one juror to open the possibility of a hung jury or an acquittal, CNNs political reporter Stephen Collinson wrote. However, that seems unlikely, CNNs legal analyst Norman Eisen argued, and the case is still the prosecutions to lose. Trump trial is a mini Republican National Convention Source icon Sources: MSNBC, CNN, Semafor This criminal trial has become a miniature version of the Republican National Convention, MSNBC columnist Hayes Brown wrote, providing a venue for GOP elites and wannabes alike to share Trumps spotlight in hope of currying his favor. As of Monday, more than 30 Republicans, including vice presidential hopefuls like North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, as well as House Speaker Mike Johnson had made the trek to Manhattan to stand by Trump. Their attendance doesnt just prove loyalty to a potential president; theyre also there to criticize the people Trumps gag order bars him from talking about and to undermine the integrity of the case. Semafor Logo Trump raises more money than Biden for first time this year Donald Trump's hush money trial in New York proved little hindrance to fundraising in April - Michael M. Santiago/Pool via REUTERS Donald Trumps campaign last month raised more cash than Joe Bidens for the first time in 2024, after the former president wooed big money donors and capitalised on his criminal trial. The presumptive Republican nominee pulled in $76 million (60 million) in donations in April, trouncing the $51 million the Biden campaign claimed it had raised. The former presidents April total was bolstered by a record-setting $50.5 million fundraiser at the Florida home of billionaire investor John Paulson. His campaign has also been firing off daily, dramatically-worded fundraising appeals to small donors who rallied to support him when he was first charged in his New York hush money case last year. Joe Biden still has a much bigger war chest despite raising less in April - AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin Karoline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokesman, said the fundraising haul over Biden is especially remarkable when you consider he [Mr Trump] has been confined to a courtroom for nearly nine hours a day over the past four weeks. Mr Trumps donations are also being used to pay his ballooning legal fees. His Save America group submitted a filing to the Federal Election Commission on Monday showing more than $3.3 million in legal expenditures during the month. Mr Bidens monthly sum was down notably from a $90 million March total which was boosted by a string of post-State of the Union events, including a fundraiser with former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama at New Yorks Radio City Music Hall, which raised $26 million. But the Democrat leader still boasts a larger war chest than his opponent. Bidens campaign reported to the Federal Election Commission that it had around $84 million in the bank at the end of April. The Trump campaign reported having $49 million. Aprils haul reflects strong, consistent grassroots enthusiasm, Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement. Trumps operation continues to burn through cash and lag behind our growing and aggressive campaign, with no ground game and no demonstrable interest in talking to the voters they need to win. In June, the Biden campaign is planning another major fundraiser featuring Hollywood stars George Clooney and Julia Roberts in Los Angeles. Mr Trumps campaign said in March that it would be unable to match Mr Bidens fundraising totals this year. Mr Trump won the 2016 presidential election despite being outraised by Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Mr Biden and Mr Trump are tied in national polls with just over five months to go before the Nov 5 election. Recent polls show Mr Trump has the edge in the battleground states that will decide the election. 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. Donald Trump signaled in an interview with a local Pittsburgh TV station that he is open to restricting access to birth control. KDKA aired an interview with the former president shortly after his defense team rested its case in his criminal hush-money trial in New York. Do you support any restrictions on a persons right to contraception? host Jon Delano asked. Were looking at that, and Im going to have a policy on that very shortly and I think its something that youll find interesting, Trump replied. You will find it very smart. I think its a smart decision. Q: Do you support any restrictions on a persons right to contraception? Trump: Were looking at that pic.twitter.com/ycrP7rCQL4 Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) May 21, 2024 Well be releasing it very soon, he added. Trump has often promised to release policy proposals soon and then never delivering perhaps most notably as he was working to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Democrats 2010 health care law, during his first term in office. Its unlikely a proposal to limit contraception will be released considering Trump later on Truth Social denied he was ever considering it. I HAVE NEVER, AND WILL NEVER ADVOCATE IMPOSING RESTRICTIONS ON BIRTH CONTROL, or other contraceptives, he wrote. This is a Democrat fabricated lie, MISINFORMATION/DISINFORMATION, because they have nothing else to run on except FAILURE, POVERTY, AND DEATH. I DO NOT SUPPORT A BAN ON BIRTH CONTROL, AND NEITHER WILL THE REPUBLICAN PARTY! But Trumps comments are still alarming, given the nationwide assault on womens health care in the wake of the Supreme Court killing Roe v. Wade in 2022. The former president has long taken credit for the decision, as he appointed three justices to the court, giving conservatives a 6-3 supermajority. The conservative movement has long teased the idea of restricting access to birth control, but theyve moved beyond wishcasting with a potential second Trump term on the horizon. Rolling Stone reported last year on how Republicans Project 2025 plan a wide-ranging suite of right-wing policy for Trump to enact if he retakes the White House would wreak havoc on womens health care. It includes a proposal to end the Affordable Care Acts contraception mandate, and could even result in the arrest and prosecution of anyone who sends abortion medication or emergency contraception in the mail. Trump has tried and largely failed to paint himself as a moderate on abortion, claiming publicly that he wants the issue to be left to the states while also entertaining the idea of a national ban. Regardless, theres little doubt that womens health care will be in the crosshairs should he win in November. President Bidens team was quick to respond to Trumps comments. Women across the country are already suffering from Donald Trumps post-Roe nightmare, and if he wins a second term, its clear he wants to go even further by restricting access to birth control and emergency contraceptives, spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement provided to Rolling Stone. Its not enough for Trump that womens lives are being put at risk, doctors are being threatened with jail time, and extreme bans are being enacted with no exceptions for rape or incest. He wants to rip away our freedom to access birth control too. More from Rolling Stone Best of Rolling Stone Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday was asked if he supports any restrictions on a persons right to contraception. (Photo of a package of birth control pills by Getty Images) WASHINGTON Donald Trump, the Republican Partys presumptive nominee for president, suggested during a taped interview with a Pittsburgh TV news station Tuesday that he might be open to states restricting access to contraceptives, though he later appeared to backtrack. Were looking at that and Im going to have a policy on that very shortly and I think its something that youll find interesting, Trump said on KDKA. Its another issue thats very interesting. But you will find it very smart. I think its a smart decision, but well be releasing it very soon. Trump had been asked if he supports any restrictions on a persons right to contraception. Trump later added that things really do have a lot to do with the states. And some states are going to have different policies than others. That comment came just after being asked if he may want to support some restrictions, like the morning-after pill or something? The former president, who is currently on trial for allegedly facilitating hush money payments to an adult film actress during his 2016 campaign to cover up a prior affair, later posted on his social media platform that he wasnt advocating for birth control restrictions. I HAVE NEVER, AND WILL NEVER ADVOCATE IMPOSING RESTRICTIONS ON BIRTH CONTROL, or other contraceptives, Trump wrote. This is a Democrat fabricated lie MISINFORMATION/DISINFORMATION, because they have nothing else to run on except FAILURE, POVERTY, AND DEATH. I DO NOT SUPPORT A BAN ON BIRTH CONTROL, AND NEITHER WILL THE REPUBLICAN PARTY! Supreme Court rulings The U.S. Supreme Court has twice ruled in favor of privacy rights for decisions about contraceptives, meaning that any state looking to restrict or ban access to birth control would quickly see that law challenged in federal court. In the1965 Griswold v. Connecticut case, the justices struck down a Connecticut law that prevented married couples from using birth control, writing that the right to privacy can be inferred from several amendments in the Bill of Rights, and this right prevents states from making the use of contraception by married couples illegal. The Supreme Court later ruled in the 1972 Eisenstadt v. Baird case that the same privacy rights that protected married couples decision-making about contraceptives also protected unmarried people. In that case, the justices held that unmarried couples have the right to use contraception, based on the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the more nebulous constitutional right to privacy. Biden-Harris spokesperson Sarafina Chitika released a written statement Tuesday that Trumps comments show he wants to rip away our freedom to access birth control. Women across the country are already suffering from Donald Trumps post-Roe nightmare, and if he wins a second term, its clear he wants to go even further by restricting access to birth control and emergency contraceptives, Chitika wrote. Its not enough for Trump that womens lives are being put at risk, doctors are being threatened with jail time, and extreme bans are being enacted with no exceptions for rape or incest. KDKA-TV Money & Politics Editor Jon Delano posted on social media that viewers interested in the Trump interview could tune in at 4, 5, and 6 to hear comments on the trial, abortion, contraceptives, the economy, energy, trade, and the fairness of PAs election. The Biden campaign posted clips of the interview on their social media account, but it didnt appear available anywhere else prior to KDKAs airing. Other policy hints from Trump Trump has teased out providing clear policy plans before, telling Time magazine in an April interview that his campaign would put out details in the weeks ahead about his strong views on access to mifepristone. The campaign had not done so as of Tuesday afternoon. The pharmaceutical is one of two drugs used in medication abortions and is currently in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices heard oral arguments in the case in March and are expected to decide this summer whether to leave the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations prescribing guidelines in place or revert to what was used before changes began taking effect in 2016. Trump said during the Time magazine interview that he wasnt going to explain his beliefs about access to mifepristone just then. Well, I have an opinion on that, but Im not going to explain, Trump said, according to the transcript of the interview. Im not gonna say it yet. But I have pretty strong views on that. And Ill be releasing it probably over the next week. The post Trump signals hes open to state limits on contraceptive access, then insists hes not appeared first on North Dakota Monitor. By Miranda Murray CANNES, France (Reuters) - Donald Trump would likely be surprised by "The Apprentice," director Ali Abbasi said on Tuesday of his biopic about Trump's early years as a real estate mogul, adding he was open to meeting with the former U.S. president to discuss the film. "The Apprentice," which shares the name of a reality TV series hosted and produced by Trump that made him a household name, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday, receiving an eight-minute ovation and mixed reviews from critics. Abbasi said he hoped the film would hit theatres in mid-September, ahead of a November U.S. election that Trump, 77, is contesting as Republican presidential candidate. "I don't necessarily think that this is a movie that (Trump) would dislike, I don't necessarily think he would like it, I think that he would be surprised," Abbasi, who was born in Iran, said at a news briefing. Following the premiere, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign said it would be filing a lawsuit against the film over "blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers." "Everybody talks about him suing a lot of people, they don't talk about his success rate though," said Abbasi when asked about the threat of a lawsuit. Trump's team should watch the movie "before they start suing us, because I think once you're inside that character, it feels different, and we're inside that character," he said. The story focuses on Trump's time under the tutelage of lawyer and prosecutor Roy Cohn, a political fixer who is portrayed in the TV drama "Succession" by Jeremy Strong. Sebastian Stan, who made his name in the Captain America trilogy, plays Trump as he evolves from his early career years as an upstart working for his father's business to a brazen, self-centred tycoon. Stan described his preparation for the role as a 24/7 immersion process to understand Trump beyond his media personality. "He is a human being like everybody else so I guess we all have certain codes and certain principles, it just depends on what they are. I guess it's relative to everybody," Stan said at the briefing. (This story has been refiled to say that Trump is running as the Republican candidate in the U.S. election, and to removes reference to polling, in paragraph 3) (Reporting by Miranda Murray; Editing by Bernadette Baum) Signs showing support for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange are seen in a protest outside the High Court in London, Britain, on March 26, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Ying) Permission to appeal was to be granted only if the U.S. government was unable to provide the court with suitable assurances that Assange can rely on the First Amendment (free speech) for protection. LONDON, May 20 (Xinhua) -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Monday won a victory in his ongoing battle against extradition from the United Kingdom (UK) to the United States, after the High Court in London granted him permission to appeal. Permission to appeal was to be granted only if the U.S. government was unable to provide the court with suitable assurances that Assange can rely on the First Amendment (free speech) for protection. The U.S. government had to prove that Assange, who is Australian, will not be prejudiced at trial due to his nationality, and will be afforded the same protections as a U.S. citizen. The U.S. side also had to provide assurance that Assange would not be sentenced to death if convicted. Assange's legal team criticized the assurances provided by the U.S. government at the hearing, arguing that "based on the principle of the separation of powers, the U.S. court can and will apply U.S. law, whatever the executive may say or do." Most of the assurances were "blatantly inadequate," said Edward Fitzgerald KC, representing Assange. However, the U.S.' assurance on the death penalty was accepted by Assange's legal team. A sign showing support for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen in a protest outside the United Kingdom (UK) High Court in London, Britain, on Feb. 21, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Ying) The lawyer said in written submissions that while the assurance on the death penalty was "an unambiguous executive promise," the other assurances do not give "any reliable promise as to future action." Assange supporters cheered at the news of the court's ruling. He was not in court on Monday for health reasons, but those present included his wife Stella. "The judges reached the right decision... As a family we are relieved, but how long can this go on? The United States should read the situation and drop this case now. Now is the moment to do it. Just abandon the shameful attack on journalists, on the press and on the public," Stella told supporters outside the High Court. According to Assange's legal team, it could be months before the new appeal is heard. The latest move came after the High Court deferred a decision in March on whether Assange could take his case to another appeal hearing. A sign showing support for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen in a protest outside the United Kingdom (UK) High Court in London, Britain, on Feb. 21, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Ying) Assange, 52, is wanted by the U.S. for allegedly disclosing national defense information following WikiLeaks's publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked military documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars a decade ago. These included Apache helicopter video footage of the U.S. military gunning down journalists and children in the streets of Baghdad in 2007. Assange has been held at southeast London's high-security Belmarsh Prison since 2019. The UK approved his extradition to the U.S. in 2022, after a judge had initially blocked it due to concerns over his mental health. Assange and his lawyers have subsequently appealed. U.S. Sens. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., listen as former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media outside Manhattan Criminal Court on May 13, 2024, during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) They came to stand by their man. Outside a Manhattan courthouse. A rotating regiment of Republican politicians dressed in matching uniforms. Navy blue suits. White shirts. Red ties. The ensemble would have been complete with a black armband, insignia and a reflective salute. This wasnt comical. It was shades of 1930s Germany in 2024 America. Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance was there in the requisite attire. So was Ohio billionaire and erstwhile presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Outsized egos who live for the glorification of power. But the New York spectacle they joined was something new. A disturbing phenomenon. It was lockstep conformity by uniformed U.S. Senators, members of Congress and remarkably, the speaker of the U.S. House, against the rule of law. The entourage in identical outfits came in absolute obedience to one man and absolutely debased the nations legal and judicial systems. It was a jarring performance from national politicians. Unthinkable in GOP circles just ten years ago. A cavalcade of high profile Republicans trashing the criminal justice system for holding their presumed presidential nominee accountable. Their allegiance was to a criminal defendant, not due process. Vance, Vivek, Speaker Johnson and a cast of Trump toadies deliberately undermined the criminal justice system on Donald Trumps behalf. Like him, they, too, hold the law in contempt. They parrot his propaganda that no judge, prosecuting attorney, jury of ones peers, verdict, (unless favorable) is legit. Not with the former president. Hes special. Above the law. Any evidenced-based case that argues otherwise is a sham, partisan witch-hunt, political persecution, etc. Every single person involved in this prosecution (hush money trial) is practically a Democratic political operative, declared Vance with his arms folded over his red tie. Whats going on in that courtroom is a threat to American democracy, he said with a straight face before attacking a trial witness. Straight out of a Kafka novel, intoned the pompadoured Ramaswamy. The Trump surrogates pointedly mocked the judges gag order on the defendant barring his broadsides against witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff or the judges family with their verbal bombs tossed at the judge, his daughter, the court, the law. These are incremental steps by MAGA Republicans to denigrate the integrity of the criminal court system. To diminish the rule of law as an essential character of our constitutional democracy. All in the service of Trump, of unconstrained power. The historic parallels with the German experience are terrifying. The fall of law under the Nazi regime didnt arrive full-blown. The descent into fascism was gradual. It was facilitated by zealots who swore an oath to a fuhrer not the principle of due process or any semblance of individual rights. The loyalty of Republicans who traveled to a New York courtroom last week likewise lay with an aspiring authoritarian. They even wore what he wears. It felt like a sickening throwback to the uniformed Brownshirts of yesteryear. Alarmed much? You should be. The stunning transformation of one of our two major political parties into a sycophantic support structure for a criminally indicted demagogue (and adjudicated rapist) is complete. The party of Lincoln is wholly owned by Herr Trump a disgraced ex-president who once called for suspending parts of the U.S. Constitution to discredit a legitimate election. Trump is charged with 88 felony counts for plotting a coup against his own government, conspiring to overturn the will of the American people in 2020, hoarding classified documents and obstructing their return, and fraud related to hush money paid to a porn star before the 2016 election. Hes running for re-election to stay out of jail. Thats who morally bankrupt bootlickers lined up to champion during breaks in Trumps trial for allegedly falsifying business records to conceal damaging information (about the tawdry porn star affair) from voters before the 2016 election. Capitol Hill Republicans and obsequious Veep contenders stood by their man in cringy costumes that mirrored his signature look. The mini-Trumps, dressed to impress an audience of one, affirmed their total allegiance to him over a nation first and foremost of laws. The disquieting optics recalled the specter of slavish supporters from another era who pledged their total fidelity to another leader over democracy in the early half of the 20th century. They also dressed alike. Brown shirts. Brown ties. Utter subservience to their man. He, too, was a coup plotter before his rise to dictatorship as the self-declared Fuhrer on Day 1 (Jan. 30, 1933). He, too, rallied followers with rhetoric about making Germany great again. By eradicating Jewish vermin. By ditching German democratic freedoms, including the right to assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and, most definitely, due process. Now, Republican lawmakers in America flock to a dank courtroom in New York to flatter their Dear Leader, parade as his red-tie, post-truth brigade and delegitimize the due process that lies at the heart of the American legal system. Ohios Republican senator was there to be seen and heard. Vance desperately wants to be Trumps running mate. So he will shamelessly stand by his man and against a crucial democratic institution. The judicial system is a foundational ideal where the rule of law is respected, legal proceedings are resolved fairly and justice is applied equally. Vances opportunistic rot is relentless. And alarming. It threatens far more than his tattered reputation. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Trump sycophants dress like their master, show up at courthouse to debase America and rule of law appeared first on Ohio Capital Journal. NEW YORK Shortly after the prosecution rested its case Monday in the Manhattan hush money trial, the defense called to the stand a belligerent witness who sparred with prosecutors, muttered under his breath and drew the ire of the judge. That witness was not Donald Trump. Instead, it was an old-school New York lawyer named Robert Costello, whose demeanor on the stand seemed to embody defendant Trumps surly attitude throughout the trial, which is in its sixth week and now appears to be heading for closing arguments next week. During a critical period in 2018, Costello consulted with Michael Cohen, Trumps former fixer. Now, as a witness for the defense, Costello had one primary purpose: undermine Cohens credibility. Costello did appear to score some points on that front, though his churlishness in court while clearly pleasing Trump may have diminished the effectiveness of his testimony. Cohen, the prosecutions star witness, ended his three-and-a-half days of testimony earlier on Monday, just before prosecutors rested. He reiterated the account that he told several times last week: Trump, he said, instructed him to pay $130,000 to silence porn star Stormy Daniels and then approved a scheme to falsify records related to the payment. But Costello testified that Cohen told him the opposite in 2018, shortly after the Daniels hush money came to public light and the FBI raided Cohens home and office. According to Costello, Cohen repeatedly and unequivocally declared in a private meeting and phone calls that Trump knew nothing about the payment to prevent Daniels from going public in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign with her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier. Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments. That [Cohen] did this on his own. And he repeated that numerous times, said Costello, who in 2018 was working for Rudy Giuliani and tried to convince Cohen not to flip on Trump. Costello is well accustomed to portraying Cohen as a serial liar: Just last week, he appeared before a panel of the House Judiciary Committee to take public whacks at Cohens credibility. But perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of Costellos testimony was his pugnacious and sarcastic delivery and the reactions it garnered. As jurors looked on, he was combative toward the prosecutors and irreverent to the judge. At one point, seemingly fed up with prosecutors objections, Costello muttered jeez and apparently rolled his eyes when Justice Juan Merchan sustained the objections. Merchan sent the jury out of the courtroom so he could give Costello, who is a former federal prosecutor, a stern rebuke. If you dont like my ruling, you dont say 'jeez.' And then you dont say 'strike it.' You dont give me side eye, and you dont roll your eyes, the judge told Costello. As Merchan was about to call the jury back into the room, he snapped at the defense witness and veteran attorney: Are you staring me down right now? Then, in one of the most dramatic moments of the trial, Merchan briefly ordered journalists and other onlookers to clear the courtroom so the judge could continue to admonish the witness outside the publics view. After reporters were ordered out by court by security officers despite numerous verbal protests, Merchan dressed down Costello and Trumps defense. I'm putting you on notice that your conduct is contemptuous, the judge said to Costello, according to a transcript released Monday evening. If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand. I will strike his entire testimony; do you understand me? the judge said to Trump lawyer Emil Bove. Can I say something, please? Costello pleaded. No. No. This is not a conversation, Merchan replied. After court adjourned for the day, Trump seized on the back-and-forth in his daily remarks to reporters in the courthouse hallway. A tyrant, Trump called the judge. You saw what happened to a highly respected lawyer today, Trump said. Wow. Costello who at 76 is just a year younger than Trump seemed eager to joust with the prosecution as a stand-in for Trump. Although the former president has said at several points he would like to testify in his own defense, most legal experts say thered be little upside in doing so, and on Monday, his lawyers indicated he is not likely to take the stand. That means Costello, who is expected to return to the stand for further testimony on Tuesday, may be the last witness jurors hear from. With scheduled days off on Wednesday, Friday and Memorial Day next Monday, Merchan said he expects to hold closing arguments on Tuesday, May 28. After that, the jury will begin deliberating. Donald Trumps aversion to answering tough questions about abortion may now be impacting his search for a running mate. Puck News reported on Tuesday that the former president and his team are actively considering the effect a Republican hailing from a state with restrictive abortion laws could have for his electoral chances and theyre assuming the worst. The former presidents team is apparently worried that choosing a running mate from such a state would open the candidate up to uncomfortable questions about the issue, even as he has sought to dodge the political blowback from moderates by refusing to endorse a national ban. According to Puck, Trump is currently listening to a number of advisers including former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway who have urged him to chart a less conservative path on reproductive rights as he heads into the general election. If true, the reporting is as clear a sign as any that the former president recognises the clear political danger the issue of abortion and broader reproductive rights poses for Republicans among moderates and liberal voters. Having latched on to the March for Life crowd largely for political expediency, a coalition of evangelical voters that helped him wrap up the 2016 and 2024 Republican primaries, the ex-president has sought to stop his party from charging further to the right in pursuit of a national abortion ban. But he has simultaneously boasted of his role in remaking the Supreme Court and causing Roe vs Wade to be overturned. Polling has shown that reproductive rights may be the one top issue where incumbent President Joe Biden retains a clear edge over his general election opponent. The Biden campaign has latched onto that finding and held events in a number of key battleground states including Arizona, Minnesota and Florida centered around support for abortion rights. The Democratic presidents message on the issue is clear: vote for me, and a Democratic Senate, and well codify the protections of Roe vs Wade into federal law. A billboard displaying Donald Trumps boastful remarks about his responsibility for overturning Roe vs Wade is displayed in Times Square (Getty Images for DNC) The GOPs message is less clear. The party remains split on the issue of a national abortion ban, with some conservative senators including Lindsey Graham in favor of setting a national standard and others (including, apparently, Trump) preferring to leave it to the states. Given Trumps own reluctance to support a national ban, its likely that his eventual running mate will have to at least be able to accept that strategy, if not support it personally. Yet, its becoming increasingly clear that a full-throated and vocal opposition to abortion rights across the board is necessary to win a Republican primary in many deeper-red districts and states. A sizable number of Republicans are thought to be on Trumps list of potential running mates, including nearly all of his former 2024 rivals. The ex-president is also thought to be looking at several of his loyalists in the House and Senate, such as Elise Stefanik and Marco Rubio. The Trump campaign has until mid-July to make the decision. Republican delegates will gather in Milwaukee to officially nominate Trump as the partys 2024 nominee, as well as his running mate. Trump tops Biden in monthly fundraising for first time of 2024 campaign WASHINGTON Donald Trump's campaign and his Republican allies raised more money than President Joe Biden in April, marking the first time the former president topped the Democratic incumbent in monthly fundraising during the 2024 campaign. The Trump campaign, combined with the Republican National Committee, hauled in $76 million in April, considerably more than the $51 million raised by the Biden campaign, Democratic National Committee and other joint fundraising arms, according to the campaigns and filings submitted Monday with the Federal Election Commission. Trump outraised Biden despite spending much of the April reporting period on trial in a New York courtroom. The campaign as had been widely anticipated benefitted from Trump becoming the presumptive Republican nominee, allowing it to combine fundraising efforts with the RNC. More: Biden's campaign raised $90 million in March. Trump's war chest isn't even close ST PAUL, MINNESOTA - MAY 17: Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump attends the annual Lincoln Reagan Dinner hosted by the Minnesota Republican party on May 17, 2024 in St. Paul, Minnesota. A recent poll has President Joe Biden leading Trump in the state by two percentage points. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 776147657 ORIG FILE ID: 2153468135 Biden's fundraising in April was well below the $90 million his campaign raised in March, which included a lucrative fundraiser hosted by former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and slightly less than the $53 million Biden and his joint campaign committees raised in February. More: A positive story to tell: Obama and Clinton rip Trump, boost Biden at $26M NYC campaign fundraiser Trump's April fundraising was boosted significantly by a Palm Beach, Florida, fundraiser at the home of billionaire investor John Paulson, which Reuters reported brought in a record-setting $50.5 million. Still, Biden enjoys a sizable cash-on-hand advantage. The Biden campaign ended April with $84.5 million on hand to spend and a combined war chest of $192 million when including other fundraising committees. The Trump campaign reported having $49 million cash on hand. For months, the Biden campaign has boasted about its fundraising lead over Trump, who has been saddled by legal fees in multiple criminal and civil court cases. Fundraising and campaign organization are areas the Biden team claims to have the upper hand while most polls show Biden trailing Trump in the election. President Joe Biden announces increased tariffs on Chinese products to promote American investments and jobs in the Rose Garden of the White House on May 14, 2024 in Washington, DC. But in a reversal, the April figures gave the Trump campaign ammunition to hit Biden. "The only people left in America who support Crooked Joe Biden are out-of-touch billionaires in Hollywood, and it turns out even they are done giving to a failing campaign," Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said, calling Trump's fundraising haul "especially remarkable" given his daily court appearances. Biden's campaign ended April with slightly less in the bank than the $85 million it had at the beginning of the month, reflecting spending that significantly ramped up the past two months to pay for television ads and expanded staff. The Biden campaign reported spending $25.2 million in April after spending $29.2 million in March. The Biden campaign spent $6 million in February. Biden campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa, in a statement, stressed Biden's continued cash-on-hand edge and accused Trump of "selling out Americans to big corporations and billionaires" to raise campaign funds. In June, Biden will get an assist from Hollywood allies when actors George Clooney and Julia Roberts, along with Obama, are set to host a host a high-dollar fundraiser in Los Angeles, NBC News reported. Reach Joey Garrison on X, formerly Twitter, @joeygarrison. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump tops Biden in monthly fundraising for first time of 2024 race Even in the closing stages of Donald Trumps hush money trial, theres seemingly no end to the drama. Defense witness Robert Costelloa former federal prosecutor called by Trumps attorneys as they seek to undermine the credibility of the prosecutions star witness, Michael Cohenwill be back on the stand Tuesday. His return comes the day after extraordinary scenes in the Manhattan courtroom that prompted Judge Juan Merchan to repeatedly rebuke Costello for his contemptuous behavior, even threatening to strike all of his testimony. Hecklers Drown Out Trumps Bootlicking Brigade Outside Courthouse After Cohen finished his fourth day of testimony, jurors heard from Costelloa lawyer who once advised Cohen and acted as a backchannel between Cohen and Trumps White House in 2018. Cohen is crucial to the proceedings because he made the $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors say the payment was intended to stop Daniels from speaking about a one-night stand she claims to have had with Trump, and that the scheme to buy her silence was supposed to protect his 2016 presidential campaign. They allege that Trump then tried to hide reimbursements to Cohen by listing the payments as legal fees. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and denies having sex with Daniels. During his testimony, Cohen implicated Trump in the scheme by alleging that Trump instructed him to kill Daniels story, telling him: Just take care of it. He also claimed that Trump was kept informed about the payment and authorized the allegedly unlawful reimbursement plan. Trumps defense lawyers have attacked Cohens credibility in the proceedings by portraying him as an admitted liar and convicted felon who is now hellbent on seeking revenge against his old boss. Part of their effort to sow doubt in jurors minds about Cohens reliability came with Costellos time on the stand Mondaythough it didnt exactly go smoothly. Costello used his testimony to claim that Cohen had previously told him he wasnt aware that Trump had broken the law. Following the FBI raid on Cohens apartment in 2018 after he acknowledged paying Daniels, Costello said Cohen was suicidal and very manic. I explained to Michael Cohen that this entire legal problem he was facing would be resolved by the end of the week if he had truthful information on Donald Trump and cooperated with the Southern District of New York, Costello said. He added that Cohen told him in response: I swear to God, Bob, I dont have anything on Donald Trump. But Costellos testimony, which contradicted Cohens implications of Trump, was overshadowed by the angry dressing down he received from Judge Juan Merchan. Costello became frustrated with the judge sustaining prosecutors objections, saying jeez out loud at one point and calling the entire exercise ridiculous. Merchan then ordered jurors out of the courtroom to give Costello a lesson in proper decorum. Im the only one who can strike testimony in the courtroom, Merchan said. If you dont like my ruling, you dont give me side-eye and you dont roll your eyes. Do you understand that? Costello said he understood, but then proceeded to further anger the judge by staring at him. Are you staring me down right now? Merchan asked before promptly instructing journalists to leave the court. Court transcripts later revealed that Merchan informed Costello his conduct is contemptuous during the telling-off. If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand, Merchan said. Merchan also informed Trump lawyer Emil Bove that he would be prepared to strike Costellos entire testimony if the misbehavior continued. Bove told the judge that the defense is not expecting to call any more witnesses following Costello, though a campaign finance expert, Bradley Smith, may be called to give testimony within strict limitations. The defense also has not yet definitively ruled out putting Trump on the stand, though it seems increasingly unlikely. Closing arguments have been scheduled for May 28. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. The defense rested in Donald Trumps criminal trial on Tuesday, without the former president himself testifying. Trump had previously railed about being silenced and falsely claimed he was not allowed to testify, but ultimately elected of his own volition not to take the stand in his own defense. Trumps decision came without fanfare. The move was not surprising defendants in criminal cases rarely testify, because they would be subject to cross-examination, during which they could easily say something that harms their defense but followed several instances of Trump claiming he was not allowed to do so. The judge, Juan Merchan, had gone so far as to address Trumps claims, saying: I want to stress, Mr Trump, that you have an absolute right to testify at trial, and adding that the gag order preventing Trump from verbally attacking witnesses did not affect his right to take the stand. After the defense rested Merchan, told jurors to return on Tuesday 28 May for closing arguments. Merchan said he would also announce his instructions to jurors the next day and expected that they would then start deliberating. The trial had resumed earlier Monday with continued cross-examination of Robert Costello, whom the defense has used to try to discredit the former presidents one-time fixer, Michael Cohen. Trump entered the courtroom just before 9.30am. The former president, who is all but guaranteed to be the Republican presidential nominee, is charged with falsifying business records related to paying the adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 for her silence about an alleged sexual liaison. Manhattan prosecutors allege that Trump plotted in summer 2015 with Cohen, then Trumps consigliere, and the former tabloid head David Pecker to keep any damaging information under wraps in an effort to protect his candidacy in the 2016 election. Related: Dont roll your eyes and entourage: Trump trial key takeaways, day 19 Cohen told jurors he coordinated the payment to Daniels weeks before election day, and footed the bill himself. The campaign was gravely concerned that Danielss account could deal a deadly blow to Trumps presidential run, he said, as an embarrassing hot mic recording in which he bragged about grabbing women by the pussy without their consent had emerged weeks prior. Cohen, who testified for four days, claimed at one point that an angry Trump instructed him to bury Danielss account, telling him to just take care of it. This was a disaster, a fucking disaster, Cohen said he remembered Trump saying. Women will hate me. Cohen told the jury he had kept Danielss account off the radar in 2011, coordinating with her then lawyer to remove a story about their alleged encounter from a gossip website. He was really angry with me, Cohen said of Trumps reaction after he informed him about Danielss potentially coming forward before election day. Trump allegedly said: I thought you had this under control? I thought you took care of this. The prosecution maintains Trumps repayment of Cohen in 2017 constituted illegal behavior because he described disbursements as legal expenses in financial documents. Cohens testimony is integral to prosecutors argument that Trump was well aware that these repayments would be described in an illicit way. On cross-examination, Trumps legal team failed to land hard blows. The closest Blanche got was getting Cohen to in effect admit over-billing the Trump Organization for reimbursement for a payment to a tech company called Red Finch to help make a poll about famous business figures more favorable to Donald Trump. Cohen said he had paid the tech company $50,000, but in reality he had paid $20,000. Blanche asked Cohen whether he pocketed the $30,000. So you stole from the Trump Organization? Blanche said. Yes, sir, Cohen replied. On Monday, the prosecution rested its case and Trumps defense started theirs, with the day ending on Costello, a lawyer Cohen had discussed during his four days on the stand. Cohen said he met with Costello after officers raided his hotel room and home in April 2018, but was wary of having him as legal representation, given his relationship with Rudy Giuliani. Cohen said he worried that Costello would tell Giuliani about their conversations, and that the former New York City mayor would then disclose this information to Trump. Costello claimed that during their first meeting, Cohen said he did not know about Trump doing anything illegal; the raid came in the wake of Cohen admitting that he had paid Daniels. I explained to Michael Cohen that this entire legal problem he was facing would be resolved by the end of the week if he had truthful information about Donald Trump and cooperated with the southern district of New York, Costello testified. Costello claimed that Cohen allegedly said: I swear to God, Bob, I dont have anything on Donald Trump. Costellos behavior on the stand, including commentary, almost spun the courtroom into chaos, and prompted a rebuke from the judge. Costello blurted out jeez at one point during his testimony, and instructed someone to strike a question, which is something only judges not witnesses have the power to do. Following this episode, Merchan told the jurors that there would be a brief break and after they were gone, warned Costello against acting in such a way. Merchan then asked: Are you staring me down right now? and ordered court officers to clear the courtroom. Members of the press were asked to leave for several minutes. Under the US constitution, New York state, and common law, there is a presumption of access, meaning court proceedings are supposed to be open to the press and public except in extremely rare circumstances. Merchan did not permit a media attorney to address the court about the access issue. (Bloomberg) -- The Donald Trump hush-money trial briefly devolved into chaos after the judge cleared the courtroom and warned a defense witness not to give him side eye. Most Read from Bloomberg Trump had called his second defense witness, attorney Robert Costello, to testify Monday about his interactions in 2018 with the prosecutions star witness, Michael Cohen, when the conflict erupted in the New York courtroom. Costello repeatedly gave answers that went beyond the questions, prompting Judge Juan Merchan to sustain objections from prosecutors and strike the testimony. After one such ruling, Costello said, Jeez. The judge looked at him and said, Im sorry? And then Costello said, stricken, referring to his own remark. After more questions, Merchan finally stopped the proceedings and asked the jury to leave. Mr. Costello, I want to discuss proper decorum in my courtroom, a visibly angry Merchan said. If you dont like my ruling, you dont say jeez and then you dont say Strike it because Im the only one who can strike testimony in my courtroom. Staring Me Down After that admonition, Merchan appeared ready to proceed. But then he said: You dont give me side eye and you dont roll your eyes. The judge asked: Are you staring me down right now? With that, the judge said: Clear the courtroom. Dozens of people in the gallery, most of whom were media members, were ordered by guards to leave. Most people didnt understand why they were being escorted out. The former president and his lawyers had remained in the courtroom, along with prosecutors. After several minutes, the judge allowed the public and the press to return. The judge recalled the jury, and Costello resumed his testimony, appearing chastened. Costello had earlier testified that Cohen, Trumps former lawyer and fixer, insisted to him in an April 2018 meeting that Trump knew nothing about a $130,000 hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Cohen testified that he didnt tell Costello about the Daniels payment because he didnt trust him. Earlier Monday, prosecutors rested their case after Cohen finished his fourth day on the witness stand. The government alleges Trump falsified business records to cover up the payment, which Cohen testified was meant to bury the Daniels story of having a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier. Costello said he first met Cohen days after the FBI raided his home, office and hotel suite. Cohen had testified that Costello wanted to set up a back channel to Trump and make sure he didnt cooperate with prosecutors. But Costello disputed that, saying he only wanted to protect Cohens interests. He was absolutely manic at the beginning and throughout the two hours of that meeting, Costello said. He said My life is shattered, my familys life is shattered. Whats my escape route? Admitted Theft During earlier testimony Monday, Cohen admitted he stole $30,000 from Trump by adding phony expenses to his hush-money reimbursement. During his fourth day on the witness stand, Cohen was grilled on cross examination about a key element of a larger repayment he received for the $130,000 he paid to Daniels. That repayment included another $50,000 that Cohen said he paid to Red Finch, a technology company that did work to help Trump boost his standing in a pre-election CNBC poll. Trump had refused to pay the firm, so Cohen said he stepped in with his own money. But he testified hed only paid Red Finch $20,000, passing the cash to the companys chief executive officer in a paper bag. You stole from the Trump Organization? Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked. Yes, sir, Cohen said. Cohen said he felt entitled to take the money. He said hed sought to protect Trump the best that I could and assisted his campaign, but was very upset when the billionaire cut his annual bonus in December 2016 by two-thirds even after Cohen had used his own funds on Trumps behalf for the payments to Daniels and Red Finch. I was angered because of the reduction of funds, Cohen said. I felt it was almost like self-help. I wasnt going to let him benefit in this way. While Cohen initially testified to the Red Finch payment last week, he was asked about details of the theft Monday. He said he felt pressured to pay Red Finch for its work, so he got cash from his own account to give $20,000 to the company CEO. It was in a small brown paper bag, Cohen said. He came to the office and I gave him the cash. Blanche continued attempts to depict him as a liar and thief whos made millions of dollars rooting for Trumps demise through his books, podcasts and interviews. He pleaded guilty twice in 2018 to various crimes, but was never charged for the Red Finch theft, he said. The defense lawyers are trying to undermine Cohens credibility to suggest he was lying in testifying that Trump authorized the payments to influence the election. It Upset Him Cohen said Red Finch was hired by the Trump Organization to improve Trumps standing in a CNBC poll. Trump ranked near the bottom, and it upset him, because he is one of the most famous business executives of the past century, Cohen said. A Red Finch executive told Cohen that he could acquire IP addresses to create an algorithm to ensure that Mr. Trump would rise and rise significantly in this poll. The firm managed to boost his standing to ninth, fearing that going to the top spot would raise red flags. Trump didnt want to pay though, because CNBC ended up not continuing and moving forward with this poll, and so he didnt feel that he had gotten the benefit of what the services were supposed to ultimately provide, Cohen said. Cohen then decided to pay Red Finch on his own, he testified. After the government rested its case, Merchan said that he now expects closing arguments in the trial to take place on May 28. (Updates to include chaotic interaction of Trump witness with judge.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. The big news from Donald Trumps Manhattan criminal hush money trial Monday was Judge Juan Merchan clearing the courtroom so he could reprimand the Trump legal teams combative witness, Robert Costello who had spent the last several days publicly attacking the judge and the proceedings. Costello, a lawyer, previously advised Michael Cohen, the longtime Trump fixer who is now prosecutors key witness in their case against the former president. During his testimony, Merchan admonished Costello for audibly and visibly reacting including apparently rolling his eyes in response to his rulings on objections raised by prosecutors. Im putting you on notice that your conduct is contemptuous right now. If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand, Merchan said after clearing the room of journalists and observers. I will strike his entire testimony, the judge warned Trumps legal team. Trumps lawyers called Costello as their second witness in an attempt to cast doubt on Cohens claims including his assertion that Trump personally approved a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to stay quiet about their alleged sexual encounter. Costellos appearance instead primarily drew attention for his failure to adhere to proper decorum in the courtroom, as Merchan put it. Costello had spent the past few days publicly assailing the judge. During a congressional hearing last week led by House Republicans, Costello suggested that Merchans role presiding over the Trump trial is politically motivated. I mean, theres no coincidences here, Costello said at the hearing. The fact that Judge Merchan has had all of these cases and by the way, when he finishes with the Donald Trump case, Steve Bannon is next. Out of all the judges in New York County, somehow they keep on coming up with the same judge. Coincidence? I dont believe in them. In the congressional hearing, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) brought up Merchans gag order in the case blocking Trump from attacking witnesses and court staff which the judge expanded to cover his own relatives after Trump repeatedly attacked his daughter for her work as a Democratic consultant. Stefanik asked whether Merchans gag order is unprecedented lawfare. Costello responded, As far as I know, absolutely. He did not take Stefaniks bait when she asked whether its true that Merchans daughter is raising millions of dollars off of this sham case? I have to say Ive read that in the media, Costello said. I dont know it of my own knowledge. On Sunday, Costello appeared on Judge Jeanine Pirros radio show and offered Merchan some unsolicited advice. I think that the judge should refuse to give this case to the jury, he said. But I also think that he is not going to take that step, that he will allow the case to go to the jury, even though he shouldnt. Theres just no proof here. Theres all sorts of problems with this case. After the proceedings, former Trump lawyer Alan Dershowitz who attended the trial Monday along with several other Trump allies defended Costellos performance on Pirros show. I didnt see him roll his eyes, Dershowitz said, adding that Judge Merchan was obviously intimidated by this witness. More from Rolling Stone Best of Rolling Stone When Trump's trial started, I called him a chicken. He refused to testify. I was right. Just before Donald Trumps New York criminal trial started in April, I labeled the former president and current criminal defendant a frightened, clucking chicken. I was correct. Despite defiantly saying he would take the stand and testify in his own defense, Trump predictably took the panicked-poultry route. The defense rested Tuesday without calling the man accused of paying off an adult film star to keep quiet about their alleged affair in advance of the 2016 presidential election. On April 12, the Friday before the trial began, Trump was at Mar-a-Lago and said: Im testifying. I tell the truth. I mean, all I can do is tell the truth. He didnt testify. So, in the same sentence in which he said, I tell the truth, he was lying. Perfect. Trump said he would testify. Of course he didn't. Former President Donald Trump at his trial on May 21, 2024, in New York City, seen here not testifying. Despite ranting ad nauseam about how a legitimate gag order was keeping him from defending himself, Trump ran from his No. 1 opportunity to put forth that defense in the courtroom, leaving behind a cloud of dust, feathers and hypocrisy. If the GOPs presumptive presidential nominee had any guts, hed admit that I and the multitude of others who knew he was too much of a poltroon to ever testify were right. But he wont. Hes too busy clucking about all the ways hes being persecuted. Trump's fans believed their man would take the stand Surely, Trump's supporters will be let down by this show of non-strength. On April 20, a confident Trump fan said on a pro-Trump online outlet: The man wants to get up there, look those jurors in the eyes, and fight. Thats what he does. ... Hes gonna get up there, say what he has to say, fight to his very last breath. Or, going back in time and playing the devils advocate, he wont. He will quite literally do none of those things. MAGA pays respect to their king: All Republicans MUST attend Trump's criminal trial and yell at media. These are the rules. On Monday, Trump attorney Alina Habba, who isnt representing him in the Manhattan trial, said on Fox News: We know he wants to testify. He's willing, he's able, he (has) nothing to hide it all. He's absolutely ready to tell the truth. Of course he was ready to tell the truth! Trump just decided not to because when the Lord was handing out courage, he was getting extra helpings of BUK-BUK-BUK-BAGOCK!! A false vow to testify, then complaint after complaint Look, there were no sensible legal minds suggesting it would be a good idea for Trump to take the stand in this, or any, trial. Hes a rambling loudmouth who lies reflexively, and the prosecution would feast on him. Is Trump sleepy? Trump isn't sleeping during his trial he's just STRONGLY complying with the gag order But aside from saying he'd testify, Trump went to great lengths to gripe incessantly outside the courtroom about the entirely sensible limited gag order he was under the one that (sort of) got him to stop intimidating witnesses, jury members and the judges family. Trump clearly never understood what a gag order is On April 19, outside the courtroom, Trump whined: Everyone else can say whatever they want about me. They can say anything they want. They can continue to make up lies. ... They lie. They're real scum. Im unconstitutionally gagged, he crowed at a rally in early May. He gagged me, so Im not even supposed to be talking to you because he gagged me! On May 14, outside the courtroom, Trump brayed: The gag order has to come off. So when you ask me a question about the people that were talking about, Im not allowed to answer. Theres never been anything like this in the history of our country. The big, bold, brave GOP savior sure does gripe a lot. Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store. Trump could have testified it was his big chance to speak his 'truth' It all led up to the moment when Trump could have testified in court, when he could have answered questions under oath and sans gag order, when he could have put his money where his prodigious mouth is. And what did he do? He clammed up and said nothing. All the blabber and bluster was a sham. It was the realization of Shakespeares words, It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Trump tried relentlessly to delay this trial rather than get in the ring and fight. He complained like an overtired toddler throughout. He brashly said hed testify, then he didnt. To quote myself from more than a month ago, Trump is, indeed, a frightened, clucking chicken. Tough talk, loud cluck, soft feathers. Prove me wrong. Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on X, formerly Twitter, @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump defense rests without him testifying in Manhattan trial. Weak. Joyce Msuya, UN assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, speaks at a Security Council meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, on May 21, 2024. The UN official on Tuesday called for a more holistic approach to complement existing measures for the protection of civilians in armed conflict. (Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua) UNITED NATIONS, May 21 (Xinhua) -- A UN official on Tuesday called for a more holistic approach to complement existing measures for the protection of civilians in armed conflict. Joyce Msuya, UN assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, stressed the importance of complying with international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law in the protection of civilians in armed conflict, and the need to go beyond compliance. The harm and suffering caused to civilians in 2023 signals an alarming lack of compliance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law. It also indicates that the Security Council's protection of civilians resolutions of the last 25 years remain largely unheeded, she said. "We must redouble efforts to strengthen compliance by parties to conflict with these obligations. This includes third states taking responsibility for ensuring respect for the rules of war. This entails political dialogue, training and dissemination of policies, and withholding arms transfers where there is a clear risk that arms will be used to commit serious violations of IHL," she told an annual open debate of the Security Council on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. But she stressed the need for a more holistic approach. The reality is that much of the civilian harm in today's conflicts is occurring even when parties claim to be acting in compliance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law, said Msuya. "It is time to complement existing measures by adopting a more holistic approach, one that considers the perspective of civilians and takes into account the complex, cumulative and long-term nature of the full range of civilian harm in conflict," she said. The Political Declaration on Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas and the 2015 Safe Schools Declaration are both good examples of ways that states can commit to the greater protection of civilians in armed conflict, complementing their compliance with international humanitarian law, she said. "We urge all states to endorse these instruments and implement them in full." She also urged states to follow the steps taken by some national and regional authorities in developing and adopting proactive protection of civilians' policies, processes and tools aimed at better understanding and mitigating a broader range of civilian harm. States, parties to conflict, UN actors, international and civil society organizations need to reflect on how to further develop and implement the full protection of civilians approach, she added. "The Security Council and (UN) member states must demand and ensure compliance with international humanitarian law, international human rights law and the council's resolutions," she said. "If it is to have any real meaning for the millions of civilians affected by conflict, it is time to go above and beyond compliance: to strive for the full protection of civilians against the full range of harms they are suffering on our watch." Tucker Carlsons show on YouTube and X is now regularly airing on Russias state-run channel Rossiya 24, though the shows producer says theyre not involved. Any use of our content on that channel is without legal permission, said Dean Thompson, the head of programming and production at the Tucker Carlson Network. Carlsons many conspiracy theoriesfrom Lyme disease being a bioweapon against the poor to the rise of wokeness in the United Stateshave already aired in the country. And its not really a surprise why. Carlson has long espoused pro-Russian views, downplaying the countrys conflict with Ukraine and minimizing Russias invasion as a mere border dispute. He even touted a conspiracy theory of a U.S.-led effort to supply Ukraine with chemical weapons. Carlson has also made no secret of his love for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, traveling all the way to Moscow earlier this year for a widely panned softball interview. Despite Putins mockery of Carlson during and after the interview, Carlson still defended Putins killing of dissidents, words that eventually came back to hurt the conservative pundit when Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in Russian custody days later. Putin and the Russian government evidently see value in Carlson to keep him on a national TV channel in a country where independent media outlets are highly restricted and subject to bans and being declared foreign agents or undesirable organizations. Meanwhile, here in the U.S., even top Republicans like Senator Mitch McConnell have blasted Carlson, pointing to him as the reason why many Republicans were against aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia. Can Carlson make up for his diminished U.S. audience with a Russian one? Even if he does, itll be difficult to profit from it, considering the massive Western sanctions against Russia. This story has been updated. Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the reaction from Tucker Carlson's team. The Russian state television network Rossiya 24 posted episodes of a purported new show with U.S. far-right political commentator and conspiracy theorist Tucker Carlson on May 21, but Carlson's team said he had nothing to do with it. Members of Carlson's team later characterized the reporting as "pure nonsense" in comments to Forbes. Neil Patel, the CEO of the Tucker Carlson Network, wrote on X that the company "has not done any deals with state media in any country." Carlson, a former host on Fox News, has been criticized for making controversial comments on air and social media, characterized by some as being nativist, racist, and pushing talking points that echo Russian propaganda. Rossiya 24's website features one of Carlson's previously aired episodes about the dangers of ticks and Lyme disease. It also has other previous episodes from Carlson's online media platform, such as interviews with far-right Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, accessible with Russian dubbing. Carlson traveled to Moscow in February to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin, becoming the first Western media figure to do so since the beginning of the full-scale war. The interview was widely panned in the West, as Carlson declined to ask Putin tough questions or follow up on Putin's repeated false claims or justifications for Russia's full-scale war. Read also: Opinion: Tucker Carlson visiting Moscow is like touring Berlin in 1940 Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Ramona McCune, 4 1/2 years-old, puts vote-by-mail ballots into a dropbox during primary voting on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Portland, Ore. Ramona was helping their mom drop off ballots for friends. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane) President Joe Biden and his Republican rival, Donald Trump, piled up more delegates Tuesday as both presumptive nominees won primaries in Kentucky and Oregon. The symbolic decisions provide a few more delegates to the national conventions and a gut check on where the Democratic and Republican bases stand toward their standard-bearers as the presidential nominating season nears its end. Even after they secured the nominations and their rivals dropped out, Biden and Trump have continued facing dissent from within their own parties. Biden has faced protest votes over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war while Trump is still seeing thousands of people voting for long-vanquished rival Nikki Haley. That trend continued Tuesday in Kentucky with about 18% of the Democratic vote going to uncommitted with roughly 80% of the vote counted. In the GOP race, Haley was winning about 6%. After Tuesday, eight presidential nominating contests will remain: Democrats in Idaho, the District of Columbia, Guam and the Virgin Islands, and both parties in Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota. Voters in Kentucky, Oregon, Georgia and Idaho also held state primaries Tuesday to choose nominees for the U.S. House and other contests. In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is leading the prosecution of Trump in a 2020 election interference case, defeated challenger Christian Wise Smith in the Democratic primary. The judge in the case, Scott McAfee, also won his election. In Oregons Multnomah County, home to Portland, the progressive district attorney who took office during the social justice movement of 2020 is being challenged by a candidate vowing to be tough on crime. ___ Cooper reported from Phoenix. Shaky Landing During a flight from London to Singapore, a Boeing jet experienced such major turbulence that one passenger died and dozens more were injured. As Reuters reports, food, luggage, and passengers were flung around the 777-300ER jet's cabin as it hit an air pocket and began to shake violently. Singapore Airlines has confirmed that a 73-year-old British man died, and it seems that the cause was cardiac arrest. At least 30 other people were injured, with 18 being sent to the hospital and seven of those in critical condition, per the airline. As footage posted to social media and a passenger interview Reuters conducted indicate, the scene onboard the flight was terrifying "Suddenly the aircraft starts tilting up and there was shaking so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing a seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling," 28-year-old student and passenger Dzafran Azmir told the news wire. "Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it," he continued, "they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it." Seriously, air turbulence atau gelora udara makin sering terjadi. Banyak Flights aku naik memang terkena, tapi tak seteruk yang ini, sampai seorang maut (warga British lekaki berusia 70 tahun). Flight SQ321 dari London ke Singapore terpaksa mendarat di Bangkok. Pesawat Boeing pic.twitter.com/pchtFuCfel Hezeri Samsuri (@HezeriSamsuri) May 21, 2024 Emergency The jet made an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport, where the scene that unfolded sounds dire. "I saw things lying everywhere and many air crew injured," airport general manager Kittipong Kittikachorn said during a press conference. Photos and videos from the incident show just how scary the situation on board was, too. This incident couldn't come at a worse time for Boeing, which this year has faced incident after incident as pieces keep falling off of its planes and its whistleblowers keep turning up dead. In March, another Boeing jet this one operated by United Airlines was involved in turbulence-related injuries. In that instance, seven passengers on the last leg of a flight from Tel Aviv to Newark had to be hospitalized due to injuries incurred during the shakiness experienced on the 787 jet as it passed through high winds, though all appeared to be alright after getting checked out. While it's hard to tell how much of this year's bad press is confirmation bias, it nevertheless is making people afraid to fly and especially afraid to fly Boeing. More on Boeing: Leak Discovered in Problem-Plagued Boeing Spacecraft Before Astronaut Launch What is turbulence? How it works and when it can become deadly Research from Reading University suggests that unexpected turbulence is becoming more frequent with climate change Its the moment that even seasoned air travellers dread. One moment youre cruising along calmly at 37,000ft. In the next, without warning, all hell breaks loose. Severe turbulence can hurl passengers and belongings around an aircraft cabin, and prove a terrifying ride. In the case of a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 on a flight from London on May 21, the violence of the experience left a British man dead and more than 30 injured, with the aircraft forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok. Fatalities are unusual. But while turbulence does not normally cause deaths, airlines have long been aware of its potential to harm passengers, pilots and cabin crew alike. A British man has died due to severe turbulence on a recent Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 flight Most concerning is sudden, severe turbulence in the absence of clouds or storms, known as clear-air turbulence (CAT), and about which pilots can offer little warning to passengers. According to Captain Mike Jenvey, a retired Netjets pilot,clear air turbulence is not visible and is often not possible to see using aircraft weather radars. This is why, as aviation consultant John Strickland notes: It can never be taken lightly when airlines recommend you keep the seatbelt loosely fastened throughout the flight. Reading University research suggests that incidents of CAT could significantly increase between 2050 and 2080 thanks to stronger winds and increasing pockets of rough air caused by climate change. What exactly is turbulence? Turbulence comes in several types. The most common at airliner cruising height is caused by thunderstorms. Consisting of vast expanses of rain clouds often towering more than 53,000ft 10 miles above the Earths surface, thunderstorms are a major generator of en-route air turbulence. Supercooled air within the storms draws winds in from many miles around. A 2009 Met Office briefing document for commercial aviators advises pilots to stay at least 25 nautical miles away from a visible thunderstorm. The other main type of turbulence that airline passengers experience is wind shear, a phenomenon which occurs when two air masses travelling in different directions intersect, often leading to sudden changes in altitude or direction. Captain Jenvey explains that vertical wind shear and CAT cause an aircraft to drop very suddenly, and then stop dropping very quickly, as stable air is re-entered perhaps 100ft-300ft later. How bad can it get? For the most part turbulence is a minor annoyance. Airline pilots from all over the world are trained to avoid it to reduce the risk of passengers being flung around. But in some cases it can cause fatalities. A former White House official died as a result of severe turbulence on a private business jet last year while flying between New Hampshire and Virginia. Three passengers on a Hawaiian Airlines service to Sydney were hospitalised in July 2023 after the flight experienced severe turbulence. Photos taken by those on board showed broken ceiling panels and dangling oxygen masks. A Hawaiian Airlines flight from Phoenix to Honolulu experienced extreme turbulence in December 2022 - Jazmin Bitanga Strickland, the aviation consultant, noted that airlines use a variety of methods to minimise the chances of a flight being affected by turbulence, such as weather forecasts, radar and reports from aircraft ahead. But sometimes it is just not possible to avoid it entirely. According to Marco Chan, a senior lecturer at Buckinghamshire New University and a former Hong Kong Airlines pilot: It may not be possible to completely circumvent the thunderstorms cluster as they can stretch well over 50 nautical miles plus. Can it cause the plane to crash? Turbulence has caused aeroplanes to crash, although most of those accidents happened many decades ago before modern safety analysis techniques came to light. In November 2001, American Airlines flight 587 from New York encountered wake turbulence caused by a large aircraft taking off in front of it shortly after departure. Pilot error in handling the sudden bumpy ride led to the Airbus A300 crashing and killing all 260 people aboard, along with five others on the ground. Firefighters look for victims at the smouldering remains of the American Airlines flight 587 in Queens, New York City - New York Daily News Another example is that of British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 911, a scheduled flight between Tokyo and Hong Kong in March 1966. It broke up mid-air shortly after take-off, killing all 124 people aboard. Accident investigators found that the Boeing 707 had suddenly encountered abnormally severe turbulence over Gotemba City which imposed a gust load considerably in excess of the design limit. These days, Captain Jenvey notes that aircraft are designed for temporary over-loads on the airframe, though he suggested that a strong vertical wind shear or CAT encounter could over-stress the airframe to a degree that would require an engineering inspection after landing. Are there areas or specific routes when turbulence gets worse? According to John Strickland, exposure is greater in different parts of the world. The South Atlantic, Africa and the Bay of Bengal are all places that spring to mind where theres a greater incidence. He added: There are discussions about whether climate change is influencing an increase in occurrences. Chan, as a former long-haul pilot, says that there is a specific region near the Equator known for particularly troublesome weather and turbulence conditions. The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is a significant meteorological feature in the tropics. It encircles the Earth near the equator and influences weather patterns. Captain Jenvey adds that, at lower levels although sometimes higher if associated with a mountain range, such as the Andes in South America types of mechanical turbulence known as rotor or mountain wave are generated as air flow is pushed against the side of a mountain or hill and pushed upwards. Do you get any warning or can the pilot see it coming? Turbulence is normally associated with thunderstorms and cloud formations, meaning in daylight, pilots can see it coming. In this case passengers are warned by the seat belt sign being switched on, warning them to buckle up for a rough ride. Modern airliners are fitted with weather radars in the nose that can detect thunderstorms ahead, helping pilots change course to avoid them. But as its name suggests, clear air turbulence remains invisible to those radars. Chan adds that thunderstorms, bringing possible severe ice and turbulence, are prominently displayed on the pilots navigation display. Pilots are expected to navigate around the thunderstorms while having the seat belt sign on as a precaution. Whats the best form of preventing turbulence problems? For an airline passenger, its as simple as keeping your seatbelt fastened. Injuries caused by turbulence are typically from people being thrown about by sudden bumps caused by the airliner hitting an air pocket, or entering a fast-moving mass of air. Stowing your personal belongings safely in the seat pocket, under the seat in front of you or in the overhead locker will also help. Captain Jenvey says that he advises air travellers to keep their belts fastened at all times unless its necessary to be out of your seat. Hitting turbulence, he explained, can cause passengers who do not have their seat belts fastened to rise up very quickly out of their seats and be pushed back in very hard. If walking in the aisle of the aircraft, the sudden rise might cause passengers to hit their heads hard on the cabin ceiling and then fall down. 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. Tuscarora Nation renews push for state recognition in NC after decades of exclusion The Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina, a Native American tribe centered in Robeson County, is once again seeking official recognition from the state. Speaking at the legislature on Tuesday, Chief Cecil Hunt said the Tuscarora have been maligned and outright bullied by intertribal prejudice from the Commission of Indian Affairs, which has repeatedly denied efforts to recognize the tribe. Tuscarora representatives gathered with Rep. Ed Goodwin, a Chowan County Republican who filed a bill earlier this month to recognize the tribe. Without state recognition, members of the Tuscarora Nation are excluded from several benefits typically afforded to Native American tribes. We are no longer able to compete in powwows, enter our art into exhibits, be eligible for scholarships or enjoy adorning our high school seniors with feathers to wear at graduations, Eudora Locklear, a Tuscarora member, said. In addition to recognizing the tribe, Goodwins bill would give the Tuscarora representation on the Commission of Indian Affairs and update state websites to include the tribe. Repeated efforts to recognize Tuscarora The tribe has between 500 and 900 members, a representative of the tribe estimated in 2019. Goodwin, who said he grew up around members of the Tuscarora, said he has filed a bill to recognize the tribe every session since he was elected in 2018, but it has never made it to a vote. I cant believe at this time in our history, were taking a people who were Native Americans, who were here before all the rest of us were here, and were treating them this way, Goodwin said. Goodwin said nobody in legislative leadership had given him a sufficient explanation for why they had not acted on his efforts to recognize the Tuscarora. Representatives for House Speaker Tim Moore did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether he would move the bill forward this year. Recognition for NC tribes North Carolina currently recognizes eight Native American tribes, though only one of them, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, has full federal recognition. The Lumbee Tribe is recognized by the state, but has fought unsuccessfully for full federal recognition for over a century. In 1956, Congress passed a bill recognizing the Lumbee as an American Indian tribe, but did not grant the tribe the typical benefits associated with federal recognition. North Carolinas U.S. senators, Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, introduced a bill in Congress last year to grant recognition to the Lumbee Tribe, but it never got a vote. While achieving state recognition would not make the Tuscarora eligible for many grants and benefits afforded to federally recognized tribes, members of the tribe said it was an important first step. The Tuscarora Nation has unsuccessfully sought state recognition for decades. Most recently, in 2019, the Commission of Indian Affairs denied the tribes petition for recognition, calling it a splinter group of the Lumbee Tribe. At a hearing of the commission in 2019, a spokesperson for the Tuscarora accused the Lumbee Tribe of trying to block their recognition, noting that Lumbee leaders were part of the commission deciding on the petition. The News & Observer wasnt immediately able to reach a representative of the Commission of Indian Affairs for comment on Tuesday. On Tuesday, representatives of the Tuscarora Nation again rejected the idea that they were a subset of the Lumbee, saying they have their own distinct cultural identities, ceremonial practices and languages. As a young boy, my grandfather always told me son, your people are Tuscarora, Hunt said. So how can I be anything other than that? Uniquely NC is a News & Observer subscriber collection of moments, landmarks and personalities that define the uniqueness (and pride) of why we live in the Triangle and North Carolina. Two companies selected by Ohio commission to lease parts of Noble and Monroe counties for fracking Anti-fracking advocates hung up signs before the May 20, 2024 Oil and Gas Land Management Commission meeting. (Photo by Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal.) The highest and best bidders were selected to lease parts of Noble and Monroe counties for fracking during Mondays Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission meeting. Colorado-based company Antero Resources Corporation was the sole bidder to lease eight parcels for drilling in Noble County for $4,713.60, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Antero has previously leased land in Noble County and other Eastern Ohio counties including Harrison, Guernsey, Belmont, Monroe and Washington. Texas-based company Southwestern Energy was the only bidder for eight parcels of land in Monroe County for $3,378, according to ODNR. Each lease agreement includes a 12.5% royalty paid to the state for production. The commission posted the nominated leasing parcels to bid on March 4 and May 4 was the deadline to submit bids. Fracking is the process of injecting liquid into the ground at a high pressure to extract oil or gas and it has been documented in over 30 states, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. Anti-fracking advocates Anti-fracking advocates tried to raise their concerns to the commissioners throughout the meeting. Id like to say that we have people who are very concerned about the water in that area. The water is not tested. We dont know what its going to be like, one advocate said. She tried bringing up a basket of water samples during the meeting, but a Ohio State Highway patrol officer stopped her from approaching the commissioners and intercepted the basket. Another advocate held up a sign during the meeting that said commissioners or gas and oil puppets? There were more than 1,400 fracking incidents associated with oil and gas wells in Ohio between 2018 and September 2023, according to FracTracker Alliance a nonprofit that collects data on fracking pipelines. About 10% of those incidents were reported as fires or explosions. Of those, there were 71 total incidents in Noble County and 59 total incidents in Monroe County during that time period, according to FracTracker. Failed nominations Nominations for land in Egypt Valley Wildlife Area in Belmont County, Guernsey and Noble counties were not approved during Mondays meeting and wont move forward to the bidding process at this time. The Guernsey and Noble county nominations were denied because ODOT indicated it lacks the ability to enter into a lease at this time, according to ODNR. The Egypt Valley Wildlife Area nomination was denied due to a condition in the nomination that could render the economic benefits too low to warrant approval pursuant to Ohio Revised Code, according to ODNR. ODOT submitted a comment indicating that due to their stewardship and oversight agreement with the Federal Highway Administration, they are not legally authorized to enter into mineral basis for these parcels without express pre-approval from the FHWA, Richardson said about the nomination for land in Wills Township in Guernsey County. Lorraine McCosker, steering committee member of Save Ohio Parks, said this shows the importance of federal laws with the FHWA. ODNR needs to address certain things that they rejected, she said. They disapproved Egypt Valley so I think that thats really important. OGLMC resignation Matthew Warnock resigned as an OGLMC committee, Richardson said. Warnock was not present at Mondays meeting and the Governors office will be working to fill the vacancy on OGLMC. Warnock was the single no vote on the bid to lease land for fracking at Salt Fork State Park during Februarys meeting. We want to thank him for his service on the commission, and we certainly will miss him, Richardson said. Warnock sent his resignation to the Governors office on May 6. Thank you for appointing me to serve the State of Ohio as a member of the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission. It has been a great group to work with and learn from.With that being said, it is a good time professionally for me to step down and allow someone else to step into this role and serve on the Commission, he said in an email obtained by a public records request. Follow OCJ Reporter Megan Henry on X. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Two companies selected by Ohio commission to lease parts of Noble and Monroe counties for fracking appeared first on Ohio Capital Journal. Two people stabbed, another assaulted in unprovoked attack in Santa Monica Pedestrians walk along the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. A man was arrested Sunday after three people were assaulted near the shopping area. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) Police are investigating why three people were assaulted, two of them stabbed, a few feet from Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade. Santa Monica police responded Sunday to a report of a stabbing in the 1500 block of 4th Street, near parking structure No. 7. When the officers arrived they found two people with stab wounds and a third assault victim with no major injuries. According to a police report, officers immediately began performing CPR on one person. The police department did not disclose the condition of the victims when the officers found them. Police said the attacks were unprovoked. The two people who were stabbed have been identified as German tourists who are not related to each other, according to authorities. Read more: LAPD arrest man suspected of assaulting two children in Santa Monica and Venice Officers arrested Larry Ameyal Cedeno, 29; the details of his arrest were not disclosed. . At the time of his arrest, Cedeno was experiencing homelessness and on probation following charges of attempted grand theft of a car on May 9, according to court documents. The Santa Monica Police Department declined to provide any further information about the case because it remains under investigation. Cedeno is in the Santa Monica jail pending arraignment. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Det. George Burciaga at George.Burciaga@santamonica.gov or the watch commander, reachable 24 hours a day at (310) 458-8427. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Ty did this: Woman IDs ex-boyfriend as her killer before dying Ty did this: Woman IDs ex-boyfriend as her killer before dying WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, Manhattan (PIX11) A woman who was allegedly stabbed to death by an ex-boyfriend told her dad he attacked her in her final moments, police said. Ty did this, Shirley Rodriguez, 29, muttered to her father after she was assaulted early Monday outside the Washington Heights apartment building where she lived with her dad, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny. Tyquane Jemmott, 33, a Bronx resident, was arrested in connection to the fatal stabbing, Kenny said Tuesday at a press briefing. He was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Jemmott allegedly hid between two cars outside of Rogriguezs building on Haven Avenue near West 172nd Street and waited for her to leave for work at around 5:40 a.m. Monday, police said. The ex-lover then allegedly stabbed her several times in the front and back of the body, neck, arm, and face, Kenny said. Rodriguez was also slashed, punched, and dragged during the 1-minute attack, which was caught on video. She was fighting back the whole time, Kenny said. More Crime News Bystanders chased Jemmott from the scene, and the cab driver waiting for Rodriguez called 911 before she got up and pressed the intercom of her building to ask her dad for help, according to authorities. As shes dying, she tells him (the dad), Ty did this,' Kenny said. Rodriguez was rushed to the hospital but could not be saved. Police said the victim and the ex-boyfriend were together for two years before breaking up last week. The former couple had two prior domestic disputes on record. Jemmott was apprehended at his uncles house in the Bronx, police said. He has one prior arrest for criminal mischief. Domestic and family health violence are common problems estimated to affect 10 million people in the United States every year. Anyone looking for help can find resources here. Mira Wassef is a digital reporter who has covered news and sports in the New York City area for more than a decade. She joined PIX11 News in 2022. See more of her work here. 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 PIX11. The United States on Monday sanctioned retired Bangladeshi Gen. Aziz Ahmed. Photo courtesy of Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of Bangladesh to the United Nations/Release May 21 (UPI) -- The Biden administration has sanctioned a retired Bangladeshi general on accusations of "significant corruption." The State Department on Monday leveled the sanctions at retired Gen. Aziz Ahmed, making him and his immediate family ineligible for entry to the United States. In a statement, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Ahmed's actions "have contributed to the undermining of Bangladesh's democratic institutions and the public's faith in public institutions and processes." Ahmed served as chief of army staff in the Bangladeshi military from 2018 until he retired in 2021. In February that same year, Al Jazeera produced an hour-long documentary titled All the Prime Minister's Men accusing Ahmed of being part of a "crime family at the center of power." The Bangladeshi foreign ministry rejected the documentary at the time in a statement as a politically motivated "smear campaign." Ahmed has several brothers, three of whom were convicted in the 1996 murder of a political rival in 1996, though two fled justice. The Al Jazeera documentary accused Ahmed of protecting his brothers. Of the three brothers convicted, one was imprisoned and sentenced to death but received a political pardon in 2018, before Ahmed was named chief of army staff. The other two brothers fled abroad, one to Hungary and the other to Malaysia, the documentary alleges, accusing Ahmed of aiding one of them by falsifying documents in order to establish a business in the European country under a false identity. The documentary further accuses the Ahmeds of selling positions in the nation's police forces, a scheme that allegedly involved senior officers and government officials receiving kickbacks. Miller in his statement Monday stated Ahmed engaged in "significant corruption" by interfering in public processes to help a unnamed brother evade criminal activity. He also said Ahmed and at least one of his brothers worked to "ensure the improper awarding of military contracts and accepted bribes in exchange for government appointments for his personal benefit." "This designation reaffirms the U.S. commitment to strengthening democratic institutions and rule of law in Bangladesh," Miller said. "The United States supports anticorruption efforts in Bangladesh through assistance to make government services more transparent and affordable, improve the business and regulatory environment, and build capacity in investigating and prosecuting money laundering and other financial crimes." By Azernews Laman Ismayilova Azerbaijan and Tajikistan share a strong bond of friendship that has spanned centuries. The two countries established diplomatic relations on May 29, 1992. The cooperation between Azerbaijan and Tajikistan reached a new level in 2008, when an intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation was launched. Today, cultural exchanges between the national masters of classical music and the symphonic orchestras of the two countries have become traditional. Numerous events, including cinema weeks and an international conference dedicated to the 600th anniversary of the great Tajik Persian poet, scholar, and thinker Mavlono Abdurakhman Jami, were held within the framework of the fruitful cooperation. Days of Tajik Culture is another significant event that further strengthens the Azerbaijani-Tajik cooperation. In 2007, the Days of Culture of Tajikistan were successfully held in the cities of Baku and Ganja, while the Days of Azerbaijani Culture were held in Dushanbe in 2008. This annual event showcases the vibrant cultural heritage of Tajikistan through exhibitions, performances, and other projects. Days of Culture of Tajikistan 2024 have been declared open in Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku. The guests of the ceremony viewed an exhibition of paintings by Tajik artists, samples of folk crafts, and got acquainted with the traditional costumes and cuisine of Tajikistan. Speaking at the ceremony, Azerbaijan Culture Minister Adil Karimli noted that he is sincerely glad to welcome all participants of this evening with the grand opening of the Days of Tajik Culture in Azerbaijan. "We are confident that holding the Days of Tajik Culture in Azerbaijan is a significant event for all art connoisseurs. For centuries, strong ties have existed between Azerbaijan and Tajikistan, based on historical, cultural, and spiritual ties. These ties continue to create unique prospects for cultural exchange and joint initiatives. A special role in the development of bilateral cooperation is played by friendly relations between the heads of our states - the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon," the minister said. Noting the active cooperation of the two countries in both bilateral and multilateral formats, the Culture Minister emphasised that events dedicated to outstanding representatives of culture are organised at the bilateral level, as well as the exchange of experience and translation of literary works from Azerbaijani into Tajik and from Tajik into Azerbaijani. In Tajikistan, the work of the great Azerbaijani poet Nizami Ganjavi, whose works are included in the school curriculum, is highly respected. "I am very glad to see in the exhibition the outstanding creation of the wonderful Azerbaijani sculptor Fuad Abdurakhmanov, created in 1964. I would also like to note the importance of strengthening cooperation between the two countries within the framework of international organizations," he added. Adil Karimli said that Tajikistan Culture Days are organized in Baku and Ganja, which makes it possible for the general public to become familiar with the ancient history, rich culture, traditions, and spiritual values of the fraternal Tajik people. He stressed that multiple events will be organized within the Days of Tajik Days, including the closing gala concert at Ganja State Philharmonic Hall. Tajikistan Culture Minister Matluba Sattoriyon welcomed the participants of the opening ceremony on behalf of cultural figures of Tajikistan. "Taking advantage of this pleasant opportunity, first of all I want to say that thanks to the support of the governments and leaders of our two states, the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon and the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, our bilateral relations are developing year after year, especially cooperation in the field of culture," the minister said. "Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, Tajik-Azerbaijani cooperation has traditionally been built in line with a mutually beneficial and equal partnership and, in general, has successfully developed in political, trade, economic, humanitarian and other fields. It is noteworthy that it is in the sphere of culture that the ties between Tajikistan and Azerbaijan are becoming more noticeable, broader and closer. Tajikistan and Azerbaijan have carried out quite intensive cultural exchanges in recent years," she added. In her speech, Matlubakhon Sattoriyon touched upon the legacy of the Azerbaijani philosopher and poet Nizami Ganjavi: "A striking example of strong cultural ties between our peoples is Nizami Ganjavi, the great Azerbaijani sage, poet and outstanding philosopher of the 12th-13th centuries, whose name both Tajiks and Azerbaijanis are proud of. Nizami's Khamsa, that is, his five dastans, is an excellent example of literature. In Tajikistan, the original national culture of the Azerbaijani people, famous for its ethnic uniqueness, is well known, loved and appreciated." "Over many centuries, the Azerbaijani people have created a rich, diverse traditional culture and achieved enormous creative success. It is worth noting that holding Days of Culture is a great holiday that decorates the cultural heritage of our peoples. Of course, Culture Days promote friendship between our countries. Let me once again express our gratitude for the opportunity to introduce the noble Azerbaijani people to the culture and art of Tajikistan." Tajikistan Culture Minister said that Days of Tajik Culture features vibrant concerts, an exhibition of artists and craftsmen, film screenings and display of national costumes, which provide insight into the history, culture and customs of the Tajik people. In conclusion, Matlubakhon Sattoriyon expressed her gratitude to the Azerbaijani government and Azerbaijan Culture Ministry on behalf of the Tajikistan Culture Ministry for their support, showing sincere respect for the people of Tajikistan. The event was followed by a colorful show with the participation of masters of art from Tajikistan. The musical and dance numbers presented by Tajik performers were met with a storm of applause. The Days of Tajik Culture in Azerbaijan will end on May 23. Emergency responders wait for passengers outside the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, May 21, 2024. Severe turbulence on the Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London to Singapore has left one passenger dead and 30 others injured, forcing an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand's capital Bangkok on Tuesday, Thai authorities said. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak) BANGKOK, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Severe turbulence on the Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London to Singapore has left one passenger dead and 30 others injured, forcing an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand's capital Bangkok on Tuesday, Thai authorities said. The Boeing 777-300ER jet experienced severe turbulence en route and was forced to divert to Bangkok, where it landed at 3:45 p.m. local time, Singapore Airlines said in a statement. There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew members on board the flight, according to the airline. The injured passengers, including seven in critical condition, were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment, said Kittipong Kittikachorn, Suvarnabhumi airport general manager. Airport officials are providing assistance to the remaining passengers while the replacement aircraft is scheduled to land at the airport on Tuesday night, Kittipong told a news conference. Rescuers wait for passengers outside the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, May 21, 2024. Severe turbulence on the Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London to Singapore has left one passenger dead and 30 others injured, forcing an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand's capital Bangkok on Tuesday, Thai authorities said. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak) Ambulances are seen outside the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, May 21, 2024. Severe turbulence on the Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London to Singapore has left one passenger dead and 30 others injured, forcing an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand's capital Bangkok on Tuesday, Thai authorities said. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak) Ambulances wait to carry passengers outside the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, May 21, 2024. Severe turbulence on the Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London to Singapore has left one passenger dead and 30 others injured, forcing an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand's capital Bangkok on Tuesday, Thai authorities said. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak) Emergency responders wait for passengers outside the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, May 21, 2024. Severe turbulence on the Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London to Singapore has left one passenger dead and 30 others injured, forcing an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand's capital Bangkok on Tuesday, Thai authorities said. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak) Emergency responders wait for passengers outside the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, May 21, 2024. Severe turbulence on the Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London to Singapore has left one passenger dead and 30 others injured, forcing an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand's capital Bangkok on Tuesday, Thai authorities said. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak) Emergency responders are seen outside the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, May 21, 2024. Severe turbulence on the Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London to Singapore has left one passenger dead and 30 others injured, forcing an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand's capital Bangkok on Tuesday, Thai authorities said. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak) Ambulances are seen outside the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, May 21, 2024. Severe turbulence on the Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London to Singapore has left one passenger dead and 30 others injured, forcing an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand's capital Bangkok on Tuesday, Thai authorities said. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak) This photo taken on May 21, 2024 shows a view of Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand. Severe turbulence on the Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London to Singapore has left one passenger dead and 30 others injured, forcing an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand's capital Bangkok on Tuesday, Thai authorities said. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak) U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund $300 million in grants to boost exports Soybeans being loaded from a grain bin onto a truck on June 13, 2018 in Dwight, Illinois. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is funding $300 million in grants to expand overseas U.S. agriculture (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) WASHINGTON The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday $300 million in funding for more than 60 groups seeking to diversify American agricultural exports. USDA is pleased to be able to provide the startup capital to tap into these opportunities, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on a call with reporters Monday night previewing the announcement. In total, 66 organizations will be funded under the new Regional Agricultural Promotion Program, or RAPP. The USDA launched the $1.4 billion program in October in order to develop new export markets for U.S. food and agricultural products beyond the traditional partnerships with Canada, Mexico, the European Union and China. What this program really provides is an opportunity for us not only to expand geographically the opportunities for trade, but also the products that can be made available, Vilsack said. Its a tremendous opportunity for us to diversify in a variety of different ways to grow market opportunity. The program focuses on tapping U.S. exports into new markets in regions such as South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. When you have the major markets, as weve had, where 60 to 65% of what we export goes into four or five markets, that can create a sense of complacency, Vilsack said. The riskiest business in the world Vilsack said the funding would be an important step in building wealth in rural areas of the United States. We want to make sure our foreign-market development programs and agricultural trade in general work for the full spectrum of American agricultural producers, regardless of their size, their location, their product or target market, he said. By investing in exports, were investing in the future of American agriculture and rural communities. Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who leads the Senate Committee on Agriculture, joined the call with reporters. She said that USDA investing in exports is crucial to growing American agriculture. The bottom line is (to) create new revenue for the folks that have the riskiest business in the world, Stabenow said. This is a really important way to support them. According to a list provided by the USDA, some of the grant recipients include: The Hazelnut Marketing Board in Oregon and Washington state will receive $455,000 to conduct market research and trade missions in several countries in Africa. The U.S. Dairy Export Council, based in Virginia, will receive $10 million to expand its presence in Africa by using the funds to study and develop dairy import regulations and regulatory frameworks in those markets. The U.S. Meat Export Federation based in Colorado will be awarded $21 million to expand its export efforts to new markets throughout Africa. It will also expand its investment in the convenience-store industry in South Korea, Central America and Colombia. The Brewers Association in Colorado will be awarded $2 million to partake in the craft beer scene in Southeast Asia, by participating in the regions premier brewing trade show and festival and bring buyers from that region to top trade shows in the US. The Cranberry Institute in Massachusetts will receive $1 million to conduct trade education seminars and other events to identify opportunities in India, Brazil, Colombia and Southeast Asia. The post U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund $300 million in grants to boost exports appeared first on Pennsylvania Capital-Star. U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund $300 million in grants to boost exports Soybeans being loaded from a grain bin onto a truck on June 13, 2018, in Dwight, Illinois. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is funding $300 million in grants to expand overseas U.S. agriculture (Scott Olson/Getty Images) WASHINGTON The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Tuesday announced $300 million in funding for more than 60 groups seeking to diversify American agricultural exports. USDA is pleased to be able to provide the startup capital to tap into these opportunities, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on a call with reporters Monday night previewing the announcement. In total, 66 organizations will be funded under the new Regional Agricultural Promotion Program, or RAPP. The USDA launched the $1.4 billion program in October in order to develop new export markets for U.S. food and agricultural products beyond the traditional partnerships with Canada, Mexico, the European Union and China. What this program really provides is an opportunity for us not only to expand geographically the opportunities for trade, but also the products that can be made available, Vilsack said. Its a tremendous opportunity for us to diversify in a variety of different ways to grow market opportunity. The program focuses on tapping U.S. exports into new markets in regions such as South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. When you have the major markets, as weve had, where 60 to 65% of what we export goes into four or five markets, that can create a sense of complacency, Vilsack said. The riskiest business in the world Vilsack said the funding would be an important step in building wealth in rural areas of the United States. We want to make sure our foreign-market development programs and agricultural trade in general work for the full spectrum of American agricultural producers, regardless of their size, their location, their product or target market, he said. By investing in exports, were investing in the future of American agriculture and rural communities. Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who leads the Senate Committee on Agriculture, joined the call with reporters. She said that USDA investing in exports is crucial to growing American agriculture. The bottom line is (to) create new revenue for the folks that have the riskiest business in the world, Stabenow said. This is a really important way to support them. Hazelnuts, dairy. meat, craft beer exports According to a list provided by the USDA, some of the grant recipients include: The Hazelnut Marketing Board in Oregon and Washington state will receive $455,000 to conduct market research and trade missions in several countries in Africa. The U.S. Dairy Export Council, based in Virginia, will receive $10 million to expand its presence in Africa by using the funds to study and develop dairy import regulations and regulatory frameworks in those markets. The U.S. Meat Export Federation based in Colorado will be awarded $21 million to expand its export efforts to new markets throughout Africa. It will also expand its investment in the convenience-store industry in South Korea, Central America and Colombia. The Brewers Association in Colorado will be awarded $2 million to partake in the craft beer scene in Southeast Asia, by participating in the regions premier brewing trade show and festival and bring buyers from that region to top trade shows in the US. The Cranberry Institute in Massachusetts will receive $1 million to conduct trade education seminars and other events to identify opportunities in India, Brazil, Colombia and Southeast Asia. The post U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund $300 million in grants to boost exports appeared first on Nebraska Examiner. U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund $300 million in grants to boost exports Soybeans being loaded from a grain bin onto a truck. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is funding $300 million in grants to expand overseas U.S. agriculture Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images. WASHINGTON The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday $300 million in funding for more than 60 groups seeking to diversify American agricultural exports. USDA is pleased to be able to provide the startup capital to tap into these opportunities, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on a call with reporters Monday night previewing the announcement. In total, 66 organizations will be funded under the new Regional Agricultural Promotion Program, or RAPP. The USDA launched the $1.4 billion program in October in order to develop new export markets for U.S. food and agricultural products beyond the traditional partnerships with Canada, Mexico, the European Union and China. What this program really provides is an opportunity for us not only to expand geographically the opportunities for trade, but also the products that can be made available, Vilsack said. Its a tremendous opportunity for us to diversify in a variety of different ways to grow market opportunity. The program focuses on tapping U.S. exports into new markets in regions such as South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. When you have the major markets, as weve had, where 60 to 65% of what we export goes into four or five markets, that can create a sense of complacency, Vilsack said. The riskiest business in the world Vilsack said the funding would be an important step in building wealth in rural areas of the United States. We want to make sure our foreign-market development programs and agricultural trade in general work for the full spectrum of American agricultural producers, regardless of their size, their location, their product or target market, he said. By investing in exports, were investing in the future of American agriculture and rural communities. Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who leads the Senate Committee on Agriculture, joined the call with reporters. She said that USDA investing in exports is crucial to growing American agriculture. The bottom line is (to) create new revenue for the folks that have the riskiest business in the world, Stabenow said. This is a really important way to support them. According to a list provided by the USDA, some of the grant recipients include: The Hazelnut Marketing Board in Oregon and Washington state will receive $455,000 to conduct market research and trade missions in several countries in Africa. The U.S. Dairy Export Council, based in Virginia, will receive $10 million to expand its presence in Africa by using the funds to study and develop dairy import regulations and regulatory frameworks in those markets. The U.S. Meat Export Federation based in Colorado will be awarded $21 million to expand its export efforts to new markets throughout Africa. It will also expand its investment in the convenience-store industry in South Korea, Central America and Colombia. The Brewers Association in Colorado will be awarded $2 million to partake in the craft beer scene in Southeast Asia, by participating in the regions premier brewing trade show and festival and bring buyers from that region to top trade shows in the US. The Cranberry Institute in Massachusetts will receive $1 million to conduct trade education seminars and other events to identify opportunities in India, Brazil, Colombia and Southeast Asia. The post U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund $300 million in grants to boost exports appeared first on Minnesota Reformer. U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund $300 million in grants to boost exports A tractor works in a farm field near Medina, North Dakota, on May 16, 2024. (Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor) WASHINGTON The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday $300 million in funding for more than 60 groups seeking to diversify American agricultural exports. USDA is pleased to be able to provide the startup capital to tap into these opportunities, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on a call with reporters Monday night previewing the announcement. In total, 66 organizations will be funded under the new Regional Agricultural Promotion Program, or RAPP. The USDA launched the $1.4 billion program in October in order to develop new export markets for U.S. food and agricultural products beyond the traditional partnerships with Canada, Mexico, the European Union and China. What this program really provides is an opportunity for us not only to expand geographically the opportunities for trade, but also the products that can be made available, Vilsack said. Its a tremendous opportunity for us to diversify in a variety of different ways to grow market opportunity. The program focuses on tapping U.S. exports into new markets in regions such as South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. When you have the major markets, as weve had, where 60 to 65% of what we export goes into four or five markets, that can create a sense of complacency, Vilsack said. The riskiest business in the world Vilsack said the funding would be an important step in building wealth in rural areas of the United States. We want to make sure our foreign-market development programs and agricultural trade in general work for the full spectrum of American agricultural producers, regardless of their size, their location, their product or target market, he said. By investing in exports, were investing in the future of American agriculture and rural communities. Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who leads the Senate Committee on Agriculture, joined the call with reporters. She said that USDA investing in exports is crucial to growing American agriculture. The bottom line is (to) create new revenue for the folks that have the riskiest business in the world, Stabenow said. This is a really important way to support them. According to a list provided by the USDA, some of the grant recipients include: The Hazelnut Marketing Board in Oregon and Washington state will receive $455,000 to conduct market research and trade missions in several countries in Africa. The U.S. Dairy Export Council, based in Virginia, will receive $10 million to expand its presence in Africa by using the funds to study and develop dairy import regulations and regulatory frameworks in those markets. The U.S. Meat Export Federation based in Colorado will be awarded $21 million to expand its export efforts to new markets throughout Africa. It will also expand its investment in the convenience-store industry in South Korea, Central America and Colombia. The Brewers Association in Colorado will be awarded $2 million to partake in the craft beer scene in Southeast Asia, by participating in the regions premier brewing trade show and festival and bring buyers from that region to top trade shows in the US. The Cranberry Institute in Massachusetts will receive $1 million to conduct trade education seminars and other events to identify opportunities in India, Brazil, Colombia and Southeast Asia. The post U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund $300 million in grants to boost exports appeared first on North Dakota Monitor. By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Forging formal Israeli-Saudi relations as part of an emerging trilateral deal involving Washington would require a calming of the Gaza war and a discussion of prospects for Palestinian governance, the U.S. envoy to Jerusalem said on Tuesday. "There's going to have to be some period of quiet, I think, in Gaza, and there's going to have to be a conversation about how do you deal with the question of the future of Palestinian governance," ambassador Jack Lew said. "My view is, that strategic benefit is worth taking the risk of getting into that conversation about. But that's a decision that the government of Israel will have to make and the people of Israel will have to make," he told a conference hosted by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) think-tank. The United States on Monday described as "near final" a bilateral defence pact with Saudi Arabia. Once completed, it would be part of a broad deal presented to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to decide whether to make concessions to secure a normalisation of ties with Riyadh. Netanyahu has long promoted such a diplomatic prize. But, seven months into a war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip whom Israel has sworn to eradicate, a ceasefire is elusive and he says it is premature to discuss day-after Palestinian rule. "Of course we want to expand the circle of peace. We haven't been shy about this," Israeli government spokesperson Tal Heinrich said. "(But) any peace initiative that jeopardises Israel's security is not something that we see as real peace." Addressing the IDI event separately, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, whose role is largely ceremonial, argued that bilateral ties with Saudi Arabia would be a setback to Iranian-backed Hamas, which sparked the war with an Oct. 7 cross-border rampage. "I very much hope that this possibility is being seriously considered, as the empire of evil sought on October 7 to destroy the chance for normalisation," Herzog said. "Our struggle, in the end, is not only a fight against Hamas. It is a wider, strategic, global and historic battle, and we must do everything to integrate into the grand vision of normalisation." The Netanyahu government, however, has said a failure to defeat Hamas could harm Israeli credibility in the eyes of U.S.-aligned Arab Sunni powers, which worry about Islamist militancy. (Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Sharon Singleton) Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd and several members of Congress wrapped up a visit to the Turks and Caicos on Monday where five U.S. citizens, including an Orlando resident, are facing mandatory minimum 12-year prison sentences after ammunition was allegedly found in their luggage. Delegation members were hoping to bring the Ameriocans home, but after discussions concluded U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma said that despite our willingness to work with Turks and Caicos officials to get our constituents home, we were not able to find a path forward today. We went in respectful of their sovereignty, and with an open mind looking to find common ground, he added. At this point, well-intentioned American citizens are facing a dozen years in prison all for unknowingly having one or two bullets in their luggage. The unintended consequences of TCIs law have been at the expense of well-intentioned American tourists, including a grandmother, who had no intention of breaking the law. Mullin was one of two U.S. senators in the delegation, which also included three members of the House. Byrd was also accompanied by a representative of the State Department, Angela Kerwin, and the U.S. Embassy in Nassau, charge daffaires Jason Crosby. The lawmakers represented the five states where the individuals lived. Should the U.S. citizens receive prison sentences, Mullin said, we will need to consider additional actions to safeguard American citizens. The five Americans were charged with possession of firearms after police said they came across the ammunition during security screenings. Though ammunition is among the items prohibited by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration when traveling, the bullets apparently werent detected when the travelers departed from the United States. In one case, four rounds of ammunition from a deer-hunting trip was found in a carry-on bag, left there accidentally, according to the sister-in-law of one of the men detained. Ryan Watson and his wife, Valerie, were both arrested after the ammunition was found in the bag Valerie was carrying. The Watsons were celebrating Ryans 40th birthday, along with other couples. Valerie was eventually released. A GoFundMe page seeking to raise $250,000 to bring her husband home has already garnered $229,726 with more than 3,000 donations. The high-profile charges have plunged the British-dependent territory and its tough new firearms law into the global spotlight, with some critics calling for visitors to boycott the popular tourist destination located 600 miles southeast of Florida. Last week, U.S. governors Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Glenn Youngkin of Virginia sent a joint letter to the British-appointed governor of Turks & Caicos, Dileeni Daniel-Selvaratnam, seeking mercy for those arrested. In the letter, the governors pleaded for the release of Watson of Oklahoma, Bryan Hagerich of Pennsylvania and Tyler Scott Wenrich of Virginia, and asked for the expedited return to their families in the United States. Also charged with possession of ammunition in the territory are Texas resident Michael Lee Evans and Floridian Sharitta Shinse Grier. Grier, 45, of Orlando, was arrested last week after police discovered ammunition in her luggage during a routine search at the Howard Hamilton International Airport in Providenciales. The Amercans are free on bail awaiting court appearances, but cannot leave the territory. In a statement, the islands press office emphasized the governments stance, which was also reiterated ahead of the U.S. delegations visit. A representative from the United Kingdom, which has responsibility for the territory, was also present during the discussions. The governor and the premier confirmed they cannot intervene nor comment on ongoing legal cases before the courts, the statement said. They explained that the Turks and Caicos Islands have clear laws prohibiting the possession of firearms and ammunition and strict penalties arein place to serve and protect all who reside and visit the Turks and Caicos Islands. When the court finds there are exceptional circumstances, the sentencing judge does have discretion, under the law, to impose a custodial sentence and a fine that are fair and just in the circumstances of each case rather than impose the mandatory minimum, the statement went on to say. Critics of the law say it is making criminals out of individuals who did not intentionally take ammunition with them on vacation. Mullin said despite their lack of progress on Monday, he and others have no intentions on giving up. We will stay at the table through this process until this issue is resolved. U.N. says no to Russian-backed resolution to keep space weapons race at bay Russia's United Nations Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya waits to speak at the UN Security Council meeting during the 78th session of the General Debate at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, Sept. 2023. Todays vote is a unique moment of truth for our Western colleagues, he emphasized Monday as he called the Russian-backed resolutions draft comprehensive in nature and that it reflects the interests and aspirations of an overwhelming majority of UN members. File photo by Jason Szenes/UPI May 21 (UPI) -- The United Nations on Monday for the second time in nearly a month failed to adopt a first-of-its-kind resolution, this time Russian-backed, which aims to prevent a weapons race in outer space. Voting in favor of Monday's resolution: Algeria, Ecuador, China, Guyana, Mozambique, Russian and Sierra Leone. Voting against: France, Japan, Malta, Korea, Slovenia, Britain and the United States. Nine votes were needed for it to pass. Switzerland was the one abstention. Last month in April during a vote among the United Nations' 15-member security council, Russia first vetoed a similar U.S.- and Japan-sponsored U.N. resolution which opposed the deployment of nuclear weapons in space that used similar language to the one shut down Tuesday. While China abstained at the last vote, 13 member nations voted yes in favor of April's similar resolution. Russia's Permanent Representative to the U.N., Vasily Nebenzya, votes on an amendment in the Security Council Chamber at United Nations Headquarters in Nov. 2023. The White House in February confirmed Russia was developing "anti-satellite capability" but that it did not currently present an immediate threat. File photo by John Angelillo/UPI While introducing Monday's resolution, the Russian representative invoked the April 24 vote by saying the west and other countries were attempting "to portray the Russian Federation in an unfavorable light" and "assign to us a certain plan of action which we do not have." Russia says it wants to provide other U.N. countries the opportunity "not in word, but in deed," Russia's United Nations representative Vasily Nebenzya said, to "demonstrate the peaceful nature of their intentions" unlike the "blatantly politicized" previous resolution by Japan and the United States. "Today's vote is a unique moment of truth for our Western colleagues," he emphasized as he called the resolution's draft "comprehensive" in nature and that it reflects the "interests and aspirations of an overwhelming majority" of UN members. It comes as President Joe Biden days ago signed bipartisan legislation that bans the importation of Russian uranium amid the country's war with Ukraine in a move which severs the United States from its dependency on the Kremlin-controlled resource, while cutting off the Putin regime from another key revenue source for its military conflicts. U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood, the U.N.'s alternate representative for special political affairs, said Russia "seeks to distract global attention from its development of a new satellite carrying a nuclear device" in his remarks Monday, which he says they launched on May 16 into the same low Earth orbit as a U.S. government satellite. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty seeks to prevent member countries, such as the United States and Russia, from putting any objects carrying nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction into Earth's orbit. But Russia argues that their draft did cover those bases, which the U.S took issue with. The White House in February confirmed Russia was developing "anti-satellite capability" but that it did not currently present an immediate threat. The Russian Federation launched a Soyuz-2.1b rocket on May 16 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia, but the Russian government did not immediately disclose any details about the satellite or its mission. "First, rather than enhance arms control, the Russian text put forward today would narrow the scope of efforts in other United Nations bodies in a way that would be detrimental to preventing an arms race in outer space," Wood said. HONG KONG, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government on Tuesday said that Hong Kong will host over 210 mega events in 2024, up from the 150 initially planned early this year, hoping to attract an estimated 1.7 million tourists. HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee said that these tourists are expected to spend around 7.2 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 923 million U.S. dollars). Hosting mega events have paid off economically, he said, noting that tourist visits to Hong Kong in the first four months doubled the figure a year ago to 14.62 million. The mega events slated for the second half of 2024 include conferences and exhibitions, cultural and art events, sport games, as well as activities related to sci-tech innovation, Michael Wong, deputy financial secretary of the HKSAR government, said at a press conference. Wong said the HKSAR government will continue working to set the stage for business opportunities for various industries in Hong Kong to seize and monetize. U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy Friday outlined a series to steps the postal service is taking to improve service at a regional mail processing center in Palmetto. In a letter to U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., DeJoy announced that more than 100 personnel from across the postal service have been sent to the Atlanta Regional Processing and Distribution Center (RPDC) to work onsite to identify and rectify bottlenecks, conduct quality assurance, ensure Atlanta personnel are adhering to the new procedures, and ensure the timely processing and dispatch of mail and packages. The federal agency also will revise transportation schedules between the regional center and other local processing centers to increase local trips, add processing capacity at the local centers, and shift cross-country volume away from the Atlanta facility until service stabilizes, DeJoy wrote. A postal service restructuring plan launched at Atlanta and Richmond, Va., earlier this year aimed at stopping the agency from bleeding red ink resulted in massive delays in mail processing. At a Senate committee hearing last month, Ossoff revealed that only 36% of inbound mail handled by the Palmetto center was being delivered on time as of the end of February. The postal service is in the middle of a major new investment in our Georgia operations, DeJoy wrote Friday. Unfortunately, the initiation of the Atlanta RPDC led to a significant drop in performance, which was unanticipated. To address this challenge in a purposeful and deliberative manner, we will continue to devote substantial time, resources, and attention until the facility and network improvements are performing to the intended specifications. DeJoy had announced earlier this week that the postal service would call a pause in implementing the restructuring plan at least until next year to allow time to get a handle on the problems. However, that raised questions as to whether that pause would affect the processing delays already being experienced in Georgia. Ossoff released a statement earlier Friday criticizing DeJoy for failing to provide updates the senator had requested regarding on-time mail delivery for Georgia families and businesses. I will continue fighting for the Georgians suffering from the postmaster generals failure, Ossoff vowed in a statement he released after receiving the letter. U.S. Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama addresses a crowd at a breakfast hosted by the Chamber of Commerce in Montgomery on Nov. 3, 2023. (Alander Rocha/Alabama Reflector) WASHINGTON Two Republican U.S. senators have teamed up to try to prevent states from banning in vitro fertilization, months after the Alabama state Supreme Court upended access to the procedure by ruling fertilized embryos were children under state law. Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama and Ted Cruz of Texas introduced a three-page bill on Monday that would cut off a states Medicaid funding if that state were to bar in vitro fertilization. As a mom, I know firsthand that there is no greater blessing than our children, and IVF helps families across our nation experience the joyous miracle of life, grow, and thrive, Britt wrote in a statement. This commonsense piece of legislation affirms both life and liberty family and freedom, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact it into law. Cruz wrote that IVF has given miraculous hope to millions of Americans, and it has given families across the country the gift of children. The bill comes months after the Alabama state Supreme Court ruled that fertilized embryos that were frozen or hadnt been implanted constituted children under an 1872 law. State lawmakers approved and Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation afterward to provide civil and criminal protections to the states IVF clinics so that they might resume their work. Questions, however, remain and at least one of the states IVF clinics has closed. Democrats in Congress have introduced their own bills to provide nationwide protections for IVF, though two of those bills have been blocked from quickly passing the Senate by GOP lawmakers. Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi in late February prevented Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth from receiving unanimous consent to pass a bill that would have protected IVF nationwide. That bill would have blocked limitations on assisted reproductive technology services that are more burdensome than limitations or requirements imposed on medically comparable procedures, do not significantly advance reproductive health or the safety of such services and unduly restrict access to such services. Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford in March blocked Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray from quickly passing a bill that would have expanded access to in vitro fertilization for military service members and veterans. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post U.S. Sen. Katie Britt introduces bill to end a states Medicaid funding if it blocks IVF appeared first on Ohio Capital Journal. U.S. Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama addresses a crowd at a breakfast hosted by the Chamber of Commerce in Montgomery on Nov. 3, 2023. (Alander Rocha/Alabama Reflector) WASHINGTON Two Republican U.S. senators have teamed up to try to prevent states from banning in vitro fertilization (IVF), months after the Alabama state Supreme Court upended access to the procedure by ruling fertilized embryos were children under state law. Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama and Ted Cruz of Texas introduced a three-page bill on Monday that would cut off a states Medicaid funding if that state were to bar in vitro fertilization. As a mom, I know firsthand that there is no greater blessing than our children, and IVF helps families across our nation experience the joyous miracle of life, grow, and thrive, Britt wrote in a statement. This commonsense piece of legislation affirms both life and liberty family and freedom, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact it into law. Cruz wrote that IVF has given miraculous hope to millions of Americans, and it has given families across the country the gift of children. The bill comes months after the Alabama state Supreme Court ruled that fertilized embryos that were frozen or hadnt been implanted constituted children under an 1872 law. State lawmakers approved and Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation afterward to provide civil and criminal protections to the states IVF clinics so that they might resume their work. Questions, however, remain and at least one of the states IVF clinics has closed. Democrats in Congress have introduced their own bills to provide nationwide protections for IVF, though two of those bills have been blocked from quickly passing the Senate by GOP lawmakers. Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi in late February prevented Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth from receiving unanimous consent to pass a bill that would have protected IVF nationwide. That bill would have blocked limitations on assisted reproductive technology services that are more burdensome than limitations or requirements imposed on medically comparable procedures, do not significantly advance reproductive health or the safety of such services and unduly restrict access to such services. Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford in March blocked Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray from quickly passing a bill that would have expanded access to in vitro fertilization for military service members and veterans. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post U.S. Sen. Katie Britt introduces bill to end a states Medicaid funding if it blocks IVF appeared first on Indiana Capital Chronicle. U.S. Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama addresses a crowd at a breakfast hosted by the Chamber of Commerce in Montgomery on Nov. 3, 2023. (Alander Rocha/Alabama Reflector) WASHINGTON Two Republican U.S. senators have teamed up to try to prevent states from banning in vitro fertilization, months after the Alabama state Supreme Court upended access to the procedure by ruling fertilized embryos were children under state law. Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama and Ted Cruz of Texas introduced a three-page bill on Monday that would cut off a states Medicaid funding if that state were to bar in vitro fertilization. As a mom, I know firsthand that there is no greater blessing than our children, and IVF helps families across our nation experience the joyous miracle of life, grow, and thrive, Britt wrote in a statement. This commonsense piece of legislation affirms both life and liberty family and freedom, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact it into law. Cruz wrote that IVF has given miraculous hope to millions of Americans, and it has given families across the country the gift of children. The bill comes months after the Alabama state Supreme Court ruled that fertilized embryos that were frozen or hadnt been implanted constituted children under an 1872 law. State lawmakers approved and Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation afterward to provide civil and criminal protections to the states IVF clinics so that they might resume their work. Questions, however, remain and at least one of the states IVF clinics has closed. Democrats in Congress have introduced their own bills to provide nationwide protections for IVF, though two of those bills have been blocked from quickly passing the Senate by GOP lawmakers. Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi in late February prevented Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth from receiving unanimous consent to pass a bill that would have protected IVF nationwide. That bill would have blocked limitations on assisted reproductive technology services that are more burdensome than limitations or requirements imposed on medically comparable procedures, do not significantly advance reproductive health or the safety of such services and unduly restrict access to such services. Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford in March blocked Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray from quickly passing a bill that would have expanded access to in vitro fertilization for military service members and veterans. The post U.S. Sen. Katie Britt introduces bill to end a states Medicaid funding if it blocks IVF appeared first on Michigan Advance. U.S. Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama addresses a crowd at a breakfast hosted by the Chamber of Commerce in Montgomery in November. (Photo by Alander Rocha/Alabama Reflector) WASHINGTON Two Republican U.S. senators have teamed up to try to prevent states from banning in vitro fertilization, months after the Alabama state Supreme Court upended access to the procedure by ruling fertilized embryos were children under state law. Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama and Ted Cruz of Texas introduced a three-page bill on Monday that would cut off a states Medicaid funding if that state were to bar in vitro fertilization. As a mom, I know firsthand that there is no greater blessing than our children, and IVF helps families across our nation experience the joyous miracle of life, grow, and thrive, Britt wrote in a statement. This commonsense piece of legislation affirms both life and liberty family and freedom, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact it into law. Cruz wrote that IVF has given miraculous hope to millions of Americans, and it has given families across the country the gift of children. The bill comes months after the Alabama state Supreme Court ruled that fertilized embryos that were frozen or hadnt been implanted constituted children under an 1872 law. State lawmakers approved and Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation afterward to provide civil and criminal protections to the states IVF clinics so that they might resume their work. Questions, however, remain and at least one of the states IVF clinics has closed. Democrats in Congress have introduced their own bills to provide nationwide protections for IVF, though two of those bills have been blocked from quickly passing the Senate by GOP lawmakers. Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi in late February prevented Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth from receiving unanimous consent to pass a bill that would have protected IVF nationwide. That bill would have blocked limitations on assisted reproductive technology services that are more burdensome than limitations or requirements imposed on medically comparable procedures, do not significantly advance reproductive health or the safety of such services and unduly restrict access to such services. Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford in March blocked Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray from quickly passing a bill that would have expanded access to in vitro fertilization for military service members and veterans. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post U.S. Sen. Katie Britt introduces bill to end a states Medicaid funding if it blocks IVF appeared first on Oklahoma Voice. Washington state Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray speaks during a press conference on reproductive rights on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Also pictured from the left are Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide, and Karen Stone, vice president of Public Policy & Government Relations at Planned Parenthood. Washington state Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray speaks during a press conference on reproductive rights on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Also pictured from the left are Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide, and Karen Stone, vice president of Public Policy & Government Relations at Planned Parenthood. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON Bans or severe restrictions on abortion access enacted by Republican state lawmakers have led to a downturn in medical students seeking to practice in those states, and a handful of Democratic U.S. senators said Tuesday those laws must be reversed. During a press conference just steps from the U.S. Capitol, the lawmakers and reproductive rights advocates cited a study released in early May by the Association of American Medical Colleges Research and Action Institute. The study found that fewer new graduates of U.S. medical schools applied to residency programs in states that banned or restricted access to abortion than to residency programs in states where abortion remained legal. In Alabama, for example, the study found that applicants for OB-GYN residency programs in the state dropped 21.2% in 2023-24, the Alabama Reflector reported. Medical residency programs begin after students graduate medical school and can last between three and seven years depending on what specialty the doctor is training in, according to AAMC. The AAMC Institutes website says it takes a novel and nonpartisan approach to policy challenges, redefines complex problems, and offers feasible solutions to improve U.S. health care among policymakers and the public. Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray said the downward trend could exacerbate physician shortages in those states, given that OB-GYNs are leaving them as well. It should not be surprising to anyone because after all, why go somewhere politicians and judges can overrule your medical degree and force you to put your patients in harms way? Murray said. Why practice in a state that threatens you with the loss of your license, heavy fines and even prison time if you dare to help the patient get the abortion care that they need? Congress, she said, must work to restore nationwide abortion protections that were in place for nearly 50 years until the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade case less than two years ago. Wisconsin could lose critical care, Baldwin warns Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin said during the press conference that fewer doctors are choosing her home state to start their careers. Universities in states with abortion bans have been forced to send students out of state to receive reproductive care training, Baldwin said. Ive heard from doctors who are commuting across state lines, because they can no longer provide comprehensive care in their own communities. The decision by some medical students to seek out residency programs in states with protections for abortion access, could lead to states like Wisconsin losing critical care for half our population, Baldwin said. Fewer OB-GYNs means fewer doctors to deliver babies and perform prenatal and postnatal check-ups to ensure moms and babies get the healthy start that they deserve, Baldwin said. It means fewer doctors performing routine productive reproductive care, like administering mammograms and connecting women with safe and reliable birth control, Baldwin said. It means more women in reproductive care deserts unable to find treatment in case of emergencies. Baldwin said it makes sense that medical residents were seeking to learn and practice in states with protections for abortion access. If you were a medical student or doctor, would you rather work in a state that limits the science-backed care that you can provide, or one that has taken politicians out of the doctors office? Baldwin said. Arizona whiplashes between two abortion bans Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly said that doctors and patients in his state are living with uncertainty and chaos as our state whiplashes between two abortion bans. Ive spoken to several doctors who are thinking of leaving the state and many who have already left, Kelly said. Ive been on Zoom calls and seen the cardboard boxes piled up in the back. And its because they cant practice under these current circumstances. Doctors applying to residency programs in Arizona decreased by nearly 20% from 2023 to 2024. And for OB-GYNs, applications dropped by more than 25%, Kelly said. The only way to reverse the situation, Kelly said, is by codifying abortion rights into law, once and for all. Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide and a practicing physician in Maryland, said during the last two years shes treated patients whove traveled hundreds and even thousands of miles to get care with me. The restrictions or bans on abortion access, she said, have led to longer wait times in states that have protected access, leading to complicated situations for doctors and patients. The AAMC Institutes study shows that students graduating from U.S. medical schools are less likely to apply for residency positions in states with abortion bans and restrictions, Mosley said. These consequences will only exacerbate health inequities across the country, Mosley said. As health care providers, we trust our patients to know what they need. We also know that abortion is health care. And yet too many of us are being prevented from providing that care and too many people are suffering as a result. Abortion pills sent to patients in states with bans Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he just heard last week about a young doctor, who left his home state of Oklahoma to come to New York to begin his OB-GYN residency at our state university system. New York, he said, has passed so-called shield laws that protect doctors within the state borders to prescribe and send abortion pills to patients in states that have outlawed abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide in the coming weeks whether access to medication abortion, a two-drug regimen approved for up to 10 weeks gestation, will remain as it is now or revert to the prescribing guidelines that were in place before changes began in 2016. The case could significantly change when and how doctors can prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol for abortions as well as miscarriage care. The justices heard oral arguments in the case in March. A majority of the nine justices deciding to roll back the prescribing guidelines to what was in place eight years ago would mean that doctors can no longer prescribe the two pharmaceuticals via telehealth and patients would no longer be able to receive them in the mail. Schumer said during Tuesdays press conference that restricting abortion access is cruel and has led to chaos for patients and doctors. The post U.S. Senate Dems tie state abortion bans to fewer beginning physicians appeared first on NC Newsline. Washington state Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray speaks during a press conference on reproductive rights on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Also pictured from the left are Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide, and Karen Stone, vice president of Public Policy & Government Relations at Planned Parenthood. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON Bans or severe restrictions on abortion access enacted by Republican state lawmakers have led to a downturn in medical students seeking to practice in those states, and a handful of Democratic U.S. senators said Tuesday those laws must be reversed. During a press conference just steps from the U.S. Capitol, the lawmakers and reproductive rights advocates cited a study released in early May by the Association of American Medical Colleges Research and Action Institute. The study found that fewer new graduates of U.S. medical schools applied to residency programs in states that banned or restricted access to abortion than to residency programs in states where abortion remained legal. In Alabama, for example, the study found that applicants for OB-GYN residency programs in the state dropped 21.2% in 2023-24, the Alabama Reflector reported. Medical residency programs begin after students graduate medical school and can last between three and seven years depending on what specialty the doctor is training in, according to AAMC. The AAMC Institutes website says it takes a novel and nonpartisan approach to policy challenges, redefines complex problems, and offers feasible solutions to improve U.S. health care among policymakers and the public. Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray said the downward trend could exacerbate physician shortages in those states, given that OB-GYNs are leaving them as well. It should not be surprising to anyone because after all, why go somewhere politicians and judges can overrule your medical degree and force you to put your patients in harms way? Murray said. Why practice in a state that threatens you with the loss of your license, heavy fines and even prison time if you dare to help the patient get the abortion care that they need? Congress, she said, must work to restore nationwide abortion protections that were in place for nearly 50 years until the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade case less than two years ago. Wisconsin could lose critical care, Baldwin warns Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin said during the press conference that fewer doctors are choosing her home state to start their careers. Universities in states with abortion bans have been forced to send students out of state to receive reproductive care training, Baldwin said. Ive heard from doctors who are commuting across state lines, because they can no longer provide comprehensive care in their own communities. The decision by some medical students to seek out residency programs in states with protections for abortion access, could lead to states like Wisconsin losing critical care for half our population, Baldwin said. Fewer OB-GYNs means fewer doctors to deliver babies and perform prenatal and postnatal check-ups to ensure moms and babies get the healthy start that they deserve, Baldwin said. It means fewer doctors performing routine productive reproductive care, like administering mammograms and connecting women with safe and reliable birth control, Baldwin said. It means more women in reproductive care deserts unable to find treatment in case of emergencies. Baldwin said it makes sense that medical residents were seeking to learn and practice in states with protections for abortion access. If you were a medical student or doctor, would you rather work in a state that limits the science-backed care that you can provide, or one that has taken politicians out of the doctors office? Baldwin said. Arizona whiplashes between two abortion bans Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly said that doctors and patients in his state are living with uncertainty and chaos as our state whiplashes between two abortion bans. Ive spoken to several doctors who are thinking of leaving the state and many who have already left, Kelly said. Ive been on Zoom calls and seen the cardboard boxes piled up in the back. And its because they cant practice under these current circumstances. Doctors applying to residency programs in Arizona decreased by nearly 20% from 2023 to 2024. And for OB-GYNs, applications dropped by more than 25%, Kelly said. The only way to reverse the situation, Kelly said, is by codifying abortion rights into law, once and for all. Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide and a practicing physician in Maryland, said during the last two years shes treated patients whove traveled hundreds and even thousands of miles to get care with me. The restrictions or bans on abortion access, she said, have led to longer wait times in states that have protected access, leading to complicated situations for doctors and patients. The AAMC Institutes study shows that students graduating from U.S. medical schools are less likely to apply for residency positions in states with abortion bans and restrictions, Mosley said. These consequences will only exacerbate health inequities across the country, Mosley said. As health care providers, we trust our patients to know what they need. We also know that abortion is health care. And yet too many of us are being prevented from providing that care and too many people are suffering as a result. Abortion pills sent to patients in states with bans Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he just heard last week about a young doctor, who left his home state of Oklahoma to come to New York to begin his OB-GYN residency at our state university system. New York, he said, has passed so-called shield laws that protect doctors within the state borders to prescribe and send abortion pills to patients in states that have outlawed abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide in the coming weeks whether access to medication abortion, a two-drug regimen approved for up to 10 weeks gestation, will remain as it is now or revert to the prescribing guidelines that were in place before changes began in 2016. The case could significantly change when and how doctors can prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol for abortions as well as miscarriage care. The justices heard oral arguments in the case in March. A majority of the nine justices deciding to roll back the prescribing guidelines to what was in place eight years ago would mean that doctors can no longer prescribe the two pharmaceuticals via telehealth and patients would no longer be able to receive them in the mail. Schumer said during Tuesdays press conference that restricting abortion access is cruel and has led to chaos for patients and doctors. The post U.S. Senate Dems tie state abortion bans to fewer beginning physicians appeared first on Kentucky Lantern. Washington state Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray speaks during a press conference on reproductive rights on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Also pictured from the left are Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide, and Karen Stone, vice president of Public Policy & Government Relations at Planned Parenthood. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON Bans or severe restrictions on abortion access enacted by Republican state lawmakers have led to a downturn in medical students seeking to practice in those states, and a handful of Democratic U.S. senators said Tuesday those laws must be reversed. During a press conference just steps from the U.S. Capitol, the lawmakers and reproductive rights advocates cited a study released in early May by the Association of American Medical Colleges Research and Action Institute. The study found that fewer new graduates of U.S. medical schools applied to residency programs in states that banned or restricted access to abortion than to residency programs in states where abortion remained legal. In Alabama, for example, the study found that applicants for OB-GYN residency programs in the state dropped 21.2% in 2023-24, the Alabama Reflector reported. Medical residency programs begin after students graduate medical school and can last between three and seven years depending on what specialty the doctor is training in, according to AAMC. The AAMC Institutes website says it takes a novel and nonpartisan approach to policy challenges, redefines complex problems, and offers feasible solutions to improve U.S. health care among policymakers and the public. Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray said the downward trend could exacerbate physician shortages in those states, given that OB-GYNs are leaving them as well. It should not be surprising to anyone because after all, why go somewhere politicians and judges can overrule your medical degree and force you to put your patients in harms way? Murray said. Why practice in a state that threatens you with the loss of your license, heavy fines and even prison time if you dare to help the patient get the abortion care that they need? Congress, she said, must work to restore nationwide abortion protections that were in place for nearly 50 years until the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade case less than two years ago. Wisconsin could lose critical care, Baldwin warns Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin said during the press conference that fewer doctors are choosing her home state to start their careers. Universities in states with abortion bans have been forced to send students out of state to receive reproductive care training, Baldwin said. Ive heard from doctors who are commuting across state lines, because they can no longer provide comprehensive care in their own communities. The decision by some medical students to seek out residency programs in states with protections for abortion access, could lead to states like Wisconsin losing critical care for half our population, Baldwin said. Fewer OB-GYNs means fewer doctors to deliver babies and perform prenatal and postnatal check-ups to ensure moms and babies get the healthy start that they deserve, Baldwin said. It means fewer doctors performing routine productive reproductive care, like administering mammograms and connecting women with safe and reliable birth control, Baldwin said. It means more women in reproductive care deserts unable to find treatment in case of emergencies. Baldwin said it makes sense that medical residents were seeking to learn and practice in states with protections for abortion access. If you were a medical student or doctor, would you rather work in a state that limits the science-backed care that you can provide, or one that has taken politicians out of the doctors office? Baldwin said. Arizona whiplashes between two abortion bans Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly said that doctors and patients in his state are living with uncertainty and chaos as our state whiplashes between two abortion bans. Ive spoken to several doctors who are thinking of leaving the state and many who have already left, Kelly said. Ive been on Zoom calls and seen the cardboard boxes piled up in the back. And its because they cant practice under these current circumstances. Doctors applying to residency programs in Arizona decreased by nearly 20% from 2023 to 2024. And for OB-GYNs, applications dropped by more than 25%, Kelly said. The only way to reverse the situation, Kelly said, is by codifying abortion rights into law, once and for all. Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide and a practicing physician in Maryland, said during the last two years shes treated patients whove traveled hundreds and even thousands of miles to get care with me. The restrictions or bans on abortion access, she said, have led to longer wait times in states that have protected access, leading to complicated situations for doctors and patients. The AAMC Institutes study shows that students graduating from U.S. medical schools are less likely to apply for residency positions in states with abortion bans and restrictions, Mosley said. These consequences will only exacerbate health inequities across the country, Mosley said. As health care providers, we trust our patients to know what they need. We also know that abortion is health care. And yet too many of us are being prevented from providing that care and too many people are suffering as a result. Abortion pills sent to patients in states with bans Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he just heard last week about a young doctor, who left his home state of Oklahoma to come to New York to begin his OB-GYN residency at our state university system. New York, he said, has passed so-called shield laws that protect doctors within the state borders to prescribe and send abortion pills to patients in states that have outlawed abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide in the coming weeks whether access to medication abortion, a two-drug regimen approved for up to 10 weeks gestation, will remain as it is now or revert to the prescribing guidelines that were in place before changes began in 2016. The case could significantly change when and how doctors can prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol for abortions as well as miscarriage care. The justices heard oral arguments in the case in March. A majority of the nine justices deciding to roll back the prescribing guidelines to what was in place eight years ago would mean that doctors can no longer prescribe the two pharmaceuticals via telehealth and patients would no longer be able to receive them in the mail. Schumer said during Tuesdays press conference that restricting abortion access is cruel and has led to chaos for patients and doctors. The post U.S. Senate Dems tie state abortion bans to fewer beginning physicians appeared first on Rhode Island Current. Washington state Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray speaks during a press conference on reproductive rights on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Also pictured from the left are Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide, and Karen Stone, vice president of Public Policy & Government Relations at Planned Parenthood. (Jennifer Shutt | States Newsroom) WASHINGTON Bans or severe restrictions on abortion access enacted by Republican state lawmakers have led to a downturn in medical students seeking to practice in those states, and a handful of Democratic U.S. senators said Tuesday those laws must be reversed. During a press conference just steps from the U.S. Capitol, the lawmakers and reproductive rights advocates cited a study released in early May by the Association of American Medical Colleges Research and Action Institute. The study found that fewer new graduates of U.S. medical schools applied to residency programs in states that banned or restricted access to abortion than to residency programs in states where abortion remained legal. In Alabama, for example, the study found that applicants for OB-GYN residency programs in the state dropped 21.2% in 2023-24, the Alabama Reflector reported. Medical residency programs begin after students graduate medical school and can last between three and seven years depending on what specialty the doctor is training in, according to AAMC. The AAMC Institutes website says it takes a novel and nonpartisan approach to policy challenges, redefines complex problems, and offers feasible solutions to improve U.S. health care among policymakers and the public. Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray said the downward trend could exacerbate physician shortages in those states, given that OB-GYNs are leaving them as well. It should not be surprising to anyone because after all, why go somewhere politicians and judges can overrule your medical degree and force you to put your patients in harms way? Murray said. Why practice in a state that threatens you with the loss of your license, heavy fines and even prison time if you dare to help the patient get the abortion care that they need? Congress, she said, must work to restore nationwide abortion protections that were in place for nearly 50 years until the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade case less than two years ago. Wisconsin could lose critical care, Baldwin warns Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin said during the press conference that fewer doctors are choosing her home state to start their careers. Universities in states with abortion bans have been forced to send students out of state to receive reproductive care training, Baldwin said. Ive heard from doctors who are commuting across state lines, because they can no longer provide comprehensive care in their own communities. The decision by some medical students to seek out residency programs in states with protections for abortion access, could lead to states like Wisconsin losing critical care for half our population, Baldwin said. Fewer OB-GYNs means fewer doctors to deliver babies and perform prenatal and postnatal check-ups to ensure moms and babies get the healthy start that they deserve, Baldwin said. It means fewer doctors performing routine productive reproductive care, like administering mammograms and connecting women with safe and reliable birth control, Baldwin said. It means more women in reproductive care deserts unable to find treatment in case of emergencies. Baldwin said it makes sense that medical residents were seeking to learn and practice in states with protections for abortion access. If you were a medical student or doctor, would you rather work in a state that limits the science-backed care that you can provide, or one that has taken politicians out of the doctors office? Baldwin said. Arizona whiplashes between two abortion bans Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly said that doctors and patients in his state are living with uncertainty and chaos as our state whiplashes between two abortion bans. Ive spoken to several doctors who are thinking of leaving the state and many who have already left, Kelly said. Ive been on Zoom calls and seen the cardboard boxes piled up in the back. And its because they cant practice under these current circumstances. Doctors applying to residency programs in Arizona decreased by nearly 20% from 2023 to 2024. And for OB-GYNs, applications dropped by more than 25%, Kelly said. The only way to reverse the situation, Kelly said, is by codifying abortion rights into law, once and for all. Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide and a practicing physician in Maryland, said during the last two years shes treated patients whove traveled hundreds and even thousands of miles to get care with me. The restrictions or bans on abortion access, she said, have led to longer wait times in states that have protected access, leading to complicated situations for doctors and patients. The AAMC Institutes study shows that students graduating from U.S. medical schools are less likely to apply for residency positions in states with abortion bans and restrictions, Mosley said. These consequences will only exacerbate health inequities across the country, Mosley said. As health care providers, we trust our patients to know what they need. We also know that abortion is health care. And yet too many of us are being prevented from providing that care and too many people are suffering as a result. Abortion pills sent to patients in states with bans Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he just heard last week about a young doctor, who left his home state of Oklahoma to come to New York to begin his OB-GYN residency at our state university system. New York, he said, has passed so-called shield laws that protect doctors within the state borders to prescribe and send abortion pills to patients in states that have outlawed abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide in the coming weeks whether access to medication abortion, a two-drug regimen approved for up to 10 weeks gestation, will remain as it is now or revert to the prescribing guidelines that were in place before changes began in 2016. The case could significantly change when and how doctors can prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol for abortions as well as miscarriage care. The justices heard oral arguments in the case in March. A majority of the nine justices deciding to roll back the prescribing guidelines to what was in place eight years ago would mean that doctors can no longer prescribe the two pharmaceuticals via telehealth and patients would no longer be able to receive them in the mail. Schumer said during Tuesdays press conference that restricting abortion access is cruel and has led to chaos for patients and doctors. The post U.S. Senate Dems tie state abortion bans to fewer beginning physicians appeared first on West Virginia Watch. Wisconsin Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin speaks during a press conference on reproductive rights on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Also pictured seated from left are, Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray and Karen Stone, vice president of Public Policy & Government Relations at Planned Parenthood. (Jennifer Shutt | States Newsroom) WASHINGTON Bans or severe restrictions on abortion access enacted by Republican state lawmakers have led to a downturn in medical students seeking to practice in those states, and a handful of Democratic U.S. senators said Tuesday those laws must be reversed. During a press conference just steps from the U.S. Capitol, the lawmakers and reproductive rights advocates cited a study released in early May by the Association of American Medical Colleges Research and Action Institute. The study found that fewer new graduates of U.S. medical schools applied to residency programs in states that banned or restricted access to abortion than to residency programs in states where abortion remained legal. In Alabama, for example, the study found that applicants for OB-GYN residency programs in the state dropped 21.2% in 2023-24, the Alabama Reflector reported. Medical residency programs begin after students graduate medical school and can last between three and seven years depending on what specialty the doctor is training in, according to AAMC. The AAMC Institutes website says it takes a novel and nonpartisan approach to policy challenges, redefines complex problems, and offers feasible solutions to improve U.S. health care among policymakers and the public. Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray said the downward trend could exacerbate physician shortages in those states, given that OB-GYNs are leaving them as well. It should not be surprising to anyone because after all, why go somewhere politicians and judges can overrule your medical degree and force you to put your patients in harms way? Murray said. Why practice in a state that threatens you with the loss of your license, heavy fines and even prison time if you dare to help the patient get the abortion care that they need? Congress, she said, must work to restore nationwide abortion protections that were in place for nearly 50 years until the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade case less than two years ago. Wisconsin could lose critical care, Baldwin warns Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin said during the press conference that fewer doctors are choosing her home state to start their careers. Universities in states with abortion bans have been forced to send students out of state to receive reproductive care training, Baldwin said. Ive heard from doctors who are commuting across state lines, because they can no longer provide comprehensive care in their own communities. The decision by some medical students to seek out residency programs in states with protections for abortion access, could lead to states like Wisconsin losing critical care for half our population, Baldwin said. Fewer OB-GYNs means fewer doctors to deliver babies and perform prenatal and postnatal check-ups to ensure moms and babies get the healthy start that they deserve, Baldwin said. It means fewer doctors performing routine productive reproductive care, like administering mammograms and connecting women with safe and reliable birth control, Baldwin said. It means more women in reproductive care deserts unable to find treatment in case of emergencies. Baldwin said it makes sense that medical residents were seeking to learn and practice in states with protections for abortion access. If you were a medical student or doctor, would you rather work in a state that limits the science-backed care that you can provide, or one that has taken politicians out of the doctors office? Baldwin said. Arizona whiplashes between two abortion bans Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly said that doctors and patients in his state are living with uncertainty and chaos as our state whiplashes between two abortion bans. Ive spoken to several doctors who are thinking of leaving the state and many who have already left, Kelly said. Ive been on Zoom calls and seen the cardboard boxes piled up in the back. And its because they cant practice under these current circumstances. Doctors applying to residency programs in Arizona decreased by nearly 20% from 2023 to 2024. And for OB-GYNs, applications dropped by more than 25%, Kelly said. The only way to reverse the situation, Kelly said, is by codifying abortion rights into law, once and for all. Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide and a practicing physician in Maryland, said during the last two years shes treated patients whove traveled hundreds and even thousands of miles to get care with me. The restrictions or bans on abortion access, she said, have led to longer wait times in states that have protected access, leading to complicated situations for doctors and patients. The AAMC Institutes study shows that students graduating from U.S. medical schools are less likely to apply for residency positions in states with abortion bans and restrictions, Mosley said. These consequences will only exacerbate health inequities across the country, Mosley said. As health care providers, we trust our patients to know what they need. We also know that abortion is health care. And yet too many of us are being prevented from providing that care and too many people are suffering as a result. Abortion pills sent to patients in states with bans Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he just heard last week about a young doctor, who left his home state of Oklahoma to come to New York to begin his OB-GYN residency at our state university system. New York, he said, has passed so-called shield laws that protect doctors within the state borders to prescribe and send abortion pills to patients in states that have outlawed abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide in the coming weeks whether access to medication abortion, a two-drug regimen approved for up to 10 weeks gestation, will remain as it is now or revert to the prescribing guidelines that were in place before changes began in 2016. The case could significantly change when and how doctors can prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol for abortions as well as miscarriage care. The justices heard oral arguments in the case in March. A majority of the nine justices deciding to roll back the prescribing guidelines to what was in place eight years ago would mean that doctors can no longer prescribe the two pharmaceuticals via telehealth and patients would no longer be able to receive them in the mail. Schumer said during Tuesdays press conference that restricting abortion access is cruel and has led to chaos for patients and doctors. The post U.S. Senate Dems tie state abortion bans to fewer beginning physicians appeared first on Wisconsin Examiner. BRUSSELS, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The European Council announced on Tuesday that ministers from the European Union (EU) member states have given their final approval to the bloc's artificial intelligence (AI) act. The AI Act has adopted a risk-based approach, subjecting higher-risk AI applications to stricter regulation. The Act bans AI systems involved in cognitive behavioral manipulation and social scoring within the EU. It also prohibits the use of AI for predictive policing based on profiling and systems that use biometric data to categorize people according to specific categories such as race, religion, or sexual orientation. For general-purpose AI systems, the Act requires compliance with transparency requirements if they do not pose systemic risks. However, those with systemic risks must comply with stricter rules. Notably, the EU's AI Act exempts systems used exclusively for military, defense, and research purposes from these regulations. To ensure proper enforcement, the Act establishes several governing bodies, including an AI office, a scientific panel of experts, an AI board with representatives from member states, and an advisory forum for stakeholders. Once signed by the presidents of the European Parliament and the Council, the legislative act will be published in the EU's Official Journal and will enter into force 20 days after publication. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington speaks during a press conference on reproductive rights on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, outside the U.S. Capitol. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington speaks during a press conference on reproductive rights on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Also pictured from the left are Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide, and Karen Stone, vice president of Public Policy & Government Relations at Planned Parenthood. (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON Bans or severe restrictions on abortion access enacted by Republican state lawmakers have led to a downturn in medical students seeking to practice in those states, and a handful of Democratic U.S. senators said Tuesday those laws must be reversed. During a press conference just steps from the U.S. Capitol, the lawmakers and reproductive rights advocates cited a study released in early May by the Association of American Medical Colleges Research and Action Institute. The study found that fewer new graduates of U.S. medical schools applied to residency programs in states that banned or restricted access to abortion than to residency programs in states where abortion remained legal. In Alabama, for example, the study found that applicants for OB-GYN residency programs in the state dropped 21.2% in 2023-24, the Alabama Reflector reported. Medical residency programs begin after students graduate medical school and can last between three and seven years depending on what specialty the doctor is training in, according to AAMC. The AAMC Institutes website says it takes a novel and nonpartisan approach to policy challenges, redefines complex problems, and offers feasible solutions to improve U.S. health care among policymakers and the public. Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray said the downward trend could exacerbate physician shortages in those states, given that OB-GYNs are leaving them as well. It should not be surprising to anyone because after all, why go somewhere politicians and judges can overrule your medical degree and force you to put your patients in harms way? Murray said. Why practice in a state that threatens you with the loss of your license, heavy fines and even prison time if you dare to help the patient get the abortion care that they need? Congress, she said, must work to restore nationwide abortion protections that were in place for nearly 50 years until the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade case less than two years ago. Wisconsin could lose critical care, Baldwin warns Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin said during the press conference that fewer doctors are choosing her home state to start their careers. Universities in states with abortion bans have been forced to send students out of state to receive reproductive care training, Baldwin said. Ive heard from doctors who are commuting across state lines, because they can no longer provide comprehensive care in their own communities. The decision by some medical students to seek out residency programs in states with protections for abortion access, could lead to states like Wisconsin losing critical care for half our population, Baldwin said. Fewer OB-GYNs means fewer doctors to deliver babies and perform prenatal and postnatal check-ups to ensure moms and babies get the healthy start that they deserve, Baldwin said. It means fewer doctors performing routine productive reproductive care, like administering mammograms and connecting women with safe and reliable birth control, Baldwin said. It means more women in reproductive care deserts unable to find treatment in case of emergencies. Baldwin said it makes sense that medical residents were seeking to learn and practice in states with protections for abortion access. If you were a medical student or doctor, would you rather work in a state that limits the science-backed care that you can provide, or one that has taken politicians out of the doctors office? Baldwin said. Arizona whiplashes between two abortion bans Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly said that doctors and patients in his state are living with uncertainty and chaos as our state whiplashes between two abortion bans. Ive spoken to several doctors who are thinking of leaving the state and many who have already left, Kelly said. Ive been on Zoom calls and seen the cardboard boxes piled up in the back. And its because they cant practice under these current circumstances. Doctors applying to residency programs in Arizona decreased by nearly 20% from 2023 to 2024. And for OB-GYNs, applications dropped by more than 25%, Kelly said. The only way to reverse the situation, Kelly said, is by codifying abortion rights into law, once and for all. Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide and a practicing physician in Maryland, said during the last two years shes treated patients whove traveled hundreds and even thousands of miles to get care with me. The restrictions or bans on abortion access, she said, have led to longer wait times in states that have protected access, leading to complicated situations for doctors and patients. The AAMC Institutes study shows that students graduating from U.S. medical schools are less likely to apply for residency positions in states with abortion bans and restrictions, Mosley said. These consequences will only exacerbate health inequities across the country, Mosley said. As health care providers, we trust our patients to know what they need. We also know that abortion is health care. And yet too many of us are being prevented from providing that care and too many people are suffering as a result. Abortion pills sent to patients in states with bans Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he just heard last week about a young doctor, who left his home state of Oklahoma to come to New York to begin his OB-GYN residency at our state university system. New York, he said, has passed so-called shield laws that protect doctors within the state borders to prescribe and send abortion pills to patients in states that have outlawed abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide in the coming weeks whether access to medication abortion, a two-drug regimen approved for up to 10 weeks gestation, will remain as it is now or revert to the prescribing guidelines that were in place before changes began in 2016. The case could significantly change when and how doctors can prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol for abortions as well as miscarriage care. The justices heard oral arguments in the case in March. A majority of the nine justices deciding to roll back the prescribing guidelines to what was in place eight years ago would mean that doctors can no longer prescribe the two pharmaceuticals via telehealth and patients would no longer be able to receive them in the mail. Schumer said during Tuesdays press conference that restricting abortion access is cruel and has led to chaos for patients and doctors. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post U.S. Senate Dems tie state abortion bans to fewer beginning physicians appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator. Washington state Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray speaks during a press conference on reproductive rights on May 21, 2024. Also pictured from the left are Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide, and Karen Stone, vice president of Public Policy & Government Relations at Planned Parenthood. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt | States Newsroom) WASHINGTON Bans or severe restrictions on abortion access enacted by Republican state lawmakers have led to a downturn in medical students seeking to practice in those states, and a handful of Democratic U.S. senators said Tuesday those laws must be reversed. During a press conference just steps from the U.S. Capitol, the lawmakers and reproductive rights advocates cited a study released in early May by the Association of American Medical Colleges Research and Action Institute. The study found that fewer new graduates of U.S. medical schools applied to residency programs in states that banned or restricted access to abortion than to residency programs in states where abortion remained legal. In Alabama, for example, the study found that applicants for OB-GYN residency programs in the state dropped 21.2% in 2023-24, the Alabama Reflector reported. Medical residency programs begin after students graduate medical school and can last between three and seven years depending on what specialty the doctor is training in, according to AAMC. The AAMC Institutes website says it takes a novel and nonpartisan approach to policy challenges, redefines complex problems, and offers feasible solutions to improve U.S. health care among policymakers and the public. Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray said the downward trend could exacerbate physician shortages in those states, given that OB-GYNs are leaving them as well. It should not be surprising to anyone because after all, why go somewhere politicians and judges can overrule your medical degree and force you to put your patients in harms way? Murray said. Why practice in a state that threatens you with the loss of your license, heavy fines and even prison time if you dare to help the patient get the abortion care that they need? Congress, she said, must work to restore nationwide abortion protections that were in place for nearly 50 years until the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade case less than two years ago. Wisconsin could lose critical care, Baldwin warns Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin said during the press conference that fewer doctors are choosing her home state to start their careers. Universities in states with abortion bans have been forced to send students out of state to receive reproductive care training, Baldwin said. Ive heard from doctors who are commuting across state lines, because they can no longer provide comprehensive care in their own communities. The decision by some medical students to seek out residency programs in states with protections for abortion access, could lead to states like Wisconsin losing critical care for half our population, Baldwin said. Fewer OB-GYNs means fewer doctors to deliver babies and perform prenatal and postnatal check-ups to ensure moms and babies get the healthy start that they deserve, Baldwin said. It means fewer doctors performing routine productive reproductive care, like administering mammograms and connecting women with safe and reliable birth control, Baldwin said. It means more women in reproductive care deserts unable to find treatment in case of emergencies. Baldwin said it makes sense that medical residents were seeking to learn and practice in states with protections for abortion access. If you were a medical student or doctor, would you rather work in a state that limits the science-backed care that you can provide, or one that has taken politicians out of the doctors office? Baldwin said. Arizona whiplashes between two abortion bans Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly said that doctors and patients in his state are living with uncertainty and chaos as our state whiplashes between two abortion bans. Ive spoken to several doctors who are thinking of leaving the state and many who have already left, Kelly said. Ive been on Zoom calls and seen the cardboard boxes piled up in the back. And its because they cant practice under these current circumstances. Doctors applying to residency programs in Arizona decreased by nearly 20% from 2023 to 2024. And for OB-GYNs, applications dropped by more than 25%, Kelly said. The only way to reverse the situation, Kelly said, is by codifying abortion rights into law, once and for all. Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide and a practicing physician in Maryland, said during the last two years shes treated patients whove traveled hundreds and even thousands of miles to get care with me. The restrictions or bans on abortion access, she said, have led to longer wait times in states that have protected access, leading to complicated situations for doctors and patients. The AAMC Institutes study shows that students graduating from U.S. medical schools are less likely to apply for residency positions in states with abortion bans and restrictions, Mosley said. These consequences will only exacerbate health inequities across the country, Mosley said. As health care providers, we trust our patients to know what they need. We also know that abortion is health care. And yet too many of us are being prevented from providing that care and too many people are suffering as a result. Abortion pills sent to patients in states with bans Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he just heard last week about a young doctor, who left his home state of Oklahoma to come to New York to begin his OB-GYN residency at our state university system. New York, he said, has passed so-called shield laws that protect doctors within the state borders to prescribe and send abortion pills to patients in states that have outlawed abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide in the coming weeks whether access to medication abortion, a two-drug regimen approved for up to 10 weeks gestation, will remain as it is now or revert to the prescribing guidelines that were in place before changes began in 2016. The case could significantly change when and how doctors can prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol for abortions as well as miscarriage care. The justices heard oral arguments in the case in March. A majority of the nine justices deciding to roll back the prescribing guidelines to what was in place eight years ago would mean that doctors can no longer prescribe the two pharmaceuticals via telehealth and patients would no longer be able to receive them in the mail. Schumer said during Tuesdays press conference that restricting abortion access is cruel and has led to chaos for patients and doctors. The post U.S. Senate Dems tie state abortion bans to fewer beginning physicians appeared first on Daily Montanan. Washington state Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray speaks during a press conference on reproductive rights on May 21, 2024. Also pictured from the left are Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide, and Karen Stone, vice president of Public Policy & Government Relations at Planned Parenthood. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON Bans or severe restrictions on abortion access enacted by Republican state lawmakers have led to a downturn in medical students seeking to practice in those states, and a handful of Democratic U.S. senators said Tuesday those laws must be reversed. During a press conference just steps from the U.S. Capitol, the lawmakers and reproductive rights advocates cited a study released in early May by the Association of American Medical Colleges Research and Action Institute. The study found that fewer new graduates of U.S. medical schools applied to residency programs in states that banned or restricted access to abortion than to residency programs in states where abortion remained legal. In Alabama, for example, the study found that applicants for OB-GYN residency programs in the state dropped 21.2% in 2023-24, the Alabama Reflector reported. Medical residency programs begin after students graduate medical school and can last between three and seven years depending on what specialty the doctor is training in, according to AAMC. The AAMC Institutes website says it takes a novel and nonpartisan approach to policy challenges, redefines complex problems, and offers feasible solutions to improve U.S. health care among policymakers and the public. Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray said the downward trend could exacerbate physician shortages in those states, given that OB-GYNs are leaving them as well. It should not be surprising to anyone because after all, why go somewhere politicians and judges can overrule your medical degree and force you to put your patients in harms way? Murray said. Why practice in a state that threatens you with the loss of your license, heavy fines and even prison time if you dare to help the patient get the abortion care that they need? Congress, she said, must work to restore nationwide abortion protections that were in place for nearly 50 years until the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade case less than two years ago. Wisconsin could lose critical care, Baldwin warns Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin said during the press conference that fewer doctors are choosing her home state to start their careers. Universities in states with abortion bans have been forced to send students out of state to receive reproductive care training, Baldwin said. Ive heard from doctors who are commuting across state lines, because they can no longer provide comprehensive care in their own communities. The decision by some medical students to seek out residency programs in states with protections for abortion access, could lead to states like Wisconsin losing critical care for half our population, Baldwin said. Fewer OB-GYNs means fewer doctors to deliver babies and perform prenatal and postnatal check-ups to ensure moms and babies get the healthy start that they deserve, Baldwin said. It means fewer doctors performing routine productive reproductive care, like administering mammograms and connecting women with safe and reliable birth control, Baldwin said. It means more women in reproductive care deserts unable to find treatment in case of emergencies. Baldwin said it makes sense that medical residents were seeking to learn and practice in states with protections for abortion access. If you were a medical student or doctor, would you rather work in a state that limits the science-backed care that you can provide, or one that has taken politicians out of the doctors office? Baldwin said. Arizona whiplashes between two abortion bans Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly said that doctors and patients in his state are living with uncertainty and chaos as our state whiplashes between two abortion bans. Ive spoken to several doctors who are thinking of leaving the state and many who have already left, Kelly said. Ive been on Zoom calls and seen the cardboard boxes piled up in the back. And its because they cant practice under these current circumstances. Doctors applying to residency programs in Arizona decreased by nearly 20% from 2023 to 2024. And for OB-GYNs, applications dropped by more than 25%, Kelly said. The only way to reverse the situation, Kelly said, is by codifying abortion rights into law, once and for all. Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide and a practicing physician in Maryland, said during the last two years shes treated patients whove traveled hundreds and even thousands of miles to get care with me. The restrictions or bans on abortion access, she said, have led to longer wait times in states that have protected access, leading to complicated situations for doctors and patients. The AAMC Institutes study shows that students graduating from U.S. medical schools are less likely to apply for residency positions in states with abortion bans and restrictions, Mosley said. These consequences will only exacerbate health inequities across the country, Mosley said. As health care providers, we trust our patients to know what they need. We also know that abortion is health care. And yet too many of us are being prevented from providing that care and too many people are suffering as a result. Abortion pills sent to patients in states with bans Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he just heard last week about a young doctor, who left his home state of Oklahoma to come to New York to begin his OB-GYN residency at our state university system. New York, he said, has passed so-called shield laws that protect doctors within the state borders to prescribe and send abortion pills to patients in states that have outlawed abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide in the coming weeks whether access to medication abortion, a two-drug regimen approved for up to 10 weeks gestation, will remain as it is now or revert to the prescribing guidelines that were in place before changes began in 2016. The case could significantly change when and how doctors can prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol for abortions as well as miscarriage care. The justices heard oral arguments in the case in March. A majority of the nine justices deciding to roll back the prescribing guidelines to what was in place eight years ago would mean that doctors can no longer prescribe the two pharmaceuticals via telehealth and patients would no longer be able to receive them in the mail. Schumer said during Tuesdays press conference that restricting abortion access is cruel and has led to chaos for patients and doctors. The post U.S. Senate Dems tie state abortion bans to fewer beginning physicians appeared first on Iowa Capital Dispatch. Washington state Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray speaks during a press conference on reproductive rights on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Also pictured from the left are Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide, and Karen Stone, vice president of Public Policy & Government Relations at Planned Parenthood. (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON Bans or severe restrictions on abortion access enacted by Republican state lawmakers have led to a downturn in medical students seeking to practice in those states, and a handful of Democratic U.S. senators said Tuesday those laws must be reversed. During a press conference just steps from the U.S. Capitol, the lawmakers and reproductive rights advocates cited a study released in early May by the Association of American Medical Colleges Research and Action Institute. The study found that fewer new graduates of U.S. medical schools applied to residency programs in states that banned or restricted access to abortion than to residency programs in states where abortion remained legal. In Alabama, for example, the study found that applicants for OB-GYN residency programs in the state dropped 21.2% in 2023-24, the Alabama Reflector reported. Medical residency programs begin after students graduate from medical school and can last between three and seven years, depending on what specialty the doctor is training in, according to AAMC. The AAMC Institutes website says it takes a novel and nonpartisan approach to policy challenges, redefines complex problems, and offers feasible solutions to improve U.S. health care among policymakers and the public. Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray said the downward trend could exacerbate physician shortages in those states, given that OB-GYNs are leaving them as well. It should not be surprising to anyone because after all, why go somewhere politicians and judges can overrule your medical degree and force you to put your patients in harms way? Murray said. Why practice in a state that threatens you with the loss of your license, heavy fines and even prison time if you dare to help the patient get the abortion care that they need? Congress, she said, must work to restore nationwide abortion protections that were in place for nearly 50 years until the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade case less than two years ago. Wisconsin could lose critical care, Baldwin warns Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin said during the press conference that fewer doctors are choosing her home state to start their careers. Universities in states with abortion bans have been forced to send students out of state to receive reproductive care training, Baldwin said. Ive heard from doctors who are commuting across state lines, because they can no longer provide comprehensive care in their own communities. The decision by some medical students to seek out residency programs in states with protections for abortion access, could lead to states like Wisconsin losing critical care for half our population, Baldwin said. Fewer OB-GYNs means fewer doctors to deliver babies and perform prenatal and postnatal check-ups to ensure moms and babies get the healthy start that they deserve, Baldwin said. It means fewer doctors performing routine reproductive care, like administering mammograms and connecting women with safe and reliable birth control, Baldwin said. It means more women in reproductive care deserts unable to find treatment in case of emergencies. Baldwin said it makes sense that medical residents were seeking to learn and practice in states with protections for abortion access. If you were a medical student or doctor, would you rather work in a state that limits the science-backed care that you can provide, or one that has taken politicians out of the doctors office? Baldwin said. Arizona whiplashes between two abortion bans Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly said that doctors and patients in his state are living with uncertainty and chaos as our state whiplashes between two abortion bans. Ive spoken to several doctors who are thinking of leaving the state and many who have already left, Kelly said. Ive been on Zoom calls and seen the cardboard boxes piled up in the back. And its because they cant practice under these current circumstances. Doctors applying to residency programs in Arizona decreased by nearly 20% from 2023 to 2024. And for OB-GYNs, applications dropped by more than 25%, Kelly said. The only way to reverse the situation, Kelly said, is by codifying abortion rights into law, once and for all. Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide and a practicing physician in Maryland, said during the last two years shes treated patients whove traveled hundreds and even thousands of miles to get care with me. The restrictions or bans on abortion access, she said, have led to longer wait times in states that have protected access, leading to complicated situations for doctors and patients. The AAMC Institutes study shows that students graduating from U.S. medical schools are less likely to apply for residency positions in states with abortion bans and restrictions, Mosley said. These consequences will only exacerbate health inequities across the country, Mosley said. As health care providers, we trust our patients to know what they need. We also know that abortion is health care. And yet too many of us are being prevented from providing that care and too many people are suffering as a result. Abortion pills sent to patients in states with bans Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he just heard last week about a young doctor, who left his home state of Oklahoma to come to New York to begin his OB-GYN residency at our state university system. New York, he said, has passed so-called shield laws that protect doctors within the state borders to prescribe and send abortion pills to patients in states that have outlawed abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide in the coming weeks whether access to medication abortion, a two-drug regimen approved for up to 10 weeks gestation, will remain as it is now or revert to the prescribing guidelines that were in place before changes began in 2016. The case could significantly change when and how doctors can prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol for abortions as well as miscarriage care. The justices heard oral arguments in the case in March. A majority of the nine justices deciding to roll back the prescribing guidelines to what was in place eight years ago would mean that doctors can no longer prescribe the two pharmaceuticals via telehealth and patients would no longer be able to receive them in the mail. Schumer said during Tuesdays press conference that restricting abortion access is cruel and has led to chaos for patients and doctors. The post U.S. Senate Dems tie state abortion bans to fewer beginning physicians appeared first on Nebraska Examiner. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a lawsuit that sought to end mail voting in Oregon. Here, election workers in Marion County prepared to process returned ballots from the 2022 primary. (Ron Cooper/Oregon Capital Chronicle) On the eve of Oregons primary election, a group of Republican candidates and election deniers learned they wont get to make their case to the U.S. Supreme Court to end Oregons mail voting system. The high court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from plaintiffs, including state Sen. Dennis Linthicum, the leading Republican candidate for secretary of state, in a case that sought to overturn the method Oregon voters have used to vote in every election for decades. The Supreme Court didnt give a reason for declining to hear the case, Thielman v. Fagan. Marc Thielman, a former school superintendent who captured 8% of the vote in his sixth-place finish in the 2022 Republican gubernatorial primary, led several other Republicans in suing then-Secretary of State Shemia Fagan in October 2022. Current Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade, appointed after Fagans 2023 resignation, welcomed the Supreme Courts decision in a statement to the Capital Chronicle. Both the rulings from the District Court and the Ninth Circuit got it right: Oregons vote by mail system is the gold standard with no widespread voter fraud to speak of, she said. Im very pleased to see the Supreme Court leave the lower courts ruling in place. The lawsuit claimed without providing any evidence that Oregon voters have been disenfranchised by voting anomalies. The bulk of the suit rested on 2,000 Mules, a 2022 film from far-right commentator Dinesh DSouza that purported to show that people in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin delivered multiple ballots to drop boxes. The film doesnt include Oregon, and election experts have debunked its claims. They sought injunctions blocking Oregon from using mail voting and preventing ballots from being counted by tabulation machines, which are faster and more reliable than hand counting. U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman dismissed the suit last summer, writing that generalized grievances about the states election system didnt give Thielman, Linthicum and others standing to sue. Ninth Circuit decision A three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Beckermans ruling in December. Judges Marsha Berzon, Jacqueline Nguyen and Eric D. Miller wrote that the case resembled a recent Ninth Circuit ruling rejecting arguments from 2022 Arizona Republican candidate for governor Kari Lake speculating that the states election system was vulnerable. Plaintiffs do not allege that their votes were not counted, nor do they identify with sufficient particularity how any given election in Oregon was fraudulently manipulated through the vote-by-mail or computerized tabulation systems, the panel wrote. Indeed, plaintiffs concede that they do not know whether Oregon elections are fraudulently manipulated at all. Plaintiffs allege only that they suffer a crisis of confidence in Oregons voting systems, which is the same speculative grievance that we found insufficient to confer standing in Lake. Like Lake in Arizona, several of the Oregon plaintiffs were unsuccessful candidates. Thielman lost his gubernatorial bid, Ben Edtl and Sandra Nelson lost legislative races and Diane Rich and Pam Lewis lost local elections in Coos County. Linthicum, Edtl and Nelson will appear on Republican ballots again this year, with Edtl and Nelson running for the state House and Linthicum running for secretary of state, the office in charge of running elections. Stephen Joncus, an attorney for the plaintiffs, called the Supreme Courts decision very disappointing, and said hell continue fighting against Oregons electoral system. Vote by mail is an abomination, and we will fight it every possible way we can, he said. A survey conducted shortly before the 2022 election found that a majority of Oregonians consider their state the best or one of the best in the country at running elections, while 69% of all Oregon voters and 49% of Republican voters said they were confident in the safety, integrity and accuracy of voting by mail. Updated at 9 p.m. May 20 with a quote from Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade. The post U.S. Supreme Court wont hear Oregon lawsuit that sought to end mail voting appeared first on Oregon Capital Chronicle. (Bloomberg) -- Britons see just about the same risk of a Labour government raising their taxes as a Conservative one, according to a new poll, casting doubt on an oft-used Tory attack line ahead the UK election. Most Read from Bloomberg Some 43% of respondents expected their tax bill would rise under Labour, the survey of 2,308 adults conducted by polling firm More in Common found. Thats compared with 40% who said they anticipated more tax hikes if Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks Tories remain in power. While few Britons believed that either party would actually lower their taxes, answers to that question slightly favored Labour. Some 12% said they expected Keir Starmers opposition to decrease the tax burden, while 10% thought the Conservatives would, according to the poll, which was conducted from Friday to Sunday and shared exclusively with Bloomberg. The poll raises questions about how effective a favorite Tory argument against the left-leaning opposition may be in the general election, which Sunak has said he will call in the second half of the year. On Friday, Chancellor of the Exchequer Chancellor Jeremy Hunt warned of Labour tax rises in a speech, signaling plans to cut payroll levies further if the Conservatives overcome a 20-point gap in the polls and return to power. The strategy appeared to be an attempt to repeat former Conservative Prime Minister John Majors upset victory in 1992, when he campaigned against what he called Labours tax bombshell. Problem is, government efforts to soften the twin blows of Covid-19 and the energy price shock by offering huge subsidies to individuals have led it to push the tax burden to a post-war high. Moreover, some recent surveys have shown that voters favor investment in Britains strained public services over tax cuts. Starmer notably didnt include cutting taxes on the six first steps pledge card he released last week. Neither party has an advantage on the no-tax-rises test, said Luke Tryl, executive director for More in Common UK. People think both parties are equally likely to put up taxes this is likely to be most dangerous for the Conservatives. While the More in Common poll showed that 53% believed Starmer was unlikely to achieve all of the steps in his first term, it found more than six-in-10 respondents agreed each of them was a good idea. The survey also showed that 40% dont believe that Labours plans to expand workers rights would harm British businesses, compared with 29% who say they would. Still, both Sunak and Starmer are facing a skeptical electorate. The top three terms people used to describe Sunak were out-of touch, incompetent and weak. For Starmer, it was intelligent, professional and, like Sunak, weak. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Stock photo: Office of the President of Ukraine Representatives of Ukraine and Sweden, which became NATO's 32nd full member in April this year, began negotiations on a bilateral security agreement on 21 May. Source: Office of the President of Ukraine website, as reported by European Pravda On the Ukrainian side, the round of talks was chaired by Ihor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine. The parties discussed the terms of the draft agreement and agreed on further steps to finalise and sign the document as soon as possible. Kyiv and Stockholm announced their intention to start negotiations on a security agreement last year, and in March they expressed their readiness to start them "as soon as possible". Previously: To date, Ukraine has signed bilateral security agreements with nine countries, the latest being Latvia. An agreement with Norway is also expected to be signed. In early May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that security agreements with seven countries, including the United States, were in preparation. Support UP or become our patron! BOGOTA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Two police officers were killed and several others injured in two terrorist attacks on Monday in the municipalities of Morales and Jamundi in southwest Colombia, local authorities said. The first attack occurred in Morales, where purported members of a dissident faction of the disbanded Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrilla group targeted a police station with explosives and gunfire, killing two police officers. The attackers also looted the Agrarian Bank and destroyed several businesses. In Jamundi early Monday, a motorcycle loaded with explosives detonated in the vicinity of a hotel, where police assigned to reinforce security in the region were staying, injuring four people, including three children. Key developments on May 21: General Staff confirms Russian missile ship Tsiklon struck in occupied Crimea EU Council approves using Russian assets revenue to fund Ukraine Politico: US may announce new military aid package for Ukraine this week Reuters: Germany plans to up Ukraine military aid by 3.8 billion euros Justice Ministry: Over 3,000 Ukrainian convicts have applied to join military Border Guard: Russian offensive in Sumy Oblast can't be ruled out The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces confirmed on May 21 that the Russian missile ship Tsiklon was struck in a Ukrainian attack in Sevastopol, occupied Crimea, on May 19. The ship was reportedly hit during an attack that the Ukrainian Navy previously said resulted in the destruction of the Russian minesweeper Kovrovets. Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk previously told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) on May 20 that there was a possibility the ship had been "lost," but could not confirm the news at the time. Pletenchuk added that if the Tsiklon was indeed sunk, it would mean the loss of Russia's last missile ship in the Black Sea. The General Staff did not specify the extent of the damage caused to the ship. The Tsiklon was launched into service in July 2023, the state-run media outlet TASS reported. It is a Karakurt-class missile ship armed with various weapons, including Kalibr missiles. The report comes amid Ukraine's ongoing campaign targeting the Russian Black Sea Fleet, inflicting damage on warships one after another. In April, Ukraines Navy said that it had struck the Kommuna, a salvage ship that was launched in 1915 and is the oldest ship still in service in the Russian Navy. Following Ukraine's successful attacks from afar, the Russian military has withdrawn nearly all its major ships from ports in occupied Crimea following successful Ukrainian strikes on the Black Sea Fleet, Pletenchuk said in March. The Strategic Communications Center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (StratCom) recently reported that as of early February 2024, 33% of the Black Sea Fleets warships had been disabled, including 24 ships and one submarine. EU Council approves using Russian assets revenue to fund Ukraine The EU Council agreed to use profits from the frozen Russian sovereign assets to aid Ukraine, the Czech representation in the EU announced on May 21. According to the statement, the proceedings could amount to between 2.5 billion and 3 billion euros ($2.7-3.26 billion) annually, with most of it allocated to Kyiv's military needs. "Up to 3 billion euros ($3.26 billion) (could be raised) only this year, 90% goes for Ukraine's military. Russia must pay for its war damages," Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said. Ukraine's Western partners and other allies froze around $300 billion in Russian assets at the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Roughly two-thirds are held in the Belgium-based financial services company Euroclear. While the U.S. proposed seizing Russian assets outright, the EU has been more hesitant, fearing legal and fiscal pitfalls of confiscation. Instead, Brussels proposed to use windfall profits generated by the frozen assets and funnel them to Kyiv. In March, the European Commission submitted a proposal on using 90% of the generated funds to purchase weapons for Ukraine and allocate the remaining 10% to the EU budget to support the country's defense industry. After many weeks of debates, EU ambassadors reached a political agreement on the proposal on May 8. Ukraine's needs for foreign aid only grow as Russia ramps up pressure along the front and continues in aerial attacks against population centers and critical infrastructure. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly called for the confiscation of Russian assets as a path toward sustainable external financing that would not put pressure on partners' budgets. Read also: Russias new Kharkiv offensive pushes Vovchansk to the brink of annihilation Politico: US may announce new military aid package for Ukraine this week The U.S. may announce a new military aid package for Ukraine later this week, Politico reported on May 20, citing two unnamed American officials. Neither the value of the aid package nor the weapons it could include were disclosed. After six months of delays, the U.S. Congress approved a $61 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine in April. The Pentagon announced on April 26 that it was ready to move forward with sending $1 billion worth of weapons to Kyiv from U.S. stockpiles. Another defense aid package for Kyiv worth $400 million was authorized on May 10. The Pentagon said that it will likely take some time before new aid effects are felt on the battlefield. In the meantime, Russia launched a new offensive with 30,000 troops on May 10, targeting Kharkiv Oblast, which is situated at the border with Russia in northeastern Ukraine. Moscow's forces had managed to advance as far as 10 kilometers (6 miles) in the region but had been halted by the first line of defense, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Over the winter months, Ukraine suffered a critical shortage of artillery shells, in large part due to delays in U.S. military aid. Russia has taken advantage of this, taking the city of Avdiivka in February. "Every decision to which we, then later everyone together, comes to is late by around one year," Zelensky told Reuters on May 20, adding that Western partners have been deliberating key decisions on military aid for Ukraine for "too long." Read also: Opinion: Will the renewed US support for Ukraine be enough? Reuters: Germany plans to up Ukraine military aid by 3.8 billion euros The German government plans to up its military aid to Ukraine by another 3.8 billion euros ($4.13 billion) in 2024, Reuters reported on May 21, citing its undisclosed source. The news agency confirmed an earlier article by the tabloid Bild, which also said that the sum of over 7 billion euros, previously approved by Germany's parliament for this year, has been almost entirely allocated to various projects. As only around 300 million euros (roughly $325 million) are left for additional weapons or ammunition purchases, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius had requested the additional funds with the backing of Finance Minister Christian Lindner, Bild reported. Final approval will be required by the parliament in June. Initially criticized for its sluggish delivery of military aid to Ukraine following the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Germany has become the second-largest provider of military equipment after the U.S. Also on May 21, Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Ukraine's capital for a previously unannounced visit. Read also: Skynex: The German drone destroyer reinforcing Ukraines air defense Upon her arrival, Baerbock underscored Ukraine's need for air defenses to help repel Russian aerial attacks. "Russian missile terror, constant air alerts, permanent power outages, hardly any water: the situation in Ukraine has once again escalated dramatically with the massive Russian air strikes on the civilian infrastructure and the brutal Russian offensive in the Kharkiv area," the minister said. "That's why, together with Defense Minister (Boris) Pistorius, I launched a global initiative for more air defense. Almost a billion euros have now been raised to provide additional support for the Ukrainian air defense forces, and we are working intensively to ensure that there is even more." Berlin launched the initiative in April amid Kyiv's increasingly dire need for air defenses, facing heavy Russian aerial attacks against population centers and the energy grid. A number of countries have already backed the initiative since then, including Belgium, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, and others. Germany has also pledged to deliver its third Patriot air defense system to Ukraine. Read also: 48 hours in Kharkiv, Ukraines most-bombed major city Justice Ministry: Over 3,000 Ukrainian convicts have applied to join military More than 3,000 convicts have applied for conditional release to join Ukraine's Armed Forces, Deputy Justice Minister Olena Vysotska said on national television on May 21. President Volodymyr Zelensky last week signed into law a bill permitting citizens convicted under certain charges to serve in the military. The total number of recruited prisoners is affected by the law's restrictions on certain categories, their health, and the opinion of the commanders of the units where they can serve, Vysotska said. The list of convicted citizens who are allowed to join the military does not include those convicted of premeditated murder, sexual violence, drug trafficking or production, and crimes against national security. The measure will also exclude lawmakers and top officials imprisoned for corruption. "The desire of the convict, his motivation to sign a contract with the Armed Forces and then receive parole, is decisive in this law," Vysotska said. Currently, prisoners are undergoing examinations at military medical commissions and seek the approval of the commanders, after which the documents on a particular person are sent to the court, Vysotska said. "When we talk about 20,000 (recruited convicts), this is a very theoretical potential. In reality, it is 4,000-5,000. But we realized (that even this number) of motivated people... will help the Armed Forces. That is why we took this step," the deputy minister said, adding that all the figures are preliminary. The proposal was first submitted to the parliament in March as part of Ukraine's efforts to replenish the ranks of the Armed Forces amid the ongoing war with Russia. Ukraine recently updated the mobilization legal framework to ramp up draft efforts in 2024. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the new law on mobilization on April 16. Border Guard: Russian offensive in Sumy Oblast can't be ruled out Russia has "certain units" on the border with Ukraine's Sumy Oblast, and an attack in this sector "can never be ruled out," State Border Guard Service spokesperson Andrii Demchenko told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) on May 21. Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine's military intelligence chief, suggested in mid-May that Russian forces may launch an offensive in Sumy Oblast similar to the ongoing one in Kharkiv Oblast when the conditions are more favorable. Russia may try to attack the region even if it lacks substantial forces, Demchenko said. "It is in order to stretch the front line, the line of active combat operations, and actually stretch (Ukraine's) defense forces," he added. "We also need to understand that the length of the border with our enemy is quite large. It is more than 560 kilometers (around 350 miles) in Sumy Oblast alone." Ukraine should be prepared for "any situations" and continue to build up its defense capabilities, Demchenko said. Since the Russian-occupied parts of Sumy Oblast were liberated in early April 2022, the region has been experiencing daily shelling and attacks from across the border, as it is located on Ukraine's northeastern border with Russia. Ukrainian authorities ordered further evacuations from the region amid intensified attacks. Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has discussed Kyiv's call to partners to shoot down Russian missiles from their land, noting that if they do not want to do so, there is another option. Source: Kuleba said this at a briefing with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Kyiv, as reported by European Pravda Details: Kuleba said Ukraine is asking partners to intercept Russian missiles over Ukrainian territory. Quote: "There is no legal, security, or moral reason why our partners cannot shoot down Russian missiles over Ukrainian territory from their own country. Those who argue that such actions would constitute an escalation act in a manipulative style," Kuleba said. "We've heard numerous arguments about the importance of avoiding escalation, yet the Russian Federation has been the sole side causing escalation for the past two years. Therefore, firstly, we actually encourage partners to examine the chances of Russian missiles... being intercepted from the territory of our partner countries," Kuleba added. As he noted, if the partners refuse to shoot down Russian missiles, then there is another option. "If you don't want to do anything, simply provide all of the required resources. We will place them on Ukrainian territory and intercept the missiles ourselves. These are air defence systems, which include combat aircraft with the appropriate technical capabilities. And taking a stance in which we (European partners ed.) will not transfer air defence and will not support the shooting down of Russian missiles from our soil over the territory of Ukraine, is to appease the aggressor," the minister concluded. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that assistance from the North Atlantic Alliance in shooting down Russian missiles over the territory of Ukraine would help compensate for Kyiv's deficit in air defence systems and would not drag NATO in the war. Earlier, Zelenskyy said he did not understand why Western NATO allies downed Iranian missiles and drones flying towards Israel, but were afraid to do the same in Ukraine, fearing involving the Alliance in a war with Russia. Support UP or become our patron! The Russians bombarded Ukraine with 29 Shahed-131/136 attack UAVs on the night of 20-21 May, and 28 of them were shot down. Source: Ukraines Air Force on Telegram Quote from the Air Force: "As a result of combat efforts, 28 Shahed drones were shot down in Odesa, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Kherson and Kirovohrad oblasts." Details: It is reported that the Russians launched the drones from three areas: the Russian cities of Primorsko-Akhtarsk and Kursk, and Cape Chauda in temporarily occupied Crimea. The air attack was repelled by mobile fire groups of the Ukrainian Defence Forces. Anti-aircraft missile units of the Air Force and the Ground Forces, fighter aircraft and electronic warfare units were also involved. Support UP or become our patron! Ukraines General Staff has confirmed that Tsiklon, a Russian missile boat, was struck in the Russian-occupied city of Sevastopol, Crimea, on the night of 18-19 May. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, information as of 16:47 on 21 May Quote: "New information we obtained indicates that Ukraines Defence Forces struck the Russian Project 22800 corvette Tsiklon on the night of 18-19 May." Previously: Information about the Russian Tsiklon ship, the carrier of Kalibr cruise missiles, having been struck started circulating online this week. Captain 3rd Rank Dmytro Pletenchuk, the head of the Centre for Strategic Communications of the Defence Forces of the South of Ukraine, said that if the information that the Russian Tskilon missile carrier has been struck in Crimea is correct, Russian forces will no longer be able to launch Kalibr missiles from a short range. For reference: Russian open sources indicate that Tsiklon (Cyclone) is a Project 22800 corvette (code name Karakurt). The ship was handed over to the Russian Navy in July 2023. The ships technical specifications are as follows: displacement of 800 tonnes, length of 65 metres, width of 10 metres, draft of 4 metres. The ships maximum speed is 30 knots. Its range is 2,500 miles (at a speed of 12 knots). It can function autonomously for up to 15 days. Tsiklon was armed with the Oniks and Kalibr-NK vertical missile launchers, an upgraded 76.2 mm AK-176MA gun, and the Palash anti-aircraft gun. Support UP or become our patron! The United Nations (UN) on Tuesday said it had ran out of food supplies in Rafah, the city in the southern part of the Gaza Strip at the center of a possible new Israeli military push. The UN said food distribution was halted due to insecurity and the lack of supplies, according to The Associated Press (AP). The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the main agency providing aid to Palestinians in Gaza, said the distribution in the area is suspended. Food distributions in Rafah, southern Gaza, are currently suspended due to lack of supplies and insecurity, UNRWA said in Tuesdays social media post on X. UNRWA also shared that due to the ongoing Israeli military operation in eastern Rafah, both the agencys distribution center and the World Food Programmes (WFP) are inaccessible. The UN added that no aid trucks have entered the area using the newly-built pier that was spearheaded by the U.S., according to AP. At least 800,000 people have been displaced from Rafah in the past two weeks, according to a UN official. The crisis has worsened since Israel launched its military operation into Rafah on May 6. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) captured the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt which has been shut down ever since. The UN said that around 1.1 million people in Gaza are on the brink of starvation. The U.S. has warned Israel not to invade Rafah with a developed plan that would ensure the safety of civilians in the area. 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 The Hill. A 2024 China-California Business Forum signing ceremony is held in Los Angeles, California, the United States, May 20, 2024. The China-California Business Forum was held in Los Angeles on Monday, bringing together officials, business organizations and companies of the two countries with the goal of expanding business ties and subnational cooperation. (Xinhua) by Xinhua writers Tan Jingjing, Gao Shan LOS ANGELES, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The China-California Business Forum was held in Los Angeles on Monday, bringing together officials, business organizations and companies of the two countries with the goal of expanding business ties and subnational cooperation. Addressing the event, Chinese Consul General in Los Angeles Guo Shaochun said China is California's largest trading partner and California has the largest presence of Chinese-invested companies among all states in the United States. The bilateral economic and trade cooperation has facilitated growth in employment and economy, benefiting the peoples of both China and the United States. In 2023, China was California's top trading partner with two-way trade amounting to over 137 billion U.S. dollars. More than half of the containers entering and leaving the Port of Los Angeles are for trade with China, and 70 percent of the cargo volume at the Port of Long Beach is China-related, according to Guo. Calling the China-California Business Forum an important platform for deeper communication and broader business opportunities, Guo said the forum will vitalize subnational cooperation and promote the sound, stable and sustainable development of China-U.S. relations. Lieutenant Governor of the state of California Eleni Kounalakis said the relationship between California and China is special, citing California's location on the Pacific Rim, large Chinese American community, significant trading activities and student exchanges. "All of those have led to the creation of longstanding and respectful friendship," she said. This year's forum is joined by a Chinese delegation consisting of over 150 top business leaders and trade officials from dozens of provinces. Shanghai is the Guest City of Honor this year. Mayor of Shanghai Gong Zheng said that in recent years, the exchanges and cooperation between Shanghai and Californian cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco have been further expanded. Shanghai expects to further enhance substantial cooperation with California in such areas as science and technological innovation, trade and investment, tourism, cultural exchanges and green development, in a bid to achieve high-level win-win cooperation, Gong said. Karen Bass, mayor of Los Angeles, stressed the close bonds between China and Los Angeles. China is the sixth largest source of foreign-owned businesses in Los Angeles, and the third largest export market for L.A. dairy companies. Nearly 250 businesses from China have expanded to Los Angeles creating jobs and economic opportunity. Over the last ten years, L.A. companies have exported more than 60 billion dollars in goods to China. China's ports are the most significant trading partners on the port of Los Angeles, according to Bass. Amy Tong, secretary of California Government Operation, said California has long been a hub for cultural exchanges between China and the United States, helping Chinese visitors to feel welcomed at home and fostering rich artistic dialogues. Numerous museums, galleries and cultural institutions of California have events showcasing Chinese arts, calligraphy, music and dance. Events like the Chinese New Year celebrations further strengthen ties and promote mutual understanding, Tong said. California is also home to some of the world top universities and research institutions, attracting a significant number of Chinese students and scholars, she added. "Ultimately, as two of the biggest economies in the world, we hope our relationship can serve as a positive force for good, and remind the world what we have to gain by working together and towards peace and share prosperity," Tong noted. The forum focused on a number of important sectors, including clean technologies, e-commerce, agriculture, infrastructure and innovation. A series of memorandum of understanding (MoU) were signed during the event to boost trade cooperation between China and California, including one between World Trade Center Los Angeles and Shanghai Foreign Investment Development Board, and another between San Francisco International Airport and Shanghai Airport Authority. The China-California Business Forum is an annual economic and trade event under the China Provinces and U.S. California Joint Working Framework for Trade and Investment cooperation. The event was founded to boost the pragmatic cooperation in trade and investment between California and related provinces and cities in China. Starting from 2016, the previous five forums have drawn in over 2,100 attendees, addressing an array of topics including clean technology, e-commerce, agriculture, infrastructure, innovation cooperation and more. Mayor of Shanghai Gong Zheng delivers a speech at the 2024 China-California Business Forum held in Los Angeles, California, the United States, May 20, 2024. Shanghai is the Guest City of Honor this year. The China-California Business Forum was held in Los Angeles on Monday, bringing together officials, business organizations and companies of the two countries with the goal of expanding business ties and subnational cooperation. (Xinhua) UN: Humanitarian aid for Ukraine falling but needed now more than ever Humanitarian aid for Ukraine is falling as its need only increases, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR warned on May 20. In an interview with AFP, Karolina Lindholm Billing, the UNHCR's representative in Ukraine, said there are 4 million displaced people in the country, including "some very, very vulnerable people." Billing said the situation was only worsening as Russia's full-scale invasion drags into its third year, but funding for international humanitarian aid was slowing down. The U.N. has a humanitarian plan for Ukraine that requires $3.1 billion this year, including $599 million for the UNHCR. So far in 2024, both have received only 15% of the required funding. Similar plans for 2023 were 30% at the same time last year, she said. "It is the most vulnerable (that) will bear the brunt of that reduced funding and support," Billing said. Countries have continued to pledge humanitarian aid packages to Ukraine, most recently Denmark. The Danish Foreign Ministry announced on May 7 a new 250 million kroner ($33.2 million) package and said about 40% of Ukraine's population is in need of humanitarian aid, citing U.N. data. "The humanitarian situation in Ukraine is extremely serious," said Dan Jorgensen, the Danish development cooperation minister. "Millions of Ukrainians have been displaced, thousands of homes have been destroyed, hospitals have been bombed, and basic necessities such as water, heating, and electricity are scarce resources for many Ukrainians." Read also: Kharkiv Oblast official: Ukraine controls around 60% of Vovchansk Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Palestinians gather in the hope of obtaining aid delivered into Gaza through a U.S.-built pier, as seen from central Gaza Strip (This May 21 story has been refiled to clarify hostage numbers in paragraphs 16 and 17) By Michelle Nichols and Idrees Ali UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United Nations has planned new routes within the Gaza Strip to transport aid from a U.S.-built floating pier after crowds of desperate Palstinians intercepted 11 trucks, causing a halt to deliveries that continued for a third day on Tuesday. The temporary pier was anchored to a Gaza beach last Thursday as Israel comes under growing global pressure to allow more supplies into the besieged coastal enclave, where it is at war with Palestinian militants Hamas and a famine looms. Operations began on Friday and 10 aid trucks were driven by U.N. contractors to a World Food Programme warehouse in Deir El Balah in Gaza. But on Saturday, only five trucks made it to the warehouse after 11 others were intercepted. "Crowds had stopped the trucks at various points along the way. There was ... what I think I would refer to as self-distribution," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York on Tuesday. "These trucks were traveling through areas where there'd been no aid. I think people feared that they would never see aid. They grabbed what they could," he said. Distribution was paused as the U.N. planned new routes and coordination of deliveries in a bid to prevent more aid being intercepted, said Abeer Etefa, a WFP spokesperson in Cairo. "The missions were planned for today using the new routes to avoid the crowds," she said. Dujarric later said there had been no transportation of aid from the pier since Saturday. 'WAITING FOR AMERICAN AID' The pier has been met with hope and scepticism by residents in Gaza. The pier operation - announced by U.S. President Joe Biden in March - is estimated to cost $320 million and involve 1,000 U.S. service members. "The pier should be there when the (Israeli) occupation completely ends. Then, it will be good for us. It will be good to travel, to get things," said Abu Nadi al-Haddad, questioning why it was needed now, given there were several land crossings. Another resident, Abu Nasser Abu Khousa, came to the coastal road close to where the pier is located with his four-year-old son and a donkey-drawn cart in the hope of receiving aid. "We are waiting for the American aid, but we did not get anything," he said, adding that he had lost his home in the war and had been displaced multiple times. "We will come back tomorrow, God willing, in the hope that we will get some aid, that will help us survive." U.S. officials have said that once up and running the pier would initially handle 90 trucks a day, but that number could go to 150 trucks. The U.N. has said at least 500 trucks a day are needed to enter Gaza. Aid offloaded at the pier comes via a maritime corridor from Cyprus, where it is first inspected by Israel. Two ships carrying aid left Cyprus earlier this month and the Pentagon said more than 569 metric tons of aid had been delivered to Gaza. "More is on the way, so you're going to see those numbers increase," Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder told reporters on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear how much of the 569 metric tonnes of aid - which the Pentagon said had been donated by the U.S., Britain, the United Arab Emirates and the European Union - was still waiting to be transported by U.N.-contracted trucks. Israel is retaliating against Hamas in Gaza - an enclave of 2.3 million people - over the Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian militants where more than 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Nearly 130 hostages are believed to remain captive in Gaza. Israel launched an air, ground and sea assault on the blockaded Palestinian territory, killing more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. Aid access into southern Gaza has been disrupted since Israel stepped up military operations in Rafah, a move that the U.N. says has forced 900,000 people to flee. (Reporting by Aidan Lewis, Michelle Nichols, Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Editing by Gareth Jones and Deepa Babington) United States ambassador Robert Wood votes against draft resolution during the Security Council meeting on non-proliferation of weapons in space at UN Headquarters. Lev Radin/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa A UN resolution tabled by Russia against an arms race in space failed in the UN Security Council on Monday. The draft resolution received seven votes in favour while seven countries, including the US, voted against it. Switzerland abstained. The measure failed as it did not obtain the nine votes necessary to pass it in the powerful 15-nation council. In view of a US resolution against nuclear weapons in space that failed last month due to Russia's veto, US representative Robert Wood accused Moscow of manipulative tactics. The debate at the United Nations follows US reports in February about Russia's nuclear ambitions in space. Several major US media outlets reported findings about Russia attempting to develop an anti-satellite nuclear weapon based in space which could pose a threat to national and international security. In response, the US government stated that Russia was developing military capabilities for use against satellites - no details were given on the specific nature of this threat. Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected the accusations, saying that Russia was against the deployment of nuclear weapons in space. Moscow labelled the US draft resolution in the UN Security Council as propaganda. Algeria, China, Russia, Ecuador, Guyana, Mozambique, Sierra Leone vote to adopt draft resolution during the Security Council meeting on non-proliferation of weapons in space at UN Headquarters. Lev Radin/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa Russia's ambassador Vassily Nebenzia attends the Security Council meeting on non-proliferation of weapons in space at UN Headquarters. Lev Radin/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa FILE - Russian Permanent Representative to the U.N. Vassily Nebenzia addresses members of the U.N. Security Council during a meeting on Non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, April 24, 2024, at the United Nations headquarters. The United States says that Russia last week launched a satellite that could be part of weaponizing space. That's a possible future global trend that members of the United Nations Security Council condemn, even as they failed on May 20, to pass a measure against it. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, File) UNITED NATIONS (AP) The United States said Monday that Russia last week launched a satellite that could be part of weaponizing space, a possible future global trend that members of the United Nations Security Council condemned even as they failed to pass a measure against it. The Security Council resolution drafted by Russia rivaled one backed by the U.S. and Japan that failed last month. The rival drafts focused on different types of weapons, with the U.S. and Japan specifying weapons of mass destruction. The Russian draft discussed all types of weapons. The U.S. and its allies said the language that the 15-member council debated on Monday was simply meant to distract the world from Russia's true intention: weaponizing space. The culmination of Russias campaign of diplomatic gaslighting and dissembling is the text before us today," U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the council. Russias U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, denied that his nation was trying to mislead the world. Backed by China and others, he called the vote a unique moment of truth for our Western colleagues. If they fail to support this, then they will clearly show that their main priority remains keeping freedom of the way for themselves to expedite the militarization of outer space," Nebenzia said. Every nation says it wants weapons barred from space, and council members repeated that Monday. But when it came time to vote, the council evenly split 7-7 between backers of the U.S. and of Russia, with Switzerland abstaining. The measure failed under U.N. rules because it didn't receive nine votes. We have this negative, squabbling attitude among leading space powers that seem more interested in scoring points off their adversaries rather than engaging in constructive dialogue, said Paul Meyer, Canadas former ambassador for disarmament and a fellow at the Vancouver-based Outer Space Institute. Since before humans left the Earth, the worlds most powerful nations have worried about their enemies using outer space to attack them . The Soviet Union and the United States sent men into space in 1961. Six years later, the Soviets, the U.S. and the United Kingdom signed a treaty declaring outer space a global commons that could be used for only peaceful purposes. Even though nations could not wage war without the space-based communications, reconnaissance and weather tools that satellites and spacecraft provide, the 1967 Outer Space Treaty requires them to keep their weapons on Earth. You realize what an important conflict-prevention measure that was, Meyer said. Its become even more important, he said, as a growing number of nations have moved into space. About a dozen have the capacity to launch spacecraft, and about 80 have their own satellites, not to mention the private companies with assets in orbit. All of that could be at risk if a conflict in space causes an explosion and shrapnel, which could disable the vital systems that millions of people around the world depend on. A lot of people have a stake in being able to operate in space safely and securely, Meyer said. The U.S. has gathered highly sensitive intelligence about Russian anti-satellite weapons that has been shared with the upper echelons of government, four people who had been briefed on the intelligence said in February. The people, who were not authorized to comment publicly, said the capability was not yet operational. Unclaimed property event to be held May 22-23 VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) The Virginia Beach City Treasurers Office and the Virginia Treasury want you to stake your claim. There will be an unclaimed property event from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, May 22 and Thursday, May 23. Virginians can call 1-833-302-0704 to speak with treasury staff about unclaimed property and file a claim. Typically, unclaimed assets are turned over to the state when companies lose contact with the rightful owners. The state will keep the unclaimed property forever unless the rightful owner or their heirs claim it. Unclaimed property includes, but is not limited to: Lost or misplaced bank accounts Uncashed checks Wages Stocks Dividends Utility deposits Insurance policy proceeds Safe deposit box contents The commonwealth has returned more than $1.1 billion in unclaimed property. To check to see if you have unclaimed property visit VaMoneySearch.gov. 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 WAVY.com. Matthew Mosteller from Grant High School attended a graduate recognition ceremony at BMO Stadium, south of downtown, to celebrate students like him who had experienced homelessness but persevered to earn a diploma. (Al Seib / For The Times) One student lived variously in a car, a homeless shelter, motels and with relatives. Another was kicked out of the house in high school. And yet another shared one room with his entire family and worked washing dishes. These Los Angeles Unified high school students represent a complex mosaic of hardship, but also have overcome tremendous adversity and were among 130 who were honored Monday by the district at BMO Stadium south of downtown, where many received college scholarships. "You're here because you accomplished something, because you made sure your life has meaning," author Luis Rodriguez said in remarks to the graduates. Rodriguez, who also overcame hardship in his youth, told the graduates to learn to love themselves in a positive way and "the angels will come out of the woodwork the teachers and the mentors and the people will come out to help you. That's been my experience." About 15,000 students experience homelessness in the L.A. Unified School District, an increase of about 3,000 students or about 25% from the previous year. These numbers are "likely an undercount as students self-identify as experiencing homelessness," said district spokesman Britt A. Vaughan. Across L.A. County, about 47,700 students faced housing instability during the 2022-23 school year out of nearly 1.4 million students. In a given year, about 11% of California students experiencing homelessness will spend time either living in a temporary shelter or under no roof at all. An additional 6% will be living in a hotel. School is her stability Janai Johnson from James Monroe High School was a featured speaker at a recognition ceremony honoring graduating students who, like her, had overcome homelessness. (Al Seib / For The Times) Janai Johnson said she was determined to achieve stability once she walked through the schoolhouse door at Monroe High in the San Fernando Valley. She was going to stay in school and stay in that particular school. Her mother shared that determination, although the breakup with her husband a necessity, says Janai made things harder financially. "I've been in and out of homeless shelters, motels, and we've bounced around with different family members across California," Janai said. "So that definitely does take a toll." Janai's mom found shelter and work at the downtown Union Rescue Mission, but it was more than 23 miles away from Monroe High more than an hour's drive during peak traffic. Still, that was a breeze compared with more than a year they spent in a small apartment in Moreno Valley, when her mother drove her 85 miles and two hours each way. "Me and my mom are extremely close," Janai said. "She's been my No. 1 supporter forever. She constantly tells me how proud she is and that, if I get a higher education, things will be easier for me. And I think that's why I've always been so interested in college." Janai remembers having to get to school early being the first to arrive and shivering in the morning chill. She fought to be active in school activities. These included a program called AVID, which helps prepare students for college and careers. Her mom never got to finish college. Sometimes the schedule was too much and Janai would fall asleep in class but her teachers were understanding. And she's managed to maintain a 3.0 GPA. Janai plans to study early childhood development at Cal State Channel Islands. On his own Matthew Mosteller from Grant High looks at his scholarship certificate after the end of the ceremony. About 130 seniors participated. (Al Seib / For The Times) The state defines homeless youths as those who "lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence." Matthew Mosteller's mother died in childbirth. His grieving father wasn't prepared to raise a child, so Matthew's grandparents stepped in, he said. When his father returned to the picture, Matthew lived with him. But Matthew said he was rebellious and his father entered a new relationship followed by a baby. Matthew got kicked out at 17 and had to make it on his own, working at a pizza restaurant, he said. That's not enough to pay for his own place, so he has moved around. But he didn't give up on having a life at school. He won election as a student body officer and became a peer counselor while maintaining a 3.97 GPA. Matthew plans to be a firefighter, most likely going to a local community college to earn the necessary credentials. "I was stressed because of how difficult it would be," Matthew said. "But at the end of the day, I knew I would still be able to succeed and rise above everything." College-bound According to census data, approximately 15,307 California students experiencing homelessness were enrolled in the 12th grade during the 2022-23 academic year. Only about half enroll in college, even though data indicate that an overwhelming majority wish to pursue careers that require post-high school education. A bill by state Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose) could help by providing several months of modest guaranteed income that would bridge the time between high school graduation and the start of college. Housing instability takes many forms, including living in overcrowded, substandard situations. Juan Mesa has been living with his parents and younger brother in a single room in an apartment without air conditioning they share with another family. About 8 in 10 students experiencing unstable housing share small spaces with more than one family, according to state data. Juan Mesa from Edward R. Roybal Learning Center excelled in school despite having to work as a dishwasher and living in a one-room space with his parents and brother in an apartment shared with another family. (Al Seib / For The Times) When Juan was 15, his family emigrated from Bogota, Colombia where his father was a teacher and his mother took on odd jobs. His father dreamed of a better opportunity for his children in the U.S. and spent several years saving up. But poverty awaited them in Los Angeles, especially because it took a while before his parents were allowed to work. Juan helped out by working as a dishwasher 20 to 30 hours a week. "We always had this belief of helping family that's something really important. So in tough moments, I step in and I had to get a job," he said. He excelled at Roybal Learning Center on the edge of downtown, speaking strong English within a year. He quickly moved into Advanced Placement English classes. He plans to major in the public health field when he begins at UC Davis in the fall. Thriving in L.A. Like many other unhoused students, Xavier Moreland moved from relative to relative at various times and had to do so by himself, without a permanent attachment to a supportive family member. "I was never, ever celebrated in my life for anything," he said. "And it just sort of made me struggle in school. It was very hard for me socially, to get along with anyone else because that's all I knew. And I was often bullied." Xavier grew up in Ohio, but was finally able to connect with a supportive older brother in L.A. His brother, other adults and friends helped him thrive and reach this graduation day, he said. Xavier plans to attend community college in Napa Valley, where he hopes to learn about the hospitality industry. Xavier Moreland from Grant High School said his life recently turned around after years of family instability. (Al Seib / For The Times) Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. MILLCREEK, Utah (ABC4) Officers with the Unified Police Department were involved in a Millcreek shooting, according to authorities. In a press release, the Unified Police Department said officers responded to a call of a reported kidnapping and hostage situation involving a 15-year-old victim in the area of 3500 South and 2300 East on Monday, May 20. UDOT eyes ambitious projects including new freeway in Utah County Upon arrival, officers entered the home where they encountered a suspect with a firearm. UPD said during the incident, a shot was fired by police killing the suspect. The Unified Police Department did not provide details on what led to officers opening fire. A firearm was reportedly recovered from the scene. Details on the suspect, including age and gender, have not been publicly released. Unified Police Department said the West Valley Police Department is leading an investigation into the incident. No further information was made available as of Tuesday morning, but UPD said it will release additional details as they become available. 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 ABC4 Utah. A majority of the workers at two Mercedes plants near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, rejected an opportunity to join the United Auto Workers union in an election that concluded on May 17, 2024. UAW supporters lost 2,642 to 2,045, just one month after the workers at a Volkswagen plant in the neighboring state of Tennessee chose by a 3-to-1 margin to join the union. Based on my research about organized labor in the United States and other countries and what I learned when I went to Alabama to observe the election and talk to Mercedes workers, I believe what happened in Alabama illustrates how hard labor organizing is in the South, but its too soon to write off the UAWs chances in the region. Public and private efforts to block unions The UAW made eight failed attempts to unionize foreign-owned auto plants in the South over the past 35 years. That losing streak ended when it won 73% of all ballots cast in its historic Tennessee win. My most recent book, The UAWs Southern Gamble: Organizing Workers at Foreign-owned Vehicle Plants, highlights the big challenges the UAW has long faced in the South. For 40 years, Southern political and business leaders have sought to attract investment to their states especially from foreign-owned manufacturers by offering massive subsidies, low taxes, lower labor costs and a largely compliant workforce. This model has worked. Today, roughly 30% of U.S. autoworkers are in the South, up from about 15% in 1990. Whenever the UAW has tried to unionize the industry in the region, the Southern political establishment, which the Republican Party dominates, has pushed back. Most recently, six Southern GOP governors encapsulated that tradition in a joint letter shortly before the Volkswagen vote. In it, they denounced the UAWs organizing drive as special interests looking to come into our state and threaten our jobs and the values we live by. Union avoidance playbook Automotive executives across the American South have developed what I call a union avoidance playbook. This strategy includes locating plants in rural areas with little union membership, screening out hires who might be sympathetic to unions, and dividing the workforce by using temp agencies to fill a significant share of positions. Messaging is equally important. The plants have television monitors in break rooms and cafeterias that run pro-company and anti-union messaging. To undercut support for unions, companies donate lavishly to local churches, charities and politicians. If, despite these efforts, a labor campaign gains momentum, plant managers typically launch a communication blitz that includes mandatory meetings for whole shifts and smaller meetings with undecided employees to make the case against unionization. Union supporters dont get an opportunity to respond. In recent years, the communication strategy has included a torrent of anti-union emails and text messages to persuade employees to oppose unionization. Most foreign-owned Southern automakers will hire anti-union consultants with years of experience fighting unions to guide their efforts. If the election still looks close, the companies may replace the plants local CEO. That new hire then tells employees that the company now understands their grievances and asks for a second chance. Why UAW won over Volkswagen workers The UAWs Tennessee win suggests that the Southern public-private, anti-union partnership is not invincible. Three factors explain the unions success. First, the election of Shawn Fain as UAW president in March 2023 marked a turning point. The charismatic electrician from Kokomo, Indiana, wasted no time shifting the UAW away from its prior accommodation with automakers. Fain used forceful rhetoric and innovative tactics to score wins at the bargaining table throughout the UAWs concurrent strikes at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis in the fall of 2023. The new contracts that followed gave workers substantial pay and benefits increases and restored cost-of-living adjustments. Those deals also eliminated a two-tier wage structure that paid workers hired since 2007 significantly less for doing the same job than colleagues with more seniority. By late 2023, the UAW had shown Southern autoworkers that it could deliver gains that their employers were unlikely to grant on their own. This made more Southern autoworkers want to join the union. Second, the UAW revamped its labor organizing system. Out went its top-down approach. Under Fains leadership, the UAW hired Brian Shepherd a proven organizer from the Service Employees International Union to take charge. Shepherd has empowered automotive employees who were supportive of unionization to tailor the organizing campaigns to what they thought would work best. United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain speaks to reporters in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on May 17, 2024, after workers at two Alabama Mercedes-Benz factories voted against joining the UAW. AP Photo/Kim Chandler German solidarity Third, the UAWs relationship with Volkswagens German works council leadership, which represents employees in the workplace, has dramatically improved. A works council is an elected body of employees that represents employee interests at the workplace and company levels. It is distinct from the German metalworkers union, IG Metall, which has always been supportive of unions representing U.S. autoworkers. Ties between the UAW and the works council were strained during the 2014 and 2019 organizing campaigns. But the works council leadership changed in 2021. During the Volkswagen campaign, the German works council intervened in several instances to soften managements resistance to unionization and to urge Chattanooga employees to vote for the union. The UAWs Mercedes defeat In previous votes at foreign-owned auto plants in the South, the UAW typically garnered just one-third of the vote. In Alabama, it received 44%. So, its reasonable to see that loss as a sign of progress and strength, even if it fell short of a majority. As I explain in my book, to win an election, a union must prevail in the political arena and within the company as a whole, as well as the workplace. Mercedes had the overwhelming support of Alabamas political establishment, including Rev. Matthew Wilson, a Tuscaloosa City Council member and Baptist church pastor. There was a big difference between what happened with the labor campaigns at Mercedes and Volkswagen, however. The UAW gained timely support of the VW works council, which persuaded the companys management not to hire anti-union consultants, use anti-union language or hold mandatory meetings. In contrast, the Mercedes works council protested only belatedly, failing to change Mercedes approach. In addition, Mercedes replaced the local CEO, Michael Gobel, with Federico Kochlowski, who promised that the company would do a better job addressing the employees long-standing concerns. This closing barrage revealed a weakness in the UAWs employee-led organizing model. It proved difficult for the small number of organizers to respond quickly and effectively using a network of employees who had little experience with these tactics. Despite the victory in Alabama, Mercedes management may be in trouble in Germany for reportedly resorting to unfair tactics. The German government is investigating whether the companys anti-union campaign violated the countrys supply chain law, which requires companies to respect economic, governance and social standards, including labor rights, at their foreign facilities. Violators can be subject to a fine of up to 2% of total sales. Separately, the UAW has filed a complaint against Mercedes with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging anti-union tactics. The complaint is pending with that federal agency, which is responsible for enforcing the right of U.S. workers to organize. Moving foward Fain vowed to continue the organizing drive when he announced the results at Mercedes. These workers will win their fair share, he said. And we will be there every step of the way to support them. I would not be surprised to see a majority of workers ultimately decide to support joining the UAW at the two Mercedes plants in Alabama. The vote was relatively close. Unionization drives often fall short in the first attempt but succeed subsequently when it becomes apparent that management is not going to fulfill promises to do better. If the UAW leadership can persuade the Mercedes works council to pressure management to curtail use of the union avoidance playbook, prospects for organizing the Alabama plant with a new campaign look especially promising. In my view, the UAW also has a reasonable shot at organizing BMW workers in South Carolina. On the other hand, unionizing Southern workers employed by Korean and Japanese-owned automakers is likely to prove more challenging partly because neither country has an institution similar to Germanys works councils. For the UAW to succeed throughout the South, I believe that it will have to develop strategies that can overcome the entire repertoire of the regions union-avoidance playbook. Portions of this article appeared in another article published May 7, 2024. Stephen J. Silvia received funding for this research from the American Political Science Association to conduct research at the UAW archives, which are housed at Wayne State University's Walter Reuther Library, and from the Hans Boeckler Foundation to conduct research at southern automobile plants. icon Semafor Signals Supported by Microsoft logo Insights from Council on Foreign Relations, Voice of America, The Guardian Arrow Down Title icon The News Carbon emissions are a form of maritime pollution, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, a United Nations maritime court in Germany, ruled on Tuesday. In turn, countries are legally required to reduce greenhouse gas pollution. The court also recommended revising emissions targets down further, based upon the best available science. Its a win for a coalition of nine small island states across the Caribbean and Pacific, which had sought increased protection from rising sea levels. Island nations particularly in the tropics are among the most vulnerable to climate disasters. The judgment is not legally binding, but it could set a precedent for decisions for future climate litigation. icon SIGNALS Semafor Signals: Global insights on today's biggest stories. Island nations disproportionately feel climate changes impact Source icon Sources: Council on Foreign Relations, The Guardian, United Nations Despite contributing less than 0.02% of global greenhouse gas emissions, Pacific island nations are on the frontline of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, according to the UN. Pacific and Caribbean island economies depend on ecotourism and overseas trade unique circumstances that increase their vulnerability to climate change, the Council on Foreign Relations wrote. Their geography also means natural disasters can hurt domestic food production, increasing the risk of malnutrition as the climate warms. The Caribbean islands are essentially a microcosm of the challenges were all facing, said the director of Northeastern Universitys Global Resilience Institute. The decision makes polluters accountable, but action isnt guaranteed Source icon Sources: Associated Press, Reuters, Voice of America Island advocates said the decision could put an end to the inaction that has brought us to the brink of an irreversible disaster, but getting the worlds biggest polluters to do more will be difficult. China, the worlds largest carbon emitter, argued the Tribunal doesnt have the authority to issue advisory opinions and argued the decision could even hurt climate law going forward. Meanwhile, the second largest emitter, the United States, refused to sign on to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea; treaty skeptics said part of the reason is a fear of meritless environmental lawsuits, Voice of America reported. Decision solidifies ties between human rights and climate change Source icon Sources: Greenpeace, Semafor, Reuters The tribunals decision marks a significant step forward in international environmental law and the protection of our oceans and sets a clear legal precedent for addressing climate change through existing international frameworks, said Greenpeaces legal advisor Louise Fournier. The small islands win follows another landmark ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in March that found that Europes member states have a legal obligation to protect citizens from climate change. The cases could influence two pending advisory opinions on states climate obligations in the Inter-American Court on Human Rights and the International Court of Justice, Reuters reported. Semafor Logo The United States has sent 59 transformers and other equipment to Ukraine for Kharkiv, which is being subjected to regular air attacks from the Russian Federation. Source: European Pravda; Bridget A. Brink, US ambassador to Ukraine on X (formerly Twitter) Brink said that last week, the United States, through the Agency for International Development (USAID), sent 50 voltage transformers, nine current transformers and 80 isolators to the Kharkiv power distribution systems operator. Last week we provided through @USAID 50 voltage transformers, 9 current transformers, & 80 isolators to Kharkivs energy distribution system operator to help energy workers undertake urgent repairs to Kharkivs electrical grid damaged by Russias missile and drone attacks. pic.twitter.com/C8VmGLuliD Ambassador Bridget A. Brink (@USAmbKyiv) May 21, 2024 "To help energy workers undertake urgent repairs to Kharkivs electrical grid damaged by Russias missile and drone attacks," she explained. Background: Brink announced that the United States had donated 107 generators to Ukraine for Kharkiv Oblast, which is being subjected to regular air attacks from Russia. Earlier, it was reported that the Austrian government would allocate 5 million to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund. Prior to that, it became known that Germany would provide a 45 million grant to help Ukraine's energy sector recover quickly after the Russian attacks. It was also reported that the UK will donate 23 million to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund. Support UP or become our patron! LIMA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people were killed after a passenger van collided head-on with a tractor-trailer in central Peru's Pasco region, local media reported Monday. The crash occurred around 8:00 a.m. local time (1300 GMT) at kilometer 157 of the central highway when the vehicle involved was heading from Pasco to Huariaca. "So far we have eight deaths, including three minors, students at the Antioquia Educational Institution," said Martin Berrospi, mayor of the Huariaca district, adding that authorities have launched an investigation to determine the exact causes of the accident. Berrospi said the highway was in dire need of repairs and called on the national government to better maintain the roadway to avoid further accidents. May 21 (UPI) -- Campus authorities on Tuesday cleared about 50 protesters from a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at the University of Michigan early Tuesday morning. The University of Michigan confirmed that just before 6 a.m. EDT, the school's law enforcement began clearing the encampment on the university's Central Campus Diag. "The university can and must regulate the time, place, and manner of expression to ensure one group's right to protest does not infringe on the rights of others, endanger our community or disrupt the operations of the university," University of Michigan President Santa Ono said a statement Tuesday morning outlining the school's decision to clear and remove the encampment after nearly a month. In addition to at least three known arrests, two students were confirmed to be hospitalized, according to the student-lead Tahrir Coalition, who said pepper spray was also involved. Protestors were then seen on social media rallying at the Washtenaw County government building in Ann Arbor. Up to 200 protesters reportedly inhabited the encampment in the days and hours before. It was first setup weeks ago on April 22 to demand that the university divest itself from Israeli-backed institutions amid the ongoing war in Gaza. "Following a May 17 inspection by the university fire marshal, who determined that were a fire to occur, a catastrophic loss of life was likely, the fire marshal and Student Life leaders asked camp occupants to remove external camp barriers, refrain from overloading power sources, and stop using open flames," Ono wrote, saying protestors refused to comply, forcing the university to act. Michigan state police were reportedly seen on campus around the encampment in recent weeks. But local police in Ann Arbor said they were "not involved with the clearing of protesters on the University of Michigan campus and made no arrests connected to the protest." The university's public safety officials said their officers issued three verbal warnings over a 15-minute period, "asking the approximately 50 people who were in the encampment to leave voluntarily before being subject to arrest," the department said in a statement. "In recent days, encampment participants have also received numerous outreach attempts from U-M administrators and DPSS leadership, asking them to leave," they said in a news release before 10 a.m. "The encampment posed safety risks, both to participants and the community at large, and its presence was in violation of policies and regulations," they said, adding that its removal was important "to help maintain the safety and security of the U-M campus community." In his letter, Ono noted "the disregard for safety directives was only the latest in a series of troubling events centered on an encampment that has always violated the rules that govern the Diag -- especially the rules that ensure the space is available to everyone." This fresh encampment removal echoes a series of similar events recently at other American universities or college campuses, like New York's Columbia University, that have been calling for Israeli financial divestments in a pattern that extends back to South Africa's apartheid. But divesting from Israel poses challenges in Michigan since the state has a law prohibiting state contracts with anyone who supports divesting from or boycotting Israel. In Michigan, a 1983 law did call for the state's higher learning institutions to divest from South African-based investments which got initial pushback from the University of Michigan "Moving forward, individuals will be welcome to protest as they always have at the University of Michigan, so long as those protests don't violate the rights of others and are consistent with university policies meant to ensure the safety of our community," Ono's letter says. "To be clear, there is no place for violence or intimidation at the University of Michigan. Such behavior will not be tolerated, and individuals will be held accountable." CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) The University YMCA at the University of Illinois is creating a time capsule to be opened during its 200th anniversary in 50 years time and they are looking for suggestions. The project comes on the heels of the University YMCAs 150th anniversary, which was celebrated last year. A time capsule from 1907 was discovered in February 2023 during the demolition of Illini Hall, which was originally built by the YMCA and housed the program for 10 years. The capsule was finally opened that September in honor of the YMCAs sesquicentennial. Groundbreaking on Arcola Broom Palace set for May 31 Now, University YMCA officials want to continue the preservation of its history with another time capsule. This time, it will be opened in 2073 for its two-century celebration. Currently, officials are brainstorming what materials to place inside the capsule. They want the community to share their ideas of items and sentiments to include in the capsule that will impact the people who will open the capsule up 50 years from now. To submit input, you can fill out this form. 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 WCIA.com. Military leaders and outside analysts have warned for years that China is making rapid progress in space. Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of U.S. Space Command, recently cautioned that China is growing its military space and counterspace capabilities at breathtaking pace. He cited Chinas rapid increase in space-based surveillance capabilities in particular, saying it had tripled in number since 2018 to 359 surveillance satellites. Maj. Gen. Greg Gagnon, deputy chief of space operations for intelligence, said that since 2015, China has increased its number of satellites by 550%. These numbers are understandably alarming, but they dont tell the whole story. The figures military leaders cite include more than Chinas military and intelligence satellites. As shown in the AEI Space Data Navigator, China has 848 operational satellites as of May 2024, compared to just 129 in 2015 (an increase of just over 550%) but the vast majority of these are not military satellites. Of the 848 Chinese satellites operating today, 179 are military and intelligence satellites, 271 are civil (including the Beidou constellation for navigation and timing), 362 are commercial and 36 are academic. To put this in perspective, the United States has a total of 6,975 operational satellites today eight times as many as China and since 2015, the total number of U.S. satellites has increased by over 2,100%. Why are military leaders so concerned? Its because the lines between Chinese military, civil and commercial satellites are blurred, and in a conflict the United States expects that all Chinese space assets can and will be used by the military. The same is not true for the United States, and the vast majority (94%) of U.S. satellites are commercial. When the total number of Chinese satellites is compared to only U.S. military and intelligence satellites, the picture is different. The United States has just 300 military and intelligence satellites in operation roughly a third of Chinas total space assets. While Chinas rapid advances in space and counterspace technology is concerning, the United States failure to fully leverage the innovation of its own commercial space sector is even more concerning. The creation of the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve (CASR) is a step in the right direction, but it is only a small step because it merely creates the option to use commercial satellites in a crisis. To put this in perspective, the Civil Reserve Air Fleet that served as an inspiration for CASR has only been used three times in the 73 years since it was created. As I detailed in a recent report, the vibrance and innovation of the U.S. commercial space sector is the envy of the world, and it is rooted in our free market economic system, open society and access to capital an enduring advantage we have over China. In 2023, the U.S. commercial space sector alone (not including government missions) launched three times as many satellites as the rest of the world combined, and U.S. effective launch capacity in 2023 was four times the rest of the world combined. China is not ahead of the United States in space by any stretch of the imagination. Its the U.S. military and intelligence community that are falling behind the commercial space sector and losing ground to China. But it doesnt have to be this way. Congress and the Biden administration need to unleash the full potential of the Space Force to compete with China, and the best way to do that is to build on what is already working. The Space Development Agency (SDA) has found the right approach to leverage commercial innovation in its proliferated warfighter space architecture. It is using a spiral development approach, with each tranche of satellites having progressively better capabilities, and it is leveraging commercial technology and components wherever possible. Right now, it is working on two layers of the architecture: the data transport layer and the missile tracking layer. But the SDA could do more if given the resources. In particular, it should immediately begin work on a tactical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) layer what it has previously referred to as the custody layer. The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the Space Force are debating a constellation of satellites for ground moving target indication (GMTI) a mission that was traditionally the responsibility of the Air Force. Gen. Jay Raymond, the former chief of space operations, announced that the GMTI mission would be moving to the Space Force three years ago, and yet the program has still not reached milestone B the formal start of an acquisition program. China is not waiting for the NRO and Space Force to settle their bureaucratic disputes over how the satellites will be controlled. The Biden administration should stop the internal bickering and give the tactical ISR mission (including GMTI and other types of space surveillance) to the Space Development Agency. And if the administration doesnt settle the issue soon, the Armed Services committees should settle it for them in the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Building a new tactical ISR layer as part of the Space Development Agencys overall proliferated architecture is the fastest and most assured way to make meaningful progress. But even this will take several years to begin delivering capabilities to the warfighter. In the interim, the Space Force should begin integrating existing commercial space ISR capabilities to fill the capability gap. Contracting for commercial space ISR has traditionally been the job of the NRO, and the agency already has large contracts for commercial electro-optical imagery. But the NRO has not moved ahead expeditiously in expanding its use of commercial synthetic aperture radar and radio frequency-sensing satellites, and the NROs business model for tasking and processing commercial space ISR data is far too slow to support tactical users (taking days rather than minutes). Congress should create a commercial space ISR fund in the fiscal 2025 budget and require the Space Force to begin contracting for commercial space ISR capabilities. This would jumpstart the process of integrating commercial capabilities into DOD battle networks and kill chains and give the Space Force an opportunity to refine the requirements for its own tactical ISR satellites. A limiting factor in all of this is (unsurprisingly) funding, and the budget caps imposed by the Fiscal Responsibility Act are one reason the Space Force was not more forward-leaning in its budget request. While in an ideal world Congress would add new funding for these priorities, if that is not possible, it could instead take money from lower priorities within the Space Forces budget. An example of a potential bill payer is the funding line for narrowband satellite communications, intended to extend the life of the current Mobile User Object System (MUOS) constellation of satellites the Space Force inherited from the Navy. A previous estimate showed that it will cost $4.8 billion to buy two more of these satellites the very definition of big, juicy targets. Narrowband satellite communications is a mission area that can transition to commercial, where private-sector capacity and performance (e.g., latency, data rates, etc.) are far better than MUOS. Canceling the MUOS life extension would save $280 million in fiscal 2025 alone, and Congress could rescind any unobligated money it appropriated in fiscal 2024 to free up even more funding within the Space Forces budget. This would be more than enough for SDA to start work on a tactical ISR layer and to create a commercial space ISR fund. Congress and the executive branch should heed the warnings about Chinas space capabilities. The United States enjoys a substantial lead in space technology, but China is moving quickly to copy our technology and counter the advantage it provides. It is time to get serious and to make the hard choices. It is time to unleash the Space Force. Todd Harrison is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, focused on defense strategy and budgeting, the defense industrial base, and space policy and security. The US has assessed that Russia likely launched a counter space weapon last week that is close to, and capable of attacking, a US government satellite orbiting nearby, US Ambassador Robert Wood said at the UN on Monday. It is not the first time Russia has launched a counter space weapon, which is designed to incapacitate or destroy satellites. But the last time it did so was in 2022, said Wood, who serves as the US alternative representative for Special Political Affairs at the UN. The launch comes at a time the US and its allies are increasingly concerned about Russias efforts to develop a nuclear space weapon capable of destroying commercial and government satellites. On May 16, Russia launched a satellite into low Earth orbit that the United States assesses is likely a counterspace weapon presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit, Wood said in remarks before a vote on a UN Security Council resolution drafted by Russia on outer space security. Russia deployed this new counterspace weapon into the same orbit as a US government satellite. Wood added that the May 16 launch follows prior Russian satellite launches likely of counterspace systems to low Earth orbit in 2019 and 2022. Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said on Tuesday that US assessments of the Russian satellite further indicate characteristics resembling previously deployed counterspace payloads, from 2019 and 2022. The ambassador called the launch troubling, and said it undermines Russias claims that it is seeking outer space security. A US official separately told CNN that the US had been expecting the launch for at least several weeks, and North American Aerospace Defense Command and US Northern Command tracked it as it happened, according to a defense official. Russia issued at least 2 NOTAMs Notices to Airmen that became active on May 16 indicating a possible space launch. One was for the launch itself and the other was for the re-entry of a Russian space launch booster off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. The good news is that the NOTAM is the responsible, normal way for nations to support safe air and maritime activities, the defense official said. The US and its allies have been working to deter Russia from developing a nuclear space weapon, CNN previously reported. If deployed, such a weapon could destroy satellites by creating a massive energy wave when detonated, potentially crippling a vast swath of the commercial and government satellites that the world below depends on to talk on cell phones, pay bills, and surf the internet. In April, the US and Japan jointly introduced a UN Security Council resolution that called for UN member states not to develop space-based nuclear weapons, but Russia vetoed against it something the US saw as a sign that it is indeed pursuing a nuclear space-based weapon. As we have noted previously, the United States assesses that Russia is developing a new satellite carrying a nuclear device, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement on April 24. We have heard President Putin say publicly that Russia has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space. If that were the case, Russia would not have vetoed this resolution. The Russian weapon is still under development and is not yet in orbit, Biden administration officials have emphasized publicly. But if used, officials say, it would cross a dangerous Rubicon in the history of nuclear weapons. Russia introduced its own rival resolution earlier this month, calling for the prohibition for all time on the placement of weapons in our space. But the US vetoed it on Monday because it does not achieve the simple task that we set out to achieve several months ago: reaffirm the basic obligations of the Outer Space Treaty and avoid a nuclear arms race in space, Wood said. The US ambassador took particular issue with the resolutions call for a binding mechanism to ban any space-based weapons, saying such a ban cannot be verified and that the resolution was an attempt by Russia to distract global attention from its development of a new satellite carrying a nuclear device. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com US Census: More people moving to Greeley than any other large Colorado city DENVER (KDVR) Based on a new report, more people are choosing to live in one Colorado city than any other large spot in the state and its not Denver. The United States Census released a new report of population shifts from around the country between 2022 to 2023. The study took the population from 15 of the largest incorporated areas in each state to determine who was moving where. Study: Where Coloradans moved to in 2023 Within Colorado, the report shows that many people are choosing to move to other places across the Front Range rather than well-known cities like Denver and Boulder. More people moving to these Colorado cities Based on the report, more people are choosing to live in Greeley over the Mile High City. Here are the population numbers: City July 1, 2022 July 1, 2023 Percent difference Arvada 121,430 121,414 Zero Aurora 393,794 395,052 0.3 Boulder 105,620 105,898 0.3 Castle Rock 80,149 81,415 1.6 Centennial 105,944 106,883 0.9 Colorado Springs 486,304 488,664 0.5 Denver 713,453 716,577 0.4 Fort Collins 170,114 170,376 0.2 Greeley 109,245 112,609 3.1 Lakewood 156,001 155,961 Zero Longmont 98,809 98,630 -0.2 Loveland 77,858 79,352 1.9 Pueblo 111,418 111,077 -0.3 Thornton 143,247 144,922 1.2 Westminster 114,771 114,875 0.1 While the Census doesnt determine if the population is coming from outside the state or from Coloradans moving to a different area, a few areas are more popular than others. People are leaving areas like Longmont and Pueblo and more people are heading to Greeley, Loveland and Castle Rock. In the last year, over 3,000 people moved to Greeley, while other areas like Arvada and Lakewood stayed the same in terms of population. In total, the population for large cities in Colorado went up by 0.6%, which is on the low end compared to most states. Places like Texas and Florida increased its population by 1.6%. However, people are still choosing to live in Colorado rather than other states like Hawaii and California, which more people moved out of last year. 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 FOX31 Denver. US cow-derived H5N1 virus flown to Porton Down under strict security for UK testing Virus extracted from sick cattle in the US has been shipped to three secure UK laboratories - Charlie Litchfield/AP A new unit set up to tackle H5N1 is testing imported samples of the virus at the high-security laboratories at Porton Down, in a race to understand if it poses a substantial risk to British livestock. Virus extracted from sick cattle in the US has been shipped to three secure UK laboratories in Porton Down, London and Weybridge, Prof Ashley Banyard of the Animal Plant and Health Agency (APHA) told The Telegraph. The task force is trying to determine whether the outbreak of H5N1 in America, which has so far been linked to outbreaks in 49 dairy herds across nine states, is a one-off spillover event, or if the virus has adapted to replicate in cattle which means it could impact UK livestock. An outbreak in the UK could have a significant impact on the dairy industry as it already has in the US. It would also increase the risk of the virus jumping to humans, either through contact with agricultural workers or via food products like meat and dairy. In the US at least one farm worker has been infected and several species of mammals including farm cats, wild possums and foxes. The occurrence of events in America has led to us taking preparatory measures and a more watchful eye, said Prof Banyard. Samples have been shared with our very high containment secure labs, and were having a look to understand if there is genuinely something different about this clade of virus. America's H5N1 outbreak has so far been linked to 49 dairy herds across nine states - ADAM DAVIS/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock APHA is also working to develop new diagnostic tests that can detect H5N1 in milk, which is where the highest viral load has been found in sick US cows. Existing tests in the UK are designed to identify the virus in respiratory samples like nasal and throat swabs. Were doing this so that if something did happen and I dont think it will then we could diagnose [H5N1] quickly, said Prof Banyard. Despite these measures, the government is still not testing British cattle for the highly pathogenic avian flu, which has killed millions of birds and animals since it started circulating in 2020, a decision which has been criticised by scientists as short-sighted. The Department for Food, Environment, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has insisted that there is no reason to suspect the virus is circulating in British cattle, yet scientists say that they are unlikely to find something they are not testing for. Prof Banyard admitted much of the work undertaken by the government unit is reactive. This reminds me a lot of how we handled Covid-19 from the beginning, said Dr Krutika Kuppalli, a spokesperson for the Infectious Disease Society of America and former WHO medical officer. When Covid was in China, it was hard for other governments to fathom it could reach their countries but it did. If you wait until reports of sick cows you are going to be behind the ball, stressed Dr Kuppalli. DEFRAs involvement in particular has raised concerns among some experts because its principal role is to promote British farm produce. The agency lobbied to stop the press calling the 2008 H1N1 pandemic Swine Flu because pigs are not to blame and it presided over the salmonella and BSE scandals of the 1990s, the latter of which killed 176 people. The financial implications for the agriculture industry are important and should be taken into account, but surveillance and early detection not only help to contain an outbreak but prevent less economic peril in the long-term, said Dr Kuppalli. Prof Banyard said part of the reason the UK isnt yet testing for H5N1 in cows is that there have been no clinical signs of illness in the animals reported to authorities. Cows who have become sick with H5N1 in the US have been found to produce around 10-20 per cent less milk than normal, which would be an indication that they have the virus. Since there has been no mysterious milk loss reported to DEFRA or APHA, the agencies dont deem it necessary to start testing, and as such they are pretty confident we dont have the virus in [UK] cattle, said Prof Banyard. Scientists have pointed out that this argument is not foolproof, however. This virus has continued to surprise us we are still learning and dont know if its spreading in asymptomatic cows, thus the prudent approach would be to be proactive and test to confirm there are no cases, said Dr Kuppalli. We know the virus can spread from infected birds to cattle its a question of when not if and they should be testing cattle, added Prof Devi Sridhar, a global public health expert at the University of Edinburgh and former scientific adviser to the Scottish government on Covid-19. Although it is still unclear how the virus first jumped to cattle, US health authorities think the most likely route of infection is via H5N1-positive wild birds thousands of which have been detected in the UK over the last three years. Prof Banyard conceded that it was possible that infected birds could act as a route of transmission to cows in Britain. If you had a dead duck in a water trough that then leached virus, and cows drank it directly, then yes its possible but weve got no evidence of any cattle showing clinical signs of disease, he said. How can they be sure? The UK government cant say for certain that the cows dont have H5N1, because they could be asymptomatic, stressed Dr Kuppalli. So far this year, there have been two confirmed cases of H5N1 in humans. In Vietnam, a man died in March after direct contact with an infected bird, whilst in Texas a farm worker caught the virus from sick cattle although his symptoms were mild. The US Centre for Disease Control is monitoring a further 300 people who have been exposed to the virus via cattle for signs of infection. The WHO considers the risk to humans low but urged countries to rapidly share information to enable real-time monitoring of the situation to ensure preparedness as the virus continues to spread. Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security 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. US Department of State says it fundamentally wants Ukraine to win war against Russia The US "fundamentally" wants Ukraine to win the war against Russia, said Matthew Miller, the spokesperson for the US Department of State, during a briefing. Source: European Pravda with reference to Matthew Miller Quote: "We fundamentally want to see Ukraine win this war and have made that clear, including, I think, by providing them with billions of dollars in security assistance." Details: Miller also reiterated the statement of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken where he spoke about the strategic defeat that Russia "has brought on self" by launching the war. "I think our position on who we want to see win this war and who we want to see lose it has been pretty clear for more than two years now," Miller concluded. Background: The US expressed its expectation that Kyiv will use the weapons it was given to hit targets inside of Ukraine. Earlier, Victoria Nuland, former US Deputy Secretary of State, whose career was connected with Ukraine and Russia, expressed her belief that Kyiv has the right to strike military targets on Russian territory and that Washington and its allies should help it do so. The Wall Street Journal reported that Ukraine had asked the Biden administration to help identify targets in Russia that Kyiv could strike with its own weapons, and separately asked to lift restrictions on the use of US-provided weapons against military targets in Russia. Support UP or become our patron! President of Xinhua News Agency Fu Hua meets with British Ambassador to China Caroline Wilson in Beijing, capital of China, May 21, 2024. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen) BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- President of Xinhua News Agency Fu Hua met with British Ambassador to China Caroline Wilson in Beijing on Tuesday. Fu said Xinhua attaches great importance to its coverage of the United Kingdom and maintains effective cooperation with multiple British media outlets. He said Xinhua hopes to enhance friendly exchanges with the British media, expand communication on such issues as artificial intelligence, empower high-quality development with science and technology, and contribute to the development of China-UK relations. Wilson said it is necessary for news media to strengthen the discussion on the topic of artificial intelligence. She expressed the hope for more comprehensive and in-depth reports on China by the British media to help British audiences better understand China. During her time at the Xinhua News Agency headquarters, Wilson also spoke with editors and reporters. Transport for London (TfL) has published a list of outstanding congestion charge debt from the worlds embassies - with the US topping the ranks. US diplomated have racked up more than 14 million worth of debt since 2003 in a dramatic comparison to Togo, who owe just 40. TfL published the list on Monday and said some stubborn embassies are refusing to pay the charges. They added that thety are pushing for the matter to be taken up at the International Court of Justice and said: We and the UK Government are clear that the Congestion Charge is a charge for a service and not a tax. This means that diplomats are not exempt from paying it. The US Embassy in Nine Elms (Google Maps) The majority of embassies in London do pay the charge, but there remains a stubborn minority who refuse to do so, despite our representations through diplomatic channels. We will continue to pursue all unpaid Congestion Charge fees and related penalty charge notices The Japanese embassy has the second highest debt at 10.1 million, followed by the high commission of India at 8.6 million. Among all embassies, the total is 143.5 million with India (8.6m) Nigeria (8.4m) and China (7.9m) coming in next on the list. Meanwhile, Togo diplomats owe the least to TfL with just 40 outstanding on their record. People took to social media users to express their surprise at the list. One wrote: By my count, there are only 40 countries out of all the 193 countries in the world which *dont* owe TfL money in unpaid congestion charges. Some even took it upon themseleves to pay off some of the debt. One Costa Rican residing in London said he would personally like to pay for the 160 worth of congestion charges racked up in the last two decades by his fellow Costa Ricans working in the embassy. The figures relate to unpaid fees and fines accrued by diplomats between the launch of the congestion charge in 2003 and the end of last year. Diplomats argue the congestion charge is a tax, meaning they are exempt from paying it under the Vienna Convention. In February 2020, then-foreign secretary Dominic Raab issued a written ministerial statement revealing that his officials have written to a number of diplomatic missions and international organisations to press for payment of money owed relating to the congestion charge, parking fines and business rates. The scheme involves a 15 daily fee for driving within an area of central London between 7am and 6pm on weekdays, and between noon and 6pm on weekends and bank holidays. There are discounts and exemptions for various groups of people and vehicles, such as residents, taxis and fully electric cars. The Independent has approached the US and Japanese embassy for a comment. Title icon The News The US and European Union offered condolences to the Iranian government following the deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister in a helicopter crash in a mountainous region of northwest Iran on Sunday, sparking criticism from human rights activists. This outreach from Washington and Brussels on Monday offered a clear sign of the Wests desire to maintain a diplomatic line to Tehran at a time of enormous instability in the Middle East. US and European officials have been holding discussions with Iranian counterparts in recent weeks to try and prevent the war between Israel and Hamas from spreading further across the region. Iran and its proxies have backed Hamas in its battle both through direct attacks on Israel and strikes on US military interests in Syria, Iraq, Jordan and the Persian Gulf. US and European officials told Semafor that theyre also eager to keep a line open to Iran at a time of enormous political change in the oil-rich country. Raisi had been a leading candidate to replace Irans paramount ruler, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whos 85 and suffering from cancer. Raisis death is expected to unleash enormous political infighting in Tehran, both over who will replace him as president and also who will be positioned to become the next supreme leader. The United States expresses its official condolences for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, and other members of their delegation in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran, the State Department said in a statement released Monday. As Iran selects a new president, we reaffirm our support for the Iranian people and their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms. White House national security spokesman, John Kirby, added on Monday, in reference to Raisi: No question, this was a man who had a lot of blood on his hands. That said, as we would in any other case, we certainly regret, in general, the loss of life and offered official condolences as appropriate. The EU said in its statement that it expresses its sympathies to the families of all the victims and to the Iranian citizens affected. A number of prominent Iranian human rights activists criticized the Biden administration and EU for offering condolences for a man widely accused of exacting massive human rights abuses over the past four decades, in which the 63-year-old held a number of senior posts. The late president was known by his critics as the Butcher of Tehran for his role in helping the Islamic Republic execute thousands of its political opponents in a bloody purge in the late 1980s. Raisi also oversaw a harsh crackdown on protests sparked by the 2022 killing in custody of a young Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, who was accused of violating the countrys stringent law that requires all women to wear Islamic headscarves. Ebrahim Raisis legacy is 4 decades of death and atrocities, at home and abroad, the actress and human rights activist, Nazanin Boniadi, tweeted on Monday in response to the EUs statement of condolence. You are on the wrong side of history. A second US-based activist, Masih Alinejad, wrote: Your sympathy and condolences are a slap in the face to us, the Iranian women who faced the brutality of Raisi and his regime. Title icon The View From Iran Supreme Leader Khamenei announced on Monday that Raisis deputy, First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, would serve as caretaker until new presidential elections can be held in late June. Tehrans chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, will serve as acting foreign minister. Khamenei also announced a five-day mourning period. But the Iranian government didnt specify what caused Raisis helicopter to go down. State officials had said on Sunday that the mountainous region near the Azerbaijan border where the president and his entourage disappeared was enveloped in fog from a storm front. And the presidents Bell helicopter was from an aging American-made fleet that dates back to the 1970s when Irans last monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, served as the USs closest military ally in the Middle East. Iranian officials didnt suggest foul play or an attempt by a foreign actor, such as Israel, to assassinate Irans leadership. But there were still signals from Tehran that it was going to cast blame on the US for Raisis death. Irans former foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said on Iranian state television Monday that American sanctions prevented his country from getting the right parts for the Bell helicopters. One of the culprits behind yesterdays tragedy is the United States, because of its sanctions that bar Iran from procuring essential aviation parts, Zarif said. Title icon Jays view The deaths of Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian are unlikely to cause any major shifts in Irans regional or nuclear policies or orientation to the West in the near term. But Raisis exit from the race for Supreme Leader could prove destabilizing for Iran as the time to announce Khameneis successor draws closer. And this could place Irans elite military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in an even larger political role going forward. Iran-watchers had pegged Raisi and Khameneis 55-year-old son, Mojtaba, as the front-runners to become Irans next paramount ruler. Both are Shiite-Muslim clerics that were groomed by Khamenei to play prominent roles inside Tehrans revolutionary and theocratic system. Both men are also seen as close to the IRGC, which reports directly to Khamenei and is independent from Irans traditional armed forces. But many Iran experts have voiced skepticism that Irans clerical and military class would accept Mojtaba Khameneis selection, as it would amount to essentially a dynastic succession. The country was established through the toppling of the Shah and in opposition to monarchical rule. Raisi, while despised by many in Irans civilian population, still would have marked a clean break from Khamenei. The Islamic Republic traditionally historically does not have dynastic successions, said Ray Takeyh of the Council of Foreign Relations. Any upheaval in the succession process, though, could allow the IRGC to step into a power vacuum. Some Iran watchers believe Khamenei could be the countrys last, long-serving supreme leader. And the country could become more of a military dictatorship than a theocracy in the coming decades. Title icon Notable The Trump administration in 2019 sanctioned both Ebrahim Raisi and Mojtaba Khamenei for allegedly supporting Irans domestic and international terrorism. Semafor Logo US lawmakers urge Pentagon to permit Ukraine's use of US-supplied weapons to strike targets in Russia A bipartisan group of U.S. members of Congress wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on May 20, urging the Pentagon to permit Ukraine to strike Russian territory with U.S.-supplied weapons. U.S. officials have repeatedly said that they do not support or encourage Kyiv's strikes with American weapons deep inside Russia, while Ukrainian officials are reportedly trying to convince Washington to lift this ban. Ukraine recently said that Washington's ban meant Ukraine was unable to attack Russian forces as they were building up before crossing the border into Kharkiv Oblast in the renewed Russian offensive that began earlier in May. The letter, which was signed by Congressman Mike Turner, the head of the House Intelligence Committee, and 12 other representatives from both parties, asked the Pentagon to allow Ukraine to "use certain weapons provided by the U.S. to conduct operations on strategic targets inside Russian and Russian-controlled territory." "Ukrainians have been unable to defend themselves due to the (Biden) Administration's current policy. It is essential the Biden Administration allows Ukraine's military leaders an ability to conduct a full spectrum of operations necessary to respond to Russias unprovoked attack on their sovereign land," the letter continued. The sentiment was recently echoed by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, who said that the U.S. restriction on using long-range ATACMS missiles inside Russia was a "mistake." The representatives also requested that the U.S. help train more Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets and provide more air defense, namely "upwards of seven additional Patriot batteries." President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier in May that Ukraine could prevent the occupation of Kharkiv with just two more Patriot batteries. Read also: Every Western decision is late by a year, says Zelensky Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. (Bloomberg) -- The Biden administration is putting its cache of 1 million barrels of gasoline on the market, after being ordered to liquidate the reserve by Congress. Most Read from Bloomberg The sale of the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve, equal to 42 million gallons, was announced Tuesday by the Energy Department, which said it was timed to help lower gasoline prices during the summer driving season. Gasoline futures hit a fresh session low of $2.4895 a gallon after the news. The reserve was authorized in 2014, two years after Hurricane Sandy damaged refineries and left terminals underwater leading some gas stations in New York to go without fuel for as long as 30 days. But the cache, kept in commercial storage terminals in Maine and New Jersey, has never been used, according to a 2022 Government Accountability Office report. Retail gasoline prices are up about 15% this year, and experts have warned that costs could keep climbing during the busy summer travel season. Read More: Biden Gas-Price Calculus Gets Trickier on Iran Sanction Pressure By strategically releasing this reserve in between Memorial Day and July 4th, we are ensuring sufficient supply flows to the tri-state and northeast at a time hardworking Americans need it the most, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement. The product reserves cost about $13 per barrel on an annual basis for operations and maintenance, compared with roughly 30 cents a barrel for crude oil stored in the Energy Departments Strategic Petroleum Reserve, according to the 2022 report. Read More: Congress Set to Sell East Coasts 1 Million Barrel Gas Cache Congress ordered the sale of the reserve in a government funding bill that became law in March. Bids for the solicitation are due by 11:00 a.m. Central Time on May 28. The fuel will be transferred or delivered no later than June 30, the Energy Department said. While the Biden administration said the move would lower prices at the pump, analysts have said 1 million barrels is unlikely to make a significant difference in the East Coast region which burned through more than 3 million barrels a day of gasoline last June. (Adds market reaction in second paragraph, comment from energy secretary in fifth.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. The University of Texas Faculty Council has formally condemned President Jay Hartzell's terminations and demotions last month of more than 60 former diversity, equity and inclusion employees as well as the closing of the Division of Campus and Community Engagement, and it called on the school's chief to reverse those decisions. "The faculty offer our strongest support to those individuals whose jobs and lives were disrupted by these events and urge the University to provide them with all possible support," the Faculty Council said in a resolution it approved Monday. On April 2, UT laid off dozens of employees who had served in DEI-related positions before Jan. 1, when Senate Bill 17, which bans DEI offices and initiatives at all Texas public universities and colleges, went into effect. Hartzell announced April 2 a reorganization to streamline services after SB 17 that would result in the closure of the Division of Campus and Community Engagement formerly the Division of Diversity and Campus Engagement and the elimination of a "small number" of staff positions. Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP, speaks at a pro-diversity, equity and inclusion rally April 29 at the University of Texas. The UT Faculty Council has formally condemned President Jay Hartzell's terminations and demotions last month of more than 60 former DEI employees. The Faculty Council's resolution states that the staff positions and campus division had been adapted to fully comply with the state's anti-DEI law, and that Hartzell's decisions were done "without consultation of Faculty Council Leadership or other faculty leaders, in violation of shared governance practices, and without due process." Hartzell, who did not speak publicly about the terminations until a Faculty Council meeting April 15, said at that meeting that he laid off 49 people and demoted eight associate deans two weeks earlier after restructuring student services. He also cited political pressure from state lawmakers to further comply with the law. Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, who wrote the anti-DEI law, warned university system chancellors and regents in a March 26 letter that lawmakers can take legal action and even freeze state funding if the schools do not comply with the law. Hartzell said at the April 15 meeting that he believed UT was compliant with SB 17 by Jan. 1, and that all staff members who were terminated were welcome to apply to open positions at UT and that they'd receive hiring preference. More: Texas Senate panel holds hearing on DEI, antisemitism. What UT chancellor said of protests UT spokesperson Mike Rosen told the American-Statesman in an email Tuesday that the faculty's recommendation was not required for the president's decisions, and that the university has been clear about the reason for its actions. Stacey Sowards, a Department of Communication Studies professor who is the Faculty Council representative for the Moody College of Communication and co-author of the resolution, said SB 17 is also affecting job and student recruitment. "We really hope that it will bring to the attention of the UT-Austin president that we are concerned about these issues and that there are these negative repercussions and that things that he's taking action on are not going unnoticed," Sowards said. "A lot of faculty and students oppose some of those responses that the university have been taking." Aside from reinstating the laid off workers, the council's resolution calls for reopening the Division of Campus and Community Engagement "so that it can continue to provide vital and lawful services to all of the students," or create a task force with faculty members and students to decide how to restore student services and resources. Previous response to protests At a special meeting May 8, the Faculty Council passed a resolution asking the university for more transparency about the strong police response to pro-Palestinian protests on campus. It also called on UT to provide public criteria for when state troopers would be called for on-campus protests, and to provide amnesty to UT community members involved in protesting. It said the university "appears to have erred" in striking a balance between committing to free speech and the safety of the community, and UT must prevent errors in the future. The council did not pass a separate resolution, which was presented May 7, that condemned the police response to the April 24 protest, in which 57 people were arrested, and called it "an unwarranted assault on this right to peaceful protest." All the April 24 protesters had their criminal trespass charges dismissed. More: UT graduates describe 'hectic' end to year after pro-Palestinian protests, DEI ban What do the resolutions aim to do? After the April 24 pro-Palestinian protest, more than 500 faculty members signed a letter of no confidence in Hartzell, condemning the police response at the demonstration and the April 2 terminations. Niveen Abi Ghannam, a lecturer in technical communications in the Cockrell School of Engineering who is on the Faculty Council and authored the resolutions, said they were crafted after the letter of no confidence to address faculty members' concerns. She said both the protests and SB 17 effects have contributed to insecurity on campus. "We also see this overwhelming worry about all the changes," Abi Ghannam said. "Like is this the beginning of UT changing its heart?" After the April 24 protest, members of the Faculty Council's Executive Committee met with Hartzell and UT's provost about concerns regarding the police response to the demonstration. This meeting happened before the council considered a protest-related resolution. At the council's Monday meeting, Hartzell addressed the communication concerns about the protest in opening remarks to the Faculty Council on Zoom. "I want you to know that I hear you," Hartzell said, adding that his goal is to always act in the "best interests" of students and the university, but that he will learn from the experience. He added that the university fully supports free speech. The council passed the resolution condemning the terminations after Hartzell's remarks Monday, and Rosen said Hartzell would not be made available for an interview with the Statesman afterward. Abi Ghannam said people "lost a safe space" when the Division of Campus and Community Engagement closed, and she hopes the council's resolution is taken seriously by UT leadership to protect against future actions and repair the damage that has been done. "I do believe that there is a sense that they want to listen," she said. "And hopefully the resolutions that we pass through the Faculty Council impact the extent to which they are making decisions in ways that may not be serving the faculty and students." This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: UT Faculty Council pass resolution condemning former DEI terminations HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) A new partnership between the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) will increase primary health care access for Virginia Veterans. Through this agreement, veterans will be able to receive care at the Langley VA Clinic on Joint Base Langley-Eustis. According to the Department of Veteran Affairs, this is part of VAs comprehensive effort to expand access and bring new Veterans to the VA. Virginia is one of the fastest growing Veteran populations in the United States, said VA Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal, M.D. At a time when Veterans are signing up for VA care and using VA care at record rates, collaborations like this are critical. By partnering with DOD, we can ensure that health care is accessible and convenient for the Veterans we serve. The clinic has the capacity to serve up to 10,000 veteran patients. It will provide outpatient primary care services, including annual check-ups and screenings, chronic and acute illness management, mental health assistance, nutrition counseling, womens health care, and lab tests. Our DOD-VA partnership underscores our joint dedication to seamless care for service members and families, said Assistant Secretary, Defense for Health Affairs Lester Martinez-Lopez, M.D. We aim for enhanced collaboration and innovation to elevate patient care standards and readiness, leveraging resources for a consistent system throughout their service and beyond. The partnership is the first of its kind in Virginia and one of the 177 VA-DOD partnerships across the country. For more information on VA health care for Veterans in Virginia, visit Hampton VA Health Care System. 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 WAVY.com. Cardinal Gerald Lacroix, Archbishop of Quebec, takes part in a meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - An investigation ordered by Pope Francis has cleared Canadian Cardinal Gerald Lacroix of wrongdoing after he was named in a class-action lawsuit that alleged sexual assault, the Vatican said on Tuesday. The pope had asked retired Canadian judge Andre Denis to look into the allegations which were included in the lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Quebec. The vatican said in a statement that the judge did not "identify any actions that amount to misconduct or abuse" on the part of the cardinal. "Consequently, no further canonical procedure is foreseen." Lacroix, who is a member of the Pope's advisory council of cardinals, stepped down temporarily in January after it emerged that his name had been added to a list of alleged perpetrators filed in a Quebec court. He has also denied any wrongdoing. The lawsuit represents almost 150 people who said they had been sexually assaulted by 88 priests and staff working at the Quebec diocese starting in 1940. The suit includes the names of priests who served in the diocese and at educational institutions, including the Quebec seminary. Most of those named are dead. (Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Peter Graff) Shangai Bishop Joseph Shen Bin, left, talks with Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin during an international conference to celebrate "100 years since the Concilium Sinense: between history and the present" celebrating the First Council of the Catholic Church in China, organized by the Pontifical Urbaniana University, in Rome, Italy, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) ROME (AP) The Vatican made another big overture to China on Tuesday, reaffirming the Catholic Church poses no threat to Beijing's sovereignty and admitting that Western missionaries had made errors in past centuries in their zeal to convert the Chinese faithful. The Vatican hosted the head of China's bishops conference for an unprecedented, high-level commemoration of a landmark 1924 meeting in Shanghai that affirmed the need for foreign missionaries in China to give way to local church leaders. The presence of Shanghai Bishop Joseph Shen Bin alongside the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, at the Pontifical Urbaniana University was in itself noteworthy. It marked the first time in memory that a mainland bishop has been allowed by Beijing to participate in a public Vatican event as the keynote speaker. It was also significant given the controversy over Shens 2023 appointment. Pope Francis in July was forced to recognize Chinas unilateral appointment of Shen as bishop of Shanghai. The appointment seemingly violated the Holy Sees 2018 accord with Beijing over bishop appointments. Francis opened the conference with a video message in which he made no mention of recent troubles but instead pointed to the 1924 meeting in Shanghai as a turning point for Vatican-China relations. The first and only Chinese church council, he said, recognized that the church in China must increasingly have a Chinese face. But the Council of Shanghai did not only serve to forget the erroneous approaches that had prevailed in previous times, Francis said. The participants of the first Chinese Council looked to the future. And their future is our present. It was a reference to the French, Italian and other Western missionary religious orders that evangelized China over the centuries but refused to cede leadership authority to local Chinese clergy. Their attitudes helped fuel the anti-Western and anti-Christian sentiment behind the Boxer Rebellion, which aimed to rid China of foreign influences. Shen in his remarks referred to the superior" attitude of those Western missionaries and their work to protect foreign powers through unequal treaties that China signed with various European nations over the centuries. Speaking through an interpreter, Shen said the Catholic Church today must have a Chinese point of view, respect Chinese culture and develop alongside Chinese society. He also noted that the pope has underlined that being a good Christian is an integral part of being a good citizen. The Vatican has been working for years to try to improve relations with China that were officially severed over seven decades ago when the Communists came to power. The aim is to unite the countrys estimated 12 million Catholics, who were divided into an official, state-recognized church and an underground church that stayed loyal to Rome. Relations had long been stymied over Chinas insistence on its exclusive right to name bishops as a matter of national sovereignty, while the Vatican insisted on the popes exclusive right to name the successors of the original Apostles. The 2018 deal sought to find a middle ground, though the Vatican has flagged repeated violations and Rome has acknowledged it was a bad deal but the only one it could get. It was signed at a time when China was tightening controls on all religions, especially Christianity and Islam, which are viewed as foreign imports and potential challengers to Communist authority. Tuesdays conference provided a venue for the Holy See to publicly admit to certain errors of the past, reaffirm its respect for a fully Chinese Catholic Church and insist that the Vatican poses no threat to it. The Vatican secretary of state, Parolin, who played a big role in the 2018 deal, recalled in his remarks that it is the universal role of the papacy that guarantees that the Catholic faith is not piloted by one particular nation or another. The communion between the papacy and local churches, he said, is the best guarantee of a faith that is subtracted from foreign political interests and is rooted firmly in the local culture and society. Obedience to the pope not only doesnt harm the love that one owes ones country, but purifies it and renews it, he added. The Pentagon in March put a price tag on Russias invasion of Ukraine. Speaking in the officers club at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin read a list of costs the Kremlin had tallied over two years: More than 315,000 troops killed or wounded. Over $211 billion spent. Some 20 medium or large ships damaged or sunk in the Black Sea. Russia has paid a staggering cost for [Russian President Vladimir] Putins imperial dreams, Austin said, speaking before a meeting of countries that gather each month in support of Ukraine. By April, though, Austins tone had changed. At a news conference, Austin and Gen. CQ Brown, Americas top military officer, again detailed Russias losses. But they added another trend: Russias recovery. Russia has ramped up its production, Austin said. All of their defense industry really answers directly to the state, so its easier for them to do that a bit quicker. Brown put it more simply: Russia has aggressively reconstituted its military force. Coming a month apart, the two sets of comments show a distinct change in how the U.S. views Russias military. While American officials have long detailed the costs of Moscows invasion for its armed forces and its economy, in the last two months theyve started to acknowledge Russia is recovering faster than the U.S. expected. The pace matters for Ukraine and those supporting it in particular the U.S. government, which approved $48 billion more in Ukraine-related security aid this April. American officials say they expect that bill to sustain Kyiv for another year. But if Moscows recovery is a moving target, that could change. Indeed, if the Kremlin keeps rebuilding its forces faster than expected, it could present a longer-term and perhaps costlier problem for the NATO alliance. The U.S. governments National Defense Strategy calls Russia an acute threat, second to the pacing challenge of China. But Moscows own capacity may change that. They are doing better than we would have thought, a senior U.S. defense official told Defense News on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive intelligence. Three ways to rebuild When Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, things quickly fell apart. Enduring images of the first two months illustrated Russian frailty by showing rotting tires on armored vehicles and a convoy just outside of Kyiv that became a traffic jam. A satellite image shows the northern end of a convoy containing resupply vehicles southeast of Ivankiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 28, 2022. (Maxar Technologies) This prompted self-reflection in the West: If Russias military wasnt as powerful as defense planners had thought before the war, how quickly could it recover? Even scientific methods to measure an opposing military are inexact, partly because those easiest to measure, such as personnel and equipment, might not be the most important given factors like corruption and morale. But estimates for how long Russia would take to reconstitute mostly fell into the five- to 10-year range, depending on how Western sanctions worked and the Kremlins own goals. Theres no question and I think [theres] unanimity in the intelligence community it will take years for the Russians to build back up their ground forces, Avril Haines, the U.S. director of national intelligence, said in March 2023. Her comments came amid the annual churn of officials visiting Capitol Hill from winter to early spring. Around the same time this year, Gen. Christopher Cavoli, Americas top military officer in Europe, had a second opinion. The overall message I would give you is theyve grown back to what they were before, Cavoli said. Theyve got some gaps that have been produced by this war, but their overall capacity is very significant still. And they intend to make it go higher. To some extent, the officials were discussing different elements of Russias force. When Haines testified last year, she was joined by the chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency at the time, Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, who said Russia was five to 10 years away from reconstituting. By that, Berrier meant it would take Russia up to a decade to rebuild the high-end equipment lost earlier in the war. Cavoli, on the other hand, was discussing the overall size of Russias military. Still, European and American defense officials, along with experts on the Russian military, told Defense News the Kremlins force is reconstituting faster than expected. They gave three main reasons why. The first is the resilience of Moscows defense industry. During the war, Russia has almost tripled its defense budget, according to Richard Connolly, an expert on the countrys economy at the London-based Royal United Services Institute think tank. Russia is set to spend somewhere between $130 billion and $140 billion on defense in 2024, which is about 6% of gross domestic product and a third of the governments overall budget, Connolly approximated. But because costs and wages are lower in Russia than in high-income countries, like many in NATO, the Kremlins defense fund buys much more than it would in the United States. When that conversion is taken into account, Russias 2024 defense budget falls between $360 billion to $390 billion, Connolly estimated. The spending trend itself has raised salaries. Working in the defense industry was once a middling career in Russia; its now lucrative and attracting more workers. Based on official Russian figures, which Connolly noted may be inflated, the number of people working in the defense industry rose 20% during the war, from 2.5 million to about 3 million now. The funds have also gone toward procuring military hardware. Connolly estimates this share of the defense budget probably doubled during the war, helping Russia replace lost equipment. Connolly said he doubts the state of Russias economy will factor into how the war ends. Moscow has a cadre of policy wonks guiding its country through sanctions, he noted, and they have lots of practice doing so. In fact, Putin recently replaced a general at the helm of the Defence Ministry with an economist. Employees of a military vehicles repair factory renovate and repair T-34 tanks handed over by Laos to Russia in the latter's village of Strelna on Feb. 25, 2020. (Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images) The second reason is Russias ability to dodge financial penalties. In 2022, the Biden administration and European partners passed a raft of sanctions meant to sink the Russian economy. These ranged from banning the sale of high-tech materials, such as microchips, to a price cap on Russian oil sales. These havent worked, multiple analysts told Defense News. Thats in large part because Moscow has been able to reroute its supply lines through friendly countries. Chief among those partners is China. From 2022 to 2023, trade between Russia and China grew more than 26%, hitting an all-time high of $240 billion, according to a report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. Beijing largely avoided sending weapons directly. Instead, Chinese companies became a vital supplier of the items Russia needed to build weapons itself such as microchips and small electronics. This leads to the third point: Russias reconstitution has relied on surprising levels of support from other U.S. adversaries, who, unlike China, have directly provided military aid to Russia. Since October, North Korea has sent Russia about 10,000 shipping containers, which could include up to 3 million artillery rounds, according to U.S. government figures. Russia has fired dozens of North Korean ballistic missiles since last fall, an American diplomat told the U.N. in March. Iran has also provided materiel. Specifically, its sent a somewhat plodding attack drone known in Tehran as the Shahed-136 and in Moscow as the Geran-2. Russia has deployed swarms of these to overwhelm Ukraines air defenses, firing more than 3,700 Shahed drones, of which there are several variants, during the war as of December, according to the Ukrainian government. Photos of the remains of an Iranian Shahed-136 loitering munition in Kupyansk. It appears Russia has named them the Geran-2.https://t.co/HbuyXInJlT pic.twitter.com/6zXPI3tSDI Rob Lee (@RALee85) September 13, 2022 When Cavoli visited Capitol Hill in April, he came with his own list of numbers: Russias GDP grew 3% in 2023, despite predictions it would shrink. It can add 1,200 tanks and build at least 3 million artillery rounds or rockets each year. And through a deal with Iran, Russia plans to locally build 6,000 drones by next summer. A February report by the RUSI think tank, cited by the unnamed senior U.S. defense official, who declined to offer a full set of American figures, said Russia can produce 3,000 armored vehicles per year and had surged its inventory of precision missiles. Its force inside Ukraine has also grown. Last year, Russia increased the age limit for the draft from 27 to 30, which the U.S. estimates will add a pool of 2 million eligible conscripts. And the Kremlin set a goal to recruit more than 400,000 troops part of a larger target to grow the military to 1.5 million service members by 2026. To do so, Russia offered lavish signing bonuses and salaries, which in some areas are more than five times the average paycheck, according to an Estonian intelligence report. Its unclear whether Moscow already met this goal. But Cavoli said in April that Russia was recruiting about 30,000 new soldiers per month and had surged its front-line end strength to 470,000, larger than the Russian army before the war. Is the military growth sustainable? In early May, Adm. Tony Radakin, the professional head of the U.K. armed forces, sat down with reporters in the British Embassy in Washington. Speaking over cookies and tea, he discussed Russias recent advances. The Russian military was making marginal progress, but still relying on Soviet-era inventories to restock and struggling to train its newest recruits, Radakin said. The force was on pace to suffer 500,000 casualties by the end of June, he estimated. That is an astonishing loss of life and Russian nationhood that has been wasted for such modest gains, he said. But a day after he spoke, Russia began a new offensive near Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city. Ukrainian servicemen fire a BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher toward Russian positions in the Kharkiv region on May 15, 2024. (Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty Images) Such attacks raise another question: How long can Russia sustain its operations? Aside from drones, much of its wartime output has relied on vast warehouses of Soviet-era weapons. To reconstitute materiel lost in battle, Russia is emptying these, repairing the equipment and then sending it all to the front lines one reason the estimates of Russias industrial capacity vary so widely. A lot of people are reading some headline figures and then assuming that its all new production, Connolly said. As an example, he pointed to main battle tanks. Before the war, he said, Russia was delivering about 150 to 250 a year. But of those, he assessed, about 20 to 30 would have been new, while the rest were heavily refurbished. So while Cavolis written testimony in April said Russia could make up to 1,200 tanks per year, Connolly estimated that, at a maximum, 400 of those are new or heavily refurbished. Everything else, he said, is pulled from storage, lightly repaired and then deployed. The RUSI report from February estimated about 80% of Russias wartime production was actually refurbished, aging materiel. Of course inventory becomes very important: What was that number to begin with, and what was the state of it? Connolly said. Truth is, nobody knows. European and American defense officials made the same point. Russia has vast stocks, but theyre not unlimited, which could be why it relies on partners like Iran, Belarus and North Korea. Russian President Vladimir Putin, center left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center right, visit the Vostochny Cosmodrome spaceport in Russia's region of Amur on Sept. 13, 2023. (Mikhail Metzel/AFP via Getty Images) When you are doing the reform and you are trying to enlarge your military, you are probably losing the quality, a defense official from a NATO member state told Defense News, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic. That said, the war in Ukraine has been more about attrition than precision, the official said. In other words, it may not matter much whether Russian soldiers are using a 50-year-old T-72 tank or a new one. The same questions of sustainability also apply to Ukraine, which has a smaller defense industry, an unreliable source of support in America, and less eligible soldiers. Earlier this year, Kyiv lowered the draft age from 27 to 25 to regenerate its armed forces. Sitting in the British Embassy, Radakin said it would probably take about a decade for Russia to seriously threaten NATO again. Despite Russias refreshed troop levels, its invasion of Ukraine will eventually collapse, though he would not guess at that timeline. I dont think it is sustainable, he said. But I dont know at which point it becomes unsustainable. A member of the Ancient and Honourable Hyack Anvil Battery fires one of 21 salutes during the Victoria Day Anvil Battery Salute at Queen's Park Stadium in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, on May 20, 2024. Anvil salute is an annual tradition in the city of New Westminster dating back to the 1860s on Victoria Day. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua) A member of the Ancient and Honourable Hyack Anvil Battery fires one of 21 salutes during the Victoria Day Anvil Battery Salute at Queen's Park Stadium in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, on May 20, 2024. Anvil salute is an annual tradition in the city of New Westminster dating back to the 1860s on Victoria Day. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua) Members of the Ancient and Honourable Hyack Anvil Battery put an anvil in place during the Victoria Day Anvil Battery Salute at Queen's Park Stadium in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, on May 20, 2024. Anvil salute is an annual tradition in the city of New Westminster dating back to the 1860s on Victoria Day. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua) Members of the Ancient and Honourable Hyack Anvil Battery burn coal for anvil firing during the Victoria Day Anvil Battery Salute at Queen's Park Stadium in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, on May 20, 2024. Anvil salute is an annual tradition in the city of New Westminster dating back to the 1860s on Victoria Day. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua) A member of the Ancient and Honourable Hyack Anvil Battery fires one of 21 salutes during the Victoria Day Anvil Battery Salute at Queen's Park Stadium in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, on May 20, 2024. Anvil salute is an annual tradition in the city of New Westminster dating back to the 1860s on Victoria Day. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua) A vehicle crashed into a UPMC hospital structure on Tuesday morning. It happened around 7:35 a.m. along Lothrop Street. An SUV crashed into the support pillar for the walking bridge between UPMC Presbyterian and Montefiore hospitals. Video captured by a Channel 11 photographer shows the SUV went over a sidewalk and through a fence before hitting the pillar. The driver, an elderly man who was on his way to an appointment at the hospital, had minor injuries. No structural damage was found to the pillar. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW TRENDING NOW: 39 PPS schools to learn remotely Tuesday, Wednesday due to high temperatures Graceland headed for foreclosure sale, but Elvis granddaughter sues, claiming fraud Red Lobster bankruptcy could impact gift cards, rewards points, Pennsylvania AG says VIDEO: Pittsburgh-area teen went into cardiac arrest after drinking Panera's charged lemonade: lawsuit DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts A Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension unit is pairing up agents with local law enforcement to focus on high-level violent crime, the agency announced Monday. The goals are to assist local agencies in finding and arresting people who are repeat offenders and have felony warrants, along with targeting guns that are flowing into our communities and then the related narcotics trafficking that is very much interrelated to the violent crime that we see, said BCA Superintendent Drew Evans. The Violent Crime Reduction Unit started in January and grew from an earlier effort called the Violence Crime Reduction Support Initiative. The BCA launched that initiative in April 2022 with a goal to assist some of our local partners that were coping with a spike in violent crime and staffing shortages, in particular the city of Minneapolis, Evans said. Between April 2022 and December 2023, while working with Minneapolis and St. Paul police, Hennepin County sheriffs office, the U.S. Attorneys Office and other law enforcement, the initiative made 1,384 arrests and confiscated 653 firearms, 145,070 fentanyl pills and 220 pounds of methamphetamine, according to the BCA. The BCA provided agents, analysts, crime scene personnel and scientists to assist with pursuing cases against repeat violent offenders who were engaged in shootings, violent crime, gun trafficking and related crimes, Evans said. New funding, new unit In last years legislative session, lawmakers provided one-time funding of $15 million for four years to reimburse local law enforcement agencies taking part in the new Violent Crime Reduction Unit, so they can backfill at their departments and arent short staffed. Ongoing costs will be about $12 million per year. When the BCA started the earlier initiative, they pulled agents and scientists from other really important work that were doing, including our homicide unit, some of our large-scale narcotics work that were doing, Evans said. This allows us now to fund the agents full time and then we can go back to that other work that we had to pause. The funding allows for a centralized location in Maplewood where the unit will work. About 30 people, including both officers and civilians, will work in the unit. The staff will include 14 BCA agents, two criminal intelligence analysts, two crime victim/witness coordinators and 11 taskforce officers from a dozen local law enforcement agencies, said Jake May, the BCA special agent in charge of the new unit who also led the previous initiative. The agencies that will have officers and deputies assigned include the Ramsey and Anoka County sheriffs offices and the Maplewood, Roseville, North St. Paul, Bloomington, Fridley, St. Louis Park, Columbia Heights, Crystal, Brooklyn Park and Robbinsdale police departments. Related Articles While St. Paul police are not part of the new unit, they work on the Ramsey County Violent Crime Enforcement Team and have their own investigators focusing on narcotics, gun crimes and shootings, according to a police spokesman. They also work together with other agencies. The Violent Crime Reduction Unit has a K-9, the BCAs first firearms-detection police dog thats trained to sniff out gunshot residue and often helps the team find crucial evidence, May said. We want the people out there the repeat offenders, the people who dont care who they hurt, who gets caught in the crossfire, or where their drugs end up to know that they are the ones we are targeting, that were going to come after them, May said. Intelligence-led approach The funding allowed the BCA laboratory to add two forensic scientists. Analysis of firearms and ballistics evidence, along with DNA testing to determine who handled guns, will provide answers more quickly to the people working in the VCRU, Evans said. The aim is an intelligence-led approach to identifying those individuals that are causing the most harm in our communities, in particular, those that are committing shootings and trafficking firearms, Evans said. The new unit, while working with local law enforcement, has made 112 arrests, confiscated 66 firearms and seized 2,700 fentanyl pills and more than nine pounds of methamphetamine and other drugs like cocaine and heroin since January. The numbers arent apples-to-apples comparisons of the work of the previous unit, and the new unit expects the tempo of its work will increase as they get established, train in local partner members and set up their new work space, according to the BCA. The goal is to get back to pre-2019 levels for crime, Evans said. Crime in Minnesota still remains elevated, even though were going in the right direction. Its still important that we now double down on those efforts to make sure that we really continue to concentrate on those relatively few number of people that are committing a lot of harm in our communities. The new unit may respond to an incident if its connected to a case they are working, but they dont respond to typical daily police calls, according to the BCA. The VCRU is primarily focused on the metro area because about 4 million of the states 5.7 million residents live in the Twin Cities area, but it is a statewide team. As they experience surges in Greater Minnesota this team will be available to assist them, Evans said. Related Articles (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) When the Virginia Clean Economy Act became law in 2020, solar advocates celebrated. In addition to creating a framework for a transition to a zero carbon electricity sector by 2050, the VCEA and sister legislation known as Solar Freedom swept away multiple barriers to installing solar in Virginia. Among the new provisions were some that strengthened net metering, the program that allows residents, businesses and local governments who install solar onsite to be credited for excess electricity they feed back to the grid. Currently, the law requires that customers of Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power be credited for the electricity they supply to the grid at the full retail rate for electricity. The credit is applied against the cost of the electricity they draw from the grid at night. The policy makes solar affordable and supports small businesses across Virginia. However, the VCEA came with a ticking time bomb. It provided that in 2024 for Appalachian Power, and 2025 for Dominion, the State Corporation Commission would hold proceedings to determine the fate of net metering, and in particular the terms for compensating new net metering customers. Well, its 2024, and the bomb just went off. On May 6, the SCC issued an order directing the two utilities to file their suggested changes. Appalachians proposal is due by September 2; Dominions is due by May 1, 2025. The SCC will establish a schedule for each case that will include provisions for the public and interested parties to participate. There are two important protections to note. First, low-income customers will have their choice of installing solar under either the existing rules or the new ones. Second, customers who install solar panels and interconnect to the grid before the SCC issues its final order will continue to be covered by the existing provisions for retail net metering. For anyone whos been on the fence about installing solar, I cant overstate the urgency of acting now. Nonprofits Solar United Neighbors and Solarize Virginia can help you get the best deal. Also check out the excellent advice and sample quotes from HR Climate Hub. Make no mistake, utilities hate net metering and will destroy it if they can. The more customers who install solar, the less control the utility can exercise over them and, even more critically, the less money the company makes for its shareholders from building new generation and transmission. Thats not what our utilities tell legislators and the SCC, though. Instead, they promote a narrative that net metering customers impose extra costs on other ratepayers, creating a cost shift. The idea is that residents who go solar are making everyone else pay more of the costs of the grid while they themselves rake in money with their free electricity from the sun. This argument has raged across the country for years. Utilities often argue that solar customers should be paid for their surplus electricity only the amount of money the utility would otherwise have had to spend to generate or buy that same amount of electricity from somewhere else. This avoided cost can be less than one-third of the retail rate for residential electricity. With a payback period of nine to 15 years in Virginia, residential solar is a reasonable investment with retail rate net metering, but its hardly a get-rich-quick scheme. Brandon Praileau, the Virginia program director for Solar United Neighbors, said in an email that lowering the net metering rate would eliminate the energy savings that homeowners see from solar today. It is the full retail 1:1 value of solar that allows solar to not be a boutique purchase that only fits a certain demographic but something that every homeowner can benefit from, he noted. Praileau added that the loss of net metering would also hit Virginias solar installers hard and lead to job losses, something I confirmed with industry members. Russ Edwards, president of Charlottesville-based Tiger Solar, says any devaluation of solar would have a significantly adverse impact on local companies like his that serve the residential market. But the cost shift argument doesnt actually depend on whether rooftop solar is affordable for customers or profitable for installers. The way utilities think about net metering, a homeowner could even lose money on solar and still be guilty of shifting the costs of maintaining the grid onto other customers. Net metering supporters counter that rooftop solar provides valuable benefits to the grid and to other customers that the utilities overlook, like relieving grid congestion and lessening the need for utility investments in new generation and transmission. Solar also has larger societal benefits like increased energy security, local resilience, clean air and carbon reduction. Over the years this dispute has spawned literally dozens of studies estimating the value of solar. A Michigan study found that rather than being subsidized by other ratepayers, residents who install solar actually subsidize their non-solar-owning neighbors. Closer to home, a Maryland study also concluded that distributed solar provided a value greater than the retail cost of energy. But every state is different. Californias public utility commission recently slashed the net metering rate all the way down to a so-called avoided cost, in part because the huge growth of solar in the state has led to a power glut in the middle of the day. The residential solar market cratered as a result of the PUCs action, with an estimated 17,000 jobs lost in the solar industry. Virginia does not have Californias problem. With only about 6.5% of our electricity generated by solar and the worlds largest energy storage facility in the form of Bath Countys pumped hydro plant, rooftop solar still helps Virginia utilities meet peak demand. We also face a skyrocketing demand for electricity from data centers, which militates in favor of all the clean energy we can generate. Ten years ago, Virginia set out to do a study on the value of solar, led by the Department of Environmental Quality. Unfortunately, our utilities pulled out when they didnt like what they were seeing, so the study never progressed beyond a framing of the issues. Since then, Dominion and APCo have often repeated the cost shift narrative but have never backed it up with evidence. Their efforts have had some effect with legislators, most recently with passage of a bill instructing the SCC to make all reasonable efforts to ensure that the net energy metering program does not result in unreasonable cost-shifting to nonparticipating electric utility customers. But of course, that simply begs the question of whether a cost shift is actually occurring. Under the VCEA, the SCC will now have to evaluate and establish the amount a net metering customer should pay for the cost of using the utilitys infrastructure, and the amount the utility should compensate the customer for the total benefits the customers solar panels provide. The SCC is also instructed to evaluate and establish the direct and indirect economic impact of net metering and consider any other information the Commission deems relevant. Presumably, this other information should include the states energy policy. The policy specifically supports distributed solar, including enhancing the ability of private property owners to generate their own renewable energy for their own personal use from renewable energy sources on their property. The SCC will now have to navigate these opposing positions in what are certain to be contentious proceedings. Meanwhile, residents and businesses would be well advised to get their solar panels up this year. The post Will Virginias residential solar market survive the coming year? appeared first on Virginia Mercury. Coming out like a Phoenix: Fani Willis wins Democratic primary for Fulton County DA Fani Willis has won the Democratic primary for Fulton County District Attorney against Christian Wise Smith. The AP projected Willis would win just after polls closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday night. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens spoke at Willis victory party Tuesday night around 8:30 p.m. We came out on the right side of history, Dickens said. The people said yes to Fani Wills everybody. Dickens praised the DA for putting her life and career on the line in prosecuting Former President Donald Trump. Shes been going through fire and coming out like a Phoenix, Dickens said. Willis delivered remarks shortly after Dickens, saying that the people of Fulton County delivered a strong and powerful message. There is no one above the law in this country, nor is there anyone beneath it, Willis said. Willis told her supporters that this victory is not the end of the road but the beginning. Were in this fight for the long haul, Willis said. RELATED NEWS: Earlier Tuesday, Channel 2s Richard Elliot asked Kennesaw State University political science professor Kerwin Swints take on this race. I think it cant help but be somewhat of a referendum, Swint said. He thinks Willis remains popular among the Democratic majority in Fulton County and that the controversies swirling around her office and her election interference case actually help her among the Democratic base. Its kind of strange. The way its working for Donald Trump on the Republican side, it may work for Fani Willis on the Democratic side in that Democratic voters of Fulton County may actually rally around her because shes under this kind of attack, Swint said. The Republican candidate in the race, Courtney Kramer, is running unopposed. Kramer will now go head-to-head with Willis in November. RELATED NEWS: Vice President Kamala Harris addresses the SEIU convention in Philadelphia May 21, 2024 (screen capture from White House video) PHILADELPHIA Vice President Kamala Harris returned to Pennsylvania on Tuesday, continuing the Biden-Harris campaigns focus on earning the support of labor unions. Harris delivered the keynote address to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) gathering at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Since your founding SEIU, you have been on the front lines of every major expansion of rights for the American people, Harris said. She spoke to the SEIU a day after the organization elected April Verrett its first Black woman president. Talk about a phenomenal woman and a powerful fighter for justice and fairness, Harris said of Verrett. I know firsthand that April is a leader who is always guided by an uncompromising focus on worker empowerment and their rights. Harris reiterated the Biden administrations defense of Affordable Care Act, which she said they want to strengthen. She blasted former President Donald Trumps unsuccessful efforts to repeal and replace the healthcare law while he was in office. And she touched on other familiar campaign talking points: noting the Biden administrations efforts to reduce prescription drug costs and to reduce student debt. We have already canceled nearly $160 billion in student loan debt for more than four and a half million Americans, she said. And, she vowed support for a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. Harris also called out the use of the phrase unified reich in a video Trump posted to social media and later deleted. This kind of rhetoric is unsurprising coming from the former president and it is appalling, Harris said. And weve got to tell him who we are. And once again it shows that our freedom and our very democracy are at stake. Steve Catanese, president of SEIU Local 668, told the Capital-Star that during the convention, attendees heard stories from members about ongoing efforts to form and join unions. He noted that the Biden administration had taken steps to reform the National Labor Relations Board. Harris reiterated the administrations support for the Protecting the Right to Organize, (PRO) Act on Tuesday which would amend the National Labor Relations Act to make it easier for workers to organize, and stiffen penalties against employers who violate it. At least hearing it from the audience, I think the biggest cheer really came up when she talked about making it easier to form and join a union, Catanese said after the vice presidents remarks. Competing chants from the audience of free Palestine and four more years broke out numerous times during Harriss 20-minute speech. There were a lot of workers up there that were clearly excited for the Biden-Harris campaign and chanting favorably about Kamala Harris, Catanese told the Capital-Star. There were workers that walked in and had protests in the back and I think their protests came from a place of moral stance of what they think is right. The SEIU passed a resolution on Monday during the convention calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, Catanese added. Many of the workers felt very strongly about that and wanted to express that, Catanese said. They have the right to express those opinions and our goal is to make sure that they had the freedom to express that and that the other workers who wanted to express their appreciation for the administration could do that as well. He added that workers within the SEIU respect each other. We live in a robust democracy and their voice should be respected. After departing the convention center, Harris made an unannounced stop at Jims West for a cheesesteak. She tried to order two cheesesteaks with provolone, according to pool reports, but was persuaded to try one with Whiz. She was joined at Jims by state Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia) and U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-2nd District). As she waited for her order, Harris was asked if enough aid was getting into Gaza. The President and I have been very clear that more aid needs to get into Gaza and that we have concerns, she replied. We have been obviously doing work to make sure that we can increase the opportunity and possibility of aid getting in, such as the construction of that dock. Harris was asked about the protests during her speech; she said that protesting was part of the tradition of this country. Trudeau: Canada number one export partner for Pennsylvania Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the convention a few hours after Harris, promoting his administrations record on working families and emphasizing the importance of the United States-Canada connection. SEIU members in Canada and the U.S. work together to make our communities stronger on both sides of the border, Trudeau said to applause. The relationship we share in this room is just like the relationship we share between our two countries. Unlike Harriss speech, there were no protests during Trudeaus address. Trudeau spoke with reporters following his 20-plus minute remarks, addressing the importance of trade between the two countries, specifically citing Pennsylvania, and how Canada could be affected by a second Trump term. Here in Pennsylvania, Canada is the number one export partner for the state, greater than the next four foreign destinations combined, Trudeau said. The links between the Canadian and American economy are so deep and indeed getting deeper over the past year. Our trade numbers reached higher levels than any time before. It is to the benefit of Americans and Canadians to continue to work well together regardless of whos in the White House, he said. Harris met with Trudeau to discuss U.S.-Canada cooperation on a range of bilateral, regional, and global issues, according to the vice presidents office. Trudeau was scheduled to meet with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Tuesday evening in Philadelphia. Union workers key to Biden campaign Courting union voters has been a constant for President Joe Biden during his career in elected office. Biden has made an annual Labor Day visit to Pennsylvania in recent years, speaking in the City of Brotherly Love last year on the holiday, touting his administrations commitment to union jobs. During his first 2024 stop in Pittsburgh last month, Biden thanked US Steelworkers for their support, calling himself a union guy from belt buckle to shoe sole. Tuesday was Harriss second visit to Pennsylvania this month, following an appearance in Montgomery County where she joined actress Sheryl Lee Ralph for a discussion on reproductive rights. Three of Harris four visits to Pennsylvania this year have been in the southeast, a densely populated region where Democrats rely on racking up big numbers to carry the states 19 electoral votes. Biden has made seven appearances in Pennsylvania so far this year, including a weeklong visit to three cities the week before the states primary election. Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, has visited Pennsylvania three times in 2024, speaking to gun rights supporters in Harrisburg and at a rally in the Lehigh Valley. His only visit to Philadelphia was in February, where he unveiled a new line of Trump-branded shoes at Sneaker Con. Trump also held a rally in Wildwood, New Jersey earlier this month, an event with plenty of Pennsyvlanians in attendance. Polling from AARP Pennsylvania and Muhlenberg College released earlier this month showed Trump with a narrow lead over Biden, although U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) has a slight advantage over Republican challenger David McCormick. The Cook Political Report, a national ratings outlet, rates the presidential race as a toss-up in Pennsylvania, the state with the most electoral votes on the line with that distinction. Update: This story was updated at 3:20 p.m. May 21, 2024 with details and reaction from Harriss speech, and again at 6 p.m. with additional details. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post VP Harris continues Biden campaign focus on courting union voters in Philadelphia visit appeared first on Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Chilling Truth Things are heating up at the Thwaites glacier in Antarctica popularly known as the "Doomsday Glacier" which, not to put too fine a point on it, is a very worrying thing. Should it completely melt, scientists have long warned that it contains enough water to raise sea levels by more than two feet worldwide hence its ominous nickname. Now, new research indicates that warm ocean water is being forced miles underneath Thwaites, meaning it's even more vulnerable to melting than once believed. The work, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that this intrusion of saltwater is causing "vigorous melting," calling into question the assumption that the boundary where the glacier meets the seafloor was fixed. "The water is able to penetrate beneath the ice over much longer distances than we thought," study co-author Eric Rignot, a scientist with the University of California at Irvine and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told The Washington Post. "It's kind of sending a shock wave down our spine to see that water moving kilometers." Point of Contact At over 74,000 square miles in area, or about the size of Florida, Thwaites is the largest glacier in the world. But all that size doesn't mean it's impervious to a warming climate. To study an object of such immensity, researchers turned to space-based imaging: satellites called ICEYE that are locked in orbit above the Earth's polar caps. The extensive data the satellites gathered allowed the researchers to create a 3D view of all the tidal forces at play around and beneath the ice sheet. A key area that this data illuminated is the glacier's so-called grounding line, a region where the glacier's ice is no longer in contact with the seafloor and is exposed to the ocean water and above which is the ice shelf we see. Shelf Life Normally, the ice beneath the grounding line should be protected from ocean water. But the researchers found that as the high tides come in and lift Thwaites by a few centimeters, an influx of warm ocean water is forcing its way beneath the glacier, exposing vast amounts of ice that was once thought untouchable to warming. Exacerbating all this is the sheer speed of the intruding seawater, according to Rignot, traveling almost four miles in a 12-hour cycle. In effect, it's flushing out any freshwater that's melted from the glacier with seawater, which with its high concentration of salt has a lower freezing point. "This process of widespread, enormous seawater intrusion will increase the projections of sea level rise from Antarctica," Rignot told CNN. These findings have distressing implications for other glaciers in Antarctica, too. And so those desperate-sounding plans to insulate Thwaites glacier sound more appealing by the minute. More on the climate: A Single Herd of Bison Can Help Capture CO2 From Over 40,000 Cars, Scientists Find Washington County, Tennessee to offer second 101 program for residents WASHINGTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) Washington County, Tennessee residents can participate in an upcoming adult educational program to enhance citizen awareness and understanding of the governments role in the community. Washington County Commissioners passed a resolution to create the second 101 program during the monthly meeting on Monday. The four-week interactive program will offer an overview of the county government, justice center, election office, health department and sheriffs office. Participants will take part in hands-on activities, tours, presentations and question-and-answer sessions. Stone Castle renovation project on track for completion before football season Ideally, we would like to see a participant from each of the 15 districts in order to get representation from the entire county, Commission Chair Greg Matherly said. This will be a wonderful opportunity to showcase some of the many services our county provides. Classes will meet at various locations throughout the county from 5:30 8 p.m. on Tuesdays starting July 9 through July 30. Participants will graduate at the Aug. 26 County Commission meeting. Participants should attend all four classes, be over 18, and be Washington County residents. Applicants will undergo a background check from the sheriffs office. Registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis and the class size is limited to 20 people. Applications will close June 7 and can be downloaded here. 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 WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather. On May 15, Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced that the state has received the first shipment of naloxone kits that will be free to Washingtonians. The shipment is part of a $90.7 million resolution the Attorney General made with drug companies in December 2022 for their role in fueling the opioid crisis. For the next two years Teva, an Israeli multinational pharmaceutical company, will be sending the free kits to Washington. This shipment amounts to 6,765 kits that arrived on Monday, May 13. The distribution of the kits will be handled by the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) through a state-wide mail-order program. The kits will be shipped at no cost to individuals across the state. These kits will save lives, Ferguson said. Our lawsuits against opioids manufacturers are providing resources to combat the fentanyl and opioid crisis to every part of the state. These kits will make immediate impacts in that fight. DOH reminds Washingtonians that no formal training is required and has provided materials and videos to help administer naloxone. Anyone interested in ordering their free kit can visit The Peoples Harm Reduction Alliance website, which administers the program. CANBERRA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has been granted permission to evacuate citizens from New Caledonia by plane. Penny Wong, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, on Tuesday said the government has received clearance to send two evacuation flights to the French Pacific territory after the international airport was shut down amid civil unrest. More than 300 Australian citizens, residents and their families who are stranded in New Caledonia have registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). Wong said in a statement on social media that DFAT was contacting those who have registered to coordinate the evacuation. In a separate statement, Australia's Consul-General in New Caledonia, Annelise Young, said she and her team have been working with Australian and French officials to ensure safe passage for Australian tourists wishing to leave the territory. Six people have been killed and hundreds more injured in riots that began earlier in May after the French parliament passed laws that granted French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years or more the right to vote in local elections, local media reported. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) Voters across Oregon narrowed down the candidates in some highly-watched statewide and local races in Tuesdays primary election. KOIN 6 News Political Ken Boddie, political analyst Rick Metsger, a former state lawmaker himself, and KOIN 6 News anchors Jeff Gianola, Elizabeth Dinh and Todd Unger provide early results and insights on primary election night. Stay with KOIN 6 News as primary election night results unfold. 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 KOIN.com. Ministers refuse to use tribute to Iranian president drawn up by Foreign Office staff Civil servants in the The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office drew up a statement expressing condolences over the tragedy of the death of the hard-line Iranian president but ministers refused to use it. The officials sent the statement to at least one minister in the department after it was confirmed that Ebrahim Raisi had been killed in a helicopter crash. This is despite the fact that Raisi is blamed for thousands of killings which had earned him the nickname the Butcher of Tehran. No minister used the form of words suggested by Foreign Office civil servants that included the word tragedy. A government source said: The Butcher of Tehran was responsible for the murder of thousands of prisoners of conscience and the brutal repression of his own people. Thats the real tragedy. Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, later wrote on Twitter that he would not mourn the death of Raisi. He was responding to a tweet from Charles Michel, president of the European Council, who had written: The EU expresses its sincere condolences for the death of president Raisi and foreign minister Amirabdollahian, as well as other members of their delegation and crew in a helicopter accident. Our thoughts go to the families. Mr Tugendhat wrote: President Raisis regime has murdered thousands at home, and targeted people here in Britain and across Europe. I will not mourn him. A Foreign Office source said such statements were drawn up by officials in the event of the sudden death of senior political figures. Ministers were under no obligation to follow officials advice and the policy of the Foreign Office was set by ministers and not officials. On Tuesday, Britains representative on the UN Security Council was criticised after standing in silence to mark the presidents death. Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash alongside Hossein Amirabdollahian, his foreign minister, earlier this week. Under his leadership, Iran brutally suppressed protests against mandatory hijab laws, jailing around 20,000 demonstrators and putting more than 500 to death. The protests erupted after Mahsa Amini, 22, died in the custody of the morality police after she was detained for allegedly breaching the strict Islamic dress code for women. In the late 1980s, Raisi was part of a death commission in Tehran that ordered the execution of thousands of political dissidents. Geoffrey Robertson, the human rights lawyer, said that this reign of terror bears some comparison to the death marches of allied prisoners at the end of the Second World War. After he was elected president in 2021, Raisi supported Irans enrichment of uranium and hampered international access to the countrys nuclear reactors. The body of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi is brought to the revered Fatima Masumeh Shrine in Qom - Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images On Tuesday, James Kuriuki, the UKs deputy ambassador to the United Nations, joined his colleagues to observe a moment of silence for the late president. The British diplomat stood alongside his American counterpart at the beginning of the 9,629th meeting of the Security Council, for the silence requested by Russia, China and Algeria. Gilad Erdan, Israels ambassador to the UN, branded the period of silence a disgrace. He wrote on social media: The UN Security Council observed a moment of silence today in memory of the mass murdering Iranian president Raisi, who is responsible for the murder of thousands! What is next for the Security Council? A moment of silence on the anniversary of Hitlers death?! The Security Council has simply become a danger to world peace. Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former Cabinet minister, said: Diplomacy is a matter of judgment. We have to talk to regimes we dont like but that doesnt mean we ought to honour them in death. A Foreign Office source said the moment of silence happened so quickly that Mr Kuriuki did not have time to consult London. 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. Weird blue blobs washing up on California beaches can pose threat to dogs, experts say Velella velella, or by-the-wind sailors, still cover California beaches. Over the last few months, these blue blobs have been washing up on shores in droves. And while they pose no threat to people, they can be harmful to dogs that want to put these little creatures in their mouths, or even eat them. But velellas have small stingers that can irritate a dogs mouth and stomach. According to Canidae Pro, this can look like gastrointestinal distress that may cause vomiting or diarrhea in a dog. If you notice that they are pawing at their face or hyper-salivating, theres a good chance that they might have licked one or eaten it, Dr. Brieana Sarvis told ABC 10. Sarvis is the hospital director of San Diego Humane Societys Escondido Campus. If you believe your dog has bitten or ingested a velella, you need to act quickly, giving your dog ice-cold water for a stinging mouth and bland foods for an upset stomach, Sarvis says. If your dog is vomiting continuously, take him or her to the vet as soon as possible. The good news is, while velellas are poisonous to dogs when ingested, they wont permanently harm them, experts say. Regardless, dog owners need to be extra cautious right now. When they wash ashore, these jellies quickly dry to the consistency of potato chips, Julia Parrish, a professor in the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Science, told University of Washington News. Additionally, this drying process causes them to lose their bright blue color, making them less visible, but they are still there. Sun-gobbling blue blobs are taking over Southern California shorelines. What to know Mobs of tuna crabs descend on Southern California waters. Whats going on? Blue tide of sea creatures blankets Oregon beach but look with your eyes Two Boise police officers knew the man they fatally shot last August was likely going through a mental health crisis, according to newly released reports, and recently updated Boise Police Department policy could have led to alternate tactics being employed that day. The Office of Police Accountability found that officers were justified in their use of force but could have responded differently in light of the mans mental state. Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney Matthew Fredback reviewed the Ada County Critical Incident Task Forces report and said that the shooting was justifiable under Idaho law, and that given the circumstances, the officers had a legal duty to intervene. On Tuesday, the Boise Police Department released those reports, in addition to a letter from the prosecutor and police body camera footage. Boise Office of Police Accountability Director Nicole McKay published her offices use of force findings separately. Christian Johnson, 54, of Boise, died Aug. 3 on the 110 block of South Dale Street after police shot him at the Morrison Park Apartments where he lived, the Idaho Statesman previously reported. Johnson was armed with a knife and other weapons, and ran at the officers while threatening violence. Christian was armed and belligerent, in the middle of the parking lot of a large apartment complex ... with members of the public going about their daily activities. Christian posed a threat to himself and/or the public and refused to obey the officers lawful commands, Fredback wrote in his report. Reports outline events leading up to shooting Johnson made multiple 911 calls the day of the shooting, mentioning fears of stalking, someone trying to kill him with a social media event and men outside his home, according to the OPA report and audio released by police. A dispatcher also thought Johnson said something about a gun, according to the report and police. Police said Cpl. Andrew Johnson and Officer Garrett Miller went to conduct a welfare check on Johnson at 10:59 a.m. Miller had conducted a welfare check on Johnson earlier that week, at which time Johnson told Miller that he had smoked a bunch of meth and not slept in days, according to police. In an unrecorded call while en route, Cpl. Johnson called Johnson and asked whether he needed help, but he was unresponsive on the call, police said. New policies put in place since the incident would have required law enforcement to record that call. Shortly after the officers arrival, Johnson came out of his second-floor apartment and walked down the stairs armed with a 12-inch knife in his right hand, and a metal pry bar and hammer in his left, according to reports. Police body camera video showed this as well. Cpl. Johnson got out of his car and approached the man. As he did, the officer heard Christian Johnson say something about a gun, police said. He also heard Johnson say, Sir, you want to just take me out and Ill rush you. At one point, Johnson pointed the knife at his own stomach, according to the accountability report. Police said officers repeatedly commanded Johnson to drop the weapons, but he refused. He ran at the officers with his weapons raised and yelled that he would kill them, and both Cpl. Johnson and Miller fired their weapons. The officers ordered Christian to drop the weapons 12 separate times to avoid any violence. Christian refused to comply, the prosecutors report noted. The task force report showed that Johnson was on parole for felony DUI at the time of the incident, had a history of alcohol and other substance abuse, and a criminal history that included convictions for aggravated assault, resisting and obstructing officers, and attempted robbery. He also had an ongoing dispute with a neighbor whose window he was charged with breaking. The police departments internal review came to the same conclusions as the reports. Cpl. Johnson and Ofc. Miller were each faced with an immediate threat to their lives and their use of lethal force in response to that immediate threat was reasonable and did not violate applicable law, the Boise Police Department concluded. New policies to change how police respond The Office of Police Accountability agreed that officers were justified and broke no laws, but said they could have done more to de-escalate the situation. The office noted in its report that police understood Johnson was in crisis based on phone calls and recent interactions with him. Cpl. Johnson recognized that Mr. Johnson was likely having an emotional, mental health, or other type of crisis, could be under the influence of illegal substances, and offered to help him obtain counseling, medical treatment, or other community resources, the report stated. People who knew Johnson later told task force investigators that they thought he was struggling with recent mental health issues. As this was a welfare check, officers did not need to go to Johnsons home and engage with him immediately, according to the OPA report. It suggested the situation could have played out differently had police created a plan beforehand and utilized resources such as Johnsons parole officer, BPDs Behavioral Health Response Team and less-lethal force options to address the call. Because the officers recognized the elevated risk factors, OPA concludes that they could have slowed down, made plans, prepared for predictable contingencies and possibly influenced the sequence of events or the necessity for use of force, the OPA report stated. Officers had the time and space to attempt verbal de-escalation techniques, such as engaging in conversation with gathered intelligence, without increasing officer safety risks, but they continued only to give commands to drop the weapons, according to the OPA report. The Boise Police Department added a new subsection last month to its use of force policy that mandates officers must respect the sanctity of all human life. OPA said that section could have changed how police responded. An analysis of this critical incident under these updated policies would have required a demonstration of tactics to prepare offsite, gather intelligence, call for appropriate resources, preplan, and designate roles to allow time, distance, and flexibility for the situation to resolve, and if unfeasible, documentation of the justification, the OPA report stated. The accountability report ended by acknowledging how many changes the police department has made since last August. Under new policies, the department is training all of its officers on how to plan, gather appropriate resources, control the pace, communicate, de-escalate and document. OPA said it would not make additional recommendations until it has seen how the new training affects the use of force going forward. The loss of Mr. Johnsons life is extremely unfortunate, and we hope others in crisis can get the help and resources they need to stabilize their lives and behaviors prior to getting to the point where a deadly threat is made to others, including police officers, Boise Police Chief Ron Winegar said in a news release. The West always gives Ukraine weapons one year after it actually needs them, Zelenskyy says The West always gives Ukraine weapons one year after it actually needs them, Zelenskyy says Ukraine's president told Reuters that the West always gives it weapons a year after it needs them. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the West needs to be more involved in the war and shoot down Russian missiles. Delays in US weapons deliveries have left Ukraine struggling to fight back, one expert said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country's Western allies always give it weapons one year after it actually needs them. "Every decision to which we, then later everyone together, comes to is late by around one year," Zelenskyy told Reuters on Monday. "But it is what it is: one big step forward, but before that, two steps back," he added. Zelenskyy made the comments after he and others spent months begging for more weapons as Russia ramped up its attacks. Republicans in Congress finally approved a $61 billion package last month, which the Pentagon said could reach Ukraine within days. However, delayed weapons deliveries mean Ukraine is now struggling to push back Russian advances, retired US Air Force colonel Cedric Leighton told CNN last week. In recent weeks, Russia has launched a renewed assault on the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv. Last week, The Institute for the Study of War reported that Russian forces appear to be creating a "buffer zone" instead of pursuing deeper offensives there. Zelenskyy told Reuters that the situation north of Kharkiv is "under control" but that a "very powerful wave" of fighting is taking place in Donbas. "No one even notices that there are actually more battles in the east of the country, specifically in the Donbas direction: Kurakhove, Pokrovsk, Chasiv Yar," he said. Zelenskyy also said that the delays in weapon deliveries, and in countries' decision-making, called for a change in "paradigm," per Reuters. As part of that shift, Zelenskyy is now asking the US and its allies to allow Ukrainian forces to use weapons supplied by them inside Russian territory, per Reuters a suggestion the Pentagon has rejected. Over the weekend, Russia accused Ukraine of firing Western-supplied missiles into its border region of Belgorod. Zelenskyy also said that its NATO allies could shoot down Russian airstrikes targeting Ukraine using air defenses based on NATO territory, per the news agency. NATO's former secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, made a similar suggestion earlier this month. Some NATO countries, including Estonia and France, want to go further and are considering sending their troops to Ukraine, albeit in limited ways. "It's a question of will," Zelenskyy told Reuters. Read the original article on Business Insider Weber County residents and environmental advocates protest against the West Weber Inland Port at the Utah State Capitol on May 20, 2024. (Alixel Cabrera/Utah News Dispatch) Hours after dozens of residents protested against a nearly 9,000-acre inland port project in west Weber County, the Utah Inland Port Authority unanimously gave a nod to the plan to create a new hub in the area. The board agreed the project is in the public interest and is economically sound and feasible, according to the resolution to adopt the project area plan, which includes the logistical, economic and environmental considerations for the port. However, locals worry about the effects the inland port would have on the environment and their health. Holding signs in the state Capitol that read protect our wetlands, not developers pockets, and dont make Weber a wasteland, they asked the Utah Inland Port Authority to slow down the process and conduct an environmental impact assessment. The port will endanger the (Great Salt) Lake, the protected wetlands around it, cultural Shoshone sites, and in the name of jobs, endanger the health of all of us, Patty Becnel, a retired teacher living in Pleasant View, said in a news conference on Monday ahead of the vote. Becnel has lived in Weber County for more than 40 years and witnessed how the fields around her house have turned into homes, which she believes are necessary for a growing state. However, she worries an inland port wont be a development as positive as the housing occupied by her neighbors. It would increase pollution in the area, she said, and strip her local government of control over the area. Patty Becnel, a retired teacher living in Pleasant View, speaks against the West Weber Inland Port in a news conference on May 20, 2024 (Alixel Cabrera/Utah News Dispatch). We ask the port authority to complete the studies they promised Salt Lake City years ago, slow down and do due diligence on the entire port plans, she said, Explain to us honestly how Utah will be able to support eight to nine ports within a 150-mile area. Do not move forward until you can explain with facts and figures that these projects will not damage biological wetlands, not draw more water from the Great Salt Lake, not make our air quality even worse. The Utah Inland Port Authority Board, however, said development is imminent and the plan has big concessions. If landowners wanted to, they could go out and start developing. Its zoned commercial, said Joel Ferry, a board member and executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources. This is also an industrial site, not a pristine, untouched wetland area, Ferry said, so the plans may strengthen the protections. Ultimately this ends up in a much better place than if we were just to walk away and let it happen organically, he said. In the projects presentation to the authority board, Mona Smith, a Utah Inland Port Authority manager, said wetlands, such as swamps, marshes, bogs and playas would need a minimum 600-foot buffer zone from the industrial properties. There must also be a 600-foot setback from waterfowl management areas. The board also approved 3% of the tax differential for the project area to fund wetland mitigation projects. Let us know what you think... Ben Hart, executive director of the authority, added nothing in the development plan would trigger the National Environmental Policy Act, but some other assessments may come at a later time. As other things do get closer to development, there are some studies that are still required to be completed, Hart said. At the appropriate times all federal state and local regulations will be called. Weber County has been working on its Western Weber Corridor, preparing it for these kinds of developments, said Stephanie Russell, the countys economic development director. The county envisions the area will become an industrial, advanced manufacturing and renewable energy hub. The county supports this fully and for the reasons that you brought out, she said in response to Ferrys comments. The development is happening, its going to happen. We can get in and help steer the development, which is what were doing with our development partners, or we can just let it come out carte blanche. Still, the community believes public approval and funding is whats keeping the industrial project alive, some advocates said. Environmental activists also warned about the health repercussions the plan may carry. Courtney Henley, a doctor and board member with Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, said during the Monday conference that this kind of heavy manufacturing activity leads to ultrafine particulate matter, silver oxide, nitrogen oxides, toxic heavy metals and organic compounds. Once that starts, Henley said, there may not be other opportunities for prevention. Strokes, heart attacks, asthma, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), cancers, miscarriages, premature births, depression, suicide, delayed learning, Henley said, all of these problems are caused and definitely exacerbated by air pollution. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post West Weber Inland Port approved amid community outcry appeared first on Utah News Dispatch. Where is population booming in Centre County? See the latest Census estimates for 2023 Can you guess which of Centre Countys 35 municipalities saw the largest population increase over the last year? If youve been paying attention to the news, it might not come as too much of a surprise. Newly released population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show significant growth in some areas across the country, including gains in some Northeast and Midwest cities and population booms in Texas and Florida, among other states. Centre Countys population grew by roughly 0.17% from 2022 to 2023 thanks to an influx of an estimated 62 residents, bringing the county total to 157,795 people as of July 1, 2023. Although the county grew as a whole, not every area saw population gains between 2022 and 2023. Heres what you need to know about the latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Which Centre County municipality is growing the most? The latest batch of census data makes that answer pretty clear. No municipality in Centre County grew between 2022 and 2023 quite like Benner Township, which observed a 4.42% increase over that span. Census data estimates roughly 8,978 people now live in the township, up nearly 400 people from 2022, but down just 25 from a recent high set in 2020. Benner Townships population boom comes as the thriving corridor welcomes several new developments, including a Giant supermarket that opened in 2022 and in-progress plans for new hotels, a new McDonalds restaurant and what could become central Pennsylvanias first Wawa. Long-developing plans for a controversial fulfillment center warehouse remain in Benner Township in flux, but a new set of preliminary plans was submitted to local officials back in March. Did any other municipalities see population gains? Seven other Centre County municipalities saw their populations grow between 2022 and 2023, including Halfmoon Township (0.9%), the State College Borough (0.77%) and Spring Township (0.66%). Walker, College, Potter and Union townships all saw more modest population increases ranging between 0.17% and 0.22% between 2022 and 2023, according to census data. The State College Borough observed the highest per-person gain of any municipality, but that is not much of a shock coming from the countys largest municipality. State College added roughly 309 residents between 2022 and 2023, census records indicate. Howard Township is the only county municipality whose population did not change in that span, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. An estimated 868 people live in the township as of July 1, 2023 the same as in 2021 and 2022, but up just one person from 2020s estimate. Which Centre County areas are losing residents? The rest of Centre Countys municipalities observed population decreases between 2022 and 2023. No area was proportionally hit harder than the Howard Borough, which lost nine residents, but saw its population drop 1.35%. Boroughs in Unionville (down 1.15%), Centre Hall (down 1.12%) and Philipsburg (down 1.02%) followed with Centre Countys biggest losses. Ferguson Township, the countys second-most populous municipality, lost an estimated 166 residents between 2022 and 2023, marking the largest per-person loss in Centre County over that span. As of July 1, 2023, roughly 18,939 people still live in the township following its 0.87% drop, according to census data. Most municipalities that lost residents between 2022 and 2023 saw only minor drops. Twenty-two of the 26 municipalities that observed population decreases saw drops of below 1%, and seven of them observed drops under 0.5%. What about the rest of the country? Roughly 334.9 million people live in the U.S. as of July 1, 2023, according to census estimates. As a whole, Pennsylvania is home to about 12.96 million, down just about 0.08% from 12.97 million in 2022. A report from the U.S. Census Bureau says cities in the South with populations of at least 50,000 people grew exceptionally fast between 2022 and 2023 (increases of 1% on average). Northeast and Midwest cities in that category reported gains after observing declines between 2021 and 2022. The population growth across the South in 2023 was driven by significant numeric and percentage gains among its cities, Crystal Delbe, a statistician in the Census Bureaus Population Division, wrote in a statement. Thirteen of the 15 fastest-growing cities were in the South, with eight in Texas alone. San Antonio, Texas, added more people to its population than any other city in 2023, the bureau reports. New York City remains the nations most populous city (8.3 million people), while Philadelphia sits in fourth place with roughly 1.6 million residents. Where to go vote for 2024 Georgia Primary (WJBF) Want to know where to go to vote? Locate your Georgia precinct by viewing the links below. Polling locations will open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. for Georgia voters. Georgia Voters Georgia Precinct Information here Georgia Polling Locations here More Georgia Voting Information here MORE FROM WJBF: 2024 Georgia Primary ballot explained In South Carolina, voters will head to the polls on June 11. 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 WJBF. The view from the Israel AP live feed, which was taken down by Israeli officials (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) Israels government has reversed its decision to shut down and seize broadcast equipment belonging to the Associated Press under the same media law it used to shut down Al Jazeeras operations in the country earlier this month. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement that both White House and US State Department had immediately engaged with the Government of Israel at high levels to express our serious concern and ask them to reverse this action after reports emerged that officials with Israels Communications Ministry had travelled to an AP facility in Sderot and took possession of gear that was then being used to broadcast a live feed of the Gaza skyline. She also said that Israeli officials had publicly committed to allow the AP broadcast to recommence and return their equipment. The free press is an essential pillar of democracy and members of the media, including AP, do vital work that must be respected, she said. Israeli officials had claimed that the AP, which provides video footage to thousands of news organizations, violated the countrys new media law by allowing Al Jazeera to use its broadcast feed after Al Jazeera was banned from operating in the country on May 5th. The ministry said it had acted in accordance with the government decision and the instruction of the communications minister and would continue to take whatever enforcement action is required to limit broadcasts that harm the security of the state. Shortly after the shutdown became public, a White House official told The Independent: Weve been engaging directly with the Government of Israel to express our concerns over this action and to ask them to reverse it. Asked about the Israeli move while traveling aboard Air Force One en route to New Hampshire, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the censorship of the US-based news organization concerning. Were gonna be looking into it. And obviously this is concerning, and so we want to look into it, she said. Jean-Pierre added that both she and President Joe Biden have repeatedly expressed the importance of a free press, which she called a pillar of our democracy. You guys are the fourth estate. You guys hold us hold us accountable and make sure that the facts are out there and that is essential to the American people to the world globally. And so were going to always continue to be steadfast on that. And certainly were going to look into this, she said, adding that the reports from Israel were concerning to hear. Israels new foreign broadcaster law was enacted by the right-wing government led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was written to target Al Jazeera, which is funded by Qatars government, at the same time that Qatari officials have been hosting Hamas representatives for negotiations. The Associated Press had been reporting nonstop since the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas militants, often from within Gaza and by presenting firsthand accounts of the damage from Israeli airstrikes. Critics of Israels media law have accused the Netanyahu government of using it to suppress unflattering reporting on the seven-month-old war in Gaza. Caitlin Vogus, the deputy advocacy director for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said in a statement that Israel must immediately reverse the decision and return the APs equipment and called for the Biden administration to strongly condemn Israels escalation of its attacks on the free press. If Israel wants to claim the mantle of the only democracy in the Middle East, it needs to act like it. Banning broadcasters because Israel disagrees with their coverage is the hallmark of an authoritarian state, not a democracy. Seizing equipment from the AP just for supplying a news outlet with video footage is disgraceful, she said. A customer takes a photo in the outdoor area of a village cafe in Doumu Township of the city of Anqing, east China's Anhui Province, May 7, 2024.(Xinhua/Zhao Jinzheng) HEFEI, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Wang Aiju, a 57-year-old villager from east China's Anhui Province, has adopted a new hobby of frequenting a village cafe where she enjoys a cup of coffee and takes photos for her granddaughter. Nestled beside a golden rape flower field, the cafe in Doumu Township in the city of Anqing is adorned with dolls on its chairs and twinkling LED lights, providing a picturesque spot for visitors to relax and snap photos. It caters not only to city dwellers seeking leisure but also to local villagers. This flourishing spot emerged from the spontaneous idea of Hu Rui, a post-95s returnee. "I returned to my hometown and opened this cafe because I realized that people need a tranquil escape from their daily lives. The combination of coffee and natural beauty brings more choices to rural life," said Hu, adding that since the cafe opened in March, the highest daily sales exceeded 10,000 yuan (about 1,408 U.S. dollars). In Anhui, an increasing number of young people like Hu are returning to rural areas for employment opportunities, encouraged by the implementation of diverse initiatives by local authorities to attract talent, sparking transformative changes and injecting fresh vitality into these areas. According to the provincial department of human resources and social security, Anhui has been leveraging its ecological benefits and improving the employment environment, among other factors, to make the province a magnetic hub for young talent. In Panpu Village of Qianshan City, Zhu Siyi, a post-90s native, serves as a resort manager. She is currently brainstorming with her colleagues about organizing a campfire party on the lawn. To enrich the travel experience for tourists, Zhu and her team have developed a scenic spot integrating agricultural, cultural and tourism elements, including an indoor amusement park and a camping site. "During the five-day May Day holiday this year, over 10,000 tourists came here every day," said Zhu, noting that the extended consumption chain has helped boost the income of over 40 rural households, attracting two young baristas to start their own business here. Apart from applying novel ideas while utilizing natural beauty, many young returnees have embraced short videos and live-streaming as tools to support rural residents. Capturing everything from conversations with elderly villagers to the rhythmic hum of machines processing dried sweet potatoes, Wu Pinjiao and her post-95s colleagues have documented rural life and local specialties through videos and live-streaming. "We are not just selling goods, but popularizing the lifestyle of our hometown," she said, adding that the sales of over 20 kinds of local products from three mountainous villages have set new records this year. "I initially thought I was coming back to guard a mountain. But when I returned, I realized that there is a new world of unexplored possibilities here," Wu said. Why Did an Iowa Woman Suffocate Her Stepmom with a Pillow, Then Admit to the Crime on Snapchat? Samantha Bevans, 35, was convicted of first-degree murder in the July 14, 2022 death of 58-year-old Jodie Bevans. Brosh Chapel; Benton County Sheriffas Office Jodie Bevans; Samantha Bevans An Iowa woman who suffocated her stepmother with a pillow and bragged about it on Snapchat was found guilty on Monday, May 20. Samantha Bevans, 35, was convicted of first-degree murder in the 2022 death of 58-year-old Jodie Bevans, per The Gazette, KWWL, and KCRG. Her boyfriend, Tacoa Talley, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison last year in the killing, KWWL reported. Prosecutors said Bevans killed her stepmother out of revenge for kicking her out of the house, per The Gazette. Jodie, who died by asphyxiation, was asleep when she was suffocated with a pillow. The rest of the family was away on a camping trip when the attack occurred. A slow way up close, personal way to kill someone, Assistant Iowa Attorney General Monty Platz told the jury, according to the Gazette. He said Jodie, because she was asleep, was unable to "put up a fight," per the Gazette. During the trial, prosecutors showed the jury a Snapchat video of Bevans seemingly confessing to the slaying. I killed her, Bevans allegedly said, per the Gazette. I killed her myself. And I knew this would happen, so good job, Talley said on the video. We killed her, Bevans said, per the Gazette. 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. Bevans told the jury that she made the video because she was mad at Talley and wanted to get a reaction from him, according to the Gazette. She also testified that Talley was the one who killed Jodie, per KCRG. Prosecutors also asked Bevans about a to-do list she wrote that contained the words, Kill Jodie, per KCRG. She claimed she was on meth when she penned the list, according to KCRG. Sentencing is scheduled for mid-June, per KWWL. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Former Prosecutor Avoids Prison, But How Did She Get Here? A federal court judge spared Marilyn Mosby from spending a minute behind bars for mortgage fraud and perjury. Throughout the nearly six-hour hearing inside a Greenbelt, Maryland, courthouse were three rooms reserved for the former Baltimore City states attorneys supporters who traveled from across the country. Statements were read by nearly a dozen people, including Mosbys siblings, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, and former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, as well as formerly incarcerated and wrongfully convicted men Mosbys office gave second chances to. Prosecutors stood firm in their stance to send Mosby to prison because she was an elected official, despite there not being any traditional victims in her case. The judge asked more than once: Who are the victims? The prosecutors argued the entire community was victimized when someone they voted into office commits perjury, even in their private life. The judge didnt agree. U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby took into significant account that this was Mosbys first arrest and that shes a mother of two daughters, who were present in court. It has weighed heavy on this court that youre a mother, Griggsby said. Mosby received time served for each of the three convictions, plus 100 hours of community service and a year of home confinement with a location monitoring device. Tears and applause flooded the courtroom before Mosby brought a white cloth napkin to her face to catch her tears at the defense table. Her youngest daughter read a statement outside the court thanking her moms supporters. Mosby also thanked everyone for their support. Next month will mark 10 years since Mosby became the youngest person in the U.S. elected to lead a prosecutors office. She was convicted last year for making an early withdrawal from her own retirement account by using a temporary COVID financial hardship provision under false pretenses to purchase a condo in Florida. She was also convicted of making false statements on a mortgage application about the source of some funds to lock in a lower interest rate. Throughout the legal proceedings, the facts of her case have either been misrepresented or confusing in some news reports. Read on as Capital B breaks it all down. Were COVID-relief funds stolen? No. Mosby was not among the over 2,200 businesses, agencies, celebrities, and others who collectively stole billions of federal COVID-19 relief funds. She was originally charged in January 2022 on a four-count indictment, but tried separately and in a different part of Maryland as per her request to get a fair trial. The indictment is more telling for what is not in the indictment, rather than what is in there, A. Scott Bolden, Mosbys defense attorney, said at the time. The charges are a far cry from criminal tax evasion and tax-related charges that were at the heart of this federal investigation. Her ex-husband, Nick Mosby, blames himself for her financial and legal troubles, but he hasnt been charged with any wrongdoing. No tax-related charges were included in the indictment, despite several references about Mosbys and her ex-husbands taxes in the court documents. As the months drew closer to Mosbys first trial, her financial situation shifted drastically, especially after losing her third term. She couldnt afford a private defense team and expert witnesses to assist in her case. The judge assigned a public defender after she proved her indigent status. Mosby was convicted by two separate federal jury panels. First, for two-counts of perjury. Mosby was convicted for lying about why she needed to make two hardship withdrawals from her own retirement account the city of Baltimores Deferred Compensation Plan that totaled $90,000. She said the COVID-19 pandemic put her travel company, Mahogany Elite Consulting LLC., that she launched in 2019, into the red before it could get started. Prosecutors countered Mosbys financial woes to her gross salary in 2020 as Baltimore City states attorney that was over $247,000 and never was reduced, according to the indictment. Prosecutors at trial said Mosbys travel business didnt have any clients. Mosby provided business log expenses at trial. On the second indictment, Mosby was convicted of making false statements on one mortgage application about where she received a $5,000 gift to lock in a lower interest rate for a condo in Longboat Key, Florida, near Sarasota. As part of the application, Mosby responded that she received the monetary gift from her now ex-husband and former president of the Baltimore City Council. According to the evidence presented at trial, Mosby did not receive a $5,000 gift from anyone, but rather she transferred $5,000 to her ex, and he then transferred the funds back to her. The jury acquitted Mosby of making false statements on another application for an eight-bedroom home in Kissimmee near Disney World that she sold in Nov. 2021. Then-Baltimore City States Attorney Marilyn Mosby (center) leaves a January 2022 press conference in Baltimore where she delivered a statement about her indictment by a federal grand jury on perjury charges. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images) Have others been prosecuted for similar actions? Fidelity Investments is one of the nations largest mutual fund companies, with 25.8 million participants. In 2020, 22% of their members took money out of their retirement accounts and 1,419,000 used the CARES Act hardship provision as a reason for withdrawing funds, according to a July 2021 Congressional Research Services report. Vanguard, the fourth-largest retirement fund company in the country with 5.5 million participants, had 5.7% receive a COVID-related distribution. That provision allowed participants to make an early withdrawal of up to $100,000 without paying the usual 10% tax penalty on the condition that COVID-19 caused an adverse financial consequence. Those reasons include: being laid off, reduced work hours, unable to work due to lack of child care; you or a loved one was diagnosed with COVID; or the closing or reduction of hours of a business they owned or operated. The federal government argues that Mosby did not have any of those side effects of the pandemic because she maintained her position and salary as the chief prosecutor of Baltimore. Mosby has an ailing grandmother who raised her and is in hospice at home in their hometown of Boston. Regardless, Mosby met an objective standard to qualify for the withdrawal, according to a letter addressed to President Joe Biden that was co-signed by 15 national civil rights, justice, and advocacy organizations on May 7. In contrast, the letter noted and trial testimony revealed, in Maryland, 739 individuals withdrew funds from their retirement accounts without being charged for improper withdrawals, including three within her agency. The letter asks Biden to pardon Mosby. Its rare, but not unheard of, for a president to disregard the five-year-waiting period before entertaining a presidential pardon application. Was she really facing up to 40 years? Mosby had long maintained that she did nothing wrong. She faced up to five years in federal prison for each perjury conviction and up to 30 years or $1 million in fines for one count of making a false mortgage application. It was at Griggsbys discretion whether Mosby would receive the maximum or minimum sentence, and if each convicted charge will run concurrently or consecutively. There isnt a standalone federal criminal statute for mortgage fraud. Thus, almost every legal actor relies on the FBIs definition of mortgage fraud. Surprisingly, however, the influential FBI definition is plainly inconsistent in key respects with elements of the federal criminal statutes most often used to punish mortgage fraud, according to Georgetown Universitys American Criminal Law Review. To create a mortgage fraud indictment against Mosby, prosecutors applied different federal criminal penal laws, including perjury and one statute that defines what a financial institution does, to create a case of mortgage fraud. We should be concerned that the FBI, which investigates mortgage fraud, cannot get the basic definition of the crime of mortgage fraud right and that scholars and commentators uncritically accept and use that problematic definition, the law review article stated. And since the COVID provision connected to Mosbys mortgage fraud conviction was temporary, there isnt a precedent to predict how Mosbys case will conclude. In the prosecutors sentencing recommendation, it cited the prosecution of another former Baltimore city official, who pleaded guilty in 2018 for failing to file individual tax returns, and still received 10 months in prison. This story has been updated. The post Former Prosecutor Avoids Prison, But How Did She Get Here? appeared first on Capital B News. France is trying Syrian ex-officials for the torture and killing of a father and son. Here's why FILE - In this photo released on Nov. 9, 2019 by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks in Damascus, Syria. In a landmark trial, a Paris court will this week seek Tuesday May 21, 2024 to determine whether Syrian intelligence officials were responsible for Patrick and Mazzen Dabbagh's disappearance and deaths. The hearings are expected to air chilling allegations that President Bashar Assad's regime has widely used torture and arbitrary detentions to keep power in Syria's civil war. (SANA via AP, File) PARIS (AP) The Syrian soldiers came first, at night, for the son, Patrick, a 20-year-old psychology student at Damascus University, and said they were taking him away for questioning. They came back the next night for his father, Mazen. Five years later, in 2018, death certificates from Syrian authorities confirmed to the Dabbagh family that the French-Syrian father and son would never come home again. In a landmark trial, a Paris court is seeking this week to determine whether Syrian intelligence officials the most senior to go on trial in a European court over crimes allegedly committed during the country's civil war were responsible for their disappearance and deaths. The four-day hearings started Tuesday and are expected to air chilling allegations that President Bashar Assad's government has widely used torture and arbitrary detentions to hold on to power during the conflict, now in its 14th year. The French trial comes as Assad has been regaining an aura of international respectability, starting to shed his longtime status as a pariah that stemmed from the violence unleashed on his opponents. Human rights groups that are parties to the French case hope it will refocus attention on alleged atrocities. Here's a look at those involved: THE ACCUSED Ali Mamlouk, former head of the National Security Bureau overseeing Syrian security and intelligence services. Allegedly worked directly with Assad. Now in his late 70s. Jamil Hassan, former Air Force intelligence director. Survivors testifying in the case allege having seen him at a detention center in the capital, Damascus, where the Dabbaghs are thought to have been held. In his early 70s. Salam Mahmoud, in his mid-60s, a former investigations official at a Damascus military airport believed to house the detention center. Mahmoud is alleged to have expropriated the Dabbaghs' house after they were taken away. The three men are accused of provoking crimes against humanity, giving instructions to commit them and allowing subordinates to commit them through the alleged arrest, torture and killing of the father and son. They also are accused of confiscating their house and of putting Air Force intelligence services at the disposal of people who allegedly killed them. The accused are being tried in absentia. French magistrates issued arrest warrants for them in October 2018, despite acknowledging that there was little likelihood of their extradition to France. There were no defense lawyers to represent them as the hearings got underway Tuesday morning. French magistrates determined they don't have diplomatic immunity. The three people accused are very senior officials of the Syrian system of repression and torture. This gives a particular tone to this trial. They are not small fish, said Patrick Baudouin, a lawyer for rights groups involved in the case. The legal file is very detailed, full of evidence of systematic, very diverse and absolutely monstrous torture practices," Baudouin said. WHY IS THE TRIAL IN FRANCE? Patrick and Mazen Dabbagh had dual French-Syrian nationality, which enabled French magistrates to pursue the case. The probe of their disappearance started in 2015 when Obeida Dabbagh, Mazen's brother, testified to investigators already examining war crimes in Syria. Obeida Dabbagh lives in France with his wife, Hanane, and is also a party in the case. According to the trial indictment, seen by The Associated Press, he told French investigators that three or four soldiers came for Patrick around 11 p.m. on Nov. 3, 2013, during the height of Arab Spring-inspired anti-government protests that were met by a brutal crackdown. The soldiers identified themselves as members of a Syrian Air Force intelligence branch. Obeida also testified they searched the house, taking cellphones, computers and money. They came back the next night for Mazen Dabbagh, who was 54 and worked as a counselor at a French high school in Damascus, and also took his new car, the brother said. Their death certificates said Patrick died Jan. 21, 2014, and Mazen on Nov. 25, 2017, but didn't say how or where. THE TRIAL EXPECTED TO EXPOSE TORTURE French investigating magistrates collected evidence from those who deserted the Syrian government and military, and prison survivors as they built the case. Testifying anonymously, survivors' accounts speak in the indictment of rape and of being denied food and water; of beatings on the feet, knees and elsewhere with whips, cables and truncheons; of electric shocks and burnings with acid or boiling water; of being suspended from the ceiling for hours or days. Investigators also studied images provided by a Syrian policeman, who anonymously turned over photographs of thousands of torture victims. Cameras are generally banned from French criminal trials, but this one will be filmed for historical record. ANOTHER FRENCH PROBE TARGETS PRESIDENT ASSAD In a separate investigation, French magistrates have also targeted President Assad himself but face questions about whether he benefits from presidential immunity. Magistrates are investigating chemical weapons' attacks that killed more than 1,000 people and injured thousands of others in the suburbs of Damascus in 2013. They issued international arrest warrants for Assad, his brother Maher Assad, commander of the 4th Armored Division, and two Syrian army generals Ghassan Abbas and Bassam al-Hassan for alleged complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity. The French probe was opened in 2021 in response to a criminal complaint by attack survivors. The investigation is being conducted under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which argues that in some cases, crimes can be pursued outside the countries where they take place. The Syrian government and its allies have denied responsibility for the attacks. The French warrants, very rare for a serving world leader, were seen as a strong signal against Assads leadership at a time when some countries have welcomed him back into the diplomatic fold. Victims' lawyers hailed the warrants as a crucial milestone in the battle against impunity. The Paris appeals court is weighing whether Assad has absolute immunity as head of state. French prosecutors asked it to rule on that question at a closed hearing May 15. That procedure does not impact the warrants for Assads brother and the generals. OTHER COUNTRIES ALSO TAKING ACTION In March, Swiss prosecutors indicted Rifat Assad, the presidents uncle and a former Syrian vice president, for allegedly ordering murder and torture more than four decades ago to crush an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement, in the city of Hama, where thousands were killed. A court in Stockholm put a former Syrian army general who lives in Sweden on trial in April for his alleged role in war crimes in 2012. Courts in Germany found two former Syrian soldiers guilty in 2021 and 2022 of crimes against humanity. One was sentenced to life imprisonment, the other to 4 1/2 years for complicity. They had claimed refugee status in Germany before former detainees recognized them there. They were tried under the principle of universal jurisdiction. ___ Surk reported from Nice, France. Associated Press writer Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report. Why a helicopter will be flying low in northwest Kansas WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) Over the next several weeks, residents of northwest Kansas may see a helicopter flying low and dangling a large hexagonal frame even lower. The flights are part of a project to electromagnetically map groundwater conditions in the Ogallala aquifer. Starting in late May and continuing for much of June, the helicopter will fly over Northwest Kansas Groundwater Management District No. 4, the area in blue on the map. (Courtesy Kansas Department of Agriculture Division of Water Resources) Airborne electromagnetic surveying. (Photo credit: Aqua Geo Frameworks, LLC) The hexagonal frame hanging about 100 feet below the helicopter includes scientific equipment for an electromagnetic survey. The frame will be about 100 to 200 feet above the ground. The equipment in the frame maps geologic structures and groundwater resources hidden as far as 1,000 feet below the lands surface. Court documents say bodies of murdered Kansas women found in freezer Airborne geophysics doesnt make water, Jared Abraham, Aqua Geo Frameworks LLC. What were trying to do is map where it is and where it is not. The pilots are specially trained for low-level flying. Theyll be going about 50 mph. They will not go over residential areas, other buildings, livestock feeding operations or wind turbines. Kansas Groundwater Management District No. 4 and the Kansas Geological Survey, working with Aqua Geo Frameworks, have planned the flights to develop a better understanding of the Ogallala aquifer. The funding comes from the Governors Office and the Kansas Water Office. Aqua Geo Frameworks has done similar electromagnetic surveys in Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming. This will be the first time its done in Kansas. Click here to see a video about the process. Kansas families can get into 220 attractions for free this summer The Ogallala aquifer is the primary water resource in northwest Kansas. Over the last 60 years, intensive pumping from the aquifer has resulted in large groundwater level declines in Sherman, Thomas, Sheridan and Cheyenne counties. The information from the electromagnetic survey could help the Kansas Geological Survey and Groundwater Management District No. 4 better assess the nature and continuity of water-yielding materials in the aquifer and ultimately develop strategies to help sustain it. The Groundwater Management District 4 website includes a copy of a letter sent to landowners that could be in the flight path. The website will post a flight path map closer to the project. Stay tuned to our website, Facebook, and X for information on date, time, and location to bring the family and check out the helicopter, equipment, talk with scientists, and learn more about this exciting process, the letter says. The Kansas Geological Survey is a nonregulatory research and service division of the University of Kansas. 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 KSN-TV. The Israeli war Cabinet is in raucous disarray. One of its three members, who is also the minister of defense, has openly criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for lacking a clear strategy to defeat Hamas and restore order in Gaza. (In doing so, he has repeated a similar public broadside leveled by the army chief of staff.) The other member of the war Cabinet is threatening to resign if Netanyahu doesnt change course in his war aims by June 8. Some speculate that these divisions could bring down the government, triggering new elections. Though a majority of Israelis (as well as many pro-Israel U.S. officials) would welcome the ouster, it isnt likely to happen. Still, the three-man war Cabinet was assembled after Hamas Oct. 7 attack, precisely in order to instill trust among the public. That trust is now crumbling, even as its edificealong with the larger government-wide Cabinet that Netanyahu headsstays standing. This Cabinets likely political survival is a shame, as the main dispute between Netanyahu and his critics indicates that he misunderstands not only the scope of the current war in Gaza but the nature of war in general. Netanyahu is facing much criticism, from all over the world, for his plan to mount a major offensive in Rafah, the southern city in Gaza. The town is where the remaining Hamas leaders are thought to be hiding in tunnels, but it is also where more than 1 million Palestinian civiliansmany of them refugees from earlier offensives in the northare crammed with inadequate food, shelter, or sanitation. Yet even the critics in Netanyahus Cabinet support his plan to attack Rafah. Benny Gantz, the war Cabinet member who is threatening to quit, told U.S. officials not long ago, Ending the war without clearing out Rafah is like sending a firefighter to extinguish 80 percent of the fire. The issue of contention concerns what happens after the warwho occupies, governs, and rebuilds Gaza? The other critical war Cabinet member, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, publicly opposes the idea of Israeli troops reoccupying Gaza, as they did from the 1967 war until their withdrawal in 2005. Gallant has even spoken with senior U.S. officials about a multinational occupation force, with Sunni Arabs, especially Saudi Arabia, building up a new Palestinian Authority governing a demilitarized Gaza with no involvement from Hamas. Netanyahu has lambasted this notion and has said the Israeli army will need to control Gaza even after the war. Gallant and others fear this would fuel an insurgency, divide and weaken Israel, further alienate global opinion of the Jewish state, and ruin the chance of normalized relations with Saudi Arabia. Gantz says hell quit unless Netanyahu spells out a clear postwar strategy that doesnt depend on occupying Gaza. The dynamics here are complicated by the fact that both Gallant and Gantz are political opponents of Netanyahu. Gantz, a retired general and former defense minister, was the alternate prime minister in 202021, as part of a brief power-sharing arrangement while Netanyahu was under criminal investigation. Gallant, also a retired general, is a member of Netanyahus Likud party. One or both of them would likely run for prime minister in the event of new elections. Netanyahu won Israels last election in November 2022, returning to power after being briefly dethroned, by assembling a coalition consisting entirely of right-wing parties. (He had won previous elections by recruiting parties to Likuds left.) The coalitions margin is thin, holding just 64 of the 120 seats in Parliament. In other words, if just five of its members resigned, Netanyahus majority would vanish, new elections would have to take place, and he would almost certainly lose. The far-right members have threatened to resign if Netanyahu budges the slightest bit toward peace in Gaza or advocacy of a Palestinian statewhich is one reason why he hasnt done so. (This is also why Chuck Schumer, one of the most pro-Israel U.S. senators, urged Israel to hold new elections: He thought Netanyahu was too beholden to his right-wing partners.) The far-right members could be bluffing; they must know that if the coalition collapsed and new elections were held, they would never be invited to join a government ever again. But Netanyahu doesnt seem inclined to call their bluff; on the main issues, he seems to agree with them. At the same time, neither Gallant nor Gantz has the influence to sway enough relatively moderate members of Likud to resign. Israels next elections are not scheduled until 2026. It is hard to see the mechanism for new elections to be held before then. Despite pressure from Gallant, Gantz, and President Joe Biden, Netanyahu has publicly derided the idea of even talking about the day after the war ends, saying Israel needs to focus on winning the war before thinking about the peace. But this attitude reveals a profound misunderstanding of war. As the Prussian military strategist Carl von Clausewitz famously put it, war is merely a political act a continuation of political intercourse carried out by other means. In other words, a country doesnt first fight a war, then decide on its political aims; war is fought for political aims, and ideallyif there is ever an ideal in warin a way that advances those political aims. By this measure, Israeli leaders need to think about how their people will be able to live and thrive next to Gazaand next to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as Arabs in states all around the regionafter the war. And they need to think about this while the war is being fought. This is a difficult task, especially since Hamas started the war with its attack across Israels southern border, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians, the largest number of Jews killed in a single day since the Holocaust. Still, war, even this war, remains a political act. And leaders of other countries, including those forced into war by an aggressors invasion, have not lost sight of this fact. In his 1977 book Preparing for the Next War: American Plans for Postwar Defense, 194145, historian Michael Sherry uncovered documents showing that U.S. officialsmilitary commanders and civilian leaders at all levelsdiscussed, debated, and put in motion ideas for preserving U.S. interests after the end of World War II, even while their war against Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan was still raging. It was in the context of these discussions that Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau put forth a plan in 1944 to destroy Germanys industries so the country could never remilitarize. The plan was knocked down by other officials, who argued that a new democratic Germany needed to be strengthened as a bulwark against what they saw as postwar Soviet expansion. I do not mean to draw comparisons between Nazis and Hamas, or a new Palestinian Authority and the Federal Republic of Germany, or World War II and the war in Gaza. I cite Sherrys book only to emphasize that, even amid a total global war with existential consequences for the fate of freedom, American leaders spent a lot of time planning not only how to win the war but how to shape the world afterward. Both are political acts. Uttering slogans like total victory, as Netanyahu has done, means nothing in the absence of a political context. To fight a war without devising a desirable (or at least plausible) peace is to inflict violence and mayhem for their own sake. Theres a story about one Ivy League universitys response to tensions on campus that hasnt graced the headlines as much as the protests. John Tomasi, president of the Heterodox Academy and a Brown University professor, thinks the response could be a key model for universities. After the Oct. 7 attack, Dartmouth College held a series of public events. One of the workshops was co-led by a pro-Israeli Jewish professor and a pro-Palestinian Muslim professor, said Tomasi in a recent video call with the Deseret News. What they did was they took that moment of incredible anguish and horror the attacks and then the counterattacks and they tried to do this distinctively university thing, said Tomasi. They tried to help us learn. Tomasi said universities have a special role in society that they could lean into right now fostering disagreement and civil dialogue. He draws inspiration from the University of Chicagos Kalven Report. A faculty committee created the report in 1967 to tease out the role of a university in responding to political and social action. It espouses the principle of institutional neutrality something Tomasi says is critical for universities to flourish. Quoting from the report, he said, The university is the home and sponsor of critics; it is not itself the critic. If university presidents issue statements on issues, then Tomasi said they chill the voices and the thinking of dissenting students who might not have their minds quite made up yet. The question of institutional neutrality is one that some schools are considering as they face a divided reaction over how they handled student protests. But not everyone agrees with universities adopting the position of institutional neutrality. Brian Rosenberg, former president of Macalester College, wrote in The Chronicle, Racism and xenophobia, climate change and voting rights, the future of democracy and the response to a pandemic: No day goes by without demands on some campus that the institution take a position and competing demands that taking a position is inconsistent with the role of the university. Universities not speaking out on all or most of these matters strikes me as unacceptable: as something perilously close to the lack of courage, indifference, and insensitivity that are dismissed in the Kalven Report as possible reasons for the universitys neutrality, wrote Rosenberg. In the current climate, universities have become used to issuing statements about current events, but they might want to consider pulling back from that practice, said Tomasi. When a public event happens, or theres a breaking political issue or a big political debate going on, the president has to ask herself or himself the question, does this incident directly affect the mission of this university? said Tomasi. In those incidents, it may make sense for a university to issue a statement. Tomasi gave two examples. If Congress were to raise taxes on universities, it would make it harder for universities to carry out their missions and the presidents could speak out then, he offered. Another example, lets say a (nations) president announces a ban on immigration from a larger number of countries, especially where your school has a lot of researchers, faculty and student from those countries, said Tomasi. The (school) president probably has an obligation to speak out to say, Listen, you may have your reasons for putting this ban on immigration from these countries, but as a university president, I have to defend the interest of my school. Tomasi also noted that he believes universities shouldnt pick controversial commencement speakers. But this neutrality doesnt mean universities cannot have specific missions, said Tomasi. Giving religious schools as an example, he said there are plenty of times where university speakers there will give speeches about ideas unique to the distinctive mission and wont be neutral. Instead, universities should foster viewpoint diversity on campus, said Tomasi. Tomasi believes the speech rights of protesters should be protected and that universities have a strong obligation to encourage them. But these protests should follow the rules, he said. The other side of it is that it can cross into civil disobedience, said Tomasi as he explained that when protests cross into obstruction and intimidation, it edges on other peoples rights. Still, Tomasi sees tense times on campuses as a teaching moment for universities where they could embrace their role of neutrality and facilitators of civil discourse. University officials could say to students, This is what neutrality means. It doesnt mean we dont care. We care deeply. We care so much were not going to let anyone speak for us and neither are we going to speak for the whole university ourselves, said Tomasi. Washington State University student Kestra Engstrom argued in an op-ed for the campus newspaper that universities should be upfront about political stances to be accountable to students. University administrators should make their political beliefs public knowledge for the sake of their young adult students, who are part of a generation that is more politically motivated and principle than any before them, said Engstrom. Education is a highly politicized system, and it is time for colleges to stop trying to remain apolitical and be open about what they support and how they will allow students to be taught within their walls. On the flip side, proponents of institutional neutrality argue that when universities are neutral, they can cultivate viewpoint diversity and create a better learning environment for students. When universities are at their best, theyre going to house all kinds of interesting idiosyncratic characters, hopefully, who are going to say strange, interesting things, said Tomasi. Everyone can be improved by hearing opinions different than their own, especially opinions they may not have encountered otherwise. We may keep our same views after hearing the wacky professors speak out, said Tomasi. But at least hopefully if they speak out thoughtfully, well think more clearly about our own views. Tomasi said he was on campus the morning Brown University made the decision to vote on divestment from Israel next fall in response to protesters. Some people think that was a real mistake, that it was a caving into threats to disrupt the graduation, said Tomasi. But that president said to me that she really was trying to have a conversation and dialogue and to demonstrate that they value dialogue. I think thats an edge case, you can probably see that either way, said Tomasi. Tomasi wants to see more university administrators lean into opportunities to create dialogue. He pointed toward an experience he had speaking on a panel with Utah Gov. Spencer Cox in Boulder, Colorado, in conjunction with the Disagree Better initiative. He said that more than any other institution, universities should be actively seeking for ways to disagree better. Now after this year where many campuses have dealt with encampments and protests and counterprotests, Tomasi said universities can take stock of what theyre doing and what they need to still do to foster dialogue. He said hes optimistic for the future, but university presidents need to be proactive as they lay the groundwork for conversation. At Heterodox Academy, a nonprofit committed to promoting civil discourse in higher education, Tomasi said there are three values they try to remind university presidents and leaders of: open inquiry, viewpoint diversity and constructive dialogue. Having lively, fearless conversations and discussions even angry ones should take place on universities, said Tomasi. And yet, universities arent there for any kind of expression. Were not simply free speech zones. We want these conversations for a certain purpose. The purpose is try to understand the world better. Leaders and community members in Wichita convened this month to address mental health and homelessness. (Getty Images) On May 9, something remarkable happened in Wichita, similar to other remarkable things that have happened in Lawrence, Topeka and elsewhere across Kansas in recent years. At the Century II building in downtown Wichita, elected and agency leaders Wichita Mayor Lily Wu, Sedgwick County Commission Chairman Ryan Baty, the managers of both Wichita and Sedgwick County, along with leading representatives from COMCARE and the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services stood in front of more than 1,300 people and committed to take specific local policy actions to address homelessness and mental health crises. At least one of the commitments they made, supporting the creation of a municipal Air Capital ID card, will be controversial. It may already be in the process of being walked back slightly by Wu. Still, you dont often see such public support for social justice actions from city and county leaders in Kansas. Applause and encouragement for those who brought them to the stage is much deserved. The group that brought them together and laid out the commitments is called Justice Together, a group Im proud to have been a participant in from the beginning, though I play no organizational role. In early 2023, Rabbi Andrew Pepperstone, a friend and occasional interlocutor from the Ahavath Achim Congregation here in Wichita, told me about an interfaith group coming together to move social justice issues forward. At the first meeting, I was gratified to find Louis Goseland, a Wichita-born community organizer I remembered from Sunflower Community Action and other justice-related groups from more than a decade before. He was back in Wichita as a regional coordinator from the Direct Action and Research Training Center (DART), an umbrella organization that has been working with church congregations and other community associations to apply the best lessons of religious activism to motivate members towards social justice goals. DART began in Florida in 1982, working primarily with church ministries that served the interests of senior citizens. Since that time, it been able to help build over 30 additional interfaith movements across the country, including several here in Kansas. DART was instrumental in the formation of Justice Matters in Lawrence, which has raised millions of dollars for a locally managed Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and JUMP (Justice, Unity, and Ministry Project) in Topeka, which is working to bring a mental health crisis intervention program to Shawnee County. Similar interfaith organizations, representing dozens of churches and faith-related groups, have been formed with the assistance of DART in Wyandotte and Johnson counties. In Wichita, Justice Together includes nearly 40 denominations mostly mainline Protestant, but with Catholic, Mennonite, Unitarian, Bahai and Jewish synagogues included as well. Over the past 14 months, they have worked through their church groups to develop specific plans to assist those struggling with mental health (funding to provide free bus passes for those in crisis and to pay for 24/7 on-call psychiatric help) and homelessness (sustainable funding plans for an integrated agency center and the aforementioned municipal IDs). It is those plans they asked local leaders to support, and which all committed to do so. This is DARTs method, one that theyve adapted from the history of activism in so many churches, as well as directly from the history of civil protest. Months of research, parishioner outreach, and consensus-building culminates in what they call a Nehemiah assembly, an idea taken directly from chapter five of the Bibles book of Nehemiah. In Nehemiah 5:12, the prophet Nehemiah, having heard the cries of the people for justice, presented their pleas to the nobles, rulers and priests, and took an oath of them to do as they had promised. Justice Togethers strategy, following that of similar church-based DART organizations across the country, isnt directly confrontational. Its goal is explicitly not to generate walks-outs or protests. But it does aim to generate tension. Make a well-researched and achievable case, and then publicly, in front of hundreds of newly activated religious citizens (the great majority of whom are registered and informed voters) demand action. This is the tension central to the Rev. Martin Luther Kings position, which Justice Together explicitly cites: Raise just enough heat that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. Its true that most of the plans Justice Together developed dont involve structural change. Their call for more free bus passes for those with mental health needs, more staffing for on-call psychiatric assistance and a sustainable budget plan for a Multi-Agency Center to gather resources for homeless individuals are all needed and important, but theyre not radical. In fact, nearly all of these involve projects that the city of Wichita, or the county or COMCARE already have in front of them. But the fact that Justice Together managed to elicit public support for a free municipal ID program? That is a genuinely transformative step. Having a reliable form of ID is desperately needed by many in recovery or on the streets when it comes to accessing welfare, getting housing, applying for jobs, and so much more. And it is also something that Republican leaders in Topeka have repeatedly attacked as a backdoor to legalization for undocumented immigrants, leaving aside the complication that access to state services often depends on a simple form of reliable identification. Wyandotte County introduced municipal IDs in 2022, and former Wichita mayor Brandon Whipple had pushed for his city to do the same. Both such efforts, as well as those being contemplated by other cities seeking to address this genuine need on behalf of their poorer and unhoused residents, were knee-capped by the Republican majority in the Legislature, leaving this small but crucial reform very much in limbo. Wus comments after the commitment-making assembly, in which she said her affirmation was really a commitment that we will sit together between (the) city and county to talk about this, reflects the political disagreements which lay ahead. Thus, a real test confronts Justice Together: Will the movement find a way to publicly hold city and county leaders accountable? Will they be able to push the negotiations that will have to take place so the municipal ID goal doesnt get killed by leaders fearful of blowback from ideologues? Time, as always, will tell. The groups mere existence reminds us of the long history in America of people of faith organizing on behalf of specific social justice actions. To me, its presence here in Wichita is a blessing in itself. Russell Arben Fox teaches politics at Friends University in Wichita. 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 In Wichita, a remarkable community gathering showed a path forward on challenging issues appeared first on Kansas Reflector. Widow of man shot dead in unprovoked attack on L.A. Metro bus speaks out Widow of man shot dead in unprovoked attack on L.A. Metro bus speaks out The wife of a man tragically gunned down on a Metro bus in Commerce last week is speaking out and sharing her pain over what investigators are calling a random and unprovoked murder. The fatal May 16 shooting happened just before 5 p.m. aboard a Metro bus at Slauson and Boxford avenues. Authorities say the suspect, 30-year-old Winston Apolinario Rivera, got on the bus in the 6200 block of Slauson and sat behind his victim, 32-year-old Juan Luis Gomez-Ramirez. As the bus came to a stop, the defendant allegedly walked to the rear exit, stopped behind Gomez-Ramirez, pointed a gun at his head and shot, instantly killing him, prosecutors with the L.A. County District Attorneys Office said in a news release. Sarahi Lopez, the victims widow, told KTLAs Chris Wolfe that she still feels compelled to visit the crime scene, parts of which are still stained with blood from the senseless shooting. With every day that passes, I feel more and more confused, like I dont have any answers, Lopez said in Spanish, as her attorney, Mario Acosta Jr., translated. Lopez said shes been agonizing over how the deadly incident happened, say her husband and father to their 1-year-old boy, was not the type to cause any conflict with anyone. The couple worked as special education teachers in Mexico and had arrived in Los Angeles in February for a vacation. Wanting to stay longer, but needing cash, her husband landed a job packing clothes at a Commerce warehouse not far from where the shooting occurred. Rivera was captured in the 6100 block of Peachtree Street, where he was hiding under a train, officials said. The 30-year-old has since been charged by the DAs office with murder and a special allegation that he used a firearm while committing a crime. Juan Luis Gomez-Ramirez, 32, seen here with this his 1-year-old son Elliot. (Sarahi Lopez) Juan Luis Gomez-Ramirez seen with his wife and son in this undated family photo. (Sarahi Lopez) Sarahi Lopez and her 1-year-old son, Elliot. (KTLA) Juan Luis Gomez-Ramirez and his wife, Sarahi Lopez, seen in this undated family photo. (Sarahi Lopez) I need the killer to tell me why he did what he did, Lopez said through her attorney. I want him to be punished because he ended our family. Gomez-Ramirezs killing came just hours after board members of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority held a press conference to talk about their response to a spree of high-profile violent incidents on and near buses and trains. On May 13 alone, there were two separate stabbings aboard the Metro system. In the weeks leading up to those incidents, there was a stabbing on a train that left a grandmother dead in Studio City and another that left a bus driver and passenger in South Los Angeles injured. On May 5, a driver on a Dash bus, which is operated by the city of L.A., was brutally assaulted by a homeless woman in an attack that was captured on video. In March, a transient armed with an airsoft gun hijacked a Metro bus and crashed into the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Los Angeles. Armed, dangerous attempted murder suspect wanted in Southern California The familys attorney is now working to help Lopez with immigration issues, so she can stay in the United States and participate in the trial of her husbands accused killer. The widow is considering a lawsuit against Metro and potentially other entities. In the meantime, a GoFundMe has been organized to help her and her young son get by during this terrible ordeal. 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 KTLA. The post Wildlife Rangers Blast Black Sabbaths Iron Man in Attempt to Coax Bear from Tree appeared first on Consequence. When a stubborn black bear made its way up a tree in a neighborhood in Golden, Colorado, wildlife rangers went to great lengths to get the animal from the tree safely. That included blasting Black Sabbaths Iron Man in an attempt to coax it down. As it turns out, this particular black bear, if not a fan, certainly wasnt bothered by the iconic song. According to Fox Weather, rangers with Colorado Parks and Wildlife Northeast Region were called to the neighborhood in Golden after the bear got into some trash that was left out overnight. It then climbed up a nearby tree and had no intention on leaving anytime soon. When youre out on a bear stakeout, you think its going to be all action, wildlife officials wrote via X/Twitter. You never think youre going to spend at least six hours in a car waiting on a bear to stop sleeping and climb down from a tree. And yet The bear eventually climbed down, but as the rangers attempted to steer it to safety and away from the residential area, it climbed up another tree. It was at this point that the wildlife team got a drone from the local police department to try to spook the bear from above. When this didnt work, they attempted to blare music Iron Man at the bear. Now, if he starts banging his head, weve got a problem, someone quipped in a video posted to social media. Black Sabbath were no match for the reluctant bear, who remained in the tree and convinced officials that it likely wouldnt leave until dark: We wait until nighttime and the bear finally comes down when almost all humans are gone. Wildlife officials added that residents should not leave trash overnight and that bears are cute but still very much wild animals. As for the music? Black bears dont mind Black Sabbath, they concluded. Below you can watch the news report and social media posts by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Northeast Region. When youre out on a bear stakeout, you think its going to be all action. You never think youre going to spend at least 6 hours in a car waiting on a bear to stop sleeping and climb down from a tree. And yet pic.twitter.com/ssjlPOQiMy CPW NE Region (@CPW_NE) May 15, 2024 Time to break out the tech. @GoldenCOPS help us with a drone to see if an unfamiliar noise from above would make the bear descend. pic.twitter.com/q4G4vlh4eD CPW NE Region (@CPW_NE) May 15, 2024 Wildlife Rangers Blast Black Sabbaths Iron Man in Attempt to Coax Bear from Tree Jon Hadusek Popular Posts Subscribe to Consequences email digest and get the latest breaking news in music, film, and television, tour updates, access to exclusive giveaways, and more straight to your inbox. Fatime Letifova The next plenary session of the spring session of the Milli Majlis (Parliament) has started, Azernews reports. The agenda of the meeting chaired by Sahiba Gafarova included the discussion of 11 issues. Those issues are as follows: 1. Information of the National Coordinator for the fight against human trafficking on the fight against human trafficking in Azerbaijan in 2023 2. Draft law on approval of the "Protocol on amendments to the Agreement dated April 3, 2017 on cooperation in the field of education between the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan" 3. Draft law on approving the "Agreement between the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Kazakhstan on mutual recognition of qualification diplomas of crew members of sea vessels" 4. "Rules for the operation and maintenance of the road bridge and access roads over the Samur River between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Russian Federation from the Azerbaijan-Russia state border in the territory of the Samur (Republic of Azerbaijan) - "Yarag-Gazmalar" (Russian Federation) launch points on the Agreement" bill on approval 5. The draft law on amending the "Regulation on service in customs authorities" approved by Law No. 768-IQ dated December 7, 1999 of the Republic of Azerbaijan (third reading) 6. Draft law on amending the Civil Procedure Code, the Family Code and the Law "On State Duty" (third reading) 7. Draft law on amending the law "On State Registration and State Register of Legal Entities" (third reading) 8. Draft law on amending the Labour Code and the Civil Code (third reading) 9. Draft law on amending the Tax Code (third reading) 10. Draft law on amending some laws in connection with the implementation of Law No. 1035-VIQD of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated December 5, 2023 on amending the law "On cashless settlements" 11. Draft law on amending the Code of Administrative Offences (second reading) BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The political lies and inflammatory rhetoric of the "inaugural speech" given by Taiwan's new leader, Lai Ching-te, effectively made the address a de facto "manifesto" for "Taiwan independence." Lai's words reveal his true intention of sacrificing peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait for his own desire for power. However, as the proverb goes, he who plays with fire will eventually get burned. Not only did Lai advocate the "two states" theory, asserting that the two sides of the Strait do not belong to each other, he even went as far to label the Chinese mainland "a foreign country." Observers in Taiwan are aghast that Lai has already surpassed his predecessors including Lee Teng-hui, Chen Shui-bian, and Tsai Ing-wen on the path of "Taiwan independence." Lai maliciously stoked fears of a "military threat" from the mainland. He accused the mainland of being "the greatest strategic challenge to global peace and stability" in an attempt to bind the 23 million people in Taiwan to the bandwagon of "Taiwan independence." Lai pandered to anti-China forces in the West, willingly acting as their pawn. His pursuit of foreign favor essentially involves selling out, harming, and even destroying Taiwan to gain recognition. The past eight years of sharply deteriorating cross-strait relations fully demonstrate that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)'s "Taiwan independence" position is the root cause. It appears clear that Lai intends to continue along this erroneous path, leading Taiwan further away from peace and prosperity. Obviously, he is extremely dangerous, which sparks concern on the island that he will create even greater trouble. "Taiwan independence" is the most dangerous alteration to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and the greatest disruption to regional peace. The people of Taiwan should join hands with their compatriots on the mainland, resolutely safeguard the common homeland of the Chinese nation and steer cross-strait relations back onto the correct path. China must and will be reunified. "Taiwan independence" is a countercurrent of history and its pursuit will only lead to a dead end. The realization of complete national reunification is unstoppable by any force. The mainland will never tolerate any form of "Taiwan independence" separatist act. Lai and the DPP, if they continue going on the wrong path of "Taiwan independence," will inevitably face destruction. Faculty, administrators and featured speakers sit on stage during the Bismarck State College commencement ceremony at the Bismarck Event Center on May 10, 2024. The State Board of Higher Education is discussing the future of tenure for two-year college faculty. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor) The president of Williston State College on Tuesday defended tenure at North Dakotas two-year colleges, saying it would be impossible to recruit without tenure track positions. Bernell Hirning, president of Williston State, said that in the three years he has been at the college, when interviewing faculty candidates, those candidates all have asked about tenure track positions. If that goes away at Williston, were going to struggle to get even one applicant for a position, and its already difficult, Hirning said. With Williston being in a remote area and the oil industry driving up the cost of living there, northwest North Dakota is a difficult place to recruit faculty, he said. Hirning made his comments to the State Board of Higher Education Academic and Student Affairs Committee. That committee and the board have been debating tenure in recent weeks, especially at two-year colleges. Board member Kevin Black has noted that North Dakota University System policy states that the intention of tenure is to protect academic freedom for faculty. He questioned whether faculty at two-year colleges dealing with technical courses really warrant having the protection that tenure provides. Black said Tuesday that he has gotten numerous emails about his tenure questions. He said only one email really addressed his academic freedom concerns. As we move forward through this discussion, as we move through the fall into the legislative session, I would just encourage everybody to think through that argument, Black said. If, at the end of the day, its purely or majority of it is the employment benefit, then I think, lets just be honest and have that conversation. Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Lisa Johnson pointed to written responses from the North Dakota University Systems two-year schools. She noted that those schools do offer liberal arts classes that deal with controversial topics. Technical subject areas, such as agriculture, deal with touchy subjects such as climate change. There were numerous examples that were coming out of the community colleges that had some disciplines that probably needed to be protected, Johnson said. So maybe its up to the board to decide which ones need that protection. Is it some fields and not all? There was discussion of compromise on tenure. In North Dakota, college faculty are typically eligible to apply for tenure after six years as a full-time instructor. Chancellor Mark Hagerott suggested offering three-year contracts to faculty as a way of providing some job security, instead of annual contracts. He has made the same suggestion for university presidents. There could be a compromise between lifetime employment and multi-year contracts, Hagerott said. A letter signed by academic vice presidents of four of North Dakotas five two-year schools said tenure is not a lifetime appointment without expectations or obligations. There is nothing in policy or procedure that allows tenured faculty to coast, retire in place or otherwise not fulfill the responsibilities of their position, the vice presidents wrote. Hagerott said in a May 1 presentation to a legislative committee that the University System should look at having fewer tenured faculty at the community colleges, so that the presidents have more transformability in their faculty. The committee took no action Tuesday. The committee referred to a draft report coming from an ad hoc tenure committee that will be presented to the full board as another opportunity to continue the discussion. Hirning said Williston State was proud that it has a high percentage of tenured faculty. He said that doesnt mean its easy to obtain. Of three faculty that applied for tenure this year, only one was approved by the campus administration. Well continue to be very rigorous, very strict and very careful as to how we grant tenure moving forward, he said. The post Williston State defends tenure for 2-year faculty, compromise options suggested appeared first on North Dakota Monitor. Wish the FrontRunner went further south than Provo? UTA to offer more info at public meetings SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) Utah Transit Authority has scheduled public information meetings about an upcoming project extending service of the FrontRunner further south, from Provo to Payson. At the meetings, members of the public will be given updates on the project and will be able to offer public comments before the preliminary design of the project begins. READ NEXT: Your kids can ride unlimited public transportation all summer for $50 heres how Members of the project team will be at the meetings to answer questions regarding the projects schedule, proposed locations for the new stations and what to expect during environmental review. What to know about the project As of May 2024, the FrontRunner has stations from Ogden to Provo. The extension of the FrontRunner past Provo would bring three new stations and offer service to Springville, Spanish Fork and Payson, according to UTA. The proposed extension would be primarily along UTA-owned property, according to UTA. UTA also said it is preparing for environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act as well as the preliminary design stages. The environmental study will be prepared to evaluate both the benefits and impacts of the proposed project to identify a transit solution, UTA said. According to the latest project timeline, the environmental review is expected to take place between the spring of 2024 and the summer of 2025, with the preliminary design slated for 2025. However, UTA said that there is no funding or timeline for final design and construction. Information about upcoming public meetings The public meetings where Utahns can learn more about the project and offer comments will be held in Provo, Springville, Spanish Fork and Payson. The meetings will all take place on different days, from May 22 to June 12. Payson meeting DATE: Wednesday, May 22, 2024 TIME: 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. LOCATION: Payson City Center, 439 W. Utah Ave., Payson, UT Provo meeting DATE: Tuesday, June 4, 2024 TIME: 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. LOCATION: Provo Library Young Special Events Room, 550 N. University Ave., Provo, UT Spanish Fork meeting DATE: Thursday, June 6, 2024 TIME: 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. LOCATION: Heritage Room at Library Hall, 80 S. Main St., Spanish Fork, UT Springville meeting DATE: Wednesday, June 12, 2024 TIME: 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. LOCATION: Civic Center Multipurpose Room, 110 S. Main St., Springville, UT How to contact UTA about the project If you have comments and questions about the project, you can use the following methods to contact UTA: Email: frontrunnersouthextension@rideuta.com Phone: 385-355-3133 Mail: Utah Transit Authority, C/O Megan Waters, 669 W 200 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84101 Online: FrontRunnerSouthExtension.com 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 ABC4 Utah. Sen. Bob Menendezs alleged co-conspirator in a yearslong extortion and bribery scheme ordered his legal counsel to set up a mortgage loan for the New Jersey Democrats then-girlfriend and to draft a job contract for her despite her lack of experience, a witness in the federal corruption trial testified this week. Federal prosecutors have begun to lay the foundation for their case against Menendez and his two co-defendants in a New York courtroom. Through Tuesday, they had called six witnesses an FBI special agent; a US diplomat; a former State Department employee; the lead counsel for the halal certification company owned by Wael Hana, one of Menendezs co-defendants; and the executive assistants to Hana and Fred Daibes, Menendezs other co-defendant. Both executive assistants said they were subpoenaed. Some of the witnesses have testified about a halal industry scheme in which Menendez and Hana, an Egyptian American businessman, allegedly acted as foreign agents for the Egyptian government. Its one of several accusations in the sprawling case that also involves the government of Qatar, gold bars and cash seized from the senators home, and allegations that he and his girlfriend-turned-wife took bribes in exchange for the senators influence. Menendez and Hana as well as the other co-defendant, New Jersey real estate developer Fred Daibes have pleaded not guilty. Menendezs wife, Nadine, has also pleaded not guilty and is set to go on trial in July. John Moldovan, the lead counsel for Hanas certification business IS EG Halal, testified that Hana ordered him to wire Nadine Menendez a loan to pay the outstanding debt on her home, which was at risk of foreclosure. In July 2019, Hana wired Moldovan money from IS EGs account to Moldovans personal account and ordered him to issue checks to Nadine Menendez, the lead counsel testified. Hana also asked him to write a promissory note so that Nadine Menendez would receive about $22,000 to $23,000, with a five-year term to pay back the amount in full, Moldovan testified. Moldovan said Nadine Menendez was upset and offended that Hana had a lawyer formalize the loan with a promissory note. She never signed the agreement, he testified, but she did receive the checks. Shortly after that, Moldovan testified, Hana told him he planned to give Nadine Menendez a consulting job at IS EG Halal and ordered Moldovan to prepare the job contract, which included payroll of $10,000 a month. Moldovan testified that he rarely did anything without Hanas approval. Moldovan said he drafted a contract between IS EG Halal and Strategic International Business Consultants LLC of which Nadine Menendez was president despite not having heard of the company. Moldovan said he never observed Nadine Menendez work or prepare any documents, nor did he hear of anyone speaking about her job performance for the company or other companies. Nadine Menendez never signed the IS EG job agreement, according to Moldovan. While he also said he didnt know if she got paid, prosecutors have pointed to three $10,000 checks. On cross-examination, the senators attorney, Avi Weitzman, asked Moldovan if Nadine Menendez ever mentioned she was dating the senator, to which he testified she did not. The pair later married. Trial proceedings are on pause until after Memorial Day, when Daibes executive assistant is expected to return to the witness stand. This story has been updated with additional information. CNNs Gregory Krieg contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Woman hospitalized after she was hit by a train in Miami A woman was hit by a train near a railroad crossing in Flagami on Tuesday morning. The train was heading southbound on tracks near Robert King High Park in Miamis Flagami neighborhood when the woman crossed the tracks to avoid the train, said Miami Fire Rescue Capt. Ignatius Carroll. The train was passing by an area where several people experiencing homelessness have an encampment. Carroll said the woman was still close to the tracks when the train operator spotted her, slowed down and blared the horn. The front side of the train clipped her, Carroll said. Carroll said the woman was conscious when first responders found her with a serious leg injury. She was taken to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where she is in stable condition. A woman who won a free Virgin Voyages cruise said she would have to spend $8,000 on flights to claim the prize An Australian woman who won a cruise said she would have to pay thousands of dollars to redeem it. Her Virgin Voyages cruise was canceled due to Red Sea tensions, forcing her to rebook. The cruise line offered Europe or Caribbean trips, but she said flights were too expensive. An Australian woman who won a Virgin Voyages cruise said she and her partner would have to pay a combined $8,000 for flights due to a change in the ship's itinerary. The woman, who spoke to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) under the pseudonym Morgan, said the flights to the cruise ports are more expensive than the value of the adults-only cruise. Morgan said she was traveling on a Virgin Airlines flight from Melbourne to her home in Tasmania in November when the passengers on board were told they had won a cruise. In a video shared to Virgin Voyages' Instagram account in November, a flight attendant FaceTimed with Virgin founder Richard Branson to announce the prize. "I am pleased to gift each adult on board a free Virgin Voyages cruise," Branson said. The video showed passengers excitedly cheering as flight attendants handed out cruise vouchers. It is not known if this video is from the same flight that Morgan was on. Morgan's voucher was for a twin-share cruise out of Australia or New Zealand on the cruise line's newest ship, Resilient Lady, which debuted in May 2023, as shown in a photo of the voucher published by ABC. Morgan said she was initially "thrilled" as she and her partner used the twin-share voucher to book a cruise out of Brisbane. However, in February, the cruise line announced its upcoming Australia voyages were canceled due to tensions in the Red Sea, according to ABC and The Independent. Virgin Voyages' Resilient Lady at the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Circular Quay, Sydney. Chris Putnam/Getty Images As a result, Morgan was told her only option was to redeem her voucher for a Europe or Caribbean voyage which could cost thousands in flights. Virgin Voyages has various Caribbean itineraries sailing out of San Juan and Miami, with ports in Tortola, Basseterre, St. John's, Fort-de-France, Castries, Kingstown, and Philipsburg. Morgan said two return flights from her home to the Caribbean would cost $8,000, which is more than the $7,000 value on the cruise voucher. "When I clarified this with Virgin's PR team they stopped responding," she said. ABC did not provide the dates and details of the flights Morgan referred to. According to return flights on Skyscanner viewed by Business Insider, travel from Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, to San Juan can take up to 46 hours across multiple flights. Prices for return flights varied throughout 2024 and 2025, with the most expensive being just over $2,500. Virgin Voyages' Europe cruises have itineraries in Ireland, Scotland, and the Mediterranean. Similarly, travel from Hobart to Portsmouth, a cruise port in England, can take up to 44 hours across multiple flights. BI viewed return flights from Hobart to Portsmouth as costing more than $1,200 on multiple dates throughout 2024. "We were genuinely shocked, we thought Virgin would provide us with an alternative prize like a flight credit or they would allow us to rebook on a later season," Morgan said. "They sort of gave up on us like 'you're a bit of a problem now,'" she said. The cruise line's brand could be at risk, says marketing expert "We apologise to our winners who can no longer redeem their prize due to the cancellation of Virgin Voyages' Australian and New Zealand cruises amid the conflict in the Red Sea," a spokesperson for Virgin Australia Group said in a statement obtained by BI. They added that "safety is always our number-one priority" and that Virgin Voyages had offered all impacted guests complimentary cruises on its other international sailings. Balkrushna Potdar, a marketing lecturer at the University of Tasmania, told ABC that Morgan's story could potentially damage Virgin Voyages' brand. The company could gain a reputation for using untrustworthy marketing tactics, Potdar said. Potdar said the company could make things right by "covering the cost of flights to Europe or the Caribbean." Virgin Voyages has been widely celebrated for its child-free cruises, which cater to millennial travelers. The company's first ship, Scarlet Lady, set sail in 2021 after being delayed due to the pandemic. In September 2023, Virgin Voyages announced it had secured $550 million in funding managed by the Private Equity Group of Ares Management. The funding will be used to enable the cruise line to support the brand's "rapid expansion into international markets, with a relentless focus on creating an outstanding and innovative customer experience," according to a press release. Read the original article on Business Insider RIDGEWOOD, Queens (PIX11) A worker was arrested after a robber was shot inside a Queens liquor store on Monday, authorities said. Two 20-year-old men assaulted the employee, Francisco Valerio, 53, while allegedly trying to rob the Franja Wine & Liquors store on Wyckoff Avenue in Ridgewood at around 7:45 p.m., police said. One of the suspects was shot in the abdomen during the fight, according to the NYPD. The man was taken to the hospital in critical condition and his accomplice was later apprehended, police said. Valerio was charged with reckless endangerment in connection to the incident, authorities said. His arraignment was pending Tuesday. The suspects have not yet been identified and charges were pending. Mira Wassef is a digital reporter who has covered news and sports in the New York City area for more than a decade. She joined PIX11 News in 2022. See more of her work here. 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 PIX11. A Wrongfully Convicted Black Teen was the Youngest Person Ever Executed in Pa. Now His Family Is Suing Alexander McClay Williams was wrongfully executed on June 8, 1931, for the murder of 34-year-old Vida Robare AP Photo/Matt Slocum Lawyer Joseph Marrone speaking at a news conference on May 20, 2024. The family of a teen who was wrongfully executed in 1931 filed a civil lawsuit against Delaware County on Monday, May 20 Alexander McClay Williams was a Black 16-year-old who was executed on June 8, 1931 for the murder of 34-year-old Vida Robare Williams was coerced into confessing despite never being seen near the crime scene. He has since been exonerated The family of a teen who was executed in Pennsylvania in 1931 has filed a lawsuit seeking damages. According to NBC 10, Alexander McClay Williams who was Black and 16 years old at the time of his execution is the youngest person to be put to death in the state. The outlet reports that the lawyers of Williams family announced on Monday, May 20, that they would be filing a civil rights lawsuit against Delaware County. This was the county that prosecuted him in 1931, according to WHYY-PBS. "They murdered him, Williams' only surviving sibling Susie Williams Carter, 94, of Chester, said at a press conference on May 20, per WHYY-PBS. They need to pay for killing my brother. According to the outlet, Philadelphia lawyer Joseph Marrone filed the federal lawsuit against Delaware County on Friday, May 17. The lawsuit was also filed against the estates of a prosecutor and two detectives who were on the case. This tragedy haunted the family, haunted the parents, haunted Susie, haunted [trial lawyer] William Ridley and his family, Marrone said, per the outlet. There was nothing to connect him to the murder. He was a convenient Black boy at the hands of these detectives and this prosecutor." This news comes after Williams conviction was overturned in 2022 with an order for a retrial, per The New York Times. PEOPLE has contacted Delaware County for comment. 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. AP Photo/Matt Slocum Lawyer Joseph Marrone speaking at a news conference on May 20, 2024. Williams was convicted of murdering a White 34-year-old woman named Vida Robare. Vida worked at the Glen Mills School for Boys, where the teen attended. NBC 10 reports that Vida's ex-husband Fred Robare who also worked at the school found her dead in her cottage on the school premises on October 3, 1930. She had been stabbed 47 times. According to NBC 10 and The New York Times, there were no witnesses to Vida's murder and Williams was coerced into confessing despite never being seen at the crime scene. However, the evidence reportedly pointed to a different culprit: Vida's ex-husband. Court records stated Vida filed for divorce from Fred, citing "extreme cruelty," per NBC 10. Despite there being no evidence that connected Williams to the crime, the teen was tried in front of an all-White jury and sentenced to death by the electric chair after being convicted of first-degree murder. He was executed on June 8, 1931, four months after the murder of Vida. Dr. Sam Lemon the great-grandson of Williams defense lawyer William Ridley spent decades alongside Williams sister Carter, fighting for the teen's innocence. According to The Washington Post, Lemon visited the crime scene, examined court and genealogical records and examined Williams psyche by commissioning a psychological autopsy. Meanwhile, Lemon went on to discover that Vida's death certificate had been forged and Williams was listed as an adult on his certificate instead of a minor, per NBC 10. Williams was posthumously exonerated in 2022 by Gov. Tom Wolf, WHYY-PBS reports. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. AURORA, Ill. A 97-year-old World War II veteran will be the Grand Marshal of Auroras Memorial Day Parade. Richard Dick Miller will be presented Tuesday with a mayoral proclamation and his Grand Marshals sash. He graduated in 1944 from East Aurora High School and enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Miller was on the U.S.S. Drexler the day it was destroyed by Japanese kamikaze planes. He was rescued by a pilot after spending a couple of hours in the water with black oil sputtering all around him. Miller discharged in 1946 and served in the Navy Reserve for the next five years. He ended up working for the U.S. Post Office and raised two children with his late wife Dorothy. It wasnt in vain: 98-year-old local World War II vet receives Frances Legion of Honor His biography is below, per the City of Aurora. Born in Aurora on June 26, 1926, Dick Miller attended St. Paul School and East Aurora High School. Upon graduation, he enlisted in the United States Navy in 1944. He was stationed in Pearl Harbor before being deployed on the destroyer ship U.S.S. Drexler, which headed for the staging area for the Battle of Okinawa, the bloodiest battle of the war in the Pacific. The invasion began on April 1, 1945, and on May 28, 1945, the U.S.S. Drexler was destroyed after kamikaze planes crashed into it. I was a spotter for Japanese kamikaze planes, Miller said. We were hit twice, and the second one blew our ship to pieces and propelled us into the ocean. Nearly 160 people on board were killed, and another 52 were wounded, including Miller. Keeping himself afloat by holding onto an empty canister, he spent a couple of hours in the water with black oil splashing into his eyes, nose, and mouth. Swallowing it could have been fatal. A pilot searching for survivors eventually rescued him, and he was transported to a hospital in Pearl Harbor. The war in the Pacific ended while he was recovering in the hospital. Miller was discharged in April 1946 and returned home to Illinois, and joined the Navy Reserve for an additional five years. Like so many heroes of our Greatest Generation, he settled into quiet civilian life after the war. He married his high school sweetheart and began a three-decades-long career at the US Post Office. He and his late wife, Dorothy, raised two children and have two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. At nearly 98, Miller is still active in veterans causes in the community and frequently speaks in local schools and civic groups about his experiences. 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 WGN-TV. Western Washington University police are investigating a hate crime possibly linked to an ongoing campus protest against the war in Gaza. A Jewish student who was wearing a Star of David necklace told WWU police and The Bellingham Herald that they were spat upon and followed to their dorm on Friday. The victim, who is not being named, said the attack happened as they were walking past the protesters. (Protesters) were chanting in Arabic that the entire land is exclusively Arab land. They were chanting to kick out Zionists from (WWU) and specifically the Ethnic Student Center, the victim told The Herald in a text message. Zionism is the belief in Jewish self-determination in their ancestral homeland of Israel, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The student said they had simply been walking past the protest, where about 500 to 600 people rallied in favor of a student employees union and for a series of demands that Gaza protesters gave to WWU President Sabah Randhawa last week. I was also yelled at by multiple individuals who repeatedly screamed shame. Keep in mind I didnt speak a word to them the whole time. I didnt realize the antisemitism was so prevalent until yesterday, the victim said. At their website, WWU police said the incident is under investigation as a fourth-degree assault and malicious harassment, which is a hate crime and a class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison. University spokesman Jonathan Higgins said a thorough university investigation is under way, receiving our full care and attention. It was reported to police and to WWUs Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance and student support professionals were reaching out to the victim, Higgins said. While we do not have confirmation that this antisemitic act was committed by any of our encampment protesters, our student services team, which includes staff focused on de-escalation, addressed expectations with demonstrators on Friday immediately after the incident. The team continues to clearly communicate that this behavior was and is unacceptable, and we will continue engaging with the encampment to reinforce expectations, Higgins told The Herald in an email. Hateful speech, including antisemitism and Islamophobia, is inimical to WWUs values. Any violence or harassing behavior will be directly dealt with by the University Police Department and the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance, he said. Are you listening? and Free Palestine are written in chalk on the bricks at Red Square in a screenshot from a live video stream on May 9 at the campus of Western Washington University. In addition, several incidents of vandalism have been reported to WWU police since the Gaza protest camp, a tent camp on the lawn between Old Main and Viking Union, started May 14. Free Palestine was painted outside Viking Union and the Performing Arts Center; Free Palestine and All eyes on Rafah were painted in Fairhaven Tunnel; and Popular University for Gaza was written on the brickwork outside Wilson Library. At their website, WWU police reported graffiti in Red Square and damage to Fisher Fountain. Free Palestine was written in chalk on the brick walkway, according to a screenshot last week from a camera overlooking Red Square. WWU officials werent immediately able to provide information about the cost and nature of damage to the fountain, but a Herald readers email said the fountain had been filled with red dye. The incident was listed on the police log as second-degree malicious mischief, which under state law involves damage over $750 and is a class C felony. The fountain will be closed until commencement week, Higgins said. Several college and university campuses across the U.S. have seen similar protest camps in recent weeks as the war in Gaza continues, sparked by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that killed 1,200 civilians in Israel, including 45 Americans. An estimated 35,000 Gazans, including many women and children, have been killed in the fighting. Hamas which the U.S. and other nations classify as a terrorist organization still holds more than 100 hostages. LONDON, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The United Kingdom's (UK) Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologized for the infected blood scandal on behalf of successive governments on Monday and declared it was a "day of national shame." Addressing the House of Commons following the publication of the inquiry, Sunak said: "I want to make a whole-hearted and unequivocal apology for this terrible injustice." He also promised to pay "comprehensive compensation" to those infected and those affected by the scandal. "Whatever it costs to deliver this scheme, we will pay it," he said, adding that details will be set out on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, a damning 2,527-page inquiry concluded that the contaminated blood scandal in the UK which has caused more than 3,000 deaths, "could largely, though not entirely, have been avoided." The report said that "a catalogue of failures" by successive governments and doctors caused the "calamity," in which tens of thousands of patients with haemophilia and other bleeding disorders were infected with HIV and hepatitis viruses after receiving infected blood and blood products between the 1970s and early 1990s. "It may also be surprising that the questions why so many deaths and infections occurred have not had answers before now," the report said. The scandal has been called "the worst treatment disaster" in the history of Britain's National Health Service (NHS). The report also revealed that there has been "a hiding of much of the truth" by the government and the NHS "to save face and to save expense." Such a cover-up was "not in the sense of a handful of people plotting in an orchestrated conspiracy to mislead, but in a way that was more subtle, more pervasive and more chilling in its implications," it said. The scandal was linked to supplies of a clotting factor imported from the United States, which used blood from high-risk paid donors. The government announced the establishment of a UK-wide public inquiry in 2017 to examine the circumstances that led to individuals being given contaminated blood and blood products. In 2022, the government made interim compensation payments of 100,000 British pounds (about 127,000 U.S. dollars) to about 4,000 infected individuals and bereaved partners who were registered with the country's infected blood support schemes. Wyoming man allegedly passed out in vehicle with gun, arrested by Tehachapi police BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) A vehicle with its hazard lights flashing got the attention of Tehachapi police, leading to the arrest of a Wyoming man suspected of illegally possessing a loaded firearm, officials said. The Tehachapi Police Department said officers were called to the 1100 West Tehachapi Boulevard on May 17 for a report of suspicious vehicle. According to the department, officers found a the vehicle with its hazard lights on and a man passed out in the drivers seat. Officers spoke with the man and said they noticed a gun wedged in between the drivers seat and center console. Tehachapi police identified the man as Christopher Whisenant, 42. He was taken into custody after a search of the vehicle. Officials said Whisenant was allegedly in possession of additional ammunition and high-capacity magazines. Whisenant is a previously convicted felon and barred from owning or possessing a firearm or ammunition, police said. Whisenant was booked into the Kern County Jail on suspicion of driving under the influence or narcotics and other weapons charges, police said. Whisenant was not listed as in custody Monday evening, and no charges were filed against him according to court records. Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the Tehachapi Police Department at 661-822-2222. 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 KGET 17. Faculty and administrators protest the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, during the commencement at Yale University Faculty and administrators protest the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, during the commencement at Yale University (This May 20 story has been corrected to read 'communities in Israel' instead of 'Jewish settlements' in paragraph 7) By Michelle McLoughlin and Steve Gorman NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (Reuters) - Scores of graduating students staged a walkout from Yale University's commencement exercises on Monday, protesting the Israeli war in Gaza, Yale's financial ties to weapons makers and its response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the Ivy League campus. The walkout began as Yale President Peter Salovey started to announce the traditional college-by-college presentation of candidates for degrees on the grounds of Yale's Old Campus, filled with thousands of graduates in their caps and gowns. At least 150 students seated near the front of the audience stood up together, turned their backs to the stage and paraded out of the ceremony through Phelps Gate, retracing their steps during the processional into the yard. Many of the protesters carried small banners with such slogans as "Books not bombs" and "Divest from war." Some wore red-colored latex gloves symbolizing bloodied hands. Other signs read: "Drop the charges" and "Protect free speech" in reference to 45 people arrested in a police crackdown last month on demonstrations in and around the New Haven, Connecticut, campus. The walkout drew a chorus of cheers from fellow students in the crowd, but the protest was otherwise peaceful, without disruption. No mention of it was made from the stage. Yale is one of dozens of U.S. campuses roiled by protests over the mounting Palestinian humanitarian crisis stemming from Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip following the bloody Oct. 7 cross-border attack on communities in Israel by Hamas militants. The University of Southern California canceled its main graduation ceremony altogether, and dozens of students walked out of Duke University's commencement last week to protest its guest speaker, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who has supported Israel throughout the war in Gaza. ACADEMIC WORKERS STRIKE UC SANTA CRUZ Fallout from a violent attack weeks ago on pro-Palestinian activists encamped at the University of California, Los Angeles, reverberated on the UC Santa Cruz campus on Monday as academic workers there staged a protest strike organized by their union. Also on Monday, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Dartmouth College, an Ivy League university in New Hampshire, narrowly voted to censure president Sian Beilock, according to a college spokesperson, for her decision to call in police to dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment on May 1. The censure vote does not directly endanger Beilock's job. The police action resulted in the arrest of 89 people and some injuries. Much of the student activism has been aimed at academic institutions' financial ties with Israel and U.S. military programs benefiting the Jewish state. Protests in sympathy with Palestinians have in turn been branded by pro-Israel supporters as antisemitic, testing the boundaries between freedom of expression and hate speech. Many schools have called in police to quell the demonstrations. At UC Santa Cruz on Monday, hundreds of unionized academic researchers, graduate teaching assistants and post-doctoral scholars went on strike to protest what they said were the university's unfair labor practices in its handling of pro-Palestinian demonstrations. The strikers are members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 4811, which represents some 2,000 grad students and other academic workers at UC Santa Cruz, and about 48,000 total across all 10 University of California campuses and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Last week, the UAW 4811 rank-and-file voted to authorize union leaders to organize a series of "standup" strikes through the end of June on individual or groups of UC campuses rather than across the entire university. The Santa Cruz strike marked the first union-backed protest in solidarity with the recent wave of pro-Palestinian student activists, whose numbers, according to the UAW, include graduate students arrested at several University of California campuses. Union leaders said a major impetus for the strike was the arrest of 210 people at the scene of a pro-Palestinian protest camp torn down by police at UCLA on May 2. The night before, a group of pro-Israel supporters physically attacked the encampment and its occupiers in a melee that went on for at least three hours before police moved in to quell the disturbance. The university has since opened an investigation of the incident. The strikers also are demanding amnesty for grad students who were arrested or face discipline for their involvement in the protests. UC Santa Cruz issued a statement saying campus entrances were briefly blocked in the morning by demonstrators, prompting the school to switch to remote instruction for the day. The University of California has filed its own unfair labor practice complaint with the state Public Employee Relations Board asking the state to order a halt to the strike. (Reporting by Michelle McLoughlin in New Haven, Connecticut and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California; Editing by Richard Chang) Abigail Biebers parents still sometimes break down sobbing at the hardware store or while grocery shopping. They feel her loss at family dinners and when they pass a photo of her in her deputys uniform. Biebers older brothers say they think of her as they put on their own police uniforms before going out on duty. Its been more than two years since Bieber was killed in a murder-suicide by her boyfriend, a fellow Hillsborough sheriffs deputy named Daniel Leyden. Biebers death so sudden, so violent has challenged her familys trust of the Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office. Family members now say they are at odds with Sheriff Chad Chronister over how his agency responded after Biebers death and how the organization handled an incident involving Leydens previous girlfriend years earlier. A spokesperson from the department told the Tampa Bay Times that the office sympathizes with the Bieber family and that the organization, too, feels her absence every day. The Biebers say that isnt enough. Abigails father, Bruce, says the family knows how common officer-involved domestic violence is nationally. They worry the agency isnt looking into how to better watch for problems with their deputies. Its like they just want it to go away, Bruce said. The search for answers Abigail Bieber had been dating Leyden for eight months when the couple and four other off-duty deputies headed to St. Augustine on vacation in January 2022. Abigails mother, Sarah, said her daughter told her that she was considering breaking up with Leyden because he was trying to move too fast in the relationship. Other deputies who went on the trip later told her family that, rather than share a bedroom with Leyden, she spent nights sleeping on a couch at the Airbnb. It was a Saturday night on Jan. 29, 2022, when the other deputies in the house said they heard Leyden and Bieber yelling in a closed room, according to a St. Johns County Sheriffs Office report. The report said the deputies, who hid in a bedroom closet while calling 911, heard Bieber say, put the gun down, and the sound of gunshots. An autopsy report found that Bieber was shot three times in the head before Leyden shot himself. Parts of her fingers were blown off, indicating that she tried to protect herself. Abigails brothers joined other law enforcement in a cross-state procession organized by the Hillsborough sheriffs office. Sarah Bieber wept as she, Bruce and Abigails German shepherd, Louie, met the hearse. It was then that Bruce said a deputy revealed a 2016 incident between Leyden and a former girlfriend, Chynna Ratner. Bruce said the deputy told him that he and others felt uneasy about Leyden after that incident, and that the deputy told Bruce he thought Leyden should have lost his job. According to a July 3, 2016, incident report, four sheriffs deputies, including a supervisor, arrived at an apartment after Leyden called to report concerns that Ratner ran over his foot when he tried to stop her from driving drunk. The two had recently broken up but were still speaking. Ratner had gone to a party at her friends house and was out later than Leyden wanted her to be, she said in the report. Leyden called Ratners cellphone 17 times, the report said, then showed up at her house. When Ratner got home around 1:30 a.m. and realized Leyden was there, she tried to drive away, the report said. Leyden wouldnt let her, putting his foot behind her back tire. She cried as she told deputies she felt Leyden was being controlling and had punched her car window and hood hard enough that she worried the window would break. The report said a DUI deputy detected alcohol on Ratners breath but determined that she was not drunk, and noted that Leyden had glassy eyes and smelled of alcohol. The deputy did not put either through sobriety tests. Deputies noted that Leyden didnt seem injured. They gave Ratner a victims rights pamphlet. Leyden took an Uber home. A Hillsborough sheriffs detective reviewed the case and spoke with an assistant state attorney, and decided against charging Leyden or Ratner. Yet, while the agencys policies state that allegations of deputies involved in criminal misconduct require administrative investigation, no records showing further internal investigation were provided to the Times nor included in Leydens personnel file. His file does include two letters of reprimand for crashing agency vehicles. Asked why there was no internal affairs investigation, the sheriffs office told the Times in an email this month that because it determined that no crime occurred, there was no catalyst for an administrative investigation. What Ratner did shortly after Abigail Biebers death suggests that there may have been more that leadership could have looked into. She posted a video to social media, saying that Leyden had physically and mentally abused her while they were together. She said he followed her home after they separated, put a gun to her head, beat her and sexually assaulted her. Bruce Bieber saw the video first. Then he talked to the rest of the family about it. They were stunned. The family set up meetings with Hillsborough sheriff leadership. Bruce Bieber said Chronister told him he would look into it and see if more should have been done. Deputies reinterviewed Ratner in February 2022 but noted in an internal affairs document that she didnt make any allegations beyond what she said in the video. Deputies said she couldnt be reached a second time. Internal affairs deputies decided that because Leyden was dead, an administrative investigation could not be opened. In an interview with the Times, Ratner said she doesnt trust the Hillsborough sheriffs office for letting Leyden keep his job after the 2016 incident and said she felt like deputies didnt believe her when she was approached again in 2022. She said deputies didnt try to contact her again after that. She said she thinks Chronister and top officials didnt pursue an investigation into how the administration handled Leyden because it would have shown negligence. They could have stopped this back then and they didnt, Ratner said. Abigails brothers, Ben and Daniel Bieber, who both have handled domestic violence cases as local police officers, said an internal affairs investigation into Leyden should have been launched in 2016. A law enforcement consultant who specializes in domestic violence cases, Mark Wynn, said Hillsborough deputies should have done more before and after Biebers death. Deputies should have conducted a more thorough interview with Leyden at the scene, said Wynn, a former officer with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. They then should have followed up with an internal investigation, he said, adding that Leyden should have had his gun taken from him and undergone a psychological evaluation to determine his fitness for the job. Its absolutely disgraceful, Wynn said. As an agency, what can you even say to the family of Abigail when you didnt take the proper steps to address this problem? Wynn said that when Ratner came forward after Abigail Biebers death, the agency should have launched an internal review of its policies. Picking up the pieces The last text exchange between Bruce Bieber and Chronister was on the first anniversary of his daughters death. Bieber asked Chronister why he didnt reach out that day and why the agency didnt say anything publicly. He asked Chronister if he thought the family was now a shameful embarrassment. The only shameful thing here is that you rushed to judgment and made such a crazy and misguided assumption, Chronister wrote. The loss of Abigail isnt one that only you and your family have shouldered and endured. Youve made it abundantly clear over the past several months that youre looking to pacify your anger by blaming someone besides the person who did this but please, dont place it here. Chronister, who was not sheriff in 2016 but was appointed in 2017, declined an interview with the Times. Hes seeking reelection this year. Bruce Bieber said hes focused now on getting more training about officer-involved domestic violence to law enforcement agencies. He said he is reaching out to reporters and documentarians and networking with experts, victims families and advocates. Research over the past few decades shows that reported domestic violence incidents involving law enforcement officers occur at a much higher rate than the general public. Sarah Bieber said the family wants to keep her daughters memory alive. She was best friends with her daughter. They saw each other regularly and texted all the time. She cries when she talks about her vibrant personality and about how she befriended outcasts at school and made a big deal out of birthdays and anniversaries. Without her daughter, Sarah Bieber said shes living a different life. She said the family wants Abigails name to be remembered and for change to come out of what happened to her in the way law enforcement responds to domestic violence. We have to be her voice, she said. Year's hottest Saturday brought grand opening of new indoor playground in Boynton Beach BOYNTON BEACH Luz Kayani likes to bounce. I love the trampoline and the bounce house. Theyre my favorites, said the 11-year-old, one of dozens of giggling, running and laughing children at Saturday mornings grand opening of Sky Zone. About 170 people were waiting for the doors to open at 9 a.m. at Catalina Shoppes on North Congress Avenue in Boynton Beach. The first 100 entered free, said General Manager Sway Ford. After doffing their shoes for orange grip socks etched with Have Fun, Fly Safe children took to the indoor playground to enjoy dodgeball, zip lines, king-of-the-hill, blanket slides and other rides supervised by the 71 Sky Zone employees. If kids can walk, they can jump, said Ford. Tanner Rinaman, 10, of Lantana, goes airborne during a dodge ball clash at Sky Zone Trampoline Park grand opening Saturday May 18, 2024 in Boynton Beach. Grand Tasting comes to Boynton Beach: City is hosting its first food and wine festival Center is indoor play company's fourth site in southern Florida The outdoor playground is the 18th for Sky Zone. Started in 2004, the Utah-based company operates about 270 parks in the United States. Palm Springs, Fort Lauderdale and Port St. Lucie are nearby locations. We offer unique attractions at our parks that not only promote fun for visitors of all ages, but also inspire our guests to move their bodies, connect with friends and family and make unforgettable memories, said Rachel Layton Smith, Sky Zone' vice president of marketing. Eight-year-old Ryan Shapiro agreed. I like falling off the swing and landing on the soft ground. Then I went on all the other rides, said the Boynton Beach resident. Party room at Sky Zone Trampoline Park during grand opening Saturday May 18, 2024 in Boynton Beach. The colorful, high-ceilinged building has rooms that can be reserved for birthday parties and other events on the second floor. The Fuel Zone sells pizza, ice cream and soft drinks. High-top tables with charging stations allow parents to get work done while their children play. Several parents said Sky Zone is a welcome refuge for their children, especially on hot summer days like Saturday. I like that you can sit at a table and see all the activity all around you, said Lisa Shapiro, Ryans mother. HOA news: Age-old fencing for residents' dogs runs afoul of new homeowners association president Studies see health benefits of vigorous activity for children Such activities are important for children to encourage more physical activity, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The department recommends children and adolescents ages 6 through 17 do one hour or more of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily. Physical activity also has brain health benefits for school-aged children, including improved cognition and reduced symptoms of depression. Regular physical activity in childhood can prevent heart disease, obesity and Type 2 diabetes, according to the department. IF YOU GO What: Sky Zone indoor playground Where: Catalina Shoppes, 1729 N. Congress Ave., Boynton Beach. Cost: $25.99 for 90 minutes, $29.00 for all day. Monthly memberships are available for families and individuals. Hours: Sunday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Details: Customers can rent a portion of the park or the entire facility. Requirements: All guests must sign a waiver online or upon entry. A parent or guardian must sign a waiver on behalf of jumpers under the age of 18. Contact: skyzone.com, Ph. 561-295-4646 This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Indoor playground in Boynton opens on year's hottest Saturday morning FILE PHOTO: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said there was a possibility Group of Seven nations would support Ukraine by as much as $50 billion using loans linked to seized Russian assets, Sky News reported on Tuesday. "I believe it's important for the G7 to work together to show a united front and to show that we can generate meaningful resources to support Ukraine over the next several years," she told Sky News. "While America stands behind Ukraine and I expect Congress, if necessary, will pass future packages, Ukraine has substantial needs and being able to marshal significant resources to help Ukraine is important." Asked if it might be possible to provide a loan of around $40 billion to $50 billion, she said: "Yes, I think that's a possibility." (Reporting by Sarah Young, writing by William James; Editing by Kate Holton and David Milliken) NEW YORK (PIX11) The presidents of New York Citys three public library systems passionately pleaded with the City Council on Tuesday to reverse the proposed $58.3 million in budget cuts. Linda Johnson of Brooklyn Public Library, Tony Marx of New York Public Library, and Dennis Walcott of Queens Public Library warn that this would have a devastating impact on vital services. New York Citys libraries are facing the most significant cuts we have seen in years, stated Johnson, underscoring the severe consequences the Brooklyn system alone would face from a proposed $16.2 million reduction, equivalent to 13% of its operating budget. More Local News Johnson outlined how these cuts would force drastic measures like: Cutting hours to five days a week at over half of Brooklyns locations Diminishing collections and programming by a third or more Slashing hiring and eliminating 146 public-facing positions Canceling 25% of database subscriptions Increasing wait times for books by 30% The proposed budget threats come as libraries report soaring demand as they rebound from the pandemic. According to Johnson, visits, programs, and new card applications are all up over 40%. Instead of rising to meet this increased demand, we are forced to reduce programming, Johnson lamented, listing reductions like 50% fewer citizenship classes and creative aging classes for seniors. Due to mid-year budget cuts imposed by the City in November, the New York Public Library system was already forced to eliminate Sunday service at all locations. At Tuesdays City Council Finance Committee hearing, all three library presidents were questioned about the proposed cuts impact on services. Have you had to close any branches because of the cuts? asked Councilmember Carlina Rivera. Is there a number thats not an aspiration, a number that would make you feel whole in terms of what youve lost? Councilmember Justin Brannan inquired. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now PIX11 News Headlines This comes after all three systems rallied supporters on the City Hall steps last week and called for the full $58.3 million restoration. Were here saying, enough is enough and restore our budget to its full level and beyond, declared Walcott. Lets change the conversation. No more talk about cuts. Lets talk about investing in libraries, urged Marx. As the City Council continues to deliberate on the final budget, the three presidents warned that the future of accessible library services for all New Yorkers hangs in the balance. 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 PIX11. If you're not making progress in therapy, you might be intellectualizing your emotions. Here are 3 signs, according to a therapist. If you're not making progress in therapy, you might be intellectualizing your emotions. Here are 3 signs, according to a therapist. The label 'intellectualizer' describes people who analyze emotions, rather than feeling them. It's a coping strategy from childhood environments where expressing feelings felt unsafe. Intellectualizers often feel disconnected, appear calm but struggle internally, experts say. The label 'intellectualizer' has taken off on TherapyTok to describe a person who understands their unhelpful patterns, but can't change them. You could be one if you have trouble accessing your emotions. According to Trisha Wolfe, a Michigan-based therapist who specializes in developmental trauma, it's a coping strategy that people can develop during childhood in response to an environment where expressing feelings doesn't feel safe. It's known in therapy circles and online as intellectualizing and can lead to problems like feeling disconnected from others, feeling empty, and difficulty feeling present in the moment, she told Business Insider. Although he never used the term himself, the idea comes from Freud's theory that some people separate their thinking mind from their emotional experience as a defense mechanism, she said. A child may start intellectualizing their feelings rather than allowing themself to feel them if, for example, they had very emotionally reactive parents whom they felt they had to walk on eggshells around. It could also be a strategy to avoid being bullied or reprimanded by authority figures or peers by only showing emotions that they deem acceptable. In essence, it means rather than feeling your emotions in your body, you retreat into your mind to think or reason your way out of them, Wolfe said. You might fixate on understanding why you're feeling this way, why the upsetting situation has occurred, and what you can rationally do to resolve it. She shared three signs that you might be intellectualizing your feelings and how you can start to feel safe enough to feel them. You're pragmatic and want to understand the why behind everything Intellectualizers approach things through a logical, rational lens, Wolfe said. They tend to deal with challenging situations by analyzing, making lists, and creating a plan of action. If, for example, an intellectualizer's loved one dies, they might throw themselves into planning the funeral and sorting out their estate rather than crying and grieving. Sometime later, they may experience a flood of emotion, Wolfe said, but it will likely feel so overwhelming that it's shortlived and triggers them back into intellectualizing. Resorting to books and spreadsheets to resolve their emotional problems is also common for intellectualizers, she said. In one viral TikTok that has 260,000 likes at the time of writing, a therapist impersonates an intellectualizer who says she understands "the why behind everything she feels and does," but can't move past it. Her way of coping is through extensive research. She even jokes that she considered going to school to study therapy not because she wanted to work in mental health, but because she could learn as much as possible about the different types of therapy and how the brain works. You appear calm and put together but don't feel that way on the inside People who are intellectualizers typically appear put together and calm, Wolfe said. "They look so well and so smart and so intelligent, they never show that anything is wrong," she said. This is similar to people with high-functioning depression or anxiety, whose lives often seem perfect on the outside. That might be why Wolfe said it's common for an intellectualizer client to come to her after they've "graduated" from another type of therapy, but say they still feel stuck in their old patterns. "These therapists are saying, ' You're good, and you're done, ' but they still don't feel right. They still can't connect, or feel their emotions, or be present," she said. People with these tendencies may have trouble with therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy because they involve analyzing thoughts and behaviorssomething they've already spent much of their lives doing. "They'll come in, the therapist will say, here's this CBT worksheet, now go look at how your thoughts impact your behaviors. And they're thinking, I already know how my thoughts impact my behaviors. I already understand that, but what am I supposed to do about it?" she said. Wolfe recommends therapies that focus on feeling bodily sensations and integrating different parts of yourself, such as Internal Family Systems or the Neuro Affective Relational Model. "The goal of therapy shouldn't be to force you to feel your feelings. The goal of therapy should be to support when you're feeling safe enough that you want to feel your feelings." You feel emotionally disconnected from people and things in your life Feeling a sense of emptiness or disconnection could be a sign you're intellectualizing your feelings. "You can think about your life and you can think, this is my five-year plan and I'm going to be getting married, I'm going to be getting this job, I'm buying a house, I'm putting money in my 401k, but you never actually feel this sense of happiness, joy, connection to what you're doing in your life," she said. You may also feel disconnected from the people around you and as if you're putting on a role or wearing a mask in conversations. You're responding normally but you don't feel fully authentic or present because you're thinking too much and you're "stuck in your head." "You have what you want in your life. You have friends, you understand things, but you feel a little bit empty," she said. Intellectualizing is a protective strategy, not a fault It's important to remember that intellectualization is an adaptive protective strategy, and separate from who you are as a person, Wolfe said. "It is a way that you protected yourself and kept yourself safe for whatever reason in your life. There isn't anything wrong with you if you are an intellectualizer." Although it's a challenging place to be and it can feel hopeless, Wolfe said she has seen many people learn to feel their feelings safely. It just takes time and practice, she said. Read the original article on Business Insider Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has once again emphasized his country's urgent need for air defence weapons. Ukraine most urgently needs more air defence systems and Western fighter jets, Zelensky said in his daily video address on Monday evening. "Unfortunately, the free world lacks speed on these two issues," he said, adding that, due to its air superiority, Russia is able to destroy Ukrainian cities and defence positions with glide bombs. According to Zelensky, the Russians actively used destructive tactics on the front lines near Kharkiv and in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk in the direction of Chasiv Yar and Pokrovsk. Zelensky had already requested the delivery of two additional Patriot air defence systems several times in recent days. He said that this would provide better protection for Kharkiv, which has been repeatedly attacked from the air. The city in north-east Ukraine is one of the hardest hit by the war. The fighter jets also mentioned by Zelensky were promised to Ukraine a year ago. However, according to official information, the F-16s have still not arrived. According to experts, the generally long delivery times of weapons from the West are allowing Russia to prepare for the new weapons. Zelensky on legitimacy dispute: My term is not over yet President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a May 20 interview with Reuters he had to continue serving as president due to martial law. "My five-year term is not over yet," Zelensky told Reuters. "It is continuing due to martial law." If martial law had not been imposed, the next presidential election would have been held on March 31, 2024, and Zelenskys term would have ended on May 20. But Ukraine introduced martial law after Russia launched its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. The Martial Law Act explicitly bans presidential, parliamentary, and local elections. Some of Zelensky's critics claim that the Constitution does not authorize extending his presidential term under martial law. They argue that he ceased to be a legitimate president on May 20. However, leading constitutional lawyers dispute this claim, saying that the Constitution allows such an extension. Read also: Zelenskys term would have expired this month, but hes staying. Russia wants to use it Zelensky also said that "it is difficult to assess my activities during these five years" and that "it would not be that ethical now." Zelensky said he is happy to be the president of a nation that has not shunned hazards and risks. Sign up for our newsletter Ukraine Weekly By Olga Rudenko Sign up "They (Ukrainians) were fighting for what was close to their hearts. But it is not over, and this is not the end of the story. I believe we need to be moving forward together till the end, the victorious end," he said. In March, Zelensky said in an interview with Italian media outlet Rai 1 that the presidential elections had to be postponed, as holding elections under martial law requires changes in Ukraine's legislation. The president also said the Ukrainian government had to ensure the conditions for 7 million Ukrainians to vote abroad, as well as for the soldiers who are serving on the front line. In May, Zelensky signed into law the extension of martial law and general mobilization from May 14 to August 11. Read also: Every Western decision is late by a year, says Zelensky Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Zelensky: Situation in Donetsk Oblast difficult but there is military success in Kharkiv Oblast The situation on the front line in the direction of Pokrovsk, Kramatorsk, and Kurakhove in Donetsk Oblast remains extremely difficult, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his May 21 evening address. He added, however, that Ukrainian forces are successfully destroying Russian troops in Kharkiv Oblast. Russia launched a new offensive with a reported 30,000 troops on May 10, targeting Kharkiv Oblast, which is situated near the two countries' shared border in northeastern Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russian forces continue to push further in Donetsk Oblast, apart from the Kharkiv offensive. The situation is reportedly tense in the area, as Russian troops constantly try to break through. In mid-May, the Russian military carried out from 10 to 20 assaults per day in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, according to Nazar Voloshyn, the spokesperson of the Khortytsia group of forces. Zelensky received military reports from Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, and General Staff Chief Anatolii Barhylevych on May 21. "The Pokrovsk direction and other Donetsk directions Kramatorsk and Kurakhove remain extremely difficult," the president said. Read also: Every Western decision is late by a year, says Zelensky Zelensky also recalled the 22nd Ramstein-format summit of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG), which occurred the day prior. Zelensky said all partners were informed about Ukraine's urgent needs, including air defense systems, armored infantry vehicles, and shells. After six months of political infighting and delays, the U.S. passed a long-awaited $61 billion aid package in April, with much of it covering military aid. During the six-month break in aid, Ukraine lost the key front-line city of Avdiivka in February amid a severe ammunition shortage. Ukraine's shortage of air defense has also been felt as Russia intensified its strikes all over the country, mainly targeting energy infrastructure. Russian strikes against Ukraine's energy infrastructure have cost the state over $1 billion in damages, according to the Energy Ministry. Read also: Opinion: Will the renewed US support for Ukraine be enough? Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. People take part in a demonstration in demand for an immediate hostage release deal and a general election outside the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, on May 20, 2024. Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage. (Photo by Jamal Awad/Xinhua) People take part in a demonstration in demand for an immediate hostage release deal and a general election outside the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, on May 20, 2024. Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage. (Photo by Jamal Awad/Xinhua) A demonstrator is detained during a demonstration in demand for an immediate hostage release deal and a general election outside the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, on May 20, 2024. Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage. (Photo by Jamal Awad/Xinhua) People take part in a demonstration in demand for an immediate hostage release deal and a general election outside the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, on May 20, 2024. Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage. (Photo by Jamal Awad/Xinhua) Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photo: the Office of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, discussed security and cooperation issues with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on 21 May. Source: European Pravda with reference to Zelenskyy on X (Twitter) Details: "Ukraine and Azerbaijan have promising projects in energy, trade, and other areas. We directed our teams to step up their implementation efforts and coordinated future joint events," Zelenskyy posted, without going into detail. The Azerbaijani side has not reported about the phone call between the two presidents yet. Background: In February, presidents of Ukraine and Azerbaijan held a meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference where they spoke English instead of Russian. Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Baku has provided humanitarian aid for Kyiv but refused to supply it with weapons. Azerbaijani officials support the territorial integrity of Ukraine but still contact Russian vis-a-vis. Back in April 2022, Zelenskyy stated that he understood Azerbaijans stance concerning the war in Ukraine. Support UP or become our patron! Zelenskyy and German Foreign Minister discuss situation on the front and Ukraine's air defence capabilities video Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Annalena Baerbock, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany. Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Annalena Baerbock, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany, have discussed the situation on the front in Ukraine and the needs of the Ukrainian military, including additional air defence capabilities. Source: President Zelenskyy on X, following a meeting with Baerbock on 21 May, as reported by European Pravda Details: Zelenskyy thanked Germany for the aid it continues to send to Ukraine in its fight for its independence. I welcomed German Foreign Minister @ABaerbock on her seventh visit to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion began. I spoke about the frontline situation and Ukraines key defense needs. We discussed the joint initiative of German foreign and defense ministers to find pic.twitter.com/BtuMLtHFqW Volodymyr Zelenskyy / (@ZelenskyyUa) May 21, 2024 "I spoke about the frontline situation and Ukraines key defense needs. We discussed the joint initiative of German foreign and defense ministers to find additional Patriot and other air defense systems for Ukraine," Zelenskyy wrote on X. Background: Annalena Baerbock, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany, has stressed that Germany has no concerns over the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy even though Ukraine cannot hold presidential elections under martial law. A German initiative to strengthen Ukraine's air defence has raised almost a billion euros. Baerbock said she has had to cancel her visit to the city of Kharkiv planned within her trip to Ukraine on 21 May due to the current security situation. Support UP or become our patron! Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine does not want to invite Russia to the Peace Summit that will be held in Switzerland in June so as to avoid it undermining the peace process. However, intermediaries will facilitate opening talks with Russia following the summit. Source: President Zelenskyys interview with Reuters, shared by the Office of the President of Ukraine Details: Zelenskyy explained that Ukraine did not want to invite Russia to the first international Peace Summit in Switzerland because "they [the Russian side ed.] are always blocking everything, they will undermine the process, and they wont rest until they present us with their own plan for ending the war, which will inevitably be an ultimatum, as we have seen on many previous occasions". "We cant hand the initiative over to them [...] Our agenda cant be dictated by Russia. This is a war against us, so there is justice in this," Zelenskyy also said. He added that the fact that so many countries have agreed to take part in the summit indicates that they recognise the foundations of peace Ukraine has outlined, even if they want to make suggestions or clarifications. Zelenskyy said that the goal of the summit is to come up, between Ukraine and its allies, with a joint stance on three key questions and then to inform Russia of their position. "If all countries support these three points, as I said, then a detailed step-by-step plan will be developed and presented to Russian representatives across different platforms that different countries have [...] Then Russia will have to contend with most of the world," Zelenskyy explained the idea behind coming up with a joint position. In an interview with Reuters, he also confirmed that Ukraine is in talks with its partners regarding using their weapons to strike targets on Russian territory. Support UP or become our patron! Guess what? Generative AI is all about you now. Microsoft just unveiled Copilot+, a generative AI model that lives inside laptops rather than in the cloud. That will give you a slew of new ways to help get more out of your meeting notes, calendar, photos, recordings, downloads all your digital stuff. It could, for example: Suggest scheduling your follow-up meeting with the boss at 11 a.m. Tuesday, because your notes suggest that meetings around that time are more productive. Seek a photo of you and your grandmother on the beach when you were 7. Find a clue for what to get for a friends birthday based on your recent conversations with them. Its what we always thought Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri might become. And maybe still will. Next generation laptops offer ramped up use of AI Copilot+ was unveiled ahead of Microsofts Build recent developer conference in Seattle. At the same time, a stable of PC makers including Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft and Samsung unveiled a new class of laptops called AIPCs, which are powerful and efficient enough to run on-device AI applications like Copilot+. The first AIPCs are all built around Qualcomms new Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus, which Microsoft says are currently the only Windows processors with enough horsepower to run Copilot+ effectively. So many people are so busy these days, Alex Katouzian, Qualcomms Group General Manager of Mobile, Compute and XR, told me. If we can ask our laptops to pull something together instead of searching everywhere for what we might need, we can save ourselves hours. Im really looking forward to that. Generative AI spring In what may become known as the generative AI spring, the status quo is changing dizzyingly fast even for a technology that first floored us with its abilities just 18 months ago, when OpenAI first introduced ChatGPT, the Kleenex of generative AI models. Generative AI is so transformative because just about anyone who can speak or type can prompt it to write essays, create artwork and even program computers. OpenAIs ChatGPT and Gemini from Google grew even easier and more engaging to use. If demos at recent events are to be believed, the new models have impressively lifelike conversational abilities to help you write or even just brainstorm. At this pace, it may soon be difficult to distinguish tackling tasks with AI models from collaborating with other humans. And there is still a month left before summer, with more blockbuster events on the docket, including a big PC industry show in Taiwan called Computex and WWDC, Apples developer conference. Laptop or cloud? The cloud-based mega models can do everything that Copilot+ can do on a capable laptop and more. Which raises the obvious question: Why bother building AIPC laptops at all? To be sure, there are benefits to using generative AI on each. The largest generative AI models and the unfathomably massive libraries of information they were trained on are without a doubt more powerful, skilled and now, conversational. But the biggest models and data stores are too big to fit in many data centers, let alone laptops. Google search enhanced: Google all in on AI and Gemini: How it will affect your Google searches Plus, do you really need a generative AI model capable of creating a Rembrandt-styled painting to find a cousin in your photo collection? Its overkill like taking a piece of wood to Home Depot to have it sliced on their massive table saw when you could have just done it on the spot with your own tools. Squeezing generative AI models into your laptop is not only more efficient. Its also more private. Microsoft says that anything Copilot+ does stays on your laptop. So your personal information wont find its way into the cloud, where it could be accessed by others to train new models. Or worse. Do you need an AIPC? In a word, no. Many recent laptops are powerful enough to tackle Copilot+. But they will drain your battery. So dont unplug them. The new AIPC laptops are built around processors with highly focused, efficient engines that can handle anything Copilot+ and other AI applications give them. And they wont drain your battery. Today, Microsoft says that Qualcomm is the only PC processor supplier with an AI engine NPU in industry parlance powerful and efficient enough to make the AIPC cut. But things are changing fast. Watch for AMD and Intel to have their own AIPC coming-out parties next month at Computex. And what Apple ends up unveiling at WWDC is anyones guess. And of course, you havent heard the last from Qualcomm. This is just the beginning, Katouzian agreed. USA TODAY columnist Mike Feibus is president and principal analyst of FeibusTech, a Scottsdale, Arizona, market research and consulting firm. Reach him at mikef@feibustech.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikeFeibus. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Microsoft's AI model lives inside laptops instead of the cloud Blue Yonder is taking another big swing in the artificial intelligence realm. The company, which offers end-to-end supply chain technology solutions, announced at its annual conference, Blue Yonder Icon, that it will take its AI capabilities one step further this year. More from Sourcing Journal According to Duncan Angove, the companys CEO, it will soon be offering generative AI-powered agents to its customers, which can enhance work needed for a variety of roles throughout the supply chainfrom planners to warehouse managers and more. The difference [here] is, its not the [technology] being updatedits the human, its the user, and its like a cognitive upgrade for humanity, he said. We will profoundly change the way work is done. I think hidden in [companies] data, theres a new warehouse operator, a new planner, a new logistics coordinator. Angove and Wade Gerten, Blue Yonders senior vice president of generative AI, said that though the process of training agents could take years, the company plans to start small and address the first few major use cases so that it has the ability to roll out the capabilities within the year. For instance, an agent built to aid a planner may notify that planner of shipping disruptions caused by an incoming storm or weather event. It will, simultaneously, recommend a course of action for the planner to carry out. In that scenario, if the planner had scheduled domestic shipments to be fully sent by air cargo, but the storm rendered planes unable to fly to certain areas, the system might recommend a combination of air shipment and on-land shipment. The human planner can choose to accept the recommendation, or to override it in favor of another option. Andrea Morgan-Vandome, chief innovation officer of Blue Yonder, said the agents ability to show operators the difference between options could help them understand more about the tool and its decisioning. This really gets around some of the concerns in terms of black boxthat AI just gives you an answerbecause it really will help the players or managers learn as to why [a specific] decision was made, she said. Angove said the company believes the new capabilities have the potential to alter supply chain positions in a major way, digitally promoting individual contributors to be managers of fleets of robots, fleets of digital agents. Gerten said that while AI-based agents may in time make some roles obsolete, he does not expect AI will eliminate roles left and right. Some jobs, like call center workers, could be affected by the technology as it continues to grow, but he said employees in other positions will benefit, with AI automating manual tasks and freeing employees up to think more strategically and creatively. The company plans to gather its customers thoughts, concerns and preferences around use cases for the agents over the course of the next few months. Once it has adjusted the systems accordingly, customers will be able to leverage the technology later this year. While that development is ongoing, though, many customers continue to use Blue Yonders other AI-enabled tools, which help companies with a variety of tasks, from warehouse management and transportation management, to forecasting and other logistical considerations. REI, a client of Blue Yonders, uses the supply chain companys systems to help it optimize customer experiences around fulfillment, pickup and delivery. But because of the success REI has seen so far with its Blue Yonder implementations, it can consider where customer demand may ultimately head next: sustainable shipping. Data from e-commerce firm ESW showed earlier this year that three in 10 consumers consider sustainable shipping when they shop online, and logistics intelligence company Sifted found that 82 percent of consumers would accept an extra day of waiting for a package if it meant the shipping methods were more eco-friendly. The way Amit Kulkarni, divisional vice president of supply chain, merchandising and co-op brands technology at REI sees it, Blue Yonder could soon help enable more sustainable shipping options for the retailer. Sustainable shipping is definitely a consideration, so thats [an] area we are looking at, he said during a session at the conference. That kind of optimization can often be done by using data to place inventory closer to consumers who are more likely to order it, as well as by using transportation management to figure out the most sustainableyet cost-effectiveway to ship an order to the end consumer. REI may also be looking to increase the sustainability of shipments to its warehouses, before consumers come into the equation. Tractor Supply Company, another customer of the supply chain software company, has been lauded in recent years for its willingness to test and leverage AI in its business practices. It uses a variety of third-party providers, Blue Yonder included, to enable its digital prowess. Vijay Alagarasan, TSCs vice president of engineering, said one of the companys next technical priorities will be using technology to amp up the consumer experience in new stores, where the company may begin attracting new customers. According to Alagarasan, 77 percent of TSCs current shoppers are loyal, repeat customers. The company has plans to open 80 new stores in 2024 and 90 new stores in 2025, which presents it with an opportunity to garner even more loyal customers. Already, TSC uses computer vision technology in some of its stores to help alert employees when consumer dwell times are high, or when checkout lines become longer than usual. It also leverages generative AI with its Hey, Gura chatbot, which helps employees answer consumer questions in stores. Alagarasan said the company will continue testing and learning from small-scale technology implementations, then determine whether to scale them up. Its all going back to the outcomewhat is the KPI and what is the outcome that we are driving towards? Its not just the top lineeven if its a customer experience, or improving the productivity of store associates, or reducing the operational cost, or improving the experience of a DC person, all those aspects, we leverage [new] technology [for], Alagarasan told Sourcing Journal. Blue Yonder has helped with many of the implementations TSC has been interested in, but Alagarasan said he would advise any company getting a start with emerging technologiesparticularly microservices or verticalized AI solutiosnto start small and grow larger. They have to start with the foundational capabilities to build [technology like this] and not really worry about too many features in it, rather focus on getting one feature in a composable fashion, he said. It all goes back to how [quickly] you can iterate on that and add more and more features, he said. I think that is where [technology] actually drives more value. Thats where the speed comes in. And then the quality comes in. The city of Charlotte is showing off some of the states electric fleet. City leaders held an EV Ride and Drive event to highlight public and private partnerships aimed at eliminating carbon emissions. The event featured electric vehicles from cities and car companies across North Carolina. ALSO READ: Electric vehicle sales decrease in 2024 One of the vehicles featured was an electric school bus. Just imagine a whole fleet of electric school buses taking their kids to school in a way that contributes to a healthier environment, said Sarah Hazel, Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer. The city said its goal is to switch its fleet to zero-carbon sources by 2030. VIDEO: Electric vehicle sales decrease in 2024 Driverless Waymo car thwarts robbers during police chase SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) A driverless Waymo car stopped a couple of robbers from getting away during a police chase in San Francisco on Monday. Just before 2 a.m., a victim was assaulted and robbed on 8th Street near United Nations Plaza, police said. The victim told officers that a man and woman stole cash and car keys before speeding off in the victims car. Officers located the stolen vehicle in the area of Harrison and 2nd Streets. Officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop, the vehicle failed to yield, and a vehicle pursuit ensued, a San Francisco Police Department spokesperson told KRON4. A Waymo autonomous vehicle turns onto Mission Street in San Francisco, on November 17, 2023. (Photo by JASON HENRY/AFP via Getty Images) After officers lost sight of the fleeing robbers, the stolen car crashed into an autonomous vehicle on Folsom Street near 14th Street, police said. Will judges blunder shorten David DePapes prison time? The stolen car v. Waymo driverless car crash happened next to one of the AV companys parking lots, a witness wrote on Reddit. Officers apprehended the robbers. Police said the 41-year-old man was arrested for possession of methamphetamine, and the 26-year-old woman was arrested for receiving a stolen vehicle, conspiracy, and resisting arrest. SFPD is asking anyone with information on this incident to call 415-575-4444. 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 KRON4. Shine Bright In Portugal, a comet shot through the sky and illuminated the whole sky turquoise and one lucky girl captured the entire extravaganza on camera. Posted on X-formerly-Twitter and Instagram, the stunning fireball footage from Portuguese content creator Milena Refacho has gone incredibly viral, with her original post garnering more than six million views as netizens marveled with her at the spectacle. O meteorito na tuga pic.twitter.com/4ZxJ50ZFIo (@milarefacho) May 19, 2024 In the video, the 19-year-old Refacho's friends can be heard exclaiming to the heavens and, in one hilarious instance, to hell in Portuguese at the surprise light show. Later, the European Space Agency confirmed that a comet fragment had indeed paraded through the skies of Portugal and Spain, and that it appeared to have burnt up in the atmosphere, resulting in the fantastical blue-green explosion that lit up the sky at nearly midnight local time. It's unlikely that any of the fragments survived the fiery crash, the ESA added. Comet Conundrum While it's certainly not uncommon for such space projectiles to leave brilliant tails behind them as they burn up in our planet's atmosphere, this comet fragment's descent was extra-bright, the New York Times explains, because it was careening at around 100,000 miles per hour. That's twice the average speed of a rocky asteroid, which seems to have made it twice as bright, too. As the NYT adds in its write-up, the ice-rock composure of most comets suggests they were born at the dawn of our Solar System, which makes this one's incredible final display all the more special. In an interview with the newspaper, planetary astronomer Meg Schwamb of Queen's University in Belfast said that although there are "notable meteor showers throughout the year, which are the result of the Earth crossing debris clouds of specific comets," the brilliance of this comet may tell scientists something about its size. This chunk, Schwamb said, "is likely a bit bigger than a good fraction of the meteors we see during meteor showers, so this just made a bigger light show." "Its an unexpected interplanetary fireworks show," the astronomer added. More on hunks of space: Giant Piece of Space Junk Crashes Down on Farm of Canadian, Who Intends to Sell It and Spend Money on Hockey Rink MOGADISHU, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS) on Tuesday vowed to galvanize efforts to develop the country's aviation sector. Head of UNSOS and UN Assistant Secretary-General Aisa Kacyira Kirabo, who reviewed progress of the ongoing aviation services capacity-building for Somali security forces and Somalia's aviation workforce, praised the government for its partnership with UNSOS and its commitment to improving the welfare of the Somali people. "We are here to serve with the purpose of empowering Somalia to move on with dignity, and we will go all the way to support you on that," Kacyira said in a statement issued in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. The aviation capacity-building program was developed and led by Ernest Manzano, chief of aviation services at UNSOS. "The capacity-building we are doing goes beyond training," she said. "It is a total change of mindset. We want to capacitate Somali forces and civilians to take over all aviation responsibilities." The program focuses on aviation security, airport firefighting, tactical operations for the military, air traffic control, medical evacuation, meteorology, and drone operations. "This training aims to prepare for the transfer of security responsibilities from African Union Transition Mission in Somalia to the Somali Security Forces and the Somali Civil Aviation Authorities," UNSOS said. It said the goal is ultimately to empower the Somali forces, with a focus on women in aviation and the country's future. Somalia National Security Advisor Hussein Sheikh Ali expressed the government's commitment to increasing women's participation in both the aviation sector and national security forces. "My office is currently drafting a women, peace and security strategy. We are still in consultations for the strategy, and this is the ideal moment to recognize the vital contribution women can make towards national development," Ali said. Maynard Alvin Thomas, a capacity-building specialist at the UNSOS Integrated Mission Training Center, said they have conducted a series of training courses to support Somalia's transition process. "These courses cover signals, interoperability, transportation, medical and engineering, combat leadership, and radio communication," he said. "We continue to deliver on a lot of courses based on the preliminary needs assessment. This year we have a minimum target of training 600 personnel," Thomas said. Honda Civic hybrid returns this summer with a 200-hp model, promise of near 50 mpg Honda will add hybrid models to one of Americas favorite vehicles when the 2025 Civic compact goes on sale shortly. Honda says prices for the 2025 Honda Civic hybrid will start below $30,000. Civic hybrid prices will start under $30,000. The hybrid will be available on both sedan and hatchback body styles. Honda expects hybrids to account for about 40% of U.S. Civic sales, which totaled 200,381 in 2023. The automaker promises a combined city/highway EPA fuel economy rating nearing 50 mpg. That would constitute an improvement of about 40% versus a 2024 Civic sedan with the 2.0L gasoline engine. New features on the 2025 Honda Civic hybrid include Google built-in for for navigation, phone, music and more. Most powerful Civic ever built With 200 horsepower and 232 pound-feet of torque, the 2025 Civic hybrid is the most powerful Civic ever built, save the radical Type R, which sells for around $45,000 and has a turbocharged 315-hp engine. It uses the same combination of a 2.0L engine and continuously variable transmission as the Accord and CR-V hybrids. The hybrids and the rest of the 2025 Civic lineup also get new features and minor styling tweaks to remain competitive with compacts like the Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Elantra, Kia , Mazda 3 and Nissan Sentra.Hybrid versions of the 2024 Elantra and Corolla scored city/highway ratings of 54 and 47 mpg in EPA tests. The Civic uses Hondas established two-motor electric system. The automaker isnt saying what gasoline engine it will use, but expect a continuously variable automatic transmission. The 2025 Honda Civic's nose was restyled to look more like a Honda Accord. The hybrid system will offer four levels of regenerative braking, which recaptures energy for the battery when the vehicle slows down. Paddles on the steering wheel control the level of regeneration. Honda says specially tuned springs and shock absorbers and a tire developed for the hybrid will contribute to responsive handling and low levels of noise and vibration Honda says prices for the 2025 Honda Civic hybrid will start below $30,000. 2025 Honda Civic trim levels LX Sport Sport Hybrid Sport Touring Hybrid Source: Honda Honda says prices for the 2025 Honda Civic hybrid will start below $30,000. The return of a popular hybrid The new hybrid fills an important spot in Hondas lineup, boosting the efficiency of a popular model as the automaker begins to roll out its electric vehicles. Honda stopped selling the previous Civic hybrid after the 2015 model year. Honda sold another compact hybrid in the 2019-21 model years, the Insight hybrid. Thats the second time Honda has mothballed the Insight name, which revolutionized the auto industry when it introduced the first hybrid gasoline-electric powertrain as a 2000 model. The new Civic hybrid is a perfectly-timed addition to the Honda lineup as hybrid-electric sales continue to grow, providing Honda with an important building block toward 100% zero-emissions vehicle sales by 2040, Honda vice president Lance Woelfer said. Honda hybrid-electric models represented over one-quarter of our overall brand sales in 2023. Hondas 2.0L four-cylinder gasoline engine will power EX and Sport models of the 2025 Civic. Honda says prices for the 2025 Honda Civic hybrid will start below $30,000. 2025 Honda Civic Safety and driver assist features Adaptive cruise control Collision alert Automatic front braking with pedestrian detection Lane keeping alert and assist Blind spot alert Rear cross traffic alert Honda says prices for the 2025 Honda Civic hybrid will start below $30,000. Design tweaks to resemble Accord, CR-V The sedan and hatchbacks exteriors are little changed, with new lenses for the head and tail lights, and grilles and front fascia updated to look more like the larger Honda Accord sedan and CR-V SUV. Google built-in for navigation, music and more is available in the top Sport Touring model, which also comes with leather seats, a 9.0-inch touch screen and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto Top available features Google built-in infotainment Apple CarPlay and Android Auto Up to 9-inch touch screen 12-speaker Bose audio Wireless charging The 2025 Civic gets four new exterior colors: Solar Silver Metallic, Urban Gray Pearl, Blue Lagoon Pearl and Sand Dune Pearl. Honda says prices for the 2025 Honda Civic hybrid will start below $30,000. The interior will be available in gray or black. More details on prices, fuel economy and specifications should be available shortly. Honda will build Civic hybrids in Greensburg, Indiana, and Alliston, Ontario. Contact Mark Phelan: 313-222-6731 or mmphelan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark_phelan. Read more on autos and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 2025 Honda hybrid raises bar for power, efficiency, connectivity (Reuters) - Meta Platforms' Facebook removed the account of the suspected shooter of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico after the attack, the company and a state agency said on Tuesday, as the government continues to probe whether the attacker had help. Fico is recovering in hospital and no longer in immediate danger after being hit by four bullets last Wednesday, in the first major assassination attempt on a European political leader for more than 20 years. Slovak government officials said on Sunday, four days after the shooting, that the attacker may have not been a "lone wolf" as first believed, with one factor being that the suspect's Facebook and communication history was deleted after the attack. Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok had said an investigation team had been set up, which would also look into whether the suspect acted as part of a group of people who had been encouraging each other to carry out an assassination. On Tuesday, Meta said it had removed the attacker's account on the night of the incident and had informed Slovak authorities about the removal. It remained in touch with authorities and law enforcement, it said. News websites Dennik N and Aktuality were the first to report Meta had removed the attacker's Facebook profile. The state Council for Media Services, which had been in contact with Facebook and other social media platforms immediately after the attack, also said in a statement that Meta had informed it on Tuesday of the account removal. Sutaj Estok told broadcaster TA3 on Tuesday evening the most likely version was still the attacker had accomplices but investigators were working on both possibilities, including him acting alone. "I guarantee we will investigate everything," he said. Sutaj Estok had said on Sunday when discussing the possible involvement of more people that "I think that two hours after... committing this act, the perpetrator had all Facebook and communication history erased, and it was not erased by him or apparently by his wife." Officials have said the attack on Fico was politically motivated. Local news media say the suspect - identified by prosecutors as Juraj C. - is a 71-year-old former security guard at a shopping mall and the author of three collections of poetry. There has been no official statement made public from the suspect, or any lawyer representing him. (Reporting by Jason Hovet; Editing by Mark Potter) Scientists use rare metal to set new record in effort to produce limitless energy: 'It was a pretty remarkable result' Nuclear fusion just got a huge boost from an innovative source tungsten. In a landmark achievement, scientists in France sustained a fusion reaction for a record-breaking six minutes while injecting over a billion joules of energy. This brings us one major step closer to clean, abundant energy that can transform our world, according to Interesting Engineering. The breakthrough happened at a donut-shaped reactor called a tokamak. By heating hydrogen to a scorching 50 million degrees Celsius (about 90 million degrees Fahrenheit), researchers created a super-hot plasma under conditions similar to what powers the sun. The goal is to get way more energy out than what's put in the key to making fusion a viable power source. Princeton Plasma Physics Lab researcher Tullio Barbui said, per Interesting Engineering: "During the six-minute shot, we were able to measure quite nicely the central electron temperature. It was in a very steady state of around 4 kilovolts. It was a pretty remarkable result." What's the secret ingredient in this record-setting reaction? The rare metal tungsten. Most tokamaks use graphite inner walls, but tungsten could be the magic bullet for larger, more efficient reactors. It doesn't retain any fuel, allowing the plasma to stay hotter and denser perfect conditions for cranking out massive amounts of energy. For everyday folks, this could eventually mean a future with cheaper, cleaner, virtually limitless electricity. Fusion power plants could one day provide always-on, carbon-free energy with no planet-heating pollution. That's a huge win for both our wallets and our environment. "This is, simply, the difference between trying to grab your kitten at home versus trying to pet the wildest lion," said Luis Delgado-Aparicio, a lead scientist at Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, on the challenge of working with tungsten versus graphite. But those crazy kittens er, particles are starting to fall in line, according to Xavier Litaudon, a researcher at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. "Thanks to these new measurements, we will have the ability to measure the tungsten inside the plasma and to understand the transport of tungsten from the wall to the core of the plasma," he said. In other words, we're getting a handle on this white-hot fusion cookie, one crunchy tungsten bite at a time. And that's something we can all get fired up about. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the coolest innovations improving our lives and saving our planet. Jacob Soter, founder and CEO of SwimSmart, explains how the electronic light displays work on one of the newly installed orange towers at Grand Haven State Park. GRAND HAVEN An innovative new warning system will help keep beachgoers safe while enjoying Lake Michigan this summer. Representatives from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, SwimSmart and the city of Grand Haven unveiled a series of new SwimSmart towers Monday, May 20, at Grand Haven State Park. The system includes 12 electronic and web-enabled towers that can provide audio warnings, with lights aligned to the state flag warning system. The towers can contact emergency personnel. "SwimSmart towers will help provide real-time warnings to beachgoers," said DNR Parks and Recreation Chief Ron Olson. "This innovative, technology-based system features two types of towers visible along the Grand Haven swim beach, marking the first state park location for this initiative." There are eight orange towers on the beach itself, and four blue light towers along the sidewalk. Orange towers have an electronic light display mimicking the green (safe), yellow (use caution), red (do not swim) and more recently added double red (swimming prohibited) warning flags to notify visitors of swimming conditions. Flagpoles will remain in place, but flags will now only be flown if the system goes down, the DNR said. Towers will be equipped to play pre-recorded messages alerting beachgoers to changing conditions, emergencies and other important information. Each orange tower is equipped with a life ring. If a ring is accessed to help someone in the water, park rangers and 911 will be simultaneously contacted. The four blue towers have an emergency phone that park staff and visitors can press to trigger an emergency response. Theyre also equipped with a loudspeaker, video monitoring system and direct line to Ottawa County 911 Central Dispatch. Michigan-based SwimSmart invented, developed and installed the towers. This partnership with the Michigan DNR brings us one step closer to realizing our mission of preventing the next water emergency from happening, said Jacob Soter, founder and CEO of SwimSmart. We share the DNRs commitment to public safety, and are excited to provide this resource to the countless families who will be visiting Grand Haven State Park this summer and for years to come. Organizations and communities are making concerted efforts to improve water safety along West Michigan's coastline. The $570,000 project was funded by a $200,000 grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and capital outlay funds through the DNR. Subscribe: Receive unlimited digital access to your local news coverage SwimSmart towers are the latest effort to increase beach safety in West Michigan. Efforts have been ongoing in Holland for several years. In April, the Holland State Park Water Safety Consortium and West Michigan Water Safety Alliance announced a plan to implement the Beachside Education Patrol in Holland. The project will see trained volunteers at the park, educating visitors and beachgoers on the dangers of water currents, the flag warning system and best practices. A speaker system was put in place at Holland State Park in 2021 to announce to swimmers when conditions deteriorate. In 2022, Gentex donated digital displays to more prominently identify water and swimming conditions at Holland State Park, with messaging that corresponds with the flag system. Last year, the West Ottawa High School Interact Club established an effort called the Holland Safe Water Initiative. The club stated a goal of raising funds for drones that could be deployed at area beaches to help prevent drownings. According to the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, which tracks drownings in all five Great Lakes, there has been one drowning in Lake Michigan so far in 2024. Nearly half 41 of 85 of Great Lakes drownings in 2023 were in Lake Michigan. Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com. This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Smart towers latest in effort to make Lake Michigan a safer place to swim Wisconsin man charged with using AI to create and send explicit images of minors Wisconsin man charged with using AI to create and send explicit images of minors A man was arrested on charges of creating and distributing explicit AI-generated images of minors. The 42-year-old man used Stability AI's text-to-image model, Stable Diffusion, to make the images. He faces up to 70 years in prison, the Department of Justice said. A 42-year-old man was arrested on charges of creating sexually explicit images of minors and sending similar obscene material to a 15-year-old. According to a press release from the Department of Justice, Steven Anderegg was arrested last week after a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging him with producing, distributing, and possessing explicit AI-generated images of minors in one of the first cases of its kind. The Wisconsin resident was accused of using Stability AI's text-to-image model, Stable Diffusion, to create thousands of hyper-realistic images of nude or partially clothed minors, many of which showed them engaging in sexual acts with men or touching their genitals. He was also accused of sending the 15-year-old boy AI-generated images of minors showing their genitals in an Instagram message and describing how he used Stable Diffusion to generate the explicit images of minors, according to the court documents. The DoJ said he stored the images on his computer and that evidence was recovered from his electronic devices. It also claims he created the images using sexually explicit text prompts related to minors. Anderegg is in federal custody, awaiting a detention hearing set for Wednesday. He faces up to 70 years in prison for the four counts alleged in the indictment, per the DoJ. If convicted, it wouldn't be the first time a person has been imprisoned for using AI to generate sexually explicit images of minors. In November, a child psychologist was sentenced to 40 years in prison, followed by 30 years of supervised release. The North Carolina man used an AI tool to create pornographic images of minors and sexually exploited a minor. An investigation by the Stanford University Cyber Policy Center in December found that pubic dataset LAION-5B, which was used to train AI image generators, including Stability AI's earlier model Stable Diffusion 1.5, contained over 1,000 images of confirmed child sexual abuse material. A Stability AI spokesperson previously told Business Insider it had introduced filters to prevent users from creating illegal content with Stable Diffusion and that its models were only trained on a filtered subset of LAION-5B. UK-based Stability AI states in its terms of use, which was last updated in March, that users will not use or allow others to use its models to commit "exploitation or harm to children, including the solicitation, creation, acquisition, or dissemination of child exploitative content." The company said in a statement to BI that the model used in this case was Stable Diffusion 1.5, which was released by RunwayML, not Stability AI. "Stability AI is committed to preventing the misuse of AI and prohibit the use of our image models and services for unlawful activity, including attempts to edit or create child sexual abuse material." Do you work at Stability AI? Got a tip? Contact the reporter via email at jmann@businessinsider.com or reach out on the encrypted messaging app Signal at jyotimann.11 Read the original article on Business Insider The company that wanted to build a commercial solar farm in Marion County has paused its eight-year-long campaign. They may try again in the future, according to a notice filed with the Ohio Power Siting Board last week by Devan Flahive, attorney for Clean Shift Energy, the parent company of the proposed project. "Chestnut Solar, LLC, hereby gives the board notice that it is withdrawing its application subject to the right to refile a future application for the same or a similar project," Flahive's notice of application withdrawal, dated May 15, reads. An adjudicatory hearing on the matter that had been scheduled for Monday night was canceled last week by an Ohio Power Siting Board judge. Adjudicatory hearing would have decided Chestnut Solar's fate The second of two formal proceedings to decide the project's fate had been slated for Monday evening. Monday's event had been planned as an adjudicatory hearing, and would have proceeded in a legal manner similar to a courthouse trial. That hearing would have decided whether or not the Chestnut Solar project would have been allowed to be built. Residents voiced their opposition to the proposed Chestnut Solar project during a public hearing in Marion County on April 29, 2024. The Ohio Power Siting Board had arranged for two administrative law judges, Jay Agranoff and Isabel Marcelletti, to preside over the adjudicatory hearing. After Flahive filed to withdraw Chestnut's application, Marcelletti entered an order on May 16 that "cancels the adjudicatory hearing scheduled for May 20, 2024, pending the board's consideration of applicant's notice of withdrawal." Marion residents opposed solar farm during April public hearing National Renewable Energy Corp., based in North Carolina, began concept work for the solar farm in 2016. The solar facility would have taken up 404 acres in eastern Pleasant Township and would have had the capacity to produce up to 68 megawatts of electricity for as many as 45 years. According to a map of the proposed site, the facility's borders would have been Somerlot Hoffman Road to the north, Newmans Cardington Road to the south, Maple Grove Road to the west and U.S. Route 23 to the east. In early March 2023, Chestnut Solar field an application with the power siting board for a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need to construct and operate a solar-powered electric generation facility in Pleasant Township, which is on the south side of the city of Marion. The project had progressed for more than a year until April 29 when nearly 150 Marion residents spoke out against the proposal during a public hearing facilitated by the power siting board. Resident comments then were focused on health, financial and environmental concerns with the construction, installation and maintenance of the solar arrays. ztuggle@gannett.com 419-564-3508 This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Solar farm in Marion County on pause as company withdraws application The worlds first winged commercial space plane is one step closer to launch. Sierra Spaces Dream Chaser DC-100 arrived at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, May 18 for final testing before its upcoming mission to the International Space Station (ISS). More from Robb Report The Dream Chaser will be used to ferry cargo to and from Earth and the ISS. Measuring 30 feet long by 15 feet wide, the plane features a lifting body and innovative wings that enable it to land on a runway in the style of NASAs now defunct space shuttle. It is also adjoined to a 15-foot Shooting Star module that can carry up to 7,000 pounds of cargo internally and more gear externally. The Dream Chaser is reusable and will perform at least seven missions to the ISS, according to NASA. Conversely, the Shooting Star module is designed to burn up during reentry, creating the opportunity to dispose of up to 8,500 pounds of trash with each mission. Dream Chaser Tenacity at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Christened Tenacity, the inaugural Dream Chaser is set to deliver 7,800 pounds of food, water, and science experiments to the orbiting laboratory, NASA says. The space plane, which recently underwent vibration, temperature, and pressure testing at NASAs Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio, will now be assessed further by the team in Florida. The pre-launch preparation includes acoustic and electromagnetic interference and compatibility testing, completion of work on the planes thermal protection system, and final payload integration. Tenacity will be launched aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station later this year, though the exact date remains unknown. After remaining at the ISS for about 45 days, Tenacity will return to Florida. The Sierra Space team will then offload the remaining NASA cargo and begin preparing the plane for its next mission. Tenacity is the first in a fleet of Dream Chasers that will carry out low-orbit delivery runs to the ISS. NASA says future missions may last as long as 75 days and drop off as much as 11,500 pounds of cargo. Interestingly, Sierra Space originally envisioned the plane carrying passengers, too, but companies like Space X and Blue Origin were quicker to develop crafts for shuttling astronauts and civilians. The space race is nothing if not cutthroat. Best of Robb Report Sign up for Robb Report's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. ASTANA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday expressed deep condolences over the deaths of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian during a joint press briefing with Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu. Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said the Chinese side was deeply saddened upon learning of the official Iranian confirmation that Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian lost their lives in a recent helicopter accident, and offered deep condolences. Wang also extended sincere sympathies to the bereaved families, the Iranian government, and the people of Iran, noting that Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian have made significant contributions to the development of China-Iran relations and the advancement of regional friendly cooperation. Following the accident, China actively assisted in the rescue efforts and is ready to continue providing all necessary support to Iran, Wang said, expressing his belief that the Iranian government and people would be able to overcome this difficult moment. UNITED NATIONS, May 20 (Xinhua) -- UN peacekeepers in Abyei reported an accord between two clashing communities to improve relations and foster peaceful farming and grazing, a UN spokesman said on Monday. Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) reported back to UN headquarters that representatives of the Ngok Dinka and Misseriya communities signed the agreement in central Abyei at a post-migration meeting over the weekend. "The gathering was a follow-on to the successful pre-migration conference held in Noong, which is located to the west of Abyei, in December of last year, and follows a welcome decline in clashes between the Ngok Dinka and Misseriya communities during the migration season," Dujarric said. The spokesman said more than 140 community leaders and members from both communities, including 41 women, attended the four-day conference facilitated by UNISFA with other UN and non-UN partners. Ngok Dinka farmers primarily inhabit the southern region of Abyei. The nomadic Misseriya pastoralists from Sudan migrate annually into and generally through the northern region of Abyei to access South Sudan's Greater Bahr el Ghazal and Unity states. Frequent clashes have occurred between the two groups over the years. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. A former Ministry of Economic Development employee (now the Economy Ministry), who was fired for sharing a meme of Minister Marton Nagy on Facebook, has won a wrongful dismissal ruling in a first instance court, with help from the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ). Despite receiving positive performance reviews, the employee was sacked after 20 years of service, allegedly due to the meme he shared weeks prior. The meme depicts Nagy with a cap on his head, a reference to his policy of imposing price caps on motor fuel and certain food products. The plaintiff said that he had shared the meme because he found it amusing, and emphasised that the post was visible only to certain of his friends. The Civil Service Arbitration Commission initially dismissed the case, claiming that the meme was ascapable of seriously damaging the reputation of the government administration and the trust in good administration. However, the TASZ appealed the decision, leading the Metropolitan Court of Justice to rule in favour of the employee. The court found his dismissal unlawful and awarded him Ft 5 million in damages. ********************************* You're very welcome to comment, discuss and enjoy more stories, via our Facebook page: Facebook.com/XpatLoopNews + via XpatLoops groups: Budapest Expats / Expats Hungary You can subscribe to our newsletter here: XpatLoop.com/Newsletters Do you want your business to reach tens of thousands of potential high-value expat customers? Then just contact us here! DES MOINES, United States, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. state of Iowa and north China's Hebei Province held a roundtable discussion on strengthening cooperation in sustainable agriculture Monday in Des Moines, the state's capital. Zhao Jian, consul general of China's Consulate General in Chicago, said holding such an event in Iowa, "the granary and breadbasket of America," is significant for promoting pragmatic agricultural cooperation between China and the United States. Noting that China is the largest export destination of U.S. agricultural products, Zhao expressed optimism about deepening cooperation between Hebei and Iowa, which signed their sister-state relationship in 1983, in areas like agriculture, trade and cultural exchange. "I hope that cooperation between Hebei and Iowa in various fields will bear more fruitful results, and the friendly exchanges between the people of China and the U.S. will gain more hope," he said. Terry Branstad, Iowa's former governor and the former U.S. ambassador to China, reflected on the longstanding relationship between Iowa and Hebei. "We look forward to continuing to do whatever we can to make it a success," Branstad said. Rick Kimberley, president of Kimberley Farms Inc., said cooperation in the field of agriculture can bring the two countries together. "It's a good bonding source, something that we're both interested in both our countries," Kimberley said. The body of the last victim missing after a boat accident that took place on the River Danube at Veroce last weekend has been recovered, police said on Facebook on Monday evening. The 18-year-old womans body was found in the area of Veroce, the police said. In the accident late on May 18, the victims motor boat collided with a cruise ship. One of the boats eight passengers managed to swim ashore whereas seven died. The cruise ships captain, a Czech national, was detained on suspicion of failing to provide help after the collision. An investigation has found that the helmsman of the boat was drunk and steering the boat in zig-zags across the river. Before the collision, the motor boat took a sharp turn but the ship ended up crushing the much smaller vessel nonetheless, the police said. Earlier: Body of Sixth Victim in Veroce Boat Accident Recovered The body of the sixth victim in a boat accident that happened on the River Danube at Veroce last weekend has been recovered, police said on Facebook. The mans body was discovered near Szigetujfalu (on Csepel Island), the Budapest Police Headquarters (BRFK) said. In the accident the victims boat collided with a cruise ship. One of the boats eight passengers managed to swim ashore, six died and one is still missing. The cruise ships captain, a Czech national, was detained on suspicion of failing to provide help to the boat after the collision. An investigation has found that the helmsman of the boat was drunk, steering the boat zig-zagging across the river, and straight in the direction of the ship. Before hitting the ship the boat took a sharp turn but a collision could not be avoided, the ship crushing the much smaller vessel, the police said. Body of Fourth Victim in Veroce Boat Accident Recovered The body of the fourth victim in boat accident that happened on the River Danube at Veroce on Saturday, has been recovered, the police reported on Facebook. The 28 year old womans body was discovered near Szodliget, the police said. In the accident the victims boat collided with a cruise ship. One of the boats eight passengers managed to swim ashore, four died and three others are still missing. The cruise ships captain, a Czech national, was detained on suspicion of failing to provide help to the boat after the collision. An investigation has found that the helmsman of the boat was drunk, steering the boat zig-zagging across the river, and straight in the direction of the ship. Before hitting the ship the boat took a sharp turn but a collision could not be avoided, the ship crushing the much smaller vessel, the police said. New Danube River Boat Disaster: Search on for 5 After Accident Claims 2 Lives Two people have died and a search is under way for three men and two women after a boat accident on Saturday evening which took place on the River Danube near Veroce, north of Budapest, the Budapest Police Headquarters (BRFK) said on its website on Sunday, adding that police were working under the assumption that a small motor boat and a cruise ship had collided. Police were called to the scene when a disorientated man was discovered with a bleeding head near the main road in Veroce. After questioning, they concluded the man was the victim of a boat accident. Police and search and rescue staff immediately began searching the area using drones and river craft. Soon after a mans body was found on the river bank south of Veroce, while hours later a womans body was at Megyeri Bridge on the Danube alongside a damaged motor boat. Meanwhile, a damaged cruise ship was stopped upriver at Komarom and police have mounted an inspection of the cruise ship and the boat. MTI Photo: Csaba Krizsan Criminal proceedings are under way in connection with an unidentified perpetrator on suspicion of endangering river safety and causing the death of several people. Altogether, eight adults were on the motor boat, with three men and two women currently missing. Police said on its website on Sunday afternoon that the search was still ongoing for the missing people with the help of 95 search and rescuers and 25 boats. A police helicopter, staff of the Pest County Research and Rescue Service, and volunteers of rescue organisations are also involved. The operation is being coordinated from the Danube river police headquarters in Kopaszi peninsula in southern Budapest. On Monday, the police arrested the captain of the cruise ship on suspicion of failing to provide help to passengers in the boat after the collision. Czech Captain of Cruise Ship in Fatal Veroce Collision Under Police Surveillance The captain of a cruise ship, a Czech national, has been ordered to stay at his place of residence in Hungary until September 22 over charges of alleged negligence in a fatal accident on the Danube river that claimed two lives over the weekend, a Budapest regional court said. The captain was taken into custody on Monday after his ship had collided with a small motor boat near Veroce, north of Budapest, in the night of May 18. A man and a woman out of the eight passengers on board the boat died while another male passenger who swam ashore survived the accident. A search is still under way for the remaining five passengers, three men and two women. Police have launched proceedings against the cruise ships captain over negligence leading to several deaths and other crimes. The Czech national has a residence registered in Hungary. Meanwhile, Budapest police BRFK said that body of a young man, who was on board the small boat has been recovered. The body was discovered between Vac and Szodliget. The 19-year-old man is the third victim of the collision that has already claimed the lives of a man and a woman. A search is still under way for another two men and two women. Out of the altogether eight adults who were on board the motor boat one male passenger sustained head and shoulder injuries but survived and swam ashore. He was later found disoriented on the river bank at Veroce. The man received urgent medical care and was taken to hospital. ********************************* You're very welcome to comment, discuss and enjoy more stories, via our Facebook page: Facebook.com/XpatLoopNews + via XpatLoops groups: Budapest Expats / Expats Hungary You can subscribe to our newsletter here: XpatLoop.com/Newsletters Do you want your business to reach tens of thousands of potential high-value expat customers? Then just contact us here! Of all European prime ministers, Viktor Orban earns the most compared to the average salary of the country he leads, according to Peter Bucsky, a journalist at the business news website G7, speaking on RTLs morning news programme Reggeli. Bucsky noted that, as average salaries rise, so do politicians incomes, which in Hungary are linked to the previous years average salary. Hungarys MPs are paid a gross monthly salary of Ft 1.7 million, three times the previous years average salary, while Orbans total salary, including his prime ministerial pay, amounts to Ft 6.3 million, relatively high on an international scale. While there are countries where the head of government receives more than Orban for example, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is paid twice as much the average Hungarian salary is only a third of the German average, said Bucsky. However, despite these high salaries, Orban and most Hungarian politicians do not accumulate significant wealth. Bucsky observed that there are poor countries with wealthy politicians, but it is preferable for politicians to have a decent income, as a guard against unfair enrichment. MTI Photo: Szilard Koszticsak ********************************* You're very welcome to comment, discuss and enjoy more stories, via our Facebook page: Facebook.com/XpatLoopNews + via XpatLoops groups: Budapest Expats / Expats Hungary You can subscribe to our newsletter here: XpatLoop.com/Newsletters Do you want your business to reach tens of thousands of potential high-value expat customers? Then just contact us here! As the sunny, warm weather arrives, ice cream parlors are opening across the country, and beaches come to life, welcoming visitors one after the other during May and June. A recent analysis by Oeconomus shows that like last year, prices for ice cream and other buffet food are expected to rise in the high season, mainly due to labor shortages and higher prices for some ingredients. While most parlors are trying to ensure that their prices do not cross the threshold, finding this level is not easy, given its subjective level, which varies from customer to customer. Although the price of ice cream in Hungary is forecast to rise by 10-15 percent this year, internationally, when looking at popular European beaches, ice cream in Hungary cannot be considered that expensive, with prices last year reaching the level of the cheapest places in Europe. While the typical price in 2023 was HUF 440-520 per scoop (1 EUR = 386 HUF), this summer it will rise to HUF 500-600 per scoop. This 10-15 percent increase is the same amount as last year. However, in more popular places, the price of a scoop of ice cream is expected to be around HUF 600-650. The sharp rise in ice cream prices is largely explained by the fact that average gross earnings in February this year were 14 percent higher than a year earlier. Furthermore, while food prices were expected to fall on average globally from the second half of 2022, sugar is still likely to see a significant increase in price in the Hungarian market. In addition, there has been a dramatic increase in cocoa prices globally, which is also creating a difficult situation for ice cream sellers. What is good news is that there is no shrinkage in the weight of a scoop (shrinkflation). In addition, ice cream lovers visiting Hungary can also be pleased that domestic ice cream prices are among the cheapest compared to prices on 75 European beaches. The Turkish beach Amasra Plaj had the lowest price for ice cream in 2023, with a scoop of ice cream costing just GBP 0.1 (HUF 44). By contrast, French beaches were among the most expensive, with a scoop of ice cream costing up to HUF 1,800. One of the unmissable dishes at Balaton beach buffets is langos (Hungarian deep fried flatbread). A year ago, the price of a plain langos was over HUF 900, but in 2024, it will certainly be over HUF 1,000. That is roughly an increase of 8-10 percent. The price increase may also be surprising, because the average consumer price of the ingredients used to make scones has fallen dramatically in April this year compared to a year ago. Flour has fallen by almost 20 percent, sour cream by the same amount, cheese by almost 10 percent, milk by 9 percent, and cooking oil by 2 percent. The analysis also compares the prices of other classic buffet meals in a graph showing the changes over the last four years: The price of sausages has risen from HUF 1,930 to HUF 3,070 (per kilogram). A kilogram of carp steak has risen from HUF 2,220 to HUF 4,310. A hamburger went from HUF 674 to HUF 1,640. French fries were HUF 533, now HUF 1,050 (per kilogram). Photo: courtesy of Artigiana Gelati in Budapest ********************************* You're very welcome to comment, discuss and enjoy more stories, via our Facebook page: Facebook.com/XpatLoopNews + via XpatLoops groups: Budapest Expats / Expats Hungary You can subscribe to our newsletter here: XpatLoop.com/Newsletters Do you want your business to reach tens of thousands of potential high-value expat customers? Then just contact us here! Hungary considers its alliance with Serbia an invaluable asset, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told a joint press conference with his Serbian counterpart in Budapest. Szijjarto said friendship and mutual respect were invaluable in light of the heightened tensions in the region, noting the war in Ukraine and the assassination attempt against Slovakias prime minister. He welcomed that Serbian counterpart Marko uric had made Budapest his first destination for an official visit following his appointment. Szijjarto praised the great developments seen between Hungary and Serbia in recent years, highlighting that of all of Hungarys neighbours, Serbia guaranteed the most rights to its ethnic Hungarian minority, even including Vojvodina Hungarians in the countrys governance. The security of Hungarys energy supply is in Serbias hands, he said, noting that Hungarys gas supply went through Serbia, and we can always sleep easy regarding the transit. He noted that Hungary, Serbia and Slovenia have started operating a joint regional electricity exchange, which gave a further boost to energy security and was an excellent measure against rising prices. Hungary and Serbia, he said, would build an oil pipeline linking their countries, as well as Europes most modern border crossing point at Roszke. He said they were aiming to complete the construction of the railway line linking Budapest and Belgrade by the end of next year, and that Hungary would continue to store gas on Serbias behalf. Meanwhile, Szijjarto said that during its presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of the year, Hungary would bring Serbia closer to EU membership and had a clear goal of opening the third EU accession chapter with the country. He said Hungary considered it unacceptable, unfair and humiliating that the EU had been making Serbia wait for 15 years now when in its declining shape the bloc needs the momentum Serbia would guarantee more than Serbians need EU membership. He called on EU member states to end their hypocrisy and come clean on why theyve put obstacles in the way of the progress of Serbias accession. Szijjarto also referred to next Thursdays scheduled UN General Assembly vote on a resolution seeking to demonise the entire Serb nation in connection with the Srebrenica massacre. Hungary will vote against the resolution, he said, adding that it would also vote against Kosovo joining the Council of Europe. Szijjarto said it was necessary to wait until the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina proves successful, and only then will it be worthwhile for Kosovo to apply to join international organisations. uric called it an honour that he had been able to start seeing to his official duties with a visit to Hungary, reaffirming the excellent relationship Serbia and Hungary have built in recent years, which is a great joy for both nations. He said Hungarys accomplishments in protecting its national interests and economic growth were inspiring to Serbia. He welcomed that Hungary was next in line to take over the EUs rotating presidency, saying it would give Serbia and the entire region a reliable partner and that he expected Hungary to be a leader that would assume responsibility for European interests. uric thanked Hungary for its support in connection with the UN resolution, pointing out that the opening up of old wounds by certain political circles had created tensions in the region among Serbs, Croats and Bosnians. Hungary, he said, supported stability on this issue as well, adding that this was a responsible approach. ********************************* You're very welcome to comment, discuss and enjoy more stories, via our Facebook page: Facebook.com/XpatLoopNews + via XpatLoops groups: Budapest Expats / Expats Hungary You can subscribe to our newsletter here: XpatLoop.com/Newsletters Do you want your business to reach tens of thousands of potential high-value expat customers? Then just contact us here! Organisers are happy to announce that Lindsey Stirling will also perform in Budapest at the MVM Dome. Today, 21st May 2024, multi-award winning violinist and dancer Lindsey Stirling announces dates for her upcoming EU and UK tour beginning this October. Stirling, who has amassed a total following of 27 million people online, will tour her highly anticipated album 'Duality' coming June 14th, headlining 23 dates across Europe, the UK and Ireland, including an exclusive night at Royal Albert Hall. Special guest Nya joins Lindsey on all dates, Walk Off The Earth joins the Amsterdam show in addition as direct support. "Duality", a visionary meditation on inner wisdom, personal strength, and the ever-shifting nature of identity, encompasses a dozen songs showcasing Stirlings refined musicality and gift for sculpting deeply expressive melodies. But while the albums first half centers on a grandiose and elaborate composed sound informed by Celtic music and other global influences, its latter half leans toward a boldly original form of left-of-center pop. A profoundly imaginative songwriter, Stirling makes brilliant use of each sonic setting by exploring intricate questions of intuition and truth. Three singles: Eye of the Untold Her, Inner Gold and "Evil Twin" have been released so far this year. Speaking about the forthcoming album, Lindsey writes: "My album Duality is about the conflicting parts of our lives. Sometimes we feel at war with ourselves as we see the divide between who we are and who we wish we were. These conflicts feel like they could tear you apart, but by facing the darker parts within us, we can truly gain an understanding about ourselves and others. Lindseys shows are eye-catching and inspiring. She seamlessly integrates intricate choreography, breathtaking aerial lyra acts, and stunning costumes, all of which she designs herself and seamlessly blends music, dance, and visual artistry into a singular, unforgettable experience, leaving audiences spellbound and inspired. Tickets: Eventim.hu In a recent scam in Delhi, a 29-year-old man has been arrested for impersonating a traffic police officer and towing away expensive vehicles to sell to a scrap dealer. Police have also arrested one of his associates and the buyer of the stolen vehicles. According to the reports, the scam began 15 days ago and involved the theft of at least six cars. The auto theft ring came to light after a resident of Vasant Kunj B-block reported that his Toyota Camry sedan was towed away from his residence early on March 15 by a man dressed as a traffic policeman. The alleged mastermind, identified as Vikas Singh from Kusumpur Pahari in south Delhi, was aided by 55-year-old Mahender Singh from Pitampura, who operated a scrapyard in Kanjhawala, and 24-year-old Roshan Ahirwal from Mayapuri. Vikas resorted to the crime to settle his debts quickly, according to police officers involved in the investigation. Operation Details The police received a complaint from the Vasant Kunj resident and scanned CCTV footage, which showed the car being towed away by a crane operated by a man in a traffic police uniform. The crane operator, tracked down by the registration number, revealed that he was hired by a "police officer" to confiscate and tow the vehicle to the Kanjhawala scrapyard. At the scrapyard, police found Mahender, who had dismantled the Camry. He was arrested on May 17. Upon questioning, it was revealed that Vikas had posed as the traffic policeman to get the car towed on March 15. The two had rented a scrapyard to dismantle the vehicles. Vikas was arrested the same day following raids in Kusumpur Pahari. Police recovered the engine and body of a Camry, the body of a BMW car, a traffic police uniform, and a bike. The involvement of two crane operators is also being investigated. In a tragic incident in Mumbai, at least 40 flamingos were found dead in the Ghatkopar area after being struck by an incoming Emirates aircraft. The incident occurred on Monday night when flight EK-508, arriving from Dubai, collided with a flock of flamingos above the Pant Nagar area near Laxmi Nagar. Despite the collision, the flight, carrying around 310 passengers, landed safely at Mumbai airport at approximately 9:15 p.m. No bird carcasses were found on the airport runway. The return flight, EK-509, bound for Dubai, was cancelled later that night as the aircraft was grounded for a thorough inspection. This disruption left several passengers stranded at Mumbai airport, with Emirates providing accommodation as per procedure. The return flight is now scheduled to depart on Tuesday at 9 p.m. The Maharashtra Forest Department has launched an investigation into the incident. Officials have collected samples from the site where the flamingo carcasses were discovered. Additionally, a team from the forest department will record the statement of the pilot who reported the bird hit. According to the reports, SV Ramarao, the Additional Chief Conservator of Forest, stated, "Our team is on the ground and a full-scale investigation has been launched to find out the cause of death of the flamingos. We will also record the statement of the pilot who informed about the bird hit." The dead flamingos have been sent for post-mortem examination. This incident highlights the growing concerns regarding bird strikes in aviation and their impact on wildlife. A Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore encountered severe turbulence leading to the death of one passenger and injuries to several others. Reportedly, the deceased person was 73 years old British man. The incident occurred on flight SQ321, a Boeing 777-300ER, while en route from Heathrow Airport to Singapore. The turbulence forced the plane to make an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport at 3:45 pm local time. Upon landing, medical personnel boarded the aircraft to assess and assist the injured passengers. Although Thai media reported 30 injuries, Singapore Airlines did not confirm the exact number of injured individuals. The airline stated that 211 passengers and 18 crew members were on board during the incident. In a statement posted on Facebook, Singapore Airlines confirmed the fatality and injuries but did not disclose the identity of the deceased passenger. The airline emphasized its commitment to providing assistance to all passengers and crew, working closely with local authorities in Thailand to offer necessary medical aid. Additionally, Singapore Airlines dispatched a team to Bangkok to provide further support. Emergency crews from Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital were on-site to assist and transport injured passengers for medical treatment. Videos posted on the LINE messaging platform by Suvarnabhumi Airport showed a line of ambulances arriving at the scene to provide immediate aid, as reported by the Associated Press. Washington: A group of Tesla shareholders are asking investors to vote against a compensation package worth more than $40 billion for CEO Elon Musk, saying that it's not in the electric vehicle maker's best interest. Tesla is struggling with falling global sales, slowing electric vehicle demand, an aging model lineup and a stock price that has tumbled 30% this year. The shareholder group, which includes New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, SOC Investment Group and Amalgamated Bank, said in a letter to shareholders that ratification of Musk's pay package would do nothing to promote Tesla's long-term growth and stability. There's also concern that approval of the pay package will potentially lead to lawsuits arguing that it is corporate waste. And Musk is viewed as a part-time CEO at Tesla, with his time increasingly being spent on other business commitments, the letter said. Shareholders should not pretend that this award has any kind of incentivizing effectit does not. What it does have is an excessiveness problem, which has been glaringly apparent from the start, the group said. They noted that if shareholders ratify the compensation package, it's possible that another plan will be put forth next year. Given Tesla's history of exponentially larger awards, Musk may well ask for another award, the group said. The group is also asking investors to vote against the reelection of board members Kimbal Musk, Elon's brother, and James Murdoch, a former executive at media company Twenty-First Century Fox. Last month Tesla asked shareholders to restore Musk's pay package, which was valued at $56 billion at the time, that was rejected by a Delaware judge this year. At the time, it also asked to shift the company's corporate home to Texas. The changes will be voted on by stockholders at a June 13 annual meeting. Tesla posted record deliveries of more than 1.8 million electric vehicles worldwide in 2023, but the value of its shares has eroded quickly this year as EV sales soften. The company said it delivered 386,810 vehicles from January through March, nearly 9% fewer than it sold in the same period last year. Future growth is in doubt and it may be a challenge to get shareholders to back a fat pay package in an environment where competition has increased worldwide. Starting last year, Tesla has cut prices as much as $20,000 on some models. The price cuts caused used electric vehicle values to drop and clipped Tesla's profit margins. In April, Tesla said that it was letting about 10% of its workers go, about 14,000 people. TAIPEI, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Commentators from various walks of life in Taiwan have voiced disappointment and anxiety following Lai Ching-te's speech upon assuming the role of the region's new leader on Monday. The Cross-Strait Peace and Development Forum said in a statement that Lai's speech was full of wrong understanding of history and the legal status of Taiwan, revealing his stance as a "pragmatic worker for Taiwan independence." Describing the speech as one "filled with lies from the very beginning," Hung Hsiu-chu, former chairperson of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party, said that Lai and his team are not trustworthy and can't be trusted. Eric Chu, chairman of the KMT, said at a press conference that he was surprised to see that Lai mentioned the "two states" theory when talking about cross-Strait relations. Chu expressed his concern about the future of cross-Strait relations. A spokesperson of the New Party told reporters that Lai had resorted to the pursuit of political confrontation in his speech, contrary to what the majority in Taiwan had wanted him to do. The Observer magazine in Taipei said Lai had openly thanked the United States for its "military aid," fully revealing the intention of the new Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities to continue seeking U.S. support for their independence agenda. According to a recent poll conducted by TVBS, a Taiwan-based news channel, 53 percent of people lack confidence in the ability of the new DPP authorities to properly handle cross-Strait relations. The China Times, a Taiwan-based Chinese-language daily, pointed out in an editorial piece that Lai's speech was less about cross-Strait connection, but more about highlighting confrontation between the two sides. The newspaper added that this attitude had disappointed the Taiwan society. Noting that cross-Strait relations have been at a low point for the past eight years, an editorial by the Taipei-based United Daily News forecast that in the coming four years, it is feared that the people of Taiwan would have to "fasten their seat belts" as another bumpy ride appeared to lie ahead. Ma Ying-jeou, former leader of Taiwan and former chairman of the KMT, speaking during a seminar on Tuesday, called on Lai to return to the vision of a shared history, culture, and identity of the Chinese nation. "Engaging in dialogue with the mainland is the only way to create a genuine opportunity for peace in the Taiwan Strait," Ma added. Narsingh Jayanti is a Hindu festival celebrated every year on the Chaturdashi date or on the 14th day of Shukla Paksha of Vaishakh month, which falls between April and May in the Gregorian calendar. On this day, by worshiping Lord Vishnu and Lord Narasimha as per the rituals, all troubles go away. Narasimha Jayanti will be celebrated on May 21, 2024. In the Narasimha avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnated as half lion and half human. According to Hindu religious scriptures, Lord Narasimha is believed to be the fourth incarnation of Lord Vishnu who came to earth to kill Hiranyakashipu. By worshiping Lord Narasimha on this day, it is believed all your obstacles in life go away. Narasimha Jayanti 2024: Date Narasimha Jayanti is celebrated on the 14th day of Vaisakha, between April and May. Narasimha Jayanti falls on May 21 in 2024. Narasimha Jayanti 2024: Puja Timings As per Drik Panchang, the shubh muhurat to worship Lord Narasimha is: Evening puja timings: 4:24 pm to 7:09 pm Chaturdashi Tithi: 5:39 pm on May 21 to 6:47 pm on May 22 Narasimha Jayanti: Puja Vidhi - Devotees should wake up early, bathe, and commence the puja rituals, starting with placing the idol of Lord Narasimha on a wooden plank and bathing it with Panchamrit. - Adorn the idol with jewelry, light a ghee diya, and recite Lord Narasimha mantras. Offer flowers, five fruits, dry fruits, and homemade kheer or halwa. - Devotees take Sankalp during Madhyahna and perform Lord Narasimha Puja before nightfall, as it is believed Lord Narasimha emerged at dusk during Chaturdashi. - It is recommended to keep a night vigil and perform Visarjan Puja the next morning, ensuring the fast is broken after the Puja and presenting Dana to Brahmin. - Visiting temples and seeking the blessings of Lord Vishnu is an important aspect of Narasimha Jayanti celebrations. Narasimha Jayanti 2024: Significance According to mythological beliefs, Lord Vishnu incarnated on earth in the form of Narasimha to kill the demon king Hiranyakashyap. It is believed that Prahlad attained Vaikuntha Dham through his utmost devotion to Lord Vishnu. Whoever worships the Narasimha incarnation of Lord Vishnu receives mental and physical strength. By worshiping this form of Lord Vishnu on this day, all the problems in life go away and enemies are also destroyed. Narasimha Jayanti 2024: Wishes, Mantra to Share - This Narasimha Jayanti, keep faith in Lord Vishnu and let him guide us to a life of prosperity and success. - Lord Narasimha inspires us to always do the right thing. Happy Narasimha Jayanti. - No matter how dark it may seem, the light of goodness is constant at the end of the tunnel. Happy Narasimha Jayanti. , Happy Narasimha Jayanti 2024 (This article is intended for your general information only. Zee News does not vouch for its accuracy or reliability.) After witnessing remarkable voter turnout in Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar has hinted at the probability of Assembly elections in the erstwhile state as soon as possible. The development comes at a time when Srinagar and Baramulla seats in J&K has witnessed the highest voting percentage with 38% and 59% record polling, respectively. The highly successful conduct of polls with impressive turnout in Srinagar and Baramulla gives the Election Commission the confidence to hold Assembly polls in J&K at the earliest," CEC Rajiv Kumar told the Indian Express on Monday. Jammu and Kashmir is currently governed by a Lieutenant Governor (L-G), who is appointed by the Central Government. This arrangement has been running since 2018. In December 2023, the Apex Court ordered the Election Commission of India to conduct the assembly polls in the Union Territory by September this year. Voter Turnout In Lok Sabha Polls 2024 Srinagar went to poll in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 13. This marked the first major election in Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370. A total of 41% of voters exercised their right to vote, raising the voting percentage to its highest since the 1996 general elections. Similarily, in the fifth phase on May 20, Baramulla recorded a remarkable 59% turnout, the highest in many decades. Key leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have praised the noteworthy voter turnout in Kashmir constituencies, crediting it to the revocation of Article 370 in August 2019. Amit Shah dubbed the achievement "a momentous occasion for Kashmir! However, the National Conference (NC) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) have contended that the substantial voter participation contradicts the decision made on August 5, 2019. 2014 Assembly Elections Back in the November-December 2014 Assembly elections, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won 28 seats, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) won 25, and the National Conference (NC) bagged 15 seats. The PDP and BJP joined hands to form the government, with Mufti Mohammad Sayeed becoming the chief minister. When Sayeed passed away in January 2016, his daughter, Mehbooba Mufti, took over as the next chief minister. However, in June 2018, the BJP withdrew its support for the government led by the PDP, leading to the imposition of governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir. In post-poll violence, one person was killed while three others got injured in Bihars Saran district after violence erupted between two groups. The incident reported from Bada Telma area near Bhikhari Thakur Chowk. An altercation erupted between two groups, reportedly supporters of the BJP and RJD, over alleged polling irregularities on Monday in the area, during which gunshots were fired. The Saran Lok Sabha seat went for polling in the fifth phase of polling. As per the initial report, one person identified as 25-year-old Chandan Yadav died on spot while three others sustained injuries. "The injured persons were admitted to the nearest hospital. Later, two of them were sent to Patna for better treatment," reported PTI quoting Superintendent of Police Gaurav Mangla. "A case has been registered and an investigation is underway. Three persons have been arrested in connection with today's incident," he added. To prevent further flare up, the internet was also suspended in the district. Rohini Acharya, daughter of RJD Supremo Lalu Prasad contested the election from Saran Lok Sabha seat on the RJD party's ticket. On the other hand, Bhartiya Janta Party had fielded Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who is the also the sitting MP from the Saran Lok Sabha constituency. New Delhi: The Rouse Avenue Court formally framed charges against BJP leader and ex-Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on Tuesday in connection with the women wrestlers' sexual harassment case. Singh appeared before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Priyanka Rajpoot and denied the allegations against himself. "Why will I plead guilty when I am not guilty?" Singh said. Meanwhile, Singh interacted with the media and claimed that all the cases were false. He said the police have proof of their evidence against me in court. "As of now, charges have been framed against me. They now have to prove it in court and tell about the evidence they have. I have all the evidence of my innocence...All these are false cases, Delhi Police have to prove what evidence they have against me," he said. Reportedly, Singh's legal representative stated that his contention was based on the fact that he did not stay in the same hotel with players in foreign countries. The court has asked for a response from the Delhi police. The case is scheduled for June 1st at 2 PM. Brij Bhushan Singh, the sitting BJP MP from Kaiserganj in Uttar Pradesh, was denied a ticket to contest in the ongoing Lok Sabha poll in the aftermath of the sexual harassment allegations against him. The BJP has fielded his son Karan Bhushan Singh for the seat. New Delhi: The coronavirus is spreading rapidly in Singapore again, causing hospital beds to fill up quickly. Authorities have reintroduced mask mandates, reminiscent of the panic seen during the initial outbreaks in 2020 and subsequent waves in 2021-22. In Today's DNA, Zee News anchor Sourabh Raaj Jain analysed the alarming situation of coronavirus infection in Singapore and its significance globally. The resurgence of COVID-19 in Singapore is alarming, with health officials predicting a peak in the next two to four weeks. Two strains of the FLiRT variant, KP.1 and KP.2, have spread rapidly. The Ministry of Health reported 25,900 new cases between May 5 and May 11, a significant increase from the 13,700 cases reported the previous week. Hospital admissions have risen from 181 to 250 daily, and ICU admissions have increased from two to three patients per day. In response, Singapore's Health Ministry is ramping up preparations for the new wave. Hospitals have been instructed to increase the number of available beds and reduce elective surgeries. People are being advised to stay home and seek treatment there when possible. Health Minister Ong Ye Kung has urged individuals, especially those with serious illnesses or those aged 60 and above, to get a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The rise in cases of the KP.1 and KP.2 variants is not limited to Singapore; the United States has also seen increases, with the KP.2 variant accounting for 28 percent and the KP.1 variant for 7.1 percent of cases. Approximately 200 cases of these variants have been reported in India. While no new restrictions have been imposed in Singapore, the rapid resurgence of the virus is a cause for concern globally. The Election Commission of India (ECI) barred former Calcutta High Court judge and BJP Lok Sabha candidate Abhijit Gangopadhyay from campaigning for 24 hours on Tuesday, following his derogatory remarks about Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee earlier this month. According to the ECI's order, Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who is running for the Tamluk Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal's East Midnapore District, has been barred from campaigning beginning at 5 p.m. on Tuesday until 5 p.m. On Wednesday. While addressing a oublic meeting in Haldia on May 15, Abhijit Gangopadhyay said in Bengali, "Mamata Banerjee, how much are you being sold for? Why is your rate Rs 10 lakh? Beacuse Keya Seth is doing your makeup for you? Is Mamata Banerjee even a woman? Sometimes I can't stop wondering." In response to a complaint from the Trinamool Congress, which accused the former Calcutta HC Judge of making disparaging remarks about Mamata Banerjee, the ECI issued a show-cause notice to him on May 17. Gangopadhyay responded to the show-case notice on May 20 within the allotted time frame. According to insiders from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal, the commission decided to suspend him from campaigning for 24 hours after reviewing his response. Abhijit Gangopadhyay's demeaning remarks went viral after a video surfaced online the next day in which he could be heard wondering how much CM Banerjee was selling for. Tamluk, along with seven other Lok Sabha constituencies, will vote in the sixth phase on May 25. Kulgam: A techie from the Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir has entered NASA's 'Hall of Fame' after identifying vulnerabilities leading to data breaches in its system. Twenty-two-year-old cybersecurity researcher Munib Amin Bhatt achieved this feat after making it to Apple's 'Hall of Fame' in 2023 by reporting vulnerabilities in Apple systems. Munib was also honored with an award by Apple for his contributions. Muneeb, a resident of Zungalpora village in Kulgam, South Kashmir, reported his findings under NASA's Vulnerability Disclosure Program (VDP). This program facilitates the awareness of otherwise unknown vulnerabilities to the US agency. Due to VDP guidelines, Munib cannot disclose the specifics of the external vulnerabilities in the NASA system. However, he mentioned that it involved sensitive data exposure. Muneeb Amin Bhatt said, I was inducted into the Hall of Fame by Apple in 2023. They allowed me to ethically hack their systems to investigate vulnerabilities and report them. They later validated and accepted my findings, adding my name to their Hall of Fame. Recently, I did the same for NASA, found some vulnerabilities, and reported them. NASA accepted my findings and inducted me into their Hall of Fame. I am extremely happy and proud to help security organizations secure their data. Over the past few years, Muneeb has been working tirelessly, identifying vulnerabilities in many organizations. For his efforts, he has received millions of dollars in awards and recognition in various Halls of Fame. He has ethically hacked and secured many international organizations, including Oracle, McDonalds, Intel, USAA, Indeed, and many others. Many organizations around the world improve their security by calling on ethical hackers to help them keep their data safe. They have their own cybersecurity teams, but to ensure complete safety, they invite hackers to investigate their systems. That is why we are invited, and we investigate and report on vulnerabilities. I am extremely happy that my name has been listed in the Hall of Fame, said Muneeb Ahmad Bhat. Muneeb is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) degree from IGNOU, having started this after dropping out of a B.Tech program at a private engineering college in Kashmir. Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Live Updates: Just a day after the fifth phase of Lok Sabha polling concluded for 8 States/UTs, the contesting parties have ramped up their campaign efforts to tackle the remaining two phases, namely the sixth and seventh phases of the elections. Phase 5 of the Lok Sabha elections saw an approximate voter turnout of 58.96%, according to the Election Commissions Voter Turnout App. West Bengal recorded the highest polling percentage at 73.14%, while Maharashtra had the lowest at 53.34%. Notably, Jammu and Kashmir witnessed its first major poll battle, with the Baramulla constituency recording a turnout of 54.67%, the highest since 1984. The Bhartiya Janta Party-led NDA has sent its star campaigner, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to woo the voters in the Champaran and Maharajganj regions in Bihar and Prayagraj district in Uttar Pradesh. While Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge addressed a public meeting in Yamunanagar of the Ambala Lok Sabha seat. On Monday, polling concluded for 49 Lok Sabha seats across six states and two Union Territories. The Prime Minister will be engaging in conversation with over 25,000 women in his constituency, Varanasi, from where he is eyeing his third consecutive Lok Sabha poll victory against Ajay Rai, fielded by the Congress party. Among the distinguished speakers at the conclave were Mr. Regie Gardoce (MD of Gardoce Consulting), Mr. Dheeraj Khatore (CEO and Vice President of AACI and CEO of Emerge Smart Health), Mr. Manasvi Thapar (Founder of Candour Legal and TEDx speaker), and Dr. Nilay Mistry (Associate Professor, School of Cyber Security and Digital Forensics, NFSU, Gandhinagar). Participants from 10 multi-speciality hospitals also attended to learn about pertinent topics such as data privacy, DPDP Act 2023, and real-life case studies that showcased cybersecurity vulnerabilities of healthcare organizations. Mr. Kartik Donga, Founder, PeoplActive shared, CyberActive Conclave is just the stepping stone towards safeguarding healthcare from evolving cyber threats and provide continuity of care. We plan to host similar events in future to strengthen cybersecurity for hospitals" The event concluded with the launch of cybersecurity programme for healthcare by PeoplActive. A first of a kind course that aims to empower healthcare professionals on cybersecurity by making them aware about various aspects involved and to further the cause of cybersecurity in healthcare. PeoplActives comprehensive cybersecurity consulting services helps you convert the risks associated with healthcare cyber-attacks into cyber resilience. Our end-to-end consulting falls under 3 major areas advisory, implementation and managed services for cybersecurity. To secure your healthcare, business can explore more about our cybersecurity consulting services for healthcare. As for Emerge Smart Health, the digital health solutions provider offers healthcare solutions that assist businesses to achieve operational efficiency. Their solutions include electronic medical record (ABDM compliant), telemedicine, interoperability, revenue cycle robotics automation, clinical decision support system. These solutions act as a bridge for healthcare businesses to go digital as well as increasing operational efficiency. PeoplActive 705, Times Square Grand, Sindhu Bhavan Road, Thaltej, Ahmedabad 380059 (This article is part of IndiaDotCom Pvt Ltds Consumer Connect Initiative, a paid publication programme. IDPL claims no editorial involvement and assumes no responsibility, liability or claims for any errors or omissions in the content of the article. The IDPL Editorial team is not responsible for this content.) The police on Tuesday detained the father of the 17-year-old boy, whose speeding Porche killed two IT professionals in Kalyani Nagar area in Pune. As per the local police the teenagers father was held in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and he is being brought to Pune. As per reports the boy was drunk at the time when the Porche fatally hit two motorbike riders in the early hours of Sunday. Now, the investigation of these cases has been handed over to the crime branch. Police said, "We have detained the teenager's father from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and he is being brought to Pune and will be arrested in the case registered against him," reported PTI quoting Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar. The police had registered a case against the teenage boy's dad, who works in real estate, for breaking laws under the Juvenile Justice Act (sections 75 and 77). They also charged the bar's owners and employees for serving alcohol to someone under 18. Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act relates to "willful neglect of a child, or exposing a child to mental or physical illnesses," while section 77 is about providing alcohol or drugs to a minor. The man gave his child the car despite knowing that he did not have a valid driving license, thus putting his sons life at risk. He also allowed his son to attend parties, even though he was fully aware that his son drinks alcohol, reported PTI citing the FIR. Following the accident, the minor was apprehended but was granted bail within 15 hours by the Juvenile Justice Board. As a condition of the bail, the board instructed him to compose a "300-word essay" on the topic of road accidents. The board mandated that he undergo counselling at an alcohol de-addiction center, collaborate with the Yerawada traffic police for 15 days, receive treatment for alcohol cessation, and participate in psychiatric counselling, as outlined by defense lawyer Prashant Patil. #WATCH | Maharashtra: Visuals of the Porsche car and bike currently at Yerwada Police Station in Pune. Two people were killed when a speeding Porsche car hit them from behind on 19th May. The accused has been granted bail by the Juvenile Justice Board and his father was https://t.co/HKj8uK4d9q pic.twitter.com/91SeqwfTeN ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2024 Around 3:15 on Sunday morning the group of friends were riding motorcycles after attending a party. At the Kalyani Nagar junction, a speeding Porsche collided with the motorcycles, tragically killing the two riders, identified as Anis Awadhiya and Ashwini Costa, both 24-year-old IT professionals from Madhya Pradesh. HELSINKI, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Finland is considering adopting the European standard railroad gauge, Finnish Transport and Communications Minister Lulu Ranne said on Tuesday at a logistics meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). "We will make an investigation on what schedule and technology and with what money it would be possible to move to this European track width one step at a time," Ranne said. She said that the European width would help improve Finnish supply safety, as reported by national broadcaster Yle. In 2022, Finland declined an initiative from the European Commission aimed at introducing the European gauge, maintaining its current rail gauge, which is nine centimeters wider and was established during the inception of railroad construction in Finland in the 1850s. The European standard gauge measures 1435 millimeters. Presently, the "railroad border" lies between Finland and Sweden, with the sole railroad connection from Finland to the west passing through the city of Tornio, situated at the northern tip of the Gulf of Bothnia. In the southeast, Finnish rail links with Russia via Vainikkala. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on Congress and the Samajwadi Party and alleged that both the parties only care about their vote bank and are "anti-development". Referring to the Kumbh Mela, the largest pilgrimage gathering of the Hindu community, PM Modi said that during the times when SP and Congress led the government, stampedes were a common occurrence at the event. Addressing a rally in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj Modi said, "Everywhere you go in India, you hear that the INDI alliance won't bring development. Take the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj as an example. During the time of the SP-Congress, it was chaotic. Stampedes were common, and lives were lost. The event was poorly managed, with chaos everywhere. Their focus was more on their vote bank than on the Kumbh. They feared that doing too much for Kumbh might alienate their supporters. There was a constant competition between SP and Congress for appeasement." #WATCH | Addressing a huge public gathering in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi says, "Every corner of India says that the INDI alliance will not bring development. Look at the example of Kumbh Mela held in Prayagraj... What used to happen during the time of pic.twitter.com/s6n7mogi91 ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2024 "This election of 2024 will decide the direction in which the Triveni of India's future will flow," Modi said. The prime minister said the members of the INDIA block cannot digest praise of India abroad. He added that India is now known for its expressway and infrastructure. Modi was addressing the rally in Prayagraj to seek votes for BJP candidate Neeraj Tripathi. The main contest in Allahabad is between Neeraj Tripathi, the son of former West Bengal governor and speaker of Uttar Pradesh Assembly Keshari Nath Tripathi, and Ujjwal Ram Singh, the son of former Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Reoti Raman Singh. Polling in the Allahabad Lok Sabha constituency will take place in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha election on May 25. New Delhi: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar will travel to Tehran to attend the funeral of late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, his foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and other officials who were killed in a helicopter crash, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Tuesday. Thousands of people took to the streets in Iran as the funeral ceremony of Raisi began today in the city of Tabriz in the north-western region where the chopper in which he was travelling in crashed on Sunday. "Vice-President of India Jagdeep Dhankar will pay a visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran on 22 May 2024 to attend official ceremony to pay condolences on the tragic demise of H.E. President Dr. Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, H.E. Foreign Minister Dr. Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other Iranian officials in an unfortunate helicopter crash on 19 May 2024," the MEA said in an official press release. President of India, Droupadi Murmu, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have conveyed their condolences to the government and people of Iran. "External Affairs Minister visited the Embassy of Iran in New Delhi on May 21 to convey India's condolences on the tragic loss," the release stated. The Iranian government has declared Wednesday as a public holiday when a funeral is expected to be held in Tehran with the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah leading prayers. Raisi's body will be buried in his birthplace, Mashhad, on Thursday, Vice-President of the Republic, Mohsen Mansouri, announced. On Monday Prime Minister Narendra Modi had condoled the demise of the Iranian President. In a post on social media platform X, PM Modi acknowledges Raisi's contribution to strengthening the India-Iran bilateral relationship. "Deeply saddened and shocked by the tragic demise of Dr. Seyed Ebrahim Raisi, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. His contribution to strengthening the India-Iran bilateral relationship will always be remembered. My heartfelt condolences to his family and the people of Iran. India stands with Iran in this time of sorrow," PM Modi tweeted. On Monday, Khamenei announced five days of mourning and a public holiday has been declared with offices closed all over the country. Meanwhile, in New Delhi, a condolence book has been opened at Iran's Embassy to enable people to pay tributes to the late President, the late foreign as well as other fellow officials. India is observing a day of national mourning as well on May 21. Dowry as a practice was abolished from India on May 1, 1961, and applied to all religions in India. However, here we are 63 years modern but struggling to get this age-old malpractice out of our society. As per the data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 6,450 dowry deaths were reported in India in the year 2022. And in a country where dowry deaths and cases of dowry harassment are reported every other day, naturally a "dowry calculator" sparked a fiery online debate. But there's more to it than meets the eye. Shark Tank India judge Anupam Mittal's Shaadi.com is gaining a lot of attention on social media for this shocking feature asking users, "How much Dowry are you worth?" Shaadi.com's decade-old feature is resurfacing today only for the right reasons. This option shows a graphic of a suited man surrounded by illustrations of a study lamp, books, money bags, a globe, a house, and a car. Below this image is a form which requests users to fill in their age, profession, monthly salary, education, if they own a house and where they live. What Happens Once You Fill This Form? Upon filling out the form and clicking on the 'Calculate Dowry Amount' button, the page leads to a video montage of a calculator working number and displays the figure 91,202, mentioning it is the number of dowry deaths reported in India between 2001-2012. The page further asks the question, "Do you still want to know???" and "Is her life worth the price?". Then it shows an image of a physically abused married woman, with the caption: "Let's make India a Dowry-Free Society" and concludes with "Be the change. Make a difference!" Taking to social media platform X, one such user @DoctorHussain96 posts, "Initially was shocked to see Dowry calculator in Shaadi.com. A segment of the site shows users how much they are worth in the 'dowry' stakes. When you enter your details like educational qualification and income, you are in for a surprise." The user further appreciated the Shaadi.com founder for this initiative adding, "Respect and wonderful idea @AnupamMittal". Initially was shocked to see Dowry calculator in https://t.co/EQr0sQBWQD A segment of the site show users how much they are worth in the 'dowry' stakes. When you enter your details like educational qualification and income, you are in for a surprise. Instead of showing their pic.twitter.com/a9jw1P3oBf The Cancer Doctor (@DoctorHussain96) May 19, 2024 This post quickly caught the attention of the masses and went viral on social media summoning a flood of comments by netizens. One X user wrote, "Shameful to see that people are still taking dowry in some form or other!..", another user commented, "Fantastic! No one should ideally click on the 'Dowry calculator' in the portal. They should also show how many people have used the tool." All About the Dowry Calculator The popular matrimonial website Shaadi.com brought out a seemingly shocking feature in 2011, which was actually a meaningful campaign to stop the practice of dowry taking in India. The site created a page which was a clickbait claiming to calculate your dowry and how much a to-be wife is worth. But once you clicked on the 'Dowry Calculator', it showed how the practice is a social evil and the implications it has on the lives of thousands of women. An official of Shaadi.com then told the media that the campaign introduced a new way of an age-old problem (dowry) which demanded attention. The initiative was reportedly partnered with NGO Stree Mukti Sanghatana. It aimed at destroying the social evil such as dowry from the institution of marriage. The dowry calculator on Shaadi.com was blocked by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for being misleading and "unacceptable" in 2018. Years later, in 2023, the Delhi High Court termed the website "quite creative" in response to a plea. As per media reports, this initiative was created by Shaadi.com in collaboration with NGO Stree Mukti Sanghatana. According to a report on Campaign India, the founder and CEO of Shaadi.com, Anupam Mittal was quoted as saying, "It is saddening to witness such a strong prevalence of marital social issues in India and across the world today. As a result, the original intent of marriage is getting lost. The fundamental purpose of marriage, across religions and cultures, is to find lifelong equal companionship and support through the journey of life. Social evils such as dowry and domestic violence destroy the essence and institution of marriage. He further added that, as a leader in the online matchmaking industry, Shaadi.com strives to ensure a positive role is played in directly helping victims of marital abuse. Through Shaadi Cares, our platform is also leveraged to raise awareness among our 30 million members about how marriage can and should be about 'together for good'. New Delhi: Cannes is not just a celebration of cinema, but the Croisette is the perfect place to put your best couture foot forward. It is also that time of the year when a bevy of Bollywood beauties step down at the French Rivera. However this time their numbers are few and far between, as the number of influencers have bypassed the film folk. So bringing our focus back to fashion, the desi entourage did give us several why o why moments. Fashion pundits and fans stand united that Shane and Falgunis gold-inspired ensemble or the confetti gown did no justice to the most beautiful woman in the world Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. A Cannes regular, though Aishwarya Rai Bachchan defended her designers, all we can say is pretty, please change your stylists. However, two ladies stood out in their Cannes Debut, actor Kiara Advani and influencer Nancy Tyagi. Kiara represented India at the Red Seas Foundation Women in Cinema Gala Dinner, hosted by Vanity Fair. On day one the actor stepped out in a white ivory satin ensemble designed by Prabal Gurung. Accessorising the thigh-high slit gown with pearl earrings the actor looked cool and vibed well in the Cannes ambiance, which screams Glamour and Sophistication. It was vintage Hollywood for the Gala night. Kiara opted for a black and pink mermaid-fit corseted gown with a bow at the back, Black lace gloves came paired with a gorgeous yellow gold Rs. 30-crore BVLGARI Serpenti necklace and a pink gold BVLGARI ring. Simple, classy does it. Kiaras stylist got it right. The clothes complemented her figure, the make-up was subtle, and it seemed easy without trying too hard, says a designer on Kiaras look. Further what Bollywood sometimes without the exception of Sonam Kapoor and Deepika Padukone gets wrong, is that more is less. It is usually the other way around. We have better handlooms, and craftsmanship, and can do so much better, than what we do. The other one turning heads was fashion influencer Nancy Tyagi, who walked as part of the Brut India squad. In a self-stitched pink voluminous gown with several layers and a long train, Nancy looked elegant and stylish. The influencer won applause from actors Sonam Kapoor, and Bhumi Pednekar for her self-styled creation. Nancy stood out, and imagine no one knew who she was and now she will best remember. That's what fashion is it needs to stand out, says a designer. In the words of Coco Chanel, fashion changes but style endures. Hopefully, some designers and stylists would take note of the same. Mumbai: Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, who was last seen in 'Tiger 3', cast his vote on Monday at the Mount Mary school. The actor arrived at the polling booth in a rugged look to do his bit for the electoral process. The actor sported a light stubble and chose a grey coloured t-shirt and black cargo pants. He also interacted briefly with a wheelchair-bound woman before he posed for the paparazzi stationed at the venue. Earlier in the day, Salman's father Salim Khan cast his vote along with his first wife Salma Khan in the Bandra area of Mumbai. New Delhi: The homegrown brand Boult has expanded its true wireless stereo (TWS) collection by launching two new gaming earbudsBoult Z40 Gaming and Y1 Gaming in the Indian market. The Z40 Gaming TWS earbuds are available in Black Moss and Electric White colour options along with RGB lights. Meanwhile, the Boult Y1 Gaming earbuds come with Black Metal, Electric Red, and Glacier Blue colour options. Boult Z40 Gaming and Boult Y1 Gaming TWS Earbuds Price And Availability: The Boult Z40 Gaming and Y1 Gaming TWS earbuds will be available at a special launch price of Rs 1,299 and 1,199, respectively. Consumers can buy the Boult Z40 Gaming earbuds via Amazon, Flipkart, and the brand's website. Meanwhile, the Boult Y1 Gaming TWS earbuds will be available for purchase only on Flipkart and the brand website. (Also Read: Infinix GT 20 Pro Smartphone Launched In India With Free Gaming Kit; Check Price, Specs And Discount Offer) Boult Z40 Gaming, Y1 Gaming Specifications: The latest earbuds offer 60 hours of battery life and support AAC SBC codec for enhanced bass and audio quality. Meanwhile, the Y1 Gaming TWS earbuds offer 50 hours of playtime. Both the earbuds come with Combat Gaming mode with ultra-low latency of 40ms. The TWS earbuds with dual device connectivity, Bluetooth v5.4. The TWS earbuds are equipped with inbuilt quad microphones for environmental noise cancellation (ENC). They can be connected and operated via the BOULT AMP App, which is available on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store. (Also Read: Amazfit BIP 5 Unity Smartwatch Launched In India At Rs 6,999 With 100 Stylish Watch Faces; Check Specs And Other Features) The Boult Z40 Gaming and Boult Y1 Gaming TWS Earbuds are IPX5-rated for water resistance and powered by BoomX technology and 10mm drivers. New Delhi: The buzz around Bigg Boss OTT Season 3 is already doing the rounds these days. After the successful two seasons, all eyes are set on the fresh third instalment of the reality show meant for the digital platform. Last season was hosted by the OG Salman Khan and social media star Elvish Yadav lifted the trophy beating Abhishek Malhan. Ahead of the actual show, many tentative names of contestants have surfaced online. As per many media reports, here's a rumoured list of Bigg Boss OTT 3 contestants list: Adnaan Shaikh He is a famous social media star who shot to fame with TikTok videos and has a massive fan following. Delbar Arya According to Siasat.com, this famous Punjabi actress will be seen on the OTT version of Bigg Boss this season. Riyaz Aly A famous TikToker and social medis star has also featured in several music videos. Shivangi Joshi Popular TV actress is reportedly going to be the highest paid contestant on the show, if she decides to be aboard. Shafaq Naaz Another name which is making the rounds is that of Shafaq Naaz, sister of Bigg Boss OTT 2 fame Falaq Naaz. Pankit Thakker TV actor Pankit Thakker has featured in hit daily soaps including Dill Mill Gayye and Bahu Hamari Rajni Kant. People mourn victims of the helicopter crash near Varzaqan County, in Tehran, Iran, on May 20, 2024. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and some members of his accompanying team, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, were confirmed dead Monday morning as the wreckage of the helicopter carrying them was found following its crash in bad weather on Sunday near Varzaqan County. (Xinhua/Shadati) TEHRAN, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Iran's government decided on Monday that the country's 14th presidential election would be held on June 28, the official news agency IRNA reported. The election date was determined in a meeting attended by Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, currently assuming the presidency, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, as well as Vice President for Legal Affairs Mohammad Dehqan and representatives of the Iranian Constitutional Council and Interior Ministry, the report said. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and some members of his accompanying team, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, were confirmed dead Monday morning as the wreckage of the helicopter carrying them was found following its crash in bad weather on Sunday near Varzaqan County, some 670 km away from Tehran. The screenshot captured from footage broadcast by Iran's state-run IRIB TV on May 20, 2024 shows the wreckage of the crashed helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi near Varzaqan County, Iran. (Xinhua/Shadati) According to Article 131 of Iran's Constitution, the first vice president will take the helm of the executive branch if the president is unable to perform duties. Also, the interim president is duty-bound to make arrangements for the election of a new president within a maximum of 50 days. During the meeting, the participants also set the schedule for the election processes, including the formation of executive delegations, the registration of candidates, and the launch of electoral campaigns, according to IRNA. Based on the schedule, the registration would be conducted from May 30 to June 3, following which candidates would have to conduct electoral campaigns from June 12 to 27, the report said. According to IRNA, the Constitutional Council has initially consented to the schedule. Another round of political consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Georgia was held in Baku, Azernews reports. The Azerbaijani delegation was led by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Samir Sharifov, and the delegation of Georgia by the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lasha Darsalia. As the consultations unfolded, the parties conversed on the current situation and development prospects of bilateral cooperation in political, economic and trade, energy, transportation, cultural and humanitarian fields. The sides hailed the current level of relations between the two countries. They underlined the importance of high-level reciprocal visits and the activity of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on economic issues. The sides also highlighted the significance of continuing coordination and mutual support on issues of importance to both countries within international and regional organizations, as well as Azerbaijan-Turkiye-Georgia trilateral and other multilateral cooperation platforms. The Georgian delegation was informed about the organization of the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP29) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which will be hosted by Azerbaijan this November. CANBERRA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The operator of Australia's electricity grid has warned of a heightened risk of blackouts due to delays to key projects. The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) on Tuesday released an update to its 10-year outlook for the National Electricity Market (NEM), renewing calls for urgent investment to guarantee electricity reliability as coal-fired power plants are retired. Compared to the 2023 Electricity Statement of Opportunities (ESOO) report, the updated document warns blackout risks have increased in New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria - Australia's two largest states - from 2024-25 through to 2027-28 and in South Australia (SA) in 2026-27. It attributed the heightened risk to delays to battery, hydro-storage, wind, solar and transmission projects, including for the EnergyConnect power cable that is now expected to connect the NSW and SA power grids from 2027 instead of 2026. "The urgency for the timely delivery of transmission, generation and storage, and use of consumer electricity resources to support the grid, remains to meet consumers' energy needs," Daniel Westerman, chief executive of AEMO, said in a media release. "While new generation and storage capacity continues to increase, project development and commissioning delays are impacting reliability throughout the horizon." To address the reliability gaps AEMO said it would procure interim reserves to shore up the market over the high-demand summer periods. It called for timely investment in projects to generate, store and share electricity to manage reliability risks. RAMALLAH, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian presidency on Tuesday slammed the U.S. administration for its support of Israel amid the latter's ongoing attacks on Palestinians in both the Gaza Strip and West Bank. In a statement published by Palestine's official news agency WAFA, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for the presidency, said the Israeli government and its army continued their "crimes" in Palestinian territories as a result of the "continued and unjustified support" provided by the U.S.. He said that the American support for Israel, including financial aid, weapons, and the shielding from accountability for its "crimes," "pushed Israeli leaders to commit more crimes in northern Gaza and Rafah." He also warned of the danger of ongoing Israeli attacks on the Palestinians from the southernmost city of Rafah to the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank. Earlier in the day, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported that seven Palestinians were killed and 12 others were injured during an Israeli operation in Jenin. Among the injured, three were in critical condition and have been hospitalized. Palestinian security sources said that Israeli soldiers conducted a raid on Jenin and its refugee camp on Tuesday, resulting in an exchange of gunfire between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces in the refugee camp and several neighborhoods of the city. Avichai Adraee, a spokesperson of the Israeli military, said in a post on the social media platform X that security forces carried out an operation to "thwart terrorism" in Jenin, where several gunmen were reportedly injured. Eyewitnesses told Xinhua that Israeli bulldozers continued to demolish infrastructure near Jenin Governmental Hospital and in the city's neighborhoods. Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israelis have killed 513 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 127 from Jenin, according to official Palestinian statistics. Jasmine tea is tea scented with the aroma of jasmine blossoms and typically has green tea as its base. When the fresh jasmine flowers are harvested, they are blended with layers of tea leaves. Workers stir the tea leaves and flowers overnight, allowing the leaves to absorb the aromatic scent of the jasmine blossoms. The hot and humid climate and the sandy soil in Hengzhou City of south China's Guangxi provide favorable conditions for jasmine and tea plants to thrive, becoming the high-quality ingredients that are needed for jasmine tea. Hengzhou's jasmine planting area reached 131,000 mu, about 8,733 hectares, with a fresh flower yield of 103,000 tons in 2023. The average price of fresh flowers reached 34 yuan per kilogram, benefiting 340,000 jasmine farmers. The city has over 130 jasmine tea enterprises, with a total output value of jasmine tea of 16.29 billion yuan, about 2.25 billion U.S. dollars. PHNOM PENH, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia urged businessmen, entrepreneurs, investors and producers to participate in the seventh China International Import Expo (CIIE), to be held from Nov. 5-10 in east China's Shanghai, according to a Ministry of Commerce's statement on Tuesday. The statement said the Ministry of Commerce will lead a business delegation to attend this mega-expo, saying that it will be a great opportunity for exhibitors to showcase their products and to explore new trading partners in China and across the globe. The Ministry of Commerce is going to set up a Cambodian pavilion with commercial booths and prepare some sideline activities at the expo, it said. Cambodian Ministry of Commerce's Secretary of State and Spokesperson Penn Sovicheat said the annual event has provided a unique opportunity for foreign companies to exhibit their products and services to potential Chinese consumers and investors. Experts from Bangladesh and China attend a discussion meeting in Dhaka, Bangladesh, May 20, 2024. (Xinhua) DHAKA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) cooperation embraces the historical trend of economic globalization, responds to the call for improving the global governance system, and meets people's longing for a better life which is the fundamental reason why it always has been strong, said Bangladeshi experts. Tens of speakers from diverse sectors in Bangladesh and China, including academia, business and media, shared their perspectives at a discussion meeting here on Monday, opining that Bangladesh is a proud member of the BRI which plays a significant role in the country's economic developments. The Center for East Asia Foundation (CEAF), a non-profit and non-political independent study circle, has organized the roundtable discussion titled "China-Bangladesh Relations and The Belt and Road Initiative" at the University of Dhaka. Nasim Mahmmud, executive director of the CEAF, in his welcome remarks said China has always extended its firm support to Bangladesh in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity, and opposing external interference. He said Bangladesh-China relations are based on mutual respect and win-win outcome. Dean of Faculty of Business Studies at the University of Dhaka Muhammad Abdul Moyeen said that Bangladesh has already started benefiting from the BRI, including China's financial investment. He also said that the investment made by the BRI will continue to contribute to the development of Bangladesh's competitiveness in the future and the realization of Vision 2041. Wang Jian, director of the Institute of International Relations from Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said that the BRI has given a strong boost to Bangladesh's development, with significant improvement in its infrastructure such as roads, bridges and power generation, as well as the growth of China-Bangladesh trade. Next, the BRI cooperation between China and Bangladesh will adhere to the principles of benefiting people's lives and sustainability. In addition to promoting hard connectivity and investment, China and Bangladesh should also align with the people-centered core of the Global Development Initiative to promote soft connectivity and investment, such as personnel training, development experience sharing, education and people-to-people cooperation, and work together to carry out small and beautiful projects, Wang added. In his concluding remarks, former Bangladeshi Ambassador to China and Chairman of the CEAF Mahbub Uz Zaman said, "I am convinced that under the framework of the BRI, more and more Chinese enterprises and people will devote themselves to the goal of Smart Bangladesh, proposing Chinese solutions and making even more contributions to the realization of (Bangladesh's) Vision 2041." Talking to Xinhua on the sidelines of the event, he said both Bangladesh and China are cooperating on the BRI which Bangladesh joined in 2016. "It is expected that this cooperation, especially under the Belt and Road Initiative, will grow further and expand in the future." BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday that China urges the United States to earnestly abide by its commitments of not using Taiwan as a tool to contain China, and stop hollowing out the one-China principle. Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily press briefing in response to a query about U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's "congratulations" to the new leader of the Taiwan region. BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Celebrated American lyric-coloratura mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato will perform at the concert hall of China's National Centre for the Performing Arts on June 13. The Kansas-born multi-Grammy Award winner will be joined by famed Italian ensemble Il Pomo d'Oro in what will be part of her "EDEN" tour, which kicked off in March 2022. Released in February 2022, the album "EDEN" centers on mankind's relationship with the natural world and "our unique place within it, and invites the listener to explore and search for answers about belonging, purpose, and healing," according to DiDonato's website page. The concert will feature tracks from the album including its anthem "The First Morning of the World" by Academy Award-winning composer Rachel Portman, and others from works of various eras such as Aaron Copland's "8 Poems of Emily Dickinson," Gustav Mahler's "Ruckert-Lieder" and Francesco Cavalli's "La Calisto." The album is "a powerful example of how music can relate so well to our wider world," wrote leading classical music magazine Gramophone. by Burak Akinci IZNIK, Turkiye, May 21 (Xinhua) -- China's Jingdezhen and Turkiye's Iznik cities stand as a testament to shared cultural values between two ancient cities and their passion for fine porcelain making, Turkish ceramic experts said. "There are many similarities between Chinese porcelain and Iznik ceramics," Adil Can Guven, a famous Turkish ceramic artist told Xinhua in a recent interview. He was referring to the northwestern Turkish city of Iznik which was the main center of ceramic production under the Ottomans. Iznik, a district in the Bursa province of modern Turkiye, boasts a rich history spanning 2,000 years, dating back to its time as the Byzantine city of Nicaea. During the Ottoman era, influenced by Chinese craftsmanship, Iznik's ceramics and porcelain industry experienced rapid growth from the 15th to the 17th centuries, reaching its zenith in the 16th century. Guven, a 70-year-old ceramist who recently visited Jingdezhen, the world-famous "porcelain capital" in east China's Jiangxi Province, said he was "very impressed" by the city and its history of porcelain-making dating back over 2,000 years. Jingdezhen's past role as an official and imperial kiln has elevated the art of porcelain making to unprecedented heights. "We were very impressed by the porcelain produced in Jingdezhen," he pointed out, stressing that the design of some pieces showcased in the local museum is still in use in Iznik ceramics, such as grapes and waves. "The Ottomans were significantly inspired" in their ceramic art by the renowned Chinese blue-and-white porcelain, this artist stressed. The porcelain produced in Jingdezhen and then exported to the Islamic world through the ancient Silk Road bears now testimony to the city's shared values with modern-day Turkiye and its love for ceramics, according to Guven. In the 15th century, Chinese porcelain gifted to the Ottoman Empire had a very significant importance on Anatolia and the Ottoman Palace, this artist said. Jingdezhen porcelains inspired Turkish tile masters since the Ottoman era and paved the way for the start of porcelain production in Turkiye, Mehmet Aras, a scholar and expert on ceramics, said to Xinhua in Iznik. "The Chinese were the first to produce porcelain in the world. It was first made by Chinese craftsman until the 17th century when many other communities tried to emulate their technique," he said. Technically, porcelain is a type of ceramic, but porcelain is made with superior-grade clay and needs to be fired at more extreme temperatures than ceramics. Porcelain is therefore harder, he noted. The word "cini" synonymous with ceramics and pottery in Turkish can be translated roughly as something related to China, Aras explained, highlighting that Turkish ceramics are a reflection of Chinese porcelain. Porcelain, as a symbol of traditional Chinese culture, has built a bridge of cultural exchange between ancient China and foreign countries. In the present day, Turkiye's "capital of ceramics" Iznik and China's "capital of porcelain" Jingdezhen are sister cities and mutual exchanges of artists and local officials are very important, Iznik's deputy mayor Ahmet Kaya, told Xinhua. "Jingdezhen and Iznik are two ancient cities that share many commonalities, including culture and civilization. "We have succeeded in building a bridge of friendship and brotherhood," he stated. Aras and Kaya participated in the 2023 China Jingdezhen International Ceramic Expo in October. "I was very impressed with what I saw in Jingdezhen, and how the local history has been kept alive," this official stressed. "Iznik ceramics have been inspired by Chinese porcelain, and the origin of this inspiration is Jingdezhen," the deputy mayor added. Meanwhile, Topkapi Palace Museum in Turkiye's Istanbul, once the residence of the Ottoman sultans, has been displaying since early May additional pieces from its extensive collection of Chinese porcelain following a major makeover. After a three-year restoration, visitors can admire thousands of Chinese porcelain pieces, including those exclusively crafted for the sultans, drawing significant attention from Turks and foreign tourists alike. WELLINGTON, May 21 (Xinhua) -- A New Zealand government plane headed to the French overseas territory of New Caledonia on Tuesday as the first in a series of proposed flights to begin bringing New Zealanders home. "New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days, and bringing them home has been an urgent priority for the government," said New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters. The situation in New Caledonia remains dynamic, and New Zealand officials are continuing to work with French counterparts and other partners especially Australia to understand what is needed to ensure the safety of Kiwis there, said Peters, also the deputy prime minister. "In cooperation with France and Australia, we are working on subsequent flights in coming days," Peters said. Tuesday's flight carried around 50 passengers with the most pressing needs from the capital Noumea to New Zealand's Auckland, he said, adding passengers for subsequent flights will be prioritized by consular staff. The escalating situation and violent protests in Noumea are of serious concern across the Pacific Islands region, Peters said last week. Six people have been killed and hundreds more injured in riots that began earlier in May after the French parliament passed laws that granted French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years or more the right to vote in local elections, local media reported. French President Emmanuel Macron on May 15 declared a state of emergency in New Caledonia, a French territory comprising dozens of islands in the South Pacific. "It would be an opportunity for substantive cultural exchange between the peoples of China and of the United States," said Juilliard's president emeritus Joseph W. Polisi, who has donated his award money to promote Sino-U.S. music exchange and education. In response, Zakharova asked a counter, logical question, "Who left first?" (the Armenians - ed.) and stressed that the Russian Peacekeeping Contingent (RPC) kept its word. "This is the best example of Russia giving its word and keeping it. And all this against the background of the SVO in Ukraine, where there was a need for these soldiers and military personnel on some flanks. They were desperately needed there. And they didn't leave. And the people left. What should I tell you? So answer me - where at home, there should be a person. Ask if we've talked about this? Of course they did. Because these questions are asked to me both officially and informally at briefings. You need to hear what they say in Baku. They said that no one in any case raises the question that people cannot return. We must use this," Zakharova said, putting the pro-Armenian cleric in his place. VIENTIANE, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The handover ceremony of a China-aided information and communication technology (ICT) institute has been held in Lao capital Vientiane. The institute is equipped with modern classrooms, laboratories, offices, libraries, and conference rooms, Lao News Agency reported on Tuesday. It is also equipped with teleconference equipment for online training purposes. Local teachers and staff have also been trained in Laos and China in preparation for the management of the training facility. Speaking at the event, Lao Minister of Technology and Communications Boviengkham Vongdara said the establishment of the institute is very important to the development of human resources in Laos. He added that this institute marks the cooperative relations between Laos and China. An archaeologist observes a relic unearthed from the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province, May 20, 2024. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) An aerial drone photo taken on May 20, 2024 shows the excavation site of the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) An archaeologist shows a relic unearthed from the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province, May 20, 2024. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) Archaeologists inventory the relics unearthed from the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province, May 20, 2024. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) An archaeologist shows a relic unearthed from the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province, May 20, 2024. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) Archaeologists preserve the relics unearthed from the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province, May 20, 2024. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) An archaeologist preserves a relic unearthed from the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province, May 20, 2024. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) Archaeologists inventory the relics unearthed from the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province, May 20, 2024. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) An archaeologist measures a relic unearthed from the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province, May 20, 2024. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) An aerial drone photo taken on May 20, 2024 shows the excavation site of the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) An aerial drone photo taken on May 20, 2024 shows the excavation site of the Wuwangdun tomb discovered in Huainan, east China's Anhui Province. The archaeological excavation at the Wuwangdun tomb in east China's Anhui Province has yielded major findings, unearthing over 3,000 cultural relics, according to China's cultural heritage administration. Earlier this year, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) confirmed the Wuwangdun tomb as the largest and highest-level tomb of the ancient Chu state, which existed more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). (Xinhua/Zhang Duan) LIMA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people were killed and seven others injured after a passenger vehicle ran off the road and rushed into a ravine in northwest Peru, local media reported on Monday. The accident occurred Sunday night when the vehicle involved left the road near the Chucchus Bridge at the junction of the Marca district in the province of Recuay, Ancash region, and then plunged into a ravine about 400 meters deep until it reached a river, state-run news agency Andina reported. The driver was reported dead at the scene, and the injured were taken to nearby health centers. The vehicle was a minivan of the Purito Chavin company, which was heading to the city of Huacho, the report said. Police and firefighters have arrived at the scene to assist in the rescue work, while authorities have launched an investigation to determine the cause of the accident. BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a message to Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, congratulating him on his election as president of the Republic of Chad. Xi pointed out that in recent years, China-Chad relations have maintained a good momentum of development, with their political mutual trust continuously deepened, cooperation steadily advanced in various fields, and international collaboration becoming closer. Xi said he attaches great importance to the development of China-Chad relations and is willing to work with the president-elect to strengthen mutual support and promote friendly cooperation, so as to better benefit the two peoples. GAZA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 35,647, health authorities in the Palestinian enclave said in a press statement on Tuesday. During the past 24 hours, the Israeli army killed 85 Palestinians and wounded 200 others, bringing the total death toll to 35,647 and injuries to 79,852 since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out in October 2023. The Israeli army said in a statement that drones and fighter aircraft bombed nearly 70 "terrorist targets" in the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours, including military buildings, weapons depots, warehouses, rocket launchers, surveillance units, and other military infrastructure. Israeli forces killed a number of militants in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza Strip, including a "terrorist group" that was shooting at soldiers, read the statement. It added that the Israeli forces were continuing their operations in the southernmost Gazan city of Rafah, where a drone killed a "terrorist" who was firing mortar shells at Israeli soldiers. Israel launched a large-scale offensive in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage. Passengers get off a Turkish Airlines plane from Turkiye's Istanbul at the Kabul International Airport in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, May 21, 2024. A Turkish Airlines plane arrived at the Kabul International Airport on Tuesday morning, as the national flag carrier of Turkiye resumed its flights to Afghanistan following almost three years of suspension. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua) KABUL, May 21 (Xinhua) -- A Turkish Airlines plane arrived at the Kabul International Airport on Tuesday morning, as the national flag carrier of Turkiye resumed its flights to Afghanistan following almost three years of suspension. Welcoming the step as a sign of friendly development in bilateral relations, Ghulam Jilani Wafa, a senior advisor for the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, said he hopes more airliners could resume flights to Kabul as the airport has met international standards. "The aerial bridge between the Republic of Turkiye and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan once again assures us that the Republic of Turkiye and the Turkish people stand alongside us in any circumstances," Wafa said. "Air travel and the flights flying to Kabul and vice versa would have a positive impact on cultural and economic relations between the two countries," Wafa said. The Turkish Airlines is scheduled to conduct four round-trip flights between Istanbul and Kabul per week. Passengers get off a Turkish Airlines plane from Turkiye's Istanbul at the Kabul International Airport in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, May 21, 2024. A Turkish Airlines plane arrived at the Kabul International Airport on Tuesday morning, as the national flag carrier of Turkiye resumed its flights to Afghanistan following almost three years of suspension. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua) A Turkish Airlines plane from Turkiye's Istanbul arrives at the Kabul International Airport in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, May 21, 2024. A Turkish Airlines plane arrived at the Kabul International Airport on Tuesday morning, as the national flag carrier of Turkiye resumed its flights to Afghanistan following almost three years of suspension. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua) A Turkish Airlines plane from Turkiye's Istanbul arrives at the Kabul International Airport in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, May 21, 2024. A Turkish Airlines plane arrived at the Kabul International Airport on Tuesday morning, as the national flag carrier of Turkiye resumed its flights to Afghanistan following almost three years of suspension. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua) Participants of a UN Security Council meeting observe a minute of silence to mourn the deaths of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other passengers in Sunday's helicopter crash, at the UN headquarters in New York, on May 20, 2024. (Manuel Elias/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua) UNITED NATIONS, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Members of the UN Security Council on Monday observed a minute of silence to mourn the deaths of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other passengers in Sunday's helicopter crash. At the beginning of a Security Council meeting on Monday morning, Mozambique's UN ambassador Pedro Comissario Afonso, who chaired the meeting, asked all those present in the Security Council chamber to stand and observe a minute of silence for the tragic loss of life and to present condolences and sympathy to their families and to the people of Iran. He said the minute of silence was requested by Russia, China, and Algeria. People attend a farewell ceremony held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others in Tehran, May 21, 2024. People in Tehran on Tuesday attended, in large numbers, a farewell ceremony held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others after their bodies were transferred from the northwestern city of Tabriz to the capital city. (Xinhua/Shadati) TEHRAN, May 21 (Xinhua) -- People in Tehran on Tuesday attended, in large numbers, a farewell ceremony held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others after their bodies were transferred from the northwestern city of Tabriz to the capital city. The ceremony took place at Imam Khomeini's Mosalla. Earlier in the day, similar ceremonies were held in the northwestern city of Tabriz and the central province of Qom, where people bid their farewells. The funeral and commemoration ceremonies for Raisi and his entourage will be held on Wednesday in Tehran. The late president's body will be laid to rest in the holy shrine of Imam Reza. Iran's official news agency IRNA confirmed on Monday the deaths of Raisi, Amir-Abdollahian, East Azarbaijan's Governor Malek Rahmati, senior Shia cleric Mohammad-Ali Ale-Hasehem, and others after their helicopter crashed in Varzaqan County in East Azarbaijan Province on Sunday. A farewell ceremony is held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others in Tehran, May 21, 2024. People in Tehran on Tuesday attended, in large numbers, a farewell ceremony held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others after their bodies were transferred from the northwestern city of Tabriz to the capital city. (Xinhua/Shadati) People attend a farewell ceremony held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others in Tehran, May 21, 2024. People in Tehran on Tuesday attended, in large numbers, a farewell ceremony held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others after their bodies were transferred from the northwestern city of Tabriz to the capital city. (Xinhua/Shadati) People attend a farewell ceremony held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others in Tabriz, Iran, May 21, 2024. (Xinhua) A woman cries during a farewell ceremony held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others in Tabriz, Iran, May 21, 2024. (Xinhua) People attend a farewell ceremony held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others in Tabriz, Iran, May 21, 2024. (Xinhua) People attend a farewell ceremony held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others in Tabriz, Iran, May 21, 2024. (Xinhua) People attend a farewell ceremony held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others in Tabriz, Iran, May 21, 2024. (Xinhua) A farewell ceremony is held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others in Tehran, May 21, 2024. People in Tehran on Tuesday attended, in large numbers, a farewell ceremony held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others after their bodies were transferred from the northwestern city of Tabriz to the capital city. (Xinhua/Shadati) People attend a farewell ceremony held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others in Tehran, May 21, 2024. People in Tehran on Tuesday attended, in large numbers, a farewell ceremony held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others after their bodies were transferred from the northwestern city of Tabriz to the capital city. (Xinhua/Shadati) A man attends a farewell ceremony held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others in Tehran, May 21, 2024. People in Tehran on Tuesday attended, in large numbers, a farewell ceremony held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others after their bodies were transferred from the northwestern city of Tabriz to the capital city. (Xinhua/Shadati) A mourner holding a flower attends a farewell ceremony held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others in Tehran, May 21, 2024. People in Tehran on Tuesday attended, in large numbers, a farewell ceremony held for Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others after their bodies were transferred from the northwestern city of Tabriz to the capital city. (Xinhua/Shadati) JERUSALEM, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi to return the equipment the ministry had previously confiscated from the Associated Press (AP) following American pressure, according to the Israeli state-owned Kan TV news. "Since the Defense Ministry wants to examine the issue of transmissions from these locations in Sderot regarding the risk to our forces, I have now ordered the cancellation of the operation and the return of the equipment to the AP," Karhi was quoted by the Kan as saying. Inspectors of the Israeli Communications Ministry on Tuesday confiscated photographic equipment and halted a live broadcast of the U.S.-based AP, Israeli state-owned Kan TV news reported. The Israeli action was carried out in the southern city of Sderot, near the Gaza Strip, when the AP team was documenting the situation in Gaza amid the ongoing conflict. According to the ministry, a new Israeli law enacted in early April grants the government the authority to bar the broadcasting of the Qatari news channel Al Jazeera in Israel. The ministry said that AP violated the law by transferring the materials it filmed to Al Jazeera. In response to the shutdown, AP said, "We strongly disavow the action of the Israeli government. The shutdown was not based on the content of the feed but on the government's misuse of the new foreign broadcasting law." It also urged the Israeli authorities "to return our equipment and allow us to resume our live feed immediately so that we can continue to provide this important visual journalism to thousands of media outlets around the world." The Israeli Prime Minister's Office said that Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi did not inform the prime minister about the confiscation of the broadcast equipment from AP. The White House expressed concern over Israel's action against AP, adding that it believes journalists have the ability and right to do their jobs. The Foreign Press Association in Israel said it is alarmed by Israel's "outrageous move," adding that "this is the latest in a series of chilling steps by the Israeli government to stifle the media. Israel's move is a slippery slope." BEIRUT, May 21 (Xinhua) -- A Hezbollah member was killed and three civilians injured on Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike on the village of Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua. Israeli drones conducted four airstrikes on villages and towns in southwest Lebanon, while its military airplanes carried out six raids in the eastern and central areas of the border region. Meanwhile, Hezbollah said its fighters attacked several Israeli sites. Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on Oct. 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by Hezbollah toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas' attack on Israel the day before. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon. The confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel have killed 479 people on the Lebanese side, including 303 Hezbollah members and 89 civilians, according to Lebanese security sources. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Republic of Turkiye, made a phone call to Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, on May 20. Azernews reports that, during the phone conversation, the heads of state discussed Turkiye-Azerbaijan relations, as well as regional and global developments. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed the positive advancement of the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia, noting that Turkiye is closely following the process. The President of Turkiye emphasized that the fair and sustainable peace that will be ensured in the region will create a new environment for both Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as for the countries of the region. During the conversation, the presidents also exchanged views on future cooperation. ABUJA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- More than 40 people were killed by a group of gunmen who attacked a village in central Nigeria's Plateau State late Monday, local officials and media said on Tuesday. Dozens of gunmen riding on motorbikes stormed the Zurak village in the Wase Local Government Area on Monday night to wreak havoc, killing "as many as 40 people," Musa Ibrahim Ashoms, commissioner of information for Plateau State, told reporters in the state capital of Jos. Many others were injured in the attack, as the gunmen fired indiscriminately at residents, The Nation Newspaper reported, citing local sources. The gunmen also set fire to houses during their rampage, according to local media reports. Armed attacks have been a major security threat in Nigeria's northern and central regions, resulting in deaths and kidnappings. NAIROBI, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The ninth annual global conference on energy efficiency started in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, on Tuesday with a call for sustainable energy resource consumption to curb the emission of planet-warming gases, including carbon and methane. Convened by the International Energy Agency (IEA), Kenya's Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, the event will be attended by ministers, industry executives, heads of regional blocs and multilateral agencies, researchers and green campaigners, according to organizers. It was the first time that the global energy efficiency conference was held in Africa. Davis Chirchir, Kenya's cabinet secretary for energy and petroleum, said the two-day conference will raise the bar in efforts to promote energy efficiency and revitalize action on the climate crisis. "Our commitment to energy efficiency and conservation is central to realizing a sustainable future," he said. "We must, therefore, enact enabling policies and regulations to promote sustainable energy use in the industries and households." The meeting is expected to chart a new beginning in the global quest to achieve energy efficiency in line with the outcome adopted at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, last December, Chirchir said. The participation of delegates from more than 20 African countries reaffirms the continent's attempts to embed energy efficiency in climate action, poverty eradication and livelihood transformation, he said. Amani Abou-Zeid, the African Union commissioner for infrastructure and energy, said energy efficiency is a vital tool for addressing climate change, air pollution and respiratory diseases. She stressed that energy efficiency should be at the heart of achieving shared aspirations of peace, sustainable development, climate resilience and prosperity in Africa. Abou-Zeid also called for the harmonization of policies and legislation to promote energy efficiency across critical sectors like manufacturing, agriculture, transport, buildings and home appliances. Kadri Simson, the European Union commissioner for energy, said the conference should explore high-impact interventions, including fiscal incentives, to boost energy efficiency and global access. She underscored the critical role of private sector investments, enactment of laws and public education in promoting energy efficiency to avert the worst impacts of global warming. TRIPOLI, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Monday said that 409 migrants were rescued off the coast of Libya in the past week. "From May 12 to 18, 409 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya," IOM said in a statement. The rescued migrants include 47 women and 31 children, IOM said, adding that the bodies of six migrants were recovered and 20 others went missing. So far this year, a total of 5,831 migrants have been rescued, while 163 died and 360 others went missing off the Libyan coast, IOM noted. Many undocumented migrants, mostly from Africa, choose to cross the Mediterranean to European shores from Libya, which has been suffering chaos since 2011 when the late former leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown. YAOUNDE, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Gunmen suspected to be separatists on Monday shot dead three officials, including a mayor, in Cameroon's war-torn English-speaking region of Northwest, according to the army and officials. Innocent Ngong -- mayor of Belo council, one of his deputies, as well as Aaron Aghi Ngong -- chief of basic education in Belo subdivision were ambushed and killed on their way to attend Cameroon's National Day celebration in the subdivision, the region's governor Adolphe Lele L'Afrique said. "Measures have been taken to trace the authors of that killing and we will be informed on all the development concerning that situation," L'Afrique told reporters in Bamenda, chief town of the region. Cameroon celebrated the 52nd National Day on Monday but separatist fighters in the country's Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest imposed lockdown to disrupt celebrations. The regions have been ravaged by a prolonged armed separatist conflict after separatists declared the "independence" of the regions in 2017. TUNIS, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Tunisian authorities detained three people in a joint counter-terrorism operation in the Tunisian capital Tunis, the Tunisian National Guard said on Tuesday in a statement. The statement, posted on the National Guard's Facebook page, said the three people were wanted by various security and judicial agencies for being involved in a terrorist organization. The three individuals have been taken into custody, added the statement without giving further details. Tunisia has witnessed increased terrorist activities since 2011, in which dozens of security and military personnel, as well as civilians and foreign tourists, were killed. TRIPOLI, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday said that 80,000 illegal migrants have been voluntarily deported from Libya to their countries of origin since 2015 under IOM's Voluntary Humanitarian Return (VHR) program. The deported migrants included 2,733 victims of human trafficking, 843 unaccompanied or separated children, and 5,144 migrants with medical needs, the statement said. Returning migrants receive post-arrival reception assistance in the countries of return and comprehensive reintegration support through individual reintegration assistance packages, including economic, social, and psychosocial support, the statement added. "IOM Libya's staff work around the clock to assist vulnerable migrants in Libya who are in need of urgent protection assistance. Enabling migrants to make informed choices and ensuring their right to return home is advocated for, the VHR program offers a glimmer of hope in the face of extreme adversity," said Tauhid Pasha, IOM Libya's acting chief of mission. Ever since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011, Libya has become a preferred point of departure for thousands of illegal immigrants who attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach European shores. HANOI, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The State Bank of Vietnam has announced it has successfully organized five gold auctions since April 19 with a total of 35,100 taels of gold bullions sold. In the latest auction on Tuesday, nine winning bidders of Saigon Jewelry Company (SJC)-branded gold bar secured 79 lots, equivalent to 7,900 taels, Vietnam News Agency reported. The central bank said that the highest and lowest winning bid price in this gold auction was the same, 89.42 million Vietnamese dong per tael (3,511 U.S. dollars). On the domestic market, the SJC gold prices on Tuesday afternoon was quoted at 88.5 million dong (3,475 dollars) per tael for sellers, and 90.5 million dong (3,554 dollars) per tael for buyers. According to the bank, the purpose of the gold bullion auction is to intervene in a timely manner to reduce the gap between domestic and global gold prices. This is aimed at ensuring the gold market operates in a stable, healthy, transparent and efficient manner. ISLAMABAD, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Australia's national volleyball team will visit Pakistan for the first time to play a three-match series later this month, an official said on Tuesday. Chaudhry Muhammad Yaqoob, chairman of the Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF), told Xinhua that the Australian Volleyball Federation (AVF) had confirmed the team's arrival in Islamabad on May 26. "All arrangements have been finalized for the three-match series to be played at the Liaquat Gymnasium, an indoor sporting arena located in Islamabad," said Yaqoob, adding that the matches will commence on May 28. "Pakistan's national team has been in top form after winning the title and remaining unbeaten in the Central Asian Volleyball League earlier this month," Yaqoob noted. The PVF chairman expressed optimism that Pakistan would perform well against Australia and continue their winning streak. Yaqoob added that the series would be a historic milestone for volleyball in Pakistan, with fans eagerly looking forward to witnessing top-class competition between the two nations. MADRID, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares has announced the definitive withdrawal of the country's ambassador to Argentina, local media reported on Tuesday. The move comes in the wake of provocative comments made by Argentinian President Javier Milei about the Spanish President, Pedro Sanchez, and his wife. The comments were made during a rally by the far-right Vox party in the Spanish capital Madrid on Sunday, and no apology has been made since. In a press conference on Tuesday, Albares said that "the Government remains vigilant, the situation has not changed and therefore I announce that we are withdrawing our ambassador (Maria Jesus Alonso) in Buenos Aires." Alonso, who had been called for consultations on Sunday, "will definitely stay in Madrid and Argentina will continue without an ambassador," the minister said. On Monday, Albares summoned the Argentine ambassador to Spain, Roberto Sebastian Bosch, to the Ministry headquarters, to demand a public apology from Milei. "I personally conveyed to the Argentine ambassador in Madrid that we demanded a public apology for what was an assault on the good faith and hospitality of the Spanish institutions," Albares said. Security protection at an air base in Madrid was offered, he added. "The response to that good faith and hospitality was a frontal attack with insults to our institutions, therefore Argentina will have to continue without a Spanish ambassador," he said. By Fatime Letifova The ex-candidate for U.S. president, Vivek Ramaswamy, is distinctive for his pro-Armenian position. In his speeches on every talk show and TV program, he defends Armenians to gain the favour of the Armenian lobby in the West. He zealously tries to make his speech more effective, but he fails to prove his biased condemnations against Azerbaijan, the country in the South Caucasus that he still thinks is situated on the African continent. This love of Vivek Ramaswamy for Armenians has made him quite popular, along with his anti-Azerbaijan rhetoric as well. At the Hudson Institute, Vivek Ramaswamy raised awareness about the so-called ethnic cleansing issue in Armenia. He claimed that in 2023, Azerbaijan ethnically cleansed over 120,000 Christians from their homeland of so-called artsakh. After the ethnic cleansing, Azerbaijan began supposedly converting and destroying churches that 'date back to the 4th century'. But in reality, it was the Armenian government that committed the genocide against the Azerbaijani people, not over the last 3 decades but over the last two centuries. Armenia's occupation of Azerbaijani lands was followed by crimes that resulted in the ethnic cleansing of the local civilian population. This was done in such a consistent and systematic way that it was plainly planned, directed, and carried out by the Armenian government. Armenia's armed forces used the same military tactics to occupy Azerbaijan's cities, towns, settlements, and villages: militarily encircling residential areas where possible; indiscriminately firing on civilians to kill as many as possible; and taking hostages and subjecting them to mass rapes, tortures, and other degrading treatment. Armenian militants, during the occupation of Azerbaijan's lands in the early 1990s, murdered 20,000 people, injured or handicapped 50,000 others, and left around 4,000 Azerbaijani civilians missing. All captured areas were ethnically cleansed of more than 700,000 Azerbaijanis. Likewise, about 250,000 Azerbaijanis were expelled from Armenia at the end of the 1980s. Thus, the Azerbaijani population, once the majority in the territory of present-day Armenia, was completely removed from their ancestral lands. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe confirmed in its resolution 1416 (2015) that "Armenias military operations led to large-scale ethnic expulsion and the creation of mono-ethnic areas, which resemble the terrible concept of ethnic cleansing." Former President of Armenia Serj Sargsyan who used to be in charge of the military operations during the occupation of the territories of Azerbaijan, 'boldly' confessed in one of the interviews he gave to a foreign journalist that our war somehow differed from others. We had it so that ethnic cleansing took place. Otherwise, it was not possible. In the same interview, Serj Sargsyan stated in the context of the massacre in the town of Khojaly that if civilian population stays there then it means that it also participates in the military actions. This is a clear statement that Armenias armed forces regarded the civilian population of the occupied territories as military targets. By doing so, Armenia grossly violated International Humanitarian Law and disregarded its most important principles, namely the principle of distinction between civilians and combatants and the principle of military necessity. This state bears responsibility for war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide committed in the course of war it unleashed against Azerbaijan. Atrocities against the civilian population and ensuing ethnic cleansing committed in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan are not separate cases. Apart from the Garabagh region, historically, atrocities and ethnic cleansing by Armenian forces have been committed in several Azerbaijani-populated areas, including in Zangazur. In 1918-1920, Armenian armed gangs committed atrocities and ethnically cleansed more than 200 villages in the Zangazur region. Even the Armenian historian Razmik Panossian refers to the Zangazur events as ethnic cleansing that enhanced the demographic balance in the region in favour of the Armenians. Today, even after the glorious Victory of Azerbaijani Army over the Armenian forces, Vivek Ramaswamy still trying to accuse Azerbaijan for being aggressor country. Having no proper knowledge of the history of the Caucasus, he has the audacity to raise voice against Azerbaijan of supporting the separatist views of Armenian lobby in U.S. For some reason, whenever Ramaswamy, of Indian origin, talks about Armenia, he either loses himself or contradicts historical and geographical facts. It is clear that Ramaswamy does not give any thought to what was dictated to him when receiving assignments from the Armenian lobby, and that is why Vivek, who is claiming to be the president of the United States, has mistaken the South Caucasus for the African continent. This is still the beginning. In one of his speeches, he did not go unnoticed when he presented the missile strikes by Armenians on Ganja as a crime against Armenians by Azerbaijan. This gaff of his has torn the mask of him and other corrupt politicians in his face. Ramaswamy realised that he would not be a successful candidate in the presidential elections and later withdrew his candidacy. However, his appetite for a high chair is still insatiable, so he cannot stay away from the Armenian lobby. BELGRADE, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The 66th International Fair of Technology and Technical Achievements, which opened here Tuesday, attracted over 600 exhibitors from domestic and international markets, according to Jelena Begovic, minister of science, innovation and technical development. Inaugurating the fair together with Ana Brnabic, speaker of Serbia's National Assembly and Chen Jiachang, vice minister of science and technology of China, Begovic highlighted this year's slogan "Play for Humanity, Science for All" and the theme "Step into a Sustainable Future." The four-day fair, which drew 250 exhibitors from 32 countries, including 30 companies from China, features innovative products, ideas and solutions for future development developed by scientific and research organizations and individuals from Serbia and partner countries like China, Begovic added. Highlighting that Serbia is a leader in innovation, digitization, IT and artificial intelligence (AI), Brnabic noted the Serbian government will continue to support the development of scientific infrastructure. She also underscored the importance of the country's expanding network of science and technology parks, many of which were constructed by Chinese companies, as valuable investments for the future. "These investments will not only recover the funds we have allocated but are already proving highly beneficial. Investing in science and people truly means investing in the future," said Brnabic. Noting that Chinese participants representing such key industries as IT, space technology, AI, biomedicine and autonomous vehicles, Chen said that only fair and non-discriminatory cooperation can overcome global challenges like climate change and COVID-19. China has embraced the initiative of international cooperation, and that scientific collaboration knows no boundaries and should benefit all humanity, Chen noted. Chinese pianist Ju Xiaofu performs at Carnegie Hall in New York, the United States, on May 19, 2024. (Photo by Pan Liang/Xinhua) NEW YORK, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese pianist Ju Xiaofu made his debut at Carnegie Hall in New York City, the United States, on Sunday evening with the audience amazed by his performance. Ju showcased his talent with a program featuring works by 19th and 20th-century composers including Janacek, R. Schumann, Debussy, and Liszt. Titled "Waldeinsamkeit," which translates to "forest solitude" in English, the program and performance itself transported the Zankel Hall of Carnegie Hall to the wintry landscapes of Czechia, Germany, France, and Austria. "Xiaofu's expressive piano playing achieved new levels of depth, particularly in the Liszt Sonata. The moving sections were both technically remarkable and emotionally resonant, a testament to his consummate artistry," said David Witten, piano professor at the Montclair State University. Ju not only showcased his virtuosity as a pianist but also his depth as a poet and an artist, said Liu Qianci, producer of the concert and founder of Paulus Hook Music Foundation. "Every note resonated with the profound emotions of a world-class young musician, weaving together music and literature," added Liu, who is also a well-known cellist. The audience included professors, scholars and international students from local conservatories, senior pianists from the New York Piano Association and the New York Piano Teachers' Association, as well as seasoned classical music enthusiasts from New York, the United Nations, and Asian cultural organizations. Liu stressed the foundation's dedication to fostering cultural exchange between China and the United States. "We eagerly anticipate introducing more exceptional Chinese musicians to Carnegie Hall, a true global stage," said Liu. Born in southeast China's Nanjing, Ju began his musical journey at the young age of four and has since emerged as a leading pianist of his generation. As an avid poet, Ju has published two collections of poems titled On the Path Seeking for the Ruins of Spring in 2019, and The Late Sound in 2024. Ju, an alumnus of The Juilliard School, has been a visiting artist at Singapore Capital College since 2022. Chinese pianist Ju Xiaofu performs at Carnegie Hall in New York, the United States, on May 19, 2024. (Photo by Pan Liang/Xinhua) Chinese pianist Ju Xiaofu greets the audience at Carnegie Hall in New York, the United States, on May 19, 2024. (Photo by Pan Liang/Xinhua) Last week, pro-cannabis protesters gathered to oppose Thailand's move to relist cannabis as a narcotic. Dozens of advocates rallied at the health ministry against the governments plan, just two years after the plant was decriminalized. Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin recently announced his intention to reverse cannabis legalization by the end of the year. Thailand, the first Asian country to decriminalize cannabis in 2022 for medical use, now faces public backlash due to what many see as an unregulated market. Neon weed signs and cannabis-infused menus have become common in Bangkok's tourist areas, raising concerns over misuse and crime. Why Are Thailands Cannabis Laws Changing? Following the May 2023 general election, a new conservative coalition government led by the Pheu Thai Party is pushing for stricter cannabis regulations. Pheu Thai campaigned on banning recreational use, citing health risks and potential substance abuse among young people. Prime Minister Thavisin reinforced this stance, stating that drugs "destroy the future of the nation." Anutin Charnvirakul, former Health Minister and now Deputy Prime Minister, played a key role in the 2022 legalization under the previous government. On legalization day, over 3,000 inmates were released, and the industry quickly grew, valued at 28 billion Thai baht (728 million) in its first year, with projections of reaching 336 billion baht (8.7 billion) by 2030. Despite regulations requiring licenses for cultivation and sales, cannabis is easily accessible, with over 1.1 million Thais registering to grow it and over 6,000 dispensaries operating, often without proper oversight. Reports of drug-related violence and increased cannabis use among youth have raised concerns. Potential Economic Impact Cannabis legalization also spurred a booming weed tourism industry. Protesters on May 16 argued that while regulation is necessary, relisting cannabis as a narcotic would harm those who invested in the industry. Penalties for Cannabis Use in Thailand Before the 2022 legalization, Thailand had some of the harshest drug laws, with cannabis possession punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Health Minister Chonlanan Srikaew proposed a draft bill in March 2023 to ban recreational use and reclassify cannabis as a controlled substance. The bill, expected to pass soon, proposes fines of up to 60,000 baht (1,560) and prison sentences of up to a year for recreational use, with stricter penalties for advertising and unlicensed farming. Current Status for Tourists While changes are pending, cannabis shops remain open. However, public smoking or vaping is prohibited, and causing a 'public nuisance' through the smell of weed can result in a 25,000 baht (650) fine. These regulations can be inconsistently enforced, sometimes leading to police exploitation. Tourists should note that cannabis remains illegal in neighboring countries, and transporting it across borders can lead to severe penalties, especially in places like Singapore, which enforces strict drug laws even for overseas use. Island Nations Welcome Indian Tourists with Visa-Free Entry this Summer! Everything You Need to Know About Legal Options for H-1B Visa Holders After Job Termination How UK Visa Review Expected to Affect Indian Students Heading to the UK The Nasdaq-100 technology index plunged 33% in 2022, only to soar by nearly 54% in 2023. This year, it has already delivered a gain of more than 10%. Those gyrations prove that it's nearly impossible to predict the direction of the market in the short term. However, if we zoom out to observe the past 10 years, the Nasdaq-100 delivered a gain of 421%, which averages out to 18% compounded annually. In fact, history shows the longer investors remain in the market, the higher the odds they will earn a positive return. It's easy to track the performance of major indexes like the Nasdaq-100 by using exchange-traded funds (ETFs). But investors with a higher appetite for risk can outperform the broader market if they pick the right individual stocks. Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER) could be a worthy candidate due to its strong growth and its extraordinary future potential thanks to autonomous vehicles. Uber stock might even be capable of turning an investment of $200,000 into $1 million over the next decade. But don't be deterred by those large numbers; investors of all means can seize the opportunity to potentially earn a fivefold return. Image source: Getty Images. Uber's largest cost: Drivers Uber operates the world's largest ride-hailing platform, in addition to a dominant food delivery service called Uber Eats and a growing commercial freight network. During the first quarter of 2024 (ended March 31), more than 7 million drivers completed nearly 2.6 billion trips at the request of Uber's 149 million monthly users. Uber collected $37.7 billion in bookings for those trips during the quarter, of which $16.6 billion was paid to its drivers -- the company's single largest expense. After stripping out other direct costs, including the money paid through to restaurants for their Uber Eats orders, Uber was left with $10.1 billion. When we move further down the income statement and account for operating costs like research and development and marketing, Uber actually lost $654 million on the bottom line. To the company's credit, it was profitable in 2023, and that trend would have continued if not for a $721 million decline in the value of its investments. Nevertheless, if Uber could eliminate the $16.6 billion cost of its drivers, it stands to reason both its revenue and its profitability would soar (assuming the price per ride remained the same). Autonomous vehicles could be a multitrillion-dollar industry According to Cathie Wood's Ark Investment Management, the proliferation of self-driving vehicles will create an autonomous ride-hailing industry capable of generating $4 trillion in revenue by 2028. That timeline might be ambitious considering only a handful of U.S. states approved self-driving cars in a very limited capacity with strict rules. Story continues Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says it's very difficult to predict when penetration of autonomous vehicles will begin to increase, but he certainly isn't waiting around. For starters, Uber owns a 21% equity stake in Aurora, which acquired Uber's self-driving development division in 2020 and continues to build upon the technology. Uber also has a multiyear partnership with Motional, which is a joint venture between driverless mobility company Aptiv and Hyundai. Motional has developed a fully autonomous car using Hyundai's Ioniq 5 electric vehicle as a base, which users will eventually be able to hail through Uber's platform. Uber has a similar partnership with Waymo, which is the self-driving division of Google parent Alphabet. Users can already hail an autonomous Waymo in Phoenix, Arizona, and the partnership recently expanded to food delivery. Internationally, Uber Eats and Mitsubishi Electric have partnered to create an autonomous food delivery service in Japan. Uber's actions send a clear message to investors: Autonomous vehicles are very likely to become the future of its business. Uber stock could soar fivefold within a decade Khosrowshahi says Uber aims to be a partner to the autonomous vehicle industry, which means it will provide its platform and its enormous network of users, and companies like Motional and Waymo will supply the cars. Tesla is also emerging as one of the leaders in self-driving, and it plans to unveil a fully autonomous robotaxi called the Cybercab in August. Tesla CEO Elon Musk wants to build a ride-hailing network within Tesla, but he will likely find it more economical if he and his customers lend vehicles to an established platform like Uber instead. Alternatively, assuming a change in strategy, Uber could also buy a fleet of Cybercabs and keep 100% of the revenue earned through its ride-sharing and delivery operations. That's a potential win-win for both companies. It's too early to know exactly how this will shake out, and we don't know how much it will cost Uber to offer self-driving cars compared to human drivers. However, even if Ark Invest's forecast of $4 trillion in autonomous ride-hailing revenue is generated over the next decade rather than by 2028, Uber could still theoretically capture $1 trillion of that because it has a 25% market share in the existing ride-sharing industry. That would translate to $100 billion in revenue per year (on average). Assuming Uber's price-to-sales (P/S) ratio remains constant, it will have to grow its revenue by 17.5% every year for the next decade to warrant a fivefold increase in its stock. Wall Street's forecast suggests Uber will generate $43.1 billion in revenue this year, which would represent a 23.9% boost from 2023. It also means the company will have grown its revenue at a compound annual rate of 24.9% over the last five years. In both cases, Uber is expanding comfortably above the threshold without any noteworthy contribution from self-driving vehicles yet. Simply put, a fivefold return over the next 10 years is well within the realm of possibility for Uber stock, and there could even be further upside to that outcome thanks to autonomous technologies. Should you invest $1,000 in Uber Technologies right now? Before you buy stock in Uber Technologies, 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 Uber Technologies 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 $566,624!* Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of May 13, 2024 Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Anthony Di Pizio has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Aptiv, Tesla, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 1 Extraordinary Stock That Could Turn $200,000 Into $1 Million by 2034 was originally published by The Motley Fool There are many positive things about Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) and its stock. It has a decently high dividend yield, it's one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, and it makes dozens and dozens of life-saving medications, with even more to come from its pipeline. It won't be going out of business anytime in the foreseeable future. But I wouldn't touch the stock with a 10-foot pole right now, even though I've recommended it for some investors in the past, and even though it could well be a decent pick in the future. Here's why. These will be some deep cuts The first reason why Bristol Myers Squibb stock is a no-go right now is that in its first-quarter earnings update, it had a nasty surprise for investors. Whereas in February it reported that its non-GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) for 2024 would be as high as $7.40, it revised that estimate dramatically downward to a ceiling of just $0.70. Furthermore, in the past, it claimed that it was anticipating its other income or expenses category to register a gain of $250 million. It now says it'll be losing $250 million instead -- a swing of $500 million. As if that weren't enough, its effective tax rate, penciled in at 17.5% for 2024, is now expected to be a whopping 69%. The culprit for all of these unfavorable changes is its recent acquisitions of Karuna Therapeutics and iRayzeBio, a pair of biotechs, which won't cause any similar problems in the future. It's unclear whether investors were warned forcefully enough about the possibility of these effects. But their attention is probably elsewhere, as Bristol Myers also announced a new strategic productivity initiative that management claims will save it $1.5 billion annually by the close of next year. The catch is that some of its pipeline programs will probably be getting the axe, along with many employees. The cost savings are set to be invested in new growth initiatives. It isn't too strange for a company to make major acquisitions and then shortly thereafter announce cost cuts. The idea will be to reduce redundancies relative to using the new assets. The trouble is, there isn't exactly too much for shareholders to look forward to these days. There's no compelling reason to buy it at the moment Looking at Bristol Myers' pipeline and its upcoming catalysts, its growth is probably not going to pick up speed very much. Management expects only a "low single-digit [percentage point] increase" in the top line this year. It's also planning to pay down around $10 billion of its debt over the next two years. Story continues Given that it currently holds more than $51 billion in long-term debt, paying back that sum will make a solid dent. But it won't be able to stop there, and with its earnings growth anemic, there won't be much in the way of excess capital to redirect to investors in the form of share buybacks and dividends. Expect more money funneled into deleveraging than growth, even with the cost cuts, and expect the deleveraging process to take as long as beyond the rest of the decade. With a setup like that, there simply isn't much reason to buy shares of this company today. With a payout ratio near 60%, it probably won't need to stop paying its shareholders, but as mentioned previously, there isn't going to be much room for them to get a raise. So unless you're deeply needing a stock that's heavily indebted and slow-growing, look elsewhere. Should you invest $1,000 in Bristol Myers Squibb right now? Before you buy stock in Bristol Myers Squibb, 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 Bristol Myers Squibb 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 $566,624!* Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of May 13, 2024 Alex Carchidi has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bristol Myers Squibb. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 1 Stock I Wouldn't Touch With a 10-Foot Pole was originally published by The Motley Fool Image source: The Motley Fool/Unsplash Costco offers plenty of great deals, but you can still rack up a big credit card bill when you're shopping there. That's because there are so many great things to buy that it's easy to go overboard and fill your cart to the brim. Thankfully, you can take advantage of all that Costco has to offer while keeping more money in your bank account. Just follow these three super simple ways to spend less at the warehouse club. 1. Buy Kirkland brand products The simplest and best way to save money at Costco is to buy Kirkland brand products. The store's former CFO Richard Galanti said in a recent earnings call that the company's view is that Kirkland products have "to be at least as good, if not better, quality than the leading national brand and at least a 20% savings as compared to what we sell the national brand for. " Saving 20% is an unbeatable deal. And there are around 350 individual Kirkland brand products for sale on Costco store shelves. Many of them, ranging from olive oil to kitchen trash bags to maple syrup, have tons of devoted followers. If there's a Kirkland version of anything you are buying, you should absolutely try it instead of buying the brand name. Since Costco has a 100% satisfaction guarantee on most products, you really have nothing to lose -- and a lot of money to save -- by taking this shopping approach. 2. Take advantage of cash back Getting money back on your purchases is another great way to save at Costco. And there are a few ways you can do this. One option is to upgrade to Costco's Executive membership. This will cost you $120 instead of the $60 basic membership. But you get 2% back on all purchases in the form of an annual reward. You can earn a maximum of $1,000 cash back over the course of the year. If you spend at least $3,000 a year at Costco, you'll make your added membership fees back. And once you spend more, you'll make all your purchases 2% cheaper. Let's say you do most of your grocery shopping at Costco and you spend $500 a month there. With $6,000 in purchases, you'd be in line to get $120 cash back. That's an extra $60 in your pocket even after the extra membership fees are paid. You can also opt to sign up for a credit card that offers you cash back at Costco. Your card's cash back can stack with your Executive membership cash back so you'll end up getting a lot of extra money back if you use that card every time you shop. 3. Flip through the Costco coupon book Costco doesn't accept manufacturer coupons, but it does have its own coupon book. You should check it before you visit to find special discounts on website and warehouse buys. Story continues Often, you'll find great bargains on seasonal items. For example, from May 15, 2024 to June 9, 2024, you'll see bargains like an extra $100 off of SunVilla commercial sling wave chaise lounge chairs. But you can also find deals on everyday buys as well, like scoring $4 off a 38.5 ounce container of Pantene Shampoo or Conditioner. Checking for these bargains can help you reduce what you spend if you can stock up on items -- like shampoo -- while they're on sale. Each of these steps takes just a few seconds, but the payoff can be pretty big. Give these techniques a try at your next Costco visit to see just how much you can save. Top credit card to use at Costco (and everywhere else!) If youre shopping with a debit card, you could be missing out on hundreds or even thousands of dollars each year. These versatile credit cards offer huge rewards everywhere, including Costco, and are rated the best cards of 2024 by our experts because they offer hefty sign-up bonuses and outstanding cash rewards. Plus, youll save on credit card interest because all of these recommendations include a competitive 0% interest period. Click here to read our expert recommendations for free! 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.Christy Bieber has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Costco Wholesale and Gala. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 3 Super Simple Ways to Spend Less Money at Costco was originally published by The Motley Fool Image source: Getty Images Unlike a regular supermarket or big-box store, there's a cost to walking into a Costco warehouse and doing your shopping there. The current cost is $60 a year for a basic (Gold Star) membership, or $120 a year for an Executive membership that rewards you with 2% cash back on your purchases. Now for many people, those fees are more than worth paying. But still, if you're going to pay for a Costco membership, it's important to make the most of it. And if these situations apply to you, it may be that you're letting your membership go to waste to some degree. 1. You're assuming it never pays to buy fresh food in bulk Buying fresh food in bulk can be risky. If you don't consume your haul before it goes bad, you're essentially throwing away money. But if you've never even considered buying perishable food at Costco in bulk, you may want to rethink that. There are certain so-called bulk items you'll find at Costco whose sizes aren't all that enormous. Milk, for example, is sold by the gallon, which is a common size. But you may find a gallon of milk is cheaper at Costco than at your local supermarket. And certain fruits and vegetables may come in quantities that your family can easily go through before risking spoilage. So don't write off the idea of buying fresh food in bulk entirely. 2. You're not gassing up your car when you do your shopping In many areas, the price you'll pay for Costco gas is considerably less than what you'll pay at other stations. So if you're not in the habit of filling up your car in conjunction with your Costco trips, you're missing out. In fact, one thing you may want to do is specifically time your Costco outings to when your tank is low. It may not make sense to drive all the way to Costco to fill up your tank only. But if you're already there, you might as well benefit. 3. You're not giving Costco Travel a chance If you're someone who's used to researching travel deals online and booking your own vacations, then you may not be so inclined to give Costco Travel a look. But that could be a huge mistake. Costco offers dozens of travel packages that could save you a lot of money. Plus, when you book through Costco, you get the support of a team of dedicated customer service representatives to help you navigate any snags you might hit. It's also worth noting that booking a cruise or resort stay through Costco could give you perks you won't otherwise be privy to, like credits for things like spa services. 4. You're not scooping up gift cards on the cheap Costco's selection of gift cards may be somewhat limited. But it pays to browse that section of the store or look online for the potential savings involved. Story continues When you buy gift cards through Costco, you're paying less than the face value of those cards. So right now, for example, Costco is offering $100 worth of IHOP gift cards for $79.99. If your family's tradition is to eat breakfast at IHOP every Saturday, picking up these gift cards is an easy call. The benefits you reap from a Costco membership may be more than worth the fee you're paying. But if any of these signs apply to you, it means you're potentially giving up a membership perk you should be taking advantage of. And in that case, you may want to change your approach to Costco shopping so you're able to enjoy your membership to the fullest and save as much money as possible in the process. Top credit card to use at Costco (and everywhere else!) If youre shopping with a debit card, you could be missing out on hundreds or even thousands of dollars each year. These versatile credit cards offer huge rewards everywhere, including Costco, and are rated the best cards of 2024 by our experts because they offer hefty sign-up bonuses and outstanding cash rewards. Plus, youll save on credit card interest because all of these recommendations include a competitive 0% interest period. Click here to read our expert recommendations for free! 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 positions in and recommends Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 4 Signs You're Letting Your Costco Membership Go to Waste was originally published by The Motley Fool The 13Fs are out: Institutional investment managers have filed their quarterly reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission that disclose first-quarter equity holdings. For the 10 spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds that began trading in January, its the first official look at who's added significant exposure to the original cryptocurrency. Some 944 firms at least $100 million in size reported buying into the ETFs, analysis of the filings by Bitwise shows. By comparison, thats 10 times the number investing in gold ETFs. The issuer attracting the most interest was BlackRocks IBIT, which added 414 institutional investors. Collectively, professional investors hold exposure to more than $10.7 billion. In total, the 10 funds had around $54 billion of assets under management as of May 20, according to CoinGlass data. There were more people than I expected, Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst for Bloomberg, told Fortune. "It's absurd. It's crazy. A good first 13F season would maybe be 10. That's how hard it is. And so, to have 414 is just bonkers." Whos Buying Bitcoin ETFs (According to 13F Filings) Three takeaways from Bitwise CIO @Matt_Hougan's weekly memo to investors. Takeaway 1: Lots of Professional Firms Own Bitcoin ETFs 563 professional investment firms reported owning $3.5 billion worth of bitcoin ETFs as of pic.twitter.com/YCOKPpQqgE Bitwise (@BitwiseInvest) May 15, 2024 Hedge funds dominated the list. Of those, the largest to acquire equity was Millennium Management, a New-York based fund that's invested $2 billion in several of the ETFs, as of March 31. Boston-based hedge fund Bracebridge Capital is also among the funds, which owns $262 million of shares in the ARK 21Shares ETF, and $81 million in IBIT. Bracebridges clients include institutional investors such as the endowments of Yale University and Princeton University. I've been saying for a while that of the top 100 hedge funds in the world, we've seen about a third of them are active in the [Bitcoin ETF] space, but seeing is believing," Brett Tejpaul, head of institutional trading at Coinbase, said last week at Fortune's Future of Finance conference. "Being able to see those filings, and see super-recognizable names owning very material amounts of ETFs is an awesome moment. Its been quite a journey." Story continues According to 13F reporting, 937 professional firms were invested in U.S. spot ETFs as of March 31. In comparison, gold ETFs had 95 professional firms invested in their first quarter (Bitwise). Retail owns a majority of the float. Professional investors held exposure of $11.06bn pic.twitter.com/jYEQZkpDiT Vetle Lunde (@VetleLunde) May 16, 2024 The number of hedge funds with holdings also exceeded Balchunas expectations. He estimates some of the interest may reflect trading intentions that include arbitrage: "There's a lot of 'arb-ing' you can dobut thats a good thing, it helps everybody get a better deal." 'Surprised to see a pension already' A filing from the state of Wisconsin's investment board, which manages $156 billion in state pensions, disclosed purchases of IBIT worth more than $99 million and a further $63 million in Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). I was surprised to see a pension already," Balchunas said. "I didnt think we'd see pensions or endowments at least until the second quarter, or even for a year. They are the slowest-moving of all the institutions." Major banks also tipped their toes in the water. Several so called "Global Systemically Important Banks," or G-SIBs, disclosed investments in the products, including the Royal Bank of Canada, Wells Fargo, BNP Paribas, and UBS. This list also includes Morgan Stanley, which revealed a $269.9 million investment in GBTC, making it one of the largest holders in the fund, following a $1 billion investment from Susquehanna International Group, a quantitative trading firm, according to Fintel data. The overall group of investorspensions, hedge funds, and registered investment advisorswading into the space, said Nathan Geraci, president of The ETF Store, is highly notable given that these investors tend to move much more methodically when it comes to new products, due to highly rigorous due diligence processes." This story was originally featured on Fortune.com Alchemist Accelerator has a new pile of AI-forward companies demoing their wares today, if you care to watch, and the program itself is making some international moves into Tokyo and Doha. Read on for our picks of the batch. Chatting with Alchemist CEO and founder Ravi Belani ahead of demo day (today at 10:30 a.m. Pacific) about this cohort, it was clear that ambitions for AI startups have contracted, and that's not a bad thing. No early-stage startup today is at all likely to become the next OpenAI or Anthropic their lead is too huge right now in the domain of foundational large language models. "The cost of building a basic LLM is prohibitively high; you get into the hundreds of millions of dollars just to get it out. The question is, as a startup, how do you compete?" Belani said. "VCs don't want wrappers around LLMs. We're looking for companies where there's a vertical play, where they own the end user and there's a network effect and lock-in over time." That was also my read, as the companies selected for this group are all highly specific in their applications, using AI but solving for a specific problem in a specific domain. An example of this is healthcare, where AI models for assisting diagnosis, planning care and so on are increasingly but still cautiously being tested out. The specter of liability and bias hang heavy over this heavily regulated industry, but there are also lots of legacy processes that could be replaced with real, tangible benefit. Equality AI isn't trying to revolutionize cancer care or anything the goal is to ensure that the models being put to work don't fall afoul of important non-discrimination protections in AI regulation. This is a serious risk, because if your care or diagnosis model were found to exhibit bias against a protected class (for instance assigning a higher risk to a Muslim or a queer person), that could sink the product and open you up to lawsuits. Do you want to trust the model maker or vendor? Or do you want a disinterested (in its original sense, of having no conflicting interest) specialist who knows the ins and outs of the policies, and also how to evaluate a model properly? "We all deserve the right to trust that the AI behind the medical curtain is safe and effective," CEO and founder Maia Hightower told TechCrunch. "Healthcare leaders are struggling to keep up with the complex regulatory environment and rapidly changing AI technology. In the next couple of years, AI compliance and litigation risk will continue to grow, driving the widespread adoption of responsible AI practices in healthcare. The risk of non-compliance and penalties as stiff as loss of certification makes our solution very timely." Story continues It's a similar story for Cerevox, which is working on eliminating hallucinations and other errors from today's LLMs. But not just in a general sense: They work with companies to structure their data pipelines and structures so that these bad habits of AI models can be minimized and observed. It's not about keeping ChatGPT from making up a physicist when you ask it about a non-existent discovery in the 1800s, it's about preventing a risk evaluation engine from extrapolating from data in a column that should exist but doesn't. They're working with fintech and insuretech companies first, which Belani acknowledged is "an unsexy use case, but it's a path to build out a product." A path with paying customers, which is, you know, how you start a business. Quickr Bio is building on top of the new world of biotech being built on the back of Crispr-Cas9 gene editing, which brings with it new risks as well as new opportunities. How do you verify that the edits you're making are the right ones? Being 99% sure isn't enough (again, regulations and liability), but testing to raise your confidence can be time-consuming and expensive. Quickr claims its method of quantifying and understanding the actual modifications made (as opposed to theoretical ideally these are identical) is up to 100 times faster than existing methods. In other words, they're not creating a new paradigm, just aiming to be the best solution for empowering the existing one. If they can show even a significant percentage of their claimed efficacy they could be a must-have in many labs. You can check out the rest of the cohort here you'll see the above-mentioned are representative of the vibe. Demos commence at 10:30 a.m. Pacific. As for the program itself, it's getting some serious buy-in for programs in Tokyo and Doha. "We think it's an inflection point in Japan, it's going to be an exciting place to source stories from and for companies to come to," Belani said. A recent change to tax policy should free up early-stage capital at startups, and investment slipping out of China is landing in Japan, particularly Tokyo, where he expects a new (or rather refurbished) tech center to emerge. The fact that OpenAI is building out a satellite there is actually, he suggested, all you need to know. Mitsubishi is investing through some arm or another, and the Japan External Trade Organization is involved as well. I'll certainly be interested to see what the awakened Japanese startup economy produces. Alchemist Doha is getting a $13 million commitment from the government, with an interesting twist. "The mandate there is focusing on emerging market founders, the 90% of the world orphaned by where a lot of tech innovation is occurring," Belani said. "We have found that some of the best companies in the U.S. are not from the U.S. There's something about having an outside perspective that creates amazing companies. There's also a lot of instability out there and this talent needs a home." He noted that they'll be making bigger investments, from $200,000 to $1 million, out of this program, which may change the type of companies that take part. CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) After nearly three years, a new Amazon facility is set to begin operations in Montgomery County on Wednesday. The new 1.1-million-square-foot building is home to what Amazon calls an Inbound Cross Dock (IXD). There, employees will take in products from vendors, consolidate and organize them to send off to another Amazon site for the next steps. When its fully operational, over 2 million items will go through the warehouse each day. Initially, the plan was to hire 500 people to work there, but it turns out, that was just the minimum. Amazon officials confirmed theyre now aiming to employ over a thousand. Have breaking come to you: Subscribe to News 2 email alerts Their goal is to hire about half of the workforce over the next couple of months, and they want to be fully ramped up by the end of the year, said Josh Ward, Vice President of Industrial Development for the Clarksville-Montgomery County Economic Development Council. These jobs are at or above the county average. Ward told News 2 that Amazon is set to become the citys third largest employer in the Industrial Park behind Hankook Tire at 2,200 hires once built out and Trane Technologies which has a team of around 2,000. We look forward to a long-term relationship with the company and to all the growth thats ahead, Ward said. With Clarksville being near Fort Campbell, Amazon leadership said theyre ready to welcome service members with open arms. Just a few weeks ago, the company announced it exceeded its goal of hiring 100,000 veterans and military spouses worldwide. Susan Jennings, a site leader and operations manager for the new facility, shared that currently, 50% of the Clarksville Amazon leadership team and support staff are veterans. We want to make sure that our veterans know that we support them and that were going to help them in every area, Jennings said. Whether its fresh off of retiring, or a deployment coming in to us, we have such great resources for them. Were really excited to be able to offer everything that weve got from benefits to transitioning from the military into the regular civilian world and what that will look like, and well be able to do that here at the site as well. | READ MORE | Latest headlines from Clarksville and Montgomery County Sam Stephenson is a former Marine who now works with Amazon as a public relations manager in Clarksville. He described the collaboration between Amazon and active duty transitioning service members as a win-win situation. I really want the local community to understand that Amazon really approaches our commitment to veterans holistically, Stephenson said. We care about the active duty transitioning service members and the incredible skills they bring to the table but we recognize also what the military spouses bring. There are a lot of sacrifices to being a military family, especially serving right now in the United States. We recognize the skills that those families bring, and we want those individuals on our team here at Amazon. Story continues According to Amazon, jobs for front-line employees in customer fulfillment and transportation come with an average hourly pay of more than $20.50, with employees earning between $17 and $28 per hour depending on the position and location. All regular full-time employees enjoy healthcare from their first day on the job, a 401(k) plan with company match, up to 20 weeks of paid leave for birthing parents, access to free upskilling opportunities and more. There are currently over 24,000 full and part-time employees in Tennessee who work for the 12 fulfillment and sortation centers and eight delivery station operations across the state. The company said more than 6,000 Tennessee-based small and medium-sized businesses sell on Amazon. Read todays top stories on wkrn.com Amazon said it hires on a rolling basis. The company explained that it posts 150 200 jobs each week, and continues that process until the facility is fully staffed. Candidates can text JOBEVENT to 31432 to receive job alerts. 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 WKRN News 2. Turkiye will observe a day of national mourning over the death of Iran's Ebrahim Raisi, the country's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after his late counterpart lost his life in a helicopter crash, Anadolu Agency reports. "We have decided to declare one day of national mourning over President Raisi's passing," Erdogan said after a Cabinet meeting at the presidential complex in the capital Ankara. Noting Turkiye's role in search and rescue efforts for Raisi after news emerged that a helicopter he was on crashed in northwestern Iran, Erdogan said: "A Bayraktar Akinci UAV conducted 7.5 hours of search and scanning activities in the region despite the difficult weather conditions and flew a total of 2,100 kilometers (1,305 miles)," he added, referring to Turkiye's domestically manufactured unmanned aerial vehicle. After Raisi's helicopter crashed, Turkiye's National Defense Ministry assigned the Akinci UAV and a Cougar-type helicopter with night vision capabilities to help in search activities. Raisi was returning from the inauguration ceremony of a dam on the Iran-Azerbaijan border on Sunday when the crash took place, according to Iranian state broadcasters. The crash also resulted in the deaths of Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, as well as that of Malik Rahmeti, the governor of East Azerbaijan province, and Imam Ayatollah Ali Hashim of Tabriz province. Red Cross volunteers and staff make a difference in the lives of military members and their families during Military Appreciation Month and beyond WASHINGTON, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Red Cross provides comfort and care to members of the U.S. military community through every phase of duty, from when they first enlist to life after service. Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces teams are there, 24 hours a day, for those who serve and their loved ones. American Red Cross. (PRNewsfoto/American Red Cross) Guided by a Congressional Charter, the Red Cross provides communication between service members and their families during times of emergency. For nearly 140 years, Red Crossers have supported every major forward deployment and mobilization of the U.S. military by relaying urgent messages relating to the health and wellness of family members and extended families, and through morale and welfare activities. This support is provided by a global network of Red Cross staff and volunteers, ranging from deployment zones to military hospitals. This Military Appreciation Month, the Red Cross is inviting people to turn 'Thank you for your service' into action. For those with a military background or just a heart for military and veteran communities, Service to the Armed Forces employment and volunteer opportunities are available. "Serving those who serve our country is an incredibly rewarding experience," said Anthony Trimarco, Senior Director for Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces Deployment Readiness. "Red Crossers have the opportunity to help service members communicate with their loved ones in times of crisis and implement programing that boosts morale and helps service members, veterans and their families cope with the unique challenges of military life." A GLOBAL PRESENCE. Trained volunteers and staff facilitate communication in times of emergency and provide free, confidential assistance to service members and their families when and where they need it. The Red Cross has a presence on all military installations in the U.S. and at more than 35 overseas offices, including England, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, South Korea, Djibouti, Iraq, Kuwait, Poland and Romania. The Red Cross also operates at 140 military medical facilities and 170 veterans care facilities worldwide. Requests for emergency assistance can be initiated and tracked from anywhere in the world, online, by phone and through our Hero Care mobile app and in-person. Visit redcross.org/saf to learn more about volunteer and employment opportunities, or click here to hear from SAF Mobile Staff Members located around the globe. Story continues NATIONAL DONORS JOIN LONG LEGACY OF RED CROSS MILITARY SUPPORT Generous donations from Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces Giving Program members enable the Red Cross to maintain a global network of thousands of volunteers and employees to support the military 365 days a year through emergency communications, training, community resources and support to ill and injured service members and veterans. Contributions from partners like Bank of America, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Reliance, Inc., USAA and Wilf Family Foundations ensure the Red Cross is there 24/7 to provide comfort and care to members of the military, veterans and their families as they prepare for, cope with and respond to the challenges of military service. About the American Red Cross: The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or CruzRojaAmericana.org, or follow us on social media. Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/american-red-cross-supports-military-community-around-the-world-302149273.html SOURCE American Red Cross Apple has formally challenged a 1.8 billion ($1.95 billion) antitrust fine issued by the European Union, according to a report. The bloc handed down the penalty in March after determining that Apple had constrained competing music streaming services on the App Store following a 2019 complaint from Spotify . At the time, Apple pledged to appeal the decision, arguing that the EU failed to "uncover any credible evidence of consumer harm." Bloomberg reports that Apple has now filed a suit in an attempt to overturn the ruling. Along with the fine, the EU instructed Apple to stop blocking rival music-streaming platforms from telling users that they could sign up for their services at a lower cost away from the App Store. Spotify claimed it had to increase subscription prices to cover costs related to how Apple runs the App Store. That's despite Spotify not making it possible to upgrade to Premium directly through its iOS app doing so would mean having to fork over a commission to Apple. For its part, Apple maintains that Spotify doesn't pay it anything, even though the latter taps into its APIs, beta testing tools and more. Spotify's complaint predated the Digital Markets Act coming into force. That law stops defined gatekeepers including Apple and Play Store operator Google banning developers from telling users about cheaper ways to pay for their products outside of their app marketplaces. The EU is currently investigating both companies over their compliance with that aspect of the law. This article contains affiliate links; if you click such a link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission. (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. plans to ask a court to throw out the Justice Departments antitrust case against the iPhone maker, making a long-shot bid to ward off what promises to be a lengthly legal battle. Most Read from Bloomberg Lawyers representing the company sent a letter to the judge overseeing the case in New Jersey outlining the arguments it will include when it files a formal motion to dismiss the lawsuit next month. The company said in the letter that the governments complaint doesnt allege anticompetitive conduct, substantial anticompetitive effects or monopoly power in a relevant market. This court should reject the invitation to forge a new theory of antitrust liability that no court has recognized, that would harm innovation, and that would only deprive consumers of the key competitive features that make iPhone distinctive, Apple wrote in its filing. The US government is due to respond to Apples letter by May 30, while the courts ruling on the formal motion to dismiss is due either later in 2024 or early next year. If the case ultimately goes to trial, proceedings likely wouldnt occur for at least a few years. Read More: Justice Department Risks Picking the Wrong Fight With Apple Motions to dismiss are commonly filed in antitrust cases, though rarely granted in government lawsuits. Alphabet Inc.s Google filed one in the Justice Department case concerning its advertising technology business, but failed to get the case tossed out. By contrast, Meta Platforms Inc. successfully persuaded a federal judge to dismiss a Federal Trade Commission complaint by arguing that the agency didnt provide enough evidence that the company had a monopoly in social networking. The FTC subsequently filed an amended complaint that the judge allowed to move forward. The Justice Department sued Apple in March, accusing the company of violating antitrust laws by blocking rivals and app developers from accessing key hardware and software features. The complaint marked the conclusion of a half-decade probe into Apple and followed moves by other regions, including the European Union, to rein in Apples power. The lawsuit alleges that Apple has used its control over app distribution to thwart innovation and make it harder for consumers to switch phones. The company has refused to support cross-platform messaging apps, limited third-party digital wallets and non-Apple smartwatches, and blocked mobile cloud streaming services. Story continues This case is about freeing smartphone markets from Apples anticompetitive and exclusionary conduct and restoring competition to lower smartphone prices for consumers, reducing fees for developers, and preserving innovation for the future, according to the suit, which seeks changes to Apples practices. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. (Bloomberg) ASML Holding NV and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. have ways to disable the worlds most sophisticated chipmaking machines in the event that China invades Taiwan, according to people familiar with the matter. Most Read from Bloomberg Officials from the US government have privately expressed concerns to both their Dutch and Taiwanese counterparts about what happens if Chinese aggression escalates into an attack on the island responsible for producing the vast majority of the worlds advanced semiconductors, two of the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity. ASML reassured officials about its ability to remotely disable the machines when the Dutch government met with the company on the threat, two others said. The Netherlands has run simulations on a possible invasion in order to better assess the risks, they added. Spokespeople for ASML, TSMC and the Dutch trade ministry declined to comment. Spokespeople for the White House National Security Council, US Department of Defense and US Department of Commerce didnt respond to emailed requests for comment. The remote shut-off applies to Netherlands-based ASMLs line of extreme ultraviolet machines, known within the industry as EUVs, for which TSMC is its single biggest client. EUVs harness high-frequency light waves to print the smallest microchip transistors in existence creating chips that have artificial-intelligence uses as well as more sensitive military applications. An ASML "High NA EUV" lithography system at an Intel facility in Hillsboro, Oregon on April 19, 2024. (Intel Corporation/Handout via REUTERS) (via REUTERS / Reuters) About the size of a city bus, an EUV requires regular servicing and updates. As part of that, the company can remotely force a shut-off which would act as a kill switch, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Veldhoven-based company is the worlds only manufacturer of these machines, which sell for more than 200 million ($217 million) apiece. ASMLs technology has long been subject to government interventions aimed at preventing it from falling into the wrong hands. The Netherlands prohibits the company from selling EUV machines to China, for instance, because of US fears they could lend its rival an edge in the global chip war. It was at the behest of the US that the Dutch began this year to halt exports of ASMLs next-most sophisticated chipmaking machines. Even before that ban took effect, US officials had asked ASML to cancel some previously scheduled shipments to Chinese customers, Bloomberg News reported. Story continues The company expects as much as 15% of this years sales to China will be affected by the latest export-control measures. Evidence suggests the restrictions may have come too late to stem Chinese advances. Huawei Technologies Co. last year produced a smartphone to rival Apple Inc.s iPhone using chips made with older ASML printers in combination with tools from two US suppliers, Bloomberg News reported in October after conducting a break-down of the phone. Beijing has made technological self-sufficiency a national priority and Huaweis efforts to advance domestic chip design and manufacture have received government backing. China has long claimed that the island of Taiwan is its territory, with President Xi Jinping both advocating for unification and refusing to rule out a military intervention. The superpower has been building its military and nuclear arsenal on a scale not seen since World War II and a top US admiral testified in March that its readying to be able to invade Taiwan by 2027. The US Congress last month approved $8 billion in aid to enhance the islands defenses. The Biden administration is also looking to boost semiconductor production on American soil, promising $39 billion in grants to chipmakers to hedge against any future supply-chain disruption. The stakes are high, with around 90% of the worlds most advanced chips made in Taiwan. On May 20, Taiwan inaugurated Lai Ching-te as president in the global chip hub, putting in power a man Beijing has branded an instigator of war. The EUV machine has helped turn ASML into Europes most valuable tech stock with a market capitalization topping $370 billion more than double that of its client Intel Corp. ASML has shipped more than 200 of these machines to clients outside China since they were first developed in 2016, with TSMC snatching up more of them than any other chipmaker. EUVs require such frequent upkeep that without ASMLs spare parts they quickly stop working, the people said. On-site maintenance of the EUVs poses a challenge because theyre housed in clean rooms that require engineers to wear special suits to avoid contamination. ASML offers certain customers joint service contracts where they do some of the routine maintenance themselves, allowing clients like TSMC to access their own machines system. ASML says it cant access its customers proprietary data. TSMC Chairman Mark Liu hinted in a September interview with CNN that any invader of Taiwan would find his companys chipmaking machines out of order. Nobody can control TSMC by force, Liu said. If there is a military invasion you will render TSMC factory non-operable. With assistance from Justin Sink, Mackenzie Hawkins, Nick Wadhams and Debby Wu. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. By Himanshi Akhand and Adwitiya Srivastava (Reuters) -Telstra will be slashing over a tenth of its workforce by 2024 end and stopping its traditional annual inflation-linked price adjustments for mobile plans, the Australian telecom firm said on Tuesday as it grapples with stiff competition. The country's largest telecommunications firm will be slashing up to 2,800 jobs from its enterprise workforce, as it moves to streamline operations and cut costs as part of a review of its network applications and services business. Telstra had more than 31,000 employees as of August 2023 according to its annual report. The company said it expected to record one-off restructuring costs of A$200 million ($133.36 million) to A$250 million in fiscal 2024 and 2025. The firm is also updating customer terms for its postpaid mobile plans to get rid of the inflation-linked annual price review. "We will not be making a CPI-linked annual price change to postpaid mobile prices in July 2024," CEO Vicki Brady said. "This is occurring within a dynamic environment, with an evolving competitive landscape, rapid advances in technology, changing customer needs, and the ongoing inflationary pressures facing all businesses." "The removal of CPI-linked price increases in mobile is a surprise to us," Jarden analysts said, adding that the move might be incrementally negative for mobile industry returns in the short term. A starting point to remove 2,800 roles as part of an ongoing review is "clearly significant", they noted. Telstra also stated that by taking these steps, it hopes to reduce its costs for T25 - an operating strategy that the company adopted in 2021 - by A$350 million by the end of fiscal 2025. The firm reiterated its earnings forecast for 2024 and said it expected underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization for 2025 between A$8.4 billion and $8.7 billion. ($1 = 1.4997 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber, Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Rashmi Aich) Exploring the Sustainability and Growth of Autoliv Inc's Dividends Autoliv Inc (NYSE:ALV) has recently announced a dividend of $0.68 per share, scheduled for payment on June 12, 2024, with the ex-dividend date set for May 22, 2024. As investors eagerly anticipate this upcoming payment, it's essential to delve into the company's dividend history, yield, and growth rates. This analysis, using data from GuruFocus, will provide insights into Autoliv Inc's dividend performance and evaluate its sustainability. What Does Autoliv Inc Do? Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Signs with ALV. High Yield Dividend Stocks in Gurus' Portfolio This Powerful Chart Made Peter Lynch 29% A Year For 13 Years How to calculate the intrinsic value of a stock? Autoliv Inc is a leading global provider of passive safety components and systems for the automotive industry. Their product range includes seat belts, frontal airbags, side-impact airbags, airbag inflators, and steering wheels. Among its largest customers in 2023 were the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, Stellantis, and Volkswagen, contributing 10%, 10%, and 9% to its revenue, respectively. Geographically, the Americas represented the largest market, accounting for 34% of 2023 revenue, followed by Europe at 27%, China at 20%, and the rest of the world at 19%. Autoliv Inc's Dividend Analysis A Glimpse at Autoliv Inc's Dividend History Since 1997, Autoliv Inc has consistently paid dividends, with distributions occurring on a quarterly basis. Tracking the historical trends in dividends per share provides a clear view of the company's commitment to returning value to its shareholders. Autoliv Inc's Dividend Analysis Breaking Down Autoliv Inc's Dividend Yield and Growth Currently, Autoliv Inc boasts a trailing dividend yield of 2.14% and a forward dividend yield of 2.17%, indicating an expected increase in dividend payments over the next 12 months. Over the past three years, the annual dividend growth rate was an impressive 62.50%. However, this growth rate moderated to 4.70% annually over the past five years and showed a slight decline of 0.80% per year over the past decade. The 5-year yield on cost for Autoliv Inc stock is approximately 2.69% as of today. Autoliv Inc's Dividend Analysis The Sustainability Question: Payout Ratio and Profitability The dividend payout ratio, which currently stands at 0.30, is crucial for assessing dividend sustainability. This ratio indicates that Autoliv Inc retains a substantial portion of its earnings, which supports future growth and financial flexibility. The company's profitability rank is 7 out of 10, reflecting robust earnings potential relative to its peers. Consistent positive net income over the past decade further underscores its strong profitability profile. Story continues Growth Metrics: The Future Outlook Autoliv Inc's growth rank of 7 suggests a promising growth trajectory compared to its competitors. The company's revenue per share and 3-year revenue growth rate of approximately 13.00% annually outperform about 58.72% of global competitors. Additionally, its 3-year EPS growth rate of approximately 37.50% annually outperforms about 71.46% of global competitors. Moreover, the 5-year EBITDA growth rate of 1.70% also indicates competitive performance. Conclusion: Assessing Dividend Stability and Growth Prospects Autoliv Inc's consistent dividend payments, backed by a solid payout ratio and robust profitability, suggest a reliable income stream for investors. The company's ability to grow revenue and earnings at competitive rates further supports the sustainability of its dividends. Investors seeking to identify high-dividend yielding stocks may find Autoliv Inc an attractive option, especially considering its performance and growth metrics. For more detailed analysis and stock screening, GuruFocus Premium users can utilize the High Dividend Yield Screener. This article, generated by GuruFocus, is designed to provide general insights and is not tailored financial advice. Our commentary is rooted in historical data and analyst projections, utilizing an impartial methodology, and is not intended to serve as specific investment guidance. It does not formulate a recommendation to purchase or divest any stock and does not consider individual investment objectives or financial circumstances. Our objective is to deliver long-term, fundamental data-driven analysis. Be aware that our analysis might not incorporate the most recent, price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative information. GuruFocus holds no position in the stocks mentioned herein. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. PaulMichaelHughes / Getty Images/iStockphoto With summer around the corner, travelers are preparing trips both domestic and abroad. As you get ready to launch into vacations, scammers prepare to find ever more creative ways to bilk you out of your hard-earned money. Be Aware: Dave Ramsey: 7 Vacation Splurges That are a Waste of Money For You: How To Get $340 Per Year in Cash Back on Gas and Other Things You Already Buy To help you hold onto your vacation cash, and have the best time when traveling, experts explain scams to look out for when purchasing airline tickets, booking lodging or any other expenditure related to travel. Be Wary of Whats Too Good To Be True Scams most often present themselves through an email or a phone call, social media posts or messages, according to Darius Kingsley, managing director and head of consumer banking practices at Chase Bank. Fraudsters will often try to capture unwitting consumers information via too-good-to-be-true travel offers and deals, he said. Thus, if something looks or sounds suspicious, or too good to be true, take a moment to reflect and consider its legitimacy. Trust your instincts. Rather than engaging with an unexpected and seemingly shy email, call or social media message, cut o possible scammers right away by hitting delete, not opening links, hanging up or simply ignoring them, he said. If youre still curious about the validity of an offer, look up the sources website or phone number and review the information directly. Remain vigilant of unsolicited offers or opportunities, he urged. Read Next: 9 American Travel Brands To Stay Away From Book Through Trusted Sites For an extra layer of protection, consumers should consider booking their travel through trusted sites, like airlines, hotels and even their bank, Kingsley said. For example, Chase customers can book travel and take advantage of rewards online and within the mobile app, he said. Double Check Lodging One of the more upsetting travel scams is travelers getting scammed out of their vacation rentals, Kingsley said. Theres nothing like an exhausting day of travel only to find you have nowhere to stay and are out a bunch of cash. In some cases, fraudsters are posing as rental hosts and taking a booking for a property that doesnt exist. In other cases, scammers have tried to force consumers to cancel bookings and lose their money, Kingsley explained. He added that its important to take extra caution when booking rental homes for your trip, and know how to identify a scam. Scammers try to mimic or impersonate popular travel websites by recreating familiar branding, logos or company verbiage. When booking a rental home for a vacation, always pay through the services official website. Keep all your communication with the host contained within the booking site or app, so you have a full record, and the booking company can help if needed. Always book with a credit card in case a dispute arises. Story continues Do Scam Checks Kingsley urged that travelers do scam checks by looking up unfamiliar retail, travel and services sites online by searching for their names along with terms like scam, complaints or reviews. Other people whove been taken by them will often post complaints and bad reviews. Dont Use Public Wi-Fi Another way to keep your vacation money safe is to avoid making transactions over public Wi-Fi to keep your personal information secure, said Jeremy Albelda, a travel writer with TheWorldorBust.com. Public Wi-Fi is often unsecured, meaning its easier for hackers to steal your personal info, including passwords, and spy on you through it. If youre ever in doubt, consult official tourism websites or use a trusted travel agent to make your arrangements, Albelda said. Check Credentials To protect your vacation budget, you should always book through reputable agencies with verified credentials, according to Ricky Gomulka, founder and managing partner at JetLevel. Check for Better Business Bureau (BBB) accreditation and memberships in professional organizations like the NBAA or IS-BAO. Be wary of deals that seem too good to be true, and never wire money or use unsecured payment methods. Research reviews and confirm reservations directly with service providers. Lastly, use credit cards for added fraud protection. Purchase Whole Trip Insurance Travelers looking to protect their trip investments should purchase whole-trip travel insurance rather than medical only or luggage only to make sure their trip protection can cover their flights, hotels, prepaid activities, health emergencies and more, according to Lauren Gumport, vice president of communications and brand at Faye Travel Insurance. Also, more modern travel insurance providers that launched following the COVID-19 [pandemic] provide 24/7 assistance, not just for emergencies. They provide concierge services, as well, including where to dine, what the best tours are to take and even where the nearest pharmacies are, she explained. Insurance May Not Cover Scams Even with trip insurance, however, Gumport warned that most travel insurance policies typically dont cover scams, such as fake rental properties, meaning your travel insurance policy can cover you when it comes to trip cancellations, trip delays, missed flight connections and medical emergencies, but if you get scammed, sadly, you may end up eating that cost. Keep that in mind when booking accommodation, and make sure the place you want to book has dozens of reviews before paying. That said, it also depends on the platform you used to reserve your stay, she explained. I once arrived to the Airbnb I booked, and the host never showed. Airbnb asked me to wait an hour to see if he responded, and once he didnt, they reimbursed my booking and covered 150% of two nights in a hotel nearby on the remote Greek island I was staying on. Avoid Overcharges Getting overcharged for a taxi is one of the most popular travel scams out there and can lead to travelers paying twice as much as usual, or even more, for the same ride, according to Mercedes Zach, travel expert at ASAPTickets, part of Trevolution Group. That is especially common around airports and hotels with large tourist crowds. To avoid that, make sure that you confirm the price for your distance with the taxi driver beforehand and ask them to put the meter on. If the driver refuses to do that, just leave and look for another car, Zach urged. When in doubt, ask your hotel staff to call a cab for you, or better yet, use a trusted taxi app such as Uber, Lyft or Bolt that will tell you the exact price and take the money off your credit card without having to deal with the driver directly, she said. Also, always make sure to only ride in authorized cabs. Dont Accept Free Gifts Another popular travel scam, which is especially common in Europe, is giving away free bracelets, Zach shared. A friendly vendor approaches travelers for a chat and then places a bracelet around their wrist just to ask for money or a donation right after that. If you refuse to pay, they will start making a scene so that you get embarrassed and give them the money after all. Her main piece of advice is to avoid accepting anything for free at all. If anyone puts something on you, simply take it off, give it back to them and just quickly walk away. The same goes for an injured person or a child asking for money. In most cases, they do it for the local gangs, who collect the funds right after you leave. If you want to help a local, offer to buy them food instead, or donate money to a charity instead of giving it to fake beggars. Dont Get Wrong Change Giving you the wrong change is another travel scam to be wary of, Zach said. That can happen in many countries where the local bills look similar. Sellers will try to give you less money, hoping that you wont notice. To avoid that, always pay attention to the color and amount of each bill that you are given, count the total of your change or use your credit card instead whenever possible. Dont Accept Local Exchange Also, in busy cities where there are a lot of currency exchange points near popular tourist attractions, locals might come up to you and offer to change some money for a great rate and no commission, Zach said. Dont fall for this scam, as usually some of the notes in the stack end up being fake. Therefore, its always best to only go to reputable currency exchange shops instead. More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Avoiding Travel Scams: How To Protect Your Vacation Budget Santander UK boss Mike Regnier only spends two days a week working in the bank's main offices in Milton Keynes and London - House of Commons/UK Parliament A bank boss who earns 3.3m a year has admitted he only took the job on condition that he was allowed to work from home. Mike Regnier, the chief executive of Britains fifth-largest lender Santander UK, said he was convinced to accept the role after the bank allowed him to work out of the office most of the time. The 52-year-old spends up to two days a week working in the banks main offices in Milton Keynes and London, and the rest of the week from his home in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, or travelling the country. Mr Regnier was lured into joining Santander in April 2022 from his position as chief executive of the Yorkshire Building Society, which is headquartered in the region. Prior to joining the bank, he had lived for the past two decades in Yorkshire, where his family is based. I dont think its absolutely vital that people spend all five days a week in the office as they did pre-Covid, he told The Guardian. And, actually, had it not been for Covid, I wouldnt have accepted this job, because I wouldnt have wanted to be away from home five days a week in London. That wouldnt have been good for the family or for me. Like many bank bosses, Mr Regnier also spends a large proportion of time travelling to branches and other satellite offices around the country. Santander UK, owned by Spanish parent Banco Santander, has 19,000 staff, most of whom are only expected to be in the office two days per week. The comments put Mr Regnier at odds with many other business leaders who have criticised working from home. Disneys Bob Iger demanded staff return to the office four days a week earlier this year, saying nothing can replace staff being physically together. David Solomon, the Goldman Sachs chief executive, said working from home was an aberration that was bad for collaboration and innovation. Spain has a more flexible approach to working from home, with many large banks still maintaining teleworking even after the end of the pandemic. 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. By Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) -There is little evidence that big fee hikes imposed by U.S. duo Visa and Mastercard on retailers have led to a major improvement in service, Britain's Payment Systems Regulator said on Tuesday, flagging concerns competition was not working. Visa and Mastercard have long dominated the market for payment cards, spurring UK lawmakers to call for closer scrutiny from the PSR, given that consumers end up paying the fees through higher prices for products and services bought. Attempts in Europe to create home-grown rivals have floundered as banks balk at the investment cost. A report commissioned by Britain's government last year said the UK needs a "digital alternative" to the two U.S. payment processing networks. "The PSR found that over the past five years, and after taking account of volume changes, Mastercard and Visa have increased their scheme and processing fees by more than 30% in real terms. There is little evidence that the quality of service has improved at the same rate," the PSR said in a statement detailing its provisional findings. Cards are the most popular form of payment in Britain, with 27.1 billion transactions in 2022 worth 954 billion pounds. The PSR's 158-page interim report estimates that the fee increases have added more than 250 million pounds ($317.78 million) annually to costs for UK businesses. UK businesses have little choice but to pay these increased costs as Mastercard and Visa cards account for 95% of transactions using UK-issued cards, the PSR said. "There is currently no effective competition preventing the two biggest schemes raising prices," the PSR said. 'HIGH LEVELS OF SECURITY' Visa said its fees reflect the "immense value that we provide to financial institutions, merchants and consumers including extremely high levels of security, near-perfect operational resilience". Mastercard said in a statement it disagreed with the PSR's findings. "The payments industry has never been more competitive, which is reflected in the wide choice of payment options available to British consumers and businesses," it said. The PSR said it has proposed "remedies" for public consultation that include improved transparency for users, and obligations on Mastercard and Visa to explain, consult on or document the reasons for price changes. It also proposed greater reporting of financial information to the PSR on an ongoing basis to improve scrutiny of Mastercard and Visa's UK operations. The public consultation is open until July 30, and a final report on card schemes and processing fees is due in the final quarter of the year. Story continues "If the final report upholds the provisional finding that the market is not working well, the PSR will consult on the implementation of any remedies," the watchdog said. ($1 = 0.7867 pounds) (Reporting by Huw Jones, editing by Sinead Cruise and Bernadette Baum) By Alimat Aliyeva The situation in the Taiwan Strait is complicated and serious because of the local administration of the island in the person of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which promotes the ideas of Taiwan independence. This was stated by Chen Binhua, the official representative of the Office of Taiwan Affairs at the State Council of the People's Republic of China, commenting on the inauguration of the head of the administration of Lai Qingde Island, Azernews reports. "The current situation in the Taiwan Strait is complex and serious," he said. "The main reason for this is that the DPP stubbornly adheres to a divisive position [focused] on Taiwan's independence and refuses to recognize the 1992 consensus embodying the principle of one China," Chen Binhua said. The will of the Chinese authorities to resolve the Taiwan issue and complete national reunification is as firm as a rock, the official representative of the office said. "Our will to resolve the Taiwan issue and complete national reunification is rock solid, our ability to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity is unshakeable, and our actions against Taiwan independence and foreign interference are resolute," Chen Binhua said. Cathie Wood is famous for her singular investing style. Favoring high growth and disruptors, she often appears to be throwing caution to the wind and willing to tread where other Wall Street titans may fear to go. However outre Woods strategy might seem to some, theres one risk shes not willing to take. Addressing the recent comeback of meme stocks, the Ark Invest CEO recently issued a warning to investors keen to get in on the action, sensibly warning that it will end badly for many piling into speculative names such as GameStop and AMC. Buyer beware, there were a lot of people in the first meme stock craze who got hurt badly, Wood commented. That said, its not as if Wood has suddenly turned to value investing for inspiration. Still following her playbook of exposure to innovators, weve decided to get the lowdown on two of the less lauded names that make up part of her Ark Invest portfolio. Here it appears that the Street is in sync with the Wood view; according to the TipRanks database, both these stocks are rated as Strong Buys by the analyst consensus. Lets see why. Prime Medicine (PRME) The first Wood-backed stock well look at fits Woods innovation-focused investing style perfectly. Prime Medicine is a biotech company operating at the forefront of gene editing. Founded in 2019, the companys innovative approach centers on its Prime Editing platform, a breakthrough technology that allows for precise and flexible editing of the human genome. Unlike traditional CRISPR methods, which typically create double-strand breaks in DNA, Prime Editing uses a more refined method involving a search-and-replace technique to make specific alterations. This method significantly reduces the risk of unintended mutations, enhancing the safety and effectiveness of genetic therapies. Prime Medicines tech holds promise for treating a wide array of genetic disorders, potentially providing cures for conditions that currently have limited or no treatment options. The companys development efforts span key strategic areas, including hematology, liver, eye, neuromuscular, and lung, although most of the pipeline is still in the pre-clinical stage. One drug, however, is now advancing to the clinic. In April, the FDA gave the go-ahead for the companys IND (investigational new drug) application for PM359, its Prime Editor indicated to treat chronic granulomatous disease (CGD). This is the first-ever Prime Editor product candidate to get this far and Prime plans on initiating a Phase 1/2 trial of the drug with an initial data readout from the study slated for 2025. Story continues Meanwhile, Wood significantly bolstered Ark Invests stake in PRME during Q1, acquiring 2.85 million shares. The firms total holdings now stand at nearly 5.99 million shares, currently worth $45.13 million. That will probably be considered a good move by Chardan analyst Geulah Livshits, who also likes the look of whats on offer here. The platform nature of its tech means the company should be able to move more quickly for subsequent programs using the same manufacturing and delivery tech, explained the 5-star analyst. Additionally, the current regulatory environment is highly supportive of transformative therapies for rare diseases, with FDA officials repeatedly indicating a desire to accelerate the development of such therapies including via greater engagement, use of surrogate endpoints and flexible trial designs. We believe this these factors can enable Prime to achieve sustained growth by advancing programs across and beyond its current pipeline. With Prime on track to initiate IND-enabling activities for 1+ programs in its in vivo liver franchise and to nominate a DC in for RHO adRP in 2024, we believe the company is positioned for value inflection as it transitions from developing a collection of (interesting) science projects to advancing a product pipeline, Livshits went on to say. Bottom-line, Livshits rates PRME shares a Buy, while her $17 price target suggests the stock has room for outsized growth of 140% over the coming year. (To watch Livshits track record, click here) Livshits bullish take on PRME is no anomaly. All the 9 other recent analyst reviews are positive, naturally making the consensus view here a Strong Buy. With an average target of $15.33, investors could potentially see returns of ~104% within the next year. (See PRME stock forecast) AbSci (ABSI) Well stay in the biotech space for Woods next pick. AbSci is a company that makes use of the current markets hottest trend it utilizes generative AI for drug development. Describing itself as an AI drug creation company, AbScis platform can produce high-affinity antibodies targeting specific epitopes entirely through computer simulations. Reflecting their motto, the data to train, the AI to create, and the wet lab to validate, AbSci can generate antibody drug candidates much faster than traditional lab techniques. By streamlining what are traditionally laborious steps, AbSci aims to lower costs and reduce the time-to-market for new biologic drugs, thereby addressing critical needs in healthcare. This said, the pipeline is still in its early stages. Amongst drugs being developed, the company is working on ABS-101, potentially a best-in-class anti-TL1A antibody for which it initiated IND-enabling studies in February. The company anticipates Phase 1 clinical studies for ABS-101 will kick off early next year with an interim data readout slated for the second half of 2025. Additionally, proof-of-concept results for novel immune-oncology drug candidate ABS-301 are anticipated around mid-2024. As for Woods involvement, her firm, Ark Invest, initiated a new position in ABSI stock during Q1, acquiring nearly 3.28 million shares valued at $14.87 million. The company also has a fan in Scotiabanks George Farmer, who thinks investors should clock an opportunity while still in its infancy. We recommend buying ABSI shares to capture the value potential of the companys novel AI based drug development strategy and the early-stage biologics pipeline on which it is based, Farmer noted. Why? Preclinical results to date support the competitive advantage that lead asset ABS-101, an AI-optimized anti-TL1A therapeutic, may have over existing agents in clinical development for addressing the massive inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) treatment market. To this end, Farmer rates ABSI as an Outperform (i.e., Buy), alongside a $13 price target. The implication for investors? Upside of a handsome 182% from current levels. (To watch Farmers track record, click here) Most of Farmers colleagues agree with his assessment. Based on a mix of 4 Buys against 1 Hold, the stock claims a Strong Buy consensus rating. The forecast calls for one-year returns of ~90%, considering the average price target stands at $8.75. (See ABSI stock forecast) To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has ordered Western Benefits to permanently cease operations. In addition, it must pay a $400,000 penalty to be deposited in the CFPBs victims relief fund. The CFPB order also rescinds all existing agreements with consumers. The CFPB action against Western Benefits Group relates to the charging of illegal advance fees for student loan debt relief services. In addition, the debt relief provider misrepresented to consumers that advance fees would go toward paying down their loans. The CFPB found Western Benefits also misrepresented that it was affiliated with and endorsed by the Department of Education, and that the company would help consumers consolidate student loans, lower consumers monthly student loan payments, or obtain loan cancellation. The burden of student debt has spawned scores of scams, said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. Student loan borrowers should steer clear of outfits claiming to be affiliated with the Department of Education. Western Benefits Group is a non-bank telemarketer headquartered in Pleasanton, California. It has offered debt relief services since at least 2016. In January 2016, Western Benefits began to market, sell, and administer student loan debt relief services to consumers. Western Benefits used lead generators to increase its inbound telemarketing calls. The lead generators marketed debt relief services to consumers through email marketing campaigns and web campaigns. CFPB enforcement action Under the Consumer Financial Protection Act, the CFPB has the authority to take action against institutions violating consumer financial laws. This includes engaging in unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices. The CFPB found that Western Benefits violated the Telemarketing Sales Rule by requesting or receiving unlawful advance fees. It violated the Telemarketing Sales Rule and Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 by misrepresenting material aspects of their debt relief service. The order also rescinds all existing agreements with consumers. It means that all agreements related to the student loan debt relief services are void effective immediately. "CFPB closes down and fines Western Benefits $400,000 for swindling student borrowers" was originally created and published by Retail Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. The Charlotte City Council on Monday directed staff to explore shrinking the size of the citys first proposed property tax increase in six years. City Manager Marcus Jones $4.2 billion proposal for fiscal year 2025, which starts July 1, calls for a 1.5-cent property tax increase to fund public safety needs, the arts, housing and transportation. That would cost the typical homeowner about $1 more a week, Jones said. Mecklenburg Countys proposed budget also includes a 1.5-cent property tax increase. Jones warned last year a tax hike was likely in the citys future. When he presented his budget earlier this month, he said the time had come in order to keep up with the citys needs and growth. But eight of 11 council members voted at their budget adjustment meeting Monday to direct city staff to try and find ways to shrink the size of the tax increase. Council member Tariq Bokhari, who made the recommendation, said a smaller property tax increase could create momentum in the state legislature for the citys stalled sales tax increase. Charlotte has long hoped to get a sales tax increase referendum on the ballot to pay for transportation needs, but that requires legislative approval, and the city has so far failed to gain traction in Raleigh. Were going to significantly hurt ourselves in our ability to make the case that Charlotte is all in on the sales tax, Bokhari said of the newly proposed property tax hike. The District 6 Republican said hes got a list of cuts he plans to bring to city staff and hopes the rest of the council will also work closely with staff in the coming days. Theres multiple ways to skin the cat, he said. ... Everyone needs to work with staff. The council will hold straw votes on the budget May 30 and is scheduled to give final approval to the budget June 10. Police equipment purchases suggested after Galway Drive shooting Bokhari also recommended the council fund the purchase of new equipment for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police in the wake of the shooting that killed four law enforcement officers and wounded multiple others April 29. He said the proposals are based on conversations with CMPD officers wounded in the Galway Drive shooting, including $150,000 to put active shooter kits in all CMPD vehicles and $597,500 for new bulletproof vests and ballistic shields. Council member Dimple Ajmera also proposed the city continue to pay its part of the health insurance premiums for spouses and dependents of city employees killed in the line of duty, an estimated cost of $30,000. Council members voted in favor of sending all of those recommendations to city staff for further evaluation. Story continues Other proposed changes to city budget Council members also directed city staff to review other additions or changes to the proposed budget, including: Increasing funding for bicycle infrastructure from $8 million to $10 million over the next two-year bond cycle. Contributing $1 million to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and Mecklenburg County project to build housing for teachers. Giving $100,000 to the Charlotte Museum of History. Council members voted down a pitch to consider adding the museum to the list of cultural organizations that get annual funding from the city. Doubling funding for litter clean-up from $250,000 to $500,000. Funding for multiple nonprofit organizations, including the Home Again Foundation, Save our Childrens Movement, Carolina Youth Coalition, Block Love Charlotte and Hearts for the Invisible. Council members didnt back continuing a discussion of raising the minimum wage for all city employees to $25 an hour. The world's top-selling pizza chain is betting big on the generosity of its customers. And it is not alone. Domino's recently pledged $174 million over the next ten years to benefit St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, expecting the funds to come from its longstanding roundup campaign that invites customers to donate the difference between their purchase total and the next-highest dollar amount. The pizza chain has already raised more than $126 million this way across the past two decades for ALSAC, the fundraising organization for the Tennessee-based hospital. Domino's is the latest and largest example of checkout charity success. The fundraising tool raked in 24% more money in 2022 than 2020 among the highest making programs, for a total of $749 million, according to the professional association Engage for Good. That staying power has franchises hopeful that consumers will continue giving their spare change despite shifts toward online shopping, negative economic headwinds and fears that more frequent solicitations will cause fatigue. Meanwhile, some retailers are fleshing out partnerships first formed after the 2020 racial reckoning pushed corporate citizenship toward the forefront of business practices. Why it works Studies suggest that asking customers to round up is generally more effective than requesting a fixed amount even when the totals are the same. That's because the framing lessens the sting of parting with one's money, according to a paper published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology. It feels less painful," said Katie Kelting, a Saint Louis University marketing professor who led the research team. The timing of the appeal introduces several other psychologically potent factors, according to Ike Silver, a marketing professor at Northwestern University. Buyers tend to imagine their purchases in whole numbers anyway; a $24.75 bill codes as $25, for example. Plus, Silver said, it makes the act of giving a bit more mindless. Shoppers rushing to get through the checkout line don't have much time to consider reasons against the donation. They capitalize on a purchase inertia where you're just spending your money and you're not really thinking too much about it, Silver said. Helping PetSmart help animals Champions of the strategy credit the asks for engaging everyday, would-be donors in an approachable form of giving with low barriers to entry. The practice is so commonplace that shoppers' cumulative gifts have even become a key funding stream for some issue areas. Story continues PetSmart Charities, which reports that over 80% of its cash donations come through the PIN pad at checkout, is considered the largest grantmaker for animal welfare causes. The pet superstore, which has been running its continual PIN pad donation program for 20 years, asks customers to give a fixed dollar amount starting at $2. The money supports causes directly related to pets, such as increased access to veterinary care and animal evacuation services during natural disasters. That authentic connection is one reason that PetSmart Charities President Aimee Gilbreath believes their average donation is just under $3 which is projected to add up to $40 million by the end of this year. Without the closely aligned missions, Gilbreath expects they'd have a slightly harder time getting customers to donate. Its just much easier for people to say yes when they get, Im here shopping at PetSmart. I love pets. If I donate to PetSmart Charities, Im going to support pets who need a family, Im going to support pets in other ways," she said. Indeed, Kelting said the fit between the charity and the seller is huge. Customers can perceive point-of-sale solicitations as a violation of their social contract with a company, according to researchers, but partnerships among likeminded organizations are viewed in a more positive light. Donations follow connection at REI REI Co-op, a specialty outdoor clothing and equipment seller, launched its member-supported public charity in 2021 to help make outdoor spaces more inclusive. The goal was to put more resources into the surrounding communities coming out of COVID-19 shutdowns. At its 185 U.S. locations, sales associates often strike up personal conversations about buyers' upcoming excursions. Those unique connections with its clientele of nature enthusiasts open the door for donation requests at checkout, according to Squire Simpson, a board member at the REI Cooperative Action Fund. REI cashiers are supposed to leave the conversation with an open-ended ask that lets customers decide whether to round up or donate an amount of their choosing. About $2.2 million from 1.3 million individual donations were raised in stores last year, according to Simpson, a 2.5% increase over 2022. Grantees include a Pennsylvania group that promotes biking among Black women and an Alaska nonprofit that provides therapeutic recreation for people with disabilities. Its not some broad, corporate recipient, Simpson said. Checkout charity fa tigue? Still, some observers are worried that even the best of intentions won't keep the spigot from stopping as likeminded programs pop up in checkout lines around the country. Silver, the Northwestern University professor, questions whether the effectiveness of checkout charity will wane with its popularity. If its really something thats coming up every time you swipe your card, one risk is people start to notice that and feel a bit more manipulated," he said. Misinformation does not help either. Contrary to popular internet memes, tax policy experts say that stores cant write off customers' point-of-sale donations because they dont count as company income. Domino's leaders remain confident in their fine-tuned strategy. With the iconic St. Jude child printed on Dominos pizza boxes, the established partners are already among the most recognizable when it comes to point-of-sale donations. Above the checkout widget is a roundup request with that image of the child. During its 11-week, end-of-the-year campaign, customers are greeted by a click and go pop-up soliciting $2, $5, $10 or $20. The request details St. Jude's work and features an overall donation tracker. Domino's raised $8.9 million last year through roundup. Its leadership believes that number will increase under a new five-year strategy to grow its customer base. Described by CEO Russell Weiner as an audacious goal that isnt necessarily a slam dunk, the high-dollar charitable commitment adds another motivator to meet its latest nonprofit benchmarks. ALSAC CEO Rick Shadyac said the extra Dominos funding will help St. Jude's efforts in 80 countries to help triple the survival rate for children with the six most common forms of childhood cancer. That includes this summer's rollout of a program that will eventually provide free cancer medications to 30% of the 400,000 children around the world with the disease. If we drive more sales and more stores, what does that mean? That means we have more customers, Weiner told The Associated Press. The better we do there, the more people weve got that we can raise money for St. Jude. ___ Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of APs philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy. Exxon Mobil Chairman & CEO Darren Woods, under fire for pursuing a lawsuit against shareholders even though they've withdrawn the proxy proposal the company opposed. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP) Exxon Mobil can't say it wasn't warned. Having opted to continue its lawsuit against two activist investor groups even after they withdrew a shareholder proposal the company management opposed, the giant oil company had gotten flayed by shareholder advocates for its bullying. Now the big shoe has dropped: CalPERS, the largest public pension fund in the nation, announced Monday that it will vote against all 12 Exxon Mobil board members, including CEO Darren Woods, at the May 29 annual meeting. 'If ExxonMobil succeeds in silencing voices and upending the rules of shareholder democracy, what other subjects will the leaders of any company make off limits? Worker safety? Excessive executive compensation?' CalPERS CEO Marcie Frost CalPERS says it's acting because it judges the company's campaign against the two investor groups to be "designed to punish" investors who "dared to speak truth to power." The pension fund says, "the repercussions of the lawsuit could be devastating....If ExxonMobil succeeds in silencing voices and upending the rules of shareholder democracy, what other subjects will the leaders of any company make off limits? Worker safety? Excessive executive compensation?" The announcement is a major step up from the pension fund's earlier comments about its intentions. Michael Cohen, the CalPERS chief operating investment officer, had earlier said only that the fund was considering voting against Woods. Voting against the entire board and publicly urging other investors "to do the same," appreciably raises the stakes for Exxon, at least theoretically. CalPERS the California Public Employees' Retirement System is an institutional investor to be reckoned with. The $496-billion fund owns about $1 billion in Exxon Mobil shares. Exxon Mobil's lawsuit "is a real problem for us as share owners," CalPERS CEO Marcie Frost said during a press conference Monday. "We believe that our voice matters, that we should be able to provide proxy solicitations asking the company to be more transparent in certain areas." Exxon called CalPERS' action "a poor fiduciary decision." The company said through a spokesperson, "Its unclear why CalPERS is spending their time and energy defending the abuse of a shareholder process...Far from having a chilling effect on shareholder proposals, our efforts are intended to get clarity on the rules to foster an environment for open and meaningful shareholder dialogue. If anything, CalPERS vote against our entire board appears to be an attempt to 'chill' shareholder voices." Story continues As I reported last week, in February Exxon Mobil sued the U.S. investment firm Arjuna Capital and Netherlands-based green shareholder firm Follow This to keep a shareholder resolution they sponsored from appearing on the agenda of its annual meeting. The resolution was a plain-vanilla environmental proposal urging the company to work harder to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of its products and to be more transparent about the impact of its business on the climate. Days after the company sued, the shareholders, calculating their relative strength against the oil behemoth, withdrew the proposal and pledged not to refile it in the future. That rendered the lawsuit moot but the company has refused to drop it. What makes the lawsuit seem especially cynical is that the investors' proposal, like all such proposals, are not binding on management they're advisory only. Moreover, as Frost pointed out, similar proposals in 2022 and 2023 failed to garner majority support from shareholders, winning only 10.5% of votes in 2022 and 27% last year. Read more: Column: Exxon Mobil is suing its shareholders to silence them about global warming "Exxon won," Frost said. It's unlikely that CalPERS' action will result in the board's ouster. As CalPERS CEO Marcie Frost noted during a press conference Monday, no alternative slate of directors has been named for the upcoming annual meeting, so it would be "very difficult to say we're turning over this board." But she said the fund's vote is "more than symbolic" it's more about "sending the appropriate messages to this about their responsibilities in governance; if they don't want to deal with governance they should step aside." Although CalPERS supported a slate of activist board members nominated in 2021 three of the four nominees won board seats the fund said it is voting against the entire board because it is "allowing Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods to pursue a reckless and destructive effort." Frost said CalPERS isn't contemplating taking a more aggressive action against Exxon Mobil, such as divesting its shares. "The problem with divestment when you're CalPERS is that you completely lose your voice. The moment you don't own shares, you can't sign on to other owners' proposals, you can't take action to say we don't believe that executive compensation is commensurate with the performance of the company." Exxon Mobil asserts in its lawsuit that the investment funds proposed resolution breached standards set forth by the Securities and Exchange Commission governing the propriety of such resolutions it was related to the companys ordinary business operations and closely resembled resolutions on similar topics that had failed to exceed threshold votes at the 2022 and 2023 annual meetings. Both standards allow a company to block a resolution from the meeting agenda, or proxy. That may be so, but the conventional practice is for managements to seek approval from the SEC to exclude such resolutions by requesting whats known as an agency no action letter. CalPERS says that would have been "the better option" than a lawsuit. It's not as though the SEC had set a high bar to issuing "no action" letters the pension fund observes that the agency has approved two-thirds of those requests so far this year. Frost conjectured that, given the poor showing of similar proposals in the recent past, the SEC probably would have allowed the company to exclude the latest proposal from the annual meeting proxy. Exxon Mobil's rationale for continuing the lawsuit is that the proposal rules "must be enforced or the abuse by activists masquerading as shareholders will continue threatening the system. Frost questioned the company's position. She described Exxon Mobil's goal in the lawsuit as obtaining "clarity around the ordinary business" standard. But "to me it doesn't feel like 'clarity'; it feels like diminishment" of shareholder voices. As for the company's insinuation that the system is broken, she said, "the system is working, if you use the system." Get the latest from Michael Hiltzik Commentary on economics and more from a Pulitzer Prize winner. Sign me up. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Image source: Getty Images Costco is a popular warehouse club with over 850 locations worldwide. In the United States and Puerto Rico, the retailer operates over 600 clubs. Costco continues to build new locations, making its affordable deals available to more shoppers with every additional store it opens. Costco continues to expand You've likely heard friends and family rave about Costco, even if you're not a member or have never stepped foot in a club. That's because shoppers appreciate the retailer's affordable prices. Many everyday essentials are sold in bulk at Costco, so consumers can stock up on everyday goods while getting a good deal. Although membership costs money, many members keep more cash in their checking accounts thanks to Costco's deals. If you don't yet have a club near your home, one may open nearby in the future. The warehouse brand continues to expand, with new club locations being added regularly. Six more clubs will open in the U.S. this June and July. The following locations will be opening this June: North Port, Florida Mt. Juliet, Tennessee Riverbank, California Richmond, Texas The following locations will be opening this July: NW Omaha, Nebraska Chaska, Minnesota No exact opening dates have been announced at this time. If you have questions about the opening details for any clubs listed above, contact Costco for more information. You can also review Costco's website for more specifics, like club addresses and hours of operation. Should you join Costco? Before investing in a Costco membership, consider your budget, spending habits, and goals. If the annual membership cost of $60 or $120 is out of budget, you should wait to join. Spending beyond your means could cause financial stress and potentially result in credit card debt. It's also wise to review the products that Costco sells before joining to ensure a membership aligns with your spending habits and shopping preferences. Before you join, you can browse available products on the Costco website or mobile app. The retailer also outlines current sales online, so you can use this information to plan your shopping list and avoid overspending beyond your means. Costco regularly runs promotions, so you'll want to review current sales prices often to avoid missing out. How to get the most out of a Costco membership Want to get more from your Costco membership? Here are some tips for success: Don't shop without a plan: Costco has many new products and limited-time deals that can be tempting. If you go to your local club without a plan, you could spend more than necessary. For best success, it's a good idea to create a shopping list before you stop at Costco. Story continues Get a deal on big-ticket items: In addition to saving money on household goods and groceries, you can save money on bigger purchases like appliances and electronics. Remember to use your membership perks when it's time to make a major purchase. Buy discounted gift cards: Costco sells discounted gift cards for popular retailers. You can get a deal on purchases at other businesses using the discounted gift cards you buy. Pay attention to holiday gift card sales because the savings can be even more significant. Go shopping when you need to refill your tank. The warehouse club has affordable gas prices. Planning your shopping trips so you visit when your gas tank is low could allow you to maximize the savings you get at the gas pump. Getting a good deal on groceries, household essentials, clothes, electronics, appliances, and more could be a major win for your personal finances. Check out our ultimate Costco guide for additional tips for getting the most from your membership. Top credit card to use at Costco (and everywhere else!) If youre shopping with a debit card, you could be missing out on hundreds or even thousands of dollars each year. These versatile credit cards offer huge rewards everywhere, including Costco, and are rated the best cards of 2024 by our experts because they offer hefty sign-up bonuses and outstanding cash rewards. Plus, youll save on credit card interest because all of these recommendations include a competitive 0% interest period. Click here to read our expert recommendations for free! We're firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Natasha Gabrielle has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Costco Will Open Brand-New Clubs in These 6 U.S. Cities This Summer was originally published by The Motley Fool The number of women in executive roles in Australia's wine sector is increasing, data from trade body Wine Australia shows. According to the latest findings, between 2021-2023 the percentage of women in a CEO role in wine sat at 33.7%, a 21 percentage-point hike on statistics from 2007-2013. This number is 11.7 percentage points higher than the national average of women in CEO positions, which sits at 22%. In the 2007-2013 period, by comparison, the wine industry was on par with the country's average of 10-12%. Speaking on the results, Dr Jeremy Galbreath, author of both studies on women in the Australian wine sector said: While these results are encouraging, in critical roles such as winemaking and viticulture there is room for improvement." Australian Grape & Wines diversity and equality in wine committee chair, Ali Laslett, also agreed that changes still need to be made "on many fronts, including the gender pay gap". Women working in winemaking has also gone up 7.9 percentage points on the prior period to 16.7%, Wine Australia said. The number of women working in viticulture was up 11.5 percentage points to 21.5%, while women in wine marketing saw a 4.9 percentage-point boost to 58.4%. Broken down by state, Western Australia had the largest percentage of female CEOs in wine in the 2021-2023 period, at 36%. This was followed by New South Wales and Tasmania, both at 34%, Victoria and Queensland at 33% and South Australia with 31%. "In data: women CEOs in wine outpace other industries in Australia" was originally created and published by Just Drinks, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. City leaders are considering raising property taxes this summer to increase employee wages. It was just the right thing to do, City Manager Wanda Page said Monday night when she presented her draft budget to the City Council. Sometimes doing the right thing isnt easy, but it is always right. The spending she proposed totals $667.8 million, up 9.5% over last year. Page is proposing raising the city tax rate 3.85 cents , to 59.62 cents per $100 of assessed property value. The county manager, meanwhile, has proposed a 3.25 cent- tax-rate increase, though the school board is pushing for more. On a $254,000 house, the median in the city limits: The proposed city increase adds $98 and the proposed county increase adds $83 a year to the annual tax bill, which would total $3,507. Check the impact on your property online. Page said the economy was performing well, but next fiscal years wants and needs are very significant. The pay increases are projected to cost $28.5 million and would range from about 7% to 20%, depending on the job. Police: New officers would see introductory pay of $54,817, up 14%. Fire: New firefighters would see introductory pay of $51,559, up 18%. Raising the minimum wage: The minimum livable wage would increase to $19.58 per hour. Bond referendum advanced The City Council voted unanimously Monday to advance a $200 million bond referendum that will be put to voters in November. $115 million for streets and sidewalks $85 million for parks The parks money would be split almost evenly between two projects: An aquatic wonderland with pools, a lazy river and water slides at Wheels Fun Park , a former skating rink set to reopen this fall. A pool, new play areas and other improvements at Long Meadow and East End parks on Alston Avenue. The rest of the money would help produce 12.4 miles of new sidewalks, pave 13.3 miles of unpaved roads, and speed up repairs and maintenance for both. The bond which has some additional hurdles to clear before its officially on the ballot would raise taxes 3.45 cents per $100 of assessed value starting in 2026 and slowly dropping off over 20 years. Whats next? Residents began weighing in on the budget Monday night, with the progressive advocacy nonprofit Durham for All asking to expand guaranteed income, and Legal Aid attorneys advocating more money be put into eviction diversion. The city and county will both listen to feedback from residents before passing their budgets next month. Heres the schedule: Tuesday, May 28: Public hearing on the county budget at 7 p.m. Monday, June 3: Public hearing on the city budget at 7 p.m. Monday, June 10: County commissioners vote. Monday, June 17: City Council votes. COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) A restaurant at Easton Town Center is being sued by the company that owns the retail district after being accused of not paying rent. A lawsuit was filed Thursday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court 16 by Easton Gateway property company against Melt Bar and Grilled, a restaurant located in a section northeast of the main mall. The complaint states Easton sent a notice on Nov. 9 to the restaurant about failing to pay rent on time and gave a five-day grace period. AEP Ohio flags cryptocurrency miners as it proposes tariffs, discounts for data centers After several months, a second notice about unpaid rent was sent to Melt on April 10, this time with a 12-day grace period. The complaint claims the rent was not paid within the grace period for either notice. The lawsuit alleges that Melt has not paid rent despite facing demands to pay it and other fees agreed to in the lease. Easton claims the unpaid fees resulted in more than $200,000 in damages and is demanding that money be paid back in full plus interest, attorneys fees and more. Melt opened its Easton location in 2014. A Short North location closed in 2022 after the companys owner said a rising number of issues no longer made it sustainable. The company operates five other locations in Columbus. Requests for comment from Melt was not immediately returned. A spokesperson for Easton said they will not comment on the matter. 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 NBC4 WCMH-TV. Acquisitions are supplying Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) with lots of fuel this year. The master limited partnership (MLP) closed two sizable deals last year, while its affiliate, Sunoco (NYSE: SUN), recently made a needle-moving acquisition. This trio of deals has the company on track to grow its earnings by around 10% this year. The MLP made it clear on its first-quarter conference call that consolidation in the midstream space continues to make sense. Here's a look at what the company is seeking in future deals. Adding value to the value chain Energy Transfer's co-CEO and CFO, Tom Long, discussed the company's acquisition strategy on the call. He stated that the MLP is always looking for an opportunity that would "feed all the way downstream." He said, "We always like to talk about how we go from wellhead to the water, and we do it across all the commodities." Long noted that the company's strategy is to look for opportunities to buy assets that feed into its value chain of driving commodities from upstream wells to downstream markets, like refineries, petrochemical plants, and export facilities. That provides it with great opportunities to capture commercial synergies and cost savings. For example, the company is currently working on a debottlenecking project on the Gateway pipeline that will allow it to fully utilize its interest on the EPIC pipeline. The project will allow the MLP to optimize deliveries from the Delaware Basin to its Mont Belvieu complex. It's one of several synergy projects it's working on related to the Crestwood acquisition. They help drive the company's view that it will capture about $80 million of cost synergies, double its initial estimate, and significant commercial synergies to move more commodities through its network. These additional synergies make already accretive deals even more value-enhancing for the MLP. The Sunoco fit The company usually makes these deals at the Energy Transfer level. However, Sunoco's acquisition of NuStar showcased how its controlled MLP can also make highly accretive deals that flow down to Energy Transfer. The company will get a $500 million earnings boost from Sunoco's deal this year. Long noted on the call that Sunoco would probably continue to make highly accretive acquisitions that allow it to capture commercial synergies that benefit its wholesale fuel distribution and terminal businesses. While that entity typically makes asset acquisitions, the NuStar deal shows that it can make very accretive acquisitions of public companies. In addition to using Sunoco as an acquisition vehicle, Energy Transfer sees potential partnership opportunities with the MLP. Co-CEO and Chief Commercial Officer Mackie McCrea noted that there's some overlap between Sunoco's assets, including those acquired in the NuStar deal, and Energy Transfer's operations. As a result, "there's a real benefit in potentially partnering up with them." He noted that the two companies were already discussing potential partnerships and joint ventures that could be accretive to both entities. Poised to pounce Despite making two big acquisitions last year, the company's financial position "continues to be stronger than any time in Energy Transfer's history," Long said on the call. That gives the company ample flexibility to pursue new growth opportunities, including acquisitions and partnerships, while also returning more cash to investors through a rising distribution and equity repurchases. Sunoco has also proved that it can make highly accretive deals, and both companies are likely to continue making acquisitions. Energy Transfer just needs to find the right opportunity that's accretive and enhances the value of its value chain. Future accretive acquisitions would enable the MLP to continue growing its cash flow so that it can return even more money to investors. Should you invest $1,000 in Energy Transfer right now? Before you buy stock in Energy Transfer, 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 Energy Transfer 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 $566,624!* Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of May 13, 2024 Matt DiLallo has positions in Energy Transfer. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Energy Transfer Isn't Done Making Deals was originally published by The Motley Fool Key Insights Rand Mining's estimated fair value is AU$1.51 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity Rand Mining's AU$1.56 share price indicates it is trading at similar levels as its fair value estimate When compared to theindustry average discount of -25%, Rand Mining's competitors seem to be trading at a greater premium to fair value Does the May share price for Rand Mining Limited (ASX:RND) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by taking the forecast future cash flows of the company and discounting them back to today's value. This will be done using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. 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. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model. Check out our latest analysis for Rand Mining Is Rand Mining Fairly Valued? 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. Seeing as no analyst estimates of free cash flow are available to us, we have extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the company's last reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. 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 (A$, Millions) AU$6.30m AU$5.66m AU$5.30m AU$5.10m AU$5.00m AU$4.96m AU$4.97m AU$5.01m AU$5.07m AU$5.15m Growth Rate Estimate Source Est @ -15.43% Est @ -10.12% Est @ -6.41% Est @ -3.81% Est @ -1.99% Est @ -0.71% Est @ 0.18% Est @ 0.80% Est @ 1.24% Est @ 1.55% Present Value (A$, Millions) Discounted @ 7.5% AU$5.9 AU$4.9 AU$4.3 AU$3.8 AU$3.5 AU$3.2 AU$3.0 AU$2.8 AU$2.7 AU$2.5 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = AU$37m Story continues We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 2.3%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 7.5%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033 (1 + g) (r g) = AU$5.2m (1 + 2.3%) (7.5% 2.3%) = AU$101m Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= AU$101m ( 1 + 7.5%)10= AU$49m 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 AU$86m. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of AU$1.6, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out. dcf Important Assumptions The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Rand Mining 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 7.5%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.133. 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 Rand Mining Strength Currently debt free. Dividend is in the top 25% of dividend payers in the market. Weakness Earnings declined over the past year. Current share price is above our estimate of fair value. Opportunity RND's financial characteristics indicate limited near-term opportunities for shareholders. Lack of analyst coverage makes it difficult to determine RND's earnings prospects. Threat Dividends are not covered by cash flow. Next Steps: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. For Rand Mining, there are three additional aspects you should further examine: Risks: For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for Rand Mining (1 shouldn't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here. Other High Quality Alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! Other Top Analyst Picks: Interested to see what the analysts are thinking? Take a look at our interactive list of analysts' top stock picks to find out what they feel might have an attractive future outlook! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Australian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. By Francesco Guarascio and Ben Blanchard HANOI/TAIPEI (Reuters) - Vietnamese officials have called on Apple supplier Foxconn to voluntarily reduce power use by 30% at its assembly plants in the north of the country where there were electricity outages last year, two people familiar with the matter said. The request for energy-saving measures, which two other industry sources said was sent to multiple manufacturers, is precautionary and aimed at averting a repeat of last summer when power shortage led to over a billion dollars in lost output. The request to Foxconn was "an encouragement", not a requirement and has not had any impact on production, one of the people said. Vietnam is increasingly welcoming multinational companies, some spreading their risk from traditional manufacturing base China amid rising trade tension with the U.S. Last month, Apple promised further spending in the country where over the past year it has raised its number of suppliers to 35 from 25. The southeast Asian nation relies on foreign investment for economic growth and has been trying to attract energy-intensive industries, such as semiconductor manufacturing. However, a heat wave last May and June triggered a power shortage that interrupted business in the north, causing $1.4 billion worth of loss, or 0.3% of gross domestic product, World Bank preliminary estimates showed. In March, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh pledged to foreign investors that power shortages would not happen again. The government has asked coal-fired power plants to delay maintenance to meet higher electricity demand in the hottest months, one of the people said. The people did not specify who sent the requests, when the request to Foxconn was sent or for how long the voluntary cut in electricity use would be needed. One person said the request was open-ended. All sources asked to remain anonymous because the matter was not public. Apple did not respond to a request for comment. COORDINATION Foxconn, formally Hon Hai Precision Industry, is the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer. It has half a dozen plants in northern Vietnam including in Bac Giang province where local authorities said it assembles Apple MacBooks and iPads. State-owned provincial power distributor Bac Giang Power Company (BG PC) said in March it had asked industrial parks and authorities "to coordinate in implementing electricity savings," showed a statement on the website of power regulator ERAV. BG PC Deputy Director Do Binh Duong, in a separate statement, said "adjustment of power loads, adjustment of production plans and electricity saving implementation of enterprises will have a great impact on the power system". Story continues The Ministry of Industry and Trade and state-owned power provider Vietnam Electricity (EVN), of which BG PC is a unit, did not respond to requests for comment. Energy-saving measures appear to differ nationwide. An official at an industrial park in another northern province said manufacturers have been asked to reduce power consumption on some days this month. Weather conditions are less challenging than in 2023 but authorities have boosted imports of coal and encouraged energy-saving to avoid shortages. In March, foreign chambers of commerce urged the government to guarantee power supply, with South Korean's KoCham saying semiconductor companies had delayed investment decisions because of power supply risk. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio in Hanoi and Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Additional reporting by Khanh Vu and Phuong Nguyen; Editing by Christopher Cushing) By Ross Kerber (Reuters) -A conservative shareholder withdrew a resolution filed for a vote at Tuesday's annual meeting of JPMorgan, according to the investor's representative, who said the move reflects changes the Wall Street bank has made to take more account of diverse viewpoints. JPMorgan's meeting was to include Proposal 11, a call for the bank to report on how the bank's policies impact employees "based on their religion (including religious views) or political views." Jerry Bowyer, a fund consultant who represents David Bahnsen, the head of the family trust that filed the resolution, said it was withdrawn in light of several steps the bank has taken that show it pulling back from political tests for customers. One factor, Bowyer said, was the bank's decision to drop a requirement that merchants using its WePay service not accept payments tied to risks like allegations of racism or sexual harassment. He also cited a note that JPMorgan included in a recent climate report stating it serves customers "regardless of political, social or religious viewpoints." And, Bowyer said the family trust appreciated recent comments by JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon including critical remarks about proxy advisers in Dimon's annual letter to investors. "These were all positive signs of them recognizing politicized finance as a problem," Bowyer said. JPMorgan and other global banks have been under fire from conservative activists who charge they have cut off clients over right-leaning political views, sometimes referred to as "debanking." At the same time other investors have pressed banks to take more account of social and environmental issues. An archived webpage shows that as recently as August, merchants using JPMorgan's WePay service had to agree to not accept payments or use the service in connection with "social risk issues." The bank defined those as "subject to allegation and impacts related to hate groups, systemic racism, sexual harassment and corporate culture." That language no longer appears on the WePay terms of service. The Alliance Defending Freedom, which calls itself a Christian law firm, said it first discovered the new language in November. JPMorgan did not immediately say when the language was changed, but said the old language dated to its purchase of WePay, which closed in December 2017. Asked about the new language promising to serve customers regardless of their viewpoints and other communications that Bowyer said led to the withdrawal of the resolution, a bank representative said the material only reflected longstanding policies. Story continues While the language may look new, the policies and practices are not. We support clients around the globe and in every state in the U.S., across industries, religions and political affiliation," the representative said via e-mail. "We do not and would not close an account due to a client's political or religious affiliation, and were making sure to articulate that long-held policy wherever and whenever possible," the representative added. Speaking at the bank's annual meeting on Tuesday, CEO Jamie Dimon struck a similar note while answering a question from an investor. ""We do not discriminate against any body or any individual based on their political beliefs," Dimon said. At the meeting, held virtually, investors approved JPMorgan's compensation plans and director nominees, and did not approve other shareholder proposals. JPMorgan defended its political neutrality after WePay suspended services in 2021 to Defense of Liberty, a Missouri political action committee that planned to host an event for Donald Trump Jr, eldest son of the former U.S. president. JPMorgan said at the time the suspension was a mistake and moved to reinstate service. Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, said the WePay shift was significant. "These policies give people a foothold to demand banks cancel services. So eliminating that is not a small thing," he said. Tedesco's group plans to issue on Tuesday a new edition of its Viewpoint Diversity index on major U.S. companies, criticizing many for having vague or subjective terms of service. (Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Chizu Nomiyama) Nike first announced plans to restructure its business after reporting flat second quarter sales in December 2023. At the time Nike explained its ambition to realise cumulative cost savings over the next three years would be based on simplifying its product assortment, increasing automation and use of technology, streamlining the organisation, and leveraging its scale to drive greater efficiency. It also shared that its ultimate aim was to use the cost savings to invest in future growth, accelerate innovation at speed and scale, and drive greater long-term profitability. Fast forward to February 2024 and Nike confirmed to Just Style following media speculation that it was restructuring its workforce which would impact approximately 2% of its global team as it looked to "right-size" the business. Meanwhile, CNBC alleged Nike CEO John Donahoe admitted in a memo that the company was not performing at [its] best and he held himself and the leadership team accountable. Media reports are currently circling that suggest Nike's footwear brand Converse will be cutting jobs as part of these wider plans, however Converse declined to comment and Nike had not responded to Just Style's request for confirmation prior to publication. GlobalData apparel analyst Louise Deglise-Favre describes the alleged cost-cutting at Converse as a "sound strategy," noting the brand has been "underperforming" for a relatively long time and acting more as a "financial burden" for Nike than a revenue-generating division. She says: "Cost-cutting measures will allow Nike to refocus some of its resources towards profit-generating segments of its business and potentially support its plans to start investing in innovation to regain some of its competitive edge. Like often in cost-cutting plans, the aim is to streamline the organisation, which often results in casualties within managerial roles." GlobalData retail analyst Neil Saunders points out that it is likely many of the cuts will be in Converse's headquarters in Boston, as it runs as a fairly standalone business. He suggests the cuts will probably be across a variety of functions including marketing, supply chain and product development. Can cost-cutting support Nike's ambitions? Saunders argues Converse has been losing ground to products like Adidas' Samba and other sneaker brands due to a lack of innovation and insufficient efforts to stimulate consumer demand. Because of this, he can understand why Nike would be cutting jobs at Converse as part of a wider cost savings package. Story continues He adds that Converse is not the only part of the business impacted, but Nike clearly expects it to play a role in its streamlining process. He views the main benefit of reducing costs as protecting the profit line at a time when sales are soft: "Arguably, the cuts may make Nike and Converse nimbler and more reactive, but thats really a secondary benefit rather than the primary reason for layoffs." However, he adds, cutting is usually a reaction to a problem, and most retailers and brands cannot cut their way to success. Saunders shares that other US retailers such as Walmart and Target have also been trimming jobs to stay competitive but the difference is, unlike Converse, they are doing this from a position of relative strength. Ultimately, he underscores the main issue at Converse is on the sales line and adds: "Cuts do not fix that." Optimising operations, investing in Nike's brand Since the cost-savings initiative was first announced in December, Nike has seen a slight increase in its revenue with the company reporting in March that China remains a key focus for share growth. Its third quarter (Q3) results beat Nike's expectations and rose by 3% to $5.07bn from $4.91bn in the same period last year. Nikes chief financial officer Matt Friend attributed its Q3 growth to the "streamlining" efforts in both its support and operating functions, reducing management layers and shifting more of its resources towards consumer-facing activities. "Overall, our focus is on allocating our resources to drive more return while building an operating model with greater speed and better cost productivity as we grow, Friend said at the time. Nike explained that its biggest focus for Q3 was to drive more product innovation with the intent of "delighting consumers and disrupting the industry" as well as leveraging new technologies to improve efficiency and drive more collaboration. "Explainer: Why Nike is targeting Converse for cost-cutting" was originally created and published by Just Style, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Amid a backdrop of economic contraction and modest gains in the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX indices, Japan's market landscape presents unique opportunities for investors. High insider ownership in growth companies like Plus Alpha Consulting Ltd suggests a strong alignment between managements interests and shareholder values, potentially offering stability and confidence in these investments during uncertain times. Top 10 Growth Companies With High Insider Ownership In Japan Name Insider Ownership Earnings Growth SHIFT (TSE:3697) 35.4% 27.2% Hottolink (TSE:3680) 27% 57.3% Micronics Japan (TSE:6871) 15.3% 39.7% Kasumigaseki CapitalLtd (TSE:3498) 35.4% 44.6% ExaWizards (TSE:4259) 24.8% 80.2% Money Forward (TSE:3994) 21.4% 63.5% Medley (TSE:4480) 34% 24.4% Soiken Holdings (TSE:2385) 19.8% 118.4% Soracom (TSE:147A) 17.2% 59.1% freee K.K (TSE:4478) 24% 82.7% Click here to see the full list of 108 stocks from our Fast Growing Japanese Companies With High Insider Ownership screener. Let's take a closer look at a couple of our picks from the screened companies. Simply Wall St Growth Rating: Overview: Plus Alpha Consulting Co., Ltd. specializes in providing marketing solutions and has a market capitalization of approximately 86.36 billion. Operations: The firm focuses on delivering marketing solutions, reflected in its market capitalization of about 86.36 billion. Insider Ownership: 39.6% Earnings Growth Forecast: 20.9% p.a. Plus Alpha Consulting Co., Ltd., a growth-oriented firm in Japan, showcases strong insider ownership with promising financial indicators. The company's earnings have increased by 31.4% over the past year and are projected to grow at an annual rate of 20.91%, outpacing the Japanese market average. Despite trading at 31.6% below its estimated fair value, Plus Alpha's return on equity is anticipated to be robust at 28.1%. Revenue growth forecasts also exceed market expectations, although they do not reach the high-growth threshold of 20% per year. TSE:4071 Earnings and Revenue Growth as at May 2024 Simply Wall St Growth Rating: Overview: en-japan inc. operates in the human resources sector, offering services both in Japan and internationally, with a market capitalization of approximately 111.64 billion. Operations: The firm operates primarily in the human resources sector, providing services globally. Insider Ownership: 14.7% Earnings Growth Forecast: 15.5% p.a. Story continues en-japan inc., a Japanese growth company with significant insider ownership, is trading at 69.3% below its estimated fair value, highlighting potential undervaluation. The firm's earnings have surged by 55.7% over the past year and are expected to grow by 15.5% annually, outperforming the broader market's growth rate of 8.6%. Revenue forecasts also exceed market expectations at a rate of 7.9% per year. However, its dividend coverage is weak, with earnings and cash flows not adequately supporting the current dividend yield of 2.56%. TSE:4849 Earnings and Revenue Growth as at May 2024 Simply Wall St Growth Rating: Overview: CURVES HOLDINGS Co., Ltd. operates and manages fitness clubs for women under the Curves brand in Japan, with a market capitalization of 70.43 billion. Operations: The company generates its revenue primarily through the operation and management of women's fitness clubs under the Curves brand in Japan. Insider Ownership: 22.1% Earnings Growth Forecast: 10.7% p.a. CURVES HOLDINGS, a Japanese growth company with high insider ownership, is trading 24% below its fair value, suggesting potential undervaluation. Over the past five years, earnings have grown by 23.6% annually. Looking ahead, earnings are expected to increase by 10.7% per year, outpacing the Japanese market's forecast of 8.6%. Recent corporate guidance indicates robust financial performance with raised forecasts for net sales and operating profit for FY2024, reflecting strong operational momentum and strategic execution. TSE:7085 Earnings and Revenue Growth as at May 2024 Summing It All Up Dive into all 108 of the Fast Growing Japanese Companies With High Insider Ownership we have identified here. Are these companies part of your investment strategy? Use Simply Wall St to consolidate your holdings into a portfolio and gain insights with our comprehensive analysis tools. Invest smarter with the free Simply Wall St app providing detailed insights into every stock market around the globe. Want To Explore Some Alternatives? 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 analysis only considers stock directly held by insiders. It does not include indirectly owned stock through other vehicles such as corporate and/or trust entities. All forecast revenue and earnings growth rates quoted are in terms of annualised (per annum) growth rates over 1-3 years. Companies discussed in this article include TSE:4071 TSE:4849 and TSE:7085. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com Usually, when one insider buys stock, it might not be a monumental event. But when multiple insiders are buying like they did in the case of Australian Rare Earths Limited (ASX:AR3), that sends out a positive message to the company's shareholders. Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. View our latest analysis for Australian Rare Earths The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Australian Rare Earths In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Independent Chairman Angus Barker bought AU$225k worth of shares at a price of AU$0.45 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price of AU$0.11. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay for shares. It is generally more encouraging if they paid above the current price, as it suggests they saw value, even at higher levels. Australian Rare Earths insiders may have bought shares in the last year, but they didn't sell any. They paid about AU$0.39 on average. These transactions suggest that insiders have considered the current price attractive. 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. If investing in lesser known companies is your style, you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them). Insiders At Australian Rare Earths Have Bought Stock Recently Over the last three months, we've seen a bit of insider buying at Australian Rare Earths. Insiders bought AU$22k worth of shares in that time. It's great to see that insiders are only buying, not selling. But in this case the amount purchased means the recent transaction may not be very meaningful on its own. Insider Ownership Of Australian Rare Earths Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 27% of Australian Rare Earths shares, worth about AU$4.6m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders. Story continues So What Do The Australian Rare Earths Insider Transactions Indicate? Insider purchases may have been minimal, in the last three months, but there was no selling at all. That said, the purchases were not large. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. Insiders do have a stake in Australian Rare Earths and their transactions don't cause us concern. 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. For instance, we've identified 4 warning signs for Australian Rare Earths (2 are a bit unpleasant) you should be aware of. If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Martin Gruenberg, the chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, testifying before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill on Thursday. Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images The FDIC chairman, Martin Gruenberg, has said he'll resign following a report on poor workplace culture. An investigation found that the FDIC's culture was misogynistic and that wrongdoers weren't punished. President Joe Biden is set to nominate a new FDIC chair, whom the Senate would then vote on. The chairman of a key US bank regulator has said he'll resign after an independent investigation found widespread sexual harassment and other issues at the agency, and politicians from both major parties criticized his leadership. The independent report from earlier this month found the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation had a "patriarchal," "misogynistic," and "insular" work culture. The report also probed the strong temper of the FDIC chairman, Martin Gruenberg. The 71-year-old Democratic chairman has spent nearly a decade in the role under multiple presidential administrations. In an email to staff on Monday cited by The Wall Street Journal, Gruenberg said he'd resign once a successor had been found. Staying in office would prevent the FDIC vice chairman, Travis Hill, a Republican, from becoming the agency's acting chairman. "In light of recent events, I am prepared to step down from my responsibilities once a successor is confirmed," Gruenberg said in the email, according to the Journal. He added that he'd continue to fulfill his responsibilities in the meantime, "including the transformation of the FDIC's workplace culture." The White House said that President Joe Biden would soon nominate a new FDIC chairman and that it expected the Senate to move quickly to confirm the nominee. At a hearing earlier this month, House of Representative members questioned the FDIC's ability to do its job as a bank regulator and stop bank failures if Gruenberg was yelling at employees who brought him bad news. "I accept the findings of the reports, and as chairman, I take full responsibility to anyone who has experienced sexual harassment, discrimination, or other misconduct at the FDIC," Gruenberg said at the hearing. Lawmakers from both major parties asked for him to step down during the hearing. The 234-page summary of the monthslong investigation, led by the external law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, highlighted long-standing and recent issues at the agency. The report said that the FDIC had dismissed myriad harassment complaints and that wrongdoers had been moved around internally or promoted. Investigators said they set up a hotline in mid-January and received more than 500 complaints largely from current employees about sexual harassment, discrimination, and other issues. The FDIC has about 6,000 employees. Story continues The report characterized the FDIC's culture as "a 'good ol' boys' club where favoritism is common, wagons are circled around managers, and senior executives with well-known reputations for pursuing romantic relations with subordinates enjoy long careers without any apparent consequence." Read the original article on Business Insider The downtown Des Moines Hy-Vee after a thunderstorm Across the country, in neighborhoods wealthy and poor, cities have tried to cultivate downtown development with grocery stores with mixed success. Some have thrived, but others have struggled, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with reduced numbers of employees spending their working hours in central business district offices. Downtown Des Moines' Court Avenue Hy-Vee may be a case in point. It drastically cut its hours in February, then partially restored them this month under pressure from the city, which had mandated longer hours in a development agreement that provided millions in incentives to get the store built. "I think its a sign of the times," said Phil Lempert, a grocery industry analyst who visited the Des Moines store shortly after it opened in 2017. "As we go across the entire country ... were seeing stores that were built pre-pandemic that have really suffered as people have changed the way they work." Is the downtown Des Moines Hy-Vee making money? Hy-Vee spokesperson Tina Potthoff has declined to discuss the downtown store's financial performance, saying the cut in hours was prompted by a decline in customer traffic and a rise in crime and disruptions at the store the latter claim disputed by Des Moines officials and police. New hours at the 420 Court Ave. Hy-Vee store in downtown Des Moines on May 13, 2024. It's not the first turmoil over the store. In 2021, Hy-Vee announced it would rebrand it as a stand-alone HealthMarket, a name it would share with sections in larger Hy-Vee stores that focus on healthy foods and supplements. It later put that idea, greeted with trepidation by downtown residents, on hold. Its only stand-alone HealthMarket, in West Des Moines, has been replaced with Wall to Wall Wine and Spirits. And right before the cut in hours earlier this year, the company said it was planning to partition parts of the store, with separations between the liquor section, coffee and dining areas and the rest of the store. Des Moines residents and analysts have speculated that the moves indicate the store may not be profitable, or as profitable as Hy-Vee would like. It serves a fast-growing downtown population estimated at 11,000 or more people. But the loss of downtown workers in the wake of the COVID-19 work-from-home movement is a countercurrent to that trend. Nationwide Mutual Insurance, among other employers, has reduced its downtown footprint. And Wells Fargo, once the Des Moines metro's largest employer, has moved many of its employees from three downtown Des Moines buildings to its West Des Moines campus as it faces headwinds in its locally based home mortgage business. Story continues Lacking sufficient office tenants, the owners of two major downtown office buildings, Two Ruan Center and the Financial Center, in recent months have announced their intention to convert some or all of their floors to residential use. And the effect of reduced daytime retail customer traffic is apparent in the closures this year of Kum & Go's downtown walk-up store and the Walgreens on Walnut Street, a departure that marked the end of that chain's nearly centurylong presence downtown. Cedar Rapids councilman says Hy-Vee's planned closure 'feels like abandonment' While Hy-Vee sought to cut operating hours at its downtown Hy-Vee store, it's going even further with three other in-town Iowa stores, announcing plans to close locations in Cedar Rapids, Davenport and Waterloo. As with the downtown Des Moines store, Hy-Vee in 2002 got a city incentive package to build a new store in a Cedar Rapids neighborhood on the edge of downtown. The city kicked in $975,000, or 27% of the total cost, for the chain to replace an older store there and preserve residents' access to fresh food. The store, which will cease operating June 23, serves two neighborhoods that the U.S. Department of Agriculture designates as low-income, according to the Cedar Rapids Gazette. "Unfortunately, these locations have not met our financial expectations over the past several years," Potthoff said in a statement about the planned closures. Cedar Rapids City Councilman Dale Todd, left, with his son, center, and former Cedar Rapids Mayor Lee Clancy at the grand opening of a Hy-Vee store at 1556 First Ave. N.E. in 2002. The store is now closing. Cedar Rapids City Council member Dale Todd, who helped negotiate the incentive package for the Cedar Rapids store, told the Corridor Business Journal that Hy-Vee's decision blindsided city officials and would hurt some of the city's most vulnerable residents. We understand the challenges and complexities of running a business in an inner-city neighborhood and we are sensitive to their need to make money, but instead of working with us to address the inherent challenges, this feels like abandonment and a run for the suburbs, Todd told the publication. He provided a 2001 development agreement to the Register that said "a full-service grocery store is considered an essential element required to sustain a viable residential neighborhood." Cedar Rapids City Councilman Dale Todd, fourth from right, at the grand opening of a Hy-Vee store at 1556 First Ave. N.E. in 2002. Full-size grocery stores catalysts for downtown growth, proponents say The demographics of downtown Des Moines, with its pricey condos and apartments, are different from those in the Cedar Rapids neighborhoods. But the desire for a grocery store there had a similar motivation: to make the neighborhood more sustainable. Securing the downtown Hy-Vee, which opened in 2017, was seen as a major coup for Des Moines, which spent decades and hundreds of millions turning the area once jokingly called "Dead Moines" into a vibrant city center with a round-the-clock population. "Downtown is not just a business district. It's not just a cultural center. It's also a neighborhood. That means you need the full range of amenities that people expect in a neighborhood," council member Josh Mandelbaum, whose Ward 3 includes downtown, said of the store's importance after the unannounced hours cut in February. In the years before Hy-Vee's opening, other downtown grocers came and went. Riverbend Trading Co., a 3,000-square-foot store at 208 Court Ave., operated only about six months, from July 2007 to January 2008. A pair of predecessors also failed to thrive. Fourth Street Grocery opened in 1996. The 1,600-square-foot store at 210 Fourth St., which had a meat department and a deli and sold fresh fruits and vegetables, closed in the early 2000s. Village Market at 325 E. Fifth St. tried its hand in May 2007 but, like Riverbend, closed just six months later. Des Moines sought to solve the problem with public investment: a $3.3 million rebate on the city-owned land for the supermarket chain and building owner Knapp Properties and a share of the taxes the Hy-Vee store and its upstairs apartments generate. Des Moines isn't alone in using public dollars to try to obtain a downtown market. Similar to Hy-Vee, the Meijer grocery chain, known for its Walmart-sized superstores, opened the smaller-scale Bridge Street Market in 2018 in downtown Grand Rapids, its headquarters city. According to mlive.com, it received a large municipal financial commitment of $13.2 million in tax increment financing and a $6.3 million low-interest loan to build the 37,000-square-foot store, almost the same size as Hy-Vees 36,000-square-foot downtown location. Bridge Street Market in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A memo from the Michigan Strategic Fund Board said Bridge Street Market was critical to attracting more residents to downtown Grand Rapids. "It is expected that a full-service grocery store in the downtown will be a significant catalyst," the memo said. "Access to fresh food and staple grocery items is a key criteria to a large segment of the population when making choices about residential options." Bridge Street Market in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Kroger likewise got a large pot of financial incentives when it opened a 45,000-square-foot downtown store in its hometown of Cincinnati in 2019. Kevin Ketels, a Wayne State University of logistics professor, told the Cincinnati Enquirer a supermarket was critical for continued urban growth. There are certain assets every community needs to keep attracting new families and residents: a supermarket is one of them, Ketels said. Its one of those fundamental elements to keep growing and existing. Some downtown grocery stores thrive, but many others struggle Some downtown stores have thrived, including independent grocers like Cosentino's Market in the Power & Light District in Kansas City, Missouri. It opened its 33,000-square-foot location in 2009. At the time, Michael Hurd, then a spokesperson for the Kansas City Downtown Council, told the Kansas City Star that the store marked an important milestone for Kansas City. "The No. 1 amenity downtown residents and downtown employees ask for is a grocery," Hurd told the Star in 2009. "It's been a missing piece for a long time and a big step for the ongoing revitalization of downtown." Likewise, Wohlner's Neighborhood Grocery & Deli opened in 2010 in Midtown Crossing, a 16-acre mixed-use development in Omaha, Nebraska. It's in a booming part of central Omaha about a mile from the growing University of Nebraska Medical Center campus. "From the beginning we felt that having a grocery store ... was critical to the success of the development," Jim Nolan, a spokesperson for Mutual of Omaha, which bankrolled the project, told the Omaha World-Herald in 2009. But other projects have run into trouble. In April 2023 Whole Foods closed a 65,000-square-foot store in downtown San Francisco after just a year in business because of safety concerns, according to the San Francisco Chronicle and ABC News. In September 2022 Rorys Market + Kitchen, a small Northeastern chain, opened in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. About a year later the store closed for personal reasons, according to The Providence Journal. And in Buffalo, New York, the citys Common Council gave downtown independent grocer Braymiller Market a $563,000 forgivable loan last July because the store needed operating capital to stay in business. Nonprofit news outlet the Investigative Post reported that the Braymiller Market cost $6.9 million to build but got $8.3 million in tax breaks before it opened in 2021. It said that together, the store and a neighboring apartment project got $58.9 million in subsidies and tax credits. Yet residents at the neighboring complex have complained that they cannot shop at the store because of its high prices, according to The Buffalo News. Rory's Market in Providence, Rhode Island. Full Court Press co-owner Andy Massoth ran the restaurant company's River Bend Trading Co. venture in Des Moines in the building that now houses the group's Royal Mile Pub. He said it went under after shoppers balked at its high prices. Residents told him that if they had a car they drove to bigger nearby stores where groceries cost less. "We thought that downtown residents would be so grateful that we did this that they would go out of their way to support us," Massoth said. "They want the store downtown if they live downtown, but theyre not going to do a lot of their shopping there," he said. How are urban stores different from suburban stores? The problem, Lempert said, is that urban and suburban stores operate on different models. At urban stores people shop more often, but purchase fewer things, Lempert said. At suburban stores the reverse is true: Customers buy more, but shop less often. "In an urban store people are looking for convenience," Lempert said. "Theyre looking to get in and out." Downtown Neighborhood Association President Brandon Brown shops weekly at the Court Avenue Hy-Vee, but hears from residents who, as Massoth complained, say they shop there only for the items they need the most because they believe prices at the store are higher than in other supermarkets. "The downtown Hy-Vee is often seen as a location to go pick up essentials that are not necessarily in your house at that time," Brown said. Massoth, downtown residents and others said they believe Hy-Vee charges 10% to 20% more for items downtown than at other stores. Potthoff, the Hy-Vee spokesperson, denied that, though exact figures were not available because store managers have wide latitude to set prices. An informal Des Moines Register analysis of 27 randomly selected items at the Court Avenue store and seven other metro stores showed that prices for some items were higher downtown, but lower for others. Downtown resident David Jennings does most of his grocery shopping during monthly trips to Costco, but said he stops by the Court Avenue Hy-Vee two to three times a week, usually to pick up dinner. It is "kind of expensive," Jennings said. Another difference is that urban stores, whether in business districts like Des Moines' or neighborhoods like in Cedar Rapids, pull in more walk-in traffic than suburban stores. But even for many downtown residents, life in Des Moines still revolves around cars, which hurts downtown retailers, said Downtown Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jimmy Olsen. "Were becoming in some ways like bigger cities, but yet were still trying to hold on to the small town stuff," Olsen said. And there are differences in the customer base. Downtown is slowly attracting more families with children, the customer base for suburban stores. But most of the downtown population remains single, childless couples and empty nesters, who don't consume as much and are less likely to cook for themselves. "Depending on the population, if its a single, Gen-Z, millennial population, theyre looking for more exciting things, more exciting foods, more exotic foods," Lempert said. "Things like that attract that generation because its a little different. Its exciting. Its something that they cant get elsewhere. So youve got to keep on doing those kinds of things to get people excited." Des Moines resident is thankful downtown store will, for now, stay intact At a May 6 Des Moines City Council meeting the city allowed Hy-Vee to reduce the hours at the store below what is required by the development agreement for the next two years. It also amended the development agreement to limit the degree to which Hy-Vee could partition sections of the store. Hy-Vee hasn't publicly addressed what will happen after the two years is up. Downtown resident Carol Maher, who attended the meeting when the council signed off on the changes, said she was just pleased that Hy-Vee is keeping the downtown store open. "Thank you to the city for making this a priority and working hard to keep them downtown for myself and my neighbors," Maher said. "And I hope that the relationship can continue and that we continue to have a good partner for the city." Staff writer Addison Lathers contributed to this article. Philip Joens covers retail and real estate for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184, pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines wanted a downtown grocery store. Why is Hy-Vee struggling? Insiders who bought AU$252.1k worth of Balkan Mining and Minerals Limited's (ASX:BMM) stock at an average buy price of AU$0.16 over the last year may be disappointed by the recent 20% decrease in the stock. This is not good as insiders invest based on expectations that their money will appreciate over time. However, as a result of recent losses, their original investment is now worth only AU$87.8k. While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. See our latest analysis for Balkan Mining and Minerals The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Balkan Mining and Minerals The Non-Executive Chairman Karl Simich made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for AU$170k worth of shares at a price of AU$0.17 each. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being AU$0.057). While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay for shares. It is generally more encouraging if they paid above the current price, as it suggests they saw value, even at higher levels. Balkan Mining and Minerals insiders may have bought shares in the last year, but they didn't sell any. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date! There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of undervalued small cap companies that insiders are buying. Balkan Mining and Minerals Insiders Bought Stock Recently We saw some Balkan Mining and Minerals insider buying shares in the last three months. MD & Director Ross Cotton bought AU$22k worth of shares in that time. It's great to see that insiders are only buying, not selling. But in this case the amount purchased means the recent transaction may not be very meaningful on its own. Insider Ownership For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Balkan Mining and Minerals insiders own about AU$1.1m worth of shares. That equates to 26% of the company. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders. Story continues So What Does This Data Suggest About Balkan Mining and Minerals Insiders? Insider purchases may have been minimal, in the last three months, but there was no selling at all. The net investment is not enough to encourage us much. However, our analysis of transactions over the last year is heartening. Insiders own shares in Balkan Mining and Minerals and we see no evidence to suggest they are worried about the future. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. Be aware that Balkan Mining and Minerals is showing 5 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 4 of those are significant... But note: Balkan Mining and Minerals may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE 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. On May 16, 2024, Todd Nightingale, the Chief Executive Officer of Fastly Inc (NYSE:FSLY), executed a significant transaction by selling 65,447 shares of the company. The sale was documented in an SEC Filing. This transaction is part of a broader pattern where the insider has sold a total of 472,618 shares over the past year, without any recorded purchases. Fastly Inc (NYSE:FSLY) is a technology company that specializes in edge cloud platform services. These services include content delivery, internet security, and distributed computing solutions. The company aims to enhance digital experiences and support real-time data processing across various industries. On the date of the transaction, shares of Fastly Inc were priced at $8.84, resulting in a market cap of approximately $1.20 billion. This valuation reflects the broader market's assessment of the company's worth. The sale by the insider occurs in a context where Fastly Inc has experienced a total of 83 insider sells over the past year, with no insider buys recorded during the same period. This trend might be significant for investors tracking insider behaviors as an indicator of company performance and outlook. Regarding valuation, Fastly Inc's current stock price compared to the GF Value suggests a price-to-GF-Value ratio of 0.48, indicating that the stock might be undervalued. The GF Value, set at $18.24, is derived from historical trading multiples, an adjustment factor based on past performance, and future business performance estimates. The following images provide additional insights into the insider transaction trends and the GF Value assessment: Insider Sale: CEO Todd Nightingale Sells 65,447 Shares of Fastly Inc (FSLY) Insider Sale: CEO Todd Nightingale Sells 65,447 Shares of Fastly Inc (FSLY) Investors and analysts often monitor insider transactions as they can provide valuable insights into the insider's view of the company's future prospects. The recent sale by Todd Nightingale might prompt stakeholders to further analyze the reasons behind this move and its implications for the company's future. This article, generated by GuruFocus, is designed to provide general insights and is not tailored financial advice. Our commentary is rooted in historical data and analyst projections, utilizing an impartial methodology, and is not intended to serve as specific investment guidance. It does not formulate a recommendation to purchase or divest any stock and does not consider individual investment objectives or financial circumstances. Our objective is to deliver long-term, fundamental data-driven analysis. Be aware that our analysis might not incorporate the most recent, price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative information. GuruFocus holds no position in the stocks mentioned herein. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Matt Zmigrosky, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal and Administrative Officer of Diamondback Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FANG), sold 6,000 shares of the company on May 17, 2024. The transaction was filed on the same day through an SEC Filing. Over the past year, the insider has sold a total of 19,518 shares and has not purchased any shares. Diamondback Energy Inc is an independent oil and natural gas company headquartered in Midland, Texas. The company focuses on the acquisition, development, exploration, and exploitation of unconventional, onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin in West Texas. On the day of the sale, shares of Diamondback Energy Inc were priced at $198.15, valuing the company with a market cap of approximately $35.28 billion. This pricing places the company's price-earnings ratio at 11.15, which is below both the industry median of 11.645 and the companys historical median. According to the GF Value, the intrinsic value of Diamondback Energy Inc's stock is estimated at $162.67. With the current price of $198.15, the stock is considered Modestly Overvalued with a price-to-GF-Value ratio of 1.22. The GF Value is calculated based on historical trading multiples such as price-earnings ratio, price-sales ratio, price-book ratio, and price-to-free cash flow, adjusted for the companys past performance and estimated future business outcomes. Insider Sale: EVP Matt Zmigrosky Sells 6,000 Shares of Diamondback Energy Inc (FANG) Insider Sale: EVP Matt Zmigrosky Sells 6,000 Shares of Diamondback Energy Inc (FANG) Over the past year, there have been no insider buys and 22 insider sells at Diamondback Energy Inc, indicating a trend where insiders are choosing to sell shares rather than purchase new ones. This recent transaction by the insider further aligns with the observed trend of insider selling within the company, suggesting a consistent pattern in insider trading activities. This article, generated by GuruFocus, is designed to provide general insights and is not tailored financial advice. Our commentary is rooted in historical data and analyst projections, utilizing an impartial methodology, and is not intended to serve as specific investment guidance. It does not formulate a recommendation to purchase or divest any stock and does not consider individual investment objectives or financial circumstances. Our objective is to deliver long-term, fundamental data-driven analysis. Be aware that our analysis might not incorporate the most recent, price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative information. GuruFocus holds no position in the stocks mentioned herein. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Key Insights Using the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity, Mynews Holdings Berhad fair value estimate is RM0.74 Mynews Holdings Berhad is estimated to be 24% undervalued based on current share price of RM0.56 Our fair value estimate is 17% higher than Mynews Holdings Berhad's analyst price target of RM0.63 How far off is Mynews Holdings Berhad (KLSE:MYNEWS) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by projecting its future cash flows and then discounting them to today's value. One way to achieve this is by employing 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. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model. See our latest analysis for Mynews Holdings Berhad Is Mynews Holdings Berhad Fairly Valued? 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 discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 Levered FCF (MYR, Millions) RM44.6m RM64.4m RM75.9m RM49.0m RM59.0m RM56.8m RM55.9m RM55.8m RM56.4m RM57.4m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x4 Analyst x4 Analyst x4 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ -3.78% Est @ -1.58% Est @ -0.04% Est @ 1.03% Est @ 1.79% Present Value (MYR, Millions) Discounted @ 12% RM39.9 RM51.3 RM54.1 RM31.2 RM33.5 RM28.8 RM25.3 RM22.6 RM20.4 RM18.5 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = RM326m The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after the first stage. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (3.6%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 12%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033 (1 + g) (r g) = RM57m (1 + 3.6%) (12% 3.6%) = RM706m Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= RM706m ( 1 + 12%)10= RM228m 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 RM553m. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of RM0.6, the company appears a touch undervalued at a 24% 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. 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 Mynews Holdings 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 12%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.327. 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 Mynews Holdings Berhad Strength Debt is well covered by cash flow. Weakness Interest payments on debt are not well covered. Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Specialty Retail market. Shareholders have been diluted in the past year. Opportunity Expected to breakeven next year. Has sufficient cash runway for more than 3 years based on current free cash flows. Good value based on P/S ratio and estimated fair value. Threat No apparent threats visible for MYNEWS. Looking Ahead: Although the valuation of a company is important, it ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. 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. Can we work out why the company is trading at a discount to intrinsic value? For Mynews Holdings Berhad, we've put together three important aspects you should consider: Risks: As an example, we've found 2 warning signs for Mynews Holdings Berhad that you need to consider before investing here. Future Earnings: How does MYNEWS's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Malaysian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. By buying an index fund, investors can approximate the average market return. But if you buy good businesses at attractive prices, your portfolio returns could exceed the average market return. Just take a look at Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad (KLSE:AMWAY), which is up 41%, over three years, soundly beating the market return of 8.4% (not including dividends). So let's investigate and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress. See our latest analysis for Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS). During three years of share price growth, Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad achieved compound earnings per share growth of 35% per year. This EPS growth is higher than the 12% average annual increase in the share price. So it seems investors have become more cautious about the company, over time. We'd venture the lowish P/E ratio of 10.41 also reflects the negative sentiment around the stock. The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail). It is of course excellent to see how Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on how its financial position has changed over time. What About Dividends? When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad the TSR over the last 3 years was 73%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return. A Different Perspective It's nice to see that Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 48% over the last year. Of course, that includes the dividend. That's better than the annualised return of 11% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. In the best case scenario, this may hint at some real business momentum, implying that now could be a great time to delve deeper. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad (at least 1 which doesn't sit too well with us) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process. Story continues But note: Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad 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 Malaysian 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. Key Insights The projected fair value for Canadian Utilities is CA$42.15 based on Dividend Discount Model Current share price of CA$31.84 suggests Canadian Utilities is potentially 24% undervalued Our fair value estimate is 22% higher than Canadian Utilities' analyst price target of CA$34.58 How far off is Canadian Utilities Limited (TSE:CU) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. We will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model on this occasion. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple! We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model. See our latest analysis for Canadian Utilities What's The Estimated Valuation? As Canadian Utilities operates in the integrated utilities 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. The dividend is expected to grow at an annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 2.1%. We then discount this figure to today's value at a cost of equity of 5.8%. Relative to the current share price of CA$31.8, the company appears a touch undervalued at a 24% 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. Value Per Share = Expected Dividend Per Share / (Discount Rate - Perpetual Growth Rate) = CA$1.8 / (5.8% 2.1%) = CA$42.2 dcf The Assumptions Now 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 Canadian Utilities 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 5.8%, 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. Story continues SWOT Analysis for Canadian Utilities Strength No major strengths identified for CU. Weakness Earnings declined over the past year. Interest payments on debt are not well covered. Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Integrated Utilities market. Opportunity Annual earnings are forecast to grow for the next 2 years. Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value. Threat Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow. Dividends are not covered by cash flow. Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the Canadian market. Next Steps: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. Why is the intrinsic value higher than the current share price? For Canadian Utilities, we've put together three fundamental factors you should further examine: Risks: Case in point, we've spotted 2 warning signs for Canadian Utilities you should be aware of, and 1 of them makes us a bit uncomfortable. Future Earnings: How does CU'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 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. From what we can see, insiders were net buyers in Iondrive Limited's (ASX:ION ) during the past 12 months. That is, insiders acquired the stock in greater numbers than they sold it. While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. View our latest analysis for Iondrive Iondrive Insider Transactions Over The Last Year The insider Chunyan Niu made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for AU$466k worth of shares at a price of AU$0.02 each. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price of AU$0.011. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. We always take careful note of the price insiders pay when purchasing shares. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock when an insider has bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. The only individual insider to buy over the last year was Chunyan Niu. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below! There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of undervalued small cap companies that insiders are buying. Insider Ownership Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by 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 17% of Iondrive shares, worth about AU$921k. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders. So What Does This Data Suggest About Iondrive Insiders? It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Iondrive shares in the last quarter. However, our analysis of transactions over the last year is heartening. Overall we don't see anything to make us think Iondrive insiders are doubting the company, and they do own shares. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. For example - Iondrive has 6 warning signs we think you should be aware of. 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. In a sharp reversal, Israel said Tuesday it would return camera and broadcast equipment it had seized from the Associated Press in the southern Israeli city of Sderot on Tuesday after the action prompted swift backlash from US officials and press groups. In a statement late Tuesday, Israels Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said that he has ordered that the equipment be returned to the AP news agency, because the Israeli Ministry of Defense requested to re-examine the matter of broadcasts from sensitive locations and their effect on the risk of our forces. Earlier in the day, the Associated Press said Israeli authorities had shut down its live camera feed showing Gaza and seized its equipment in what it decried as an abusive use by the Israeli government of the countrys new foreign broadcasters law. The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government, the non-profit news collective said in a statement. We urge the Israeli authorities to return our equipment and enable us to reinstate our live feed immediately so we can continue to provide this important visual journalism to thousands of media outlets around the world. Karhi said that the AP feed was cut and equipment seized because the AP was providing Al Jazeera with content after the Qatari-based network was banned in the country. The Israeli military regularly classifies areas around Gaza as closed military zones, restricting movement there. The APs live feed provided a view of actions in Gaza, where no independent journalists are able to operate because of Israeli and Egyptian restrictions on entry to the strip. The Israeli governments decision to return broadcasting equipment to the AP came after the White House expressed concerns to the Netanyahu-led government, a White House official told CNN. As soon as we learned about the reports, the White House and the State Department immediately engaged with the Government of Israel at high levels to express our serious concern and ask them to reverse this action, which they have publicly committed to do, National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson told CNN. The free press is an essential pillar of democracy and members of the media, including AP, do vital work that must be respected. The Associated Press applauded the Israeli Ministry of Communications decision to return its equipment but said it remained concerned about the law at the center of the action. While we are pleased with this development, we remain concerned about the Israeli governments use of the foreign broadcaster law and the ability of independent journalists to operate freely in Israel. Story continues Earlier, the Foreign Press Association voiced its alarm about the shutdown and confiscation. Israels move today is a slippery slope. Israel could block other international news agencies from providing live footage of Gaza. It also could allow Israel to block media coverage of virtually any news event on vague security grounds, the FPA said in a statement. The move comes weeks after Israel shut down Al Jazeeras operations in the country, raiding the news outlets offices and seizing its communication equipment, prompting swift condemnation from the United Nations and rights groups over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus moves to restrict press freedoms. The law approved by Israels parliament last month gives the prime minister and the communications minister the authority to temporarily order the closure of foreign networks operating in Israel that are deemed a threat to national security. News organizations could be banned for a 45-day period, although the government can renew the ban for additional 45-day periods. The law itself is also technically temporary and will expire on July 31 or earlier if an emergency declaration due to the war is canceled. Several legal challenges to the law are pending in Israeli courts. The Israeli Supreme Court recently declined to issue an emergency injunction against the law filed by The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, although a hearing is expected to be held on the challenge by June 6. The group said in its petition filed in early April that the law violates freedom of expression, the right to information and freedom of the press, and tramples on the principles of the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, since it includes an override clause that prevents the court from overturning an illegal decision. Another legal challenge has been filed in the Tel Aviv District Court. In an earlier statement, Karhi had accused the AP of violating its new law by providing a feed to its thousands of news clients, including Al Jazeera. The confiscated equipment included a camera, tripod, two microphones and transmission equipment, the statement said. The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders condemned Israels decision to seize the equipment. After having banned Al Jazeera, Israel is lashing out at the AP, it said in a statement. RSF denounces the seizure of the news outlets camera and the interruption of the continuous feed that films Gaza under the pretext that these images are supplying, among others, Al Jazeera. The Union of Israeli Journalists also condemned the act, calling it a serious threat to press freedom and democracy. Israel opposition leader Yair Lapid also denounced the seizure as an act of madness. This is not Al Jazeera, this is an American media outlet that has won 53 Pulitzer Prizes, he said in a statement. This government behaves as if it has decided to make sure at any cost that Israel will be outcast all over the world. They went mad. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Ms Yellen said a failure to respond in 'a united way' would threaten factories around the world - AP/Jose Luis Magana The EU must join the US in cracking down on Chinese green exports or risk factory closures, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned. Ms Yellen told an audience in Frankfurt that Brussels needed to follow the US and restrict a flood of cheap Chinese green tech. A failure to respond to the surge of low-cost electric vehicles and solar panels in a united way would threaten factories around the world, the Treasury secretary said. Chinas overproduction outpacing demand would also harm the industrial development of emerging market countries, she warned. Addressing an audience that included Germanys finance minister, Ms Yellen said: Chinas industrial policy may seem remote as we sit here in this room, but if we do not respond strategically, and in the united way, the viability of businesses in both our countries and around the world could be at risk. She added: Support to low and middle-income countries and to workers around the world is essential for the strength of the global economy. The message from Washington comes after the US last week ramped up tariffs on Chinese clean energy exports in a bid to shield industry in crucial blue-collar states ahead of the election. President Biden has accused Beijing of unfairly subsidising Chinese electric car makers - Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg President Biden has accused Beijing of unfairly subsidising Chinese electric vehicle makers and other green industries, undercutting American competitors on price. Chinese electric vehicles will face tariffs as high as 100pc as a result of the recent tightening in policy. Solar products, semiconductors, battery parts and steel are also among the goods facing steep new import taxes. It comes after Ms Yellen during a trip to China in April warned Beijing that the US would not stand by idly while it flooded the global market with cheap exports. European leaders have signalled they prefer a less aggressive approach that would avoid restricting global trade. Instead of tariffs, Brussels has opted for several probes into the role of Chinese state subsidies in green industries. The investigations have sparked anger in Beijing but the bloc has insisted they are aligned with World Trade Organisation rules. Ms Yellen rejected accusations that the US was seeking to sever ties with China and suggested it was moving towards friend-shoring by shifting supply chains into countries it is allied with. She said: We do not seek to decouple. We seek to diversify. The Treasury Secretary also warned that China dominates the supply of critical mineral supply chains for materials like copper, cobalt and nickel. Ms Yellen was speaking ahead of the G7 meetings taking place in Italy at the end of this week. Story continues She said she would be pushing G7 finance leaders to agree to plan for using the income derived from frozen Russian sovereign assets to provide a larger loan to Ukraine. 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. Kenya is currently in negotiations with Saudi Aramco to secure a floating LPG facility, reported Bloomberg. This move by President William Ruto's administration aims to increase the supply and lower fuel costs in Kenya. According to state-owned Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) CEO Joe Sang, the floating LPG ship, due to be situated off Mombasa's port, is expected to process 30,000 tonnes of fuel and will temporarily serve as a storage and bottling plant. The interim LPG facility is set to strengthen the gas supply chain as Kenya commences the construction of a permanent LPG plant, which is anticipated to take three years to complete. Within the next two months, Kenya will issue tenders for the construction of this permanent facility, Sang revealed during an interview in Kigali, Rwanda. This initiative is part of President Ruto's commitment to reduce the cost of cooking gas, which includes a 2023 pledge to cut the price of a 6kg cylinder by approximately 90%. As part of the agreement with Aramco, Kenya will construct a 4km pipeline connecting the LPG facility to a terminal for docking ships. Additionally, KPC has entered into a transport and storage agreement with Uganda National Oil Company. Starting from June, KPC will handle the transportation of Uganda's oil, procured directly through Vitol Group, as stated by Sang. The two nations are also considering the possibility of extending a fuel pipeline from Eldoret in Kenya to Kampala in Uganda. In a separate development, Aramco has signed a contract with Pasqal, a neutral atom quantum computing company, to set up the first quantum computer in Saudi Arabia. This agreement involves the installation, maintenance and operation of a 200-qubit quantum computer, set to be deployed in the second half of 2025. Additionally, in 2023, Aramco's Wa'ed Ventures participated in Pasqal's Series B funding round. "Kenya negotiating with Saudi Aramco for floating LPG facility " was originally created and published by Offshore Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. icon Semafor Signals Supported by Microsoft logo Insights from The Wilson Centers Brazil Institute, El Tiempo, and Nikkei Asia Arrow Down Title icon The News Mexico, Chile, and Brazil have raised tariffs even doubling in some cases on Chinese steel to protect domestic firms. The new duties come after domestic firms announced massive layoffs due to lack of demand. Chinas government and private companies have poured cash into latin America, with projects growing by 33% between 2018 and 2023 and the flow is unlikely to stop despite the protectionist measures. China sends billions of dollars worth of steel to the region, but for China, its so small a market that the new tariffs minimize the risk of irking Beijing. icon SIGNALS Semafor Signals: Global insights on today's biggest stories. Colombia mulls environmental impact of steel tariffs Source icon Source: El Tiempo Colombia is debating whether to tax Chinese steel, too. Acerias Pazdelrio, one of the countrys largest steel producers, told El Tiempo that imports of steel to Colombia have increased by 45%. The company estimated it would have to lay off about 20,000 employees if Chinese steel stays cheap. Domestically produced steel could also be better for the environment because Colombia has worked hard to make steel mills more efficient: Colombian mills, on average, produce 0.66 tons of greenhouse gas per ton of steel, compared to 2.1 tons by Chinese firms, according to the Colombian Committee of Steel Producers. Brazil needs bottom-up intervention to stay competitive Source icon Source: The Wilson Center Despite having some of the best deposits of iron ore and advancing its manufacturing capabilities, Brazilian steel has little chance of competing with Chinese competitors without tariffs, Bruna Santos, director of the Wilson Centers Brazil Institute, told Semafor. Protectionist economic policy is rising across the globe, not just wealth countries, she said. But tariffs are just one measure: Brazilian steel firms need to boost investment in innovation and technology that could help reduce costs. Companies should also work on product diversification to create market niches that are less vulnerable to the current price competition, Santos said. Chinese EV exports to Latin America surge Source icon Sources: Nikkei Asia, Investor Place As both the US and Latin America expand tariffs on Chinese steel and other goods, Chinese EV makers like BYD are rushing exports into the region before the duties take effect, Nikkei Asia reported. BYD exports increased 150% in the first quarter, with 16% of shipments bound for Brazil, according to company data. They will arrive before Brazils new 18% tariffs on Chinese EVs goes into effect, analysts said. Meanwhile, Chinese EV makers are rushing parts to Mexico: BYDs proposed factory there could help the company enter the US market without duties. But future steel tariffs could also raise costs for BYD in Mexico, and the Biden administration is mulling additional tariffs for Chinese EVS made there. Semafor Logo JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) After failing in several U.S. states this year, global chemical manufacturer Bayer said Tuesday that it plans to amplify efforts to create a legal shield against a proliferation of lawsuits alleging it failed to warn that its popular weedkiller could cause cancer. Bayer, which disputes the cancer claims, has been hit with about 170,000 lawsuits involving its Roundup weedkiller and has set aside $16 billion to settle cases. But the company contends the legal fight is not sustainable and is looking to state lawmakers for relief. Bayer lobbied for legislation that could have blocked a central legal argument this year in Missouri, Iowa and Idaho home, respectively, to its North America crop science division, a Roundup manufacturing facility and the mines from which its key ingredient is derived. Though bills passed at least one chamber in Iowa and Missouri, they ultimately failed in all three states. But Bayer plans a renewed push during next year's legislative sessions and may expand efforts elsewhere. This is bigger than just those states, and its bigger than just Bayer," said Jess Christiansen, head of Bayer's crop science and sustainability communications. This is really about the crop protection tools that farmers need to secure production. Many U.S. farmers rely on Roundup, which was introduced 50 years ago as a more efficient way to control weeds and reduce tilling and soil erosion. For crops including corn, soybeans and cotton, its designed to work with genetically modified seeds that resist Roundups deadly effect. The lawsuits allege Roundup's key ingredient, glyphosate, causes a cancer called non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Though some studies associate glyphosate with cancer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said it is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans when used as directed. The legislation backed by Bayer would protect pesticide companies from claims they failed to warn their products could cause cancer if their labels otherwise comply with EPA regulations. Some lawmakers have raised concerns that if the lawsuits persist, Bayer could pull Roundup from the U.S. market, forcing famers to turn to alternatives from China. Christiansen said Bayer has made no decisions about Roundup's future but "will eventually have to do something different if we cant get some consistency and some path forward around the litigation industry. Bayer's most recent quarterly report shows that it shed more than 1,500 employees, reducing its worldwide employment to about 98,000. Bayer submitted a notice to Iowa that 28 people would be laid off starting Wednesday at its facility in Muscatine. Story continues The Iowa layoffs are not a direct result of the failure of the protective legislation, Christiansen said, but are part of a global restructuring amid multiple headwinds, which include litigation. Bayer has bankrolled a new coalition of agriculture groups that has run TV, radio, newspaper and billboard ads backing protective legislation for pesticide producers. The campaign has especially targeted Missouri, where most of the roughly 57,000 still active legal claims are pending. Missouri was the headquarters of Roundup's original manufacturer, Monsanto, which Bayer acquired in 2018. Legal experts say protective legislation is unlikely to affect existing lawsuits. But it could limit future claims. The annual deadline to pass legislation in Missouri expired last Friday. Though a Bayer-backed bill cleared the Republican-led House and a Senate committee, it never got debated by the full GOP-led Senate, which was mired in unrelated tensions. If the legislation is revived next year, it could face resistance from senators concerned about limiting peoples constitutional right to a jury trial to resolve disputes. I support farmers, but I also think they need due process, said Republican state Sen. Jill Carter, who voted against the legislation this year in the Senate agriculture committee. Martinns / iStock/Getty Images In some cases, knowing the states law and understanding your partners financial habits can be equally important for your financial health. Depending on where you live, married couples are liable for their spouses debt. Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin are community property states, meaning youre on the hook for their financial woes if acquired during the marriage. Check Out: Im a Bank Teller: 9 Reasons You Should Never Ask for $2 Bills From the Bank Read Next: 4 Genius Things All Wealthy People Do With Their Money Community Property States If you reside in one of the nine community property states, its important and empowering to understand the basics of separate and community property. This knowledge can help you navigate potential financial challenges and protect your assets. Community property is defined as essentially everything that spouses own together, per Trust & Will. In essence, its anything thats acquired during a marriage. A community property state determines all property, earnings (and debts!) that accumulated during a marriage are equal amongst two people. That includes student loans, medical bills, and gambling debt that was acquired during the marriage, according to the legal website Nolo.com. It Matters When the Debt Incurred In community property states, the couple is responsible for the debt, even if only one spouse signed the paperwork. Because the key is during the marriage, it matters when the debt was incurred, per Nolo.com. For instance, if your spouse incurred a credit card debt while single, it wont automatically become a joint debt if you get married. Why? Because a spouse is responsible for credit card debt incurred during the marriage, but not before. Inheritances and Property If you owned property before marriage or received an inheritance, keep it separate if youre concerned about the money becoming community property. Gifts and inheritances received by one spouseand separate property owned before the marriageremain separate and are the respective property of one spouse alone, according to Nolo.com. However, a court could consider a gift or inheritance community property if added to a joint bank account. Creditors Can Come After Both Spouses Creditors will pursue both spouses for unpaid debt. Suppose a business owners name isnt on the spouses boat title, Nolo.com explained on their site. In most community property states, that wont stop a business creditor from suing in court to take the boat to pay off the business owners debts if the boat was purchased with community and not separate funds. Story continues How To Keep Assets Separate Learn More: 8 Rare Coins Worth Millions That Are Highly Coveted by Coin Collectors In order to treat debts and income separately, married couples in community property states can sign pre- or postnuptial agreements. That said, A contract between you and your spouse only wont affect whether a creditor can pursue you for debt (they still can), per Nolo.com. It really only impacts property and debt division upon divorce. More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How You May Be on the Hook for Your Spouses Debt Payment solutions provider, Mint, has teamed up with S2M as part of its expansion plans. Specifically, Mint has embarked on a long-term partnership with S2M to introduce a modular core banking platform that prioritises API-first architecture, cloud-agnostic capabilities, and high configurability. Abdulrazzaq Al Abdullah, Chairman & CEO of Mint Group said: The companys focus under this partnership is on moving towards advancing financial inclusion and digital transformation. This enhances the lives of underserved individuals and Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across the region. In collaboration with S2M, the company has taken a significant stride to a mission to establish innovative digital banking services. It aims to deliver cutting-edge solutions that reduce the cost of living for individuals and drive economic growth for businesses. Shared values of customer-centricity and flexibility Mint picked S2M as partner on the basis of shared values of customer-centricity, flexibility, and their result-oriented track record. Under this collaboration, existing financial solution systems will be revamped with the latest cloud-native electronic payment technologies of S2M. Mohamed Amarti, Executive Vice President at S2M added: This collaboration aims to provide flexible solutions that instil confidence, trust, and comfort ensuring seamless integration and empowering users with innovative banking experiences. 1 million SMEs in the UAE by 2030 According to EY, there were 557,000 SMEs in 2022, with approximately 366,000 SMEs in the mainland. This is expected to grow to one million SMEs in the UAE by 2030. SMEs contribute 63.5% to the non-oil GDP and represent 94.4% of companies operating in the UAE. 85% of the underserved SMEs (mainland) represent the potential addressable market for Mint. EY's study reveals that 62% of SMEs express a need for faster credit. 72% are interested in trusted advisory services, 75% desire swift digital onboarding, and 75% want their providers to excel in the basics. Similarly, from the retail perspective, the UAE boasts a vibrant population. Yet a significant portion struggles to access financial services across a fragmented ecosystem of FIs. With a population of 10 million in 2022, approximately 65% are part of the workforce, of which 5.8 million represent Mint's target market for advancing financial inclusion through hyper-personalised offerings. Of the seven million bank customers, a mere two million have access to credit facilities, with a stark absence of innovative credit models. Mint's research has identified key challenges facing the industry, include fragmented products and services, inconsistent processes, high costs to banks, insufficient advisory services, and limited access to credit facilities. Mint says it is poised to address these challenges and reimagine the way it provides services, offering add-on services that meet evolving needs. Story continues "Mint partners with S2M to transform UAE financial services landscape" was originally created and published by Electronic Payments International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran says a potential Boeing buyback of Spirit AeroSystems makes sense as long as it doesnt jeopardize the burgeoning defense work being done in Wichita. No deal has been reached between the two companies yet, but on Capitol Hill last week, Moran expressed concern that Spirits defense programs and the employees who work on them could get lost in the shuffle of a Boeing acquisition. My assumption is that Boeing is almost exclusively interested in this for commercial manufacturing, and yet, in the absence of Spirit AeroSystems, we lose a lot of defense capabilities, Moran said during a Senate Appropriation subcommittee hearing. On Monday, after touring Spirits south Wichita plant, Moran sought to clarify his position. Most of the conversations taking place about this merger or acquisition has been about Boeing and the needs of the commercial side and the amount of work that Spirit does on fuselages for Boeing. All that makes sense actually to me that it would be combined into one entity, Moran told reporters. But what I want to make sure doesnt happen is, in that process, it cannot be forgotten that Spirit also has about 2,000 employees who do defense work for companies other than Boeing. Boeing does contract with Spirit on two defense programs the KC-46A refueling tanker aircraft and P-8A Poseidon, a military-specific derivative of the 737. Other high-profile defense programs at Spirit include the Bell Helicopter V-280 and the Lockheed Martin-Sikorsky CH-53K helicopter. In its first quarter financial report, Spirit reported a 33% year-over-year rise in its defense and space revenue. As this conversation takes place and negotiations occur, we need to make certain other companies who do business with Spirit still have the opportunity to continue to have those services provided and manufacturing occurring in Wichita, Moran said. Oversight The senators visit to Spirit came days after the company announced it plans to lay off between 400 and 450 production employees working on commercial programs. 737 MAX fuselages have piled up in Wichita in recent months as Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing inspectors check Spirit employees work. The extra layer of oversight is a response to the Jan. 5 in-flight emergency when a door plug initially installed by Spirit blew out of an Alaska Airlines plane. Ive had conversations with the FAA administrator indicating that there is no future for aviation in Wichita or in this country if its not safe. Safety has got to be the priority, Moran said. Americans have to feel safe flying, have to know when they get on a plane that theyre going to be safe and secure. But lets make sure theres no sort of unnecessary hindrance towards getting this workforce back to work and planes coming off the line. Story continues Moran said he anticipates FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker will make a decision in early June about whether or not to lift the cap on 737 MAX production. The cap is currently set at 38 planes per month, but Spirit has said it expects to maintain its current delivery rate of 31 fuselages per month through the end of the year. Moran said while he was at the facility, he asked employees what they thought of Boeing and Spirit potentially being reintegrated after almost 20 years as separate companies. Boeing sold its Wichita commercial plant, which became Spirit, in 2005. My take on my conversations with employees at Spirit, almost none of whom have ever worked for Boeing before its a younger generation than the ones who were here in 2005 and 2006, Moran said. But I think they see this as a way of stabilizing Spirit, of providing additional financial resources for Spirit to be successful. And just kind of a common sense thing where were doing the work for Boeing. Why wouldnt it make sense for us to be one company? CHICAGO Its been four years since the COVID-19 outbreak led to a rise in remote work. Now, even though the public health crisis has diminished, the work from home trend shows no signs of slowing, pushing downtown office vacancies higher. We just dont have the same number of people working in the Loop as before, said Dan McMillen, a real estate professor at University of Illinois Chicago. Experts say there was hope that by now more workers would have returned to the office full-time. But a growing glut of empty space remains a fact of life in the Loop. So, you have in this market now a really big mismatch between the supply for office space and the demand for office space, said Farzin Parang, executive director of Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago. Until that meets somewhere in the middle its going to cause a lot of pain for people all over the city. At the end of March, the total downtown office vacancy rate jumped to 25.1 percent, a new record high, according to data from real estate firm CBRE. More from Investigates: Seller beware! Merchant left with $40K bill after credit card fraud The rate has climbed steadily since the end of 2018, when it stood at 13.4 percent. Parang is among those who believe it could continue to increase. The sector goes through cycles, but this is not like other cycles, he said. I really think its that tale of two cities, said Kelsey Scheive, senior vice president in the Chicago office of CBRE. Everyone says flight for quality. For me, its that flight to experience. Scheive notes companies are still leasing space at so-called trophy towers, or newer buildings filled with amenities such as restaurants and fitness centers. But some older properties, which have workspaces but no play spaces, struggle to retain and attract tenants. Recently, Mayor Brandon Johnson backed a plan to repurpose four vacant office buildings in the citys financial district to include 1,000 units of housing 300 of which would be affordable. The plan for one of the vacant buildings, at 111 W. Monroe, consists of 345 housing units and a 200-room hotel. Veteran developers Quintin Primo III and Michael Reschke are behind the $202 million project, which also includes 105 affordable housing units. We will activate this [space] with people, with activity, which will generate revenue and taxes and vibrancy, said Primo. WGN Investigates: Investigating public corruption, crime & fraud On a normal day, before [the COVID-19 pandemic], we had 700-to-800-thousand people come and work and thrive downtown in the Loop, said Reschke. Now, its probably half that level on Tuesday through Thursday. On Monday and Friday, maybe a quarter of that level. That vibrancy is missing. Story continues Theres hope the LaSalle Street projects will help restore some of that vibrancy, in part by increasing the number of people living in the Loop. But not everyone views the plan as a long-term solution, believing City Halls focus should be on growing the business base versus replacing empty offices with housing. I dont see it as a magic bullet, said McMillen. 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 WGN-TV. China scales up support for clinical trials, accelerating drug development Xinhua) 08:30, May 21, 2024 BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- China is scaling up support for clinical trials of drugs, contributing to the acceleration of its new drug development, according to an official at a related event on Monday, which was the 20th Clinical Trials Day. In recent years, the National Health Commission (NHC) has been supporting demonstration clinical trial research platforms for various diseases nationwide, and has worked with other government departments to continuously improve the regulatory system for clinical research, according to NHC official Gu Jinhui. A total of 3,358 clinical trials of drugs were registered in China in 2021, 3,410 in 2022, and 4,300 in 2023, indicating continuous growth, according to an industry report. The Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences has conducted over 4,700 clinical studies since it initiated the country's first clinical study of a new cancer drug in 1960. According to statistics, 184 cancer drugs have been successful in reaching the market through the hospital's clinical research, accounting for more than 70 percent of all domestically produced cancer drugs. The hospital was the first in the country to establish an outpatient clinic specifically for clinical trials of new drugs, said Zhang Yong, an official of the National Cancer Center. He noted that over 500 clinical trials are currently open to patients, covering various cancer types, including lung cancer, breast cancer, esophageal cancer and liver cancer. Clinical trials are systematic experiments conducted on human subjects to determine the safety and efficacy of drugs and therapies, and they are crucial to the advancement of health care services. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) SOPA Images/Getty Images AI investment is about more than just GPUs. Power companies have also dominated, Bank of America says. The firm notes that Vertiv, which makes power and cooling equipment for data centers, has beaten Nvidia by 315% over the past year. The performance represents a broadening-out of the AI trade to include utility, industrial, and commodity companies. Nvidia remains a kingpin trade amid the artificial intelligence frenzy, but investors too narrowly focused on GPU chips have missed out on an even more lucrative opportunity. In a new note, Bank of America notes that stock gains for Vertiv which makes power and cooling equipment for data center have outpaced Nvidia returns by a whopping 315 percentage points over the past year. They're starting the comparison on May 24, 2023, right after Nvidia's first blowout quarter, which set off the entire AI boom in stocks. To be exact, Vertiv has climbed 516% since the date, handily outpacing Nvidia's 211% gain. The benchmark S&P 500 has risen a comparatively paltry 29% over the same period. "Vertiv is the real AI darling," BofA wrote in a client note. Bank of America BofA says Vertiv's stellar performance is representative of the AI rally broadening out to include an increasing range of sectors. Much of that stems from the advanced chips that power AI on such as the ones Nvidia produces requiring significantly more electricity to operate. That offers upside to industrials, utilities, and commodities, according to the firm. "GPUs need 2-2.5x more power than CPUs, and expected power usage for US data centers under construction is equivalent to more than 50% of the power currently used by US data centers," Bank of America wrote on Monday. "Power used by AI applications is expected to grow at a 25-33% CAGR over the next few years." Bank of America Others, such as "Big Short" investor Steve Eisman, have pointed out that the boost to power usage also makes these GPUs considerably hotter, putting pressure on firms such as Vertiv to improve cooling systems in data centers. Eisman has long been a bull on US infrastructure. Aside from AI, he's betting that green policy will boost these sectors as well. As Nvidia gears up for its earnings season on Wednesday, expectations remain strong, Bank of America said. The company has also set its own bar high, judging from its last twelve months: it's added $1.5 trillion in market cap and trailing earnings per share have rocketed 617%. "But it's not just about NVDA anymore," the note said, adding: "Fundamentals are broadening out and so should the market: NVDA drove 37% of S&P earnings growth over the LTM (and 11% of return), but is expected to drive just 9% over the next 12 months." Story continues Previously, Goldman Sachs had similarly outlined broadening AI investment, characterizing Nvidia as the first of four phases. Eventually, utility investments will take over, at which point firms that can best integrate AI software start winning out. Read the original article on Business Insider Two days after it declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Orlando-based Red Lobster sent a letter Tuesday to customers assuring them that most of its restaurants would stay open despite the companys financial troubles. Bankruptcy is a word that is often misunderstood, states the letter, which does not list an author. Filing for bankruptcy does not mean we are going out of business, it continues. In fact, it means just the opposite. It is a legal process that allows us to make changes to our business and our cost structure so that Red Lobster can continue as a stronger company going forward. Orlando-based Red Lobster files for bankruptcy but will stay open Red Lobster is looking to restructure amid nearly $300 million in outstanding debt. The company shuttered as many as 80 of its 650 locations last week, including at least six in Central Florida in Orlando, Altamonte Springs, Sanford and Kissimmee. San Diego-based restaurant analyst John Gordon said the sale of its real estate by its private equity owners, which required the restaurants to pay rent, and other added debt and poor management decisions over the past decade were key contributors to the companys financial woes. Gordon said Monday the company had to get the word out that most of its restaurants would remain in business. A lot of people are going to see this and say, Oh my God, Red Lobster is closed everywhere, he said. And thats not the case. The letter sought to address those concerns. For more than five decades Red Lobster has been a part of your familys life, it states. Weve been there for your celebrations, big and small. And Red Lobster is determined to be there for these moments for generations to come. It also cited other companies such as Delta Airlines and Hertz rental cars, which used this same process to protect their futures and their customers stood with them and rooted them on. And because of that, they emerged stronger. Together, we have a lot worth rooting for, the note concludes. We are here and ready to continue making memories with you. Join us. Dine with us. Root for us. Together, we can write a new chapter. Saipem Bags Subsea Contract for Ndungu Field in Angola This article was first published on Rigzone here Azule Energy Angola SPA has awarded Saipem SPA engineering works for the Ndungu field offshore Angola, in a contract worth $850 million. Saipems scope of work entails the engineering, fabrication, transportation and installation of approximately 60 km [37.3 miles] of rigid pipelines and of the subsea facilities at a depth of around 1,100 meters [3,608.9 feet], and the transportation and installation of flexible flowlines, jumpers and 17 km [10.6 miles] of umbilicals, Saipem said in a press release. Fabrication will be executed in Saipems yard in Ambriz, Angola, while it expects to deploy its own vessel for the installation part of the work. The award of this important project further consolidates Saipems positioning in Angola, both in deep waters and in shallow waters, through the provision of innovative and efficient solutions to reduce installation times, Saipem said in the announcement on its website. The already producing Ndungu, located about 130 kilometers (80.8 miles) from the coast and part of Block 15/06, is estimated to hold 8001,000 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) resources according to Eni SPA, a co-venturer in the company that owns Ndungu developer Azule Energy. Azule Energys parent company is Azule Energy Holdings Ltd., a 50-50 co-venture between Eni and BP PLC. Ndungu started production two years ago through the Ndungu Early Production (EP) Project. Connected to the Ngoma floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) ship, Ndungu EP had a rate of about 20,000 barrels of oil per day according to Enis announcement of startup February 25, 2022. Ndungu is part of the East Hub and West Hub projects in Block 15/06. Besides Ndungu, also part of the projects are the Agogo field, which uses FPSO Ngoma, as well as the Cuica and Cabaca North fields, which use FPSO Armada Olombendo. Take control of your future. Search THOUSANDS of Oil & Gas jobs on Rigzone.com Search Now >> The operator, Azule Energy, was formed 2022 when Italian government-controlled Eni and British rival BP agreed to combine their Angolan assets. Azule Energy is now Angolas largest independent equity producer of oil and gas, holding 2 billion barrels equivalent of net resources and growing to about 250,000 barrels equivalent a day of equity oil and gas production over the next 5 years, BP said in a statement August 2, 2022. It holds stakes in 16 licenses (of which 6 are exploration blocks) and a participation in Angola LNG JV. Azule Energy will also take over Enis share in Solenova, a solar company jointly held with Sonangol, and the collaboration in the Luanda Refinery. Story continues Earlier than the Ndungu engineering contract, Italian oil and gas service provider Saipem had also been tapped for the Agogo field in the same block. The contract for the Agogo Full Field Development Project, which sits around 180 km (111.8 miles) off the coast in deep waters, encompassed engineering, procurement, construction and installation of rigid pipe-in-pipe flowlines with associated subsea structures, Saipem said April 3, 2023. Saipem had also won a completion and testing job for development and exploration wells in Block 15/06, as announced by the company November 15, 2022. This contract was to start 2023 and last 26 months. In other Azule Energy assets, Saipem was also in 2022 the choice for the New Gas Consortium. With an overall value of around 900 million USD, Saipem is taking care of the engineering, procurement and construction, including hook-up and commissioning assistance, of the Quiluma platform and of the relevant onshore natural gas processing plant, Saipem said August 11, 2022. To contact the author, email jov.onsat@rigzone.com More From Rigzone.com, The Leading Energy Platform: >> Find the latest oil and gas jobs on Rigzone.com << Exploring the Dividend Sustainability and Growth Prospects of SGGKF Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (SGGKF) recently announced a dividend of $0.04 per share, payable on 2024-06-05, with the ex-dividend date set for 2024-05-21. As investors look forward to this upcoming payment, the spotlight also shines on the company's dividend history, yield, and growth rates. Using the data from GuruFocus, let's look into Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd's dividend performance and assess its sustainability. What Does Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd Do? Warning! GuruFocus has detected 11 Warning Signs with SGGKF. High Yield Dividend Stocks in Gurus' Portfolio This Powerful Chart Made Peter Lynch 29% A Year For 13 Years How to calculate the intrinsic value of a stock? Singapore Technologies Engineering is a Singaporean government-linked commercial and defense engineering group. Its key businesses include aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul services, in which it is the world's largest independent third-party provider. The company's fastest-growing activities involve applications to smart city solutions where it provides tolling solutions, traffic control systems, command and control dashboards, cybersecurity tools, and other related components. Around two thirds of the company's revenue comes from commercial clients while the remainder is defense. Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd's Dividend Analysis A Glimpse at Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd's Dividend History Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd has maintained a consistent dividend payment record since 2018. Dividends are currently distributed on a quarterly basis. Below is a chart showing annual Dividends Per Share for tracking historical trends. Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd's Dividend Analysis Breaking Down Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd's Dividend Yield and Growth As of today, Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd currently has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 4.20% and a 12-month forward dividend yield of 4.17%. This suggests an expectation of stable dividend payments over the next 12 months. Over the past three years, Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd's annual dividend growth rate was 2.20%. Extended to a five-year horizon, this rate increased to 4.30% per year. And over the past decade, Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd's annual dividends per share growth rate stands at 10.00%. Based on Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd's dividend yield and five-year growth rate, the 5-year yield on cost of Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd stock as of today is approximately 5.18%. Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd's Dividend Analysis The Sustainability Question: Payout Ratio and Profitability To assess the sustainability of the dividend, one needs to evaluate the company's payout ratio. The dividend payout ratio provides insights into the portion of earnings the company distributes as dividends. A lower ratio suggests that the company retains a significant part of its earnings, thereby ensuring the availability of funds for future growth and unexpected downturns. As of 2023-12-31, Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd's dividend payout ratio is 0.89, which may suggest that the company's dividend is sustainable given its profitability. Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd's profitability rank, offers an understanding of the company's earnings prowess relative to its peers. GuruFocus ranks Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd's profitability 7 out of 10 as of 2023-12-31, suggesting good profitability prospects. The company has reported positive net income for each year over the past decade, further solidifying its high profitability. Story continues Growth Metrics: The Future Outlook To ensure the sustainability of dividends, a company must have robust growth metrics. Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd's growth rank of 7 out of 10 suggests that the company's growth trajectory is good relative to its competitors. Revenue is the lifeblood of any company, and Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd's revenue per share, combined with the 3-year revenue growth rate, indicates a strong revenue model. Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd's revenue has increased by approximately 12.10% per year on average, outperforming approximately 68.33% of global competitors. The company's 3-year EPS growth rate showcases its capability to grow its earnings, a critical component for sustaining dividends in the long run. During the past three years, Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd's earnings increased by approximately 1.40% per year on average, outperforming approximately 41.7% of global competitors. Lastly, the company's 5-year EBITDA growth rate of 0.10%, which outperforms approximately 37.12% of global competitors. Next Steps Considering Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd's consistent dividend payments, robust dividend growth rate, sustainable payout ratio, and strong profitability and growth metrics, the company presents a compelling case for dividend investors. As the company continues to navigate its strategic growth in both commercial and defense sectors, its ability to sustain and potentially increase dividends seems promising. For those interested in exploring further, GuruFocus Premium users can screen for high-dividend yield stocks using the High Dividend Yield Screener. This article, generated by GuruFocus, is designed to provide general insights and is not tailored financial advice. Our commentary is rooted in historical data and analyst projections, utilizing an impartial methodology, and is not intended to serve as specific investment guidance. It does not formulate a recommendation to purchase or divest any stock and does not consider individual investment objectives or financial circumstances. Our objective is to deliver long-term, fundamental data-driven analysis. Be aware that our analysis might not incorporate the most recent, price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative information. GuruFocus holds no position in the stocks mentioned herein. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. ABINGDON, Va. (WJHL) The Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center hosted a small business symposium on Tuesday. Several training topics will be covered at the free event. Attendees will get the chance to meet experts in marketing, government contracting and finance. Virginia Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity Business Services Manager Ramain Gohar said the goal behind the event is to understand the needs of small business owners. Greeneville 7 Brew opens for business The main goal behind [the event] is to understand what their needs are and to bring the resources also, such as from [the] Virginia Small Business Financing Authority and our local and state partners so they can all come under one roof, Gohar said. Small businesses can get all of those resources. What they need. Gohar said small businesses are at various levels and their needs differ. Small businesses are at various different levels, Gohar said. From startup, your needs are different. If you are in business for a few years, your needs are different. So when they attend this kind of symposium, they get to know different resources that can help you at different level[s]. The event will run until 7 p.m. on Tuesday. 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 WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather. Key Insights Significantly high institutional ownership implies Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions A total of 3 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership Using data from analyst forecasts alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company If you want to know who really controls Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE:SQM), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 36% to be precise, is institutions. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company. Given the vast amount of money and research capacities at their disposal, institutional ownership tends to carry a lot of weight, especially with individual investors. As a result, a sizeable amount of institutional money invested in a firm is generally viewed as a positive attribute. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile, beginning with the chart below. See our latest analysis for Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile? 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. Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story. Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile is not owned by hedge funds. Inversiones SQYA S.A is currently the largest shareholder, with 25% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 22% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 4.0% by the third-largest shareholder. After doing some more digging, we found that the top 3 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions. Story continues While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily. Insider Ownership Of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. 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. Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group. Our data cannot confirm that board members are holding shares personally. Not all jurisdictions have the same rules around disclosing insider ownership, and it is possible we have missed something, here. So you can click here learn more about the CEO. General Public Ownership The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 15% stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile. 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 26%, of the company's shares. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company. Public Company Ownership It appears to us that public companies own 22% of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile. It's hard to say for sure but this suggests they have entwined business interests. This might be a strategic stake, so it's worth watching this space for changes in ownership. Next Steps: I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (of which 1 is potentially serious!) you should know about. If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Tesla investors are urging shareholders to vote against Elon Musks $56bn payday and have slammed the board for failing to curtail him. The group of shareholders calling for investors to push back includes New York City comptroller Brad Lander. He wrote to fellow Tesla investors on Monday asking them to refuse Mr Musks pay package as well as the re-appointment of two board members, according to The Wall Street Journal. Even as Teslas performance is floundering, the board has yet to ensure that Tesla has a full-time CEO who is adequately focused on the long-term sustainable success of our company, the group wrote on Monday. Tesla is suffering from a material governance failure which requires our urgent attention and action, they added. In the letter, the investors argue against the re-appointment of Kimball Musk, Mr Musks brother, and James Murdoch, a personal friend, because of their close connection to Mr Musk. Kimball Musk has been on the board for two decades. Mr Lander argued that the board has been too close to Mr Musk and that they hadnt done their due diligence when assessing the pay package. Elon Musk arrives for the 10th World Water Forum in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia on Monday (AP) Also part of the shareholder group critical of Mr Musks compensation package are Amalgamated Bank, SOC Investment Group, Nordea Asset Management, United Church Funds, and Danish pension fund AkademikerPension. Mr Lander, a Democrat, is in charge of New York Citys public pension funds. Shareholders are set to vote on Mr Musks compensation and other issues, such as moving the firms incorporation to Texas, at Teslas annual meeting on 13 June. The compensation package received the green light from shareholders in 2018 but it was struck down in January by a court in Delaware, pointing to issues with the approval process. The judge was also concerned that it wasnt in the shareholders best interest, Bloomberg noted. Tesla then proposed the compensation package yet again and has worked to convince shareholders to back it. The company has argued that Mr Musk earned the money by reaching targets set in 2018 when it comes to Teslas share price and other matters. But a number of investors feel that the compensation package has raised questions regarding the independence of the board as well as Mr Musks role atop Tesla amid rising competition and decreasing demand in the electric vehicle market. The group of shareholders critical of the pay package argues that the board of Tesla is filled with allies of Mr Musk and that it hasnt seriously held him accountable. Mr Musk is at the head of several companies that he splits his time between. The group also said Mr Musks use of Tesla stock to fund other projects puts investors at risk. Mr Musks buying of Twitter played a material role in Teslas underperformance, the group argued. Predicting market trends often feels more like art than science. Yet, despite its complexity, the data available can help decipher the nuances of stock movements. The TipRanks Smart Score is a perfect example. Scanning through the whole of the database and assembling the information for every stock according to 8 categories known to predict future share performance, the Smart Score combines those categories into a single score that allows investors to see at a glance how the stock is likely to move in the coming year. That score is given on a scale from 1 to 10, with low scores indicating likely underperformance of the broader market, and higher scores indicating overperformance. A perfect score, a 10, is a rare gift for a stock. It doesnt necessarily mean that every factor aligns perfectly but it does indicate a potentially bright future for the stock in question. Today, weve pulled up two Perfect 10 stocks, which are also fine defensive plays, with dividends yielding 7% or higher. At a time when volatility is returning to the markets, the combination of likely overperformance and a strong dividend return makes these stocks ones investors should take notice of. MPLX LP (MPLX) First up on our Perfect 10 list is a midstream company from the oil and gas industry, MPLX. Originally a division of Marathon Petroleum, the company spun off from its parent company in 2012 to operate as an independent partnership firm controlling the parents midstream transport assets. Thats a bit of a mouthful, but it boils down to MPLX operating a wide-ranging network of pipelines, terminal points, river tugs and barges, and other transport and storage assets that link hydrocarbon production regions across North America with the storage facilities, tank farms, refineries, and export terminals that bring crude oil, natural gas, and their refined products to the market. MPLX today boasts a market cap of $41.5 billion, and brought in $11.34 billion in revenue last year. Prominent among MPLXs assets are its rail and truck racks, maritime business, and export terminals. These facilities allow for the mass movement of hydrocarbon products, both refined and unrefined, independently of pipelines, and can put the products into the global distribution networks. The company also has facilities for processing natural gas and making use of natural gas liquids. MPLX is known for selling basic natural gas liquid products such as ethane, propane, butane, isobutane, and natural gasoline. In the last reported quarter, for 1Q24, MPLX reported total revenues of $2.85 billion. While this was up 5.2% year-over-year, it just slipped under the forecast, missing by $50 million. At the bottom line, the company reported an EPS of 98 cents; this was up 7 cents per share year-over-year and came in 2 cents per share better than had been anticipated. Story continues The solid earnings fully covered MPLXs common share dividend payment, which was declared in April for 85 cents per share and was paid out on May 13. The annualized rate, of $3.40 per common share, gives a forward yield of 8.32%. MPLX has been paying out its regular stock dividend every quarter since 2013, and has a history of regularly increasing the payment. This companys solid business and high-yield dividend form the core of an upbeat outlook from Truist Securities. Analyst Neal Dingmann, who ranks amongst the top 1% of Street stock pros, writes of the stock, MPLX has not only been active organically increasing its gathering & processing along with logistics & transportation segments, but the company recently completed an accretive acquisition and continues paying out notable shareholder returns. MPLX somewhat surprisingly to us bought back a number of units last quarter on top of its material dividend that is currently over an 8% yield. We forecast moderate growth ahead driven by liquids-rich Appalachian areas with the potential for material upside if/when natural gas prices return to more normal levels. The 5-star analyst follows these comments by reiterating his Buy rating on the stock, and he sets a price target of $48 to imply a one-year upside potential of nearly 17.5%. With the dividend yield added to this, the total one-year return could reach nearly 26%. (To watch Dingmanns track record, click here) The bullish Truist outlook on this stock is in line with the Streets consensus. MPLX shares have a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 9 recent reviews that break down to a lopsided split of 8 Buys to 1 Hold. The shares are priced at $40.86 and the $46.13 average target price represents a 13% potential gain for the coming year. (See MPLX stock forecast) Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) The second stock well look at here, Enterprise Products Partners, is another of the North American energy midstream companies. Enterprise is one of the sectors largest companies, with a market cap exceeding $62 billion and nearly $50 billion in annual revenue. Like MPLX above, Enterprise operates as a partnership firm, and its activities involve the transport and distribution of hydrocarbon energy sources. Specifically, Enterprise has a network of transport, distribution, and storage assets, including fractionation facilities, deepwater docks, and storage tanks with over 300 million barrels of liquid storage capacity and 14 billion cubic feet of natural gas capacity. The companys pipeline assets total more than 50,000 miles. In addition to its transport services, the company can provide natural gas gathering and processing. Enterprises asset network is centered on the Gulf Coast, mainly in Texas and Louisiana, with a secondary center on the Texas-New Mexico state line. The assets branch out to the Southeast, the Appalachians, the Great Lakes, the Mississippi Valley, and into the Rocky Mountains. Enterprise is expanding its business network, especially in the rich Permian Basin of Texas. The company is currently engaged in developing 3 new natural gas processing facilities in the Delaware Basin region of the larger Permian formation. The plants under development will significantly increase Enterprises ability to process natural gas and natural gas liquids in this important production region, and are expected to start coming online during 2Q26. In its 1Q24 report, Enterprise showed a top line of $14.76 billion, beating the forecast by $940 million and growing by more than 18% year-over-year. The companys earnings figure, reported as a GAAP EPS of 66 cents, was up 3 cents from the prior year period but missed the forecast by a penny per share. Despite the small earnings miss, the EPS still more than covered the companys dividend, which was declared on April 5 for a rate of 51.5 cents per common share. This payment, which was sent out on May 14, annualizes to $2.06 per share and provides investors with a forward yield of almost 7.2%.. This is another stock that has picked up attention from Truist, and when we check in again with analyst Dingmann, we find that he is bullish on the companys expansion plans and potential for returns, writing, Enterprise continues to benefit from solid incremental Permian and other key regional demand for its processing, gathering, marine and other segments. We believe the company is responding quite strategically by building out facilities where needed including the soon to be completed three Permian processing plants that will then total 19 for the region producing a total of 675,000 Bpd of NGLS. We forecast the notable buildout relatively soon leading to incremental shareholder return beyond the current solid level. Dingmann rates EPD as a Buy, while setting a price target of $35 to suggest a 22% one-year upside potential. With the dividend, the return here may hit as high as 30%. Overall, this stocks Strong Buy consensus rating has solid backing the 12 recent analyst reviews include 11 Buys and just 1 Hold. The shares are trading for $28.65 and have an average target price of $33.18, together implying a 16% upside on the one-year horizon. (See EPD stock forecast) To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment. STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images Trump Media & Technology Group, the company that owns Truth Social, on Monday posted an alarming loss and less than $1 million in revenue in its first quarter since going public. Trump Media, which began trading in March under the ticker symbol DJT, reported $770,500 in revenuecrediting its nascent advertising initiativedown from $1.1 million last year. However, it also reported a net loss of $327.6 million during the first three months of the year, compared with a loss of $210,300 a year ago. In a press release, CEO Devin Nunes pointed $311 million in non-cash expenses to merger-related expenses linked to a company called Digital World Acquisition Corp. earlier this year. Promising that it had sufficient working capital to fund operations for the foreseeable future, Trump Media reported cash and cash equivalents of $273.7 million at the end of the quarter. Trump Set to Score $1 Billion in Truth Social Stock Despite Volatility It said it was still in an early stage of its development, and that it remained focused on long-term product development, including a live streaming platform to be launched through Truth Social, rather than quarterly revenue. Dunes said the company was well-capitalized and supported by a legion of retail shareholders who believe in our mission to provide a free-speech beachhead against Big Tech censorship. The quarterly filing comes after the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Trump Medias former auditor, BF Borgers, with massive fraud earlier this month. Trump Media dismissed the accounting firm on May 3, and notified federal regulators last week that the shakeup would delay the filing of its quarterly earnings report. At the closing bell on Monday, DJT had a price of $48.38 a share. In after-hours trading, it climbed 36 cents to $48.74, still significantly down from its peak of close to $80 upon its debut. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden's administration will sell nearly 1 million barrels of gasoline in the U.S.-managed stockpile in northeastern states as required by law, the Department of Energy said on Tuesday, effectively closing the near decade-old reserve. The department created the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve in 2014 after Superstorm Sandy left motorists scrambling for fuel. But storing refined fuel is costlier than storing crude oil, so closing the reserve was included in U.S funding legislation signed in March by Biden, a Democrat. Bids are due on May 28 and the Treasury Department's general funds gets proceeds from the sale, the department said. The volumes will be allocated in quantities of 100,000 barrels with each barrel containing 42 gallons, the department said. The gasoline should flow into local retailers ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, it said. While the sale was mandated by bipartisan legislation, both the Biden administration and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump tried to score points from it. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the Department of Energy had timed the sale to coincide with the runup to peak summer driving demand. By strategically releasing this reserve in between Memorial Day and July 4th, we are ensuring sufficient supply flows to the ... northeast at a time hardworking Americans need it the most, Granholm said in a release. U.S. gasoline prices have fallen for four weeks in a row to $3.58 a gallon amid plentiful supplies but remain about a nickel above year-ago levels, according to the Energy Information Administration. Trump said Biden was using the reserve to push down retail gasoline prices for political reasons. "And so he's trying to stop that because high gasoline prices are not good for elections," Trump said outside the New York courtroom where his hush-money trial is taking place. U.S. gasoline prices are about 30% cheaper now than in June 2022 when they hit a record above $5.00 a gallon. Prices have fallen as U.S. crude oil output has hit a record under Biden. Trump said Biden was selling the gasoline, "because he's unable to drill properly." The energy department will be selling into a well-supplied market, where pump prices fell for the fourth straight week on Monday despite the run up to the Memorial Day weekend that kicks off the summer driving season. Higher refinery output and weak fuel demand this year have helped ease some of the supply constraints that U.S. consumers have faced since the pandemic. Story continues Gasoline inventories along the U.S. East Coast stood at 55.5 million barrels, 6% higher year-on-year, but around 8% below the historical average for this time of the year. The companies buying the gasoline, likely retailers and fuel terminals, will have the fuel transferred or delivered no later than June 30, it said. Some 900,000 barrels will be sold from the reserve's Port Reading, New Jersey, site, and nearly 99,000 barrels from the South Portland, Maine, site. Once the reserve is closed, the energy secretary cannot establish any new regional petroleum product reserve unless funding is requested in advance of an annual budget submitted by the president and approved by Congress. Bob McNally, president of consultancy Rapidan Energy, said unlike the Strategic Petroleum Reserve that holds hundreds of millions of barrels of crude oil, the gasoline reserve was "too tiny to provide much energy security and won't be missed." (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Shariq Khan, Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio) By Nate Raymond (Reuters) - A group founded by a prominent anti-affirmative action activist on Monday sued Southwest Airlines, alleging that a two-decade-old program that awards free round-trip flights to Hispanic undergraduate and graduate students is racially discriminatory. Edward Blum's American Alliance for Equal Rights in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Dallas alleged that the airline's program violated federal civil rights laws by excluding non-Hispanic students from eligibility for free tickets. His group alleged that as a result, two Asian and white students who were members of his nonprofit were barred from applying to the program. The lawsuit seeks an injunction blocking Southwest from using its eligibility criteria. "Southwest Airlines should immediately open this program to all students, regardless of their skin color or ethnic heritage," Blum said in a statement. Dallas-based Southwest did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The lawsuit marked the latest in a series of cases Blum has filed in recent months challenging corporate diversity programs after another group he founded last year convinced the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court to bar the consideration of race as a factor in college admissions. Monday's lawsuit centers on Southwest's Lanzate! Travel Award Program, which launched in 2004 and is operated in partnership with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. To be eligible for four round-trip tickets, an undergraduate or graduate student must live at least 200 miles (322 km) from their home and be Hispanic. Southwest says the program has helped more than 1,500 students. The lawsuit alleged that the program violated Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, a Civil War-era law that bars racial bias in contracting. It also claimed the program violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination in federally funded programs or activities. Federal funding Southwest received during the COVID-19 pandemic means the airline can be sued under that statute, according to the complaint. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Matthew Lewis) By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. auto safety investigators said on Monday they have launched an investigation into the April crash of a VinFast VF 8 electric vehicle in Pleasanton, California, in which a family of four died. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the investigation will probe the April 24 crash circumstances and the ensuing fire. A complaint filed with the agency on April 29 said steering may have been an issue in the crash that killed a couple along with their children aged 13 and 9. Pleasanton Police said the driver in the single-vehicle accident appeared to have lost control and collided with a large oak tree and that speed may have been a factor. Vietnamese automaker VinFast, which started selling vehicles in the United States in 2023, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Pleasanton Weekly earlier this month quoted a VinFast spokesperson as saying the automaker was aware of the accident, adding: "The authorities are currently investigating the cause of the accident and will share their findings when their work is completed." The agency typically opens more than 100 special crash investigations annually into emerging technologies and other potential auto safety issues. The complaint filed with NHTSA on April 29 by a coworker of the driver in the fatal crash said that in a separate incident the steering wheel automatically maneuvered to the right but the coworker was able to regain control of the steering wheel and was concerned the steering issue had reoccurred in the fatal crash. Police told media that the family did not own the car. TechCrunch reported the investigation earlier on Monday. (Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Michael PerryEditing by Leslie Adler, Matthew Lewis and Michael Perry) Single-family homes in Saratoga Springs area are pictured on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023. Members of the Utah Transportation Commission approved earmarks that will direct nearly $1.4 billion in new funds toward four major road projects in northwest Utah County. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News A large amount of Utahs growth is now centralized in northwest Utah County, and that trend isnt expected to slow down anytime soon. As the cities that compose the area Lehi, Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain continue to build, Utah transportation officials are moving forward with plans to enhance the travel infrastructure to meet all the growing needs. "(Northwest Utah County) is just exploding with new residents and businesses, and it creates a strain on the transportation system," said Rob Clayton, director of the Utah Department of Transportation's Region 3. That's why members of the Utah Transportation Commission approved earmarks that will direct nearly $1.4 billion in new funds toward four major road projects in the region. Converting 2100 North to a new Lehi freeway that will run between I-15 and the Mountain View Corridor. About $279 million was already directed to the project, but the commission directed another $275 million. Adding new "flex lanes" to Pioneer Crossing a highway that connects I-15 and Saratoga Springs to add two additional lanes during peak travel times. Crews would also re-stripe Pioneer Crossing from Redwood Road to Mountain View Corridor to add one additional travel lane in each direction at all times. It received $77 million. Extending Mountain View Corridor to state Route 73 (Cory Wride Highway) in Saratoga Springs. The project, which received $553 million, would also include new trails and trail connections for active transportation in the area. Converting state Route 73 into a freeway from Mountain View Corridor to Ranches Parkway by using the frontage roads within the section. Transit, a bike lane and trail improvements would also be included in the project that received $459 million. All four projects are in different stages of the planning process. Some projects, like the 2100 North freeway conversion, have gone through environmental impact reviews. A map of the four Utah County projects that received funding from the Utah Transportation Commission. | Utah Department of Transportation Of the four, Clayton told KSL.com that the S.R. 73 freeway project could have the most impact on residents and businesses. The project would also require some right-of-way transactions that need to be sorted out in the coming years. Still, all of the projects could start by 2027, depending on the available money for statewide transportation projects in a given year. The Pioneer Crossing flex lanes project could begin as early as next year. They will tack onto the work already happening in the area. Crews began work last month on a $466 million project to connect Porter Rockwell Boulevard in southern Salt Lake County to 2100 North in northern Utah County in the fast-growing Point of the Mountain region. Story continues The new transportation projects come as Utah's growth appears to be centered within Lehi, Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain more than anywhere else in the state. The three cities aren't just Utah's three fastest-growing communities from 2022 to 2023, they all have a commanding lead over any town or city since the 2020 census, according to new Census Bureau data released last week. It's believed that the three cities gained nearly 40,000 residents between April 1, 2020, and July 1, 2023 about the same as Cedar City's latest population total. Yet there's still room to grow even as the three cities have reached almost 200,000 people combined. The University of Utah's Kem C. Gardner Institute projects that Utah County could outpace Davis, Salt Lake and Weber counties by 2050. That's about the same time it anticipates Utah's population could reach 5 million people. "I think (the transportation) projects represent the years of planning," Clayton said. "It's a significant investment; it's a recognition of all the growth that's happened, and it's possible because of all the planning that's taken place." UDOT is also moving forward with projects that go beyond roadways. The Utah Transportation Commission last week distributed $95 million toward the states goal of a statewide trail network. A 2.1-mile trail from I-15 to the Utah Lakeshore Trail in Vineyard about 10 miles southeast of Lehi is one of the construction-ready plans that received funding. The Department of Veterans Affairs paid $43.5 million in bonuses to more than 6,500 human resources specialists last year under allowances stipulated in the PACT Act, an amount the department's chief human capital officer described as "significant." Documents obtained by Military.com through a Freedom of Information Act request show the department paid an average of $6,598.13 in critical skills incentives, or CSIs, to 6,517 human resources specialists in the Veterans Health and Veterans Benefits Administrations through June 2023 in addition to salary increases under PACT Act provisions. The bonuses were authorized under the legislation, which expanded health care and benefits to thousands of veterans sickened by environmental toxins. But the large amount concerned some employees at VA headquarters in Washington, D.C., after VA officials awarded large bonuses to hundreds of VA executives last year. Read Next: Homeless Vets Find Housing on Old Walter Reed Grounds, Regardless of Discharge Status In an email sent July 5 to an unnamed VA senior official, Steve Miska, the department's PACT Act transitional director, said the recipient, whom Miska addressed as "sir," had mentioned that since "the price tag of the critical skills incentive for VBA and VHA leaders might cause some concern," the person should know that a large amount was spent on the HR specialists' bonuses, also known as CSIs. "I wanted to pass on from [VA Chief Human Capital Officer] Tracey Therit: 'CSIs were processed for HR specialists and we spent a significant amount,'" Miska wrote. But Miska added, there was "no blowback to my knowledge," quoting Therit. "All admins had money to fund. ... The information is in the [Compliance, Reporting and Auditing] report that went to [the Office of Management and Budget]. Congress will see the data if they read the report. Nothing was sent to them in advance of processing the CSIs." Within six months of VHA HR specialists receiving the bonuses, many received a 15% pay increase, known as a special salary rate. The raises, which went into effect in January, were given to nearly 8,000 HR specialists, as well as HR assistants. As of April 30, the VHA employed 8,333 HR specialists and 1,427 HR assistants. According to data provided by the VA, the VHA currently has 598 vacant HR specialist and 121 vacant HR assistant positions. VBA has 544 HR specialists and 123 assistants, with 81 specialist vacancies and 18 assistant positions, according to the VA. Story continues The PACT Act allowed the VA to provide critical skills incentives for a six-month period to VHA employees through October. The increase in salary under the special rate was awarded after the allowances for the CSIs expired. While special salary rates are normally set by the Office of Management and Budget, the PACT Act also gave the VA the authority to set them for non-medical positions in the VHA. At the VBA, the VA requested that OMB provide special salary rates for HR specialists and assistants, and they were "the only VBA employees to receive salary increases," VA officials said in a statement to Military.com. The VA has paid out 40,887 critical skills incentives to employees since starting to award them last year, the majority of which went to employees in short-staffed occupations. The VA inspector general reported this month that the department paid $10.8 million in improper incentive bonuses to 182 senior executives at its headquarters last year ranging in size from $39,000 to more than $100,000 for each of seven executives in the VHA. Dr. Shereef Elnahal, VA under secretary for health, approved 148 bonuses, while Joshua Jacobs, VA under secretary for benefits, approved 34 to senior government employees. The inspector general found that Elnahal repeatedly failed to tell VA Secretary Denis McDonough about those bonuses while informing him of bonuses to field employees. Jacobs, on the other hand, provided McDonough memos describing plans to pay the critical skills incentives to senior executives at the headquarters and field offices. Under the PACT Act, the bonuses were not allowed to go to political appointees or any senior executive service members who were non-career appointees or were serving in a position that is "political in character." The PACT Act was signed in August 2022 to expand health care and benefits for millions of veterans sickened by exposure to burn pits and other environmental pollutants while serving overseas in support of U.S. operations. The legislation authorized the VA to hire or provide incentives for employees in hard-to-fill posts, including HR, information technology, law enforcement and housekeeping, to ensure the department had sufficient staff to support the influx of newly eligible veterans. In fiscal 2023, the VHA staff grew by 7.4% with the hiring of roughly 61,000 people, for a net increase of 28,000. The same year, more than 6,000 employees were hired by the VBA. McDonough has described the critical skills incentives as key to attracting HR specialists needed to hire the additional personnel required to support the PACT Act beneficiaries. The VA has made an effort not only to attract qualified new hires but also to shorten the period of time it takes between hiring them and processing them to their new positions. "I think we are, importantly, seeing our ability to hire and attract HR professionals, which I've said in here, in this room, many times, is really the key to this expansion of our personnel," McDonough said during a press conference in March. "We are becoming much more competitive in attracting those personnel because of these authorities." This year, the VHA has hired 444 HR specialists, 280 of whom are participating in a 13-month HR Specialist Training and Accelerated Readiness training program. But overall hiring has slowed significantly since the beginning of the year, according to VA spokesman Gary Kunich, with 175 specialist hires in October, decreasing to eight each in March and April. About 70% have been internal selections, he added. The VBA continues to actively recruit HR specialists, having hired 133 this year, roughly 18% of whom have been internal selections, according to Kunich. VA data shows the department has slashed the number of job openings by 22% compared with last year at the same time, and it has seen a 13% drop in applications. Job offers are up by 16%, but the number of people actually filling positions has declined by 9%. Members of Congress have expressed concern about the proposed reduction of roughly 10,000 employees this year from the VA workforce. Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., led a group of 15 other senators in a letter May 8 asking Senate appropriators to require the VA to provide a detailed report on any reductions that would affect VA medical care and services in their budget legislation. "Inconsistent staffing patterns put veterans' health care quality and accessibility at risk and redirect employees' attention from their defined job responsibilities to compensate for employment shortages," the senators wrote. During a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies on May 2, McDonough had assured senators the cuts would largely come from attrition, which was on par with previous years. "We envisioned at the end of ... September 2025 to be at about 10,000 fewer [full-time employees]. When all is said and done, frankly, that's if you measure traditional attrition at VA. That's not much different than traditional attrition. However, because retention is so high because you've been so generous to us for various pay enhancements, we have historically high retention, historically low quit rates," McDonough said. Related: VA's PACT Act Management Could Use Lessons from 9/11 First Responders Legislation, Rand Says Are you looking to start your own business but you dont know where to start? From state requirements, licensing, taxes and payrolls, thinking of creating your own business can be daunting. The Bellingham Herald reached out to some local experts to help provide a guide for you to start your own business right here in Whatcom County. Here are the five things to do first when thinking of starting a business, according to Eric Grimstead, a senior certified business advisor at Western Washington Universitys Small Business Development Center: 1. Answer These Questions: Why You? Why this business? Why now? Personal goals should drive your business decisions, Grimstead said. Before staring a new business you should be ready, willing and able to execute your plan. Some simply are not prepared for self-employment through small business ownership. If you feel less than prepared there are plenty of training opportunities to learn business fundamentals before launching your business, such as online events and seminars Grimstead recommends through the Washington State Small Business Development Center. 2. Develop your business plan and do some market research This does not have to be an exhaustive 30-40 page business school-type plan but you should be able to summarize in 5-10 pages your vision for success, how you plan to market to attract customers, how you will run business operations etc., Grimstead said. Market research includes understanding your ideal customer, identifying the size of your potential market, the demand for your product or service and the competitive landscape, according to Grimstead. 3. Choose a business structure or entity types There are many kinds of businesses, such as sole proprietorships, limited liability companies, corporations, partnerships and others. Choosing which type of business entity can be confusing. Grimstead recommends doing your research on the various business structures and seeking advice from your tax advisor or legal counsel to make the decision. Washington states website also offers detailed guidance and explanations of each business structure. 4. Handle funding and financial planning You need to develop a financial plan that includes your base budget of costs that will be incurred prior to opening your business. Think of these as your sunk start-up costs, Grimstead said. After this, Grimstead advises to developed financial projections based on your known or estimated operating expenses. After assessing your expenses, Grimstead says to assess whether you can self-fund your business endeavor or if you will need to find other financing from investors or banks. Story continues 5. Get your business license The type of business license you need depends on the business structure you chose in step 3, according to Grimstead. If you decide to form a limited liability company or corporation, Grimstead provided two steps to follow: Step 1: Go to the Secretary of States office website to create your business entity and get a certificate with your own Unified Business Identifier number. Once your new business entity is formed and you receive the certificate from the State with your UBI number, proceed to step 2 to apply for the State and City Business Licenses. Step 2: Get your entity licensed to do business by filing a Master Business License application through Washington States Department of Revenue website. The Department of Revenues website will allow you to file both the State and most citys licensing at the same time, according to Grimstead. If you decide to form a sole proprietor or partnership, you can simply start with the Master Business License application through the Department of Revenue website in step 2, according to Grimstead. Have more questions on how to start your own business? Here are a few more resources: Doing Business Guide from Whatcom County. Going Into Business Checklist from the Washington States Small Business Development Center. The Small Business Guide from business.wa.gov. National Resource Guide for Small Business from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The U.S. Energy Department's weekly inventory release showed that natural gas supplies increased less than expected. The positive inventory numbers, together with signs of production pullback and upcoming summer demand, buoyed natural gas futures, which settled with a healthy gain week over week. Despite this spike, which saw natural gas hit its highest since January, the space remains highly susceptible to unpredictable weather patterns, impacting prices and market stability. At this time, we advise investors to focus on stocks like Coterra Energy CTRA and Cheniere Energy LNG. EIA Reports a Build Smaller Than Market Expectations Stockpiles held in underground storage in the lower 48 states rose 70 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week ended May 10, below the guidance of a 76 Bcf addition, per a survey conducted by S&P Global Commodity Insights. The increase compared with the five-year (2019-2023) average net injection of 90 Bcf and last years growth of 93 Bcf for the reported week. The latest increase puts total natural gas stocks at 2,633 Bcf, which is 421 Bcf (19%) above the 2023 level and 620 Bcf (30.8%) higher than the five-year average. The total supply of natural gas averaged 104.5 Bcf per day, up 0.2 Bcf per day on a weekly basis due to higher dry production, partly offset by lower shipments from Canada. Meanwhile, daily consumption fell to 94.5 Bcf from 95.5 Bcf in the previous week, mainly reflecting a drop in natural gas consumed for power generation. Natural Gas Prices Finish Sharply Higher Natural gas prices trended northward last week following the lower-than-expected inventory build. Futures for June delivery ended Friday at $2.49 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up some 16.6% from the previous weeks closing. As a matter of fact, the commoditys resurgence over the past few weeks wiped out all of its losses since the start of this year. Investors should know that natural gas realization has been under pressure from strong production, elevated stockpiles and tepid weather-related demand. It's worth mentioning that the current inventory levels are well above the year-ago figure and the five-year average. The bearish sentiment surrounding the commodity even prompted shale producers Chesapeake Energy CHK and EQT Corporation EQT to hit the brakes on new drilling. Chesapeake announced a reduction in its drilling rigs so as to lower volume, with the Appalachian Basin-focused EQT following on. CHK has decided to curb the second quarters gas production expectations by 400 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d), doubling the previous curtailment announced in March. Separately, EQT the largest domestic producer of natural gas said that it will lower its daily output by 1 Bcf through May to combat the supply glut in the U.S. market. According to EQT, the revised plan will likely reduce full-year sales volume to 2,100-2,200 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe) from 2,200-2,300 Bcfe earlier. It appears that these production cut announcements have been partly responsible in driving natural gas prices higher and galvanizing the market. Story continues As is the norm with natural gas, changes in temperature and weather can lead to price swings. With low heating demand this winter, usage of the commodity to generate electricity took a hit. However, predictions of warmer-than-normal weather over most of the United States should boost demand. Moreover, there are signs of curtailment in U.S. production. According to energy services provider Baker Hughes, the U.S. natural gas rig count a pointer to where production is headed is down around 27% from last year. Industry observers believe this could set the stage for a pullback in near-term drilling and supplies. Meanwhile, a stable demand catalyst in the form of continued strong LNG feedgas deliveries, is supporting natural gas. As a matter of fact, LNG shipments for export from the United States have been elevated of late, due to environmental reasons and Europes endeavor to move away from its dependence on Russian natural gas supplies due to the war in Ukraine. At the same time, the increase in gas flows due to the full restart of the Freeport LNG export plant in Texas has translated into more of the commodity being loaded onto ships. A heatwave blanketing Southeast Asia has also led to a jump in power demand for air conditioning, increasing exports of the super-chilled fuel. Final Thoughts The upshot of all these factors the natural gas market despite improving, remains an oversupplied one. As mentioned above, it endured a torrid year in 2023, briefly breaking below the $2 threshold for the first time since 2020. The situation was not much different in the early parts of 2024, with the fuel reaching a multi-year low near $1.48 in late March and struggling to sustain a rally over the psychological mark of $2. However, natural gas has staged quite the turnaround in a matter of weeks, and looks to improve even further given the favorable temperature outlook. Nevertheless, based on several factors, the space is currently quite unpredictable and spooked by sudden changes in weather and production patterns. As such, investors are advised to still exercise caution and preferably hold on to fundamentally strong stocks like Coterra Energy and Cheniere Energy. Coterra Energy: It is an independent upstream operator primarily engaged in the exploration, development and production of natural gas. Headquartered in Houston, TX, the firm owns some 183,000 net acres in the gas-producing Marcellus Shale of the Appalachian Basin. This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company churned out an average of 2,262.7 million cubic feet on a daily basis from these assets in 2023. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Coterra beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in three of the trailing four quarters and missed in the other, the average being 9.8%. Valued at around $21 billion, CTRA has risen 8.9% in a year. Cheniere Energy: Being the first company to receive regulatory approval to export LNG from its 2.6 billion cubic feet per day Sabine Pass terminal, Cheniere Energy enjoys a distinct competitive advantage. Cheniere Energy beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in two of the last four quarters and missed in the other two. This #3 Ranked natural gas exporter has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of roughly 58.9%, on average. LNG shares have moved up 11.3% in a year. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK) : Free Stock Analysis Report EQT Corporation (EQT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Cheniere Energy, Inc. (LNG) : Free Stock Analysis Report Coterra Energy Inc. (CTRA) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the U.S. does not support a proposal for a global tax on billionaires. The idea has been floated by Brazil, which is leading the G20 group of major economies this year, and supported by ministers from other member nations, including France. The proposed tax would require billionaires to pay a 2% levy on their overall wealth each year, with the goal of ending international tax avoidance and reducing economic inequality. The proposed levy would be similar to the global corporate income tax backed by roughly 140 nations. This is exactly what we did with minimum taxation on corporate tax, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said last month, per The Wall Street Journal. It would be the same on the international taxation for the wealthiest individuals. Yellen has supported global corporate income tax, but opposition from Republicans in Congress means it is unlikely to become law in the U.S. At the same time, Yellen has now made it clear that a global wealth tax for individuals is a step too far as far as the U.S. in concerned. We believe in progressive taxation, Yellen said. But the notion of some common global arrangement for taxing billionaires with proceeds redistributed in some waywere not supportive of a process to try to achieve that. Thats something we cant sign on to. Like what you're reading? Sign up for our free newsletter. The word adventure evokes a sense of fun and a break from the everyday. It can be something adrenaline-pumping (or panic-inducing) such as cordless bungee jumping, or mildly stimulating, such as checking a new national park off your must-see list. Since were talking about reading, a relatively low-risk activity, Ive decided to take the Adventure Begins with Your Library summer reading theme to more of an extreme. How about finding yourself in the Alaskan wilds or lost in a remote island jungle while trying to survive and/or solve a murder? Its a lot, I know. But I have every confidence you can rise to the challenge, and you dont even have to leave your couch. Enjoy these wilderness survival/thriller mashups: Murder at Havens Rock by Kelley Armstrong. Welcome to Havens Rock, population 0. In the remote Yukon wilderness, Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are building a new town for people seeking refuge and a fresh start. The only rule: stay out of the forest. When two of the towns construction crew break the rule and go missing, Casey and Eric must track them down. Stumbling on a womans body, evidently a victim of foul play, the couple must race to uncover the truth and find the missing crew members. Deep Water by Emma Banford. A distress call from a yacht sets a Royal Malaysian Navy captain on the hunt for a couple missing in the vast Indian Ocean. The survivors, newlyweds Jake Selkirk and Virginie Durand, hold a dark secret about their idyllic honeymoon gone wrong. Having invested their life savings on a sailboat to travel the world, the couple first visits Amorante, a remote island paradise with only a few visitors. But the isolation soon brings out the worst in everyone. As more secrets surface, the lines between trust and betrayal blur in this fast-paced high-seas adventure. One of Us Knows by Alyssa Cole. Years after her diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder sidelined her historic preservation career, Kenetria Nash and her alters land their dream job: resident caretaker of a mansion on a remote Hudson River island. A sudden visit from the homes conservation trust and an unexpected storm trap Ken with a group of strangers, including the man who holds the key to her shattered past. When hes found murdered, Ken becomes the prime suspect. Racing against the clock, Ken and her alters must uncover the truth of Kavanaugh Island, or face a future as bleak as the surrounding storm. The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes. Maya was a high school senior when her best friend dropped dead in front of Frank, the mysterious man theyd been hanging around all summer. Seven years later, Maya is finally moving on when she stumbles on a video in which a young woman keels over in front of none other than Frank. Determined to find out the truth, Maya heads back to her small Berkshires hometown, reliving the summer Frank came between Aubrey and Maya. Soon, her research leads her back to Franks cabin deep in the woods. Getaway by Zoje Stage. Reeling from a traumatic shock, reclusive novelist Imogen is convinced to join her adventurous sister, Beck, and their childhood friend Tilda on a weeklong backpacking trip through the Grand Canyon. Imogen and Tilda, who parted ways after college, feel old wounds reopen as they bicker while navigating dangerous trails. But once they learn the trio is being stalked, they quickly put the past aside in order to work together just to survive. The Beautiful and the Wild by Peggy Townsend. Liv, a survivor of a harsh childhood, falls in love with charismatic filmmaker Mark. After Marks career tanks, the two travel and work odd jobs, settling down once their son Xander is born with a rare genetic condition. Then Mark dies by suicide, and Liv uncovers clues that he faked his death. These clues lead Liv to rural Alaska, where she finds Mark alive and following a hedonistic cult. When Liv refuses to join, Mark holds her captive. Liv must plot her escape, rescuing her son and herself while surviving the brutal weather and terrain of the Alaskan wilderness. Why should kids have all the fun? Join Adult Summer Reading at Central Rappahannock Regional Library to earn a functional yet attractive mini notebook and pen set. Sign up at librarypoint.org/summer. The Colorado Supreme Court announced on Monday it will decide whether a person's belief that racial bias exists in policing is an acceptable reason to remove them from a jury, or whether doing so violates the longstanding prohibition against race discrimination in jury selection. The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday decided an Oklahoma man and his daughter could pursue a negligence claim against Vail Resorts for a debilitating ski lift injury, notwithstanding the waiver they signed assuming "all risks." The ruling implicated competing policy concerns for the multibillion-dollar ski industry and the millions of chair lift riders annually. Specifically, do the rights of customers to sue for injuries attributable to resort operators' negligence take a backseat to ski resorts' ability to protect themselves through broad liability waivers? Annalea "Annie" Miller was 16 years old when she fell 30 feet from a chair lift at Crested Butte Mountain Resort. Her father, Michael D. Miller, filed suit alleging Annie's injuries which resulted in her paralysis were the product of the operator, Vail Resorts, failing to exercise the appropriate level of care in running the lift. The Millers brought three claims based on varying legal theories. A trial judge permitted the claim for gross negligence to proceed and no one challenged that decision. However, the remaining claims raised the question of whether ski lift users, in waiving their right to sue when they purchase tickets, can override that waiver and hold ski operators liable. By 5-2, the Supreme Court issued a qualified "yes." All members of the court agreed the waiver Michael Miller signed on behalf of his daughter was valid and addressed the risks of "using the lifts" and "falls." Therefore, the Millers could not sue Vail Resorts and Crested Butte for failing to use the "highest duty of care" in letting Annie fall. However, the majority determined Colorado law and regulations require ski lift operators to take certain steps to ensure skier safety, and customers cannot waive away their right to sue a resort for allegedly violating those rules through their negligence. "Because we have concluded," wrote Justice Richard L. Gabriel, "that Crested Butte, in fact, owed statutory and regulatory duties to Miller and to Annie, we further conclude that Crested Butte could not avoid those duties by way of private release agreement." Justice Monica M. Marquez, writing for herself and Justice Melissa Hart, believed neither of the Millers' claims on appeal was viable. She argued the Millers were fundamentally attempting to sue for negligence through different avenues, but the liability waiver applied across the board. Lawyers for Vail Resorts did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "This decision is a big victory for ski safety in Colorado. It won't give Annie Miller back the use of her legs, but it will give her and others a better shot at justice when they are injured as passengers on chairlifts," said Bruce Braley, an attorney for the Millers. Featured Local Savings The case attracted the attention of multiple outside organizations. The National Ski Areas Association, representing the vast majority of ski operations, wrote that chair lift accidents are rare and are typically the fault of customers, rather than operational failures. A legal brief from Colorado's ski areas, outfitters and other providers in the $14 billion outdoor recreation industry warned that making it easier to override liability waivers and sue over accidents will cause programs to shut down. "Without the benefit of enforceable releases, many if not most entities in Colorado that provide youth recreational opportunities will have to charge significantly more for those opportunities," the groups wrote. "Significantly rising costs for youth activities creates a pernicious effect, where only the children of privileged parents will be able to have their children engage in such recreational activities." After Annie Miller's March 2022 fall from the chair lift, her father sued Vail Resorts, alleging he screamed for an operator to stop the lift as his daughter struggled to hold onto the vehicle. Broomfield District Court Judge Sean Finn refused to throw out Michael Miller's claim of gross negligence, but he agreed to dismiss the other negligence claims, reasoning the waiver signed on Annie's behalf immunized Vail Resorts from liability. On appeal, two areas of the law appeared at odds with each other. On the one hand, ski lift operators owe the "highest degree of care" to customers. On the other hand, parents may waive any potential claim of negligence on behalf of their children. Some justices signaled their discomfort during oral arguments with the idea that companies could avoid the duties imposed by state law by getting customers to sign away their right to sue. "If you want to ride the lift, you have to sign a waiver. And yet, we have a situation where the legislature is saying, 'Hey, ski industry, these are the standards that we expect,'" observed Justice Carlos A. Samour Jr. "And the ski industry turns around and says, 'Well, thats nice of you. Thank you. But well just make people waive and be done with it.' Something about that is wrong." Although the Supreme Court's majority did not categorically invalidate the Millers' waiver, the May 20 opinion did find the signing of a waiver did not absolve Vail Resorts of its obligation to operate the ski lift according to state law and regulations. Marquez, in her dissent, believed there was "nothing otherwise magical" about a negligence claim based on a violation of state law. She reiterated her observation from oral arguments that the Millers already had a way to hold Vail Resorts liable gross negligence. "It seems to me that the allegations of the complaint actually set out a pretty solid claim for gross negligence," she said previously. "If no one was there, if no one was paying attention and the lift kept operating, that seems like gross negligence to me." The case is Miller v. Crested Butte, LLC. Aubyn Royall is a 13-year Colorado resident, and the Colorado state director for the Humane Society of the United States. Jimmy Sengenberger is an investigative journalist, public speaker, and longtime local talk-radio host. Reach Jimmy online at Jimmysengenberger.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @SengCenter. The meows of a cat led Hickory firefighters and downtown workers to rescue a kitten from a pipe under a downtown sidewalk along Second Street NW in Hickory. Saturday morning, the Hickory Fire Department and public works crews were able to cut a hole in the sidewalk near Wee Mount-N-Frame. Cans of cat food were left sitting outside of the hole to try and coax the cat out. Hickory Fire Battalion Chief Wendell Owens said the cat briefly emerged from the pipe. Firefighters and bystanders were unable to catch the cat before it disappeared back into the pipe. Renee Garabics, owner of The Coffee Nook in downtown Hickory, said someone came to the coffee shop Saturday afternoon and asked for a box. The person caught the cat and gave it to Coffee Nook employee Melanie Cano-Lara, who originally called the city about the cat. Cano-Lara took the cat to a veterinarian Monday morning to have it examined. She said the vet said the cat was a male, 7-8 weeks old and in good health. Cano-Lara said she was going to try and find a new home for the cat. Cano-Lara said she was naming the cat Marshal in honor of the work of the fire department. City of Hickory Communications Specialist Sarah Killian said the citys street division will repair the sidewalk this week. Ukraine and Gaza are much different. But they share some common challenges. Both are being attacked by well-armed, powerful enemies who are determined to defeat them. Their attackers have ruthlessly engaged them, killing or wounding people and destroying houses, buildings, roads, bridges and other improved property, leaving much of their infrastructure as rubble. Their people, including children have been attacked, wounded, and killed. Both of the subjects of these attacks will harbor a hatred for the attackers, regardless of whether and when the conflicts end. And that hatred will last for generations or longer. In Ukraine the situation is especially bleak with Russian troops pouring across the Russian-Ukraine border, while Ukraine is prohibited by the U.S. from engaging them until they cross into Ukraine. Even without the arms expected from the U.S. and European allies, even when they lack weapons to confront the Russian invaders and air attacks, the Ukrainians fight bravely on reminding some Americans of their study of Shakespeares play, King Henry V, when the king rallied his troops with a look into the future when the day of the coming battle, Crispins Day, would be remembered. This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall neer go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be rememberd; We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he neer so vile, This day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispins day. Nations are ultimately built on stories, says Noah Harari, author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Each passing day adds more stories that Ukrainians will not only tell in the dark days ahead, but in the decades and generations to come This is the stuff nations are built from. In the long run, these stories count for more than tanks. Today may be the darkest day so far in Russias war on Ukraine. And there may be even darker days to come. But Ukraine and its people will be very hard for the Russians to conquer quickly or completely. And Ukraines bands of brothers and sisters can outlast the invaders, creating lasting bonds built on stories of the Russian horror show. Whatever victories the Russians achieve in the coming months and years will be at risk of being overturned by Ukrainians who will remember for the longest time what Russia is doing now to Ukraine and its people. Meanwhile, the armed forces of Israel in Gaza have followed the example of the Russians in Ukraine in their response to Hamass brutal attack and hostage taking on Oct. 7 of last year. An appropriate and speedy response by Israel was necessary. But the ongoing attacks on Gaza and the resulting loss of life, starvation, and overwhelming destruction of homes and infrastructure has resulted will be remembered for years by the people of Gaza and the Arab world. A generation of American college students will remember their protests against Israel for its destruction of Gaza and its people, The memories of the people of Ukraine and Gaza and the damage and loss of life that they are enduring will be like those of the English soldier of Henry V who remembers From this day to the ending of the world. Four months after it noticed an intrusion into its network, the Western Sydney University says it has notified about 7500 individuals who have been affected. In a statement on Tuesday, the university said the intrusion was identified in January this year and quickly shut down. The intervening four months between discovery and informing those affected was because of "due diligence to understand the nature, scope and scale of the incident, the number of individuals impacted, and to protect against further harm. This was also done in accordance with the Universitys legal obligations". The statement said the earliest access to its Microsoft Office 365 environment was on 17 May 2023 when email accounts and SharePoint files were accessed. "Investigations also indicate that the Universitys Solar Car Laboratory infrastructure may have been used as part of the incident," the university said. "Monitoring and scanning indicates the preventive measures taken as a part of the incident response have successfully prevented any further unauthorised access. "The University is working with a range of authorities, including NSW Police whose investigation is ongoing. The University has also been in ongoing contact with the NSW Information and Privacy Commission. "Overall, approximately 7500 individuals have received notifications either by telephone call, email, or both. "The University is continuing to investigate the incident and if further persons are affected by the unauthorised access to the University IT network, they will be notified. "Importantly, there have been no threats received by the University to disclose any of the private information which was accessed, and the University has not received any demands in exchange for maintaining privacy. "In order to protect University staff, students and stakeholders, the University has sought and been granted an injunction from the NSW Supreme Court to prevent access, use, transmission and publication of any data that was the subject of the incident. "The University unreservedly apologises for this incident and its impact on our community. It is deeply regrettable and we are committed to transparently rectifying the matter." GUEST RESEARCH: SAP reveals increasing Australian investment in sustainability solutions driven by competitiveness and profitability benefits; 68% of Australian businesses see the relationship between sustainability competitiveness and profitability, leading to an 11-point increase in businesses increasing their investments. Australian organisations say their overall business performance is intrinsically linked to treating sustainability as a strategic priority and are boosting their investments as a result. A recent SAP study found that 68% of Australian businesses see a moderate to strong relationship between sustainability and their organisations competitiveness and profitability, slightly below global results (72% competitiveness, 68% profitability). That impact on business outcomes is driving investment. In Australia, almost half of businesses (49%) intend to increase their investments in sustainability over the next three years, up 11% points since last year (38%)[1]. Sustainable Australian businesses drive growth in the top line, bottom line, and green line The study, which surveyed 250 business leaders in Australia[2], found more than two-thirds (67%) of Australian businesses saw sustainability strategies contributing to outcomes like revenue or profit growth to a moderate or strong degree. Similarly, 69% of Australian respondents saw a moderate or strong increase in the efficiency of business processes from sustainability activities. Six in ten (60%) of Australian businesses expect to demonstrate a positive financial return on their sustainability investments within the next five years, compared to 61% of global respondents. "Sustainability can no longer be considered separately to the wider financial performance of the business because it is increasingly clear that more sustainable organisations are more successful organisations, said Gina McNamara, Regional Chief Financial Officer, SAP Asia Pacific & Japan. Already, more than one in ten (11%) Australian businesses say sustainability is material to their business results, and another 36% say it will be within five years. Now is the time to combine financial and environmental decision-making in every business process, so we treat carbon data the same way we treat financial data. Yet, challenges remain. Proving return on investment is the top barrier to taking environmental action, with 40% of Australian businesses finding it a challenge, above the global average of 33%. Other notable issues include lack of funding (33%), lack of an environmental impact strategy (32%), and lack of expertise (32%). Australian businesses looking to unlock the value of sustainability data Extracting value from sustainability data will be key to enabling Australian businesses to prove return on investment. Just 15% of Australian businesses are completely satisfied with the quality of the sustainability data they gather, down from 17% last year and below the global mark of 23%. This may be because there remains work to do to measure sustainability data directly, rather than rely on assumptions and estimates. Australian businesses trail the rest of the world when it comes to directly measuring energy consumption and emissions (72% in Australia vs. 83% globally), resource availability (73% vs. 79%), and materials use (70% vs. 76%). If our sustainability data is not complete then the decisions we make to improve the health of our planet and our businesses are cast into doubt, continued McNamara. The key is to record and report accurate, granular, and auditable sustainability data and integrate it with financial data to make the right business decisions. Australian businesses are utilising sustainability data across their ecosystem That becomes particularly important, considering Australian businesses are using sustainability data to make decisions today. Three quarters (75%) of Australian businesses use sustainability data to inform strategic and operational decision-making to a moderate or strong degree. Just 4% do not use sustainability data in decision-making at all. Yet, there are encouraging signs of progress. Over seven in ten (73%) of Australian businesses report moderate or strong tracking of Scope 1 emissions, while that number is 64% for Scope 2 emissions, and 52% for Scope 3 emissions. Similarly, Australian businesses are making sustainability demands across their ecosystem. Almost two-thirds (64%) of respondents said they require sustainability data from their suppliers to a moderate or strong degree, and 63% demand environmental impact data from partners like logistics and fulfilment. "The benefits of integrating sustainability data and outcomes into the core business are clear, concluded McNamara. But theres still so much more to do. Working with a technology partner like SAP will help more businesses measure actual sustainability data, act on it strategically, and drive competitiveness, profit, and revenue themselves. About this research SAP Insights collected data from 4750 respondents across 21 nations and 29 industries. Respondents had the highest knowledge of their organisations sustainability objectives and processes. The study was conducted in February-March 2023 via an online survey. About SAP SAPs strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent, sustainable enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: SAP customers generate 87% of total global commerce. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers businesses into intelligent enterprises. SAP helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, SAP helps the world run better and improve peoples lives. For more information, visit www.sap.com. [1] https://news.sap.com/australia/2022/11/29/sustainability-is-driving-profitability-and-competitiveness-in-australia-though-access-to-data-is-stifling-progress/ [2] Business leaders refers those with the following job titles: Vice President, Director, Unit Manager, Operations Manager, Facilities Manager, all C-Suite titles (CSO, COO, CFO, CPO, CEO, CRO) Environment or Sustainability Manager, Procurement Manager, Environmental Health & Safety Manager, Risk Manager, Public Affairs Manager. [Provisional translation] On May 20th, Mr. KISHIDA Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan sent the below message of condolence to the H.E. Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran and H.E. Mr. Mohammad Mokhber, First Vice President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, on the passing of H.E. Ayatollah Seyyed Ebrahim RAISI, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran and H.E. Dr. Amir Abdollahian, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran. "I am deeply saddened by the sudden passing of President Raisi, Foreign Minister Abdollahian, and others. Based on the long standing friendly relationship between Japan and Iran, I have had a series of candid discussions with President Raisi, through Summit Meetings and telephone talks, on the bilateral relationship between Japan and Iran and regional situation. On behalf of the Government of Japan, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the Government of Iran, the people of Iran, and the bereaved families, and to offer my sincere prayers for the repose of the souls of President Raisi, Foreign Minister Abdollahian and others who passed away." Museum of Japanese Emigration to Hawaii (Photo by Takahiro Takiguchi) Located off the coast of Iwakuni, Suo-Oshima is known as Hawaii of Setouchi thanks to its beautiful landscape, sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters, along with Hawaiian-style attire, customs, and look of its residents. On the island, there are many attractions including shops and restaurants keeping the Hawaiian-style vibe. From late June through the end of August, the island carries out a unique Aloha Biz campaign that allows staffers of town hall, banks, post offices and hotels to wear Hawaiian shirts as official attire. On Saturdays, you can catch hula dancing performances at various spots around the island as part of their Saturday Hula promotion. But, why does the island of a short 60-minute drive from MCAS Iwakuni have an Aloha State vibe? Visit the Museum of Japanese Emigration to Hawaii for some insight into this interesting history. Housed in a native wooden building, the museum was founded in 1999 to tell the story of Suo Oshima locals who migrated to Hawaii around 130 years ago. The exhibits in the museum explore the migrants stories and documents the evolution of Suo-Oshima after their children and grandchildren returned. With a lot of children, the islanders life in the 19th century was very harsh. So, they applied for the Japanese governments recruitment for emigration to overseas countries (1885 1894) and emigrated to Hawaii looking for a better life, said museum curator Eiko Kawano. Eiko Kawano, Curator of Japanese Emigration to Hawaii (Photo by Takahiro Takiguchi) Museum of Japanese Emigration to Hawaii (Photo by Takahiro Takiguchi) Museum of Japanese Emigration to Hawaii (Photo by Takahiro Takiguchi) Museum of Japanese Emigration to Hawaii (Photo by Takahiro Takiguchi) Japanese immigrants to Hawaii in the 1800s (Photo by Takahiro Takiguchi) Japanese immigrants to Hawaii in the 1800s (Photo by Takahiro Takiguchi) According to Kawano, most of the Japanese immigrants worked in sugar cane and pineapple plantations. They kept sending money to their families back home, which then contributed to the building of schools and shrines throughout the years. Descendants of these original Japanese residents have since returned and with them brought Hawaiian culture and customs. Suo-Oshima even signed a sister contract with Kauai Island in 1963 marking the strong connection and friendship they keep to this day. In recent years, a lot of Japanese Hawaiians have visited the museum in quest of their origin, according to Kawano. With a database and the documents furnished in the museum, you can look into records of 130,000 Japanese who emigrated to Hawaii from 1885 to 1908. Data of Japanese Imigrants to Hawaii in 1885-1894 (Photo by Takahiro Takiguchi) Name List of Japanese Imigrants to Hawaii in 1885-1894 (Photo by Takahiro Takiguchi) The unique museum is a short 60-minute drive from MCAS Iwakuni via 3,346-foot-long Oshima Ohashi Bridge. The island and its history make for a great day trip to get a taste of Hawaiian culture without leaving Japan. Museum of Japanese Emigration to Hawaii Open: Tues. Mon., 9:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. Location: 2144 Nishiyashiro, Suo-Oshima Town, Oshima-gun, Yamaguchi Pref. URL Admission: 400 yen; elementary/middle schoolers 200 yen Tel: 0820-74-4082 A Randolph County man was convicted Friday of stealing more than $43,000 from customers at Bob King Automotive in Winston-Salem. David Ho, 35, of Asheboro pleaded guilty to 31 counts of misdemeanor larceny in Forsyth Superior Court. Ho was initially charged with 31 counts of obtaining property by false pretense, court records show. Under a plea agreement, Judge Jason Ramey gave Ho a 45-day suspended jail sentence, put him on probation for two years and ordered Ho to pay $43,344 in restitution to Bob King Automotive. Ramey also ordered Ho to perform 60 hours of community service and fined him $1,000. Ho paid the restitution Friday at the Forsyth County Clerk of Court Office. Jane Garrity, an assistant district attorney for Forsyth County, told Ramey the fraud scheme occurred while Ho worked as a finance manager at Bob King Hyundai. Ho sold auto warranties to customers and took payments for them but never put those payments into the car dealers system, Garrity said. Bob King Automotive reimbursed each customer who lost money in the scheme, Garrity said. Ho stole money between November 2020 to May 2021, Garrity said. Jones Byrd of Winston-Salem, Hos attorney, told Ramey that Ho has accepted responsibility for his actions. Ho, a 2011 graduate of UNC Charlotte, no longer works in the auto-dealership industry, Byrd said. Ho now works at KR Solar LLC, which is based in Portland, Ore., and sells solar panels in North Carolina. He regrets the choices that brought him today, Byrd said about his client. Hes here to make things right. A company official at Bob King Automotive Group declined to comment Friday about the case. Cheryl Zeng arrived at school Monday morning thinking she'd have a fairly typical day. But instead of taking her computer science final that afternoon, the junior at Lincoln East ended up at the Steve Joel District Leadership Center, where she was told her art would soon be on display at the U.S. Capitol for the nation's leaders to admire. "I'm really lightheaded and kind of on cloud nine right now," she said following the surprise. "But it's just all crazy. And it happened so fast." Zeng was awarded first prize in Nebraska's 1st Congressional District for the annual Congressional Art Competition with her painting of the bronze, 19-foot tall Sower statue at the top of the Nebraska Capitol. One student from each district across the country is chosen to display their art in Washington, D.C. Her painting will hang beside the chosen artwork from Nebraska's 2nd and 3rd Congressional districts in a "very special walkway" in the Capitol. She also won two free plane tickets from Southwest Airlines to D.C. to view her artwork on display and attend a reception with fellow artists from across the nation. When deciding what to create for the competition, Zeng knew she wanted to create something that represented Nebraska. The iconic Sower statue was the first thing that came to mind. Then, she added aspects of the prestigious Nebraska Golden Sower Award logo a black triangle and golden circle behind the statue to further demonstrate the many things happening in the state. "It just kind of overall represents the prestige of Nebraska and how the golden Sower sees both night and day and the great things that happen here," Zeng said. Zeng's painting, along with the other submissions, were first judged by a panel of professional art teachers in the state, and then the top three were sent to Rep. Mike Flood to choose first, second and third prizes. Flood said there were over a dozen entries to choose from in the district, but when he saw Zeng's portrayal of the Sower, he knew he wanted to have it hanging in D.C. where he can explain to his fellow congressmen what the Sower is and what it represents. "It just really embodies what Nebraska is about. We grow things here. We grow corn, we grow livestock. It speaks to the agricultural nature of our state, but also to how progressive we are, that we're constantly learning," he said. "(Zeng) hit it out of the park with her summary." Top Journal Star photos for May 2024 The city and a Lincoln company finishing a $20 million addition to its companys longtime home in the Haymarket have agreed on a new plan for the parking lot the company will share with the planned South Haymarket Park. J.A. Woollam Co., which makes light-measuring instruments called spectroscopic ellipsometers, is doubling the size of its existing headquarters at Seventh and M streets in whats known as the Cotswold Building, built in 1894. When the City Council approved a redevelopment agreement with the company, city officials touted how the companys plan to build 35 parking stalls on the north and west side of the building would help integrate the area with the future park at Seventh and N streets There were to be shared parking stalls, with employees using them during working hours and park patrons on nights and weekends. But plans change. When the city and the East Downtown Development Corp. abandoned plans to build a $47.5 million mixed-use building at Seventh and N streets, the city instead decided to expand the proposed park to include that 1.5 acres, which the West Haymarket Joint Public Agency will convey to the city for $1. The new park plans include a larger skate park, a hearth feature, a community building and expanded playground. As part of those plans, the city also bought two properties owned by Bison Inc. at 540 L St. and 600 L St. The 540 L Street property will now become part of the park. And officials at Woollam, whose foundation donated $1 million to the park project in 2019, sat down with city officials at the negotiating table again. The result: a proposed land-exchange agreement between the city and the company and a new location for the parking lot. The company will give a swath of less than an acre of land north of its building (along the block where the mixed-use building was going to be near Seventh and N streets) to the city, according to the agreement and city officials. The city will give an even smaller piece of land west of the Woollam building to the company. And instead of the shared parking lot being along the north and west side of the building, it will run along the west side only, with 32 shared parking stalls on the north end and 26 public stalls farther south. As part of the agreement, the city will create a $100,000 endowment to care for the green space on the land north of the Woollam building the company gave to the city and will not add any of the park activities to that swath of land. It will also build the North Park Drive and South Park Drive, with access to parking and the park off of Sixth and L streets. The city also will create a turnaround area for Woollams commercial vehicles between the north and south parking areas. There will be sidewalks on the east and west edges of the parking area, landscaping, signs and lighting. The company has already built a wall around the north and west sides of its property and will add a pedestrian gate leading to the park. City Councilman Tom Beckius thanked the Woollam team for being a great partner on the park and their renovation. Thanks for always being willing to go back and forth as new iterations as the park come forward, he said. We really, really appreciate that ... its what makes projects like this succeed. Woollams renovations include adding 57,000 square feet of space and adding other enhancements such as facade improvements and a new dock area. The company has been in the Cotswold building since 1997, 10 years after it was founded by John Woollam as a spinoff of research he was doing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The council will vote on the agreement at its June 3 meeting, as well as the agreement with the West Haymarket JPA to convey the 1.5 acres of land at 215 S. 15th St. to the city for $1. Top Journal Star photos for May 2024 1. Yes. They look better and require less maintenance. Most high-end housing areas have them. 2. Yes. Wood fences can weather and look unsightly, plus masonry walls help to block sound. 3. No. Residents should have a choice of what kind of barriers are put up near their homes. 4. No. Allowing a variety of materials will be better for aesthetics, and costs may be lower. 5. Unsure. Its hard to say. Masonry walls may be sturdier, but mandating them is problematic. Vote View Results Mideast countries offer condolences over deaths of Iranian president, FM Xinhua) 08:44, May 21, 2024 People mourn victims of the helicopter crash near Varzaqan County, in Tehran, Iran, on May 20, 2024. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and some members of his accompanying team, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, were confirmed dead Monday morning as the wreckage of the helicopter carrying them was found following its crash in bad weather on Sunday near Varzaqan County. (Xinhua/Shadati) CAIRO, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Leaders across Middle Eastern countries on Monday offered their condolences to Iran over the deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and members of the accompanying team in a helicopter crash a day earlier. Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said on his X account that "I offer my condolences to the Iranian people on the death of Raisi, Amir-Abdollahian, and other officials following the tragic plane accident." Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi expressed condolences, emphasizing the council's solidarity with the Iranian government and people in the hard times, reported the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA). Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud sent condolences to Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber on the deaths of Raisi and some members of his accompanying delegation, said a statement carried by SPA. A woman mourns victims of the helicopter crash near Varzaqan County, in Tehran, Iran, on May 20, 2024. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and some members of his accompanying team, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, were confirmed dead Monday morning as the wreckage of the helicopter carrying them was found following its crash in bad weather on Sunday near Varzaqan County. (Xinhua/Shadati) Turkiye "stands by Iran in these painful days" and "shares grief of Iranian people," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Mokhber in a phone call on Monday, Erdogan's office said in a statement. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi extended his sincere condolences to the people of Iran, expressing the solidarity of Egypt with the leadership and people of Iran during this tragic time, the Egyptian Presidency said in a statement. President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan expressed in a message "sincere condolences and deep sympathy to Iran, its leadership and people over the painful accident," saying his country "stands in solidarity with Iran at this difficult time." Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in a message, highlighted Syria's solidarity with Iran and the families of the deceased, expressing his commitment to continuing the work initiated by Raisi to benefit both nations. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune expressed his "deep sorrow and solidarity" with the Iranian people during "this difficult time," lamenting "the loss of my brother and partner Ebrahim Raisi, with whom I was united in serving the bonds of brotherhood, cooperation, and solidarity between our two countries and peoples, and in supporting just causes." The screenshot captured from footage broadcast by Iran's state-run IRIB TV on May 19, 2024 shows a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Raisi and some members of his accompanying team were confirmed dead Monday morning after the helicopter crashed in the country's mountainous northwestern region on Sunday. (Xinhua/Shadati) Chairman of Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan on Monday eulogized Raisi, Amir-Abdollahian, and those who died in a helicopter crash, the sovereign council said in a statement. In addition, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, Tunisia's Presidency, the Libyan Foreign Ministry as well as Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants also extended condolences to the Iranian government and people. The crash occurred on Sunday in Iran's Varzaqan County as Raisi, along with his accompanying team on board three helicopters, was on his way from Khoda Afarin County, where he attended the inauguration ceremony of a storage dam with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev earlier in the day, to the provincial capital Tabriz for the inauguration of a petrochemical complex. The other members onboard Raisi's helicopter, including East Azerbaijan's Governor Malek Rahmati, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's Representative to East Azerbaijan Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, Raisi's bodyguard, as well as the flight crew, also lost their lives. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Kenosha County Executive Samantha Kerkman will deliver the 2024 State of the County address this evening. Her address will be presented to the full Kenosha County Board at its meeting that starts at 7:30 p.m. on the third floor of the county Administration Building, 1010 56th St. The meeting will also include the installation of the new class of Youth In Governance members and recognition of the outgoing class. he Youth In Governance recognition and installation will immediately follow Kerkmans speech. Youth In Governance is a leadership development program in which high school students who live in Kenosha County participate as active members of the County Boards standing committees. More information about it is available at https://kenosha.extension.wisc.edu/youth/yig/Board. Newly elected members of the Kenosha County Board underwent a morning-long orientation session Monday, covering the wide range of responsibilities of county government and their own duties as supervisors. Last months election brought the arrival of nine new supervisors to the 23-member County Board. They include: Stephanie Knezz, Andres Gama, Sarah Kirby, John Morrissey, Felix Garcia, Guida Brown, Frederick Brookhouse, Eric Meadows and Keith Gray. All were elected to two-year terms. Facilitated by Extension Kenosha County, Mondays orientation session included remarks by countywide elected officials about their offices roles and responsibilities and brief presentations by various county department and division heads. Daniel Foth, local government specialist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension, led a discussion on operational roles, Roberts Rules of Order, board procedures, open meetings law, and more. Seth William Fagan is a blackmailer, according to Onalaska police. But instead of money, he extorted nude photos from underage girls. Fagan was recently sentenced to 18 years in federal prison for receiving child pornography, and his crime has a relatively new name: sextortion. Both law enforcement and community leaders say its a danger to anyone who exchanges online messages and photos with people they dont know. When we talk to youth about this, they say its worse than you think, said Dave Konkol, justice and outreach pastor at First Free Church in Onalaska. According to prosecutors, Fagan used his Snapchat persona to solicit and receive hundreds of compromising images from underage girls and then threatened to post the images online if his victims didnt send him additional photos. Fagan, who was in his early 30s when he was contacting teen girls, reportedly gained the trust of his victims by pretending to be a teenager himself. Investigators discovered he sent messages to minors across the country, some as young as 12 years old, which triggered federal involvement. The dark side is that adults pretend to be kids, Konkol said. The case caught the attention of the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which cited Fagan in a recent press release. The department says it received 45 cybertips related to sextortion in 2023. In addition, the department reports a dramatic increase in financial sextortion, in which the offender demands money from a child. Teenage boys have been the most common targets in recent cases, the department says. Winona County has prosecuted a sextortion offense. In July 2023, police arrested 30-year-old Valentin Silva Quintana of Lewiston, Minnesota. According to court documents, Quintana used social media to threaten and exploit more than 60 girls ages 9-12 in three states and New Zealand. Quintana allegedly posed as a minor girl. Once he obtained sexually explicit photos, he threatened to disseminate them to friends and family unless his victims provided more. Outreach Winona County Sheriffs Office investigator Mark Dungy has been a member of the Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children task force since 2017. He said informing the community about the dangers is critical. The Winona County Sheriffs Office has done community outreach and education as well to help parents and children better understand the dangerous of sextortion and other online solicitation of minors, Dungy said. Konkol also stresses education. The Onalaska church has launched a human trafficking ministry to raise awareness about sexual predators and how they use the internet to lure victims. The actual use of social media to blackmail girls and its mainly girls has been going on for quite a while, Konkol said. So many young people want to be popular. They want to have likes and shares. He blamed much of the problem on internet pornography. When I was a teenager, if I wanted to look at Playboy or Hustler, I would have had to drive to find it somewhere, Konkol said. Today, if youre an 8-year-old and you have a phone, youre one click away from pornography. While Fagan and Quintana were local and subject to arrest and prosecution, many predators operate from abroad and are beyond the reach of law enforcement. Dungy said law enforcement has limited options for stopping predators who operate overseas. Predators from other countries can create some difficulties in pursuing cases and getting cooperation, Dungy said. All ages at risk Chippewa Falls Police Chief Ryan Douglas said more than just young people are at risk. He said adults can find themselves in compromising situations through online dating services. A lot of people meet up online these days, Douglas said. He urged people to use common sense when dealing with someone online they dont know. We strongly advise people not to send pictures, Douglas said. Konkol believes the efforts of his church, which includes speakers, events and documentaries, are having a positive impact. As a church, we want to make sure children and parents know whats going on, he said. Weve had teenagers who have seen the presentations, and they tell us theyre thankful they saw it. Despite thunderstorms and a downpour, UW-La Crosse officials and donors christened a new research vessel Tuesday morning. With a crash of glass, the Research Vessel Prairie Springs was blessed with good luck and safe travels for its expeditions in freshwater science. The new ship is 32 feet of aluminum fitted with twin 225-horsepower engines for traversing the Mississippi and other rivers at over 40 mph. With the catamaran hull only reaching 20 inches deep, the ship is designed with shallow backwaters in mind. UW-L acquired the vessel through a $500,000 gift from Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust. Fleckenstein died in May 2011, but donations continue through the trust organized by his sister, Carolyn Scott, and her husband, Jay Scott. The Paul Fleckenstein Trust previously funded $2 million of the $82 million Prairie Springs Science Center project at UW-L which was named after the trust fund. Another science center at Carroll University in Waukesha is also named after the trust whose donors gave $1 million to the universitys project. Carolyn Scott was given the christening honors. The ceremonial bottle was wrapped in a net to prevent broken glass from entering the riverbed. After receiving the blessing, the boat shot north upriver for a test cruise, returning back for one final look from the crowd. The vessel will help the River Studies Center with freshwater research in the rich Mississippi River. Research Vessel Prairie Springs is equipped with water sampling tools, sediment sampling, sonar equipment and river mapping features all fitted for educational projects. Eric Strauss, director of the River Studies Center, called it the new flagship of the centers fleet. It is head and shoulders above our other vessels as far as size, technology, functionality and the overall ability to support impactful research and learning by our students and faculty, Strauss said. We spent considerable time researching and thinking about how we wanted to design and equip the vessel to meet our needs and have the biggest impact. Were thrilled with how it came together, and to finally see it out on the water. Strauss added there are already a handful of classes working to implement the boat into their course work, including some high school classes. Marine construction group JF Brennan will be in charge of maintaining the vehicle. For its contributions maintaining the research fleet, JF Brennan was awarded the Universities of Wisconsins 2024 Regents Business Partnership Award. The China-California Business Forum was held in Los Angeles on Monday, bringing together officials, business organizations and companies of the two countries with the goal of expanding business ties and subnational cooperation. Addressing the event, Chinese Consul General in Los Angeles Guo Shaochun said China is California's largest trading partner and California has the largest presence of Chinese-invested companies among all states in the United States. The bilateral economic and trade cooperation has facilitated growth in employment and economy, benefiting the peoples of both China and the United States. In 2023, China was California's top trading partner with two-way trade amounting to over 137 billion U.S. dollars. More than half of the containers entering and leaving the Port of Los Angeles are for trade with China, and 70 percent of the cargo volume at the Port of Long Beach is China-related, according to Guo. Calling the China-California Business Forum an important platform for deeper communication and broader business opportunities, Guo said the forum will vitalize subnational cooperation and promote the sound, stable and sustainable development of China-U.S. relations. Lieutenant Governor of the state of California Eleni Kounalakis said the relationship between California and China is special, citing California's location on the Pacific Rim, large Chinese American community, significant trading activities and student exchanges. "All of those have led to the creation of longstanding and respectful friendship," she said. This year's forum is joined by a Chinese delegation consisting of over 150 top business leaders and trade officials from dozens of provinces. Shanghai is the Guest City of Honor this year. Mayor of Shanghai Gong Zheng said that in recent years, the exchanges and cooperation between Shanghai and Californian cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco have been further expanded. Shanghai expects to further enhance substantial cooperation with California in such areas as science and technological innovation, trade and investment, tourism, cultural exchanges and green development, in a bid to achieve high-level win-win cooperation, Gong said. Karen Bass, mayor of Los Angeles, stressed the close bonds between China and Los Angeles. China is the sixth largest source of foreign-owned businesses in Los Angeles, and the third largest export market for L.A. dairy companies. Nearly 250 businesses from China have expanded to Los Angeles creating jobs and economic opportunity. Over the last ten years, L.A. companies have exported more than 60 billion dollars in goods to China. China's ports are the most significant trading partners on the port of Los Angeles, according to Bass. Amy Tong, secretary of California Government Operation, said California has long been a hub for cultural exchanges between China and the United States, helping Chinese visitors to feel welcomed at home and fostering rich artistic dialogues. Numerous museums, galleries and cultural institutions of California have events showcasing Chinese arts, calligraphy, music and dance. Events like the Chinese New Year celebrations further strengthen ties and promote mutual understanding, Tong said. California is also home to some of the world top universities and research institutions, attracting a significant number of Chinese students and scholars, she added. "Ultimately, as two of the biggest economies in the world, we hope our relationship can serve as a positive force for good, and remind the world what we have to gain by working together and towards peace and share prosperity," Tong noted. The forum focused on a number of important sectors, including clean technologies, e-commerce, agriculture, infrastructure and innovation. A series of memorandum of understanding (MoU) were signed during the event to boost trade cooperation between China and California, including one between World Trade Center Los Angeles and Shanghai Foreign Investment Development Board, and another between San Francisco International Airport and Shanghai Airport Authority. The China-California Business Forum is an annual economic and trade event under the China Provinces and U.S. California Joint Working Framework for Trade and Investment cooperation. The event was founded to boost the pragmatic cooperation in trade and investment between California and related provinces and cities in China. Starting from 2016, the previous five forums have drawn in over 2,100 attendees, addressing an array of topics including clean technology, e-commerce, agriculture, infrastructure, innovation cooperation and more. A surge in foreign investment recorded in the coastal city of Tianjin reflects the confidence of multinational corporations in the Chinese market, officials and experts said. On Wednesday, US-based pet food company Mars and Sino-German joint venture FAW-Volkswagen announced new investments of up to 3.3 billion yuan ($414.9 million) in the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA), a pivotal zone within the Binhai New Area. FAW-Volkswagen signed an agreement with the administrative committee of TEDA to invest over 2.3 billion yuan in the FAW-Volkswagen Tianjin Plant. It plans to roll out three SUV models under the Audi and Volkswagen brands at the factory by 2026. Mars also inaugurated operations on Wednesday of its new Tianjin pet food factory, which was built with an investment of $137 million. Ikdeep Singh, president of Mars Pet Nutrition Global, said, "The new factory is a crucial addition to our global supply chain, enabling us to respond promptly to the diverse needs of Chinese pet owners with flexibility and efficiency." Singh said the company will further solidify its relationships with Chinese suppliers, customers, and pet owners, expanding Mars' business in Tianjin. He said he believes "the new factory signifies a commitment to positively contribute to the global evolution of pet care". Gao Jiefang, general manager of FAW-Volkswagen Tianjin branch, said that the new lineup will enhance the company's market presence in the new energy segment in North China. "This new lineup is aimed at the increasingly high-end segment of the Chinese market," he added. In agreement with Gao, Hong Shicong, head of the administrative committee of TEDA, said, "The area is prepared to promptly meet demand from foreign and joint venture companies, tailoring its services for their quality growth." According to the Ministry of Commerce, in the first quarter, some 12,000 foreign companies established a foothold in China, marking a 20.7 percent increase year-on-year. These figures contradict arguments suggesting some foreign investment outflow from China. Wang Yujing, a professor at the School of Economics, Tianjin University of Commerce, said: "The data from the first quarter and the recent influx of new investments on May 15 indicate a strong confidence among foreign investors in the Chinese market. "This trend demonstrates that multinational corporations are solidifying their industrial chains and market presence, entering a virtuous cycle in China. "It also means China's investment climate is ever improvingrestricting investments in certain countries is not a widespread and wise practice among multinational corporations." The American space travel company Blue Origin announced that it sent 90-year-old Ed Dwight into space, making him the oldest space traveler. The company said Dwight was the first Black astronaut candidate and was picked personally by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. But it said Dwight was not chosen to be among the next group of astronauts. Dwight spent a few minutes of weightlessness with five other passengers on the Blue Origin spacecraft. It reached the edge of space for about 10 minutes. Dwight called the flight a life changing experience. With the flight, Dwight passed Star Trek actor William Shatner as the oldest person to reach space. Shatners flight took place in 2021. Dwight joined four businessmen from the U.S. and France. The cost of the trip for each was not released. Blue Origin said Dwights flight was paid for by Space for Humanity, a nonprofit group based in Denver, Colorado. The group aims to send people of many different backgrounds into space as citizen astronauts. Dwight was in a test pilot program at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The program called The Right Stuff was the training ground for early astronauts. After being passed over, he retired from the military in 1966. He later became a sculptor who made statues of Civil Rights leaders including Martin Luther King, Jr., Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and others. The U.S. space agency NASA announced Guion Bluford as the first Black astronaut in 1978, Bluford first reached space in 1983. The former Soviet Union placed the first person with African and Cuban ancestry, Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez, into orbit in 1980. The stories of Dwight and Bluford are among those told in the documentary movie from National Geographic called The Space Race. It is about Black astronauts. Dwights flight on May 19 was the first launch with a crew for Blue Origin in nearly two years. All flights were grounded after an accident in 2022. Flights without a crew restarted last December. Sundays flight was the seventh to carry space tourists. Businessman and founder of Amazon Jeff Bezos also started started Blue Origin, a company that seeks to make space tourism popular. After completing his flight on Blue Origins spacecraft, Dwight said, I thought I really didnt need this in my life, but added, But now, I need it in my lifeI am ecstatic. Im Mario Ritter, Jr. The Associated Press reported this story. Mario Ritter, Jr. adapted it for VOA Learning English with additional sources of information. _________________________________________________ Words in This Story grounded adj. not permitted to fly tourist n. a person who travels for enjoyment and not for business reasons ecstatic adj. extremely happy and excited We want to hear from you. Our comment policy is here. A Danish businessmans large coin collection is set to go on sale one hundred years after his death. The collection could be worth up to $72 million. Lars Emil Bruun directed lawyers what to do with the coin collection after his death in a legal document called a will. In it, Bruun required that his collection of about 20,000 coins be kept safe for 100 years before being sold. Deeply moved by the destruction of World War I and fearing another war, Bruun wanted the collection to be a reserve for Denmark. Now, over a hundred years since Bruuns death at the age of 71 in 1923, the collection will begin to be sold. New York-based Stacks Bowers, a rare coin auction house, will begin selling the collection this fall. Several sales are planned. On its website, the auction house calls it the most valuable collection of world coins to ever come to market. The collections existence has not been widely known, and the public has never seen it before. When I first heard about the collection, I was in disbelief, said Vicken Yegparian of Stacks Bowers Galleries. Weve had collections that have been off the market for 100 years plus, he said. But theyre extremely well known internationally. This one has been the best open secret ever. Born in 1852, Bruun began to collect coins as a boy in the 1850s and 1860s. Years later, he grew very rich selling the milk product, butter. His wealth permitted him to continue his hobby. Bruun went to auctions, and he built a large collection that came to include 20,000 coins, medals, tokens and banknotes from Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Following World War I, Bruun left exact instructions in his will for the collection. For a period of 100 years after my death, the collection shall serve as a reserve for the Royal Coin and Medal Collection, the will said. It added, Should the next century pass with the national collection intact, it shall be sold at public auction and the proceeds shall accrue to the persons who are my direct descendants. Some descendants tried to break the will and get money early. But they were not successful. I think the will and testament were pretty ironclad. There was no loophole, Yegparian said. Yegparian estimated some pieces may sell for just $50, but others could be sold for over $1 million. He said possible buyers were requesting a list of the objects before the auction was announced. The collection first remained at the former Danish royal residence of Frederiksborg Castle. Later, it was stored at Denmarks National Bank. Denmarks National Museum had the right to purchase some of the coins before the public. The National Museum purchased seven rare coins from Bruuns collection. Six of the coins were gold and one was silver. They all were made between the 15th and 17th centuries by Danish or Norwegian rulers. A supporting group paid the cost of over $1.1 million. Helle Horsnaes, a coin expert at the national museum, used the term unique meaning one of a kind to talk about those coins. She said, We chose coins that were unique. They are describedas the only existing specimen of this kind. Horsnaes expressed wonder about the collection: The pure fact that this collection has been closed for a hundred years makes it a legend. Im John Russell. James Brooks reported on this story for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English. ______________________________________________ Words in This Story coin n. metal money that is round in shape reserve n. something set aside for a particular purpose, use, or reason auction n. a sale of something to the highest bidder hobby n. an activity done for fun or relaxation intact adj. untouched or unharmed accrue v. to come into existence as a legally enforceable claim; to come as a direct result of something testament n. an act by which a person outlines the uses of his or her property after death ironclad adj. very firm or secure loophole n. an unclear or doubtful item in a text through which the intent of a contract or obligation may be evaded specimen n. an individual or item considered typical of a group Iranian state media reported Monday that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other top officials died in a helicopter crash in the countrys northwest. The helicopter crashed on Sunday in bad weather in Irans East Azerbaijan province. Search crews found the wreckage Monday. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian was also among those killed. The Iranian officials were returning to Iran after attending the opening of a joint dam project at the Iran-Azerbaijan border. Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced five days of mourning. He appointed Vice President Mohammad Mokhber as acting president. Mokhber then named Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani as foreign minister caretaker, a Cabinet official said. An election for a new president is set to take place in the next 50 days. Raisi was 63 years old. He was elected president in 2021. Most of his main opponents were barred from running in the election, which had record low turnout among voters. Raisi, an ultraconservative, had strong support from Khamenei. On Sunday, Iranian state television showed video of government supporters gathering in different parts of the country to pray for Raisis safe return. Images published on social media Sunday showed opponents of Irans Islamist rulers setting off fireworks in several places to celebrate the possibility of Raisis death. VOAs Persian Service examined the images and said they are credible, or real. But it could not independently confirm the reason for the fireworks. VOA is barred from reporting inside Iran. In one video, a woman identifies the location of fireworks as southern Tehran. In another video, a man reacts to what he says are fireworks in the city of Saqqez in northwestern Irans Kurdistan province. Reactions from world leaders Governments around the world reacted to the news of Raisis death. Pakistan, Lebanon, Iraq and other nations announced a period of mourning. Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev said Monday that he was deeply shocked by the heavy loss. Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Raisi as an outstanding politician. He called him a true friend of Russia. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi expressed Egypts solidarity with the leadership and people of Iran in this great loss. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was shocked by the development. He added that India stands with Iran in this time of sorrow. European Council President Charles Michel said the European Union expresses its sincere condolences. Our thoughts go to the families, Michel said. I'm Ashley Thompson. VOA News reported this story. Ashley Thompson adapted it for VOA Learning English, with additional materials from The Associated Press. ________________________________________________ Words in This Story province - n. any one of the large parts that some countries are divided into opponent - n. a person, group, etc., that is against something (such as an action, law, or system) solidarity - n. a feeling of unity between people who have the same interests, goals, etc. condolences - n. a feeling or expression of sympathy and sadness especially when someone is suffering because of the death of a family member, a friend, etc. sorrow - n. a feeling of sadness or grief caused especially by the loss of someone or something For the first time, researchers have identified a genetic form of late-in-life Alzheimers disease. Alzheimers is a disease of the brain that causes people to lose their memory and mental abilities as they grow old. Scientists have long known a gene called APOE4 is one of the many things that can increase a persons risk for Alzheimers. One risk includes simply getting old; most Alzheimers cases appear after age 65. But new research suggests that a cause of the disease is carrying two copies of the APOE4 gene. People with two copies of APOE4 inherited the gene from both parents. Those patients may experience signs of Alzheimers seven to 10 years sooner than other adults who develop Alzheimers, the research found. Dr. Juan Fortea led the study. He is with the Sant Pau Reasearch Institute in Barcelona, Spain. He said the findings mark a difference with profound implications. An estimated 15 percent of Alzheimers patients carry two copies of APOE4. Those cases can be tracked back to a cause and the cause is in the genes, Fortea said. Until now, genetic forms of Alzheimers were thought to be only kinds that appear at much younger ages. They were also thought to make up less than one percent of all cases. Scientists say the new research shows the importance of developing treatments that target the APOE4 genes. Dr. Reisa Sperling is with Harvards Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston. She helped write the study, which appeared recently in the publication Nature Medicine. She said some doctors will not offer the only drug that has been shown to slow the disease, Leqembi, to people with the gene pair. She said that they are not offered the drug because those patients are at an especially high risk of developing a dangerous side effect. Sperling studies ways to prevent or at least delay Alzheimers. She said, This data for me says wow, what an important group to be able to go after before they become symptomatic. But the news does not mean people should race for a gene test. She told The Associated Press, Its important not to scare everyone who has a family history of Alzheimers. She said the gene pair is not the cause of most cases of the disease. How do genetics affect Alzheimers? More than 6 million Americans, and millions more worldwide, have Alzheimers. Some genes are known to cause rare early-onset forms. This is where changes in the genes are passed through families that can cause symptoms to appear by age 50. But Alzheimers most commonly appears after 65. Most cases begin after the age of 70. The APOE gene was known to play some part. Most people carry the APOE3 gene that appears to neither increase nor decrease Alzheimers risk. Some carry APOE2, which provides some protection against Alzheimers. APOE4 has long been called the biggest genetic risk factor for late-in-life Alzheimers, with two copies riskier than one. About two percent of the worlds population is estimated to have a copy of the gene from both parents. Research points to a cause for a kind of Alzheimers Forteas team used data from over 3,000 brains donated for research and from more than 10,000 people in U.S. and European Alzheimers studies. The teams aim was to better understand genes role in Alzheimers. They examined symptoms and early signs of Alzheimers such as sticky amyloid in the brain. Amyloid is a protein that can exist in different body parts, including the brain, with certain diseases. The researchers found that people with two APOE4 copies were gaining more amyloid at age 55 than those with just one copy of APOE4. They were also gaining more amyloid than people who had the neutral APOE3 gene. By age 65, brain imaging showed large amounts of harmful amyloid buildup in nearly 75 percent of individuals with two copies of APOE4. Those individuals were also more likely to have beginning Alzheimers symptoms by that age rather than later in life. Sperling noted that not everyone with two APOE4 genes develops Alzheimers symptoms. Researchers hope to learn why. How the new findings may affect Alzheimers research and treatment The drug Leqembi works by clearing away some amyloid in patients brains. But Sperling said it is not clear if carriers of two APOE4 genes gain from taking the drug. That is because they have such a high risk of brain swelling and bleeding. One research question is whether patients with two APOE4 genes should start such drugs sooner than other people. Dr. Eliezer Masliah of the National Institute on Aging said other research aims to develop gene therapy or drugs that target APOE4. He said it is important to understand APOE4s effects in different populations. So far, studies related to APOE4 have mostly involved white people of European ancestry. Im Anna Matteo. And Im Gregory Stachel. Lauran Neergaard reported this story for The Associated Press. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English. Quiz - Study: Gene May Cause Alzheimers in Some Cases Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz ______________________________________________ Words in This Story profound adj. very great implications n. a possible future effect or result symptoms n. a change in the body or mind which indicates that a disease is present track v. to follow and find (someone or something) especially by looking at evidence factor n. something that helps produce or influence a result swelling adj. something that helps produce or influence a result therapy n. the treatment of physical or mental illnesses Taten Tart is a traditional French apple pie inside out. It not only looks unusual and beautiful but is also extremely flavorful and easy to prepare. ADVERTISIMENT Food blogger Olga Ryabenko told us how to fill your kitchen with the incredible flavor of France and make a pie that everyone will love. She shared a detailed recipe for this dish on Instagram. Ingredients for the dough: Egg 1 pc Water 50 ml Flour 250 gr Butter 125 gr Salt 5 g Can be replaced with purchased puff pastry. Ingredients for the filling: Hard apples 5 pcs Sugar 60 g Cognac (optional) 30 ml Honey 50 grams Sour cream 30% for serving Method of preparation: 1. Peel the apples, and core and cut them in half. ADVERTISIMENT 2. Put butter and sugar in a frying pan. Add the apples and cook until caramelized. 3. Pour in the cognac and cook for another 5 minutes. 4. Cover the mold with parchment. Drizzle with honey and put the apples. 5. Roll out the dough, 0.5 cm thick. Cut out a circle to shape. 6. Cover the apples and fold the edges inward. Make punctures with a fork. 7. Bake at 180 for 40 minutes. 8. Cover the mold with a plate and turn the cake over. Serve with honey and sour cream. ADVERTISIMENT Rajiv Gandhi, the 46-year-old former Indian prime minister, has been assassinated. He was campaigning for the Congress Party on the second day of voting in the worlds largest democratic election when a powerful bomb, hidden in a basket of flowers, exploded killing him instantly. At least 14 other people were also killed in the attack in the town of Sriperumbudur, about 30 miles from Madras, the capital of the southern state of Tamil Nadu. No-one has admitted carrying out the murder but it is being blamed on Mr Gandhis arch enemies, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a violent guerrilla group fighting for a separate homeland for Tamils on the island of Sri Lanka. Rajiv Gandhis death has shocked the world and marks the end of the Nehru dynasty that had led India for all but five years since independence from Britain. After his brother Sanjay was killed in an air crash in 1980, he gave up his job as an airline pilot and was elected to Sanjays parliamentary seat. He became prime minister after his mother, Indira Gandhi, was assassinated by her own Sikh bodyguards in 1984. Often seen as a reluctant leader, he and his Congress Party won a record majority later that year. He encouraged foreign investment, a freer economy and rejuvenated his own party, ridding it of his mothers unelected cronies. After he lost the election in 1989, Rajiv Gandhi resigned. This time, the Congress Party was expected to win the largest number of parliamentary seats but not overall control against the Hindu BJP Party and the Janata Dal, now split into two parties. The campaign has been marred by sectarian violence between Hindus and Muslims in what has proved to be the most violent election in Indian history. Two hundred people have already been killed. Courtesy BBC News In context It later emerged that a female Tamil Tiger (LTTE) suicide bomber had assassinated Rajiv Gandhi. In 1987 Mr Gandhi, then prime minister, had sent Indian peacekeeping forces to Sri Lanka in a disastrous attempt to impose peace in the country. The move proved unpopular both at home and abroad and his troops pulled out in 1990. A year after Mr Gandhis death, the Tamil Tigers were outlawed in India. PV Narasimha Rao, succeeded Gandhi as Congress leader and became Indias prime minister later that year. After a number of bribery scandals, the party was heavily defeated in the 1996 elections. But its popularity was revived in 1998 by Mr Gandhis Italian-born widow Sonia who took over as leader and returned the party to power in the 2004 elections. She refused to become prime minister herself, however, and the job went to former finance minister Manmohan Singh. Eventually, the BJP returned to power and is currently run by the Hindu fundamentalists. You are here: Business China's service outsourcing industry saw robust expansion in the first four months of this year, the Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday. Chinese firms inked services outsourcing contracts worth a total of nearly 781.43 billion yuan (about 110 billion U.S. dollars) in the four-month period, up 14.4 percent year on year, according to the ministry. The executed contract value stood at 520.51 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.9 percent. Of the total, the value of offshore service outsourcing contracts rose 8.6 percent year on year to 419.04 billion yuan. In the January-April period, the industry welcomed about 301,000 new hires, with 84.7 percent of these individuals holding a university degree or above. Outsourcing refers to hiring an outside party to carry out services or produce goods typically undertaken by in-house employees. No matter how the political situation on the Taiwan island changes, it will not change the historical and legal facts that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one China, and the historical trend that China will eventually be reunified and will inevitably be reunified, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said yesterday. Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily press briefing in response to a related query. He said that the vast majority of countries and international and regional organizations in the world stand firmly with the Chinese government and people, and support Chinas just cause of opposing Taiwan independence and promoting reunification. Certain politicians from a few countries engage in political manipulation and personal shows on Taiwan-related issues, which has seriously interfered in Chinas internal affairs and violated the one-China principle, said Wang. China strongly condemns such moves and will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Wang said the general trend of history in unstoppable, and Taiwan independence is doomed to run into a dead end. There is no way out for external forces to interfere in Chinas internal affairs and condone and support Taiwan independence, and using Taiwan to contain China is bound to fail. The day will come when China is completely reunified, said the spokesperson. MAINLAND SAYS LAI SENDS DANGEROUS SIGNAL A spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council said Lai Ching-te has sent a dangerous signal of seeking Taiwan independence and making provocations to undermine cross-Strait peace and stability in his speech upon assuming the role of Taiwan regions new leader. Chen Binhua described Lais speech as one that stubbornly followed the Taiwan independence stance, wantonly advocated separatism, incited cross-Strait confrontation and sought independence by relying on foreign support and by force. Chen said the mainstream public aspiration on the island is for peace and development, instead of war and recession, while Lai has ignored the public opinion, exposing his nature of being a worker for Taiwan independence. PLA TO COUNTER ALL INDEPENDENCE ACTIVITIES Last week, the Ministry of National Defense said China will resolutely and decisively counter all activities and external support of Taiwan independence. Spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang made the remarks on Friday in response to a media query about recent military interactions between the United States and Chinas Taiwan region. Zhang urged the United States to be fully aware of the sensitivity of the Taiwan question, cease any form of official exchanges and military contacts with the Taiwan region, and refrain from sending wrong signals to the separatists advocating Taiwan independence. He also warned that the attempts made by Taiwans Democratic Progressive Party authorities to seek independence with the support of the United States and resist reunification with force are doomed to fail. Xinhua Reporters, Xinhua Macau students can now apply to 18 mainland Chinese universities using their results from the Four-University Joint Entrance Examination, according to the Education and Youth Development Bureau. South China Agricultural University will join the program this year, allowing Macau students direct entry. Students who hold a Macau ID card and return permit for the joint exam between May and June can submit their scores and documents to the universities of their choice. Professional programs may require subject exams or interviews. Admission decisions are expected in mid-to-late July. The program gives Macau students expanded access to a mainland Chinese higher education based on a common entrance assessment. Related With an assist from Paul McCartney the Paralympic Games starts its 100-day race yesterday to the opening ceremony in Paris in August. The former Beatle has let We All Stand Together the signature tune from an award-winning animated film he wrote and produced 40 years ago be used in a promotional film for the International Paralympic Committee. Sir Paul really understands what we stand for as a movement and he was so generous to us, IPC president Andrew Parsons told The Associated Press. He was not difficult to convince, it was something that came very naturally. In 100 days from yesterday, the Summer Paralympics opening ceremony on Aug. 28 will play out along a section of the Champs-Elysees and Place de la Concorde. We have probably the most famous avenue in the world, Parsons said in a recent interview. That is really exciting. The city is really embracing Paralympic athletes, athletes with disabilities. MDT/AP The Philippines blamed Chinese fishermen yesterday for a massive loss of giant clams in a disputed shoal controlled by Chinas coast guard in the South China Sea and urged an international inquiry into the amount of environmental damage in the area. The Philippine coast guard presented surveillance photographs of Chinese fishermen harvesting large numbers of giant clams for a number of years in a lagoon at Scarborough Shoal, but said signs of such activities stopped in March 2019. Parts of the surrounding coral appeared to be badly scarred, in what the coast guard said was apparently a futile search by the Chinese for more clams. The lagoon is a prominent fishing area which Filipinos call Bajo de Masinloc and the Chinese calll Huangyan Dao off the northwestern Philippines. Those were the last remaining giant clams that we saw in Bajo de Masinloc, Philippine coast guard spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela said at a news conference. We are alarmed and worried about the situation thats happening there, National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said. He said China should allow an independent inquiry by experts from the United Nations and environmental groups. The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Beijing has repeatedly asserted its sovereignty over much of the busy South China Sea. The territorial disputes involve China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. The Indonesian navy has also been involved in skirmishes with the Chinese coast guard and fishing vessels in the Natuna waters in the margins of the South China Sea. The Philippines has adopted a policy of publicizing Chinas increasingly assertive actions in the contested waters to gain international support, and the news conference was its latest effort to condemn Chinas stewardship of Scarborough Shoal. MDT/AP Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the countrys foreign minister and several other officials were found dead yesterday, hours after their helicopter crashed in a foggy, mountainous region of the countrys northwest, state media reported. The crash comes as the Middle East remains unsettled by the Israel-Hamas war, during which Raisi, who was 63, under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel just last month. Khamenei announced that Irans first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, would serve as the countrys acting president until elections are held. During Raisis term in office, Iran enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels, further escalating tensions with the West as Tehran also supplied bomb-carrying drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine and armed militia groups across the region. Meanwhile, Iran has faced years of mass protests against its Shiite theocracy over the ailing economy and womens rights making the moment that much more sensitive for Tehran and the future of the country. Among the dead was Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, 60. The helicopter also carried the governor of Irans East Azerbaijan province, a senior cleric from Tabriz, three crew members and a Revolutionary Guard official, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. IRNA said the crash killed eight people in all, including three crew members, aboard the Bell helicopter, which Iran purchased in the early 2000s. Aircraft in Iran face a shortage of parts, often flying without safety checks against the backdrop of Western sanctions. Because of that, former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sought to blame the United States for the crash in an interview yesterday. One of the main culprits of yesterdays tragedy is the United States, which embargoed the sale of aircraft and aviation parts to Iran and does not allow the people of Iran to enjoy good aviation facilities, Zarif said. These will be recorded in the list of US crimes against the Iranian people. State TV gave no immediate cause for the crash that occurred in Irans East Azerbaijan province. The U.S. has yet to comment publicly on Raisis death. Ali Bagheri Kani, a nuclear negotiator for Iran, will serve as the countrys acting foreign minister, state TV said. Early yesterday, Turkish authorities released what they described as drone footage showing what appeared to be a fire in the wilderness that they suspected to be wreckage of helicopter. The coordinates listed in the footage put the fire some 20 kilometers, south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border on the side of a steep mountain. Footage released by IRNA showed what the agency described as the crash site, across a steep valley in a green mountain range. Soldiers speaking in the local Azeri language said: There it is, we found it. Condolences started pouring in from neighbors and allies after Iran confirmed there were no survivors from the crash. Pakistan announced a day of mourning and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X that his country stands with Iran in this time of sorrow. Leaders of Egypt and Jordan also offered condolences, as did Syrian President Bashar Assad. Lebanon and Syria both declared three days of mourning. Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev said he and his government were deeply shocked Raisi was returning on Sunday after traveling to Irans border with Azerbaijan to inaugurate a dam with Aliyev when the crash happened. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Chinas Xi Jinping conveyed their condolences. Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a statement released by the Kremlin, described Raisi as a true friend of Russia. Khamenei, who had himself urged the public to pray Sunday night, stressed the business of Irans government would continue no matter what. Under the Iranian constitution, Irans vice first president takes over if the president dies, with Khameneis assent, and a new presidential election would be called within 50 days. Khameneis condolence message yesterday over Raisis death, declared five days of public mourning and acknowledged Mokhber had taken the role of acting president. Mokhber had already begun receiving calls from officials and foreign governments in Raisis absence, state media reported. An emergency meeting of Irans Cabinet was held as state media made the announcement yesterday morning. The Cabinet issued a statement afterward pledging it would follow Raisis path and that with the help of God and the people, there will be no problem with management of the country. A hard-liner who formerly led the countrys judiciary, Raisi was viewed as a protege of Khamenei and some analysts had suggested he could replace the 85-year-old leader after Khameneis death or resignation. With Raisis death, the only other person so far suggested has been Mojtaba Khameini, the 55-year-old son to the supreme leader. However, some have raised concerns over the position being taken only for the third time since 1979 to a family member, particularly after the Islamic Revolution overthrew the hereditary Pahlavi monarchy of the shah. Raisi won Irans 2021 presidential election, a vote that saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republics history. Raisi is sanctioned by the U.S. in part over his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 at the end of the bloody Iran-Iraq war. Under Raisi, Iran launched a massive drone-and-missile attack on Israel amid its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It also has continued arming proxy groups in the Mideast, like Yemens Houthi rebels and Lebanons Hezbollah. Raisi is the second Iranian president to die in office. In 1981, a bomb blast killed President Mohammad Ali Rajai in the chaotic days after the countrys Islamic Revolution. JON GAMBRELL, Dubai, MDT/AP South Korea is set to host a mini-summit this week on risks and regulation of artificial intelligence, following up on an inaugural AI safety meeting in Britain last year that drew a diverse crowd of tech luminaries, researchers and officials. The gathering in Seoul aims to build on work started at the U.K. meeting on reining in threats posed by cutting edge artificial intelligence systems. Here is what you need to know about the AI Seoul Summit and AI safety issues. INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS MADE The Seoul summit is one of many global efforts to create guardrails for the rapidly advancing technology that promises to transform many aspects of society, but has also raised concerns about new risks for both everyday life such as algorithmic bias that skews search results and potential existential threats to humanity. At Novembers U.K. summit, held at a former secret wartime codebreaking base in Bletchley north of London, researchers, government leaders, tech executives and members of civil society groups, many with opposing views on AI, huddled in closed-door talks. Tesla CEO Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman mingled with politicians like British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Delegates from more than two dozen countries including the U.S. and China signed the Bletchley Declaration, agreeing to work together to contain the potentially catastrophic risks posed by galloping advances in artificial intelligence. In March, the U.N. General Assembly approved its first resolution on artificial intelligence, lending support to an international effort to ensure the powerful new technology benefits all nations, respects human rights and is safe, secure and trustworthy. Earlier this month, the U.S. and China held their first high-level talks on artificial intelligence in Geneva to discuss how to address the risks of the fast-evolving technology and set shared standards to manage it. There, U.S. officials raised concerns about Chinas misuse of AI while Chinese representatives rebuked the U.S. over restrictions and pressure on artificial intelligence, according to their governments. TOPICS OF DISCUSSION AT THE SEOUL SUMMIT The May 21-22 meeting is co-hosted by the South Korean and U.K. governments. On day one, today, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Sunak will meet leaders virtually. A few global industry leaders have been invited to provide updates on how theyve been fulfilling the commitments made at the Bletchley summit to ensure the safety of their AI models. On day two, digital ministers will gather for an in-person meeting hosted by South Korean Science Minister Lee Jong-ho and Britains Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan. Participants will share best practices and concrete action plans. They also will share ideas on how to protect society from potentially negative impacts of AI on areas such as energy use, workers and the proliferation of mis- and disinformation, according to the organizers. The meeting has been dubbed a mini virtual summit, serving as an interim meeting until a full-fledged in-person edition that France has pledged to hold. The digital ministers meeting is to include representatives from countries like the United States, China, Germany, France and Spain and companies including ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Anthropic. PROGRESS OF AI SAFETY EFFORTS MADE The accord reached at the U.K. meeting was light on details and didnt propose a way to regulate the development of AI. The United States and China came to the last summit. But when we look at some principles announced after the meeting, they were similar to what had already been announced after some U.N. and OECD meetings, said Lee Seong-yeob, a professor at the Graduate School of Management of Technology at Seouls Korea University. There was nothing new. Its important to hold a global summit on AI safety issues, he said, but it will be considerably difficult for all participants to reach agreements since each country has different interests and different levels of domestic AI technologies and industries. The gathering is being held as Meta, OpenAI and Google roll out the latest versions of their AI models. The original AI Safety Summit was conceived as a venue for hashing out solutions for so-called existential risks posed by the most powerful foundation models that underpin general purpose AI systems like ChatGPT. Pioneering computer scientist Yoshua Bengio, dubbed one of the godfathers of AI, was tapped at the U.K. meeting to lead an expert panel tasked with drafting a report on the state of AI safety. An interim version of the report released on Friday to inform discussions in Seoul identified a range of risks posed by general purpose AI, including its malicious use to increase the scale and sophistication of frauds and scams, supercharge the spread of disinformation, or create new bioweapons. Malfunctioning AI systems could spread bias in areas like healthcare, job recruitment and financial lending, while the technologys potential to automate a big range of tasks also poses systemic risks to the labor market, the report said. South Korea hopes to use the Seoul summit to take the initiative in formulating global governance and norms for AI. But some critics say the country lacks AI infrastructure advanced enough to play a leadership role in such governance issues. HYUNG-JIN KIM & KELVIN CHAN, SEOUL, MDT/AP A task force for the simplification of procedures and road safety from the Traffic Advisory Committee (CCT) has proposed to move the charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs) from roadside parking to under the overpasses, the Transport Bureau (DSAT) reported. The proposal came during a recent meeting from the group and aims to keep the charging equipment safer and more durable as well as create less visual impact and provide more charging spaces. According to DSAT, the matter has already been addressed with the Macau Electricity Company (CEM), and with the Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA) which is studying the matter. Preliminary findings point to several pros and cons of this idea. While the move has the advantages of reducing equipment wear, maintenance, and visual obstruction for pedestrians and vehicles and the street landscape, these locations are in the central area of roads where there are generally no electrical cable boxes, necessary for the installation of the charging equipment. If the decision is reached to proceed with this plan, there will be unavoidable road excavation works to connect electrical cables, which will affect traffic. Furthermore, considering that CEM is still studying the implementation of a charging system for electric motorcycles suitable for outdoor use, it was decided to prioritize the issue with the possible change of location of charging equipment for light vehicles. At the meeting, some of the members expressed their satisfaction with the governments bid to increase electrical charging facilities, considering that charging equipment must be located close to community neighborhoods, otherwise, they will not be able to meet the urgent need for charging. Some members also said that different types of charging stations and locations should also be considered to respond to the needs of different people. The development of the EVs as well as the tariffs for charging, among other related aspects were also on the agenda. Call for more buses to public hospital Another topic on the agenda was a proposal to amend some bus routes so that more buses pass through and serve the Conde de Sao Januario Hospital Center (CHCSJ). The group members considered that there is a considerable number of users of the current routes, namely those that want to reach the public hospital as well as the many schools in that area. They agreed that it is necessary to consider increasing the transport capacity of the respective bus routes based on the assumption that the current one is inadequate. Some members expressed particular concerns about the needs and travel habits of the elderly, people with disabilities, and students, and consider that DSAT should launch more flexible optimization measures to meet the real needs of passengers. DSAT will summarize the opinions of the members and proposals for further follow-up and study. You are here: China China's meteorological and water resources authorities on Monday evening issued alerts for rainstorms and mountain torrents in some parts of the country. From 8 p.m. Monday to 8 p.m. Tuesday, heavy downpours or rainstorms are expected to hit parts of Hainan, Guangdong, Fujian, Guizhou, Chongqing, Yunnan and Xinjiang, according to a blue alert issued by the National Meteorological Center. Parts of these regions may experience rainfall with maximum hourly precipitation surpassing 60 millimeters, accompanied by thunderstorms or gales, the center said. The Ministry of Water Resources and the China Meteorological Administration also issued a blue alert for mountain torrents in some areas of the southeastern part of Fujian, the central part of Hainan and the northwestern part of Xinjiang from 8 p.m. Monday to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Local governments have been urged to implement precautionary measures and ensure the safety of people. Authorities have also asked schools and kindergartens to adopt appropriate safety measures for students, while drivers have been cautioned about potential road waterlogging and traffic jams. China has a four-tier, color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue. DMCI Holdings Inc. of the Consunji Group is looking to expand its mining portfolio by acquiring copper and gold mines. DMCI president and chief executive Isidro Consunji said during the companys annual shareholders meeting the group was looking at large mining assets. - Advertisement - We are currently looking at large mining assets, probably copper and gold and maybe an additional coal mine in Mindanao, Consunji said, The conglomerates mining assets include nickel mines in Zambales and Palawan. Consunji also said the company was looking to obtain regulatory approval and permits to operate two new mining areas in Zambales and Palawan. Right now, we have various assets that are not being operational waiting for perfection of the required operational licenses and permits, Consunji said. A lot of these projects are expected to be completed before the end of his year. Hopefully two areas in particular, one in Zambales and one in Longpoint, Palawan should be operational before the end of this year, he said. Consunji said the expansion plans of core businesses would sustain its growth momentum in 2024 despite the decline in coal prices. He said Calaca unit 2 with 300-megawatt capacity under Semirara Mining and Power Corp. would resume operations on or before the end of May after repair, while DMCI Power would add 40 MW of capacity. The groups real estate business under DMCI Homes is also expected to return to pre-pandemic levels next year. Jenniffer B. Austria He said DMCI Homes is now focused on selling its unsold inventory. The groups recent acquisition of Cemex Holdings Philippines (CHP) will also help rebalance its portfolio, he said. Consunji also reported that the company would keep CHP listed in the stock exchange even after conducting a mandatory tender offer to acquire shares owned by minority shareholders. We believe that maintaining its public status offers greater financial flexibility and enhances our credibility in the market, Consunji said. He expects to complete the acquisition, subject to regulatory approvals, to be completed before the end of 2024. Turning CHP around will take some time and a lot of hard work, but the potential returns are well worth the investment. By manufacturing our own cement, we can strengthen our internal ecosystem, boost our competitive advantage and strategically position the DMCI group for the nationwide infrastructure boom, Consunji said. DMCI said in April it would acquire all of Cemex Asia B.V.s shares in Cemex Asian South East Corp., which owned 89.86 percent of CHP, for $305.6 million. Philcement Corp. (Philcement), a subsidiary of conglomerate PHINMA Corp., is boosting its production capacity with the planned acquisition of Petra Cement Inc. in Mindanao. PHINMA said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Tuesday Philcement signed a share purchase agreement to acquire 100 percent of the outstanding shares of Petra for P500 million. - Advertisement - Petra, an affiliate of Big Boss Cement, has a manufacturing facility in Zamboanga del Norte including a cement grinding facility with a capacity of 500,000 metric tons per annum. The plant is primarily serving the fast-growing Northern Mindanao market. This is aligned with Philcements growth strategy and its promise to assure Filipino consumers with reliable, high-quality supply of cement products under its legacy brand, Union Cement, PHINMA said. The deal is expected to be finalized by end-December 2024. Philcement signed a manufacturing and sale agreement with Petra in January. The agreement enabled Philcement to operate the Petra plant and manufacture and produce, distribute and sell cement products. Philcement, a 60-percent owned subsidiary of PHINMA, is primarily engaged in the manufacture, importation, processing, distribution and sale of cement products. It operates a cement processing facility in the Freeport Area of Bataan in Mariveles with an initial annual capacity of 2 million tons. PHINMA earlier said it was planning to build a P2-billion cement plant in Mindanao through a joint venture partnership with Davao-based partners. PHINMA also has investments in education, steel products, real setae and hospitality businesses. The Philippines has a unique opportunity to become a leader in the critical minerals or green metals market, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo at the Indo-Pacific Business Forum (IPBF) Tuesday. Rodolfo said green metals such as copper, nickel and cobalt are crucial for developing renewable energy technologies and electric vehicles (EVs), noting that extraction and processing should be sustainable to contribute to true decarbonization efforts. - Advertisement - The Philippines is rich in nickel, particularly the type needed for batteries. Since Indonesias ban on nickel ore exports, the Philippines has become the worlds biggest exporter, Rodolfo said. Around 20 percent of the Philippines mined nickel is processed by a Japanese company into an intermediate product for battery production. However, 70 percent to 80 percent of the nickel ore remains unprocessed and exported to dominant battery-producing countries. The Indo-Pacific Economic Forum is discussing ways to increase the value of Philippine nickel by further processing it in an environmentally friendly way, said Rodolfo, adding that the Philippines has the chance to be green from the very beginning, as decarbonizing existing processes is more challenging. The Philippine government is actively supporting the green metals industry. Over 90 percent of recent investments under the current administration are focused on renewable energy (RE). The Philippines is ready to catch and play ball in the green metals industry. We have the resources, the government support, and the commitment to sustainable development, Rodolfo said. Incentives are available to help the private sector transition to cleaner energy sources. The DTI, along with the Department of Finance (DOF), is offering attractive investment packages, including eligibility for 40 years of tax breaks for capital-intensive processing facilities. The incentives aim to address energy costs and promote the adoption of appropriate technologies. Rodolfo emphasized the importance of collaboration between government agencies, including the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and local government units (LGUs), to streamline the permitting process. The DTI is actively seeking partnerships to go beyond high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) technology for cleaner processing methods. The Philippines is collecting evidence for the possible filing of a new case against China, this time for environmental damage in the West Philippine Sea, the National Security Council said on Monday. NSC assistant director general Jonathan Malaya said the evidence, which includes images of how Chinese activities destroyed the already fragile marine environment in Scarborough Shoal, also known as Panatag Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc. - Advertisement - He said these will be submitted to the Department of Justice and Office of the Solicitor General for the countrys next case against China. Were currently collecting all the necessary evidence and information because the filing of another case, in particular an environmental case, of course, will require evidence and necessary data and information, Malaya said. It (timeline) will depend on the gravity of the evidence because we will not go to court if we will not win, he added. Malaya disclosed that between 2017 and 2019, the Philippine Coast Guard already compiled images of the destruction in Scarborough Shoal. The photos were submitted to the office of then President Rodrigo Duterte, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, and the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS). Asked what happened after the photos were transmitted, PCG spokesman for the WPS Commodore Jay Tarriela said: I dont know. Some of the photos showed alleged Chinese fishermen illegally harvesting giant clams, sting rays, and sea turtles. On top of Chinas consistent harvesting activities, underwater footages as early as 2017 confirm that their presence and ecological footprint has led to the degradation of the marine environment in Bajo de Masinloc, Tarriela said. Malaya said since the pieces of evidence were gathered after the 2016 arbitral ruling in favor of the Philippines claims in areas of the South China Sea that are part of its Exclusive Economic Zone, perhaps it is now time to file a new case. In order for the world to find out if China indeed has fulfilled its obligations under international law, let us open Bajo de Masinloc to international scrutiny, Malaya said. We can ask third party environmental groups or even the United Nations to do a fact-finding mission to determine the environmental situation in Bajo de Masinloc, he added. Earlier, retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio prodded the Philippine government to sue China anew, but this time for damages, due to the destruction of Escoda Shoal and Rozul Reef. The next arbitration case that we are recommending is for the following purposes: one, to sue China for damages because they destroyed Escoda Shoal and Rozul Reef, Carpio said. Carpio pointed out that the two features are within the Philippines EEZ. The retired SC magistrate made the call after the PCG accused China of building an artificial island in Escoda Shoal. It said the dumping of crushed corals near the shoal may be in preparation for Chinas reclamation activities. Escoda Shoal is much closer to Palawan than the contested Ayungin Shoal. Last year, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla also said the Department of Justice (DOJ) is recommending the filing of cases against China following reports of missing corals in Rozul Reef. The Department of Health (DOH) said on Tuesday that all the countrys regions still remain at low risk for COVID-19. While there is an observed uptick in cases recently, the DOH noted that it is small and lower than previously observed increases. - Advertisement - Out of the new cases reported, seven (7) had severe or critical disease. Five (5) deaths were recorded, which occurred in the recent two weeks (April 30 to May 13). Although theres a reported rise in coronavirus cases in other countries, the DOH said there is no scientific basis for the Philippines to impose travel restrictions. The DOH remains in close coordination with international health authorities. It added that its Bureau of Quarantine is keeping watch over points of entry nationwide. The voluntary use of face masks should be done properly, along with standard precautions like hand washing, avoiding crowds, and choosing good airflow. As of May 12, 2024, the DOH reported that only 11 percent (119 out of 1,117) of dedicated COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) beds were occupied. Only 13 percent (1,238 out of 9,571) of dedicated COVID-19 non-ICU beds, meanwhile, were occupied. Severe and critical COVID-19 cases admitted in various hospitals total to only 116, based on hospital reports in the DOH Data Collect application. From May 7 to 13, 2024, 877 new COVID-19 cases were reported, with an average of 125 cases reported per day. It is important to note that by law, doctors, their clinics, hospitals and other facilities are required to accurately and immediately report cases of COVID-19, whether tested by PCR or rapid antigen test, the DOH said. This will help guide public health decision-making, it added. According to a May 17, 2024 World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 Epidemiological Update, there are three new variants under monitoring (VUM): JN.1.18, KP.2 and KP.3. All of these are descendants of JN.1. Variants KP.2 and KP.3 are the proper names of what is informally known as FLiRT variants. FLiRT is a nickname coined by some researchers to describe amino acid changes in the COVID-19 virus spike protein, specifically from phenylalanine (F) to leucine (L) at position 456, and from arginine (R) to threonine (T) at position 346. The WHO observed that there are currently no reported laboratory or epidemiological reports indicating any association between VOIs (variants of interest) / VUMs and increased disease severity. The above means that there is no evidence now that the KP.2 and KP.3 variants are causing severe to critical COVID-19, both locally and internationally. Further assessment is needed to determine transmissibility and capacity to evade immune response. It is also best for those who feel ill to stay at home for the meantime, or to properly wear a mask should there be a need to go out, the DOH advised. Editors Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline DOH acknowledges uptick in COVID-19 cases, but says PH remains at low risk ROMEItalys foreign minister said Tuesday it was unacceptable and absurd to compare Israel and Hamas after the International Criminal Courts prosecutor applied for arrest warrants for leaders on both sides. It is completely unacceptable that Hamas and Israel are put on the same levelthe leaders of the terrorist group that started the war in Gaza by massacring innocent citizens and the leaders of the government elected by the people of Israel, Antonio Tajani said in an interview with the Corriere della Sera newspaper. - Advertisement - The minister, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the G7 this year, described the parallel as absurd, adding: In no way can one even imagine such an equivalence. Be careful not to legitimize anti-Israeli positions that can fuel anti-Semitic phenomena. But France said late Monday it supported the independence of the International Criminal Court, whose prosecutor has requested arrest warrants for leaders from Israel, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Islamist movement Hamas. France supports the International Criminal Court, its independence, and the fight against impunity in all situations, its foreign ministry said in a statement. The ministry condemned the anti-Semitic massacres perpetrated by Hamas during the groups attack on Israel on Oct. 7, which was accompanied by acts of torture and sexual violence. It also said it had warned Israel of the need for strict compliance with international humanitarian law, and in particular of the unacceptable level of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip and inadequate humanitarian access. The International Criminal Courts prosecutor Karim Khan said on Monday he had applied for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes including wilful killing, extermination and/or murder, and starvation during the war in Gaza. He said Israel had committed crimes against humanity, and accused it of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population. Khan also said the leaders of Palestinian militant group Hamas, including Qatar-based Ismail Haniyeh and Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, bear criminal responsibility for actions committed during the Oct. 7 attack. These included taking hostages, rape and other acts of sexual violence, and torture, he said. International law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all, Khan said. No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader - no one - can act with impunity. Israel rejected the accusations as a historical disgrace, while Iran-backed Hamas said it strongly condemns the move. The United States, Israels top ally, also rejected the ICCs bid, with President Joe Biden denouncing it as outrageous and saying there is no equivalence none between Israel and Hamas. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the ICC move could jeopardize efforts for a ceasefire in Gaza. Senator Ronald Bato dela Rosa shed copious tears after his boss then Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri was ousted Monday, but it turned out he was one of the 15 senators who signed a resolution supporting a change in leadership at the Upper House. I want to tell Migz, sorry boss, I failed to win the war for you. I am one of his trusted lieutenants, Dela Rosa said on Tuesday. - Advertisement - Zubiri said he was dumbfounded by Dela Rosas action, which he said was the strangest thing (to happen) in my political career. If yesterday, I was heartbroken, now Im dumbfounded, Zubiri said. I just dont get it. I could not understand and grasp what transpired It was surreal, like being in a twilight zone. During Zubiris resignation speech Monday, when he was still unaware of how the vote went, he even gave a shoutout to Dela Rosa for remaining loyal, prompting the latter to shed tears. At least he knows I defended him as a chairman of the committee on public order and because of that, sacrifices were made. I was the sacrifice. I lost my position, Zubiri said. The Senate committee on public order, which Dela Rosa heads, is investigating the so-called PDEA leaks that allegedly linked President Marcos and actress Maricel Soriano to illegal drug use. Zubiri said it was a bit painful, considering that he even campaigned for Dela Rosa in his home province in Bukidnon. Dela Rosa, however, said his vote was immaterial since the resolution was already signed by 14 senators, including his PDP-Laban colleagues Senator Francis Tolentino and Senator Christopher Go. My signature was already insignificant. They came to me after the battle had been won. They already had 14 signatures, Dela Rosa said. He added that he was bound by an agreement with his PDP-Laban colleagues to vote as one. We forged a covenant that the majority wins in every voting situation. In this case, the two of them decided to support Senator Francis Escudero. I want to stay (with Zubiri). I did not want to (vote for Escudero), but we have that covenant, he said. If he is heartbroken, I am also heartbroken, my heart is really broken. Senator Zubiri is a very good leader. I love him very much. I respect him very much, Dela Rosa added. A worker operates at the workshop of a pharmaceutical company in Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province, Jan. 14, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua] China is scaling up support for clinical trials of drugs, contributing to the acceleration of its new drug development, according to an official at a related event on Monday, which was the 20th Clinical Trials Day. In recent years, the National Health Commission (NHC) has been supporting demonstration clinical trial research platforms for various diseases nationwide, and has worked with other government departments to continuously improve the regulatory system for clinical research, according to NHC official Gu Jinhui. A total of 3,358 clinical trials of drugs were registered in China in 2021, 3,410 in 2022, and 4,300 in 2023, indicating continuous growth, according to an industry report. The Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences has conducted over 4,700 clinical studies since it initiated the country's first clinical study of a new cancer drug in 1960. According to statistics, 184 cancer drugs have been successful in reaching the market through the hospital's clinical research, accounting for more than 70 percent of all domestically produced cancer drugs. The hospital was the first in the country to establish an outpatient clinic specifically for clinical trials of new drugs, said Zhang Yong, an official of the National Cancer Center. He noted that over 500 clinical trials are currently open to patients, covering various cancer types, including lung cancer, breast cancer, esophageal cancer and liver cancer. Clinical trials are systematic experiments conducted on human subjects to determine the safety and efficacy of drugs and therapies, and they are crucial to the advancement of health care services. President Marcos sent his well wishes to newly elected Senate President Francis Chiz Escudero. The Chief Executive has taken this news positively based on his post on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday morning. - Advertisement - I extend my support to the new Senate President, Chiz Escudero. His legislative record and commitment to public service have distinguished him as a dedicated leader, Mr. Marcos said. Escudero was named 25th Senate President of the Philippines after Senator Juan Miguel Migz Zubiri resigned following months of brewing talks of major leadership change in the Upper Chamber. Senator Chiz steps into this role following the commendable tenure of Senator Migz Zubiri, and I am confident that under his leadership, the Senate will continue to prioritize transformative laws to achieve our shared vision for a Bagong Pilipinas, the President added in his post. Escudero has been a stalwart of the Nationalist Peoples Coalition (NPC), which recently also formed an alliance with the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) of President Marcos. The proposed ending of statewide public health masking exemptions has some Triad residents questioning the sanity and humanity of state Senate Republicans. In their pursuit of expanding criminal penalties for wearing a mask in public while committing a crime, or for blocking traffic to emergency vehicles, all 30 GOP senators voted Wednesday for reinstating a pre-pandemic ban on mask wearing for public health and safety reasons affecting North Carolinians ages 16 and over. If House Bill 327 now titled Unmasking Mobs and Criminals becomes law, the exemptions would end immediately. At that time, the public wearing of masks to protect ones health and those of others could again become criminally prosecutable, as it was between 1953 in an anti-Ku Klux Klan-inspired bill and July 2020. Violators could face punishment in a range of 1 to 120 days of active or intermediate jail time, or community punishment, along with fine amount at a judges discretion. Triad residents response to HB237 since Wednesday have come in the form of interviews, letters to the editor and constituents emails and appeals to Triad and other legislators. Among their concerns: having their actions while wearing a mask in public being scrutinized by law enforcement officers, store managers or venue operators; being pointed out for arrest or facing public ridicule, if not harassment, from anti-mask individuals; and individuals with immunocompromised conditions risking exposure to communicable diseases by being in public without a mask on. The reality of public mask wearing being prosecutable again in a society still coming to grips with being in a post-pandemic environment has Greensboro resident Pat Levitin preparing to exercise her own version of civil disobedience. Levitin and her husband, Peter, shared their concerns in an interview. When I saw that this bill might pass, our attitude became Fine, go arrest us for protecting our health, Pat Levitin said. The severity and too-often fatal nature of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a life change for the Levitins. They wear masks in public at all times, primarily to reduce Peters risk of exposure to communicable diseases with his heart issues, as well as grandchildren dealing with asthma. Pat Levitin said she had a mild case of COVID-19 in January, while Peter Levitin has not had a case. They are both COVID-19 vaccine-boosted to the full limit. People think COVID is over, and its not, Pat Levitin said. Theres a new strain out there and people are still dying of COVID. It is with great shock that I have heard that House Bill 237 is trying to make mask wearing in public illegal, and we could be fined, jailed and/or do community service for wearing one. When I think representatives cannot get any crazier, then this bill comes along. This is horrible. This is a kneejerk reaction, a throwing the baby out with the bathwater situation. Subject to punishment Many North Carolinians currently wearing a mask in public are doing so not only to limit their risk to communicable diseases, but to also enjoy a new-found freedom of movement since the exemption went into effect in July 2020. Tara Muller, policy attorney for Disability Rights N.C., cited as examples of people subject to punishment under the revamped HB237: older adults with illness or disease; chemotherapy patients or others with weakened immune systems; children and adults taking immuno-suppressants or with auto-immune disorders; and people with contagious diseases while wearing a mask in a public health department. They rely on masks to safely access and participate in their communities, Muller wrote. We believe this policy change would compromise the safety of people with disabilities and would unreasonably restrict their ability to attend school and get an education, work in public sector jobs, or simply walk from their home to the bus stop, among many other examples. It would once again confine disabled people to their homes unnecessarily. Muller said people with disabilities face enough challenges in life without fearing having to identify themselves to law enforcement officers, business owners and operators of public venues just because of how they move or appear. Ill-thought out travesty Heidi Grable wrote in an open letter to legislators about her worries of being an immunocompromised person in an unmasked public if HB237 becomes law. She described herself as having several autoimmune conditions and Long COVID. Grable called the planned legislation an ill-thought out travesty that would affect not only her personal health, but also her livelihood as a chicken farmer. I already get snide comments and rolling eyes when I wear my mask in public, Grable wrote. This bill is just the push that the anti-masking people need to publicly and loudly call me out for my mask, and they will. If a man walked down the road with a rifle, and another man walked down the road with a mask to protect himself, the Republicans in North Carolina now label only one as a criminal. Grable said Senate Republican sponsors of HB237 either dont want to accept or recognize that were in a very different atmosphere from the world before 2020. This bill would result in the further isolation of the vulnerable, not to mention that it would threaten our lives and livelihoods. Passing this bill goes against not only the laws of humanity, but also the commands of God. It could affect my ability to attend church if I cannot legally wear a mask when I am out and about. Joanna Hart wrote in a constituent email to Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, that she is severely immunocompromised and may not be able to leave her home if public masking is prohibited. She is concerned that passage of HB237 would seemingly make it illegal for disabled/immunocompromised Americans to participate in public life, such as the American civil right of protest. It would equate the use of protective medical grade face masks to that of masks worn by the KKK. Do you feel representatives should have the power to decide who deserves health and safety? Bill sponsors stance The N.C. Sheriffs Association has not adopted a position on HB237, according to its general counsel Eddie Caldwell. The N.C. Conference of District Attorneys and N.C. Association of Chiefs of Police could not be reached for comment on their position. HB237 would not eliminate public masking exemptions for the following reasons: Traditional holiday costumes in season; ensuring the physical safety of workers in public settings. Theatrical productions including Mardi Gras celebrations and masquerade balls. Wearing gas masks during civil defense drills and exercises. Activities involving membership in a society, order or organization involving a parade, ritual, initiation, ceremony, celebration or other activity if first approved by a local municipality or county commissioners. HB237 was placed Thursday temporarily in the House Rules and Operations committee as House Republicans determined their response to changes by the Senate that are likely to lead to a concurrence committee. Sen. Danny Britt Jr., R-Scotland, told the Senate Rules and Operations committee Wednesday that were still in discussions with the House on how to tailor the medical exception to this mask policy for folks who may suffer from communicable diseases. We want to ensure that this doesnt violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, so there will be some tweaking along the way. Sen. Julie Mayfield, D-Buncombe, said precise language is necessary because laws are meant to be enforced as written. Sen. Buck Newton, R-Wilson, a primary bill sponsor of the revamped HB327, said the decision to arrest and prosecute would be up to the discretion of local law enforcement and district attorneys, respectively. I trust peoples good common sense, law enforcements good common sense, businesses good common sense, district attorneys good common sense, Newton said. Senate Republican bill sponsors are attempting to stress that arrests and prosecution will be rare, if ever, as long as the mask-wearing public cooperates when asked to identify themselves to law enforcement, businesses and at public venues. People who wear a mask for a good reason shouldnt be worried about getting into trouble. I just dont see it, Newton said. If someone (wearing a mask) goes into a store, work, whatever, and they are willing to show their identity and put the mask back on, those are the kinds of things I trust people to be able to work out. However, those same Senate Republicans rejected Wednesday two Democratic amendments to HB237 that would place that exemption scenario into the law. Newton said bill opponents are trying to scare people to death by putting the focus on the potential for mask-wearing individuals being considered as breaking the law. Public speakers, as well as several Democratic senators, said the latest version of HB237 leaves too much discretion to law enforcement officials in how to enforce, rather than having clear and concise guidelines. They asked whether visitors to North Carolina would have to remove masks once they cross state lines, whether at a rest stop, attending a public event or getting a fill-up. Freedom to wear masks Triad residents response to HB237 show they arent confident in taking Senate Republicans word in the bills current form. Health care providers say masks have been a critical component for lowering the spread of COVID-19 during the pandemic, as well as protecting those with immunocompromised conditions or enduring chemotherapy and radiation treatments for cancer. Michael McCrory, an intensive care physician at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, wrote in a letter to the editor that the freedom to wear masks should not be criminalized, but rather explicitly preserved if we are to learn from this experience and prepare for the next pandemic. Victoria Coble, who lives in Greensboro, has gained more than 4,300 signatures on a Change.org petition opposing HB237. Coble told the Journal that the public masking helps keep her from being at high-risk from severe acute illness from a COVID-19 infection, as well as limiting her potential exposure to her mother-in-law who lives with her, her husband and their two children. Since the pandemic began, we have had to move to homeschooling them to protect our family, Coble said. We have been largely ostracized by our community, and now we will be criminalized for wearing masks in public, and hope that local law enforcement refrains from engaging with us over masking. Barbara Halbert said in a constituent letter to Harrison that with the potential exemption being removed, I am fearful that people who dislike mask wearing will use it as an excuse to involve law enforcement to harass people. Being concerned about keeping yourself protected from serious illness shouldnt be penalized. 700,000 North Carolinians According to Sen. Sydney Batch, D-Wake, at least 700,000 North Carolinians experience immunocompromised health issues, including herself following her fight with non-invasive breast cancer. Bill sponsors are willing to compromise over 700,000 North Carolinians health to try to catch a few dozen or hundred criminals wearing a mask in public while committing a crime, Pat Levitin said. This bill will not solve the problem of criminals wearing masks, but it will upset the lives of millions of North Carolinians. The Levitins question why Senate Republicans are so quick to do away with recommendations from state and federal health officials who say consistently that public masking is a best practice for limiting exposure to communicable diseases. I dont believe that people who are sick wear a mask to protect me, and I am in the category where there have been the most deaths from COVID, Peter Levitin said. Sometimes I feel foolish by wearing a mask in public all the time because everyone eventually is going to get COVID, but I dont want to be an example of someone who didnt take all prudent precautions and died. I should have the right to do the best that I can to protect myself in public, whether politicians agree or disagree with me. Mehreen Arshad wrote in an email to Harrison that bill sponsors are downplaying the significance of long COVID exposure in North Carolina given there is no FDA-approved cure or treatment. As someone with loved ones who are disabled and no longer able to work because of long COVID, we know research shows that long COVID can be triggered by mild or even asymptomatic infection, and fully vaccinated individuals can also develop long COVID. Masks are required to prevent long COVID from disabling us and making us too sick to work, play with our kids and participate in our communities. NAACP stance The NAACP North Carolina State Conference said in a Thursday statement addressing HB237 that it vigorously opposes HB 237 as a direct assault on the fundamental right to protest, a cornerstone of our democracy. The statement did list the ending of public health masking exemptions as a concern. Deborah Maxwell, the conferences president, said that under the guise of increasing public safety, HB237 seeks to intimidate and silence marginalized communities, particularly Black, Indigenous and people of color, who rely on protest to make their voices heard and hold those in power accountable. Al Jabbar, president of the NAACPs Winston-Salem chapter, said the chapter stands in solidarity with the state presidents statement. Senate Republican bill sponsors want to expand the criminal punishment if a person wears a mask during the commission of a crime, and impose criminal and civil liability on individuals who obstruct emergency vehicles during demonstrations. HB237 would elevate by one class higher the misdemeanor or felony charges an individual would face if they wore a mask in public during the commission of a crime. HB237 also includes that a person who organizes a demonstration that impedes traffic would be civilly liable to any injury or death that results from obstructing an emergency vehicles use of the road. The organizer would be liable regardless of any related criminal proceeding. One likely impetus for revamping HB237 is civil disobedience protests occurring in North Carolina, particularly on college campuses such as Wake Forest University and UNC Chapel Hill, related to the civil strife and military activities in Israel. Newton said HB237 is simply to unmask people who are hiding their identity to engage in a crime. Meanwhile, Maxwell said HB237 is a thinly veiled attempt to suppress dissent in response to recent protests advocating for Palestinian human rights and against police brutality. This bill aims to stifle legitimate expressions of public outrage and calls for justice. This bill will disproportionately impact Black communities, potentially criminalizing everyday actions, such as wearing scarves, hoodies, or religious coverings. We urge lawmakers to reject HB237 and instead focus on addressing the root causes of the protests: systemic racism, police violence and social inequities, she said. Legal perspective Jill Moore, an associate professor of Public Law and Government with UNC School of Government, said in a blog posted Thursday that some North Carolinians have always worn medical masks in public places either upon medical advice or simply by personal preference even though it was against the law from 1953 to July 2020. While some of the prohibitions are limited to people over the age of 16, the prohibition on wearing masks on public property does not have an age restriction and therefore appears to apply to children as well, Moore said. As amended, the law would not clearly provide an exception for individuals with medical conditions that make them particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases, or for those with infectious conditions that pose a danger to others. Moore said it is likely that the revamped HB237 would violate the protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires many public and private entities to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities, including some conditions that make an individual more susceptible to infection. Allowing such an individual to wear a mask in a place where it would otherwise be prohibited would likely be a reasonable accommodation, Moore said. Similarly, laws that protect students with disabilities may require schools to allow some students with disabilities to wear masks, though the protections of these laws may not extend to caregivers or parents. Moore said it would behoove bill sponsors to make explicit about whether, how and by whom determinations would be made about who would still be able to wear a mask in public for health reasons without potential legal repercussions. Guidance needed The pandemic changed everything when it comes to public mask wearing, said Daniel Maxwell, a distinguished lecturer in the Criminal Justice Department at the University of New Haven, and a former law enforcement officer. The paradigm (on public mask wearing) has shifted since COVID-19, with law enforcement becoming used to people wearing a mask for everyday needs. This has settled in for them. Maxwell said that as people were masking up with the pandemic, people were still committing crimes with masks on and off, and law enforcement marched on with investigations. They tend to know who is wearing a mask for the right reasons and those for something nefarious. We need to give them more credit than we often do. Maxwell predicted that most law-enforcement agencies would be looking for guidance from their local district attorneys office on whether, or how much, to pursue arrests for public mask wearing. With this potential law, they are going to be asked to make a decision about whether to arrest someone whos wearing a mask, he said. Police dont want to go around arresting people for wearing a mask, Maxwell said, citing potential escalations involving a nervous public citizen wearing a mask being approached or stopped by a law-enforcement officer on heightened alert to potential danger. He said the N.C. legislative debate on whether public mask wearing returns to being a crime is taking place in a sterile environment. The only way to see if a criminal law actually works as intended is for people to get arrested and see what happens when it works its way through the legal and courts systems. The legislators need to be in contact with the district attorneys as to what the parameters should be for reinforcing the public masking laws. The state Attorney Generals Office should provide clarity of what it would consider as a prosecutable case. There could be some law-enforcement groups who really get into the mask thing (in terms of arrests), and towns get a reputation that you may not want to go there because you could be pinched, while some may not care about it at all. Maxwell said that if there are arrests for wearing a mask in public for health and safety reasons, how is this going to affect the rest of the public once they find out will they accept it, yes or no? A heavy-handed approach is not going to sit well with anybody. Counties with the lowest cost of living in North Carolina Counties with the lowest cost of living in North Carolina #30. Randolph County, North Carolina #29. Columbus County, North Carolina #28. Person County, North Carolina #27. Edgecombe County, North Carolina #26. Lenoir County, North Carolina #25. Stokes County, North Carolina #24. Richmond County, North Carolina #23. Rockingham County, North Carolina #22. Bertie County, North Carolina #21. Burke County, North Carolina #20. Scotland County, North Carolina #19. Martin County, North Carolina #18. Mitchell County, North Carolina #17. Rutherford County, North Carolina #16. Caldwell County, North Carolina #15. Northampton County, North Carolina #14. Surry County, North Carolina #13. Swain County, North Carolina #12. Wilkes County, North Carolina #11. Greene County, North Carolina #10. Robeson County, North Carolina #9. Yadkin County, North Carolina #8. Sampson County, North Carolina #7. McDowell County, North Carolina #6. Duplin County, North Carolina #5. Alexander County, North Carolina #4. Montgomery County, North Carolina #3. Caswell County, North Carolina #2. Jones County, North Carolina #1. Graham County, North Carolina Domingo Nvita Manuel Judite previously operated a guesthouse and car rental business in Soyo, Angolas Zaire Province, catering to offshore oil workers. Since the regions economy heavily relies on the petroleum industry, its understandable for entrepreneurs to seek opportunities within that sector. However, the constantly fluctuating global oil prices have sometimes negatively impacted local businesses, prompting Domingo and fellow Zaire Province entrepreneurs to consider diversifying their ventures. Fortunately, in July 2022, Domingo and 25 others participated in an Empretec training program conducted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The program equipped them with knowledge to explore new sustainable business opportunities, take calculated risks, and monitor set goals. Empretec aims to promote the creation of sustainable, innovative, and internationally competitive small- and medium-sized enterprises. With UNCTADs technical support, the National Empretec Host Institution in Angola now directly implements the Empretec entrepreneurship training initiated under the EU-UNCTAD Joint Programme for Angola: Train for Trade II. The initiative brought together various partners, including the Association of Entrepreneurs of the Province of Zaire (ASEEZ), of which Domingo is the current president. Domingo and his colleagues are now diversifying into sustainable agriculturegrowing, processing, and distributing organic vegetables and fruits for local consumption and export. They aim to transition away from the cyclical nature of the oil market by promoting sustainable business activities and transforming Zaire Province into a key commercial hub in Angola, independent of oil money. South Africas Constitutional Court has barred former President Jacob Zuma from running for a parliamentary seat in the upcoming national election scheduled for next week. This decision by the countrys highest court is likely to heighten political tensions ahead of a crucial vote in Africas most developed economy. Zuma, who leads a new political party, is challenging his former allies. The court ruled that a constitutional provision disqualifying individuals from standing for Parliament if they have been sentenced to more than 12 months in prison without the option of a fine applies to the 82-year-old former leader. In 2021, Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison by the same court for contempt after refusing to testify at a judicial inquiry into government corruption. According to the ruling, Zuma cannot serve as a lawmaker until five years after completing that sentence, which comes just nine days before the May 29 election. Zuma, once the leader of South Africas ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, was forced out as its leader in 2017 and resigned as president in 2018 amid allegations of corruption. He returned to politics late last year with a new party and has renewed his fierce criticism of the ANC and current President Cyril Ramaphosa, who replaced him as both party leader and president. While Zumas new party expressed disappointment with the courts decision, it stated that the ruling has not discouraged them. However, the party criticized the court and the panel of judges that issued the ruling. Next weeks election could be South Africas most significant in 30 years, with the struggling ANC facing the biggest challenge to its long rule since the end of apartheid in 1994. Kenyas economic growth accelerated to 5.6% in 2023, a marked increase from the revised 4.9% expansion recorded in the previous year. This robust performance was primarily driven by a resurgence in the countrys vital agriculture sector, according to the head of the national statistics office. As an East African nation heavily reliant on farming activities, which contribute over a fifth of annual economic output, Kenyas economy benefited greatly from abundant rainfall after years of drought. This much-needed precipitation helped the agriculture sector recover from contractions experienced in the two preceding years, with the sector achieving an impressive 7% growth rate in 2023. Macdonald Obudho, the director general of the statistics office, announced these figures while launching the economic growth report for the period. During the event, he highlighted that Last year, agriculture shot to 7% growth, underscoring the sectors pivotal role in propelling the overall economic expansion. In addition to agricultures strong showing, Kenyas tourism industry, another critical economic pillar, also demonstrated robust growth in 2023. Obudho revealed that visitor arrivals surpassed the annual pre-pandemic level of 2.035 million, reaching 2.087 million tourists last year, contributing to the countrys positive economic performance. With agriculture and tourism leading the charge, Kenyas economy exhibited resilience and dynamism in 2023, boding well for the nations continued development and prosperity. However, sustaining this momentum will require addressing potential challenges, such as climate variability and economic diversification, to ensure long-term, inclusive growth. Despite the discovery of oil in the 1990s, Chad failed to curb poverty and to diversify its economy, ditching its growth rate in recent years. The country had grown by an average 9% between 2001 and 2014. But since 2015, growth contracted and so did Chads GDP per capita, sapping oil resource gains. The resource curse is at the heart of Chads problems, wherein heavy reliance on raw resource extraction and exports led to more corruption and less diversification of the economy. Chad has a production capacity of some 100,000 barrels per a day with reserves estimated at 1 billion barrels. It exports oil through a pipeline to a Cameroonian port. Oil has earned Chad some $10 billion over the last decade, as the countrys economy shifts from reliance on farming to hydrocarbons. In 2011 alone, the Government of Chad received $2.1 billion from oil revenues, constituting about 80 percent of government revenue that year. A World Bank study found that oil wealth failed to curb poverty in the country, due to corruption and civil conflict. The environmental damage to lake Chad from increased exploitation is stark, due to chemicals leashed in waterways. Economic experts recommend that oil wealth be used as leverage to diversify the economy and wean it from the volatility of the international market. This requires a crackdown on corruption and better governance which most conflict-stricken African countries need to work on. The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said that there is no official representation of the polisario front either at the United Nations Office in Geneva or to the Federal Council (Swiss Government), inflicting yet another slap in the face for the Algeria-backed separatists. In a clarification note addressed to the Embassy of Morocco in Bern, the Swiss Federal Department said that the polisario front office in Geneva enjoys no privileges or immunity in Switzerland. This is yet another defeat for the polisario in its quest to promote its fallacious theses. In this respect, the Swiss Federal Department points out that the so-called polisario representative in Switzerland has once again been told to avoid using names and titles that would suggest that it is an official polisario representation. This is a scathing slap in the face inflicted on the polisario by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, following the disoriented maneuvers led by the so-called polisario representative in Switzerland, who claims to be an ambassador representing the separatist front in this country and at the United Nations Office and international organizations in Geneva. After the numerous setbacks suffered by the polisario, and as its multiple maneuvers were doomed to failure, the international community is well aware and refuses to let itself be taken hostage by an intellectual and historical swindle maintained by the polisario and its Algerian mentor for decades. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: CC0 Public Domain Homelessness doesn't only happen to young people but also affects older adults in growing numbers, write authors in an analysis in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) that describes this emerging crisis. People experiencing homelessness are considered older adults at age 50, as visible aging is often evident at younger ages in individuals experiencing homelessness compared with individuals who have secure housing. Individuals experiencing homelessness often develop chronic medical conditions earlier, as well as age-related conditions like cognitive impairment. In addition, the risk of premature death for older people experiencing homelessness is 3.5 times higher than for those who are housed, and the risk is especially high for people experiencing homelessness for the first time late in life. In 2021, 32% of people in Canadian shelters were aged 50 and older. There are also many older people living outdoors or living temporarily with friends or family. "Older adults experiencing homelessness deserve shelter policies and government strategies that consider their care needs, and age-friendly shelters that have adequate physical environments, appropriate staffing, and access to required medical services," writes Dr. Jillian Alston, a geriatrician at St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto, with co-authors. "Older adults experiencing homelessness may have faced substantial marginalization, dehumanization, and structural violence, and care models should prioritize trust, rapport building, and ensuring personal safety. To support older adults at risk of and experiencing homelessness, adequate housing that supports individual needs is essential. Conditions that become more common with aging, like cognitive impairment and mobility concerns, can make maintaining housing more difficult for some older adults. Some solutions to prevent homelessness include tenancy monitoring programs, individualized in-home supports, and community programs that address isolation. In-shelter health care programs, such as primary care and geriatric outreach programs, can help support older adults living in shelters. Innovative permanent supportive housing such as The Oaks in Ottawa, and other housing models that support aging in the right place, can help provide appropriate homes for older people experiencing homelessness to relocate to. For some, the most appropriate environment to support their needs will be long-term care homes. Addressing this growing problem requires collaboration between health, long-term care, public health, and housing and other community supports. Moreover, trauma-informed approaches are important for those who have experienced adversity and trauma earlier in their lives. "Without urgent action, older adults experiencing homelessness will remain marginalized, undergo early aging, and continue to be at risk for deterioration and death in shelters and other temporary accommodations that are neither equipped nor designed to meet their needs," conclude the authors. "The human toll of homelessness is immense," writes Dr. Andrew Boozary, a primary care physician and executive director of the UHN Gattuso Centre for Social Medicine, Toronto, with co-authors Dr. Catherine Varner, CMAJ deputy editor and emergency medicine physician, and CMAJ editor Dr. Andreas Laupacis in a related editorial. "People who are chronically unhoused live half as long as those who are housed, experience accelerated aging, have many more comorbidities, and develop health conditions at a much younger age than those who are housed. Homelessness disproportionately affects Indigenous, Black, refugee and newcomer, and 2SLGBTQ+ people." To help address this chronic problem, some health networks are building affordable housing for unhoused peoplea novel approach that the authors say speaks to the magnitude of the homelessness crisis. "The fact that hospitals are dedicating scarce resources to provide housing is a testament to how undeniable the homelessness crisis has become and how ineffective and costly conventional approaches, such as lengthy hospital admissions, have been," they write. 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: In a systematically screened population, there is no association between autoimmune disease and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), according to a study published online May 21 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Ingigerdur Sverrisdottir, M.D., from the University of Iceland in Reykjavik, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional study within a prospective, population-based screening study of MGUS to examine whether MGUS is associated with autoimmune diseases. Data were obtained from an Icelandic population of adults aged 40 years or older, with 75,422 persons screened for MGUS. The researchers found that 10,818 participants had an autoimmune disorder, of whom 599 had MGUS (61 with prior diagnosis; 538 diagnosed at study screening). There was no association for diagnosis of an autoimmune disease with MGUS (prevalence ratio, 1.05; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.97 to 1.15). However, an association was seen for autoimmune disease diagnoses with a prior clinical diagnosis of MGUS (prevalence ratio, 2.11; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.64 to 2.70). "Our findings have direct clinical relevance because they suggest that recommendations to routinely screen patients with autoimmune disease for MGUS may not be warranted," the authors write. More information: Ingigerdur Sverrisdottir et al, Association Between Autoimmune Diseases and Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance, Annals of Internal Medicine (2024). DOI: 10.7326/M23-2867 Journal information: Annals of Internal Medicine Copyright 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved. 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: Study Period and the COVID-19 Context in Tokyo, Japan. Credit: Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2023.08.016 A study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry found that girls and boys were affected differently by the pandemic. The study focused on depressive symptoms among 16-year-olds surveyed during the pandemic compared to those surveyed pre-pandemic. There was an increase in depressive symptoms in boys beyond the expected age-related trajectory, which emerged later in the first year of the pandemic and then early into the second year. In contrast, the overall increase in depressive symptoms for girls was within the expected natural age-related increase. Studies report a decline in adolescent mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, many of these studies lacked pre-pandemic comparison data or did not consider the natural age-related changes in mental health problems experienced during adolescence, making it challenging to accurately evaluate the impact of the pandemic on adolescent mental health. Moreover, many studies focused on the initial months of the pandemic; therefore, little is known about the impact of the pandemic into the second year. This longitudinal study utilized data from 2,034 adolescents in the Tokyo Teen Cohort, a population-based cohort in Tokyo, which continuously collected data throughout the pandemic. The study compared self-reported depressive symptoms of 16-year-olds surveyed before (February 2019February 2020) or during the pandemic (March 2020September 2021). Importantly, the study is innovative by comparing symptoms of 16-year-olds before or during the pandemic while controlling for within-person symptom changes, which allowed the researchers to determine whether changes in depressive symptoms were within the expected sex- and age-related trajectories. Depressive symptoms showed a small but significant increase during the pandemic; however, this increase varied by sex and pandemic phase. While girls showed greater average depressive symptoms than boys at age 16, a significant increase during the pandemic was observed only in boys. For boys, the increase emerged in the late first year of the pandemic and enlarged into the second year. In contrast, girls' depressive symptoms decreased in the school-closure phase (MarchMay, 2020) during the early pandemic period, and returned to the pre-pandemic level after the reopening of schools, with no additional increases during the pandemic. No differences by household income were observed. Mariko Hosozawa, MD, Ph.D., lead author from the National Center for Global Health and Medicine, said "The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of adolescents in Tokyo was more pronounced among boys. This may partly be due to extended restrictions on school activity for infection control, which may have affected boys more, and to gendered social norms that discourage boys from seeking help." She adds, "The findings highlight the need for continuous monitoring and approaches to support adolescent mental health at the population level. Changing social norms around help-seeking and encouraging help-seeking for mental health issues, particularly among boys, is an important approach. Implementing these approaches and accumulating scientific evidence on the pandemic's effects on adolescent mental health, will help enhance pandemic preparedness and build a more resilient society." More information: Mariko Hosozawa et al, Sex Differences in Adolescent Depression Trajectory Before and Into the Second Year of COVID-19 Pandemic, Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2023.08.016 Journal information: Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry China should consider raising the temporary tariff rate on imported cars with large-displacement engines, in order to reduce imports as part of the country's broader efforts to cut emissions and promote the green development of the auto industry, a Chinese auto industry insider told the Global Times, while slamming protectionist moves taken by certain countries and regions against Chinese electric vehicles (EVs). The suggestion for increased temporary tariff rate on imports of vehicles with engines larger than 2.5 liters was made by Liu Bin, chief expert of China Automotive Technology & Research Center and deputy director of China Automotive Strategy and Policy Research Center, who has participated in drafting policies for China's auto industry and has been conducting research on the green and low-carbon development of the car industry for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It also comes as the EU has launched anti-subsidy investigation on Chinese EVs and the US has raised tariffs on a variety of imports from China, including EVs, in addition to existing tariffs under Section 301. While noting protectionist actions taken by certain countries and regions against Chinese EVs, Liu said that the suggested plan for China to raise the temporary tariff rate on imported cars with large-displacement engines is fundamentally different and is in line with WTO rules, market economy principles and green development goals. "We suggest that based on the actual situation of China's auto consumption and WTO rules, China should promote green and low-carbon car consumption through short-term and long-term measures," the expert said. "In the short term, we suggest raising the temporary tariff rate on imported sedans and sport utility vehicles that have engines larger than 2.5 liters, so as to reduce imports and guide consumption expectations." Liu said that according to WTO rules, China's temporary tariff rate on imported vehicles could be raised to a maximum of 25 percent, and that such an adjustment is not only in line with WTO rules, but also in line with China's broader efforts to promote the green transition in the auto industry and pursue the goal of reducing carbon emissions. "We also noticed that certain countries and regions have taken some restrictive measures in the EV sector, which run counter to the green development concept and violate market economy principles and WTO rules," the expert said. "Such measures will only hurt the interests of their own consumers and undermine global efforts to promote the green transition and tackle climate change." Liu stressed that the suggested temporary tariff rate hike on imported cars with large engines is a reflection of China's pursuit of the "dual carbon" goals and its determination to accelerate green development. "It is fundamentally different from protectionist measures taken by certain countries and regions," the expert said. The suggested plan to raise the temporary tariff rate on large-engine vehicles could affect a major car import segment. According to official data, China imported 250,000 cars with engines larger than 2.5 liters in 2023, accounting for 32 percent of total imported cars. Imported vehicles with large engines also account for 80 percent of China's consumption of vehicles with large-displacement engines. If the temporary tariff rate is increased, it will have a major impact on auto imports from the EU, while also affect those from the US. The expert also highlighted the green and low-carbon development of China's auto industry, including rapidly increasing ownership of EVs. As of the end of 2023, China's EV ownership reached 20.41 million, which will help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30 million tons each year, according to the estimate of China Automotive Technology & Research Center. As energy-saving technologies continue to be upgraded, the structure of China's auto industry continues to be optimized with a focus on energy conservation, electrification and decarbonization, Liu noted. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A cyberattack against Michigan Ascension hospitals continues to cause issues, forcing it to divert some ambulances to other hospitals for certain medical issues, delay diagnostic imaging and affecting its ability to fill prescriptions. A spokesperson for Ascension didn't respond to a request for comment about how the attack continues to impact its operations. But the system said in a statement May 15 that it had even switched to manual paperwork in the attack's aftermath. Michigan Ascension hospitals, physician offices, and care sites remain open. Ascension first detected unusual activity on select technology network systems on May 8. Access to systems and patient care across 15 states has been disrupted since then as the company investigates the ransomware attack. While working to restore systems and determine what information, if any, has been affected, hospitals have transitioned to manual systems for patient documentation. Ascension said that may cause delays and longer-than-usual wait times at previously scheduled appointments and elective surgeries. "To help with delays, patients should bring notes on symptoms and a list of current medications, including prescription numbers or bottles," an Ascension spokesperson said in the May 15 statement. All Ascension emergency rooms in Michigan are still open and accepting walk-ins, and ambulatory diversion is a "normal course of operation, a fluid practice, and is dependent on a number of factors, including case severity, service lines, and availability," according to the statement. Ascension's emergency rooms are in constant communication with emergency medical service providers to ensure cases are triaged more effectively, a spokesperson said last week. If any rescheduling is needed for surgical, diagnostic, or other doctor's appointments patients will be contacted directly, Ascension said Wednesday. Ascension did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday on which Michigan facilities are diverting ambulatory cases and or temporarily delaying diagnostic imaging and testing. The health care system has notified law enforcement and government agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Department of Health and Human Services, and American Hospital Association about the ransomware attack. "Despite the challenges posed by the recent ransomware incident, patient safety continues to be our utmost priority," an Ascension spokesperson said last week. "Our dedicated doctors, nurses, and care teams are demonstrating incredible thoughtfulness and resilience as we utilize manual and paper based systems during the ongoing disruption to normal systems." Ascension is also working with forensic experts from three cybersecurity firms, Mandiant, CYPFER, and Palo Alto Networks Unit 42, to investigate the attack and restore systems, they said in a system-wide update. 2024 The Detroit News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. 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: miR-377 transfection in prostate cancer cell lines can target MYC 3UTR, degrade its mRNA, and affect apoptosis, cell cycle, migration, and cell proliferation. Credit: Genes & Cancer (2024). DOI: 10.18632/genesandcancer.236 A new research paper titled "Inhibitory effect of miR-377 on the proliferative and invasive behaviors of prostate cancer cells through the modulation of MYC mRNA via its interaction with BCL-2/Bax, PTEN, and CDK4" has been published in Genes & Cancer. The MYC gene is a regulatory and proto-oncogenic gene that is overexpressed in the majority of prostate cancers (PCa). Numerous studies have indicated that aberrant expression of microRNAs is involved in the initiation and progression of prostate cancer. In this new study, researchers Yasamin Azimi, Sara Hajibabaei, Ghazal Azimi, Fatemeh Rahimi-Jamnani, and Masoumeh Azizi from the Pasteur Institute of Iran and Islamic Azad University assessed the impact of miR-377 on MYC through luciferase assay. The researchers write that "[...] it is of utmost importance to conduct research on the molecular pathways underlying the progression of PCa, as this may potentially lead to the development of a novel approach for targeted treatment of the disease." Real-time PCR was employed to determine whether miR-377 could reduce the levels of MYC mRNA in transfected PCa cell lines (PC-3 and DU145) and change in the mRNA levels of BCL-2/Bax, PTEN, and CDK4 as a consequence of MYC downregulation. Moreover, the researchers analyzed the effects of miR-377 on apoptosis, proliferation, cell cycle, and wound healing. Their findings demonstrate that miR-377 effectively targets MYC mRNA, as confirmed by luciferase assay and Real-time PCR. They observed a significant reduction in BCL-2 and CDK4 expression, along with an increase in Bax and PTEN, in prostate cancer cell lines upon MYC suppression. Additionally, elevated levels of miR-377 in PCa cell lines induced apoptosis, inhibited proliferation and migration, and arrested the cell cycle. The team concludes, "Taken together, these results unveil the inhibitory role of miR-377 in MYC function within PCa, thereby suggesting its potential as a therapeutic target for the treatment of this malignancy." More information: Yasamin Azimi et al, Inhibitory effect of miR-377 on the proliferative and invasive behaviors of prostate cancer cells through the modulation of MYC mRNA via its interaction with BCL-2/Bax, PTEN, and CDK4, Genes & Cancer (2024). DOI: 10.18632/genesandcancer.236 Provided by Impact Journals LLC This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A spectrogram of brain rhythm frequencies over time predicted by the team's model. After a first, moderate dose of ketamine gamma brain rhythm power (warmer colors) emerges. Then as the dose increases, the gamma rhythms become periodically interrupted, leaving only very low freqeuncy waves, and then resume. Credit: Elie Adam, Michelle McCarthy, Nancy Kopell et. al. New research addresses a gap in understanding how ketamine's impact on individual neurons leads to pervasive and profound changes in brain network function. A World Health Organization Essential Medicine, ketamine is widely used at varying doses for sedation, pain control, general anesthesia and as a therapy for treatment-resistant depression. While scientists know its target in brain cells and have observed how it affects brain-wide activity, they haven't known entirely how the two are connected. A new study by a research team spanning four Boston-area institutions uses computational modeling of previously unappreciated physiological details to fill that gap and offer new insights into how ketamine works. "This modeling work has helped decipher likely mechanisms through which ketamine produces altered arousal states as well as its therapeutic benefits for treating depression," co-senior author Emery N. Brown, Edward Hood Taplin Professor of Computational Neuroscience and Medical Engineering at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT, as well as an anesthesiologist at MGH and a Professor at Harvard Medical School. The researchers from MIT, Boston University, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University said the predictions of their model, published May 20 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help physicians make better use of the drug. "When physicians understand what's mechanistically happening when they administer a drug, they can possibly leverage that mechanism and manipulate it," said study lead author Elie Adam, a Research Scientist at MIT who will soon join the Harvard Medical School faculty and launch a lab at MGH. "They gain a sense of how to enhance the good effects of the drug and how to mitigate the bad ones." Blocking the door The core advance of the study involved biophysically modeling what happens when ketamine blocks the "NMDA" receptors in the brain's cortexthe outer layer where key functions such as sensory processing and cognition take place. Blocking the NMDA receptors modulates the release of excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate. When the neuronal channels (or doorways) regulated by the NMDA receptors open, they typically close slowly (like a doorway with a hydraulic closer that keeps it from slamming), allowing ions to go in and out of neurons, thereby regulating their electrical properties, Adam said. But, the channels of the receptor can be blocked by a molecule. Blocking by magnesium helps to naturally regulate ion flow. Ketamine, however, is an especially effective blocker. Blocking slows the voltage build-up across the neuron's membrane that eventually leads a neuron to "spike," or send an electrochemical message to other neurons. The NMDA doorway becomes unblocked when the voltage gets high. This interdependence between voltage, spiking and blocking can equip NMDA receptors with faster activity than its slow closing speed might suggest. The team's model goes further than ones before by representing how ketamine's blocking and unblocking affect neural activity. "Physiological details that are usually ignored can sometimes be central to understanding cognitive phenomena," said co-corresponding author Nancy Kopell, a professor of math at BU. "The dynamics of NMDA receptors have more impact on network dynamics than has previously been appreciated." With their model, the scientists simulated how different doses of ketamine affecting NMDA receptors would alter the activity of a model brain network. The simulated network included key neuron types found in the cortex: one excitatory type and two inhibitory types. It distinguishes between "tonic" interneurons that tamp down network activity and "phasic" interneurons that react more to excitatory neurons. The team's simulations successfully recapitulated the real brain waves that have been measured via EEG electrodes on the scalp of a human volunteer who received various ketamine doses and the neural spiking that has been measured in similarly treated animals that had implanted electrode arrays. At low doses, ketamine increased brain wave power in the fast gamma frequency range (3040 Hz). At the higher doses that cause unconsciousness, those gamma waves became periodically interrupted by "down" states where only very slow frequency delta waves occur. This repeated disruption of the higher frequency waves is what can disrupt communication across the cortex enough to disrupt consciousness. A schematic of the brain network model. Tonic Inhibitory neurons (blue) use GABA to inhibit the other neuron types. Pyramidal excitatory neurons stimulate each other and the phasic inhibitory neurons (red), which, in turn, inhibit the excitatory neurons. Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology But how? Key findings Importantly, through simulations, they explained several key mechanisms in the network that would produce exactly these dynamics. The first prediction is that ketamine can disinhibit network activity by shutting down certain inhibitory interneurons. The modeling shows that natural blocking and unblocking kinetics of NMDA-receptors can let in a small current when neurons are not spiking. Many neurons in the network that are at the right level of excitation would rely on this current to spontaneously spike. But when ketamine impairs the kinetics of the NMDA receptors, it quenches that current, leaving these neurons suppressed. In the model, while ketamine equally impairs all neurons, it is the tonic inhibitory neurons that get shut down because they happen to be at that level of excitation. This releases other neurons, excitatory or inhibitory from their inhibition allowing them to spike vigorously and leading to ketamine's excited brain state. The network's increased excitation can then enable quick unblocking (and reblocking) of the neurons' NMDA receptors, causing bursts of spiking. Another prediction is that these bursts become synchronized into the gamma frequency waves seen with ketamine. How? The team found that the phasic inhibitory interneurons become stimulated by lots of input of the neurotransmitter glutamate from the excitatory neurons and vigorously spike, or fire. When they do, they send an inhibitory signal of the neurotransmitter GABA to the excitatory neurons that squelches the excitatory firing, almost like a kindergarten teacher calming down a whole classroom of excited children. That stop signal, which reaches all the excitatory neurons simultaneously, only lasts so long, ends up synchronizing their activity, producing a coordinated gamma brain wave. "The finding that an individual synaptic receptor (NMDA) can produce gamma oscillations and that these gamma oscillations can influence network-level gamma was unexpected," said co-corresponding author Michelle McCarthy, a research assistant professor of math at BU. "This was found only by using a detailed physiological model of the NMDA receptor. This level of physiological detail revealed a gamma time scale not usually associated with an NMDA receptor." So what about the periodic down states that emerge at higher, unconsciousness-inducing ketamine doses? In the simulation, the gamma-frequency activity of the excitatory neurons can't be sustained for too long by the impaired NMDA-receptor kinetics. The excitatory neurons essentially become exhausted under GABA inhibition from the phasic interneurons. That produces the down state. But then, after they have stopped sending glutamate to the phasic interneurons, those cells stop producing their inhibitory GABA signals. That enables the excitatory neurons to recover, starting a cycle anew. Antidepressant connection? The model makes another prediction that might help explain how ketamine exerts its antidepressant effects. It suggests that the increased gamma activity of ketamine could entrain gamma activity among neurons expressing a peptide called VIP. This peptide has been found to have health promoting effects, such as reducing inflammation, that last much longer than ketamine's effects on NMDA receptors. The research team proposes that the entrainment of these neurons under ketamine could increase the release of the beneficial peptide, as observed when these cells are stimulated in experiments. This also hints at therapeutic features of ketamine that may go beyond anti-depressant effects. The research team acknowledges, however, that this connection is speculative and awaits specific experimental validation. "The understanding that the sub cellular details of the NMDA receptor can lead to increased gamma oscillations was the basis for a new theory about how ketamine may work for treating depression," Kopell said. Additional co-authors of the study are Marek Kowalski, Oluwaseun Akeju, and Earl K. Miller. More information: Elie Adam et al, Ketamine can produce oscillatory dynamics by engaging mechanisms dependent on the kinetics of NMDA receptors, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2402732121 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 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: Comparative CRISPR screens identify the cofactors needed by nine different ADs. Credit: Nature Genetics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41588-024-01749-z Peter Mac researchers have found the answer to a decades-long question on cell functioning that could lead to improved cancer treatments in the future. Every cell in the human body has the same DNA, but different cells do different jobs. This research, published in Nature Genetics, is helping to explain how this is possible and the implications could be vast. Professor Mark Dawson, a physician-scientist and Associate Director of Research at Peter Mac, said he is excited that we now have new insights that better explain how a cell's fate is determined. "The way a cell functions is the result of 'transcription factors' that scan our DNA and determine which genes should be turned on and by how much," he said. "We looked at how these transcription factors recruit and deliver the machinery required for genes to be turned on. Until now, we did not know how the 'transcription factors' choose the right machinery for a gene to be read and expressed. "This has been a decades-long question, and we are excited to have helped solve part of the problem as this knowledge on exactly how transcription factors make decisions around which machinery is required to activate a gene provides us with fundamental knowledge on life." The study uncovered that transcription factors choose a unique compendium of components to drive gene expression to create the desired action whether it be controlling a cell's energy consumption, launching an immune response or some other function our body requires. Professor Dawson said that we can liken this to how cars are built and explained how this important discovery is key to finding better treatments for a range of diseases. "A F1 racing car is very different to the family people mover or even a tractor, some cars are designed to move very fast, others to transport precious cargo and some are the work horse," he said. "We uncovered that the same is true for gene expression and this is determined by the components recruited by transcription factors. They can determine which genes can rapidly change, for example, when we need to fight infection and we need a quick response or which genes need to be slow and steady pumping out messages required for cellular housekeeping function. "This insight into how transcription factors can nuance gene expression is incredibly important, and we hope to harness this to help us treat a range of diseases in the future. "If we think about cancer, the mutations in a cancer can stop the transcription factor from choosing the right components for the gene to be expressed correctly, it is like jumbling up parts of the car so it no longer drives reliably." Dr. Charles Bell, post-doctoral researcher at Peter Mac, said they developed a platform to screen the function of thousands of components used by transcription factors to determine how a gene is expressed. "We will now use this platform to understand other processes linked to the gene expression," he said. "The answers to these questions will help us find new ways to treat not just cancer but many other diseases in the future." More information: Charles C. Bell et al, Comparative cofactor screens show the influence of transactivation domains and core promoters on the mechanisms of transcription, Nature Genetics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41588-024-01749-z Journal information: Nature Genetics This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: (A and B) Viral infection, fiber insertion (A), and viral expression (B) in the PiC. Scale bars, 200 mm. (C) Scheme of optogenetic inhibition of PiC neurons. Yellow light was on during the last 5 min of the test stage. Credit: Neuron (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.02.001 Social interactions are multi-faceted experiences that entail understanding the emotional states of others and responding appropriately. Neuroscientists and psychologists have been studying social interactions for decades, in the hope of understanding their neural and behavioral underpinnings. A team of researchers at Sun Yat-Sen University and University of Science and Technology of China recently carried out a study exploring how male and female mice respond to the pain of other mice. Their findings, published in Neuron, suggest that there are both neurobiological and behavioral differences between the two sexes, specifically in relation to their empathic responses. "Recognizing the affective states of social counterparts and responding appropriately fosters successful social interactions," Sunchang Fang, Zhengyi Luo and their colleagues wrote in their paper. "However, little is known about how the affective states are expressed and perceived and how they influence social decisions." The primary objective of the recent study by Fang, Luo and their collaborators was to delve deeper into how male and female mammals respond to another animal in pain, both in terms of their behavior and brain activity. To do this, they carried out a series of experiments on mice, where two mice were placed in lateral chambers, while an observing mouse was placed in the central section of a common cage. One of the mice in the lateral chamber was given an injection that caused abdominal pain, while the other two were not administered anything. The researchers monitored the behavior of the mouse in the central part of the cage, who could explore the environment freely and thus whether to interact with the other mice and in what ways. Initially, both male and female mice moved in their surroundings, displaying similar exploratory behaviors. Yet after a while, particularly towards the end of each experimental trial, the team found that male mice exhibited more grooming behaviors, while female mice demonstrated a social preference for the mouse that was in pain, as they spent more time in its proximity and sniffing it. "We show that male and female mice emit distinct olfactory cues after experiencing distress," the researchers wrote. "These cues activate distinct neural circuits in the piriform cortex (PiC) and evoke sexually dimorphic empathic behaviors in observers. "Specifically, the PiC PrL pathway is activated in female observers, inducing a social preference for the distressed counterpart. Conversely, the PiC MeA pathway is activated in male observers, evoking excessive self-grooming behaviors." This distinct neural pathway that the researchers found to be activated in male observers originated from non-overlapping PiC neuron populations with different gene expression signatures. Notably, these gene expression signatures are regulated by transcription factors and sex hormones. Overall, their observations suggest that male and female mice are biologically inclined to respond differently to other mice in pain. While females are more likely to get closer to a peer who is in pain, males tend to respond to another's pain with excessive self-grooming. The results of this study could soon be explored further and validated in additional experiments. In the future, they could pave the way for the discovery of new neural processes underpinning sex-specific social behaviors. "Our study unveils how internal states of social counterparts are processed through sexually dimorphic mechanisms at the molecular, cellular, and circuit levels and offers insights into the neural mechanisms underpinning sex differences in higher brain functions," the researchers wrote. More information: Shunchang Fang et al, Sexually dimorphic control of affective state processing and empathic behaviors, Neuron (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.02.001 Journal information: Neuron 2024 Science X Network This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain A global agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, which is still in negotiation, would not encroach on state sovereignty, the World Health Organization insisted Tuesday. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO member countries have spent more than two years thrashing out an accord to ensure a repeat worldwide health disaster could never happen again. However, the negotiation process has been continually extended as countries are struggling to find common ground in key areas, particularly on sharing data on problematic pathogens, and then sharing the benefits derived from them, such as vaccines and medicines. Claims have circulated in several countries in recent weeksnotably Britain, the United States and Switzerlandthat the text could undermine state sovereignty in health matters. "For those out there who speak about this being in some way a breach of national sovereignty, in fact, this kind of work that we do together is... an absolute expression and definition of your sovereignty," WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a press conference from the UN health agency's headquarters in Geneva. "To be truly sovereign means to engage with others confidently, confident in your own independence. "That is when you reach out and work with others on issues of common concern, and that's exactly what's happening downstairs." The bureau steering the negotiations must report on progress to the World Health Assembly, the annual gathering of WHO member states, which runs from May 27 to June 1. The assembly is the WHO's decision-making body. The pandemic agreement negotiations are set to go on until Friday and the assembly will decide what to do next, depending on whether the negotiators agree a finalized text or not. "The pandemic agreement remains our best shot and, indeed, our generational opportunity at making sure next time a virus hits, we have a plan to get critical health tools to people quickly, effectively, and fairly," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the press conference. "It will save lives, and I'm asking country leaders to give it one last big push to get it over the line." Ryan said the talks were making progress and "the determination of all of the participants is very high". "There are clearly some key areas in which the member states still have some distance between them," he added, saying they included pathogen access and benefit-sharing, financing, prevention, and vaccines. 2024 AFP 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: Single-cell RNA-Seq reveals that LinCD34+CD117+ contain both myeloid and lymphoid progenitors with a higher proportion of myeloid progenitors in CSU patients that subsequently responded to omalizumab. Credit: Allergy (2024). DOI: 10.1111/all.16127 A study which examines the common skin condition, chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), characterized by recurrent hives, has been recently published by Trinity College Dublin researchers in the journal Allergy. This study is the first of its kind to show a link between rare cell types and treatment response. Professor Niall Conlon, Clinical Professor, School of Medicine and Consultant Immunologist, St James's Hospital and Clinical Lead at Ireland's only UCARE center for urticaria management led the research team. Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is a common but underreported disease, where individuals develop recurrent, unpredictable and intensely itchy hives and skin swellings with no obvious trigger. The UCARE center at St. James's Hospital sees 10-20 new patients with CSU per week. Although CSU shares some symptoms with food allergy, it is not caused by an allergy to food or medicines. Diagnosis of CSU can be late and difficult, due to a lack of awareness about the condition. Furthermore, individuals with this disease can become distressed and experience many frustrations ranging from difficulties at work and interpersonal relationships, to problems with sleep disturbance, low mood, and anxiety. The study explored a rare form of mast cells called myeloid progenitors in blood, in patients with the condition. The team compared these cells in people with CSU and healthy controls. Treatment response to the anti-IgE therapy omalizumab, was also assessed. Individuals who had a fast response to omalizumab were found to have higher numbers of myeloid progenitors in their blood when compared to people who had a slow (or no) response, to omalizumab. The study therefore points to the intriguing possibility of using these cell types to predict who might respond to treatment with anti-IgE therapies. Dr. Barry Moran, a scientist at Trinity Biomedical Science Institute (TBSI), Trinity College who contributed to the study said, "We developed a flow assay to identify this rare cell type. We were excited to find that our findings and clinical correlates were complemented by transcriptomic data." David McMahon from the Irish Skin Foundation said, "CSU refers to hives that come and go, without any particular or obvious trigger, and last for longer than 6 weeks. For some people affected by CSU, the quality of life impacts can be profound and far reaching." CSU is frequently mistaken for an allergic reaction. Specific triggers such as allergic reactions to foods are often sought. Unfortunately, attempts to avoid suspected allergic triggers do not help. This can be frustrating for people who suffer with this condition. Symptoms for many people with CSU can be completely controlled by regular treatment with antihistamines. Often, these medications need to be used at high doses. Some individuals will not respond to this simple intervention and will need referral to a specialist center such as the UCARE center in St. James's Hospital. Individuals who do not respond to high dose antihistamines are considered for the anti-IgE biologic treatment, omalizumab. This treatment is only available in a specialist setting. Dr. Conor Finlay, a scientist from the Trinity Translational Medicine Institute (TTMI) and one of the senior authors of the study, said, "Mast cells pack a punch, when activated by IgE antibodies they can be said to explode and release inflammatory factors into the skinthis is what causes itching and hives." Dr. Niall Conlon, a senior author on the study and consultant immunologist, said, "For some people, treatment with omalizumab, an injectable drug that steadies mast cells, really works. However, for others this drug is less effective or takes much longer to work. It would really help us to understand better why certain people don't respond as well to omalizumab. Information on how this happens might help us direct our treatments more effectively and make patients better, quicker" Dr. Katie Ridge, the lead author on the study, said, "Mast cells are tricky cells to study. Mature mast cells are not found in the blood. That is why we used a method to study an extremely rare immature form of mast cells in the blood, called mast cell progenitors. Our findings point to potential inflammatory signals in this disease and highlight how chronic urticaria is more than skin deep. "Our findings have significant implications not only in relation the individuals with urticaria but potentially other allergic diseases whereby we may be able to predict treatment response using exploration of this cell type." More information: Katie Ridge et al, LinCD117+CD34+FcRI+ progenitor cells are increased in chronic spontaneous urticaria and predict clinical responsiveness to antiIgE therapy, Allergy (2024). DOI: 10.1111/all.16127 Journal information: Allergy This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Technology use is at an all-time high and understanding how this impacts daily life is crucial. When it comes to parent-child interactions, scientists have coined the term "technoference," meaning technology interference. It occurs when parent-child interaction and communication are disrupted by the use of digital devices. But is distraction caused by digital devices more detrimental to parent-child interaction than when parental distraction comes from different sources? Researchers in Switzerland have investigated. "In this study, we show that when parents are distracted, the quality and quantity of parent-child interaction is impaired compared to when parents are not being distracted," said Prof Nevena Dimitrova, a researcher at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland and principal investigator of the study published in Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. "This was regardless of if that distraction came from a digital or a non-digital activity." Screening distraction Although the negative impact of parents being distracted by their phones while around their children has been established, less is known about whether these negative effects come from the fact that the parent uses a screen or from the fact that the parent is distracted in general. To fill this gap, the team around Dimitrova tasked 50 parent-child pairs, in which children were 22 months old on average, to play together for 10 minutes. Participant pairs were divided into three groups. In the first group, there was no disruption. In the second group, after five minutes of play, the parent was given a questionnaire to fill out on paper, whereas in the third group, also after five minutes, the parent was instructed to fill out the same questionnaire using a tablet. Parents that filled out the questionnaire were instructed to continue interacting with their children. The researchers found that parents who filled out the questionnaire were less sensitive to children's communication signals, and that children showed lower levels of social involvement towards their parents. Technoference, however, did not affect parent-child interactions more negatively than non-digital distractions. Instead, all distraction, regardless of whether it was caused by screens or pen and paper, had negative effects on parents, children, and pairs. "We interpret this findingthat was equally surprising for usas the possibility that screens are so ubiquitous nowadays that young children might be becoming used to the reality of seeing their parents use screens," said Dimitrova. Regardless of their findings, the researchers stressed that parent-child interaction is at its best when parents are not distracted at all. This might be especially important for parents who find it difficult to bond with their children. Curbing a 'moral panic' In the media, mostly alarmistic messages about the risks of screen use are discussed, said the researchers. However, research does not support the thesis that screen use by or in the presence of children is exclusively bad. For example, positive effects of screens on child psychological development have been shown in previous research. "This study shows how important it is to rely on scientific evidence rather than public opinion about screen use. We see that it's not screens per se that are detrimental to the quality of parent-child interaction," concluded Dimitrova. "Instead, it seems to be the fact that the parent is not fully engaged in the interaction that negatively impacts parent-child communication." The researchers, however, also pointed out that it is difficult to make definitive statements about parental screen use based on one study alone. This is partly because everyday parent-child interaction differs from the experimental setup. For example, the ways in which parents use screens while around their children cannot always be replicated fully. Studies in naturalistic context are needed and might lead to different results, the scientists noted. More information: Effects of Digital and Non-digital Parental Distraction on Parent-Child Interaction and Communication, Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2024). DOI: 10.3389/frcha.2024.1330331 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: Participant's views on how it feels to seek asylum in the UK. Illustrator credit: Chris Spalton. Credit: Perspectives in Public Health (2024). DOI: 10.1177/17579139231203146 The U.K.'s asylum process is damaging to the health and well-being of people seeking sanctuaryaccording to a new study from the University of East Anglia. The number of people seeking asylum and refugees in the U.K. continues to risewith 74,751 asylum applications made last year. Researchers worked with more than 70 people seeking asylum and with refugee status from 14 different countries to better understand the mental health needs of displaced people. They found that the distress felt within the asylum system is often an entirely natural response to the situation. And that the mental health of displaced people could be better improved through community activities and employment than by prescribing antidepressants. The article, "'This is silent murder'Are we medicalizing human distress caused by the reality of life as an asylum seeker in the UK?" is published in the journal Perspectives in Public Health. Lead researcher Dr. Emily Clark, an academic GP from Norwich Medical School, said, "We know that displaced people face significant trauma and adversity in their country of origin, or during their journey such as war, persecution, or imprisonment. "Displaced people are less likely to access health and social care and have poorer health than the general population. They are also more likely to be diagnosed with mental health conditions including stress, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. "We wanted to better understand the health needs of this group." The research team ran two community engagement events in conjunction with an organization supporting people seeking asylum and refugees in the East of England. The events aimed to introduce the concept of health research, increase inclusion, and remove barriers between academic research and this under-researched community. Dr. Sarah Hanson, from UEA's School of Health Sciences said, "With the help of interpreters, we heard from people at different stages of the asylum processfrom newly arrived people seeking asylum in initial hotel accommodation through to refugees who have established their lives in the U.K. "Asylum seekers are often labeled as 'hard to reach' but these events clearly showed a willingness for under-researched groups to engage with us. "Post-migration stressors included uncertainty, frustration and hopelessness about the lengthy immigration processes. "The lack of meaningful activities due to a ban on working and limited volunteering opportunities created abundant time for rumination about the past, worry about family back home and a feeling of being in limbo. "They also spoke about environmental factors such as living conditions and povertywith an asylum seeker in initial accommodation receiving just 8 per week towards clothes, non-prescription medicines, sanitary products and travel. "We also heard that they feel isolated due to language barriers and lack of community cohesion and connection. "There was a lack of control over their fundamental daily needs such as choice of food, where they live, where they can go and a feeling of monotony. "And there was deep-seated grief and feelings of loss over relationships, homes, identity and belonging, causing significant sadness and suffering." One of the refugees the project spoke to was Rasha Ibrahim, who is originally from Sudan and arrived in the U.K. in January 2013. She spent two and a half years seeking asylum before being granted refugee status and now lives in Norwich, where she co-founded the Zainab Project to help asylum seekers and refugees gain work experience, while offering them support and help to integrate. Rasha said, "Many of them are educated back home, but because of lots of barriers, when they moved to the U.K., they cannot work. "The Zainab project helps them through voluntary roles in our catering service to achieve that and build up their CV here, as well as confidence. Also, we help them to integrate and learn to speak English through interacting with customers and communities." The project fosters a spirit of cultural exchange, so that participants can learn about English customs, while customers can also learn about different cultures from the volunteers. Rasha said, "This is all done through food, a warm welcome, understanding of what they have been through and a safe space in our cafe which is open for everyone despite who you are and what your background is. "We hope by the opportunities that we are offering through the Zainab Project we can make changes in people's lives and help them to settle and become independent. This will, in turn will help the community, society, and the economy of the country." Commenting on the research, Dr. Hanson said, "What all of this tells us is that the asylum process in the UK is damaging to the health and well-being of people seeking sanctuary. "But their distress was universally felt to be an entirely natural response to their situation. "Many spoke of visiting health professionals with symptoms such as poor sleep, pain, headaches and feeling worriedand being given anti-depressants or strong pain medication, which were neither beneficial nor wanted. "Instead, the people we spoke to wanted to contribute to society, feel secure and safe, and to have some hope of a future to enable them to recover from their past trauma. "Interventions should therefore be taken out of the health care sphere and placed within communities. For example, instead of prescribing anti-depressants, social prescribing could help displaced people become busy with meaningful activities such as employment or volunteering." More information: EG Clark et al, 'This is silent murder'are we medicalising human distress caused by the reality of life as an asylum seeker in the UK?, Perspectives in Public Health (2024). DOI: 10.1177/17579139231203146 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: Graphical abstract. Credit: Cell Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.113879 A discovery by Simona Stager's team could help come up with a treatment for the most serious form of leishmaniasis. Leishmaniasis is a tropical disease affecting a growing number of people worldwide. Each year, between 700,000 and 1 million new cases are reported. Caused by a protozoan parasite of the genus Leishmania, which is transmitted to humans by the simple bite of a sand fly, leishmaniasis comprises three clinical forms, of which the visceral form is the most serious. If left untreated, visceral leishmaniasis, also known as black fever, is almost always fatal. Most cases occur in Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Nepal, and Sudan. Professor Stager of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) and her team, in collaboration with other researchers from INRS and McGill University, have observed a surprising immune mechanism linked to chronic visceral leishmaniasis. This discovery could be an important step towards a new therapeutic approach to this disease. The results of their research have been published in the journal Cell Reports. In many infections, CD4 T cells play a key role in defending the affected organism. Unfortunately, in the case of chronic infections such as leishmaniasis, maintaining the number of functional CD4 cells becomes an important issue, as the immune system is constantly activated to react against the pathogen affecting the infected person. New immunity soldiers to the rescue However, the study carried out by Professor Stager in her laboratory at INRS's Armand-Frappier Sante Biotechnologie Research Centre suggests that these cells may have more than one trick up their sleeve to maintain their vitality. "We have discovered a new CD4 cell population in mice infected with the parasite responsible for visceral leishmaniasis. These T cells have interesting properties," said Professor Stager. By observing these novel cells, the scientists noticed that they increase in number during the chronic phase of the disease and also that, like progenitor cells, they are capable of self-renewal or differentiation into other effector cells responsible for eliminating the parasite, or regulatory cells that inhibit the host's response. Professor Stager points out that CD4 T cells normally differentiate into effector cells from "naive" CD4 T cells. But during chronic infections, because of the constant need to generate effector cells, naive CD4 T cells are highly solicited and may become exhausted. "We believe that in the chronic phase of visceral leishmaniasis, the new population we have identified is responsible for generating effector and regulatory cells. This would allow the host to prevent exhaustion of its existing pool of naive CD4 Tcells for a certain antigen," explains Ph.D. student and first author of the study, Sharada Swaminathan. The new lymphocyte population discovered by the INRS team could be a decisive immune booster, taking over from over-solicited naive CD4 T cells. "If we can figure out how to direct this new lymphocyte population to differentiate into a protective effector cell, it could help the host get rid of the Leishmania parasite," said Professor Stager. A cure for other infections? The study also mentions that cells similar to this new CD4 T lymphocyte population have been observed in mice infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus and in mice carrying the H. polygyrus intestinal worm. So it is quite possible that this population is present in other chronic infections or in other chronic inflammatory environments. This overlap sets the stage for an even wider scope for the discovery made by Professor Stager's team. "If our hypothesis is correct, these cells could be exploited therapeutically not only for visceral leishmaniasis, but also for other chronic infections," concludes the researcher. This article was co-authored by Sharada Swaminathan, Linh Thuy Mai, Alexandre P. Meli, Liseth Carmona-Perez, Tania Charpentier, Alain Lamarre, Irah L. King, and Stager. More information: Sharada Swaminathan et al, LAG-3- and CXCR5-expressing CD4 T cells display progenitor-like properties during chronic visceral leishmaniasis, Cell Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.113879 Journal information: Cell Reports This new smartwatch from TechLife is the device of choice for any hobby and lifestyle EVERYONE HAS different hobbies and lifestyles. Whether... There will be a recount of votes cast for and against the proposed property tax increase for Butte High School that tied on Election Day and was nudged to passage when provisional votes were counted. The measure ultimately passed by three votes 3,794 to 3,791 but a petition was filed with the Butte School District seeking a recount, Kevin Patrick, the districts business manager, said Tuesday. He said the petition listed Butte resident Frank Boroni as the signature gatherer and 20 others signed it 10 more than is needed to initiate a recount. Although Butte-Silver Bow election officials mailed out ballots and counted them on the night of the May 7 election and later when provisional ballots were added, they conducted the election on the school districts behalf, Patrick said. So under state law, he said, a petition seeking a recount was filed with the district. Three district trustees were appointed as a recount board and they will conduct the recount starting at 9 a.m. Friday in the library at East Middle School. The district sought the $850,000 levy increase in the first place but Patrick said the ballots will be recounted by hand, the recount is open to the public and anyone is welcome to witness the process on Friday. It could take several hours but results should be known later in the day, he said. The initial unofficial count was 3,782 in favor of the 8.46 mill levy and 3,782 opposed. The measure would have failed if the tie vote held up and could still fail depending on recount results. School officials and trustees said the levy is needed for safety initiatives at the high school. The money would pay for school counselors, school resource officers, deans, mental health workers and IT staff who provide safety support. The Butte School District also asked voters to approve a 2.46 mill levy that will raise an additional $203,801 annually to support operational costs at elementary schools. According to unofficial results, that passed with 3,907 votes in favor to 3,310 against. The extra elementary levy will increase the property tax bill on a home valued at $100,000 by $3.32. It will be double that on a $200,000 home and triple that, or $9.96, on a $300,000 home. The high school levy would hike the property tax bill on a $100,000 home by $11.43. It will be twice that amount on a $200,000 home and be triple that, or $34.28, on a home valued at $300,000. Flathead Lake will meet Memorial Day 2 feet higher than usual this year, after managers of the Selis Ksanka Qlispe Dam got clearance to hold more spring water. The lake is typically held at 2,883 feet elevation in mid-April 10 feet below its full pool of 2,893 feet. That gives it room to absorb floodwaters if spring runoff overloads upstream of Hungry Horse Dam and other tributaries. But unusually low winter snowpack and light spring rains have led to concerns about a dry summer. Similar conditions last year resulted in Flathead Lake missing its full pool mark by 2 feet, causing frustration for recreational boaters whose docks couldnt reach the water. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved a request by Energy Keepers Inc. (the dam managers) to hold in an extra 2 feet of surface water above its usual Memorial Day limit of 2,890 feet. Thats the second approved deviation, after the Corps OKd an Energy Keepers request to exceed the usual spring minimum by 2 feet as of April 15. Were responding to the conditions as provided by current weather trends, Energy Keepers CEO Brian Lipscomb said in a press release. Managing circumstances with a more robust snowpack would be preferred, but our team is responsible for managing whatever situation is generated by mother nature. The Corps will evaluate runoff conditions again later in May to see if further allowances are needed. While spring runoff typically releases meltwater from mid-May through mid-June, forecasts this year hint that most of the snowpack will be melted off by the start of June. The Flathead basin only got 80% of its normal precipitation last winter. The National Resources Conservation Services May water supply report stated that 2024 collected one of the lowest statewide snow seasons on record, warning that Montana could see drought conditions similar to the dry years of 2001, 2005 and 2015. Editor's note: This story has been updated after the jury delivered its verdict Tuesday night. A Missoula jury has ruled Cody Marble did not prove his innocence against 22-year-old rape allegations for which he was once convicted. The jury's verdict came Tuesday evening after a seven-day trial. Marble had sought compensation for his time in prison from Missoula County and the state of Montana after his conviction was overturned in 2016. "We were here to vindicate a 2002 unanimous jury verdict," said Steve Carey, whose firm represented Missoula County against Marble's claims. "We took that very seriously and we're glad that this jury did it." Marble sat quiet and still as the court clerk read the verdict. His legal team declined to comment following the decision. The outcome does not reinstate Marble's earlier conviction but rather bars him from seeking compensation from the county that secured that conviction. A day earlier, the Missoula County courtroom was especially quiet as an attorney read Robert Thomas exchange with prosecutors 22 years ago. Prosecutors then had asked Thomas about his place on the social ladder in the juvenile detention center. He was several years younger than most, and generally took some bullying to get along. "I didnt do anything," he told prosecutors about the harassment. "I just hoped Id get out soon." A group of other juvenile inmates in 2002 accused fellow inmate Cody Marble of raping Thomas. Marble was convicted at that trial, but eight years ago a judge overturned that conviction upon new evidence; namely, Thomas' recantation of the allegations. Since last week, jurors have heard Marble's case as he seeks compensation for the years spent in prison on that conviction. Missoula County and the state of Montana's defense included Thomas' testimony from the original trial. Those words, read by attorney David Lighthall, carried a lot of weight in the courtroom on Monday, as Thomas has since died. Thomas told the jury in 2002 that he was made the subject of sexual jokes by many other juvenile inmates, and described the rape allegations for which Marble was convicted that year. Thomas recanted the allegations to the Montana Innocence Project in 2010. Later Thomas would reverse that recantation under the threat from Missoula County prosecutor-at-the-time Fred Van Valkenburg that he would charge Thomas with perjury for back-tracking from his trial at testimony. Van Valkenburg was listed as a potential witness for Missoula Countys defense of Marbles claims for compensation for his imprisonment before the conviction was overturned, although the defense decided to rest their case Monday without calling him to testify. Because prosecutors declined to pursue another trial against Marble, Thomas final statement for the court record stated the rape did happen. Thomas died by suicide in 2014 after a lengthy standoff with police in eastern Montana. Great Falls Police Lt. Aaron Frick testified on Monday about his involvement in that standoff. The police departments High Risk Unit, their local SWAT team, routinely travels to rural parts of the state to assist local law enforcement agencies in such events. In 2014, Frick was the secondary negotiator acting as a liaison between the negotiator and the High Risk Unit standing by outside a bank in Havre. Previous news reports said Thomas fled after law enforcement pulled him over for a traffic violation, and pulled out a pistol after police cornered him at a bank. Fricks negotiator team began a dialogue with Thomas at noon that day, which ended at 8 p.m. More specifically, it ended at sundown, Frick said. "Mr. Thomas said he was going to take his own life at sunset," Frick testified Monday. "He said he had been raped by another male in jail and that he would not go back." Thomas would not elaborate on the rape, Frick said. And when the sun went down, police heard a gunshot. "The way the situation ended that day left an indelible imprint on my memory," he said. On cross examination from Marbles attorney, Frick conceded Thomas never raised Marbles name during the standoff. In fact, he mentioned another man who had sexually assaulted him at a young age, before his incarceration. Thomas also repeatedly stated he was raped in prison, not a county jail, where he accused Marble of raping him. Closing arguments On Tuesday morning Marbles attorneys led their closing arguments with the biggest-picture context of the case at hand. Wrongful convictions are an epidemic in this country, Mark Kovacich said, telling the jury they were "the conscience of your community." "Your verdict will be heard in this community," he said. "Given the nature of the issues in this case, your verdict will be heard elsewhere, as well. Your verdict in this case will say a great deal about human liberty, and human freedom, in your community." The predominant exhibit raised by Marbles attorneys is the 2016 motion from the Missoula County Attorneys Office to dismiss the charges against him after a judge overturned his conviction. The document goes to great lengths in discussing its review of the evidence for prosecutors to reach their decision. The county attorney at the time, Kirsten Pabst, testified last week that she would not have reached that decision if she knew about a memo in which Thomas had indicated at one point to the Montana Innocence Project that the rape did happen. Andrew Huppert, who has done most of the cross examinations in defense of Missoula County, took aim at the Montana Innocence Project, calling the organization "corrupt" for failing to turn over the memo that gave Pabst pause about dismissing the charges against Marble. He hedged the statement by saying the Innocence Project was a "wonderful" organization with a noble cause, but contended it was a new outfit "desperate to get a win on the board." Before the jury went into deliberations Tuesday, Kovacich reminded them that it was well known Thomas had waffled on his recantation at the time of the dismissal. He urged jurors to consider the way other juvenile inmates who accused Marble of the rape changed their stories. Indeed, only Marble has been consistent in maintaining his innocence. The jury ultimately did not have to decide whether law enforcement and prosecutors bungled their investigation of Marble. The law requires jurors to decide if Marbles case proved he never committed the rape, a higher bar to clear. Moderation marks attitude toward anti-segregation ruling in school circles (May 20, 1954) City, county and Glen Alpine schools spokesmen voiced similar comments this week after the United States Supreme Court ruled that states do not have the right to send white and Negro children to different schools. The court ruling does not end segregation at once since further hearings are set this fall to decide how and when to end the practice of segregation. With this in view, local reaction has been wait and see regarding hearings and their outcome next fall. M.S. Parham, city schools superintendent, said, I dont see where anybody can make a statement on the thing. The only thing the Supreme Court has done is rule that segregation is unconstitutional. I think the only thing you can do is wait until the Supreme Court hands down a decree. Parham asked, What do you have to go on? No one knows what the decree will be, he pointed out, and therefore, no action can be taken until such additional information and decrees have been issued by the court. R.L. Patton, county schools superintendent, said his school board was living in the hopes that nothing will be done when the courts decision was announced by Chief Justice Earl Warren. Patton said, White folks and colored neither one want it, but it looks like we have to have it, and well work it out the best way we can. The county board of education has already provided good schools for colored people, and we had hoped that the situation would remain as it is. W.A. Young, Glen Alpine superintendent, added, Id rather withhold comment on it at this particular time because anything I say would be purely guesswork. Crowd enjoys Greenway, river at Riverfest (May 19, 1996) Ever had a secret you were just dying to tell someone? The city of Morganton does, and it used the opportunity of Riverfest 96 to tell it. An estimated 500 to 600 people showed up at the Catawba River Greenway on Saturday to take part in the sixth annual Riverfest, a celebration of the Catawba River and its resources. This gives us a chance to bring people down to the river and greenway and show them what we are doing, said Lee Anderson, director of community development for Morganton. Folks from all over the southeast United States are looking at us as an example of protecting the natural resources of our river system. Riverfest began as a cooperative effort between Morganton, the Western Piedmont Council of Governments and Burke County. The city took over main sponsorship of the event last year. Anderson said with the 1996 celebration, the city aimed at bringing more families and children out to the river by bringing in the recreation department to host running events, mountain bike races and roller blading exhibitions. It apparently worked, as parents with children in tow swarmed over the Greenway through early Saturday afternoon. State Hospital opens bids for $90,000 annex (May 24, 1954) W.E. Dale Construction Company of Morganton was low bidder at $71,228 for the general contract for an addition to the male employees building at the State Hospital. Bids totaling almost $90,000 were opened by the institution Thursday afternoon, and contracts are expected to be approved soon by the N.C. Hospitals Board of Control and the State Budget Bureau. The project, coming within the tentative allotment of $100,000, will be carried on with proceeds from the statewide bond issue approved for mental hospitals by North Carolina voters last fall. Ten bids were submitted for the general contract, with Dales bid of $71,228 being followed by: T.A. Loving Company, Goldsboro, $71,317; and Elmore Construction Company, Catawba, $74,748. Other estimates ranged up to $87,000. Time ticks slowly for Valdese clock tower (May 26, 2000) Despite a few setbacks, community leaders in Valdese are forging ahead with plans to build a large block tower on Main Street. To date, about $83,000 has been raised through a fund drive initiated late last year by the Historic Valdese Foundation, said project chairman Dr. Ben Garrou. The Heritage Millennium Clock Tower, to be located on the campus of the Old Rock School, is expected to cost $150,000. Leaders of the effort are attempting to raise most of the money through private donations. According to Garrou, the 40-foot tower will celebrate a new millennium while commemorating the towns achievements of the past. Our community is very rich in cultural heritage, thanks largely to the Waldensian settlement over 100 years ago, he said. The clock tower will pay tribute to the historical value of education, industry, business, civic organizations, local government and cultural institutions in shaping our high quality of life today. Project leaders had hoped to secure a state grant to help pay for the tower, but that doesnt look likely now, Garrou said. Two hurt when trucks collide at Hildebran (May 20, 1954) Two trucks colliding in the heart of Hildebran yesterday morning demolished both vehicles and sent two to a Hickory hospital, one in serious condition. State Patrolman R.G. Thompson said Ralph Fortener, 17, of Route 2, Burnsville, was in serious condition at a Hickory hospital with a concussion and a neck injury received in a two-vehicle accident yesterday. James C. Fortener, 23, of Route 2, Burnsville, was treated for cuts and bruises about the face and neck. The Forteners were riding in a 1951 Chevrolet pickup truck traveling on Highway 70 in Hildebran when a 1948 GMC 2 -ton truck came out into the highway without brakes. The impact sent both vehicles to the right of the road, causing them to overturn with the rear end of the heavier truck pinned against the smaller vehicle. Charles R. Phillips, 29, of 107 Circle Court of Morganton, was identified by Thompson as the driver of the truck. Thompson quoted Phillips, an employee of Economy Wholesale Company here, owner of the truck, as saying he found he did not have any brakes when he applied them as he came down the Henry River Road hill onto Highway 70 in Hildebran. His truck rolled onto the highway, colliding with the pickup truck driven by the older Fortener. Phillips was not treated at the hospital, Thompson said, but came to Morganton and saw a doctor. John Richard Fortener, also of Route 2, Burnsville, was treated and released from the Hickory hospital. Thompson estimated damages to both vehicles at $2,500. Charges were pending in the case, he said. Budget includes funds for project (May 24, 2015) The N.C. House of Representatives has included money in its proposed budget for a school of science and math in Burke County. The 2015-16 House budget includes $1.6 million for advance planning for a western school of science and math. A budget usually goes through several versions before its finally approved by both chambers of the General Assembly. The $1.6 million in state funds would need to be matched with $800,000 raised locally, according to the proposed budget. Money would be used to develop a more precise cost, determine where it would be located and whether buildings on campuses could be repurposed, said Rep. Hugh Blackwell (R-Burke). Morganton Mayor Mel Cohen said he hopes the UNC Board of Governors realizes the money for the project would not come from the UNC system budget. Thats why he thinks the Board of Governors didnt want funding for the western school in the budget last year, because it thought it would take money from the universities, Cohen said. The Good Samaritan Clinic of Morganton announced Tuesday it has received a grant for $8,672 from the Community Foundation of Burke County (CFBC) that will allow it to expand access to affordable vision care for the uninsured and underinsured residents it serves. The grant will allow the clinic to purchase the equipment it needs to offer on-site vision care services for its patients, and local optometrist Dr. Alan Winesett will volunteer his time and expertise to perform exams and help save the clinic the $115 per exam it is currently paying to outsource exams. Clinics like ours rely on community support and volunteers to make high-quality health care available to our most vulnerable neighbors, said Amy Eades Fisher, executive director of Good Samaritan Clinic. We are indebted to the Community Foundation of Burke County and Dr. Winesett for making this program a reality. Good Samaritan Clinic partners with Morganton Eye Physicians to provide low-cost or no-cost preventative eye exams for its diabetic patients but similar resources are less available to its general patient population, who have been required to travel farther and/or pay more out of pocket. Free and charitable clinics improve the overall health of our community by providing access to high-quality health care regardless of ability to pay, said JJ Musgrove, president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Burke County. We are proud to support Good Samaritan Clinic in providing vision care to our communitys uninsured. Fisher thanked the Morganton Lions Club for providing eyeglasses and securing the assistance of Winesett and other volunteer physicians. However, the clinic still needs more volunteer eye doctors to assist the program in their continued success. Access to ongoing vision care is critical to patients overall health, not only for correcting vision deficiencies with prescription lenses but for detecting more serious medical issues, including chronic illnesses such as diabetes that can lead to vision loss. With these cost-effective exams, we will be able to offer better options for patients who need medical eye exams or for those who require glasses, Fisher said. Good Samaritan Clinic is one of 69 community-based, volunteer-driven free and charitable clinics that belong to a statewide health-care network operating independently under the umbrella of the North Carolina Association of Free and Charitable Clinics. Together, the clinics provide low-cost or no-cost health care to residents in 87 of the states 100 counties. About Good Samaritan ClinicGood Samaritan Clinic of Morganton is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing high-quality health-care services to underserved residents of Burke County. Our clinic operates on a volunteer basis and relies on the dedication of health-care professionals to fulfill our mission of ensuring access to health care for all. Last year, Good Samaritan Clinic and its collaborative partners provided primary care, specialty care, behavioral health care and prescription medications to more than 1,500 patients with household incomes of at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. Good Samaritan Clinic also operates a farmworker health program for agricultural workers in Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, McDowell Rutherford, Lincoln, Alexander, Gaston, Yancey and Mitchell counties. For more information and to learn how to support Good Samaritan Clinic, please visit www.gscburke.org. About the North Carolina Association of Free & Charitable ClinicsThe North Carolina Association of Free & Charitable Clinics supports 69 member clinics in expanding access to health care, reducing health disparities and improving the health of uninsured and underinsured individuals. Member clinics are a vital part of North Carolinas safety net, providing care for 82,500 patients in 87 counties, including primary and specialty medical care; dental care; pharmacy services; optometry; behavioral health care; lab tests and hospital referrals. The association supports member clinics with education, advocacy, research, funding and collaboration, and promotes quality health care for all North Carolinians. Learn more at www.ncafcc.org. Robots weld bodyshells of cars at a workshop of Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Li Auto Inc. in Changzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, Jan. 10, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] The narrative of "overcapacity" in China's new energy industry is a pseudo-proposition, whether viewed from the principles of market economy and the law of value, or analyzed under the context of global division of labor and international market. It is contrary to economic logic and reality to claim that China is exporting its excess capacity. Under economic globalization, production capacity is determined by supply-demand relations. According to the law of the market, the equilibrium between supply and demand is in constant flux, with imbalance being the norm in any market economy. Addressing the imbalances primarily relies on market regulation in accordance with the law of value. China is an open market that embraces globalization. This requires Chinese new energy enterprises to adopt both domestic and international strategies in their development visions and resource allocation. Cross-border trade would not have existed if each country only focused on meeting their domestic demand. The rise in Chinese exports of electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and photovoltaic products in recent years is a result of global division of labor and market demand. It's absurd to relate capacity issues to global trade and attribute China's expanding exports to overcapacity. As a matter of fact, it's simply not the case that green products are in excess supply globally. On the contrary, the global demand for such products far outruns the supply. According to the International Energy Agency, the global demand for new energy vehicles (NEVs) is expected to reach 45 million units by 2030, 4.5 times that of 2022, and the global demand for newly installed capacity for photovoltaic products will reach 820 gigawatts by 2030, about four times that of 2022. The current production capacity for green energy in the world falls significantly short of the global demand, especially when more than 130 countries and regions have raised their carbon neutrality targets. Given the huge potential of global demand, China's green production capacity is far from enough. It's a complete fallacy that China's "overcapacity" in new energy sectors harms the global market. In an article, Bloomberg said to the extent that there's grounds for hope around the energy transition right now, it's largely thanks to the availability of cheap, clean Chinese products. In today's world, both supply and demand should be considered in a global context. It is an economic principle beyond human control that the production capacity of a country is decided by its own comparative advantages. China's new energy products are competitive because China, as an early player in the industry, has fostered technological advantages through long-term research and development, and developed comprehensive strengths by leveraging its robust domestic industrial capabilities, enormous market, and rich human resources. Despite being priced higher than in the domestic market, Chinese NEVs and other related products are still highly sought after in many countries overseas. This demonstrates that China's competitive advantages in production capacity are determined by both global demand and the efficiency of Chinese enterprises, in accordance with the law of the market. It is driven by the entrenched protectionist beliefs that some countries labeled the Chinese new energy industry with "overcapacity." Such a false narrative is just an excuse to justify the imposition of trade barriers on China's exports. What is truly excessive is not China's new energy capacity, but rather the abuse of protectionism by these countries to suppress the legitimate development of other countries. They keep saying all the time that they oppose unfair trade and non-market practices, but in fact they are politicizing economic and trade issues, disturbing free trade with non-market approaches. By spreading the false narrative of "overcapacity" in China's new energy industry, they aim to stifle China's industrial development and seek more favorable competitive positions and market advantages for themselves. Those who spread such a narrative to justify protectionism have nothing to gain from it and will only destabilize and disrupt global industrial and supply chains, hinder the world's green transition, and curb the growth of emerging sectors. Neue Zurcher Zeitung, a Swiss newspaper, said on its website that the West's complaints about China's "overcapacity" are hypocritical and short-sighted and the Western industrialized countries would do better to face up to the competition and push for equal market access in exchange for good and cheap Chinese green energy products. Any remark or practice that politicizes or overstretches the concept of national security regarding economic and trade issues is against the law of economy, which neither helps with a country's industrial growth nor the recovery of the global economy. Attempting to sabotage others and gain a competitive edge through the "overcapacity" hype is both immoral and impractical. China stands ready to work with all relevant parties to uphold the basic principles of the market economy, including fair competition and open cooperation, so as to make its due contributions to global green and low-carbon transition. Kate Actress (born Catherine Kamau) and Eddie Butita are thrilled after receiving an invitation to a State dinner at the White House in the United States (U.S). The Award-winning actress and the comedian are part of a Kenyan delegation accompanying President William on his State visit to the U.S. Kate Actress shared the exciting news in a social media post, expressing gratitude to U.S Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman, who extended the invite to her. Good morning. This village girl will be attending the STATE DINNER at the White House & a Luncheon at the Tyler Perry studios in Atlanta by invitation from Her Excellency Meg Whitman, the actress wrote. Kate Actress affirmed that her inclusion was a positive gain for Kenyas creative industry. She added, If you see us artistes especially actors get emotional under this post, please understand that we were ignored and disrespected for so long by previous administrations we have fought for these spaces. We contribute 5% of the Kenyas GDP! We matter! Dear young ;&ambitious Actor,we have done the crawling, Now, walk with your heads high, its about time your craft takes care of you. The time is Now. keep reinventing yourself through your craft Eddie Butita on his part echoed Kate Actress sentiments, acknowledging that the invite was a significant step for Kenyan creatives to be recognized on the global platform. I am leaving for the USA todayThank you, His Excellency President William Samoei Ruto, for choosing me to accompany you to the United States Of America State Visit hosted by the USA President His Excellency President Joe Biden. The fact that Im part of the head of states delegation is a clear sign, and we are happy that the creative industry is part of the conversations we are going to have during this trip, he wrote on Sunday. Besides an opportunity to meet U.S. President Joe Biden at the State dinner, Kate Actress and Butita are expected to play a pivotal role in Rutos visit to the Tyler Perry Studios to explore opportunities within the creative economy. Kenyas real gross domestic product grew by 5.6% last year, up from 4.9% in 2022, according to the latest data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). The 2024 Economic Survey Report by KNBS highlights that the agriculture, fisheries, and forestry sectors drove this growth with a 19.8% increase, followed by the financial and insurance sector at 16.6%, real estate at 13.3%, and transportation and storage at 10.6%. Good rains and subsidized fertilizer helped the agriculture sector rebound with a 7% growth in 2023, after contracting by 0.3% in 2021 and 2.3% in 2022. Tea production saw an increase, with earnings rising from Kes.156.7 billion in 2022 to Kes. 176.3 billion in 2023. Maize production increased to Kes.11.3 billion from Kes.7.9 billion, while sugarcane and milk production rose to Kes.34.1 billion and Kes.41 billion, respectively. However, coffee earnings declined by Kes.7.4 billion to Kes.19.9 billion. Kenyas trade balance reportedly narrowed to Kes. 1.6 trillion as exports surged by 15.4% to a record Kes.1 trillion, up from Kes. 873.1 billion in 2022, while imports rose by 4.9% to Kes.2.6 trillion from Kes.2.5 trillion. Tea exports were the highest earners at Kes.188.7 billion, followed by horticulture at Kes. 187.4 billion. Other top exports included apparel and clothing (Kes.45.5 billion), coffee (Kes.34.6 billion), and iron and steel (Kes.32.3 billion). Kenyas top imports were petroleum products (Kes606 billion), industrial machinery (Kes.289.8 billion), animal and vegetable oils/fats (Kes.139.1 billion), iron and steel (Kes.120.8 billion), and unmilled wheat (Kes. 93.8 billion). Uganda was Kenyas top export destination, purchasing goods worth Kes.126.3 billion, followed by Pakistan at Kes.78.9 billion. Kenya also exported goods worth Kes.76.3 billion to the Netherlands, Kes.69.3 billion to Tanzania, and Kes. 64.3 billion to the United States. In 2023, China was the leading source of imports with goods valued at Kes.459 billion, followed by the UAE with Kes.411 billion, India with Kes.269.2 billion, Saudi Arabia with Kes.145.2 billion, and Malaysia with Kes.120.5 billion. Deputy Minority Leader Robert Mbui has suggested that Deputy President Rigathi Gachaguas recent silence is due to a potential sidelining by President William Ruto. The Kathiani Member of Parliament hinted that Gachaguas absence from the political frontlines results from ongoing events that are diminishing his political influence. Mbui opined that President William Rutos comment about considering a female running mate in the next election cycle might have upset DP Gachagua, leading to doubts about his future as the second-in-command. After he issued those statements and the women cheered him wildly he remembered his deputy is male so Ruto quickly added, Now, after we discuss this with the DP, but but he had already let the cat out of the bag that he might be considering an alternative running mate, Mbui said on Citizen TV on Monday. That is one of the things that the DP has noticed that he may not be the running mate in the future. The lawmaker also noted that Gachagua has been losing popularity in the Mt. Kenya region, pointing out that younger and seemingly more popular leaders are gaining traction. There are several very young members of parliament that are walking around and they seem to be making inroads all over and they seem to be even more popular than the DP in parts of central Kenya, Mbui said. Related Hussein Denies Reports of Rift Between Ruto and Gachagua President Ruto proposed a woman running mate during the launch of the G7 Council Women Governors Caucus Strategy event at Safari Park in March. However, the president did not indicate that this would apply in the next general election in 2027. Ruto said the move would ensure his Kenya Kwanza party leads from the front in supporting women and consequently help in attaining the two-thirds gender rule. We must, as a party, lead from the front and we must make rules that when Riggy G and myself will have decided in the future we must also agree that if a man is a candidate for president in our party, the woman must be the deputy and if a woman is the candidate, the running mate must be a man, Ruto announced. And we must also cascade it down to the governors. We must be intentional and deliberate about it otherwise it will not happen, Ruto said. He added, We will do this not because we want to do anything against men but because we want to balance so that we all move together. Comedian Njugush(born Timothy Kimani) has reported positive progress on his investment in the matatu sector. The content creator joined the cutthroat industry a little over a month ago, registering his brand new 36-seater matatu with the Super Metro Sacco. The public service vehicle, named after his firstborn son, Tugi, services the Rongai route. The greatest inspiration came from a training I attended a few months ago. They discussed converting liabilities into business assets, and since I was considering selling my car, it was the right move, Njugush shared. After high school, we saw people starting as makangas and gradually becoming drivers. That made me believe you can succeed from any hustle. Njugush also highlighted the management convenience provided by Saccos I needed someone to manage it for me. Its easier to have your car in a Sacco than to manage it yourself. The Sacco handles everything, including finding a driver and maintaining discipline. The actor funded his matatu purchase by selling his Toyota Prado TX, with his total investment amounting to over Kes.8 million. A plain matatu costs around Sh6.4 million, without the arts, screens, and other interior features. I sold my Prado and added more money to cover the total expenses. A month into the operation, Njugush reported; Its doing well, and Im happy I took that step. It has been well received and is performing admirably in terms of customer satisfaction. The best feedback will come after a year. Although Njugush did not disclose the daily earnings of the matatu, he noted that it is meeting all its expenses and generating profit. Additionally, he mentioned the matatu is being hired for events outside Nairobi on weekends, further boosting its earnings. My wish is to add more in the near future, Njugush said. On Monday, the US Department of State issued an emergency alert to its citizens residing in foreign countries following a surge in attacks against the LGBTQ community. The US Embassy in Nairobi shared the alert, urging citizens abroad, particularly those participating in LGBTQ events, to exercise extra caution to avoid becoming targets of the assaults. The Department of State advises U.S. citizens overseas to exercise increased caution due to the potential for terrorist attacks, demonstrations, or violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests. Part of the alert stated, The Department of State is aware of the increased potential for foreign terrorist organization-inspired violence against LGBTQI+ persons and events and advises U.S. citizens overseas to exercise increased caution. Individuals facing these attacks in Kenya were urged to seek assistance from the Embassy located along United Nations Avenue in Gigiri. Also Read Moses Kuria Cautions Ruto to Avoid LGBTQ Debate During US State Visit Moreover, foreigners were provided emergency contacts in case they were unable to reach the Embassy. Those in other countries were cautioned to remain vigilant in areas frequently visited by tourists, including pride celebrations and LGBTQ community venues. Additionally, American tourists were encouraged to enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive timely information and alerts facilitating access to assistance. American citizens were further instructed to stay updated by following the Department of State on all social media platforms. The Embassy also furnished contact details for consular services, with separate phone numbers provided for those in Kenya and elsewhere. Reality TV star Vera Sidika recently spilled some juicy details about her relationship status, indicating that she is seeing someone although it is not serious. The Real Housewives of Nairobi (RHON) actor disclosed that her casual beau is Nigerian. She noted that they are just having fun at the moment as she does not want to commit at the moment. About my partner, I dont want any commitment at the moment. I just want to have fun, so the person I am with is not there for a serious relationship, she candidly revealed. Vera Sidika emphasized her single status, mentioning that she is still on the fence about committing. She also does not want the man to commit himself to her. Im single because I dont want it to be seriousniko 50/50 one leg in, one leg out. I also dont want him to be committed to me. Veras carefree attitude and reluctance to settle down is expected to bring an exciting dynamic to the new season of The Real Housewives of Nairobi. She tantalized fans with what to expect from Season Two; It is spicy, exciting, and amazing, she teased. I feel like I got a bit wild this season since I am single, and there is also a bit of drama. At some point, it will get emotional. Vera said her fans will see a new side of her as a mother of two, with her son Ice Brown making an appearance. Embracing her single status, Vera admitted, Being single is very good for me. Marriage was boring, and there were things I could not do in Season One because my ex-husband, Brown Mauzo, was around. She added, I am also not pregnant like I was in Season One and that means I was able to do all the activities. Flash Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was confirmed dead on Monday after his helicopter crashed in the country's mountainous northwestern region on Sunday. Iran's official news agency IRNA confirmed the deaths of Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Governor of East Azarbaijan Province Malek Rahmati, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's Representative to East Azerbaijan Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem and Raisi's bodyguard, all of whom were onboard the same helicopter. Khamenei announced on Monday five days of public mourning. This photo taken on May 19, 2024 shows a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on the footage of Iran's state-run IRIB TV. [Xinhua/Shadati] Crash Pir-Hossein Kolivand, head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, told the semi-official Tasnim news agency early Monday that the crash site was located after hours of extensive search in the mountainous region of East Azerbaijan. An image released by the IRNA showed the wreckage of the helicopter scattered across a mountain peak. Rescuers faced harsh weather conditions and low temperatures during their search, which began immediately after the crash was reported on Sunday. The crash occurred as Raisi traveled from the Azerbaijani border following his attendance at a ceremony to inaugurate a storage dam with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev. In an interview with state TV IRIB on Sunday, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi attributed the helicopter's crash to bad weather conditions, which he said also hindered search and rescue efforts. Raisi, 63, was born in the city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran. Before being elected Iranian president in 2021, he held prominent positions, including judiciary chief and Tehran prosecutor. In a statement quoted by the IRNA on Monday, the Iranian cabinet said Raisi was an "indefatigable and hard-working president" who "made the ultimate sacrifice on the path of serving his nation." To mourn Raisi's death, the Iranian government has draped his seat with a black robe. Across various provinces, preparations are underway for mourning ceremonies, while events scheduled for National Cultural Heritage Week have been canceled, as reported by the IRNA. Raisi's death comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and Israel, marked by an exchange of attacks in April fueled by the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in October last year, while efforts to revive negotiations and salvage the Iran nuclear deal have hit a deadlock. Armed groups in the region like the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen have launched attacks on Israeli targets in a show of solidarity with the Palestinians. Condolences After Raisi's death, many world leaders and foreign governments expressed sorrow. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a message of condolence to Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, in which the Chinese leader expressed deep condolences and extended sincere sympathies to Mokhber, the family of President Raisi, and the Iranian government and people. Leaders from Russia, Turkiye, Egypt, the UAE, Jordan, Syria, Qatar, Pakistan, Venezuela and India, along with Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit and European Council President Charles Michel, have all sent messages of condolence after Raisi's death. "We extend our deepest condolences and sympathy to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ali Khamenei, and to the Iranian government and people," Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani said in a statement. Hamas, which has been in an escalating conflict with Israel since last October, expressed sympathy to the Iranian people for "this immense loss," lauding Raisi's support for the Palestinian cause and resistance against Israel. People mourn victims of the helicopter crash near Varzaqan County, in Tehran, Iran, on May 20, 2024. [Xinhua/Shadati] Impact The Iranian Constitution stipulates that in case of the president's death or incapacity, the first vice president will assume the role until an election is conducted within a maximum of 50 days. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Monday appointed the country's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, 68, as interim president. Iran's Constitutional Council Spokesman Hadi Tahan Nazif said that with Khamenei's approval, a council consisting of the Iranian judiciary chief, parliament speaker and first vice president will take measures to organize elections within 50 days. Even though the death of high-ranking officials is a blow to Iran's political governance, analysts said the "shock" can be absorbed. Khamenei has told Iranian people not to worry, promising "no disruption" to the country's affairs. "Iran, since its Islamic revolution in 1979 ... has proved to be more than capable of taking all sorts of shots (against it), especially when it comes to political leaders," opined Marwan Bishara, a senior political analyst from Al Jazeera. On the diplomatic front, while the passing of the foreign minister is a significant loss for Iran, analysts said the country's foreign policy will not undergo substantial changes. Amir-Abdollahian "has been an extremely effective foreign minister, overseeing a successful reconciliation with Saudi Arabia and navigating a series of difficult crises," according to an analysis by the Times of Israel. But "Iran's broad foreign policy won't change," it noted. However, some analysts believe the incident will prompt Iran to shift its political focus toward domestic matters. The country can now be "a little more self-engaged, wrapped up in internal politics, as it sorts out the election for the next president," said Michael Makovsky, president and chief executive of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. With commencement season starting to ramp up, teenagers graduating from major high schools in Napa are invited to celebrate their accomplishment at Napa Grad Nite on June 12. From 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., graduates from American Canyon, Calistoga, Justin-Siena, Napa, New Technology, St. Helena, Valley Oak and Vintage high schools will have a chance to party responsibly at Napa Valley College's main campus, at 2277 Napa-Vallejo Highway (Highway 221) in south Napa. Students can participate in various activities from card games like Texas hold 'em to laser tag, mechanical bull riding, dancing, rock climbing and jousting. Students will be served all night, and there will be music and prizes to go along with the festivities. Tickets for graduates, which are all-inclusive, are $40 in advance and $50 at the door. Graduates are also allowed to bring one paid guest who can be a junior, senior or a fellow 2024 graduate from any school in Napa County. Guests of graduates must purchase their tickets online and are not allowed to buy one at the door. The nonprofit Project Graduation Inc. created the event in 1987 to prevent teen car crashes, allowing them to party in a sober environment. The group's goal each year is to raise enough in donations to keep costs low for students and donate tickets to those who might not attend otherwise. In years past, Project Graduation's website has said it usually sees between 650 and 850 attendees at Napa Grad Nite. Organizers are still looking for volunteers for the event. To learn how to help, those interested can email gradnitevolunteer@gmail.com. Students can buy their tickets online until June 11 at napagradnite.com/tickets. Photos: Napa teen makes custom leis, with cash, for graduation, celebrations. Moises Tapia Padilla 4 Moises Tapia Padilla 5 Moises Tapia Padilla 3 Moises Tapia Padilla 1 Moises Tapia Padilla 2 After more than half a century in Napa, the family-run Monticello Vineyards faces an uncertain future as siblings argue over its potential sale. Since its founder Jay Corley died in 2016, management of Monticello has been passed to his children; four of his sons are currently on the board of directors. In the years since his death, siblings have begun to splinter and disagree over whether or not the business should be sold. The strongest voice against selling the winery belongs to Carolyn Corley, who is the youngest Corley sibling and only sister. She said that she believes talks about selling the business first began in 2021, when one of her brothers, Kevin Corley, then the company's president and an opponent of a sale, was forced to step down. Carolyn Corley said while she, Kevin and Chris, wish to keep the vineyard in the family, the other four brothers, Mark, Kent, Stephen and Michael, wish to sell. The conflict came to a head May 14 when Monticello shareholders which include both members of the Corley family and others met for the first time in 20 months to discuss the future of the company. According to Carolyn, who is a shareholder and attended last week's gathering, the meeting was animated, tense and confusing. She said some felt as though they were not given enough information on the winery's finances, and were even confused about what exactly they were voting on. A bunch of shareholders said, Well, wait a minute, were not even sure what we just voted for," she said of the meeting. "And then someone said, I thought I voted for this, and someone else said, I thought a yes vote meant this. Carolyn Corley said shareholders agreed to reconvene in about two months after they are given more information about the finances of the company. In addition, they also agreed to make Chris Corley a board member. Amid the confusion of the meeting was a moment, according to Carolyn, when her brother Mark Corley was confronted by a shareholder on the legality of waiting 20 months to hold a shareholders' meeting. At one point Mark was questioned by a shareholder, whos also an attorney and a CPA, about the legalities of not having a shareholder meeting, Carolyn said. He point-blank asked him, Do you know youre breaking the law by not having a shareholder meeting? And Mark said, Yes. He said, So youre admitting that you knew you were breaking the law? And he said, Yes. Mark Corley did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Monticello Vineyards was founded by Jay Corley in 1970. To the former prune orchard property he purchased on Big Ranch Road in north Napa he gave the name Monticello, and the winery's estate house was built in the likeness of President Thomas Jeffersons famous home in Virginia. Corley admired Jeffersons passion for wine in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, during a time in a newly independent United States when ale and cider were the most popular alcoholic beverages. In the 54 years since opening, Monticello Vineyards has expanded to have its own Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Merlot plantings. Monticello is one of Napa Valley's shrinking ranks of family-owned wineries, as many wine operations have been sold to conglomerates in recent years. Dan Berger, who writes a regular column on wine for the Register, said he believes that as the value of Cabernet grapes in Napa significantly increased, corporations saw an opportunity. The end result was that these properties suddenly became worth huge amounts of money, he said. "And the only people who could afford something like that are corporations. Berger also noted it is much easier for large companies to purchase an existing vineyard rather than creating their own and seeking a county permit. While discussions over the future of Monticello are set to continue into the summer, Carolyn Corley highlighted the disappointment she said she and many shareholders feel about how the situation has progressed since her father's death.